Rebel News Podcast - Cancel culture returns — Conservative Party demands the Epoch Times be banned any government funding

00:00:00.000 Hello, my rebels. Today, I tell you a terrible story out of Quebec.

00:00:03.460 I translate it from French to English.

00:00:06.100 It's about Aaron O'Toole's MP out there, his heritage critic, as he's called,

00:00:12.000 calling for a newspaper to be defunded, banned, really, canceled culture,

00:00:17.960 for being too conservative.

00:00:21.340 Aaron O'Toole's guy is trying to cancel a newspaper. I'm not even kidding.

00:00:25.440 I'll read you the story.

00:00:26.520 Before I do, let me invite you to become a Rebel News Plus subscriber.

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00:01:11.980 And here's the podcast.

00:01:13.180 Tonight, cancel culture returns. 0.83

00:01:31.220 The Conservative Party demands that the Epoch Times be banned from government funding.

00:01:37.220 It's March 11th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:39.640 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:45.480 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:49.560 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it

00:01:53.040 is because it's my bloody right to do so.

00:02:00.160 I don't really know what Aaron O'Toole stands for.

00:02:02.640 He claims he's against the carbon tax,

00:02:04.400 but he says he's for net zero emissions.

00:02:07.560 He says he's critical of Communist China,

00:02:10.040 but he just hired the former vice president of Huawei Canada,

00:02:14.100 a position that is effectively a Chinese intelligence asset.

00:02:17.880 What does Aaron O'Toole actually believe?

00:02:20.920 Well, I think the answer is cancel culture.

00:02:24.520 It's the only thing he truly seems to commit to with passion.

00:02:28.420 It's the thing he acts on most dramatically.

00:02:32.000 He had Jim Karahelios kicked out of the Conservative Party leadership campaign.

00:02:37.160 He accused Derek Sloan of racism and kicked him out of the party.

00:02:40.900 Derek Sloan is no racist, and neither are his visible minority wife and kids.

00:02:45.980 And then O'Toole sacked Pierre Poliev,

00:02:48.760 widely regarded as the most effective Conservative MP in Parliament,

00:02:52.480 which is probably why he sacked him.

00:02:54.540 Aaron O'Toole needs to be the brightest star in the sky.

00:02:58.600 Justin Trudeau himself couldn't help but notice.

00:03:01.500 What was that?

00:03:03.040 Is he really going to expect us to believe that when I ask him about having the worst vaccination rates,

00:03:09.380 the worst jobless rate, among the highest misery rate during COVID,

00:03:13.140 the best he can do is stand up and read some talking points that were written for him by his bureaucrats?

00:03:19.460 Why can't he show a little bit of contrition for his failures?

00:03:23.600 This Prime Minister has cost the most to achieve the worst results,

00:03:30.120 and what he expects us now to do is to just continue down this failed path.

00:03:36.440 If the Prime Minister wants the confidence of Canadians,

00:03:40.340 will he tell them what will he change to reverse the failures that he has delivered thus far?

00:03:45.840 I think he even tried to cancel us.

00:03:58.300 You might recall that I did an exclusive interview with Aaron O'Toole about my big China scoop a few months back,

00:04:04.000 where I revealed that Canada was actually training Chinese People's Liberation Army troops in cold-weather warfare.

00:04:12.160 O'Toole did an email interview with me, and I thought he came across pretty well in it,

00:04:17.040 but as soon as we published it, the mean girls of Twitter just sputtered, 1.00

00:04:21.620 and then O'Toole immediately capitulated to them.

00:04:24.960 Here's Andrew Coyne, not particularly articulate, just what in the absolute F?

00:04:33.040 Like just sputtering, and that was enough to make Aaron O'Toole panic and cower

00:04:39.900 and try to throw us under the bus and say he would never do another interview with us again.

00:04:44.600 I don't know exactly what was wrong with that.

00:04:47.920 I'll be honest, losing Aaron O'Toole as an interview subject isn't a particularly grievous loss.

00:04:54.340 O'Toole really doesn't have a lot to say,

00:04:58.040 but his willingness to panic and join any outrage mob of the left does say a lot about him.

00:05:05.640 I think it's the one thing he truly believes in.

00:05:08.620 It's the one thing he's good at, throwing people away, casting people out, culling the herd.

00:05:15.740 I'm just not sure how that's going to grow the coalition to win this year's federal election.

00:05:21.180 But what do I know? I don't know.

00:05:22.640 According to the CBC's poll aggregator, which simply blends every public opinion poll out there,

00:05:29.000 if an election were held today, O'Toole would lose more than a dozen MPs.

00:05:34.400 And the liberals would pick up more than a dozen MPs.

00:05:37.960 So I'm not sure if O'Toole's strategy is working.

00:05:41.680 But look at this. It's in French.

00:05:43.960 I came across this by accident.

00:05:45.700 It's in La Presse, which is a left-wing newspaper in Montreal.

00:05:49.120 It takes massive handouts from Trudeau, by the way.

00:05:52.580 It's a leader in that.

00:05:54.340 Here's the story in French, but I'm going to show you the Google Translate version of it,

00:05:58.720 which is pretty good.

00:05:59.940 So I'll read it to you in English.

00:06:03.200 Grant of $455,000, a helping hand from Ottawa for newspaper font of conspiracy theories.

00:06:11.000 Now, what conspiracy theories are they talking about?

00:06:14.680 Is it the grand conspiracy theory unanimously promoted by the Canadian mainstream media for

00:06:19.600 years that Donald Trump didn't actually win the 2016 election and that he was actually a Russian

00:06:24.960 agent? Because that was quite a doozy.

00:06:27.500 And pretty much every Canadian journalist promoted it, and many still do, even though it's been

00:06:32.420 categorically refuted by a team of Democrats led by Robert Mueller after their massive inquiry.

00:06:38.840 Maybe they're talking about a conspiracy theory that came true.

00:06:43.340 I guess there wasn't a conspiracy theory, but a conspiracy fact.

00:06:47.720 Here's a story from October from Trudeau's CBC state broadcaster, saying not to believe

00:06:52.060 reports that Trudeau was setting up mandatory quarantine detention facilities and hotels.

00:06:57.180 That was all disinformation, they said.

00:06:59.300 No truth to it, they said.

00:07:01.260 Yeah, no, it was true.

00:07:02.820 But incredibly, that CBC conspiracy theory story is still online.

00:07:06.940 So is this the press story about the government funding those conspiracy theories?

00:07:15.400 Is that what they're talking about?

00:07:17.580 No.

00:07:18.360 I'll tell you what it's about.

00:07:19.340 Let me read.

00:07:20.440 The Department of Canadian Heritage last March awarded a grant of $455,000 to the Epoch Times,

00:07:26.640 a publication which, according to the majority of experts, has been promoting conspiracy theories

00:07:32.500 for several years, and which has become a forum for the movements of the far right.

00:07:37.780 Well, the Epoch Times, one of the few media outlets that is actually skeptical of communist

00:07:43.460 China, for example.

00:07:44.920 They're the conspiracy theorists.

00:07:47.060 And I love that phrase.

00:07:48.280 The majority of experts say it's been promoting conspiracy theories.

00:07:52.580 Can I see that list of experts?

00:07:55.080 An expert in what?

00:07:56.440 An expert in what's right and wrong, what's reasonable or what's not, there's no expert

00:08:02.500 in charge of that.

00:08:03.380 That's each of us using our own judgment.

00:08:05.980 Who is this list of experts?

00:08:07.940 How many are on it?

00:08:09.020 And how do we know it's a majority?

00:08:10.580 And who is not part of the majority?

00:08:12.780 Who thinks, like, isn't that just a lazy way of a newspaper saying, we know better than

00:08:18.660 you, just trust us.

00:08:19.800 And since you don't trust us, we'll say experts say.

00:08:22.760 But it's really just us couching our own opinions that way.

00:08:27.160 That's called an appeal to authority.

00:08:29.700 You have to believe us because we're important and we're experts.

00:08:33.260 It's a logical fallacy.

00:08:35.880 Let me read some more.

00:08:36.620 The newspaper, which publishes an edition in 36 countries and in 22 languages, received

00:08:41.400 a financial boost from Ottawa through the Canada Periodical Fund on 1st of April 2020,

00:08:46.500 reveals the federal site.

00:08:47.780 Again, I'm just reading from the Google translation here.

00:08:51.040 The grant, which was awarded under a special component to support media affected by the crisis

00:08:55.560 caused by the pandemic, ends March 31st.

00:08:58.780 The newspaper's owner, the Epoch Times Media, also got a second financial boost from Ottawa

00:09:03.200 through the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, according to the Canada Revenue Agency website.

00:09:08.000 But it was impossible to know the extent of this financial assistance, the amount not being

00:09:12.600 disclosed by the CRA.

00:09:14.680 Okay, I got it.

00:09:16.420 Suddenly, La Presse is against media bailouts.

00:09:20.480 Yeah, no, they're not.

00:09:21.400 They were actually amongst the most aggressive in lobbying for media bailouts and special tax

00:09:27.920 treatment from the government.

00:09:28.780 They just don't want people to disagree with them to get the same bailouts.

00:09:34.840 That's all this is.

00:09:35.780 I'll read some more.

00:09:37.140 In the United States, the Epoch Times openly supported former United States President Donald

00:09:41.140 Trump during his years in office, even receiving praise from a former close aide to Mr. Trump,

00:09:46.480 Stephen K.

00:09:47.260 Bannon, who claimed to be impressed by the newspaper's growing influence with right-wingers.

00:09:51.760 Whoa! 0.71

00:09:53.000 They openly supported the president?

00:09:56.120 That's shocking.

00:09:57.000 They should be ashamed to have a political point of view that's different from La Presse,

00:10:02.620 a left-wing newspaper in a left-wing city, in a left-wing province, in the French language,

00:10:07.940 in Canada.

00:10:09.400 I mean, how dare the Epoch Times' American edition support the American president?

00:10:15.540 That's all you got?

00:10:17.800 Founded in 2000 in the United States by Chinese Americans, affiliated with the spiritual movement

00:10:22.900 Falun Gong, or Falun Dafa, the newspaper has been very critical to Chinese people.

00:10:27.000 Communist Party since its inception.

00:10:29.240 Among other things, he accuses her, or it accuses her, this is the translation again,

00:10:33.960 of persecuting members of the spiritual movement in China.

00:10:37.380 Are we still calling the persecution of the Falun Gong just an accusation?

00:10:45.000 La Presse won't acknowledge it?

00:10:47.340 What's going on here?

00:10:48.540 I can't quite tell.

00:10:50.000 Is La Presse saying that the Falun Gong people are not to be trusted, or that they really are

00:10:56.860 not being persecuted by China?

00:10:59.720 This isn't religious bigotry from La Presse, is it?

00:11:02.520 This isn't just Chinese Communist Party talking points from La Presse, is it?

00:11:06.620 Oh, this is my favorite.

00:11:08.740 Last October, the New York Times ran a lengthy report above the newspaper's management,

00:11:13.340 noting that it was one of the promoters of Spygate, a baseless conspiracy theory that

00:11:18.540 Obama administration officials illegally spied on Mr. Trump's campaign in 2016.

00:11:22.700 Yeah, no, that is not a conspiracy theory.

00:11:27.340 That has been incontrovertibly proven true through not only declassified documents, but

00:11:33.960 also by disciplinary measures taken against Obama officials who were involved in the illegal

00:11:40.300 surveillance.

00:11:41.520 That's not a conspiracy theory.

00:11:44.260 Let me read some more.

00:11:45.280 The Epoch Times also relayed other QAnon conspiracy theories on voter fraud and the Black Lives 0.99

00:11:53.920 Matter movement, and during the pandemic, the newspaper focused on the unfounded theory

00:11:58.980 that the coronavirus was engineered in a Chinese military laboratory at the instigation of the 0.97

00:12:03.700 Communist Party of China.

00:12:06.260 Well, there was voter fraud.

00:12:09.420 How much there was is in dispute.

00:12:11.620 I'll grant you that.

00:12:12.500 I'm not sure about a conspiracy theory with the Black Lives Matter movement.

00:12:17.140 I don't know what that is.

00:12:18.840 LaPresse never tells us.

00:12:20.180 I don't know if they know.

00:12:21.500 I've never heard that as part of the QAnon belief system.

00:12:25.180 And I read that Epoch Times story that they mentioned about the theory that the coronavirus

00:12:30.020 came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

00:12:33.640 It absolutely was a theory that the Epoch Times investigated.

00:12:37.360 LaPresse should investigate it too. 0.99

00:12:39.600 Epoch Times was never conclusive about it.

00:12:41.500 There are more questions than answers.

00:12:44.040 But they talked about it like, I guess, LaPresse is doing.

00:12:47.580 So where's the scandal here?

00:12:49.100 I'm still waiting for it.

00:12:51.840 But my point is, instead of trying to defend Epoch Times point by point on these subjects,

00:12:56.380 which is not really my job, I would say to all these questions by LaPresse, so what?

00:13:02.900 So what if the Epoch Times is wrong or right on all these issues?

00:13:07.500 So what?

00:13:08.820 Is the rule now that no newspaper is allowed in Canada if it deviates from the mushy left-wing

00:13:15.820 pro-Trudeau, pro-China crud?

00:13:18.440 The talking points that has reduced Canadian trust in media to an all-time low?

00:13:23.220 Let's say the Epoch Times was wrong on every one of those things I just mentioned.

00:13:27.060 So what?

00:13:29.240 Isn't part of freedom of the press the right to be wrong?

00:13:33.440 Isn't that part of a national discussion, figuring these things out together?

00:13:37.000 Now, I'm not going to read this whole thing in LaPresse.

00:13:39.420 It's pretty embarrassing for LaPresse, to be frank.

00:13:42.320 But look at this comment from Stephen Gilbeau, the heritage minister in charge of the media

00:13:46.640 bailout.

00:13:47.080 The minister of Canadian heritage, Stephen Gilbeau, indicated that, quote,

00:13:52.080 It is undeniable that the past publications of the Epoch Times have conveyed prejudices

00:13:57.560 and reproduced stereotypes against Asian communities, particularly on the Internet.

00:14:02.700 I strongly denounce it.

00:14:04.340 The pandemic has exacerbated the effect of racism and hatred online on racialized communities.

00:14:09.980 We are currently working on a bill that will specifically target hate speech on online platforms.

00:14:14.820 However, he insisted that is not his role as minister, quote,

00:14:19.420 to determine for Canadians what news content and opinions to read or avoid.

00:14:23.280 As a government, our role is to act upstream to prevent, raise awareness, and educate about

00:14:27.880 disinformation.

00:14:30.720 What?

00:14:32.120 This is a picture of Cindy Gu.

00:14:35.360 She's the publisher of the Epoch Times in Canada.

00:14:38.540 You may note, she is ethnically Chinese.

00:14:42.200 I know Cindy a little bit.

00:14:43.300 She speaks with a Chinese accent, so I presume she was born there and is a refugee from there

00:14:49.500 for religious reasons.

00:14:51.500 This is a picture of Stephen Gilbeau.

00:14:54.000 He has white privilege.

00:14:56.020 He was convicted of a crime.

00:14:58.040 And yet he sits in cabinet and calls Cindy Gu and other Chinese Canadians who work for the

00:15:04.240 Epoch Times, he calls them anti-Asian?

00:15:08.680 You can't make this stuff up.

00:15:10.480 That's a conspiracy theory.

00:15:11.940 But at least while he calls Cindy Gu and other Chinese Canadians who work at Epoch Times,

00:15:19.140 while he calls them racist, this mansplaining, whitesplaining, liberal defames her.

00:15:26.400 At least he's not calling for her to be cut off from the government teat.

00:15:29.560 Enter Aaron O'Toole's Conservative MP.

00:15:34.960 Let me read.

00:15:35.920 Conservative MP Alain Reyes said he was outraged that aid was being given to this newspaper when

00:15:43.300 community newspapers were closing their doors.

00:15:45.920 How can the Minister of Canadian Heritage justify giving $455,000 to such a controversial newspaper?

00:15:51.560 I am not questioning the existence of the newspaper, but the fact that the federal government is

00:15:56.040 giving it money.

00:15:56.780 While our community media are dying out is completely, totally unacceptable.

00:16:02.580 So the Liberal Cabinet Minister says he hates the Epoch Times.

00:16:06.340 He calls them names.

00:16:08.260 He mansplains to a woman and whitesplains to an Asian Canadian. 0.65

00:16:13.460 But at the end of the day, he says he will not censor them or shut them down.

00:16:16.540 And the Conservative critic, well, hold my beer, he says.

00:16:23.700 He'll be the censor if the Liberals won't.

00:16:26.420 You heard him.

00:16:27.500 He's outraged that they're receiving any funds like other media are.

00:16:31.460 He wants to punish them, cut them off, demand that the feds cut them off.

00:16:35.640 It's the only newspaper or media outlet Alain Reyes has ever ordered or demanded be cut off

00:16:41.520 from money.

00:16:41.880 Have you ever heard Alain Reyes say that about the CBC, about the press, about the Toronto

00:16:48.360 Star, the National Post, anything that they've been cut off?

00:16:50.460 I spent some time searching online, his Twitter feed, his parliamentary speeches.

00:16:54.960 I couldn't find such a statement in English or French.

00:16:58.200 I have never heard Alain Reyes say that he would cut off the newspaper bailout to all the

00:17:04.720 Liberal media.

00:17:05.700 Have you?

00:17:06.360 I'm open to correction here.

00:17:07.700 If you can dig something up, let me know.

00:17:09.340 I'll read it online.

00:17:10.060 But I cannot find any such thing.

00:17:13.340 The only newspaper in the entire country, the only media company in the entire country

00:17:18.760 that Aaron O'Toole's heritage critic hates so viciously that he wants them cut off and

00:17:25.560 he's furious about it is the Epoch Times because they're controversial.

00:17:31.660 It's totally unacceptable.

00:17:33.500 Even that crackpot convicted criminal Stephen Gilboa won't say that, but Aaron O'Toole's

00:17:40.980 guy will.

00:17:41.540 So yeah, if you were to ask me today to be as honest as I can be, as fair as I can be,

00:17:46.520 and tell you what I really think the core beliefs of Aaron O'Toole's Conservative Party

00:17:51.040 are, I would have to say the thing they are most vocal about, most passionate about, most

00:17:56.580 consistent about, most angry about, most motivated about, is silencing.

00:18:03.240 Silencing people, cancelling people, banning people, deplatforming people, especially it

00:18:09.940 seems, people on the right.

00:18:25.720 Welcome back.

00:18:26.900 Well, it has been well over two years since the two Michaels, Michael Kovrig and Michael

00:18:33.180 Spavor, Canadian citizens in China, were snatched off the street in a retaliation to Canada's

00:18:40.180 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei.

00:18:44.440 And now comes news on a Chinese propaganda website that the two men are headed to trial.

00:18:51.000 Let me quote to you from the editor of Global Times, which of course, like all media in China,

00:18:57.120 is controlled by the Communist Party.

00:18:58.460 The editor says, Canadian nationals Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor were prosecuted by

00:19:04.740 the procuratorates in China for suspected crimes undermining China's national security in June

00:19:11.960 2020.

00:19:13.500 Source told me China's judicial department will conduct the first trial over these two cases

00:19:19.300 soon.

00:19:20.560 So it sounds like there was a preliminary trial last summer, and now comes the main event,

00:19:26.740 of course, the Chinese judicial system is not independent.

00:19:30.260 The result is known in advance.

00:19:32.680 Joining us now via Skype to talk about this is perhaps North America's leading expert on

00:19:37.480 China, democracy, and North America-China relations, our friend Gordon G. Chang, who you can follow

00:19:43.440 on Twitter at Gordon G. Chang.

00:19:46.580 Gordon, great to see you again.

00:19:48.200 What do you make of this statement by Hu Xijin?

00:19:51.080 Obviously, it's just information the Chinese Communist Party wants to deliver to the West. 0.70

00:19:58.020 Yes, and I think this is basically China's regime trying to put more pressure on your

00:20:03.220 prime minister, Justin Trudeau.

00:20:05.920 The thing the Chinese are doing is dragging this out, because they know that if they actually were 1.00

00:20:11.260 to sentence both of these guys, that that would sort of remove some of their leverage over Canada.

00:20:17.980 So they're just drawing it out, hoping that they can use this to free Meng Wanzhou, the

00:20:23.160 Huawei Technologies chief financial officer, who is now under house arrest in Vancouver.

00:20:29.140 Right.

00:20:29.940 Well, there was a point in time where the Chinese truly thought Xi would be released from prison.

00:20:35.220 I understand they actually chartered a jet and were ready to go into celebration mode.

00:20:40.280 Perhaps they thought that our judiciary in Canada was also under the thumb of politicians or bureaucrats

00:20:47.760 or diplomats.

00:20:48.840 The fact that they sent a plane, they must have been stunned that it didn't go their way.

00:20:55.620 I agree with your analysis, though.

00:20:57.900 It's like a hostage.

00:20:59.460 I hate to use that metaphor, but the moment, God forbid, you kill a hostage, you've lost your

00:21:04.740 leverage.

00:21:05.100 That's sort of what dragging this out is, right?

00:21:07.560 It keeps things in play.

00:21:10.980 Is that your point?

00:21:12.820 Yes.

00:21:13.440 And we've also got to remember that a government grabbing innocent people and holding them as

00:21:19.120 hostages is pretty much a crime against humanity.

00:21:23.040 So we've got to understand the gravity of what China is doing.

00:21:27.080 Now, China commits all sorts of human rights abuses.

00:21:29.920 And what it's really saying in this case is that it believes that Canada doesn't have free

00:21:35.400 will, that it can push Canada around by grabbing the two Michaels.

00:21:39.820 And Justin Trudeau, unfortunately, hasn't done very much to disabuse the guys in Beijing of

00:21:45.320 that notion.

00:21:46.360 Yeah.

00:21:46.720 Well, recently, there was a vote in Canada's parliament as to whether or not China's treatment

00:21:52.400 of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang province was a genocide.

00:21:56.400 And the entire cabinet just simply did not show up to vote.

00:22:02.800 One single cabinet minister showed up and voted to abstain.

00:22:07.380 Justin Trudeau, the foreign minister, they just didn't show their faces.

00:22:11.860 So it passed by every non-cabinet minister.

00:22:15.760 I found that perplexing.

00:22:17.360 Either Trudeau thinks it's a genocide or doesn't, but he wouldn't even show up.

00:22:22.420 That seemed like a sign of weakness and indecisiveness to me.

00:22:27.800 I don't know how that would be read by Beijing.

00:22:30.440 Maybe it was read as a great victory by Beijing since they saw that Trudeau wasn't willing to

00:22:36.280 speak plainly on the subject.

00:22:39.080 Yes, this was a test of political will.

00:22:41.500 And Justin Trudeau obviously failed it.

00:22:44.180 And I'm sure that's the way Beijing saw this, that they've got a lot of people in parliament

00:22:49.980 who don't like them, but they don't really care because they believe that when push comes

00:22:54.320 to shove, that they can get Justin Trudeau to do what they want.

00:22:58.560 And I think that what we're seeing right now is Canada is going to go through some very

00:23:03.780 difficult times because Beijing is just generally arrogant.

00:23:07.760 But it's especially arrogant when it comes to your government.

00:23:10.820 Let me ask you about the United States, because over the years, you and I have talked a lot

00:23:15.940 about Donald Trump's China policy, which was very forceful and had a strong point of view.

00:23:22.460 And, you know, we could have quarreled with different aspects or the speed of it or, but

00:23:27.140 generally, I think Trump was the first president to really take on China in decades.

00:23:32.540 Can you give us a 50-day report?

00:23:36.120 I think Joe Biden's been president for about 50 days, long enough that we can see the contours

00:23:42.780 of his China policy.

00:23:44.580 Can you give us a quick review of the first 50 days?

00:23:48.760 Well, that would be a quick review of his slew of executive orders, because many of them

00:23:53.400 either propagated China's narratives, like his one on January 26th on xenophobia, or more

00:24:00.140 important, they also took down protections that President Trump put in place.

00:24:04.900 The one that I think that is just indefensible in the part of President Biden was that on

00:24:10.600 January 20th, just a few hours after taking the oath of office, he repealed President Trump's

00:24:16.280 May 2020 executive order.

00:24:18.860 And President Trump's order prohibited utilities and grid operators from purchasing equipment

00:24:24.680 from China, which could be compromised and sabotaged.

00:24:27.980 And we know from what happened in Texas during the winter storm, what happens when a grid is

00:24:33.060 not resilient.

00:24:33.640 Also, there's been reporting that China turned off the lights in India's Mumbai in October

00:24:39.940 of last year, which means that President Trump was thinking about things which were not just

00:24:45.700 theoretical, that China was actually doing this stuff.

00:24:49.520 So we've got to be concerned that Biden's instincts on China are all wrong.

00:24:54.120 And of course, by the way, his national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, his secretary of state,

00:24:59.580 Tony Blinken, are going to meet their Chinese counterparts in Alaska on the 18th of this

00:25:05.280 month.

00:25:05.880 We'll know a lot more after that meeting.

00:25:07.640 Hmm.

00:25:08.140 You know, I recall Susan Rice, who was Barack Obama's security advisor.

00:25:14.680 She did an interview with Canadian media where she warned against Huawei.

00:25:20.120 I was in quite firm language.

00:25:22.120 Here, we'll play a quick clip of that.

00:25:23.800 What is the security risk to Canada if it does business with Huawei while the United States

00:25:29.700 does not?

00:25:30.700 It's hard for me to emphasize adequately, without getting into classified terrain, how serious

00:25:43.140 it is, particularly for countries that are part of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network

00:25:49.320 with the United States, so the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., for those countries

00:25:56.340 in particular to be reliant on Huawei technology.

00:26:00.560 It gives the Chinese the ability, if they choose to use it, to access all kinds of information,

00:26:10.820 civilian intelligence, military, that could be very, very compromising.

00:26:15.740 So I, much as I disagree with the Trump administration on a number of things, on this, their concern

00:26:21.420 about Huawei, I believe they're right.

00:26:24.080 And I believe they've handled it badly.

00:26:26.260 There's all kinds of ways that they're doing things around this issue which are unhelpful.

00:26:32.260 But on the very specific concern about Huawei, I think it's frankly quite justified.

00:26:37.140 In terms of the relationship between Canada and the United States and the rest of the Five

00:26:40.620 Eyes, if Canada does business with Huawei in the future, as a matter of protection, would

00:26:47.660 the United States have to have a slightly different security relationship with Canada?

00:26:51.140 Yes.

00:26:52.140 And that will throw the Five Eyes collaboration, which serves the security interests of every

00:26:58.580 Canadian and every American, into jeopardy. 0.89

00:27:03.300 We just, it can't be done.

00:27:05.620 Can't share.

00:27:06.620 I don't see how we can share in the way we have.

00:27:09.260 It's not a joke.

00:27:10.900 It's truly serious.

00:27:11.900 So that's a leading Democrat thinking about security and foreign affairs.

00:27:17.860 I thought, I was a little bit startled by that, frankly, Gordon, because, you know, Barack

00:27:22.500 Obama was not known for a hardline foreign policy, but there it was.

00:27:26.300 Do you think, where do, which is the new Joe Biden?

00:27:30.620 Because she was the national security boss when Biden was VP.

00:27:35.540 Has Biden changed from when he was VP?

00:27:38.120 Is he more pro-China?

00:27:40.080 Can we expect a change from the Obama years?

00:27:43.620 I think we'll see a change, Ezra.

00:27:46.060 And the reason is that it's not so much that Biden has changed.

00:27:49.680 I actually don't think that he has.

00:27:51.320 But it's the Chinese that have changed. 1.00

00:27:53.320 They've become much more obviously hostile and provocative.

00:27:56.820 And that means, as a political matter, Biden's going to have to respond to that.

00:28:01.520 We got a very sort of disturbing view into Biden's state of mind on China in that CNN

00:28:07.520 town hall with Anderson Cooper when Anderson Cooper just asked him about China's human rights

00:28:14.080 abuses.

00:28:14.560 And what we got from Biden was, this was just after the oath of office, what we got from

00:28:22.320 Biden was essentially, oh, well, you know, these crimes against humanity, this genocide,

00:28:26.860 it's just a result of China's different cultural norms.

00:28:30.860 We've got a clip of that here.

00:28:31.980 Let's just play that really quickly to refresh our viewers' memory.

00:28:35.020 It was quite startling.

00:28:35.780 Take a look.

00:28:36.180 You know, Chinese leaders, if you know anything about Chinese history, it has always been the

00:28:42.260 time when China has been victimized by the outer world is when they haven't been unified

00:28:48.300 at home.

00:28:49.600 So the central, to vastly overstate it, the central principle of Xi Jinping is that there must be

00:28:57.360 a united, tightly controlled China.

00:29:00.060 And he uses his rationale for the things he does based on that.

00:29:03.960 I point out to him, no American president can be sustained as a president if he doesn't

00:29:09.040 reflect the values of the United States.

00:29:11.460 And so the idea, I'm not going to speak out against what he's doing in Hong Kong, what

00:29:17.120 he's doing with the Uyghurs in western mountains of China and Taiwan trying to end the one China 1.00

00:29:24.840 policy by making it forceful.

00:29:27.420 I said, and by the way, he said he gets it.

00:29:30.880 And culturally, there are different norms in each country, and their leaders are expected

00:29:36.820 to follow.

00:29:37.740 That was quite a startling statement.

00:29:39.100 And I noticed that the CNN didn't follow up on it.

00:29:41.520 I really wish they had.

00:29:43.500 Last question for you, and I really appreciate your time.

00:29:45.720 I know you've got so many things on your day, so we're grateful to grab you for a few

00:29:49.640 minutes.

00:29:49.900 One thing about Donald Trump, like him or hate him, the guy had an energy.

00:29:55.860 He liked to use that phrase, high energy.

00:29:57.960 He was very engaged.

00:29:59.220 He would sometimes do a press conference for more than an hour.

00:30:02.540 Joe Biden seems more frail.

00:30:04.900 He hasn't done a press conference since becoming president.

00:30:07.660 Some people wonder about his stamina and even, frankly, his mental state.

00:30:10.980 Um, I sometimes wonder if Joe Biden is the key decider on these things.

00:30:18.140 And, you know, I don't know any unknown details about his health.

00:30:23.240 It's just what I see.

00:30:24.500 Who do you think, other than Joe Biden, is the center of the action when it comes to foreign

00:30:30.560 affairs?

00:30:31.020 Do you think it's the chief of staff?

00:30:32.860 Do you think it's the secretary of state?

00:30:35.000 I frankly doubt it's Joe Biden.

00:30:37.880 Who would it be if it's not him?

00:30:40.980 I don't know, Ezra, but if I had to take a guess, I'd say Jill Biden, his wife.

00:30:46.700 She seems to me to be like a Nancy Reagan.

00:30:49.940 And so, um, I was looked for, I'd look to her to basically being the, um, an important

00:30:56.780 influencer.

00:30:57.720 Also, she's the protector of him.

00:30:59.540 Um, because as you point out, uh, there are questions about his mental, um, acuity and

00:31:05.600 other things.

00:31:06.060 And I think she's probably the one who could very well be influential in getting,

00:31:10.700 uh, her husband to do or not do things.

00:31:13.840 You know, that is a very keen observation.

00:31:15.540 And we see that she accompanies him sometimes into journalistic interviews.

00:31:20.160 And I think you're, I think you've nailed it.

00:31:22.780 I think that's spot on.

00:31:23.780 Well, listen, Gordon, it's great to catch up with you again.

00:31:25.760 Once again, folks, if you are not following Gordon on Twitter, you're doing it wrong.

00:31:29.480 You got to go there right now.

00:31:30.860 Go to Gordon G Chang, follow him on Twitter.

00:31:34.260 You will learn more about China and China-Canada relations, China-America relations than from

00:31:39.800 any other source.

00:31:41.160 And as you can see, he's a great communicator and a great friend of ours.

00:31:44.100 Thanks, my friend.

00:31:44.780 Good luck out there.

00:31:45.380 Talk to you again soon.

00:31:47.180 Thanks, Ezra.

00:31:47.800 All right.

00:31:48.120 There you have it.

00:31:48.580 Gordon Chang.

00:31:49.320 Stay with us.

00:31:49.920 More ahead.

00:31:50.320 Well, it's great to be back.

00:32:03.280 Thank you to my friends, Kian and David, for holding the fort while I was away.

00:32:08.180 I'll be back here for a while.

00:32:09.520 I just had to go out to Edmonton for, believe it or not, an old legal matter hanging over

00:32:14.900 from the Sun News Network seven years ago.

00:32:17.700 So I was out of town for a few days.

00:32:19.340 It's good to be back.

00:32:20.640 And thanks for watching.

00:32:22.360 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home,

00:32:26.280 good night and keep fighting for freedom.

00:32:28.140 We'll see you next time.

00:32:28.500 What a good start.

00:32:30.560 We'll see you next time.

00:32:33.520 Thank you.

00:32:34.240 We'll see you next time.

00:32:34.620 We'll see you next time.

00:32:36.100 We'll see you next time.

00:32:36.600 We'll see you next time.

00:32:38.100 We'll see you next time.

00:32:38.400 We'll be right back.

Rebel News Podcast - March 12, 2021

Cancel culture returns — Conservative Party demands the Epoch Times be banned any government funding

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