Derek Fildebrandt is unable to attend the live show due to technical difficulties. Dave Naylor and Jackie Conroy fill in for him, breaking up the old-fashioned, grumpy old men gang.
00:14:24.380These guys have been working hard behind the scenes and now they're getting front and center.
00:14:28.940I mean, we know that the Liberal government wants to take away your property.
00:14:32.140They want to take away your right, your ability to go out and own firearms, use them responsibly, of course, and to consider them as property.
00:14:41.020So these guys have been standing up for you, fighting for you, and they need your help too, of course, though.
00:15:32.620And then Robert Schellenberg, there we go,
00:15:37.500who has now gotten himself a death sentence,
00:15:40.660which is pretty distressing for drug smuggling in China.
00:15:44.340So maybe, Dave, can you explain a bit of the stories
00:15:46.100they're developing over the Canadian-China relations right now?
00:15:49.240Yeah, this news just came out of China this morning, Corey.
00:15:52.760I can't remember when our relations with them have been this bad.
00:15:57.020Calgary businessman Michael Spavor was sentenced today to 11 years in a Chinese gulag, allegedly for spying.
00:16:07.660Most of Canada seems to think it's a trumped-up charge.
00:16:12.060Robert Schellenberg of Abbotsford, British Columbia, on Tuesday had his death sentence upheld in a Chinese court.
00:16:21.520And we know how the Chinese like to carry out executions, a bullet to the back of the head, and then they charge the family for the ammunition.1.00
00:16:32.280And there's still Michael Kovrig over there waiting, languishing in a cell, waiting for his sentence.
00:16:39.980So the prime minister came out today and wagged his finger, as he usually does, and says it's unacceptable.
00:16:46.780Former Tory foreign affairs minister came out, though, Peter McKay.
00:18:43.180I mean, it is easier to say, you know, stand up to China than to do something, too.
00:18:47.340I mean, whether we like it or not, we're very dependent on them.
00:18:49.320We get a load of our cost-effective, cheap consumer goods from China.0.50
00:18:53.680And people will complain, even though they say, oh, I'll buy Chinese goods.
00:18:56.980When they see their consumer goods shit to the roof, we'll see how long that lasts.
00:19:00.520Like, they are a big trading partner for us.
00:19:02.840And unfortunately, we don't buy enough to necessarily hurt them.
00:19:07.440You know, likewise, we're not a military power.
00:19:09.500So things like though the Olympics, I mean that's a symbolic thing. That's a big thing for China.
00:19:13.820They want to look good on the world stage. I mean that's perhaps where we can hit them where it counts and say,
00:19:19.320all right, you know, we're not taking part in your show to the rest of the world. You're dictators, you're holding our citizens hostage.
00:19:24.780We won't play ball and we're going to encourage other nations not to as well. If you want to hold this show,
00:19:30.140you're going to do it without us or get your act together with it because, I mean, otherwise it's a difficult situation.
00:19:35.680And it's the only way to get China to do anything is with a coalition of other like-minded countries like the United States and Great Britain.
00:19:47.100You know, it's going to take a lot of guts for Canada if they're the first to say, no, we're not going.
00:19:59.500And, you know, you're telling them, yeah, unfortunately, due to the political climate, you aren't going to be able to get out there on that elite competition, that once-in-a-lifetime thing.
00:20:10.780But, I mean, you're saying people don't have much appetite for the Olympics in general these days is what you've been seeing as well, right?
00:20:15.080Oh, I would completely agree with that.
00:20:16.800I mean, IOC corruption has been an issue, I think, long since anyone can remember.
00:20:21.440But especially lately with these China games, like, we saw this exact same thing happen with, what was it, 2008 in Beijing when they last had the games there.
00:20:29.920Once again, media was very upset because there were specific areas that they were allowed to film in, absolutely nothing else.
00:20:36.280It was China's opportunity to really project this fake, fabulous, glossy image of themselves to the world.0.97
00:20:44.320And, Corey, I think you raise a really good point because it's a fine line to toe between do we want to support this,
00:20:50.380do we want to support the Olympics as an organization, do we want to support China using the Olympics for ulterior motives,
00:20:55.940But then at the same time, do we really want to say to Canadian athletes who have been working arguably their entire lives for this opportunity,
00:21:03.560oh no, you know, exactly like what you said, like something that you have no part in and no control over
00:21:07.840is going to ruin your chances at ever, you know, becoming a professional athlete.
00:21:12.020Especially when we're still in a post-Olympic high from, you know, from Japan.0.82
00:21:22.460All right. Canada did great in those Olympics. And, you know, there's nothing better than the gold medal to get the entire country excited. And, you know, if you get NHL players going to Beijing, that'll create even a greater level of excitement.
00:21:41.540At some point, the Western world put a line in the sand over Afghanistan and boycotted the Moscow Games.
00:21:52.420And then tit for tat, the Russians boycotted Los Angeles.0.99
00:21:57.600But it's going to be interesting to see whether countries have the inner fortitude to make a boycott decision.
00:22:07.980It's too bad that the Olympics are turning into such a political tool.
00:22:10.780I mean, the ratings are going down with it all the time, too.
00:22:13.300It's not what it used to be by any means.
00:22:15.140I mean, IOC corruption, other issues, people have been getting tired of it.
00:22:19.200Viewership ratings have been going down.
00:22:20.840Yet at the same time, we saw this time around, I mean, a rotten COVID year.
00:25:15.000But it certainly leaves, you know, the voter with what seems to be clear options now.
00:25:24.000You've got Jeremy Farkas, who is definitely a fiscal conservative.
00:25:29.000And then on the other side, you've got a liberal rally attending Jeff Davison and bring back COVID masks, Gondek.
00:25:39.660So it's, you know, the political lines are certainly being drawn.
00:25:44.900I mean, when you read into this, do you feel perhaps Mr. Davison was always a secret liberal or is he changing as he goes?
00:25:50.740I think it'll be interesting because I remember his initial run for mayor, like against Nenshi the other year.
00:25:56.540and he came out as one of the only fiscally conservative candidates.
00:26:00.940And so I feel like the wool was kind of pulled over my eyes
00:26:03.920because I have been keeping up a little bit with his latest ventures and everything.
00:26:08.360Just to be clear, he didn't run against Nenshi in the last election.
00:26:12.840But in his Ward 6 election bid, he was a first-time councillor.
00:26:18.920He campaigned on a pro-business fiscally conservative.
00:26:23.540And we do see that so typically. They campaign conservatively because they know that's what the electorate wants. And they lie. I'm going to be blunt about it. They lie. I'm sick and tired of it. I mean, Ninchy did it. He painted himself as pro-business, you know, fiscally conservative. He was nothing even close. Davison, once he got in, he voted for just about every spending increase that came along.
00:26:45.660I mean, if there's anything city council hated, it was when the Manning Institute started actually tracking voting and showing how these guys vote.
00:26:51.380Because they could get by under the radar if people weren't paying attention.
00:26:54.760But if you could see how they voted, like, holy cow, this person isn't conservative whatsoever.
00:38:54.940I do agree it would probably increase accountability.
00:38:57.020I would think. I mean, people, you know, some of the differences, the fear, the dislike
00:39:02.280of police by some, I mean, we certainly see with our Black Lives Matters activists and
00:39:07.240calling for defunding. And there's some of the irony I see, though. I mean, you know,
00:39:10.700defunding is ridiculous. I mean, to the ones about, they want abolition. I mean, they're
00:39:13.840very extreme. But there are some cultural issues with police. You'd think they'd be
00:39:18.340embracing this is an opportunity, then. This is where we can build a force from scratch
00:39:21.320and try and fix some of the problems we saw inherently in the last one, but.
00:39:24.960And just look how defunding has worked in some of the major American cities where they've seen triple-digit increases in crimes like homicides and stuff like that.
00:39:35.880Portland, Minnesota, it failed dismally.