Off the Record - Unhinged pro-Hamas protesters are everywhere

00:00:00.000 You know, I don't know why I'm complaining about being a Gen Z-er.

00:00:02.180 Better that than a millennial. 0.99

00:00:03.900 I have a feel.

00:00:04.620 So, I mean, millennials were always like the young ones. 1.00

00:00:06.700 And now I feel old in any environment.

00:00:08.780 Yeah, I went to a conference and someone was speaking and he described himself as a geriatric millennial.

00:00:13.780 And then I realized he was like a year younger than me.

00:00:16.000 And I'm like, okay, if you're a geriatric millennial, I'm like, I don't even know what that makes me.

00:00:20.720 I was, when I was away last week, I was at a thing with someone who was like 12 years younger than me.

00:00:26.600 And someone told me that my daughter was beautiful.

00:00:29.100 So, that felt great.

00:00:31.140 And then Sean, he, the Air Canada woman, when we were coming back from Davos, she thought he was my son.

00:00:36.800 And so, we literally had our passports in her hand and knew the age.

00:00:40.360 So, I just chose to believe it was because Sean looked 12 and not because I looked 50.

00:00:44.060 But anyway, let's get this started.

00:00:53.480 Welcome, everyone, to Off the Record.

00:00:56.280 It is Friday, March 8th.

00:00:57.720 This is the time of the week when we all kick back, enjoy a beverage of our choosing and try to unpack some of the things that happened in the week that was.

00:01:06.420 Sometimes things we covered at True North and other times things that we didn't get around to.

00:01:10.460 But we do it while having some fun along the way.

00:01:13.000 And I am joined by Candice Malcolm and Rachel Emanuel.

00:01:17.960 Not intentionally, but on International Women's Day, we have the women outnumbering the men.

00:01:23.140 So, happy International Women's Day to both of you ladies.

00:01:25.260 I don't know if you're being feted by your respective partners or how you're observing it.

00:01:29.220 Are you observing it?

00:01:30.320 No.

00:01:30.640 Someone came to me.

00:01:31.600 I dropped my son off at school today and someone, one of the dads came up and said, happy International Women's Day. 0.97

00:01:36.260 And I was like, what?

00:01:37.160 Like, that's not a thing, okay?

00:01:38.300 Like, you know, Mother's Day.

00:01:40.160 Yes, that's a thing.

00:01:41.640 You know, there's your birthday.

00:01:43.720 Those are the, I don't know.

00:01:44.760 I've never been one to care or recognize or even think about International Women's Day.

00:01:49.140 How about you, Rachel?

00:01:50.280 My question is, is it actually International Women's Day or is it International Women X slash everyone who wants to identify as a woman's day?

00:01:57.820 Because if it is, I don't want any part of it.

00:02:00.360 Wom-exin, Wom-exin Day. 0.94

00:02:01.860 I don't know how you're, yeah, Wom-wom-wom-exin. 1.00

00:02:05.420 I don't know how you're pronouncing it when they take the E out and put the X in, but that's like a big thing on campus posters.

00:02:12.400 No one else knows either, I guess.

00:02:14.320 All right.

00:02:14.800 We're off to a great start here.

00:02:16.880 All right.

00:02:17.300 Well, let us first and foremost say thank you for tuning into the show.

00:02:21.740 Head on over to your preferred podcast platform and you can subscribe there and also like the video, subscribe to the True North channel on YouTube, leave us a five-star review, send a carrier pigeon to your neighbor and telling them the good news of this show.

00:02:34.280 I had a bit of news this week.

00:02:37.260 I announced on Monday my forthcoming book, my second book, which is a biography of Pierre Polyev, the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

00:02:46.000 It's called Pierre Polyev, A Political Life.

00:02:49.220 And what was interesting about it compared to my first book, my previous book, which was about the Freedom Convoy, which had like a complete media blackout.

00:02:57.420 No one in the media recognized the book, even though it was a number one bestseller for basically seven or eight weeks.

00:03:03.040 This one's not even out yet.

00:03:05.400 And the Canadian press ran this story and they pushed it out to all their platforms.

00:03:10.360 Conservative columnist Andrew Lawton to release first biography of Pierre Polyev.

00:03:14.260 And I was just so happy that the media was acknowledging it.

00:03:17.040 I didn't even really read the story.

00:03:18.940 And then, Candace, you were trying to get me and succeeded in getting me riled up about the story.

00:03:22.900 What was it you saw in this?

00:03:24.000 Okay.

00:03:24.360 So first of all, congratulations, Andrew.

00:03:26.180 It's a tremendous accomplishment to write a book.

00:03:27.680 And I think everyone's really interested in learning more about Pierre Polyev.

00:03:30.920 So you went out and you had access and you did interviews.

00:03:34.800 And I think we're all really interested in including the mainstream media.

00:03:37.860 So they reluctantly covered it.

00:03:39.660 But one of the things I notice, this is something that they've done for a long time.

00:03:42.540 Probably the first time I noticed it, Andrew, was back in 2019 when we tried to have you cover the Liberal campaign.

00:03:49.300 And all of a sudden, the Liberal staffers came out and said, Andrew Lawton's not a journalist.

00:03:52.560 He can't come on the bus.

00:03:54.700 And we were like, okay, if he's not a journalist, what is he?

00:03:56.740 He works for a news organization.

00:03:57.720 He's a radio host, for goodness sake.

00:03:59.460 He interviews people and makes news every day.

00:04:02.080 Like, what is he?

00:04:03.700 Oh, he's a conservative activist.

00:04:05.760 Oh, he's a commentator.

00:04:07.080 Oh, he's a columnist.

00:04:08.120 So I just found this story kind of funny.

00:04:10.420 And I've seen it about myself, too, that they'll sort of bend in a pretzel to not call you a journalist.

00:04:15.020 They'll call you like everything that's kind of journalist-like, but they won't use that word journalist.

00:04:19.160 So you go back to the title of this piece, it calls you a conservative columnist.

00:04:24.100 And then in the body of the piece, it says, conservative commentator, Andrew Lawton, is set to release a biography of conservative leader, Pierre Polyev.

00:04:31.020 Wow.

00:04:31.440 And then this is a kind of amusing part.

00:04:33.280 It also notes that political journalist Paul Wells has written a book about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's time and power.

00:04:39.000 So you kind of have these, like, dismissive terms describing you and Pierre Polyev.

00:04:43.740 And then when it comes to Paul Wells, who, don't get me wrong, Paul Wells is one of the best political writers in Canada.

00:04:50.060 I think he's an excellent writer.

00:04:51.640 But he left the Toronto Star, and he now writes a substack.

00:04:55.940 So technically, he's a blogger, right?

00:04:57.760 He's a blogger who writes a blog, a newsletter.

00:05:01.300 But they call him a political journalist.

00:05:03.040 Whereas, Andrew, and they even mention this later in the piece, it says, Lawton is the managing editor of the conservative digital media company True North.

00:05:11.280 And he previously wrote this other book.

00:05:12.500 Okay.

00:05:13.200 So your job, Andrew, is that you are the editor of a news site.

00:05:18.740 You pitch news stories.

00:05:20.800 You mentor young journalists.

00:05:23.580 You help them write their stories.

00:05:25.100 You edit those stories.

00:05:26.500 And you publish those stories.

00:05:28.220 And you also have a radio show.

00:05:29.640 You also are hosting a podcast, which is essentially a radio show where you interview newsmakers.

00:05:34.340 You break news stories, I don't know, every week.

00:05:37.300 But again, you're not a journalist.

00:05:39.220 But this other political blogger over here who's a liberal writing a bio about a liberal, he gets the title.

00:05:45.140 Maybe I'm focusing a little bit too much on his pedantic.

00:05:48.140 But, you know, as someone who, like, you know, again, they bend over backwards to not call you a journalist.

00:05:53.580 It just irked me a little bit.

00:05:56.800 Yeah.

00:05:57.400 What's your take on this, Rachel?

00:05:58.940 So, like I said, I mean, as the author, I was just happy they were paying attention to it.

00:06:01.960 And then when you do parse the words, I get Candace's point on this.

00:06:05.800 Well, I do apologize.

00:06:06.760 My take is much more cynical.

00:06:09.000 But what can you really expect from a Gen Zer who grew up in this generation of just being hated by, it seems like, everyone as a conservative. 0.96

00:06:15.760 First and foremost, you know, congratulations on the book.

00:06:17.760 I'm deeply excited to read it.

00:06:19.200 I know there'll be some interesting tidbits and some juicy political gossip in there, to be sure.

00:06:23.480 I guess the first thing I noticed was, yeah, you know, I'm glad for you that they got some coverage.

00:06:29.080 I know that your previous book was just sort of banned and blacklisted.

00:06:32.080 So, hopefully that will lead to some additional sales and just some additional coverage on the story overall.

00:06:35.800 I do wonder if they would have covered it, if Canadian Press would have covered it at all, if Paul Wells hadn't also written a book.

00:06:42.500 And that, because I got that same press release from your publisher.

00:06:45.220 So, it was sort of like nicely, neatly packaged story for Canadian Press.

00:06:49.480 There was no byline on the story.

00:06:50.660 So, you know, it was like, okay, let's cover this.

00:06:52.480 It's sort of an easy written rewrite that we can quickly put something out.

00:06:55.520 So, you know, maybe, maybe it's possible that you got the coverage because Paul Wells was in there.

00:06:59.660 But honestly, Andrew, I think they let you off easy.

00:07:01.660 I mean, conservative commentator, there's a lot worse things they could have said we both know about.

00:07:05.880 So, let's just take the coverage.

00:07:07.520 Yeah, that's right.

00:07:08.000 The bar was so low.

00:07:09.200 I was like, oh, conservative commentator.

00:07:10.680 Okay, it's not like right-wing hate monger or something like that.

00:07:14.180 Yeah, I think we just got to, you know, celebrate the small victories when we get them.

00:07:17.280 Of course, Candace is right to point out the discrepancies there.

00:07:19.860 And I'm sure the reporter who wrote it didn't even really think about that.

00:07:23.940 But, you know, we had a bit of a victory here.

00:07:26.660 Let's choose to see the positive side on things, I guess.

00:07:28.900 Well, I just want to also make the note that there's absolutely no correlation between mainstream media coverage of a book and book sales.

00:07:35.460 I know this.

00:07:35.900 We've published so many books and it doesn't matter at all.

00:07:39.000 Like, it wouldn't matter if the Globe and Mail put like a whole spread about this book.

00:07:43.480 It wouldn't increase sales one bit.

00:07:46.200 I'm sure, Andrew, your book on the Freedom Convoy sold tremendously well without the legacy media involving itself.

00:07:54.280 And I think that kind of just also goes to show the irrelevancy of all of this.

00:07:59.360 Like, we're probably the only three people that saw that headline and cared and are actually talking about it.

00:08:03.840 That doesn't mean if you're watching David Walmsley, it doesn't mean I'll say no to the full Globe and Mail takeout.

00:08:09.020 Absolutely, I will welcome it.

00:08:11.120 I don't know if it will contribute too much to sales.

00:08:13.840 But, you know, all press is good press and whatnot.

00:08:16.200 So, all right.

00:08:17.020 On a less indulgent note, I had a bit of a better treatment by the Canadian press than Justin Trudeau had when he was on the ski slopes.

00:08:26.360 Now, by the way, Justin Trudeau goes skiing is the epitome of what we used to call a dog bites man story.

00:08:32.240 I think when Justin Trudeau is not skiing, that's more newsworthy.

00:08:34.680 But he was in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and this was the reception he got on the slopes.

00:09:04.680 Sorry, I have to do the Daniel Dale, you know, three Pinocchio fact-checking here.

00:09:09.680 He was snowboarding, not skiing.

00:09:12.260 Everything else still stands.

00:09:14.300 So, this was pro-Palestinian protesters that are demanding him calling for a ceasefire.

00:09:19.880 And he gives the response of, no, no, no, I have been calling for a ceasefire.

00:09:23.240 I'm going to continue calling for a ceasefire.

00:09:25.040 And then he just snowboards away, which is actually a great thing to do if people are bothering you.

00:09:29.580 You just, like, literally slide away as you yell back at them.

00:09:33.340 The left, though, you know, he's tried to flirt with these people and keep them happy since October.

00:09:40.620 And clearly, Rachel, it's not working.

00:09:43.740 Well, it's one of those cases, I think, where we see and we all sort of laugh, oh, the left eating their own.

00:09:48.380 There's really nothing that he can say that would go far enough for these people.

00:09:52.580 I mean, I think the obvious solution here is maybe if he spent a little more time working in an office

00:09:56.680 and a little less time parading around the ski slopes, then he wouldn't run into issues like these.

00:10:03.340 What's your take on that, Candace?

00:10:04.980 Well, I'm sure that Justin Trudeau wishes that he could just, like, snowboard away from, like, reporters asking him questions on Parliament Hill.

00:10:11.120 And at least he can.

00:10:12.200 One of the things that you notice here is that nothing that these left-wing politicians do will ever be enough, right?

00:10:17.340 Like, Justin Trudeau has completely betrayed the Jewish community in Canada.

00:10:21.140 He's completely taken the wrong position on this.

00:10:23.300 Whether it's being wishy-washy or wrongly condemning Israel for bombing a hospital when it turns out that that was a Palestinian jihad rocket.

00:10:30.960 Like, they've just gotten this thing wrong over and over again.

00:10:33.760 And they're talking out of both sides of their mouth.

00:10:35.880 And, you know, he deserves to be protested.

00:10:40.260 But it's interesting how, rather than just kind of ignoring these protesters, which is, frankly, what they deserve, he tries to engage them and convince them.

00:10:48.620 Like, he tries to, like, no, no, I'm a good guy.

00:10:50.440 I agree with you.

00:10:51.420 I'm on the left, too.

00:10:52.980 And I agree with you.

00:10:54.120 I've been calling for a ceasefire.

00:10:55.260 It's like, good luck, man.

00:10:56.680 Like, these people are never going to be satisfied.

00:10:58.680 And if you keep going down that path and that rabbit hole, like, you're just going to turn more and more Canadians and more and more sensible people against you. 0.94

00:11:06.480 So it's kind of pathetic to see him trying to talk to them or trying to convince them. 0.84

00:11:11.320 Yeah, the instinct is to win them over with them. 0.96

00:11:14.360 And it's a way that he doesn't engage with conservative protesters.

00:11:17.320 I mean, when people are yelling at him about COVID stuff, about vaccine passports, about, you know, whatever it is that, you know, would qualify as sort of a more conservative criticism, those are the people he ignores.

00:11:28.300 He doesn't engage with them.

00:11:29.720 He doesn't try to explain and meet them where they are.

00:11:32.920 But with these people, you know, secretly he's, well, not even secretly, I'd say at this point, you know, he's, like, so sad because he's, like, he's one of them.

00:11:39.460 Like, he would be doing that if he had a different life and weren't the prime minister of Canada.

00:11:43.120 He'd be the guy on the ski slopes, like, demanding the call for a ceasefire.

00:11:48.440 Exactly.

00:11:49.140 And, you know, we all know this.

00:11:51.120 We've seen it.

00:11:52.200 He doesn't engage.

00:11:53.160 He refused to talk to the truckers.

00:11:54.500 He refused to talk to, you know, people in Alberta who are dissatisfied with his government.

00:11:59.700 And yet on the other side, you're right, Andrew, he goes and he talks to the far left.

00:12:02.920 He talks to Quebec separatists.

00:12:04.240 He wants to win them all over because they're the people that he sees as, like, part of his Canada.

00:12:08.520 Whereas when it comes to people who have genuine concerns about the economy or, you know, there was one clip from the fall.

00:12:14.560 It was so amusing.

00:12:15.100 Someone was, you know, criticizing him for his carbon tax record.

00:12:19.920 And he literally accused them of listening to Putin and being, like, a propagandist and then walked away.

00:12:25.000 It was just like, what?

00:12:26.020 Okay.

00:12:27.300 I think for the left, when he engages with them, that's sort of part of his appeal.

00:12:32.040 If you think about during the, like, federal election campaigns, he goes out and he does those town halls.

00:12:36.060 And I feel like he does them quite effectively because he is willing to take questions from the audience, sort of run off the fly.

00:12:42.080 And he often does a decent job of answering them, especially if you were someone on the left.

00:12:45.860 And then, of course, with the conservatives, when they come and ask a question, they get the thank you for your donation response.

00:12:51.020 So there's definitely a bit of a parallel.

00:12:52.520 He's obviously not trying to win over conservative voters, maybe appeal to some moderates, maybe appeal to those on the far right who would typically vote for the NDP.

00:13:00.100 But in the past, I think he's done this to his success quite a bit.

00:13:03.660 Far left.

00:13:04.380 Yeah, what did I say?

00:13:06.160 I'm the far right voting NDP.

00:13:08.000 Yes, that.

00:13:08.820 You never know.

00:13:09.800 Politics gets wacky sometimes.

00:13:12.000 Well, to your point, Candice, about how people do tend to, like, they're never satisfied.

00:13:18.120 This also hit Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or as one person called her, Alexandria Occasional Cortex, which I think is quite witty.

00:13:27.140 But AOC was taking some time away from raising everyone's taxes to go to a movie with her fiancé at a theater in Brooklyn. 0.92

00:13:36.680 And I don't know if she made, if she, like, got through the movie or if she was hounded out.

00:13:41.640 I've heard conflicting things on that.

00:13:43.120 But she was accosted, as that headline said, by some similar protesters.

00:13:48.340 Take a look.

00:13:48.740 You refuse to call it a genocide.

00:13:51.520 I need you to call it a genocide.

00:13:53.880 It's not okay that there's a genocide happening.

00:13:57.340 You're not actively against it.

00:13:58.620 You're lying.

00:13:59.800 I'm lying?

00:14:00.520 You're not actively talking about it.

00:14:03.460 You're saying it's a genocide, just say it.

00:14:28.960 Over 30,000 people are dead, are dead, AOC.

00:14:32.340 You can't just say it, everyone.

00:14:34.240 Just say no words.

00:14:35.380 That's it.

00:14:35.860 That's all we want you to say.

00:14:38.260 Now, I am not a fan at all of people doing that sort of stuff with politicians.

00:14:45.540 I don't like protesting them at, you know, when they're at their homes and stuff like that.

00:14:49.340 I think generally, though, politicians need to make it a point to be available and accessible to people.

00:14:55.420 And I don't know how accessible she is.

00:14:57.520 However, I also think that politicians need to live by their own standards.

00:15:02.080 So her thing there was, this is not okay.

00:15:04.600 That's what she was saying.

00:15:05.280 This is not okay.

00:15:06.700 Let's hear AOC's thoughts on protesting generally.

00:15:11.700 The whole point of protesting is to make people uncomfortable.

00:15:16.360 Activists take that discomfort with the status quo and advocate for concrete policy changes.

00:15:21.160 Popular support often starts small and grows.

00:15:23.360 To folks who complain, protest demands make others uncomfortable.

00:15:26.680 That's the point.

00:15:28.160 But all of a sudden, when it's directed at you and when you have alienated your leftist supporters or people who are supporters one day, all of a sudden, it's, this is not okay.

00:15:37.100 Hmm.

00:15:38.780 What do we think?

00:15:40.040 I'll jump in with this one.

00:15:40.960 Okay, so I think AOC just went from being like a grassroots activist to like the establishment because she just switched sides and she realizes how unpleasant it is to actually have these, you know, hysterical shrieking people in your face demanding that you say the exact word that they demand that you say.

00:15:56.360 Even though AOC has expressed that sentiment before, I'll just say that AOC's reaction and behavior here actually makes Justin Trudeau look good in comparison because she's just so petulant and angry.

00:16:11.540 And this is like how not to handle a protester by saying, you're lying, shut up, how dare you, and storming away. 0.83

00:16:19.500 It's like, you know, you're being filmed. 0.97

00:16:21.300 You know, this will be all over social media and it will kill your brand.

00:16:24.300 Like, what are you doing?

00:16:25.700 And no, people, I don't even agree with what these protesters are saying and doing.

00:16:32.680 But obviously, they've got AOC and makes her just look absolutely terrible. 1.00

00:16:36.980 Yeah, she comes across as very frantic and angry. 0.90

00:16:40.340 She probably would have been better off not saying anything at all.

00:16:43.180 But I find these types of protester interactions so cringy and uncomfortable.

00:16:47.560 There was something similar that happened during the general election here in the spring where there were some protesters that barged into one of Danielle Smith's press conferences when she was giving an announcement, I believe, on health care.

00:16:58.200 And it was sort of just like this protest that went on for too long because it's like they came in, they were yelling, they made their point.

00:17:04.620 And then everyone just stood around for five minutes and like the protesters just stood there waving their flags and no one was really sure what to do.

00:17:10.700 Everybody was just kind of looking at each other awkwardly waiting for them to be cleared out of the room.

00:17:14.080 Same thing here.

00:17:14.620 Just went on for so long.

00:17:15.540 Like, how many escalators were there in that building?

00:17:17.300 Like, there was like four.

00:17:18.080 Like, it just kept going on and on and on.

00:17:19.700 I was like, oh, just let it end already.

00:17:21.980 Make it still.

00:17:22.340 Yeah, at first I thought it was on a loop.

00:17:23.740 And then I was like, oh, no, what's, yeah, what story?

00:17:25.760 That was my question.

00:17:27.020 What floor is that movie theater on?

00:17:29.400 But you raise an important point, not about the, I mean, the escalator point was, I think, valid.

00:17:33.520 But you raise a point about what it is that the protesters want.

00:17:37.080 Because oftentimes the people demonstrating are not actually smart people and they don't actually know anything about the cause.

00:17:42.920 And the reason that protesters are always in a pack is because none of them really know what to talk about or what to do if they're isolated.

00:17:52.660 Like, it would be actually very easy for her to flip a script.

00:17:55.620 And again, I'm with you, Candace.

00:17:56.720 I don't agree with what they're asking for.

00:17:58.340 And turn them around and just start asking them questions about the region that they have such a specific call for.

00:18:03.660 Like, I remember I was protested once when I was, I wasn't even there as a Republican voter.

00:18:08.600 I was covering the 2016 Republican Convention.

00:18:10.980 And there were a bunch of protesters that I didn't know I was there as media.

00:18:13.960 And I just started asking them questions. 1.00

00:18:15.620 And my goodness, these people were complete morons. 1.00

00:18:19.220 They didn't know anything. 1.00

00:18:20.220 Like, I could have made their case better than they could have.

00:18:22.960 And they were the ones that bust in and put the placards up.

00:18:26.580 Yeah, but do we honestly think that AOC really understands anything about the issue either?

00:18:29.980 Like, is she the person that would be able to flip the script?

00:18:33.220 Yeah.

00:18:34.180 No, fair enough.

00:18:34.840 I was AOC with an IQ of three.

00:18:37.900 So where do we stand on where this is going?

00:18:42.320 Because, like, obviously politicians on the left right now are getting a little bit nervous about losing their base,

00:18:48.400 which has, generally speaking, been, I think, more in alignment with the shouting protesters than anything else.

00:18:54.120 Like, do you think that the politicians are going to get some moral clarity in this?

00:18:58.280 Or do you think eventually they're just going to go all in on the anti-Israel train, Candace?

00:19:02.260 No, I think they're going to capitulate because they have to, right?

00:19:04.820 It's like, I mean, look at these protesters.

00:19:07.360 They're everywhere.

00:19:08.260 And they're unrelenting.

00:19:09.500 Like, just on this past weekend, right, they shut down Justin Trudeau's event with Italy Prime Minister Giorgio Maloney.

00:19:15.760 And then, as if that wasn't, like, enough of an accomplishment, they moved uptown and started protesting suburban synagogues, you know, and communities in Toronto.

00:19:24.600 Like, they have no, they have absolutely no sense of, like, society and what's, like, acceptable.

00:19:32.260 They don't care if everyone hates them.

00:19:33.580 They'll block traffic.

00:19:34.520 They'll block.

00:19:35.120 They're just doing everything they can to get attention.

00:19:37.980 And they're fairly good at it.

00:19:40.180 I mean, I think that they have Justin Trudeau's ear.

00:19:42.680 He's worried about it.

00:19:43.420 Certainly in the U.S., Joe Biden is worried about it.

00:19:46.220 We see Muslim leaders saying, we're not going to turn up and support you.

00:19:49.340 We're not going to come vote for you unless you drastically change your position on Israel.

00:19:53.620 And sadly, I think that they will ultimately have that influence because, at the end of the day, left-wing politicians need that base.

00:20:00.140 They need those people to show up to vote for them to even have a shot at winning against a conservative.

00:20:05.340 Yeah, very, very well said.

00:20:07.380 This one is a bit of a local one for me.

00:20:09.940 Not because I live in a tent city, but I live in London, Ontario.

00:20:13.060 You sent this one, I believe, Candice, encampments now part of the fabric of London and other cities, City Hall says.

00:20:21.660 Now, this is coming from my neck of the woods where city staff are predicting another summer of encampments in public parks and alongside the city's Thames River.

00:20:30.280 Not the other London's River Thames, but the London, Ontario Thames River, although I wouldn't want to swim in either.

00:20:36.680 This is, again, I mean, this is a London story, but in reality, this is pretty much the case of every single city and even smaller communities in the country right now.

00:20:46.820 This is the case in Edmonton, in Calgary.

00:20:48.700 It's been Vancouver for years now.

00:20:51.780 It's the case in Toronto.

00:20:53.760 And I do think that we're seeing kind of this, it's almost gaslighting in a way.

00:20:58.400 Like, we're being told that this is just the normal way of doing things now.

00:21:01.740 Well, let's play this clip because there's a clip of a councillor talking about it and just this sort of jovial, relaxed way that he's kind of just resigned to this is real life.

00:21:09.260 I think it's really telling.

00:21:10.480 So I think we have that clip.

00:21:11.620 Let's play it.

00:21:12.040 Ancampment strategy is a long-term vision for our community on how do we address encampments.

00:21:17.000 They are here to stay.

00:21:18.920 They are the fabric of every municipality now.

00:21:22.600 What is our strategy to support them and address them?

00:21:26.440 Like, not just resign, but kind of like happy about it.

00:21:28.980 Like, this is the fabric of our society, right?

00:21:31.080 Usually when you think of like the fabric of your study, you think of like the moral values that hold us all together.

00:21:35.280 Like the idea that like families.

00:21:36.420 The food scene, the art scene, the local culture.

00:21:39.000 Yeah.

00:21:39.620 But no, but even on a deeper level, like a social fabric is something that you hear like social conservatives talking about.

00:21:44.080 And this guy is saying like, what, he's trying to sound like he's like a visionary, like looking to the future.

00:21:50.240 We have to like embrace this as like a new way of living.

00:21:53.220 And it's like, no, like anyone who knows anything about the instant camments knows that they're dangerous.

00:21:58.160 They're very dirty.

00:21:59.840 It's not a good way.

00:22:01.000 There's a reason that we have as a society, as a civilization progressed beyond people living like this, right?

00:22:07.020 Like we have indoor plumbing, guys.

00:22:08.360 We have like heating systems that keep us warm in the winter.

00:22:12.300 We don't have to live like this and we shouldn't.

00:22:15.040 And these things should be banned.

00:22:16.700 Police should break them up.

00:22:17.960 Anybody who tries to live in public spaces on the streets, in tents, they shouldn't be allowed to.

00:22:23.980 They should have to go to a shelter.

00:22:25.280 They should have to go indoors.

00:22:26.360 They should get arrested.

00:22:27.240 If not, like you can't allow this to happen.

00:22:29.540 You can't just be resigned to the fact that it's here.

00:22:31.920 You have to take actual steps and actions against this type of behavior.

00:22:36.420 Otherwise, you just have complete social anarchy.

00:22:40.240 And it creates a dangerous situation for everyone.

00:22:42.420 I've lived in cities that have these tent, places that have these tent cities.

00:22:46.460 They're dangerous.

00:22:47.040 They're scary.

00:22:47.740 They make things less safe.

00:22:48.860 They make women less safe to walk around in the city. 1.00

00:22:52.840 People living in those things.

00:22:53.940 I mean, there's just horrible stories of crime, sexual assault, all kinds of awful, terrible things.

00:23:00.780 You don't want them in your cities.

00:23:02.620 And the fact that politicians or the deputy city manager, whoever was talking about this, was so relaxed about it.

00:23:09.740 Andrew, I think you've got to work harder in London to turn your city around.

00:23:15.600 Don't let them go down the path of Vancouver and Toronto, please.

00:23:18.420 Yeah, I mean, when you say that tent cities are part of the fabric of the community, well, the fabric of the community is now nylon, I guess.

00:23:25.680 That's the whatever tents are made of. 0.95

00:23:28.220 There's the line there.

00:23:29.240 But, I mean, I'm actually skeptical, though, of the view that you can arrest your way out of it.

00:23:35.120 Because at a certain point, you do not have adequate shelter space.

00:23:39.320 You do not have people that have the mental capacity to navigate these systems.

00:23:43.800 The idea of just using jails as, you know, warehouses for the homeless is problematic for a number of reasons.

00:23:50.680 So there is a problem here.

00:23:52.200 And you have a lot of interjurisdictional buck passing.

00:23:54.240 But I wanted to ask you, Rachel, as our resident Albertan, I mean, what was the story in Edmonton?

00:23:58.700 Because Edmonton did a major clear out of a lot of these.

00:24:02.000 And I know it's probably a little bit too early to see what's happened of that.

00:24:05.020 But where are all those people now?

00:24:07.040 Have they moved to other places?

00:24:08.240 Are they in jail?

00:24:09.060 Are they in shelters?

00:24:11.200 Yeah, Edmonton has been taking this issue very seriously.

00:24:13.360 Because as Candice mentioned, there is a major safety risk.

00:24:16.240 There is major risk for fires at the encampments and also nearby buildings.

00:24:19.700 And they are also finding that gangs in Edmonton had a large presence in these camps.

00:24:23.440 So the safety risk is huge, not only for the people living in them, but the people living in the buildings nearby or working in the buildings nearby.

00:24:30.380 So basically, Edmonton was in a position where they were allowed to clear the encampments.

00:24:34.060 So long as they had enough shelter space for all the residents to go into.

00:24:38.440 So they increased their shelter space.

00:24:39.780 And there's already policies in place to increase shelter space in Edmonton during the winter.

00:24:43.260 Because you obviously can't have people living outside.

00:24:45.600 And negative 30, I think we had temperatures of up to negative 40, negative 50 in some places.

00:24:50.500 So they're taking that issue very seriously. 0.99

00:24:52.800 And the one thing that that councillor, obviously a bit of a moron, didn't mention was this is the fabric of our society. 0.99

00:24:58.600 Well, let's look at addressing the root causes. 0.99

00:25:00.740 Because, yes, we can look at things like mental health.

00:25:02.920 And we can look at things like the cost of living.

00:25:04.760 But the main reason that we're seeing this is because of the high level of addictions that we're seeing.

00:25:09.120 And I don't know that many other provinces are taking that issue very seriously at all.

00:25:12.620 And until we start addressing the root causes of addiction, these are only going to get worse.

00:25:16.660 We're only going to see more people resorting to living in tents.

00:25:19.680 Because, honestly, when they're in that mindset, you don't really care where you're living.

00:25:23.020 You're just focused on when you can get your next hit.

00:25:25.460 And I should clarify, he's a bureaucrat, not a councillor.

00:25:28.380 But I think the point still stands.

00:25:30.160 Sorry, Candice, go ahead.

00:25:30.920 Well, let me jump in and partially reply to what you said earlier, Andrew, and partially pick up on what Rachel's talking about here with the drug addiction.

00:25:38.060 So when I say arrest these people, you know, there are shelter spaces.

00:25:42.080 Most cities do have adequate shelter spaces.

00:25:43.980 And if not, they have motels and hotels that they rent to provide spaces for these people.

00:25:48.280 The issue is, to Rachel's point, addiction.

00:25:51.000 They don't want to go to the shelters because the shelters have rules about drugs and alcohol.

00:25:54.760 And these people don't want to follow it.

00:25:55.640 They don't want to follow any rules.

00:25:56.800 They want to do exactly what they want to do, exactly when they want to do it.

00:25:59.740 They want to be on the street so they continue their drug use.

00:26:02.220 So when I say arrest them, I'm talking about the people who are severely addicted to the drugs that the government provides.

00:26:07.660 Right.

00:26:07.800 It's not just their fault.

00:26:08.760 These people live in a society and a framework where we not only legalize drugs, but we give it to them for free.

00:26:15.020 And it's like, what do these people need?

00:26:17.220 They need support.

00:26:18.420 They need someone to help them get clean and get off the drugs.

00:26:21.160 So not necessarily just shoving them into jails to deal with.

00:26:24.740 I think that there needs to be much more infrastructure in our country when it comes to helping people get off drugs, because that's ultimately what is best for them.

00:26:31.880 I think at a certain point, you've kind of waived your right to freedom when you're creating externalities and you're out there causing chaos, committing crimes, doing dangerous things and destroying your body.

00:26:42.060 I firmly believe that this idea behind drug legalization and giving drugs away is an absolute catastrophe in our society.

00:26:50.320 It needs to stop.

00:26:51.520 I think the government needs to implement more laws.

00:26:53.600 We need to be firmer to say, no, you cannot be a drug addict and live out on the streets.

00:26:58.240 And we need to figure out much more comprehensive solutions to getting these people permanently off of drugs so that they can start living a better life, being better, having the ability to contribute to society.

00:27:11.200 It's for their own human dignity as well.

00:27:13.360 Like, it's not like the compassionate thing to do to allow these people to continue using drugs.

00:27:18.860 That's not compassionate at all.

00:27:20.420 It's actually cruel because they're continuing to live in their own torment and live in their own hell on these drugs.

00:27:25.780 And I think that we need to, like, seriously change our perspective when it comes to allowing people to use drugs in our cities.

00:27:34.500 Well, I'm going to do things a little out of order here because I think you've kind of brought a natural segue when we were talking about imprisonment and incarceration.

00:27:42.740 Because sometimes that could actually be a better life, certainly if you are a federal inmate.

00:27:48.620 Let's take a clip.

00:27:50.100 This is Frank Caputo, who is a conservative member of parliament from British Columbia.

00:27:54.900 We go straight to his cell and they open the door.

00:27:59.280 He's not there.

00:28:00.400 You can see that he wasn't there.

00:28:01.700 So I ask permission and I take a step in.

00:28:03.960 It was really weird.

00:28:04.980 Their margarine containers were drying on the top of his bunk.

00:28:08.100 I'm not sure why.

00:28:08.940 He had these mint chocolate bars off to the side.

00:28:11.720 He had an electric razor.

00:28:14.880 I asked whether he paid for that himself.

00:28:16.680 He did.

00:28:17.100 You could see all these things and it looked like somebody very ordinary lived in that jail cell. 0.99

00:28:23.560 And yet, he's a monster.

00:28:25.660 Had to keep on reminding myself that this person did unspeakable things. 0.92

00:28:30.280 So let's take this back a second. 1.00

00:28:32.020 He is a serial murderer, a serial rapist, a dangerous offender. 0.99

00:28:36.060 And that's when I started to get angry because I walked outside and I had a look and I said, 1.00

00:28:41.040 what's that?

00:28:41.760 Looks like a hockey rink.

00:28:43.320 It was.

00:28:45.280 Inmates can go and they can get skates and they can play hockey.

00:28:49.400 There are hockey nets and everything.

00:28:51.180 If you want to play in the evening, there are halogen lights.

00:28:53.480 It looked just like an outdoor basketball court at a community center or at your local baseball stadium.

00:28:59.500 So that's not bad enough.

00:29:01.060 The hockey rink, well lit, actually turns into a tennis court.

00:29:04.300 The man that Frank Caputo is talking about is none other than Paul Bernardo,

00:29:12.100 who has a string of brutal sexual assaults behind him as well as three murders.

00:29:18.860 And this is, and again, I mean, Canadians of a certain age are very, very familiar with the Paul Bernardo

00:29:24.280 and Carla Homoka affair.

00:29:26.340 The fact that she's not rotting behind bars is a gross injustice in our system.

00:29:31.100 Paul Bernardo is, we wanted to believe, but not rotting in maximum security.

00:29:36.360 He's in medium security and he has access to a hockey rink and a tennis court at various points in the year,

00:29:43.580 as conservative MP Frank Caputo learned.

00:29:45.900 But, oh, no, no, no, no.

00:29:46.920 The Correctional Service of Canada says that's not the case because the hockey rink has had some malfunctions

00:29:53.720 and they didn't set it up the last two years.

00:29:55.700 And, well, the tennis court, I mean, that hasn't yet been set up for the summer.

00:29:58.480 So they're saying it's entirely untrue when it is literally true.

00:30:02.980 The fact that your hockey rink has not been properly maintained does not undermine the core point there.

00:30:08.520 So, yeah, not bad.

00:30:09.840 How many Canadians can say they have access to their own hockey rink and tennis court, Candace?

00:30:15.140 I mean, it's just so cringy.

00:30:18.020 This is the state of Canada.

00:30:19.360 I don't mean to, like, rant too much here, but it's like everything is broken in our country.

00:30:23.060 Nothing makes sense.

00:30:24.120 This is-

00:30:24.460 Including Paul Bernardo's hockey rink.

00:30:25.960 It's also broken.

00:30:26.640 Yeah.

00:30:27.200 Yeah.

00:30:27.540 Poor Paul. 1.00

00:30:28.340 We'll all cry a tear for the serial killer and rapist. 0.99

00:30:32.180 But, you know, this is Justin Trudeau's Canada, right? 0.96

00:30:35.240 This is how we treat serious, dangerous offenders in our country.

00:30:39.480 We treat them with kid gloves.

00:30:41.200 We pamper them.

00:30:41.860 We want to make sure they're comfortable and safe and happy.

00:30:44.860 And really, there isn't true justice when you have a criminal being treated this way.

00:30:49.160 And also, Andrew, I have to raise this point.

00:30:51.620 You know, you had the Liberals march out their online harms bill last week.

00:30:55.360 All we heard about was it was all about protecting kids and making sure kids were safe.

00:30:59.620 Really, you know, this is a mass censorship bill that will completely weaponize speech and

00:31:04.760 set a chill into what Canadians can do and say online.

00:31:08.200 But we're supposed to believe the Liberals are the party that wants to protect kids.

00:31:12.540 Okay. 1.00

00:31:13.140 Paul Bernardo is an absolute monster who tormented and raped and killed children. 1.00

00:31:18.400 The reality is that this is how the Liberals so-called protect children. 0.99

00:31:23.840 Well, they don't do it at all.

00:31:25.080 And I think this story is an example of that.

00:31:27.900 Yeah.

00:31:28.120 And Rachel, to get you to build off that point, we had some activists start talking about

00:31:32.760 Paul Bernardo's privacy rights.

00:31:34.180 Like, they were more offended by the fact that a Conservative MP was able to go into

00:31:38.340 Paul Bernardo's cell than anything else.

00:31:40.800 That's the real source of outrage here.

00:31:42.840 Yeah.

00:31:43.220 I don't personally care at all about Paul Bernardo's privacy rights. 1.00

00:31:46.100 In my opinion, he should have been killed. 1.00

00:31:48.220 He should have been subject to the death penalty. 1.00

00:31:49.780 I don't believe he should have been allowed to live.

00:31:51.480 The story hits very close to home.

00:31:53.680 I grew up near St. Catharines.

00:31:55.220 My mom now lives in St. Catharines.

00:31:57.000 Paul Bernardo lived in a house in Port Dalhousie, not far from where my mom lived.

00:31:59.780 When I go for walks in one of the popular parks in the area, there is a park bench dedicated

00:32:03.720 to Kristen French.

00:32:04.480 She was a young girl who was walking home from school when she was kidnapped by Paul

00:32:08.700 Bernardo's Carla Homolka, his girlfriend and wife at the time.

00:32:13.120 And so, you know, this is an absolutely tragic story.

00:32:15.060 Look at these young girls that were brutally tortured and killed by this pair.

00:32:20.280 And so, yeah, I'm not really super interested in hearing about Paul Bernardo's privacy rights.

00:32:23.540 I think we should remember the faces behind the story that we too often forget.

00:32:26.520 We spend so much time discussing the killers and forgetting the lives that they took.

00:32:30.580 But also when we look at this, why is Paul Bernardo in a medium security prison anyways?

00:32:34.060 He was transferred last year with a big scandal when he was transferred because people found

00:32:37.660 out about it after the fact.

00:32:39.440 And he should still be in a high security prison.

00:32:41.240 We wouldn't have to worry about these issues as much.

00:32:43.260 I think this skating rink has been in place for a long time.

00:32:46.240 The Press Progress report that it had been around since, I believe, 2014.

00:32:49.680 So, you know, certainly we can ask questions as to why it exists at this medium security prison.

00:32:52.940 But the reality is that Paul Bernardo shouldn't be at a medium security prison.

00:32:57.540 Yeah, I think that's fair.

00:32:58.900 And again, 2014, the Conservatives were in government then.

00:33:01.780 So I don't think this is a problem you can put squarely at the Liberal government's feet.

00:33:05.660 I think it's a problem that really is revealing of where the bureaucracy is on this.

00:33:09.760 If you leave bureaucrats to their own devices, these are the types of decisions they're going to make.

00:33:13.300 And I think it means that the elected governments need to be a lot more on top of this.

00:33:18.000 And again, to Candace's point, the ball is now in the Liberals' court.

00:33:21.700 They're aware of this.

00:33:22.540 So what they do about it is on them.

00:33:25.900 Yeah, don't hold your breath.

00:33:27.720 I realize I didn't put a question mark at the end of that sentence.

00:33:30.720 We can't end on Paul Bernardo.

00:33:34.280 I feel like we can't send you into the weekend with that.

00:33:37.920 So we had some lighter fare for you.

00:33:41.000 We have a couple.

00:33:41.800 One is International Women's Day.

00:33:44.020 So we'll do a story about an international woman of sorts. 0.99

00:33:47.820 Well, I mean, he's not, but he's identifying as such.

00:33:50.320 This is in Spain.

00:33:52.520 Spanish soldiers changing gender to female for added benefits, higher pay.

00:33:58.860 There have been 41 men in the city of, I don't speak Spanish, Suta, Ceuta,

00:34:05.400 who have decided to change their gender from male to female under a relatively new trans law.

00:34:11.560 And they're doing this because they can make more money.

00:34:14.700 Now, they've kept every aspect of their male identity intact.

00:34:17.560 They mostly go by their male names. 0.99

00:34:20.360 They have male genitalia. 0.91

00:34:22.440 They were heterosexual men. 0.98

00:34:24.860 And then what happened was the one decided to say he feels like a lesbian now.

00:34:30.260 So we've now self-identified for the perks.

00:34:33.960 Men are doing this everywhere.

00:34:35.380 They're doing this absolutely everywhere.

00:34:36.480 It's the same thing with Dylan Mulvaney.

00:34:37.860 He's pretending to be a woman for the perks and for the attention of it all. 0.98

00:34:40.940 We're seeing the same things in sports.

00:34:42.560 Here in Alberta, I believe biological men hold three of the four women's weightlifting records.

00:34:48.820 So, I mean, the story doesn't really surprise me when we have bad policy.

00:34:51.940 There's always going to be poor players that want to take advantage of that for their own benefit.

00:34:55.920 And at the same time, you know, in this instance, you just kind of have to laugh at it.

00:34:58.900 Because if you get so worked up about all these things, you won't leave your bedroom anymore.

00:35:02.700 It's just so depressing out there.

00:35:04.200 So you really just have to poke fun at it.

00:35:05.720 And I do feel bad for the female athletes. 0.99

00:35:07.840 But I personally probably wouldn't put myself in a position to compete against men.

00:35:13.720 Well, and I think the interesting thing is that from the leftist perspective, there's no argument that they can push to defend this, right?

00:35:21.660 Because their entire ideology is that only you know what your gender is.

00:35:25.820 And gender is something inside you that's not tangible.

00:35:28.480 You can't measure it.

00:35:29.540 It's just how you feel, right?

00:35:30.900 So some dude is like, hey, I'm a lesbian, I'm a lady, now give me higher pay and don't put me on the front lines or, you know, whatever the changes are.

00:35:38.840 It's like there's literally nothing in the ideology that says that that's wrong.

00:35:42.660 People gaming the system, it's like, well, that's how he feels, so you can't stop him. 0.61

00:35:46.700 And that's why, like, for us looking in from the outside, it's so absurd and so silly and funny.

00:35:50.860 But I actually think it creates, like, a conundrum for the leftist activists because it's so absurd.

00:35:55.300 Like, their ideology is so absurd that it doesn't hold up to basic scrutiny.

00:35:59.640 And I think that this is a perfect example of that.

00:36:02.180 I just feel, I mean, part of it as an historian, an amateur historian, I get a little bit nervous about what this is going to look like for future generations of researchers and anthropologists that are, like, pouring over census records.

00:36:14.840 And they're like, wait, why did the male-female population change every year by, like, 15%?

00:36:20.620 And they just, because we've moved beyond this, they can't quite figure out why that was.

00:36:24.560 This is why.

00:36:25.280 Watch off the record.

00:36:26.120 We'll explain it.

00:36:26.740 All right, from, this is, there's no segue to this, Arby's.

00:36:32.080 I have, actually, I don't, maybe I've been to an Arby's once.

00:36:34.580 I think they're the ones with the curly fries.

00:36:37.360 Not the most popular fast food chain, but it's a fast food chain with a little bit of a footprint in Canada and the U.S.

00:36:45.120 Apparently, there is no Arby's in Toronto, which raised the ire of hundreds of self-styled Arby's fans who organized a protest at an Arby's in Oshawa, which is a city just outside of Toronto, just east of, well, maybe not just.

00:37:02.960 It depends on traffic on the 401, but you can see their Facebook page there, 547 people responded to that.

00:37:08.740 The Arby's army trying to get Arby's to open a location in Toronto.

00:37:15.940 Now, this, I don't know where we rank this on protests as far as, you know, AOC in a Brooklyn theater, Justin Trudeau on the ski slopes, Oshawa Arby's.

00:37:25.660 But do you think the good people of Arby's are going to listen to this pressing civil rights protest at their doorstep, Candace?

00:37:31.980 I know you wanted to keep it light because it's the end of the show here, but I get frustrated about it.

00:37:36.960 Okay, I'll tell a little personal story.

00:37:38.600 My husband was at a work dinner in downtown Toronto the other night, and he somehow managed to cut his thumb and his finger, and it came down, and he was worried that he had hit a tendon or something like that.

00:37:48.100 So, he went to the emergency room to get some stitches and have a doctor look at it.

00:37:51.500 Okay, I think it ended up taking him five hours to see a doctor.

00:37:54.600 Like, the state of Canadian healthcare is absolutely atrocious.

00:37:58.620 It is absolutely atrocious that that is the level of care that someone gets.

00:38:02.660 I mean, he was describing the hospital he was in.

00:38:04.500 It sounded like a third world country or a war zone, lots of drug addicts, a lot of people in handcuffs.

00:38:09.360 And it's like, there are serious issues in this country.

00:38:11.980 Like, we're not going to get better healthcare unless people start protesting, right?

00:38:16.360 Unless people start making their voices be heard.

00:38:18.480 I don't understand why there aren't, like, 500 advocacy organizations focused on improving our healthcare.

00:38:23.980 Like, that one issue is so important.

00:38:26.260 It impacts you in so many different ways, especially as you get older.

00:38:29.300 You start having kids, you realize, like, how bad our healthcare system really is, how long you have to wait, how inefficient it is, how terrible it is.

00:38:35.440 It's all government funded.

00:38:36.600 We don't have a choice.

00:38:37.400 We don't have an alternative.

00:38:38.880 Like, focus your attention on that.

00:38:40.540 Canadians, like, please.

00:38:42.120 Yes, you know, I know Arby's is delicious or whatever.

00:38:45.040 You can drive to Oshawa.

00:38:46.860 Focus your attention on the things that matter.

00:38:48.840 Let's improve our country.

00:38:49.920 Let's put our efforts, like, channel this effort.

00:38:53.800 You know, channel your protest towards something that matters.

00:38:56.720 Like, let's fix our healthcare system.

00:38:58.520 Let's get homeless and camments off the street. 1.00

00:39:00.400 Like, there's just so many things that you can protest, and I just don't understand people who do these frivolous protests.

00:39:05.940 I would actually take that a step farther and say until our healthcare system is improved, you might just want to avoid fast food altogether.

00:39:12.780 It does make you sick.

00:39:13.680 It is very bad for your body.

00:39:14.880 And, you know, the healthcare that you're inevitably going to need is just not going to be there for you.

00:39:19.020 So maybe just avoid it until we get things sorted out because you're going to be waiting at those long hospital times if you continue to destroy your body.

00:39:25.060 And honestly, those people of Toronto have a Chick-fil-A.

00:39:26.800 What are you complaining about?

00:39:27.640 I think you are all being incredibly insensitive to the Arby's army who was motivated to put that event up again, Sean.

00:39:37.200 What day of the week was it on?

00:39:39.700 I don't know.

00:39:40.240 I don't know.

00:39:40.640 Oh, the night.

00:39:41.320 So they're motivated to spend their Saturday at an Arby's in Oshawa.

00:39:46.900 So maybe we should be less sensitive.

00:39:49.920 No, I'm actually, yeah, the more I think about this, the more I'm on Team Candice and Team Rachel.

00:39:54.300 Although I will say if he had been waiting in Toronto and there had been an Arby's there, maybe the wait would have just been as bad.

00:40:01.860 So, all right, we've got one more that we'll do here.

00:40:05.040 This one is for the plus 60 set.

00:40:08.760 We're not judging here.

00:40:10.100 I mean, Rachel is our token youngin, but we have a new study from the University of Ottawa that finds older adults want to use emojis, but lack the confidence to use them.

00:40:23.300 Now, emojis are the, I mean, we used to call them back in my day emoticons, but emojis are like the graphical versions of it.

00:40:30.480 So it's, you know, you saw them on the screen there, the smiley faces, the hearts, the apples, the eggplants.

00:40:35.120 Don't send the eggplants around, please.

00:40:36.760 And don't Google it.

00:40:37.500 But the thing that I will point out here is that apparently older adults are feeling left out.

00:40:41.880 They want to play the emoji game, but they don't have the confidence.

00:40:44.280 Now, on one hand, I would say throw caution to the wind, open up the emoji board, send them all with abandon.

00:40:49.700 On the other hand, academic research has been done into this.

00:40:55.780 There was a university study that was in this.

00:40:58.700 Does this, Candice, fit into your category of with all the problems in the world to solve?

00:41:01.880 Why is this the one that we're looking into?

00:41:04.420 Well, I think it's a little bit of a social commentary.

00:41:06.660 I remember when, because, you know, you call them emoticons.

00:41:09.700 It's sort of aging yourself, Andrew, because that was a long time ago.

00:41:12.300 But basically it was like when the iPhone came out.

00:41:14.340 And at one point they updated the iOS and the keyboard had these things on them.

00:41:19.040 And I mean, I think it was like, I don't know, maybe 2014 or something.

00:41:22.040 It wasn't that long ago.

00:41:22.840 And at first it was like a total joke.

00:41:24.720 It was like, what is all this stuff?

00:41:26.600 And people would use it ironically.

00:41:28.120 Like it was like anyone using it was so cheesy and lame.

00:41:31.360 And then all of a sudden it kind of flipped where it was like, no, no, like younger people,

00:41:35.300 like people like Rachel Denziers are using them not ironically.

00:41:39.000 And they're actually communicating by them.

00:41:40.760 And I think it's just a total degradation of our language and of our ability to communicate.

00:41:45.400 So, you know, if you're watching this and you're over 60 and you want to learn, don't

00:41:49.260 bother, like, like, let's try to restore the English language.

00:41:51.960 Let's not, let's not like go down this path, like barely communicating.

00:41:55.640 I feel like that's not quite a fair argument because when you're texting, you are just

00:41:59.920 trying to be short and quick.

00:42:00.900 And maybe you can really send a lot of words and a lot of meaning with a quick emoji.

00:42:04.880 Maybe we should actually really try to get back to having conversations in person or

00:42:08.540 even over the phone and just, you know, get back to the days where everyone had flip phones

00:42:12.100 and weren't spending so much time texting all the time.

00:42:13.940 That being said, I don't actually blame people for feeling insecure about using emojis because

00:42:18.700 they can so often have double meanings or connotations like the eggplant.

00:42:23.780 So you kind of want to be careful what you send to people so you don't send a mixed signal. 1.00

00:42:27.800 So, you know, something like Irma Dictionary, I think could probably be useful for determining

00:42:31.200 what something means.

00:42:32.320 I used to use emojis all the time.

00:42:33.980 And then upper management at True North, they're not on this call.

00:42:38.140 Their name starts with a P, said that using emojis was lame and it really got in my head.

00:42:41.660 And now I feel insecure about using them as well.

00:42:43.660 So I just try not to use them anymore, especially if I'm tweeting.

00:42:46.620 Wait, we have upper management at True North?

00:42:49.500 Oh, Phil, I'll call them out.

00:42:51.840 I'll call Phil out.

00:42:52.620 Yeah.

00:42:53.920 It really got in my head.

00:42:55.420 Phil doesn't start with an F.

00:42:57.420 Yeah, that is a funny one.

00:42:59.120 Although at a certain point, I mean, language evolves and it pains me to admit that because

00:43:04.520 I like to, you know, just, you know, you know, I'll just use Latin or something, but, you

00:43:08.660 know, man of the people that I am.

00:43:09.860 But at a certain point, someone's epitaph on their tombstone is going to be in all emojis

00:43:15.360 and we will just have to go and, you know, we'll walk by and be like, ah.

00:43:19.360 Yeah, but you know that they also then had purple hair on earth.

00:43:22.060 Yeah.

00:43:22.300 Oh, yeah.

00:43:22.640 Clearly a little bit like, oh, yes.

00:43:23.680 You know, John Smith, you know, carrot, UK flag, palm tree.

00:43:28.300 Yes, yes.

00:43:28.760 We remember him well.

00:43:30.100 Well, I'll just make one final point with Twitter.

00:43:32.940 I would actually defend using emojis on social media because they get your attention, right?

00:43:36.380 Like I remember when they first came out, one of the first times I started using them,

00:43:39.880 if I had breaking news, you put that like yellow or that red light emoji, it looks like

00:43:43.620 a fire engine coming in.

00:43:44.760 It's like breaking news.

00:43:45.920 It just, it's eye-catching.

00:43:47.560 So if the purpose of the communication is just to like grab people's attention, it's not terrible.

00:43:52.560 But when you're using it in personal conversation, to Rachel's point, I think we'd be better off

00:43:57.600 trying to get back to like having more in-person conversations and phone conversations and less

00:44:02.020 just towards like throwing a bunch of crap on the screen and supposedly that's communicating.

00:44:08.480 All right. 0.83

00:44:08.800 Yeah, there was, I saw one circulating.

00:44:10.160 It was like one of those old like internet 1.0 memes that was recirculating of like someone

00:44:14.660 who had texted their grandchild or their child and said, you know, your great aunt has died

00:44:20.360 or whatever, LOL.

00:44:21.560 And the person said, why are you saying LOL?

00:44:23.940 And the older person was like, I thought it meant lots of love.

00:44:26.940 Oh no.

00:44:27.440 And then realized they had been sending this to everyone.

00:44:29.820 So yeah.

00:44:30.740 So be confident about your ability to use emojis and net speak, but be careful at the same

00:44:35.820 time.

00:44:36.420 All right.

00:44:36.840 Thanks for tuning in everyone.

00:44:38.520 Just a reminder, everything you have heard was off the record.

00:44:42.160 You are Rachel, I think the most phone happy Gen Z-er. 0.92

00:44:53.040 Cause like, you're the only one that I work with that actually just calls me.

00:44:56.560 I know.

00:44:56.780 And then you kept calling me out for it.

00:44:58.240 And now I'm like insecure about calling you or like other people anymore.

00:45:01.240 You guys have to stop.

00:45:02.160 I feel like I respect you all so much that when you like say something about what I'm doing,

00:45:05.900 I'm like, oh, I'm not going to do that anymore.

00:45:07.420 I also did not have giving a plug for urban dictionary on my off the record bingo card

00:45:13.500 today.

00:45:14.520 Well, it is true that the LOL example of my mom used to write WTF in tweets or in texts.

00:45:21.000 And we're like, mom, like, what, what are you saying?

00:45:23.100 And she thought WTF meant why the face or something like that.

00:45:27.460 It was like a response to an emoji.

00:45:29.240 Why the face?

00:45:30.180 Why the face?

00:45:30.860 Yeah.

00:45:31.060 And we're like, okay, mom, that's not what WTF means.

00:45:33.260 Like, please stop using it.

00:45:34.360 My mom does the K dot period and like, that's the worst text that you can receive.

00:45:38.760 It's like, ooh, what have I done now?

Off the Record - March 08, 2024

Unhinged pro-Hamas protesters are everywhere

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