Juno News - Designated TERRORIST group to host Islamic supremacy conference in Ontario

00:00:00.000 an organization that's been dubbed a terrorist entity by a number of countries,

00:00:03.940 as well as the United Nations, is holding a conference in Ontario.

00:00:09.720 The theme of Hizbut Tahir's conference is eliminating the obstacles

00:00:13.460 that are delaying the return of the Islamic Caliphate, only in Canada.

00:00:18.800 Joining me today to discuss is the reporter who broke the story,

00:00:22.220 and later we'll hear from the food professor,

00:00:24.480 who will tell us the impact of Justin Trudeau corroding Parliament on Canadian farmers.

00:00:30.000 You might be surprised at what he has to say.

00:00:32.640 I'm Rachel Parker. Welcome back to The Rachel Parker Show.

00:00:52.640 I'm joined by Jared Jagger, the Western Standard reporter who broke this story.

00:00:57.640 Jared, why don't you just start by breaking down what exactly is going on here?

00:01:04.240 So essentially what's happening is there's this extremist group.

00:01:08.840 It's called Hizbut Tahir, and it's banned pretty much everywhere else in the world,

00:01:12.740 but for some reason not in Canada.

00:01:14.960 And so they've decided to hold their annual Khilafah conference,

00:01:18.740 which translates to a caliphate conference, in Ontario on January 18th.

00:01:23.960 And it was originally going to be held in Mississauga,

00:01:27.060 but following backlash, the mayor made sure that wouldn't happen.

00:01:30.980 Then they moved it to Hamilton, where they received a similar response.

00:01:34.740 And as of now, tickets are still available,

00:01:37.360 but nobody's really sure where exactly this event is going to take place.

00:01:41.540 So this conference, which is essentially a conference about their caliphate, 0.60

00:01:47.600 you said there was a lot of backlash.

00:01:49.380 Was that backlash in response to the story that you broke that ended up going viral,

00:01:54.300 or were people already aware that this was happening?

00:01:58.060 There were some small pockets of information on Twitter,

00:02:02.080 but yeah, it wasn't until the Western Standard broke the story

00:02:05.480 that it really went super viral,

00:02:08.040 all the way to the point where even Elon Musk was talking about it.

00:02:11.540 Have you spoken to the authorities at all?

00:02:13.980 Do you know if this is something that the authorities in Hamilton,

00:02:16.520 are they going to allow this conference to proceed?

00:02:20.260 I haven't, no.

00:02:21.440 But there's a lot of people on the ground in Ontario

00:02:24.180 who have reached out to law enforcement and elected officials.

00:02:27.800 And I just have to say thank you to them for doing the groundwork over there.

00:02:33.220 It's a lot easier than me doing it here in British Columbia.

00:02:38.000 Yeah, absolutely.

00:02:39.700 You definitely need local people to get involved.

00:02:41.440 You mentioned that they're receiving a similar response in Hamilton.

00:02:45.600 Have you spoken with the mayor there and said,

00:02:47.960 you know, is this a conference that you're going to allow to proceed, essentially?

00:02:52.060 So she released a public statement.

00:02:56.200 Basically, you know, it had the usual wording.

00:02:59.240 We stand firmly against all forms of hate and tolerance

00:03:01.860 and we're committed to fostering a safe and respectful, inclusive environment.

00:03:06.220 So yeah, it sounds like she's going to do anything she can

00:03:12.800 to make sure that this conference doesn't take place in her city.

00:03:16.320 It's interesting that you report on this story

00:03:18.700 just sort of on the heels of the terrorist attack in New Orleans

00:03:23.200 with 14 people being killed on New Year's Day.

00:03:26.000 We now know that the suspect in that case

00:03:29.460 actually visited Ontario in July 2023.

00:03:34.420 Are you concerned that Canada is becoming a hotbed

00:03:38.540 for Islamic extremism?

00:03:42.280 Definitely, definitely.

00:03:44.300 And evidence of that, last year,

00:03:47.300 because this group, they hold a conference in Ontario every year,

00:03:50.160 or at least they try to.

00:03:51.760 But last year, a day after the UK designated them

00:03:55.900 a terrorist organization,

00:03:57.920 they decided not to host the conference.

00:03:59.720 I guess they were afraid that maybe the Canadian authorities

00:04:02.680 would catch on and follow suit.

00:04:06.180 Obviously, they didn't.

00:04:08.100 And so now a year later,

00:04:09.940 they're, I guess, feeling pretty emboldened

00:04:13.620 and confident enough that no one will do anything

00:04:17.180 to try and host it again.

00:04:19.320 So thankfully, there's been backlash,

00:04:21.700 but we need to see more from elected officials.

00:04:25.900 You mentioned that this group

00:04:27.780 is a designated terrorist entity

00:04:29.640 in a number of nations,

00:04:30.920 including by the United Nations itself.

00:04:33.300 Is it considered a designated terrorist entity in Canada?

00:04:36.920 And do you think that it should be if it's not?

00:04:39.700 It's not, no.

00:04:40.700 But it definitely should be.

00:04:42.060 Because, yeah, the list of countries

00:04:43.520 where it is banned is pretty long.

00:04:47.500 And what are the reasons that those countries list

00:04:49.660 for designating it a terrorist entity?

00:04:51.220 Well, for some of them,

00:04:54.240 it's the threat of Islamic extremism.

00:04:58.080 And for others, it's because the group,

00:05:00.400 their main goal is to reestablish an Islamic caliphate, 0.99

00:05:04.260 basically doing away with nation states.

00:05:07.180 And so a lot of these nations,

00:05:08.400 even the nations that are Muslim-majority,

00:05:11.660 you know, the leaders,

00:05:12.660 they feel threatened by this group.

00:05:14.920 And so it kind of makes sense

00:05:17.760 that they'd want to ensure

00:05:19.600 they can't act in their countries.

00:05:23.240 Jared, where can my audience,

00:05:25.340 if they want to continue following you

00:05:26.700 and following the story,

00:05:27.600 where can they find you and your work?

00:05:31.060 So you can find all my work

00:05:32.320 at Western Standard,

00:05:33.820 at WS Online News on Twitter,

00:05:36.140 and you can follow me at Jared Yeager.

00:05:38.740 Thanks so much.

00:05:40.440 Yeah, thank you.

00:05:41.660 All right, guys, again,

00:05:42.500 that was Jared Yeager,

00:05:43.860 the Western Standard reporter

00:05:45.540 who broke the story.

00:05:46.820 You'll definitely want to go find his X account

00:05:49.260 to follow the details.

00:05:51.000 At this point,

00:05:51.740 it is not even clear

00:05:53.020 whether they will be able to proceed

00:05:55.040 with this conference

00:05:56.020 that everyone is calling to be canceled.

00:05:58.120 Okay, guys,

00:05:58.560 we are now joined by Sylvain Charlebois.

00:06:01.000 He is from the Agri-Food Analytics Lab

00:06:03.560 at Dalhousie University,

00:06:04.780 and he's better known

00:06:06.440 as the food professor on X.

00:06:08.600 I'm sure you guys have seen his content before.

00:06:11.640 He's all over the place.

00:06:12.840 Sylvain, thank you so much

00:06:13.800 for being here today.

00:06:14.700 I want to start by asking you,

00:06:16.000 just kind of,

00:06:16.900 you know,

00:06:17.140 we're in the first few days of 2025.

00:06:20.280 What were some of the food price trends

00:06:23.560 that you noticed throughout 2024?

00:06:27.860 Well, when it comes to pricing,

00:06:29.720 it was really a bizarre year.

00:06:33.940 Food prices didn't go up

00:06:35.320 as much as we were expecting.

00:06:37.060 At the beginning of the year,

00:06:39.520 prices were going higher.

00:06:42.400 In the middle of the year,

00:06:43.980 things calmed down,

00:06:44.900 but now things are picking up again.

00:06:46.920 If you're noticing the data,

00:06:49.200 right now,

00:06:49.760 food inflation is above general inflation,

00:06:52.520 and that tends to preoccupy a lot of people.

00:06:55.980 A lot of people are concerned about that,

00:06:57.460 and we are certainly concerned about that,

00:06:58.940 which is why

00:06:59.620 when we published Canada's food price report

00:07:02.940 about a month ago,

00:07:04.540 we did claim that we are expecting 2025

00:07:08.600 to be a challenging year.

00:07:11.380 We're expecting food prices to go up

00:07:12.960 by as much as 5% for a family of four,

00:07:16.280 driven mainly by meat prices

00:07:18.480 and vegetable prices

00:07:20.580 due to a weaker Canadian currency,

00:07:24.020 unfortunately.

00:07:24.840 When you're trying to import food

00:07:27.120 from the United States or anywhere else,

00:07:28.940 you want a stronger dollar.

00:07:31.060 That's not going to be the case in 2025.

00:07:33.800 So it sounds like more bad news

00:07:36.200 for Canadians

00:07:36.840 who are already wincing

00:07:38.220 every time they go to the grocery stores

00:07:39.720 in 2025

00:07:40.300 than any positive silver linings for them?

00:07:43.540 Well, Rachel,

00:07:44.820 are you a fan of olive oil?

00:07:46.920 Because olive oil

00:07:48.500 is actually going to be cheaper in 2025.

00:07:51.420 It's the one item

00:07:52.540 that actually has gone up in price

00:07:54.300 the last couple of years.

00:07:55.460 We're not expecting prices to increase.

00:07:57.720 In fact, we're expecting

00:07:58.800 olive oil prices to drop in 2025.

00:08:03.200 Dairy also is not going to be an issue at all.

00:08:06.600 We are expecting Farmgate prices to drop

00:08:08.720 and that's going to put less pressure

00:08:10.400 on retail prices.

00:08:11.700 That's good.

00:08:12.140 And bakery.

00:08:13.280 Bakery is probably the other category

00:08:14.900 where we're not going to be seeing

00:08:16.240 a whole lot of movement

00:08:17.140 when it comes to pricing as well in 2025.

00:08:20.480 I'm wondering,

00:08:21.560 I mean, for myself, my family,

00:08:23.060 we've started to purchase meat in bulk.

00:08:25.120 So we'll actually buy

00:08:26.320 like a quarter cow at a time.

00:08:28.860 We live in Alberta,

00:08:29.840 so we obviously have a lot of access

00:08:31.160 to good quality Alberta beef.

00:08:33.400 And we find it saves us a lot of monies

00:08:34.820 at the grocery store

00:08:35.640 because we buy a quarter cow. 0.84

00:08:37.400 Lasts us for like half a year.

00:08:39.580 Obviously, you have to be able

00:08:40.940 to afford that bulk purchase up front,

00:08:43.400 which I know that not every family can do.

00:08:46.060 But do you have any advice

00:08:47.420 for those Canadians

00:08:48.140 who are really finding it difficult

00:08:49.660 to feed their families right now?

00:08:51.180 And as you mentioned,

00:08:52.140 meat prices going up this year.

00:08:54.340 Yeah, well,

00:08:55.040 I used to live in the prairies myself

00:08:56.680 and I did buy,

00:08:57.760 when I was there in Saskatchewan,

00:08:59.420 I actually did buy a quarter of a cow

00:09:01.740 just because in those days,

00:09:04.160 beef prices were going way up

00:09:06.080 and we're beef lovers at home.

00:09:08.820 So obviously,

00:09:09.620 that's certainly one strategy,

00:09:10.780 but not everyone actually lives

00:09:12.280 in the prairies, unfortunately.

00:09:14.400 I would say really,

00:09:15.520 when you go to their grocery store,

00:09:17.360 be strategic about it.

00:09:18.700 But you may not want to eat beef

00:09:21.640 that day or that week

00:09:23.220 or over the next couple of days,

00:09:24.840 but buy some if they're on sale

00:09:27.020 and get yourself a freezer.

00:09:29.180 I think that's the best thing

00:09:30.520 you can do right now.

00:09:32.640 If you want to move away

00:09:34.100 from meat products,

00:09:35.180 well, I would say tuna,

00:09:37.700 canned tuna, canned salmon.

00:09:39.420 It's not the same thing, of course,

00:09:41.080 but these products

00:09:42.200 are actually cheaper

00:09:43.080 than five years ago.

00:09:45.000 They're being used

00:09:45.640 as loss leaders right now.

00:09:47.280 So if you don't mind

00:09:49.300 eating tuna and salmon,

00:09:50.720 well, that could be

00:09:51.800 a solution for you.

00:09:54.060 Obviously, you know,

00:09:55.140 this interview comes

00:09:55.960 on the heels of

00:09:56.980 Justin Trudeau's announcement

00:09:58.100 on Monday morning

00:09:58.880 that he is going to be resigning

00:10:00.920 once a new Liberal leader

00:10:02.480 is selected.

00:10:03.600 We're still not sure

00:10:04.580 if we're going to get

00:10:05.640 an early federal election,

00:10:06.920 but we know that we're going

00:10:07.660 to see one at least come October

00:10:09.240 if Conservative leader

00:10:11.100 Pierre Polyev

00:10:11.740 is the next Prime Minister,

00:10:13.520 which certainly seems like

00:10:14.380 he will be at this point,

00:10:15.480 although anything can happen

00:10:16.460 in politics

00:10:17.200 and he finally cancels

00:10:18.680 that carbon tax.

00:10:20.000 What will the impact be?

00:10:21.200 Will Canadians finally 0.81

00:10:22.060 have some relief

00:10:22.820 at the grocery stores?

00:10:25.100 Well, so first of all,

00:10:27.280 this week is a good week

00:10:29.340 for farmers and consumers,

00:10:31.000 I think,

00:10:31.440 because I think, yes,

00:10:33.580 the Prime Minister will resign,

00:10:35.360 but he hasn't resigned yet.

00:10:36.560 So we're still dealing

00:10:38.160 with the same government.

00:10:39.860 It's just prorogued.

00:10:40.940 The good part

00:10:41.900 is that it's being prorogued.

00:10:43.480 It was prorogued.

00:10:44.480 And that means

00:10:45.460 that many bills

00:10:47.200 will be killed eventually

00:10:49.520 because there are likely

00:10:52.080 going to be an election

00:10:52.800 after March 24th.

00:10:55.460 And I'm thinking

00:10:56.120 of three things,

00:10:58.400 three bills.

00:10:59.120 One, the bills

00:11:00.600 on the capital gains tax,

00:11:03.820 which is likely

00:11:05.140 not going to see

00:11:05.980 any royal ascent,

00:11:08.500 which is really good news

00:11:09.800 for a lot of businesses.

00:11:11.880 Of course,

00:11:12.460 there's Bill C-282,

00:11:14.900 protecting supply management.

00:11:17.020 That was an awful bill.

00:11:19.300 Protecting 2% of the economy

00:11:21.040 and potentially sacrificing

00:11:23.740 98% of it

00:11:25.500 never made sense.

00:11:27.460 And so that's likely

00:11:28.740 going to be killed

00:11:29.580 with the next election

00:11:31.040 coming up.

00:11:31.900 And finally,

00:11:33.220 Bill C-293,

00:11:35.520 which I call

00:11:36.340 Canada's Vegan Act. 0.90

00:11:38.520 Basically,

00:11:39.180 it's the pandemic

00:11:40.000 preparedness bill.

00:11:42.340 But in that bill,

00:11:43.960 there were so many things,

00:11:45.780 troubling things.

00:11:46.400 One of them

00:11:46.720 was actually

00:11:47.160 to encourage people

00:11:47.920 to eat alternative protein.

00:11:49.740 So that's likely

00:11:51.140 going to be get killed

00:11:52.020 as well.

00:11:52.600 Good news.

00:11:53.180 As far as the carbon tax goes,

00:11:54.840 I mean,

00:11:56.460 I've always been

00:11:58.040 quite vocal

00:11:59.300 about my concerns

00:12:00.960 of the policy itself

00:12:02.420 because we've never

00:12:03.520 actually seen any effort

00:12:04.900 coming from Ottawa

00:12:05.700 to assess

00:12:06.800 whether or not

00:12:07.960 the policy

00:12:08.540 will compromise

00:12:09.480 Canada's food security

00:12:10.900 and food affordability.

00:12:12.980 But based on our research

00:12:14.060 that we've done

00:12:14.600 the last year or so,

00:12:16.300 it is impacting

00:12:17.580 our agri-food sector's

00:12:19.160 competitiveness.

00:12:21.240 And now,

00:12:21.960 we're about two weeks away

00:12:23.060 from seeing a new tenant

00:12:24.140 in the White House,

00:12:26.240 Donald Trump,

00:12:27.400 who's actually going to focus

00:12:28.700 on competitiveness

00:12:29.520 a lot in the U.S.

00:12:31.280 So what are we doing here

00:12:33.160 on our side of the border

00:12:34.440 is a big question.

00:12:35.880 And we do believe

00:12:36.800 that the carbon tax policy

00:12:38.100 is not helping at all.

00:12:40.940 So I'm hoping,

00:12:42.040 and this is something

00:12:42.660 I've recommended

00:12:43.280 to Parliament many times,

00:12:45.260 I hope that at least,

00:12:46.840 the very least,

00:12:47.620 the next army

00:12:48.020 will pause

00:12:48.860 on the carbon tax

00:12:49.720 affecting the entire

00:12:50.900 food supply chain

00:12:51.780 so we can better assess

00:12:53.180 exactly what's at stake

00:12:54.940 here when it comes

00:12:56.280 to global trades

00:12:57.240 and competitiveness.

00:12:59.240 You know,

00:12:59.740 I appreciate your perspective

00:13:00.700 on the positive aspects

00:13:02.280 of the prorogation

00:13:03.680 of Parliament

00:13:04.200 just because I know

00:13:04.960 a lot of Canadians

00:13:05.620 are concerned about

00:13:06.360 or are upset about.

00:13:07.100 So it's good to get

00:13:07.800 that angle in it as well,

00:13:09.240 that there are

00:13:09.780 some positives.

00:13:10.480 I'm just trying

00:13:11.160 to be positive here.

00:13:13.840 No, but it's true.

00:13:14.760 I know that people

00:13:15.360 are upset

00:13:15.980 because nothing

00:13:17.640 really happened yesterday,

00:13:19.120 really,

00:13:19.740 when you think about it.

00:13:21.700 But I do think

00:13:22.880 that right now we're,

00:13:24.760 and I've actually dealt

00:13:25.860 with Senate

00:13:26.340 in the last couple of months,

00:13:27.420 I've dealt with MPs

00:13:29.540 and that place was a mess.

00:13:32.000 I mean,

00:13:32.220 that place was an utter mess.

00:13:34.180 It needed a reset

00:13:35.120 as the Prime Minister

00:13:36.020 said yesterday.

00:13:36.760 But I do believe

00:13:38.260 that we have a regime

00:13:39.920 right now

00:13:40.400 that not only

00:13:41.620 doesn't understand business,

00:13:43.000 but actually undermines

00:13:44.300 farming and agri-food

00:13:45.920 in general.

00:13:47.440 And that's a dangerous

00:13:48.160 place to go.

00:13:50.260 Just quickly,

00:13:51.200 we touched on him

00:13:51.860 a little bit,

00:13:52.400 Conservative leader

00:13:53.040 Pierre Polyev.

00:13:54.060 One of the things

00:13:54.900 that is near and dear

00:13:55.960 to his heart

00:13:56.580 is fiscal policy.

00:13:58.380 I personally think

00:13:59.060 that's one of the areas

00:13:59.860 that he's strongest in.

00:14:00.860 He takes complicated

00:14:02.360 economic ideas

00:14:03.260 and explains it

00:14:04.160 to a,

00:14:05.240 you know,

00:14:05.500 in layman terms

00:14:06.620 that everybody

00:14:07.000 can understand

00:14:07.700 and easily digest.

00:14:08.980 If he is the next

00:14:10.320 Prime Minister,

00:14:11.320 what would the impact

00:14:12.260 of a Conservative government

00:14:13.380 be for Canadians

00:14:14.460 specifically at the grocery store?

00:14:17.400 Well,

00:14:17.940 first of all,

00:14:18.640 it would be,

00:14:19.840 we would see

00:14:20.380 more economic growth.

00:14:22.400 That's the bottom line.

00:14:23.460 So I'm thinking

00:14:23.940 about economic capacity

00:14:25.660 for people to pay bills.

00:14:28.220 If you don't,

00:14:29.380 if you shrink your economy

00:14:30.820 right now,

00:14:31.800 that's exactly

00:14:32.700 what we're seeing.

00:14:34.080 The GDP per capita

00:14:35.820 shrinkage

00:14:36.720 is basically

00:14:37.620 making us poor.

00:14:39.940 We have less money

00:14:41.540 to spend.

00:14:42.840 And when you have

00:14:43.380 less money to spend,

00:14:44.380 everything gets more expensive.

00:14:46.040 So I think

00:14:46.740 that a

00:14:47.220 Pierre Polyev government

00:14:49.440 will focus more

00:14:51.120 on economic growth,

00:14:52.600 which will actually

00:14:53.960 bring more wealth

00:14:55.060 to the system,

00:14:56.360 allowing consumers

00:14:57.460 to have better jobs,

00:14:59.200 more money

00:14:59.760 in their pockets

00:15:00.560 when they show up

00:15:01.680 at the grocery store.

00:15:02.660 So you can do it

00:15:03.480 two ways,

00:15:04.360 either to increase revenues

00:15:05.680 for households

00:15:06.480 or decrease

00:15:07.840 any fiscal responsibilities

00:15:10.120 or the weight,

00:15:11.460 the pressure,

00:15:12.220 the fiscal pressures

00:15:13.060 that a lot of people

00:15:13.860 are under right now.

00:15:14.940 And that would be

00:15:16.160 my expectation

00:15:16.940 to see a

00:15:18.560 Pierre Polyevre government

00:15:20.560 focusing on those

00:15:21.960 fiscal pressures

00:15:23.240 that a lot of people

00:15:23.960 are under right now.

00:15:25.760 Sylvan, thank you so much.

00:15:27.500 My pleasure.

00:15:28.620 All right, everyone.

00:15:29.240 That's all we have time

00:15:30.080 for today.

00:15:30.620 Thank you so much

00:15:31.280 for being here.

00:15:32.660 I hope that you enjoyed.

00:15:33.800 Remember, this was

00:15:34.400 the first week

00:15:35.160 that we had

00:15:35.680 two Rachel Parker Show episodes

00:15:37.780 that really focused

00:15:38.580 on Canadian content.

00:15:40.300 Like I said,

00:15:40.740 we are still going to be

00:15:41.320 bringing some American content

00:15:42.460 into it

00:15:43.020 when it is particularly

00:15:44.320 interesting

00:15:44.840 or does have an obvious

00:15:45.960 Canadian connection.

00:15:47.320 But let me know

00:15:48.100 how you're enjoying

00:15:48.960 the new format

00:15:49.900 in the comment section below.

00:15:51.780 And also,

00:15:52.300 I'm especially curious

00:15:53.240 to hear what you all

00:15:54.020 think about

00:15:54.520 what Sylvan Charlebois,

00:15:56.120 the food professor,

00:15:57.040 had to say

00:15:57.600 about the positive things

00:15:59.260 about Parliament

00:16:00.360 being prorogued

00:16:01.200 with all those bills

00:16:02.520 dying on the House floor,

00:16:04.340 bills that really

00:16:04.900 would have had

00:16:05.360 a negative impact

00:16:06.220 on Canadian farmers.

00:16:07.460 So definitely

00:16:07.940 drop your comments

00:16:09.360 in the comment section below

00:16:10.460 and I'll be sure

00:16:11.200 to get to some of them.

00:16:12.380 Hope that you guys

00:16:12.800 have a great rest of your week.

00:16:14.240 God bless.

Juno News - January 08, 2025

Designated TERRORIST group to host Islamic supremacy conference in Ontario

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