The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - How the Liberals are Impacting the Border

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

00:00:05.840 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps that likes Brock, with new

00:00:09.440 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We do appreciate you checking in

00:00:14.680 with us. And of course, if you can't listen or watch the entire program right this second,

00:00:19.160 you can download it, listen to it later on on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play,

00:00:23.020 Spotify. Amazing content again for you today. We ask that you like, comment, subscribe, share this

00:00:28.720 program, help us push back against the ever-moving Liberal agenda. We're going to continue with the

00:00:33.300 panel discussion this week, and something I think is top of mind for many Canadians looking to

00:00:38.440 potentially get away during the Christmas break. We have Raquel Denshaw, the Member of Parliament for

00:00:43.440 Kildonan St. Paul, also the Shadow Critic for Public Safety, and Melissa Lansman, newly elected,

00:00:49.820 the Class of 2021, Member of Parliament for Thornhill, also the Critic for Transport. We appreciate both

00:00:55.980 of their time, and Raquel especially, she was, I believe, the first guest on the podcast when we

00:01:00.780 started many years ago in the Class of 2019. Yeah, I was just remarking how the technology and the

00:01:06.180 formats have been upgraded in two years, so congratulations. It's getting there. Wait till

00:01:10.080 we have the studio. Yeah, that's super exciting. Good for you, Jamie. Well done. Thank you very much,

00:01:14.000 and we appreciate both your times. I know both of you are busy. Just going over the travel,

00:01:19.340 because I know our constituency offices are dealing with this a lot. I think many Canadians watching,

00:01:23.600 listening to this program, are trying to figure it out. I was on the government's website trying to

00:01:28.240 figure out what it means for travelers. It's very confusing. What are you hearing, and what is going

00:01:33.700 on for those thinking about potentially traveling, or to navigate this whole government bureaucracy?

00:01:40.520 Look, Jamie, first of all, thanks for having me, and I think you're absolutely right. I think

00:01:44.660 confusion has ensued, and you pretty much need to be a rocket scientist, or have a PhD, to figure out

00:01:51.800 the ever-changing, sort of moving targets on the government website. All of that to say is that

00:01:59.600 20 months into a pandemic, they're making it up as they go along, and I think that's the point. I think

00:02:06.140 you're seeing a government who is reacting and having a new plan with every single variant of concern,

00:02:12.320 or every sort of thing thrown into the mix, and they're not listening to their experts.

00:02:17.840 They're not listening to the advice of scientists. They're certainly not using common sense or reason,

00:02:22.520 and so it leaves you with the question of who's making these decisions? Is it just a bunch of

00:02:27.040 politicians around a table trying to make your life miserable? That's certainly what it looks like.

00:02:32.020 Well, I know Raquel, and both of you, you too, Melissa, have been talking a lot about

00:02:35.540 in question period about this whole issue. I know, Raquel, you had some questions about the

00:02:39.320 RiveCan app that I'm just hearing horror stories of people who cannot get this to work.

00:02:44.820 Yeah, you know, it's very concerning. The federal government is supposed to ensure that their

00:02:48.940 programs are inclusive. I've worked on the disability file. We've studied the impact of

00:02:53.480 COVID on seniors, and particularly, you know, we were in question period, and the theme kept coming

00:02:57.880 up for many of our MP colleagues, that it was seniors in particular who don't use smartphones,

00:03:02.920 and frankly, even if you do own a smartphone, using the RiveCan app is challenging. Like, I think of

00:03:08.100 my parents, baby boomers, they would have a tough time with that as well, because I know, because

00:03:11.600 I've been having a tough time with the RiveCan, and I've had a smartphone for a very, very long

00:03:16.300 time. So it was sort of at one point, I think we were sort of heckling the liberals, like,

00:03:20.340 free the seniors, free the seniors, because they, you know, couldn't get back into the

00:03:24.460 border without having to quarantine. They couldn't get back into Canada without being punished

00:03:28.480 by border agents on direction from this government for not having an app. So they didn't have an

00:03:34.720 app, but they had their double max, they were under the 72 hours, or if they were over

00:03:38.440 the 72 hours, then they had their negative COVID test, they had all the documentation,

00:03:42.880 they could hand over paper copies, but they said, nope, that needs to be on an RiveCan app,

00:03:47.220 so you have to go quarantine for two weeks. So there were so many seniors, and those who

00:03:51.600 have some tech challenges, who are just being, in our opinion, wrongfully quarantined and punished.

00:03:57.080 So what you're basically saying is Canadians have been told to follow the rules, get double 0.92

00:04:00.460 vaccinated, get your PCR test before you leave the country in which you travel, do A, B, C, D, E, F,

00:04:05.940 and they're still coming in with a list of problems, and potentially being quarantined,

00:04:13.340 and nobody seems to have any idea what's going on. The rules keep changing. I think that's the

00:04:20.340 point. The target keeps moving, and the people that are paying for this are Canadians who have done 0.94

00:04:27.000 every single thing that the government has told you to do. So what more is there? You know,

00:04:32.240 RiveCan is one of them. We still have quarantine hotels for those coming from countries of concern,

00:04:40.240 which are, you know, we can talk a little bit about that, but just horrendous conditions, and I think

00:04:45.080 many of our offices, and I don't think it's different on the other side of the house, their offices are

00:04:51.240 probably getting this due, where people are waiting 70 hours for a test, 48 hours for a test. They're

00:04:58.020 waiting three days just to talk to someone who will listen to them. So I'm, you know, this is,

00:05:04.640 this is one of the, this is one of the things with the government hasn't learned anything in 20

00:05:09.680 months, and again, they're making it up as they go along, and Canadians deserve better than that. 1.00

00:05:15.420 And I think the government is really making a lot of excuses as well. I questioned the health

00:05:19.420 minister and committee about the RiveCan app, and, or particularly about the hotel quarantines,

00:05:23.620 Melissa mentioned some of the horrific challenges we're seeing there. There was a silly aquaman who 0.90

00:05:28.420 went 40 hours with food she could safely eat. Babies are going without diapers, without milk. 0.97

00:05:33.820 Many are going without hot water. There's hot water and heat problems in these hotels. Again,

00:05:38.920 many of these individuals who traveled were not, these rules were not yet established. They did not

00:05:43.640 prepare to have to be in quarantine for so long. So there's many people who've gone five days without

00:05:48.700 changing their clothes, and that's just not a humane practice. These are not humane measures that are

00:05:53.440 being taken by this government, and they say, well, what else would we do? That's what the health

00:05:57.040 minister answered. What other option is there? Well, maybe treating Canadians with dignity and

00:06:01.460 respect, especially after 21 months. We went through these problems a year ago. They knew about

00:06:08.200 them a year ago, and yet here we are treating Canadians worse than, well, anything I could recall 0.65

00:06:14.180 in Canada. So it's just, it's really very concerning in terms of this pandemic. We're treating people worse

00:06:19.540 than we have in the last 21 months now, and that should be an issue for all Canadians. But what I

00:06:24.300 would also say is there is a major economic impact on this as well, particularly for families. We talked

00:06:29.860 about seniors. Yes, they're having technology issues, but also if you're not planning to quarantine

00:06:33.960 for 14 days, or if you're getting stuck in a hotel quarantine, waiting for some bureaucrat to give you a

00:06:40.280 stamp of approval to leave, you're having to miss work. You're having to take two weeks off work.

00:06:46.640 If you're having to quarantine for two weeks at home unexpectedly, and these are huge impacts to

00:06:52.060 Canadian families. Again, if you're working, if you're having to take work off now, you're not 0.97

00:06:55.660 going to be able to take work off at Christmas. That's Christmas number two from government direction

00:07:00.160 that we're having, that these individuals are having to miss Christmas. So I could go on and on

00:07:04.460 and on. I know that we are very passionate about this, but it's just, we need to be doing better

00:07:08.640 than this, and Canadians deserve it. Well, let's stick with the economic piece of this puzzle. I'm not sure 0.92

00:07:13.200 there's too many files that the government has right now that are actually going well for them.

00:07:17.140 No, you're right about that.

00:07:18.940 But the most impacted industry right now is the travel and tourism sector,

00:07:25.680 and the government is just not coming up with clear rules, clear guidance, so that they can get

00:07:32.640 their business going, or just hang on knowing that there might be light at the end of the tunnel.

00:07:36.400 So we, you know, we've been talking about this for weeks, and the government's come up with no

00:07:42.140 answers, but there was never a reason or a recommendation, and we saw this last week,

00:07:47.200 to treat airline travel any different than land travel. And we've had, you know, 48,000 Canadians

00:07:53.180 in two months land in a U.S. airport and cross by land. So, I mean, I think we have ministers here

00:08:00.620 that are creating tons of jobs in Buffalo, and tons of jobs right across the border, and not

00:08:06.280 creating any jobs here. The airline sector, you know, the airports have been mistreated,

00:08:14.120 and the advice makes no sense. It's not based on their own experts. It's not based on science.

00:08:20.920 And as a result, Canadians should ask, who is making these rules, and why, and why do they

00:08:26.340 hate the airline sector so much?

00:08:28.280 Absolutely. I didn't know if you want to jump in on this before I...

00:08:30.940 No, I agree completely with Melissa, but I think that there really is this air of,

00:08:34.900 and we're hearing this from constituents, I feel, they feel that they, and I quote,

00:08:38.580 we feel that we're being punished. And if the government wants to stop people from traveling,

00:08:42.600 then they should just come out and say that. Because people are traveling, they have family

00:08:45.940 members, they have businesses, this liberal government is the one that opened up travel

00:08:49.860 again a few months ago. So, if that was the case, then Canadians, again, who are following the rules,

00:08:55.460 watching closely, made plans, and now they're being treated this way. It just doesn't go together.

00:08:59.920 That just doesn't make sense. It doesn't add up. So, I have a lot of concerns, just on a values

00:09:04.880 level, that the government seems to, it almost seems to relish in punishing individuals. Again,

00:09:09.360 when I talked to the minister, and I brought these very real concerns of the inhumane treatment

00:09:13.820 Canadians are experiencing in hotel quarantine, it seems to say, well, what other option do we have?

00:09:18.880 And I just, I find that to be completely embarrassing and a national shame.

00:09:22.100 And this liberal government should be doing far better after 21 months.

00:09:26.520 Well, it didn't stop Justin Trudeau from calling a national election. It didn't stop Justin Trudeau

00:09:30.640 from going over to Glasgow and having a great time. But it seems that Canadians who are just 1.00

00:09:35.440 trying to follow the rules, trying to understand the rules and follow them, but also for their

00:09:40.140 mental health, their enjoyment, getting their lives back, feeling normal again, it's just one more

00:09:44.900 thing, one more roadblock that the government's putting in their way to have happiness. 1.00

00:09:49.740 Look, I think this government is the government of there are rules for we, and there are rules

00:09:54.400 for thee, and they are not the same. And Canadians have watched this, you're right, gallivanting

00:09:58.760 around the world, you know, maskless in other countries with delegations of hundreds. And here

00:10:06.800 they're talking about the safety in Parliament and having 338 members sit in person. And as, you

00:10:13.640 know, many of your viewers will know, we're not doing that. We've got an option of virtual and

00:10:18.360 every day, there's less and less ministers to be able to ask questions to. So that's,

00:10:23.860 that's everything you need to know about a government who makes rules for themselves,

00:10:28.580 and rules for you, and they are not the same.

00:10:31.500 You know, one thing about virtual Parliament, I'm learning, I'm, I'm getting to see a lot

00:10:35.780 of Liberal MPs, their offices in Ottawa are quite nice. It's amazing, they just can't come across

00:10:40.040 the street and actually participate in Parliament. That is absolutely amazing.

00:10:43.680 Well, you know, and no, it's no wonder. I mean, it's an uncomfortable thing, the way our democracy

00:10:48.160 is set up. And that's, it's on purpose, right? We're supposed to bring the most powerful people

00:10:51.780 in the country to sit across from official opposition parties, and be held accountable

00:10:56.080 for their mistakes. The government's only going to tell you what's, what's so great about all

00:10:59.800 their announcements. They're never going to tell you the downside. That's our job. So of course,

00:11:03.640 they're going to take advantage of this virtual Parliament system, and go sit in the comfort

00:11:08.020 of their offices and turn it on mute. And they don't like something our leader is saying,

00:11:11.780 or that we're saying in the House, and it's completely unacceptable. And I think more to

00:11:15.160 Melissa's point as well, they were making this argument that, oh, it's not safe for us all

00:11:18.640 to be in Parliament. All 338 members, like with baloney. They sent 200 people to Glasgow for

00:11:24.500 COP26. They were the ones that opened up travel again. The Prime Minister campaigned in hospitals

00:11:30.220 during the last election, and was happy to fly all over the country when the Delta wave was

00:11:34.260 raging, and impacting our hospital capacity. And he didn't mind then. So it doesn't make any

00:11:39.400 sense. And they're just really avoiding accountability. That's just the truth.

00:11:42.780 I bet you if you offered everybody courtside tickets to the Raptors game, or front row seats

00:11:48.180 to this weekend's Great Cup, I think they'd be there in a second. But Parliament, not so much.

00:11:55.060 Not so much.

00:11:56.280 It was one of you two, I think, had the line. Hugs on Monday. We all saw the video of Liberal

00:12:00.720 members, NDP, what have you, hugging in Parliament before starting. Everyone was happy. And then

00:12:05.900 virtual by Thursday. Wednesday or Thursday. Hiding in a basement by Thursday. That's, you know,

00:12:11.180 that's what we get from this government. It's inconsistency, whether it's inconsistency on

00:12:15.740 the economy, it's inconsistency on travel rules, it's inconsistency on their position about whether

00:12:20.220 they feel safe or not, with 300 of their colleagues in Parliament, just like everybody else. The name of

00:12:27.360 the, you know, the name of the game here is inconsistency.

00:12:30.780 Well, on that note, we should wrap up. We've gone a little long. We do appreciate your time. I always

00:12:35.520 give the guests the opportunity to close out, give some final, final remarks. So I'll start

00:12:40.820 with you, Raquel, since you're right next to me. And the floor is yours.

00:12:44.200 You know, the Conservative team is working very hard on behalf of Canadians and Ottawa to bring

00:12:47.580 forward pragmatic solutions to the government's haphazard mismanagement of this pandemic. We are

00:12:52.720 holding them to account on behalf of Canadians for the inhumane mistreatment we're seeing at

00:12:57.360 quarantine hotels and at our border as a result of the Rive-Canap issues. And I just want Canadians 1.00

00:13:02.980 and your listeners to know that we are fighting very hard for them, and that we want to see an

00:13:07.060 end of this pandemic. We follow the advice of experts. But unlike the Liberals, we're looking

00:13:10.820 for practical solutions that give some peace and confidence to Canadians that we are going to get

00:13:15.460 out of this, not this punishment and hopelessness and despair that we keep hearing from the Liberals.

00:13:21.220 And that's really our, I think, our primary focus is how do we get the economy back to get back,

00:13:25.780 firing on all cylinders? How do we get back to normal? We want to get out of this pandemic,

00:13:30.340 and we're working hard to make it happen. Absolutely.

00:13:32.900 I'm going to go with that. Conservatives not only are holding the government to account

00:13:38.580 in terms of pointing out everything that is wrong, and we've talked just a little bit about

00:13:43.300 about the problems on this show, but we are an official opposition that continues to bring

00:13:48.740 solutions to the table. And we continue to have them shot down. Solutions that are

00:13:54.340 consulted from our stakeholders, our constituents, everyone across the country. We want to make

00:14:00.260 government policy better, and we don't have a partner on the other side because, again,

00:14:04.580 hugs on a Monday and hiding in the basement on a Thursday.

00:14:06.980 I love that line. Melissa Lansman, Member of Parliament for Thornhill. Also,

00:14:10.660 the Shadow Minister for Transport. We have Raquel Dancho, the Member of Parliament for Keldona in

00:14:15.140 St. Paul in the beautiful province of Manitoba. Also, the Shadow Minister for Public Safety.

00:14:18.740 We appreciate their time. We appreciate your time for joining us, and we hope you do so every

00:14:22.740 single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Again, like, comment, subscribe, share this program,

00:14:28.420 help us push back against the ever-moving Liberal agenda because there will be someone in your social

00:14:32.340 media network that might be open to hearing the Conservative message, might not be getting it from the

00:14:36.100 mainstream media. This is your chance to do so, and ensure that Erin O'Toole is the next Prime

00:14:40.340 Minister of Canada. Question Period is coming up at 2.15 p.m. Eastern Time. We hope you enjoy that.

00:14:46.660 As always, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom. That is The Blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - December 14, 2021

How the Liberals are Impacting the Border

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript