Rebel News Podcast - A Newfoundland bureaucrat suspended voting in their provincial election — and blamed the pandemic

00:00:00.000 Hello my rebels. Today I tell you about the strangest thing. You know there's an election

00:00:04.360 in two days in Newfoundland, yet today they decided to suspend the elections because

00:00:10.720 some people have come down with the coronavirus. I should tell you that not a single person in the

00:00:17.380 entire province of Newfoundland is in the hospital. There's just a few cases of sniffles

00:00:22.700 out there, but they have delayed the election. I'll give you the details in a second. First,

00:00:29.320 let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. It's just eight bucks a month or 80

00:00:33.620 bucks if you get the whole year in advance. Go to rebelnews.com and click subscribe. It's important

00:00:38.120 because not only do you get the video version of this podcast, which is pretty cool, a couple other

00:00:42.860 videos each week of premium content, but that eight bucks a month, if enough people do it, that keeps

00:00:49.600 us going. That pays our bills. If you don't take any money from Trudeau, I'll tell you that. All right,

00:00:54.620 here's today's show.

00:00:59.320 Tonight, a Newfoundland bureaucrat suspended voting in their provincial election and he blamed the

00:01:16.100 pandemic. It's February 11th and this is the Ezra LeVance Show.

00:01:19.880 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:25.860 There's 8,500 customers here and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:29.920 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody

00:01:34.800 right to do so.

00:01:40.640 There is not a single person in the hospital in all of Newfoundland and Labrador from the virus. Not one.

00:01:47.500 It's zero. It's a very large province, as large as the country of Japan by square kilometers, and not one

00:01:55.780 person is hospitalized from the bug. And in the past 10 months since this whole thing started,

00:02:01.520 the grand total number of people who have died from the virus in the province is four. Not 40 or 400,

00:02:10.220 four people in a province with more than half a million souls in it. Every life is precious, but

00:02:16.980 I mean, for comparison, not even kidding, the annual death toll from Newfoundlanders driving into a moose

00:02:25.780 on the highway is about the same. There's a lot of moose there. And yet today, without consultation,

00:02:33.240 without approval from the legislature, the unelected, unaccountable elections bureaucrat

00:02:38.920 asked the unelected, unaccountable public health bureaucrat to simply call off voting

00:02:44.340 in the Newfoundland election that is scheduled for two days from today. It's in two days. And these

00:02:51.700 liberal bureaucrats just decided to suspend democracy just because. Here's the CBC state broadcaster,

00:02:59.220 which couldn't be happier about it. Newfoundland and Labrador election delayed for nearly half the

00:03:05.520 province due to COVID-19. Yeah, but that's not really why it was delayed, right? Because not a

00:03:10.860 single person in the entire blessed province is in the hospital from COVID-19, is there? COVID is the

00:03:17.080 excuse. It's not the reason. That's different. I've got to start using that as an excuse. Sure,

00:03:23.300 officer, I may have been speeding, but it was due to COVID. Oh, teacher, you know,

00:03:28.600 the dog ate my homework. It was COVID. It's the new excuse, isn't it? Let me read a bit from the

00:03:33.940 state broadcaster. The chief electoral officer of Newfoundland and Labrador has postponed voting

00:03:40.200 on Saturday for 18 of the 40 districts as the province deals with a rapidly worsening outbreak in

00:03:46.560 Metro St. John's. The election cannot go ahead in the districts, all on the Avalon Peninsula,

00:03:52.640 as COVID-19 cases have caused considerable operational impacts, said Bruce Chalk in a

00:03:59.440 release Thursday afternoon. Many election workers have resigned out of fear of interacting with the

00:04:08.420 public on election day. We cannot hold traditional polls without the support of these people, Chalk said.

00:04:13.000 Got it. So grocery store workers can work every day. Delivery truck workers can work every day. 1.00

00:04:22.200 I'd say nurses could work every day, but as I pointed out, there actually are no virus patients

00:04:27.960 in the entire province's hospitals anywhere. So, you know, I suppose nurses would be ready for it,

00:04:34.180 but there's no one in the hospital. But these government workers who have known about the virus for

00:04:39.880 some time now are having a little pout. And, I don't know, wearing a mask or even a full hazmat suit,

00:04:47.180 that's not good enough for them. Oh, and you'd better believe they're going to be paid in full

00:04:51.760 for playing hooky. What a disgrace. Following Fitzgerald's update last Thursday afternoon,

00:04:59.360 Chalk said in-person voting would be rescheduled in two weeks if public health conditions improve.

00:05:05.720 However, based on the continually increasing COVID cases being reported in the region,

00:05:10.840 there is no guarantee that we will be able to administer in-person voting safely at that time,

00:05:16.500 Chalk said. It will entirely depend on the province's COVID-19 situation.

00:05:21.880 Got it. So the premier's name in Newfoundland now, in case you're wondering, it's Chalk.

00:05:29.320 I've never heard of him before either. He's not on any ballot. He's not the leader of any party.

00:05:33.860 I guess he's the leader of the lockdown party. Because being on a ballot wouldn't even matter,

00:05:38.720 because this Chalk guy, he will determine whether or not the election will even proceed,

00:05:43.400 and how, and if, and when. And he'll let you know if you're lucky.

00:05:47.880 And Trudeau's CBC state broadcaster thinks this is normal.

00:05:53.660 Say, do you think this would work if it were a conservative party in power?

00:05:56.740 Would Stephen Harper have been able to get away with this?

00:05:59.480 And you can be completely sure that Justin Trudeau is taking very, very careful notes, isn't he?

00:06:07.920 And I know from some personal experience that Elections Canada is run by partisan hacks.

00:06:14.080 You might recall they are the people who interrogated me for an hour

00:06:16.900 for publishing a book about Trudeau called The Libranos,

00:06:19.580 and they convicted me because they said it was mean to him.

00:06:22.920 So yeah, completely non-partisan folks there, eh?

00:06:26.000 I'll read a little more.

00:06:27.720 Special ballots extended.

00:06:29.460 Special ballot deadlines are being extended to allow more people to vote by mail,

00:06:33.420 regardless of their district.

00:06:35.600 People can now apply to vote by special ballot until Saturday at 8 p.m. Newfoundland time,

00:06:39.600 the same hour in-person voting wraps up at unaffected polls.

00:06:44.320 People can apply through an Elections Newfoundland online form,

00:06:48.080 or by downloading an application and submitting it either by email or fax.

00:06:52.200 They must also be able to show the necessary identification and proof of address.

00:06:57.360 So just download it online.

00:06:59.900 I mean, I'm sure that won't be abused.

00:07:03.220 I'm sure you won't see, oh, I don't know, liberal organizers

00:07:05.580 going into, let's say, a senior's home and downloading a ballot

00:07:09.780 for a hundred different people

00:07:11.920 and just filling it out for them and harvesting those votes.

00:07:17.480 Hey, I'll take care of that for you.

00:07:19.580 Don't you worry your pretty little head.

00:07:21.080 I'll pop this in the mail for you.

00:07:23.540 You can be sure I will.

00:07:26.200 They've learned it from the Democrats in the United States.

00:07:28.480 They've learned it from Joe Biden.

00:07:30.220 There's no need for dominion voting systems.

00:07:33.740 Mail ballots are where the action is.

00:07:36.240 Just mail it in and just make the change two days before the election.

00:07:41.560 I just want to read one more line or two,

00:07:43.880 which is a testament to how stupid this all is.

00:07:46.080 The pandemic landscape in the province has shifted rapidly,

00:07:50.360 going from a few scattered cases of COVID-19

00:07:52.660 to confirmed community transmission in the St. John's area

00:07:56.300 and Thursday's milestone of the largest single-day confirmed case total of 100,

00:08:01.140 nearly doubling the previous record saying the day before.

00:08:04.020 The soaring caseload has resulted in mass staffing shortages

00:08:08.960 at elections in Newfoundland with dozens of people,

00:08:11.980 many of them elderly,

00:08:13.260 set to work in polls on Saturday,

00:08:14.660 dropping out where others placed into self-isolation and unable to work.

00:08:18.560 One of Chalk's own senior staff is now in isolation.

00:08:21.860 But I say again, there's not a single person in the hospital.

00:08:25.480 You've got 100 new cases of the flu

00:08:28.160 in a province of half a million people.

00:08:32.380 Are you saying all 100 of them are election workers?

00:08:35.500 There's no nursing crisis.

00:08:37.140 There's no beds crisis.

00:08:38.400 There's no hospital.

00:08:39.340 100 new cases out of half a million people.

00:08:42.000 And you're shutting down the election.

00:08:43.700 There is a political crisis sprung on voters two days before the vote

00:08:47.660 with the media party running cover for it.

00:08:49.880 But there's not a health crisis.

00:08:51.900 I'll read a bit more.

00:08:52.640 The power to postpone while Chalk had told CBC News earlier on Thursday

00:08:58.460 he has some power to be able to postpone an election.

00:09:01.380 In the letter, he wrote of his limited ability to do so under legislation.

00:09:05.140 In the letter, he called for Chief Medical Officer of Health,

00:09:07.220 Dr. Janet Fitzgerald, to use her significant and clear powers to act.

00:09:11.300 To conduct a fair election,

00:09:12.720 she must exercise those powers to delay the election, he said in the letter.

00:09:16.560 Got it.

00:09:17.200 So he has the power or she has the power. 0.90

00:09:19.800 Just ask them.

00:09:20.840 Neither of them are lawyers.

00:09:21.840 The CBC asked them.

00:09:23.480 They didn't ask anyone else, it seems.

00:09:25.720 No law professors.

00:09:26.820 No one who might say,

00:09:28.860 we ran Newfoundland's elections during two world wars.

00:09:32.560 We could handle it then.

00:09:34.000 We could handle it now.

00:09:36.380 The conservative leader, Chess Crosby,

00:09:39.760 he's the son of John Crosby,

00:09:41.760 he says he thinks it's unfair

00:09:43.320 that half the ridings in the province will be delayed

00:09:46.500 and have mail-in votes or whatever.

00:09:48.600 And he's right.

00:09:49.080 But then he says this,

00:09:53.360 he tweeted this,

00:09:54.340 delaying the election is the right thing to do.

00:09:57.740 However, the election must be suspended for every electoral district.

00:10:02.280 Anything short of that is an affront to our democracy.

00:10:05.040 Got it.

00:10:06.180 So the election must be delayed to save the election.

00:10:10.220 So you don't even want it half delayed.

00:10:12.860 You want it all delayed.

00:10:14.140 And you're the conservative.

00:10:15.280 Delaying half the election isn't fair,

00:10:17.080 but delaying the whole election is fair.

00:10:19.680 Hey, Chess, I think you're doing this whole democracy thing wrong.

00:10:22.120 I think you're doing the whole opposition thing wrong.

00:10:27.700 But Justin Trudeau and Stephen Gaubeau and Gerald Butz are watching.

00:10:30.900 They're watching the utter lack of pushback.

00:10:33.720 They're watching the state broadcasters smooth the path

00:10:36.280 for the suspensions of democracy.

00:10:40.820 And really, as Justin Trudeau's own dad once said,

00:10:44.180 what are you going to do about it?

00:10:46.280 How far would you go with that?

00:10:47.380 How far would you extend that?

00:10:48.740 Just watch me.

00:10:49.460 Yeah, I'll bet you a dollar that this happens in the spring

00:10:53.700 in the federal election, too.

00:10:56.780 Stay with us for more.

00:11:09.480 Welcome back.

00:11:10.500 Well, they are suspending voting in 17 electoral districts in Newfoundland.

00:11:15.840 This is a decision made not by the premier, not by the legislature,

00:11:20.540 not by a vote or even a regulation approved by the cabinet.

00:11:25.280 It's just an order by the public health officers saying,

00:11:28.480 you know what?

00:11:29.280 We don't need to have in-person voting,

00:11:32.360 even though there is not a single person in all of Newfoundland

00:11:36.580 in the hospital from the virus.

00:11:39.080 Not one.

00:11:39.600 In a province the size of the country of Japan.

00:11:43.920 And I put it to you that the pandemic is no longer about public health.

00:11:49.980 It's about law and power and politicians turning a crisis into an opportunity.

00:11:57.600 But where is the law on the other side?

00:12:00.040 Where is the charter of rights?

00:12:01.580 Since the charter does not have a pandemic exemption clause,

00:12:05.760 even emergency legislation must be done in accordance with the charter.

00:12:11.320 To help us navigate these issues,

00:12:13.740 we turn naturally to our friend Manny Montenegreno,

00:12:17.100 who not only knows politics, but he knows law,

00:12:20.060 having been formerly a very senior boss

00:12:22.740 at one of Canada's largest national law firms.

00:12:25.220 Manny, great to see you again.

00:12:26.740 Thanks for joining us today.

00:12:28.540 Nice to be with you, Ezra.

00:12:29.760 Well, the charter of rights is not absolute.

00:12:33.820 It says in section one that all the freedoms are subject to limits

00:12:38.360 that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

00:12:43.420 So that's sort of wiggle room.

00:12:45.160 It says you can, on certain occasions,

00:12:48.880 infringe our rights if it meets a very high test.

00:12:52.840 Do you think that the infringements on our liberties,

00:12:56.380 that all these lockdown premiers are imposing,

00:12:59.760 do you think they meet that very careful test

00:13:02.400 of section one of the charter of rights?

00:13:05.180 Well, you know, let's start, Ezra, as we always do at the beginning.

00:13:09.220 About a year ago, we faced this new virus.

00:13:13.540 And the language back then, Ezra,

00:13:15.800 is so much different than the language now.

00:13:18.520 And I think back then, the province of Ontario and every other province

00:13:24.240 were starting to look at what they could possibly do

00:13:28.220 with this pandemic and the growth of it.

00:13:31.160 And we started with flattening the curve.

00:13:34.740 And that was a concept that was thrown out by the health experts.

00:13:41.100 And there was only one purpose.

00:13:43.620 And the purpose was really simple.

00:13:45.920 And that is, we cannot have deaths or severely ill people

00:13:51.080 because we cannot attend to them in overcrowded hospitals.

00:13:55.160 And that was simple.

00:13:56.360 And that was understood.

00:13:57.580 And it was a two-week lockdown.

00:13:59.120 That would have met section one of the charter

00:14:03.120 because it's very simple.

00:14:04.920 It's limited in scope.

00:14:06.580 It has a purpose.

00:14:07.680 And the purpose is that you can't have your hospitals under siege

00:14:12.060 like it was in Italy and maybe some other,

00:14:14.760 just a few jurisdictions.

00:14:16.560 And that was, so that would have met the test.

00:14:19.260 But since then, the principle that we stopped

00:14:23.580 and we took away people's rights,

00:14:27.060 which is basically the right to earn a living,

00:14:30.240 the right to have your business for two weeks,

00:14:32.700 we've extended it, extended it,

00:14:34.600 and we moved away from the principle of flattening the curve

00:14:39.280 to other principles.

00:14:42.000 And I think because we moved away from the first principle

00:14:46.200 makes it not fall within the charter anymore,

00:14:50.180 if you can follow my argument.

00:14:52.160 Yeah, well, and the facts have changed.

00:14:55.640 We now know more about this disease.

00:14:58.620 We know it targets the very elderly, 1.00

00:15:01.260 those, and to use the fancy word, that have comorbidities.

00:15:04.260 That means they're very sick from one, two, three additional things.

00:15:09.180 And this, while we're no happier that these people are dying

00:15:13.880 rather than those people,

00:15:14.980 any death is a tragedy.

00:15:17.480 But now we have more information.

00:15:18.940 So we know that in all of Canada,

00:15:21.500 I don't think there's been a single person under 20

00:15:24.960 who's died from the virus.

00:15:26.180 There might have been one.

00:15:27.240 So we know that the risk there is almost zero,

00:15:31.100 whereas the average age of those who have died is over 80.

00:15:36.000 And again, that doesn't make me happy,

00:15:38.620 but it gives us useful information

00:15:40.940 where to focus our policy.

00:15:44.060 And Manny, I would put it to you

00:15:46.480 that that evolution in our understanding of the virus

00:15:49.820 changes the legal formula too,

00:15:53.260 because now locking down a school,

00:15:56.540 locking down a restaurant populated by people

00:15:59.300 in their 20s and 30s,

00:16:00.420 locking down people who are at extremely low risk,

00:16:04.400 it's not quite as demonstrably justifiable anymore, is it?

00:16:08.920 Exactly.

00:16:09.700 Ezra, you've touched on another point.

00:16:12.260 Now let's look at it again.

00:16:14.240 Let's go back in March of last year.

00:16:16.920 WHO and the world was saying

00:16:19.340 that the mortality rate and the infection

00:16:22.160 was going to mean somewards upwards 1.00

00:16:25.240 of maybe 4 to 6 million deaths in America,

00:16:28.860 400,000 to 600 deaths in Canada.

00:16:32.720 That was the best information they had at the time.

00:16:36.400 So Ezra, look at what's happened.

00:16:39.540 We go back in March and they say,

00:16:41.560 look, this is going to be,

00:16:43.920 we don't know how explosive this is going to be.

00:16:47.280 We don't know how many deaths,

00:16:48.780 but we do know that the hospital is under siege.

00:16:51.020 So two things happened back then.

00:16:53.220 When you look at the charter tests,

00:16:54.660 if I were examining the doctors,

00:16:57.420 I'd say, what was your thought a year ago?

00:17:00.780 And the experts were saying,

00:17:03.260 well, we were thinking that maybe

00:17:04.880 three to 400,000 deaths in Canada.

00:17:07.280 Well, that is alarming.

00:17:08.380 Plus, we were thinking that the hospitals

00:17:10.980 would be under siege.

00:17:12.500 So you put those two factors together

00:17:14.680 and then that was the decision for suspending rights.

00:17:19.000 And at that time, I would argue it was a good decision

00:17:22.000 if that was your evidence.

00:17:23.480 If three to 400,000 Canadians were going to die,

00:17:27.340 of course you would shut down for two weeks

00:17:29.840 and see where it's going.

00:17:30.920 Well, the evidence, in fact, two things have happened.

00:17:33.120 Not only has the experts departed from that baseline,

00:17:39.660 the evidence is that deaths certainly for youths,

00:17:43.860 and I have three grandchildren,

00:17:45.900 and deaths under COVID is much less than deaths

00:17:49.960 under the ordinary flu.

00:17:51.680 I have children in their 30s,

00:17:53.520 and deaths for youths are much less than they are.

00:17:56.460 So the good news, if you want to call it with COVID,

00:17:59.620 is it's not as lethal for the young and the infants

00:18:04.040 as the ordinary flu.

00:18:07.040 So, and the other good news is,

00:18:09.820 at least in Ottawa,

00:18:11.040 and I've looked at the numbers in Ontario,

00:18:13.380 the hospitals never exceeded, at least in Ottawa,

00:18:17.140 they never exceeded ICU use of greater than 10%.

00:18:21.320 Maybe it got to 12, 13%.

00:18:23.700 So when I look at what was a test in March,

00:18:28.020 well, it was going to be this disastrous, fast-spreading,

00:18:31.860 and by the way, 800,000 cases in Canada over a year,

00:18:37.140 and over a 38 million population,

00:18:41.000 it's not as fast-spreading as people are saying that it is.

00:18:45.660 So I look at it, what was the test done in March of 2020?

00:18:51.680 And I look at the factors, i.e. death rate,

00:18:55.220 and is much less than what we thought or we were told.

00:18:59.480 And the hospitalization has never peaked.

00:19:03.700 I mean, in Ontario, I think the ICU has got to 20% capacity.

00:19:08.260 We're not at 80 or 90 or 100.

00:19:10.240 So if those were the two factors,

00:19:12.860 then I would ask the experts this question.

00:19:15.720 If cases was an issue, i.e. how many cases,

00:19:18.620 because that's all we're doing now,

00:19:20.160 Ontario has to get under our thought.

00:19:22.280 If that was the issue that restricts people's freedoms,

00:19:26.140 why wasn't that said in March of 2020?

00:19:30.960 The only metric in March of 2020

00:19:33.660 is we don't want people to die in hospitals

00:19:36.360 because they can't have access to healthcare.

00:19:38.340 That has never reached the point anywhere in Canada,

00:19:41.940 perhaps maybe for an hour or two

00:19:43.840 in some downtown Toronto hospital,

00:19:46.320 but never reached that point.

00:19:47.940 So to answer your question in a very short term,

00:19:52.040 I don't set the standards as to where you can trample

00:19:56.440 on rights under Section 1 of the Charter.

00:19:59.280 They did, they said it, and now they must stick to it.

00:20:03.400 Yeah.

00:20:03.940 You know, there's so much to chew over there.

00:20:07.400 I remember in the early days in the United States,

00:20:10.160 there was an impressive gesture by the president,

00:20:13.560 Donald Trump at the time.

00:20:15.120 He sent one of those Navy hospital ships to LA

00:20:19.720 and one to New York City as overflow.

00:20:23.320 So they would empty out the hospitals

00:20:26.020 with people who could be taken care of

00:20:28.280 in those hospital ships.

00:20:29.680 Like these are massive hospital ships,

00:20:31.520 hundreds of rooms, Navy surgeons.

00:20:36.280 So they were never even used.

00:20:39.180 Right.

00:20:39.440 And in Ottawa, the same things happen.

00:20:42.180 I have my mother-in-law that's in the hospital, 0.86

00:20:45.140 so we visit her.

00:20:46.120 My wife visits her daily.

00:20:47.720 I drop her off.

00:20:48.640 In Ottawa, they built a pop-up emergency wing

00:20:54.580 for emergency cases.

00:20:57.380 Now, that's been up and running.

00:21:00.060 I don't know.

00:21:01.000 I can't get information on what capacity

00:21:02.980 that's been used at.

00:21:04.040 All I can see is from the Ottawa Public Health

00:21:06.240 that we've had in COVID cases,

00:21:08.860 I see use of six to about 11 beds.

00:21:12.740 Of the 110 that we already have,

00:21:15.580 plus we already popped up about 50 or 60 of them.

00:21:18.360 So I don't see us anywhere near that.

00:21:21.180 I don't get where we can continue

00:21:25.460 to take away people's right to earn a living,

00:21:29.120 people to enjoy their lives,

00:21:31.180 their fundamental freedoms.

00:21:32.980 And I don't see where the evidence

00:21:35.200 as set out in March of 2020 is.

00:21:38.640 Well, let me ask you this,

00:21:39.720 because to go to court,

00:21:44.260 you need standing.

00:21:45.960 You need to be able to say to the judge,

00:21:47.740 here's why I have a right to your time.

00:21:50.620 Here's why you as a judge

00:21:52.280 should be seized with this matter.

00:21:54.180 And here's what gives you the power

00:21:55.680 to issue an order of some sort

00:21:58.100 of judgment of this sort.

00:21:59.340 So you can't just be a busy body

00:22:01.220 or an officious intermeddler.

00:22:04.180 You have to have skin in the game,

00:22:05.680 I think is what they say in common parlance.

00:22:08.500 So who would be able to go to court

00:22:12.760 and say, Your Honor,

00:22:14.500 they sold us a pig in a poke.

00:22:17.320 They sold us,

00:22:18.780 they said two weeks to flatten the curve.

00:22:20.900 They said it's a crisis,

00:22:22.520 but now we see it's something different.

00:22:25.060 But the lockdown's stricter than ever.

00:22:26.960 Who could go to court and not be thrown out?

00:22:29.260 Well, Ezra, I think the problem

00:22:32.620 with that application of the law

00:22:36.240 is everyone that had their rights breached

00:22:40.080 all thought it was very temporary.

00:22:43.820 So why would anyone make an application

00:22:46.760 to the court, let's say in May,

00:22:48.900 when they were loosening,

00:22:50.220 and you know what,

00:22:50.860 we're going to go back to normal.

00:22:52.300 No one had thought that their rights

00:22:54.240 would be trampled on for now,

00:22:55.720 close to a year.

00:22:56.460 That's why no application was made.

00:22:59.080 I mean, if somebody came to my office

00:23:01.220 in May and I said,

00:23:02.360 You know what?

00:23:02.940 This is going to be over.

00:23:04.260 The government's figured it out

00:23:05.740 and so on.

00:23:06.520 Well, so no.

00:23:07.720 But I think what I think

00:23:09.480 might be available,

00:23:12.160 and you know, Ezra,

00:23:13.840 I know people that,

00:23:16.180 I know of a few

00:23:17.960 that have committed suicide

00:23:18.960 because they lost their businesses.

00:23:21.080 Okay?

00:23:21.160 I know many that are struggling

00:23:23.920 because they lost their businesses.

00:23:26.320 I think that there is an actionable right,

00:23:29.840 perhaps a class action,

00:23:31.280 after all this is said and done,

00:23:33.580 for damages for people

00:23:35.500 that were deprived,

00:23:39.220 A, their fundamental right to work,

00:23:40.960 their fundamental freedoms,

00:23:42.500 based on science that kept changing.

00:23:46.480 So I think that's where the remedy is,

00:23:49.920 if these people can hold on.

00:23:52.180 And let me be clear.

00:23:54.020 I mean, in Ontario,

00:23:55.200 I don't get it,

00:23:56.660 but we were under,

00:23:59.040 Ontario created,

00:24:00.720 it took seven or eight months

00:24:02.340 to create a detailed colour code system,

00:24:07.080 as you know,

00:24:07.520 from green to yellow to orange

00:24:09.240 to red to grey.

00:24:10.340 And it took forever

00:24:12.000 because people were saying,

00:24:13.500 we want certainty.

00:24:14.480 We will,

00:24:15.000 businesses were saying,

00:24:15.920 we want certainty.

00:24:16.960 We will apply with what the law is,

00:24:18.540 but tell us what the certainty is.

00:24:20.700 And that's fundamental to a democracy,

00:24:23.680 is government has to tell you

00:24:25.120 exactly what you can or cannot do,

00:24:28.660 failing which,

00:24:30.240 you have the right to do whatever you want

00:24:31.680 because you're a free person.

00:24:33.000 So finally we got that.

00:24:34.620 That was abandoned

00:24:35.680 a month after it was created,

00:24:37.620 for some reason.

00:24:38.640 And now, as you know,

00:24:39.920 in Ontario,

00:24:41.100 the Premier has lifted

00:24:43.460 the stay-at-home order

00:24:45.580 and three jurisdictions

00:24:47.600 are in green.

00:24:49.880 Now, if I were a resident

00:24:52.220 or an owner of a business

00:24:54.340 and I'd say,

00:24:55.460 wait a minute,

00:24:56.360 how do we go from shutdown

00:24:57.880 all the way to green,

00:25:00.040 passing by six or five levels?

00:25:03.380 I mean, clearly you acted too late.

00:25:05.540 You should have put us in red,

00:25:07.660 orange and so on.

00:25:08.640 We can't be,

00:25:09.600 and I understand Ottawa's

00:25:11.280 going to go to orange.

00:25:12.460 So all these businesses

00:25:13.740 that could have otherwise been open

00:25:15.300 and the government took so long,

00:25:17.500 do they have an actionable right

00:25:19.120 saying, wait a minute,

00:25:20.200 they can't wait for the last minute

00:25:22.360 to give us back the right to do it?

00:25:24.500 So I think there's evidence there.

00:25:27.220 Well, I'm not very familiar

00:25:28.440 with class action lawsuits.

00:25:30.800 I know historically

00:25:31.800 that's been more an American thing,

00:25:33.360 but it is an active practice

00:25:34.840 in Canada these days.

00:25:37.460 And again,

00:25:38.800 I don't have personal experience with it,

00:25:41.420 but my understanding is that

00:25:42.860 those lawyers are aggressive,

00:25:45.860 risk-oriented,

00:25:47.480 often willing to finance

00:25:49.000 complicated, long litigation.

00:25:51.820 Because if they're going for a class,

00:25:54.980 you know,

00:25:55.140 they're not going to try

00:25:56.340 and collect a hundred bucks

00:25:58.300 from 10,000 different clients.

00:26:00.680 So they have financing in place.

00:26:02.480 They have teams in place.

00:26:04.340 They have law firms

00:26:05.200 that are patient with them.

00:26:07.140 And from what I understand,

00:26:09.720 they're some of the most

00:26:10.420 aggressive litigators.

00:26:12.160 So they're tough guys.

00:26:13.600 They're soldiers of fortune.

00:26:15.480 They're mercenaries

00:26:16.120 in the best meaning of that word.

00:26:17.600 So my question to you is,

00:26:19.860 where are they?

00:26:20.700 The legal profession

00:26:22.980 sometimes gets a bad rap.

00:26:25.160 People call lawyers

00:26:25.980 ambulance changers, sharks.

00:26:28.360 They say all these epithets

00:26:30.960 referring to the aggressiveness

00:26:33.420 of lawyers.

00:26:34.700 So where are the aggressive lawyers?

00:26:36.940 Where are the mercenaries now

00:26:38.680 when we need them?

00:26:40.040 You know,

00:26:40.720 that's a great question.

00:26:42.400 I'm in shock

00:26:43.360 that there hasn't been

00:26:45.460 a body of people

00:26:48.800 getting together,

00:26:50.280 hiring a lawyer

00:26:50.980 to advance a claim.

00:26:53.380 I mean,

00:26:53.860 listen,

00:26:55.020 it's tough.

00:26:55.860 But if you look at it

00:26:56.820 and you say,

00:26:57.900 you know,

00:26:59.380 there are about 50 jurisdictions.

00:27:01.160 You can go to 100 jurisdictions

00:27:03.000 around the world.

00:27:04.020 The virus is the same

00:27:05.100 around the world.

00:27:05.720 California opened up

00:27:07.740 with cases

00:27:09.260 10 times,

00:27:10.840 deaths 10 times

00:27:12.240 that of Ontario.

00:27:13.740 Now, of course,

00:27:14.320 they're following the science.

00:27:16.000 You know,

00:27:16.520 Florida has been open up

00:27:18.020 since September.

00:27:18.800 Of course,

00:27:19.220 they're following the science.

00:27:20.660 Everyone's following the science,

00:27:22.340 but everyone's doing

00:27:23.100 something different.

00:27:23.780 So it's not science,

00:27:24.680 it's politics.

00:27:25.600 And I think

00:27:26.280 I would start

00:27:27.600 with the premise

00:27:28.300 that when you take away

00:27:30.300 someone's liberties,

00:27:31.780 you have to do it

00:27:33.500 in the most extreme,

00:27:35.640 cautious measures,

00:27:36.580 and you've got to return

00:27:37.600 to liberties

00:27:38.220 as soon as you can.

00:27:39.900 You know,

00:27:40.080 when this started,

00:27:41.660 I was kind of dumbfounded.

00:27:43.700 Why are they doing

00:27:44.900 a 28-day?

00:27:46.720 Why not just make a decision

00:27:48.420 every day

00:27:49.300 or every two days

00:27:50.240 so you can return

00:27:51.580 to liberties

00:27:52.200 as fast as you can?

00:27:53.380 That's what didn't happen.

00:27:55.600 So there is a lot

00:27:57.140 of evidence out there

00:27:58.440 and a lot of conflicting science.

00:28:00.820 I mean,

00:28:00.960 if you look at

00:28:01.960 just North America,

00:28:03.700 maybe a hundred jurisdictions

00:28:05.400 that all dealt with it,

00:28:07.260 they all dealt

00:28:08.180 with it differently.

00:28:09.820 And as you put it

00:28:10.980 at the beginning

00:28:11.540 of your model,

00:28:12.520 here's Newfoundland,

00:28:13.740 doesn't have a person

00:28:14.980 in the hospital

00:28:16.060 and they're going

00:28:16.980 into crazy shutdown

00:28:18.340 and crazy manipulation

00:28:20.780 of people's rights.

00:28:22.260 And there isn't

00:28:22.920 a person in the hospital

00:28:23.780 and we started

00:28:24.720 this whole adventure

00:28:25.960 to prevent people

00:28:27.400 from being

00:28:28.440 overcapacity

00:28:30.440 in a hospital.

00:28:31.360 So where's the sense

00:28:32.740 of it now?

00:28:33.620 And I think,

00:28:35.400 you know,

00:28:35.640 Ezra,

00:28:35.960 you asked,

00:28:36.760 in the year 2000,

00:28:39.020 the City of Ottawa

00:28:40.900 brought forward

00:28:41.820 a bylaw,

00:28:42.800 which was a great bylaw.

00:28:44.220 It was a smoking,

00:28:45.120 anti-smoking bylaw

00:28:46.120 in bars and so on.

00:28:48.480 And we,

00:28:49.080 I was on the side

00:28:50.000 of the City of Ottawa

00:28:50.920 and we were defending it.

00:28:52.100 I was,

00:28:53.480 you must,

00:28:54.340 I admired

00:28:55.460 every bar

00:28:57.340 and restaurant

00:28:58.020 got together.

00:28:59.780 They got

00:29:01.140 hundreds of thousands

00:29:02.340 of dollars

00:29:02.940 and they created

00:29:04.160 a claim

00:29:05.480 against the city

00:29:06.520 to stop

00:29:07.140 what we were doing.

00:29:09.380 And,

00:29:09.520 and boy,

00:29:10.420 has things changed

00:29:11.380 in 20 years.

00:29:12.580 I mean,

00:29:12.820 that was,

00:29:13.340 that was good law.

00:29:14.780 I mean,

00:29:15.080 the bylaw,

00:29:15.580 of course,

00:29:15.880 passed.

00:29:16.280 It was based on health.

00:29:17.740 People are dying

00:29:18.340 of cancer.

00:29:18.880 You don't need

00:29:19.660 to smoke inside.

00:29:20.620 But they were

00:29:21.200 fundamentally upset

00:29:22.400 that they were,

00:29:23.160 had the rights

00:29:23.720 being restricted

00:29:24.420 by government.

00:29:25.640 But here now,

00:29:26.740 they're being shut down

00:29:27.960 totally.

00:29:28.980 They can't even work

00:29:30.480 and no one's advancing

00:29:31.900 a claim similar

00:29:32.680 as they did

00:29:33.120 in 2000.

00:29:33.820 I have no,

00:29:34.480 I have one explanation.

00:29:36.420 I think social media

00:29:37.800 has destroyed

00:29:38.820 the liberties

00:29:39.640 of Canadians.

00:29:41.440 People are afraid

00:29:42.760 to speak

00:29:43.760 about liberty

00:29:44.460 because they will,

00:29:46.160 their business

00:29:46.760 will be destroyed

00:29:47.920 on,

00:29:48.700 on Twitter,

00:29:49.740 on Facebook

00:29:50.460 saying,

00:29:50.940 oh,

00:29:51.120 look at this.

00:29:51.900 You just worried

00:29:52.720 about your business.

00:29:53.560 You want to die.

00:29:54.560 So instead of fighting

00:29:56.200 for the rights,

00:29:57.400 fighting to keep

00:29:58.120 their business open,

00:29:59.160 people are saying,

00:29:59.740 you know what?

00:30:00.240 I don't want to get

00:30:01.080 a bad yelp with you.

00:30:02.300 I don't want something

00:30:03.120 negative to happen.

00:30:04.060 I better stay silent.

00:30:05.140 And that silence

00:30:06.300 is killing,

00:30:07.500 and I mean,

00:30:08.300 literally killing

00:30:09.280 business owners.

00:30:10.940 I think that's

00:30:11.640 a fascinating observation.

00:30:12.940 You're right.

00:30:13.360 I mean,

00:30:13.500 I many years ago

00:30:15.620 was involved

00:30:16.780 in some of those battles,

00:30:17.880 and I know

00:30:18.780 the amount of lawyering

00:30:20.160 and fundraising

00:30:21.180 to protect

00:30:22.780 those smaller freedoms.

00:30:24.360 Now they have

00:30:25.160 total annihilation

00:30:26.720 of the industry.

00:30:28.220 And you know what?

00:30:28.840 I used to fly

00:30:30.000 a fair bit, Manny,

00:30:30.980 and now it's impractical

00:30:33.280 to fly outside of Canada.

00:30:35.220 Even domestically,

00:30:36.200 they're talking about

00:30:37.160 bringing in restrictions.

00:30:38.860 Air Canada's

00:30:39.420 being devastated

00:30:40.200 over a thousand

00:30:41.220 new layoffs.

00:30:42.280 It breaks my heart

00:30:43.180 so many of these

00:30:43.940 folks are not

00:30:45.300 coming back.

00:30:46.200 Like, it will take

00:30:47.440 decades to rebuild

00:30:48.780 some of these industries,

00:30:49.860 and a lot of restaurants

00:30:50.920 just will never

00:30:51.820 come back.

00:30:53.000 You talk about

00:30:54.520 pressure on social media.

00:30:56.440 I think there's

00:30:56.860 one more kind of pressure,

00:30:58.200 and it's peer pressure.

00:30:59.740 Judges are,

00:31:01.460 in many ways,

00:31:02.260 at the top of society.

00:31:04.120 Their income,

00:31:05.360 their age,

00:31:06.460 their experience,

00:31:07.480 they were appointed there

00:31:08.680 by a politician,

00:31:10.260 so they're connected.

00:31:11.040 They're really

00:31:11.840 at the elite level

00:31:13.580 of society.

00:31:14.820 And everyone

00:31:15.420 at the elite level

00:31:16.340 of society

00:31:16.980 seems to be unanimous

00:31:19.440 that these lockdowns

00:31:20.660 are great.

00:31:21.100 The media,

00:31:21.980 the politicians,

00:31:23.100 and so for a judge

00:31:24.540 to say,

00:31:26.200 I'm going to be

00:31:26.720 the one person

00:31:27.580 in Canada

00:31:28.220 to say the emperor

00:31:29.320 has no clothes here,

00:31:31.440 even if he could

00:31:32.480 find the legal basis

00:31:33.700 and write a beautiful

00:31:34.820 ruling that is

00:31:35.580 sound legally,

00:31:36.840 he would feel

00:31:39.440 the peer pressure

00:31:40.300 of his fellow judges,

00:31:42.300 of law professors,

00:31:43.600 of politicians.

00:31:44.820 I think it's probably

00:31:45.820 extremely hard

00:31:46.900 for an established,

00:31:47.880 no one's more

00:31:48.400 establishment than a judge.

00:31:49.860 I think it's probably

00:31:50.720 very hard for a judge

00:31:51.780 to say,

00:31:52.220 I'm going to be the one

00:31:53.140 who stinks up the joint

00:31:54.580 and says enough of this.

00:31:55.960 I bet that's why

00:31:56.840 we haven't seen

00:31:57.420 a judge do it yet.

00:31:58.760 No,

00:31:59.400 Ezra,

00:32:00.060 I'm going to defend

00:32:00.640 the judges here.

00:32:01.980 The case hasn't even

00:32:03.060 got before them.

00:32:04.220 Right.

00:32:04.400 You know,

00:32:05.520 I would say that,

00:32:06.720 Ezra,

00:32:06.960 if I saw 12 cases

00:32:09.040 being thrown out.

00:32:10.260 But the few cases

00:32:11.360 that I have seen,

00:32:12.380 and they're in America,

00:32:14.280 there's a Pennsylvania

00:32:15.400 and there's some

00:32:16.760 in Michigan,

00:32:18.180 where judges have said

00:32:19.220 this is unconstitutional.

00:32:20.740 Right.

00:32:21.160 So,

00:32:21.480 I think judges,

00:32:24.500 I mean,

00:32:24.940 at least give them

00:32:25.660 a chance.

00:32:26.240 Right.

00:32:26.960 You're right.

00:32:27.620 Now,

00:32:27.700 there's been a couple

00:32:28.160 in Ontario.

00:32:28.780 I know Hudson's Bay

00:32:29.580 tried,

00:32:30.740 but you're right,

00:32:31.960 it hasn't been a lot.

00:32:32.720 I think we need that.

00:32:33.840 And the other thing,

00:32:36.000 Ezra,

00:32:36.200 is that we,

00:32:37.240 again,

00:32:37.900 we have the brilliance

00:32:39.880 of this pandemic

00:32:41.080 is,

00:32:42.360 you know,

00:32:43.240 we in Canada

00:32:44.340 need,

00:32:45.620 need official opposition.

00:32:48.540 We need,

00:32:49.620 our parliamentary system

00:32:51.000 only works

00:32:52.080 if there's a strong,

00:32:53.960 vigorous opposition.

00:32:55.480 And there isn't any

00:32:56.940 on the federal level

00:32:57.880 and there isn't anything

00:32:58.940 on the federal level.

00:33:00.040 So,

00:33:00.740 here's what we've done,

00:33:02.320 Ezra.

00:33:02.520 We have this,

00:33:03.760 this virus

00:33:05.240 that is basically,

00:33:08.140 can,

00:33:08.640 the governments

00:33:09.160 can do whatever

00:33:10.040 they want with it.

00:33:11.720 There is no official

00:33:12.960 opposition

00:33:13.640 because no one

00:33:15.180 wants to be seen

00:33:15.940 to say,

00:33:16.380 well,

00:33:16.540 I don't want,

00:33:17.400 we need a vigorous

00:33:18.680 discussion.

00:33:19.680 Let the discussion

00:33:20.680 happen,

00:33:21.360 you know,

00:33:22.060 and there's no

00:33:23.260 community

00:33:24.600 they don't want,

00:33:25.500 like,

00:33:25.620 like restaurateurs

00:33:26.520 would rather see

00:33:27.700 their businesses

00:33:28.440 and go bankrupt

00:33:29.680 and I shouldn't

00:33:32.280 say that there

00:33:32.760 are many

00:33:33.020 that are fighting,

00:33:33.980 but when you look

00:33:34.800 at the Canadian

00:33:35.420 Restaurant Association

00:33:36.660 or whoever,

00:33:37.860 those bodies,

00:33:39.000 they should have

00:33:39.500 been fighting

00:33:41.060 hard in May

00:33:42.980 saying,

00:33:43.680 look,

00:33:43.900 we'll do all

00:33:44.640 these preventive

00:33:45.460 measures,

00:33:46.140 but you can't

00:33:46.900 take any more

00:33:47.500 freedoms away.

00:33:48.140 Well,

00:33:48.700 it ended up

00:33:49.780 being these

00:33:50.480 poor people

00:33:51.040 spending tens

00:33:51.740 of thousands

00:33:52.220 of dollars

00:33:52.780 of plexiglass

00:33:53.660 and everything

00:33:54.080 else,

00:33:54.520 and now

00:33:55.020 they're out

00:33:55.500 of business.

00:33:56.400 I mean,

00:33:56.680 it's remarkable

00:33:58.640 and I really

00:33:59.840 do,

00:34:01.040 Ezra,

00:34:01.620 if I were to

00:34:02.540 sit there

00:34:02.900 and look at

00:34:03.320 it,

00:34:03.440 I'd say,

00:34:03.920 you know,

00:34:04.360 60% is social

00:34:05.640 media,

00:34:06.340 people that are

00:34:07.080 wonderfully protected

00:34:08.980 with their salaries

00:34:10.200 that are sitting

00:34:11.020 there going

00:34:11.820 after restaurants

00:34:13.020 that dare to

00:34:13.820 open up

00:34:14.260 or dare to

00:34:14.920 profit

00:34:15.240 or dare to

00:34:15.900 feed their

00:34:16.260 families,

00:34:16.960 and then I'd

00:34:17.680 say the rest

00:34:18.220 of it is

00:34:18.600 that there's

00:34:19.040 no,

00:34:19.700 hey,

00:34:20.060 there was

00:34:20.300 great opposition

00:34:21.080 in America,

00:34:22.240 they certainly

00:34:22.920 made it the

00:34:24.060 case to get

00:34:25.160 rid of Trump,

00:34:26.520 but for some

00:34:27.660 reason there

00:34:28.580 isn't that

00:34:29.500 kind of

00:34:30.120 discussion in

00:34:31.000 Canada.

00:34:31.560 Yeah,

00:34:31.760 very,

00:34:32.360 very strange

00:34:33.120 days we're in.

00:34:33.860 Manny,

00:34:34.360 what a pleasure

00:34:35.000 to have you

00:34:35.480 back on the

00:34:36.520 show,

00:34:36.940 another master

00:34:37.900 class in

00:34:39.080 the intersection

00:34:40.040 of law and

00:34:40.720 politics,

00:34:41.420 as our friends

00:34:42.240 on the left

00:34:42.840 would say,

00:34:43.660 but it really

00:34:44.260 is an education

00:34:45.140 every time.

00:34:45.920 Thank you,

00:34:46.600 my friend,

00:34:47.080 folks,

00:34:47.340 we've been

00:34:47.720 talking with

00:34:48.100 our old

00:34:48.340 friend Manny

00:34:48.700 Montegrino,

00:34:49.460 who's the

00:34:49.800 CEO of

00:34:50.380 ThinkSharp,

00:34:51.200 and boy,

00:34:51.720 does he ever.

00:34:52.560 Great to see

00:34:53.020 you,

00:34:53.140 my friend.

00:34:53.600 We'll have

00:34:53.840 you back

00:34:54.080 any time.

00:34:54.720 All right.

00:34:55.360 Right on.

00:34:56.800 Okay, folks,

00:34:57.440 stay with us.

00:34:58.040 More ahead.

00:35:09.940 Hey, welcome back

00:35:10.660 on my show

00:35:11.040 last night.

00:35:11.540 Ted writes,

00:35:12.100 O'Toole is doing

00:35:13.320 a wonderful job

00:35:14.120 so far at

00:35:15.220 destroying what's

00:35:15.780 left of this

00:35:16.780 conservative party.

00:35:17.820 Yeah, I don't

00:35:18.280 think he wants

00:35:18.660 it to be

00:35:18.940 conservative.

00:35:19.520 I think I've

00:35:20.100 sort of changed

00:35:20.540 my opinion.

00:35:21.440 Yesterday I was

00:35:21.940 thinking it's

00:35:22.240 about rivalry

00:35:22.860 and jealousy.

00:35:24.300 No, I now

00:35:25.080 think he genuinely

00:35:26.160 wants to get rid

00:35:27.120 of anything that

00:35:28.240 smacks of

00:35:28.780 conservatism.

00:35:30.060 He's pushing

00:35:30.780 Jason Kenney

00:35:31.540 aside.

00:35:32.360 He sacked

00:35:32.920 Derek Sloan.

00:35:33.780 He sacked

00:35:34.540 Pierre Polyev.

00:35:35.740 He's renounced

00:35:36.580 us.

00:35:38.060 Anything

00:35:38.420 conservative

00:35:39.000 he's abandoning.

00:35:40.140 He really is

00:35:40.740 making a second

00:35:41.440 liberal party.

00:35:43.400 Joe writes,

00:35:44.380 Pierre Polyev

00:35:44.840 is the only

00:35:45.700 conservative

00:35:46.340 minister worth

00:35:47.120 listening to

00:35:47.820 or following.

00:35:49.140 Pierre Polyev

00:35:49.580 was the only

00:35:50.240 minister left

00:35:50.860 I would consider

00:35:52.100 voting conservative

00:35:53.380 for.

00:35:54.300 Yeah, unfortunately

00:35:54.920 he didn't run

00:35:56.040 for leadership.

00:35:56.680 I wish he had.

00:35:57.440 I think he would

00:35:57.920 have won and I

00:35:58.720 think he would

00:35:59.020 have a real chance.

00:36:01.140 Mark writes,

00:36:02.120 O'Toole is not

00:36:02.940 the right man

00:36:03.480 for the job.

00:36:04.560 You're right,

00:36:05.160 but I think

00:36:06.160 he's going to

00:36:06.420 get slaughtered

00:36:06.980 in this next

00:36:07.420 election.

00:36:07.740 I really think

00:36:08.180 so.

00:36:09.280 Being a nullity,

00:36:10.260 being an echo

00:36:11.520 of the liberal

00:36:12.100 party, that's

00:36:12.720 not going to

00:36:13.500 get conservatives

00:36:14.060 to vote for you

00:36:14.660 so I can get

00:36:15.140 liberals to vote

00:36:15.800 for you either.

00:36:17.620 That's our show

00:36:18.220 for today.

00:36:18.620 Until tomorrow,

00:36:19.540 on behalf of all

00:36:20.200 of us here from

00:36:20.800 Rebel World

00:36:21.220 headquarters,

00:36:21.760 goodnight.

00:36:22.740 Keep fighting for

00:36:23.500 freedom.

00:36:36.420 Good night,

00:36:37.560 goodnight,

00:36:38.520 goodnight,

00:36:43.360 goodnight.

00:36:48.240 Bye.

Rebel News Podcast - February 12, 2021

A Newfoundland bureaucrat suspended voting in their provincial election — and blamed the pandemic

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