EXCLUSIVE： Roman Baber on his CPC leadership race.
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Summary
Roman Baber joins The Western Standard to talk about his leadership campaign and what we can expect from him if he is voted in as the next Conservative Party of Canada's next leader. He talks about his thoughts on the recent leadership debate, his views on supply management, and what he would like to see the party do in the future.
Transcript
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Hello, I'm Melanie Risden with the Western Standard and this comes on the heels of the
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CPC leadership debate. The first one that happened so far in Edmonton on Wednesday and
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joining me right now is one of the leadership candidates, Roman Babber, and he is joining us
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to just talk a little bit about some of his positions on some of the topics that are affecting
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Canadians these days and just to let us know a little bit more about what we can expect from him
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if he's voted in as the Conservative Party of Canada's leader. So thoughts on the debate. I've
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heard a lot of reaction on the debate that it was strange. In fact, some people have called it the
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worst political debate as far as the formalities and how it was put together. What were your thoughts
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on that debate? I think that Tom Clark, the moderator, certainly lost. I think it's regretful
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that there was so much emphasis at getting so many quick answers in there as opposed to actually
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allowing candidates to express themselves. There's not much you can say in 15 seconds and also the
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idea that somehow they had to control effectively the the manner of the conversation and that is
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not to stray into some sort of direction seems counterintuitive when you want to try and get to know
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the candidates. And this goes on the heels of of the North strong and free debate from the week before that was deemed by
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the media to be nasty. And so what what they try to do is they try to steer us in a civil direction.
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But even if a candidate was uncivil, then you perhaps you should know that as you as you go into vote.
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So it's regret. That's actually a really good point. So it's regretful that we've heard so much from the
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moderator and less from the candidates. You know, agreed. And I think from the viewer standpoint, what I saw
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a lot of the sort of, you know, little personal tidbits interesting for sure, but I think a lot of
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people would argue they would have preferred to hear more on on the opinions of topics that are very
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near and dear to a lot of Canadians hearts and minds right now. I thought I did well. I thought our
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campaign did well. I enjoyed the debate. And despite the moderator and the rules. And I think, again,
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this is now a second debate that I've participated in the last two weeks. And our campaign is feeling
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very, very positive about the way that they went. And I'm glad that I'm able to take my message directly
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to Canadians instead of it being filtered. Well, I would definitely say that your stance on
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many topics, actually, I think, I think are of interest to specifically Western Canadians and
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Albertans alike. Our own columnist Linda Slobodian spoke with you and she called you the only actual
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conservative running as a candidate. What are your thoughts on that statement?
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It's a kind thing of Linda to say. And in fact, I said this yesterday during the debate,
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I said that we should not be afraid to communicate who we are. And that's a key to winning any election
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is that voters must perceive credibility. And that means being genuine about our positions. And we can't
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be afraid and run to the right during the leadership and then pivot to the left during the general. I have
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proposed that we should take some bold stances on a number of issues that conservatives have been
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afraid to take on. For instance, as you may know, I have proposed that I will abolish equalization.
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I don't think that it makes sense that we continue this culture of dependency anymore.
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I'm not satisfied that the constitutional standard, assuming that it is a firm standard even to begin with,
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is met whereby provinces are unable to maintain comparable level of services. And if they're not,
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then I would like to understand why not and perhaps empower them by way primarily of natural resources to
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be able to provide those services. I'm glad that we're talking about supply management. I'm glad that
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finally the party has come around on passports and mandates are referred to as 21st century segregation.
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I think that a lot of Canadians expect the Conservative Party to stand up for them,
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something that they failed to do for the last two years. And by being firm and being who we are,
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I think will appeal to many more Canadians. And speaking of some of those controversial
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areas where, you know, you've come out loud and clear, is your stance on the mandate? And of course,
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that leading to you being ousted from the Doug Ford Conservative government in Ontario. Why is this
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such an important topic to you, this idea of standing against the mandates? And you have said very
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clearly that if you are voted in, you would work to have them all gone?
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Well, I think to make a human being choose between their ability to put food on the table
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and their personal health is inhumane. We have never forced anyone to do anything against their will.
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And make someone choose between their ability to feed their family is not much of a choice. And for
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the record, we all still agree that it is a choice. And surely the science no longer backs that up.
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We know that according to most medical officers and even the manufacturer, two shots offer minimal
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protection against infection. So any suggestion that someone's risk of transmission is higher
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because the rate of infection is higher is now off the table. No one's putting anyone at risk. I always
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thought that it was a very hateful proposition, one that we should oppose clearly. Instead of just
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stumping our chest and yelling freedom, we can articulate a sensible and moderate position and
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convince a lot of Canadians that are not sure about this. But just to, if I may, to clarify,
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I was not removed by Doug Ford over my stance on the mandates. I was removed much earlier in January 2021
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over my opposition to the lockdowns. I published an open letter to the Premier, Premier Ford, whose
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government I served in at the time, that we should factor in the toll of our public health response,
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namely the lockdowns, into, and the risk thereof, into the total equation. Because it became very clear
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that the mental health tour and in particular the health toll of the lockdowns was very, very significant.
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For instance, Ontario missed more than delayed or canceled more than 300,000 surgeries. We had more
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than a million cancer screenings missed. We see the same picture throughout the country. And so it's regretful
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that at the expense of, instead of focusing protection on vulnerable population and congregate
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settings and building healthcare capacity will lock down 35 million Canadians and potentially made them
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sick. Right. Well, thanks for clarifying that. And speaking of, you know, you already brought up
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equalization and again, another polarizing topic and one that I think I wouldn't mind you touching on a
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little bit more. I mean, we're, you're saying that if you were elected, you would end all equalization
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payments in the country by the end of your first term. Now, Alberta. So speaking to Albertans in
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Edmonton on Wednesday, you know, Alberta is one of the provinces that transfers likely the most amount
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across the country when it comes to equalization payments. And a lot of that obviously comes from
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the development of the oil and gas sector here, which, you know, comparatively, when you look at,
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say, Quebec, who chooses not to, to develop their oil and gas, and then receive the equalization payments,
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it sort of feels like this, that, that, you know, it creates that, as you, as you referred to it, that
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dependence, dependency. Why don't you speak a little bit more to that, and, and how you see it being a
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priority to change, and what you would propose? Thank you. Well, first of all, to begin with,
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I believe that our natural resources are a blessing. And I'm not going to let oil and gas be canceled.
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Development of natural resources is not just good for our strategic interest and our economic bottom
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line. I think it's good for the planet, because Canadians can derive energy cleaner and safer than any
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other nation in the world. But to go back to equalization, equalization in and of itself is
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basically redistribution. You take from one and you give to the other. And many of your viewers might
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know that I was born in the Soviet Union. And in fact, it's, it's because of my place of origin that
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I'm so passionate about Canada's democracy, and very, very worried about its erosion, which is
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probably the primary reason why I'm in this race and, and why I'd like to lead the Conservative Party
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and our country to restore Canada's democracy. But comparable to that regime of redistribution
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is equalization payments. And I think it's not just unfair to Canadians who pay into
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equalization. It also discourages productivity, research and development. It discourages production.
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And I don't think that we should be holding Canadians back. I think that we should do the opposite.
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One of the themes of my campaign is to let people work. And that means that we should not stand in the
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way of Canadians working, but to encourage them to work. And I'm, I'm heartened, I'm happy to see that
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there are a lot of voices that in fact receive equalization that are in favor of abolish it.
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For instance, Premier Higgins in New Brunswick. A couple of years ago, he came out and said,
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maybe instead of equalization, we should be developing our natural resources. And that's
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precisely what I'm proposing. I think that there is no reason why Canada should not be a natural resources
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superpower. And I'm, I'm very excited about charting that path by ending equalization.
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So having said that, then your thoughts on the carbon tax, where, where are you? What's your stance
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on that? And, you know, do we do away with it? Do we reform it? What does that look like for you?
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I will repeal the carbon tax on day one. Canada's responsible for one and a half percent of all global
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emissions. Even if we were to cut all of them, there is no clear evidence that that would make
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any material difference. All that the carbon tax does is make life more expensive. And I don't
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believe, with respect to all of my friends, that taxing Sally 10 bucks at the gas pump and on everything
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she buys at the store will somehow change the climate. And so I would propose that we do away with it
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completely. And we do not hinder Canadian opportunity. And at the same time, cost of living
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is something that is very, very important to many Canadians right now. Produce has tripled in the last
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couple of years, meat is up, everything is so, so expensive. I'd like to find ways to make life more
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affordable for Canadians. So does that then, you know, and I was actually just going to ask you that,
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how we can, as a country, try to find these ways to make life more affordable? Soaring inflation,
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you know, housing crisis because of the cost of housing, you know, with the carbon tax. But what
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more? What more can we do? Absolutely. So for instance, with the money that I intend to save from
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equalization, I propose an income tax cut. Last year, equalization was about $21 billion. That would be a
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material tax cut across the board for all Canadians. I would also propose that the best thing we can do
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to stop runaway inflation other than stop the printing of money. We have accumulated half a trillion
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worth of debt in the last two years with nothing to show for. We didn't build a single hospital. We
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didn't hire a single nurse. It's very regretful. But beyond that, we have to appreciate
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that we have a major supply chain disruption by virtue of the lockdowns, something that no candidate
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in this race other than myself has been willing to point out. We stopped the global supply chain
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at its tracks a couple of times, got demand going a couple of times, and our market is in a
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disequilibrium. And so providing some certainty to the market that we're not shutting down again
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will immediately go a long way to restoring this equilibrium, end the printing of money,
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repeal the carbon tax, give folks an income tax cut. And perhaps we should look, revisit the way
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the way government does business. I'm going to propose the capping of spending,
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discretionary spending to the rate of inflation. There are a lot of things we can actually do.
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So would you say that that is the most pressing issue for Canadians right now? Or what stands out to you
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as the most important issue right now? I think that the most important issue and the greatest
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threat to Canada right now is the erosion of Canada's democracy. And I believe that it's very,
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very real. We have a law making its way through Parliament looking to censor speech. We have
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a good percentage of Canadians, 15 to 20 percent of Canadians, that are treated like second-class
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citizens, and are unable to participate fully in society, travel freely, enter and exit Canada freely,
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or potentially many of them have already or are afraid to lose their jobs.
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We have a federal government that invokes the successor of the War Measures Act, the Emergencies
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Act, when it nowhere nearly meets the letter of the law. Seizing of bank accounts without a court order,
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this is an unprecedented assault on Canada's democracy. And Melanie, without democracy,
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we don't have anything. You can't have a strong economy. You can't have certainty of property.
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You can't have investor confidence to develop our natural resources without certainty in our
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democracy. And as I said to you, I was born in a communist regime, and I know how precious Canada's
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democracy is. That is my first priority, is to defend, restore Canada's democracy.
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Now, I know that you are, as I mentioned, you have your position on many things is appealing to
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Albertans. What do you say to the Albertans in this growing movement of separation?
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I've got to keep you here. And I've had a number of these conversations with my friends in Alberta over
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the last couple of days. And I understand that there's this desire to potentially
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for more independence. But I'm going to do a couple of things. First of all, I'm going to fully
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unleash your economic potential by working with you at allowing further ways to develop your natural
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resources. I will repeal the anti-pipeline bill on day one. Makes sense. It's so much safer to
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transpond oil by pipe than train. I would think that anyone that cares about the environment would
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prefer a pipeline over a train. I'm going to repeal equalization. And most importantly,
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I'm a politician from Ontario, and I know how many of them think and how folks in Quebec think.
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I think that the political class needs to appreciate that there is life outside of Ontario and Quebec.
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And I need to bring you into the national conversation. And I start doing that by bringing
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conservative members from Western Canada and the Maritimes and Atlantic Canada into the conversation.
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I hope to do everything possible to maintain unity within our party and our country.
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And pollsters do say that for you to win, it would feel like a long shot. What are your thoughts on
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that? If you aren't successful, what are your plans there? What do you have to say to the people
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who say it's a long shot for you? Our campaign keeps exceeding expectations. First, there was some
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question as to whether my application would be approved, given that I was asked to leave a
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provincial caucus. We got approved. Then there was a question as to whether I'll be able to make it onto
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the ballot by raising the $300,000 plus the $60,000 tax on top of the fee. And so we have. We raised the
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money and now I'm on the final ballot. I've now participated in two debates. And by all accounts,
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I've done really well in the debates and more and more voters are seeing that there's another credible
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option here. And finally, I anticipate that we're going to, in addition to exceeding expectations,
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I'm looking to unite democracy loving Canadians. And that includes the freedom movement that is not
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entirely settled as to where it's going to go. But we have made a lot of headway with freedom.
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And I'm confident this is going to propel us to a good result on first ballot, which may translate
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into the climbing up as we continue along the ballots. So we love exceeding expectations and
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we love to be considered the underdog as well. So rising to the occasion. And if you are not successful,
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will you consider running for the Conservative Party on the federal level?
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You know, what would be your plans moving forward?
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I like to joke and it's true, Melody. I don't really love, I don't really like politics. And
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I've enjoyed, I was very, very blessed in private practice, practicing law. Before I was elected,
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I practiced for 12 years. It's better for, you know, for the paycheck. It's better for your privacy.
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And certainly my loved ones. Politics is very, very taxing, especially the last couple of years
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and everything that I've been blessed to experience. So I don't want to make a prediction.
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I am committed to being competitive in this race and we're in it to win it.
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All right. You are in Alberta for how long? What's your next stop? Where are you heading?
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We're going to hang around Calgary for the day. Then we may stop in Red Deer on our way back to
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Edmonton. I have an event scheduled in Edmonton. We're going to meet some folks there as well tomorrow
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and probably head back to Ontario on the weekend. Well, thank you for filling us in a little bit
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more in depth than people were able to hear at the debate on Wednesday. Again, Conservative Party
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of Canada candidate, Roman Bavard joining us in studio today. Thanks for watching.