00:00:00.000Hello and welcome once again to a very special episode of the Blueprint, Canada's Conservative
00:00:14.140Podcast. I'm your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton-Cawartha Lakes,
00:00:18.400with new content for you every single Tuesday, even throughout the summer. So don't forget to
00:00:23.000Like, comment, subscribe and share this program, especially because it gives me no pleasure to say this is also the last episode of the Brockprint to talk about this and so much more.
00:00:37.720We have Larry Brock, the Member of Parliament for Brantford Brant South, no stranger to the show.
00:06:58.900Even looking back in time, I go back even to the 90s, right?
00:07:04.060There was always the charge, if you will, or the discussion of how tough the Liberals really were on crime, right?
00:07:13.260There was always that discussion, maybe you should do more.
00:07:16.820But for the most part, until Justin Trudeau showed up, we all kind of agreed that people who use a firearm to commit a crime should go to jail.
00:11:03.700This is what I was explaining to the government of the day, what I was explaining to the Justice Minister.
00:11:10.380Why on earth would you send a message that crime does pay, particularly drug trafficking, by the removal of all mandatory minimum penalties?
00:11:19.860And then allowing, as you say, conditional sentences to be normalized.
00:15:15.660It wasn't dropped until August, but I was already knocking on doors.
00:15:19.420Yeah, and you've done a remarkable job.
00:15:21.600Well, listen, I said to myself, I had to step away.
00:15:25.840Maybe I haven't shared this story with you.
00:15:27.620I was frustrated as a crown attorney, frustrated that I knew bad liberal policy, bad liberal legislation was making things so much easier, so much nicer for criminals at the expense of community safety.
00:15:42.200I saw the frustration on the faces of all my justice participants.
00:15:46.260I saw the frustration with judges who had to follow what the Liberal government was touting,
00:15:51.020particularly when it comes to the principle of restraint in bail court,
00:15:54.000when it came to some sentencing measures that did not provide, in my view, the necessary deterrence.
00:16:01.460And I just said to myself, if I can't be a voice of change from within,
00:16:06.060because I was, let's face it, I was pretty well muted as a public servant for the Ontario government.
00:16:12.200If I can't change from within, be an agent of change on the outside, become a legislator.
00:16:19.540Because that would be my perfect opportunity to be unmuted, to vocalize and to criticize
00:16:26.580everything that is going wrong and to offer solutions and hopefully work collaboratively.
00:16:31.980How many times have we heard that phrase?
00:16:33.720Mark Carney wants to work collaboratively with opposition members.
00:16:37.480I can't remember the last time Mark Carney approached me or Sean Fraser approached me
00:16:42.200and wanted to work collaboratively when it came to my solutions for good amendments, right?
00:30:11.420And he still continued to obfuscate and not respond to our legitimate questions.
00:30:17.500Yes, he hit, in my view, the proverbial taxpayer lottery, receiving upwards to $19 million for doing nothing more than connecting the government of Canada with a third-party resource.
00:30:36.620He was the middle person that connected the two together.
00:30:39.820Never mind that the Government of Canada is flushed with public servants, qualified public
00:30:47.480servants who could have made that connection on their own.
00:34:07.100And I can't come up with a good line to say goodbye.
00:34:12.360I don't want to use the word goodbye because I never say never.
00:34:16.780I'm pausing my journey as a parliamentarian.
00:34:21.440I want to continue the fight to rebalance our criminal justice system from within.
00:34:28.760I want to be a conduit of information back to you and to our leader and to the party
00:34:33.900about where things need to be tweaked, reporting on the ineffectiveness of C9 and 14 and 16
00:34:42.380and other pieces of criminal legislation I'm sure that the government will be introducing.
00:34:48.240But I also want to say thank you to the people of Brantford, Brant South.
00:34:54.160They have been an amazing, amazing group of individuals.
00:34:57.280Again, an honor and privilege of a lifetime to be their leader, their voice in Ottawa.
00:35:03.620I want to sincerely thank everyone who placed their trust in me.
00:35:08.840But most importantly, Jamie, the number one priority in my life is my family.
00:35:13.780My wife of 24 years, marriage, Angela, my daughters, my twin daughters, Jenny and Emma, have been anchors, have been my support, have been with me on this journey of self-development.
00:35:30.500This was always a goal of mine to enter the political field.
00:35:34.940The opportunity came and I certainly, I squeezed every last particle of juice from that proverbial orange.
00:35:44.620And I will forever be grateful for that opportunity.