Transcript
jodiejenkins: Welcome to another episode of And Another Thing, the podcast that continues to set the bar in the world of podcasts. My name is Jody Jenkins, and we are back at it again.
Tony Clement: I'm Tony Clement.
Tony Clement: Back we are. We are. Here we are again. Yet again, we are here for our listeners and our sponsors.
jodiejenkins: And of course, I know we'll get into this in a bit, I'm sure. And our sponsors, yeah, we'll talk about our sponsors in a minute. and
Tony Clement: yeah
jodiejenkins: We'll get into this topic in a bit, I'm sure, but I'm excited for the debate tomorrow between Harris and Trump.
Tony Clement: Yes. Yes. What? As we're taping this, it's the night before the big debate. Oh my goodness.
jodiejenkins: So yeah, well we'll, we'll get into that.
Tony Clement: What's going to happen, Jody?
jodiejenkins: We'll give our like six cents in a bit, in a, in a, in a little bit, but yeah, let's, let's get right to our sponsors.
Tony Clement: but Okay.
jodiejenkins: Of course we. Got to thank off the top, our presenting sponsor each week, the OG's when it comes to being a part of this show, the great team at Municipal Solutions, John Mutton and the crew.
Tony Clement: Hmm.
jodiejenkins: And Tony, I know that you can expand on their services and what they do.
Tony Clement: Yeah. But first, let's wish our best wishes, and I hope our listeners will do the same for John, who underwent knee surgery or leg surgery or something after his latest jujitsu bout in Vegas.
jodiejenkins: Oh, did he go, did he have to do surgery? I didn't know he did surgery.
Tony Clement: Yeah, he did surgery.
jodiejenkins: Oh.
Tony Clement: Yeah, yeah.
jodiejenkins: Oh, okay.
Tony Clement: I don't know what I...
jodiejenkins: Wasn't it like a patellar tendon or something like that?
Tony Clement: ac Something like tendon or It's not an ACL. But anyway, he's he had an injury during a bout and I saw pictures he posted with him and in a wheelchair being wheeled around by a w WWE woman. I don't know what was going on there, but, uh, we wish, we wish John the best and, uh, we hope that he is back yeah doing the rehab and doing all the things that, uh, so that this injury is in the past and that he is back to his usual form as soon as possible. But in the meantime, he and the gang are busy and they are Ontario's leading MZO firm.
Tony Clement: They are there for development services, project management, development approvals, permit expediting, planning services with municipalities. It's all about the municipalities and the services that you need from them. Engineering, architectural services, even minor variances, land severances, go to municipalsolutions .ca and John and the gang will be there for you. and then Our new sponsor, relatively new still, I would say, KWM Consulting. KWM has been in the lobbying and advocacy business for over 23 years. yeah Yes, it's Kelly Mitchell and his gang. They support companies and small businesses of all of all sizes to deal with governments. They believe in honest and ethical advice and the value of hard work.
Tony Clement: contact Kelly Mitchell directly. You can find them at www .kwmconsulting .com or 416 -728 -8287. And then we also want to thank our terrestrial radio sponsor. That is Hunter's Bay Radio in Muskoka 88 .7 FM every Saturday morning. This podcast and others of high quality are rebroadcast and you can find them at huntersbayradio .com.
jodiejenkins: When was the last time you did your show on Hunter's Bay?
Tony Clement: It was early August and I'm doing another one on September 21st.
jodiejenkins: And what's the theme of the upcoming one?
Tony Clement: The theme for the upcoming one is parks and other open spaces.
jodiejenkins: How do you come up with this stuff?
Tony Clement: I don't know, I don't know, but there's a lot of, you know, a lot of songs about parks or about doing things in open spaces like skiing or surfing or, you know, listen,
jodiejenkins: So it's not, it's not like you wouldn't do a song like wide open spaces by the chicks formerly known as the Dixie chicks.
Tony Clement: which one is that?
Tony Clement: I thought of the the chicks, but again, that's more country. So, and I'm supposed to be a rockin' shindig, not a country shindig. So it did not pass the test.
jodiejenkins: No, I thought it was all based on like the, I guess the connection of the song and your theme. Like it didn't matter what genre, but you're, you're saying it has to be more of a rock genre.
Tony Clement: rock or pop pop slash rock yes those are the two genres yeah okay okay yeah i had to open it up to activities in wide open spaces
jodiejenkins: So parks and wide open space. I'm trying to think of something that may qualify. I like trying to guess sometimes like, but I don't know, but you're saying it could be an activity in wide open spaces. Like, are you going to do something? Well, then I feel like you could do like surfing USA.
Tony Clement: Yeah, in fact, I picked another song of the surfing genre, just one song, because I did a surfing a surfing show a few months ago, so I didn't want to repeat, but I did do one surfing song.
Tony Clement: And of course, for the parks, there's Ichiku Park. Have you heard that song by the New Faces?
jodiejenkins: Never, no.
Tony Clement: It's a classic of the early 60s UK genre.
jodiejenkins: Oh, really?
Tony Clement: Yeah, yeah.
jodiejenkins: Okay.
Tony Clement: And I could have done Echo Beach, I feel, but from Martha and the Muffins, but I'd already played that a couple of months ago, so I wanted to mix it up a little bit.
jodiejenkins: well There you go.
Tony Clement: There you go.
jodiejenkins: Tony's rockin' shindig.
Tony Clement: Yeah. September 21st.
jodiejenkins: And yes, makes you don't miss it.
Tony Clement: Please.
jodiejenkins: You need a live studio audience for that.
Tony Clement: uh it's bad enough like i think i know jody i you know you know radio i've had to learn at my advanced age how to migrate songs from the system into my show and make sure the commercials are at the exact right time uh so that we get paid uh and all of these things all of these new skills i've had to master on our big board to make sure my show runs properly it's not easy
jodiejenkins: It's bad enough.
jodiejenkins: Yes.
jodiejenkins: but I thought you had a board op.
Tony Clement: No, not anymore.
jodiejenkins: Oh, you do it by yourself.
Tony Clement: but I'm doing it by myself, Jodi.
jodiejenkins: Oh boy, I do have to tune in because that sounds like a train wreck.
Tony Clement: It could possibly, be I've had some dead air moments. Have you ever had a dead air moment on air?
jodiejenkins: Oh yeah, when I started out, yeah.
Tony Clement: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, it happens, especially live radio.
jodiejenkins: I always tell, I always, I think we've, I think we've talked about this before, but radio people are the only people that I know of that when they hear dead air on the radio, they actually turn it up.
Tony Clement: Yeah. yeah
jodiejenkins: Like that's, that's kind of like, you know, it's like, Oh, dead air.
Tony Clement: it
jodiejenkins: They turned it off.
Tony Clement: Yeah, yeah, what's going on now? Yeah, exactly.
jodiejenkins: So it's kind of funny.
Tony Clement: So yes, yes, I will be manning the board, staffing the board, I guess, and and to be to be exact.
jodiejenkins: Oh, that's good.
Tony Clement: And of course, making sure the music sounds a wonder bar.
jodiejenkins: Not good for you.
Tony Clement: Yeah, yeah. So Jody, in your neck of the woods, you're going to give the audience an update to what's happening in in Belleville and surrounding area.
jodiejenkins: Yeah, there's a by -election going on in Bay of Quinney. Of course, we mentioned it before, previous minister of energy and short for a short time, he was the minister of education, Todd Smith, resigning his position with the caucus.
jodiejenkins: It's, it's now official. It was announced or I think last week he is a, what is it? I don't want to screw this up, but I think he's the VP of marketing and business development for can do nuclear reactors.
Tony Clement: Yeah.
Tony Clement: Yeah. Like it's a sweet gig, I think.
jodiejenkins: Yeah, so he's got a big gig.
Tony Clement: And the last time I checked, he was in London, UK at some conference or something.
jodiejenkins: It's a real real job. Yes, yes.
Tony Clement: So good for him.
jodiejenkins: And it's probably not a bad idea being out of the country for this by -election.
Tony Clement: Yeah. Cause you're, you're saying, and you're not, I'm not saying you're predicting, but your observation is it's, it's a tight race.
jodiejenkins: Well, yeah, it's it's interesting. I mean, we have, We have, so we have a two city councilors going head to head. The PCs nominated appointed actually a one, one and a half term. Well, no, I guess he's only been on council for like two years now, two and a half years.
jodiejenkins: Tyler Alsop, relatively new to politics. And then there's a two -term city councilor and a one -term school trustee, Sean Kelly.
jodiejenkins: So he was a Catholic school board trustee and then as a served bid on council for two terms, Sean Kelly is running for the liberals.
Tony Clement: Right.
jodiejenkins: And then there's a newly appointed, no, a newly, she won a trustee seat in the last election, municipally. Amanda Robertson running for the NDP.
jodiejenkins: I don't think they have a chance, but seem to be doing a you know the the NDP are throwing everything they can down here, which seems like a lot because they usually don't have much of a presence at all.
Tony Clement: Okay.
jodiejenkins: so The leader's been down a couple times, but again, i think I think they did a press conference today for a school thing and I didn't see anyone covering it.
Tony Clement: Right.
jodiejenkins: I could be wrong, but like it was very small. But anyway, so it's between the PCs and the liberals. And it seems to me, just looking at it from my take, is that the PCs called a pretty quick by -election, like within one to two days, 48 hours, they had appointed the candidate and called a by -election, which I thought was really fast.
Tony Clement: Right.
jodiejenkins: And I think i think there I think the thought process was we'll be able to catch the liberals, for the most part, on their heels, and it would take them some time to nominate a candidate.
jodiejenkins: We've already got our all our signs, everything's in place, and we're off to the races.
Tony Clement: Sure.
jodiejenkins: Well, 24 hours after that, the liberals had a very strong candidate, Sean Kelly, who policy aside, whether liberal or not, the reality is is that Sean's been a morning man in the Quinnie region for almost 40 years.
Tony Clement: Wow.
jodiejenkins: on the radio and yeah, he he hired me at Mix 97 in 2001 or 2002.
Tony Clement: And he gave you a break at one point? Did he not in the business? Okay.
jodiejenkins: So I've known Sean for 22 years and you know as well as I do, Tony, that like name recognition he goes a long way and very low.
Tony Clement: Wow.
Tony Clement: Well, and I was, as I was saying to you off air, especially for by -elections where the turnout is typically very low,
jodiejenkins: so You know, normally, i would have if Sean wasn't in this race, I would have said the PCs have it. like not I wouldn't have even questioned it. But I'm telling you, like I don't know.
jodiejenkins: I'm calling.
Tony Clement: Yeah.
jodiejenkins: I feel like the liberals, you know even a week ago, I was like, it's a coin flip. And now I'm like, I think this could be a little bit of an upset, and it could backfire. And who knows?
jodiejenkins: If if I'm completely wrong, we'll just delete this show. But.
jodiejenkins: yeah
Tony Clement: But you say you said they've the liberals have run out of lawn signs or something?
jodiejenkins: Yeah, i've heard that I've heard they've run out of lawn signs. I've heard that the sign requests are off the charts, which which I don't know what to believe, because you hear so much stuff.
Tony Clement: Yeah, true, true, true.
jodiejenkins: But it's like but it's but at the same time, I look at it and I go, I'll tell you what caught my eye. And and I can relate it back to 2015, when we were doing the federal election.
jodiejenkins: And you you remember that election, I'm sure.
Tony Clement: I wish I knew very much so, yes.
jodiejenkins: And I remember I thought we were having a a heck of an election and you know Harper was I thought it was doing a wonderful job and I remember there was two whistle stops that the Liberals did in Coburg and they did one in Napani and with Justin Trudeau and there was I think there was a thousand people showed up in Coburg and and like five to 600 in Napini or something.
Tony Clement: with with Justin Trudeau.
Tony Clement: Oh my gosh.
jodiejenkins: And we were all like, that's what everyone knew.
Tony Clement: Oh yeah.
jodiejenkins: It's like, it's over.
Tony Clement: Oh yeah.
jodiejenkins: It's over. So anyway, i' though I'm not saying that, you know, Bonnie Crombie's been to Belleville and there was a thousand people. I'm not saying that, but here's what I'm saying. The other day, There was a, cause all the candidates, I follow all their social media and the Sean Kelly had posted a picture. They did a big canvas on last Saturday and he had, and there was about 60 to 65 people at his canvas.
Tony Clement: that's That's a good number.
jodiejenkins: And here's the other kicker.
Tony Clement: Yeah, sure.
jodiejenkins: So I, I looked into it and I've come to find out that more than half, almost three quarters of them were actually local. Cause I was like, well, maybe they're just bringing in tons of young liberals and you know, yes.
Tony Clement: Yeah, just busting them in. Yeah, yeah.
jodiejenkins: So there was a, there, I'm not going to say there wasn't a portion of them that weren't, they they were a hundred percent. Uh, there was young liberals, there was some staffers and whatever, but three quarters of them were local.
jodiejenkins: So that tells me that there's some energy there and
Tony Clement: Wow. Yes.
jodiejenkins: I don't know, just got a strange feeling, got a strange feeling.
Tony Clement: And you, you said that there's a lot of people visiting the writing right now.
jodiejenkins: Yes, and we have, I'm telling you this writing has never seen so many ministers, shadow ministers, like, you you know, so John Fraser, who's a pretty big liberal within the provincial party, correct?
Tony Clement: Yep.
jodiejenkins: Yeah, like he's been, he's been here like, he was here, I think like three or four days in a row out canvassing daily.
Tony Clement: Wow. Wow.
jodiejenkins: Yeah. It's just, it's pretty interesting. I've never seen, I've never personally in this writing, I've never seen anything like it.
Tony Clement: Well, it could be an up step.
jodiejenkins: I mean, the closest I ever had was when I ran for mayor in 2018 and I had Pierre Poliev came down and knocked doors. A gentleman named Tony Clement came and knocked doors, but.
Tony Clement: Yeah. Yeah. I remember. I remember. Yeah.
jodiejenkins: But no, we like even when I was canvassing in 2015, now granted, you've got a country -wide campaign. So it's not like you know ministers and people, they've got to work their own areas.
jodiejenkins: But I mean, you know we had Blake Richards down, and you were down, and and things like that. But like this, when there's only one by -election in the entire province, it's like they're just throwing everything at it.
Tony Clement: Yeah, exactly.
Tony Clement: Indeed, indeed.
jodiejenkins: Yeah.
Tony Clement: And of course, we have two federal by -elections, one in Winnipeg and one in Montreal. La Salle et Mar deux. And that'll be interesting.
Tony Clement: There's a lot of speculation about whether the Liberals will lose to both ridings or whether they will win one and lose one, but no one's predicting they're going to win both of them, that's for sure.
Tony Clement: So, yeah, there's there's a lot happening in by -elections, provincially and federally.
jodiejenkins: And speaking of speaking of the Liberals, I meant to ask you this, too, because this came out, you know, I think by the time this podcast goes to air, it would have been out for a day or so.
Tony Clement: Yeah.
jodiejenkins: But the you know, the discussion that's been around, you know, Justin stepping down or getting the pressure to step down is Mark Carney, the successor. And then today, of course, we find out.
jodiejenkins: that Mark Carney's been named as an advisor for their finance something or whatever, like some sort of advisor in the finance world, economic world.
Tony Clement: yeah
jodiejenkins: Is that kind of a signal to the party to, like, what do what does that say to you?
Tony Clement: Yeah. Again, it's it's so hard to predict what's happening with Justin Trudeau right now. i I really don't know. It could be a way to placate his caucus, which is getting very antsy. And especially if he loses to by -elections next week,
Tony Clement: I think they will they will just totally freak out. And so maybe what he's trying to do is get all of the potential rivals in the tent so that they don't create more trouble for him. It could be that or it could be a or play devil's advocate could be a prelude to him stepping down. I just I don't know that nobody knows the answer. That the fact is everybody's speculating, but nobody actually knows the answer. There's only one person who knows the answer.
Tony Clement: And that's Justin Trudeau. So yeah, a lot rides on these by -elections. If the Liberals lose too, after losing the St. Paul riding in Toronto in the summer, which the Liberals had held for 30 plus years, I mean, there's going to be even more pressure. But yeah, I mean,
Tony Clement: It's a very interesting time and of course we all know what Jagmeet Singh did last week. yeah He pulled the plug on the supply and confidence agreement that he had in place. So all bets are off about future votes in the House of Commons as well.
Tony Clement: I can guarantee you this, one political party, the Conservative Party of Canada, is going to be throwing up all sorts of confidence motions and other ways to test whether Trudeau still has the confidence in the House of Commons. If he doesn't, just for our listeners' edification, then that would be a prelude to an election. So yeah, what's going on all of a sudden in in Canadian politics? I know we all fuss about US politics, but Canadian politics is also interesting and exciting.
jodiejenkins: Yeah. And especially, you know, there's been discussions too of a early provincial election here in Ontario.
Tony Clement: Right.
jodiejenkins: So we'll see how all this plays out with a federal election because I'm i'm pretty much not that they would like get on the phone and say to each other, Hey, you're not going to run this election while we're doing an election.
Tony Clement: Right. Yeah.
jodiejenkins: I think that would never happen. Cause I don't think that I, my understanding is that like the fed federal conservatives and the provincial conservatives here in Ontario, not the closest. is my understanding.
Tony Clement: Well, i let's be honest with our listeners, they're not. Now, now the the rank and file and the people who work in the writings, they all the time work federally and also work provincially.
jodiejenkins: Yeah.
jodiejenkins: Yes.
Tony Clement: They might nominate help in the nomination of a federal candidate, this kind of thing. But no, Doug Ford's made it very clear to his caucus and to his staff that they are not to be involved in the Conservative Party federally.
Tony Clement: and That's an actual I'm not making that up. That's that's actually what they're they're saying to their inside the part the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. So given that fact, you can't say that they're bosom buddies right now.
jodiejenkins: Yeah, so that'll be interesting to see how this all rolls out in the coming months. It should make for an interesting remainder of the year.
Tony Clement: Yeah, yeah, I think i think there's a lot less certainty than there was even just a few weeks ago, Jodi, I'd have to say.
jodiejenkins: Yeah, so, and then of course, let's, the big enchilada.
Tony Clement: and And you want to get, yes, then with the big enchilada.
jodiejenkins: Trump, Harris, the first time meeting in person. And I've been following a little bit of the pundits or whatever. And of course, the big the big bet right now is you can lay down some money on whether they actually shake hands.
Tony Clement: and
jodiejenkins: That would be the big bet. I i think they'll shake hands.
Tony Clement: Yeah. I would, I would hope so.
jodiejenkins: What do you think?
Tony Clement: I don't think it means that much.
jodiejenkins: and i can't I just can't see i can't see him not shaking hands. i could I could see her not shaking hands with him more so than him.
Tony Clement: Yeah, yeah.
jodiejenkins: Not shaking hands with her personally, that's me, but.
Tony Clement: Now, as you know, Jody, and as our listeners know, I i am incessantly looking at American polls.
jodiejenkins: Yes.
Tony Clement: And I can tell you that there was a divergence, like Trump was way ahead.
jodiejenkins: Yes.
Tony Clement: You know, after the shooting incident and then the Republican convention, he started to shoot ahead and then the Democrats forced Biden out.
Tony Clement: Let's call it like it is. That's exactly what happened.
jodiejenkins: Yep.
Tony Clement: And then this bright new face who happened to be vice president for four years, this bright new face came out of the scene, Kamala Harris, and then she shot ahead.
jodiejenkins: yeah exactly and
Tony Clement: and was up nationally, although the national polls don't mean much, but she was up by up upwards of 3%. I'm just looking at my my phone app right now and the national polling numbers as of September the 9th, you know, right before the debate are that Harris is still ahead, but not by 3 % anymore.
jodiejenkins: Yeah,
Tony Clement: She's ahead by 1 .3%, which is a significant tightening.
jodiejenkins: exactly.
jodiejenkins: Oh yeah.
Tony Clement: And then there are some polls as of September 9th, Arizona, which is one of the swing states, Trump is ahead by 2%. Colorado, well, Harris is ahead by 15, no big surprise there.
Tony Clement: Florida, no surprise, Trump is ahead by four. Georgia, another swing state, Trump is ahead by 1 .2%.
jodiejenkins: Wow.
Tony Clement: Michigan, another big big swing state, Harris is ahead by 2 .6%. Nevada, another swing state, Kamala Harris is up by 0 .6%. North Carolina, another swing state, Harris is ahead by 0 .5%.
Tony Clement: And Pennsylvania, another, this is the biggest of swing states is Pennsylvania. Harris is ahead by 0 .4%, which is basically a statistical tie for Pennsylvania, for Nevada, for North Carolina. And yeah, I mean, it's it's close out there, folks.
jodiejenkins: So this debate is going to play a big role. And it's interesting because, you know, how everyone was saying once, and and this usually happens, the honeymoon period, you know, come on Kamala gets named the name, the candidate and the nominee and whatever, and people are excited.
Tony Clement: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Rapture rapture.
jodiejenkins: and But and so she shot up there.
Tony Clement: Yeah.
jodiejenkins: But it's interesting. She's certainly falling back. Like she's going the wrong way, obviously.
Tony Clement: Yeah.
jodiejenkins: And I i fully expect that that will continue. That's I still I still maintain that Trump wins.
Tony Clement: I know you do. I know I don't I don't think anything's set in stone.
jodiejenkins: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. yeah
Tony Clement: I just to be the devil's advocate. You know, she's I think she's locking in some states like I i wouldn't put into play anymore. You know, some of the states like Michigan is is still not in reach for Uh, Wisconsin, uh, seems to be three or four points in her favor. So that might be a write off for the Republicans now, but Pennsylvania is still in play. North Carolina is still in play. Georgia is still in play. If, if he, if Trump can win.
Tony Clement: certainly Pennsylvania and also Georgia and North Carolina. I think he's won the Electoral College, which is what it's all about. You can talk all you want about national popular vote.
jodiejenkins: Yeah.
Tony Clement: it's Folks, it's meaningless. It doesn't mean a darn thing.
jodiejenkins: Yeah.
Tony Clement: If you can't win the swing states, you are not President of the United States.
jodiejenkins: And so, so tomorrow the debate, you know, everyone's saying that Trump's biggest achievement or what he what he needs to get done there at that debate is to stay on point, not get off into the weeds.
Tony Clement: Yes.
jodiejenkins: i I'll be I mean, I can't see him not being able to go off the rails a little bit.
Tony Clement: I know. Yeah. Yeah, I know.
jodiejenkins: But I think I don't know. I i like I said, to we we talked about this before.
Tony Clement: Yeah.
jodiejenkins: I can't think of any debates where he hasn't sliced and diced his opponent. So I I don't know why this is going to be any different.
Tony Clement: Well, can I say I think he's his own worst enemy.
jodiejenkins: Yes.
Tony Clement: And, you know, this, these latest musings about jailing people or whatever he said, I don't know what he actually said, who knows how that media distorts it, but, you know, people who are involved in, you know,
Tony Clement: persecuting people that are Trump supporters or something, he he wants to protect them and once he's president or something. I don't know what the exact verbiage is, but that all of a sudden became you know an authoritarian president who is willing to to break the law in order to persecute people who are not his...
Tony Clement: It's just like, why get into that the day before the debate is what I'm wondering, right? right It's just not...
jodiejenkins: But then, but then you think to yourself, maybe they know that that kind of, you know, works in their favor to a certain degree. as You know, as well as I do, there's people that are, yeah, there's people out there that hear that and go, good for him.
Tony Clement: I guess maybe for his base, yeah. But but out but everybody's saying the big the big topics or the big issues are the economy and immigration, which is, he should should be, yeah, yeah, he wins on it all the time.
jodiejenkins: That's, you know what I mean? like
jodiejenkins: he he can win He wins on that all the time. yeah na no yeah Fair enough.
Tony Clement: Why talk about all this other stuff?
jodiejenkins: fair enough
Tony Clement: That's that's my question.
jodiejenkins: oh yeah no what if he If he goes right at her about the economy and immigration and how lax the Democrats have been on that, it's it's over.
Tony Clement: Yeah. border yeah yeah one would think so uh anyway we'll we'll all we get to see him uh on television of course and uh read the tea leaves after that but there's still still a ways to go and uh lots can happen it's not even october yet so you never know in politics jodi you never know what what else yeah yeah yeah yeah
jodiejenkins: so
jodiejenkins: You just never know. Speaking of quickly on immigration, we don't have a lot of time left. I do want to touch on this and you have a lot more experience with this than I do. A lot of stories in the last couple of weeks coming out regarding you know security issues in terms of within our own country, security issues with individuals.
Tony Clement: Yes.
jodiejenkins: from our country going to other countries with with attack or terrorism terrorist plots. yeah yeah does this is this Are these one -offs, is this alarming to you?
jodiejenkins: Is this a you know growing trend?
Tony Clement: I think it's very alarming.
jodiejenkins: Yeah.
Tony Clement: i'm I'm sorry to be this way about it, but first of all, a country has to have secure borders. If you don't have secure borders, a lot of bad things happen to innocent people.
jodiejenkins: yeah
Tony Clement: And so that's one of the first things that a government must be able to be good at is having secure borders. And I don't get any sense that we have that in Canada. This these this father and son terrorist family that had done done these atrocities on behalf of ISIS, you know,
Tony Clement: getting citizen, not even just permanent residency, showed but citizenship i mean on where where's the where, you know, you've you've got to be able to have the the systems in place so you can you can oversee things.
jodiejenkins: Yeah.
Tony Clement: And then this latest thing with some plot in the state of New York being planned in Canada, The United States will not tolerate this and it could affect you know people movement, it could affect our economy.
jodiejenkins: No.
Tony Clement: This is not just an issue. It's not an esoteric issue. It's a real issue that affects Canadians and our our livelihoods and our you know livability in this country. so Yes, I'm concerned about it, and I don't have a lot of confidence in the current government that they've got a handle on this. They keep saying they do, and yet the facts seem to undermine that. So, yeah, we've got some problems in this country, and I know that some don't like it when people like Pierre Poliese or some of his advocates say that Canada is broken, but
Tony Clement: I don't think the people are broken. I think we have good people in Canada by and large. We have some bad apples that have to be dealt with. But I do think government systems are broken. I do think that's a fair thing to say.
jodiejenkins: Yeah. Yeah.
Tony Clement: They're not doing their job and it's it's costing all of us. And economically, if I can just talk about that for one second, you know, the government keeps touting how our gross domestic pot product is increasing.
Tony Clement: It's only increasing because we have more people. And so it automatically increases when you have more mouths to feed and more people to house and what have you, even though we're not doing a good job at that.
jodiejenkins: Yeah.
Tony Clement: But the GDP per capita, the per person growth in our economy has declined for something like six or seven quarters in a row.
Tony Clement: And that means that the cost of living is higher, and the livability in this country is lower. And it's a lot lower than the United States now. We're not tracking well with the US, our neighbor to the south. So we've got some big problems we've got to deal with this in this country.
jodiejenkins: He's just not ready.
Tony Clement: Not ready to govern.
jodiejenkins: Nice hair though.
Tony Clement: and That's true. Still has nice hair after all these years. a
jodiejenkins: on that On that note, we will wrap it up for this week.
Tony Clement: Yes.
jodiejenkins: And of course, don't forget you can find this show on all the major podcast platforms. And if you're using Spotify, you can actually comment through the app or wherever you listen.
jodiejenkins: So feel free to drop us a comment.
Tony Clement: Yes.
jodiejenkins: We'd certainly appreciate that. Review it. Subscribe. Do all those fun things as our listenership continues to grow.
Tony Clement: Rate, rate, yes.
jodiejenkins: I was looking at numbers today, and they're actually going up. So that's that's a good thing.
Tony Clement: Good.
jodiejenkins: What are we coming up on here? How many years is this? Did we start this in 2019?
Tony Clement: We did.
jodiejenkins: This is year five?
Tony Clement: Yeah, we're in our fifth year coming up.
jodiejenkins: Well, i guess no I guess in October or November.
Tony Clement: October.
jodiejenkins: I think our first show was in October of 2019.
Tony Clement: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
jodiejenkins: So we're coming up on our fifth anniversary.
Tony Clement: Fifth anniversary. We appreciate all the listeners who have hung by us all this time and also our new listeners that we're obviously getting as well. We really do appreciate that. And we're going to continue to have some interesting guests as well as our usual discussions that we're having like on a show like today.
Tony Clement: So stay tuned.
jodiejenkins: Don't forget to check out municipalsolutions .ca. We appreciate John Mutton and his team for being our presenting sponsor each week. Once again, municipalsolutions .ca. a
Tony Clement: And then there's Kelly Mitchell at kwmconsulting .com or just phone them at 416 -728 -8287. Thank you to our terrestrial radio sponsor huntersbayradio .com.
jodiejenkins: All right, Tony, we'll do this again in seven days.
Tony Clement: You got it.
