Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ A historic wave of freedom threatens dictatorships everywhere

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. You know, I've been thinking about it, and I feel exhilarated. Look, there's

00:00:04.480 problems everywhere, but I feel like we are living in an echo of the Berlin Wall falling.

00:00:10.800 When I look at Venezuela and Cuba and Iran and Nicaragua and all these places,

00:00:16.600 I think that we are having another Berlin Wall moment. I'll make my case to you in a moment,

00:00:21.060 but first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's the

00:00:24.540 video version of this podcast. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe.

00:00:28.300 Eight bucks a month might not sound like a lot to you, but it sure adds up for us.

00:00:32.940 You know, we rely on you because we don't take government dough. It's really you who keeps us

00:00:36.200 alive. So thanks.

00:00:53.100 Tonight, I really feel like we're living through another Berlin Wall moment, or we're about to. 0.95

00:00:57.780 It's February 9th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:03.780 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:06.800 You know, I'm old enough to remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was in my late teens, and it

00:01:20.040 was a very meaningful event for me. I really feel like, well, as Francis Fukuyama said, you know,

00:01:26.220 like it was the end of history, like this ancient, permanent, diabolical enemy of freedom in the West,

00:01:32.900 the Soviet Union fell apart without a shot being fired. And it was true what we had said the whole 0.99

00:01:38.920 time, that the Russian people and the others dominated by the Soviets and other countries

00:01:43.680 that are now independent from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Stans, Ukraine itself, of course,

00:01:50.660 that all these countries yearn to be free not only from the Soviet Union, but the individual people

00:01:56.380 therein. So it was such an important and wonderful event. Of course, that wasn't the only diabolical

00:02:01.180 enemy that the West and freedom had. Waiting in the wings was, of course, radical Islam. 0.99

00:02:05.380 And there was a, I don't know, about a decade where we had this post-Cold War euphoria in the West

00:02:12.800 until 9-11 came and reminded us that we were not done and that the nature of man was not changed.

00:02:18.920 Rebel News is Canadian. I mean, we have our little team in Melbourne, Australia, Ava Yamini.

00:02:25.600 But, you know, we care mainly about what happens in our home here in Canada. We have the country

00:02:32.540 covered from British Columbia all the way to Quebec, and we travel around to the places we're

00:02:37.740 not based. So we're doing important work in Canada, but our themes are global. Wouldn't you say,

00:02:43.320 for example, COVID, we cared very much about freedom from being forcibly jabbed, the freedom

00:02:51.460 to criticize controversial medical science. We started the Fight Defiance Legal project in Canada,

00:03:00.440 but we actually expanded it to the UK and Australia. We care about freedom of speech,

00:03:05.560 not just here in Canada, but around the world, because it's all linked, I think,

00:03:08.720 especially when it comes to social media platforms being censored. For a decade, we've cared about

00:03:13.980 Tommy Robinson, and I think the Rebel News deserves some of the credit or the blame, depending on your

00:03:19.260 position, for making him a household term amongst freedom fighters around the world. There was a time

00:03:24.380 when no one reported on his situation. No one cared about him, but we did. And of course, mass immigration 0.99

00:03:29.940 is one of our key themes that we look to places like the Netherlands and France and the UK and Ireland

00:03:36.240 to help understand what's going on here. So we've always been global in our outlook, not because we

00:03:43.340 consider ourselves globalists, sort of the opposite. We just see that there are patterns, and if there's

00:03:48.540 something we can learn from another country, it's very valuable. I think Canada right now is in

00:03:53.680 desperate straits, and I didn't think it would be. I thought that by now, Pierre Paglia would be entering

00:03:58.360 his second year as prime minister, and we would be demolishing so much of the welfare state,

00:04:03.820 the government state, the censorship state, but in fact, we're not. Canada is economically staggering.

00:04:10.920 Now, very authoritative sources are admitting what we all know is that on an individual basis,

00:04:15.140 Canada is in recession. There's boondoggles of staggering size. The other day, Stellantis sold

00:04:21.420 its share in the electric vehicle scandal for a hundred bucks, tens of billions of dollars flushed away

00:04:27.760 by our politicians thinking that they were some sort of entrepreneurial geniuses. They all thought they

00:04:33.640 were Elon Musk, didn't they? Mark Carney has pretty much abandoned any domestic work. It's beneath him.

00:04:40.860 He finds it boring, and he doesn't like being held accountable. As the chairman of Brookfield,

00:04:45.860 he was never held accountable. He was on the board of Brookfield, understand? He wasn't the CEO.

00:04:51.320 So those who actually did whatever work Brookfield did, like the CEO and the actual operation managers,

00:04:57.600 they would show up at the quarterly board meetings and be grilled by the board. What about this?

00:05:01.660 What about this problem? What about this opportunity? Not Mark Carney. He was never a

00:05:05.720 hands-on doer. So the idea that he must submit himself to the indignities of question period is

00:05:11.200 completely new to him, and he prefers to keep up his old travel circuit. I mean, that one week to me

00:05:16.740 summed up Mark Carney better than anything else when he went to China and the World Economic Forum and

00:05:23.000 Qatar. Three places that have, you know, that are hostile to freedom, but that are part of the 0.99

00:05:30.360 fashionable circuit instead of going to, you know, explain to Canadian auto workers why he's going to

00:05:36.200 bring in 29,000 Chinese electric vehicles here. It's just, he prefers that fancy five-star jet set

00:05:43.220 travel circuit. Now, by the way, that's not going to work. Even if his plans to double the amount of

00:05:50.280 trade with non-US countries happens, and it's not going to happen, by the way. I mean, look,

00:05:54.920 he went to China and what did he get? He agreed to buy their cars. That's not the trade he was

00:05:59.780 supposed to go and work on. Even Stephen Harper, who's become a bit of an anti-Trump activist in his

00:06:05.140 old age, even he says after, you know, criticizing Trump that we are eternally going to be part of the

00:06:12.740 United States economy by virtue of our geography. Here's, here's Harper just about a week ago or so

00:06:20.320 saying that despite all his criticisms of Trump in America, you cannot get off America if you are

00:06:27.180 Canada. You just can't. Here's, here's Harper saying so. In terms of the advice I'll give him,

00:06:32.380 the advice I'll give the country. You know, our, our desire as Canadians, that we desire we've had now

00:06:39.560 for decades to be strong and, and beside the United States, you know, whenever we can be,

00:06:49.240 that really is hinged on us believing that the United States is a friend.

00:06:55.580 Not that the United States wants to conquer or annex Canada, but if the United States actually

00:07:01.060 threatens the sovereignty and independence of Canada, Mr. Faliad will be forced to take a very

00:07:06.240 different approach to Canada's place in the world. As Mr. Trump said, force economically to join the

00:07:12.780 United States. I, I just don't think that's an agenda, but if it is, um, if it were to be, then,

00:07:19.140 you know, then Pierre Paulyev, and frankly, our entire country has a lot of thinking to do about

00:07:23.340 where, where it goes from there. Well, of course, uh, Mark Carney would rather jet set around and

00:07:29.000 pose for selfies like his foreign minister did in Greenland in front of the Canadian Greenland

00:07:34.620 consulate. I don't know if you saw a picture of it. It's like a little tiny house. I know what

00:07:39.340 consulates are there to handle trade and travel. For example, if you have a passport issue, or if you

00:07:45.880 are a Canadian living in Greenland and you need help with something Canadian, you know how many

00:07:49.760 Canadians there are living in Greenland? I looked it up. Greenland has a census and there are 16,

00:07:57.560 there are 16 Canadians in Greenland. So setting up that consulate was not for trade. It was not for

00:08:02.580 tourism. It was just a little poke in the eye of, uh, Donald Trump. I wish that Mark Carney would do

00:08:08.340 what he promised he would do. The elbows up promise he made in 2025, which was to be the Trump

00:08:13.740 whisperer. He said he knows how the real world actually works. Well, he hasn't shown it yet.

00:08:20.080 So that's a big problem. Crime is off the hook. I mean, especially in Toronto, I don't know if you

00:08:25.860 saw that scandalous press conference where two police forces, uh, were riven by corruption,

00:08:32.260 actual police officers charged with corruption and both police chiefs, um, you know, ruled themselves

00:08:39.040 clean and each other clean. Um, if they do say so themselves, they investigated themselves and

00:08:44.200 everything's fine. It's pretty gross. It's pretty banana Republic-ish, but you want to see something 0.99

00:08:49.600 that shouts banana Republic. Look at this video published a couple of days ago by the Surrey

00:08:54.720 police. Just watch every word of this and just think it over and think about our new country that

00:09:02.320 we have. Just, just take a look at this video. Have you been asked to help others extort people

00:09:07.080 for money? Have you been offered money to shoot at a house or business or send threatening messages

00:09:13.400 to people? Don't take the bait. You are being offered a small sum of money to take enormous risk

00:09:20.080 that can harm you, your family and everyday hardworking people. This is not why you came to

00:09:26.720 Canada. You came to go to school, to find a better life, to be one of the first in your family to start

00:09:33.440 something new. You did not come here to become a criminal. For many of you, your family or temple

00:09:39.800 sponsored you to be here. Committing these crimes isn't worth the dishonour, the shame and disappointment

00:09:47.040 you would bring to those who have given so much for you to be here. Don't risk being arrested, jailed

00:09:54.440 and removed from Canada. If you need help or you have confidential information, call our Surrey extortion

00:10:01.740 tip line at 236-485-5149. There is a reward fund of $250,000 available for information that helps us

00:10:12.680 stop extortions in Surrey. Yeah, we've got a bit of a crisis in Canada, but you wouldn't know it by our

00:10:21.560 jet-setting leaders. Our foreign affairs are a mess. I mean, I mentioned Anita and Anne showboating in

00:10:27.120 Greenland the other day. By the way, that's all settled. Trump got his deal with Greenland and

00:10:30.680 Denmark and NATO. It's sort of over. We're sort of like the guy who had an interesting point to make

00:10:36.940 in the conversation an hour ago, but we didn't, we couldn't interject then. And now the conversation

00:10:42.560 has moved on, but we've got that point we want to make. Anyways, that's Anita and Anne and Mark Carney

00:10:47.980 and our consulate in Greenland. It would have been cool a month ago. Now it's just sort of pitiful.

00:10:52.980 Speaking of pitiful, look at this statement by our foreign minister, Anita and Anne.

00:10:56.520 Jimmy Lai is one of the most famous Hong Kong freedom activists, publisher, journalist,

00:11:03.180 and he has been sentenced to prison. Classic, you know, the worst, it would be the worst case

00:11:11.100 of human rights abuses in terms of violating political freedom. And here's what Anita and Anne

00:11:16.300 says. We're disappointed. Not we strongly condemn. They don't condemn anything. They're just,

00:11:23.980 you know, we're a little disappointed. Hey, how was, uh, how are your chicken fajitas? Well,

00:11:30.480 I was a little disappointed. It was a little bit cold and it wasn't the portion size. Oh,

00:11:35.720 you're a little disappointed. Yeah. My, my chicken, you're disappointed that that's all you got.

00:11:41.480 Hey, welcome to the new world order. As Mark Carney said with China at the center, 0.90

00:11:46.880 uh, the mainstream media is a mess and not just in Canada. I just want to show you this headline

00:11:52.240 from Sky News, which is allegedly a private media company. Um, I don't know if you saw, but, uh,

00:11:59.020 Japan's new prime minister, who I think is sort of awesome. She looks up to Margaret Thatcher.

00:12:03.940 She's very conservative. She had a great meeting with Donald Trump. She's taking a hard line against

00:12:07.900 immigration, which is so necessary to, to save Japan as the awesome country that it is. Um,

00:12:15.020 look at this headline in Sky News, Japan's ultra conservative prime minister set to seize more

00:12:22.460 power. Exit poll shows she's not ultra conservative. She just wants to keep Japan Japanese like it has 1.00

00:12:28.980 always done. And she wants to, you know, meet the China threat by, you know, getting rid of the taboo 1.00

00:12:35.900 that Japan can't really have an army, which has been the taboo for about 80 years since world war

00:12:40.520 two. Um, but she won the elections and actually young Japanese supporter very much over 70%.

00:12:47.660 Sanei Takaichi's coalition is predicted to win between 302 and 366 of the 465 seats in the lower house.

00:12:56.500 So she's massively popular by the center and the right. And I eat to win that much of a majority, 0.98

00:13:03.780 you've got to be pretty much universally loved, but she's called an ultra conservative and she 1.00

00:13:09.580 didn't win an election. She seized power. You know, she's a young woman, uh, relatively young

00:13:16.060 as, as prime ministers go. If she were on the left, she would be fetid. She would be on the front page 1.00

00:13:21.960 of every magazine, but Sky News calls her an ultra conservative who seized power. Seizing power is 0.99

00:13:27.420 what dictators do. They never use that language for dictators in real life though. Uh, Canada's media

00:13:33.580 are, are full-time product propagandists too. I mean, um, right now they are focusing their hatred

00:13:39.360 on Daniel Smith. Um, and, uh, they interviewed Stephane Dion, which is a real throwback to people

00:13:45.760 here who, uh, you've got to be over 40, over 50, probably even remember who he is. He was the liberal

00:13:50.920 candidate in 2008 who ran first ran on the carbon tax. He called it the green shift. And he was maybe

00:13:57.560 a little too honest about it. He was saying, we're doing this to punish people. So they changed their

00:14:02.300 behavior. That was the shift part. If we tax regular cars, but not electric cars, that'll shift you into

00:14:09.280 buying the electric car. If we tax you for making your house warm in the winter instead of cold in the

00:14:14.000 winter, we'll shift your behavior. So they, the whole thing was about psychological nudging and making life

00:14:19.940 too expensive. He didn't make the right choices. That was what the green shift was. It was

00:14:24.060 strikingly honest, which is why Stephane Dion got absolutely ground to bits. And that's who the CBC

00:14:33.640 has on to condemn Alberta separatism and to imply that Daniel Smith is the cause of it. This is the guy

00:14:40.840 who tried to teach Canadians to hate oil and gas and that he was going to bully you and to stop using it.

00:14:49.700 And he thinks that Danielle Smith is the cause of Western separatist sentiment. Take a look.

00:14:56.240 Put your country before your party, please. That would be my reaction. I have no patience for

00:15:01.860 separatist blackmail. It's a mess. And she needs to clarify what that means for Albertans and Canadians,

00:15:08.280 the situation she has created herself. What a mess. What a mess. But I, despite all this,

00:15:14.180 and I'm telling you, it was on my radar today. Despite all that, I am exhilarated. I feel like

00:15:20.500 it's the Berlin Wall moment because although I've never been to Venezuela, I've never been to Iran,

00:15:26.380 never been to Cuba. I think about those places. And in the case of Iran, I've thought about it for

00:15:32.400 almost 50 years, ever since the Ayatollah came back and put every woman there in a, you know, 0.95

00:15:37.880 handmaid's tale type outfit. The left has sort of thought about it. They've generally propped it up

00:15:43.340 because they see it as a counterweight to America. I've never been to Cuba. I never would. I understand

00:15:48.040 that some people go there for a super cheap vacation. Well, you know what? I bet you a North

00:15:52.340 Korean vacation is even cheaper. Don't go to vacation in a prison. It's just not the ethical

00:16:00.000 thing to do. But I'm exhilarated about what's happening because I think we have a Berlin Wall

00:16:05.160 moment all across the Americas and now in Iran too. I mean, I just can't get over what happened

00:16:10.920 early in the new year when Venezuela, a two hour operation to arrest Nicolas Maduro has had a domino

00:16:18.480 effect without costing a single American life. And by the way, in terms of money, real wars and

00:16:25.280 invasions typically cost billions, maybe even trillions. I'm not saying the operation to get

00:16:30.700 Maduro was cheap. It was probably tens of millions of dollars or, or even more, but there's no mass

00:16:36.620 force. There's no GIs occupying like they tried to do in Afghanistan and Iraq. Afghanistan and Iraq 0.69

00:16:45.580 fell very quickly. No surprise. The West has modern weapons and well-trained soldiers,

00:16:50.720 but try holding Iraq and Afghanistan. That's the novelty. What's happened in Venezuela is that Trump

00:16:57.700 has basically dragooned and deputized Maduro's henchmen and said, if you don't want to be arrested

00:17:04.680 or killed, you will rule Venezuela, but with our goals, economic security, stopping the drugs, economic 0.91

00:17:13.820 freedom, and stop with your political repression. I mean, he has basically seized, it's like,

00:17:21.320 it's like in a mafia gang war, knocking out the head of another family and saying, you work for me now.

00:17:27.520 I mean, if you're going to try and out gangster Trump, he'll out gangster you. In the case,

00:17:32.220 in his case, with aircraft carriers and modern weapons, I think what's going on in Venezuela is

00:17:36.280 incredible. It's incredible. He's freeing the country. You know, there's this very unusual

00:17:43.080 looking building in the heart of Caracas. I think it was originally designed to be a shopping center.

00:17:47.880 I mean, trying to pronounce it El Elicoide or something. It's like, it's like a helix. I think

00:17:55.780 that's the root of the word. It's this strange looking building that was never actually a shopping

00:18:01.080 center. It was where the secret police are. And it was the torture chambers. And it's this iconic

00:18:07.720 building in the heart of Caracas. Imagine having a building, a very unique looking building in your

00:18:14.440 capital city. That's the torture chamber. And everybody knew it. I mean, New York City, you've

00:18:21.020 got, you know, Statue of Liberty. You've got, you had the World Trade Center. Now you have the Freedom

00:18:26.380 Tower. Imagine the, one of the best known edifices in your city is the torture chambers. Well, as you

00:18:34.940 know, Trump has demanded that all the political prisoners were released from the Helicoide, if I'm

00:18:40.180 saying that right. It's not perfect. I mean, some gangs seized one of the freedom fighters and

00:18:45.780 there's certainly some problems, but oh my God, is it ever going well considering there are no

00:18:50.680 American boots on the ground? Wow. There's some diplomats and some CIA, but they've actually got

00:18:55.560 Maduro's old gang working for Trump, which brings us to Cuba. I'm so glad we sent Alexa and Efron down

00:19:03.860 there when we did. Did you see the news that they have run out of oil and things made from oil because

00:19:10.940 the United States is actually enforcing the embargo. They stopped ships from Venezuela. Well,

00:19:15.780 they stopped the Venezuelan oil. They managed to convince Mexico to stop the oil. So they've

00:19:20.520 officially run out. And today the Canadian airlines that are such a lifeline for hard currency to Cuba

00:19:28.320 have all announced that they're not flying there anymore because there's no jet fuel to refuel them

00:19:32.900 to send them back. I mean, I, I suppose it's possible that some jets could fly there, um,

00:19:38.660 like ultra long range planes, but I don't know if it's even, uh, if you can even land an ultra long

00:19:46.580 range jet with a full fuel tank, I think you sort of blow off the fuel. My point is, I don't even

00:19:51.460 think it's technical, technically possible for Air Canada, West jets, Sunwing air transat to keep

00:19:57.480 flying to Cuba. They basically grounded all what's a non-essential journey. I mean, the whole country is

00:20:06.940 cut off. I suppose you could still get there by sail, sailboat. Last I heard there was about 6,000

00:20:12.420 Canadians stranded in Cuba. And I don't know how they're getting home, if at all. I mean, if you're

00:20:19.020 still in Cuba now, first of all, you were obviously ignoring the warnings, not just the warnings in the

00:20:24.940 news, but the warnings that get out of Cuba. It's very dangerous. Things are touch and go. And many people

00:20:31.600 did follow the warnings. So hotel, uh, hotels were largely empty. I understand that they are now,

00:20:38.060 uh, consolidating where these guests are and putting them in one or two hotels, because by the

00:20:44.320 way, a lot of the staff can't get to the hotels because they would get there by car, bus, or truck.

00:20:50.180 So it's an absolute disaster. And you know what? I don't feel that bad for the Canadians trapped over

00:20:56.100 there. Like I say, they were vacationing on a prison Island. And you know, I, I just been watching

00:21:02.840 these videos on Tik TOK of the meager food served in these resorts. And however meager it is, that is

00:21:08.760 fine dining. That is eating like a King compared to how ordinary Cubans must live. So it's sort of 1.00

00:21:15.340 amazing. Um, there is some humanitarian aid getting in. I saw Mexico sent some, it's going to be stolen by

00:21:23.020 the regime. Just like when aid went into Gaza, it was stolen by Hamas. It didn't go to ordinary 0.93

00:21:28.300 people. When this aid goes into Cuba, it's going to be stolen by the regime and the people who support 0.66

00:21:34.020 the regime, the police, other officials, it's not going to go to ordinary people. Canada has propped

00:21:40.880 up Cuba for decades, not just morally and politically and diplomatically, but these endless flights.

00:21:45.980 And I got to tell you, uh, I'm glad they're over. I look forward to them resuming when Cuba is free, 0.95

00:21:54.600 don't you? So Venezuela, a huge win. I got to say, I think Cuba could be free within a week,

00:22:01.920 within a week. They're out of oil and gas. Their government is telling them to farm, to eat things

00:22:08.080 that are local. I mean, it's really sent them back a century. It has set, communism has set Cuba back

00:22:15.700 a century. And of course, Iran could be next. There is a massive U.S. force in the region.

00:22:22.480 Hundreds of flights from those enormous C-17 and C-5 transport jets. Who knows what they're

00:22:28.600 bringing over their men, material, equipment? I don't know. But fighters and bombers are being

00:22:34.960 relocated into the region. A lot of anti-missiles. I mean, I suppose it's possible that a deal can still

00:22:42.200 be made, but I don't think so. I think that the die is cast. They're just waiting for the right

00:22:47.120 timing. I actually thought they might launch the invasion during the Super Bowl. Um, I think

00:22:53.460 Venezuela is an amazing experiment in regime change without occupying the country underneath. I think

00:22:58.400 Cuba will be even easier. There is zero support in the country for the regime outside of the regime

00:23:04.420 itself. And there is enormous support for change in Florida. The second Diaz-Canel, their dictator,

00:23:10.440 is out of there. I think they've saved just enough jet fuel for him to fly to Moscow. The second he's

00:23:15.920 gone, you're going to have a flotilla, an armada of Cuban Americans coming over to rescue and rebuild 1.00

00:23:23.740 that country. So Venezuela is going well. Cuba is about to go amazing, I predict it. And Iran's going 0.92

00:23:29.520 to be very interesting. Maybe the Shah, maybe his son will be the new leader. I don't know. It's the

00:23:34.500 most interesting because it's a huge country, 90 million souls with very interesting borders. I mean,

00:23:42.300 whether it's Turkey or Iraq, I mean, it is, it is an ancient civilization that I think has been

00:23:48.880 hijacked for a generation. And because it was extremist Islamic clerics running it, believe it or not, 1.00

00:23:54.640 young people in Iran are the most secular in the region. They just hate what religion has been to 1.00

00:24:00.240 them for 50 years. You take all these things together and yeah, we've got problems. We've

00:24:06.220 got problems in Canada, bad problems. But I feel like that we are just like that moment in 1989.

00:24:13.420 I think that the Berlin Wall is falling. It's not one big Berlin Wall, but in Venezuela, in Cuba,

00:24:19.240 I think maybe in Nicaragua to come soon. Colombia is obeying Trump's demands for change. And imagine if

00:24:28.060 Iran, the regional enemy were to fall and be replaced with something democratic. Yes, of course,

00:24:33.240 Canada is my home, but can I not celebrate the liberation and the imminent liberation of tens of

00:24:40.300 millions of people and so bloodlessly so far? May it stay that way. Stay with us. More ahead.

00:24:47.220 Well, everyone gets their advertising, their information online these days. If you look at

00:25:02.040 two competing graphs, you'll see that the newspaper industry and to a larger extent, the radio industry

00:25:09.800 industry and the TV industry, ad sales have plummeted, while at the exact same time, those ad revenues have

00:25:17.220 been sopped up by Facebook, Google and other online giants. The point is, people simply get their

00:25:23.880 information online. These days, that often means on their phone. So it's interesting to see people try

00:25:29.920 low tech to get ahead. And by that, today, I'm referring to sandwich boards. You know what I'm talking

00:25:36.280 about? Literally, placards that are worn on your front and on your back. You used to see them in the

00:25:43.000 Great Depression. Men would say, willing to work for X amount of money, we'll work for food. In recent

00:25:49.800 years, our friend Billboard Chris Elston has used those sandwich boards to great effect. There's something

00:25:56.000 startling about seeing a man with a friendly face in a public place with a message you can very quickly

00:26:02.520 read. And he's standing there, ready to engage with you. I sort of think it's a refreshing throwback to

00:26:08.760 the pre-digital age. And as Billboard Chris shows us, people just can't help coming up to have a real

00:26:15.320 interaction on an online interaction. Well, Billboard Chris is probably the most famous Billboard user,

00:26:21.640 hence his nickname. But he's not the only one. In fact, in Quebec, a man has been wearing a simple

00:26:29.320 billboard that says, Prions pour la fin de l'avortement. And forgive my French accent,

00:26:35.720 which basically means, let us pray for the end of abortion. It's not a sales pitch any more than

00:26:42.780 Billboard Chris's sandwich boards are a sales pitch. But this man was arrested and charged with violating

00:26:49.820 laws about business advertising. Do you think he's advertising a business? Or do you think this is

00:26:55.760 protected free speech? Well, the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms has weighed in. They

00:27:00.480 believe it's a case of freedom of speech. And they have dispatched a lawyer to help the man in Quebec.

00:27:05.980 Joining us now to talk about this is Glenn Blackett, a lawyer with the JCCF. Glenn, welcome to the show.

00:27:11.720 Nice to see you. Thanks very much. Nice to meet you. So tell me a little bit about this man. I suppose in

00:27:16.720 some ways it's completely unimportant who he is. Although I am curious, it could be any of us. And the

00:27:23.100 message could be any political message. It could be a pro-life message. It could be a pro-choice

00:27:27.980 message, pro-Israel, pro-Palestine. Political speech is protected in Canada. And the fact that

00:27:37.000 this man is being charged, I think, should be a concern to everyone, not just pro-lifers.

00:27:41.820 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Him and a group of other pro-lifers were out protesting with

00:27:48.100 sandwich boards. And first he was warned. He went and he checked the bylaws to see whether

00:27:54.900 or not he was in violation of them, decided he wasn't in violation of them, and so continued

00:27:58.620 to protest. And then eventually he was charged. So what exactly did the police do to him? Did they

00:28:03.880 take him into custody? Did they handcuff him? Or did they just give him a ticket? How bad was it?

00:28:09.960 Were the police really rough with him? Or did they just, were they more like bureaucrats and

00:28:13.700 red tape mongers? Yeah, the latter. Citation and a warning to the rest of his group as well. So, 0.76

00:28:20.900 you know, basically a threat of financial penalties for him and for the other people in his group. And

00:28:27.200 that was enough to cool their enthusiasm for the protest. And so notwithstanding that it was supposed

00:28:33.380 to be 40 days for life protests, they decided to terminate it at 39 because they didn't all want to

00:28:40.640 shoulder the same financial burden that he did. What is that financial burden? I know that during

00:28:47.340 the COVID era, the government tried to ratchet the number up to such a shocking number that it would

00:28:52.440 act as a deterrent that people would start to chatter about it. I mean, there were fines of $5,000 plus

00:28:57.560 for things that were effectively parking tickets, the same provincial offenses. What is the fine in this

00:29:04.740 case? I'm afraid I don't know that. Okay. Um, you know, I guess it's enough though, to dissuade the

00:29:11.940 other, uh, protesters from doing it. Now there are some limits on commercial and corporate speech,

00:29:17.940 and maybe I'm not as comfortable with them as, uh, as, as other people are. I mean, I, I know that

00:29:23.620 they've been used in the past to stop cigarette and alcohol advertising, and I can understand perhaps

00:29:29.160 protecting minors from that, but there's a lot of, uh, censorship of corporate speech that goes far

00:29:33.880 beyond minors. Um, we, we have in Canada, uh, censorship of what the left calls greenwashing. So if

00:29:40.760 the oil companies say that they have reduced carbon footprint, the liberals actually made that illegal,

00:29:46.500 a kind of false advertising claim. Um, what was the underlying law made for? I mean, I, what, when they

00:29:57.000 tried to charge this fella with an offense, a bylaw that he was selling or advertising a service,

00:30:04.520 um, tell me about that underlying law. Uh, what, what, what is it and why do we have it in Canada?

00:30:11.200 Well, I mean, it's a municipal bylaw, so it's, it's passed by just the city of Sherbrooke. Um,

00:30:16.160 and so theoretically it's something within their jurisdiction, um, things like, you know, littering

00:30:21.840 and business licenses and, uh, public thoroughfares, that kind of stuff, public safety. Uh, those are

00:30:28.020 some, uh, primary legitimate objectives for a city to be pursuing. Um, so it's, I believe it's called

00:30:34.120 bylaw number one. Um, and it covers a bunch of different stuff, but one of the things it covers

00:30:38.840 under this particular provision is various commercial activities that it prohibits. And in particular,

00:30:44.520 it prohibits basically solicitation on, uh, uh, uh, in a public place. Um, and in particular,

00:30:50.700 there's a, there's a section for sandwich boards. And so it just says, you can't be basically wearing

00:30:55.000 a sandwich board if you're trying to advertise some product or solicit somehow.

00:31:01.520 Huh. Um, you know, it's funny because his, his billboard was so benign in an era of shocking

00:31:09.060 comments and dramatic statements. Let us pray for the end of abortion is a very modest, uh, 0.83

00:31:15.780 it's not rude. It's not shocking. It's not a, it's not the kind of thing that we would see on social

00:31:21.260 media, which is often quite ramped up in an emotional. It's, it's as vanilla a, uh, and by

00:31:28.680 the way, our friend billboard, Chris, his comments are very benign as well. No child is born in the

00:31:33.620 wrong body. I mean, almost impossible to, to debate. And that's sort of his point is he wants a debate.

00:31:39.120 Was that the style of this man, Brian Jenkins? Did he, did he sort of wear that to, uh, encourage

00:31:45.460 a debate? Was he trying to spark a debate? What, uh, I'm just curious what his motivations are. And

00:31:49.760 again, I don't think that should be relevant to his right to do that. If he wanted to spark a debate,

00:31:54.980 I think that's actually him doing his duty as a citizen. Yeah. As I understand it, he was,

00:32:00.160 you know, he was interested in, in, um, in advocating for his message. And it's a, as you say,

00:32:05.080 it's quite a benign message, but nowadays it seems to be that, uh, what appears to be quite

00:32:10.680 benign to, you know, traditional Canadians has become, you know, radical, uh, ultra right-wing

00:32:16.360 mega sort of hate or something. So, um, I think is, you know, the, the problem that we suspect that

00:32:22.360 the reason that he was charged was because the content of his sign was a, you know, pro-life

00:32:28.440 message, a, a, a Christian message as well. So, um, yeah, I mean, he was, he was just looking to

00:32:33.940 spread his message and, and, uh, I'm sure interact with, uh, whatever members of the public he could,

00:32:38.820 he could engage. So you guys have, uh, been, uh, deputized a lawyer, Olivier Segouin, I believe is

00:32:45.240 his name to represent Mr. Jenkins out there in Sherbrooke. Has there been a response from the city?

00:32:50.440 I mean, sometimes a police officer will make a decision that if it causes a backlash, like in this

00:32:56.900 case, a legal, a constitutional challenge, maybe the city might back down and say, Oh, we don't want 0.65

00:33:02.000 the fight. You're fine. You can do that. Have you had any response from the city? Um, including maybe

00:33:08.360 just saying, well, this was the error of a particular cop. Not yet. I mean, the, what's

00:33:15.060 interesting is that the police officer first came up and, and warned, um, the defendant here a few

00:33:20.700 days before he was eventually charged. And the defendant pointed out or went to the library, like

00:33:25.180 I said, and decided to look at the bylaw to see whether or not it applied to him and found that it

00:33:29.400 didn't because he wasn't advertising for a business. Um, and so when the cop came back

00:33:35.360 next time, he told the police officer that, uh, you know, the bylaw didn't apply. He tried to explain

00:33:40.240 to the police officer, police officer's comment was, eh, tell it to the court. Wasn't, wasn't

00:33:44.440 concerned about, you know, interpreting the law to see whether or not it applied to him. So, um, that

00:33:49.000 was the police officer's response. Um, basically what's happened so far is I believe there's been a

00:33:54.460 dispute note filed or something to that effect. And then the next step will be a court date, whether

00:33:59.540 or not the crown decides to proceed with the charges or not. We'll find out. Well, in a way, I hope

00:34:04.160 they do. And in a way, I think the cop is right. Let a judge decide. And hopefully the judges in

00:34:10.400 Quebec still remember the charter of rights and its freedom of expression. Um, we'll find out soon

00:34:16.220 enough. Uh, Glenn Blackett of the JCCF. Thanks for taking the time with us today. Yeah, you're welcome.

00:34:20.720 Thanks for having me on. You're welcome. Stay with us. Your letters to me next.

00:34:32.720 Hey, welcome back. Your letters to me. Here's one on the Indian treaty. I went through treaty six.

00:34:38.120 Mick M. K says in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the treaties are written records of how first nations

00:34:43.360 ceded the land, mineral and water rights. And for what first nations in BC should claim land title to

00:34:48.920 Eby's property in Ottawa, they should claim land title to all government buildings, parliament

00:34:53.520 building included where the corruption hive is these days. The main point I wanted to talk about

00:34:58.320 is that anywhere that where those treaties have been signed, it's such an abject treaty. Like

00:35:03.160 the word surrender is in there. That's all you need to know that for people to wield that as some sort

00:35:07.680 of weapon for indigenous title or stopping Alberta independence is such a long shot. They should really

00:35:13.500 read the treaties. The problem is where there is no treaties, where there's a vagueness or a void,

00:35:19.980 our radical courts are filling in. I mean, I'm 53. And I remember when I was in law school,

00:35:24.320 I started to see that radicalism seep into the profession, but it was just students and professors.

00:35:29.840 Now it's all the way to the very top. I mean, don't forget that Beverly McLaughlin, the former

00:35:33.360 chief justice of our Supreme court herself said that Canada is an active genocide country,

00:35:39.860 not even past tense, current tense, just outrageous. Debbie Barrett says, I hardly doubt that the

00:35:46.880 brilliant minds that are running Alberta independence movement haven't already looked

00:35:50.060 into this or they wouldn't be wasting their time. Yeah. You know, um, one of my favorite guys to

00:35:54.340 follow on Alberta independence is Keith Wilson. He was also the lawyer for the freedom convoy in Ottawa.

00:35:59.240 And, and I know that he has gone deep on these treaties as well. I just wanted to show you,

00:36:03.740 I want to show you when was the last time you read the treaty. I, I haven't read them in years and I was

00:36:09.220 glad to reread them on our Cuba mission. I got three letters for you. Gary D says, the Cuban

00:36:16.360 government is very careful not to frighten tourists. I found that even outside resorts,

00:36:21.100 all are very respectful, will engage in conversation and generally will not harass

00:36:24.740 if one shows not interest to engage. Tourism is Cuba's bread and butter. A lot of truth there,

00:36:32.820 but now that's over. The airlines have announced they're not flying in because there's no jet fuel

00:36:37.100 to fly them out. And with all the craziness that's going on, I think tourism was really down

00:36:41.880 also. Like I say, all these people down there who were doing TikTok videos, they showed basically

00:36:46.060 empty resorts. Donna Buck says, Cuba is in dire straits. It is in because of what? U.S. sanctions.

00:36:53.240 That's what has caused all the misery you see there. Um, the U.S. sanctions that are really being

00:36:58.740 tightened by Trump are, are forcing the issue. But that place has been run by communists for, 0.66

00:37:05.700 I don't know, what's the math on that? 65 years plus. And it looks like a war zone. It really looks

00:37:13.360 like a war. Yeah. You can't put that on Trump. Um, it really looks as poor as Haiti, which is the

00:37:19.000 poorest place I've ever been in my life. It really reminded me of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, looking at

00:37:23.020 the videos that our team did. Peter Mai says, well, by the way, you're, you're right. The sanctions

00:37:29.640 sanctions do have a deleterious effect on the poorest people. As I said earlier, the regime,

00:37:35.260 if there's any human humanitarian aid, the regime is going to steal it for themselves. You're right.

00:37:39.720 But I think this is the only way to end it. Instead of having a drag on for another 60 years,

00:37:45.540 the people there are so ready for change. You saw that in our video. Peter Mai says, the concern I have

00:37:51.520 now for Alexa is that now the Cuban government knows about her. She'll never ever be able to go 0.98

00:37:55.780 back even on vacation if Cuba one day becomes again a place to go on vacation. Well, she and Efron were

00:38:01.860 both aware of the risks. You're right. They wouldn't likely be allowed back in now. And like I say,

00:38:07.660 they can't get back in now. There's no flights from Canada. But I truly, truly in my heart believe

00:38:12.780 that a bloodless revolution or relatively bloodless revolution is coming so soon. It could even come

00:38:20.920 before the Iran conflagration. And just like Bashar Assad flew from Damascus to Moscow, don't be surprised

00:38:28.840 if the dictator in Havana flies to Moscow and just the regime melts away and you have all that energetic,

00:38:38.340 hopeful, wealthy, capitalist, entrepreneurial, freedom-loving Cubans from Florida come just to,

00:38:44.220 like it's just going to be such a homecoming. And I think it's going to be wonderful. And I will go to Cuba

00:38:50.020 when it's free. And I think Alexa and Efron, I think we all will. I've never gone there in my life

00:38:54.140 because I didn't want to go to a prison for vacation, even though it's a hundred bucks cheaper

00:38:58.000 than going to Mexico, let's say. But I think that Cuba will be free and Alexa and Efron will go back

00:39:03.420 and they will be greeted warmly. That's our show for the day. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us

00:39:09.600 here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - February 10, 2026

EZRA LEVANT ｜ A historic wave of freedom threatens dictatorships everywhere

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