Why are Canada's political and media elites so keen on bringing in cheap foreign labour？
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Summary
Why are Canada's political and media elites so dedicated to bringing in cheap foreign labor to replace Canadian workers? Ezra Levant explains why, and why not in this episode of the Ezra Levant Show on The Rebel News Network's "Rebel News" podcast.
Transcript
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Hello my Rebels, today I'm going to tell you about a curious case of New Brunswick
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whose unemployment just shot up to 13.2% and is not done climbing and yet the Toronto Globe
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and Mail thinks this is the time to call for more cheap migrant laborers to be flown in from Mexico
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to pick apples there. It's so weird. I'll take you through the story. Hey before I do let me
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invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. It's eight bucks a month or 80 bucks a
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David Manzies. Okay, you can get all that at rebelnews.com by the way. Here's the podcast.
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Tonight, why are political and media elites so dedicated to bringing in cheap foreign labor
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to replace Canadian workers? It's May 20th 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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The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody
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Simple question, as all the best questions are,
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why are political and media elites so dedicated to bringing in cheap foreign labor to replace
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Canadian workers here? Not all Canadian workers. I mean, heaven forbid we bring in cheap foreign
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labor to replace their jobs as journalists or politicians or lawyers. I don't know if you ever
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saw this campaign ad by Ted Cruz imagining if lawyers were hopping the border from Mexico.
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That would get the Democrats upset, but no, no, no. I'm talking about bringing in cheap labor to
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undercut our blue-collar workers. Like this story in the Globe and Mail this week.
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Ban on temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick pressures food producers. Well,
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I certainly feel bad for food producers if they're feeling pressure. And I'm about as
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sympathetic to Mexican workers as you'd expect me to be, which is no more and no less sympathetic
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than I would be towards Bangladeshi workers or workers in Madagascar, which is I mean them no harm
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and I wish them well. As much as I'd wish any of the world's 7 billion people well, but they are not
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my problem. We have our own problems in Canada. And let me show you some of these problems. Here's the
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official labor statistics out of New Brunswick. Take a look there at a chart. A year ago, unemployment in
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New Brunswick was 8%. Two months ago, in March, it was 8.8%. Not great. You can see that Canada was
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slowly sliding into a recession, especially in New Brunswick, where Trudeau killed a $15.7 billion
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construction project for the Energy East pipeline. That one pipeline would have literally given a job
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to every single unemployed man and woman in the entire province if they wanted it. Trudeau preferred
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OPEC well, though. So unemployment was 8.8% in March. And then April, the last month for which
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we have statistics, it jumped by half. Literally up 4.4 percentage points to 13.2% unemployment. That
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is shocking. And that's April. We're 20 days into May now. Things are surely worse. Do you doubt that
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when we have May's full numbers, they're going to be, what, 15, 16% unemployment? It's 16% unemployment
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right now in Newfoundland. Do you doubt they're going to hit 20% unemployment next month? When you
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have 20% unemployment, that is Great Depression, dirty 30s numbers. And Newfoundland was already an
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economic disaster. They literally wrote a letter to Justin Trudeau this spring saying they're
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bankrupt. Imagine them now. Okay, back to New Brunswick, because that's the big Globe and Mail
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story. 47,200 unemployed people in New Brunswick now. And remember the definition of that. That's
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someone who's actually looking for a job. That doesn't include people who've just given
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up and stopped looking for a job. They're no longer counted as part of the labor force.
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And look at that too. The labor force participation rate has fallen by 5% in the past year. Do you
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see that? So it's 13.2% unemployment amongst those who are still looking. But add in the 5% who
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has just given up. They've quit looking. You're almost at 20% right now if you include them.
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So back to that headline in the Globe and Mail, before we even read the story,
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ban on temporary foreign workers in New Brunswick pressures food producers. Let me read a bit.
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George Dukesher is a third generation farmer who grows 24 varieties of apples,
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along with pears and plums, in his orchard alongside the St. John River in western New Brunswick.
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In half a century of farming, he's seen huge ups and downs. Now he's not sure how he'll weather the
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coming season, unquote. You see what they're doing? Third generation farmer,
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apples and pears and plums, half a century on the land. We have to stand with this great,
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patriotic, hardworking Canadian salt of the earth. Except for the following thousand words,
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they do the opposite. They use this one man's Canadian-ness to make the case for bringing in
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cheap foreign laborers to undercut Canadian workers. I'm serious. Let me read some more.
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Late last month, Premier Blaine Higgs abruptly announced that temporary foreign workers are
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banned from entry. The only province in Canada to place such a restriction, which occurred just as
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spring planting season, was about to start. In an instant, a critical part of Mr. Dukesher's
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workforce evaporated. While in Mexico, his long-term employees lost their livelihoods.
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He typically employs eight workers who return each year. One of them has been coming for 19 years,
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another for 12. They're experienced and work without supervision, thinning the trees, pruning,
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making cider, and harvesting. Got it. So Canada's national newspaper, whose very logo is a maple leaf,
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is going to root for Mexican workers who live in Mexico and jet in to work for a bit before jetting
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back home to their home in Mexico. Not a word about New Brunswick's unemployed, but, and there's such a
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weird implication here, what New Brunswicker could possibly master the intricacies of, you know,
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pruning apple trees and, you know, picking apples without supervision. Quote,
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they know where every tree is on the farm, said Mr. Dukesher, whose Archer and Shade Farms is near
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Woodstock, New Brunswick. They're crucial, essential workers. They're part of the family,
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and you can't replace them with people off the street. We depend on them, and they depend on us.
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Yeah, but that's the thing. They're not actually part of your family, are they, Mr. Dukesher?
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However, if they were, they would be living in New Brunswick as citizens, and they'd probably have
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the protection of Canadian labor laws, including minimum wage, if appropriate. Or if there was a
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problem with minimum wages for farm work, maybe they'd be exempt from minimum wage, as some farms
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are, at least until the NDP runs the province. So yeah, that's the point, isn't it? They're not
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family. You treat family well. Family are living in your country. That's a metaphor he's using.
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They're not actually family. I'm not sure if it's accurate, and I don't think it's even honest.
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Hey, if picking apples is essential, and I'm not going to say it isn't, Mr. Dukesher, why don't
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you ask the 13.2% of your fellow New Brunswickers, if maybe they'd like to pick some apples for you.
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Apple picking is hard work, but it's also something that people like doing so much that across Canada,
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people actually pay to come to orchards for the pleasure of picking their own. It's not just that
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the fruit is a bit cheaper that way. It's good, honest, outdoors work. It's a bit of physical
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exercise, like this young lad said he wanted to do before he was laughed at by Trudeau's CBC
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state broadcaster. You would see yourself doing in terms of volunteer work or one of the jobs that
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the prime minister was talking about? Honestly, farming sounds quite interesting. I do have a background
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in athletics. Yeah. I'll read some more. He canceled a $10,000 apple tree order from nurseries in Ontario
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because of a lack of labor, a decision that will affect yields in the years to come. He said production
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could be reduced to about 25% of capacity this year as a result of the ban. He's not alone. Fruit and
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vegetable farmers, along with lobster processors who use temporary foreign workers, say New Brunswick's
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decision is catastrophic, people. And the move was made without consultation. Some farmers say this
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will result in lower production, less variety and higher prices of local food. Catastrophic, guys.
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Hey guys, if they don't get to fly in Mexican laborers, no one will be able to pick the apples. We just
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don't know how to pick apples. And lobster processing. I mean, who knows better how to harvest lobsters in New
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Brunswick than Mexicans. I mean, certainly not New Brunswickers who have been working in fisheries for
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literally centuries, an industry built by their ancestors. What do they know? Yeah, we need to bring in world
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famous Mexican lobster experts. They have secret skills that are just irreplaceable. It's a catastrophe.
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Look at this. In April, 11,000 such workers arrived, about 2,000 short of last year's numbers, and the Canadian
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Agricultural Human Resource Council says the sector is still facing challenges in getting enough workers,
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including foreign workers. Did you know they were still flying in cheap foreign laborers,
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even in the middle of this pandemic crisis? You bet they are. And did you know that many of them are
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actually bringing the virus with them? Take a look at this. Four temporary foreign workers in British
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Columbia test positive for COVID-19. Let me read a bit. British Columbia's top doctor says the province
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has detected four cases of COVID-19 among temporary foreign workers who entered the country in recent
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weeks. All four had arrived in BC on different flights, said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie
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Henry. The federal government has exempted TFWs from cross-border travel restrictions, setting their
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critical role in sectors of the economy, such as agriculture. Migrant workers must still isolate for 14
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days upon arrival in Canada. So they're obviously being treated by Canada's health care system.
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They're here now. Four different flights. That's a lot of spreading in the virus, isn't it?
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I thought we were clamping down on flying. I'm just kidding. You and I have to stay in our homes,
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but foreign apple pickers, front of the line, guys, come right on in. You're essential.
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You're not, but they are. So at least four more cases of the virus flown in. How much longer did those
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four cases make the rest of the province live under lock and key? One day, one week, one month?
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To save some corporate farm a few bucks a day in labor costs? And remember, Justin Trudeau announced
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a $50 million bonanza for temporary foreign workers. Trudeau, and by that I mean you, the taxpayer,
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will pay $50 million to put up these foreign workers in a hotel for a couple weeks when they
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first arrive as a sort of quarantine. So you see, we're doing this to save money.
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Yeah. So we're halfway through this Globe and Mail story before we hear the countervailing opinion,
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not in the form of a quote or any sort of balance, but in a single sentence.
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New Brunswick's Mr. Higgs announced on April 28th that foreign workers are restricted from
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entering the province. He cited the risk of outbreaks of COVID-19 as a reason and urged employers to fill
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the vacant positions with students and unemployed local people. Yeah. How outrageous. What a bigot.
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Hiring unemployed students. Who are they compared to some Mexican citizen who's been coming up here
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for years to work for peanuts because we can't have Mr. Dukesher pay in prevailing wages.
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I even love the photo and the caption they use. Emilio Ramirez Agudo, seen here in Oaxaca in February
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2020, works on Strawberry Hill Farm in New Brunswick each year. Okay. So he's in Oaxaca. That's
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that's in Mexico. Of course, that's his home. Don't you feel sorry for him? I mean, to hell with New
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Brunswickers, those bigots. But how about this guy? Farmers and processors say they've tried that,
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that even this year there have been few takers. Even if they do manage to hire, productivity rates
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tend to be lower and attrition higher among local, less experienced workers. On farms, reliable labor is
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particularly crucial during the key harvest months, just as students may be returning to school or
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workers called back to their former jobs. Yeah. Do you think those excuses hold water now in the
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pandemic? School's not on. The former jobs are gone. How lazy a journalist do you have to be to be a
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stenographer for those excuses and not press the corporate farm to ask them, are any of those excuses
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afoot today, if they were even legitimate excuses in the past? Well, we can't hire local people. They
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don't want to work. They want to go back to their other jobs. Really? Don't lie. Don't lie. There's no
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school on right now. Let me skip ahead. New Brunswick has had zero new cases of COVID-19 in nearly two
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weeks, and everyone who had the coronavirus because of the disease has now recovered. That's incredible, isn't it?
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The Global Mail publishes that fact to imply that the province can handle it. It's not in crisis.
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No, no, no. That's the whole point. It's not in crisis precisely because it has closed itself off.
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That's what Ontario and Quebec and BC would have been like had Trudeau and Theresa Tam closed those
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provinces off from flights too, from foreign flights, especially from China. There are no direct flights
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from China to New Brunswick, as there still are every day from China to Vancouver and China and Toronto.
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No, that's why New Brunswick is safe. Same with Prince Edward Island. The Globe goes on a bit about
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how hard it is to train people to pick apples, and then they get a real personal, a really personal
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case to humanize it. Not with any of the tens of thousands of poor New Brunswickers.
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Wondering how they're going to pay their rent now or make groceries. Globe doesn't really care
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about New Brunswickers. They're too busy caring for people across the world. Let me read.
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The impact stretches 5,000 kilometers away to Portrillo in central Mexico, where Victor
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Manuel Maguinpeña, a father of three who comes each year with his uncle, was counting on working
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at Mr. Livingston's Strawberry Hill Farm. The income helps to get ahead and to feed my family
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and provide supports for his children to study, he said. In Mexico, it is very difficult to survive.
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Now, I do feel bad for Mexico and Mexicans. I do. And I feel bad for people in Namibia and Tonga
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and Peru. But I am not from those places, and I don't want our laws made to cater to them.
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New Brunswick's job is to be a home for New Brunswickers, and its laws and policies should
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care for its own people. It was bizarre in the first place to bring in foreign cheap laborers
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to undermine their own people. But to do so now, when there is a health danger and 13.2%
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unemployment, that's downright immoral. Well, maybe they could find someone in Toronto
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and the globe who supports Mexico over New Brunswick. Surprise! Health concerns can be
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addressed by proper checks and balances, said Erica de Ruggiero, director of the Center for Global
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Health at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health in Toronto. If federal and provincial guidelines
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are implemented and monitored and physical distancing and other protocols followed, if all those things
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are working in tandem, then I think the risks are being mitigated, she said. I think it's really
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unfortunate that workers who were expecting to come and the farmers who were expecting to have them
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come were left out. I think she's so right. But what about New Brunswickers who are being left out?
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I mean, if that's the business we're in, making people feel good about themselves, not making them
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feel left out of their own country, how about that? Look at this pure propaganda here. Mr. Dukesher,
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the apple grower, said the decision to shut out laborers has made an already stressful situation
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even worse. These people are labeled wrong, he says. They're not migrant workers. They're not foreign
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workers. They're professional harvest workers and they're professional farmers. We just can't do it
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without them. But they are, Mr. Dukesher, in law and in fact, they are foreign workers. The program is
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actually called Temporary Foreign Workers. They are migrant workers. They migrate to Canada from Mexico.
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The closed picture of the farmer was taken in Oaxaca, Mexico. Look, I know you like to save a few
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bucks, Mr. Dukesher, and I know you put foreigners ahead of your neighbors. I get it. And I know you
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don't want to train your neighbors about the intricacies of breaking apples. I don't know, you think
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they're too stupid or too lazy or too unreliable or something. Or maybe you just have come to like
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your Mexican laborers. You don't like them enough to help them to become citizens because, of course,
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that would mean you couldn't pay them cut rates, that you can only pay foreigners. But you still
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love them. I mean, that's what you say. No, no, no. Loving someone because you can take economic
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advantage of them is not true love. It's you loving yourself, Mr. Dukesher. I'm sorry, these farmers are
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a disgrace. And so is the Globe and Mail for defending them. Me? I have no will towards Mexico or Moldova
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or Montenegro, and I hope they have no ill will towards me. And neither would I expect
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those countries to put me or any other Canadian first in their national plans to recover from
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this pandemic and the economy that's being flattened. Stay with us for more.
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Hey, welcome back. You know, when I was a kid, I thought I could stomp on a wasp's nest and run
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away quicker than the wasps could fly. Alas, I was stung seven times and I learned a lesson.
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Don't stomp on a wasp nest, a lesson that has kept me in good stead more than 40 years.
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I would put another thing in that same category. If you're a Conservative Party, don't sue Jim
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Karahalios. Just don't. You're gonna lose. And in fact, today, Jim Karahalios indeed won when he was
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thrown out unceremoniously by the Conservative Party of Canada in their leadership contest. Well,
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Jim sued and he won. And a court in Ontario ordered the party not to enforce its illegal
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disqualification of them. Here's what the court ruling looked like. Quite a lengthy ruling, more
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than 50 pages. Let me read from Justice Perel in Reasons for Decision. Before getting into the
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civil law, the judge quotes from the Bible. And I just got to read it because this is classic.
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But if you will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come to
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pass that those who wish you let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your
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side and shall vex you in the land wherein you dwell. That's from the Bible. A prick in your eye and a
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thorn in your side. Well, I think both friends and foes of Jim Karahalios know that he can be a
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prickle bush, which is the reason he's so effective. And he won today. And Jim Karahalios joins us now
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via Skype. Jim, I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a criticism, but I think the judge
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is right. You do prickle. And if someone prickles you, you prickle them back and you won today.
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Well, it was a victory. And I think it's more than a prickle. It's unfortunate in our legal system.
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We've got to go to court because there's no laws governing whether or not a political party
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follows its own rules. And they disqualified me. And I've said from the beginning of this leadership,
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shouldn't be up to a small group of people to remove candidates from the race. And then they did
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it to me. And they didn't follow their own rules. They didn't want to talk to me about it.
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We wrote to them, national counsel. They ignored it. They wanted to hold on to the fees, the campaign
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contributions, leaving me out of pocket. And we had to go to court. And that's a decision they got.
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I think it's more than a prick or a thorn in their side. And, you know, a 2-0 in court here with
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political parties. And we've got challenges ahead. But our team is reviewing the lengthy decision right
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now and taking it all in and looking at our options. Yeah, I skimmed it. It's over 50 pages
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long. It seems to me that the judge was focused on the unfairness of this tiny little committee
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of secret insiders. And I mean, I don't want to unpack the ruling because I haven't considered it
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very carefully. But it seems to me that the judge basically said, we're not weighing in
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on whether or not Mr. Karajalios is a good candidate or not, or whether or not he can even
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be thrown out of the race. But the way it was done clearly broke the party's own rules. And as you said,
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when we last had you on the show, it was a kind of contract. When you sign on to a leadership contest,
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there's rules and it's the rules everyone has to play with. It's odd that the people who complained
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about you and the people who vetted you and threw you out, they're pretty much all lawyers. And yet
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this judge says they broke the law. That's got to sting them. And you know what? It looks good on them
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to be put back in their place, because I thought this whole thing was very undemocratic.
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It's a victory for the rule of law, Ezra. And the bottom line is the unfortunate thing is
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a small handful of people make a decision not following their own rules. And it puts me in a
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position to access the contributions and have my name cleared as I've been marginalized from the top
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to go to court. And it looks like I'm suing my PC party, my Conservative Party of Canada,
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because of a handful of people not following their own rules, the party's rules.
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And there are limitations when you go to court, Ezra. We had to sue on a breach of contract.
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They didn't follow their contract. But the upshot of it is that there's no access to go to court,
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to review a political party's decision, analyze the decision. So what's left standing is this
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CRO's, Derek Bandstone's ruling, where he sanctioned me $100,000 for campaign communication.
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And that still sits as a valid sanction or as a live sanction, even though I disagree with it,
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even though he didn't follow our party policy book. He had no justifiable grounds to sanction me.
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He hasn't sanctioned any other candidate in this race for communications that were criticizing the
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media, just my own. And that means I got to raise $100,000 in the next 14 days to get back on the
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ballot. And it puts me on an unfair playing field with the other four candidates in the race who have
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a $300,000 buy-in, who've had the party membership list for two months. I've never gotten the party list
00:24:06.020
of over 300,000 members to raise money off of. And I've got to raise $100,000 for a $400,000 buy-in
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in 14 days because there's no access to go to the court and say, judicially review this CRO's
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flawed decision to sanction me and fine me. So that's still a live issue right now. The other thing
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that's still live is, you know, the party hasn't emailed or called to hook up the donation link
00:24:36.300
so people can contribute through the party into my campaign. I've been collecting campaigns directly
00:24:42.480
into my campaign account. So I don't know what the pause is. They've had all day to try to,
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you know, give me a fair shake. We're now down to 13 days left. So there's still hurdles
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at the forefront to consider here, but it was a victory for the rule of law. And the one thing
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that you've covered in the last few years is my wife and I have always fought for democratic
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principles and following the rules in a political party. And it just seems to me that there's always
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a handful of individuals who think they can just make up the rules as they go along.
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And I hope this sends a message to all political parties in Canada that they're not above the rule of
00:25:21.080
law. Yeah. I mean, as you've made clear, you still are at a disadvantage. You don't have the party
00:25:27.040
membership list. That's stunning to me. You still have to pay this capricious $100,000 fine for writing
00:25:33.140
a mean email about your opponent, which is sort of everything in the campaign is being a little bit
00:25:39.080
mean to your opponent. So it's still not even sure if the party is submitting and accepting the fact
00:25:46.200
that they lost here. I can imagine they're furious with it. My own two cents is that you should
00:25:52.360
absolutely try to raise that $100,000, even if it's an unacceptable fine. You should absolutely try
00:25:59.280
to get on the ballot, even if it's an uphill fight, just because I think it would be wrong to send the
00:26:05.620
message to this party or any other party that you can break the law, disqualify a candidate improperly,
00:26:11.260
and get away with it. And I don't, I have my doubts that you could win against the machine
00:26:17.900
politics of Peter McKay or Aaron O'Toole. I'll be very candid with you. I don't think you're going
00:26:23.400
to win. I'm sorry. I don't mean to be mean. I like you. I like you a lot. I like your style.
00:26:27.520
Well, don't bet against me, Ezra. Don't bet against me.
00:26:29.740
I'm not. Oh, I'm not going to kick any more hornet's nests. And don't bet against Jim Carahalios.
00:26:35.420
And I'm not putting you down. Please. I'm saying you've got to run because you've got to let the
00:26:43.700
people vet you, not some party cabal. I want you on that ballot as a rebuke to their censorship
00:26:52.780
and deplatforming. And if you win, good for you. Well, look, the cream always rises to the top
00:27:00.320
in these situations. And we're reviewing the decision, looking at our options. But I got to
00:27:06.480
have some way to get them the $100,000 when I raise it. There's about $30,000, $20,000 stuck at
00:27:14.260
a postal outlet in Ottawa. They've never picked up the checks for two months.
00:27:20.760
They've got to hook up the link so people can donate to my campaign to the party.
00:27:26.320
Um, and so we're waiting to see what they're going to do in response to this decision to
00:27:32.840
give me a fair shot to raise the $100,000. And, um, you know, it is a heavy thing to think
00:27:39.160
that there's a CRO who's applying the rules differently on my candidacy than the other
00:27:44.980
candidates and what that means for the rest of the race. Uh, I like to campaign on what
00:27:50.640
I believe. And I don't like, uh, people telling me, um, uh, that are managing a race, what's
00:27:56.980
acceptable, uh, uh, policy positions to take and what's not, especially when I'm in line
00:28:02.120
with our policy declaration and the CRO right now in this race, because of the rules is more
00:28:08.040
powerful than Andrew Scheer. So when other candidates were criticized in the media, Andrew
00:28:14.180
Scheer explicitly said, it's up to the members to decide. Well, this CRO believes that he has
00:28:20.300
the right to levy sanctions, uh, when he doesn't like your campaign communications, even if
00:28:26.240
he can't cite a rule, uh, that you've broken. And that's a concern for the rest of the race.
00:28:30.840
And if it's going to be a fair race, the rest of the way.
00:28:33.640
Well, I think there's already a stain on this race and whoever wins it, if it's you, it'll
00:28:37.960
be a miraculous comeback story. If it's McKay, that's one thing. And if it's O'Toole who wins
00:28:44.460
this, he having been the tattletale that ran to mummy to get you disqualified, it's a huge
00:28:51.020
asterisk next to his win. And it would suggest forever that there will be questions. Could
00:28:56.640
he have won if he didn't disqualify you? He put you through this mess. He put you through
00:29:00.500
this paces that he, he hobbled you. No doubt about that. But I think the worst part of it
00:29:07.560
is it shows the character of someone who instead of fighting you and knocking you out, if he's
00:29:12.960
such a heavyweight, winds to the ref and, and, and sort of does one of those European soccer
00:29:19.120
style fake complaints. I don't know. I'm, I'm excited about this. Go ahead. Sorry.
00:29:25.180
It, you know, we like to pretend that Peter McKay and Erno O'Toole are heavyweights in this
00:29:30.380
race and they haven't really showed heavyweight status. Erno O'Toole's way of campaigning against
00:29:36.420
me was to request my disqualification. Peter McKay said nothing when I was removed from the
00:29:41.560
ballot, said nothing. He's supposed to be the great unifier of this party. He thinks that's
00:29:46.000
acceptable conduct. Derek Sloan and Leslie Lewis eventually spoke up and said, I should be on the
00:29:51.380
ballot. So thank you to them. But these are not heavyweight candidates. I was in third place when
00:29:56.180
I was removed. My average donations were higher than Erno O'Toole's without the party lists. And I was on
00:30:02.500
track to catch up to him in party donations. If I had those 300,000 emails that the other candidates
00:30:08.200
have had, it was a miracle that we made it to $300,000 without the, uh, the same level playing
00:30:14.060
field. So I think I was a threat and my supporters and donors think we're on the right track. And we're
00:30:21.020
going to have to see here in the next 13 days now left, uh, what the party's going to do, if they're
00:30:26.360
going to give me a fair shot to get to the a hundred thousand. Uh, and my team's going to, you know,
00:30:30.920
we're still deliberating. We just got the decision this morning. It was two months in court, uh, when
00:30:35.240
the other candidates have been campaigning and, uh, you know, not surprisingly, we didn't get much
00:30:40.500
media coverage on it, but I'm thankful, Ezra, that you covered this really important thing for
00:30:45.060
the rule of law and democracy in our country. Well, I think you're right on that. And look,
00:30:48.720
I'm not saying you can't win. In fact, this whole thing's been sort of a come from behind
00:30:52.740
underdog story. And you had a huge David and Goliath moment today. So if I'm coming across as a
00:30:58.260
pessimist, I don't mean to be, and I think you absolutely should run. I'm not a member
00:31:03.220
of the conservative party candidate. I will not be voting, but I think you, I mean, you've got a
00:31:08.740
public spirit to you. You've got a public service, uh, gene in you, obviously. I think you should let
00:31:15.020
the conservative members have a right to weigh in on this by putting your name on the ballot.
00:31:19.820
And if you do pull off the upset of the decade, well, what a lesson that'll be to everyone who thought
00:31:24.880
that disqualifying you was the way to stop you. I think you can do it. I think you can raise a
00:31:29.840
hundred grand in a week. I mean, you've, you've raised a staggering amount without the party list.
00:31:34.840
I think democracy owes it to you being on the ballot. And I think it's the right thing to do
00:31:40.320
to the whiners who tried to get you disqualified. That's my own view. I'm not a party member.
00:31:44.500
And frankly, I found this whole race dispiriting, but I think you got to run, Jim.
00:31:47.920
We just got to see if the party is going to play ball and start accepting my contributions
00:31:53.120
and, uh, accept the court's decision. So it's a, it's a two-way thing. You can't run
00:31:59.200
the guys running the race, the guys and girls running in the race in the back
00:32:02.840
are not playing ball, are not collecting the contributions, depositing them, uh, giving you
00:32:08.480
the list. You can't run. Uh, so I hope they accept the decision today and, uh, we're reviewing and,
00:32:14.920
um, and we'll take it from there, uh, Ezra, but I appreciate the coverage and I appreciate the
00:32:19.600
support of the donors and the people across Canada who sent their prayers and their thoughts
00:32:24.820
and stuck by our campaign for the last two months. And I do believe the best is yet to come for
00:32:30.140
conservatism in Canada, for the rule of law and for democracy and the right for people to vote.
00:32:35.380
Well, you know, I almost forgot about one thing until right now. I received an email
00:32:39.380
from someone who was on the LIOC. What does that stand for? Leadership, uh, what does that stand
00:32:46.100
for again? The leadership executive organizing committee. Yeah. It's such a jargon. So I
00:32:52.240
actually have a friend on there of the secret cabal. And last time I had you wrote me an angry
00:32:56.900
letter. Now I'm not going to say his name because you know, he, uh, it didn't seem like he expected
00:33:03.040
me to public. Could I read a little bit of this to you and you give me your thoughts? I watched your
00:33:08.540
interview with Mr. Karahalios today and need to tell you how disappointed I was to see someone
00:33:12.820
like yourself who I quite frankly have always had a lot of regards for. I've always considered to be
00:33:17.200
a journalist who would attempt to find both sides of a story too. And lastly, if you are the
00:33:21.040
conservative that you profess to be, why are you bent on helping the liberals? So there's a criticism of
00:33:25.700
me. I also have always considered you to be someone who was instrumental in our conservative
00:33:30.360
movement. So there's a lot of friendly praise, I think, backhanded compliments maybe from this
00:33:40.040
Jim Karahalios is constantly accusing the red Tories of taking over the party. I am part of
00:33:44.440
Leoc as well as part of the appeal committee. And you know that I am the furthest thing from a red
00:33:48.400
Tory. In closing, let me say that the very first time you and I spoke all those years ago, blah,
00:33:54.240
blah, blah. You did not have all the facts. Well, here again, you don't, but have decided to run
00:33:58.920
with one side. So I wrote back to this fellow and I'm not going to say his name. I said,
00:34:03.800
it's nice to hear from you. I appreciate the fact that you feel comfortable communicating with me
00:34:07.780
directly. I don't recall our conversation years ago. Feel free to remind me. But I'm interested
00:34:13.360
in hearing the other side of the story here. This is what I wrote back to this fellow who was
00:34:17.620
apparently one of the guys who banned you. I said, I'm happy to talk with you via Skype or even read
00:34:22.620
out a reply on the air if you prefer. But it is a TV medium, so I recommend that. I have seen the
00:34:28.340
lengthy complaint against Karahalios and it strikes me as a political disagreement. I just can't
00:34:33.120
understand banning someone. That's my view as a matter of principle. As a matter of pragmatics,
00:34:37.040
I think you're going to lose the court case, lose money, and serve up this internal bickering
00:34:41.240
as a feast to the mainstream media. I wrote back. I said, if I'm wrong, I'm eager to have you or
00:34:46.060
anyone else from your committee on to correct the record. How does 1.30 p.m. Eastern on Monday sound
00:34:51.160
via Skype? I promise to give you 50% of the talk time and to give you the last word. Let me know,
00:34:57.840
Ezra Levant. And I sent that to this critic of yours and of mine, and I didn't hear back.
00:35:04.260
So it's a shame we don't have the other side of the story, but I wanted you to know and the world
00:35:09.080
to know that I invited your critic and a defender of the party's decisions on the show. Never heard
00:35:16.060
back. Do you have any reaction to what I just read to you? So he had a cup of coffee on his
00:35:22.180
horse for two months, whoever that was. But let me point out two things. Number one,
00:35:27.260
if that individual was so confident in their decision and the CRO sanction, why didn't they
00:35:32.940
come to court, put in an affidavit, offer themselves up as a witness, get cross-examined?
00:35:38.520
Because the CRO and the members of the DRAC didn't avail themselves to the court so they could be
00:35:44.720
cross-examined and put forward their decisions. The LEOC didn't bring forward to the court evidence
00:35:50.800
when we requested it of their internal deliberation. So they're hiding something.
00:35:55.880
And we didn't have enough time in two months on a quick trial to compel them to bring everything
00:36:01.360
forward. And I'm pretty confident if we got the full story as to why they removed me from the
00:36:06.480
ballot, it would shine a lot of light. Number two, they're talking about helping the Liberals.
00:36:11.780
We're watching our Conservative Party drive voters away to the PPC, to the Wexit movement,
00:36:17.620
to people that say, I don't want to vote anymore. I've had it with voting in Canada.
00:36:22.740
And I'm here running trying to unify Conservatives from the West and bring back disenfranchised
00:36:30.280
Conservatives who think that the party, some say corrupt, some say it's just not run by the rule
00:36:36.020
of law and in line with our democratic processes. And I'm trying to unite that and stand up for the
00:36:40.920
rule of law. And if it's anyone who's driving votes to the Liberals and helping the opposition
00:36:46.020
parties and helping Max Bernier and the PPC, it's this small cabal that likes to stay quiet behind the
00:36:52.440
scenes and not let the members decide. If Andrew Scheer understands that it's up to the members to
00:36:57.760
decide, why can't they figure it out? It's beyond me. So we'll see, Ezra. They got 13 days left.
00:37:04.500
Are they going to open the donor portal? Are they going to go pick up the mail at the post office?
00:37:08.740
Are they going to give me the party lists? Or are they going to continue to obstruct? I don't know.
00:37:13.920
Yeah. You know, what's so frustrating and what I tried to communicate to this gentleman in my reply
00:37:18.300
was, look, you and I have just spent 20 minutes talking about these internal shenanigans and you're
00:37:23.160
throwing more jargon at me. I've already forgotten what Leoc stands for. And he used another word that
00:37:27.260
sounds like druck. It's like cities in Games of Thrones or something. I don't even know. They're
00:37:32.800
not even real words. And instead of talking about Justin Trudeau and his pandemic response,
00:37:39.060
Justin Trudeau and his approach to Taiwan versus China, Justin Trudeau flattening the economy,
00:37:44.940
instead of talking about real substantive matters and holding liberals account, we're in this internal
00:37:50.600
laundry washing. And it's just so frustrating. And it was so predictable, just like me kicking that
00:37:57.900
hornet's nest some 40 years ago. Jim, it's great to see. I hope you are on that ballot. And do come
00:38:02.800
back and let us know how it all goes. We'll be watching.
00:38:08.640
Jim Carahalios.ca. It's a long last name. But if you just Google Jim Carahalios, J-I-M-K-A-R-A-H-A-L-I-O-S,
00:38:20.020
or Jim and Axe the Carbon Tax, my website will pop up.
00:38:25.560
People can check it out. All right. Nice to see you. Good luck. Keep fighting.
00:38:30.200
There you have it. Jim Carahalios, victorious in court today. His disqualification from the
00:38:36.440
Conservative Party leadership contest, thrown out by a judge who started with a biblical reference
00:38:42.320
that just made me smile. I don't know if Jim's going to get back in. You heard there are still
00:38:47.880
some technical difficulties. For the reasons I said earlier, I hope he does go back in.
00:38:53.660
Let the people decide, as Preston would say. Let the people speak. Stay with us. Your letters to me next.
00:39:06.440
Hey, welcome back on my monologue yesterday about sanctuary cities. Ron writes,
00:39:13.360
left-wing sanctuary cities are sanctimonious, lawless cities. Yeah, sanctimonious. That's a good
00:39:18.500
use of that word. I'll tell you one thing, and I just can't get that little clip of that
00:39:24.660
Philadelphia mayor dancing out of my head. Here, let me play that here to remind you.
00:39:29.100
A sanctuary city. Yeah. Look at that. I found that so cringeworthy. I wonder if he would be
00:39:37.320
dancing that way if it was someone from his life, his world, that was murdered, like Kate
00:39:42.460
Steinle was murdered in California. He probably lives in some gated community, probably has private
00:39:48.520
armed security paid for by the state. So, yeah, he's just doing it as a sop for votes. I find it
00:39:54.140
very immoral sanctuary cities, and I hate the use of the word, too. Chris writes,
00:40:00.880
the over-controlling governments are overplaying this Wuhan virus. Nothing, Berger. They will
00:40:04.980
encounter the boy-who-cried-wolf scenario when the next viral or any other threat arises.
00:40:10.120
Well, that's the thing. Some people will be very skeptical the next crisis arises. They'll say,
00:40:15.740
yeah, you got all your models wrong the first time around. But I think too many Canadians have been
00:40:20.960
stunned and reformed and conditioned to accepting abuse of orders from the state. Just like after
00:40:27.600
9-11, we all said, okay, so we have to take off our shoes and take off our belts and be groped to go
00:40:33.060
on airlines, and that's been 20 years, and it's the new normal. I think we've been conditioned to
00:40:38.260
accept the government saying, stay at home, shut your business, don't go outside without a mask,
00:40:43.960
don't meet your friends and family, don't go to church or synagogue, don't, you know,
00:40:47.760
we've been conditioned. And I think too many Canadians have said, okay, so that's how it works
00:40:52.380
now. On my interview with Gordon Chang, Jim writes, Trudeau won't stand with Hong Kong.
00:40:58.920
He pledged his allegiance to the CCP. You're right, but I find it very interesting that so much of the
00:41:04.560
world is standing with Taiwan, which is an independent country. And in fact, just very,
00:41:11.760
very early this morning, or yesterday, Taiwan time, I forget the time zones, the president had her
00:41:18.200
second inauguration. And she's at record popularity in her own country. And I think Taiwan has really
00:41:24.820
risen to the occasion of this pandemic being thoughtful and smart in its own defenses and
00:41:32.700
helpful to other countries, including to Canada. The only face masks I would trust that are not made
00:41:39.280
for sure in North America are from Taiwan. Well, folks, that's our show for today. Until tomorrow,
00:41:46.220
on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, you at home, good night, and keep fighting for free.