CTVN - Saturday, May 25, 2024 - 12:00 a.m. (ET) - Segment #2

[woman sneezing] Don't let airborne allergens scare you. Aerius provides fast relief of your 15 worst allergy symptoms. So you can love the air again. Aerius. [ ] You might not know how to fix a broken air conditioner. SFX:[phone/truck/bag/fan] But we do. "That was fast." And if you need a new one pay as little as three dollars a day and make no monthly rental payments for 6 months Call on Reliance ( ) You're just too good to be true Can't take my eyes Off of you ( ) Michelob Ultra. [ ] [ ] >> We're hearing from lots of british columbians that were all giving us some variation of the same message which was can you please make sure that you don't unnecessarily divide the vote and alouth ndp to have a better chance of being able to stay in government. Unfortunately, I have to stand and tell you today that john rustad ultimately made the decision that that's not something that he wants to proceed with. And he is going to put his personal ambitions, as he views them, above the best interests of the province. >> Todd: that's kevin falcon, leader of bc united, we used to call them the bc liberals announcing that coalition talks with the bc conservatives are over and that means vote splitting on the right is likely going to continue and it's good news for bc's premier david eby and his ndp ahead of a provincial election, and this got very ugly very quickly. Conservative leader john rustad saying that kevin falcon public I will saying he wants to put his ego aside, privately any discussions or offers have been completely unserious, dishonest, by the way, that's actually some of the nicer stuff in that statement. It is one of the most beautiful places in canada, but, boy, oh, boy, things can sure get ugly when it comes to bc politics. Let's bring in the front bench, sabrina grover was a candidate for the federal liberals in the 2021 election, now a principle at shack at this strategies, melanie paradis, the communications director for former conservative leader erin o'toole, now the president of texture communication the. Gurratan singh was a member of the ontario legislature represented the new democrats now the vice president at crestview strategy, also the brother of federal inspected leader jagmeet singh. And our very own eagle-eyed senior digit terry reporter here in ctv news, rachel aiello. Great to see all of you, happy friday. Let me start with you, if I can, mel, on this, your thoughts on what we are seeing in bc? >> Well, you know, like you said, it's a beautiful politics but these politics have certainly gotten a bit ugly. So I think we're seeing a trend across the country. Certainly from ontario westward of provincial liberal parties just completely tanking in the polls. And in this particular case, we've got formerly known as the bc liberals party at, like, 12% or tied with the green party. So they are not in contention to win in the next election. So they are not coming into these negotiations with these talks about a potential merger or as noncompetition agreement of some sort from a position of strength, that's for sure. The conservatives are absolutely the party that are in the position of strength because they are looking great in the polls right now. One of the things that was proposed for this plan was to divide up the ridings 50-50, and that the bc united would run their candidates and 50% of the ridings and then bc conservatives run their candidates and the other 50%, why would you do that with a party that only has 12% in the polls? It doesn't make any sense. You are not -- you are hurting you recall self and your ability to form government. So I think that the bc conservatives are absolutely right to stop these conversations and say, like, you know what, we're going to go it alone. This isn't fun or a reasonable starting point for negotiations after 50% when you only have 12. >> Yell, to you, gurratan, and your take on if I ask ask you the ego that sometimes plays here, you are the leader of one party, your the leader of the other party, you would like to form the next government and, you know, trying to make concessions, you know, one party has more seats but is way back in the polls, the other party has very few seats but is way ahead in the polls. Both see an opportunity perhaps neither willing to make the compromises necessary. >> Well, what's clear is that these two right-wink parties are unable to work together for the base -- to the benefit of their own base. That's the reality here, and instead of them actually focusing on their own bases, they would rather just fight amongst themselves. And I say the more the better, because ultimately it's preventing the right wing parties that would cut our health care systems, cut the services that british columbians really rely on and it's allowing an ndp government that's already very popular in the polls, irrespective of the vote split, but it's securing them and

frankly their policy which has been benefiting those who need it most, it's investments in health care, it's investment in the services that people rely on, it's also standing up for the right issues, to make sure that those who are most vulnerable in our society have a government that has their back. So I clearly demonstrate the inability for both these egos, to work for the benefit of their own base, but beyond that I think this is ultimately a win for bc because it's going to keep the progressive and very dynamic ndp and premier eby in power. >> David eby no doubt a happy man tonight to see these talks collapse. How about you, sabrina, what do you think? >> You know, I think -- I didn't realize that ego played a role in politicians politics, I'm shocked to learn! So, you know, I think from david eby's perspective, certainly I would be like very happy about this, not only to see a split on the right but to continue to see these parties attack each other, right? And now some of the work that david eby's going to have to do to attack the conservatives is also going to come from B.C. and as already pointed out, that party is so low in the polls that I think that it also creates an opportunity for eby to move a little bit to the centre on some of those issues and catch some of those people that are thinking, well, where am I going to park my vote now, it doesn't look like he's in the running, who am I going to support. So I think that there's lots of opportunity for the ndp to benefit from this. I think with the conservatives made the right choice of course in not merging, there's no really reason to fem who side themselves. But what john rustad is going to have to watch out for is some of the quirkier candidates. I think that kevin falcon did make a good point earlier on this show saying that he had some really strong candidates and I'm not sure that the bc conservatives have that sense on their bench. And so it is interesting to see how that -- >> Rachel aiello, I read this statement from the conservatives and john rustad, I mean, really, it's astonishing, and I want to read another little bit to all of us and people at home. He says this is, again, about kevin falcon. Time and again and in this offer kevin falcon has demonstrated he will always put himself first and will do absolutely anything for power before the bc united party, before his own candidates indults before the province. I mean, that is, you know, stuff that you rarely see in canadian politics, and certainly not written down in a statement that's sent out to the media. >> Yeah, todd, when I was reading the statement, I was kind of wondering to myself, like, did pierre poilievre's speech writers kind of help him script this? Because a lot of what's in here, even this line about this conservative fighting against the radical ndp and restoring common sense, those were all concepts we've heard poilievre repeat here federally so I was curious about that line and whether there was any conversation about the federal dynamics at play right now. We are hearing conservative leader pierre poilievre extensively pin the ndp to the liberals through their supply and confidence deal calling them a coalition, every time they are up in their house, he's talking about the liberal ndp government and so it's a curious thing to think about, there could have been a perspective I guess where we would call it a former liberal conservative alliance in british columbia, so I just think it was an interest willing exercise, I guess, in some negotiating talks clearly and in an acrimony here, todd, but I do wonder what lessons were kind of brought into that conversation from what they've seen play out federally. >> Todd: so back to you, mel, how do you stop vote splitting in bc given what we've seen today? >> I think they just need to charge ahead, perhaps have a different plan and fully go on their own, the conservatives would go on their own and not worry about the liberals. Like, they are at 12% right now, and by all accounts, that -- they may continue to tank further than that. It sounds to me like they're really just trying to save the furniture at this point in time. And it's not going well. If the liberal brand is so damaged across the country, like that is why they rebranded them selves in bc united instead of referring to themselves as the liberals because there are trying to -- to -- to stop the bleeding. But, you know, unfortunately for their party, they've just been -- they've been marred bite liberal brand so strongly and it doesn't look like there are bouncing back from it. So again we are seeing this trend across the country with liberal provincial parties doing really poorly, and I think that the bc conservatives are going to new brunswick a really interesting position in this next election. >> Yeah, I mean, we want to be clear, bc liberals are always centre right. The rebranding, though, gurratan, your take on that from bc liberals to bc united, no doubt hoping that that would, you know,ably them a refresh and voters would take a second look, it doesn't real seem like that's resonating. Let's be clear. We are still months away. But right now, not looking so good. >> Let's also clarify that one point. This is not actually a bc liberal party that's rebranded to the bcup. This is actually a conservative party that rebranded -- it was initially called the liberals, in a very bizarre fashion, those

of us all of us east of bc confuse idea a conservative party was called the liberal party, I guess as an ndper, I see liberal tories same old story, but with respect to this, we have a centric party and a further right party fighting each other. So this is a really interesting dynamic and warning it really demonstrates is that the dcup rebrand will probably go down in canadian politics as the worst rebranding that has occurred and having the most neck impact. They wanted to distance themselves from a party that really wasn't their values anyways, since they were actually conservatives. They chose a really cumbersome acronym that people still struggle with, how to refer to them as. And now their lunch is getting eaten by a party whose name they probably should have adopted from the get-go. So this is the right eating the right right now and as it progresses I'm sitting back and enjoying the show. >> You're right, is it the bc united party, bc united, just united, it gets confusing. To you, sabrina, as well, and touching on something that mel and guarantee were talking a little bit about. This idea that perhaps if you are the leader of the conservative party in british columbia, which of course is always struggled going back many, many years, you start to think, well, you know, given what's happening federally and how far ahead the conservatives are with pierre poilievre, maybe we have an opportunity to break through here in british columbia, so why do I want to, you know, hitch my wagon to the folks over at bc united? >> Yeah, I mean, again, I think that there's little to come out of benefits, the bc conservatives to even like think about net merger with the bc united, 12% doesn't make any sense. But I do also think that there is some risk hitching their wagon foully to the federal conservatives, right? There's a -- and while the conservatives are still doing well in the polls right now federally, they're still some risk that they might -- they might falter and I think that it also really depends on what do people in bc care about. And -- health care, the cost of living, and affordability and housing. And I think that so far, the conservatives haven't really come to the table with a plan for that federally, and I don't really think they are coming as the plan to the table with a plan for that provincially. So it does -- like, do they have any yesterdayability in actually solving these issues or is premier eby host winnipeg some of his plan to actually make a difference on those three issues. >> Todd: last word on this to you, rachel aiello, how does it play out? What do you think we're going to see? >> I do think what you hit on, there todd, about looking at pierre poilievre's recent run in british columbia and whether the federal conservatives are able to kind of help buoy the provincial conservatives is going to be something to watch in this ongoing race. I think we've seen conservative leader pierre poilievre spend a lot of time in british columbia and certainly trying to make continuous gains with some of the outskirts regions around vancouver. So that is certainly something I would imagine that the provincial party is keeping an eye on, and even in this echoing of common sense language, potentially a ship they're trying to ride to their own electoral success. >> All right, we're going to get our front bench to stick around in just a moment, when we come back, we're going to look at prime minister trudeau's pharmacare strategy and taking on pierre poilievre's once again. We'll be right back. [ [Ambient Sounds] [Ambient Sounds] [Ambient Sounds] [Clapping] [Silence] This is her why. What's yours? Discover the science behind managing weight at truthaboutweight.ca. This is what your ear looks like filled with wax. Here's a cotton swab. Watch. It just pushes the wax in. Now here's Wush, the new, safe and effective way to clean your ears. Just Wush the wax out. That's insane. The triple stream safely clears dirt and wax buildup. It feels incredible. Get 15% off and free shipping at Wush.ca What keeps baby's skin healthy? A diaper that doesn't leave skin wet. That's why Pampers Swaddlers absorbs wetness better for up to 100%leakproof protection and 0% skin irritation. Pampers. For healthy baby skin. To 50 years with my best friend. Nooo... Aya... Quick, the Quicker Picker Upper! One sheet of Bountyis all you need And Bounty is 50% moreabsorbent so you can use less. Bounty, the Quicker PickerUpper. Inside every Splenda product is a mission. To make it easier for people to cut sugar from their diet. From our factory to our stevia farm,

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a potential conservative government would cut pharmacare, dental care, axis to the very fundamental medications that people require and we also do see from members of the conservative party right now, rather in elected MPs, very problematic rhetoric around a woman's right to choose. So I do think there's a clear dichotomy, there a clear split, and I think that for canadians, we need the investment that the ndp fought for, we need to maintain these investments in pharmacare, dental care and more. >> Let's bring in mel, because there's lots to cover there and I want you to respond to that. As you know, the problem for the prime minister and his party is it's an up hill battle. They are way behind the polls and those polls are pretty stubborn in terms of the spread between them and the conservatives. They've been trying lots of different things in recent months throwing everything at the wall to see if they can shift those numbers t doesn't seem at this point to be working. We're a long way away, more than a year plus no doubt from the next federal election. But your read on the strategy that trudeau is adopting and lots of his ministers too, let's be clear. >> Well, I think it's a good communications strategy. The problem is that he doesn't really back it up with unstands. The pharmacare bill is yet another example of the liberal government saying one thing and then doing another. The legislation itself actually requires the provinces to take on the whole burden of the cost associated with pharmacare program for both drug that is are covered and those that would be publicly covered or in a private care either way. And that -- that's happening without any consultation. The provinces have not been engage today date at all on this bill, and the despite the fact that they are going to be the most significantly impacted by it. Ontario's a great example. In ontario, children under the age of 18 have access to a free pharmacare through ohip, so my son is almost three years old, and if he gets an infection and he needs an antibiotic I could take him to the pharmacare and it's covered under ohip. It's not clear who the first payer will be under the new pharmacare plan in ontario. How is that going to change? Is that going to jeopardize the program that already exists in this province? The provinces don't any answers to this because they haven't been consulted by the federal government at all on this bill. So I think from the get-go, this has been a problematic piece of legislation because there's just no real follow-through here in order to actually execute on it. >> Let's dig a little deeper in terms of where things stand right now with the bill getting it through parliament, rachel aiello has been watching that as our extraordinary parliamentary correspondent. Rachel, where do things stand right now? >> Yeah, todd. So the liberals teamed up with the ndp to advance a motion to essentially fast track this bill through the remaining stages in the house. So we had two very long study days at committee thursday and friday, MPs had to get their amendments in by this afternoon, and then they've really programmed the timing out, so we're looking at about five more hours of debate at report stage and one more day at third reading. So if they really wanted to prioritize this and make it something that passes asap, that could happen as early as next week. Ened I think kind of to get back to mel's point about the provinces being consulted, the liberals have made it clear that they want to get this bill passed so they can start those consultations. Mark holland, the health minister this week was talking about needing to or intending to work on those deals this summer, and, todd, to get back to your bigger point about really sticking the conservatives, I think the linchpin for the liberals here is they can talk all they want about the conservatives pulling back pharmacare, but if they don't actually get these deals in place and there's nothing to actually tell people that poilievre is going to take away, that argument becomes quite weak and so they really do have an impetus to make sure that there are deals across the country to secure this agreement on funding and providing these dental -- or diabetes and contraceptive medications, because without that actually being something canadians are actively already able to access, the argument about it being taken away is definitely weakened. >> Yeah, okay, we're running out of time. But just quick lightening round before we go. Back to you, sabrina, of the arguments that this is nothing more than fear mongering on the part of the liberals trying to scare people, look, you like these programs, you better not vote for pierre poilievre, they're going to take it away. Your take? >> My only -- I think as gurratan pointed out earlier, one was things that the liberals are focusing on now is the right for a woman to choose and the abortion legislation and the conservative government across the province, they said no, no problem pulling that right on the rights of trans-youth and the rights of the lgbt. So it's a boliviaable proposition that the conservatives government will pull this back because they have conservative governments to pointe already. So I think it's still a good strategy for the liberals. >> Gurratan, your take? >> Well, I think it's just the -- what has been communicated by the conservative

party and the leadership, the fact that they've said that they would bring cuts to child care, to pharmacare, that this could be the last government that has a minister of health. Like, these are very problematic statements that come out of the conservatives and we don't know the extent of their authority, but we do know that that's what conservative governments tomorrow. They cut to the services that people rely them out. They cut to things like health care where they privatize it or open up the doors to privatization. These are all factor that is effectively weaken our public services and effectively hurt the services that people need the most. >> I guess, mel, the counter argument to that would be, look, we can't afford some of this stuff and it is very generous and, you know, when you take a good hard look at some of these programs and see where we can perhaps scale back in order to make sure we're not adding more and more and more to the national credit card so to speak. >> Or duplicating efforts. But I think that actually goes deeper than that here. I think this is an issue of trust. And I don't think that many canadians trust the liberal government to actually execute on this plan and to get it across the finish line in parts because they have failed to consult with the provinces that are the one whose are going to end up having to download this program and be the ones who manage it and finance it, in the end. And they also haven't engaged with the medicine manufacturers in canada on this bill, it's going to impact them, it's going to impact patients who depend on access to those innovative medicines. None of these stakeholders have been engaged in this bill and they can't say, oh, we're going to ram this legislation through and then we'll consult with them. That's not how this works. You need to do the consultation up front before you pass the bill. >> We're going to say good-bye to three of our four front benchers, and thank you they have for coming on the show. Gurratan and mel as well as sabrina and wish you all of the best, have a great weekend, we'll talk to you again real soon. We're going to keep rachel aiello because she's taking a look at the week ahead. Rachel, we're standing by for more movement on the foreign interference file. What are you watching that for? >> That's right, todd. So the first bit of debate is going to happen on that bill on wednesday, and I'm watching this because this first bit of debate on any bill is a really good opportunity to get a sense of where the parties stand. And why I'm watching this one is because we've heard from the opposition parties, this push for the government to act on a foreign agent registry. Well, now they've done that through this bill and so is it going to be something that there's going to be all party consensus and agreement that this is something that urgently needs to get done and get passed or are there going to be concerns raised about some of the other measures within this bill, new powers for csis, for example. So that's one was big things that I'm going to be keeping an eye on when they come back next week. >> All right, and what about the from the? Where do things stand on that? >> So by and far, todd, the budget bill is the biggest prior to for the government to get passed before they rise for the summer break. Both the fall economic statement legislation and the budget bill has been kind of helped along this week by time allocation. The government putting forward motions kind of prescribing how much time is left to it, so those are certainly going to be hot ones to watch if they kind of round out the finish line. They've already got the senate prestudying both to help expedite that but then there is this question, todd, freedom he'll freeland said this week they are committed to bringing forward that capital gains legislation, that still has yet to happen. And if they are adamant that is going to be in place next month, how is that going to work procedurally, so I'm going to keep an eye on that too. >> Rachel aiello, thanks for this, rachel. And don't miss racism's full newsletter capital dispatch, fridays in you are in box and on youtube, can you sign for it at ctv NEWS.ca, it is great. All right, in a moment for us, a group of canadian soldiers on a historic mission to return an unknown soldier from newfoundland. First world war back home. Our ctv's garrett barry will join us from france with more on that story. Stay with us here on -Ahh... this thing isn't getting any better... -And it won't get better. It's a nail fungus infection. -On top of that, it looks gross! -and it can spread to other people. It's contagious. You need a prescription. Ask your doctor or foot care practitioner about prescription treatments that can be applied to the nail. Want some coffee, mate? Coffee'd be great. Thanks, mate. How 'bout some Coffee Mate? —Coffee, mate! —Coffee Mate? Already said I want some coffee, mate? I meant you want some Coffee Mate? Oh! I'd love some Coffee Mate with my coffee, mate. —Mate? —Mate. 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