Mark Carney’s massive conflicts of interest.
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Summary
On today's show, we are joined by Eric Melillo, MP for Kanora-Kanata-Kawakanong, to talk about the latest food price report and the Prime Minister's conflict with Brookfield Access.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm
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your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Cawortha Lakes with new content
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for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe
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and share this program. Your friends can download it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google
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Play and Spotify, you name it, it is out there. On today's show, we are going to talk about
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the latest food price reports that is showing Canadians will be paying a lot more for groceries.
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Also, the Prime Minister appears to continue to be in conflict with Brisbane Brookfield
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Access. To talk about that and so much more, we are bringing on Eric Melillo, the Member
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of Parliament for Kanora Kiwaitanong. Thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for having me.
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Good to be back. Apparently, it's been a minute since you've been on the show. Yeah, I think
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like five or six years, maybe. I was starting to think you didn't like me. Oh, I apologize.
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And you know what? Looking back, it actually gets worse because we were only audio at the
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time. We didn't have video in this podcast. That's how long ago it was. After the 2019
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election, you and Raquel Dancho were the guests talking about the youth and how the youth, according
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to the Liberals, and so they thought they had the youth locked down. They had that vote locked
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down. Turns out, you weren't unicorns after all. It actually grew into a bigger movement.
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Absolutely. I think what we're seeing is more and more young Canadians looking to the Conservative
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Party with the cost of living, whether it's groceries, gas, housing. I mean, youth have given
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up completely on their dream of home ownership. It's no longer a goal that they're looking to
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as something attainable, but just a faraway dream. Many can't afford groceries. Many aren't
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even thinking about home ownership. There are a whole slew of problems in front of young
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people, jobs, the economy, and this has come to the point. So the Conservative Party has
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actually expanded its group of voter base, that being young people.
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Absolutely. And we see that in MPs that we've elected as well, especially in this last election,
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Suckman Gill out in the Lower Mainland in BC. We have Jonathan Rowe in Newfoundland and many
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others that are joining the fold. I mean, we see it in the voter coalition as well. I think
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young people that are coming to looking at our party. You mentioned the cost of living,
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the unemployment. Youth unemployment is at the highest point it's been since 2010 if you take
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out the COVID pandemic. So I think a lot of young people aren't able to find jobs. They're struggling
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with the cost of living. They've given up, to your point, completely on the dream of home ownership.
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It's not even something that is thought of as an attainable goal. It's just this sort of faraway
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dream that although their parents and grandparents had it, it just doesn't seem like it's reality
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in Canada today after what's now 10 years of Liberal government.
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And the latest job report shows a bump in the number of part-time jobs, which any job is good,
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but at the same time, the number of full-time jobs, that's not where the growth was.
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And when you look at the sectors that did experience some bumps, it was all sectors that rely on government
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funding, right? Social programs, there was some defense spending that went into it, but it isn't
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being driven by private sector investment, which is the key to growing the economy in a way that's
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sustainable in the long term. Absolutely. Full-time employment is down. To me, that's the headline of
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the latest job numbers. And at the end of the day, even those with a part-time or in some cases full-time
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job, many Canadians with jobs are still going to the food bank. They're still struggling to get by.
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I think that's why we're seeing two million Canadians in a single month using the food bank
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record numbers. Again, this is unheard of in Canada, but this is just the reality of the
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Liberal economic plan at work. Yeah, it really is to think that two million Canadians, like numbers
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that we never thought were possible before. And unfortunately, it's not getting much better
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because the latest food price report, and I'll get this right here. So next year, 2026,
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Canadians are on average going to spend $1,000 more next year on groceries than they are
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this year. And that's on top of last year, 2024, 2023, where we've just seen increase after increase
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after increase to the point now, the annual cost for a family of four on groceries, $17,571.79. Unreal.
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Unbelievable. Unbelievable. It really is. And I mean, you say unbelievable, but if you go to the grocery
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store, you see it every single day. And I think it's a lot of essential staple items, you know,
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things like beef, meat, coffee, I know is one that's jumped up. Yeah, coffee is number one,
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actually, for the jump. So a lot of things that Canadians are consuming or wanting to consume
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every single day. And it's to the point where, I mean, when the Liberals first took office, I think
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that we had a very good economic situation. And as time went on, as taxes have gone up,
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as big government programs have continued to drive up the cost of living, people started to,
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you know, cut back on some of the vacations and the concerts and some of those fun things. And then
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now we're seeing cutbacks to children's activities and some of the more useful things. And it's at the
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point now that many Canadians are just, again, struggling with the necessities. They're not
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even thinking about vacation, they're just thinking about putting food on the table. And that's how much
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things have changed for the worse in 10 years. It's completely unbelievable.
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Yeah, when you think about in 2019, prior to the pandemic, like the effects of the Trudeau policies
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were taking some impact with our resource sector and other, but the economy was still managing
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to get by. The pandemic hit, of course, we know what happened. The government spent like crazy,
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inflation's out of control. And now we're into the spot now where government spending continues,
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about $80 billion in the hole this year. No foreseeable end to that. At the same time,
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we have these agreements being signed with Alberta and the federal government to try to get a pipeline,
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but it's all loaded on the one side where there are barriers on the British Columbia side,
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unfortunately, with David Eby, the premier there, saying no. So will this nation building project
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ever get a shovel in the ground? I hope so. I really do. I really hope it does. But the way
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the Carney liberals are structuring this deal, there are many factors that would stop it.
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Absolutely. It seems like Prime Minister Carney is trying to say some of the right things,
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position this for failure. I don't understand any other logic as to what he's doing. I think it
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makes sense. A lot of his caucuses is already out saying that this paper they signed isn't actually
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going to get any of a pipeline built. So, you know, the Prime Minister, Mr. Carney, he ran on this
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election and he was the man with the plan to get all these big projects built, get our economy back
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on track. To your point, Jamie, what we're seeing is putting up barriers to getting those projects
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built. And I think we're seeing not just a continuation of Trudeau's economic plan, but
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doubling down on it. I think it's $90 billion in new spending was announced in this budget after
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the Prime Minister promised that spending would go down. He promised that, you know, Canadians can
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judge them by the prices at the grocery stores. Exactly. Yep. Prices are going up. And prices are
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going up. You know, but by every metric he's setting for himself, he's missing. Yes. And, you know,
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that's what the Prime Minister is going to have to explain to Canadians why he's setting all of
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these standards, missing every single one of them as prices continue to skyrocket. The inflationary
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industrial carbon tax still in place. Still there. Still there. By the relatively the same amount that
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was taken off during the consumer carbon price. Exactly. Yeah. So interesting that for show you
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remove the carbon tax of the retail level, but behind the scenes where people don't see it,
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it's still being added. Exactly. Yeah. It's a hidden tax. All Canadians are paying it. And, you know,
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especially on things like food, it's hitting the farmers, it's hitting the transportation, it's hitting
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the grocery store itself. And that's being passed down. And, you know, now Canadians don't see it.
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You know, the Prime Minister is saying the right things. But in reality, what he's actually doing
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is continuing and doubling down on that same disastrous Liberal record, driving up more
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inflationary spending, adding to the cost of living. And of course, when you take the housing
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challenges and couple that with the grocery prices, it's one cost of living crisis that all
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Canadians are facing. Yeah. No rebate. No rebate on this carbon tax, unfortunately. So it's really
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something. But you're right. You know, housing, people can't afford to buy, builders can't afford
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to build. It's a weird conundrum, the fact that we have a housing crisis all across the country right
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now. Right. And we can't seem to get anything built because the cost of materials, the cost of
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everything is way more than what people can afford because wages aren't growing at that same pace.
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And we see it around your area. Sault Ste. Marie, we just had a very sad announcement just before
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Christmas. Algoma Steel weighing off a thousand workers. We just had more, a few hundred more in
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Sudbury. Absolutely stunning for a community of those sizes that rely on mining and the steel
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industry. Absolutely. It's heartbreaking. That's right. I mean, mining, steel, I had forestry to that mix
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as well. We saw an announcement with Cat Paper. I know that they had a bit of support, but that's
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running out. That was temporary support. Ear Falls sawmill in my district. And I know, of course,
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in British Columbia and in other areas as well, you know, workers across the country are, you know,
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they're getting hit from all sides now, right? They've lost their job. Food prices are going up.
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They're struggling to find housing. All of these things are just layering on top of each other,
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making this economic situation that much more catastrophic for Canadians.
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So even with the, this announcement with Alberta and Canada, I want to get back to that just
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quickly and it leads us into our next topic. Prior to the election, Mark Carney's election,
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he was always on the side of keeping the ground. That's right. But the company he was chair of,
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Brookfield Asset Management, Brookfield Asset Management, was investing in oil development
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in other parts of the country, around the UAE and others. So they were holding off development in
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Canada, stifling our economic growth, stifling jobs, opportunity and wealth created at home here.
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Investing over in other jurisdictions, creating those jobs, those opportunities, all that wealth.
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And he moved his head office from Canada to New York City. Unbelievable. Just goes to show you.
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So now we have Canada's top public servant and a few other Brookfield executives appearing at the
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Ethics Committee to kind of take a dive in and a deeper look at the conflict of interest or potential
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conflict of interest that the Prime Minister has with his stock shares and stock options in Brookfield.
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And this was something that kind of continues to bubble because when you looked at the disclosure of the Prime Minister,
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he still had areas that raised a lot of questions for a lot of people.
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And let's queue up cut one here. We have the Ethics Committee going on, looking at Brookfield.
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This is Michael Cooper, a colleague from Alberta, questioning officials here to actually find out how deep this goes
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and what is actually at stake here. Is the decisions being made by the government still benefiting the Prime Minister
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in a backhanded kind of way? So let's play cut one.
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Mr. Carney's ethics disclosure states that he is entitled to carried interest payments, a.k.a.
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future bonus pay, in respect of the performance of Brookfield's global transition funds.
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But what is missing from Mr. Carney's disclosure are the holdings in this fund,
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the companies that this fund is invested in. Would you agree that this is a significant and material
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omission from the standpoint of knowing the extent of Mr. Carney's conflicts of interest?
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Yes. And unfortunately, though, the disclosure rules allow for secret investments, essentially.
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And by keeping these future shares, these options, the performance pay,
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it could potentially be worth tens of billions of dollars.
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So the allegation and what they're trying to achieve here at the Ethics Committee is
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is these decisions that Mark Carney is making, these decisions his government is making,
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Absolutely. And to give more context to what Mr. Cooper was asking about there,
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there are, I believe, about 1,900 companies owned by Brookfield
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that are not included in the Prime Minister's declaration.
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So that's not being vetted, it's not being looked at, those are just companies that exist
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so that as long as Brookfield is doing well, the Prime Minister will do well and gain from that.
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And you already mentioned the hypocrisy where Mr. Carney is very fine to support pipelines
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and I believe investments in coal and other sources outside of Canada.
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But his entire career, he's done everything he can to keep our resources in the ground
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So I think it raises a lot of questions about who the Prime Minister is working for.
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Is this Mark Carney standing up for Canadians or is he standing up for Brookfield?
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Well, considering 1,900 companies, that's a sizable amount.
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I think that's unfathomable to the average Canadian to have that many,
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being invested in that many companies and having that impact,
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Absolutely. Let's continue the questioning here in the Ethics Committee.
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Cue up, cut two. Michael Barrett's up here, the ethics critic.
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Increases in Brookfield's performance increases the value of the instruments
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In relation to the stock options and deferred share units,
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yes, as the value of Brookfield increases, the value of those instruments increase.
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There are also carried interest entitlements that relate more specifically to funds that we manage.
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So I think what this is kind of pointing out is that the ethics screen that is supposedly in place,
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it's not really catching what it's supposed to.
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It's not actually putting up the walls, the barriers, that prevent these things from continuing to happen.
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The potential that decisions made by the Prime Minister and this Liberal government
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could, in fact, turn around and benefit those same people after they've done politics.
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Absolutely. The vast majority of what the Prime Minister owns through Brookfield is falling through the cracks of that screen.
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And, you know, let's remind Canadians that this is the Liberal government
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that has the most ethics violations of any other government in Canadian history.
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They're the most, objectively, the most unethical government by that standard.
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So it raises a lot of concerns, I know, for myself and for folks I talk to back in northern Ontario
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And again, at a time when Canadians are struggling just to put food on the table,
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we have Prime Minister and Mark Kearney, who's clearly well-invested and well-connected with Brookfield
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and I think has a history of hypocrisy in his decisions that make a lot of people concerned
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that he's going to be making decisions with the interests of Brookfield in mind,
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Exactly why I think Conservatives prefer smaller government.
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So the market makes decisions, not the government trying to make investments in companies
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or pathways they want the public to take, right?
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You should be maximizing your freedom, not controlling the citizen's behavior.
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And I think for those coming on the other side, from the lobbyists and lawyers,
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Because you don't necessarily have to make the product work.
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Sometimes it does, you get lucky, but the innovation doesn't come at a rapid pace.
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The spark of innovation is in the marketplace, is in customers deciding what works best for them.
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So for the companies, yeah, you know, lobby a few bureaucrats and politicians,
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get some money handed your way, a lot easier than actually trying to make a product
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and compete in the market space and hustle for the dollars of the consumer, right?
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There's lots of consumers out there, a little bit in government.
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Yeah, and this is what a big government liberal approach, that's what it's all about,
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is creating that system that benefits the companies, the well-connected, all those insiders.
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You and I both know, of course, that conservatives as a free market party,
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we have that plan that will lower taxes, lower regulations,
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allow the country to have a smaller government and bigger citizens
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that can go out and achieve more in that free market.
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It's a situation that will prevent situations like we're seeing here
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with major conflicts of interest with Mark Carney.
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Nobody tries to break into a communist or socialist country, right?
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So why we try to replicate policies in some way over time to accelerate that
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so that people are questioning what the heck Canada is doing in terms of their policy.
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But every industry that government takes over, it gives you a singular choice.
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There's, like, three big players that control them all.
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And those are sectors that people complain about the most.
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You want to look at where the government has least control?
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We have every kind of music anyone could probably listen to.
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And probably ones that we haven't heard of because you never know what the spark of innovation creates.
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There's a million different tastes for everyone out there.
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When the government leaves things alone, the market, the innovators, the opportunities come with that.
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But if the government has its thumb on the industry, you get very little competition.
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And the price, unfortunately, is not where it should be, which is the lowest possible price.
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And that's what we need to get back to, Canada, where we have those options.
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I think, you know, when you look at what the government's involved in and not involved in,
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something comes to mind is the fact that this liberal government is always, seems concerned about how much money they can spend.
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They say, look at us, we care so much, we spent all this money.
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Well, that's great, but what did that money actually achieve?
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And I think we've seen time and time again in different auditor general reports, parliamentary budget officer,
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just even conversations with everyday Canadians, you can see that the money is not achieving what it's intended to.
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If all of these affordability measures they brought forward were going to do something,
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we wouldn't have an affordability crisis as we do right now across Canada.
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So everything that this liberal government sticks its hands in seems to get worse.
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Now we're paying every single cent, every single cent the federal government collects in GSD revenue goes for interest on our debt.
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So even when you buy something, whatever, and you're seeing that tax taken off, you're seeing how much you paid, that's going on interest.
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That's not, you know, helping the housing situation.
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So I was going to say, that's actually an amount that's more than the federal government is spending on health care.
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So if you have that perspective, giving more money to bondholders than spending on health care in our country, unbelievable.
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Yeah, it's hard to break, it's hard to grasp this, the fact that we got to this point.
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But the guests, you may not remember, but the guests always get the last word.
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Well, just appreciate the opportunity to be back and share this conversation with you.
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But I think, above all, you know, my takeaway is this cost of living crisis, groceries going up, housing going up, Canadians struggling.
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All the while, Mark Carney is working for his Brookfield Insiders.
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I think that is a major concern that I know I have and our Conservative team has.
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And that's why we're going to keep fighting for Canadians to expose these truths.
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Eric Mililow, the Member of Parliament for Kenora.
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Don't forget, every single Tuesday we'll have new content for you.
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And just before Christmas, it's the good, the bad, and the ugly.
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We look back at 2025, the year that was, pick out a few good things and not so good things.
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They can download this program and future ones on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.
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Until next week, remember low taxes, less government, more freedom.