Rebel News Podcast - August 05, 2022


EZRA LEVANT ｜ What do we think of Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan？


Episode Stats

Length

39 minutes

Words per Minute

161.22215

Word Count

6,332

Sentence Count

435

Misogynist Sentences

6

Hate Speech Sentences

12


Summary

Did you see that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House in the United States, visited Taiwan? And the Chinese communists, oh my God, the reaction was tantamount to war. They put planes in the air and ships in the sea. What do we make of that? Are we headed into another war? I ll give you my thoughts on it.


Transcript

00:00:00.560 Hello, my friends. Did you see that Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House in the United States,
00:00:05.820 visited Taiwan? And the Chinese communists, oh my God, the reaction was, well, it was tantamount
00:00:13.060 to a call to war. They had military drills surrounding Taiwan. They put planes in the air
00:00:18.200 and ships in the sea. What do we make of that? Are we headed into another war? I'll give you
00:00:24.720 my thoughts on it. But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
00:00:30.060 That's the video version of this podcast. I do the show every weekday. Sometimes I have
00:00:34.540 a guest host, but most of the time it's me. Also, four times a week we have another show
00:00:41.820 by a colleague of mine. So you add it all up, that's 36 episodes a month just for eight bucks,
00:00:46.140 the video version of it. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe. Do it for the content, but
00:00:51.100 do it, if I may, to support us because we don't get any government money and it shows.
00:00:57.260 That's rebelnewsplus.com. All right, here's the show. And by the way, my friend David Menzies
00:01:01.100 is doing the guest interview today. Here it is.
00:01:03.400 Tonight, what do we think of Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan? It's August 4th and this is the Ezra
00:01:25.340 World Event Show. Hey, let's talk about foreign affairs. There's that war in Ukraine, of course,
00:01:45.340 and rattlings and rumors of wars in Taiwan. Taiwan calls itself the Republic of China. They say they're
00:01:53.240 an independent country. In fact, they say they have the right to claim the Chinese mainland. Well,
00:01:58.720 the People's Republic of China, which is communist China, says the reverse. They say that Taiwan is a
00:02:04.940 rogue province. They, Taiwan, belong to China proper and they're just going to be reunified.
00:02:12.700 It's been a standoff that way since the Kuomintang, the anti-Mao forces, all retreated to Taiwan
00:02:19.580 after his successful revolution over 70 years ago. But if you want to talk about foreign affairs
00:02:26.680 and Justin Trudeau, you should know that he just decamped for a two-week luxury vacation
00:02:34.420 in Costa Rica where he's out of touch. Hey, when was the last time you had a two-week
00:02:42.420 foreign vacation? Have you ever had one? I had a two-week vacation once in the seven years at Rebel
00:02:53.140 News. I'm not talking about having Christmas often and what that. But one time I took a two-week
00:02:58.520 vacation. I felt very risky because I thought, geez, I can't leave Rebel News for two weeks. Well,
00:03:04.720 I'm not as busy or as important as a prime minister. And it's not the doldrums of summer,
00:03:11.060 nothing's happening. We are in momentous times. Just think of the files that a real prime minister
00:03:16.580 who actually had a work ethic would be covering right now. Inflation is one of the most obvious
00:03:21.420 ones. That means prices are skyrocketing and everyone's getting poorer. Interest rates have
00:03:27.180 been hiked and that makes mortgages more expensive too. Taxes are high. The airports are a mess. Both
00:03:35.340 Toronto and Montreal are by far the worst airports in the world. We keep winning worst airport of the
00:03:40.100 world. It's got nothing to do with the airlines. It's got to do with the Arrive Can app, which is a
00:03:45.920 vaccine mandate. It's got to do with so many government rules. And of course, there's the
00:03:51.700 passports department. You wait months for a passport. Maybe that's a blessing if you can't fly without one.
00:03:58.320 Now, before he left for Costa Rica, Trudeau focused on Ukraine. I don't think he really knows a lot
00:04:04.520 about Ukraine other than he loves photo ops. And Vladimir Zelensky, the leader of Ukraine, seems to be
00:04:11.900 all the fashion now. So Trudeau went to Ukraine and had a big photo op of him opening the Canadian
00:04:21.020 embassy in Kiev, a statement that Canada is not running away. We're standing proudly there. There was a bit of
00:04:28.560 a problem as he tried to raise the flag. I think that was symbolic. We later learned that that whole
00:04:35.740 thing was fake. It was government propaganda, disinformation, you could say. In fact, the embassy
00:04:42.620 never did open. Trudeau obviously knew that. He was lying. And in fact, the embassy staff were terrified.
00:04:51.580 They were worried that they were on some sort of hit list for the Russians either to be kidnapped or,
00:04:57.400 God forbid, or even killed, God forbid. And it wasn't all happy smiles. The whole thing was a pack of
00:05:05.580 lies. That's Trudeau's last effort in Ukraine. And he's hiding out in Costa Rica while that and other
00:05:12.120 things happen in the world. So who has weighed in on the recent fracas in Taiwan? Well, Canada's foreign
00:05:21.040 minister is named Melanie Jolie. Jolie means pretty in French, and indeed she is. And it's a constant
00:05:29.520 source of irritation and wonder for me that any woman in Trudeau's orbit is a woman that he must
00:05:37.740 physically touch and grab and hug and pull close to him and get within her private space. And he does this
00:05:45.940 so often in a public moment where if a woman were in a private setting, she would recoil and pull away,
00:05:53.800 maybe even slap his face. But given that he's doing it on live TV or at a press conference,
00:05:58.620 the woman has an immediate and instant choice to make. Do I pull away from this man who's grabbing
00:06:04.120 me inappropriately and embarrass myself in this public moment? Or do I just submit and comply?
00:06:11.000 He does it a lot. Just a week ago, Trudeau was at a bar in Prince Edward Island, and he grabbed two
00:06:17.520 waitresses. Look at him here. And look at his hands. Have you ever touched a woman like that who wasn't
00:06:24.860 your wife or girlfriend? Who does that? Who touches a cabinet minister with a hand around her neck like
00:06:32.420 that? I would never imagine doing that to the women who work at Rebel News. I would imagine if I did
00:06:38.160 that they would quit and probably sue. It would be a Me Too moment. Trudeau does this all the time.
00:06:43.940 But he doesn't do it in private. Who knows what he does in private? He does it in public and the media
00:06:49.640 nod along. They're fine with it. Oh, she experienced it differently. This handsiness.
00:06:56.880 Now, does anyone actually believe that Melanie Jolie is in command of our foreign policy?
00:07:04.300 I don't. By the way, just one last thing. I don't believe the rumors that Trudeau and Jolie
00:07:11.160 are having an affair. I mean, it's obviously possible. We know that Trudeau is engaged in
00:07:16.440 sexual misconduct before, including sexually assaulting Rose Knight, the reporter in Creston,
00:07:21.880 B.C. I think, though, that the way he touches women so inappropriately
00:07:26.780 obviously suggests that he is free with other women in inappropriate ways. So it wouldn't shock me if
00:07:34.000 he actually was having an affair with Melanie Jolie. But that's not actually my point today. My point is
00:07:38.160 that he's inappropriate even without an affair. But back to Jolie herself. She actually put out this
00:07:44.520 mildly positive statement. She did it in concert with other G7 leaders, so I don't think she actually
00:07:52.020 drafted him. So she was mildly positive towards Taiwan and said that China should de-escalate,
00:07:59.620 not that Taiwan should. Normally, Canadians say both sides should de-escalate. So I don't know,
00:08:07.340 maybe Justin Trudeau should go away more because he probably would have had a much more pro-China
00:08:11.580 statement. What we're talking about is a trip to Taiwan the other day. It wasn't even a two-day trip
00:08:16.720 by Nancy Pelosi, the octogenarian Speaker of the House, one of the longest-serving Democrats
00:08:25.120 in the Congress. She flew to Taiwan. And there's some websites out there that you can actually track
00:08:32.660 flights in real time. Over 300,000 people were riveted by that and were tracking her plane as it came in
00:08:40.820 to Taiwan. And there were a lot of reasons for that curiosity, just the novelty of tracking a plane.
00:08:46.760 And also, there were even some mild threats by some Chinese propagandists online, but maybe they would
00:08:52.580 shoot down that plane. Can you imagine? Have they done that? But the fact that they put that propaganda
00:08:58.580 out there shows their bellicosity. A U.S. aircraft carrier was apparently tasked to head closer to Taiwan.
00:09:07.000 But the reaction from mainland China, the People's Republic of China, was the most extreme I think
00:09:12.920 I've ever seen. They had massive drills and they leaked images of them, propaganda images online. When
00:09:20.520 I say leaked, it's because they normally cover those things up and they censor them on social media.
00:09:26.480 They wanted the world to know how mad they were. Land, sea, and air, they had enormous
00:09:31.420 batteries of trucks and military vehicles on the Chinese coast opposite Taiwan. They had naval
00:09:41.300 exercises. Remember, China has just debuted a new aircraft carrier. And they sent fighter jets around
00:09:49.140 Taiwan. So they encircled Taiwan when Nancy Pelosi was there. They had tough language. And I saw one
00:09:57.500 economic ripple that was attributed to Nancy Pelosi's visit. A major Chinese company that was going to
00:10:04.000 open a battery factory in the United States put that on hold. Now, was this a wise decision for Nancy
00:10:12.540 Pelosi to go? Believe it or not, the Biden White House and the State Department distanced themselves from
00:10:17.860 Pelosi. The official American position is the same as Canada's official position, which is one of
00:10:23.860 ambiguity, not formally recognizing Taiwan as an independent country. And I don't think Nancy Pelosi
00:10:29.920 actually did that. By the way, she's not the first Speaker of the House to visit Taiwan. Newt Gingrich did
00:10:34.580 that too. But that was about 25 years ago. And China was a lot weaker economically and militarily
00:10:40.900 then. Now China is pretty much on par with the United States economically. And militarily, they're behind,
00:10:48.420 but they're catching up quickly. But it raised the question, should the West, including Canada,
00:10:56.500 though I'm not sure what we would even do, should we go to war for Taiwan to keep it free? I mean,
00:11:02.620 actually a war. You know, Canadians fought and died in the Korean War. There were some volunteers in the
00:11:09.800 Vietnam War, but Canada was deployed to Korea. Now Taiwan is not a NATO ally. We are not bound
00:11:16.640 to defend it in the same way we are, let's say, an attack on the United States. Taiwan is so very far
00:11:23.620 away. Again, I don't know how we could actually help them. It would take us an enormous amount of
00:11:27.860 time and effort to get there. I fear that a war in Taiwan will be over quite quickly. And of course,
00:11:34.700 there's the fact that China is not only a strong conventional military power, with the second
00:11:40.820 largest military budget in the world, but they're a nuclear power. They have nuclear weapons.
00:11:48.080 Should Canada or the United States go to war against a nuclear power, China, for Taiwan?
00:11:55.220 There are obvious comparisons to the war in Ukraine, but I think there's many important differences too.
00:12:00.860 Taiwan is a very free country with a strong rule of law and deep civil liberties. I don't think you
00:12:08.200 can say that about Ukraine. I think it's very corrupt. It's run by oligarchs. In the past few
00:12:13.500 months, Zelensky has cracked down on opposition parties and even banned media that don't support him.
00:12:20.080 I think China's imperialism is a deeper and more far-reaching problem than Russia's imperialism,
00:12:27.420 which seems to be restricted to certain ethnically Russian parts of Ukraine. I'm not legitimizing it
00:12:33.120 or excusing it, but I think an observation is that Russia's territorial ambitions, they annexed Crimea,
00:12:40.260 they want to have eastern parts of Ukraine, are much more modest than China's imperialism to swallow
00:12:45.600 whole all of Taiwan and to expand elsewhere, possibly even Korea, and to threaten even Japan.
00:12:53.820 Remember, they just absorbed Hong Kong and are proceeding to strip it of its civil liberties.
00:12:59.900 So what exactly is Nancy Pelosi doing there? Well, I think it was a bit rash, but it was not a
00:13:07.120 militarization of Ukraine. Nancy Pelosi didn't come with $40 billion worth of Pentagon weapons as Biden
00:13:16.320 and the Congress just approved for Ukraine. She wasn't coming to make a statement that Taiwan is now
00:13:22.940 recognized as an independent country. She was just flying there. And I'm not even actually sure what
00:13:27.760 the goal was other than to show that she could do it. And maybe that's why I'm actually sympathetic to
00:13:33.940 it. Nancy Pelosi was a bull in a China shop. It's fascinating. Donald Trump was much more antagonistic
00:13:39.540 to China than Nancy Pelosi. I mean, Biden and Pelosi are China's best friends in the United States.
00:13:45.140 Trump was China's worst ally. But Trump did not provoke China in any manner that yielded this
00:13:53.300 response. In fact, when Trump visited China, they rolled out the red carpet for him and they gave him
00:13:59.360 nicknames like Uncle Donald and Donald the Strong. Here they're threatening to go to war against Nancy
00:14:05.820 Pelosi. But the very fact that Pelosi's trip to Taiwan was so unconsequential and it lacked meaning,
00:14:13.220 that is, is why I think it's defensible. Could China really veto the visit of the Speaker of the
00:14:22.520 House to Taiwan just by pounding their chest and hollering? Would that be enough to veto a visit
00:14:30.100 by a top American lawmaker to Taiwan? I don't think that that could be excused. I don't think that
00:14:38.760 you would ever want to get into a situation where Taiwan could say no Americans could fly here,
00:14:44.480 no Canadians can fly there. Now, it's fascinating, this hyperventilation in China. It's fascinating,
00:14:51.940 but not surprising that it comes from a Democrat. The Democrats really do love wars, don't they?
00:14:57.360 I mean, Trump fought in Afghanistan, but it fell under Biden. This provocation,
00:15:05.740 as it's being seen by China, is coming to the most pro-China administration in memory. Trump didn't
00:15:14.480 do that. Trump was a negotiator. I think Biden and the deep state that loves war, I don't think they're
00:15:20.800 actually as good at their job as they claim. And maybe that is a silver lining here. I don't know
00:15:28.180 how this is going to end. I hope it'll blow over. We don't need another war.
00:15:31.020 But maybe this ill-advised visit, this provocative visit by Nancy Pelosi will do
00:15:38.480 accidentally what Trump was starting to do on purpose, to unhook the two superpowers. Trump
00:15:48.560 was doing it with trade sanctions, with a call to repatriate American jobs and factories to home,
00:15:54.240 and by calling out Chinese espionage, industrial spying, and checking Chinese expansion. Trump
00:16:01.060 said exactly what irritated him and took legislative steps to correct it and diplomatic steps to correct
00:16:07.600 it. Biden and Pelosi have done none of that. But by stumbling around in Taipei, maybe they will make
00:16:14.700 China pull the two empires apart. And I think that's a good thing.
00:16:19.200 I think that it shouldn't be as easy and casual to travel to China as it is now. I think
00:16:26.800 we Canadians have to remember they kidnapped the two Michaels and held them for years just to prove a
00:16:33.240 point. That they stole our industrial secrets too, including Nortel, a great Canadian company that
00:16:39.100 they practically destroyed. I think we have to start pulling Canada and the United States apart from
00:16:45.940 China. We have to start making more things here, including minerals. Did you know that 90% of
00:16:52.740 medicine that we consume comes from China? Did you know that? An enormous amount of our tech, including
00:16:58.740 our phones and computers, made in China. Don't you think we should unhook from them a little bit?
00:17:05.220 And if that is the outcome of Nancy Pelosi's trip to Taiwan, well, maybe it's a good thing after all.
00:17:12.100 Stay with us. My friend David Menzies will have the guest interview next.
00:17:28.260 Well, folks, just when you thought that the trampling of our rights and freedoms all in the name of COVID
00:17:34.900 COVID safety couldn't get any more brutal. Well, along comes this story from Windsor, Ontario.
00:17:41.300 Resident Chris Soda is planning to run for Windsor City Council this fall. But when he visited City Hall
00:17:49.540 to file his paperwork and pay his registration fee, a city clerk informed Mr. Soda that
00:17:55.860 all City of Windsor employees, including apparently councillors, must be fully vaccinated.
00:18:03.380 Translation, given that Chris is not fully vaccinated, he wouldn't be able to run for office, apparently.
00:18:11.700 What next? If a Windsor resident is not vaxxed, does that mean they forfeit their right to vote? Outrageous.
00:18:20.580 And joining me now from the City of Windsor is Chris Soda. How are you doing there, sir?
00:18:26.020 Yes. Good afternoon, David. I'm doing fine. Thank you. Good to see you.
00:18:29.540 Good to see you, my friend. Chris, when you were originally told that you were basically persona
00:18:35.460 non grata due to your vaxx status in terms of running for office, how did you feel?
00:18:42.420 OK, I wouldn't be that dramatic about it, David. But I, you know, like I said,
00:18:48.500 I had spent approximately 45 minutes finishing off all the paperwork, signing everything off,
00:18:54.180 paying the fees, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And then the last page was, oh, by the way,
00:19:02.020 all City of Windsor employees have to be, I think the term was fully vaccinated or some mention of
00:19:09.540 COVID vaccinations. And so I just paused for a second. I said, oh, really? Well, I said,
00:19:17.140 you know, my private medical choices are probably going to stay private. I said,
00:19:22.820 you know, for the most part. But just out of curiosity, why would a councillor need to be
00:19:28.660 vaccinated? And a Windsor police officer who's also, excuse me, a City of Windsor employee,
00:19:35.140 wouldn't need to be vaccinated.
00:19:37.860 Oh, and Chris, if I can jump in there, I think this is a very important point. The clerk said,
00:19:43.700 all City of Windsor employees, well, I'm sorry, the police are City of Windsor employees. I mean,
00:19:50.420 they, you know, they're, they have their own board, but that's neither here nor there. But,
00:19:55.620 and when I think of police work, sometimes as a cop, you're getting your hands dirty. Literally,
00:20:01.060 you're dealing with bad guys, or might be bodily fluids, blood, what have you. And there's no
00:20:08.100 mandatory vaccination for that. But for somebody that's implementing policy at City Hall,
00:20:17.460 you have to be vaccinated. I don't get the logic here.
00:20:21.460 Well, I thought for a minute, maybe they must have some pretty volatile, uh, counselor sessions
00:20:27.620 where they're, that's what I know, seriously. So I just say, you know, would you mind checking,
00:20:34.100 checking this for me? Very, very nice woman, uh, at the court shop. You know, not her fault. She's
00:20:38.420 just relaying the message. So she said, yeah, that's a good question. I'll, I'll check with our
00:20:42.980 legal department and I'll get back to you early next week. This was on a Thursday. Uh, so I waited until
00:20:49.140 the Tuesday that was early next week. And I called and asked for that person. And I was told that
00:20:53.860 that person's off for this week. Uh, I said, well, can you check this for me? It's a pretty simple
00:21:00.340 question. You know, I'm, I want to run it as a counselor and, uh, for the council position in war
00:21:04.820 two. Uh, but I guess there's a vaccination requirement for city Windsor employees. Could you
00:21:09.780 find out if that applies to a counselor? She said, oh yes, no problem. I'll get back to you by the end
00:21:14.260 of the week. That was in the Tuesday. So on Friday, uh, nobody got back to me. So, uh, yeah,
00:21:20.580 yeah. So I, I, I was meeting with my friends one and suggested that I contact, uh, rebel news about
00:21:25.460 this. And I said, they, they don't, uh, they, they have more important fish to fry. He go, no,
00:21:29.780 no, no, no contact them. So I did. And, uh, you know, I just sent out an email there very quickly
00:21:34.900 and they're like five minutes later, you contacted me. So, you know, Oh yeah. Well,
00:21:38.420 Chris, uh, with all due respect, I think this is a very big fish to fry. The very idea that an
00:21:44.740 individual in a democracy could be forced to sit on the sidelines because of not getting a
00:21:53.780 vaccination. I think that's huge. And I'm not kidding. Like what's the next step? Voters, uh,
00:21:59.220 who don't get backs, they get denied their franchise there. Now, eventually, Chris, as I
00:22:04.260 understand when we spoke off camera, they said it was under review. Uh, you, you picked up, uh,
00:22:09.300 uh, a stink about this, uh, very politely, of course. Um, and, uh, uh, you know, of course city
00:22:15.700 hall, uh, moves at the speed of a glacier, it would seem, but eventually you did get in touch with
00:22:22.260 somebody and you scored what I would call a partial victory. What is the deal as of right now,
00:22:30.500 Chris? The partial victory, the Pyrrhic victory, as you put it, David is this, uh, number one,
00:22:36.420 uh, I am eligible to run as a counselor, uh, for the council position in war two, uh, here in
00:22:42.340 Windsor for the October 24th election, uh, part two, uh, if I'm elected, I'll be able to represent
00:22:48.740 my constituents, um, uh, as a city of Windsor employee, uh, number three, uh, the vaccination
00:22:56.820 requirements are still in place. So, uh, when all the smoke clears from all that, this basically
00:23:04.100 means you can run when you get elected, uh, you can represent the ward, but you either have to get
00:23:10.020 your shots to do it, to represent the ward in person and council chambers, or they didn't actually
00:23:16.180 say it, but I'm guessing the only other alternative would be some sort of, uh, uh, video, video
00:23:21.780 conferencing of some kind, um, you know, in the next room or, or from my home, whatever. Uh,
00:23:26.980 but I just think it just puts, you know, it's, it's, it's shockingly, uh, someone, you know,
00:23:32.820 you're trying to represent your ward. You want to be there face to face. You want to be able to
00:23:36.500 make eye contact with people, body language is a big part of communication. I'm sure you're aware
00:23:40.740 of that. Right. So, you know, I won't, yeah, I want to, I want to represent my ward in a healthy,
00:23:45.620 responsible manner. And now I'm, you know, right off the bat, you're telling me, well, you know,
00:23:49.780 you can't sit with us. So it's, you know, it's a little strange, but, uh, you know,
00:23:55.140 at the end of the day, um, you know, I, I'm only one person, David, like, you know,
00:23:59.700 there's lots of people in Canada who face a lot of more serious issues, but, you know,
00:24:04.340 going forward, just, you know, the whole idea that a municipal, uh, regulation or bylaw,
00:24:09.940 whatever they call it, um, can supersede federal or provincial election guidelines. It's like,
00:24:17.780 you know, this is supposed to be guaranteed. And I suppose our charter or our constitution,
00:24:22.820 here's the city saying, well, forgot about if you're Canadian and you're 18 and you live in the
00:24:28.260 area, those things don't matter as much as do you have your child. So it's like,
00:24:33.220 wow, I didn't notice that change to, uh, any federal provincial, uh, laws. So,
00:24:38.660 yeah, so, you know, that, that's the first thing, but the second thing,
00:24:41.780 there are a lot of municipal elections coming up. It's not, uh, you know, in Canada for the rest of
00:24:47.060 it, there's like, I think maybe 10 different, uh, jurisdictions that are going to have municipal
00:24:52.020 elections. So are they going to face the same, you know, the same kind of thing? You're going to
00:24:55.700 have to be vaccinated. Other people are going to be running in this election here in Windsor.
00:25:00.340 Um, I'm sure they're not all vaccinated either. So, you know, I, I just think it's a strange,
00:25:05.060 uh, point to make at this time. Uh, but anyway, uh, you know, you, you roll with the punches.
00:25:12.980 Uh, I try to keep a sense of humor about this. Uh, so it's like, well, okay. Um, I want to be,
00:25:18.900 I want to be seen as, as making a difference, uh, you know, at city council. I just didn't think
00:25:24.900 it would be like a difference in medical choices, but that's okay. I'm willing to go forward with it.
00:25:30.900 Uh, as I mentioned to you, I've got two main issues I want to run on. Um, but you know,
00:25:36.020 if they're going to make the vaccination issue, you know, I didn't really want to talk about that
00:25:39.860 at all. Um, originally until I got hit with that when I went to city hall and it's like, okay,
00:25:45.540 so this is going to be, you know, the media is going to force this as an issue. Um, okay,
00:25:50.500 then you know what I got, I got it taken on. So, you know, I'm happy I've got the opportunity to
00:25:55.060 explain a little bit here today on your show. Well, Chris, I mean, uh, I, I agree. It's good to keep
00:25:59.940 your sense of humor about things in these crazy times, but I'm failing to see the punchline here.
00:26:06.420 I mean, as you said, in theory, if you were to get elected in, uh, the fall and be the councillor for
00:26:13.780 ward two, you can't attend city hall. You have to be at home basically quarantining like you're a
00:26:20.820 modern day typhoid Mary. Um, I would argue, uh, why not make attendance a matter of choice,
00:26:30.340 which is to say, despite your vaccination status, uh, if you want to come into council,
00:26:35.540 you're free to come into council. If you have a problem with fellow councillors who might not
00:26:41.460 say be vaccinated, or you don't know their vaccination status, then you stay at home and,
00:26:46.820 uh, cocoon in a home office. Uh, the other factor, uh, Chris, do you, um, you're right.
00:26:54.820 I don't even, I don't know if this is indeed something a municipality, uh, can enact and enforce.
00:27:03.380 So I'm curious, is there maybe a legal challenge here about such a coercive and discriminatory policy
00:27:12.500 when it comes to vaccination? I just found out about this myself, you know, uh, the same, uh,
00:27:18.900 you know, the same, uh, week I, I, uh, I messaged you. Um, I actually, I don't know if it's being
00:27:24.020 challenged anywhere in court and, you know, like I say, um, if it, you know, if it is being challenged,
00:27:30.900 uh, that's probably going to take a lot of time. It's going to take a lot, you know, after October 24th.
00:27:36.660 So I'm, I'm more practical about this. It's like, okay, so they're going to say, I'm going to run.
00:27:41.060 I just, I honestly think that, you know, when I'm elected, that they're not going to go through with
00:27:46.580 this. They're not going to say, oh, okay, he's a duly elected rep for, for war two. And, uh, you know,
00:27:53.620 here's your, uh, here's your, your, your, uh, zoom code and ID for you to participate. I don't see them
00:27:59.380 doing that. I think there would be too much negative publicity from this. They would just say,
00:28:04.980 we're going to make an exception to our bylaw or regulation. So, you know, so this guy can sit,
00:28:09.780 but you know, what we, you know, if you've ever attended municipal meetings,
00:28:14.820 they normally sit in a chamber, uh, you know, in a, in a circle, uh, or facing each other,
00:28:19.540 they're in a semicircle. Um, and there's people in attendance. So I'm just wondering, like,
00:28:24.420 if I have to be vaccinated city bylaw, what about the people who are in attendance? No,
00:28:29.780 of course they're not city Windsor employees, but that, you know, the virus doesn't care about that.
00:28:34.420 The virus doesn't pop around looking for who's paid by the city, who works for the city,
00:28:38.820 the virus goes anywhere. So I, I just don't see the point of sitting in a room
00:28:43.540 with the people vaccinated and there's 200 other people who are not. And they're going to say,
00:28:48.420 well, I feel safer because, you know, Chris Soda is vaccinated. I don't really care about
00:28:52.820 those other 200. It's like, this is, you know, the logic is just, it's bizarre. So,
00:28:57.380 Oh, I agree, Chris. Maybe the solution is to take something from the classic, uh, uh,
00:29:03.860 TV series, get smart. Remember the cone of silence. We'll just put people in, uh, transparent tubes and
00:29:10.900 ensure, uh, social distancing and, uh, non viral contact. But, um, we got to wrap it up. We're
00:29:17.940 running out of time. However, I, I want to, uh, speak to you. You mentioned something that was key
00:29:23.300 about the negative publicity, but when we spoke off camera, you told me that, um, the likes of
00:29:29.620 the local media there, such as the Windsor star, uh, I think this is a hell of a story.
00:29:34.500 They think likewise. In fact, you even told me that you've been banned from commenting on the
00:29:41.140 comments page of the Windsor star. You don't do, uh, I'll take you at your word. You say you're not
00:29:46.580 profane or threatening or racist, anything like that. It's just that you have a tendency to ask
00:29:52.980 impolite questions. And I guess the Windsor star, uh, being a Justin Trudeau media outlet,
00:29:58.740 they're happy to have your money. No, not so happy to have your opinions or your rude questions.
00:30:05.300 Tell us a little bit about that, my friend. Well, very quickly. Yes. Okay. So yeah,
00:30:09.460 that happened long before I got, I got banned from, uh, I think post media in general, the, uh,
00:30:15.940 the national post to winter star, they all kind of fell in succession there one after the other,
00:30:21.140 but basically, uh, you know, you, you write in a, uh, you know, you, there was an article of some
00:30:26.260 kind. Uh, so, you know, you, you write a comment or you answer someone else's comment and you know,
00:30:32.340 you expect if you're using the wrong kind of language that you're not going to get your, your,
00:30:37.220 your opinion published. Right. But it wasn't the case. It would just say, uh, uh, pending,
00:30:43.140 you know, you get like a little thing that said pending, um, or then content deactivated.
00:30:48.420 And, you know, I checked why and it would say, you violated our community byline. So I would call,
00:30:53.140 uh, like I, I called the star a couple of times. I said, what, what community bylines, uh, have I
00:30:59.380 violated? And, uh, the, the guy, uh, couldn't, couldn't come up with any. And I said, well, no,
00:31:05.220 it's on, it's on the page there. You can see it yourself. What am I doing? He goes, well,
00:31:09.300 you know, I'll, I'll check more into this. So, you know, after a while you just say, okay,
00:31:14.100 it's good. So forget that. But it's like, uh, I think it's a tendency in this country, uh, to muzzle,
00:31:21.140 uh, people who ask, uh, uncomfortable questions. Um, and that's, you know, maybe, maybe with,
00:31:28.180 with my situation, this might come up. Like, why do I have to be vaccinated? Police officers don't.
00:31:33.700 That's also an uncomfortable question. Uh, but you know, in Canada, we, we don't have that
00:31:39.780 vibrant, uh, discussion that we used to be able to have. So I think that's like the biggest
00:31:45.220 picture of all. Yeah. You're a hundred, you're a hundred percent right, uh, Chris. And we should
00:31:49.940 have that discussion, especially since we are involuntarily paying for it. I mean,
00:31:54.980 the Windsor star might say they're all about diversity. I'm sure not so much diversity of
00:32:00.580 opinions. That is clear. Chris, it was a delight, uh, speaking with you. Good luck in the, uh,
00:32:06.660 fall election. And, um, depending on what happens, uh, maybe they're a follow-up story,
00:32:12.980 uh, will, will be beckoning, uh, in case you do indeed, uh, when you're writing and, uh,
00:32:19.860 you get on the horse to get this, uh, crazy vaccination policy change at the city of Windsor.
00:32:26.980 So you have a good day, my friend. Pleasure talking to you.
00:32:31.140 Pleasure is mine, David. Thank you so much. And, uh, thank you to your, uh, viewers for
00:32:34.740 tuning in today. So thank you so much. You got it. And there we have it folks. That is
00:32:39.780 Chris Soda. He is running in ward two in the city of Windsor in the fall municipal election.
00:32:47.300 Keep it here. More of the Ezra Levent show to come right after this.
00:33:02.180 Well, folks, lots of response to yesterday's Ezra Levent show, especially Ezra's monologue.
00:33:08.260 Trip E88 writes,
00:33:10.580 Yeah. Imagine that folks in this day and age. If you tweet out a meme, a meme that is deemed
00:33:27.060 offensive by the alphabet soup people. Well, you can expect the police to come a knocking on your
00:33:34.100 door. I mean, yeah, there's murder and assault and rape and carjacking, but getting offended
00:33:40.500 by a meme. That's really serious. My Sparrow writes the Trudeau government has changed everything.
00:33:49.220 A true Canadian and Canada has always stood for the day all these government leaders and
00:33:55.780 every entity of the government lives the way they're pushing on the citizens for two full years
00:34:03.860 is the day I might take them partially serious. You know, I totally agree.
00:34:09.860 And look how fast this change has occurred. Justin Trudeau got elected in 2015. That was only seven
00:34:16.580 years ago. I would say that I don't recognize what's happened to this country in just seven
00:34:23.460 years, less than a decade. Let us collectively hope regime change is on the way, hopefully sooner rather
00:34:31.780 than later than later. Well, folks, thank you so much for tuning in to the Ezra event show. I'll be back
00:34:37.700 tomorrow, Friday, hosting for the big boss man. He is on urgent business as always. And in the meantime, as always,
00:34:46.580 stay sane. Reconciliation is something that is extremely important to this country. And it is a process that will
00:34:54.500 involve many steps forward and a few setbacks. It is difficult, as we all know, to end these long-term
00:35:01.940 boil water advisories. Otherwise, other governments would have done it.
00:35:05.460 People in crossing arrows are suffering from mercury poisoning.
00:35:09.060 Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you very much for your donation tonight. I really appreciate the
00:35:17.220 donation to the Liberal Party of Canada. Water is essential. So much of what we do depends entirely
00:35:23.860 upon it. Whether it be making a morning cup of coffee, bathing our kids, watering the lawn, or simply
00:35:29.620 trusting that we can pour a glass and have something to drink. We, as Canadians, fundamentally trust that
00:35:36.660 when we turn on a tap, there will be safe and readily available water coming out of it. For 16 years now,
00:35:44.260 16 years. Mostly it's chlorine that I smell. Clean and safe water is so essential, in fact,
00:35:52.420 that it can only be considered one thing, and that is a fundamental human right. I really do worry
00:35:59.700 about the children. It is hard to believe that even in 2022, there are countries on earth that are
00:36:06.740 struggling to provide clean drinking water for certain communities, particularly when those countries
00:36:12.660 are G7 nations, like Canada. What does that say about our country? That's why we're launching
00:36:17.940 cleanwaternow.ca to address the reprehensible inaction of politicians in this country who fail to address
00:36:25.300 the horrific circumstances that many First Nations communities in this country are living through.
00:36:31.700 There are 27 First Nations communities that do not have access and are under long-term drink water
00:36:38.740 advisories, which means for at least a year they have not had access to clean and safe drinking water.
00:36:44.500 We're still, there are some First Nations communities that have been under long-term drink water advisories
00:36:50.660 since 1995. That, for those paying attention, is two years before the last residential school closed.
00:36:58.500 These communities are being denied fundamental human rights. These Canadian communities, this is
00:37:07.140 fundamentally un-Canadian, and this is an authentic emergency that must be addressed, not like these
00:37:12.260 phony climate emergencies that we're spending so much money on. This is an issue that extends far beyond
00:37:18.500 politics despite people like Justin Trudeau continuing to capitalize on the suffering of these communities.
00:37:24.980 He's not well liked by Indigenous peoples because he's not for us.
00:37:29.940 The fact is these politicians largely don't care about these communities. We have heard first-hand
00:37:36.020 absolute horror stories about toxic and carcinogenic water. Communities where women's arms are red
00:37:43.460 all the way up simply from washing the dishes because the water is toxic. Communities where children cannot
00:37:48.100 bathe more than once a week without risking their skin having severe reactions.
00:37:55.700 The horror stories go on and on. You're no doubt aware that Pope Francis very recently visited
00:38:01.540 Canada on an apology tour of sorts, hoping to make amends for the wrongs caused at residential schools.
00:38:08.020 While many people appreciate that he made the effort apologizing for the wrongs of the past is one
00:38:12.900 thing, but taking action to address the issues and hardships being faced by Indigenous communities,
00:38:18.500 well that is something else. That indicates a real significant change.
00:38:22.580 To correct past injustices and to bring about a better quality of life for Indigenous peoples in Canada.
00:38:30.980 At cleanwaternow.ca for the coming months, we will be taking a hard look at the barriers and the
00:38:37.220 politics that are preventing all Canadians from accessing clean drinking water. We're also going
00:38:43.140 to be looking to take significant action and to hold elected officials accountable to bring clean
00:38:49.380 drinking water to not some, but all Canadians. Sign our petition and demand clean water for all Canadians
00:38:59.780 now and learn more about this important story at cleanwaternow.ca