The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - June 06, 2023


The Johnston Affair


Episode Stats

Length

23 minutes

Words per Minute

199.52625

Word Count

4,745

Sentence Count

277

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary

Former Governor General David Johnson testifies before committee to answer questions about what he knew or did not know in his report to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Greg Mclean, MP for Calgary Centre, joins us to talk about the hearings and the questions being asked.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints.
00:00:10.020 This is Canada's Conservative Podcast.
00:00:12.240 I'm your host, Jamie Schmael, member of Parliament for Halliburton Court,
00:00:14.980 the likes Brock with new content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time.
00:00:19.140 We ask that you like, comment, subscribe, and share this program.
00:00:23.040 Of course, if you can't watch or listen to this program in its entirety,
00:00:26.960 right this very second, download it and listen to it on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.
00:00:32.400 You name it, it is out there.
00:00:34.560 We have Greg McLean to join us today, the member of Parliament for Calgary Centre,
00:00:38.800 to talk about a whole range of issues, but most importantly, David Johnson,
00:00:42.320 the Governor General, former Governor General, testifying before committee right this very second
00:00:47.140 to answer questions about what he knew or did not know in his report to the Prime Minister.
00:00:53.280 And of course, a few new developments since we last talked on this show.
00:00:56.220 We had a vote in the House of Commons asking for David Johnston to step aside.
00:01:00.360 He refused to do so because he says he answers to the government and not Parliament,
00:01:05.080 which is a very important distinction to make, where Parliament, in our opinion, should always be supreme.
00:01:12.380 Exactly right.
00:01:13.220 Parliament is supposed to be your group that holds the government and council, cabinet, if you will,
00:01:18.640 the government, to account for everything they're doing.
00:01:20.800 Now, David Johnson, the thing about this that I think a lot of people are seizing onto is
00:01:25.400 they think he reports to Parliament.
00:01:27.760 In fact, I think what they're looking at is saying,
00:01:29.960 this really isn't that democratic a process at the end of the day,
00:01:32.960 if the only person he responds to is the Prime Minister, who's the head of cabinet,
00:01:37.360 the head of the government, and yet that's who's appointing him,
00:01:40.280 and who is really apparently might be in a bit of a conflict here.
00:01:43.320 So if the only person you report to is the person who might be in conflict,
00:01:47.000 is it really a democratic, open examination of the issues that we need to look at here?
00:01:53.020 Well, I would say no, especially when they are known Trudeau Foundation members.
00:01:58.120 David Johnson, he was a former governor general, served honorably,
00:02:03.080 but yet I'm not sure why he allowed himself to be put into the situation
00:02:07.460 where his integrity is questioned based on his history with the Trudeaus,
00:02:11.860 based on the fact that David Johnson watched Justin Trudeau grow up
00:02:17.040 and spent time at their cottage and they were ski buddies, all that kind of stuff.
00:02:20.920 Tons of footage that shows interview after interview with both Justin Trudeau
00:02:26.040 and David Johnson saying what great friends they all are.
00:02:28.660 He did this to himself, unfortunately, but I also blame the Prime Minister primarily
00:02:33.240 because he made that decision to appoint David Johnson the special rapporteur.
00:02:37.620 And there's a point in time when my staff and I were putting together a letter
00:02:40.800 to David Johnson himself when he was being appointed by the Prime Minister,
00:02:44.800 saying, what are you doing?
00:02:46.580 This is a conflict of interest.
00:02:48.960 Whether you look at it as a conflict of interest from your perspective or not,
00:02:53.700 it is a conflict of interest.
00:02:55.700 A perception of a conflict of interest is a conflict of interest by definition.
00:02:59.920 So if anybody had advised him, anybody from the private sector,
00:03:04.040 anybody that wasn't just part of the government circle that he seems to be reporting to right now,
00:03:09.640 he should have picked up the phone, called a friend, and actually got some advice on
00:03:12.680 what is a conflict of interest?
00:03:14.280 Am I potentially in a conflict of interest here?
00:03:17.300 The problem for David Johnson is it really has changed a lot of perceptions about him personally on this.
00:03:23.340 And that's a shame because he was a good Governor General.
00:03:25.840 But that book he wrote now about trust, I think a lot of people are looking at it going,
00:03:31.440 you're asking us to trust, and yet the institutions that seem to govern us as a country
00:03:35.900 don't seem to exude trust anymore.
00:03:39.560 Funny you should say that because just before the show started,
00:03:42.560 I was watching a bit of the committee goings-on,
00:03:46.260 and Michael Cooper, a Member of Parliament, St. Albert Edmonton,
00:03:49.520 from your home province of Alberta,
00:03:50.840 was questioning the former Governor General, the rapporteur, David Johnson,
00:03:54.500 about how the final report to the Prime Minister was made
00:03:58.940 when the main focus of this whole thing,
00:04:02.820 aside from Michael Chong and the threats being made,
00:04:05.620 but also the interference in the last election, 2021,
00:04:09.920 where the meeting with Johnson and former leader Aaron O'Toole took place,
00:04:13.140 but it became evident during that meeting that the report was in translation,
00:04:16.620 so the printing presses were already being fired up.
00:04:19.640 So what's the point in asking the former leader what his thoughts on the whole thing,
00:04:24.580 what did he experience in interference in our elections,
00:04:27.960 but also that should be in that report.
00:04:30.200 Like, I don't understand J. David Johnson's line of thinking here.
00:04:34.360 Yeah, there seemed to be a lack of, you know, end result versus process here.
00:04:39.260 Usually you go through the process to get the result.
00:04:41.880 In this case, you're right, they were already printing the report
00:04:44.320 before they met with our previous leader, Aaron O'Toole,
00:04:47.380 which seems a little backwards.
00:04:48.840 And I think that that is another red flag where people are saying,
00:04:52.280 what exactly happened here?
00:04:53.900 What was the process he had to go through to determine his outcome?
00:04:57.280 And did he actually go through the proper process to get that done?
00:05:00.500 Good question.
00:05:01.380 Well, now we have, we talked about it last week with Larry Brock,
00:05:04.540 that David Johnson asked for advice from a lawyer,
00:05:08.740 well-known former Supreme Court justice,
00:05:10.640 but also a member of the Trudeau Foundation.
00:05:12.760 Turns out David Johnson, who also had to hire Crisis Communications
00:05:17.680 and a firm known to handle those that are, you know,
00:05:22.240 falling very fast and needs help.
00:05:26.660 But this one today from the Globe and Mail,
00:05:28.960 that David Johnson's lead counsel on foreign interference probe
00:05:32.560 attended a Justin Trudeau Foundation in 2021.
00:05:36.000 Her name, of course, is Sheila Block,
00:05:38.340 and it shows that she's attended many fundraisers,
00:05:42.000 contributed about $7,500 to the Liberal Party between 2006 and 2022,
00:05:47.300 also a member of the Trudeau Foundation.
00:05:48.980 Is it the fact that nobody outside the Liberal Party is smart enough
00:05:53.740 to understand what's going on,
00:05:55.040 that they must keep this in tight circles
00:05:58.180 because they just know what's best?
00:06:00.500 Yeah, well, look, in order for Canadians to have faith in this process that has been gone through here,
00:06:05.880 but it seems to have been rushed through and, you know, corners cut, if you will,
00:06:10.780 in order for Canadians to have this trust going forward,
00:06:13.140 there's going to have to be an open process that has some really solid people
00:06:17.920 that aren't connected with the decision involved in making the decision.
00:06:21.960 And that's what has to happen here.
00:06:23.620 Get beyond the Ottawa bubble and all the people that are contributing to the noise around Ottawa
00:06:29.080 and get somebody from outside this realm, if you will,
00:06:32.620 to actually take a look at this and determine what we need to do.
00:06:36.520 And continue to engage all your friends and supporters
00:06:38.960 is not leading Canadians toward a stronger impression of trust in this government.
00:06:44.600 And that's where any government has to get towards.
00:06:47.060 Where are we going as a country?
00:06:49.800 And does the Canadian people trust the government anymore?
00:06:52.960 We're losing that.
00:06:53.720 We need to get that back.
00:06:54.700 This is an important institution.
00:06:56.480 The more we fail at this, and we fail as an institution,
00:07:00.140 and the government and council right now is doing that to us,
00:07:04.020 we've got to get this back.
00:07:05.420 Canadians need to have faith in democracy, have faith in this institution,
00:07:08.780 and what it can do to make their lives better.
00:07:11.160 Well, one thing they can do to make their lives better
00:07:13.680 is not past the Liberal budget that's up for debates.
00:07:16.440 Actually, this whole week, we're supposed to be debating it today.
00:07:20.240 It looks like closure, and that's a parliamentary term.
00:07:22.660 They're going to cut off debates on the budget bill,
00:07:25.260 which spends billions and billions.
00:07:28.040 We're running the country on the credit card.
00:07:31.400 You know, you're a finance guy.
00:07:33.000 This is where you shine.
00:07:35.400 Your observation on this whole thing.
00:07:37.680 Well, this is the Budget Implementation Act.
00:07:39.320 But the budget itself, of course, is more money throwing at a wall.
00:07:42.540 And look at where that money's going.
00:07:44.340 It's going towards a whole bunch of pet projects without accountability.
00:07:47.380 There's so much this government is doing
00:07:48.600 that has no accountability mechanisms in it whatsoever.
00:07:51.920 Their new spending and a new fund they're going to have up,
00:07:54.940 the Canada Fund, you know, the Canada Growth Fund,
00:07:57.080 I think this one is called,
00:07:58.260 in addition to the Canada Infrastructure Bank
00:08:00.240 and all the programs they're having,
00:08:02.140 billions and billions of dollars.
00:08:03.700 This is going to be run on the back of a napkin
00:08:06.460 by the public sector pension board.
00:08:09.180 It's like, okay, you know, this is supposed to be a high-risk investment.
00:08:12.520 High-risk investing and pension investing are the opposite
00:08:16.300 as far as the financial manager goes.
00:08:18.720 So what is really happening here?
00:08:20.320 Number one, get a board together, get a mandate,
00:08:23.020 understand what this new group is supposed to do
00:08:25.860 once they get the cash.
00:08:27.760 But this is just shovel the cash in,
00:08:29.640 we'll decide what the metrics are later.
00:08:32.340 So again, trying to work around that accountability mechanism
00:08:35.040 that I think Canadians need to see.
00:08:37.440 What is this group for?
00:08:38.440 What is this money for?
00:08:39.640 And how does it respond at the end of the day
00:08:41.460 to the needs of the country?
00:08:43.220 I'm going to suggest that this is just another slush fund.
00:08:45.740 There's a lot of slush funds this government has set up,
00:08:48.680 and it's throwing money out the door.
00:08:50.520 The industrial policy they're going through
00:08:52.220 is going to be decimating for the country at the end of the day.
00:08:55.400 We've got a big bill to pay,
00:08:56.920 and the next generation is going to pay a huge bill.
00:08:59.140 Our responsibility is to make sure
00:09:00.680 that we pass on a country that has some strength in it,
00:09:04.500 both financially and, of course, infrastructure,
00:09:07.120 institutions that will continue to govern us going forward.
00:09:09.720 That is important,
00:09:11.020 and we are losing that at this point in time.
00:09:13.520 The amount of investment in this country
00:09:15.040 from a private sector perspective is down about 10%.
00:09:18.080 So we're down to 90% of what our contributed capital
00:09:21.540 to the country was since this government came into power.
00:09:25.320 It's a continual downgrade, if you will,
00:09:28.500 of our infrastructure of the value of the country
00:09:31.000 at the end of the day.
00:09:32.100 We're more in debt.
00:09:33.040 We're more in debt at the government level.
00:09:34.480 We're more in debt at the consumer level.
00:09:35.920 We're more in debt at the corporate level.
00:09:37.580 These debts are mounting at every level of government.
00:09:40.360 We need to make sure we have a great health care system,
00:09:43.080 a great social system,
00:09:44.380 and a great economy here
00:09:47.100 that we can build on going forward.
00:09:48.980 People need to arrive in Canada
00:09:50.200 with a great opportunity to build a great life,
00:09:52.640 and that's what we have to build back, Jamie.
00:09:54.080 I couldn't agree more.
00:09:55.080 And our leader, Pierre Polyev,
00:09:56.120 spoke a couple hours ago
00:09:57.420 about that exact very topic,
00:09:59.480 talking about how rising interest rates
00:10:01.820 when mortgages that were bought at inflated prices
00:10:04.980 and borrowed when money was cheap,
00:10:08.080 cheaper, I guess, than what it is now,
00:10:10.640 those with variable rates
00:10:12.040 or even those that locked in at five years,
00:10:13.840 those mortgages come due very, very soon.
00:10:16.500 And with the cost of living now out of control,
00:10:19.360 groceries, fuel, you name it,
00:10:20.960 is just out of control right now through the roof.
00:10:23.560 When those mortgage payments come due,
00:10:26.000 you're talking, I believe, memory serves,
00:10:29.240 he said about $15,000 for the average family
00:10:31.680 for the average mortgage increase
00:10:33.920 just on increased payments
00:10:35.460 because of the higher interest rates.
00:10:37.200 But you can't bring down rates
00:10:38.300 because the inflation crisis still looms
00:10:41.380 because the government continues to spend.
00:10:43.900 It's putting gasoline on the fire.
00:10:45.560 It's just an endless circle.
00:10:46.720 You got it.
00:10:47.000 And the issue is, of course, with mortgages as well.
00:10:49.220 It's after-tax money you pay your mortgage with.
00:10:52.380 So if you think, if you're making $100,000 a year,
00:10:54.860 the average Canadian makes $66,000 a year.
00:10:57.280 But just for round numbers, say $100,000 a year,
00:10:59.840 you're going to leave about 39% of that
00:11:01.700 in Alberta on the table.
00:11:02.900 So you're down to $61,000 of your salary
00:11:05.380 on a $100,000 salary.
00:11:09.420 Rough numbers, if you will,
00:11:10.600 because there are some layering in there.
00:11:13.680 So your mortgage payment comes out of that residual number,
00:11:17.480 and you've still got to pay for food,
00:11:18.580 which, as you know, is going up 11% over the last year.
00:11:21.080 They've still got to pay for everything else
00:11:22.700 that happens in life.
00:11:24.140 And now suddenly this payment you thought
00:11:26.160 was your payment to buy this house
00:11:27.760 has gone up through the roof.
00:11:29.720 So how does that work, right?
00:11:31.520 One of the things about mortgages is that,
00:11:33.440 by far, the term for mortgages in Canada
00:11:37.040 is the five-year term.
00:11:38.440 So you take a look at how long it's been
00:11:41.340 since mortgages started rising in Canada.
00:11:44.080 Over the next three and a half years still,
00:11:46.180 that's going to continue to become evident
00:11:47.520 to people that finance their homes
00:11:49.020 and maybe a bit more of a home than they can afford,
00:11:51.540 but they finance it at below 1% or 1% to 2%.
00:11:54.780 And now it's going up to plus 5% more.
00:11:58.520 It's a significant big chunk to take
00:12:00.420 out of their salaries at the end of the day.
00:12:02.660 As a result, you're going to lead towards inflation
00:12:04.980 because they're all going to need more money.
00:12:06.280 They're all going to ask for more money
00:12:08.440 from their employers
00:12:09.140 as they see everything in life costing more.
00:12:11.380 They're going to say,
00:12:12.320 okay, my expenses are going up.
00:12:13.800 Shouldn't my salary go up in the same trajectory?
00:12:17.640 And that's going to cause even more inflation.
00:12:20.200 So the number one precursor to inflation,
00:12:22.220 of course, is wages.
00:12:23.400 The second is energy.
00:12:24.760 And energy has gone through the roof in Canada,
00:12:27.160 largely because of the government's
00:12:28.900 additional taxes on energy.
00:12:31.060 It's got, of course, the carbon tax,
00:12:32.280 and it's chosen to go the way in the carbon tax,
00:12:34.120 which is questionable
00:12:36.040 whether it is actually accomplishing anything.
00:12:37.760 And I would say it's not.
00:12:38.640 And now it's got this clean fuels standard,
00:12:41.700 which is a hidden tax on energy.
00:12:43.540 And our party's done a good job of that,
00:12:45.120 about exposing how much that's going to be.
00:12:47.440 61 cents a liter as of July 1st.
00:12:50.740 That's incredible.
00:12:51.360 Is the federal tax on fuel.
00:12:54.260 It is over the top.
00:12:56.060 So you think about what that's going to do.
00:12:57.400 It's not like the refiners are going to
00:12:58.840 take any less margin.
00:13:00.240 They're already existing on some thin margin.
00:13:02.460 Everybody gets paid in this process here.
00:13:04.460 So who's going to pay the money, of course,
00:13:06.240 is the consumer at the end of the day.
00:13:07.620 But the funny thing is
00:13:09.120 that people don't seem to realize
00:13:10.280 is the rationale for these taxes
00:13:12.520 is that people will make choices
00:13:14.200 that lower their expenditures.
00:13:16.280 So they'll make the choice
00:13:17.180 not to buy as much gasoline,
00:13:18.900 which means they have to make the choice
00:13:20.540 to travel less.
00:13:21.340 They have to make the choice
00:13:22.060 to visit grandma less.
00:13:23.060 The hospitality industry starts to suffer.
00:13:24.540 They've actually got to make the choice
00:13:25.940 to take their kids to soccer less
00:13:27.580 because a lot of these things
00:13:28.800 are built into their lifestyle.
00:13:30.380 They're going to have to start making choices
00:13:31.680 they didn't know they had to make.
00:13:33.620 And that's when the rubber hits the road
00:13:35.060 as far as what is the effect
00:13:36.720 of what we're doing here.
00:13:37.880 The longer the government can hide
00:13:39.380 the effects of what they're doing here,
00:13:41.260 the better for them
00:13:41.960 because it gets muddled in
00:13:43.180 with a whole bunch of other policies.
00:13:45.060 But this is the factor
00:13:47.260 that's going to affect Canadians' lives the most.
00:13:49.860 You couldn't...
00:13:50.560 Yeah, absolutely.
00:13:51.500 And when you start to cut back
00:13:52.600 on the discretionary purchases,
00:13:54.280 in many cases,
00:13:55.620 that's the fun stuff, right?
00:13:56.840 The vacations or going out for dinner
00:13:58.520 or even taking your kid
00:14:00.480 or your family member
00:14:01.340 or whatever,
00:14:02.600 just to go see a movie, right?
00:14:03.800 That's the stuff that scales down.
00:14:05.940 And then when that starts to...
00:14:07.220 The layers of the onion start peeling
00:14:08.920 and the economy really starts going
00:14:10.960 without a plan,
00:14:12.860 as you mentioned earlier,
00:14:13.660 for growth,
00:14:14.240 for economic growth
00:14:15.020 from this government.
00:14:16.060 Yeah, and you talk about that.
00:14:16.960 You talk about discretionary spending.
00:14:18.740 I don't think many parents
00:14:20.140 look at the sports programs
00:14:22.460 or the leisure programs
00:14:23.500 or the arts programs
00:14:24.300 they have their kids in.
00:14:25.580 They don't look at that
00:14:26.700 as discretionary spending.
00:14:27.700 So they try to cut back
00:14:28.620 in other areas
00:14:29.220 because keeping your kids fit
00:14:31.220 and growing, educated,
00:14:33.040 these are things parents want to do.
00:14:34.780 They want their kids
00:14:35.420 to have a better life
00:14:36.140 than they had.
00:14:37.120 We all do.
00:14:38.000 That is our dream,
00:14:38.820 to make sure our kids
00:14:39.520 get handed something better
00:14:40.700 than we had growing up.
00:14:42.140 And we were gifted
00:14:42.720 with a legacy here in Canada
00:14:44.000 of a great country.
00:14:45.240 It's our job
00:14:46.020 to make sure that continues.
00:14:47.580 And that means
00:14:48.280 that these programs
00:14:49.160 need to continue for our kids.
00:14:50.840 So people don't look at that
00:14:51.900 as a discretionary spending.
00:14:53.220 Yes, a movie
00:14:54.520 might be discretionary spending.
00:14:55.920 Soccer programs,
00:14:56.740 hockey programs,
00:14:57.440 dance programs,
00:14:58.720 arts programs.
00:14:59.860 We don't look at these discretionary.
00:15:01.300 We want to make sure
00:15:02.020 that our kids have
00:15:02.840 all these opportunities.
00:15:03.340 100%, but when the budget
00:15:04.580 starts to get tighter.
00:15:06.680 That's right.
00:15:07.180 Choices have to be made.
00:15:08.380 And of course,
00:15:09.760 municipalities that run
00:15:11.000 the hockey rink,
00:15:12.480 they're paying a carbon tax, right?
00:15:13.940 And you can't run your household
00:15:14.940 the way the government
00:15:15.520 runs its budget,
00:15:16.260 which is like,
00:15:16.700 just get the Bank of Canada
00:15:18.340 to print more money
00:15:19.240 and we'll continue to run this.
00:15:20.600 And the effect of inflation
00:15:22.240 of that, of course,
00:15:23.100 is self-evident now.
00:15:24.720 And I think that our leader
00:15:25.940 and our party
00:15:26.500 was well ahead of that
00:15:27.540 in the pandemic era
00:15:29.220 when we actually said
00:15:30.180 that you cannot continue
00:15:31.060 to print money
00:15:31.660 without causing inflation.
00:15:33.500 And this is known
00:15:34.520 in all economic circles.
00:15:37.140 The effect of inflation
00:15:38.520 was going to be felt.
00:15:39.660 The only question was when.
00:15:41.880 And this inflation
00:15:42.840 now is upon us.
00:15:44.240 And how do we nip it in the bud?
00:15:45.340 Well, number one,
00:15:46.460 get budgets back under control.
00:15:47.900 The first budget
00:15:48.540 you have to get under control
00:15:49.960 is the federal government's budget.
00:15:51.680 And again,
00:15:52.180 an extra $60 billion
00:15:53.340 in this budget
00:15:55.120 being thrown
00:15:55.900 into new discretionary spending.
00:15:57.960 It's not solving the problem.
00:16:00.060 So inflation is going to happen.
00:16:00.920 The government's never
00:16:01.540 had so much cash
00:16:02.520 and yet they can't solve the problem.
00:16:04.800 That's right.
00:16:05.340 So more money
00:16:05.900 is the answer, clearly.
00:16:07.240 Yeah.
00:16:07.480 Well, if writing a check
00:16:08.560 was always the answer,
00:16:09.500 then every household
00:16:10.140 would solve it that way.
00:16:10.980 But that's how the liberals
00:16:11.680 use their metrics of success.
00:16:13.120 Not whether they solve the problem,
00:16:14.420 just how much money
00:16:15.220 they've actually put towards it.
00:16:16.480 That's right.
00:16:16.920 And what did they accomplish
00:16:17.600 at the end of the day?
00:16:18.260 Okay, well, I wrote a check.
00:16:19.260 That's not really
00:16:20.000 accomplishing something.
00:16:20.820 Not really.
00:16:21.420 Where's the solution here
00:16:22.800 that has to arise
00:16:24.000 from that expenditure?
00:16:26.020 And it's a bit of a shame
00:16:26.900 about the Bank of Canada too.
00:16:28.140 They really, unfortunately,
00:16:29.580 through this whole pandemic
00:16:30.520 and the liberal government
00:16:31.820 and their exercises,
00:16:33.700 they really politicized the bank.
00:16:35.380 They did.
00:16:35.980 And you look at, you know,
00:16:37.400 the brain trust, if you will,
00:16:39.520 at the Bank of Canada
00:16:40.360 because it's not just one governor,
00:16:42.140 but this rush towards
00:16:43.820 quantitative easing
00:16:44.740 as the solution
00:16:45.640 is really Keynesianism
00:16:47.080 on steroids.
00:16:47.780 You know, we've got Keynesianism
00:16:49.400 where you balance the economy
00:16:50.580 with government spending
00:16:51.400 and now you've got that
00:16:52.860 jacked up, if you will,
00:16:55.200 with spending
00:16:56.420 at the Bank of Canada itself.
00:16:58.000 So it puts that extra,
00:16:59.560 those extra assets
00:17:01.080 on its balance sheet
00:17:01.900 because they are assets
00:17:02.680 that they're holding
00:17:03.140 on the balance sheet.
00:17:04.140 Unfortunately,
00:17:04.600 that has to unwind
00:17:05.400 at some point in time.
00:17:06.700 And in the unwinding,
00:17:07.780 as we're seeing now,
00:17:08.740 they're taking losses
00:17:09.620 every time they have
00:17:10.560 to try to unwind.
00:17:11.820 And those losses
00:17:12.620 are on the balance sheet
00:17:13.320 at the Bank of Canada
00:17:13.960 right now.
00:17:15.140 Functionally,
00:17:16.440 the Bank of Canada
00:17:17.020 is bankrupt.
00:17:17.780 So in this Budget
00:17:19.180 Implementation Act,
00:17:20.900 there is actually
00:17:21.760 a resolution
00:17:22.840 to make it
00:17:23.760 so that the Bank of Canada
00:17:25.200 has a mechanism
00:17:26.540 to deal with the fact
00:17:27.440 that it's losing money
00:17:28.640 every day
00:17:29.180 when it never has before.
00:17:30.680 And this is the effect
00:17:31.540 of quantitative easing.
00:17:33.280 One of the problems
00:17:34.000 we always have in Canada
00:17:35.400 is we say,
00:17:35.800 well, everybody else
00:17:36.440 in the world is doing it
00:17:37.180 when the U.S. is doing something
00:17:38.360 or the European Union
00:17:39.980 is doing something
00:17:40.660 on this quantitative easing program.
00:17:42.180 So every other,
00:17:43.060 you know,
00:17:43.620 entity in the world
00:17:44.840 is looking at
00:17:45.360 this quantitative easing.
00:17:46.800 Nobody has dealt
00:17:47.740 with the full effects
00:17:48.440 of quantitative easing
00:17:49.780 to this point in time.
00:17:50.700 Nobody has gone into it
00:17:51.860 and come out of it
00:17:52.980 and actually shown
00:17:53.920 what happens.
00:17:54.640 Well, we're seeing
00:17:55.100 what happens now.
00:17:56.120 This is real time.
00:17:57.780 Bank of Canada
00:17:58.240 is losing money
00:17:58.900 on an annual basis,
00:18:00.860 a monthly basis,
00:18:01.780 a daily basis,
00:18:02.500 if you will,
00:18:03.100 because of the mispricing
00:18:04.640 of the assets
00:18:05.500 they put on their balance sheet
00:18:06.680 while they were printing
00:18:07.700 too much money.
00:18:08.720 And now they've got
00:18:09.460 to atone for that.
00:18:10.900 And that,
00:18:11.440 like if you're a regular bank,
00:18:12.380 if you're a Silicon Valley bank,
00:18:13.560 that's exactly
00:18:14.320 how it went bankrupt.
00:18:15.480 But you're the Bank of Canada,
00:18:16.620 so you've got
00:18:16.900 the Government of Canada
00:18:17.540 to backstop you
00:18:18.400 at the end of the day
00:18:19.040 with Bank of Canada money.
00:18:20.600 So you can kind of see
00:18:21.440 the circular rationale
00:18:23.140 these high-level bureaucrats
00:18:27.240 and the government itself
00:18:28.240 are functioning under.
00:18:29.760 You shake my hand,
00:18:30.960 I'll shake yours.
00:18:31.580 Everything will be fine
00:18:32.200 at the end of the day.
00:18:33.360 Well, it's not fine
00:18:34.100 for the taxpayers of Canada
00:18:35.180 because we're incurring
00:18:35.960 huge losses.
00:18:37.140 And these are huge losses
00:18:38.280 that could have been avoided
00:18:39.280 if we'd been more careful
00:18:41.140 about what we spent money on
00:18:42.860 at all periods.
00:18:44.220 Well, the budget officer,
00:18:45.540 parliamentary budget officer,
00:18:46.540 said half of the money
00:18:47.820 that was spent
00:18:48.400 during the pandemic
00:18:49.140 had nothing to do with COVID.
00:18:50.480 It was all couched
00:18:51.340 in the language of COVID,
00:18:52.520 but actually was just
00:18:54.080 pet projects of the Liberals,
00:18:55.420 which you said.
00:18:56.020 So it was just an excuse
00:18:57.280 to spend more money.
00:18:59.760 And that's basically
00:19:00.780 what happened.
00:19:01.880 And now we're dealing
00:19:02.680 with the after effects.
00:19:03.520 And we exposed that
00:19:04.320 early in the pandemic,
00:19:05.720 basically,
00:19:06.060 because a lot of the interest groups
00:19:07.500 that are Liberal-funded
00:19:08.360 interest groups
00:19:08.940 more or less said,
00:19:09.900 we can't miss this opportunity
00:19:11.380 to move this agenda forward.
00:19:13.380 And this agenda, of course,
00:19:14.380 is a bunch of different agendas
00:19:15.600 at the end of the day.
00:19:16.960 And government is supposed
00:19:18.000 to be more than a collection
00:19:19.140 of interest groups.
00:19:20.600 It's supposed to be working
00:19:21.300 for the Canadian people
00:19:22.320 as a whole.
00:19:23.320 And I think it lost
00:19:24.120 that perspective.
00:19:25.200 And it used the excuse
00:19:26.200 to lose that perspective
00:19:27.600 because it was like,
00:19:28.900 we're fighting for
00:19:29.820 a greater good here
00:19:31.340 at the end of the day.
00:19:31.980 Well, it's all a greater good.
00:19:33.540 But at the end of the day,
00:19:34.800 at the end of the day,
00:19:36.020 it's about what's best
00:19:36.980 for Canadians.
00:19:38.100 Our job,
00:19:38.720 as you know, Jamie,
00:19:40.100 is to deliver good government
00:19:41.520 for Canadians
00:19:42.080 and make sure they have trust
00:19:43.180 in these institutions
00:19:43.940 that we serve them through.
00:19:45.700 Well, I think that trust,
00:19:47.000 as you mentioned,
00:19:47.580 has been unfortunately
00:19:48.680 diminished.
00:19:50.840 I hate to say it,
00:19:52.660 but through this whole process,
00:19:53.840 I think Canadians
00:19:54.400 are frustrated.
00:19:55.820 And to also listen
00:19:56.980 to the Liberals
00:19:57.740 and the way
00:19:59.040 they just belittle Canadians
00:20:01.440 that tried to
00:20:03.420 take their money
00:20:05.000 and put it somewhere
00:20:06.920 where they didn't think
00:20:07.560 the government
00:20:08.140 was going to debauch it,
00:20:09.260 right?
00:20:09.460 They went into gold,
00:20:10.280 silver,
00:20:10.620 and yes,
00:20:11.480 cryptocurrency,
00:20:12.440 to try to get away
00:20:13.540 from the damage
00:20:14.700 the government
00:20:15.540 was doing
00:20:16.220 to their dollar,
00:20:17.600 to their savings.
00:20:18.380 And that is something
00:20:19.520 that just gets
00:20:20.800 my blood boiling
00:20:21.580 almost instantly,
00:20:22.520 the way the Liberals
00:20:23.680 just look down on people
00:20:25.020 for trying to protect
00:20:26.920 their savings.
00:20:28.040 Yeah, well, let's,
00:20:29.360 cryptocurrency has a role
00:20:31.020 to play in the assets
00:20:32.720 of people
00:20:33.160 because you never know
00:20:34.140 what's going to happen
00:20:34.820 in different jurisdictions
00:20:35.720 around the world.
00:20:36.980 The whole notion
00:20:37.600 of cryptocurrency
00:20:38.260 at the end of the day
00:20:38.920 was if you're saving
00:20:40.300 a bunch of money
00:20:40.940 here in Canada
00:20:41.680 and you can buy
00:20:42.740 100 loaves of bread
00:20:43.560 with a certain amount
00:20:44.360 of, let's call it
00:20:45.600 a Bitcoin
00:20:46.040 or whatever the case is,
00:20:46.900 although it's not
00:20:47.420 an accurate depiction,
00:20:48.700 and you have to move
00:20:50.120 to some other country,
00:20:51.080 well, hopefully
00:20:51.560 the place you move
00:20:52.600 that non-national currency
00:20:55.720 will buy you
00:20:56.440 100 loaves of bread
00:20:57.240 wherever you are
00:20:57.960 or wherever you land
00:20:59.240 in the world.
00:20:59.820 That's the nature of it,
00:21:00.860 that the value is
00:21:01.800 fungible, if you will,
00:21:03.440 it moves across jurisdictions
00:21:05.280 so that you're not
00:21:06.220 being manipulated
00:21:06.860 by what some government
00:21:08.540 thinks their currency
00:21:09.460 should be worth,
00:21:10.040 therefore what your savings
00:21:11.080 should be worth.
00:21:12.120 That's the whole concept
00:21:13.060 behind setting up
00:21:14.520 cryptocurrencies,
00:21:15.600 that there's not
00:21:16.100 a national layer
00:21:17.660 sort of saying
00:21:18.240 we need to devalue
00:21:19.260 your money in order
00:21:20.040 to get back into balance
00:21:21.180 here on our budgets.
00:21:22.560 People need to save
00:21:23.440 and actually know
00:21:24.840 what to expect
00:21:25.560 from their savings
00:21:26.200 at the end of the day,
00:21:26.900 a whole bunch
00:21:28.220 of other things
00:21:28.700 come from there,
00:21:29.320 of course,
00:21:29.820 but that's the nature
00:21:30.740 of what we're trying
00:21:31.280 to drive at here.
00:21:32.360 Canadians need to get
00:21:33.320 back to trust
00:21:33.860 and you and I
00:21:34.340 are affected by that
00:21:35.100 as well
00:21:35.400 and that's why
00:21:36.300 the sooner you and I
00:21:37.960 hold this government
00:21:39.100 to account
00:21:39.520 and actually defeat it
00:21:40.460 and get Canadians trust
00:21:41.580 so that we can start
00:21:42.800 building back trust
00:21:43.900 in the institutions
00:21:45.040 of this country,
00:21:45.860 that's what we're here for
00:21:46.920 and that's what we need
00:21:47.700 to continue to strive for
00:21:48.680 every day we're here, Jamie.
00:21:49.660 I hope the NDP
00:21:50.460 listens to what you just said.
00:21:52.260 Greg,
00:21:52.500 I could ask you
00:21:53.300 more questions
00:21:54.000 because I love
00:21:54.940 talking to you
00:21:55.440 about this stuff
00:21:57.560 because you are
00:21:58.120 so knowledgeable
00:21:58.700 but we are way
00:22:00.100 over time.
00:22:01.400 You have the floor
00:22:02.020 to close it out.
00:22:02.880 Well, Jamie,
00:22:03.660 thanks for having me again.
00:22:04.460 It's always a pleasure
00:22:05.340 to be here
00:22:05.880 and speak with you
00:22:07.600 about all these issues
00:22:08.400 and you always bring
00:22:08.940 such a wealth
00:22:09.440 of information as well
00:22:10.620 and I find some of your
00:22:11.740 questions actually challenging
00:22:12.740 and in case your viewers
00:22:14.280 don't know,
00:22:14.680 these are not scripted answers.
00:22:16.320 These are right off the cuff
00:22:17.340 all the time
00:22:17.840 whenever I come in here
00:22:18.760 and it's always a pleasure
00:22:20.240 and I'm glad your listeners
00:22:22.220 are so informed
00:22:23.040 and I think this is part
00:22:23.960 of what we have to do
00:22:24.760 is make sure Canadians
00:22:26.040 know what's happening
00:22:27.100 all the time here.
00:22:28.580 I'm not sure we're getting
00:22:29.180 into those channels enough
00:22:30.040 but this is one of those
00:22:30.960 great media channels
00:22:32.440 and folks,
00:22:33.440 thanks for paying attention
00:22:34.320 and if you have any questions,
00:22:36.260 I know Jamie's here
00:22:37.160 and I'm here
00:22:37.640 and whatever we can answer,
00:22:39.040 it's a pleasure.
00:22:40.300 You heard him.
00:22:40.920 Greg McLean,
00:22:41.500 Member of Parliament
00:22:41.980 for Calgary Centre.
00:22:43.100 Please like, comment,
00:22:44.440 subscribe and share
00:22:45.500 this program.
00:22:46.940 There are ways
00:22:49.040 to slow down
00:22:49.540 the liberal agenda.
00:22:50.380 This is one of them.
00:22:51.200 Get that message out.
00:22:52.240 Get this message to ears
00:22:53.960 and yes,
00:22:54.920 this show to eyeballs
00:22:55.880 that might be open
00:22:57.020 to hearing a different message
00:22:58.300 they aren't hearing
00:22:58.980 in the mainstream media.
00:23:00.120 Of course,
00:23:00.520 you can tell them,
00:23:01.260 of course,
00:23:01.720 you can download it
00:23:02.460 on platforms
00:23:03.000 like CastBox,
00:23:03.760 iTunes, Google Play
00:23:04.460 and Spotify.
00:23:05.300 We have new content
00:23:05.980 for you every single Tuesday
00:23:07.200 1.30 p.m. Eastern time.
00:23:08.760 Until then,
00:23:09.260 remember,
00:23:09.820 low taxes,
00:23:10.500 less government,
00:23:11.120 more freedom.
00:23:11.780 That is the blueprint.
00:23:16.940 we'll see you next time.
00:23:18.160 Bye.
00:23:20.780 Bye.
00:23:21.040 Bye.
00:23:21.400 Bye.
00:23:21.820 Bye.
00:23:22.520 Bye.
00:23:25.220 Bye.
00:23:31.360 Bye.
00:23:37.560 Bye.
00:23:39.260 Bye.
00:23:42.240 Bye.
00:23:42.280 Bye.
00:23:42.880 Bye.
00:23:44.980 Bye.
00:23:45.280 Bye.
00:23:45.780 Bye.
00:23:45.820 Bye.
00:23:46.080 Bye.