EZRA LEVANT ｜ Is this sky-high inflation the result of bumbling politicians or conniving ones？
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Summary
Are Canada's sky-high inflation rates simply an accident, or something more sinister and by design? Then, Conservative Party Leadership Candidate Roman Baber joins us to discuss his new policy document, The Green New Deal . We walk all the way through it, or as much as we have time for, and then we get to your letters to Ezra.
Transcript
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Oh hey Rebels, what's going on? I bet right now you're shocked to hear my voice. I bet
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you were expecting Ezra Levant's melodious vocal stylings right now, but unfortunately
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it's me, Sheila Gunn-Reed, and I'm filling in for Ezra Levant tonight. Tonight we're
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talking about whether or not the sky-high inflation, the worst in 40 years, what the
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Bank of Canada's governor describes as painful, is it by design or by accident?
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I'll lay out the case, you be the judge, and I'll show you exactly why the mainstream
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media doesn't seem to care anyway. And then we're talking to Conservative Party
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leadership hopeful Roman Babber about his commitment to Canada. It's his new policy
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document. We walk all the way through it or as much as we have time for. And then of
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course, naturally, we get to your letters to Ezra. Now, you're listening to the audio
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version of this show, but to get ad-free and early the video version of this show,
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let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's what we call our premium
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All of that. And boy, it sounds like a lot. It's only eight bucks a month. Just go to
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rebelnewsplus.com to become a member today. And now please enjoy this free audio-only version
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of Ezra's show. Tonight, are sky-high inflation rates simply an accident caused by idiotic politicians
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or are they something more? Something sinister and by design? Then, Conservative Party leadership
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hopeful Roman Babber joins us to discuss his commitment to Canadians. It's July 21st, 2022.
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I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, but you're watching The Ezra Levant Show.
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You're fighting for freedom! Shame on you, you censorious bug!
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I want to show you this clip from the governor of the Bank of Canada, a guy named Tiff Macklin. It
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comes on the back of a Statistics Canada report from just Wednesday that said Canada's annual
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inflation rate has crept up over 8% from 7.7% in May. It's the largest yearly change in about
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There's no way around it. 8.1% inflation is painfully high. We do expect, we know gasoline
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prices came down in July, so a month from now when StatsCan publishes July inflation,
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it probably will come down a bit. But look, unfortunately, inflation is probably going to
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start with a seven for the rest of the year. It is going to be painfully high.
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When a liberal appointee is saying that things are painful and bad, trust me, it's painful and bad and
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probably worse. But painfully high? That's the plan if you listen to Chrystia Freeland,
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our deputy prime minister, our finance minister, and the woman whose financial prowess was just so
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stedler that she ran an entire news division of Reuters right into the dirt. Anyway, this painful
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inflation that's biting into your family's savings as you try to cover the cost of essentials at the
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grocery store and fuel in the minivan. Well, it's what Freeland wants. Take a listen.
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From my perspective, this price increase in fuel costs is a reminder of why climate action is so
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important and why as a country, we have to work even harder and move even faster towards a green
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economy. It's an insurance policy against higher energy prices. Your suffering is her opportunity.
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So just shut up and keep suffering. She makes no bones about it. She's actually proud of it. Look at
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this clip. Real proof point for me that Canada can, Canada will seize the opportunities in the green
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transition. And so much of that seizing of opportunities is going to happen here in Calgary,
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is going to happen here in Alberta. When I tabled the budget last week, one of the things that I
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emphasized was that the green transition is here. The world economy, our trading partners, they have
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decided that their economies are going to go green. And this is a huge, huge transformation. It is the
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biggest transformation of the global economy since the industrial revolution itself.
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We have a unique opportunity here in Canada and here in Alberta to be leaders in that green transition.
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And I've seen the evidence just in the past hour here today.
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Now, it's not just government printing money like it's going out of style and spending like there's
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no tomorrow driving up inflation rates. It's so much more. It's supply issues on the housing market.
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The housing market's being pressured by inflated immigration targets that are now making it hard for
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young Canadians to get into their first homes. It's a carbon tax and then a hike on the carbon tax on top
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of that, making the cost of groceries and food and basically everything that travels by a truck or a
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train or a plane even more expensive to the consumer. That same tax is also crushing the family trying to
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fill up their car on the way to soccer practice these days. And if all that, all of that were not
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enough, there's liberal price fixing on essential foodstuffs that will ultimately hurt the poor the most.
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Let's look at this from Black Locks just today. Food prices were up 9% compared to the same time last
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year. And yet a federal agency, the Canadian Dairy Commission, last February 1st raised wholesale milk
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prices by 8.4%. The wholesale cost of butter went up 12.5%. The commission stockpiled butter and cheese
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to maintain prices. The Agriculture Minister's office in a separate briefing note titled The Milk Price
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Increase for Producers Acknowledged Federal Regulators Approved Higher Costs Despite the Worst Inflation
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in 39 Years. They don't care. They just don't care. They've done this to you and they're hell bent on
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making it worse because who needs cheese when you can, I guess, just eat the bugs. And the media,
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they don't seem to care either. They're supposed to hold truth to power. But if you can't make ends meet,
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well, here's someone who works for the CBC, their personal finance expert, in fact, telling you what
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Shelter and hydro in combination should be about 30% of your income. And that is much higher
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right now, especially in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, where rents are much higher.
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One way that you can mitigate that is by speaking to your employer about getting a raise. With inflation,
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the way that it is going, it is completely reasonable right now, especially in this tight
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labour market, to go to your employer and say, I need you to bump my wage because it's becoming
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impossible for me to still survive in the city that I was hired in. And if that doesn't work,
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looking for another job, especially if you've got skills that are in demand, will often give you the
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bump that you need in order to afford that apartment and that rent that goes with it.
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I can hear a whole bunch of people at home going, so my boss will say no.
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Guys, it's obviously just that simple. Just get a better job, ask for a raise. And frankly,
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it's no wonder these people who exist in the subsidised, insulated bubble of the CBC think
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this way. In April, we reported that the CBC was on track to pay out $12 million in pay raises
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over the course of 2022. But Black Locks again, today they have a higher number,
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$30 million in pay raises at the CBC. So yeah, I guess if you can't make ends meet,
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you can just ask for a raise that you don't deserve if you work at the CBC. And you'll
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probably get it. But in the real world, for the people who pay those inflated salaries at the CBC,
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well, it just doesn't work that way, sister. After the break, someone who is trying to inject some
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reality into not just the financial situation in Canada, but also the democratic situation in Canada
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joins me. Conservative Party of Canada, leadership hopeful, Roman Babber joins me after the break
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to explain his major campaign policy announcements today. Stay with us.
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Welcome back, everybody. One of the great things about Patrick Brown no longer being in the race to
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replace Aaron O'Toole as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is that the other
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more serious and less scandal-plagued candidates have a chance now to advance great policy ideas,
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things that matter to Conservatives and ultimately matter to Canadians without being overshadowed by
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Patrick Brown and his many, many scandals. And one of those candidates who is advancing some,
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I think, fantastic policy ideas is Roman Babber. He was, as you know, removed as a member of the
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Ontario PCs for his principled stance against lockdowns and COVID restrictions. And he joins me
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right now because he is releasing his commitment to Canada and he's going to walk us through it.
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Roman, thanks for joining us on the show. Why don't you explain to us why you felt the need to,
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I guess, put pen to paper and document your commitment to Canada?
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Look, I've enjoyed this race. And I also think that it's been a very positive race in that it's
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been a race of ideas. Contrary to the traditional allegation that Conservatives are afraid to put forth
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a bold and principled stance during leadership races, I wanted to spark a conversation on some
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things that really matter to Canadians. And some of those, I think, are long overdue. I'm running
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against socialism in Canada. That's why I think it's appropriate to suggest that we should end
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equalization payments instead of continuing this provincial interdependency. We should probably phase
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out supply management instead of telling farmers how much dairy they can produce. And we need to have
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the courage to stand up for all Canadians and defend them against Bill 21 and Bill 96 in Quebec,
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and so on and so forth. I think that we should make this race about the conscience and the future
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of the Conservative Party. And that means not being afraid to put forth bold and courageous ideas.
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Now, you've got a sort of a four-point plan of your commitment to Canada. And the first one is defend
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Canada's democracy. And, you know, not only in there do you talk about decentralizing powers away from the
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Prime Minister's office, and I suppose that goes back to giving power to the MPs to exercise matters of
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conscience without being booted from caucus. But also, I suppose that involves giving powers back to
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the provinces, too, to make decisions without meddling from the Prime Minister's office.
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Absolutely. So, look, the principal reason why I'm in this race is because I think we're watching an
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unprecedented erosion of Canada's democracy. And as someone with a unique perspective on how
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precious and fragile our democracy is, I think it's incumbent on us to stand up for our country and
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all Canadians. So, first, I will end this 21st century segregation that we've been seeing for
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the last couple of years. I'll pass federal legislation to ban all passports and mandates
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and medical discrimination. I'll restore the freedom of speech. That's the most important thing
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we can do because through speech, we protect all other rights. So, I'll repeal the liberal censorship
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laws. I'll defend regulated professionals. I'll speak to the social media giants.
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Through the Bureau of Competition and ensure that Canadians are not censored online. And most
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importantly, we have to ensure free and independent media. And that means end all media dependency
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on government. But at the same time, you can't restore democracy in Canada without restoring
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democracy in the Conservative Party of Canada. So, restore parliamentary democracy by decentralizing
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power away from the PMO, allow free votes on matters of conscience, and encourage MPs to express
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You know, I think that's a really great thing that you're talking about, that free speech is,
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you know, it's the thing by which we argue about all the other rights. And, you know, I was talking
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to Ezra the other day about one of the great things about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is that he is
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unafraid to use all the levers of power at his disposal to advance his agenda. And we see the left do this
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all the time. Justin Trudeau does it all the time. It's how he banned 1500 popular models of Canadian
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firearms. He just did it. Now, I disagree with his agenda, but he's using all the levers of power to
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advance it. And it's nice to see a Conservative talking about doing the same, saying, you know what,
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I'm going to advance and pass this legislation, I'm going to get it done, instead of Conservatives
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being afraid to advance ideas. We always talked about, you know, the left talked about Harper's
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hidden agenda. 10 years later, 15 years later, I've never seen it. We're still looking for it.
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It was so slow and hidden that nobody ever found it. And the left is always up front, at least we,
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we may disagree with them, but we know what we're getting. And it's nice to see a Conservative
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like yourself talking about it. One of the things you, I think is a new policy to you, is the repeal
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of supply management. Now, as a farmer, I've got a unique perspective on this. I'm not a supply managed
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farmer. So I don't, I'm not, I'm not pro supply management. If I can make it, they can make it.
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But I think this is a new policy for you, or at least I've never seen you talking about it.
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Um, so why is, why now, why are you talking about this? Why is this a, a Roman babber issue now?
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It's just to your earlier comment, very quickly, we do not need to be afraid of, of presenting a
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serious, uh, proposal and agenda before Canadians. Uh, I think that that in fact is what lost us the
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prior two elections is that we're afraid to be ourselves or we run to the right during leadership.
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And then we pivot to the left, uh, during the general election that is, uh, inconsistent with
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our brand. We need to ensure that the Conservative party stands on principles and, and folks might
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disagree with me, uh, but that's okay. That's democracy. But at the very least, you will always
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know where I stand. Like I said, at the outside of the interview, I'm running against socialism
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in Canada. And that means that, uh, I do not believe that we should have central planning
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of the economy. And I can't imagine a more quintessential policy that plans the economy
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centrally than supply management, whereby effectively, uh, a Politburo of sorts, uh,
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the Dairy Council of Canada, uh, regulates how much dairy products we may produce every year.
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I find that terrible for the consumer, uh, of course, for prices, especially when prices
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are, um, are skyrocketing in the grocery stores, we are spilling out thousands of, uh, gallons
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of milk, uh, when we need to encourage increasing supply, not decreasing, especially given that, uh,
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we have, uh, a lot of money in the economy. And so I think that if a Canadian wants to get up
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and farm, uh, we should not prevent them. Of course, uh, I understand that some folks own
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concessions and quotas, and we need to figure out a way to wean ourselves off supply management.
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And that means maybe looking at amortization, uh, looking at some sort of exchange, uh, policy,
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but I want to free, uh, our ability to farm. You know, I, I think that's great. I think very
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rarely people think outside the box on this issue. Uh, and, um, you know, it's nice to see that you
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are addressing those arguments where they say, well, I have a quota, this expense, this quota
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is expensive. You're, you're rendering it useless to me. You've actually sort of thought a little bit
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down the road about how we're going to deal with people who hold these quotas so that eventually
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there will be more farmers in the marketplace, um, to bring those costs down to consumers. I think
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it's wonderful. Um, one of the things that you're sorry, go ahead. I was going to say, absolutely.
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We cannot devalue someone's personal property. We cannot come in and overnight render it, uh,
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uh, render it, uh, uh, without any value, sorry, devalue it overnight. And so what I propose we do
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instead, we have some models to look at. New Zealand has been able to wean itself off supply management.
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Uh, but most importantly, I think we need to think about the longterm and we have too many
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cartels in Canada, whether it's maple syrup or agricultural products. Uh, we're limiting the
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supply of, uh, fertilizer for instance, uh, through a cartel, which makes no sense either. We need to
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free up our economic opportunity, especially at a time when we're seeing an unprecedented price
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inflation. You know, one of the policy issues you talk about in your commitment to Canada is
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standing up to China. And again, that is something that I have not seen a lot from the other
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candidates. In fact, I would, uh, I would, I think credibly accuse one of the other candidates,
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Jean Charest of being at least some point in his career in the pocket of, uh, a CCP linked
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company named Huawei. But you have said that since you were born under a communist regime,
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you really understand why people, particularly people from China come to Canada, um, to have
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their rights protected. And, um, you're going to make sure that some of those Chinese style policies,
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uh, of, you know, uh, hijacking intellectual property, um, cracking down on religious minorities,
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you're going to make sure that they never come here, but you're also going to speak out against
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China doing it. Um, and I know a lot of candidates, they're just scared because of the sheer economic
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force of China to say these things. Again, we should not be afraid and we should project moral
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clarity on issues that are important to Canadians. Uh, like many of your viewers know, I was born and I
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lived under a communist regime under the first almost nine years of my life. And, uh, I recall
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the fear of religious prosecution that my family, uh, experienced, uh, being, uh, Jewish, uh, part
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Ukrainian and part Russian in the former Soviet Union. And so I believe that communism is evil and
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we must confront such evil without fear. And so, uh, my government will stop pandering to China
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and we'll rally the international community to oppose, uh, their onerous lockdowns. They're still
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locking down tens of millions of healthy people. They're oppressing, uh, religious minorities.
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Specifically, we know that they are, um, transporting, uh, Chinese Muslims into, uh, camps. They're stealing
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our intellectual property. They have taken over, uh, effectively Hong Kong's democracy and they're
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threatening Taiwan. We need to work with, uh, countries around China and encourage the manufacturing
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flow to some of the neighbors in the region. And we need to rally the international community
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to stop pretending that, uh, China is, is not one of the worst, uh, human rights abusers around the
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world. And in fact, a regime that is destabilizing the world and lead the international community to
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this moral clarity. I wanted to ask you, I know it's not in your policy document, but you've
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obviously thought about this issue. So I'm, I'm going to ask you about this. You touched on the
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treatment of the Uyghurs in China, and there's some strong overlays between what's happening to
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the Uyghurs and the residential school system here in Canada that the liberals speak out. I think most
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people disagree with the treatment of, uh, Canada's indigenous people in the residential
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schools, but right now in China, they are taking, uh, Uyghur children, preventing them from speaking
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their language, practicing their religion and taking away their Muslim names, basically sending
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them to these re-education schools for little children while their parents are off in the
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re-education camp and the forced slave labor camp. And we don't hear Justin Trudeau talking about this
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at all. He rightfully speaks out against anti-Muslim racism and bigotry in Canada and around the world.
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He invited the entire world to come to Canada when Justin, or I'm sorry, when President Trump imposed
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what the left called a Muslim ban with his immigration policy. But we don't hear about this systemic
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racism and genocide against this Muslim minority in China. Why do you think that is?
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I think, uh, Justin Trudeau is weak and lacks moral principles. Um, this is not the only issue
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on which he's hypocritical, but to go back to this issue, when every year, um, we use the phrase
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never again, we should mean the words never again. And I am very hesitant to make all sorts
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of historical comparisons. Um, it's something that is very, very sensitive to many folks,
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but it's for that reason that we need to be open-minded and appreciate what is transpiring
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in China. And of course we know that the only religion allowed in China is communism, which is,
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and so it's not new for them to oppress religious minorities. We know, for instance, the Falun Gong
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people, the Falun Dafa people, something that I take a considerable interest in, um, effective
00:23:29.400
practice, uh, a form of meditation with breathing, with, uh, yoga techniques and, and some spiritual,
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uh, enlightenment. And, and they have been oppressed and jailed since the early nineties in China.
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They have been, uh, used, uh, potentially in all sorts of, uh, markets around the world that are
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just unthinkable. And I think we have a duty as loving and peaceful people to, uh, speak for
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human rights all around the world. I don't propose an interventional pot, an interventionist policy,
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but I do propose that we project more moral clarity on, on such important issues.
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You know, it's, it's interesting that you brought up, you know, the Falun Gong and the fact that
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what's happening to the Uyghurs, it's happening to other religious groups in China as well. You
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rightly point out that communism is the only allowed religion there. For example, Cardinal Zen,
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he's the Cardinal, the Catholic Cardinal of Hong Kong. He was arrested in May, May 25th. And, uh,
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he has been an outspoken advocate for a free Hong Kong for a very long time. And it has been an
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absolute failing of the Canadian government to speak up on his behalf. Um, there's a Canadian singer
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was also arrested at the same time. Um, it was not just Cardinal Zen, but again, Justin Trudeau,
00:25:01.340
too scared of China. And as you rightly point out, has no moral clarity and has been completely
00:25:06.380
silent on this issue. The man is a political prisoner based on his religion and Canada who,
00:25:12.080
you know, we used to take the lead in these issues. I think we were instrumental in dismantling,
00:25:19.060
um, South African apartheid and we are completely silent on this.
00:25:25.700
Absolutely. I think part of the issue is that, uh, over the last couple of years,
00:25:30.040
we have completely taking our eye off the ball around the world. Uh, we have been focused on
00:25:36.800
COVID response, which as you know, I'm, I'm a big critic of because I felt that we need to reassess
00:25:41.900
our, um, our COVID response and, and focus on where the risk is, which is primarily in long-term
00:25:47.900
care homes and, and congregate settings and beef up our hospital capacity because the virus is so
00:25:52.360
transmissible, uh, arrest of the virus, I believe is naive, but it's not just the Chinese regime
00:25:58.120
that, uh, Justin Trudeau refuses to stand up. I believe that one of the greatest threats to world
00:26:04.800
peace and stability is the, uh, Republic of Iran. And I remember after, uh, the Ukrainian plane was
00:26:12.540
shut down with 158 Canadians on board. Uh, I remember he met with the foreign minister about
00:26:17.900
a month later and effectively bowed to him. Um, I joked at the time that, that he was Justin's,
00:26:23.740
uh, Valentine and I'm very, very concerned about the fact that Canada is unwilling to, to play,
00:26:31.800
uh, a key role and, and project, uh, this moral clarity and, and delineate for the international
00:26:39.780
community, uh, right from wrong. And, and, and that's something that I think prime minister Harper
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did very, very well. And so I certainly look forward to restoring, uh, such credibility around
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the world, but I want to stress that we're not going to restore our credibility around the world
00:26:55.660
until we restore democracy at home. And, and I want to come back to the fact that we are seeing
00:27:04.280
a remarkable erosion of our rights. We still have close to 20% of Canadians treated like second-class
00:27:09.440
citizens. We have censorship legislation working itself through the courts, uh, through the,
00:27:13.820
through parliament. We have, uh, an unlawful invocation of the emergencies act. We have the
00:27:18.800
top police officer in the country, potentially doing the prime minister political favor. Uh,
00:27:23.700
I would propose, uh, at least at the outset to focus on restoring democracy at home before we can
00:27:29.900
credibly opine on what's transpiring around the world. You know, you're, you're right to say that
00:27:35.840
because, uh, so often we see, you know, Chinese politicians and bureaucrats, they chirp us online
00:27:44.800
all the time. Um, and they probably have, you know, at least the ability to point out some serious
00:27:51.860
hypocrisy by the Canadian government on some of these things. I, I suppose it would be pretty hard
00:27:56.580
to speak out against Cardinal Zen when he didn't say anything, when James Coates, Pastor James Coates
00:28:01.900
was sitting in prison in Canada or, you know, speaking out against political prisoners while
00:28:06.980
Tamera Leach is still in prison. Um, now, one of the things I wanted to talk to you about that
00:28:12.420
sort of sets you apart, even amongst your own conservative colleagues is on the issue of
00:28:19.800
environment and climate change. Because as I'm reading through your policy document here,
00:28:24.600
you note a very mainstream, reasonable, uh, I think it's a pretty accepted fact here that Canada
00:28:33.900
is a carbon sink that, that we actually soak up because of the size of the boreal forest,
00:28:40.660
more carbon than we emit. And yet Canadians are still being taxed on their carbon emissions.
00:28:47.940
Do you think, I guess my question is, are you going to, uh, face some criticism for just saying this
00:28:53.820
very acceptable mainstream scientific fact that most kids in grade 10 biology understand?
00:29:03.060
We cannot be afraid to talk about some of the difficult issues that, that are facing our
00:29:07.920
country. And I think that, um, if anything learned from last couple of years is that it was our fear
00:29:15.200
to stand up to the left wing cancel culture COVID mob that has allowed this remarkable catastrophe,
00:29:22.040
uh, to go on for almost two years. You know, I, I said a couple of days ago, we somehow, we allowed,
00:29:28.660
uh, government and public health and our school system to convince our children that if they play,
00:29:34.780
that if they play next to one another in close proximity, that someone God forbid may die.
00:29:40.560
We have, uh, we're raising a generation of children that have suffered a mental trauma
00:29:45.320
who will have difficulty potentially leading a normal life. And, and we should not be afraid
00:29:51.560
to confront those that seek to further, uh, potentially, uh, whether it's purposefully or not
00:29:59.540
to inflict harm on our country, on our, on Canadians and our, on our economic interests. And we should not
00:30:06.880
be afraid to address, uh, the discussion around the environment and climate change, but take it a hand
00:30:13.800
on Canada produces only one and a half percent of all global emissions. Uh, it's even if we were to
00:30:21.380
cut all of them, it's not clear that it would actually make any material difference in the
00:30:25.800
climate. We know that most nations, uh, are now giving up on the Paris accord. We know who the
00:30:31.760
polluters are. Um, I, I think it's a pie in the sky that is not attainable and not necessary,
00:30:36.620
which is why I'll take Canada out of the, uh, Paris accord. And we're blessed with so much forest,
00:30:42.300
as you say that most, if not all of our, uh, greenhouse gases are actually naturally absorbed.
00:30:48.440
Um, that is why I oppose the carbon tax. I do not believe that taxing Sally $10 at the gas pump
00:30:56.940
is actually going to affect the global climate. I don't think that anyone, uh, really believes that
00:31:03.040
anymore. And I will not impose a regressive tax on Canadians, which achieves nothing other than
00:31:09.220
effectively punishing Canadians and making life more expensive. So, uh, you know, right now we're
00:31:14.100
planting 360 million trees a year. Uh, I will look to increase it, uh, to maybe half a billion,
00:31:19.780
but I think that, um, Canada's natural resources are a blessing. It's one of the themes of, uh,
00:31:26.500
my commitment to Canada is to make Canada a natural resources superpower. And that means repealing
00:31:31.800
the anti-pipeline bill, um, rethinking, legislating, and negotiating the three main pipelines,
00:31:36.740
and revisiting the discussion on Excel. Americans are very unhappy with the price of gas and clarify
00:31:41.620
the duty to consult, uh, encourage the, uh, creation of refinery capacity and, uh, reconsider
00:31:47.600
our approach to mining and invest and encourage mining. I think the only way we get out of the
00:31:53.480
fiscal hole that we're in right now is to unleash our economic superpower. And we can do that through
00:31:59.400
Canada's natural resources. Yeah. I see in your policy document, you are making sure that you don't
00:32:04.920
leave Canada's indigenous communities behind, particularly in those partnerships with the
00:32:09.360
resource industry. Um, most, I think most Albertans know that if you were to pick, uh, a resource or
00:32:16.620
sorry, any industry in this country that you would describe as indigenous, it would be the resource
00:32:22.520
industry. I think, uh, indigenous people are double represented in, um, mining and resource extraction
00:32:31.300
projects as a percentage of the workforce versus a percentage of the Canadian population. Um, so, um,
00:32:38.540
you've rightly pointed that out in here. The one last thing I want to talk to you about, because I
00:32:42.360
could probably talk to you all day, but I'm sure you have other things to do. Um, healthcare, um,
00:32:48.580
it's, it's an evergreen problem that you, you just pick up the paper, you go on the internet and you see
00:32:57.400
the healthcare system is in collapse and it's not a COVID thing. This is a perennial problem in Canada.
00:33:04.600
So how do we fix that? And is, uh, is there room in your plan for private innovation to alleviate the
00:33:15.120
load that the publicly funded system is bearing?
00:33:19.460
Um, Chile, if I may very quickly on indigenous policy, as I travel the country, uh, I realize how
00:33:26.120
prevalent and, and still important and raw this issue to so many Canadians, both indigenous and
00:33:32.640
non-indigenous. And I think that, um, that it's certainly something that the Canadian government,
00:33:38.240
that our future conservative government should be thinking about. Um, we must be mindful of our
00:33:43.380
history. So we don't repeat the mistakes of the past, but we should not be, uh, encouraging or
00:33:48.900
succumbing to Justin Trudeau's divisive, divisive, uh, rhetoric. So I think that the best thing we
00:33:54.260
can do for reconciliation is actually improve the lives of indigenous people. And, and we can get
00:34:00.540
a good start with water. We still have hundreds of communities around Canada that still don't have
00:34:06.220
access to clean and safe drinking water. And given today's technologies where we can essentially drop
00:34:11.400
water anywhere and make water out of air, that is inexcusable, which is why I'm committed to,
00:34:16.600
uh, making sure that every Canadian community has water by the end of my first term.
00:34:22.080
But, uh, back to your question on healthcare, we have to acknowledge, we have to concede that Canada
00:34:27.600
has one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world. And one of the lowest rates of hospital
00:34:34.000
beds in the OECD, my, um, my region of North York has one of the lowest, uh, bed numbers in the
00:34:40.420
countries and therefore in the developed world, that's unacceptable. So we have to own up to the fact
00:34:45.600
that we're probably overdue for a major capital expansion as our population is getting older
00:34:51.420
and people are living longer. We need more beds, but it cannot come without, uh, administrative
00:34:57.720
improvements. For instance, in the province of Ontario, we have more healthcare bureaucrats
00:35:01.580
than family physicians. I read in the post, uh, media last year that, uh, Canada has about 10 times
00:35:07.340
more healthcare bureaucrats than Germany per capita. So that's impossible. So we need to work with the
00:35:12.340
provinces to reduce our administrative burden. If we're going to look at a capital injection.
00:35:16.600
And second of all, I am in favor of looking at a private delivery model still within the framework
00:35:21.780
of the Canada health act. We should encourage doctors and surgeons to, to innovate and see patients
00:35:29.000
outside of, uh, the hospital or existing frameworks. We should encourage private imaging, uh, and diagnostics.
00:35:35.920
And at the same time, we can still remain within the single healthcare, uh, payer system where, uh,
00:35:42.480
a private supplier would build government, uh, directly. And finally on healthcare, I'm going
00:35:46.580
to amend the Canada health act to make sure that we will not discriminate against any Canadian
00:35:51.700
because of their medical status or their personal healthcare choice.
00:35:55.660
Yeah. It's funny when people talk about healthcare, they just pretend like Saskatchewan doesn't exist.
00:36:00.700
Saskatchewan does this all the time or Quebec, you know, they do this all the time.
00:36:05.000
They have lower wait times. They spend far less in Saskatchewan than they, we do here in Alberta.
00:36:10.800
They have better outcomes. And yet it seems to be that in the other eight provinces, the only way
00:36:18.600
of delivering something is the same way that you keep doing it. That doesn't work. So I'm happy to
00:36:22.560
see that you've sort of examined some of these Canadian success stories and are willing to allow
00:36:27.720
replication of that in other places. Uh, Roman, how did people find out more about your commitment
00:36:34.380
to Canada and support you as you try to advance these ideas within the Conservative Party of Canada
00:36:40.180
leadership race? Well, everyone's encouraged to visit joinroman.ca, joinroman.ca and click on
00:36:45.440
policy is where you can find the entire document commitment to Canada, which is essentially four
00:36:50.580
pillars. Restore Canada's democracy, uh, uh, restore Canadian opportunity, make Canada a natural
00:36:57.700
resources, superpower, and real estate trust in government. We have a record deficit of trust in
00:37:04.020
government. Now we've got to say what we believe and do what we believe is right. I'll propose a
00:37:07.740
judicial inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, review the lobbying act and the
00:37:11.940
representation formula, most importantly, restore and defend the rule of law. Uh, we are, uh, running an
00:37:18.160
excellent campaign. I think we have certainly influenced the conversation very much in the democracy
00:37:23.360
direction among all other candidates. Uh, I would remind your, um, uh, viewers that it's a ranked
00:37:29.860
ballot. Uh, there is no vote splitting. They can comfortably put me, rank me first. And then, uh,
00:37:35.880
another, perhaps a more popular candidate who's likely to survive longer on the ballot than I am,
00:37:40.400
uh, after me, uh, although we do see a path to winning and, but, but if we're not going to get there,
00:37:47.720
then, um, we ask that, uh, your viewers rank us first to send a strong message of democracy
00:37:54.720
to the conservative party of Canada, and that we reward politicians that say what they believe and
00:38:01.120
put their constituents ahead of politics. Uh, join Roman.ca. We're one of the least underfunded,
00:38:06.680
we're the least funded campaign. Uh, but at the same time, we're doing great and I'm excited for
00:38:11.120
the conclusion of this race. Yeah, you're sure punching up Roman. Thanks so much for coming on the
00:38:16.400
show. I wish you the best of luck. Uh, I, I admire how unafraid you are to advance these ideas because
00:38:22.540
these are truly mainstream ideas. If you take a minute to talk to the grassroots, uh, Roman,
00:38:28.180
thanks so much for coming on the show. Best of luck in the race and your letters to Ezra read to me,
00:38:46.400
This is the portion of the show where, well, Ezra used to call it his hate mail, but we don't get a
00:38:52.580
lot of hate. In fact, we get a lot of pretty thoughtful responses to our work from our viewers
00:38:59.200
out there in the wild. And unlike the mainstream media, we don't close our comment section.
00:39:03.360
We want to hear from you. We want to know what you think about our work, good or bad. So let's go to
00:39:09.620
our first letter. It's from Claude or Claude. I'm sorry if I'm saying it improperly. Who writes Trudeau
00:39:16.760
got that hilarious bowl cut. So people would feel sorry for him and vote for him in his sneaky new
00:39:21.720
election that he's soon to call. I see that photo of Justin Trudeau with his new haircut. And I know
00:39:29.940
for sure that his hairdresser probably votes conservative. I feel like that is a haircut given
00:39:37.040
from spite. Someone who has had their business closed one too many times thanks to the COVID
00:39:44.560
scare lockdowns and is quietly fighting back in the one way they know how. Next comment is from
00:39:53.040
Char West or Char West. Thank you. It's about time conservatives as well stopped focusing on Biden
00:40:00.560
and started talking about policies. Yeah, you know what? Biden is a decrepit aging
00:40:07.840
old man whom I think is being abused by the Democrat establishment. I don't know how we report them for
00:40:17.280
elder abuse, but what I see is absolutely that. He should be shuffling around in his slippers
00:40:23.200
in a nursing home visiting with his grandchildren and just relaxing, eating dinner at four o'clock and
00:40:31.400
going to bed at 730. Unfortunately, he is in charge of the nuclear codes and that's where I've got a real
00:40:41.060
problem. But it's really his policies, which are not even his policies. I think his policies are the
00:40:47.420
policies of the people who are currently abusing him. It's the Green New Deal types. He's a very easily
00:40:54.400
manipulated, vulnerable old man and the green radicals of the Democrat Party. They're doing the
00:41:02.660
manipulating and we can see it playing out in his policies every single day. Hutch 101 writes,
00:41:09.220
the only success for Canada is for the Liberals, the millstone hanging around the necks of Canadians and
00:41:15.140
the only success will be them being voted out. You know, that is very true when you look at what is
00:41:23.440
currently hindering the Canadian economy. It is a lack of pipelines. It's carbon taxes. It's a hike in
00:41:31.540
the carbon tax. It's inflation. It's the price of buying a home in this country that is being driven up
00:41:41.660
by supply shortages because of hyperinflated immigration targets. All those things are liberal
00:41:49.580
policies. Some conservatives are talking about them. Some are not. But we do need a great reset,
00:41:59.960
to use the language of the left, of the political system in this country. And I think, I think we're about
00:42:05.760
to get it. Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you'd
00:42:11.000
like to leave Ezra a line, drop him a line to read on the show here. These are his contact details.
00:42:19.800
If you want to leave a comment there, maybe your comment will be right on air. Again, I say,
00:42:24.200
we welcome your viewer feedback. We want to hear from you. You are our success. Anyway, that's the show
00:42:30.800
for tonight. Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you to everybody in the studio in Toronto who
00:42:35.200
put the show together tonight as I did my best to fill in for the boss. And as Ezra always says,
00:42:43.300
keep fighting for freedom. Finally, a little bit of good news to report on the crooked politician
00:42:49.060
front. Sneaky Karen Selowitz, Richmond Hill's self-appointed queen of Ward 5, was recently found
00:42:56.920
guilty of fraud. Yet, despite the conviction, there remains a bitter aftertaste. In fact, the outcome
00:43:04.900
of the Selowitz fraud case makes me seriously question the justice system as well as the
00:43:11.100
municipal act when it comes to crime and punishment. Now, before I address that aspect, allow me to recap
00:43:19.800
Karen's odious shenanigans. Astute viewers might recall that last month, Rebel News aired
00:43:26.900
an exclusive interview with the person Karen Selowitz had hoodwinked. That would be Patty Burton
00:43:33.380
Garcia. Patty was hired by Selowitz to work as a part-time assistant for the councillor beginning
00:43:41.020
in the summer of 2019. Her salary was $25,000 and Patty was paid approximately $900 every two weeks.
00:43:50.200
But as soon as Patty received her first paycheck, things took a weird twist. Namely, Selowitz informed
00:43:59.740
Patty that she and her boyfriend, Derek Christie, would be taking the lion's share of Patty's paycheck.
00:44:07.180
Yeah, typically about $800. Eventually, Selowitz and Christie dinged Patty for some $21,000. In other words,
00:44:17.300
more than 80% of Patty's actual earnings. Now, the motive for Selowitz acting like the taxman on steroids
00:44:25.780
was apparently financial desperation. It was around this time period that Selowitz was in the process
00:44:33.120
of being docked a whopping 315 days pay. This was due to numerous successful complaints
00:44:41.760
that had been filed against Selowitz to the city of Richmond Hill's integrity commissioner regarding her
00:44:49.980
misbehavior. Now, losing 315 days worth of pay is quite a hefty penalty given that, oh, there's only
00:44:58.280
365 days in a year, but I digress. In any event, Patty actually agreed to this outrageous clawback of her
00:45:07.420
wages, given that she had a desire to contribute to public service and that she was making ends meet
00:45:14.300
thanks to her existing pension. But things came to an ugly head around tax time the following year.
00:45:23.680
Patty was informed by her accountant that because on paper she was earning that full salary, well,
00:45:30.840
she owed the Canadian Revenue Agency about $4,000. Patty was stunned and when Patty told Selowitz about the
00:45:39.880
impending tax hit, the councillor allegedly responded with three words, not my problem. Talk about chutzpah.
00:45:50.400
But it later became Karen's problem, all right. Oh, big time. Once law enforcement got involved,
00:45:57.040
this was fraud, plain and simple. And not only was Patty being defrauded, so too were the residents of
00:46:05.160
Richmond Hill, given these were tax dollars that Selowitz was redistributing, yeah, redistributing into
00:46:13.240
her own bank account, that is. Well, this case dragged through the courts for some 18 months, but last
00:46:20.180
week, a verdict was finally handed down. Selowitz was found guilty of fraud under $5,000. And according
00:46:28.620
to the court, Selowitz has already allegedly paid back the full restitution to the city of Richmond Hill.
00:46:38.120
Where this cash challenge person got the moolah is anyone's guess, however. But here's the thing,
00:46:46.280
this conviction was the result of a plea deal. The original charge was fraud over $5,000. And Selowitz
00:46:55.500
was also facing a charge of breach of trust by a public officer. She was caught red-handed. There was
00:47:03.480
evidence galore. So why a plea deal in the first place? And another thing that makes me question the
00:47:11.100
justice system pertaining to this case. And it's the so-called penalty. Most would argue that Selowitz
00:47:17.980
should be behind bars for what she did. But instead, this fraudster will serve a three-month
00:47:23.980
conditional sentence, meaning that she is simply required to remain in her residence daily between
00:47:31.240
10 p.m. and 6 a.m. except for emergencies. Wow, that's harsh. And yes, my tongue is firmly inserted
00:47:40.200
in my cheek, folks. Because you see, for the last several months, Selowitz has existed as a house
00:47:46.380
hermit. She hasn't even shown up to numerous council meetings in person, deciding to simply zoom in her
00:47:54.260
contributions such as they are. So how is it that being confined to quarters between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
00:48:01.220
is a penalty in the first place when Selowitz has already volunteered to confine herself to quarters
00:48:08.840
on basically a 24-7 basis? And holy Patrick Brown Batman, in the aftermath of this humiliating
00:48:17.480
criminal conviction, you would think that Selowitz would be full of contrition and that she'd be
00:48:23.900
issuing mea culpas all around? But no. Like sneaky Patrick himself, a familiar pattern emerges, namely
00:48:32.440
Karen breaks the rules, Karen gets caught breaking the rules, and then Karen plays the victim card,
00:48:40.860
claiming that for some unfathomable reason, so many people are out to get her as part of some grand
00:48:48.100
conspiracy. It's pathetic. Now, we did reach out to Karen Selowitz to get her side of the story. We even
00:48:55.220
visited her condominium, but she declined to comment. However, she's all over social media shedding
00:49:03.720
crocodile tears about her plight while blaming others for her troubles. Her rants are vomit-inducing,
00:49:12.280
quite frankly, given how tone deaf she is. Indeed, check out this nugget, quote, over the past four and a half
00:49:20.260
years, I have been on the receiving end of ongoing hateful and hate-filled bullying, enduring abusive
00:49:28.220
and malicious treatment, including cyberbullying on Facebook, end quote. Oh, there's been bullying these
00:49:36.400
past four and a half years, all right. Except, Syphilitz was not on the receiving end. Rather, when it comes to
00:49:44.100
being a bully, she's the star quarterback. Case in point, you might recall her infamous recorded rant, in which
00:49:51.280
Karen went after Richmond Hill resident Steffi Goodfield. At the time, Steffi was a stage four cancer patient. And what was
00:50:01.320
Steffi's crime, you might ask? Well, Steffi had the utter gall to use the words Ward 5 to describe a music
00:50:10.800
festival she was organizing in Ward 5. But crazy, Karen, she apparently thinks she owns the copyright for
00:50:18.820
the term Ward 5. Check out this two-minute slice of utter insanity.
00:50:24.940
Please be advised that nobody but Richmond Hill councillors use the term Ward in any event unless you are a
00:50:35.740
councillor. So you can let him listen to this if he doesn't have the balls to call me back. But be advised,
00:50:41.900
Steffi, that if you in any way, or if Matt Bergman in any way calls your Sunday night jam at
00:50:48.760
Archibald's, the Ward 5 event, there is going to be serious problems that you are both going to have
00:50:55.100
to deal with legally. Astonishing. And much like how the good people of Brampton are cursed with
00:51:02.040
Patrick Brown, so too are the folks in Richmond Hill with Karen Sullivan. You see, under the Municipal Act,
00:51:11.100
she is still allowed to sit on council. And she's allowed to run for re-election in the fall.
00:51:16.660
But how can this be? It was just proven in a court of law that she defrauded the city out of
00:51:24.340
thousands of dollars. And now this fraudster can continue to carry out making financial decisions
00:51:32.500
on the behalf of the city? That's outrageous. And me thinks the Municipal Act clearly needs to be
00:51:40.020
revised so that elected fraudsters are kept away from the taxpayer-funded cookie jar.
00:51:52.040
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00:52:19.540
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