Hi everyone, it's Sophia.

Welcome to work in progress.

Please welcome to this day, Sophia.

Let me just put my notes down.

My dog here to copy of this book.

You know, well, Hi Canada, this is very cool.

I am.

I'm so thrilled to be here with you as a moderator, as a dual citizen of the US and this great country, and as a woman who believes very much in democracy.

Now, before I bring out the star of our show, there's a few things we need to shore up here.

You and I Toronto.

No, I am not related to the former president of the United States.

My dad is from Montreal, which is why I know to say Montreal and not Montreal.

He is an artist, he's never been a politician.

Yes, I am an actor, you could say television personality, but I do actually know the difference between domestic and foreign Wolcy, would you think you'd be relevant in my other country?

Now?

As someone who's been volunteering in democratic politics for nearly twenty years now, who hails from California, I have had the deep honor of being represented by Vice President Kamala Harris in a number of her roles serving the people.

From being a champion for small business women who've suffered violence, the LGBT community, and both our love and our rights.

She's also, if I may say so, myself, really great person to have announced that you're in love with a woman on Instagram for you.

She did that for me, and it was basically my best claim to fame.

All right, y'all, are you ready to have a kiki with the vice president?

Ladies and gentlemen, Kamala Harris.

Good, thank you, thank you, thank you.

We're taking the time we spend some time with us this afternoon.

Thank you.

It's great to see everybody.

Hi.

Hi, Well that made me emotional.

Wow, there's so much love in this room.

Thank you for continuing.

For each other.

Yeah, that's what we do.

That's what we all do.

But in a time that is really so divided.

Thank you for helping us gather in this way.

It's really profoundly meaningful.

We're all here together.

Oh, we all here together.

Okay, before we dive into all the things, because twenty twenty five really is twenty twenty fiving and even into this magnificent window into this one hundred and seven days you've given us, I actually really want to go back okay, because you are someone who we know sort of.

We know your history, we know your record, we know all these incredible things you've done.

But if we could perform a really cool science experiment and suddenly in this room be on the playground with Kamala Harris at eight years old.

Oh.

Yeah, like, what would you see in her?

What aspects of that little girl would you and maybe those of us who follow you recognize today?

You would not recognize that I was a pigeon toe did not meat, and I used to run a lot scrapes on my knees to prove it.

You know, I grew up in a family and a community.

It's a real blessing, and I know it.

I grew up in an environment that every signal that was sent to the children was that that you can be and do anything that you are loved and something else that I think we all do or should try to do, which is what I received, which is people telling me I was special and I wasn't particularly special, but I believed them when they said it.

And there's something about being in an environment then sends a signal to the children of the community.

And I do believe that's how I think about it.

Children are the children of the community, sending them signals that lets them know how special they are.

And that's the environment I grew up, and I grew up as a child in a stroller.

My parents were active in the civil rights movement, so you know, all the adults around me were spending full time marching and shouting for justice for equality.

And you know that influenced me in.

Just very substantial ways about also, not only just intellectually and academically, and then later in my life as I went to law school understanding of the law, but from the very earliest years of my life, I understood there is an emotion that one has or should have about fairness or unfairness, justice or injustice.

And.

For whatever strength or weakness it is, for me, it remains an issue, which is I feel something, and I feel strongly, especially when I witness or see an injustice or unfairness.

I think that that points to something that feels so desparate in our modern moment.

There are people who see an injustice and want to respond in defense of others, and there are people who see injustice and relish in witnessing cruelty.

And.

Or who witness it and either it instills in them some fear that maybe if they do anything about it, then it will turn on them, and or they decide I better walk away from it because I don't want it to affect me.

And I feel very strongly that an injustice obviously against any of us, as an injustice against all of us, but probably even more importantly, that nobody should be made to fight alone.

Nobody should be made to fight alone.

I mean, when I was growing up, you know, in factories, well, thank you.

One of the first fights I got in was in kindergarten because my best friend in kindergarten, who was still one of my best friends, Stacy Johnson.

I talked about her in the book.

Actually her mom came to the convention with her.

Stacy had a lisp when we were growing up, and this kid was picking on Stacy and I told him stop picking on her, and then he and I got into a fight.

But the point being that, you know, it's just I guess for me, instinctive that you step in and don't just let it happen if there's something you can do about it.

I like that story.

I got my first playground fight in second grade, all right, Yeah, I definitely got called to the principal's office because I'd seen every nineties comedy ever and you know, a swift kick, and it didn't go well for my opponent.

But hey, look at us people now.

On that sort of humorous note, there's a really funny moment in your book that feels apropos for Toronto.

Keagan.

Michael Key says that the choice between you and your opponent in the twenty twenty four election was like a choice of how to get from Canada to the United States.

He said, and I quote, you can take the train to get over the border, or you can take a barrel over Niagara Falls.

Feels unfortunately like we all wound up in that barrel together, but knowing how crazy it was.

And I don't just mean running against that man whose name I'm going to try not to say.

That's just for me.

Y'all can do whatever you want to do.

I don't have to be as classy as her.

I wasn't the vice president.

I can be petty.

The stunning vision that you've given us of not only what it was like to run that race, but to run that race in a way that I think maybe didn't Dawn on a lot of people around the world.

At the time, you were our active vice president, you were running a presidential campaign, and you were preparing for a would be transition.

So like memos, plans, appointing staff, I mean, you were doing three of the hardest jobs in the world, all at the same time, and in a pair of stilettos.

To be clear, the ladies know our converse, yeah, with pearls though, always the Chucks and the pearls together.

You you write in this book about that crazy kind of roller coaster that you were on, and you also talk about as a planner, some things went exactly according to plan and some didn't.

And I'm curious for our friends with us today when you think about what's encapsulated in this book, can you share a memory that comes to mind, good or bad, but still makes your heart race when you think about it, either something that went well or something that really did not go according to the schedule.

So there are many reasons I wrote the book, and one is it is unprecedented, those one hundred and seven days.

So we had a sitting president running for reelection who three and a half months before the election decided not to run.

So the sitting vice president.

I stepped in to run against a former president who had been running for ten years, with one hundred and seven days to go, And it turns out it was the closest presidential election in the United States in the twenty first century.

And I will add then, in particular for my Canadian friends and many of you know, I went to school in Montreal.

My mother did her work at McGill and did the research at the Jewish General Hospital.

My aunt, my Chinny Titty, is here, who lives in Mississauga.

Where are you, Titty?

I don't know where she is.

She's here.

So I care deeply about this relationship between the United States and Canada.

But I mentioned also the historic nature of the race to also point out something that I think is important we all.

Hold on to.

Right now.

One third of the US electorate voted for him, one third voted for me, and one third did not vote.

And I mentioned that because I know that within the United States and among our friends outside of the United States, there has been this ongoing concern about what does this mean in terms of who is America?

Please remember two thirds of the electorate did not vote for him.

Now, but in terms of the work that we have to do.

It also should be a point of emphasis to ask and think about why one third did not vote, And that is part of the work that I am thinking about and doing as we go forward.

But writing the book was about ensuring that one that we would acknowledge the unprecedented nature of it.

But equally important, it is part of America's history.

Those one hundred and seven days it has bitten written about, it will be written about.

And I wasn't about to have history talk about it without my voice being present.

And I wrote the book to the point of your question in a way for those of you who haven't yet read it, I wrote.

It like a journal.

So the first chapter is that first day that I got the call from President Joe Biden that he was stepping out, July twenty.

First of last year.

And I write each chapter is a different day in the race.

And I invite you, to the extent that you keep a journal of any sort as you're reading it, to also think about what you were doing on that day and the alignment of.

What we were all doing around that time.

You know, one of.

I'll tell you the and there were you know, there were incredible moments, but I tend to be very task oriented, and so during those one hundred and seven days, I never really allowed myself a moment to reflect on any particular day.

My prayer every night was God, I hope I have done everything I could possibly do with this day, because I knew we had such a short period of time, and it was only in the writing of the book that I was able to really reflect on what it felt like each of those days.

But one of my favorite memories that I think speaks volumes to the first point that you raised.

I would do rallies with thousands of people showing up and without seats, so people are standing, and at the end of speaking on the stage, I'd get off the stage and walk into the crowd and there would be a ropeline, and I'd interact with folks, often hugging.

Many people would cry.

We would talk, take pictures, selfies, and it was not uncommon that maybe a parent ten rows back who had their child on their shoulder would lift the child off their shoulder because the child wanted to come and they wanted me to take a picture, and the crowd.

Would pass the baby.

All the way down, and then I take the baby and we take a picture, and then the crowd would pass the baby and it was.

The most wonderful, wonderful thing about just community, perfect strangers to each other.

And you know, there were so many moments like that, and in the midst of the darkness that we are all witnessing about to your point twenty twenty five, I hope in the reading of the book and in the reflection, we will remember the light that we brought in those one hundred and seven days, because it was in us and it is still in us.

And I am a firm believer, and I almost admonish people, you cannot let any election or individual or circumstance extinguish your light or diminish your light.

It is in us, and it is in each other, and we have to see it in each other, and in particular in moments of darkness, that is when that light is most important.

Because the fight, back to the point, the fight is for something.

Yeah.

The fight from my perspective, is born out of a belief in what is possible.

It is born out of a sense of optimism about what we can do, what can be, and that.

Is what fuels then the fight.

It is for something, yeah, And now a word from our sponsors that I really enjoy and I think you will too.

Will you talk in the book about how this is not a genteel profession.

Oh, it's a bloody knuckle sport.

You gotta be ready to brawl, you said, And I think about there was a you know, there was like a little not a poem, like a little instagram, you know, screenshot of text that went around after the election talking about how Hope isn't a pretty little thing.

Hope is bruised and she's got a tooth missing, and she got blood poorn out of her face, and she's getting up to keep fighting.

And I think you've managed to give us a reminder that no matter how hard it gets, we have to keep fighting, and that there's joy in the fight, and that there's integrity in the fight, and that no matter who might be in charge today, good people who come together can always do more good than one bad person that wants to harm.

And something that's really stuck with me.

She's a very inspiring lady.

You know, I've been thinking about this a lot.

Something that's really stuck with me.

And I don't know if you intended it to be a metaphor.

But now it's become in all my notes, the metaphor of your table.

And you talk about how when you moved into the Naval Observatory, which is where the vice president lives in Washington, d C.

You designed a table for the dining room that could be this, you know, big gorgeous table for full staff meetings or big family holiday dinners, but it could break down into pieces and four people could sit at a normal sized table for four, or when you're in the process of vetting your three vice presidential candidates, it could be small enough for just two people to sit and have a conversation.

And it was kind of like an itch I couldn't scratch on the inside of my brain.

I couldn't figure out why it moved me.

So to hear you talk about that, and I realized it's the metaphor of who you've always been as a politician, which is you don't expect people to come to you.

You go to where your voters are.

You show up to talk to people who agree with you and people who don't.

You promised that had you won, you'd have been a president for people who voted for you and for people who didn't.

And you, as the vice President of the United States, thought it might be intimidating for somebody to sit at a giant table just with me.

So let me make sure that in this residence we can just sit one on one.

And I don't know that there's anybody else like you who's held your office, and I just want to make sure you get your flowers for that.

Thank you, thank you.

It makes me right.

Well, there hasn't been an anyone like me.

Oh you mean that obvious fact or seven.

But it's listen there.

It's a great privilege to lead, and with it comes not just I think, not just a responsibility, but a duty.

And I was raised that way to think of the work I do, not out of you know, when you are helping someone, it's not about charity.

Oh, if I have a little extra I will give.

Oh, look at benevolent me.

It's about a duty, yeah, and it's not negotiable.

I was raised with a sense of understanding that we each have a responsibility to serve.

No matter your profession.

And often in the campaign I would talk about what inherently was I think a great difference of perspective on this point between us and my opponent, and it is this.

There is some perversion coming from that camp, well a lot, But that suggests hello, that suggests that the measure of strength is based on who you beat down.

Instead of what we know to be the.

Real measure of strength, which is who you lift up.

You know, I mentor.

I mentor a lot of people, and even the youngest of them.

And I'll say, if you want to really see your muscle, And it's an extraordinary thing that we all know in our lives, one seemingly small thing that you do that helps someone else difference it can make in their life.

And if at moments in time we're wondering what is our strength, those acts that are what I believe is the act of a duty that we have to each other, reinforces the strength of the individual in the context of a community.

You know, in this moment, I also believe that there is so much about what is coming from that side that is about an intent to spew hate and division, with an intention to make people feel alone.

And there can be nothing as disempowering as feeling alone.

And if you compound that with the feeling anyone naturally has when you are witnessing the injustice that we are seeing.

It has and can have an effect intended I believe sometimes it to be to just create despare and despondency.

What does it matter?

What is my power?

What can I really do?

Pull the covers over, wake me up when it's over.

And it's important for us to be clear eyed and intentional in these moments that that is what we are experiencing.

That may be an intended effect from that bullying, from that attempt to beat down, whether it be norms and rules, or relationships or values or principles.

And it is at those very moments that we need to say, I know what you're up to, and I'm not going to let you get away with it.

I'm not alone.

We exist in the context of a community in which we see and know and care about each other.

We exist with the philosophy that nobody.

Should be made to fight alone, and that will be evidence of our strength.

It's got to be community over everything.

You know, we only exist on this planet in a community project when people do that whole like at least this happens, you know, with your downstairs rowdy neighbors.

Apologies for us sometimes to our Canadian friends, you'll hear this adage in America, people will say, Oh, well, I don't want to pay taxes for that, or I don't want to pay taxes for this, And I'm like, you don't want to contribute to people's kids having lunch in school, Like you don't want to contribute to your community.

I don't get it.

And I so deeply admire and respect that.

That's always the point you come back to, you remind us that this earth is a group project.

I think it's important to understand the generosity of individuals, which I do believe most individuals have, you know.

I part of what I write about is it has.

Been my life experience that it is often the people who have the least who give the most.

So let's not conflate that with certain individuals who are in power, who have a desire and an intent to covet their power and grow their individual power at the expense of others, and who will, in so doing push this their children here, who will gaslight really and suggest that you have less because people who have even less than you.

This is the garbage they're pushing.

The garbage they're pushing is to say that you have less because of the power less as a way to distract from the actions of the powerful, and we have to see that as it's happening and decipher what is happening.

And that's part of what's at play right now and the stuff they're trying to push thinking that people are not smarter than to see what's really happening.

And I would ask everyone to really take a moment to know and think about the elections that just happened a couple of tuesdays ago in the United States as evidence of the point that the people are watching and they're not going to be duped.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think a lot of those people who googled can I change my vote the day after the election showed up this time, and that is important.

That was one of the most frequently asked questions of Google the day after the election, Yeah, how can I change my vote?

And then my Canadian friends will appreciate the other most frequently asked question, which is what is a tariff?

That was special.

I was just filming a movie in Ottawa when the Ontario tariff ad dropped and I was like, I'm just so proud to be on Canadian soil this week.

I love it.

Oh it was great, you know, but I think about that.

For you, it's we have to have humor or we'll cry.

I mean, I've obviously been crying up here, but that's what I do.

You have displayed great humor and tenderness.

You are on the road again reminding everybody of the sacredness of this group project that is democracy.

I know that can't be easy, and I also know you are a public servant.

You put the people ahead of yourself all the time because it's who you are.

On the individual side, though, I'm so curious.

Yes, the fire for us, for the people burns deep in you, but that kind of service demands sacrifice.

As you climb the ladder of leadership, you give things up.

And I'm very curious, not just as our ag senator vice president advocate people person performing marriages for queer people way before anybody else in our state, thank you very much.

Yeah, but just for you, not Madam Vice President Ms Kamala Harris.

What as a person did you have to let go of in order to serve?

And what as the woman you are did you refuse to surrender?

No matter what, none of us have achieved, any.

Success that we've achieved without the support of others.

I've had people in my life who have, and I hope and want this for any and everyone you know.

I will say, make sure that especially when you're going through something where you're in a competition, you're up for something.

You have ambition.

By the way, have ambition, I applaud that, but try to have in your life that be intentional about maybe that small group within the group of people you know, who will be the ones who have some sense of what you're going through and are the ones that you can call late at night and laugh about the thing you're not supposed to laugh about, or say the words you may not say in the place where you pray, or who will be with you and when you trip, they will laugh at you, and then they will pick you up and they will push you back out.

It is part of my success is because I've had those people in my life, including my family.

Again, my aunt is here.

I had an extraordinary mother, her elder sister, my husband Dougie, who sends his.

Love to everybody.

And it is they who have supported me in extraordinary ways.

And it is they who have sacrificed.

When I was in the United States Senate and I was elected to the United States Senate the same night that Trump was elected the first time, and it was a very obviously bittersweet personal experience because I thought we were going to have our first woman president that night, and so I went to the Senate with a completely different agenda than I thought i'd have, And I served on the Senate Judicial Committee and ended up cross examining a lot of.

People and.

Including people who now serve on the United States Supreme Court.

And one of those hearings was happening and I had to be there, which meant that I missed.

Our daughter's high school graduation.

And it pained me to the point I was I but if I hadn't been there, it was it literally would have affected the outcome of the hearing.

And I could go on and on about examples.

I mean, my aunt is always saying, when you coming to Toronto.

I'm here, Chitty, I'm here right now.

She made it, We got her here.

You know.

But so there are sacrifices that we all make, right and I've made many, but my family and my friends have made those sacrifices with me.

But you know, it's also about having moments where we can be together in celebration of the victories, whether it be the work that we have done that has been about you know, one of my areas of focus maternal mortality and extending benefits for postpartum care for women.

I could go on and on.

This is not a campaign event to give you on.

My accomplishments, but.

There are those high points where the work and the sacrifice is completely diminished as compared to the impact.

And now a word from our wonderful sponsors.

It strikes me that you always carry your people into rooms with you.

You know, you talk about your aunt who's here.

You talk about all of your family so beautifully.

You write in the book about your mother.

Yeah, and she appears over and over again in your story as both a compass and an anchor.

And I'm curious, in the moments of the most intense political pressure, be it grilling that Supreme co or a candidate.

Thank you for that.

I was screaming at the TV at home when that happened.

No shock to anyone who knows me.

You know you you stand up for people, and I have a hunch that it's because you see the faces of the people you love in every room.

You're advocating in and I'm curious, in moments like that, when things are so intense, or in moments like you describe in the book, are there faces or voices that always rise above the noise for you?

Certainly my mother is one of them.

My baby nieces are also those voices.

I write in the book.

In fact, they appear in the very first chapter because we were we just had pancakes and bacon and sausages, and I was in my sweats and I hadn't showered when I got the news that I was going to be running for president in the United States.

If my memory serves me, craigly, you were.

On the floor.

We were cross legged on the floor doing a puzzle, which is the best thing to do with me, your very young children for hours at a time and get everyone engage.

Yeah, that's where we were at.

So their voices, you know, my mother's voice.

I hear my mother's voice a lot.

You know, when I ran for Attorney general.

It was when my mother, as it turned out, was dying of cancer, and I took care of her and I, you know, as any of you have sadly experienced, we were back and forth to the hospital a lot.

And there was one day we were at the hospital.

She was in the bed, she was exhausted, and I was sitting next to her on a chair and she was on the bed and she was looking in that direction and I was here, and she said she was very tired, and she said, how's the race for Attorney General coming?

And I looked at her and I said, well, mommy, they said they're going to kick my ano.

And my mother turned around and looked at me and smiled.

Because she knew what they were in for.

In that smile was a Darren and that was that smile.

That smile was brand on, you know.

But you know, like I.

Said about like that that group of people that you should have with you.

So in the beginning, I thought one of those people in that group should be my mother.

And then I realized that was a huge mistake because she just wanted to kick everybody's ass, and so I'd have to spend full time talking her in town.

And so I realized, yet, no, Mommy cannot be a part of that group because it would be disastrous for other people.

Yes, I know those are the voices and again and that I think it's just very intentional in life, and I've learned this through all that I've experienced in terms of highs and lows, to try as much as possible and be intentional about who's in your life and to the extent that we have the luxury or ability to make choices about who is in that closest circle, and that makes life better.

I think when we do that.

You watched your mom March for Justice, organize help to isolate the progesterone gene that absolutely changed breast oncology eventually suffer from cancer herself.

It's such a beautiful American dream story and a really crushing reminder that no matter how you live, or where you live, or what you do, you can't avoid you know, illness life.

The things you advocate as a leader to help people through, to open more access, to open more pathways to care.

And you wrote in your book talking about her legacy, how special it was close to the end of the run, that it happened to be Pink Sunday, a day of prayer for breast cancer sufferers and keep it lost in October, and how that fell on your birthday and you got to be with all of these people and be reminded of you know unity you write about the parable of Isaiah to be encouraged not to otherwise, not to see a stranger but a neighbor.

Can you share a little bit about that moment.

It's such a personal one in such a national time.

But I I'm so struck by the way you were able to be covered in a day that was hard to miss her and in a big day in your own life.

That day was so it was days before the election.

So my birthday is October twentieth.

The election was on November.

Would be belated birthday President.

Okay, that's not my point, but thank you, thank you.

I had to do it, and.

I was, of course campaigning, and it was in October is always in the state's breast cancer Awareness month, and that particular Sunday obviously happened to follow my birthday, and it was a special day because the congregation, in particular all the women were in pink to commemorate breast cancer awareness and my mother really did and I learned it again at a young agent's part of the fight that I've always been engaged in is to fight for the dignity of women in the healthcare system.

And that was the day that in particular that close to the election was a reinforcement of why we're in the fight, because still there is so much work we have to do, certainly in the States on the issue of women's health and reproductive health and the dignity that women deserve in the healthcare system.

We still have one of the highest maternal mortality rates of any so called wealthy country in the world.

We still have globally, so much.

Work to do that is about increasing funding and resources that go into scientific research around the health issues that specifically impact women's bodies.

And it is part of my fight.

It is always going to be part of my fight again, you know.

I think what's interesting also in terms of what you've been witnessing recently is people ask, what are some of the biggest differences between Republicans in terms of the elected party representatives and Democrats in elected office, And probably one of the biggest differences in the United States is the fight and who's waging the fight for affordable health care.

And again, it really does come down to as much as anything, Yes, equality and fairness and justice, but also dignity and undercurrent for me and most of my work has been just that point, which is the dignity to which everyone is entitled, but if you look at certain disparities and systems, you will do not receive.

And that is the point.

When we talk about equity, when we talk about diversity, when we talk about inclusion, these issues fundamentally are also about dignity and recognizing the dignity in each other.

And so that day represented one of those days, and there are many days like that.

It's really beautiful.

It's a passage that reads in such a moving way in the book because it feels like you just got some sort of like sign, you know, some really special moment from her, and to your larger point about how she inspired you to look at the standing of women in the world, the way we are treated, the way we are often held back, and arenas like healthcare.

You know, the book touches on being underestimated.

There are passages that I read along with photographs and to girlfriends who were like you tell them, you know, talking about how we've got to work twice as hard to get to the same starting line.

And you had a great conversation about this with Cardi b.

I was obsessed.

You've really taken it into every arena and I'm curious where you felt like for you, as this candidate who had to do so much catching up in just that three and a half months.

You spoke of is there a point on the trail when you felt like that shifted or do you feel like it was close to shifting and you just needed a little more time.

There's no question we needed more time.

But the momentum was absolutely on our side.

And.

The you know, as you s mentioned earlier, Sophia, there was there was an enthusiasm about what is possible?

Dare I say joy?

And it continued to grow.

And again one of my great experiences in those hundred and seven days was as the room would grow larger and larger, you would see that people who seemingly had nothing in common knew they had everything in common.

But what we needed more time.

I mean, running for president of the United States means you have to earn the vote, and I was keenly and fully aware of that.

You can't assume that anyone is going to vote for you.

You got to arm the vote.

And that was.

As you read the book, you will see perhaps the tension in the short time we had to talk with as many people as possible, you know, marketing people will say that someone needs to hear the same message three times before they actually absorb it.

So that's about repetition.

The campaign in the one hundred and seven days, although obviously national, really focused on seven states, the swing states, and it was about going back to those states as frequently as possible, while not neglecting other states, but knowing that this is where the decision would be made.

And so the task at hand was to be present.

It was to give people understanding of my background and my accomplishments.

You know.

One of the things that I enjoyed.

You've asked a lot of questions about just what the personal experiences brought to bear on the campaign.

It includes during the convention, the Democratic Convention, I gave a speech that I took a lot of time thinking about and preparing.

That was what I knew would be an introduction or reintroduction, and part of what I talked about there, you'll appreciate this is that I have a family by blood and a family by love, and.

They are both family.

I talked, yes, you know, but explaining that my sister and I would would ride around the neighborhood on our banana seat bikes, anybody remember those exactly.

I talked about my best friend from high school, Wanda, who is here and she and I were in high school together in Montreal.

I talked about who I am as a person in my life experiences, including my priorities, which included, for example, that as president of the United States, I intended to honor our relationships with our allies and understand the importance of the interconnection and interdependence, and the importance of honoring the relationship and its history.

But I needed to do that as much as possible to let the people who were going to invest their time in thought about who would.

Be their next president.

In knowing who I am, there was the work to do about introducing policy.

You know, one of the things I write about in the book is that I had my focus on policy really was about something I think Democrats have got to do better, which is focusing on the here and now issues.

You know, our administration did extraordinary work, including honoring the relationships.

But if I had to do it differently, I would have delayed the infrastructure bill that we did and the CHIPSAC bill that we did that was about obviously upgrading the America's infrastructure and investing in chips, and I would have first done the affordable childcare, extending the child tax credit and pay leave as the first thing that we would have done as an administration to address the here and now issues in my campaign.

That is why as my priority policy were to offer for the first time that we would give a twenty five thousand dollars down payment for first time home buyers.

That we would take on corporate organizations that were buying up properties and jacking up rents, that I would take on predatory practices that included price gouging, something I dealt with when I was Attorney General.

These were the things that.

I was offering as a new policy approach to dealing with everyday issues one hundred and seven days to let everybody know, and it took time.

One of the policies that I still feel so strongly about as a segue on healthcare, was again, we have a very different healthcare system in the United States and Canada, and the healthcare system that exists now has Although we have the Affordable Care Act, which was an incredible breakthrough, there's still so many holes in the system, including what it means for what we and I refer to as the Sandwich generation, people who are raising their young children while they're taking care of their senior relatives and parents.

They're in the Sandwich generation, and for so many who are there, it is almost impossible to take care of both.

So I was as part of my policy and did all the homework that it was absolutely something that was feasible and could be done.

Would have offered Medicare to cover home health care for people who are in that situation so they don't have to quit their job, which means paying rent to be able to take care of their children, take care of their elder relatives, and then be completely overwhelmed and bankrupt again.

To talk with the number of people that needed to hear this and for them to be able to hear it and know it in one hundred and seven days was a huge challenge.

Part of the momentum that I'm referring to in terms of what we were building.

If you track it, you can see that as more people started to hear Yeah, that's that I attribute to the momentum about the growth.

And so there you are.

But these are the realities of running for president or any office, and I don't bemoan the responsibility which is that the candidate must earn the support.

And now a word from our sponsors.

If you could go back to that first day one hundred and seven and rate yourself a post it note to slap on your mirror, what would it say being able to look back it?

Get more days, get more days.

I want that too.

But here's the other thing that I will mention about what I write about, and a challenge that we are all facing right now that I think is under estimated in terms of its impact on democracy and the well being and health of us as societies, and that is the issue of missing disinformation.

It is profound and I.

Most recently, probably in one of the most public ways, have been the subject of miss and disinformation.

And I will tell you that if we want to deconstruct the concern that we have about divisions in society and challenges and threats to democracy, this is one of the issues that we have got to.

Take on with force.

Often.

I am actually suggesting to people who are having disagreements with people who voted differently than them in the last election, is I think we have to we have to think about are we making certain assumptions and challenge those assumptions, and one of them is the assumption that the person who voted differently than us is working with the same information we are.

Bob Bart and I purposely, by the way, said information, not fact, because two plus two equals for every day of the year, but different information.

And the reality of it is that mis and disinformation being widely spread is not a new phenomena in terms of the threats to a democracy.

It has always existed, whether it be you know, the wide dissemination of flyers and all that.

But what we are seeing now is that unlike before where for it to widely, to disseminate widely, it would really take nation states ability to do that, usually adversarial now because of the Internet and technology which has otherwise democratized voices, and there is a strength to that, but it is also lowered the bar of entry for those who want to engage.

In missing disinformation.

And if it's hot enough, it will attract forces that allow it to grow quickly, and it is a huge challenge I've been convening.

First of all, I love gen Z, I love gen Z, I love this.

Generation of people.

Go on, just go for it.

I'm gen Z, by the way, for anyone who does not know.

They are at least in the States, and I'm pretty sure here in Canada they are demographically a larger population than boomers.

They are between about age thirteen and twenty eight.

They have only known the climate crisis.

They lost critical phases of their education and socialization during the pandemic.

It is estimated that they will, upon graduation from high school or college, have in their lifetime ten to twelve jobs, whereas older generations came out of high school, came out of college that one job is where they retired.

They are acutely aware.

If you have anyone in your life who is college age or in college, they are acutely aware that what they are studying now may or may not lead to an employable job because of technology.

And in convening them as I've been, one of the things they will share with me is one that they are aware of how they are basically a commodity in the way that technology is playing around around social media.

But a point that they are also raising with me often is we intuitively know and can decipher miss and disinformation, but where do we go for accurate information?

Yes, and so as we move forward and certainly as I think about it.

That is one of the challenges we face is how do we ground these discussions that are in particular, when we are faced with a disagreement of at least opinion, have as our entry point not the difference of opinion, but a query about whether we're working with.

The same information, yeah.

As a beginning point, and then also having some idea about where we are all collectively trust to be the sources of accurate information.

But I mention again gen Z, because they're not for the most part, and I say this to people of my generation.

They're not watching the evening news.

They're not and a lot of their information, for example, they're getting on TikTok Instagram.

Right.

And so, as we are thinking about the.

Future of democracies, the future of society, how we are going to deal with what we see and feel and witness to be the divisions in society, one of the issues that we have to confront and really think about is this issue of where and how do we share accurate information.

And interestingly enough, and I can tell you it certainly in politics.

It is we know it to be true.

Some of the most reliable and trusted sources of information for an individual or people they know.

So I offer that to the friends here to reinforce don't ever underestimate your power to have conversations with the people in your life.

Colleagues, friends, neighbors.

Which are grounded and sharing information about the things you know to be accurate and true with you know, and do that knowing that you should not assume that we're all working with the same information.

Yeah.

Yeah, figuring out how to get back to the foundation of the house being facts and not the phrase coined by you know who downstairs, because alternative facts are not a thing.

They're all lots downstairs from you.

Who are you talking about I'm talking about I'm.

Talking about America is like the crazy is your favor sometimes to Canada, like, man, who is that person?

And she's like you move to the East Coast and suddenly your neighbors are crazy.

No, it's us, and like, you know, there's facts or there's lives.

Frankly, we've got to have the foundation be let's meet to talk about the facts and then figure out, with our differences of opinion, how we're going to build the house.

And I'm thrilled that this is something you're focusing on it's you know, I've got a thousand more cards and we're running out of time, so I'm not going to be able to ask all those questions.

But particularly watching you move into new media despite not having had all that many days.

You know, I say this as a person.

Who has a podcast.

Podcast equipment has gotten far too inexpensive.

Some people, I'm like, you shouldn't have a podcast.

You're literally spouting the live parts that are going to get people killed.

Stop it.

So knowing that you are on the case of helping us cut through some of the noise and return to some truth telling thrills me.

Dare I say, it makes me feel hopeful, and hope can feel in the world right now, not just for us and you know, folks in the United States, but I think globally, hope can feel like a radical act right now.

And it strikes me that you are moving through your leadership clearly and tactically and with hope.

You're not letting go of the joy that you gave to us last year.

And I'm curious for you when you look at the landscape of your life right now and you look at what you're excited about, what feels like you're work in progress.

You know, when I look at when I look at gen Z, when I look at the young people, when I look at those who are young, whatever your age, who we still.

Have a glimmer and a light.

And I just I've strongly believe that no election or individuals should be allowed to defeat our spirit, because then the bad guys are winning.

Right, you can't let something defeat your spirit.

And I feel that way.

I feel that you never let anyone take your power from you.

And there's so much worth fighting for.

Look, you know, for those of us who have and everyone here has experienced some conflict, some form of defeat or disappointment.

But wherever you started your day, we're all here together and that tells us something about ourselves, that it.

Is our nature.

And I don't suggest that we should be blind to what's happening.

I don't suggest that we should be deeply troubled and angry and you know, and you know, depressed and sad and all of those things.

Those are good emotions to have when you care.

It's important to care.

And then we got to just say, Okay, I understand what's happening here.

I'm going to get back out there because there are going to be people there when I go back out there, and we're going to need to see each other.

I mean, I ask you just look at the person next to you and say, hey, how you doing.

Just like, look, we're all here together.

Hi, we're all here together right now.

It's really great.

You know, it's really great.

We're all here together.

Yeah, you know.

And let's hold on to these feelings.

This is who by this is who we are by nature, and we can't be defeated because there's too much worth.

There's so much to do and so much good to do.

So it's refusing defeat.

It's like you said, you can, you can concede an election, but not the fight for who we.

Are absolutely right, And to that point, Sophia is so in the rallies, I would end every rally with a call and response, which is that I would say when we fight, and the audience would say, we win.

Because I believe that an election night and writing.

That chapter of the book was probably the most difficult thing I've ever done.

So that night, our plan was that we would have gone to the campus of my alma mater, Howard University.

To give a victory speech.

We thought we were going to win, and of course that is not what happened.

And so I had to figure out the speech I was going to give the next day to all the people who came back assembled from the night before, and I was just battling with myself.

I have to figure out how to reconcile for the people who are there and everyone who heard me and believe me when I said, we fight, we win.

I had to reconcile that, because it was not when I said that, and then given the outcome it was, it was not as trite as all you win some, you lose some.

And on my.

Way to Howard to the university, I actually wrote into my speech the thing that I believe equally to that.

And sometimes the fight takes a while, yep.

And sometimes the fight takes a while, right, So let's understand the nature of it.

And be up for it, and.

In the process have joy, have a sense of community, find time to laugh, find time to sing and to dance, eat good food, and fight.

All these things coexist in a beautiful way.

Yeah, in a beautiful way.

The moral arc of the universe is long.

It's long, and we have to remember to stay engaged for the long haul.

And now a word from our sponsors who make the show possible.

It's a perfect segue to the Q and A from some of our audience.

I asked for you, Sarah is asking on behalf of my twelve year old nephew, Darius.

What advice would you give to youth like him who want to pursue a future in politics?

How do you A?

Where are you?

Hi?

Sarah is Deriah's here?

Hid by you?

Oh, I'm so glad you're here and that you guys are here together.

See, this is why we're excited, right, this is why we're excited.

So here is the thing, Dearias.

So first of all, I have to tell you that I'm so excited you're here, and I love seeing our young leaders.

I believe we are all born as leaders and it's just a matter of when you decide to turn it on.

And the fact that you're here means you have decided already, And that's the beginning step if you want to be in politics.

Here's what I would encourage you to do.

Think about and talk with people about the Ask people in your life what are the things that make you afraid and what are the things that make you hopeful and then start to listen to what they're talking about, and it may be they are afraid about the climate crisis.

And then if they talk to you about that, I want you to do some research to understand exactly what is the nature of the crisis.

You're going to find that human behavior has a lot to do with it.

Find out what people are hopeful about.

Maybe it's that they're starting a family, and then you're going to think about, well, what would make for a healthy family, and that could be about the education of the children, the health care that they have, their ability to afford a home, and listen to these things, and then pay attention to what just kind of gives you a little tingle, like, oh, that's something.

I want to know more about.

Because if you're going to decide to get in politics, you have to have a purpose that is bigger than yourself, and it's about figuring out how you can help people, but connect it to something that gives you a sense of passion which you are ready to fight for it.

You stay up at night thinking about it, And that's how I want you to think about it.

Okay, high five, virtually, high five, virtually there we are.

Beautiful Alexa would like to know for those of us who might never run for office but want to make a difference where we are, what is a small action you actually think is powerful?

Where's Alexa?

Where are you?

Hi?

Hi?

So, first of all, I want you to never refer to yourself as doing small things.

Okay, just don't do that.

I also like, please don't ever say sorry unless you break something.

Like you know what I mean?

You know, Oh, I'm sorry.

I have a question.

No, just asked the question.

There is no small There's no small thing you can do.

One of the things I think, so first of all, being involved in campaigns and policy around advocacy around the policies that you care about is very important.

I think one of the things, especially now that is incredibly important is figure out in your community where there are nonprofits that are doing work that is the work that you care about.

So many of our nonprofits are just stretched around their resources, be it the people who work there or they're you know, just their funding.

And when a stranger walks in and says or calls and says or emails and says, how can I help you?

Guys?

That's really great?

And there are nonprofits that are doing a range of good works.

Work that would love.

I'm sure to hear from you to figure out how you can contribute to what they're doing.

And you know, here's the great thing about politics about nonprofit work.

You meet the best people.

You meet the.

Best people when you're in those places because you just it's other people who are just you know, they just they're ready to roll their sleeves up and do it.

And sometimes it's about baking cookies, and sometimes it's about you know, doing whatever it needs to be done around writing things, or or just out there knocking on doors.

So I would encourage you to think about it that way.

Okay, all right, thank you.

Yeah, I've got one more for you, And forgive me.

I don't have a pronunciation guide here, so I'm going to try my best.

Princess, guilded.

Princess, Where are you?

Well, there are so many here I know, but I don't know.

Where.

Oh where?

It's okay, you don't out there is are you there?

Yes?

There?

She doesn't want to stand up.

Okay, there, we are going to pretend that we don't see you, even.

Though we do.

It's okay, okay, we know your general vicinity.

Now, given the incredible momentum the Democratic Party has built recently.

What guidance would you give to ensure the movement stays energized, united and connected to the people it serves.

You gotta listen.

I mean, part of it is just that basic.

You have to listen to the people.

You can't lead as a party or as an individual by telling people what's in their best interest.

You have to listen.

And right now, the future of the Democrat Pratic Party has to also be fueled as it's been, and we've got great leaders around fighting.

You got to be ready to fight.

I mean, this is a time truly to fight fire with fire.

This is not a time to sit around and complain about oh, they're cheating, they are cheating, and and so that's how I think about it.

And we have to be you know, part of connected with the first part about listening is you have to be relevant and that means being clear eyed about a moment in time and challenging assumptions and being prepared to This sounds so cliche, but to meet the moment.

And that is, yes, about the fight, but it's also about you know, I mean, again my point, my earlier point that we've discussed about missing disinformation, about how technology is having such an impact at such a rapid pace and what that's doing around displacement.

And I don't mean to say that technology is bad, but there are impacts that we cannot overlook when we as a as a political party are are professing to have a vision for the future, and it also the future of the party has to be about understanding that we cannot have a circular firing squad and we have to be disciplined, you know.

So there is the tactical piece of it all.

You know, there's a piece of it that's about policy, there's a piece of it that's about messaging, and then there is the tactical piece of it, and that's maybe.

Where you can put it under that cat.

That's about knowing how to fight, and part of it is understanding that, given the what's at stake, this is not a time to have a circular firing squad when the stuff that we're dealing with is historic in nature and has the potential to end up causing an extraordinary amount of debris because of destructive policies.

And on that happy note, let's see, let's not end with that, Okay.

Give me more.

I didn't get to ask.

Hold on, I'm not.

Sending you guys back out into that cold with this, but you know.

What it's all about staying engaged.

And I am really curious.

You know.

Part of the way we do that, to your point, is partnership.

Whether it's showing up at a nonprofit, whether it's encouraging people to get active early, whether it's doing something for your neighbor.

And we are up we're upstairs if you're picking up what I'm putting down.

With our neighbor.

And I'm really.

I'm really curious from your vantage point.

You know, there's big, bad global forces moving.

Fascism's on the rise everywhere.

It's scary on the planet.

We're supposed to go to a happy place.

I know.

I'm gonna just follow me there.

I'm long winded too, you know, but I think of not only how we can show up in our communities, but how we can show up across our continent.

And when you think about the potential for allyship as you mentioned earlier, for partnerships between countries, hours in Canada both mine love it for me, Like, how do you envision that kind of international progressive advocacy working.

That's great.

I love how you framed it.

This is how I think about it, the relationship between nations.

I believe I, as Vice President the United States, met over one hundred and fifty world leaders, presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings, and have traveled the world.

As you can imagine, I am convinced that the strength of the relationship between nations is completely and almost entirely dependent on the strength between the people of those nations.

The people that the relationship between Canada and the United States, and I know it, it's a lived experience for me.

I lived in Canada.

Is as much as anything not about the relationships between the Prime Minister and the president.

It's about the people.

And let's remember that, you know, let's remember that.

Let's remember that it is about mutual respect and admiration and shared experiences, and especially in moments like this where to your point, around the world, we are seeing an ascendancy in some places of leadership that is working against that spirit.

Let's have some faith.

In the fact that we still do have those relationships between the people and that that will carry us through a specific.

Moment of conflict or crisis.

And I certainly believe that's true as it relates to you.

I'd stay it's in Canada.

Hi, Jan, That's.

Beautiful, and I have so many more questions, but we are out of time, So if I may, I would like to echo one last sentiment from your book.

Your pastor, Bishop Lea Daughtry sent you a meditation every day of your campaign, and this is after twenty years of your friendship.

On the final days, she told you to stand, to stand in the strength that was given to you, believing and knowing that you've done your part.

I'm gonna cry, sorry, guys, I'm fine tonight.

I would really love if you would do me and everyone hear the honor of standing, so we can just shower you in the appreciation you deserve.