The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Justice for Nova Scotian Families

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

00:00:06.320 Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, for the likes of Brock. Thank you very much once

00:00:10.440 again for joining us. Before we get into a very important topic, we're going to talk about the

00:00:15.160 public inquiry into Canada's worst mass shooting in its history with our critic Shannon Stubbs,

00:00:21.640 Member of Parliament for Lakeland. She's also the public safety critic, as I mentioned. We need you

00:00:26.960 to help us push back against the ever-moving Liberal agenda. So what that means is, if you

00:00:32.420 can't watch the whole episode today on a platform like Facebook, you can download it, listen to it

00:00:37.800 later, tell your friends about it. It's available on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play,

00:00:42.620 Spotify, you name it, it's out there. So we appreciate that. And this way, we can all start

00:00:47.640 to move into areas and maybe access voters that might be open to the Conservative message, but

00:00:52.980 might not be getting that because the mainstream media is focusing on one side and one side only.

00:00:59.220 So we need your help for that. So because of that, because of the important topics we

00:01:03.880 cover here in Parliament, we're going to bring in Shannon Stubbs here. Shannon, come on in. 1.00

00:01:09.800 Hi, Jamie. Thanks for having me. I'm here in my kitchen near Two Hills, Alberta on the farm,

00:01:15.020 and actually beautiful weather for November. Crazy.

00:01:17.360 Well, it is snowing in Ottawa today. So it's a bit of a change in pace. Usually it's snowing in

00:01:24.600 Alberta. Well, yes, I know. Yeah, the suffering of those in Ottawa. So onto a more serious topic,

00:01:33.060 because you are the public safety critic, and I do appreciate your time here. So about six months

00:01:37.940 ago, Canada experienced one of, well, the worst mass shooting in its history in the beautiful

00:01:44.360 province of Nova Scotia. And I think it was clear after it happened and kind of the stories in the

00:01:53.040 media that started to come out afterwards that we needed a bigger, Canadians, Nova Scotians needed a

00:01:58.900 bigger view into what had actually transpired through the whole process and where things could

00:02:05.800 move forward. And this seemed to point in all directions to a public inquiry, but that's not what

00:02:12.200 the Trudeau liberals originally said they would go forward with in this circumstance.

00:02:18.460 Yeah, that's exactly right, Jamie. I think it's important to recall that the calls for a public

00:02:25.700 inquiry, particularly from the family members of victims and from the communities who were most

00:02:30.640 directly impacted were immediate. And it makes sense on the face of it. Obviously, the worst mass

00:02:36.540 murder in Canadian history would merit, I would think a public inquiry just being as it is. But of course,

00:02:42.960 then the other information that was coming out with regards to the firearms that the murderer used and

00:02:52.440 other aspects, it became clear that there are real answers that all Canadians need to hear and get at

00:03:02.100 about how this tragedy transpired. However, the minister, Bill Blair, the minister of public safety,

00:03:12.020 he originally said that there should only be an internal review. And families and communities there

00:03:19.860 immediately responded and said, no, you know, we need to have a full airing of all of the information so

00:03:25.760 that we can get real answers that everybody deserves. But he made them protest and plead and beg for months,

00:03:35.100 Jamie. So imagine going through an unimaginable loss, anguish and pain and grief and confusion,

00:03:45.960 like most people can never really imagine never really conceive of. And that minister forced these

00:03:53.720 families and those community members to protest to have to take to the streets to also get politically

00:04:00.640 involved to try to get the minister to do the right thing. And I just think, frankly, that that's

00:04:07.120 unconscionable. And but they did it. And to their credit, finally, just I don't know, a week ago or two

00:04:17.100 weeks ago, finally, the minister announced that the public inquiry will be launched with the

00:04:25.140 appointment of the last commissioner. But overall, it's, it's been almost seven months. And, you know,

00:04:33.780 it was three months when, when they said they were going to do this, it was three months after

00:04:39.380 the shooting. And then they said they were going to do an inquiry. But then one of the former

00:04:44.420 commissioners said, well, she didn't have the time to actually do that. And so there's just been delay

00:04:49.320 after delay and the minister dragging and dithering on, on actually doing what the families and the

00:04:54.700 communities are calling for. Well, if my memory is correct, I believe the minister at the time of

00:05:00.280 making the announcement of the public review, not the inquiry, the original review, which sent shockwaves

00:05:06.700 throughout the province of Nova Scotia, it turned out later that if again, my memory is correct,

00:05:12.360 the minister hadn't actually spoken to a member of his Atlantic caucus on the best path forward in

00:05:17.920 this situation. Yes, I heard the same thing. I don't know for sure. But it became very clear that

00:05:25.840 if he was actually listening to anybody in Nova Scotia, including members of his own team, he

00:05:32.520 wouldn't have made that decision for the review in the first place. But really, I think the credit

00:05:38.220 belongs to the families and the relatives of the victims. And, and their community members who

00:05:44.780 rallied around them together to to ask for this public inquiry, that is so that is needed so direly.

00:05:51.020 Um, the but I here's what I'm I'm worried about, you know, now the minister sort of wants to parade

00:05:57.600 and peacock about the fact that he has called this public inquiry, but of course, it's still in very

00:06:02.980 early stages, it will be, you know, probably weeks, maybe even months before testimony actually is

00:06:11.120 heard. I believe they're aiming for a report in 2022. And so Jamie, there's another aspect of this,

00:06:19.280 which we have been pushing the minister on families now want to know exactly why the decision was made

00:06:26.080 in the first place to only do a review. And they want included in the terms of reference for the

00:06:31.480 public inquiry, all of the decision making all of the processes and all of the factors that that

00:06:38.560 happened between the wrong decision to only have a review and also to finally get to calling a public

00:06:46.880 inquiry, the families have together said, all of these delays further victimize them. And they feel

00:06:54.560 like both governments acted with secrecy and not in the best interests of the families, those are their

00:07:00.080 words. And they say that in order to ensure a meaningful inquiry, and to, to ensure that future

00:07:09.520 processes like this are actually transparent, and, and meaningful and accountable, that the terms of

00:07:17.520 reference of this inquiry must include all of those decision making all those factors and all of that

00:07:23.200 evidence related to the initial decision, just to have a review and then to move to the public inquiry.

00:07:28.240 So most recently, we've been pushing the minister on exactly that on getting him to honor

00:07:34.640 the the most recent request of the families to include all of that in the public inquiry.

00:07:40.880 Now, Jamie, it won't surprise you. He hit back and said he alleged that this was just questions we were

00:07:46.960 asking for political advantage. But I can tell you and I can tell you this firsthand because I have,

00:07:53.920 if he had spoken to any relative or family member of those victims, he would know that we we as conservatives

00:08:00.800 and I not asking questions for our party, not asking questions for us individually, we are directly being

00:08:09.280 the voice of family members who he's ignoring, and that they themselves have asked for all of this

00:08:14.320 information so that they can get answers that they serve. Now, of course, and no doubt in anyone's mind,

00:08:19.280 this was extremely tragic and horrific event and needs to be dealt with. That's why we're asking for these answers.

00:08:25.520 But shortly after the shooting, that's when the Prime Minister and Minister Blair came out with the

00:08:32.080 decision to to ban a whole whack of firearms that that were used in a lot of cases and actually all

00:08:39.600 of the cases within the sport shooting and hunting community. However, what we as an opposition have

00:08:46.000 been calling for for years now is the fact that this the shooter obtained those firearms that were used in this

00:08:53.840 tragedy illegally, many of which were smuggled across the United States Canada border. And that's something

00:09:00.880 we've been calling for for years to tighten up the that border so that these illegal firearms or illegal

00:09:07.920 drugs or anything else that should not be entering our country stops. And this is something the liberals

00:09:14.080 failed to do. So they came up with this next program, which will actually do nothing to stop the

00:09:20.160 the the the the the the, you know, the disgusting shootings that are happening.

00:09:25.120 That that's exactly right. Are you know, at least ever since you and I have both been elected in 2015,

00:09:33.360 our colleagues and our party have been consistently calling for the government to focus on where the

00:09:40.240 problem is, which is actually illegal importations and up through the border and illegal smuggling and gun

00:09:47.520 trading often, often precipitated by organized crime. And I would suggest that not only has our

00:09:54.080 party been calling for that for the past five years, but I think we have always been calling for that in

00:09:58.480 every election and every debate over this issue, every time it comes up, because the priority has to be

00:10:04.880 cracking down on criminals, while protecting and balancing the rights and freedoms of law abiding

00:10:11.120 innocent Canadians and honoring victims of crime. And I know you probably could speak to this more

00:10:18.400 personally. But I know that since 2015, shootings have increased in Toronto exponentially. And the police

00:10:27.120 chief there says the vast majority of them are related to illegal firearms trading and gang activity.

00:10:34.320 So what is mind boggling is that now you see the public safety minister, he started to talk about

00:10:40.240 that, like he's saying those words. But I don't know about you and all your viewers, Jamie, what boggles

00:10:45.920 my mind is the part where they've been in power for half a decade. And so I sort of feel like, yeah, thanks for,

00:10:52.800 you know, thanks for saying the right things at the 11th hour. But where is the real action that they

00:11:01.200 should have taken actions that we proposed right for dedicated CBSA plus other law enforcement concerted

00:11:11.200 efforts to crack down on border smuggling of the of illegal firearms, to really crack down on organized

00:11:19.440 crime and on great gang activity, and said they're not doing that they're doing what liberals always do,

00:11:25.600 which is, you know, creating a bureaucracy, which will go after highly vetted law abiding,

00:11:34.000 responsible, innocent Canadians, instead of where instead of where the attention and the resources

00:11:40.240 need to be to actually have hope of preventing these kinds of tragedies in the future.

00:11:48.000 As I've said many times on this program, and we've had Glenn Motz and others here to talk about it is,

00:11:52.640 is what the liberals are doing is basically providing us a false sense of security for

00:11:56.800 Canadians. You're not actually stopping the shootings that, as you mentioned, are largely

00:12:02.000 happening within the gang community that needs to stop. But the problem is they're still getting

00:12:08.320 their firearms illegally. Meanwhile, the innocent firearms owners, the law abiding firearms owners

00:12:14.240 that might use their firearms to go hunt or to sport shoot, they're the ones that are going to be

00:12:19.920 punished because they follow the law. And they will do what the government tells them to do because

00:12:25.440 they are law abiding, but actually not stopping the problem.

00:12:30.480 Exactly. They already follow the rules.

00:12:31.920 Right. And you're not actually solving anything.

00:12:35.760 No.

00:12:36.080 You're not solving, and they call themselves-

00:12:38.080 You're not writing down the people who don't give a rep about the laws and the rules in the first

00:12:41.200 place, right?

00:12:41.840 And they call themselves progressive, but they're not actually progressing towards anything. It's just a

00:12:46.160 whole bunch of new government employees and still the problems will continue because they're going

00:12:53.040 after the wrong people.

00:12:54.560 Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, Jamie, there are some family members of the victims of the Nova Scotia

00:13:02.480 shooting who have spoken out about that, who said that they were shocked at what they perceived to be

00:13:12.480 the Prime Minister and the Minister using that tragedy and that devastation to their lives and the murder of

00:13:21.440 their loved ones to bring in that OIC, which you'll remember, and we should probably remind all your folks

00:13:30.080 here that they did outside of Parliament being able to operate in its full scope. Remember, we were basically in the

00:13:37.520 the glorified COVID committee, which the, you know, the Prime Minister pretended was actually

00:13:42.160 Parliament but wasn't, where opposition members were stripped of their powers, where we didn't

00:13:48.400 have the same ability for debates. They didn't even bring in, they haven't even had a debate in Parliament

00:13:53.600 about this issue. And it's heartbreaking to hear family members of those victims say, hold on a second,

00:14:02.160 you've used this tragedy to bring in this draconian measure, which won't target even the things we

00:14:11.040 already know about the problems and about what led to this, to this mass murder. Yet, on the other hand,

00:14:19.520 have dragged your heels for months and months and months on doing what was blindingly obvious and the

00:14:24.560 just thing to do in the first place, which was to have a full public inquiry.

00:14:27.760 Since we are talking about the border, and I love your passion on this topic. Let's talk about the

00:14:34.320 number of, I guess, fairly wealthy people who are able to cross the border without

00:14:40.960 quarantining for that 14 days. Meanwhile, we are seeing other restrictions on people who are trying

00:14:47.040 to get their family members across the border, who are trying to deal with this situation. But yet,

00:14:51.600 apparently, if you are well connected, you're able to bounce back and forth, no problems.

00:14:56.640 Yeah, yeah, this has been crazy. And you know what, I guess, I guess, like, as conservatives,

00:15:02.880 we might not say the words I'm about to say very often, but thank goodness for the media. And actually,

00:15:08.400 it was a it's a CBC investigative reporter who actually allowed Canadians to know for the first

00:15:14.160 time that this, this kind of thing is happening, which I think has been shocking. So you, you and all

00:15:20.160 the folks joining in with us have probably seen, there's been information coming out that's between

00:15:25.200 August and October, there are instances of different American, literally billionaire,

00:15:32.480 business executives, who have managed to get these exemptions from quarantining. And in some cases,

00:15:40.720 not only did they just go to, you know, a certain designated work site for a photo op, for example,

00:15:47.120 but in other cases, actually, where they traveled from province to province, three different provinces,

00:15:53.280 went around the country, most recently, an example where they came in to, to force their workers to

00:15:58.720 adopt a contract to put the pressure on them to adopt a new contract. And meanwhile, you know, I'm sure in

00:16:06.720 your office, like in mine, and all of our colleagues, you know, we we get concerns and worry, one after

00:16:14.000 another of everyday working Canadians, either about their relatives, or their small businesses, or

00:16:20.640 whatever travel they might be doing, where they face these restrictions. And some crazy things we've

00:16:27.040 heard recently, Jamie, like people who they accidentally take a wrong turn, and they end up

00:16:35.040 just on the border, they get told by the US officials, no problem, turn around, go home,

00:16:40.240 they don't even get out of the car, they come back and get told by CBSA, they need to go home in

00:16:45.440 quarantine for 14 days. Like, that's bananas, you know, or I know of examples where two pilots, they were

00:16:55.520 at a conference, they came back here, and the individual decision at the border was one was declared

00:17:03.520 essential, one was not. So one came back cool beans, the other one had to quarantine for 14 days.

00:17:12.320 There's example after example after example like this. And what's confusing and bizarre is all the

00:17:17.840 different, all the different answers, right. So originally on that, that original story, that first

00:17:23.040 one that broke about this American billionaire executive who came in and got the free pass,

00:17:27.280 that the Minister of Public Safety blamed CBSA officials, he said, you know, his words were that

00:17:34.880 that was a mistake, and those people should not have been permitted entry. So of course, naturally,

00:17:39.280 these Conservatives answered, well, what exact directives or guidelines did you subsequently

00:17:43.920 give them to clarify, if you say that this is a mistake? He, of course, wouldn't answer that question.

00:17:48.960 Yet, I followed up on a couple of these other instances more recently, and Minister Champagne,

00:17:54.560 a foreign affairs minister, answered the questions. Well, his answer was that this isn't an individual

00:18:01.280 case by case thing, that these exemptions are granted with consultation between, you know, three

00:18:06.800 different, three different organizations, provinces and territories, the department.

00:18:14.480 So what is it? You know, is it a case by case individual basis happening at the border?

00:18:19.760 Is it this much more comprehensive process that the other minister has outlined? No wonder Canadians 1.00

00:18:27.520 just have no idea what to expect when they go to the border. And I guess we should also remember in

00:18:35.360 the very beginning of all of this, you'll recall, Jamie, like our party asked the Liberals to take action

00:18:39.840 on the border in response to COVID in January. And they dithered and delayed and did nothing until

00:18:46.000 about March. Well, now, Canadians are just quite clearly asking for some certainty and some clarity.

00:18:54.160 And it makes no sense whatsoever, all of this evidence coming out that, you know, Canadians in 1.00

00:19:00.160 their own daily lives or with their families or with their small businesses, they face all these

00:19:04.240 restrictions, they face all this uncertainty. Yet seems like if you're a US billionaire, you know,

00:19:09.920 the rules don't apply to you. Well, Shannon, we only have a few minutes left. And traditionally,

00:19:15.440 when you have been on this program in your role, your previous role as natural resources critic,

00:19:19.920 we always talk about pipelines and how your province of Alberta, the beautiful province of Alberta is

00:19:24.240 doing. Maybe just give us a quick snapshot. I know you could go on for hours about this topic,

00:19:28.880 but just a quick update would be fantastic. Well, I think that Albertans know that the Liberals are

00:19:41.840 continuing to go down their anti Alberta, anti energy, anti private sector path. I think that

00:19:51.600 it is even more concerning, of course, because they have their allies in the NDP and the Greens and the

00:19:57.280 block supporting them on these on their anti energy legislation and policies. You've probably seen

00:20:06.640 there recently was a big purchase, sort of a conglomeration between Synovus and Husky

00:20:14.240 that is going to lead it looks so far like more job losses in in my area, and in Rosemary Falk's area. 0.56

00:20:22.960 And I think the the Liberals might try to make that seem like it's like it shows health in the industry,

00:20:32.160 but what it actually shows, in my view, is part of the damage of the policies and the bad policies,

00:20:41.440 the anti energy legislation that's been brought forward, exacerbating and aggravating global factors.

00:20:47.120 And what's actually starting to happen is the thing that you and I talked about a lot when we worked

00:20:51.360 together on the natural resources committee and which we're concerned about, which is an increasing

00:20:57.920 consolidation conglomeration in the industry, and an increasing oligarchy of just only the very

00:21:06.080 biggest companies that can manage to survive. And so, as always, and like you and I used to fight

00:21:12.400 together on that committee and talk about, you know, I am very concerned that we'll keep fighting

00:21:17.600 for small and medium sized contractors for individual workers, for for especially the companies

00:21:24.880 in the service supply contracting industry, which is the lifeblood of the Canadian oil and gas sector.

00:21:33.920 And so yeah, I know that even though I'm no longer in that spot, we conservatives are still going to be

00:21:39.360 fighting for oil and gas workers in Alberta, right across the country. And I think there's probably

00:21:45.520 even more anti energy slash fantasy land policy coming down the pipe, so to speak, that we're going to

00:21:52.960 have to fight and to stand up against. And I know that we will.

00:21:56.400 I know we only have a short minute. I do need to build on what you said. And I know I'm being told that

00:22:00.640 time is pretty much out. But but that's what big government likes, right? They like only a few handful of

00:22:06.560 big organizations, it's easy for them. And in return, they pair, they they bring in barriers

00:22:11.600 to competition for the smaller and medium, medium sized companies, so they can't get a foothold in

00:22:16.560 the marketplace. And and all is good in government land. Meanwhile, there's no competition in the

00:22:21.360 industry. The cost for the service or the product goes up, the quality goes down, and and everyday people

00:22:30.000 suffer as a result. And it will happen in the oil and gas industry if the Trudeau Liberals continue to

00:22:35.600 to run Ottawa. Yeah, exactly right. And and Jamie, yeah, we can't. We don't have time to get into

00:22:42.160 this. But the the massive amounts of deficit that they're racking up their spending. I mean,

00:22:48.400 I don't know who they expect to pay the bills when when this all comes crashing down. And frankly,

00:22:54.560 in the economy, it was the oil and gas sector. So they better figure out something in a hurry,

00:23:00.880 because they're the damage that they're doing. Is I think it's going to be destructive to the

00:23:06.880 country to future generations. And I know you and I used to talk about this a lot, like where the

00:23:11.520 heck do they think the jobs, and then all the tax dollars that provide the programs and services

00:23:17.040 people value come from? Well, that's the fear they want to ensure that there are the jobs the left

00:23:23.600 approves of, right? These green jobs are heavily subsidized and only are a result of the massive

00:23:29.920 amount of money that is shoveled into them. Look at the green energy policy here in Ontario that the

00:23:35.120 Ontario Liberals brought in and and made Ontario absolutely uncompetitive in the global marketplace

00:23:41.120 when you're talking about the price of electricity. So thank you.

00:23:44.000 And all those people, all those people in those, you would always tell me about all those, especially

00:23:49.920 rural Ontarians who have to choose between heating and eating. I mean, it's, it's unbelievable, you know,

00:23:56.800 to cause that kind of energy poverty for people who are vulnerable, low income, but seniors and fixed

00:24:03.360 incomes and rural people. And it's a scary thing to think they might try to do that to the whole country.

00:24:09.040 Absolutely. I can't tell you how many food banks opened up or saw a massive increase in people

00:24:15.280 walking through because people, you're right, were choosing between eating or heating or their

00:24:20.880 medicine or their electricity. It was a totally horrible, horrible program. And the Trudeau Liberals

00:24:28.480 do need to be stopped. But I do need to let you go because Question Period is coming up. If you're able to

00:24:32.880 stick around, check out our leaders page, Aaron O'Toole. He will have Question Period on that platform.

00:24:39.200 Facebook, probably the most common. Be sure to listen in. We're going to be really pressing

00:24:43.360 the Liberals. Once again, Shannon Stubbs, Member of Parliament for Lakeland in the beautiful province

00:24:47.520 of Alberta, public safety critic. Thank you so much. Once again, I could talk to you for hours,

00:24:51.920 and I do appreciate your passion on this. Hey, thanks, Jamie. Likewise.

00:24:55.440 And remember, we will be back with new content next Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. In the meantime,

00:25:01.120 if you can't watch us here today, please download us, CastBox, Google Play,

00:25:05.200 iTunes, Spotify, you name it, it's out there. And also, like, comment, subscribe, share this program,

00:25:11.680 help us push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda. Thank you so much for joining us. Remember,

00:25:16.640 low taxes, less government, more freedom. That's the blueprints.

00:25:19.760 That is the blueprint.

00:25:30.320 That is the blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - November 06, 2020

Justice for Nova Scotian Families

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