Latest / Kvetch & Release / AM800 CKLW Roundtable with MPs Brian Masse & Irek Kusmierczyk

Transcript

AM800 CKLW Roundtable with MPs Brian Masse & Irek Kusmierczyk · Kvetch & Release

0:00
Speaker 1: I am joined in studio by two luminaries, two of
0:04
Speaker 1: our elected representatives in the federal government. We have Windsor
0:09
Speaker 1: to come see Member of Parliament Eric Whou's Merichicken Studio. Eric,
0:12
Speaker 1: how you doing, good? Good morning, Joan, good morning. We
0:14
Speaker 1: also have Windsor West Member of Parliament Brian Massey. Brian,
0:18
Speaker 1: how are you good morning?
0:19
Speaker 2: Well, thank you hey.
0:20
Speaker 1: Glad to have you both here. I got to say
0:21
Speaker 1: one thing though, again, if this is Christmas, it's great.
0:23
Speaker 1: I love having you both here. I messaged you both yesterday,
0:27
Speaker 1: you know, like here's some topics that we're going to
0:29
Speaker 1: talk about, and I said to each of you, what's
0:32
Speaker 1: the one thing that you want to go and like,
0:34
Speaker 1: you know, hammer the other guy on, Like what's the
0:36
Speaker 1: one issue. Let's like, you know, get some radio drama going.
0:39
Speaker 1: And you were both just so conciliatory and polite, and
0:42
Speaker 1: there's so much for us to celebrate here in Windsor.
0:45
Speaker 1: Why would we ever go at each other. So I'm
0:47
Speaker 1: going to try to find a way to need both
0:49
Speaker 1: of you on something throughout the show. But gosh, you
0:51
Speaker 1: know what, yesterday, big day. We had the last public
0:55
Speaker 1: tour of the Gordy Howe International Bridge before it is
0:59
Speaker 1: gonna open up, and it's celebrating of course, you know,
1:02
Speaker 1: the meeting of the two spans there in the middle, Eric,
1:07
Speaker 1: I know that you had delivered some remarks on behalf
1:09
Speaker 1: of the government and that we had a minister in
1:13
Speaker 1: so tell us a little bit.
1:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, yesterday was really a historic, epic moment. You know,
1:19
Speaker 3: picture the Gordi how International Bridge. About one hundred people there,
1:24
Speaker 3: workers and stakeholders and partners from both sides, the US
1:29
Speaker 3: and Canadian side, and really celebrating officially celebrating that moment
1:35
Speaker 3: where the bridge is connected, you know, and it was remarkable.
1:40
Speaker 3: It was absolutely a remarkable moment. Brian and I were there,
1:43
Speaker 3: Mayor was there. Other folks from the community were there,
1:47
Speaker 3: and you know, this is the product of thirteen thousand workers.
1:51
Speaker 3: You know, first and foremost we have to say a
1:54
Speaker 3: big thank you to the thirteen thousand workers that had
1:58
Speaker 3: a hand building the Gordia Bridge, working on the port
2:02
Speaker 3: of entry on both sides, the Canadian and the US side.
2:05
Speaker 3: I mean, you have over thirteen million worker hours and
2:09
Speaker 3: so you have you know, the laborers, you have the
2:11
Speaker 3: iron workers, you have the carpenters, you have the operating
2:15
Speaker 3: engineers and others, and it really is a work of art,
2:18
Speaker 3: and it's a spectacular work of art that they painstakingly built. Really,
2:23
Speaker 3: the project started getting built in twenty eighteen, and so
2:27
Speaker 3: this was a huge moment. It was a celebration, and
2:30
Speaker 3: what it really was is a demonstration that when we
2:33
Speaker 3: work together, when Canadians and Americans work together, nothing is impossible.
2:39
Speaker 1: We can build big things.
2:43
Speaker 3: And this is the largest infrastructure project in Canada. It's
2:49
Speaker 3: happening right here in our community, in our backyard. And
2:53
Speaker 3: again it was a celebration of working together building big
2:57
Speaker 3: things that are going to have a huge impact for
2:59
Speaker 3: our community for really generations to come. And I can't
3:02
Speaker 3: wait for the first bicycle, for the first car, for
3:07
Speaker 3: the first truck to cross over that bridge next year.
3:13
Speaker 1: It's incredible how close we are, because for so long
3:16
Speaker 1: it seemed like there would never be anything else. And
3:19
Speaker 1: yet now if you're ever driving and you look westbound
3:22
Speaker 1: on any one of our main arteries that goes through
3:25
Speaker 1: you can It's just it's incredible how the scene and
3:29
Speaker 1: landscape of our city has changed. It is such a
3:32
Speaker 1: poignant thing that you can just see in the sky.
3:36
Speaker 1: I mean I think to driving down Windtt Street and
3:39
Speaker 1: just like there, it is, just it's perfectly framed right
3:42
Speaker 1: at the end. Brian, you were talking a little bit
3:44
Speaker 1: about just before we went live, about what a logistical
3:47
Speaker 1: feat it was just with the entry plaza and the
3:51
Speaker 1: customs plaza.
3:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be huge. And excuse me, I see
3:55
Speaker 2: it a little bit differently though yesterday, And I think
3:57
Speaker 2: it's important that we recognize this because yesterday, unfortunately, we
4:01
Speaker 2: didn't have any elected officials from that area able to speak.
4:04
Speaker 2: And what wasn't talked about yesterday was the reality of
4:07
Speaker 2: the fight to get this. And yes, it is remarkable,
4:11
Speaker 2: it was exceptional, and it was really fun to be there,
4:14
Speaker 2: but let's not forget how we got there. We got
4:17
Speaker 2: there because we had to come together as a community
4:19
Speaker 2: to get trucks off of city streets. And not a
4:21
Speaker 2: single person mentioned that yesterday. When I had for my
4:24
Speaker 2: first public meeting back in nineteen ninety seven, we had
4:27
Speaker 2: just lost another parent on here in Church Road because
4:30
Speaker 2: they were taking their daughter and sons to Assumption School
4:35
Speaker 2: and the trucks obviously caused all kinds of issues for
4:38
Speaker 2: the kids there. Over the years, we had people that
4:40
Speaker 2: couldn't cross businesses that had exceptional problems. We had to
4:44
Speaker 2: fight to get the proper connection road with Eddie Francis
4:48
Speaker 2: and the Green Link. When the province wanted to do
4:50
Speaker 2: a basically truck road on Eco Expressway, we were able
4:54
Speaker 2: to stop that. We were able to stop the DRTP.
4:56
Speaker 2: If you remember the DRTP, they wanted to twin and
4:58
Speaker 2: shove a truck tunnel right down South Windsor, and we
5:01
Speaker 2: stopped the Ambassador Bridge from twining. Many people in this
5:04
Speaker 2: community came together for hundreds and times of meetings over
5:09
Speaker 2: the years to make this happen. So for me, it
5:12
Speaker 2: was exceptionally important to recognize why we're doing this, and
5:17
Speaker 2: that's when we'll see the real benefit because the plazas
5:19
Speaker 2: won't open up for another year from now, and then
5:21
Speaker 2: it'll get those trucks off of our city streets and
5:23
Speaker 2: we still have an issue with traffic management and so forth.
5:27
Speaker 2: But it's a wonderful, beautiful thing. The plaza is going
5:29
Speaker 2: to be amazing when it opens up. They're doing it
5:31
Speaker 2: consistent to heritage. We were able to again when the
5:34
Speaker 2: project started it didn't have a bike lane. We were
5:36
Speaker 2: able to force the government to do the bike lane,
5:38
Speaker 2: which is important. We're going to have black art, something
5:40
Speaker 2: that wasn't going to be done. It's going to be
5:42
Speaker 2: actually at the foot of the bike lane when you
5:43
Speaker 2: go in. And I think Speaker Fergus is here today
5:45
Speaker 2: and going to tour some of that as well too,
5:47
Speaker 2: So that's exceptional. So to me, in conclusion of looking
5:51
Speaker 2: what took place yesterday, it's again to recognize why we're
5:55
Speaker 2: doing this, and that was to get international trucks off
5:57
Speaker 2: city streets so we can thrive and open up the
5:59
Speaker 2: rather traffic for other industries that are going to compete.
6:02
Speaker 2: So today was yesterday was exciting, but when we get
6:05
Speaker 2: trucks off streets that I'll be happy.
6:07
Speaker 1: Oh it's been a long it's been a long car
6:10
Speaker 1: ride to get to this point. Let's just say that, Brian,
6:12
Speaker 1: it's been a number of years. As I've said to
6:14
Speaker 1: you the last time I had you on, you've been
6:17
Speaker 1: just like an auto packed and an auto strategy. You
6:21
Speaker 1: have been pushing on this file for as long as
6:23
Speaker 1: I've known you. Eric, I know that you wanted to respond.
6:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, I agree
6:27
Speaker 3: with with what Brian said. You know, one of the
6:29
Speaker 3: major benefits that we're going to see immediately is you're
6:31
Speaker 3: going to see a lot of that truck traffic being
6:33
Speaker 3: rerouted off of here on Church Road and onto the
6:38
Speaker 3: Gordy how And so that's going to have a huge
6:40
Speaker 3: benefit safety issue, but also a health issue as well too.
6:43
Speaker 3: All those idling trucks on here on Church are going
6:46
Speaker 3: to be moved to a big, big chunk of them
6:48
Speaker 3: are going to be moved to the Gordy how Bridge,
6:50
Speaker 3: and that's what's going to be amazing. But you look
6:53
Speaker 3: at the benefits as well too. I mean, you've got
6:55
Speaker 3: a third of all trade taking place, all third of
6:59
Speaker 3: the trade between Canada and the United States taking place
7:02
Speaker 3: across this border. This is going to supercharge that trade
7:06
Speaker 3: between Canada and the US. So it's going to have
7:08
Speaker 3: a huge impact on the national Canadian economy. But you
7:11
Speaker 3: look at the huge impact here locally as well too.
7:14
Speaker 3: I mean, we're already seeing major investments being made in
7:18
Speaker 3: our community. Factories are being built here, including the ev
7:23
Speaker 3: battery plant that our federal government delivered for our community
7:27
Speaker 3: that's being built on the corner of zero and Banwell.
7:30
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just a huge, huge facility that's going
7:33
Speaker 3: to create two and a half thousand permanent jobs for
7:37
Speaker 3: local folks, and already two thousand people are working there
7:40
Speaker 3: as we speak, and we're seeing other factories right now.
7:43
Speaker 3: They're literally at our doorstep. We'll be sharing some good
7:46
Speaker 3: news with the community in the not too distant future.
7:48
Speaker 3: There's more companies coming here that want to locate here.
7:51
Speaker 3: And one big reason for that a is obviously we
7:54
Speaker 3: have the best absolute best workforce in the world, but
7:58
Speaker 3: we also have this of infrastructure, the largest federal infrastructure
8:02
Speaker 3: project in Canada right here that's connecting our two countries.
8:06
Speaker 3: And they want to locate here because they know that
8:09
Speaker 3: they can bring their product seamlessly to the US market,
8:12
Speaker 3: which is one of the largest markets in the world.
8:15
Speaker 3: And so this is going to have a huge impact
8:16
Speaker 3: on the national economy. It's going to have a huge
8:18
Speaker 3: impact on cross border trade, it's going to have a
8:20
Speaker 3: huge impact on our community. It's going to bring more
8:23
Speaker 3: investment here, it's going to help bring more jobs here,
8:25
Speaker 3: and we're already seeing the benefits of that. But another
8:29
Speaker 3: thing I just wanted to mention as well too. It's
8:31
Speaker 3: just one more example. You have a federal government that's
8:34
Speaker 3: making big investments in this community and helping this community
8:37
Speaker 3: to modernize. You know, so I like to say, you know,
8:40
Speaker 3: you've got You've got the Gordi Howe International Bridge, biggest
8:43
Speaker 3: federal infrastructure project in Canada. You've got the ev battery plant,
8:47
Speaker 3: a new battery plant. We just announced last week brand
8:51
Speaker 3: new buses for Transit Windsor thirty new buses for Transit Windsor.
8:55
Speaker 3: It's part of one hundred million dollar federal modernization project
8:59
Speaker 3: and partnership with the city. And then about two weeks
9:02
Speaker 3: ago we announced brand new trains via rail trains that
9:06
Speaker 3: are coming into the station. So new bridge, a new
9:09
Speaker 3: battery plant, new buses, new trains, and modernization of our community.
9:15
Speaker 3: And again it's it's incredible and it reflects the fact
9:17
Speaker 3: that the community truly is on the rise.
9:20
Speaker 1: Well, we're seeing a lot of moves here that we
9:21
Speaker 1: haven't seen for a long time, there is no doubt
9:23
Speaker 1: about that. And you know, a lot of it is
9:26
Speaker 1: because there's a great relationship that is actually you know,
9:30
Speaker 1: being had between you know, different members of Parliament. You know,
9:32
Speaker 1: working relationship between the two of you is a perfect
9:34
Speaker 1: example of it that we see here. It's the unified
9:36
Speaker 1: approach just to ensuring that Windsor does come out ahead
9:40
Speaker 1: because for so long, you know, we have this mentality
9:42
Speaker 1: and it's based on fact is that Windsor was forgotten
9:45
Speaker 1: for a really long time. Quite frankly, we got to
9:48
Speaker 1: take just a quick second. Here we are two minutes
9:50
Speaker 1: over right now, Sorry about that. Producer Aaron John Lecky
9:53
Speaker 1: here on Amate HAD. We're gonna get back with Members
9:55
Speaker 1: of Parliament Brian Massey, Windsor West and Eric who's Marriatrick
9:58
Speaker 1: Windsor to come see right after this, we're gonna go
10:02
Speaker 1: down and hey, we're back. John Leckey here on AM
10:11
Speaker 1: eight hundred c KLW. It's our roundtable, joined by Windsor
10:14
Speaker 1: to come, c MP Eric Kuzmaerchrik and Windsor West Member
10:17
Speaker 1: of Parliament Brian Massey. Okay, look, so we got the
10:20
Speaker 1: Ojibwe National Urban Park. We know it's it's it's happening,
10:24
Speaker 1: how it's gonna happen. I gotta admit I'm still a
10:27
Speaker 1: little bit confused because we've got like this parallel process
10:30
Speaker 1: between the two of you, and I know that you
10:32
Speaker 1: guys were being all conciliatory and saying you weren't going
10:34
Speaker 1: to go after each other. But I just I want
10:36
Speaker 1: to figure out, like, what's going on here? Why are
10:38
Speaker 1: the why the two tracks? What is is the outcome
10:42
Speaker 1: different at the end of this journey that both of
10:45
Speaker 1: you are on. Is there not like a kumbayau or
10:47
Speaker 1: you could both just hold hands and get to the
10:49
Speaker 1: same place, Like Brian, what what what is unique about
10:52
Speaker 1: your side?
10:53
Speaker 2: Well, mine's the law and it's not being made up
10:56
Speaker 2: on the fly. Parks Canada's officials testimony said, we're trying
10:59
Speaker 2: to build, paint and fly the airplane at the same
11:03
Speaker 2: time creating their public policy. So his way of background,
11:06
Speaker 2: we asked the experts, the legal experts, on how to
11:09
Speaker 2: actually make a new park in Canada. They came back
11:12
Speaker 2: to us with a law of including the geography points
11:16
Speaker 2: into the Parks Canada Act. So that's the way we
11:19
Speaker 2: create parks. The government responded to political pressure by announcing
11:24
Speaker 2: urban parks and included a jibwe as part of a policy.
11:28
Speaker 2: The policy has not yet finished yet, we're still waiting
11:30
Speaker 2: for that. So my legislation, which passed ironically with everybody'
11:35
Speaker 2: support except for one Liberal, and it's ironic that I'm
11:38
Speaker 2: still not getting the help I should get when they
11:40
Speaker 2: voted for it and passed it to the Senate. So
11:43
Speaker 2: if you vote for something, you probably should help and
11:45
Speaker 2: believe in it. And there's been a couple problems with
11:47
Speaker 2: the legislation that we are actually actively fixing with the
11:49
Speaker 2: Minister right now. Those problems were identified in the House
11:53
Speaker 2: of Commons Environment Committee where we have private land, and
11:57
Speaker 2: this campaign of fear was put out there that we're
12:00
Speaker 2: making people's land, when it turns out from the government's
12:02
Speaker 2: own information and records, what we have is a fence
12:04
Speaker 2: post here, a small piece of land there. But all
12:08
Speaker 2: those things are correctable and they're not to stop from
12:11
Speaker 2: actually creating the legislation that makes us equal to point
12:14
Speaker 2: pe Le, Jasper and Banff. Those are the things that
12:18
Speaker 2: take place with the law. And so with the minister's
12:22
Speaker 2: amendments that went to committee, the Liberals actually voted and
12:26
Speaker 2: determine the amendments were out of order themselves against themselves,
12:30
Speaker 2: so they were ruled out of order by the government's
12:33
Speaker 2: own team that the Minister had drafted with us. And
12:36
Speaker 2: so we've gone back to the table and have actively
12:38
Speaker 2: been working with the Minister. Toclude a different way in
12:40
Speaker 2: the Senate right now, so the bill's coming back in
12:42
Speaker 2: the Senate. It's exciting and what we're trying to do
12:46
Speaker 2: right now, and this is where the moment where we
12:47
Speaker 2: can actually get the best practices is fold the parks
12:51
Speaker 2: policy process around the legislation. So this way we get
12:55
Speaker 2: the legislation that's necessary to protect the five hundred and
12:58
Speaker 2: fifty endangered spieces, make it equal to that of Jasper
13:01
Speaker 2: and Bamff and other places like Point Peely, and then
13:04
Speaker 2: the policy stuff that can expand other types of usage
13:08
Speaker 2: in an urban park can then be brought to that.
13:10
Speaker 2: So that's why other communities have actually had problems with
13:14
Speaker 2: us as well too in terms of the policy. So
13:15
Speaker 2: we've had this announcement of these urban parks and there's
13:19
Speaker 2: not existing right now. Ours is the front runner. So
13:22
Speaker 2: that's kind of where we're at and it's actually exciting
13:24
Speaker 2: and we actually are working actively right now on those amendments.
13:27
Speaker 2: Two of them in particular, one focus on the little
13:30
Speaker 2: pieces of parcels of property that we have that we
13:32
Speaker 2: shouldn't have in the legislation, which always happens when you
13:35
Speaker 2: do this type of thing. And the second part is
13:37
Speaker 2: coming into force which allows the Minister and other issues
13:41
Speaker 2: like usages to continue and exist to be allowed, and
13:45
Speaker 2: those are the things that we are getting done.
13:47
Speaker 1: So I want to bring Eric's voice in, but just
13:50
Speaker 1: real quickly, it sounds like your concern is I mean,
13:52
Speaker 1: the folks you keep saying legislation, legislation Park Scanada Act.
13:55
Speaker 1: Sounds to me like the concern is that a future
13:57
Speaker 1: government could just go and scratch it out. No more
14:01
Speaker 1: urban park.
14:01
Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's why we've seen that before. And so
14:04
Speaker 2: I have support of not only just the House of
14:07
Speaker 2: Commons on this, but I also have Caldwell First Nations, Seapause,
14:12
Speaker 2: the City of Windsor, a series of environmental groups, organizations
14:16
Speaker 2: American elected Senate and Congress menders who have actually submitted
14:19
Speaker 2: letters of support to the Senate Committee all support legislation
14:24
Speaker 2: because that will also create the opportunity to build upon
14:27
Speaker 2: the park with permanency, so that guarantees that you're going
14:30
Speaker 2: to have third parties that will donate money and resources
14:33
Speaker 2: to actually help the park in the future and connected internationally.
14:37
Speaker 1: So Eric, I mean, I listen to what Brian's saying here,
14:41
Speaker 1: and it sounds, you know, like I think the legislative
14:43
Speaker 1: process makes sense. I would hate to see something be
14:46
Speaker 1: created and then you know, a future government goes, oh,
14:48
Speaker 1: well we don't like it. We're just going to go
14:49
Speaker 1: sell it all off and turn it into whatever. How
14:53
Speaker 1: do you respond to what your colleague is saying?
14:55
Speaker 3: Here? What I want to say, first and foremost, I
14:57
Speaker 3: think it's important to recognize the incredible work that Brian
15:01
Speaker 3: has done championing an Ojibway National Urban Park. He has
15:05
Speaker 3: been the outspoken advocate and champion for decades on this project,
15:11
Speaker 3: and I think that that needs to be recognized. At
15:14
Speaker 3: the same time, there's a lot of incredible local organizations
15:18
Speaker 3: that have also been pushing this project to protect Ojibwey
15:21
Speaker 3: from development and to build an Ojibway National Urban Park.
15:24
Speaker 3: And here I'm thinking about Friends of Ojibway Prairie I hear,
15:28
Speaker 3: I'm thinking about Uniform URCA, others other environmental other environmental groups.
15:36
Speaker 3: And so what's really important is our community is pushing together.
15:39
Speaker 3: We're united and wanting an Ojibway National Urban Park and
15:43
Speaker 3: and pushing together to get it done. I was proud
15:45
Speaker 3: to with our government to vote in support of Brian's
15:49
Speaker 3: Bill C two four eight when he came up for
15:51
Speaker 3: third reading in Parliament and it's now in front of
15:55
Speaker 3: the Senate, and of course the Senate is an independent
15:57
Speaker 3: body and they have questions and they have concerns about
16:00
Speaker 3: two four eight and things that, as Brian has mentioned,
16:03
Speaker 3: things that do need some fixing in that bill. And
16:05
Speaker 3: that's what the Senate is doing right now is working
16:07
Speaker 3: through that process. But that is an independent process of
16:12
Speaker 3: the members of Members of Parliament. What I can say
16:15
Speaker 3: is that what's exciting to know is when you look
16:19
Speaker 3: at when you look at the budget, this budget that
16:22
Speaker 3: was just tabled, there was in the four hundred pages
16:25
Speaker 3: of this budget there was one page that was dedicated
16:28
Speaker 3: to an Ojibway National Urban Park for Windsor and something
16:32
Speaker 3: that we had fought for over the last year and
16:34
Speaker 3: a half is to get funding to open and operate
16:37
Speaker 3: an Ojibwa National Urban Park and we did that. Forty
16:41
Speaker 3: million dollars was set aside in this federal budget for
16:45
Speaker 3: the creation for the opening and the operation of an
16:49
Speaker 3: Ojibway National Urban Park. This makes the park so real
16:54
Speaker 3: and so right now what Parks Canada is doing, and
16:57
Speaker 3: Parks Canada has been building parks for one hundred for
16:59
Speaker 3: a hundred years, they are the parks professionals and what
17:02
Speaker 3: they're doing behind the scenes is is doing the sort
17:05
Speaker 3: of spade work, the important sort of you know, the
17:09
Speaker 3: grunt work, as I would say, the unglorious work of
17:12
Speaker 3: working together with partners, assembling the land, determining what the
17:16
Speaker 3: boundaries are, getting the governance model and the management model
17:21
Speaker 3: in place, and something that is absolutely critical and vital,
17:26
Speaker 3: it's the most important thing is working together consulting with
17:32
Speaker 3: First Nations, with Caldwell, with Walpole Island, because not only
17:37
Speaker 3: does the federal government have a constitutional duty to consult
17:41
Speaker 3: with First Nations, but we want to do something special here,
17:45
Speaker 3: which is that First Nations will be co creators and
17:50
Speaker 3: co managers of an Ojubwe National Urban Park. And that's
17:54
Speaker 3: what's what's really exciting.
17:55
Speaker 1: But couldn't that be done through the legislative track as well?
17:58
Speaker 1: I guess you know, here's listen. I you're both coming
18:00
Speaker 1: at this wanting to get an urban park, and that's
18:03
Speaker 1: a great thing. We're all on board here with that.
18:05
Speaker 1: I guess my question though, is I got to agree
18:08
Speaker 1: a little bit with what Brian was saying that it
18:10
Speaker 1: does feel like this is trying to assemble something midstream
18:14
Speaker 1: rather than do it all at the outset, and I
18:17
Speaker 1: just I'm wondering, like, is it for electoral purposes to
18:20
Speaker 1: try to get it open as quick as possible and
18:22
Speaker 1: then dot the i's and cross the tea's later on, Eric?
18:25
Speaker 1: Or is it like is this a new approach? Like,
18:28
Speaker 1: I just, why is this different than you know, what
18:31
Speaker 1: we say at Passover? Why is this night different from
18:34
Speaker 1: all other knights and the Jewish religion? Why is this
18:37
Speaker 1: process different than all other process So it's a good question.
18:40
Speaker 3: And again what I would say is what Parks Canada
18:42
Speaker 3: is doing right now is the nuts and bolts of
18:44
Speaker 3: the park so that you have more than just a
18:47
Speaker 3: sign at Ojubwey, you actually have a fully functioning part
18:51
Speaker 3: And in order for that to happen, you need to
18:53
Speaker 3: bring partners together to assemble the land. You need to
18:56
Speaker 3: come up with a million you've never gotten.
18:58
Speaker 2: So the best analogy if we can do for this
19:01
Speaker 2: a particular moment is relevant to yesterday. Yes, we could
19:04
Speaker 2: have had a border crossing, We could have had the DRTP,
19:07
Speaker 2: and we could have had Omer's ram trucks down the
19:09
Speaker 2: city of Windsor, and we would have had the expressway
19:12
Speaker 2: as a truck route and so forth. We could have
19:14
Speaker 2: allowed Matty Maroon the Maroon family to twin the Ambassador
19:16
Speaker 2: Bridge and had devastating effects. Instead, we got a Gordi
19:19
Speaker 2: Howe international public crossing that even at some point some
19:23
Speaker 2: journalists used to call and make fun of it, saying
19:25
Speaker 2: it was my pipe dream. And this is the difference
19:28
Speaker 2: of what we're talking about here at Servan Park. Making
19:30
Speaker 2: it law and legislation will give us the best practices possible.
19:34
Speaker 2: And all the things that have been mentioned are the
19:36
Speaker 2: partners that we have who have the land, and that
19:39
Speaker 2: land has already in public use. It should be easier.
19:52
Speaker 2: Join the conversation The Dan McDonald Show with guest host
19:57
Speaker 2: John Lidkey on AM eight hundred Let's talk.
20:05
Speaker 1: Hey, We're back, John le here on AM eight hundred
20:08
Speaker 1: CKLW keeping the roundtable going with Windsor to Coomcy Member
20:11
Speaker 1: of Parliament Eric Kuzmerchuk and Windsor West Member of Parliament
20:15
Speaker 1: Brian Massey. Things got a little bit spicy there when
20:17
Speaker 1: we were talking about Ojibwe National Urban Park. I told
20:20
Speaker 1: you we would get to some spice. I still think
20:23
Speaker 1: you guys could have come to blows and we could
20:25
Speaker 1: have had some great radio and television but we're not
20:28
Speaker 1: quite the board yet, not yet. I want to talk, though,
20:32
Speaker 1: in all seriousness, about the sentiment of the country and
20:36
Speaker 1: where we're at right now politically. Fractures, polarized, divided politics
20:41
Speaker 1: from the US seeps across the border, and there's no
20:44
Speaker 1: way to really stop that. And of course they're in
20:46
Speaker 1: a really tough place right now. You just had an
20:48
Speaker 1: assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, and we heard
20:52
Speaker 1: from former Minister of the Environment McKenna saying that she
20:57
Speaker 1: doesn't think that things are safe for members of Parliament
21:00
Speaker 1: right now. I had read a piece saying that she
21:02
Speaker 1: thought there needs to be a dedicated organization like the
21:05
Speaker 1: Secret Service to protect our elected officials here in the country,
21:10
Speaker 1: and I had just mentioned Brian, I had drove by
21:11
Speaker 1: your office a couple days ago and there was a
21:13
Speaker 1: gentleman who was outside who by all accounts looked upset,
21:17
Speaker 1: and he was there for a good hour. I drove by,
21:19
Speaker 1: and then when I came back he was still there.
21:21
Speaker 1: I think too, you've had some protests outside of your
21:25
Speaker 1: office as well. Things are getting heated. Protest is great,
21:29
Speaker 1: there's nothing wrong with that, Like come out and let
21:32
Speaker 1: people know what your views are. It's the security thing,
21:35
Speaker 1: and you had just said something to me in regards
21:37
Speaker 1: to security budgets for members of Parliament.
21:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, we now can pull from our budget for security,
21:44
Speaker 2: which is not good because first of all, we've had
21:46
Speaker 2: a reputation of not having to do those types of things,
21:49
Speaker 2: which Gut says, more access to the public and it's
21:52
Speaker 2: important to do so for hearing even when people do
21:56
Speaker 2: have a different opinion that if it's done in the
21:57
Speaker 2: right way, that's fine. Because you mentioned about the protests
22:01
Speaker 2: in front of my office. People are protesting Trudeau. I'm
22:04
Speaker 2: on the Orange team.
22:05
Speaker 1: That's why I was. I was confused. I was like,
22:07
Speaker 1: go to Eric's office, he's right there.
22:09
Speaker 2: But if it's done sorry, yeah, yeah, No, I wasn't
22:11
Speaker 2: passing out like directions and we don't. We don't mind that.
22:16
Speaker 2: We don't whatever it is. It can be whatever issue
22:19
Speaker 2: as long AS's done respectfully. And sometimes we eve in
22:21
Speaker 2: the past brought out water and other things for people
22:25
Speaker 2: are access to whatever. But there has been I think
22:28
Speaker 2: it's the rise of some of the social media people.
22:30
Speaker 2: It's interesting we'll say things and do things on social
22:32
Speaker 2: media that they would never, you know, maybe do in
22:35
Speaker 2: front of you or would want their workplace to know,
22:38
Speaker 2: or their other loved ones in their lives to know.
22:41
Speaker 2: And you know, all that can be screenshot and so
22:43
Speaker 2: forth and thrown back to the person, So it's it's
22:45
Speaker 2: always there, it's never off.
22:47
Speaker 1: I thought there was a divide for a while between
22:50
Speaker 1: like the the bs that people do online quite frankly,
22:54
Speaker 1: to real life, but it seems like it's trickling through
22:56
Speaker 1: now it has.
22:57
Speaker 2: I'll just wrap up by saying this is that. I mean,
22:59
Speaker 2: I just hope that you know, like I was in Columbus,
23:01
Speaker 2: Ohio working with Senate and congress menombers as well too
23:04
Speaker 2: from the state level, and you find the people of
23:06
Speaker 2: different political persuasions that are all still trying to work together,
23:09
Speaker 2: and there's more of that. So sometimes that doesn't get
23:11
Speaker 2: the attention, but it is out there and there is
23:13
Speaker 2: a cognizant approach, and albeit the national state legislature in
23:16
Speaker 2: Louisville doing the same thing. So you meet your colleagues,
23:20
Speaker 2: and I do that routinely in the House of Commons
23:22
Speaker 2: at my committee, we do extra So sometimes it doesn't
23:27
Speaker 2: get the play that it should, but we really need
23:30
Speaker 2: to be careful with our democracy. If anybody's got a
23:32
Speaker 2: better model, I'd like to see it, but this one,
23:34
Speaker 2: you know, we need to work on and make it
23:35
Speaker 2: stronger and better. But it's what we have and we
23:40
Speaker 2: need to respect it.
23:41
Speaker 1: Worst form of government there is, but it's the best
23:43
Speaker 1: one that we've ever had. Quite frankly, gets frustrating sometimes. Hey, Eric,
23:47
Speaker 1: you know, look, we've got an issue right now, of
23:50
Speaker 1: course in the Middle East between Israel and Gaza, and
23:52
Speaker 1: that's causing a lot of tensions to flare. And I think,
23:55
Speaker 1: you know again, debate is great, having protest is great.
23:58
Speaker 1: It's what makes us a great country. Again, it's that
24:01
Speaker 1: line that gets crossed over. And one of your colleagues,
24:04
Speaker 1: minister Miller, just saw some pretty awful, awful I don't
24:08
Speaker 1: even want to call it vandalism because it crossed a line.
24:12
Speaker 1: Tell us what happened, and I just I want to
24:15
Speaker 1: know what it's like to be part of a government
24:17
Speaker 1: that is on the receiving end of such hateful not
24:21
Speaker 1: just rhetoric but acts these days.
24:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, Minister Miller's constituency office was vandalized, spray painted
24:28
Speaker 3: windows were smashed.
24:29
Speaker 1: In and you know this is called a baby killer.
24:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it was vile, and you can imagine
24:38
Speaker 3: what his staff must feel like after something like that.
24:41
Speaker 3: I mean, you have to understand there's folks working there
24:44
Speaker 3: that come there and they work in that office and
24:46
Speaker 3: they serve the community, and now they have that fear
24:49
Speaker 3: and that intimidation in the back of their minds. And
24:51
Speaker 3: so it has an impact. And what it does as well, too,
24:54
Speaker 3: is it actually pushes good people away from public service,
24:57
Speaker 3: and it pushes good people away from working a instituency
25:00
Speaker 3: office to help their communities. This is a huge issue.
25:03
Speaker 3: And that's just one example, but there are other examples,
25:07
Speaker 3: other colleagues of mind across the aisle that have had
25:10
Speaker 3: their offices uh vandalized, windows broken, and even uh and
25:16
Speaker 3: even burned, uh you know, burned firebomb. And this is serious.
25:21
Speaker 3: This is this is so far out of hand where
25:23
Speaker 3: we at and and you're saying, you know, you know,
25:26
Speaker 3: the sergeant at arms talks to us and says that
25:29
Speaker 3: that that they are concerned, as office is concerned. You know,
25:32
Speaker 3: we've gone from you know, dozens of issues per year
25:35
Speaker 3: in terms of uh, you know, online harassment and things
25:38
Speaker 3: like that, to hundreds per year. And so it has
25:43
Speaker 3: an impact, and it pushes good people away from from
25:47
Speaker 3: public service and serving their country. And you see that
25:50
Speaker 3: at a at a political level, but we're seeing something
25:53
Speaker 3: really dark. Uh, there are dark forces out there that
25:57
Speaker 3: are fomenting anger and fear and rage and this sort
26:02
Speaker 3: of violence. It goes beyond protest. Protest is Canadian as
26:07
Speaker 3: maple syrup. It's part of our DNA, it's what makes
26:09
Speaker 3: us a great country. It's part of our freedom and
26:12
Speaker 3: our democracy. But this is spilling into something dark and dangerous.
26:18
Speaker 3: And so we're seeing that and we're not only seeing
26:19
Speaker 3: that at a political level, but we're seeing it as
26:22
Speaker 3: well too. When you see, for example, Jewish businesses and
26:25
Speaker 3: you see Jewish homes being being protested and being attacked,
26:30
Speaker 3: synagogues being attacked, same thing with mosques that are attacked.
26:33
Speaker 3: You see the family at Cell family in London that
26:37
Speaker 3: was that was hit by the car, targeted exactly murdered
26:42
Speaker 3: by the vehicle. There is a darkness out there, and
26:46
Speaker 3: again we need to confront it. We need to confront
26:49
Speaker 3: all violence and all intimidation, all harassment. And I think
26:53
Speaker 3: that's when when good people rise up and say enough
26:56
Speaker 3: is enough, and we will not stand here and let
26:59
Speaker 3: fear and anger be fomented by forces, and let's be
27:03
Speaker 3: frank some elected officials and community leaders, good people need
27:08
Speaker 3: to stand up and say no more.
27:11
Speaker 1: No more. You know, I'm not at the point where
27:12
Speaker 1: I'm going to say that this is not Canada, because
27:15
Speaker 1: I think that this is Canada right now, quite frankly,
27:18
Speaker 1: and this is who we are. And if we want
27:20
Speaker 1: things to go back to what Canada was, you know,
27:22
Speaker 1: people do say like, this is not who we are.
27:24
Speaker 1: If we don't want it to be, then we have
27:26
Speaker 1: to make that collective choice that this is not who
27:28
Speaker 1: we are, because otherwise this is who we are and
27:32
Speaker 1: it could get worse. We'll come back to this just
27:34
Speaker 1: in a quick sec I got to take a break
27:35
Speaker 1: right here. Nine forty one. John Lydkey hosting the Dan
27:38
Speaker 1: McDonald Show on i AM eight hundred CKLW. This roundtable joined
27:41
Speaker 1: by Win's Or to Compcy Member of Parliament Eric Who's
27:43
Speaker 1: Merechrik and Win's Or West Member of Parliament Brian Massey.
27:46
Speaker 1: We're back right after this. Hey, We're back, John Lidkey
28:01
Speaker 1: here on AMA eight hundred. It is the roundtable joined
28:04
Speaker 1: by our members of Parliament for Windsor West and Windsor
28:06
Speaker 1: to come see Brian Massey and Eric who's Mary Check respectively,
28:08
Speaker 1: And we did put out an invitation to Essex Member
28:11
Speaker 1: of Parliament Chris Lewis, who unfortunately did not get back
28:15
Speaker 1: to us. But the invitations always open. Feel free to
28:17
Speaker 1: call in five one nine seven nine two. C Kow
28:19
Speaker 1: will try to squeeze you. In the last couple of
28:21
Speaker 1: minutes here, Brian, we were talking about where we are
28:23
Speaker 1: at as a society as a country. Last thing that
28:27
Speaker 1: I had said was, you know, people say this isn't Canada,
28:30
Speaker 1: and I was saying that this is Canada unless we
28:32
Speaker 1: want it not to be. You wanted to just pick
28:34
Speaker 1: up about where we've been in the past.
28:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I just want to like the challenges in
28:40
Speaker 2: front of us, for sure, but there's also good people
28:42
Speaker 2: standing up. But we have to remember that we have
28:44
Speaker 2: had challenges in our society before that We've had to
28:46
Speaker 2: correct whether on first nations, whether it being apologies for
28:50
Speaker 2: internment of different citizens. We still have women that are
28:54
Speaker 2: you know, not receiving the same amount of money as
28:56
Speaker 2: men in same occupations, and we've had domestic violence and
29:01
Speaker 2: so forth. So we have challenges as a society in general.
29:03
Speaker 2: So it's all of us to continue to work on
29:05
Speaker 2: these things. Maybe some of the political stuff is a
29:07
Speaker 2: little bit more emboldened right now, but that's up for people,
29:10
Speaker 2: and we've had magnificent responses in the past, and it's
29:13
Speaker 2: our communities, our societies, and I just think though, we
29:16
Speaker 2: have to remember is that we are always going to
29:19
Speaker 2: be in a state of flux to try to bring
29:21
Speaker 2: social justice home for everyone. But this one in particular
29:27
Speaker 2: is important for people to be able to freely express
29:30
Speaker 2: themselves and feel comfortable and safe to do so.
29:32
Speaker 1: We live in a society. Time marches forward and progresses on,
29:36
Speaker 1: and hopefully we progress as a society as well, rather
29:40
Speaker 1: than regressing into some of our darker ways that we've
29:43
Speaker 1: seen before. Seemed to be in a little bit of
29:45
Speaker 1: a dark patch right now. I hope that we can
29:46
Speaker 1: find our way out of it. We were talking about though,
29:49
Speaker 1: you know politicians who fan the flames a little bit,
29:52
Speaker 1: who maybe don't give into the better angels, but rather
29:55
Speaker 1: a more willing to go pick up a wooden spoon
29:57
Speaker 1: and stir the pot, so to speak, even though quite
29:59
Speaker 1: frankly that's role. That's what I try to do here,
30:01
Speaker 1: Thank you very much. One of those people and you know,
30:04
Speaker 1: I don't think that I would take any flak for saying,
30:06
Speaker 1: this is the leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Pulyiev,
30:08
Speaker 1: who is you know, Listen, he's going out of his
30:11
Speaker 1: way picking fights, picking fights with Canada's institutions, picking fights
30:14
Speaker 1: with the media, picking fights with the Prime minister and
30:17
Speaker 1: with other members of parliament. And listen, he's opposition, and
30:21
Speaker 1: that's kind of what the role is intended to do,
30:24
Speaker 1: is oppose. You're not there to say everything is great
30:26
Speaker 1: and roses, but it does feel like things are a
30:29
Speaker 1: little bit more different, a little bit more personal. And
30:31
Speaker 1: he was in our backyard yesterday. I noticed that I
30:34
Speaker 1: didn't get an invitation to go out to the events
30:36
Speaker 1: that he was holding there. And I went through my
30:38
Speaker 1: email inbox to see if I had missed it in spam.
30:40
Speaker 1: I did not, So if you are on his advanced team,
30:43
Speaker 1: make sure I get a phone call next time. But Eric,
30:45
Speaker 1: I wonder, you know, when you see how this opposition
30:49
Speaker 1: leader who is quote running for prime minister and what
30:53
Speaker 1: he's doing, I wonder what your thoughts are about his strategies.
30:57
Speaker 3: Well, you know, first and foremost, I go back to
31:00
Speaker 3: you know, I watched President Biden's speech. I listened to
31:03
Speaker 3: President Biden's speech yesterday to the Nation, addressed to the
31:07
Speaker 3: nation that he talked about, you know, does character still
31:10
Speaker 3: matter in our elected officials? And I would say that
31:14
Speaker 3: resolutely Canadians and Americans believe the character does matter. I
31:17
Speaker 3: think it's absolutely critical. And you want leadership that unites,
31:20
Speaker 3: that brings people together as opposed to stoking a fear
31:24
Speaker 3: and division and and anger. You know, I'm actually, you know,
31:29
Speaker 3: I'm glad Pierre came to Winsor, Essex because I think
31:32
Speaker 3: it served as a reminder for our community of where
31:35
Speaker 3: we were nine years ago when the Conservative government was
31:40
Speaker 3: in power, and when he was in government as a
31:43
Speaker 3: cabinet minister. You had three hundred thousand manufacturing jobs lost
31:48
Speaker 3: in Canada when the Conservatives were in power. You had
31:52
Speaker 3: manufacturing facilities, factories closing, left, right and center. The auto
31:56
Speaker 3: sector was on its knees under a Conservative government. And
32:01
Speaker 3: here in Windsor, Essex, not only did we have an
32:04
Speaker 3: incredibly high unemployment rate. I mean for young people, it
32:07
Speaker 3: was in the high twenties was the unemployment rate. But
32:10
Speaker 3: you had young people leaving our community to go to
32:13
Speaker 3: Alberta because there were no jobs here. Our city was
32:18
Speaker 3: actually shrinking in population. We remember the boarded up offices
32:23
Speaker 3: and businesses downtown. Look at where we are today, a
32:27
Speaker 3: brand new bridge, a brand new battery plant, thousands of
32:32
Speaker 3: jobs here. You've got a thousand people moving here to
32:35
Speaker 3: this community every month because there's optimism here, there's jobs
32:40
Speaker 3: being created, and you're seeing this community modernize and rise up.
32:45
Speaker 3: And so I think him being here just reminds us
32:49
Speaker 3: where we were under a conservative government and it was
32:52
Speaker 3: not a good place. And I know Brian's going to
32:54
Speaker 3: talk about this as well too. I know he visited
32:56
Speaker 3: some of the legion holes. Well. Under the Conservatives, they
33:00
Speaker 3: closed veterans affairs offices, including a veteran's affairs office here
33:05
Speaker 3: in Windsor that I know Brian fought tooth and nail
33:09
Speaker 3: to bring back. I believe it was in twenty seventeen,
33:12
Speaker 3: and I know that Brian's going to talk about it.
33:14
Speaker 3: So the Conservatives were closing veterans offices, they were almost
33:19
Speaker 3: defunding the military and our defense it was less than
33:23
Speaker 3: one percent, and so I think it's an important reminder
33:26
Speaker 3: of where we were under a conservative government and it
33:28
Speaker 3: was not a good place because they cut and they
33:31
Speaker 3: surely didn't invest in communities like ours.
33:34
Speaker 1: So he serves as sort of a portrait into a
33:37
Speaker 1: window of the past. Is what you're saying. We don't
33:39
Speaker 1: want to go back, Brian, What do you think I mean?
33:40
Speaker 1: You have the conservative opposition leader here in your own backyard.
33:44
Speaker 1: Did you get a phone call?
33:45
Speaker 2: No, I was, you know, I was curious as to
33:50
Speaker 2: you know, they had a thing at the Legion. It
33:51
Speaker 2: was pretty hard to watch that because what we sometimes
33:56
Speaker 2: forget is Windsor's always come to the forefront with people
34:00
Speaker 2: serving in the Armed Service. We have a history of
34:02
Speaker 2: that going back to the foundations of this community for
34:05
Speaker 2: over three hundred years and includes the most relevant conflicts
34:09
Speaker 2: and wars that we've been part of. In fact, we've
34:11
Speaker 2: also been a recruitment zone. I remember being the MP
34:14
Speaker 2: with high unemployment my riding when the government took out
34:17
Speaker 2: ads to recruit people on billboards to go join. In fact,
34:20
Speaker 2: they closed our recruitment office as well as the veterans office.
34:23
Speaker 2: They actually closed the recruitment office as well. It used
34:25
Speaker 2: to be on University Avenue if you remember. And for
34:29
Speaker 2: them to close our veterans office after recruiting so many
34:32
Speaker 2: men and women for us that serve and also having
34:35
Speaker 2: our Vietnam veterans that are in this community. We have
34:39
Speaker 2: a lot of Canadians. Three thousand Canadians served in the
34:41
Speaker 2: Vietnam War and they also are veterans contributing back to
34:48
Speaker 2: the infrastructure here. So it was hard to watch that
34:50
Speaker 2: type of stuff.
34:51
Speaker 3: You know.
34:52
Speaker 2: The interesting thing about Parliament is that, I mean, yes,
34:55
Speaker 2: I mean we take some criticism at times. We're doing
34:57
Speaker 2: a deal with the government of the day, being the
34:59
Speaker 2: Liberal Party. We have a written agreement that's we're on paper,
35:02
Speaker 2: and we agree on some things, we disagree on others,
35:05
Speaker 2: and we just move on from once to the x.
35:06
Speaker 2: We've gotten dental care of pharmacare other things like that,
35:09
Speaker 2: and we've agreed on other things. We fight over, but
35:11
Speaker 2: we do so in a way that's constructive. What people
35:14
Speaker 2: forget is that I was around when, you know, basically
35:17
Speaker 2: when the Conservatives were doing their leadership changes, they just
35:19
Speaker 2: didn't even send people into vote to turn down the
35:22
Speaker 2: government or switch the government because they were switching leaders
35:24
Speaker 2: They went from Andrew Scheer to Aaron O'Toole and to
35:28
Speaker 2: Peer Polyev and during that time they just didn't send
35:30
Speaker 2: the numbers and to bring down the government. So it's
35:32
Speaker 2: a lot of bluster when you sit there and watch
35:33
Speaker 2: them talk about that, and then you have the block QUEBECUAH,
35:36
Speaker 2: which actually could either support or not support a government
35:38
Speaker 2: get nothing. What we've chosen to do is try to
35:40
Speaker 2: get stuff done. Other countries are bypassing us, and so
35:44
Speaker 2: we need to make parliament work the best we can.
35:46
Speaker 2: And that's part of being an opposition member. It is, yes,
35:48
Speaker 2: to hold the government to account whoever that is, but
35:50
Speaker 2: it's also to make our parliament work because if we
35:52
Speaker 2: don't do it, who the heck else is going to
35:53
Speaker 2: do that? And you look at windsor Ins's County, our
35:56
Speaker 2: dental care we're getting now for kids. We have some
35:58
Speaker 2: of the highest child poverty and care at ITA here.
36:01
Speaker 2: That's huge. So I prefer to look at positive politics. Still,
36:05
Speaker 2: I'll fight when I have to fight and do those things,
36:07
Speaker 2: but I'll work with anybody anywhere to get stuff done
36:10
Speaker 2: for my community. If I get sixty seventy percent, I
36:12
Speaker 2: can live with that if there's a compromise, But just
36:14
Speaker 2: to be outraged, to get up in the morning to
36:16
Speaker 2: try to take the government down or to hurt the country.
36:19
Speaker 2: That's the wrong way to approach it. As an MP.
36:21
Speaker 2: In my opinion, I don't get up every day angry
36:23
Speaker 2: at my government. I get up every day to try
36:25
Speaker 2: to get something for my community and for my country,
36:27
Speaker 2: right And that's where I think we need to go.
36:29
Speaker 1: Well, you're a better man than me, because I wake
36:31
Speaker 1: up every day and I do get mad at my
36:32
Speaker 1: government quite frankly sometimes the lot of you, Eric, I
36:37
Speaker 1: know you want to respond to this.
36:38
Speaker 3: I know, I just want to say I agree with
36:39
Speaker 3: what Brian said. And you know what, whether we're orange,
36:42
Speaker 3: red or blue, we all play for the same home
36:44
Speaker 3: team here with' you know, we want the best for
36:46
Speaker 3: our community. And here's the thing. You know, Brian and
36:49
Speaker 3: I are working together Liberal NDP to deliver things like
36:52
Speaker 3: dental care. Two hundred and fifty thousand seniors and kids
36:55
Speaker 3: for the first time have had dental care, pharmacare so
36:58
Speaker 3: that folks are able to get their insulin and their
37:02
Speaker 3: pumps to be able to manage their their diabetes, National
37:06
Speaker 3: school food program that's kind of lift so many kids
37:09
Speaker 3: in this community, and make sure that no kid goes
37:13
Speaker 3: to school on an empty stomach. These are real things
37:15
Speaker 3: that Brian and I stood up in the House of
37:17
Speaker 3: Common and voted together on the Conservatives voted against every
37:21
Speaker 3: single one of those measures. So who do you want?
37:24
Speaker 3: Do you want, you know, do you want a member
37:26
Speaker 3: of Parliament like Brian and myself Liberal NDP working together
37:29
Speaker 3: constructively to bring good things to this community, to help
37:33
Speaker 3: lift people up. Or do you want, you know, someone
37:36
Speaker 3: like Pierre Pauliev and some of those folks voting against
37:39
Speaker 3: dental care, against pharmacare, against a national school food program
37:43
Speaker 3: and not supporting the electric battery plant here in Windsor
37:47
Speaker 3: that's bringing five thousand jobs to this community. It's all about,
37:50
Speaker 3: you know. Constructive criticism is okay, having great debates is okay.
37:54
Speaker 3: But standing in the way of programs that lift people
37:57
Speaker 3: up and lift communities up, I'll never agree to that.
38:00
Speaker 1: Well, there's no doubt that the supplying Confidence agreement that
38:02
Speaker 1: the Liberals and the NDP have has yielded significant results
38:06
Speaker 1: that would I don't think have occurred if the agreement hadn't.
38:11
Speaker 2: We don't have another election. We could have had another,
38:13
Speaker 2: you know, and the other time.
38:15
Speaker 1: Don't even say that word.
38:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I know we're going to have one, but
38:17
Speaker 2: I mean the other thing too. I've seen it before
38:19
Speaker 2: where if you know, the minority parliament can become a
38:22
Speaker 2: majority if they don't get some rules in front of them,
38:24
Speaker 2: because at a different points in time, the opposition may
38:27
Speaker 2: not agree when to trigger an election. So I've been
38:29
Speaker 2: through that scenario as well too, So you get nothing.
38:31
Speaker 2: So what we got is, you know, some stuff that
38:34
Speaker 2: we all kind of decided we could compromise on and
38:36
Speaker 2: have some political stability, and I think we've taken advantage
38:39
Speaker 2: of that where other countries have been falling. Will you
38:41
Speaker 2: look at what's going on with the United States and
38:43
Speaker 2: the mess that they're under. You know's it's crazy and
38:45
Speaker 2: it's funny. Yesterday it's really one quick one And this
38:49
Speaker 2: is what's different this last fall, the Conservative voted against
38:53
Speaker 2: every single budgetary measure just to try to delay Parliament
38:56
Speaker 2: from recessing. They could have voted one way or the
38:58
Speaker 2: other on all those one hundred something votes. They actually
39:00
Speaker 2: voted against completing the Gordy how Bridge. They create a
39:03
Speaker 2: special process to vote against the last hundreds of millions
39:07
Speaker 2: of dollars to actually complete the bridge. It would have
39:09
Speaker 2: been the most expensive viewing platform on the Canada US side,
39:13
Speaker 2: But that was because they were blinded by ideology, not
39:15
Speaker 2: by clean thinking. And that's what we got to get to,
39:18
Speaker 2: in my opinion, regardless of who we are. And I
39:20
Speaker 2: look for all those people, for all political parties, and
39:23
Speaker 2: that's where we got to get to because we can
39:25
Speaker 2: use that to our advantage. We can use that advantage
39:27
Speaker 2: to compete in the world. But it takes work.
39:29
Speaker 1: Well, working together. There's nothing wrong with that. I want
39:32
Speaker 1: to take this last little bit here. Of course, you're
39:34
Speaker 1: just looking across the border. You're talking about the bridge.
39:36
Speaker 1: A pretty big head to head coming up between. It
39:38
Speaker 1: looks like VP Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
39:41
Speaker 1: Who are you voting for? Eric if you had the chance?
39:43
Speaker 3: Well, you know what, Brian and I actually had a
39:46
Speaker 3: dinner last night with the US Ambassador David Cohen, So,
39:49
Speaker 3: the US Ambassador to Canada at a lovely Nico's restaurant
39:54
Speaker 3: in Windsor and Brian's ward yet again invitation. Yeah, and
40:00
Speaker 3: I you know what, we talked about it and we said,
40:03
Speaker 3: you know what, whatever the the Americans will decide, we're
40:06
Speaker 3: ready to work with uh, with whoever will be there
40:09
Speaker 3: at the end of the day. And we were there,
40:11
Speaker 3: and when when when President Trump was was in office,
40:14
Speaker 3: we were working closely with obviously President Biden. We will
40:17
Speaker 3: work with whoever the Americans decide to put in that
40:20
Speaker 3: big chair.
40:20
Speaker 1: Who are you voting for, Brian?
40:21
Speaker 2: If you could, oh, well, I'm not voting for Trump.
40:25
Speaker 1: There you go the answer. You did it.
40:27
Speaker 2: But you know what, it is really up for the
40:28
Speaker 2: American people, and we I just work with everybody, even
40:31
Speaker 2: over there. It's amazing. You'll find allies like a mine.
40:33
Speaker 2: I've found even Republicans that are supporting my campaign to
40:36
Speaker 2: stop nuclear waste on the Great Lakes to be stored.
40:39
Speaker 2: So you just have to find your allies out there.
40:42
Speaker 2: And you've got to remember some Democrats can also be
40:44
Speaker 2: very protectionism with regards to the party. So when I've
40:47
Speaker 2: got good friends there that I've met with over the years,
40:49
Speaker 2: like Bernie Sanders and others, and of course Racheta is
40:51
Speaker 2: to leave across the water and Gary Peters and so forth.
40:54
Speaker 2: But it really breaks down to policy, So be ready,
40:57
Speaker 2: just develop your personal relationships with them, and and often
41:00
Speaker 2: you know, what you see in the news may not
41:02
Speaker 2: be the real thing going on behind the scenes, because
41:04
Speaker 2: people do care about our countries.
41:06
Speaker 1: Well, there's one President, there's the Cabinet, and then there's
41:09
Speaker 1: in total, what five hundred and thirty eight elected roles
41:12
Speaker 1: or appointed roles. That all are the higher functioning levels
41:16
Speaker 1: of the US government. So you don't have to just
41:18
Speaker 1: set your sites at one. You could look at five
41:20
Speaker 1: hundred and thirty seven other ones to go to. I
41:23
Speaker 1: guess you know it's interesting. I'm also gonna be speaking
41:25
Speaker 1: later on the show at ten thirty with former US
41:27
Speaker 1: Ambassador to Canada Bruce Hayman about sort of these issues
41:31
Speaker 1: as well. I want to thank both of you for
41:33
Speaker 1: joining me in studio again. I tried to get you
41:35
Speaker 1: to butt heads a little bit. We got a little
41:36
Speaker 1: close sometimes, but honestly, the conciliatory relationship that the two
41:41
Speaker 1: of you demonstrate and being able to yield results for
41:44
Speaker 1: Windsor is a really important thing. Eric.
41:46
Speaker 3: I'm a Lafs fan, he's a Bruins fan. Let's talk hockey.
41:49
Speaker 3: You'll get some fisticuffs for sure.
41:50
Speaker 1: Well, there you go. We'll keep you both for the
41:52
Speaker 1: next segment. We'll go full half hour on that one,
41:54
Speaker 1: which we could hey a member of Parliament for Windsor
41:57
Speaker 1: to come see Eric because Marchick, thank you so much.
41:59
Speaker 1: For your time and Member of Parliament for Windsor West
42:02
Speaker 1: Bryan Massey, thank you so much, thanks for having me