Hey everyone, this is Paris with a not so tech won't save us update, but one that you might be interested in nonetheless. If you've been listening to the show for a while, you will know that I am a Canadian, and especially recently, Canada has been under attack from Donald Trump in particular with tariff threats, with threats to Canada's sovereignty and trying to turn it into a 51st state. Well, right now, Canada is actually entering into a federal election campaign. Canadians will go to the polls on April 28th. And to try to make sense about everything that is going to happen in that five-week election campaign, yes, it is so much shorter than the elections in the United States. I'm doing a special series with my friend and fellow journalist Rachel Gilmore, where every week we will be breaking down what happened on the campaign trail that week, what it means for the campaign and for Canadians, and the significance of this election for Canada's future as it tries to not just reassess its relationship to the United States, but its broader economic, social, and maybe even cultural model in the years ahead. Who are going to be its friends and what is it going to do if the United States is no longer a reliable partner, as so many Canadians and Canadian governments have assumed for so many decades. So if you are at all interested in that, I'll include some links in the show notes. Weekly episodes will be uploaded to Rachel's YouTube channel or to her podcast feed, which is called Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore. And so you can get a taste for it. I have included the first episode here for you to check out. So if you want to know more about the Canadian election, make sure to join us as we become your campaign cops to hold the leaders to account and to give you the critical perspective you need on the Canadian election. So here's the first episode of this special series we are calling campaign cops to see if you want to listen to more. Thanks for your support and stay tuned for your regular Tech Won't Save Us episode later this week. What are you doing? Like, listen, I I hate the idea of like labeling someone a traitor. Like I'm not that hard of a nationalist to be like embracing that kind of language. It makes me a bit uncomfortable. But at the same time, like she is a traitor. Yeah, I know. Yeah. Okay. Danielle Smith is a traitor. Okay, there. I've said it. I'm I'm okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Hello, and welcome to Campaign Cops. For those of you who are on audio only, we both just put on our sunglasses because we are very serious law enforcement actors on this election campaign.
SPEAKER_00Cops always wear sunglasses.
SPEAKER_01Always. Always. Yep. I'm Rachel Gilmore. I'm your least favorite person's least favorite journalist. And with me here is Paris Marks. Paris, you want to introduce yourself to the people?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Uh I write about tech and host a podcast called Tech Won't Save Us. And it happens to be that I'm a Canadian and have thoughts on Canadian politics.
SPEAKER_01Woo! And Canada is officially in an election campaign, and someone has to crack down on the people vying for your vote. So we are reporting for duty. And in this mini podcast series, we'll be doing something unusual for cops. We'll be holding the most powerful people accountable. Because as politicians pander, promise, and play dirty, we're here to talk about it all. Are you ready, Paris?
SPEAKER_00I'm ready.
SPEAKER_01Let's dive in. We both watched the speeches today. I guess the first thing that I would note is that we know it's going to be a super short election, right? So we're going to be voting on April 28th, which means this is the shortest that an election campaign is legally allowed to be, right? What do you think of that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, maximum five weeks. Personally, I love it. I like a short election. Uh, you know, I like, you know, we we, of course, all watch the elections down south. And it's like, how do they have an election campaign for two years? And so when they announced like five-week election, I'm like, perfect. This is great. We don't need more time than that. I remember like back in the mid-2010s when Stephen Harper plunged us into that 11-week election campaign. I never want that again. So five weeks, perfect. I love it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think it also makes a lot of sense for the liberals just strategically, right? Because they're up in the polls for the first time in a very long time. And I think just because that's such a recent phenomenon, they recognize how easily they could lose that. Um, so I think the the shorter the amount of time possible for them to lose it, the better.
SPEAKER_00Totally. You want to try to hold on to that momentum, right? And and if you only have five weeks, like the assumption is it can only go down so much, and you limit the amount of time that the conservatives have to, you know, actually kind of gain back some territory.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Or to just straight up make stuff up, which we saw Polly Addis already starting to do in his campaign. So that's super fun.
SPEAKER_00Well, he's been doing that the whole time. So, you know, of course he's gonna continue now.
SPEAKER_01He, you know what? One thing he said is that he's always been consistent, right? He's always been consistent.
SPEAKER_00A consistent liar, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's got this new uh this new bit of disinfo on the Century Initiative, claiming that uh Mark Carney wants to get our uh immigration up to a hundred million or get us up to a population of a hundred million citizens by like I I don't actually know what the timeline is on that, but I think 2100 actually.
SPEAKER_00So okay. So one more like I I think that's the proposal. That's what someone said to me earlier today. And I was like, legit. Yeah, like I was like, legit, like a hundred million Canadians by 2100 probably sounds like not unreasonable, actually.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, especially, you know, maybe people keep having babies too. Um, you know, if the world doesn't yeah, if the world doesn't collapse before then. Um, which is possible because as we saw, climate change has disappeared from the the radar in these campaigns, it feels like.
SPEAKER_00We had Mark But Rachel, Mark Carney is like a very serious uh climate change guy. That's what he has worked on since being the Bank of Canada or Bank of England governor.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the only time that he mentioned the environment really was to use the words clean energy in his speech. So that was cool. Love it. I just want to also return really quickly because I brought up a uh a thing that Polyev was lying about and I didn't finish the fact check. I just lied. So I feel like I should just infuse this on top of the fact that uh, you know, that we're not even clear about what the century initiative exactly is or how feasible it is, or maybe it would just naturally happen. Um, he literally said in the Q ⁇ A today that he would keep Carney would keep our current immigration caps that the liberals brought in that have been criticized as being quite restrictive. So, you know, it's it's clear that that is just immediately a bit of disinfo.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Yeah, one of many pieces.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, exactly. Um Polly Ev is just totally throwing the uh the energy um industry that's at the forefront in the environment is totally gonzo from his speech. Like he's talking about fast tracking approvals of our um mining and the ring of fire. He's talking about, you know, um building more pipelines, just tons of resource extraction. There's like zero mention of uh, you know, the actual environmental policy. And he's also wanting to scrap the industrial emitters carbon tax, which is the biggest part of our current emissions reduction plan. So, like, do people even care about climate change anymore? Or are we just too scared of the world collapsing um for other reasons before the environment has a chance to get us?
SPEAKER_00No, I I think they do, right? And and I think it's one of a number of issues that Canadians will be looking for an answer on, right? We we know that the majority of Canadians vote for more progressive parties, right? Even though, yeah, there is a sizable number of people who will vote conservative and and a smaller number of people who are open to that. But I think it would really stood out to me when he came out and said that he was going to abolish the industrial carbon tax as well, right? Because for the past two years, Polyev has been incessant about the carbon taxes, made this a central issue. Um, and I I think a lot of the assumption as he was saying that, even though the conservatives would never actually confirm it, was that he was talking solely about the consumer carbon tax and that they were going to keep the industrial carbon tax because even Alberta supports the industrial carbon tax, right? But when Mark Carney came out and said, actually we're getting rid of the consumer carbon tax, and then, you know, uh on his first day on the job as prime minister, actually got rid of it, then all of a sudden, you know, this talking point that the conservatives have been using for the past two years to try to, you know, drum up opposition to Justin Trudeau specifically and the liberals more broadly was gone. And so the conservatives then I feel like they made this kind of you know calculated choice to say, okay, we still need a carbon tax to run against, so we are going to run against the industrial carbon tax. And for me, I think back to like the Andrew Schear campaign and the um, what was the other guy's name? It started with an E. Aaron Artillery. Yeah, him.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and like black sheep of the conservatives getting attacked by Pierre's campaign manager on Twitter.
SPEAKER_00But like I think back to their campaigns and like climate and the fact that they they couldn't really be trusted to even have a plan to address climate change became a real knock against them, along with like, you know, the usual things that the liberals and the NDP will bring up against the conservatives. You know, can you trust them on abortion rights? Can you trust them on gay rights? Um, you know, can you trust them on social services and healthcare? These things are always there. But the other piece of that is climate change, right? Can they have a real climate change policy? Are they actually going to address that? And I think with Pierre Polyev explicitly saying, like, not only is he going to get rid of the industrial carbon tax, but like part of his argument is pretty much Canada is not going to worry so much about reducing its emissions because we are going to sell natural gas to India and allow them to replace their coal with natural gas, and that's going to reduce their emissions. So now we don't need to worry about it because we're helping them instead. Like this is the kind of like climate denialist rhetoric we are seeing uh advanced by Pierre Polyev. And listen, like there are obviously conservatives who don't care about climate change, who don't see it as an issue, but I think the vast majority of Canadians do, and even a number of people who he has like pulled over to his side. And so as the liberals kind of, you know, say some more conservative stuff now that Mark Carney has taken over, um, I I think it's going to ultimately be a knock against Polyev and the conservative campaign.
SPEAKER_01Totally. So uh we give him a ticket for that one. Uh pulling in our cop theme.
SPEAKER_00You're you're so committed to this kind of thing. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm I'm a bit uncomfortable with it even.
SPEAKER_01I know. And that's that's the goal is to make you as uncomfortable with it as possible. Um yeah, no, it's it's bad. And and it's so short-sighted too, because if you claim to care about the economy, you should care about climate change because the economic impacts of natural disasters and all kinds of things are massive. Um all kinds of things.
SPEAKER_00And not only that, right? Like at the moment in Canada, we are talking about reorienting our economy away from the United States as much as possible. And a big part of that is like renewing our relationship with Europe, taking advantage of uh CEDA, you know, the the free trade agreement that we have with Europe. And we know that Europe is bringing in a border carbon tax. So countries that don't have effective carbon pricing are going to be basically hit with a tariff when they trade into Europe, and the UK is doing that a year later. So if we are looking at kind of increasing trade with Europe and the UK as being one piece of how we address the increasing threats that we're feeling from the United States, getting rid of carbon pricing is working against us there and is going to make sure that our goods and you know, whatever we are exporting is going to be hit with tariffs from the countries that we're hoping we're going to be able to trade more with. Like it's completely counterproductive and makes absolutely no sense.
SPEAKER_01Totally. So let's talk a little bit more about the uh different kinds of announcements that we've seen so far, how people are gearing up for this campaign and how they're trying to brand themselves for it, right? Um, one thing I noticed was that the noted leftist Pierre Polyev seems to be trying to go after the uh the worker vote and the union vote. He made an announcement, like one of his last announcement announcements before the campaign launch was boots not suits. That's a new slogan. What do you what do you think of that? If Reggie's debot pas de clavat, which is so catchy, yeah.
SPEAKER_00They're really like throwing everything at the wall here, right? To try to find something that's gonna stick. And I don't think that's gonna be the one. Like, like I would say, I I think if he's trying to win like some union votes, the thing is that the conservatives, um, there are some like private sector unions that are much more kind of open to voting conservative. We saw that in the Ontario election and you know, have seen it in in recent Ontario elections. Um, but in general, like uh a lot of the unions, a lot of the public sector unions in particular, are going to be supporting the NDP or the liberals, right? Uh especially given what we're seeing right now. Um, but yeah, it it just seems completely silly. And, you know, his his more like extreme populist conservative party is obviously trying to play into this thing that we saw south of the border with Trump and see with other extreme right-wing parties, where they do try to present themselves as like caring about the workers, caring about the working class, um, and then we'll completely betray them, which is of course what we're seeing south of the border, where um, you know, it is workers are being fired, where um, you know, these these tariff policies are going to really hurt the economy and uh, you know, different sectors of the economy, um, and of course, as well, you know, are going to lead to price rises that the average person is going to feel uh, you know, much more than the rich or anything like that. Um, you know, that is the consequence of what we see with uh, you know, the Trump policies that are being implemented right now, even though he also sold himself as a champion of the working class. Um, and I think we would see something very similar with Pierre Poliev. Sure, he he talks a good game in terms of, you know, affordability and helping workers, but we know the policies that uh a conservative government would be likely to take on the whole would be beneficial of the wealthier people in society, um, you know, not the working classes who he he needs to win over, um, but is ultimately, I think it's fair to say, lying to uh with you know the type of political positioning he's making.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I I really want to uh put a pin and come back to the difference between his like rhetoric and his actual policy. But one thing that is super interesting is like he's clearly trying to get a piece of this collapsing NDP vote, right? Like the NDP is increasingly almost a non-factor in this election. And I don't think that they're gonna be able to turn that around during this election campaign. They've got the same leader, they're not making any really distinctive policies, they're not pivoting, you know, to be more left-wing, for example. The only big policy announcement that they made right before the election campaign was about F-35s and canceling a deal with the US. Um, so you know, just like really radical left stuff.
SPEAKER_00Um And like basically coming after, you know, Carney and the liberals said that they're re-examining this deal anyway. So instead of saying that they're re-examining it, they're just saying they'll get rid of it. And it's like, okay, but like the liberals are like kind of signaling they're gonna do the same thing. So like, how is this really setting you apart?
SPEAKER_01Totally. Yeah. And so I don't know. I I think that the NDP is really um it's interesting to have really a two-party race, which I think our our system unfortunately in some ways gears itself towards, even though we have multiple parties, and that that's frustrating because I think it's actually really healthy to have this like several different perspectives and several different parties. Um, but that's why I want proportional representation.
SPEAKER_00It was mad at Justin Trudeau when he killed it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, he really regretted uh not going forward with electoral reform.
SPEAKER_01He really regretted not going forward with a ranked ballot. Exactly. But you know, so we're seeing Polyev trying to go after, you know, boots, not suits. And we've got um, you know, uh Carney just came out and made a dental care announcement right before the um launching the election, which is, you know, arguably a much more progressive policy. And also, I think is actually just smart strategically because that's something that Pierre Polyev has really attacked Mark Carney on has been that the, or sorry, not Mark Carney, but just the liberals in general, um, has been the dental care policy. He's called it made up and said that it doesn't really exist. So this is just making it much harder for him to keep hitting that line. But what do you think? Do you think that um uh the liberals will be able to continue stealing that collapsing NDP vote? And do you think that because like, okay, one thought that I'm having is clearly a lot of this momentum that's surging the liberals into majority territory is coming from the left vote. It's coming from the NDP. The conservatives have dropped, but not as significantly as the NDP has collapsed. So do you think that they are going to be successful in courting and retaining these left votes just because of Polyev being so unlikable and Trump-like? Or what do you think? I mean, he's also axing the capital gains tax. He's also like doing these other things that are much more right wing. And I don't know. I'm just I'm I feel like he's kind of Carney's sort of trying to talk out of both sides of his mouth um in terms of political ideology.
SPEAKER_00He is, and and he's succeeding so far, right? Like his his pitch to the liberal membership is you know, kind of echoes something that we've been hearing in the media for a while, this kind of narrative that the media has been playing with, that Justin Trudeau and the liberals under him were too far left, they spent too much money, all this, right? Like that that was kind of what we have been hearing for the past little while. So when we get to the liberal leadership race, Mark Carney is saying, you know, they're gonna spend less and invest more, whatever that is supposed to mean, um, you know, that the government needs to spend less money, that they spent too much on uh, you know, you know, social programs and stuff, even though he also says that he believes, you know, the Canadian model that we need to defend is one where we do provide the safety net um for workers, but you know, we also promote like a healthy economy and stuff. So he's playing both sides of this, where on the one hand, he is, you know, making these concessions to the right that say, you know, progressive conservatives might find more appealing to try to bring them, bring some of them back from the conservative party, which I think we are very much seeing happening. But I think that the announcements on the uh extension of the dental care program, so now 18 to 64s, I think it will be, um, will be able to receive coverage through that program over the next few months, is actually really smart strategically, because if you are an NDP voter who is thinking about voting liberal now and you're like, I don't know, is is he going to be too right wing? This kind of assures you that listen, they are committed to some of these social programs, some of these wins that the NDP had in this agreement that they had with the liberal parties for with the liberal party for the past few years. Um, and so you know that dental care is sticking around. And then the other piece of this, of course, is I don't think it's like you can't ignore the fact that we are in this situation where Canada's sovereignty feels like it is at threat, that there are a lot of Canadians who are really worried about that. And I think more than anything, that is what is driving a lot of these NDP voters, and it seems to a certain degree bloc voters as well, and and of course some conservative voters too, back to uh the liberals because there's a feeling that you cannot allow Pierre Polyev and the conservatives to come to power and to deal with Trump because they're far too close to them. And so even if you are someone who is typically more progressive, more on the left than what a Mark Carney Liberal Party would be, you are willing to kind of hold your nose and you know give the Liberal Party your support to make sure that Pierre Polyev and the conservatives do not get to power. Um, and you know, obviously we'll have to see how Mark Carney does through the campaign, how the issues evolve, how Donald Trump kind of, you know, acts during the course of these five weeks. Um, but you know, it seems pretty clear, at least from the vantage point that we're looking at right now, that that is probably going to hold um unless, you know, Carney really screws up um over the next few weeks.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I have to say, when I was watching his speech today, Carney is I I when he was talking about having uh more uh productivity in government and how he's got a dedicated department to it, and he was like dropping AI mentions and stuff, I was like, okay, that you don't want to get too musky with this. Okay. Like it's it was sounding like doge to me, and I was like, Me too. I don't like that. Okay, I'm glad I wasn't alone in that. I just I felt like that was like a real weak point personally in terms of the the department of government transformation.
SPEAKER_00I was like, this sounds way too doge. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's dot instead of doge.
SPEAKER_00Um but exactly and then the other piece, of course, is how he wants to roll out AI in the federal government to like make it more efficient and productive, as you're saying, right? And this not only sounds like what we hear south of the border, but one of my big criticisms, of course, and you know, I think I've said this to you, is that to me, the Carney Liberal Party feels a lot like what we see with Keir Starmer's Labor Party in the UK, you know, that that came to power because the conservatives were so unpopular over there after over a decade in power, um, and have seen their kind. Of support, you know, drop off so quickly because they're adopting austerity. They're, you know, adopting AI and really pushing AI policy and this notion that like, you know, we need to adopt AI for the future of the economy. And I see so many overlaps between what the the Kearney Liberal Party is trying to do and what Keir Starmer's Labour Party is already doing in the UK. You know, he was the governor of the Bank of England. He has close relationships with Keir Starmer and which with uh Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK. Um, and I think that he is pulling a lot from them as he sets out to try to, you know, maintain uh his prime ministership for the next four years or however long he might be in power.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. If he pulls it off, you know. Exactly. And one thing that you mentioned a little bit earlier was how uh, you know, a big part of what that's dependent on and whether the liberal lead holds is Trump, right? Trump is just like the the dark cloud. I'm at that point reading Lord of the Rings, uh reading Return of the King right now. There's like a dark cloud moving over Gondor. And I feel like that's Trump with this election campaign.
SPEAKER_00Um the dark cloud is moving south over Canada, you know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, moving south over Canada. Nice.
SPEAKER_00Or north, oh my god. It's not it's not coming from Russia, at least not yet, either. Yeah, I mean it could be arguably. Maybe from both sides, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, but uh yeah, no, I I think that uh, you know, Daniel Smith kind of just came out and gave the whole game away, which was um Can you believe that? Like it was so stupid.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but sorry, please describe what she said.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, so she Daniel Smith came out and she basically said that she asked the US administration to put the whole tariff things just on pause during the elections campaign to make sure Polyev wins because it was giving uh, you know, the liberals a boost in the polls, which is wild because first of all, you're implying that you would be willing to work with Trump to get Polyev elected, which also therefore implies that if he's open to it, then Trump is supportive of Polyev, right? Um, and then also it's just like traitorous. What do you think, Ferris?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And she said this in Breitbart, uh, you know, of all places.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I'm I like how I'm surprised that more people aren't talking about the source there. Like, why are you talking to uh such a extreme far-right publication?
SPEAKER_00Like that is beyond it. Politics. Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00But but like I think that's also reflected in like how Polyev is not allowing traditional media to go on his campaign plane uh and and to travel with him, right? Um and we know that he has been like, you know, allowing these more right-wing and and hard right uh media organizations, if we want to call them that, in Canada to be like asking questions at his press conferences. Um, you know, we have seen this alignment between this more extreme conservative party um, you know, and and these forms of media. Um and I think that Daniel Smith's comments were really illustrative because we have already heard this criticism of Danielle Smith that she's really offside with the other premiers, that she's not supporting this broader campaign to push back on the threats from the Trump administration and the United States. And now to hear her like go in Breitbart News right on the cusp of a Canadian federal election and say, you know, I asked uh the Trump guys to like hold off for a bit so we can get a conservative party, and then like they can go wild, like whatever, is like, what are you doing? Like, listen, listen, I I hate the idea of like labeling someone a traitor. Like, I'm not that hard of a nationalist to be like embracing that kind of language. It makes me a bit uncomfortable. But at the same time, like she is a traitor, yeah. I know, yeah. Okay, Danielle Smith is a traitor. Okay, there. I've said it. I'm I'm okay. Yeah. But but like it it's completely wild to me that this is a premier in our country. Like, I know the Albertans are much more conservative uh than a lot of other parts of the country, but like I have to imagine even a lot of people in that province are like really pissed off about what their premier is doing right now.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, a lot of conservatives are also quite nationalist and quite patriotic, right? So that kind of just like craven, um just abandoning all of your patriotism and nationalism in service of power, um, whatever that power looks like, even if it's short-lived. I mean, if if Trump is, you know, if if Polyev wins and Trump is like buddy buddy with him, which again, we don't know that that's necessarily gonna be the case uh to any kind of extreme degree, um, you know, uh, would that kind of exchange even pay off well? Because ultimately, like the power that Daniel Smith is seeking there, she would lose if we become annexed, unless I guess she's given something in the exchange. But I don't know. It's just it seems really ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, but because it's like the segment of the conservative voter base that is like pro-Trump, there is a segment there, but it was already rather small to begin with, and it has gotten smaller since Trump has been threatening Canada in the ways that he has. You know, we've seen polling that maximum like 20% of Canadians are even open to the idea of thinking about it being a 51st state, and you know, the rest are like kind of vehemently opposed to these notions. And so how can Daniel Smith not realize that going in Breitbart News and openly saying these things is not going to hurt the national conservative campaign? Like you know that is going to be deployed against Pierre Polyev and the conservatives at every opportunity by the liberals and the NDP and and the other parties because it does make them, it does make the conservatives more broadly look traitorous and look like they are going to work with uh uh Trump, you know, and and kind of sell us out. Um, and and so obviously that feels like it benefits the liberals even more. And you e and those like more nationalist conservative voters who have stuck with the Conservative Party, you have to imagine that that makes them have second thoughts and say, maybe I do just need to hold my nose again and and vote liberal.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So Danielle Smith, is she really stupid or is she secretly a liberal?
SPEAKER_00Um I think you know my answer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think you know mine too. Um yeah, and and you know, I think it's really interesting too. Like, I I'm curious about your thoughts on that clip that everyone was talking about right before, you know, Trump just came out when he was asked about the Canadian election, and he said he would rather work with a liberal, but that he doesn't really care who wins. Um, but he was like, you know, me and Polyev don't get along or something, or he said some nasty things about me. I was trying to decide when I was listening to that, if there was any strategy behind that, or if it was just egotistical Trump just ragging about someone who's insulted him and then, but also making sure to say he doesn't like anyone, despite conservatives trying to frame that as an endorsement of Carney. Um, or if it was a little bit strategic because of the fact that, you know, saying that he would rather work with a liberal again does kind of play to that thing that Danielle Smith says she talked to the Trump officials about or Trump uh Trump's guys about trying to sort of come out and slow things down and, you know, back off because he speaking in this way is helping the liberals. So I don't know. And and we've seen Elon Musk be incredibly supportive of Pierre Polyev on socials. He's amplified his videos, he amplified the Jordan Peterson interview with Polyev. So I don't know. Like, what was your take on that commentary from Trump? Did you think that it was just him riffing in his Trump way, or do you think there was any more strategy behind it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I'm more on the riff side of things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I waffle. I'm leaning towards that though.
SPEAKER_00I just think like, you know, he has said that Polyev is not a MAGA guy because he doesn't see him, you know, kind of openly embracing Trump, even though a lot of the policies that Polyev supports and a lot of the rhetoric that he uses is very Trumpian, um, even though, you know, so much of the mainstream media in Canada won't uh admit that and seems to want to like both sides what's going on there. Um, but then along with that, like I think after uh Trump had said those things, Polyev had come out and been like, yeah, I'm not a MAGA guy, I'm Canada first, blah, blah, blah.
SPEAKER_01And so so like I think it's just like MAGA by another name.
SPEAKER_00But it it is, yeah. But so I I think what I see is just, you know, him kind of pushing back on those things. And I don't really make very much of his point that he would rather rather deal with a liberal. Like, I I really just think it's Trump like spouting something off in the heat of the moment when he's asked something by a journalist who he's talking to. Um, like I personally I really don't put much much into that. Uh and I and I don't really care.
SPEAKER_01I know. And I think that honestly, we Canadians often don't realize how little of a shit Americans give about us. Like, you know, me even thinking that he's putting that much thought into our election is just slightly ridiculous. Um, okay, Paris, I think we're just about at time. So I want to ask you, what are you watching for in the campaign? What are the big things that you're gonna be looking out for for the weeks ahead?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's a good question, right? I think I'm I want to see what Carney is going to do, you know, the types of policy uh positions that he actually puts out there and you know, whether he can actually connect with Canadians. We know that he's not like the most charismatic guy. We know that he's not the best speaker, his French is not the best, but you know, are we in this moment where Canadians are willing to overlook that? Um, you know, uh for Polyev, you know, how extreme is he gonna go? Um and is he going to be able to present this as something that is really um, you know, going to attract more Canadians, or is he just going to turn more and more people off uh as people pay more attention to what he's doing? And it doesn't seem to align with how you know a lot of Canadians feel like they want to respond to what is happening south of the border, and can his attempts to keep trying to push, you know, the carbon tax and affordability really work at a moment where people are concerned about sovereignty and nationalism? Um, you know, the NDP, can they really like win anybody over you know, exactly. Like, are they even we're at the point where we're asking if they're even going to keep official party status? Like, that is how bad it looks for the new Democrats right now. I know I've heard, you know, anecdotally that they're having trouble finding candidates even in parts of the country. Um like I I think it looks really bad for the NDP right now because a lot of those more progressive voters are just saying we need to stop Polyev. We need to make a show a strong show of force against Trump and kind of back the liberals and Mark Carney. Um and so, you know, I think the NDP is really in trouble, and I'm interested to see how much that affects the bloc in Quebec as well. Um, and and whether Kearney's French, you know, and and you know, not so good French skills uh can can still cut through because we saw some indication in some polling that even some French-speaking uh Quebecers were more willing to vote liberal than they than they often are. Uh, you know, the Greens, I don't know, I don't really care what's going on there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think I'm pretty much on the same page as you, especially um with the Polyev sort of far-right stuff. I I found it interesting that he used the word globalist again in his speech today. And the Carney Century initiative stuff smacks of a bit of great replacement theory to me. Um, so like there's a little bit of conspiracy dog whistling already starting to happen. So definitely be keeping out my eyes, uh keeping my eyes peeled for that. Um, obviously, I think that a huge issue within authoritarianism and rising authoritarianism that we're seeing worldwide is attacks on the press. So I'm very curious to see how Polyev's ability to, you know, because he's limiting press access during this campaign, he's not letting them on the bus with him. I'm very curious to see how that plays out and how he interacts with the media. He was weirdly nice to them today. Like he actually answered all their questions and took mostly mainstream questions.
SPEAKER_00So I don't know if he just because he's also not allowing them to ask follow-up questions, though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um I I'm gonna be watching for for his relationship with the media, Pierre Polyev's relationship with the media, Carney's relationship with the media, which I think is being presented in a bit of a false equivalency way, where when he kicked back at Western Standard, which is a ridiculous like rag of an outlet, and he like got criticized by some in the I saw on the Ad Issue panel, they were talking about him and Rosie Bart the Rosie Barton sort of interaction as well, but they lumped it together to imply that he's been sniffy with media. And I kind of feel like it's only really been one incident that is like somewhat notable. The Western Standard one I actually think Canadians liked. I saw even on the Alberta subreddit they were responding positively to it. So that should tell you something. Um, but yeah, I I think overall it's gonna be a really interesting campaign. And uh Paris and I are gonna be here to watch it for all of you. And uh hopefully you guys can stick around as your campaign cops are on the case.
SPEAKER_00We're here. Yeah. I'm excited to do this with you as well, Rachel. You know, I as I was saying to you, I I'm gonna need an outlet to vent about what happens in this election. And, you know, it's nice that we have five weeks to vent about it, uh, you know, and then we can move on to whatever Trump is doing next. Or totally.
SPEAKER_01It's so hard for me to take you seriously with those sunglasses on.
SPEAKER_00I know, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01Okay, Paris.
SPEAKER_00This was your idea, remember?
SPEAKER_01I know I know. I don't know. Okay, I came up with it like in the shower yesterday. So, you know, it's really a lot of thought went into it. Um, okay, so guys, if you like this show, make sure you subscribe so that you can keep up with us. Paris, where can people keep up with you?
SPEAKER_00Totally. You know, I'm on Blue Sky at Paris Marks. Someday I'll I'll get on TikTok, uh, you know, but at the moment I'm not doing that. I have a podcast called Tech Won's Save Us, another one called System Crash if you're interested in tech stuff. Um but yeah.
SPEAKER_01And as for me, you can subscribe to Bubble Pop with Rachel Gilmore on my Substack, Patreon, or YouTube. I'm also very easy to find all over social media. And I'd like to give a special thank you to Hans Vivian Wenzel for throwing together the sound for this show. You can find him on Spotify, artist name Hans, lowercase H with an exclamation mark. Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you next week on campaign cops.