The Ben Mulroney Show - Ben sits down with Pierre Poilievre for the first time since the Election

Episode Date: May 14, 2025

Guests and Topics: Guest: Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! https://globalnews.ca/national/program/the-ben-mulroney-show Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's now time for us to focus. The election's over. We now have a cabinet. We've got a government. The House of Commons will be sitting soon. And this government will be getting to work on the issues and values and policies that are important to them that maybe got them elected. We'll have to wait and see on that. But on the other side of the aisle, the that party is somewhat incomplete in that the leader of that party did not win his seat and is now seeking a seat in a by-election which should probably see him in that role restored to the leader of the opposition by the fall. And we are joined by that person,

Pierre Poliev joins us right now here on the Ben Mulroney show. Pierre, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for joining us. Good to be with you, Ben. Thanks for having me. So let's get your take on a few things. The cabinet was announced. I think the the Prime Minister had an interesting job. He had to make what was old look new. What was tired look fresh. How do you think he did?

Well, first of all, I congratulate everyone who got named. It's a big deal to get become a cabinet member. There's only about 40 cabinet ministers out of 40 million Canadians. So it's literally a one in a million opportunity to do some things. I think that there's a lot of the names that were around Justin Trudeau's cabinet, you know, the, for example, he has some Melanie Jolie and Champagne. They're doing the two economic files. Well, they were very strong members of the Trudeau government that delivered really terrible results for our economy.

This is a time when we had the worst economic growth and the G7 outing costs doubled. Poverty went up to 25 percent. I was kind of surprised that he would pick the same Trudeau ministers who had the big economic portfolios. The new Justice Minister is Sean Frazier. He was the immigration minister that ran our system out of control and gave us the biggest immigration crisis in history. He became the housing minister and of course and gave us the biggest immigration crisis in history. He became the housing minister and of course he gave us the most expensive housing in the developed world and now he's in charge of crime. So I find it hard to understand why you pick a guy who caused the housing and immigration crises to deal with the crime crisis.

So unfortunately, the new liberal cabinet looks a lot like the old liberal cabinet. And that's why it's gonna be more necessary for than ever for conservatives to step up and fight for the values that 8 million people voted for on election day. Now you've got, there are purists out there who believe that the role of her majesty's or his majesty's loyal opposition is to oppose

and to propose alternatives to policies that they feel are anathema to the best outcomes for Canadians. However, given the fact, and if I can be cheeky here, given the fact that the liberals got elected because of on certain files, they pretty much lifted things from the conservative platform.

Can you see once you get back into the House of Commons, can you see finding common cause on certain issues of national importance with the liberals and voting in favor of certain select parts of their agenda? Well, it will be, if they vote, if they put forward our agenda, then we would vote for our agenda, of course. And we've been as concerned as leading the national debate on carbon tax, inflation, housing, crime, drugs, natural resources. I mean, you know, the positions that we took over the last

three years, they were, you they were seen as far out there until we came along and won the debate. And so now everyone claims to agree with us. And if the liberals implement a conservative agenda, then we will obviously vote for that agenda. But if they continue down the same path of radical government spending, money printing, indebtedness, soft on crime, liberalized drug laws, then we oppose those things. So, you

know, it's like Lincoln said, I stand with a man when he stands right and I stand against him when he stands wrong. Well, you are running for a seat now in Alberta, which puts you in a, you know, you're going to be representing or attempting to represent, you know, people who have a very particular view of Ottawa and what they want out of Ottawa. Before we get to what you're hearing at the door and how you're preparing for that by-election,

you know, two key cabinet positions for Alberta are environment and natural resources. What do you make of his, of Carney's choices on both those files? I don't know a lot about the new resource minister because he is new to politics. So I hope that he works out. He's a good guy. And I'll support him in any way I can to get pipelines built, the mines dug, eliminate the anti-development laws like C-69, the energy cap, the industrial carbon tax, and the list goes on. But so wait and see what he does. Then you've got the environment minister.

She has unfortunately a background as opposing our oil and gas sector. She calls it the tar sands rather than the oil sands. She has been a strong supporter of banning plastics and other essentials of our modern economy. And so we're concerned. Frankly, the minister, the premier of Alberta has said that she's worried that this new appointment could be a real disaster, but it will depend on whether she governs based on her past statements or whether she's changed tack. And I hope that the latter is true. Robert Leonard I'm in conversation with Pierre Poliev here on the Ben Mulroney show. And Pierre, have you begun the work of getting to know the people in the riding

where you, that you seek to represent? I have, yes. I did a small tour about 10 days ago, I think it was, a couple of Saturdays ago. And we went and visited the people of consort. And I've been on the phones with the local mayors in the many small towns and villages of the region. It's a heavily agricultural and oil and gas region of the country.

But you know, you say, well, of course, but it is especially so. They have 56,000 kilometers of landmass. They have the hardesty energy hub, which is, I'm told actually 3% of Canada's GDP literally travels through the pipes and systems of that one hardesty location, even though there's only five or six hundred people who live in the town. So, an incredibly important part of our national economy that is unfortunately not well enough known. So, I will be championing energy production, agriculture, free enterprise, small government, less tax, and law and order.

Because those are the things that people in the community and region want done, and they happen to be the same things the entire country needs. Pierre, if you are lucky enough to represent the people of that area, and how are you going to, I don't know, thread the needle of being able to defend Canada as an idea, Canada as something worth preserving in the face of a rising tide of separatist movement. And that separatist movement, it seems, is linked to what the people of that area would view

as poor decision-making or disrespect from Ottawa. So how do you defend Canada when the people that you're opposing in the House of Commons would be in one way, shape or form responsible for helping rise that tie to separatism? Well, I think that the things that the people in Battle River, Crowfoot want are the same things that all Canadians want, which is a strong national economy driven in large part by our immense resource wealth. So I don't think Albertans want to separate. I think they want a change.

They're tired of being told, pay up and shut up. And I agree with them on that. If the government, if we can convince the government to get off the backs of the energy sector, approve pipelines, LNG plants, mines and repeal the anti-energy laws, then the province of Alberta will roar with economic activity and I think the people will say, wow, this country works for us again. So that's what I'm going to try to do. Let's unite the country by doing the things that are not just good for the whole country, but also for people who live in the communities across Battle River, Crowfoot and the province of Alberta.

Pierre, I wish we had more time, but I wanna thank you for joining us. Following your journey over the next few months is going to be very interesting, very exciting. I hope you come back to talk to us about where your head's at. I can't wait, thanks so much. Pierre Polly, I'm the leader of the Conservative Party. I've just been to Specsavers and upgraded my lenses

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