The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - The Pension Protection Scheme

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

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

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

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

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

00:14:35.900 friends to download this program on platforms like CastBox, iTunes, Google Play, and Spotify.

00:14:40.860 Until next week, remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom. That's the blueprints.

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

The Pension Protection Scheme

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