The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - New Parliament

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

00:00:06.020 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton-Porthalikes Brock. It is great to

00:00:10.340 have you back, and we will be back with new content every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern

00:00:15.660 Time. Because of this content, it is good stuff. Let me tell you, we ask that you like, comment,

00:00:21.000 share, subscribe to this program, help us push back against the ever-moving Liberal agenda,

00:00:26.340 because as we said before the campaign, and somewhat during it, there are people in your

00:00:31.420 social media networks that might be open to hearing this Conservative message, might not be getting it

00:00:35.500 from the mainstream media, and that's how we can ensure that Erin O'Toole is the next Prime Minister 0.91

00:00:39.780 of Canada whenever that next election comes with this content. Now, we did take a bit of a break

00:00:45.080 during the campaign. There was just issues with time and getting people from different time zones

00:00:49.840 on the campaign away from door knocking, so we are back. And in our first episode, I'm going to

00:00:56.320 welcome my next-door neighbour, the Member of Parliament-elect for Peterborough-Kawartha,

00:01:01.800 Michelle Ferreri. Welcome, and hello. Congratulations.

00:01:06.440 Thank you so much, Jamie. It's great to be here. And I'm going to preface the whole thing with I'm

00:01:12.340 sorry that I'm in such a sort of dingy, dark place. We're just getting settled. Moments before

00:01:18.700 this interview started, I walked through the doors of this office, so you have to pardon the

00:01:23.340 dinginess. I promise next time you have me on, it'll be bright and colourful and full of local art.

00:01:28.520 Well, I guess we won't make a comment about that. Well, congratulations. You defeated

00:01:32.760 Miriam Monsef. That is a pretty big achievement, considering she was a cabinet minister. She was

00:01:39.560 one of the stars in the Justin Trudeau portfolio, so to speak. How did you find that experience? How did

00:01:46.480 you do it? I'm sure you've been asked a million times.

00:01:48.420 Yeah, I have been asked this question a lot. And I guess, you know, my answer has kind of

00:01:55.320 changed as I've thought more about it. I think really what it comes down to, Jamie, and I think

00:02:02.560 you have a really strong hold on this with your writing and doing what you've accomplished.

00:02:06.860 It's trust, you know, with the constituents, it's knowing they know who you are, and there's a trust.

00:02:13.160 One of the big pieces, I've obviously been in the public eye for over 22 years, and done a lot of

00:02:19.800 service for the community, been a major advocate for a lot of things, primarily mental health, which

00:02:24.580 is one of the reasons why I ran, because our conservative platform is the best when it comes

00:02:29.200 to mental health. But a lot of the other issues was the disillusioned voter, you know, like there's

00:02:36.280 a lot of people out there, you know this, and a lot of people do, they don't even vote.

00:02:40.620 And I've been a huge advocate for years and years. You have to execute your right to vote,

00:02:49.080 you have to execute your voice, you're not allowed to complain, you're not allowed to be an armchair

00:02:53.100 critic if you're not taking part. And I think, you know, a lot of people, they there is a saying,

00:02:59.660 the older you get, the more conservative you get. And I think it's a lot of people who often went from

00:03:04.360 the public sector, or started to be a business owner, entrepreneurs, which is what I was,

00:03:10.480 really start to see the value of conservatism, and what it is, and why it's the best approach to

00:03:16.280 having, you know, a healthy economy, socially conscious. And so that message at the door, I

00:03:22.780 think was really critical. Obviously, we had an amazing team, you know, this to Jamie, without

00:03:27.640 volunteers, without people on the ground, who believe in you, right, it's often, it's kind of

00:03:34.100 funny, because the it's switched a little bit, right. So for my whole life, my, my business, for

00:03:39.080 example, is marketing, social media, that's what I ran, I ran a social media marketing campaign. And so

00:03:43.460 what I always did, was I told business owners, don't you tell everybody how great you are, let me do

00:03:48.880 that for you, it has so much more meaning. So when I ran for this, it's not in my, I don't, I don't like

00:03:56.160 talking about myself, I like to promote what other people have to offer. I like to share their

00:04:00.640 stories, I love to be a mediator, I love to be a facilitator, I love to be a voice. And so a lot of

00:04:06.120 the community helped me, and they really stepped up and shared why I was the best person and the most

00:04:11.700 qualified for this position. So they were amazing. I had an amazing team behind me.

00:04:17.360 When you talk about communications and getting that conservative message across, you actually came up

00:04:21.280 to me after our first caucus meeting in person, and that felt great. Let me tell you to see everyone

00:04:25.540 in person to be able to be in the same room. That was absolutely, absolutely amazing. And I think

00:04:32.940 our hope, our goal is to continue to do that more often. But you had mentioned after the fact,

00:04:37.860 and you posted it on social media, so I'm not really sharing secrets about what it is to be

00:04:41.940 conservative, because we had a female, newly elected female member of parliament from Fort McMurray in 0.99

00:04:48.580 northern Alberta, in the caucus meeting with her baby that she had given birth to during the campaign.

00:04:54.720 And that was that was pretty amazing. I think it was beyond amazing. And how this still isn't

00:05:02.120 talked about, I'm not sure, like on a national and international stage, like I remember, I believe

00:05:08.340 it was the Prime Minister of Australia who breastfed in in, in, in parliament, I think it was her and it

00:05:14.440 reached international. Was it new? Yes, New Zealand. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was international news,

00:05:19.720 right? I would love to know if in the history books, there has ever been a newborn baby in caucus for

00:05:27.040 any party. And so I thought that was pretty remarkable. But that goes back to what you said

00:05:32.380 to me, Jamie, about why do I think I was able to win? And I think what I did, with my involvement in

00:05:39.140 the community, I challenged what people think they know about conservatism. We have often a very

00:05:44.860 bad PR, like people don't, we don't tell people who we are, we show people, right? Like, we don't,

00:05:53.180 and I think the liberals have a real stronghold over that. But the problem is, is that they're

00:05:56.620 virtue signalers. They tell people all the things they want to hear, but there's nothing behind it

00:06:02.680 in substance. Us conservatives, we actually do the work, but we don't tell people what we are.

00:06:08.900 And so then people are really misinformed of what they think a conservative is. You know, when we

00:06:14.200 had, how many times have you heard this? We were the first party to ever have, I believe, a Korean MP,

00:06:21.040 Black MP, a woman, a woman prime minister. You know, people love to think that we're this exclusive

00:06:29.220 party, and we're not. That's actually what sets us apart from every other party, is that we are this

00:06:36.440 inclusive party. So I think challenging people what they think conservative is, is really critical in

00:06:41.940 the communications aspect moving forward. And that's why I posted that story about Layla Goodridge,

00:06:47.540 because it's an amazing story of this woman who gave birth during the campaign and had a baby in

00:06:54.240 caucus. Like, I can't even, I have three kids. I can't even imagine doing that. And it just shows you

00:07:00.640 who we are. And, and nobody even batted an eye. Nobody and everybody just picked up the baby up.

00:07:06.760 This is what we're doing. And that's what conservatives are. We just do the work and we

00:07:11.120 get it done. And, and we have a lot of work to do, though, to change people's hearts and minds of

00:07:16.660 what they think it is. I agree. And also on the communications thing, you raised something very

00:07:20.480 important, I think, about the virtue signaling. I think that goes to the National Truth and Reconciliation

00:07:24.740 Day. What did the Prime Minister do on the first ever one, despite invitations from many First

00:07:30.880 Nations communities, including the one in Kamloops, BC, was he took off to the beaches of Tofino?

00:07:37.500 I mean, it's disgusting. It's, it's disgusting. And I think, I think it's funny, you know, my kids, 0.88

00:07:45.280 I talk about my kids. And so obviously, they've gotten immersed in politics. And they're starting to see

00:07:50.860 all of the things. And once you see it, it's very hard to unsee who he is, and who he is as a leader.

00:07:59.320 And, um, it's blatant, you know, and he just can kind of continues to say, sorry, sorry, I did that.

00:08:08.560 And, and we're, and we seem to be, you know, Canada seems to say, okay, but it's not okay.

00:08:14.920 And, you know, surfing on the first day ever of the holiday you created. And who didn't stop him?

00:08:22.660 Jamie, who said, go surfing? Who on his staff didn't say?

00:08:28.700 Either his staff didn't see it, or he didn't listen. Either way, I think both are terrible.

00:08:34.280 It's bad. It's, it's really bad. And so, yeah, and I think there's a lot of trust that's already

00:08:42.580 down there, like, in terms of our relationship with Indigenous, and that just doesn't help

00:08:48.660 at all. And it's terrible leadership.

00:08:52.260 Very much so. And on the economy, especially, we are seeing the Bank of Canada in the last year

00:08:58.260 and a half print almost $400 billion out of thin air. We're spending approximately $424 million per

00:09:07.260 day more than what we have coming in, in the form of taxes. This is unsustainable on,

00:09:13.460 on many levels. We ran a campaign on trying to restore fiscal sanity to Ottawa, but not only that,

00:09:19.140 getting people back to work. And I'm sure you're seeing in your area, a lot of employers that are

00:09:24.460 being forced to cut hours, cut services, and in the most extreme cases, close down entirely because

00:09:31.480 they aren't getting the labor needed to make their businesses succeed.

00:09:37.320 Yeah, it's probably one of the biggest issues at the door. I mean, the cost of living,

00:09:42.800 the divisiveness, these were two of the biggest issues that I saw at the door. And speaking to

00:09:49.400 small business owners, they're sinking. Like, they're literally sinking. And they can't get people

00:09:57.560 to go to work. And then you have seniors struggling as well, the cost of the pumps,

00:10:03.480 the cost of housing. You know, Pierre did a video with me, Pierre Paulyev did a video with me. I think

00:10:10.740 it was my second week there in Ottawa. And inflation is, it crosses all boundaries. It doesn't matter.

00:10:20.080 Like, this is when you have to sort of open your eyes and pay attention. Like, if you can't buy a house

00:10:23.900 or your kids can't buy a house or your grandkids can't buy a house, if you can't afford your hydro,

00:10:28.660 if you can't afford your food on the table, that's when you really have to start to pay

00:10:33.380 attention, right? So what are we doing as a government to hold, as opposition to hold the

00:10:39.320 government to account to do this? It's a huge issue. And we've had tons of restaurants in

00:10:43.560 particular. They've actually just shut down. They didn't. They're just not opening up.

00:10:50.140 Well, I think August had the highest inflation in almost 20 years, which is absolutely incredible.

00:10:57.460 And as you mentioned, everyone's feeling that, especially those struggling to get by. It's the

00:11:02.260 hidden tax that many people don't see. It's that it's the price of everything. It affects everything

00:11:08.260 along the supply chain. And you're already seeing shortages in many areas, whether it be vehicles,

00:11:12.760 appliances, you name it. This is this is getting very serious. And if people weren't paying attention

00:11:18.880 before the election, they I agree with you, they should be paying attention. Now, we talked about

00:11:25.140 many times, young people when they try to get into the workforce, the opportunities. And prior to the

00:11:30.280 pandemic, there was always a talk about whether or not there'd be jobs and whether economy was strong

00:11:35.480 enough to get young people into into the market. But now with all the help wanted signs, I think for a

00:11:42.220 young person, this is one of the best opportunities ever. Because if you're able to get into the

00:11:47.200 workforce, and you you work hard, put your nose to the grindstone, by the time, you know, the others

00:11:53.280 behind you start to to realize they're coming into the workforce, you might be that manager or the

00:11:58.760 supervisor, because you will have all this extra experience and your employer will be seeing what

00:12:02.780 a hard worker you are. Oh, yeah. And I think, I think there has to be purpose there too,

00:12:08.540 right? Like, I think the culture of society has shifted. You know, I'm 42 years old. I worked every

00:12:15.180 job that you could have. And you just, you were the bottom of the barrel, and you knew you were the

00:12:20.100 bottom of the barrel, and you went to work and you got it done. But I had a volunteer on my campaign,

00:12:25.200 he's 22 years old. And he was, you know, on CERB. And he left his his job, because he didn't

00:12:33.600 like his job. And he's still collecting CERB. And he just doesn't have that motivation to go back

00:12:43.120 to work. So how do you get people who aren't motivated to work, to work when they're making

00:12:50.540 more money, staying at home? Like, that's a really big, I don't know if you found that with an issue

00:12:56.980 where you're on your door knocking, but it was a really big issue here. And so how do you offset

00:13:04.500 that? I mean, I mean, we had some great solutions. I loved our employer incentive program and in the

00:13:09.600 campaign, in the platform, it was great. Because you got to keep that, you know, economy 101, you got

00:13:16.620 to keep jobs, you don't have jobs, you can't, you can't print more money, like the jobs and the small

00:13:22.920 businesses are keeping things going. So it's a tough one. But there's, it all comes back to for

00:13:29.660 me, personally, and I think, I think you would agree here, Jamie, it's leadership. Right? It's

00:13:35.420 that top down. And it's not, it's not incentivizing people at all, our current government to get to

00:13:42.580 work. All right, we only have a few minutes left, maybe we can talk about your experience as a newly

00:13:47.100 elected member of Parliament. What has it been like? What, what could you share with our viewers and

00:13:51.560 listeners that they might not otherwise know about maybe someone who is newly elected, and what is

00:13:58.020 going through your mind and on your agenda and your social media and the phone calls and emails,

00:14:03.920 etc, etc? Well, Jamie knows this firsthand, because Jamie has been an amazing support to me. He is my

00:14:11.920 neighbor. And on the show more, he was like the first person to even show up at my door and say,

00:14:20.420 listen, it's gonna be okay. And I any, any handed me this big, giant Bible of what to read and what

00:14:28.160 to expect. And so I compared it to, to being a minor niner. And Jamie's in grade 12. He's the cool kid.

00:14:36.980 He's been around the black, he knows what works and what doesn't work. But it is a lot of information.

00:14:43.840 But it also is a real extension of what I've always done. And I think Jamie has said this

00:14:51.380 beautifully, I believe this job to be customer service. And I believe this job to be serving

00:14:56.420 your people and to serve your people, you need to listen to your people. And I think that's what I

00:15:03.180 did, you know, for 20 plus years as a as a communication specialist and journalist. So I think

00:15:09.540 it's a lot of that. And it's also in this role, it's listening to your seasoned MPs like Jamie.

00:15:16.020 And it's, it's sitting back and taking class, right? You are the minor niner. So just sit there 1.00

00:15:21.680 and, and take class and listen as best as you can and, and try to do the things that work.

00:15:27.120 And really never lose sight that you were elected. That's a huge privilege. You were elected to represent

00:15:34.820 your writing. So I want all of Canada to know who Peterborough 4th is within the first, I don't know, now.

00:15:42.040 And just so everyone knows, I didn't pay her any money to say those nice things. I swear, there's no exchange.

00:15:49.700 She's been great. It's great to see someone in Peterborough 4th on the blue side. And hopefully,

00:15:56.040 you know, we know Michelle's a strong voice. I always give the guests, the final word, and you can talk

00:16:02.460 about whatever you want. So I'll open it up to you, Michelle, the final word.

00:16:08.000 You probably know what I'm going to talk about. What everybody's going to listen to me preach about

00:16:12.820 for the next however long this till our next election, mental health. And COVID magnified it

00:16:20.940 beyond our belief. It was always there. It just kind of uncovered it. And it will be my personal

00:16:27.500 mission alongside the conservative government to really address mental health in the way that it

00:16:33.320 should be addressed, which is it is physical health. It is it is the same. And until we start

00:16:39.020 to treat it as such, we're not going to move any further. So it is a big, big passion and commitment

00:16:45.260 of mine to change how we talk about it, change how we treat it, and to get people on the same page

00:16:51.600 that without mental health, we can't have an economy. We can't have people showing up to work. 0.99

00:16:56.160 It's it's as fiscally responsible as anything else. And we need to be hugely investing in mental

00:17:02.060 health. I saw you talking during that caucus meetings, Todd Doherty from Northern British

00:17:06.900 Columbia, who is a huge champion for mental health. He actually had the charge for that

00:17:10.600 three digit hotline that the liberals have yet to make any progress on, but something that's very

00:17:15.420 important. So I'm glad to have another I think we all are to have another strong voice on the mental

00:17:21.280 health file and do appreciate everything you have done. And thank you for telling your moving

00:17:25.920 crew to, you know, take five while you did this podcast behind you. And

00:17:30.660 it's just so fancy, isn't it? It's just so decorated here.

00:17:35.880 I was hoping during the switchovers when I was talking a new piece of artwork went up on the wall

00:17:40.300 as they worked behind you. But thank you for taking time out of your very busy schedule and

00:17:45.200 getting your constituency office set up.

00:17:47.020 That is Michelle Ferreri from Peterborough, Kawartha, the newly elected member of parliament,

00:17:52.800 taking out Miriam Monsef. That swath of red in the Kawarthas that we're glad to see gone. 1.00

00:17:58.300 We do appreciate you coming and listening to the show, watching it. Of course, if you can't

00:18:02.360 listen or watch it all right this second, you can download it later on in platforms like CastBox,

00:18:07.220 iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it. It is out there. Remember, we need you to like, comment,

00:18:12.300 subscribe, share this program, help us push back against that ever-moving liberal agenda.

00:18:18.560 And as I mentioned, we are back with new content every single Tuesday. Michelle is taking a screenshot.

00:18:24.000 That's awesome. Every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern time. We do appreciate you coming back

00:18:29.320 and joining us. As always, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom. That is the Blue Rooms.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - October 12, 2021

New Parliament

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