EZRA LEVANT ｜ Canadians are abandoning the Liberals, so Trudeau pays off his base： journalists
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Summary
As Canadians abandon the Liberal Party in record numbers, Justin Trudeau pays off his base. But who's his base? Is it young people, minorities, or Quebecers? No, silly, it's journalists. I'll give you the latest on his huge bailout for his best friends.
Transcript
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Hello, my friends. Justin Trudeau shores up his base. Who's that? Who's his base? Is it young
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people? Is it minorities? Is it Quebecers? No, silly. It's journalists. I'll give you the latest
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on his huge bailout for his best friends. But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber
00:00:17.220
to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of this podcast. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com,
00:00:22.580
click subscribe, eight bucks a month. You get the video version. And more than that,
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you get the satisfaction of knowing that you help keep Rebel News strong. All right,
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here's today's podcast. Tonight, as Canadians abandon the Liberal Party in record numbers,
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Trudeau pays off his base. Journalists. It's March 1st, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.
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You know, you shouldn't put too much stock in polls. They're not a prediction for the future.
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They're a snapshot in the present. But still, you got to like how the polls have been looking for
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about a year now. In fact, in the last month or so, they're the worst ever results for Trudeau.
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It is a fact that Donald Trump's approval numbers in Canada are higher than Justin Trudeau's approval
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numbers in Canada. Isn't that weird? And I like looking at all the pollsters because they have
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different approaches and different reliability. But abacus research is my favorite. First of all,
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I know David Colleto, the boss there. I used to work with him a decade ago at Sun News,
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and he's a really nice guy. But I like them because they're liberal. And so when they report
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bad news about Justin Trudeau, you know they're doing it against their instincts. But they have
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to be honest about it. It's sort of like when the New York Times criticizes a liberal. You know
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it's got to be bad for them to say so. One of the statistics I like to look at is different
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demographic groups. Westerners, men, women, young people are for the conservatives in a way that I
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don't think has ever been the case in my lifetime. Now every other demographic seems to be for them
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too, including women. For the first time I can remember, conservatives have an advantage
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with women. And I contrast that to the United Kingdom where only one percent, according to a poll,
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only one percent of young people plan to vote conservative in the next election. Just incredibly
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shocking. The economy is a disaster. Immigration is out of control. That makes everything else
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tougher. There's crime. There's political violence and threats of violence on the streets in the form
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of these Gaza protests. And not just protests, they get into crimes as well. And now massive corruption
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scandals. I think there was three in one day the other day. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Not just
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wasted. Wasted would be one thing. This is being pocketed by crooks. And in the middle of this,
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Trudeau announces his biggest censorship bill ever, the Online Harms Act. And I've been paying
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extremely close attention to that. I've been reading everything I can about it. And it is my
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observation, and you correct me if you think I'm wrong here, that this Online Harms Act is only being
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supported by those who are being paid to support it or who will have a direct benefit from it. I have
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not seen a single organic expression of support by anyone. No one was calling for this. No one is
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saying, yes, finally, the government can tell me what I can or can't see on the internet. As I've told
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you before, most of the bill is stuff that's already law. I was just looking at it again today. There's a
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section of the bill that requires Twitter and Facebook and YouTube to have a block button. Yeah,
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good idea. They've had it for more than a decade. They're required to be able to flag spam or other
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content. Yeah, they all have that. Wasn't that weird to have a, I demand that you have a block
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button. Okay, well, we have one. So your demands are met. I demand we put that into law. Okay, you do
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you. We'll have the block button whether or not you do it. Like it's just such an awful law. Half of it is
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just stupid stuff. I mean, if those things weren't done, if there weren't a law against revenge porn,
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for example, it would be a good idea to introduce it. But Stephen Harper already did that. The law
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against revenge pornography, it was enacted in 2014. Like I say, this is only about controlling what you
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do and say on the internet. No one actually wants that other than the very small clique of people
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who intend to profit off it. Even the normally somnolent Canadian Civil Liberties Association,
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the so-called civil liberties group that basically decided to go on holiday during the pandemic,
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even they mustered themselves to say something against him. I'm curious what the Senate of Canada
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will do. Of course, it's completely packed by Trudeau's hand-picked appointees, but they are
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independent only in one way is that they don't have to see collection again. So if they're truly
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troubled by something, they might actually occasionally speak out. If you remember,
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that's what caused the end of the Emergencies Act when it looked like Trudeau would not muster the
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support he needed for it. In the Senate, even liberals were saying, whoa, this guy's out of
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control. There's a few ex-journalists in the Senate. I wonder what they have to say about things. On both
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sides, there's Pamela Wallen on the conservative side, and there's Paula Simons on the liberal side and
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others too. I wonder what they have to say. I'm sure it'll pass, of course.
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The liberals have such a huge majority. But things aren't going great for the liberals,
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is what I'm saying. No one's happy with the economy. Even mainstream journalists are saying
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immigration's out of control. So the liberals are trying to shore up their base in what could be an
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election year. I think it's 50-50 that we'll have an election in 2024. So who is this liberal base to
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be shored up? Obviously, it's Hamas supporters. It's a full-court press for their vote every week.
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Seriously, every cabinet minister who's even close to that file is weighing in on a weekly basis.
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And with good reason. There are now areas in this country where the pro-Hamas vote is significant
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enough to make a difference. I don't know if you saw this news. In the United Kingdom yesterday,
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they had a by-election in the district called Roschdale. And who won that? Not Labour, not the
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conservatives, but a sort of independent, extreme pro-Hamas candidate, George Galloway. Just a
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Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You have paid and you will pay a high price for the role that you have
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played in enabling, encouraging, and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in
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occupied Palestine in the Gaza Strip. Oh, by the way, here he is literally hugging
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a leader of Hamas. So yeah, that's what Trudeau wants. He wants a half a dozen Hamas
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ridings in this country. He thinks he can get them. I think he can. But who else is for Trudeau?
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Not young people, not minorities, other than the small, I don't know if it's small, I wish it was
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small, pro-Hamas segment. Not women, not even Atlantic Canadians, not even Quebecers. So who
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is his base? Well, the answer is so obvious. It's journalists. They're not numerous, but they have
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megaphones and magnifying glasses. So what they say is echoed many times over. And wouldn't you know
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it, look at this. Justin Trudeau's taking care of those who he wants to take care of him. Ottawa adds
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funding to CBC, despite executives' claims it was asked to cut its budget. That's what they think is
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important. The lie of the executives said, that's not what's important. What's important is that
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Trudeau is taking care of the journalists, so they take care of him. I'll read a little bit.
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Documents released Thursday show CBC will get $1.4 billion in 2024-2025. Canada's public broadcaster,
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it's not the public broadcaster, it's a government broadcaster, there's a difference.
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Canada's government broadcaster is getting an increase in funding, despite executives insisting
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that a request to cut CBC Radio Canada's budget for the next fiscal year was one reason they
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announced layoffs for 10% of staff. Now, I'm sure it's true. I'm sure the Liberals, you know, this is
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a back and forth. CBC was sort of saying, well, we're going to lay people off if you don't get us,
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give us more money. It was sort of a negotiation of sorts. But look, of course, Trudeau's going to pay
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these people off. Let me keep reading. Documents Canadian Heritage released on Thursday show CBC will get a
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$1.4 billion budget in 2024, up from the $1.3 billion it spent in the previous year. The increase
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amounts to $96.1 million, which the department says is primarily attributable to salary increases
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following the ratification of collective agreements. Oh, so they're all getting raises.
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You're in it. They're all, did you get a raise last year? No. In fact, you had a real reduction in
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your per capita GDP, and more is coming when they hike the carbon tax on April 1st. Let me keep reading.
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The broadcaster announced in December it would cut 800 jobs and $40 million from its production
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budget because of $125 million projected shortfall for the coming fiscal year, which begins on April
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1st. You know, there's a saying in Washington, D.C. I think it applies here in Canada too,
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firemen first, which is if you tell a government organization they have to cut money, they're
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going to obviously cut the one thing people care about the most. We're going to, oh, because the
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government has reduced our budget, we're going to have to lay off the firemen. Not any of these
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useless bureaucrats, the firemen. And so I think that's the game CBC's executives were playing.
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They were saying, well, Justin Trudeau, if you don't give us more money, we're going to have to
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lay off hundreds of staff. Uh-oh. Oh, good. You're going to give us more money. You know, Catherine Tate,
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the CEO of the CBC, is one of the absolutely worst people in Ottawa. And I think even her own staff
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hates her. I'm on TikTok, which is a Chinese app. I shouldn't be on it because it's spying on me.
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But I get the feeling that the people at the CBC who actually run the TikTok account actually hate
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Catherine Tate because it's only on TikTok, not on Twitter or the websites, that they have the most
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unflattering videos of her. I think they actually hate her. Here she is lying a few months ago about
00:10:50.300
bonuses and saying, no, no, no, we don't have bonuses. It's just performance, May. And no, I'm not going
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to tell you if I'm going to take a bonus myself. Remember this loathsome woman.
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My response to that question is to say that we have a process, a rigorous process. It is not my
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decision to award performance pay. It is, in fact, the decision of the board of directors.
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And that decision comes at the end of the fiscal year. We have another two months before we reach
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the end of the fiscal year. And as I have also said in public, everything is on the table. So we
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will see at the end of fiscal year, based on results and where we are financially.
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So as a CEO, you do not make the decision. You have no say in whether or not bonuses are granted.
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All of the management team measures and analyzes our results on an annual basis, which are published
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very clearly in our quarterly reports. As the CEO, you have no say in whether or not bonuses are given.
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All of the management team presents to the board of directors the results of our year against KPIs,
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key performance indicators that have been tracked throughout the year. And based on the analysis
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and the results, the board of directors makes its decision. I should just point out, perhaps of
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interest. For example, last year, we did not meet two of our KPIs and our bonus level was reduced.
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It's just really weird to me that someone who lives in New York City would be hired to run the
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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. I know for at least the first part of her tenure, she would
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commute back and forth from New York. She'd fly in because she cares about carbon emissions. You see,
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it's really weird to me that a New Yorker is running the CBC, but it's all about politics.
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What's incredible to me at all is that such a failure has been allowed to continue because the
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CBC audience continues to decline. I showed you this the other day. Frankly, I should show it to
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you every day. According to their own statistics, according to their own annual report, the CBC is
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losing viewers every year. Canada's population is skyrocketing, mainly because of immigration.
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But the endemic population, as in the not the immigration population, is at least staying the
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same. How can you have a country that's never been more populous have declining viewership of the
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CBC every year? Because people hate it. Imagine giving them a bigger budget. Who gets a raise for
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failing worse every year? Well, that's the CBC. And by the way, don't believe the $1.4 billion
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figure. That's just their official budget. They also get special money. So countless sums through,
00:13:39.280
for example, they got special pandemic money. There's all sorts of other money other than
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their official budget. So it's surely closer to $1.6 billion. Anyways, look at this news just today.
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So we heard about the CBC yesterday. Here's the news about more payoffs. Support for independent
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local journalism. Because you deserve to know. This is actually an official government press release.
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Deserve to know what? What Trudeau wants me to know? The government of Canada remains committed
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to helping Canadians access news coverage on topics of local interest that affect them. That is not true.
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Because of Bill C-18, which was going to ring out Facebook for $100 million to give payouts,
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to Justin Trudeau's favorite journalists, you cannot post a Canadian news story on Facebook.
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I don't know if you know that. You can't post a rebel news story on Facebook. Justin Trudeau
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and his atrocious scheme backfired. And so one of the largest sources of Canadian news has been cut
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off. Thanks, Trudeau. And let me read the press release. Local journalism reflects our day-to-day
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realities, informs us about issues that might affect us, and through storytelling, unites us as
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neighbors and Canadians. I don't really think that's what it does, but hey, you do you.
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The government of Canada remains committed to ensuring that all Canadians can access sustainable
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and robust independent news. That's a lie. There really isn't any independent news left in Canada
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because every single newspaper, every TV station, every radio station is heavily regulated by government
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and is subsidized by government. Literally 99.9%. And that's not an exaggeration. We've shown you
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before that there are 1,500 different news companies on the toll. No, I didn't even know there were that
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many news outlets. Let me keep reading. The Honorable Pascal Saint-Ange, Minister of Canadian Heritage,
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announced $58.8 million in funding to extend the local journalism initiative for the next three years.
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A pure election year bribe is what this is, folks. That's why they're announcing it now.
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This is an election year, or next year is for sure, and they need to shore up their base. Let me
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continue a little more. To protect the independence of the press. Did you know government can protect
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the independence of the press? I didn't know that. The only way to protect the independence of the
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press is not to meddle, not to use a carrot or a stick. To protect the independence of the press,
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the government will continue to work with not-for-profit organizations to administer this funding.
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These organizations provide the funds that support media organizations, produce local journalism in
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underserved communities. This just isn't true, and I know this from personal experience.
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A few years ago, Justin Trudeau announced something called the QCJO News License, the Qualified
00:16:25.160
Canadian Journalism Organization. You have to apply to the government, and that was the precursor to
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getting all sorts of benefits for your newspaper or your website. Now, we would never take money
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from Trudeau, but we wanted the status. We were refused. We were rejected. They said what we do is
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not news. They said less than 1% of what we do is news, and they denied us. Just like the hand-picked
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debates commission that Trudeau set up denied us as well. It is a lie to say that this is independent,
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and it is a lie to say that this is being done at arm's length from government. But look,
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I've got to tell you this, folks. Bribing journalists like this, it's not going to save
00:17:03.920
them. In fact, it's going to drag the media down with them, because every day that the
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journalists of this country mimic the liberals of this country, they absorb the hatred that's
00:17:16.420
directed at the liberals. I'd like to see polling for journalists the same way I see polling
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for politicians. I think it's not going to save either the liberals or the newspapers,
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but it will explain a lot of the editorial decisions that you see by the regime media
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You know, I love Saskatchewan. It's not the flashiest province, and they sort of like it
00:17:51.480
that way. But their premier, Scott Moe, he's tough. He looks just like a folksy neighbor on
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the outside. You never see him coming, though. Bam! Let me show you a tweet that he tweeted
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the other day. He was one of his cabinet ministers standing outside Parliament Hill with a bit
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of an announcement, Saskatchewan-style. Take a look at this.
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I'm here in Ottawa, where 40 years ago, Pierre Trudeau took a walk in the snow and decided
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to resign as prime minister. Today, I took a walk in the rain and made an important decision
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about carbon tax. After the cold start, we're all well aware that it still went to Saskatchewan.
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Justin Trudeau continues to lead Saskatchewan people out in the cold.
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Last October, the Liberal NDP government here in Ottawa further divided Canadians by exempting
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home heating oil from their unfair and unaffordable carbon tax.
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This moat provided affordability relief for people in Atlantic Canada, where the largest
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concentration of homes heated with oil are looking. But it gave a cold shoulder to Saskatchewan
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people, predominantly heat or coal, natural gas or electricity. When asked what it would
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take to extend similar affordability relief to families in Western Canada, a Liberal minister
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suggested that we should elect more lividers. That's no way to run it, but our government
00:19:04.280
responded immediately and sent a clear message to the federal government that we could not
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accept this unfair. That's why Premier Stotlow announced that Saskatchewan would stop collecting
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the carbon tax on residential and to give Saskatchewan families the same affordability relief that
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Trudeau is giving to Atlantic Canada. On January 1st, we followed through on that.
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This has already saved Saskatchewan families a lot of money through January and 5th, and
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will save the average outfall above $400 this year. In addition to affordability, this is
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also about fairness, and our government refusing to allow Trudeau to treat Saskatchewan people
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like second-class citizens. The carbon tax has always been unaffordable. But up until now,
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it may have been like fair. The heating oil exemption for Atlantic Canada changed that,
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and our government simply is not going to accept this unfair treatment of Saskatchewan families by Trudeau.
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Well, that's Dustin Duncan, the Sask Energy Minister. Now Saskatchewan, for historical reasons,
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cultural reasons, still has some publicly owned utilities, including the energy company. And that
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is the mechanism by which Scott Moe, the Premier, and Dustin Duncan, the Cabinet Minister there, are able
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to say, you know what? We control that energy operator, and we are not going to be tax collectors for
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Justin Trudeau. We're just simply not going to do it, and we're allowed to make that political decision
00:20:41.020
as the political masters of the public utility. That wouldn't be possible in provinces where it's a
00:20:48.260
private sector company that would pretty much have to obey the feds. The feds cannot make the province
00:20:53.700
a tax collector for them. And if you doubt me, ask Quebec, which for jurisdictional reasons and reasons
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of cultural pride and sovereignty association, they have control over a lot of their own tax collection
00:21:05.680
and pensions and Quebec police. I like that. And it reminds me of the lie that Environment Minister
00:21:13.620
Stephen Gilboa told my colleague David Menzies the other day. I don't know if you saw this. I want to
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play it for you in case you haven't. My buddy David, who normally gets arrested and roughed up by
00:21:24.840
liberal bodyguards, he encountered Stephen Gilboa, the Environment Minister on the street the other day,
00:21:31.260
and I was shocked they didn't try and arrest him. They didn't assault him. I think they realized we're
00:21:37.260
going to sue the living daylights out of them. So David walked and talked with Stephen Gilboa for a
00:21:42.140
couple of minutes down the street, and David put to Gilboa that very question. Why are you only
00:21:48.160
taxing Westerners? Why did you give an Atlantic exemption? I want to show you this video for the
00:21:53.340
substance of it, but also to show you that I think the liberals are sick of being sued and pummeled by us.
00:21:59.360
We have more news on that file to come. But look at this, Stephen Gilboa actually answering some
00:22:03.440
questions. He's lying, but at least he's being a grown-up about it, a grown-up liar. Take a look.
00:22:08.020
Mr. Gilboa, according to this press conference, it looks like this program is available for residents
00:22:15.540
of the city of Peterborough. In that regard, it's reminiscent of the announcement last fall that
00:22:21.700
only Atlantic Canadians would receive relief from the federal fuel charge if they heat their homes
00:22:29.960
with heating oil. Given that your Prime Minister once said, a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,
00:22:37.880
why is it that only some Canadians qualify for relief and others do not?
00:22:43.820
Actually, the premise of your question is wrong. The home-eating oil rebate applies to Canadians
00:22:50.900
who use heating oil all across the country. And I'll give you an example. There are more people
00:22:54.560
who heat their homes with oil in Quebec than in all of Atlantic Canada. So it's not a project,
00:22:59.960
it's not a program that's specific to Atlantic Canadians. What we're announcing today is a partnership
00:23:05.040
with the city of Peterborough, but we're announcing similar partnerships. And we've heard from the Canadian
00:23:10.700
Federation of Municipalities that 1 in 2100 similar programs have been funded through the Green
00:23:17.220
Municipal Funds. And we're hoping to fund even more with those type of announcements. Thank you.
00:23:22.400
Of course, it's technically true, but that's actually a substantive lie. Anyone with home heating oil is
00:23:29.760
exempted. But of course, the vast majority of home heating oil users in this country are in the
00:23:33.840
Atlantic provinces, aka liberal writings. All of this is a preamble to introduce one of our most
00:23:40.340
popular guests on the Ezra Levin Show. He's an advocate for taxpayers. And these days, we need
00:23:46.220
all we can get. Unfortunately, a lot of people out there are co-opted because they take government
00:23:50.620
grants, not our next friend. The Taxpayers Federation for a Generation has eschewed government funding,
00:23:56.960
which is why they're allowed to be so independent and forceful. Let me introduce to you my friend,
00:24:02.080
Franco Teresano. You know what? There was a lot of preamble, a lot of intro. We played two videos
00:24:07.140
before getting to you, but you've got the news we really wanted you to come on about.
00:24:12.140
They're raising the carbon tax on April Fool's Day, aren't they?
00:24:15.700
Oh, they sure are. Hey, folks, I mean, people are struggling with just the price of necessities,
00:24:21.260
right? Whether it's just hamburger meat at the grocery store or trying to fuel up your car on the
00:24:24.940
way to work or staying warm during the winter months. Well, the Trudeau government seems either
00:24:30.060
not to know the struggles Canadians are going through or just doesn't care. Because on April 1,
00:24:34.820
the joke's on you, dear taxpayer, the government is raising the carbon tax again. And let's just go
00:24:41.100
back to what the government of Saskatchewan is doing. Hey, can I just say it's great to see a
00:24:45.800
premier coming off the bench and actually trying to stick up for their taxpayers there in Saskatchewan.
00:24:51.540
You know, I think it's very clear that Scott Moe, the premier of Saskatchewan, his heart
00:24:55.320
is in the right place and Trudeau is in the wrong. I mean, what did Trudeau think was going to happen
00:25:02.120
when he did a pure political ploy to take the carbon tax off of furnace oil, which predominantly
00:25:07.860
helps Atlantic Canadians, where they were falling in the polls, but leaving 97% of Canadian families
00:25:14.620
out in the cold and paying the carbon tax on their home heating bill. So folks, look, Saskatchewan
00:25:20.800
premier Scott Moe is pushing back. And the thing that you all need to know is that again, on April 1,
00:25:25.960
the Trudeau government is going to be cranking up the carbon tax once again.
00:25:29.820
Hmm. Hey, I know that there's something else that goes up every year, and I think it's also
00:25:34.460
an April Fool's Day. And you correct me, Franco, I know this is your area of expertise. So if I've
00:25:38.740
got it wrong, you got to let me know. Is it also true that every April 1, the members of parliament
00:25:45.580
and the senators give themselves an automatic raise too? Is that true?
00:25:49.120
Oh, it sure is, right? So on the same day that they take more money from your wallet,
00:25:55.560
they're stuffing more money into their own wallet, right? So a lockdown, sky high inflation,
00:26:02.460
people losing their job, people losing their businesses, none of that stopped our so-called
00:26:07.920
representatives in Ottawa. They're supposed to represent us, but they're not representing us
00:26:12.540
very well on this issue, are they? None of that stopped members of parliament for rubber stamping
00:26:17.420
their pay raises year after year after year. And again, on April 1, they're about to give themselves
00:26:22.940
another raise. This year's pay raise will range from an extra $8,100 for a backbench member of
00:26:30.200
parliament, all the way up to an extra $16,200 for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Okay, so stay with me
00:26:36.500
here for another second, folks. After this raise goes through, a backbencher, along with collecting
00:26:42.320
dust, will be collecting a salary north of $200,000, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's new salary
00:26:49.220
will be about $405,000 smackers. There is no job in the private sector that he could possibly get on
00:26:58.380
the merits that would pay him more than $100,000. The man has no tangible skills. I mean, the money is
00:27:06.140
just the icing on the cake for him. He's atrocious in every way. But the idea that he's getting a raise
00:27:12.540
after his misconduct, his incompetence, his failure, is shocking to me. It's just so, I mean, there's 365 days
00:27:19.960
a year. It's a leap year. So this year, there's 366 days in the year. The odds that they chose April Fool's Day
00:27:29.000
for both the carbon tax hike and the pay raise, I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I think
00:27:35.300
they think we're fools. I think putting it on that day is their way of saying you're fools. And
00:27:40.820
frankly, this applies to the opposition MPs too, because they're all getting the pay raise. Franco,
00:27:46.380
are you aware of any conservative MP or new Democrat MP or block MP who is saying, no, I'm not going to
00:27:54.120
take it and I'm going to prove I'm not going to take it? Some of them sort of mumble something once a
00:27:58.460
year, but I've never seen proof that they're not all in on it. So there are some things they're all
00:28:03.060
colluding against the taxpayer. Do you have any evidence to the contrary? No, that's a great point
00:28:08.740
here. Let me just step back one second though, and I'll get right into that. I promise. Okay.
00:28:12.220
But one thing I have to show you folks is that since the beginning of 2020, okay, this will be their
00:28:17.900
fifth pay raise since the beginning of 2020. So lockdowns, business losses, job losses, sky high
00:28:24.440
inflation, raise every single year. Now to the point, carbon tax up, MP pay up, you pay higher taxes,
00:28:32.120
they take higher pay. Do you see how it works folks? And I'm glad you brought up that other
00:28:37.220
question about the opposition, right? Because the liberals or the government could stop the pay
00:28:42.420
raise with this simple piece of legislation, just like it was stopped in 2010 to 2013, following the
00:28:48.360
08-09 recession. So it can be done and it should be done. Now to the main question, that's a great
00:28:54.760
one. And I haven't seen a single member of parliament truly attack the member of parliament pay
00:29:03.100
raise. While the liberals could stop it tomorrow, all that would really need to happen is for one
00:29:07.820
opposition party to truly break ranks with the rest of the parties in the house of commons,
00:29:12.620
to launch a campaign against it, to put in a private member's bill, to take the social media
00:29:17.780
and to make a real stink about this. So my message to any member of parliament who's watching this show
00:29:23.680
and who wants to be a true taxpayer champion, well, if you really want to be a taxpayer champion,
00:29:29.880
you've got to oppose the carbon tax hike and you've got to oppose the MP pay raise.
00:29:34.800
Yeah. Hey, I want to talk to you about one more thing. A few weeks ago now, it's about a week
00:29:39.280
old now. There was a little startup airline, about two years old in Canada called Lynx,
00:29:45.240
L-Y-N-X, like the big cat. And I flew on it a couple of times. It's not as luxurious as let's
00:29:52.800
say an Air Canada seat or even WestJet. It was a real economy, ultra low cost carriers, what they
00:29:58.860
called themselves. And it was cheap. It was sort of the people's airplane. It was just for students
00:30:04.300
and tourists and, and small business people and people who really couldn't afford to fly at regular
00:30:09.860
prices. So this was, I mean, they have these in Europe, more Ryanair and EasyJet and things like
00:30:14.720
that. But this was a Canadian version and they flew for two years and they had about 20 cities they went
00:30:20.320
to. And I guess it's about a week ago now, a little more, they announced that they're shutting down
00:30:27.000
and they listed six reasons, Franco. And I don't know if you read them. Almost all of them had to do with
00:30:32.500
the federal government. They talked about regulation. They talked about inflation. They
00:30:36.500
talked about the eroding currency because their costs are in U.S. dollars leasing those jets.
00:30:42.620
They talked about carbon taxes. They talked about, you know, fuel taxes. And I think six out of six
00:30:49.220
or five out of six reasons they said they were going out of business had to do with this government's
00:30:54.800
misconduct. And I thought to myself, this is terrible. It's terrible for the staff and owners of Lynx.
00:31:02.080
It's terrible for the Canadian consumer who now has less choice and more cost.
00:31:08.180
But, Franco, that's what I think. I think in the liberal government,
00:31:12.180
this is a success. Because remember the whole theory behind the carbon tax.
00:31:18.700
Punish polluters. That's what they say. Punish behaviors that emit more. So by driving Lynx out of
00:31:26.100
business, they're achieving their climate goals by getting people to fly less. And if they cause
00:31:32.640
people to give up their cars, you and I would call that a disaster. They would call it a success.
00:31:37.920
The whole point of the carbon tax, this is what they say, is to change your behavior, to nudge people
00:31:44.700
to doing things that involve less energy. Killing Lynx looks awful to you and me, but to them it's a
00:31:50.360
success. Isn't that the whole point of the carbon tax? So, Ezra, I hadn't heard about that, but let me
00:31:56.640
just make a point about the broader economy that is, in essence, a similar issue, okay? So these
00:32:03.960
regulations, these taxes, when the federal government is increasing costs for businesses through the
00:32:10.280
regulatory environment, through higher taxes, through the money printing, you know who that
00:32:15.340
benefits? That benefits the bigger companies that are better able to deal with the higher cost from
00:32:22.220
taxation and regulation and pushes the smaller companies out of the market, okay? So that helps
00:32:28.220
quasi-monopolize industries to the benefit of the big corporations, and that hurts the smaller businesses
00:32:35.640
who are trying to break into the market or who are just trying to compete, and it also hurts the
00:32:40.240
consumer, right? So not only are you paying the direct price of these taxes and regulations that
00:32:46.040
directly drive up the price of goods, but you also suffer through the regulation that forces out the
00:32:52.640
smaller companies because the monopolization or the quasi-monopolization of industries drives up costs
00:32:59.200
for consumers that way. And while I don't know the specifics of what you brought up, I can tell you that
00:33:05.340
that is a huge issue across Canada, including multiple different sectors, where you have the
00:33:10.780
government increasing regulatory costs, increasing tax costs that drives out the smaller and medium-sized
00:33:17.500
businesses, and it makes life in Canada more expensive by reducing competition.
00:33:22.820
Yeah. I think these are troubling times. Link's going out of business. I see other companies,
00:33:27.900
if I'm not mistaken, I think Lush Cosmetics announced it's shutting down 33 locations. There's
00:33:33.140
announcements of companies shutting down all the time. You know, sometimes economists point to GDP,
00:33:39.780
gross domestic product, and say, well, it's growing. No, it's only growing because of massive immigration
00:33:44.620
on a per capita basis. Canadians are poorer now than we were 10 years ago, 10 years of moving backwards
00:33:52.380
in terms of prosperity. Canadian provinces are now poorer on a per capita basis than even states like
00:34:00.260
Alabama, who, you know, who I think Canadians would probably in a snobby way say those, those yokels,
00:34:05.780
those poor southerners. Yeah, they're richer than us. The average Canadian is poorer than the average U.S.
00:34:13.060
black person. And blacks are, you know, underdeveloped minority, economically challenged. There's a lot of
00:34:18.980
systemic problems there and other problems. Canadians are even poorer still. We think we are a world-leading
00:34:28.640
country, but we are falling behind in so many ways, Franco, and it's heartbreaking. And I think people
00:34:34.600
feel it, even if it's not reflected in the official media. Last word to you.
00:34:39.560
Well, I just want to end on the MP pay raise, okay? Because, Ezra, this thing just, it drives me nuts.
00:34:45.280
I get, there's so many things to be mad about with this federal government and the way it wastes our money
00:34:49.500
and overtaxes us Canadians. But this MP pay raise drives me completely nuts. It makes me sick to my stomach
00:34:56.580
to think of some of my family members working so hard for the money they earn and the taxes they pay
00:35:01.900
and for the federal government to be making life harder for them and for so many Canadians with higher
00:35:07.620
taxes, with the money printing, with the massive deficits, making it harder for average Canadians
00:35:13.360
and then turning around and giving themselves raises. It absolutely makes me sick to my stomach. So,
00:35:18.940
folks, if there is one issue that you can oppose in the next coming weeks,
00:35:23.420
I would say probably oppose the carbon tax, but a close second
00:35:27.080
is that MP pay raise. It drives me nuts. And I hope, I hope more Canadians can take action.
00:35:34.180
Well, you and I are both nonpartisan and someone might joke and say, come on,
00:35:38.800
you're not nonpartisan. No, I am nonpartisan. I haven't been a member of a political party in 20
00:35:43.260
years. I criticize conservatives even harder than I criticize liberals when they, when they drop
00:35:48.540
conservative values. And I think, Franco, you guys are the same way, which is why people trust you.
00:35:52.660
Um, but I, I think that Canadians are waking up every demographic, every region, every age group,
00:36:00.620
I think is starting to say we are on the wrong path. And so this has been a very depressing
00:36:05.340
conversation, but I do want, I do believe that change is coming and I think it's coming in the
00:36:11.460
ballot box. And I think that Canada is not done yet. We will have better days ahead.
00:36:17.460
So these are dark times now economically and in other ways, but I think we'll get through it.
00:36:23.600
Franco, great to see you. Keep up the good work over the Taxpayers Federation.
00:36:29.640
It's our pleasure. There you have it. Franco Teresano.
00:36:31.840
He's the boss of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Stay with us. More ahead.
00:36:36.000
Hey, welcome back. Your viewer mailed to me. Let freedom reign. Honk says, I just read the email
00:36:53.380
I received from CJ, that's the Jewish association, asking for my support and to let my MP know. I'm
00:36:59.900
glad I came upon this video because I was trying to figure out why they would ask for this and to
00:37:04.380
support this criminal government. Thanks, Ezra. Yeah, look, CJ, I mean, I think I've told you
00:37:09.060
this before. I was on a precursor organization to CJ about 15 years ago. And back then they were
00:37:15.840
trying to have some conservative point of view because they wanted to get along with Stephen
00:37:18.780
Harper. They've abandoned that altogether now, that's for sure. Yeah, they've been paid a quarter
00:37:24.920
million dollars by Trudeau. But I think that they're just, it's not even the money. I think
00:37:29.540
you just think like liberals. They are based on, you know, Montreal liberal Jewish money,
00:37:36.160
the Bronfman family, which typically is liberal. And they do some good work. They do. I mean,
00:37:42.640
I used to be on their board a decade ago or more, more than a decade ago now. But signing
00:37:49.800
on to the most odious censorship bill in Canadian history is a terrible idea by its own measure,
00:37:56.740
but it is an even worse look for a Jewish organization to say, yeah, we want a piece
00:38:02.920
of this censorship action. I said in my monologue today, I haven't seen any organic expressions of
00:38:08.000
support for this atrocious bill. None. The only people who have are those being paid off. I think
00:38:13.060
the official Jews shot themselves in the foot and offended countless supporters and frankly offended
00:38:18.600
a lot of Jews who said, I'm not for censorship. Chemistry of questionable says, of course they did.
00:38:25.520
Have you seen the censorship laws they forced through in Europe? You can't disagree with the
00:38:29.300
current opinions of past events. I don't know exactly what you mean by that, but yeah,
00:38:33.600
I think that censorship is on the rise around the world. Ireland, it's terrifying, for example.
00:38:38.860
I think New Zealand has pulled back from the worst of Jacinda Ardern's ideas. They had an election.
00:38:47.580
Gordtron says, Canada needs an Orwell bill that if it's in 1994 or can be argued to be along the same
00:38:53.520
dystopian line that it is against the national interest. Canada could be the center of the next
00:38:57.400
renaissance, but it needs a way from influencing products and markets. Well, remember when I,
00:39:04.680
were you watching the other day when I read from our republished version of 1984, that section where
00:39:10.640
Winston Smith, the hero in 1984, is being tortured and his torturers holds up the fingers and says,
00:39:15.680
how many fingers? How many fingers, Winston? And it's obviously four. And Winston wanted to say
00:39:21.480
four, but the torturer made him say three or five or whatever. And when Winston said, fine,
00:39:27.060
fine, it's five. No, you have to believe it. I think so much of politics these days is psychological
00:39:32.980
manipulation and gaslighting and making you say things that you know are false. I think that's
00:39:40.340
what transgenderism is. You see it's a man, you know it's a man, you know it's insane for them to go
00:39:46.580
in a girl's change room, but they force you to do it. I, um, it's absolutely crazy to me. And that's
00:39:54.340
just one aspect of the total gaslighting. Trudeau saying, I'm for civil liberties while he brings in
00:40:00.000
the censorship law. Trudeau saying, I'm against division when he pitted vaccinated against
00:40:04.460
unvaccinated. It really is an info war. There's a battle on for your mind, as Alex Jones would say.
00:40:11.060
Well, that's our show for today. Thanks for watching today and all week. Until next time,
00:40:14.700
on behalf of all of us here at Rubber World headquarters, to you at home, good night