CPAC - Wednesday, May 22, 2024 - 10:00 a.m. (ET) - Segment #3

>> Hi, everyone, I'm kathleen monk, president of monk and associates and it's my pleasure to be with you here today, premier. Thank you for your engaging speech. It was wonderful to hear. We first met in 2017 after you were first elected as leader in manitoba, and what a wild ride you've been on sings that time. It's just been amazing to see you and I just want to thank you for that really engaging and powerful speech. Your energy is so great to hear. I mean what we just heard, two love stories, both of the 80-year-old uncle who found love at 80, I'm still hoping, by the way, yeah, gives me hope, as someone who wears a black arm band most of the time. And your own love story, which was great. So thank you for that. And you also broke a little news, maybe to the finance minister's dismay, april 2, everyone, put that in your calendar. So thanks so much for being -- I'll cut right to the questions, we've got about 10; 15 minutes to talk with the premier. And I want to start with people, as you did. I think it's a really important reflection. There's a lot of talk today about the labour shortage across the country. Our aging population and what's going to happen. Manitoba, though, has one of the youngest populations in canada. And you spoke a lot in the lead-up into the election and in the election about how you would reverse the cuts to training and prenticeships and invest more in people. So I want to start there and give you the opportunity to speak to how your government, yourself, will try to invest in people and lure some of that investment. >> I think one of the best economic plans is a good education plan. We want to make sure that -- a lot of the conversations about reconciliation, you hear the phrase, every child matters, and we think that's a pretty good goal for the education system. Make sure every kid in manitoba can reach their full potential. So we're taking insight from the world of reconciliation and applying it to broad public policy. That's where it starts, you know? We have a good education system in manitoba. But we have too many kids living in poverty. So we're going to put a universal nutrition program into the k to 12 school system next academic year so no kid will have to be hungry when they seo up for school. Teachers have been telling us this for years, and said you know, we can teach the kids when they're in class but we need help dealing with the barriers kids face before they get to the classroom. So nutrition is one aspect, mental health will be a further aspect and then economic opportunity will be another piece. And then, yes, we need a better approach to prenticeships and educating tradespeople in our province. I know tonya from manitoba building trades is here and we're going to do a lot of good things together. But at the end of the day, you know, our government is about the average person, the blue collar, middle class, however you want to say that, and we want to make sure there's opportunity for people from all walks of life in our province. >> I didn't realize you were here. You're on the premier's council, exactly, and that's what I wanted to segue next to, actually. In your state of the province speech, last year, I think it was, you spoke about how you're bringing together this council, right? Where you're bringing it labour union leaders, business, to see how you could grow the economy. That approach is an approach the previous government has rolled back, not bringing everybody around the table, the sectors council was eliminated under a previous conservative government. So how will that work and how do you see labour working with business with the government to try to juice the manitoba economy? >> We've been very lucky to have a lot of buy in from business leaders in manitoba. So we stood up, this group that kathleen's talking about, the premier's business and jobs council, w pw and j. Pretty big fan of dad jokes. I know there's folks from canada life here today I met on the way in. So paul mann, the head of that organization, is sitting with this council. Nfi, the biggest bus infer in north america and do a ton of cyr edmonton products, a huge manitoba success story, paul subrey, their leader there. And then they have tonya, and up and comers like jacqueline keena from the mission learning initiative in. A large group, a broad group. So we're breaking it down into five groups to look at trade,

immigration, a.i., and we're asking those folks to come back in six months with the short-term steps we can take to expand economic growth, and what are the longer term products a year from now we go start to sink our teeth into. It's been very good going so far. One of the advantages that we have in manitoba is you hear about six° of separation in most of the rest of the world, in manitoba there's about 2° of separation. So it's pretty easy to get the head of this labour group, the head of this large employer, you know, this person from civil society, that person from a community group all working together. So I think that's one of our competitive advantages. >> And tell me a bit more about the approach you're going to do. You said in your speech you'll try to increase manitoba trade specifically to the U.S. talk about that strategy and how you'll leverage the manitoba moment, if you will, and all the building blocks that you say you have in terms of an already diversified economy, but an economy you're trying to make more competitive. How are you going to do that in the states? How are you going to leverage doer and others to do that. >> Doer is a huge asset, he's a great ambassador for our country and has great relationship there. Economic activity in manitoba produces a ton of jobs in the states. It produces a ton of economic activity in the states. And we're just going to go down and let folks know, you might not think about this every time trade comes up as a conversation, or tariffs come up for debate in the house or in the senate oh, or the U.S. congress but you shouldn't. Remember that nfi employs a ton of people in alabama and minnesota. You should recognize that the midwest is powered by ag exports and manufactured goods from manitoba. Urban recognize that price industries employs hundreds of people in georgia, in california, in oregon, in wisconsin, right? So it's our hope that obviously the american people are going to decide on their future direction later this year and that will inform the kuzma, renewal possibility two years down the road. But we feel that however that plays out, if we have buy-in from locally elected federal representatives in the states, that will provide predictability and the ability to ride the wave. >> Okay, the city is currently crawling with prospectors and investors and people who are spending the next few days at pea dax, pedax, and you spoke in your speech about trying to ensure that manitoba can have end to end supply chain development, mining, agriculture, you name it. How will you do that and how will you convince the folks at pedac that they should look at your province differently? >> We have a lot of good mineral activity right now. We have one of canada's only lithium mines. We have nickel, we have sync. There's folks from hud bay owner in the room, the snow lake operation. We've proved a new critical mineral development, silica, in eastern manitoba. So there's a ton already going. Our proposition is going to be this. We'll create an environment in manitoba that's good to invest in by derisking your investment. We're going to remove uncertainty around indigenous engagements by just providing a really clear road map there, and we are going to be an active participant in the infrastructure investments, providing clarity on the royalty regime, and also doing the special investment project by project basis to ensure these projects get moving. So we've got a three point plan to ensure that when a proponent, an indigenous community are sort of in that early stage of conversation, we can accelerate things and get shovels in the ground as soon as possible. >> All right. I'lli think your approach to positive it it can very positive is very appealing. Not just to me as a democrat but people who are looking a time when politics can be so divisive, looking to your leadership. I saw you speak at ed broadbent's funeral. It was an excellent speech and you spoke of the politics of joy and how we can have a less divisive politics. How do you approach your relationships, with the federal level, colleagues at the premier's table, to kind of make sure that it's still a joyful one and that politics doesn't have to be always so nasty? >> I think manitobans and canadians are sick of divisive

politics. And the only reason the division prevails as a campaign tool is because canadians have not been given an alternative. After covid everyone's sick of division. Everyone's sick of wedge politics. They're sick of these issues being latched on as a lazy way to garner votes and would extends this challenge across the partisan divide because anyone on the left or the right to do this, the challenge is up your game to run a positive case, try to run on a message of union, and try to run on a message of people together. (applause) >> Yes. Thank you. We had a choice in manitoba. There was clear wedge issues being used by our opponents. And we chose to bet on the people of manitoba. We said after the pandemic and after the social media environment we've been living through these past through rears we bet that the goodness of manitobans will prevail and if we give them a message of unity and focus on key issues like health care and affordability manitobans will invest in that. Don't get me wrong we get our elbows up just the same. If there's a shot fired at us we fire back. So it's not like we lay down our tools. But the fundamental value proposition we're putting forward is not look at the issues that enrage you, vote for us because you're upset. We're saying let's do something special together. Even if we don't agree on everything we can still do big things together like fix health care, like make an economy that works for everybody. And so I hope for the sake of our country that more leaders choose to do that as he this run for offers. >> That's great. Wonderful. We'll leave it on that note. Thank you very much, premier. We're out of time. >> Thank you so much. [voiceover] Everyweek, tune in to cpac to watch highlightsfrom c-span's coverage of the us political scene. The latest developmentsfrom the White House, debates from the floorof the us Congress, in-depth coverageof the issues that are top of mind for USlawmakers, all on c-span This Week. [music playing] I think that more needs to be looked into for that. Because they're looking at theStates, what's going on there, and I think there's going tobe some interesting things that will surface from that. And then once that's done, then Canada will probably follow suit in any case. I don't think it should be banned. I don't think TikTok should be banned. Because besides the fact thatit creates a monetary-- a-- like a means of livelihood for individuals, it's also a point of entertainment. And it also has served better means of reaching younger people with the news. Better than the news stations nowadays. So I don't think it should be banned. Yeah, I don't think TikTokshould be banned in Canada. I mean, it's a great social media platform where tonnes of users kind of share their experiences. And a lot of, you know,popularity comes from that app. And things are discoveredlike viral recipes, and kind of learning about influencers. And I think it's a great social media app that, you know, would be sad if it were to be banned or removed. I'm not a big fan. I don't use it often. I understand the majority owner is China. And there's a lot of data collection privacy issues and whatnot. I don't know if it should be banned, I think maybe perhaps the ownership should change. And then if not, perhaps it doesn't belong here. You know, I do understand it's a Chinese company. You know, there is concerns. 100%, there is concerns. But, you know, governments should always try, at least in my opinion, to find ways to work with each other. And not punch down on each other, you know? Because, to me, it just sounds like, okay, TikTok is a Chinese company primarily, you know, the parent company is Chinese. And it's like, is it a security risk? Yes, I get it. But, yeah. There is nuances to it for sure. So I think further dialogueneeds to be had on that one before just banning it. [music playing] [Music playing] [Music playing] [ ]

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