CBC is IMPLODING, wild accusations from former host + CTV has its ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ moment
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Summary
Travis Danraj, a former host of CBC's "Candid" and host of the network's flagship news show, has resigned from the organization. He says he was forced to quit, not because he wanted to, but because he felt he was being blocked from access to important information.
Transcript
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I'm Candace Malcolm and this is The Candace Malcolm Show. Folks, we have a great episode
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for you today. A little later in the program, we will be joined by True North's Melanie Bennett.
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She has an absolutely explosive story reporting out of Nova Scotia, where the progressive
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conservative government is doing something totally unconscionable. And we will get into
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the lower details of that. I want to talk a little bit about Mark Carney at the Calgary Stampede,
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and Canadian Press CTV is having a little bit of a let's go Brandon moment, trying to cover up the
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fact that this man is wildly disliked in Western Canada. But first, I want to talk about our friends
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over at the CBC. Yes, the state broadcaster is imploding in real time. We have an unbelievable
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story. Travis Danraj, who is a former host of the network, and he announced on social media that he
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was leaving, not on his own terms, not because he wants to. So this is the letter that he posted
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that was posted on his behalf on social media. He says, Dear colleagues, after more than 20 years
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in Canadian television journalism, I have been forced to resign from CBC News. This was not a
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voluntary decision. It comes after trying to navigate a workplace culture defined by retaliation,
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exclusion, and psychological harm. A place we're asking hard questions about tokenism,
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masquerading as diversity, problematic political coverage protocols, and the erosion of editorial
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independence became a career-ending move. Wow, folks, you know, this is the kind of thing
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that I would say about the CBC, that they push tokenism, masquerading as diversity, and that they
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have some problems with their political coverage, that they openly hate conservatives, and they have
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no tolerance for conservative ideas, conservative opinions, or conservative people, even mild-mannered
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centrist, conservative politicians get put through the ringer when they go on the CBC. Well, now one
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of their own is saying it. He's blowing the whistle, and I will continue to read from his letter. He
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writes, I was once one of CBC's most visible journalists, a senior parliamentary reporter, co-host
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of Marketplace, and most recently host of Candid Tonight, promoted as a symbol of progress until I began
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questioning the gap between CBC's stated values and its internal reality. When I pushed for honest
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conversations about systemic issues and editorial imbalance, I was shut out, sidelined, silenced, and
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ultimately erased. Unbelievable, folks. Okay, continue reading. CBC calls itself the champion of inclusion
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and public trust, but those ideals are too often deployed as branding tools, not lived principles, and
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Canadians are noticing what's happening inside this institution is no longer just an internal problem,
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it's a public one. I completely agree with every word about this. Look, the CBC pretends to be the
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voice of Canada, but everybody knows that it's not, right? It is a voice of hard left ideologues.
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They're pushing their values on the rest of Canadians, and Canadians are rejecting it. That's why their
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viewership numbers are so bad. That is why nobody's tuning into them. Unfortunately, there is a small
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percentage of Canadians that are sort of captured by this institution, and I think that is why something like
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this, a story like this is incredibly damaging because, look, to people watching my podcast,
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to me personally, I have no faith in the CBC. I've never really had faith in the organization because
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it is so biased, but if you can't see that bias, if you watch the CBC and you take it as gospel,
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and then you see, you know, one of your favorite hosts, Travis Danraj, saying this stuff out in the
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open, sounding a lot like us at Juno News with our criticisms of the CBC, I think that would be an
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eye-opening experience. So yes, forgive me for having a little bit of Schrodenfrode right now,
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but the CBC is getting exactly what they deserve when you have people like this coming forward. And
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we've had instances like this in the past. We've had, you know, Tara Henley famously resigned a few
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years ago from the CBC, making very similar allegations. We know all of this stuff is going on,
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and so Travis resigned. He posted this letter to his colleagues. He also had another letter
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that he sent to CBC management. Brian Lilly over in the Toronto Sun had access to that letter,
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and I'm going to read a little bit of this one. So he says, you know, he's writing to the CBC
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management. He says, Dear CBC leadership, this is an involuntary resignation. Later in the letter,
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he says, I was repeatedly denied access to key newsmakers. Internal booking and editorial protocols
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were weaponized to create structural barriers for some while empowering others, particularly a small
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circle of senior Ottawa-based journalists. I wonder who he could be referring to. He says,
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When I questioned these imbalances, I was met with silence, resistance, and eventually retaliation.
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I was fighting for balance and accused of being on a crusade. Now, listen, folks,
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Travis is not some fire-breathing right-winger, right? He's not a hardcore conservative. He is a
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probably a moderate centrist, small-l liberal, but even to someone like that, who's reasonable and
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just wants to be able to have free conversation and free debate. If you don't fall into this narrow
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ideological worldview, and it sounds like a little bit of like clicky, mean girl behavior, as well as
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some toxic femininity in there. If you don't conform to that, the way that they treat you, it seems,
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is just absolutely reprehensible. They will bully you. They will push you out. The things he talks about,
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silence, resistance, eventually retaliation. I mean, it sounds pretty miserable. It sounds a
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pretty miserable experience to work at the CBC. You know, another example popped to mind, Jesse
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Brown. He used to work at the CBC and he, when he resigned, maybe this was maybe 10 years ago,
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and he launched Canada Land. He mentioned similar kinds of things. So we've had many people come out
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and say, this is the problem, right? The problem with CBC isn't just that they're propagandists for the
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Liberal Party. It isn't just that they are completely captured by left wing, hard left ideologues that
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work there, but they're actually kind of nasty people too. They're bullies. They're mean. And they
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bully people who don't conform. This is not okay. Like, even if you're not a right winger, even if
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you're okay with the CBC promoting a left wing Canadian view, and you're okay with that, you can't be okay with
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this kind of behavior, this kind of bullying. And so I'm happy to hear that Travis has retained
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a lawyer, Catherine Marshall. She's actually a friend of mine, and he has retained her because
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he's weighing his legal options. And they're considering a complaint to the Canadian Human
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Rights Commission about the way he was treated. Allegations would include discrimination, reprisal,
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and harassment, she says. So really not a good day for the CBC, not a good look for the organization.
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It is imploding. And it is so hard to justify at this point why they would deserve more of your
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money, why they would deserve more than the $1.4 billion that they're getting. And yet,
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because we just had an election, and every time there's an election in Canada, the CBC gets more
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money, the bidding goes up, the Liberals offer them more and more money, more payment for complete
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submission to their worldview, to the coverage. And I think Canadians have had enough. We're starting to
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see through it. Heck, that's why Juno News is doing so well, folks. That's why we're really
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catching on. We're growing faster than we could have imagined. I don't know if you saw this story,
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but over the weekend, my co-founder and colleague here at Juno News, Kian Bexy,
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hosted a Calgary Stampede reception. He hosted a party on behalf of Juno News. He's based in Calgary.
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Calgary Stampede is a great event. It used to be my favorite one to go to. I didn't make it out this
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year, but I used to love going every year. It kind of has that spirit, that Canadian spirit of the
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frontier and independence and Mavericks. And so there we had Kian Bexy hosting this great event.
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And much to my pleasure, we had Daniel Smith, Premier of Alberta, was there,
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leader of the opposition party. Pierre Polyev was there, leader of the Conservatives.
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And I'm going to play a clip here, is Pierre Polyev pointing out that the CBC is failing to deliver on
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their mandate. They are absolutely atrociously wasting taxpayer dollars. And here we have
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Juno News, a small upstart, growing faster than the CBC and doing it all without taking a penny
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from the taxpayers. Let's play that clip. It was a real conflict because, of course,
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CBC is having their party right now. My invitation was lost in the mail. So I ended up here at Juno News,
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which is much faster growing than CBC and does it without any tax dollars. And I want to congratulate
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the entire team. Is Candace here as well? Candace here? She's not. My congratulations to Juno. I know this,
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it's an incredible enterprise to go out there and create a news outlet and try to reach eyeballs and
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earlobes without any backing. It's a big risk. And it's so far a risk that's paying off because frankly,
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people want to have an independent voice. They want to know what's actually going on,
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not what the government wants them to think. Absolutely. Thank you for those kind words to
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Pierre Polyev. Next, we have Danielle Smith saying that she no longer trusts the legacy media. She
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makes an interesting point here. But here she's saying that she used to read reports from the
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independent media and then she'd just want to verify that they were true. So she'd go check the legacy
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media. And now that's reversed. And I think that's exactly true. Let's play that clip.
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I always used to say, well, I'm reading something interesting in independent media,
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but until I see it in these august publications, until I see it in the mainstream media,
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I can't trust it's true. Now it's the reverse. Now it's when I see something in mainstream media,
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I don't trust it's true. It's true until I read it in independent media like Juno News. And I think that
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that shows how much independent media is responding to the needs of the public, how much is serving a
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public interest, how much it's giving a voice to those of us in the conservative movement who
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continue to find ourselves showed a doubt by the mainstream media. And that's why I'm delighted to
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be here this evening, delighted to see the work that Juno's doing and looking forward to seeing more of it.
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Well, appreciate that, Premier Smith, those kind words as well. But it's true, right? Like,
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maybe five, 10 years ago, the stories in the independent media that we were covering
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were things that the legacy media would never touch, right? And sometimes the story would be
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so explosive that you'd have to kind of verify, is that actually true? Because it just seems so
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outrageous. Whereas now it's like the legacy media, they just lie through their teeth, they misrepresent
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the situation intentionally. And what we've tried to do at Juno News and what I did at True North before
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that is say, hey, we don't just need to cover the niche stories that the legacy media responds,
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we're going to cover everything, we're going to cover the entire spectrum of news, you can go to
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Juno News and be fully informed on what is going on in the country, you can know, you can feel like
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you're not missing anything, right? You're getting the full coverage, the stories of the legacy media
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covers, but with a different angle and without all the propaganda, and then also the stories that they
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refuse to. And so, again, we're just absolutely delighted by the growth that we are experiencing.
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And we are here to replace the CBC, the CBC has to go, the CBC is proving once and again,
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that it's past its best before date, it is time to move on. And Canadians need news that they can
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trust. And that is what we're trying to build, right? We're not trying to build a small niche,
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independent media company, we are trying to build the biggest media company in Canada. So I encourage
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you to head on over to Juno News, support us on our mission, and become a premium subscriber. Now,
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to me, Mark Carney at the Calgary Stampede is just an absolute embarrassment. Okay,
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he is cosplaying. He is not beloved in Calgary. He is not, I won't say he's not welcome,
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because obviously, a Canadian Prime Minister is welcome throughout the country. But it must be a
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little bit of a shock to him to see how the people respond to him, right? When he's in Ontario,
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when he's in Quebec, he's getting showered with love. When he goes to legacy media, he's getting
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showered with praise. And that's what he's used to. That's his entire career is, you know,
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he's the master, he's the central banker, he's part of WAF, you know, roll out the red carpet
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for Mr. Carney. That's not the way he's getting treated in Calgary. A little bit amusing when he
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went to the chuck wagon races on Sunday, and he was given a warm Calgary welcome. Let's play that clip.
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Please welcome the Right Honourable, Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada.
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Not exactly the kind of warm welcome he was expecting. I want to zoom in a little bit on
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the way that the Canadian press and CTV covered this. So I'm going to read from the CPP. So it was
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posted on CTV. They write this later as he walked on stage before the truck wagon races at GMC stadium,
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Carney was met with a mix of boos and applause from the crowd of approximately 17,000 people.
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They're saying woo. I heard woo said the announcer, right? So they're gaslighting you folks. They're
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gaslighting you. They're trying to make you think, oh, it was just a mix. You know, there was a handful
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of hooligans that were booing. Most people were applauding. Even the announcer clarified and said
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that they're, they're saying woo. They're not saying boo. So you can kind of hear the announcer
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say that. I think he's saying it tongue in cheek. I think he's trying to just smooth the air, make
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Mr. Carney feel a little bit more welcome, but they weren't saying woo folks. They were booing. Here,
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I'm going to play the clip of the announcer just ever so slightly. You can hear him saying,
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they're saying woo. I heard woo. So you can barely hear, but the announcer said it,
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they're saying woo. They're saying woo. You know what? You know what? This,
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this reminds me of something else I've seen. What does this remind me of?
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Boo! See this? Are they booing me? No, they're saying boo-erns. Boo-erns. Are you saying boo or
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boo-erns? Boo! I was saying boo-erns. So you have one guy that was saying boo-erns. The whole rest of
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the crowd was saying boo. I mean, the idea that that was a mix of boos and balls. I heard overwhelming
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boo and then like three or four people politely clapping. That is the reception that Mr. Carney got.
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You know, this reminds me folks of the infamous let's go Brandon moment when Americans were not
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happy with Joe Biden. They did not like president Joe Biden. They didn't like his economy. They didn't
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like his inflation and they were letting him know what they thought. And of course, just the
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propagandistic influence instincts of a reporter is to say, no, they're not saying F Joe Biden.
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They're saying let's go Brandon. The name of the racer here. Let's, let's play that clip.
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As you can hear the chants from the crowd. Let's go Brandon. Brandon, you told me you were going to
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kind of hang back those first two stages and just watch and learn. They were definitely not saying
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let's go Brandon, but that was just the kind of day that Mark Carney was having out in Calgary. Next,
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Mark Carney tried his luck. He tried to go to the pancake breakfast. He didn't want to make the same mistake
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that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made, which was just showing how he just completely unable to flip
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a pancake. Well, unfortunately for Prime Minister Mark Carney, he made the same mistake. So here he is
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Saturday morning at the pancake breakfast hosted by the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. And yes,
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Mark Carney failed multiple times to flip a pancake.
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That's not it. That's not, that's not, I was better in, better in Ottawa.
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I don't know if he was worse than Justin. I would say equally as bad as us, but that's not it, right?
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So Mark Carney admitted during the campaign that he doesn't buy groceries. He doesn't shop for himself.
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He doesn't cook for himself. He's above all that. That's for the little people. And yet when he has
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to go, you know, it takes a few tries. I'll admit it's not, it's not the easiest thing to flip a
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pancake. Um, for me, mother of four, I'm making pancakes for my kids a couple of times a week.
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I've got it in the bag. I can do it with a baby on my hip. I can do it, uh, with a toddler on my back.
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But for someone like Mr. Carney, you know, just practice a few times before the cameras start rolling,
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do it at home, do it a few times. You got to wait for the pancake batter to cook fully before
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you flip it over. And he, he just, he didn't have the patience and yes, he got humiliated,
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but you know, I, I can't do justice, um, to just, you know, how embarrassing that was for Mr. Carney.
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So let's go to Pierre Polyev who really properly roasted the prime minister for his abysmal, uh,
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Of course, to do the customary thing and flip some pancakes. Now he's thought
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he would be great at it because in his trade talks with Trump, he's had so much experience flip-flopping,
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but, but, but still it didn't go as planned. One of the pancakes got broken in a half and the other
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one splattered everywhere. And he, he owned up to it, but a careful review of a slow, slow motion replay
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demonstrated exactly what the problem was. He couldn't figure out whether to put his elbows
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up or down. There's some good lines in there. Yes. He's got a lot of experience flip-flopping
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and it looks like he had his elbows down in that clip. I want to play another clip of Pierre Polyev
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giving what I thought was a really optimistic forward-looking speech. I think Pierre Polyev is
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really finding his stride. Look, it was tough to lose an election, tough to lose his own seat. Of course,
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he's running in a by-election in Alberta, so he will be an Alberta MP if all things go to plan. But
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here he is giving his sort of optimistic view for Canada and also just letting Ottawa know that the
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era of telling Alberta to pay up and shut up is over. Let's play that clip. Let me tell you, we are
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going to fight for our province again. We will fight for oil and gas, for farmers, for low taxes,
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for decentralization, a stronger military and a smaller federal government so that we can have
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a bigger Alberta. And if elected in Battle River Crowfoot, I'll use the platform of Leader of the
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Opposition to amplify the legitimate demands of Western Canada to end the unfair treatment.
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The era of Ottawa telling Alberta to pay up and shut up must end once and for all.
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All right, folks, moving on, I'm going to welcome Melanie Bennett, who's an investigative journalist
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with True North. She's host of Disrupted, which is aired right here on Juno News on Thursdays.
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And she has an absolutely explosive piece out yesterday. So Melanie, welcome to the podcast.
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Okay, so this is explosive. We're going to cut this off from the YouTube because I don't think
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that YouTube will let us talk in detail. I'll read the headline, exclusive Nova Scotia confirms that it
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funds and performs surgeries for teens. So exclusive documents reveal that doctors in Nova Scotia greenlit
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five surgeries to create artificial parts for patients listed under 19 years old. Folks,
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we're going to cut this off and go over to junonews.com, become a premium subscriber,
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and you can catch the rest of this conversation there.