The “Buy American” Plan
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Summary
Tracy Gray, the Shadow Minister for Export Promotion and International Trade, joins us to discuss the impact of the new President's executive order, the Buy American Plan, and how it could affect Canadian manufacturing and exports.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprint. It is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
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host, Jamie Schmale, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, for the Lakes Brock. Thank
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you very much for joining us. As always, we have new content every single Tuesday, 1.30
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p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, comment, share, subscribe to this program, help us
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push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda. If you can't watch it here today, right
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this second on Facebook, you can download it later on and listen to it on platforms like
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CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, you name it. It is out there. We had a great show
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last week when we had a panel discussion with a couple of Alberta members of Parliament,
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as well as one from Saskatchewan about the Keystone XL pipeline and the cancellation, what the
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ramifications were for this, because it is a major issue here in this country. And also
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the next piece of the puzzle, we're going to bring in Tracy Gray. She's the Member of
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Parliament for Kelowna Lake Country. She's also the Shadow Minister for Export Promotion
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and International Trade, because we're going to talk about the new president's executive
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order, the Buy American Plan. We're going to talk about that and the effect it has on industry
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and businesses, because this is another blow to our great entrepreneurial spirit here in
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Canada. Tracy Gray, welcome. Thank you for coming.
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All right. Let's talk about Buy American. What does that mean? What happens? What are the
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implications? Great. Well, the Biden administration announced this, well, they signed an executive
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order, basically saying that, well, there's a few things that will affect Canadian businesses
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the most. The first is that they're going to be having a director of Made in America, and
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so actually putting some effort into focusing on this Buy American policy. They'll also have
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waivers that will have to be publicly posted so that U.S. businesses can appeal or try to
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get the business. And they've also raised the U.S. content for arrangements that, in order
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to satisfy their desire for this Buy American. Now, how this, we don't know all of the details
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yet, but I'll just give you one example. I was on the phone this morning with an organization
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that was explaining how the content portion could play out. So as an example, there's a company in
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Western Canada that makes buses. And so some of the production is done here, and then they're
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shipped out on a reefer truck to the U.S. and to their plant in the U.S. They're finished. And that
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meets right now whatever the U.S. requirements are. They put the engine in and do other things.
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Depending on how much that has changed, there might be less that might be able to occur in Canada,
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or it might even change so much that it may not be worthwhile even producing in Canada. I had another
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company that I talked to last week that's in my riding of Kelowna Lake Country, and they're a small
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business. They do have a manufacturer product that they sell through a distributor in the U.S.
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who then sells to a division of the federal U.S. government. And they're not sure how this will
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affect them. You know, and so there's a lot of uncertainty right now. I think that the most
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important part of this is that back in 2009, during the Obama administration, they were implementing
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similar but nowhere near as strict by American policies. And at that time, the conservative
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government was able to negotiate exemptions for Canada. And so we have called on the government
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to do the same, to get to the table and make sure that we negotiate exemptions for Canada,
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just like we did back then. So pre-COVID, about a billion dollars in trade going back and forth
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across that international border between Canada and the United States. We have probably our best
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friend, of course, our largest trading partner there about, I heard numbers as high as 30%,
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probably 20% of our economy, 25% of our economy. So this is a major hit when you combine it with the
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fact that our anchors of our economy, our oil, natural gas, our mining sector are hurting right now,
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mostly because of policies brought in by this government. And the fact that our manufacturing
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sector could face another hit, as well as a number of other spinoff jobs as a result of this decision,
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because I think at the end of the day, nobody wins a trade war.
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Yeah, and I think you've touched on how important our relationship is, and this goes to our supply
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chains. So, you know, what that means is that we do have a lot of products that during the course of
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their production, go back and forth across the border. You know, you might have the raw materials coming
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from one country, going to the other country to be produced, maybe back and forth, there's parts.
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So this is part of this very integrated supply chain that we have. And, you know, right now,
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I know a lot of companies that I've talked to are looking at how this might truly affect them,
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because this, you know, this, this executive order is new, and they don't have all the details.
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So in fact, some of those numbers that you've given could be even higher, when you actually look at
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all of the integrated processes. Now, I will mention as well that as part of KUSMA, which is
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the new NAFTA that was signed last year, the Conservatives were bringing up a concern that
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in part of KUSMA, there's Chapter 13, which actually covers the Buy American issue having to do with
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procurement. And Canada did not negotiate to be part of Chapter 13. The US and Mexico negotiated.
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And so Chapter 13 only applies to them. But Canada is not part of that in KUSMA.
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And that was a failure of the Trudeau government to actually engage at the beginning of the process.
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And we all remember back, well, a few years ago that we were actually pushing them to get to the table
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first and actually engage in the conversation before we basically get kind of what's left after
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Yes. And so what we're reverted to now is as part of that trade agreement, you know,
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which is separate than this from this executive order. But, you know, what, what we can revert to
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now isn't part of this trade agreement that we've just signed, we actually have to revert to
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the World Trade Organization, the WTO, which we know, in some respects, isn't fully functioning,
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also because of the US not fully participating. So we don't have a really strong mechanism right now,
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other than for this government to get to the table and negotiate an exemption, just like we did back in
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Let's rewind the tape a bit to the former conservative government under Stephen Harper.
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We all remember the massive global economic crisis. And we do remember the pain that the US economy
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went under because they had 6 million plus people immediately out of a job. And it was in a real
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major crisis in pretty much every sector. That's when I think the fast forward, the pressure was on.
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We were always the party of free and fair trade. But I think the speed was on. And to credit from
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from your provincial colleague, Ed Fast and Jerry Ritz and many, many others in that team,
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John Baird and others, started the work in securing trade deals with countries all over the world so
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that our dependence did not necessarily have to be always on the United States, we had other options.
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Yes, and that goes to how, you know, over the last number of years during this government,
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how it really hasn't been a focus of theirs. You know, we have embargoes right now in China,
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of course, we saw the Keystone XL, we don't have a softwood lumber deal. We've seen tariffs put on
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steel and aluminum. And right now, the US is doing investigations on a number of produce
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products, specifically strawberries, blueberries, and bell peppers being exported from Canada to the US.
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We have the Canada-UK trade agreement, continuity agreement, which is a rollover of CETA. You know,
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the government had four years to work on making modern amendments to that. There was, we've heard
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at committee that there was very little consultation within the public realm to businesses and to
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industries. And so we have an agreement that's very similar, which we are supporting because it's
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really important to give businesses stability during this time and certainty. But there are
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certainly changes that industries would have liked to have seen negotiated in, and other things
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specifically as well. So, you know, we've seen this ongoing way that this government has dealt with
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a number of issues, which is sort of waiting until you're the 11th hour, being really pressed up
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against timelines and then racing through legislation and negotiations that, you know, perhaps could have
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been done more wholeheartedly and rigorously and ended up with better arrangements at the end.
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I think there's something you mentioned that needs to be looked at here as we unpack this. It's
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stability and certainty. I think that's one thing anyone in the business community looks for when
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investing inside a country because they want that stability. They want that certainty. They want to
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be able to sell this major project to their investors, because let's be honest, the, the, the options
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around the world to, to the vast majority or vast number of countries is quite significant that people
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could do business in. So we need to ensure that when we do come up with government policies, that there
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is a clear path to either a yes or no answer. And companies can make that determination before they
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invest millions, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars into the application process, such as
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TransCanada did with the Keystone or other projects, that there, there is that certainty. There is that
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idea that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yes. I mean, Canada has become a place, and I've heard
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this across, you know, many sectors and, and also from people that have worked in trade and, and, and some
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people that have retired from those positions. Sometimes they can be a little bit more honest because they,
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they know they're no longer on the, on the government payroll and a very similar theme in that, you
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know, we we're not focused on creating an environment that is that is good for, for businesses and good
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for investment. There's a lot of uncertainty for people investing in Canada. As you've mentioned,
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we have very strict regulatory regimes that make it more difficult taxes, just interprovincial issues,
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trade issues. And so it, it doesn't make it a very friendly environment to invest. And of course,
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what we're, what we're focused on is, is making sure that we keep jobs for people that is at the end
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of the day is making sure that people have good paying jobs, that they can support their family
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and make decisions how they want to, to spend their money and, and live and make sure that, that our
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businesses and especially small businesses as well are thriving. And so that's what our focus is,
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you know, securing jobs, securing the economy and securing our future.
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Absolutely. That makes total sense. But in order to get there, we need vaccines. And Tracy Gray,
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Member of Parliament for Kelowna Lake Country in the beautiful province of British Columbia,
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Canada is falling behind in its vaccine procurement. We are hearing very significant and I would say
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startling stories out of the European Union in terms of their shipments to Canada. Maybe you can
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tell us a bit about that. So what happened just last Friday was the European Union announced this new
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mechanism where they're going to have a transparency register that will keep track of companies that will
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be exporting vaccines. And national authorities can can move to block these exports if they consider
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their company's commitments aren't being fulfilled within the EU. And also companies will need to apply
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for authorization to export those, those doses. So because and they also announced that there were
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more than 100 countries that are on an exemption list that will not have to, you know, this won't be
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applicable for. So what the conservatives on the International Trade Committee did this weekend was call for an
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emergency meeting because this was so important to have the minister come and testify, which did happen.
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And thankfully, all members of that committee did agree to it. And so that committee was yesterday. We had the
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minister and officials there yesterday. And we were really trying to understand why Canada is not on this
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exemption list, what it means for us not to be on there. Are we asking to be on there? And those were some of the
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key, key questions, including, you know, this all of this new paperwork and regime, is that going to delay us
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getting our vaccines, even if we're still going to be getting them? And, you know, how is this all going to
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play out? And basically, the answers that we kept getting were that, you know, they have verbal
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assurances. Well, that's not that's not really enough, considering that other countries actually have in
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writing that they are exempt from this. So it's very concerning.
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Now, has the prime minister even spoken with the people at the European Union has have the
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conversation taken place? Because this is something is quite scary, especially when you look at the
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total percentage of population in Canada that are actually receiving the first dose of vaccine,
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potentially not or the extended period of time till they get the second vaccine. And we have
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communities that haven't received anything, especially in some rural areas. Is there any urgency on behalf of
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the government? Well, we've heard both from the prime minister and from the minister that they
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have spoken to their counterparts, and they have assurances. You know, however, you know, when asked
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the question, are you being, are you asking that Canada be put on this list so that we actually have
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true documentation, like those other countries? Have you asked the questions why we're not on that list?
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You know, how can we actually have proper documentation in order to confirm that? And they haven't answered
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those questions, and have said that we're not on, you know, we're not on the list. So it continues to
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be concerning. We also have to remember that when we ask questions as to, you know, what vaccines we're
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getting every week, you know, the Conservatives have asked for the plan. You know, we have these,
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these large numbers with long timelines, but Canadians want to know, you know, I'm sure you're
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getting it from constituents and you're writing, I am every day, when can I go get my vaccine? You know,
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in particular seniors, I'm getting calls from people that are healthcare workers that, you know,
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still haven't been vaccinated. So, you know, they want to know, can I go next week? You know,
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and so we haven't seen the plan week by week, how many vaccines of what kind and where they'll,
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will they'll be coming in from and where they'll be distributed. And so it gives people a lot of
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anxiety. You know, they don't know, you know, when all of these lockdowns might be diminished. They
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don't know when they'll have certainty of getting the vaccines. And so because the government is not
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being transparent with this information, it creates a lot of frustration and a lot of anxiety
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for people. Absolutely. I think the frustration is being felt and no matter what part of this,
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this country you're, you're, you're from, there is a lot of frustration and, and, and we've been
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in lockdown for over a year now. There, there are people dealing with a whole range of issues and I
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think they want to see that light at the end of the tunnel. And the fact that the tunnel is quite
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short because they are watching what's happening around the world. Tracy, we need to wrap up.
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You have to go. You have question period coming up. You're on deck. It's going to be an awesome
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question period. Make sure you stick around for it on the leaders channel. Uh, they will be sharing
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it. Tracy, any final words? Well, just thank you very much for, for having me on. And these are
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very important conversations. And I'm, uh, I'm really glad that you have the platform like this
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to, uh, to get the word out to, uh, to our residents and to all Canadians. Well, we only have
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the platform because people like you come on the show and help talk about the issues of the day,
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because it's not always through the mainstream media. People get the right information or at least
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the full story, or at least the underside of the story, which I think is very important. So Tracy
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Gray, member of parliament, member of parliament, Kelowna Lake country, also the shatter minister
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for export promotion and international trade. A good friend of the show been on before happy to
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have you on again. Thank you for your time. And thank you for watching new content every single
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