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610 CKTB | Defeatist Defense & Destination Disaster: The NDP & Ottawa Lost the Plot · Kvetch & Release

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Right now, though, every Friday at nine point fifteen, it's
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: time for Lidkey's got to take Good morning.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: John, Good morning Jean.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Well listen, DP MPP Wayne Gates is going to be
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: just delighted. We're going to do a little bit of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: NDP A Go Go this morning. First of all, Avvy Lewis,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the new NDP leader, still doesn't have a seat. Full disclosure,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I have a connection to the Lewis family. Now, Aviy
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: appeared on a podcast recently and argue that Canada's primary
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: security threat is not Russia, it's not China, it's the
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: United States of America. But he says there's no way
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: to prevent a US military incursion. Now, John, is this
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: just silly military nuance policy or is it just pure
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: political fantasy or does Avvy have a point?
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I think it's political fantasy and it's absolute comedy. On
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: the one hand, he's running around framing our ourgest trading partner,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: our closest neighbor, our primary norad partner as an existential threat.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: On the other hand, his grand national defense strategy is
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: preemptive surrender because we'd lose anyway. You cannot build a
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: serious sovereign security posture on total defeatism, especially when the
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Arctic is opening up, Russia is actively militarizing the North
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: in China is eyeing polar shipping routes, and now Canada
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: is struggling, of course, to meet our baseline NATO commitments.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: So throwing your hands in the air before the Gamian starts,
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: that's not nuance. That's waving a white flag before the
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: whistle blows, And it's academic anti Americanism masquerading as grand strategy.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Well, to paraphrase Oprah, you get a white flag, and
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: you get a white flag again, you get a white flag. Okay,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: So beyond the threat assessment, Lewis is also warning again
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: spending billions to build up our own domestic military industrial complex.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: You know, we just announced we're buying a whole bunch
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of new subs that'll cost billions and billions over the
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: next thirty years. But if Canada isn't investing in defense manufacturing,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: especially for the Arctic, aren't we walking away from like
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: a major economic engine and job creator. Not to mention
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: our allies at NATO.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, spot on, Jane. I mean the deep irony here
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: is that an old school labor first MDP would look
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: at defense manufacturing and immediately see massive organizing potential and
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: high wage industrial capacity across heavy manufacturing, shipbuilding, aerospace, high
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: tech vehicle assembly. I mean, you're talking right there about Halifax, Vancouver, Quebec,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: southern Ontario. Those are great regions for the NDP to
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: be able to pick up seats. But these are precise,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: high paying, skilled union jobs. Quite frankly, that would build
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: the backbone of our middle class. But this is a
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: guy who's refusing to build a defense infrastructure domestically. But
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: this isn't going to prevent a war. This is just
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: going to outsource those thousands of jobs to other countries
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: and their shipyards and their plants instead of seizing a
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: vital economic engine for Canadian workers and union locals. This
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: NDP leadership is so bogged down in campus anti military
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: posturing they'd rather surrender these thousands of union paychecks just
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: to sound virtuous. Yeah, that's not economic.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Policy, No, it's not. You know, I still remember the
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: convention in Winnipeg with all those weird cards. I mean,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: people around the world are still laughing at us. But
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: when you take a look at this and where the
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: NDP leader is coming from. What does that tell you
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: about where the party is heading right now? Is a
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: federal political force or is it you know, put a
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: fork in it, it's over.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I think it tells you that the party has completely
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: lost the plot because they're so wrapped up in their
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: online academic rhetoric, their social media activism, the fringe policy debates,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: that they've entirely abandoned their working class bedrock, the labor,
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: the shop floor workers, the good union pay, the pragmatic
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: economic growth when working families are getting hammered by inflation,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: housing costs, and industrial shifts. They don't want foreign policy
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: takes that sound like a second year university seminar. They
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: want leaders who fight for industrial jobs and public infrastructure
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: and practical results. The NDP under Tommy Douglas or Jack
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: Layton understood that you have to be connected to the
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: realities of working Canadians. But right now they are so
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: far adrift from that legacy that I genuinely don't know
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: if they can even navigate their way back to mainstream relevance.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Where's Ed Broadbent when you need him? Right? O kidding,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Let's go to the former NDP leader jug Meet Sing.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: You may have heard me talking about this on Volitis
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: on the news. Okay, here it goes. Reports broke that
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: he is being considered by the Prime Minister to take
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: over as the CEO of Destination Canada, which is our
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: national tourism agency. We bring in about over a billion
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: dollars a year or something like that. Okay, So when
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: you saw that news, what was your immediate reaction. I'm
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: guessing it was probably just like mine.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Did you hear that thump? It was my head hitting
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: the desk. Now, this is I mean, this is sideshow
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: bob stepping on rakes over and over. It's total unforced
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: political slapstick. I mean, look, we know patronage happens in Ottawa.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Every government in Canadian history is good in any politics
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: quite frankly, is going to hand out gigs to party loyalists.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: And it isn't automatically fatal if the person that you're
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: appointing actually has the professional chops to run the organization.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: But Destination Canada is not an honorary advisory committee where
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: you show up twice a year for a photo op
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: and sign off on a PDF report. This is a
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: major corp managing massive global marketing budgets. To compete against
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: every tourism market on earth. Jecket Singh has zero corporate
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: marketing experience, hospitality experience, tourism executive experience. So dropping a
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: career politician with no track record in international industry management
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: into a top executive post that's not governance. This is
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: pure political parody.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: But John, but John jug Meet helped the Liberals stay
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: in power. A so he could collect his pension because
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: he needed a few more months. And B the Liberals
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: want to thank him because if it wasn't for him,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: I would be getting on the air today and I
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: would be saying things like, well, Prime Minister Pierre A
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Polliov blah blah blah blah blah. So the guy's got
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I mean he was a lawyer and then a politician,
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: no marketing experience in anything. I mean you and I
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: have more experienced. The gig pays close to three hundred
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: and fifty thousand dollars a year.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Patronage is usually when a liberal appoints another liberal. This
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: would be a first and it's basically saying thank you
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: for keeping us in power, nothing more, nothing less, don't
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: you think? Yeah?
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: This is patronage and its absolute worst it feels like
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: the Liberals suddenly woke up and realized, oh no, Leo
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: jok meet Sing a massive debt for that parliamentary cover
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: under the Confidence and Supply agreement, and they scrambled to
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: find him this position. But here's the thing. Tourism is
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: not a plaything, Gene. You know that better than anyone
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: else in the region that you're in. This supports nearly
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: a million Canadian workers annually, from hotel workers, restaurant owners,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: regional airports, local tour operators, and border communities like in
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Niagara or here in Windsor. And we have spent years
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: battling inflation, border friction, high operational costs, the hangover from COVID,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: the supply chain problems. So handing the keys of our
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: premier national tourism engine to an unqualified, former failed politician
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: signals loud and clear that Ottawa doesn't take this sector seriously.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: They view a multi billion dollar economic pillar as nothing
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: more than a political favors death it's the ministry of
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: political favors.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Well, yeah, you're absolutely right. Even though one of our
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: local MP's, Bauldnelli, has released a statement this morning, and
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: it's a long statement, but well, let me see if
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: I can just edit it, edit it down? Are you
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: kidding me? Now? The other thing too, is I mean
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: you have to attract foreigners to come here and visit
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: and spend their money. Now, in the past, drug Meete
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: has spent years taking chart political stances against foreign governments.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: Let me see if I can remember, including India, Oh,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the United States, Israel, China, Russia. The list goes on
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: and on and on and on. I mean, how do
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: you have a track record like that when your new
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: primary job is to market Canada internationally.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: This is a diplomatic nightmare waiting to happen. I mean,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: the primary objective of the CEO of Destination Canada is
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: to travel the world, build commercial partnerships international travelers and
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: tour operators on spending their money here in Canada. So
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: how do you send an executive on a global press
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: tour when he carries a years of high profile diplomatic
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: spats and public feud baggage on his record with key
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: source markets, especially given he was literally denied entry to
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: India in the past. Building a multimillion dollar travel campaign
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: targeting international visitors when the guy at the top is
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: politically toxic and key markets forces. The ultimate question, are
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: we trying to invite international tourists into fuel our economy
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: or are we actively hiring someone whose track record tells
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: them to stay away?
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: John, is the NDP in trouble?
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: I think we're all in trouble, but yeah, especially the NDP.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: Have a great weekend. Another great take on a Friday morning.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you, Gene.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: John Letke. Letke has a take, doesn't he always