The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - February 18, 2025


PM and his Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, have been prioritizing banning plastic straws over things what would actually help Canada

Topics
ban on plastic straws tax plans
Hosted by
Jamie Schmal
Mentioned
Brandon Leslie Jamie Schmael Stephen Guibault Leah Taylor-Roy Pierre Poilievre Corey Tucker Mark Collins Bill C-63 Guy Beau Guibo
It’s time to put Canada First Canada’s 45th Parliament

Episode Stats


Length

15 minutes

Words per minute

187.89

Word count

2,876

Sentence count

290

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

6

sentences flagged

Hate speech

5

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Bill C-380 is an attempt to reverse the ban on single use plastic items in Canada. Unfortunately, it failed, but to talk about this and much more, we bring on Brandon Leslie, the Member of Parliament for Port Hodge-Liscar in Manitoba.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
00:00:09.480 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps, the likes of rock with new
00:00:12.900 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment,
00:00:18.140 subscribe and share this program because on today's show, we are talking about Bill C-380.
00:00:24.060 It's a ban on single use plastic items. We're trying to reverse that ban. Unfortunately,
00:00:29.120 it failed, but to talk about this and much more, we bring on Brandon Leslie, the Member of
00:00:33.860 Parliament for Port Hodge Liscar in Manitoba. Thanks for coming on the show. My pleasure to be
00:00:38.500 here, Jamie. I'm always excited to come and join you on this fantastic podcast. I appreciate the
00:00:42.740 kind words. Keep that up. We'll have you on every week. All right. So we had a private members bill
00:00:47.660 by one of our members from Saskatchewan, Corey Tucker, in an attempt basically to reverse the
00:00:52.660 unconstitutional ban on plastics imposed by the federal government. We tried that. Unfortunately,
00:00:57.020 it failed. The block, NDP and Liberals voted to basically destroy the bill and continue on with
00:01:03.060 this unconstitutional plastic ban. Yeah. Costly coalition struck again against common sense.
00:01:08.580 And I find it interesting when I go talk to a school, one of the questions I always get from
00:01:12.780 kids is, will you bring back plastic straws? And I think it just goes to show how frustrating the
00:01:18.720 alternatives that have emerged are. Paper straws, the paper bags, no more plastic bags. And what this
00:01:24.540 really stems from, why it was a good bill, is it reversed what was terrible legislation to begin
00:01:31.180 with that ruled that all plastics are toxic. They use the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and
00:01:36.120 said everything is toxic if they're plastic, which turns out they don't have the constitutional
00:01:41.460 authority to do so. So it is still before the courts and the government, I'm sure, is going to
00:01:45.580 stick to their guns and try to appeal this over and over again. But, you know, there is some
00:01:50.160 really impactful outcomes that have come from this other than just our frustrations.
00:01:54.620 You know, the fact that instead of using a grocery bag in your garbage can in your bathroom,
00:01:59.480 now you go and spend money on GLAD or whatever other brand bags to use instead. And in the plastic
00:02:05.540 straws, we have seen something like PFAS is what they're called. It's a forever chemical. And not
00:02:14.240 every PFAS is bad. It's a very useful chemical, but it's not something that we should be associating
00:02:18.060 with human health or are necessarily leaching in our environment because it's not biodegradable.
00:02:23.120 And the reality is Canada is not the problem. Plastic pollution is a serious problem. I think
00:02:28.660 in my view and all Canadians views, people around the world, it is a very serious problem. But Canada
00:02:33.120 contributes 0.02% of all the plastics in our oceans. We are not the problem. There's five countries
00:02:41.460 in Asia that contribute 95% of all of this. So to me, this is typical liberal virtue
00:02:47.880 signaling, a search, a solution in search of a problem, just to try to make us feel better
00:02:53.720 when it's not actually delivering any environmental outcomes. Normally it's taxes, but now it's
00:02:59.060 more uncomfortable, right? It frustrates everybody. Absolutely.
00:03:01.700 I think everyone's frustrated with this, right? It drives me crazy. The plastic straw or the paper
00:03:06.640 straws, the paper lids. I don't know anyone who's happy about it. Maybe the forestry industry,
00:03:13.220 I suppose there's a few benefits, but I don't know. If you ever tried to eat a really flat
00:03:17.320 wooden spoon, it's just not the same thing, right? It's not as malleable. It is very frustrating.
00:03:22.940 And of course, these bags really, I think, bother everybody. You've seen it in the news
00:03:25.600 lately, particularly the delivery services that take food from the grocery store right to your
00:03:30.120 apartment door. People have hundreds and hundreds of these bags. I know I do. Everybody does. And the
00:03:36.380 problem is, again, a good idea. Well, let's use something reusable, reduce, reuse, recycle. Fair
00:03:42.160 enough. It takes about 50 to 70 to 90 times, somewhere in that range, depending on the type
00:03:48.560 of bag being used. So non-woven polypropanol bags is about 50 times. I have 50 bags. I have not used
00:03:56.260 each one of them 50 times. And when I say it takes the use of 50 times to be the same environmental
00:04:00.960 impact as one single-use plastic bag. So again, it's something that is ultimately worse for our
00:04:07.940 environment because it's meant to make us feel better, but is not achieving any objective results.
00:04:13.160 And in fact, it's actually even worse for human health and our environment. Typical of the liberal
00:04:17.500 agenda at the same time. And as we deal with the cost of living crisis, food bank usage is at
00:04:23.080 all-time highs. More people struggling, skipping meals, watering down different liquids,
00:04:30.960 like baby formulas, stuff like that. One of the most significant or some of the significant cost
00:04:40.980 increases besides the carbon tax is because grocery stores and retailers have had to move away from
00:04:49.300 some of the plastics, which is causing the increase, right? It's all part and parcel of what the liberals
00:04:58.200 have done. Well, it's only going to get worse. If they're left at the helm here, there are some
00:05:04.500 crazier ideas in terms of plastics that this government is trying to advance. And it is going
00:05:10.620 to have a huge impact on food prices. So one of them is that all of the goods that are shipped to our
00:05:16.740 grocery stores, you think of strawberries, any of their fresh fruit that comes from California when
00:05:20.340 it's out of season here, obviously buy local when we can, but we can't do that all year round.
00:05:23.980 You know, it keeps our fruits nice and soft and well-maintained. We've got plastic bags for our
00:05:29.100 salad kits that now last two weeks in the fridge. We've maintained our capacity to prevent food waste,
00:05:36.180 which is a very important piece. So one of their objectives is to get rid of all of that and have
00:05:41.260 plastics not be in grocery stores. Well, Deloitte did a study on this, and it's going to increase the
00:05:47.400 cost of food about 35%, or at least those involved using plastics. And worse, because of the food waste
00:05:53.500 increase that we're going to see, all that food being diverted into a landfill, which is frustrating
00:05:58.100 in a time of high food prices, food insecurity, food bank use, it's going to increase our emissions.
00:06:04.100 Again, we're trying to find things to do that make people think that they are doing good is not real
00:06:09.560 environmental policy. But this wacko environment minister, that is his modus operandi. Try to make 0.89
00:06:14.740 people feel like they're doing something. This radical approach is going to drive up the cost of food
00:06:19.360 for Canadians even further, as you say, after a time of a lot of pain and suffering heading into
00:06:23.640 the holidays. A warm meal isn't really going to be feasible for a lot of people, and that's
00:06:27.660 devastating, I think. Yeah, for the Liberals, I think it's just talking points so they feel better
00:06:31.280 about themselves at dinner parties. Well, since you mentioned our wonderful environment minister,
00:06:35.920 Stephen Goebbels, let's have a clip of that guy and this registry, plastics registry. Play Cut One.
00:06:42.260 The registry will require plastic producers to take more responsibility for the plastic they put on
00:06:49.360 the market. Every year, from now on, they must declare the quantity and types of plastic they
00:06:56.400 supply, how these plastics move through the economy, and how they are managed at the end of their life.
00:07:03.420 This sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare. Reminds me of the long gun registry. It's a billion dollar
00:07:07.940 boondoggle waiting to happen. And what a frustration for all of the companies that use plastics in any of
00:07:15.040 their products. This is going to cost money. And who's going to house all this data? What is going
00:07:21.460 to be done with it? And where are the costs going to go? They're going to go to consumers. There's
00:07:25.840 simply no other option. So when I talk about this radical minister and wacko ideas, this is another
00:07:32.020 great example. They're just on a hell-bent path to try to make life as unaffordable as they
00:07:37.660 possibly can for Canadians. And unfortunately, they're succeeding thus far.
00:07:42.020 Yeah, sadly. And they do this a lot, right? With regulations behind the scenes. Not requiring a
00:07:47.680 vote in parliament or a politician to be accountable for those decisions. It's done through the
00:07:53.060 bureaucratic structure, right? Make life so difficult for these companies so they just give up and do as
00:07:59.480 the government dictates, right? This is not the way to do things through regulation. But it's crippling
00:08:07.700 business. Investments fleeing the country. We're staring down potential tariffs. And we're just
00:08:15.040 increasing step by step how uncompetitive we are.
00:08:18.920 They hide and obfuscate. I have a lot of fun with Minister Guibo. As a proud member of the Environment
00:08:24.460 Committee, he hides and obfuscates on a very regular basis. Let's put it that way.
00:08:28.600 Yeah, but the problem is he has an agenda and he's implementing that. Let's keep up cut two.
00:08:33.680 Talk about you in committee. Let's play cut two.
00:08:37.920 Do you honestly believe that Canadians can afford another carbon tax right now?
00:08:43.360 What I have said is that there are discussions at the International Maritime Organization,
00:08:47.860 and we're part of those discussions.
00:08:49.580 Why would you be discussing if you don't plan on doing it?
00:08:53.440 There's a discussion on a number of issues at the International Maritime Organization.
00:08:57.200 Why would you have international discussions if you don't plan on acting on them? What an odd
00:09:04.540 waste of time.
00:09:05.800 Well, it's a complex problem. We're looking at different... There's conversation on a number
00:09:12.900 of different issues that Canada is a part of. I'm stopping the clock here. I'm stopping the clock.
00:09:17.020 Well, I'll disrupt committee and throw you off track. Give the Minister time to regroup and take
00:09:20.740 a breath here.
00:09:21.400 The Liberals, despite not being a very united team right now, do a great job of coming to the
00:09:27.740 defence of their Minister when he is flailing and floundering. And in fact, one of my Liberal
00:09:32.780 colleagues across the way, Leah Taylor-Roy, went so far as to claim that there were no carbon
00:09:37.440 taxes in Canada, never mind three, later in that same meeting. It's a bundle of fun because
00:09:42.880 when they're on the ropes, rightfully so. And in the context of this, it is a carbon tax.
00:09:46.940 It's not just on us, though. They want a global carbon tax on everything that they ship around
00:09:51.680 the world.
00:09:52.060 There's the shipping one, yeah.
00:09:52.900 We're going to make Canadians pay. We're going to drive up the cost of everything. 0.85
00:09:56.180 We're going to collect money and then send it elsewhere.
00:09:58.620 Yeah, it's unbelievable. So we don't make things in this country anymore because the regulatory
00:10:02.060 environment is so onerous. We have taxes left, right, and centre, and they want more.
00:10:08.420 So business is fleeing. Capital is fleeing. And then they say, well, because you want
00:10:12.800 stuff, we're going to tax that, too.
00:10:14.920 Absolutely.
00:10:15.660 It's unbelievable.
00:10:17.000 Again, it's an effort to try to drive as many Canadians into poverty as they can. There's
00:10:22.720 no other way to explain away behaviours like this because the unfortunate reality is they're
00:10:28.840 failing in terms of their emissions reductions targets. We are the worst in the G7. We're ranked
00:10:34.260 62nd of 67th on a recent report that came out in terms of our environmental outcomes. We're
00:10:40.220 failing despite the punishing policies and taxes that are being placed on us. They always talk
00:10:45.660 about environmental plans. They don't have environmental plans. They have tax plans.
00:10:49.900 Well, even the stuff they are doing, that's for you, right? That's not for me.
00:10:57.000 Yeah.
00:10:57.220 That's for thee.
00:10:58.160 Yeah, exactly.
00:10:58.700 That's what it is about, right? You can't travel. Don't go. What did Mark Collins say
00:11:03.920 this past session? You're going to burn the planet if you take the kids on a vacation
00:11:10.520 in the car.
00:11:11.620 That was a wild thing.
00:11:12.760 That was insane.
00:11:13.540 So this Gibbo fella, remember, this is the guy that scaled the CN Tower and was arrested. 1.00
00:11:18.080 He was a radical Greenpeace actress.
00:11:19.440 And went after the Premier of Alberta when his wife was home alone.
00:11:22.320 Of course. Yeah, he went and terrified her on the second story of their house. He even went
00:11:26.220 us far to say that we shouldn't be building any more roads.
00:11:28.740 Yes.
00:11:29.300 Yeah, I love that.
00:11:30.000 Forget road trips. We're not even going to build any roads for you to think about getting
00:11:32.900 on them. It's wacko, radical. I don't have enough great words to describe this, man. 0.91
00:11:37.760 So we'll just stay in our boxes and...
00:11:40.220 Well, ivory towers if you're him, but boxes for us.
00:11:42.160 That's true. No, but he can still travel.
00:11:43.960 Yes.
00:11:44.440 He'll still have the best cuts of meat, stay at the best hotel, so he can give lectures
00:11:48.420 on why the little people should not be... 0.99
00:11:51.000 The high-flying, high-carbon hypocrite is a good summary.
00:11:54.560 And many Canadians will find this interesting, because I sure did when I found out.
00:11:59.060 He made up a new position called the Climate Change Ambassador that also flies all over
00:12:04.200 the world, lecturing other countries on why they should have carbon taxes.
00:12:08.300 An astounding use of taxpayer money, in my view.
00:12:10.940 Yeah, with policy that doesn't even make sense for some countries, right?
00:12:13.580 Exactly. I think that we should export things that we make and produce in this country,
00:12:17.840 not radical ideas like that.
00:12:19.540 Yeah, we need the jobs here. We need to build things here. 0.92
00:12:21.620 Great opportunities, wealth for our people.
00:12:23.980 What a novel idea.
00:12:24.720 Right? What a novel... Common sense.
00:12:26.820 It's a common sense idea.
00:12:27.940 But of course, as we've said a few times on the show, you know, the liberals, especially
00:12:31.560 those that think they're in the elite bunch, the ones that we're talking about that fly
00:12:35.160 and lecture those that try to have a vacation once a year, right?
00:12:39.180 You can't agree with what is known as common amongst people, right?
00:12:44.840 Because to agree, common sense, then you're not elite. 0.78
00:12:49.400 So you have to come up with these ridiculous positions to set yourself aside, right? 0.84
00:12:54.500 Differentiate yourself. 0.96
00:12:55.000 Well, it's hard to understand common sense when you haven't really lived a normal life.
00:12:59.740 Like, look at our prime minister.
00:13:00.960 Yeah.
00:13:01.080 That man has never...
00:13:02.920 He's never had to worry.
00:13:03.880 ...never lived a normal day in his life.
00:13:06.320 And, you know, you can forgive him for, you know, he didn't control that necessarily.
00:13:11.280 But why he's so out of touch and why guys like Minister Guy Bowe and, well, frankly, most
00:13:15.540 of their cabinet, it explains why they're so out of touch and why they don't understand.
00:13:20.920 And we say it's common sense that it doesn't click in with them, right?
00:13:23.900 Yeah.
00:13:24.440 Yeah.
00:13:24.620 Because he is feeling, and I'm sure many of his caucus agree with him, that they know
00:13:30.060 best.
00:13:30.580 Oh, man.
00:13:31.320 Right?
00:13:31.520 You can tell with all the different programs they keep bringing in, right?
00:13:34.540 They have to be paid somehow.
00:13:36.620 Most are run on the credit card, right?
00:13:38.500 Yep.
00:13:38.740 And they will impose the program that you are allowed to get, whether you like it or not,
00:13:42.640 whether you need it or not, it doesn't matter.
00:13:44.120 You're going to get it.
00:13:44.720 And we're going to make you so poor first that you think you're going to need it.
00:13:47.080 Yes, exactly.
00:13:47.520 And then we're going to come in and save the day.
00:13:49.700 That is what they seem to be doing every time.
00:13:51.880 And then they create the problem, and then they say, we're here to solve it.
00:13:55.640 Don't worry.
00:13:56.120 We've got this.
00:13:57.180 And it fails.
00:13:57.780 Stop with the solutions, guys.
00:13:59.160 The liberals need to stop with solutions.
00:14:00.840 That's right.
00:14:01.820 Brandon, the time's pretty much up, but I appreciate you coming on.
00:14:04.480 My pleasure.
00:14:04.880 As you know, the guests get the last words to the floor.
00:14:07.780 I will just say, it's cold across your riding and mine.
00:14:11.280 There's a lot of people out there struggling.
00:14:12.600 So if you're in a position that you can contribute in some way, help somebody out, I hope you do that.
00:14:17.620 Don't plan a family vacation, please.
00:14:19.480 No.
00:14:19.780 Burn that planet. 0.98
00:14:20.580 You're destroying the planet. 0.89
00:14:22.460 Exactly, exactly.
00:14:23.580 Brandon Leslie, the Member of Parliament for Portage Liscar in Manitoba.
00:14:27.520 Appreciate your time.
00:14:28.620 My pleasure.
00:14:29.080 Appreciate yours as well.
00:14:30.000 Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share this program.
00:14:33.080 We want Pierre Paulyev to be the next Prime Minister of Canada.
00:14:35.460 We need your help to do that.
00:14:36.880 Tell your friends they can download this program on CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.
00:14:40.840 You name it, it is out there.
00:14:43.000 Until next week at 1.30 p.m. Eastern time, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom.
00:14:47.820 That's the blueprint.
00:14:50.580 We'll see you next time.
00:14:56.980 Bye.
00:14:59.760 Bye.
00:15:00.040 Bye.
00:15:00.380 Bye.
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00:15:13.860 Bye.
00:15:14.500 Bye.
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00:15:17.800 Bye.