Talking a big game.
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Summary
On today's show, the First Ministers are meeting in Saskatoon, also, no federal budget on the horizon until possibly the fall. To talk about this and much more, we bring on Warren Steinle, the Member of Parliament for Regina-Loonan.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to the Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm
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your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, Coortho Lakes, with new content
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for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe,
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and share this program. Tell your friends they can download it on platforms like CastBox,
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iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify. You name it, it is out there. On today's show, the First Ministers
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are meeting in Saskatoon. Also, no federal budget on the horizon until possibly the fall. To talk
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about this and much, much more, we bring on Warren Steinle, the Member of Parliament for Regina Luvan.
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Thanks for coming on the show. Thanks very much for having me, Jamie. Happy to be here.
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I appreciate this because we had a bit of hiatus because of the election. Now we're getting into
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regular content. So good to have one of our regulars back on to really kick off this season.
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Yeah, absolutely. It's great to be here. And just before we get started, I just want to say everyone
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in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, be safe. We have some wildfires going on right now, and there are states
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of emergencies in both those provinces. So stay safe and listen to all the emergency response advice
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you're getting out there. Absolutely. So thousands of people have been evacuated so far.
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Evacuations, big fires, and everyone's working hard. And thank you to the first responders and
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everyone working hard to get the fires under control. And hopefully they get a few more
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under control this coming week. And hope for some rain.
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Yes, let's hope so. But for all those dealing with that, you know, to know that we are thinking
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Absolutely. So hopefully that gets resolved. As you said, let's hope for rain. Let's hope that
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gets taken care of and get these people back to their homes safe and sound.
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Let's kick it off because you're from Saskatchewan. The first ministers and the prime minister
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are in Saskatoon to discuss a whole wide range of issues. One of them, hopefully, is a resource
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development and getting our product to market. And I just want to pull up that one clip here.
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So this is how it starts off. So he's in Calgary here. They're talking about fast tracking major
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projects across the country that'll make Canada energy superpower. And that's, I think we all
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agree with that, I think. The issue here is they can use all these fancy words, but until they get
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rid of C-69, the no more pipelines bill, and C-48, the tanker ban, there is no way anything's getting
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built. Correct. And I think the premiers both sent letters to the prime minister, Premier Molle and
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Premier Danielle Smith in Alberta talking about some of the things they need to do. And that was at the
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top of their list. Getting rid of the industrial carbon tax, getting rid of Bill C-69 and 48. Without
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getting that done, scrapping the emissions cap as well. Because without getting rid of these
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legislations, they're really tying the hands of our producers and people that want to invest in
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our country. And if they don't get rid of these pieces of legislation and policies, it'll be very
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hard to attract investment into our energy sector. Yeah, that's the thing, right? They can use all these
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big, fancy words. They can talk a big game. But if there are major hurdles for business to even
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just barely limp over, there's no way people will risk millions, maybe billions of dollars worth of
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capital on a country that will probably or could turn them down after almost a decade of permitting
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approvals. There's just no certainty. The process is way too long. Investors want that certainty.
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And we'll see. The proof's in the pudding. Let's see if these Liberals put the money where their
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mouth is and actually get rid of some of these hurdles. And if they don't, we'll have exactly
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what we had in the last 10 years. You know, they say they're a new government, but all I see is the
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same faces, just in some different places. Absolutely. It's the same ministers. The key
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ministers are the same as they were under Justin Trudeau. It's the same old Liberals. We said this during
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the campaign, I don't know how many times, it's going to be the same old, same old. And so far,
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this is the same old, same old. Trudeau talked about a big game about resource development, but
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actually stifled it at every opportunity he got. Well, look around the cabinet table and all the
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anti-energy activists. The head of that is Stephen Giebel. Obviously, he's never going to be in favor
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of our energy sector. And he's got a big voice as a Quebec lieutenant. He got elevated into Mark
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Carney's cabinet. And he has a voice that is always going to be against our energy sector.
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And you look at his housing minister, a major anti-energy activist, and so many more.
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His new chief of staff. New chief of staff, anti-energy. So his words sound great. We'll see
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if they get some action into it. And I hope for the sake of Canada, sake of the revenue that could
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be generated, the jobs, the opportunity that wealth that could be created because of a potentially
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energy project, maybe two, maybe three moving forward. This will be a game changer for our
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country, a game changer for the rest of the world, because they can get responsibly extracted energy
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and, you know, help us on our budget too, right? Like we're running massive deficits here.
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If they ever bring a budget. Well, we're going to talk about that in a second. Let's throw that
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graphic up because I don't want to pass by this little point here. Just to say, you know,
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you probably heard in question period, I know you did, Warren, they keep talking about
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slogans, slogans, Canada's new government. That's a slogan. Yep. Sorry to tell them,
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Mr. Carney, man with the plan, you're using slogans. Let's have a plan. Let's have some
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action. Absolutely. All right. So let's queue up cut two. Go to that clip there. Okay. So
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again, using the big words, but listen to the key points on what he says and we'll unpack it when
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he gets there. So play cut two. Because it goes to the heart of the transformation this government
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intends. The first is to shift the core of spending from day-to-day spending, operational spending
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to investment spending. In other words, spending that catalyzes investment, particularly investment
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in the private sector. Mr. Speaker, we'll see that through Build Canada Homes. We'll see that
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through the nation building projects. We'll see that through facilities to accelerate private business
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investments, such as accelerated capital allowances. Very, yeah. So you're probably going to say the
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same thing I was, but very telling language here. Yes. And I think it's funny. They're like,
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we're going to do investment spending now. Right. It's like they weren't in government for the past 10
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years. What have you been doing for the past 10 years if you haven't been trying to do investment
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spending to create a better economy for a country? Like you guys held the pen for 10 years and they're
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acting like, boy, if we find out who was in charge these last 10 years, they're going to be in trouble.
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Yeah. We're going to give them heck for it. Yeah. Yeah. But the key language, transformation,
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right? What does that actually mean? But he goes on to kind of explain it. They're going to,
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less on operational. So we'll see if they shrink the size of government. Okay. But let's see if they
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actually do it. To investment, right? This is the issue I have when liberals especially start using
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these buzzwords. When they're talking about investment, it means government innovation.
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And as we all know, when government inserts itself into the marketplace, you get slower innovation.
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And when he's talking about government investment in terms of dollars going here and there,
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it's usually based, especially when liberals are in charge, usually based on an outcome already
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determined by the PMO or the minister's office, right? So if you do A, B, and C, whether it works,
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doesn't matter. But our political objective is A, B, and C, you will get some money. And not actually
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what the marketplace wants. That's the key. And transformational. It just reminds me of a
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couple of years ago when they talked about the just transition. Yeah, same thing.
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I always get quite scared when I hear liberals talking about transformation and just transition.
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For me, it just sounds like more government, less private sector jobs, less investment in what
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we've been doing well for years, less investment in the energy sector, agriculture, and more
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richie-sigerling. Yeah. And you look at the programs the liberals already had in place,
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you know, the Green Slush Fund, of course. Who can forget that? A group of liberal-friendly
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people donating, or sorry, agreeing to give each other, you know, hundreds of thousands and about
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millions of dollars, you know, sitting on the board together, all in it together,
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padding their own pockets. Isn't that amazing how it just went away?
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Right? It's not necessarily going where the market wants. You're not achieving targets set out by the
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marketplace. You're setting out political objectives and then forcing people to go along with it.
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Well, it's like getting rid of gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Where did that target come from?
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Right. And what are people going to do? Like, it's not listening to what people want and what
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people are trying to achieve. They're setting out these goals, picking numbers, having no idea how
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to get there. If that would happen, how would you charge all these vehicles? Where is that
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transmission line that would be able to get the power to charge these vehicles? Like,
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it's almost overwhelmed already. It's just targets without any plans, kind of like not having a plan
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for a budget. And if you even want to talk about that, the alternative energy or whatever you want
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to call it, if we're going into the batteries, well, do we not have to look at where the material
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is coming from? And what conditions are the materials being extracted? Are they using child labor? Are they
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being environmentally friendly? In some of these countries where you get the materials to build
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those batteries? The answer is no. So the fact that we just put that all aside and go in this one
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direction, but is the market ready for it? The market always decides. That's the great equalizer
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in all of this. I can tell you the market in Saskatchewan in minus 40 degree winters probably isn't going
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to be that big. Yeah. And you're going to cause a huge, if that target that liberals set out
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of no more combustion engine vehicle sales is true and holds true, you're going to have a huge spike
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in the amount of combustion engine sales leading up to it, causing price increases. And of course,
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there's parts and everything else afterwards. And I'll be clear, like if people want to drive EVs,
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I think they should go ahead. Absolutely. But the government shouldn't mandate it. Like,
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let people make their own decisions. And if it works for you, that's excellent. I think in some
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conditions, in some environments, it just doesn't work when you're in different areas of the
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country. But if it works for you, and you want to buy one, that's perfectly, that's great. But it
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shouldn't be mandated by government, what type of vehicle you should have to drive.
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Well, exactly. If we set the standard, and that's usually what happened, you know, you and I,
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I think, I'm a little older, but you remember the prices, right? I've used this example before,
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right? When you always got a new car, Rod Roddy, the announcer would say a new car, he'd explain
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what features it had. But at the end, he usually says, and California admissions, right? It meets
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California admission standards. And that was kind of a benchmark that circulated across pretty much
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all of North America. But it was the government saying, we need it to be your engines to be
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this efficient. And it changed, the benchmark changed. But companies then met those standards
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using different methods, right? Maybe you get a six cylinder, now a four cylinder with the same amount
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of power, using more aluminum rather than steel. But every company was different, and they achieved the
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targets based on their own innovation, which happened very quickly, because they had to meet
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those targets. But it also gave the consumers what they wanted, options. 100%. So that's, that's what
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we're going for. That is what we're going for, more choice options in the marketplace. And hey,
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maybe Nissan or another company or General Motors or whatever, comes up with a solid state battery,
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or whatever, right? You shouldn't have them fighting against government grants on this,
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this side of you, just to meet what the government wants. Yep. Couldn't have said it better myself.
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Yeah. Well, thank you. You gave me a compliment there. All right. Let's go to the budget,
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because it doesn't look like we're getting in one anytime soon. Yeah. Well, they're asking for a
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half trillion dollars. And let's be clear, right? The budget doesn't really authorize the spending.
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It's the estimates procedure that we go through that gets the money flowed. But the budget's the plan.
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Exactly. The budget's the roadmap. I believe he's supposed to be a man with a plan.
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He is the man with a plan. Well, we told that during the election, he's a man with a plan.
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Elect him because he's so super smart. He's got the plan. Well, well, like cut three.
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Experience as a former governor of two central banks,
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why not present Canadians with a budget at the very first opportunity?
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Well, this is, this is in fact, based on my economic experience, there is not much value in
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my judgment. And it's considered judgment, and it's judgment based on experience,
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that there is not much value in trying to rush through a budget in a very narrow window,
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three weeks with a new cabinet, effectively a new finance minister, just reappointed,
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but a new finance minister rushed that through.
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So the man with the plan has no budget. So we don't have the roadmap, although he and his ministers
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are asking for almost a half trillion dollars in parliamentary approval with no real roadmap on
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where that is, is going. I think that's extremely concerning.
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So I believe he has planned to spend what, 288 billion more dollars than was in Trudeau's budget?
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Apparently. Well, we don't, you know, we're just hearing these rumors.
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So his first economic update was basically, I'm going to spend more money than Justin Trudeau.
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But, you know, no budget, so no roadmap. He's blindsiding Parliament. Budgets have been presented
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after elections many times in the past. We've had budgets during wars, World War I, World War II,
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other conflicts, economic downturns. Like, a budget after an election is not new.
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No. And I believe there's probably been people in the finance department working on a budget
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when they looked at the platforms. I believe platforms have all been costed.
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So it would be pretty much a fair assessment to say there have been people working on budgets
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And Pierre Polyev said during the campaign, if Conservatives were elected,
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we would sit through the summer to get pieces of legislation, key pieces passed,
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or at least through the process or starting through the process.
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But one of them would be a budget, you know, to get the ball rolling on that.
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So we've been prorogued since, what, December 14th, give or take.
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We rose. And then Justin Trudeau, of course, prorogued Parliament,
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stepped down, had the leadership, all during a trade war,
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We had the election, and then we just got started, I guess, last week.
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And talking about those tariffs, I believe in the platform,
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Carney had budgeted $20 billion of income from tariffs.
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And without telling anyone, even before the election is over,
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So that's another $20 billion hole in the economic forecast
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Yeah, we are already projected, you know, what was it last year?
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And now we have $20 billion on top of the other-
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Well, it looks like it's a half a trillion dollar deficit, just about.
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And we're getting a whole lot of warnings from economists, banks-
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but there could be some really big stormwaters coming.
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And I don't think this government's ready for it at all.
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And yeah, we're going to find some economic headwinds, you're right.
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And I think we- when the government talks about investment spending,
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I don't know what that looks like from a Liberal government.
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Yeah, what does that- well, hey, how is he getting the money?
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And I think we've maxed out each and every avenue they have.
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And the answer, as we talked about just a second ago, is growing the economy.
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One of the ways to do it, based on market demand, supply and demand, that law is near absolute,
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The world wants our oil, our natural gas, our minerals.
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Let's get them out of the ground as responsibly as possible,
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in the most environmentally sustainable way we can.
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And we do it well in this country, with tough labor standards that requires,
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you know, our workers to be as safe as possible.
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Let's create the jobs, the opportunity, and wealth right here.
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so we can get it to trading partners around the world.
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We need to build pipelines, increase our capacity at terminals,
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make sure that we can be a reliable trading partner around the world,
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and we need to get those jobs back into Canadian hands.
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And when you have a piece of legislation that won't let any more tankers out of the West Coast leave,
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so you can't get Alberta Energy off the West Coast,
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but you can import Saudi oil on our East Coast.
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And how we are using our own oil that is great, like you said, environmentally sustainable,
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and shipping that across the country, and having that be what powers Canadians' vehicles.
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And that's a plan we would have had, and hopefully we will have a chance to implement that
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when the next election comes, whenever it comes.
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We're out of time, but as you know, the guests always get the last word.
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I appreciate being on the blueprint, and I think we have to look to see what these Liberals are going to do,
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If they're going to invest in our energy sector, our agriculture sector, that's something we can get behind.
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We'll support their good ideas, because they took most of them from us,
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and when we have to propose new ideas, that's what we're going to do,
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and I'm looking forward to working for the people for John Leuven and Canadians across the country.
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Well, you're doing a great job, and you're right.
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During the first week of the campaign, the Liberals stole five of our key platform planks,
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We'll see if it was just campaign rhetoric or not.
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Warren Steinle, Member of Parliament for Regina Leuven, thank you for your time.
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Don't forget, we have new content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time.
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Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share this program.
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Until next week, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom.