Rebel News Podcast - DAVID MENZIES ｜ Documents show how school board failed to protect the wellbeing of students and parents

00:00:00.000 Tonight, it took six months and $4,000, but we finally have the FOI skinny on how the Halton

00:00:22.840 District School Board handled the busty Lemieux scandal, and the verdict? This board is woefully

00:00:30.800 woke and thoroughly incompetent. It's Wednesday, March 15th, 2023. I'm David Menzies, and this

00:00:39.540 is the Ezra LeVent Show. 0.58

00:00:44.460 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:00:52.840 Six months and some $4,000 later, we finally have our hands on the September 2022 Halton

00:01:05.220 District School Board's internal communications pertaining to the international laughingstock

00:01:11.540 that is Kerry Luke Lemieux, a.k.a. Kayla Lemieux, a.k.a. Busty Lemieux. Now, you may have heard

00:01:18.960 of him. He teaches shop class at Oakville Trafalgar High School, decked out as a grotesque caricature

00:01:25.640 of a woman complete with fake Z-cup breasts. Mind you, Lemieux claims those boobs are real, 0.97

00:01:34.540 proving beyond doubt that this dude is a complete nut bar. And it turns out that descriptor can also 0.99

00:01:41.860 be applied to many of the woefully woke staffers who are gainfully employed at the Halton District

00:01:48.640 School Board. And those documents we acquired via a Freedom of Information request certainly paint a

00:01:56.000 fascinating picture. The various memos and emails conclusively prove that the moment media reports

00:02:03.860 surfaced about the drag queen shop teacher, the strategy of the HDSB was to run all manners of

00:02:12.340 interference to protect Lemieux. Parents were ignored or told to shut up if they had questions about the

00:02:21.440 motives of this modified humanoid. Meanwhile, journalists the world over were given the runaround.

00:02:27.800 Indeed, the HDSB consistently refused to answer specific questions, but would instead issue

00:02:35.840 nonsensical, politically correct statements that were, in the final analysis, completely meaningless.

00:02:45.160 In fact, that's what led us to filing a Freedom of Information request in the first place.

00:02:50.060 Even though the HDSB is a taxpayer-funded school board that should be accountable and transparent,

00:02:56.620 we found that it is neither. That in this bureaucratic fiefdom, the trustees are hopelessly woke

00:03:04.500 and entitled, and they believe they are experts when it comes to, well, everything from labor law to

00:03:12.920 transgenderism. So it was that it became apparent that we'd have to pry the information from their clammy 1.00

00:03:21.760 hands. The HDSB was not happy about that. In fact, they thought they could torpedo our request for

00:03:29.880 information by attaching an outrageously enormous fee to it. The board wanted more than $4,000 to obtain less

00:03:39.820 than one month's worth of correspondence. Correspondence that is easily retrievable from a database. Most media outlets

00:03:49.620 would have caved at such a fee would have caved at such a fee, but we called their bluff, and we crowdfunded

00:03:55.200 the costs, and I thank you, dear viewers, for helping us in that mission. After getting the dough, the HDSB

00:04:03.440 then ragged the puck in terms of delivering the goods. The HDSB missed not one but two deadlines.

00:04:10.780 But here we are finally, six months later, and we have those documents that could have and should have

00:04:19.040 been delivered in perhaps less than six hours. Unbelievable. I'll get into all the nitty-gritty

00:04:25.420 details of those documents we acquired in just a few moments, but first allow me to fast forward to an

00:04:32.520 executive summary of conclusions that I amassed based on reading through some 450 pages. Number one,

00:04:42.220 the HDSB purposely threw an innocent teacher under the bus, allowing him to be falsely named as the

00:04:50.440 Zed Cup drag queen when they could have immediately corrected the record and saved this man embarrassment.

00:04:59.000 Number two, the HDSB had absolutely no intention in terms of being transparent to parents or media

00:05:07.800 outlets the world over, choosing instead to issue an oft-repeated nonsensical statement that was all

00:05:15.340 about gender rather than Lemieux's code of conduct. Number three, even though the HDSB would not provide

00:05:23.980 actual information to the media, the board was downright obsessive over the media coverage pertaining

00:05:31.780 to the busty Lemieux saga, keeping detailed records of the press coverage. And yet, despite the

00:05:39.860 international embarrassment that was on display at Oakville Trafalgar High School, they chose to do

00:05:47.140 absolutely nothing. And four, it is abundantly clear this board is far more concerned with embracing

00:05:55.840 radical transgenderism rather than the concerns of parents and students. In fact, it appears that not

00:06:04.700 only was Lemieux being protected by the school board, which even included police protection, if you can imagine,

00:06:12.320 but that Lemieux was actually, in effect, running the school board because the unofficial slogan of the HDSB

00:06:21.720 appears to be, if it's good, it's trans, and if it's trans, it's good. In any event, let's start with what was

00:06:30.440 arguably the most despicable behavior exhibited by the HDSB in the earliest days of the Lemieux scandal. Namely,

00:06:38.540 the board allowed a completely innocent teacher at Oakville Trafalgar to be misidentified as Busty Lemieux.

00:06:47.120 I'm not going to name that teacher because he doesn't deserve any more grief. Let's just call him

00:06:52.340 Mr. X in the meantime. Luckily, we have video evidence of my interview with the board's director

00:06:59.960 of education. That would be Curtis Ennis, he, him. This interview took place some five days after the

00:07:07.680 Lemieux story broke. Check it out. My name is David Menzies with Rebel News. I sent you an email,

00:07:12.720 and it's in regard to Mr. breaking the dress code, not adhering to the shop, health and safety rules,

00:07:20.820 and I'm wondering why that's being tolerated.

00:07:25.880 So, can you speak outside, please? Okay. I'm going to take it outside.

00:07:30.200 So, we are, as a board, we are committed to human rights, and we're committed to supporting all our

00:07:43.580 teachers and staff and students in an environment that upholds their dignity, their gender identity,

00:07:50.720 and their gender expression. So, folks, as you witnessed, Mr. Ennis, he, him, is far more concerned

00:07:57.260 about gender identity matters rather than correcting the record. Not once does he go on to state that I

00:08:05.400 have the wrong teacher's name. How bizarre. And check out this memo from Heather Francie. She's supposed 1.00

00:08:14.720 to be the communications person at the HDSB, except she barely communicates. No, seriously, check out her 0.98

00:08:22.640 Twitter account. It's locked. Now, isn't this the opposite of communicating? What a loser. Anyway,

00:08:31.420 here's the email I received from Francie several hours after our video aired. Quote,

00:08:39.020 Hi, David. Just received your voicemail. I responded to your questions yesterday morning and followed up

00:08:45.160 yesterday evening below to notify you that Mr. X has been mistakenly identified in your coverage of

00:08:53.540 this story. The HDSB has also issued the following news release this morning on our website, social media

00:09:02.140 and media contacts. You are also included on the distribution list for this news release. End quote.

00:09:09.940 But here's the kicker, folks. Check out what time Francie sent out this correction. It was on Monday,

00:09:16.420 September 19th at 1018 p.m. You see, Francie and or her puppet masters waited until after Rebel News

00:09:25.980 and stateside Fox News aired the incorrect info earlier that evening regarding the identity of the

00:09:34.780 teacher. And this misinformation had been circulating for at least five full days. So why would this

00:09:43.440 loving and compassionate school board do that? Was it laziness? Was it incompetence? Maybe it was

00:09:51.000 maliciousness, i.e. the HDSB wanted the misinformation to be reported so that the board could attack the

00:09:59.160 credibility of media outlets that got the name wrong. Brutal. But I will say this, the HDSB educrats

00:10:08.000 were at least smart enough not to put their strategy in writing. This misinformation initiative

00:10:14.680 must have been via verbal discussions so that there would be, you know, no paper trail. Either that or

00:10:21.520 the board conveniently forgot to send along all the documents we requested. And you know what? I

00:10:28.580 wouldn't put such chicanery past these creeps. But the board's communications and media relations 1.00

00:10:35.320 strategy regarding Boobzilla was truly remarkable for all the wrong reasons. Much to their chagrin,

00:10:43.420 the story did not peter out after the 24-hour news cycle ran its course. Instead, the Busty Lemieux saga

00:10:51.360 got bigger and bigger as the board got increasingly inept. And darn it, those pesky parents, 0.99

00:11:00.360 you know, the taxpayers who fund the HDSB, well, they wouldn't shut up with all their impolite 0.99

00:11:06.840 questions, all of which put the board into an unnecessary panic. Unnecessary because all the board

00:11:14.840 had to do was, you know, act like adults driven by common sense. All they had to do was start an

00:11:22.300 investigation regarding Lemieux, or at the very least enforce a dress code. But alas, they didn't

00:11:29.800 want to come across as transphobic, even though the trans community was not supporting Lemieux. Yes,

00:11:37.280 even this community knew something was fishier than month-old tuna. Still, check out this memo

00:11:45.060 entitled, Speaking Notes Re-OTHS, that stands for Oakville Trafalgar High School, from Heather Francie

00:11:52.780 to Trustees External on September 16, 2022. Quote,

00:11:58.280 Hello, we've prepared speaking notes to support you in conversations you may have with your school

00:12:06.000 communities regarding OTHS. The following speaking notes have been prepared to support you with

00:12:13.600 conversations you may have with students, staff, parents, guardians, and community members regarding

00:12:20.880 Oakville Trafalgar High School speaking notes. End quote. And what were those speaking notes, you ask?

00:12:29.460 Fasten your seatbelts, folks. Here we go. Quote,

00:12:32.940 The Halton District School Board is committed to establishing and maintaining a safe, caring,

00:12:40.860 inclusive, equitable, and welcoming learning and working environment for all students and staff.

00:12:47.360 We strive to promote a positive learning environment in schools consistent with the values of the school

00:12:55.580 board and to ensure a safe and inclusive learning and working environment for all students, staff,

00:13:02.480 and the community, regardless of their race, age, ability, sex, gender identity, gender expression,

00:13:10.000 sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, cultural observance, socioeconomic circumstances,

00:13:17.300 or body type size. The HDSB recognizes the rights of students, staff, parents, guardians,

00:13:25.740 and community members to equitable treatment without discrimination based upon gender identity

00:13:33.280 and gender expression. Gender identity and gender expression are protected grounds under the Ontario

00:13:40.960 Human Rights Code. The HDSB's hiring processes are fair, consistent, and transparent and promote a

00:13:49.520 qualified and diverse workforce. The HDSB believes all staff, in addition to students, parents, guardians,

00:13:58.100 and community members have the right to express themselves in a manner consistent with their gender

00:14:05.480 expression. We are respectful of the privacy of all our staff. As always, our highest priority is the

00:14:14.520 safety and well-being of our students and staff. As this is a personal matter, we cannot provide

00:14:22.280 further information." End quote. Wow, that heap and helping of word salad was the stand pat,

00:14:31.100 due rigueur answer for every query uttered by a parent or journalist regarding Lemieux. Even if parents

00:14:40.780 or reporters had specific questions about Lemieux's clothing or those fake boobs or why he continued to 0.96

00:14:49.800 violate workshop etiquette rules, that gender rubbish was regurgitated dozens and dozens and dozens of times 1.00

00:15:00.040 over as our FOI documents reveal. It was as if the HDSB was an automated service as opposed to an organization

00:15:11.160 staffed by sentient human beings. Indeed, in the early going, I sent out a very detailed email about Lemieux

00:15:19.640 it had seven specific questions about Lemieux and school board policy and dress codes.

00:15:28.520 And all I got back was, blah, blah, blah, blah, gender identity, blah, blah, blah, blah, sexual orientation,

00:15:34.760 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, gender expression, blah, blah, blah, blah. Not a single query was answered.

00:15:42.200 What's more, it made me wonder if Heather Francie is an admirer of Greta Thunberg.

00:15:49.080 Or blah, blah, blah, build back better, blah, blah, blah, green economy, blah, blah, blah, net zero by 2050, blah, blah, blah.

00:15:58.040 Yet even though the HDSB educrats desperately wished that the Busty Lemieux story would simply fade away,

00:16:06.200 Alas and alack, they kept being bombarded by pesky questioners. Check out this email on September 19th,

00:16:16.200 entitled Subject Generic Response for OTHS Parents. By the way, did you notice the admission

00:16:25.800 that their woke mumbo jumbo statement is a generic response? It comes from Superintendent Jacqueline

00:16:33.720 Newton and sent to Francie and Scott Poderabaric and Hawa Jayam-Abo. It reads, quote,

00:16:43.880 Hello, Heather and Scott. We need help with how to respond to parents who are individually emailing

00:16:51.080 Meredith and me, addressing things, allowing this type of dress as a teacher, etc., end quote.

00:16:57.480 Yeah, so in other words, the media and parents weren't buying that endlessly repeated woke generic 0.97

00:17:05.960 gender garbage statement. And what was the solution? Well, the solution was to simply stop responding 1.00

00:17:14.520 altogether. Indeed, look what happened at the September HDSB public meeting. Look at the agenda.

00:17:23.560 And it was so telling, isn't it? Even though the Busty Lemieux story was receiving worldwide media

00:17:31.960 attention, and even though the HDSB and Oakville Trafalgar were being flooded with phone calls on a

00:17:39.160 daily basis, the Lemieux issue wasn't even on the agenda. In fact, parents were told that they were not

00:17:47.160 even permitted to ask questions verbally. Rather, questions would have to be provided in writing in

00:17:53.720 advance and that the staff would cherry pick which questions they would present. And of course, no

00:18:01.240 questions regarding Lemieux would be entertained because, well, just because, okay? Clearly, those who work

00:18:09.320 at the HDSB are not educators. They are a bunch of censorious thugs. Here's some more proof in that 0.98

00:18:18.360 putrid pudding. Another internal email from Francie to various staffers, quote,

00:18:24.440 Hello. Staff are asked to be aware of reporters from the media attending some schools and board sites

00:18:32.440 this week to inquire about the situation at Oakville Trafalgar High School that has received significant

00:18:40.840 attention over the past several days. Staff are asked to direct all media requests to the Communications and

00:18:49.720 Engagement Department. Please share this message with others as required, end quote. Yeah, we wouldn't

00:18:57.880 want the unvarnished truth getting out there, would we now? Better to control and censor the narrative. In

00:19:04.520 fact, this memo truly highlights Francie's cowardice, i.e., she can't even say what the issue is in her

00:19:14.680 email, calling it instead the, quote, situation at Oakville Trafalgar High School that has received

00:19:22.840 significant attention over the past several days, end quote. Really? What's the situation? Downed

00:19:30.920 hydro wires, maybe? Incredible. It's as though Lemieux wields such incredible power, thanks to strapping on

00:19:39.720 those diverse Zed Cup Hooters, that he is akin to the Harry Potter villain, Lord Voldemort, a.k.a.

00:19:48.840 he who must not be named. That thing has a name? Oh, Meredith, by the way, is Meredith Camisuli,

00:19:55.800 she, her, the principal at Oakville Trafalgar High School, and another useless woke twit employed by the 0.97

00:20:03.480 HDSB. Case in point, one piece of communication in our FOI package indicates that Chrissy Clark, 0.83

00:20:11.960 a reporter with the Daily Caller, reached out to Principal Camisuli, she, her. Clark asked some

00:20:19.720 pointed questions, including whether the school thinks it is appropriate for an educator to wear

00:20:25.640 such clothing and if there is going to be a protest at the school later that day. And the response by

00:20:33.640 Camisuli, she, her is absolutely batshite bizarre. Namely, she states, quote, if you are in distress

00:20:42.200 and need to talk, please contact one of the following agencies. Kids Help Phone, up to age 24,

00:20:50.760 provides information, strategies, and access to phone, test, live chat support. The Rock 24-hour crisis

00:21:00.280 line, if you or someone you know is feeling suicidal, please call 911, end quote. Yeah, so obviously if you

00:21:10.520 have questions about a shop teacher dressing as a grotesque caricature of a woman, you are the one with 0.97

00:21:18.760 a problem and perhaps your mental issue is so great that you're feeling suicidal maybe and that you 0.58

00:21:26.280 desperately need help. Unbelievable. As previously mentioned, even though the HDSB refused to communicate 0.96

00:21:34.760 with the media in a tangible fashion, the board was downright obsessive about the media coverage the

00:21:43.560 Lemieux situation was receiving, providing detailed notes on a daily basis almost. Examples, Anthony

00:21:50.920 Fury in the Toronto Sun school board goes silent on viral teacher citing personal matter. Opinion piece

00:21:59.800 in the Globe and Mail, Ontario teachers prosthetic bust offers a lesson about body shaming. Inside

00:22:07.480 Halton.com, Halton District School Board's Twitter feed is blowing up as photos of a transgender high 0.84

00:22:14.760 school tech teacher wearing large prosthetic breasts. Speaking of other media outlets, I had a good chuckle

00:22:23.800 regarding one email sent to the HDSB from a podcaster who was quite miffed apparently that Rebel News got an

00:22:32.040 exclusive interview with director of education Mr. Innes, he him. I speak of an email from somebody called

00:22:41.000 Joel McLeod who runs something called the 905er podcast. Yeah, I never heard of it either. Regardless,

00:22:50.120 McLeod pleads with Francie for some HDSB educrat to come on his podcast, but it's no dice. So he states this,

00:22:59.320 quote, thank you for the response. I would point out though that Mr. Innes did give an interview to

00:23:05.480 Rebel Media, which is being circulated around as evidence that HDSB has an agenda one way or another

00:23:13.800 on this matter. We are offering a chance for you to present a more balanced version of HDSB policy

00:23:22.760 at this point, end quote. A more balanced version of HDSB policy? Like really, Joel? I asked Innes,

00:23:32.280 he him questions and he responded. And as previously mentioned, the biggest takeaway was this woke joke

00:23:40.040 educrat throwing an innocent teacher under the bus by allowing him to be misidentified as the drag queen.

00:23:47.160 And do you know how we got that interview, Joel? We physically drove down to HDSB headquarters in

00:23:55.480 Burlington. So here's some free advice. Get off your fat ricotta cheese candy ass and do some shoe 1.00

00:24:04.520 leather journalism. You know, instead of just vegging out behind a microphone to produce a podcast nobody 1.00

00:24:11.720 listens to, go out into the field and get the story. You're welcome. Now, at one point, Antonella

00:24:21.000 Artuzo of the Toronto Sun emails Francie about Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce expressing his

00:24:28.680 disdain for the ongoing Busty Lemieux circus. Yes, even the board's provincial government masters were

00:24:37.640 no longer amused with this. Artuzo writes, quote, Hi, Heather. I was wondering if HDSB had any response

00:24:45.880 to the minister's comments today or if there is any update that you can provide on the Oakville teacher.

00:24:53.800 Minister Lecce said he has asked the Ontario College of Teachers to take another look at professional

00:25:00.920 standards, end quote. And the STANPAT gender identity blah, blah, blah response changed. Well,

00:25:09.080 it changed a little bit. Writes back Francie, quote, Hi, Antonella. Thanks for reaching out.

00:25:15.720 I am providing the following statement on behalf of Curtis Ennis, director of education for the

00:25:22.200 Halton District School Board. Our school board has received significant attention online and in the news

00:25:29.800 over the past week, the Halton District School Board continues to handle this matter in a way that

00:25:36.200 stays true to our values and commitment to human rights, respects the privacy and dignity of our

00:25:43.800 students and staff, and with the safety and well-being of students and staff as our highest priority. As staff,

00:25:52.120 we are guided by numerous legislation and also fundamentally by the privacy and confidentiality

00:26:00.280 of each of our employees. While I understand the desire for information by the public,

00:26:06.680 we will not and cannot publicly discuss any matter that identifies our staff directly or indirectly.

00:26:15.160 I trust the public will understand the parameters that guide us, end quote. Pathetic. After all, 0.95

00:26:24.440 the Lemieux controversy, it's not about the privacy of an individual who is either pranking the school 0.97

00:26:32.360 board or more likely is an outright sexual pervert. No, the issue is why can't the HDSB have a dress code

00:26:41.880 for its teachers much like it has a dress code for its students, much like it has a dress code for Halloween costumes. Why is this such a non-starter?

00:26:54.440 Indeed, one media mention, the board noted, was a segment on News Talk 1010 with host Jerry Agar interviewing employment lawyer

00:27:03.960 Sunira Chaudhary about the HDSB and dress codes. Oh, by the way, in November, employment lawyers Howard

00:27:11.000 Levitt and Peter Carey would pen a column in the Financial Post also regarding the HDSB and dress codes.

00:27:20.440 Now, folks, Chaudhary, Levitt and Carey are amongst the cream of the crop when it comes to labor lawyers in Canada.

00:27:28.600 They have forgotten more about labor law than the entire staff of the HDSB will ever learn.

00:27:35.480 And their message was both clear and consistent. An employer, even an employer dealing with a unionized

00:27:44.440 environment, has every right to implement a dress code for employees. Case closed. That's five figures 0.94

00:27:53.400 worth of free legal advice for the HDSB. But again, this stubborn and stupid school board chose to ignore 1.00

00:28:01.800 this advice because, well, because of a paranoid, delusional belief that Lemieux might take the board 1.00

00:28:09.800 to a human rights tribunal. What a farce. Not even the wackadoodles who comprise that kind of a kangaroo 1.00

00:28:17.800 court would have sided with Lemieux after all. As we have chronicled, the original strategy of the HDSB

00:28:26.360 was to reassign this gender bender to other schools in the region, hoping that no parents 1.00

00:28:34.920 or students would notice and or complain about him. Alas, those Zed cups with protruding nipples 1.00

00:28:43.160 tend to stand out a tad. So the HDSB gave up on that strategy and eventually tossed them back 0.70

00:28:50.360 to Oakville Trafalgar High School. And shockers, still the story wouldn't go away. The latest scoop,

00:28:58.760 courtesy of the New York Post, in which Lemieux was photographed wearing male clothing and without 0.97

00:29:06.040 those fake boobs. Nevertheless, Lemieux denies that the male in the photograph is him, even though the

00:29:13.640 facial features, in particular the nose, look identical. Oh, and for all the fretting about

00:29:20.760 transphobia, Lemieux himself now says he is not transgendered. Oopsie. And so it was that the HDSB's

00:29:32.040 ultimate solution last month was to tell Lemieux to simply stay home. And that's what he's doing,

00:29:41.160 folks. He's earning a full teacher salary and enjoying a gold-plated benefit plan for doing

00:29:48.840 absolutely nothing all day long except perhaps watching cartoons. Oh, there's plenty of blame

00:29:55.480 to go around here. After all, it's been months since Education Minister Stephen Lecce first issued his

00:30:03.480 edict to the board to get its act in order and start enforcing a dress code for its teachers.

00:30:10.040 He has repeated this mandate over and over again. Alas, now, Minister Lecce, he has all the credibility

00:30:18.600 of a professional wrestling referee. You know, listen, HDSB, this is the eighth time I've warned you to

00:30:26.040 implement a dress code. And if you don't do it, well, I'm going to warn you a ninth time. Unbelievable.

00:30:32.040 Come on, Lecce, man up already. You have the power to disband this out-of-control

00:30:39.720 and useless school board. So do it. In the final analysis, what our FOI documentation reveals is 0.87

00:30:49.080 that the HDSB is about as transparent as ebony-hued marble. And these self-entitled

00:30:56.680 educrats, they absolutely hate parents. Oh, they do. They really do, folks. Parents, you see, get in

00:31:04.920 the way. What with all their nosy Parker questions and concerns. That's why these trustees will call

00:31:12.280 the police and actually have parents physically removed from a school board public meeting if a

00:31:18.760 mother or father has the temerity to ask impolite questions. As for the kids, this board, it's not

00:31:27.000 about education, but rather indoctrination. Who cares if little Johnny or Janie can't spell cat

00:31:35.000 if you were to spot them the C and the T? The real goal is to cram their minds with wokeness. These 0.98

00:31:42.440 trustees despise common sense and family values. They instead champion perversity as diversity. 1.00

00:31:50.840 They believe that so-called equity is excellence. That's their new normal. Sure, the provincial test

00:31:58.760 scores are plummeting in Ontario, but as long as the kids are wearing rainbow-hued t-shirts and identify

00:32:06.840 as a gender-fluid two-spirited pansexual unicorn and that they are careful not to misgender anyone

00:32:16.520 and that they subscribe to a form of Marxism. Well, that's what's really important in Halton region

00:32:23.880 these days. As for Busty Lemieux, he is truly enjoying the last laugh. He now gets paid not to work.

00:32:33.400 And if you all have a problem with that, well, you're obviously a transphobe, even though Lemieux

00:32:38.360 himself in his most recent interview with the New York Post stated that he's not transgender. 0.81

00:32:45.080 Oh, and those infamous Zed cup breasts, by the way, well, those are real mammary glands, don't you know? 1.00

00:32:51.720 Oh yeah. Lemieux says he started developing these sweater stretchers at age 39. He has some sort of

00:32:58.680 medical condition, you see. Yeah, the Busty Lemieux story more and more resembles a Monty Python sketch

00:33:07.560 with every passing week. And yet, even now, even despite these admissions, the HDSB is still kowtowing

00:33:18.920 to this fake female wannabe. Indeed, the true tragedy in Halton District boils down to this.

00:33:27.800 A taxpayer-funded fruitcake who is way past his best before date has been ideologically weaponized by

00:33:37.640 his employers. And even worse, there is absolutely no end in sight regarding this farce because everyone

00:33:47.000 from the HDSB's Director of Education, Curtis Innes, he, him, and Heather Francie, and Principal

00:33:55.080 Meredith Camisuli, she, her, and yes, even Education Minister Stephen Lecce. Well, let's face facts here, folks.

00:34:05.320 None of them have any balls. 0.98

00:34:07.160 You may know Derek Sloan as a former Conservative MP and the leader of the Ontario Party, but get this, 0.99

00:34:18.680 he is now also a published author. His book is entitled Glorious and Free, and it recently debuted,

00:34:26.440 and get a load of this, folks, it's already a bestseller. And joining me now from Belleville,

00:34:31.720 Ontario is Mr. Sloan himself to discuss his book and other matters. Derek, thanks so much for making

00:34:40.200 time for me, my friend. Really glad to be here. Thanks a lot, David. You got it. You know, I love,

00:34:46.600 love, love your book's title, Glorious and Free, yet by the same token, Derek, given recent events in our

00:34:53.880 country over the past few years. Our great dominion doesn't seem all that glorious and free anymore.

00:35:01.320 What say you? Well, there's no question there's a lot of issues facing Canada, some of which have

00:35:07.160 become publicized as of late in regards to Chinese interference in our electoral process. Of course,

00:35:13.560 this kind of thing's been going on for years. This book is a call to the way that I believe Canada

00:35:19.960 needs to be run. There's a lot of people who will agree with me in a lot of the points here.

00:35:25.000 It's a bit of a roadmap to say, listen, this is where we are, but how can we get to the place

00:35:29.560 where Canada is the best country that it can be? And I know we can't digest an entire book in the

00:35:37.320 amount of time we have right now, Derek, but what would be maybe, you know, two or three of the major

00:35:44.280 points that you would like readers to take away after reading your book?

00:35:51.160 Well, you know, politics is for more than politicians. For the country to change, it's

00:35:55.480 going to take Canadians waking up and taking the mantle of leadership on their own shoulders.

00:36:02.760 We've sort of left politics to politicians for too long. We need to take the power back in our

00:36:09.240 country. We need to become informed on the issues. So my book goes through, you know,

00:36:14.040 all the major issues, at least as I see them, and makes complex issues simple so people can

00:36:19.880 understand and get involved themselves. And, you know, Derek, I tend to believe

00:36:25.480 that the so-called silent majority, they are most likely on side with you. I look at what's in the news

00:36:32.120 cycle these days. Of course, Chinese interference in our elections, which is very disturbing,

00:36:40.040 to say the least. Drag queen story hours. A shop teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School,

00:36:48.760 until recently going to school and teaching shop, dressed as a grotesque caricature of a natural woman.

00:36:57.400 And I think, Derek, you know, the stand pat reaction when you raise these issues, well,

00:37:03.480 Justin Trudeau said it himself a couple of weeks ago when the Chinese interference scandal blew,

00:37:09.160 that if you are criticizing an Asian-Canadian member of parliament, therefore you are a racist.

00:37:16.440 I mean, this coming from Mr. Blackface himself. Likewise, with the drag queens and that teacher 1.00

00:37:23.640 in Oakville, if you criticize them, you are a so-called transphobe. I just find the nature of

00:37:32.600 debate, such as it is these days, Derek, to be woeful. What do you have to say?

00:37:40.920 Well, I really agree with you. And I was just reading an article today on Global News that was

00:37:45.640 talking about the increase, the tremendous increase in rise of hate incidents perpetrated by the far right

00:37:51.960 against LGBT people. And their prime example was, of course, these protests outside of the drag time 0.52

00:37:57.480 story hour. And of course, they didn't mention, I mean, one of the main reasons why we're seeing so

00:38:01.720 many more protests is because drag time story hours are proliferating across the country. Like they

00:38:07.000 didn't even mention like, hey, this is a new thing. This wasn't happening five years ago. Obviously,

00:38:12.920 very one sided reporting in the media. But, you know, a lot of average people are really starting to get

00:38:18.760 frustrated. And I think, you know, when you when you speak to people one on one without the media

00:38:23.240 sort of twisting and distorting things, and you explain to them why we're against some of these

00:38:27.880 things, it makes a lot of sense. And I think that's why, you know, conservatives or small

00:38:33.400 C conservatives need to stand up and, you know, have something to say on these issues. If you just let

00:38:37.560 them go, the the the debate keeps changing and the and the pot keeps getting hotter.

00:38:43.640 And, you know, Derek, can you explain or can you theorize why this drag queen story hour

00:38:51.640 has become such a thing? You're right with the five year timeline. I remember in 2018,

00:38:56.200 I first came across this in a city not far from you, Kingston, Ontario. They were hosting a drag 1.00

00:39:02.040 queen story hour. And I said, what? And now it's almost as though if you're a library and you're not

00:39:07.400 hosting a drag queen story hour, you're you're the weirdo. So what I just don't understand is that 1.00

00:39:16.760 I'm not against drag queens. If you're in a licensed bar and it's people the age of majority watching 0.77

00:39:24.360 that, hey, you know, knock yourself out. But this obsession of doing these highly sexualized

00:39:32.360 performances and caricatures in front of minors. Well, first of all, Derek, which what parent in

00:39:40.520 their right mind would bring a kid to watch that in the first place? Well, that's I mean,

00:39:45.160 you raise a really good point. And it's true that the, you know, drag shows have been associated

00:39:49.640 pretty much since their inception with extreme, you know, sexuality. It is true that these particular

00:39:56.200 stories going on are, you know, toned down and and and not containing, you know, nudity and things

00:40:03.400 like this. But, you know, the fact is, is that, you know, with that connection to this, do you really

00:40:08.520 want to bring kids into this? I mean, imagine if this was like a story hour with another adult

00:40:13.560 subject such as guns or drugs or something like that. And they had, you know, fake versions of them

00:40:18.680 there for the kids. And it was kind of like, well, this is just, you know, to to show people,

00:40:23.400 to show kids what's out there, to to to help them understand the diversity that, you know,

00:40:28.440 life offers. I mean, we would be up in arms about it. But because it has to do with,

00:40:33.240 you know, a protected community, people are at least the media is ignoring the rationale for why

00:40:41.400 parents would be upset about this. And I think it's an open debate. It is basically a new thing in terms

00:40:47.080 of directing this at kids. And I think we have every right to protest against it and be upset,

00:40:51.880 particularly when it's taking place in a public place that's funded by both of our tax dollars.

00:40:58.040 Indeed. And, you know, I've always asked, and I'm not making a joke here, Derek, but if drag 0.99

00:41:03.800 queens are OK, would it also be OK for a biological female stripper or burlesque dancer to come into 1.00

00:41:10.520 the library and read books? Apparently, that's offside for reasons I can't even contemplate. But moving on

00:41:17.880 from the the trans issue to federal politics, of course, the hot story in the news these days

00:41:25.640 is China interference. And of course, I first met you back in 2020 when you were running to become

00:41:33.480 the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. And maybe we should start there, Derek. What is your

00:41:38.360 assessment of Aaron O'Toole's performance as the leader, the man you lost out to in that nomination

00:41:46.440 campaign? And what is your assessment of his replacement, Pierre Polyev?

00:41:52.360 Well, Aaron O'Toole was obviously a big disappointment to most, you know, blue conservative

00:41:59.480 types. He ran sort of, you know, espousing certain principles and then he backtracked on a lot of them

00:42:05.560 later. And he had to pay for that. He didn't do better in the election. And he was also ousted by

00:42:11.080 his own party. And so it's clear that Conservatives want a decisive leader and one who's willing to

00:42:16.360 stand up. And, you know, we saw that at least in the leadership race of Pierre Polyev, but we

00:42:22.200 haven't heard a lot since. And in fact, the most recent thing we saw was basically an apology to the

00:42:27.640 media for a trumped up charge about racism and his MPs meeting with another politician from Germany.

00:42:34.440 So again, you know, if that's what we're going to see in the future, I think that's a bad sign.

00:42:39.960 And I think really what the Conservatives need to do is stand up and be counted.

00:42:44.040 And it may not, it may cause some short term troubles in terms of the polls. But, you know,

00:42:49.720 again, do we want to lead the country for the next 50 years or the next 100 years? Or do we want

00:42:55.400 to just go wherever the opinion polls lead us? We have to have something to say on these issues.

00:43:00.600 And I hope that leadership will find the courage to do it. And, you know, I think a lot of

00:43:05.400 Conservatives have looked on in horror over the last few years, seeing this Justin Trudeau

00:43:11.560 administration, one scandal after another. But, you know, Derek, I truly think if these allegations

00:43:19.960 are true about Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 elections, and if Justin Trudeau knew about it,

00:43:28.200 and dare I say was even complicit in it, I think this is Watergate on steroids. I mean,

00:43:35.960 what could be more fundamental to a Western democracy than having a fair

00:43:41.960 election that is not interfered with with some dictatorship overseas? Do you think the Liberals,

00:43:49.400 I mean, I know it's hard to predict the future. We don't even know when what year the next election

00:43:53.320 will be. But are the Trudeau Liberals going to wiggle off this fish hook as well?

00:44:01.480 Well, here's the thing. There's already rumblings in the party to get rid of Trudeau and replace him

00:44:05.560 with somebody else. So obviously, Trudeau is going to try and prevent that. He's going to try and delay

00:44:10.440 this election as long as he can, in my view. So we'll see which factions win out. I mean,

00:44:15.640 one way to sort of put this in the past is to get a new leader, right? Then the new leader can say,

00:44:20.600 oh, well, I would never have done that. And it's almost like a new book at that point.

00:44:27.080 So we'll see what they do. I think that Trudeau's brand, at least amongst his loyalists, is still

00:44:32.280 strong. I think he will do whatever he can to maintain leadership and then just, you know, again,

00:44:36.920 kick this ball down the road as long as possible. And people have a short memory in this country when it

00:44:41.240 comes to a lot of things. I do agree, though, that this is probably the absolute worst thing

00:44:45.400 he has ever done or been sort of involved in. And I think that this will have potentially

00:44:51.240 game changing consequences. And Derek, there is plenty of blame to go around here. I mean,

00:44:56.200 Jagmeet Singh, I think if he was truly principled, he could say something along the lines of when we

00:45:02.360 entered into this agreement with the Justin Trudeau Liberals, we didn't know about this,

00:45:07.480 you know, election fixing, allegedly. Now that it's come to light, I cannot in good conscience

00:45:14.120 support this man. But I guess Jagmeet's got to hang on until 2025 so his full pension kicks in.

00:45:22.520 Yeah. You know, I think personally that at the end of the day, electoral strategy is the, you know,

00:45:28.520 determines what goes on. Right. So the NDP as of right now would not do any better. They'd probably

00:45:33.720 do worse if an election was called right now. So again, at the end of the day, yes,

00:45:38.120 they're trying to save face and not be complicit in this, but they don't want an election any more

00:45:43.000 than the Liberals, in my view. No, that is a good point, too. So, Derek, we're almost out of time here.

00:45:52.280 Where can people find your book, Glorious and Free?

00:45:55.720 So right now, www.amazon.ca. I will be traveling around in person, hopefully late spring, early

00:46:05.480 summer for people who want to buy the book in person or, you know, get an autograph. But for now,

00:46:10.440 go to amazon.ca. We actually were beating Pamela Anderson's book. We were number six on the hot 0.85

00:46:15.720 bestsellers for a period of time. So, you know, help us get those numbers up. It means that more people

00:46:21.400 get this book shown in their suggested read list. And, you know, I'd rather be people reading,

00:46:26.760 I'm sorry, I'd rather people be reading this book than the Pamela Anderson book and other books like

00:46:31.640 that. Heck, beating a big celebrity like Pamela Anderson, that's something to brag about, I would 1.00

00:46:36.760 say, Derek. And one last question. What, for those who have bought your book, read it, what kind of

00:46:41.720 feedback are you getting from them? Yeah, you know, I've gotten some really good comments from people

00:46:47.400 just saying, you know, Derek, thank you so much for just making, you know, these complex political

00:46:51.720 issues seem so simple. Thank you for giving the inside story on what you had to deal with up there

00:46:56.600 on Parliament Hill. A lot of, you know, you and I, David, we're pretty familiar with how things go up

00:47:01.160 there. But, you know, a lot of people just don't know how it works. And like to read an insider's

00:47:05.320 account and to get, you know, an easy take on the issues, people really like that. I've had people say

00:47:10.360 that, you know, some of the things brought them to tears. I'm not sure which things those were,

00:47:15.640 but, you know, really, really deep reactions from people. So that's a positive.

00:47:21.320 Well, that's great to hear, Derek. I know you're a big advocate for common sense, which isn't so

00:47:26.760 common anymore, tragically. So I wish you well with the book. And anytime you want to come on the show,

00:47:33.640 we're happy to have you, my friend. Thanks so much, David. We'll talk to you soon. You got it.

00:47:45.640 Well, folks, tons of response to Ezra Levine's monologue last night regarding the city of Calgary,

00:47:55.960 which somehow thinks it's appropriate to deem certain protests as being illegal because it might

00:48:05.240 hurt somebody's feelings. Unbelievable. Let's get to some of your responses. James the Patriot writes,

00:48:11.920 even though it's a very sad state of affairs that it has come to this in Calgary, I couldn't help but

00:48:19.520 laugh when that woman was asking how to crush protests she doesn't like with no self-awareness 0.98

00:48:28.000 of how much of a villainous thug she sounds like. Well, I assume you mean Mayor Gondek. And that is an

00:48:36.480 added layer of perversity that we see going on, not only as freedom of expression and freedom of

00:48:43.520 assembly under attack in the city of Calgary. This mayor is actually going on to social media platforms

00:48:50.640 and bragging about this kind of censorship. Incredible that it is happening in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

00:49:00.320 Dan McClain writes, where is Daniel Smith on this? Thought she was going to stamp all this out.

00:49:07.120 Well, you know, I can tell you this. I think this mandate is headed to the courts. And I am

00:49:13.920 absolutely certain. I know lawyers hate to use the term slam dunk. I think this is a slam dunk. I think

00:49:20.000 this ridiculous bylaw of picking and choosing which groups and which people can and cannot protest,

00:49:27.680 that is going to go down to defeat. And deleted comment number two writes, who's organizing these

00:49:35.600 drag story times for kids? It's everywhere now. And even Moncton, New Brunswick just had one

00:49:42.720 at our library. This is disgusting. I totally agree. I've often asked the question of if it's okay to have

00:49:52.160 men pretending to be female strippers reading to kids, why don't you also bring in biological female 1.00

00:49:59.280 strippers to read to kids too? Not that I'm asking for that, but why is that a line in the sand? And

00:50:05.360 you are right. It is spreading. And I simply asked the question, which parent thinks this is a good idea?

00:50:14.400 In other words, if parents embrace common sense and decency and didn't bring their kids to these

00:50:21.440 events, I think they would quickly go the way of the dodo as they should. Well, folks, thanks so much

00:50:28.720 for tuning into tonight's edition of the Ezra Levent Show. I believe the big boss man is back in this chair

00:50:35.040 tomorrow. In the meantime, as always, stay safe and stay sane.

Rebel News Podcast - March 15, 2023

DAVID MENZIES ｜ Documents show how school board failed to protect the wellbeing of students and parents

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