The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - June 18, 2024


The Pension Protection Scheme

Topics
Loser Liberal Pension Protection Act foreign interference
Hosted by
Jamie Schmal
Mentioned
Michael Cooper Albert Edmonton Dominic LeBlanc Justin Trudeau Jamie Schmael Han Dong Hoag Bill C-63 Ensakoff
A victory for freedom of choice! The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (Part 2)

Episode Stats


Length

14 minutes

Words per minute

158.47

Word count

2,359

Sentence count

155

Harmful content

Toxicity

1

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode of The Blueprint, Conservative MP Michael Cooper talks about Bill C-65, the Loser Liberal Pension Protection Act, and why it needs to go before the House of Commons to be voted on. The minimum pension for an MP who does no extra duties is 18% of their salary, or about $35,000 a year, starting at age 65. That amount goes up for more years in the House, while ministers, party leaders and committee chairs get more in salary and higher pensions.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprint. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
00:00:08.500 host, Jamie Schmell, Member of Parliament for Halliburton, Co-Orthal Lake-Sprock, with new
00:00:11.880 content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Don't forget to like, comment,
00:00:16.360 subscribe, and share this program. We have another doozy lined up for you today. We have Michael
00:00:22.060 Cooper back, the Member of Parliament for St. Albert Edmonton. He's also the critic for
00:00:25.980 democratic reform to talk about the Loser Liberal Pension Protection Act. What is that?
00:00:33.560 It's exactly what you've called it, the Loser Liberal Pension Protection Act. What the government
00:00:39.200 has done is they've introduced ostensibly a bill to amend the Canada Elections Act. So they have
00:00:46.760 presented it as an elections bill, but the real purpose of it is to pad the pockets of liberal
00:00:55.460 MPs. We have a very unpopular government. You don't say. A very unpopular prime minister. Yes. And
00:01:03.420 they have a real problem, and that is that Justin Trudeau has to call an election by October 20th,
00:01:11.440 2025. And why I say that's a problem is that liberal MPs elected in 2019 won't qualify for
00:01:19.780 their pension. MPs who face almost certain defeat. So what do the Liberals do? They introduce this bill
00:01:27.440 to push back the date of the next election so that these liberal MPs will suddenly qualify
00:01:35.960 for their pension. It is about as dishonest and as cynical as it gets. That is quite amazing,
00:01:44.560 but this is what Liberals do, right? They look after themselves first and to heck with everybody
00:01:49.260 else. Well, that's right. And it's about these soon-to-be loser Liberals are now going to walk
00:01:59.480 away with millions of dollars that they otherwise wouldn't have been entitled to. All right, let's 0.91
00:02:04.340 queue up cut one. We'll do this off the top rather than holding it through the show. A bit of a news
00:02:08.600 report just talking about this, and we'll get your comments in just a second. Play cut one.
00:02:13.800 The minimum pension for an MP who does no extra duties is 18% of their $194,000 salary, or about
00:02:22.220 $35,000 a year, starting at age 65. That amount goes up for more years in the House, while ministers,
00:02:29.360 party leaders, and committee chairs get more in salary and higher pensions. 32 Conservatives,
00:02:35.360 22 Liberals, 6 NDPers, and 20 block MPs would qualify if the election is moved back one week.
00:02:42.580 Well, I think there's better stuff they could be working on. Let's say that.
00:02:47.160 I like to be a little generous and say that it's just a funny coincidence, but it is a little
00:02:51.860 interesting that it happened like that. Sounds pretty opportunistic, doesn't it?
00:02:56.860 Doesn't ever. I think they're saying we need to move the election date because it conflicts with
00:03:04.580 the holiday, I believe was the reasoning behind it. Well, more dishonesty from the Liberals. If it was
00:03:10.520 really about a holiday, then why not move up the election date rather than moving it back?
00:03:17.600 Yeah, that's actually a good point. So where are we on this? I know there might be a vote in a couple
00:03:23.100 hours that we're going to deal with this, hopefully, once and for all. Yeah, so I moved an amendment
00:03:27.520 that the Loser Liberal Pension Protection Act, which is what the bill really is, not go forward.
00:03:34.600 So in a few hours, the House of Commons is going to be voting on the conservative amendment to
00:03:40.880 effectively kill the bill. The choice is now up to the NDP and the bloc. The NDP and the bloc have
00:03:49.400 said they don't agree with the Loser Liberal Pension Protection Act, but if they vote against
00:03:56.880 my amendment, what they're doing is allowing the bill to go forward. So we're going to find out very
00:04:02.080 soon, whether the NDP and the bloc are true to their word or whether they're just playing politics
00:04:08.340 and are also prepared to pad their pensions. Because don't forget, a lot of bloc and NDP MPs
00:04:13.880 face or look to perhaps be unlikely to be returned to Parliament, and maybe they wouldn't mind padding
00:04:21.000 their pockets too. Well, it's amazing how they sell this to the Canadian public, even in question
00:04:25.460 period, right? There is little to no emotion of discomfort on their face when they say they're
00:04:31.720 they're pushing it back for a reason surrounding a holiday or otherwise. And really, I think
00:04:37.960 Canadians, they can see right through this. This is extremely self-serving.
00:04:42.060 Yeah. And it just underscores why Canadians have had enough of this Prime Minister. The culture of
00:04:50.100 entitlement knows no bounds with these Liberals.
00:04:53.360 All right. So we've had the issue with what we're dealing with now. Bill C-65, again, the Loser Liberal
00:04:59.720 Pension Protection Act. I love the name. I think it's quite fitting for what it is. We've had
00:05:05.220 reports come out about interference in our election before the Prime Minister and the Liberal Party
00:05:11.140 knowing about it, but not doing anything because it actually benefited them. Now we get the latest
00:05:15.780 report from the ENSECOP committee, so that the top secret committee of parliamentarians that looks over
00:05:21.920 these types of reports at the most secret level coming out. And really, I think, giving a lot of
00:05:31.620 information that should be quite concerning to Canadians regarding the integrity of our elections
00:05:37.240 going forward. Not only the integrity of our elections, but the integrity of certain members of parliament.
00:05:43.400 Parliament because in this bombshell report of the National Security and Intelligence Committee
00:05:48.640 of parliamentarians, they identified a number of MPs who wittingly, therefore knowingly, collaborated
00:06:00.540 with hostile foreign states. It shouldn't need to be said that the fundamental duty, first and foremost,
00:06:08.520 of a member of parliament is to serve the interests of Canada. And here we have, according to ENSECOP,
00:06:13.520 sitting members of parliament who have put the interests of hostile foreign states ahead of the
00:06:20.980 interests of Canada. Justin Crudeau knows the names of those MPs. He reviewed the ENSECOP report
00:06:30.080 unredacted, and then decided to use his powers to black out the names of those MPs. Canadians deserve
00:06:40.060 to know who these MPs are who are working for hostile foreign states. I think so, absolutely. I think 0.89
00:06:46.480 everybody wants to know, because if you're going into the polling station, as a Canadian does during
00:06:51.960 election time, you probably would like to know whether or not your member of parliament potentially
00:06:56.560 is on that list. Well, that's right. And when I asked Dominic LeBlanc, when he appeared at the
00:07:02.660 Public Safety Committee, if he could, at the very least, provide the assurance that no one around
00:07:09.040 Justin Crudeau's cabinet table is one of those witting MPs, one of those compromised MPs, he not once
00:07:17.980 but twice refused to answer. I think that's very telling. That's extremely telling. And I think Canadians
00:07:24.420 in general, I know when I went back to my writing over the weekend, people were talking about this.
00:07:29.380 This is a very live issue. Well, absolutely. I mean, it's just shocking to think that there are
00:07:35.080 members of parliament that are working for hostile foreign states. It's about as serious as it gets.
00:07:42.020 A cloud is hanging over parliament. And we need to provide sunlight to be transparent,
00:07:51.900 so that those MPs who are doing that, who've engaged in a conduct that is about as serious
00:07:59.580 as it gets, are held to account. And so what conservatives are calling on the liberals to do
00:08:05.880 is to turn over all of the documents from the NCACOP report, all of the evidence NCACOP reviewed,
00:08:14.480 to Madam Justice Hoag, who is the Commissioner of the Public Inquiry on Foreign Interference.
00:08:20.240 That would allow Madam Justice Hoag to thoroughly review all of the documents, all of the evidence,
00:08:26.400 and she could then make findings a fact. We are calling on Madam Justice Hoag to make those findings
00:08:35.880 of fact and to name those MPs that wittingly collaborated with hostile foreign states so that they are named.
00:08:46.280 And again, I want to emphasize, it's not about naming MPs who might have come in contact with a foreign embassy
00:08:55.560 or have, you know, talked to, met with an ambassador. I'm talking about MPs that, where a judge, the commissioner,
00:09:05.640 can make a finding of fact and determine that they, in fact, are compromised. Those are the MPs that need to be named.
00:09:12.360 I think that's where the Public Safety Minister was trying to skate a little. He was basically in committee appearance,
00:09:19.420 and we've probably all seen the video, claiming that he didn't want to release names just in case it was by accident
00:09:26.140 and potentially ruining the career. This actually provides some safeguards to that, so you know,
00:09:31.900 those people being named, as you said, a finding of fact, the facts support that conclusion.
00:09:37.980 It provides for the transparency and accountability that Canadians deserve, while at the same time,
00:09:46.300 allowing for a reasonable degree of due process in the circumstances. And in order for that to happen,
00:09:53.900 it's all on Justin Trudeau to turn over those documents to Madam Justice Hoag. The fact that the
00:10:00.140 Prime Minister and his Minister of Public Safety have been anything but transparent since the bombshell
00:10:07.740 Ensakoff report and have not even cleared the air so much as to say that there's no one in the Cabinet
00:10:12.620 that is compromised raises serious questions about what is the Prime Minister hiding and who is he shielding.
00:10:21.020 And it really goes to like the mindset of the Liberals. Like, do they take any of this seriously?
00:10:28.700 I don't expect you to get in the head of a Liberal, but at the same time, look at how many ethical breaches,
00:10:34.300 the misspending, the mistruths being talked about, and they like shake it off.
00:10:40.780 It's not just a matter of not taking it seriously. It's bad enough that they if they didn't take it
00:10:47.100 seriously. But we have a Prime Minister that has at times himself been willing to go along with
00:10:56.700 foreign interference where it benefits the Liberal Party. And don't take my word for it. Take the conclusion 0.63
00:11:03.580 of Madam Justice Hoag in her first report where she determined that when the Prime Minister had been
00:11:10.460 briefed that one of his candidates, Han Dong, was being assisted by Beijing and the Prime Minister
00:11:17.900 covered that up, allowed Mr. Dong to stand as a Liberal candidate and get elected. Even the Prime
00:11:23.980 Minister, again, knew that he was being assisted by a hostile foreign state by the Beijing-based
00:11:28.700 Communist regime. Madam Justice Hoag concluded that the Prime Minister made that decision out of
00:11:34.300 concern for what she characterized as direct electoral consequences. Direct electoral consequences.
00:11:41.260 In other words, Madam Justice Hoag concluded there that the Prime Minister put his interests,
00:11:47.100 the partisan interests of the Liberal Party, ahead of countering Beijing's interference. That's the
00:11:52.380 conclusion of Madam Justice Hoag. It's pretty damning. It is, and the Prime Minister seems to think he can
00:11:58.300 get away with it, right? And kind of his mentality is, well, I'm fighting for this cause, right, in his
00:12:03.820 mind, so I then in turn am entitled to make these kind of errors because it's all about the common good,
00:12:09.660 right? Like this is the, I think this is his real thinking. He believes that he is somehow empowered to
00:12:15.820 to save the country, right? And therefore, these mistakes should be forgiven. Right, and he's also
00:12:21.740 attacked CSIS. Yes. He attacked the director of CSIS when he appeared before Madam Justice Hoag's
00:12:28.140 inquiry. The Prime Minister and Dominic LeBlanc have also been critical of ENSECOP. They've said, well,
00:12:34.620 you know, the ENSECOP report or certain conclusions or the way things have been framed are not exactly
00:12:40.140 accurate. Okay, well, if that's the case, then turn over the documents to Madam Justice Hoag so that she
00:12:45.100 can make appropriate findings of fact. Right. Their words never meet their actions is, I think,
00:12:50.860 the common theme over nine long years of this government. Michael, the time is almost up,
00:12:56.060 unfortunately, but as you know, the guests get the last word, so the floor is yours. Well, I think it's,
00:13:00.380 again, up to the Prime Minister. If he has nothing to hide, then if there aren't members of his
00:13:07.420 cabinet that are compromised, if there aren't members of the Liberal Caucus that are compromised,
00:13:11.100 frankly, any MP is compromised. Right. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.
00:13:15.740 So, the ball is in his court. We're going to continue to press the Prime Minister to turn over
00:13:22.700 the documents so that we can have Madam Justice Hoag expand her mandate and do her job and provide the
00:13:32.940 transparency that Canadians deserve. And to hold these MPs, whoever they are, or senators, for that
00:13:40.140 matter, who are working with hostile foreign states, it's absolutely intolerable that we would have 0.99
00:13:44.780 sitting members of parliament or sitting senators who are collaborating with hostile foreign states.
00:13:49.980 And they need to be called out. They need to be held accountable. And it's up to the Prime Minister
00:13:54.140 to allow that to happen. He needs to get out of the way and allow that to happen. Well, hopefully,
00:13:57.980 public pressure will force the NDP to withdraw on the Loser Liberal Pension Protection Act,
00:14:04.460 then move into this issue of foreign interference and hopefully get the NDP to somehow step aside
00:14:12.380 with their agreement with the Liberals, because this is the only way we're going to get through
00:14:15.340 this and actually get the truth, I think. That's right. All right. Michael Cooper,
00:14:18.460 Member of Parliament, St. Albert Edmonton. We appreciate your time. Thanks, Jamie. Also the critic for
00:14:23.500 Democratic Reform. Thank you for your time as well. Don't forget, even throughout the summer,
00:14:27.660 we'll have new content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. Guaranteed,
00:14:31.900 this is information you're not seeing or hearing on the mainstream media. So you can also tell your
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00:14:40.860 Until next week, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom. That's the blueprints.