Justin Trudeau calls another far-right premier a racist, and the people have an opinion on that too. Ezra Levenant talks about it, and then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau answers questions from the media about the handling of the Paul Bernardo case.
00:06:19.380The Conservatives are accelerating their efforts to reopen the abortion debate here in Canada.
00:06:25.260While we were originally scheduled to debate a Conservative private member's bill proposing a tax credit for medical treatment this evening,
00:06:34.220the Conservatives made a last-minute change.
00:06:36.100Apparently, discussing abortion was of a greater priority to them.
00:06:40.180And so we will be debating Bill C-311 this evening.
00:08:26.480Usually Trudeau saves that insult for people who aren't actually in power, in the center of power, in the establishment.
00:08:33.400And he says it about journalists he doesn't like or opposition politicians he doesn't like.
00:08:38.660But he generally, for example, wouldn't say it about sitting provincial premiers.
00:08:43.360Even Danielle Smith, who is quite libertarian and freedom-oriented, because Trudeau knows he has to work with those premiers fairly collegially.
00:08:52.780And he will want their cooperation on some matters at some point in time.
00:08:57.640He doesn't want premiers whipping up their own provinces and others against him.
00:09:02.920Politically, in the media, or even in court.
00:12:19.420Later that evening, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke at a fundraiser for the LGBTQ charity Rainbow Railroad in Toronto, saying, quote,
00:12:27.940trans kids need to feel safe, not targeted by politicians.
00:12:32.300We're seeing that angry, hateful rhetoric rise on our continent, particularly targeting trans people, he said.
00:12:38.960Far right political actors are trying to outdo themselves with the types of cruelty and isolation they can inflict on these already vulnerable people.
00:12:46.520Right now, trans kids in New Brunswick are being told they don't have the right to be their true selves, that they need to ask permission.
00:12:54.560Children cannot decide things for themselves.
00:13:53.800Imagine telling parents that their kids can change their name.
00:13:56.600Ottawa, a national poll suggests that 57% agree with schools, that schools should have to tell parents about their children's desire to change their gender or pronouns.
00:14:07.000Meanwhile, less than a fifth, 18%, feel schools shouldn't tell parents.
00:14:12.660So even most liberals, most progressives think it's really creepy to keep sexual matters a secret from the parents of young children.
00:14:36.160Yes, Mr. Speaker, I was a high school teacher before getting into politics.
00:14:40.780And I'm having a little trouble remembering what exactly the job that the leader of the opposition had before getting into politics.
00:14:48.120Mr. Speaker, we have a plan to fight climate change.
00:14:52.700We have a plan to continue to move forward on supporting Canadians with a grocery rebate, with a growing economy, with great middle-class jobs.
00:15:02.340We're delivering health care supports for Canadians from coast to coast to coast.
00:15:07.220Delivering dental care that has helped 300,000 kids access dental care over the past number of months, including 1,100 in his own riding.
00:15:16.280Mr. Speaker, we will continue to be there for Canadians.
00:15:42.940Yeah, the media hated that, and they never asked Trudeau why he left school mid-semester that year as teacher.
00:15:51.160Higgs doesn't seem to be backing down, which is a miracle, and I wonder how long he'll hold out.
00:15:58.140Well, look at him tweeting, Susan Holt, that's the liberal leader there, and Justin Trudeau, don't believe parents need to be involved in such critical discussions as gender identity.
00:16:06.880Even in children as young as four, in New Brunswick, we'll have a safe learning environment and better mental health supports while still respecting the parents' role.
00:16:15.660Well, that sounds pretty balanced to me.
00:16:17.900Oh, but the media is furious with him.
00:24:09.720I believe he's donated almost $7,000 plus attending these pay-for-play fundraisers.
00:24:14.580So that's sort of when he came into the spotlight.
00:24:18.660But, and, you know, we were sort of led to believe that these pay-for-play fundraisers were a passing relationship, right?
00:24:25.800Like these people just happened to show up at a fundraiser with Justin Trudeau.
00:24:28.800So, but when you do have to dig into the backstory, it looks like there was deeper connections.
00:24:33.340And I did dig into the backstory a little bit.
00:24:35.820And so I found, you know, that Edward Gong has been hosting these festivals.
00:24:39.860And, you know, his guest of honor was Justin Trudeau one year.
00:24:45.440And he's also got, you know, a website.
00:24:48.760And Justin Trudeau has featured prominently on it.
00:24:51.680And also has connections to, or has plugged at least, Gang Tan.
00:24:56.500And so Edward ran afoul of law agencies shortly after, you know, these meetings with liberal MPs and Justin Trudeau.
00:25:09.120And he ended up being charged with some very serious allegations, fraud, money laundering, etc.
00:25:15.780He was also had assets forfeited in New Zealand.
00:25:19.960And so he was accused of running a massive pyramid scheme and defrauding investors in Canada and China and elsewhere out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
00:25:30.200So this was New Zealand's biggest ever bust and seizure of the proceeds of crime.
00:25:36.220It was over $60 million that he forfeited to the New Zealand government.
00:25:39.600But the story doesn't end there because, for whatever reason, Gang Tan, and we know that Gang Tan has been, you know, tied to Chinese diplomats and things like that.
00:25:53.100Gang Tan, for whatever reason, before these charges, went to Beijing and apparently hand-delivered a document, you know, to the embassy there,
00:26:05.280vouching for Edward and saying that Edward was aware that, you know, there were some issues and he wanted to cooperate with authorities.
00:26:13.220Well, that letter ended up getting forwarded to the RCMP.
00:26:16.480But there's really no good explanation as to why Gang Tan was acting as his intermediary.
00:26:23.280Now, Gang Tan, that's a liberal MP, right?
00:26:50.620Well, I mean, you know, like I said, we have an embassy in Ottawa and the letter ended up being forwarded to the RCMP.
00:26:58.400So and it's very, very murky as to why Gang was involved at all.
00:27:03.000But it does speak to the fact that obviously, you know, these politicians had deeper ties to this controversial mayor or candidate than they let on.
00:28:36.920But so there was 13 different ministries involved, you know, in these these these events where liberal candidates were showcased and broadcast, you know, to people who largely consume Chinese language media.
00:28:54.020So, I mean, you know, this is just the kind of things where you're like, hmm.
00:29:37.540If he's got a couple of Chinese language TV stations, maybe he's got some base of support that I simply don't know about it because I'm not watching his TV stations.
00:29:47.380And if he has the official green light from communist China, I mean, I didn't know that his TV stations were vetted by China's regulator.
00:30:45.420Yeah, I mean, you know, I call these media sort of satellite stations.
00:30:49.880I look at them as an extension of, you know, the PRC's Ministry of Propaganda.
00:30:54.920And, you know, that was one of the ministries that sort of visited his, you know, his station and how to look at it and helped organize these spring festivals where Justin Trudeau was the guest of honor.
00:31:05.080So, yeah, I mean, I do consider them an extension of foreign incidents operations, you know, and we know that Justin Trudeau was very, very keen to have those sort of, you know, those sort of outlets to, you know, gain favor in the community.
00:31:22.340It was also during a time when he was looking at free trade agreements.
00:31:25.260This is when we signed on to the now disastrous AAIB.
00:31:32.780But it's become even more disastrous than what we formerly knew.
00:31:36.860So, you know, he was very, very happy to tap all of these things.
00:31:40.280And these are the sort of things that we have to go back and start scrutinizing.
00:31:43.300So, yeah, I'm going to look more into this station.
00:31:45.960But, yeah, it's just it's a very, very curious.
00:31:49.400I mean, only in Canada can, you know, you have millions and tens of millions of assets seized, you know, by other governments, by the government of New Zealand and run for Canada.
00:32:00.640I mean, we really are the land of unlimited opportunity.
00:32:03.460And so it is interesting, though, because, you know, although it seems like he had a very cozy relationship prior with, you know, several, you know, high ranking officials and things like that within various Chinese ministries.
00:32:18.520Now he's come out and well, after Gangtian delivered this this letter, for whatever reason, even though those assets were seized as and declared proceeds of crime, he actually had all the charges against him in Canada dropped.
00:32:52.380Very, very curious, because his counterparts, people who were involved in this pyramid scheme, were charged both in China.
00:33:00.760And we can't give a huge amount of, you know, weight, I think, to criminal proceedings that go on in China.
00:33:07.300We do have to, you know, view them with a little bit of skepticism.
00:33:10.480Sometimes people do run afoul of the regime for whatever reason and, you know, find themselves under some very suspicious prosecution charges and things like that.
00:33:18.700But his counterparts in New Zealand were charged.
00:33:22.080So but he managed to get off pretty much scot-free.
00:33:26.040And in an interesting turn of events, you know, he's now suing the Ontario Securities Commission for collaborating with Chinese state authorities on this massive investigation.
00:33:43.980And he's now accusing, you know, the Ontario Security Commission of collaborating with a known human rights abuser, how he put it, to, you know, incorrectly prosecute him.
00:33:55.780So fascinating and very interesting verbiage from somebody who is a known and did collaborate with that very same human rights abuser.
00:34:04.300Isn't that such a tangled web? Incredible.
00:34:08.440Well, I state again that Edward Gong is welcome to have a platform here if he wants to explain some of these intrigues.
00:34:19.000I'm really curious why he would have his TV stations here vetted by the Chinese broadcast regulator.
00:34:24.580I do like his signs, you know, vote Gong.
00:34:28.560He says he's here to rescue Toronto, which is maybe a little bit of a messiah complex.
00:35:45.660So, you know, and, you know, Justin Trudeau said that he wasn't aware of Gangtan's activities and why Gangtan was in Beijing.
00:35:54.320And, you know, so, you know, worth, and I'm going to, and then, you know, I go and I look on Edward's website.
00:36:00.320And, well, there's, you know, stuff that's sort of plugging Gangtan.
00:36:03.660So, obviously, they're, you know, they had a relationship.
00:36:06.120And it was a little bit deeper than, I think, what we've been led to believe.
00:36:10.140So, I'm trying to go back and paw through and comb through some of the stuff and bring new interesting details to light that might be useful.
00:36:47.300Yeah, until next time, I'm going to get writing.
00:36:51.100And I do think I have some new information or stuff that hasn't been brought up before about our, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and how that all went down and why we signed on.
00:37:03.180I have a feeling that there was some serious lobbying going on behind the scenes.
00:37:07.320And some pressure was put on to Freeland to execute that deal.
00:37:13.680So, yeah, so I'm going to work on getting that out.
00:38:45.440Trump, for all his flaws, may be the only candidate brutal enough to fight back and win.
00:38:51.620Peter Story says, a Canadian would have to be an idiot to vote for a liberal or NDP next federal election, considering what has happened over the last three years in Canada.
00:38:58.760Well, you saw that poll, one, take it with a grain of salt, but some people are ready to vote for anyone but Trudeau, but others are a little bit nervous.
00:39:09.600And I think you'll see the absolute demonization of Pierre Pauly have to try and scare those voters back.
00:39:14.920D-Tech22 says, thank you for this interview, Ezra, and thanks to Lawrence for all he does.