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So Aaron Gunn, Member of Parliament for North Island Powell River.
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Do you regret not choosing to lead the BC Conservatives?
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No, no, not at all.
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I mean I think maybe one day.
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Who behind the scenes did you think was the right person for the job?
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These questions are coming fast and furious to start out.
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I think I'll keep my ballot secret.
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Why don't you want to say?
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Look, it was a very contentious leadership race, which is okay.
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What are your thoughts on Prime Minister Mark Carney?
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I think that in some cases he's saying the right things, but I'm still waiting for the results.
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What do you think the government should do about Donald Trump?
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And I definitely agree with Pierre that I was a very much a supporter of his when he went down to the United States, how we kind of kept a Team Canada approach, didn't start criticizing playing domestic politics when out of the country.
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What does Pierre need to do differently in order to start to win over the electorate?
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We have to continue communicating to Canadians the difference or the delta between Mark Carney's rhetoric and Mark Carney's results.
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But on balance, say there was a provincial park in your backyard in Campbell River where the nation said, hey, we just want three weeks out of a year.
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Is that unreasonable?
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To close a park based on race, and I don't think provincial parks should ever be restricted to one group or another group based on race or ancestry.
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It was the Canadian government who designed a lot of these policies, right?
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So would you like to see the Indian Act then abolished in your role as federal leader?
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Aaron Gunn, thank you so much for joining us again.
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Would you mind briefly introducing yourself for people who might not be acquainted?
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Yeah, and first of all, thank you for having me again.
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I'm a I'm a big fan.
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Not only do I usually agree with you, but I'm a huge uh supporter of how you're willing to have the tough conversations with people and such a stalwart uh defender of free speech.
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But uh yeah, so Aaron Gunn, member of parliament for North Island Powell River, uh was first elected about a year and a half ago.
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And before that, I was a documentary uh filmmaker, uh most prominently behind
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the films Vancouver is dying and Canada's dying, about the opioid crisis and public safety issues.
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And uh prior to that was working at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
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So I spent a lot of time in and around politics, and now uh I'm very proud to represent uh the people of uh Northern Vancouver Island and and uh Powell River.
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Aaron Powell Do you regret not choosing to lead the BC Conservatives?
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No, no, not at all.
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I mean, I think uh maybe one day, but the timing wasn't right for me personally and for the conservative movement more broadly, I think.
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Um it's uh I I think the the way it's all worked out uh so far looks looks good, and I'm I'm happy to lend Warren uh Dirksen my support on this election that's coming up.
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Aaron Powell Who did you support in the last uh BC Conservatives leadership race?
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I in the last leadership race?
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Yes.
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Well, I I supported nobody openly.
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I was uh, as you might remember, I actually moderated one of the debates.
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So uh I had chatted and met with all of the different candidates, uh mainly in person, a couple over the phone, and I was happy to welcome them all to my uh to my riding and attended all of their events.
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So I tried to stay a little bit above the fray.
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I opined on a number of things that happened, but um I tried to stay neutral so that uh no matter what happened, it could get behind the party.
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Because I just think it's so important right now that we don't allow four more years of NDP government.
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Who behind the scenes did you think was the right person for the job?
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These questions are coming fast and furious to start out.
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Um you know, I I didn't see there was no perfect candidate, I think, but there maybe never is.
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So it was all about how you weighed to be honest, as someone, uh I think I'll keep my ballot secret, but I can what I will say is that uh I was trying to decide right up until the last the last couple weeks exactly who I was gonna put right at the right at the top and how I was going to to to rank that ballot.
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For me, the the key issue was there were three things.
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One, who was gonna keep the party united, two, who was going to keep the party conservative, and three, who could defeat the NDP.
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And I was looking for a candidate who could do all three of those things.
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And um so I'll just maybe leave it at that.
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Why don't you want to say?
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Why don't I want to say?
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Yeah.
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I think because there's a lot of uh look, it was a very contentious leadership race, which is okay.
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I mean, you're a a fan of rigorous and open debate, and uh how it ended was obviously very tumultuous in the months that followed.
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And right now I look at it as that's in the rearview mirror, and we're trying to look forward.
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We're trying to bring everyone together in kind of this grand conservative, co common sense conservative coalition to defeat the NDP.
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And uh so instead of looking backwards, I'm trying to look forwards, and I'm very happy with with Lauren Dirksen, who is the kind of this this story, uh it's almost like a Jon Snow story where he didn't want the job, but but basically everyone and all of his colleagues urged him to take it on at the 11th hour when he was in a plane flying back from summer vacation in Africa, I believe.
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And basically found out he was leader during a layover in, I think, the United Kingdom.
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So it's um and he stepped up to the plate in a big way.
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And hopefully we can reverse some of the some of the uh the shortcomings of this government over the past nine years.
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Aaron Powell The reason I asked, because it would be very interesting if you had if behind the scenes you thought Carrie Lynn Findlay was the right candidate.
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I well, like I said, I didn't think there was a perfect candidate.
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I thought I thought Carrie Lynn uh maybe had the uh some of the stronger credentials to keep the party conservative.
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Um But uh I did question her ability to keep the party united.
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Um and uh you know I thought I thought anybody could beat the NDP as far as as long as the party stayed united.
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But obviously we saw that end up becoming her her shortcomings at the end of the day was the party started splintering uh over the weeks and months.
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And uh if it wasn't for the great gift of David R.
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E.
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B trying to find this opportunistic $80 million election that just got conservatives to come together and uh unite our resources and our passions, then uh uh we would have been in trouble.
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But um so uh that was uh both where I saw her strengths and where I saw her weaknesses.
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It's argued, I just interviewed uh Seamus O'Regan, and it's argued that both the federal conservatives and the provincial conservatives struggle to create a big enough tent where everybody
feels welcome, and that the liberals do a very good job federally of doing that.
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That was his argument in our interview, and that's what we saw kind of collapse the conservatives just a few months ago.
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How do you reflect on trying to make it so that it's not so a divisive Well, I think liberals don't have as many principles as conservatives, so it's a lot easier to have kind of a wishy-washy big tent when you don't stand for anything.
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I mean, you look at the federal government right now, they're flip-flopping on all sorts of different issues.
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Uh, I mean, they c they called you like an environmental oath uh denialist if you didn't support carbon taxes, and then all of a sudden they're reversing their uh individual carbon taxes.
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So um, you know, I what what I think is you need what I think the challenge is for conservative parties, conservative leaders, um, conservative politicians, is you want to make a bigger tent while staying true to your values, your principles, and your beliefs.
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And for me, you do that through the power of persuasion.
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And there's a lot of people, if I can be just frank with you, there's a lot of people in politics who don't believe in the power of persuasion, who just want to focus group and poll everything, and then try to move that tent where they think they can to get 40% of the vote to win a general election.
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Where I look at it as here are our principles, here are our beliefs, here's the vision that I think we need to turn this province or this country around.
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Now, how do I persuade my fellow British Columbians and Canadians to get behind that vision so we can win an election and move forward together?
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And it's two very different ways of looking at politics.
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But um uh you know, if it was just about focus group and pulling your way to victory, I would have never gotten involved.
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So I'm I'm really I believe in the power of truth and the power of being able to use that truth and storytelling to convince people to your cause.
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Aaron Powell There's also issues that conservatives seem to get locked into.
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Uh provincially, I would say SOGI 123, uh reconciliation is another one that's that's continued to come up.
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How do you think conservatives should approach those issues?
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Well, some of those issues um there's nuances behind them, which sometimes doesn't do well in politics when you're, you know, I mean, I I don't totally agree with the the expression when you're explaining you're losing, but I I think they they what I try to do is uh dig deep into those two different issues as as examples to find um the common principle or common thread that conservatives are frustrated about and continue to to clearly espouse on that without um getting lost in the details.
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So for SOGI uh as an example, um what I think the key message is is that when it comes to our education system and our kids, we should be focused on reading, writing, arithmetic, these core educational skills, and not on on gender ideology or trying to um, you know, leaving it up to parents to raise their kids, not David E.B.
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and the NDP.
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So I I think that's the the core thing.
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You know, how much of SOGI is that versus uh and anti-bullying um the platform or mechanism or or or whatever is uh details that you know I don't I don't I don't get into, especially because I'm a federal politician.
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But I think it's that core principle that matters.
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So that's the core principle uh when it comes to that.
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Reconciliation is another one.
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As you know, the Cowichan decision has made people worried about uh their properties.
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DRIPA has made people concerned about what control and influence First Nations have over land uh throughout British Columbia.
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And I'm wondering what do you think the approach should look like?
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As the BC Conservatives have said they want to repeal DRIPA, but have not been very clear about what they would do as an alternative pathway forward.
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Yeah, I think, you know, I remember a couple months ago now I looked up the definition of reconciliation and it was it was uh uh you know dealing with a past argument or feud or whatever that's that's driven people uh apart and bringing them together and then moving forward together.
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I don't think that's what's happening right now in British Columbia.
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I think it's been getting more divisive over the past, which is seems like should be the opposite of what reconciliation is supposed to be.
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Um so so I think a couple of things.
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One, I think at the- again, the core conservative principle is that we should get back as much as possible to treating people like a Canadian is a Canadian.
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I think one of the great tragedies of our past is we haven't always done that in this province or this country.
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People have been treated differently in the past based on, you know, the color of their skin or or or where they come from.
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Um so that would be the first thing.
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The other thing is just the economic issues.
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We have to bring economic certainty uh when it comes to private property, yes, but also the many industries that are powering this province.
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So um DRIPA and some of the NDB policies related to reconciliation have contributed to the near collapse of the forest industry, the industry that built this province.
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It's led to billions of dollars fleeing the mining sector in this province, the energy sector up in northeastern BC.
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Um we can't seem to get anything built.
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So that's and that hurts everybody, including uh obviously indigenous Canadians that live in these communities.
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So we have to bring, we have to find policies that bring economic certainty.
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And I think with reconciliation, we have to bring a degree of um certainty and finality in the sense that we are able to um look at the past, acknowledge the past, have truthful and honest conversations the past, but then move forward together into the into the into the future.
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Caroline Elliott is running uh now as a potential MLA.
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And I've reached out to her several times to try and get a debate with her or some sort of conversation, because one of her focuses has been uh the land uh near Little Watt Nation where they have private access over like a three-week span.
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Um, and she views that as British Columbians aren't being treated uh the same as the First Nations people.
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But I just wonder how you take that information.
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And the argument that I would have put to her is that First Nations have been here for thousands of years, and there are likely cultural traditions that they're going up into those mountains and practicing, and they don't want hikers seeing uh their location or what they're doing or some of their ceremonial practices.
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And so is it unreasonable that we would see that as a cultural tradition unique to them, just like how people who go to church have a unique tradition special to them?
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Um and I'm wondering how you take that argument in.
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Do you think this is where conservatives should be focused?
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Well, I think the core conservative principle is that people shouldn't be treated differently based on their race or ancestry.
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Now, we want to find ways obviously to accomplish like I'm a big believer that the government should be doing, you know, should because of the role that um through residential schools and other mechanisms played a played a role in in suppressing or undermining indigenous culture.
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I think there's a role that that the government can play in helping to revive that and support the revival but of traditions, cultures, all these kinds of things.
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But I think that when it comes to the laws in this country, that everybody should be treated equally irrespective of race or or ancestry.
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So I think when it comes to access to public parks, as also happened on Van Vancouver Island near a place called Port Renfrew, I think it's a very, uh, very slippery slope.
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And I don't know the exact details of you know how much space they they would need or something like that, or can you close off a part of a park for a private event?
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Could it be included as part of a treaty negotiation or something?
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These are all kind of separate questions.
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But I think that is the core uh principle that conservatives have always believed in, that is now running up to some of the latest developments in kind of this broader reconciliation issue.
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Trevor Burrus, Jr.
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But on balance, say there was a provincial park in your backyard in Campbell River where the nation said, hey, we just want three weeks out of a year, is that unreasonable?
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To close a park based on race and I mean I I don't think provincial parks should ever be uh restricted to one group or another group based on race or ancestry would be my would be I of course they can use the park.
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Um now can like part of the park be closed off for like a public event or something like that?
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Then I think that's that's something that you have to I mean it depends on the size of the park or or all these kinds of things.
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So the short answer is I think there should be a way.
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I would like to think without knowing the details of the of the the case, that there would be a way for um a First Nation to be able to carry out and practice that cultural tradition that's important to them without infringing on the the with without creating a race or ancestry ancestry-based restriction on the rest of British Columbians and Canadians from accessing that that public space.
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Um so I you know it's I I guess I would I would the devil's in the details a little bit, but um it seems like something that should be able to be restricted.
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I mean, my understanding was that they were closing this entire provincial park, um which didn't seem reasonable, but maybe I don't know all of the details and things like that.
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So one would hope that we'd be able to accomplish both.
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So on that note, though, because you mentioned it a few times, like treating groups differently, it was the Canadian government who designed a lot of these
policies, right?
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The reason that we're on reserves is because um governments decided that we needed to be allocated to certain locations and were restricted from doing certain things on those lands, being able to buy, sell the land in useful ways.
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So would you like to see the Indian Act then abolished uh in your role as a federal leader?
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Aaron Powell Well, I would like to see us so you're right that the current policies in Canada, and I guess it's a bit challenging with I mean, we're not the United States, we have Section 35 of the Constitution, you're obviously very familiar with all this, all the legal history of Canada, but I would like to see us moving closer towards, as opposed to further away, a culture in a country where uh people are treated equally, uh irrespective of race and ancestry.
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And I think, you know, for example, there's some of these new treaties that are being negotiated in British Columbia that uh and so uh I've got some issues with them, but one thing I don't have an issue with is this conversion of the reserve lands into fee simple lands owned by the individual First Nations.
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I would view that as a positive development.
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I don't know if you have a have a perspective on that as well.
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So um uh uh so it's you know, you made a you made a post if it was a video that I saw or it was just a a post on X where you said um you know, I'm open to having some of these conversations, but what I'm most concerned with are for when it comes to reconciliation and and Indigenous people here in Canada are the outcomes.
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So you see a lot of whether it's with poverty, whether it's with the the opioid crisis, obviously, um whether with its employment challenges in these really remote rural communities.
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Um, when I chat with because I've uh you know, over I think a 12% of my riding is indigenous.
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When I talk to those indigenous people in my riding, those are the things that they actually want to talk about, are just kind of the everyday concerns that anybody would that would have that a lot of those challenges are disproportionating Indigenous communities, and how do we fix and how do we solve those?
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And uh those are the is the issues that I'm most interested in trying to find a solution for.
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The last piece on this topic I'd like to uh get your thoughts on.
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Keen Bexta from Juno News had made a post saying that it might just be time to go to war with indigenous people.
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Um, and he'll argue now that that was a joke.
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I legitimately called him out for a debate uh because I actually don't think he knows as much about the topic as he was uh portraying.
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And I have not enjoyed Juno News's take on the couch and decision and on on Dripa on all of these things because they're going to the most inflammatory version of the conversation rather than the most productive conversation of how do we find a pathway forward.
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Um I'm just wondering, you uh obviously were involved in the uh debate that Juno News hosted in the previous one.
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What were your thoughts on his comments?
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Well, I mean, I that's the first time hearing of it, but obviously that's not a I obviously hope that that's a that's a just not a good joke, basically.
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Um look, it's it's one thing for me, and and by the way, on that point, when you talk about productive conversations, again, that's something that you've been at the forefront for.
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So I I thank you for that.
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Um I'm a huge, as you know, passionate defender and um consumer of Canadian history.
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And when you look there's obviously b challenges and mistakes that were made in Canadian history, but a lot of Canadian history is actually there's the that doesn't get talked about enough is also the history of partnership between Indigenous Canadians and and uh the English or the first settlers, early Canadian governments, whether you look back to the War of 1812 out east or early British Columbia or Metis people.
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Metis people are the embodiment of two governments.
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Exactly.
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And it's uh you see, I mean, my uh my grandfather was um adopted by uh uh half First Nations individual, uh my great-grandfather Shearing on Vancouver Island.
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So um, you know, those stories don't get told enough.
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And I think um so the the and actually to be honest, if it wasn't for those early partnerships, Canada as a country wouldn't even exist.
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We would have just been absorbed by the the marauding United States who had a goal to control all of North America, a goal that in some capacity maybe continues to to this day.
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But um so I want to talk more about those stories, about how the history of Canada, barring some mistakes, is also a lot of um Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians working together to build a better future, a better shared future for everybody.
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And when I read, read some of the early correspondence between, for example, chiefs on the the prairies who were struggling with um the buffalo who had basically gone extinct very rapidly and had disrupted their entire way of life.
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They were looking for ways to how can they partner with the government to try to improve the lives
and and future outcomes of their people.
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In a lot of cases, I think the Canadian government let them down.
00:21:04.850 --> 00:21:14.530
Uh, but it was also a different difficult time, obviously, the 1870s and 1880s, and it's a lot easier to look back in hindsight when with blessed with the wealth, resources, and technology that we have today.
00:21:14.530 --> 00:21:26.050
But the the point that I was trying to make in a roundabout way is I think we have to look at ways that we can work together to find win-win situations um and deliver kind of economic prosperity for everybody.
00:21:26.050 --> 00:21:29.490
And I'd have no reason to believe why that wouldn't be possible.
00:21:29.570 --> 00:21:40.130
Aaron Powell Can you tell me about Lauren Dirksen and uh the NDP is trying to push the concern and the fear that he may not end up being party leader um over the course of the long term.
00:21:40.130 --> 00:21:45.410
Can you just lay out what your thoughts are on him and what happens uh if he is ends up being elected?
00:21:45.490 --> 00:21:45.970
Aaron Powell Yeah.
00:21:45.970 --> 00:21:51.330
So first of all, the concerns about him not being a premier if he's elected, I think are uh it's ridiculous.
00:21:51.330 --> 00:22:08.530
Like he's he's technically the party will have to uh is a bit uh push for like an amendment at at the following AGM, but nobody's going to uh remove a sitting premier who's just won an election and become the first elected conservative leader in 90 years.
00:22:08.530 --> 00:22:19.250
So um it's just politically not it's not I mean, it's it's like saying that David Eby could win the election and then the NDP could could could knife him a week later and and install somebody else.
00:22:19.250 --> 00:22:23.490
Technically it's possible, but it's just not going to happen in the wake of a successful election.
00:22:23.490 --> 00:22:27.410
As far as Lorne himself, um I've got to know him a little bit over the past.
00:22:27.410 --> 00:22:28.450
Couple weeks.
00:22:28.450 --> 00:22:46.130
He honestly just seems like a down-to-earth, kind of common sense, conservative guy, kind of like what you would expect a guy that's got a lot of, you know, some business experience, lived most of his life up in Williams Lake, assault of the earth, speaks to you directly, doesn't beat around the bush.
00:22:46.130 --> 00:22:57.410
And uh, you know, there was a reason why he was the unanimous pick of caucus in the in the tumultuous moment where Carolyn Finlay resigned, they were the eve of an election.
00:22:57.410 --> 00:22:58.450
What's going to happen?
00:22:58.450 --> 00:22:59.650
Are they going to have some crazy vote?
00:22:59.650 --> 00:23:08.210
No, caucus pretty much got together a caucus that pretty much couldn't agree on anything else, by the way, over the past uh year.
00:23:08.210 --> 00:23:21.009
We're able to basically completely agree in unanimity to get behind this man, this man who didn't even ask
for the job, didn't put his name for it, and then he was able to go and bring everybody else back into the party, pretty much who had left over the previous week.
00:23:21.009 --> 00:23:26.690
So I think he's had an impressive start and uh hoping that he can be the guy that brings some common sense back to this province.
00:23:27.170 --> 00:23:33.970
I've spoken to uh Globe and Mail journalist Tony Keller, um Robert Fife, and now Andrew Coyne.
00:23:33.970 --> 00:23:38.769
All three of them said that uh Prime Minister Mark Kearney has had a remarkable year.
00:23:38.769 --> 00:23:45.810
I have a quote from you from our previous conversation that said uh he had accomplished little, but you were willing to give him more time.
00:23:45.810 --> 00:23:48.210
What are your thoughts on Prime Minister Mark Carney?
00:23:49.250 --> 00:23:57.810
Well, I think so, first of all, he's benefiting from the fact of, you know, whenever you take a new job, I think you're you're directly compared to the person that came before you.
00:23:57.810 --> 00:24:05.890
So from that perspective, Mark Kearney is benefiting because I think Justin Trudeau will probably go down as the worst Prime Minister in the history of our country.
00:24:05.890 --> 00:24:11.890
Um that was, you know, that served more than more than a year.
00:24:11.890 --> 00:24:19.490
Um I think that in some cases he's saying the right things, but what I look is I'm still waiting for the results.
00:24:19.490 --> 00:24:21.570
He ran on three big issues, three big promises.
00:24:21.570 --> 00:24:26.530
One, he said that he would be judged on the prices Canadians pay at the grocery store.
00:24:26.530 --> 00:24:32.450
Two, he said that he would have a trade deal with the United States reached by July 2025.
00:24:32.450 --> 00:24:38.690
Um and uh three, he said that we would start building things in Canada at speeds never seen before.
00:24:38.690 --> 00:24:48.850
And I think when it comes to inflation, prices you see at the grocery store or prices you're paying at the pump, we still have this record high uh cost of living crisis in this country.
00:24:48.850 --> 00:24:49.170
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:24:49.250 --> 00:24:50.850
Let's let's do them each one by one then.
00:24:50.850 --> 00:24:59.650
Can we quickly do like his argument would be that the Iran war has driven up gas prices uh as a consequence, and that he has no control over that.
00:24:59.650 --> 00:25:00.930
To what do you say to that?
00:25:01.009 --> 00:25:04.290
Aaron Powell So inflation and broadly, obviously the Iran war plays apart.
00:25:04.290 --> 00:25:07.890
I think that we uh realistically we're an oil exporter.
00:25:07.890 --> 00:25:10.530
So in some cases, high oil prices should benefit us.
00:25:10.530 --> 00:25:18.370
We have the oil, fourth largest in the world, but we haven't moved at all quickly at building the key oil and gas infrastructure that we need in this country.
00:25:18.370 --> 00:25:24.210
We're still British Columbia
is importing almost all of our refined fuels from either Alberta or the United States.
00:25:24.210 --> 00:25:38.290
We're still it's been a year and a half, we now have uh outline of a pipeline on paper, the new Pacific Link pipeline that's not going through the most efficient route, by the way, that's not being built by any private sector company because he's failed to instill investor confidence.
00:25:38.290 --> 00:25:51.009
We also, a lot of this inflation is being driven by massive amounts of government borrowing, um, obviously an expansionary effect on the on the on the money supply, you're throwing money into the economy.
00:25:51.009 --> 00:25:59.009
Mark Kearney is actually spending almost 50 percent more than what Justin Trudeau was was planning on spending, uh, borrowing even more debt.
00:25:59.009 --> 00:26:03.090
The largest deficit in Canadian history outside of COVID, I don't think enough people are talking about it.
00:26:03.090 --> 00:26:16.930
So he's still he still has the industrial carbon tax, which raises the price uh when you raise the price that farmers are paying, uh that in that manufacturers are paying, you obviously increase the price that Canadians are paying at the uh grocery store.
00:26:16.930 --> 00:26:24.769
So if anything, the high oil prices, to be honest with you, should actually, all things considered equal, strengthen the Canadian dollar and lower inflation.
00:26:24.769 --> 00:26:27.970
So um I don't think that's uh that's an excuse.
00:26:27.970 --> 00:26:36.210
Um as far as the trade deal with the United States, you know, uh I've got a bit more sympathy, perhaps.
00:26:36.210 --> 00:26:40.850
I don't think this is an easy administration to do business with, but he ran on the election.
00:26:40.850 --> 00:26:44.690
That was his big promise that he was going to have this trade deal by July 2025.
00:26:44.690 --> 00:26:46.850
I mean, it's the fall 2026.
00:26:46.850 --> 00:26:49.090
Uh, he walked away from a trade deal.
00:26:49.090 --> 00:26:51.890
We don't know the details exactly of why.
00:26:51.970 --> 00:27:04.610
So but we do know that Kuzma was interfering with our own sovereignty, that there were restrictions within the Kuzma deal that were concerning around who we could go make other trade deals with, and that we'd need to communicate with the United States before doing so.
00:27:04.610 --> 00:27:08.130
And I think that still to me is an infringement on our sovereignty.
00:27:08.210 --> 00:27:08.370
Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:27:08.370 --> 00:27:10.050
Like as part of the Trevor Burrus, Jr.
00:27:10.290 --> 00:27:11.890
The original Kuzma agreement, yeah.
00:27:12.050 --> 00:27:14.210
Aaron Ross Powell Is that part of the Kuzma agreement?
00:27:14.610 --> 00:27:22.610
Yes, that we would communicate any uh agreements with future partners or future countries that we'd need to communicate with the United States first in order to do a free trade deal.
00:27:22.769 --> 00:27:23.090
Trevor Burrus Yeah.
00:27:23.090 --> 00:27:25.009
So I'm not I'm not an expert on international trade.
00:27:25.009 --> 00:27:27.250
There's a colleague of mine, Jacob Mantel, who is.
00:27:27.250 --> 00:27:40.130
I think there's always been provisions where you if you create a a free market you uh with with lower trade barriers or no trade barriers, one of the parties to that deal can't go and make trade deals with non-market economies.
00:27:40.130 --> 00:27:42.769
Obviously, the American concern is is China.
00:27:42.769 --> 00:27:44.130
That's that's no secret.
00:27:44.130 --> 00:27:51.250
And they don't want Canada or Mexico for that matter being used as a backdoor to bring Chinese goods in tariff-free to their country.
00:27:51.250 --> 00:27:58.050
So um look, the the devil's in the details, and like I said, I do have a little bit more sympathy on that side of things.
00:27:58.050 --> 00:28:15.570
But uh, we've also seen a government that's been untruthful when it comes to these issues, with the Gordy Howe Bridge, for example, they basically said that uh no, no, no, the the there wasn't some giveaway, and then we find out that no, Canada's paying for the whole things and the Americans are getting uh half of the half of the revenues basically right up front from the start.
00:28:15.570 --> 00:28:17.730
So um, yeah, I think there's issues.
00:28:17.730 --> 00:28:27.009
Then when it comes to building things at speeds never before seen in Canada, and again, as a student of history, that's a pretty high bar for me when I see how they where John A.
00:28:27.009 --> 00:28:31.090
McDonald is able to get the railway built, the ribbon of steel to bring the country together.
00:28:31.090 --> 00:28:32.450
And I don't see that happening.
00:28:32.450 --> 00:28:43.890
I see a lot of announcements, and I see what they've been doing is they've created bills like C5, there's a new one now, C39, and we we notionally support them because anything that speeds things up is great.
00:28:43.890 --> 00:29:04.769
But what they're doing is they're creating a system where instead of removing all of these onerous regulations that make it impossible to build anything in Canada, they've created a special kind of fast track lane where hand-picked projects that the liberal cabinet picks gets to get in the fast track lane, which is great, I suppose.
00:29:04.769 --> 00:29:12.210
And then everybody else is basically stuck languishing in the old system where they can't get anything built and it's not economical to do anything of any size.
00:29:12.210 --> 00:29:31.090
So basically, it creates a system that I it's it's really bringing back crony capitalism, I think, where if you're basically have the insider track with the liberal government, you can get your your project fast track, you can skip all these onerous, ridiculous regulations and get your project built and make boatloads of money.
00:29:31.090 --> 00:29:38.530
And I don't understand if you think those, if that bureaucracy and that
regulation is worth skipping over, then why not just remove it completely?
00:29:38.530 --> 00:29:45.330
Like legislation like Bill C69, keep it an open playing field instead of those that just have special connections.
00:29:45.330 --> 00:29:49.009
So um that's where we'd really disagree with that approach.
00:29:49.009 --> 00:30:06.769
And you also see it, by the way, with this ridiculous condo bailout here in Vancouver, where we're basically bailing out billionaire condo developers who made billions of dollars over the past two decades, that now uh built and priced condos that nobody can afford, and the government's coming in to bail them out using your taxpayer money, which I think is ridiculous.
00:30:06.850 --> 00:30:11.090
Aaron Powell What do you think uh the government should do about Donald Trump?
00:30:11.090 --> 00:30:13.090
How should this be navigated?
00:30:13.090 --> 00:30:21.250
I think there's fears that the original Kuzma deal wasn't as good, now looking in retrospect, that looking at those deals might not make a lot of sense.
00:30:21.250 --> 00:30:23.890
And then alongside that, he's very unpredictable.
00:30:23.890 --> 00:30:27.250
So it's very hard to get certainty out of an arrangement like that.
00:30:27.250 --> 00:30:42.130
And in speaking with the uh former co-CEO of Blackberry, he said the other challenge that you have to be cognizant of is that even under democratic leadership, like uh when Joe Biden and Kamal Harris, they did not remove the tariffs during that period.
00:30:42.130 --> 00:30:45.970
So it just doesn't look like we're ever going back to that past relationship.
00:30:45.970 --> 00:30:47.730
What do you think the approach should be?
00:30:47.730 --> 00:30:59.810
Because it does seem like the area in which the Federal Conservative Party has struggled to communicate a vision with Canadians on what their approach would be and how it might differ from the federal liberals.
00:31:00.690 --> 00:31:03.170
Yeah, so you raised a couple very good points there.
00:31:03.170 --> 00:31:16.050
Number one, after Donald Trump leaves office, and we're about to have the midterms here coming up that he'll probably lose, and he'll be out of office in two years or so, um the these problems, these challenges of the United States are not going to go away.
00:31:16.050 --> 00:31:18.850
I mean, they're 10- they're the largest economy of the world.
00:31:18.850 --> 00:31:22.130
Uh we're right next to them, we're very trade-dependent on them.
00:31:22.130 --> 00:31:26.690
Um and once they government addiction to revenue can be sticky.
00:31:26.690 --> 00:31:33.890
So now that they've got this tariff revenue coming in, future administrations are going to be very reluctant um to remove it, I think.
00:31:33.890 --> 00:31:38.450
So uh waiting out Donald Trump, I don't think, is an option.
00:31:38.450 --> 00:31:53.970
Um what I think the approach is, is I don't think uh and I think it's been unfortunate that some of his errant and quite frankly ridiculous and insane tweets have distracted Canadians from the very real made in Canada problems that we have here in this country.
00:31:53.970 --> 00:31:56.050
The forest industry is a perfect example.
00:31:56.050 --> 00:31:58.930
The tariffs are making it worse, the tariffs are not the main issue.
00:31:58.930 --> 00:32:01.650
The main issue is provincial government policy here in British Columbia.
00:32:01.650 --> 00:32:05.970
You talk to any forestry company, uh, they'll tell you the exact same thing.
00:32:05.970 --> 00:32:13.970
But what I think when it comes to to the United States is you have to you don't have to be antagonistic.
00:32:13.970 --> 00:32:19.970
I think it's short-sighted and you're not doing Canadians any favors if you, you know, go and poke the U.S.
00:32:19.970 --> 00:32:22.050
administration in the eye for no reason.
00:32:22.050 --> 00:32:27.009
But you have to hold the line and you have to put Canadian interest first.
00:32:27.009 --> 00:32:31.810
And you have to realize this is what I've always I've always said, the United States is a democracy.
00:32:31.810 --> 00:32:35.810
They're going to elect whoever they're going to elect, right?
00:32:35.810 --> 00:32:37.009
You can't control that.
00:32:37.009 --> 00:32:40.690
And you have to control what you can control, and you can control our own policies here.
00:32:40.690 --> 00:32:47.009
I think you have to fight for fair and free trade, but you can't be willing just to give up and lay down because the United States is.
00:32:47.009 --> 00:32:49.090
And that means we have to tough it out for a little bit.
00:32:49.090 --> 00:32:50.769
That means we have to tough it out.
00:32:50.769 --> 00:33:04.050
But um, what I do think that in the interim is when you continue to advocate for that issue, you continue to not back down and demand fairness, you also start fixing all of the problems here in Canada.
00:33:04.050 --> 00:33:08.769
We have the most natural resources of any country in the entire world.
00:33:08.769 --> 00:33:10.370
The world wants our resources.
00:33:10.370 --> 00:33:19.330
I think that we should have basically declared, you know, a state of economic emergency, started building pipelines, started building mines, started diversifying our trade relationship.
00:33:19.330 --> 00:33:29.330
The fact that we produce raw um materials and resources is actually the most you know, you can ship those anywhere.
00:33:29.330 --> 00:33:29.890
Those are global.
00:33:29.890 --> 00:33:31.330
The market for oil is global.
00:33:31.330 --> 00:33:39.009
The market for uranium and potash and and gold and copper are all global, and we can send those all over the world.
00:33:39.009 --> 00:33:43.090
So we should be, I think, doubling down on controlling what we should control.
00:33:43.090 --> 00:33:47.410
We shouldn't be using taxpayer money to subsidize shipbuilding in communist China.
00:33:47.410 --> 00:33:51.330
We should have built those BC ferries right
here in British Columbia, like so many other things.
00:33:51.330 --> 00:34:08.849
And then when it comes to the United States, continuing dialogue, not getting not falling for the bait, I would almost say, of Donald Trump and getting in these weird tit-for-tats that accomplish nothing, um, and instead focused on just on being reasonable and getting a deal.
00:34:08.849 --> 00:34:15.250
And if the Americans try to strong arm us, holding our ground and uh demanding fair fairness because that's what we deserve.
00:34:15.329 --> 00:34:21.409
Aaron Powell Just out of curiosity, though, the approach that you're suggesting, it just doesn't seem as landing with Canadians from what I can see.
00:34:21.409 --> 00:34:30.369
When you see Doug Ford saying, like he can kiss my ass, that gets a reaction out of people that people, as citizens, as voters, seem to really respond to.
00:34:30.369 --> 00:34:36.289
And the approach I would say that Pierre Polyev and your team has taken has been consistent with what you just described.
00:34:36.289 --> 00:34:45.250
It's just not resonating with citizens who seem very scared and seem to appreciate the current prime minister very clearly saying, like, there is a threat.
00:34:45.250 --> 00:34:51.010
Like we hear uh that there's drills taking place to try and make sure that we're prepared for a US invasion.
00:34:51.010 --> 00:35:01.170
And then citizens seem to come together and and believe that Mark Kearney understands the situation in a way that not acknowledging those fears doesn't seem to resonate as well.
00:35:01.170 --> 00:35:02.769
Do you understand what I'm saying?
00:35:03.410 --> 00:35:08.289
I I mean, I mean, there is the politics of it, which is different from the economics of it.
00:35:08.289 --> 00:35:10.930
So the the politics of it is maybe a separate conversation.
00:35:10.930 --> 00:35:16.769
What I'm concerned about is I want to see, you know, what I'm concerned about is people losing their jobs in my riding.
00:35:16.769 --> 00:35:32.289
Um and if the United States uh is trying to strong arm us and it it there is an economic cost that we have to pay to maintain our sovereignty, to maintain our identity as a nation, I think that is a price that Canadians are willing to pay.
00:35:32.289 --> 00:35:39.490
But I don't think we should be paying that price uh unnecessarily just because we want to get in a tit-for-tat with the U.S.
00:35:39.490 --> 00:35:41.410
administration and and Donald Trump.
00:35:41.410 --> 00:35:51.010
So I think that it is about um uh walking that line and uh so being firm but fair.
00:35:51.010 --> 00:36:00.690
And um I mean I just I think that you know sometime with this administration they just turn everything into a circus, everything into like a reality TV show.
00:36:00.690 --> 00:36:15.490
And I think engaging in that, becoming part of that, is not beneficial to the the lives and success of Canadians and our country in general.
00:36:15.490 --> 00:36:17.410
And to me, that's what I'm focused on.
00:36:17.410 --> 00:36:26.530
So I I understand that there definitely might be a short-term political benefit for telling Donald Trump to to go kiss my ass or or whatever Doug Ford said.
00:36:26.530 --> 00:36:27.809
Uh I understand that.
00:36:27.809 --> 00:36:29.889
I'm aw I'm well aware of that.
00:36:29.889 --> 00:36:43.490
Um but uh I also think that we gotta keep, or I like to think that as someone that was elected, that there's, you know, I'm worried about people's jobs and and our economic well-being of our of our country, and I have no problem with standing firm and fair.
00:36:43.490 --> 00:36:49.410
Um but I think there's that line of you don't need to be unnecessarily antagonistic.
00:36:49.490 --> 00:37:06.530
Aaron Powell So would you say that the conservatives on principle are choosing not to do something that could help them get elected, but because of your principles against focusing on the politics rather than the individual and the actual situations, that you're choosing not to go down that path?
00:37:08.289 --> 00:37:11.090
Well, I don't want to speak for for all conservatives.
00:37:11.090 --> 00:37:20.849
I mean, I think there's there's uh look, it's it's a line because I uh I don't believe in any circumstance should we be backing down to the United States.
00:37:20.849 --> 00:37:22.690
And you know, that's another conversation.
00:37:22.690 --> 00:37:27.090
I think we need to hold our ground, we need to be we need to be firm, we need to push back.
00:37:27.090 --> 00:37:30.450
I just think we need to do so using measured language.
00:37:30.450 --> 00:37:34.930
So um I don't I don't know if you want to call that that that principled or not.
00:37:34.930 --> 00:37:50.130
I think it's just more you know, I I I think Donald Trump, uh whatever you think of his policies, has has obviously kind of degraded the uh the the threshold for statesmanlike uh conduct and and language.
00:37:50.130 --> 00:37:54.610
And uh I don't think we need to to follow follow down that path, to be honest.
00:37:54.610 --> 00:38:10.130
And I and I and I definitely agree with Pierre that um I was a very much a supporter of his when he went down to the United States, how we kind of kept a Team Canada approach, didn't start criticizing playing domestic politics uh you know, when out of the country.
00:38:10.130 --> 00:38:11.410
So uh I support that.
00:38:11.410 --> 00:38:14.130
Hopefully we can hopefully we can continue doing that going forward.
00:38:14.210 --> 00:38:21.490
Aaron Powell Globe and Mail journalist Robert Fife had said uh that he believes Pierre Polyev's leadership comes to a close by Christmas.
00:38:21.490 --> 00:38:23.970
That was his prediction uh when he came on the show.
00:38:23.970 --> 00:38:28.849
What does Pierre need to do differently in order to start to win over the electorate?
00:38:30.369 --> 00:38:42.849
Well, I think we just have to, I mean, I think the big thing is that we have to continue
communicating to Canadians the difference or the delta between Mark Carney's rhetoric and Mark Carney's results.
00:38:42.849 --> 00:38:55.809
And right now, what we're seeing, I think, is that there's a lot of rhetoric that Canadians like out of this government, because in some cases it's copy and pasted directly from the rhetoric that we were using prior to the last election.
00:38:55.809 --> 00:38:57.329
But we're not seeing the results.
00:38:57.329 --> 00:39:02.289
We're not seeing it with with on our trade front, we're not seeing it fiscally.
00:39:02.289 --> 00:39:06.050
This is a more fiscally irresponsible government than Justin Trudeau.
00:39:06.050 --> 00:39:13.730
We're not seeing it with actually building things at speeds never before seen in Canada, which I support rhetorically but haven't actually seen.
00:39:13.730 --> 00:39:16.610
And we're not seeing the cost of living situation get any better.
00:39:16.610 --> 00:39:41.410
And maybe most concerningly to me, we see this descent away from a more level playing field economy, a free economy, to this weird form of crony capitalism, where those with close connections with the Prime Minister, the Liberal Party, and kind of that downtown Toronto elite seem to get their projects and concerns fast-tracked, and everybody else is kind of left on the sidelines waiting for their lives to improve.
00:39:41.889 --> 00:39:46.530
So on that note, I'll just quickly say in interviewing Andrew Coyne, that was one of the pieces.
00:39:46.530 --> 00:39:51.410
Uh first he said conservatives need to give more ideas than criticisms.
00:39:51.410 --> 00:40:00.690
And then I pushed him on it and said, but you just said earlier in the conversation that the liberals are taking ideas from the conservatives, so what are they supposed to do if their platform is being pulled?
00:40:00.690 --> 00:40:06.849
Um and he, I think, took a couple minutes to kind of gather himself with that inherent contradiction.
00:40:06.849 --> 00:40:18.450
But the PC did say that he thinks conservatives should focus on if they if they do want to deliver a winning message is yes, we agree that we need to build, but we need to avoid having corruption as part of that.
00:40:18.450 --> 00:40:24.610
And that conservatives should focus more on the corruption aspect of what's taking place.
00:40:24.610 --> 00:40:30.690
Uh, I just want to close uh by acknowledging you because I really appreciate a few things that you've done.
00:40:30.690 --> 00:40:35.170
One, an interesting interaction happened after I interviewed you the first time.
00:40:35.170 --> 00:40:39.730
Uh, we had uh a candidate from a more left-leaning party come in.
00:40:39.730 --> 00:40:43.730
We interviewed them, we were respectful, and we said, Oh yeah, we just interviewed Aaron Gunn as well.
00:40:43.730 --> 00:40:48.930
And they were like, Oh, you interviewed that monster, that terrible person, that that racist person.
00:40:48.930 --> 00:40:55.970
And I was like, Well, we I asked him the questions about like some of his previous comments, and I thought he gave like very reasonable responses to all of that.
00:40:55.970 --> 00:41:03.889
But it just spoke to me about the judgment people can make on an individual without a having ever met you.
00:41:03.889 --> 00:41:06.210
He admitted that he had never met you before.
00:41:06.210 --> 00:41:17.490
But two, that somebody could be so negative and vitriolic about somebody else and not see that their own actions are demonstrating their own kind of lack of character.
00:41:17.490 --> 00:41:26.930
And I did also just want to acknowledge you helped behind the scenes get us the opportunity to speak with Pierre Polyev and have been supportive behind the scenes on us interviewing different voices.
00:41:26.930 --> 00:41:37.809
And I think you deserve recognition for that because at times parties try and insulate themselves from interviews and be very selective of who gets the interview, what are the questions going to be, and and it can be a power move.
00:41:37.809 --> 00:41:43.410
And you've not approached things that way, you've been very supportive of more conversations are better, and that's productive.
00:41:43.410 --> 00:41:45.170
And I think that just speaks to your character.
00:41:45.170 --> 00:41:51.970
And so I'm very grateful for you doing this today for the first interview and for your support with uh the Pierre Kolev interview.
00:41:52.369 --> 00:41:52.849
Well, thank you.
00:41:52.849 --> 00:41:58.690
And as you know, I kind of got my start in politics as an independent voice in the in the media space.
00:41:58.690 --> 00:42:04.210
So I have a uh a saw, I think Canada is better served with more individuals like yourself that are elevated.
00:42:04.210 --> 00:42:08.769
You're someone who is who is who is genuine, you're not pursuing an agenda.
00:42:08.769 --> 00:42:11.490
Your your agenda is to have more open conversations.
00:42:11.490 --> 00:42:17.170
And the more Aaron Pete there is in Canada, the better and stronger our country will be.
00:42:17.170 --> 00:42:20.130
So any part that I can play in in elevating you.
00:42:20.130 --> 00:42:26.849
And uh as you know, I don't know what questions you're going to ask me, and I I I welcome the challenge and uh I appreciate that.
00:42:26.849 --> 00:42:47.010
And and by the way, I I know you mentioned that uh you know, when you get into politics and this this this battle of ideas and and philosophy, which is really the essence of our democracy, um you do you get strong opinions the other way, and people that are that are nasty and uh you know on honestly, sometimes they seem to be you know throwing stones in gl in glass houses.
00:42:47.010 --> 00:43:06.289
But you know, I've seen people go after you on X, by the way, uh recently, which is amazing because you're uh probably the most, you know, uh uh I I think the one of the most genuine kind of political commentators in I can't think of someone more genuine in Canada today, and such a rising star.
00:43:06.289 --> 00:43:09.490
And um, so hopefully your platform just keeps getting bigger.
00:43:09.490 --> 00:43:17.090
And uh and that you know, part of it is also it's a little bit selfish because as a as a consumer of content, those are the kind of conversations that I like to see.
00:43:17.090 --> 00:43:21.809
I I hate to see the canned, you know, you have the the some of the people doing the interviews, you already know what they're going to say.
00:43:21.809 --> 00:43:26.369
Everything's super predictable, uh, everyone's pursuing their own little agenda.
00:43:26.369 --> 00:43:28.769
And uh so it's just so refreshing to have your voice.
00:43:28.769 --> 00:43:38.450
So hopefully we can multiply that and hopefully not only lead to you being more successful and having more viewers, but inspiring future Aaron Pete's across the country.
00:43:38.450 --> 00:43:39.250
Beautiful.
00:43:39.250 --> 00:43:40.690
How can people follow your work?
00:43:40.690 --> 00:43:45.970
Uh you can follow me on social media, so on X, on Facebook, on Instagram, and YouTube.
00:43:45.970 --> 00:43:53.650
And I do miss making the documentaries, but hopefully to put out some some shorter 10, 15 minute segments here in the fall and the winter.
00:43:53.650 --> 00:43:57.889
So uh, and uh and follow me at my work in the House of Commons.
00:43:57.889 --> 00:43:58.610
Tremendous.
00:43:58.610 --> 00:43:59.329
Thank you, I am.
00:43:59.329 --> 00:44:00.849
Thank you.