Transcript
Zain
0:01
Well, look at you, sad and depressed. Why wouldn't you be? January 5th, just another miserable day before you drag yourself back to work. Back to your boss, back to your team, back to Microsoft teams. Ooh, that sucks. Gross. Sucks to be you. Anyways, back to Zoom calls, even worse.
Zain
0:20
Listen, let's not kid ourselves. This holiday season wasn't all bad, okay? It's going to be be all bad going forward, but it wasn't all bad for you. You survived. And let's reflect on some of those magical moments of this holiday season. You got confronted by that relative, the one who voted for Trump and proudly declared, see, Trump isn't racist because all those Mexican men love him too. You sat there in silence, radiating the courage of a small, ineffective, spineless rebel. Well
Zain
0:48
Your cousin Luigi, he didn't show up this year, which honestly made flirting with your other cousin and way less awkward for you. What a win.
Zain
0:55
And he's tried to steer the conversation by bringing up Susan Holt as a counterpoint to all this, only to be told to shut the fuck up by your family. Classic. And now, nothing will rekindle those cherished holiday memories quite like kicking back, relaxing, and maybe picking up a little bit of RSV while you listen to the Strategist Holiday Spectacular proudly presented by Flair Airlines. Because if it isn't late, it isn't Flair. And with me as always, Corey Hogan and Stephen Carter.
Corey
1:22
of your best, some of your best works. I
Zain
1:23
I felt proud to be, you know, here's the thing, here's the thing, here's the thing.
Zain
1:31
you know what we do, Carter? There's a reason, people might be confused. January 5th, why are we recording late? Three reasons, and we give these three reasons every year. Number one, not late, okay? Orthodox Christmas is on Tuesday. Number two, and this is where you guys can say it with me, we only record when the sponsor's check is in the bank, right? Thank you for going right. And number three, we could do whatever we want, Stephen Carter. Okay, we're not beholden to corporate interests here. That's true. No,
Carter
2:00
No, we're not. And we're not a corporation. Well, we are a corporation. Are we beholden to our own corporate interests? No.
Zain
2:06
No. Never been so far. I think all of our past activities suggest that we are not. Corey,
Zain
2:12
we do this show every year. Sometimes we do it in celebration of Orthodox Christmas, as we have. Sometimes our sponsor's check is late, which it was. uh and and you know they take off early uh which is something they rarely say on the tarmac well but they say in their corporate headquarters yes yeah for sure um here's the thing cory we're going to go through a series of segments some of them new some of them old school classics that we that we run down the year with um and and i think we're very excited but before we get going uh any prayers or blessings you want to convey to the listeners before we get going here uh that's a new that's a a new additive that i wanted to
Corey
2:48
to oh okay that's
Corey
2:50
that's a really good one um i you know what i think maybe
Corey
2:54
not maybe i'll save them all carter a man of
Zain
2:57
of faith like yourself i only got four uh prayers or blessings uh for the uh for the listenership as they begin um uh the start of orthodox christmas
Carter
3:07
I choose Blessings, Zane.
Zain
3:12
Fantastic. And do you want to expand?
Carter
3:17
No, I thought you were going to do them. I thought you were offering me a choice, and I chose Blessings.
Corey
3:22
Yeah, it's like super salad.
Zain
3:23
Okay, fine. This is off to a great start. Let's start with a new segment on this Flair Airlines Holiday Spectacular presented by Flair Airlines, which, by the way, you might say, that's redundant. It is not. on. We named it the Flair Airlines Holiday Spectacular before Flair Airlines sponsored the Holiday Spectacular. And we said, where do you want your name? Because it's already in there. They said, we want an extra. We want more. And I said, well, that's not consistent with anything you guys do. And they said, exactly. And so that's why it's tagged on to the end as well. Corey, keeping with their spirit of talking about things that they don't offer, our first segment is called the Companion Pass, okay? This is something Flair Airlines does not offer. This is the Flair Airlines Companion Pass. Don't look for it because it's not a real thing. It doesn't exist, okay? It's called a regular ticket. But here's what I want to talk about as part of the Flair Airlines Companion Pass segment, Corey. You are going to get us started. And
Zain
4:17
And you are going to tell me one person in this calendar year, which, to be clear, was last Orthodox Christmas, which started in 24 and ends in this Christmas, which is 25. But that calendar year. Yeah, orthodox
Corey
4:32
to orth, as we
Zain
4:33
we say, yeah. It's also the strategist
Zain
4:36
It's the strategist fiscal year. Corey, you're going to tell me one person that
Zain
4:41
that we regret going on a political journey with and
Zain
4:47
who we would have replaced that person with this year. You'd say, why don't we start the spectacular with positive? It's already January. We're going to start with negative. Who is one person who we would have rather avoided? And I'm not going to give you a list on this one. Other questions, I will. But who is one person that we would have rather avoided going on a political journey with this year? And then pull out another person. This is a little bit of the fantasy part of it. Pull out a person that may not actually be in politics right now, may actually have sat on the sidelines, that you would have said, man, in 2024, I would have loved to go on a journey with this other person. Corey Hogan, start us off.
Corey
5:23
Well, I'm going to start with the low-hanging fruit, and I'm going to go with Jagmeet Singh. I'm not really sure that he was on a journey with us, if I'm going to be frank. It kind of felt like we were both just walking together aimlessly in the desert. It's certainly the Jagmeet Singh vibe from the past 24 months, let alone 12 months, what we call a strategist double fiscal year, right? And yeah, I don't know, man. I think if I was going to go on a journey with somebody that was new and different from that um yeah
Corey
5:55
yeah i struggle i struggle because i hate all people so i want to hear steven's answer and then i'll give a better answer because i'm better when i'm bouncing off him i think then
Zain
6:04
no no kidding i think we've realized that on the show steven carter known for both who who should we have not gone on a political journey with and who should we have swapped from the sidelines real alive imaginary dead alive doesn't matter and replace them instead with um
Carter
6:19
um kevin falcon is is someone who we never should have been on a journey with this year. Kevin Falcon took us to the soccer pitch and then promptly fell over dead. We should have replaced Kevin Falcon with, I'm going to go with my old standby, the old standby, Christy Clark. Christy Clark always overperformed and was someone that we could count on, not like Kevin Falcon, who folded the fucking party.
Corey
6:45
She's definitely got her eyes on a different job. Definitely. Probably
Carter
6:48
Probably will announce her enthusiasm
Corey
6:49
enthusiasm for it tomorrow. That's
Carter
6:50
That's why I brought her back, because she's going to be back in our zeitgeist for 2025. Okay,
Zain
6:55
exciting. She very well may be, and we may cover that in another segment. Corey Hogan, has
Zain
7:00
this inspired you for an original thought, which is an evergreen question on this show?
Corey
7:06
No, actually, it turns out that I do my best work when I'm not bouncing off Stephen Carter. That's what I decided in
Zain
7:12
last 30 seconds. Well, of course, that's fair. Corey, let's jump to another segment. We should talk about, and let's not bury the lead. Let's make this like the Golden Globes. So here's another thing. We actually either record when we want, record when the check's in the mail, record prior to Orthodox Christmas, or record the same night the Golden Globes are on, Stephen Carter.
Zain
7:32
Oh, do we? And we do that. We do that. We do that. Yeah, it is something that we do. Does
Carter
7:36
Does that mean the Golden Globes are on tonight?
Zain
7:39
The Golden Globes are on tonight. And what they do is they actually have one of the star awards up front. And Stephen Carter, I want to talk about that right away. good let's talk about our political player of the year asterix who piloted
Zain
7:57
piloted 2024 here's the asterix you can't choose pierre pauliev hmm
Carter
8:04
i wasn't gonna give you
Zain
8:05
you a i'm gonna give you a list i'm gonna give you a list hold
Carter
8:07
hold on i have to go with oh yeah you always get a list and then we choose i'm gonna
Zain
8:11
gonna give you a list and then you
Zain
8:13
inspired to go outside of said list should you choose. Is it Mr. David Eby?
Zain
8:18
Is it Danielle Smith?
Zain
8:21
Is it Chrystia Freeland?
Zain
8:23
If you want to add some recency bias to the mix. Is it Susan Holt?
Zain
8:28
Is it Mark Carney?
Zain
8:30
Or is it none of the above for Mr. Stephen Carter?
Carter
8:34
Yeah, it's none of the above. And you're going to be shocked to hear who I say because my relationship with this person is challenged.
Carter
8:43
challenged. But nonetheless, I'm going going to have to go with uh with your old friend uh nahed nenshi um
Carter
8:49
um nahed had you're giving it to nenshi nenshi
Carter
8:52
nenshi had the strongest performance uh in a leadership race i think that we've ever seen outside of maybe jt in uh in 2013 um
Carter
9:03
um dominant performance absolutely dominant performance and i think that uh the political player of the year has to go nahed nenshi
Zain
9:14
really yeah that's bold i'm
Zain
9:17
it i'm into it but
Zain
9:21
do you agree i've given you a list do you want me to recharge that list for you or or do you want to you know do you feel like you've got enough of it or do you want to go off book no i got
Corey
9:29
got it i got enough
Zain
9:30
enough of it like
Corey
9:30
like i i think that it can't be eb because eb barely won yeah barely won so that's now to be fair he did beat a bit of a trend right he managed to get elected when incumbent governments were going left right and center i can't
Corey
9:44
can't really be smith although i think you can make a better case for smith than nenshi simply because she seems absolutely immune to any kind of consequences to to unpopular decisions you know if you look at her decisions in isolation unpopular you stack them together and mold them into the shape of a human being called danielle smith somehow quite popular very interesting brain will need to be studied by science someday when her day comes but uh no i mean i i don't think i would give it to her either carney
Corey
10:14
carney no i mean carney's most interesting contribution this year was that he was apparently the spark that lit ottawa on fire you
Corey
10:25
you know the idea that he would be finance minister at least in justin trudeau's head if nothing else was probably the thing that uh that
Corey
10:35
freeland being ousted which led to trudeau you know we're recording this on january 5th at 8 56 p.m mountain time by
Corey
10:44
by the time you listen to this justin trudeau will probably have announced that he's uh stepped down or he's intending to step down as as leader of the of the liberal party so i can't give it to any of them i hate the guy to death but i think the political player of the the year has to be donald trump donald
Corey
11:01
the man who at the start of the year was stacking up felonies like the rest of us collected pogs when we were 12 years old uh got re-elected president of the united states in a landslide you have to give it to donald trump he sucks but he's clearly got something there that's taken him from where he was to where he ended the year which is apparently so powerful that he can just point at things on the globe and say they're mine now. So, you know, him,
Zain
11:31
Corey, give me a Canadian take on this. You must have one, or at least be partial to a Canadian take on this. If I was giving you the non-Pierre...
Zain
11:39
Yeah, he's our president, isn't he?
Carter
11:42
He is, I believe, our president, yeah. We are the 51st state.
Carter
11:47
the Canadian take. Sorry, Zane, I have to side with Corey on this one.
Zain
11:50
Well, why are you doing that, Carter you just you just said on the record that she was a political player of the year to everyone's surprise I
Carter
11:57
I know it's very upsetting
Zain
11:59
that's probably why he's zagging yeah
Corey
12:02
well if you want to take it into a Canadian context it's
Zain
12:04
Doug Ford I'm curious to hear one actually yeah
Corey
12:07
yeah it's Doug Ford
Corey
12:08
Doug Ford for many of the same reasons manifesting in very different ways like when you think about the scandals that Doug Ford has been beset with we were all joking about how when he had to reverse his green line or not green line sorry that's the Alberta Yeah,
Zain
12:23
Yeah, the Green Belt.
Corey
12:23
Belt. he's going to win a landslide by the looks of things here. And in doing so, if he does so, I mean, there's still an election to happen here. If he manages to put his foot on the neck of the Liberals the way it looks like he will, this might be the end of the Ontario Liberal Party. He may actually kill the Ontario Liberal Party. So similar powers to Donald Trump, but also at the the end of the year, by standing up as the dean of the Council of Confederation, you know, the premier with the mostest, he also managed to present himself to a lot of Canadians across the country, including myself, as somebody who was handling Trump better than most, right?
Corey
13:33
right? So I'm going to give it to Donald.
Corey
13:37
And then you're going to give it to Doug.
Zain
13:38
Doug. No, just Donald.
Corey
13:38
Donald. I told you the Doug thing,
Zain
13:41
thing, but it's still Donald. Yeah, Carter, we'll get to Donald Trump in a second. React to me about the Doug Ford thing.
Carter
13:48
Doug Ford might be the best sitting premier that we have in Canada right now. It's really hard to say. Despite his approval
Zain
13:52
approval rating skewing all the way to the end as one of the worst in the entire country? I
Carter
13:57
I think so, because he continues to survive. I mean, he's going to be ahead of, you
Carter
14:02
you know, like when he gets reelected, and I think that he will get reelected, it will be because he knows the populist buttons to push in Canada. And Pierre Polyev is pressing a lot of those same populist buttons, but he's pressing them from a Donald Trump point of view. I think that Doug Ford has his own unique take on populism, and
Carter
14:20
and he has been able to survive in
Carter
14:23
in this role a
Carter
14:25
a hell of a lot longer than anybody thought. Well, certainly I.
Carter
14:31
drag Corey into this, but he's survived better than I ever would have given him credit for.
Zain
14:36
Yeah. Corey, give me the reaction. It's pretty amazing. Give me the reaction to Nenshi very quickly in Carter's choice. I know he ultimately went with Trump, but give me the Nenshi reaction with the historic leadership win.
Corey
14:48
Yeah, I guess if the year ended in June, I would agree with Stephen, because that was a pretty commanding victory. And he did manage to wholesale take over the party, the Alberta New Democrats, that is, in a way that just shocked a lot of non-listeners to the pod. Because, of course, Gilbert Kerr on this pod, we were, you know, we called it within 2%, I think, because we're professionals and
Carter
15:10
and we're very good. Yeah, we're pros.
Corey
15:11
Yeah, professionals and very good. We knew what was going to happen. But from
Corey
15:16
from June to December, he got an A for the first six months. I can't give him better than a C for the last six months. And the only reason he pulled himself up to a C was the Lethbridge by-election the NDP did just as well, pretty much, as they did during the previous general, which was not a given here. here but my observation would be he's been fairly silent and fairly invisible and there are reasons for that often you've got to go silent you've got to go dark as you're fixing up the party that you take over especially if you're fundamentally changing it but um i don't think that i would be alone as an albertan saying he seemed pretty absent from some pretty major debates other debates he has stepped into for reasons
Corey
15:58
reasons totally inexplicable to me the green line is actually probably the biggest one why he feels the need to swing at that ball every time he comes within two stadiums of it i will never understand um so no i mean i just i can't say that uh i can't say that he was player of the year uh i i'd say he had a great start to the year and if he can find that kind of game going forward he might be player of next year year after whenever there's an election we might be talking about premier nenshi but um he really to me felt like a guy who knew he wanted wanted to win the leadership, and then once he caught the car, he didn't know what to do with it, to use that word.
Carter
16:35
word. And that was really all you, Zane. It really wasn't about the leader at all. I rescind my earlier comments. Oh, political
Zain
16:42
player of the year, Zane Velji. Which, by the way, this is a good time to announce that I'll be running in, I'll just pick a random running, I'm just going to run, Edmonton Strathcona.
Carter
16:52
Zane, way to commit.
Zain
16:55
Yeah, I'm going to commit to Edmonton Strathcona. I feel like it's viable for the Velji party and for myself, Zane Velji, a representative of the Velji party, I may also, and I'm open to this, run under the Go Calgary banner, depending on the Pina length of the Calgary Tower. If it could be taller than any building in Edmonton Strathcona, which I believe is relatively easy because they're relatively short buildings. I feel like the Go Calgary... That's
Carter
17:21
That's a really good way to start, Zane. You are starting with a bang.
Carter
17:25
Really well done. You know,
Corey
17:26
really a real bone for the Discord right here that you're handing out. Absolutely.
Corey
17:30
Absolutely. That's nice of you. No,
Zain
17:31
No, I think they should be on it. Get print-ready files going, people. We need to make this happen.
Zain
17:37
Okay, let's move on to, before we get into what I know is your favorite, which is who
Zain
17:43
we lost this year. Let's talk about, Corey, I know you're expecting this. I know you're excited about this, because I know you're all about the positivity, but you know what? More negativity. Good vibes. More negativity. Bad guy. More negativity. It's time for our Flair Airlines Flight Risk of the Year. This is our most overhyped play or person of the year. Let me give you a list. You can also make your own, as is always customary on the Holiday Spectacular. We got Justin Trudeau for doing Justin Trudeau things. We've got Pierre Poliev's Populous Pivot. I'm not talking about Pierre Poliev in prison, but his Populous Pivot. Is it softening? Is it overrated? Bonnie Crombie.
Zain
18:24
Danielle Smith and the Promise of the Sovereignty Act, Cabinet Shuffles and their effectiveness, and David Eby on housing and street crime.
Zain
18:35
You know, that is a solid
Corey
18:37
solid list. I'm going to give it to you,
Zain
18:39
It is a list, but it is not a comprehensive list. There are so many other things you could choose for a flight risk, something that was overhyped, overrated this year. We loved it. We thought it was amazing, or we didn't love it. we thought it was amazing from the get your
Zain
18:54
your choice cory hogan carter i'm coming to you next it's
Corey
18:56
it's really hard really hard to get past the first one on the list which is justin trudeau and in the course of um you know the last strategist fiscal we saw how many different attempts to reset his government's fortunes do you remember in uh february when the liberals were talking about what a big deal the budget was going to be the budget it's gonna fucking and change things. Do
Zain
19:19
Do you remember? I put the budget on the list. That's true. As I put cabinet troubles. Yes. Yeah.
Corey
19:23
Yeah. Well, maybe the budget is my answer then, because I'll think about that in particular. They were going around talking about how it was going to increase fortunes by five points. Remember
Zain
19:31
points? Yes. If I remember correctly, and you guys will have to help too, right? It was, they had leaked or explicitly broadcast that this was supposed to have a, like a pull boost. Like you were supposed to see it. And it was supposed to be by single Single digits by X date and a double digit by Y date. Yeah. And
Zain
19:48
And it didn't do any of that,
Corey
19:49
that, by the way. Here's what I want our listeners to do. I want them to go to Wikipedia and look up public opinion polling for the 2025 federal election in Canada. And I want them to identify when the budget was introduced. And I want them to look at what polling did between then and now. Because what you'll see is the continuation of an unbroken trend down from summer of 2023 when Justin Trudeau probably should have resigned, right? When he did his first big change-up, when he decided he was going to do the cabinet. So then there were ads, and then there was the budget, and then there were more ads, and then there was the change of staff and all of this shit. And it's not worked. So I think that realistically, to give it to anybody else would be doing a disservice to this award. It would be like one of those weird Oscar zags, or I guess more topical would be a weird Golden Globes zag. Yes, to record on the 9th. Yeah, it's just not going to happen. You know, you've got to give this one to Justin Trudeau.
Zain
20:44
Carter, is it going to Justin Trudeau? There are other folks on this list, you know, that may have, whether it's themselves or their plays. It could be Bonnie Crombie. It could be Daniel Smith on the Sovereignty Act. It could be Pierre Poliev on populism. Or it could be on EB on A Source of Things. But it could also just be Justin Trudeau for you two. Stephen Carter, who is it?
Carter
21:04
EB is a strong contender. I mean, this is a good list, Zane. This is your best list yet. We're actually choosing from the list. This is a good list. This is a good list, Zane. This is a good list. Atta boy.
Zain
21:13
Way to come through. We're proud of you, buddy. Proud of you,
Zain
21:17
actually take it mainstream.
Carter
21:19
No, I wouldn't expect that. Belgie's list.
Carter
21:24
it's got to be Justin Trudeau. I mean, we are recording
Carter
21:28
recording this on the eve or the eve of the eve of the resignation of the Prime Minister of Canada. These things, you know, they come pretty quick. But they don't come very often. right
Carter
21:42
right we don't see this very frank very regularly most of the time our prime ministers are unelected uh and uh now we've got ourselves someone who's going to have to resign um 18 18 months too late really but nonetheless it's still a resignation so i'd say it's uh the biggest flight risk is justin trudeau who is uh probably boarding a flight to cabo
Carter
22:07
cabo let's say that Cabo, Cabo!
Carter
22:11
He's boarding a flight tomorrow and will not be back.
Zain
22:16
You're predicting tomorrow. Many people are. We, of course, to be clear, are recording on January 5th. Corey Hogan, you wanted to finish us off on this segment before I move it on to our next sponsored segment by Flair Airlines. Yeah, really important. It's a Flair Airlines Holiday Spectacular brought to you by Flair Airlines. Corey. It's
Corey
22:34
It's really good. Really, really important to note that when Stephen said, they come pretty quick, but they don't come pretty often, I didn't interject to say that was the name of his sex tape. Yeah,
Carter
22:44
thank you for that.
Zain
22:48
Awkward pause was put in there. No, that's good. Yeah,
Carter
22:50
Yeah, that's good. I'm
Zain
22:52
people laugh at home with that extremely predictable. No, they were not doing that. Let's move on to our next segment. Our next segment, Stephen Carter presented, of course, drumroll please, by Flair Airlines. this segment is called last seat in 35 f you're
Zain
23:06
you're on you're on the flare airlines red eye cory hogan and you could choose one of the following two and sometimes three people to allow boarding on on the flight heading into okay this year who would you rather be is the question the
Zain
23:20
the question is who would you rather be present day and hence get boarding on this beautiful beautiful very very outdated aircraft. They're new. They're
Carter
23:31
not really. No. Yeah,
Zain
23:32
Yeah, yeah. They haven't splurged for autopilot. Old
Zain
23:38
would you rather be? I'm going to go with these questions to each of you so you guys can have a bit of a discussion on this. Pierre Polyev, which seems like an obvious choice, wouldn't you want to be Pierre Polyev? More so than anyone else in this entire country? Well, I'm going to expand beyond the country. And I'm not going to throw Donald Trump at you because then you could easily say, well, you're Donald Trump. You get to control the United States and the U.S. bigger than Canada. You want to be Trump.
Zain
24:00
Corey, would you rather be Pierre Polyev or Elon Musk?
Corey
24:04
Holy shit. I would
Corey
24:07
would pick Pierre Polyev. I would pick Pierre Polyev because he is going to be prime minister of this country. And that's a pretty good job. And that's the kind of job that I think somebody should aspire to do. And, you know, has an awful lot of value to it. Elon Musk is not a particularly redeemable human being. and he's got a lot of money right
Corey
24:26
right how much hundreds
Corey
24:28
hundreds of billions at
Carter
24:29
at this point hundreds
Corey
24:31
you know what's more than that the gdp of canada so i i like canada better i think canada is probably a better prize there and elon musk is a sad pathetic man who doesn't he spent christmas day basically hanging out at mar-a-lago instead of with his family so
Corey
24:47
i don't know about that
Carter
24:48
that doesn't he have like 12 kids or something yeah and yet I thought
Zain
24:52
thought both of you would choose Elon. Now, Carter's still very well may, but Stephen Carter, who
Zain
24:58
who would you rather be heading into 2025, Pierre Pauliev or
Carter
25:03
Let's assume I had 100 choices, and
Carter
25:06
and I could choose 100 different times, right? 100
Carter
25:08
different times I could choose between Elon Musk. You
Zain
25:11
You mean like a simulation? Okay. It's
Carter
25:11
It's like a simulation. Yeah. And every time you do, I would choose 99 times out of 100 to be Pierre Pauliev, because
Carter
25:19
because that That man, Elon Musk, is losing his fucking mind in front of us. He is Howard Hughes-ing his life away. And in 10 or 15 years, he'll be locked up in some hotel penthouse with his fingernails growing long and his hair completely growing out, not speaking to anybody but his most trusted advisors via Twitter. I'm sorry, X. And he'll be the only one left. He'll be the only one left on X. ex and he'll be exing
Carter
25:49
exing back and forth to his key advisors uh and one of them i hope will be donald trump i
Carter
25:55
i hope he lives up cory
Corey
25:57
cory you jump in i
Corey
25:58
i got the thing about musk is it's actually kind of sad like there's not even as
Corey
26:04
much as i don't like the fellow very much there's also a patheticness about it that is just tragic like i already mentioned that the family component of it but he also has as this alt which has been outed for all of the internet to see who basically went around praising himself and what a good dad he must be and stuff like like that's really sad dude like you've created a fake persona to pump you up in front of the internet about you not being a piece of shit father like you're you're a loser and there's no amount of money in the world that's going to get that stink off you there's no number of social media platforms that you can buy that's going to turn you into somebody better than that the only way you're going to turn yourself into somebody better than that is doing some serious work on yourself and frankly i think you have too much money to do it i think unfortunately the algorithm that is life has trained you to think this is what winning is yeah you've got hundreds of billions of dollars you've got some successful companies i wouldn't be you on
Corey
27:00
on my worst day you know if i was sitting there poor as shit thinking man i I just need a dollar, I wouldn't pick Elon Musk. That guy is tragic.
Zain
27:11
There it is. Corey Hogan with the final word on Pierre Paulier versus Elon Musk. Pierre getting the final no-legroom seat on Flair Airlines seat 35F. Carter, you know what's better than two?
Zain
27:26
Three. Three's better than two. Four's not better than two. Here we go. Carter,
Zain
27:31
three people run to you. You're the gate agent because that's what you've been reduced to for flair airlines red eye going to yeah
Carter
27:39
you know not out of the question david
Zain
27:41
david eby tim euston yep susan
Zain
27:45
who are you giving the seat to who do you want to be heading into the plane of 2025 between those three provincial leaders who all
Zain
27:53
common denominator won an election this year yeah
Carter
27:56
yeah they all did um but
Carter
27:58
but only one of them won I won an election of a real province, and
Carter
28:02
and that was David Eby.
Carter
28:06
Those other provinces, they exist because of history. So Carter's
Zain
28:11
Carter's given up a slimmer mandate, a very tight majority, but it's a tight majority. Tight majority? Cory, where are you going?
Zain
28:20
Eby, Houston, or Holt? Who are you choosing?
Corey
28:23
For sure, Eby, because BC is just across the
Carter
28:28
the Rockies from here. province you
Corey
28:30
i don't want to say that i don't want to go where steven did with this real you don't want to say that but
Carter
28:34
but you want to mean that
Corey
28:34
that right so like yeah
Carter
28:36
what he's saying okay
Zain
28:37
okay so maybe just say i want to mean i want to mean what steven said but i don't want to say it and then we'll move on it's
Corey
28:42
it's a large province zane
Zain
28:46
cory we'll start with you do you know it's better than two um
Zain
28:49
um three three three that is correct cory it is three mark carney okay
Zain
28:54
okay yeah christopher freeland okay or christy clark oh
Zain
28:58
oh who are you handing the
Zain
29:01
the boarding pass to seat 35 f heading into wow 25 give me that choice and game it out for me let's spend some time on here if we so
Corey
29:10
so this almost feels like a monkey's paw thing right like which one are you going to allow to go because these are three likely contenders for the liberal leadership yes that is the common denominator that is the common denominator for those who just are not following the ball because the name christy clark will throw a lot of people like christy clark liberal leader man she is thirsty for that job she's been going around everywhere putting her hand up for that job she will almost certainly be the first person to announce her official intention to run for that job she might actually do it before justin trudeau gets off the podium i think there's a real possibility of which could be tomorrow yes
Carter
29:45
yes i thought you meant she would do it before justin trudeau gets off and
Carter
29:49
i didn't think that was likely that's
Corey
29:51
that's you're taking it too blue so
Carter
29:53
so sorry my bad yeah
Carter
29:54
you were the one talking about the name of my sex date that's
Corey
29:58
that's different that's better yeah it's different it's different it's better yeah yeah okay no
Corey
30:03
no i'm gonna make a choice cory yeah i am i am i just wanted to talk out a little bit of it here so here's
Zain
30:08
here's the thing that's fine you can you can talk it out where's your struggle at freeland
Corey
30:13
is what do you
Zain
30:13
you mean by monkey
Corey
30:14
monkey paws i don't understand what that means well Well, because you win this, you win the leadership. That might not actually be the best thing for you. This might be the thing that is good in the short term. And then it turns out maybe you didn't actually want this. And that's a real possibility with the liberal leadership right now.
Zain
30:27
Right. You potentially just get a portrait and then you're a footnote in history sort of thing.
Corey
30:30
Yeah, absolutely. Like shortest serving prime minister. You know, you'll be in the textbooks for a while on that particular one, right? Real possibility. So here's what
Zain
30:39
what I think. Not out of question, for sure.
Corey
30:41
For sure not. Here's what I think.
Corey
30:44
I think that I'm going to give this one to Carney, and here's why. Freeland had an amazing close to the year. Freeland did a, like, she basically brought down a prime minister, right? There was a lot of grumbling for a lot of time. Nobody stood up and did fucking shit. And then his most loyal lieutenant took him out, right? That is wild. And she did it with this perfectly written letter. She played the next week perfectly. perfectly, but
Corey
31:11
but I don't think her weeks since then have been particularly amazing. I
Corey
31:16
I mean, and listen, I've been talking to a lot of people. I know so is Steven. I know you have too, Zane.
Corey
31:21
There's a lot of chatter about a lot of people, but I find that she has actually kind of slid down the chatter rank order. That's not to say she's not out there doing things, but I think that there's a lot of conversation that is not being controlled by her and her team. Let's put it that that way so that's that's uh that's why i put freeland off to the side here christy clark could be the dark horse here i am not gonna i'm not gonna write her off because i made the mistake of writing off daniel smith when she ran for the ucp leadership thinking that she was too far outside of the mainstream there but and daniel smith of course announced basically the day i think actually the day that jason kenney resigned right we were all like what is she doing that's It's crazy.
Corey
32:01
There's a lot of value in being the person who's out there first, puts their hand up, is able to call everybody. So I'm not saying she can't do it. But I'm saying she seems pretty tonally off where the modern Liberal Party is. She does. And it's hard for me to imagine her getting a ton of support in
Corey
32:19
in particular in the East. I think she could do a pretty good job out here in the West. But, you know, BC plus Alberta is, you know, is as big as Quebec plus a chunk of the Maritimes, but it's not enough to win the Liberal leadership. And that leaves Carney. And strangely enough, while I wouldn't give Carney the play of the year earlier, I think that he is pretty well positioned here, in the sense that he was at ground zero, but somehow seems to be getting to walk away from it. Go back to all of the drama with Freeland and Trudeau and the end of it all, and the fact that he was going to be brought in to prop up the Trudeau government. government but i don't know i mean it's way too early to call these things but i guess don't get the sense that that stink is is uh sticking to him in either sense right and um ultimately a lot of the reason why he was appealing to the prime minister is why he's probably well positioned to be one of the serious contenders for this liberal leadership and to be prime minister of canada now do i think he can win the election fuck
Corey
33:21
fuck i don't think any liberal can win the election right now but um if what he wants is to be a liberal leader i don't think he's horribly positioned
Zain
33:30
carter that's an interesting analysis by cory you got one seat i
Zain
33:35
dozed off you got one seat you got clark you got freeland and
Zain
33:39
and you got carney who were you handing the boarding pass for 35 f2 i'm
Carter
33:45
i'm giving it to freeland because that's as close as she's going to get to winning anything in the next year wow
Zain
33:54
feel like that was a mic drop moment yeah listeners
Corey
33:56
listeners he has put his hands up in victory and stepped away from the microphone i
Corey
34:01
i win yeah um
Corey
34:04
it's not nobody yeah that's
Carter
34:07
anyways it's gonna be freelance she's not gonna win anything next year who
Zain
34:10
who would you rather be heading into 2025 let me ask you in the more elementary way um not non-sponsor non-sponsored coded carter i think
Carter
34:19
think freeland because i think that when the liberal leadership is going to be a nasty piece of work for whoever wins do
Carter
34:26
going to win it is that what you're trying to say i don't even know what i'm saying is she has no chance of winning the leadership okay i think that that's good for her because
Carter
34:33
because at the end of the day whoever wins this thing is then going to get seven days before they are turned into um
Carter
34:41
um the heavy bag being
Carter
34:43
being punched by mike tyson and
Carter
34:46
i hate you know making pierre pauliev mike
Carter
34:48
mike tyson in this characterization uh i know that you know mike tyson's character can't take that kind of a front
Corey
34:58
okay that was that was a little bit much i gotta say
Carter
35:05
you're so proud of
Corey
35:06
of yourself with that can
Carter
35:07
i can i give you another
Zain
35:08
can i give you another we
Zain
35:10
haven't even got to the eulogies just yet um or
Zain
35:13
or or the or the flair as we call them the flair airlines near misses uh which is think i mean there are people near you that you miss because they're gone that's what they call it
Carter
35:22
okay no it's really good yeah so
Zain
35:25
so that's great it
Carter
35:27
choice not mine your stuff is really good it's real good
Zain
35:31
good your stuff is really good no
Zain
35:33
people love people love it they love it carter i'm gonna give you another shot out of this. Yves-Francois Blanchet
Zain
35:40
and the BQ, or Jagmeet Singh and the NDP?
Zain
35:47
2025, who would you rather be? And who would you board into seat 35F?
Carter
35:54
Blanchet's got a political future, so I'm going to go with him.
Zain
35:58
Does Jagmeet not have one? Should he become leader
Carter
36:00
leader of the opposition?
Carter
36:01
Jagmeet's not going to become official leader of the opposition. He's going to be the official leader of the fourth place party. If he's lucky.
Carter
36:09
And that's, that's his, I mean,
Carter
36:10
he's going to be battling with Elizabeth May. You
Corey
36:12
You just predicted it.
Corey
36:14
You made a prediction. I
Carter
36:15
I made a prediction and write it down.
Carter
36:20
Write it down. Prime
Corey
36:21
Prime Minister Singh, you heard it here first on The Strategist. Write it
Zain
36:25
Who would you rather be? The BQ and Blanchett or Singh and the NDP? Blanchett.
Corey
36:31
Heading into what seems to be an election coming shortly. Blanchett, because it's an expectations game. And those expectations have not crystallized out there. But he has a real possibility to be leader of the official opposition, something that the bloc has done before. We'll all recall in the 90s when Lucien Bouchard did that, right? But it's
Corey
36:49
it's not nothing and you don't even need it if you're leader of the bloc. He's going to have an awful lot of power in an Ottawa that is otherwise unipolar, right? right? Because here's the thing, here's the thing that you need to keep in mind. And I think we all forget this dynamic, because it's been such a quiet time on the sovereignist front. And you look at polling in Quebec, and it's not super popular to be a separatist right now. You know, it's 30-35%, depending on the poll. Holy fuck, I'll bet you a light bulb just went off in my head. It's probably as high or higher here in Alberta. Somebody shoot me. But the dynamic that That you have to remember is
Corey
37:28
is in a majority government, in
Corey
37:31
in theory, all of the power is with one party. But because of the dynamic of confederation, you
Corey
37:37
you know, Quebec interests, separatist interests, you know, keeping that fire down is always right there. And if you are a BQ leader in that unipolar environment and you're the official opposition leader, you're going to have way more power than the liberals in that job or the NDP in that job. Because your ability to stoke the flames and potentially ruin the country doesn't go away simply because you're not in government. You're never in government. You've been given the biggest platform possible in that situation with an antagonist in Pierre
Corey
38:08
Pierre Polyev. Don't let the French last name fool you. He can speak French, but he's not a Francophone. His French is, you know, a little rusty sometimes. He is not naturally a Quebecer. i mean you add in a pq premier which is very likely as well if you look at the polls right now although you never know pablo rodriguez is running for the quebec
Zain
38:28
save that thought for a second yep
Corey
38:29
well i'll tell you something that dynamic gives a lot of power to blanchett like a lot more power than any any
Corey
38:37
any separatist has had in a federal setting since lucien bouchard carter
Zain
38:42
carter any reaction before we move on to our next one uh
Carter
38:45
uh he basically said I said that Singh is going to be the leader of the fourth place party. We
Zain
38:50
Carter, Corey mentioned Rodriguez. I want to bring him up. Okay.
Zain
38:54
Would you rather be Pablo
Carter
39:05
what are the best chances to become a premier?
Zain
39:08
The common denominator for those not familiar. They're both trying to run uphill battles to become premier.
Zain
39:16
Or what seem to be uphill battles to become premier.
Carter
39:18
Yeah, I mean, Nancy's
Carter
39:21
Nancy's got a long ways to go in Alberta. And yeah,
Carter
39:25
I'm going to say Rodriguez. I'd rather be Rodriguez.
Zain
39:29
You'd rather be Pablo Rodriguez right now, former Liberal cabinet minister. He's from Quebec, right? And I don't know if he's fully declared, but it is. Oh, no, I think he's
Corey
39:38
he's declared. I mean,
Corey
39:39
left cabinet to do
Zain
39:41
do it. Yeah, left cabinet. And he's expected to run for the Liberals to try to create some resurgence for that party in Quebec. Corey, who would you rather it be? And then I'll get both of your thoughts if there's anything to expand on. So
Corey
39:53
So the thing about Quebec politics always is that they're much more changeable than
Corey
40:00
than Alberta politics, than Ontario politics. People are willing to move between parties more aggressively. And so I think if you are given a vehicle, and if you're a talented politician, and the Quebec Liberal Party is still a vehicle, and Pablo Rodriguez is a talented politician, you've
Corey
40:17
you've got to shoot or shot, right?
Corey
40:19
right? And so I think that you've just got to acknowledge that as a bit of a starting point. He's starting from further back, but it's in an environment that's more dynamic, dynamic in the sense more changeable, and he's probably got, you know, a bit of a possibility there.
Corey
40:33
That said, he is further back.
Corey
40:35
I think I would actually pick Nahed Nenshi on this one. I think not only is the prize my home province, which I like, you
Corey
40:43
you know, I think Nahed Nenshi is not so far back that if in two years the shine has come off, if the magical force field around
Corey
40:54
all of those components are there for Nahed Nenshi to take government with the Alberta NDP. So I actually like his chances better. I would give the ticket to not hit Nenshi.
Zain
41:04
Great, Carter. So Corey chooses Nenshi because he was the political player of the year, as indicated by you. Carter, final one. Seat 35F. Final time as gate agent. You're being fired tomorrow. Doug Ford needs a seat. What's my severance?
Zain
41:20
Not as much as you're used to. That's for sure. Experienced question. Good for you it's not made public this time.
Zain
41:26
So it's a win-win, I guess. Less money, not public. um daniel
Zain
41:31
daniel smith needs a seat doug ford needs a seat who
Zain
41:34
who are you giving it to
Carter
41:38
don't want to give anything to daniel smith i don't want to give her credit for anything i don't want to give her victory for anything i think that she's a lunatic who's gone way way way outside the norm of canadian politics um but
Carter
41:53
i think she's going to be premier for a lot longer longer than doug ford's going to be premier so i'm going to go with uh i'm going to go with daniel smith and i'm not going to worry about the fact that your camera's pointed at your crotch i freaked me out a little bit but i'm not going to worry
Corey
42:06
worry about it i was i was
Corey
42:09
was wondering if we were just going to breeze past that but i'm just gonna uh sorry i was
Zain
42:13
i was gonna just getting ready to tube in it on the yeah
Carter
42:17
was a total moment okay anyways uh yeah daniel Smith is who I'm picking.
Zain
42:24
picking Daniel Smith, Corey, your political player of the year, Canadian-wise. Yeah, there's no way. I mean... Was Douglas Ford. Are you choosing Daniel Smith to take C35F, heading into 2025, or would you rather be Mr. Doug Ford? So
Corey
42:36
So I just disagree with Stephen that she's going to be premier longer. Like, I think he's going to re-renew and re-up in, like, a month here when Ontario goes to the polls, and I think he's going to win. So I could be wrong about that. Stranger things things have happened but i will pick uh doug ford not only has he managed to hold on to ontario not only has he managed to totally change the landscape of ontario politics over his terms in office but he also has started to build himself a persona amongst canadians that makes him look like a real leader and listen ontarians out there this is going to rock your fucking world but most of the time we actually don't think of the premier of ontario as a particularly important person in our lives outside of uh you know well ever right but doug ford the way he's standing up to donald trump he has actually started to have resonance in other provinces here and um no i think it's all good for him i think that he's having kind of uh so inexplicably because of all of the scandals that have been around he's having a really good year at a time when premiers Premiers don't usually have really good years. You know, he's just been premier too long to have really good years, and yet he's seemingly doing it.
Zain
43:54
I'm going to leave that segment there and move it on to our next segment. Do you sense a change in the tone of my voice? Well, it's obvious. It's time for the Flair Airlines Near Misses. As I mentioned earlier, these are actual misses. These are people near
Corey
44:09
near to us. We miss them. Yeah, we
Corey
44:11
we miss them because they're near to us, or they were near to us. there are people that are near to us yeah
Zain
44:16
yeah there are people that are near to us so they're near yeah and we missed this segment used to be called the flare airlines uh forgotten but not gone uh but of course we have rebranded for this year uh for for all you folks uh carter it's the flare airlines near misses uh before we um before we jump into the first um uh eulogy uh the first heartfelt uh goodbye um which will be we'll we'll start with one cory hogan um any commentary on the the new name i
Carter
44:43
prefer the old cory okay
Zain
44:44
okay you i did cory cory um this was not a great year this was maybe a goodbye year for our good Canadian yeah immigration ideals uh
Zain
44:56
uh we held immigration uh in in the window in in such a way heralded and and and proudly prompted it up in in such a way. Unlimited, some said. Near unlimited, others said. Well, no longer seems to be where the population is on Canadian immigration. Corey Hogan, for the Flair Airlines near miss, because it's near to us and we miss it. The Canadian immigration ideals eulogy.
Corey
45:25
eulogy. Well, first off, Zane, thank you for that verbose lead in which gave me time to do a little bit of of Googling here. Now, I'd
Corey
45:35
I'd like to read some excerpts from the book of Exodus, chapter 22.
Corey
45:42
If a man shall steal an ox or
Corey
45:44
or a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
Corey
45:50
Goes on, of course, to say thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Corey
45:54
But I think the point that I was building to, thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for ye were strangers in the land of Israel. Wait,
Corey
46:03
Wait, Egypt. Shoot, that was weird. Okay, Canadian
Corey
46:07
Canadian consensus on immigration is over.
Corey
46:11
And there's a lot of reasons for that.
Corey
46:15
And immigrants are people looking
Corey
46:18
Because houses cost money.
Corey
46:21
And you get money from jobs, and immigrants want those jobs, and you want those jobs too. Here's the thing. As Canadians, we've decided the economy can no longer grow. The economy is the size it is. All
Corey
46:33
All the cream goes to Elon Musk and the rest of us just duke it out for whatever's left. We now believe the
Corey
46:40
economy is something that can never grow and
Corey
46:42
and therefore it's elbows up all
Corey
46:44
all of the time and
Corey
46:46
it's time to keep people out.
Corey
46:49
Is it Canadian? Well,
Corey
46:50
Well, I'd say probably. Whatever
Corey
46:52
Whatever we do as Canadians is Canadian. Not historically Historically, what I'd consider a Canadian, but
Corey
46:57
but it is what it is. There's never been, I think, a farewell that's happened so quickly.
Corey
47:04
The consensus move from immigration good, all parties agree, to the liberals shutting the borders in so little time, it
Corey
47:14
it would make your head explode if you lived in a world where you expected rational things to happen.
Zain
47:20
And I forget how I normally end these.
Zain
47:23
Yeah, I think just with a nice amen. Amen. Amen. Beautiful, beautiful words, Carter, by Corey Ogun. He had me at Israel. Carter, you've already teased this eulogy. You're a tease on this show, so it is completely fitting. And, you know, levity is welcome when we're putting something to rest, something to bed. Stephen Carter, for the Flair Airlines near miss, because it's near to us, it's near our heart, and we miss
Corey
47:50
miss it. You said it was people, and then your very first one was the concept of immigration. Well,
Zain
47:54
Well, no, it's people, it's things, this next thing is a thing. I mean, careers end, people end, things end. Stephen Carter, BC
Zain
48:03
BC United, you gave a eulogy last year.
Zain
48:06
It didn't really do the trick.
Zain
48:10
give a eulogy this year.
Carter
48:12
Soccer teams do not make political actors, saith the Lord.
Carter
48:23
they the lord was correct in this and proof is
Carter
48:27
is in the fall of bc united under
Carter
48:31
sub-optimal leadership of kevin one kevin falcon see
Carter
48:36
see kevin falcon is proof that following your political instincts is
Carter
48:40
is sometimes a really bad idea kevin
Carter
48:43
kevin falcon thought that he would be a a better premier than Christy Clark. And, well,
Carter
48:50
well, oh my gosh, he wasn't even a better leader than Christy Clark. He couldn't even lead an opposition party into government. He couldn't, well, I mean, he did lead it to oblivion. So I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him. But BC
Carter
49:08
soccer team we never knew we wanted,
Carter
49:10
the political team we
Carter
49:11
we knew we didn't need.
Carter
49:14
May they rest in peace.
Zain
49:15
Beautiful. Very nice. Corey Hogan, I'm coming to you. Of course, you wanted a human to eulogize. Well, I will be giving you one. I'll be serving you up human. In one, former Premier Blaine Higgs, the OG of anti-trans legislation in New Brunswick, keeping
Zain
49:32
his life, to be clear, very healthy, I'm sure, but losing his political life for a very quick, maybe quick, maybe long, who knows, eulogy for Blaine Higgs. Corey Hogan, take it away.
Zain
49:45
I'd like to read from the Book of Judges, chapter
Zain
49:49
chapter 3, verse 21.
Corey
49:51
Ehud reached with his left hand, drew the sword from his right thigh, and plunged it into the king's belly. Even
Corey
49:58
Even the handle sank in after the blade, and
Corey
50:02
and his bowels discharged. Oh.
Corey
50:07
the king in this metaphor.
Carter
50:10
Oh, I thought he was the bowels.
Corey
50:18
which was to act as
Corey
50:19
as a cautionary tale to us all about
Corey
50:22
about how gutter politics
Corey
50:25
will be the undoing in
Corey
50:27
in the long term.
Corey
50:30
thought that he could look around,
Corey
50:33
pick the nastiest things he saw in political discourse, and
Corey
50:37
and package them for New Brunswickers.
Corey
50:40
unfortunately for him fortunately
Corey
50:42
fortunately perhaps for common decency the
Corey
50:45
good people of new brunswick said you know not
Corey
50:48
not for me and
Corey
50:50
and handed him his
Corey
50:51
his bowel discharge amen
Zain
50:54
amen amen core yarn roll i may give you another i may give you another human that's nice in a second steven carter um you uh
Zain
51:02
you will also be getting a pearson you will also be well maybe i'll give you a would
Zain
51:06
would you prefer a person or an ideal, Stephen Carter? I
Carter
51:12
I haven't had a person yet. I had
Zain
51:18
She took over in July,
Zain
51:20
but she couldn't get the job done
Zain
51:26
a heartfelt goodbye to Kamala Harris. Still very much alive, I'm sure healthy,
Corey
51:33
So is Blaine Higgs, not that anybody cares. I
Zain
51:35
I said that about Blaine Higgs. I'm sure he was fine. I mean, I don't know if it was medicals. When
Carter
51:39
When they said that a peanut farmer from Georgia would never be president,
Carter
51:44
they did not count on the heart and the soul that
Carter
51:47
that is Jimmy Carter, that
Carter
51:49
that was Jimmy Carter.
Carter
51:51
Jimmy Carter lived 100 years of
Carter
51:54
of real, solid, down-home Christian living.
Carter
51:59
And in those 100 years,
Carter
52:02
sadly, some of them were occupied with Kamala Harris running for president.
Corey
52:08
jesus christ did you
Corey
52:11
you just prepare for jimmy carter
Zain
52:18
know we actually don't eulogize people who died on this show do you know how this works kamala harris was thrust onto the
Carter
52:24
the national stage far too early
Corey
52:27
she was afraid to
Carter
52:28
to create her own new vision and
Carter
52:33
she was also too strong to die quickly
Carter
52:36
And instead of dying a quick death, she dragged it out over 100 days, where
Carter
52:41
where we could all watch her struggle
Carter
52:42
struggle to reach up to the very bare minimum of Democratic presidents, one Mr. Jimmy Carter.
Carter
52:50
May they both rest in peace.
Zain
52:52
Jesus Christ, Carter. That is not what we were going for. Corey. Corey. Sorry.
Carter
53:03
Sorry, I feel bad now.
Zain
53:08
i want joe biden cory
Zain
53:10
uh joseph joe biden please
Zain
53:16
give him a nice send-off
Corey
53:20
jeez i only have so many of these i'd like to read from the book of judges chapter three verse yes one one of my favorites a
Corey
53:29
a hood reached with his left hand drew the sword from his right right thigh and plunged it into the king's belly even
Corey
53:44
the handle sank in after the blade and
Corey
53:49
you know the end folks and
Corey
53:53
and his bowels they
Corey
53:59
stage in front of millions of Americans Americans as Joe Biden was
Corey
54:05
was debating Donald Trump, a man whose debate performance on a normal day could be considered non-existent,
Corey
54:12
-existent, unhinged, but somehow superior to the sitting president at that particular moment.
Corey
54:20
was the original irrational confidence man.
Corey
54:23
He went in thinking, of
Corey
54:25
of course, him and his state and his whisper voice would be the natural choice of Americans. Of course, after all of the inflation, of course, after all of the trials and tribulations, of course, his
Corey
54:39
his performance was enough to put aside his earlier commitments, vague though they may be, that he was just going to be a stabilizing force before turning it over to somebody else to run for president.
Corey
54:51
Joe died ugly. Joe died in a way that left only a hundred days to his successor, Kamala
Corey
54:59
And after Kamala didn't manage to pull off the miracle, overcoming
Corey
55:03
overcoming the inevitable defeat he handed her,
Corey
55:07
Joe then had the good
Corey
55:09
good graces to go on and start telling people how he was pretty sure he could have won that election.
Corey
55:18
always be remembered that way, as
Corey
55:21
as the guy who didn't know where he was or what was going on.
Zain
55:28
uh stephen carter you have eulogized a person you've you've added a eulogy for a second person in that eulogy for a person so i'm going back to a concept an ideal for you stephen carter
Zain
55:40
i need you to eulogize what
Zain
55:44
seems to be the
Zain
55:46
of dei or more commonly commonly known as EDI, on this side of the border. Stephen Carter, your eulogy for the diversity, equity, and inclusion movement. This will be our last
Zain
56:00
Yeah, Stephen Carter, please. It
Zain
56:04
It seems to be happening.
Carter
56:13
White people back to the top.
Carter
56:16
It's the winning formula.
Carter
56:27
No, that's the wrong tone.
Zain
56:33
Did you, did you also want to maybe think about the message?
Carter
56:43
Equity. Diversion. DEI. Inclusion.
Carter
56:46
mean, there's only one agency that's better. or the DEA. No, I, I'm, it's
Carter
56:50
it's sad. It's a sad day.
Corey
56:55
You're, he was not a good pick for this one, Zane. No,
Zain
56:58
No, he was, he was not. He was not. That is becoming abundantly clear. Corey, um, I'm giving you a choice. Do you want to eulogize?
Corey
57:09
you ever seen a eulogy? Just don't.
Corey
57:14
He's not invited to speak at my funeral. i just carter
Carter
57:19
for long enough to see your funeral uh
Carter
57:22
we'll both be at veins but yeah
Zain
57:24
yeah it's true if i'm coughing up a lug choice
Zain
57:27
choice you want to uh do you want to eulogize incumbency
Zain
57:32
this was not a great year for incumbency as it meets its political death potentially or do you want to eulogize the effectiveness of cabinet shuffles cory hogan it is your pick Oh. I don't want to overload you, but I will give you an opportunity. Now, if I were Corey Hogan, I'd say, give them both. I'll do them both at the same time. But I am not, of course, Corey Hogan. You are Corey Hogan. But these are things that are near misses to us. We loved cabinet shuffles. We loved incumbency. And Flair Airlines is sad to see them, well, potentially die political deaths because they are, well,
Zain
58:06
well, they might be missing and they're near to us. And it's part of the near miss. All
Zain
58:10
right. Corey Hogan, where are we going?
Corey
58:11
Inspired by Donald Trump. Trump. I'm going to do the weave and I'm going to pull both of these together.
Corey
58:17
like to read from the second book of Kings chapter six, verse
Corey
58:23
Then he asked her, what's the matter? She answered. This woman said to me, give up your son. So we may eat him today and tomorrow we'll eat my son.
Corey
58:33
So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, give
Corey
58:37
give up your son. So we We may eat him, but
Corey
58:40
but she had hidden him.
Corey
58:42
And so too it is with cabinet shuffles.
Corey
58:45
They are implicit agreements that don't always pay off the way you think they're going to.
Corey
58:52
The thing about cabinet shuffles that we have taken for granted for so long
Corey
58:57
that they are supposed to matter because the people shuffled around are
Corey
59:01
are supposed to matter.
Corey
59:03
But they don't anymore.
Corey
59:05
With the centralization in prime minister's offices, premier's offices, the ministers are just a bunch of people that Canadians can't name. And they certainly have no effect on
Corey
59:16
on the trajectory of a government, or even frankly, of the individual who holds that position.
Corey
59:24
They cannot change the
Corey
59:30
For you see, Incumbency 2 also died this year and
Corey
59:33
the powers that it brought across
Corey
59:34
across democracies not just democracies in one country or
Corey
59:40
or countries in a region but
Corey
59:42
but every single democracy
Corey
59:46
incumbents saw their percent of the vote decline most were thrown on their asses it
Corey
59:51
it seems that in an era of negative partisanship where
Corey
59:56
nobody really wants wants to get into the feeder system because the best you can be, if not leader, is an irrelevant cabinet minister, it
Corey
1:00:05
it does seem that
Corey
1:00:08
parties are struggling, incumbency
Corey
1:00:14
And we sit here and we watch their struggles and we remember, Zane, a
Corey
1:00:18
time when incumbency mattered, when
Corey
1:00:20
when it was a good thing,
Corey
1:00:22
when cabinet shuffles mattered, when
Corey
1:00:23
when being a minister was a good thing and
Corey
1:00:26
we are left here to
Corey
1:00:28
to contemplate how alone we are in
Carter
1:00:37
i felt more alone
Zain
1:00:40
carter speaking of alone uh one final eulogy that i'd like the two of you to start working on together oh collaborative this is a it's collaborative okay this is of course the flare Flair Airlines near miss on death's door. This is someone whose political career is
Zain
1:00:55
is not dead yet because we're technical about it,
Zain
1:00:59
it's on death's door, which of course on a Flair Airlines flight is known as the cockpit door.
Zain
1:01:06
on death's door is one Justin Trudeau.
Zain
1:01:11
Please begin with your Flair Airlines near miss on death's door eulogy for the political career and times
Carter
1:01:26
a man who performs every opportunity he gets.
Carter
1:01:31
Sadly, he is an actor who enters the stage three weeks too late and leaves the stage four weeks too late.
Carter
1:01:39
He has no sense of timing whatsoever and
Carter
1:01:43
is unable to produce any speech with any more emotion than
Carter
1:01:48
this speech that I am giving right now.
Carter
1:01:51
In fact, I am emulating Justin Trudeau's speaking style right now.
Zain
1:02:02
Would you like to read, Corey?
Zain
1:02:04
Would you like to read?
Corey
1:02:10
10 years as Prime Minister, with some rounding, which we'll give him.
Corey
1:02:20
He brought us legalized marijuana.
Zain
1:02:29
was not merely a leader,
Corey
1:02:34
reflection of our national hopes, our fears, the contradictions that define this vast land we live in.
Corey
1:02:43
trudeau's tenure was marked by triumphs by controversies like
Corey
1:02:48
like a maple tree standing tall in an untamed forest he
Corey
1:02:52
he too was felled by
Corey
1:02:59
named christia freeland that's
Corey
1:03:02
that's her actual name that's not a metaphor good that's a good softwood
Corey
1:03:10
were unrelenting challenges global
Corey
1:03:14
climate crisis rising populism is
Carter
1:03:16
is this still going on through
Corey
1:03:18
through it all am
Corey
1:03:19
am i carried the hopes of millions like atlas bearing the heavens in
Carter
1:03:23
in my life steadfast
Corey
1:03:26
even when burdened by
Zain
1:03:34
Beautiful amen. It is indeed heaven. What a beautiful Flair Airlines Near Miss segment. I think you guys hit it out of the park this year. Thank you. Now, Carter, we do have the option. Our sponsor has presented us some rebirths this year. These are a little bit more cheery.
Zain
1:03:51
cheery. Cheery? Do we want to just knock off some of these rebirths? Let's do them quick. Wait, are these eulogies?
Zain
1:03:58
No, no, these are rebirths. But the opposite, rebirths. This is like you showing up to a christening and you're saying, holy shit.
Zain
1:04:04
I don't know what music
Corey
1:04:05
music to back a rebirth with, so... Probably
Corey
1:04:10
Techno? Okay, techno and maybe corporate buzzwords. How's that sound?
Zain
1:04:15
Techno and corporate buzzwords.
Zain
1:04:16
Stephen Carter, do you want to begin for us?
Zain
1:04:18
Yeah, I do. I want to go first.
Zain
1:04:21
He went, he came, he went, he came, he kept popping up, and now it seems like he might be here for a while. One Mr. Mark Carney, Stephen Carter, I'll let you begin with the rebirth of Mark Carney, A guy that clearly is back with potentially a new skin. Is
Carter
1:04:38
Is it a rebirth if you were never really gone? I mean, sure. One time we were talking about Mark Carney running for leadership of the Liberal Party in 2013. We were all there thinking it could happen. And then he left. He went to London where he got to be the banker in charge of watching the Brexit debate and watching that go through. But he was always there, always on our television screens, always warning us about what was going to happen. And then he was there through COVID. And he's been there through the final years of the Trudeau enterprise. And now he brings us to
Carter
1:05:18
to a new stage where we're still seeing Mark Carney in the windshield. He's the person always in front of us that we're following as someone who is taking us to a better place. so that he has been the promise of a better place for
Carter
1:05:35
over 10 years the
Carter
1:05:37
the path we did not choose in 2013 and now we get the opportunity to choose him again beautiful
Zain
1:05:44
beautiful wow positive heartfelt ambitious heartfelt agree uh cory i don't know how you're going to top it well i mean you may be able to top it with i mean
Zain
1:05:53
speaking i guess that was you don't have to talk about yeah yeah you
Corey
1:05:57
you you are of course okay i got someone different okay you
Zain
1:05:59
you get you get the rebirth we were doing collabs a minute ago
Zain
1:06:02
so yeah no you're not doing collabs anymore we don't have time for that fucking shit okay um nahed
Corey
1:06:19
these are words we used to use to describe nahed nenshi future mla for for Edmonton Strathcona, for the Alberta NDP.
Corey
1:06:27
Nah, I hadn't, ain't she?
Corey
1:06:31
strides the world like a narrow colossus.
Corey
1:06:34
Not so narrow, mind you. It's a big province. And
Corey
1:06:37
And he strides it well.
Corey
1:06:39
For you see, he is the great hope
Corey
1:06:41
bring the NDP to
Corey
1:06:43
to the doors of the legislature,
Corey
1:06:45
which I guess they already sit in. But you know what I'm saying.
Corey
1:06:49
He's going to be premier someday. And you know why? because
Corey
1:06:52
he's got a campaign manager named
Zain
1:07:02
That was also not true, but okay.
Corey
1:07:05
He put some techno and some corporate buzzwords behind it. Oh, okay.
Zain
1:07:19
summary, I don't know
Corey
1:07:20
know if he's going to win or not. it really is too early to say i've got to see that he's serious as leader he thinks this is a rebirth but all i can remember about him from the past six months is that uh he's just another tax and spend liberal friend of justin trudeau saw that on a few flyers the end carter
Zain
1:07:40
the rebirth of something that was here that went away or just kind of went quiet and now it seems to be all over the place it's the technology it's the platform it's the place called blue
Zain
1:07:50
blue sky stephen carter it's
Zain
1:07:53
it's back with us let's
Zain
1:07:54
let's celebrate it yeah
Carter
1:07:58
seem to have lost my password so
Carter
1:08:00
so the problem with blue sky is
Carter
1:08:06
that i got this invitation a couple years ago to join blue sky and i i you know i did it was but it's been a long gestation i sent it to you it
Corey
1:08:15
it was not Not a couple of years ago. Was it you? It
Corey
1:08:17
It was like me
Carter
1:08:17
me in March. Do you know my password? Because I don't,
Carter
1:08:24
don't, I've tried to get into Blue Sky. I have. I'm very excited about it because anything that could replace X and Twitter is going to be very exciting. But this long gestation that it's been under, I'm not seeing growth. I'm not seeing development.
Carter
1:08:40
I'm not seeing it become something new. I want to see in the rebirth that comes in the new year. I want to see it grow beyond just the idea of simple micro exchanges, a move towards something that actually has value in my life again. Something new, something more exciting than something that we started on in 2008, 2009.
Zain
1:09:01
nice. It's a call. Call
Zain
1:09:03
Call to action. It's a call
Carter
1:09:04
something better. Corey Hogan finishes
Zain
1:09:05
finishes off here at the rebirth of something that was up front and center as
Zain
1:09:10
as part of, one would say, the recipe for the Trump victory, the
Zain
1:09:18
it is reborn. It is with us. It is branded. And it has no shame associated with it anymore, at least for some. Corey Hogan, please. The rebirth of the Manosphere.
Corey
1:09:31
I want to talk to the people out there who are struggling. people
Corey
1:09:34
who don't know what to do or where to go
Corey
1:09:37
I've got a simple message for you losers
Corey
1:09:39
eat your meat sun your taint and the girls will like you
Zain
1:09:48
thank you Cory oh fuck I love that
Zain
1:10:00
that's good I'm happy with that I bet with that segment Let's move on to our final segment, Stephen Carter, our final segment. As always, every year is the Flair Airlines Cleared for Takeoff, where you tell me, as we finish off the Flair Airlines Holiday Spectacular presented by Flair Airlines, you tell me, Carter, who is
Zain
1:10:20
is going to take off in 2025? 25. You can give me an obvious choice, and I want a less obvious choice. I want the obvious choice up front, and then I want you to give me the dark horse secret pick, a name people may not have heard, a person people may not have heard. Give me the Stephen Carter intel with part two of the answer. So Stephen Carter, begin us, start us off. Corey, I'm coming to you.
Carter
1:10:42
Well, I think the person who's going to take off like a Canadian budget airline is probably Bonnie Crombie. I look forward forward to seeing her crash
Carter
1:10:52
crash and burn on the runway and the the other person is gonna take off I think and I'm and this is probably more along the lines of an Air Canada something a little more tried and true something with a little bit economics behind it something that needs to be bailed out probably Mark Carney
Carter
1:11:09
he's you know he's a banker he's used to being bailed out that's who I would count on never
Zain
1:11:15
never follows instructions always gives us answers Carter is off the the dome all the time cory hogan cleared
Zain
1:11:22
cleared for takeoff for 2025 who's the obvious choice and who's the less obvious cory hogan dark horse pick obvious
Corey
1:11:30
obvious choice is pierre poliev who's going to be prime minister of canada in no matter of months at this point on the outside you know there'll be a liberal leadership race and then there will be a collapse of parliament and then there will be a new prime minister that's that's the odds that we're facing right now as a country at least that's what seems most likely so you got to give it to him the guy has taken over what was a very fractious conservative party he's not just rebranded it but he's rebranded himself remember when the guy wore glasses doesn't wear glasses anymore you
Corey
1:12:02
you know it takes a certain genius to get
Carter
1:12:04
get rid of glasses
Corey
1:12:05
glasses like that i
Carter
1:12:06
i mean he totally preston manning that he
Corey
1:12:08
he did preston manning that in a big way but somehow it's all working for him and um so you got to give it to him he's the obvious choice the non-obvious choice i
Corey
1:12:20
am not just stalling for time as i think about that for the very first time well
Carter
1:12:23
well it's just somebody it's hard for you i know that other people would have thought of it dramatic in advance as they do as they do in dave i don't know
Corey
1:12:30
know every year you ask us this every year you ask us this and you would think that i would have come in with a little bit more than just a bunch of bible verses to this particular episode but i
Corey
1:12:40
think that the person The only person that we need to be thinking about is... But we're not, is...
Corey
1:12:53
What? Who came in, well,
Corey
1:12:54
well, she dropped out and supported Nahed Nenshi in the, uh, in the leadership race. But, uh, I think what she did in her time that she was in the leadership race was pretty interesting and will help redefine the party. And if Nahed has a chance here, it's going to be taking on some of that and moving forward. word she's so she's
Carter
1:13:13
she's come a long way since i couldn't pronounce her name which
Zain
1:13:17
which was like a year ago so uh just to close it off carter did you write the shahal letter which
Zain
1:13:25
that's a wrap uh folks on on this year's holiday spectacular in fact our flare airlines holiday spectacular presented to us by flare airlines thank you for sticking through that turbulence if you made it this far without your emotional support animal uh you were on the wrong flight Flair Airlines does not allow an emotional support animal, and in fact, we'll charge you an extra two seats if you complain next time. Until next time, may your ambitions fly higher than Flair Airlines ticket prices and smoother flights ahead. With me as always, Corey Hogan, Stephen Carter, and we shall see you whenever Justin Trudeau resigns.