00:00:42.040In reality, they may determine whether the government of Mark Carney moves from minority rule to one of the most unusual majority governments in Canadian history.
00:05:28.840But that, you know, that seems like a neck and neck between the two parties.
00:05:32.240So of the three by-elections we have today, one of them is kind of interesting and might show up on one of the betting sites.
00:05:39.200Otherwise, you know, pretty much a clear cut by-election, which, of course, then puts the liberals in a majority position.
00:05:47.380And it's interesting because our conversations, first of all, one of the things that you pointed out to me before we started this initially was,
00:05:54.600By the way, don't forget, a lot of people got pushed out of the way for these by-elections.
00:05:59.160Chris Sear-Freeland, Bill Blair, all of these people that might have given any friction to Carney at the moment that he took power were quickly shuffled.
00:06:10.080And that's why we have these by-elections.
00:06:12.420And then, of course, we've got these floor crossings.
00:06:15.220And let's just address that for a minute.
00:06:16.940Because, as you know, I just came back from the liberal convention where our other TPL contributor, Brady Wedham, was baptized a liberal.
00:14:29.280Quite frankly, you control all the committees because you have majority.
00:14:32.440so now all the committees you're not at the decision table uh you know the the gentleman
00:14:39.300his name's escaping me uh who is running for the provincial seat which is up in october
00:14:45.640already wants separation the in in quebec yeah christophe young guy what's that sorry yeah you
00:14:52.040give me the name plan don't nom i always forget to say yeah pierre said plan planned on nom but
00:14:57.800it's with the party quebecois so he's actually picking up a lot of he's picking up a huge amount
00:15:03.300of steam actually he's the front runner so now he's going to use this to his advantage so if
00:15:08.160i'm sitting in his shoes he'd say look at look at your federal government right we no longer have
00:15:14.540any we don't have any seat at the table they've obviously stacked the government they're they've
00:15:19.640threw this cobblestone or cobbling together of government you've created uh no no position at
00:15:26.680table for quebec so he's going to make that case big time yeah so now that's talking about a
00:15:32.040referendum that's leading to separation so he's talking about that you know we've talked about
00:15:36.600it on previous shows with respect to mining and resources and hydroelectricity quebec is
00:15:43.160uh more key than we ever think now than ever yeah so and and quite frankly we did a show the other
00:15:49.720day on lithium i know and it's getting a lot of views online if you get a chance watch it
00:15:54.280Yeah, please do. The response to that was ridiculous.
00:15:57.100Lithium, with which we need for batteries, especially in our manufacturing of EVs and everything we're talking about in Ontario, Quebec is key.
00:16:07.460Our relationship with Quebec is key, and what that looks like going forward is key.
00:16:11.800So there's one that is critical to the future of Canada, which is key.
00:16:17.640Aluminum, steel, all the mining that we do there.
00:16:20.740you know even just power when you started with power i was like yeah yeah we really do need to
00:16:26.180be careful about that becoming an independent business of quebec because what it does for
00:16:31.860the rest of canada for certainly for the eastern uh those connecting provinces is pretty major
00:16:38.420so now mike and then what we sell to the us is highly profitable so here's the interesting
00:16:43.620about this majority which is probably never been seen before in canadian history to this extent
00:16:48.980it's been seen but not to this extent quebec really are they yeah sure they would like to be
00:16:55.460at the table they would like to have the the party uh quebecois um and uh at the table they would
00:17:03.780like um to be represented but or sorry the box the but quite frankly there are going to be saying to
00:17:12.980to the government now we need a deal regardless of whether it's majority or not to stay we need
00:17:20.040a deal and then you go west to alberta alberta's going to say the same thing we need a deal we
00:17:25.220need a deal if we're going to stay yeah because quite frankly you can end up with you know you
00:17:30.260you're probably going to put the majority tonight but that majority hinges on the two provinces
00:17:36.420staying within canada and and the mandate just to reiterate both of those party leaders while
00:17:42.820you know, the hopeful in Quebec and Daniel Smith, both are on the separation kick.
00:17:51.560This gives a great deal of momentum to them with Canadians. If a majority comes in
00:17:57.500and they're not getting anywhere with the government, there's no deal being made pre-referendum
00:18:01.820in the West. We have new power in the province in Quebec. There's going to be a lot of attention
00:18:09.060on separatism in this country and it's going to be squarely blamed on this arrangement right now
00:18:14.440a cobbled government because there's no huge power in it there's no uh massive force behind
00:18:22.580this majority government and they're made up of you know frankly a few conservatives one of them
00:18:28.920i think might be the prime minister well yeah i'm just saying no but you know given again life is
00:18:36.340dynamic so things are changing all the time this issue in iran right that's caused oil to become
00:18:43.000front and center yeah you know gas prices everything else oil has been so we talked about
00:18:47.400it almost you know 24 hours a day we sit here and we you know dan mctagg who's been on our show many
00:18:54.200times you know he's on tv every day going gas is going up you know 15 down three down six so we're
00:19:00.840we're primarily focused if i'm seeing alberta shoes they're doing well right now you know price
00:19:06.840price of oil is going up the barrels are increasing the price is increasing everything is good on
00:19:11.960their side so quite frankly and as a as a demand chip as a bargaining chip their bargaining chip
00:19:17.800has gone up substantially just by something happening unrelated in the world that they
00:19:22.600haven't had any impact that's true so timing is everything and the world is dynamic so now
00:19:28.680you know coming out of this alberto says well it's fine you have majority we're not represented
00:19:34.040we're primarily conservative cut us a deal yeah like how are we that's how it feels how are we at
00:19:40.600the table now and then it feels like there could be more blockage than carney has bargained for to
00:19:47.640be honest with you with this arrangement getting a majority seemed to be the primary focus but
00:19:52.520now there's other challenges well i think you got it quickly now now you got to quickly get across
00:19:57.800and have a discussion with those two provinces, figure out a deal, hopefully that makes them happy
00:20:04.320and keeps them sort of on side with the direction of the country, and then come back to your own
00:20:10.820internal party, which is now, for the most part, you have a few people have a lot of leverage.
00:20:17.000You've given a small group within your party, almost like American politics. It's interesting
00:20:24.700how this turns out american politics you know you have these uh small caucuses or small groups of
00:20:31.580people that can actually have power to block so if at any point in time these former conservatives
00:20:38.900get together and actually form a block they barge together yeah they can they can call your shots
00:20:46.240they negotiate with each other okay if you block this i'll block that if you you know yeah so then
00:20:51.420then they can block whatever bill they want because they have the same theoretical background,
00:20:56.440theoretical thinking. So that's the risk you take. The risk you take is you bring them into the party
00:21:01.200and then they form factions within your party. Those factions became voting blocks. And because
00:21:06.160you're so close to a majority, you still can't pass anything. So we have a federal government
00:21:10.720that's going to be negotiating with two separatist provinces. We're going to have potentially a lot
00:21:17.420of lockage right in the house because getting a bill through can become um an interpartisan thing
00:21:24.980um and i think that's the frightening thing to people who voted liberal is that there's
00:21:30.060a certain amount of conservative now that has flown in they've cobbled together a by-election
00:21:35.160in some pretty safe uh ridings where they're likely to get this majority but then i you know
00:21:44.480my first thought was, okay, Mark Carney is going to get this win and he's going to be
00:21:49.820the road runner out of town for the summer. But if I was him, I'd stick around because he's going
00:21:55.360to have to do some wheeling and dealing to solidify what he does with this majority government. He's
00:22:00.300going to have to make some friends now. Well, Piroguing the government, what Christophe,
00:22:04.360what's that gentleman's name? Okay. Paul St. Pierre Flamondon. Okay. Did I say that right?
00:23:33.260None of it. But, you know, he I think we'd have to figure that out or he'd have to figure that out at that point.
00:23:40.940So I never thought of that. I guess I just thought, oh, we're so sure we're going to win a majority here in this in this government that there's not much that would be prorogued about.
00:23:51.220Yeah, we're done. Government is done. I think it's the second or third week of June.
00:23:55.860anyways we're in you know the coming into the middle of april so we got another you know month
00:24:01.840and a half or two months to go it'll go quick a lot most times they travel for example they'll be
00:24:08.540he'll be back on the road not a lot will get done they'll do a lot of committee structuring
00:24:12.180you figure it'll take them at least two or three weeks to reformat committees after this i was
00:24:17.620going to say there's going to be a whole new group of people sitting in committee on issues that i
00:24:23.960think kind of sat there before to be honest with you uh he didn't need to address exactly the world
00:24:29.720you know even today coming in you know you and i saw it you know uh trump and the pope are arguing
00:24:34.240uh there's blockades in iran there's so many critical issues happening i even if he did focus
00:24:40.800on new legislation and new committees and everything does he make it by summer break
00:24:46.020i doubt it so summer break there won't be a lot happen they're off for the summer they don't come
00:24:51.840back till september october um he's going to be deep into budget time because he's deferred the
00:24:57.900budget right now so there will be that's what i think his summer is the next story that we get
00:25:02.860told yeah the well explaining probably the uh budget overruns for this year and then quite
00:25:09.360frankly talking about what's gonna what's coming up where we're going next but you have to remember
00:25:13.980in the middle it was our date for kuzma so you also have our date for kuzma you have the budget
00:25:21.580You have a bunch of stuff when they're finished session anyways.
00:25:25.080You have all these new government people that you're trying to figure out where they're going to vote.
00:25:29.500They have all new Liberal members trying to figure out where they sit, what they think.
00:25:33.700So he's going to take the time to sort of massage that, meet with them, figure out what they can, convince them of his platform in the fall, see where we end up with Kuzma.
00:25:50.700So I wonder how he gets to the summer with, I think that the, I think the liberal party overall has put themselves in a position to have a very busy summer, frankly.