Juno News - July 25, 2025


All five players found not guilty in Hockey Canada trial


Episode Stats


Length

36 minutes

Words per minute

185.46112

Word count

6,771

Sentence count

128

Harmful content

Misogyny

4

sentences flagged

Hate speech

6

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Isaac, Walid, and Walid discuss the Hulk Hogan and Ozzy Osbourne passing away, the Hockey Canada acquittals of 5 of the 6 accused of sexual assault, and the release of the key witness, EM.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Yeah, guys, so there's been so much news coming in over the last few days.
00:00:03.240 It's been hard to even determine what to discuss here.
00:00:05.940 I mean, from big, huge national stories to sad stories like Hulk Hogan dying.
00:00:10.900 I mean, what has caught your eye over the last few days?
00:00:13.940 I mean, there's just so much.
00:00:14.940 It's almost an overload of news.
00:00:18.660 Yeah, I mean, Hulk Hogan and Ozzy Osbourne in the same week,
00:00:21.700 they both, in my mind anyway, seemed completely immortal.
00:00:25.080 And I suppose that their legends are, you know, even though they may be gone.
00:00:29.540 Yeah, I mean, if they're talked about for centuries to come, let's say,
00:00:33.020 then they are immortal in a way, you know.
00:00:34.980 They say there's, what's the saying?
00:00:37.860 You die twice when you pass away and when your name is spoken for the last time, right?
00:00:42.680 Like, that's how it goes.
00:00:46.060 What about you, Walid, anything stick out?
00:00:48.860 Yeah, well, you know, I'm not so big on the music industry, frankly,
00:00:52.200 but I know that Ozzy Osbourne is such a big name that you can hear about him wherever you are.
00:00:56.160 I mean, I saw a football club, his favorite football club in England, Hanson Villa,
00:01:00.480 gave him a tribute the other day.
00:01:02.420 So wherever you are, whether it's the sporting industry or in the music industry,
00:01:06.840 you know, talking about a big name, obviously,
00:01:08.620 and obviously the Hulk Hogan story is all over Twitter as well.
00:01:11.400 So sad to see lots of life always.
00:01:14.040 And, of course, big names and people that have probably a lot more influence
00:01:17.380 than you can realize sometimes.
00:01:19.140 So very sad to see.
00:01:20.680 Well, my name's Isaac Limer.
00:01:23.720 I'm here with my True North colleagues, Alex Zoltan, and Walid Tam Tam.
00:01:26.580 Let's hop into that first story right away.
00:01:32.600 So, obviously, some huge news coming out of this lengthy Hockey Canada hearing,
00:01:37.120 and Alex, trial here.
00:01:39.500 But long story short, all five players in the high-profile case have been found not guilty
00:01:45.680 after Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Corocha delivered her ruling Thursday afternoon
00:01:51.640 in front of apparently a packed courtroom.
00:01:54.720 And, I mean, yeah.
00:01:56.300 Do you want to just take us through the case, Alex,
00:01:58.100 and maybe some of the public reactions as well?
00:02:00.860 Like, what's going on here?
00:02:03.080 Yeah, sure.
00:02:03.760 So there was actually five players that were defendants in the case.
00:02:07.520 They were all charged with one count of sexual assault.
00:02:11.540 One of the players, Michael McLeod, was charged with an additional offense,
00:02:15.140 which was party to an offense.
00:02:18.560 Basically, in layman's terms, what that means is that he was accused of aiding
00:02:21.840 and abetting other people in criminal activity.
00:02:24.700 It was turned into a judge trial as opposed to a trial by jury
00:02:28.660 after the highly unusual and, yeah, I guess to say just unusual dismissal of two separate juries.
00:02:36.400 We don't really need to go into why that happened,
00:02:39.380 although that's an interesting story in and of itself.
00:02:41.780 The judge was pretty brutal in offering her decision.
00:02:47.760 She called the key crown witness, which was the complainant.
00:02:52.100 She goes by the name EM.
00:02:53.580 Her real name is covered by a standard publication ban in these sort of cases.
00:02:57.020 The judge called her unreliable, inconsistent, and not credible.
00:03:04.240 So it was almost a scathing rebuke of the entire case.
00:03:07.980 And I had said online, you know, privately to many people
00:03:11.220 that I was actually surprised this trial even went to trial.
00:03:14.640 So I'm not terribly surprised by the acquittal,
00:03:17.640 but I am surprised by the unhinged reactions online.
00:03:21.020 A lot of people seem to think that they're still guilty
00:03:24.660 even though they were deemed not guilty.
00:03:27.100 I did have something to ask you about, Alex,
00:03:29.260 because I saw this online as well.
00:03:30.820 A few people asking this question about EM specifically.
00:03:33.620 Obviously, this trial, in short, ruined the careers,
00:03:37.060 at least for a temporary basis for these five NHL players.
00:03:40.120 So now do we get to find out who this girl is 0.97
00:03:42.680 and maybe can she suffer social consequences 1.00
00:03:45.580 of at least having put these people through this?
00:03:48.040 I mean, like, is her identity protected indefinitely?
00:03:51.140 Like, what's the rules there?
00:03:52.960 Yeah, so I do believe that her identity
00:03:54.800 is protected virtually indefinitely.
00:03:57.120 There's a few reasons for that.
00:03:58.580 In Canada, we believe in protecting complainants
00:04:01.660 and sexual assault trials so that we don't discourage
00:04:03.660 other people from bringing their cases forward.
00:04:06.520 That differs, obviously, from the system
00:04:08.720 that they have in the United States.
00:04:10.340 There are certain pros and cons in both directions,
00:04:13.720 depending on which approach that you take.
00:04:15.440 Neither one is without compromise.
00:04:16.660 In terms of whether her name will ever be released,
00:04:20.060 I mean, ultimately, I guess that's kind of up to her,
00:04:22.300 whether she wants to release her name or not.
00:04:24.420 Whether it should be released,
00:04:26.140 I actually kind of disagree in the sense
00:04:28.700 that I thought that she was credible.
00:04:31.760 She was inconsistent, but I did think that she was credible
00:04:34.300 in the sense that there was very little disagreement
00:04:36.420 about what occurred.
00:04:38.400 There was just a lot of disagreement
00:04:39.620 over whether what occurred was criminal or not.
00:04:42.520 Because what is immoral is not always criminal, right?
00:04:46.200 Or what is in bad taste is not always criminal.
00:04:49.280 And likewise, as we saw with Tamera Leach and Chris Barber,
00:04:52.100 what is illegal is not always immoral
00:04:54.060 in the eyes of the public.
00:04:55.660 So I actually found her probably more credible than the judge,
00:05:00.100 but the judge also identified a lot more inconsistencies than I did.
00:05:03.120 And I guess that's why she's a judge 1.00
00:05:04.360 and I'm just a bodily crime reporter.
00:05:07.440 Yeah, Waleed, were you paying any attention 1.00
00:05:09.400 to the Hockey Canada trial
00:05:10.740 or its subsequent, I guess, social reactions?
00:05:16.080 The trial was clearly headed in a certain direction.
00:05:18.280 So I was much more interested
00:05:19.340 about what the court of public opinion had to say.
00:05:22.420 Because obviously, you know,
00:05:23.560 we figured out very quickly
00:05:24.660 that all people were found out guilty.
00:05:26.720 And so the question is,
00:05:28.220 how will they be embraced by their fan bases,
00:05:30.280 their teams?
00:05:31.460 How will their careers move forward?
00:05:32.880 And this has happened in other sporting environments as well,
00:05:35.140 where athletes, oftentimes high-profile individuals,
00:05:38.380 have been accused, have been found out guilty.
00:05:40.080 But the career ramifications have been high cost
00:05:42.680 because, you know, life is short, as we say,
00:05:44.940 but a career in sports is even shorter.
00:05:47.640 And I think hockey has that same role, frankly.
00:05:49.600 And so missing, I don't know how long they missed.
00:05:52.460 I don't know if Alex, you have any idea
00:05:53.800 about how many times this,
00:05:55.380 how much time he spent off the ice
00:05:57.200 with their teams or the national program.
00:05:59.620 But regardless, any time is a lot of time
00:06:02.060 if it isn't something to do
00:06:03.300 with the actual sport in hand, like injury.
00:06:05.800 So it's unfortunate that they had to go through that,
00:06:08.160 but it's not the first
00:06:10.180 and maybe not be the last.
00:06:13.160 But I definitely do think it's put a bit of a dent
00:06:16.140 in what was once a much more strong,
00:06:18.580 I could say, Me Too movement effect in Canada,
00:06:21.620 where, you know,
00:06:22.700 as soon as the accusation goes public,
00:06:25.540 people's careers, profiles,
00:06:27.220 everything just goes to bits.
00:06:28.980 So I wonder what the long-term applications will be
00:06:33.360 on perhaps future high-profile cases of this matter.
00:06:36.660 Yeah, I did have something to say
00:06:38.180 just based on the NHL recurrence of these players,
00:06:41.740 let's say, because the goalie,
00:06:43.980 in the case Carter Hart,
00:06:45.200 obviously he's from Shore Park, I think,
00:06:47.100 which is essentially right outside of Edmonton.
00:06:49.220 And a lot of Edmontonians,
00:06:50.880 given our search for a goalie,
00:06:52.320 have been calling for him to return home.
00:06:54.620 But something interesting I found
00:06:55.820 that John Shannon just tweeted,
00:06:57.260 a very reputable hockey commentator,
00:06:59.460 he said, quote,
00:07:00.680 the five former world junior players
00:07:02.260 who were acquitted in London today
00:07:03.440 are not technically suspended by the NHL,
00:07:05.800 but at this point,
00:07:06.500 they are not eligible to play in the NHL.
00:07:08.820 The commissioner will have a say on their future.
00:07:10.500 So I don't know,
00:07:11.960 he didn't go into detail,
00:07:12.920 so I don't know what the legal ramifications are there
00:07:14.840 and what the NHL has to decide
00:07:16.520 for these players to play.
00:07:17.560 Like, based on this tweet,
00:07:19.040 I don't think a player could be signed tomorrow.
00:07:22.660 So we'll see what happens there.
00:07:23.660 I think that's actually a union concern
00:07:25.520 the union, NHL union,
00:07:28.780 which has, as you probably know,
00:07:30.760 a lot of sway on the league.
00:07:32.180 So we'll have to see what happens.
00:07:33.520 And then, I mean,
00:07:34.980 it'll be very, very interesting
00:07:36.180 to see if any of these players are signed quickly
00:07:38.820 because these are,
00:07:40.000 as you mentioned there, Alex,
00:07:41.180 like very talented hockey players.
00:07:42.560 These aren't some fourth liners
00:07:44.320 like Carter Hart, for example.
00:07:45.740 I mean, he's a starting goaltender.
00:07:47.260 Some of the other players there,
00:07:48.420 they could be on your first, second line.
00:07:50.060 Like these are some superstars in some cases.
00:07:52.300 So definitely some teams
00:07:54.020 are probably going to be looking to sign them,
00:07:57.280 especially if they can get a discount
00:07:58.540 because, I mean,
00:07:59.380 those kind of deals
00:08:00.140 don't just come around, right?
00:08:02.280 Yeah.
00:08:02.720 I mean, I know that one of the players,
00:08:04.000 Alex Formington,
00:08:05.080 he's stepped away from hockey entirely.
00:08:07.940 He's working in construction now.
00:08:10.120 As for the other players,
00:08:11.560 Dylan Dubé,
00:08:12.280 I think he's playing in Minsk,
00:08:14.460 was the last place that he was playing.
00:08:15.840 And Michael McLeod was playing in Afghanistan,
00:08:19.200 or not Afghanistan, Kazakhstan,
00:08:21.620 which, you know,
00:08:23.900 is pretty much just as remote, frankly.
00:08:25.680 They just don't have as many hockey rinks
00:08:27.000 in Afghanistan as they do in Kazakhstan.
00:08:28.920 He's actually playing in an arena
00:08:29.940 that sometimes doubles as a circus tent.
00:08:32.940 So, yeah,
00:08:34.140 it's been a really,
00:08:35.340 really interesting ride
00:08:36.100 for a lot of these players.
00:08:37.160 Carter Hart hasn't played for a while
00:08:38.540 and Calfoot,
00:08:39.380 I don't think,
00:08:39.760 has played anywhere
00:08:40.300 for a couple of years either.
00:08:41.720 So a couple of years away
00:08:43.860 from playing professional hockey
00:08:45.140 is really harmful
00:08:46.180 to a player's development.
00:08:47.480 As Walid was pointing out,
00:08:48.660 you know,
00:08:49.240 professional sports careers
00:08:50.320 are very short.
00:08:51.660 Well, not just that.
00:08:52.760 I mean, these guys,
00:08:53.460 if you think about it
00:08:54.020 from a financial perspective,
00:08:55.320 how short an NHL player's career is,
00:08:57.800 I mean,
00:08:58.000 they've lost millions of dollars.
00:08:59.220 Like, I don't know
00:08:59.860 what their contracts were,
00:09:01.000 but assuming Hart made
00:09:01.840 like five to eight million a year,
00:09:03.900 I mean,
00:09:04.200 how much has he lost?
00:09:05.720 It's unbelievable, right?
00:09:07.680 Yeah, and on that note,
00:09:08.420 there's an interesting little side note
00:09:09.580 to all of this,
00:09:10.140 which is Alex Formington,
00:09:11.700 who's no longer playing hockey,
00:09:13.240 his agent had told him
00:09:15.100 to negotiate harder,
00:09:16.120 I believe it was,
00:09:16.840 when his contract was up for renewal.
00:09:19.040 So he didn't re-sign.
00:09:20.700 And then in between
00:09:21.400 the amount of time
00:09:22.160 when he could have re-signed,
00:09:23.380 these charges came up
00:09:24.520 and he basically lost the offer.
00:09:27.020 And so he's suing his agent
00:09:28.280 and his agency
00:09:29.160 having a multi-million dollar lawsuit.
00:09:31.060 So that'll be another thing
00:09:32.580 to kind of watch
00:09:33.540 in the follow-up of all this.
00:09:35.160 The story that just keeps on giving,
00:09:37.040 eh, Alex?
00:09:37.760 Yeah, yeah.
00:09:38.920 Well, it's not the longest
00:09:40.080 mischief trial in history,
00:09:41.280 but it's still up there.
00:09:43.240 Speaking of a story
00:09:45.140 that keeps on giving,
00:09:46.760 sort of,
00:09:47.120 because it's evolved a bit,
00:09:48.780 of course,
00:09:49.860 recently it was revealed
00:09:51.800 that federal government employees
00:09:54.520 were streaming terabytes,
00:09:56.760 terabytes,
00:09:57.460 I mean,
00:09:57.680 that's hard to even quantify
00:09:59.280 as a lot of data,
00:10:01.240 terabytes of video
00:10:02.500 while at work,
00:10:03.540 I guess.
00:10:04.180 I think it was equivalent
00:10:05.620 to 3,000 hours of video.
00:10:08.460 Maybe that was just
00:10:09.120 a specific agency
00:10:09.940 or if it was all
00:10:10.460 the federal employees.
00:10:11.160 I don't know.
00:10:11.680 Waleed,
00:10:12.200 what was going on
00:10:13.500 with this story?
00:10:14.200 And as far as I understand,
00:10:15.820 they've now banned
00:10:16.780 Netflix and stuff
00:10:18.760 at federal government buildings.
00:10:20.300 What's the deal there?
00:10:21.880 So the ban actually came
00:10:23.180 last fall
00:10:24.700 and it's now revealed
00:10:27.160 more so
00:10:28.300 why that ban
00:10:29.200 came in the first place.
00:10:30.680 I mean,
00:10:30.860 obviously,
00:10:31.280 they have multiple reasons
00:10:32.560 to ban
00:10:33.020 Amazon Prime Video,
00:10:35.020 Disney+,
00:10:35.620 and obviously Netflix
00:10:36.640 because they simply
00:10:38.100 have no professional value
00:10:39.160 and now we're cited
00:10:40.060 in the first time
00:10:41.180 that they had announced
00:10:42.700 as to why they
00:10:43.860 banned
00:10:44.580 those streaming services
00:10:45.920 from the
00:10:47.080 government employee offices.
00:10:49.780 But something
00:10:50.280 that was revealed
00:10:51.040 later on
00:10:51.880 and that's the new story
00:10:53.120 of the day
00:10:53.560 is the fact that
00:10:54.860 one of the main reasons
00:10:56.020 was to deal with productivity
00:10:57.420 because you mentioned
00:10:59.180 3,000 hours.
00:11:00.340 3,000 hours
00:11:01.280 of standard video
00:11:02.800 is only the public service
00:11:04.800 and Procurement Canada
00:11:05.880 department.
00:11:07.320 That doesn't include,
00:11:08.000 for example,
00:11:08.440 the Privy Council
00:11:09.120 which had about
00:11:10.160 1.5 terabytes
00:11:11.160 which would amount
00:11:11.780 to closer to
00:11:12.500 1.5 to 1.6 thousand
00:11:14.740 hours of standard video.
00:11:15.860 Again,
00:11:16.260 for most of these offices
00:11:17.500 they're running on monitors
00:11:18.700 and computer hardware
00:11:19.680 and it's pretty straightforward.
00:11:21.340 So I wouldn't expect
00:11:21.880 anyone streaming
00:11:22.360 anything at 4K
00:11:23.200 or anything beyond HD.
00:11:25.500 So these figures
00:11:26.360 are quite relevant
00:11:27.380 to exactly what
00:11:28.500 they're looking at
00:11:29.120 on their screen.
00:11:30.000 So it is a lot of hours
00:11:31.800 and that's the Privy Council.
00:11:33.320 I think Global Affairs Canada
00:11:34.620 the Department of Fisheries
00:11:36.100 and Oceans
00:11:37.020 and then of course
00:11:37.980 the Department of Innovation Science
00:11:39.300 and Economic Development
00:11:40.240 were also among
00:11:41.620 the top 10 departments
00:11:43.200 that all had 0.75
00:11:46.520 almost 1 terabyte each
00:11:48.920 and that would be
00:11:49.940 at least 1,000 hours
00:11:51.360 worth of video.
00:11:52.080 So you can do
00:11:52.820 the numbers yourself.
00:11:54.380 That's thousands
00:11:55.400 upon thousands
00:11:56.160 of hours
00:11:56.900 between 10
00:11:58.180 different departments
00:11:59.220 that are working
00:12:01.060 in Ottawa
00:12:01.540 working on behalf
00:12:02.440 of Canadians
00:12:02.980 on the taxpayer dollar
00:12:04.140 on the hour
00:12:05.460 at the office.
00:12:07.180 So it makes sense
00:12:08.340 that this ban
00:12:09.120 came into effect
00:12:09.900 but frankly
00:12:11.060 for the sake
00:12:11.880 of transparency
00:12:12.460 it would have been
00:12:12.900 much better
00:12:13.260 to have access
00:12:14.000 to this information
00:12:14.700 prior
00:12:15.100 because I'm sure
00:12:16.260 that streaming services
00:12:17.660 aren't the only thing
00:12:18.420 that people can be doing
00:12:19.260 at work
00:12:19.800 that could distract them.
00:12:20.800 I mean we're in the age
00:12:21.460 of social media
00:12:22.060 where they
00:12:22.920 I mean TikTok
00:12:23.380 has obviously been banned
00:12:24.260 for national security
00:12:25.160 related reasons
00:12:26.140 but I also do believe
00:12:27.140 that there might be
00:12:28.040 some room
00:12:28.480 for an extended ban
00:12:29.680 onto other
00:12:30.260 traditional
00:12:31.020 Western media
00:12:32.100 because frankly
00:12:32.800 look if this is
00:12:33.600 what they're able
00:12:33.960 to do with Netflix
00:12:34.740 what else can
00:12:35.900 some of those
00:12:36.300 employees can do
00:12:36.940 but it's a story
00:12:38.600 that I don't think
00:12:39.380 has come out yet
00:12:40.000 so we'll wait
00:12:40.820 and see what
00:12:41.380 following actions
00:12:43.260 will occur
00:12:44.140 but man
00:12:45.740 I mean Ottawa
00:12:47.940 is getting a little bit lazy
00:12:48.880 that's all I can say.
00:12:51.040 Yeah Waleed 1.00
00:12:51.320 there was something
00:12:51.780 I wanted to ask you
00:12:52.520 and I'm gonna
00:12:52.960 self-incriminate
00:12:54.420 a bit here
00:12:54.840 because I just want
00:12:55.900 your opinion
00:12:56.740 on whether you think
00:12:57.460 the ban was effective
00:12:58.140 because
00:12:58.520 and this is what I'll say
00:12:59.480 when I was like 12
00:13:00.700 I went to my mom's office
00:13:01.800 for her bringing
00:13:03.320 a kid to work day
00:13:03.880 or something
00:13:04.260 I don't know
00:13:04.600 why I was there
00:13:05.100 and she had
00:13:06.560 her office did 0.76
00:13:07.600 like a blocker
00:13:08.640 on Facebook
00:13:09.080 and all these things
00:13:09.780 and I was a 12 year old kid
00:13:10.880 and I bypassed it
00:13:11.700 in like two seconds
00:13:12.380 using a proxy
00:13:13.080 you could easily
00:13:13.920 do the same
00:13:14.400 with a VPN
00:13:14.900 on any of your devices
00:13:15.900 I mean it's so simple
00:13:16.940 these are adults
00:13:17.740 grown adults
00:13:18.380 I'm pretty sure
00:13:18.880 they could figure this out
00:13:19.820 if a 12 year old
00:13:20.920 little nerdy kid
00:13:21.540 like me
00:13:21.960 could have done it
00:13:23.240 so yeah
00:13:23.560 do you think
00:13:23.940 it'll actually
00:13:24.460 be effective
00:13:25.540 or are they just
00:13:26.040 all gonna be like
00:13:26.460 ah pay five bucks
00:13:27.540 a month for the VPN
00:13:28.260 I'll just
00:13:28.920 bill the taxpayer
00:13:29.880 for that anyways
00:13:30.680 well frankly
00:13:34.140 it depends on
00:13:34.680 what the logistics
00:13:35.240 are looking like
00:13:35.840 I actually think
00:13:36.460 there's a great tie
00:13:37.360 on this issue
00:13:38.420 compared
00:13:38.900 tying into the issue
00:13:40.520 of work from home
00:13:41.680 because this is
00:13:42.860 happening at the office
00:13:43.820 we're not looking
00:13:44.980 at what's happening
00:13:45.480 at home
00:13:45.980 during office hours
00:13:47.700 while employees
00:13:48.920 are meant to work
00:13:49.560 because obviously
00:13:50.500 they're given
00:13:51.100 laptops and devices
00:13:52.720 that are property
00:13:53.400 of the government of Canada
00:13:54.260 which can have
00:13:55.520 trackable features
00:13:56.880 of course
00:13:57.400 to be able
00:13:58.000 to understand
00:13:58.480 exactly what they're doing
00:13:59.460 and have some level
00:14:01.280 of idea
00:14:01.840 of what their productivity is
00:14:03.260 but usually
00:14:04.360 if they're at the office
00:14:05.560 they may be using
00:14:06.280 a kind of internal
00:14:07.700 internet service
00:14:08.800 much better
00:14:09.400 to be much better monitored
00:14:10.800 so with a VPN involved
00:14:13.200 yes you can bypass
00:14:14.340 the blockade
00:14:15.660 in front of them
00:14:16.300 but can you bypass
00:14:17.640 the monitoring systems
00:14:18.940 can you bypass
00:14:19.640 other features
00:14:20.960 of accountability
00:14:21.560 that I think
00:14:22.740 is a very interesting
00:14:23.500 IT question
00:14:24.460 to have
00:14:25.160 or put towards
00:14:26.120 the government
00:14:26.560 on this story
00:14:27.580 I would love to follow up
00:14:28.620 with any department
00:14:30.200 if I'd be willing
00:14:30.840 to answer that question
00:14:31.740 because I want to understand
00:14:32.720 if this is part
00:14:34.080 of the context
00:14:34.620 as to why they've
00:14:35.360 enforced this ban
00:14:36.180 then what will they do
00:14:37.500 to continue addressing
00:14:38.340 that very same context
00:14:39.340 because it isn't just
00:14:40.100 about the fact
00:14:40.620 that Netflix
00:14:41.260 has never been
00:14:41.920 professionally beneficial
00:14:42.640 to the federal government
00:14:43.840 bureaucracy
00:14:45.200 it's never been
00:14:46.200 so we know that
00:14:47.340 they've told us
00:14:47.900 that last fall
00:14:48.580 now this is coming out
00:14:49.860 this is really the truth
00:14:50.980 how we're going to address
00:14:52.140 this beyond just this ban
00:14:53.720 what else can be done
00:14:55.080 and of course
00:14:55.800 what else could be banned
00:14:56.560 as I mentioned before
00:14:57.720 so I'm kind of curious
00:14:59.680 to know if this can also tie
00:15:01.100 into the whole
00:15:02.400 future outlook
00:15:03.580 of the work from home
00:15:04.880 hybrid system
00:15:05.640 because once you detach
00:15:06.900 from the office
00:15:07.920 you're on your own
00:15:08.900 home internet
00:15:09.400 you're on your
00:15:10.060 you have much more
00:15:11.180 I think flexibility
00:15:12.440 to hide things away
00:15:13.420 you don't even have to
00:15:14.280 use your work device
00:15:15.040 frankly
00:15:15.360 and that's the thing
00:15:16.000 people nowadays
00:15:16.980 have two or three laptops
00:15:18.540 per head
00:15:19.760 or per capita
00:15:20.820 at home
00:15:21.320 so it isn't like
00:15:22.520 they don't have
00:15:22.980 a second device
00:15:23.580 to work off them
00:15:24.320 so if that's the nature
00:15:25.340 if that's the climate
00:15:26.240 or that's the culture
00:15:27.300 at the bureaucracy now
00:15:29.220 then frankly
00:15:29.960 my hope for
00:15:31.300 anything but cuts
00:15:32.700 and anything but scrutiny
00:15:33.780 is second to none
00:15:36.120 I didn't even know
00:15:39.180 that Netflix
00:15:39.780 had 3,000 hours
00:15:40.880 worth of content
00:15:41.700 that's a lot
00:15:44.180 they probably have
00:15:44.580 like 3 million hours
00:15:45.600 worth of content now
00:15:46.440 yeah
00:15:46.900 I suppose
00:15:47.780 is there any information
00:15:48.780 from what they're watching
00:15:49.740 like are they just watching
00:15:50.800 like the same episode
00:15:51.740 of Friends
00:15:52.220 over and over again
00:15:53.200 this guy re-watched
00:15:54.860 Suits nine times
00:15:55.880 oh my god
00:15:57.600 watching it once
00:15:58.880 feels like watching it twice
00:16:00.060 that's how I feel
00:16:00.880 about that series
00:16:01.560 but that's a different story
00:16:02.840 so sticking with the federal government
00:16:07.280 but moving over to terrorists
00:16:10.360 instead of video streaming
00:16:12.200 yeah we saw some things
00:16:13.940 come out with
00:16:14.720 the Liberal Public Safety Minister
00:16:16.560 Gary Anandasangri there
00:16:18.040 you wrote about this
00:16:19.060 what was going on
00:16:20.500 in short
00:16:22.600 Gary is someone
00:16:24.300 that has been very involved
00:16:26.180 with the Sri Lankan diaspora
00:16:27.540 and in Sri Lanka
00:16:29.520 for a significant period
00:16:32.360 in the 80s
00:16:33.020 90s
00:16:33.760 and even early 2000s
00:16:35.340 civil war
00:16:36.200 has ravaged the country
00:16:37.520 and military groups
00:16:38.920 that are designated
00:16:39.580 as terrorist groups
00:16:40.500 have been part
00:16:41.320 and parcel of that
00:16:42.180 so what he did
00:16:43.880 is
00:16:44.140 there are members
00:16:45.340 of those groups
00:16:46.140 including the
00:16:47.520 Tamil
00:16:48.380 or you can call them
00:16:49.780 the Tamil Tigers
00:16:50.540 or Liberation
00:16:51.560 Organization
00:16:52.540 I think the full name
00:16:54.360 is Sri Lanka
00:16:55.000 Lanka's Tamil Tigers
00:16:56.300 that group
00:16:57.860 is a designated terrorist group
00:16:59.040 by over 35 countries
00:17:00.200 including Canada
00:17:01.080 since 2006
00:17:02.040 this group is actually responsible
00:17:04.440 and I never thought about this
00:17:05.840 I never heard of this before
00:17:07.660 but
00:17:07.940 they were responsible
00:17:09.160 for pioneering the use
00:17:10.800 of suicide vests
00:17:12.420 in insurgency in combat
00:17:14.320 I would have always think
00:17:15.320 it was probably Al-Qaeda
00:17:16.240 or ISIS
00:17:16.820 but I think they've popularized it
00:17:18.840 but I don't think they
00:17:19.500 they pioneered it
00:17:20.700 so give credit where credit is due
00:17:22.400 but
00:17:22.680 there was a member of this group
00:17:24.340 someone who admitted
00:17:25.500 to be a member of this group
00:17:26.820 that had spoken
00:17:27.980 to the Border Services Agency
00:17:30.520 and admitted to be part
00:17:31.800 of this group
00:17:32.200 now
00:17:32.380 he did admit to committing
00:17:33.480 any acts of violence
00:17:34.460 at least that's what
00:17:35.360 his testimony says
00:17:36.300 he said he was a member
00:17:37.520 of the group
00:17:37.880 handing out flyers
00:17:38.740 and this member
00:17:40.040 along with a few other members
00:17:41.220 but specifically this case
00:17:42.600 which was brought
00:17:43.140 to the Global News
00:17:43.880 which then took a round
00:17:45.600 and made circles the media
00:17:46.860 Gary wrote a letter
00:17:49.080 on his behalf
00:17:50.180 doing some charity work
00:17:51.420 with some Tamil
00:17:52.500 Sri Lankan diaspora organizations
00:17:54.120 trying to support his case
00:17:55.820 to remain in Canada
00:17:57.980 and that letter
00:17:59.640 is something
00:18:00.460 that probably contradicts
00:18:01.640 obviously contradicts
00:18:03.040 rather
00:18:03.260 the statement
00:18:04.820 of his office
00:18:05.620 of public safety minister
00:18:06.880 he's sticking up
00:18:07.820 for the terrorists
00:18:08.520 trying to convince
00:18:09.660 our security authorities
00:18:10.920 to allow him in
00:18:11.840 trying to bypass
00:18:13.020 the security apparatus
00:18:14.340 through giving
00:18:16.060 whatever credibility
00:18:17.320 his name has
00:18:17.940 and that letter
00:18:18.540 the last series
00:18:19.600 or the last letter
00:18:20.680 he issued
00:18:21.120 in that case
00:18:21.920 was as early as 2023
00:18:23.960 when he was a sworn
00:18:25.720 member of cabinet
00:18:26.500 now I'm not sure
00:18:27.200 what his portfolio was
00:18:28.140 but now
00:18:28.880 or ever since
00:18:29.640 he's become
00:18:30.000 public safety minister
00:18:30.860 that scrutiny
00:18:32.100 has been ever more
00:18:33.200 bright on him
00:18:33.700 and I think it's
00:18:34.600 well deserved
00:18:35.120 to thank me
00:18:35.500 because I mean
00:18:36.320 this is ridiculous
00:18:37.260 I don't know
00:18:37.900 how many other people
00:18:38.580 in the liberal cabinet
00:18:39.620 have this kind of
00:18:40.780 you know
00:18:41.440 stinking food in them
00:18:43.320 really
00:18:43.820 I mean
00:18:44.180 it's the most ironic thing
00:18:46.080 the public safety minister
00:18:47.240 is someone
00:18:47.640 who's sticking up
00:18:48.400 for people
00:18:48.900 coming into Canada
00:18:50.220 it's one thing
00:18:50.960 to think about terrorists
00:18:51.900 and have a view
00:18:52.720 about the terrorist group
00:18:53.520 in another part of the world
00:18:54.580 but to try to vouch
00:18:55.800 for that person
00:18:56.300 to come into Canada
00:18:57.160 I really think
00:18:58.580 this is something
00:18:59.220 that has to bring
00:19:00.860 about a resignation
00:19:01.440 at some point
00:19:02.120 really
00:19:03.280 you think
00:19:03.620 it should bring
00:19:04.700 about a resignation
00:19:05.440 I don't know
00:19:07.360 too Carney's talk
00:19:08.740 has been so far
00:19:10.080 I think Carney's
00:19:10.660 back to him
00:19:11.160 on the record
00:19:11.660 I haven't seen
00:19:12.320 what he said
00:19:12.860 about this case
00:19:13.480 in particular
00:19:13.940 but I have said
00:19:15.160 I've seen him
00:19:15.700 defend him in the past
00:19:16.560 when it came
00:19:16.920 to the whole scandal
00:19:17.800 with him
00:19:18.300 and you know
00:19:19.800 not knowing anything
00:19:20.560 about guns
00:19:21.100 and gun licenses
00:19:22.320 and the things
00:19:24.340 that gun owners
00:19:24.940 have to go through
00:19:25.500 in order to have guns
00:19:26.220 in Canada
00:19:26.560 that was a story
00:19:27.300 we covered
00:19:27.640 I think last week
00:19:28.440 on Off the Record
00:19:29.560 so our viewers
00:19:30.580 can go back
00:19:30.940 and watch that episode
00:19:31.660 but I think
00:19:33.780 the public
00:19:34.380 will put some pressure
00:19:35.260 I think there will be
00:19:35.960 some lobbies
00:19:36.700 and some concerned
00:19:38.000 Canadians
00:19:38.640 that will definitely
00:19:39.440 bring this about
00:19:40.280 with their MPs
00:19:41.400 but I don't know
00:19:42.480 if Carney's the one
00:19:43.220 to pull the plug
00:19:43.900 without something
00:19:45.480 biting him in the butt 0.99
00:19:46.520 yeah I don't think
00:19:48.100 accountability
00:19:48.700 has historically
00:19:50.580 been something
00:19:51.180 that liberals
00:19:51.920 generate on their own
00:19:53.440 but we have seen
00:19:54.400 that public backlash
00:19:56.780 for example
00:19:57.900 just in relation
00:19:58.500 to this Netflix thing
00:19:59.400 once this all
00:19:59.920 got revealed
00:20:00.320 right
00:20:00.540 public backlash
00:20:01.880 can certainly
00:20:02.380 have an effect
00:20:03.140 on the liberals
00:20:04.340 and sway the way
00:20:06.340 they make their decisions
00:20:07.440 so I wouldn't say
00:20:08.660 that without public backlash
00:20:10.100 anything would happen
00:20:11.120 but who knows
00:20:11.640 if people get mad enough
00:20:12.920 you know
00:20:13.680 it could definitely
00:20:14.360 move the needle
00:20:15.260 yeah
00:20:16.580 what did you think
00:20:17.560 Alex
00:20:17.980 just
00:20:19.280 I'm not as familiar
00:20:20.500 with the story
00:20:21.040 as I probably should
00:20:21.880 because I also wrote
00:20:22.540 an article on it
00:20:23.260 but I'm just curious
00:20:24.880 did he
00:20:26.040 did he ever get citizenship
00:20:27.360 I don't believe so
00:20:32.480 actually
00:20:32.880 and that's
00:20:33.360 perhaps a sign
00:20:35.580 of some part
00:20:36.980 of the regime
00:20:37.820 our security regime
00:20:39.340 working
00:20:39.940 yeah
00:20:40.960 I was going to say
00:20:41.700 that seems like a rare win
00:20:43.040 for either Mark Miller
00:20:44.160 or Sean Fraser
00:20:45.000 like a very rare win
00:20:47.220 I want to give
00:20:49.640 pin the credit
00:20:50.200 on them
00:20:50.560 frankly
00:20:50.880 I'll pin the credit
00:20:51.580 on the pages
00:20:52.900 in case
00:20:53.740 themselves
00:20:54.100 probably
00:20:54.540 yeah
00:20:55.240 the Ministry
00:20:55.800 of Immigration
00:20:56.360 probably has
00:20:57.100 at least one
00:20:57.720 or two
00:20:58.220 competent bureaucrats
00:20:59.340 in there somewhere
00:20:59.960 so
00:21:00.780 somewhere
00:21:02.280 somewhere
00:21:03.180 buried deep
00:21:04.420 in the pile
00:21:06.480 moving to a different
00:21:09.660 public organization
00:21:12.300 let's say
00:21:12.900 I mean
00:21:13.300 look
00:21:13.640 the list
00:21:14.580 of whistleblowers
00:21:16.060 exposing the CBC
00:21:17.720 and its bias
00:21:18.640 and ideological
00:21:19.860 preferences
00:21:21.820 let's say
00:21:22.460 just keeps on growing
00:21:23.560 for example
00:21:24.740 another former
00:21:26.180 recent CBC reporter
00:21:27.520 as you can see
00:21:28.700 wrote a
00:21:29.640 True North
00:21:30.160 article there
00:21:31.880 and he discussed
00:21:33.240 the censorship
00:21:34.800 the bias
00:21:35.400 and ideological
00:21:35.960 gatekeeping
00:21:36.540 that is going on
00:21:37.560 inside of Canada's
00:21:38.500 state broadcaster
00:21:39.340 echoing very similar
00:21:40.980 allegations
00:21:41.500 made by
00:21:42.840 previous
00:21:43.860 whistleblowers 1.00
00:21:44.560 this most recent
00:21:46.040 one was Jason
00:21:46.660 Unrau
00:21:47.080 who worked at
00:21:47.780 CBC
00:21:48.140 and Yellowknife
00:21:48.760 in Ottawa
00:21:49.180 and one of the
00:21:50.860 things he wrote
00:21:51.620 in his True North
00:21:52.240 column there
00:21:52.720 was quote
00:21:53.340 the CBC's culture
00:21:54.480 of ideological
00:21:55.200 conformity
00:21:55.900 and censorship
00:21:56.560 up close
00:21:57.580 that he witnessed
00:21:58.200 it
00:21:58.420 and that it
00:21:59.140 would shock
00:21:59.800 most Canadians
00:22:00.720 but perhaps
00:22:01.820 less so
00:22:02.760 and less so
00:22:03.260 with these
00:22:03.960 more whistleblowers
00:22:04.660 who keep coming
00:22:05.300 forward
00:22:05.640 and kind of
00:22:06.320 pointing a
00:22:07.800 spotlight on
00:22:08.420 what the inner
00:22:09.340 workings of the
00:22:09.960 CBC are
00:22:10.580 from an employee
00:22:12.680 culture perspective
00:22:13.760 for example
00:22:15.200 Unrau said
00:22:15.820 that CBC's
00:22:16.660 editorial culture
00:22:17.520 was all about
00:22:18.700 stifling dissenting
00:22:19.580 views
00:22:20.020 and staff
00:22:20.860 were even
00:22:21.180 punished
00:22:21.640 for questioning
00:22:22.460 any narrative
00:22:24.140 that was ongoing
00:22:25.040 like he claims
00:22:26.380 for example
00:22:27.260 stories that were
00:22:28.580 skeptical in any
00:22:29.380 way of climate
00:22:29.860 change or
00:22:30.360 indigenous narratives
00:22:31.160 were just
00:22:31.660 completely shut
00:22:32.320 down by woke
00:22:32.860 managers
00:22:33.280 he referenced
00:22:35.680 at one point
00:22:36.480 bringing on
00:22:37.280 MPP Randy
00:22:38.760 Hillier
00:22:39.180 and the manager
00:22:40.860 just said
00:22:41.280 he's crazy
00:22:41.780 that's it
00:22:42.220 he can't come
00:22:42.780 like that's all
00:22:43.760 it was
00:22:44.080 there was no
00:22:44.440 reasoning given
00:22:44.980 aside from
00:22:45.500 the quote
00:22:46.180 crazy
00:22:46.740 and of
00:22:47.900 course this
00:22:48.260 follows very
00:22:49.060 very very
00:22:49.680 shortly after
00:22:50.380 we saw
00:22:51.640 Travis Danraj
00:22:52.520 resign very
00:22:53.920 publicly from
00:22:54.540 the CBC
00:22:55.060 and the
00:22:56.160 claims he
00:22:56.580 was making
00:22:57.080 which were
00:22:58.340 that he was
00:22:58.900 forced out
00:22:59.440 after raising
00:23:00.240 concerns about
00:23:00.920 tokenism and
00:23:02.120 political bias
00:23:02.960 and then
00:23:04.360 there's other
00:23:05.420 examples for
00:23:06.700 example from
00:23:07.180 2022 it was
00:23:08.260 Tara Henley
00:23:09.100 who was a
00:23:09.920 former producer
00:23:10.520 and she
00:23:10.840 similarly
00:23:11.340 accused the
00:23:12.340 CBC of
00:23:12.940 promoting a
00:23:13.680 radical political
00:23:14.500 agenda even
00:23:15.780 requiring staff
00:23:16.540 to racially
00:23:17.160 profile guests
00:23:18.140 just to meet
00:23:18.720 diversity targets
00:23:19.720 and she
00:23:20.680 described a
00:23:21.300 workplace where
00:23:21.900 certain viewpoints
00:23:22.740 again were
00:23:23.300 off limits
00:23:23.880 completely and
00:23:24.920 critical thinking
00:23:25.640 was discouraged
00:23:26.900 something Unruh
00:23:28.000 raised was he
00:23:29.140 said look
00:23:30.760 people want to
00:23:31.300 be at the
00:23:31.600 CBC because
00:23:32.320 the pay is
00:23:32.980 phenomenal and
00:23:33.900 outside of that
00:23:35.100 though it may
00:23:36.880 not be as
00:23:37.720 good as it
00:23:38.260 looks it's all
00:23:39.700 about you know
00:23:40.300 towing the
00:23:40.880 ideological line
00:23:41.680 that's a quote
00:23:42.080 he used I
00:23:42.640 mean yeah do
00:23:43.220 you guys think
00:23:43.840 the CBC are
00:23:44.500 going to face
00:23:44.900 backlash with all
00:23:45.880 these whistleblowers
00:23:46.560 coming out or
00:23:47.320 they kind of
00:23:48.240 just they can do
00:23:48.800 what they want
00:23:49.240 because as we've
00:23:49.880 seen despite
00:23:51.200 them not meeting
00:23:52.220 performance targets
00:23:53.020 despite their
00:23:53.580 performance plummeting
00:23:54.540 Carney recently
00:23:55.740 pledged more
00:23:56.380 money to them so
00:23:57.120 it seems like
00:23:57.640 they're almost
00:23:58.260 immune from
00:23:59.080 public backlash
00:24:00.340 well I think
00:24:02.100 that they
00:24:02.380 certainly should
00:24:03.260 as somebody who
00:24:05.520 is an outsider
00:24:06.340 who went into
00:24:07.540 journalism kind of
00:24:08.320 later in life
00:24:09.100 my background was
00:24:10.100 in a different
00:24:10.540 field entirely
00:24:11.500 I don't think
00:24:12.560 I'm sharing
00:24:13.260 any kind of
00:24:14.020 trade secrets
00:24:14.680 here when I
00:24:15.240 say that
00:24:15.680 sometimes you
00:24:16.500 know when
00:24:16.780 you're in the
00:24:17.720 newsroom and
00:24:19.420 you submit a
00:24:20.160 story it gets
00:24:20.880 spiked and the
00:24:21.900 reason that it
00:24:22.340 gets spiked is
00:24:23.100 because well in
00:24:24.460 the case of our
00:24:24.960 organization we
00:24:25.680 say well maybe
00:24:26.040 our readers aren't
00:24:26.880 going to be
00:24:27.140 interested in that
00:24:27.880 we cater to a
00:24:28.760 kind of a
00:24:29.100 specific audience
00:24:30.040 the CBC though
00:24:31.640 they're a
00:24:32.140 taxpayer funded
00:24:32.860 organization and
00:24:33.860 their mandate is
00:24:34.840 to present news
00:24:35.900 to everyone to
00:24:37.620 all taxpayers
00:24:38.340 regardless of
00:24:39.100 what their
00:24:39.380 ideology happens to
00:24:40.560 be I mean we
00:24:41.540 don't take any
00:24:42.100 taxpayer subsidies
00:24:43.160 media subsidies
00:24:44.120 specifically so we
00:24:45.620 can kind of pick
00:24:46.240 and choose what we
00:24:47.020 want to put out
00:24:47.820 there and we
00:24:48.680 can do so without
00:24:49.300 having any kind of
00:24:50.080 moral apprehension
00:24:50.880 about it but the
00:24:52.020 CDC is obviously
00:24:52.840 very different I
00:24:53.900 mean taxpayers pay
00:24:56.060 their salaries whether
00:24:57.020 they're conservative
00:24:57.660 or liberal and so
00:24:58.600 they I believe have
00:24:59.520 an obligation to
00:25:00.340 present the news
00:25:01.160 fairly objectively
00:25:02.780 and without an
00:25:04.340 ideological bend and
00:25:05.840 I think that
00:25:06.760 Canadians are and
00:25:08.500 should be outraged
00:25:09.780 yeah just picking up
00:25:11.440 on something you
00:25:11.920 just said there
00:25:12.340 Alex it reminded
00:25:12.940 me because I
00:25:13.400 wrote a recent
00:25:13.840 article of Smith
00:25:14.560 where she was
00:25:15.560 essentially blasting
00:25:17.500 the legacy media
00:25:18.760 for bias and she
00:25:19.680 cited Dyn Raj's
00:25:20.740 recent resignation
00:25:22.600 and she said
00:25:23.560 something along the
00:25:24.100 lines I don't have
00:25:24.540 the quote here so
00:25:25.100 I'm paraphrasing but
00:25:25.760 she said something
00:25:26.320 along the lines of
00:25:27.220 these legacy media
00:25:28.120 decided they didn't
00:25:29.440 want conservative
00:25:30.020 viewers they
00:25:30.860 decided they didn't
00:25:31.600 want conservative
00:25:32.120 content and
00:25:32.700 surprise surprise
00:25:33.420 conservative viewers
00:25:34.940 and listeners went
00:25:35.700 elsewhere aka
00:25:36.560 independent media so
00:25:38.380 yeah Waleed what 0.99
00:25:39.980 do you think about
00:25:40.480 all these whistle
00:25:41.140 blowers coming out
00:25:41.900 against the CBC do
00:25:42.960 you think for
00:25:43.480 example that it's
00:25:44.300 the list will
00:25:45.780 continue to grow and
00:25:46.560 all these people are
00:25:47.280 going to talk about
00:25:47.780 the CBC I mean I
00:25:48.900 don't know
00:25:49.220 look I think we've
00:25:51.500 already observed one
00:25:52.240 thing which is the
00:25:52.980 fact that independent
00:25:53.740 media like us have
00:25:55.760 grown now that's
00:25:56.980 based on the audience
00:25:57.840 and that's basically
00:25:58.440 consumer market there
00:25:59.620 are more people
00:26:00.160 willing to invest
00:26:03.100 engage read
00:26:05.020 independent media not
00:26:06.420 just us but a long
00:26:07.860 list of outlets and
00:26:09.740 that population has
00:26:10.700 grown over the years
00:26:11.960 what I'm looking at
00:26:13.600 right now with this
00:26:14.520 situation with Travis
00:26:15.760 and others in the past
00:26:17.460 and perhaps others in
00:26:18.320 the future is the
00:26:19.360 talent pipeline is
00:26:20.900 those talented
00:26:21.660 journalist graduates or
00:26:23.100 those talented people
00:26:24.140 that weren't
00:26:24.720 necessarily in the
00:26:25.640 field of journalism at
00:26:26.440 an earlier stage and
00:26:27.280 people like my
00:26:28.160 colleague Alex that
00:26:29.120 had gathered other
00:26:30.740 experiences that brought
00:26:31.780 them into this field I
00:26:33.840 think those kinds of
00:26:35.320 folks like Travis
00:26:36.280 themselves will find
00:26:37.080 themselves in
00:26:37.780 alternative or
00:26:39.020 independent media and
00:26:40.920 that will change
00:26:41.460 the landscape not only
00:26:42.460 for viewers but also
00:26:44.100 for producers and
00:26:45.480 reporters and that
00:26:46.700 way the credibility
00:26:48.280 questions about you
00:26:49.780 know where's your best
00:26:51.720 outlet I mean or who
00:26:53.180 is your best talk show
00:26:55.420 or host or whomever I
00:26:56.940 mean the talent pipeline
00:26:58.220 is no longer going to
00:26:59.620 be headed towards the
00:27:00.980 CBC or the mainstream
00:27:02.280 media the talent pipeline
00:27:03.760 is going to be a bit
00:27:04.880 more balanced across
00:27:05.840 the board yeah people
00:27:07.280 will be looking for
00:27:07.800 the best paycheck but
00:27:08.860 people also look for
00:27:09.660 stability editorial
00:27:11.220 freedom and the
00:27:12.440 ability to express
00:27:12.940 themselves as they
00:27:13.560 wish I mean this is
00:27:14.580 what's going to happen
00:27:15.120 with the CBC and this
00:27:16.800 is something we have to
00:27:17.340 consider ourselves as
00:27:19.580 the fact that there
00:27:20.160 will be some that will
00:27:21.180 leave because simply
00:27:22.900 they're conservatives
00:27:24.080 and they can't be
00:27:25.240 tolerated under that
00:27:26.160 banner and then
00:27:27.140 there'll be some that
00:27:27.620 will leave because of
00:27:28.840 some other issues who
00:27:29.720 knows I mean sometimes
00:27:30.860 the left doesn't like the
00:27:31.800 CBC much either believe
00:27:33.440 it or not or I mean
00:27:34.560 the left I mean a real
00:27:35.560 hard left so there'll
00:27:36.660 be a point in time when
00:27:37.380 CBC will probably piss
00:27:38.700 off enough people to
00:27:39.940 really really lose its
00:27:41.480 public leadership to the
00:27:42.460 point where they can't
00:27:43.520 return to the same level
00:27:44.560 of operations or the
00:27:45.460 same level financial
00:27:46.160 you know sustainability
00:27:48.000 and therefore I think
00:27:49.600 we'll see some real
00:27:50.180 change from that point
00:27:51.180 so I think journalists
00:27:53.340 graduates young talent
00:27:54.760 older talent looking for
00:27:57.240 a new role I don't
00:27:58.920 think they'll look into
00:27:59.520 CBC the same way 0.79
00:28:00.540 because I think this
00:28:01.300 puts that on the
00:28:01.980 reputation not only as
00:28:03.220 a media organization
00:28:03.960 but simply just as an
00:28:05.080 employer the way you
00:28:06.140 treat your employees
00:28:06.860 your working conditions
00:28:08.180 Alex I'll ask you
00:28:10.220 something because I've
00:28:11.040 reported on this
00:28:11.900 extensively in the past
00:28:13.260 but despite the CBC
00:28:14.640 receiving what is it
00:28:15.960 now over 1.4 billion
00:28:17.280 dollars annually I've
00:28:19.100 looked at their annual
00:28:19.760 reports and and I'm
00:28:21.240 pretty sure there have
00:28:21.720 been times where they've
00:28:22.400 claimed a deficit I
00:28:23.280 mean it's it's
00:28:23.800 unbelievable could your
00:28:24.860 expenses be so high that
00:28:26.060 you're spending more than
00:28:26.820 you make it at 1.4
00:28:28.500 billion dollars but yeah
00:28:29.360 I just wanted to ask if
00:28:30.900 you think if the if the
00:28:32.900 how the CBC might change
00:28:34.320 if they lost federal
00:28:35.380 government funding in any
00:28:36.320 way maybe not like I'm
00:28:37.280 not saying they lose all
00:28:38.120 1.4 billion but say they
00:28:39.360 went down to 500 million
00:28:40.300 a year what what what
00:28:41.720 would that do to the CBC
00:28:42.920 as an organization and
00:28:44.260 and maybe I guess
00:28:45.180 Canada's media landscape
00:28:46.180 as a whole I don't think
00:28:47.880 that they would survive
00:28:48.760 frankly that the same
00:28:50.340 thing applies to chorus
00:28:51.320 entertainment that's the
00:28:52.360 parent company for global
00:28:53.540 they're they're basically
00:28:54.520 dependent entirely on media
00:28:56.560 subsidies for their
00:28:57.420 survival because these
00:28:58.340 companies you have to
00:28:59.060 remember even if you laid
00:29:00.060 off half of the staff you
00:29:01.520 still typically have to pay
00:29:02.560 severance so so the
00:29:04.720 operating costs for these
00:29:05.720 organizations are enormous
00:29:07.220 and it's really hard to
00:29:08.480 downsize an organization if
00:29:10.040 you have an unlimited amount
00:29:10.940 of money it's actually
00:29:11.840 obviously very easy to
00:29:13.760 oversize an organization but
00:29:15.680 downsizing is really really
00:29:17.120 tricky and it's very very
00:29:18.780 expensive and also is there
00:29:21.180 is there anybody out there
00:29:22.400 looking to buy any of CBC's
00:29:24.200 assets like a lot of their
00:29:26.480 media and Pierre Polyev say
00:29:28.420 he was going to do that to
00:29:29.400 turn it into housing or he
00:29:30.880 just not not he wouldn't
00:29:31.780 have to buy them I guess
00:29:32.480 yeah yeah he wanted to turn
00:29:34.200 the CBC headquarters into
00:29:35.540 housing yeah which I
00:29:36.580 actually think is a great
00:29:37.360 idea personally I mean we do
00:29:38.580 need more housing and we
00:29:39.520 probably need fewer
00:29:40.720 government subsidized media
00:29:42.140 companies because as
00:29:44.180 relevant said this when we
00:29:45.260 were in in Montreal for the
00:29:47.100 leadership debate and there
00:29:48.060 was that big meltdown in the
00:29:50.360 journalism room he said
00:29:51.360 these days everybody has a
00:29:52.800 phone and everybody with a
00:29:54.680 phone has a camera so just
00:29:56.100 about everybody can be a
00:29:57.060 journalist frankly like you
00:29:58.520 don't need to go to
00:29:59.080 journalism school to be a
00:30:00.120 journalist and a lot of
00:30:02.520 people who didn't go to
00:30:03.260 journalism and my journalism
00:30:04.480 school in my opinion are
00:30:05.480 great journalists and so
00:30:08.040 CBC has caution from all
00:30:10.060 angles and if it didn't
00:30:11.720 receive government subsidies
00:30:12.820 it didn't receive
00:30:13.700 government funding there's
00:30:15.340 no way that it would
00:30:16.060 survive I mean virtually
00:30:17.020 nobody watches CBC anymore
00:30:18.660 almost nobody everybody is
00:30:20.920 unplugged from cable
00:30:21.760 generally and that's one of
00:30:22.840 their biggest mediums so
00:30:24.600 yeah I'll comment on that
00:30:26.260 quickly we've seen critics
00:30:28.440 they love to critics of
00:30:30.600 right-wing media
00:30:31.340 organizations specifically
00:30:32.340 love to say oh you're not a
00:30:33.360 real journalist where's your
00:30:34.260 degree it's like first of all
00:30:35.780 I do have a degree I did go
00:30:37.660 to school for journalism and
00:30:38.780 one thing we learned about
00:30:39.700 extensively was citizen
00:30:40.740 journalism if you have a
00:30:41.700 phone if you've ever taken a
00:30:42.680 video and posted to an ex
00:30:43.840 posted to ex posted to
00:30:45.060 anything congratulations
00:30:45.820 you've conducted citizen
00:30:48.340 journalism you are a
00:30:49.300 journalist and I mean just
00:30:51.220 say that Alex like anyone
00:30:53.480 could be a journalist as you
00:30:54.460 said if you take a video and
00:30:55.760 it blows up online you've
00:30:57.260 just done journalism you've
00:30:58.980 created news congratulations
00:31:00.440 right like it really is that
00:31:02.360 simple anyone could be a
00:31:03.940 journalist if you have the
00:31:05.200 passion to create news
00:31:07.640 write stories tell people
00:31:09.240 what's happening right so
00:31:10.180 yeah I guess as more people
00:31:12.820 get phones which is
00:31:13.740 essentially everyone has a
00:31:14.580 phone their competition grows I
00:31:17.460 guess and especially when we
00:31:20.020 have social media platforms
00:31:21.720 like X where I don't want to
00:31:24.480 say views aren't dissented on
00:31:27.420 because they are as we saw
00:31:29.320 Melanie our colleagues account
00:31:31.380 got banned I think I don't know
00:31:32.760 why but in a way it's pretty
00:31:36.000 close to freedom of speech and
00:31:37.240 you can get all viewpoints on on
00:31:39.400 the platform despite there still
00:31:40.960 being a bit of problems it's
00:31:42.060 certainly nothing to the to
00:31:45.000 the levels of censorship that we
00:31:46.860 may have seen in the past with
00:31:47.960 with Facebook and stuff
00:31:48.960 especially around the was it the
00:31:52.440 2020 American election but
00:31:54.340 anyways I'm rambling on here
00:31:56.240 I still think doctors and
00:31:58.140 engineers should go to school
00:31:59.480 yeah yeah and and more
00:32:03.940 importantly than that not just go
00:32:05.100 to school be hired on merit not
00:32:06.460 because they have a certain skin
00:32:08.280 color because I mean I've talked
00:32:11.060 extensively about this too it's
00:32:12.280 like if DEI prevails then when
00:32:14.760 you walk into a doctor's office
00:32:15.940 and you see someone that might
00:32:18.060 be a DEI a DEI hire that's of
00:32:19.940 course the first thing that is
00:32:20.960 going to come into your mind is
00:32:21.740 this person even qualified I mean
00:32:22.960 it's it's worse for everyone the
00:32:24.780 consumers the employees
00:32:25.920 themselves I mean there's
00:32:27.760 nothing that could supersede and
00:32:30.400 and be improved on than merit
00:32:32.100 based hiring yeah I mean people
00:32:35.060 should be judged by the content of
00:32:36.780 their character not the color of
00:32:37.980 their skin of course and that I
00:32:39.960 think should also apply to people
00:32:41.440 who are applying for work and
00:32:43.640 media companies too they should be
00:32:44.880 judged by the quality of their
00:32:48.400 production not by government funding
00:32:52.400 they receive and especially when
00:32:54.900 independent outlets are competing
00:32:56.820 with an organization that receives
00:32:58.460 1.4 billion dollars a year and
00:33:00.600 independent outlets that receive no
00:33:02.520 government funding I mean talk about
00:33:04.640 David versus Goliath right there
00:33:06.920 right yeah no absolutely and I'll
00:33:11.680 just add one last thing from that
00:33:12.920 the leaders debate scrum it was
00:33:15.920 really interesting to me because the
00:33:18.260 independent media beat them all to
00:33:20.220 the front of the line so despite them
00:33:22.340 getting this you know billion dollar
00:33:24.180 head start from taxpayer subsidies
00:33:26.480 they still didn't bother to get out of
00:33:28.600 their chair and do their job when
00:33:30.680 push came to shove and I feel like that
00:33:32.020 really should have been the big story
00:33:33.340 rather than us all getting ejected
00:33:36.000 yeah but you did Alex and you got a
00:33:37.760 great question in so
00:33:38.720 thanks yeah we'll see if they'll ever
00:33:41.820 allow me back
00:33:42.600 I doubt it remember I was I was banned
00:33:46.300 from even going to to Carney's launch
00:33:48.260 party there I was escorted off the
00:33:49.660 premises so I mean I don't see that
00:33:51.520 changing but hey you never know I guess
00:33:52.920 no no I mean like if they don't let us
00:33:55.000 back I imagine that we'll probably just
00:33:56.640 take them to court again
00:33:57.560 you know because ultimately we have a
00:34:01.380 right to be there that's right yeah
00:34:02.500 and it's not the government's job to
00:34:03.780 decide who's a journalist and who isn't
00:34:06.220 well they think it is if you don't
00:34:07.680 receive taxpayer funds you can't be in
00:34:09.080 there hmm yeah which is quite
00:34:11.740 outrageous when you consider the fact
00:34:13.180 that receiving taxpayer funds makes
00:34:14.860 you more compromised and therefore less
00:34:16.520 credible so you would actually think
00:34:18.960 that you they would be prioritizing the
00:34:21.260 free speech rights of journalism
00:34:22.380 companies that aren't receiving
00:34:23.760 government subsidies because it means
00:34:25.680 that they're truly independent and
00:34:27.720 more likely therefore to tell the
00:34:28.920 truth
00:34:29.200 anyways my name is Isaac Lameru I'd
00:34:32.440 like to thank my colleagues Alex
00:34:33.400 Zoltan and Waleed Tamtam and
00:34:35.180 remember everything you heard today
00:34:36.380 was off the record
00:34:37.240 yeah Waleed you were in court today
00:34:42.880 right what happened there do you want
00:34:44.180 to just talk about that
00:34:44.800 it was a long it was a long long
00:34:53.060 series of nothing frankly I I the last
00:34:57.860 significant moment I can remember was
00:34:59.880 Chris Barber was having some internet
00:35:02.440 issues he went outside the house with
00:35:05.560 his phone camera in hand he went back
00:35:08.440 inside the house wasn't quick enough to
00:35:11.280 figure it out court recess lunch break I
00:35:14.740 mean it was a full show about how long
00:35:17.540 things can happen without anything moving
00:35:19.680 forward um but inconclusive thus far no
00:35:24.360 sentencing as of yet but the wheels are
00:35:26.780 just as turned slowly right I have an
00:35:29.140 update I know you got a run with it but
00:35:30.480 um September is the when we're going to
00:35:33.220 hear about the sentencing
00:35:34.140 September 7th yeah yes it's the 7th
00:35:37.780 remember that well that's like the
00:35:38.820 official sentencing date that's when I
00:35:40.620 thought that was supposed to be today
00:35:41.640 though so can they just push it back
00:35:42.980 again like how does this go no not
00:35:44.560 explicitly so so September 7th is
00:35:47.480 actually the forfeiture hearing for
00:35:49.620 Chris Barber and Big Red and then I
00:35:52.180 don't even think they've set the date
00:35:53.320 officially for the actual sentencing
00:35:54.940 which I believe will be in late
00:35:56.580 September it might be even without
00:35:58.600 filming we'll have to wait and see what
00:36:02.260 happens I'm interested to at least see
00:36:03.880 if the public discourse can have any
00:36:06.980 effect because obviously a lot of
00:36:08.540 people are very unhappy with what's
00:36:10.060 going on so far for these mischief
00:36:11.540 trials right yeah yeah it's pretty
00:36:15.260 outrageous
00:36:17.480 you
00:36:19.540 you
00:36:20.540 you
00:36:22.540 you
00:36:24.540 you
00:36:26.540 you
00:36:28.540 you