Juno News - September 12, 2025MP Aaron Gunn on Kirk assassination & free speech
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Summary
On the heels of the shooting of Charlie Kirk, Conservative MP Adam Jourdain joins me to discuss his thoughts on the events surrounding his death, and why we must never allow political violence to be tolerated in our society.
Transcript
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You spoke a lot about, you know, Charlie Kirk today.
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Could you just give a little bit, like, just your response to the assassination of Charlie Kirk yesterday?
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Well, I just think it's a really important opportunity for all Canadians,
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but especially those holding elected office, to be clear that we can never allow political violence.
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We must always, we can never allow free speech and free expression to be intimidated in our country,
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and we have to make sure and do everything in our power to make sure some of the violence
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that we're seeing south of the border in the United States doesn't make its way up to Canada.
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We have our share of issues, of course, but we have to make sure that those are always debated
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and resolved peacefully through the democratic process and using these great democratic principles
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that have been handed down to us by generations that came before us
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and defended, by the way, through two world wars.
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So I think that's an ultimate responsibility, and it was just very shocking to see what happened.
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You see someone who was assassinated, who was murdered, essentially for the views that he held
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And the state broadcaster, the CBC, did several pieces on this.
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There was also, this morning, hate expert, so-called hate expert, Barbara Perry, was interviewed,
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and she kind of said the back, like, she was worried that this attack would be a backlash towards the left.
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She said that Charlie Kirk wanted to execute queers, and I just want to get your response on what the CBC's reporting has been on this.
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Yeah, I think, look, whether it's the CBC, it's always especially egregious with the CBC
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because, of course, they're being subsidized with over a billion dollars in taxpayer money,
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but, you know, when somebody, especially somebody who is engaging in free speech,
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engaging in the free exchange of ideas, who's putting themselves out there courageously in pursuit of the truth,
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is gunned down, that is not the time, 12 hours later, to contextualize their gunning down,
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to somehow create this kind of social narrative,
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yes, they were killed, but, or these are some of the most controversial views that Charlie...
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No, now is the time to grieve, first and foremost,
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to reflect back on what society and the state of public discourse has become,
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and to, most importantly, reinforce that this is completely unacceptable,
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that we can never allow or justify in any way, shape, or form political violence,
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and we must always stand up for free speech, free expression, and the free exchange of ideas,
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especially on our university and college campuses,
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which Charlie Kirk was obviously most well-known for.
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Absolutely, and you talked about public discourse,
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and we've seen a lot of, like, backlash, or, you know, reactions to his death,
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and celebrations of Charlie Kirk's death online.
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What, do you think that has anything to do with, like, kind of the radicalization that may have led to Charlie Kirk's death?
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Like, do you have a response on why this could have happened?
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You're always going to have people on the fringes.
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You're always going to have despicable, ugly souls out there that are celebrating violence and celebrating murder like this.
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With the internet now, it's out there for everybody to see.
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At the same time, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that pretty much everyone across the political spectrum
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This is a moment for people to come together, I think, in their denunciations
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and their reaffirmation of the important values that we all hold as Canadians
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I do think it's also an opportunity for conservatives, I think, to make sure that we're separating our liberal friends
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who we can disagree with proudly and disagree with strongly on matters of public policy
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but continue to debate and exchange dialogue with as we compete for voters in our country
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and elements of the hard left that have been moving away from liberalism,
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moving away from the democratic process and resorting to more extreme tactics and rhetoric.
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Things like words are violence or deplatforming people
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or this anti-free speech wrapped up in terminology like anti-fascism and things like that.
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So, I think it's important as responsible conservatives and leaders to separate those two things
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as well as liberals because the vast majority of Canadians
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and the vast majority of our political leaders are on the same page about this kind of stuff
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so it's important for us to be very vocal about it
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while also identifying those corrosive elements of our society that need to be called out,
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that need to be put into the corner where they belong
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Is there anything I didn't ask you that you think is relevant
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I just think that it's great to see people like Melissa Lansman and Pierre Polyev
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and Andrew Lawton and Jamil Javani who were all very outspoken after this event.
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I know, look, you read the headline and you see conservative political commentator assassinated.
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I mean, up until five months ago, that was my byline, was conservative political commentator.
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But I think for most conservatives that I talk to,
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it's made them more determined than ever to keep up this fight.
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We're not going to be intimidated and we're just going to keep fighting for the truth