Aaron Gunn is running to become the next leader of the British Columbia Liberal Party. He's a well-known and well-loved social media pundit and independent journalist, who has built a huge audience and a brand as a common sense advocate. In this episode, we talk about why he decided to jump into politics, why he chose the Liberal Party, and why he thinks it's possible to bring common sense back to politics.
00:06:57.400Liberals have a lot to be proud of on their economic record when they were in power as far as limiting the size of government and keeping taxes down.
00:07:05.700But there's also a lot of things, whether it's like the cost of living, whether it's the carbon tax, whether it's kind of the disaster with the opioid epidemic, that their policy needs to change on.
00:07:21.420And that's why I'm putting forward alternatives in this leadership race.
00:07:24.340And so your tagline is bring back common sense.
00:07:28.800So can you give us a couple of examples of what an airing gun common sense platform will look like?
00:07:44.320It starts with scrapping the regressive and job killing carbon tax that does nothing for the environment.
00:07:49.980We're the only candidate that's talking about that issue.
00:07:53.020There's an insurance monopoly here in B.C. that has to go.
00:07:56.960And, you know, so many other things supporting natural resource development here, whether it's forestry, whether it's oil, whether it's natural gas.
00:08:05.800I think we also need to have a serious conversation about fundamental health care reform.
00:08:12.620And then there's just other things, whether it's education.
00:08:15.020Look, if you're a university and you're taking taxpayer dollars, if you don't protect free speech and free expression, you need to lose your funding 100 percent.
00:08:24.040And that needs to be a red line that that that's just clear for everybody to see.
00:08:29.620So there's lots of different issues about bringing back common sense.
00:08:35.780But and, you know, also just getting people back to work.
00:08:38.700So I think whether it's on the economic side, whether it's on supporting resource development, whether it's the opioid epidemic, we've got a common sense platform that we hope British Columbians of all political stripes can get behind.
00:08:51.760That's that's exciting. That's great. Those are, again, issues that I don't really hear from political parties.
00:08:57.900I don't really hear anyone addressing the opioid crisis.
00:09:00.380The sort of general consensus is just like, let's ignore it and kind of let the activists and the people on the ground who, you know, support this idea of safe injection sites are giving, you know, they call it a harm reduction strategy.
00:09:15.580But what they really do is just put more drugs on the streets and enable people who are dangerously addicted to get more sick.
00:09:23.000And to me, it shows a total lack of dignity and a lack of care for these people in their lives.
00:09:28.940And for anyone who's lived in a city and had to interact with people like that, it's clearly not a strategy that cares about these people.
00:09:37.440It doesn't put dignity first. It puts sort of trendy political ideas about, you know, extreme freedom in a sense that people can just literally do whatever they want.
00:09:49.160And the externalities of that, you know, don't matter. They don't impact communities. It's wrong.
00:09:54.460And it's refreshing to hear someone talk about it.
00:09:57.880I'm trying to understand a little bit about this leadership race.
00:10:00.960So can you tell us about, you know, the other candidates who's running?
00:10:04.960What is the leadership race? What does it entail?
00:10:07.840And when when is the vote? When when will we learn who's who's the leader, the next leader of this party?
00:10:13.660Well, the first thing I'd say is a lot of people come up to me, people that aren't that involved in politics during elections.
00:10:19.560And they say, how did we end up with these people on the stage right now?
00:10:25.600And the answer is because the political parties chose those leaders during leadership races.
00:10:30.740So this is the time when if you want to get involved in politics and really help shape the future of your province, your country, this is the way to do it.
00:10:37.840Less than one percent of Canadians pooled memberships in political parties, I believe, which really by joining gives you a lot of political power.
00:10:46.960So what's happening is the B.C. Liberals are picking their leader.
00:10:50.840The to vote in that leadership race, you need to have a membership which costs ten dollars and that gives you the right to vote.
00:10:58.780You have to become a member by December 17th and the vote is online during the first week of February.
00:11:05.240February, I'll be joining six other candidates that I mean, we could give a run through.
00:11:13.120There's there's a whole bunch. There's some I think that are that are better than others.
00:11:17.360But we have current MLAs and former MLAs, some that are coming from the business world.
00:11:23.400So a pretty wide selection of candidates competing for this spot.
00:11:27.080But from my perspective, everybody else is speaking in those platitudes.
00:11:32.260Everybody else is kind of buying into that that woke narrative pushed by the mainstream media.
00:11:36.480And we're happy to be the only candidate that's offering a true alternative.
00:11:41.620I saw on social media that some of the other candidates or at least one was was opposing your nomination,
00:11:47.320that he didn't think that you should even be allowed to run as a B.C. Liberal.
00:11:51.320So what do you what do you say to that kind of contention and what do you say to those sort of in the in the upper echelons of the liberal party who don't want you or someone who's an outsider,
00:12:05.660someone who's independent minded running for leadership of this party?
00:12:08.760Look, I understand if you're if you're an outsider coming to a party and you're bringing in a lot of people, you're bringing in a lot of energy.
00:12:15.320That's a threat to people on the inside who are who are established, who have that political power and have kind of, you know, carved out their little little enclave of influence.
00:12:25.520So there's obviously been a lot of pushback because of that within the party, within certain people.
00:12:30.880The particular politician you're talking about is Michael Lee, who's someone else who's running,
00:12:35.160who I met at a hockey game, funny enough, and we chatted for 15 minutes.
00:12:39.360And he was talking about how excited he was to have me in the race and the energy that I would bring to the debates.
00:12:43.960And then one week later, he throws out this kind of ridiculous tweet that says that I shouldn't be allowed to run because of my, quote, unquote, intolerant views.
00:12:52.820And then despite about 200 people asking him on Twitter what he's even talking about, he failed to even respond or articulate exactly what are intolerant views he was talking about.
00:13:03.440So I think, look, I think that's just an example of one of these same old politicians who say one thing and do another that people are tired, that are tired of.
00:13:14.860And I think what they're looking for is they're looking for authenticity.
00:13:17.760They're looking for people that actually have the courage of their convictions.
00:13:21.440And I think we have enough Michael Lees in the party and we need we need some fresh blood.
00:13:26.400So it's such a typical politician move, I guess.
00:13:29.740One thing one thing behind closed doors and one thing in the public.
00:13:39.000I mean, at the end of the day, it it comes down to whoever can get the most votes.
00:13:43.300And the number one way you normally win these leadership races is by signing up new members.
00:13:48.620We have by far the largest following of any of the other candidates.
00:13:52.800I dare to say we've been drumming up the most interest as well.
00:13:56.440So what we're going to try to do is reach out to all the supporters and people who have watched my videos and supported my videos throughout British Columbia over the past couple of years.
00:14:05.580And say, if you agree with me on these big issues, if you're tired of the way things have been going, tired of the NDP, tired of Trudeau and want to see a fundamental change in direction.
00:14:25.600And more than anything, we want to shake up the political system in B.C. and start talking about issues that the media and and the NDP have tried to say are off limits now and refuse to talk about.
00:14:37.300So we're looking to expand that Overton window and have a real debate and a real discussion about the issues that matter to people.
00:14:45.240And so what is your what is your vision for the province?
00:14:47.860What what would British Columbia look like five years from now if you were successful in leading this party and leading the government?
00:14:55.140What what would British Columbia look like five, ten years from now?
00:15:00.120Well, I think we would have dramatic change.
00:15:02.080I think obviously it starts with getting the cost of living under control and people back to work.
00:15:06.160It's it's it starts with supporting our resource industries, whether it's oil, natural gas, getting our pipelines built, supporting forestry, having dramatic health care reform that brings in more choice, more competition.
00:15:18.880I think it includes an education, taking the ideology out of the classroom, out of the curriculum, supporting free speech on university campuses.
00:15:27.560And and and when it comes to some of these increases in crime we've seen in Victorian Vancouver, clamping down on the anarchy, supporting our police, ending kind of this lawlessness.
00:15:39.300You see a place is like like like Ferry Creek and these illegal blockades and bring a fundamentally different approach to the opioid crisis, where we talk about prioritizing rehabilitation rather than just handing out heroin like candy, like it's candy on Halloween, which is what the NDP wants to do.
00:15:58.240So but all that aside, I will say the other thing is to put an end to some of this ridiculous attacks on British Columbia and Canada's history, to stop playing identity politics and pitting different groups against each other, to stop going around and and and self-flagellating ourselves with with how racist we are and all these other things.
00:16:21.420When the truth of the matter is, when the truth of the matter is British Columbia and Canada is among, if not the most welcoming place in the entire world, we have a history that's not perfect, but it's one that we can be proud of, that's for sure.
00:16:33.060And we and we should be we should be singing that, singing that tune every single day.
00:16:37.900And I think I think really, if you think about it, the average person who lives in Canada, whether they arrived here two minutes ago or or 100 years ago or 10,000 years ago, all know that to be fundamentally true.
00:16:51.880So that's a message that I want to put that I want to push.
00:16:55.460And we already have two political we already have two woke political parties in B.C.
00:17:01.380Well, it sounds great, Aaron, and good for you, because so many politicians in the center and on the right are afraid to say what you just said, because they don't want to be canceled.
00:17:10.860They don't want to upset the sort of, you know, gatekeepers or the cultural gatekeepers who push really, really, you know, woke nonsense that is so offside with the general public that people just shake their heads in disbelief at some of the things you hear.
00:17:27.240I'll give you an example. I read a couple of weeks ago about B.C. council or city councilors petitioning to change the name of British Columbia.
00:17:35.020I can't imagine a more unpopular notion among British Columbians to change the name of the province, you know, for something that people are so proud of.
00:17:44.780And it's been a part of the history and a part of the culture, a part of who you are as a British Columbian.
00:17:51.660And it's right there in the name. And to say that we should change that is just so off-putting to so many people.
00:17:57.580I think they shake their head and they almost want to disengage from politics.
00:18:00.980So good for you for standing up for this sort of common sense idea, standing against what I hope more politicians learn from you, Aaron, and see that, you know, you don't have to cower.
00:18:11.920You don't have to pretend to be something you're not. And articulating the ideas that are probably firmly held beliefs of most Canadians, most British Columbians, shouldn't be something that disqualifies you from politics.
00:18:25.800What do you think your candidacy and you running, what does it mean for outsiders and people who might consider getting into politics but don't want to?
00:18:36.240What do you think it means for establishment political parties in Canada?
00:18:41.040Well, we'll see how it goes. But I think there's lots of people on the outside who are watching this race very closely, who are watching my candidacy very closely.
00:18:51.080Because, I mean, you kind of identified it right there. It's a challenge to the political establishment from the growing body of people who are outside that establishment but have built large followings.
00:19:02.180And I think it's a test case to see what I view as democracy in action.
00:19:09.320Look, I have a lot of faith in everyday people.
00:19:13.540And people are at the core of what politics is all about.
00:19:16.900And I think that people haven't been served well by our current crop of political choices.
00:19:22.100So if you believe that and you have a following to do something about it, it's time to put that theory to the test.
00:19:29.880And I do think if we are successful, it will be a wake-up call to establishment politicians and establishment political parties all across the country that they're vulnerable.
00:19:39.320And hopefully a rallying cry to those on the outside who want to make a difference, that it's time to step up in various jurisdictions and start turning things around in this country.
00:19:53.380Well, Aaron Gunn, we will be watching this race very closely.
00:19:57.340It's really exciting to see someone like yourself involved in the process.
00:20:01.540And we will certainly be following this throughout the campaign.
00:20:05.680Thank you so much for joining the show.
00:20:06.960Thank you so much for having me, Candace.