The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - The Great Gaslighting.

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

00:00:17.520 host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, Kawartha Lights, Brock, with new

00:00:20.820 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, subscribe,

00:00:25.420 comment, and share this program. Of course, as always, if you can't listen to this program its

00:00:30.720 entirety right this second, please download it, listen to it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes,

00:00:35.140 Google Play, and Spotify, you name it, it is out there. Another great show lined up for you today,

00:00:39.580 and remember, we did ask you to share this program. We do that because C-11, the internet censorship

00:00:44.200 law brought in by the Liberal NDP government, is now in effect, and to talk about that and much,

00:00:50.140 much more, we have Michelle Rempel-Garner, Member of Parliament, Calgary, Nose Hill. Thank you so

00:00:54.860 much for coming. Thanks for having me. It's great to be here. It's great to have you on. I'm pretty

00:00:58.760 excited about that. Yeah, me too. All right, so internet censorship is in full effect here. We're

00:01:03.940 dealing with the ramifications. We need to share this program, but also you're doing your own work

00:01:08.640 as well. You're reaching out to platforms like Substack, kind of getting the conservative message

00:01:13.420 out in different forms. Yeah, so I'm so glad you raised this. I think Canadians really need to

00:01:19.400 understand what's happened. So just a couple days ago, there's this headline in the Canadian press

00:01:26.200 where it says MEDA, so Facebook's parent company, that they're starting to actually prepare to block

00:01:33.340 news as Liberal Censorship Bill C-18 prepares to pass. That's just crazy, right? But I think the message

00:01:41.000 that we need to send to people who are listening to this is that conservative members of parliament,

00:01:45.300 we're working, as you said, as you're doing right here, to get the message out, to talk about the

00:01:50.580 work that we're doing in ways that the Liberals maybe haven't thought of as part of their censorship

00:01:57.220 bills. And so yeah, I'm writing long form pieces on a platform called Substack. The link for people

00:02:03.500 who are interested is just my name, michellerempelgarner.ca. And the reason I'm doing that is exactly what you

00:02:10.960 said, is that we're facing these censorship bills, and we need to inform Canadians about what's

00:02:17.260 happening here, even though, like at the Liberal Party convention this weekend, they passed this

00:02:22.020 resolution. Basically, we had the CBC come out against the Liberal Party resolution. That's how

00:02:27.160 bad it was, where they said that essentially they were going to censor journalists in so many

00:02:33.760 different ways. And like, you kind of think like, oh, this is too crazy to happen, except then you look

00:02:37.940 at C18, C11. So yes, Substack, michellerempelgarner.ca. I'm writing long form pieces about what's

00:02:44.440 happening in Ottawa, an amazing uptake. 33,000 people have subscribed to date. And I think we need

00:02:51.460 to have more people subscribing to your, like your show that you're doing today here. These other forms

00:02:57.060 where we know that we can not necessarily have to apply to those rules that they want to see us

00:03:03.460 adhere to. Absolutely. And that's why we need to subscribe to these, like the Substack, 1.00

00:03:08.000 this program, and many others, because you are notified when things go live and new content is

00:03:13.580 put on. And that way you're able to share in their social media network, right? That's how you grow the

00:03:18.340 message. It's such a great point. So I think for people who are watching to understand, even before

00:03:23.260 these bills came into play, right, Facebook, Twitter, you know, they had these algorithms that

00:03:29.800 downvoted, upvoted, certain types of content. Now this is codified in Canadian legislation with C18,

00:03:37.640 C11. And so it's so important to be part of things called subscriber networks, right? So we have social

00:03:45.380 media. Subscriber networks are when you subscribe to somebody's content. And then to your point, you get

00:03:51.220 a notification, either an email or on an app or something, that you're not just being dependent on

00:03:56.280 a algorithm to see the content or the government, as is the case. And we laugh, but it's just, it's so

00:04:02.840 mind-boggling. It's mind-boggling that's happening, right? So it is. It is really important to have that

00:04:07.200 direct contact with the person that you're, you know, you're interacting with. And that's why I'm

00:04:12.080 writing more on Substack. I think that's a fabulous idea. And just to go back quickly to what the hell was

00:04:17.840 happening at the Liberal Convention in this past weekend, which was surprising, and many people

00:04:22.440 brought attention to it, that there wasn't many people pushing back against this ever-moving

00:04:28.520 censorship crawl that we get. Liberals used to stand for liberty, for crying out loud.

00:04:32.320 I know. I think that there's this, you know, the Liberal Party, they think people are dumb, 0.99

00:04:37.040 right? That they're too dumb to think for themselves, that they can't evaluate information, 1.00

00:04:41.600 and that somehow the government has to have a role in this and in determining what's truth. 0.99

00:04:48.540 You know, they go into it with these sort of, like, noble overtones, like, oh, we're protecting

00:04:53.820 you from yourselves. But in reality, and what we've seen in practice with this government,

00:04:58.100 because, like, you know, even the CBC are talking about how this is the most, the least

00:05:02.580 transparent government in Canadian history. They censor these things. And this isn't a noble

00:05:07.880 purpose. This is a direct attempt by the government to control what journalists can say, what you

00:05:15.140 and I and people who are watching can see. And it's so important that Canadians of all political

00:05:19.960 stripe push back against this. But, and, you know, you know, I'd ask you, I don't know, did you see

00:05:24.420 Liberal Minister Seamus O'Regan tweets after this convention? Yes, about that. It was a freedom

00:05:30.320 of the press day, too, or freedom of the press week, or, yeah. Nothing to see here. That's right,

00:05:34.340 we got this. Don't worry. And literally, you know, you just see the ratio on that tweet of people

00:05:38.380 of all political stripe being like, sure, buddy. You know, like the big wink. But it's not a laughing

00:05:46.280 matter. This is, they really do have an agenda to hide information from the public. You see it in

00:05:51.280 question period, they don't answer questions you ask. You can't get information out of access to

00:05:55.600 information requests. Even our parliamentary order paper questions, these formal legislative tools,

00:06:01.120 they completely ignore. So we have to fight back against this, because it really does erode our

00:06:05.560 democracy. I'm so glad you're talking about this. I think it's really important. Well, I'm glad you're

00:06:08.980 able to come. I love what you're doing on Substack, too. I think that's very important. So this endless

00:06:13.540 gaslighting that we keep getting, right? Okay, let's talk about this question period. Anybody that's

00:06:17.700 watched question period knows what we're talking about. The, all the scandals, SNC-Lavalin, all the way

00:06:25.040 to what we're dealing with now, potential interference in our elections with Beijing, intimidation of a

00:06:29.840 member of parliament's family back in Hong Kong. The gaslighting is absolutely unreal.

00:06:35.560 Well, and to your point about what Seamus O'Regan said, basically, we're censoring the internet.

00:06:40.240 Some of our policies are leaning in the direction of actually censoring journalists and what they

00:06:44.620 can publish. But hey, let's celebrate Press Freedom Day. Like, it's absolutely incredible.

00:06:49.740 It's, I love that term, because it's so accurate gaslighting. That's actually what they do,

00:06:55.200 right? Like, you'll get up in the House of Commons, ask a question, and then they try to deflect with

00:06:59.860 some sort of lie about whoever's asking the question or whatever, because they just want

00:07:06.480 to, you know, change the channel because they've usually messed up so badly. The problem with this,

00:07:12.960 it's really serious. Like, this isn't a game. First of all, it erodes trust in public institutions,

00:07:19.580 right? Like, anybody, no matter how they vote, would look at that behavior and go, what do they

00:07:24.420 have to hide? And, you know, at a time when we're seeing so much instability, unaffordability, like,

00:07:32.620 where Canadians do need to band together and trust, you've got this government that's doing

00:07:36.140 everything to divide Canadians and to... Again.

00:07:39.660 And it's, that's exactly what happens. And these are, you know, as you talked about,

00:07:44.360 this foreign interference issue, these have major ramifications on Canada's pluralism,

00:07:49.920 on our unity as a country, and they transcend partisanship. And for them to just, again,

00:07:56.000 gaslight, it's such an accurate term. I think it just, it's so dangerous. And certainly, I know our

00:08:02.700 party, you know, all of our colleagues, they've been working so hard to hold the government to

00:08:07.400 account. And again, it's hard with the Liberal NDP coalition, but, you know, it still is a noble

00:08:14.860 and important cause for us to fight, and we are making progress.

00:08:19.000 Did you ever think there'd be a point in Canada, in Canada, when members of Parliament doing their

00:08:24.480 work on the floor of the House of Commons, their most important task is voting on behalf of their

00:08:28.080 constituents, potentially being threatened with family living elsewhere, in this case of Michael

00:08:33.320 Chong, back in Hong Kong, the government knowing about it, and not actually doing anything about

00:08:40.100 it, to maybe warn the individual that this is potentially going on. That, in Canada.

00:08:45.220 Like, like, how did you feel when you heard that? Because, like, I was just, I was speechless,

00:08:50.260 but then I got angry. Yeah. Because you're right, it's supposed to be non-partisan. We're all supposed

00:08:55.000 to be in that House of Commons working together. We may not always agree, but at the same time,

00:08:58.400 we're elected to do the job of representing our constituents, and to be potentially facing

00:09:04.160 intimidation from foreign governments or threats to your family back home, it's hard to do your

00:09:09.520 job when you've got that on the back of your mind, too. You know, I love that, I think you and I

00:09:14.300 shared the same reaction, anger. So, I think the first story that came out about this was about a

00:09:19.060 week and a half ago. It's this really long, detailed article by Bob Fyfe and Steve Chase of the

00:09:24.980 Globe and Mail, which, ironically, they wouldn't have been able to publish if the amendment that

00:09:29.640 the Liberals proposed this last weekend was in place. That's a very good point. But I'll just

00:09:34.460 share, like, a very personal story about this. So, I read that article and embedded in it was a line

00:09:39.740 that said that the Calgary Consulate of the government in Beijing had tried to influence a

00:09:47.940 prominent Calgary MP through a third party, and it was just one line like that, and my first response

00:09:53.380 was, is that me? Did this happen to me? How would I know? Who would it have been? And then you start

00:09:59.500 going through in your head, like, you know, conversations that you have with people. And in

00:10:03.760 that moment, I felt anger, and I felt shame, because I'm having to wonder about people that I've

00:10:09.700 interacted with that are Canadian citizens, that are part of my community. And I don't think that 1.00

00:10:15.420 that's been talked enough about, is the fact that the Liberals not being on top of this, ignoring it,

00:10:21.060 pretending it's not a problem, being weak on it. It actually, like, we are a diverse country.

00:10:28.060 My writing, you know, 20% of my community identify with Chinese heritage. To not have things like a 1.00

00:10:36.440 foreign agent registry, where there's rules, like corporate lobbying, on how people can engage

00:10:41.240 with legislators, what that does is it leads to, like, a witch hunt, right? And it actually destroys

00:10:47.340 our pluralism. It actually erodes that trust we have within our community, that you and I are

00:10:51.900 entrusted to protect. And for the Liberals to ignore that, and then purport to stand for Canadian unity,

00:10:58.560 for diversity, it's actually disgusting. And I feel, I feel ashamed that, like, in that moment, 1.00

00:11:04.540 I had, like, that thought, like, who did I talk to? Was it me? All these things.

00:11:08.120 And that's exactly what our foes abroad want us to do. That's what they want us to do, is they want

00:11:15.940 us to have this divisive... Questioning each other, not trusting. Yeah, yeah. Of course, because when

00:11:20.800 we're divided, we're not united. We're not focused on our sovereignty. We're not focused on advancing

00:11:25.720 our interests as a country. And for the Liberals to say, no, they voted against a motion yesterday,

00:11:31.040 that foreign agent registry, shameful. Absolutely shameful. Shameful.

00:11:34.280 So, you know, I think it's just going to be so important for Canadians to unite around this

00:11:39.380 issue, regardless of how people vote. They need to be holding their government to account. And 0.59

00:11:44.180 frankly, I think the Liberal members, you know, they lost an opportunity this weekend at their

00:11:47.840 convention to hold their leader to account, to demand better within their party. So, you know,

00:11:54.120 a really, I think, a sobering week. Absolutely. And they finally, thankfully, the government

00:12:01.140 finally kicked out that diplomat, kind of tied into all of this. Finally, after years, potentially

00:12:07.240 two years of knowing about this, finally, I want to get your reaction. I've asked a few people about

00:12:11.520 this, but I want to get your reaction because you've served in cabinet under Harper. Reverse the

00:12:15.840 headline for a second. Harper knew two years ago about Chinese interference. Potentially nine Liberal

00:12:22.840 seats were lost because of Chinese interference. A Liberal member of Parliament, their family was

00:12:28.060 threatened elsewhere because of potential interference from another country, Beijing. What do you think

00:12:33.440 the reaction would be? You know, Jamie, I hope that the reaction, no matter what, would be equal.

00:12:41.120 Well, that's the way it's supposed to be. That's why I wanted to ask you. That's the way it's supposed to be.

00:12:44.680 It should be because, like, again, like, this isn't, you know, we're always going to have our partisan

00:12:49.740 fights in the House and disagreements about policy. But our country, we lose our sovereignty when we lose

00:12:55.680 that integrity in our democratic institutions. And that's really what's at stake here. You know,

00:13:00.300 I don't, the government has been through seven foreign ministers. I think seven, right?

00:13:04.740 Pretty darn close.

00:13:05.460 Six, seven. Like, it's bad that we don't know.

00:13:08.320 They don't have a consistent foreign policy. You had Justin Trudeau coming out, you know,

00:13:15.140 time and time again saying that, you know, he can't, there is no national identity. We do have a national

00:13:20.640 identity as Canadians. We are a sovereign nation where, you know, we're united in our pluralism.

00:13:25.940 We're united in so many different things. But the fact that he can't even muster the courage to say

00:13:30.260 we don't have a national identity, seven foreign ministers, how, how, of course, we can't be

00:13:35.320 expected. He can't be expected to defend any of those things. So yeah, like, I love the question.

00:13:40.340 What would the reaction be? It, you know, this should be bigger than politics.

00:13:46.360 And this was a, actually, like just speaking as a pundit, this was a moment for him as a leader

00:13:52.120 to rise to the occasion. And instead, he just, like when we roofed, like flopped, like caved. And

00:13:59.360 I think, I think it was actually a moment where a lot of liberals, you could see it in, did you see

00:14:04.120 their back bench? Yeah, they, they didn't look up very much. They were, they weren't clapping.

00:14:08.640 They weren't energized. So I hope they find their, their backbones. Yeah, that would be kind of nice.

00:14:13.800 That's kind of nice. One thing I also want to talk about, because I know time is getting short,

00:14:18.280 is your speech, I guess, last week in the House of Commons. You're talking about the affordability

00:14:23.140 issue, something everyone is talking about. It's hitting in every quarter of the country. I don't

00:14:27.300 care where you live. You're talking about paying more and getting less, which I think is a theme I

00:14:34.840 think is, is coming home to roost for this, for this government. The bureaucracy has gotten bigger,

00:14:40.240 the results are getting slower. And yet people are being asked to pay even more to subsidize

00:14:46.480 all of this. Yeah. Where's the value for money? It's a great question, right? Like, I think,

00:14:52.720 you know, if you reached across our caucus, and you talked to people,

00:14:58.380 the one thing that really unifies us is a care for Canadians, and like an understanding that like,

00:15:03.740 they're going through some really trying times with regard to cost of living, rent, mortgages,

00:15:09.980 paying for groceries, fuel. And where the Liberals are at on that issue is they come out and they're

00:15:16.940 announcing spending, like, well, we're spending all of these extra tax dollars. We're spending more.

00:15:22.480 That's the measure for success. We're spending more. But yet, Canadians are getting less service.

00:15:28.120 And the same thing is happening in their homes, right? You know, people are spending more

00:15:33.920 and getting less. And that stress, that anxiety from that, from that, like, decreasing ability to

00:15:42.540 make ends meet. I like, you know, wages are increasing. People aren't like, like, the cost of

00:15:50.660 housing isn't decreasing. It's, it's really hard. I mean, in my community, I have seen

00:15:56.520 so many people, like, they're just right on the edge, Jamie, I'm sure it is the same with you,

00:16:02.740 like, can barely afford to pay the mortgage. You know, I was talking to someone who's pretty close

00:16:08.020 to me about friends that they have that, you know, they just managed to buy a house, but like,

00:16:12.900 they can't go out, like, they went to a friend's birthday party and like, couldn't even afford to buy a

00:16:17.760 soda. You know, and I, that hits home. Like, that's the reality for many Canadians. And I just,

00:16:25.120 this liberal fallacy that we should be paying more to get less, and somehow be excited, like,

00:16:30.720 excited, like, oh, we're spending more. Paying more taxes is moral. Yeah. I don't think they

00:16:35.940 understand that anxiety. And you know, I think the one thing that has really united us as a caucus is

00:16:41.220 that, that feeling, like, understanding that feeling, and then trying to really push back

00:16:47.200 against it with positive policies, like, you know, some of the housing affordability policies we've

00:16:51.640 put forward, skilled trades training, I could go on and on. But we've got a lot of work to do.

00:16:57.860 Well, this government decries people's wealth, and you know, we want everyone to obviously do the

00:17:03.140 best they can and have equal opportunity. But they're the ones that always want all the wealth,

00:17:07.400 right, to squander it away. And we saw that. They have no problem spending, what, billions on

00:17:11.760 McKinsey and these guys. Absolutely. Yeah. The nice cocktail parties. Nice. Absolutely. They love

00:17:17.880 being seen at the reward ceremony. The vacations. They went to New York City to hang with Hugh Jackman

00:17:21.620 and others. Who doesn't want to be with Wolverine on a free vacation? It's kind of cool. Right. In New York

00:17:26.100 City. But that's not their job. That's not your job. Absolutely. But to the same point, to your neck of

00:17:30.980 the woods has been decimated under this, this liberal government. We have company, countries like Japan

00:17:36.860 and Germany that are coming to Canada asking for energy and then being told there's no

00:17:41.860 business case. That's crazy. Like we had the German government like in Canada didn't make 0.84

00:17:49.760 any news. Barely, yeah. Like, like, what did we get out of that? We had a state visit from

00:17:56.320 one of the world's biggest economies. Japanese prime minister was here. That's like everyone's

00:18:00.660 what? Yeah. It's crazy. Right? Crazy. And then they go to, I think it was Japan, or no, sorry, 0.72

00:18:05.300 Germany went to Qatar and had a multi-billion dollar contract to supply that energy. So

00:18:10.420 another way to lower prices is to add supply. Yep. Add supply. And then we have hindered our

00:18:16.920 ability to do just that. There's just, you know, it's time for a change. Like, I think,

00:18:22.300 you know, we've gone through so many elections. You and I have gone through a lot of elections

00:18:26.420 together. And this one is just so, it's for all the marbles. You know, Trudeau says he's going to

00:18:33.560 run again. He does not deserve to cover in again. It's time for a change. I always give the guests

00:18:40.440 the last word, but it's hard to really come back from that. But the floor is yours if you can top

00:18:45.480 that. That was pretty good. Just thanks for having me, Jamie. Thanks for all the work you do to get

00:18:49.200 the work out. And to those who are listening today, thanks to them for listening and being open to

00:18:54.320 hearing beyond what the liberals would have them hear through their censorship bills.

00:18:59.080 Always great to have you here. Thanks. Michelle Rimpel-Garner, member of Parliament for Calgary

00:19:02.680 Nose Hill. We appreciate her time. We appreciate your time as well. Please, as Michelle just mentioned,

00:19:08.080 as we just mentioned, like, comment, and subscribe, and share this program. Of course,

00:19:12.940 you can download it, listen to it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.

00:19:16.800 Remember, tell your friends about it because there's new content every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m.

00:19:20.840 Eastern Time. Until next week, we say remember, it's low taxes, less government, more freedom.

00:19:26.500 That's the blueprint.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - May 11, 2023

The Great Gaslighting.

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