As usual, as usual, foreign critics of Justin Trudeau are more effective than Canadian critics. I ll take you through six speeches in Europe denigrating the Prime Minister, and they were wonderful and bracing and passionate and strong. How come we need foreign politicians to do what our Canadian opposition won t?
00:12:33.500Now, let me mix it up. This is actually from a little while ago.
00:12:36.500This is an Irish senator, Sharon Keegan, if I'm pronouncing it right.
00:12:41.500I didn't see this reported anywhere, actually, until yesterday.
00:12:46.500Have you seen any of these video clips on the CBC?
00:12:49.500Yeah, I'm sure they'll publish it just like they published the blackface.
00:12:54.500Here's Irish Senator Sharon Keegan. Take a look.
00:12:58.500We've always been at the forefront of speaking up for those who have been oppressed.
00:13:02.500We recognise the interconnectivity of the countries of Europe and the world at large, and that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
00:13:11.500We've had calls in this House to address serious human rights abuses occurring in all places over the world, from China in the East to here in the West, and addressing the issues in our own country as well.
00:13:23.500So I find it odd that we've heard nothing of what has been a well-publicised, high-profile, peaceful protest being violently suppressed and dispersed by armed government forces.
00:13:36.500Ranks of uniformed and armoured military figures, stripped of their badges and ID tags, converged on protesters.
00:13:45.500An officer on horseback trampled over a disabled woman.
00:13:48.500Around 200 arrests were made, and over 60 vehicles seized by the state.
00:13:53.500It sounds like something you'd see from Russia, or actions which we'd condemn in Hungary or Poland, but instead it is happening in the supposedly liberal democracy of Canada, and so no condemnation has been forecoming.
00:14:08.500In order to legally permit this level of force, Prime Minister Trudeau invoked the Emergency Act of 1988, the first time this Act has ever been used since it replaced the War Measure Act of 1914.
00:14:24.500And not being satisfied with merely dispersing protesters, the state froze the finances associated with certain individuals and companies believed to be involved in the protests.
00:14:35.500These are people who committed no crime, who have not been convicted lawfully in court, and who the government decided to punish anyway, because they might have been connected with a protest which was inconvenient to the government.
00:14:51.500It was an unprecedented act by the state against its citizens, which should be roundly condemned.
00:14:58.500So leader, I'm asking you to write to the Canadian ambassador, Nancy Smith, and condemn the excessive force used by the government on the overreach that is happening there to its citizens.
00:15:10.500Authoritarianism is a threat to democracy, no matter whose foot the boot is on.
00:15:25.500If that speech had been given against Stephen Harper when he was Prime Minister, do you think it would have been buried by the Media Party too?
00:15:33.500I'm going to go back to the European Parliament now.
00:15:36.500Here's a Romanian member of the European Parliament.
00:15:39.500And I think it's relevant that he's from a country that used to be under Soviet domination.
00:15:44.500Here's Christian Teres, if I'm saying his name right.
00:16:19.500Science is about measurements, conclusions, hypotheses and arguments.
00:16:26.500We got to a point right now where even if you say something, if you raise any doubts, you're already considered, you know, as whatever, you know, they label you in very different ways.
00:16:40.500And I have to tell you, you know, that when I saw the protests in Canada, you know, the way the truckers over there reacted, you know, I got in touch with some of them.
00:16:53.500I congratulated them and I want to use this opportunity to thank them.
00:16:57.500And I hope this movement for freedom and for rights is spreading all around the world, because at the end of the day, we have to make sure that all these elected officials, they understand that they were elected in those offices to work for the people, not to behave like masters of slaves.
00:17:33.500I think that sometimes we have a bit of an inferiority complex.
00:17:36.500So when a Canadian makes it big somewhere else, even if his ties to Canada are very tenuous, you know, so many in Canadian establishments say, oh, well, he was born and raised till the age of three in Canada.
00:22:18.500Well, yeah, I was really struck by that because I remember, you know, there was during the protest, there was a lot of speculation that that there were weapons,
00:22:31.500the potential weapons in the trucks and that there could be a violent there could be violent incidents and so on and so forth.
00:22:42.500And there was a lot of a lot of that stuff happening during the protests.
00:22:46.500And then the Toronto Star's, Justin Ling, had a fairly big sort of a post-mortem of the protests about a week ago.
00:22:56.500And there was this almost a throwaway remark, I would say, where he says, in quote,
00:23:03.500"...fears that there were weapons inside some of the trucks proved prescient, a police source said loaded shotguns were found."
00:23:10.500And in brackets, while truckers can legally transport registered firearms in their vehicles, guns must be securely stowed and are not permitted to be loaded.
00:23:20.500Now, this goes against what the Ottawa police chief, interim chief Bell said yesterday that where he said that no firearms were found during the clearing of the convoy protest.
00:23:34.500And so this goes against what the Toronto Star was claiming.
00:23:39.500Now, maybe the reporter's source, you know, wasn't very credible.
00:23:44.500I don't know what the inside story there is, but it certainly, you know, is yet another claim that has essentially fallen by the wayside in the last couple of weeks.
00:23:56.500We've had, you know, we now know that most of the funding for the protests came from within Canada.
00:24:05.500These were average Canadians giving small amounts of money in support of a cause that they really felt strongly about.
00:24:17.500And then you had the arson, the attempted arson.
00:24:22.500If you recall, there was this allegation that a downtown apartment building on Lisker Street, in fact,
00:24:32.500where a couple of people broke into the building and tried to set the building on fire, trapping the residents of the building.
00:24:40.500And then it was immediately blamed on the protesters.
00:24:43.500And then you had our political elite in the media class immediately jump in and, you know, and say that this was the this was directly related to the truckers and the protesters.
00:24:56.500Without even allowing the facts to, you know, without even allowing the police to fully investigate the matter.
00:25:04.500Let the let the facts come to light first before we jump to any conclusions.
00:25:08.500That wasn't the case at all. You had the mayor, you know, saying explicitly that the protesters were behind this attempted arson.
00:25:18.500Now we know that the that the arsonists had the alleged arsonists had nothing to do with the protests.
00:25:26.500And so, you know, these you know, you've seen a series of claims in the last couple of weeks that have just fallen by the wayside.
00:25:36.500Right. And then really puncturing that narrative that was in place to paint the protesters and the truckers as violent insurgents and insurrectionists.
00:25:48.500And and, you know, and that they were here to cause violence and overthrow the government and so on and so forth.
00:25:56.500Yeah. You know what? I'm so glad you brought up all those other examples that arson was specifically used as a rationale for why we need extreme policing.
00:26:07.500And oh, my God, dark foreign forces, whether it was Vladimir Putin or Donald Trump or or both of them were funding and organizing this whole thing.
00:26:16.500The CBC actually had a commentator suggest that.
00:26:20.500And on this firearms thing that the Toronto Star got wrong.
00:26:25.500Now, maybe they were told a fake thing by a cop.
00:26:28.500I'm skeptical that reporter Justin Ling has a habit of playing fast and loose with the truth.
00:26:33.500Here's the thing, Rupa, you know that if that were true, they would have laid charges because they've laid absurd charges over trivial nothings.
00:26:42.500You know, Tamara Lich spent weeks in jail for incitement to mischief, which I've never heard of anyone being held without bail for that in my life.
00:26:53.500So if they're willing to prosecute people for incitement to mischief or hand out hundreds of tickets for parking violations,
00:26:59.500you bloody well better believe that if they actually found loaded guns in any violation, they would have obviously made charges, obviously had press conferences.
00:27:09.500It was sort of an obvious lie, but when you put it all together, the fake arson claim, the fake claim of foreign funding, the fake Putin connection, the fake guns.
00:27:21.500I think it's fair to say that everything the media party accused the truckers of, you know, conspiracy theories, making things up.
00:27:32.500The media party itself did the media party being the journalists and the politicians who were too closely associated with other there.
00:27:47.500Yeah, I mean, what's extraordinary about this is that, you know, as journalists or really anyone really for that matter, must allow for the facts to emerge first before you jump to any conclusions and before you paint an entire group of people as, you know, in a certain way.
00:28:07.500And that was that was what was extraordinary about this, that we, you know, that many people immediately decided that that the truckers and the protesters were responsible for all of these things and that they were violent and that they were up to no good.
00:28:24.500And when, in fact, they were just here peacefully protesting, it was a peaceful civil disobedience, you may not like the issue, you may not agree with them.
00:28:33.500But they were here for three weeks and think about the fact that they were here for three weeks in the downtown core and maybe apart from some graffiti that I may have seen at a bus shelter and a couple of other places.
00:28:46.500I, you know, I didn't see anything and not a single glass had been broken, nothing had been damaged, you know, as many people pointed out during the protests, you know, the streets were clean and, you know, you know, they were collecting garbage and shoveling snow and so on and so forth.
00:29:08.500So, and so, you know, this goes against all of the stuff that we kept reading about in the news and what was being reported and now that the dust is settling a little bit on the protests, the facts are coming out and the facts are saying that, you know, much of the reportage on the protest was just, you know, was one-sided, perhaps, you know, big chunks of it may have been incorrect.
00:29:37.500You know, and, but, you know, my question is, will the journalists who perpetuated this narrative, who promoted this so aggressively, will anyone in the media actually take a step back and say, hey, you know, did we get, you know, did we get this wrong and why did we get this so wrong, you know, what happened here, will there be that introspection?
00:30:01.500Now, that's the question I have, and, you know, I'm not saying that any one of us is perfect, but I think that, but, but, and I think anybody, you know, I think everybody needs to do that, you know, just take a step back from the situation and just, and really evaluate one's own conduct in that, in, you know, in, in, in, you know, bringing out the story and did, did you, did you do due diligence?
00:30:27.780Did you, you know, did you report the facts as objectively as possible?
00:30:33.840And I, I, you know, I'm afraid that large sections of the media didn't do that.
00:30:42.100You know, it's funny when you say, will there be any retrospective analysis or, or sober second thought of postmortem, I think is a good word.
00:30:52.860A few weeks ago, there was a panel discussion of journalists in Ottawa, and I think you participated by sending in a video, if I'm not mistaken, where the journalists talked about how, how mean they were treated by the truckers.
00:31:06.560Um, I wasn't there myself, but I followed a reporter from True North who was sort of live tweeting him.
00:31:12.160And it was that in this enormous story, which was a huge national story, but I think it was the largest world story about Canada in years.
00:31:23.800I mean, there were people all over the world that were in there.
00:31:26.640I know that because, and I'm sure you were doing media hits all over the world, just like our reporters were, not just in America, but all over Europe and elsewhere.
00:31:36.860And afterwards for the journalists, I think Evan Solomon was one of them and I can't remember who else, for them to get together and the subject matter of their conclave was how mean they were treated.
00:31:48.560It just showed a, a solipsism, a self-centeredness that they just don't get it.
00:31:54.260And I see another panel discussion coming up with Rosemary Barton, uh, the, the chief reporter for this, uh, the political reporter for the CBC.
00:32:02.220It literally has mean tweets as the, as the subject of the, they're going to talk about mean tweets.
00:32:10.120I, I wonder if any of them ever think, well, have we done anything wrong?
00:33:02.460I think everybody should be held to account where independent voices, mainstream media, whoever our politicians, uh, but it, but it seems to be just really, you know, this, this, I'm, you know, I'm trying to be hopeful.
00:33:18.120I'm trying to be hopeful and optimistic that there's going to be some, um, you know, self, self-reflection, some introspection.
00:33:25.740Um, and, and, you know, and I would say that even within the mainstream media, I think there are voices of dissent.
00:33:32.520Perhaps they're fearful of speaking out, um, you know, I, I, uh, you know, you, you'd have to be completely blind to not see just, just how one-sided the, the mainstream coverage of the protest was, you know, what was, what I consider to be one of the most important cultural moments in this country's, uh, recent history.
00:33:54.020And, uh, here was an opportunity to actually objectively cover it and, you know, bring out all aspects of it.
00:34:01.260Report on the Pat Kings of the world, but also report on the thousands of people who showed up, uh, you know, honest Canadians who really felt, um, left out in, in the conversations that we've been having the last couple of years during the pandemic.
00:34:16.460These are people who've lost their jobs, they've, uh, um, you know, their, their, their relationships, uh, you know, broken down with, they've lost friends and families.
00:34:28.420And so, you know, uh, you know, uh, you know, it's just that it was the, the coverage of it was so incredibly one-sided as if to, um, double down on this narrative that everybody had bought into, which was the official, the, the government narrative, uh, which was Trudeau's narrative.
00:34:43.920It was Trudeau who set the, uh, set the ball rolling, uh, you know, before the protesters even arrived, he, he, um, you know, using very divisive language, he, uh, called them racist and misogynist and that they were really beyond the pale and not worth engaging with.
00:35:02.900Now, if you are the media, I would say, you know, um, push back against that, challenge Trudeau on his statements.
00:35:09.620And I, I, and I don't think the journalist who, um, who was interviewing him for that, um, you know, uh, was interviewing him back in December when he made those comments really pushed back.
00:35:20.280Now, I, I, it, this was a French language show, so, you know, my French isn't the greatest, so I'm not sure, you know, how exactly it all panned out, but I didn't really get a sense that he was being challenged on those views.
00:35:32.280And, um, and, and, and, and so that basically set the ball rolling and everybody basically, you know, was, um, you know, uh, you know, in, in lockstep, the media was in lockstep with the government and everybody was, uh, you essentially sounding the same.
00:35:49.220And, and when, when everybody sounds the same, uh, I don't know about you, but I immediately just, um, you know, I, I, I can't breathe, you know, I know something is up, you know, and I really start questioning what I'm hearing, what I'm seeing.
00:36:04.240And that's, that's what happened with me.
00:36:06.120You know, I just wanted to go and check it out for myself and make up my own mind, which is what I did.
00:36:11.220And I think that's what journalists should do.
00:36:13.580Um, make up your own mind and report the facts as objectively as you possibly can.
00:36:19.220Well, I tell you, I sure am glad that you did that.
00:36:21.360And I'm glad you have the forum of the national post that publishes your articles.
00:36:25.640Uh, we'll have to talk about other subjects, uh, in future visits.
00:36:29.980Uh, I love your take on the liberal NDP coalition.
00:36:33.520And of course, uh, watching how the Ukraine Russia war is spilling over into Canada with cancel culture for anyone with a Russian sounding last name.
00:36:44.180You've written some great columns in the post about it.
00:36:46.360We'll have to get into those another time.
00:36:48.080But what a great chance to catch up with you, Rupa.
00:39:13.680Well, you know, if you could be referring to so many stories we're working on, I should tell you that we did not discover the news about Jerry Diaz.
00:39:25.900The union announced the investigation.
00:39:29.520And for a while, they kept it covered up.
00:39:32.240So it really was their own announcement.
00:40:10.100Well, that's our show for today and brings us to the end of the week.
00:40:13.560I hope you enjoyed or if not enjoyed, at least appreciated our coverage of so many things.
00:40:18.960Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, let me say goodbye and keep fighting for freedom.
00:40:25.080And let me leave you with our video of the day from Sheila, who looks through federal data that shows minority business owners are not held down by systemic racism in banking, despite what the government might say.
00:40:37.480I thought this was an interesting study.
00:40:39.080I'll leave it with you and I'll see you on Monday.
00:40:49.820As part of the first phase of the loan fund, the government is investing $33.3 million and the Business Development Bank of Canada is investing $130 million.
00:40:59.880As part of the second phase, the Royal Bank of Canada, BMO Financial, Scotiabank, CIBC, the National Bank of Canada, TD Bank, Vancity and Alternative Savings have committed an additional $128 million.
00:41:11.140The Black Entrepreneurship Fund is administered by the Federation of African-Canadian Economics, a federally incorporated not-for-profit.
00:41:20.040FACE was created by several prominent not-for-profit Black-led business groups, namely the Africa Centre, Black Business and Professional Association, Black Business Initiative, Cote de Neige Black Community Association and Group 3737.
00:41:35.240So this loan program is administered by these other organizations, but it's funded in part by the feds and then a bunch of banks.
00:41:46.180His party is quite literally the system and power longer than any other party in the last 100 years.
00:41:51.000If racism exists in the system, he did it.
00:41:54.260But he tweeted this the other day because it was some sort of day-to-end systemic racism, I think.
00:42:00.880It's up to everyone to come together and reject all forms of racism, discrimination and hatred, and to take action whenever and wherever we see it.
00:42:09.840Today, let's recommit to doing that and let's continue to build a future that's fairer for everyone.
00:42:16.100But is all this special treatment for racialized minority groups in the financial system even necessary to undo a system of evil taking place?
00:42:24.780The answer is no, and the federal government's own data shows it quite clearly.
00:42:30.300Someone actually decided to ask the Liberals to show their work on this topic.
00:42:35.840Arnold Veersen, the Conservative MP from rural northern Alberta, is using his order paper opportunities very wisely these days.
00:42:43.420He asked the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion,
00:42:48.820with regard to government measures to address systemic racism in Canada since January 1st, 2016,
00:42:53.680has the government conducted research to identify and quantify the specific barriers preventing Black, Indigenous, and other minority communities from receiving equal access to financial services?
00:43:06.440Now, here's what Arnold got back, and we should be happy about this because it shows we're actually inclusive.
00:43:13.460The answer from the government is 52 pages long, half of it is in French, of course,
00:43:17.180but it's really good news about the kind of country we live in that you won't hear the Liberals ever telling you or the mainstream media ever talking about.
00:43:27.200Immigrant owners are less likely than Canadian-born owners to seek financing from any source,
00:43:32.100but their applications are just as likely to be approved as those of Canadian-born owners.
00:43:39.240Thus, the study finds weak evidence to suggest that access to financial capital is a more serious issue among immigrant-owned small and medium enterprises
00:43:49.340than among small and medium enterprises with Canadian-born owners.
00:46:20.420So, as you can see here, basically throughout the general entrepreneurial population and when it is segmented by immigrant status or racialized demographic,
00:46:35.120there seems to be no real difference with the entrepreneurs thinking that they would be turned down for financing.
00:46:49.280Not a lot, but I mean, just look at Justin Trudeau.
00:46:52.280The good news is he's the exception, not the rule.
00:46:55.200However, the Liberal Party, where you can do blackface so many times you forgot and still remain not only the leader of the party but get re-elected as the Prime Minister,
00:47:04.480well, that seems to be the real stronghold of systemic racism in this country that the rest of us are accused of.