Juno News - January 08, 2026


Conservative MP BLOCKED from speaking on university campus

Topics
Genuos event cancellation conflict of interest
Mentioned
Garnett Janis Charlie Kirk Chrystia Freeland York Vladimir Zelensky Mark Carney Bill C-63 Ryerson Januus
EXCLUSIVE： Poilievre sits down with Juno News to make the case for pipelines Carney UNDER FIRE as looming China trip raises security concerns

Episode Stats


Length

20 minutes

Words per minute

158.14

Word count

3,295

Sentence count

148

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged

Toxicity

3

sentences flagged


Summary

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

In this episode, we discuss the sudden departure of Chrystia Freeland, the cancellation of Conservative MP Garnett Genuos' event at York University, and a new rule limiting free speech at public universities.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 The Liberal MP for Rosedale has abruptly announced she's leaving office tomorrow.
00:00:09.880 Her social media post reads as follows.
00:00:12.580 On Monday, I announced my intention to leave the House of Commons in the coming weeks.
00:00:18.000 Today, I have written to the Speaker to confirm that I will vacate my seat effective this Friday, January 9th.
00:00:25.980 Why the sudden change in plans?
00:00:28.420 Freeland has been caught up in a conflict of interest scandal after accepting an offer to be economic development advisor to Ukraine this week.
00:00:37.720 That job offer was announced just days after Canada handed Ukraine $2.5 billion in aid.
00:00:44.600 If you think the timing of that is suspicious, you're not alone.
00:00:48.620 When exactly did Freeland receive the job offer from Volodymyr Zelensky?
00:00:53.160 Was she already working for Ukraine when Canadian taxpayers were handed a bill for $2.5 billion in aid for her new employer?
00:01:02.360 The other question?
00:01:04.000 Did the Prime Minister demand she leave this week rather than have the stench of this scandal hanging over the government for weeks to come?
00:01:12.320 So far, the Liberal Gun Buyback Program has fallen short, far short of expectations.
00:01:19.300 The pilot program has only collected 25 firearms in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
00:01:24.320 Government officials had hoped to collect 200 guns, not to be deterred.
00:01:28.740 The Liberal government told CBC it's learned some lessons after the failure of this pilot program.
00:01:36.760 Since 2020, Ottawa has spent millions of dollars banning and trying to buy back 2,500 makes and models of firearms, arguing they are really designed for warfare.
00:01:47.540 York University has abruptly canceled an event featuring conservative MP Garnett Genuos.
00:01:55.000 Genuos posted this on X.
00:01:57.500 My event at York University, scheduled for this Friday, is now canceled due to a decision of the student union not to allow it.
00:02:05.660 I'm pretty surprised, he said.
00:02:08.120 We've done the same event concept at universities in four provinces without incident.
00:02:13.140 The events usually involve Garnett Genuos standing in a public spot with a banner inviting students to talk about jobs and unemployment.
00:02:21.760 Somehow, for some reason, the student union at York opposed the event, and the question is, why?
00:02:27.880 I'm now joined by Garnett Genuos, coming to us from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
00:02:33.440 Welcome, Garnett.
00:02:34.480 Thank you. It's great to be with you today.
00:02:36.520 What happened at York University? Why was that canceled?
00:02:39.140 Yeah, so we've been doing these events across the country, talking to students about challenges they're facing in terms of the national unemployment crisis, very high levels of youth unemployment.
00:02:51.220 And the event we do is in a public area with a banner, inviting students to come over and talk and chat with students about their circumstances.
00:02:58.960 And the York University Student Center, which is a student representative body that is responsible for controlling the space and booking these events,
00:03:13.320 they rejected the event from being able to move forward this week.
00:03:18.780 And the rationale they provided was saying that they don't want guest speakers to be in public areas, that if I'm going to be on campus, it has to be in a closed room.
00:03:29.760 I guess maybe that means people that might disagree with me won't have to go through the agony of walking past me and seeing the materials I have.
00:03:39.820 But we want to do an event where we can be in a public area and engage with students who walk by and want to talk.
00:03:46.300 But I think this is concerning from a free speech perspective.
00:03:50.440 Just, hey, let students have the conversations.
00:03:52.860 Let me talk to students who want to talk.
00:03:55.600 But this student representative body is preventing it from happening.
00:04:02.860 I mean, York is pretty left wing from actually grew up very close to York.
00:04:09.000 I went to school at C.W.
00:04:10.940 Jeffries, the high high school is a stone's throw from York.
00:04:15.180 I mean, if you were, say, a New Democrat or even a communist, would this be going on, do you think?
00:04:22.280 Or is this just because you're a conservative?
00:04:24.760 Well, I mean, I can't prove that.
00:04:26.640 I mean, I would say as a matter of principle, and anyone, certainly any elected official should be able to do this.
00:04:37.780 The fact that they've kind of come up with this new rule or doctrine that seems specifically to be facially neutral,
00:04:49.060 but have the implications of just excluding an event conservatives want to do, I think it raises some questions.
00:04:53.800 I mean, I can't prove what would happen under related circumstances, but it certainly raises concerns for sure.
00:05:00.700 You've called it an attack on free speech.
00:05:03.500 Do you feel that this is an attack on your ability to speak to people in a place that is funded by the taxpayers?
00:05:11.440 Yeah, absolutely.
00:05:12.060 I think I should be able to go and engage students.
00:05:15.640 Look, I believe universities should be places where controversial speech can happen,
00:05:19.880 but this isn't even particularly controversial speech.
00:05:22.480 We're not talking about somebody who's going on an issue that is known to stir the pot.
00:05:30.500 I think that should be allowed too, by the way.
00:05:32.280 But in this case, I'm a Canadian member of parliament from the official opposition looking to talk to students about unemployment,
00:05:41.480 about jobs, about homes, about opportunity.
00:05:43.920 We've done these events on many other campuses.
00:05:47.600 It hasn't even been a source of that much contention or controversy.
00:05:52.500 We've had good discussions with students who come by, and that's been that.
00:05:56.540 And yet we've got would-be censors that are trying to create all kinds of rules that exclude this kind of conversation from happening.
00:06:05.780 And look, it's part of a climate we're seeing in this country.
00:06:08.840 There's the liberal government's attacks on freedom of speech and Bill C-9 and other things.
00:06:13.800 This is the context that we're seeing, and I think we've got to defend our freedoms at every opportunity.
00:06:20.880 Is there some legal recourse for you?
00:06:23.340 I mean, you had an agreement in place with the university before they pulled the rug from under you.
00:06:29.760 Do you have any action you can take to try and change this?
00:06:35.560 Well, I always want to work with student groups on campus that are hosting it.
00:06:39.880 So we did an event at Concordia previously where the club was not ratified, but they wanted to host us anyways.
00:06:47.320 And so we just showed up, and it was a really successful event at Concordia.
00:06:51.580 I was kind of ready for possible disruptions, but no such disruption occurred.
00:06:59.280 In the case of York, my hope is that we'll be able to come back and do an event at some point in the future.
00:07:07.460 I received the information on fairly short notice about the event not proceeding on Friday.
00:07:12.680 So we're not going to proceed on Friday, but I expect to be able to be back at York to talk to students there at some point in the future.
00:07:23.340 And I'm hopeful that we'll be able to do that and do that in a way that doesn't put the hosting students in a difficult position, but still allows us to have conversations with students at the campus.
00:07:33.480 I wonder if you can sue the university over what they did.
00:07:37.400 Is that one course back?
00:07:39.080 Well, it's not the university itself, right?
00:07:43.900 It's this student body, the student center officially.
00:07:50.840 And I mean, the remedy I would like is just to be able to talk to students, right?
00:07:58.340 The goal of this wasn't to have a bunch of controversy around it.
00:08:02.060 It was just to be able to go and talk to students.
00:08:04.680 So I'm hopeful that people will see reason in, if not the days, then the weeks ahead.
00:08:11.100 And I will be able to create an opportunity where I can go and do what I would like to do, which is be available, hear from students, talk about their issues and concerns.
00:08:20.300 Tomorrow, I am going to be at TMU, Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly Ryerson.
00:08:25.960 I'll be there in the afternoon.
00:08:27.480 So students from the city can certainly come by and talk to me there.
00:08:30.500 But I'm still holding out hope to be able to do something on York's campus.
00:08:34.080 So there's no word that the people at what used to be known as Ryerson will be trying to prevent your event or that it might be subject to protests or harassment?
00:08:46.000 No, look, the event's been approved.
00:08:47.880 And I think it's been six campuses we've visited so far across four provinces.
00:08:53.300 There hasn't been any harassment or disruption.
00:08:59.600 We've certainly had students come by and disagree.
00:09:01.300 We've had, I mean, a few really good conversations, actually, with students who have different points of view.
00:09:08.540 But also, I mean, the goal of these events in terms of being out and in traffic is also to create opportunities for students who aren't that political,
00:09:15.440 who aren't normally kind of active in these political activities to be able to see what we're doing and come by and have a conversation.
00:09:23.960 Because whatever you're studying, whether you're in a political discipline or not, politics affects your life.
00:09:28.780 And students are living with those effects in terms of jobs and housing prices and other things.
00:09:34.360 When I saw what you do and I congratulated you for it, I thought of Charlie Kirk and the danger that he was in and ultimately ended up being murdered while doing basically the same thing that you are doing.
00:09:50.440 I mean, are you concerned, first off, for your own safety here?
00:09:54.720 And is it possible that the university was spooked, that the student union was spooked by what happened in Utah to Charlie Kirk and for fear that something like that might happen to you?
00:10:06.000 Has that entered your thinking at all?
00:10:09.200 Well, I don't personally feel at risk in these situations.
00:10:18.620 You know, I would say, as I said at the time, what happened with Charlie Kirk was terrible and it's concerning to see acts of violence or other instances of threats of violence against those who are involved in trying to have conversations about different issues.
00:10:41.180 Personally, though, I haven't experienced any of that in the context of this work I've been doing on campuses and I have found so far, generally speaking, the people with whom I disagree have been very cordial and collegial.
00:10:57.140 And even thanking me for taking the time to have these conversations, wherever you sit on the political spectrum, students are struggling with access to jobs, with housing affordability.
00:11:11.300 These are real life practical issues for them that they want to have these conversations about.
00:11:16.680 So I think it's important to be willing to confront difficult issues and have conversations even in the midst of controversy.
00:11:24.520 But the events I've done, like the reason this is so bizarre is they have not been, they haven't been massive lightning rods.
00:11:34.180 I'm just asking students, what's your life right now?
00:11:36.860 How are you doing in terms of affording basic essentials that you need?
00:11:40.280 And what can government do to better facilitate a reality in which you think having a good job and an affordable home is possible again?
00:11:48.620 I have no doubt that your questions and the things you've been talking about are perfectly reasonable.
00:11:54.520 in a reasonable world.
00:11:55.380 But you're talking about environments where people have been radicalized, where you have, you know, far left.
00:12:03.080 And these people are not pro free speech.
00:12:06.920 You know, they think that people like yourself, you know, probably should be canceled.
00:12:11.660 If you diverge even one iota from the groupthink that you see in these universities.
00:12:18.500 And sure, the vast majority of people are going to be perfectly reasonable.
00:12:23.100 But given that kind of environment, does it concern you that doing what you're doing could end up in some kind of clash with, frankly, some wingnut?
00:12:34.200 Well, like, again, I think there's always a possible, a possibility of that happening.
00:12:43.420 And I think it's a possibility that that exists, not, not just being on campus, right?
00:12:49.120 So when you, when you do door to door camp canvassing, there's, there's also a possibility of having an interaction that, that turns very negative.
00:12:56.900 And I think we as politicians need to be putting ourselves out there, being available for conversations with people, including people, people with whom we disagree, and, and doing everything we can to do so in a way that's, that, that doesn't, isn't going to create sort of problems for, for physical safety.
00:13:17.840 Look, I, I, I, I, I worry sometimes that, like, the, the potential risks of those kinds of clashes you're, you're talking about, are going to lead to more disengagement, are going to reduce the likelihood of having the kinds of conversations across divides that we need to have.
00:13:35.280 And, um, I think, you know, one of the things that was so admirable about Charlie Kirk is that he, in spite of, of some of the tension that could exist in those environments, he really believed in the importance of going in and having those conversations.
00:13:49.500 Um, uh, and, uh, this is something that I think all of us in, on the elected side or not of public life need to be doing is trying to have conversations with people we disagree, uh, with and, and create opportunities for those exchanges.
00:14:03.600 Um, but, but, but you're right that, that, that, that can carry some perceived risk and, uh, the implications of that is maybe some people choose to disengage from that, which, which makes us all worse off.
00:14:18.460 Have any professors engaged with you at all during these presentations of yours?
00:14:26.080 I haven't had a lot of conversations with faculty or administration, but I think I've had a couple.
00:14:31.760 Um, that, that's not the primary goal of these, of these conversations and, and, uh, um, the, the focus is more on, on young people specifically, but, um, um, I'm not, I'm not recalling really specifically, but I think I've had a few conversations with professors.
00:14:47.240 Yeah.
00:14:48.760 Over, over, over quite a few campuses.
00:14:50.680 We've had a lot of, you know, there's, there's always people walking, walking by, right?
00:14:55.300 Well, well, good for you, Garnett.
00:14:56.980 I, I think what you're doing is terrific and I was just, uh, I would just be careful because these are environments where you have radicalized individuals, as I've mentioned, and sometimes you can see them coming from, you know, a hundred yards away.
00:15:13.360 Um, but I'd like to shift gears a little bit, uh, Christia Freeland is now going to be leaving her seat tomorrow. 1.00
00:15:20.960 And originally her announcement seems to suggest she was going to hang around for weeks and then all of a sudden, poof, she's leaving tomorrow.
00:15:29.780 Do you think the prime minister had a little chat with her and say, you know what, given you've accepted this position as economic advisor to Ukraine,
00:15:37.060 and you're obviously in the midst of a conflict of interest, you should leave now.
00:15:43.340 Do you think that took place?
00:15:45.640 Yeah, it's, it's hard to speculate what, how the conversations exactly unfolded, but the, the idea that it didn't, this didn't occur to, to liberals in advance just kind of shows the, the problems with their political culture around conflict of interest.
00:16:01.120 Uh, we have, you know, Mark Carney is the most conflicted prime minister in this country's history.
00:16:06.800 Um, there are, there are so many different, different conflicts of interest that touch on him, uh, conflicts where there was, there wasn't even a basic level of disclosure, um, prior to him, uh, becoming prime minister.
00:16:19.560 Uh, so there's, there's a culture of conflict of interest that starts at the top.
00:16:24.060 Um, and I think with Chrystia Freeland, look, it's, it's very important to, uh, to make the appropriate distinction that, um, uh, you know, Canada has allies.
00:16:34.600 Ukraine is an important ally of Canada.
00:16:36.700 Absolutely.
00:16:37.340 Absolutely.
00:16:37.860 We, we, we, we support and wish our allies well.
00:16:41.140 Um, but there's still a conflict of interest, right?
00:16:43.320 It, it, it, it wouldn't matter if, if it was working for, um, a private company, a provincial government, uh, a, uh, any one of our allies and partners around the world.
00:16:54.060 To be a Canadian member of parliament, um, you know, what, while also being a senior advisor to, to, uh, a foreign government, even an allied government, um, is, is clearly not appropriate.
00:17:09.200 And the fact that this wasn't thought through just kind of shows the culture of conflict of interest that has come to exist in that party.
00:17:15.320 Uh, late last month, the government of Canada handed Ukraine, quite the Christmas present, two and a half billion dollars in aid.
00:17:23.300 I think we've given them by my account, just rough counted over 24, 25, 26 billion.
00:17:30.520 Um, do you think the timing of that was suspicious that Kirstie Freeland, who was still an MP, we had no idea that she was about to accept this position may have been already aware of that job offer.
00:17:46.700 And maybe help facilitate this aid, this two and a half billion dollars.
00:17:53.340 And in other words, you know, did she have a conflict of interest in that move to give Ukraine, uh, this added aid money?
00:18:02.400 I mean, does that make you suspicious at all?
00:18:04.720 Well, I mean, I think, so one important point of precision here is that I don't, uh, from what I understand, the position that Kirstie Freeland is, is taking, uh, with the government of Ukraine is a, is an unpaid voluntary position.
00:18:18.120 So, so in other words, we're, when I talk about conflict of interest, it's not an issue of her, her personally benefiting from this.
00:18:23.960 It's, it's, it's, it's just more that, um, you know, you, you're, you're supposed to have in a general sense, one, one job at a time.
00:18:32.040 Um, I, um, I, I believe the conservative opposition believes that, uh, a victory for Ukraine, uh, is important.
00:18:40.940 Uh, and, uh, our criticisms of the government on this file have been, uh, that they've, uh, failed on sanctions and they failed to support the development of our energy sector.
00:18:50.720 What we should have been doing from the beginning is consistently applying, uh, tough sanctions on, uh, Russian exports, especially in areas where Canada, Canadian industrial development could replace those products being exported by Russia.
00:19:05.920 Uh, of course, we need to be, uh, strengthening our oil and gas sector, supporting oil and gas exports to be able to displace, uh, the export of Russian gas.
00:19:14.460 Uh, I've also been quite vocal on the issue of Russian titanium sanctions.
00:19:18.240 Uh, and, uh, we, we, we had, but then created exemptions for Russian, uh, titanium, uh, and the Russian titanium industry has been a big part of, of the, uh, the, the aggressive war that's, that's been waged in Ukraine.
00:19:31.800 Uh, we should be sanctioning, consistently sanctioning the titanium industry and the Russian government hasn't been willing to do that.
00:19:37.140 So, like, what frustrates me here is that, um, you know, there, there's a lot of talk about the spending, uh, but there's a lot of things we could do that would help Ukraine and be in Canada's, uh, national and economic interest.
00:19:50.160 That is to be, uh, to be applying tough, consistent sanctions, uh, to, uh, Russian industries and for us to be developing, uh, alternatives to those Russian industries so that our European partners don't have to be reliant on, on Russia.
00:20:05.040 Um, I think those are things we could be doing that would make a big difference to contribute to Ukrainian victory. 0.96
00:20:10.360 Darn it, Januus. 0.94
00:20:11.460 All right, my friends, that's it for this edition of Straight Up. 0.99
00:20:14.140 Appreciate you tuning in.
00:20:15.220 Let's do it again soon, shall we?
00:20:16.760 Bye-bye for now.
00:20:20.160 Bye-bye for now.