Working with the police when you're a Rebel News journalist
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Summary
Why is it that certain members of law enforcement are acting as state-appointed agents of censorship in the public square? Is it because they are either ignorant of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it comes to what can be said or done in public square, or are they simply infiltrated by so-called "activists"?
Transcript
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Tonight, why is it that certain members of law enforcement are acting as state-appointed
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I'm David Menzies, and this is the Ezra Levin 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'm publishing it is because it's
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Back in the days of yore when movies were called motion pictures, the on-screen narrative was
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typically kept very simplified so as not to confuse the audience.
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But fast forward to 2020, and it very often feels like everyone's wearing shades of grey.
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And I'm not talking movies here, folks, but rather real life.
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I speak specifically of certain members of law enforcement here because a series of unfortunate
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events in the past two weeks in this brand new decade of ours has me scratching my cranium,
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and it also has me asking the question, hey, Constable, just whose side are you on anyway?
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I think my colleague, Kian Bexty, is equally confused in asking the very same thing because
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it seems that the guys who ought to be wearing the white hats, you know, the good guys, the
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guys who should be upholding the law, well, many have apparently traded in those chapeaux
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for the ebony-hued ones instead, at least when it comes to standing up for some of our most
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cherished freedoms, such as freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and of course, freedom
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Simply put, folks, too many members of law enforcement have demonstrated that they are
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either ignorant of the law and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms when it comes
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to what can be said or done in the public square, or maybe it's a matter of law enforcement being
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infiltrated by so many woke leftists in uniforms who now side with the thugs and the creeps and
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the bullies, as long as that rogues gallery is pursuing a leftist agenda.
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On several occasions in the past two weeks alone, Kian and I have been shut down by the authorities.
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Sometimes we were illegally assaulted by those sworn to uphold the law.
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Allow me to cut to the chase by way of providing examples.
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For starters, earlier this month, there was a candlelight vigil held in Tehran, I mean
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Toronto, for the deceased Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
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This is a man with the blood of hundreds, if not thousands, on his hands.
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This is a man who was, prior to his encounter with a U.S. drone, in the employ of the biggest
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I thought it was newsworthy, albeit appalling, that there were actually a few hundred people
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living in our great dominion who believed the loss of such an individual was something
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But when I asked questions about the general, and keep in mind folks, this event was taking
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place in the public square, they called the police to step in and shut me down from practicing
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Hi ma'am, what brings you to this candlelight vigil?
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Hi, would you mind coming to the other side with us, please?
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I'm trying to do my job of journalism, sir, by asking questions.
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I'm not breaking any laws, we're in the public square.
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I'm asking if you'd be kind enough to come to the other side with us, because we just
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Yeah, we just have some people expressing concerns about some of the questions, and perhaps
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Yeah, no, I'll just ask you to be kind enough, just come to the other side for a few moments.
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Okay, but I don't understand why I'm in a public place, sir.
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Okay, and I'm politely declining, because I have no obligation to do that.
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So, if I hear any more complaints about using the word terrorism, I'm going to be back
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Not in this sort of environment, no, you can't, okay?
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Because that's going to incite a breach of the peace, and that is Canadian law.
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If I was to call Osama bin Laden a terrorist, that would be against...
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And it incites a breach of the peace, you will be placed under arrest.
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A breach of the peace for performing journalism.
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If I hear that again, I'm going to be right back.
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So, I can't call Osama bin Laden a terrorist, is that what you're saying, officer?
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Okay, if I hear another word like that, you're coming with us.
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If simple questions make certain people act violently, is it not the role of law enforcement
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to crack down on those individuals defaulting to the sticks and stones mode?
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But the subtext here is that, according to the Toronto Police Service, if the mob merely
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implies that it will act violently if and when it is asked certain queries, well then,
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the cops must shut down the questions of a journalist, not the impending violence of the mob.
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Secondly, there is the double standard at play here.
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In writing, he is falsely claiming that President Trump is a terrorist.
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Now, just a week after that incident, I was hoping to scrum ex-Don Cherry sidekick,
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Ron McLean, at a taping of Roger's Hometown Hockey in Vaughn, Ontario.
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The newspeg for this hoped-for Q&A was that new numbers from Numeris indicate that since
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Coach's Corner was axed, ratings from Hockey Night in Canada have plummeted.
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So I wanted to ask the suddenly woke hockey commentator slash backstabber about that.
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Well, the Uber control freaks at Rogers Communications, they don't like to see their domesticated lapdog bothered by the likes of me,
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But just like the people on University Avenue in Toronto been moaning the loss of Iran's former terrorist-in-chief,
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I'm just wondering, how do you feel about the ratings for Hockey Night in Canada plummeting?
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It's a private event because we don't want it out there.
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about potentially preventing a crime from occurring?
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arrests people based on a hunch from telepaths,
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a hunch that these people might commit a crime.
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Well, apparently life imitates art in York region,
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well, he also has been unlawfully harassed and bullied,
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That's the humanoid that is trying to force real women
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But when Kian went to the B.C. court to cover it,
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grabbed my equipment and tried to pull it down.
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This individual didn't want me asking a predator questions.
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They pointed to Section 4D of the BC Sheriff's Act,
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because I guess trans people are somehow special.
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Now, in case any of you think he and I are anti-cop,
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when it comes to interacting with a journalist.
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Johari's people nevertheless called the cops on me,
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Obviously, we have a call from the office here.
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He is someone that allegedly has ties to the Iranian regime.
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And I came here and evidently he's hiding behind the skirt
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waiting for him to come out so I can scrum him.
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Okay, so just like, you know, he signed the office.
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Obviously, we just spoke with the chief of staff.
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So in this common area, right now, we don't have the,
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as you can expect, right, after hearing such a news.
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Well, you know, that's the crux of the matter, officer.
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They say that he's planning on going to a vigil.
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I just want to let you know why we got to call it here, right?
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It's obviously you're in the common area for now.
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We don't have the permission of the landlord yet,
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but I guess they're going to work something out.
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They might not want you to be here just because, you know...
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So if the landlord tells me to vacate, I'll have to vacate.
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Yeah, so that's what I'm just telling you right now.
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No threats of being arrested for breach of the peace.
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But moving forward, we obviously have a problem with certain members of law enforcement.
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We'll have more about that in the days and weeks ahead.
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Because as it stands now, no one is above the law in Canada.
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And last time I checked, it is not a crime to practice journalism in this great dominion.
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Well, folks, welcome back to the Ezra Levin Show.
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Well, you know, Stephen Harper has been out of politics for five years now.
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Yet, the CBC just can't resist to do a drive-by smear of the ex-conservative leader.
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And even when they're making things up, for which they kind of took back in sort of a lame apology,
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I speak of that attack piece by the CBC in which they said Stephen Harper was advocating for regime change in Iran,
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And of course, if we are speaking about Stephen Harper,
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we must talk about the Conservative Party of Canada.
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A big week in terms of who announced who's in and who's out.
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And I can think of no better person to pontificate on this than Andrew Lawton of True North,
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whose brand new podcast show just debuted this week.
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Hey, Andrew, thanks for joining me on the Ezra Levin Show.
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Well, you know, there's been so many people that are still upset that you were taken off the airwaves in London.
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I mean, that's what it comes down to these days.
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He just has a podcast now and he's not going to get out of the ballpark there.
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So they can try to shut us up, but they will not succeed in this brave new world of social media.
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Now, Andrew, what did you make of this incredible story, I thought, that, A, the CBC was literally trying to put words in Stephen Harper's mouth to make a story out of a non-story, that being regime change in Iran.
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And let's be honest, who in their right mind wouldn't be happy to see regime change in Iran, especially given the most recent downing of that Ukrainian Airlines plane that took the lives of 57 Canadians?
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Yeah, and I think there's an interesting point there, David, which is that most people would accept that regime change is a positive.
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The question is whether you want to be the one actively pushing for it.
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And in the wake of the Iraq War and other American foreign policy for the latter half of the 20th century, regime change is very much a loaded term.
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People associate it with that American neoconservatism, which may or may not be fine in your eyes, but that was not the argument that Stephen Harper was making.
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He was saying a point that no one could find disagreeable, except apparently CBC, which was that if Iran is going to get over all of these other problems that we're seeing come to a head, there's going to have to be a change there.
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He's making an analytical point. He was not lining up the troops and saying, all right, everyone, let's go to war.
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He was making a point that is not objectionable in most people's eyes, certainly not mine.
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But to say that he was pushing for regime change, which is how that initial headline and tweet made it sound like, he was undercutting Canadian foreign policy, when we know from the full context of his remarks that wasn't actually happening.
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Indeed, Andrew. And I mean, I think his point was that we can't expect to see tangible change in Iran until there's a more broad-based change in the Middle East.
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Now, Andrew, for as long as you and I have been alive and even before then, let's face it, the Middle East is a rough neighborhood.
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I mean, there's always tensions. There's always fighting and terrorism linked to the Middle East.
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So what Stephen Harper said was completely reasonable, I think.
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And I want to ask you, since he never said the words regime change, are the journalists at CBC incapable of reading the English language?
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Or is there a more nefarious agenda at play here, Andrew?
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Well, I mean, there are always two options when errors are made of this nature.
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There's incompetence or malice, and then every now and then malicious incompetence.
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But I think what happens here is you get someone that either doesn't understand the difference, that change and regime change mean different things, or someone who doesn't understand the baggage of the term regime change.
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Or you have someone who's actually trying to cast Stephen Harper in that sinister light that they know people will draw from that term.
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I don't know who's responsible for it. I don't know what the motivation was.
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What I do know is that it's a very significant situation that we're seeing as far as Canada's relationship with Iran.
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Were Stephen Harper to come out and make it, were he to come out and say,
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this is what we as a Canadian government, in which he is no longer a part, needs to be doing.
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But the very nature of errors is that, you know, the big front page headline might be wrong, and the correction is in a little tiny box on page 75.
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It's very similar on Twitter, David, where a mistake will, or a malicious lie, whatever you want to call it,
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but something that is factually untrue will get dozens and dozens and dozens of comments.
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Yeah, and as ever thus, in the newspaper world, you're smeared on the front page,
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and the correction appears on C19 of the classified section, right?
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Where is CBC, and for that matter, the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail, etc., etc.,
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when it comes to what I think is the number one angle in terms of the Iranian situation as it pertains to Canada?
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And it's something that I've been pursuing for the last several days,
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and that is trying to nail down Richmond Hill Liberal MP Majid Johari, who is actually pro-regime.
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We know he's pro-regime because he has tweeted out his admiration for the mullahs in Tehran.
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We know he's pro-regime too, Andrew, because I don't know if you know this or not.
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But in October, ex-liberal MPPs and MPs put out a mass email urging people not to vote for Majid Johari.
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I've never seen such a thing, and yet I'm the only one that's been attempting to scrum him.
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I think this is an amazing story simply because he is a member of parliament in a Western democracy
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who is taking the side of the thugs, the mullahs in Iran that killed 57 of our citizens,
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and he's getting a free pass, whereas the CBC makes up a bunch of garbage about something Stephen Harper never said.
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Any time the question has ever been raised about whether a lawmaker has dual loyalties,
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the immediate reaction from the left and from the media is that it's racist.
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Now look, if in any case we have evidence that someone is in bed with the Chinese regime,
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with radical Islamism, with the Iranian regime, I mean, these are questions that need to be explored,
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and more importantly, questions that need to be asked.
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You know, to go back to the leaders' debates in the election that you and he and Bexley and I had to,
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by court order, get into to cover, I had asked a question of Jagmeet Singh.
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I believe it was after the French debate, or yes, it was after the French debate.
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And the question was, look, you've been banned from visiting India.
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Is mending that relationship going to be important if you become prime minister?
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And he gave an answer that I thought was a very valid answer.
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This is a guy who has refused to denounce, in unequivocal terms, Calistani extremism.
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So it's relevant to ask the question, and I think it's relevant to ask any leader,
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And I think the mainstream media can't be shying away from that or condemning those who want to ask those questions.
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Oh, indeed, Andrew. And I say B.S. to anyone who dares play the racism card
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when it comes to criticizing Majid Johari because he's Iranian.
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I live in Richmond Hill. I've lived there for more than two decades, Andrew.
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Every Persian I have met in Richmond Hill is anti-regime, except for the member of parliament for Richmond Hill.
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Well, you raise a valid point, David, about how this isn't racial.
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Because right now we are in, like, year 75, I think, of the Russia trial in the U.S., or what feels like that.
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And the whole basis of this is that the Democrats think everyone under the sun has been in bed with the Russians.
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And it's a shame the media in Canada, which is still following this Russian witch hunt,
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is not as interested in looking at any sort of loyalties that may lie with other regimes among Canadians.
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Yeah. Like I said, Andrew, it's baffling to me because if there was any other nationality on that plane,
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let's say there was somebody in the Ukrainian parliament that was going to bat for the regime in Tehran,
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I could imagine the live eyes camped outside of their house to get, you know,
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some kind of explanation for taking such a grotesque stance.
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A person of colour, different faith, nothing to see here,
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even though people in his own community despise him.
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But to change gears on you, Andrew, as I mentioned in the intro,
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a big week in the world of the Conservative Party of Canada in terms of who's in,
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namely Peter McKay, who's out, namely Rona Ambrose.
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What is your take on those two individuals and the choices they made,
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as well as other players in the Conservative race?
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Well, I think Peter McKay has basically been sharpening his knives for this,
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when Stephen Harper became leader of the Conservative Party of Canada,
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And I think that Rona Ambrose, who I like and respect a great deal,
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I think she saw the writing on the wall and understood that a lot of her popularity
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was because she was an effective and adequate interim leader.
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People looked at her and saw she was someone who wouldn't rock the boat,
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she'd be a stable hand, she was liked by everyone.
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I'm not sure that appeal would transfer into a leadership race,
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oh, why can't all Conservatives be like Rona Ambrose,
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would transfer to if she were the leader, similar to Peter McKay.
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Right now, Peter McKay is the media's favourite candidate,
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the second he's the leader, he'll be the new Hitler.
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is that the media says, oh, why can't they all be like X?
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then all of a sudden they hate them like every other Conservative.
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as I look at the candidates in the race right now,
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is that there isn't thus far anyone who's going to be running
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I mean, Pierre Polyev is popular among a lot of red meat Conservatives,
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but he made a comment, according to La Presque,
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saying that not only would abortion legislation
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which is that you cannot legislate on this issue,
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even as a private member, even as a backbencher.
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And I think this is really feeding into that idea
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the media's put forward that social Conservatives are done.
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And so far, I'm not seeing a leadership candidate
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who the next leader of the Conservative Party is,
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especially as we head into the convention in June in Toronto,
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is to determine really what is the Conservative Party of Canada
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and what does it stand for and what are its values.
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Stephen Harper lorded over when he was prime minister.
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I didn't like what I saw as the hoped-for regime
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So, you know, once the convention gets closer to fruition,
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that they should be careful what they wish for in some respects.
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And because the social Conservative groups were saying,
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be careful because you may align with the red Tories
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that Andrew Scheer lost because he was too far right.
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So the incentive for any other leadership candidate
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by whatever comes in the ashes of the Conservative Party
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these are our guys that I think are very capable,
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unless someone comes in and shakes this race up.
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Andrew Scheer had a breakaway on an open net and missed.
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but I'll take you at your word that it makes sense.
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And I'll take you to a hockey game one day, my friend.
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how they can get access to your podcast, my friend?
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The Andrew Lawton Show is carried by True North.
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And all of the episodes are posted as well at True North,
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And I look forward to hearing from all sorts of people
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regarding some of the issues we discussed today.
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More of the Ezra Events Show to come right after this.