Rebel News Podcast - March 15, 2023


DAVID MENZIES ｜ Documents show how school board failed to protect the wellbeing of students and parents


Episode Stats

Length

50 minutes

Words per Minute

137.54523

Word Count

6,995

Sentence Count

413

Misogynist Sentences

14

Hate Speech Sentences

16


Summary

It took six months and $4,000, but we finally have the FOI skinny on how the Halton District School Board handled the Busty Lemieux scandal, and the verdict? This board is woefully woke and thoroughly incompetent.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Tonight, it took six months and $4,000, but we finally have the FOI skinny on how the Halton
00:00:22.840 District School Board handled the busty Lemieux scandal, and the verdict? This board is woefully
00:00:30.800 woke and thoroughly incompetent. It's Wednesday, March 15th, 2023. I'm David Menzies, and this
00:00:39.540 is the Ezra LeVent Show.
00:00:44.460 Shame on you, you censorious bug.
00:00:52.840 Six months and some $4,000 later, we finally have our hands on the September 2022 Halton
00:01:05.220 District School Board's internal communications pertaining to the international laughingstock
00:01:11.540 that is Kerry Luke Lemieux, a.k.a. Kayla Lemieux, a.k.a. Busty Lemieux. Now, you may have heard
00:01:18.960 of him. He teaches shop class at Oakville Trafalgar High School, decked out as a grotesque caricature
00:01:25.640 of a woman complete with fake Z-cup breasts. Mind you, Lemieux claims those boobs are real,
00:01:34.540 proving beyond doubt that this dude is a complete nut bar. And it turns out that descriptor can also
00:01:41.860 be applied to many of the woefully woke staffers who are gainfully employed at the Halton District
00:01:48.640 School Board. And those documents we acquired via a Freedom of Information request certainly paint a
00:01:56.000 fascinating picture. The various memos and emails conclusively prove that the moment media reports
00:02:03.860 surfaced about the drag queen shop teacher, the strategy of the HDSB was to run all manners of
00:02:12.340 interference to protect Lemieux. Parents were ignored or told to shut up if they had questions about the
00:02:21.440 motives of this modified humanoid. Meanwhile, journalists the world over were given the runaround.
00:02:27.800 Indeed, the HDSB consistently refused to answer specific questions, but would instead issue
00:02:35.840 nonsensical, politically correct statements that were, in the final analysis, completely meaningless.
00:02:45.160 In fact, that's what led us to filing a Freedom of Information request in the first place.
00:02:50.060 Even though the HDSB is a taxpayer-funded school board that should be accountable and transparent,
00:02:56.620 we found that it is neither. That in this bureaucratic fiefdom, the trustees are hopelessly woke
00:03:04.500 and entitled, and they believe they are experts when it comes to, well, everything from labor law to
00:03:12.920 transgenderism. So it was that it became apparent that we'd have to pry the information from their clammy
00:03:21.760 hands. The HDSB was not happy about that. In fact, they thought they could torpedo our request for
00:03:29.880 information by attaching an outrageously enormous fee to it. The board wanted more than $4,000 to obtain less
00:03:39.820 than one month's worth of correspondence. Correspondence that is easily retrievable from a database. Most media outlets
00:03:49.620 would have caved at such a fee would have caved at such a fee, but we called their bluff, and we crowdfunded
00:03:55.200 the costs, and I thank you, dear viewers, for helping us in that mission. After getting the dough, the HDSB
00:04:03.440 then ragged the puck in terms of delivering the goods. The HDSB missed not one but two deadlines.
00:04:10.780 But here we are finally, six months later, and we have those documents that could have and should have
00:04:19.040 been delivered in perhaps less than six hours. Unbelievable. I'll get into all the nitty-gritty
00:04:25.420 details of those documents we acquired in just a few moments, but first allow me to fast forward to an
00:04:32.520 executive summary of conclusions that I amassed based on reading through some 450 pages. Number one,
00:04:42.220 the HDSB purposely threw an innocent teacher under the bus, allowing him to be falsely named as the
00:04:50.440 Zed Cup drag queen when they could have immediately corrected the record and saved this man embarrassment.
00:04:59.000 Number two, the HDSB had absolutely no intention in terms of being transparent to parents or media
00:05:07.800 outlets the world over, choosing instead to issue an oft-repeated nonsensical statement that was all
00:05:15.340 about gender rather than Lemieux's code of conduct. Number three, even though the HDSB would not provide
00:05:23.980 actual information to the media, the board was downright obsessive over the media coverage pertaining
00:05:31.780 to the busty Lemieux saga, keeping detailed records of the press coverage. And yet, despite the
00:05:39.860 international embarrassment that was on display at Oakville Trafalgar High School, they chose to do
00:05:47.140 absolutely nothing. And four, it is abundantly clear this board is far more concerned with embracing
00:05:55.840 radical transgenderism rather than the concerns of parents and students. In fact, it appears that not
00:06:04.700 only was Lemieux being protected by the school board, which even included police protection, if you can imagine,
00:06:12.320 but that Lemieux was actually, in effect, running the school board because the unofficial slogan of the HDSB
00:06:21.720 appears to be, if it's good, it's trans, and if it's trans, it's good. In any event, let's start with what was
00:06:30.440 arguably the most despicable behavior exhibited by the HDSB in the earliest days of the Lemieux scandal. Namely,
00:06:38.540 the board allowed a completely innocent teacher at Oakville Trafalgar to be misidentified as Busty Lemieux.
00:06:47.120 I'm not going to name that teacher because he doesn't deserve any more grief. Let's just call him
00:06:52.340 Mr. X in the meantime. Luckily, we have video evidence of my interview with the board's director
00:06:59.960 of education. That would be Curtis Ennis, he, him. This interview took place some five days after the
00:07:07.680 Lemieux story broke. Check it out. My name is David Menzies with Rebel News. I sent you an email,
00:07:12.720 and it's in regard to Mr. breaking the dress code, not adhering to the shop, health and safety rules,
00:07:20.820 and I'm wondering why that's being tolerated.
00:07:25.880 So, can you speak outside, please? Okay. I'm going to take it outside.
00:07:30.200 So, we are, as a board, we are committed to human rights, and we're committed to supporting all our
00:07:43.580 teachers and staff and students in an environment that upholds their dignity, their gender identity,
00:07:50.720 and their gender expression. So, folks, as you witnessed, Mr. Ennis, he, him, is far more concerned
00:07:57.260 about gender identity matters rather than correcting the record. Not once does he go on to state that I
00:08:05.400 have the wrong teacher's name. How bizarre. And check out this memo from Heather Francie. She's supposed
00:08:14.720 to be the communications person at the HDSB, except she barely communicates. No, seriously, check out her
00:08:22.640 Twitter account. It's locked. Now, isn't this the opposite of communicating? What a loser. Anyway,
00:08:31.420 here's the email I received from Francie several hours after our video aired. Quote,
00:08:39.020 Hi, David. Just received your voicemail. I responded to your questions yesterday morning and followed up
00:08:45.160 yesterday evening below to notify you that Mr. X has been mistakenly identified in your coverage of
00:08:53.540 this story. The HDSB has also issued the following news release this morning on our website, social media
00:09:02.140 and media contacts. You are also included on the distribution list for this news release. End quote.
00:09:09.940 But here's the kicker, folks. Check out what time Francie sent out this correction. It was on Monday,
00:09:16.420 September 19th at 1018 p.m. You see, Francie and or her puppet masters waited until after Rebel News
00:09:25.980 and stateside Fox News aired the incorrect info earlier that evening regarding the identity of the
00:09:34.780 teacher. And this misinformation had been circulating for at least five full days. So why would this
00:09:43.440 loving and compassionate school board do that? Was it laziness? Was it incompetence? Maybe it was
00:09:51.000 maliciousness, i.e. the HDSB wanted the misinformation to be reported so that the board could attack the
00:09:59.160 credibility of media outlets that got the name wrong. Brutal. But I will say this, the HDSB educrats
00:10:08.000 were at least smart enough not to put their strategy in writing. This misinformation initiative
00:10:14.680 must have been via verbal discussions so that there would be, you know, no paper trail. Either that or
00:10:21.520 the board conveniently forgot to send along all the documents we requested. And you know what? I
00:10:28.580 wouldn't put such chicanery past these creeps. But the board's communications and media relations
00:10:35.320 strategy regarding Boobzilla was truly remarkable for all the wrong reasons. Much to their chagrin,
00:10:43.420 the story did not peter out after the 24-hour news cycle ran its course. Instead, the Busty Lemieux saga
00:10:51.360 got bigger and bigger as the board got increasingly inept. And darn it, those pesky parents,
00:11:00.360 you know, the taxpayers who fund the HDSB, well, they wouldn't shut up with all their impolite
00:11:06.840 questions, all of which put the board into an unnecessary panic. Unnecessary because all the board
00:11:14.840 had to do was, you know, act like adults driven by common sense. All they had to do was start an
00:11:22.300 investigation regarding Lemieux, or at the very least enforce a dress code. But alas, they didn't
00:11:29.800 want to come across as transphobic, even though the trans community was not supporting Lemieux. Yes,
00:11:37.280 even this community knew something was fishier than month-old tuna. Still, check out this memo
00:11:45.060 entitled, Speaking Notes Re-OTHS, that stands for Oakville Trafalgar High School, from Heather Francie
00:11:52.780 to Trustees External on September 16, 2022. Quote,
00:11:58.280 Hello, we've prepared speaking notes to support you in conversations you may have with your school
00:12:06.000 communities regarding OTHS. The following speaking notes have been prepared to support you with
00:12:13.600 conversations you may have with students, staff, parents, guardians, and community members regarding
00:12:20.880 Oakville Trafalgar High School speaking notes. End quote. And what were those speaking notes, you ask?
00:12:29.460 Fasten your seatbelts, folks. Here we go. Quote,
00:12:32.940 The Halton District School Board is committed to establishing and maintaining a safe, caring,
00:12:40.860 inclusive, equitable, and welcoming learning and working environment for all students and staff.
00:12:47.360 We strive to promote a positive learning environment in schools consistent with the values of the school
00:12:55.580 board and to ensure a safe and inclusive learning and working environment for all students, staff,
00:13:02.480 and the community, regardless of their race, age, ability, sex, gender identity, gender expression,
00:13:10.000 sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, cultural observance, socioeconomic circumstances,
00:13:17.300 or body type size. The HDSB recognizes the rights of students, staff, parents, guardians,
00:13:25.740 and community members to equitable treatment without discrimination based upon gender identity
00:13:33.280 and gender expression. Gender identity and gender expression are protected grounds under the Ontario
00:13:40.960 Human Rights Code. The HDSB's hiring processes are fair, consistent, and transparent and promote a
00:13:49.520 qualified and diverse workforce. The HDSB believes all staff, in addition to students, parents, guardians,
00:13:58.100 and community members have the right to express themselves in a manner consistent with their gender
00:14:05.480 expression. We are respectful of the privacy of all our staff. As always, our highest priority is the
00:14:14.520 safety and well-being of our students and staff. As this is a personal matter, we cannot provide
00:14:22.280 further information." End quote. Wow, that heap and helping of word salad was the stand pat,
00:14:31.100 due rigueur answer for every query uttered by a parent or journalist regarding Lemieux. Even if parents
00:14:40.780 or reporters had specific questions about Lemieux's clothing or those fake boobs or why he continued to
00:14:49.800 violate workshop etiquette rules, that gender rubbish was regurgitated dozens and dozens and dozens of times
00:15:00.040 over as our FOI documents reveal. It was as if the HDSB was an automated service as opposed to an organization
00:15:11.160 staffed by sentient human beings. Indeed, in the early going, I sent out a very detailed email about Lemieux
00:15:19.640 it had seven specific questions about Lemieux and school board policy and dress codes.
00:15:28.520 And all I got back was, blah, blah, blah, blah, gender identity, blah, blah, blah, blah, sexual orientation,
00:15:34.760 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, gender expression, blah, blah, blah, blah. Not a single query was answered.
00:15:42.200 What's more, it made me wonder if Heather Francie is an admirer of Greta Thunberg.
00:15:49.080 Or blah, blah, blah, build back better, blah, blah, blah, green economy, blah, blah, blah, net zero by 2050, blah, blah, blah.
00:15:58.040 Yet even though the HDSB educrats desperately wished that the Busty Lemieux story would simply fade away,
00:16:06.200 Alas and alack, they kept being bombarded by pesky questioners. Check out this email on September 19th,
00:16:16.200 entitled Subject Generic Response for OTHS Parents. By the way, did you notice the admission
00:16:25.800 that their woke mumbo jumbo statement is a generic response? It comes from Superintendent Jacqueline
00:16:33.720 Newton and sent to Francie and Scott Poderabaric and Hawa Jayam-Abo. It reads, quote,
00:16:43.880 Hello, Heather and Scott. We need help with how to respond to parents who are individually emailing
00:16:51.080 Meredith and me, addressing things, allowing this type of dress as a teacher, etc., end quote.
00:16:57.480 Yeah, so in other words, the media and parents weren't buying that endlessly repeated woke generic
00:17:05.960 gender garbage statement. And what was the solution? Well, the solution was to simply stop responding
00:17:14.520 altogether. Indeed, look what happened at the September HDSB public meeting. Look at the agenda.
00:17:23.560 And it was so telling, isn't it? Even though the Busty Lemieux story was receiving worldwide media
00:17:31.960 attention, and even though the HDSB and Oakville Trafalgar were being flooded with phone calls on a
00:17:39.160 daily basis, the Lemieux issue wasn't even on the agenda. In fact, parents were told that they were not
00:17:47.160 even permitted to ask questions verbally. Rather, questions would have to be provided in writing in
00:17:53.720 advance and that the staff would cherry pick which questions they would present. And of course, no
00:18:01.240 questions regarding Lemieux would be entertained because, well, just because, okay? Clearly, those who work
00:18:09.320 at the HDSB are not educators. They are a bunch of censorious thugs. Here's some more proof in that
00:18:18.360 putrid pudding. Another internal email from Francie to various staffers, quote,
00:18:24.440 Hello. Staff are asked to be aware of reporters from the media attending some schools and board sites
00:18:32.440 this week to inquire about the situation at Oakville Trafalgar High School that has received significant
00:18:40.840 attention over the past several days. Staff are asked to direct all media requests to the Communications and
00:18:49.720 Engagement Department. Please share this message with others as required, end quote. Yeah, we wouldn't
00:18:57.880 want the unvarnished truth getting out there, would we now? Better to control and censor the narrative. In
00:19:04.520 fact, this memo truly highlights Francie's cowardice, i.e., she can't even say what the issue is in her
00:19:14.680 email, calling it instead the, quote, situation at Oakville Trafalgar High School that has received
00:19:22.840 significant attention over the past several days, end quote. Really? What's the situation? Downed
00:19:30.920 hydro wires, maybe? Incredible. It's as though Lemieux wields such incredible power, thanks to strapping on
00:19:39.720 those diverse Zed Cup Hooters, that he is akin to the Harry Potter villain, Lord Voldemort, a.k.a.
00:19:48.840 he who must not be named. That thing has a name? Oh, Meredith, by the way, is Meredith Camisuli,
00:19:55.800 she, her, the principal at Oakville Trafalgar High School, and another useless woke twit employed by the
00:20:03.480 HDSB. Case in point, one piece of communication in our FOI package indicates that Chrissy Clark,
00:20:11.960 a reporter with the Daily Caller, reached out to Principal Camisuli, she, her. Clark asked some
00:20:19.720 pointed questions, including whether the school thinks it is appropriate for an educator to wear
00:20:25.640 such clothing and if there is going to be a protest at the school later that day. And the response by
00:20:33.640 Camisuli, she, her is absolutely batshite bizarre. Namely, she states, quote, if you are in distress
00:20:42.200 and need to talk, please contact one of the following agencies. Kids Help Phone, up to age 24,
00:20:50.760 provides information, strategies, and access to phone, test, live chat support. The Rock 24-hour crisis
00:21:00.280 line, if you or someone you know is feeling suicidal, please call 911, end quote. Yeah, so obviously if you
00:21:10.520 have questions about a shop teacher dressing as a grotesque caricature of a woman, you are the one with
00:21:18.760 a problem and perhaps your mental issue is so great that you're feeling suicidal maybe and that you
00:21:26.280 desperately need help. Unbelievable. As previously mentioned, even though the HDSB refused to communicate
00:21:34.760 with the media in a tangible fashion, the board was downright obsessive about the media coverage the
00:21:43.560 Lemieux situation was receiving, providing detailed notes on a daily basis almost. Examples, Anthony
00:21:50.920 Fury in the Toronto Sun school board goes silent on viral teacher citing personal matter. Opinion piece
00:21:59.800 in the Globe and Mail, Ontario teachers prosthetic bust offers a lesson about body shaming. Inside
00:22:07.480 Halton.com, Halton District School Board's Twitter feed is blowing up as photos of a transgender high
00:22:14.760 school tech teacher wearing large prosthetic breasts. Speaking of other media outlets, I had a good chuckle
00:22:23.800 regarding one email sent to the HDSB from a podcaster who was quite miffed apparently that Rebel News got an
00:22:32.040 exclusive interview with director of education Mr. Innes, he him. I speak of an email from somebody called
00:22:41.000 Joel McLeod who runs something called the 905er podcast. Yeah, I never heard of it either. Regardless,
00:22:50.120 McLeod pleads with Francie for some HDSB educrat to come on his podcast, but it's no dice. So he states this,
00:22:59.320 quote, thank you for the response. I would point out though that Mr. Innes did give an interview to
00:23:05.480 Rebel Media, which is being circulated around as evidence that HDSB has an agenda one way or another
00:23:13.800 on this matter. We are offering a chance for you to present a more balanced version of HDSB policy
00:23:22.760 at this point, end quote. A more balanced version of HDSB policy? Like really, Joel? I asked Innes,
00:23:32.280 he him questions and he responded. And as previously mentioned, the biggest takeaway was this woke joke
00:23:40.040 educrat throwing an innocent teacher under the bus by allowing him to be misidentified as the drag queen.
00:23:47.160 And do you know how we got that interview, Joel? We physically drove down to HDSB headquarters in
00:23:55.480 Burlington. So here's some free advice. Get off your fat ricotta cheese candy ass and do some shoe
00:24:04.520 leather journalism. You know, instead of just vegging out behind a microphone to produce a podcast nobody
00:24:11.720 listens to, go out into the field and get the story. You're welcome. Now, at one point, Antonella
00:24:21.000 Artuzo of the Toronto Sun emails Francie about Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce expressing his
00:24:28.680 disdain for the ongoing Busty Lemieux circus. Yes, even the board's provincial government masters were
00:24:37.640 no longer amused with this. Artuzo writes, quote, Hi, Heather. I was wondering if HDSB had any response
00:24:45.880 to the minister's comments today or if there is any update that you can provide on the Oakville teacher.
00:24:53.800 Minister Lecce said he has asked the Ontario College of Teachers to take another look at professional
00:25:00.920 standards, end quote. And the STANPAT gender identity blah, blah, blah response changed. Well,
00:25:09.080 it changed a little bit. Writes back Francie, quote, Hi, Antonella. Thanks for reaching out.
00:25:15.720 I am providing the following statement on behalf of Curtis Ennis, director of education for the
00:25:22.200 Halton District School Board. Our school board has received significant attention online and in the news
00:25:29.800 over the past week, the Halton District School Board continues to handle this matter in a way that
00:25:36.200 stays true to our values and commitment to human rights, respects the privacy and dignity of our
00:25:43.800 students and staff, and with the safety and well-being of students and staff as our highest priority. As staff,
00:25:52.120 we are guided by numerous legislation and also fundamentally by the privacy and confidentiality
00:26:00.280 of each of our employees. While I understand the desire for information by the public,
00:26:06.680 we will not and cannot publicly discuss any matter that identifies our staff directly or indirectly.
00:26:15.160 I trust the public will understand the parameters that guide us, end quote. Pathetic. After all,
00:26:24.440 the Lemieux controversy, it's not about the privacy of an individual who is either pranking the school
00:26:32.360 board or more likely is an outright sexual pervert. No, the issue is why can't the HDSB have a dress code
00:26:41.880 for its teachers much like it has a dress code for its students, much like it has a dress code for Halloween costumes. Why is this such a non-starter?
00:26:54.440 Indeed, one media mention, the board noted, was a segment on News Talk 1010 with host Jerry Agar interviewing employment lawyer
00:27:03.960 Sunira Chaudhary about the HDSB and dress codes. Oh, by the way, in November, employment lawyers Howard
00:27:11.000 Levitt and Peter Carey would pen a column in the Financial Post also regarding the HDSB and dress codes.
00:27:20.440 Now, folks, Chaudhary, Levitt and Carey are amongst the cream of the crop when it comes to labor lawyers in Canada.
00:27:28.600 They have forgotten more about labor law than the entire staff of the HDSB will ever learn.
00:27:35.480 And their message was both clear and consistent. An employer, even an employer dealing with a unionized
00:27:44.440 environment, has every right to implement a dress code for employees. Case closed. That's five figures
00:27:53.400 worth of free legal advice for the HDSB. But again, this stubborn and stupid school board chose to ignore
00:28:01.800 this advice because, well, because of a paranoid, delusional belief that Lemieux might take the board
00:28:09.800 to a human rights tribunal. What a farce. Not even the wackadoodles who comprise that kind of a kangaroo
00:28:17.800 court would have sided with Lemieux after all. As we have chronicled, the original strategy of the HDSB
00:28:26.360 was to reassign this gender bender to other schools in the region, hoping that no parents
00:28:34.920 or students would notice and or complain about him. Alas, those Zed cups with protruding nipples
00:28:43.160 tend to stand out a tad. So the HDSB gave up on that strategy and eventually tossed them back
00:28:50.360 to Oakville Trafalgar High School. And shockers, still the story wouldn't go away. The latest scoop,
00:28:58.760 courtesy of the New York Post, in which Lemieux was photographed wearing male clothing and without
00:29:06.040 those fake boobs. Nevertheless, Lemieux denies that the male in the photograph is him, even though the
00:29:13.640 facial features, in particular the nose, look identical. Oh, and for all the fretting about
00:29:20.760 transphobia, Lemieux himself now says he is not transgendered. Oopsie. And so it was that the HDSB's
00:29:32.040 ultimate solution last month was to tell Lemieux to simply stay home. And that's what he's doing,
00:29:41.160 folks. He's earning a full teacher salary and enjoying a gold-plated benefit plan for doing
00:29:48.840 absolutely nothing all day long except perhaps watching cartoons. Oh, there's plenty of blame
00:29:55.480 to go around here. After all, it's been months since Education Minister Stephen Lecce first issued his
00:30:03.480 edict to the board to get its act in order and start enforcing a dress code for its teachers.
00:30:10.040 He has repeated this mandate over and over again. Alas, now, Minister Lecce, he has all the credibility
00:30:18.600 of a professional wrestling referee. You know, listen, HDSB, this is the eighth time I've warned you to
00:30:26.040 implement a dress code. And if you don't do it, well, I'm going to warn you a ninth time. Unbelievable.
00:30:32.040 Come on, Lecce, man up already. You have the power to disband this out-of-control
00:30:39.720 and useless school board. So do it. In the final analysis, what our FOI documentation reveals is
00:30:49.080 that the HDSB is about as transparent as ebony-hued marble. And these self-entitled
00:30:56.680 educrats, they absolutely hate parents. Oh, they do. They really do, folks. Parents, you see, get in
00:31:04.920 the way. What with all their nosy Parker questions and concerns. That's why these trustees will call
00:31:12.280 the police and actually have parents physically removed from a school board public meeting if a
00:31:18.760 mother or father has the temerity to ask impolite questions. As for the kids, this board, it's not
00:31:27.000 about education, but rather indoctrination. Who cares if little Johnny or Janie can't spell cat
00:31:35.000 if you were to spot them the C and the T? The real goal is to cram their minds with wokeness. These
00:31:42.440 trustees despise common sense and family values. They instead champion perversity as diversity.
00:31:50.840 They believe that so-called equity is excellence. That's their new normal. Sure, the provincial test
00:31:58.760 scores are plummeting in Ontario, but as long as the kids are wearing rainbow-hued t-shirts and identify
00:32:06.840 as a gender-fluid two-spirited pansexual unicorn and that they are careful not to misgender anyone
00:32:16.520 and that they subscribe to a form of Marxism. Well, that's what's really important in Halton region
00:32:23.880 these days. As for Busty Lemieux, he is truly enjoying the last laugh. He now gets paid not to work.
00:32:33.400 And if you all have a problem with that, well, you're obviously a transphobe, even though Lemieux
00:32:38.360 himself in his most recent interview with the New York Post stated that he's not transgender.
00:32:45.080 Oh, and those infamous Zed cup breasts, by the way, well, those are real mammary glands, don't you know?
00:32:51.720 Oh yeah. Lemieux says he started developing these sweater stretchers at age 39. He has some sort of
00:32:58.680 medical condition, you see. Yeah, the Busty Lemieux story more and more resembles a Monty Python sketch
00:33:07.560 with every passing week. And yet, even now, even despite these admissions, the HDSB is still kowtowing
00:33:18.920 to this fake female wannabe. Indeed, the true tragedy in Halton District boils down to this.
00:33:27.800 A taxpayer-funded fruitcake who is way past his best before date has been ideologically weaponized by
00:33:37.640 his employers. And even worse, there is absolutely no end in sight regarding this farce because everyone
00:33:47.000 from the HDSB's Director of Education, Curtis Innes, he, him, and Heather Francie, and Principal
00:33:55.080 Meredith Camisuli, she, her, and yes, even Education Minister Stephen Lecce. Well, let's face facts here, folks.
00:34:05.320 None of them have any balls.
00:34:07.160 You may know Derek Sloan as a former Conservative MP and the leader of the Ontario Party, but get this,
00:34:18.680 he is now also a published author. His book is entitled Glorious and Free, and it recently debuted,
00:34:26.440 and get a load of this, folks, it's already a bestseller. And joining me now from Belleville,
00:34:31.720 Ontario is Mr. Sloan himself to discuss his book and other matters. Derek, thanks so much for making
00:34:40.200 time for me, my friend. Really glad to be here. Thanks a lot, David. You got it. You know, I love,
00:34:46.600 love, love your book's title, Glorious and Free, yet by the same token, Derek, given recent events in our
00:34:53.880 country over the past few years. Our great dominion doesn't seem all that glorious and free anymore.
00:35:01.320 What say you? Well, there's no question there's a lot of issues facing Canada, some of which have
00:35:07.160 become publicized as of late in regards to Chinese interference in our electoral process. Of course,
00:35:13.560 this kind of thing's been going on for years. This book is a call to the way that I believe Canada
00:35:19.960 needs to be run. There's a lot of people who will agree with me in a lot of the points here.
00:35:25.000 It's a bit of a roadmap to say, listen, this is where we are, but how can we get to the place
00:35:29.560 where Canada is the best country that it can be? And I know we can't digest an entire book in the
00:35:37.320 amount of time we have right now, Derek, but what would be maybe, you know, two or three of the major
00:35:44.280 points that you would like readers to take away after reading your book?
00:35:51.160 Well, you know, politics is for more than politicians. For the country to change, it's
00:35:55.480 going to take Canadians waking up and taking the mantle of leadership on their own shoulders.
00:36:02.760 We've sort of left politics to politicians for too long. We need to take the power back in our
00:36:09.240 country. We need to become informed on the issues. So my book goes through, you know,
00:36:14.040 all the major issues, at least as I see them, and makes complex issues simple so people can
00:36:19.880 understand and get involved themselves. And, you know, Derek, I tend to believe
00:36:25.480 that the so-called silent majority, they are most likely on side with you. I look at what's in the news
00:36:32.120 cycle these days. Of course, Chinese interference in our elections, which is very disturbing,
00:36:40.040 to say the least. Drag queen story hours. A shop teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School,
00:36:48.760 until recently going to school and teaching shop, dressed as a grotesque caricature of a natural woman.
00:36:57.400 And I think, Derek, you know, the stand pat reaction when you raise these issues, well,
00:37:03.480 Justin Trudeau said it himself a couple of weeks ago when the Chinese interference scandal blew,
00:37:09.160 that if you are criticizing an Asian-Canadian member of parliament, therefore you are a racist.
00:37:16.440 I mean, this coming from Mr. Blackface himself. Likewise, with the drag queens and that teacher
00:37:23.640 in Oakville, if you criticize them, you are a so-called transphobe. I just find the nature of
00:37:32.600 debate, such as it is these days, Derek, to be woeful. What do you have to say?
00:37:40.920 Well, I really agree with you. And I was just reading an article today on Global News that was
00:37:45.640 talking about the increase, the tremendous increase in rise of hate incidents perpetrated by the far right
00:37:51.960 against LGBT people. And their prime example was, of course, these protests outside of the drag time
00:37:57.480 story hour. And of course, they didn't mention, I mean, one of the main reasons why we're seeing so
00:38:01.720 many more protests is because drag time story hours are proliferating across the country. Like they
00:38:07.000 didn't even mention like, hey, this is a new thing. This wasn't happening five years ago. Obviously,
00:38:12.920 very one sided reporting in the media. But, you know, a lot of average people are really starting to get
00:38:18.760 frustrated. And I think, you know, when you when you speak to people one on one without the media
00:38:23.240 sort of twisting and distorting things, and you explain to them why we're against some of these
00:38:27.880 things, it makes a lot of sense. And I think that's why, you know, conservatives or small
00:38:33.400 C conservatives need to stand up and, you know, have something to say on these issues. If you just let
00:38:37.560 them go, the the the debate keeps changing and the and the pot keeps getting hotter.
00:38:43.640 And, you know, Derek, can you explain or can you theorize why this drag queen story hour
00:38:51.640 has become such a thing? You're right with the five year timeline. I remember in 2018,
00:38:56.200 I first came across this in a city not far from you, Kingston, Ontario. They were hosting a drag
00:39:02.040 queen story hour. And I said, what? And now it's almost as though if you're a library and you're not
00:39:07.400 hosting a drag queen story hour, you're you're the weirdo. So what I just don't understand is that
00:39:16.760 I'm not against drag queens. If you're in a licensed bar and it's people the age of majority watching
00:39:24.360 that, hey, you know, knock yourself out. But this obsession of doing these highly sexualized
00:39:32.360 performances and caricatures in front of minors. Well, first of all, Derek, which what parent in
00:39:40.520 their right mind would bring a kid to watch that in the first place? Well, that's I mean,
00:39:45.160 you raise a really good point. And it's true that the, you know, drag shows have been associated
00:39:49.640 pretty much since their inception with extreme, you know, sexuality. It is true that these particular
00:39:56.200 stories going on are, you know, toned down and and and not containing, you know, nudity and things
00:40:03.400 like this. But, you know, the fact is, is that, you know, with that connection to this, do you really
00:40:08.520 want to bring kids into this? I mean, imagine if this was like a story hour with another adult
00:40:13.560 subject such as guns or drugs or something like that. And they had, you know, fake versions of them
00:40:18.680 there for the kids. And it was kind of like, well, this is just, you know, to to show people,
00:40:23.400 to show kids what's out there, to to to help them understand the diversity that, you know,
00:40:28.440 life offers. I mean, we would be up in arms about it. But because it has to do with,
00:40:33.240 you know, a protected community, people are at least the media is ignoring the rationale for why
00:40:41.400 parents would be upset about this. And I think it's an open debate. It is basically a new thing in terms
00:40:47.080 of directing this at kids. And I think we have every right to protest against it and be upset,
00:40:51.880 particularly when it's taking place in a public place that's funded by both of our tax dollars.
00:40:58.040 Indeed. And, you know, I've always asked, and I'm not making a joke here, Derek, but if drag
00:41:03.800 queens are OK, would it also be OK for a biological female stripper or burlesque dancer to come into
00:41:10.520 the library and read books? Apparently, that's offside for reasons I can't even contemplate. But moving on
00:41:17.880 from the the trans issue to federal politics, of course, the hot story in the news these days
00:41:25.640 is China interference. And of course, I first met you back in 2020 when you were running to become
00:41:33.480 the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. And maybe we should start there, Derek. What is your
00:41:38.360 assessment of Aaron O'Toole's performance as the leader, the man you lost out to in that nomination
00:41:46.440 campaign? And what is your assessment of his replacement, Pierre Polyev?
00:41:52.360 Well, Aaron O'Toole was obviously a big disappointment to most, you know, blue conservative
00:41:59.480 types. He ran sort of, you know, espousing certain principles and then he backtracked on a lot of them
00:42:05.560 later. And he had to pay for that. He didn't do better in the election. And he was also ousted by
00:42:11.080 his own party. And so it's clear that Conservatives want a decisive leader and one who's willing to
00:42:16.360 stand up. And, you know, we saw that at least in the leadership race of Pierre Polyev, but we
00:42:22.200 haven't heard a lot since. And in fact, the most recent thing we saw was basically an apology to the
00:42:27.640 media for a trumped up charge about racism and his MPs meeting with another politician from Germany.
00:42:34.440 So again, you know, if that's what we're going to see in the future, I think that's a bad sign.
00:42:39.960 And I think really what the Conservatives need to do is stand up and be counted.
00:42:44.040 And it may not, it may cause some short term troubles in terms of the polls. But, you know,
00:42:49.720 again, do we want to lead the country for the next 50 years or the next 100 years? Or do we want
00:42:55.400 to just go wherever the opinion polls lead us? We have to have something to say on these issues.
00:43:00.600 And I hope that leadership will find the courage to do it. And, you know, I think a lot of
00:43:05.400 Conservatives have looked on in horror over the last few years, seeing this Justin Trudeau
00:43:11.560 administration, one scandal after another. But, you know, Derek, I truly think if these allegations
00:43:19.960 are true about Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, and if Justin Trudeau knew about it,
00:43:28.200 and dare I say was even complicit in it, I think this is Watergate on steroids. I mean,
00:43:35.960 what could be more fundamental to a Western democracy than having a fair
00:43:41.960 election that is not interfered with with some dictatorship overseas? Do you think the Liberals,
00:43:49.400 I mean, I know it's hard to predict the future. We don't even know when what year the next election
00:43:53.320 will be. But are the Trudeau Liberals going to wiggle off this fish hook as well?
00:44:01.480 Well, here's the thing. There's already rumblings in the party to get rid of Trudeau and replace him
00:44:05.560 with somebody else. So obviously, Trudeau is going to try and prevent that. He's going to try and delay
00:44:10.440 this election as long as he can, in my view. So we'll see which factions win out. I mean,
00:44:15.640 one way to sort of put this in the past is to get a new leader, right? Then the new leader can say,
00:44:20.600 oh, well, I would never have done that. And it's almost like a new book at that point.
00:44:27.080 So we'll see what they do. I think that Trudeau's brand, at least amongst his loyalists, is still
00:44:32.280 strong. I think he will do whatever he can to maintain leadership and then just, you know, again,
00:44:36.920 kick this ball down the road as long as possible. And people have a short memory in this country when it
00:44:41.240 comes to a lot of things. I do agree, though, that this is probably the absolute worst thing
00:44:45.400 he has ever done or been sort of involved in. And I think that this will have potentially
00:44:51.240 game changing consequences. And Derek, there is plenty of blame to go around here. I mean,
00:44:56.200 Jagmeet Singh, I think if he was truly principled, he could say something along the lines of when we
00:45:02.360 entered into this agreement with the Justin Trudeau Liberals, we didn't know about this,
00:45:07.480 you know, election fixing, allegedly. Now that it's come to light, I cannot in good conscience
00:45:14.120 support this man. But I guess Jagmeet's got to hang on until 2025 so his full pension kicks in.
00:45:22.520 Yeah. You know, I think personally that at the end of the day, electoral strategy is the, you know,
00:45:28.520 determines what goes on. Right. So the NDP as of right now would not do any better. They'd probably
00:45:33.720 do worse if an election was called right now. So again, at the end of the day, yes,
00:45:38.120 they're trying to save face and not be complicit in this, but they don't want an election any more
00:45:43.000 than the Liberals, in my view. No, that is a good point, too. So, Derek, we're almost out of time here.
00:45:52.280 Where can people find your book, Glorious and Free?
00:45:55.720 So right now, www.amazon.ca. I will be traveling around in person, hopefully late spring, early
00:46:05.480 summer for people who want to buy the book in person or, you know, get an autograph. But for now,
00:46:10.440 go to amazon.ca. We actually were beating Pamela Anderson's book. We were number six on the hot
00:46:15.720 bestsellers for a period of time. So, you know, help us get those numbers up. It means that more people
00:46:21.400 get this book shown in their suggested read list. And, you know, I'd rather be people reading,
00:46:26.760 I'm sorry, I'd rather people be reading this book than the Pamela Anderson book and other books like
00:46:31.640 that. Heck, beating a big celebrity like Pamela Anderson, that's something to brag about, I would
00:46:36.760 say, Derek. And one last question. What, for those who have bought your book, read it, what kind of
00:46:41.720 feedback are you getting from them? Yeah, you know, I've gotten some really good comments from people
00:46:47.400 just saying, you know, Derek, thank you so much for just making, you know, these complex political
00:46:51.720 issues seem so simple. Thank you for giving the inside story on what you had to deal with up there
00:46:56.600 on Parliament Hill. A lot of, you know, you and I, David, we're pretty familiar with how things go up
00:47:01.160 there. But, you know, a lot of people just don't know how it works. And like to read an insider's
00:47:05.320 account and to get, you know, an easy take on the issues, people really like that. I've had people say
00:47:10.360 that, you know, some of the things brought them to tears. I'm not sure which things those were,
00:47:15.640 but, you know, really, really deep reactions from people. So that's a positive.
00:47:21.320 Well, that's great to hear, Derek. I know you're a big advocate for common sense, which isn't so
00:47:26.760 common anymore, tragically. So I wish you well with the book. And anytime you want to come on the show,
00:47:33.640 we're happy to have you, my friend. Thanks so much, David. We'll talk to you soon. You got it.
00:47:45.640 Well, folks, tons of response to Ezra Levine's monologue last night regarding the city of Calgary,
00:47:55.960 which somehow thinks it's appropriate to deem certain protests as being illegal because it might
00:48:05.240 hurt somebody's feelings. Unbelievable. Let's get to some of your responses. James the Patriot writes,
00:48:11.920 even though it's a very sad state of affairs that it has come to this in Calgary, I couldn't help but
00:48:19.520 laugh when that woman was asking how to crush protests she doesn't like with no self-awareness
00:48:28.000 of how much of a villainous thug she sounds like. Well, I assume you mean Mayor Gondek. And that is an
00:48:36.480 added layer of perversity that we see going on, not only as freedom of expression and freedom of
00:48:43.520 assembly under attack in the city of Calgary. This mayor is actually going on to social media platforms
00:48:50.640 and bragging about this kind of censorship. Incredible that it is happening in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
00:49:00.320 Dan McClain writes, where is Daniel Smith on this? Thought she was going to stamp all this out.
00:49:07.120 Well, you know, I can tell you this. I think this mandate is headed to the courts. And I am
00:49:13.920 absolutely certain. I know lawyers hate to use the term slam dunk. I think this is a slam dunk. I think
00:49:20.000 this ridiculous bylaw of picking and choosing which groups and which people can and cannot protest,
00:49:27.680 that is going to go down to defeat. And deleted comment number two writes, who's organizing these
00:49:35.600 drag story times for kids? It's everywhere now. And even Moncton, New Brunswick just had one
00:49:42.720 at our library. This is disgusting. I totally agree. I've often asked the question of if it's okay to have
00:49:52.160 men pretending to be female strippers reading to kids, why don't you also bring in biological female
00:49:59.280 strippers to read to kids too? Not that I'm asking for that, but why is that a line in the sand? And
00:50:05.360 you are right. It is spreading. And I simply asked the question, which parent thinks this is a good idea?
00:50:14.400 In other words, if parents embrace common sense and decency and didn't bring their kids to these
00:50:21.440 events, I think they would quickly go the way of the dodo as they should. Well, folks, thanks so much
00:50:28.720 for tuning into tonight's edition of the Ezra Levent Show. I believe the big boss man is back in this chair
00:50:35.040 tomorrow. In the meantime, as always, stay safe and stay sane.