Western Standard - January 31, 2026


Unity, Youth Surge, and a Leadership Mandate： Inside CPC 2026


Episode Stats

Length

21 minutes

Words per Minute

191.54764

Word Count

4,126

Sentence Count

259

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary

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

The Conservative Party of Canada is in full swing at its national convention in Calgary, Alberta. On this episode of the podcast, we talk to some of the keynotes from the convention, including: - Why the party needs a new leader What the party is looking forward to in the next election Who should the party vote for as their next leader?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Can you just say your name and what riding you're from?
00:00:02.020 Bryce McRae, Ottawa Centre.
00:00:03.720 Ottawa Centre, I'm from Ottawa as well.
00:00:04.980 Very nice to meet you.
00:00:06.100 Hey, nice to meet you.
00:00:07.000 So what are you looking forward most of all from this convention this weekend?
00:00:10.740 I think most of all looking forward to right now is just a hard reset.
00:00:14.400 Being able to move forward with Pierre Polyev as the leader at the end of the convention today,
00:00:17.800 moving into tomorrow and the future.
00:00:19.640 Obviously last year was tough with the election loss,
00:00:21.840 moving into the by-election and then this event.
00:00:24.160 Being able to look forward to potentially an election in 2026 and beyond.
00:00:27.320 Right, and what would you say a number for the leisure vote tomorrow
00:00:31.540 would constitute overwhelming support from the party
00:00:33.580 for him to continue his mandate as the leader of the Conservative Party?
00:00:36.380 80% plus.
00:00:37.180 80% plus?
00:00:37.680 80% plus.
00:00:38.800 And are there any motions or changes to party policy you'd like to see passed
00:00:42.500 or anything you want to see come out of there?
00:00:44.580 Nothing in particular really.
00:00:45.860 At this point in time it's making sure that memberships,
00:00:48.240 the EDAs across the country are feeling strong,
00:00:51.000 that everyone is singing from the same songbook,
00:00:53.080 that everyone's very well aligned moving in the next election,
00:00:55.320 that everyone knows what the processes are,
00:00:56.860 and then everything's very clear from up to the party central all the way down
00:01:00.480 to make sure that we move forward in the next election
00:01:02.280 in as strong a position as possible.
00:01:04.140 Right, and last question.
00:01:04.660 What do you think of Calgary so far?
00:01:05.880 I'm loving Calgary so far.
00:01:07.040 As someone from Ontario,
00:01:08.420 I know obviously with my Albertan friends,
00:01:09.920 you've got to get to Alberta, you've got to get to Calgary.
00:01:11.800 As someone who, it's unfortunate to say,
00:01:13.660 it's my first time being here, I'm loving it so far.
00:01:15.600 Right on.
00:01:16.040 Thank you very much, man.
00:01:16.520 Thank you very much.
00:01:16.980 Appreciate it.
00:01:18.140 Well, I'm Jazz Howland.
00:01:19.500 I'm the Member of Parliament for Calgary East.
00:01:21.840 I'm also the Shadow Minister for Finance for the Conservative Party.
00:01:25.320 There's many policies that are being put forward today.
00:01:27.920 I think the fiscal one obviously falls under my file.
00:01:31.180 And so there's some really good ones that were also implemented,
00:01:34.280 or we were going to implement if we had won the election,
00:01:36.520 that were in our 2025 platforms, such as the dollar-for-dollar law.
00:01:40.060 We've seen under the Liberals who,
00:01:42.240 Mark Carney said he was the best fiscal manager around.
00:01:45.040 And we thought Justin Trudeau was the worst money manager in Canada's history.
00:01:50.340 But, you know, Mark Carney said,
00:01:52.520 hold my champagne, I could do a lot better.
00:01:54.720 He doubled Justin Trudeau's deficit, if you could believe it or not.
00:01:57.900 So in order to stop those deficits that caused all the inflation that we're seeing,
00:02:03.040 the highest costs across the board, especially when it comes to food,
00:02:08.100 now Canada has the highest food inflation in the G7,
00:02:10.920 and in part it's too because of all the government spending.
00:02:14.160 In order to tackle that, in our platform we had a dollar-for-dollar law
00:02:17.700 that anyone under Pierre Paliyev, any department,
00:02:20.740 any minister that wanted to spend a dollar,
00:02:22.600 they would have to find a dollar of saving.
00:02:24.520 What that would do is that it would cap the government spending
00:02:27.060 and make sure that we wouldn't go over what Canadians,
00:02:31.840 or whatever our means are as a government.
00:02:34.060 That would help to lower inflation
00:02:35.460 and make sure we don't go through the inflationary crisis
00:02:37.540 that we're having to go through now because of the Liberals.
00:02:40.260 I think that's one of the very, you know,
00:02:42.480 important policies that we would have passed inside of our platform.
00:02:47.920 Okay, that's very interesting.
00:02:49.220 Do you have any other fiscal policies that you're looking forward to as well?
00:02:53.000 Yes.
00:02:54.100 You know, if you just look at our platform,
00:02:56.680 it was a huge variety of different policies
00:02:59.580 that we would have implemented.
00:03:00.760 As I said that, another one that's really important
00:03:04.340 is make sure that we ban CBDCs,
00:03:08.060 Central Bank Digital Currency.
00:03:10.580 And one of my colleagues, Ted Falk,
00:03:13.620 brought forward Bill C-400.
00:03:15.480 That would ban, not just,
00:03:19.480 it would make sure that cash is always readily available for use,
00:03:23.400 but it would also ban any type of Central Bank Digital Currency.
00:03:26.880 Another one on top of that is banning any and every kind of digital IDs.
00:03:32.780 That was another policy that I think is very important
00:03:35.180 that we'll be voted on as well here.
00:03:36.740 Okay, that's cool.
00:03:37.940 Okay, also I want to ask you,
00:03:40.540 what do you think about this being the largest convention so far?
00:03:45.260 You know what, it goes in line with having such,
00:03:47.920 one of the best leaders.
00:03:50.420 As a Conservative Party,
00:03:54.100 Pierre Polyev has not only
00:03:55.620 widened our tent, made it way bigger,
00:03:59.280 but on top of that,
00:04:00.520 in the last election, we got 2 million more votes.
00:04:03.040 We picked up 25 seats.
00:04:04.880 And if I take it back to his leadership,
00:04:07.520 we had hundreds of thousands of new members sign up.
00:04:10.700 Everywhere I go across the country,
00:04:11.980 there's people that say to me,
00:04:13.440 I've never voted before.
00:04:15.060 And now they're voting for us because of Pierre Polyev.
00:04:17.420 So coming here and seeing that this is the largest convention in the party's history
00:04:22.940 is no surprise to me
00:04:24.580 because of how much we've grown our tent because of Pierre Polyev.
00:04:27.860 That's why we're united behind Pierre Polyev.
00:04:31.160 He always says that, you know,
00:04:33.820 we need to bring back that Canadian dream.
00:04:36.120 Canadian dream was that you should be able to work hard
00:04:38.060 and earn a good paycheck that has low taxes on it.
00:04:41.200 With that same paycheck,
00:04:42.060 you should be able to have affordable groceries,
00:04:43.840 affordable housing,
00:04:45.020 and be able to live in safe neighborhoods
00:04:46.620 because after 10 years of Liberals,
00:04:48.760 Canada's more unsafe
00:04:50.260 and more unaffordable than ever before.
00:04:52.480 It's just not Canada anymore.
00:04:54.080 And that's just that the Canada we want,
00:04:56.160 it should be the one that we all used to know that.
00:04:57.760 You should be able to get by with a good paycheck
00:04:59.760 and live in a safe neighborhood.
00:05:02.200 That makes sense.
00:05:02.820 And do you think that message is probably getting through
00:05:04.860 to a lot of young people?
00:05:06.120 That's why your party has grown over the past few years?
00:05:08.780 Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:09.580 Look, I go to a lot of events.
00:05:11.040 I travel the country all over the place.
00:05:12.480 The amount of youth that come up to me first during the leadership
00:05:16.320 that said we were never a part of a political party before,
00:05:19.140 but we resonate with Pierre Polyev.
00:05:21.700 We understand what he's saying.
00:05:23.380 We know because it's young people that are suffering the most.
00:05:26.120 They're the most in debt right now.
00:05:28.260 And even before they graduate because of, you know,
00:05:31.260 that inflationary spending the liberals have done,
00:05:33.660 they're the ones who are suffering
00:05:35.080 because they can never move out of their parents' home.
00:05:36.900 They can never have a down payment for a house.
00:05:39.040 Nine out of ten young people have given up on the home ownership dream.
00:05:43.140 And it's because of the bad liberal policies.
00:05:44.980 So they're connecting with Pierre more than ever.
00:05:47.000 And they're the ones who are coming up to us and saying,
00:05:49.340 we've signed up for a membership.
00:05:50.880 We're going to vote for you.
00:05:52.080 And they did.
00:05:52.700 They came out in big numbers for us
00:05:53.960 because Pierre has recognized the pain that they're going through
00:05:57.340 and what they are going to go through because of bad liberal policies.
00:06:01.000 Well said, well said.
00:06:01.860 Well, thank you very much.
00:06:02.940 I really appreciate you taking your time.
00:06:05.240 Take care.
00:06:05.620 Okay, see you.
00:06:06.380 Thank you.
00:06:07.080 Thank you.
00:06:07.840 I'm here with Tim O'Brien,
00:06:09.740 Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party
00:06:10.860 and Member of Parliament for Edmonton Gateway.
00:06:13.400 Thank you.
00:06:14.080 What are you looking forward to most here at the 2026 Conservative Convention?
00:06:17.380 Meeting delegates from across the country.
00:06:18.780 It's already been great.
00:06:20.600 I've met so many people that are so engaged with the party,
00:06:24.660 engaged with getting their neighbours
00:06:27.100 and others to vote with the Conservative movement.
00:06:29.680 It's great to see and just kind of hear their stories
00:06:31.840 of how even they got involved with the Conservative movement.
00:06:36.600 Do you have any kind of number in mind
00:06:37.940 of what you're looking for, hoping for,
00:06:39.560 for Paliyev's leadership review?
00:06:42.400 What number would you constitute as overwhelming approval
00:06:45.540 from the party for him to continue?
00:06:47.300 I don't have a number,
00:06:48.380 but I know it's going to be a strong mandate.
00:06:50.360 Just when I've talked to delegates since yesterday and today,
00:06:53.420 everyone's just very supportive
00:06:55.480 and just wants to focus on what's next.
00:06:59.080 And what would you say you're hoping to come out of this convention?
00:07:01.620 Is there a different mindset for the party?
00:07:03.300 Any different policies that you're specifically championing
00:07:05.980 or looking to get past or anything like that?
00:07:07.940 I think it's just kind of the energy that we're seeing here today
00:07:12.820 to carry that forward.
00:07:14.400 I know the delegates are united
00:07:16.420 and they're looking forward to what we do next
00:07:18.540 and then what we're going to do
00:07:19.380 is to hold this Liberal government to account
00:07:21.680 and soon enough, I think we're going to be into an election
00:07:24.880 and we're going to need everybody around here
00:07:27.720 to volunteer, get involved, stay engaged
00:07:29.900 and it's just great that we're having these conversations now.
00:07:33.100 Do you think, you're kind of speaking on that,
00:07:34.360 do you think that we are looking ahead to a potential early election
00:07:37.700 or how would you say that's lining up?
00:07:39.340 Because obviously we've seen the vote happen
00:07:42.300 and it did get passed for Carney,
00:07:43.580 but there's been talks, there's been murmurings
00:07:45.740 about a potential spring, maybe summer election.
00:07:48.160 Have you heard anything more about that?
00:07:49.760 I just think that's essentially what they're setting it up to be.
00:07:53.300 I think they want an election.
00:07:55.120 They've more than hinted at it.
00:07:57.620 I think they also want in a situation
00:07:59.180 where they've made announcements,
00:08:00.360 but we haven't seen the results yet.
00:08:02.660 And so if we end up waiting for the results,
00:08:04.740 then Canadians will realize that it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric.
00:08:09.520 A lot of what they're announcing isn't working
00:08:11.420 and I think they want to be able to blame Trump for everything
00:08:14.740 rather than their poor policies,
00:08:17.500 their inaction on so many of these issues.
00:08:20.200 Canadians continue to struggle.
00:08:21.760 There's over 2 million Canadians a month
00:08:23.860 are going to a food bank.
00:08:24.720 Never imagined that would happen in a country like Canada.
00:08:26.920 On the crime situation, they haven't done anything.
00:08:30.620 Yeah, they've introduced legislation,
00:08:31.720 but they themselves aren't even pushing it forward in the House of Commons.
00:08:35.140 We've been saying, you know, let's debate that.
00:08:37.200 Let's get it forward.
00:08:38.100 It's not perfect, but we'll support you on it.
00:08:40.540 They haven't even brought it forward.
00:08:41.820 So I think that's the situation they want to be in
00:08:45.360 where they could say they announced something, but no results.
00:08:48.920 Kind of speaking on that, you mentioned Trump there.
00:08:50.960 And with the Kuzma negotiation set to be renegotiated,
00:08:53.720 renegotiated, how would the Conservative Party,
00:08:56.280 the potential Conservative government tackle that differently
00:08:58.760 than how you think the Liberals would?
00:09:00.180 I think the number one thing there is
00:09:02.120 that we would not be in this situation.
00:09:05.400 We ourselves, we would have made ourselves as Canada
00:09:08.200 a much stronger trading partner,
00:09:10.940 but also be in a stronger position
00:09:12.600 where we're not just looking towards the US
00:09:14.940 as in the, you know, what, 90% of our trade is with the US.
00:09:19.360 We need to be in a position of strength.
00:09:22.160 Canada should be in that position.
00:09:23.540 We would get rid of the legislation
00:09:26.220 that the Liberals have brought in,
00:09:28.140 over-regulated, over-taxed,
00:09:29.880 that restricts our energy sector,
00:09:32.860 restricts our ability to build and grow,
00:09:36.100 and really, you know, is holding back our economy.
00:09:40.260 You scrap all that, you fix that,
00:09:42.360 we would be in a position of strength,
00:09:44.040 and we would have other countries coming to
00:09:45.780 wanting to trade with us.
00:09:47.380 Thank you very much.
00:09:48.120 All right, thank you.
00:09:48.920 Thank you.
00:09:49.240 So, why don't you just start out
00:09:50.500 by introducing yourself and what riding you're from?
00:09:52.780 Tom Robertson from Don Valley West in Toronto.
00:09:56.360 Well, how are you liking cow goo so far?
00:09:58.680 Loving it.
00:09:59.440 Yeah, it's fantastic.
00:10:00.480 Yeah, yeah.
00:10:01.820 Sorry, I'm not much taller.
00:10:03.460 This is my first convention, so it's a lot of fun.
00:10:06.020 That's cool.
00:10:06.920 Well, I guess I want to know,
00:10:08.780 what kind of policies are you interested
00:10:11.000 in the party to discuss for this event?
00:10:14.060 Probably right now it's geopolitics.
00:10:16.040 It's Canada's place in the world.
00:10:18.080 That, I think, is topical.
00:10:20.200 It's what I hope to be hearing a lot about
00:10:22.860 during the course of the convention.
00:10:24.860 Okay, geopolitics.
00:10:26.320 So, are you talking about, like,
00:10:28.420 U.S. relations with Canada?
00:10:30.300 I think Canada's place in the world,
00:10:32.320 and how is our party going to be helping push forward
00:10:35.640 Canada in an ever-changing geopolitical climate?
00:10:38.980 So, what kind of things do you want the party to do
00:10:43.240 when it comes to geopolitics?
00:10:44.540 I think I'd like to see the party
00:10:46.220 take a strong stand on defense issues.
00:10:48.600 We should be advocating for hitting our NATO commitments,
00:10:52.240 and to the extent we're able to increase our defense spending.
00:10:55.940 That's probably high on my list,
00:10:58.400 and our party should be advocating that
00:11:00.200 as a party that's generally strong on national defense issues.
00:11:04.800 That would be first.
00:11:05.480 But a lot of the motions that are being brought forward
00:11:10.060 seem to be technical in nature.
00:11:11.660 They seem to be relating to our governance,
00:11:16.180 our internal governance,
00:11:17.140 and perhaps that's the purpose of these conventions.
00:11:20.340 But I would like to see more that's outward-facing
00:11:23.120 versus inward-facing.
00:11:24.780 So, I just wanted to ask you,
00:11:27.020 so obviously the liberals right now
00:11:29.020 are making more relations with China.
00:11:31.640 Do you think, if, say, the conservatives
00:11:33.900 are elected in a spring election, if we have one,
00:11:36.660 do you think they would do something similar?
00:11:38.820 Yeah.
00:11:39.680 Well, it's a great question.
00:11:41.160 I think it's the right issue to be thinking about
00:11:43.140 and talking about.
00:11:45.840 Were there to be a spring election,
00:11:47.540 I don't know that the conservatives would win.
00:11:49.560 I think Carney and the liberals would probably win,
00:11:52.620 based on where we are right now.
00:11:54.080 The second part of your question around the trade deal,
00:11:57.160 although I think that's sort of aggrandizing
00:11:58.980 what it actually was with China,
00:12:00.820 I think that's been a net positive to the country.
00:12:04.980 40,000 or 50,000 electric vehicles coming in
00:12:07.860 doesn't move the dial in terms of autoworker jobs.
00:12:11.480 But what it does do is it signals to not just China,
00:12:13.940 but the rest of the world,
00:12:15.320 that Canada is open
00:12:16.400 and that we are ready to trade.
00:12:18.960 And what we need to do in this moment,
00:12:20.600 more than anything else,
00:12:21.560 is diversify.
00:12:22.940 And so I think that the Carney government
00:12:25.460 has made a prudent and, at this point,
00:12:28.620 remains to be seen,
00:12:29.620 but at this point,
00:12:30.860 I go so far as to say a wise step
00:12:35.020 in doing that deal with China.
00:12:38.300 And let me just add to that,
00:12:39.460 that following that Davos speech,
00:12:41.840 I think that was the first time,
00:12:43.580 certainly for me,
00:12:44.620 but I think for a lot of Canadians,
00:12:45.900 that we felt like we could...
00:12:47.160 Should I be looking at you, maybe?
00:12:48.580 You've got the camera.
00:12:49.420 Sorry, I've never done a media interview.
00:12:53.660 Let me just go back.
00:12:55.940 For me personally,
00:12:56.940 and I think for a lot of Canadians,
00:12:58.880 that Davos speech allowed us
00:13:00.380 to hold our heads high
00:13:01.600 in a way that we haven't been able to do
00:13:03.420 since Trump started
00:13:07.380 sort of attacking our country
00:13:09.160 over the last, whatever it's been,
00:13:11.420 12 to 18 months.
00:13:13.640 Now, that's not to say I'm a huge fan
00:13:15.620 of the Liberal government.
00:13:16.920 I mean, I'm a card-carrying Conservative
00:13:18.260 and have been my whole life.
00:13:20.720 But in this moment,
00:13:22.380 I think Kearney is making some steps
00:13:24.880 that are to our country's benefit.
00:13:28.080 And we Conservatives should acknowledge that
00:13:30.380 and not back away from that.
00:13:32.800 At the end of the day,
00:13:33.880 a lot of the policies that Kearney's pursuing
00:13:36.320 are Conservative policies.
00:13:38.260 And so we should, I think,
00:13:39.820 step back from our tribalism
00:13:41.460 and acknowledge that they are
00:13:42.940 to the benefit of our country.
00:13:45.280 Well, I have another question for you.
00:13:47.360 Do you think Kearney will win the leadership race?
00:13:51.400 And, yeah, I guess that's my question.
00:13:54.260 Tonight's vote.
00:13:55.620 I think the leader will be successful
00:13:57.720 in tonight's vote.
00:13:59.100 By how much, percentage-wise?
00:14:00.440 I'm relatively new to this world.
00:14:03.860 I've heard very...
00:14:05.040 I think he needs to get above 65%, 70%.
00:14:07.900 And I think he'll pass that threshold.
00:14:10.180 I've heard higher than 80%.
00:14:11.720 That's what I've heard.
00:14:13.700 But I wouldn't be the one to ask.
00:14:15.480 I don't know.
00:14:16.080 I'm not a pollster.
00:14:18.480 Okay.
00:14:18.860 Well, thank you very much for talking with us.
00:14:20.540 We really appreciate it.
00:14:21.360 So, you answered a couple of questions.
00:14:23.200 Can I add a few thoughts?
00:14:24.860 Okay, yeah.
00:14:25.560 Go for it.
00:14:26.200 So, this is my first convention.
00:14:28.240 And walking the convention floor,
00:14:29.940 I'm struck by the number of conversations I have
00:14:32.880 that stay at the surface.
00:14:34.860 You ask people why they're Conservative,
00:14:36.480 what it means to be Conservative.
00:14:37.920 And the answers you get
00:14:38.920 are perhaps what you'd expect,
00:14:41.100 lower taxes, freedom.
00:14:43.180 But it often doesn't go beyond that.
00:14:45.340 And I'd encourage Conservatives,
00:14:46.880 card-carrying Conservative Party members,
00:14:49.200 especially those that are over the age of, say, 30,
00:14:51.620 to really understand what it means to be Conservative,
00:14:54.420 particularly in this moment
00:14:55.740 when our country's sovereignty is in danger.
00:14:58.260 You know, we really, I think,
00:14:59.980 as Conservatives, have a few core beliefs.
00:15:02.900 First, we believe in freedom.
00:15:04.800 And that's not just the freedom to do things,
00:15:06.560 it's the freedom from things.
00:15:08.180 That requires institutions.
00:15:09.820 So, we, as Conservatives, respect institutions.
00:15:13.160 That's Burkean.
00:15:13.940 That goes back to, you know,
00:15:15.940 notes on the French Revolution.
00:15:18.040 And then third, we believe in the betterment of all,
00:15:21.800 of ourselves as individuals,
00:15:23.100 but of others as well.
00:15:24.560 And we achieve that through things like capitalism.
00:15:27.800 But really, it's incumbent, I think,
00:15:29.640 on all of us to understand what we believe,
00:15:31.520 why we believe it.
00:15:32.360 Only in doing that can we convince others,
00:15:34.560 can we convince Canadians
00:15:35.500 that we should form government.
00:15:36.880 So, thanks for allowing me
00:15:37.980 to add that little bit at the end.
00:15:39.820 Well said.
00:15:40.280 Thank you very much.
00:15:41.040 Thank you.
00:15:41.380 Can I actually ask a question,
00:15:42.620 if you don't mind?
00:15:43.120 Please.
00:15:43.960 Sorry, I was just going to ask.
00:15:45.480 So, you've described that you kind of see
00:15:48.020 the current landscape as Carney's,
00:15:51.680 so what Carney's doing, you say,
00:15:52.740 is for the betterment of Canada.
00:15:54.360 And so you think that his reaching out
00:15:57.100 to the Chinese and with Qatar
00:15:58.280 and all the other kind of diplomatic trips
00:16:00.600 he's done for trade
00:16:01.480 are for the benefit of Canada.
00:16:04.260 How would you say the Conservative Party should,
00:16:06.640 what should the Conservative Party do, rather,
00:16:08.220 to push the government in the direction
00:16:10.740 you think would be correct?
00:16:12.040 So, that's a great question.
00:16:14.620 You know, I think about the Conservative Party.
00:16:17.020 I think about the think tanks
00:16:18.440 that come up underneath the party.
00:16:20.300 I think the work they do is really important
00:16:22.060 to help inform policy conversation and debates.
00:16:25.360 So, in the House of Commons,
00:16:26.380 our MPs who are in opposition
00:16:27.620 should be using question period,
00:16:29.720 yes, to challenge the government,
00:16:31.180 but also to bring forward proposals
00:16:33.980 that can help the government move forward
00:16:35.740 on this agenda of protecting our country
00:16:37.680 in its hour of need.
00:16:39.600 I'm 51 years old,
00:16:41.240 so much older than all of you.
00:16:43.840 Never in my lifetime has our country been under
00:16:46.380 the sort of threat to its very existence
00:16:48.720 that it's under right now.
00:16:49.740 Here we are in Alberta.
00:16:50.620 There's an Alberta sovereignty movement right now.
00:16:53.180 I was in military college in 93 in Quebec
00:16:55.400 when there was a sovereignty movement.
00:16:57.380 I had a license plate on my car,
00:16:58.740 my car proud to be Canadian.
00:17:00.820 My car was vandalized on Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
00:17:03.300 I've seen what separatist movements can do.
00:17:06.600 And I'm worried that what's happening right now,
00:17:09.100 geopolitically, driven,
00:17:10.440 as you've mentioned earlier,
00:17:11.860 by the United States,
00:17:13.420 has the potential,
00:17:15.040 it might not be probable yet,
00:17:16.420 but it has the potential
00:17:17.340 to bring down our country.
00:17:19.040 Never would you have thought,
00:17:20.380 24, 36 months ago,
00:17:22.160 that you would have op-ed pieces
00:17:23.480 in the Globe and Mail
00:17:24.340 written by respected thinkers
00:17:25.800 forecasting the end of our country.
00:17:27.860 So we are at a very serious moment.
00:17:30.180 It's the role of the official opposition right now,
00:17:32.400 not to come up behind the government
00:17:34.160 and support everything,
00:17:35.120 to challenge the government in a healthy way,
00:17:37.220 but to do so in a way
00:17:38.460 that moves the country forward.
00:17:40.140 And for us right now,
00:17:41.500 what that means is helping the government,
00:17:44.520 which is led by Mark Carney,
00:17:46.800 in a minority situation,
00:17:48.220 but led by him,
00:17:49.260 it's to help them go out
00:17:51.120 and build relationships for Canada.
00:17:53.420 We are a middle power.
00:17:55.140 Do deals with other middle powers.
00:17:56.600 Help us diversify
00:17:57.660 so that my kids
00:17:59.060 and my kids' kids
00:18:00.360 will still have a Canada.
00:18:02.560 Right, so you kind of touched on
00:18:03.480 the whole Alberta sovereignty movement.
00:18:05.200 And so what would you say,
00:18:06.160 again,
00:18:06.740 we see with the UCP in Alberta
00:18:09.220 that there is a base,
00:18:11.180 as Danielle Smith said,
00:18:12.340 a million strong...
00:18:13.180 30%.
00:18:13.400 Exactly.
00:18:14.040 So how would you say
00:18:15.120 the Conservative Party,
00:18:17.080 as the federal representation
00:18:18.400 of the Conservative movement,
00:18:19.580 which obviously seeks to unite the country,
00:18:23.280 how would they best go about
00:18:24.520 wooing separatists or sovereignists
00:18:28.200 back into the Federalist fold?
00:18:30.800 Yeah, another good question.
00:18:32.120 I would say,
00:18:33.460 and I don't speak from a wealth of knowledge
00:18:36.140 on the topic,
00:18:37.020 but what I've seen here in Calgary
00:18:38.320 and what I've been reading
00:18:39.000 over the last few weeks,
00:18:40.440 the separatist movement in Alberta
00:18:42.120 seems to have a strong strand within it
00:18:46.040 of what would traditionally
00:18:47.520 be considered Conservatives.
00:18:49.100 So these are people
00:18:49.940 that share the beliefs
00:18:51.600 that we as Conservatives share
00:18:53.320 around a sense of patriotism
00:18:55.180 in their land.
00:18:55.920 Now, for them,
00:18:56.420 it's narrowed in on Alberta at the moment,
00:18:58.640 due in large measure
00:18:59.600 to frictions between East and West
00:19:01.120 over many generations.
00:19:02.540 So what we can do as Conservatives,
00:19:04.280 what the Conservative Party can do
00:19:05.460 is appeal to that sense of patriotism.
00:19:08.740 That's our natural playground.
00:19:10.240 And so were I in a position
00:19:12.180 of leadership in our party,
00:19:13.400 I would be saying
00:19:14.260 the party needs to take a strong stand
00:19:16.960 against Alberta's sovereignty
00:19:18.520 to remind Albertans,
00:19:20.640 those in the secessionist camp,
00:19:22.640 that their forefathers
00:19:24.340 and foremothers fought for Canada,
00:19:27.160 fought for the freedoms
00:19:29.080 we have as Canadians,
00:19:31.280 that trace its way back.
00:19:33.540 You can go back to the Magna Carta,
00:19:34.860 and that's something worth preserving.
00:19:38.600 We lose sight of that
00:19:39.760 when we focus on the challenges
00:19:42.360 of the moment
00:19:43.000 and the challenges of the day.
00:19:44.180 So our party should be taking
00:19:45.480 an approach to Alberta's secession
00:19:47.780 that says it's wrong,
00:19:49.520 it's not Conservative,
00:19:51.520 it's this sort of strand of populism
00:19:55.640 that's permeating across the West right now,
00:19:58.900 but it's not Conservative.
00:20:01.140 Okay.
00:20:02.560 That helps.
00:20:03.840 Okay.
00:20:04.460 So, my last thing.
00:20:05.800 Yeah.
00:20:07.140 Would you say then that,
00:20:09.060 because we've seen obviously
00:20:09.880 with David Eby,
00:20:10.760 the Premier of BC calling,
00:20:12.240 saying it's treason,
00:20:13.500 saying that this element
00:20:14.820 is a treasonous element.
00:20:15.960 Yeah.
00:20:17.040 Would you say that it is productive
00:20:19.120 to go on the attack,
00:20:20.280 or would you worry that
00:20:21.280 if you go on the attack too much
00:20:22.820 then it might alienate this base?
00:20:25.560 It already does feel marginalized
00:20:26.680 in Confederation
00:20:28.140 to just be more sunken
00:20:29.480 into their position.
00:20:32.020 That is a risk,
00:20:33.160 but that risk strikes me
00:20:34.420 as the similar risk
00:20:35.460 of appeasing a bully
00:20:37.060 on the playground.
00:20:39.180 Yes, there's a risk
00:20:40.200 that you're going to further
00:20:41.040 alienate some folks
00:20:42.780 and others will jump on this
00:20:44.740 as an opportunity
00:20:45.660 to push sovereignty more,
00:20:47.360 but there are certain times
00:20:49.460 when you need to stand on principle,
00:20:51.460 and there's no greater principle
00:20:53.540 from a Canadian perspective
00:20:55.480 than the sovereignty
00:20:56.540 and unity of our country.
00:20:58.320 And we as conservatives
00:20:59.160 have traditionally been
00:20:59.940 the standard bearers of that,
00:21:01.080 and that's an area where
00:21:01.980 I think our party
00:21:03.180 can play a role
00:21:04.040 in this moment
00:21:05.120 where we are in opposition.
00:21:08.000 We can help take that
00:21:09.480 aggressive stand
00:21:10.520 that perhaps the government can't.
00:21:12.040 The government needs to be
00:21:12.960 perhaps more even-keeled
00:21:14.240 because it's the government
00:21:15.480 of the day.
00:21:16.000 It speaks for all Canadians.
00:21:17.640 We can take a more aggressive stance
00:21:19.360 as the official opposition.
00:21:22.320 Thank you very much.
00:21:23.100 Thank you.
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