June 4, 2025 • 56 mins
Aaron Pete sits down with MP Brad Vis to break down the 2025 federal election, Conservative strategy, Pierre Poilievre’s loss, Trump’s impact, Mark Carney’s rise, political messaging, and how to regain public trust in Canadian politics.
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Episode Transcript
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Brad Vis (00:00):
In Ottawa, there's a culture of denialism.
There is a culture of not comingclean.
When did you know that theelection was heading in the
wrong direction and that theConservative Party was unlikely
to be successful in theelection?
What is your position onTrump's approach?
Is there any merit to what he'sdone?
What Donald Trump was doing isdisrupting one of the most
(00:21):
successful economicrelationships the world has ever
seen.
I would have Brad from asenior, you know, I just don't
think Carney's the right guy forthe job facing the challenges
we're facing.
And then the next door I'd goto a young mom who's like, I
can't afford the groceries.
I don't know what I'm going todo at the end of the month.
And I don't know what'shappening or if I'm even safe in
my community anymore.
And it was like people wereliving on two completely
(00:43):
separate planets.
Aaron Pete (00:44):
What is your message to Canadians and your
constituents who might befrustrated?
I'm
Brad Vis (00:50):
going to fight for you.
I take this job extremelyseriously.
Pierre
Aaron Pete (00:54):
Polyev lost his riding.
What was your reaction to that?
Brad, it is an honour to bespeaking with you today.
Thank you so much for agreeingto this interview.
Would you mind first brieflyintroducing yourself?
Brad Vis (01:08):
I am Brad Viss, the Member of Parliament for
Canada's number one ridingMission Matsui Abbotsford.
Aaron Pete (01:15):
Fantastic.
I wanted to start perhaps atthe beginning and just reflect
on Justin Trudeau's decision tostep down as Prime Minister.
Prior to that, the polls showedsomething very different than
how the election went.
And I just, I'm curious as tohow you reflect on his decision
to resign?
Brad Vis (01:34):
Well, I think the biggest takeaway is what we have
today, is that many peoplewere, rightfully so, extremely
upset with our previous primeminister.
And as a result of hisresignation and the election of
Mark Carney in conjunction witha newly elected president down
south, the election we thoughtwe were going to be undertaking
(02:00):
turned out to be much different.
Would
Aaron Pete (02:02):
you say that it was a...
A good, responsible decisionthat Mr.
Trudeau chose to step down?
Brad Vis (02:09):
I think he did it because he read the tea leaves
and he knew that he was set upfor electoral defeat.
Aaron Pete (02:16):
Okay.
And then they have a liberalinternal election to go through
that process and make a decisionon who is going to lead the
party.
And I had the opportunity tointerview Karina Gold, who was
one of the individuals running.
Yeah.
And it ends up being MarkCarney.
Yeah.
What was your reaction to that?
I
Brad Vis (02:35):
sort of understood from the very beginning that
Mark Carney was going to win.
And I say that because onething Justin Trudeau was very
good at was building a veryeffective political apparatus
around him.
Most of that politicalapparatus, including Jerry
Butts, his former principalsecretary, the likes of Evan
(02:57):
Solomon, who was elected fromthe Eurasia group, all went
behind Mark Carney for what theleadership was doing.
So Mark Carney inherited one ofthe most successful team.
And so he set himself up verywell for a win amongst liberals.
Aaron Pete (03:11):
Interesting.
And then we call an electionshortly thereafter.
And it was 36 days.
And I wrote an article justabout my frustrations with the
democracy isn't just voting.
To me, there's little piecesthat go alongside that.
And the 36 days stood out to meas a challenge where you have a
new face, Mark Carney, who'srunning.
(03:32):
To me, we needed perhaps moretime to get to know Mr.
Carney and have a more clearprocess to get to know all of
the candidates.
Brad Vis (03:41):
What was your reaction to the 36 days?
Well, the nature of ourpolitical system in Canada is
that it allows a prime minister,whether they're elected or not,
in this case, non-elected, todetermine when an election takes
place.
That's something unique to theWestminster system and Canada
especially.
So that's just real politics.
(04:02):
That's just crass politicalengineering So I don't fault
anyone for that.
It's just a tool Canadian primeministers hold in their favor.
And Mark Carney used that forhis own benefit.
Aaron Pete (04:16):
Do you think, though, that we should aspire
for our politicians to not wantto go with crass politics?
That we should aspire toindividuals to, I don't know, I
keep saying this, but I feellike we're in a time where
leadership doesn't have theinstinct to want to look a
camera dead in the face and go,my fellow Canadians, I've failed
(04:36):
you sorely, or I could be doingbetter here, or I've fallen
short of the vision in which yougave to me on what you wanted
from me.
And so when I hear, like, yes,that can be a strategy, but that
builds the mistrust that peoplehave of politics.
Brad Vis (04:52):
Yeah, that's a loaded question.
The mistrust in politics.
I think in Ottawa, there's aculture of denialism.
What is your position onTrump's approach?
Is there any narrative?
And that's reflected in ouraccess to information laws that
are completely out of date.
And it's a reflection of theparliament we had just before
(05:14):
when Mark Carney was elected.
Let's not forget that there waslike basically no legislation
passed in the last year becausethe Liberal Speaker, Mr.
Fergus, found that the Liberalgovernment was in contempt of
parliament for not givingmembers of the industry
committee, which I was a partof, access to the documents that
we were constitutionallyallowed to access to understand
(05:39):
the relationship between all ofthe companies that received
hundreds of millions of dollarsfrom Sustainable Development
Technology Canada after afederal whistleblower came
forward and the inappropriateprofessional relationships that
existed when those monies wereallocated to those respective
companies.
Parliament was shut down.
(06:01):
We weren't getting anythingdone because The government said
that it was a charter violationif the Conservative Party went
forward and shared thatinformation with the RCMP.
But from what we heard from thepublic servants and members of
SDTC at Industry Committee isthat there were serious breaches
(06:22):
in the conflict of interestlaws of Canada, that the
government did everything intheir power, including this
election, to cover it up soCanadians wouldn't know.
Aaron Pete (06:32):
And maybe more...
layman's terms, it sounds likethere was a fund being used and
there weren't proper protocolsand procedures being followed.
Yeah.
Brad Vis (06:42):
Canada has a lot of very strict and rightfully so
very strict rules about theallocation of money, who gets
it, what's the relationshipbetween people.
So this is a liberal appointedboard and members of the board
were dispersing money to theirown companies, which is against
the law.
That's what took place.
Aaron Pete (06:59):
Wow.
Okay.
So Trump wins and then there'sthese comments about the 50
Yeah.
Fear.
Brad Vis (07:16):
That was my reaction.
And that was yesterday.
I was with the mayor of thecity of Abbotsford at his
luncheon, and I was sitting withsome companies, local companies
in my riding, where they'reexport-based companies.
We have a lot of export-basedcompanies in the Fraser Valley
that manufacture tools, provideservices to American firms and
(07:37):
American customers as theyshould under the existing
economic relationship we had.
What Donald Trump was doing isdisrupting one of the most
successful economicrelationships the world has ever
seen.
That means jobs lost, mortgagesnot paid, and my constituents
suffering.
So it was fear.
Aaron Pete (07:57):
The challenge, and you can correct me if I'm
mistaken, but was the ability ofthe Conservatives to break from
Donald Trump.
That's some of the blame that'sbeing put out there, that there
wasn't a clear differentiationon where the Conservatives stood
and where Donald Trump stood.
Is that
Brad Vis (08:14):
accurate from your perspective?
If I'm going to say one thingabout what the Conservatives did
wrong during the election isthat we didn't pivot quickly
enough.
We were rightfully focused oncost of living issues, on
changes that we need to see inthe criminal code.
But we didn't speak enoughabout the challenges that Donald
Trump raised before and duringthe election in a quick enough
(08:38):
manner that Canadians thought wewere the best party to govern
the country.
Aaron Pete (08:44):
Is Donald Trump, is there any merit to his argument
that it seems like he wants toreinvigorate his country?
And I'm not saying what he didis correct, but the only...
interesting thing that's comeas a byproduct is this intense
nationalism that has beenrevived that for a very long
(09:05):
time there has not been pride inthe Canadian flag the way that
I've seen it recently and whenthe trucker protest happened my
only comment on how much theywere raising the flag is flags
and symbolism do a good job ofat least forcing us to reckon
with what does that flag mean tous as Canadians like what do we
hold that flag up for what arethe values that make us Canadian
(09:25):
and we've just been goingthrough that process as of late,
and it gives me a lot of hopeto see us starting to go, what
does it mean to be Canadian?
What are those qualities wewant to hold up as being a
Canadian?
And so what is your position onTrump's approach?
Is there any merit to what he'sdone?
Brad Vis (09:43):
Well, I think there's a takeaway, and the takeaway is
exactly what you just expressed,is that Canadians are thinking
about Canada for a change.
We're a very outward-lookingcountry.
We're a country where a lot ofyoung people see it as like a
rite of passage to go toAustralia France, New Zealand on
a work visa and spend a fewyears abroad going around the
world.
(10:03):
That's something very, verycommon amongst Canadians.
Many Canadians loveinternational institutions and
believe that Canada has a strongrole to play in the world.
But more locally, I think thetakeaway from Trump is that we
have to reconcile with whatCanada has done in the past,
what Canada means in the future.
And really, we're having theconversations of a young country
(10:26):
for the very first time.
We're barely over 150 yearsold.
We're maybe close to 160,right?
157, 158.
So we have a lot of growing upto do as a nation.
And the threats from Trump havenecessarily forced us to have
those challenging but importantconversations.
But in respect to is theremerit to what Trump has done, I
(10:51):
don't believe on the economicfront there is.
But I do believe the UnitedStates of America and the goes
beyond Trump and our other NATOallies make valid criticisms of
Canada as it relates to ourdefense spending and our
inability to meet the targetsthat pretty much every other
advanced economy nation in NATOhas done.
Aaron Pete (11:14):
Right.
Going back to how the electionwent, what would have been some
of the pivots that you wouldhave thought would have been
important in starting theelection, knowing these comments
coming from down south?
Brad Vis (11:24):
Well, I think that we did show our messaging.
And when we did shift ourmessaging and we talked about
the things that we can do in ourown backyard, Canada can't
control an uncontrollablepresident.
We can't predict what DonaldTrump is going to do in the
future.
We don't know what's in store,but we do know that there is a
(11:46):
lot of things that we canimprove right here in our own
backyard.
And when we started focusing onthose things, our message
really did resonate with a lotof people.
And some of those policiesrelated to interprovincial
trade.
The Conservative Party talked alot.
Well, we've had it in ourelection platform for like the
last three elections, but anational energy corridor.
We talked about a Blue Sealprogram to allow all the nurses
(12:11):
and doctors trained abroad toactually practice in Canada
because they were only acceptedto come to Canada because of
their credentials in the firstplace.
So eliminating the discrepancybetween credentials and
practicing their profession sowe can address the doctor
shortage.
There's a lot of things that wedon't do very well in Canada
(12:31):
that we could, if we tacklethose issues, we could
measurably improve our qualityof life.
Aaron Pete (12:37):
May I ask, what is the structure in which you get
information around messaging?
What is the process when anelection is called?
How do you find out what theprocess is going to look like,
what you're supposed to do, notsupposed to do?
I assume that there are somethings outside the bounds where
you shouldn't be doing somecrazy things and Yeah.
(12:57):
Some things that you're allowedto do that they recommend or
support.
How does that all work?
Oh,
Brad Vis (13:01):
well, in terms of the operationalization of the
Conservative Party, is that whatyou're getting at?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we have a desk officer.
We have regular calls anddiscussions amongst colleagues
and candidates to make sure thatwe're all on the same page in
respect to messaging.
And then we go out and we knockon doors and we talk to people
(13:24):
and we share that messaging andwe identify voters that believe
in our messaging.
And we use the ConservativeParty headquarters and our BC
reps within that whole apparatusto talk about the issues that
are coming up at the doorstepand making sure we have
appropriate responses that arein line with our messaging and
(13:46):
our approach to govern Canada.
Aaron Pete (13:49):
Is that an effective system?
Because it just seems likecoordinating all of that, you
might hear different things thansomebody else in an urban
setting.
It just might look different.
So is that system effective?
Brad Vis (14:03):
Well, you know, if you want to be a leader in any
political party, you have tohave some personal judgment and
you have to have some personaldiscretion.
And if you're running foroffice, I would hope that you're
able to take national messagingand you can adapt it and use
that in a local context.
And that's a big part of whatevery candidate is required to
(14:25):
do in any political party.
But I believe very stronglythat the messaging the
Conservative Party had reallydid resonate with people in the
Fraser Valley, and that wasreflected in the way the votes
went.
Aaron Pete (14:39):
Is it true that candidates—I've seen this on
Twitter—is it true thatcandidates were directed not to
do long-form interviews andparticipate in more processes
like that?
In some
Brad Vis (14:50):
cases, yes.
How do you feel about that?
Well, you know what?
I believe that I'm anindependent voice, and And I did
a lot of media during thecampaign, and I'm going to
continue speaking to people.
And that's why I'm happy to behere with you today.
At the end of the day, whatconservative voters want is for
Brad Vist to be a local andeffective representative that's
(15:12):
going to respond in good faithto local issues.
And that involves being on apodcast like yours, which is, I
believe, a local podcast to theFraser Valley and British
Columbia at large.
Aaron Pete (15:24):
Well, I appreciate you being willing to be here So
if candidates are directed notto participate in certain
podcasts or that is going on,what are the consequences that
come with, not even just withthat specifically, what are the
consequences for stepping beyondthe lines of what you're being
(15:44):
directed from senior leadership?
Brad Vis (15:46):
Yeah, well, there is a level of message discipline
that has to take place.
The consequences are that, andI think you already know the
answer to this, is that Peoplewon't hear from you.
And so you got to play ball.
Wow.
That makes me...
There's no easy answer to thatbecause you have to, in any
(16:06):
political structure, you have tobalance those two aspects, the
message discipline and theindividual autonomy.
And sometimes we get it rightand sometimes we get it wrong.
I try my very best to get itright as often as possible for
my community and for my writing.
If you could
Aaron Pete (16:25):
make any changes to that system, what would you make
recommendations towards?
Because my personal, like whatI would advocate to to all
parties is we are moving in thedirection of more transparency
and more longer form interviewswhich are participating now.
We're seeing that like I firststarted to understand this when
the provincial election washappening and all provincial
(16:49):
party leaders agreed to come onthis show and not just this show
but several other shows and dolong form interviews where they
didn't know what the questionswere going to be and of course
you expect the interview to befair and respectful but that was
a part of the movement and thenAnd we also saw this in the
U.S.
election where Donald Trump,again, hate him, like him,
however you feel.
He went on several long-formpodcasts.
(17:11):
Yeah.
Brad Vis (17:31):
You have to be vulnerable.
You have to be vulnerable.
And it's not always easy.
I actually believe that some ofthe best moments Pierre brought
to Canada during the electionwas when he was on a long form
podcast and spoke about some ofhis personal family dynamics.
(17:51):
And so I commend him for that.
I know a lot of people wouldhave hoped he did more, but he's
his own decision maker.
And he decided to do what hedid.
And just like I did during theelection.
The only long form what I didwas with the Fraser Valley
current.
I guess that turned out to bemore long form.
Aaron Pete (18:07):
Exactly.
And I guess just reflecting onthat, to me, Pierre did do a lot
of long form interviews priorto the election and building up
to it the year before.
He was on Jordan Peterson.
He was on some more long forminterviews.
I guess I will put it to you.
One of the challenges I saw wasthat it was with what I would
personally consider morefriendly individuals.
(18:30):
Jordan Peterson's known to leadmore right.
He was very interested in ourelection and he was very unhappy
with Mr.
Carney in several of the videoshe made.
He did a longer form interviewwith Candace Malcolm.
I've had her on the show.
She has a lot of perspectives.
We disagree on some things.
I think, again, just being ableto be an independent voice, I
admire her ability to build outa platform where it's her voice,
(18:51):
but it was all veryconservative focused.
And that just frustrated mebecause I really expected this
election to be more around Yeah.
doesn't lean left, but he'scertainly open to those
(19:34):
perspectives.
And other individuals hadreached out to him wanting to
speak with him and get hisperspective maybe from a
position that was lessright-leaning.
Did
Brad Vis (19:43):
you notice that as well?
Well, he decided to do what hedid and decided to do what he
did.
And Mark Carney didn't do anylong-form podcasts during the
interview.
He barely spoke to the media atall.
And then if you looked at hisvideo clips throughout the
campaign, there was silence.
There was no dialogue.
It was just him shaking handsand elbows up.
And that was basically the endof it.
So Pierre did do a lot.
Uh, I, I, I gather from yourpoints that you feel he could
(20:06):
have done more.
And I, I absolutely hear that.
Um, but those are like in theconservative party, uh, we
really focus on, on theindividual.
So he made those decisions.
Um, and I think when he did doit, he did really well.
And a lot of people would agreewith your perspective that he
could have done more becausethey love hearing from him.
And, uh, so if that's acriticism you're making, I take
(20:28):
it in good faith about for theleader of the conservative
party.
And, And I, well, let's moveforward.
Aaron Pete (20:34):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I would give the samecriticism to Jagmeet Singh and
Mark Carney and Elizabeth May.
We didn't hear long form and itjust, it was just disappointing
because the feedback that I gotwhen I interviewed the
provincial leaders was, geez, itwas just nice to have a
conversation, to hit play,listen, and then just hear how
they think about things and notnecessarily this issue, that
(20:56):
issue, how they are going toaddress like housing and fix
that.
It's like, obviously this is acomplex issue.
flex issue and there'smulti-level governments, but how
they kind of approach theconversation, how honest and
vulnerable they are is reallywhat builds that trust and
transparency.
So I really think that'simportant and I hope everybody
learns from that.
Brad Vis (21:14):
I think that's a really good point.
Aaron Pete (21:16):
The next piece I wanted to touch on was when the
platforms were released.
That was another piece, just asagain, being a huge advocate
for the pieces that make up ademocracy.
When platforms are released, tome, ideally, you would release
that when the election starts.
So everybody can go through,read them, get an understanding
and make an informed decision.
But I have that the Liberalsand NDP released their platform
(21:38):
on April 19th, just a few, likea week before the election, and
the Conservatives released itApril 22nd.
What are your reflections onthat?
Brad Vis (21:47):
I think those are strategic decisions that are
beyond my pay grade.
I think we did our very best toput forward a platform that was
costed independently, and wemade certain economic
assumptions in there that we hadto be transparent about.
I think, sure, the timing maybecould have been a little bit
earlier, but I think there wasstill ample time for people to
(22:09):
see the platform and make adecision about what they thought
of the Conservative Party.
So I'm not going to criticizeanyone in the Conservatives for
when it was released.
I think the party did theirvery best to put forward a
platform that was transparent,and they did achieve that
objective.
So people knew what they werevoting for, and it was written
clearly and effectively forpeople to understand.
Aaron Pete (22:31):
I heard people from CTV News interview Andrew Scheer
several times in like August,September, October, being like,
why don't you give us somepieces of your platform so we
can start to get anunderstanding?
So, of course, you're startingto reflect what are our
positions?
How are we going to approachthese things?
And so, Justin Trudeau resignsin January.
(22:53):
And then the election doesn'thappen until a while after that.
So, there was writing on thewall from my perspective that
maybe— Maybe the platform couldhave at least started,
information could have startedto be shared and been made
clear.
Yeah,
Brad Vis (23:07):
I'll push back on that one a bit.
I think that the, you know,Pierre did a massive rally with
national attention on theCanadian flag.
Yeah, I think that's in late,sometime in February.
And he did a massive rally inOttawa and he outlined a lot of
the policies that were alreadyin our platform.
We came forward with manypoints on criminal justice.
We had our point on skillsrecognition.
(23:29):
We had come out with policieson energy, on LNG.
We came forward with policieson equity sharing for First
Nations.
In fact, we had more policiesoutlined than any other
political party, even theLiberals, before the election
took place.
And Pierre did that responsiblyin a way that everyone had the
(23:49):
chance to hear.
So we got that criticism a lot,but I don't think it's valid.
There was a lot out there.
We talked about, look at howeffective we were with our
platform before it even wasreleased.
We're going to ask the carbontax?
What did the Liberals do rightbefore the election started?
They eliminated the consumercarbon price.
We came forward with an energycorridor before the election
(24:12):
started.
What do the Liberals do?
We're going to have an energycorridor too.
So those are two major policyplatforms where we shaped the
agenda.
We came forward with a policyon changing the bail laws so
repeat violent offenders aren'treleased.
And the Liberals said beforetheir platform came out, well,
we're going to address repeatoffenders as well.
(24:35):
All of those points were in ourplatform.
All of those were major issuesthat Canadians were Okay.
I think
Aaron Pete (24:45):
that's a fair response.
What did you start to hear inyour riding as the election was
taking place?
The polls were not showing agood position for the
Conservatives.
Were you hearing that at thedoor?
What was the reaction that youwere hearing as the election was
getting ramped up?
Brad Vis (25:01):
At the beginning of the campaign, I was taken aback
by the number of seniors who hadtraditionally voted for me, who
had decided to go to theLiberal Democrats.
There was a shift, a realshift.
And the people that decided togo to the Liberal Party had a
few things in common.
One, they were all babyboomers.
Two, they were financiallystable.
(25:23):
And three, most of them owntheir own homes.
And I don't think the seniorgeneration suffered as much in
the last 10 years as, say, ourgeneration.
Well, I'm 40.
You're a bit younger than me,but not much.
29.
Okay, well, we got 11 yearsapart, maybe 12.
And so for my generation, likeI'm an old millennial born in
(25:45):
1984, there are still friends ofmine who don't own a home, but
they make over $100,000 a year.
You live in the Fraser Valley,and traditionally, if you have a
six-figure income, you're goingto be able to buy a nice
property.
You're going to provide thatsecurity.
You're going to have thatsecurity to start a family and
to start a life.
(26:05):
So what we saw during theelection was older voters who
were more secure financiallytended to think about some of
those broader existentialthreats that Canada was facing
in respect to the United States.
On the other side, we had, yougo to like the West Hills
neighborhood of Mission or likesome of the neighborhoods below
(26:26):
7th Avenue where young familiesare buying an old BC box home
and they're putting a lot ofsweat equity into their
property.
But they also feel a lot ofinsecurity about that $900,000
mortgage they have And thechallenges that come with it, if
they're able to get into thehousing market, there's just as
many who are paying $3,000 plusa month for rent who don't feel
(26:49):
that they have a future inCanada anymore.
And the conservative messagereally resonated with younger
people.
more so than it ever has in anyelection, especially the last
four that I've been in.
So I found support inneighborhoods where the NDP
traditionally did very well.
And in the BC context, thatmakes total sense because
(27:10):
Mission's an old sawmill town.
There's still a few cedar shakeand shingle mills that work
full time.
Vancouver Island, where you hadthat same type of dynamic and
the same type of labor force,all went conservative for the
first time in for as long as Ican remember.
So it was like what Pierre didvery, very well was get young
(27:31):
people and workers in unions tovote conservative like we've
never seen before.
And that's a huge positivetakeaway and something that I'm
very excited about what Pierrecan do to continue speaking up
for that generation.
But I definitely saw it on theground in my riding day to day.
I would have Brad from asenior, you know, I just don't
(27:53):
think I think Carney's the rightguy for the job facing the
challenge.
Right.
Aaron Pete (28:16):
What does that do to you?
Like, how do you carry thoseheavy messages?
Yeah.
(28:46):
Yeah.
Brad Vis (29:03):
Well, I really love doing petitions and I feel that
petitions are a reallyunderrated aspect of our
parliamentary system.
I can talk about any issue inparliament for one minute if I
get 25 signatures on a petitionand I submit that to the clerk
of the House of Commons.
That gives me a lot of voicefor my constituents and I use
(29:24):
that very, very effectively.
I think I was in the top 10 inthe country for putting forward
petitions, but I think I had oneof the widest range of issues
covered in the petitions Ipresented.
So I use that.
I make sure that when I speak,just like I'm trying to do with
you today, that I always bringit back to my writing.
(29:44):
It starts and ends in mywriting.
It starts and ends with myneighbors.
Those are the people I'mfighting for.
That's really beautiful.
And I'm going to add one point.
I'm going to give a story.
So I'm walking down the streetand this was an emotional
election because people arereally hurting and people really
(30:05):
are living on the edge rightnow.
It is a fact.
And there was this dad.
He just opened the door and he,like, nice enough guy, but he
just said, Brad, be one of us.
Be one of us, Brad.
And I took that through theentire campaign.
(30:26):
And that's sort of what drivesme.
So I'm just a regular dad.
I live in a nice BC box home.
I'm raising my kids in thecommunity.
Going to baseball or gymnasticsor a community event with my
family is just as important asthe work I do in Ottawa.
(30:48):
But my participation and livingin the community that I
represent and being born in thatcommunity drives everything I
do in Ottawa because that's whatpeople expect of me.
And it gives me hope that wecan change things.
And it gives me hope aboutPierre Pauliev moving forward
too because even in opposition,he was able to shape the
(31:11):
national narrative on a lot ofbig issues.
right when the electionstarted, the Liberals cut the
carbon tax and there was a 20cent drop in gas and people were
talking about it becausethey're living on the edge every
month.
Pierre was able to do that inopposition and that was really,
really, that really helped a lotof people.
And that's one small example.
(31:33):
But on criminal justice reformtoo, he's been able to shape the
national discussion and forcethe Liberal Party to change
their policies because they'renot working for Canadians.
Aaron Pete (31:44):
That's really interesting and It does go to
the point like I watched the CBCthroughout just to get a sense
of what was going on from otherpeople's perspectives.
I don't want to end up in asilo.
As I've told others, I don'tvote, not because I don't think
it's an incredibly importantprocess, but because I want to
(32:04):
remain unbiased as I hear fromindividuals like yourself, from
people on the other side.
And maybe this is throwingnegativity.
But when I saw I've interviewedEvan Solomon twice and it was
very interesting to get hisperspective as a journalist when
I saw him run for the liberalsI was disheartened because to me
you're meant to be unbiasedyou're meant to not have a
(32:25):
finger on the scale and he puthis finger on that scale and
that made me mournful for whathe stood for because I do think
that impacts his track recordfrom my personal perspective
Brad Vis (32:35):
well the I think that's a really good point and I
can give you another oneanother example Peter O'Neill I
believe his name was used to bethe only BC based journalist in
the Ottawa Press Gallery, heleft his job to work for Miriam
Monsef, a Liberal minister inher ministerial office.
And I always had a lot ofrespect for Mr.
(32:56):
O'Neill, and he's interviewedme and I've spoken to him
before, but it didn't sit wellwith me when you went to being
one of the main reporters forthe Vancouver Sun to working in
a Liberal office.
Aaron Pete (33:07):
I agree, and I wouldn't like it if Candace
Malcolm joins and joins theConservative Party.
The goal is to be impartial andto show respectful Yeah.
Yeah.
person to your life.
(33:46):
And this is ultimately, youwant to leave a legacy within
your community where people areproud that you were there and
that you were representing them.
And I think sometimes that getslost with the power hunger that
can take people over whenthey're going for premier or
they're going for a federalleadership position, opportunity
to control the conversation.
Sometimes you can lose yourselfchasing after power.
Brad Vis (34:08):
Yeah.
You're sort of getting me onthinking about the balance
between being a delegate for thecommunity I represent but also
being a trustee for my communityand that is where when I'm
working on a committee forexample I can I use my own
faculties to make judgmentsabout how I'm voting or amending
(34:33):
a piece of legislation and howit might impact my community the
average voter is is going tohave no way of knowing what's in
that legislation and that's whythey entrust me as their
representative to be able to dothat on their behalf.
But it's a constant battlebetween, internal battle between
the role of a delegate and therole of a trustee as an elected
(34:54):
official.
But it's one I take very, veryseriously.
Aaron Pete (34:57):
When did you know that the election was heading in
the wrong direction and thatyou were unlikely, the
Conservative Party was unlikelyto be successful in the
election?
Brad Vis (35:08):
I had a lot of roller coasters on the election.
I can't point to a specificdate, but I held high that we
were going to win till the veryend.
And even after the polls closedin Newfoundland and the
Conservatives seemed to be doingreally well, I was like gung-ho
because I can remember in 2015when the polls closed in British
(35:31):
Columbia, I had a sinkingfeeling in my stomach that we
were going to be wiped out.
And we were.
We were not wiped out in thiselection.
We gained a lot of new seatsand we built up a strong
coalition of young people.
And I think that's important toreflect on the positive side of
it, that we have a very strongcoalition going forward.
(35:53):
If we keep talking about issuesthat impact workers, if we keep
trying to bring novel andinnovative policy ideas to the
forefront, which we did, whichwe don't get enough credit for,
if we keep doing those things,we're going to be successful in
the future.
And that gives me a lot ofhope.
So I...
I don't think there was anyspecific time I thought we were
(36:14):
going to lose.
I think the polls didunder-report, and we saw that on
election night.
Aaron Pete (36:19):
So I've heard this.
On the one hand, I've heardvoices who lean liberal or
left-leaning have been critical.
You didn't perform.
You had a 25% lead.
You guys didn't live up tothat.
You were unsuccessful.
Then I've heard theconservative perspective, which
is we actually gained in a lotof communities.
(36:39):
This was a much clearerelection.
There was growth but then andmaybe
Brad Vis (36:44):
this is the middle i'll interrupt i'll interrupt
don't get me wrong we lost yeahwe weren't good enough we missed
the the field goal okay wemissed the goal posts i don't
like at the end of the daythat's what it comes down to
yeah there's a lot of that wehave a good foundation but we
weren't good enough and we haveto improve
Aaron Pete (37:02):
so and then the middle ground perspective from
my understanding is that neitherthe liberals or the
conservatives should count onthis in the future because it
was very unusual that the blocand the NDP did so poorly in
this election and that youshouldn't expect that in a
future election.
Do you see that perspective aswell?
Brad Vis (37:21):
Well, there's a lot of dynamics at play.
It's a minority parliament.
The prime minister, like wetalked about before, can call an
election at any time.
What's to stop Mr.
Carney from using his powers asprime minister to call an
election in favour of theLiberal Party when Donald Trump
is still president?
Nothing stops him from doingthat.
And nothing stops on the sidewith the new Democrats.
(37:45):
If they choose a good leader,maybe they will come back.
Who knows?
There's so many unknowns rightnow.
But I do believe...
So time will tell.
Time will tell what the nextelection is going to be fought
on and on what policies will beat the forefront of the minds of
Canadians at that time.
We don't know right now.
But what we do know right nowis that Canada has a horrible
(38:09):
economic performance that we Wehave rampant crime in our
communities that all of theissues that we talked about
federally as the ConservativeParty haven't gone away.
We just have an additionalthreat with tariffs from the
United States.
And I desperately hope that thegovernment does go forward and
makes those changes that theytalked about, those ideas that
(38:32):
we have in common that they tookfrom our platform and they
enact those policies for thegood of our economy and the
well-being of Canadians.
Can I give one
Aaron Pete (38:41):
other criticism just in regards to the
Conservatives' approach to theelection at large?
Yeah.
And the video of Mark Carneyand Mike Myers was a little odd.
Yeah.
But it resonated.
And it resonated in a big waybecause showing that Canadian
flag, showing some Canadianicons was in the zeitgeist.
There was a hunger for that.
(39:01):
And credit to Mr.
Carney and his team forrecognizing that there was
hunger for that.
I didn't see the Conservativesdo any type of play that reached
to the same degree as thatcommercial.
That still sits in my mind.
I can't think of an examplewhere the Conservatives did
something to that level.
Brad Vis (39:18):
Okay.
I don't think I have anyexample as well um but point
taken
Aaron Pete (39:25):
do you see how like that like from my perspective
that was a huge piece of theconversation is is is the
conservative party committed tocanadians and to canadian
culture to the same extent asthe liberal party demonstrated
and and i think you can poke itat lots of pieces there's
conversations around mark carneyuh and his business dealings
and moving that to the u.s thereare legitimate critiques i
(39:49):
think of the liberal party butthey just kind of they gave you
exactly what the voters werelooking for, which is we're
Canada first here and that's notup for conversation.
And you just didn't get thatkind of smack in the face.
Well,
Brad Vis (40:01):
you actually, you just proved, you just stated the
conservative position.
It was Canada first.
Yes.
And so I guess we did dosomething that did resonate.
And in the last part of thecampaign, Pierre was out and
speaking about those nationalissues much more.
And I think he was very, veryeffective.
And that's why the polls wereso tight near the end of the
campaign.
Aaron Pete (40:21):
That's a, That's a fair criticism.
And I did just use Canadafirst, which is the other piece
that I wanted to ask about isPierre Polyev lost his writing.
Brad Vis (40:30):
Yeah.
Aaron Pete (40:31):
What was your reaction to that?
Brad Vis (40:33):
Oh, I was upset for him.
Yeah, he's represented thatriding for 20 years.
But there's a lot of examplesof leaders in the country losing
their ridings and going on tohave very successful careers.
The first guy that comes to mymind is Mackenzie King.
And so it's happened before.
It's not uncommon.
(40:53):
It's happened provincially heretoo.
I think what Pierre is doing isthe right choice.
And I stand behind him asleader.
And I think his best days areyet to come.
Aaron Pete (41:03):
Is there any, like you're knocking on these doors.
You kind of get at that frontlevel what that relationship is
with those voters.
Yeah.
There's got to be a heavinessto the fact that that happened
to him, right?
Brad Vis (41:16):
Oh, absolutely.
But, you know, when Pierre ranfor leader of the Conservative
Party, he had overwhelmingsupport in every corner of the
country, especially that riding,which is one of the safest in
the country.
So I have no doubt that Pierreis going to be an effective
representative for the ridingname, which is escaping me right
now, in eastern Alberta.
Aaron Pete (41:37):
Yes.
And so Mark Carney chose toproceed and prioritize a
by-election so that Pierre cando that, is my understanding.
Is that your understanding aswell?
Yes, it is.
Okay.
And then that's going to costtaxpayers $2 million in order to
do this.
As a taxpayer yourself, what isyour reaction to that?
Brad Vis (41:56):
Well, the cost to democracy, at least we're
transparent about it.
There's lots of things inOttawa that cost much more money
that don't get any level ofscrutiny.
So with Elections Canada, we dohave that scrutiny and people
are able to make up their ownminds.
But again, he's not the firstpolitical leader to do this.
It's a pretty common practiceat the provincial and federal
level of government, and Pierreneeds to be back in the House of
(42:18):
Commons.
Aaron Pete (42:20):
Do you feel like there's a lot of talk about
reflections, where can things bedone better?
Do you feel like that'sproperly taking place within the
Conservative Party?
Brad Vis (42:29):
Well, yeah, it's properly taking place in my own
heart and mind right now.
I'm very disappointed we didn'twin, and I believe that we need
to do better.
Like I said, we missed thegoalpost, and we can do better.
And when we start thinkingabout the next election, I'm
very hopeful that we'll be in aposition to present new ideas in
(42:51):
a clear way where we can earnthe trust of Canadians.
And that's what democracy isall about.
In the meantime, we've got avery important constitutional
responsibility to hold thegovernment accountable, to make
sure that they follow through ontheir big promises during the
campaign, and make sure they doso in a transparent way.
Mark Carney said he's going tobe a transformational prime
(43:16):
minister, that he's going toupend the way we've done things
Let's see him do that.
Aaron Pete (43:38):
Interesting.
And so when you move forward,can you just expand for
listeners, what is the role ofthe official opposition?
Brad Vis (43:46):
The role of the official opposition is to
critique the government and topropose policies to outline that
you are a government inwaiting.
So that dual role, criticizeeverything they do and look
under every document, look underevery policy to make sure that
(44:06):
they are being transparent withCanadian money and that they are
being transparent to thepromises they made to Canadians.
At the same time, proposingsolutions and ideas to show that
you are ready to govern thiscountry and that you can be
responsible in that role too.
Aaron Pete (44:23):
Is there a recommendation you would have,
say the leader of theConservative Party is listening
to you, their team is listeningto you, what would you suggest
to them?
Would you have any advice forhow they proceed from your local
constituents that you heardthat maybe they're not alive to
yet?
Brad Vis (44:41):
Yeah, well, we haven't.
I'll bring it really local.
The infrastructure.
We, in Abbotsford, the dikesystem, the pump stations,
haven't received enough federalattention.
And although I won with a bigmajority, more than I thought I
was going to get, my criticismis that making sure that local
(45:04):
MPs can raise those issueseffectively in the House of
Commons because there's otherissues in other parts of the
country.
I need to be that local voiceand I need to be empowered by my
party in Parliament to do that.
And so I'm going to continuepushing for that, but that I can
raise those local issueseffectively.
Aaron Pete (45:22):
The other piece I just wanted to ask is when you
have individuals like yourselfwho are making a positive
difference, who understand thatrole, how do you proceed and
kind of grow your voice in aresponsible way within the
party?
Is there a process to go aboutthat?
I just don't know the internalmechanisms of how the party
system
Brad Vis (45:42):
works.
I think that's a good question.
There is no formal process forthat.
It's about how you perform inthe House, how you help other
candidates during an electionperiod.
It's how you speak to the topissues that the party is raising
at the national level that youneed to be speaking on.
(46:03):
And so there's different, likethe Conservative Party is It's a
big tent.
There's lots of differentperspectives.
So I think just putting yourhead down, doing your work
effectively, finding that rightbalance between talking about
national issues and localissues, being a delegate and a
trustee, and treating everyonewith respect.
(46:24):
If you do all those things inpolitics and you play the long
game, you're going to have asuccessful career.
Aaron Pete (46:31):
That's the one criticism I've shared multiple
times is conservative leaningindividuals.
My general critique of them,and I spoke to this with David
Coletto, is that sometimes theymight have a good point, but
they do it.
And I've used the word likethey don't do it with kindness
or gentleness.
(46:51):
And that's what I've generallyseen.
Have you seen that for me?
No, no.
That's actually what I'mleading to is I've seen with the
discussions of the Indian inresidential school mass graves.
I've seen, and I've spoken toCandace Malcolm, and I just felt
like there wasn't a lot ofcompassion with the issue, that
(47:11):
maybe she disagrees on the massgraves issue.
She helped author a book aboutthat.
And there were points therethat I think are valid, that I
think we can discuss, butthere's this general inclination
to hammer on a vulnerablecommunity.
And I don't think that thatpiece is necessary.
And I'm not accusing you ofdoing that, but I'm saying when
(47:33):
I see conservatives kind of findan issue that they're strong
on, it's not always with agentle touch that they bring
that approach.
And I think that was a critiqueof Mr.
Polyev when he was eating theapple is like, what was the
approach of that?
Is that prime ministerial whenyou do something like that?
And I think we saw asignificant movement from him on
that piece, but that's just onegeneral piece.
(47:53):
The reason I was excited tospeak with you and why am
honoured to be able to do thisis because we've met previously
to this and you've been nothingbut a genuine, kind, thoughtful
person throughout the entireprocess of knowing me, not
knowing that this would evercome to light.
You've always been honest andtransparent and we've had
important discussions aboutIndigenous communities and how
(48:14):
we support them and I greatlyappreciate that and I do think
that there's a space whereConservatives can be tough on
issues but kind to people andsometimes I feel like those
lines get blurred.
Brad Vis (48:25):
Okay, well I would say on your points on Candace
Malcolm, she's not aconservative MP.
No.
She's an independentjournalist.
Aaron Pete (48:32):
But the lean conservative.
She does lean conservative.
So the conservative voice, Iwould say generally, is very
tough
Brad Vis (48:38):
at times.
Yeah.
Well, maybe that's why we needto do long form podcasts and
hear from other conservativesand more people in our caucus.
And I'll take that criticism toheart about the broader
conservative movement.
As you just said, I I don'tthink that would embody the way
I operate locally.
(48:59):
And I'm going to try tocontinue to be a voice of
compassion and trust and to talkabout conservative issues in a
way that resonates with thepeople that I represent.
Because the way I operate isbecause that's what people
expect from me and that's what Ican offer in terms of my own
personality.
And that goes well together.
(49:20):
So I'm going to continue doingthat because that's what people
want.
But on your broader point.
Okay, I hear you.
Some people can be really crassabout things, but on the other
side, on the residential schoolsystem, there was Brad Viss who
got money for St.
Mary's to do the ground sonarwork and got David Shepi a big
grant to conduct that researchon behalf of the regional bands.
(49:44):
I think that's important tooutline as well.
I hear you.
I appreciate
Aaron Pete (49:52):
that.
What does the future look likeif you have a crystal ball?
Where are we heading?
And I'll just tie that in with,we just had an election.
I do think that there's pent upsteam, there's pent up
frustration among some of thepeople you described, where the
Liberals just put in a cabinet,from my perspective, that's very
reflective of the previouscabinet.
(50:12):
I agree.
Some of the policies seem to beconsistent with the old guard,
and so we're not seeing therevolutionary change from these,
and we're in the very earlystages, but we're not seeing the
change.
And I really do want Yeah.
Yeah.
probably another four years ofa very similar approach that
(50:59):
we've seen from what we'regathering in the tea leaves
right now.
And I worry about those people.
I understand the frustrationsthat Albertans are feeling,
particularly where they're like,they're very strongly
conservative and their voicesaren't going to carry the day.
And of course, they're going tohave the opposition.
But I just, I want this to be aCanada for everybody.
And I do worry that we'vedivided ourselves even more so.
Brad Vis (51:21):
Yeah, I was shocked by the cabinet choices, more of
the same.
Like, I can't believe it's moreof the same.
And that's exactly the oppositeof what Carney said during the
election.
He said he was going to do itdifferently.
Well, he didn't with his frontbench.
That is a fact.
And I think you agree with meon that.
So looking in the future,what's the crystal ball telling
Brad Viss right now?
(51:42):
I will, man.
Like I said, I really hope thatMark Carney does, the Prime
Minister does listen to Albertaand throws them a bone and comes
to a consensus on some of thekey demands from the Premier.
Many of those concerns arevery, very valid and we in
(52:02):
Alberta deserves to have thoseissues dealt with.
So that's what I hope for.
What I'm concerned about withthis government is more spending
at a time in areas that won'taddress the key issues we're
facing.
And when I go to Ottawa, I'llbe focused a lot on that.
(52:24):
We're overdue for programreviews in Ottawa.
Stephen Harper, when he wasprime minister, had the deficit
reduction action plan, where hegave broad powers to deputy
ministers and ministers tomake...
cuts they felt were necessaryin their departments without the
(52:46):
heavy hand of a prime minister.
Before him in the 1990s, JohnChrétien cut healthcare
spending, transfers toindividuals quite a bit, and
program spending across theboard.
He was ruthless in that, and Idon't blame him for it at the
time.
But so I do believe that Ottawaneeds to get its house in order
(53:09):
and begin listening to WesternCanada.
I'm I'm not answering yourquestion very well right now.
So on the one hand, I'mapprehensive about the
operationalization ofgovernment.
On the other hand, I'm going toremain hopeful that Mark Carney
is going to listen to WesternCanada and we get some projects
built to protect Canadiansovereignty.
Aaron Pete (53:27):
What is your message to Canadians and your
constituents who might befrustrated?
Brad Vis (53:34):
I'm going to fight for you.
I take this job extremelyseriously.
I'm going to bring up theissues I heard at the doorstep
into the House of Commonsthrough the petition process,
through my work at committee tomake sure that we fight, that I
fight for a Canada that worksfor you.
People don't expect a lot.
They just want to make surethat when they pay their taxes,
(53:57):
that it's being used wisely.
And right now, most citizensdon't think that's the case.
And all All you have to do isgo to the Abbotsford Regional
Hospital to see how it's notworking.
All you have to do is speak tothe 6 million Canadians who
don't have a family doctor.
All you need to do is speak tothe trucker that's been waiting
20 years for Highway 1 tofinally be expanded through the
(54:22):
Fraser Valley.
All you need to do is speak toa mother, like I did this week,
who lost a family member in amurder.
All you need to do is speak tothe mum who in mission, who lost
her son to fentanyl at atreatment center.
There's so many things that wecan do right now that won't cost
(54:42):
money, that will drasticallyimprove the way people see their
country and how it operates andwhat it's doing for them.
And that takes good governance.
So I'm going to focus on goodgovernance.
I got one of 342 seats now.
I'm just going to do my best.
I'm going to fight.
And then I'm going to go backhome and I'm going to tell
people what I'm doing.
(55:03):
And I said, This is how I'mearning my paycheck.
This is what I'm showing up todo for you every single day.
And I'm going to be transparentabout it.
Do you get my email blasts?
I do not.
Okay.
You got to sign up then.
I will sign up.
Can you tell people how theycan follow your work?
Yeah.
Well, Brad underscore this onInstagram is a good way.
And then on my website atbradvis.ca, you can sign up for
(55:24):
my email newsletters.
I give a regular update aboutmy work in Ottawa, some of the
things I'm thinking about andsome local issues as well.
But mostly it's just to showpeople that, yes, I take this
job seriously.
I'm going to Ottawa on yourbehalf.
I'm raising local concerns sothat you know your voice is
being heard in Ottawa.
Aaron Pete (55:43):
Brad, thank you for being willing to come on today
and do a postmortem of wherewe've been and where we're
heading.
I greatly appreciate it, and Ihave a great deal of respect
Speaker 00 (55:53):
for the
In Ottawa, there's a culture of denialism.
There is a culture of not comingclean.
When did you know that theelection was heading in the
wrong direction and that theConservative Party was unlikely
to be successful in theelection?
What is your position onTrump's approach?
Is there any merit to what he'sdone?
What Donald Trump was doing isdisrupting one of the most
(00:21):
successful economicrelationships the world has ever
seen.
I would have Brad from asenior, you know, I just don't
think Carney's the right guy forthe job facing the challenges
we're facing.
And then the next door I'd goto a young mom who's like, I
can't afford the groceries.
I don't know what I'm going todo at the end of the month.
And I don't know what'shappening or if I'm even safe in
my community anymore.
And it was like people wereliving on two completely
(00:43):
separate planets.
Aaron Pete (00:44):
What is your message to Canadians and your
constituents who might befrustrated?
I'm
Brad Vis (00:50):
going to fight for you.
I take this job extremelyseriously.
Pierre
Aaron Pete (00:54):
Polyev lost his riding.
What was your reaction to that?
Brad, it is an honour to bespeaking with you today.
Thank you so much for agreeingto this interview.
Would you mind first brieflyintroducing yourself?
Brad Vis (01:08):
I am Brad Viss, the Member of Parliament for
Canada's number one ridingMission Matsui Abbotsford.
Aaron Pete (01:15):
Fantastic.
I wanted to start perhaps atthe beginning and just reflect
on Justin Trudeau's decision tostep down as Prime Minister.
Prior to that, the polls showedsomething very different than
how the election went.
And I just, I'm curious as tohow you reflect on his decision
to resign?
Brad Vis (01:34):
Well, I think the biggest takeaway is what we have
today, is that many peoplewere, rightfully so, extremely
upset with our previous primeminister.
And as a result of hisresignation and the election of
Mark Carney in conjunction witha newly elected president down
south, the election we thoughtwe were going to be undertaking
(02:00):
turned out to be much different.
Would
Aaron Pete (02:02):
you say that it was a...
A good, responsible decisionthat Mr.
Trudeau chose to step down?
Brad Vis (02:09):
I think he did it because he read the tea leaves
and he knew that he was set upfor electoral defeat.
Aaron Pete (02:16):
Okay.
And then they have a liberalinternal election to go through
that process and make a decisionon who is going to lead the
party.
And I had the opportunity tointerview Karina Gold, who was
one of the individuals running.
Yeah.
And it ends up being MarkCarney.
Yeah.
What was your reaction to that?
I
Brad Vis (02:35):
sort of understood from the very beginning that
Mark Carney was going to win.
And I say that because onething Justin Trudeau was very
good at was building a veryeffective political apparatus
around him.
Most of that politicalapparatus, including Jerry
Butts, his former principalsecretary, the likes of Evan
(02:57):
Solomon, who was elected fromthe Eurasia group, all went
behind Mark Carney for what theleadership was doing.
So Mark Carney inherited one ofthe most successful team.
And so he set himself up verywell for a win amongst liberals.
Aaron Pete (03:11):
Interesting.
And then we call an electionshortly thereafter.
And it was 36 days.
And I wrote an article justabout my frustrations with the
democracy isn't just voting.
To me, there's little piecesthat go alongside that.
And the 36 days stood out to meas a challenge where you have a
new face, Mark Carney, who'srunning.
(03:32):
To me, we needed perhaps moretime to get to know Mr.
Carney and have a more clearprocess to get to know all of
the candidates.
Brad Vis (03:41):
What was your reaction to the 36 days?
Well, the nature of ourpolitical system in Canada is
that it allows a prime minister,whether they're elected or not,
in this case, non-elected, todetermine when an election takes
place.
That's something unique to theWestminster system and Canada
especially.
So that's just real politics.
(04:02):
That's just crass politicalengineering So I don't fault
anyone for that.
It's just a tool Canadian primeministers hold in their favor.
And Mark Carney used that forhis own benefit.
Aaron Pete (04:16):
Do you think, though, that we should aspire
for our politicians to not wantto go with crass politics?
That we should aspire toindividuals to, I don't know, I
keep saying this, but I feellike we're in a time where
leadership doesn't have theinstinct to want to look a
camera dead in the face and go,my fellow Canadians, I've failed
(04:36):
you sorely, or I could be doingbetter here, or I've fallen
short of the vision in which yougave to me on what you wanted
from me.
And so when I hear, like, yes,that can be a strategy, but that
builds the mistrust that peoplehave of politics.
Brad Vis (04:52):
Yeah, that's a loaded question.
The mistrust in politics.
I think in Ottawa, there's aculture of denialism.
What is your position onTrump's approach?
Is there any narrative?
And that's reflected in ouraccess to information laws that
are completely out of date.
And it's a reflection of theparliament we had just before
(05:14):
when Mark Carney was elected.
Let's not forget that there waslike basically no legislation
passed in the last year becausethe Liberal Speaker, Mr.
Fergus, found that the Liberalgovernment was in contempt of
parliament for not givingmembers of the industry
committee, which I was a partof, access to the documents that
we were constitutionallyallowed to access to understand
(05:39):
the relationship between all ofthe companies that received
hundreds of millions of dollarsfrom Sustainable Development
Technology Canada after afederal whistleblower came
forward and the inappropriateprofessional relationships that
existed when those monies wereallocated to those respective
companies.
Parliament was shut down.
(06:01):
We weren't getting anythingdone because The government said
that it was a charter violationif the Conservative Party went
forward and shared thatinformation with the RCMP.
But from what we heard from thepublic servants and members of
SDTC at Industry Committee isthat there were serious breaches
(06:22):
in the conflict of interestlaws of Canada, that the
government did everything intheir power, including this
election, to cover it up soCanadians wouldn't know.
Aaron Pete (06:32):
And maybe more...
layman's terms, it sounds likethere was a fund being used and
there weren't proper protocolsand procedures being followed.
Yeah.
Brad Vis (06:42):
Canada has a lot of very strict and rightfully so
very strict rules about theallocation of money, who gets
it, what's the relationshipbetween people.
So this is a liberal appointedboard and members of the board
were dispersing money to theirown companies, which is against
the law.
That's what took place.
Aaron Pete (06:59):
Wow.
Okay.
So Trump wins and then there'sthese comments about the 50
Yeah.
Fear.
Brad Vis (07:16):
That was my reaction.
And that was yesterday.
I was with the mayor of thecity of Abbotsford at his
luncheon, and I was sitting withsome companies, local companies
in my riding, where they'reexport-based companies.
We have a lot of export-basedcompanies in the Fraser Valley
that manufacture tools, provideservices to American firms and
(07:37):
American customers as theyshould under the existing
economic relationship we had.
What Donald Trump was doing isdisrupting one of the most
successful economicrelationships the world has ever
seen.
That means jobs lost, mortgagesnot paid, and my constituents
suffering.
So it was fear.
Aaron Pete (07:57):
The challenge, and you can correct me if I'm
mistaken, but was the ability ofthe Conservatives to break from
Donald Trump.
That's some of the blame that'sbeing put out there, that there
wasn't a clear differentiationon where the Conservatives stood
and where Donald Trump stood.
Is that
Brad Vis (08:14):
accurate from your perspective?
If I'm going to say one thingabout what the Conservatives did
wrong during the election isthat we didn't pivot quickly
enough.
We were rightfully focused oncost of living issues, on
changes that we need to see inthe criminal code.
But we didn't speak enoughabout the challenges that Donald
Trump raised before and duringthe election in a quick enough
(08:38):
manner that Canadians thought wewere the best party to govern
the country.
Aaron Pete (08:44):
Is Donald Trump, is there any merit to his argument
that it seems like he wants toreinvigorate his country?
And I'm not saying what he didis correct, but the only...
interesting thing that's comeas a byproduct is this intense
nationalism that has beenrevived that for a very long
(09:05):
time there has not been pride inthe Canadian flag the way that
I've seen it recently and whenthe trucker protest happened my
only comment on how much theywere raising the flag is flags
and symbolism do a good job ofat least forcing us to reckon
with what does that flag mean tous as Canadians like what do we
hold that flag up for what arethe values that make us Canadian
(09:25):
and we've just been goingthrough that process as of late,
and it gives me a lot of hopeto see us starting to go, what
does it mean to be Canadian?
What are those qualities wewant to hold up as being a
Canadian?
And so what is your position onTrump's approach?
Is there any merit to what he'sdone?
Brad Vis (09:43):
Well, I think there's a takeaway, and the takeaway is
exactly what you just expressed,is that Canadians are thinking
about Canada for a change.
We're a very outward-lookingcountry.
We're a country where a lot ofyoung people see it as like a
rite of passage to go toAustralia France, New Zealand on
a work visa and spend a fewyears abroad going around the
world.
(10:03):
That's something very, verycommon amongst Canadians.
Many Canadians loveinternational institutions and
believe that Canada has a strongrole to play in the world.
But more locally, I think thetakeaway from Trump is that we
have to reconcile with whatCanada has done in the past,
what Canada means in the future.
And really, we're having theconversations of a young country
(10:26):
for the very first time.
We're barely over 150 yearsold.
We're maybe close to 160,right?
157, 158.
So we have a lot of growing upto do as a nation.
And the threats from Trump havenecessarily forced us to have
those challenging but importantconversations.
But in respect to is theremerit to what Trump has done, I
(10:51):
don't believe on the economicfront there is.
But I do believe the UnitedStates of America and the goes
beyond Trump and our other NATOallies make valid criticisms of
Canada as it relates to ourdefense spending and our
inability to meet the targetsthat pretty much every other
advanced economy nation in NATOhas done.
Aaron Pete (11:14):
Right.
Going back to how the electionwent, what would have been some
of the pivots that you wouldhave thought would have been
important in starting theelection, knowing these comments
coming from down south?
Brad Vis (11:24):
Well, I think that we did show our messaging.
And when we did shift ourmessaging and we talked about
the things that we can do in ourown backyard, Canada can't
control an uncontrollablepresident.
We can't predict what DonaldTrump is going to do in the
future.
We don't know what's in store,but we do know that there is a
(11:46):
lot of things that we canimprove right here in our own
backyard.
And when we started focusing onthose things, our message
really did resonate with a lotof people.
And some of those policiesrelated to interprovincial
trade.
The Conservative Party talked alot.
Well, we've had it in ourelection platform for like the
last three elections, but anational energy corridor.
We talked about a Blue Sealprogram to allow all the nurses
(12:11):
and doctors trained abroad toactually practice in Canada
because they were only acceptedto come to Canada because of
their credentials in the firstplace.
So eliminating the discrepancybetween credentials and
practicing their profession sowe can address the doctor
shortage.
There's a lot of things that wedon't do very well in Canada
(12:31):
that we could, if we tacklethose issues, we could
measurably improve our qualityof life.
Aaron Pete (12:37):
May I ask, what is the structure in which you get
information around messaging?
What is the process when anelection is called?
How do you find out what theprocess is going to look like,
what you're supposed to do, notsupposed to do?
I assume that there are somethings outside the bounds where
you shouldn't be doing somecrazy things and Yeah.
(12:57):
Some things that you're allowedto do that they recommend or
support.
How does that all work?
Oh,
Brad Vis (13:01):
well, in terms of the operationalization of the
Conservative Party, is that whatyou're getting at?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we have a desk officer.
We have regular calls anddiscussions amongst colleagues
and candidates to make sure thatwe're all on the same page in
respect to messaging.
And then we go out and we knockon doors and we talk to people
(13:24):
and we share that messaging andwe identify voters that believe
in our messaging.
And we use the ConservativeParty headquarters and our BC
reps within that whole apparatusto talk about the issues that
are coming up at the doorstepand making sure we have
appropriate responses that arein line with our messaging and
(13:46):
our approach to govern Canada.
Aaron Pete (13:49):
Is that an effective system?
Because it just seems likecoordinating all of that, you
might hear different things thansomebody else in an urban
setting.
It just might look different.
So is that system effective?
Brad Vis (14:03):
Well, you know, if you want to be a leader in any
political party, you have tohave some personal judgment and
you have to have some personaldiscretion.
And if you're running foroffice, I would hope that you're
able to take national messagingand you can adapt it and use
that in a local context.
And that's a big part of whatevery candidate is required to
(14:25):
do in any political party.
But I believe very stronglythat the messaging the
Conservative Party had reallydid resonate with people in the
Fraser Valley, and that wasreflected in the way the votes
went.
Aaron Pete (14:39):
Is it true that candidates—I've seen this on
Twitter—is it true thatcandidates were directed not to
do long-form interviews andparticipate in more processes
like that?
In some
Brad Vis (14:50):
cases, yes.
How do you feel about that?
Well, you know what?
I believe that I'm anindependent voice, and And I did
a lot of media during thecampaign, and I'm going to
continue speaking to people.
And that's why I'm happy to behere with you today.
At the end of the day, whatconservative voters want is for
Brad Vist to be a local andeffective representative that's
(15:12):
going to respond in good faithto local issues.
And that involves being on apodcast like yours, which is, I
believe, a local podcast to theFraser Valley and British
Columbia at large.
Aaron Pete (15:24):
Well, I appreciate you being willing to be here So
if candidates are directed notto participate in certain
podcasts or that is going on,what are the consequences that
come with, not even just withthat specifically, what are the
consequences for stepping beyondthe lines of what you're being
(15:44):
directed from senior leadership?
Brad Vis (15:46):
Yeah, well, there is a level of message discipline
that has to take place.
The consequences are that, andI think you already know the
answer to this, is that Peoplewon't hear from you.
And so you got to play ball.
Wow.
That makes me...
There's no easy answer to thatbecause you have to, in any
(16:06):
political structure, you have tobalance those two aspects, the
message discipline and theindividual autonomy.
And sometimes we get it rightand sometimes we get it wrong.
I try my very best to get itright as often as possible for
my community and for my writing.
If you could
Aaron Pete (16:25):
make any changes to that system, what would you make
recommendations towards?
Because my personal, like whatI would advocate to to all
parties is we are moving in thedirection of more transparency
and more longer form interviewswhich are participating now.
We're seeing that like I firststarted to understand this when
the provincial election washappening and all provincial
(16:49):
party leaders agreed to come onthis show and not just this show
but several other shows and dolong form interviews where they
didn't know what the questionswere going to be and of course
you expect the interview to befair and respectful but that was
a part of the movement and thenAnd we also saw this in the
U.S.
election where Donald Trump,again, hate him, like him,
however you feel.
He went on several long-formpodcasts.
(17:11):
Yeah.
Brad Vis (17:31):
You have to be vulnerable.
You have to be vulnerable.
And it's not always easy.
I actually believe that some ofthe best moments Pierre brought
to Canada during the electionwas when he was on a long form
podcast and spoke about some ofhis personal family dynamics.
(17:51):
And so I commend him for that.
I know a lot of people wouldhave hoped he did more, but he's
his own decision maker.
And he decided to do what hedid.
And just like I did during theelection.
The only long form what I didwas with the Fraser Valley
current.
I guess that turned out to bemore long form.
Aaron Pete (18:07):
Exactly.
And I guess just reflecting onthat, to me, Pierre did do a lot
of long form interviews priorto the election and building up
to it the year before.
He was on Jordan Peterson.
He was on some more long forminterviews.
I guess I will put it to you.
One of the challenges I saw wasthat it was with what I would
personally consider morefriendly individuals.
(18:30):
Jordan Peterson's known to leadmore right.
He was very interested in ourelection and he was very unhappy
with Mr.
Carney in several of the videoshe made.
He did a longer form interviewwith Candace Malcolm.
I've had her on the show.
She has a lot of perspectives.
We disagree on some things.
I think, again, just being ableto be an independent voice, I
admire her ability to build outa platform where it's her voice,
(18:51):
but it was all veryconservative focused.
And that just frustrated mebecause I really expected this
election to be more around Yeah.
doesn't lean left, but he'scertainly open to those
(19:34):
perspectives.
And other individuals hadreached out to him wanting to
speak with him and get hisperspective maybe from a
position that was lessright-leaning.
Did
Brad Vis (19:43):
you notice that as well?
Well, he decided to do what hedid and decided to do what he
did.
And Mark Carney didn't do anylong-form podcasts during the
interview.
He barely spoke to the media atall.
And then if you looked at hisvideo clips throughout the
campaign, there was silence.
There was no dialogue.
It was just him shaking handsand elbows up.
And that was basically the endof it.
So Pierre did do a lot.
Uh, I, I, I gather from yourpoints that you feel he could
(20:06):
have done more.
And I, I absolutely hear that.
Um, but those are like in theconservative party, uh, we
really focus on, on theindividual.
So he made those decisions.
Um, and I think when he did doit, he did really well.
And a lot of people would agreewith your perspective that he
could have done more becausethey love hearing from him.
And, uh, so if that's acriticism you're making, I take
(20:28):
it in good faith about for theleader of the conservative
party.
And, And I, well, let's moveforward.
Aaron Pete (20:34):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
And I would give the samecriticism to Jagmeet Singh and
Mark Carney and Elizabeth May.
We didn't hear long form and itjust, it was just disappointing
because the feedback that I gotwhen I interviewed the
provincial leaders was, geez, itwas just nice to have a
conversation, to hit play,listen, and then just hear how
they think about things and notnecessarily this issue, that
(20:56):
issue, how they are going toaddress like housing and fix
that.
It's like, obviously this is acomplex issue.
flex issue and there'smulti-level governments, but how
they kind of approach theconversation, how honest and
vulnerable they are is reallywhat builds that trust and
transparency.
So I really think that'simportant and I hope everybody
learns from that.
Brad Vis (21:14):
I think that's a really good point.
Aaron Pete (21:16):
The next piece I wanted to touch on was when the
platforms were released.
That was another piece, just asagain, being a huge advocate
for the pieces that make up ademocracy.
When platforms are released, tome, ideally, you would release
that when the election starts.
So everybody can go through,read them, get an understanding
and make an informed decision.
But I have that the Liberalsand NDP released their platform
(21:38):
on April 19th, just a few, likea week before the election, and
the Conservatives released itApril 22nd.
What are your reflections onthat?
Brad Vis (21:47):
I think those are strategic decisions that are
beyond my pay grade.
I think we did our very best toput forward a platform that was
costed independently, and wemade certain economic
assumptions in there that we hadto be transparent about.
I think, sure, the timing maybecould have been a little bit
earlier, but I think there wasstill ample time for people to
(22:09):
see the platform and make adecision about what they thought
of the Conservative Party.
So I'm not going to criticizeanyone in the Conservatives for
when it was released.
I think the party did theirvery best to put forward a
platform that was transparent,and they did achieve that
objective.
So people knew what they werevoting for, and it was written
clearly and effectively forpeople to understand.
Aaron Pete (22:31):
I heard people from CTV News interview Andrew Scheer
several times in like August,September, October, being like,
why don't you give us somepieces of your platform so we
can start to get anunderstanding?
So, of course, you're startingto reflect what are our
positions?
How are we going to approachthese things?
And so, Justin Trudeau resignsin January.
(22:53):
And then the election doesn'thappen until a while after that.
So, there was writing on thewall from my perspective that
maybe— Maybe the platform couldhave at least started,
information could have startedto be shared and been made
clear.
Yeah,
Brad Vis (23:07):
I'll push back on that one a bit.
I think that the, you know,Pierre did a massive rally with
national attention on theCanadian flag.
Yeah, I think that's in late,sometime in February.
And he did a massive rally inOttawa and he outlined a lot of
the policies that were alreadyin our platform.
We came forward with manypoints on criminal justice.
We had our point on skillsrecognition.
(23:29):
We had come out with policieson energy, on LNG.
We came forward with policieson equity sharing for First
Nations.
In fact, we had more policiesoutlined than any other
political party, even theLiberals, before the election
took place.
And Pierre did that responsiblyin a way that everyone had the
(23:49):
chance to hear.
So we got that criticism a lot,but I don't think it's valid.
There was a lot out there.
We talked about, look at howeffective we were with our
platform before it even wasreleased.
We're going to ask the carbontax?
What did the Liberals do rightbefore the election started?
They eliminated the consumercarbon price.
We came forward with an energycorridor before the election
(24:12):
started.
What do the Liberals do?
We're going to have an energycorridor too.
So those are two major policyplatforms where we shaped the
agenda.
We came forward with a policyon changing the bail laws so
repeat violent offenders aren'treleased.
And the Liberals said beforetheir platform came out, well,
we're going to address repeatoffenders as well.
(24:35):
All of those points were in ourplatform.
All of those were major issuesthat Canadians were Okay.
I think
Aaron Pete (24:45):
that's a fair response.
What did you start to hear inyour riding as the election was
taking place?
The polls were not showing agood position for the
Conservatives.
Were you hearing that at thedoor?
What was the reaction that youwere hearing as the election was
getting ramped up?
Brad Vis (25:01):
At the beginning of the campaign, I was taken aback
by the number of seniors who hadtraditionally voted for me, who
had decided to go to theLiberal Democrats.
There was a shift, a realshift.
And the people that decided togo to the Liberal Party had a
few things in common.
One, they were all babyboomers.
Two, they were financiallystable.
(25:23):
And three, most of them owntheir own homes.
And I don't think the seniorgeneration suffered as much in
the last 10 years as, say, ourgeneration.
Well, I'm 40.
You're a bit younger than me,but not much.
29.
Okay, well, we got 11 yearsapart, maybe 12.
And so for my generation, likeI'm an old millennial born in
(25:45):
1984, there are still friends ofmine who don't own a home, but
they make over $100,000 a year.
You live in the Fraser Valley,and traditionally, if you have a
six-figure income, you're goingto be able to buy a nice
property.
You're going to provide thatsecurity.
You're going to have thatsecurity to start a family and
to start a life.
(26:05):
So what we saw during theelection was older voters who
were more secure financiallytended to think about some of
those broader existentialthreats that Canada was facing
in respect to the United States.
On the other side, we had, yougo to like the West Hills
neighborhood of Mission or likesome of the neighborhoods below
(26:26):
7th Avenue where young familiesare buying an old BC box home
and they're putting a lot ofsweat equity into their
property.
But they also feel a lot ofinsecurity about that $900,000
mortgage they have And thechallenges that come with it, if
they're able to get into thehousing market, there's just as
many who are paying $3,000 plusa month for rent who don't feel
(26:49):
that they have a future inCanada anymore.
And the conservative messagereally resonated with younger
people.
more so than it ever has in anyelection, especially the last
four that I've been in.
So I found support inneighborhoods where the NDP
traditionally did very well.
And in the BC context, thatmakes total sense because
(27:10):
Mission's an old sawmill town.
There's still a few cedar shakeand shingle mills that work
full time.
Vancouver Island, where you hadthat same type of dynamic and
the same type of labor force,all went conservative for the
first time in for as long as Ican remember.
So it was like what Pierre didvery, very well was get young
(27:31):
people and workers in unions tovote conservative like we've
never seen before.
And that's a huge positivetakeaway and something that I'm
very excited about what Pierrecan do to continue speaking up
for that generation.
But I definitely saw it on theground in my riding day to day.
I would have Brad from asenior, you know, I just don't
(27:53):
think I think Carney's the rightguy for the job facing the
challenge.
Right.
Aaron Pete (28:16):
What does that do to you?
Like, how do you carry thoseheavy messages?
Yeah.
(28:46):
Yeah.
Brad Vis (29:03):
Well, I really love doing petitions and I feel that
petitions are a reallyunderrated aspect of our
parliamentary system.
I can talk about any issue inparliament for one minute if I
get 25 signatures on a petitionand I submit that to the clerk
of the House of Commons.
That gives me a lot of voicefor my constituents and I use
(29:24):
that very, very effectively.
I think I was in the top 10 inthe country for putting forward
petitions, but I think I had oneof the widest range of issues
covered in the petitions Ipresented.
So I use that.
I make sure that when I speak,just like I'm trying to do with
you today, that I always bringit back to my writing.
(29:44):
It starts and ends in mywriting.
It starts and ends with myneighbors.
Those are the people I'mfighting for.
That's really beautiful.
And I'm going to add one point.
I'm going to give a story.
So I'm walking down the streetand this was an emotional
election because people arereally hurting and people really
(30:05):
are living on the edge rightnow.
It is a fact.
And there was this dad.
He just opened the door and he,like, nice enough guy, but he
just said, Brad, be one of us.
Be one of us, Brad.
And I took that through theentire campaign.
(30:26):
And that's sort of what drivesme.
So I'm just a regular dad.
I live in a nice BC box home.
I'm raising my kids in thecommunity.
Going to baseball or gymnasticsor a community event with my
family is just as important asthe work I do in Ottawa.
(30:48):
But my participation and livingin the community that I
represent and being born in thatcommunity drives everything I
do in Ottawa because that's whatpeople expect of me.
And it gives me hope that wecan change things.
And it gives me hope aboutPierre Pauliev moving forward
too because even in opposition,he was able to shape the
(31:11):
national narrative on a lot ofbig issues.
right when the electionstarted, the Liberals cut the
carbon tax and there was a 20cent drop in gas and people were
talking about it becausethey're living on the edge every
month.
Pierre was able to do that inopposition and that was really,
really, that really helped a lotof people.
And that's one small example.
(31:33):
But on criminal justice reformtoo, he's been able to shape the
national discussion and forcethe Liberal Party to change
their policies because they'renot working for Canadians.
Aaron Pete (31:44):
That's really interesting and It does go to
the point like I watched the CBCthroughout just to get a sense
of what was going on from otherpeople's perspectives.
I don't want to end up in asilo.
As I've told others, I don'tvote, not because I don't think
it's an incredibly importantprocess, but because I want to
(32:04):
remain unbiased as I hear fromindividuals like yourself, from
people on the other side.
And maybe this is throwingnegativity.
But when I saw I've interviewedEvan Solomon twice and it was
very interesting to get hisperspective as a journalist when
I saw him run for the liberalsI was disheartened because to me
you're meant to be unbiasedyou're meant to not have a
(32:25):
finger on the scale and he puthis finger on that scale and
that made me mournful for whathe stood for because I do think
that impacts his track recordfrom my personal perspective
Brad Vis (32:35):
well the I think that's a really good point and I
can give you another oneanother example Peter O'Neill I
believe his name was used to bethe only BC based journalist in
the Ottawa Press Gallery, heleft his job to work for Miriam
Monsef, a Liberal minister inher ministerial office.
And I always had a lot ofrespect for Mr.
(32:56):
O'Neill, and he's interviewedme and I've spoken to him
before, but it didn't sit wellwith me when you went to being
one of the main reporters forthe Vancouver Sun to working in
a Liberal office.
Aaron Pete (33:07):
I agree, and I wouldn't like it if Candace
Malcolm joins and joins theConservative Party.
The goal is to be impartial andto show respectful Yeah.
Yeah.
person to your life.
(33:46):
And this is ultimately, youwant to leave a legacy within
your community where people areproud that you were there and
that you were representing them.
And I think sometimes that getslost with the power hunger that
can take people over whenthey're going for premier or
they're going for a federalleadership position, opportunity
to control the conversation.
Sometimes you can lose yourselfchasing after power.
Brad Vis (34:08):
Yeah.
You're sort of getting me onthinking about the balance
between being a delegate for thecommunity I represent but also
being a trustee for my communityand that is where when I'm
working on a committee forexample I can I use my own
faculties to make judgmentsabout how I'm voting or amending
(34:33):
a piece of legislation and howit might impact my community the
average voter is is going tohave no way of knowing what's in
that legislation and that's whythey entrust me as their
representative to be able to dothat on their behalf.
But it's a constant battlebetween, internal battle between
the role of a delegate and therole of a trustee as an elected
(34:54):
official.
But it's one I take very, veryseriously.
Aaron Pete (34:57):
When did you know that the election was heading in
the wrong direction and thatyou were unlikely, the
Conservative Party was unlikelyto be successful in the
election?
Brad Vis (35:08):
I had a lot of roller coasters on the election.
I can't point to a specificdate, but I held high that we
were going to win till the veryend.
And even after the polls closedin Newfoundland and the
Conservatives seemed to be doingreally well, I was like gung-ho
because I can remember in 2015when the polls closed in British
(35:31):
Columbia, I had a sinkingfeeling in my stomach that we
were going to be wiped out.
And we were.
We were not wiped out in thiselection.
We gained a lot of new seatsand we built up a strong
coalition of young people.
And I think that's important toreflect on the positive side of
it, that we have a very strongcoalition going forward.
(35:53):
If we keep talking about issuesthat impact workers, if we keep
trying to bring novel andinnovative policy ideas to the
forefront, which we did, whichwe don't get enough credit for,
if we keep doing those things,we're going to be successful in
the future.
And that gives me a lot ofhope.
So I...
I don't think there was anyspecific time I thought we were
(36:14):
going to lose.
I think the polls didunder-report, and we saw that on
election night.
Aaron Pete (36:19):
So I've heard this.
On the one hand, I've heardvoices who lean liberal or
left-leaning have been critical.
You didn't perform.
You had a 25% lead.
You guys didn't live up tothat.
You were unsuccessful.
Then I've heard theconservative perspective, which
is we actually gained in a lotof communities.
(36:39):
This was a much clearerelection.
There was growth but then andmaybe
Brad Vis (36:44):
this is the middle i'll interrupt i'll interrupt
don't get me wrong we lost yeahwe weren't good enough we missed
the the field goal okay wemissed the goal posts i don't
like at the end of the daythat's what it comes down to
yeah there's a lot of that wehave a good foundation but we
weren't good enough and we haveto improve
Aaron Pete (37:02):
so and then the middle ground perspective from
my understanding is that neitherthe liberals or the
conservatives should count onthis in the future because it
was very unusual that the blocand the NDP did so poorly in
this election and that youshouldn't expect that in a
future election.
Do you see that perspective aswell?
Brad Vis (37:21):
Well, there's a lot of dynamics at play.
It's a minority parliament.
The prime minister, like wetalked about before, can call an
election at any time.
What's to stop Mr.
Carney from using his powers asprime minister to call an
election in favour of theLiberal Party when Donald Trump
is still president?
Nothing stops him from doingthat.
And nothing stops on the sidewith the new Democrats.
(37:45):
If they choose a good leader,maybe they will come back.
Who knows?
There's so many unknowns rightnow.
But I do believe...
So time will tell.
Time will tell what the nextelection is going to be fought
on and on what policies will beat the forefront of the minds of
Canadians at that time.
We don't know right now.
But what we do know right nowis that Canada has a horrible
(38:09):
economic performance that we Wehave rampant crime in our
communities that all of theissues that we talked about
federally as the ConservativeParty haven't gone away.
We just have an additionalthreat with tariffs from the
United States.
And I desperately hope that thegovernment does go forward and
makes those changes that theytalked about, those ideas that
(38:32):
we have in common that they tookfrom our platform and they
enact those policies for thegood of our economy and the
well-being of Canadians.
Can I give one
Aaron Pete (38:41):
other criticism just in regards to the
Conservatives' approach to theelection at large?
Yeah.
And the video of Mark Carneyand Mike Myers was a little odd.
Yeah.
But it resonated.
And it resonated in a big waybecause showing that Canadian
flag, showing some Canadianicons was in the zeitgeist.
There was a hunger for that.
(39:01):
And credit to Mr.
Carney and his team forrecognizing that there was
hunger for that.
I didn't see the Conservativesdo any type of play that reached
to the same degree as thatcommercial.
That still sits in my mind.
I can't think of an examplewhere the Conservatives did
something to that level.
Brad Vis (39:18):
Okay.
I don't think I have anyexample as well um but point
taken
Aaron Pete (39:25):
do you see how like that like from my perspective
that was a huge piece of theconversation is is is the
conservative party committed tocanadians and to canadian
culture to the same extent asthe liberal party demonstrated
and and i think you can poke itat lots of pieces there's
conversations around mark carneyuh and his business dealings
and moving that to the u.s thereare legitimate critiques i
(39:49):
think of the liberal party butthey just kind of they gave you
exactly what the voters werelooking for, which is we're
Canada first here and that's notup for conversation.
And you just didn't get thatkind of smack in the face.
Well,
Brad Vis (40:01):
you actually, you just proved, you just stated the
conservative position.
It was Canada first.
Yes.
And so I guess we did dosomething that did resonate.
And in the last part of thecampaign, Pierre was out and
speaking about those nationalissues much more.
And I think he was very, veryeffective.
And that's why the polls wereso tight near the end of the
campaign.
Aaron Pete (40:21):
That's a, That's a fair criticism.
And I did just use Canadafirst, which is the other piece
that I wanted to ask about isPierre Polyev lost his writing.
Brad Vis (40:30):
Yeah.
Aaron Pete (40:31):
What was your reaction to that?
Brad Vis (40:33):
Oh, I was upset for him.
Yeah, he's represented thatriding for 20 years.
But there's a lot of examplesof leaders in the country losing
their ridings and going on tohave very successful careers.
The first guy that comes to mymind is Mackenzie King.
And so it's happened before.
It's not uncommon.
(40:53):
It's happened provincially heretoo.
I think what Pierre is doing isthe right choice.
And I stand behind him asleader.
And I think his best days areyet to come.
Aaron Pete (41:03):
Is there any, like you're knocking on these doors.
You kind of get at that frontlevel what that relationship is
with those voters.
Yeah.
There's got to be a heavinessto the fact that that happened
to him, right?
Brad Vis (41:16):
Oh, absolutely.
But, you know, when Pierre ranfor leader of the Conservative
Party, he had overwhelmingsupport in every corner of the
country, especially that riding,which is one of the safest in
the country.
So I have no doubt that Pierreis going to be an effective
representative for the ridingname, which is escaping me right
now, in eastern Alberta.
Aaron Pete (41:37):
Yes.
And so Mark Carney chose toproceed and prioritize a
by-election so that Pierre cando that, is my understanding.
Is that your understanding aswell?
Yes, it is.
Okay.
And then that's going to costtaxpayers $2 million in order to
do this.
As a taxpayer yourself, what isyour reaction to that?
Brad Vis (41:56):
Well, the cost to democracy, at least we're
transparent about it.
There's lots of things inOttawa that cost much more money
that don't get any level ofscrutiny.
So with Elections Canada, we dohave that scrutiny and people
are able to make up their ownminds.
But again, he's not the firstpolitical leader to do this.
It's a pretty common practiceat the provincial and federal
level of government, and Pierreneeds to be back in the House of
(42:18):
Commons.
Aaron Pete (42:20):
Do you feel like there's a lot of talk about
reflections, where can things bedone better?
Do you feel like that'sproperly taking place within the
Conservative Party?
Brad Vis (42:29):
Well, yeah, it's properly taking place in my own
heart and mind right now.
I'm very disappointed we didn'twin, and I believe that we need
to do better.
Like I said, we missed thegoalpost, and we can do better.
And when we start thinkingabout the next election, I'm
very hopeful that we'll be in aposition to present new ideas in
(42:51):
a clear way where we can earnthe trust of Canadians.
And that's what democracy isall about.
In the meantime, we've got avery important constitutional
responsibility to hold thegovernment accountable, to make
sure that they follow through ontheir big promises during the
campaign, and make sure they doso in a transparent way.
Mark Carney said he's going tobe a transformational prime
(43:16):
minister, that he's going toupend the way we've done things
Let's see him do that.
Aaron Pete (43:38):
Interesting.
And so when you move forward,can you just expand for
listeners, what is the role ofthe official opposition?
Brad Vis (43:46):
The role of the official opposition is to
critique the government and topropose policies to outline that
you are a government inwaiting.
So that dual role, criticizeeverything they do and look
under every document, look underevery policy to make sure that
(44:06):
they are being transparent withCanadian money and that they are
being transparent to thepromises they made to Canadians.
At the same time, proposingsolutions and ideas to show that
you are ready to govern thiscountry and that you can be
responsible in that role too.
Aaron Pete (44:23):
Is there a recommendation you would have,
say the leader of theConservative Party is listening
to you, their team is listeningto you, what would you suggest
to them?
Would you have any advice forhow they proceed from your local
constituents that you heardthat maybe they're not alive to
yet?
Brad Vis (44:41):
Yeah, well, we haven't.
I'll bring it really local.
The infrastructure.
We, in Abbotsford, the dikesystem, the pump stations,
haven't received enough federalattention.
And although I won with a bigmajority, more than I thought I
was going to get, my criticismis that making sure that local
(45:04):
MPs can raise those issueseffectively in the House of
Commons because there's otherissues in other parts of the
country.
I need to be that local voiceand I need to be empowered by my
party in Parliament to do that.
And so I'm going to continuepushing for that, but that I can
raise those local issueseffectively.
Aaron Pete (45:22):
The other piece I just wanted to ask is when you
have individuals like yourselfwho are making a positive
difference, who understand thatrole, how do you proceed and
kind of grow your voice in aresponsible way within the
party?
Is there a process to go aboutthat?
I just don't know the internalmechanisms of how the party
system
Brad Vis (45:42):
works.
I think that's a good question.
There is no formal process forthat.
It's about how you perform inthe House, how you help other
candidates during an electionperiod.
It's how you speak to the topissues that the party is raising
at the national level that youneed to be speaking on.
(46:03):
And so there's different, likethe Conservative Party is It's a
big tent.
There's lots of differentperspectives.
So I think just putting yourhead down, doing your work
effectively, finding that rightbalance between talking about
national issues and localissues, being a delegate and a
trustee, and treating everyonewith respect.
(46:24):
If you do all those things inpolitics and you play the long
game, you're going to have asuccessful career.
Aaron Pete (46:31):
That's the one criticism I've shared multiple
times is conservative leaningindividuals.
My general critique of them,and I spoke to this with David
Coletto, is that sometimes theymight have a good point, but
they do it.
And I've used the word likethey don't do it with kindness
or gentleness.
(46:51):
And that's what I've generallyseen.
Have you seen that for me?
No, no.
That's actually what I'mleading to is I've seen with the
discussions of the Indian inresidential school mass graves.
I've seen, and I've spoken toCandace Malcolm, and I just felt
like there wasn't a lot ofcompassion with the issue, that
(47:11):
maybe she disagrees on the massgraves issue.
She helped author a book aboutthat.
And there were points therethat I think are valid, that I
think we can discuss, butthere's this general inclination
to hammer on a vulnerablecommunity.
And I don't think that thatpiece is necessary.
And I'm not accusing you ofdoing that, but I'm saying when
(47:33):
I see conservatives kind of findan issue that they're strong
on, it's not always with agentle touch that they bring
that approach.
And I think that was a critiqueof Mr.
Polyev when he was eating theapple is like, what was the
approach of that?
Is that prime ministerial whenyou do something like that?
And I think we saw asignificant movement from him on
that piece, but that's just onegeneral piece.
(47:53):
The reason I was excited tospeak with you and why am
honoured to be able to do thisis because we've met previously
to this and you've been nothingbut a genuine, kind, thoughtful
person throughout the entireprocess of knowing me, not
knowing that this would evercome to light.
You've always been honest andtransparent and we've had
important discussions aboutIndigenous communities and how
(48:14):
we support them and I greatlyappreciate that and I do think
that there's a space whereConservatives can be tough on
issues but kind to people andsometimes I feel like those
lines get blurred.
Brad Vis (48:25):
Okay, well I would say on your points on Candace
Malcolm, she's not aconservative MP.
No.
She's an independentjournalist.
Aaron Pete (48:32):
But the lean conservative.
She does lean conservative.
So the conservative voice, Iwould say generally, is very
tough
Brad Vis (48:38):
at times.
Yeah.
Well, maybe that's why we needto do long form podcasts and
hear from other conservativesand more people in our caucus.
And I'll take that criticism toheart about the broader
conservative movement.
As you just said, I I don'tthink that would embody the way
I operate locally.
(48:59):
And I'm going to try tocontinue to be a voice of
compassion and trust and to talkabout conservative issues in a
way that resonates with thepeople that I represent.
Because the way I operate isbecause that's what people
expect from me and that's what Ican offer in terms of my own
personality.
And that goes well together.
(49:20):
So I'm going to continue doingthat because that's what people
want.
But on your broader point.
Okay, I hear you.
Some people can be really crassabout things, but on the other
side, on the residential schoolsystem, there was Brad Viss who
got money for St.
Mary's to do the ground sonarwork and got David Shepi a big
grant to conduct that researchon behalf of the regional bands.
(49:44):
I think that's important tooutline as well.
I hear you.
I appreciate
Aaron Pete (49:52):
that.
What does the future look likeif you have a crystal ball?
Where are we heading?
And I'll just tie that in with,we just had an election.
I do think that there's pent upsteam, there's pent up
frustration among some of thepeople you described, where the
Liberals just put in a cabinet,from my perspective, that's very
reflective of the previouscabinet.
(50:12):
I agree.
Some of the policies seem to beconsistent with the old guard,
and so we're not seeing therevolutionary change from these,
and we're in the very earlystages, but we're not seeing the
change.
And I really do want Yeah.
Yeah.
probably another four years ofa very similar approach that
(50:59):
we've seen from what we'regathering in the tea leaves
right now.
And I worry about those people.
I understand the frustrationsthat Albertans are feeling,
particularly where they're like,they're very strongly
conservative and their voicesaren't going to carry the day.
And of course, they're going tohave the opposition.
But I just, I want this to be aCanada for everybody.
And I do worry that we'vedivided ourselves even more so.
Brad Vis (51:21):
Yeah, I was shocked by the cabinet choices, more of
the same.
Like, I can't believe it's moreof the same.
And that's exactly the oppositeof what Carney said during the
election.
He said he was going to do itdifferently.
Well, he didn't with his frontbench.
That is a fact.
And I think you agree with meon that.
So looking in the future,what's the crystal ball telling
Brad Viss right now?
(51:42):
I will, man.
Like I said, I really hope thatMark Carney does, the Prime
Minister does listen to Albertaand throws them a bone and comes
to a consensus on some of thekey demands from the Premier.
Many of those concerns arevery, very valid and we in
(52:02):
Alberta deserves to have thoseissues dealt with.
So that's what I hope for.
What I'm concerned about withthis government is more spending
at a time in areas that won'taddress the key issues we're
facing.
And when I go to Ottawa, I'llbe focused a lot on that.
(52:24):
We're overdue for programreviews in Ottawa.
Stephen Harper, when he wasprime minister, had the deficit
reduction action plan, where hegave broad powers to deputy
ministers and ministers tomake...
cuts they felt were necessaryin their departments without the
(52:46):
heavy hand of a prime minister.
Before him in the 1990s, JohnChrétien cut healthcare
spending, transfers toindividuals quite a bit, and
program spending across theboard.
He was ruthless in that, and Idon't blame him for it at the
time.
But so I do believe that Ottawaneeds to get its house in order
(53:09):
and begin listening to WesternCanada.
I'm I'm not answering yourquestion very well right now.
So on the one hand, I'mapprehensive about the
operationalization ofgovernment.
On the other hand, I'm going toremain hopeful that Mark Carney
is going to listen to WesternCanada and we get some projects
built to protect Canadiansovereignty.
Aaron Pete (53:27):
What is your message to Canadians and your
constituents who might befrustrated?
Brad Vis (53:34):
I'm going to fight for you.
I take this job extremelyseriously.
I'm going to bring up theissues I heard at the doorstep
into the House of Commonsthrough the petition process,
through my work at committee tomake sure that we fight, that I
fight for a Canada that worksfor you.
People don't expect a lot.
They just want to make surethat when they pay their taxes,
(53:57):
that it's being used wisely.
And right now, most citizensdon't think that's the case.
And all All you have to do isgo to the Abbotsford Regional
Hospital to see how it's notworking.
All you have to do is speak tothe 6 million Canadians who
don't have a family doctor.
All you need to do is speak tothe trucker that's been waiting
20 years for Highway 1 tofinally be expanded through the
(54:22):
Fraser Valley.
All you need to do is speak toa mother, like I did this week,
who lost a family member in amurder.
All you need to do is speak tothe mum who in mission, who lost
her son to fentanyl at atreatment center.
There's so many things that wecan do right now that won't cost
(54:42):
money, that will drasticallyimprove the way people see their
country and how it operates andwhat it's doing for them.
And that takes good governance.
So I'm going to focus on goodgovernance.
I got one of 342 seats now.
I'm just going to do my best.
I'm going to fight.
And then I'm going to go backhome and I'm going to tell
people what I'm doing.
(55:03):
And I said, This is how I'mearning my paycheck.
This is what I'm showing up todo for you every single day.
And I'm going to be transparentabout it.
Do you get my email blasts?
I do not.
Okay.
You got to sign up then.
I will sign up.
Can you tell people how theycan follow your work?
Yeah.
Well, Brad underscore this onInstagram is a good way.
And then on my website atbradvis.ca, you can sign up for
(55:24):
my email newsletters.
I give a regular update aboutmy work in Ottawa, some of the
things I'm thinking about andsome local issues as well.
But mostly it's just to showpeople that, yes, I take this
job seriously.
I'm going to Ottawa on yourbehalf.
I'm raising local concerns sothat you know your voice is
being heard in Ottawa.
Aaron Pete (55:43):
Brad, thank you for being willing to come on today
and do a postmortem of wherewe've been and where we're
heading.
I greatly appreciate it, and Ihave a great deal of respect
Speaker 00 (55:53):
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