Shaun Newman Podcast - #396 - Tom Korski

Episode Date: March 8, 2023

Managing editor of Blacklock's Reporter hops on to discuss China interference and where we are heading.  SNP Presents: Legacy Media featuring: Kid Carson, Wayne Peters, Byron Christopher & Kris Sims March 18th in Edmonton Tickets here: https://www.showpass.com/snp/ Let me know what you think Text me 587-217-8500

This is Francis Whittleson. This is Benjamin Anderson. This is Dallas Alexander. I'm Alex Craneer. This is Forrest Moretti. This is Chris Sims. This is Chris Barber and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

Happy Wednesday, hump day. How you all doing? We're cruising along here. We got a fun one today. A guy who's been on the show many, many times and I think you all know who Tom is, but we'll get to that. Before we get there, how about Blaine and Joey Stephan, Guardian plumbing and heating?

Go back to episode 337 if you want to get a feel for them. They're always looking for employees, workers. You know, it seems to be a common thread here. You know, things, looking for good people. And what makes them different? They're going to tell you a whole bunch of ins and outs of seven days on, seven days off, blah, blah, blah, blah. I tell you what makes them different, folks.

And I'm going to beat this drum until the cows come home. And that is, you know, when things got to their absolute worst, they let you do your thing. They stuck up for their workers. They didn't force anything on them, and I think that's pretty cool. Certainly there's other businesses that did exactly that, but there's so many that we all know that did not. And if you go to Guardian Plumbing and Heating, you're looking for work,

you know that they're going to have your best interest at heart. They also offer great benefits, awesome wages, great team, and they're looking for plumbers, HVAC, techs, installers, and apprentices. So, I mean, you know, you want to find out more about what they do, Guardian Plumbing.com where you can schedule your next appointment at any time. And of course, get in touch with them and see exactly what they're all about. The Deer and Steer Butchery, their butcher shop here in the Lloyd Minster area, located just between Lloyd and Kid Scotty.

So if you're looking for, you got, you know, you're looking to get an animal done. They're ready to roll for you. And Sean was just talking to Brian, and I think here in April, we're going to sneak in. And last year, I talk about this all the time. Me and Brian were just talking about it. And he's like, ah, nobody's really, you know, not too many people are that interested. I'm like, I don't know. I think a lot of people are interested.

They just, they've probably never been. And they've got to get over that little fear hump of like, do I want to give up part of a day to go help butcher an animal? The answer is yes, folks. The answer is yes. I'm telling you, I'm going to go back in April. Maybe, you know, I probably have lots of listeners who already do this. And I'll probably hear about it on the text line. It's, sir, fire me a text.

but I got to be honest I never grew up doing it it was kind of a weird you know set of circumstances I guess where dad went trucking and and Sean missed out on all the hunting and all that type of stuff and on the side of being able to go in the butcher shop when you're getting your meat done and you know partake have a little bit fun with it learn a little bit see how it's done I think it's so invaluable alongside everything else so if you're looking for if you're looking to get an animal done, give them a call.

780 870, 8,700. And Sean really thinks getting your hands in the mix for it as well is a cool experience that they offer. And I think you won't be disappointed. That's the deer and steer butchery. Erickson Agro Incorporated Irma, Alberta. That's Kent and Tasha Erickson, family farm raising four kids, growing their food for their community and this great country.

And they've signed on to the podcast just to just to, support this Yahoo, you know? That's pretty cool. And I appreciate the support from Irma. If you're around Erickson, Hey, girl, make sure you stop in, say hello. I got to get out that way and do that same. I've had, I tell you what, Erickson family. And I guess I should give a pointed Kent and Todd.

Anyways, I'm like, I don't know what you set off in Irma. Or maybe Irma has always been a bit of a hotbed. But Irma's been texting the crap out of me the last little bit, and I appreciate it. the old, I don't know what it is. I don't know what Irma has in the water that has got them listening to the old SMP. Maybe we're more aligned than one would like to admit. Or maybe one should admit.

Either way, it's been cool. I think it's freaking awesome. But within the span of like a week, it was the Erickson's, and then it was another, and then it was another, and then it was another. I was like, what's going on in Irma? I'm going to have to take a little road trip down there. Obviously, we know all about their sports history and certainly some of the talent coming out of the air. Either way, that's

neither here nor there. Jim Spanerath and the team at Three Trees Tapping Kitchen. They've been doing their live music where you can go in, get your meal, and as Tews would say, they got the great, just fantastic food. He's not wrong.

They have great food. But they also, if you creep them on social media, they've been having different local acts come through, play a set for a couple of hours, usually on a Thursday or Friday night, and certainly here in the border city,

that's pretty unique. I mention it all the time, and I apologize for repeating myself, except, you know, it just sticks out that, you know, like here in town, we just don't have a lot of live music and to go and sit and listen to live music and, you know, kind of, you know,

be in fellowship or whatever, on a date or whatever. You know what I mean. Geez, I'm butchering it today. but regardless, if you're looking for a little live music, a great meal, then I suggest you call and get a reservation, take that special someone out, 780874, 765 plus. You're not going to find anyone better than, like, Jim's top notch. Like the guy is in absolute beauty. Either way.

The SMP presents March 18th. It is closing in fast. And obviously, looking forward to it. And I hope we'll see a few folks there. If you haven't bought tickets yet, in the show notes, the link is there. We got Kid Carson flying in from Vancouver. You got Wayne Peters coming in from Winnipeg. You got Byron Christopher out of Eminton, and you got Chris Sims here in Alberta.

So you got four people coming in from all over the place talking legacy media. It is going to be a fun night. I'm excited for it. I hope to see you all there. and if you're looking to, you know, team up with the SMP, you know, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, we still got a few spots left and would love to have you on board. Yeah, Gartner Management, they're Lloydminster-based company specializing in all types of rental properties to help me in your needs, whether you're looking for a small office such as this guy, or you need, you know, you got, you got a little bigger needs.

You need a little extra space. Give away a call. 780, 808, 50, 25. Let's get on a tail of the tape brought to you by Hancock Petroleum. For the past 80 years, they've been an industry leader in bulk fuels, lubricants, methanol, and chemicals delivering to your farm, commercial, or oil field location. For more information, visit them at Hancockpetroleum.com. He's a former radio man who covered politics for dailies in Winnipeg, Calgary, and Eminton.

He was a Beijing correspondent for the South China Morning Post of Hong Kong. He's now the managing editor of Blacklocks reporter. I'm talking about Tom Korski. So buckle up. Here we go. This is Tom Corski, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Well, welcome to the Sean Newman podcast today. I'm joined by Tom Corsky. So, Tom, it's great to have you back again. It's been a, it's been a little bit.

Thank you, Sean. You know, anytime I see a Canadian headline now that has anything attached with money, all I think of is Blacklocks and you become top to mind. So, you know, China just seems to be looming ever more present in our country. And I'm like, well, it's a high time I got Tom on and hear what Blacklocks has to say about it, or what Tom has to say about it. Well, it's interesting.

This is the longstanding allegations of Chinese interference by Communist Party agents. And these allegations go back several years. You know what's interesting about it? You say, well, why is this all of a sudden getting pretty hot? And it is on Parliament Hill. And the reason is because there were a bunch of safeguards put in, Sean. And the people who were in charge of those safeguards election monitors didn't do their job. I'm sorry, it's just that plan.

They didn't do their job. And so now MPs are taking the job away, and they want to get a judicial inquiry. Very rare in this country. On this subject, foreign interference in Canadian political affairs, we haven't had one of those since 1946. That was the old Soviet spiring, Igor Gisenko right here in Ottawa. It was huge. So that's how long. That's how extraordinary this is.

Well, what do we know for sure? No supposition or allegations. What do we know as fact? Well, we know in the 2019 and 2021 elections, there were serious people who made substantive allegations that Chinese foreign agents, Communist Party, stooges, interfered in the election or re-election campaigns, of certain MPs.

Two writings have been named. One is Don Valley North in Toronto, the other is Stevenson, Richmond, in British Columbia. But there were more that are alleged. We know that those serious people took those allegations to what was really the police.

Federal election monitor set up. Very high people involved in that task force. Kirby Council Office, that's the head of the federal bureaucracy, the RCMP, Department of Foreign Affairs, very serious people. The Federal Spy Agency, Canadian Security Intelligence Service, they have a person on that task force. What did that task force do with

these allegations? They did nothing. So, what do we know for else? We know that when asked why they didn't do anything, they stare at their shoes. They have done this in parliamentary hearings and say, well, I don't know. It was complicated, Sean. It was a hectic ton. maybe in hindsight we could have played it sharper this is the unbelievable part think about that someone called the fire commissioner and said look at i see smoke coming out of a warehouse could be fire there and the fire commissioner did nothing and then came up with a lot of excuses well could it have been some other manifestation how do we know there was a fire that makes people upset angry and suspicious mps on this subject very bad tempered and excitable they've they've they've

they're fed up. What did they do? Committee called the House Affairs Committee last week and voted six to five. This is conservative block and new Democrat opposition members in lockstep. They had the vote six to five over liberal objections, cabinet objections. Cabinet has gone to the ends of the earth to avoid this. Send a report back to the House and what is the motion say? Do you want a public inquiring? Take all the time you need.

We are going to agree mutually on the job. who will run it, will have subpoena powers, compel documents, compel testimony, or threat of perjury. There you will have witnesses, and for our purposes, more importantly, documents that must be disclosed to the public. On what the allegations were, why nobody looked into it, and what the truth is, it's going to be a box of fireworks, Sean. Well, I hear another inquiry, and I'm curious, are you excited about that? I know if you go to... to the last inquiry that we just had. Certainly the entire process was fascinating. Hearing all the different testimonies seeing, I'm sure for your side, Tom, all the documents come out was fascinating.

I can't, I can't even, maybe even illuminating. Like, it was, that was the best part. I don't think for a lot of people, the final verdict was what anyone wanted to hear or see. But in saying that, coming to another inquiry, does that make you, are you happy about this, Tom? What are your thoughts? Well, this is what transparency is. This is about what the Chinese did. Of equal importance, it's what Canadians did. What did the Canadian police agency?

What did the election monitors do? You hit on the, this is the key. Documents. Foreign testimony, you know, I understand it's, it's, highly compelling for our purposes. The documents are gold. I know that there were people disappointed what the final report was out of the Public Order Emergency Commission. That doesn't change the fact. The documents were absolutely fascinating. You found out your federal department of finance minister was sitting in secret conference holding hands with the Canadian Bankers Association,

musing about whether to put troops on the border to deal with truckers at Boots, Alberta and Windsor, Ontario. Can you believe that? You found out through the documents of that commission that you had an Attorney General of Canada, Attorney General O'Medi, fantasize in a text with the public safety minister about deploying tanks against these unarmed protesters outside Parliament. Well, that's gold. You just learn more about your government than you will by reading their election platform. That's what you're going to get in this inquiry. I think MPs are of a sense that there's no choice.

But any time there's more transparency and you can find out what powerful people were thinking, saying, and doing in real time in black and white, as they are compulsive of emailers and texters, oh, well, that's just a great day for the rate payer in democracy. It's absolutely fantastic for transparent. Yeah, when I hear it, you put it that way. Yeah, it does. I'm excited to see what Black Lox brings up out of it. You know, I've said this multiple times when you come on.

I really enjoy how you guys tackle the different stories. But I have this ever since growing in me that when it comes to the liberals in Trudeau, they are the slipperiest of slippery. It doesn't matter how much transparency you have, Tom or for you know maybe even the conservatives are somewhere in there too I shouldn't just bash on one but I mean when I stare at the liberals I stare at some of the things they've done some of the things they've said some of the some of the meetings you're talking about and I'm like yeah yeah yeah and yet here they sit nothing seems to be changing at least from my little perch

which isn't saying much and I just go do you think at some point all this transparency something sticks and it just won't relent? Or are you seeing something different than me? Well, I appreciate your gracious compliments. I'll say this, Sean. There's no question in the past that members of all parties were alarmed by interference in Canadian elections. This has been raised for years. But there's no question. They didn't really want to get into it and start pulling little threads. Because when you start pulling those threads, you don't know where it's going to go or who could get hurt. They finally changed their mind because it got too bad. It got so dreadful. And those election monitors who were appointed to investigate these claims were so incompetent

that they felt they didn't have a choice. And I agree with them. They don't have a choice. You can't walk away from this. One other thing. I understand the prime minister said he doesn't want an inquiry. That's too bad. Because I'll tell you, how it's going to go. I'm not getting lost in process. You may find this interesting. Committee motion says, thy will be done. We want an inquiry into this. You take two, three years, whatever. We're getting to the bottom of it. That will go to the House of Commons as a whole. And there will be an MP someday very soon could happen. Any minute now. We'll stand in the House and say, I move concurrence in that report. We know all three opposition parties with over 170

votes have the votes to pass it. If the prime minister doesn't want to call an investigation then, now you're getting into Nixon country because cabinet doesn't run Parliament. Parliament doesn't answer to cabinet. It's the other way around. And if we're going to have a lot of, we're going to have rule by cabinet, then we don't need elections anymore. My friend, if they want to try that, horn honking outside the prime minister's office will be the least of their troubles. So I think you're going to get an inquiry after indignation and buster is not going to save these people, and we're going to get the whole truth. We know what part of the truth is already. The election monitors are useless. Elections Canada is a completely useless body. It has not done its job. The

Federal election monitors were worse than useless. They received complaints and they didn't tell the world. Tom, do you ever think about running for politics? No, I'm terrible in meetings, Sean. Really, and I mean really bad. I'm very disruptive in meetings. It's funny. I listen to you talk, though.

And, you know, there's so many different people, not just yourself, in media or, you know, just kind of keeping their finger to the pulse of what's, going on that really have a good way of explaining the problems and getting right, you know, being very blunt about this is where it's got to go. You give me some hope for the coming years and saying that when you're talking an inquiry, you know, this isn't like it has to be done in the next year. We're talking, this could take some time. And I always say this with politics. This is one of the, maybe I was naive. I probably was very naive. Probably all of us were very naive. But when I look at politics, you know, you want things to happen in a month's time.

Heck, I'll give you six months' time, but you're talking years before we get to the bottom of this. You know, there was an old, well, it was a liberal prime minister who said Alex McKenzie, one of the few prime ministers who was not a lawyer, he goes back to 18783, he said, you know, reform never ceases so long as there are sinners. What was McKenzie saying? He says, and he was a huge reform. probably the first big reformer we've had. He's the man who invented the, created the Supreme Court. A lot of people don't know. That was very controversial.

Quebec didn't like it. They wanted their courts to rule. What happened in their provinces? I'm not getting sidetracked on minutia here, Sean. There's a point. Reform is incremental. It always has been very frustrating. It always takes too long.

Why? In the name of heaven, would it take seven years from Confederation? to create a Supreme Court. Well, it did, and it was a big fight at the time. Enzi, he'd been a stone cutter. He was cheated on his wages on public works, and he passed the first wage protection law for contractors on federal works. Guess what happening right now. Here we are. That was at 1873. Here we are, 2003. The Department of Public Works is still working on regulations to guarantee prompt payment to contractors on public works. I'm not making that up. That's how incremental reform can be. But that's the only, I guess that's how it works.

I agree it's never fast enough. And sometimes people die. Advocates leave this mortal coil, Sean, before they see the fruits of their long-suffering advocacy for essential reform. But we stumble forward, you know, a step here, a step there towards the light. I guess it's the best we can do. Do you think, this is, I don't know the answer to this, but when you look around, you know, compared to the United States maybe, or maybe some different places in Europe, et cetera, and you look at the way we do things here in Canada,

certainly we have a beautiful country. There's no argument there. But how we go about things, Tom, are you, I don't know the word, I'm going to say a loyalist to the way we do it, or maybe the word you've used, incremental reformist, but are there some things that you're just like, we really need to,

you know, speed up the time frame on how we're doing things because you can see glaring holes in our way of doing things. Federal government? The federal government is dreadful. I've thought that for years. Great country, terrible federal government,

it's expensive and mediocre. It's unbelievable. So many myriad examples of that, that's really a staple of our coverage of how much these people spend, how much inertia there is, how little they achieve. The federal government is absolutely dreadful. And you know why? Because they don't have to be great. I remember I used to have an associate work over at the Senate. You said one time he's talking about how the Senate was this. I'm not making this up. He said, the Senate is a stabilizing force in Canada doing a great job. I said, you've got to be kidding.

I said the Senate could burn to the ground. No one would notice for two weeks. What are you talking about? I said, I get it. You guys look around at Canada. You look at all the production of wheat and grains. You look at all the timber. You look at all the fabulous resources in the ground. You look at all this beautiful, hardworking people who created this extraordinary wealth, an economy worth $2.5 trillion. And you take the credit for that. That's wow. You know, it's not like they have serious problems. There's no rebels blowing up the power plant in the jungles in Canada? Really, what's the big issue?

They went to pieces because some truck drivers honked horns. I think our federal government is really very painfully average. I don't think there's anything to. No one, I tell you, you travel the world. No one, you will never hear anyone in South Africa or Belgium or the Philippines say, wow, you guys got a hell of a federal government that you really got something. I've never heard that, Chom. how do you then in your mind tom because i am curious about this this answer will take time this answer

will be generational you know like something that you know you just don't flick a switch and all of a sudden your federal government becomes better that that doesn't happen that is something that would take a long long time is that just it's going to take a generation that wants that type of change and something truly, I don't know, if it's horrible or whatever it is, has to happen in order for that many people to get involved to change it? Or is it too big? Is it just, is it just too big to have anything done to it? It is what it is. Well, I think, I think we're still, I don't think we're still quite baked yet. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think we're, I think this is the twilight of an era that's been around, really, it's a post-war era. And I think

its ending. What was the achievement of that era? You say, well, come on, I mean, several minutes, badmouthed in the federal government. They must have done something, right? They did. They stopped French and English, east and west, Catholic and Protestant, from going at each other's throats. And that was a singular achievement. Ted Byfield, late Ted Byfield, who was really an Alberta a nationalist, many, many people remember Ted Byfield. He said that was the singular achievement of the success of happen to be liberal governments from the period of the Second World War. And I think he had something there. He said that this country, the number of countries that have had an aggrieved minority,

like, for instance, French Quebec, that didn't fly apart is a very short list, but we're on that list. I think we nailed that, Sean, and it's time to move on. And the numbers show, the long-term demographic trends show the country's moving on. You know where the fantastic growth is in the West. The population projections are simply extraordinary. And so I think that we're going to enter this new fantastic age. We have children, sons who are just entering the workforce. I think they're going to live in a very exciting time long after I'm gone.

I think the country's going to get bigger and brighter and richer and more democratic. I think it's going to be fantastic. I don't think it is, there's so, the prospects are so unbelievable that I don't think anyone could screw it up even if they wanted to. And in Ottawa, I could be wrong, but I don't think so. You know, Tommy, this is what I find fascinating about you. You're a man who follows the numbers, sees all the stupidity or ineptness or whatever word you want to attack onto it, I'm good with. And yet your outlook on the future is so, I don't know, bright, hopeful. Words that I don't use regularly, but a man probably should more often.

Because of the amount of fear that has been pushed on a population, you know, you got lots of, you just got lots of, I don't know, doom and gloom pushed. And this is something that certainly isn't new. I mean, if you've followed news, which, I mean, there's been movies written, songs, written, stories written about how that sells and how people react to it and everything else. I find it fascinating that you following it as closely as you do going nobody can screw the, you know, maybe not nobody, but I get what you're saying. We're going to better places. I think that's an absolutely rational response. I really do, John, and you just draw that conclusion from looking at yesterday.

You know, you look at, let's just talk about Western Canada, for instance. You know, and I'm from Manitoba, and, you know, I lived in Alberta for many years. My wife worked in Saskatchew. Western Canada is probably one of the few places left on Earth. It's completely egalitarian. What do I mean by that? No one ever asks you, where did you go to school? And you live and work in Western Canada.

No one asks what your dad did. There is no secret handshake. There's no old school tie. It is as close as you will get to a perfect meritocracy. There are people who come from the humblest backgrounds who have achieved amazing things in Western Canada and do to this day. Well, that's amazing. You do not find that. I'm sorry, even in the United States, which is increasing certified society, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, forget it.

If your grandfather was a janitor, your father was a janitor, you will be a janitor. Forget your big plans. You know what I learned? All the years I lived in Western Canada, everyone's got big plans. A lot of them are going to come true. That's the amazing part. I think that's the incredible part. I don't think any federal government can possibly drive that off a cliff. If they tried, it would get a little bit hot. But I think we're still that kind of country, and I think we will be for a long time. I just think that's magical. I really do.

I think it's absolutely fantastic. How do you pretend? Then, you know, it's funny. You got plans for an interview, Sean, and then I drive it this way. Funny how a Monday morning goes. Either way, Tom, how do you protect that? You talk about Western Canada, and I, yeah, I've never, I can't recall the last time anyone ever asked me where I went to school or what my father does or, et cetera, et cetera. And certainly I do know of different parts in the world where that is certainly in the conversation.

How do you protect that, or do you just think that's, we're just a young enough place in the world where eventually time will catch up to us all and that will become a fixture of it as well? No, I think there's always tension. I think it's the story of us, in particular Eastern Canada, Central Canada, there's always this tension between that aspiration that people have and the fake aristocracy. I'm absolutely, in Ottawa, I mean, it's thick with it. These people would impose a fake aristocracy in a minute. You know, the first time in my life, I was asked, where'd you go to school? It was in Toronto. somebody, I don't know why, dragged me off to a cocktail party.

Boy, that was strike number one. And someone asked me, where did you go to school? I'd never been asked that question, and my wife was with me. She translated it later for me. Well, Vincent Massey High School, Brandon Manitoba, what's it to you? Like, why would you get? Someone had to explain it to me that they, no, no, no, they meant what? Where did you go to Scots?

It had to be. Oh, you mean, oh. I was thinking, what, were you on the volleyball team? I don't remember. Yeah. No, oh, it's there. Oh, sure. Oh, these people, they would want to impose that fake aristocracy in a minute.

So how do you combat that? Well, just by being you, everyone just do your thing. And any time you see that, you stamp that out. It is the story that has gone on since 1867. It is a never-ending story. And it must be stopped. And so far, so good. You know, with a few extra minutes here, as you make me chuckle on this,

I almost choked on my coffee a bit, Tom, I dragged you off to a cocktail party. That's right there, that should have had a GoPro camera following you around for the night. I would have quite enjoyed that. One of the things, you know, has become. ever increasing I mean, geez, with this upcoming show, you know, I mentioned it in an email.

I got this SMP Presents coming up Legacy Media with a cast of characters, if you will. Chris Sims, Kig Carson, Wayne Peters, and Byron Christopher.

I was curious if you know who Byron is, being in the media as long as you have, and then certainly Byron as long as he has. I was just curious, if you knew who Byron was. I confess, but it's my age. Don't hold that against me, Sean. There's a lot of people have,

sometimes they have to show me a face and a name. No, all good. Well, it's funny to the listener, I would love to have had Tom come out to Ammonton for it because obviously by now, people know that I think awfully highly of your work and others that work alongside you. Either way, we're talking about legacy media

and some of the issues that we've seen. one of the issues that has been, and I don't even know, it's been reported on so much. And then it just came off. I just saw it again, a friend who's been on a stage beside me before. Quick Dick McDick had made a comment on one of your articles saying, you know, 1.8 million to travel to the UN conference on climate change. A million for hotel charges, 622,000 for airfares and 27,000 on meals. flying 266 delegates to Egypt.

What were your quick thoughts when you guys saw those numbers? It's funny that's a recurring theme. I appreciate those comments, Sean. It's a recurring theme. We think of it as an empty there. There's always an empty chair in the room. When the Department of Environment says, I know let's burn through $622,000 in airfare.

Just imagine the emissions flying to Egypt. So the Minister of Environment can make a speech about saving the climate. And the empty chair is the taxpayers' chair. I say that all the time. We had an item the other day. The Senate wanted to give gold bracelets to employees. Kind of an add-a-boy. Make them feel part of the team.

That's great. No object to that. Because the chair is empty in the corner of the room. There's no taxpayer there to say, wait a minute, wait a minute. I can't afford to give my wife a gold bracelet. You don't know what kind of year I had. What kind of blood, sweat, and tears did my people go through to get through this year so I could file my T4?

That's the problem in Ottawa. They don't see the chair because there's no one in the chair. and a lot of them don't have the brains to imagine where the money comes from. That's why you get people, like the Minister of Environment, spending that kind of money to fly to Egypt. And he's going to do it all again this winter because there's going to be another climate change conference and another. They can't do it on the phone, Sean.

They can't do it by Zoom. You've got to fly there in person. Yeah. The contempt for public money in this town is really something. always impressed me. And it's just, it's such an interesting, you know, listen, I tell you this every time you come on, Tom. And with time closing on us, I'll say it once again, you know, I was pretty naive or green or whatever we want to call it before I started this podcast and certainly partway into starting

this podcast. But the longer you stare at it, you just go, like, they just don't care. Like you say, they're going to go. They're going to move on. They're going to keep pushing forward and they don't understand or they don't care to understand. Might even be the, you know, they just don't care where the money comes from. But we'll give you an attaboy because you're doing a great job. And, oh, man, if there's going to be a little humor at the end of this, Tom, I'm glad you're bringing it because I struggle with some of these stories and some of these figures are just unbelievable in a time where, you know, the average taxpayer is struggling.

You know, there's, there's, the cost of everything is through the roof. I mean, we don't have to be a rocket scientist to see that. The, oh, some of the inflation figures are, pre-pandemic figures, January 2020 to January 2020, February, spaghetti of 56%. 56% is like, what is that like post-war Berlin? You know, Sean, if you don't like fighting, this is not the business for you. I've always said that. So the day you stop fighting for some of these things is never.

And, you know, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, good thing. I'm a scrappy little Saskatchew boy, I guess, eh? That'd be scrappy. Well, Tom, I appreciate you giving me some time this morning and, uh, certainly look forward to, uh, when our paths cross again. I might, here's something for your brain. I might be, uh, heading out east here, uh, uh, uh, uh, heading out east here. in the next couple of months. And would certainly love the opportunity to come shake your hand if I make it your way. Well, I appreciate that, Sean. If you're going through Pearson Airport in Toronto, be sure to bring a cot because you're

going to be sleeping on the floor for a couple of days. Fair enough. Well, Tom, you have a great day. Appreciate you giving me some time yet again. You too, Sean. Thank you kindly.