The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Save our Snowbirds!

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

00:00:13.720 your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton-Caworthal Lakes with new content

00:00:17.400 for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe

00:00:21.980 and share this program because on today's show we have breaking news for you, something

00:00:27.000 you are not hearing in the mainstream media, and to bring us the details of that, we bring on

00:00:32.440 Fraser Tomey, a good friend of the show, the Member of Parliament for Moose Jaw Lake Centre,

00:00:37.860 Lanigan, in the beautiful province of Saskatchewan. It involves the Snowbirds. Thanks for coming on

00:00:43.080 the show. Thanks, Jamie. Thanks for having me again. I appreciate it. The Snowbirds are a

00:00:47.160 Canadian institution, right? Everyone knows the Snowbirds. Lots of us have grew up with it.

00:00:51.920 I know I did. I know you serve, you know, you serve, you live in Moose Jaw, you were the mayor, you were involved in the base.

00:01:01.640 The Snowbirds looked like their future is on the outs with these Liberals.

00:01:07.400 Yeah, absolutely. So behind the scenes, the Liberals are ready to cancel the Snowbirds.

00:01:12.340 They're going to be canceling the Snowbirds after the 2026 season.

00:01:15.620 They haven't come publicly announcing this.

00:01:19.740 Obviously, this is going to be a huge blowback with Canadians and not a very, very popular choice.

00:01:26.440 And right now, frankly, not the right choice.

00:01:29.600 So at the end of the year, this will be the last season for the Snowbirds.

00:01:34.140 Yeah, they've been going around telling air show organizers that the Snowbirds won't be flying in 2027 season.

00:01:42.920 Right now, I think that that decision could be reversed.

00:01:46.200 I believe it's the wrong decision and sending the wrong message not only to Canadians but to our, you know, allies around the world that we need to have something to wave the flag and obviously the Liberals are willing to sacrifice that and I don't think we should be.

00:02:03.900 Well, that doesn't make any sense, right?

00:02:05.260 As you pointed out, this is a time where we should be patriotic, where we should show why Canada is so special.

00:02:11.960 And one of those things is the snowbirds.

00:02:15.120 Yeah.

00:02:16.120 Like, they're known around the world.

00:02:18.120 Yeah.

00:02:19.120 Like, this is crazy.

00:02:20.120 So their budget is, what, $30 million a year?

00:02:22.120 Yeah.

00:02:23.120 Right now, actually, their budget is $10 million a year, but they've just invested $30 million

00:02:29.120 into upgrading the Tudor jets that they're flying right now.

00:02:33.120 And they are a 1964 platform, a Canadian-designed platform.

00:02:38.120 So that's a testimony to the Canadian aviation industry.

00:02:42.120 So they've upgraded them to have glass cockpits.

00:02:45.280 Obviously, technology's changed over the years, and that gives the pilots a better situational awareness when they're in the cockpits.

00:02:51.740 But their annual budget is just around $10 million, which is 0.02% of the $85 billion that the Liberal government's spending on defense.

00:03:04.020 And a lot of that stuff that they're spending on defense right now isn't defense really procurement or military equipment.

00:03:12.620 They're just throwing it into the defense budget to up their numbers and make them look good with their allies.

00:03:18.760 So, okay, so help me explain this.

00:03:21.520 So they put some money into improving the capital, like the planes that they fly.

00:03:29.140 At the same time, what are they doing with the planes?

00:03:31.300 that if they won't be flying them in shows and practicing with them.

00:03:34.720 Well, this is a typical liberal move with regards to the way that they operate,

00:03:40.540 you know, the military and the Air Force in particular.

00:03:44.620 They took, two years ago, three years ago,

00:03:47.240 they took perfectly good flying Hawkjet trainers

00:03:51.060 that were used for fighter lead-in training,

00:03:54.000 which should have stayed.

00:03:55.680 Right now, they've deployed our future fighter pilots

00:03:59.000 pilots that are training to become fighter pilots to Italy, to the United States, Iceland,

00:04:05.120 all globally.

00:04:07.200 And they took these perfectly good jets that had 26,000 flying hours, which is 10 years

00:04:14.260 of snowbirds flying time, and cannibalized them.

00:04:18.620 They're in Borden right now, being used for future mechanics, airframe mechanics and

00:04:26.920 technicians.

00:04:28.460 So they've taken good money, thrown that out, and now they've invested good money in the Tudors and they're going to cancel them.

00:04:36.800 So we've seen this.

00:04:37.960 We've seen this with the F-35 contract, anything else.

00:04:42.040 You know, we've seen it with the Cormorant years ago when Chrétien was in power.

00:04:47.200 They just kicked the can down the road.

00:04:49.120 They think they're going to make better decisions and then they come up with the decision that was originally chosen.

00:04:54.780 and we have the Comirants, and we should have the F-35s.

00:04:58.280 I googled this before the show.

00:05:01.080 Actually, I googled it prior to, and I googled again,

00:05:03.600 just to make sure there were no updates.

00:05:05.260 But when you brought this to my attention, that was the first I heard of it.

00:05:09.460 Google it, I see nothing on the internet in regards to this cancellation

00:05:14.620 or the end of season or potential end of season, however you want to say it.

00:05:18.620 There's no media about that.

00:05:20.340 How is that possible when the snowbirds are such an institution?

00:05:26.080 You know what, I think right now they're trying to hide this as much as they can

00:05:30.340 because they know that the blowback is going to be bad.

00:05:33.000 And they know that the decision is wrong.

00:05:35.440 And, you know, right now I think this is the point where we can actually influence the Liberal government to say,

00:05:42.700 no, this is something that is sacred to us.

00:05:44.780 There are things that are sacred to Canadians that we need to be flying the flag on right now.

00:05:50.400 Ice hockey is sacred to us.

00:05:52.720 Maple syrup is sacred to us.

00:05:54.600 And I'm going to say gravy because we put it on our fries and our food thing.

00:05:58.180 I'm going to include butter tarts.

00:05:59.480 Yeah, butter tarts.

00:06:00.800 We'll throw those in there.

00:06:03.380 You know, our RCMP, the musical ride, the Red Sert.

00:06:07.180 Those are things that are uniquely Canadian that define us.

00:06:11.160 And right now when our sovereignty is being challenged and our nationality is being questioned,

00:06:17.160 this is the time that we should be flying our symbols.

00:06:21.780 Our flag is beautiful, and so are the snowbirds.

00:06:24.660 We should be proud of those iconic symbols, and you don't sacrifice them.

00:06:31.380 You don't sacrifice them when you don't have a plan to replace the snowbirds.

00:06:37.180 And right now, the Liberal government can't be trusted to say,

00:06:40.900 yeah, we're going to have a three- to five-year pause on this,

00:06:43.940 and then we're going to get new aircraft.

00:06:45.420 Well, I've just already mentioned how many times they've screwed up military contracts.

00:06:52.320 Their three to five years is actually 10 to 15 years in real time.

00:06:58.060 And we can't believe them.

00:06:59.620 We can't trust them.

00:07:00.940 And that's too long to lose the corporate knowledge, the professional, the excellence,

00:07:07.960 the unity that the Snowbirds bring to not only our nation, but to show our friends down

00:07:14.840 South that do rely on us. And we've seen it. The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force, when they

00:07:24.600 didn't have the Thunderbirds and the Blue Angels flying around 2012, their recruitment numbers went

00:07:31.580 down. We need our recruitment numbers up. It's a great way to recruit because it's the only

00:07:38.280 way that the military can reach all of this country because we're a landlocked nation.

00:07:44.840 And it inspires.

00:07:46.300 It inspires kids to, you know, pursue a dream and to advance themselves.

00:07:53.300 And maybe their dreams might not make it, but it takes them to somewhere.

00:07:57.240 And that's, you know, in particular my case.

00:07:59.500 And we've seen that with numerous people where they've become astronauts, you know.

00:08:06.520 We just sent someone to beyond the limits of the moon and back again with maple syrup.

00:08:13.100 That's truly iconic.

00:08:14.840 And, you know, we need to keep the snowbirds flying.

00:08:18.420 Well, this is the fear.

00:08:19.260 If they disband, if the Liberals disband this program and the pilots go elsewhere, because that's a unique specialized training that they've gone through, they disband, as you mentioned just a few moments ago, that institutional, that corporate knowledge goes away.

00:08:37.220 So if the Liberals at some point or a new government want to bring the snowbirds back, it just doesn't happen overnight.

00:08:44.240 So this would then be a few years out.

00:08:47.500 So we could be without this if it does go forward and is cancelled for a long time.

00:08:54.300 Yes, absolutely.

00:08:55.360 Almost a decade, if you count this as four years with the majority parliament, and then who knows what happens after that.

00:09:00.740 It could be almost a decade before it's brought back.

00:09:03.060 At that point, does it come back?

00:09:04.320 I guess that's the other question.

00:09:05.300 Well, and that's the fear.

00:09:06.820 That's why we need to save them now.

00:09:08.700 And what we need to say here at this critical point, get new fighter trainers, right?

00:09:16.060 We need new fighter trainers so that we can do the fighter lead-in training program here in Canada

00:09:22.340 and buy extra jets for the snowbirds.

00:09:26.720 We need those.

00:09:28.640 This is the time that we should be pursuing those kind of contracts that are important to the future of our nation.

00:09:37.620 And the Liberals just seem to be, you know, I've got a few comments that I want to say,

00:09:45.440 but they're looking through the rearview mirror instead of driving forward with the big windshield.

00:09:49.120 And this is unfortunate for your town, too.

00:09:51.280 The city of Moose Jaw, that's unfortunate.

00:09:54.000 Yeah, absolutely.

00:09:54.980 That's going to take a hit.

00:09:55.860 You know what, it will.

00:09:58.140 But, you know, Moose Jaw is unique that, you know, they value the Snowbirds.

00:10:05.180 They love the Snowbirds.

00:10:06.140 Of course.

00:10:06.380 You know, during COVID, you know, a very, very sad time when we did lose someone in the snowbirds.

00:10:14.780 There's still a heart cut out in one of the fields that I hike through, and it's in remembrance.

00:10:22.500 And so that when the snowbirds fly over, they always see the heart.

00:10:26.380 It chokes me up.

00:10:28.160 And the community has a heart for the snowbirds.

00:10:31.300 They've got a history of the snowbirds.

00:10:34.120 But they know that this is not their team. It's our team. It's our country's team. It's the people

00:10:41.240 of Canada's team. And the Liberals should not be making the decision without the support of

00:10:47.240 Canadians on this, and they're not doing that. We all know the importance of the Arctic,

00:10:51.640 and this ties into the military and what's happening with the Canadian military.

00:10:56.200 The Arctic is another area in which Stephen Harper, the previous Prime Minister,

00:11:00.920 You can argue whether Justin Trudeau did anything about it, but Mark Carney is now saying that the Arctic is important to them once again.

00:11:08.920 Surprisingly, but it's right on.

00:11:10.920 Just the fact that under Trudeau, the plans to secure the Arctic basically went ignored.

00:11:21.920 So we have 10 years to catch up on, and now we're trying to buy new equipment, we've got icebreakers in the queue.

00:11:29.920 There's so much going on, and put up the graphic there if you don't mind, just talking about, you know, how we're going to do it when we're so far behind.

00:11:39.440 And you're on the Veterans Committee, you're kind of hearing this every day.

00:11:44.520 How does the Arctic line up for the Canadian military, for the veterans that you were talking to, and the importance, and how do we move forward with that?

00:11:53.920 It's a critical area of vital importance.

00:11:58.400 If you look from the top of the globe, you can see that we actually border Russia, China,

00:12:06.560 and then to our south, we have the United States. And then we also have our Baltic neighbors.

00:12:14.240 So it's a focal point. We always look at the globe and the map spread out, the Mercator way.

00:12:22.800 But when you look at it from the top, it's vital, and the world is recognizing the importance of that area, and we need to be protecting it.

00:12:33.660 And it's embarrassing when we have, you know, the British, you know, coming and saying, hey, listen, we know that you can't patrol your own waters.

00:12:43.620 We'll help you patrol, you know, until you get your stuff sorted out.

00:12:50.580 it's it's embarrassing we shouldn't be in this position we are under the liberal government

00:12:58.260 we're continually draining our military and they fail to recognize that having strong defense and

00:13:05.240 having uh you know a strong military is good foreign policy it's vital having a strong military

00:13:12.840 is good foreign policy because it lets our neighbors know and our allies know we're there

00:13:18.180 to help you out.

00:13:19.960 So we should be able to protect ourselves, and we should be there for our neighbors,

00:13:24.700 and then we should be able to be the linchpin for democracy, as we were in World War II.

00:13:30.540 And we can never neglect that, and that's been neglected by the Liberal government under Trudeau and Carney.

00:13:38.400 Whether it be the snowbirds, whether it be how the Liberals plan to deal with the Arctic

00:13:44.360 and improve our presence there and secure what is ours, because we all know the minerals and

00:13:49.880 the natural resources that are up there, plus the other not-so-friendly countries poking around up

00:13:56.200 there. We want to make sure we protect ours. Sad our friends like the UK have to jump in

00:14:03.320 because we're not able to do that. But it would be nice to be able to get answers to some of

00:14:07.960 of these questions. Let's queue up cut 2, or cut 1 I guess, graphic number 1. Cut 2,

00:14:14.500 this is the Veterans Committee, where if you start to discuss things the Liberals don't

00:14:19.720 like, they shut it down, go into closed session, which means the microphones go off, you can't

00:14:25.840 talk about it after the fact, play cut 1.

00:14:28.800 Aspect of our business are done, I will adjourn this meeting.

00:14:37.960 You can suspend, depending on it.

00:14:44.960 Carly was right, you can suspend, you have to have a vote to adjourn.

00:14:49.400 But there are lots of examples in the past couple of weeks that as soon as the Liberals

00:14:54.220 got the majority parliament, every time there's a sensitive issue that might make the Liberals

00:14:59.020 look bad in committee, the cameras go off.

00:15:01.580 They move to go into a closed session, they move to adjourn, they move to suspend, everything

00:15:07.140 shuts down and voices are silenced.

00:15:09.640 Yeah.

00:15:10.640 And that obviously happened in the Veterans Committee that I sit on.

00:15:14.600 And Blake, the critic, was fast to point out that it was an improper adjournment.

00:15:21.480 It should have been suspended.

00:15:23.620 And that brings a huge concern, not only for me with veterans, and then the defense file,

00:15:30.840 every file because, you know, our job is to basically hold this government accountable

00:15:37.940 and they won't hear any of it.

00:15:41.180 And that was the wrong way to start off and very, very disappointing.

00:15:47.640 Not surprising.

00:15:49.780 But, you know, Jamie, you've been in your role.

00:15:53.040 I've been in my role.

00:15:54.040 We take criticism.

00:15:55.160 Sometimes you've got to sit down with people within your constituency that don't agree

00:15:59.320 with you.

00:15:59.700 You hear them out.

00:16:00.840 And, you know, you try and come to a common ground.

00:16:06.540 We've not seen that.

00:16:07.780 We've not seen that with any of the bills that we've tried to put through.

00:16:11.220 And, you know, the Liberals will go, we're going to take this idea.

00:16:14.920 But they don't ask us, well, you know, what are you going to, you know, what was your intention?

00:16:20.880 So we take carbon tax.

00:16:22.720 They only went halfway, you know.

00:16:25.380 But took full credit.

00:16:26.440 Most people think the carbon tax is gone.

00:16:28.920 It's not.

00:16:29.800 Absolutely.

00:16:30.200 You know, they love to say we're great at solving problems.

00:16:35.760 That they create, yeah.

00:16:36.720 But they're really good at creating problems.

00:16:39.680 And they are really good at trying to solve the problems that they've created that they're not going to fix.

00:16:46.080 And then make you think that nothing will be solved without their greatness.

00:16:49.600 It is one of the weirdest riddles we live in.

00:16:52.560 And no wonder people are frustrated, upset.

00:16:54.700 that, you know, there's underlying tension and a huge discontent within this country

00:17:00.700 of the way that the country's being run.

00:17:04.140 And if that continues, I'm not going to see it.

00:17:08.480 I don't see it getting in.

00:17:09.600 They didn't even let it go a few weeks, right?

00:17:11.820 They laid right into it within the first week.

00:17:14.760 Like, didn't take a breath.

00:17:16.660 And their friends, the media, were like saying, hey, we're careful of this.

00:17:22.920 And they went ahead and did it anyways.

00:17:24.700 Well, it's a media, I love, we warned everyone this was going to happen. 0.93

00:17:30.160 And of course, the media is like, you guys are nuts, you know, like, you know, whatever, just a typical opposition, whining and complaining.

00:17:36.080 Sure enough, it happens and the media is starting to criticize, well, wake up and then start to criticize the very thing they were a champion for.

00:17:44.440 So they're just as much to blame as anyone else on how we got here.

00:17:48.720 Absolutely, absolutely. And the media is supposed to be independent and hold the government accountable.

00:17:57.120 No, they've been holding the opposition to account. Let the government skate on everything.

00:18:00.880 Yeah, absolutely. And so we're seeing that. And they've basically, you know, given the Liberals carte blanche.

00:18:08.520 And so the Liberals are going to do that because they're not going to get the flack that they truly deserve in the media.

00:18:14.700 And you know what? Have a balanced approach. Say, yeah, you did okay on this. There's a hole up ahead here. We don't want to fall into that. But we just keep falling into holes. And then the media is like, oh, yeah, they've got this. And then they're still digging.

00:18:33.620 Still digging.

00:18:34.280 Still digging to get out of that big hole.

00:18:36.120 Well, my friend, we're pretty much out of time. But you've been on this show before, so you already know. The guests get the last word. Please close us out.

00:18:43.540 Well, Jamie, thank you so much for having us on this podcast.

00:18:48.780 And I just ask all your viewers that if you see anything with regards to the Snowbirds, whether it's a petition or you write your local MP, be a voice.

00:19:01.980 We need to save this team.

00:19:03.240 It's not just the Conservative Party's team.

00:19:05.820 It's not just Moose Jaw's team.

00:19:07.800 We're here to be advocates for the Canadians.

00:19:11.340 And we need to save this team.

00:19:13.540 So I'm asking for your help because we can't do it by ourselves.

00:19:16.320 Thank you, Fraser Tomey, Member of Parliament for Moose Jaw Lake Centre.

00:19:21.520 Lanigan, I always remember your former writing name, not your new one.

00:19:25.060 Thanks for coming on the show.

00:19:26.520 Thanks for your time.

00:19:27.640 Thank you for yours because we do have this breaking news on this program.

00:19:32.860 As I've said many times before, you often hear topics discussed at this table that you might not be hearing in the mainstream media.

00:19:40.520 This is one of them, how odd it is for the Liberals to give up on an institution like the Snowbirds.

00:19:48.120 And because their future is up in the air, we need your help to like, to comment, to subscribe, and share this program.

00:19:56.780 Make sure this gets far and wide because we cannot lose the Snowbirds.

00:20:01.300 So until next week, as you know, new content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time.

00:20:08.020 Until then, low taxes, less government, more freedom.

00:20:10.520 That's The Blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - May 08, 2026

Save our Snowbirds!

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