Rebel News Podcast - March 11, 2026


DAVID MENZIES | Nearly a year after Carney's election, Canada remains in crisis


Episode Stats

Length

33 minutes

Words per Minute

138.00743

Word Count

4,568

Sentence Count

296

Misogynist Sentences

7

Hate Speech Sentences

18


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The Mark Carney Liberals are allegedly surging in the polls, and why? It s Wednesday, March 11, 2026, and next month will mark the one year anniversary of the Mark Carney Liberal's winning the federal election.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Before I was a Rebel News reporter, I was a Rebel News Plus subscriber.
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00:00:30.000 Tonight, the Mark Carney liberals, a.k.a. those who promise one thing but deliver something else, are allegedly surging in the polls.
00:00:49.440 Why?
00:00:50.420 It's Wednesday, March 11, 2026.
00:00:53.380 I'm David Menzies, and this is The Ezra Levent Show.
00:01:00.000 Shame on you, you censorious bug.
00:01:12.260 Hard to believe, but next month will mark the one-year anniversary of the Mark Carney liberals winning the federal election.
00:01:20.160 I guess time also flies when you're not having fun.
00:01:24.120 And wow, did so many Canadians, especially those in the baby boomer demographic, fall for the hype and the bluster and the false promises of Mark Carney.
00:01:35.820 You know, that he'd be the adult in the room when negotiating with U.S. President Donald Trump regarding trade deals.
00:01:42.780 And that Carney would be the strongman when dealing with that existential threat known as China.
00:01:50.580 And some 11 months later, well, still no trade deal in sight with our largest trading partner.
00:01:56.200 Maybe because Carney seems to go out of his way to incense President Trump from recognizing the fake state of Palestine to taking five, yes, count them, five positions on the Iranian war in the span of five days.
00:02:12.500 As for China, ooh, all is forgiven, it would seem.
00:02:16.180 China is no longer that existential threat anymore, but a potential trading partner.
00:02:23.440 Indeed, cheap Chinese EVs are headed to our once great dominion in the months ahead.
00:02:29.000 And folks, there's a steak dinner in it for you if you can explain to me how importing El Cheapo spy cars from China will somehow help our struggling domestic auto industry.
00:02:43.780 Oh, and just yesterday, it was announced that TikTok shall indeed continue to operate in Canada, business as usual, under Chinese ownership.
00:02:54.620 What happened there?
00:02:55.600 In a way, Carney has lived up to his name, as in a Carney on the Carnival Midway.
00:03:02.380 Yes, the two words are spelt slightly differently, but the end result is more or less the same.
00:03:08.520 Step right up and take your chances and play a game that is essentially rigged.
00:03:14.620 Only two things scare me, and one is nuclear war.
00:03:19.220 What's the other?
00:03:20.300 Excuse me?
00:03:21.060 What's the other thing that scares you?
00:03:24.160 Carnies.
00:03:25.600 What?
00:03:26.460 Circus folk.
00:03:27.980 Nomads, you know.
00:03:29.200 Smell like cabbage.
00:03:31.140 Small hands.
00:03:32.700 Alas and alack, in the Department of Perverse Irony, it's too bad Mike Myers, who is himself a boomer, of course, also fell for Carney's pitch, hook, line, and stinker.
00:03:44.380 But let me ask you, Mr. Prime Minister, will there always be a Canada?
00:03:48.340 There will always be a Canada.
00:03:50.680 All right.
00:03:51.420 Elbows up.
00:03:52.060 Elbows up.
00:03:52.560 Say, whatever happened to elbows up?
00:03:55.980 Furthermore, isn't this the dumbest political slogan ever?
00:04:00.300 Put your elbows up in a hockey game going into the boards and you're going to get a penalty.
00:04:04.980 It's called elbowing, but never mind.
00:04:07.460 The fact is, when it comes to Mark Carney, it's been all talk and no cattle, as they say out west.
00:04:14.020 And yet, inexplicably, folks, polls indicate that the Carney liberals are surging.
00:04:18.960 A few days ago, 338canada.ca noted that federal polls in the past week have shown continued momentum for the liberals.
00:04:29.480 The website notes, quote, the always much-anticipated poll from Leger, published by the National Post last week, confirmed recent trends in favor of the liberals.
00:04:42.500 End quote.
00:04:42.960 Translation, if an election were held today, the liberals would capture 49% of the vote versus 35% for the conservatives.
00:04:53.260 Meanwhile, Jagmeet Singh's scorched-earth policy to acquire a swank pension, well, it's garnering predictable results, which is to say the NDP is now an irrelevant party, attracting just 5% of the vote.
00:05:08.020 And might even be completely wiped out in the next election.
00:05:13.400 That's saddening.
00:05:14.500 No, I'm not saying this because I'm a Marxist, folks, but a weak NDP is never good news for conservatives, as the party discovered last election.
00:05:24.800 And when you analyze the polling region by region, a dire picture emerges, especially in the seat-rich provinces of Ontario and Quebec.
00:05:35.420 In Ontario, if you believe the data, the liberals are ahead of the conservatives, 52% to 36%.
00:05:43.220 In Quebec, the liberals are ahead 48% to 20%.
00:05:47.820 In fact, the conservatives are still mired in third place in La Belle-Provence after the bloc.
00:05:55.260 And if these numbers are accurate, this is ominous.
00:05:58.820 It makes me wonder, are Canadians so polite we're all about truly rewarding failure?
00:06:07.100 You know, kind of like how a football team in the CFL gets one point for a missed field goal?
00:06:13.980 It's nuts.
00:06:15.340 The carny liberals are all sizzle and no steak by every benchmark.
00:06:19.480 Unemployment, inflation, the number of Canadians using food banks and living in tent cities.
00:06:25.140 Meanwhile, trillions of dollars in oil and gas wealth remain unexploited.
00:06:32.180 But carny's our man.
00:06:34.300 And it all comes down to one particular demographic, it would seem, the baby boomers.
00:06:39.820 The definition for baby boomers in Canada are those who were born between 1946 to 1965.
00:06:48.120 By the way, that means I'm a baby boomer.
00:06:51.840 And no, you cheeky monkeys, I was not born in 1946.
00:06:55.800 I was born in 1962.
00:06:58.200 Do you know the Leafs won the Stanley Cup that year?
00:07:01.560 Not that I remember that, of course.
00:07:03.520 But it goes to show you how different the world was back when John Diefenbaker was prime minister.
00:07:10.100 In any event, boomers constitute almost 25% of the population.
00:07:15.240 That's a big voting base, second only to the millennials.
00:07:20.420 But getting young people to cast a ballot can be quite the task, whereas older Canadians are far more committed.
00:07:28.340 And in this file, maybe many of them need to be committed given the way they vote, but I jest.
00:07:34.980 But here's the thing.
00:07:36.380 The oldest boomers are now entering their 80s.
00:07:40.440 That means in the years ahead, the liberals' biggest base is literally going to die off.
00:07:48.100 And while the liberals may be evil, that's right, I said it, evil, they're not stupid.
00:07:54.160 They realize this generation has a best before date, whereas an increasing number of young voters, at least the ones who do vote,
00:08:03.040 well, they are choosing the Conservative Party of Canada.
00:08:06.140 So what to do, what to do?
00:08:09.040 Um, here's what to do.
00:08:11.240 Now you know why the liberals are all in when it comes to mass migration.
00:08:16.900 I reached out to my Indian source, Ted Smith, not his real name, of course.
00:08:22.020 But Ted closely tracks immigration trends in Canada.
00:08:26.700 It's pretty alarming.
00:08:27.520 Ted notes that so far this year alone, the liberals have handed out permanent residency to more than 1,000 people per day.
00:08:37.680 Millions of people who are supposed to be leaving will instead be having anchor babies, much like Jaskarit Singh Siddhu.
00:08:46.520 He's the truck driver who destroyed so many lives when he blew through a stop sign in Saskatchewan and collided with a bus carrying the Humboldt Broncos hockey team.
00:08:58.320 Naturally, according to the state-funded mainstream media, Siddhu is the real victim in this story.
00:09:04.160 And naturally, Siddhu will use his child, like so many others are, to exploit a loophole in the immigration system known as the Humanitarian and Compassionate Grounds Visa in order to remain in Canada.
00:09:19.420 Indeed, just last month, I revisited beautiful Brampton, Ontario, to take in yet another protest staged by mostly international students and temporary foreign workers
00:09:32.020 who appear unable to understand the dictionary definition of the word temporary, aided and abetted by the cat ladies heading up the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
00:09:44.220 These people actually vilified Canada, noting that no one is illegal on stolen land and that Canada is full of racists and haters.
00:09:56.920 Makes you kind of wonder who in their right mind would want to live in such an evil dominion, but never mind.
00:10:03.380 Here, check out the video footage.
00:10:05.120 Do you think it's true that nobody is illegal on stolen land?
00:10:08.940 I just don't want to answer that.
00:10:10.980 Oh, okay. Oh, is it that white liberal woman with the QP flag?
00:10:14.820 Hi, man. Why are you telling this person not to speak to us?
00:10:18.320 I don't consent to being on your goddamn show.
00:10:20.600 I'm just asking questions, sir.
00:10:22.140 I'm not pro-immigrant.
00:10:23.780 I remember a time when unions stood up for the workers instead of lowering living standards in the country.
00:10:31.700 What happened?
00:10:32.960 What does that sign mean? End Canada's racist immigration and refugee policies?
00:10:37.520 Are you here for a little provocation?
00:10:38.420 Pardon me?
00:10:38.960 Are you here for a little provocation?
00:10:40.440 No, I'm just asking questions.
00:10:41.620 What a bunch of self-entitled ingrates.
00:10:45.460 You know, it's kind of funny.
00:10:47.120 As my source notes, in late 2018, Justin Trudeau stated that an influx of Canadian male construction workers could have a gender impact, whatever that means.
00:11:00.560 Still, we would need a gender-based analysis to study that impact, if it even exists.
00:11:08.360 Well, where is the study on the impact of importing large amounts of men from India, a country that, Ted notes, the UK's Guardian newspaper has labeled as the most dangerous country for women?
00:11:24.220 Golly, I hope reciting such an impolite statistic doesn't put me in violation of Bill C-9.
00:11:31.540 We'll see.
00:11:32.380 Ted also notes that many middle-aged men from India are enrolled in childcare courses.
00:11:39.560 This is being done as a loophole to obtain permanent residency.
00:11:43.800 Riddle me this, is this the sort of $10-a-day daycare system so many liberal women have long been championing?
00:11:52.280 Yet, coming across as anti-immigrant is way, way too third rail for the trained SEALs in the mainstream media, in addition to Siddhu being depicted as a victim rather than a killer.
00:12:07.180 The state-funded media turns a blind eye to stories that should be on the front page.
00:12:12.940 Like, how about in January of this year, when an Indian man, Yuraz Singh, was arrested in Lethbridge, Alberta, with five missing children in a hotel room?
00:12:27.360 Those children were between the ages of 12 and 14, and one of the girls was intoxicated and had been sexually assaulted.
00:12:37.360 Now, folks, when I did a Google News search, I only found two brief local news items regarding this model non-citizen.
00:12:47.320 And again, I ask, why is this gross and disturbing story not on the front page from coast to coast?
00:12:56.220 And where, oh, where is the CBC?
00:12:58.940 By the way, one story concludes by noting, quote,
00:13:03.240 Quote, Singh is currently remanded in custody in BC and awaiting transport back to Alberta, end quote.
00:13:13.420 Alberta? How about transport back to his homeland?
00:13:16.980 Or are even alleged pedophiles not illegal on stolen land that is populated by racists and haters?
00:13:26.320 The non-citizen crime blotter is a lengthy one.
00:13:29.520 Last week, two Indian men were arrested with 17.5 pounds of fentanyl.
00:13:35.640 That's enough to kill 180,000 people, by the way.
00:13:39.900 And yet, just two days ago, the federal crown dropped charges against two other Indians caught with eight kilograms of fentanyl.
00:13:48.100 Before the charges were dropped, the bail conditions were loose enough to allow for one of them to resume truck driving.
00:13:56.440 I swear I'm not making this up.
00:13:59.600 And of course, last week, tragically, a Punjabi woman, Nancy Graywall, 45, was stabbed to death in LaSalle, Ontario,
00:14:08.600 apparently for having the temerity to speak out against the Calistani movement.
00:14:14.940 Unbelievable.
00:14:15.620 As my source, Ted Smith, remarks, between now and Remembrance Day, we will have 300,000 PRs granted.
00:14:24.800 As you wear your poppy and reflect on the sacrifices of those that came before, may I ask,
00:14:32.360 did they sacrifice themselves so Canada could turn into the 29th state of India,
00:14:38.120 overrun with some of the most unscrupulous and callous people in the world?
00:14:44.520 Wake up, Canada, end quote.
00:14:47.260 That might sound harsh, but these aren't my words, folks.
00:14:50.940 They're coming from Ted Smith.
00:14:52.540 And Smith is an Indian immigrant who came to Canada decades ago through the proper channels.
00:14:58.560 And he does note that the immigrants coming from India today, they're not doctors and lawyers and engineers.
00:15:06.100 Rather, the lion's share are completely unskilled.
00:15:10.320 And you know something?
00:15:11.060 That's just how the liberals like them.
00:15:13.020 People dependent on the state to survive.
00:15:16.280 People who need only fulfill their end of the bargain vis-a-vis citizenship by voting for Team Red every four years.
00:15:23.860 Indeed, this might explain why the liberals are so all-in when it comes to mass migration,
00:15:30.240 that they are bending the rules to accommodate those who are not Canadian citizens.
00:15:35.840 I mean, the examples abound.
00:15:37.560 In fact, did you know that Liberal Party nomination meetings can be decided by non-citizens?
00:15:42.680 Oh, yes.
00:15:43.760 Meaning non-citizens can, in theory, determine who the next prime minister will be.
00:15:48.500 Did you know the liberals plan to bolster the Canadian military with foreigners?
00:15:52.480 You know, there are more than 700 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Canada.
00:15:59.780 Hey, if I'm a member of the IRGC, military service in Canada looks a hell of a lot better than returning to Iran right now.
00:16:07.780 As for our nation, hey, what could possibly go wrong?
00:16:12.100 And another thing, what's the status regarding those Chinese police stations operating in China?
00:16:18.680 Maybe this also explains why Carney says the most inexplicably stupid things, like Muslim values are Canadian values.
00:16:29.640 Really, Mr. Prime Minister?
00:16:31.440 What does that mean exactly?
00:16:33.560 Is Sharia law coming to Canada?
00:16:36.040 Oh, don't scoff, folks.
00:16:37.660 There are some 85 Sharia courts in the UK.
00:16:40.860 My boss, Ezra Levant, feels Canada is but five years behind the UK.
00:16:46.780 I think, unfortunately, he is right on the timeline regarding this file.
00:16:52.020 But liberals in Canada, like Democrats south of the border, now put party before country.
00:17:00.080 Oh, and one other inconvenient truth about Muslim values being Canadian values.
00:17:05.800 I wonder if Carney has really thought this through.
00:17:07.960 After all, one of his daughters is now a so-called trans man, meaning she's pretending to be a he.
00:17:14.780 I sincerely hope she, he doesn't visit any Islamic nation because, let's put it this way, she, he probably doesn't have to purchase a return ticket.
00:17:26.120 I should note, importing the world's impoverished to Canada is going to be incredibly expensive.
00:17:34.220 And someone must pay the piper at some point.
00:17:37.800 Which is to say, hey, baby boomers, buckle up, buttercup.
00:17:42.180 What I'm getting at here, folks, is that a liberal majority government in the years ahead might have no choice but to implement a capital gains tax on the primary residences of Canadians, the majority of which are, ta-da, boomers.
00:17:59.860 Oh, there will be outrage, 100%, especially given the way so many boomers have propped up the liberals as though they are members of some kind of a cult.
00:18:10.380 But with boomers dying off, they are nevertheless a depreciating asset for the Liberal Party of Canada when it comes to future ballot box turnout.
00:18:21.200 So much for loyalty, eh?
00:18:23.560 You know, the liberals backstabbing their baby boomer base in the near future reminds me perhaps of the most chilling scene in the 2008 masterpiece, The Dark Knight.
00:18:37.720 Don't talk like one of them, you're not.
00:18:40.700 Even if you'd like to be.
00:18:43.940 To them, you're just a freak.
00:18:47.020 Like me.
00:18:48.480 They need you right now.
00:18:49.720 But when they don't, they'll cast you out.
00:18:55.720 Like a leper.
00:18:57.300 See, their morals, their code, it's a bad joke.
00:19:03.760 We've dropped at the first sign of trouble.
00:19:07.680 They're only as good as the world allows them to be.
00:19:11.140 I'll show you.
00:19:11.980 When the chips are down, these, uh, these civilized people, they'll eat each other.
00:19:18.880 Bottom line, wake up, boomer, or the joke's going to be on you.
00:19:23.680 You know, folks, I don't care if you love or hate Elon Musk.
00:19:35.940 I don't care if you are still suffering from Trump derangement syndrome, but the fact is we desperately need a Department of Government Efficiency in Canada, a.k.a. DOGE.
00:19:49.580 Egregious examples of wasteful government spending abound.
00:19:54.840 The latest example, well, the B.C. government thought it was somehow fiscally responsible to spend $35,000 for an open bar for bureaucrats to enjoy at a reception in Victoria.
00:20:12.300 Unbelievable.
00:20:13.300 Unbelievable.
00:20:14.560 And with more on this affront and more to taxpayers is Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
00:20:25.480 Carson, thank you so much for joining me.
00:20:28.660 The, um, one, the fiscal carnage never ends, but as I said to you off camera, the saddest thing about this is a mere $35,000 being wasted.
00:20:40.500 That's like chump change when we're talking hundreds of thousands and often millions of dollars when it comes to government.
00:20:48.100 Can you give us the details about this taxpayer-funded reception for bureaucrats?
00:20:53.820 Yeah, absolutely, and thank you so much for having me on the show today.
00:20:58.620 We uncovered, through Freedom of Information requests, documents that show the B.C. government budgeted $35,000 for an open bar reception at a fancy Victoria resort last March.
00:21:13.380 Now, the records say that this, uh, reception was to hand out coronation medals to deserving government employees.
00:21:24.320 But, look, bear in mind, the Feds handed out about 30,000 of these coronation medals across the country.
00:21:32.080 Not exactly a great huge deal.
00:21:34.780 Well, most of the ceremonies happened at Legion halls, community centers, government buildings, certainly not luxurious Victoria resorts.
00:21:44.580 And what jumped out at me here was the bar tab, 42 glasses of sparkling wine, 6 shots of tequila, 10 shots of Jack Daniels whiskey, 19 glasses of white wine, 13 glasses of red wine, 10 glasses of rosé, Moscow mules, margaritas, literally dozens of other beer, wines, and spirits.
00:22:13.640 Now, this is coming at a time when the B.C. government just released this, the worst budget in our province's history.
00:22:23.240 $30 billion of new debt, taxes through the roof for families and small businesses.
00:22:30.340 Meanwhile, the bureaucrats are billing us $35,000 for fancy wine and cheese receptions?
00:22:36.700 It is outrageous.
00:22:37.900 Well, Carson, um, I've got two thoughts.
00:22:40.400 One, uh, since you mentioned, uh, Jack Daniels, that's Kentucky bourbon.
00:22:44.480 I'm now envious because in Ontario, we've been deprived that the little people by premier Ford.
00:22:50.240 And, uh, so, uh, I, I guess it pays to be a bureaucrat.
00:22:54.480 You get exempted from the anti-American trade rhetoric, but you know what?
00:22:58.280 I don't know if you guys thought about this, but you know what struck me, uh, given government being government and given government so beholden to lawyers,
00:23:07.520 I'm surprised alcohol was served, um, in the first place, not because, um, they didn't want to wine and dine their bureaucrats, but based on maybe a legal opinion, like, um, Mr. Premier, if we get people sloshed, we might be responsible for, uh, owner-occupier, um, uh, litigation if there's an accident afterwards.
00:23:34.440 So just for that reason, you know, the wrong reason for not having alcohol, I'm surprised that didn't go ahead.
00:23:42.380 What are your thoughts, Carson?
00:23:44.560 Well, I'm glad you brought up the American bourbon comment because this party happened just one day after Premier David Eby ordered American booze off liquor store shelves.
00:23:56.720 Wow.
00:23:58.100 So bourbon for we, not for the taxpayer D. It's absolutely bizarre.
00:24:05.200 And you're right, but this isn't a one-off of BC bureaucrats blowing big money on boozy receptions.
00:24:12.100 Unfortunately, this is part of a pattern that we've seen time and time again from the BC government.
00:24:18.440 Just last week, uh, my team at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation released documents that showed two BC ministers billed us for a $3,900 happy hour in Amsterdam.
00:24:31.200 So time and time again, David Eby's bureaucrats and cabinet ministers are slapping tapped-out taxpayers with big bills for boozy parties.
00:24:41.760 You know, I really want, I'd love to see the invoices for that $3,900 happy hour in Amsterdam, given that city has a red light district.
00:24:52.120 But anyway, who am I to pry?
00:24:54.420 Um, and you know, here's the thing.
00:24:56.960 I think you guys at the Taxpayers Federation, Carson, you do incredible work.
00:25:03.940 Um, not a week, it seems, goes by, uh, when you don't, thanks to freedom of information, because the government isn't happy to share this information, um, expose some egregious spending spree.
00:25:17.720 Uh, here's my question.
00:25:21.160 The, these governments, and we're talking to federal government, provincial, municipal, they get continually PR black eyes.
00:25:30.280 Do you ever get any results?
00:25:32.040 Do you ever get a mea culpa?
00:25:33.440 Do you ever get government promising we're going to spend more responsibility?
00:25:38.040 Do you ever get government saying, uh, we're going to personally refund, uh, that bar bill?
00:25:43.940 Or is this just ranting against the wind here?
00:25:47.720 Yeah, no, absolutely.
00:25:49.440 And let me give you a really good example of how our tax fighting army got real accountability with one of these spending scandals here in BC.
00:25:58.060 Through freedom of information requests, we were able to prove that BC bureaucrats were giving themselves secret bonuses by buying expensive gift cards to high-end sporting goods stores, Amazon, Walmart, and other businesses.
00:26:15.080 We, uh, exposed that through freedom of information requests, thanks to support from tax fighters across the country.
00:26:22.040 We published those documents, uh, and the, as a result, the BC government has canceled the gift card for bureaucrat program.
00:26:30.080 That happened because of our tax fighting army from coast to coast to coast, and it wouldn't have happened if we weren't able to file those freedom of information requests and show that bureaucrats were giving themselves secret gift card bonuses.
00:26:42.860 That's fantastic.
00:26:43.860 So, in other words, uh, exposure can act as a sanitizing process in terms of, uh, government, uh, being more fiscally responsible.
00:26:53.540 And, you know, that's the thing, you know, Carson, um, I truly miss the late, great Rob Ford, the former mayor of Toronto.
00:27:00.880 Uh, not so much his brother, the current premier of Ontario, but that's another story, but I think, um, the reason why he won by a landslide in 2010 is that he coined, and, and it wasn't just words.
00:27:17.200 He led by example, what I think is the greatest political slogan of our early century, respect for taxpayers.
00:27:27.260 And he meant what he said.
00:27:28.880 He always thought Toronto had a spending problem as opposed to a revenue problem.
00:27:34.480 It sure worked for, uh, Rob Ford.
00:27:36.900 Uh, why can't we see more politicians across the nation, uh, following in those footsteps?
00:27:43.560 Well, because I think there are so many vested interests pushing politicians to spend, spend, spend, whether it's the bureaucrats, the unions, there's a ton of pressure on politicians to shake taxpayers upside down until our lunch money falls out of our pockets.
00:28:01.740 Yeah.
00:28:02.000 But that's why it's so important that we get taxpayers, viewers of your show, folks, uh, engaged.
00:28:08.560 We arm them with the knowledge to hold government accountable.
00:28:12.860 So I think that's the key arm yourself with the knowledge, watch programs like this one, learn about the ways politicians and bureaucrats are blowing your hard earned money and hold them accountable for it.
00:28:25.860 And, you know, I got to tell you, uh, Carson, I don't know if you saw this report, but last week we exposed the fact that Durham region's headquarters in Whitby, Ontario,
00:28:36.260 they installed, they installed, and I'm not making this up a $1 million revolving door.
00:28:44.260 Now I'm not, I know, and I'm not a door expert, but I read the comments and contractors were saying, Dave, it's 50,000 tops.
00:28:53.480 So in other words, 50,000 for the door and the labor to put the door in, 950,000 in, um, kickbacks.
00:29:03.040 And what I found really rich when I reached out to the region, their media affairs department, they said, well, you should know that almost half a million dollars of this was paid for by the federal government.
00:29:15.820 Carson, who cares?
00:29:16.980 There's just, there's just one taxpayer, right?
00:29:19.700 Yeah, no, you're absolutely right.
00:29:21.580 And look, here's what gets me about stories just like that.
00:29:24.660 Every dime that goes towards wasteful spending like this is money that's not keeping our streets safe.
00:29:31.540 It's money that's not keeping life affordable for taxpayers.
00:29:35.340 So these things have real consequences for the folks like you and I who are being stuck with the bill.
00:29:41.280 A hundred percent.
00:29:41.980 But here's the good news epilogue to that.
00:29:44.020 Uh, we did a follow-up and within days of our piece airing and full disclosure, maybe it's a complete coincidence, but Durham region announced that starting next year, they are hiring an auditor general to cut spending.
00:30:01.040 So again, to your point of exposing, uh, these examples of egregious spending, sometimes there is a happy ending, wouldn't you say?
00:30:10.800 Absolutely.
00:30:11.360 Look, sunlight sanitizes spending scandals.
00:30:15.040 That's been true since democracy was invented.
00:30:18.520 And so folks, arm yourselves with that knowledge.
00:30:21.660 Look into government spending because what you'll find is shocking.
00:30:26.040 From boozy happy hours to expensive doors, the waste doesn't end.
00:30:31.500 Incredible.
00:30:32.720 Uh, we're running out of racetrack here, Carson, but let's end it on what I thought was the most perversely amusing example of outrageous government spending.
00:30:41.340 It's right here in Toronto, a plaque went up commemorating a dead raccoon and, um, uh, our city.
00:30:51.300 I don't know if you've ever spent time in Toronto.
00:30:54.100 We're overrun by raccoons.
00:30:56.120 I mean, the Toronto raccoon is a different subspecies.
00:30:59.620 They're bigger, they live longer, they're fatter, they have bigger litters.
00:31:03.380 Uh, they basically go around the garbage cans, uh, like somebody at a Mandarin restaurant.
00:31:08.760 And I guess what I'm getting at, Carson, if this was some exceptional raccoon, you know, a raccoon that was known for, say, riding a bicycle.
00:31:18.680 Uh, yeah, I get it.
00:31:20.760 But it was just a big fat raccoon that dropped dead on a city sidewalk.
00:31:25.840 Why on the taxpayer dime are we honoring a dead pest, essentially?
00:31:32.140 Oh, this is something we've asked time and time again.
00:31:35.400 Look, my family's from rural Saskatchewan.
00:31:38.000 In my neck of the woods, folks tend to shoot raccoons if they're getting into the garbage or whatever.
00:31:43.020 I understand that's frowned upon in Toronto and where I'm now in Vancouver.
00:31:48.360 But look, yeah, you hit the nail on the head.
00:31:50.420 A fat raccoon dropped dead on a Toronto city sidewalk.
00:31:55.080 And city bureaucrats decided to commemorate this deep loss to the folks of Toronto with a $2,000 plaque.
00:32:05.300 Think about that for a second, a $2,000 plaque to honor a dead raccoon on a Toronto city sidewalk.
00:32:13.780 Folks, I want you to think about that next time you go to file your property taxes.
00:32:19.200 Oh, which have gone up by double digits under Mayor Olivia Chow in Toronto.
00:32:25.500 Great point.
00:32:26.560 Carson, let's end it with this.
00:32:27.660 Where can our viewers find your great work at the Taxpayers' Federation?
00:32:32.960 Well, that's very kind of you to say.
00:32:35.480 If you want to follow our work, head over to Taxpayer.com.
00:32:39.620 That's Taxpayer.com.
00:32:41.420 And that's where you can stay up to date on all of our breaking waste stories and find out how you can join the Taxpayer Army to hold government accountable.
00:32:50.140 Fantastic, Carson.
00:32:51.420 And I'll leave it with this.
00:32:53.100 Sadly, there's no shortage in stories in which you uncover just unbelievable shenanigans at the Taxpayer Dime.
00:33:01.300 And Carson Binda, thank you so much for your time, sir.
00:33:04.860 Thanks for having me.
00:33:05.860 Thank you.
00:33:05.920 Thank you.