Juno News - Playing the Race Card

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's most irreverent talk show. This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.720 Coming up, Justin Trudeau plays the race card to defend the Chinese Communist Party,

00:00:17.620 1MP makes a splash in virtual parliament, and the reopening plan that doesn't actually have any reopening.

00:00:25.800 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:30.000 Hello and welcome to Canada's most irreverent talk show. This is the Andrew Lawton Show here on True North,

00:00:38.340 and if you don't listen, you are a darn dirty racist. That is basically the liberal government's logic for everything. 1.00

00:00:46.160 If you do something they don't approve of or don't do something they do approve of, you are a racist.

00:00:51.080 It's actually very simple, and you know what? We have to be grateful that the liberals are being as transparent as they are about this.

00:00:59.100 We expect this sort of nonsense typically from woke liberal arts folks in universities.

00:01:09.300 We don't expect it from people that are in positions of leadership.

00:01:14.140 Well, maybe we do in Canada. That's, I guess, part of the discussion here.

00:01:17.860 Moreover, it's not just that the liberals are using woke platitudes,

00:01:21.600 accusing everyone of racist, doing all of these things that have fueled the culture wars.

00:01:25.400 It's that they're doing it to carry water for the Chinese Politburo.

00:01:29.800 They're doing this to shill for the Chinese regime, the Chinese Communist Party.

00:01:34.800 That's the most egregious part about this. It's not that, you know, liberal calls critic racist.

00:01:39.240 That's like, water is wet or dog bites man. Not news at all.

00:01:44.100 Liberal calls opponent racist to shill for the Chinese regime.

00:01:47.420 Well, maybe it's not news in Canada anymore, but it's still something that needs to be called out.

00:01:52.680 The background of this is that in Canada, we have a level 4 microbiology lab in Winnipeg,

00:01:58.720 which deals with some of the most strict viruses and strains of disease in the country.

00:02:04.540 It's one of only a handful in North America that does this.

00:02:07.680 Yet, for some bizarre reason, this lab, which has a level of secrecy to it, given the work it does,

00:02:12.520 has a number of scientists, not just one, that are connected to the Chinese regime.

00:02:18.380 And not by fluke, not because they have infiltrated the lab by some sort of subversive means,

00:02:24.060 because the Canadian government has engaged in an official and formal agreement with China

00:02:30.420 to have these researchers here.

00:02:32.600 According to a Globe and Mail story, there have been seven particular researchers

00:02:37.300 connected to the Chinese regime, in particular, the People's Liberation Army,

00:02:42.120 the Chinese Communist government's military, while also working for Canada,

00:02:46.660 or let me clarify, ostensibly or supposedly working for Canada,

00:02:51.380 when we know for a fact that their research was being passed to China.

00:02:56.700 Seven scientists at this lab in Winnipeg have worked with Chinese military researchers

00:03:01.980 to conduct experiments and co-author six studies on infectious diseases,

00:03:06.620 such as Ebola, Lassa fever, and Rift Valley fever, going back from 2016 to early 2020,

00:03:13.620 right at the point when the COVID-19 pandemic was ramping up.

00:03:17.380 We've had a number of stories of these.

00:03:19.460 One case was one of them who was removed by police just a couple of years ago,

00:03:24.620 and only this year was terminated from the Public Health Agency of Canada,

00:03:29.880 which is particularly egregious that it took that long for any sort of clarity there.

00:03:34.100 And then we have these People's Liberation Army collaborations.

00:03:37.680 One researcher is a co-author on all six of them.

00:03:41.540 On two of them, he is listed, this is Fei Hu Yan,

00:03:45.480 as being affiliated with this lab in Canada and the Chinese Military Medical Academy.

00:03:51.180 So when I talk about Chinese infiltration into Canadian institutions,

00:03:54.860 we're not talking about spies here that had to sneak their way in.

00:03:58.340 We're talking about Chinese government assets that were invited in by Canada,

00:04:03.760 invited in at a time when there are significant questions that need to be asked about China's

00:04:09.940 role in allowing the COVID-19 pandemic to become a thing, either in covering it up or in its

00:04:16.060 negligence, allowing it to be released from a lab, which is a thesis that was mocked by a whole

00:04:21.400 bunch of our critics when we raised it over a year ago.

00:04:23.780 But now, all of a sudden, everyone seems to be coming around to it, from the New York Times

00:04:27.960 to even a number of folks on the left.

00:04:30.200 What was a conspiracy theory a year ago is now something that, well, maybe, just maybe,

00:04:35.600 there's something to it.

00:04:37.620 So Canada shouldn't be cozying up with the Chinese Politburo in any case.

00:04:41.620 We already see Chinese infiltration taking hold in institutions across the country,

00:04:46.140 like universities, like the Canadian government.

00:04:48.660 We don't need to be inviting them into our top secret labs as well.

00:04:53.480 So it's very legitimate when conservative politicians, because they're the only ones doing

00:04:58.680 this, stand up and say to Justin Trudeau, you know what, what's going on here?

00:05:03.340 Let's talk about ending this program, as a number of conservative MPs did this week in

00:05:09.200 question period.

00:05:10.260 I'm not going to play them all, because the nature of Justin Trudeau standing up in question

00:05:14.080 period is that he memorizes the talking points, and he gets them down pat, and then he just

00:05:19.240 repeats them over and over again ad nauseum, which is what he did here in French and in

00:05:24.020 English.

00:05:24.680 I will play one of them, though, just to give you a little taste of it.

00:05:27.660 This is conservative MP Candace Bergen asking the questions very pointedly, but they are

00:05:32.760 questions that need to be asked about whether Justin Trudeau will end this research sharing

00:05:38.900 partnership with China.

00:05:41.000 And, well, just watch the whole thing.

00:05:43.440 Mr. Speaker, we have a problem in this country when operatives who are part of the communist

00:05:49.020 China regime are allowed into our very sensitive labs here in Canada, specifically in Winnipeg. 0.96

00:05:55.640 And we have even a greater problem when our Prime Minister doesn't realize how dangerous

00:06:00.840 that is.

00:06:02.160 So, again, will he commit today to ending research cooperation with Chinese communist military?

00:06:09.560 Mr. Speaker, I can confirm that the two scientists in question are no longer employed by the Public

00:06:18.320 Health Agency of Canada.

00:06:19.920 We cannot disclose additional information nor comment further for privacy reasons and confidentiality.

00:06:26.460 But we are committed to supporting open, collaborative research while also protecting our research, national

00:06:32.140 security, and economic interests.

00:06:34.140 In March, we announced we would take further steps to better integrate national security

00:06:38.220 considerations into the evaluation of federally funded research projects.

00:06:42.480 We will continue to work with all our intelligence agencies to keep Canadians safe.

00:06:47.520 The Honourable Member for Portage Lisker.

00:06:49.340 Well, the problem is, and the Prime Minister maybe does not realize this, is communist China

00:06:56.100 cannot be trusted.

00:06:58.140 I know he admires their basic dictatorship.

00:07:00.620 I know he liked to do fundraisers with them over the years.

00:07:03.860 I know he thought they were the first go-to for vaccines.

00:07:07.140 But at this point, we would hope that he would learn a lesson and put the safety, security,

00:07:12.020 and protection of Canadians above this fascination he has with the communist regime.

00:07:17.060 So again, will he commit to ending this research and this cooperation with a regime that not

00:07:23.940 only doesn't have our interest in mind, but actually wants to hurt Canada?

00:07:29.140 Honourable Prime Minister.

00:07:31.460 Mr. Speaker, yes.

00:07:32.840 From the beginning of my career onwards, I have worked with many Chinese Canadians and

00:07:37.000 indeed had fundraisers with them.

00:07:38.680 And the rise in anti-Asian racism we're seeing over the past number of months should be of

00:07:43.060 concern to everyone.

00:07:43.960 And I would recommend that the members of the Conservative Party, in their zeal to make

00:07:48.360 personal attacks, not start to push too far into intolerance towards Canadians of diverse

00:07:54.280 origins.

00:07:55.060 We will continue to stand up to defend Canadians' interests, Canadians' security.

00:08:00.480 We will continue to make sure that we're doing everything we can to keep Canadians safe

00:08:05.240 while participating in the global research community and stand up for tolerance and diversity.

00:08:12.540 So we know he pivots to diversity is our strength, which he didn't do, I don't think, in that

00:08:18.620 clip, but he did in a couple of his other responses.

00:08:21.480 But, you know, to not even try to engage on the point takes a particular level of brazenness

00:08:28.060 here.

00:08:28.320 He goes right to anti-Asian racism.

00:08:30.900 The Conservatives need to stand up and not fuel intolerance.

00:08:34.200 And then we must celebrate diversity.

00:08:36.840 Now, when your first response to a question, any question, about Chinese infiltration of

00:08:44.040 Canadian institutions is to start lecturing people about racism, you are fueling the most 0.90

00:08:51.500 pathetic response imaginable to a very real problem which you, Prime Minister, clearly do 0.96

00:08:59.920 not care about. 0.97

00:09:00.860 How is anyone supposed to watch that and not come away with one of two perspectives?

00:09:07.060 Either A, we're talking about an intellectual lightweight who has no idea the ramifications

00:09:12.220 of China's infiltration of institutions, who has no idea how to engage in a serious dialogue,

00:09:17.680 who just goes to woke platitudes and talking points because it's all he has, or alternatively,

00:09:23.220 someone who is genuinely, for ideological reasons or out of just sheer terror, unwilling to

00:09:28.980 criticize the Chinese Politburo.

00:09:32.720 And Candace Bergen had indicated this.

00:09:34.820 She talked about that famous quote of Justin Trudeau's admiring the basic dictatorship of

00:09:39.640 China.

00:09:40.240 And I will say, in a lot of ways, we were warned.

00:09:43.020 A lot of people tended to just laugh that off as a gaffe.

00:09:46.580 It's not a gaffe when Canada and China are at loggerheads on some very serious issues,

00:09:52.880 including, by the way, two Canadians that have been imprisoned for over two years in China

00:09:57.860 when China is not answering what it did or could have done or didn't do, and all of these

00:10:02.540 questions about the early days of the pandemic, when there are very real criticisms that need

00:10:07.260 to be leveled against China.

00:10:08.720 A country that the Canadian Parliament found was committing genocide against the Uyghurs,

00:10:14.060 just to throw it in for good measure.

00:10:15.700 How's that for diversity, by the way?

00:10:17.420 And all of that is to say that if you are still at this point unwilling to say an unkind

00:10:23.980 word about China, you are part of the problem.

00:10:27.400 And it's this attitude from Justin Trudeau and a whole bunch of people in the Western

00:10:32.100 left that is going to contribute to China eventually marching right in because we are opening

00:10:37.540 the doors for them.

00:10:39.840 China has been very clear about its ambitions.

00:10:42.920 It wants to be part of the new empire of this generation.

00:10:47.440 There's a reason China's spearheading the multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative,

00:10:51.740 which is connecting China with the Middle East, with Europe, with Africa.

00:10:55.800 There's a reason that China is going all gung-ho into international institutions. 0.51

00:11:00.140 And there's a reason that China is all too willing to put money behind these very significant

00:11:05.720 partnerships in universities across the world, in research institutions, in Canadian level

00:11:12.600 four microbiology labs.

00:11:14.640 There's a reason China's doing this. 1.00

00:11:16.760 China doesn't need to take the People's Liberation Army and march into a country it wants to take

00:11:21.620 over because these countries, thanks to people like Justin Trudeau, are all too willing to unlock

00:11:27.500 their doors, open them up and roll out the red carpet for the Chinese regime. 1.00

00:11:31.500 And that is a tremendous shame on this country, this country that is supposed to stand up for

00:11:38.400 freedom, that is supposed to stand up for all of these values, but we are willing to sell

00:11:42.840 them out to China for a quick buck.

00:11:45.460 And what happens when you call the Prime Minister on this?

00:11:48.360 What happens when you question the government about it?

00:11:50.440 You get a lecture about how you are racist.

00:11:53.120 Give me a break. 1.00

00:11:54.460 This is despicable and disgusting and beyond parody. 0.94

00:11:58.980 Beyond parody. 0.80

00:11:59.900 I was laughing a few years back when Justin Trudeau made the basic dictatorship line because

00:12:05.280 I didn't realize that his government was actually going to be willing to sell Canada down the

00:12:10.060 river to China.

00:12:11.560 And before you go into that, oh, well, you know what?

00:12:14.020 He's just not rocking the boat because the two Michaels and all that. 0.59

00:12:16.880 It is a load of nonsense.

00:12:18.860 It's been two years. 0.67

00:12:19.980 We have absolutely nothing to show for it.

00:12:22.480 Nothing whatsoever.

00:12:23.740 Even Joe Biden's taking a firmer position on China right now, which should tell you something.

00:12:28.340 And that's only because they want to get China involved in the climate change fight, which

00:12:32.360 is probably what Canada wants, too.

00:12:35.040 There's a big climate summit coming up in November in Glasgow, the sequel to the Paris

00:12:40.260 climate summit.

00:12:41.140 And you know that Xi Jinping is going to be there shaking hands with the Canadians, with

00:12:44.800 the Americans, with the Brits.

00:12:46.080 All the while they are waltzing into top secret microbiology labs at the invitation of foreign 1.00

00:12:53.740 governments who won't do a damn thing about it. 0.97

00:12:57.600 And it is disgusting. 0.96

00:13:00.140 I know I said it before, but how else can you describe it? 0.92

00:13:04.040 And to accuse people that criticize the Chinese regime of being racist against Asian Canadians

00:13:11.580 is not only a despicable charge that is just fundamentally untrue, but it is actually

00:13:17.880 disrespectful and very offensive to the Chinese Canadians who are Chinese Canadians because 0.99

00:13:24.760 of their contempt for the Chinese regime, because they came to a country that they thought

00:13:29.740 was not going to be Xi Jinping's country.

00:13:32.380 Little did they know.

00:13:33.360 Fast forward a few years, and it's as though they never left China in the first place. 0.97

00:13:38.160 Jeremy Nuttall, who is a reporter with the Toronto Star, had a good thread about this.

00:13:42.620 He said, many Chinese activist groups say when you conflate Chinese people with mainland

00:13:47.860 China's government, you're not helping stem racism at all.

00:13:51.760 You're fanning it.

00:13:53.020 And moreover, he, and this is the Toronto Star, by the way, the Toronto Star, this is

00:13:57.480 like the paper that is most friendly with Justin Trudeau under normal circumstances.

00:14:01.960 They say that accusing critics of racism is a Chinese Communist Party tactic.

00:14:07.900 That is what the CCP does to deflect criticism.

00:14:11.580 This is exactly what happened when the Canadian Parliament, with liberal abstention, by the

00:14:16.360 way, criticized the Chinese treatment of Uyghurs and condemned it as a genocide.

00:14:21.620 The Chinese said it was this racist crusade against China.

00:14:27.120 And this is something that, again, Chinese people in Canada were trying to get away from. 0.96

00:14:32.360 And I was very glad to see Asian Canadian MPs, only Conservatives, because the Liberals are 0.98

00:14:38.160 forced to deal with this, Asian Canadian MPs stand up and say, you know what, you don't 0.67

00:14:43.560 understand a damn thing about fighting anti-Asian racism.

00:14:48.760 Here's Conservative MP Nellie Shin. 0.79

00:14:51.280 I find it offensive that the Prime Minister is diminishing the significance of the anti-Asian

00:14:57.640 crisis in Canada by using it to deflect the tension away from an unrelated political issue

00:15:03.600 of national security.

00:15:05.480 Canadians of Asian descent do not appreciate being used in this way, since they too are concerned

00:15:11.640 about the national security of their country and want answers.

00:15:14.900 They are not political shields.

00:15:17.380 They are Canadians who expect their Prime Minister to address their questions separately, respectfully

00:15:23.260 and with sincerity.

00:15:25.440 The Prime Minister's remarks are provocative, divisive and disruptive to this House.

00:15:31.320 And I ask through you, Mr. Speaker, that the Prime Minister apologize.

00:15:37.680 And another Conservative MP, Kenny Chu, took aim at this.

00:15:41.120 He said, this is the exact tactics the United Front work uses.

00:15:46.340 Criticism of the CCP is a criticism of ethnic Chinese as a whole.

00:15:50.200 Their message to Chinese Canadians is stop criticizing the Chinese Communist Party if you don't want 0.99

00:15:55.900 anti-Asian racism.

00:15:57.300 And he gave quite an impassioned statement the following day in the House of Commons.

00:16:02.180 Here's Conservative MP Kenny Chu.

00:16:03.840 Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister suggested that asking questions about the threats from China's

00:16:08.980 government, its anti-Asian racism.

00:16:12.200 I'm an Asian-Canadian, and I'm deeply offended by this.

00:16:16.300 How dare the wearer of blackface brownface use the painful experience of racism to shield his 0.55

00:16:21.820 government's callous dereliction to protect Canada from hostile foreign regimes?

00:16:27.700 Pointing that out, it's not racism.

00:16:30.040 Suggesting otherwise plays into the propaganda effort of our opponents, something of great

00:16:35.360 concern in my home of Richmond.

00:16:37.520 To see our national leadership downplay these concerns, it's simply shameful.

00:16:42.220 Many critics of CCP's are Asian descent themselves, either born as an equal partner in Canada or having

00:16:48.580 joined an equal partnership as an immigrant.

00:16:51.380 Expressing dissent is not hatred.

00:16:53.480 Iranian disapprove of the Aretola, Russians of the state kleptocracy, Hong Kongers of the 0.82

00:16:59.440 Saar government.

00:17:00.340 Even today, I'm expressing the disapproval of my government.

00:17:03.460 This is not out of hate for, but rather my deep love of Canada.

00:17:07.620 Now, yes, it's worth noting these are two comments from conservative members of parliament.

00:17:12.820 They are of Asian origin, of course, but they have an axe to grind politically with Justin

00:17:17.720 Trudeau as it is.

00:17:18.780 That's a fair criticism.

00:17:19.940 But the point is, their charges against Trudeau are entirely valid.

00:17:25.320 Entirely 100% valid.

00:17:27.020 And I would love to see some courage from liberal MPs of any origin, Asian or non-Asian, stand up and

00:17:32.060 say, well, hang on, when you equate Asian people with the Chinese Communist Party, what is that

00:17:36.780 saying about the esteem in which you hold Asian Canadians, that criticizing a dictatorial regime

00:17:42.040 that they have left is tantamount to criticizing them?

00:17:46.920 Equating the race to the regime is what Justin Trudeau is doing, not what the people who are

00:17:52.180 criticizing the Chinese Politburo are doing.

00:17:54.880 And I mean, I'm not going to go and play the whole litany of clips that we've amassed over

00:18:00.340 the last year from Patty Hajdu saying that it's feeding conspiracy theories to question 0.99

00:18:05.580 Chinese data, from Justin Trudeau saying that questions about China's handling are questions

00:18:10.220 for another time, but another time that hasn't quite come around, or any of the other politicians

00:18:15.080 that have made claims that are very similar, that we are not to criticize Chairman Xi, we

00:18:19.880 are not to criticize the Chinese regime, and if you do, you are a racist.

00:18:25.040 Well, count me among those who want nothing to do with this regime, Prime Minister, and

00:18:30.000 you know what?

00:18:30.580 More Canadians need to stand up and say the same thing.

00:18:33.500 Back in a moment with more of The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:18:36.020 Stay tuned.

00:18:38.880 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:18:41.420 We are back.

00:18:47.380 This is The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:18:48.900 I got a little bit ranty in the first segment.

00:18:51.940 I'm not apologizing for it, because as I said, I think the situation very much warrants it.

00:18:57.120 It's interesting.

00:18:57.880 I actually get messages from people not infrequently asking me why I'm not angry more often.

00:19:04.260 And I'm not a particularly angry person, because you can't be in this line of work.

00:19:08.700 I mean, the nature of what I do is that I'm immersed in, on one hand, you know, things

00:19:13.680 that might be a bit nonsensical or inane, but on the other hand, or insane sometimes

00:19:18.860 too, on the other hand, things that are quite enraging under normal circumstances, quite

00:19:24.180 infuriating.

00:19:25.200 And if I were to keep the anger level at 100, I would just have a heart attack after three

00:19:30.360 weeks of doing the show.

00:19:31.360 So I have a sense of humor about things.

00:19:33.540 You have to.

00:19:34.200 But as I said, you can't just shrug off and laugh off appeasement of the Chinese regime. 0.55

00:19:42.720 Now, you can shrug off and laugh off stories like this one, also in Canadian politics.

00:19:48.300 Will Amos, the Liberal Member of Parliament from Pontiac, showed his Member of Parliament

00:19:53.800 to Parliament for the second time in a month.

00:19:57.640 Although this time, it sounds like he might have been peeing into a cup, not doing a drug

00:20:03.700 test.

00:20:04.000 This isn't like the new quarantine requirement.

00:20:05.840 You have to, you know, just stop what you're doing and pee into a cup in your office.

00:20:09.060 I don't quite understand what he was doing.

00:20:11.340 I don't know how far away the bathroom was.

00:20:13.460 Maybe he just, you know, really had to go.

00:20:15.440 Maybe he was practicing his aim.

00:20:17.140 I have no idea.

00:20:18.440 But it would have been embarrassing under normal circumstances.

00:20:21.880 Really bad considering just a month ago, he was busted, changing after supposedly coming

00:20:27.520 from a bike ride.

00:20:29.600 And then a little Bloch-Quebecois MP snapped a photo of MP Will Amos. 0.98

00:20:35.660 And not, he didn't get Will's anus. 0.97

00:20:37.320 That was on the way out. 0.98

00:20:38.320 But Will Amos.

00:20:39.440 And you know what?

00:20:40.060 The puns just write themselves on this.

00:20:41.840 But it was odd because this embarrassing thing happened that maybe you'd laugh at normally.

00:20:46.500 And then he issued a statement saying that he was stepping down from his parliamentary

00:20:50.780 secretary role because he was going to seek assistance.

00:20:55.320 And that almost has made it more of a story.

00:20:58.000 Like, are you seeking assistance on how to turn off your camera on Zoom?

00:21:01.280 Are you seeking assistance on how to find the bathroom?

00:21:04.020 Are you seeking assistance on how to, I don't know, just wear some adult diaper so you don't

00:21:08.460 need the car?

00:21:08.920 I don't know what he's seeking assistance for.

00:21:10.980 It seemed odd.

00:21:12.080 I mean, I don't know what is the problem that he has a, like, I don't even want, I don't

00:21:17.300 even want to speculate on air.

00:21:18.700 I don't know what the problem is, and I don't want to know what the solution is.

00:21:22.440 But now it's like, I could not name a single thing that Will Amos has done in his, I believe,

00:21:27.680 four years in power, five years in power.

00:21:31.200 But I can name two things he's done in the last month that are not substantive at all.

00:21:35.700 So this has put him on the map, whether you want to be on the map for those reasons or

00:21:40.220 not, it has put him there.

00:21:41.900 And it's been a quite odd story, to say the least.

00:21:45.220 And it's like me.

00:21:45.780 I mean, Justin Trudeau, when he got elected, said Canada's back.

00:21:48.700 And what do you know, CNN headline, Canadian politician caught on camera urinating during

00:21:53.880 virtual parliament session just weeks after nudity incident.

00:21:57.800 Now, he didn't go the full Jeffrey Toobin.

00:21:59.680 Let's hope he doesn't work his way up to that.

00:22:01.840 But we are making headlines.

00:22:03.680 Canada's back.

00:22:04.800 And Will Amos has been a big part of this.

00:22:07.380 Canada's back.

00:22:08.120 Will Amos is front.

00:22:09.040 You know what?

00:22:09.520 Same thing.

00:22:10.800 I will say I was feeling a bit sassy this morning and I just started like looking up

00:22:15.580 on Will Amos's Twitter account, various words.

00:22:18.120 I went for, you know, cup and mug and eventually I just went for coffee.

00:22:22.060 And lo and behold, there's Will Amos on January 25th.

00:22:24.640 Quick coffee break before returning to virtual parliament session.

00:22:27.820 That's, I don't know, that's not too deep a cup.

00:22:30.960 So hopefully he didn't have some splash back there.

00:22:33.420 And then in 2019, him working the drive-thru counter on Camp Day.

00:22:38.180 Do not forget to grab a coffee today to support Camp Day as he's about to hand a coffee and

00:22:42.640 a muffin to some poor unsuspecting person in a white car.

00:22:46.060 I know it was a couple of years ago, but my best advice as I tweeted was don't drink it.

00:22:50.760 For the love of all that is holy, do not drink that.

00:22:54.040 Well, there's your laugh today in Canadian politics.

00:22:57.520 In the next couple of months, we're going to get a little bit back to sort of normal,

00:23:02.460 maybe depending on where you live.

00:23:04.760 British Columbia is looking like it is getting on the normal train.

00:23:08.780 Alberta is planning to have the Calgary Stampede.

00:23:11.980 And I'm trying to get the boss to let me go cover the Calgary Stampede.

00:23:15.500 If you want to tell me what the news value is, please do.

00:23:18.980 I want to go just for me.

00:23:20.620 But if you can like convince me there's a story, I can convince him there's a story.

00:23:23.860 Because I just like haven't seen an actual person in, you know, two years now, it feels like.

00:23:28.360 So the Calgary Stampede would be like a sensory overload.

00:23:30.920 It would be like that.

00:23:31.780 There was a gum commercial not that long ago.

00:23:34.620 I can't remember what it was, which I guess makes it not a great commercial.

00:23:38.240 Or I'm just really bad at remembering things.

00:23:40.280 But basically the premise was that everyone has just come out after the quarantine's been declared over.

00:23:45.500 And it's this like post-apocalyptic landscape of everyone just seeing people for the first time.

00:23:50.160 That's going to be the Calgary Stampede.

00:23:52.220 It's going to be like Zombieland 3.

00:23:53.840 But it'll be a lot of fun.

00:23:55.200 And that's going to be a sign that Alberta is back in business, open for business, open for people. 0.51

00:24:01.040 That's the Alberta promise this summer.

00:24:02.920 And then you go to my province of Ontario, which last week unveiled a three-stage reopening plan.

00:24:10.760 But reopening isn't actually in the third and final stage.

00:24:15.280 Now, Ontario is a bit odd.

00:24:17.940 Like they had at first, it was like phase one.

00:24:20.860 They had phases and stages.

00:24:22.540 There was like phase one, phase two.

00:24:24.600 And within phase two, stage one, two, and three.

00:24:26.860 And we never got anywhere.

00:24:28.040 And then they went to color coding.

00:24:29.940 And, you know, we got to be in yellow for a little while.

00:24:32.100 Then orange.

00:24:32.720 And then everyone went to gray.

00:24:34.180 And now they've just thrown the colors out.

00:24:36.460 They've thrown the numbers out.

00:24:37.520 And they've introduced new numbers, a three-stage reopening plan that is not at the end of which

00:24:43.860 giving you no restrictions, which is to me what reopening means.

00:24:48.680 And in fact, even by the text of this plan, Ontario is not opening in the way that the plan says it's

00:24:56.000 supposed to.

00:24:56.760 The first stage of this was supposed to kick in at 60% of the population vaccinated.

00:25:02.720 Well, this week, Ontario cleared 65%, significantly above that 60% goal.

00:25:09.160 And they're still waiting until well into June to open the province up.

00:25:14.940 And again, I go to Alberta is getting ready to have the Calgary Stampede.

00:25:18.320 I won't even be able to get a haircut in Ontario, which, as you may have seen on the show earlier

00:25:23.680 this week, is desperately needed until July because Ontario has also put these 21-day increments

00:25:30.300 between the stages, irrespective of where the province is on these metrics that the province

00:25:35.620 has set out.

00:25:36.860 So people are actually doing better right now than Ontario says is necessary to advance

00:25:42.400 through the stages.

00:25:43.340 But they're still not advancing through the stages for completely arbitrary reasons.

00:25:48.200 And Ontario, the province that had a premier that put up these open for business signs at

00:25:53.220 the border, is not actually opening for anyone for the foreseeable future.

00:25:57.740 There have been some rumors, and again, I must say it's not substantiated yet, but from American

00:26:03.980 immigration lawyers that the U.S. is planning to open its land border on June 21st.

00:26:10.940 Now, this date is significant because it's when the current border closure is meant to expire.

00:26:16.940 And they've been renewing this every time, like clockwork, since last March.

00:26:21.520 And this is when they're set to do it again.

00:26:23.040 Now, Canada has given no indication that it's planning to open its border then, but it sounds

00:26:28.300 like if these rumors are true, and they are rumors, the U.S. is planning to open up, which

00:26:34.360 means Canadians will be allowed to go into the U.S. for groceries at Port Huron or Bellingham,

00:26:38.880 Washington or wherever, and drive back to Canada.

00:26:41.980 But the problem is you'll still have to quarantine in Canada.

00:26:45.800 You'll still have to get a negative test.

00:26:47.260 You'll still have to do all of these things unless Canada matches this with its own measure.

00:26:51.720 There was a report this week that came out from the expert panel that the government

00:26:56.460 appointed to look into quarantine and border restrictions.

00:27:00.120 And this report actually suggested that Canada should get rid of this hotel quarantine program

00:27:06.120 that you have to pay $2,000 for and get put up at some crappy airport hotel that the government

00:27:11.000 has taken over for the purposes of housing people that are daring to travel internationally.

00:27:16.800 And they're saying, listen, we should just discontinue this and there's no point.

00:27:20.500 Now, this has been welcomed by a lot of conservatives, but the report also starts

00:27:26.980 talking about a vaccine passport, which I know has been a very contentious subject for people.

00:27:32.440 And it lays out basically different criteria depending on people's vaccination status.

00:27:38.840 And you look in this chart here, figure three in the report, it says that people who are fully

00:27:43.620 vaccinated should have to do a test on arrival.

00:27:45.700 That's it. People that are partially vaccinated should have to do a pre-departure test, an arrival 1.00

00:27:50.700 test, a quarantine plus an arrival test.

00:27:54.340 And then people who are not at all vaccinated should have to do a full quarantine and another test.

00:27:59.240 So they're talking about laying out different criteria for people depending on their vaccination

00:28:05.420 status. And this is something that provincial governments have not put in.

00:28:10.100 They're basically doing and I think I played a clip from Jason Kenney about this last week.

00:28:14.840 They're basically playing the we're all in this together card and talking about it as though

00:28:20.340 once we get to 60 percent vaccinated, 70 percent, 75, then these restrictions will be lifted.

00:28:27.080 Well, one issue is that a lot of people who were down in the U.S.

00:28:30.160 because they were trying to flee all this nonsense in Canada.

00:28:32.520 A lot of the snowbirds got vaccinated, have come back because they didn't get vaccinated here.

00:28:38.640 They are not reflected in the system.

00:28:41.660 They're not reflected in the numbers of how many people in Canada have been vaccinated.

00:28:46.800 So the irony is people that decided to get fully vaccinated the way governments were supposed

00:28:51.960 to roll this out with a three week interval or four week interval between shots rather than

00:28:57.360 a four month interval are, ironically enough, part of the problem or what government says is the

00:29:03.860 problem in not reopening because they're part of that, you know, 20, 25, 30, 35 percent of people

00:29:09.600 who the government says are not vaccinated even though they actually are.

00:29:15.420 So if governments are going to lay out these plans and say we're going to reopen, then just open.

00:29:20.420 I've got lots of friends in the U.S. who are telling me their governors are lifting mask mandates.

00:29:24.740 They're walking around. We've talked on numerous shows about all these big events that are taking

00:29:29.900 place in the U.K. and the U.S. Meanwhile, Canada is in the never ending lockdown well into its second

00:29:35.920 year. And depending on where in the country you live, no end in sight. So I'll just put my hand

00:29:41.340 up right now and say I'm an Ontario refugee. If anyone wants to take me in in a more free province,

00:29:46.780 let me know. Although I realize it is only incrementally more free if you look at the

00:29:51.620 gestalt of a lot of these measures. But the point is we need to do a heck of a lot better

00:29:57.320 than we are. If you're going to reopen, reopen and lay out some transparent frameworks that

00:30:03.160 genuinely have a path to reopening. People are fed up with this. There's the yo-yoing of kids being in

00:30:09.680 school, out of school, in school, out of school. How can anyone plan? How can anyone plan? How can any

00:30:15.040 business plan if governments are just going to yank out the rug from under them? So I leave you with that

00:30:20.540 today. We'll be back in just a couple of days' time with more of Canada's most irreverent talk show.

00:30:26.060 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show here on True North. Thank you, God bless, and watch what's

00:30:30.720 in your mug. Thanks for listening to The Andrew Lawton Show. Support the program by donating to

00:30:35.400 True North at www.tnc.news.

Juno News - May 29, 2021

Playing the Race Card

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