Juno News - Climate, Coronavirus and Cockfights

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

00:00:06.740 This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.760 Coming up, cockfights and dog meat, Trump's tax returns, and the politics of lockdown.

00:00:20.000 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:23.560 Hello and welcome to another edition of Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.

00:00:31.140 This is the Andrew Lawton Show here on True North.

00:00:34.240 And I must say to you all, congratulations, you made it through the end of the world.

00:00:40.700 Yes, it is September 28th, 2020 right now.

00:00:43.960 And if you are listening to this and you have not just burst into flame,

00:00:47.960 you survived one of the many, many, many deadlines,

00:00:53.440 at which point the world was supposedly going to end, according to the Climate Alarmist.

00:00:58.320 This prediction, which was very specifically calculated to September 26th, 2020,

00:01:04.400 came about in a Think Progress piece that was written last year, last July.

00:01:09.480 We don't have 12 years to save the climate, we have 14 months.

00:01:13.200 The deadline for protecting our children from a ruined climate is close at hand.

00:01:17.960 Now, if we take a literal 14 months, even give or take a couple of days,

00:01:21.740 that brings us to this past Saturday.

00:01:24.160 So congratulations to you all, you made it!

00:01:27.400 I know, I was so nervous, because like so many people,

00:01:30.140 I had actually just, you know, paid my Rogers bill on Friday,

00:01:33.720 and then I realized, oh my goodness, I didn't even need to,

00:01:36.240 because the world was going to just collapse and burst into flame or smoke.

00:01:40.400 Or I don't know what happens when the climate apocalypse comes,

00:01:43.320 but either way, presumably, we wouldn't have needed to have paid our bills or anything like that.

00:01:47.460 So now, I don't know what the deadline is now, because they keep changing it, they keep moving it.

00:01:52.400 I mean, remember that famous Associated Press article that was, I think, published in 1989

00:01:57.180 that said, you know, we'd all be done by now.

00:01:59.920 An Inconvenient Truth said, I think we'd all be in the sea by now.

00:02:03.100 And the latest one is the 12-year one.

00:02:05.920 So that's going to be coming up in about 10 years now.

00:02:08.200 So, I mean, who knows?

00:02:09.360 You know, come to think of it, I don't actually see why the left cares so much,

00:02:12.240 because if the world is going to end in just a few years' time,

00:02:15.480 I don't know why, you know, they get so up in arms about everything.

00:02:18.400 Like Donald Trump, for example.

00:02:19.580 Like, why do they get so angry about Donald Trump when America,

00:02:22.640 because Earth will cease to exist in just a few years' time?

00:02:26.300 Either way, perhaps it means they're being disingenuous about one or the other,

00:02:29.940 or in fact, both.

00:02:30.920 We will be talking about Donald Trump's infamous tax returns,

00:02:35.020 as reported by the New York Times later on in the show.

00:02:37.620 But first, I have to talk, speaking about climate alarmism,

00:02:41.880 this story that came out over the weekend of Catherine McKenna

00:02:45.600 and her apparent penchant for cockfighting and dog eating. 1.00

00:02:50.480 Now, this comes from a story in the post-millennial.

00:02:53.420 Now, again, I did not have this one on my 2020 bingo card.

00:02:56.760 You know, infrastructure minister and former environment minister Catherine McKenna

00:03:00.060 bribing her way into a cockfighting match. 0.98

00:03:02.940 But nevertheless, here we are.

00:03:04.680 Never let anyone say 2020 is not going to be the year that keeps throwing you curveballs.

00:03:11.280 This is a story from Roberto Waker L. Cruz, or Walker L. Cruz.

00:03:16.060 I apologize if I've gotten that wrong.

00:03:18.200 And the story is based on video from an island trip in Flores in Indonesia

00:03:23.980 that Catherine McKenna took in 1995.

00:03:27.000 Now, she would be, I think, around 24 years old at the time,

00:03:30.040 so it's important to keep that in a bit of context.

00:03:32.040 The videos purportedly show her bribing her way into a cockfight. 1.00

00:03:38.140 The videos are from the article rights, a documentary made by under-known's Steve Holford,

00:03:44.140 wherein young travelers explore foreign cultures, including cuisines.

00:03:48.300 And let's take a look at a bit of the first clip here.

00:03:50.860 Before we entered the fight, Bimo explained that everyone who watched

00:03:59.300 had to donate 5,000 Indonesian rupiah, or three U.S. dollars, as a bribe to the police.

00:04:05.020 Apparently, the police would show up and threaten arrest if they didn't receive any money.

00:04:08.260 The dirt makeshift arena was filled with strained expressions of anxiety.

00:04:25.920 These men were definitely serious gamblers.

00:04:28.040 You're going to choose the winning one?

00:04:32.280 Yeah.

00:04:32.720 Okay.

00:04:34.040 Sure.

00:04:34.280 Okay.

00:04:35.080 And you're going to test for it's, like, the strongest bird?

00:04:38.540 Yeah, yeah, sure.

00:04:39.680 And look more muscle, you know? 0.99

00:04:42.600 Caught up in the excitement, I thought I'd try my luck at gambling on Bimo's cock. 0.99

00:04:46.340 When the cocks were armed and ready for battle, they were brought into the arena. 1.00

00:04:59.080 Only minutes before the duel to death, people were given a last chance to bet. 0.96

00:05:05.380 And then the cockfight began. 1.00

00:05:16.340 As luck would have it, Bimo's cock won, and I was a few dollars richer. 0.93

00:05:24.180 And in tradition, the winner of the fight brought home the loser for dinner. 0.96

00:05:28.540 It's fun.

00:05:29.660 Yeah, it's fun. 0.98

00:05:31.540 The loser. 1.00

00:05:32.820 The loser.

00:05:33.860 The winner.

00:05:34.760 Now, you only see little bits of her face there, but as you can see, they're tying razors to the roosters

00:05:41.420 and then just letting them loose, and this is all a big old family fun activity.

00:05:45.480 And by the way, one that, despite whatever you may think of certain eastern cultures, like Indonesia,

00:05:50.840 has been outlawed there at the time of this video for 14 years.

00:05:54.820 It was illegal in 1981.

00:05:56.800 Now, obviously, culturally, people are all for it there, but it was illegal,

00:06:00.500 and that was the whole bribery aspect of it.

00:06:03.040 And the other video is her having a big old bowl of dog meat and laughing about it,

00:06:08.840 and this is all, according to the postmillennial, getting animal rights activists up in arms.

00:06:14.280 Now, I had said on Twitter when I posted this on the weekend,

00:06:17.100 I don't actually care about the dog meat part.

00:06:20.260 I really don't, and I'm going to tell you this.

00:06:22.540 And by the way, the amount of abuse I got from people on the right for that

00:06:25.700 because they thought I was defending Catherine McKenna.

00:06:28.100 No, I'm just saying that let's focus on the illegal cockfighting ring 1.00

00:06:31.160 when that story gives a sample to discuss instead of dog eating.

00:06:34.920 When, remember, whatever you may think of dogs, and I love dogs, I love animals,

00:06:40.520 there is no moral difference between chowing down on beef or chowing down on Fido.

00:06:47.880 There's an emotional difference because we in the West have attachments to dogs.

00:06:52.260 We have them as pets.

00:06:53.160 We love them.

00:06:53.760 We have that man's best friend trope.

00:06:56.160 But morally, if you're eating an animal, you're eating an animal.

00:06:58.840 So the idea of eating dog versus cat versus horse versus pig,

00:07:02.520 it's an entirely arbitrary line that we draw between them.

00:07:08.200 Now, that doesn't mean people are not entitled to draw the line.

00:07:10.660 I would encourage people to say, you know,

00:07:12.500 you know, I'm okay with eating a pig, but I'm not okay with eating whatever.

00:07:16.820 It's like I've eaten really weird things.

00:07:18.920 I've eaten goat brain. 0.99

00:07:20.820 I've eaten kangaroo.

00:07:21.960 I've eaten, what else have I eaten?

00:07:23.600 I've eaten rabbit.

00:07:24.800 I have eaten, I think goat brain's the weirdest one.

00:07:30.640 Probably some other things that I've had.

00:07:32.540 And I would have other things.

00:07:33.840 But the whole point is that if you're traveling abroad,

00:07:36.240 you kind of have to just immerse yourselves into different cuisine.

00:07:39.940 And would I eat dog?

00:07:42.140 It's tough to say.

00:07:43.180 I mean, if it were put in front of me and I was in a foreign restaurant,

00:07:46.020 would I do like a whole went and roam thing?

00:07:47.900 I don't know.

00:07:48.700 But I am going to say that I'm not holding that part against her

00:07:51.420 because, look, she was traveling.

00:07:52.780 She was having an experience, and that was part of the experience.

00:07:56.560 And you could even say that maybe the cockfighting ring was part of that.

00:08:00.180 You know, I've traveled to Thailand.

00:08:01.840 I never went to a cockfighting match.

00:08:03.920 I've traveled a couple of places, and this has never been on the agenda.

00:08:08.660 But the whole point is that there are people saying,

00:08:11.300 well, you know, she was 24, and she shouldn't be held responsible for that.

00:08:15.940 The whole point is that she represents a party that loves to,

00:08:19.700 and a movement that loves to define people by the very worst moments of their life,

00:08:24.320 even going back to when they were younger than she was on this Indonesian trip.

00:08:28.920 And by the way, Catherine Magana has absolutely no comment on this.

00:08:32.960 She has not responded or spoken out publicly,

00:08:35.480 although people have dug up some pictures that show her affinity for dogs in a modern context

00:08:41.200 that, compared to this video, tend to look a little creepy,

00:08:44.520 and those have been recirculating in the last couple of days on Twitter.

00:08:48.860 So if we're prepared to say, left, right, far left, far right,

00:08:53.100 we're all going to give everyone a mulligan and say,

00:08:55.000 you know what, anything you've done before politics in your life,

00:08:58.220 we don't really care about all that much.

00:08:59.940 Fine.

00:09:00.320 I'm all for that.

00:09:01.280 Believe me.

00:09:01.860 I think that this whole race to the bottom of cancel culture, 1.00

00:09:04.900 of digging up this tweet, that tweet, this statement, that photo, 0.78

00:09:08.000 I think it's disgusting and despicable.

00:09:10.160 And I'm not going to say that this is something that should cause Catherine McKenna career ruinment.

00:09:15.080 I'd be interested to hear what she's wanting to say about it.

00:09:18.580 I'd be interested in hearing her say, you know, does she think it was wrong?

00:09:22.040 Why did she enjoy it then, seemingly, or at least partake in it?

00:09:25.580 And regardless of what you think about Catherine McKenna,

00:09:29.120 that seems to be a reasonable discussion.

00:09:31.660 So I'm of the mind that, yes, this is a relevant story.

00:09:35.160 Yes, it was good journalism.

00:09:36.420 Yes, it's something that she should probably speak out about now that it's out there.

00:09:41.300 But no, it shouldn't be an inherently disqualifying thing,

00:09:44.540 especially when I think there is ample in her actual record as a politician to say that,

00:09:49.780 hey, she probably shouldn't be in public office.

00:09:52.180 That has nothing to do with this stuff from when she was on an Indonesian trip in her 20s.

00:09:56.960 So the whole point of this, though, is that we are now faced with a dilemma.

00:10:02.740 The left has created a climate and a culture where everything is fair game.

00:10:07.480 You can't have had a joke that landed the wrong way in your 20s.

00:10:11.000 You can't have done anything at all in your life without it coming back to bite you in the rear end.

00:10:15.460 So there's two ways to do this.

00:10:16.900 We can either say, okay, mutually assured destruction.

00:10:19.640 And that's the temptation from a lot of people on the right.

00:10:22.060 Say, all right, if you're going to play this game, we're going to play it too.

00:10:25.280 The problem is it doesn't work because people on the left get a pass.

00:10:28.980 Politicians on the left who have done and said the same things that have been career-ending for people on the right

00:10:34.520 tend to get away from it.

00:10:36.020 And you can look through a litany of media figures, political candidates, politicians

00:10:41.060 that were able to get away by just saying,

00:10:43.380 oh, you know what, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done X, and that's that.

00:10:47.680 So that's the problem here, which is why I think the much better scenario for all of us is to say,

00:10:52.700 all right, let's stop doing this.

00:10:54.760 Let's stop stoking the cancel culture flames. 0.88

00:10:58.060 And you can have a discussion and a dialogue about something without it actually becoming

00:11:03.460 about cancellation.

00:11:05.860 And that's what I would like to see happen with this thing.

00:11:08.600 Look, okay, you partook in an illegal activity.

00:11:12.180 You apparently enjoyed it.

00:11:14.220 You haven't spoken out in the past about your disgust with it.

00:11:17.360 And no, I'm not talking about the dog meat.

00:11:18.700 I'm talking about the illegal cockfighting, which, I mean, for all I know,

00:11:21.800 cabinet meetings are an illegal cockfighting ring.

00:11:23.720 Who knows? I've never been in them.

00:11:26.040 Like, you know, maybe this is why, you know, the liberals always enjoy their cabinet retreats

00:11:29.960 because, you know, they're, you know, just putting on the liberal branded razor blades

00:11:32.840 on the rooster's feet or whatever.

00:11:35.880 But she's never really said anything about this.

00:11:38.960 And I would also wonder, and a friend of mine pointed this out the other day,

00:11:42.540 why has this not come out previously?

00:11:45.020 I mean, with all the stuff, it's the same as why blackface never came out in 2015

00:11:48.880 or why other things that we've learned about liberals didn't come out until earlier on.

00:11:54.320 I mean, in a lot of cases, no media is doing the digging.

00:11:58.260 So I have to give the post-millennial credit.

00:12:00.600 They have dug into something here that the mainstream media didn't do.

00:12:04.920 The mainstream media has been more interested in looking at, you know,

00:12:08.100 how much on clothing the Andrew Scheer family spent for their children

00:12:14.320 or, you know, the private school tuition stuff with the conservatives.

00:12:17.660 Like, they're more interested in these things.

00:12:19.500 And they don't have any scrutiny that they want to put into many high-ranking people on the left.

00:12:26.020 And we'll talk about a great example of that right after the break

00:12:28.720 with Donald Trump's tax returns here on The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:12:32.060 We are back.

00:12:38.560 So yes, the bombshell report from The New York Times

00:12:41.340 that Donald Trump for 10 of the last 15 years paid no personal income tax

00:12:47.260 and actually in his first year in the White House had paid just $750

00:12:52.500 as well as the first year of his presidency win.

00:12:56.760 So in the election year, he paid $750 in income taxes as well.

00:13:00.560 And this is this big bombshell that seems to be cutting into a couple of different areas.

00:13:06.860 They're trying to say, oh, he's not as rich as he pretended.

00:13:09.280 He said he was a billionaire, but he's not.

00:13:11.520 They're also trying to say that he's a tax cheat in some way.

00:13:15.940 But it's funny.

00:13:16.880 If you read The New York Times article and don't read the tweets,

00:13:19.220 don't read the headlines, actually read the article itself,

00:13:22.160 you'll see a couple of really weird things that make you wonder

00:13:26.320 how they're trying to pass this off as news.

00:13:30.560 So basically, in a nutshell here, what happened is Trump for 10 of the past 15 years

00:13:35.680 paid no income tax.

00:13:36.920 In years where he did pay it, it was minimal amounts, less than $1,000.

00:13:40.440 And this is because he was writing off all of his income against significant losses.

00:13:44.840 He reported losing more money than he made.

00:13:47.860 So what we're seeing here is exactly how the tax system is supposed to work.

00:13:53.320 That you pay on profit, you pay on net gain your taxes, you don't pay on gross gain.

00:14:00.200 So The New York Times, looking at this, has found that nothing.

00:14:07.020 They found nothing.

00:14:07.920 Just read this line here.

00:14:09.420 The, and this is the great part, they even admit that this doesn't really answer all that much.

00:14:14.400 They say,

00:14:44.400 So right there, they're basically saying that,

00:15:05.240 we don't know if this is really saying anything.

00:15:08.340 Because income and wealth are very different things.

00:15:11.680 Liquid versus illiquid assets are very different things.

00:15:15.020 And also, real estate is very much a debt-driven endeavor.

00:15:19.700 So if most of your money, or a lot of your money, or a lot of your wealth is coming from real estate,

00:15:24.060 then what happens?

00:15:25.200 Well, we see time and time again, people who are putting debt in front so that they can do exactly what Trump is doing,

00:15:33.260 which is minimize their income tax burden.

00:15:36.400 This is how business is.

00:15:39.040 Now, no one is saying, that I've seen anyway, that he broke the law.

00:15:43.200 People are saying it might seem a little bit dirty or not fair,

00:15:46.240 but no one is saying it's illegal.

00:15:48.980 And if it is not illegal, for all the people who are angry about this,

00:15:52.620 I have a pretty simple question.

00:15:55.280 Would you pay a dollar more in income tax than you legally had to?

00:16:01.400 Answer me honestly.

00:16:02.500 Would you pay a penny more in income tax than you legally had to?

00:16:07.680 Because I sure as heck wouldn't.

00:16:09.340 Now, I'm not rolling in Trump levels of money here.

00:16:11.760 I'm not rolling in Trump levels of property holdings.

00:16:15.100 But I would assure you, if there is a way I can bring legally any dollar of tax that I owe to the government down,

00:16:21.620 I will do it.

00:16:23.500 And that is a smart thing to do.

00:16:25.240 It's a responsible thing to do.

00:16:27.060 Taxes are not charity.

00:16:29.060 They are theft.

00:16:30.160 So I'm not going to willingly or eagerly or at all hand over more money than is required of me.

00:16:37.920 And I'm saying this repeatedly because this is such a simple and obvious point

00:16:41.840 that so many of the people who are angry are missing out on.

00:16:45.600 And also, what people are neglecting to mention is that when you have the volume of businesses

00:16:50.840 that the Trump Organization and Donald Trump personally have,

00:16:54.300 your personal income tax is not the whole measure of tax that you are paying.

00:16:59.380 And there was a tacit endorsement of this in the New York Times article I wanted to share.

00:17:05.100 In a lawyer letter to the New York Times, Alan Garten, who represents the Trump Organization,

00:17:10.760 said most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate.

00:17:14.460 And he said over the past decade, President Trump has paid tens of millions of dollars

00:17:19.220 in personal taxes to the federal government, including paying millions in personal taxes

00:17:24.860 since announcing his candidacy in 2015.

00:17:28.140 And what the Times says is that the term personal taxes is conflating income taxes

00:17:34.560 with other federal taxes Mr. Trump has paid,

00:17:38.200 which they list as Social Security, Medicare, and taxes for his household employees.

00:17:43.680 So when what's happening here is that the New York Times puts out the story that says,

00:17:48.920 oh, Trump's paying no tax.

00:17:50.680 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says, you know, she paid more tax working as a bartender in Brooklyn 1.00

00:17:55.080 than Trump paid as a CEO and, you know, real estate mogul.

00:17:59.220 Whereas there seems to be, and they funnily enough, don't give you the numbers here,

00:18:03.420 acknowledge that he's paid millions into the social safety net of Social Security, of Medicare,

00:18:08.660 and not to mention the people, the payroll taxes he's paying for his employees personally

00:18:13.940 and the employees of his organization.

00:18:17.300 Now, I'm not even a Trump sycophant here.

00:18:19.660 I'm just wanting this to be an area where people can come by it honestly

00:18:23.340 and have an honest discussion and not be so consumed by their hatred on one side

00:18:28.560 or their adulation on the other side and have an honest dialogue,

00:18:32.460 which is completely absent from this.

00:18:34.600 This is a story that's written in bad faith,

00:18:37.140 a story that's now been distorted and promoted in bad faith,

00:18:41.260 and a story that we're never going to hear the end of between now and November.

00:18:45.680 And the Times has already said they're going to have more on this.

00:18:48.940 But if they had anything big, it would be out now.

00:18:51.340 So this is coming on the eve of the presidential debate,

00:18:54.700 the first one, which is coming up on Tuesday.

00:18:57.420 And I mean, Joe Biden, who barely knows what state he's in most of the time,

00:19:01.140 now has just one thing to remember.

00:19:03.440 Joe, $750.

00:19:05.040 Joe, $750.

00:19:06.200 So that's it.

00:19:07.400 I mean, he's going to bring it up.

00:19:08.540 There's going to be a few moments where he has no idea what's going on.

00:19:11.160 He doesn't know where he is, but something's going to jolt him.

00:19:13.380 And he's going to shout out,

00:19:14.360 $750.

00:19:16.460 That's going to be what we see in the debate.

00:19:18.540 I might even have to keep a counter on,

00:19:20.180 and we'll do a recap of how right I was or how right I was on Thursday's show.

00:19:25.680 But this is the reality is that we have in Ontario, for example,

00:19:29.960 and I don't know if other provinces have this,

00:19:31.660 but in Ontario, there's something called the Ontario Opportunities Fund.

00:19:35.760 Well, that sounds great, doesn't it?

00:19:37.020 Well, the Ontario Opportunities Fund is a thing that you have as an Ontario taxpayer

00:19:42.240 allowing you the opportunity to donate your tax refund,

00:19:47.180 if you're getting a tax refund,

00:19:48.540 to the provincial government to help it pay down its debt.

00:19:53.020 So if I have, at the end of the year, when I'm doing my taxes,

00:19:56.800 it tells me, oh, you are owed $170 by the government or whatever.

00:20:00.960 I always owe them, but in any case,

00:20:03.060 they can say, well, if you'd like,

00:20:04.900 you can donate that to pay down the provincial debt,

00:20:07.320 to which I say a resounding hell frigging no.

00:20:11.440 If I have a refund of $2,

00:20:14.460 I am going to have the government issue me a $2 check

00:20:17.380 rather than donate any of that to the government coffers.

00:20:20.460 And apparently, I looked into this, actually, just before doing this show,

00:20:25.180 somehow the government has managed to find $3 million through this,

00:20:30.060 which in a, you know, a 300 and some odd billion dollar debt is pretty insignificant.

00:20:34.480 But over the course of the last 20 years, $3 million people have given,

00:20:38.820 and surprisingly, thousands of people have availed themselves as this.

00:20:43.400 But with the exception of these people,

00:20:45.180 how many of those who are angry at Trump are saying,

00:20:48.060 you know what, I think that it's my civic duty to pay taxes

00:20:52.640 and to give a little bit extra, so I don't claim exemptions.

00:20:56.600 So here are the two options.

00:20:58.560 If this is illegal, yes, get angry, call for prosecution.

00:21:04.760 If this is legal, your issue is not with the player,

00:21:09.220 your issue is with the game.

00:21:11.120 And I've been a longtime believer in tax reform,

00:21:13.540 and oddly enough, it's the left who doesn't like tax reform

00:21:17.440 and certain pockets of the right because they far prefer to have

00:21:21.900 all of these different complexities and systems and graduated levels

00:21:25.780 and progressive taxation and all of that.

00:21:27.980 Whereas I like what Ted Cruz pushed for a few years back

00:21:31.120 when he was running for president, which is the one-page tax return.

00:21:34.280 Make it simple, have a flat or flattish tax,

00:21:37.580 get rid of all the loopholes, exemptions, and that's that.

00:21:40.680 I would love to see that.

00:21:43.240 The left is never going to go for a flat tax.

00:21:45.360 We've seen it proposed in Canada, not by any major players.

00:21:48.660 Rick Peterson, though, who ran for conservative leadership

00:21:51.440 the last couple of times, he wanted to put a flat tax forward

00:21:54.780 or it was a flattish tax anyway.

00:21:57.040 And I thought it was a great idea.

00:21:58.720 I would love to see that.

00:21:59.940 I would love to see wholesale tax reform

00:22:01.860 that levels the playing field, that simplifies things.

00:22:04.820 But let's not pretend that anyone would willingly hand over more money to the government 0.99

00:22:10.840 unless they are an absolute fool or an ideologue who at least deserves a commendation 0.98

00:22:17.100 for being ideologically consistent in the sense that they actually practice what they preach. 0.99

00:22:22.060 But right now, everyone just wants your money to belong to the state.

00:22:26.660 That's the reality here.

00:22:28.100 So you don't need to love Trump or even like Trump

00:22:32.700 to just realize the inherent absurdity of the argument that's being put forward here

00:22:37.640 that we should be paying more than our fair share.

00:22:42.860 So here's the interesting thing, though, is that if you take that out of the equation

00:22:46.540 and make it just about he's pretending to be richer than he is or whatever,

00:22:50.220 I mean, look, he was a TV personality.

00:22:52.400 I guess that's the reality is that he's rewritten the rules of the game of politics.

00:22:56.460 There's no denying that.

00:22:58.000 But he was a television personality.

00:23:00.120 The whole idea of The Apprentice was based on a character

00:23:03.840 more than it was based on a real thing.

00:23:06.480 And that's not to say that he hasn't done real stuff.

00:23:08.840 But it was like the idea behind this, I think, is quite amusing

00:23:13.500 in that now you've got people that are so like offended by the idea.

00:23:18.140 They hate that he's a billionaire.

00:23:20.400 And then now they're like, oh, no, no, but he's not actually a billionaire.

00:23:23.080 He's not.

00:23:24.360 It's like, well, which is it?

00:23:25.180 Do you hate him because he's rich and has all this money

00:23:27.760 and is so disconnected from regular folks?

00:23:30.260 Or do you hate him because, well, he said he was a billionaire,

00:23:33.320 but he's not actually.

00:23:34.680 And when you look at the value of all the real estate holdings,

00:23:37.380 again, people need to understand wealth and income, very different things.

00:23:42.680 Wealth and income are very different things.

00:23:44.860 I'm not even an economist.

00:23:46.220 And I know this.

00:23:47.080 I don't think it's that difficult.

00:23:48.500 Just look on Wikipedia or look on Investopedia.

00:23:50.600 Spend five minutes there.

00:23:51.640 And you'll see why this story was absolutely nothing.

00:23:54.600 We've got to take a break.

00:23:55.660 When we come back, more of The Andrew Lawton Show here on True North.

00:23:59.020 Stay tuned.

00:24:02.400 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:24:05.100 Welcome back to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:24:11.160 So the new projections from the Ontario government are that the second wave

00:24:14.880 is going to be peaking in October.

00:24:17.760 And this is, of course, timing well with the government telling us

00:24:21.120 that further lockdown measures are potentially coming down the pipeline.

00:24:24.960 We had over the weekend a restriction in place on when bars conserve alcohol

00:24:30.360 and some other businesses.

00:24:32.220 And it seems like we're right back to not necessarily square one,

00:24:35.920 but where we were months ago,

00:24:37.340 which we know was really much really the death knell for a lot of businesses.

00:24:42.080 And very few people in the provincial legislature have been speaking out against this.

00:24:46.600 One of the only ones, and certainly the loudest,

00:24:48.760 has been Randy Hillier, a former PCMPP,

00:24:51.980 now an independent member of the provincial parliament,

00:24:54.680 who joins me on the line now.

00:24:56.600 Randy, good to talk to you.

00:24:57.520 Thanks very much for coming on today.

00:24:59.000 Great to be with you, Andrew.

00:25:01.320 I think the one thing we learned early on in this

00:25:04.000 is that all of the projections that we were told

00:25:06.540 were really the basis of government actions were wrong.

00:25:09.780 And I think we can be very grateful they are

00:25:11.560 because these were predicting thousands of deaths,

00:25:14.340 ICU capacity overwhelmed.

00:25:16.120 It hasn't happened.

00:25:17.380 So when you hear that now these same projections

00:25:19.500 are looking at an October 2nd wave,

00:25:22.800 what's your reaction?

00:25:24.580 Well, since March,

00:25:26.480 you know, we certainly had all these dire predictions,

00:25:31.400 these catastrophic models,

00:25:34.240 and thankfully they didn't come to bear.

00:25:39.340 And it's not uncommon for predictions and models

00:25:42.740 to be found to be an error.

00:25:45.820 Like, that's normal.

00:25:47.520 Actually, it's very seldom a prediction or a model

00:25:51.300 is factual at the end of the day.

00:25:53.800 And the same thing has happened with COVID.

00:25:57.200 So, but what we've got ourselves into now

00:26:00.560 is a, not so much of a healthcare problem

00:26:04.280 or a medical problem, Andrew.

00:26:07.620 We've got, in all Western governments find this,

00:26:10.740 they've got themselves a political problem,

00:26:13.400 a huge political problem,

00:26:14.940 and they're not knowing how to deal with it

00:26:17.580 and without admitting some errors.

00:26:22.140 And so now we're finding ourselves being told

00:26:26.160 we're in a second wave.

00:26:28.160 But when you look at the evidence that is revealed,

00:26:31.860 the hospitalization rates are flat.

00:26:34.540 The deaths are flat, hardly measurable,

00:26:41.940 but an increasing number of people

00:26:45.140 who are testing positive

00:26:46.920 for some form of coronavirus in their system.

00:26:52.900 And those rates are going up significantly,

00:26:55.260 but the severity and the lethality of the virus

00:27:00.040 is flatlined.

00:27:01.320 But we're still, we're still acting politically

00:27:05.220 on the models and the projections

00:27:08.280 that have been dispelled and known to be false.

00:27:13.140 What drives that?

00:27:13.900 Because politicians don't want to be the ones

00:27:16.060 responsible for shutting down

00:27:17.760 their constituents' businesses

00:27:19.460 and for wreaking economic havoc on their citizens.

00:27:22.620 So how is there a political advantage

00:27:24.860 to what's being proposed?

00:27:27.400 Well, I don't know if your statement is true, Andrew.

00:27:29.920 The greatest singular priority

00:27:34.700 and importance for a political party

00:27:37.820 and elected people is re-election

00:27:40.920 and whatever it takes to be re-elected.

00:27:45.180 And part of what it takes to be re-elected

00:27:48.320 is to have public opinion on your side.

00:27:52.060 And we know that there's a great, great number of people

00:27:56.720 who are living in fear.

00:27:58.920 And I would say even a great number of people

00:28:02.180 who are terrorized over the seven months of headlines

00:28:08.320 and consistent and constant reminders

00:28:12.040 of the potential severity of COVID

00:28:16.880 that there has become a very disturbed element

00:28:22.980 in our society that we have to act only on our fears

00:28:28.760 and act on those projections.

00:28:32.260 So I don't think Doug Ford or anybody in the PC caucus

00:28:37.000 wants to wreak havoc on our economy.

00:28:40.220 I don't think any of them want to deny access to healthcare

00:28:44.420 like we've been doing to people who need medical attention.

00:28:49.240 I don't think they want to prevent our kids

00:28:52.100 from going to school.

00:28:53.220 But more importantly is they don't want to have their brand

00:29:00.180 and their reputation tarnished or diminished

00:29:03.720 by admitting that they made mistakes and errors.

00:29:09.900 And they don't know how to diminish or alleviate

00:29:13.980 the level of fear in society

00:29:19.520 or to communicate what is the appropriate level of risk.

00:29:24.400 What is the risk to people?

00:29:27.360 And as we know, if you're under 80,

00:29:30.480 if you don't have underlying illnesses

00:29:34.060 or in chronic illnesses,

00:29:36.660 the likelihood of you experiencing a contact pain

00:29:42.800 and experiencing severe illness or death

00:29:46.320 is negligible.

00:29:49.280 And they just don't know how to get themselves

00:29:52.020 out of the political problem that they've created.

00:29:54.240 You are right about that.

00:29:56.800 That in a lot of ways,

00:29:57.880 they've boxed themselves into a corner

00:29:59.620 by how dire their predictions and projections were

00:30:03.200 in March and April.

00:30:05.240 And we're seeing them have to commit to the bit,

00:30:07.660 so to speak now.

00:30:08.880 Whereas instead of just celebrating,

00:30:10.900 hey, you know what?

00:30:11.840 We had to take this extreme action

00:30:13.600 because we didn't know.

00:30:14.820 Now we do know that's a win for everyone.

00:30:17.280 Let's try to get back to normal.

00:30:18.540 But that's not what's happening.

00:30:19.640 And that's not what, you know,

00:30:22.140 this is the nature and the characteristics.

00:30:25.040 These are the attributes of political parties

00:30:27.700 and governments throughout the Western world.

00:30:30.220 So we see them all behaving in a very similar fashion

00:30:34.420 because no government,

00:30:36.900 no government ever wants to admit an error

00:30:40.940 unless it was for some other government's

00:30:44.820 faulty policies, you know, decades and decades ago.

00:30:49.640 I'll give you the example like

00:30:50.680 the internment of Japanese in Canada.

00:30:54.040 That recognition of the error happened 50 years later.

00:31:00.540 The recognition of wrongdoing with residential schools

00:31:04.780 happened many, many decades after governments.

00:31:09.500 You know, they know that if they admit errors

00:31:11.900 and failings, that tarnishes their brand,

00:31:18.420 it tarnishes their narrative,

00:31:20.040 and it limits their potential for re-election.

00:31:23.800 And that's really, we've got ourselves

00:31:26.360 a huge political problem

00:31:29.440 that some people think is a healthcare problem.

00:31:33.820 You were out of the PC caucus a year and a half ago.

00:31:38.460 I think it was March 2019.

00:31:40.180 Had that not happened, and had you still been in,

00:31:43.280 do you think you would have been out now

00:31:45.040 over the course of the PC government's conduct

00:31:47.600 in the last few months?

00:31:49.220 Without a doubt.

00:31:50.820 Yeah, there was no way,

00:31:52.220 like, it became evident to most people,

00:31:56.980 you know, late April,

00:32:00.000 by late April,

00:32:02.380 but certainly early part of May,

00:32:04.420 it was clear the projections,

00:32:07.780 the apocalypse,

00:32:09.320 and these catastrophic outcomes

00:32:13.620 weren't going to happen.

00:32:15.220 And I did speak out.

00:32:19.500 In the House in May,

00:32:21.200 I challenged and spoke strongly

00:32:24.840 against the continuation

00:32:26.340 of the state of emergency.

00:32:29.620 And there's another good example, Andrew,

00:32:32.480 where the state of emergency

00:32:34.320 was finally ended in,

00:32:38.220 what was it, the end of July.

00:32:41.400 However, the government has retained

00:32:44.320 all the extreme

00:32:46.480 and extraordinary measures

00:32:48.620 as if it was still

00:32:50.840 in a state of emergency.

00:32:52.660 Yeah, as though the issue

00:32:54.120 was with the term state of emergency

00:32:55.960 and not all of the powers

00:32:57.420 that came along with that.

00:32:59.260 So we still,

00:33:00.060 so we have an unelected,

00:33:02.520 unaccountable COVID command table

00:33:04.720 who the premier will not identify

00:33:07.580 who's all involved in that.

00:33:10.060 He will not reveal the agenda,

00:33:12.900 the minutes,

00:33:13.420 the communications.

00:33:15.080 It's all hidden from our view.

00:33:17.460 And they are allowed to come out

00:33:19.020 with these outrageous edicts

00:33:23.360 like what happened last Saturday.

00:33:25.900 You know, a week ago, Thursday,

00:33:28.600 the premier said,

00:33:29.520 we're going to a regional approach

00:33:31.560 on new restrictions.

00:33:33.500 And he announced on Thursday

00:33:34.840 restrictions for Toronto,

00:33:36.500 Ottawa, and Mississauga.

00:33:38.840 Well, Saturday morning,

00:33:40.260 he came out and said,

00:33:42.800 no, we're going province-wide

00:33:45.300 and these new restrictions

00:33:47.480 are province-wide

00:33:49.140 and they take effect now.

00:33:52.580 And I had people just calling me

00:33:54.560 in tears, Andrew.

00:33:55.980 You know, they had weddings planned

00:33:57.480 that afternoon.

00:33:58.560 They had guests in from around the province

00:34:01.420 and elsewhere.

00:34:01.960 And the government just said,

00:34:05.460 now what you're planning is unlawful

00:34:08.800 if you have more than 25 people

00:34:10.840 in your backyard.

00:34:12.580 And we've seen this,

00:34:15.280 and I'll say to you, Andrew,

00:34:16.860 like that is the first time

00:34:18.880 in my life

00:34:21.020 that I have seen

00:34:23.420 any government in Canada

00:34:26.140 announce an arbitrary decision

00:34:30.560 that takes effect now.

00:34:33.680 No lead time,

00:34:35.220 no day or two days grace

00:34:37.020 or anything.

00:34:38.120 It's now.

00:34:39.680 And remember,

00:34:40.620 there was no debate.

00:34:42.380 There was no discussion.

00:34:44.240 There was no vote.

00:34:45.460 Like, that is not how

00:34:49.100 a representative democracy functions.

00:34:53.840 We don't have

00:34:55.740 emperor-like authorities

00:35:00.200 without checks and balances

00:35:01.720 provided to a premium.

00:35:04.160 But now we do.

00:35:06.200 I want to ask you about

00:35:07.800 your sort of role

00:35:09.300 as in many cases

00:35:10.660 that, you know,

00:35:11.120 the one-man opposition to this

00:35:12.600 because even the official opposition,

00:35:14.700 the NDP,

00:35:15.740 and what's left of the liberals

00:35:17.260 in the Ontario legislature,

00:35:18.940 they're criticizing

00:35:19.780 the government's

00:35:20.560 specific decisions.

00:35:21.800 But typically,

00:35:22.380 those criticisms

00:35:23.060 are along the lines of

00:35:24.320 you're not doing enough,

00:35:26.280 not, you know,

00:35:26.880 where you're going,

00:35:27.600 which is you're doing too much.

00:35:29.360 I know Belinda Karajalios,

00:35:30.840 who was a PC MPP,

00:35:32.520 and we had her on the show 0.97

00:35:33.540 a few weeks back.

00:35:34.900 She's been kicked out

00:35:35.760 for criticizing

00:35:36.480 some of the emergency powers.

00:35:38.220 But are you finding

00:35:39.260 any quiet support

00:35:40.880 from people in the legislature?

00:35:42.300 Perhaps your own

00:35:43.040 former colleagues

00:35:44.000 that are saying privately,

00:35:45.220 yeah, I don't have

00:35:46.000 a lot of issues with this,

00:35:47.120 but aren't speaking out publicly?

00:35:48.500 Or are you one of the only people

00:35:50.300 that's seeing the issues

00:35:51.700 that you're describing right now?

00:35:53.280 No, you know,

00:35:54.060 this is the great falsehood

00:35:55.420 that we're being,

00:35:56.820 that we're being led to believe

00:35:59.200 is a fact

00:36:00.080 when it's a falsehood.

00:36:01.860 I will say to you,

00:36:03.500 Andrew,

00:36:04.000 not just colleagues

00:36:05.860 in the legislature,

00:36:07.460 but the public.

00:36:09.980 you know,

00:36:11.760 although I stated

00:36:13.140 there's a great number

00:36:14.520 of people

00:36:15.040 who are living

00:36:16.580 in fear

00:36:17.180 and in terror,

00:36:19.040 a great many people.

00:36:22.100 I don't know

00:36:22.540 if it's a majority,

00:36:25.000 but it's pretty close

00:36:26.180 if it isn't.

00:36:28.280 I understand

00:36:28.900 and see

00:36:29.740 the falsehood

00:36:33.780 that's being played out,

00:36:35.060 but due to public pressure,

00:36:38.260 due to political correctness,

00:36:40.460 due to the fear

00:36:41.520 of public backlash

00:36:43.340 from this irrational

00:36:47.240 conventional wisdom

00:36:49.960 that we've embraced,

00:36:51.480 they're hesitant

00:36:52.740 to speak out.

00:36:54.280 And that goes

00:36:54.820 certainly with

00:36:55.680 a lot of my former colleagues,

00:36:58.180 other members

00:36:59.480 of the legislature

00:37:00.460 and the public at large.

00:37:03.840 You know,

00:37:04.480 you may have seen

00:37:05.860 one of my videos.

00:37:07.920 I've spoken

00:37:08.460 with lots of physicians.

00:37:11.340 Most,

00:37:12.720 or a great many of them,

00:37:14.580 believe our COVID policies

00:37:16.220 are causing

00:37:17.140 more harm

00:37:18.320 than good.

00:37:19.600 They're causing

00:37:20.900 greater injury

00:37:22.420 and greater fatality

00:37:24.080 than any good

00:37:25.740 that they're doing.

00:37:27.100 However,

00:37:27.960 there is such a reluctance

00:37:29.500 and such a hesitation

00:37:31.640 to speak truthfully

00:37:32.920 about COVID

00:37:33.760 for fear

00:37:35.360 of retribution

00:37:37.000 by their public sector

00:37:38.440 employed to hospitals

00:37:39.740 or by their regulatory body,

00:37:42.240 the College of Physicians

00:37:43.320 and Surgeons.

00:37:44.620 And we see this

00:37:45.760 permeating throughout

00:37:47.200 our society

00:37:48.100 that nobody wants

00:37:50.740 to say

00:37:51.380 the emperor

00:37:52.560 has no clothes

00:37:54.100 or in this case,

00:37:55.600 the premier

00:37:56.180 has no clothes.

00:37:57.880 But we all,

00:37:58.440 but a great number

00:37:59.580 of people

00:37:59.960 know that it's true.

00:38:02.000 So what's the

00:38:02.600 Randy Hillier plan here?

00:38:04.060 Because you're not saying

00:38:05.080 that this is a sham

00:38:06.640 and we shouldn't do anything.

00:38:07.620 You mentioned earlier

00:38:08.500 that we need to

00:38:09.300 protect the vulnerable

00:38:10.300 and look out

00:38:11.280 for the population

00:38:13.140 that really needs

00:38:14.060 the help

00:38:14.540 and needs the protection.

00:38:15.900 What would you like

00:38:16.620 to see go into effect

00:38:17.820 today?

00:38:19.620 Well,

00:38:19.860 just

00:38:20.080 what we need

00:38:22.680 to come into effect

00:38:23.900 today

00:38:24.400 is the same thing

00:38:25.760 that we need

00:38:26.200 to come into effect

00:38:27.000 every day.

00:38:28.120 And that's our ability

00:38:29.120 to be able

00:38:30.300 to speak truthfully

00:38:31.580 and honestly.

00:38:33.300 And that's really

00:38:34.640 the crux of the problem.

00:38:37.420 Our media,

00:38:38.840 the mainstream media,

00:38:40.160 thankfully,

00:38:40.940 there's yourself,

00:38:42.160 there's a few other

00:38:43.720 media outlets

00:38:45.560 who are allowing people

00:38:47.740 to speak truthfully.

00:38:49.320 But most of our

00:38:50.700 mainstream media

00:38:51.620 have jumped on

00:38:53.140 this bandwagon,

00:38:53.980 in this scare wagon,

00:38:55.940 this wagon of fear.

00:38:58.560 And it's good for headlines

00:39:01.000 and it's good for

00:39:01.960 that audience.

00:39:05.880 But I don't think

00:39:07.800 they understand

00:39:08.520 how complicit

00:39:10.100 they are

00:39:10.960 in preventing

00:39:12.140 an honest,

00:39:13.500 truthful discussion.

00:39:14.320 but I think

00:39:14.860 if we did

00:39:17.080 and when

00:39:19.140 that day

00:39:20.080 when that day

00:39:20.700 comes

00:39:21.060 when we can speak

00:39:21.960 truthfully

00:39:22.640 about COVID,

00:39:24.660 we should look

00:39:25.360 at this

00:39:25.780 like it

00:39:26.500 what it actually

00:39:27.620 is.

00:39:28.580 A virus.

00:39:30.200 A virus

00:39:31.240 that is

00:39:31.760 that doesn't

00:39:33.040 have

00:39:33.400 apocalyptic

00:39:35.040 characteristics.

00:39:37.800 A virus

00:39:38.900 that doesn't

00:39:39.660 have

00:39:40.000 catastrophic

00:39:41.100 outcomes.

00:39:41.680 it's a virus

00:39:43.640 like so many

00:39:45.240 other viruses.

00:39:46.480 There are

00:39:46.720 some differences.

00:39:48.380 Certainly

00:39:49.020 for the elderly

00:39:50.520 and the chronically

00:39:51.980 ill,

00:39:52.720 it is

00:39:53.260 much more

00:39:54.400 likely to

00:39:54.920 cause

00:39:55.500 severe harm.

00:39:57.400 But we should

00:39:58.360 be treating this

00:39:59.000 as a medical

00:40:00.040 problem,

00:40:01.060 not as a

00:40:01.900 political problem.

00:40:04.100 And that's

00:40:04.720 the hardest

00:40:07.180 thing that I

00:40:08.080 have ever found

00:40:08.800 in politics,

00:40:09.820 Andrew,

00:40:10.100 is to get

00:40:11.320 politicians

00:40:11.960 to speak

00:40:12.480 truthfully.

00:40:14.260 Well,

00:40:14.740 thankfully,

00:40:15.260 you are one

00:40:15.840 of the few

00:40:16.240 that is

00:40:16.620 without hesitation.

00:40:17.720 Randy Hillier,

00:40:18.720 Ontario MPP

00:40:19.900 for Lanark

00:40:20.620 Frontenac

00:40:21.240 Kingston.

00:40:21.700 Good to talk

00:40:22.100 to you again,

00:40:22.480 Randy.

00:40:22.740 Thanks very much

00:40:23.300 for coming on

00:40:23.920 today.

00:40:24.640 Great talking

00:40:25.120 with you,

00:40:25.520 Andrew.

00:40:26.260 Bye-bye.

00:40:27.820 Well,

00:40:28.260 that does it.

00:40:28.700 My thanks again

00:40:29.300 to Randy Hillier

00:40:30.560 and all of you

00:40:31.100 for tuning in

00:40:31.900 to today's show.

00:40:32.720 If you want to

00:40:33.320 send me a note,

00:40:34.020 please do.

00:40:34.620 My email address

00:40:35.360 is andrew

00:40:35.980 at andrewlaughton.ca.

00:40:37.800 We'll talk to you

00:40:38.580 soon.

00:40:38.960 A new show

00:40:39.400 in a couple

00:40:39.760 of days

00:40:40.100 on Canada's

00:40:40.780 most irreverent

00:40:41.600 talk show.

00:40:42.320 Thank you.

00:40:42.760 God bless.

00:40:43.340 Good day,

00:40:43.800 Canada.

00:40:44.740 If you enjoy

00:40:45.280 the show

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Juno News - September 28, 2020

Climate, Coronavirus and Cockfights

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