Rebel News Podcast - February 12, 2021


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


Episode Stats

Length

36 minutes

Words per Minute

156.92683

Word Count

5,777

Sentence Count

405

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary

A Newfoundland bureaucrat suspended voting in their provincial election, and he blamed the coronavirus pandemic. It's February 11th and this is the Ezra LeVance Show. Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer?


Transcript

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.
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.
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,
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
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,
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.