It’s time to put Canada First
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Summary
In this episode, Leanne Rood, MP for Lambton-Kent Middlesex, joins me to talk about the impact of the Trump administration's new tariffs on Canada's exports to the United States, and why they were avoidable.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprint. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
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host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Caworth-Elegs Brock, with new content
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for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe,
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and share this program. If you're on YouTube, hit the bell. Be notified when new content is
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made available. The whole issue around tariffs, that's our topic today. How this was so avoidable.
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We're going to lay out the case for that. To do that is Leanne Rood, the Member of Parliament for
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Lambton Kent Middlesex. Thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for having me, Jamie. It's great to
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be here again. Thank you for coming on again. It's very kind of you to do so. The discussion around
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tariffs and the threats and all that from the United States has been on the minds of many Canadians,
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right? They're wondering what's going to happen to the price of food, the goods, the services,
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everything, right? And of course, somewhat politicians. The Liberal Party seem to be
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involved amongst their survival, so they're kind of lost focus. But I think the main issue here
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is the fact that all of this was avoidable, right? If the government had reacted to what
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the president, President Trump had been saying, right? Secure your border, pay your 2% of NATO for
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military, right? Like that's what he said. If not, we're going to take action. The United States is
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going to take action. And this has left a lot of people on the hook and questioning business,
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questioning investment, all of that. But the point is, it was all totally avoidable.
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Absolutely, Jamie. You hit the nail right on the head. And being a riding that actually is a border
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riding, I border the United States on waterways. And what the Liberals have done over the last nine
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years, they've created this absolute chaos at our borders. They've created the mess that we're in
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right now. We saw one instance even in my riding where we've had drones coming over with illegal
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firearms with guns coming over and one drone got caught in a tree. That's how we knew that the
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smuggling was happening over our borders. So the Liberals have absolutely failed to secure the
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borders. They do not have enough resources at the borders, have not allocated enough at the borders
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to secure the borders from the gangs and the guns coming in and the drugs. And it all falls back on
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liberal policies as to why we are in this mess with the United States. Like you said, President Trump
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has laid out pretty unequivocally that he is upset with the amount of illegal drugs coming over our
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border in down south from the north. And we're up and we haven't failed to secure that we fail to
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stop any of that. Even with our oil and natural gas, how long have we been talking about the need
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to diversify and get our oil, our energy, our gas to new markets, especially Asia and Europe and not be
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so dependent on the United States. We have said, I was elected in 2015 and we're talking about it back
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then over and over and over again. And of course, they, the Liberals shut down Northern Gateway,
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they shut down Energy East, also setting the stage for the fact that no future pipelines would be
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sought based upon the fact that the regulatory environment is so prohibited. Like if you're looking
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at your company, you're looking to invest in different markets, you're going to take the
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path of least resistance. How quickly can you get the project from start to finish to moving the
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product? And in Canada, that's a big question mark. Absolutely. And we even see that here in
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Ontario. And you and I have been a part of meetings where we're talking about the ring of fire and
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trying to get our minerals out of the ground in this country. But with so much red tape and bureaucracy
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and the permitting process taking forever to get it, we can't get anything done in this country.
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And we need to, I, you know, when I talk to high school students, and I stress the importance of
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our oil and gas industry, you know, and I'm an MP from Ontario, but I think we all recognize how
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important our oil and gas industry is to Canada as a whole into our economy. And if we were actually
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able to get our industry up and running and be able to export that LNG to the countries that have
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been begging at our doorstep for years to get this, get this product out to market to other
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countries, think of the investment in our own country, the amount of jobs we would be creating,
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the good paying jobs that Canadians have. And it's not just Albertans, it's Canadians from across the
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country, friends of mine in Ontario all used to go out and work in the oil and gas sector.
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So if we were able to get that going and get our economy going, think of how much we could have as a
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country. If we invest in our own economy, invest in our natural gas and oil sector, we would be
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booming as an economy, we could be paying off debt, we could be doing things that other oil rich
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countries are doing. But right now we are stagnant. And that's directly because of the NDP Liberals and
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what their policies have been over the last number of years. And being where I'm from, we're on the
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Line 5 pipeline that brings in all of the propane into Ontario, Quebec and East. And how many times since
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I've been elected in five years have we dealt with the threat of that pipeline being shut off?
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Because we don't have our own pipeline in our own country across our own provinces to bring us our
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own product from the West here to Ontario or East. And without that, it's critical. We've been in
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critical situations where going into winter or in the winter with rail strikes, with the Line 5 threat,
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where there's been threats of not having a heating source for the Maritimes, for Quebec because of
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that pipeline. So we need to get pipelines built in our own country. So we're not reliant on our
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Let's queue up cut one. We have the Foreign Affairs Minister, Melanie Jolie, on CBC here,
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kind of proving our points. Let's play cut one.
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Do you not think though that having a quote-unquote lame duck prime minister and a government that is
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nearing the end of its life cycle, that that is not helpful to the country and to facing off the
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Well, what I will answer to you on that question is any politician, any leader in this country,
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need to put their country first. And we need to be united because this is the biggest economic threat
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that we've been under in decades. And so based on that, this is not the time to play politics.
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This is not the time for conservatives to try to undermine and, you know, the government or
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score points against the liberals because of petty politics. This is a time to be serving the country
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An absolute horrible answer. But again, it just proves the point that all of this has led up to
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the fact that we are here because the liberals and their awful policy decisions.
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Absolutely. I mean, the liberals are the one, they talk about being Canada united and we need to put
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the country first. Well, where did they put the country first when they decided to prorogue parliament
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just so they could have a liberal leadership race? Canadians have been overwhelming asking for a
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carbon tax election and they want that election now. And instead of calling that election, we have
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a prime minister who decided to put the liberal party interests ahead of the interests of Canadians
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and prorogue parliament. So we are essentially shut down. We cannot do, you and I cannot do our job
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as parliamentarians in the chamber of the House of Commons right now to actually be able to study what
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those threats are or have committee meetings. All of that is shut down so the liberal party can choose
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a new leader. So they are putting their party ahead of country at a very critical time when we should
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be putting Canadians ahead of any partisan thing. And that liberal leadership race is something that
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shouldn't have happened right now and we should have just been in an election right now.
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And you see her answer, right? Anytime they're questioned on something like this,
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they shield themselves for any criticism by, if you're questioning us, how dare you? But also,
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you're clearly not behind a United Canada, right? It's that shield. So if you ask any questions or
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second guess their decisions, well, just clearly you're un-Canadian is basically what you're saying.
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Yeah, well, liberals just continue to divide, stigmatize and wedge Canadians. And that's what they've
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done their entire tenure. We've seen that, especially over the last five years. It's just their mechanism
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to continue to divide Canadians. But I think Canadians have woken up to that fact and they're
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very well aware of what the liberals have been doing. And that's why we see polls that have said
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that, you know, 77% of Canadians want an election right now. They're sick and tired of this liberal
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hypocrisy and the way the liberals continue to divide and stigmatize and wedge Canadians on issues that are
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very important to them. And it's time for some common sense to come back into government. And that's what
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I'm hearing from people in my riding, the residents of my riding and across this country. We need to
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bring common sense back to Canada, back to the policy decision-making process. And that's what
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we're going to get when we have an election and we can elect Pierre Polyev as the next prime minister
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of Canada. Let's queue up cut two. Again, this is Melanie Jolie, the foreign affairs minister,
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continuing on and actually building the case that, yeah, we got here because of, well,
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the liberals play cut two. If Trump is going ahead with tariffs, he's starting a trade war. And of
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course we will retaliate. And you know what will happen for all those watching us right now?
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This will be a Trump tariff tax on Americans because this will have an impact on jobs in many,
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many states. 35 states have Canada as the main export market. And at the same time, we know that
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we can do a lot to make sure that ultimately at the grocery store, at the pump, when it comes to
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heating costs, we can try to think to make sure that things are not as costly.
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The hypocrisy of all of that, Jamie. Not as costly.
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The liberals are the ones that put the carbon tax on. That has actually become more expensive than the gas
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that we use to heat our homes. And we have so many Canadians showing us their gas bills now
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in the dead of winter when it's minus 20, minus 40 outside. The liberals' carbon tax is what's made
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things more expensive in Canada. Yeah. And like the way the liberals look at things, you know,
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they forget about the history, right? It's all, it's never about how do we get there, right?
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Conservatives do this a lot. We say, okay, how did we get here? What decisions were made along the way
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that led us to this point in time? What worked? What didn't? The liberals, they don't care about
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that. They're dealing in the now. Okay, we have an affordability crisis. Well, it must be somebody
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else's fault, clearly. And if you ask us, well, you know, you're being unpatriotic. It's really
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And then they try to come up with a new program that fixes the problem that they created, but the program
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really doesn't actually work either. Yeah, we've seen that time and time again, where the liberals have
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to create something to fix a problem that they created in the first place. But again, here we
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are. If we just scrap the carbon tax, we would bring down the cost of home heating, but all of
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this, the increased food prices that you see in the grocery store, the increased trucking costs,
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the increased heating costs, it's because of the liberal carbon tax. Yeah. And the fact that we have
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made our environment, our business environment here in Canada, so uncompetitive, so to the point where
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businesses are looking to go elsewhere. In fact, Mark Carney brought his company down to New York
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City because it was so uncompetitive. And this is not the only one. And sadly, Canadians are the
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victims in all of this, right? They are the victims that have to live with this. They are the ones that
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have to go through the uncertainty, whether or not they're going to have a job in the future,
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whether or not they're going to be able to feed or house their families. This is a crisis the
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Liberals have made. And here we are going to have to deal with it, hopefully in the next election,
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and hopefully Canadians feel we are ready to govern, which I think we are. And we have a very
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compelling case to put forward when that election does happen. Absolutely. And I think you're right,
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though. Canadians are ready to give Conservatives a chance to govern. And when we look at Conservative
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policies, we look at things that Pierre Polyev has said about attracting investment into Canada,
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keeping jobs here in our country, locally, growing our economy. That's how we do that. We need to
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create an environment that we're going to attract investment. You know, one example, food processing.
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We do very little food processing in this country, yet we grow so much food and export it to the world.
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So we can create an environment where we have the right economics for businesses to be attracted here
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with lower taxes instead of the high taxes. Get rid of that carbon tax, because that's a huge
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impediment for anybody looking to do business in Canada right now, is we're not competitive with
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the United States on that. Then we're going to see our country succeed as a country. But it's going to
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take a number of years. This is not going to be a quick process. We know this is going to be a slow
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process. But I think Canadians have hope for a good future and Conservatives have hope that we
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can make the tough decisions, but also do what needs to be done to make Canada back to the place
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it used to be, back to the place that my grandparents immigrated to, with that hope of if you work hard
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and you save your money and you get this good paycheck, that you can be something in life. You can
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afford a house. You can afford to have your family in Canada. You can afford to run a business.
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And that's what I think Canadians are looking for, hope for the future. We can get back to that again.
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Yeah, it's creating that certainty, that environment that allows private sector growth to continue to
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push the economy forward. And that's something we need to do is grow this economy, right? The
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Liberals have taxed, they borrowed, and they printed us to the max. And we really do need to drive this
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economy. So then, before we get to all of that, we have a Liberal leadership race. And I know some of
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these clips are a week or so old, but it really shows that Mark Carney, who is running as the
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outsider, right? Carbon Tax Carney, the outsider guy, fighting for the little person. He is the
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champion of all, right? Even though the Liberals inviscerated the middle class during their last
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10 years. He's going to save all. But it also shows that the establishment seems to be behind
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Mark Carney here. And Christian Freeland, the former finance minister, who's probably running
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neck and, I don't know, probably the second choice, maybe, based on current polls, is pointing
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it out. But it became apparent here in the CBC interview with Rosie Barton here. Let's cue
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up cut three. And the ending is where you really have to watch. This is something the Liberal
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media really doesn't do to Liberals. So play cut three. I have the spine to stand up for
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Canada. I have the plan to stand up for Canada. And I know we can do it. Hang on one second.
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Okay. Just quickly, let's address this. Let's quickly address this. Okay. She has the spine.
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She is the one that gave us USMCA after Mexico and the United States came to a deal. And the
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US said, well, take it or leave it. And we capitulated on a whole bunch of things. And
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she's saying, and she was the foreign minister at the time, I believe. And she's saying she
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has the spine to stand up to the United States. Her record doesn't say that.
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No. And she's even admitted that President Trump does not like her. She said that on the
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air on multiple interviews. But the fact of the matter is, she was the finance minister
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responsible for this mess over the last number of years that we are in as a country. So if she
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didn't have the spine to stand up to Justin Trudeau as the finance minister, how on earth
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is she going to have a spine as prime minister to stand up to our largest trading partner
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to make sure we get a good deal on the next USMCA?
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Well, she's growing a spine because now she says the capital gains kind of hurt investment
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in Canada, the changes to the capital gain inclusion rate. But here, okay, let's restart
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I have the spine to stand up for Canada. I have the plan to stand up for Canada. And I
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know we can do it. I know that if we are united and strong and smart, we can do it. And I have
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utter conviction around that. It's central to my campaign to see this is not about liberal
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elites deciding this is about the grassroots. It is certainly looking like Mark is the choice
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of the liberal establishment. It is certainly looking like he is the PMO's candidate.
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Freeland was not able to offer any evidence that allowed her to make that assertion.
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I think that just proves the point right there.
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You know, Rosie Barton, a big fan of the prime minister when he was first elected. You remember
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she was doing selfies with him in the Canadian embassy in Washington, DC and all these friendly
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log question interviews that she held over the years. That rarely, if ever, gets done to a liberal.
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It is incredible. But, you know, when, when Christian Freeland talks about Mark Carney and Mark
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Carney talks about himself being an outsider, let's just point out this fact to Canadians
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again. Mark Carney is not a liberal outsider. He, in fact, has been a, somebody who Justin Trudeau
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has trusted all along as an advisor. He's been the head of the Bank of Canada, the head of the Bank
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of England, I believe it was. And he's been at the top post in big multi, multinational corporations.
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This is somebody who is the farthest from being an outsider. He is an insider at the most elite
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levels. In fact, like, has he even said where he lives in this country? Does, where is his
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residence? I know he did his announcement in Edmonton, but have we heard where he plans
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to run as a member of parliament? We haven't yet. So carbon tax Carney is no different than
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I don't think Mark Carney, if he were given the chance to be prime minister, he would lay
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in bed at night worried that if invoking a policy of his would cause people to be unemployed or shut
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down a factory or a mill or whatever and cause devastation. I don't think he actually thinks
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about that, right? He thinks, again, that he is super smart. He knows better than the little
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people out there. And again, he travels the world in the best luxury and the best planes,
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has the best meals. But how dare anyone else try to do the same? Because then you're just,
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Exactly. He can't relate to the people you and I represent in our rural ridings, Jamie. There's no
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way. And the fact is that he is an elitist and he wants to increase the carbon tax even further.
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He's been on the record saying that he doesn't think it goes far enough. And Canadians have said,
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we've had enough of this. We cannot afford to live anymore. When I have young people telling me that
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they never have a hope of owning a home or 20 somethings, including people that are very close to
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me who say, Leanne, I can't even afford to move out of my parents' house because I can't afford to pay
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the rent right now. When we're in such a time as this in our country, where affordability is top of
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mind for all Canadians. You have somebody who has no clue what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck
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or worry about if they can pay that heating bill this month, or maybe they can only pay part of
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this bill this month so that they can afford to pay for the groceries to feed their kids or people
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having to put their head down and swallow their pride because they have to use a food bank, which
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they've never thought in their entire life they'd have to use because they've been the ones supporting
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our local food banks. And I see that day in and day out with seniors, with young people, families,
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they're really struggling. And I don't think any of these Liberals who are running to be the next
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Prime Minister of Canada have a clue what these people, what Canadians are struggling with right
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now. And like you said, they're not going to be laying awake at night in their beds wondering how
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we're going to fix this problem. And I think you and I and most of our Conservative colleagues,
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that's the kinds of things we do. Every day we are fighting for Canadians, for you at home,
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to make sure that we can give you hope for a better future in this country. And Pierre Polyev does
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that day in and day out. And we're really looking forward to the next election when we can have a
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Conservative majority government led by Pierre Polyev as Prime Minister and bring back common sense
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and bring back hope for Canadians of a better future. We've said it many times on this program before
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and something feel free to repeat outside of this. It's the same bus company, it's the same bus,
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it's the same route. They're just changing the driver. Exactly. That's all it is. Don't be fooled.
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Exactly. We're pretty much out of time. Leanne, as you know, the guests always get the last word.
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The floor is yours. Well, thank you, Jamie. And again, to Canadians, Conservatives are here to bring
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you hope. And we are working tirelessly right now against the Liberals and the NDP and their
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policies. And we hope to have a carbon tax election here in the near future. And we promise to bring
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back common sense to Canada and restore that hope for a better future for Canadians.
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Leanne Rood, Member of Parliament for Lambton, Kent, Middlesex. We appreciate your time.
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We appreciate yours as well. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe and share this program. You can
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also download it on platforms like Castbox, iTunes, Google Play and Spotify. New content for you
00:21:58.440
every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern time, despite the fact that Parliament is not sitting
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at the moment. Thanks, Justin Trudeau. Until next week, remember low taxes, less government,