The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - Year End with Erin O’Toole

00:00:00.000 Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast.

00:00:04.660 I'm your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps, the Lake Sprock,

00:00:08.060 with new content for you every single Tuesday, 1.30pm Eastern Time.

00:00:12.120 We do appreciate you joining us here today.

00:00:14.460 We ask that you like, comment, subscribe, share this program,

00:00:17.660 help us push back against that ever-moving Liberal agenda,

00:00:20.240 because there might be someone in your social media network

00:00:22.600 that might be open to hearing the Conservative message,

00:00:24.940 that might not be hearing it through the mainstream media.

00:00:26.980 This is your chance to ensure that my next guest is the next Prime Minister of Canada,

00:00:31.500 the leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition, my next-door neighbour, my good friend,

00:00:35.620 the Member of Parliament for Durham, a good friend of the show,

00:00:38.200 Erin O'Toole, with the year-end wrap-up. Thanks for joining us.

00:00:41.040 It's great to be back on The Blueprint, Jamie.

00:00:43.080 As you know, I'm a long-time listener, occasional participant,

00:00:47.260 so it's great to wrap up the session here before Christmas to talk politics,

00:00:52.580 talk the Conservative movement, and yeah, grow our tent.

00:00:56.020 Absolutely, and I think this is something that Conservatives across the country are dealing with.

00:01:01.420 They're trying to grow the tent, because we do have a message that's compassionate,

00:01:04.420 that's fair, that enables the individual to reach potentials,

00:01:07.960 that they could have endless opportunity to do so.

00:01:11.320 But we have to get that message out.

00:01:13.060 We do, and people are understanding our message

00:01:16.660 every time they go to the grocery store or the gas station.

00:01:19.700 The cost-of-living crisis that we've been talking about for a year

00:01:22.960 is having a real impact in your riding, in Quartha, Halliburton, Brock,

00:01:27.480 in Durham, in Prince Edward Island.

00:01:30.660 And so we are the only party right now advocating to get inflation under control,

00:01:36.840 supporting job creation in all parts of our economy,

00:01:39.440 not just a few ideological agenda parts of the economy that Mr. Trudeau supports.

00:01:45.040 And we're going to be a voice for a lot of people who think that Ottawa has forgotten about them.

00:01:49.780 And so we have to get our message to them,

00:01:51.500 and I think this podcast is one great way to do that,

00:01:54.580 because we can set the agenda and really speak to the needs of the country.

00:01:59.460 So you've had a good fall as leader pushing back,

00:02:02.740 as has many people on the team, against inflation.

00:02:05.460 It seems that sometimes we're the only ones that are actually recognizing this invisible tax,

00:02:12.060 the ones that are actually recognizing that there are people being hurt by this,

00:02:16.220 everyday people, that people going to work every single day

00:02:18.780 are seeing their paychecks not go as far as they used to.

00:02:21.820 But everyone else seems to be just in a fog or trying to talk this away,

00:02:25.300 like it's some imaginary thing that is just, you know, we're making things up almost.

00:02:30.740 Well, Jamie, it's just inflation.

00:02:34.320 It's just inflation.

00:02:34.980 Just inflation.

00:02:35.880 You know, that's a term everyone knows now.

00:02:38.020 Our colleague Pierre Poiliev highlighted in the House about a month ago,

00:02:43.200 and then Justin Trudeau himself used the phrase just inflation.

00:02:47.060 But here's the reality.

00:02:48.960 Pierre's been warning about this for over a year.

00:02:52.040 Yes.

00:02:52.540 I spoke about this as Parliament was finishing off in the last session before the election.

00:02:58.240 I said there's inflationary pressures, there's a cost-of-living crisis,

00:03:02.580 people are getting priced out of their own lives, especially seniors on fixed income.

00:03:08.260 But increasingly, you'd hear from families in your riding, just like I hear in mine,

00:03:12.780 groceries are going up, the cost of everything is going up.

00:03:16.260 And just a report just the other day said groceries will be another $1,000 per household next year.

00:03:22.420 So wages are flat, and everything is going up.

00:03:26.080 Housing has gone up 33% in the last year alone.

00:03:29.720 Rents are going up by 20%, 30% in a lot of our cities and suburban areas.

00:03:35.140 So these are the real issues that they expect us to be talking about in Ottawa.

00:03:39.300 And as you said, it's a tax on people who are seeing flat to almost negative wage growth,

00:03:44.960 and they're falling behind.

00:03:47.100 And we're the only party that's been talking about it.

00:03:49.960 The government is finally acknowledging it, but they have no plan.

00:03:54.740 They're actually going to spend another $100 billion of just Ottawa throwing money around.

00:03:59.960 That's making the problem worse.

00:04:01.640 So it's been great to see a lot of people saying,

00:04:04.620 hey, the Conservatives have been talking about this.

00:04:06.960 We're talking about getting our spending under control,

00:04:09.400 getting all sectors of our economy fired up, including energy workers,

00:04:13.300 including better deals on softwood and a number of things.

00:04:16.480 We want to be the party that's fighting for your interests,

00:04:19.460 that has families worried at the kitchen table. 0.93

00:04:21.880 Now, most people from the Liberal benches will say the solution to this is,

00:04:26.000 like you mentioned, another government program or more spending.

00:04:28.560 But that is, as you and Pierre and many others have pointed out,

00:04:32.280 that's the problem.

00:04:33.280 When you pump all this new currency into the atmosphere,

00:04:38.200 there are consequences.

00:04:39.940 And yes, we had to compensate those who had to shut down their business or stay home.

00:04:45.920 But the big chunk of that spending had nothing to do with COVID,

00:04:49.480 although the Liberals couched it in the name of COVID.

00:04:53.060 100%.

00:04:53.700 You know, we spent the most per capita in the response to COVID,

00:04:59.080 but have some of the worst actual outcomes.

00:05:01.620 So they spent $600 million for teenagers to stay at home and collect the CERB during the pandemic.

00:05:11.180 How is that positive for that young person?

00:05:14.880 How does that really help someone that's at risk?

00:05:17.320 These are people that are dependents of their parents.

00:05:19.300 They're staying at home.

00:05:20.460 We actually should make sure that whenever there's an emergency or spending,

00:05:24.980 that it goes to the people that are targeted.

00:05:26.760 It doesn't fuel this wider ideological agenda that the Liberals have.

00:05:31.960 Remember, Freeland herself said that the pandemic presented an opportunity for the Liberals

00:05:38.220 to basically create an annual income and pay people not to work

00:05:42.240 and to actually disrupt sectors of our economy that are the key drivers of growth.

00:05:47.780 So we're going to really continue to put out this narrative

00:05:52.500 that not only does Canada have to get people back to work,

00:05:57.500 what little economic activity we've seen in the last few months

00:06:00.680 has largely been driven by our resource sectors.

00:06:03.960 So the very sectors Trudeau attacks are the ones that are now fueling

00:06:08.400 what economic growth we're seeing post-pandemic.

00:06:11.240 So it's quite ironic, despite his best efforts to hurt our natural resources sector,

00:06:16.340 the recovering price of oil, gas, commodities, is actually helping Canada with some GDP growth.

00:06:23.760 So we're going to take the broader inflation discussion

00:06:27.760 and talk about risks of debt, risks of interest rate increases,

00:06:32.960 and then an overall competitiveness piece where Trudeau is setting us up

00:06:36.980 for the next generation to be the first in Canadian history to be poorer than their parents.

00:06:42.280 Yeah, there's two things I wanted to touch on there that you mentioned.

00:06:45.440 And let's talk about the small business because you mentioned it first.

00:06:49.240 Obviously, as provincial governments, in large part,

00:06:51.900 letting businesses or basically telling businesses, you know,

00:06:56.360 the restrictions and what they will be.

00:06:59.520 But when the provinces, in large part in the summer, in the spring and summer,

00:07:04.300 lifted a lot of those restrictions,

00:07:06.440 they had to do so with a workforce that wasn't there

00:07:09.920 because, as you said, we're paying a lot of the young people

00:07:12.840 who would then take a summer job and fill in these spaces.

00:07:15.440 They weren't there to take those positions.

00:07:17.380 So these small businesses who have been struggling,

00:07:19.480 who have been locked down, are now saying,

00:07:20.900 OK, we can open, but how the heck are we going to do that?

00:07:23.940 We had a great plan, I thought.

00:07:25.540 And congrats to you and the team who put together the small business plan

00:07:28.500 that got people offline and tried to get them back into our main streets.

00:07:32.660 100%, and we're going to continue to talk about supporting local businesses,

00:07:37.820 supporting, you know, sector recoveries, and the most highly impacted sectors.

00:07:43.040 Give them help.

00:07:43.680 Right now, we've been trying to divide Bill C-2 to pull out of that bill

00:07:48.800 the ability to help the hospitality, tourism,

00:07:51.900 the sectors that have really been floored by COVID.

00:07:54.440 Let's help them quickly.

00:07:55.420 The wider other parts of C-2, the government's latest COVID economic bill,

00:08:02.060 we have to study more because it's been shown that organized crime was abusing the Serb.

00:08:07.240 We know a lot of the Serb spending was too much, too long. 1.00

00:08:12.500 There's labor shortages across the country,

00:08:14.740 not just in hospitality and some of the summer tourism ones, which were acute.

00:08:18.560 There is long-term labor disruption because of how long the Serb went on.

00:08:23.920 La pénurie de main d'oeuvre, it's called in Quebec,

00:08:26.720 the labor shortages is the number one issue for a lot of sectors of our economy.

00:08:33.100 It's the number one economic issue, period, in Quebec.

00:08:35.560 But it's just as bad in parts of Ontario and British Columbia.

00:08:39.640 Not a single word on labor shortages in the speech from the throne.

00:08:47.020 And the government is trying to basically say,

00:08:50.140 look, jobs are coming back.

00:08:52.720 There's some growth now.

00:08:55.000 Yeah, because our economy was basically shut off a year ago.

00:08:58.320 So are we going to see some growth?

00:09:00.200 Are we going to see some people get back to work?

00:09:02.080 Yes.

00:09:02.960 But you also pumped half a trillion dollars into the system

00:09:06.200 and changed the labor dynamic where people aren't working

00:09:09.900 and you slowed down our immigration processing system.

00:09:13.020 So our economy is not going to be catching up.

00:09:15.700 That's going to further fuel inflation, just inflation. 0.94

00:09:19.620 Just inflation.

00:09:20.100 And you look at right now, a lot of businesses are investing in the U.S.

00:09:24.220 U.S. has been having 6%, 7% growth consistently for the last six months.

00:09:29.920 You're seeing a lot of Ontario-based, especially companies,

00:09:33.600 now looking to invest in the U.S.

00:09:35.360 including an auto with the EV subsidy that the U.S. is doing.

00:09:40.540 These are real long-term risks that if these investments,

00:09:43.880 which lead to new jobs, all go to the States and not Canada,

00:09:48.160 we're in real trouble long-term.

00:09:49.960 And the Trudeau government is not talking at all about any of this.

00:09:53.580 So we're going to be talking about local jobs, local capacity, self-sufficiency,

00:09:57.340 both in food security right through to steel, aluminum, auto,

00:10:01.220 and we have to restore the U.S. relationship.

00:10:03.700 So you can tell I'm seeing Canadians starting to realize now

00:10:08.340 that the Trudeau government has no economic plan.

00:10:12.080 Budgets do not balance themselves, Justin.

00:10:14.400 The jobs aren't just going to fall from the sky.

00:10:18.500 We need to have a plan to show that we're a healthy place to invest,

00:10:21.720 and Trudeau just doesn't seem to get it.

00:10:24.060 So we talked about the capital flight, and after the capital flies,

00:10:27.340 so too do the brains along with it.

00:10:29.960 And I remember back when I was first elected in 2015,

00:10:35.200 right at the beginning, the Trudeau liberals took a balanced budget with a surplus,

00:10:39.100 and they just started firing up the credit card.

00:10:41.020 And we warned them at the time.

00:10:42.080 We said you should be putting money away, paying off debt,

00:10:45.620 getting ready for the bad times.

00:10:46.980 And we were told over and over again,

00:10:48.920 ah, the bad times are never going to come.

00:10:51.420 You guys are off your rockers.

00:10:53.540 Turns out we hit the pandemic, reduced our fiscal capacity.

00:10:57.380 Now we're turning into massive inflation

00:10:59.060 because we're pumping all this money out into the atmosphere.

00:11:02.840 We also had the natural resources sector,

00:11:04.880 I think for a large part of the Trudeau liberal term, was on its knees.

00:11:08.880 We regulated our ports to death.

00:11:10.700 We shut down the ability for these natural resources companies to do their jobs.

00:11:15.240 We've had tens of billions, hundreds of billions of dollars leave this economy.

00:11:19.220 The mining sector is hurting.

00:11:20.860 The lumber sector is hurting.

00:11:22.920 What is going right?

00:11:23.960 And we continue to import oil off our East Coast when we have a vast supply here.

00:11:28.600 I'll let you answer, Joe.

00:11:29.400 I'm a bit on a roll here.

00:11:30.380 But the first thing Joe Biden did when he was sworn in as president was cancel the Keystone XL.

00:11:34.880 And then he's begging OPEC to increase their supply.

00:11:37.920 Well, you could have been, you know, energy independent in North America.

00:11:41.760 This is totally backwards.

00:11:43.760 I can see why you're jaded after seven years almost of Justin Trudeau.

00:11:49.060 2015, yeah, he said, remember, Justin Trudeau said this in that election.

00:11:53.520 I'll never run a deficit greater than $10 billion.

00:11:57.560 He's never run a deficit even close to $10 billion.

00:12:02.020 You know, it's always been in the 30 range.

00:12:05.000 In fact, he had $100 billion in deficits and debt before COVID.

00:12:10.260 So at another $400 billion, he's put up half a trillion dollars worth of debt.

00:12:16.180 He has doubled our national debt in the course of six years.

00:12:21.220 That should scare the heck out of Canadians because that is future taxes,

00:12:27.560 future burden on the shoulders of people right now that haven't benefited from any of this.

00:12:34.280 In fact, this is a generation that is seeing a lot of sort of transitional work.

00:12:40.240 It's the gig economy.

00:12:41.440 You're seeing a lot of contract, not long-term benefits.

00:12:44.860 So that generation is now being priced out of owning a home. 0.96

00:12:49.020 So a study just came out last week that said 50% of Canadians under 30

00:12:54.380 have already given up on the idea of home ownership in their lifetime.

00:12:59.580 That used to kind of be a staple of the middle class.

00:13:02.340 So this was his early promise.

00:13:04.480 He was only going to run a temporary deficit.

00:13:07.580 It was all going to be about job creation.

00:13:10.420 It's been a complete train wreck ever since.

00:13:13.380 Remember, he said he'd grow the economy from the heart outwards in that carebearer economics,

00:13:18.820 as the Toronto Sun called it.

00:13:20.460 This is a guy who's never had to worry about applying for a job.

00:13:24.080 It's all been taken care of for Justin his entire life.

00:13:27.940 So do you think he, as Candace Bergen showed, does he know that bacon, pack of bacon's up 30%?

00:13:34.280 Does he know that people are paying $1.50, $1.60 at the pumps?

00:13:39.420 He has no idea.

00:13:40.260 I don't think price increases affect him one way or the other, with or without being in office.

00:13:45.500 Well, and Pierre has said, you know, the rich have gotten richer because assets have had a higher valuation,

00:13:52.020 and that continues to go up with inflation.

00:13:54.480 So the trust fund that Mr. Trudeau lives off of is probably doing quite well.

00:13:59.920 The stock market is up, and Christopher Freeland seems to think that's great.

00:14:04.300 Seniors can't afford to stay in their own home. 1.00

00:14:06.820 Home heating oil is up.

00:14:08.100 All costs are up.

00:14:09.420 They're tripling their carbon tax now.

00:14:11.920 They're going to have a CPP payroll tax increase.

00:14:14.900 So it's good if you're already wealthy.

00:14:18.660 It's not good if you're working hard, if you're striving, if you're a new Canadian, if you're a single mom.

00:14:24.480 So those are the people we're fighting for.

00:14:26.300 I've said there's millions of people being left out of Justin Trudeau's economy.

00:14:30.840 And you look at hundreds of thousands of energy workers, tens of thousands of forestry workers.

00:14:36.260 You're looking at people working steel in Sault Ste. Marie, in Hamilton, auto plants, including in our parts of the Durham region.

00:14:43.280 All of these people being completely abandoned.

00:14:45.520 And as you said, on the first day of the Biden administration, they canceled the Keystone XL pipeline.

00:14:51.980 And six-plus months later, Joe Biden is asking OPEC to pump more oil and gas.

00:15:00.020 His closest, most democratic ally, he's shutting down because Trudeau is not making the case for our sector.

00:15:07.880 And Biden's going to some of the rogues' gallery of OPEC, Angola, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia.

00:15:13.940 That's a national disgrace.

00:15:17.100 And it's another example of a complete disconnect.

00:15:20.120 It's no wonder Joe Biden said Canada's his easiest relationship with any other country.

00:15:27.120 It's always easy if you're crushing it and you're winning and you don't even take your friend seriously.

00:15:33.380 One-way street is pretty easy to drive, isn't it?

00:15:37.140 So Mary Ng in the House shows she doesn't even understand her files, let alone is she having an impact in Washington.

00:15:44.920 The secretary down there forgot that she had spoken to Mary Ng.

00:15:49.520 That's how irrelevant Canada has become on the world stage.

00:15:52.740 So I think there's an opportunity.

00:15:54.520 We already had Randy Hoback, our shadow minister of trade, down there on a delegation trying to rebuild some respect.

00:16:00.260 So that's going to be, you know, I'm going on a bit of a rant too because our future is not certain.

00:16:07.580 The competition globally for talent, for people, for investment is huge.

00:16:12.360 And we're coasting on 100 years of Canada being a good place to invest.

00:16:18.580 But Trudeau is actually making it hard to get a natural resource project done.

00:16:21.700 As you alluded to, Bill C-69, nothing can ever get approved here.

00:16:25.420 So why would capital come here?

00:16:26.960 We're the place that capital investment comes to die.

00:16:30.820 And if you stop having investment, that ties to jobs, that ties to GDP growth.

00:16:36.320 How do we pay for, you know, the medications for kids with rare diseases?

00:16:41.260 How do we have our health care system, our long-term care rebuilt if our economy over the long term is being hollowed out?

00:16:48.120 So Canada's falling behind under Trudeau.

00:16:51.100 And that's why it's up for us as conservatives to kick in a few doors and get things moving here in Ottawa.

00:16:56.380 Don't forget interest on the debt.

00:16:57.940 That's just going to get even bigger and bigger.

00:16:59.920 And some people are going to get very rich off this.

00:17:02.180 You mentioned quickly about the military.

00:17:04.680 And we've seen a number of conversations and some pretty major decisions from our allies, our friends, our other countries that didn't even include Canada.

00:17:13.300 There are many things that happened that Canada wasn't even consulted on.

00:17:17.040 It was absolutely remarkable.

00:17:19.340 Some of the decisions with Australia, with others, the United States, and the Great Britain, our Commonwealth partner, that they didn't even think, hey, maybe we should loop Canada in on some of these conversations.

00:17:31.620 It really is remarkable.

00:17:33.000 We are no longer seen as a dependable ally.

00:17:37.960 And that's all been under Justin Trudeau.

00:17:40.080 You remember Stephen Harper was the one who pushed the G8 to become the G7.

00:17:45.560 Putin's aggression in Crimea and in other parts of Ukraine led to him get out of Ukraine, his famous comment to Putin at a global meeting.

00:17:56.280 We were able to influence the G7.

00:17:58.740 We had clout in NATO because Canada, throughout our history, has always been there for our values and our interests as a country.

00:18:07.520 We are seen as the country of the prime minister who dances on the world stage, who makes a spectacle of himself.

00:18:15.120 He thinks it's about Justin Trudeau when he's traveling as our prime minister, as opposed to it being about Canadians.

00:18:21.300 And the situation with the U.S., I've never seen Canada-U.S. relations at this low ebb.

00:18:30.100 It's terrifying just how irrelevant we are.

00:18:33.080 So as you alluded to, Jamie, when the United States, Australia, and the U.K. start forming a new alliance that is basically looking like it's surpassing the five eyes,

00:18:47.300 which includes New Zealand and Canada, if we're seen as not reliable, you're going to see those countries go their own way.

00:18:55.280 And slowly, they're going to start rebalancing issues with China, for example, on trade, and not include Canada in steel, aluminum, auto trade decisions.

00:19:06.520 Not include Canada on canola, grain and oil seeds, beef and pork.

00:19:10.380 These are all huge export sectors for our wealth as a nation.

00:19:16.200 So Canada, from Vimy Ridge to Kandahar, we've always been a reliable ally, and we have to get back to that.

00:19:22.860 And as you know, I've been talking about KANZUK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, U.K., an alliance that...

00:19:28.880 As long as I've known you.

00:19:29.800 Yeah.

00:19:30.660 One of the first global politicians to talk about KANZUK.

00:19:34.020 Now there's a movement in each of those countries.

00:19:35.800 We should be doing more with our closest allies, not less.

00:19:40.640 And, you know, Trudeau doesn't even merit a phone call from Biden or some of these players.

00:19:46.140 So we've got a lot to do reversing the decline in our reputation.

00:19:50.260 And the good thing is our history, nations want to see a serious Canada back on the world stage.

00:19:56.720 Well, let's quickly talk about the military, and then we'll wrap it up with kind of the vision of the future.

00:20:01.340 The military has gone through some pretty difficult times, allegations of sexual assault, some of its top leadership, dealing with that and what have you.

00:20:11.300 But you're a former veteran, as we all know, Air Force.

00:20:14.300 Thank you for your service.

00:20:16.140 We've had an apology from the Minister of Defence, but somebody else didn't apologize.

00:20:21.860 I would say Minister Sajin, who actually we have large evidence that kind of shows that he almost covered up some of these allegations.

00:20:29.880 Not almost, Jamie.

00:20:31.580 Well, he covered up allegations of sexual misconduct that came in to the ombudsman.

00:20:38.000 So this was a woman serving her country that brought a complaint about the Chief of Defence Staff to the ombudsman.

00:20:45.620 The ombudsman is the main person that people in the forces can go to with an issue, a complaint, a subject they thought needs to be looked at.

00:20:53.880 The ombudsman told the Minister of National Defence about it, Harjit Sajin, three years ago, and Sajin did nothing.

00:21:02.240 In fact, after that, he boxed out the ombudsman, and they fired the ombudsman eventually.

00:21:08.600 Katie Telford, the Chief of Staff, the Clerk of the Privy Council, everyone around Trudeau, including Sajin and Sajin's team, all knew about this allegation, and nothing happened.

00:21:19.760 So they failed that woman, but they also set a tone that you couldn't talk about these things.

00:21:27.360 You know, allegations against senior officers would be swept under the rug.

00:21:30.940 But that is at the root of the problem we have to change in terms of the culture in Ottawa, and as a veteran, but also as a father of a teenage daughter who has talked about maybe joining the military.

00:21:43.380 I would never push it on one of my kids, but I want her to be able to serve her country like her dad did, but for her to be able to do it with respect and in an environment free from any type of harassment or, you know, sexual misconduct.

00:22:01.040 And we need to send that signal.

00:22:03.800 So Harjit Sajin owes the military, and particularly that one woman, he failed an apology directly.

00:22:11.940 So Anita Anand's coming in, cleaning up the mess of Harjit Sajin, the worst minister of national defense in our history. 0.99

00:22:20.000 You recall, Jamie, we censured him, which is an Ottawa term, but basically Parliament declared him to have fallen short to being derelict in his duties, essentially, over the sexual misconduct situation.

00:22:36.200 So I really do think there is no proper apology until Harjit Sajin stands up and gives one.

00:22:43.520 I have kept you way over time, but I figure I have the boss here.

00:22:46.920 I think we can go over time.

00:22:48.260 Yeah, let's look at the future.

00:22:50.400 We had an election that was absolutely so important and the most important in a generation that turned out to be a very expensive cabinet shuffle.

00:22:57.760 You and I got a next-door neighbor in Michel Ferreri seeing Miriam Monsef leave office.

00:23:05.320 I'm looking at the legislative agenda that Liberals have put forward so far, and it's pretty bare.

00:23:10.260 It's pretty weak for something that just had to be.

00:23:13.120 We just had to have that election. 0.85

00:23:14.420 What are you looking for in the next session of Parliament when we return in January?

00:23:18.820 What's the plan?

00:23:20.340 Well, first off, we've got a few new neighbors, Jamie.

00:23:23.920 That's a good point.

00:23:24.060 Because we have Shelby as well. 0.96

00:23:26.140 She doesn't touch my riding, but she comes close to touching my riding.

00:23:28.940 And then Ryan as well in Belleville.

00:23:30.900 And so thank you for your work.

00:23:34.620 Michelle certainly has talked about how much work you've done helping in that riding and in all the others.

00:23:40.200 So it's a great example of some of our cagey veterans stepping up and helping grow the team.

00:23:46.080 So thank you.

00:23:47.220 Yeah, the most pivotal election since World War II is whatever Trudeau tried to do.

00:23:51.740 It's a $600 million cabinet shuffle.

00:23:54.360 He gambled on people's lives, both here in Canada and in Kabul. 0.90

00:24:01.900 Instead of planning an election, he should have been planning an evacuation of 1,200 Canadians on the ground 0.98

00:24:08.700 and thousands of interpreters and contractors that we had been trying to get out of Afghanistan.

00:24:13.960 Trudeau put politics ahead of the well-being of people.

00:24:16.760 And, of course, he knew COVID cases were rising.

00:24:20.360 He knew that all the other parties said we didn't want a pandemic election.

00:24:23.700 He called one anyway.

00:24:25.420 What we did was we maintained a point of principle.

00:24:29.480 We didn't try and divide people on issues related to the pandemic, including vaccines, which are important and critical.

00:24:37.160 But we always said there would have to be some accommodations for a small number of people that would not get vaccinated.

00:24:42.540 That's actually exactly what provinces are doing now.

00:24:45.500 Yeah.

00:24:45.800 Exactly what I said months ago.

00:24:47.260 So Trudeau was willing to divide people, scare people, stoke division, all to try and get a majority.

00:24:54.480 Only when his poll numbers went down.

00:24:56.100 It only became an issue when his numbers went down.

00:24:58.600 Exactly.

00:24:59.480 So it shows he will put the country at risk for his own political gain.

00:25:04.440 What we have learned coming out of it is when we talked about securing the future, you heard me talk about that a lot, Canada's recovery plan.

00:25:13.140 But people love some of our ideas for the future.

00:25:15.800 And you saw from our motion on Afghanistan, so we won our first opposition motion, but you also saw from our housing motion, where we talked about the cost of living crisis, specifically with housing.

00:25:27.240 We're going to bring forward some of the great ideas in our election, on our economic recovery, on Canada's competitiveness, on principled approach to foreign policy, standing up against C10 and infringement of freedom of speech and freedom on the Internet.

00:25:45.720 Some of the things we've talked about in the election, we're going to bring forward because you know what?

00:25:49.280 Canadians, when they weren't worried about COVID or being divided by Trudeau, actually loved our vision on the economy.

00:25:55.380 So whether it's just inflation or whether it's getting local business initiatives, fighting for small business owners, helping targeted sectors, standing up for energy workers in Newfoundland, Labrador, and in Alberta and Saskatchewan, we're going to push some of those agenda items from the election.

00:26:12.880 And we have gained to the team, and we've learned now that we will win next time if we're professional, if we're united, and if we take the fight to the Liberals.

00:26:22.840 Absolutely.

00:26:23.240 I always give the guests the final word.

00:26:25.380 I know I have gone way over time.

00:26:27.980 I do appreciate the extra time given.

00:26:30.840 If you wanted to wrap it up and, you know, just give a quick synopsis of how you're feeling, how you've been holding up, how the election was for your family, and this will be the, I guess, the wrap-up for 2021.

00:26:46.020 Well, the wrap-up, you know, please like and share the blueprint.

00:26:49.520 Let's give Jamie a Christmas present.

00:26:51.420 Let's make his one of the fastest-rising podcasts on iTunes or something like that.

00:26:56.720 You'd love that stuffed in your stocking, I'm sure.

00:26:59.560 Look, the campaign, I love this country.

00:27:02.580 I've served it in uniform and got to see it in the military and business.

00:27:06.280 People invited us into their lives.

00:27:07.900 Rebecca, Molly, Jack, and even our dog, Wexford, came to our animal welfare event in King City, and, hey, we won Anna Roberts.

00:27:15.940 Absolutely.

00:27:16.220 So, you know, we've got to do more events with my dog, clearly.

00:27:19.100 Wherever he came, we won that seat.

00:27:20.860 Who has a good social media following, too.

00:27:22.440 He's on Instagram, Wexford O'Toole.

00:27:25.320 And, look, you know, for the kids to come out west with me, you know, we went crab fishing in Nanaimo off the wharf there.

00:27:32.920 We live in a beautiful country, and I think, you know, I'm really worried about the direction it's headed under Trudeau.

00:27:39.320 And I think that fuels our desire to do even better next time.

00:27:44.140 And so I think, you know, we went from about 10 points back to overcoming, passing them, winning the popular vote, but not, unfortunately, not the seat count.

00:27:53.980 But in that loss are the seeds of victory.

00:27:58.040 And I'll tell you, there's a lot of people take COVID out of that election, and we were having a conservative government.

00:28:05.660 So what we have to do is not lose sight of the prize.

00:28:08.300 So, Rebecca, the kids and I are focused on serving Canada in this new capacity.

00:28:13.000 It is an honor, the honor of our lives.

00:28:15.980 And I love the country.

00:28:17.040 That's why we're going to fight for it.

00:28:18.880 But I'll tell you, we're looking forward to Christmas.

00:28:21.540 The kids, we're going to go to Spider-Man, the movie premiere of that.

00:28:27.180 We've already got our tickets.

00:28:28.280 So that'll kick off a bit of family time, and we're actually going to go to Nova Scotia to see our family down there.

00:28:34.300 So I want to wish all your listeners, those loyal Tories, those blueprint conservatives, a very Merry Christmas.

00:28:43.000 Best for the New Year on behalf of Rebecca and I, but on behalf of our whole team, right, Jamie?

00:28:48.420 Absolutely.

00:28:49.160 And you went to the West Coast.

00:28:50.580 You went crab fishing, but not surfing.

00:28:53.300 I've yet to go to Tofino.

00:28:55.060 For the record, in the election, Jamie, this is a funny story.

00:28:58.260 Somebody said, what's one of your bucket list locations in Canada?

00:29:01.360 This was asked to me by a journalist or someone, and I said Tofino, because I've never had the opportunity to go there.

00:29:07.220 I usually go to North Island for the business and industry or to Victoria.

00:29:12.180 I've never been to Tofino.

00:29:14.840 Trudeau goes all the time, including on the first day of truth and reconciliation.

00:29:18.580 I was in Ottawa talking to survivors at the flame.

00:29:21.140 So Canadians are reminded, once again, he lets you down time after time.

00:29:25.100 So my Christmas gift that I've asked Santa is a change of government in the next election, Jamie.

00:29:30.760 So I'm hoping I'm on the nice list.

00:29:32.540 I hope so, too.

00:29:33.180 And I think you are.

00:29:33.920 We appreciate the time.

00:29:35.020 We went way over, but we do appreciate the conversation.

00:29:37.900 Could have kept going on a whole number of issues, but we do recognize there is a time limit, and you do have other things.

00:29:43.480 So we appreciate you, the viewer, the listener, for sticking with us and watching this entire program.

00:29:49.040 And, of course, if you want to listen to it only, you can download it on platforms like iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, CastBox, you name it.

00:29:55.500 It is out there.

00:29:56.500 Again, we ask that you like, comment, subscribe, share this program.

00:29:59.580 Together, we can push back against the ever-moving liberal agenda and make Erin O'Toole the next Prime Minister of Canada.

00:30:05.220 We appreciate the member for Durham for his time, the leader for Majesty's Opposition.

00:30:09.300 He's doing a fantastic job.

00:30:10.840 And we do appreciate everything you are doing for supporting that blueprint and getting out that message.

00:30:16.060 And remember, low taxes, less government, more freedom.

00:30:19.060 That is the blueprint.

00:30:20.040 Thank you.

00:30:20.280 Thank you.

00:30:20.360 Thank you.

The Blueprint: Canada's Conservative Podcast - December 21, 2021

Year End with Erin O’Toole

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