Western Standard - June 17, 2026


Smith rejects treason accusation over referendum, calls it “disgraceful”


Episode Stats


Length

1 minute

Words per minute

203.41

Word count

294

Sentence count

21


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Learn English with the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responds to calls for an investigation into whether his actions over the independence referendum amount to treason under the Canadian criminal code. He talks about his relationship with the Treaty Chiefs and what he s doing to rebuild trust with them.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
00:00:00.000 David Winnick, Western Standard. Premier, treaty chiefs are calling for an investigation into
00:00:04.780 whether your actions over the independence referendum amount to treason under the criminal
00:00:08.720 code. What's your response to that? Well, I think it's disgraceful. I think it's disgraceful
00:00:12.880 that any government that wants to be taken seriously would level the charges that serious
00:00:17.480 against another government. Look, I've had my differences with the federal government,
00:00:21.180 but I have never used language like that. I would ask the treaty chiefs to check themselves
00:00:25.280 because we have a very collaborative relationship between our government and our ministers. I want
00:00:29.580 that to continue. But this kind of overwrought language has no place in a democracy. When they
00:00:35.740 were pursuing a new relationship with Ottawa, I cheered them along. We are pursuing a new
00:00:40.920 relationship with Ottawa that respects our jurisdiction. And I would ask that they be
00:00:45.400 respectful of that. But they need to, that that language has no place in this democratic discussion.
00:00:51.100 Okay. And what steps are you taking to rebuild trust with the treaty chiefs?
00:00:54.720 We meet with them regularly.
00:00:56.460 In fact, I meet with them one-on-one.
00:00:58.820 My ministers meet with them one-on-one.
00:01:01.000 We have protocol tables where I bring a number of my ministers together.
00:01:05.840 And you know what I've asked them?
00:01:07.240 I say, well, how many times have you met with the prime minister
00:01:09.520 when he's brought together 10 or 14 of his ministers to deal with your concerns?
00:01:14.340 And you know what the answer is?
00:01:15.420 Never.
00:01:16.260 It doesn't happen.
00:01:17.600 Ever.
00:01:18.340 So that is the kind of relationship we want to continue to have with the chiefs,
00:01:21.480 but it can only be done if they show as much respect for my government as we have shown for them.