Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Depictions Media Radio. Welcome to
Speaker 1: Policy and Rights.
Speaker 2: The show up bas welcomer Policy That Human Joy.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Policy and Rights Here Depictions Media Rate.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm your host, Michael Clogges And Okay, so
Speaker 1: let's let's let's get down to this. That Donald Trump
Speaker 1: has made statements about how he has moved things very
Speaker 1: quickly and that he has fixed the fighting between Pakistan
Speaker 1: and India, and without truly understanding what is happening in
Speaker 1: the region. That just saying hey, let's go make a
Speaker 1: bunch of money together. It sounds good and theory and
Speaker 1: and you can sell it to the Western world that
Speaker 1: you you solved the problem. But the reality is is
Speaker 1: that in other parts of the world, in the Eastern world,
Speaker 1: that that is not going to cut it. That you're
Speaker 1: going to start to run into problems. And and here
Speaker 1: is one of the problems is I have been on
Speaker 1: this planet for for six decades, and I will be
Speaker 1: totally honest with you. I believe that the issues that
Speaker 1: are happening between these three sovereign countries has has been
Speaker 1: an issue for most of my six decades. That the
Speaker 1: issues between that exist between India, Kashmir and Pakistan has
Speaker 1: has has been an issue for decades and that one
Speaker 1: person saying, hey, let's stop shooting the guns so that
Speaker 1: we can make some money together isn't going to solve
Speaker 1: the problem. The the problem is is that between India
Speaker 1: and Pakistan, they don't really want to accept the fact
Speaker 1: that Kashmir itself is also a sovereign country, that is
Speaker 1: a sovereign territory that should be allowed to form its
Speaker 1: own government and its people be allowed to appear in
Speaker 1: the World Forum as sovereign people. So there is an
Speaker 1: issue right there and that is going to be one
Speaker 1: of the major issues and it isn't going to be
Speaker 1: solved by let's do some trade with the United States
Speaker 1: and Donald Trump to fix that problem. The tensions are
Speaker 1: still high there. The families that live outside of the area,
Speaker 1: that have people who are living in that they cash
Speaker 1: reason region are saying that the tensions are still high
Speaker 1: and that there's still a looming problem. So what did
Speaker 1: mister Trump fix Until we have real negotiations about how
Speaker 1: Kashmir can appear on the world for them, there's going
Speaker 1: to be an issue in that in that particular area
Speaker 1: of the world, and for the most part, for a
Speaker 1: lot of people, Kashmir doesn't even appear on the map.
Speaker 1: You asked the average Canadian or American and they were like,
Speaker 1: Kashmir is a sweater, so okay to kind of poke
Speaker 1: some holes. Add more of the trump things that going
Speaker 1: back to for the same reason that trying to get
Speaker 1: Putin and Dolensky to sit down at a table to
Speaker 1: come up with a ceasefire between those two countries, when
Speaker 1: there are still the Dundast region, which is which of itself.
Speaker 1: If you go back through history, you will find out
Speaker 1: that Dundas Region was its own sovereign state also, and
Speaker 1: those people also would like to see some sovereignty happen.
Speaker 1: They want to see their cultures and things be promoted.
Speaker 1: Even though they're very similar to the Ukrainian and the
Speaker 1: Russian culture, there's some differences they want to be they
Speaker 1: want that to be celebrated also, And the same thing
Speaker 1: with Crimea. Crimea was a sovereign country and they want
Speaker 1: their sovereignty back. The people of these other two regions
Speaker 1: want to have a seat at the table when negotiating
Speaker 1: the ceasefire between the Ukraine and Russia. And until that happens,
Speaker 1: there's going to be an issue, and just dealing with
Speaker 1: Putin and Zelensky may not fix the problem. That we
Speaker 1: need to deal with things that have happened in our history,
Speaker 1: correct them, correct those things that have happened in our history,
Speaker 1: and learn not to do it again. Oh but wait,
Speaker 1: that's where some of the issue is coming in at
Speaker 1: because well, let's look at South Africa. And when we
Speaker 1: look at South Africa and we see that the United
Speaker 1: States is opening its door to South African refugees, what
Speaker 1: are they running from? And when we look closely at that,
Speaker 1: what they're running from is the idea that maybe South
Speaker 1: Africa is becoming a little more equal, maybe the majority
Speaker 1: of the bodies that actually live in South Africa are
Speaker 1: starting to get a little more power. But wait, those
Speaker 1: people have dark faces, and the people who are running
Speaker 1: from there believe that dark faces do not belong at
Speaker 1: an equal table with those who do not. We start
Speaker 1: to see a pattern happen here, and that pattern is
Speaker 1: mimicking what Donald Trump truly believes that people who are
Speaker 1: lesser than him should be oppressed, and there's a long
Speaker 1: list of people that he would like to oppress rather
Speaker 1: than everybody thinks, Oh, well, he's trying to promote and
Speaker 1: take care of the United States and make it a
Speaker 1: great country. A great country for who is the big question.
Speaker 1: And when we look really closely at the Project twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five and we look closely at mister Trump's agendas
Speaker 1: and his attitudes, that we start to see a really
Speaker 1: good picture. And not everybody is on that list to
Speaker 1: be on equal terms. There are those who are going
Speaker 1: to have extreme privilege and then there are those who
Speaker 1: are going to be oppressed. And that is Donald Trump's agenda.
Speaker 1: So we need to move forward. Let's get past this
Speaker 1: whole Donald Trump thing, and so let's start talking about
Speaker 1: things about commerce in general. And the B seven event
Speaker 1: that is currently ongoing in Canada. It is going to
Speaker 1: be part of a series of G seven G twenty events,
Speaker 1: and in this particular instance, what it is is the
Speaker 1: business communities from around the world are gathering together in
Speaker 1: order to come up with resolutions to help bring countries together,
Speaker 1: help help things trade become a little more easier and
Speaker 1: a little more convenient for the simple citizens like you
Speaker 1: and I who just want to be able to go
Speaker 1: shop and buy and buy some stuff. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot more business behind that than just simply being able
Speaker 1: to go to a store, that there are trade routes
Speaker 1: that need to be set up. There needs to be
Speaker 1: things happen happening between all countries so that borders seem
Speaker 1: to disappear and products can move move easily and swiftly
Speaker 1: so that we have the stuff we want. Yay, Okay.
Speaker 1: So uh, we're gonna hear from the US ambassadors to
Speaker 1: to Canada. As he talks a bit and he's kind
Speaker 1: of joking. He talks about how his family moved from
Speaker 1: the Netherlands Holland to Holland in Michigan, and how he
Speaker 1: moved from because he's based in Ottawa, Canada. Now he
Speaker 1: moved from Ottawa County, Michigan to Ottawa, Canada.
Speaker 3: Yay.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna hear from hear from him Pete Hostetecca
Speaker 1: uh as he talks talks wonderfully about how we can
Speaker 1: come up with commerce solutions for some of our woes
Speaker 1: and help use that to negotiate and eat and bring
Speaker 1: peace talks to the table. So we're also going to
Speaker 1: hear from Aaron O'Toole. Of course you remember him as
Speaker 1: a Conservative Party leader and he is going to make
Speaker 1: a couple of comments about the Conservative Party and how
Speaker 1: maybe the Conservative Party needs to put Canada ahead of
Speaker 1: any other agenda, the same as the Liberal Party has done.
Speaker 1: They just simply want to bring about a great Canada.
Speaker 1: That let's put all great ideas on the table and
Speaker 1: let's move forward with all the great ideas so that
Speaker 1: we have a great country to live in, a free
Speaker 1: country to live in, and a diverse, equal and inclusive
Speaker 1: country to live in. Yes, I did use the DEEI
Speaker 1: thing because it should be there. We're going to hear
Speaker 1: a brief statement before that, Antonio Guerrara makes about the
Speaker 1: Peacekeeping Ministral in Berlin. We don't really have any other
Speaker 1: recordings from that at this time, but the UN Peacekeepers
Speaker 1: do a lot of really great work around the world
Speaker 1: to bring humanitarian efforts and to help negotiate in and
Speaker 1: end struggles. So we need to listen to what Antonio
Speaker 1: Guerrerez has to say about the UN peacekeepers and peacekeeping
Speaker 1: efforts around the world too. Hey, it's nice to be
Speaker 1: able to walk down the street and here in Canada
Speaker 1: we don't have to worry about someone trying to shoot
Speaker 1: us or a drone attack happening from another country, and
Speaker 1: it's something that if we can lay down the arms
Speaker 1: and bring about peace, there's a lot of other great
Speaker 1: things that can happen in our world if we all
Speaker 1: sit together, talk and discuss our issues, our fears, rather
Speaker 1: than shoot them out or using drones and other weapons
Speaker 1: of destruction to get our point across. So let's push forward.
Speaker 1: We're going to listen to Antonio Guerreras first as he
Speaker 1: talks about the peacekeeping ministrals in Berlin, and then we'll
Speaker 1: hear from our United States friends and ambassador to Canada
Speaker 1: as he speaks at the B seven, and we'll hear
Speaker 1: some other press recordings from the B seven after.
Speaker 4: UN peacekeeping operations are a cornerstone of the United Nations.
Speaker 4: Each and every day, peacekeepers are hard at work in
Speaker 4: travel spots around the world. Let me be clear, peacekeeping
Speaker 4: operations today are facing massive challenges, increasing the dangers that
Speaker 4: our brave peacekeepers already face a record number of conflicts,
Speaker 4: deepening division and mistrust, terrorism and transnational crime, and the
Speaker 4: direct targeting of peacekeepers through drones, improvised the clusive devices
Speaker 4: and even social media. Today's Ministerial is an important part
Speaker 4: of this work. As we share ideas and explore ways
Speaker 4: to strengthen these important functions for the future. Now more
Speaker 4: than ever, we need the political support of you and
Speaker 4: member states. The goal is not just to keep a
Speaker 4: lead on conflicts, but to build political support for lasting
Speaker 4: solutions that can build peace.
Speaker 3: Actually, there's a few things I can say. Been there,
Speaker 3: done that, all right.
Speaker 5: I mean, we've been in Nova Scotia, We've done Montreal,
Speaker 5: We've done some of the other you know, some of
Speaker 5: the other provinces, was all. I've landed in Gander, all right,
Speaker 5: So I've been there. I had a aunt that her
Speaker 5: husband's soul farm supplies out of Lethbridge, Alberta.
Speaker 3: I had an uncle that lived in Richmond, BC.
Speaker 5: My wife's sister lived in Smithers, the northern part, five
Speaker 5: six hundred miles north of Vancouver. And we've loved every
Speaker 5: minute of it. But we're enjoying we're looking forward to
Speaker 5: being able to do it again. And what else can
Speaker 5: I say to somebody. I don't usually get into talking
Speaker 5: about women's attire, But where where else would you see
Speaker 5: or how could you ignore the fact that you are.
Speaker 3: Wearing Delft blue? All right? So yeah, the.
Speaker 5: Uh for the rest of you at Pete Hookster, it's
Speaker 5: an honor to be with you. You know, I grew
Speaker 5: I was born in the Netherlands, although it's called Holland
Speaker 5: by some, especially in America. My parents moved from Holland
Speaker 5: to Holland in Michigan. Holland, Michigan is located where it
Speaker 5: is located in Ottawa County, and so you know, their
Speaker 5: son took the bold initiative. And it's not literally true,
Speaker 5: but it's it's figuratively. When Diana and I came back
Speaker 5: from the Netherlands, we moved from Ottawa County.
Speaker 3: We moved ten miles.
Speaker 5: South, which put us into a different county in Michigan.
Speaker 3: But you know, I'm a marketing guy.
Speaker 5: We take figurative, you know, license, so I can say
Speaker 5: my parents went from.
Speaker 3: Holland to Holland.
Speaker 5: I went from Ottawa to Ottawa and we are glad
Speaker 5: to be here. In getting ready for today, someone you know,
Speaker 5: one of the questions that people said, well, there's uncertainty
Speaker 5: in those types of things, and there is. Won't deny
Speaker 5: that for a minute, but then.
Speaker 3: Someone said, is America open for business?
Speaker 5: And it's like, excuse me, have you not been watching
Speaker 5: America is open for business, and as the B seven
Speaker 5: a group that leads the world, we anticipate and hope
Speaker 5: that you are all open for business as well, and
Speaker 5: that when we are all open for business, it's a
Speaker 5: better and it's a safer world. Okay, we can lead
Speaker 5: the world in a number of initiatives. We have strong cooperation.
Speaker 5: America is open to doing business. We're open to doing
Speaker 5: business with with you, our friends, and as you can
Speaker 5: see that, you know, in the last week, President's also
Speaker 5: indicated we're open.
Speaker 3: For business in the Middle East.
Speaker 5: Okay, I think I woke up on I've been in
Speaker 5: politics for a while, but you know what we are
Speaker 5: seeing today. We have never experienced anything like this in
Speaker 5: American politics.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 5: You know, the President one of his primary priorities was
Speaker 5: We're going to secure the border.
Speaker 3: Sixty days later, it's secure.
Speaker 5: You know, ninety nine percent of illegal crossings across our
Speaker 5: southern border have ended.
Speaker 3: You know, we get to I wake.
Speaker 5: Up on Monday morning and there's a whole lot of
Speaker 5: stuff that's been happening in between, you know, securing the
Speaker 5: border and those types of things. But you know, you
Speaker 5: wake up on Monday morning, and what do you have
Speaker 5: Monday morning we've got an agreement with China. Oh that's good.
Speaker 5: Chalk this week down. We got a major accomplishment this weekend.
Speaker 5: So well, no, no, we're not done yet.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 3: You know, we did something on pharmaceutical prices.
Speaker 5: We we had the expectation that perhaps Putin and Zelensky
Speaker 5: would meet today.
Speaker 3: That didn't happen.
Speaker 5: But you know, then we did secure again with our friends.
Speaker 5: We secured the release of an American hostage on Monday
Speaker 5: or Tuesday, but it was announced on Monday, and I
Speaker 5: think we oh, yeah, we got a plane. Okay, just
Speaker 5: just a little plane. We've got lots of planes in Washington.
Speaker 5: I suggested that the president. You know, mister president, we.
Speaker 3: Don't have a plane in Canada.
Speaker 5: You know, if you've got an extra one, you know,
Speaker 5: we can because this is a big country. I could
Speaker 5: use a plane to fly from from here to Vancouver
Speaker 5: to all the places that you mentioned, although I'm not
Speaker 5: sure it would land in Smithers. But you know, and
Speaker 5: it's like the pace that we are moving at is unbelievable.
Speaker 5: And I've I was at the White House this week
Speaker 5: and you talk to the folks there, they're working twenty
Speaker 5: four to seven, working seven days a week on implementing
Speaker 5: agenda that I think will be good for all of us.
Speaker 5: And we clearly want to move forward on a number
Speaker 5: of the objectives that the B seven has outlined that we.
Speaker 3: Are in total agreement with. You know, you just go
Speaker 3: through a few of them. You know, you talk about quantum,
Speaker 3: quantum computing, chalk that up. Okay, that's something that we
Speaker 3: think is absolutely essential.
Speaker 5: You talk up AI, Yep, we're there. That's something that
Speaker 5: is critically important. The President, I think, signed an agreement
Speaker 5: this week for the construction of a massive plant to
Speaker 5: build the technology that will move quantum computing forward, that
Speaker 5: will move artificial intelligence forward. And I think, you know,
Speaker 5: the President in America has now announced that we have
Speaker 5: you know, generated over twelve to thirteen trillion dollars of
Speaker 5: investment for the United States, an investment.
Speaker 3: That you know, again, I think is good for all
Speaker 3: of us. We after World War Two and my.
Speaker 5: Parents were liberated by Canadians and those types of things,
Speaker 5: and when I go back to the Netherlands, you know,
Speaker 5: there's a tremendous and across Europe, there's a tremendous amount
Speaker 5: of appreciation for what the Canadians did for what the
Speaker 5: Americans did for what the other allies did, and not
Speaker 5: only helping to win the war, but then sticking around
Speaker 5: to build Europe. I go back to my parents left
Speaker 5: in fifty six and you know, and you say, because
Speaker 5: you go back to Europe now and yeah, it's a
Speaker 5: thriving economy. I asked, how's business in Europe And to
Speaker 5: one of the folks on your next panel, they said, oh,
Speaker 5: it's great, good, nothing better that that could be happenings
Speaker 5: that we are all prospering. And we're prospering on the
Speaker 5: kinds of we're prospering because on so many of the
Speaker 5: goals and objectives that we have outlined. Uh, there's a
Speaker 5: lot of synergy and agreement to that.
Speaker 3: The one of the.
Speaker 5: Other goals is critical minerals absolutely, okay. The President has
Speaker 5: signed some agreements around the world in terms of making
Speaker 5: sure that you know that we all have a stream,
Speaker 5: a global supply chain that means that we cannot be
Speaker 5: held hostage uncritical minerals for the kinds of you know,
Speaker 5: somebody says, well, it's nice you neither, We're not going
Speaker 5: to ship into you anymore. It's kind of like, that's okay,
Speaker 5: We've got we've got a secure supply chain that builds
Speaker 5: on the strings of each and every one of us
Speaker 5: around the room today and some of our other allies.
Speaker 3: Okay, we need to work that together.
Speaker 5: We have done things that we believe are absolutely essential
Speaker 5: to making sure that some of these goals and objectives
Speaker 5: are met. You know, the President in the United States
Speaker 5: of America again working with many of you, believe that
Speaker 5: not only do we need to be energy independent, but
Speaker 5: we need to be energy dominant in the world. Because
Speaker 5: so many of these new technologies are energy independent.
Speaker 3: It is going to stretch our.
Speaker 5: Ability to expand our energy supplies to make sure that
Speaker 5: we can power the technology change that is right at
Speaker 5: our fingertips.
Speaker 3: And when we do that, we will all be so
Speaker 3: much more.
Speaker 5: Effective and we will all bring more prosperity to our people.
Speaker 3: People in our countries. The people that you're Prime Minister
Speaker 3: has said he works for. How did he describe him
Speaker 3: the other day? The owners?
Speaker 5: Okay, really, they are the owners of Canada. The people
Speaker 5: that we work for, they are the owners of America.
Speaker 5: It's a great way to describe the people that we
Speaker 5: work for. And you had a meeting today talking about
Speaker 5: trust and the concern about so many people in our
Speaker 5: countries no longer have trust in the institutions or trust
Speaker 5: in government.
Speaker 3: And I lived with that in politics for a long time.
Speaker 5: But as we as a business community and as governments
Speaker 5: deliver more prosperity, we deliver more benefits to our owners.
Speaker 3: I like that.
Speaker 5: I'm just gonna steal it from from Carnie. Okay, I
Speaker 5: like that, But you know, the guess what, we will
Speaker 5: build trust with our owners. Just like some of you,
Speaker 5: maybe many of you, are affiliated with publicly held companies.
Speaker 5: Sometimes I've invested wisely. Sometimes I've invested not so wisely,
Speaker 5: and in those companies that turned out to be not
Speaker 5: such wise investment. It wasn't my problem. It wasn't my fault.
Speaker 5: I picked the right companies. Yeah, sure, But what I
Speaker 5: did is I picked you know, I picked companies where
Speaker 5: I couldn't try. I found out later on I couldn't
Speaker 5: trust the leadership.
Speaker 3: Just kidding, Okay.
Speaker 5: I know that some of my friends in Canada don't
Speaker 5: have the greatest sense of humor. Okay, but so I
Speaker 5: have to tell them that I'm sharing with them a
Speaker 5: joke from a.
Speaker 3: Sick Dutch perspective.
Speaker 5: Okay, but you know, the bottom line is when a
Speaker 5: company performs poorly, its leadership loses trust from its employees,
Speaker 5: from its customers, and from those who have invested and
Speaker 5: expected much better. And in reality in America, and that's
Speaker 5: why we had the result from the election that we did,
Speaker 5: is that there are many in America who are apprehensive
Speaker 5: about our future and the issues that we were discussing.
Speaker 5: That they demanded change, and that they demanded the type
Speaker 5: of change that they believe would that they could trust in,
Speaker 5: that they would have leadership that made promises that in
Speaker 5: a campaign that they.
Speaker 3: Would then amlement.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, I can't get into politics beyond that.
Speaker 5: But so here we are. You know, the President has
Speaker 5: committed we are open for business. We're working on the
Speaker 5: things that the B seven has identified. It is a
Speaker 5: great time to be in Canada in that, you know,
Speaker 5: you had an election two and a half weeks ago,
Speaker 5: a new cabinet on Tuesday, a B seven summit now
Speaker 5: for a few days. I think that there will be
Speaker 5: discussions ongoing over the next couple of weeks about you know,
Speaker 5: the United States and your hosts Canada.
Speaker 3: In terms of where we move forward on a number
Speaker 3: of serious issues.
Speaker 5: Then you've got the King coming, Yeah, and you're going
Speaker 5: to have a phenomenal I don't know exactly how long
Speaker 5: he will be here, but is the King coming here,
Speaker 5: you know, for maybe three four days. I'm sure it
Speaker 5: will be an awesome experience. Congratulations to the Canadian government
Speaker 5: for being able to get the King to come to
Speaker 5: Canada and you know, show that kind of respect for
Speaker 5: for Canada, and so.
Speaker 3: Lots of great things happening here.
Speaker 5: And then we have the G seven summit, so it's like, wow,
Speaker 5: what an awesome time to come to to Ottawa and
Speaker 5: what an awesome you know, and you're throwing a few
Speaker 5: tulips and we're okay.
Speaker 3: I just want to leave one final thought with you
Speaker 3: is that.
Speaker 5: Many of your governments are also going to be asked.
Speaker 5: If we want to achieve all these economic goals and objectives,
Speaker 5: we also also need a peaceful and secure world. It
Speaker 5: is why America continues to invest significantly.
Speaker 3: In our defense.
Speaker 5: And why we want to partner with you in things
Speaker 5: that secure our countries and our people, because if we
Speaker 5: are safe, and if we are secure, that liberates, that
Speaker 5: liberates the business community to prosper.
Speaker 3: And bring prosperity to all of our owners.
Speaker 5: So work with us on economic issues, work with us
Speaker 5: on the friendships and the relationships that we have on
Speaker 5: a personal basis around the world, and work with us
Speaker 5: on security issues so that we can deliver for the
Speaker 5: people that own our countries and we can rebuild the
Speaker 5: trust that they demand, and we will be amazed at
Speaker 5: what we can accomplish in a very short period of time.
Speaker 5: I'm amazed with the President has accomplished in America, has
Speaker 5: accomplished in roughly one hundred and twenty days. But if
Speaker 5: we're all pushing in the same direction, we'll be even
Speaker 5: more amazed about what we can accomplish together. Hey, thank
Speaker 5: you very much, and I hope you had a great conference.
Speaker 6: Good afternoon, Gosh, I missed scrums like this. Would you
Speaker 6: like me to say something off the top. I really
Speaker 6: want to congratulate the Indian Chamber of Commerce. I've been
Speaker 6: so proud to be a Canadian kicking off the G
Speaker 6: seven season for Alberta with a gathering of business leaders
Speaker 6: from across the world talking about opportunities for our country,
Speaker 6: but also reminding people of how much benefit there has
Speaker 6: been from global trade, global security allies and alliances. You're
Speaker 6: stronger together, not separate. So there's really been a great
Speaker 6: undercurrent of collaboration within the business community at this and
Speaker 6: I'm just so proud to be a part of it
Speaker 6: now that I'm in the private sector, and I've loved
Speaker 6: to see all sides of the political domain showing support
Speaker 6: as well. So if the G seven can be as
Speaker 6: collaborative as the B seven, we're heading in a good direction.
Speaker 7: What are the odds of.
Speaker 6: Do you want a couple words in French or is
Speaker 6: there any oy.
Speaker 2: To that point?
Speaker 8: Like the business community and all which is semitatries, you're
Speaker 8: basically similar challenges, similar anxieties on terras.
Speaker 2: On the political lead, there may not be that kind
Speaker 2: of unity.
Speaker 9: I guess what are your what are your expectations or
Speaker 9: I guess advice for commauney efficients heading into these meetings
Speaker 9: and having to manage those dynamics.
Speaker 6: Well, I think there's been good signs actually, the fact
Speaker 6: that the United States is reaching some bilateral deals, whether
Speaker 6: they're with the United Kingdom or with China, that's a
Speaker 6: start that we are maybe getting through the biggest period
Speaker 6: of uncertainty, and that the Trump administration is wanting to
Speaker 6: restructure global trade. So in trade. Wars don't benefit anybody, uh,
Speaker 6: But certainty and and deals do. I think Canada and
Speaker 6: the other members of the G seven can learn from that.
Speaker 6: And at the same time, if the US prolongs this uncertainty,
Speaker 6: we need to do more together. So I do a
Speaker 6: lot of work with Europe. I know a lot of
Speaker 6: European firms, from AI to defense, to to energy are
Speaker 6: looking at opportunities in Canada and we must do the same.
Speaker 6: So there's there's strength in global trade. We need to
Speaker 6: rebalance it a little bit. And I think the G
Speaker 6: seven is coming out a perfect time. After some of
Speaker 6: these bilateral deals. It's time for a global approach so
Speaker 6: that we stop diminishing shared wealth and shared opportunity. And
Speaker 6: I'm optimistic about about Alberta.
Speaker 10: On that point of collaboration.
Speaker 11: Is there a room for your former party, you Servative
Speaker 11: Party of Canada, to be part of that?
Speaker 9: Should they be more collaborative with the government when it
Speaker 9: comes to celevates trade issues.
Speaker 6: Well, it's my current party. I'm a former leader, so
Speaker 6: I'm proud of the work I did with the Conservative Party.
Speaker 6: I do think the Conservatives are going to take some
Speaker 6: lessons from losing an election the leader from losing his seat.
Speaker 6: I think they've shown a degree already of trying to
Speaker 6: put Canada first. I know the interim Parliamentary leader has
Speaker 6: suggested they'll work with the Carnei government on issues related
Speaker 6: to resolving US Canada trade. But you know, we have
Speaker 6: to be honest with ourselves. We haven't. On the last
Speaker 6: number of elections, the Liberals changed one key part of
Speaker 6: their team and were able to win back the trust
Speaker 6: of Canadians. So we have to take some learnings from that.
Speaker 6: And I think collaborating on North American trade and defense
Speaker 6: and Arctic sovereignty and meeting our natal commitments, those are
Speaker 6: all commitments I had made years ago. So the Conservatives
Speaker 6: in many ways have been outfront on these issues. So
Speaker 6: now that the Liberals are advocating that, let's work together
Speaker 6: on them.
Speaker 12: And how does the US call for five percent target
Speaker 12: at NATO, which sure seems to be saying is going
Speaker 12: to be extended but maybe with some creative county, How
Speaker 12: does that change the game for Canada's ability to need it.
Speaker 6: Well, As someone who flew on helicopters back in the
Speaker 6: day that were much older than I was, we used
Speaker 6: to dream about hitting two percent of GDP as a
Speaker 6: defense target. I don't think five percent is realistic. I
Speaker 6: do think the Secretary is probably using that as an
Speaker 6: incentive for people to get much more serious. I do
Speaker 6: hear when I was in Europe a significant portion of
Speaker 6: European countries looking to three percent. The Business Council of Canada,
Speaker 6: I want to congratulate them on their great report on
Speaker 6: Defense and Security from about six months ago. They've advocated
Speaker 6: for the three percent range. When you think about the
Speaker 6: infrastructure we would be building in the Arctic, ports, aerodromes,
Speaker 6: this is going to help food security, economic security, So
Speaker 6: don't think of it as just three percent for guns
Speaker 6: and bullets. This is about giving military families the bases
Speaker 6: and the accommodations they deserve for serving our country, better
Speaker 6: pay for when they deploy and could be hurt serving
Speaker 6: our interests. So I think very quickly, if we right
Speaker 6: size the military, given the equipment they need, we can
Speaker 6: spend three percent and help Canadian infrastructure and business at
Speaker 6: the same time. So I think I hope the Carnei
Speaker 6: government shows some ambition on their next plans for national defense.
Speaker 10: On their ambition, just as a follow up, what is
Speaker 10: it like for you to see.
Speaker 12: This such quick movement on internal trade now that has
Speaker 12: been a gold for decades.
Speaker 6: Well, there was a case a few years ago called
Speaker 6: the Como case. It went to the Supreme Court of
Speaker 6: Canada about somebody buying beer at Costco and bringing it home.
Speaker 6: Let's grow up as a country. We've got to drop
Speaker 6: all these hundred year old UH regulatory rules and barriers.
Speaker 6: The real proof will be in the putting around jobs
Speaker 6: and recognition of of labor standards and work construction jobs
Speaker 6: here in Ottawa or on the other side in Quebec.
Speaker 6: That's where the province is. We'll have to get serious
Speaker 6: to really make a deal on internal trade. I've seen
Speaker 6: great progress led by Premier Houston, UH, Premier Ford, Premier's Canoe.
Speaker 13: UH.
Speaker 6: The West was already ahead of us on some of this.
Speaker 6: But it's got to be more than wine freeing the grape.
Speaker 6: It's more about recognizing professional credential, allowing someone who's an
Speaker 6: electrician in Ottawa to do a job in Quebec. I
Speaker 6: think we expect not just politicians but union leaders to
Speaker 6: say we need to have more internal trade, more opportunity
Speaker 6: at home when the international scene is a little more
Speaker 6: uncertain what do you think.
Speaker 7: The Pier Paulia and the party should deal with what
Speaker 7: Alberta Premier Daniel Smith is talking about separation, referendum.
Speaker 14: You know, the critician federal of climate policies and all
Speaker 14: these things.
Speaker 7: But how should the Conservatives now talk about and address
Speaker 7: that that threatning. You know, they kind of share some
Speaker 7: of those concerns, but they're often endorsing a referendum or separation,
Speaker 7: But how should they approach that in their view?
Speaker 6: I think all politicians, including my former colleagues and the Conservatives.
Speaker 6: I think the Liberals, especially Minister Giebot, but also Premier Smith,
Speaker 6: all have to approach this very very carefully. The country
Speaker 6: is more important than all of them. I'm out of
Speaker 6: politics now. You realize that you're part of something. It's
Speaker 6: not about you, it's about the country. So Premier Smith
Speaker 6: must be very careful because there's a difference between advocating
Speaker 6: for more fairness on natural resources, on energy, something I
Speaker 6: did for ten years as an Ontario NP Canadians support
Speaker 6: Alberta energy, they support potash from Saskatchewan. So I think
Speaker 6: it is reckless sometimes when politicians lose sight of their
Speaker 6: most important goal, which is the country. Its unity and
Speaker 6: the well being of its people. I was very disappointed
Speaker 6: by the comments of Minister Gibot. These are the little
Speaker 6: flames that whip up populous currents. So I hope all politicians,
Speaker 6: I say this as a former one, are a lot
Speaker 6: more responsible on how they approach questions on national unity
Speaker 6: and collaboration.
Speaker 14: Gerald Buds earlier said that you setting exact spectations moth
Speaker 14: the G seven concerns about.
Speaker 6: How the many different ways of a those sideways. It
Speaker 6: was frump Do you share in those concerns? Did did
Speaker 6: you hear those commonsas.
Speaker 9: Well?
Speaker 6: Unfortunately Jerry said is his ambitions too low for Canada
Speaker 6: for far too long. I'm very optimistic actually about what
Speaker 6: the G seven could be, As I said, already movement
Speaker 6: on a bilateral level with the United Kingdom. Canada has
Speaker 6: a new Prime minister who's very well versed on international trade,
Speaker 6: on energy, on energy transition issues, and I do think
Speaker 6: there's unity now between many of the European members and Japan,
Speaker 6: who I was speaking with yesterday. To make sure that
Speaker 6: the United States understands that they have been the beneficiary
Speaker 6: of global trade on the intangible's economy, whether it's Hollywood
Speaker 6: or AI it's not all just about car parts now.
Speaker 6: So I think we have an opportunity to really reset
Speaker 6: the dialogue. And in Alberta, where mister Carney is from
Speaker 6: having just stolen Stephen Harper's line that we're energy superpower
Speaker 6: during the election, he should put energy at the forefront.
Speaker 6: Any of the G seven countries should be using Canadian LERG.
Speaker 6: They should be using Canadian uranium, Canadian critical minerals. If
Speaker 6: you want supply chains that are high ESG standards that
Speaker 6: have indigenous partnerships that you can be proud of when
Speaker 6: you're generating energy or fertilizing your fields, that energy superpower
Speaker 6: could actually be part of not just a solution for
Speaker 6: Canada US relations, but for the G seven and a
Speaker 6: path forward.
Speaker 8: How does Canada negotiate with the US president as a
Speaker 8: show he won't honor this all thost traded vie that he.
Speaker 6: Himself signed very carefully. This is why I think a
Speaker 6: bilateral deal, if we can get some certainty in it,
Speaker 6: is just as important as opening up USMCA or customer
Speaker 6: whoever puts the acronym first. We've got to be willing
Speaker 6: to bet the table. And it took us five years
Speaker 6: to align on steel, aluminum, and auto tariffs with China,
Speaker 6: something the Conservatives advocated alignment for in twenty eighteen. The
Speaker 6: Liberals took until twenty twenty four to do that. So
Speaker 6: I think now that the Americans can see a fresh approach.
Speaker 6: We are aligned on those core commodities. We're going to
Speaker 6: be aligned on defense spending. We're interested in partnering on
Speaker 6: Arctic sovereignty and on you know, standing up to incursions
Speaker 6: in the North by near Arctic states and others. So
Speaker 6: I think I think we can if we're looking a
Speaker 6: little more serious. I think we can then hold the
Speaker 6: administration to account when they backtrack on deals they've signed.
Speaker 6: If it's the art of the deal, you have to
Speaker 6: respect the deals you make.
Speaker 9: Mister talked earlier about right sizing the Canadian military. The
Speaker 9: government has a new online recruitment portals for people to
Speaker 9: sign up to join or be enlist, and they face
Speaker 9: a series of type little litches that have not elected
Speaker 9: to sign up.
Speaker 13: Uh, what is your response to that?
Speaker 9: Do you think that we need a different approach here?
Speaker 10: At first down, I think fourteen thousand.
Speaker 1: People right now in the military.
Speaker 6: The recruiting and retention crisis in the military right now
Speaker 6: is the most serious issue we're facing for the Canadian
Speaker 6: Air Forces and for Canadian domestic security. We have to
Speaker 6: understand the needs of younger Canadians and what draws them
Speaker 6: into the military. We need better pay. In fifty years ago,
Speaker 6: Canadian bases used to be the best little communities, whether
Speaker 6: they were in Greenwood, Nova Scotia or in Germany. We
Speaker 6: have to make that a spread, a core of being
Speaker 6: part of something bigger than yourself attractive. We also have
Speaker 6: to m draw in people that want to go to
Speaker 6: war and want to fight for their country. In the
Speaker 6: last ten years, D and D has been too bureaucratized.
Speaker 6: It is not public works, it is not parks Canada.
Speaker 6: People do this and potentially give their life to their country.
Speaker 6: So the institution needs to be treated a little better.
Speaker 6: Respect for its history and institutions needs to be brushed off.
Speaker 6: So some of the things talked about today is about
Speaker 6: rebalancing discussions on making sure our military is professional, making
Speaker 6: sure there's inclusion, but also making sure that we have
Speaker 6: a war fighting force and that young men and women
Speaker 6: that want to be part of something that is bigger
Speaker 6: than themselves feel that pride. So there's a cultural challenge
Speaker 6: in the military right now that they need to address.
Speaker 13: And the clues are actually due to the volume of
Speaker 13: people trying to sign up right now.
Speaker 5: So people are saying this because of a different state.
Speaker 10: Do you think that the sovereignty threat to play any
Speaker 10: role in.
Speaker 13: Those wanting to be less?
Speaker 6: I think the changing world, particularly some of the young
Speaker 6: people I speak to, realize that my generation, the exers,
Speaker 6: maybe had a bit of a holiday from history where
Speaker 6: there was stability, largely due to trade and other things,
Speaker 6: and that's changing. And so for some Canadians there's a
Speaker 6: desire desire to put the uniform of their country on
Speaker 6: and be willing to stand a post, to be willing
Speaker 6: to to serve, whether it's in theater or whether it's
Speaker 6: at home. There's also a great desire to have civic
Speaker 6: forces responding to floods and fires. We're going to see
Speaker 6: more of this. We can't have the military doing that.
Speaker 6: So how do we harness that desire from young Canadians
Speaker 6: to serve their country? This is what the Canadian or
Speaker 6: forces has to update their thinking, and it seems their technology.
Speaker 9: I'm val a layer ambassadors, I'm messor alias spoken in
Speaker 9: term remarks about.
Speaker 5: Dei polsteds and how many consumers thought that they.
Speaker 12: Were being questioned to.
Speaker 7: You have been outspoken for mull culture in the past,
Speaker 7: and I'm just wondering if you think or if you've
Speaker 7: heard that Canadian.
Speaker 15: Businesses need to better align with the US business side
Speaker 15: and get rid of some of those dei qulicies.
Speaker 6: I think inclusion and respect for difference has to be fundamental,
Speaker 6: but I do I think the rise of social media
Speaker 6: has led to a polarization on both left and right,
Speaker 6: where the left would want to cancel and stop everything,
Speaker 6: and there'd be pushed back from the right on all
Speaker 6: those issues. I wasn't perfect when I navigated and tried
Speaker 6: to find a balance in that, but after a number
Speaker 6: of years, people are shutting off. And if we saw
Speaker 6: the trust index that Ambassador Haley was part of a
Speaker 6: discussion declining trust in politicians, in business, in the media,
Speaker 6: some of this is from the polarization. So I think
Speaker 6: people want respect for difference, they want equal opportunity, but
Speaker 6: there is a fatigue with the extreme positions on left
Speaker 6: and right on this. So I don't think this is
Speaker 6: a war on woke as it is more a need
Speaker 6: for centrists to speak up and ask for a bit
Speaker 6: more responsible dialogue.
Speaker 2: Just back to the alignment on China.
Speaker 10: That's had some questions you see about, you know, especially
Speaker 10: with the.
Speaker 12: US on China, but that has really gotten us not
Speaker 12: really any protections from the trade war sketchw on Premier
Speaker 12: Scott Moe was called the trade war with China directly
Speaker 12: in the intact of Panola uh industry.
Speaker 10: They are like far more damaging than the US trade war.
Speaker 10: Do you think it's time for the Canadian government to
Speaker 10: talk to China. I'm not suggesting free trade agreement, but
Speaker 10: is there you think there should.
Speaker 13: Bet any open as to the thing?
Speaker 10: Maybe or reducing the tires of etis well.
Speaker 6: I think we have to be careful. We did not
Speaker 6: align on trade with China until last year. They asked
Speaker 6: us to in twenty eighteen. So it was in August
Speaker 6: twenty twenty four months before President Trump was re elected,
Speaker 6: that Canada finally came into alignment on steel, aluminum, and evs.
Speaker 6: Many of US were advocating for this alignment, this sort
Speaker 6: of fortress North America approach back in twenty eighteen, and
Speaker 6: we missed an opportunity to to align then with our
Speaker 6: most important partner, and it's not just auto. If President
Speaker 6: Trump wants to rebuild the arsenal of democracy and shipbuilding
Speaker 6: and all these things, he needs Canadian aluminum, he needs
Speaker 6: Canadian steel, and they have since the nineteen forties. So
Speaker 6: we've recently aligned. We now have to show we're serious
Speaker 6: on defense and we're a serious voice in the Indo
Speaker 6: Pacific and other parts of the world where our allies
Speaker 6: have been engaged in serious talks, whether it's you know,
Speaker 6: Aucus or other things. We have to be a voice.
Speaker 6: Doesn't mean we have to join all things. I don't
Speaker 6: think we need to be in Aucus for a submarine,
Speaker 6: but we need a submarine on our own, and we
Speaker 6: need to be a country that's taken seriously. I think
Speaker 6: the Prime Minister has the chance to do that.
Speaker 9: When I asked you about the collaboration between the Conservative Party,
Speaker 9: that was you brought.
Speaker 7: Up saying that when you were as leader you would.
Speaker 2: Also probably about the best spending and other.
Speaker 9: Things that Mark Carney had brought forward. So maybe there
Speaker 9: was a path there. And I want to ask you
Speaker 9: if you think that if you had still been the
Speaker 9: layer in this last selection, if you think you.
Speaker 16: Would have been able to be.
Speaker 6: You know I can't sleep every night thinking about that
Speaker 6: very question. Look, I'm not here to to re litigate
Speaker 6: past battles. I'm a proud Conservative, but I've also been
Speaker 6: proud of how Prime Mister Carney has performed so far
Speaker 6: with us UH a country. I worked as a senior
Speaker 6: lawyer for one of their leading CONU companies. I served
Speaker 6: alongside Americans when our navy sailed and visited American bases
Speaker 6: as an Air Force officer. I've been disappointed by our
Speaker 6: closest ally disrespecting UH. I spoke in Congress about the
Speaker 6: Devil's Brigade, where Canadians and Americans fought together in World
Speaker 6: War Two. That is our history, and that's more important
Speaker 6: than any president either. So I want Team Canada to win.
Speaker 6: I'm cheering for Prime Minister Carney in in his dealings
Speaker 6: with President Trump, and I think the Conservatives can help.
Speaker 6: I think the premiers can help, and I think business
Speaker 6: can help and the b seven. If all the premiers
Speaker 6: and and the Caucuses on the Hill followed the collaboration
Speaker 6: we've seen here, we'll have a lot of success in Alberta.
Speaker 6: Thank you very much, good to see you all again.
Speaker 8: Thank you don't mind this selfless promotion here as I
Speaker 8: hold our communicate, but welcome everybody. We are on day
Speaker 8: three of our B seven, our Business Group of seven summit.
Speaker 8: This has been a remarkable gathering of business leaders from
Speaker 8: across the G seven countries and the EU. We've had
Speaker 8: great conversations, but our work really started months ago. We've
Speaker 8: been working together on framing priorities, both priorities and solutions
Speaker 8: for key topics right now impacting our global economy, and
Speaker 8: that work has culminated in priorities in this communicate that
Speaker 8: we have and we'll be presenting later this afternoon to
Speaker 8: Canada's G seven Sherpa to help provide a guidance on
Speaker 8: the challenges and priorities that need to be discussed at
Speaker 8: the G seven gathering this year. And undoubtedly, given the
Speaker 8: current level of disruption in the economy and global trade,
Speaker 8: you believe these priorities will feature feature quite quite prominently
Speaker 8: in those G seven discussions and we're very pleased that
Speaker 8: we have this opportunity to provide that helpful guidance to
Speaker 8: shape those discussions this year more important than ever impacting
Speaker 8: all of us globally as we have this reordering of
Speaker 8: our economy and impacting so many people worldwide.
Speaker 11: So I will pass over to.
Speaker 8: My colleague Matt Holmes to talk a little bit about
Speaker 8: those priorities in our communica.
Speaker 14: Great, thank you Candace, and please to see all of
Speaker 14: you here today. So the communica, as Candace mentioned, has
Speaker 14: been worked on over a series of months with our
Speaker 14: counterparts across the G seven business community. This is months
Speaker 14: of process and consultation, negotiation, series of meetings with different
Speaker 14: industry groups and sexual representatives, and of course we held
Speaker 14: the pen. We had the honor of holding the pen
Speaker 14: for Canada this year, but it's on behalf of our
Speaker 14: collective of business communities across the G seven nations and
Speaker 14: including the European Union.
Speaker 6: As well, who has observer status.
Speaker 14: The community delivered to well, which will be delivered this
Speaker 14: afternoon to government and in preparation for the G seven
Speaker 14: Leaders Summit, carries a number of very important framing and
Speaker 14: priorities from the business community to the leaders of the
Speaker 14: G seven, including an emphasis on the importance of efficient
Speaker 14: and predictable world trade and the systems that underline that
Speaker 14: trade system. An emphasis on a clean and secure energy future,
Speaker 14: looking at the incredible need for energy across all facets
Speaker 14: of our economies right now and how we build that
Speaker 14: in a transformative way, with reliability, with security, with sustainability
Speaker 14: and affordability as fundamentals to that energy need. We also
Speaker 14: looked at responsible artificial intelligence and digital and the need
Speaker 14: and the opportunity for the G seven in particular to
Speaker 14: lead the world in this emerging and innovative space. And
Speaker 14: we put particular emphasis into critical minerals sector and how
Speaker 14: Canada has a unique role and a unique opportunity to
Speaker 14: provide the world with many of the critical minerals and
Speaker 14: materials rare earth metals that are essential for everything from
Speaker 14: today's defense needs to new technologies, advanced manufacturing and of
Speaker 14: course telecommunications. So we feel that there is an incredible
Speaker 14: richness to the conversation here to the consensus document from
Speaker 14: the business community that is being presented G seven meters
Speaker 14: in the hopes that at this time, as we all know,
Speaker 14: the economy is the emphasis is the priority, and we
Speaker 14: think we have a lot to contribute to that conversation.
Speaker 6: How important is it to have.
Speaker 17: A unified communicate at the G seven Finance Minister Central
Speaker 17: Bank meeting, unified especially on the topic of trade or conversely,
Speaker 17: are you afraid of of, you know, separate communicates or
Speaker 17: a monopole agreement on that matters.
Speaker 3: Regarding the global accormy.
Speaker 8: I think that and we've talked about the importance many
Speaker 8: times over the last few days, the criticality in this
Speaker 8: moment more than ever about the multilateral collaboration. And when
Speaker 8: we looked at this document and worked with our business
Speaker 8: Group of seven leaders, you know, we we tackled tough
Speaker 8: discussions and we made it safe to dive into good
Speaker 8: areas that needed good discussion, and that's been a bit
Speaker 8: of a theme I would say out of the B
Speaker 8: seven summit is that we can't turn away from tough discussions,
Speaker 8: because that's part of what led us to this moment,
Speaker 8: is that we haven't directly tackled the courageous conversations to
Speaker 8: address deep grievances and irritants in trade that we're hearing
Speaker 8: so much about now. And I think in absence of
Speaker 8: those courageous conversations and tackling things head on, the adaptation
Speaker 8: has been more disappointedly, a lean towards protectionist tendencies. And
Speaker 8: what we've been very clear about and I think taken
Speaker 8: a very steadfast approach on as the leaders in the
Speaker 8: Business Group of Seven is that we are not denying
Speaker 8: the need for change or defending the status quo, but
Speaker 8: we are steadfast.
Speaker 11: In our promotion of multilateral collaboration.
Speaker 8: And as my colleague Matt Holmes said, the consensus in
Speaker 8: the framing of both the challenges and solutions in our
Speaker 8: communication should help inform those G seven discussions. A lot
Speaker 8: of the discussion this morning has been about trust, and
Speaker 8: it seems like it.
Speaker 7: Reflects the fact that this push for multilateralism is at
Speaker 7: odds with the lack of trust that.
Speaker 2: Is fueled where we are today. Can you talk a
Speaker 2: little bit about why that this has been the theme
Speaker 2: of today's meeting.
Speaker 11: And what the solution is in your yes, I love
Speaker 11: the trust question. Thank you.
Speaker 8: We built into our agenda a good exploration of what
Speaker 8: is happening when we look at trust globally and for me,
Speaker 8: you know, working in business, we've been looking at this
Speaker 8: for years and looking at you could see the trends
Speaker 8: in trust and the decline of people trusting in institutions,
Speaker 8: and I think, again, not not tackling the grievances that
Speaker 8: people were raising or what they're talking about in an economy,
Speaker 8: or that's not working for them at the individual level,
Speaker 8: and so as we tackle both at the Business seven,
Speaker 8: and I hope as we lead into the G seven,
Speaker 8: it's really important to bring together both a social and
Speaker 8: economic context and see how those are connected in order
Speaker 8: to frame up solutions moving forward and build an economy
Speaker 8: that works for everyone.
Speaker 18: I'd like to ask you about Nikki Haley's comments that's
Speaker 18: how much when she talks about antidi uh, her personance
Speaker 18: on that and as a Republican, as a Home governor,
Speaker 18: as someone who has been part of the former Trunk administration.
Speaker 13: How will Canadian, European and other G seven countries other
Speaker 13: than the US to do business in America, to do
Speaker 13: business with the Americants will companies other than Americans, How
Speaker 13: how to align their policies there their diversity policies with
Speaker 13: the US to get busys.
Speaker 8: What we heard from Nikki most clearly Nikki Haley this
Speaker 8: morning on the topic of trust is that we need
Speaker 8: to listen to consumers and what they're telling us. And
Speaker 8: that's what we focused on in that discussion with the
Speaker 8: Trust panel, is we can't ignore out of the equation
Speaker 8: what we're clearly hearing from from people in multiple countries.
Speaker 8: The Global Edaman Trust Barometer gives us data over thirty
Speaker 8: thousand people from twenty eight countries, and there are trends
Speaker 8: and themes in there that we have to reflect on
Speaker 8: and digest. And Nikki Haley's comments where we have to
Speaker 8: listen to that we have to listen clearly she's I
Speaker 8: think she used the word consumers. I use constituents and
Speaker 8: our stakeholders, and make sure that as we tackle the
Speaker 8: tough task of solutioning around key issues in our communicat
Speaker 8: we frame up the ENTER discussion, the AI discussion, having
Speaker 8: trust in AI and making sure ultimately we're building that
Speaker 8: economic security and resilience for everybody that has to be
Speaker 8: built in a way where we bring people along for
Speaker 8: that journey. And I think what we talked about this
Speaker 8: morning is we've skipped over or we've left a gap,
Speaker 8: and we have institutions like business and government working on things,
Speaker 8: but we can't leave workers and the individual people out
Speaker 8: of those discussions, and we have to understand what's been
Speaker 8: happening for them even as we tackle really tough discussions
Speaker 8: that are very polarizing today like inclusion. And I have
Speaker 8: done a lot of work on inclusion in my career,
Speaker 8: and I understand the need that when we're talking about
Speaker 8: depolicy and inclusion, we have to have the courage to
Speaker 8: bring everybody along for that discussion. And that means in
Speaker 8: my career, I've done a lot of work on gender quality,
Speaker 8: and I've said for far too long, we have to
Speaker 8: make sure we're not leaving men out of the questions
Speaker 8: we're asking and the solutions we need to frame on
Speaker 8: gender equality.
Speaker 11: So I hope that answers your question.
Speaker 8: Nicki.
Speaker 15: Kelly also said that this morning that the US terra situations,
Speaker 15: businesses need to be quote open minded and flexible and
Speaker 15: that this too shall pass.
Speaker 13: What message do you think that sends to Canadian business managers?
Speaker 8: I think the message was clear that she added to
Speaker 8: that the US is interested in doing business and to
Speaker 8: not misread what we see in a strategy and tactics
Speaker 8: as as a turning away from wanting to do business
Speaker 8: with many valued partners.
Speaker 9: Hanna did turn away from the US from Canada, though, sorry,
Speaker 9: are there shifting some productions through Ohio Kids?
Speaker 7: So are we already seeing some sort of irreversible economic
Speaker 7: damage in.
Speaker 9: Canada from this US terraff situation?
Speaker 11: We're seeing a ton of damage from this situation.
Speaker 8: There is I would say initially, you know, any threat
Speaker 8: of tariffs provides a chill over business.
Speaker 11: And now I know we've gone from a chill to
Speaker 11: a complete freeze.
Speaker 8: Our businesses are not only struggling with decisions, whether it's
Speaker 8: on projects or longer term investment decisions. But even if
Speaker 8: you're not directly as a business as close to those
Speaker 8: now real impacts on terrace, all businesses are worried about
Speaker 8: the chill that consumers and their customers, whether you're in
Speaker 8: the goods or services business, and trying to plan for
Speaker 8: where Where does that leave a company at the end
Speaker 8: of the day in their next few quarters if we
Speaker 8: see that shift in consumer behavior based on the anxiety
Speaker 8: the whole situation provides.
Speaker 9: But is that damage irreversible?
Speaker 11: You know businesses are are.
Speaker 8: If it's irreversible, like you mean, we wouldn't see the
Speaker 8: movement of production come back.
Speaker 11: Is that can can yeah back economically from this?
Speaker 9: Is our business reputation irreversibly damaged?
Speaker 18: Is the damage.
Speaker 2: Reys of dressed?
Speaker 11: Too early to tell?
Speaker 9: What's your message to Ambassador Fixture just here speaking on
Speaker 9: behalf of the US. You just talk about the need
Speaker 9: for more efficiency and predictability and trade and many arguing
Speaker 9: to the the US that's made that more difficult. So
Speaker 9: what's your message to him and to US leaders right
Speaker 9: now or how to free back that intuition, see your predictability,
Speaker 9: or what needs to.
Speaker 11: To change in this moment.
Speaker 8: Well, it's been absolutely wonderful to have our ambassador hit
Speaker 8: the ground running and and be here because that role
Speaker 8: provides a critical link, and right now a critical link
Speaker 8: between Canada and the US is more important than ever
Speaker 8: to As we've discussed, the Inveassador and I've had really
Speaker 8: good discussions on making sure we understand the needs and
Speaker 8: wants and motivations of the US administration and that channel
Speaker 8: and those conversations are really important. And I will say,
Speaker 8: as I've said to the Ambassador, it's very helpful for Canadians,
Speaker 8: Canadian business leaders, Canadian policy leaders to sort through noise
Speaker 8: from signal, and that's very helpful as we need to
Speaker 8: now turn into deeper discussions on our relationship going forward.
Speaker 16: What should be the main message that overatching message that
Speaker 16: should come out from the G seven leaders meeting which
Speaker 16: can actually give us You'll give a signal that the
Speaker 16: g SEV is still relevant at a time when US
Speaker 16: is actually completely.
Speaker 8: On a diverging part, I would say hope and bringing
Speaker 8: that back to the theme of trust we heard this morning,
Speaker 8: where we know we have deep grievances and anxiety, economic
Speaker 8: optimism and hope which stems from probably that strong collaboration.
Speaker 8: Multilateral collaboration we hope to see you to the G
Speaker 8: seven discussions is so critical and we've done a marvelous
Speaker 8: job over the last three days here with the heads
Speaker 8: of delegation from business organizations from all the G seven
Speaker 8: countries and the EU, and we hope that provides a
Speaker 8: really strong springboard from which we can head into those
Speaker 8: G seven discussions.
Speaker 16: But how can these other countries apart from us, what
Speaker 16: can they really do to bring us on the table
Speaker 16: on the same page, considering that US is roading back
Speaker 16: on climate lading back and a lot of other takes,
Speaker 16: So what can they really do to bring them.
Speaker 2: On the data.
Speaker 8: Well, we in the B seven discussions have been very
Speaker 8: thoughtful about this, because if we're going to be very
Speaker 8: strong and steadfast about the need for multilateral collaboration, we
Speaker 8: really have to be listening and be willing to have
Speaker 8: conversations that address grievances, and as we talked about this morning,
Speaker 8: as much as we are you know, working to protect
Speaker 8: predictable and efficient global trade, we also at the same
Speaker 8: time have to be absolutely willing to have the conversation
Speaker 8: and acknowledge our global trade has not been perfect and
Speaker 8: we have really significant areas to address, including making sure
Speaker 8: there are strong dispute resolution processes that work and are
Speaker 8: in place in a timely way to address some of
Speaker 8: what is not perfect about global trade, and that we
Speaker 8: have a strength and a way to align where we
Speaker 8: can address the non market practices that are also at
Speaker 8: the root of some of what we see today in
Speaker 8: a pulling back or taking different strategies and tactics around
Speaker 8: global trade.
Speaker 16: And do you think there's a possibility there's a risk
Speaker 16: that the g is they might not be able to
Speaker 16: find a common ground in the G seven communicat finally,
Speaker 16: as we saw in G twenty as well in South Africa.
Speaker 8: Oh, of course, everything is high stakes right now, absolutely,
Speaker 8: and our best hope you haven't asked me the question,
Speaker 8: what is the best hope from the connection for the
Speaker 8: B seven to the G seven. It's that we've provided
Speaker 8: this opportunity for a strong springboard with the consensus on
Speaker 8: what will be a core topic of the G seven,
Speaker 8: the current level of global disruption when it looks at
Speaker 8: trade and who's at the heart of trade. Businesses are
Speaker 8: at the heart of trade, and we've just aligned and
Speaker 8: we have the solidarity and vocabularity on the framing of
Speaker 8: issues and challenges that tackle that head on, and so
Speaker 8: that in our view, would be a wonderful outcome, which
Speaker 8: is where we're headed to later today, is to pass
Speaker 8: our framing of solutions and recommendations that will support those
Speaker 8: G seven discussions. Many last questions, somebody must have one
Speaker 8: for my colleague Max, please, I mean last remarks, sozeable
Speaker 8: to the last remarks.
Speaker 14: I think I just recognize and appreciate that we had
Speaker 14: the new Minister of Finance join us and speak to
Speaker 14: speak to the upcoming Minister's meeting that he'll be convenient
Speaker 14: with the governors of the banks of the G seven
Speaker 14: as well. He spoke quite convincingly of the importance they
Speaker 14: place in hearing from the business community directly. We also
Speaker 14: had the privilege of the Minister of Industry, Melanni Jolie,
Speaker 14: also joining us and speaking with our room and underscoring
Speaker 14: her commitment and the importance she places in this government
Speaker 14: will place and hearing from business directly as well, and
Speaker 14: in a time of change, how they are listening and
Speaker 14: paying attention to some of the concerns and some of
Speaker 14: the needs that we're putting forward to them. And then frankly,
Speaker 14: we were also very pleased to see the new Minister
Speaker 14: of AI and Digital Minister Solomon join us and start
Speaker 14: meeting some of the people and the key players who
Speaker 14: were in the room with us. And lastly, the Government
Speaker 14: House Leader, Stephen McKinnon was also able to join our
Speaker 14: group this week, and so we felt very privileged to
Speaker 14: have such a strong and an important audience with members
Speaker 14: of the new Cabinet on the same week that they've
Speaker 14: been formed.
Speaker 8: Thank you.
Speaker 11: Absolutely, not only.
Speaker 3: So good morning.
Speaker 19: I've been invited to speak here today at the B
Speaker 19: seven Summit because the theme of this year's summit is
Speaker 19: economic security, and in the current extremely complicated geopolitical situation,
Speaker 19: economic security is crucial to global security, and so what
Speaker 19: we really need to muster here is alignment between all
Speaker 19: the businesses, all the companies of the G seven, with
Speaker 19: civil society and the public, and the G seven and
Speaker 19: the governments of the G seven to have unified responses
Speaker 19: to deal with these made challenges. The two key challenges
Speaker 19: that I'm particularly focusing on in my remarks today are
Speaker 19: the China challenge, the Chinese Communist Party and its agenda.
Speaker 19: It's in particular it's support for Russia in its invasion
Speaker 19: of Ukraine. And secondly, of course, the trade tempests that
Speaker 19: we've had from Donald Trump's administration. Both of those are
Speaker 19: driving us through a paradigm shift in geopolitics that has
Speaker 19: huge implications for companies in Canada and around the world,
Speaker 19: and it requires a lot of major adjustments. But I
Speaker 19: think that with strategic approach and really using the business
Speaker 19: community as a ballast in the relationship with the United States,
Speaker 19: we should be able to forge unity among the members
Speaker 19: of the G seven and then to strengthen relations critically
Speaker 19: between the G seven and other major economies that are
Speaker 19: broadly like minded, particularly democracies, but also others that share
Speaker 19: the interests of the G seven.
Speaker 11: I'm concerned that.
Speaker 20: The US it's trade wars will strength in China and
Speaker 20: countries towards.
Speaker 11: China during these uple times.
Speaker 8: What do you think of that?
Speaker 11: Do you agree with that kind of analysis?
Speaker 19: I don't think that's the objective, but I would agree
Speaker 19: that some of the ways that that is being implemented
Speaker 19: could have that consequence. And that's exactly what the business
Speaker 19: community here, which has many common interests among G seven members,
Speaker 19: needs to persuade the American public, the American business community
Speaker 19: that that's not fundamentally in the United States interest. That
Speaker 19: sowing division and bad relations between G seven members is
Speaker 19: exactly what China and Russia and their allies like North
Speaker 19: Korea and Iran want. They want to see the otherwise
Speaker 19: powerful industrial economies of the world divided and squabbling amongst themselves.
Speaker 19: What we need instead is reasonable negotiations on trade disputes
Speaker 19: between those countries to come together there quickly, and then
Speaker 19: ideally the G seven economies, along with other ones, for
Speaker 19: example in the EU and across the CPTPP and the
Speaker 19: Transpecific Partnership, would put similar barriers to trade with China
Speaker 19: across all those economies while lowering them with each other,
Speaker 19: and face China with a relatively united, liberal, democratic aligned
Speaker 19: front of economies to push back against Chinese mercantilist policies
Speaker 19: that are ultimately threatening to hollow out the manufacturing bases
Speaker 19: of these traditional industrial economies. You need that united front.
Speaker 19: By doing that, you can then constrain harmful and menacing
Speaker 19: behavior from China and to some extent from Russia as well.
Speaker 9: What are some comments earlier this morning about maybe one
Speaker 9: of looking back on the failures of.
Speaker 8: The g seven ors of the West, that gas is
Speaker 8: not being able to bring China on the global trading system.
Speaker 19: What do you say is that, I think there was
Speaker 19: a lot of hope that that could happen. But if
Speaker 19: you go back and look at the history, even back
Speaker 19: to the mid nineties, which I've been going back and
Speaker 19: reading now, there were a lot of doubts about that feasibility,
Speaker 19: even before China joined the WTO in two thousand and one.
Speaker 19: The reality is that the trade tempests that we're seeing now,
Speaker 19: all these conflicts are actually the result of a trade
Speaker 19: war that has been going on quietly below the radar
Speaker 19: for twenty five years or thirty years, since China began
Speaker 19: to integrate into the world economy. What people need to
Speaker 19: understand is that a liberal international trading order centered around
Speaker 19: GAD and then the WTO was built up over decades
Speaker 19: after the Second World War, supported by other liberal institutions
Speaker 19: like the United Nations, the Breton Woods Institutions. The challenge
Speaker 19: is that system had never before tried to absorb an
Speaker 19: economy the size of China and an economy the size
Speaker 19: of China that was fundamentally undermining and exploiting and not
Speaker 19: playing by those rules. That is what has driven us
Speaker 19: to this situation.
Speaker 13: And in order to.
Speaker 19: Constrain China's behavior and incentivize it to play more by
Speaker 19: multilateral trading rules to get back to that world that
Speaker 19: we would like to see, we need to take actions
Speaker 19: to restrain Chinese behavior and then also try to bring
Speaker 19: the Trump administration back to a unified allied approach to
Speaker 19: doing that.
Speaker 7: There's some of those to restrain Chinese behavior. Is some
Speaker 7: of that about reducing Canadian trade activity with China. Carnie
Speaker 7: is talking about finding other partners right now? Should we
Speaker 7: steer clear of China potentially even reduce our.
Speaker 3: Trade with China right now?
Speaker 16: What kind of incentives are gus utied?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 19: So there, I would say roughly, there are what I'm
Speaker 19: talking about today. There are let's say, to simplify, three
Speaker 19: pillars of that kind of economic security agenda and constrainment
Speaker 19: with China, and one is on the economic security side
Speaker 19: is de risking or strategic decoupling, which is exercised through diversification.
Speaker 19: Rather than the government encouraging and incentivizing businesses to do
Speaker 19: more in China, it's rather applying certain investment screenings on
Speaker 19: Chinese investment in Canada. It's advising Canadian companies and other
Speaker 19: G seven companies about the risks of investing in China
Speaker 19: and making it easier for them. Partnering with businesses to
Speaker 19: smooth the path for more investment in trade between more
Speaker 19: like minded economies, not to have no trade with China,
Speaker 19: but rather to rebalance. Look if you were an investor
Speaker 19: and you were really excited that your portfolio had two
Speaker 19: stocks in it the United States in China, I don't
Speaker 19: think most people would think that's a wise investment strategy.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 19: You need to diversify, so particularly where is a lot
Speaker 19: of the growth. It's not in a lot of the
Speaker 19: older economies, the established industrial ones. It's in the Indo
Speaker 19: Pacific region. So through things like the Indo Pacific Strategy,
Speaker 19: we need to have governments and businesses partnering to drive
Speaker 19: innovation and to open up and smooth the path for
Speaker 19: more investment in trade with those growing markets of the
Speaker 19: Indo Pacific x China. If you take the G seven
Speaker 19: economies and EU and CPTPP together, you've got thirty percent
Speaker 19: of the world economy even without the United States. So
Speaker 19: you need to do a lot of that economic security
Speaker 19: measures on investment to drive trade with trustworthy partners, friendshoring, reshoring,
Speaker 19: whatever buzzword you.
Speaker 3: Want to use.
Speaker 19: That's the idea. It's diversification for security.
Speaker 16: The Communicate talks about very specifically, talks about critical minerals
Speaker 16: and the need for actually but when China is actually
Speaker 16: controlling one most like what seventy seventy of all these
Speaker 16: critical minerals, then how do you really think that they
Speaker 16: can come together and develop critical minerals to actually expand
Speaker 16: that base, bring in more investments and do that because
Speaker 16: it's already been controlled by China.
Speaker 19: It's a great question. Yeah, that's one of the things
Speaker 19: that China has quietly done over the last twenty years, right,
Speaker 19: is develop virtual choke holds or dominance on key supply chains.
Speaker 19: Critical minerals is one. So trying to grab the commanding
Speaker 19: heights of the twenty first century economies through high technology
Speaker 19: electric vehicle manufacturing, drones, batteries, solar panels. China is on
Speaker 19: track to account for about forty percent of global manufacturing.
Speaker 19: That is extraordinary dominance in one country. If the G
Speaker 19: seven lets that continue, what's going to happen if there's
Speaker 19: a conflict and China dominates critical minerals and manufacturing capacity,
Speaker 19: that can't be allowed to continue. So for critical minerals,
Speaker 19: for example, the problem there is that it's expensive to
Speaker 19: process them, it's expensive to extract them, and unless you
Speaker 19: have a reliable market, it's very hard for a private
Speaker 19: sector company to take that risk. That's the strength of
Speaker 19: the Chinese state driven system, right The Chinese government can
Speaker 19: tell state owned enterprises or compelled private sector enterprises to
Speaker 19: do things even if they're not profitable. That's not how
Speaker 19: our market works in the West. So what you need
Speaker 19: is government and private sector partnership to create reliable off take,
Speaker 19: to create an environment in which a Canadian mining company,
Speaker 19: for example, can have confidence that if they invest years
Speaker 19: and millions of dollars in developing critical minerals at the
Speaker 19: mining level, but then also at the processing level, so
Speaker 19: that the Canadian companies move up the value chain, that
Speaker 19: there will be a reliable market for that and then
Speaker 19: you can also drive private sector investment into it if
Speaker 19: the public sector takes that first loss potential to make
Speaker 19: it a more secure investment. That's why we need this
Speaker 19: kind of B seven and G seven alignment and partnership.
Speaker 19: The private sector needs to work closely with the government
Speaker 19: sector and the civil society to ensure that these things
Speaker 19: are done responsible.
Speaker 16: But how can you compete with China when the cost
Speaker 16: of production is very high in say, Germany, France, Canada, anywhere.
Speaker 16: I mean, the biggest cost is labor. Weeber is very
Speaker 16: expensive in all these G seven countries. So how will
Speaker 16: you really compete with China in any case, even in
Speaker 16: eves or critical minerals, mining anything, I.
Speaker 19: Mean for sure, But if cost of labor were with
Speaker 19: the greatest competitive advantage, then Africa and India would have
Speaker 19: a better position against China. Right, But that's not the reality.
Speaker 19: Labor cost is only one element of the equation. Energy
Speaker 19: cost is a huge one, and we have lower energy
Speaker 19: costs in North America than China does, certainly, and cleaner
Speaker 19: energy on average. Right, we have that advantage second through automation, right,
Speaker 19: higher technologies and so on. It's less and less about
Speaker 19: labor China is actually facing rising labor costs as well. Right,
Speaker 19: It's no longer the cheapest place to produce things. That's
Speaker 19: why if you look at, for example, Trump's tariffs, they're
Speaker 19: targeting a number of other countries like Malaysia and Vietnam.
Speaker 19: We're Mexico because China is increasingly routing shipments through them
Speaker 19: to get around trade barriers or moving factories to those
Speaker 19: countries to produce them there with cheaper labor. What it
Speaker 19: is rather is about having a more systematic approach to
Speaker 19: clus terrain, to developing the infrastructure and the supply chain.
Speaker 19: Is that actually create an ecosystem for a vibrant economy.
Speaker 19: Silicon Valley is a classic example in the United States, Right,
Speaker 19: People aren't in Silicon Valley because of low labor costs.
Speaker 19: So it depends on what aspect of the economy you're
Speaker 19: looking at. We're not looking to compete with China on
Speaker 19: low end manufacturing, right, We're looking to compete and ensure
Speaker 19: that things that are critical for the Western defense industrial base,
Speaker 19: for example, that enough of those things are made in
Speaker 19: North America, are made in Europe, or are made in
Speaker 19: partners where it's trustworthy, right, like shipbuilding for example, not
Speaker 19: every product needs to be part of that. It's key
Speaker 19: manufacturing elements and parts of the supply chain, critical minerals,
Speaker 19: critical energy resources, telecommunications, things that are vulnerable to cybersecurity risks.
Speaker 19: Those things need extra communication and cooperation between business and
Speaker 19: governments to manage them properly.
Speaker 2: If any other last questions, Nope, thank you very much
Speaker 2: Michael for coming.
Speaker 3: Christally appreciate yours.
Speaker 19: I would just close of one final point actually that
Speaker 19: the media has a critical role to play because one
Speaker 19: of the other key challenges that the B seven and
Speaker 19: G seven face is information manipulation, right propaganda, disinformation, misinformation
Speaker 19: by hostile government actors, by state actors, and the media
Speaker 19: is a crucial, crucial part of the puzzle for Western
Speaker 19: liberal democracies and free societies in making sure that people
Speaker 19: have true narratives about what's really going on, that they
Speaker 19: have access to the facts, and you can play that
Speaker 19: role in debunking false information that's put out there. So
Speaker 19: thank you, thank you much.
Speaker 3: Much appreciate it.
Speaker 15: Nothing specific to say, folks, if you have questions for
Speaker 15: me about angles or data that you want to ask
Speaker 15: about in relation to what you've been covering over the
Speaker 15: last two days feel free otherwise enjoy your afternoons.
Speaker 17: I ask you questions.
Speaker 9: Sure, actually about some of the remarks that Ambassador Ailey
Speaker 9: had been making about how.
Speaker 5: A lot of safe media trust in the US it's
Speaker 5: stemmed you're related.
Speaker 11: Back to some of the diversity of inclusion.
Speaker 9: Programs that this has had been putting forward, and that
Speaker 9: consumers and people working there didn't want to.
Speaker 17: Be told what to do.
Speaker 7: Is that something that you've put into it, and that
Speaker 7: it could.
Speaker 9: Hurt Soviet Canada and US.
Speaker 2: If not my relationships.
Speaker 20: So it's always been a divisive issue on both sides
Speaker 20: of the border, with the majority of people, at least
Speaker 20: from a Canadian perspective, and maybe a little bit more
Speaker 20: polarized in an American context, being on various ends of
Speaker 20: the spectrum in terms of the amount of passion that
Speaker 20: they had and the amount of attention that they believe.
Speaker 20: A lot of these issues should garner in conflict or
Speaker 20: or against the backdrop of where we're at economically right now.
Speaker 20: So in Canada, for example, that there are some competing tensions.
Speaker 20: Canadians are in a very very anxious place and so
Speaker 20: far as what our economic future is going to look like,
Speaker 20: what that relationship with the United States is going to
Speaker 20: look like, given how tired we are, like nothing that
Speaker 20: you haven't heard before, but that right now, in terms
Speaker 20: of prioritization is taking the first place. It is the
Speaker 20: number one issue for them relative to cost of living
Speaker 20: and performance of the economy. And we all know how
Speaker 20: that's all mixed together and you can't really untangle one
Speaker 20: from the other. So when we think about the so
Speaker 20: called culture wars, or where DEI policy sits in all
Speaker 20: of this, or where pronoun policy sits in all of this,
Speaker 20: it's not something that Canadians broadly have been against. I
Speaker 20: think in general they've been on a spectrum that leans
Speaker 20: about twenty percent incredibly supportive and activists towards seeing those
Speaker 20: kinds of policies with you again, a good chunk of
Speaker 20: the country kind of trailing along going it feels like
Speaker 20: a good idea, But when when you're dealing with competing
Speaker 20: tensions and competing challenges, I think we've seen a bit
Speaker 20: of a pivot to more practical priorities, and so as
Speaker 20: Canadian businesses maybe are starting to at least react to
Speaker 20: what they're hearing out of politicians in the US, they
Speaker 20: may not agree, but they're certainly weighing up the well,
Speaker 20: how much do I want to take the risk of
Speaker 20: what this is going to cost me relative to how
Speaker 20: much do I want to take the risk of alienating
Speaker 20: a consumer base or a public or a public base
Speaker 20: that may not be happy with what I'm doing and
Speaker 20: may speak up about that, but also likely recognizes that
Speaker 20: we are in a fairly a fairly stripped down place
Speaker 20: in terms of priorities.
Speaker 9: Is there a risk then of alienating some of those
Speaker 9: maybe as you might support those policies in order to
Speaker 9: get that benefit from the US A.
Speaker 2: Side of them.
Speaker 20: Sure, I mean this isn't Decisions like this are rarely clean.
Speaker 20: Of course, there will be or there has There is
Speaker 20: the ris risk of pushback. There's always going to be
Speaker 20: the risk of pushback when you look at the communities
Speaker 20: who have fought so hard to go into the boardrooms
Speaker 20: of Canadian companies and say, you know, these are the
Speaker 20: things that you need to pay attention to. We've seen
Speaker 20: a lot of coverage and a lot of voices speak
Speaker 20: to how disappointed they are to see some of the
Speaker 20: backsliding in those areas. But you know, at the same time, businesses, politicians,
Speaker 20: governments are going to make decisions that they think are
Speaker 20: going to be palatable to enough people enough number of times,
Speaker 20: in order to focus on the priorities that right now today,
Speaker 20: in June twenty in May twenty twenty five, Canadians are
Speaker 20: signaling they're more concerned about right so everything exists within
Speaker 20: a continuum of priorities. It's the same way we've seen
Speaker 20: and heard a lot from activists on the climate file.
Speaker 20: And people aren't talking about climate change anymore. They're not
Speaker 20: talking about issues around environmental protection and carbon emissions reductions.
Speaker 20: And it's in part because that issue broadly across the country.
Speaker 20: It's not like people don't care about it, but in
Speaker 20: that in that continuum of priorities, it's not at the
Speaker 20: top anymore.
Speaker 9: What have you seen about where that DEI stands on
Speaker 9: the lines of comunians and also for businesses as they.
Speaker 20: Make these decisions. I mean, we did some work in
Speaker 20: late twenty twenty three looking at a number of issues
Speaker 20: like these, and again what you find it's not we're
Speaker 20: not as polarized and divided as the United States on
Speaker 20: these issues. The level of passionate intensity on these issues
Speaker 20: is not nearly as hot as it is south of
Speaker 20: the border where the conversations become really binary. It's like
Speaker 20: you're either on one side or you're on the other side.
Speaker 20: In Canada, you've got you know, about a fifth of
Speaker 20: the population that's very pro, very activist, very much like
Speaker 20: passionately in support of DEI policies, pronoun policies, these types
Speaker 20: of policies. You've got about twenty percent who are as
Speaker 20: passionately against, and you've got the rest of us in
Speaker 20: the middle with pretty nuanced views saying in general, yes,
Speaker 20: we're supportive, but is this from a political standpoint or
Speaker 20: a policy standpoint or a trade risk standpoint? The issue
Speaker 20: that you know, is this the hill we want to
Speaker 20: die on?
Speaker 18: Thanks taking questions about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but we're hearing, you know, a tone.
Speaker 7: From the United States that says, you know, things may
Speaker 7: be really bad now, but they'll get better later.
Speaker 11: How do you think that's resonating with business leaders?
Speaker 9: Are Canadians in general?
Speaker 20: Canadians are kind of tired of being, you know, put
Speaker 20: through the cheese grater of US Canada relations. It's been
Speaker 20: a very it's been a very emotionally ringing period for Canadians.
Speaker 20: I think, you know, we kind of forget in Canada
Speaker 20: or or perhaps and I don't taken for granted.
Speaker 11: Maybe sounds a bit judgy.
Speaker 20: But you know, we are a nation whose sovereignty has
Speaker 20: never been tested, It's never been in question. The security
Speaker 20: of our borders and our existence has never been in question.
Speaker 20: Compare that to countries in Asia and Africa and Latin
Speaker 20: America and Europe who have been through these types of
Speaker 20: crises maybe generations go, maybe much more recently, but the
Speaker 20: collective societal trauma or the memory of that trauma is there.
Speaker 20: We went from being a country that thought that the
Speaker 20: US president was simply trolling or being himself when he
Speaker 20: talked about a fifty first state to taking it deadly seriously.
Speaker 20: So you know, where where are Canadians on the issue
Speaker 20: of repairing Canada US relations. You know, they're of a
Speaker 20: view that this is not a fight that Canadians picked.
Speaker 20: This is a fight that they would like to see resolved.
Speaker 20: But in terms of that level of like what it's
Speaker 20: done to their psyche, you know, it's left Canada and
Speaker 20: Canadians shaken, for sure, so shaken that it completely changed
Speaker 20: the trajectory of the last election in ways that nobody
Speaker 20: saw coming, even eight months ago when you were speaking
Speaker 20: about Canadians having a level of economic anxiety. We saw
Speaker 20: Nicki Hailey and there talk about you know this too,
Speaker 20: shall pass say.
Speaker 10: A similar nature to the president's specifically, how do you think.
Speaker 9: That message lands with Canadian business leaders in terms of
Speaker 9: their economic anxiety right now?
Speaker 7: Is at the right home?
Speaker 12: Yeah?
Speaker 20: I want to be careful what I say because I
Speaker 20: like to root what I'm saying in data, as you know,
Speaker 20: and it's been a while since I've talked to Canadian
Speaker 20: business leaders and the aggregate to actually give you scientific
Speaker 20: data around that. But I think you're hearing it from
Speaker 20: the business leaders. Look, business in general abhores anxiety and uncertainty,
Speaker 20: and so it's not just Canadian consumers who are spooked,
Speaker 20: and they are spooked. It's really hard then for Canadian
Speaker 20: business leaders to plan in the face of not knowing
Speaker 20: what message is going to come next week, and what
Speaker 20: the message will be, and then how that's in turn
Speaker 20: going to affect their employees, their consumer bases, not only
Speaker 20: on this side of the border, but for those who
Speaker 20: are integrated in the US on the other side of
Speaker 20: the border as well.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, other questions, folks, We really appreciate don Does.
Speaker 20: Anyone want to hear about defense spending like that's the
Speaker 20: one thing I talked about.
Speaker 11: That's what I did.
Speaker 9: I did, I did like my homework on that file.
Speaker 11: If not, that's fine, Okay, not.
Speaker 6: I think so.
Speaker 20: I think again, if if we bring the conversation back
Speaker 20: domestically to what we've heard out of out of Ottawa
Speaker 20: and the finance minister just in the last forty eight
Speaker 20: hours around the production.
Speaker 6: Of a budget and where is the budget and when
Speaker 6: is the budget?
Speaker 20: I think one of the big questions will be, you know,
Speaker 20: how does this government figure out how to amplify and
Speaker 20: really scale up defense spending, Because there is a moment
Speaker 20: in time that we are seeing that is generational, where
Speaker 20: there's a window where a majority of Canadians are really
Speaker 20: waiving a green flag to government on this issue, saying
Speaker 20: this is the time to not only spend more, but
Speaker 20: to spend more more quickly. So if you go back,
Speaker 20: you know, to the nineteen eighties or nineteen nineties and
Speaker 20: ask Canadians what would be the what should be Canada's
Speaker 20: international priority, that was always a mix of trade and
Speaker 20: or international aid and fostering, you know, being a good
Speaker 20: person or a good actor, being a good actor on
Speaker 20: the international stage, helping poor countries, you know, doing foreign
Speaker 20: aid projects, et cetera. Right now, we have seen a
Speaker 20: doubling the last decade of the number of Canadians saying
Speaker 20: that spending on defense and focusing on our border security
Speaker 20: and on security in general. It's doubled in the last decade.
Speaker 20: It's gone from fifteen percent, which was quite low, to
Speaker 20: nearly three to ten thirty percent. So that is a
Speaker 20: significant increase. You've also got majority saying we should be
Speaker 20: spending now at the two percent level or higher. And
Speaker 20: more than half are now saying that the pace of
Speaker 20: Canada's defense spending is too slow. So this is this
Speaker 20: is all pretty new within the generational or the long
Speaker 20: historical context of where Canada's defense spending priorities have been
Speaker 20: in terms of public opinion. And so the big question is,
Speaker 20: you know, does Autawa find a way to actually climb
Speaker 20: through that window while that window is open from a
Speaker 20: public opinion standpoint.
Speaker 6: Thanks for letting me do that.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 16: The thing is the money is limited, right, yeah, I
Speaker 16: mean if you are spending in to take it.
Speaker 20: Out and absolutely yeah.
Speaker 16: So one of those buckets where Canada can take.
Speaker 20: Out of Oh, that's a better question for Minister Champen.
Speaker 20: I'm not going to speak to that. Well, again, it
Speaker 20: comes to trade offs. Everything is trade offs, everything is priorities.
Speaker 20: But you know, governments have moments in terms of the
Speaker 20: way they act and the way they communicate politically to
Speaker 20: make the case for the things they want to do
Speaker 20: or that they are being asked to do relative to
Speaker 20: the other things that are important as well. So they
Speaker 20: have a moment here, let's see what they do with it.
Speaker 8: Is there anywhere that you've seen face in your research
Speaker 8: that Kadians have shown they've been willing to make those
Speaker 8: trade offs or that defense from there.
Speaker 11: Turn your pastime into your full time, your personal style.
Speaker 9: Into your signature brand.
Speaker 18: Do it yourself on WIS.
Speaker 1: Show has been produced by Depictions Media. Please contact us
Speaker 1: at Depictions dot media for more information.