Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio.
Speaker 2: Welcome to Policy and Rights show. Gosh, welcome to Policy
Speaker 2: that Human joys. Alright, welcome back to Policy and Rights
Speaker 2: here in Depictions to Media Radio. I'm your host, Michael Cloggs. Well,
Speaker 2: in this next episode, we're going to hear from Elizabeth
Speaker 2: May and we're also gonna hear from the automotive sector,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna be talking about some suggestions to the
Speaker 2: new federal government as as they come into office and
Speaker 2: how to protect the automotive sector from one tariff and
Speaker 2: two in increasing UH prices to directly to to the
Speaker 2: consumer because of some of the things that that are
Speaker 2: actually happening. Well, I'm gonna focus on one and and
Speaker 2: and then you can listen later on to hear one
Speaker 2: of they have five suggestions, especially five suggestions, and I'm
Speaker 2: going to focus on the electric vehicle mandate that they
Speaker 2: are asking the federal government to repeal that. Well, one,
Speaker 2: it should be a consideration to repeal it because well,
Speaker 2: the electric vehicle isn't as affordable as what it seems upfront,
Speaker 2: that there is a delay factor in how it actually
Speaker 2: uses of fossil fuel or its impact on the on
Speaker 2: the environment. Well, while we can actually see and measure
Speaker 2: the impact of the environment into with the with a
Speaker 2: carbon fueled vehicle, with the with the carbon release. Of course,
Speaker 2: what isn't actually talked about is the carbon footprint of
Speaker 2: an electric vehicle through its lifetime is almost exactly the
Speaker 2: same as the carbon fueled or fossil fueled car.
Speaker 3: Now, there's there's.
Speaker 2: A lot more to happen with electric vehicles. There's more
Speaker 2: and more UH innovations and things like that that need
Speaker 2: they actually need to be putt into place. And this
Speaker 2: isn't about attacking Tesla or anything like that. This is
Speaker 2: this this what I'm talking about applies to all that
Speaker 2: vehicles and with their traditional manufacturers that because of some
Speaker 2: of the impacts such as dams and things like that,
Speaker 2: to build more electric infrastructure, which, as it turns out,
Speaker 2: you're going to hear in the discussion of from the
Speaker 2: automotive sector that the if electric infrastructure isn't isn't really
Speaker 2: going to at this point, isn't really keeping up with
Speaker 2: the demand for electric vehicles. And what a surprise that
Speaker 2: because of the price of a new car, that the
Speaker 2: economic impact there people are choosing to buy use vehicles
Speaker 2: and the average you're not going to find too many
Speaker 2: electric vehicles on a used lot. You're gonna find gas
Speaker 2: powered or fossil fuel powered vehicles on the used car
Speaker 2: lot because of some of the impacts of economic impacts
Speaker 2: that are happening to consumers.
Speaker 3: So it may.
Speaker 2: Actually make sense to reduce that or take away that
Speaker 2: electric vehicle mandate. Well, I really want to focus on that,
Speaker 2: because it may not have made as much sense to
Speaker 2: put in place a electric vehicle mandate to begin with.
Speaker 2: There's a lot a lot of pros and cons between
Speaker 2: the two. I'm going to focus on this on this pro.
Speaker 2: The pro is that it actually gave a a jump
Speaker 2: start to the electric vehicles to get up a lot
Speaker 2: of electric vehicles out on the street, which is actually
Speaker 2: not such a bad thing that it's probably a good
Speaker 2: thing to start moving that way. But at the same time,
Speaker 2: when we were being hit with with the with the
Speaker 2: carbon tax on the fuel if you had a gas
Speaker 2: powered vehicle, that it caused some economic instability, and well
Speaker 2: here we are now, maybe it's time to relax that
Speaker 2: electric vehicle mandate and relax the carbon tax so that
Speaker 2: we we can actually live. Part of the reason for
Speaker 2: pushing back against climate change is so that we can
Speaker 2: live comfortably as human beings. Well, if we're where about
Speaker 2: how we're going to pay our bills, get to work,
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff, are we living comfortably as
Speaker 2: human beings here in Canada? Something to think about. Okay,
Speaker 2: So let's move on to Elizabeth May because the Green
Speaker 2: Party has released her platform, and one of the big
Speaker 2: things that I want to want to talk about in
Speaker 2: her platform is not the reduction of personal income taxes
Speaker 2: for those who have an income of less than forty
Speaker 2: thousand dollars a year. It is she's asking for the
Speaker 2: elimination of personal income taxes for those who make less
Speaker 2: than forty thousand dollars a year. Okay, why would I
Speaker 2: be focused on eliminating the personal income taxes for that
Speaker 2: particular income group. Well, that particular income group is right
Speaker 2: now struggling to oh, do I pay rent?
Speaker 3: Do?
Speaker 2: Or do I by medication? Because some of these people
Speaker 2: are on disability. Do I pay rent? Do I buy medication?
Speaker 2: Do for those who still need to go to work
Speaker 2: and everything? Do I put gas in my car or
Speaker 2: plug my car in so that I can get to work? Well,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of choices that are made by these folks,
Speaker 2: and that needs to be addressed. Eliminating the income tax
Speaker 2: and releases them to be able to put more money
Speaker 2: back into the Canadian economy to begin with, which is
Speaker 2: the whole point. If we relax something so people can
Speaker 2: spend more in their community, can do more things in
Speaker 2: their community without worry, then ultimately we've met the goal
Speaker 2: of fixing things in the Canadian community. So what a
Speaker 2: great idea. Other ideas that she had, of course, she's
Speaker 2: still pushing for Pharmacare, which is a Green Party idea.
Speaker 2: I know jag Feed always kind of beats it out there,
Speaker 2: but he got the idea from the Green Party. It
Speaker 2: is one of their global mandates and one of their
Speaker 2: pushes in the United States is for some sort of
Speaker 2: universal healthcare system for those who otherwise may not be
Speaker 2: able to afford healthcare. The Green Party isn't just in Canada.
Speaker 2: It is a global movement and Elizabeth May is one
Speaker 2: of the biggest representatives of that movement here in Canada.
Speaker 2: So something to think about. While the Green Party may
Speaker 2: not be able to muster up enough to get a
Speaker 2: large number of seats to form its own parliamentary government,
Speaker 2: as the levels or the Conservatives can, but they have
Speaker 2: a direct impact on what we see in our everyday lives.
Speaker 2: In policy, they have an influence in it. So something
Speaker 2: to think about with the Green Party. So we are
Speaker 2: actually going to listen to Elizabeth May as she delivers
Speaker 2: the Green Party platform. And keep in mind, Okay, we
Speaker 2: all have this civic duty coming up April twenty eighth.
Speaker 2: If you haven't voted early, then you need to get
Speaker 2: to the polls April twenty twenty eighth and cast your vote.
Speaker 2: For those of you who have actually already casted your
Speaker 2: vote and you voted early, thank you so much. It's
Speaker 2: a wonderful thing that you did. And from what I
Speaker 2: seen in British Columbia that across the Lower Mainland in
Speaker 2: British Columbia Vancouver area, that a lot of people have
Speaker 2: gone out and voted early. And it's a good thing.
Speaker 2: One you've voted, you've done that civic duty thing. Two,
Speaker 2: you have put your voice into motion. And that is
Speaker 2: the whole point of having a democratic society. There's the
Speaker 2: whole point to having human rights, is that we all
Speaker 2: have a equal say in what happens in our government.
Speaker 2: So let's get started, and let's listen to what the
Speaker 2: automotive sector has to say about, Hey, buying a car
Speaker 2: also more than that, it's more than buying a car.
Speaker 2: But let's protect our ability to move freely across our country.
Speaker 2: And then we'll listen to Elizabeth May with all the
Speaker 2: wonderful green ideas that she is laying out there publicly
Speaker 2: for the other bigger parties to also pick up on
Speaker 2: it and secretly call their own. All right, so let's
Speaker 2: get structed.
Speaker 3: Good morning.
Speaker 4: My name is Hugh Williams and I am the national
Speaker 4: spokesperson for the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association.
Speaker 5: Hugh Williams is for Le consistin Adultmobile sementin on a
Speaker 5: Notre peege Dakada, President Tim Royce, a notre economist, Donald
Speaker 5: Chef Monsieur Charles Bernard.
Speaker 4: So this morning we're going to be making some remarks
Speaker 4: on the Canadian Competitiveness Automotive Competitiveness Framework and will be
Speaker 4: let off by mister Royce, followed by mister Bernard in French,
Speaker 4: and then we'll be able to take some questions from
Speaker 4: there and do interviews later.
Speaker 6: Thank you, mister Rice.
Speaker 3: When jour good morning. My name is Tim Royce. Thank
Speaker 3: you for joining us. Today we are launching Caada's.
Speaker 7: Automotive Competitiveness Framework, which outlines concrete regulatory reactions we urge
Speaker 7: the next Canadian federal government to take in order to
Speaker 7: protect consumers, small business, auto dealers, and the economy. The
Speaker 7: Canadian automotive sector is in turmoil as a result of
Speaker 7: the US terrorfs, and while we applaud their current Canadian
Speaker 7: government on its measured response to not make the situation worse,
Speaker 7: it is clear that we are fast approaching a consumer
Speaker 7: affordability crisis as the attic costs of the terrorfs work
Speaker 7: their way through the different supply chains of all the
Speaker 7: manufacturers and will soon be reflected in the higher prices
Speaker 7: in the marketplace.
Speaker 3: Face with this, our.
Speaker 7: Automotive Competitiveness Framework outlines five concrete actions that the next
Speaker 7: federal government can take on behalf of the consumers in
Speaker 7: industry first.
Speaker 3: End Canada's ev mandate.
Speaker 7: Canada has been very successful in increasing the number of
Speaker 7: electric vehicles on the road over the last years as
Speaker 7: consumer demand, charging infrastructure, and purchase incentives were aligned. Most recently, however,
Speaker 7: the build up of charging infrastructure has not kept pace,
Speaker 7: especially in multifamily homes and downtown condominiums. Both federal and
Speaker 7: provincial purchase incentives have been curtailed and partially eliminated. Consumer demand,
Speaker 7: while still growing, is nowhere near where it needs to
Speaker 7: be in order to support the numbers contemplated by the
Speaker 7: federal and provincial ev mandates, despite the tremendous investments made
Speaker 7: into new products by almost all manufacturers. When recently discussing
Speaker 7: the decision to end BC's consumer carbon tax, VC Premier
Speaker 7: David Abby said that he does not want people to
Speaker 7: choose to have to choose between affordability and climate action,
Speaker 7: and we wholeheartedly agree. However, if Canada's federal and provincial
Speaker 7: ev mandates remain in place in their current form, exactly
Speaker 7: that will happen very soon. We urge the next federal
Speaker 7: government to adjust, update, and recalibrate the original plans to
Speaker 7: take into account the changed market realities. Second, expand Canada's
Speaker 7: automotive regulatory frame. For far too long, Canada has been
Speaker 7: beholden to the US find environmental and safety standards for
Speaker 7: vehicles at the exclusion of all others. This means that
Speaker 7: Canadians only get those vehicles and brands that Americans consider
Speaker 7: attractive and affordable because Canada's volume alone doesn't justify the
Speaker 7: cost involved in making the vehicles compliant.
Speaker 3: To North American standards.
Speaker 7: Almost all manufacturers, including American ones, currently produce attractive and affordive,
Speaker 7: affordable vehicles in the.
Speaker 3: European Union, Korea, and Japan.
Speaker 7: The Canadian consumers would be very interested in, and there
Speaker 7: are also quite a few brands that would like to
Speaker 7: do business in Canada. Those vehicles and brands comply with
Speaker 7: a stringent environmental and safety standards in those jurisdictions. After all,
Speaker 7: do you really believe a vehicle that has been environmentally
Speaker 7: certified and deemed safe enough to be driven on a
Speaker 7: German autobon of over two hundred kilometers in is not
Speaker 7: sative enough to be driven in Canada. We are proposing.
Speaker 7: What we're proposing is for the Canadian government to accept
Speaker 7: the vehicle compliance certificates of Japan, Korea, and the European Union,
Speaker 7: with whom, by the way, we have free trade agreements.
Speaker 7: This measure would represent an expansion of Canada's trade horizons,
Speaker 7: is supported by almost all manufacturers, including American ones, and
Speaker 7: would not be seen as a retaliation for any US activity.
Speaker 7: It is something we can do. Additionally, third, do not
Speaker 7: allow big banks to compete with the small businesses that
Speaker 7: they finance. Canada's Bank Act is up for regular review
Speaker 7: and the big banks are once again trying to muscle
Speaker 7: their way into being able to lease vehicles to consumers.
Speaker 7: What this was mean is that the same banks that
Speaker 7: provide floor planned financing for our dealer members and therefore
Speaker 7: or have all relevant financial information from them and have
Speaker 7: a tremendous lever over them, would now be competing with
Speaker 7: them for the same customer. With the amount of power
Speaker 7: that the Canadian banks already have, it would be impossible
Speaker 7: for our small business dealers to compete fairly in the marketplace,
Speaker 7: especially if their competitor is the one holding their hands
Speaker 7: behind the back with their floor planning conditions.
Speaker 3: We should also not.
Speaker 7: Forget that during the financial crisis of two thousand and eight,
Speaker 7: Canada's banks panicked and pulled out of the retail finance market.
Speaker 7: In some cases, banks pulled long established financing from successful,
Speaker 7: profitable dealers that had eighty year relationships with their bank.
Speaker 3: Two things saved the retail car industry at that time.
Speaker 7: First, the strengthened resilience, the strength and resilience of the
Speaker 7: manufacturer affiliated, finance and least companies. And secondly, the Canadian
Speaker 7: Secured credit facility purchase up to twelve billion of term
Speaker 7: asset backed securities backed by loans and leases on vehicles
Speaker 7: and equipment. If the banks had also controlled leasing during
Speaker 7: the crisis, it would have been even more catastrophic. We
Speaker 7: therefore urged the Canadian government not to expand the business
Speaker 7: power of big banks into leasing. Fourth, scrap the inefficient
Speaker 7: luxury tax on vehicles. Since its inception a few years ago,
Speaker 7: the vehicle luxury tax has been an unmitigated disaster and
Speaker 7: a clear example of an inefficient tax. Even the Parliamentary
Speaker 7: Budget Office correctly predicted that it would never have as
Speaker 7: intended effect as consumers would adjust their behavior and buy
Speaker 7: around this tax. What was portrayed as having the rich
Speaker 7: pay affair share, but in reality was mere populist virtue
Speaker 7: signaling has ended hurting hard working Canadians such as lotted
Speaker 7: tendance sale consultants, service advisors and technicians that have been
Speaker 7: let go at dealerships directly affected by the dropping sales
Speaker 7: as consumers adjusted their purchases. In addition, the administration of
Speaker 7: this tax through a completely new system and process instead
Speaker 7: of through existing mechanisms such as HSDGST is very costly
Speaker 7: to the government, manufacturers and dealers, and is so fraught
Speaker 7: with problems and inconsistencies that the CIRA has been forced
Speaker 7: to issue countless clarifications.
Speaker 3: It is time for this inefficient tax to go and finally.
Speaker 7: Pay the debt ode to car dealers for the isf incentives.
Speaker 7: As I'm sure many of you have seen reported in
Speaker 7: the press a few months ago, Transport Canada announced on
Speaker 7: a Friday that the federal ev incentive program might be
Speaker 7: running out of money in the coming weeks, and then
Speaker 7: allowed one US company that hardly has any investments in Canada,
Speaker 7: be they manufacturing or dealerships, to submit claims for over
Speaker 7: eight thousand vehicles totaling over forty eight million dollars over
Speaker 7: that weekend, which led to the program having to shut
Speaker 7: down on Monday. While there's still a number of unanswered
Speaker 7: questions in this matter, one thing is clear. Once left
Speaker 7: holding the bag were our members to the tune of
Speaker 7: eight to eleven million dollars that they had fronted on
Speaker 7: behalf of the Canadian government to consumers.
Speaker 3: At the time they bought an EV.
Speaker 7: This is unacceptable and undermines the entire EV support system
Speaker 7: by which our members agreed to front the money on
Speaker 7: behalf of the government in order to facilitate the transaction
Speaker 7: at the point of sale under the assumption and trusting
Speaker 7: that they would be reimbursed accordingly irregultaibly, breaking that trust
Speaker 7: by not paying the debt currently owed to dealers would
Speaker 7: undermine our member's ability to continue transacting with EV customers in.
Speaker 3: The way it is currently designed.
Speaker 7: While we have received some political assurances that this will
Speaker 7: be done, nothing has happened yet. On the contrary, we
Speaker 7: have recently received the written communication from Transfer Canada that
Speaker 7: in their opinion, they did everything right and buy the book,
Speaker 7: which is quite interesting and in of itself, since we
Speaker 7: have yet to see the results of the thorough.
Speaker 3: Internal investigation announced by the Ministry.
Speaker 7: In closing this automotive Competitiveness Framework will go a long
Speaker 7: way in ensuring the continued competitiveness of the automotive retail
Speaker 7: business in Canada and will enable our members to continue
Speaker 7: to deliver exceptional products and services at afford oil prices
Speaker 7: to Canadian consumers.
Speaker 3: Despite the tumultuous situation we find ourselves in thank you
Speaker 3: for your attention.
Speaker 7: On might like to hand over to a lead economist
Speaker 7: Charles Bernard for food mark in fresh.
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Speaker 4: Mexico perfect thank you for being here and uh Jordan
Speaker 4: from the press gallery. Please, I know we have journalists online,
Speaker 4: so so I'll leave it over to here.
Speaker 1: Yes, we will start with questions online. Please use the
Speaker 1: raise and function now to ask a question. Is I
Speaker 1: don't come on sick the kiss on links completely.
Speaker 2: Pull them on there, but kiss you know.
Speaker 1: Our first question comes from Todd Phillips Universe Media.
Speaker 4: Please go ahead, yes, a little more come morning, Todd.
Speaker 3: We can hear you. Okay, great, So.
Speaker 6: Tom Phillips, the editor Canadian Honor Dealer. So the first
Speaker 6: question I have is on lead environmental stuck regulations, just
Speaker 6: opening up of standards, imports from other countries, beaned for
Speaker 6: vehicle choices and pricing for Canadians and MAEDI. You can
Speaker 6: answer it in the short term and maybe what that
Speaker 6: longer term out look would look like perfectly.
Speaker 3: Thanks for that question, Todd.
Speaker 7: It is currently the fact that pretty much all manufacturers
Speaker 7: in Canada are producing vehicles in other jurisdictions that Canadians
Speaker 7: would love.
Speaker 3: In Europe and Japan and Korea, for example, hatchbacks.
Speaker 7: Canadians would love hatchbacks, smaller vehicles, very affordable and by
Speaker 7: the way, also very environmentally friendly. But calling anything a hashbag,
Speaker 7: as you might well know, is almost a kiss of
Speaker 7: that for a vehicle in the US and with consumers
Speaker 7: that consumers don't like it. So Canadian volume alone is
Speaker 7: not enough for these companies. So we've had concrete discussions
Speaker 7: with manufacturers that are looking at bringing Vehicle X into
Speaker 7: Canada that they could sell anywhere between eight to ten
Speaker 7: or twelve thousand vehicles of those in Canada would be
Speaker 7: perfect for Canadians, but they're saying.
Speaker 3: That volume alone of Canada is not enough to.
Speaker 7: A pencil if you will, the investments that have to
Speaker 7: be made to comply with the North American standards. And
Speaker 7: it's not that the standards are more stringent, they're just
Speaker 7: different in its execution because again these jurisdictions European Union,
Speaker 7: Korea and Japan are already very very stringent in their
Speaker 7: regulations and how they apply them. So if this would
Speaker 7: be implemented short term, we would foresee a lot more
Speaker 7: vehicle offering somewhat different than the US being available for
Speaker 7: Canadian consumers. Again, very attractive products for the marketplace and
Speaker 7: actually environmentally even better than.
Speaker 3: Some other problems.
Speaker 1: Do you have a follow up, Todd, Yes, if I could.
Speaker 6: Another comment would just be tim on this year in
Speaker 6: contact a lot of dealers across the country.
Speaker 3: What are you hearing from them about.
Speaker 6: What they're seeing in the showrooms now with you know,
Speaker 6: the ca use over terras. Are they looking to buy
Speaker 6: Canadian made vehicles? Are they looking to you know, buy
Speaker 6: now before the full impact of the terrorists hits. What's
Speaker 6: going on if you will, on the on the showroom
Speaker 6: floor right now as a result of the terrorff of even.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's there continues to be a lot of confusion.
Speaker 7: Obviously that has now a transition to more of a
Speaker 7: of a cautionary approach.
Speaker 3: Okay, what does this really mean for the next months.
Speaker 7: What we are actually currently seeing in the marketplace is
Speaker 7: dealers being able to advise consumers very closely on listen,
Speaker 7: this is what I know currently, this is what I
Speaker 7: don't know, this is what my brand has told me
Speaker 7: might happen, or this is where we currently are, and
Speaker 7: advise them if they're close to or around their purchase decision.
Speaker 7: And they still have inventory on ground and coming in
Speaker 7: from from the manufacturer. So the dealers are are are
Speaker 7: not necessarily worried for right now, but they are looking
Speaker 7: for because they already see what's coming, the affordability prices
Speaker 7: that we were talking about, and how will they be
Speaker 7: able to handle that. Will they still have vehicles available
Speaker 7: at a price point that Canadians want to buy, what's
Speaker 7: going to happen to use car evaluations, All of those
Speaker 7: things are still open a question. So there's yes, confusion,
Speaker 7: but that's turning into action that dealerships across the country,
Speaker 7: as you know, our three four hundred members are very
Speaker 7: good entrepreneurs and are able to adjust to very tumultuous environments.
Speaker 7: And by large, most manufacturers are doing actually a pretty
Speaker 7: good job and keeping dealers informed about also what they.
Speaker 3: Know and what they don't know in this rapidly changing environment. Yeah, Todd,
Speaker 3: Hugh Williams.
Speaker 4: One thing I would add to that is that we
Speaker 4: haven't seen the second shoe drop in all of this.
Speaker 4: The US Administration's automotive task includes automotive parts, and the
Speaker 4: knock on effect to that to the supply chain remains
Speaker 4: a concern. But I think one of the key things
Speaker 4: that we've noticed in dealing with federal effec on this
Speaker 4: is that this government has taken a smart, strategic approach
Speaker 4: to retaliation. You put a number of measures in the
Speaker 4: mix to lessen the impact on the competitive structure here,
Speaker 4: but again we remain concerned going forward. The other thing
Speaker 4: I would highlight as well is that it's clear from
Speaker 4: dealers meeting with their individual line manufacturers that not every
Speaker 4: showroom in Canada and the US will look identical as
Speaker 4: they have over the last ten years. So as we
Speaker 4: manage this crisis, they'll certainly be changes on both sides
Speaker 4: of the border to reflect the tariffs that have been
Speaker 4: put in place.
Speaker 1: We will now take another question online. I have David
Speaker 1: Kennedy with Auto News.
Speaker 9: Please go ahead, Hi, thanks for taking questions. Just to
Speaker 9: quick one, Kim, you pointed out the bats to a
Speaker 9: consumer affordability crisis, and obviously this plan from c Ada
Speaker 9: is designed to help that. Could you just give me
Speaker 9: a little bit on what if implemented by the government.
Speaker 9: You know, we'll see these plan called prices steady during
Speaker 9: the terriff fight, Will it, you know, mitigate some of
Speaker 9: the price pikes that we expect to see. I can
Speaker 9: you just expand a.
Speaker 3: Bit on that for me. Yeah.
Speaker 7: Obviously we have not necessarily done a calculation overall, because
Speaker 7: it's very difficult to do because different manufacturers are affected
Speaker 7: in different ways, right and in different in different amounts,
Speaker 7: obviously depending on where they're currently producing, where they get
Speaker 7: their products, et cetera.
Speaker 3: But what is clear is that the measures that we
Speaker 3: are proposing, especially.
Speaker 7: The EV mandates, the expansion getting rid of the EV
Speaker 7: mandate and expansion of the regulatory framework, that would have
Speaker 7: a fairly almost immediate effect in the marketplace because on
Speaker 7: EV mands, Let's not forget that we're getting very close
Speaker 7: in the provinces of BC and Quebec next year where
Speaker 7: manufacturers will be constraints to restrict the numbers of internal
Speaker 7: combustion engines that they sell to those provinces because they're
Speaker 7: not able to meet and consumer demand is not as high,
Speaker 7: plus charging infrastructure is not there and incentives are not
Speaker 7: there to reach the prescribed volumes in certain provinces. So
Speaker 7: restricting supply into a province obviously is going to drive
Speaker 7: up prices. Right, So this is what would be a
Speaker 7: measure that that prevents something from from from happening in
Speaker 7: the marketplace as well as we deal with all of
Speaker 7: the turmodel from terraff. So will it will all of
Speaker 7: these measures be able to dampen all of the teriff
Speaker 7: effects to your question, will remain to be seen, and
Speaker 7: it's also dependent on different and individual manufacturers what top
Speaker 7: of decisions they take, because so manufufacturers might decide to
Speaker 7: take different decisions as well long term on their production
Speaker 7: facilities and their arrangement of supply. Where they might be
Speaker 7: getting a vehicle currently out of the US, they might
Speaker 7: change that supply chain for those vehicles to be now
Speaker 7: coming from an the country.
Speaker 3: Right to avoid some of the costs. So that will
Speaker 3: have to be considered as well.
Speaker 4: Yeah, David Hugh Williams, I would just add to that
Speaker 4: that it's important to remember, as you certainly know that
Speaker 4: there's more people working for dealerships in the new car
Speaker 4: supply chain than any other sector. We have over one
Speaker 4: hundred and seventy thousand individuals working in communities across Canada
Speaker 4: to serve millions of customers you know, close to two
Speaker 4: million new transactions and certainly five million or more used
Speaker 4: in parts transactions. So these are these these measures have
Speaker 4: impact on that, and I think when you look at
Speaker 4: all of the governments, the premiers have come together with
Speaker 4: Prime Minister Carney and talked about eliminating barriers to trade.
Speaker 4: If you look at the Quebec vehicle mandate and the
Speaker 4: BC vehicle mandate, these are really intervinmential trade barriers. Canada
Speaker 4: and those two jurisdictions in particular is known among auto
Speaker 4: manufacturers as being a very expensive jurisdiction to do business in.
Speaker 4: And one of the things we're going to have to
Speaker 4: do to be more competitive and recognized across the board
Speaker 4: by all political leaders is clean up our own house
Speaker 4: and getting rid of these mandates could certainly be part
Speaker 4: of that. And I'll just invite Charles Bernard to say
Speaker 4: just a couple of words on that.
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Speaker 1: Do you have a follow up table?
Speaker 3: Did we lose you, David? I do have another question?
Speaker 1: Please yes, So we have a question from Grace Auto
Speaker 1: News Please go ahead.
Speaker 4: Good morning, Grace, Thanks.
Speaker 11: Good morning. Thank you particuling my question. When you talk
Speaker 11: about bringing in vehicles, uh, you know that are popular
Speaker 11: with consumers from other parts of the world, and you
Speaker 11: say a Germany an example of you know, the Canada
Speaker 11: adopting safety standards for some of these vehicles. Are you
Speaker 11: thinking about or do you have in mind vehicles that
Speaker 11: are that would be more affordable for Canading consumers and
Speaker 11: do you have any name plates in mind?
Speaker 4: I always Trinke to the name nameplates, but I'll let
Speaker 4: Tim Tim handle it.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Grace, I would encourage you to to have those
Speaker 7: discussions with individual manufacturers. Pretty much all of them from
Speaker 7: the three jurisdictions that we mentioned European Union, Japan, and Korea.
Speaker 7: They already all have in their potential product plans for
Speaker 7: Canada quite a few ideas of what they would like
Speaker 7: to bring into Canada. But as I mentioned as well,
Speaker 7: and this is maybe different than what it was ten
Speaker 7: or fifteen years ago, there's also.
Speaker 3: American manufacturers. The industry has changed.
Speaker 7: Has globalized over the last fifteen years, and they also
Speaker 7: find themselves in a situation where they're currently producing in
Speaker 7: those jurisdictions certain vehicles that would be perfect for Canadians.
Speaker 7: I mentioned a couple of types of vehicles, so I'm
Speaker 7: not at liberty to discuss brands or models. If you will,
Speaker 7: I'm fairly certain you will be hearing in the coming
Speaker 7: days from all of the manufacturers on their specific examples
Speaker 7: of what they would like to bring to Canada. And
Speaker 7: again we're only talking about those three jurisdictions Japan, Korea
Speaker 7: and European Union, with which Canada already has free traded
Speaker 7: remons and with and jurisdictions that have a very stringent
Speaker 7: also environmental and safety standards.
Speaker 11: Right, yeah, because I think that that's quite frankly, that
Speaker 11: would be an idea that would be popular with a
Speaker 11: lot of canad and consumers.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 7: Yes, and you might see name plates that you currently
Speaker 7: don't have in Canada. They might be part of a
Speaker 7: larger conglomerate that already does business in Canada, but brands
Speaker 7: that are currently not represented. You're an expert in the
Speaker 7: industry race, so you know exactly what brands I'm talking about.
Speaker 7: That farm part of you know, in Europe and Japan
Speaker 7: and Korea, part of larger conglomerates where certain brands that
Speaker 7: are currently not doing business in Canada would like to
Speaker 7: come to Canada and with this framework that they could
Speaker 7: do so. And by the way, our members would be
Speaker 7: very very willing to take on the business and work
Speaker 7: with those brands.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Grace.
Speaker 4: I would just say as well that that opens off
Speaker 4: opportunities for reciprocal benefits for those that are manufacturing Canada
Speaker 4: as well. Any other questions, Grace or others.
Speaker 11: None, good, Thank you, Thank you, Grace.
Speaker 1: We have time for one question with no follow up
Speaker 1: I have, David Kennedy, please go ahead.
Speaker 9: I think just do one more while we're here, just wondering, Hugh,
Speaker 9: you mentioned off a few minutes ago talking about, you know,
Speaker 9: expected changes of dealerships in Canada versus what they look.
Speaker 2: Like in the US.
Speaker 9: So I'm just hoping you can give me a little
Speaker 9: bit more on that. Obviously, we know you know MAS
Speaker 9: is one example to see. It's fifty's going to get
Speaker 9: dropped at least for the time being based on US production.
Speaker 4: It sounds like you, David, we lost you there temporarily,
Speaker 4: So I can answer the base question if if you're
Speaker 4: like I.
Speaker 3: Think you know.
Speaker 4: One of the things that's become clear as we go
Speaker 4: through this tariff war. For certainly there's the unpredictability of
Speaker 4: the US administration and how they're handling tariffs. I mentioned
Speaker 4: the auto parts element, which where the US is teriffing
Speaker 4: auto parts, but the Canadian government, in my opinion, our opinion,
Speaker 4: has been very smart in terms of not tariffing auto parts,
Speaker 4: and we hope the US administration takes that lead as well, which.
Speaker 3: Helps protect the supply chain.
Speaker 4: And of course, our overall goal is to get rid
Speaker 4: of any automotive tariffs at all. The industry has thrived
Speaker 4: in Canada, both on the manufacturing side and on the
Speaker 4: dealer side, by having a unified, harmonized North American market.
Speaker 4: That market is better for the economies in both countries,
Speaker 4: it's better for the dealers in both countries, and most importantly,
Speaker 4: it's better for the consumers in both countries.
Speaker 3: We need to live in an auto.
Speaker 4: Teriff free environment here in North America until that time comes.
Speaker 3: However, to the.
Speaker 4: Essence of your question, David, you've got manufacturers looking at
Speaker 4: their product line and making inordinately difficult calculations as to
Speaker 4: what content is coming from which side of the border,
Speaker 4: and what is compliant under the current trade agreements, and
Speaker 4: how that will be treated. And we know that the
Speaker 4: manufacturers are meeting proactively with their dealers to talk about
Speaker 4: the potential implications if you don't get this solved over
Speaker 4: the next little little while. We know, of course, that
Speaker 4: there's a lot of product that's already landed before the
Speaker 4: tariffs have taken place, and for those consumers that we've
Speaker 4: certainly been talking to consumers and consumer groups if they're
Speaker 4: nervous about the tariff situation, The most important thing is
Speaker 4: to go visit your dealer and to purchase a vehicle.
Speaker 3: Before we see the effect.
Speaker 4: Of this, and with it restricted demand, presumably we'll see
Speaker 4: prices increase. So that is a certainty, and it's also
Speaker 4: a certainty that the manufacturers will be calibrating to figure
Speaker 4: out which cars they can bring in traf free to
Speaker 4: the US market and the Canadian market, and therefore you
Speaker 4: just won't have that compatibility. And I've been privy to
Speaker 4: numerous conversations that dealers have made on this with their manufacturers,
Speaker 4: but of course we can't share that between manufacturers to
Speaker 4: manufacturers because of those are enormously important competitive decisions. But
Speaker 4: we know those discussions are going on. Thank you for
Speaker 4: the question, David. Thank you to the Press Galery, you
Speaker 4: want to go to them, Yeah, I think we're good.
Speaker 4: Thank you very much for being here, and of course
Speaker 4: to the Press Galley for hosting us here.
Speaker 12: Thank you very much, Thanks a lot for coming.
Speaker 10: First of all, the Happy Earthday everyone, April twenty second,
Speaker 10: before I start diving in to budgetary details and comparing
Speaker 10: the Green Party of Canada platform and budget to those
Speaker 10: of the Liberals, New Democrats, and today Last Minute has
Speaker 10: released his platform and budget numbers. I wanted to review
Speaker 10: something that's I think quite significant, and that is that
Speaker 10: over the decades, the Green Party of Canada has been
Speaker 10: the first to promote and propose some really transformative changes,
Speaker 10: some important ideas, and we have never minded when other
Speaker 10: parties take our ideas. So the purpose of today's press
Speaker 10: conference is to address mister Karney in particular Prime Minister Karney,
Speaker 10: I'm mister Pradiev, Leader of Visual Opposition, mister Singh, mister
Speaker 10: Blonchet and all Canadians to say it's time again for
Speaker 10: some of the other parties to take our ideas. We're
Speaker 10: offering them to you on a silver plate. Now, just
Speaker 10: to review some of the things that we have said
Speaker 10: in the past that you'll find in the platforms of
Speaker 10: the other parties. Now, we were the first party to
Speaker 10: call for the significance of an east west electricity grid
Speaker 10: that actually functions. You find now that mister Carney is
Speaker 10: saying we need this really important energy corridor. You could
Speaker 10: also have founded in our twenty nineteen climate plants that
Speaker 10: without a functioning east West North South electricity grid, you
Speaker 10: really can't get to the carbon neutrality that Canada has
Speaker 10: committed to over the years, and it's a fantastic idea
Speaker 10: and it goes back to that fundamental point that underscorts
Speaker 10: and underlines our platforms since twenty fifteen that Canada has
Speaker 10: to act like a country and to do that, we
Speaker 10: have to think like a country. We've never before seen
Speaker 10: such a focus on the problem of the non collaborative
Speaker 10: nature between the different orders of government as we have
Speaker 10: since the Trump cariiff threats.
Speaker 12: We're now seeing.
Speaker 10: Everybody, regardless of where they are on the political spectrum,
Speaker 10: saying it's time to have an to end into provincial
Speaker 10: trade barriers, it's time to get into provincial cooperation. Nowhere
Speaker 10: is that more critical than in our electricity grade. So again,
Speaker 10: that's been Green Party platform from at least twenty nineteen
Speaker 10: six years, and we're glad other parties are catching up
Speaker 10: with us. Another one that was in our twenty fifteen
Speaker 10: platform when we were the first party to promote this
Speaker 10: is national Pharmacare, universal single payer pharmacare. We're the only
Speaker 10: country that has a universal healthcare program that doesn't have pharmacare.
Speaker 10: Now I know the due people say, well, that was
Speaker 10: Tommy Douglas's idea, and yes, Tommy Douglas is a hero
Speaker 10: and much revered by I think most Canadians for what
Speaker 10: he did for this country. But it had been a
Speaker 10: very long time, and in fact, we were the first
Speaker 10: party to put universal pharmacare in our platform back in
Speaker 10: twenty fifteen, based on the study done by a number
Speaker 10: of academics across Canada, including Steve Morgan at UBC called
Speaker 10: Pharmacare twenty twenty. That's how long ago it was, when
Speaker 10: twenty twenty was still ahead of us. We also were
Speaker 10: the first party to call for a wealth tax. It
Speaker 10: was in our twenty nineteen platform, and again we were
Speaker 10: the first party in this election to have the studies
Speaker 10: about our costings placed on the PBO website. Now, once
Speaker 10: something is posted on the Parliamentary Budget Office website, it's
Speaker 10: in the public domain and anyone can use it. So
Speaker 10: our wealth tax numbers were published on April ninth. The
Speaker 10: NDP platform came out after that, and in debates locally
Speaker 10: where my NDP opponent says we're the only party calling
Speaker 10: for a wealth to actuvay, yeah, well no. And also
Speaker 10: we posted it publicly first. When we're looking at other
Speaker 10: issues over time where we'd have been the first and
Speaker 10: now it's accepted as normal Canadian policy. We were the
Speaker 10: first party to call for equal marriage. We were the
Speaker 10: first party to call for legalizing cannabis. We remain, as
Speaker 10: far as I know, the only party calling for a
Speaker 10: guaranteed liverable income. We are the first party to call
Speaker 10: for a green tax shift, taking taxes off things we want,
Speaker 10: like income and putting it on pollution. As I said
Speaker 10: to Stefan dion Over at the time, if you're going
Speaker 10: to take our ideas, that's okay, but please don't mess
Speaker 10: them up.
Speaker 12: Please know how to communicate them.
Speaker 10: So we've now seen all the efforts to include carbon
Speaker 10: pricing in climate policy essentially renounced by all parties in
Speaker 10: this election other than the Greens. Now when we look
Speaker 10: at the things we've advocated in the past that are
Speaker 10: now accepted within Canada, again, please look at our platform.
Speaker 10: Please look at our budget and look at it carefully.
Speaker 10: I want to highlight a few of the things that
Speaker 10: would really help Mark Carney's budget balance sooner and without
Speaker 10: taking shots, because it's really important. I think we're still
Speaker 10: team Canada. I don't want to take any unfair shots
Speaker 10: at anyone. I do want to highlight that the Parliamentary
Speaker 10: Budget Office does extraordinary work. Today for the first time,
Speaker 10: a number of studies from PBO asked for by the
Speaker 10: Conservatives have been posted. As far as I can see,
Speaker 10: none of them justify the effort the Conservatives have made
Speaker 10: in today to say that their cuts in spending and
Speaker 10: various tax changes will result in twenty one billion dollars
Speaker 10: of new tax revenue by twenty twenty eight twenty twenty nine.
Speaker 10: That's reported by the Globe and Mail. As the Consertis
Speaker 10: are betting on increased tax revenue of twenty one billion
Speaker 10: a year by twenty twenty eight twenty twenty nine, isn't
Speaker 10: There are a number of changes that they've made, Yes,
Speaker 10: and the number of changes were reviewed by PBO. But
Speaker 10: at least at this point, looking at the PBO website,
Speaker 10: we can't find that that conclusion of the Conservatives is
Speaker 10: other than their internal hunch that that will create that
Speaker 10: kind of benefit. I also want to be very clear
Speaker 10: of what the Parliamentary Budget Office does and what it doesn't.
Speaker 10: It's an extraordinary thing, and many Canadians may not know
Speaker 10: that all federal political parties have access to Parliamentary Budget
Speaker 10: Office analysis. Top notch tax advice and fiscal advice, and
Speaker 10: it has to be nonpartisan, so they seek the party's
Speaker 10: permissions to publish. What they publish, they're in the public domain.
Speaker 10: So that's when we put forward what a wealth tax
Speaker 10: would generate in the public domain with all the details
Speaker 10: on April ninth. It's worth knowing that that public domain
Speaker 10: money would generate wealth taxes excuse me, only on net
Speaker 10: household worth of over ten million dollars going up to
Speaker 10: a higher tax bracket of three percent for those in
Speaker 10: the fifty million to one hundred million dollar range, we'll
Speaker 10: generate one hundred and twenty one billion dollars by twenty thirty.
Speaker 10: That's in the public domain. Other parties can use that number.
Speaker 10: The wealth tax is an important part of new revenue
Speaker 10: for the Government of Canada, extraordinarily something that has been
Speaker 10: in the public domain as a discussion item for decades.
Speaker 12: Were the first party to actually look at it and
Speaker 12: what would it generate.
Speaker 10: And this is particularly important again for other party leaders
Speaker 10: who have increased spending. Mister Carney has one hundred and
Speaker 10: thirty billion dollars a year in increased spending. We of
Speaker 10: course have to cover the things that we're proposing so
Speaker 10: again to the question of social equity. We announced this
Speaker 10: weeks ago to help the lowest income wage earners in Canada.
Speaker 10: The Green Party of Canada will eliminate income tax for
Speaker 10: those who are earning forty thousand dollars a year or less.
Speaker 10: Not a tax cut, eliminate personal income tax if you're
Speaker 10: earning less than forty thousand dollars a year. Now, we're
Speaker 10: able to cover that entirely with what I'm going to
Speaker 10: talk about next, which is a really big idea, really
Speaker 10: significant for Canadians to know. The Green Party is paying
Speaker 10: attention to affordability issues. We don't want people who are
Speaker 10: just scraping by to have to pay personal income tax.
Speaker 10: Corporations need to pay their fair share. But this next item,
Speaker 10: financial transaction tax, is a sure fire winner. Canadians won't
Speaker 10: feel it at all. It won't even pinch the pocketbook
Speaker 10: at all. It's called a financial transaction tax. It was
Speaker 10: first proposed decades ago by Nobel Prize winning economist the
Speaker 10: late James Tobin. The idea is the money's clicking through
Speaker 10: financial markets. You change in the value of the making
Speaker 10: billions on what the end is worth in the morning.
Speaker 10: With the dollar is worth at night, every transaction to
Speaker 10: every time you're changing currency or bond traders, we would
Speaker 10: put a tax on every transaction of zero point three
Speaker 10: five percent. Now, what that comes to, and numbers people
Speaker 10: can identify quickly, is that for every transaction of one
Speaker 10: hundred dollars, there'd be a thirty five cent tax. Even
Speaker 10: the bond traders won't really feel it. You'd have to
Speaker 10: be someone like George Sorrow's trading hundreds of billions of
Speaker 10: dollars a day to even notice it, and then he'd
Speaker 10: hardly go broke. The reality is that by shifting some
Speaker 10: of the taxation off personal income and on to speculative
Speaker 10: financial transactions of the high rollers at thirty five cents
Speaker 10: for every hundred dollars of transaction, the financial transaction tax
Speaker 10: generates by twenty twenty nine to twenty thirty per year
Speaker 10: ninety billion dollars.
Speaker 12: Imagine that thirty.
Speaker 10: Five cents on every hundred dollars into financial transaction, and
Speaker 10: this again over a five year period cumulatively two hundred
Speaker 10: and seventy nine billion dollars. That's why we're able to
Speaker 10: project a one point four billion dollar deficit. We don't
Speaker 10: get to a balanced budget. Within five years, but we
Speaker 10: get closer even than the Conservatives, and these are based
Speaker 10: on studies done by the Parliamentary Budget Office, they're all public.
Speaker 10: Are really urge the other party leaders to have a
Speaker 10: look and take it seriously. People don't expect the Green
Speaker 10: Party of Canada to be the party that comes up
Speaker 10: with the most practical, innovative solutions for how to grow
Speaker 10: an economy and fight Donald Trump. Now on the fight
Speaker 10: Donald Trump front, I just want to review the Green
Speaker 10: Party again has some very exciting ideas. We announced them
Speaker 10: in Nanaimo back on March twenty ninth, creating strategic reserves
Speaker 10: for Canadian raw resources.
Speaker 12: But I specifically want to mention.
Speaker 10: One idea in particular that we mentioned that day and
Speaker 10: got very little attention. We used to all of you
Speaker 10: buy Canada savings bonds. We call them Saving Canada bonds,
Speaker 10: where every Canadian can buy a bond and for instance,
Speaker 10: by help the Government of Canada buy up the potash.
Speaker 12: Why potash.
Speaker 10: It's not going to be enough to take on a
Speaker 10: bully like Trump, to go into a ring and say
Speaker 10: for every punch you deliver us, we're going to punch
Speaker 10: you right back equally hard. The bully in the ring
Speaker 10: with us is ten times bigger than we are. That's
Speaker 10: not a fight we can win. Retaliatory tariffs are good
Speaker 10: in making it clear the United States that we're not
Speaker 10: going to be pushed around. But if you take on
Speaker 10: a bully ten times your size, you've got to be
Speaker 10: prepared to well, I don't know it sounds mean, do
Speaker 10: the equivalent of sticking fingers in his eyes.
Speaker 12: You have to make it hurt.
Speaker 10: Canadian Saving Canada bonds in holding Canadian potash here north
Speaker 10: of the border for the growing season of twenty twenty five,
Speaker 10: US farmers have already bought up the potash they need.
Speaker 12: But if we buy up the potash for their next
Speaker 12: going season.
Speaker 10: And say, well, you know, it's not something we're selling
Speaker 10: this year, it's tied up in our Saving Canada bonds,
Speaker 10: every Canadian could buy Saving Canada bonds. Help us buy
Speaker 10: up the potash and have a solid, committed five percent
Speaker 10: rate of return. It's a good investment. It's an investment
Speaker 10: in saving Canada. That's just one of the ways the
Speaker 10: strategic reserves of Canadian resources cannot only help us take
Speaker 10: on Donald Trump, can help us make sure he runs
Speaker 10: away screaming. I know that sounds mean, but it's a
Speaker 10: nice image. We also underpin all of this with a
Speaker 10: transformative approach to how our various orders of government should
Speaker 10: work together. Now this has been in our platforms since
Speaker 10: twenty fifteen. I just want to say how much how
Speaker 10: important it is for us to get accountability right. The provinces,
Speaker 10: for instance, have had a fourfold increase in transfers from
Speaker 10: the federal government for health care, but healthcare from the
Speaker 10: provinces has not gone up fourfold since twenty twenty. We
Speaker 10: know that the trance and interprovincial non tarff trade barriers
Speaker 10: reduce the size of our economy by two hundred to
Speaker 10: three hundred billion dollars a year.
Speaker 12: We've kind of got unanimity on that.
Speaker 10: Now within Team Canada, all party leaders are talking about,
Speaker 10: let's get rid of interprovincial trade barriers.
Speaker 12: That's a good thing.
Speaker 10: Why are they there?
Speaker 12: Because we don't coordinate well at all.
Speaker 10: We need to bring in a Council of Canadian Governments
Speaker 10: where the federal government is at the table working with
Speaker 10: provincial and territorial governments and the left outside of decision making.
Speaker 10: Most responsible order of government, local governments, mayors and councils
Speaker 10: that have to really deliver for the people who live
Speaker 10: in their communities but don't have access of the tax
Speaker 10: dollars they need for the investments they need to make,
Speaker 10: and indigenous governments. So picture a circle for quadrants and
Speaker 10: this is what they do in Australia. They bring to
Speaker 10: one table the people who make the decisions and say
Speaker 10: we need to buy consensus. All of us agree what
Speaker 10: is our national goal for energy? What's our national goal
Speaker 10: for transportation? What's our national goal on climate? Healthcare? Now
Speaker 10: that four quadrant circle would come together frequently and as
Speaker 10: they do in Australia, one big table for national goals
Speaker 10: and subtables when you're dealing sector bisector, healthcare, education and
Speaker 10: so on. I will just close by saying again we
Speaker 10: believe that accountability and revised ethic codes are also essential
Speaker 10: so that the Canadian public can again feel trust in
Speaker 10: their government and in their public institutions. There's a lot
Speaker 10: to cover here because we have a very long platform.
Speaker 10: Canadians can find it on our website. Our platform has
Speaker 10: the costing items from the Parliamentary Budget Office that relate
Speaker 10: to where we find the revenue. The individual platform items
Speaker 10: are our own estimates not costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office.
Speaker 10: To be clear, in the background documents, you'll see highlighted
Speaker 10: in different colors what's been costed by the Parmatary Budget
Speaker 10: Office and what hasn't. Not as easy to do that
Speaker 10: when you look at the other party platforms, but we
Speaker 10: believe in full transparency and our own accountability as we
Speaker 10: put forward these really solid, good exciting ideas to revitalize
Speaker 10: the Canadian economy, to create economic sovereignty for Canada. So
Speaker 10: we're no longer hewers of wood and drawers of water
Speaker 10: for foreign transnational corporations.
Speaker 12: But we protect our workers, we protect our.
Speaker 10: Communities, we protect our economy, and we spend more where
Speaker 10: Trump spends less. We spend more where pre puli of
Speaker 10: what's to cut. We spend more for the CBC, we
Speaker 10: spend more for overseas development assistance because now that Donald
Speaker 10: Trump has killed the US AID program, and Pierre Pualief
Speaker 10: thinks there are savings to be had in taking programs
Speaker 10: that help educate women and girls, fight malaria around the world,
Speaker 10: fight HIV AIDS. That's where Pierre Qualia thinks we've got
Speaker 10: to cut any place Trump is cutting Canadians pull together.
Speaker 10: We've got to step up. The US used to be
Speaker 10: the cop of the world. Now it's the bully of
Speaker 10: the world. We've got to do more than protect ourselves.
Speaker 10: We've got to step up for all the countries on
Speaker 10: Earth that are in Donald Trump's crosshairs, for the poorest
Speaker 10: of the poor that he is targeting. We have to
Speaker 10: do more for international development assistance. That's why we needed
Speaker 10: to bring in financial transaction taxes, wealth taxes, increase corporate
Speaker 10: tax rates and ensure that the government of Canada has
Speaker 10: more public money while each individual Canadian has more personal money.
Speaker 10: It's doable, but you've got to really think outside the box,
Speaker 10: and the Green Party is really good at that.
Speaker 12: Open for any questions you might have.
Speaker 2: Remember any.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I hear a lot of very deep anxiety, and
Speaker 10: I'd have to say the anxiety and the fear is
Speaker 10: almost amorphous. So people don't They say, oh my god,
Speaker 10: south of the border and they say, oh my god,
Speaker 10: pure pliant. But then they also say, why is no
Speaker 10: one talking about climate? So there's a mix of things
Speaker 10: of the doorstone. Ye, So more than issues, what I
Speaker 10: feel at the doorstep is emotion. People come out to
Speaker 10: talk to me. Quite often they just come up to
Speaker 10: say thank you, thank you, thank you. When I'm depressed,
Speaker 10: all I do is I go watch that video of
Speaker 10: you telling Donald Trump California it could be the eleventh province.
Speaker 10: I also have never had a time when I've gone
Speaker 10: door to door where people are so emotional that after
Speaker 10: talking to me for a while, I realize it's not
Speaker 10: making them feel better. They look like they're closer to
Speaker 10: breaking down in tears. It's very unusual. I've never canvas
Speaker 10: before before where I leave the doorstep. Instead of saying
Speaker 10: would you like a lawn sign? I say would you
Speaker 10: like a hug? So I end up feeling a lot
Speaker 10: of a lot of love and a lot of hugs,
Speaker 10: and you know, hang on, We're going to be okay.
Speaker 10: There's no point being afraid. There's no point voting out
Speaker 10: of fear. Really, we are so lucky to be Canadians
Speaker 10: remind us all of that every day. Imagine being a
Speaker 10: trans youth in the United States, or a person of
Speaker 10: color going off to worship your house of work and
Speaker 10: not knowing if the immigration rate is going to grab
Speaker 10: you that day and send you to a prison in
Speaker 10: El Salvador, where it doesn't seem to even matter if
Speaker 10: the US Supreme Court says that's against the law. I'm
Speaker 10: much more concerned for people living south of the border.
Speaker 10: Living north of the border.
Speaker 12: We're in the promised plant and we can get through this.
Speaker 2: Yet it is.
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah, Well, I'd say one thing when you're when
Speaker 10: you're and an election campaign is a very long job interview.
Speaker 10: So I think it's really quite shameful that Kathy Unska
Speaker 10: doesn't show up for any of the interviews. She ditched
Speaker 10: the interview the well she has, she's only been to one.
Speaker 10: She hasn't been to any of the public all candidate
Speaker 10: meetings went to one that was at a private residence
Speaker 10: of Berwick at Royal Oak, and we haven't seen her
Speaker 10: since she's you know, it's either it's neck and neck
Speaker 10: between me and Kathy instead, so she's not showing up.
Speaker 12: What does that say?
Speaker 10: The sanate Jenalt Protection Society debate that we had on
Speaker 10: what wasn't really a debate, It was all candidate meetings
Speaker 10: at the Sanitch Fairgrounds hosted by the sanate Jenlet Protection Society.
Speaker 10: The excuse that was offered by the moderator was that
Speaker 10: the conservative candidate had gotten back from it said she
Speaker 10: had a prior commitment on Pender Island. She had a
Speaker 10: meet and greet on Pandor Island and it was at
Speaker 10: a local pub where she charged thirty five dollars a
Speaker 10: person to come in and meet and greet her. So
Speaker 10: I think in this race because in the all candidate meetings,
Speaker 10: all candidate debate meetings, it's me, the Liberal candidate, and
Speaker 10: the NDP candidate, and they can say whatever they want
Speaker 10: about it being a three way race or whatever we
Speaker 10: say to them. Will if you have internal polling that
Speaker 10: says anything different, please show us. But everything we see
Speaker 10: this is a neck and neck race between the Conservative
Speaker 10: candidate who isn't showing up for the job interviews and me,
Speaker 10: and as I think most of my constituents know, if
Speaker 10: there's work to be done, I show up. I keep
Speaker 10: being elected pat Parliament's hardest working MP, and that's something
Speaker 10: I embrace. I'm very, very very proud of my record
Speaker 10: that I show up and I do the work, and
Speaker 10: I want to keep doing the work, and I am.
Speaker 10: I sometimes tell my team I'm not really superstitious, but
Speaker 10: I'm sort of stitious. So I'm sort of stitious enough
Speaker 10: not to say what I think is going to happen
Speaker 10: on Monday, but I do hope Paul Manley and Nanaimo
Speaker 10: Ladysmith is in a race quite like mine. Nanaimo Ladysmith
Speaker 10: is either the Conservative candidate or Paul Manley, and he's
Speaker 10: got the momentum. He was, of course the MP from
Speaker 10: twenty nineteen to twenty twenty one and got the highest
Speaker 10: vote of any of the people running for Nanaimo City Council.
Speaker 10: He's an extraordinary parliamentarian and I so want to be
Speaker 10: back in parment with him, with Mike Morris, with a
Speaker 10: number of other candidates. So I think April twenty eighth
Speaker 10: is as I said, I'm sort of stitious, we're having
Speaker 10: a gathering. I hope you'll all come and details are available.
Speaker 10: Shouldn't probably broadcast where the gathering is, but it's going
Speaker 10: to be fun and you can find out easily that
Speaker 10: we're going to be and oh, I'm really happy. Bill
Speaker 10: Henderson from Chillo actually going to come and play a
Speaker 10: few tunes, and Laurna Crozier, one of Canada's most loved poets,
Speaker 10: will also be there, and a few other surprises. So
Speaker 10: we plan to have a good time. Win loser, draw
Speaker 10: green stow have a good time. So yeah, and I'm
Speaker 10: really so proud of the work we've done. This is
Speaker 10: the work of volunteers across Canada. Our platform is the
Speaker 10: work of the Shadow Cabinet, the people who wrote this platform. First,
Speaker 10: we have to only follow Green Party policy as passed by.
Speaker 12: All our members. And then the people who are on
Speaker 12: Shadow Cabinet are running for office, so.
Speaker 10: It's an amazing group and they're all out there, like
Speaker 10: annree zedluc A, who's our candidate in gwelf thirty five
Speaker 10: year family doctor in Gwealth and one of the first
Speaker 10: people in Canada for doctors to offer an open HIV
Speaker 10: AIDS clinics back in the horrible day when it was
Speaker 10: still a stigmatized disease of HIV being HIV positive. Annree
Speaker 10: Zedlock is our health critic. We launched our Health Plank
Speaker 10: together in Gwelth a few weeks ago to say that
Speaker 10: every Canadian has a guarantee for a primary health care practitioner,
Speaker 10: family doctor, nurse practitioner and team medicine options. And as
Speaker 10: she pulls out of her own practice to become a
Speaker 10: member of Parliament, she's creating a health hub in Gwealth
Speaker 10: and when we announced it, reporters said, well, that would
Speaker 10: take I guess some years for government politicians.
Speaker 12: No, no, I'm doing it.
Speaker 10: I'm opening a health hub in Gwealth because I've got
Speaker 10: to take care of my own patients as i move
Speaker 10: into being a federal Member of Parliament for Gwealth. These
Speaker 10: are amazing people. It's a lot of hard work and
Speaker 10: it's it's difficult because we know and I'm not going
Speaker 10: to you know, you're here, Thank you for being here.
Speaker 10: But our platform hasn't gotten nearly the coverage of the
Speaker 10: status quo, very similar platforms offered by everybody else. So
Speaker 10: I do hope in the last few days when people
Speaker 10: are making up their minds, but go to our website,
Speaker 10: read our twenty twenty five election platform and know that
Speaker 10: to the extent we could. By the way, guaranteed libal
Speaker 10: income is not yet costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office,
Speaker 10: it's in our platform. And our disability benefit not yet costed,
Speaker 10: but it's in our platform. But the Parliamentary Budget Office
Speaker 10: is still number crunching to give us the answers we want,
Speaker 10: so that we have an authoritative source for our platform
Speaker 10: numbers for disability benefit and guaranteed libable income. It's amazing
Speaker 10: to me how hard the Parliamentary Budget Office works at
Speaker 10: the Service for Parties. We've been having daily meetings with
Speaker 10: our analyst at PBO, including Saturdays and Sundays. It's a
Speaker 10: hard working bunch of policy experts available to political parties.
Speaker 10: So I'm real proud of the work that everybody's done
Speaker 10: on this platform.
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