In this episode, I speak with Jason Kenney, the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC) in the lead-up to the upcoming election. We discuss the PPC's platform and why it's standing in the way of the Trudeau government.
00:00:00.040Thank you very much for taking time out in what's obviously a very busy campaign to join us here in
00:00:11.520Calgary and speak in the Western Standard Studios so welcome and thank you very much I'm very pleased
00:00:18.480to be here and as you know it's an important campaign and we have a lot of support here in
00:00:23.200Alberta so I'm here today and I will be back in Alberta also at the end of the campaign. Great
00:00:28.800and it has been evident I'm out and about a lot I'm certainly seeing a presence from the PPC on the
00:00:33.600ground I'm seeing campaigners I'm seeing campaign signs it's more evident than in 2019 by a great deal
00:00:42.240you're coming close to having a full slate of candidates I saw you announced some in Prince
00:00:45.520Edward Island now how many candidates is the PPC running right now? Yeah we have 331 candidates
00:00:51.600and almost a full slate our goal is to have 238 but you know we have more candidate than the Green
00:00:59.200Party of Canada more candidate than the NDP so we are a real national political party with candidates
00:01:06.160all across the country. Okay so without doubt I mean there's there's no avoiding it COVID-19
00:01:11.200government response party responses I mean it's the dominant issue in this election is what everybody's
00:01:16.560talking about it's one of the things I believe that the PPC is distinguishing itself that you're
00:01:22.240not speaking of vaccine passports or mandatory vaccinations or things such as that can you expand
00:01:27.360on where the the party stands on that? Yeah you're right this election I believe will be a referendum
00:01:33.040on the way that the government managed that crisis COVID-19 crisis and I say you know it's COVID hysteria
00:01:40.400you know it's not new for us our platform and we believe in individual freedom personal responsibility
00:01:46.640respect and fairness and I was out there 18 months ago speaking against these lockdowns all across the
00:01:55.200country against a mask mandate and now it's a vaccine passport so people know that we are doing politics
00:02:03.520based on conviction on principles and we are losing our way of life right now
00:02:09.360and the question would be do you want more and more of the same or you want to go back to your life
00:02:14.560before COVID-19 that would be the important question for Canadians before going to to vote.
00:02:21.840So a lot of the measures of course that have been brought in weren't federal measures they were
00:02:25.680provincial ones I mean perhaps with the support of the federal government section one of the charter has
00:02:30.560been where they've been using is as a reason to impede on individual rights so far but what would you
00:02:36.480do I mean your your party also talks about devolving power to the provinces I mean if a provincial
00:02:42.000government in Alberta for example Jason Kenney had arrested preachers he had you know he's arrested
00:02:47.440hockey players young kids on the streets but do you intervene in a provincial matter or no no we won't
00:02:53.280but what we will respect the constitution but what we will what we will do it's very simple these provincial
00:03:01.200governments were able to do lockdowns because they had the financial support from the federal government
00:03:07.920with all these programs to individuals and also to businesses we will cut all that so a province if
00:03:15.200they want to do another lockdown this fall they will have to put money coming from their taxpayers so
00:03:21.520that was a strong incentive that Trudeau gave to provinces to do these lockdowns so the Trudeau
00:03:27.680the Trudeau government and the federal government has an important role to play there and so that's why
00:03:32.560we are against lockdown we won't give any money to provinces to do that and actually Justin Trudeau just
00:03:38.000said that he will give a billion dollars to impose lockdowns and give that to provinces that will
00:03:45.440put in force more lockdowns and a vaccine passport so so that's an important role from the federal
00:03:52.000government we won't do that we won't spend that money we are for freedom of choice we're not anti-vaccine
00:03:58.880or anti-mask we are for freedom of choice everybody must be able to decide if they want the vaccine or not
00:04:04.880now there's discrimination segregation in Canada and we want everybody to be united under the banner
00:04:13.040of freedom that's our country freedom of choice so that's why we have more and more support people can
00:04:18.640see where this country is going and they don't like that and and i believe that they are right that's
00:04:26.080not our country anymore when you have a government that impose a mask on children that must be the decision
00:04:32.240coming from the parents and the parents must be able to decide if their kids will wear a mask at
00:04:37.120school or not that's not that's not the government we it's an authoritarian governments that we have
00:04:43.200here in Canada provincial and at the federal level and then so getting back to the province
00:04:49.520Alberta is something of a unique battleground that's coming around and we're having a number
00:04:53.120of alternative parties and movements are coming up your former compatriot Jay Hill is running the
00:04:57.600maverick party uh and Derek Sloan has has come out uh i know you're visiting uh Banff Airdrie uh tonight
00:05:04.640and we have a candidate Nadine Wellwood there and uh Derek Sloan actually called for uh your candidate
00:05:09.600to step aside in this election said he's the only one who could win there uh it's a little bit arrogant
00:05:15.120uh you know i i i know Derek i asked him to come with us and he decided Derek is a big boy he said that
00:05:21.200he doesn't he doesn't want to be a candidate under the PPC and and Nadine she's one of the best
00:05:27.200candidates in here in Alberta and yes i'm going there to help her and i believe that she has a big
00:05:33.440chance to win there so so Derek decided to but he told me that he will create a new party and that was
00:05:40.320a lie there's no new party now so he has to run as an independent and i don't and i'm questioning is the
00:05:46.400commitment to Albertan when his wife she's running in Ontario so he's gonna live in Ontario and in
00:05:55.520Alberta and so it's not serious people know that you know if you want to have changes that the
00:06:02.560People's Party of Canada is there for Albertans and for all Canadians we are against the Paris Accord
00:06:08.720for pipelines we will use the constitution to impose impose a pipeline on provinces that don't want it
00:06:15.920we will also change the equalization formula that is unfair and the only leader of national party
00:06:22.480that is speaking about that in eastern Canada i was in New Brunswick and you know that New Brunswick
00:06:27.520they received 50 percent of their provincial budget is coming from the equalization money
00:06:32.880and i told them in their face that we need to change the equalization formula we need to be fair to
00:06:38.960every province and yes New Brunswick will receive less money from the equalization but that would be
00:06:45.440a good news for you in New Brunswick and in Quebec also because you have the right incentive to
00:06:50.720develop your own natural resources and you'll be a rich province so it's important to speak about that
00:06:57.200in eastern Canada but the other establishment political parties are not doing that and it's
00:07:02.800important for the prosperity of our country but it's important also for the unity of our country and i know
00:07:08.960why why Albertans are mad and and frustrated and they have a reason for that so we have a solution
00:07:15.600for Alberta that it would be good for all Canadians and you know the maverick party it's not serious
00:07:22.160when you have a leader of a party that is an interim leader and don't doesn't have the courage to run in
00:07:29.520a federal election what's that it's not serious and that party is like the conservative party of Canada
00:07:36.480they're the the muppet of the conservative party of Canada they are the same on the most important
00:07:41.680issues actually therefore the vaccine mandate therefore a vaccine passport they're against our
00:07:48.320freedom so i believe that Albertans are intelligent and they will look at our candidates all across the
00:07:54.240province real people that are ready to fight for them and they will have a voice in Ottawa they will
00:08:00.320have a strong freedom common sense voice in Ottawa that will come from here Alberta okay something a
00:08:06.800little different in speaking of provincial autonomy there's a strong issue in Alberta right now we're
00:08:10.960chronically upset and more so uh typically when liberals are in than not and you have a right you
00:08:16.080have a right to be upset and we we have a couple of referendums coming tied in with our municipal
00:08:20.080elections in September ones on the equalization which you already spoke of we're also holding senate
00:08:24.480elections which has been something of a a tradition out here but something they did this time is they've only
00:08:28.560allowed federal candidates to run in the senate election it used to be provincial so you get a
00:08:33.120variety of candidates but now the only ones who kind of respect it are O'Toole's conservatives so
00:08:38.240it looks like we might have just a handful of like will the PPC consider running senate candidates in
00:08:43.200this coming election absolutely we will have a PPC candidate for the senate election here in Alberta
00:08:49.760that will fight for Albertan based on our PPC platform you know equalization formula we need to
00:08:56.240change that to be less generous that's most important and and pipelines and all these important
00:09:02.400issues I'm asking people go on our website people's party of Canada let's see and read it read it you're
00:09:08.000going to see that it's a great platform and yes I'm very happy we'll have somebody and just stay tuned I
00:09:13.440will be able to do another interview with you and with that person that will represent us for the senate
00:09:20.000election good I am happy to hear it because I do want to see senate reform and I like the concept of
00:09:24.240having senate elections but having a ridiculous one where only people from one party are running in
00:09:28.400it is is just a waste of time so I'd like to see it contested so I appreciate that answer so something
00:09:35.040you've probably heard a lot and you're going to hear more of particularly in Alberta we suffered
00:09:38.640direly in getting out there and having multiple candidates go against an established government and
00:09:43.920ended up with Rachel Notley here for a term and people are very concerned about vote splitting
00:09:49.280and perhaps you know ending up with a candidate with minority support but still ends up winning the
00:09:53.520election how can you address people with that but there's no vote splitting when all the other
00:09:58.320options are the same you know if you're a real conservative vote for your values don't vote against
00:10:04.400something we need a conservative voice in Ottawa we don't have that you know the conservative they're
00:10:09.680they're like the liberals I can go on with the subject I told you to vaccine passport they will impose that
00:10:16.560they won't speak about the equalization formula you had a lot of almost all your member of parliament coming
00:10:23.680from Alberta are conservative we don't know what what did they do for you nothing nothing so we are there
00:10:31.360to fight and I believe that people must vote this time and they will vote for their values they will vote
00:10:36.720for a real conservative voice in Ottawa and we don't split any vote the person that is splitting the vote it's
00:10:42.480Aaron O'Toole his goal is to split the liberals vote and he's very successful at doing that he's speaking like a leftist a liberal
00:10:50.320and and when he's doing that is giving more credibility to the leftist narrative so we need to speak openly with passion and
00:10:58.800conviction about our values if you want to win and you can count on all our candidates here that will do that so there's no splitting the vote
00:11:06.400because they are all the same on all these issues and and I believe that more and more people understand that now
00:11:12.640okay and then on an issue that uh Aaron O'Toole did turn out to be just the same as the liberals was the
00:11:16.480carbon tax he's calling it something else but he did a complete about face we were very upset with that
00:11:21.760when that happened where does the PPC stand on emissions taxes carbon taxes things first of all we won't
00:11:26.640sign the Paris Accord we want to impose a carbon tax we want to impose more regulation on businesses so we're saying no to
00:11:33.760that I'm saying the same thing here in Alberta and in eastern Canada we we have one platform that is good
00:11:40.880for the country and and I'm very yes Aaron O'Toole said to uh the conservatives uh the members of the
00:11:49.280conservative party of Canada that he was against a carbon tax and now he's right to do on that issue and a
00:11:55.040lot of other issues so that's why they cannot trust him why wasting your vote with the conservative
00:12:01.200I think a vote is very important don't waste your vote vote for the real conservative
00:12:06.320and that's why you know we're doing very well in Alberta we're growing in the poll
00:12:11.280and we'll see a lot of people who have a big surprise the 20th of September
00:12:16.320okay another event that we didn't anticipate really coming into this election but foreign affairs
00:12:20.800the Afghanistan debacle I mean there's people left behind uh where does the PPC stand like in the role
00:12:26.720we see is Canada on the world stage as far as militaristic yeah but first of all Justin Trudeau
00:12:32.320said that he wants to have 20 000 Afghans coming here but the most important is to have Canadians
00:12:38.160that are there and Afghans that help us uh you know they're still there over there but we don't need
00:12:44.400to bring 20 000 people we need to bring maybe 5 000 2 000 I don't know but the Afghans that help us
00:12:51.680during that crisis and other countries must do their work also we cannot save the planet and you
00:12:58.640know we have a huge deficit here we have mass immigration you know we'll have 400 000 people
00:13:05.520that will come here and the big majority of them 76 percent of them are refugees and people coming on
00:13:12.320the reunification of family we need to change that ratio having fewer immigrants 150 000 a year
00:13:19.200and that will must be in line with our economic needs in our country and the majority of them 76
00:13:25.520percent must be skilled immigrants so a person that will come here with a job because a Canadian
00:13:31.440entrepreneur was not able to find a Canadian for that job so yes and and that person it would be
00:13:38.400easier for that person to be part of our society uh to to integrate our society and that's why we need
00:13:46.320to have people that will share our values so concerning that file i i'm open to have Afghan
00:13:52.400that help us during that crisis but not 20 000 we cannot save everybody yeah so i mean it's so you're
00:13:59.120probably saying i i know it gets branded as anti-immigration i i'm maybe reading in in a sense so
00:14:03.520you just want controlled immigration or for sustainable immigration we are against mass immigration for
00:14:10.320sustainable immigration and and and because we like this country we want this country to be like
00:14:16.960that in 25 years we like it you know i look what is happening in france and there's no goes on there
00:14:24.640there's ghettos over there we don't want that yes this country is diverse and diversity is good
00:14:30.880but always more and more diversity uh it's not good we need to celebrate what unite us we need to
00:14:37.360celebrate our culture we need to celebrate our heritage and it is sad that i was the only leader
00:14:43.120in ottawa the first of july celebrating our country justin trudeau said you know canada is the first post
00:14:49.920national state with no car identity no no i'm proud yes we have different culture the culture from quebec
00:14:57.680is different than the culture here in alberta but that's our country there's no country like that
00:15:03.680so so we must be proud of that and and we will we will fight for our values and that's the people's
00:15:09.840party of canada so that's why we have a lot of people that are looking at us and you know these
00:15:14.800people are doing politics differently yes we're doing politics based on principle and ideas and we
00:15:20.560have a vision for this country and our vision is we know that you know better what is good for you
00:15:25.840and we have faith in you we have faith that we have faith that you have the ability the dignity and the
00:15:30.800right to make your own decisions for your own life great well aside from the specific issues is there
00:15:36.960more you'd like to add on you know why the people's party of canada is providing an alternative why
00:15:41.360people should put their vote your way then because i don't want canadians to waste their vote if you're
00:15:47.120tired of the situation right now and you want to go back to your life you know the discrimination is huge
00:15:54.160and there's racial politics in this country when you have a government that has created a program
00:15:59.760only for black entrepreneurs that's racist we will abolish that and if we want to do a program
00:16:05.760for entrepreneurs it would be for all entrepreneurs and that identity politics and and political
00:16:11.680correctness it is killing our country so we need to be there for canadians and our our party is putting
00:16:19.200canada first and canadian first and i'm asking people go on our website and please read our platform
00:16:26.000if you like it support us if you don't like it and you want the same that you had the last five years
00:16:33.440vote for another party don't vote for us but i believe that people won't waste their vote with
00:16:39.600the conservative or the liberals and there's no splitting the vote here in in in alberta if you
00:16:46.640are a real conservative the only option is the people's party of canada great and we'll get your
00:16:51.760website one more time so people know where they're going people's party of canada.ca and like that
00:16:56.400they can go on our candidates they can click on alberta and they will have all the candidates and they
00:17:01.520can be in touch with their candidate in their writing great and you'll be touring and there'll be more
00:17:05.760events coming in there coming yeah we have an event tonight and they can go on the website they will
00:17:09.760have more details about that i'm here for the next two days and i'll be back before the end of the campaign
00:17:16.400for six days it's important for me because i want alberton to understand that we are the only real
00:17:22.880option for them okay well thank you very much for coming in to speak to us today it's good to get you
00:17:28.160know an expansion on what's going on what you guys are offering and you really do stand out from the
00:17:32.720others i mean that the others are kind of all moving together into the same area of authoritarianism
00:17:37.280uh and and milk and toast policies so you know like or not like the ppc's offerings some clear-cut
00:17:43.120distinguishments and i want to thank you also for giving me that opportunity because as you know
00:17:48.160we have been cancelled by the mainstream media and we are i'm i'm very pleased to be able to speak
00:17:55.120with an independent media and we want the media to be independent like you so uh it's a great
00:18:00.960opportunity for us because i believe that people must hear what we have to say the mainstream media
00:18:06.480don't want that because i believe our message is too powerful but i appreciate that you gave us this
00:18:11.920opportunity great thank you and uh i'm certain we'll be talking again perhaps by the end of the
00:18:16.080campaign or if not as you said with the senate campaign when that comes a little later thank you