Honourable Christy Clark on Politics and Energy
This week, our guest is the Honourable Christy Clark, the 35th Premier of British Columbia and Canada’s longest-serving female Premier. Christy Clark is currently a Senior Advisor for Bennett Jones LLP.
Politics is top of mind for energy decision-makers with the upcoming US election, Canadian federal by-elections, the possibility of an early federal election in Canada, and a provincial election next month in Christy Clark’s home province of British Columbia.
Here are some of the questions Jackie and Peter asked Christy Clark:
Are you surprised that the NDP has been slipping in the polls in BC? Explain the BC United Party (former BC Liberal Party) recently folding into the Conservative Party of BC. Is there potential for the provincial Conservative Party to win in BC next month? Is climate change still an important issue for BC voters? You worked to get BC’s LNG industry started, with over 15 potential projects expected at one point; what is your view on the industry now? Is more electrical generation capacity needed to meet future demand, besides the Site C hydro dam? Now that it has started, how do people feel about the Trans Mountain expansion oil pipeline? With the federal NDP ripping up their agreement to cooperate with the Liberals, do you expect the federal election will occur sooner than October 2025? What are the chances that Justin Trudeau will withdraw from the federal Liberal leadership before the election? Do you have any federal political aspirations?
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Episode 251 transcript
Disclosure:
The information and opinions presented in this ARC Energy Ideas podcast are provided for informational purposes only and are subject to the disclaimer link in the show notes.
Announcer:
This is the ARC Energy Ideas podcast with Peter Tertzakian and Jackie Forrest. Exploring trends that influence the energy business.
Jackie Forrest:
Welcome to the ARC Energy Ideas podcast, I’m Jackie Forrest.
Peter Tertzakian:
And I’m Peter Tertzakian, welcome back. Well, Jackie, we’re recording on a Monday, the Monday after the second assassination attempt on President Trump. It just seems like day in, day out, 24/7 we’re talking politics or something affiliated with politics, the U.S. election and all the drama, the Canadian elections and all the drama. It’s also the day where we have the two by-elections going on, so we’ll see what that is. I mean, we cannot go a day without talking American, Canadian, or even European politics, and it is so influential in our energy policy so we really need to dig in more, and that is what we are going to do today. And who better than, to invite our special guest, whom I’ve known for quite a while, I don’t know how many years, we can reminisce about that when we introduce her.
Well, why don’t we do that? Let me introduce the Honorable Christy Clark, former premier of British Columbia from 2011 to 2017. Christy, we’re delighted to have you.
Christy Clark:
I’m delighted to have been invited, thank you. You guys do some legendary work here, and really important that we talk to people about how important energy is for Canada and for Canadians.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah, absolutely.
Christy Clark:
You guys are doing that every day, or every week.
Jackie Forrest:
Thank you for coming on our podcast, and there’s certainly lots going on right now with BC that could impact energy, and we want your views on that as well as what’s going on in Ottawa. But I think most of the people in our audience will know who you are, but maybe not everyone. Maybe give someone some information about your roots and background, and a little bit about what you’ve been doing since you left politics in 2017.
Christy Clark:
Well, I was kind of a middle class kid, actually Pat McGeer, who was the leader of the B.C. Liberals at one point, declared our family lower middle class, much to my mother’s chagrin. And we were middle class back in the day where you never went to a restaurant, and you never got on an airplane, it was that level of middle class. My dad was teacher and a school counselor, and so I kind of grew up in this family where people were really interested in politics, and my dad ran for the B.C. Liberals, the provincial Liberals three times, lost every time, kept at it.
He was active in teachers politics and stuff. So, I just kind of grew up around a table of six people, four kids, where we talked about the issues of the day, and my mom and my dad both had the view that if you want the world to be better, you better do something about it. And that was how I learned to be interested in politics, because as Peter said at the very beginning of the show, this really matters. Politics, you talk about it a lot because it’s having a tremendous impact on people’s daily lives right now, all around the world. And it was a good beginning for me I think, because I’ve always felt it’s incredibly important, but also very fulfilling.
Peter Tertzakian:
And you have in your career, you did do something about it by becoming premier of British Columbia for six or seven years, is it I guess ’11 to ’17, so that’s seven if you include inclusive. But tell us what you’ve done since you’ve left politics.
Christy Clark:
I went to work for one of the country’s biggest law firms, and what we do in particular is big infrastructure. That’s why I went there. And so, they need people like me because you’re coming in with a big project, huge projects, mines, and LNG, and the highways, all the really big projects in British Columbia, you have all your permits and the government still won’t let you do it. And the lawyers, the proponents come to me and they say, “Okay, Christy, why can’t we do it? What’s the problem here?” So, I kind of walk them through some of the reasons government may be stopping them, even though government doesn’t seem to have any right to stop them. And that, I’ll tell you Peter, I am so busy with work from that perspective, because the number of regulation, and rules, and efforts for government to stop anything big going ahead are just doubling every [inaudible 00:04:31] it’s ridiculous.
Peter Tertzakian:
So, we’re happy for you that you’re busy, but disappointed that you’re busy because it’s an [inaudible 00:04:37] progress. So, we’re going to talk about that kind of stuff as we go forward. But Jackie, should we dive right into the political discussion? I mean-
Jackie Forrest:
Yeah, we’re going to talk about B.C., but we do want to talk about the federal, but let’s start there because we have an election coming October 19th, which is a Saturday, kind of unusual.
Peter Tertzakian:
In B.C., yeah.
Jackie Forrest:
In British Columbia. And of course there’s been lots of news around this, because the NDP seemed to have a really solid grip on the province, but something’s changed and we learned very recently that the B.C. United Party has now aligned themselves with the Conservative party. They’re coming together. I guess the B.C. United Party is folding into the Conservatives. Maybe you can explain how that works to us, but tell us what’s going on and how did we get this Conservative party starting to have such a rise in the province, which is not really seen as Conservative to us?
Christy Clark:
Yeah. Well, Jackie, the thing is, is that Pierre Poilievre has got a big bounce. I mean, there’s just tons and tons of support behind the Conservative brand. And on the other hand, Justin Trudeau is really, very unpopular in the province. So, the word Liberal, I mean, personally I don’t think the Liberal brand is terrible, but I do think Justin Trudeau’s brand has really gotten a bit battered. So, those two things combined have meant that the Conservatives, when they kind of got started after one person got kicked out of the caucus of the B.C. United Party, he took off like wildfire. So, they’re doing pretty well. The NDP, see, I don’t think that the NDP really did have a good grip on the province, because we have the biggest deficit in history.
These guys inherited a $3 billion surplus, and they turned it into the biggest deficit in history, they’re probably facing a credit downgrade, they have scared away foreign direct investment in every quarter, and we’ve seen for the first time since 2012 a net out migration of British Columbians, the largest since 2012. So, the province is really hurting, and I don’t think people miss that. I just don’t think the polls necessarily caught the dissatisfaction that’s been there for a long time.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah. Just for background, for people who don’t know, the B.C. United party was your party, it was a Liberal party. The B.C. United party, which was the Liberal Party, then folded into the Conservative Party. Can you talk about the dynamics of the demise of the Liberal, the rise of the United, and now the folding into the Conservatives? For those of us who are out of province, we don’t follow it on a daily basis to recognize what happened.
Christy Clark:
Yeah, I mean it’s a little bit bizarre. Both Kevin Falcon and John Rustad, the leader of B.C. United former and the leader of the Conservatives we’re in my cabinet, just to kind of give everybody a sense of how nutty it is the way we do things. Peter, can I just go back here for a little history lesson? Because I’m not sure most Canadians understand. I mean, it’s very different system in B.C. where the New Democrats have a guaranteed 35% in every single election except one, which was a freak election. And so, it’s always been the case since 1953 that Liberals and Conservatives federally have gotten together and worked shoulder to shoulder to elect a coalition government, and that’s always been the case in our province. And we’ve been pretty successful with that, we fight each other like crazy against to federal elections, provincial elections, we stand together, because the NDP in B.C. are not like your average NDP. These guys are really left wing and kind of out there in lots of their policies. So, the B.C. Liberals came out of the B.C. Socreds, W.A.C. Bennett.
And it’s always been a coalition. Then Kevin Falcon came along, he was succeeded me as leader, and decided to change the name. And problem there was people had elected the B.C. Liberal Party consistently since 2001. It was a successful brand name, people were able to differentiate between the federal and provincial pretty easily. The new brand didn’t stick. There was lots of infighting, one of the guys left, became a Conservative, and the next thing you know they’re going crazy in the polls. So, it’s just been a series of really, I think, dumb mistakes, and now we are facing the potential reelection of the worst government in B.C. history, and that’s the one that’s led by David Eby.
Jackie Forrest:
But the polling is showing that John Rustad is looking to be a formidable competitor. Do you think there’s a chance that the NDP get a majority still, or is it kind of up in the air?
Christy Clark:
It’s going to be really tight, I think. It’s going to be really tight. I mean, the NDP have some distinct advantages. The Conservatives have a bunch of candidate, they’re a brand new party, they selected a bunch of people really quickly. Not all of them probably are the candidates that they might have chosen had they had more time to do it, and I think the NDP are going to have a lot of fun with that. The NDP are also extremely well organized, extremely well funded, and as a new party the Conservatives just haven’t had the same advantage. So, when you look at the money, you look at the organization, you look at the candidates, the NDP might have an edge there, but that doesn’t mean that people are happy with the NDP. They’re not, they shouldn’t be, this has been just an absolutely durable time for us.
Peter Tertzakian:
Well, there’s been a number of polls, and I’m just looking at the one, the 338canada.com, and we can post that, and you look at the B.C. So, the Conservatives and the NDP on a popular vote basis are almost exactly tied at 44%. But then if you go down into how many seats are going to be won, actually the NDP are ahead.
Christy Clark:
What we call free enterprise coalition in B.C., because that’s the Conservatives in the Liberals, I was always in the Liberal side, and Kevin and John were always on the Conservative side. We always got along. They sat in my cabinet, as I said. But the thing is, is that we always knew we had to be five points ahead in order to win. The NDP beat Gordon Campbell when I think they were five points, four points or five points behind, they beat them in seats even though they actually lost the popular vote.
Jackie Forrest:
Right, and that’s because so many of the votes are in the lower mainland, or so many of the seats are in the lower mainland. All right, we just watched the U.S.-
Peter Tertzakian:
Debate.
Jackie Forrest:
… debate, and the climate didn’t come up, or it came up as the last question, and Trump and Harris ignored the actual question. But we think of climate as pretty important in B.C., and the leader of the Conservatives, Rustad, seems to be more of the climate skeptic category, listening to some of the comments he’s made. Is climate still a hot topic in B.C., and is that going to hurt him, do you think, in terms of votes?
Christy Clark:
I think it might, only because he really needs those federal Liberal voters that have traditionally been that slice of the vote. Maybe it’s 20% of the total vote for the coalition, he really needs those votes in order to succeed, to get them over the top. So, I think it could hurt him. Having said that though, we had a carbon tax in B.C. since, gosh, when did Gordon introduce it? I think probably 206, and it’s still incredibly unpopular, but it worked for a long time because we took every penny of the carbon tax that was collected, and 100% of it went into tax cuts. So, we supercharged the economy in the province.
I mean, it was really, we had the fastest growing economy in Canada for three years running because we had the lowest taxes too. The first time that’s happened in B.C. since the ’50s. And the carbon tax money was a big part of that for us, so the NDP have taken the money, they just pump it into growing government and took it away from tax cut. But government’s, I think 50% bigger now than it was when I left. Nonetheless, it’s an issue for John Rustad for sure, because what people I think want is that equilibrium. They want to know that government is paying close attention to the economy, but also making sure that we are doing our best to preserve the environment.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah, yeah. So, let’s say the NDP does win, but with a much weakened seat count that is close. Do you think that that will affect the way the NDP behave with policy, given that they’re substantially diminished in their influence?
Christy Clark:
In the past, they’ve had a pretty close outcome. Glenn Clark versus Gordon Campbell in 1996 when they lost the popular vote, didn’t really change their approach to government. They were still pretty bullish about their ideological aims in the province. So, I’m going to say no, but what we’ve seen in the last little while as David Eby, the premier, deciding that he actually does want to be a little bit more responsive, and he’s announced, for example, that he supports involuntary institutionalization of people who are struggling with addiction and mental health in the downtown east side, that is an about face for him.
Peter Tertzakian:
So, is the ax the tax, didn’t you say that? He’s going to ax the carbon tax?
Christy Clark:
Yes. Yeah, he said he was going to ax the tax. Who knows? I mean, it’s really bizarre right now on the ground in British Columbia, it seems to me like they’re all really scrambling. Whatever happens, none of them are perfect, but I sure hope that David Eby doesn’t get another chance to mess up British Columbia.
Jackie Forrest:
Right, and he was going to ax the retail tax, but not the industrial one, I think.
Peter Tertzakian:
Right, yeah, yeah.
Jackie Forrest:
Talking about industry, let’s talk about the situation with industry in B.C. You worked very hard to get B.C.’s LNG industry going when you were premier, there were over 15 planned projects on the table a decade later. One LNG Canada is set to be operational here this year, and there’s two smaller projects that are FID’d and coming behind them, but they’re quite small. What is your take, do you think that’s it? The three projects are all we’re going to get in B.C.? There’s certainly demand for B.C. gas out there in the world, is there a chance to grow it further?
Christy Clark:
Absolutely, there’s a chance to do it. I mean, we need new governments who are going to lighten up on the regulatory burden, put people like me out of work in the law firm. I mean, at one point I think we had 19 proposals somewhere in the application pipeline, and LNG Canada, it is a big project, could be much, much bigger than it is, and it really got in just under the wire before government started messing around with the regulations.
And when we left government in 2017, we were on track. There was another huge proposal from Malaysia with PETRONAS, just about as big as the Shell Canada project, and the NDP basically killed it the minute they got into government. When the NDP said, “We will use every tool in the toolbox to stop Trans Mountain,” even though Trans Mountain was legally permitted and had every right to proceed, every bit of foreign investment in energy in British Columbia just absolutely disappeared, right overnight. And if governments reverse course on that, and we start to see governments embracing energy projects, which they should be doing. As you say, Jackie, there’s a huge demand for our gas, especially in Asia, and we’ve seen it. We saw the project, we saw the application, we saw the investment come to our province so we know it’s there, but government has to unleash it, and that means they have to take their foot off the brake with projects.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah, but government of course sets the policies, rules and regulations, but they also respond to the people. Are the people of B.C. by and large more supportive now of these sorts of big economic projects, like LNG terminals, mines and what have you, than they were say 5 or 10 years ago?
Christy Clark:
Probably. I mean, my view of politics is that if you have an unpopular idea but it’s a really good one, you should spend some time trying to convince people that it’s a good one. And that’s what we did. Nobody had even heard of LNG. I remember going and talking to Stephen Harper’s cabinet, his economic ministers. They hadn’t heard of LNG in 2011 when we first started going on the projects. So, we undertook a process of educating people, and in two years we got elected in 2013 on a platform to create 100,000 jobs and get LNG going in the province. So, people really bought in, but you have to put in the work. You can’t just think things are going to be popular because it’s a good idea, you have to explain it to people.
Jackie Forrest:
Well, and as you know, you had the great opportunity. A lot of it has diminished, but we do have LNG Canada. There’s a lot of uncertainty that they’re going ahead with phase one, but it’s long been delayed, the final investment decision on phase two. Do you have any update on that, and do you think that will go forward? Considering the government today in B.C. has a lot of onerous requirements like net-zero by 2030, they’re putting a cap on oil and gas emissions.
Christy Clark:
Yes. Well, if there’s a new government elected, absolutely. I think that those emission, what are really emissions caps, are going to disappear. It doesn’t seem impossible to me that even David Eby might not decide he wants to get rid of those caps too, because the thing is that B.C.’s got the slowest economy in the country, and the only way to get the economy going again is to start allowing encouraging investment in the province in big capital projects. And LNG, those are projects that are good for democracy around the world, they’re also good for fighting climate change. Well, I know you guys have talked about this. When we export natural gas to China, Japan, India, South Korea, it usually displaces coal-fired energy production, and that could be a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions. So, it’s tremendously helpful for climate change, it’s great for jobs in the province, and I don’t know why they wouldn’t do it. I mean, the whole thing just seems really wrongheaded to me at the moment.
Peter Tertzakian:
So, you talked at the beginning about how your day job now is navigating regulatory minefields on behalf of infrastructure, project proponents like power line development and so on. I mean, it’s not just pipelines and LNG plants, it’s a whole suite of things. So couple of questions, first of all, are you sensing that even the NDP platform and what they might do post-election is catering to more streamlined regulatory reform? Over here in Alberta, going back to Jason Kenney and Danielle Smith, I mean, they definitely ran on a platform in part talking about the need for regulatory reform and big project development. Is there any sense of that, that you’re going to be put out of a job? That regulatory reform will get smoother and companies won’t need to help you navigate anymore?
Christy Clark:
It’s hard to say. I think they might decide they’d like to. Peter, I don’t know if they know how to. It’s not really a core NDP skill to figure out how to make regulation and government less onerous for private sector investment. However, I think they might want to at some point, because working people, as the NDP like to say, are core to their voter base, and a lot of working people are thinking about voting for other parties because they want to work, they want a fatter paycheck, they want opportunities in the private sector, they don’t want to work for government. So, who knows? I mean, I can’t predict these guys. I do believe though, even if they do find the commitment, I don’t know if they’ll know how to do it.
Peter Tertzakian:
And to what extent, on a sort of related topic of building out an infrastructure, particularly electrical infrastructure, because we’ve had on our recent podcasts great discussions, Jackie, about potential electricity shortages in many jurisdictions because of the big pull for electricity, the trend towards electrification, and the inability in part due to regulatory burdens, the inability to build out electrical projects, including power lines and stuff fast enough. So, I guess my question to you, Christy, is that what’s happening in B.C. with electricity? Because the Site C generation capacity could be mopped up here pretty soon, and the options of generating a lot more power seem to be somewhat limited. I don’t know.
Christy Clark:
Well, can I just take a little detour here and say I’m really proud of Site C?
Peter Tertzakian:
Mm-hmm.
Christy Clark:
We got that, it was on the books for 50 years. It was a W.A.C. Bennett idea, and we got it. We finally got it off the books and into reality, my government, we did. Jody Raybould-Wilson, who became the justice minister, was canoeing the reservoir to protest the thing, it was so unpopular with a group of people in the province but it’s coming online soon at 1,100 megawatts, and as you said, that demand is going to be eaten up really quickly. So, I don’t know if there’s a chance for another dam on the Columbia River. Probably not. So, I think the government’s going to have to start thinking about wind power, for sure. Solar power is probably not great for British Columbia because we have a lot of rain, but potentially in the interior it’s a possibility.
I know there’s lots of talk about hydrogen power and other forms of clean energy, but there’s also probably going to be natural gas powered energy as well in the province. I don’t know how they’d be able to continue to grow the infrastructure and the energy infrastructure, like any new LNG plants, if they can’t figure out how to power them. And it’s not going to come from BC Hydro, because residents don’t want their BC Hydro rates to grow up because all of the money is going into powering up huge industrial investments in the province.
Jackie Forrest:
Yeah, I think you’re right. I mean, it’s hard to see B.C. building natural gas power, but it seems that there won’t be as many options if demand keeps growing. I wanted to ask you about Trans Mountain expansion seems to have opened up and be running full capacity without too much opposition anymore. How are people feeling about that project, and oil and gas in general?
Christy Clark:
It was unexpected to me, that the Trans Mountain pipeline, when it finally got going, when it finally started delivering would be utterly uncontroversial to people. I didn’t expect that. It was a very happy surprise for me. Nobody seems to be concerned about it particularly, and thank goodness it happened. I mean, it was way more expensive than we needed it to be. I was the first premier in the province, in Canada, to sign on to agree to a harmonized process for major infrastructure with Stephen Harper, after he brought in this harmonization process where you’d only have one set of regulations, federal or provincial governing, that had to be beaten or that had to be met before a project was approved.
And that was with Trans Mountain in, I think 2011. It was a ton of work and a ton of investment, it was super controversial. People lost their minds about it, a small sliver of people, but it’s working. And guess what? It was going down an existing right of way anyway. It wasn’t something brand new, they needed to get in there and repair a very, very, very old pipeline while they twinned it. So, way more expense than we needed, but guess what? The value of our exports has now increased.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah. Well, let’s shift to the fun stuff, federal politics. Let’s talk about what’s happening in terms of federal political sentiment in B.C. So, correct me if I’m wrong, I think the federal MP split on a party basis in B.C. is about a third, a third, a third. Is that between Liberal, Conservative and NDP?
Christy Clark:
Yeah, sounds about right.
Peter Tertzakian:
So, what are people thinking in that part of the world?
Christy Clark:
I think the same thing that people are seeing in most of the rest of the country, which is that people are not delighted with Justin Trudeau anymore. And to be fair to him, he’s been in power for 10 years, which is a long time in politics in the world of social media, and he’s accomplished some good things. I mean, the child tax benefit, lunches, there’s some other things that he’s done, and they got the free trade deal renewed, so there was some good things that they’ve accomplished. But with the economy so slow, I think people are looking at the government and saying, “We need leaders who are going to start focusing on economic growth, on encouraging investment in our country, in deciding we want to build for jobs in Canada,” because we can’t keep slowing down as an economy and hope that we’re going to be able to fund healthcare, education, and we certainly can’t hope that we’re going to have enough jobs for people to go to every day.
Jackie Forrest:
Well, what do you think the federal Liberals are viewing then when it comes to the oil and gas industry? They’ve been pushing a lot of climate policy that would be punitive to the oil and gas industry, like the oil and gas emissions cap, and even the clean electricity reg, which could be not favorable for natural gas generation. Do you think with the sentiment turning on them, are these issues still going to be things they try to get done before the next election?
Christy Clark:
I don’t know how much more they’re going to be able to get done before the next election. I mean, I think we’re into a super early silly season already. I think it’s going to be very, very difficult. But they had better figure out how they’re start getting focused on the economy, because I mean, Canada’s really falling behind the world in terms of economic growth, and that’s got to be the focus. I mean, for me, I always had an economic focus because I always thought the way to look after people is to produce revenue for government through the taxes that come from jobs. Okay, so we better create more jobs. Well, how do you create more jobs? You need to have a bigger economy, more investment.
The whole recipe was pretty simple, and for a long time that was a pretty good recipe for the federal government, and for Conservatives, and also for Jean Chrétien, Paul Martin. I mean, both parties have embraced the importance of a strong economic growth. So, I don’t think this prime minister has really embraced that fully, and certainly as time’s gone on I think he’s become less and less focused on it, and I don’t know, they better turn their eye back to economic growth or I don’t think Mr. Trudeau is going to have a lot of success.
Peter Tertzakian:
Right. So, the person that would typically vote federal Liberal in B.C., and are say disenchanted with either Justin Trudeau, the party or both, who is that person going to vote for, NDP or a Conservative?
Christy Clark:
Well, if Mr. Trudeau leads the party into the next election, I think it’ll be an even split. I think it could be an even split. Federal Liberals in British Columbia tend to be more left of center than federal Liberals in other parts of the country. Certainly more left of center than in Ontario. Quebec’s different in too many ways to compare it, but certainly more left wing than Liberals in Newfoundland, for example, or even Alberta. There’s like four of them. No, probably more. But I think a lot of them will not like Mr. Poilievre’s approach to the world. I think he worries a lot of federal Liberals because he’s so polarizing. So, it’s difficult to say but if I had to guess, and they had to go to one party or another, I’d say probably 60% to 70% of them might vote NDP or Green, and then 40% to 30% might vote Conservative, but it’s impossible to know at this point.
Jackie Forrest:
All right. Well, and timing matters too. So of course, this is a question I’m sure you’ve been asked a lot in the last few weeks, but of course the NDP, they’ve ripped up the supply and confidence agreement that they’ve had with the liberals, and people are wondering is this going to mean that we’re going to have an early election? What do you think? Do you think that they’re going to want an early election, or give themselves some time here and probably have an election closer to October of 2025 as everyone was anticipating before?
Christy Clark:
I think that their instinct is going to be to try and trigger an election a little bit early. I don’t think it’s going to be tomorrow, but I think it’ll probably late spring, something like that. But who knows? I mean, they could take the time. The thing is, I don’t think Jagmeet Singh has come across looking very competent with this decision and the way that he’s talked about it. I think they’re going to need some time to try and ameliorate some of the mess he’s made in the wake of this decision, in the way he’s been talking about the carbon tax, and I think he looks ridiculous. He spent the best part of the last decade supporting all of the big things that the federal Liberals have done, and now he’s saying, “Oh, I think they’re terrible.” I just don’t think it passes the smell test. So, he may decide to wait till October because he needs time to rehabilitate himself.
Peter Tertzakian:
There’s a lot of talk about Justin Trudeau not stepping down and continuing through the election. You’re a Liberal, you’re a prominent Liberal name, B.C. Liberal. What’s your antenna tuning into in terms of the leadership of the federal Liberals?
Christy Clark:
Well, I think there is an acknowledgement, and we heard this from people who were at the Nanaimo caucus, that Mr. Trudeau really isn’t popular. And I think there’s a view that the Liberal brand is still really strong in this polarized environment. There are a lot of Canadians that want to find a way to vote for a centrist party but don’t like Trudeau enough. But he’s going to go when he decides to go, and he’s been very clear publicly that he has absolutely every intention of confronting Mr. Poilievre in the general election. So, I make the assumption that that’s what he’s going to do. I guess he could change his mind, but I think we have to take him at his word on that.
Jackie Forrest:
All right. Well, this has been a fascinating conversation, Christy, and obviously lots going on in politics today. There are some people that are saying they do need new leadership in the federal government. Do you have any aspirations to look at a federal political position in the future?
Christy Clark:
My name has been coming up quite a bit in media circles, I’ve seen that. Here’s my response to that. I don’t know, because I’m pretty happy what I’m doing, but I do also believe that those who can serve the public should serve the public, and I’m really concerned about seeing a Liberal party renewed as a strong economic manager creating jobs across the country and creating economic growth, I think that’s really important for the center party. But having said that, there’s no position open at the moment in the Liberal party, so we’ll wait and see what the future holds.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah. When you talk about serve the public, I totally agree, and I do think that there is a fair amount of consternation and things that need to be addressed in this country. What do you think is a top priority? Let’s say you were the leader, what would you do?
Christy Clark:
The first thing is economic growth. It’s to figure out how we can get focused again on creating and attracting investments, improving productivity, creating jobs all across the country. A lot of those would be energy related jobs, certainly in the West, agriculture related jobs certainly in the West. The world wants what we have, and they wonder if we’re hoarding all of this wealth that we have for some unknown reason. And that would be absolutely the first priority. And then, once we can create growth, and opportunity, and better jobs, and lower taxes, and fatter paychecks, housing affordability will be the next thing we need to be thinking about, because there’s a generation of people who can’t afford a home.
We want to be sure that they’re all a little bit more able to do so, because they’ll have better paychecks and fatter wallets. But I mean, we also need to be thinking about how we’re going to manage immigration and manage housing in the country so that we could create that basic opportunity for every young person who wants to make that initial investment that will be the basis of their wealth for the rest of their lives. And we can’t, I don’t think, fairly deny that to a whole generation of people in Canada. Those are the things we need to really get focused on.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah, well I mean, we’ve been the privileged beneficiaries of decades of prosperity through foreign investment, investment into our resources, investment into our productivity and our skilled workforce, and we need to ensure that that continues to perpetuate into our children and grandchildren. That’s the way I see it. So I mean, it is really an imperative to get ourselves positioned again and do it in an environmentally and socially responsible way. I think it’s possible, we have seemingly lost that centrist type position. Is that how you’re thinking?
Christy Clark:
Government is in Canada is there to make sure that we are able to look after each other through spending on social programs. And you talked about education, and we have probably the best education system in the world, net-net, but it’s also government is also there to make it possible for people to look after themselves and their families, and the people that they love. We have to do both. So, that means a strong economy, great high-paying jobs, lower taxes for people so they have more take-home pay, look after the people that you love, and also money for government to be able to look after each other. That’s the balance, but you can’t get there unless the economy is growing. And I watched, Peter, the debate in the United States, they’re all talking about how the American economy is in the tank, everybody’s upset. Their economy is doing so much better than ours, that’s not a good sign for us, and we’re falling behind. People are falling behind, and we can fix it. As you said, we can fix that. We just need to get focused.
Jackie Forrest:
Well, Christy, those are really compelling messages for me. It seems like governments the last four or five years have spent more time trying to slow down the economy, and like you say, stop the projects from going forward. I think we really do need to start focusing on economic growth, getting our deficit under control, housing affordability. So, those are compelling messages. I hope you’re able to take those forward. But for now, thank you very much for joining us on the podcast today.
Peter Tertzakian:
Yeah, thanks so much.
Christy Clark:
Well, Jackie and Peter, it was fantastic. I’m a great follower of your podcasts, and I appreciate you guys having me.
Jackie Forrest:
And thank you to our audience. If you like this podcast, please rate us on the app that you listen to and tell someone else about us.
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