The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Rising Gas Prices

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

00:00:06.080 host, Jamie Schmael, member of Parliament for Halliburton, Kawartha Lakes, Brock, with new

00:00:09.620 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We have lots to talk about,

00:00:14.620 so please, if you like the show, please comment, subscribe, share it. Allow us to push back

00:00:19.320 against the ever-moving liberal agenda, because I guarantee you what you're hearing now today

00:00:23.540 will not be something you're obviously hearing in the mainstream media, so we need your help

00:00:27.520 to do that. And of course, if you can't watch or listen to the entire program right this

00:00:31.740 second, you can download it, listen to it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play,

00:00:36.040 Spotify, you name it, it is out there. And of course, we're back in Parliament. Parliament

00:00:40.940 is back in session after a two-week constituency work week, and we are back in studio. As you

00:00:46.720 can see, we have two guests, two familiar people for the show. We have Richard Bragdon,

00:00:51.400 the member of Parliament for Tobik Mactaquak in the beautiful province of Manitoba. Not

00:00:56.120 Manitoba. That's our next guest, beautiful province of New Brunswick. He's also the

00:00:59.780 deputy critic for Ethics and Accountable Government, which keeps them quite busy nowadays.

00:01:04.840 And of course, Larry McGuire, member of Parliament for Brandon Suris, Manitoba, the beautiful province

00:01:09.540 of Manitoba, and the deputy critic for Natural Resources. Thank you, gentlemen, for coming.

00:01:14.120 Good to be with you. Pleasure to be here. We have a lot to talk about. I wore my orange tie

00:01:17.520 special for today, because today we hear that there is a new alliance in Parliament. Richard,

00:01:23.960 it is the Liberal-NDP alliance, or is it the NDP-Liberal alliance? Who holds the balance?

00:01:28.800 That's a great question. And I think, obviously, you can't really distinguish those two parties

00:01:33.440 at this point. I think to say that they're far left would be an understatement. And I think

00:01:39.320 Canadians are going to be rightly concerned about the direction of the country where already

00:01:43.300 the cost of living is quickly getting out of sight. Inflation is continuing to get out of control.

00:01:49.180 The cost of housing is getting out of reach for people. And then they think of more government

00:01:54.200 spending. It could be a lot of reckless new programs and spending put in place. It could

00:02:00.260 cause a lot of problems for Canadians. And it's going to hit them once again in the pocketbooks,

00:02:05.020 where we least need it right now.

00:02:06.500 Absolutely. So for those just tuning in, the NDP and Liberals have announced a deal that will

00:02:11.500 take them right through 2025 with no chance of election, because the NDP will then support the

00:02:16.240 Liberals on matters of confidence, matters that could bring down the House of Commons.

00:02:20.260 So for those of you watching or listening that may have questions about when the Conservatives

00:02:24.660 can table a matter of non-confidence, when will the budget be where there could be a vote

00:02:28.600 of non-confidence, we can go into an election. This will ensure that that does not happen

00:02:34.020 until 2025.

00:02:35.800 So, Larry, today we're talking about a bunch of things in Parliament today. It's the Conservative

00:02:41.180 Opposition Day. We're talking about the cost of living. We're talking about ways

00:02:44.600 to help Canadians in the pocketbook, because they're getting hammered every way you look.

00:02:50.800 Gasoline, groceries, anything and everything is on the way up.

00:02:55.080 Transportation, for sure. And, you know, I was 14 years in a Manitoba NDP government

00:02:59.520 as an opposition, as a Conservative MLA there. And we've got a Prime Minister that outspends

00:03:05.260 that NDP government, which was very spend-thrift, or spend-

00:03:09.380 Spend-happy, maybe.

00:03:10.200 Spend-happy at that time. They weren't spend-thrift, believe me.

00:03:12.260 And this Prime Minister has outspent them, makes them look like child's play in regards

00:03:17.740 to spending. And part of that, you know, we were supportive as far as helping people get

00:03:22.920 through COVID. But there's a lot of this is untracked spending, and it has nothing to do

00:03:27.460 with COVID. So this government has outspent. I think we've already elected the first NDP

00:03:31.920 Prime Minister in Canadian history, and his name's Trudeau. And, you know, but we need to

00:03:37.180 be cautious, because the motion that we put forward today as an opposition day motion from

00:03:41.760 the Conservative Party is one to just alleviate a small fraction of that by getting rid of

00:03:46.240 the GST on fuels. And everybody in Canada has to travel someplace to get to work, take their

00:03:52.100 children to hockey practice or music lessons, just wherever they're going. And it's really

00:03:59.940 hard on families right now. When, you know, MNP did the study that shows 50% of Canadians

00:04:04.860 are within $200 of insolvency at the end of every paycheck. This is really harsh on families.

00:04:10.380 Absolutely. And especially the Parliamentary Budget Officer said one-third of all spending

00:04:14.880 that was done during the pandemic had nothing to do with COVID, but was couched in the language

00:04:18.420 of COVID. And I think that's the issue we had, and especially when all this printed money

00:04:22.600 into the atmosphere is causing massive problems for people, especially those in the housing

00:04:27.140 market. Well, when you look at the housing market, Jamie, it's severe. I believe it was

00:04:31.800 six years ago when Mr. Trudeau became Prime Minister. The median price or the average home

00:04:38.900 price in Canada was like $429,000 in that ballpark. And that has over doubled in six years to where

00:04:45.660 the median price for a home or average price is over $870,000. That is totally unattainable

00:04:51.940 for so many Canadians across the country. And for people starting out wanting to purchase

00:04:57.700 their first home, that just seems like a faraway distant dream now. And so what can we do to

00:05:04.020 somehow hold this government in check, especially now that they're moving further, further to

00:05:08.220 the left, let alone on the whole issue of making sure that we're much more energy secure, much

00:05:14.780 more, have a much more stable and secure food supply chain and increasing our manufacturing

00:05:20.060 capacity because there doesn't seem to be any interest in any of that from either the NDP or

00:05:24.740 the Liberals. Already, they've had a boot on the energy sector of this country, and it's having

00:05:29.300 devastating consequences, not just for us here at home, but also internationally. We've got to start

00:05:33.760 replacing dictator oil and energy with democratic oil and energy. And I think that certainly would be

00:05:39.620 things that we'll be advocating as conservatives to make sure we've got to look at this whole thing

00:05:43.700 and get Canada back on the right track because we have unbelievable potential.

00:05:46.520 Absolutely, we do. But we're suffering under a lack of vision. And whatever vision they do have,

00:05:52.320 it's more government spending. Yes. And less private sector growth. We need the opposite.

00:05:57.480 Well, we've doubled federal spending and we know what happened. And that seems to be a badge of

00:06:00.980 success for this Liberal government. How much can we spend? It doesn't matter if you actually get

00:06:04.700 results. It's what we spend. We just talked about housing. We talked about gasoline. What about food,

00:06:11.220 Larry? You're a farmer. Fertilizer prices. Farmers are really worried about this.

00:06:16.200 Well, they are. And, you know, thinking the CP has gone back to work at noon today here just an hour

00:06:21.840 or so ago. But it is costly on food. We've got a war going on in Ukraine, a Putin war, not a Russian

00:06:28.540 war. It's driven by Putin. And, you know, Ukraine provides 30% of Western Europe's food supply. And

00:06:38.240 it's a big problem there. And Russia also supplies food. Neither one of them are going to be able to do

00:06:44.160 the proper job of putting a crop on the ground this year. And this has just exacerbated the cost

00:06:48.260 of things like fertilizer and transportation of crop inputs here in North America as well and around

00:06:53.760 the world. And so we could end up with a food shortage in some areas of the world. And we're

00:06:59.300 already seeing people, you know, going hungry in Ukraine just trying to get out of the country.

00:07:03.880 We need to make sure that our supply chains are intact to be able to provide not only the

00:07:09.220 finished products that help as farm inputs, but the manufacturing of those products through natural

00:07:15.440 gas and other means while we transition. But we know, but we just, I always say you can't throw

00:07:21.160 the baby out with the bathwater. We've really got to make sure that while we are transitioning that we

00:07:26.060 continue to use the full potential of what's in front of us right now. Well, as an Ontarian, I sat

00:07:32.320 through 15 years of liberal rule, and we saw what used to be the manufacturing hub of Canada

00:07:37.600 slowly get decimated over those 15 years because of failed liberal policies. And those same brain

00:07:44.020 people are here in Ottawa now, and it seems to be we're going down the exact same track. And we here

00:07:48.260 in Ontario have some of the highest electricity rates anywhere in North America. Let's talk about,

00:07:52.500 so if we want to talk about manufacturing and bringing back those jobs and building things,

00:07:56.260 we have to address the key issues that are deterring investment in those kind of things.

00:08:00.520 Quickly, let's talk about oil and gas. We talked about a few times, especially because Larry just

00:08:05.400 mentioned the conflict in Ukraine. Even if we wanted to, as a nation, as Canadians, wanted to

00:08:13.920 supply the European market and others with oil and natural gas to displace some of the Russian oil and

00:08:20.900 gas that is kind of supply, well, it is supplying a vast majority of Europe, especially Germany with the

00:08:27.700 Nord Stream 2 pipeline upon completion. Even if we wanted to, we can't, because we can't build

00:08:33.640 anything in this country. The liberals have made it almost impossible. The bills that they put in

00:08:38.500 place, the regulatory regime that they have in place, has disproportionately and unfairly stifled and

00:08:44.620 strangled our energy sector. And our Canadian energy sector has a great story to tell. We have some of

00:08:49.720 the best environmental regulations in the world. We pay our workers good wages in the energy field and sector.

00:08:55.660 It's a great new story. Would it not be far better for Canada to be the provider of the world's energy in

00:09:03.940 comparison to unsavory authoritarian and dictatorial regimes? And when you put it to Canadians like that, it makes sense to Canadians. 0.90

00:09:11.600 And I've heard more and more in my riding back home and across New Brunswick, and I think this is happening across the country,

00:09:16.340 it's time we are getting our energy resources to the world that need it. It can prosper our country, while at the same time,

00:09:24.020 make us less reliant on foreign sources of oil from unsavory places. And I'll just say this, and I know Larry will have much more to add to this, 0.82

00:09:30.540 being on the committee as well, but the Keystone XL pipeline, for example. The United States, up until just a couple of weeks ago,

00:09:38.000 were importing to the tune of 680,000 barrels a day of oil and crude from Russia. You know how much the Keystone pipeline

00:09:45.600 could have been providing the United States at the same time? With good, democratic Canadian oil, 800,000 barrels a day. Amazing.

00:09:54.420 And the Americans will say, well, it would take two years to complete, but they canceled it 13 months ago.

00:09:59.240 We would have been upon completion. This would have been already ready to go. So that argument, I don't deal with at all.

00:10:07.180 But what really frustrates me, Larry get into this too, is that the first thing they did, Joe Biden did, was to cancel Keystone.

00:10:15.220 One of the next things he did was lift the sanctions on Nord Stream 2, which allowed Russia to provide energy to Germany,

00:10:22.200 put them dependent on Russia.

00:10:23.360 Literally over a barrel.

00:10:24.480 Yeah, fund this war and neuter the position of Germany and other European countries, because that was allowed to happen. 0.98

00:10:32.460 And then when the United States became dependent, he begged OPEC, Joe Biden begged OPEC to up their production when they wouldn't do that.

00:10:39.920 He went to Venezuela. Like, where was this prime minister to say, Mr. President, we're right here.

00:10:46.080 We've got the lowest carbon fossil fuels in the world here under the best regimes of extraction that my colleague on the Natural Resources Committee, Richard, just pointed out here.

00:10:54.960 And yet, you know, here we are. We're in a position to be able to supply. We had a group in from Finland the other day.

00:11:01.100 We could supply them. Twenty percent of their energy is coming from Russian oil right now.

00:11:04.760 We could have supplied that.

00:11:06.860 Qatar just signed an agreement with Germany over the weekend to supply some of the fuel that they were getting from Russia.

00:11:12.900 There's alternatives to that energy, and we are in a great position to have been able to supply that if we'd have had the initiative and direction and vision over the last five or six years to be able to move those products.

00:11:28.240 We also have to be very cognizant of the other elements.

00:11:32.300 As we move to the other sectors of society or the new types of energy that the Liberals and the NDP want to talk about, and we are as well, the critical elements are the things that we also talk about here.

00:11:44.060 China controls 80 percent of those in the world, Jamie.

00:11:47.140 And, you know, we have our own sources here and very good sources, but if the critical elements were cut off to Canada,

00:11:54.360 how then can we supply our own needs with, you know, the batteries that we need in the future, electric vehicles and everything else that may be coming down the road?

00:12:04.420 But right now, that's what I say about the future, but right now we've got these fossil fuels in front of us that our neighbors and allies, really, need in the world,

00:12:13.880 and we should be able to supply them, and we can't.

00:12:15.900 Yeah, you're right. The Liberals, and we do too, I think all parties are talking about moving away for fossil fuels, and what does that look like?

00:12:21.560 But I think the difference here, when we talk about it, we talk about adding, in terms of adding more options that are cost-effective and widely available.

00:12:31.900 I think the Liberals and NDP, that coalition, just wants to subtract, right?

00:12:36.440 There's a period of time where we are now, A, to when we get to point B, when we're off fossil fuels.

00:12:41.060 What happens in the middle? I think that's the important question.

00:12:43.920 Liberals and NDP want to just shut down oil and natural gas, but what happens to the cost of available energy sources to keep people warm,

00:12:51.300 to fuel their vehicles, to get them where they need to go, to run their everyday, the middle is what the left is missing.

00:12:58.140 Totally agree, Jamie, and this is the difference between fanciful ideologues and idealism,

00:13:04.800 where, oh yes, it would be in an ideal world, we would be beyond carbon fuels.

00:13:09.140 But then there's the reality of where people are living right now, and what they know the reality is,

00:13:13.820 every time they're filling up their car, it is costing more and more from their back pockets

00:13:18.780 and taking it out of their families' budget every month.

00:13:21.280 What we do know is that we now have cross-jurisdictional comparisons that we can look at.

00:13:27.100 We know other jurisdictions became, not too long ago, the world's number one energy exporter

00:13:34.080 and developer and producer of energy, while at the same time reducing the carbon footprint

00:13:39.780 more than what we were doing here in Canada under this current administration.

00:13:44.960 While we virtue signaled and we talked about becoming green, our carbon emissions kept going up,

00:13:50.460 while others were developing their natural gas sector and transitioning and using those fuels to replace coal

00:13:56.700 and to supply the world with democratic energy sources, I think it's worthy of a re-evaluation.

00:14:05.740 When we are blessed with the kind of resources we have in this country, we need to be the champions of all types of energy.

00:14:11.840 I'm for all of the above, whether it's nuclear, whether it's solar, wind, all of that's great.

00:14:16.240 But that's adding.

00:14:17.220 That's the adding part, right?

00:14:18.680 We are still, for the foreseeable future, we're all still running largely on petroleum products.

00:14:25.180 And a lot of the people who virtue signal the most on this stuff are some of the worst abusers of it themselves.

00:14:30.340 And so, anyways, I think that's a little, it's a little bit rich for me.

00:14:34.320 But, you know, I get a little frustrated and I think average Canadians do because these types of measures

00:14:38.840 that are being brought in disproportionately affect those who live in small towns or rural communities

00:14:45.760 who grow our food, who produce our goods, and they are being punished disproportionately,

00:14:50.280 including our seniors who are on fixed incomes, because of carbon tax legislation

00:14:55.480 and these schemes of wealth redistribution, we need to bring some common sense and reality back to the situation.

00:15:03.100 Well, Larry, what happens in a few more days, April 1st?

00:15:06.120 The carbon tax goes up.

00:15:07.680 Carbon tax goes up.

00:15:08.480 We're spending almost $2 a litre or more in certain parts of this country for a litre of gasoline.

00:15:14.040 This drives everything up.

00:15:16.440 On top of the already supply chain issues, the inflated currency problems we have,

00:15:21.140 the dollar that you have now is not buying as much, and this is the worst time for this to happen.

00:15:26.280 It's hard on every Canadian.

00:15:28.280 Richard and I come from rural areas and it's disproportionately hard on those

00:15:31.440 because, as I've said in my speech this morning in the House,

00:15:34.320 all of my colleagues, all of my constituents in Brandon Suros have to basically travel

00:15:38.640 travel to the neighbouring town to work, go to get supplies between communities,

00:15:45.060 drive their kids to school, music lessons, as I said earlier, and there's a huge cost involved.

00:15:51.260 Now, all of the things that we consume in those rural areas have to be delivered to us,

00:15:57.040 and so it affects the trucking industry across Canada.

00:15:59.240 Another thing that I think we haven't taken into consideration is the efficiencies

00:16:03.300 in the engines of North America already that's taken place over the last 10, 20 years,

00:16:09.740 and the efficiencies, the amount of less fuel that we're using,

00:16:13.240 and, of course, the efficiencies in agriculture, the industry that I come from and spent my life in.

00:16:18.220 When I look at the types of diesel tractors that I was using when I sold my farming operation to my neighbours,

00:16:23.780 boy, they were much more efficient for the amount of work they were getting done every day

00:16:29.920 than the tractors my father's generation drove,

00:16:32.500 and the types of fuel we're using were much cleaner.

00:16:35.900 So there's been major, major offsets done already in the industries that we have

00:16:44.600 and in transportation and production mechanisms, not just in those two industries,

00:16:48.640 but in all of our industries.

00:16:49.780 And it really comes down to technology and innovation, and how do you achieve that?

00:16:52.760 Well, you have low taxes, less regulation, and allow the private sector to do what they do best.

00:16:56.940 And we just create these technologies.

00:16:58.360 We ran on a platform of using technology to be able to deliver to the rest of the world,

00:17:02.800 to not just get our greenhouse gas, sure, we'll get ours down, do everything we can,

00:17:07.100 but help the allies in the world and even some of the countries who aren't such major trading people.

00:17:12.820 But you can do that through competition.

00:17:14.420 Through competition and getting those technologies out into the world market.

00:17:19.880 Absolutely. We are running out of time.

00:17:21.060 You both know the guests always have the last words, so I will turn it over to you, Mr. Bragg.

00:17:27.700 Well, you're very kind, Jamie, but I think Canadians are increasingly wanting Canada

00:17:33.120 to become much more self-reliant, to utilize the resources responsibly that we've been blessed with,

00:17:39.320 but also to help the world out in a time of tremendous need while prospering in our country and doing so.

00:17:46.520 This makes sense. It's good policy. It's responsible both locally here at home, but also abroad.

00:17:53.360 It's a story that makes sense. We just need to tell it, and more and more Canadians, I think, are going to embrace this.

00:17:58.280 It's time to get good Canadian products to the market.

00:18:02.260 I couldn't agree with you more. You are a great order. It's an honor to be in your presence today.

00:18:05.860 Mr. Maguire, take it away.

00:18:07.080 Yeah, well, I'll just finish by saying that we've got a situation where these natural resources help pay for our social programs in Canada, too.

00:18:13.180 Totally.

00:18:13.300 And that's something that I think the Liberals and the NDP, while they talk a good talk, have forgotten a lot of the time.

00:18:20.100 This is why Canada is the number one place in the world to live.

00:18:24.360 Sorry, Jamie.

00:18:25.560 No, for you, the world.

00:18:26.680 But I want to just compliment what he's saying.

00:18:29.360 And in regards to national unity, this is a national unity story.

00:18:33.220 I come from Atlanta, Canada.

00:18:34.560 We are able to have hospitals and schools and have the government that we have and the services we have because of transfer payments that came from the West, from our oil and gas and energy sectors in large part.

00:18:46.400 I, for one, am very thankful for that.

00:18:48.760 And the last thing we need to be doing is continue to pit region against region.

00:18:52.280 Let's build a great Canadian story and do it together.

00:18:55.660 Can't get any more East and West than this.

00:18:57.460 Absolutely.

00:18:58.540 Well, think about what Energy East would have done for your province in New Brunswick.

00:19:01.620 Taking Alberta Energy all the way to New Brunswick.

00:19:05.400 That would have been a major job creation.

00:19:07.360 Big believer in that.

00:19:08.240 We need those pipelines resurrected.

00:19:09.660 We've got a great, we've got a refinery right in New Brunswick that could sell refined petroleum products to the rest of the world at premium price.

00:19:16.220 And displace the bad actors.

00:19:17.900 Richard Bragdon, member of Parliament for Tobik Mactaquak, the deputy critic for ethics and accountable government busy person today.

00:19:25.000 Also, Larry McGuire, who spoke earlier in the House of Commons.

00:19:27.820 I encourage you to check out his social media page and hear his speech.

00:19:31.640 He's very encouraging.

00:19:32.600 Member of Parliament for Brandon Suris and the deputy critic for Natural Resources.

00:19:36.480 We appreciate you joining us here today.

00:19:38.540 It was a great show.

00:19:39.300 I think we covered a lot of ground.

00:19:40.540 Lots more we could talk about.

00:19:41.920 But please join us next week, 1.30 p.m. Eastern time.

00:19:44.560 We will have new content for you.

00:19:45.960 Please like, comment, subscribe, share this program together.

00:19:49.040 We can push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda if you can't watch or listen to the entire program.

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00:19:59.220 It is out there.

00:20:00.160 We'll see you next week.

00:20:01.020 Low taxes, less government, more freedom.

00:20:02.940 That is the Blueprints.

00:20:04.020 We'll see you next week.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - March 22, 2022

Rising Gas Prices

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