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

00:00:00.480 good evening ladies and gentlemen and welcome to hannaford a weekly politics show of the western

00:00:20.800 standard and we are broadcasting from the floor of the global energy show here in the pmo center

00:00:28.560 in calgary and it's a great day to be in calgary i can tell you with me today is fateen grazeski

00:00:39.760 and just around the corner is father's day hello fateen hello nigel mr hannaford it's such an honor

00:00:47.200 to be with you today you are so kind none of my other guests ever say that now the reason we're

00:00:52.960 it the reason we're talking about you and father's day in the same breath is that uh of course you

00:00:59.640 and i had a talk a few weeks ago about uh mother's day and uh now i'm this is payback time you get

00:01:07.860 we get to talk about fathers but before just before we do that i want to give people a little

00:01:14.620 context your wiki page says you're a christian conservative activist and broadcaster and i

00:01:21.880 think i believe that so let's not kid the viewers you look at politics from a faith-based perspective

00:01:27.700 am i right about that well you know what nigel i i just love canada and i think if you love

00:01:33.100 something you get involved in that normally it's people like you and i to kind of find the public

00:01:38.380 policy and governmental intersection so that's kind of the beginning and the end of it on that

00:01:43.100 one i think so i think you also had something to do with brow beating cineplex into showing that

00:01:51.080 that film Unplanned which goes into how Planned Parenthood works and how not every abortion is a

00:01:58.780 wanted one so is that correct? Yeah you're rolling back about seven years now I think but absolutely

00:02:05.940 we were a part of a movement that said hey Canadians want to see this movie and it was true

00:02:10.640 we did a showing of the film in Edmonton 3,000 people showed up at a private screening and so

00:02:17.220 that was a flashpoint and we basically pushed back and said this needs to be in the theaters

00:02:22.700 even if the woke mob doesn't want it it got to the theaters and it impacted a lot of lives it's

00:02:28.360 a very powerful movie i'd encourage people to check it out yes yes for my wife and i went to

00:02:34.700 see it 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 three thousand

00:02:44.780 people going in to see it. So anyway, well done. Great stuff. We're here to talk about fathers

00:02:50.220 because a few weeks ago we were talking about mothers and we want to talk about how great

00:02:53.900 fathers are, or so I like to think. You know, from your vantage point in the For My Canada

00:03:01.500 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

00:03:13.180 who went to jail in bc because he stood in the way of his child having a sex change operation

00:03:19.820 which his ex-wife was prepared to countenance and if you don't like what the school is giving your

00:03:25.900 children to read they're just as likely to tell you it's none of your business i think the law

00:03:30.620 doesn't support fathers and you say well i would say this i would say that anything we can do to

00:03:38.060 support fathers would be fantastic and is is very important fathers are not disposable contrary to

00:03:45.340 what some cultural trends might say and you know i before our interview here uh mr hannaford i took

00:03:50.780 some time just to check out some uh fresh statistics like you know what's the government

00:03:54.540 of canada say about the importance of dads and one thing that i found is very interesting most

00:04:00.140 single parent families in canada mr hannaford are actually headed by mothers and in those

00:04:06.060 households you will see a disproportionately high number of children that are actually living in

00:04:12.140 poverty now this isn't to say that moms are doing a great job or single moms aren't doing a great

00:04:17.420 job the bottom line is they're doing the best that they can but this data does accent that

00:04:23.100 the presence of a father is is really critical just to the general well-being as a matter of

00:04:29.260 fact let me read something right after off of the public health agency of canada uh website it says

00:04:34.700 this a positive positive father involvement excuse me is strongly associated they say strongly

00:04:41.660 associated with better outcomes for children including cognitive development reduced depression

00:04:48.780 reduced adolescent substance abuse better independence improved overall health and

00:04:54.540 reduced later delinquency uh you know so dads matters we just want to say this and i don't think

00:05:00.060 it's a newsflash to anybody here that the family has been under assault you know in a variety of

00:05:06.060 ways for generations now but the bottom line is this is the data shows that when parents are

00:05:12.700 strong when the couple unit is intact when families are strong when dads are in the home when dads are

00:05:18.860 present kids do better and when kids do better nations do better society does better it's just

00:05:25.500 good better all around so that would be my my personal position and i believe everybody out

00:05:31.100 for my canada would agree with that as well well i think you're speaking for a lot of people but

00:05:36.300 you know there are some folks who will turn by the way i mean i it's a lovely opportunity to

00:05:41.980 just remember my own father who is a mechanic in the air force during the second world war

00:05:47.580 and guess what in the 1960s i got my first car and my father and i became really close picking

00:05:54.380 an engine apart and putting it back together again those kinds of father that kind of fatherly

00:05:59.260 leadership is so important and i gather anecdotally it's not as common as you would want it to be

00:06:05.820 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

00:06:16.940 yeah absolutely and i think even just that quote i'll reference back to that the quote that i just

00:06:21.340 read. You know, the data does show that not having a dad in the home or having a dysfunctional

00:06:27.520 father, I think you could say the same thing. As a matter of fact, there is one statistic that I

00:06:32.600 saw that 63% of boys whose fathers were involved in criminal activity were at risk of doing the

00:06:39.260 same. So it's not just about having a dad, it's also having a good dad, having a dad that is

00:06:44.460 engaged, that is loving, that is kind. You know, even I'm a person of faith, the Bible talks about

00:06:50.040 this, the importance of blessing your children, the importance of protecting your family, providing

00:06:55.040 for your family, and also the importance of not exasperating your children. You know, there is,

00:07:00.760 you know, a grace to fatherhood. So, but I just really want to say this, Mr. Hannaford,

00:07:05.700 I think the message needs to be driven into society and into men. You are needed that the

00:07:13.020 most important thing you will ever do in your life. If you, you have the privilege of being a

00:07:19.200 father is to not just be a father, but to be a dad, to be present, to be engaged and to really

00:07:26.020 pour into that next generation. At the end of your life, I think most men would say this. It isn't

00:07:31.440 necessarily the career accolades or how much money is in your bank account. That is the thing that

00:07:36.740 really rises to the top of the list of things that you're proud about. The things that you will be

00:07:41.420 most proud about at the end of your life will be how you have to do with your family, have to do

00:07:47.400 with being a functional family and being a great dad.

00:07:50.940 So I would just encourage the men out there

00:07:53.120 to really prioritize figuring this one out

00:07:56.060 because it matters.

00:07:57.360 It matters for your own life

00:07:58.760 and it also matters for the whole of society.

00:08:01.400 Definitely matters for your kids.

00:08:03.620 Well, you've spoken twice now

00:08:06.260 about the diminished role of fathers

00:08:10.160 in the society we live in.

00:08:12.660 Who is actually trying to exclude fathers

00:08:15.780 from their natural role in the family and for what end?

00:08:20.780 No, I really don't know that I have a clear answer to that.

00:08:24.240 Obviously it's been a cultural trend.

00:08:26.480 I think when there's relational dysfunction,

00:08:30.040 it's easy to point the finger,

00:08:31.860 throw the other person under the bus.

00:08:33.600 And so whether it's culture, 1.00

00:08:35.320 whether it's women in general

00:08:37.340 that maybe have felt abused or neglected by men

00:08:41.740 that sort of retaliate back and push men out of our lives.

00:08:45.340 I have no idea. I'm not a psychologist or somebody who has studied these things, but

00:08:50.880 I think we all have to do better. I think as a woman, I want to say that. I say to my husband,

00:08:56.860 I'm so grateful. My husband is a hands-on dad and I encourage him in that. And I love that

00:09:02.660 about my husband. And I think as women, we have a role to play in pushing back against some of

00:09:07.460 these toxic narratives. So does the media, obviously, which is why it's so wonderful

00:09:11.960 that you're talking about this very important topic today well let me be a little bit provocative

00:09:18.660 here uh again i'm going back to my own early days and there was a girl i knew whose parents

00:09:25.940 literally didn't speak to each other she was the intermediary would you please ask your father to

00:09:32.160 pass the salt that kind of relationship but they stayed together and i i cannot imagine living like

00:09:39.740 that and neither can a tremendous number of other people which is why divorce rates are as high as

00:09:47.460 they are. Now what makes that possible notwithstanding your comment earlier about single

00:09:54.020 mothers often doing poorly economically never mind that there's also women have much more

00:10:02.260 independence these days because the work that's available unlike the work of a hundred years ago

00:10:08.660 is largely capable of being done by women you know the clerical functions the just about 1.00

00:10:18.200 everything actually that doesn't involve driver heavy literal heavy lifting now if women have 1.00

00:10:26.060 more independence that threshold of separation comes way way down 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. 0.98

00:10:38.420 So that's actually partly a spiritual problem, isn't it?

00:10:42.340 Because before it was an economic contract, marriage.

00:10:46.720 Now, it's kind of a thing that you do if it's working well for you.

00:10:50.640 And if it isn't, you bail.

00:10:54.980 Do you see, am I making sense on this?

00:10:59.380 And I think you bring up a good point.

00:11:01.840 And I think a lot of this can be traced back even to World War I.

00:11:04.600 World War II right when the men went out to war and the women you know that you're back here and 0.55

00:11:10.240 you know basically driving industry working in the shops producing products for the economy for 0.76

00:11:18.420 the men that were out there and so there was definitely a shift there and there's been a

00:11:21.900 trend line forward ever since of course the digital age as well but I don't necessarily

00:11:26.540 know that that's a bad thing that it's a bad thing for women to be productive and to be in 0.87

00:11:31.340 the workforce as long as we keep the central revelation that kids need their dads. Kids need 1.00

00:11:40.100 their dads. They need their dads to be present. They need their dads to be blessing them, to be

00:11:45.460 pouring into them, to be mentoring them. Yes, providing for them. Yes, protecting them and

00:11:50.820 doing all the dad and father functions. But I believe that we could have both. As a matter of

00:11:57.200 fact, if we're going to talk from a faith lens, Proverbs 31. And you talked about this on my show,

00:12:02.260 Mr. Hannaford, how the Proverbs 31 woman kind of does it all. You know, she manages the household, 0.99

00:12:07.480 but she's also a businesswoman and she has a side hustle that she's doing as well. And so 0.99

00:12:13.760 I don't think it's that women shouldn't be in the workforce. But I do think that we need to get back

00:12:19.620 to really valuing moms and dads, functional relationships. You know, I have a friend of

00:12:25.720 as you were sharing that story who uh shared with me years ago how her parents almost divorced when

00:12:32.120 she was i think she was in her early 20s probably around this time and she said you know when my

00:12:37.560 parents told me that they were about to divorce she said i literally felt like i was being ripped

00:12:42.520 in half that my whole world was being ripped in half and she said i almost it was almost like i

00:12:47.800 felt it physically i don't know for sure but this is you know what she had said and so she shared

00:12:52.760 that with her mom now at the end of the line her parents ended up staying together uh you know

00:12:57.480 they didn't have the best relationship you know a lot that could have been more functional in

00:13:03.080 that context from what i understand but she shared with me how how strengthening it was to her that

00:13:10.280 her parents had pushed through that tough time how they had pushed through to the other side and how

00:13:15.160 that had really taught her you know to stay the course even through tough and dark seasons and so

00:13:21.800 you know we all go through tough times there's no marriage that is perfect and every single

00:13:26.440 marriage requires work and effort but there really is something that you said for to fight

00:13:32.760 excuse me for fighting for that connection uh staying together through the tough times

00:13:39.000 coming out on the other side recognizing no marriage is perfect but a mom and a dad are needed

00:13:45.720 by their children and sometimes we need to think about our kids well that's isn't that just the

00:13:51.960 truth you it is the marriage is actually for for both of you but it's also primarily for the kids

00:13:59.640 you do what's right for them so uh you know as i i think whichever way we try to come at this

00:14:06.440 whether it's economic or or whether it's just what works it comes back to a spiritual problem

00:14:14.120 and that is that people people aren't prepared to do what it takes some people anyway and so

00:14:23.240 can you think of any institutional supports that a government can use to push fathers

00:14:33.480 forward in their role as fathers 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

00:14:46.040 often grossly unfairly um is there a way of going back to back to basics on this

00:14:55.000 well i actually love what you said on my show when i asked you a similar question

00:14:58.920 about supporting moms and that was the policy of income splitting i think so much of the grind and

00:15:05.160 hardship that families are experiencing right now is because of the economy you know you see uh

00:15:11.400 situations where parents are just being run ragged working 40 60 80 hours a week just to put food in

00:15:18.920 the fridge just to pay their mortgage uh many are are really literally a hundred many families are

00:15:25.720 just a hundred or two hundred dollars away from insolvency and not being able to pay the bills

00:15:30.920 and so anything that our government can do to support uh reducing taxation i think would be a

00:15:37.160 great thing so income splitting is that you know and hey let's uh since you're there at the at the

00:15:42.600 convention let's just say let's build a pipeline as well maybe get rid of income tax here in alberta

00:15:48.680 you know there's a lot you can do to uh ease the financial burden on canadians and that will be a

00:15:55.560 blessing to the family that will mean that moms and dads get more time together with their children

00:16:00.440 to strengthen the family, work out their stuff, all of that. So I would say that's the main thing

00:16:05.940 that legislators can do. And then also just fostering the narrative that family matters.

00:16:11.640 I think it's important to say that, that babies are beautiful. You know, that nations that don't

00:16:16.580 have babies implode over time. Once you get below that 1.2 replenishment rate on the birth rate,

00:16:23.140 you know, these are important things to the health and sustenance of a civilization, society,

00:16:28.880 a nation. So let's support the family. Amen. So for viewers who didn't perhaps see the

00:16:35.960 earlier conversation between Mrs. Grosecki and myself, we were talking about the fact that two

00:16:43.640 couples, each having the same family income, would pay more tax if that income was earned by just one

00:16:53.040 them so the traditional role of one goes out to work brings home the salary the other stays at

00:16:58.880 home and raises the children is actually penalized by government and that's uh that's something that

00:17:05.760 many times has been raised i know in the early days of the harper government we were trying to

00:17:10.320 fix that anyway it's not that way today it is there is a definite penalty if you are

00:17:16.560 if you are a single earner in the family so that's that certainly is one and you

00:17:22.860 know there's a pet peeve of mine as well you might want to comment on have you 1.00

00:17:26.160 just noticed that in all the situation comedies you know dad's always the idiot 0.98

00:17:31.320 he's the one who screws things up and there's the kids who come through and 0.98

00:17:35.340 they're clever and they're smart and they're witty we could do with less of

00:17:39.420 that I think couldn't we I absolutely agree and that's why I don't watch that

00:17:43.800 stuff personally we don't let it in our house i think it's important that men are honored i think

00:17:48.680 it's important women are honored and you know where there is mutual respect and honor in both

00:17:54.440 directions uh everything just goes better and and i think we really really need to prioritize that

00:18:00.440 in our own cultures in our own homes in our own spheres of influence and i also want to say this

00:18:06.840 nigel because i can kind of feel this you know with the the statistics around family breakdown 0.66

00:18:11.720 in single parent homes right now.

00:18:13.320 I know that there are many people

00:18:14.600 that are watching this right now.

00:18:15.800 Maybe they're feeling a little bit guilty,

00:18:18.180 you know, about pulling back from their kids,

00:18:21.140 you know, not fighting more for their marriage.

00:18:23.740 And I just want to say this,

00:18:24.820 you can always make powerful decisions

00:18:27.540 from this moment forward.

00:18:29.360 So I just encourage people not to look backwards

00:18:31.940 and feel ashamed for ways

00:18:33.700 that you maybe feel like you've missed it,

00:18:35.640 but simply forgive yourself,

00:18:37.860 move forward and decide to do better tomorrow.

00:18:41.280 And if we all take those types of attitudes towards life,

00:18:44.220 I think we'll be doing a lot better this time next year.

00:18:48.220 Faitain, as a lot of people are glad you said that, so am I.

00:18:51.820 That is so crucial is that we forgive and move on.

00:18:55.920 Look, we began this program by talking about some of your activities

00:19:01.020 that combine faith and politics.

00:19:03.740 And I think you've got something coming up in Ottawa quite soon

00:19:06.860 that you would just love to tell us about.

00:19:08.740 Go ahead.

00:19:09.120 Yes. And I do want to say something that's important. And that's that there is a clear distinction between our work in the political advocacy space and what I'm about to talk about right now. What is happening on in July, actually, July 9th to 11th, we are expecting 10,000 Canadians. It's going to be amazing.

00:19:29.560 How many did you say?

00:19:30.900 10,000.

00:19:31.520 Yes, we're preparing for 10,000.

00:19:35.300 Last year we had 6,000, and it was a partnership between the National Day of Prayer,

00:19:40.800 which is a day of prayer for our nation.

00:19:43.160 We're not coming to point fingers at leaders, but we're coming to pray,

00:19:47.220 pray a blessing over our nation and come in humble prayer.

00:19:51.340 And so last year we had 6,000.

00:19:52.880 This year we're preparing for 10,000.

00:19:55.160 It's going to be amazing working together with the March for Jesus,

00:19:58.640 the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the Bible Society is going to be there.

00:20:02.260 It's just going to be this epic, epic event.

00:20:05.140 People can find out about it at nationaldayofprayer.ca, but you're all invited.

00:20:09.540 Nigel, you and Judy are invited.

00:20:11.720 Everybody who's watching is invited, and more is better when it comes to prayer.

00:20:18.140 Well, I think everybody here at the Western Standard would wish you all success with that project.

00:20:25.340 You said there's a distinction between this and your other activities.

00:20:30.700 Maybe you should just tell us your other main focus.

00:20:34.500 Yeah, well, Form iCanada is our political action arm where we serve primarily the faith community,

00:20:40.580 but not only, just people who care about faith, family, and freedom

00:20:43.260 on critical action points that they can do to really make a difference

00:20:48.100 and advance things that they care about.

00:20:49.580 So that's our Form iCanada side of the world.

00:20:52.060 but then there's also this prayer movement which is completely separate and of course my tv show

00:20:57.660 which is completely separate so i guess you could say i'm here as a canadian citizen today

00:21:01.360 representing uh you know a variety of expressions of goodness uh in canada right now that's what i

00:21:07.860 like to think of how i like to think about it anyway you know fateene as we run out of time

00:21:13.080 here the there is one encouraging thing that has been growing over the last few years and that is

00:21:20.460 That's the growing interest of young men in coming back to church, looking for meaning

00:21:26.600 in life, looking for God, to be perfectly honest.

00:21:31.360 But what I'm hearing from multiple pastors is that young men feel undervalued in today's

00:21:43.500 society, and they are looking for meaning.

00:21:48.460 look for it in the wrong places but they are coming back to church and if they come back to

00:21:54.880 church they are going to internalize the kind of messages that you have been pushing through your

00:22:01.320 organization that you are emphasizing here in this discussion today of men taking responsibility

00:22:08.800 and doing the right thing by their families you know there's a tendency to think that when the

00:22:14.920 when there's a slide starts to happen you just imagine it going all the way to the bottom

00:22:21.320 but i don't think it has to be that way do you see reason for hope somewhere about the role of

00:22:28.000 men in families in this country absolutely i do and i think just the fact that we're having this

00:22:34.140 conversation right now nigel gives me great great hope you know i want to say again dads are not

00:22:40.360 disposable. And if you are a man and you have the privilege of becoming a father, being a dad

00:22:47.220 is the most incredible achievement. Being a good dad too is the most incredible achievement that

00:22:54.400 you will ever capture. But I want to encourage all the men out there to go for it full force

00:22:59.620 and just know that we need to. I want to say that as a woman, I'm a strong woman and I need my

00:23:05.200 husband. I need my husband to be strong on the home front for our kids, for me. And we, we

00:23:10.940 absolutely need you. And so just want to say that. And in terms of the faith aspect, absolutely. You

00:23:17.220 know, you could be the most awesome power tool. I'm not calling you a tool, I don't, or anybody

00:23:23.700 watching it, but you could have the most incredible power tool. But if you don't plug it in to the

00:23:29.460 source of its function, it's never going to work in the way that it's intended to be. And that's,

00:23:34.460 That's faith, really.

00:23:35.580 You can have all the skills, talents, ability in the world.

00:23:38.840 But if you are not connected to your creator, a source that is greater than yourself,

00:23:44.620 you're just not going to function in the way that you were created to do.

00:23:47.920 And that's what church is.

00:23:48.880 So if you're watching this right now, you haven't gone to church for a while, maybe try it.

00:23:52.560 You might like it.

00:23:54.460 I love the way you worked a strong male metaphor in there.

00:23:58.320 Sail on power tools. 0.83

00:23:59.740 Everybody's perking up now.

00:24:01.820 Well done. 0.99

00:24:02.740 Thank you for that, Kapatin.

00:24:03.900 I mean, look, we have to wrap it up here, but I appreciate you very much coming on,

00:24:08.280 and I admire the work that you do, and I think a lot of people do.

00:24:10.940 If you're getting 10,000 people in Ottawa soon, then you know you're reaching people.

00:24:17.000 So thank you again for your time today, and God bless.

00:24:22.100 Yeah, I appreciate it. God bless you too.

00:24:23.480 And hey, Western Standard would be more than welcome at the National Day of Prayer

00:24:27.200 if you guys want to come do some coverage.

00:24:29.860 I think you should give Derek a call.

00:24:31.600 On behalf of the Western Standard, I'm Nigel Hannaford.

Western Standard - June 21, 2026

Let's hear it for Canada's dads

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