Juno News - Canada’s Back… Or Not

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show. This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.580 Coming up, the Liberal government refuses to condemn China's persecution of Uyghur Muslims, and a Canadian pastor remains behind bars.

00:00:22.660 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:26.280 Welcome to the Andrew Lawton Show. This is Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show here on True North.

00:00:34.380 Great to have you tuned in to the program here.

00:00:37.360 I am not abstaining from my duties as a broadcaster today, unlike Justin Trudeau and his cabinet when it came to a vote on human rights,

00:00:46.440 which should have been right up Justin Trudeau's alley.

00:00:48.680 This is the guy who, when he took office, proudly proclaimed that Canada's back.

00:00:53.340 Yeah, after those terrible years in which Stephen Harper was the Prime Minister and Canada had lost its way on the foreign scene,

00:01:00.300 Justin Trudeau was going to bring the country back.

00:01:02.540 He was going to be a leader on the global stage, and he was going to get us a seat on the UN Security Council.

00:01:07.840 And, well, that part didn't work out, but he was going to take a stand.

00:01:11.420 Justin Trudeau has never met a human rights fight he didn't want to take up until now.

00:01:16.620 Well, yes, Justin Trudeau refused to attend a vote and directed his cabinet to not attend a vote

00:01:23.640 on condemning China's persecution of Uyghur Muslims as a genocide.

00:01:29.640 But rather than actually attending and standing up and saying that they were abstaining,

00:01:34.940 all of the liberals had better things to do.

00:01:37.200 They were washing their hair, they had doctor's appointments, they had meetings, they had conflicts.

00:01:41.520 Just one lone Liberal Cabinet Minister, Mark Garneau, showed up to deliver this stunning, bold stand for human rights.

00:01:50.040 Mr. Speaker, I abstain on behalf of the Government of Canada.

00:01:53.720 Mr. Garneau, abstention, abstention.

00:01:56.240 Yes, a vote on condemning China's persecution of Uyghur Muslims, and the Canadian government abstains.

00:02:03.180 It was quite shameful and not terribly unsurprising.

00:02:08.200 There has always been a China-sized blind spot in Justin Trudeau's foreign policy,

00:02:12.700 going back to even before he was elected Canada's Prime Minister.

00:02:16.540 You remember that famous clip when he, of course, said that China was the basic dictatorship he admired most

00:02:21.640 because they can get things done.

00:02:23.680 Well, they have been getting things done against the people they are abusing on the human rights front.

00:02:28.480 Many groups are finding themselves persecuted by the Chinese regime,

00:02:32.720 but the Uyghur Muslims are at the top of the list, especially in the Xinjiang region.

00:02:38.840 Now, here's the problem with Justin Trudeau's approach.

00:02:41.560 You may think that it's not Canada's business to go and meddle in Chinese affairs,

00:02:46.020 and that's an entirely defensible position if you take what is called the realist stance in international relations.

00:02:52.220 But there is a global obligation to act when genocide is taking place,

00:02:57.040 which means that declaring something is a genocide is, as Justin Trudeau conceded last week, a loaded term.

00:03:04.200 But that doesn't mean you can turn a blind eye to it because you don't want to fulfill those obligations.

00:03:10.600 So by abstaining, Justin Trudeau thinks that he's doing something clever.

00:03:14.120 He thinks that he's avoiding triggering a chain reaction,

00:03:17.400 but what he's actually doing is displaying the very worst form of political cowardice

00:03:22.440 because he doesn't want to rock the boat with China.

00:03:25.280 But wait, I thought Canada was deeply concerned about human rights abuses,

00:03:30.060 deeply concerned about allegations of genocide.

00:03:33.040 They are, at least according to a statement from Foreign Affairs Minister Mark Garneau,

00:03:37.520 who says the government remains deeply disturbed by horrific reports of human rights violations in Xinjiang,

00:03:44.520 including the use of arbitrary detention, political re-education, forced labor, torture, and forced sterilization.

00:03:51.180 The free vote in Parliament ensures each member can make a determination based on available evidence.

00:03:57.220 Taken together, these views will form Parliament's view.

00:04:00.560 We welcome Parliamentarians working together and debating this critical issue.

00:04:04.700 Now, this has just taken a page out of the Justin Trudeau book

00:04:07.100 where everything is simply a learning opportunity and an opportunity for discussion.

00:04:12.680 But yes, Mark Garneau remains deeply concerned about something that he abstained from voting on

00:04:17.920 less than an hour prior.

00:04:20.160 That's how deep his concern runs.

00:04:23.060 And despite Justin Trudeau's claim that genocide is just a loaded term,

00:04:27.280 that didn't stop him from declaring his own government

00:04:30.040 and all previous governments in Canada of being guilty of genocide.

00:04:34.120 just a few short months ago.

00:04:36.520 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is bending the pressure from the National Inquiry

00:04:40.880 into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls,

00:04:43.880 which say the country is guilty of genocide.

00:04:46.700 We accept the findings of the commissioners that it was genocide.

00:04:51.940 So this China-sized blind spot about which I've spoken 1.00

00:04:55.140 has permeated through all levels of the Canadian government

00:04:58.200 where they have a documented and demonstrable policy of appeasement.

00:05:02.660 They refuse to call a spade a spade when it comes to the Chinese Communist Party

00:05:07.000 and the Chinese regime.

00:05:08.740 Brutal that it may be.

00:05:10.900 And the problem with this, there are many problems with this,

00:05:13.860 but one of the chief problems of this is that it means that the country

00:05:17.500 that is supposed to be the leader on the world stage has zero legitimacy

00:05:21.400 when it comes to condemning human rights abuses anywhere.

00:05:25.360 For Justin Trudeau to call his own country guilty of genocide,

00:05:29.120 ongoing genocide, of which he's done absolutely nothing, by the way,

00:05:32.600 but refuse to take aim at China is shameful.

00:05:36.780 And it's actually exactly what China has wanted.

00:05:40.620 And some people are saying that,

00:05:42.040 oh, Justin Trudeau is playing a game of 3D chess here,

00:05:44.600 even though I don't even think he could play a game of Chinese checkers right now.

00:05:47.540 And he's just trying to do this because he doesn't want to rock the boat

00:05:50.520 and we have to get Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor back.

00:05:53.660 The problem with this is that we would have had some results to show

00:05:57.700 from this approach because this policy of appeasement is not new by any stretch.

00:06:02.940 But where are the results?

00:06:04.940 China continues to walk all over the world, Canada included in that. 0.98

00:06:09.000 And incidentally, Justin Trudeau's abstention

00:06:11.520 and the Liberal Cabinet's abstention didn't even win over China.

00:06:15.780 No, they're still upset that the vote itself happened

00:06:19.060 and that parliamentarians who were there voted unanimously

00:06:22.440 to condemn the genocide against the Uyghur Muslims.

00:06:25.580 This is a clip of Chinese ambassador to Canada, Kong Pei Wu, on CPAC.

00:06:30.860 The Prime Minister and his cabinet, they did not vote.

00:06:33.380 They abstained from the vote today.

00:06:35.180 Does that make a difference to you that this vote is not endorsed by the Prime Minister?

00:06:39.020 Or do you view this as a decision taken by Canada,

00:06:41.920 whether the Prime Minister's backed it or not?

00:06:43.700 I think the most important thing is for the Canadian side

00:06:48.920 to stop interfering in our internal fears

00:06:52.620 under the pretext of Xinjiang-related issues and the correct mistakes.

00:06:58.320 And also they should discuss bias and prejudice and to respect facts

00:07:03.140 so as not to further damage our bilateral relationship.

00:07:06.440 Right, but people in this country believe that Western democracies don't just have the right,

00:07:13.500 they have an obligation to interfere in the affairs of other countries 0.65

00:07:16.580 if they think human rights are being sacrificed.

00:07:21.260 Or if, in this case, the Canadian parliament has said a genocide is underway.

00:07:25.560 What do you say to that?

00:07:26.680 Because I believe when it comes to a human rights issue,

00:07:31.900 it's the people of the country concerned which has the best say.

00:07:36.520 So for the Chinese people, they are in the best position to judge the human rights record,

00:07:41.300 whether it's in Xinjiang or elsewhere in China.

00:07:43.540 And we are in the best stage of human rights in the history.

00:07:48.080 And that's also, I think, proved by those people in China.

00:07:53.980 Because for many years, when it comes to the polling from international bodies,

00:07:58.960 more than 90% of the Chinese people surveyed,

00:08:02.240 they have high regard for the central government of China.

00:08:05.180 That's just great.

00:08:06.580 Apparently, everyone in China thinks it's just fantastic.

00:08:09.500 They're so thrilled with things there,

00:08:11.460 which is why people are dissidents of the Chinese regime.

00:08:15.060 But I digress.

00:08:15.820 And China is in a great position to judge and assess its own human rights record,

00:08:19.740 which is, of course, so very true,

00:08:21.500 which is why China has been so frustrated with other countries wanting to go in.

00:08:25.380 And there was actually a point earlier on where Kong Pei Wu was asked

00:08:29.880 if China would be open to international investigators to the region in question.

00:08:35.260 Going to the region in question.

00:08:36.500 And he said, oh, well, anyone can go there.

00:08:38.300 It's fine.

00:08:38.760 Yeah, it's open.

00:08:39.460 It's wide open.

00:08:40.560 The problem with detention camps is that you can't get to the part

00:08:43.680 where a lot of the detentions are taking place.

00:08:46.140 So being able to walk down the street doesn't mean that you can say

00:08:48.920 this is just a wide open, completely free society.

00:08:52.260 Now, again, I go back to this idea that if you are Canada

00:08:56.340 and you don't want to rock the boat with China,

00:08:58.700 state that that's your goal.

00:09:01.200 But don't pretend to be a global leader in human rights

00:09:03.980 when the country that is vastly becoming the global hegemon in China 0.82

00:09:09.820 is continuing to trample all over any values, any liberties,

00:09:14.260 and indeed other nations in the world, Canada included in this.

00:09:18.540 And remember, the Justin Trudeau China blind spot

00:09:21.140 isn't just about refusing to criticize China.

00:09:24.060 It's even about becoming an apologist for China.

00:09:28.000 I know I've played this clip a couple of times,

00:09:30.460 but I think it is so illuminating.

00:09:32.840 Remember when people were raising questions about China's COVID-19 numbers?

00:09:37.520 And by people, I mean, hello, me, as well as countless others

00:09:40.640 from almost the very first month of the pandemic.

00:09:45.560 And China, which had repeatedly revised its numbers,

00:09:49.420 seemed to be admitting that, well, you know,

00:09:51.500 hey, maybe the numbers weren't accurate at first.

00:09:53.140 But the whole point of this is Patti Hajdu, the health minister in Canada,

00:09:56.960 accused a reporter of feeding conspiracy theories for daring to ask about it.

00:10:01.280 One of the most important things to understand about this pandemic,

00:10:04.620 this global pandemic, is that as long as coronavirus exists in one country,

00:10:08.720 and it exists in all of our countries,

00:10:10.540 that we actually have to work collectively as a world now

00:10:13.660 to defeat this virus, to find better ways to treat,

00:10:17.480 and then eventually prevent this virus through vaccination

00:10:20.800 or other kinds of methods.

00:10:22.780 And that's going to take everybody working together.

00:10:24.820 And...

00:10:25.100 Respect the conspiracy.

00:10:26.100 We're trusting the...

00:10:26.720 Sorry, please let her finish. 0.97

00:10:28.040 No.

00:10:28.400 No, I have shown that they...

00:10:30.480 Ian.

00:10:31.300 Out.

00:10:32.340 Out.

00:10:33.220 So I would say that your question is feeding into conspiracy theories

00:10:39.500 that many people have been perpetuating on the internet.

00:10:42.640 And it's important to remember that there is no way to beat a global pandemic

00:10:47.460 if we're actually not willing to work together as a globe.

00:10:50.300 And the reason I bring that up again now is to introduce this clip

00:10:54.880 from an interview on CBC over the weekend with Rosie Barton

00:10:58.540 with Peter Ben-Emberic, who led the World Health Organization's

00:11:02.460 so-called fact-finding mission to Wuhan.

00:11:04.940 Here is Mr. Emberic.

00:11:07.140 Okay, that's interesting.

00:11:09.100 So if the outbreak was much wider in Wuhan in December 2019

00:11:13.960 than previously thought, was it a lack of information

00:11:18.460 that prevented the rest of the world from knowing that?

00:11:21.840 How do you...

00:11:23.040 What do you understand about why we didn't understand that before now?

00:11:25.600 I think it's not so much about lack of information.

00:11:34.280 In December, nobody knew more than we knew back in a month after, in fact.

00:11:41.980 It was still very few cases that were detected

00:11:45.440 and that started the interest and the investigation into what was this new disease.

00:11:52.420 And remember, at that time, we didn't know about all the mild cases,

00:11:55.720 the symptomatic cases.

00:11:57.720 So the only cases we could detect at that time

00:12:01.900 were the severe cases with the severe pneumonia.

00:12:04.000 So it was more about understanding that there was a lot of undetected cases

00:12:13.420 in Wuhan than we knew about.

00:12:18.300 We have been able, through retrospective studies,

00:12:21.740 to find 174 confirmed cases in December,

00:12:26.020 but probably these were all severe cases.

00:12:28.280 So around this, there must have been some, many more mild cases.

00:12:34.020 Now, I don't think the WHO has all that much legitimacy

00:12:37.200 because for far too long, it was shilling for the Chinese regime

00:12:40.580 and parroting Chinese regime talking points.

00:12:43.100 But I'm going to use the WHO here

00:12:44.980 because Justin Trudeau seems to believe that it is the be-all and end-all.

00:12:48.800 If even the WHO is now saying that China misled and covered up

00:12:54.500 and that there were more cases than initially revealed,

00:12:56.860 does that mean Patty Hajdu is going to apologize 1.00

00:12:59.280 for accusing anyone asking about such scenarios

00:13:02.000 of feeding conspiracy theories?

00:13:04.180 Why has the official position of the Justin Trudeau government

00:13:07.240 been to appease and capitulate to China

00:13:10.040 when anyone with a brain saw that China was not being an honest actor 0.84

00:13:14.940 in all of this and continues to not be? 0.54

00:13:17.920 Now, China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims

00:13:20.400 is not the same as China's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

00:13:24.520 I get that.

00:13:25.160 But the point is that we cannot give this country

00:13:28.080 the benefit of the doubt in anything

00:13:30.160 because of its demonstrable abuses of human rights

00:13:34.080 and the dishonesty with which it approaches

00:13:36.020 its relationships with other states.

00:13:38.320 I have to point out this statement

00:13:40.020 that was issued by China's embassy in Canada

00:13:42.700 calling the parliamentary motion this week

00:13:45.320 a, quote,

00:13:45.900 gross interference in China's internal affairs

00:13:48.400 and a malicious provocation

00:13:50.280 against the 1.4 billion Chinese people.

00:13:53.080 So China's position still is that

00:13:55.040 if you condemn the Chinese Politburo,

00:13:57.420 if you condemn the Chinese regime,

00:13:59.200 you are condemning 1.4 billion Chinese people,

00:14:02.320 which is a form of very disingenuous rhetoric

00:14:05.640 that China's deploying deliberately

00:14:07.340 because they want to equate criticisms

00:14:09.340 with the Chinese government with racism,

00:14:12.080 which we cannot allow them to do.

00:14:14.000 China says things must be fine for the Uyghurs 1.00

00:14:15.960 because the population in Xinjiang continues to grow.

00:14:19.240 The GDP is expanded.

00:14:21.040 Things are wonderful.

00:14:21.920 It's just one big old party there

00:14:23.620 when they blame Canadian lawmakers

00:14:25.900 for voting on this

00:14:26.880 without having ever been to the region,

00:14:29.100 ignoring the volumes of evidence,

00:14:31.520 the scads of evidence

00:14:32.440 that have been unearthed

00:14:33.200 by a number of states around the world

00:14:35.280 and intelligence agencies

00:14:36.480 about what China has been doing

00:14:38.380 to this particular minority.

00:14:40.560 But the whole point is

00:14:41.740 this is not a new phenomenon.

00:14:43.980 This is not at all a new phenomenon.

00:14:45.900 We have to stop treating China 1.00

00:14:47.700 as though it has deserved

00:14:49.300 the benefit of the doubt in anything.

00:14:52.260 Now, there was a story in my neck of the woods

00:14:54.300 that actually ties in with this in a way

00:14:56.160 because the Liberal cabinet

00:14:57.620 and Liberal government

00:14:58.580 may not want to criticize or condemn China,

00:15:01.720 but Liberal MPs have been condemning

00:15:04.500 a business in my city of London, Ontario

00:15:06.860 for daring to condemn the Chinese regime.

00:15:10.580 The business is a pub called The Ale House

00:15:13.340 in downtown London.

00:15:14.200 And I've been there.

00:15:16.680 And this particular pub

00:15:18.660 has often been very outspoken

00:15:20.560 through its sign.

00:15:22.140 At one point, it was very frustrated.

00:15:24.180 The owner was very frustrated

00:15:25.380 with the lockdowns imposed

00:15:26.920 by the Ontario government

00:15:28.120 and put up that Mr. Ford,

00:15:30.780 history will show lockdowns

00:15:32.140 caused more damage to the public

00:15:33.660 than the China virus.

00:15:36.480 This caused a firestorm of criticism,

00:15:39.760 accusations of racism

00:15:41.740 and anti-Asian bigotry

00:15:44.400 and all of these other forms

00:15:45.660 of accusations that were leveled

00:15:47.160 against the owner of The Ale House,

00:15:48.560 who has been unrepentant.

00:15:50.120 He said, listen, we love all people.

00:15:52.040 He even put up a follow-up sign.

00:15:53.500 He said, calling out an oppressive government

00:15:55.220 is not racist, period.

00:15:57.260 We have love and respect for all people.

00:15:59.700 He also said, we love Chinese people. 0.98

00:16:02.140 We hate the genocide and China virus 0.98

00:16:04.040 your commie government has inflicted on us. 0.97

00:16:06.960 I may need to head back

00:16:07.860 to The Ale House again.

00:16:09.060 And up, this place is up

00:16:10.580 in its sign game as of late.

00:16:12.200 Now, listen, you may not like this.

00:16:13.620 You may not like a pub

00:16:14.860 that is politically outspoken.

00:16:16.340 You may not like the beliefs.

00:16:17.860 You may not like the term China virus.

00:16:19.760 I don't particularly care.

00:16:22.060 As a consumer, if you don't like it,

00:16:23.980 you go somewhere else.

00:16:25.080 But that isn't what happened here.

00:16:27.380 People are trying to destroy

00:16:29.100 this man's life and livelihood,

00:16:32.040 including, by the way,

00:16:33.260 several members of parliament.

00:16:35.060 Jagmeet Singh, the NDP leader,

00:16:37.000 the local NDP MP,

00:16:38.580 two local liberal MPs,

00:16:40.360 Kate Young and Peter Fragas-Gottos.

00:16:42.440 Now, I've crossed paths

00:16:43.680 a number of times over the years

00:16:45.160 with both Kate and Peter.

00:16:46.600 I tend to get along with them generally,

00:16:48.500 even if I disagree with them on things.

00:16:50.900 But they have a lot of gall

00:16:52.640 condemning this man's sign

00:16:55.720 because it uses the term China virus.

00:16:58.660 Well, they represent a prime minister

00:17:01.020 and a party whose cabinet,

00:17:03.680 whose government was not permitted

00:17:06.000 to condemn China's genocide 0.54

00:17:08.440 against Uyghur Muslims. 0.92

00:17:10.960 You dare to go after a business owner

00:17:13.560 who's frustrated by what this virus,

00:17:15.820 which had its genesis in China,

00:17:18.000 has unleashed on the world

00:17:19.280 and on his business,

00:17:20.420 and you have more condemnation,

00:17:22.080 or your party has more condemnation

00:17:23.520 for him than it does

00:17:25.000 for the Chinese regime itself. 0.92

00:17:27.280 Give your head a shake. 0.98

00:17:29.100 And the form of destruction

00:17:32.280 that we see that people

00:17:33.560 are wanting to unleash on him.

00:17:35.060 Take a look at this one story

00:17:36.380 in the local newspaper.

00:17:37.740 Did downtown pub's controversial sign

00:17:40.080 cross a criminal line?

00:17:41.760 Now, they interview Sam Trosau,

00:17:43.720 who is supposedly a law professor

00:17:46.120 at Western University,

00:17:47.200 but I can only imagine

00:17:48.540 they'll just let anyone

00:17:49.440 have that title after this.

00:17:51.120 He says that this sign,

00:17:52.580 because it uses the term China virus,

00:17:54.880 may violate hate speech laws.

00:17:56.940 He said it's intended to create

00:17:59.060 a bad reaction against a racial group.

00:18:02.200 They need to look at this carefully.

00:18:04.540 Police have already said,

00:18:05.680 this is not a criminal matter.

00:18:07.180 We're not going anywhere near this.

00:18:08.620 And he's saying,

00:18:09.280 I don't know, they made a mistake.

00:18:10.440 They've got to go and do this.

00:18:11.860 Now, I don't particularly

00:18:13.140 know much about this guy.

00:18:14.340 I looked him up in the

00:18:15.220 Law Society of Ontario lawyer database

00:18:17.680 and found he's not actually a lawyer

00:18:19.460 with the Law Society of Ontario.

00:18:21.300 So he is a law professor

00:18:23.200 and not an actual lawyer.

00:18:25.240 But the point of this is that

00:18:27.300 now we have people saying

00:18:28.560 that if you use the terms

00:18:29.920 China virus,

00:18:31.080 it's a hate crime.

00:18:33.040 It's inciting, quote,

00:18:34.140 a bad reaction

00:18:35.420 against a racial group, unquote,

00:18:38.400 despite the fact that

00:18:39.320 we use geography all the time.

00:18:41.200 Ebola has a geographic origin

00:18:43.280 or UK variant.

00:18:45.120 Oh, no, that's illegal.

00:18:46.020 Or South Africa variant.

00:18:47.240 How dare you?

00:18:48.060 Brazil variant.

00:18:48.840 Oh, no, you can't say that.

00:18:50.760 So to use the term China virus,

00:18:52.440 which again, Donald Trump used

00:18:53.860 and if Donald Trump has ever

00:18:55.020 said something, well,

00:18:55.880 it's going to be illegal

00:18:56.560 to say it, of course.

00:18:58.180 Who cares?

00:18:59.140 If you don't like it,

00:18:59.980 don't go there.

00:19:01.440 But the idea that people

00:19:03.440 are more angry about someone

00:19:05.360 using those two words together

00:19:07.520 than they are at the

00:19:09.400 Chinese communist regime

00:19:10.940 who allowed this pandemic

00:19:12.780 to become as serious as it did

00:19:14.540 by, as we talked about earlier,

00:19:16.120 and as the WHO even recognizes,

00:19:18.200 downplaying the numbers,

00:19:19.980 downplaying the scope,

00:19:21.080 downplaying the effect of this.

00:19:24.040 We need to see

00:19:25.560 more condemnation

00:19:27.040 in any number of areas

00:19:29.380 of what China is doing

00:19:31.060 in the world right now.

00:19:32.480 And the point that I raised earlier

00:19:34.140 about how China is trying

00:19:35.280 to equate criticism of the regime

00:19:37.460 with criticism of the people

00:19:39.260 is something we're seeing

00:19:40.640 in this little example

00:19:41.560 in London, Ontario too,

00:19:43.000 where if you take aim

00:19:44.160 at a country's government,

00:19:45.540 you are supposedly expressing

00:19:47.180 racist thoughts

00:19:48.000 against the people 0.98

00:19:49.060 from that country

00:19:50.020 when the two are not

00:19:51.420 at all combined.

00:19:52.700 If so, Justin Trudeau

00:19:54.060 would have been calling

00:19:54.620 every single Canadian

00:19:55.960 guilty of genocide

00:19:56.860 when he said the Canadian government

00:19:58.640 was guilty of genocide.

00:20:00.460 So now China is not just

00:20:02.040 winning the economic war,

00:20:03.480 but also winning

00:20:04.580 the culture war

00:20:05.520 and Canadian politicians

00:20:06.800 in the Liberal government

00:20:08.200 are letting it happen.

00:20:09.780 We've got to take a break.

00:20:10.720 When we return,

00:20:11.480 more of the Andrew Lawton Show

00:20:12.740 here on True North.

00:20:13.660 You're tuned in

00:20:15.760 to the Andrew Lawton Show.

00:20:22.120 We are back

00:20:23.120 to the Andrew Lawton Show.

00:20:24.120 You know,

00:20:24.320 we spent a bit of time

00:20:25.380 in the first segment

00:20:26.020 talking about some negative things.

00:20:27.560 Let's talk about

00:20:28.260 the miracle of childbirth.

00:20:30.520 And for this,

00:20:31.040 we go to Indonesia

00:20:32.140 and look at the majestic story

00:20:34.880 of Siti Zaina, 25,

00:20:37.240 who gave birth

00:20:37.920 to a baby girl last week

00:20:39.260 in the town of Sienger,

00:20:41.540 which is something

00:20:42.620 I've totally mispronounced.

00:20:43.820 So if you speak

00:20:44.380 one of the myriad

00:20:45.280 Indonesian languages,

00:20:46.460 I apologize.

00:20:47.640 But it's in West Java,

00:20:48.840 which I can say

00:20:49.420 because I like coffee.

00:20:50.900 Now, normally,

00:20:51.700 one gets pregnant 0.92

00:20:52.720 through a conventional

00:20:53.940 exercise in biology,

00:20:55.720 nine months or thereabouts,

00:20:57.000 before giving birth.

00:20:58.380 In this case,

00:20:59.280 she actually gave birth

00:21:01.140 an hour after

00:21:02.260 she was impregnated,

00:21:03.520 which is quite magnificent

00:21:04.740 in and of itself,

00:21:06.240 especially when you consider

00:21:07.400 that there was no man involved,

00:21:08.680 she says.

00:21:09.120 but rather a gust of wind.

00:21:11.800 Yes, Miss Zaina says,

00:21:13.700 after afternoon prayer,

00:21:14.840 I was lying face down

00:21:16.220 and then suddenly

00:21:17.380 I felt a gust of wind 0.99

00:21:19.160 enter my vagina. 1.00

00:21:21.500 15 minutes later, 1.00

00:21:22.520 she experienced pain

00:21:23.500 in her stomach.

00:21:24.260 It grew bigger and bigger.

00:21:25.720 She went to a health clinic

00:21:26.700 and then gave birth. 0.56

00:21:28.040 The news traveled around town.

00:21:29.500 Police gave her a visit.

00:21:30.880 She had had a husband

00:21:31.860 from whom she separated

00:21:32.900 four months ago

00:21:33.780 and had a previous child.

00:21:35.700 But this child was not,

00:21:37.340 it seems like,

00:21:38.640 sired by her ex-husband,

00:21:40.860 but rather by a gust of wind

00:21:43.600 because even gusts of wind

00:21:45.060 have to go out

00:21:45.720 and sow wild oats

00:21:47.140 every now and then apparently.

00:21:48.380 So our congratulations

00:21:49.440 to C.T. Zaina

00:21:51.160 and to the Gale of Wind

00:21:53.020 who are both sharing

00:21:54.500 in the joy

00:21:55.160 of this lovely child.

00:21:56.820 who does that?

00:21:59.300 Who finds these stories, right?

00:22:00.940 Well, it's me.

00:22:01.600 It's me who finds them.

00:22:02.860 But I digress.

00:22:04.380 Moving to a far more serious topic.

00:22:06.600 I'm hoping to do a little bit more

00:22:08.360 with this on Thursday

00:22:09.520 and delve into this story

00:22:11.440 in a bit more depth.

00:22:12.620 But I wanted to at least

00:22:13.620 talk about it today

00:22:14.500 because this is just

00:22:15.500 absolutely shameful.

00:22:17.320 An Alberta pastor

00:22:18.360 is behind bars

00:22:19.880 for a number of alleged offenses.

00:22:22.780 but at its core

00:22:23.700 it's continuing to have services

00:22:25.220 the way he always had services

00:22:27.020 without following

00:22:28.160 to the letter

00:22:29.040 of the restrictions

00:22:29.960 the government set out.

00:22:31.400 The new orders

00:22:32.360 that are required

00:22:33.440 of pastors

00:22:34.240 and church leaders

00:22:35.220 and churches

00:22:36.000 and other institutions

00:22:37.320 in general.

00:22:38.500 The Justice Center

00:22:39.300 for Constitutional Freedoms

00:22:41.000 which is representing

00:22:42.280 Pastor Coates

00:22:43.140 and I should just stay

00:22:44.180 in a matter of disclosure.

00:22:45.800 The JCCF represented

00:22:47.000 True North

00:22:47.580 in its fight

00:22:48.820 and my fight

00:22:49.400 against the Leaders Debates Commission.

00:22:51.100 and I've never made a secret

00:22:53.220 about being a supporter

00:22:54.380 of what they do.

00:22:55.480 They're representing him

00:22:56.640 they're calling on

00:22:57.500 the Alberta government

00:22:58.260 to release him from jail.

00:23:00.400 They say that he's in jail

00:23:01.500 for exercising

00:23:02.660 his charter freedoms

00:23:03.780 of conscience

00:23:04.500 religion

00:23:05.320 association

00:23:06.260 and peaceful assembly.

00:23:08.420 The Grace Life Church

00:23:09.980 which is near Edmonton

00:23:11.280 strongly believes

00:23:12.740 it needs to have

00:23:13.700 in-person worship

00:23:15.060 and to minister each other

00:23:16.260 through fellowship

00:23:17.200 corporate prayer

00:23:18.140 and worship.

00:23:19.100 This is

00:23:20.720 the JCCF contends

00:23:22.200 a fundamental

00:23:23.460 charter freedom.

00:23:24.880 He was ticketed

00:23:25.700 by Alberta Health Services

00:23:27.180 he was taken to court

00:23:28.560 the government

00:23:28.980 tried to shut

00:23:29.720 the church down

00:23:30.480 and on February 7th

00:23:32.060 he held church

00:23:32.700 as usual

00:23:33.420 the RCMP

00:23:34.520 presented him

00:23:35.360 with an undertaking

00:23:36.500 to not violate

00:23:37.880 the health orders

00:23:38.640 of the province

00:23:39.420 by basically

00:23:40.220 a ceasing order

00:23:41.440 to cease having church

00:23:42.680 he didn't agree to it

00:23:43.660 they were supposed

00:23:44.380 to take him

00:23:44.900 to a justice of the peace

00:23:45.960 they instead asked him

00:23:47.500 to turn himself in

00:23:48.940 he did so

00:23:50.000 the RCMP charged him

00:23:51.780 with contravening

00:23:52.620 the public health orders

00:23:53.600 with breaching

00:23:54.480 an undertaking

00:23:55.120 even though he never

00:23:55.980 agreed to it

00:23:56.720 and he's in jail

00:23:57.880 until his trial

00:23:58.920 which isn't going to be

00:24:00.400 for a number of weeks.

00:24:01.740 There was a massive rally

00:24:03.360 outside the detention center

00:24:04.760 in Edmonton

00:24:05.340 on the weekend

00:24:05.780 and I actually had wanted

00:24:06.700 to go there

00:24:07.200 but just with scheduling

00:24:08.420 I wasn't able to make it

00:24:09.740 but what's happening here

00:24:11.600 is a pastor

00:24:12.860 has decided to fight

00:24:14.700 against these restrictions

00:24:15.880 and he now finds himself

00:24:17.720 behind bars.

00:24:19.220 This is a fundamental

00:24:20.780 religious liberty issue

00:24:21.900 whether or not

00:24:22.460 you're religious

00:24:22.980 whether or not

00:24:23.540 you even agree

00:24:24.340 with the importance

00:24:25.400 of religious prayer

00:24:26.600 it is not for the state

00:24:28.620 to decide

00:24:29.200 what forms of worship

00:24:30.660 are or are not acceptable

00:24:32.700 in this context

00:24:34.240 and it's one thing

00:24:35.880 to ticket him

00:24:36.820 and then give him

00:24:37.540 a means to fight this in court

00:24:38.940 what the government

00:24:39.880 has actually done here

00:24:40.720 is they've tried

00:24:41.160 to take him out of play

00:24:41.920 they've tried to take

00:24:42.640 the peace off the board

00:24:43.600 so he can't do

00:24:44.820 what he's been doing

00:24:45.800 to fight this

00:24:46.760 and that's the most

00:24:48.340 egregious part of this

00:24:49.260 now the show went on

00:24:50.500 the church has resumed

00:24:52.000 without the pastor

00:24:53.200 there was a sermon

00:24:54.580 given on Sunday

00:24:55.880 where it was said

00:24:57.380 that the pastor

00:24:58.080 misses everyone very much

00:24:59.960 people at the gate

00:25:01.000 were overheard

00:25:01.660 telling incomers

00:25:02.480 that the total capacity

00:25:03.840 had been reached

00:25:04.880 and they could watch

00:25:06.000 the live stream service instead

00:25:07.420 so the government

00:25:08.580 has actually gotten

00:25:09.700 more people

00:25:10.820 to pack into this church

00:25:12.120 than they would have

00:25:13.100 had they left them alone

00:25:14.620 because now there's been

00:25:15.940 so much interest

00:25:16.820 and of course

00:25:17.580 police were outside

00:25:18.700 monitoring everyone

00:25:19.920 and you can assume

00:25:20.620 probably taking a note

00:25:21.600 of license plates

00:25:22.440 and doing whatever else

00:25:23.400 they do

00:25:23.800 when they've decided

00:25:24.980 to criminalize worship

00:25:26.560 or the government

00:25:27.220 has decided

00:25:27.880 to criminalize worship

00:25:29.400 I try to make a point

00:25:31.080 of never being too dramatic

00:25:32.900 about these things

00:25:34.180 when we talk about persecution

00:25:35.600 there's the difference

00:25:36.560 between some of the

00:25:37.320 administrative hurdles

00:25:38.300 that we might have

00:25:39.060 to go through

00:25:39.620 and what people in China

00:25:41.120 and North Korea

00:25:41.880 and Cuba

00:25:42.440 have to contend with

00:25:43.500 and I believe that

00:25:44.620 but at the same time

00:25:45.900 we cannot take

00:25:46.760 our relative advantage

00:25:48.040 to fundamentally

00:25:49.320 less free parts

00:25:50.380 of the world

00:25:50.920 as being justification

00:25:52.320 to ignore

00:25:53.440 when persecution

00:25:54.720 in different forms

00:25:55.800 takes place here

00:25:57.240 and yes

00:25:57.980 we can stand up

00:25:58.720 for all injustices

00:25:59.840 we can stand up

00:26:00.580 for pastors

00:26:01.100 that are jailed

00:26:02.040 in other countries

00:26:02.920 and we can certainly

00:26:03.720 stand up for pastors

00:26:04.700 who are jailed

00:26:05.540 in our country

00:26:06.460 which supposedly

00:26:07.420 respects and protects

00:26:09.020 freedom of religion

00:26:10.580 as I said

00:26:11.440 I'll have more of this

00:26:12.140 on Thursday's show

00:26:12.920 but I wanted to tell

00:26:13.900 all Christians

00:26:14.580 about the importance

00:26:15.760 of praying

00:26:16.680 for this return

00:26:18.100 to religious liberty

00:26:19.140 I certainly am praying

00:26:20.680 for Pastor Coates

00:26:21.640 and the Grace Life Church

00:26:22.600 and I am also continuing

00:26:24.260 to stand up

00:26:25.380 for all of these freedoms

00:26:26.480 which the mainstream media

00:26:27.660 is uninterested in doing

00:26:29.760 we've got to wrap things up

00:26:31.240 for today

00:26:31.760 we'll be back

00:26:32.260 in a couple of days

00:26:32.940 with more of Canada's

00:26:34.060 most irreverent talk show

00:26:35.380 thank you

00:26:36.040 God bless

00:26:36.540 and good day to you all

00:26:37.540 thanks for listening

00:26:38.440 to the Andrew Lawton Show

00:26:39.620 support the program

00:26:40.700 by donating to True North

00:26:41.920 at www.tnc.news

Juno News - February 23, 2021

Canada’s Back… Or Not

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