Juno News - September 24, 2024


Conservatives capture national mood w THIS motion + a Liberal-made crisis

Topics
non-confidence motion safe supply pills addiction forced addiction treatment safe supply clinics
Guests
Adam Zivo
Mentioned
Jagmeet Singh Adam Zivo Justin Trudeau Pierre Poilievre Jennifer Johnson Melanie Jolie Danielle Smith Donald Trump Aaron Gunn Donc Oxys Pierre Trudeau Yves Blanchet Government Heroine Joel Lawrence Channel Callum Begdahl Marshall Smith Callum Bagnall Michael Tavolo Mark Gerritsen and 6 more
They are CENSORING True North content as ＂hate speech＂ Hypocritical LIBS bring American style politics to Canada

Episode Stats


Length

50 minutes

Words per minute

196.61

Word count

9,932

Sentence count

546

Harmful content

Misogyny

9

sentences flagged

Toxicity

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

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

In this episode, Rachel talks about the non-confidence motion being introduced by the Conservatives on their first day in opposition, and why she thinks there will be no election before the end of the year. Later, she is joined by Adam Zivo to discuss his new documentary, When Will There Be A Federal Election? about the current state of politics in Canada.

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 .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
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 Certain mood has gripped the country lately. I feel it. I'm sure you do too. Everywhere I go,
00:00:05.560 people ask me when there's going to be a federal election. Canadians felt a flicker of hope when
00:00:11.240 the NDP announced that it would be ending the supply confidence agreement that saw the party
00:00:16.440 supporting the federal government in return for, well, honestly, nothing. That hope ended quickly
00:00:22.360 when the Bloc Quebecois announced that it would back the Trudeau Liberals in return for concessions
00:00:26.860 that will benefit just one province and further disunify the country. So naturally, the
00:00:32.940 Conservatives are using their first opposition day today, since Parliament resumed, to table a vote
00:00:38.220 of a motion of non-confidence in the Liberals. Unless we see an act of divine intervention,
00:00:45.120 however, it is possible, I saw one at the attempted assassination of Trump at the Butler
00:00:48.980 Pennsylvania rally, that vote is certainly going to end with the Liberals remaining in power.
00:00:54.140 Because in this country, like in so many others, politicians increasingly don't represent the
00:01:00.640 people who are suffering, angry, and ready for change. They represent themselves and their own
00:01:06.420 political interests, like, dare I say, their pensions. Later in the show, we'll also be joined
00:01:11.580 by Adam Zivo to discuss his new documentary. I'm Rachel Parker. Welcome to The Rachel Parker Show.
00:01:24.140 Hey everyone, welcome back to The Rachel Parker Show. I want to start by discussing one of the
00:01:38.240 hottest news stories of the day, which is the non-confidence motion that the Conservatives
00:01:42.520 will be tabling in the House of Commons today. I think we can expect to see a vote on that motion
00:01:47.320 tomorrow. Things are always subject to change in the House of Commons, however. Now, I think by
00:01:52.400 introducing this motion on their first opposition day, the Conservatives are really gathering and
00:01:58.400 they are focusing on the mood of the nation right now, which, as I said in my opening, really is a
00:02:04.440 one people who are waiting for an election. Everywhere I go, people are asking me, when do you
00:02:08.340 think there's going to be a federal election? Feels like at every opportunity that there might be one,
00:02:11.980 for example, the other week when Jagmeet Singh announced that he would be ending his supply
00:02:15.980 confidence agreement with the Trudeau Liberals. A lot of people were initially very excited over that,
00:02:20.160 and they thought, finally, you know, we're going to have an election before the end of the year.
00:02:24.100 And the reason why the country as a whole is so focused on a federal election is because people
00:02:30.620 are suffering right now. Costs are so high everywhere, whether you're at the grocery store,
00:02:35.260 whether you're paying for rent, whether you're looking to buy a house, and those mortgage rates
00:02:38.780 are still quite high compared to what they were just a few years ago. And everyone is ready for a
00:02:44.380 change in government. Justin Trudeau has not succeeded in capturing the moment. Those sunny days
00:02:49.540 are long gone. They've been gone for a few years now. And I think the Canadian people understand,
00:02:54.180 we're all looking at the polls. We're seeing that Pierre Polyev's Conservative Party is 20 points up
00:02:59.140 in the polls. And Canadians, by and large, do not have confidence in the Trudeau Liberals.
00:03:03.820 So it makes sense that this would be the first motion that the Conservatives introduced on their
00:03:08.600 opposition day. Unfortunately, as I've said, it seems almost impossible at this point, without an act of
00:03:15.340 divine intervention, that that motion will be successful. Already, the NDP have said that
00:03:20.240 they would continue to support the Liberals and they would be voting no on this motion of
00:03:25.280 non-confidence. And the Bloc Quebeco have also said they will continue to support the Liberals.
00:03:30.180 So, you know, the interesting thing there is that when Jagmeet Singh first announced he would be
00:03:33.540 ending the Supply Confidence Agreement, a lot of people saw through this very quickly. He said he would
00:03:37.880 be ending the Supply Confidence Agreement and would continue to support the Liberals on a case-by-case
00:03:42.220 basis. I mean, Jagmeet Singh is really one of those people who doesn't have a lot of political will.
00:03:47.500 He doesn't seem to have a specific idea of what his party should be doing. That's why his party
00:03:51.820 continually lose seats with every election. And he's just sort of there. He's just sort of there.
00:03:58.120 He's not really effective. He hasn't been able to, even the entire time he supported the Liberals,
00:04:02.800 he wasn't able to really get any concessions out of them. What advantages did we see for the NDP
00:04:08.180 that entire time they were supporting Justin Trudeau's Liberals? We didn't even see an NDP
00:04:14.340 in Cabinet, which I think if another party with a stronger hard line and more ability to negotiate
00:04:21.380 for themselves, like the Conservatives, even the Bloc, I think we could have seen a lot more
00:04:25.140 concessions made for other parties who I think understand politics a little better than Jagmeet.
00:04:30.360 So it was definitely a disappointing day for the country. And I think even Jagmeet, when he announced
00:04:34.960 that he would be ending the supply confidence motion, but would continue to support the Liberals
00:04:37.820 on a case-by-case basis, we all knew what that meant. We all knew that that meant that he would
00:04:41.400 continue to support the Liberals for a very long time. I don't know that it will be the NDP who
00:04:46.520 first pulled the plug. I think it might be the Bloc. Now they've said they will support the Liberals.
00:04:50.540 They've seen an opportunity in this vacuum created by the NDP. And the Bloc Quebecois are going to look
00:04:55.300 for concessions from the Liberal government that will benefit Quebec, that will benefit just one province,
00:05:00.240 which is what the Bloc Quebecois does. And so they're really going to seize on the moment. And so meanwhile,
00:05:04.760 the rest of Canadians across the country are left further and further behind by this government
00:05:08.840 and are feeling the effects of this. Later in the show, we're going to talk a little bit about
00:05:13.320 the Liberals' safe supply regime, which has resulted in 15 and 16-year-olds becoming addicted
00:05:18.800 to opioids, and in some cases, even fentanyl. Now, just a friendly reminder that the reason safe
00:05:23.540 supply was created was to help people who were coming off of fentanyl so they could avoid fentanyl
00:05:28.360 and instead be given a less harmful drug. I'm not going to say a harmless drug because I believe
00:05:33.240 the drugs are always harmful. Even if you're taking an Advil or a Tylenol, there's going to be
00:05:37.380 negative effects on your body to get rid of that headache. It often, you know, it really destroys
00:05:41.260 the lining of your stomach. But that was the reason this was created so that it could get people
00:05:45.260 off of hard drugs like fentanyl and over time they could become recovered. And instead, it's had the
00:05:49.460 opposite effect because safe supply opioids are so cheap and so accessible. Now we're seeing 15 and 16-year-olds
00:05:55.780 become addicted to opioids because, well, it's actually cheaper than alcohol. So we're going to dive
00:06:00.020 into that later, but that's just another example of the way that people are suffering under the
00:06:03.440 Trudeau Liberals. The high cost of everything is not the only thing. The rampant crime is another
00:06:08.020 reason. So across the board, when we take a look at the Trudeau Liberals, they've objectively failed
00:06:12.880 in every metric that matters to people in their everyday lives. Crime, affordability, health and
00:06:18.200 safety. So that's why we're seeing this sentiment from the Conservatives right now because they
00:06:23.900 understand that the country is trending in the direction of everyone is waiting for an election.
00:06:27.900 And instead, we have two leaders who have the ability to move forward with that election,
00:06:32.800 but would rather work with the Liberals than the Conservatives because they're more ideologically
00:06:36.640 aligned. The Bloc Quebecois and the NDP are more ideologically aligned with the Liberals than
00:06:41.540 they are the Conservatives. So here we start with, let's start taking a look at this clip of NDP
00:06:45.460 leader Jagmeet Singh. Just a few weeks ago, he said he was ending that supply conference agreement,
00:06:49.520 but here he is explaining that he will be voting against the Conservatives' notion of
00:06:53.880 non-confidence and continuing to support the Liberals. You can't make this stuff up,
00:06:57.480 you guys. Take a look at this clip.
00:06:59.220 New Democrats came to Ottawa to get stuff done, to work for people, to fight for people,
00:07:04.540 not to play Pierre Polyev's Conservative games. So we will not be supporting Pierre Polyev's motion.
00:07:12.040 His plan is to not only cut pharmacare, he wants to cut healthcare. He wants to cut pensions.
00:07:18.300 He wants to cut dental care. Our plan is to stop him and then to strengthen our healthcare system,
00:07:26.160 strengthen pensions, make sure that dental care is there for everyone who needs it.
00:07:30.300 The decision moving forward is far too important for Canadians and for the middle class. And so that's
00:07:37.540 why we're not going to let Pierre Polyev tell us what to do.
00:07:39.860 Okay, now let's take a look at the Bloc. We also know that they are going to be voting no to this vote of non-confidence. Let's see what they had to say.
00:07:47.840 J'aurais beau vouloir arriver avec plein de sujets hautement intellectuels et distrayants, ça ne vous intéresserait pas du tout. Alors, à la question, la réponse est non.
00:07:56.300 Donc, est-ce que le Bloc québécois va voter en faveur de la motion des conservateurs la semaine prochaine? La réponse est non.
00:08:02.680 On a déjà eu ces conversations-là à de nombreuses reprises. La notion ne contient absolument rien.
00:08:09.340 Elle dit essentiellement, voulez-vous remplacer Pierre Trudeau par, euh, Pierre Trudeau, ouh, Justin Trudeau par Pierre Poilièvre.
00:08:19.260 Donc, la réponse, c'est non. Le Bloc québécois est au service des Québécois. Il n'est pas au service des conservateurs.
00:08:26.060 Je ne suis pas un conservateur. Je ne connais pas le programme conservateur. Je connais les valeurs conservatrices.
00:08:32.200 Ce ne sont pas les valeurs québécoises. Donc, il n'y aura pas un rabais à Pierre Poilièvre pour faire semblant que les bloquistes sont des conservateurs pour le faire remplacer Justin Trudeau.
00:08:43.120 Ça n'arrivera pas.
00:08:45.900 OK. So, when we talk about Jagmeet Singh and all his many, many flaws in politics, like not being clear on what he wants, now we've just taken a look at the exact opposite.
00:08:55.380 The Bloc québécois leader Yves Blanchet is being very clear with Canadians as to why he will not be supporting this conservative motion.
00:09:01.560 And as much as it might frustrate someone like me who spends my time in Ontario and Alberta, and I'm sure it will frustrate many of you who, if you're watching the show, there's a small chance that you might be a little bit more conservative-minded.
00:09:15.760 You know, he's at least honest with people. He's at least honest with why he will be voting against this motion because he was voted and he was put in place by Quebecers.
00:09:23.760 And he wants to support and move forward policies that will benefit his province of Quebec, and he does not see that happening as easily or, if at all, with a conservative government.
00:09:33.880 He says this motion is essentially to replace Justin Trudeau with Pierre Poilièvre.
00:09:37.780 So, if you're wondering why he says that, it's because the wording of the motion is very plain.
00:09:41.920 The wording of the motion says the House has no confidence in the prime minister and the government.
00:09:46.980 Typically, non-confidence motions, they might talk specifically more about one specific issue or one specific policy.
00:09:53.280 A lot of times, motions, any sort of budgetary policy that's being voted on the House is automatically a vote of confidence.
00:10:01.180 But here, it's a very simple one-line sentence.
00:10:04.040 And so, that's why he's saying, because the conservatives know they're 20 points up in the polls.
00:10:08.300 And if the government falls, unless the Trudeau liberals manage to sort of do what we saw over in the States with the Democrats switching out Joe Biden with Kamala Harris at the last minute,
00:10:18.620 and now the Democrats actually have a shot, a real shot at forming government in the States once again,
00:10:22.920 unless the liberals were able to sort of do a quick switcheroo, then it's basically guaranteed.
00:10:28.920 I mean, nothing's ever certain in politics, but it's basically guaranteed that the liberals would fall in the conservative foreign government.
00:10:34.320 And so, Bloch-Kobeck Hall leader Yves Malachat recognizes this, and he recognizes that his policies would not benefit.
00:10:41.180 He would not be able to see as many concessions for his province under the conservatives.
00:10:44.860 And he's frankly not interested in a conservative government.
00:10:47.060 So, as much as we can lament his answer, and it's frustrating because he's not interested in unifying the country
00:10:53.900 and moving forward policies and laws that would benefit all of Canada,
00:10:59.120 at least he's being honest about why he's doing this and what he's doing it for.
00:11:02.660 However, with Jagmeet Singh, we actually don't really have a clear answer from him ever,
00:11:07.000 and we don't really know what his agenda is, and that's why we see attacks on him,
00:11:11.800 like people saying the only reason he's sticking around and the only reason he won't topple the liberal government
00:11:16.980 is because he wants his pension, and he needs to work for another maybe eight or so months before he has his pension.
00:11:22.680 And, you know, he gets quite outraged when people say this.
00:11:25.480 So, it's like, well, you haven't outlined a good enough reason as to why you're keeping the liberals in power.
00:11:30.700 The Bloch-Kobeck Hall just outlined very specific reasons as to why they're keeping the liberals in power.
00:11:35.140 And while I might not like it, and you might not like it, it makes sense from their point of view.
00:11:39.780 I don't agree with the party.
00:11:41.020 I don't agree with their objectives of serving just one province in Parliament,
00:11:45.240 which should seek to serve all of Canadians.
00:11:47.000 But at the end of the day, they've been voted in by Quebecers, and that's their interest.
00:11:51.760 And, you know, their reasoning makes sense as much as I disagree with the objective.
00:11:55.780 Whereas Jagmeet Singh has not been able to outline a good reason for keeping the liberals in power.
00:12:00.360 And that's why you see these sorts of speculations about, you know,
00:12:03.480 he actually has his own political interest and his own, you know, financial interest even for keeping the liberals around.
00:12:10.780 And so, it's discouraging.
00:12:11.840 And I've said this about Jagmeet Singh.
00:12:13.440 I've been very critical of him for a number of years now.
00:12:16.120 I'll be honest, when I first started covering the Trudeau Liberals a number of years ago,
00:12:21.400 when I was just very young, I was conservative, but much less so.
00:12:24.860 You know, there was something a little bit likable about Jagmeet Singh at the time.
00:12:27.840 And over the years, he's actually one of the worst and become one of the most unlikable politicians in Ottawa.
00:12:33.640 I think a lot of people feel that way because he doesn't say anything, and he doesn't do anything,
00:12:36.760 and he's not honest with Canadians.
00:12:38.480 And people can smell that inauthenticity, inauthenticity, yes, that's the word,
00:12:43.460 inauthenticity coming off him from a mile away.
00:12:46.640 And so, you know, I think with this vote, eventually, when we do have this election,
00:12:52.140 like I said, unless there's an act of divine intervention, I don't think it's going to be happening soon.
00:12:55.760 I don't think the liberal government is going to be toppled tomorrow.
00:12:58.220 I suspect that the NDP will be essentially wiped out because of the very poor leadership that we've seen under Jagmeet Singh.
00:13:06.380 And as I said, I've been very critical of him.
00:13:07.840 And, you know, I think we're sort of seeing the pressure really get to him.
00:13:10.660 Some of you guys might have seen that clip circulating online where someone was heckling him,
00:13:14.720 and he went up to that person, essentially like, did you say that?
00:13:17.820 Did you say that about me?
00:13:18.860 And he's kind of getting all into this guy's face.
00:13:20.780 And, you know, it was kind of just a bizarre thing to watch.
00:13:23.140 And I didn't think too much of it when I saw the initial clip.
00:13:26.160 But then there was a scene later on where he was actually heckling the Conservatives in Parliament
00:13:30.620 and using language that sort of insinuated he wanted to take things outside.
00:13:34.460 Who does this?
00:13:35.620 What politician does this? 0.96
00:13:36.860 What politician is heckling his opponents so much so to suggest that they should be taken outside?
00:13:42.700 It's very bizarre.
00:13:44.300 It's very bizarre actions that we're seeing from him.
00:13:46.340 It's sort of a, you know, strange, it's sort of a strange switch in his character.
00:13:49.640 And I honestly think the pressure of being so ineffective and so ill-suited for the job
00:13:55.300 of a politician to begin with, but also as a leader of a party,
00:13:58.860 I think he's just sort of starting to crumble as a person.
00:14:02.440 And I think his party is going to crumble in the next election
00:14:05.160 because he's so poorly suited to the job that he is now.
00:14:08.360 For our next guest, we are joined by Adam Zivo.
00:14:11.160 He has just released a new documentary called Government Heroin.
00:14:15.160 He's also the founder and director of the Center for Responsible Drug Policy,
00:14:19.140 We're also going to be joined by Callum Begdahl.
00:14:22.040 If you've watched Government Heroin, which I do suggest you give it a go after the show,
00:14:26.380 he is featured prominently as one of the main interviews,
00:14:28.900 and he's going to share a little bit about his story today as a recovered addict.
00:14:32.960 Adam and Callum, thank you so much for joining me today.
00:14:35.980 Yeah, thanks for having me.
00:14:37.740 So I want to just start by touching on your documentary, Adam, Government Heroin.
00:14:42.880 Callum, you are featured prominently as one of the main interviews,
00:14:47.000 and you share a little bit about your stories of recovered addicts.
00:14:49.220 And one of the things that struck me when you were talking is,
00:14:52.160 by all accounts, you seem like you have a loving family.
00:14:55.060 You know, you seem, you know, fairly well-to-do.
00:14:57.460 And you didn't exactly strike me as someone who would fall.
00:15:00.060 I think for a lot of us Canadians, when we think of people who are addicts,
00:15:03.000 you know, you didn't strike me as someone who would fit that category.
00:15:06.220 You're obviously surrounded by a lot of people who cared about you.
00:15:08.720 And I think in the end, that was what eventually pulled you out of your addiction.
00:15:12.320 But I think it speaks to the fact that this crisis is really impacting people we don't
00:15:17.720 think of initially, or we would initially suspect as being drug addicts.
00:15:21.100 Can you share a little bit about that, if that's sort of your understanding of it as
00:15:24.120 well, when we hear about some of the experts who are saying 15 and 16-year-olds are becoming
00:15:28.520 addicted to government opioids?
00:15:31.160 Is this crisis really changing the narrative on who is becoming addicted to drugs?
00:15:37.420 Yeah, like, it definitely is.
00:15:40.020 I remember when I was in high school, I didn't really have the chance to get addicted to
00:15:45.580 Percocets or anything like that, because they would come around very infrequently.
00:15:51.920 Like, you might have a friend who had his wisdom teeth pulled out, or maybe he, like, broke
00:15:56.840 his arm, and that was it.
00:15:58.400 You know, nothing major.
00:16:00.580 You know, they're only getting, like, a one-month supply, maybe less.
00:16:04.180 So there was a very low chance that, like, you know, you would have anybody who could get
00:16:08.580 you any, right?
00:16:10.400 And until I, like, got to college, I kind of, you know, got in touch with a guy.
00:16:18.940 I was just hanging out with him.
00:16:20.460 But he was buying Percocets and stuff.
00:16:23.440 And they were extremely easy to get if you had the right guy and the right amount of money.
00:16:29.740 They were expensive, though.
00:16:31.040 And so I never really focused too much on that, because they were just so expensive.
00:16:39.820 You know, like, you might get, you know, one time you're able to buy a bunch of them for
00:16:44.460 less than $5 each, $100 or more.
00:16:47.520 But, like, it's very infrequent, because they, you know, they're kind of hard to get.
00:16:53.660 And a lot of them that are really cheap are counterfeits.
00:16:56.040 So you want to, like, avoid those.
00:16:59.100 And, you know, but I was, like, really amazed at how available the safe supply pills were.
00:17:07.460 Like, it almost basically, like, in my addict mind at the time, it was my, like, saving grace,
00:17:14.360 because I couldn't afford Percocets or Oxys anymore.
00:17:18.680 And they were becoming harder and harder to come by.
00:17:23.040 You know, like, I would have to, you know, tell somebody who I knew, like, multiple days
00:17:28.300 in advance before I could get it.
00:17:30.300 And it was always, like, a, you know, a toss-up of whether he was going to have it or not.
00:17:35.900 And when the safe supply, you know, really expanded, because I didn't hear too much about it
00:17:44.240 until it really started to expand, it was so easy that I stopped even going to my dealers.
00:17:51.420 I would just go straight to the people who had the prescriptions.
00:17:55.320 And I knew that it would be more advantageous for them, too, because if they trade with a dealer,
00:18:00.240 they're not getting much value for their money, right?
00:18:03.220 They're only basically trading for product.
00:18:05.680 And they're, you know, they don't really know the full price of the pills because they're getting them
00:18:11.420 for free or very, very, very reduced cost to the point where they're willing to sell it for a dollar
00:18:17.540 each, you know.
00:18:19.180 And that kind of, you know, that kind of amount, the supply and the cheapness of it makes it so that,
00:18:26.420 you know, it's going to become more available.
00:18:29.000 You know, if I was a dealer and I had a bunch of guys that I was selling fentanyl to who owed me money,
00:18:37.560 right, and they were all on safe supply pills, I would say, hey, I'll pick up your scripts every week
00:18:43.860 and then I'll give you, you know, I'll take, you know, I don't know, $500 off your debt
00:18:49.300 because I would know that the fentanyl cost me very little money.
00:18:53.660 But I could mark up those safe supply pills from, you know, the basically zero cost that I'm getting it for
00:19:01.000 to all the way up to like $20 to $25 a pill and sell it at schools like colleges or at high school parties, right?
00:19:10.000 Those are the guys that are going to be paying, you know, $10 or $15 a pill or more.
00:19:15.500 Because high school, even when I was younger, when pills weren't really a big thing,
00:19:22.560 Xanax was really on the scene in high school.
00:19:25.160 Everybody was talking about Xanax and everybody was getting Xanax.
00:19:30.000 And pills are very like, it's interesting how like normalized they are, I guess,
00:19:36.340 so that it makes it easier for people that want to do it, you know, because it's like,
00:19:41.980 oh, my mom takes this for her anxiety or my dad takes this for his back pain, you know?
00:19:49.740 And Callum, as I mentioned before, when you talked about in the documentary,
00:19:53.360 you have this moment where you say, you know, one of the reasons that I was pushed into recovery
00:19:57.980 is because I could see the pain in my loved one's eyes as I would lie to them time and time again.
00:20:03.940 And eventually that drove me to wanting to seek treatment.
00:20:07.720 And so would you then ultimately say that it was the fact that you did have a loving family,
00:20:12.460 that was the reason that you decided to seek treatment for your addiction?
00:20:16.380 Yeah, a lot of it too, is that, you know, like, that's one thing that, you know,
00:20:22.040 it really does make a difference.
00:20:24.380 And the sad thing about like, a lot of guys that I had come into contact with,
00:20:29.780 and gals that were all, you know, addicted to fentanyl, but selling me their safe supply pills,
00:20:37.300 essentially, like, you know, they were at their last, you know, last end of the road, basically,
00:20:44.200 they, their family, you know, had turned their backs on them because they gave them reason to, right?
00:20:49.300 Addiction is very, it's very deceptive.
00:20:51.880 It makes you, you know, it makes you want things that you don't really want.
00:20:57.020 It makes you do things you don't want to do.
00:20:58.980 It makes you go back on your word.
00:21:01.180 It makes you, you know, unable to basically show up for things that you need to show up for.
00:21:07.080 You know, you become more of like, you know, and if you don't, if you don't basically,
00:21:13.240 if you don't allow your family to help, eventually, they may, depending on the family too,
00:21:20.380 they may kind of, you know, be like, okay, I'm done dealing with this for a while,
00:21:25.180 because I don't know what to do, right?
00:21:26.560 It's very hard to deal with, because I've had, you know, I've, I've, I've had other family members
00:21:32.360 with other issues, right?
00:21:34.480 You know, even alcoholism, you know, in Canada is a big thing too.
00:21:39.000 And it's very hard to tell somebody to not do something when their mind is really, really set on it.
00:21:44.400 And the, the very powerful thing about addiction is that it, you know, you build your whole kind of,
00:21:52.400 I guess, way of life around it.
00:21:55.320 When you've been doing whatever you're doing for long enough, it becomes a part of you almost,
00:22:00.400 you know?
00:22:01.800 And, yeah.
00:22:03.440 Oh, no, I just kind of was thinking, like, at the same time too, you know, the, the environments
00:22:13.120 that come with stuff that's as intense as fentanyl, it can really hurt the family too.
00:22:20.360 You know, like, I was lucky I never got into it.
00:22:23.020 But, um, you know, I saw how worried my family was, you know, when I was gone and they knew I was,
00:22:30.520 you know, going to places where I shouldn't be because, you know, let's say like I fell asleep.
00:22:35.900 They would open my bag and like, they would see like, you know, like a switchblade or something,
00:22:41.040 because I, I did not feel safe in these environments.
00:22:44.840 And I knew that if anybody felt that they could take advantage of me, they would.
00:22:49.500 But it can get very dangerous, especially when everybody is, has their back up against
00:22:55.760 the wall, you know, with fentanyl, it really does do that.
00:22:59.320 You know, it makes it so that everybody's on their last dime today.
00:23:02.940 They're on their last leg.
00:23:04.320 They're, you know, they're going to have to make a last ditch effort to make money.
00:23:07.640 And it makes it very volatile too, you know, and, and it makes people, you know, do things
00:23:13.520 they don't want to like steal, you know, they, you know, it's, it's just bad
00:23:19.180 all around, right?
00:23:19.980 It hurts everybody.
00:23:21.400 And sometimes for the family, it gets too painful, you know, and, you know, it just really
00:23:28.120 hurt me to, to be like the source of that pain.
00:23:32.220 You know, it kind of took me a while to really think about it.
00:23:36.740 But eventually, you know, when I had, when I'd seen like the way my parents, you know,
00:23:42.580 when they talked to me and, you know, when they saw the things I was doing, you know,
00:23:48.100 I could see the pain in their eyes and it was really, you know, it really hurts because
00:23:53.400 that, that wasn't me.
00:23:54.620 I don't want to hurt people.
00:23:56.000 I don't want to hurt my family.
00:23:57.260 Right.
00:23:57.980 But, um, you know, it does, it does kind of take something that really gets to you to
00:24:04.720 kind of pull you out of it, you know?
00:24:07.060 So with that in mind, Adam, what is your response to something like what they're pitching in
00:24:11.760 Alberta, where Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has said that she would like to pass legislation
00:24:16.140 that would essentially force addicts into recovery if that's what their family desires?
00:24:21.660 Would you be in favor of something like that?
00:24:23.180 It's still considered quite controversial, even among conservatives, especially given what
00:24:27.120 we just came out of during the COVID-19, where we saw a lot of coerced vaccination.
00:24:30.800 What would your response be to a policy like that?
00:24:32.900 I think it's a good idea in theory.
00:24:35.540 And I think that while some people have said that it would not be able to survive a constitutional
00:24:40.020 challenge, I think that there's precedent here.
00:24:41.980 We do involuntarily institutionalize people who are going through mental health crises.
00:24:47.280 But the big question here is whether or not there would be capacity to absorb people who
00:24:52.400 need to be put into involuntary treatment.
00:24:54.920 In many parts of Canada, there is so little addiction treatment capacity that people who voluntarily
00:25:00.680 seek out treatment cannot get help.
00:25:03.500 And this is why Marshall Smith, who is Daniel Smith's chief of staff and who has been the
00:25:08.340 big architect of Alberta's recovery-oriented system, has actually cautioned other provinces
00:25:13.420 to go very carefully into the forced treatment space.
00:25:17.640 So he recently chimed in when the BC government said that they were going to explore involuntary
00:25:23.820 treatment.
00:25:24.260 And he emphasized that you need to spend years building out your treatment capacity so that
00:25:29.600 you actually have spaces to put people when you want to force them into treatment against
00:25:33.800 their will.
00:25:34.820 Now, from my understanding, the evidence-based for forced addiction treatment is inconclusive.
00:25:39.600 Some people have said that it doesn't work.
00:25:41.020 Some people have said that it works.
00:25:42.160 What I'm hearing from the addiction physicians who I speak to right now is that they're not
00:25:46.300 sure either way.
00:25:47.620 What we can say, though, is that even if mandatory treatment has a low success rate, that is better
00:25:54.980 than no success rate, it is better to put someone into a treatment option that may save their life
00:25:59.600 5% of the time and to put them into that treatment option again and again and again,
00:26:04.140 understanding that while they're in treatment, they're no longer harming others, than to
00:26:07.960 simply abandon them onto the streets and allow them to destroy themselves while posing a 0.86
00:26:12.620 threat to general society.
00:26:15.080 Yeah, I think Alberta is doing things a lot differently than some of the other provinces.
00:26:18.760 It'll be interesting to see the evidence coming out of the province over the next few years,
00:26:22.460 whether some of these processes like forced treatment end up working.
00:26:25.040 We might have more evidence on that within, you know, 10 to 15 years.
00:26:28.820 Adam, we actually have a clip of your documentary.
00:26:31.460 Let's play that now so viewers can get a sense of what to expect when they go watch Government
00:26:35.720 Heroine.
00:26:36.160 Hey, I'm Callum Bagnall.
00:26:39.540 I'm a student at Fanshawe, but I also was a drug addict for a while, and I did end up being
00:26:47.180 addicted to safe supply drugs.
00:26:48.800 For a while, I was taking Percocets, Oxys, but then it got too expensive around 2021.
00:26:57.480 In that time, I got connected with somebody through a job who lived at one of those buildings
00:27:04.240 where they have post-homeless people.
00:27:07.340 They were able to live in this building with income-geared rent.
00:27:10.860 He told me, hey, in this new building I'm living in, there's loads of people that are
00:27:15.540 on these safe supply drugs.
00:27:17.200 At first, I didn't believe it.
00:27:18.240 I was like, there's no way that on that scale, people are getting hundreds of pills a day
00:27:23.140 or close to 100 pills a day.
00:27:25.180 I got numbers and contacts for safe supply pills, and I was able to pick up safe supply
00:27:32.600 drugs much cheaper than Oxys or Percocets.
00:27:35.240 So, Adam, this issue came on my radar first with Aaron Gunn's work, Canada is dying and
00:27:41.660 Vancouver is dying.
00:27:42.560 I know a lot of my viewers have seen those, and I encourage everyone who I talk to to go
00:27:46.740 watch those documentaries.
00:27:48.040 So, what were you seeking to do with Government Heroine that was different than what we already
00:27:52.320 saw, and how did you hope to kind of further expand on this issue?
00:27:57.180 Well, so I've been reporting on safe supply diversion since about May of 2023, and I've written
00:28:03.260 about 50 articles on this issue about how safe supply drugs are being diverted en masse
00:28:07.360 to the streets.
00:28:08.960 Unfortunately, many of the advocates that support safe supply, they say that this is all
00:28:13.820 disinformation, they say that there is no evidence that this is happening, which is really
00:28:17.720 unfortunate because I've interviewed dozens of addiction physicians who say that this is
00:28:20.720 happening.
00:28:21.080 I've interviewed a large number of former drug users who say this is happening.
00:28:24.420 I've found countless examples of this trafficking happening online.
00:28:28.660 And although the provincial government in BC is slowly beginning to admit that this is
00:28:36.620 a problem, federal government continues to deny any issue whatsoever, because, I mean,
00:28:41.340 let's be honest, their political future is tied to this program.
00:28:44.460 It's really embarrassing if the signature addiction policy that you championed for years
00:28:49.000 is actually a disaster that is getting kids hooked on opioids.
00:28:51.960 So, I have interviewed, like, you know, many former drug users who have either accessed Divert
00:28:57.920 as Safe Supply or know other people who have accessed Divert as Safe Supply, but because
00:29:02.320 there is such a crushing stigma against addiction, many of these people don't want to go on record.
00:29:06.980 And so, I either have to only use their first names or use pseudonyms.
00:29:10.980 I can't include any photographs of them.
00:29:13.640 And what that means is that Canadians don't have an opportunity to fully understand the stakes
00:29:17.840 involved here and the harms of Safe Supply because, in a sense, the victims are hidden
00:29:22.380 behind a veil.
00:29:23.820 The details, photographs, videos that impart vivid authenticity into the storytelling is
00:29:29.460 missing here.
00:29:30.600 And this has allowed many of these Safe Supply advocates to convince many Canadians that this
00:29:36.020 is not a real problem.
00:29:37.620 So, when Callum reached out to me about two, three months ago and shared his story and said
00:29:42.180 that he was willing to go on record and he was willing to go on video, I saw this as a
00:29:46.600 very powerful opportunity to show Canadians what is actually happening because when you
00:29:51.880 watch someone and hear someone describe their personal experiences and you, you know, do
00:29:57.860 the same with their mother and with their doctor, it's far harder to say that there is
00:30:03.080 no problem.
00:30:04.220 And I do know that Aaron Gunn has interviewed people who have been harmed by Safe Supply
00:30:08.220 as well.
00:30:09.160 The difference between this work and his is, once again, that Callum is on record and that
00:30:13.920 the length of the interview and detail that we go into his life is greater than what we've
00:30:19.040 seen in previous documentaries.
00:30:20.820 Though, I imagine that Aaron Gunn will probably release more work in the future that will further
00:30:25.180 expand on this story.
00:30:28.040 When you talk about the government's success really being tied to this program, I mean,
00:30:31.840 there's more evidence coming out every day of how much of a failure this policy has been
00:30:35.220 with people like Callum speaking out, although admittedly, as you mentioned, not always putting
00:30:38.800 their names and faces to the story.
00:30:40.600 What's it going to take to see a change?
00:30:42.040 Is it really just one of those things, like with so many other things in Canada right
00:30:45.140 now, where we're waiting for a change in government?
00:30:47.920 So there's two sides.
00:30:48.980 So first of all, there needs to be a change in government.
00:30:50.420 And we see this in BC.
00:30:51.660 We're in the lead up to the BC election next month.
00:30:54.800 The BC NDP have backtracked on a large number of safer supply policies because they see that
00:31:01.080 it's become a political liability and that their polling numbers are slumping and that voters
00:31:05.360 are defecting on mass of the Conservatives.
00:31:07.780 The BC Conservatives only had 2% of the vote about a year and a half ago.
00:31:11.160 Now they have 44% approximately, 40%.
00:31:13.820 They're running neck and neck with the BC NDP.
00:31:16.520 And what that means is that all of a sudden decriminalization is off the table.
00:31:20.360 Crack pipe vending machines off the table.
00:31:23.540 Safer bathrooms where public washrooms are converted into overdose prevention sites.
00:31:28.480 That's off the table because Premier Eby knows that if he doesn't pivot, that he's going
00:31:33.200 to lose his government.
00:31:34.700 So I would imagine that the federal liberals will have to go with a similar kind of reckoning
00:31:40.940 in about a year or so as well.
00:31:43.140 Now, the second route, of course, is the legal route with lawsuits.
00:31:46.600 So in BC, the family of a young girl, 13 years old, who died from addiction after developing
00:31:53.500 an opioid addiction due to safer supply.
00:31:55.220 So her family is launching a class action lawsuit against the BC government and a few other
00:32:00.440 stakeholders as well.
00:32:02.100 And the friends of that girl who developed opioid addictions but did not die but are in
00:32:06.400 recovery are part of that lawsuit.
00:32:08.800 So I think that's something that will pressure governments into changing their policies and
00:32:14.680 also will pressure prescribers into not prescribing safer supply because they know that they risk
00:32:20.880 getting sued.
00:32:21.820 Now, safer supply is also a provincial matter because healthcare falls under provincial jurisdiction.
00:32:28.280 The federal government has funded safer supply programs and it has created some exemptions
00:32:32.920 that allow for the prescribing of safer supply drugs.
00:32:35.780 But fundamentally, if you prescribe safer supply in Ontario, for example, that goes through our
00:32:41.540 provincial healthcare system.
00:32:42.860 It is dispensed through our pharmacies and then built to OHIP.
00:32:46.680 So provincial governments do have a role to play here.
00:32:49.180 The Alberta government made it functionally illegal to prescribe safer supply.
00:32:53.640 They did face some lawsuits and they were forced to continue providing safer supply to, I believe,
00:32:58.560 one person.
00:32:59.860 Ontario could go down that same route.
00:33:02.720 But the problem is that, from my understanding, they are concerned about the legal challenges there
00:33:07.200 and are trying to find a way to legally block access to safer supply without getting stuck in a quagmire of lawsuits.
00:33:17.120 So even if, let's say, you know, next year we have an election, the Liberal government's toppled,
00:33:23.080 we have a Conservative government that wants to end safe supply, we're essentially going to be stuck with a lot of addicts who are going to need help.
00:33:28.940 We've talked a little bit about what Alberta's doing is different.
00:33:31.920 They're really being their leadership and they have sort of a pilot of treatment centres.
00:33:36.680 They've spent hundreds of millions of dollars on these recovery centres.
00:33:39.400 We haven't really seen that same level of investment in Ontario.
00:33:43.200 So what do other governments need to do across Canada?
00:33:46.900 We've talked about Alberta.
00:33:48.120 Do other provinces like Ontario need to follow Alberta's lead?
00:33:51.060 What are we going to essentially do with all these addicts?
00:33:53.020 As you've mentioned, there's already an issue of there not being enough treatment centres for people who do want treatment.
00:33:58.140 So do you see that being a crisis in the coming years?
00:34:01.240 I'd say so.
00:34:02.120 And I think the thing is that on the Ontario government, the Ford government needs to have more political will here.
00:34:06.420 I know that the Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, Michael Tavolo, is very competent.
00:34:12.100 You know, he's a psychologist with a background in addiction.
00:34:14.440 He understands the studies.
00:34:16.140 He's pushing for change.
00:34:17.660 What I haven't seen in my reporting is a significant will for change from the Premier's office.
00:34:25.760 Sometimes it feels like they're sweeping this under the rug or not paying too much attention.
00:34:28.880 And I think they're able to do this for two reasons.
00:34:31.820 A, they're able to just, they're able to simply blame Trudeau.
00:34:35.200 And therefore, they're offloading the political costs of their inaction.
00:34:38.380 A great example of this is a letter that Ford wrote to Trudeau, or rather to the federal government a few months ago, where he said, we want you to stop funding these safer supply programs.
00:34:47.840 We have no idea how much hydromorphone, which is an opioid as potent as heroin, is being flooding, is flooding into our communities because of this program.
00:34:55.760 Well, that's not actually true, because hydromorphone is once again paid for through OHIP.
00:35:01.800 So the provincial government should have that data.
00:35:04.220 And that letter essentially offloaded all responsibility for safer supply, or rather fighting safer supply, onto the federal government.
00:35:10.640 And because of that, it seems like the Ford government said, well, we've washed our hands of this, we've done what we could, when that's not the case.
00:35:17.600 I also think that the Ford government is very comfortable politically.
00:35:20.640 I mean, their polling numbers are great.
00:35:22.220 And right now, the Ontario Liberals and Ontario NDP are in shambles.
00:35:26.260 And I think that's created a sense of complacency.
00:35:28.360 Because the Ford government doesn't have to worry about losing the next election, it hasn't felt that much pressure to actually address the safer supply issue.
00:35:38.060 All they do is blame someone else when they should be getting these drugs off the street.
00:35:43.800 Adam, for people who want to watch your documentary and learn more about your work, where can they go?
00:35:48.640 Well, I mean, if you want to watch the documentary, you can always go on YouTube and just Google government heroin full movie.
00:35:54.720 You have to do the full movie piece.
00:35:56.000 Otherwise, you're going to get a whole bunch of other stuff about government heroin.
00:35:58.900 And you can always follow me on X.
00:36:01.060 So I'm Adam Zivo, but my X handle is Zivo Adam.
00:36:05.440 That's Z-I-V with a V-O. 0.95
00:36:08.220 And you can always read me in the National Post.
00:36:09.820 I'm always there, you know, at least once a week talking about drugs and other issues.
00:36:14.820 Adam and Callum, thank you both so much.
00:36:16.420 Could I add one small thing before we end it?
00:36:21.340 Go ahead.
00:36:21.900 As Adam was saying, you know, like with the trying to close the safe supply clinics, you'll have a lot of addicts that are, you know, still, they've been either taking the safe supply or they rely on it to not go into withdrawals.
00:36:36.460 And like what I could say to that is that we already have the medications even before a safe supply program was really rolled out.
00:36:44.000 We have methadone, we have suboxone, we got newer ones like sublocate, which is a shot where they give you into your fat cells in your stomach.
00:36:53.000 And it lasts for the whole month.
00:36:54.720 You don't even have to go back another time.
00:36:57.020 You get one shot and you're good.
00:36:58.380 They've got even strips of suboxone that you can put under your tongue.
00:37:04.020 There's so many and they work well.
00:37:07.580 You know, like I think the reason why, you know, safe supply was a thing was it's it's hard to get addicts to want to take suboxone or methadone because, you know, you're not going to be getting high from suboxone unless you're taking a dose.
00:37:23.240 It's too high for you or with methadone, you know, even though it could get you high, it's heavily controlled.
00:37:29.460 You have to go to the clinic like every morning for, you know, probably more than a year to build up enough rapport to bring back carry medications home, you know.
00:37:40.840 And I think, you know, yes, it is hard to go down that route.
00:37:45.640 But ultimately, right, what what is easy in life?
00:37:49.080 You know, the best things in life are always hard.
00:37:52.600 And like for me, like suboxone has really saved my life.
00:37:57.300 Right.
00:37:57.880 The whole point is to not be getting high anymore.
00:38:01.120 Like the high is what you brought you in.
00:38:03.920 You need to get out of that because it deceives you.
00:38:06.740 Right.
00:38:07.280 You don't want to be getting high because it it takes you away from what you really need to be doing in life, you know.
00:38:13.360 And that's kind of what recovery is about.
00:38:15.640 You know, just living without needing to get high.
00:38:19.820 Colin, thank you so much.
00:38:21.640 Yeah, thank you.
00:38:23.100 All right, everyone.
00:38:23.740 So that was Adam Zeevo on his new documentary, Government Heroine.
00:38:27.540 I definitely suggest you go take a look on at it on YouTube.
00:38:30.520 That's where I watch it.
00:38:31.620 I've been covering the safe supply issue for a few years now.
00:38:34.540 You'll notice a lot of my questions were focused on Alberta because, as most of you know, I've done so much Alberta coverage.
00:38:39.100 And they're really doing very unique things with treatment there and the way that they've approached the safe supply regime.
00:38:45.640 So definitely go take a look at Adam's work.
00:38:47.860 He's the expert on it and he's been covering this so much.
00:38:50.000 Now, we're going to turn our attention to the next segment of the show, the clip of the week.
00:38:54.960 Last week, I had that stunning clip of Jennifer Johnson. 0.99
00:38:57.760 For all of you, we now know that Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has said she's going to talk to her caucus about letting Johnson back in.
00:39:05.380 And I wrote a column this week basically about how the left's efforts to cancel Jennifer Johnson has spectacularly backfired because now it's all that anyone's talking about.
00:39:15.340 And conservatives are demanding that Alberta Premier Daniel Smith let Johnson back into caucus.
00:39:20.300 So I suggest you go take a look at that column if you want to know what's currently going on in the situation.
00:39:25.260 Now we're going to head to the clip of the week.
00:39:26.560 This one is of Melanie Jolie.
00:39:28.000 I haven't actually seen this clip yet.
00:39:30.100 Sean picked it for us.
00:39:31.360 Yes, I'm sure many of you are familiar with Sean, he was Andrew's infamous producer, and now I'm lucky enough to have him.
00:39:37.160 So we picked this clip for us to take a look at today.
00:39:39.480 So let's go to that now of Melanie Jolie.
00:39:42.500 We're all aware of the global pushback against women and our human rights and the increased threats faced by those who dare stand up and advocate and protect women human rights.
00:39:57.240 Digital technology may have increased freedom of expression, but it has also silenced voices.
00:40:05.840 Over the last two days, foreign ministers from around the globe came together.
00:40:11.060 We exchanged experiences and lessons learned, and we identified potential solutions for positive change.
00:40:18.000 First, within the UN system, it is time for the next Secretary General to be a woman.
00:40:27.100 And that was clearly called on by all women foreign ministers. 1.00
00:40:32.440 The UN has been existing for more than 75 years, so it is more than time.
00:40:38.440 We also need better gender parity for the presidency of the UN General Assembly.
00:40:44.560 And when it comes also to Afghanistan, we called on the Taliban to restore women and girls' rights to education and meaningfully participate in public life.
00:40:58.180 So lots to unpack here.
00:41:00.260 I think this was a good clip to discuss.
00:41:02.160 First off, I think Melanie Jolie, speaking at this conference and starting off talking about how women all over the world, you know, are essentially being persecuted and suffering solely because they are women.
00:41:13.880 It's not really relevant to a discussion about Canada and America.
00:41:18.800 I don't believe that women are discriminated against in any capacity in Canada or America in an institutional sense.
00:41:26.040 Anything that's probably a little bit the other way around nowadays, you will probably receive preference if you are a female candidate, because so many companies are so hellbent on moving forward with DEI initiatives, diversity, equity and inclusion.
00:41:41.440 And so they'd rather hire a woman than a man, especially if you're a white man. 0.92
00:41:44.940 A lot of white men out there know how difficult it can be to find certain jobs or even to get admitted into colleges and universities these days.
00:41:51.360 So, you know, when we talk about this clip, there are there are absolutely countries where women are treated very, very poorly.
00:41:57.000 And I'm so grateful every single day, maybe not every single day, I should be grateful every single day.
00:42:01.700 But I'm so grateful that I am Canadian and that I was a woman born in Canada because I know that I have so much opportunity and such a chance for such a beautiful life and to really create what I want my life to look like being here in Canada.
00:42:12.580 And that's not the case for women who are born elsewhere in the world. 1.00
00:42:16.120 But the reason that this is just so tone deaf for Melanie Jolie right now is because there are so many issues in Canada.
00:42:23.620 And as we've talked about extensively on the show today, the Canadian people are suffering.
00:42:28.320 And so for a liberal minister to be overseas talking about these issues, it just doesn't really make sense right now.
00:42:34.680 We have so many problems at home. Your government is 20 points behind the polls.
00:42:37.800 Why don't you come back and spend a little time focusing on these issues?
00:42:40.420 And the next thing that is probably fairly obvious to all of you watching this clip is this idea that people should be promoted because of their gender and their gender alone.
00:42:49.920 I cannot stand these types of policies.
00:42:52.260 And I think when she talks about that, the first example that comes to my mind of why these types of policies are so disastrous is looking at the Secret Service in the United States.
00:43:01.540 Growing up, the Secret Service was sort of legendary in my mind.
00:43:05.040 And, you know, whenever you were at an American political event, you'd see the snipers coming on the roofs and quickly scoping it out.
00:43:11.800 And in your head, you kind of thought, you know, I'm in probably the safest place in the world right now with all these Secret Service agents nearby.
00:43:17.800 And they have a no-fail mission, which means that no shots should be fired at whoever it is that they were set to protect in a given day or under a, you know, given portion of their recent assignment.
00:43:30.900 And we've seen the Secret Service absolutely fall apart in recent months and weeks.
00:43:35.060 I, as many of you know, cover American politics for True North as well.
00:43:38.480 And I was at the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting.
00:43:40.300 And that day was such a stunning security failure by the Secret Service.
00:43:45.040 And we've seen a couple of them now where the Secret Service have really not been done an adequate job.
00:43:51.460 And we've seen this trending more and more since the Secret Service became sort of pushing their own DEI policies since they said we want to have more women Secret Service agents. 0.79
00:44:00.860 Now, let's just set aside the whole issue of what it says about a society that asks a woman to stand in front of a man while bullets are being shot.
00:44:10.940 I think that's a whole issue and we could talk about that on its own.
00:44:14.300 And I certainly have thoughts and I disagree with women being put on the front lines of any sort of combat, including, you know, protecting whether it be a president or former president. 1.00
00:44:23.860 But there's then just the issue of biological realities, which I know makes people very uncomfortable for today.
00:44:29.820 But the one thing that I felt was so stunning at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally was after President Trump was shot at, he sort of fell to the ground.
00:44:37.320 And then you see him get back up and you see him sworn by his Secret Service agents.
00:44:41.680 And by the way, those who are experts in the industry later said that that should never have happened.
00:44:45.500 He should have been immediately whisked away in case there was a second shooter in the crowd, as often happens.
00:44:50.260 But he was able to stand up and that's where he got the really powerful moment of him pumping his fist and chanting fight, fight, fight.
00:44:56.380 And, you know, the beautiful imagery from that.
00:44:59.240 However, there were still so many security failures within that moment.
00:45:02.960 As I said, he shouldn't have been on that stage for as long as he was.
00:45:05.380 And even when he stood up, there was a female Secret Service agent that was responsible for protecting his whole basically front half of his torso.
00:45:13.600 But the Secret Service agent was not tall.
00:45:16.040 President Trump is a big man.
00:45:17.640 He's a tall guy.
00:45:18.340 And she was not actually tall enough to protect his body.
00:45:21.500 So essentially what you saw was you saw his whole head and the top part of his torso entirely exposed just moments after someone had fired shots that had narrowly grazed his ear.
00:45:31.680 And in that same moment, you see the Secret Service agent bent down to pick up his shoe.
00:45:35.800 Then again, exposing his entire top half.
00:45:38.020 So certainly a number of stunning security failures there.
00:45:41.380 Later on in the day, you saw, you know, Trump had so many female Secret Service agents on his protection crew.
00:45:48.160 It was almost baffling how many women there were. 1.00
00:45:50.400 And you see another clip of the woman who she wasn't even able to holster his gun.
00:45:54.140 A female Secret Service agent was not able to find the holster of her gun. 1.00
00:45:58.400 There's some hilarious clips.
00:45:59.980 It is funny with, you know, a saddening note to it all because it's such a serious issue.
00:46:04.940 And now we've had two failed assassination attempts against Donald Trump.
00:46:09.000 And I think a lot of us are kind of watching and wondering, like, this is not good.
00:46:12.280 How come all these students are able to get so close to the president?
00:46:15.040 And we're seeing basically the impacts of DEI trickle down into what was once one of the most well regarded and respected agencies in the entire world.
00:46:24.720 So, you know, to Melanie Jolie's response that we need a female UN Secretary General, just stop hiring people based on their gender. 0.97
00:46:33.200 It's not working.
00:46:34.400 Hire people based on merit because they actually have the proper qualifications for the job.
00:46:37.960 And I'm not saying it can't be a woman.
00:46:39.940 But also for a woman, why would you want to be hired knowing that I received this role because they needed a woman?
00:46:44.460 I certainly would not be interested in a position like that.
00:46:47.880 I would rather get there on merit and feel confident.
00:46:49.680 Otherwise, you're kind of constantly going to have those feelings of, am I good at this?
00:46:53.360 Do I deserve to be here?
00:46:54.960 Better to earn things on your own.
00:46:57.000 All right, everyone.
00:46:57.520 And finally, we have one last segment of the show.
00:47:00.160 I did this a lot on the Alberta Roundup where I would take a look at people's comments from the weeks before.
00:47:03.800 I love responding to all of your comments on my show.
00:47:06.920 So we're going to take a look at a few today.
00:47:09.340 Starting off with this first comment.
00:47:10.820 This is from user at Emotionally Exhausted.
00:47:12.880 He says, I would never, ever submit to one of their struggle sessions like that in the first place. 0.99
00:47:18.700 Pathetic. 0.99
00:47:19.320 No job is worth that. 1.00
00:47:21.260 I honestly am inclined to agree.
00:47:23.260 I would never be able to submit to something like that.
00:47:25.180 That's also probably why I would never run for office is because I'm not the type of person who necessarily wants to deal with the crazies and to be sympathetic towards their cause and have to try to find a political response to people who have absolutely insane ideas. 0.99
00:47:39.400 I'm much more inclined to just say that's insane or that's stupid.
00:47:43.680 And so I would not be well fitted to the job of a politician like Jagmeet Singh is not well suited to the job of a politician. 0.98
00:47:51.100 And for that reason, I found a different avenue for my skills and abilities.
00:47:55.220 And so, you know, it sounds like you also would not be well suited to the job of a politician.
00:47:59.500 And I totally respect that I think few people are.
00:48:02.300 And I think there's probably too many people in politics who don't recognize that it's not really the job for them.
00:48:06.700 So I'm with you there.
00:48:07.840 But, you know, I do I do respect Jennifer Johnson for sort of speaking up for her beliefs and for being someone that we can look to and say this is someone who who speaks for our cause and who won't bow to the woke mob.
00:48:18.400 And I am glad that there's people like that we can point to in politics, political leaders who we can say thank you for being our voice.
00:48:24.820 User Joel Lawrence Channel says what you're asking of the MP Kat and Kian seems way too little.
00:48:32.580 Have no idea what the maximum ask can be, but if her life and lifestyle are being seriously threatened, then he should have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars, perhaps a million or two.
00:48:40.420 Defamation of character is one thing, but if she's receiving many friends to her life, she doesn't deserve that just for being conservative journalists.
00:48:47.020 Whether they are sincere or not, this guy should have to pay.
00:48:51.220 So you're definitely right that they probably could have asked for more.
00:48:54.980 But I know in this specific case, first of all, this was the counter signals first lawsuit in a sense where they were going after someone for something that was said about them.
00:49:02.700 It is extremely stressful.
00:49:04.040 I don't know how much time you guys have spent, if any of you have spent, you know, time in in the courts.
00:49:08.260 It is unbelievable stressful for anyone who's dealing with any sort of litigation.
00:49:11.840 And so I really respect their sort of commitment to trying to resolve this through a settlement if possible, just because it would have put such an immense amount of pressure on both Kat and Kian.
00:49:22.600 And I think they just are both doing such important work, and I'm glad they're able to focus on that.
00:49:27.120 In addition, I'm not sure, I'm sure if you all saw this, but Kat and Kian did end up receiving an apology for the defamation that was made towards Kat.
00:49:35.900 So Mark Gerritsen did issue a proper apology and tagged the proper account for Kat and a correction to his original tweet.
00:49:44.760 Could they have taken it further?
00:49:46.180 Yes, it's likely they could have taken it further.
00:49:48.080 It's likely they could have taken more money.
00:49:49.300 And I think in these types of cases, you have to really weigh whether the additional money and monetary value that you're going to be receiving is worth more to you than the stress of litigation.
00:50:01.360 And in the moment, for those of us looking from the outside, it's like, well, of course, you should go after them for as much money they should have to pay for saying these wrongful things about you.
00:50:08.500 But just speaking from experience of my own, I can tell you that anytime you're involved in any sort of litigation, it is extremely stressful.
00:50:15.620 And I think most of us would err on the side of wanting to wrap it up as quickly as possible.
00:50:19.940 Okay, everyone, that's all we have time for today on The Rachel Parker Show.
00:50:23.420 I look forward to reading your comments and to choosing which ones to discuss on my show next week.
00:50:28.560 I hope that you guys have a great week.
00:50:29.880 I'll see you later.
00:50:30.480 God bless.