Western Standard - Grassroots politics over Big Government

00:00:00.000 Good evening, Western Standard viewers, and welcome to Hannaford, a weekly politics show.

00:00:24.760 I'm Jen Hodson, filling in for Nigel Hannaford.

00:00:29.040 My guest today is Fetine Grzeski, a political commentator and former Conservative candidate

00:00:35.520 nominee for the House of Commons and a candidate for the New Brunswick Provincial Legislature.

00:00:41.760 But first, a word from our sponsors. This episode of The Hannaford Show is sponsored

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00:01:18.280 Fatine Grzeski, an Alberta-born girl and hockey mom,

00:01:21.980 is a political commentator and host of a national issues commentary show

00:01:26.720 that airs on networks canada-wide an executive director in the charitable sector and a candidate

00:01:34.080 nominated for the federal conservative party and a candidate for the new brunswick provincial

00:01:40.160 conservatives fateen welcome to the show great to be here jan thank you so much for having me

00:01:47.040 oh we're so delighted to have you so fateen given your history in politics as both a federal and

00:01:53.840 provincial conservative candidate and your work i hear with youth driving political change i reckon

00:02:00.320 you have some special insight into the multi-level political chaos we face as the nation yeah well

00:02:06.960 you know i like you and all of your viewers i love this nation you know and i'm both a businesswoman

00:02:12.800 and a mom and so you know i interface with the issues of the day from a variety of angles and

00:02:18.960 you know the stakes are high the issues are intense and it is just a wild time in politics

00:02:23.840 right now so i'm great to i'm happy to be with you today to chop up some of the issues of the

00:02:28.320 day i do want to mention though um at the federal level i was a nomination candidate i lost the

00:02:34.000 nomination by just a hair and provincially i was on the ticket so right i saw that it was really

00:02:40.240 quite a close race though it was just by a hair as you say so we'll we'll get back to any kind

00:02:47.920 of political ideas you might have in the future towards the end of the show but for now let's just

00:02:53.200 jump right into it so the unelected mark carney appears to be a shoe-in for the liberal leader

00:02:58.960 coming up we have a march 9th liberal leadership contest and if he wins that he'll become the next

00:03:06.320 prime minister and again he's unelected so there is speculation that he would call an election

00:03:12.320 right away but some people are saying that the liberals could de facto stay in power until 2026

00:03:19.760 even though there's an election scheduled for october 2025 and according to the charter i think

00:03:26.160 it's section four if there's an emergency situation like a tariff war for example

00:03:32.480 that it could be even longer so what do you make of that well you know what i make of the

00:03:38.160 current political climate is that things are changing not just by the day but by the hour by

00:03:43.680 the minute right so i think so much of our political context right now definitely is

00:03:48.800 responsive to what is happening in the united states specifically with president trump and

00:03:55.280 it changes can change by the day by the minute so you know in terms of the possibility of the

00:04:01.120 federal election being pushed all the way to 2026 i think the only way that canadians uh would have

00:04:08.880 an ounce of that without a major outcry uh would be if there was a legitimate national crisis uh

00:04:17.120 you know many people would say that the crisis that we're facing right now is not only uh external

00:04:23.760 wasn't just created by the trump tariff threat but it's been created by poor domestic policies

00:04:29.840 The fact that we haven't been able to get our act together on the issue of domestic trade, the imbalance with equalization payments.

00:04:37.580 There's a lot that we could do internally, I think, to bolster our economy or not.

00:04:42.980 I think there's a lot that we can do internally, domestically, you know, to bolster trade, to bolster the economy, to strengthen our essential industries before we have to go so far as to declaring a national emergency that would cause the election to be delayed a year.

00:05:01.380 So I think the Liberals have a pretty hard sell, given the fact that a lot of the economic crisis that we're facing was created by them and by their policies.

00:05:11.360 They're going to have a hard sell with Canadians to push that election all the way to 2026.

00:05:15.600 But, you know, it's a crazy time. It's a wild time and anything could happen.

00:05:19.160 I think we've learned that.

00:05:21.820 Yeah, absolutely. We really do have to be prepared for anything.

00:05:25.420 And just to your point about all of the internal solutions that Canadian politicians, both federally and provincially, could be doing, you mentioned the internal trade.

00:05:37.600 I've recently discussed with both the Alberta Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, amongst some other business agencies here in Canada at both federal and provincial levels.

00:05:50.620 And they are actually all singing a similar tune that the tariffs are creating a big problem.

00:05:57.520 And should they go through, there's going to be massive impacts.

00:06:00.440 But this isn't just the beginning of a new issue.

00:06:04.000 It's actually been something that's been going on for years or even decades with all these barriers for trade.

00:06:10.800 I also heard about high taxes.

00:06:13.400 You know, we have the carbon tax being spiked again on April 1st, and that's going to be like a 20% increase for, you know, forgive me if I'm slightly off about that, but it's a substantial increase in the carbon tax as well.

00:06:27.780 so it's not like donald trump just came along and created these problems for canada they were

00:06:33.680 long-standing before and that's without even touching on the illegal immigration issues that

00:06:39.620 canada has had for years and even legal immigration has been so wildly out of control and in addition

00:06:47.320 to that is where we're learning more and more just what an issue this fentanyl problem has been so

00:06:54.620 in light of the liberal leadership race, it's like parliament has been put on pause for this

00:07:01.660 prorogation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on January 6, as you know, he announced his intention

00:07:08.380 to resign, but we haven't actually seen any fruit of that except for a prorogued parliament

00:07:13.760 and liberal candidates scrambling to get their act together for this leadership contest.

00:07:20.760 so so how do we square this circle when we have so much going on that needs to be addressed

00:07:28.120 from not just a an internal perspective but internationally we're we're dealing with um

00:07:36.120 with trump and the tariffs and all the different issues that are collectively adding towards

00:07:43.880 something that we need to really address but we don't have anyone seated in the house of commons

00:07:49.320 right now. Yeah, it's incredibly concerning and disappointing, obviously, to have a dysfunctional

00:07:55.540 parliament at such a critical moment in our national timeline here. So, you know, listen,

00:08:01.720 there's there are so many different things that you said there, but let's go with the low hanging

00:08:05.840 fruit. First of all, let's get our domestic trade flowing. And let's face it, if the one thing that

00:08:12.860 Trump's tariffs threats accomplish is that we get those pipelines built, that we get energy east

00:08:20.460 flowing, that we start getting our resources to market on the both the Pacific and the Atlantic

00:08:25.620 coast. You know, that will be a huge win. Now, obviously, that's not going to happen in a minute.

00:08:30.200 It takes more than a day to build a pipeline. And so we have to be looking at what are some

00:08:35.560 of the other economic levers that can be pulled that are immediate other than just starting a

00:08:41.180 massive trade war with the United States of America. And the low hanging fruit, Jen, is that

00:08:47.760 carbon tax. It really, really is. This has been one of the deepest grinds on Canadians in the last

00:08:55.080 decade. And the average Canadian household right now, as I understand it, is paying

00:08:59.800 just under $1,000 per annum in carbon tax. Well, let's get rid of that. That's just the household

00:09:07.380 burden you know we understand as well that this carbon tax is putting immense pressure on our

00:09:12.020 industries that that those costs are being passed on to the consumer in a multiplicity of ways it

00:09:18.900 is a massive contributor to inflation uh so let's start with what we can do right now and i just i

00:09:26.420 want to applaud the voices of common sense that have been saying this really now for years and

00:09:31.860 And sometimes, you know, a little bit of an external pain makes us wake up to some of the conversations that we might not have been open to in the past.

00:09:40.420 And I want to say this, like I'm I'm an Alberta girl originally, but I've really lived all over the all over the nation.

00:09:46.540 I lived in Vancouver, went to university there and then have built my life kind of across the nation.

00:09:51.740 We're in New Brunswick right now. And, you know, Jen, I've noticed that, you know, a lot of Eastern Canadians really don't understand the policy press. 0.96

00:10:01.580 that has been put on the financial economic engine of our nation, namely Alberta and Western

00:10:07.360 Canada. It's not that they don't care. It's just that they don't know. It's not something that is

00:10:11.560 widely talked about. And what's happening here with the discourse surrounding the tariffs and

00:10:17.300 with the strong leadership of Premier Danielle Smith is it's bringing this conversation to the

00:10:22.820 fore in a way that I think is really critical, important, and probably the lightest word in

00:10:29.000 the mix I could use there would just be healthy. Like this needs to be a conversation, but we've

00:10:33.160 got $300 billion in equalization payments over the last several decades. And yet an all out war

00:10:41.620 on the very industry that makes those payments possible. You know, we need to have a conversation.

00:10:47.340 So I would say I would advocate for beginning with the conversations we can have domestically,

00:10:51.960 internally, let's get some stuff done here at home. And then let's learn how to be diplomats

00:10:57.260 on the international stage and not just throw mud from over the fence like i i applaud danielle

00:11:02.700 smith and her leadership i think she's demonstrating how to get it done yes i agree i think the premier

00:11:08.860 smith is doing a great job it's really refreshing to see uh such a strong level-headed voice

00:11:16.140 come out uh in in defense of canada in defense of alberta and without taking on this team canada

00:11:23.420 rhetoric either that the federal liberals are all of a sudden set and putting forward without

00:11:31.900 too long too long ago in recent memory was the freedom convoy where the federal liberals of

00:11:37.820 course were acting like anyone who was on so-called team canada was some kind of a domestic terrorist

00:11:45.660 or something calling the emergencies act which was recently appealed in the federal court by

00:11:51.420 the Trudeau Liberals. So, but to circle back about what you mentioned about the carbon tax and

00:11:57.820 how that is impacting us internally, how do you think that makes us look on the world stage?

00:12:05.180 We're really the only nation that has these kind of measures anymore. We see other western nations

00:12:11.980 walking back these climate policies. So, how do you think it makes us look and what does it do

00:12:18.780 for our attractiveness as global trading partners you know we we're facing down the barrel of a gun

00:12:25.580 of this looming trade war who's going to be wanting to do business with canada with all

00:12:30.540 of these extra taxes including this astronomical carbon tax that is tacked on to all of our goods

00:12:38.140 and commodities yeah you make a really important point how do we look on the international stage i

00:12:43.500 i haven't asked any of my international friends and colleagues particularly on this issue but 0.81

00:12:48.780 I'd have to say we look ridiculous. You know, our emissions output is 1.4% of global emissions.

00:12:55.340 The last time I researched it, maybe we're somewhere near 1.6%, but we're not, we're

00:12:59.680 definitely not past two. I hadn't even heard, you know, for decades, you know, I remember back

00:13:04.380 in probably around 2009, Stephen Harper saying, listen, we could tank our entire economy as we

00:13:12.860 drive towards net zero and really make almost no impact on the global emissions footprint and you

00:13:19.820 know that's just logical right and so you know we do need to think about our families we need to

00:13:26.060 think about our businesses we need to think about creating that climate once again uh speaking of

00:13:31.500 self-sabotage creating that climate once again where canada becomes attractive to business and

00:13:37.500 And that those of us here that are business owners like myself, you know, are actually able to flourish and build a life for their families that is prosperous.

00:13:47.200 And so these are no brainers. These are no brainers. And we are at a time where the pendulum needs to come back.

00:13:53.900 Crazy has just gotten more crazy on some of these frontiers.

00:13:57.640 And it's time to begin to look at these things pragmatically, logically, and ask those tough questions like why in the world are we killing our economies, these various industries?

00:14:07.500 when it's really having a negligible impact on global emissions yeah we really got to get the

00:14:13.340 adults back in the room back in the house of commons where these matters can be actually

00:14:18.240 discussed with leadership and with a with a leader that has a mandate from the canadian people

00:14:25.200 so just again back to the mark carney and liberal leadership so carney there's again there's

00:14:32.640 speculation that he would call an election right away because he would just become the de facto

00:14:38.740 prime minister if he wins the leader liberal ship race which it looks like he's going to do

00:14:45.640 so what do you see happening what so pro so parliament is coming back march 24th that's

00:14:53.220 when the prorogation is over the leader liberal ship contest is going to be just a few weeks

00:14:58.040 before that on march 9th so we're going to have a new prime minister in place and it's not going to

00:15:06.040 be elected by canadians it's going to be someone elected by liberals essentially and they're going

00:15:11.880 to be leading the country so a lot of people are looking at the polls looking to see um when is the

00:15:18.840 next election because many canadians are liking what they hear from conservative leader pierre

00:15:24.600 Polyev, but it seems like there's still a few hurdles to jump over. And as I mentioned at the

00:15:30.920 beginning of our discussion, it seems like there is a constitutional mechanism, I think you even

00:15:38.680 said that earlier, that would keep the liberals and ergo Carney, should he win the leadership race

00:15:46.160 in power even beyond 2026 if parliament votes to repeal of course and with the support of

00:15:55.020 Jagmeet Singh and the NDP that very well could happen. Yeah there's so much in what you just

00:16:01.940 outlined there but just to say this and politics usually polling rules the day unfortunately

00:16:07.120 and that is again so discouraging and disheartening as someone who loves Canada and I know you're in

00:16:13.300 the same boat and is deeply concerned about the trajectory that our nation has been on. Like we

00:16:17.740 need an election for the sake of the will of democracy to be expressed. But we know that,

00:16:25.720 you know, political parties are going to be looking at the polls. They're going to be looking

00:16:28.380 at the temperature of, you know, what's happening, how what's happening in the United States of

00:16:34.120 America and President Trump's policies, like how that's going to be impacting the political climate.

00:16:39.780 It seems like the liberals are trying to set themselves up to be campaigning against President Trump, not against Pierre Polyam.

00:16:48.000 And so they're going to be watching these things.

00:16:50.240 Obviously, political parties always try to strike when they think that it is most beneficial to them.

00:16:56.420 So, again, like I said earlier, anything could happen.

00:16:59.240 So I really feel like it's wisdom just for people to engage at the grassroots level right now and not take anything for granted.

00:17:06.520 You mentioned the whole dynamic that we will have a prime minister that was not elected by the Canadian people, but rather by the members of the Liberal Party.

00:17:17.760 And now the deadline has passed. I don't know what the membership is at right now for the federal liberals.

00:17:22.780 But I do know that when Justin Trudeau ran, he won, I think, believe it was with 90,000 votes.

00:17:29.660 So if you weigh 90,000 votes up against 40 million people, that's 90,000 people deciding for 40 million that Justin Trudeau was going to be the official leader of the opposition back in the day.

00:17:41.800 So, yeah, you're right. But this just illustrates why it is so important for people to get involved in grassroots partisan politics with the party that most represents their views and values.

00:17:54.000 because if you're involved in things like these leadership races you're going to be the one that

00:17:58.400 sets the temperature in the room and i think it goes without saying i need to highlight this right

00:18:03.680 now because i i'm not sure why we're not talking about this one more and that is that there are

00:18:08.560 nominations that are being rolled out all across canada right now as a matter of fact i just got

00:18:13.440 an email uh yesterday from somebody right just a stone's throw from you right there jen in calgary

00:18:19.200 there's a nomination that just opened up in Bow River, I believe. It'll be closed by the time

00:18:24.020 this is airing. But these nominations are rolling out right now. And lots of these nominations

00:18:29.020 will be determined by just a couple dozen Canadians that buy a membership in the party

00:18:34.560 that they resonate with. And it's going to be those Canadians that literally set the climate

00:18:41.360 for our nation going forward. You know, we know up until about a month ago, most of the polls

00:18:48.360 were projecting a super majority for Pierre Polyev. So to be honest, the more important

00:18:54.840 elections, it's really not the liberal leadership race, if those polls are true. It's actually those

00:19:00.220 nominations that are happening all across Canada right now that are going to determine the climate

00:19:05.920 of the Conservative caucus and the climate of the House of Commons here within, well, we'll see,

00:19:12.220 six or 18 months. Yeah, well, that's such an interesting point, because I think for a while

00:19:18.180 there. The conservative movement was feeling pretty confident that Pierre Polyev had it in

00:19:24.480 the bag or has it in the bag for a super majority. However, there's been kind of a toss up since this

00:19:31.460 liberal leadership race got going with a lot of liberals who had jumped ship under Prime Minister

00:19:39.540 Justin Trudeau. Now with Mark Carney, things, you know, seem to have shifted a little bit. He seems

00:19:45.720 to have some appeal for some former liberals or liberals that were starting to feel wishy-washy

00:19:51.880 and maybe said that they would vote conservative because they want to see someone that's a little

00:19:56.560 bit more competent in the leadership role as the nation's leader. And so people, I think,

00:20:04.740 are finding some likability, perhaps, in Mark Carney. And we see in the polls recently, you

00:20:11.380 you say polls are what really demonstrates the situation that actually the liberals are starting

00:20:19.140 to gain a little bit more ground so just as we're wrapping it up you know you mentioned about uh

00:20:25.300 grassroots movements and that it's not so much the big general election that is going to have

00:20:32.740 the poll but in these smaller by-elections um and what are some other ways that people

00:20:39.940 on a more local level or more grassroots level can get involved and can really play a role,

00:20:48.740 a democratic role in what is to come of this nation? That's a great question. And thank you

00:20:54.520 so much for it. I think the most important thing that your viewers can do, the listeners can do

00:21:00.260 after they are done listening to this podcast, is to go and make sure that your membership is

00:21:07.540 active in the party that most represents your views and values and just get in the room. It's

00:21:14.700 not the people that are outside of the room that determine the temperature and the conversations.

00:21:19.060 It's the people that are in the room. And then once you're in the room, raise your hand, you

00:21:23.720 know, every time that there's an opportunity to volunteer and to serve. And I always encourage

00:21:28.860 the people that I lead to come with a service heart, to come with a heart of honor. You know,

00:21:33.980 I think we are all so weary and tired of toxic politics, right?

00:21:40.080 And we can be that change.

00:21:41.840 I say, get in the room, get in the room with courage, be a voice for the things that you

00:21:45.720 care about, but also do it in a way that is going to foster unity and a culture of kindness.

00:21:52.240 Like I just came through one of the most toxic elections that, oh my gosh, it was crazy.

00:21:59.580 It was just crazy.

00:22:00.980 And I just, you know, all of us have to decide, number one, we're either going to be in the room or we're not, because it's only going to be the people in the room that have sway.

00:22:08.720 And number two, we're going to be that person in the room that contributes to a healthy culture within our political discourse or we're not.

00:22:17.680 And so I think those are the two. If we all just did those two basic things, got in the room and then helped contribute to a healthy culture, then we would see change in our nation within short order for sure.

00:22:29.120 wow that is so good thank you so much for that perspective and for wrapping up the show on a

00:22:35.320 positive note because you know we can sit back and comment on all these political unfoldings but

00:22:42.220 until people realize that actually it's up to we the people and decide to get involved ourselves

00:22:49.100 and that's where the change really comes from so I love hearing that and Fetine it's been amazing

00:22:55.700 to have you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us. This is Fetine Griseci, who has her

00:23:02.840 show on Fetine TV, and she is a former Conservative candidate for the House of Commons nominee 0.72

00:23:10.060 and for the Provincial Legislature in New Brunswick. Fetine, any last words?

00:23:16.880 Oh, no, it's just been wonderful to be with you, Jen. This is great. And maybe I'll just

00:23:21.340 land it with the words of a very Honorable Albertan, the Honorable Preston Manning. Let's

00:23:27.960 just get out there and do something. Sounds great. Yeah, those are those are amazing parting words. So

00:23:34.720 thank you to you. Thank you to the Honorable Preston Manning for his insight. I saw that you

00:23:39.580 just recently did a segment or four show segment with him. So thank you, Fetine, and all the best

00:23:45.860 to you. Thank you, Jen. Thank you for joining us for The Hannaford Show this week. I'm Jen Hodson.

00:24:15.860 Invest in gold and silver today.

Western Standard - February 28, 2025

Grassroots politics over Big Government

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