Western Standard - HANNAFORD： Let's hear it for Canada's dads

00:00:00.000 good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to Hannaford a weekly politics show of the Western

00:00:20.760 Standard and we are broadcasting from the floor of the global energy show here in the PMO Center

00:00:28.520 in calgary and it's a great day to be in calgary i can tell you with me today is fateen grazeski

00:00:39.720 and just around the corner is father's day hello fateen hello nigel mr hannaford it's such an honor

00:00:47.160 to be with you today you are so kind none of my other guests ever say that now the reason

00:00:52.680 The reason we're talking about you and Father's Day in the same breath is that, of course,

00:00:59.560 you and I had a talk a few weeks ago about Mother's Day, and now this is payback time.

00:01:08.060 We get to talk about fathers.

00:01:11.760 Just before we do that, I want to give people a little context.

00:01:16.000 Your wiki page says you're a Christian conservative activist and broadcaster, and I think I believe

00:01:22.420 that so let's not kid the viewers you look at politics from a faith-based perspective am i

00:01:28.100 right about that well you know what nigel i i just love canada and i think if you love something you

00:01:33.460 get involved and that normally leads people like you and i to kind of find the public policy and

00:01:39.460 governmental intersection so that's kind of the beginning and the end of it on that one

00:01:44.900 i think so i think you also had something to do with bro beating cineplex into showing that

00:01:51.060 uh that film unplanned which goes into how planned parenthood works and how not every abortion is a

00:01:58.660 wanted one so uh is that correct yeah you're rolling back about seven years now i think but

00:02:05.460 absolutely we were a part of a movement that said hey canadians want to see this movie and it was

00:02:10.340 true we did a showing of the film in edmonton 3 000 people showed up at a private screening

00:02:15.860 and so that was a flashpoint and we basically pushed back and said this needs to be in the

00:02:22.340 theaters even if the woke mob doesn't want it it got to the theaters and it impacted a lot of lives

00:02:28.160 it's a very powerful movie i'd encourage people to check it out yes yes my wife and i went to see it

00:02:34.940 i totally agree i just thought it was ironic at the time that after the cineplex didn't

00:02:39.440 actually want to show it they ended up making a lot of money out of ticket sales

00:02:43.620 3,000 people going in to see it so anyway well done great stuff we're here to talk about fathers

00:02:49.960 because a few weeks ago we were talking about mothers and we want to talk about how great

00:02:53.920 fathers are or so i like to think uh you know from your vantage point in the for my canada

00:03:01.460 organization how are fathers doing we hear all the time about bitter situations where good dads

00:03:07.420 who meet their obligations lose access to their kids anyway after divorce or there was a chap who

00:03:13.380 went to jail in BC because he stood in the way of his child having a sex change operation which

00:03:20.160 his ex-wife was prepared to countenance and if you don't like what the school is giving your

00:03:25.920 children to read they're just as likely to tell you it's none of your business I think the law 0.61

00:03:30.660 doesn't support fathers and you say well I would say this I would say that anything we can do to

00:03:38.100 support fathers would be fantastic and is is very important fathers are not disposable contrary to

00:03:45.360 what some cultural trends might say and you know I before our interview here Mr. Hannaford I took

00:03:50.800 some time just to check out some fresh statistics like you know what's the government of Canada say

00:03:55.400 about the importance of dads and one thing that I found it's very interesting most single parent

00:04:00.920 families in Canada Mr. Hannaford are actually headed by mothers and in those households you

00:04:06.880 will see a disproportionately high number of children that are actually living in poverty.

00:04:13.240 Now, this isn't to say that moms are doing a great job or single moms aren't doing a great 0.97

00:04:17.480 job. The bottom line is they're doing the best that they can. But this data does accent that 1.00

00:04:22.840 the presence of a father is really critical just to the general well-being. As a matter of fact,

00:04:29.500 let me read something right after off of the Public Health Agency of Canada website. It says

00:04:34.680 this a positive positive father involvement excuse me is strongly associated they say strongly

00:04:41.640 associated with better outcomes for children including cognitive development reduced depression

00:04:48.760 reduced adolescent substance abuse better independence improved overall health and

00:04:54.520 reduced later delinquency uh you know so dads matters we just want to say this and i don't think

00:05:00.040 It's a newsflash to anybody here that the family has been under assault, you know, in a variety of

00:05:06.120 ways for generations now. But the bottom line is this, is the data shows that when parents are

00:05:12.780 strong, when the couple unit is intact, when families are strong, when dads are in the home,

00:05:18.160 when dads are present, kids do better. And when kids do better, nations do better, society does

00:05:24.220 better it's just good better all around so that would be my my personal position and i believe

00:05:30.540 everybody out for my canada would agree with that as well well i think you're speaking for a lot of

00:05:35.980 people but you know there are some folks who will turn by the way i mean i it's a lovely opportunity

00:05:41.220 to just remember my own father who is a mechanic in the air force during the second world war

00:05:47.440 And guess what? In the 1960s, I got my first car and my father and I became really close, picking an engine apart and putting it back together again.

00:05:57.280 Those kinds of fatherly, that kind of fatherly leadership is so important.

00:06:01.600 And I gather anecdotally, it's not as common as you would want it to be.

00:06:05.900 And that leads to my second question. All right. When you have a good father, the family prospers.

00:06:11.820 What happens when you have a bad father? Is there a do we need to sort of acknowledge that?

00:06:16.200 Yeah, absolutely. And I think even just that quote, a reference back to that, the quote that I just read, you know, the data does show that not having a dad in the home or having a dysfunctional father, I think you could say the same thing.

00:06:29.780 As a matter of fact, there's one statistic that I saw that 63% of boys whose fathers were involved in criminal activity were at risk of doing the same.

00:06:39.540 So it's not just about having a dad, but it's also having a good dad, having a dad that is engaged, that is loving, that is kind.

00:06:47.660 You know, even I'm a person of faith.

00:06:49.120 The Bible talks about this, the importance of blessing your children, the importance of protecting your family, providing for your family, and also the importance of not exasperating your children.

00:06:59.760 You know, there is, you know, a grace to fatherhood.

00:07:02.920 And so, but I just really want to say this, Mr. Hannaford, I think the message needs to be driven

00:07:08.140 into society and into men. You are needed. That the most important thing you will ever do in your

00:07:15.620 life, if you have the privilege of being a father, is to not just be a father, but to be a dad,

00:07:22.440 to be present, to be engaged, and to really pour into that next generation. At the end of your

00:07:28.460 life, I think most men would say this. It isn't necessarily the career accolades or how much money

00:07:34.260 is in your bank account. That is the thing that really rises to the top of the list of things

00:07:39.260 that you're proud about. The things that you will be most proud about at the end of your life will

00:07:44.240 be how you have to do with your family, have to do with being a functional family and being a great

00:07:50.500 dad. So I would just encourage the men out there to really prioritize figuring this one out because

00:07:56.240 it matters it matters for your own life and it also matters for the whole of society definitely

00:08:01.600 matters for your kids well you've spoken twice now about the diminished role of fathers in the

00:08:10.320 society we live in who's who is actually trying to exclude fathers from their natural role in the

00:08:17.760 family and for what end no i really don't know that i have a clear answer to that obviously it's

00:08:24.640 been a cultural trend i think when there's relational dysfunction you know it's easy to

00:08:30.880 point the finger throw the other person under the bus and so whether it's culture whether it's you

00:08:35.920 know women in general that maybe have felt abused or neglected by men that sort of retaliate back

00:08:43.760 and and push men out of our lives i have no idea i'm not a psychologist or somebody who has studied

00:08:49.840 these things but uh you know but i but i think we all have to do better i think as a woman i want

00:08:55.280 to say that like i say to my husband i'm so grateful my husband is a hands-on dad and i

00:09:00.560 encourage him in that and i love that about my husband and i think as women we have a role to

00:09:05.680 play in pushing back against some of these toxic narratives so does the media obviously which is

00:09:10.960 why it's so wonderful that you're talking about this very important topic today well let me be a

00:09:17.680 a little bit provocative here. Again, I'm going back to my own early days, and there was a girl I

00:09:24.800 knew whose parents literally didn't speak to each other. She was the intermediary, would you please

00:09:31.200 ask your father to pass the salt, that kind of relationship. But they stayed together, and I

00:09:38.120 cannot imagine living like that, and neither can a tremendous number of other people, which is why

00:09:45.460 divorce rates are as high as they are now what makes that possible not

00:09:50.200 withstanding your comment earlier about single mothers often doing poorly

00:09:55.600 economically never mind that there's also women have much more independence

00:10:02.980 these days because the work that's available unlike the work of a hundred 0.99

00:10:08.080 years ago is largely capable of being done by women you know the clerical 1.00

00:10:15.160 functions, just about everything, actually, if it doesn't involve literal heavy lifting. 1.00

00:10:24.460 Now if women have more independence, that threshold of separation comes way, way down. 1.00

00:10:32.880 And I don't need this jerk. 1.00

00:10:34.880 I'm going to take the kids and I'm going to go. 1.00

00:10:38.800 So that's actually partly a spiritual problem, isn't it?

00:10:43.520 before it was an economic contract marriage now it's kind of a thing that you do if it's working

00:10:49.600 well for you and if it isn't you bail um do you see am i making sense on this or

00:11:00.240 and i think you bring up a good point and i think a lot of this can be traced back even

00:11:03.520 to world war one world war two right when the men went out to war and the women uh you know

00:11:08.480 know that you're back here and uh you know basically driving industry uh working in the

00:11:14.220 shops producing uh products uh for the economy for the men that were out there and so there was

00:11:20.120 definitely a shift there and there's been a trend line forward ever since of course the digital age 0.79

00:11:24.300 as well but i don't necessarily know that that's a bad thing that it's a bad thing for women to be

00:11:30.100 productive and to be in the workforce as long as we keep the central revelation that kids need 1.00

00:11:38.240 their dads. Kids need their dads. They need their dads to be present. They need their dads to be

00:11:43.940 blessing them, to be pouring into them, to be mentoring them. Yes, providing for them. Yes,

00:11:49.800 protecting them and doing all the dad and father functions. But I believe that we could have both,

00:11:55.960 you know, as a matter of fact, if we're going to talk from a faith lens, Proverbs 31, and you talked

00:12:00.700 about this on my show, Mr. Hannaford, how the Proverbs 31 woman kind of does it all. You know,

00:12:06.020 she manages the household, but she's also a businesswoman and she has a side hustle that 1.00

00:12:12.120 she's doing as well. And so I don't think it's that women shouldn't be in the workforce.

00:12:17.020 But I do think that we need to get back to really valuing moms and dads, functional relationships.

00:12:24.860 You know, I have a friend of mine, as you were sharing that story, who shared with me

00:12:28.620 years ago how her parents almost divorced when she was, I think she was in her early 20s,

00:12:34.660 probably around this time. And she said, you know, when my parents told me that they were about to

00:12:39.680 divorce, she said, I literally felt like I was being ripped in half and my whole world was being

00:12:45.080 ripped in half. And she said, I almost, it was almost like I felt it physically. I don't know

00:12:49.200 for sure, but this is, you know, what she had said. And so she shared that with her mom. Now,

00:12:53.900 at the end of the line, her parents ended up staying together. You know, they didn't have

00:12:57.940 the best relationship, you know, a lot that could have been more functional in that context from

00:13:04.000 what I understand, but she shared with me how, how strengthening it was to her that her parents

00:13:10.980 had pushed through that tough time, how they had pushed through to the other side and how that had

00:13:15.520 really taught her, you know, to stay the course, even through tough and dark seasons. And so,

00:13:21.880 you know, we all go through tough times. There's no marriage that is perfect. And every single

00:13:26.140 marriage requires work and effort, but there really is something that you said for, to fight,

00:13:32.560 or excuse me for fighting for that connection uh staying together through the tough times

00:13:38.960 coming out on the other side recognizing no marriage is perfect but a mom and a dad are needed

00:13:45.680 by their children and sometimes we need to think about our kids well that's isn't that just the

00:13:51.920 truth you it is the marriage is actually for for both of you but it's also primarily for the kids

00:13:59.600 you do what's right for them so uh you know as i i think whichever way we try to come at this

00:14:06.400 whether it's economic or or whether it's just what works it comes back to a spiritual

00:14:13.520 problem and that is that people people aren't prepared to do what it takes some people anyway

00:14:20.080 And so can you think of any institutional supports that a government can use to push fathers forward in their role as fathers

00:14:35.560 and remove some of the obstacles that we've talked about?

00:14:40.040 Some of the obstacles, of course, are the way we said earlier, is the way the law treats fathers, often grossly unfairly.

00:14:47.980 is there a way of going back to basics on this?

00:14:54.740 I actually love what you said on my show

00:14:57.000 when I asked you a similar question about supporting moms

00:15:00.100 and that was the policy of income splitting.

00:15:02.560 I think so much of the grind and hardship

00:15:05.640 that families are experiencing right now

00:15:08.100 is because of the economy.

00:15:10.300 You know, you see situations where parents

00:15:12.660 are just being run ragged,

00:15:14.600 working 40, 60, 80 hours a week

00:15:17.100 just to put food in the fridge just to pay their mortgage uh many are are really literally a hundred

00:15:25.080 many families are just a hundred or two hundred dollars away from insolvency and not being able

00:15:29.440 to pay the bills and so anything that our government can do to support uh reducing

00:15:35.840 taxation i think would be a great thing so income splitting is that you know and hey let's uh since

00:15:41.600 you're there at the at the convention let's just say let's build a pipeline as well maybe get rid

00:15:45.960 of income tax here in Alberta. You know, there's a lot you can do to ease the financial burden on

00:15:53.740 Canadians. And that will be a blessing to the family. That will mean that moms and dads get

00:15:58.680 more time together with their children to strengthen the family, work out their stuff,

00:16:03.220 all of that. So I would say that's the main thing that legislators can do. And then also just

00:16:08.300 fostering the narrative that family matters. I think it's important to say that, that babies

00:16:13.480 are beautiful you know that nations that don't have babies implode over time once you get below

00:16:19.560 that 1.2 uh replenishment rate on the birth rate you know these are important things to the health

00:16:26.200 and sustenance of a civilization society and nation so let's support the family

00:16:32.760 amen so for so for viewers who didn't perhaps see the earlier conversation between uh mrs

00:16:38.760 Mrs. Grisecki and myself, we were talking about the fact that two couples, each having

00:16:45.760 the same family income, would pay more tax if that income was earned by just one of them.

00:16:53.500 So the traditional role of one goes out to work, brings home the salary, the other stays

00:16:58.780 at home and raises the children, is actually penalized by government.

00:17:04.320 something that many times has been raised. I know in the early days of the Harper government we were

00:17:10.080 trying to fix that. Anyway, it's not that way today. There is a definite penalty if you are

00:17:16.640 a single earner in the family. So that certainly is one and you know there's a pet peeve of mine

00:17:24.140 as well you might want to comment on. Have you just noticed that in all the situation comedies

00:17:28.560 you know dad's always the idiot he's the one who screws things up and it's the kids who come 0.94

00:17:34.900 through and they're clever and they're smart and they're witty uh we could do with less of that i 0.99

00:17:39.720 think couldn't we yeah i absolutely agree and that's why i don't watch that stuff firstly we

00:17:44.880 don't let it in our house i think it's important that men are honored i think it's important women

00:17:49.500 are honored and you know where there is mutual respect and honor in both directions uh everything

00:17:55.920 just goes better and and i think we really really need to prioritize that in our own cultures in our

00:18:02.000 own homes in our own spheres of influence and i also want to say this nigel because i can kind

00:18:07.680 of feel this you know with the the statistics around family breakdown and single parent homes 0.79

00:18:12.800 right now i know that there are many people that are watching this right now maybe they're feeling

00:18:16.400 a little bit guilty you know about pulling back from their kids uh you know not fighting more for

00:18:22.640 their marriage and i just want to say this you can always make powerful decisions from this moment

00:18:28.560 forward so i just encourage people not to look backwards and feel ashamed for ways that you maybe

00:18:34.240 feel like you've missed it but simply forgive yourself move forward and decide to do better

00:18:40.320 tomorrow and if we all take those types of attitudes towards life i think we'll be

00:18:45.280 doing a lot better this time next year feitaine as a lot of people are glad you said that so am

00:18:51.440 I. That is so crucial is that we forgive and move on. Look, we began this program by talking about

00:18:59.600 some of your activities that combined faith and politics and I think you've got something coming

00:19:05.520 up in Ottawa quite soon that you would just love to tell us about. Go ahead. Yes and I do want to

00:19:10.720 say something that's important and that's that there's a clear distinction between our work in

00:19:15.040 the political advocacy space and what I'm about to talk about right now. What is happening on

00:19:21.440 In July, actually, July 9th to 11th, we are expecting 10,000 Canadians.

00:19:27.740 It's going to be amazing.

00:19:29.540 How many did you say?

00:19:30.880 10,000.

00:19:32.160 10,000.

00:19:33.880 Yes, we're preparing for 10,000.

00:19:35.340 Last year we had 6,000.

00:19:37.400 And it was a partnership between the National Day of Prayer, which is a day of prayer for our nation.

00:19:43.180 We're not coming to point fingers at leaders, but we're coming to pray.

00:19:46.720 Pray a blessing over our nation and come in humble prayer.

00:19:50.560 and so last year we had 6,000 this year we're preparing for 10,000 it's going to be amazing

00:19:56.340 working together with the march for jesus the billy graham evangelistic association the bible

00:20:01.260 society is going to be there it's just going to be this epic epic event uh people can find out

00:20:06.160 about it at nationaldayofprayer.ca but you're all invited nigel you and judy are invited everybody

00:20:11.980 who's watching is invited and more is better when it comes to prayer well what do i think everybody

00:20:20.620 here at the western standard wish you all success on that uh with that project it's uh you said

00:20:26.780 there's a distinction between this and your other activities maybe you should just tell us the your

00:20:32.700 other main focus yeah well for my canada is our political action arm where we serve primarily the

00:20:39.580 faith community, but not only just people who care about faith, family, and freedom on critical

00:20:45.400 action points that they can do to really make a difference and advance things that they care about.

00:20:49.580 So that's our former Canada side of the world. But then there's also this prayer movement,

00:20:54.560 which is completely separate. And of course, my TV show, which is completely separate. So I guess

00:20:58.960 you could say I'm here as a Canadian citizen today, representing a variety of expressions

00:21:05.240 of goodness in Canada right now.

00:21:07.480 That's what I like to think of,

00:21:08.560 how I like to think about it anyway.

00:21:11.380 You know, Fetine, as we run out of time here,

00:21:13.920 there is one encouraging thing

00:21:17.020 that has been growing over the last few years,

00:21:19.820 and that is the growing interest of young men

00:21:23.080 coming back to church, looking for meaning in life,

00:21:27.620 looking for God, to be perfectly honest.

00:21:31.260 But what I'm hearing from multiple pastors

00:21:35.060 is that they feel young men feel undervalued in this in today's society and they are looking for

00:21:46.360 meaning and some look for it in the wrong places but they are coming back to church and if they

00:21:53.940 come back to church they are going to internalize the kind of messages that you have been pushing

00:22:00.740 through your organization that you are emphasizing here in this discussion today of men taking

00:22:07.940 responsibility and doing the right thing by their families.

00:22:12.560 You know, there's a tendency to think that when there's a slide starts to happen, you

00:22:19.260 just imagine it going all the way to the bottom.

00:22:22.260 But I don't think it has to be that way.

00:22:24.480 Do you see reason for hope somewhere about the role of men in families in this country?

00:22:30.900 Absolutely, I do.

00:22:32.320 And I think just the fact that we're having this conversation right now, Nigel, gives me great, great hope.

00:22:38.500 You know, I want to say again, dads are not disposable.

00:22:41.120 And if you are a man and you have the privilege of becoming a father, being a dad is the most incredible achievement.

00:22:50.200 to being a good dad too, is the most incredible achievement that we will ever capture. But I want

00:22:56.260 to encourage all the men out there to go for it full force and just know that we need you. I want

00:23:01.280 to say that as a woman, I'm a strong woman and I need my husband. I need my husband to be strong

00:23:07.100 on the home front for our kids, for me. And we, we absolutely need you. And so just want to say

00:23:13.820 that. And in terms of the faith aspect, absolutely. You know, you could be the most awesome power

00:23:21.020 tool. I'm not calling you a tool or anybody watching it, but you could have the most

00:23:25.320 incredible power tool. But if you don't plug it in to the source of its function, it's never going

00:23:32.700 to work in the way that it's intended to be. And that's that's faith, really. You can have all the

00:23:36.500 skills, talents, ability in the world. But if you are not connected to your creator, a source that

00:23:43.040 is greater than yourself you're just not going to function in the way that you were created to do and

00:23:47.920 that's what church is so if you're watching this right now you haven't gone to church for a while

00:23:51.680 maybe try it you might like it i love the way you worked a strong male metaphor in there

00:23:58.160 sail on power tools everybody's perking up now there you go well done thank you for that

00:24:04.240 look we have to wrap it up here but i appreciate you very much coming on and i admire the work that

00:24:09.200 you do and i think a lot of people do if you're getting 10 000 people in ottawa soon then you

00:24:14.480 know you're you know you're reaching people so thank you again for your time today and god bless

00:24:22.000 yeah i appreciate it god bless you too and hey western standard would be more than welcome at

00:24:26.240 the national day of prayer if you guys want to come do some coverage i think you should

00:24:30.640 give Derek a call. On behalf of the Western Standard, I'm Nigel Hannaford.

Western Standard - June 21, 2026

HANNAFORD： Let's hear it for Canada's dads

Episode Stats

People

Summary

Transcript