Sheila Gunn-Reed fills in for Ezra when he's in the UK covering yet another Tommy trial. She talks about the dangers posed by right-wing extremism in our community, and the threat posed by radical Islamic terrorism.
00:00:00.000It's March 22nd, and you're watching Battleground.
00:00:10.760I think I was supposed to say Ezra Levent's Battleground, but then again, Ezra's not here.
00:00:15.740It is me, David Menzies, and of course, I was about to say sidekick, but that would be the wrong kind of terminology.
00:00:23.320We're complete equals here. Of course, it's not a Batman and Robin situation.
00:00:27.800We're like Batman and Batgirl or Batwoman, if you prefer, and that would be Sheila Gunn-Reed out in Alberta.
00:00:35.220And of course, we are filling in for Ezra Sheila because Ezra is once again doing very important work over in the UK covering yet more Tommy trial stuff.
00:00:47.840Yeah, I had no idea where it is. First off, what he was doing and what he's up to today, I don't ever ask.
00:00:54.340I just do when somebody tells me to do stuff. First off, I just want to let everybody at home know that I do work from a bunker in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere.
00:01:04.240So if my Skype is a little glitchy, that's what you get when you're living off the grid.
00:01:10.060And what we do here every Friday is we, well, Ezra normally hosts his live chat show.
00:01:18.380What you can do if you want us to answer your questions or if you have comments to make, I'm not sure the levels of payment that you can make, but you can chip in a few bucks here and there.
00:01:29.980And what it'll do is it'll tag your comment to the top of the page and David and I will be forced to read it or answer your question.
00:01:38.920And it's a way for us to pay the bills. Yeah, go ahead.
00:01:41.800It's not like we're being forced to read it, Sheila. We love reading our comments, especially if they are super chats, because that helps us keep the lights on.
00:01:49.680We're not part of the $1.6 billion welfare case known as the CBC. We did not get the $595 million allotment share from the Trudeau Liberals budget to prop up the mainstream media.
00:02:05.760So we are so beholden and very grateful to you, our listeners. So if you can chip in anything like Sheila said, that would be great.
00:02:13.980So, Sheila, so much to talk about. And one of them, I thought, I received an interesting email two nights ago because my son attends a school in York Region.
00:02:28.420And it was about a say no to hate conference. There you go. You can see it there on the screen, folks.
00:02:35.580It's being put up by York Region District School Board, and it's in April. And it's all about saying no to hate, which I completely support.
00:02:48.220But when they speak of hate, they are speaking, of course, of course, about terrorism.
00:02:53.420But when they're speaking of terrorism, just check a look at the very first one, the dangers posed by right-wing extremism in our community.
00:03:06.380Now, yeah, there is right-wing extremism. We saw one of the most horrific manifestations of that in Christchurch last Friday.
00:03:16.480However, what about the other forms of extremism, you know, like radical Islam, you know, which is more and more backpedaled and downplayed and basically all out falsified as random acts of people suffering from mental illness.
00:03:39.820And, of course, one of the speakers at this conference is Bernie Farber.
00:03:45.640Let's put it this way, folks. Bernie Farber has never met a Human Rights Commission that he did not love to take part in.
00:03:53.740He's very litigious. But it's all about right-wing, white nationalist extremism.
00:04:00.020And yet, when you look around the world, when you do the actual body count, and there are websites that, you know, do track this, as you know, Sheila, the most profound form of terrorism are those people carrying it out in the name of Allah.
00:04:16.700And that's not, of course, because I know our enemies will single in.
00:04:21.500Oh, there you go again, bashing Muslims. No, not at all, because probably, actually, the single biggest victim group of Islamic terrorism is indeed Muslims.
00:04:32.000So, Sheila, I'm just wondering, I don't know whether I can stomach going to this, you know, this conference, because I already know what's going to be said.
00:04:42.560But it's kind of interesting to me, with all the heinous acts of terrorism, including here in the GTA, I mean, we had Alec Maziason run over 10 people and injure several more in a van going back to last April.
00:05:00.220We had Faisal Hussein go on the Danforth. And by the way, that's a perfect example of the kind of narrative we get with Mr. Hussein being of his faith.
00:05:14.540This was not done in the name of radical Islam, but he was suffering from mental illness.
00:05:20.820And we know that because somehow the authorities behind the scene, and I never found the answer to this question, Sheila, were able to hire a spin doctor to craft a very polished press release that was sent out on behalf of the family,
00:05:35.940who, of course, speak English as a second language and would never be capable of writing such a thing in the first place.
00:05:41.200So I guess, Sheila, I'm throwing up my hands again at the hypocrisy that we see out there when it comes to not being able to name the elephant in the room.
00:05:54.200Well, I think you should go to this thing. It's important for parents to be involved in all aspects of their children's lives, David.
00:06:00.980But for another reason, I think you should go there and ask them to point out where these mass instances of right-wing, far-right-wing violence is happening.
00:06:13.260I mean, you've got one lady, her name escapes me now, who's a keynote speaker at this little meeting, who claims it was on the Heritage Front.
00:06:21.840Now, anybody who knows anything about the Heritage Front, it was sort of a prominent neo-Nazi group in the 1990s here in Canada.
00:06:33.860But they were mostly RCMP officers and CSIS officers because the thing had been infiltrated by the RCMPs so that they could do recon and intelligence.
00:06:47.040And one of the CSIS guys rose up to be one of the leaders of the group.
00:06:52.740It was basically a bunch of undercover cops, and everybody thought that it was this massive, growing group,
00:07:01.300when really it was just a bunch of undercover cops and inflating the numbers of the thing to scare everybody.
00:07:07.980When I see these far-right-wing nationalist groups around and people are reporting on them,
00:07:16.080I always think, well, that guy obviously is an unshaven RCMP officer, and that guy looks a little too perfect for the part.
00:07:23.620I mean, you can sort of pick the undercover cops out of the crowd at these things.
00:07:27.220But, and I think, you know, from the Heritage Front to now, I think a lot of the numbers on this stuff is inflated
00:07:34.780because the supply of neo-Nazis just doesn't meet the demand these days.
00:10:17.100This is one of the sleaziest elections I've ever bore witness to, and we are, what, four days into it, maybe?
00:10:25.460I mean, the mudslinging and, like, the level of hypocrisy already shown by the Alberta NDP is really outrageous.
00:10:35.520But when you can't campaign on your record, that's what you get.
00:10:40.980Like, they've dug up a quote that Jason Kenney made 20 years ago about something he did 30 years ago as some sort of reason to impugn him as this terrible mistreater of the LGBTQ community.
00:11:00.840I mean, in 1968, Tommy Douglas did say that homosexuality was a mental illness, and those people had to be treated for their mental illness.
00:11:20.600We can judge those people in the time in which they lived, in the context in which they said it, but that just doesn't, that same sort of sanity is never afforded to conservatives, is it?
00:11:33.440I mean, we're supposed to all believe the NDP have changed their ways from five years ago when they were anti-oil campaigners.
00:11:43.500But we can't say, well, Jason Kenney's views have come around on LGBTQ people, especially considering he spent the last, I don't know, 10 years advocating and rescuing persecuted sexual minorities, especially in the Middle East.
00:12:03.240If they keep going back in time, they're going to accuse him of being the meteor that killed the dinosaurs.
00:12:08.880Like, there is no limit to how far they're going to go back in time.
00:12:11.700And, you know, this is a profound problem for me, Sheila, and we see it playing out in so many jurisdictions.
00:12:16.980And, by the way, I want to thank Kian for weighing in on bringing up the, you know, how sorted the Albert election already is, even though we're only into day four.
00:12:26.140But this idea of sleuths going back to somebody's, say, high school years, right, going through the yearbook, finding an off-color quote, maybe, that he made as a 17-year-old and going,
00:12:41.960aha, you see, he's a, you know, a homophobe, he's a racist, he's a sexist.
00:12:48.280You know, not taking into consideration that people change as they age and as they mature.
00:12:58.380I don't know when that's going to end.
00:12:59.920And, of course, we believe in giving second chances to the people that do the most heinous things, number one being, of course, first-degree murder.
00:13:10.240Once you've done your time, we're told he's paid his debt to society, you've got to give him his freedoms, you know, give him a job, let him be.
00:13:19.100Terrorism, my goodness, Omar Khadr, as you pointed out in your expose, he's now got a stake in a shopping mall in Edmonton as part of his $10.5 million payout.
00:13:30.400But if you've made a thought crime, even as a teenager in your distant past, that, Sheila, seems to be an unforgivable sin in which there can be no second chance given.
00:13:44.400Well, and I don't make the rules for this sort of stuff, but I'm pretty sure they're pulling down statues of John A. MacDonald.
00:13:50.900So if John A. MacDonald cannot be redeemed, then how come the NDP think that Tommy Douglas can be redeemed from his comments on homosexuality or eugenics, for that matter, and substandard people?
00:14:06.560I mean, it's just, it really is just ridiculous.
00:14:09.600The NDP themselves, I mean, a good portion of them weren't even born when Jason Kenney made those comments.
00:14:19.160I mean, there's a substantial chunk of them that are under the age of 30.
00:16:27.660I mean, it's just, it's a complete and total rejection of Justin Trudeau
00:16:32.940when you see Elizabeth May's radical wackadoodle Green Party polling the same as the Liberal Party.
00:16:40.500But, like, when you see all this stuff that is top of mind in Alberta, all those issues, the UCP polls higher.
00:16:50.940And interestingly enough, Jason Kenney's past history of anti-LGBT remarks are nowhere on the list because nobody cares about it.
00:17:00.960In fact, the environment and climate change, which has been, like, the focal point of Rachel Notley's getting pipelines built on social license, that's at 15%.
00:17:11.480And that's how, that's a fringe, that's a fringe issue in and among itself that just shows how out of touch the NDP are with what really matters on Main Street.
00:17:22.680And, you know, I mean, I can't imagine how a federal Liberal MP in the province of Alberta can live with himself, can look at his constituents,
00:17:31.660given what the Justin Trudeau Liberals have done to this province in four years.
00:17:36.160I mean, oh my goodness, I just can't get into that frame of mind.
00:17:41.100But keeping with the Alberta election, there's a fascinating little video, and maybe if, oh, we've got some super chats,
00:17:48.840and then I want to throw to a fascinating video that involves you and Kian, and it's, you know, get your popcorn ready for this one, folks.
00:37:41.580I mean, that's the price of a car for me.
00:37:44.440I mean, like, what do you get for $30,000?
00:37:49.700And I have to ask this because, you know, when we crunch all these numbers, this is part of the narrative.
00:37:56.280So, if anyone out there, unless you know yourself, Sheila, you're well-versed in so many subjects.
00:38:01.360That didn't come out quite the way I meant it, but I would like, you know, if anyone knows what you get in terms of quid pro quo for $30,000,
00:38:18.880David, I think there's a lot of moving parts to that question, just to address it.
00:38:23.300Because I think it depends on the hooker.
00:38:27.220I think it depends on, like, the quality of hooker, the services provided, the time spent.
00:38:34.800I think the only way we would know is to get SNC-Lavalin to show us.
00:38:39.300I mean, they obviously paid for these services.
00:38:42.580Boy, I'd love to know what that $30,000 entails.
00:38:46.360Well, I think what I'm getting at, Sheila, is that does $30,000, do you get a bulk discount?
00:38:51.860If I go to a house of ill repute and say, here's $30,000, is that really worth maybe $40,000 of services if I were to do one-offs all the time?
00:39:01.880I don't know if that's how that business works, kind of like, you know, the Costco model.
00:39:07.000Well, maybe they could have just saved themselves a lot of hassle and got him one of those robots that we talked about that one time on the show.
00:39:15.080And just, then you could just have it.
00:39:17.100Because I bet you could probably get a robot, like one of those intimate robots, for $30,000, and then you just give it to them.
00:39:27.880Yeah, Justin Trudeau would love one of those robots, Sheila, because, you know, it wouldn't talk back to you unless you're asked to talk.
00:39:33.540So that seems to be how he treats female cabinet ministers.
00:39:36.820Anyway, speaking of which, we have, Mr. Producer has the video of Michelle Rempel.
00:39:45.080He asked for strong women, and this is what they look like.
00:39:50.660Women who won't sacrifice their principles to cover up his corruption scandals.
00:39:55.660Women who stand up every day and refuse to back down against his abuse of our judiciary, of parliamentary committees, and more importantly, the use of the term feminist.
00:40:48.700She's asking the question probably on behalf of Western Canadians, but I mean Canadians as a whole, who the majority of Canadians are first language is English.
00:41:13.940Yeah, but Sheila, I don't have to be fluid in French to know that what he's saying in French is just as much BS as what he says in English.
00:41:23.700Yeah, I mean, the language of BS is universal, isn't it, David?
00:41:29.020All right then, and so do we have a super chat there, Sheila, or not?
00:41:38.620I'm waiting for you to give us another topic.
00:41:40.680Well, you know, we talked off air about this, and I think it's important because it's something that's increasing in Western nations that are kind of flummoxed in terms of how to deal with this.
00:41:51.580And evidently in Switzerland, population 8.5 million, and most of whom are Christian, there was a proposal to have a law that would ban the burka, and I would assume the niqab too, you know, an anti-face mask law.
00:42:09.700There are two cantons in Switzerland that indeed have such a law, and the government rejected that, but they're going to look into tabling a bill for a law that would require anyone with a face mask to unveil when an authority asks them to do, which I support.
00:42:30.340By the way, I should say the reason, Sheila, I thought it was absolutely astonishing in terms of why they didn't want to ban the burka is because of Arab tourists who might be wearing burka.
00:42:44.520So in other words, you know, if there's a deep-pocketed Arab burka or niqab wearing tourists coming to Switzerland to buy a wristwatch or a cuckoo clock, we don't want to chase that business away.
00:42:57.960That's so, you know, the bottom line is the bottom line.
00:43:00.840I think that's a terrible, terrible reason not to do this.
00:43:04.640But where I stand on this, if you want to wear this at your home, you're fine to do so.
00:43:09.880If you want to go to the mosque and put it on, you're fine to do so.
00:43:12.360But we live in a Western democracy, and one of the reasons why we don't have Checkpoint Charlie every two kilometers with somebody saying,
00:43:22.280your papers, please, is because when we walk around, Sheila, I can see who you are, you can see who I am.
00:43:29.020And if someone's wearing a mask, and let's, you know, do a hypothetical situation, they commit an assault, say you're hurt by somebody that way, Sheila,
00:43:37.060you are at a complete, inherent disadvantage in identifying that person.
00:43:42.940Furthermore, there is absolutely nothing in the Quran, in fact, many Muslims are repulsed by these fabric coffins too.
00:43:51.940So the idea that this is religious freedom is completely bogus.
00:43:55.860I'm sorry, even if it was a mandate, we are always told, rightly, that public safety comes first.
00:44:02.340So I do hope that Switzerland at least falls back on plan B and has it so that when you're asked to take off that face mask to reveal yourself, you should.
00:44:13.460But I think they should have gone ahead with a ban.
00:44:15.840And by the way, a ban is what I'd like to see in this country too.
00:44:18.640But under these liberals, you'd never see that happen.
00:44:22.100Well, and I mean, the request here seems pretty reasonable.
00:44:27.360The proposal would mean that anybody repeatedly, so repeatedly, not just one time, but repeatedly refusing to show their face to officials like customs, aviation, and migration could face a fine.
00:44:41.780Those are security points at which finding out exactly whose face you're looking at is pretty darn important.
00:44:48.880This all reminds me of the time that you voted in a burqa.
00:44:51.840Remember that? You went there. I mean, it was, I don't know why you carried a purse that day, but whatever.
00:45:00.340I think that's the funniest part of that whole video is your little clutch that you had.
00:45:04.680It's because it accentuated my eyes, Sheila.
00:45:07.360It did, because that's all you could see.
00:45:10.980But you went there and you gave them your, I think it was your driver's license.
00:45:38.260This was done about six years ago during my son's news days, but we had a 15-year-old boy put on the burqa and went to three liquor control board of Ontario retail stores to buy hard alcohol, hard liquor.
00:45:59.040What is the ostensible policy reason, Sheila, for liquor boards in Canada to have a liquor monopoly?
00:46:05.660Well, it's because of social responsibility, i.e., well, if we had the private sector selling liquor, you'd have 12-year-olds in the parking lot getting drunk on Colt 45.
00:46:16.340Whereas we, the government, we answer to a higher standard.
00:46:20.680We make sure that we're doing things on the up and up.
00:46:23.720And here's this 15-year-old boy just buying hard liquor at every single store we went to.
00:46:31.740And by the way, if you're interested in seeing that, folks, I think if you go online and punch in burqa boy, LCBO, you'll see the video evidence of that one.
00:46:40.860I mean, I've been pulled over for driving without my seatbelt on because I don't think it's the government's job to keep me safe that way.
00:46:49.920I will wear a seatbelt, but not because the government told me to.
00:46:53.140But anyways, I was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, and the cop made me take off my baseball cap and sunglasses so he could match my driver's license picture to my face.
00:48:08.700And, you know, it's you mentioned something, the word reasonable.
00:48:11.960And how many times have we heard the term reasonable accommodation?
00:48:14.780We must be reasonably accommodating others.
00:48:17.840Well, here's what I say, Sheila, reasonable accommodation is a two way street.
00:48:22.440And I think a newcomer to Canada that, you know, believes in wearing, like I call it, the fabric coffin or, by the way, might be coerced by the males in our family to wear that fabric coffin.
00:48:37.100Because we know that happens too, and we know with slights of honour what the penalties can potentially be.
00:48:43.900Well, I'm sorry, you've got to be reasonable as well.
00:48:46.480So I think the reasonable accommodation here, if I was king of the Kingdom of Canada, is you want to wear a mask, do it in private, do it at your place of worship, but in public, no.
00:49:10.100We put, you know, here in Toronto where the Blue Jays played and where the Argos used to play, the Sky Dome, now called the Rogers Centre.
00:49:19.180There was a story a few years back of an Argo alumni at Halloween that actually got ejected from the stadium because he was wearing a Halloween mask.
00:50:37.340It's at the total higher end of the human rights hierarchy.
00:50:43.460And by the way, that is how human rights commissions look at people in terms of identity politics.
00:50:49.540And you, depending on your sexual orientation, your religion, your color of skin, that's going to determine how far up the totem pole you are and how much underground you are.
00:51:02.720And I think we all know which groups sort of the penthouse and which groups are, like I said, in the cellar.
00:51:51.880So, they were rejected from getting a location at the San Antonio airport.
00:51:58.380San Antonio, from what I understand, is Texas Edmonton.
00:52:01.540Just like a progressive, weird, whatever, where all the, like, the socialists congregate, as opposed to every, all the good people outside in the rural parts of Texas.
00:52:13.340So, anyways, there's a busybody councillor who made sure that the airport denied a seven-year contract to Chick-fil-A, which would generate more than $2 million for the city.
00:52:29.700Because there's a busybody councillor there who said the decision was made based on inclusivity.
00:52:38.420So, they're banning people again for inclusivity.
00:52:42.000I'm not sure they know what those words mean.
00:52:47.300There is a suggestion there in terms of inclusivity that if you're a member of those groups, A, you won't be hired by the company, or B, you won't be served.
00:53:01.960And I have to tell you, Sheila, looking at the facts of the matter, especially in a country that's protected by the First Amendment, I would suggest, I'm not a lawyer, maybe I'm wrong, but I think I'm right.
00:53:12.640I think Chick-fil-A has an incredible lawsuit to pursue based on the constitutionality of being excluded this way.
00:53:23.040Well, and let's just list the things that San Antonio says are against LGBTQ people that Chick-fil-A has done.
00:53:34.280So, they're controversial because of their stances on biblical marriage.
00:53:41.440And they've given money to such horrible people like the Salvation Army and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
00:53:51.600That's what has had them run afoul of the bureaucrats in San Antonio.
00:54:00.040Now, to their credit, Chick-fil-A said, we agree with the councillor that everyone is and should feel welcome at Chick-fil-A.
00:54:07.900We have a fundamental code of conduct at Chick-fil-A.
00:54:10.780Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
00:54:13.840And then they go on to say that the 140,000 people who serve customers in our restaurants on a daily basis represent and embrace all people, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
00:54:27.140Our intent is to have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.
00:54:31.740And, by the way, Sheila, here's, to me, this is the bottom line.
00:54:37.260No one is forcing anyone to go to a Chick-fil-A.
00:54:40.000So, for those reasons, if there was any consumer out there that, you know, had a hate on for Chick-fil-A, then you punish them via your pocketbook.
00:54:51.600I'm going to go to another restaurant to eat.
00:54:54.180This idea that the state has to mandate, you know, this sort of a boycott, you know, an exclusion of a restaurant from an airport, it's terrible.
00:55:06.340And I'll tell you, for people who sympathize with Chick-fil-A, and I won, because when I went out to Calgary to give the money that we raised for the veterans, there is a Chick-fil-A in the Calgary airport.
00:55:18.560I'll tell you, that's a delicious chicken sandwich.
00:55:21.260My only complaint is they didn't have vinegar for the fries, and I'm telling you this, Chick-fil-A, I know you're an American company, if you don't serve vinegar in Canada, that is un-Canadian.
00:55:31.220I know Americans, for the most part, don't put vinegar on their fries, but that's the worst kind of exclusion I experienced at Chick-fil-A, Sheila, I'll tell you that much.
00:55:40.200It's just so funny, because some of the reasons the San Antonio City Council said that they don't want Chick-fil-A there is that people might become upset walking past a Chick-fil-A in the airport.
00:55:56.640If you cannot walk past a restaurant that donated to the Salvation Army, you are not mentally fit to be flying through the air on an airplane.
00:56:08.800I'm worried that you're going to cause some sort of on-air, like in-the-air scene.
00:56:12.780That's what I would be worried about, if that's the kind of person you are.
00:56:35.460You can get it for $5 on e-book version or at Amazon.com.
00:56:41.920Stop Notly, it's the case for throwing out the NDP, and that's where I've rounded up all the scandals.
00:56:47.420Although, my friend Kian does do a video series called Meet Your Destroyers or Meet the Destroyers, and it's basically some of the greatest hits from some of the more recent NDP behavior.
00:57:07.100But this idea of that we have to protect people from being triggered, oh, I hate that word, Sheila.
00:57:16.380That triggers me when I hear about other people getting triggered.
00:57:19.720And it brings to mind, there was a story that occurred this week.
00:57:23.600I've got a commentary coming up about it in depth on the weekend.
00:57:28.800And one of our favorite wrestlers, Dwayne The Rock Johnson, had one of the most profound honors bestowed upon him.
00:57:37.820The United States military's first armored division named a tank after him.
00:57:43.300And, you know, The Rock was completely flattered and honored by this.
00:57:49.480But the social media shite storm that was, you know, that happened in terms of, oh, how could you ever lend your name to a war machine, to a killing machine?
00:58:00.860And it seems that these people don't understand a couple of things.
00:59:24.940Do you think any of those people who are generally NASCAR watchers, wrestling watchers, didn't take offense to the WWE girls that wore next to nothing, didn't write any letters when Gold Dust, with his sexual ambiguity, came out and creeped everybody out.
00:59:47.360Do you think any of those people are like, oh, I'm done here because there's a war machine named after The Rock.
00:59:54.780And these are people who have no interest in The Rock whatsoever, never watched an action movie.
01:00:00.620They're telling the rest of us what we should find offensive.
01:00:05.700No, it's the people like Dion Buse, the guy, you know, the feminist, Women's Day March, that punch you.