SPECIALļ¼ Candice Malcolm on populism, patriotism and Canada's āPeter Panā PM
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Summary
Candace Malcolm joins The Rebel's Ezra Levenkamp to talk about the year that was, and what she's looking forward to in the new year. She also talks about why she thinks Justin Trudeau is the worst Prime Minister in the history of Canadian politics.
Transcript
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Tonight, a feature interview with the founder of the True North Initiative.
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It's Christmas Day, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
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You come here once a year with a sign, and you feel morally superior.
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The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it
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Well, over the Christmas break, when things are a little bit slower on the news side,
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we have long-form, semi-biographical interviews
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with some of the most interesting newsmakers or friends of The Rebel.
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A friend and a newsmaker, her name is Candace Malcolm, and she joins us now via Skype.
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Great to see you. Merry Christmas. Nice to have you on the show again
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to talk a little bit more calmly as opposed to the frenzied news of the day.
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Well, thank you so much, Ezra. Merry Christmas to you and to all your viewers as well.
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Well, thanks. You know, it's been an amazing year for politics,
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and I think it's the year, in my view, where the pendulum has swung back a little bit from the left.
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I look at all the provincial premiers that are now conservative-oriented
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as opposed to the almost completely liberal map a year ago.
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I look at opposition to the carbon tax in Canada and even overseas in places like France.
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I look at, I don't know, I just feel like our side of the argument is being heard.
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I tend to agree, Ezra. There was sort of a sense in Canada that, you know, among elites and liberals
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in central Canada that we were somehow immune to a lot of the forces that were going on around the
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world, whether it's, you know, populism or sort of a new alignment towards just, you know,
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patriotism and nationalism and putting your own country first. And, you know, elites had their
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nose up in the air saying, oh, Canada's immune to that. And it's clearly not the case. I think it's
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sort of come a little slower. You know, it happened in the UK with Brexit and the Trump election in
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2016. We saw these forces piling up. And yeah, it's spilling over into Canada. The sentiment
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is really there that people feel that elites are out of touch, that the stories being told in the
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media or by mainstream politicians just don't really reflect their day-to-day life or their day-to-day
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concerns. And there is sort of this movement, this backlash or, you know, you can call it populism or
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you can just, you know, call it democracy. But I think you're right. And, you know, as far as
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political stuff going on in Canada, I think Justin Trudeau has just had an absolutely horrible
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year right from the get-go. We're sort of seeing the, you know, the mask behind the man and the
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emperor has no clothes because, you know, the more we get to know Trudeau, the more that we see him in
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action, whether it's, you know, his disastrous trip to India or the way he bungled the NAFTA trade
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agreements with Trump, you know, the silly things that he says when he's giving interviews and talking
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candidly, you know, people kind and all this politically correct nonsense. I think the more
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we see of Justin Trudeau, the more we realize just how absolutely unfit he is to lead our country.
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Yeah. Well, his trip to India, I think, was a turning point in terms of his image, because
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in his 2015 campaign, and really ever since, he has been the stylish, young, handsome, dashing,
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mediagenic, selfie-loving, cool dude, as opposed to that stuffy Stephen Harper and his sweater
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vests. And I think that worked, or at least it worked on the media. And so we all sort of said,
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oh, I guess everyone loves the novelty socks. But his India trip was like the highlight. Like it was
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the apex. He was doing, it was like Beyonce in a rock concert doing like five costume changes a night.
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I mean, Trudeau literally would change costumes throughout the day, pose Bollywood style, do a
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costume change pose at the Taj Mahal. And it just tipped over from sort of, oh, isn't that neat,
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to, oh my God, that's all there is. I'm going to talk about the terrorist angle in a second. But
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I think before the terrorist questions of that trip came to light, and I'll ask you about that in a
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minute, because you broke that story, I think he was also already reaching peak ridiculousness
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Yeah, it was sort of a confluence of so many different things, Ezra. But, you know, even just
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to provide a bit more context than that, right before Trudeau went to India, he was having a
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really bad time. He had gone on these national town halls to talk to Canadians. And I think that
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that was kind of like, you know, his handler and his aides in Ottawa, it was their excuse to just sort of
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get him out of Ottawa, get him out of the media bubble. You know, he was having a bad news cycle
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when it came to things like the ethics report and his, you know, soiree at the Aga Khan's private
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island in the Caribbean, where he illegally took a private plane and didn't disclose that. So,
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you know, he was having a bad time. They sent him on this town halls, and he just embarrassed
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himself. That was when he made that people kind remark, where he told a young woman not to say
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mankind, but to say people kind. He told a young veteran that the veterans were asking for more
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than the federal government was willing to give. There was a couple of really awful sort of clips
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and soundbites that came out of those town halls. And I think that the India trip was like designed
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to rescue his reputation, you know, put Trudeau on the world stage. And you know that the international
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media will just swoon over it. And there's nothing that the Canadian media like more than, you know,
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swooning over the international media, swooning over Justin Trudeau. And so, you know, it was
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all so calculated. And you get Trudeau in India, you realize that there's a political problem going
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on there, that the Indian government and Indian officials are not happy with Trudeau over his
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actions and his sort of, you know, the sketchy behind the scenes partisan politics of the Liberal
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Party. And then you have this just totally clueless guy that, you know, he's posing with Bollywood
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actors. The Bollywood actor is dressed down wearing like a black suit. And there's Trudeau
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in this magical, colorful outfit with his entire family choreographed to the T. And it's just,
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you know, talk about an out of touch elite, you know, a man that's just playing Peter Pan that's
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in a fairy tale. So, you know, removed from reality. And it was just so cringeworthy and so
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embarrassing. The fact that the international media rejected it and started basically mocking
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him and saying, who is this guy? You know, it was a total catastrophe for Trudeau and his team,
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which is so obsessed and so focused on image. You know, they're all style, no substance. And when
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the style element starts falling apart, you know, that's when you're really in trouble. And I think
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that was really, you know, a turning point for Trudeau.
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Yeah. If I recall, it was a seven or eight day trip and there was only about one day's worth of
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actual business. And I think the Canadian media were totally fine with it. First of all,
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they love these trips also. They get to go to exotic places. It's first class for them too.
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I think it took the foreign media, including the media in India itself, to break, to burst the bubble,
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to pop the balloon. I think had it been in the hands of the CBC and the rest of what I call the media
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party. I think it would have been the amazing PR success that his handlers wanted it to be.
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But you actually were the one with the big pin popping the balloon. Why don't you tell us a
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little bit about that shocking story that you broke? And I couldn't even believe it. I couldn't
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believe the story was incredible. And I couldn't believe that I knew the reporter breaking the story.
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You. Tell us a little bit about Jaspal Atwal, a convicted terrorist and attempted murderer.
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Yeah, it was a storyline like right out of a Stephen King novel or something. But
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Justin Trudeau. So basically, Trudeau arrives in India. The government is snubbing him. Prime Minister
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Modi is a really jovial, friendly person. He usually goes to the airport to greet foreign leaders as they
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arrive. And we like to think of Canada as being an important country, an English-speaking ally in
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India. And so, Trudeau gets snubbed. There's a lot of sort of discussion about concerns from the
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Indian government, from the Punjab government, over Trudeau's relationship with a group of
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Calistani independent separatists. So for people who don't know, Sikhs have long wanted a homeland,
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an independent state in a part of India. You know, not all Sikhs, but there's a movement
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among Sikhs. And they call themselves Calistani. So there is this group, you know, the worst terrorist
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attack in Canadian history was carried out by a group of Calistani extremists. And, you know,
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in Canada, it is a problem. There's a community within the Sikh community that promotes these ideas.
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And so that was sort of the background. You know, there was all of these concerns that the
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liberal government and the Trudeau government were too closely aligned with these extremists that
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the Indian government is very concerned about. And so, you know, while these sort of conversations
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are happening and people are speculating as to why Trudeau doesn't have a more substantive
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agenda while he's in India, all of a sudden, we have pictures of a convicted terrorist, a person who
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was sort of a leader of these Calistani extremists in Canada, a person who had been convicted of attempting
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to murder a Indian cabinet official who was visiting Vancouver, visiting family.
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You know, we're talking about 20 years ago, but he, you know, he tried to assassinate this
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person that the man who was convicted of trying to assassinate this Indian leader is with Justin
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Trudeau. Photos have been circulated. I had the photos of this person, Jasper Atwal at an event
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posing with Sophie Trudeau, posing with different liberal cabinet ministers and MPs on the official
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guest list. Somehow I was able to make it past, you know, all of the screening and vetting that one
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would have to do to get invited on the delegation with the prime minister, traveling with the prime
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minister in India, attending official events in New Delhi and Mumbai. He was on the invitation list for
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two events. You know, you just couldn't imagine that kind of PR disaster and the security risk of
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having someone with that kind of storied background. I mean, it's just so shocking. So I broke that news
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in the Toronto Sun. There was a bunch of other sort of follow-up reports of this individual who just has
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an absolutely sketchy past. And, you know, you really start to realize how closely aligned the
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liberal government is with this group of people who, again, are considered, there's two banned
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terrorist groups in Canada that are affiliated with Kalistani separatists. And, you know, Jasper Atwal might
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claim that he's no longer a part of these groups, but he was a part of them in the past. And even in
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that court ruling, when he was found guilty of attempted murder, the judge called it terrorism and said
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and said that he was a terrorist, Ezra. So, I mean, it was a pretty shocking story.
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Yeah. And the chutzpah of taking, I mean, it's important that you point out he's not just a terrorist.
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He tried to assassinate a cabinet minister from the country of India, and then Trudeau brought him
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to the country of India as a VIP guest. I mean, that would be like bringing a PLO terrorist
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to meet the Israeli government. It's so, it's, if you were to have a screenplay in Hollywood,
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the, you know, the studios would say, oh, it's too much. No one will ever believe it. It requires
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too much suspension of disbelief. Like, it's too crazy. But the crazy didn't stop there. And I don't
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want to just talk about this today, but it was one of your great scoops. And I think it helped cement
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the change in Trudeau's reputation from this international darling to a serial bumbler and
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fumbler who frankly has caused disasters in every foreign affairs file. So it was a disaster. And
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there could be a thing to say. You could say it was an absolutely wrong decision. I apologize. It
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was bad judgment, bad vetting. You could, like, you could own it and it'd be a one day story of
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embarrassment. But instead, and this is what's so incredible, they claimed it was a setup by rogue
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elements of the security services in India. They actually ran with that. The liberals said,
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no, Justin Trudeau didn't do anything wrong. Liberals didn't do anything wrong. This was like
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planted, like this person was planted on our guest list by people in India to embarrass us to,
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like, it didn't even make sense in its own terms. It was crazy.
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I felt that way too. It was like, you know, so sometimes when you're reporting on a story and
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you're really in depth, you're talking to a lot of people, you're talking to a lot of sources,
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you kind of wonder, like, you know, am I too down, too far deep in the rabbit hole? Like,
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is there something I'm missing here? And that story came out in the CBC, Ezra. So, you know,
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Trudeau can always count on his friends and allies in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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to basically just write their narrative into the news. And there it was on Sunday evening,
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a senior source telling reporters that it was rogue Indian, it was rogue elements in the Indian
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government who had orchestrated this entire thing to embarrass Trudeau and make him look weak on this
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Kalistani terrorism issue. We found out that the senior source was not a partisan liberal appointee,
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but none other than the national security advisor, the top nonpartisan civil servant advising on
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national security issues in the country is supposed to be, you know, the pinnacle of professionalism
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and sort of hard nose policy. And here this guy is kind of doing his own thing, briefing the media,
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demanding that it be off the record, not providing any evidence to back this claim.
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And I mean, it took, it took, what, eight months for the report to come out as to, you know,
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the parliament did an investigation into what happened and why the national security advisor
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was briefing reporters with this ridiculous conspiracy theory, Ezra, that had no backing in
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reality that, that really upset the Indian government because they, you know, to make it all worse,
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you know, as, as much as the diplomatic fiasco that we were in the middle of,
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Trudeau doubles down and blames the Indian government. He,
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he mentioned it in, in parliament as well in an exchange in the house of commons.
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Well, the report just came out this month as when there's absolutely no evidence and, and, and no,
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nothing to substantiate the claim that there were rogue elements. It was just really a conspiracy
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theory. And we know that the national security advisor who retired a couple of weeks after all,
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this whole scandal, that he was having private conversations with top officials in the PMO
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that were, you know, behind closed doors and the committee wasn't privy to any of those
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conversations. So the idea that this was all, uh, you know, cooked up, uh, scheme from Trudeau and
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his inner circle, uh, is, is pretty evident at this point. It's pretty sad, you know, that they,
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that they came up with this coverup conspiracy to try to, you know, offload any responsibility
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and that people in the media fell for it and that the CBC dutifully wrote that story. It's just so
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embarrassing, Ezra. Oh yeah. I mean, it was a huge screw up. And then to say, no, no, no,
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India tricked us like that. India. I mean, I have an affection towards India. The more I study the
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history of the British empire, the more, the more I study India, its role in freedom, the more I get
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to know Sikhs, the more I admire the country, the history. I love the fact that it's a democracy.
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Um, I'm, I, I love India for its democracy more than the left loves China for its economy.
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And to think that, and there's a lot of people from India who live in Canada now. And I think
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they're generally very successful immigrants to Canada. I, I really think that's a relationship
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that Canada could have done well by largest democracy in the world, second largest country
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in the world. Very soon we'll overtake China in terms of pure population numbers. Maybe it already
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has. And just to just not nuke it, I don't want to use that word, but just to wreck that relationship,
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just to get through a few tough days of media spin, that shows a juvenile, childish, unseriousness
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of foreign policy substance. That's my point. Candace, is that trip not only burst the bubble on his
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self-loving narcissism, but it burst the bubble on any, anyone who thought that Trudeau was actually
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a serious, substantive international player. That's at least what I, I take from it.
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Yeah, I completely agree. I think that there was a very sort of superficial knowledge that most people
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had about Justin Trudeau that, you know, he was sort of painted, uh, by his handlers and his PR people
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as the, uh, anti-Trump. So, you know, Trump, Trump came in and he was a sort of hard-nosed
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law and order kind of conservative guy. And Trudeau was his opposite. Trudeau was this warm,
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lovey, you know, uh, liberal who, who just, you know, wanted everyone to hug and get along.
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And I think that the more people got to know Justin Trudeau, you know, there, there's, there's,
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there's really like a lack of substance when it comes to him, but there's also another side.
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And that is this sort of cynical partisan politics. Like he puts his own personal
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fortune ahead of the relationship with this very important ally that Canada has. So the whole point
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of the eight day trip was his image, but it was also, there was also a partisan reason there.
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And that was that the liberals wanted to impress, uh, the diaspora. They wanted to court votes from
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specifically the Sikh community, but also the entire Indian diaspora. And, and that was why the,
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you know, the whole week was so light on serious official state business. And so heavy on,
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you know, visiting all these different sites and, and, and taking pictures and using,
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you know, gaining all this material essentially to be used in the 2019 election. And you're right that,
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you know, the, the Indian diaspora in Canada is incredibly successful. Um, Sikh Canadians have
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always contributed, you know, tremendously right back to, you know, fighting on behalf of the British
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empire in the first and second world war. Um, they've had tremendous contributions, but you know,
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instead of acknowledging that, you know, Trudeau is the leader of all Canadians, he, he plays this
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really sort of sneaky, divisive, uh, vote bank politics where he tries to court very specific
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groups with very specific, uh, language. And I think that was another part of the, what was exposed
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through that trip was, was, was, was just how, how sort of dishonest they, um, the government is
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and Trudeau is when it comes to kind of dividing Canadians into little groups and then providing
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different messages to different Canadians in the sort of, you know, divisive kind of way.
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Yeah. You know, I, I think, uh, of Trudeau's international adventures, India, just the worst
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disaster. China snubbed him, Cuba, Trudeau absolutely abases himself in a over the top
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eulogy for Castro and Cuba repays Trudeau by using a sonic weapon to, to give brain damage
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to our diplomats there. Um, we got a rough deal with Donald Trump in NAFTA because Trudeau insisted
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on talking about feminism and global warming. Uh, things couldn't be worse between Russia and
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our foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland. Saudi Arabia is, uh, you know, they get all the good
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stuff selling us their oil while they, uh, you know, the relationship diplomatically is awful.
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I can't think of a single country in the world, Japan and Australia put them in the list too.
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I can't think of a single country in the world where relations between them and Canada are warmer
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today. With the possible exception of Iran, that Trudeau again, without any reason is so
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affectionate towards, I think, I mean, John Manley said it the other day. Uh, here's a quick clip of
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John Manley, uh, saying we've never been more alone. We've never been, in my view, as alone in the
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world as we are now. I think John Manley's right, Candace. I think for all of the, his savoir faire
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in his international glamour, Trudeau has made Canada more isolated and smaller in the world.
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Uh, yeah, I think there's just such a confusion on behalf of Trudeau and the liberals as to what
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Canada's role in the world. You remember, Ezra, when they first were elected, they made such a big
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deal of saying that, you know, Canada was back, that, um, under, under Harper and the Conservatives,
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Canada had disappeared from the world stage, and that Trudeau was ushering in this new era of
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positive Canadian influence in the world. And, you know, as, as insulting as that was to so many
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Canadians, you kind of wait and wonder what exactly that foreign policy agenda is going to be. I mean,
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it turned out it was basically selfies with Barack Obama and Emmanuel Macron and a bunch of, you know,
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puff pieces in the media about these so-called bromances. Um, but then when it comes to, you know,
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the real relationships and Canada's role in the world, as you pointed out with all of these
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countries, you know, whether it's because Trudeau refuses to budge on, you know, the special
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privileges to the dairy cartel in Canada, whether it's their just totally schizophrenic idea of,
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of when to call out human rights, you know, like we're going to call out Saudi Arabia for human
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rights abuses on Twitter. And meanwhile, we're going to vote in favor of Cuba at the United Nations
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over and over and over and over again, and refuse to condemn any of their bad behavior,
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refuse to even call for gender equality. Justin Trudeau's absolutely favorite topic
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when it comes to Cuba. I mean, it's just totally nonsensical. And even Iran, which, you know,
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Trudeau made such a big deal again, in courting the Iranian vote during the last election and talking to,
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you know, the Iranian diaspora in Canada, saying that he pledged to reopen relations and normalize
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things and have a consulate going in an embassy. Well, he hasn't even done that. I mean, even,
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you know, even his own promises, I don't advocate or advise renegotiating a deal with Iran, just given
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how that country is basically a state sponsor of terrorism, a rogue country that's absolutely
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destabilizing the entire Middle East. Trudeau wanted to be friends with them, and he couldn't even make
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that happen. So, yeah, Canada is lost on the world stage. It's sad to see how far Trudeau will go
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groveling to the United Nations to try to get a meaningless temporary seat on the Security Council.
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For what? You know, we're willing to sacrifice all of our values, all of our relationships,
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all of our friendships. Trudeau's foreign policy, it actually looks a lot like Barack Obama's foreign
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policy, which was basically to go around the world, grovel, apologize for America, make America look
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weak, and turn his back on our, you know, the West's closest allies. So, yeah, Trudeau's just been
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utterly disappointing on that front. You know, Candace, I'm enjoying talking over some of the
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news highs and lows of 2018 with you, but I did promise at the beginning of our discussion that
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this would be semi-biographical, and we haven't done that, and my excuse is, because that Jaspal Atwal
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story, the story of the terrorists that Trudeau brought to India, was your scoop, and so I just wanted
00:24:30.660
to take the opportunity to recount that incredible moment, because I think that was such a turning
00:24:35.520
point for Trudeau. I should say that you're also the author. I want to make sure I got the title right
00:24:40.220
here. Stupid Things Trudeau Says. That's your book, right?
00:24:44.200
Yeah, that's right. That was sort of a light-hearted, satirical book. I couldn't help it,
00:24:49.200
because Trudeau's just said so many remarkably dumb things over the years that I wanted to catalog,
00:24:54.880
you know, some of these quotes and comments and try to put them into some context for the reader,
00:24:59.360
so. You know, and it's funny, and you know what? It's true, and anyone who pretends they're not
00:25:03.520
stupid quotes, I mean, there's so many of them. We know the people kind one. We know when he says
00:25:08.360
budgets will balance themselves. We got to grow from the economy from the heart out. Give me
00:25:14.080
one or two other just clangers that if it were George W. Bush or Dan Quayle, we'd never stop
00:25:20.640
talking about. Well, sure. After the Sochi Olympics in 2014, the Winter Olympics, when Vladimir Putin
00:25:28.060
and the Russian army invaded Ukraine and Crimea, Trudeau went on a political talk show in Quebec
00:25:34.020
and said that the reason that Putin invaded Ukraine was because he was mad that his hockey team lost
00:25:40.620
during the Olympics. And even at the time, even at the time, the host sort of looked at him like,
00:25:49.040
So there's that. There's a whole collection of his, you know, favorite digs against Alberta and the
00:25:55.280
people of Alberta. Back before he became prime minister, he would always make those comments in
00:26:01.140
French, though, Ezra, just so that, you know, we couldn't clip them and play them back to the people.
00:26:05.580
But, you know, he said that Canada would be better off, is better off when people from Quebec are in
00:26:11.360
charge and the country suffers when Albertans are in charge. He said that if Canada was really the
00:26:16.960
Canada of Stephen Harper, he would be for Quebec leaving and becoming its own country. You know, he really
00:26:25.000
had some incredibly divisive and controversial things to say about the Canadian Confederation and
00:26:32.420
Yeah, you know what, that's, we were just chuckling at all the goofy things he said, but what you just
00:26:37.200
said there are positively dangerous. Well, listen, I do want to talk a little bit biographically,
00:26:42.020
because, of course, we know you from your column with the Toronto Sun, and I'm so glad you have that
00:26:49.040
forum, because it's one of the few newspapers in Canada that still allows conservatives to be
00:26:53.460
conservative. I regret the National Post is no longer as strong in that department. There's still some good
00:26:58.660
writers on the Financial Post, but I'm so glad you have that place. So you write for the Toronto Sun.
00:27:04.800
Before that, you were with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Way back in the day, you were a staffer
00:27:09.780
for Jason Kenney in Ottawa. And now you're the boss of the True North Initiative. And we've mentioned
00:27:15.380
that before, and we know your colleague, Andrew Lawton, obviously an old friend of ours, too. Can you
00:27:20.360
give our viewers a bit of a briefing? I think I know what it is. Would you call it a think tank?
00:27:26.300
Would you call it a forum? What exactly is the True North Initiative?
00:27:30.420
Sure. Well, I kind of like to think of it as sort of a next generation think tank media platform hybrid.
00:27:37.820
And so the concept when I started it, when I created it, was I used to work in the immigration
00:27:42.600
department in Ottawa. When it came to discussions about immigration, immigration security, border
00:27:48.020
security, you know, the issues just never get discussed fairly. And there's so many special interest
00:27:53.280
groups and lobbyists on the left, you know, whether it's refugee lawyers or refugee groups
00:27:58.140
or, you know, different special interest groups that are lobbying the government. And really
00:28:02.300
just when it comes to media stories, they make it one sided because they provide these over
00:28:07.280
the top quotes or, you know, put out these reports that really advocate for open borders
00:28:12.540
and something that goes against the Canadian, the best interest of Canadians. So the idea with
00:28:18.040
True North was to try to counter that to provide some common sense, you know, rules based suggestions
00:28:23.940
and to sort of try to keep the media honest by providing the other side of the story. That
00:28:28.860
was about three years ago. And the ideas kind of morphed and broadened into kind of creating
00:28:34.800
something like our own media platform. So we do create some reports, we still try to do the
00:28:41.300
sort of policy think tank stuff. But we also focus on getting the information out to Canadians and,
00:28:47.520
and telling that other side, we do some investigative reports, we've hired Andrew Lawton, a journal,
00:28:52.920
a great journalist out of London, Ontario, to provide his own commentary and his own reports,
00:28:57.940
we focus a lot on doing, you know, things, everything's online. So, you know, through Facebook
00:29:02.620
and through our website, and just engaging with Canadians, having that robust conversation about
00:29:09.180
immigration, that the elites are so afraid to have as, or they're so afraid to talk openly about
00:29:14.620
immigration, they don't want to have a debate, you know, the whole United Nations migration compact
00:29:19.900
was just rushed through without even consulting with the Canadian people. And I think the reason
00:29:25.860
that elites don't want to have a conversation with Canadians is because they know that their
00:29:29.800
positions are offside, they're not consulting with the public, they're going against what people
00:29:34.540
want. And, and, you know, that's, that's so unfair to the Canadian people. This is our country,
00:29:39.100
a country that we've built, our ancestors have built, we should have a say in the future of our
00:29:43.740
country. And so again, True North just really seeks to facilitate that conversation and to provide
00:29:50.860
balance to, you know, the insanity of politicians and the mainstream media journalists.
00:29:56.460
Yeah, you guys are really strong on the immigration file. And I think it obviously comes from
00:29:59.980
your history working in that department. I always show this graph here. This is from August. Angus
00:30:07.020
Reed asks the question, do you think immigration numbers are too high, too low, or just right? And
00:30:14.700
as you can see here, this is a historical graph that goes back decades. And the number of Canadians
00:30:20.380
who say the number is too high is at 49%. It's never been higher. The number who say it's too low,
00:30:27.260
we should invite more folks in is 6%. Again, that number has never been lower. And the number who
00:30:33.340
say, Oh, I guess I'm fine with where it is, is 31%. I think those people just don't want to take a
00:30:38.060
position or maybe they really think the number as it is, is fine. So you add up those who think
00:30:43.580
it's fine as it is, or should be lower, that's 80%. And yet Trudeau is going in the direction of the 6%,
00:30:49.900
increasing it, and is contemplating jacking it up to a staggering 450,000 people a year.
00:31:00.700
I think you mentioned right at the beginning of the show how populism is on the march around the world.
00:31:06.460
That's going to light a fire in this country. I believe, Candace, that if anything is going to
00:31:11.020
start, I mean, God forbid, Macron-style riot protests. I don't want violence in Canada. But if
00:31:17.980
anything's going to light a match, a populist rebellion, it's going to be opening up the
00:31:22.380
borders to a lawless, chaotic immigration in the face of 80% of Canadians who wish this to the contrary.
00:31:29.180
And a combination of that, Ezra, and the fact that Canadians are just not consulted,
00:31:33.500
that Trudeau continues to ram through his agenda. I mean, he's the one that's driving this sort of
00:31:38.780
populist notion. You know, Canada has long been open and understanding of immigration. We've long
00:31:46.780
been a country that's welcomed immigrants, integrated them, and welcomed them as full
00:31:52.060
Canadian citizens. And that is our record. That's why Canada's immigration system works.
00:31:58.460
And as soon as you sort of stray away from that and say, you know what, we're just going to
00:32:03.900
accept all migrants. We're going to change the definition. So a migrant is now a refugee. Refugees
00:32:08.940
don't really have to follow Canadian immigration law. So, you know, our immigration laws are going to,
00:32:13.980
you know, be put on the back burner so that we can welcome all these people. I mean, that's what's
00:32:19.500
driving the change in public opinion. And it's been a drastic change over the last 10 years or so,
00:32:24.300
where Canadians used to generally support immigration, be pro-immigration, and understand
00:32:29.260
that, you know, we need to continue to welcome newcomers to grow our economy and to have new
00:32:36.140
innovation and all these other things. You know, that consensus is slowly fading away. And,
00:32:41.180
you know, it's directly because of the policies and the attitude of elites, specifically Justin Trudeau
00:32:48.700
and his liberal government. And then on top of that, the way that the media sort of bullies and
00:32:53.900
name calls anyone who's critical. I mean, you've long been the sort of, you know,
00:32:59.100
a boogeyman to the mainstream media that they said that they call you far right or, you know,
00:33:04.140
call you extreme. Well, you know, the views that you're expressing are the views of most Canadians. And
00:33:09.420
and it's the same with us at The True North. We have now started to be called the same kind of
00:33:14.540
things, accused of the same kind of, you know, name calling and being xenophobic and all this
00:33:20.620
stuff. Well, you know, what we're trying to do is just have an honest conversation and sort of tap
00:33:25.900
into the sentiment of Canadians who are, have valid concerns, have valid worries. And, you know,
00:33:30.860
the more that Trudeau and the media try to demonize us, the more angry people become. And that's,
00:33:35.980
and that's how you end up with these sort of populist revolts. So, you know, they shouldn't
00:33:40.140
be blaming people like you and I, they should be looking in the mirror and looking at their own
00:33:44.060
policies and their own tactics and the way that they treat, you know, the citizens of their country.
00:33:49.420
You know, I was listening to you and how the official establishments, it's the media,
00:33:55.500
it's the politicians, it's academia, it's pop culture, like it's, it's, it's even police.
00:34:03.660
All the establishment is basically tamping down the bandwidth of debates on these issues. And
00:34:09.980
you made me think of the United Kingdom, because, of course, we, we have some staff there,
00:34:15.740
Jack Buckby, Martina Marcotta, and we used to have Tommy Robinson. And earlier this year,
00:34:21.500
you and Andrew Lawton came to London to report on the trial of Tommy Robinson. It turned out to be a
00:34:29.580
very quick court hearing. It was basically adjourned by the judge. But I'd like you to share with our
00:34:35.500
viewers because, you know, Tommy Robinson is, is probably one standard deviation more rambunctious
00:34:41.980
than me. And I think I'm one standard deviation more rambunctious than you, Candace. So you're
00:34:47.260
polite company. And so, I mean, he has a rough background. And I don't think he, he hides it at
00:34:54.860
all. In fact, I think in some ways, he is sort of a, a spokesman in some ways for working class Brits.
00:35:02.220
It's still stratified there by, by class and region. And I'd like you to share with our viewers your
00:35:09.340
thoughts. So you came to the UK, you met Tommy, you came to the court, you came to the trial.
00:35:13.900
And, and we crowd fund your ticket and that of Andrew Lawton. And our rule was,
00:35:18.700
you just have to show up and report no editorial oversight from me or the rebel.
00:35:23.420
We just wanted another pair of eyes there to, to, to see what was going on. So can you tell our
00:35:29.900
viewers what you thought of the event itself of Tommy? And are there any lessons that you learned in
00:35:35.340
your time in London that might apply to your thinking about Canada, especially on these
00:35:39.900
politically incorrect issues? Yeah, certainly. Well, first, thank you so much to
00:35:44.700
you at the rebel and to your generous, you know, viewers and supporters that enabled that crowd
00:35:49.740
funding. You know, it was a really great experience to get to go over to London and get to report in a
00:35:54.460
different country and have that experience. So, so thanks for that. And yeah, I mean, going there,
00:35:59.820
what I sort of kept feeling like was, you know, this is where Canada is heading. This is like Canada
00:36:05.420
10 years into the future. If we continue on the same path, um, where you're right, you know,
00:36:12.220
England and London is much more sort of class based. So people don't want to listen to Tommy
00:36:18.060
because of the neighborhood he grew up in and the accent that he has. And, you know, his lack of maybe
00:36:22.620
formal fancy education. Um, but the issues that he's raising are just completely obvious and evident.
00:36:28.860
The fact that there are these unintegrated, um, immigrant groups, mostly Pakistani, but other
00:36:35.980
people from different Muslim countries that form these gangs, they do despicable,
00:36:40.860
horrible things in grooming young women to show a complete lack of respect for the country that
00:36:46.060
they're in, but also the, you know, independence and the, um, the rights of these young women,
00:36:52.380
these girls in many cases. And then on top of that, you have the institutions, the police,
00:36:59.500
um, you know, the courts, uh, journalists, academics, social workers, all willing to cover
00:37:06.460
up and ignore and sort of lie about the prevalence of this phenomenon. Uh, you know, I haven't heard of
00:37:13.100
that stuff happening in Canada, but we're not far away. And we see elements of it, for instance,
00:37:17.580
after the Danforth shooting where it was just completely sealed and there was no information
00:37:22.140
coming out and the police were sort of playing part of this sort of PR game. But anyway, in,
00:37:27.740
in, in London and in, in the UK, more broadly, you know, Tommy Robinson is a sort of a hero of his
00:37:34.140
people. He's, you know, part of the underclass for sure, but he's, he's fairly smart. He's articulate.
00:37:39.660
He's ringing the alarm bell about these issues and the way that the government just completely,
00:37:44.220
you know, clamps down on him and, and tries to find any excuse to arrest him and silence him and
00:37:51.020
put him away while the media are playing that role as well and demonizing him and trying to
00:37:56.860
de-platform him. I mean, the whole thing was really eyeopening and sad, um, you know, considering that
00:38:02.540
Canada got its political institutions we inherited from that same tradition, um, in the UK to see how
00:38:10.380
they've sort of abandoned freedom of speech and the rule of law, the idea that everyone should be
00:38:15.340
treated equally. And they've created a special, um, situation for migrants be just because they're
00:38:22.060
migrants, just because they're Muslim, they don't have to follow the same set of rules. Um, it's scary.
00:38:26.940
You know, I talked to a lot of people while I was over there, Ezra, and you know, I think that
00:38:32.140
people see it, people understand it. The reason that Tommy Robinson is as famous as he is is because
00:38:38.780
he's effective and he's speaking about something that's true that, that, that people there just
00:38:43.260
aren't getting through their mainstream media. So I, you know, I think that it's great that there are
00:38:48.300
independent journalists like you that are, you know, really involved in covering the story and raising
00:38:53.660
the alarm. And I was grateful for Andrew and I to have the opportunity to go over there
00:38:58.540
to see it with our own eyes, to try to tell the other side of the story to the British public while
00:39:02.780
we're there, but also, you know, to bring back those lessons to Canada and to make sure that we
00:39:07.660
can safeguard ourselves at any sign of these kinds of, uh, trends happening in Canada. We can
00:39:14.620
call, call it out for what it is, ring the alarm bell and, um, make sure that that sort of
00:39:19.740
stratified double standard and, you know, the horrible crimes that are committed without justice.
00:39:24.780
Um, so that, that kind of thing just never happens in, in our own communities.
00:39:29.420
Well, I'm, I'm so glad you feel that way. And I guess, uh, I think of the true north initiative,
00:39:33.820
that's a phrase from our anthem and stand on guard for thee is another phrase from our anthem. It
00:39:38.940
sounds like you're doing that by the way, folks, if you want to see all the reports from that special
00:39:44.220
week when we were there with Candace and Andrew, and we brought an American reporter named Cassandra
00:39:50.780
Fairbanks and an Australian named Avi Yamini. You can see all that at realreporters.uk.
00:39:59.660
Real reporters, of course, in contrast to the media party of London, which is the worst of all.
00:40:04.620
Candace, let me ask, and on this note, I mean, you've had an amazing 2018.
00:40:08.700
You've really led the charge. Obviously you broke the story of the year, jazz ball out while amazing.
00:40:12.780
Um, you, you fight hard, whether it's carbon taxes or, or open borders, immigration, this UN
00:40:20.620
global compact for migration. What are you going to do in 2019? Maybe some of it's a surprise and
00:40:27.500
you don't want to let the cat out of the bag now, but give our viewers a bit of a hint. What are you
00:40:31.820
up to? What are your plans for true north initiative? Uh, are there any events you're looking forward to
00:40:37.580
in 2019? What do you, what do you think is going to come? Well, definitely we're looking forward to
00:40:42.700
it. We've had a great year in 2018, just in terms of, you know, getting stories out there and telling
00:40:47.660
the other side. Uh, but also, you know, recruiting people into our fold. We've had great, uh, success
00:40:54.300
doing, uh, fundraising campaigns. There's a lot of Canadians that are really, you know, willing to
00:40:59.260
open up their wallets and give us, you know, a little bit of money here and there to help support
00:41:03.340
our cause. So we're going to be growing. We're going to be focusing on doing more investigative reporting.
00:41:08.700
We've got a couple of, uh, exciting names of, um, scholars that are going to be joining,
00:41:13.420
uh, the organization to help us write reports. And again, to counter all of the sort of politically
00:41:20.060
correct, uh, cultural relativism and, and, uh, creeping, um, you know,
00:41:28.700
blasphemy or creeping, creeping Sharia law that happens in, in Canada. So we, we've got a bunch of
00:41:34.380
projects that we're going to be rolling out and we're just going to continue to, you know,
00:41:37.900
counter the media bias to hold the Trudeau liberals accountable and to try to advocate for, you know,
00:41:44.060
the policies that we believe in, which is basically, you know, limited government and,
00:41:49.260
and freedom and responsibility, promoting Canadian values and Canadian, um, you know,
00:41:55.900
rights and responsibilities. Well, we can hardly wait to see what you do next.
00:42:00.220
And, uh, we wish you great success. Uh, I think that, uh, you do a lot of important things.
00:42:07.020
In my mind, the fact that you still have a platform in the mainstream media,
00:42:12.220
if I can call the Toronto sun, that is incredible because all the things you say
00:42:17.180
are the kinds of things that get the D platformers going. If you know what I mean,
00:42:22.380
the people who try and ban and get people they don't like fired. So I'm glad that you have a,
00:42:27.180
a foot here in the rebel and a foot there in the Toronto sun and that you're talking to both sides
00:42:32.220
because it's so important that people hear your point of view. It's great to see you again. Thanks
00:42:35.580
for spending so much time with us. I know you're a fan favorite with our viewers. So they'll be
00:42:39.500
thrilled to have spent this time with you too. Uh, have a great new year and we'll see you in 2019.
00:42:45.420
Thanks Ezra. Yeah. It was great to get into the issues a bit more. And, you know,
00:42:49.100
with the Toronto sun, it's like, you know, they try to, they try to discredit the Toronto sun. They
00:42:53.340
hated our reporting after the Danforth. They hated what we had to say on the UN compact.
00:42:58.140
And so, you know, we, we're constantly having to deal with that same kind of thing, but you know,
00:43:03.100
when it comes, at least it's a, it's a, it's a newspaper that's sort of still broadly considered
00:43:09.260
part of the mainstream media. And I'm appreciative of that, that voice, but I also think that the
00:43:13.980
future is here online and, you know, with, with outlets like the rebel. So, um, you know,
00:43:18.860
best of luck to you too. You've been doing incredible work over there and continue to
00:43:23.420
enjoy watching the rebel grow. Well, thanks for those kind words and, uh,
00:43:27.340
good luck to all of us. We'll sure need it. All right. Take care of my friends.
00:43:31.020
Okay. Bye Ezra. All right. That's Candace Malcolm, fan favorite, Toronto sun columnist,
00:43:36.300
and the boss of the true north initiative. Sounds like they've got a lot of great things
00:43:40.380
ahead for 2019. Well, that's our show for today on behalf of all of us here at rebel world headquarters.