Latest / Kvetch & Release / 610 CKTB | $30-Million Dollar Gravy Plane

Transcript

610 CKTB | $30-Million Dollar Gravy Plane · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, The big news back on Friday morning was the
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: fact that Premier doug Ford, well he wasn't purchasing it.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: He was using our tax dollars to purchase a used
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: private jet at the cost of well close to thirty
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: million bucks. And by Sunday morning doug Ford said, you know,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I'm hearing all the complaints. We're gonna sell it. John
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Letke has just written a piece for it from the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: site covection release and he's with me here. Good morning John,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Good morning Jane. Well in your piece you're write that, well,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a gravy train runs on steam, a gravy plane runs
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: on high octane hypocrisy. You know, doug Ford really did
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: build his entire political brand John, being a champion of
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: the little guy to stop the gravy train. Then all
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: of a sudden this jet comes along. Now not everybody
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: thinks it should be sold. We'll talk to Brian Lilly
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: after the ten o'clock news from the Sun. But fundamentally,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: how to imaging is for the premiere considering his popularity
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: points have been going down a little bit, but the
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: guy keeps just getting elected.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: Well, this should be beyond damaging. This should be brand corroding.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: Doug Ford didn't get elected because he was some high
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: minded policy wont he was the guy who drove around
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: in a minivan or a pickup truck with a Tim
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Morton's gup permanently fused the console. But when the everyman
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: starts leafing through glossy brochures for thirty million dollars leather
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: bound sky palaces while constituents are doing grocery store maps,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: standing on the aisles, or looking at the gas pumps
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: trying to figure out how to pay the bills, that
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: image shatters. You can't posture as the little guy's hero
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: while auditioning for the aviation Elite. If a gravy train,
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: as I said, runs on steam in this case, though
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the plane is running on the sheer audacity of thinking
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: that Ontarians wouldn't notice the altitude difference between the kitchen
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: table and the cabin.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: The government or doug Ford at least blinks over the
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: weekend within forty eight hours of everybody finding out that
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: just Jet was a purchase. But to point out in
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: your article this reversal, it's it's not going to free,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: it's gonna cost taxpayers some money.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, if this purchase went through the way that it
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: looks like this is a stupid tax gene, plain and simple, simple.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: This is probably six or seven million dollars of taxpayer
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: money essentially vaporized to buy their way out of a
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: forty eight hour news cycle before Monday morning newspapers hit
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: this isn't fiscal conservatism, this is partisan panic. But if
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: the PC Party wants to play prices right with public
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: funds and then lose, they should be the ones to
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: cut the check that money should be coming out of
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: the PC Party to reimburse taxpayers because of Premier Ford
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: stage fright.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Interesting. You also, now this is a bit of a scratch,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: but you can explain this one. You also suggest this
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: might have been a calculated move. What do you mean
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: by that, Well, you know.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: It's a little bit of a symp of the Queen's
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Park bubble here. They have been doing so much to
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: try to shield themselves from transparency. They've brought a lot
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: of attention onto themselves as well. And there is an
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: aviation tracker on social media who says, look, this plane
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: looks like it was purchased and it was delivered on
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: a certain date, and he's done a bunch of back
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: research into the tail numbers, and he says, I don't
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: really think that the government's actually bought this plane. I
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: think that this just might be a story in itself
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: to show that they're walking back from a thirty million
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: dollar purchase, to show that they actually saved money thereby
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: being able to justify the savings to be put towards
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: maybe just renting or leasing a plane or chartering it. Again.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: We're getting an inside baseball with this. But the point
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: of the matter is is that we don't know because
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: the Queen's Park bubble is being insulated from the public
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: because Doug Ford doesn't want us to know. That's why
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: they're limiting hearings on foyas and trying to limit his
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: cell phone records. Are we even going to know who's
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: in an airplane? Gene?
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Come on, yeah, you make a very good point there. Now.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: That's the thing though, Towards the end of your article,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: you drop a massive curveball. After tailing the government to
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: tearing the government apart, you actually say I'm not actually
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: arguing against the jet, So are you a pro jet
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: or anti jet?
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: Alex. I'm sorry about the switchboard right now, I know
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: it's probably lighting up. But let's be honest, Geen, Ontario
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: is one and a half times the size of Texas.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Where the engine of the Federation. When the Premier has
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: to fly to DC to strip are down Trump tariffs
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: and fight his economic envoys, he shouldn't be trying to
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: puddle jump from state to state to get there in
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: case of inclement weather. So listen, we deserve to have
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: a plane that functions. This is why twenty four Sussex,
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: quite frank frankly is still a rotting ruin in this
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: country too. We like to make spectacles out of things.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I'm not against purchasing the jet, using the jet, I'm
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: against the games that have been played. Just come out
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: own the decision and move on. Yeah.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Well, you know when I first heard about this and
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: we broke it on Volitis on the News Early edition
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Friday at nine oh five, the only thing I could
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: think about was, isn't this the same premier who wants
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: jets to land at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto, which
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: is only a ten minute drive away from Queen's Park.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: Hmm, yeah, I know, Gene. It's almost like one might
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: directly have to do with the other, and this is
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: what's so frustrating about this for a keen political observers
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: as well, is you look to what the Premier Ford
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: is doing. There's not one decision that's been made that
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: could affect the Toronto Skyline in one shape or another
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: that he hasn't decided to champion, take ownership of and
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: ram through without public consideration, comment or consent. Quite frankly,
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: and it's quite fund of the same thing that Donald
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: Trump is doing right now in Washington, DC with its skyline.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: These are two men who, quite frankly, should have just
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: run for mayor of the respected cities that they love
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: Ford in Toronto, Trump and Washington and just keep it
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: at that level of government. But there's also one other
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: point that I think that has to come into play here, Gene,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: and that is the factor of the World Cup coming
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: to in twenty twenty six. And I don't think the
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: Premier wants to look like he's a provincial cousin sitting
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: at the adult table when we have global power brokers
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: and leaders coming and he wants to be part of
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: the elite. So yeah, it's a thirty million dollar notice
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: me guys.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, here's the other thing that's kind of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: making Toronto a bit of a laughing stock. They we're
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: going to have this free fan fest when FIFA woods
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: in town for the World Cup. Well they just announced
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: last week that the free fan fest is now going
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: to cost each person ten dollars.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: Oh well, you know that's great, that's free. But hey,
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: I mean, I guess you couldn't go giving it for
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: free in what the actual sense of free is considering
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: how much money has already been spent by taxpayers on
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: this endeavor. So maybe we can try to fool ourselves
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: and it's actually going to recoup some costs even though
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: they're reaching into our own pocket.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I had it again, Yeah, yeah again. Well I
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: had to go into Toronto this weekend. I'm sorry, Yeah
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: so am. I I took Revel first. You know, what
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: are they going to repair the Gardener Expressway. It's nothing
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: but potholes before FIFA. I mean, the traffic is terrible
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: and it was just a bumpy ride. I can't get
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: over how run down Toronto is now.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: I don't know, Gene, I mean, is the Up express
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: still working full steam? It feels like that just got
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: up and going, and that was because of what games
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: was that built. It seems like we only have conversations
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: about meaningful infrastructure upgrades in this province when the work
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: that the eyes of the world are actually upon ourselves here.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: And that's frustrated.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: And the up was closed on Saturday because they were
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: having technical problems with it. Of course it is excellent.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: All right, I've got one minute here because I've got
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: to get to the ten o'clock news. What's the ultimate
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: lesson the forward government needs to take away from this?
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: I guess we could call it the big forty eight
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: hour debucle.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: The lesson gene. If you're gonna buy the wings, make
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: sure you have the spine to defend them. For heaven's sakes,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Fund the healthcare gaps, the education gaps, the general social
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: gaps that are on the ground before you start decorating
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: the wallpaper on the cabin at thirty thousand feet.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: Another great story. Thank you, my friend. We're really talking
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: to you tomorrow as well.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: Looking forward to it. Thanks you.
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: All right, there he goes author John lead Keep. He
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: always has a great angle