00:00:00.000Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprint. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm your
00:00:15.100host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps with the legs. Brock,
00:00:18.720broadcasting live from my constituency office in Lindsay, Ontario, with new content for you
00:00:23.340every single Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time. We ask that you like, comment, subscribe, and share
00:00:30.600this program. Lots to talk about today. We are going to bring back a good friend of the show,
00:00:36.040someone I don't think has been on all summer but has been working hard around his constituency.
00:00:40.300We're going to talk about the shift in the national opinion polls, the thoughts on the Trudeau
00:00:45.700government, and the Conservative National Convention coming up this week. So to chat about that and
00:00:51.620much, much more. Let's bring in the one and only Richard Braggdon, the Member of Parliament for
00:00:56.160Tobik Mactaquak in the beautiful province of New Brunswick. We appreciate your time
00:01:01.500and also the amazing name of your riding. Thank you, Jamie. And I bring you greetings
00:01:08.180on behalf of the very good people of Tobik Mactaquak. I must say the most beautiful riding in the entire
00:01:14.840country. It is an absolutely gorgeous place and filled with good, hardworking, common sense
00:01:21.460people. And glad and honored to represent them. Thanks, Jamie.
00:01:26.860You do a fantastic job. Hopefully I can live up to your standard. Let's talk about the convention.
00:01:34.420Welcome. Happy summer to you. Let's talk about the convention coming up this week. We've got lots
00:01:39.060on the agenda to talk about it. And for those that don't know, it really sets the stage in terms of
00:01:44.420our party and the documents that we use as a starting point as we develop policy and get a
00:01:51.940guide on what the members feel is important to them and what they are hearing in their communities,
00:01:56.340bringing it to the national level so that we can champion that further on on the national stage.
00:02:02.180Are you looking forward to the convention, Mr. Bragg?
00:02:05.260Absolutely, Jamie. And I think it does afford all of us as conservatives a chance, obviously,
00:02:11.220to get together from coast to coast, many longtime activists and a lot of new people in the party.
00:02:16.700Obviously, a lot of enthusiastic new members who've joined through the leadership process and under,
00:02:22.220obviously, the bold vision of our leader, Pierre Paulyev, the Honourable Pierre Paulyev,
00:02:26.420who's done an amazing job out of the gates as leader and is getting across the country and
00:02:31.780the enthusiasm is building. And I think we're going to see a lot of that enthusiasm on full
00:02:35.940display at the convention in Quebec City. It's going to be a great time.
00:02:39.460It is going to be a great time. And I think as we gear up for the next election, which could be
00:02:43.860coming up really at any time, that's up to Jagmeet Singh and, of course, Justin Trudeau himself.
00:02:49.220I think some people, including myself, I got to be honest with you, I thought when we wrapped up in
00:02:53.140June that session, we would be hitting the election coming up in September that the government would
00:03:00.580be wanting to get. A lot of the bad news that is about to hit, economically speaking in Canada,
00:03:06.740especially with people renewing their mortgages coming up, they'd want to get the election out
00:03:10.740of the way before people really start to notice that the interest rate hikes have and will start to
00:03:17.540really stretch household budgets. And it doesn't look like we will.
00:03:20.900But the fall, sorry, the spring is always a possibility as well.
00:03:27.460It is. And I think, obviously, we have to be ready as Conservatives from coast to coast. And that prep
00:03:32.580time is now, if not before, in getting ready and making sure we're ready to put to Canadians a bold,
00:03:40.900clear, contrasting alternative vision for the country. And our leader, Pierre, has been doing a great job of
00:03:47.380that throughout the summer. The ads, as you've seen, and I know many Canadians have, are crisp,
00:03:52.980they're good, a lot positive, and showcasing what we want to do for the country. And also,
00:03:59.540who our leader is, and the type of person he is, and the background he comes from. And I think that
00:04:04.260ability to identify with ordinary Canadians from coast to coast is key. You know, the old adage is,
00:04:13.780as many communicate, but few connect. And I find that Pierre has a tremendous ability of connecting
00:04:18.260with Canadians. And his personal story relates to many Canadians. As you know, he's not a child of
00:04:25.300privilege. He's someone who was brought up in a very modest, everyday Canadian, I should say,
00:04:31.460home. And he likes to term it, I like the way he puts it, it's, they're not ordinary Canadians are
00:04:35.860actually quite extraordinary, especially in these times that we're in, that Canadians are able to
00:04:40.740make, somehow, making ends meet, they're doing the best they can. Some of them are working two or
00:04:45.460three jobs to raise their families and put them through school and do the best that they can to
00:04:49.620provide in a very challenging environment economically. And I believe Pierre's vision
00:04:56.020is offering something clear to Canadians and hopeful. Yes, he can certainly get in there and mix it up,
00:05:01.780as we've seen in the House of Commons, and he can certainly counterpunch politically when need be.
00:05:06.820But I'm very, very thrilled as well to see him putting forward a clear, alternate vision to the
00:05:14.420current government that we have with the NDP Liberal Coalition. So it's very important.
00:05:18.740Well, I really like what he's doing in terms of, on one hand, you know, also reminding people,
00:05:24.900first and foremost, of how we got here. Because I think if people forget, or they look to their
00:05:32.020the current circumstance, and aren't reminded that it was bad Liberal NDP policy that got us here,
00:05:38.900despite objections from Conservatives, pretty much every step of the way, and we told them,
00:05:44.580and our leader, Pierre Polly, even before he was leader, he was out front telling the world,
00:05:50.420they're trying to tell Canadians that the path the Liberals were on were going to cause high inflation,
00:05:55.460high debts and deficits. And we were always pushed back by the media, right? They would,
00:05:59.940no, no, you guys are, you guys don't know what you're talking about, all that stuff.
00:06:04.100But also, and the second plan is telling Canadians what we're going to do about it,
00:06:09.220how we're going to fix it. And the convention that we're having, the upcoming election,
00:06:14.420all of this combined puts information on our party platform that we are able to take forward.
00:06:20.100Exactly, Jamie. We've had, I believe, and I'm very thankful for the process they've laid out,
00:06:25.300a very robust process for involving caucus and others in helping develop the policies and the
00:06:31.300planks of the platform that are going to be going forward. That's obviously still in this developmental
00:06:34.900stage. But very, very positive moves there. And I think people are appreciating the efforts that all
00:06:42.100of us are making in getting out across the country to hear their concerns, meet with them,
00:06:46.820gathering town halls, as it were. And just recently, about three weeks ago, actually,
00:06:51.140the leader was on Prince Edward Island in my region here in Atlantic Canada.
00:06:54.900And Jamie, he was in a riding called Malpac. It's right in the heart of Prince Edward Island. It's
00:07:00.100between the Borden area where the Confederation Bridge basically comes to a shore in Prince Edward
00:07:07.460Island. It goes across the whole width of the island to the other coast where it's Cavendish,
00:07:13.220and that's vacation area, potato country. And it's beautiful in that section of the island.
00:07:18.180But that area in Malpac has voted Liberal now for over 40 years in federal elections, very consistently.
00:07:26.740We went to a small rural community in Malpaca, a little area called New Glasgow.
00:07:32.820And they have a beautiful setting there, but it's small, it's rural, it's classic Atlantic Canadian.
00:07:42.260And Pierre and his wife Anna came out into that community, and they headed a local Lions Club.
00:07:47.700The place was packed. It was standing room only in the middle of the summer and a beautiful night.
00:07:52.260They were out onto the patio deck, down the stairs, out the driveway, cars lined up as far as you can see.
00:07:59.780And I'm thinking, this is absolutely incredible to get this kind of a turnout for the opposition leader
00:08:06.660in the middle of summer when they can be out golfing, vacations, the beaches, whatever.
00:08:11.220Those islanders were taking time to come and hear from Canada's next prime minister.
00:08:15.140And I believe on election night, I'm quite hopeful as an Atlantic Canadian that that blue wave is going to start, yes,
00:08:21.860in places like Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
00:08:26.420And it's going to be encouraging for our friends in Quebec, Ontario and West to see that wave begin there.
00:08:32.660And you can tell Atlantic Canadians are tired of this overburdensome, cumbersome amount of level of taxes that they're carrying.
00:08:41.700We're sick of carbon taxes that keep going up.
00:08:44.660And as you and I have discussed, Jamie, the carbon tax affects everything.
00:08:49.040It affects everything that's trucked and shipped.
00:08:51.260Therefore, it's affecting the cost of heating and eating and driving to and from.
00:08:55.620And quite frankly, we don't have I don't think hardly any, maybe a little bit in Halifax,
00:09:02.420but we don't have much for metro and transit services in all of Atlantic Canada.
00:09:07.620We have to drive wherever we're going and we have to take a vehicle to get where we're going.
00:09:12.740And those bottom line factors like taxes on fuel have devastating consequences to Canadians pocketbooks,
00:09:21.220in particular Atlantic Canadians, and they're tired of it.
00:09:23.380So they're looking for a different direction and they're grabbing on to the conservative vision that Pierre is putting forward at this time.
00:09:29.600I think I don't want to get too much of a tangent on this, but as you said, you know, the subways and mass transit aren't always available in a lot of rural communities,
00:09:40.300especially on the island of Prince Edward.
00:09:43.120Having said that, I think that's also a fundamental difference between, you know, conservatives and kind of those on the left hand of the spectrum.
00:09:51.340Right. They don't mind government providing endless amounts of service.
00:09:54.340Right. Because they believe government knows best.
00:09:56.380Therefore, government should then make the decisions in everyone's life.
00:10:00.380Whereas conservatives, there's nothing wrong with taking the bus or the subway when it's available, the train, but at the same time, you also want to own something.
00:10:08.260And that's something that a car allows you to do.
00:10:10.300You can go where you want, when you want, with whom you want.
00:10:12.560You don't have to wait for the bus schedule, right?
00:10:14.780You don't have to wait for the government to tell you you can move.
00:10:17.940And that's the freedom that I think conservatives like to say.
00:10:21.740Yes, we need to reduce the amount of pollution.
00:10:24.200And I think we're doing that with technology and innovation.
00:10:26.720But at the same time, we can also say we can invest in transit.
00:10:31.360So those who wish to take that, who feel it's safe and affordable and accessible, can do that.
00:10:37.140But at the same time, at the end of a, you know, a seven-year car payment, I'm not saying it's anything special.
00:10:42.200You can have just four wheels and a steering wheel.
00:10:45.800And I think that's the fundamental difference.
00:10:47.440You have something you can sell for parts.
00:10:49.260You can sell as, you know, the car itself using a field car.
00:10:53.840It doesn't, like, you have something tangible.
00:10:57.780And that's something I don't think the left really can understand because it's all about government control and more government programs.
00:11:05.420Jamie, I couldn't agree with you more.
00:11:07.160I think a very troubling trend amongst left-leaning and further and further left-leaning governments, it seems, in our time frame,
00:11:14.780is away from that absolute critical importance of getting that first home, home ownership, free enterprise, free markets,
00:11:25.920and allowing individuals to make the choices that are best for them and their families.
00:11:30.460It's putting more and more onus on a bigger and more expansive and more controlling government.
00:11:35.780And that philosophical difference is becoming very, very clear across the board.
00:11:39.220And I like the way we're contrasting with that under the leadership of Pierre Polyev in that he wants Canada to be one of the, if not the freest country on the planet,
00:11:48.680where individuals can make their choices that's right for them and their families and where, yes, you can have the opportunity of getting a home
00:11:56.920and it not be priced out of reach for everyday Canadians.
00:12:00.560Yeah, you can have a car and drive it and take it where you want and not feel this cumbersome guilt
00:12:09.320that an overbearing government likes to place on people for just doing what they need to do to live
00:12:15.580and raise a family and go to work and get their kids to sports, et cetera.
00:12:20.480So I think that contrast is going to be very, very clear in this next election.
00:12:23.920And I think Canadians are really, really going to render a clear verdict as we head in that direction.
00:13:17.360How can we get both to international markets and make sure that good Canadian-produced goods are getting to those markets?
00:13:24.420Instead of putting the boot on industry, instead of putting the boot on our farmers and on those who grow our food and literally keep our land,
00:13:30.740let's encourage them in what they're doing.
00:13:34.260And let's make sure that we're telling the good news that is the Canadian energy news and the Canadian resource sector as well as Canadian farming sector.
00:13:43.080I get passionate about this stuff because we hear it every day.
00:13:46.420I'm in a riding that's resourced and agricultural-based, and I see how much potential we have.
00:13:50.980And yet, right now, our federal government has no vision for either sector other than putting the boot further onto their backs.
00:13:57.840Anyway, so I better stop or I can keep going.
00:14:00.560Well, that's one way to lower prices, right?
00:14:07.200So if you want to lower the price of food, you add more supply to the overall market, you want to do the same to energy, it doesn't matter what you're talking about.
00:14:17.140You add more of something, the price will go down.
00:14:20.000Supply and demand, the laws are almost absolute.
00:14:24.280We have East Coasters starting to really rebel against the ongoing price increases that are crippling that part of the country.
00:14:31.780But at the same time, British Columbia, the province with the carbon tax in, I believe, the longest in the country, emissions continue to go up.
00:14:38.500So at that point, it becomes a revenue stream.
00:14:41.700It doesn't become an environmental plan.
00:14:43.600And that is something we clearly point out each and every time.
00:14:47.040While at the same time, all that really does, as you mentioned, is punish those on the lower to middle of the spectrum, of the income spectrum.
00:14:56.260So it really stretches the budgets of those regular working class Canadians.
00:15:01.860While the rich don't seem to care, same thing like congestion prices that we see in New York City and London, England, right?
00:15:08.800It basically signals to the rich that we're clearing the streets.
00:15:12.080Government is clearing the streets for the wealthy to drive downtown.
00:15:18.480In the island of Manhattan, you look at the congestion pricing that's up.
00:15:21.900At the same time, the regular folks, the working class, can take the subway, take the bus, be stacked and packed, elbows closed.
00:15:29.900And at the same time, driving up the price of the goods that need to be shipped into that area.
00:15:35.840And it creates a very significant gap.
00:15:39.580You have the uber rich, the ultra rich, and you have the ultra poor.
00:15:58.860And I think people want to return, and I know it's an overused phrase, but they want to return to what is understood as common sense.
00:16:06.160And they want, and they know that this is, this is not doable.
00:16:13.760Continuing down this road that we're on is leading to all kinds of problems.
00:16:19.100Whether it be the young couple that's starting out that has a dream of owning their own home, or that young man that's dreaming of getting a car and being able to drive it and go for a cruise, or maybe somebody get a truck, something like that, that he's dreamed about.
00:16:33.140Those things are getting more and more remote for more and more Canadians.
00:16:36.260That should never be the case in a land such as Canada.
00:16:40.580And we are on top of so much potential.
00:16:44.240And all of us believe in being responsible, good stewards of the environment.
00:16:54.960But how we get there needs to make sense as well.
00:16:58.340And we need to do the things that are effective and the things that are genuinely going to make a difference.
00:17:04.180And you're going to help me with this, Jimmy.
00:17:05.460No liberal has ever been able to explain this to me yet.
00:17:08.400How does it do the planet any good to replace Canadian energy and Canadian produced goods and minerals, et cetera, rare earth minerals, with those produced in nations that have no such thing as an environment commissioner, that don't have near the regulation that we do, let alone some places that don't have anywhere near the ethics that we have in Canada and treat people with equity and pay good wages.
00:17:34.580How is that better for the planet to replace Canadian resources with those coming from countries that don't have any such regulation and have no intention of meeting any of them?
00:18:30.860It bought a lithium mine in Argentina.
00:18:33.760They are basically cornering the markets on these, air figure quotes, green technology or renewables.
00:18:39.860The materials needed to make those batteries, while at the same time, shutting down, we, the Liberals and the NDP, are shutting down our oil and gas industry.
00:18:51.020An industry that provides abundance, that provides energy, that is reliable, that is safe, that is affordable for the vast majority of Canadians.
00:18:58.960They're taking that wealth and giving it to countries like China, that are awful players in the world market.
00:19:07.200The communist dictatorship in Beijing, that is what we are up against as a country.
00:19:12.920That is what the Liberals and NDP are pushing it towards.
00:19:15.960It almost makes them feel better that they're doing this.
00:19:28.040And I think when you talk to producers and you talk to the farmers and you talk to those in the energy sector and the resource sector across this country, no one's more vested than they are in ensuring that it's done responsibly.
00:19:44.240It's their livelihoods that are on the line.
00:19:45.880And it's the future, for many of them, livelihoods for their families, if it's in the farming sector or in the energy sector.
00:19:53.060Some of these communities are very dependent on these particular industries.
00:19:56.280Who's going to be more diligent in making sure that they're going to take good care to do things in the most responsible environmental way than those whose livelihoods depend on those very sectors?
00:20:10.180What we've done is we've eliminated the direct influence and impact that those whose lives are most affected by the decisions that we as governments make.
00:20:21.080We have removed them so much and taken them out of the equation so that, as it were right now, the current liberal NDP government are tone deaf to the concerns as well as the solutions that those very sectors are coming up with to some of the challenges we're facing.
00:20:36.760And the same thing here in the East Coast with our fisheries, when it comes to those who are involved and whose livelihoods and whose family's way of life is dependent upon a vibrant fishery here on the East Coast, who better to talk to than those whose livelihoods depend upon a healthy environment where fish and lobster and other crab can be produced and grow?
00:20:59.240Well, they're going to take care of that area and make sure it's clean and make sure it's clean and make sure it's done properly and make sure that they're protecting the future of those stocks because that's their livelihood at stake.
00:21:08.400But it seems like this government's become so disconnected from common sense, they're not engaging with those who are most affected by these decisions.
00:21:17.060And trust me, some of these coastal communities, if the fisheries go down and they're allowed to close certain fisheries, some of those communities will never come back.
00:21:25.560And the strength of Canada is not just in our big urban centers.
00:21:29.700Our strength is in those small towns and rural communities across this country that grow our food, produce our goods, a truck and ship and haul our goods that feed our big cities as well as the rest of the world.
00:21:41.180And that's what I appreciate about Mr. Poliev.
00:21:43.760He gets it and we as a conservative team, I believe, gets it.
00:21:46.620We understand the vital role that rural Canadians, small towns and those in the resource and natural resource and food sectors provide to this country.
00:21:57.320It's not only about our past, but it's so much about our future and the world's future.
00:24:15.700Richard Brangton, Member of Parliament for Tobik Maktiquak in the beautiful province of New Brunswick.
00:24:21.260And as we pointed out, the poll numbers are holding steady.
00:24:24.800But we need your help to ensure it remains that way, but also grows at the same time.
00:24:29.820If you want Pierre Polyev to be your next Prime Minister, please like, please comment, please subscribe, please share this program.
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00:24:46.320We'll continue to bring you new content every single Tuesday at 1.30 p.m. Eastern Time, giving you that information that you can tell your friends about it.
00:24:53.580Until we see you next week, remember low taxes, less government, more freedom.