Trudeau’s Tainted Trade
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Summary
Member of Parliament for Dufferin-Kaladin and Shadow Minister for International Trade Kyle Seabach joins me on the show to talk about his opposition to Justin Trudeau's economic policies. We talk about the need for foreign investment in Canada, the need to protect the environment, and the importance of LNG as a replacement for coal.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada Conservative Podcast. I'm your
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host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps with the likes of Brock
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with new content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time. We ask that you like,
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comment, subscribe and share this program. There are eyes and ears that need to see and
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listen to the information being given to you right now in this next 20 minutes or so. And
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we need to ensure that Pierre Polyev is the next Prime Minister of Canada for that. We need you
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to do that and also tell your friends they can download this program on platforms like CastBox,
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iTunes, Google Play and Spotify. You name it, it is out there. Another great show lined up for you
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today. Last week we talked to Greg McLean about problems with the Bank of Canada, raising interest
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rates to try to slow inflation. But Justin Trudeau keeps the printing presses going and continuing
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the deficit spending. But now today we're going to talk to Kyle Seabach and it's a bad thing on my
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part. This is the first time he's been on the show, Member of Parliament for Dufferin-Kaladin,
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also the Shadow Minister for International Trade. Because the other side of the coin,
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thank you for joining us, is the fact that we as Canadians, as a country, have seen eyeballs
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and interest in investment disappear quite rapidly under the Justin Trudeau Liberals.
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Yeah, it's a real challenge. Foreign direct investment is a challenge in this country right now
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because we've become a generally inhospitable climate to invest as a result of the many
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action that the government's taken over the years. And we've seen hundreds of billions of dollars in
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the oil and gas industry gone. We see it now happening in the mining sector. They're, you know,
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when you're in a competitive atmosphere where there are potential mines in many parts of the world
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with process, you know, government regulations and rules that are far less onerous. And of course,
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yes, we want rules and regulations that make sense. But when they burden the company to the point where
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it scares off investors, Canada doesn't become that friendly of a place to do business. And we lose that
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money. We lose those jobs, those opportunity, and that opportunity for wealth.
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The crazy thing to me is this. So what happens when they make it so impossible to open a new mine in Canada,
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what ends up happening is the need for those minerals still exists, right? Especially critical
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minerals. So what happens is that mine ends up going somewhere else to another country where the
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per ton of ore greenhouse gas emissions will be higher, where the labor standards will be lower,
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where the environmental standards will be lower. And of course, we lose the jobs. And of course,
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corporations that make money pay taxes for all the things we need in this country. So we lose all of
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that. So Justin Trudeau can pat him on the back and say, well, we're doing something to lower
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emissions, which of course, they really aren't. But they do things like this, which damages us
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economically, increases greenhouse gases globally, and degrades the environment globally. But he says
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he's protecting the environment. And it's all false.
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Yeah, well, the thing is, Justin Trudeau will never feel the pain of his decisions.
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No, he will never feel the hurt when businesses are closing because of the spinoff jobs in the oil
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and gas industry. He will never see the pain in the fact when the German chancellor comes to Canada
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asking for our energy. Trudeau tells the chancellor basically to take a hike. And then they go to Qatar
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to sign a multi-billion dollar deal for their oil, their energy. I mean, it's worse than that. They, to great fanfare,
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announced their Indo-Pacific strategy. And of course, a big part of that is trade, right? It's an emerging market.
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It's growing all the time. We want to have a lot of exports there. Well, LNG would be a huge export
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possibility in the Indo-Pacific, whether it's Japan, whether it's South Korea, many other places. But that's not even
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mentioned in the Indo-Pacific strategy. It doesn't mention LNG. It's unbelievable in my mind. And LNG
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is a fantastic transition fuel away from coal, actually lowers global greenhouse gas emissions.
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And the economic benefit to Canada would be massive. Yeah, absolutely. And we've talked many
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times in this show about the anchors in our economy, right? The oil and gas sector is hurting,
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the mining sector, the lumber sector is hurting. What part of the economy is firing on all cylinders
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right now? You can maybe argue real estate, but that's a tough one. Real estate and hiring
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government employees. Government workers, nine out of 10 new jobs are government workers.
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Yeah, that's really what's happening with softwood lumber is a catastrophe. So we're now on eight years
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without a softwood lumber deal. Within several months of the Stephen Harper forming government
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in 2006, what's called Lumber 4, it's the fourth dispute, it was resolved within a few months,
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and we had an agreement in place till 2015. That agreement's expired. It's now 2023, no agreement,
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no end in sight. They can't even get the Americans to talk about softwood lumber,
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$8 billion in duties collected, right? And under the last agreement, Canadian companies would get
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about $6 billion of that back. Imagine what that would do for employment, productivity,
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all kinds of investments in Canada. And these guys are asleep at the switch.
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Just before COVID hit, and you were there too, I remember our Western colleagues raising questions
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in the House of Commons regarding the closure of one mill after another, after another. And all
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our Western colleagues were banding together to raise awareness. COVID hit, and of course,
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it disappeared in the headlines with everything else that was closing. This is something that the
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effects are being felt in these communities that aren't being felt in Ottawa, because the government's
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always first to get fed. That's right. And the strategy is not the right strategy that the government's
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using. They think that if we win the disputes out of the WTO or we win it under NAFTA or the successor
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USMCA, if we win these disputes through panels, the Americans will come to the table and it'll get
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resolved. Except the WTO dispute resolution system's not working, and the Americans are ragging the puck
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on the dispute resolution for softwood under NAFTA and USMCA. So the only way this gets resolved
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is if Justin Trudeau picks up the phone, talks to President Biden, and makes it a priority. And the
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fact that it hasn't happened shows you they really don't care if this gets resolved or not.
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Our footprint in the world stage right now is being hurt. We know that the-
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I'm sorry. You are absolutely right. I'm sorry. We saw the work behind the scenes done with like
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Australia, the UK, United States for military, for other trade, in terms of just working together.
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Canada is not even a part of the conversation. Nobody says, hey, why isn't Canada at the table?
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Whether it's AUKUS, whether it's the quadrilateral security dialogue, whether it's IPEF,
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Canada is on the outside looking in. And now it's starting to happen in various trading schemes.
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Canada's on the outside looking in because the world and especially America is saying,
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what does Canada add? What's the point of including them? They don't actually add anything.
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And so this is after eight years of Justin Trudeau. This is where we are.
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We're not even really considered a reliable ally on security and trade with the United States,
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who's our closest ally and largest trading partner. This is how badly they've deteriorated
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Well, we're still dealing with the effects of Beijing's interference into our elections
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and potentially other things we saw. And we still don't have any idea what happened to the two
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scientists from the Winnipeg lab, the top secret lab, still waiting for answers on that.
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But the other point is we can be competitive with China. We just choose not to, right?
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Like we have here in Ontario, we know this, we have some of the highest electricity rates
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anywhere in North America. How's that for a factory when you're starting to set up business?
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We have every level of government with huge amounts of regulations, huge amounts of rules,
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that is just putting the stop, the brakes on these investors, these companies that want to
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produce here, but can't, or it's just too much for them. They can't wait 10 years to get a permit to build.
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No. And even if you just look at, if you want to talk about cost of things,
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you know, Canada is a massive exporter, right? We are an exporting nation.
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60 to 65% of our GDP, depending on the year, is trade. So it's massive for us.
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Let's take agricultural exports just for an example. With all the things that are going on,
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with carbon tax one, with carbon tax two coming, every agricultural product is now more expensive.
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And then you're competing globally to export these products, right? Same thing with other commodities,
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right? If you're talking about natural resources, same thing. When you're mining those resources,
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everything involved in there is subject to a carbon tax one, carbon tax two. Everything we
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now try to export is more expensive, which means it's harder to export these things. The government
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crows about how the value of Canada's trade has gone up so much. Yeah, because there's been a massive
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inflation crisis. So the price of everything has gone up. So this is the challenge that we have,
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not only domestically, everything's expensive, but when we're trying to export our products,
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everything's expensive as well, which lowers our opportunities. Absolutely. And for domestic
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producers, you can only put so much into the price of the final product before the market just can't bear that.
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And what happens? You close down, you move, jobs are lost, all because of government. Well, that's exactly right.
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And the worst part of it, of course, is the carbon tax is doing nothing to actually protect the
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environment, right? We all know it. Greenhouse gas emissions don't go down under this government,
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other than during the pandemic, when the economy contracted significantly. Every other year,
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greenhouse gas emissions have gone up under this government. So it's not an actual environmental
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plan. It's a tax plan. It's hurting exporters. It's hurting consumers. It's hurting businesses.
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I really, for the life of me, I can't understand why they think it's a good program. British Columbia
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is a perfect example. They've had a carbon tax longer than any province in Canada, and their emissions
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keep going up. That's right. You do not see the results that are told by the higher ups, the government
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class, that you make your life more expensive, you punish yourself, and we'll fix the climate. Well,
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it's not happening. It's not happening. And you know, my riding is similar to yours. It's a predominantly
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rural riding. And in my riding, people commute a long distance to work. That's the general pattern.
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There's no alternative, right? It's not like the Trudeau government has said, we're going to invest
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massively in mass transit and other things. So you want to drive your car and pay a carbon tax? Good for
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you because we've got all these electric buses and trains and other things you can jump on to go to
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work. No, they can't. They have no alternative. They heat their homes with propane, right? They drive to
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work. All these things have a carbon tax, right? All these things are making your life more expensive,
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and there's no alternative. So if there was an alternative, it could make some sense. But there
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isn't, right? So all it is, is a punishing tax that does nothing to lower emissions. Absolutely. I think
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that is a general argument I think we accept. If there was an alternative, you can kind of see
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that. But at the same time, you also need oil to actually make things, right? Pretty much everything
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is made with oil. Absolutely. The modern world runs on oil. Why you would shut down an industry that is
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proven affordable and available, which in Canada we have some of the highest environmental and labor
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standards anywhere in the world, why you would punish the industries here, as we said right at the
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beginning of the show, when we can display some of the bad actors. 100%. It's all virtue signaling.
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It is all virtue signaling and it's making every aspect of life more difficult. I go back to agriculture
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because it's a big part of our exports. So it's a big part of my portfolio. You know, we're competing
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with American farmers who of course don't pay a carbon tax. So whether it's, you know, driving your
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combine, whether it's drying grain, the Americans are not paying a carbon tax. Our farmers are on all
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of those things, right? And so how are we to continue to compete both, you know, with our largest trading
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partner and around the globe? It's just, it's becoming more difficult for the people that actually
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work in this country every single day. It's interesting. I brought this up a couple of shows
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ago. This is a few years ago. One of the most left-leaning states in the United States, Oregon,
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had a referendum on whether or not they wanted a statewide carbon tax. It came back overwhelmingly
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against. Yeah. Yeah. Because as we keep saying, unless there's a viable similar alternative,
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then it doesn't do anything but punish behavior that you can't change. It's like saying,
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we're going to put a tax on food, right? A massive tax on food. And your alternative is to stop eating,
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except you can't. So all you do is eat and pay a massive tax. This is the same thing with what's
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happening with how the carbon tax is applied right now. Yeah. Making food more expensive
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for the everyday people. People are getting poor because of this government. And if you hurt the
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farmers that produce the food, what's going to happen? You're going to have fewer of them and the food
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that they do produce is going to go through the roof. 100%. And it's not like the government
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is going to stay home too, right? Justin Trudeau is still going to fly. They just want you to stay
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home. That's right. They don't want anything. They just want you off the road. That's right. You're
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clogging up traffic. Exactly. Let's get you out of the way. Yeah. 100%. And this is the pace that
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Justin Trudeau is taking us very quickly. And that's why we need Pierre Polyev as the Prime Minister.
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100%. This country needs a real transformation from the path we're on to the path we should be on.
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And I think we can do that. I think that Canadians are realizing that it's the policies that the Justin
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Trudeau Liberals are doing are actually creating the issues that we're dealing with now. Price
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inflation, currency inflation. We're having a massive spending spree at the federal level. And the list
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just goes on and on. Not to mention the fact that there is evidence suggesting that Justin Trudeau knew
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about interference in our elections from Beijing and did nothing about it. You know, when you look
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at all the things that they've done and the state the country is in, it's amazing to me that there's
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people that still think that he's doing a good job. I mean, for example, if you want to talk about
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inflationary spending, government spending is up 46% from 2015. 46%. I think it's $170 billion more
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a year the government's spending every year, right? Which drives inflation and other things. And then
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you ask yourself, what's better in this country eight years later? Is healthcare better? Can you get
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a passport faster? Is our military in better shape? All these things. And the answer to all of it is no.
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Yeah. Well, Justin Trudeau said basically he has no interest in meeting his 2% targets with NATO.
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He basically told the military, good luck with what you have. And they're buying their own kit in some
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circumstances. We have soldiers in Latvia right now, I think it's Latvia, that are buying their own
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helmets and paying for their own food. While the Prime Minister takes a $170,000 vacation with his
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friends. Right. Yeah. While they're being deployed. While the country has asked them to do,
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you know, step up, well, they stepped up when they signed the paper to put themselves into service,
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but to take that giant leap forward, put their lives on the line, go into potential combat or
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just in another country. Now they're telling them, buy your own stuff. We'll get to it eventually.
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Or even like when we raise these questions in question period about how tough it is for
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Canadians. The response to me is just, it's gobsmacking. They will say, how dare the
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Conservatives talk down the Canadian economy or things like that, as if we're making it up. I mean,
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I don't know about you, but I hear every single week and sometimes you hear heartbreaking stories
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from people who are literally saying, I'm not making this literally saying, I have to choose
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whether I'm going to heat my home or eat. And this is what's happening. And when we raise these
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questions, they act like we're crazy. Like how dare we say these things and run down the Canadian economy,
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et cetera, et cetera. They're so out of touch with the average person. I don't even know what to say
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anymore. Well, it was actually pretty funny. A few weeks, well, not funny. It's tough to say this,
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but a few weeks ago, you asked a question to the minister, basically talking about the carbon tax and
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how life is getting more expensive and harder for a lot of people. And the minister dismissed you,
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but you had to basically explain how the carbon tax raised the price of everything, right?
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From the farm to the grocery store. It was like they had no clue.
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Yeah. No, as I said in my response, they actually don't understand how food gets on their table,
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right? They just show up in their limousine with their driver, those ministers, and eat as much as
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they want without worrying about it. But yeah, the farmer's paying multiple carbon taxes on driving
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their combines, harvesting, planting, drying wheat, other things. The truck that comes to pick it up from
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the farm is paying a carbon tax on the fuel. When it goes to a processor, that processor is paying a
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carbon tax on the fuel that it consumes. Then it gets trucked to a grocery store, for example,
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again, carbon tax for the truck fuel. The grocery store has to heat and cool itself,
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so it's paying a carbon tax. And then they're stunned that there's all this food inflation.
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You know, it would be funny if it wasn't like so tragic. That's the problem, right? Like it's comical
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how they don't understand this, but the results of it are so tragic for Canadians who are really,
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really struggling to make ends meet every single month. Oh, absolutely. And it's crushing the middle
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class. It's just crushing the middle class. Yeah. Because the wealthy aren't affected by the
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large part. They don't care what their tax rate is or bacon's, you know, 10 bucks a pack. Like,
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they don't care. It's the middle class. But there's $400 for groceries. That's going to solve
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everything. Yeah, the one time. Yeah, everything. Yeah, yeah. Until they figure out the next government
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program to fix the problem that they created in the first place. And that's also the main point.
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Well, the only way to fix a problem that a government program causes is to create another
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government program. That's right. Absolutely. And what is it? Reagan who said the closest thing to
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life on earth is another government program. I think Reagan also said the scariest phrase is,
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I'm from the government. I'm here to help. That's pretty much sums it up. With this government,
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100%. Yeah, absolutely. We don't want them taking any more programs here. No, absolutely not. Yeah,
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we're good with it. And this actually, I think, goes back to JFK, probably Thatcher and many others.
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The dollar in the pocket of the person that owns it, earns it, is better than being in the hands of
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government. Because you don't spend it better on your priorities. 100%. And not just that, you know,
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when the government takes your dollar, right, you don't get a dollar back in services. Well, that's
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right, yes. Right? You get whatever, 30 cents back in services, because the rest goes to just
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the churn of the operation of the government, right? So the best way to ensure the prosperity
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of Canadians is to make sure that they get to keep as much of their own hard-earned money as possible.
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And have a free market system where people can choose what they want to do. Do they want to go
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to EVs? Do they want to go to whatever the next magical technology is? Or do they want to stick with
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what we have? And cars are getting better every single year. Every single year. Well, that's it. I mean,
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when would you choose the government to pick the technology that you should adopt to meet a goal?
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When? Probably never, right? I wouldn't. Probably never, because these are not, you know,
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smart business people. It's a government. Yes. So on a really important decision, they've chosen
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the only technology that they think will get us where we need to go, which is, you know, 100% electric
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vehicles. Whereas there's a myriad of other options. And if you just said to industry, right,
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the auto industry, we need your tailpipe emissions to get to here, right? You pick the technology.
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Exactly. And may the best company win. Correct. Then you unleash all the creative and competitive,
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you know, juices from those companies, and you'll end up in a way better position than the government
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saying, do this, right? And this will solve the problem. Because everyone else has to then compete
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for those very limited funds for investment to create that next product to compete with the
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government chosen model, which is massively subsidized. And it might not even be a great
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one either. You know, you got to look at where the minerals come from. Is it child labor being used?
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Is it where no environmental standards exist, right? These questions have to be asked as well.
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Is it really green? And there's no chance that they're going to build out the charging infrastructure
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as they say they are. They are so far behind on even their own projections for building chargers.
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The electricity upgrades that are going to have to happen, right? Both in generation and distribution.
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All that stuff is going to cost hundreds of billions of dollars. And it will not be ready in
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time for their zero emission vehicle mandates. They actually are doing things knowing full well
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there's zero chance of it being implemented under their timeline.
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That goes to the other part, right? As they meet their mandated timeline,
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what happens to anyone who has a combustion engine car? That value goes to like zero.
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So, but here's the zero emission vehicle mandates work this way, right? You're a farmer and you're,
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you know, your F-250 needs to be replaced, right? And you know that a battery vehicle,
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they don't do so well in the winter. They really don't do well when you're hauling things, right?
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So you go into your Ford dealer and you say it's time to trade her in. I'm ready for my new one.
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They say, well, sorry, we've sold all of our ICE engines allotment because we have to be at 50%
00:22:42.920
right now. The only thing you can buy is a battery electric. That's how it's going to operate.
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They're going to have to sell, right? And once they hit that, everything else has to be electric.
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Imagine the distortions in the market that's going to cause, right? Absolutely. All the challenges.
00:23:01.880
Yep. It's, it's a harebrained scheme if I've ever seen. Oh, it is. It is incredible. We can go on
00:23:06.680
about quite, quite a bit. We've gone way over time. I do this every single week. The conversation
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just keeps going. I could ask you so many more questions. All right. Guests get the final word.
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Let's, let's take it away. Kelsey back. What we need is a new government. We are now in a situation
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where everything's unaffordable and we need change. We need change now. And I got to tell
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you this, I'm probably not supposed to say this, but I can't wait for the next election to get rid
00:23:35.320
of these guys. I couldn't agree with you more. I can't wait for the next election either.
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Kyle Seback, member of parliament for Dufferin Calvin, also the international trade critic.
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We appreciate his time. We appreciate your time as well. This is great content. Please like,
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comment, subscribe, subscribe, and share this program. New content for you every single
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Tuesday, 1.30 p.m. Eastern time. Until then, remember low taxes, less government, more freedom.