Juno News - 2022 is already another year of lockdown

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.

00:00:06.540 This is The Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.980 Coming up, a new year begins, but the problems are the same as the ones we left behind last year.

00:00:18.400 We talk about the latest lockdowns in Ontario, Quebec, and around the country.

00:00:24.960 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:30.940 Welcome to The Andrew Lawton Show, Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show, here on True North.

00:00:36.680 It is January 4th, 2022.

00:00:40.660 No, hang on. No, it is March 20th, 2020, I think.

00:00:46.300 Has it even changed? 2021, 2020, 2022, 2026, 17 years to flatten the curve.

00:00:52.780 My goodness, we left the old year behind, and the new year is pretty much as bad as the old year.

00:01:00.860 I was going to start the show with some amusing anecdote about, oh, you know, this thing that happened to me over Christmas time or whatever.

00:01:07.220 The reality is, I was very fortunate enough to have a great family dinner.

00:01:11.780 It would be, I mean, it might have actually been illegal when I held it, but it would definitely be illegal now in Ontario as gathering restrictions are down to just five people indoors or ten people outdoors.

00:01:23.180 So if you are an Eastern Ontarian that would like to have a big, you know, ten-person dinner outside in the Ontario cold this January, you're more than welcome to.

00:01:33.560 But for the rest of you that want to hunker down indoors, no more than five people allowed.

00:01:38.900 But maybe you can go to a restaurant, right?

00:01:40.640 Well, no, you can't, because the restaurants have been shut down, the gyms have been shut down, the movie theatres have been shut down.

00:01:47.940 Pretty much anything in Ontario that the government has deemed non-essential is now no more.

00:01:54.740 And how long is this going to happen?

00:01:56.400 Well, just 21 days.

00:01:58.540 Oh, hang on. No, no, no, not 21 days.

00:02:00.980 Let's look at the text here from the Ontario government.

00:02:03.980 At least 21 days.

00:02:06.400 They're not even pretending that this is going to be on a fixed term.

00:02:12.220 Three days after the Ontario government said that students would be back in the classroom as of Wednesday, January 5th.

00:02:18.820 Just three days after that, they've said, okay, we changed our minds.

00:02:22.240 Now they're going to be shoved to virtual learning again for at least two weeks.

00:02:27.040 So January has already become, in the eyes of the Ontario government, a write-off.

00:02:32.940 The liberties that people were told they could get if they just got vaccinated are now no longer.

00:02:39.560 So basically, whether you're vaccinated or unvaccinated, your experience in Ontario is pretty much the same.

00:02:46.240 And you know what? It's not much different in Quebec.

00:02:48.540 We'll be doing a deep dive into the Quebec situation later on in the show with Marie Oakes,

00:02:53.600 who's doing some fantastic journalism about what's going on there.

00:02:56.940 They're the only province that can serve as the answer to the question,

00:03:01.160 where is a worse place in North America to live than Ontario?

00:03:04.820 So congratulations, Quebec.

00:03:06.760 You have that honour, at least, with your curfew and prohibition on Sunday shopping.

00:03:11.640 Not for puritanical reasons, but for COVID reasons.

00:03:15.440 Yeah, that's exactly how things are here.

00:03:18.280 So the Omicron variant, lest there be any doubt, is still, if you look at the numbers, proving to be mild.

00:03:25.140 Pretty much everyone knows someone who's got it at this point.

00:03:29.240 Now, I've been talking to a lot of people.

00:03:31.280 I, so far, as best as I can figure out, have managed to avoid the Omicron variant.

00:03:36.340 I know lots of people who have had it, lots of people who are isolating because someone they know has had it.

00:03:41.980 And every single, this is not hyperbole,

00:03:44.460 every single one of them is reporting it as being a mild condition.

00:03:49.240 One person told me it was the least sick they've ever been when they've been sick.

00:03:54.420 That's what the Omicron variant is.

00:03:57.220 So we are now shutting down the province's economy in Ontario, in Quebec,

00:04:02.780 probably elsewhere in the country as well,

00:04:05.220 over something that is, in many cases, in fact, in most cases,

00:04:09.700 better, or at least no worse than the common cold.

00:04:14.940 And no one in political leadership in these provinces was prepared to stand up and say,

00:04:19.920 you know what, we're not going along with it.

00:04:23.280 Now, the variable is that I think ordinary citizens are.

00:04:26.380 I predicted a few weeks ago that we were at a bit of a turning point here.

00:04:29.880 The lot of people who dutifully did what the government asked them to do,

00:04:33.540 instead they were going to, you know, roll up their sleeves and do the hard work

00:04:36.960 and get vaccinated and stay home to save lives and clatter,

00:04:40.660 what is it, clang and bang their pots and pans for healthcare workers. 1.00

00:04:43.620 All of those people I thought a couple of weeks ago were finally saying enough.

00:04:49.320 Well, now I think this has pushed them over the edge.

00:04:52.380 Parents in particular are saying that it is just unconscionable.

00:04:56.280 They are not able to abide.

00:04:58.140 I mean, not that they really have a choice,

00:04:59.340 but they don't want to abide by this prohibition on students re-entering the classroom,

00:05:04.260 at least for a couple of weeks in January.

00:05:06.720 And further to that, you've got people that, again,

00:05:10.300 are restaurants that barely survived lockdowns one, two, and three,

00:05:14.740 in many cases that didn't survive them,

00:05:17.200 are now being told they have to shut their doors yet again,

00:05:20.900 all in a month that was already going to be difficult for them.

00:05:25.900 So what the hell is a person in Canada supposed to think,

00:05:31.100 apart from that there is no future in this country anymore?

00:05:34.660 This is a legitimate question that I have to ask.

00:05:39.620 I got criticized a couple of weeks ago.

00:05:41.720 I think it was the Religious Freedom Panel.

00:05:44.180 I got an email from someone who said,

00:05:45.720 you know, I don't like that Andrew can smile and, you know,

00:05:48.820 make a joke when he's talking about a very serious topic.

00:05:51.620 The position I've always taken on this is twofold.

00:05:54.400 Number one, no one can sustain being mad all the time.

00:05:59.220 It's not particularly constructive.

00:06:01.400 It's not particularly sanity-inducing.

00:06:03.820 It's the opposite.

00:06:04.500 The other part is that if the world is going to hell in a handbasket,

00:06:07.940 we should at least be able to enjoy the ride down.

00:06:10.080 That's been my attitude on that.

00:06:11.740 And there's a reason I've always been a big fan

00:06:13.780 and have become a good friend of Mark Stein,

00:06:15.680 because I've always respected his commitment

00:06:18.020 to trying to find the lighter side of even very dark and serious topics.

00:06:22.780 But the other aspect of this is that

00:06:25.000 when you don't keep your volume at 11,

00:06:28.400 for the entirety of anything you say on any show,

00:06:30.980 when you do bring it up,

00:06:32.940 it has a lot more of an impact.

00:06:35.320 And that's where I am now on this.

00:06:37.260 I mean, I've been fed up for a long time.

00:06:39.540 I've been pessimistic for a long time.

00:06:41.580 I've been demoralized for a long time.

00:06:43.300 Don't let my cheery disposition take away from that fact

00:06:46.700 that I was at a breaking point months ago.

00:06:48.700 And I had to make a point, as any freedom-loving person does,

00:06:53.620 that the pandemic was over.

00:06:56.220 And nothing in the Omicron panic has changed that.

00:07:00.160 If anything, the more I've seen, the more data I've seen,

00:07:02.880 has made me more strong in my resolve.

00:07:06.460 That this is not something about which we need to worry.

00:07:10.420 Now, we're at the point where if you have two conflicting narratives,

00:07:15.100 you have on one hand lawmakers saying,

00:07:16.840 this is the pandemic of the unvaccinated.

00:07:18.680 It's the unvaccinated who are dragging us down. 1.00

00:07:21.280 And then at the same time,

00:07:22.300 you have all of these places that have introduced vaccine passports

00:07:25.400 that are being shut down.

00:07:27.220 Because, well, the vaccine passport apparently didn't make the restaurant safer.

00:07:30.880 The vaccine passport didn't make the gym safer. 0.93

00:07:33.560 The vaccine passport,

00:07:34.980 anywhere that the vaccine passport was mandated that's now been shut down,

00:07:39.340 should serve as evidence that governments failed.

00:07:42.600 That their vaunted vaccine passport did nothing.

00:07:47.800 But then it's like, oh, no, no, no.

00:07:49.200 It's like the apologists for the vaccine passports 0.73

00:07:52.220 are like the apologists for communism.

00:07:53.900 Of like, you know, real communism hasn't been tried.

00:07:56.180 No, no, no.

00:07:56.640 Real vaccine passports haven't been tried.

00:07:59.040 That was all the two-dose vaccine passport.

00:08:01.200 What's really going to save us now is the three-dose vaccine passport.

00:08:04.840 Yeah, once we do that,

00:08:05.780 then we'll be on to the four-dose vaccine passport.

00:08:08.700 Same as masks didn't work.

00:08:09.960 So it's, no, no, no.

00:08:10.600 It was the wrong type of masks.

00:08:13.020 So at a certain point with the goalpost just in overdrive here,

00:08:16.660 it's got to be, you need to be double N95 masked, quadruple vaccinated,

00:08:21.780 show your vaccine passport and three pictures of photo ID and the negative PCR

00:08:25.740 and then a negative rapid test every 10 minutes.

00:08:28.420 And once you do that, then it's going to be fine.

00:08:30.460 It would be laughable if it weren't so angering.

00:08:36.160 And that's where we are now.

00:08:38.200 So all of the measures that have failed,

00:08:41.180 all of the measures that have brought us to precisely the point we're at now,

00:08:45.440 at which in 2022, the third year of COVID, the third calendar year of COVID,

00:08:50.260 all of the stuff that's brought us to needing another lockdown at this point

00:08:53.720 is somehow the antidote to what ails us.

00:08:57.700 All of these things that have failed are now what are required to get us.

00:09:02.300 We're almost there.

00:09:03.520 We're almost there.

00:09:04.280 Remember in 2020 when Justin Trudeau said,

00:09:06.860 well, we still got a shot at Christmas.

00:09:08.940 Christmas 2023, maybe.

00:09:10.740 Christmas 2024.

00:09:12.320 At some Christmas, at some point in the future,

00:09:15.140 we may have a shot at getting back to normal.

00:09:17.420 Not the last one, not the one before that,

00:09:19.820 and not the next couple while we're at it.

00:09:23.280 So I don't have the answer to this.

00:09:25.540 I have roots in this country.

00:09:28.160 You know, I've always been open to traveling and seeing the world,

00:09:31.420 and I've had many privileged opportunities to do that.

00:09:34.200 I've never imagined myself being the kind that just wants to load up the car

00:09:37.960 and flee for the border and not look back.

00:09:40.360 But I know, without exaggerating,

00:09:43.580 a number of people who have done that,

00:09:45.760 people that decided,

00:09:46.940 and again, it's obviously people of a certain means that can do that,

00:09:50.340 that have decided they're going to take a little bit of time away,

00:09:52.880 and maybe they don't come back.

00:09:55.000 In fact, the guest I'm going to have later on in the program

00:09:58.180 has done precisely that.

00:09:59.940 Now, she had the benefit of dual citizenship with the United States,

00:10:03.500 but again, a lot of people are trying to find ways,

00:10:06.640 and for some of them, it's just, you know what,

00:10:08.420 I just want to live the Ron DeSantis life in Florida.

00:10:11.440 For other people, especially those with children,

00:10:13.860 it's a lot more fundamental.

00:10:15.200 Their children's childhood,

00:10:19.700 a child's childhood,

00:10:21.540 which you get one shot at,

00:10:24.480 is now being jeopardized

00:10:26.200 or just completely obliterated

00:10:28.180 by government fiat.

00:10:30.520 You can't socialize.

00:10:32.180 You have to mask up for hours and hours a day

00:10:34.320 to go to school,

00:10:35.020 or you don't get to school at all.

00:10:36.620 You've got to do it virtually.

00:10:38.000 You are now, as a child,

00:10:39.220 relegated to days and days of Zoom meetings,

00:10:41.280 like mid-level administrative types in adulthood are.

00:10:46.500 And this is now something

00:10:47.540 that we're just supposed to accept is normal.

00:10:49.880 I saw a tweet from a Toronto District School Board trustee

00:10:53.020 the other day

00:10:53.540 talking about how, oh, children are resilient,

00:10:55.840 and, you know, they're going to get through this,

00:10:57.440 and give me, like, just give me a break.

00:11:00.320 Give me a break.

00:11:01.040 We can't just keep holding up

00:11:02.460 the mythical resilience of children,

00:11:04.500 which, by the way, is not infinite,

00:11:06.960 and say that that is going to trump

00:11:08.860 all of the things that we are taking away

00:11:11.120 from the children of today

00:11:13.000 by denying them the right to live their lives.

00:11:16.000 You look at a six-year-old

00:11:17.140 who will soon come to the point

00:11:18.920 at which half of their lives,

00:11:21.160 half of their alert-aware lives,

00:11:23.640 has been in some form of lockdown.

00:11:26.300 Kids who do not understand 0.96

00:11:28.100 that schooling is not supposed to be this thing

00:11:30.640 that is completely masked.

00:11:32.220 People where there is no old normal

00:11:34.120 because they only know the normal

00:11:35.960 in which they've been raised,

00:11:37.220 and that is the pandemic alarmist world.

00:11:41.120 A world that the longer it goes on

00:11:43.600 becomes more ingratiated

00:11:47.040 in our sense of what is normal

00:11:50.160 and what is acceptable.

00:11:51.300 I was moderating, the week before Christmas,

00:11:54.060 a great panel with Canada Strong and Free Network,

00:11:56.720 and we had people on it

00:11:58.680 that I thought were absolutely fantastic.

00:12:00.500 We had Tasha Carradine, 0.82

00:12:01.840 we had Danielle Smith,

00:12:02.920 and specifically those two

00:12:04.740 had a very interesting disagreement

00:12:07.280 on the vaccine passports.

00:12:10.080 And Tasha made the point,

00:12:11.460 and I don't want to put words in her mouth here,

00:12:13.020 and you can watch the video

00:12:13.960 if you go and look on

00:12:15.520 the Canada Strong and Free Network's website,

00:12:18.020 but Tasha Carradine had made the point

00:12:20.760 that a lot of these measures

00:12:22.620 are just the way that we can get back to normal.

00:12:26.160 It's just the best way to get back to normal.

00:12:28.740 Same as that question I told you

00:12:30.860 that I put out on Twitter a few weeks back

00:12:33.000 ago, masking on airplanes.

00:12:34.660 I said, do you ever think masks

00:12:36.000 are going away on planes?

00:12:37.280 And a lot of people said,

00:12:38.360 oh, come on, you know,

00:12:39.280 if that's what gets rid of the vaccine passport,

00:12:41.740 if that's what gets rid of other restrictions,

00:12:43.780 the mask on the plane is fine.

00:12:45.800 The problem with that thinking

00:12:47.600 is that you're starting from a losing position

00:12:49.880 because you're already saying

00:12:51.640 that the old normal is never coming back.

00:12:53.480 So you start to negotiate

00:12:54.820 for your freedom

00:12:56.580 and negotiate for your life.

00:12:59.280 And you start to say,

00:13:00.300 okay, well, yeah, all right, yeah,

00:13:01.820 you know, I guess I can just wear the mask

00:13:03.840 or I guess I can do the vaccine passport.

00:13:06.180 I guess I can do all that.

00:13:07.720 You start to view these things,

00:13:09.400 which again, prove the point

00:13:11.440 that you've lost something.

00:13:14.360 So no, I'm actually done

00:13:16.520 as I have been for quite a while

00:13:18.260 with half measures.

00:13:20.380 Nothing short of a declaration

00:13:22.420 from citizens that we will not abide

00:13:25.760 is going to bring back

00:13:28.180 what has been taken away,

00:13:29.660 not what's been lost,

00:13:30.660 but what has been

00:13:32.160 and continues to be taken away

00:13:34.640 by governments,

00:13:36.620 by cowardly, cowardly governments.

00:13:40.320 And I don't even know

00:13:41.280 what they're responding to.

00:13:42.460 Like I mentioned,

00:13:43.760 historically polling

00:13:44.800 has been very lockdown happy.

00:13:46.980 I do think that's changing,

00:13:48.680 especially when you're talking

00:13:49.820 about the treatment of children

00:13:51.420 and what's happening

00:13:52.480 to kids in schools.

00:13:53.540 So I don't know

00:13:54.460 what polls these politicians are following.

00:13:56.800 We know they're not following the science.

00:13:58.580 You've got to assume,

00:14:00.220 I don't think they're following

00:14:01.460 their own moral compasses

00:14:02.640 because that would suggest

00:14:03.500 they had moral compasses to follow.

00:14:06.000 So if they're not following science,

00:14:07.700 they're not following a moral compass,

00:14:09.720 they're maybe not following polling.

00:14:12.160 What is it they are following?

00:14:13.840 I mean, it's got to be one of those things.

00:14:15.140 Maybe it is polling after all.

00:14:16.700 I don't know.

00:14:17.520 If so, perhaps that would be changing.

00:14:20.120 Or is it that they genuinely believe

00:14:22.620 that these doomsday projections,

00:14:25.540 that we're going to have hundreds,

00:14:26.440 this is what Doug Ford said.

00:14:28.220 We're going to have hundreds of thousands

00:14:29.840 of cases a day.

00:14:31.920 And the number he gave,

00:14:33.020 that 1% of Omicron cases

00:14:35.040 will end up in the hospital.

00:14:36.360 And when we get hundreds of thousands

00:14:38.280 of cases a day,

00:14:39.440 1% of those will overwhelm

00:14:41.100 the healthcare system.

00:14:42.080 The healthcare system

00:14:42.980 has not yet been overwhelmed.

00:14:46.180 And I mentioned this point on Twitter,

00:14:48.480 which got a fair bit of support

00:14:49.880 and also a fair bit of pushback as well.

00:14:52.560 If the people who are telling us

00:14:54.900 why we need to lock down

00:14:56.200 and hunker down

00:14:57.200 and shelter in place

00:14:58.060 and all of that

00:14:58.640 are doing it because,

00:15:01.240 in their words,

00:15:01.800 we need to protect the healthcare system

00:15:03.460 from being overwhelmed.

00:15:05.400 Why is nobody asking the obvious?

00:15:07.360 Well, aren't you the ones

00:15:08.440 responsible for the healthcare system?

00:15:12.000 We've had two years of this.

00:15:14.020 If in two years,

00:15:15.260 the people in charge

00:15:16.160 of the healthcare system

00:15:17.240 haven't been able to protect it

00:15:19.160 from getting overwhelmed,

00:15:20.560 why are we listening to these people

00:15:22.340 on anything at all?

00:15:24.520 They failed.

00:15:25.920 Why are they still the ones

00:15:27.100 running the show?

00:15:28.120 Why do they still have

00:15:29.220 any legitimacy

00:15:30.080 or any authority at all

00:15:31.860 in this area?

00:15:33.640 I want to play a clip here

00:15:35.700 if I can.

00:15:36.580 And I don't think

00:15:37.140 this was a misspeak.

00:15:38.140 I think this was actually

00:15:39.340 what he meant.

00:15:40.500 Doug Ford was talking

00:15:41.480 about his decision-making process

00:15:43.340 on this latest lockdown

00:15:45.400 in Ontario

00:15:46.640 and the length of time

00:15:48.620 it took to make the decision.

00:15:50.340 I want you to just take a listen.

00:15:51.740 We want to make sure

00:15:52.880 that we protect

00:15:54.420 the frontline healthcare workers.

00:15:57.400 We want to make sure

00:15:58.040 we protect the students

00:16:00.180 and the teachers

00:16:00.860 along with the general public.

00:16:04.180 You know,

00:16:04.360 this took me about 30 seconds

00:16:05.900 to make a decision.

00:16:07.640 It was a decisive decision.

00:16:09.580 And we're going to make sure

00:16:11.100 that we go through this

00:16:13.680 and be as cautious as possible

00:16:15.720 and use every tool

00:16:16.880 in our toolbox

00:16:18.060 to sustain

00:16:20.020 not only our healthcare

00:16:21.680 but our economy as well.

00:16:23.720 30 seconds, he says.

00:16:24.740 30 seconds.

00:16:25.680 That was all it took

00:16:26.420 to make this decision

00:16:27.360 to shut down restaurants,

00:16:29.380 shut down gyms, 0.99

00:16:30.200 shut down movie theaters

00:16:31.200 and all of that.

00:16:32.600 30 seconds.

00:16:33.400 Now,

00:16:33.880 let's start with debunking that

00:16:35.900 because the day prior

00:16:37.600 there was a,

00:16:38.980 I think it was like

00:16:39.820 a six hour long

00:16:41.000 cabinet meeting

00:16:41.820 in which this all

00:16:43.480 was being discussed.

00:16:44.320 like six hours long.

00:16:46.000 And keep in mind,

00:16:46.920 Ontario legislators

00:16:48.320 are going back to the polls

00:16:49.620 in May of this year.

00:16:51.320 So they've got an election

00:16:52.240 in basically five months

00:16:54.260 that they've got to contend with.

00:16:55.820 But 30 seconds,

00:16:57.060 he says,

00:16:57.420 it took to make the decision.

00:16:58.720 The meeting the day before

00:16:59.880 was six hours long

00:17:01.340 and more importantly,

00:17:02.680 three days prior

00:17:03.720 to the announcement,

00:17:04.540 as I mentioned earlier,

00:17:05.520 the province had doubled down

00:17:06.880 that schools were going

00:17:08.340 to reopen

00:17:08.920 and students were going

00:17:10.120 to be in class

00:17:11.000 the first week of January,

00:17:13.040 this very week,

00:17:13.840 starting tomorrow.

00:17:15.020 So all of that

00:17:16.320 is to say

00:17:17.280 that there isn't

00:17:18.540 actually much

00:17:19.560 in the way of support

00:17:20.400 that it only took 30 seconds.

00:17:22.200 But even if it did,

00:17:24.180 why is that a selling point?

00:17:26.840 Why is taking

00:17:28.000 less than a minute

00:17:29.180 to plunge your province

00:17:30.700 into yet another lockdown

00:17:32.240 something that you feel

00:17:33.780 gives you more credibility

00:17:35.520 on this file?

00:17:37.980 And earlier on,

00:17:38.960 incidentally,

00:17:39.420 he talked about

00:17:39.940 how difficult a decision it was.

00:17:41.520 And Christine Elliott,

00:17:42.280 the health minister,

00:17:43.360 said something very simple.

00:17:44.780 I mean,

00:17:45.160 at this point,

00:17:45.860 any goodwill

00:17:47.220 that existed towards government,

00:17:49.640 any trust that existed

00:17:50.700 towards government

00:17:51.560 in the minds of Canadians,

00:17:53.460 I'm not talking about

00:17:54.280 Ontarians here,

00:17:55.280 of Canadians writ large,

00:17:57.040 I think has probably

00:17:58.660 been obliterated.

00:18:00.700 At the very least harmed,

00:18:02.400 but I would say

00:18:03.220 outright obliterated.

00:18:04.240 I don't think

00:18:04.760 there's anyone now

00:18:05.540 that is looking

00:18:06.420 to public health officials

00:18:07.600 and saying,

00:18:08.100 yeah, you know,

00:18:08.500 they've really got

00:18:09.220 a solid head

00:18:10.200 on their shoulders.

00:18:10.840 They know what they're doing.

00:18:11.900 And that works,

00:18:12.700 by the way,

00:18:13.020 for the pro-lockdown people either.

00:18:14.780 Because remember,

00:18:15.500 a lot of folks think

00:18:16.380 that governments

00:18:16.860 are not doing enough.

00:18:19.120 There are lots of people

00:18:20.300 and it's terrifying

00:18:21.500 if you pay attention to,

00:18:22.920 oh, I don't know,

00:18:23.620 Dr. Twitter, for example.

00:18:25.000 Not all of them,

00:18:25.660 but some of them.

00:18:26.540 People that think

00:18:27.240 government should

00:18:27.840 lock down everything,

00:18:28.920 lock down for longer.

00:18:30.280 People who are utterly

00:18:31.460 unconcerned

00:18:32.800 with civil liberties,

00:18:34.360 who don't even think

00:18:35.320 those should factor

00:18:36.320 into the equation.

00:18:37.420 So the message

00:18:39.980 that I bring you

00:18:40.820 as we start 2022,

00:18:42.140 not a good one.

00:18:42.840 I realize that.

00:18:44.280 Things are exactly

00:18:45.280 the same as they were

00:18:46.220 in the year we just left

00:18:47.760 and a little bit worse.

00:18:50.220 What's the takeaway

00:18:51.140 from that?

00:18:51.740 Again, I have to reiterate

00:18:53.080 the point that I made

00:18:54.120 earlier in this show

00:18:55.360 and in previous shows,

00:18:56.600 which is that

00:18:57.320 the pandemic is over

00:18:58.360 when you say it is over.

00:19:00.240 Decide what you want.

00:19:01.560 Assess your own risk level.

00:19:02.760 I'm not saying

00:19:03.460 COVID has no risk.

00:19:05.260 I'm not saying

00:19:05.820 Omicron has no risk.

00:19:07.420 I'm not saying

00:19:08.120 don't get vaccinated.

00:19:09.440 I've been very clear.

00:19:10.460 I am vaccinated,

00:19:11.780 haven't gotten the booster,

00:19:13.140 but I am completely

00:19:14.320 in favor of people

00:19:15.560 making their own choices.

00:19:17.880 And I respect your right

00:19:18.920 to make those choices

00:19:19.760 if you respect my right

00:19:20.980 to make whatever choices

00:19:21.960 I make.

00:19:23.160 But the point of this,

00:19:24.920 and I think where we

00:19:26.040 as a country

00:19:26.700 need to go from here,

00:19:28.580 is that anyone,

00:19:30.320 anyone who did something

00:19:31.820 because government

00:19:32.740 told them it was

00:19:33.680 the way out,

00:19:35.420 has egg on their face.

00:19:36.980 I mean,

00:19:37.460 there's no other way

00:19:38.160 around it.

00:19:38.660 If you made a decision

00:19:39.660 because you believed in it,

00:19:40.880 good on you.

00:19:41.360 That's the whole point of it.

00:19:42.880 But if you did it

00:19:43.800 because you believed

00:19:44.780 that government

00:19:45.440 had your interests at heart,

00:19:46.800 that government

00:19:47.160 was going to hold up

00:19:47.960 its end of the bargain,

00:19:49.100 well,

00:19:49.700 the joke's on you now.

00:19:50.900 And I don't say that

00:19:51.700 to gloat

00:19:52.160 because I wanted

00:19:53.360 to believe as well.

00:19:55.260 I haven't believed

00:19:55.900 for a while,

00:19:56.380 but at the very beginning,

00:19:57.720 you remember the two weeks

00:19:58.660 to flatten the curve,

00:19:59.580 we're all in this together,

00:20:00.620 the pots and pans.

00:20:01.280 I really wanted to believe

00:20:03.260 that civic spirit

00:20:05.280 would do it,

00:20:06.220 would carry us through,

00:20:07.320 but it didn't

00:20:07.960 and it won't.

00:20:09.760 So why is there any reason

00:20:11.240 to believe that it will now?

00:20:14.640 I've been spending

00:20:15.420 a fair bit of time,

00:20:16.560 I realize,

00:20:17.160 on Ontario.

00:20:18.460 Now, again,

00:20:19.260 I did a great interview,

00:20:20.540 I think it was great anyway,

00:20:21.680 before the break

00:20:22.480 with Jason Kenney.

00:20:23.600 We cover the whole country here.

00:20:25.060 One province I don't cover

00:20:26.560 all that often,

00:20:27.640 admittedly,

00:20:28.180 is Quebec.

00:20:28.680 And part of that is because

00:20:30.000 it's very difficult

00:20:31.320 to find good reporting

00:20:32.640 coming out of Quebec.

00:20:34.580 But one person

00:20:35.380 who's been doing

00:20:35.960 a tremendous amount of that

00:20:37.100 is Marie Oakes

00:20:38.260 with the Westphalian Times,

00:20:39.980 who has been doing

00:20:41.120 what no other

00:20:42.320 English language journalists

00:20:43.600 are in Quebec

00:20:44.280 with a couple of exceptions.

00:20:45.840 I think Rebel does

00:20:46.720 some great work there

00:20:47.860 and has a small team.

00:20:49.020 But again,

00:20:49.420 hard to compete with

00:20:50.280 the Radio Canada

00:20:51.360 and the Montreal Gazettes,

00:20:52.820 which are doing

00:20:53.580 a lot of less than stellar

00:20:54.820 reporting on the pandemic.

00:20:57.160 Marie Oakes joins me

00:20:58.320 now.

00:20:58.720 Good to talk to you.

00:20:59.280 Thanks for coming on today.

00:21:01.080 Well, thank you, Andrew,

00:21:02.040 for having me on.

00:21:03.020 And yeah,

00:21:03.500 that was kind of my focus

00:21:04.840 when I even got involved

00:21:06.900 on the internet

00:21:08.540 was that's exactly

00:21:09.760 what I noticed.

00:21:10.640 People were not really

00:21:11.980 looking at what was

00:21:12.840 happening in Quebec

00:21:13.580 and I was pretty shocked.

00:21:15.640 A lot of it is in

00:21:16.860 the French media,

00:21:18.380 but it doesn't really

00:21:19.040 make its way to

00:21:19.900 English media,

00:21:21.000 whether it be

00:21:21.820 the WE scandal

00:21:22.820 and, you know,

00:21:24.100 all the happenings

00:21:25.080 in Quebec with that

00:21:26.080 or like we're going

00:21:27.060 to talk about lockdowns,

00:21:28.600 curfews,

00:21:29.140 those sort of things

00:21:30.040 that most Canadians

00:21:31.160 and even Americans

00:21:32.160 have no idea

00:21:33.000 that's even going on.

00:21:35.620 Yeah, well,

00:21:36.300 I think that's so key

00:21:37.380 and I mean,

00:21:37.960 obviously,

00:21:38.460 we don't have time

00:21:39.220 to go through

00:21:39.640 the litany of,

00:21:40.480 you know,

00:21:40.760 reasons that Quebec 0.97

00:21:41.620 and the rest of Canada

00:21:42.880 are distinct places,

00:21:44.520 but I know we have seen

00:21:45.800 a little bit of media coverage

00:21:46.960 in the last few weeks

00:21:47.840 about Bill 21,

00:21:48.920 for example,

00:21:49.600 the religious symbols ban

00:21:52.160 because that had a rearing 0.77

00:21:54.200 of its head

00:21:54.760 in the last little while

00:21:56.280 and I think that underscored

00:21:57.640 that Quebec tends 0.98

00:21:58.640 to get away with a lot

00:21:59.780 in part because you have

00:22:01.440 this political and media culture

00:22:03.680 that tends not to want

00:22:05.060 to confront these issues

00:22:06.000 head on.

00:22:06.560 So you bring that

00:22:07.580 into a lockdown context,

00:22:09.240 Quebec is the only province

00:22:10.700 in the country

00:22:11.260 that has not just imposed

00:22:12.900 a curfew,

00:22:13.760 but has now,

00:22:14.620 as of New Year's Eve,

00:22:15.980 re-imposed a curfew.

00:22:17.940 So you can actually be fined

00:22:19.380 just for walking around

00:22:21.100 outside your home

00:22:22.420 in Quebec in the evening.

00:22:24.520 Yeah,

00:22:25.060 and the thing that's

00:22:25.840 so insane about this

00:22:27.420 is the last curfew

00:22:28.860 was 8 p.m.

00:22:30.220 So a lot of people

00:22:31.220 who are workers,

00:22:32.100 essential workers,

00:22:33.140 they couldn't do

00:22:33.860 their grocery shopping.

00:22:35.400 Most people get off work,

00:22:36.480 say, 5 or 6 p.m.

00:22:38.120 Well, most of the grocery stores

00:22:39.360 were closing at 7 p.m.,

00:22:40.720 an hour before the curfew

00:22:42.200 was put in place

00:22:43.600 because they need

00:22:44.660 to get home too

00:22:45.300 because they don't want

00:22:45.920 to get stopped by police

00:22:47.360 and it just became

00:22:48.300 really tedious

00:22:49.360 for so many people.

00:22:51.520 And this go-around,

00:22:53.120 I think a lot of people

00:22:54.340 are noticing

00:22:54.840 police are less likely

00:22:56.560 to pull you over,

00:22:58.100 less likely to give you

00:22:59.500 as hard of a time

00:23:00.480 because I think even

00:23:01.280 they are realizing

00:23:02.820 how annoying this is

00:23:04.100 for them to even enforce.

00:23:05.860 I mean,

00:23:06.080 obviously there's going

00:23:06.860 to be those police officers

00:23:08.420 who will be enforcing it,

00:23:10.300 but what I'm hearing

00:23:11.400 from people on the ground

00:23:12.660 is it seems like

00:23:14.320 everyone's changing

00:23:16.020 their tune

00:23:16.700 with this go-around

00:23:17.900 with the curfew.

00:23:18.600 That's actually

00:23:20.920 an interesting point

00:23:21.920 you raise

00:23:22.380 because I know

00:23:23.020 last time you had

00:23:24.160 Yankee Pollack

00:23:25.300 with Rebel News

00:23:26.060 who I think was just

00:23:26.840 on a matter of principle

00:23:28.080 just walking around Quebec

00:23:29.380 after curfew

00:23:30.300 every night

00:23:31.520 and he was reporting

00:23:32.660 what was happening there

00:23:33.700 and we were seeing

00:23:34.900 that police were being

00:23:35.680 very aggressive

00:23:36.440 not just with him

00:23:37.200 but with other people

00:23:37.980 they were encountering.

00:23:39.360 So you're thinking

00:23:39.980 this time

00:23:40.720 in the first few days

00:23:42.300 this has been on the books

00:23:43.260 police in Quebec

00:23:44.980 or even Montreal

00:23:45.980 specifically

00:23:46.540 you think they've

00:23:47.660 pared things down

00:23:48.660 a little bit?

00:23:50.360 Oh, they definitely have.

00:23:52.180 I mean,

00:23:52.640 of course there's going

00:23:53.800 to be those city police

00:23:55.460 that like this ounce of power

00:23:57.780 you know,

00:23:58.340 feel like it's their duty

00:23:59.700 to enforce this

00:24:01.100 but we're also seeing

00:24:02.400 they're being a bit

00:24:03.440 more lenient

00:24:04.300 with say

00:24:04.960 the other night

00:24:05.780 when there was

00:24:06.220 the curfew protesters

00:24:07.340 they didn't right away

00:24:08.700 give them a bunch of fines

00:24:10.140 they waited about

00:24:11.340 30 minutes to an hour

00:24:12.680 and then they gave

00:24:14.060 the fines after

00:24:14.800 you know,

00:24:15.600 telling a few of them

00:24:16.460 hey, you want to leave

00:24:17.700 or else you're going

00:24:18.100 to get a ticket

00:24:18.660 and I talked to some people

00:24:20.180 and they said

00:24:21.220 yeah, I left

00:24:22.040 I did not want to get

00:24:22.860 that ticket

00:24:23.360 you know,

00:24:23.920 I made my point

00:24:24.820 I'm leaving.

00:24:27.140 So I know it's hard

00:24:28.460 to ascribe motive

00:24:29.540 but from your conversations

00:24:31.180 or even just your intuition

00:24:32.520 do you think that police

00:24:33.620 are being deliberately

00:24:35.740 laxer on this

00:24:37.480 because of perhaps

00:24:38.640 not fully buying into it

00:24:40.560 or do you think

00:24:41.400 they're concerned

00:24:42.160 about what we're seeing

00:24:43.560 in Europe

00:24:44.000 what we're seeing

00:24:44.600 in places like Amsterdam

00:24:45.900 in places like Vienna

00:24:47.780 where citizens are saying

00:24:49.660 you know what

00:24:50.100 we're not taking this anymore

00:24:51.920 and the protests

00:24:52.840 become a lot more heated.

00:24:54.820 I mean, that's possible

00:24:56.300 I wouldn't think

00:24:57.300 a police officer

00:24:58.280 would be really necessarily

00:24:59.580 thinking about that

00:25:00.580 because like we even discussed

00:25:01.660 most people in Canada

00:25:02.700 don't even really know

00:25:03.660 what's happening in Quebec

00:25:04.500 so to really think

00:25:06.020 that people in Quebec

00:25:06.940 exactly know the situation

00:25:08.460 happening in Europe

00:25:09.740 I don't really think

00:25:11.460 that would be the case

00:25:12.200 I just think

00:25:12.780 everyone's pretty exhausted

00:25:14.840 I mean, I'm seeing people

00:25:16.720 on the ground

00:25:17.580 who are pretty

00:25:18.260 before they were fine

00:25:20.620 with the restrictions

00:25:21.340 they understood it

00:25:22.580 really speaking out

00:25:24.100 not scared of the consequences

00:25:26.700 of them speaking out

00:25:27.800 in their social circles

00:25:28.920 I'm seeing a lot of young people

00:25:30.560 being pretty upset by this

00:25:32.240 and the police force

00:25:33.120 say in a place like Montreal

00:25:34.540 is quite young

00:25:36.140 so I think they're also

00:25:37.940 just fed up at this point

00:25:39.660 thinking, oh, we have to do this again

00:25:41.200 because it didn't make the police

00:25:43.680 look super good

00:25:44.840 because the curfew is

00:25:45.820 I would say generally

00:25:48.060 not very popular

00:25:49.740 but there was just so many people

00:25:51.560 in Quebec being like

00:25:52.600 even though I don't think

00:25:53.760 the curfew necessarily works

00:25:55.900 I'm happy that the government

00:25:57.180 is putting at least something

00:25:59.080 in place to make me feel safer

00:26:00.880 Would it be fair to say

00:26:03.740 that Quebec has been 0.97

00:26:04.800 the most locked down

00:26:06.240 jurisdiction in Canada

00:26:07.800 except for perhaps

00:26:09.300 you know, like the Northern Territories

00:26:10.820 which I know have had

00:26:11.600 some very restrictive measures?

00:26:14.080 I mean, definitely

00:26:15.200 I don't think anywhere else

00:26:16.520 has had this curfew

00:26:17.820 I would say in overall

00:26:18.580 North America

00:26:19.460 in totality

00:26:20.360 you're seeing

00:26:21.060 so many people in Quebec

00:26:22.780 fleeing Quebec

00:26:24.040 they're either

00:26:25.000 going to Florida

00:26:26.300 for vacation

00:26:27.160 because they're like

00:26:28.280 okay, these restrictions

00:26:29.540 may last four months

00:26:30.740 and then come spring

00:26:31.860 they're going to lift them again

00:26:32.960 and I'm seeing

00:26:34.280 so many people in Quebec

00:26:36.140 move their entire

00:26:38.080 livelihoods

00:26:40.400 their entire lives

00:26:41.420 to Mexico

00:26:42.120 I know like

00:26:43.880 a large amount of people

00:26:45.300 who did that

00:26:46.060 the first lockdown

00:26:47.160 but now even more people

00:26:48.640 this go around

00:26:49.540 Well, you did a video

00:26:52.100 not long ago

00:26:52.940 talking about yourself

00:26:54.240 making an exodus

00:26:55.440 from Canada

00:26:56.060 explain what led to that

00:26:57.600 Well, so I am both

00:27:00.700 Canadian and American

00:27:01.860 so I don't want to get

00:27:03.660 a bunch of messages

00:27:04.500 asking how I did it

00:27:05.900 so that's how I was able

00:27:07.000 to leave

00:27:07.740 Yeah, you'll be dispensing

00:27:09.720 immigration advice

00:27:10.620 for the next several weeks

00:27:11.900 now thanks to that

00:27:12.700 Okay, she got it

00:27:13.580 in the easy way

00:27:14.120 she had citizenship

00:27:15.000 Yeah, because a lot of people

00:27:17.060 do ask me

00:27:18.520 how did you do it

00:27:19.320 how did you do it

00:27:20.120 and unfortunately

00:27:20.940 like I can't give

00:27:22.280 that information

00:27:23.040 I wish I had more

00:27:24.860 you know

00:27:25.320 information of how

00:27:26.340 you can do it

00:27:27.020 as well

00:27:27.960 but the reason I did it

00:27:29.700 was

00:27:30.080 with all the border

00:27:31.580 restrictions

00:27:32.200 it was nearly impossible

00:27:34.420 for my family

00:27:35.480 who did not have

00:27:36.480 their Canadian citizenship

00:27:37.580 for them to see me

00:27:38.900 and it was just so hard

00:27:40.480 for me to also

00:27:41.420 go see them

00:27:42.340 and have to deal

00:27:43.060 with the quarantining

00:27:43.960 process on the way back

00:27:45.340 I have many animals

00:27:47.180 I'm an animal lover

00:27:48.460 I could not

00:27:50.100 logistically figure out

00:27:51.400 how I could be

00:27:52.300 two week quarantined

00:27:53.600 not allowed to leave

00:27:54.360 my house

00:27:54.880 and own dogs

00:27:56.080 so it just did not

00:27:57.920 make logistical sense

00:27:59.020 because there was

00:28:00.100 no exemption

00:28:00.640 for quarantine

00:28:01.560 if you had to walk

00:28:02.680 an animal

00:28:03.040 and I lived in an apartment

00:28:04.040 so it was impossible

00:28:04.860 so at that point

00:28:06.700 I was like

00:28:07.200 I miss my family

00:28:08.720 I do not believe

00:28:10.460 Quebec is ever going

00:28:11.680 to be getting out

00:28:12.660 of these lockdowns

00:28:13.640 I have been predicting

00:28:14.960 it for over a year

00:28:16.960 now that

00:28:17.500 this was going to

00:28:18.780 happen again

00:28:19.200 there was going to

00:28:19.700 be another curfew

00:28:20.420 there were going to

00:28:21.180 be really strong

00:28:22.180 on restrictions

00:28:23.400 because a lot of

00:28:24.520 people in Quebec

00:28:24.960 do accept

00:28:25.860 these restrictions

00:28:26.740 and the popularity

00:28:27.900 of the government

00:28:28.480 is extremely high

00:28:29.860 so I just had

00:28:31.420 a really bad

00:28:32.100 outlook

00:28:32.780 on the situation

00:28:34.300 and unfortunately

00:28:35.660 I had a family member

00:28:36.880 in the US

00:28:37.740 become really sick

00:28:39.320 they had a stroke

00:28:40.600 and I wouldn't

00:28:42.040 have been able

00:28:42.500 to say goodbye

00:28:43.120 to them

00:28:43.480 luckily

00:28:43.800 they lived

00:28:45.400 through this

00:28:46.180 but I wanted

00:28:47.020 to spend time

00:28:47.820 with my family

00:28:48.460 and I think

00:28:48.980 a lot of people

00:28:50.260 feel very similar

00:28:51.360 to me

00:28:51.720 and that's why

00:28:52.320 they're also

00:28:52.780 getting their

00:28:53.240 entire family

00:28:54.080 out of places

00:28:55.480 like Quebec 0.95

00:28:56.020 and other places

00:28:56.760 in Canada

00:28:57.260 going to places

00:28:58.080 like Mexico

00:28:58.680 where they feel

00:28:59.760 like they can

00:29:00.180 live their lives

00:29:01.180 yeah I mean

00:29:02.800 I never thought

00:29:03.500 you know

00:29:04.020 Mexico would be 0.99

00:29:04.740 the bastion

00:29:05.480 of liberty lovers

00:29:06.900 but I've heard

00:29:08.140 from a few people

00:29:08.920 that have

00:29:09.640 or more commonly

00:29:10.540 people that have

00:29:11.180 decided to go down

00:29:12.340 to Florida

00:29:12.820 and Texas

00:29:13.640 and I'm glad

00:29:14.700 you shared

00:29:15.340 what you did

00:29:15.740 Marie

00:29:15.960 because in a lot

00:29:16.780 of cases

00:29:17.220 people tend

00:29:17.900 to talk about

00:29:18.500 this in

00:29:18.860 in ideological

00:29:19.740 terms

00:29:20.440 of you know

00:29:20.760 I'm tired

00:29:21.400 of living

00:29:21.720 in an unfree

00:29:22.320 place

00:29:22.660 I want to go

00:29:23.100 to a free

00:29:23.540 place

00:29:23.860 you've just

00:29:24.600 described there

00:29:25.320 some very real

00:29:26.820 and very legitimate

00:29:28.320 reasons where

00:29:29.380 you could not

00:29:30.640 live your lives

00:29:31.260 it wasn't just

00:29:31.880 this moral objection

00:29:33.020 to continuing

00:29:33.680 to live in Quebec

00:29:34.280 but actually

00:29:35.240 an inability

00:29:35.820 to live your life

00:29:36.920 and interact

00:29:37.540 with your family

00:29:38.280 and your pets

00:29:38.860 the way

00:29:39.260 I think any person

00:29:40.260 should be able to

00:29:41.180 yeah it was just

00:29:44.000 such a heavy burden

00:29:44.940 on me because

00:29:45.680 the more and more

00:29:46.500 I lived in Quebec

00:29:47.280 I lived in Quebec

00:29:48.020 for about I think

00:29:48.960 six or seven years

00:29:50.480 I first was like

00:29:52.040 oh I want to get

00:29:52.640 out of here

00:29:53.120 I don't like it here

00:29:53.880 and then I really

00:29:54.640 put my roots

00:29:55.380 down in Quebec

00:29:55.900 I was looking at

00:29:57.360 you know possibly

00:29:58.060 buying my first

00:29:59.020 home in St. Adele

00:30:00.420 I was thinking

00:30:01.180 about staying

00:30:01.720 for the rest

00:30:02.200 of my life

00:30:02.660 even though

00:30:03.500 I'm an Anglophone

00:30:04.360 I was like

00:30:05.160 okay I'm gonna

00:30:05.860 try and figure

00:30:06.700 this out

00:30:07.200 even though

00:30:07.820 there was already

00:30:08.660 so many blockades

00:30:09.720 for me to live

00:30:10.940 in Quebec

00:30:11.240 I'm a type 1 diabetic

00:30:12.460 very hard to get

00:30:14.080 in the healthcare

00:30:14.540 system in Quebec

00:30:15.500 for that reason

00:30:16.860 and the Quebec

00:30:18.120 government really

00:30:18.920 just pushed me out

00:30:20.360 and so did

00:30:21.020 the federal government

00:30:22.220 with the border

00:30:22.980 restrictions

00:30:23.520 and even the US

00:30:25.060 government

00:30:25.400 with their

00:30:26.020 also restrictions

00:30:27.260 with Canada

00:30:27.900 it was just

00:30:29.040 this whole tornado

00:30:29.880 I thought right now

00:30:31.220 at this time

00:30:31.740 I'd be living

00:30:32.900 the rest of my life

00:30:34.060 in a more rural

00:30:35.860 part of Quebec

00:30:36.500 but obviously

00:30:37.900 that didn't happen

00:30:39.040 Just out of curiosity

00:30:41.360 here do you find

00:30:42.120 in Quebec

00:30:42.660 because you mentioned

00:30:43.620 that people tend

00:30:44.360 to support

00:30:44.980 what's happening

00:30:46.120 and that I don't

00:30:47.140 think is unique

00:30:47.680 to Quebec

00:30:48.060 that's been one

00:30:48.720 of the biggest

00:30:49.280 disheartening things

00:30:50.120 I've seen elsewhere

00:30:51.300 now I think

00:30:51.920 the last lockdown

00:30:52.760 might be the

00:30:53.520 exception in Ontario

00:30:54.760 but a lot of people

00:30:55.700 seem to be willing

00:30:56.620 to go along with this

00:30:57.640 do you find

00:30:58.380 there's a language

00:30:59.060 divide

00:30:59.560 where Anglo

00:31:00.500 Quebecers 0.66

00:31:01.440 and Franco Quebecers

00:31:02.480 are approaching

00:31:03.340 this differently

00:31:03.920 or does that

00:31:04.760 not factor into it

00:31:05.680 from what you've seen

00:31:06.400 I don't know

00:31:08.900 if that's necessarily

00:31:10.000 a factor

00:31:10.540 I would say

00:31:11.360 the factor is

00:31:12.640 with the French

00:31:13.820 is only

00:31:15.400 so far

00:31:16.580 as because

00:31:17.200 they are stuck

00:31:18.120 in this ecosystem

00:31:19.420 or this echo chamber

00:31:21.000 of the French media

00:31:22.400 and the French media

00:31:23.840 in Quebec

00:31:24.300 is really pro lockdown

00:31:26.300 there was even

00:31:27.160 a journalist

00:31:27.620 at the last

00:31:28.140 press conference

00:31:29.780 saying

00:31:30.220 you know

00:31:30.820 this is the consequences

00:31:31.920 of letting

00:31:32.580 unvaccinated people

00:31:34.240 be allowed

00:31:35.740 to be in Quebec

00:31:36.440 and asking

00:31:37.520 if they're going

00:31:37.980 to mandate

00:31:38.580 the vaccine

00:31:39.300 for everyone

00:31:40.200 how that might happen

00:31:41.680 I don't really know

00:31:42.540 exactly

00:31:43.000 and asking

00:31:43.660 if they're going

00:31:44.080 to extend

00:31:44.880 the vaccine passport

00:31:45.800 to more places

00:31:46.760 than it already is

00:31:47.900 so you have

00:31:49.140 a media in Quebec

00:31:50.300 that has no pushback

00:31:52.000 there's no like

00:31:52.700 opposition media

00:31:53.880 like say

00:31:54.380 maybe more so

00:31:55.320 in English speaking

00:31:57.020 part of Canada

00:31:57.880 or like the US

00:31:58.880 so I think

00:32:00.920 a lot of that

00:32:01.700 is the issue

00:32:03.340 with Quebec

00:32:03.900 and for francophone

00:32:05.400 speakers

00:32:05.980 is really

00:32:07.000 the only media

00:32:07.980 they have access

00:32:08.720 to is a media

00:32:09.840 that upholds

00:32:10.920 the government rule

00:32:11.780 doesn't speak

00:32:12.940 against it

00:32:13.500 is no opposition

00:32:14.660 to the government

00:32:15.400 is a talking piece

00:32:16.660 for the government

00:32:17.260 is super pro lockdown

00:32:19.080 super pro restrictions

00:32:20.360 where

00:32:21.600 it just becomes

00:32:23.500 really difficult

00:32:24.200 for anyone

00:32:25.380 who is French speaking

00:32:27.060 to break out

00:32:28.200 of that bubble

00:32:28.980 because all they know

00:32:30.460 is that

00:32:31.060 and when there has been

00:32:33.180 you know this media

00:32:34.120 this radio show

00:32:35.640 in Quebec City

00:32:36.440 that was speaking out

00:32:37.840 against the government

00:32:38.920 the government

00:32:39.820 pulled their ads

00:32:41.020 so they gave them

00:32:41.900 a consequence

00:32:42.620 hey you're speaking

00:32:43.540 out against us

00:32:44.320 well the way

00:32:45.040 you make money

00:32:46.060 is through government ads

00:32:47.260 like so many media

00:32:48.720 all over Canada

00:32:49.820 so that

00:32:50.720 that's what they'll do

00:32:51.760 in opposition times

00:32:53.540 yeah very well said

00:32:55.360 but as I mentioned

00:32:56.260 when we were setting up

00:32:57.260 this interview

00:32:57.680 even with you

00:32:58.840 having fled Quebec

00:33:00.080 you still do a better job

00:33:01.420 covering the story

00:33:02.480 of what's happening

00:33:03.180 in Quebec

00:33:03.540 with lockdown

00:33:04.220 than any other

00:33:05.820 English reporters

00:33:06.560 in Canada

00:33:07.420 and I'd venture to say

00:33:08.100 probably a lot of

00:33:08.720 the French reporters too

00:33:09.880 I just don't follow

00:33:10.740 their work

00:33:11.180 as much as I probably could

00:33:12.980 Marie Oakes

00:33:13.940 of the Westphalian Times

00:33:15.200 an absolute pleasure

00:33:15.980 thanks very much

00:33:16.700 for coming on today

00:33:17.720 thank you Andrew

00:33:19.400 have a good one

00:33:20.080 that was Marie Oakes

00:33:22.100 and that point

00:33:22.820 she mentioned

00:33:23.300 by the way

00:33:23.740 about government

00:33:24.380 pulling advertising

00:33:25.580 is a very significant one

00:33:28.080 now I would say

00:33:28.880 it's why media outlets

00:33:29.960 should not themselves

00:33:31.140 depend on government revenue

00:33:33.080 even if it's coming in

00:33:34.080 through advertising

00:33:34.940 they're still reliant

00:33:36.160 on government

00:33:36.960 through and through

00:33:37.720 and it was interesting

00:33:39.280 so we put our shows

00:33:40.360 up everywhere

00:33:40.800 because our whole point

00:33:42.160 is that we're donor supported

00:33:43.380 we don't put our content

00:33:44.400 behind a paywall

00:33:45.180 so we make our content

00:33:46.900 available

00:33:47.320 which means we upload it

00:33:48.340 to Rumble

00:33:48.820 to Facebook

00:33:49.660 to Twitter

00:33:50.460 to YouTube

00:33:50.980 to our own website

00:33:52.700 and every now and then

00:33:54.620 I got one

00:33:55.140 about a week or so back

00:33:56.300 every now and then

00:33:57.260 we'll get an angry email

00:33:58.580 from someone

00:33:59.140 that like is incredulous

00:34:00.720 that we would accept

00:34:01.480 advertising money

00:34:02.500 from you know

00:34:03.400 client X

00:34:04.260 the most recent one

00:34:05.200 I got

00:34:05.580 was someone wanting

00:34:07.220 to know

00:34:07.500 how dare we

00:34:08.220 accept advertising

00:34:09.500 from the RCMP union

00:34:10.960 which is running ads

00:34:12.000 against the proposal

00:34:13.820 of an Alberta police force

00:34:15.320 and I was like

00:34:16.160 on Christmas holiday

00:34:17.020 I'm like

00:34:17.340 what on earth

00:34:18.360 is this person talking

00:34:19.220 and then I realized

00:34:20.080 that YouTube

00:34:21.160 sometimes will automatically

00:34:22.700 put stuff in

00:34:23.760 through its algorithm

00:34:24.640 that we don't take

00:34:25.660 and we do get money

00:34:26.940 from that through YouTube

00:34:28.120 but we have no say

00:34:30.340 or control

00:34:31.160 until it happens

00:34:32.220 and if something happens

00:34:33.060 then we can go back

00:34:33.860 and we can say

00:34:34.360 you know

00:34:34.600 we don't want ads 0.51

00:34:35.800 from this person

00:34:36.560 or this person

00:34:37.220 or this person

00:34:38.040 but I don't even think

00:34:39.420 we do

00:34:39.620 I have no idea

00:34:40.220 how any of that works

00:34:41.480 and I'm glad

00:34:42.080 I just focus on the show

00:34:43.360 but I was like

00:34:44.340 hang on

00:34:44.660 why am I getting in trouble

00:34:45.360 for something

00:34:45.780 I didn't even know about

00:34:46.660 but that's why

00:34:47.500 but we do not knowingly

00:34:48.920 accept any government advertising

00:34:50.900 and nor do we accept

00:34:52.500 government funding

00:34:53.180 in general

00:34:53.820 and I think the importance

00:34:54.780 of that

00:34:55.320 is that the government

00:34:56.640 can't hold anything over you

00:34:58.380 as in that case

00:34:59.340 that Marie was just talking about

00:35:00.680 with that

00:35:01.600 we have to bid you adieu

00:35:02.700 but I have to put in the plug

00:35:04.140 because we don't have

00:35:05.320 government money

00:35:06.060 we do very much need

00:35:07.760 financial support

00:35:08.660 from those who value

00:35:09.660 the work that we do

00:35:11.020 and I know January

00:35:12.160 is a tough month

00:35:12.900 people racked up

00:35:13.600 the credit cards

00:35:14.300 but at the end of the day

00:35:15.780 if you are interested

00:35:16.880 in the work we're doing

00:35:17.700 and you want to support us

00:35:18.700 you can head on over

00:35:19.760 to donate.tnc.news

00:35:22.260 and know how greatly

00:35:23.160 we appreciate that

00:35:24.240 we've got to wrap things there

00:35:25.720 my thanks to you all

00:35:26.780 we'll talk to you

00:35:27.360 in a couple days time

00:35:28.220 with more of Canada's

00:35:29.800 most irreverent talk show

00:35:31.040 thank you

00:35:31.460 God bless

00:35:32.000 and good day

00:35:32.660 thanks for listening

00:35:33.680 to the Andrew Lawton Show

00:35:34.880 support the program

00:35:35.940 by donating to True North

00:35:37.160 at www.tnc.news

00:35:45.780 www.tnc.news.com

Juno News - January 05, 2022

2022 is already another year of lockdown

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