In this episode of The Blueprint, Minister of Health and Leader of Canada's Conservatives, Erin O'Donnell, talks about his journey to becoming a Conservative Party Leader, the challenges he faced as a new leader, and the importance of rapid diagnostic tests.
00:00:00.000hello and welcome once again to the blueprints it is canada's conservative podcast i'm your host
00:00:10.760jamie schmail member of parliament for halliburton corps the likes brock thank you very much for
00:00:15.240joining us once again we are not stopping even though we are leading up to the christmas holidays
00:00:19.980we will continue with new content each and every tuesday 1 30 p.m eastern time so i thank you
00:00:25.800for joining us today because today we have a very very special guest i'll keep you just in suspense
00:00:32.920for two seconds as i remind you as always please like comment subscribe share this program help us
00:00:39.960push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda if you can't watch us all today on facebook please
00:00:45.320download us on platforms like cast box itunes google play spotify you name it it's out there
00:00:50.660and that way there might be a friend a neighbor a relative that you know on your social media
00:00:55.380platforms that may not have access to the conservative message that might be open to
00:00:59.580hearing this conservative message that's why we need your help to do that and like i said
00:01:03.800today's guest is someone i bet you've been waiting for the whole year long erin o'toole the leader of
00:01:10.000canada's conservatives the member of parliament for durham my next door neighbor thank you very much
00:01:14.020for joining us it's great to be with you jamie and i'm glad i finally make my uh a debut on the
00:01:20.660blueprint this is exciting you've been a busy busy person so we completely understand now congratulations
00:01:27.260on on winning the leadership i know we talked about it a lot on the show and and you've been
00:01:31.980working very hard lately to kind of assemble the team and fight against the liberals and also prepare
00:01:37.360for for the next election and then you unfortunately conduct you contacted covid which which kind of was
00:01:43.600an interesting experience for you maybe can we start with that because that's something a lot of
00:01:47.740people ask me about even on the street uh just what what it was like for you as a new leader having
00:01:53.360to deal with that yes i'm i get asked about that a lot as well jamie you know here's my debut as a
00:01:59.600conservative leader uh my victory because of ballot problems was at 1 30 in the morning so i gave a speech
00:02:06.340at 1 30 in the morning to a largely empty room uh now my my kids and my parents my wife rebecca
00:02:12.920were there and it was such an honor and i said i i would have waited till morning sunrise to give
00:02:18.520that speech it's such an honor to lead canada's founding party and then i started the regular
00:02:24.200course got teamed together started to go on the road a bit and then in my first month i got covid
00:02:30.240and uh fortunately we i had a mild case i unfortunately did bring it home and and rebecca
00:02:38.040came down with covid as well our children miraculously molly and jack avoided getting
00:02:43.800it we social distanced in our home rebecca had what i would say it'd be a traditional flu
00:02:49.000i had very mild symptoms so we were very lucky and we had great support from from public health but it
00:02:55.680was it was perspective for us like we were in a lineup with with hundreds and hundreds of people
00:03:01.660that got turned away after we were there for several hours so i got to experience the fact that
00:03:06.440because we didn't have rapid tests as quickly as europe we saw huge backlogs a lot of uncertainty so
00:03:13.100i at least have that perspective which as a leader if you've walked a few miles in in people's shoes you
00:03:19.000can relate to them so we use it as a learning but i think my wife will be reminding me of the
00:03:25.400for the next 60 years how i brought covid into our home right after the leadership since a lot of the
00:03:31.340provinces are dealing with new restrictions on on uh to deal with the covid uh pandemic maybe let's
00:03:38.100let's build on what you just said about the rapid tests and this is something uh you and members of
00:03:42.940our team and shoot including our health critic michelle rempel have been pushing for is is faster
00:03:48.180movement from health canada on approving rapid tests many of which are already in in operation in
00:03:53.800countries like the european union often known as the gold standard and the united states but
00:03:57.980some not here in canada yes in fact what i did in one of my first questions in the house of
00:04:04.620commons when i did come back from covid was remind mr trudeau our european trade deal allows us to
00:04:10.180actually accept regulatory approval for things like diagnostic tests as part of our european trade
00:04:16.540agreement cita this is a diagnostic test it's not a drug that needs to be reviewed for safety and
00:04:24.140efficacy um we know there's going to be a margin of error with any of these test kits but it is a
00:04:29.860critical tool that europe who had them five months earlier was able to keep some travel and some of the
00:04:36.100tourism industries going by the effective deployment of rapid tests canada was really
00:04:41.480kind of the last major oecd country to even roll them out and miraculously after we started
00:04:48.440hammering them in the house regularly suddenly they accelerated the approval so as you've seen jamie
00:04:54.720i think the opposition has done our job we find the liberals approach to be secretive uh often very
00:05:02.840confused always late whether it was the border rapid tests or even the vaccines our job is to push
00:05:08.360for transparency push for better attack some of the corruption that we saw with we and that's the
00:05:13.880opposition doing its job as best it can in a pandemic and i think some of the the results in
00:05:18.400terms of the early vaccine samples for example were the direct result of our pushing and pushing and
00:05:23.840pushing so michelle rempel garner our our whole team did a very good job on on rapid tests in particular
00:05:30.360yeah i think i agree with you a lot uh especially when you're saying that the opposition was really
00:05:36.460pushing the government to to move on a number of these files because you're right there there wasn't much
00:05:41.840in the terms of conversation about rapid tests or their vaccines or you know a whole wide range of
00:05:49.820issues and and and finally during you know countless questions in question period and other methods we were
00:05:57.440finally getting to see some movement for canadians and then the answers started to come up instead of
00:06:02.240the the constant stonewall that you get in question period from this government absolutely and i've said many
00:06:09.360times at several of my press conferences um three key tools exist in a in a pandemic rapid test and
00:06:17.500diagnostic uh finding out how many people are are caught vaccinations obviously a tool that can
00:06:25.740inoculate people and start us turning the corner but the third tool jamie is information the fact that
00:06:31.920the the trudeau government you know shut down parliament uh refused to provide details was very secretive on
00:06:39.180on uh the china deal they had for a vaccine with can sino all of that adds to confusion about when will
00:06:47.800the vaccines be available who will get them first how much safety review has been done um if people
00:06:53.500like myself uh came down with covid and recovered do i have the antibodies therefore i don't need a vaccine or
00:07:01.080am i going to be later why was the government refusing to have a public plan that was that was
00:07:06.020detailing some of this public education i think information has been a tool that because of mr trudeau's
00:07:12.300uh lack of of transparency has suffered and and it's leading to more vaccine hesitancy it's leading to
00:07:20.940people uh doubting whether they will be able to keep their business open past spring for example
00:07:26.460so i think our our continued push for planning for faster response for transparency is part of an effective
00:07:34.240opposition now one of the other things just before the break for the christmas break in parliament one of the
00:07:40.680things we were as a team as a caucus as the opposition was really hammering the liberals about was their
00:07:48.080relationship with china and the number of failures that they've had with that communist country that has
00:07:54.920actually hurt canadian interests in so many ways absolutely in fact just last friday as you know
00:08:02.280um our deadline of our motion passed where we had asked we'd given the liberals several weeks
00:08:09.020to come up with a public statement on whether huawei should be banned or not from the 5g as you know for
00:08:15.840years it's been our position that a state-owned chinese enterprise should not build out our digital
00:08:21.500economy the plumbing of our future economy we also in that motion asked for a public plan
00:08:27.940to combat the rise in in chinese influence operations in canada harassing even threatening
00:08:35.260uh hundreds of canadians uh influence operations to try and influence public opinion uh canadians need
00:08:42.620to not only know that that's happening but have to see a way for the government to tackle it through
00:08:47.860immigration through through the immigration system cbsa rcmp all the tools of government
00:08:52.780the liberals failed to do both things bill player blair uh issued some milquetoast uh press release
00:08:59.480and the prime minister who promised a decision on huawei a year and a half ago still wouldn't come
00:09:06.400through with it so canadians know that the trudeau government has been inappropriately close to the
00:09:12.120chinese regime from day one um we're the only five eyes country that has not made the huawei decision
00:09:19.620we're often seen as as out of step with the rest of the western world on china we found out that mr
00:09:25.840trudeau and miss freeland were fighting for the canadian armed forces to train the chinese military on
00:09:32.620our soil just ridiculous to think that that would be a priority for the trudeau government when they're
00:09:38.140holding our citizens hostage the two michaels when they're uh disrupting trade when they're
00:09:44.200posing a police state in hong kong the situation with the uyghurs it's time for canada and our our
00:09:50.400democratic allies to take a united and principled position to combat the influence of communist china
00:09:56.480it's it's almost as if they're doing a piece by appeasement strategy here with with the uh the
00:10:02.840government of china it's it's kind of frustrating when you see well we saw uh you know about this
00:10:09.200time last year or thereabouts was the the issues that we had with our agriculture not being able
00:10:14.760to move our product out on a moment's notice and the list went on but yet there really isn't some
00:10:19.740concrete action this government is taking to stand up for themselves and stand up for canada against china
00:10:24.780you're right jamie in fact last uh beginning of december i think it was
00:10:30.140our government and myself at the as the foreign affairs shadow minister at the time passed that
00:10:36.440motion to create a new parliamentary oversight committee for canada china relations to shine
00:10:42.560some light on the mismanagement of of that critical foreign policy issue by the liberals remember
00:10:48.920justin trudeau handpicked an ambassador john mccallum his former minister to go there mccallum had to
00:10:56.880resign in disgrace a month or so after uh the the the two michaels were taken and there's just been no
00:11:05.760clear coherent uh strategy with respect to china so we passed this motion it was the first defeat
00:11:12.200of the trudeau government ever because it was a the first opposition win in a minority parliament
00:11:18.980and that canada china committee once it resumed after the the pandemic closure of parliament
00:11:24.640has been really shining the light on on some concerning trends and the fact that the the
00:11:29.800trudeau liberals always seem to only care about trade with china for some of their big corporate
00:11:35.320friends and interests and i often say can't canada our values are not for sale we're free traders but
00:11:41.800we can't turn a blind eye to to some of the human rights and and and trade disruptions by china
00:11:48.320now let's talk quickly just back to the the covid recovery plan and how the liberals are are dealing
00:11:56.120with with you know a whole bunch of files up in the air and a lot of it had to be done very very
00:12:01.380quickly besides the part about parliament not being in session so we can actually have some say on some
00:12:08.060of these programs and have improvements brought in quicker in in a meaningful fashion to help canadians
00:12:14.520to to help canadian businesses we were the only party that was consistently calling for parliament
00:12:19.800to stay in session during the pandemic so that we could actually bring relief to canadians quicker
00:12:26.280than what was actually happening in in this delayed fashion the liberals gave us you're right one thing
00:12:34.380canadians need to remember is the conservatives have put our country first that we we put partisanship
00:12:41.520aside whenever it came to helping families and businesses whether particularly in the first wave
00:12:47.520but the the knee-jerk reaction for mr trudeau and his group to to just ignore democracy and ignore parliament
00:12:55.520has been terrible in fact it was our pushing that turned the wage subsidy from just a 10 wage subsidy
00:13:03.520that wouldn't have saved any jobs quite frankly we pushed to get it to 75 the very fact that the liberals took weeks
00:13:10.520to do that is a big reason why we have several hundred thousand more people unemployed than needed
00:13:18.520businesses were worried so they put everyone onto the serve rather than take the wage subsidy in many cases
00:13:24.520since last may we pushed as you know jamie for changes to the to the rent subsidy program because we all
00:13:32.520in all of our ridings you're riding my riding coast to coast we heard about how many landlords were not
00:13:38.520passing on the benefit to their to their tenants and you had small often family-owned businesses struggling
00:13:44.520had they not uh had they listened faster and then had trudeau not prorogued parliament
00:13:50.520that the bill that is is going through now to to fix that program we had proposed it last spring
00:13:56.520just think of how many thousands of small businesses might have survived if they had actually listened
00:14:02.520and that's what the opposition's meant to do and so we we have voted with them sometimes as you know with very little uh debate
00:14:10.520it's hard for conservatives fiscal conservatives like us to to vote on a 50 billion dollar package with only five hours of debate
00:14:20.520we were putting the country first and we really hoped the liberals would fix gaps in these programs
00:14:28.520time after time again it showed they they they didn't care and they they favored large corporate interest over the small and medium
00:14:36.520sized player way too many times and i think we're going to see a prolonged recession because of of their slow and and
00:14:44.520unstrategic approach to the recovery programs well i think that that that delayed response that delayed recovery
00:14:52.520might be hindered also the fact that they've decided they are going to push forward with massive increases to the
00:14:58.520carbon tax they've already increased taxes a number of times during the pandemic the carbon tax went up the escalator
00:15:04.520tax on on alcohol which doesn't require parliamentary approval which is something i i just can't even explain how frustrated about
00:15:12.520that i am uh but uh the there's no time to if in my opinion there's no good time to increase taxes during a pandemic
00:15:20.520doing it multiple times is actually one of the worst things you can do and and actually hurts the most vulnerable the
00:15:27.520people that they say that they they are fighting so hard to protect the carbon tax actually hurts them more
00:15:33.520yes and this is something that mr trudeau and the liberal government doesn't seem to understand they feel that massive
00:15:41.520government interference and massive taxation is is somehow going to set a groundwork for rehiring and investment in Canada
00:15:48.520in fact they were raising taxes and running big deficits before covid we now know they were running a 40 billion dollar deficit
00:15:56.520in good economic times before covid hit and they had raised taxes on people on small businesses on the escalator tax on alcohol they tax the
00:16:08.520sharing economy um it's driving jobs and investment out of Canada especially the carbon tax a manufacturer in
00:16:17.520lindsay or in bowmanville that may be making something for the auto industry or or specialized fabrication
00:16:25.520they're competing against shops and mills in ohio pennsylvania all of these border states that don't have an input price for carbon
00:16:32.520so now mr trudeau is going to double or triple that you'll see the giant sucking sound of jobs and investment running to the south we're
00:16:41.520already seeing that 160 billion dollars of capital investment has left Canada under mr trudeau's watch pre covid so if we want to recover if we want all
00:16:54.520families and businesses to crawl up out of the covid hole that we're in we need jobs we need investment we need risk taking
00:17:01.520and we're not going to welcome that if we're vastly out of whack with the u.s if we're not seen as a place where you can invest get projects built and and earn a return for your capital so uh when we win the next election and we will we will earn the trust of Canadians ahead of that we will earn the trust of the Canadians ahead of that we will earn the trust of the
00:17:23.520we need to really make sure the economic recovery is focused on jobs for Canadians doesn't matter what part of the country doesn't matter what industry we need people working
00:17:33.420i've often said in this show that jobs aren't just created because a politician said so or bureaucrat says so or because they they believe so badly that something's going to happen
00:17:44.080the the environment has to be correct to allow private sector growth to succeed and what you've seen you mentioned a number of examples
00:17:50.780uh but also in our oil and gas industry our mining industry uh you know in so many decades past that has been the staple of our economy the anchor that which we could build from and have spinoff jobs and and opportunities and economic activity and all of them have been stifled because of this government and their priorities
00:18:11.260100 percent yes in fact Canada's early wealth and prosperity was generated from our resource economy going back 100 years the incos the falcon bridges
00:18:24.020i worked in downtown toronto in the financial community bay street we would not have that financial center if Canada didn't become an early place
00:18:33.460for the exploration and financing of prospecting developing exploration and here we are now jamie now we are a resource exporting country energy softwood lumber minerals including rare earths we have the potential there we are the most ethical producer in the world there's only two energy
00:18:56.460uh exporting uh exporting uh democracies right now canada and the united states and we have the largest commitment to carbon intensity reduction indigenous partnerships so the world will be consuming more and more resources and we need to say they should be canadian resources if you care about how something was extracted or developed if you care about partnerships with indigenous businesses if you care about
00:19:25.080companies companies that will reduce their carbon intensity and have a transparent regulatory system where where you can actually trust what the provincial and federal regulators say
00:19:35.720it should be our resources that should be the world standard and we can develop our resources and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the same time
00:19:44.940mr trudeau's approach is to shut everything down to reduce emissions our approach is to partner to be smart and i think that's something i look forward to the conservatives putting some bold vision
00:19:55.060out on many people might realize or might remember that the asian infrastructure bank which has taxpayer dollars is actually building pipelines uh across uh parts parts of china but yet we are hampering our own industry our own energy industry where the world could use more like you said could use more of canadian energy and and sends a message to the bad actors to up their game but yet again this government through policies like the tanker band bill c69 which is also hurting the mining industry in a certain
00:20:24.880certain parts um these are just all cascading effects because of bad policy decisions and with the carbon tax you know this erin in ontario we've seen that disaster which was the ontario green energy plan which made ontario have some of the most
00:20:40.380highest energy rates in north america pushing manufacturing out the door and pushing more people into energy poverty than ever before and those same geniuses are now in ottawa making policy again
00:20:52.640you've described it perfectly the same people that ran the ontario vehicle uh into the ditch uh under the mcginty and win regimes are now behind the wheel of the semi-trailer a canadian economy and and there's even more damage that they're doing and what it is is it's ideological it is kind of saying mr trudeau
00:21:17.300doesn't doesn't like it if you work uh and get your hands dirty in the resource sector in forestry we despite his bromance with barack obama we have no softwood lumber agreement he had several years to extend the agreement conservatives had negotiated
00:21:32.500um he also in southwestern ontario told uh canadians that work in the auto and the manufacturing sectors that ontario needs to move past manufacturing
00:21:42.800this is where you see the prime minister is totally disconnected from the dinner tables of haliburton or of durham where he doesn't realize that families the well-being of that family
00:21:53.680often centers upon whether mom or dad have full-time work if if if they're paying their bills if they could save a little bit for a vacation when we can go on those again
00:22:04.220um and the wellness of the families can contribute to strong communities whether they're small towns suburbs or cities and then that builds a strong country if you don't allow the opportunity for families to have employment opportunities you're really setting people back so
00:22:20.740trudeau's approach of picking and choosing what jobs are good jobs what jobs they approve of is slowly not just dividing the country it's also eroding
00:22:31.560our prosperity and we're going to be handing our prosperity and we're going to be handing our children debt deficits and very little opportunity
00:22:38.020i've said many times before and anyone listening to the show uh now will will recognize this um when when the government
00:22:46.220chooses or believes what they think is product uh progress or what they believe is the end goal the funding goes towards projects
00:22:57.540it's almost like predetermined innovation rather than opening up to the private sector and allowing the
00:23:02.640market to decide which which will inevitably create the best product for the best price and the best service
00:23:09.340but yet with with the predetermined innovation you almost slow that down because everybody tries to
00:23:14.840change their model to meet what the government wants which might not actually be the place you want to go
00:23:19.680and end up in yes and you know nothing shows the failure of the trudeau government uh and when it
00:23:27.220comes to picking winners and losers in the economy better than their war on small business and their
00:23:33.900super cluster strategy you know a term that comes from the the 1990s actually uh with kitchener waterloo and
00:23:41.120the mars center in in uh toronto which was funded with early investments by the mike harris government
00:23:47.220uh that is going back a generation they're now going to say with the super clusters here's where we're
00:23:53.420going to see innovation that ottawa is choosing trying to rather than to say let's encourage investment
00:23:59.660let's encourage risk taking let's have some unique tax programs to incentivize capital into that area
00:24:05.280um they've come up with an ottawa knows best buzzword super cluster scene that's been a disaster i was
00:24:12.600talking to tech uh entrepreneurs last week and and people roll their eyes at minister bain's program
00:24:19.060it's like right out of a rewind of the 1990s and what did they do by attacking small business
00:24:25.520they were trying to call small business tax cheats and they forgot that two-thirds of canadians work for
00:24:33.440a smaller medium-sized business so when you're actually causing those businesses to hold on to their
00:24:39.340investments or capital more restructure or even move you're actually encouraging fewer jobs to be
00:24:45.340created so this ottawa knows best tinkering with liberal insiders picking what companies they approve
00:24:52.940of you know the we contract frank bayless they give contracts to their insider friends canadians have
00:25:00.220had enough of that we we need to have a level playing field a competitive economy we want people to
00:25:05.720invest here we've got the most talented workplace we're strategically centered with trade agreements
00:25:11.000around the world and a great relationship with the united states canada should be a leading
00:25:15.140jurisdiction for investment we just have to show that we're open to it so we only have a few more
00:25:21.140minutes left and and it's too bad because i have a whole slew of questions but uh topics uh just
00:25:26.360crossing the headlines here um justin trudeau the prime minister in his year-end interview seemed to be
00:25:33.420hinting a lot like he is leaning towards a federal election uh very soon uh what are your thoughts
00:25:41.040on that i i i know your articles quotes have said you're not exactly looking forward to one here
00:25:46.500because we are in the middle of a pandemic but uh justin trudeau seems to be hinting at it at least
00:25:51.480well sadly i've seen how the trudeau team operates enough uh to know that they're always going to put
00:25:59.940their own self-interest ahead of the national interest as conservatives we'll always put the
00:26:05.400country's interests the well-being of canadians first that's why we voted with some of the government
00:26:11.560programs to provide help we tried to improve it why we've pushed for a faster response you'll remember
00:26:18.400jamie in october the liberals tried to use an opposition motion to create a committee
00:26:24.660as a grounds to create an election by making that committee creation a national confidence vote
00:26:31.740that you know the government was going to fall over creating a committee um they've been trying to
00:26:37.760game the system to have an election amidst a pandemic when people are really gathered around
00:26:44.760the flag and they want the government to succeed they want us to get past the health crisis they want
00:26:49.880us to start focusing on the economic crisis not to have an election you know there's families in
00:26:56.020ontario and across the country can have very limited christmas time with families should we be lining up in
00:27:02.440a month from now for for elections come on so i've said let's put the interests of the country first
00:27:08.200um clearly mr trudeau let it slip that bill morneau resigned because he didn't want to be part of an
00:27:14.560election it all slipped out inconveniently for mr trudeau and i i think canadians will see through
00:27:20.700the cynicism if he tries to orchestrate his own election uh the next election should be based on
00:27:26.780who is best suited to build canada out of this economic mess we're in uh most of it created by the
00:27:35.680by covet to be fair but also there was already a drift and an uncompetitiveness in canada because of
00:27:43.100mr trudeau over the last four years the country is also quite divided particularly in the west
00:27:47.920who's best able to unite and get the country moving again i'm going to say to canadians it's
00:27:53.760us and the conservatives we helped canada weather the last global recession we now need a serious
00:27:59.440government focused on the economy and the well-being of of canadians for the next 10 years
00:28:04.320not what happened over the course of the pandemic that was absolutely fantastic i always give people the
00:28:12.180final word all every guest gets the final word so aaron i don't know how you build on that and
00:28:16.880improve to that but uh any final words uh glad you're doing well well i'm just so proud of our
00:28:23.220team jamie we're we're we're really a government in waiting we're united we're pushing for better
00:28:28.620ideas for canada better response we're optimistic about our country it is the greatest country in the
00:28:34.220world we've got some challenges but they're not insurmountable and we've got amazing men and women as
00:28:39.880our mps we just need to add and have more after the next election so i'll end with just saying
00:28:45.000thank you for what you're doing with the blueprint uh and merry christmas happy holidays and best of
00:28:50.480health in the new year to to you julia and to to all families out out there uh from rebecca molly jack
00:28:57.480and wexford and i excellent thank you very much erin o'toole leader of canada's conservatives
00:29:03.560also the member of parliament for durham i've thus lost my voice thank you very much for being on the
00:29:08.700blueprint we'll have to get you back on the show again i know you're busy but we do appreciate the
00:29:13.100time thank you jamie excellent and remember we are not stopping new content every single tuesday
00:29:20.1201 30 p.m eastern time please help us push back against the ever moving liberal agenda please comment
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00:29:37.880new content every single tuesday remember low taxes less government more freedom that's the blueprints