PM and his Environment Minister, Steven Guilbeault, have been prioritizing banning plastic straws over things what would actually help Canada
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Summary
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
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
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host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps, the likes of rock with new
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content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment,
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subscribe and share this program because on today's show, we are talking about Bill C-380.
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It's a ban on single use plastic items. We're trying to reverse that ban. Unfortunately,
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it failed, but to talk about this and much more, we bring on Brandon Leslie, the Member of
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Parliament for Port Hodge Liscar in Manitoba. Thanks for coming on the show. My pleasure to be
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here, Jamie. I'm always excited to come and join you on this fantastic podcast. I appreciate the
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kind words. Keep that up. We'll have you on every week. All right. So we had a private members bill
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by one of our members from Saskatchewan, Corey Tucker, in an attempt basically to reverse the
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unconstitutional ban on plastics imposed by the federal government. We tried that. Unfortunately,
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it failed. The block, NDP and Liberals voted to basically destroy the bill and continue on with
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this unconstitutional plastic ban. Yeah. Costly coalition struck again against common sense.
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And I find it interesting when I go talk to a school, one of the questions I always get from
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kids is, will you bring back plastic straws? And I think it just goes to show how frustrating the
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alternatives that have emerged are. Paper straws, the paper bags, no more plastic bags. And what this
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really stems from, why it was a good bill, is it reversed what was terrible legislation to begin
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with that ruled that all plastics are toxic. They use the Canadian Environmental Protection Act and
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said everything is toxic if they're plastic, which turns out they don't have the constitutional
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authority to do so. So it is still before the courts and the government, I'm sure, is going to
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stick to their guns and try to appeal this over and over again. But, you know, there is some
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really impactful outcomes that have come from this other than just our frustrations.
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You know, the fact that instead of using a grocery bag in your garbage can in your bathroom,
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now you go and spend money on GLAD or whatever other brand bags to use instead. And in the plastic
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straws, we have seen something like PFAS is what they're called. It's a forever chemical. And not
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every PFAS is bad. It's a very useful chemical, but it's not something that we should be associating
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with human health or are necessarily leaching in our environment because it's not biodegradable.
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And the reality is Canada is not the problem. Plastic pollution is a serious problem. I think
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in my view and all Canadians views, people around the world, it is a very serious problem. But Canada
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contributes 0.02% of all the plastics in our oceans. We are not the problem. There's five countries
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in Asia that contribute 95% of all of this. So to me, this is typical liberal virtue
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signaling, a search, a solution in search of a problem, just to try to make us feel better
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when it's not actually delivering any environmental outcomes. Normally it's taxes, but now it's
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more uncomfortable, right? It frustrates everybody. Absolutely.
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I think everyone's frustrated with this, right? It drives me crazy. The plastic straw or the paper
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straws, the paper lids. I don't know anyone who's happy about it. Maybe the forestry industry,
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I suppose there's a few benefits, but I don't know. If you ever tried to eat a really flat
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wooden spoon, it's just not the same thing, right? It's not as malleable. It is very frustrating.
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And of course, these bags really, I think, bother everybody. You've seen it in the news
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lately, particularly the delivery services that take food from the grocery store right to your
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apartment door. People have hundreds and hundreds of these bags. I know I do. Everybody does. And the
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problem is, again, a good idea. Well, let's use something reusable, reduce, reuse, recycle. Fair
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enough. It takes about 50 to 70 to 90 times, somewhere in that range, depending on the type
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of bag being used. So non-woven polypropanol bags is about 50 times. I have 50 bags. I have not used
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each one of them 50 times. And when I say it takes the use of 50 times to be the same environmental
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impact as one single-use plastic bag. So again, it's something that is ultimately worse for our
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environment because it's meant to make us feel better, but is not achieving any objective results.
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And in fact, it's actually even worse for human health and our environment. Typical of the liberal
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agenda at the same time. And as we deal with the cost of living crisis, food bank usage is at
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all-time highs. More people struggling, skipping meals, watering down different liquids,
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like baby formulas, stuff like that. One of the most significant or some of the significant cost
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increases besides the carbon tax is because grocery stores and retailers have had to move away from
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some of the plastics, which is causing the increase, right? It's all part and parcel of what the liberals
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have done. Well, it's only going to get worse. If they're left at the helm here, there are some
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crazier ideas in terms of plastics that this government is trying to advance. And it is going
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to have a huge impact on food prices. So one of them is that all of the goods that are shipped to our
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grocery stores, you think of strawberries, any of their fresh fruit that comes from California when
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it's out of season here, obviously buy local when we can, but we can't do that all year round.
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You know, it keeps our fruits nice and soft and well-maintained. We've got plastic bags for our
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salad kits that now last two weeks in the fridge. We've maintained our capacity to prevent food waste,
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which is a very important piece. So one of their objectives is to get rid of all of that and have
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plastics not be in grocery stores. Well, Deloitte did a study on this, and it's going to increase the
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cost of food about 35%, or at least those involved using plastics. And worse, because of the food waste
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increase that we're going to see, all that food being diverted into a landfill, which is frustrating
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in a time of high food prices, food insecurity, food bank use, it's going to increase our emissions.
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Again, we're trying to find things to do that make people think that they are doing good is not real
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environmental policy. But this wacko environment minister, that is his modus operandi. Try to make
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people feel like they're doing something. This radical approach is going to drive up the cost of food
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for Canadians even further, as you say, after a time of a lot of pain and suffering heading into
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the holidays. A warm meal isn't really going to be feasible for a lot of people, and that's
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devastating, I think. Yeah, for the Liberals, I think it's just talking points so they feel better
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about themselves at dinner parties. Well, since you mentioned our wonderful environment minister,
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Stephen Goebbels, let's have a clip of that guy and this registry, plastics registry. Play Cut One.
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The registry will require plastic producers to take more responsibility for the plastic they put on
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the market. Every year, from now on, they must declare the quantity and types of plastic they
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supply, how these plastics move through the economy, and how they are managed at the end of their life.
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This sounds like a bureaucratic nightmare. Reminds me of the long gun registry. It's a billion dollar
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boondoggle waiting to happen. And what a frustration for all of the companies that use plastics in any of
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their products. This is going to cost money. And who's going to house all this data? What is going
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to be done with it? And where are the costs going to go? They're going to go to consumers. There's
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simply no other option. So when I talk about this radical minister and wacko ideas, this is another
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great example. They're just on a hell-bent path to try to make life as unaffordable as they
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possibly can for Canadians. And unfortunately, they're succeeding thus far.
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Yeah, sadly. And they do this a lot, right? With regulations behind the scenes. Not requiring a
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vote in parliament or a politician to be accountable for those decisions. It's done through the
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bureaucratic structure, right? Make life so difficult for these companies so they just give up and do as
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the government dictates, right? This is not the way to do things through regulation. But it's crippling
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business. Investments fleeing the country. We're staring down potential tariffs. And we're just
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increasing step by step how uncompetitive we are.
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They hide and obfuscate. I have a lot of fun with Minister Guibo. As a proud member of the Environment
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Committee, he hides and obfuscates on a very regular basis. Let's put it that way.
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Yeah, but the problem is he has an agenda and he's implementing that. Let's keep up cut two.
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Talk about you in committee. Let's play cut two.
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Do you honestly believe that Canadians can afford another carbon tax right now?
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What I have said is that there are discussions at the International Maritime Organization,
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Why would you be discussing if you don't plan on doing it?
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There's a discussion on a number of issues at the International Maritime Organization.
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Why would you have international discussions if you don't plan on acting on them? What an odd
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Well, it's a complex problem. We're looking at different... There's conversation on a number
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of different issues that Canada is a part of. I'm stopping the clock here. I'm stopping the clock.
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Well, I'll disrupt committee and throw you off track. Give the Minister time to regroup and take
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The Liberals, despite not being a very united team right now, do a great job of coming to the
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defence of their Minister when he is flailing and floundering. And in fact, one of my Liberal
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colleagues across the way, Leah Taylor-Roy, went so far as to claim that there were no carbon
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taxes in Canada, never mind three, later in that same meeting. It's a bundle of fun because
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when they're on the ropes, rightfully so. And in the context of this, it is a carbon tax.
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It's not just on us, though. They want a global carbon tax on everything that they ship around
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We're going to make Canadians pay. We're going to drive up the cost of everything.
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We're going to collect money and then send it elsewhere.
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Yeah, it's unbelievable. So we don't make things in this country anymore because the regulatory
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environment is so onerous. We have taxes left, right, and centre, and they want more.
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So business is fleeing. Capital is fleeing. And then they say, well, because you want
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Again, it's an effort to try to drive as many Canadians into poverty as they can. There's
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no other way to explain away behaviours like this because the unfortunate reality is they're
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failing in terms of their emissions reductions targets. We are the worst in the G7. We're ranked
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62nd of 67th on a recent report that came out in terms of our environmental outcomes. We're
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failing despite the punishing policies and taxes that are being placed on us. They always talk
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about environmental plans. They don't have environmental plans. They have tax plans.
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Well, even the stuff they are doing, that's for you, right? That's not for me.
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That's what it is about, right? You can't travel. Don't go. What did Mark Collins say
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this past session? You're going to burn the planet if you take the kids on a vacation
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So this Gibbo fella, remember, this is the guy that scaled the CN Tower and was arrested.
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And went after the Premier of Alberta when his wife was home alone.
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Of course. Yeah, he went and terrified her on the second story of their house. He even went
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us far to say that we shouldn't be building any more roads.
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Forget road trips. We're not even going to build any roads for you to think about getting
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on them. It's wacko, radical. I don't have enough great words to describe this, man.
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Well, ivory towers if you're him, but boxes for us.
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He'll still have the best cuts of meat, stay at the best hotel, so he can give lectures
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The high-flying, high-carbon hypocrite is a good summary.
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And many Canadians will find this interesting, because I sure did when I found out.
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He made up a new position called the Climate Change Ambassador that also flies all over
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the world, lecturing other countries on why they should have carbon taxes.
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An astounding use of taxpayer money, in my view.
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Yeah, with policy that doesn't even make sense for some countries, right?
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Exactly. I think that we should export things that we make and produce in this country,
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Yeah, we need the jobs here. We need to build things here.
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But of course, as we've said a few times on the show, you know, the liberals, especially
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those that think they're in the elite bunch, the ones that we're talking about that fly
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and lecture those that try to have a vacation once a year, right?
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You can't agree with what is known as common amongst people, right?
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Because to agree, common sense, then you're not elite.
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So you have to come up with these ridiculous positions to set yourself aside, right?
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Well, it's hard to understand common sense when you haven't really lived a normal life.
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And, you know, you can forgive him for, you know, he didn't control that necessarily.
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But why he's so out of touch and why guys like Minister Guy Bowe and, well, frankly, most
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of their cabinet, it explains why they're so out of touch and why they don't understand.
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And we say it's common sense that it doesn't click in with them, right?
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Because he is feeling, and I'm sure many of his caucus agree with him, that they know
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You can tell with all the different programs they keep bringing in, right?
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And they will impose the program that you are allowed to get, whether you like it or not,
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And we're going to make you so poor first that you think you're going to need it.
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And then we're going to come in and save the day.
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And then they create the problem, and then they say, we're here to solve it.
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Brandon, the time's pretty much up, but I appreciate you coming on.
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As you know, the guests get the last words to the floor.
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I will just say, it's cold across your riding and mine.
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So if you're in a position that you can contribute in some way, help somebody out, I hope you do that.
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Brandon Leslie, the Member of Parliament for Portage Liscar in Manitoba.
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Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share this program.
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We want Pierre Paulyev to be the next Prime Minister of Canada.
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Until next week at 1.30 p.m. Eastern time, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom.