--:-- [Upbeat music fades out]
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--:-- [Music transitions to a more serious tone]
--:-- Georgia Howe: Joining us now is Victoria Coates, Vice President of National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. So, Victoria, quite a bit of chaos happening in Canada. First off, Krista Freeland, Canada's finance minister, resigned this past week.
--:-- Victoria Coates: It's a really chaotic situation and your listeners will be forgiven. There are so many. We have South Korea, we have Japan, we have Germany, we have France. All of these governments are sort of falling into chaos largely because their populations feel that the governments are not responding to the issues that are important to them.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And particularly in Canada you know Prime Minister Trudeau who has been the card poster child for a woke liberal agenda very extreme policies on immigration, on gender issues, all of these things has become deeply unpopular to the point of 23% popularity, which is pretty bad.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And as you said, Krista Freeland, their finance minister and deputy prime minister, has resigned. Essentially based on the catastrophic economic situation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: What is the catastrophic financial situation in Canada?
--:-- Victoria Coates: I think this has all come from very liberal economic policies of Prime Minister Trudeau, where the currency is depreciating dramatically. He is prioritizing DEI issues, for example, going very heavily into a extreme green agenda, all of which is disastrous for Canada's economy.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Bear in mind, Canada is one of the world's great energy producers. Quietly behind the scenes, Canadian conservatives have been saying, hey, why aren't we selling more oil to the United States? You know, why aren't we refining together? Why aren't we developing our natural resources?
--:-- Victoria Coates: And I think the Canadian people realize there's a much more productive relationship, particularly with the United States, if we have new leadership in both countries that aren't as committed to an extreme green agenda.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, a lot of people are pointing to Trump's return to power as one of the factors that's causing some of this turmoil in Canada, particularly relating to his tariff threats. Is there any truth to that?
--:-- Victoria Coates: I think that's very real. And I'm calling it the Trump effect. It is something that seems to be sort of impacting almost the entire globe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: But in this case, there has been an uneven playing field between Canada and the United States. And while USMCA is an improvement on the old NAFTA deal, it has not completely leveled the field.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And I think that's what President Trump was saying. And, you know, the impact of that on Canada's economy would be devastating.
--:-- Georgia Howe: I think that's why you saw Prime Minister Trudeau hightail it down to Mar-a-Lago last week to try to talk President Trump out of that position.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And you had the president offer to make Canada the 51st state and started to refer to him as Governor Trudeau, which was pretty hilarious, but very much, I think, an indicator that the United States is the big brother in this relationship.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you know under President Trump we're not going to be taken advantage of anymore Justin Trudeau popularity you mentioned is at an all-time low. And you did mention that there's some economic factors there contributing. What other issues are leading to his unpopularity? Is it primarily just the depreciating dollar or what else is going on?
--:-- Victoria Coates: I think economic is king in these situations, that when you have a suffering economy, you have inflation, you have increasing energy prices, you're going to just have overall unhappiness.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And then, you know, the threat of increasing economic woes because of Trudeau's policies, you know, personalized this. And I think from what I've seen from a lot of Canadians online is they feel like he is very allied with the kind of global elitist class that consider themselves the betters of Canada and aren't paying attention to the issues that matter to Canadians.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And I think that's very much the sentiment we got from the recent U.S. election. And so I think this is an opportunity because the Conservative Party is led by a politician named Pierre Poilevre, and who is a much more staunched, rock-ribbed conservative in the tradition of Stephen Harper and other great Canadian leaders who I think would be a super partner for President Trump.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So the Canadian election isn't necessarily going to happen before next October, which is when they have to do it.
--:-- Victoria Coates: But the situation is certainly very fluid. So, you know, the prime minister could resign at any time, call for a snap election. So that could happen sooner rather than later.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, what motivation would Trudeau have to actually resign?
--:-- Victoria Coates: I think if he feels like the situation is untenable, that he is facing so much non-confidence, he can't get anything done. And if he has additional resignations in his government and he can't find people to replace them, you know, he may realize that the writing is on the wall.
--:-- Georgia Howe: He might also hope for a Hail Mary, that maybe the people who have been voting for him for lo these many years might come out again and give him another term. We've seen that attempted before. It rarely works, but doesn't stop people from trying.
--:-- Victoria Coates: So all of those factors could contribute to a resignation. But as I said, I think it's more likely he kind of tries to limp along as long as he can.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now, we recently saw Trudeau visit Mar-a-Lago and be somewhat deferential to Trump. Is that a good strategy for him with regards to his relationship with the U.S., or is that just going to weaken him further?
--:-- Victoria Coates: No, I think it maybe his only strategy. You know he realizes Trump is coming back. He realizes that you know Trump has a lot of problems with what they been doing economically.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And I think this was kind of his attempt to mend bridges.
--:-- Victoria Coates: I think unfortunately that simply not going to work. I don't think he is capable of implementing the kind of sort of sweeping conservative reforms that would be required to evade those Trump tariffs and return as I said to a level playing field.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So I unfortunately don't think that was much more than kind of an exercise in ritual self-humiliation.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Now, opposition leader Pierre Pollyevre is gaining momentum all while Trudeau craters. What do you think his chances are in the event of a vote?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Oh, I think if a vote was called, the conservative party would win handily. He's about 20 points up on Trudeau. So that points to a pretty sweeping victory.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Pollyevre is a very compelling politician, growing in popularity. Sort of seems like the next new thing. Trudeau is increasingly yesterday's news.
--:-- Georgia Howe: So I'm pretty optimistic about their chances if a vote is called.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Now, the housing shortage in Canada was voted the most consequential story of 2024 by Canadian press outlets. How big is the crisis there in Canada and how is it shaping the discontent?
--:-- Georgia Howe: Well, I mean, I think it's for many of the same reasons. The policies that Trudeau has espoused are these what you might call anti-human and anti-growth, very extreme carbon pricing schemes, which is all based on what I think are illusory climate targets.
--:-- Victoria Coates: And it's driving up prices for commodities that go into housing very dramatically. And I think that is a fundamental economic problem that goes with the others that we've been discussing that just have tanked his popularity.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And again, I think this is the same lesson we had from November 5th here in the United States, that the insistence on climate change as the most existential threat to the United States or to Canada just simply isn't resonating with voters.
--:-- Victoria Coates: They don't want to live this way. They want a plentiful, affordable energy. They want readily available, affordable housing. I mean, these are pretty basic needs that this extreme agenda related to climate issues is making untenable.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right. Well, Victoria, thank you so much for coming on.
--:-- Victoria Coates: Absolutely a pleasure. Thank you, Georgia.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That was Victoria Coates, Vice President of National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation. And this has been a Sunday edition of Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Hey, if you want to hear more of our Sunday edition, be sure to subscribe to Morning Wire on your favorite podcast app.
