The Candice Malcolm Show - CBC journalists lash out at conservatives for talking to Trump

00:00:00.000 hi and welcome to the candace malcolm show i'm your host candace malcolm thank you so much for

00:00:10.080 joining us today so what a news day it was yesterday what an just incredible moment

00:00:15.120 of our time i i want to tell you a little bit so yesterday afternoon i spent my afternoons with my

00:00:21.080 kids and uh i also wanted to watch the inauguration the swearing in ceremony had already recorded my

00:00:26.500 show so there i was in the kitchen with three of my four kids uh we're baking some banana muffins and

00:00:32.420 i had my laptop open with the inauguration on it was a replay at that point but it was really fun my

00:00:37.900 kids call uh president trump they call him president trumpet um i don't know why that they always comp it

00:00:44.020 um and they were kind of engaged asking tons and tons of questions and i was kind of making them

00:00:48.720 watch it but then they liked it and they got excited when they did the prayer and they they said we pray

00:00:53.260 to god too and they're praying and it was just very uh wholesome very cute and i think it was just an

00:00:57.880 exciting moment right like trump promised to bring in a golden age of america of american capitalism and

00:01:05.260 i really hope that canada will be on board with that i hope that canada will be part of that movement

00:01:11.280 and so really wanted to take it all in we're going to go through all the latest today including

00:01:16.360 the tariffs uh and how our government is responding and how our elites are responding to

00:01:22.060 those who are actually taking action and making inroads down in washington so first as you know

00:01:27.740 donald trump was sworn in yesterday the 47th president of the united states it was an indoor

00:01:32.860 ceremony in the u.s capital rotunda and it was marking the start of his second term not consecutive

00:01:39.540 terms so again quite a feat here is donald trump swearing the oath

00:01:44.600 i donald trump do solemnly swear i donald trump do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute

00:01:54.020 that i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states the office of

00:02:00.620 president of the united states and will to the best of my ability and will to the best of my ability

00:02:07.240 Preserve, protect, and defend.

00:02:09.240 Preserve, protect, and defend.

00:02:11.240 The Constitution of the United States.

00:02:13.240 The Constitution of the United States.

00:02:15.240 So help me God.

00:02:16.240 So help me God.

00:02:17.240 Congratulations, Mr. President.

00:02:29.240 What a moment. What a moment.

00:02:31.240 I just want to comment on Melania Trump, Donald Trump's wife there, looking spectacular. 0.89

00:02:36.240 And a lot of people were commenting on that outfit.

00:02:38.240 Is it a throw to Men in Black or V for Vendetta?

00:02:41.240 Certainly, Melania Trump was not happy that Joe Biden's FBI raided her house at Mar-a-Lago,

00:02:48.240 reportedly raiding her closet, as well as then 18-year-old Baron Trump's bedroom.

00:02:54.240 Unbelievable.

00:02:55.240 So anyway, also, Trump's family is just beautiful.

00:02:58.240 I don't know.

00:02:59.240 Not very many people talk about this.

00:03:01.240 But you can tell a lot about a person, obviously, by the way that their family appears and presents.

00:03:06.240 Everybody in Trump's family is incredibly healthy, incredibly fit.

00:03:09.240 They're all very elegant people.

00:03:11.240 They all are involved in the business.

00:03:13.240 They're all very successful, not only in their professional lives, but in their personal lives.

00:03:16.240 They all have lots of kids.

00:03:18.240 Most of them have great, happy marriages.

00:03:21.240 So really just a testament to Trump, the man, and his character for raising such a wonderful family.

00:03:27.240 Trump went right to work.

00:03:29.240 So, you know, the inauguration happened.

00:03:31.240 There were celebrations throughout Washington.

00:03:32.240 It seemed like a very fun, energetic time to be in Washington.

00:03:36.240 I saw some great clips of, there was one of Tucker Carlson just walking down the street, and it was like he was walking through a small town.

00:03:42.240 Everybody was saying, hi, Tucker.

00:03:43.240 Hi, Tucker.

00:03:44.240 Hi, Tucker.

00:03:45.240 You know, congratulations and all this stuff.

00:03:46.240 And he just seems like a super happy, friendly guy.

00:03:49.240 While the rest of Washington were celebrating and a lot of conservatives were celebrating, Trump went right to work and began signing executive order after executive order.

00:03:59.240 So he reportedly signed over 200 executive orders on day one.

00:04:04.240 The very first thing he did was signed one order rescinding 78 executive orders left over from the presidency of Joe Biden, including at least a dozen measures which had supported DEI initiatives.

00:04:18.240 So those are gone.

00:04:20.240 Next, he announced the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, informing the United Nations that the U.S. would withdraw from the landmark climate treaty.

00:04:29.240 So I think we can happily at this point say that the entire Green New Deal, Green New Economy, Justin Trudeau, Mark Carney, their whole shtick about taxing our economy with carbon taxes in some effort to encourage countries like China and India to lower their emissions.

00:04:47.240 That era is dead.

00:04:48.240 That approach was a failed approach.

00:04:50.240 And I think we can all happily move on from there.

00:04:53.240 Trump wasn't done, of course.

00:04:54.240 He announced that he would be withdrawing from the World Health Organization, just completely abandoning that organization.

00:05:01.240 The United States, of course, is the number one largest financial contributor to that organization.

00:05:06.240 So quite a blow to the WHO.

00:05:09.240 Of course, that is the organization that was behind so much of the horrible, tyrannical policies during the COVID era.

00:05:16.240 Next, Donald Trump announced a federal hiring freeze.

00:05:20.240 He did exempt the military and a few other categories, but otherwise there will be no new bureaucrats hired to the federal government in Washington.

00:05:27.240 He also announced a regulatory freeze halting all new regulations until full government control is established.

00:05:35.240 He called for all federal employees to resume back to work, back full time, back in person, in offices.

00:05:42.240 I think that one of the huge victories that conservatives and any classical liberal or libertarian was celebrating was the free speech protections that were ensured and that were brought in.

00:05:58.240 So the order restoring the freedom of speech and the prevention of government censorship.

00:06:03.240 Next, I mentioned this one quite briefly on the show yesterday, but Donald Trump announced that he would be removing gender ideology guidance from the federal government from communication policies and forms.

00:06:15.240 The order makes it official policy that there are only two genders, male and female.

00:06:20.240 Talk about common sense.

00:06:22.240 Talk about something that was basically universally agreed upon until a couple of minutes ago and the left hijacked everything and now we are taking it back.

00:06:31.240 So great to see that from Trump.

00:06:34.240 He also issued a pardon to the January six protesters, the nonviolent protesters who were caught up in a political witch hunt.

00:06:42.240 Many ended up in jail.

00:06:44.240 So those were all pardoned.

00:06:47.240 He also ordered.

00:06:48.240 This is huge.

00:06:49.240 This is huge.

00:06:50.240 He ordered that the government reinstate and offer full payback to any service members who expelled from the military for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccination.

00:07:02.240 So full reinstatement and back pay.

00:07:05.240 Don't you just wish that we would do something like this in Canada?

00:07:08.240 So many of these things that Trump ushered in on day one here are sorely, sorely needed in Canada.

00:07:14.240 I wish that Pierre Polyev and the conservatives would talk more about these kind of things.

00:07:19.240 Interestingly, things in Canada are kind of treated like they're fringe and that they're not mainstream.

00:07:25.240 And yet here they are, the law of the land, mainstream in the United States.

00:07:29.240 I think they are mainstream up here in Canada.

00:07:31.240 It's just that our elites have hijacked the institution so we don't hear from them.

00:07:34.240 What else did Trump do?

00:07:35.240 Trump designated drug cartels as terrorist entities, which now means that they can be targeted using lethal force.

00:07:42.240 Oh, my goodness.

00:07:44.240 Trump is just absolutely unleashing on enemies of the United States, including completely changing immigration rules surrounding refugees and asylum claims, securing that border, mass deportations.

00:07:58.240 We saw it all.

00:07:59.240 What an exciting time for our American friends.

00:08:02.240 One thing that was absent from those executive orders, and this again was a theme of yesterday's podcast, was that there was no day one tariffs.

00:08:09.240 So as you recall, Trump had previously said on day one in his executive orders, he would bring in tariffs on Canada 25%.

00:08:16.240 Well, they didn't happen yesterday.

00:08:18.240 So Canadians were breathing a sigh of relief.

00:08:20.240 I don't know if they were celebrating because it's still a looming situation.

00:08:24.240 I said we dodged a bullet.

00:08:26.240 So it turns out that Trump is still planning to bring in those tariffs.

00:08:31.240 So at the Resolute desk, which is Trump's office in the Oval Office there, he was signing executive orders.

00:08:37.240 Someone from the press asked him, what about Mexico?

00:08:40.240 What about the tariffs?

00:08:42.240 And here is what Donald Trump had to say.

00:08:45.240 Where are you thinking on tariffs on Mexico given these actions you're signing on the border?

00:08:50.240 Well, we're thinking in terms of 25% on Mexico and Canada because they're allowing vast numbers of people. 0.62

00:08:58.240 Canada is a very bad abuser also.

00:09:01.240 Vast numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in.

00:09:04.240 When do you think you would enact those?

00:09:06.240 I think February 1st.

00:09:07.240 Are you planning to even go through that?

00:09:09.240 I think we'll do it February 1st.

00:09:11.240 You have it, folks.

00:09:13.240 February 1st.

00:09:14.240 So ten days, nine days until he is going to, or less than that, going to bring in those tariffs.

00:09:20.240 You heard it right from them.

00:09:21.240 And again, he cites the same concerns that he had initially, right?

00:09:24.240 So there's all these other questions that are being floated when it comes to Canada and concerns over our economy,

00:09:30.240 things like supply management and unfair trading practices, questions about our military, lack of military spending.

00:09:37.240 You know, Trump had complained about Canada basically getting subsidized by the U.S. military.

00:09:42.240 But the main concern that he addressed when he first got elected and that he repeated right there are over borders and migration and over fentanyl trafficking, drug trafficking.

00:09:53.240 These are two known problems in Canada.

00:09:55.240 These are issues that are real and are real concerns to so many Canadians, so many conservatives, so many people on the right.

00:10:02.240 So many Canadians have been talking about these two issues, our border, our porous border, open border policies, all kinds of radical extremists,

00:10:10.240 people who hate our country, who come here to do harm to our country, are being let in.

00:10:15.240 Some of them sneak into the United States.

00:10:17.240 That's a problem.

00:10:18.240 It's a problem that they're in Canada in the first place. 0.97

00:10:20.240 And then this issue of fentanyl and drugs.

00:10:23.240 You know, when a country legalizes drugs and says you can use drugs without any penalty, we'll even help you, we'll even help facilitate it.

00:10:30.240 It sends a message to everyone around the world that you can push it even further, that you can go ahead and traffic these drugs with little consequence.

00:10:38.240 And it should stop.

00:10:40.240 It should stop.

00:10:41.240 If Canada were a serious country, it wouldn't take the United States and these threats from Donald Trump to do the right thing and uphold the rule of law and uphold their ideals and justice in our country.

00:10:51.240 The fact that it is taking pressure from Trump tells you something about our political leadership class in this country.

00:10:58.240 Well, Trump wasn't done there.

00:11:00.240 He was later asked who would be the first foreign leader that he would contact.

00:11:04.240 Maybe a bit of a compliment here.

00:11:06.240 He does say Canada.

00:11:07.240 But he doesn't say that he's going to call our prime minister.

00:11:11.240 Here is what Trump had to say.

00:11:14.240 It's a big question, though.

00:11:15.240 It's a very big question.

00:11:16.240 Who is going to be the first foreign leader that you plan to meet or who you're going to call tomorrow?

00:11:21.240 I've already been meeting people.

00:11:22.240 I've been meeting them.

00:11:23.240 I've been talking to them.

00:11:26.240 I met with Prime Minister Trudeau, like all Governor Trudeau.

00:11:32.240 I met with numerous foreign leaders.

00:11:36.240 So he's already met with Governor Trudeau.

00:11:39.240 There Trump goes with the jab, belittling Trudeau.

00:11:43.240 It's just so odd that Trudeau is the one that is representing Canada.

00:11:47.240 He announced his resignation.

00:11:49.240 He's no longer going to be the prime minister.

00:11:51.240 Why is he still the prime minister?

00:11:53.240 Why don't we have an election?

00:11:54.240 That is the theme of every show, folks, because it's the biggest question in the country.

00:11:59.240 Why is he still here?

00:12:00.240 Why is he allowed to represent us?

00:12:02.240 We need a leader that has a mandate.

00:12:04.240 We need an election.

00:12:05.240 We need an election.

00:12:06.240 Speaking of immigration, and again, that is the issue that Trump is most concerned upon.

00:12:11.240 I think it is the most important issue in the country.

00:12:14.240 Well, this story came out.

00:12:16.240 News broke.

00:12:17.240 Just as Donald Trump was making those executive orders and signing those orders, we learned

00:12:23.240 that authorities are investigating a fatal shooting of a border patrol agent on the I-91,

00:12:29.240 which is the freeway connecting the United States to Quebec.

00:12:33.240 So the report says that an illegal immigrant shot and killed a US border patrol agent at

00:12:40.240 a check stop near the border.

00:12:43.240 Unbelievable.

00:12:44.240 Presumably he was coming from Canada, presumably across the border.

00:12:47.240 We don't know.

00:12:48.240 The details are still very unclear.

00:12:49.240 But this just scores and underlines and highlights the problem, the real problem that we have

00:12:56.240 with out of control immigration and illegal immigration and the steps that people who

00:13:03.240 are illegally in the country, things that they're willing to do like shoot and kill a 1.00

00:13:07.240 border patrol agent.

00:13:08.240 Our thoughts and prayers go out to their family.

00:13:10.240 And I hope they find this person and throw the book at them.

00:13:14.240 I hope that the illegal immigrant who shot and killed this border patrol agent never sees

00:13:20.240 the light of day again.

00:13:22.240 All right.

00:13:23.240 Well, today, Justin Trudeau woke up and held a press conference where he doubled down on

00:13:28.240 his counter threats to Donald Trump.

00:13:31.240 He says, if Trump is going to issue some tariffs, we're going to turn around and issue tariffs of

00:13:35.240 our own.

00:13:36.240 Here's that clip.

00:13:37.240 You said earlier that everything is on the table.

00:13:40.240 I assume that includes fully matching the 25 percent tariffs the Trump administration

00:13:44.240 is proposing.

00:13:45.240 How quickly do you think the Canadian government could ramp that up?

00:13:48.240 And if you do have to take that measure, isn't it Canadian consumers who will feel the

00:13:52.240 brunt of that?

00:13:53.240 First of all, as I said, everything is on the table and I support the principle of dollar

00:14:02.240 for dollar matching tariffs.

00:14:05.240 It's something that we are absolutely going to be looking at if that is how they move

00:14:11.240 forward.

00:14:12.240 So there's Trudeau putting it all on the table.

00:14:15.240 Again, Canadians will pay the price.

00:14:17.240 Canadians will pay the price.

00:14:18.240 Rather than standing there and saying that, yeah, we're going to retaliate, we're going to

00:14:22.240 go dollar for dollar.

00:14:23.240 Look, it's not going to hurt the United States as much as it will hurt Canada.

00:14:27.240 It will hurt Canada much, much, much more.

00:14:30.240 A responsible reaction to this would say, no, we're going to try to negotiate.

00:14:36.240 We're going to try to make the case for the Americans to not put these tariffs on.

00:14:40.240 We're going to try to make the case that these tariffs are a tax on U.S.

00:14:44.240 consumers and that it is not worth it for them to do it.

00:14:48.240 Instead, Justin Trudeau just plays his full hand and says, yes, we're just going to further

00:14:54.240 destroy the Canadian economy and further hurt Canadian consumers.

00:14:58.240 Danielle Smith strongly opposes that idea.

00:15:01.240 So here she was on CC yesterday standing firm in her opposition to retaliatory tariffs.

00:15:08.240 We spoke to Dominic LeBlanc this morning and we were talking about the first minister's

00:15:14.240 meeting and he said, you know, we got a grade of 12 out of 13, which is like an A-plus

00:15:19.240 grade, but it's not perfect.

00:15:22.240 Presumably, Alberta was the grade that they didn't quite get.

00:15:25.240 And then you have Premier Ford saying that it left him with the impression that maybe

00:15:31.240 you weren't putting Canada first, you're putting Alberta first.

00:15:34.240 What do you say to that?

00:15:35.240 Well, I can tell you I would never go out publicly and say we should stop selling car parts as

00:15:40.240 a way of making a point to the Americans and hurt Ontario.

00:15:43.240 I'd never go out and say we should stop selling aluminum to Americans as a way to make a point

00:15:47.240 to hurt Quebec.

00:15:48.240 And it hurt me that they felt that they could make that same argument that Alberta should

00:15:52.240 sacrifice our interests in order to try to advance some kind of trade war.

00:15:58.240 I take a different approach.

00:15:59.240 Let's stop fighting with each other.

00:16:01.240 Let's maybe try to remove some of the internal trade barriers.

00:16:04.240 Maybe my fellow premiers can stop blocking pipelines when we propose them to either the

00:16:08.240 West or East Coast.

00:16:09.240 And maybe this should be a moment of reckoning for us as a country, that part of the reason

00:16:14.240 all of us look North-South is because for the years it made it very difficult to do business

00:16:20.240 East-West.

00:16:21.240 So maybe that's what we should be talking about, is how to contact each other so collectively

00:16:26.240 we can sell our products to the world.

00:16:28.240 Whether that's to America or whether it's off the West Coast or whether it's off the East Coast.

00:16:31.240 Maybe that's a far more constructive conversation to have than how do you sacrifice one province's

00:16:36.240 interests in order to be able to protect the rest.

00:16:38.240 And unfortunately we don't have to have that conversation today because we don't have tariffs

00:16:42.240 and we have the ability to have both of those conversations, a constructive conversation

00:16:45.240 with each other and then a constructive conversation with our American friends.

00:16:50.240 Everything Danielle Smith said there is correct.

00:16:53.240 Every single bit of what she said is absolutely correct.

00:16:57.240 We need a reckoning.

00:16:58.240 We need to look at our own policies here.

00:17:01.240 We need to listen to what our partner is saying.

00:17:04.240 Yes, we don't face immediate impending tariffs, but they're coming.

00:17:09.240 They're coming in eight days according to Trump.

00:17:12.240 So again, it's not about Danielle Smith not standing up for Canada.

00:17:17.240 She's not just standing up for Alberta, let me just say.

00:17:20.240 I'm not in Alberta.

00:17:21.240 I don't live in Alberta.

00:17:22.240 And I completely agree with what Danielle is saying and what she is advocating for.

00:17:26.240 She is speaking for many, many Canadians, even outside of Alberta.

00:17:31.240 We don't want to trade war.

00:17:32.240 We don't want to go down that path.

00:17:34.240 We will lose.

00:17:35.240 We are a much, much smaller country, much, much smaller market than the Americans.

00:17:40.240 But again, we have a leadership vacuum in Ottawa.

00:17:43.240 Justin Trudeau doesn't represent Canadians.

00:17:46.240 He doesn't stand for us anymore.

00:17:48.240 And because of that leadership vacuum, here we have each individual province out there negotiating on their own.

00:17:55.240 So we had Doug Ford come out yesterday threatening his own tariffs.

00:17:59.240 He said that Ontario, that the United States will feel the pain of Ontario.

00:18:03.240 What is he going to do?

00:18:04.240 He says he's going to remove American alcohol from government liquor store shelves in Ontario.

00:18:11.240 Ooh, I'm sure the Americans are very, very afraid.

00:18:15.240 So basically, in other words, he's going to punish Canadians.

00:18:18.240 He's going to force us to drink bad, I'm sorry, bad Canadian wine and whiskey rather than being able to buy bourbon and Bordeaux from California.

00:18:29.240 I don't see that as feeling the pain, Premier Ford, with all due respect.

00:18:34.240 That is punishing us, the consumers, not punishing the Americans.

00:18:39.240 I don't know that they'll even really notice it.

00:18:42.240 Danielle Smith, on the other hand, is calling on Ottawa to listen to other aspects of what Trump has talked about.

00:18:50.240 She has called on Ottawa to accelerate defense spending to meet the 2% target that NATO sets out.

00:18:56.240 And again, just arguing that Canada needs to up its game.

00:19:00.240 We need to act like a proper, serious country.

00:19:03.240 If we want Trump to take us seriously, if we want the talk of annexation and 51st state and Governor Trudeau, if we want it to end, then we need to carry our own weight.

00:19:11.240 We need to up our game.

00:19:12.240 One of those things would be through military spending.

00:19:15.240 Let's play that clip.

00:19:17.240 You tweeted something interesting today calling on Ottawa to announce, I just want to make sure I get this right, a major acceleration of the 2% target of GDP for defense.

00:19:28.240 Why that? Why now?

00:19:30.240 What has led you to focus on that in your tweet right now?

00:19:33.240 I've been trying to get to the bottom of why the U.S. President keeps saying that America is subsidizing Canada.

00:19:39.240 And one of the arguments that he makes is the trade deficit.

00:19:43.240 But my argument to that is if you take energy out of the picture, we actually buy more U.S. goods and services than they buy from us.

00:19:49.240 So we actually are the ones with the deficit.

00:19:51.240 And I think we can make that argument.

00:19:52.240 I think we can also make an argument about how our discounted energy gets value added in the U.S.

00:19:59.240 And then it gets exported internationally and they benefit from that too.

00:20:02.240 And so I think we can make the trade deficit argument.

00:20:05.240 But what keeps coming up is that we're not meeting our NATO commitment.

00:20:09.240 We're not meeting our defense spending.

00:20:11.240 The Americans believe that we're free riding on the security that they provide.

00:20:15.240 And they've made that point since Donald Trump was in office the first time.

00:20:19.240 And so you've seen all of the premiers.

00:20:21.240 We have repeatedly at our joint conferences asked for the federal government to take that 2% target seriously.

00:20:27.240 And I think we have to if we're going to avoid any future trade actions.

00:20:31.240 So Danielle Smith is down in Washington. 0.69

00:20:34.240 She's working the room.

00:20:35.240 She's talking to people.

00:20:36.240 She's meeting with folks.

00:20:37.240 We saw her meet with with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend.

00:20:41.240 Well, she's there again, not just meeting with Trump, but meeting with his closest advisors, with people being sworn into his cabinet.

00:20:48.240 She is down there hearing the conversation.

00:20:50.240 So what she's probably hearing, as she said there, is that Canada needs to up its game on military.

00:20:55.240 So that would be a very good first start.

00:20:58.240 David Knight Lag is a commentator.

00:21:01.240 His ex profile says he's an advisor to governments, energy and financial firms.

00:21:05.240 He had a really insightful post that was put out, I believe, this morning or maybe last night.

00:21:11.240 And this morning, I'm going to read a little bit of it because he is completely hitting the nail on the head here.

00:21:17.240 He writes this, terrorists aren't coming today.

00:21:20.240 Thank Premier Smith for being in D.C. this weekend, actively making the case for avoiding a tariff war by sitting down with the president's closest advisors.

00:21:29.240 You can see her at the galas.

00:21:30.240 You can see her at the embassy.

00:21:32.240 He writes, my friend Andrew Coyne thinks this is appeasement.

00:21:34.240 We'll get to that in a minute.

00:21:36.240 I think it's committed diplomacy.

00:21:38.240 She's making a clear case, not selling out.

00:21:41.240 And where were the feds?

00:21:42.240 Who were they meeting with?

00:21:44.240 She's talking about Justin Trudeau.

00:21:45.240 Where was Justin Trudeau?

00:21:47.240 He writes, I'm at the inauguration with some friends who will serve in the new administration.

00:21:51.240 I've been at some receptions and galas and conversations about Canada and tariffs keep coming up.

00:21:57.240 Yesterday morning, the Trump team delayed tariffs and made it clear again.

00:22:01.240 They are about getting Mexico and Canada to solve for border security.

00:22:06.240 And private people say Mexico is preparing a clinical response to the border and drug issue.

00:22:11.240 But Canada is MIA except for Daniel Smith talking about energy security.

00:22:18.240 So the feds are nowhere to be found.

00:22:20.240 Justin Trudeau is nowhere to be found.

00:22:21.240 Where is he?

00:22:22.240 He's talking to reporters in Canada, not talking to the people that matter in Washington, D.C.

00:22:27.240 He writes, here's what I'm hearing.

00:22:29.240 One, virtually no one in D.C. could tell you who or what the federal Canadian government is doing to fix a broken border and the security, military and trade and NATO freeloading issues, which were the basis of the original tariff threat.

00:22:43.240 Two, Danielle Smith is making friends and influencing people.

00:22:47.240 She is focused on direct conversations with the president's closest advisors who will decide energy and foreign trade policy, including people like Burgum, Rubio and Wright.

00:22:58.240 Canadian fed naysayers, meanwhile, aren't here, preferring to be on the CBC while she's taking interviews on Fox.

00:23:06.240 Next, Canada's leadership vacuum is obvious.

00:23:09.240 No one down here understands how a prime minister can resign and suspend a democracy for three months so his party can have a leadership race.

00:23:19.240 I completely agree with you on this one, David Knight.

00:23:22.240 How is that even possible?

00:23:23.240 It doesn't even make any sense.

00:23:25.240 Number four, he writes, the American priority is security, economic, border, Arctic and NATO.

00:23:32.240 Anyone in Canadian politics who wants to talk about the need to explain how we are actually going to fix our broken borders and weak national security.

00:23:41.240 He goes on, he writes, while the feds have no coherent message or presence on the core security issues, Premier Smith is actively addressing energy security with all Canadian arguments that our energy is key to the US national security.

00:23:56.240 Correct.

00:23:57.240 Correct.

00:23:58.240 That we get it today at a discounted price.

00:24:01.240 And that when the energy trade is deducted from all other sectors, the Americans actually enjoy a trade surplus with Canada of over 50 billion dollars.

00:24:11.240 These are all great arguments.

00:24:12.240 And you can check out the video below, which is the interview that we just played.

00:24:17.240 Um, she's actively meeting and explaining energy economics to defend against tariffs on all Canadian goods.

00:24:24.240 So what exactly are you doing?

00:24:27.240 The tariff threat isn't gone, just delayed to see on the border.

00:24:32.240 Maybe it's time to get to DC and start talking to the US media and the White House instead of just taking cheap shots on the CBC.

00:24:41.240 He's talking there to Justin Trudeau and to the liberals.

00:24:44.240 It's a much tougher crowd down here.

00:24:46.240 You'll need real answers, but it would be the right thing to do for your team, for Team Canada and our economic and national security.

00:24:54.240 Danielle can show you the ropes.

00:24:56.240 She's a team player. 0.99

00:24:57.240 She just doesn't stay on the bench. 1.00

00:24:59.240 I agree with that 100%.

00:25:01.240 Danielle Smith is there making inroads for all Canadians.

00:25:05.240 It's not just Albertans.

00:25:06.240 It's all Canadians. 0.87

00:25:07.240 And what is the reaction?

00:25:09.240 What is the reaction that we see from the elites here in Canada?

00:25:12.240 Well, Andrew Coyne of the Globe and Mail and Talking Head on the CBC called Danielle Smith an appeaser.

00:25:20.240 Here he tweets, Premier appeaser has had better days.

00:25:24.240 Didn't get the tariff shifted and didn't score inauguration tickets.

00:25:30.240 So, Mr. Grumpy is very, very bitter and angry and calling Danielle Smith an appeaser.

00:25:40.240 No, she's just down there actually leading conversations and doing the right thing.

00:25:44.240 Next, we had Kevin O'Leary, who again, you know from previous episodes of the podcast, he was the one that facilitated Danielle Smith going down to Mar-a-Lago.

00:25:52.240 He is out there proposing a deal with a lot of energy, a lot of excitement, talking about how Canada can benefit from a Trump presidency and how we can come up with a better deal.

00:26:03.240 Well, he was on a CBC podcast called The Front Burner.

00:26:07.240 It's a 35 minute interview. I recommend you go listen to the whole thing because it's really fascinating.

00:26:12.240 He's arguing with this leftist journalist.

00:26:15.240 Basically, she's just trying to debunk everything he's saying, but he understands the issue like 10 times better than she does.

00:26:21.240 So she just ends up coming across really, really unfortunate.

00:26:26.240 This is kind of a key moment of the interview where she basically says that Kevin O'Leary is acting treasonous with his ideas. Here's that clip.

00:26:36.240 There was a big meeting earlier this week with all of the premiers, cabinet ministers that have been going down to Mar-a-Lago.

00:26:44.240 There are people that have been working on this before Trump even got elected.

00:26:47.240 I want to be transparent with you. I advise Trump to ignore them because they're going to be gone soon. And you may think that's treason. It's not.

00:26:54.240 A lot of people think that that's treasonous. And so how would you respond to that?

00:26:59.240 And I'll tell you why I have the right to do that.

00:27:00.240 They see you kind of meddling in a situation that you have no mandate to meddle in.

00:27:05.240 I have a Canadian passport. I'm a Canadian citizen. I do not want Justin Trudeau negotiating for me. He's an idiot. Sorry.

00:27:14.240 Okay. It's called free speech lady. It's called freedom of speech. 1.00

00:27:19.240 Kevin O'Leary as a successful multimillionaire and businessman is free to have any conversation that he wants.

00:27:26.240 If he's friends with Donald Trump because they run in the same social circles and he has ideas and opinions, he is more than welcome to voice his opinions and his thoughts.

00:27:35.240 We live in a free society, or at least we should. And the CBC journalist says that it's treasonous.

00:27:40.240 Hey, I'm old enough to remember when it was the CBC and leftist journalists and elites that were saying that people who were calling Justin Trudeau treasonous and a traitor,

00:27:49.240 that that was somehow right-wing extremism and that it was domestic terrorism and that it was dangerous.

00:27:54.240 But look how the tides have turned and it's totally reasonable for them to call you treasonous if you, what, think Justin Trudeau is an idiot?

00:28:01.240 Think Justin Trudeau shouldn't be down there negotiating?

00:28:04.240 Well, I've got news for the CBC.

00:28:06.240 77%, this is according to a recent poll, 77% of Canadians want an immediate election.

00:28:13.240 An immediate election given so the exact reason so that the next government can have a strong mandate to deal with Trump's threats.

00:28:21.240 Read into that. 77% of Canadians don't want Trudeau down there negotiating with Trump.

00:28:27.240 They want an election. They want one now.

00:28:30.240 So, I mean, unbelievable that you would say that it's treasonous to go down there and have a conversation.

00:28:35.240 That wasn't the only fake news that came out of yesterday.

00:28:38.240 I think this one was making the rounds.

00:28:40.240 And, boy, calling Elon Musk a Nazi.

00:28:44.240 Calling Elon Musk a Nazi.

00:28:45.240 That probably should have been on our Inauguration Day bingo card.

00:28:50.240 Someone was going to get called a Nazi.

00:28:51.240 Unfortunately, it fell on Elon Musk.

00:28:53.240 So, what was the context here?

00:28:55.240 Elon Musk is giving a speech.

00:28:57.240 Look, he's an eccentric guy.

00:28:58.240 He's, you know, known for kind of having very odd sometimes facial expressions.

00:29:04.240 And hand motions.

00:29:06.240 Probably a little bit on the spectrum.

00:29:08.240 And because of that, sometimes he acts a little bit goofy.

00:29:11.240 Here he is giving a speech.

00:29:13.240 Telling the American people that they have saved the country.

00:29:16.240 That they have saved the world.

00:29:17.240 He was incredibly worried about the direction things were going under the Democrats in the deep state.

00:29:23.240 So, Elon Musk is saying, from the bottom of my heart.

00:29:25.240 From my heart to you.

00:29:27.240 Thank you.

00:29:28.240 Okay?

00:29:29.240 Maybe he didn't express it in the most eloquent way.

00:29:32.240 But that's what he was saying.

00:29:34.240 From my heart to yours.

00:29:35.240 You can see it in the full clip here.

00:29:37.240 This is Elon Musk.

00:29:38.240 And I just want to say thank you for making it happen.

00:29:43.240 Thank you.

00:29:50.240 My heart goes out to you.

00:29:53.240 My heart goes out to you.

00:29:54.240 From my heart to yours.

00:29:56.240 And, again, the media just jump on it.

00:29:59.240 They just pounce.

00:30:00.240 Here is Andrew Coyne saying, look, maybe Elon didn't intend to make a Nazi salute.

00:30:05.240 But here's a prediction.

00:30:08.240 Some Magaloons are going to start doing it in solidarity with him. 1.00

00:30:11.240 Okay.

00:30:12.240 Okay.

00:30:13.240 Move on over there.

00:30:14.240 Next, we had Warren Kinsella saying, look, I understand why some Jewish friends have chosen

00:30:19.240 to deny or minimize Musk's salute.

00:30:21.240 They'd gone all in on Trump and they felt trapped despite what they'd seen with their own eyes.

00:30:26.240 And now, and that's how partisanship works.

00:30:29.240 Well, folks, chips away at reality and it makes you blind.

00:30:33.240 No, Warren, no.

00:30:34.240 Just stop.

00:30:35.240 Just stop.

00:30:36.240 Elon Musk is not a Nazi.

00:30:38.240 He was not trying to do a Nazi salute.

00:30:40.240 And let's not waste any more time on that.

00:30:43.240 Okay.

00:30:44.240 Real quick here.

00:30:45.240 I want to get to Chrystia Freeland, a liberal, running for liberal leader.

00:30:49.240 And she was on CP breakfast, CP24 breakfast show yesterday and just didn't waste any time

00:30:58.240 in absolutely shredding her former boss, Justin Trudeau, throwing him under the bus

00:31:04.240 and whining and complaining about how she treated, how he treated her in the run up to her resigning

00:31:10.240 as finance minister.

00:31:11.240 Let's play that clip.

00:31:12.240 Let's go back to the disagreement you're having with the prime minister, because let's

00:31:15.240 say you win this race.

00:31:17.240 Of course, there's several people in the race right now.

00:31:19.240 If there was a disagreement in your cabinet, how would you handle things differently?

00:31:22.240 Like if your finance minister came to you and said, you know, prime minister, I think

00:31:27.240 we're on the wrong track here.

00:31:29.240 How would you tackle that differently than what the experience you've had was?

00:31:31.240 Well, probably I wouldn't tell my finance minister I was going to fire her the day after she delivered 0.99

00:31:38.240 the fall economic statement.

00:31:39.240 I probably wouldn't say that three days before she was supposed to deliver it.

00:31:42.240 Mm-hmm.

00:31:43.240 Interesting note there.

00:31:44.240 Yeah.

00:31:45.240 Step one, right?

00:31:46.240 Step one.

00:31:47.240 Yeah.

00:31:48.240 Okay.

00:31:49.240 So brutal.

00:31:50.240 That was so awkward.

00:31:51.240 Okay.

00:31:52.240 Probably if you're out there making a positive pitch for Canada, don't start complaining about

00:31:56.240 the way that you were fired.

00:31:57.240 Look, I'm here for it.

00:31:58.240 I'm all for Christia Freeland throwing Justin Trudeau under the bus and exposing how terrible

00:32:04.240 and tyrannical he is behind the scenes.

00:32:06.240 Uh, but the way that she did that, that interview just kind of came across as awkward, fell a 0.83

00:32:10.240 little flat there, Christia Freeland.

00:32:12.240 Um, and yeah, we all know that Justin Trudeau, you know, if, if, if you become inconvenient

00:32:18.240 to him, you're gone, you're gone. 0.53

00:32:20.240 And that's how he treated her.

00:32:21.240 And we'll get more, uh, get into that, uh, more in the show tomorrow.

00:32:25.240 But for now, I want to shift focus a little bit and bring on a guest.

00:32:30.240 My guest today is Maxine Bernier, leader and founder of the People's Party of Canada.

00:32:35.240 So Maxine Bernier founded that party in 2018 after leaving the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:32:41.240 He was a member of parliament under the Conservatives for the riding in Beauce, Quebec from 2006

00:32:47.240 to 2019.

00:32:48.240 Uh, during his time in the Harper government, he was in cabinet.

00:32:51.240 He was minister of industry, minister of foreign affairs, and then minister of state for small

00:32:56.240 business.

00:32:57.240 It's great to have Maxine on the show today.

00:33:00.240 And Maxine, thank you so much for joining us.

00:33:03.240 Thank you, Candice.

00:33:04.240 I'm very pleased to be with you.

00:33:06.240 Great.

00:33:07.240 So I want to talk a little bit about the recent decision made by the leaders debate commission.

00:33:12.240 They came out with new eligibility rules for participating in the debate.

00:33:17.240 Now we all hope that election is coming very soon.

00:33:19.240 We all hope that we'll be able to vote to replace this terrible Justin Trudeau liberal government.

00:33:24.240 Um, but it's important that we hear from other parties.

00:33:27.240 And it seems to me, Max, that the leaders debate commission has changed its rules deliberately

00:33:32.240 to exclude you.

00:33:33.240 So I'll just run through a little bit about what's happened back in 2021.

00:33:37.240 The, uh, they, they, they stated that parties need to have either 4% of the vote, one elected

00:33:43.240 MP or 4% in polling.

00:33:45.240 Uh, most recently, uh, you you're polling at around 5% of the country, but you don't

00:33:50.240 have any seats.

00:33:51.240 And so the new rules that they brought in says that you now meet need to meet two of

00:33:55.240 the three criteria, meaning that you have to have an MP 4% nationally polling, um, and,

00:34:02.240 uh, 4% in the last election.

00:34:04.240 And so it seems like they've changed these rules max deliberately to exclude your party.

00:34:09.240 So my question to you is why do you think they're doing this?

00:34:13.240 You're right about that.

00:34:15.240 Actually, they are changing their rules at every election to be sure that we won't participate.

00:34:20.240 Why they're doing that?

00:34:21.240 Because they don't want to have a real debate at the reader's debate.

00:34:25.240 We are, as you know, Candace, the only national political body that is speaking, you know,

00:34:30.240 against mass immigration for mass deportation on a very, very important issues for the country.

00:34:37.240 We are the only voice.

00:34:38.240 And actually we had 840,000 people Canadians who voted for us at the last election.

00:34:44.240 So for me, that's a censorship.

00:34:47.240 They are censoring these people and our voice is not there.

00:34:50.240 Actually, you're right.

00:34:52.240 You're right.

00:34:53.240 You know, we had a, I had a discussion with the leaders debate commission couple of months

00:34:57.240 ago and they called us because they said, you know, that would be the same criteria.

00:35:02.240 Uh, Bernie had 4% of more than 4% of the vote of the last election.

00:35:07.240 So he will be in a national debates.

00:35:09.240 And by the way, we want to have an interview with Bernie and we are doing that.

00:35:13.240 We the leaders debate with every leader to know what would be the best format for the,

00:35:19.240 uh, for the leaders debate.

00:35:21.240 So I was very pleased with that, but, uh, that was a huge surprise for us last week.

00:35:26.240 They came with a new rule and, uh, you're right because they can use the polls and they are saying,

00:35:32.240 you know, 28 days before the election, they will do an average of polls across the country.

00:35:38.240 And if we don't have 4%, we won't be able to participate in the national debates.

00:35:43.240 They did the same thing in 2021 and they use, and we were at that time about at 4.5% in the polls.

00:35:50.240 And they use, uh, you know, a very, a poll that was putting us at 1%, our average went down to 3.2% and they said, you, you're not able to participate.

00:36:01.240 So they're using the same tricks, uh, to, to, to us, to be sure that we won't participate.

00:36:07.240 Um, and that's why, you know, I'm saying Canadians, if you believe in this democracy, because that decision is undemocratic and is unfair.

00:36:17.240 And we want, we need to be there to have that, uh, debate with other leaders.

00:36:23.240 So we have a petition on our website, people's party of Canada.ca.

00:36:27.240 They can sign our petition.

00:36:28.240 They can write to the leaders debate.

00:36:30.240 And I, I will have a meeting this afternoon with a lawyer in Toronto.

00:36:34.240 If we can, you know, do something, but I looked at the, uh, the legislation creating the leaders debate and there's no appeal there.

00:36:43.240 So that would be very difficult for us to, um, to sue them or do something under the law.

00:36:49.240 Well, as you might remember back in 2019, True North took the leaders debate commission, uh, to court.

00:36:55.240 We, uh, demanded a stay and a federal judge actually intervened and ruled on our behalf and said that Andrew Lawton would be allowed to, uh, report on that election and get into the leaders debate.

00:37:06.240 So, uh, you know, we've had some luck suing them, Maxine.

00:37:09.240 You might, you might have to do the same.

00:37:11.240 I want to ask you about immigration because that is one of the strongest issues, um, that you've been speaking about since the inception of the people's party, uh, back in 2018.

00:37:21.240 That was one of the things that was the starkest difference between you and the conservatives.

00:37:25.240 I think the problem of unchecked mass immigration without any kind of integration program has just absolutely deteriorated, uh, the country.

00:37:35.240 And things have gotten so much worse since then, uh, to the point where poll numbers actually reflect the fact that Canadians do want to curb our immigration program.

00:37:44.240 Even the liberals have had to admit that.

00:37:45.240 Um, what is your position now in 2025 when it comes to deportations and Canada's immigration policy?

00:37:52.240 Yeah, what we said in 2019, you know, we wanted at that time to have fewer immigrants, a maximum of 150,000 a year, uh, with, uh, also being sure that we'll do an interview with them.

00:38:05.240 Uh, that was a very reasonable position at that time, but some people were saying because of that position that we were racist and, uh, actually, you know, that's not, we, we don't do politics based on race.

00:38:18.240 We don't do identity politics.

00:38:20.240 We are doing politics based on conviction and our strong vision for this country.

00:38:24.240 So now our position because of that mass immigration, because of the unvetted immigrants that are foreigners that are coming here and our open borders policy, we need to have a moratorium on immigration. 1.00

00:38:36.240 That's our position.

00:38:37.240 And actually that will help to solve the housing crisis.

00:38:41.240 Contrary to the conservatives and they don't want to tackle that.

00:38:46.240 They don't want to stop that mass immigration.

00:38:48.240 We need to do that, not only for the economy.

00:38:51.240 As you know, our standard of standard of living is going down, is going down because we, the economy is growing.

00:38:58.240 We have more and more people who are coming to our country, but, but the growth of our economy is a little bit slower.

00:39:05.240 So the GDP per capita is lower and we are poor.

00:39:09.240 Our standard of living is going down.

00:39:11.240 So we need to change that.

00:39:12.240 And by the way, it's not only because of the economy.

00:39:16.240 It's because also our, you know, the unity of our country, the social, social tissue of our country.

00:39:24.240 You know, these people are coming.

00:39:26.240 You said it, you know, they are not integrating into our society.

00:39:30.240 They are living in ghettos and we don't want that. 1.00

00:39:33.240 We want a person that will come here, being able to have a job and being part of our society.

00:39:38.240 But that's why, at the same time, we need to end the Multiculturalism Act. 1.00

00:39:44.240 We need to repeal that act.

00:39:46.240 Nobody will speak about that.

00:39:48.240 And, you know, I like to call my ex-friend, Pierre Poliev, pendering Pierre, because he's

00:39:53.240 pendering to every ethnic community.

00:39:55.240 And for him, the most important is to have a direct flag to Henry Tsar as soon as possible.

00:40:03.240 For us, it's not that.

00:40:04.240 We need to have that moratorium for a couple of years, and after that, go back to a sustainable and reasonable immigration policy. 0.97

00:40:11.240 If you look back at Canada's history, we've had exactly that.

00:40:15.240 We've had periods of huge influxes of immigrants, followed by periods of very low acceptance and low admittance into our country.

00:40:22.240 Times where people can sort of intermix and integrate and form a new kind of culture and society.

00:40:29.240 That hasn't happened in three decades.

00:40:31.240 What would you do about the people, Max, that are already here that have not integrated?

00:40:37.240 People like we see the pro-Hamas protesters going around Canada.

00:40:42.240 We've seen all kinds of conflicts between Hindus and Sikhs turning into violence sometimes.

00:40:48.240 Violence between Muslims and Jews.

00:40:50.240 What would you do about the problem of, you know, student visas that have been issued?

00:40:56.240 People who have come, who have no interest in appreciating or integrating into Canadian society. 0.98

00:41:03.240 How do you fix that problem?

00:41:05.240 Yeah, I will do what I said to one of the students in PEI last summer when I told that students, you know, after your permit, if you're not leaving the country, you must be deported.

00:41:17.240 Actually, you know, we have a lot of illegals in our country.

00:41:21.240 And for me, and based on the law, an illegal, sorry, is a person who came here like a student.

00:41:30.240 But after that, when you have your diploma, you go back to you must go back to your country of origin. 0.97

00:41:36.240 That was the case in the past. We didn't have any problems with that.

00:41:39.240 But right now it's not the case with these fake students coming from India. 0.97

00:41:43.240 And yes, they have to go back. We will need to deport them.

00:41:47.240 And my opponent, Pierre, said, oh, no, we must stay here. I hope he will change position on that.

00:41:54.240 But that being said, same thing for the, you know, foreign and temporary foreign workers.

00:42:01.240 After you work, you must be deported. But at the same time, if you don't respect Allah here in Canada, why give why the federal government will give you permanent residency? 0.85

00:42:12.240 That's the position of the Trudeau government right now. They want to give them a permanent residency when they don't respect our legislation.

00:42:21.240 They want to give them a nice gift. You know, you are supposed to go back to your country. 1.00

00:42:27.240 But because you're here, we're going to give you the permanent residency. 0.95

00:42:30.240 What what what is the message that we are sending to the world about that?

00:42:35.240 So our position is, yes, deportation. And we know there's about 50,000 to half a million illegals in our country right now.

00:42:45.240 We don't know the exact number. We don't know who they are. We don't know where they are.

00:42:50.240 We need to put all our resources that we have to find them and deport them. 0.89

00:42:55.240 Actually, it will help us with our relationship with the U.S. President Trump is asking that to us.

00:43:01.240 Control our borders, secure our borders, you know, control your immigration, deport the illegals, reinvest in your defense. 0.83

00:43:09.240 If we do all that, we won't have 25 percent tariffs. It's but, you know, Trudeau won't speak about that or the liberals won't speak about that.

00:43:18.240 The only concern right now for the liberals and the conservatives, they agree with that, is to ask the tax.

00:43:25.240 You know, and Poliev wants an election on the tax.

00:43:30.240 But for me, the election must be a referendum, referendum on the immigration, ending that mass immigration and starting that mass deportation. 0.61

00:43:40.240 I think so many Canadians are on board with you with that issue.

00:43:46.240 You mentioned Poliev a few times and I want to ask you, Max, because you left the Conservative Party of Canada, right?

00:43:51.240 You were an MP for many years under that party banner.

00:43:54.240 You were a cabinet minister in Stephen Harper's government.

00:43:57.240 And you left the party because of Andrew Scheer becoming leader.

00:44:02.240 You didn't think he was strong enough to beat Trudeau, which he wasn't.

00:44:06.240 Under Aaron O'Toole, the party swayed even further to the left and was basically running as a Liberal Party in the last election.

00:44:14.240 But now we have Pierre Poliev and Pierre Poliev is seen as representing sort of more of the conservative right flank of the party.

00:44:21.240 And so I'm wondering, does Pierre Poliev in that leadership role, does that change the equation at all for you?

00:44:30.240 Would you ever consider a day where you would go back towards that party?

00:44:34.240 No, absolutely not.

00:44:36.240 And when I resigned, you may remember I said this party, the Conservative Party of Canada is morally and intellectually corrupt.

00:44:43.240 Why I said that?

00:44:45.240 I said that because they didn't have the courage to promote the conservative values.

00:44:49.240 They are doing politics following the polls.

00:44:52.240 And yes, right now, Poliev is doing the same.

00:44:55.240 Poliev doesn't do politics by conviction.

00:44:58.240 He's following the polls and the public opinions.

00:45:01.240 And for me, the public opinion has been manipulated by the leftist media and the leftist politicians.

00:45:08.240 So Poliev is a follower, is a follower of the public opinion, is not a leader.

00:45:14.240 We are leading.

00:45:15.240 We have a vision for this country and we are speaking about issues that may not be that popular today.

00:45:20.240 But knowing that is the right thing to do, like for immigration, for example, or the gender ideology. 0.90

00:45:26.240 I said before Trump in 2019 that we must stand that there's only two sexes. 0.78

00:45:32.240 At that time, Trump did nothing about that.

00:45:34.240 I'm very pleased that yesterday he decided to do something.

00:45:37.240 But that's the way we are doing politics.

00:45:39.240 So Poliev now is actually on immigration.

00:45:42.240 Trudeau is stronger on immigration.

00:45:44.240 He did admit that he made a big mistake and now he tried to control immigration.

00:45:49.240 So he has more anti-immigration in brackets than Poliev on that.

00:45:56.240 And so that's why I'm saying to Canadians, I won't move with Poliev. 1.00

00:46:01.240 We cannot trust him.

00:46:02.240 But by the way, there's a good news for your viewers and Canadians.

00:46:06.240 Poliev will win the next election.

00:46:08.240 Look at the polls.

00:46:09.240 So there's no spitting the vote.

00:46:11.240 So now Canadians can vote for the People's Party, can vote in line with their values.

00:46:16.240 We will keep Poliev honest.

00:46:18.240 We will push him in the right direction.

00:46:20.240 We will be your insurance policy that Poliev will do what he said that he may do.

00:46:25.240 So we need a voice.

00:46:27.240 And the more the People's Party will have, the more stronger we'll be, the more influential we'll be.

00:46:34.240 So there's a win-win there.

00:46:36.240 And I'm very pleased to look at the polls.

00:46:38.240 And, you know, we want a lot of people are telling me, I don't vote for you, Bernie,

00:46:43.240 because we want to get rid of Trudeau and the Liberals.

00:46:46.240 That's happening.

00:46:47.240 It's a question of time.

00:46:48.240 Like you said, we want an election as soon as possible.

00:46:51.240 But they need that voice.

00:46:53.240 We need that voice in the leaders' debate.

00:46:55.240 And Canadians need that voice in Parliament.

00:46:57.240 So there's no risk to vote for the BPC.

00:47:00.240 You are voting in line with your convictions, in line with your conscience when you're doing that.

00:47:05.240 And for us, we won't do any compromise with our ideas.

00:47:08.240 So answering your questions.

00:47:10.240 No, never, the decision that I took to create the PPC, the People's Party, was the best political decision in my political career.

00:47:20.240 Well, it's interesting because there's so many parties on the left, on the far left, and they all agree with each other on so many of the issues.

00:47:27.240 And typically it's the Conservative Party that is the outlier.

00:47:31.240 And it would be nice if there were more voices to represent Canadians who aren't part of that sort of left-wing, woke socialist, I guess, plurality.

00:47:43.240 I don't know if they're the majority of the country.

00:47:45.240 I don't think so.

00:47:46.240 So it does make sense in a multi-party system.

00:47:49.240 I want to ask you about the PPC's electoral record, because you used to win both quite handily when you were part of the Conservatives.

00:47:58.240 But in 2019, you lost, you had 38% of the vote back then.

00:48:02.240 Then in 2021, with a weaker Conservative leader, I would argue, you only got 18% there.

00:48:09.240 The PPC polls around 2% nationally right now.

00:48:12.240 So what would you consider to be a win in the next election?

00:48:16.240 What are your goals as party leader?

00:48:18.240 And is there any situation where you would decide to step down and no longer lead this party?

00:48:24.240 Yeah, about stepping down, as you may know, we are and I'm the only leader of a national political party

00:48:31.240 that after every election, every election, there's a leadership review.

00:48:35.240 The last leadership review of my leadership was after the election in 2029, when we had 5% of the vote, you know,

00:48:43.240 and the members of the party said at 96% that they want me to stay.

00:48:48.240 So what I'm telling every Canadian now, after the election, we will have a leadership review like I'm doing.

00:48:54.240 So I'm pretty confident.

00:48:56.240 But like I said, I like what I'm doing.

00:48:58.240 And, you know, it's a long term.

00:49:00.240 It's a revolution that we are looking for.

00:49:03.240 And you cannot do a revolution in one or two elections.

00:49:06.240 It took more than 15 years for the Green Party to have one candidate elected.

00:49:11.240 It won't take 15 years, but I'm there for the long run.

00:49:14.240 I will be there at this election.

00:49:16.240 And I can tell you if the members of the party voted for me after the election to stay the leader, I will be there for the 2029 election.

00:49:24.240 That would be another opportunity for the People's Party of Canada.

00:49:27.240 But look at the populist movement, not only in Canada, in Europe, in other countries.

00:49:32.240 Nigel Farage.

00:49:34.240 Nigel, you know, he tried to be elected seven times.

00:49:38.240 And with 15% of the vote, he was able to have six MPs elected.

00:49:43.240 So because of our electoral system, that will take time.

00:49:47.240 And I know it.

00:49:48.240 And our supporters know it also.

00:49:50.240 They are there with us for the long run.

00:49:52.240 So about the score of the election.

00:49:54.240 Yes, the first election in 2019, we had 1.6% of the vote.

00:49:59.240 Every commentators, mainstream commentators, were saying Bernie is dead, the PPC is dead.

00:50:05.240 The second election, we had 5%.

00:50:07.240 Oh, they said they have 5% because of COVID.

00:50:10.240 This party will go down.

00:50:12.240 Actually, at the next election and this election, I strongly believe that it may be an election on immigration for the future of this country.

00:50:20.240 And so we have the solution for that.

00:50:23.240 For 5%, I hope that we will grow a percentage of the vote.

00:50:27.240 And I want to be elected also.

00:50:29.240 I will have to decide the next couple of weeks where I will run, maybe in Manitoba or back in both.

00:50:37.240 I don't know.

00:50:38.240 I'm doing some consultation right now.

00:50:40.240 But it can be, you know, if we double our score from 5 to 10, you know, it's still be difficult to have a candidate elected.

00:50:48.240 It took 15% of the vote for Nigel to have people elected.

00:50:52.240 So, and our people know that we want to grow the percentage of our vote to be more influential.

00:50:58.240 And I hope that at this election in 2025, I'll be elected or one of our candidates will be elected.

00:51:06.240 We'll see.

00:51:07.240 But the people's party is there for the long term.

00:51:09.240 And our goal is to grow a percentage of the vote.

00:51:12.240 And we'll see what will happen.

00:51:15.240 So, when do you expect to make the decision about what riding you will run in?

00:51:20.240 Early February, in a couple of weeks from now.

00:51:23.240 I did call people in Portage Lisgar.

00:51:25.240 As you know, I did run there in the by-election.

00:51:28.240 I had about, I think, 17% or 18%.

00:51:31.240 And in Boas, I have a lot of friends who told me, Maxime, you're a guy from Boas.

00:51:36.240 You must come back.

00:51:37.240 And so I said, we're going to look at it.

00:51:40.240 And yeah, the decision, I'll take the decision early February.

00:51:44.240 Okay, you mentioned that yesterday Donald Trump signed a number of executive orders.

00:51:49.240 So many of them, Maxime, seem like they could have come right out of your PPC policy book there.

00:51:56.240 So we saw that he withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord.

00:51:59.240 He withdrew from the World Health Organization.

00:52:03.240 Like you mentioned, he got rid of the gender ideology guidelines and got rid of a bunch of the DEI initiatives.

00:52:11.240 So, you know, there are only two genders, male and female, officially the policy.

00:52:16.240 One thing that hasn't gotten a lot of reporting but is hugely significant is that he is going to reinstate any service member who was expelled from the military for refusing to take the COVID-19 jab and included full back pay.

00:52:32.240 So what do you make of Trump, what do you make of these executive orders, and how can we get some of these policies implemented in Canada?

00:52:41.240 Answering that question, vote People's Party of Canada and you'll have more chances to have these policies.

00:52:48.240 That being said about COVID-19, yeah, we said the same thing.

00:52:52.240 I said during the COVID hysteria, I was the only one there.

00:52:55.240 I was supposed to be crazy, but I was the only national leader there, out there, speaking with people, doing rallies.

00:53:02.240 And I said to all these civil servants who were, you know, not able to work anymore because they decided to not take that shot.

00:53:11.240 I decided they must be back to their job and with full compensation.

00:53:18.240 And I'm very pleased that Trump is doing that.

00:53:20.240 That's the policy of the People's Party of Canada.

00:53:22.240 And yes, we want to have the discussion about COVID-19, what happened in our country.

00:53:27.240 We want to reopen that debate, having a full discussion about it and being able to compensate all these civil servants who lost their job because of their health and personal decision.

00:53:39.240 So I'm very pleased with all that because, like you said, you know, Trump is putting his country first.

00:53:45.240 And what we want to do, we want to put Canada first.

00:53:48.240 But for us, it's not a slogan, you know.

00:53:51.240 Trump is against foreign wars and he wants peace in Ukraine.

00:53:55.240 I said that.

00:53:56.240 Poniev is, you know, he wants to give more money and more aid to Ukraine.

00:54:03.240 And that's like the conservative, like Harper, you know, the war in Afghanistan.

00:54:08.240 So we are for peace and prosperity like Trump.

00:54:12.240 Migration compact. 0.87

00:54:13.240 We want to withdraw from that.

00:54:15.240 And we but Poliev is OK with that.

00:54:17.240 So Trump is not a globalist.

00:54:19.240 Trump is putting his country first.

00:54:22.240 We are not globalists.

00:54:23.240 I said that in the debate in 2019.

00:54:26.240 And all our policies are there to put our country first.

00:54:29.240 Yes, the World Health Organization.

00:54:31.240 We must not be part of that.

00:54:33.240 Foreign aid.

00:54:34.240 We must cut that $10 billion and bring that money on.

00:54:38.240 So I'm very pleased with Trump.

00:54:40.240 Yeah.

00:54:41.240 And about the the tariff and the economy.

00:54:44.240 Yeah, that's a challenge.

00:54:45.240 But we we just have to let go of the cartel in supply management, putting more money in

00:54:52.240 our defense and having that moratorium on immigration.

00:54:55.240 I'm pretty sure that Trump will be happy and we won't have these tariffs.

00:54:59.240 Yes.

00:55:00.240 Well, I want to mention just because you brought it up.

00:55:02.240 You mentioned Harper and the war in Afghanistan.

00:55:05.240 But Maxime, you were the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 2007, 2008, which overlap with Canada's

00:55:11.240 time in Afghanistan.

00:55:13.240 So do you regret some of the decisions that you made at that time?

00:55:17.240 Do you go back and say that you no longer support that war?

00:55:20.240 What is your position on that?

00:55:22.240 No, that war was a mistake, but I was part of the government.

00:55:25.240 That was the main policy of the government.

00:55:27.240 Remember, we did that to save women and young girls.

00:55:30.240 That was a talking point.

00:55:32.240 And now, you know, the Taliban are back.

00:55:34.240 And yeah, I was the Foreign Affairs Minister for a couple of months.

00:55:38.240 And my my job was to to promote that.

00:55:41.240 But remember, when I was in Afghanistan, I said that the government over there was not

00:55:46.240 the right person at the right time for the right reason.

00:55:49.240 And, you know, Harper didn't like that. 0.99

00:55:52.240 But at the end, I was not that successful to be a Foreign Affairs Minister.

00:55:56.240 I was very, very good in when I was Industry Minister.

00:56:00.240 I learned a lot doing that job.

00:56:02.240 But when I and so the war in Afghanistan was a mistake.

00:56:06.240 Right now, we can admit that the US was a big, a big mistake.

00:56:10.240 So I like the position that Jean Chrétien took about the war with the, you know, Iraq.

00:56:17.240 He said that, you know, we don't need to be there.

00:56:20.240 And he was strong.

00:56:21.240 And we are we can, as a country, be having a different policy, foreign, foreign policies

00:56:27.240 than the US and being friends.

00:56:29.240 So in I did the same with the war in Ukraine.

00:56:33.240 I said we must not participate in that.

00:56:35.240 So, yes, the war in Afghanistan was a mistake. 0.73

00:56:38.240 That was a big mistake from our government, the conservative government, but also the US

00:56:44.240 government at that time.

00:56:45.240 One of the main things that Trump is saying now about Canada is that we don't live up to

00:56:50.240 our NATO obligations of having 2% of our GDP being spent on the military.

00:56:56.240 What is your position on the size of Canada's military, the role and whether we should beef

00:57:01.240 it up and start spending more?

00:57:03.240 Yeah, we must reinvest in our Canadian forces and our Canadian forces now is a woke organization.

00:57:12.240 You know, it needs it needs to be based on meritocracy.

00:57:16.240 It's not the case anymore.

00:57:17.240 So before reinvesting in our Canadian forces, we must change the culture of the Canadian forces.

00:57:23.240 And I'm not proud of our Canadian forces right now.

00:57:27.240 So let's do that.

00:57:29.240 And we can do that.

00:57:30.240 You know, we have a huge deficit.

00:57:32.240 We can tackle that deficit in one year by cutting foreign aid, saving $10 billion, by cutting corporate

00:57:38.240 welfare, saving $10 billion, by cutting subsidies to the mainstream media.

00:57:44.240 All these subsidies, about $2 billion.

00:57:46.240 So let's be serious about our budget, balancing our budget.

00:57:50.240 And after that, the year after, we'll be able to reinvest.

00:57:53.240 And yes, at least 2% of our GDP in our defense.

00:57:57.240 Wonderful.

00:57:58.240 What would you advise or what would you be doing differently when it comes to Donald Trump,

00:58:04.240 the supposed threat of incoming tariffs and just how to make of that relationship?

00:58:09.240 Because if you watch the Canadian media, especially the CBC, basically they're calling Danielle Smith a traitor.

00:58:15.240 suggesting that it's appeasement or even even treason for her to be going down there and negotiating on behalf of Alberta.

00:58:24.240 What would you be doing differently or what would you say should be our approach to dealing with the Americans right now?

00:58:30.240 I'm one good person with Danielle Smith on that.

00:58:32.240 She's doing the right thing for province, but also for the country.

00:58:36.240 Don't forget all the income that the federal government is receiving from the oil and gas industry.

00:58:42.240 It's coming because of Alberta.

00:58:44.240 So being serious about that, she's doing a good job.

00:58:48.240 But actually, what I don't like, all these other premiers and the prime minister,

00:58:53.240 they want to be ready to have a trade war with U.S., a commercial war with U.S.

00:58:58.240 We won't win that. We won't be able. It would hurt our country big, but it will hurt also the U.S.

00:59:05.240 We need to just sit down with President Trump and tell him your tariff is a tax for U.S. consumers.

00:59:12.240 What do you want? What do you want? You want us to fix our border? We'll do it.

00:59:16.240 You want us to reinvest in our forces? We'll do it.

00:59:19.240 Because it's good for us and it's good for you. And I understand why he wants that.

00:59:24.240 You know, the last three years, the U.S. were able to stop about 400 terror suspects at their borders,

00:59:33.240 and 80% of them were coming from Canada.

00:59:36.240 Last year, they stopped at their borders 200,000 illegals who were crossing the border from Canada to the U.S.

00:59:44.240 We need to be serious about that. We are not.

00:59:47.240 But now the country is ready for a commercial war that's crazy, that will hurt us and the U.S.

00:59:53.240 We need to go there and tell the truth and speak like Danielle Smith is doing right now.

00:59:59.240 Well, maybe you should be talking with Kevin O'Leary and getting yourself down to Mar-a-Lago there, Max,

01:00:05.240 and you can have these conversations with the incoming administration because I think we need more voices like yours.

01:00:11.240 So you said that you think that the ballot box issue on this upcoming election will be immigration.

01:00:18.240 Pierre Polyev is trying to make it about carbon taxes and cost of living,

01:00:22.240 and I think the Liberals would happily have the election be about Donald Trump.

01:00:28.240 What do you think the biggest issues, aside from those three, facing Canadians are,

01:00:33.240 and what will the PPC do about it?

01:00:37.240 Immigration, yes, the economy, and actually also the unity of our country.

01:00:43.240 What is it? Nobody...

01:00:46.240 Okay, well, it looks like we have lost Maxime Bernier there, but we thank him and appreciate him and his time,

01:00:55.240 and we will wrap up the show at that.

01:00:57.240 So thank you so much, everyone, for joining and tuning into The Candace Malcolm Show.

01:01:00.240 We'll be back again tomorrow. Thank you and God bless.

01:01:03.240 God bless.

01:01:04.240 God bless.

01:01:07.240 God bless.

01:01:10.240 God bless.

01:01:14.240 God bless.

01:01:16.240 God bless.

01:01:25.240 God bless.

The Candice Malcolm Show - January 21, 2025

CBC journalists lash out at conservatives for talking to Trump

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript