Rebel News Podcast - China's tight control over technology hits Canada as WeChat's messaging app censorship goes international

00:00:00.000 Hello, my Rebels. Today's podcast is about Chinese censorship that is happening here in Canada.

00:00:06.020 They're not just censoring Chinese people in China. They're censoring people here in Canada,

00:00:11.620 too. I'll prove it to you. Hey, before I do, can you consider becoming a premium subscriber of

00:00:17.740 The Rebel? Just go to premium.rebelnews.com, and it's eight bucks a month. And you get the video

00:00:23.440 version of the show, and you get access to other shows, too, by Sheila Gunn-Reed and David Menzies.

00:00:27.500 That's premium.rebelnews.com. Okay, here's the podcast.

00:00:46.960 Tonight, China starts to censor Canadians right here in Canada. Does anyone even care?

00:00:53.380 It's December 5th, and this is The Ezra Levant Show.

00:00:58.200 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:01.920 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:06.000 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody

00:01:10.880 right to do so.

00:01:17.400 Yesterday, we talked about the risks of letting Huawei get its tentacles into Canada's

00:01:21.960 telecommunications infrastructure. I'm really worried about it.

00:01:25.060 Why are we letting Huawei, China's largest high-tech company, build our northern telephone and internet

00:01:31.480 network? There is no good place for Huawei in Canada at all. But I suppose other than hiring

00:01:37.240 Huawei to literally build our military's computer network, really the north? That is everything

00:01:43.640 China wants to know. Our industry, our mining, our national defense, our surveillance efforts.

00:01:49.420 And imagine them having the ability to throw some kill switch at a key moment. It's just nuts that

00:01:55.020 we're letting them in. It's like when the United States built a new embassy in Moscow during the Cold

00:01:59.960 War, but let Russian construction workers build it. Of course, they salted the building with countless 1.00

00:02:09.040 listening devices built right in. The whole building was bugged. It was unusable. I have no idea why they

00:02:15.460 were stupid enough to do that. I mean, seriously, what were they thinking? Maybe they'd save a few 1.00

00:02:19.700 bucks by hiring Russian workers? But that was back in the day when you literally had to plant a 1.00

00:02:25.080 listening device, really a very small radio transmitter. That's why it was called a bug,

00:02:29.540 because typically it was small and had some wires, so it looked like a bug. Now you don't need to

00:02:34.320 physically plant a bug when you can get the person you're spying on to carry the bug around with

00:02:39.900 them. There's cell phone, the apps in the phone, and in the case of Huawei, the telecom networks.

00:02:45.940 No need to plant a bug on you. You willingly carry the bug in your hand, talk into the bug, type into

00:02:52.360 the bug. It's everywhere. And what's even more amazing is that you literally paid for it. It's

00:02:57.080 probably apocryphal, but it's claimed that Vladimir Lenin once said, the capitalists will sell us the rope

00:03:03.620 with which we will hang them, which is absolutely true. He never would have imagined, though,

00:03:08.280 capitalists not selling the rope to you, but paying for the rope. That's what we're doing with

00:03:15.400 Huawei. We're paying them to spy on us. So we launched our BanHuawei.com campaign yesterday.

00:03:22.840 Lots of signatures so far. And that's the thing. It's not for us to be the world's liberators to

00:03:28.060 rescue China from its own dictators. We can and should criticize China's government as appropriate. 0.93

00:03:33.900 I don't think it's within the realm of practical to literally put sanctions on China. I mean,

00:03:40.420 go into any Walmart and tell me how much will be left without Chinese factories, although

00:03:44.300 Trump is slowly changing that by putting on tariffs that really only apply to China. So many factories

00:03:50.200 are leaving China, going elsewhere, including back to America. Incredibly, Apple is now building

00:03:56.020 computers in America. Look at this. As something that was just unthinkable even five years ago,

00:04:02.800 even three years ago. So Trump is taking on China big time. The least we can do in Canada is morally

00:04:09.720 support Trump's war, verbally support him, given that China literally has taken Canadian hostages

00:04:15.880 and actually come to think of it. Why couldn't we put some sort of sanctions on China? They put them on

00:04:21.260 us. They banned our agricultural goods on fake grounds. I say again, why couldn't we get along

00:04:27.800 without Chinese goods? I think we could. But how about just showing ourselves some self-respect here 0.99

00:04:34.620 at home? That's what banning Huawei means to me. And here's what else I mean. Look at this story here.

00:04:41.620 Censored by a tech giant, Chinese tech giant, Canadians using WeChat app say they're being blocked.

00:04:47.820 WeChat censorship in China itself has been well documented, but the app may not be extending its

00:04:52.380 tight control over content to this country too. So this is in today's post-media network. Here's

00:04:57.980 the story. As publisher of one of Canada's few Chinese language newspapers that dares to cover

00:05:04.420 Beijing critically, Jack Jia feels he has a duty to give his readers balanced skeptical reporting.

00:05:11.420 We're going to have to interview this Jack Jia if he's a democracy activist. Back to the story.

00:05:15.380 To that end, he tries to spread the reach of Chinese news by posting his articles on WeChat,

00:05:22.480 the ubiquitous Chinese communications app used extensively by the diaspora here. But that practice

00:05:29.460 hit a sudden obstacle last month when WeChat began restricting his use of the site, blocking access to

00:05:35.020 his account, and delivering an ominous message. Jia had been reported for multiple instances of

00:05:40.660 non-compliance, it said. Sure he was. He is being blocked three more times in recent weeks, the latest

00:05:46.720 incident this past Sunday, but that was not all. For six months, messages Jia posts in group chats have

00:05:53.920 been invisible to users in China, and articles and other posts he puts on his WeChat moments page,

00:05:59.120 similar to a Facebook timeline, have been inaccessible even to people in Canada and the United States,

00:06:04.760 he says. So he's not just being banned in China, which again shows what a dictatorship it is, but that's

00:06:12.620 there. The key point is they're blocking him here. He's a Canadian, he's talking about news written in

00:06:20.280 Canada, he wants to communicate with other Canadians. It's not violent, it's not pornographic, it's nothing

00:06:25.740 that would result normally in being banned, it's that China is now using companies with roots in China

00:06:32.420 to strangle democracy and free speech in the West. We showed you that American girl, a Muslim girl, 1.00

00:06:40.600 who was talking, she's a teenager, talking about Chinese concentration camps. She was deplatformed

00:06:46.560 from the Chinese app called TikTok. In America, she's an American girl. So here's my point.

00:06:52.940 China is using these apps to censor and punish here. Those are actions to punish, to censor.

00:07:02.160 So obviously they're using them for surveillance, as in they needed to know what Jack Jia was doing

00:07:08.640 and what that teenager, Feroza Aziz, were saying. They needed to know that they were saying something

00:07:14.240 contrary to Chinese policy, as in they needed to spy on them before they made the decision to punish them.

00:07:19.980 So we know they're spying. Through apps, through technology. Obviously they'd be spying through

00:07:27.660 Huawei hardware too. China is confident. China is arrogant. China doesn't care about your feelings. 0.83

00:07:33.180 China will do whatever it can get away with. I'm talking about the Chinese dictatorship, not

00:07:36.940 good Chinese people. I'm talking about the Communist Party. Here's a story from a few years back.

00:07:42.260 A reporter named Mark Bury was doing some work for Xinhua, the Chinese propaganda news agency.

00:07:46.880 It's like working for Pravda during the Soviet era. I think that's pretty gross,

00:07:50.840 frankly, like working for Der Sturmer in the 30s. But one day, Xinhua asked this Canadian reporter,

00:07:55.980 Mark Bury, to do a report that they didn't plan to publish. Here, let me read from the story.

00:08:02.520 They tried to get me to write a report for the Chinese government on the Dalai Lama,

00:08:06.520 using my press credentials as a way of getting access I wouldn't otherwise have,

00:08:10.260 Mr. Bury, a longtime freelancer who has written for several major Canadian newspapers,

00:08:14.400 said in an interview with the National Post. He alleges there are individuals within Xinhua

00:08:19.520 who are acting as spies, seeking to monitor practitioners of the spiritual movement Falun Gong,

00:08:25.500 the Dalai Lama, and any other critics of the Chinese government in Canada. That I know for sure.

00:08:31.720 So they wanted this reporter's information, but not to publish the information, but to give it to

00:08:36.920 the embassy, give it to the Communist Party directly. I know they still do that. Our friend Charles

00:08:41.320 Burton, a former diplomat, a professor, an expert in China, a China skeptic, he says that Chinese 0.99

00:08:47.700 reporters, Xinhua, call him up and pretend to interview him, but he never sees the stories

00:08:54.400 published. It's really spies asking for his insights for political reasons. Now, Professor Burton is very

00:09:01.640 savvy, and obviously he's not giving away any secrets. He's just telling them his point of view,

00:09:06.420 and I think he would tell anyone his point of view. He's pro-democracy, pro-Western. But that's

00:09:11.500 what Xinhua is, understand. They're spies, pretending to be journalists. They're human

00:09:17.360 versions of WeChat and TikTok and Huawei. That's why Stephen Harper banned Xinhua journalists from going

00:09:25.040 with Harper to his tour of the Canadian Arctic. Isn't that interesting? He knew they would be spying for

00:09:30.000 China not doing real journalism, so he banned them. What a contrast to Justin Trudeau, who was letting

00:09:36.640 Huawei literally build our northern communications networks. Oh, by the way, look at this. It's a list

00:09:43.300 of officially accredited journalists in our Canadian press gallery in Parliament in Ottawa. Look at that.

00:09:50.020 Xinhua, People's Daily. The press gallery, these are people who ban rebel reporters from reporting on

00:09:55.600 our parliament. They ban us, but they approve Xinhua and the People's Daily. They're not just

00:10:02.680 propaganda organs for China. They are spies. I wonder what the quid pro quo there is. Are they just

00:10:10.100 stupid liberals who love China for ideological reasons, or are they literally bribed like so many 1.00

00:10:15.120 other people that China works over? I don't know, but I do know this. We need to stop this. We need to 1.00

00:10:21.200 ban Huawei. That's why we set up banHuawei.com, and we need to realize who our geopolitical enemies

00:10:27.600 and friends are. Let me close with a question. Would you think that Justin Trudeau,

00:10:36.680 would you think he would ever mock China's dictator Xi Jinping in the same way that he mocked

00:10:44.280 the United States? The United States President Donald Trump this week? The leader of our greatest ally

00:10:48.940 and friend? Yeah. No. We both know the answer to that. Stay with us for more.

00:10:55.920 Well, he's too fast.

00:11:11.580 Do you think that Germany's too naive? 0.68

00:11:13.580 And honestly, with Trudeau, he's a nice guy. I find him to be a very nice guy. But, you know,

00:11:17.580 the truth is that I called him out on the fact that he's not paying 2 percent,

00:11:21.820 and I guess he's not very happy about it. I mean, you were there, a couple of you were there,

00:11:26.540 and he's not paying 2 percent, and he should be paying 2 percent. It's Canada. They have money,

00:11:31.940 and they should be paying 2 percent. So I called him out on that, and I'm sure he wasn't happy about

00:11:36.180 it. But that's the way it is. Look, I'm representing the U.S., and he should be paying more than he's

00:11:42.640 paying, and he understands it. So I can imagine he's not that happy, but that's the way it is.

00:11:48.220 A pretty calm response by Donald Trump about Justin Trudeau, and frankly, fairly balanced. I

00:11:56.100 think Justin Trudeau is two-faced with Donald Trump. He really sucks up to them when they're 0.99

00:12:01.180 in the same room, but as soon as he's out, he tries to show, oh, I'm not submissive to Trump, 0.99

00:12:06.700 and he badmouths him. I think Trump is right when he says Trudeau is two-faced, but he's a nice

00:12:12.200 enough guy. I mean, we can't deny that Trudeau has some charm, at least when he's in the Mr. Hyde

00:12:20.040 mode as opposed to the Dr. Jekyll, just like he can come across as a feminist until the moment that

00:12:27.340 he isn't. But what does this mean for Canada when the president and leader of the free world, our

00:12:33.360 greatest military ally and partner in commerce, says that Trudeau is two-faced, and the reason

00:12:41.480 it cuts is because we all know it's true. Well, joining us now to talk about this and other

00:12:46.280 momentous events at that London NATO summit is our friend Manny Montenegro, the boss of

00:12:53.580 ThinkSharp, who joins us now via Skype from Ottawa. Manny, good to see you again.

00:12:56.940 Good to see you, Ezra. I think Trump was actually pretty calm and pretty factual there. And he

00:13:04.080 wasn't even that angry. I think he was more descriptive rather than raging. What do you

00:13:09.960 think? Absolutely right. I think he's kind of used to seeing people talk to him one way and another

00:13:18.120 when he's not around. So I think he's acclimatized to that. And certainly he's dealing with that.

00:13:25.320 I think it's very disturbing for Canadians that this has happened short into the second mandate of

00:13:35.820 the Prime Minister Trudeau. And obviously it brings deep concern if we look at the totality of what's

00:13:44.480 involved in this, once again, a huge diplomatic mistake. Let me just catch up our viewers on what

00:13:54.100 led up to the two-faced comment. I just want to play you quickly two other clips. And Manny,

00:13:58.880 you know these very well, and I think our viewers do too, but let's show them anyways.

00:14:02.080 Here's Trump asking Trudeau a question that even I knew the answer to, because I've been following

00:14:08.140 Trump on NATO for a while. All he cares about is getting other countries up to 2% spending of GDP.

00:14:14.440 Take a look at this, where Trump grills Trudeau, and Trudeau doesn't even know the answer. Take a look.

00:14:18.700 Mr. President, Canada does not meet the 2% standard. Should it have a plan to meet the 2% standard?

00:14:26.660 Well, we'll put them on a payment plan, you know? We'll put Canada on a payment plan, right? I'm

00:14:30.700 sure the Prime Minister would love that. What are you at? What is your number?

00:14:34.180 The number we talked about is 70% increase over these past years, including, and for the coming

00:14:41.920 years, including significant investments in our fighter jets, significant investments in our

00:14:48.880 naval fleets. We are increasing significantly our defense spending from previous governments that cut.

00:14:55.240 Okay. Where are you now in terms of your number?

00:14:58.480 We're at 1.35?

00:15:01.220 1.3.

00:15:02.400 1.4.

00:15:03.960 1.4.

00:15:05.160 And continuing to move forward.

00:15:06.760 They're getting there. They know it's important to do that. And their economy is doing well.

00:15:12.580 They'll get there quickly, I think. Look, it's to their benefit.

00:15:15.600 And the President knows well, as well, that Canada has been there for every NATO deployment.

00:15:21.040 We have consistently stepped up, sent our troops into harm's way. We're leading in Iraq.

00:15:27.400 We're leading in NATO in Latvia. We continue to step up. Like most of our allies, there are some

00:15:36.040 countries that, even though they might reach the 2%, don't step up nearly as much. And I think it's

00:15:41.860 important to look at what is actually being done. And the United States and all NATO allies know that

00:15:46.820 Canada is a solid, reliable partner that will continue to defend NATO and defend their interests.

00:15:52.700 And we do have tremendous coordination with radar, with all of the different things that,

00:15:57.880 you know, technologically, we have tremendous coordination between Canada and the United States.

00:16:01.840 So even there, Trump's not being angry. By the way, Trudeau was lying. It's 1.27%, not 1.4%. Even the CBC caught that fib.

00:16:12.020 Manny, can I just show one? Sorry, go ahead on this one.

00:16:14.280 Yeah, well, what's disturbing about that, and you said it, Ezra, for three years, the President has been focused

00:16:21.840 pretty much only on the 2% and everyone's commitment. And why is America putting in 4%, an extra $300 or $400 billion a year that they pay and others don't?

00:16:33.560 It's just, it's alarming. If you look at that clip very carefully, not only did the Prime Minister not know,

00:16:39.180 but neither did the Chief of Defence Staff, and neither did the Defence Minister. There were three or four people that he looked to,

00:16:46.180 and they all give three different answers. I think I heard 1.4, 1.3, 1.2. So, you know, in a meeting that basically there's one issue,

00:16:55.080 and neither one of the three top people knew the answer was very alarming.

00:17:01.720 Yeah. You know, we were all, maybe we have all memories from when we were school kids and weren't quite prepared,

00:17:08.560 and we're a little embarrassed, and the teacher asked us, where's your homework? And we tried to obfuscate,

00:17:13.180 and then they come back, well, where's your homework? And then we get out of that tight spot,

00:17:16.960 and you're with the other kids who were shushed by the teacher. That's how this next clip feels,

00:17:24.520 where Trudeau, Boris Johnson, Macron of France, and I think there was the Dutch President,

00:17:31.700 Dutch Prime Minister, and I think Princess Anne. Here, take a look at this, where the school kids

00:17:37.420 are now talking out, acting out, because the teacher's not there.

00:17:43.180 You know, by the way, Manny, Joe Biden has already turned that into an attack.

00:18:11.680 Yeah, I saw that.

00:18:12.960 Trump. What do you make of that? I mean, we all blow off steam, but he did that in a room with

00:18:18.080 the media and cameras rolling, and he had to have known it would be caught on tape, or at least lip read.

00:18:25.040 Well, Ezra, it's alarming, and because you have to look, once again, it's not an isolated act.

00:18:31.960 What we are, I mean, Canada is in a very precarious place with China. 0.98

00:18:36.560 We have two Michaels in jail. They've been in jail in China for over a year.

00:18:43.820 I understand the conditions are just deplorable. I understand that he's not allowed to see counsel,

00:18:50.340 both Michaels, and I understand that the lights are permanently on in this cell that they're in.

00:18:57.540 So they're in horrid condition. What upsets me is that during the election, the prime minister

00:19:03.660 makes a trip to see the president and basically, you know, pleads for U.S. help to help these

00:19:13.260 hostages. And well, we were all happy about that. Maybe something will happen. Well, you don't beg a

00:19:19.060 favor from the United States president and then mock him only months later. So it was very alarming.

00:19:24.740 I mean, I think about those two young men, as I say to you, Ezra, not daily, but very frequently,

00:19:30.620 the lives and how that they're going through. But it isn't just those two young men, Ezra.

00:19:35.640 There are, I mean, there are 300,000 Canadians in Hong Kong, Canadian citizens. We had our law firm,

00:19:44.140 our national law firm, had an office in Hong Kong, has an office. And I went and visited that office.

00:19:50.260 So there are many Canadians that work there. Now, Ezra, what my concern is, and everybody

00:19:55.520 knows the tension in China. They could tomorrow walk in and bring in their military as they did

00:20:02.280 in Tiananmen Square. That puts 300,000 Canadians lives in jeopardy. And how is Canada going to go

00:20:08.880 respond? You know that the president of the United States just passed the Hong Kong Democracy Act,

00:20:15.260 which probably stopped China from doing what it would naturally do and just walk in and take 0.99

00:20:22.340 control of Hong Kong. The Hong Kong movement, Ezra, as you may know, is moving into one of the major

00:20:29.140 provinces in China, the democracy movement. So it's leaking into China. And there's no question

00:20:35.760 that China is going to step forward and do something about it. So here you have, I mean,

00:20:40.660 if I was prime minister, I'd think of those two young men. I mean, it'd be very hard to put,

00:20:46.360 you know, your head on the pillow, not thinking of those two Michaels that are in deplorable

00:20:50.540 conditions. And you've asked the only person in the world that could help the president of the

00:20:55.080 United States, and you mock him months later. And he calls you two-faced. There are 300,000 Canadians.

00:21:02.180 Now, Ezra, you might recall in 2006, there was a civil war in Lebanon. And Canada was caught. Prime

00:21:11.220 Minister Harper at that time had to scramble to get Canadians out, Canadian citizens. And I believe 0.98

00:21:17.400 there were 25,000 citizens. First of all, we had to use other countries' help. And we had to use,

00:21:25.020 you know, expense a lot of money getting boats and people out of there. It's a very arduous thing to

00:21:30.200 get. But Lebanon is pretty easy to get out of versus Hong Kong. And China is not, you know, 0.86

00:21:36.960 the military that's in the Middle East. So Canadians have went through that very. And I have

00:21:44.560 Lebanese friends that were very worried about their family and what's going on in Lebanon in 2006. And

00:21:50.680 we, Canada, acted quickly, moved quickly with all this diplomacy and got the people out. Well,

00:21:56.520 what's going to happen with 300,000 Canadians if the president doesn't act?

00:22:03.280 Very interesting. You know, there are more Canadians in Hong Kong than Americans, if surveys are

00:22:10.880 accurate. That's a surprise to me. But I guess it goes to the British heritage of Hong Kong. But here's

00:22:20.660 the thing. They were flying those American flags on the street because they know, despite the Canadian 0.90

00:22:26.440 connection through the Commonwealth, it was Donald Trump and, to give them credit, Democrats in the

00:22:33.000 U.S. Congress as well, who passed that bill. And I wish that we were regarded as great allies of

00:22:40.380 freedom. I find it very touching to see the young people of Hong Kong elocute our values of freedom better

00:22:47.120 than I think even many Canadians could do, Manny. I have a deep admiration for them.

00:22:53.000 Absolutely. Ezra, you're right on the numbers. So my research shows there are 300,000 Canadians

00:22:57.620 and about 50,000 Americans. We have a greater tie with Hong Kong than America does for a whole host

00:23:04.640 of reasons. And one was we participated in a war with them. So Canadians are very close to Hong Kong,

00:23:11.340 yet it's America. It's under President Trump that speaks highly and strongly in past legislation on

00:23:19.440 the Hong Kong Democracy Act. Our prime minister has been very silent, hasn't said a word. And this is

00:23:26.620 what it all comes down to. You have China's, you know, China's President Xi, who snatched two Michael,

00:23:34.320 two Canadians, put him in jail, arbitrarily did trade wars with canola, and we had it with pork and

00:23:41.040 other things. He knows there are 300,000 Canadians there. There's a million Muslims that are in

00:23:48.320 internment camps that he's, and he's doing all these atrocious things. And our prime minister has

00:23:54.700 been very silent, very silent, but very vocal on the President of the United States.

00:24:00.340 Well, you know, it's funny you say that because, I mean, listen, we all have blown off steam and said

00:24:06.180 things that we shouldn't, even probably about friends, you know, I mean, I think it's human nature just to

00:24:12.420 blow off steam and to talk tough locker talk. We generally don't do it with other world leaders. We

00:24:18.420 generally don't do it at an official function with cameras a few feet away. But look, we all do the trouble

00:24:25.700 with Trudeau is twofold. First of all, that's his default state. I mean, look, he's not a serious man. It's not like he

00:24:32.400 could regale them with policy ideas, or even interesting personal stories, because, you know,

00:24:39.080 people are sort of, he's not that interesting a guy other than to the CBC fanboys. So all he has

00:24:44.600 is the class clown move. You know, in another era, he'd be whipping out the blackface as a joke. 0.99

00:24:51.160 But here's what gets me. First of all, this is his, like, 10th diplomatic gaffe. This is no longer

00:24:57.580 something we can call an anomaly. This is Trudeau. But here's the thing. So let's say we said something

00:25:03.080 really dumb, and someone hurt us, and we're really embarrassed, and maybe it's even going to damage us.

00:25:09.400 If we're grown up about it, we say sorry. And it doesn't have to be a groveling story. So you know 0.97

00:25:14.360 what, I was just, you know, letting loose or something. But Trudeau did one of his ironic

00:25:23.780 apologies. You know what I'm talking about, Manny, where he's sort of, I'm sorry that you,

00:25:29.940 here, let's roll a clip of it. Here's a little bit. He did not apologize at all. In fact, he sort

00:25:35.920 of doubled down and justified. Take a listen. Last night, I made a reference to the fact that

00:25:41.320 there was an unscheduled press conference before my meeting with President Trump, and I was happy to

00:25:48.120 take part of it, but it was certainly notable. And I've had a number of good conversations with the

00:25:53.160 President over the course of this day and yesterday.

00:25:56.900 When you told President Macron and Prime Minister Johnson that you saw Trump's team of advisors'

00:26:03.060 jaws drop yesterday, what were you referring to? What was it that caused that surprise among them?

00:26:07.860 We were all surprised, and I think pleased to learn that the next G7 will be at Camp David.

00:26:14.840 I think that was an unscheduled announcement. And I think everyone's team, every different leader

00:26:21.260 has teams who, every now and then, have their jaws drop at unscheduled surprises, like that video

00:26:27.440 itself, for example. So two things there, Manny. First is he's saying, I can't believe that it was

00:26:34.360 notable that I had to wait before I could get to my cocktail party, because the president of the free

00:26:39.520 world was not moving fast enough. That was notable. So he was doubling down. And frankly, I don't

00:26:43.960 believe his jaw drop. I mean, my point is, never a flicker of explain or apologize. Never apologize.

00:26:53.060 He'll apologize for everyone else except himself.

00:26:56.780 Well, Ezra, you've now gone on to the second level of what concerns me deeply. And that is,

00:27:02.900 we've already spoke about, you know, the Prime Minister should be paralyzed, in my view,

00:27:08.460 paralyzed and anxiety, dealing with China. And we talked about the two Michaels of 300,000 Canadians

00:27:14.900 and a million Muslims are in China that are being absolutely treated poorly. And China's a trade war.

00:27:22.220 So we, we, this is unprecedented. Canada hasn't been through a China crisis like this. But let me add

00:27:28.860 this to you. This is where you picked up on a point, and I'm going to verify with more evidence,

00:27:34.060 Ezra, is that we signed the USMCA over a year ago.

00:27:40.220 That's the renegotiated NAFTA.

00:27:42.380 Right. And there was a complete, and you know, and the Prime Minister has campaigned and has

00:27:48.020 messaged that this is a great deal for Canada. It hasn't passed Parliament. He had a majority

00:27:54.980 government for over nine months before the election, or 10 months before the election,

00:28:00.520 to pass it. He hasn't. Mexico has passed it. So Ezra, you know, that's an important part of

00:28:07.640 allegedly to Canada, because we sent our negotiators, and we got this new modern trade deal that that

00:28:15.720 hundreds of thousands, millions of jobs are at stake, but we haven't passed Parliament. Not one

00:28:22.120 media has asked him directly, why is that the case? That's such a good deal. That's crazy. Now,

00:28:27.840 Ezra, this is why, in my humble estimation, is that you know that the Democrats are holding it up in

00:28:37.760 Congress. This is a key win for the president, and they're holding it up. And Trudeau, the Prime

00:28:46.480 Minister, in my opinion, is doing the bidding for the Democratic Party, not the Canadians.

00:28:52.640 I think you're right. You're exactly right. If it's such a good deal, as he crowed about,

00:28:57.180 and by the way, I don't think we got such a good deal, but at least we got a deal. Why hasn't he

00:29:01.000 passed it? He had a majority, and he's not making it a priority now. These are very good points,

00:29:05.240 Manny. Well, this is what I do. I mean, I try to build the case. I try to look at the totality of it.

00:29:12.940 So here you're standing next to the president of the United States, and you need him deeply on,

00:29:17.440 you know, if we have major, you know, you do a two-faced comment. You ridicule him amongst your

00:29:23.980 friends. And there are Canadians, hundreds of thousands of Canadians in Hong Kong, two young

00:29:28.500 men at stake, our whole NAFTA agreement. You know that Trump's default on NAFTA is not a good one,

00:29:34.780 and we don't know where it's going to go. And great uncertainty. You have a chance to tie it all

00:29:39.860 down. Great certainty for our NAFTA, our new NAFTA, USMCA. Put that through Parliament. If that goes

00:29:47.360 through Parliament, that puts pressure on the Democrats, because now Mexico and Canada signed

00:29:54.100 it. So the prime minister doesn't want to put pressure on the Democrats, who are the majority

00:30:01.300 in Congress. And he puts Canadian businesses, all of it, at great uncertainty. He puts Canadian

00:30:07.760 lives at uncertainty. And it's a political move, in my opinion. So that's the only way. I mean,

00:30:13.280 someone has to explain to me, no one's asked the question, but why, prime minister, have you not

00:30:17.940 passed NAFTA or USMCA in a year that you had the chance? And you keep telling and telling everyone,

00:30:25.280 it's a great deal, and it's going to bring stability. And you've got, if you want to say,

00:30:30.400 you've got a president that seems to go any direction, tie him down, save these jobs for Canada.

00:30:37.880 Yeah. You know, Manny, let me close by playing some footage of Trudeau at previous G20 and G7

00:30:47.780 meetings. This was earlier when no one even recognized him. I mean, he's a celebrity in

00:30:54.880 Canada, but that's a pretty small pond in the world. And when you're talking about serious leaders, I

00:31:01.600 mean, I disagree with many world leaders like Macron and Merkel, but they are serious people.

00:31:07.920 And to see Trudeau wandering around, no one even recognizes him. Maybe people give him a short

00:31:15.480 glance, but they won't even, you know, shake his hand or make eye contact. I long for those days,

00:31:22.760 Manny, when no one in the world outside our own borders even knew who Trudeau was, because at least 0.68

00:31:29.660 then, he couldn't embarrass us. He couldn't cause it. If people didn't know who he was,

00:31:34.840 he couldn't cause a diplomatic incident. I long for those. I long for the days of the India dress 1.00

00:31:39.960 up party, because at least that didn't destroy our rapport with our number one ally. Last word to

00:31:44.980 you, Manny. Well, you made a very good point. And I think that's why he got into what I'll call that

00:31:51.580 little high school discussion with the other leaders. I think the Prime Minister Trudeau knows

00:31:58.980 of what you said. He knows that Canadians have seen those clips, that he seems like an outsider.

00:32:06.320 He knows he doesn't carry the weight that once Canada did. But he also something else,

00:32:10.940 Ezra, it's not about that. It's about himself personally. It is very embarrassing to be caught

00:32:16.680 in those blackface photos and be around worldwide. And he had to deal with that. It must have been very 0.95

00:32:24.120 hard, because I think a lot of people would say, hey, should I be with this guy? Because he admitted

00:32:30.800 to be a racist. He admitted that he had a life of privilege, and that's what caused his racism,

00:32:35.980 and he didn't understand. Now, world leaders being next to him, well, there's only one way that he can

00:32:42.760 kind of help his own image, and that is the old trash Trump. And it works. I mean, it works in 0.99

00:32:49.860 parties in Canada. You just go into a party, you trash Trump, and people like you. So we're putting

00:32:58.100 Canada and Canadians and businesses at risk so that the Prime Minister gets up a notch or two

00:33:07.520 and avoids the embarrassment of telling people why he was dressed up in blackface three or four times.

00:33:14.560 Yeah. Yeah. Very interesting. Manny, great to catch up with you, my friend. Nice to see you.

00:33:19.300 No problem. All right. No problem. Manny Montanagrino. He's the boss of ThinkSharp,

00:33:24.180 and of course, former senior lawyer at a national law firm, and including to lawyer to former Prime

00:33:30.440 Minister Stephen Harper. Stay with us. More ahead on the road.

00:33:33.340 Hey, welcome back. I'm a monologue yesterday about our ban Huawei petition. Harry writes,

00:33:47.540 if Canada allows Huawei to put that infrastructure in their country, Canada will stand alone.

00:33:51.500 The U.S. will no longer do anything with Canada. Watch out, Canada don't do it.

00:33:55.520 Could be. I mean, Susan Rice, Obama's national security advisor, said as much,

00:33:59.660 but I don't think Trudeau cares. I think he actually wants to realign Canada with China.

00:34:04.620 I think he's that kind of a crazy globalist. Rick writes, I believe the U.S. and Canada will have

00:34:10.020 a bad fallout because of Trudeau. Yeah. It's already starting, and I think China likes that.

00:34:15.260 Obviously, they want to peel Canada away from our traditional friend. Phil writes,

00:34:21.200 Donald Trump claims Trudeau is two-faced, so which one is the blackface? Yeah. I think it's more 0.99

00:34:26.540 accurate to say that Justin Trudeau is three-faced, wouldn't you think so? All right, folks,

00:34:32.000 that's our show for today. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters,

00:34:35.640 good night, and keep fighting for freedom.

00:34:37.540 Good night.

00:34:50.600 Good night.

00:34:53.180 Good night.

00:34:57.240 Good night.

00:34:59.200 Good night.

00:35:03.140 Good night.

00:35:04.760 Good night.

00:35:05.300 Good night.

00:35:06.500 Good night.

Rebel News Podcast - December 06, 2019

China's tight control over technology hits Canada as WeChat's messaging app censorship goes international

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