Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Alberta brings in the worst vaccine passport in Canada

00:00:00.000 Hello, my rebels. Jason Kenney broke his promise. He's bringing in a vaccine passport 1.00

00:00:04.560 for Alberta. I see that today Saskatchewan has done the same thing. Alberta's is the worst I've

00:00:10.320 seen anywhere in North America. It actually bans completely healthy people who simply are not

00:00:16.980 vaccinated from meeting anywhere, including in private, including in homes. You probably think

00:00:24.540 I'm exaggerating. I'll play you the clip of Tyler Shandro, the disgraced health minister,

00:00:28.940 saying that himself. I'd like to invite you to learn more about our various ways of fighting back.

00:00:36.180 Go to fightvaccinepassports.com to learn how we're engaging in strategic litigation to stop this.

00:00:43.580 And later in the show, I tell you about a project called wewon'task.com, which gives shopkeepers

00:00:50.720 beautiful stickers to put on their doors so that they will let the world know they will not be

00:00:55.860 secret police. They will not be snitches. They will not ask you the private details in that

00:01:00.700 store. I think it's a great initiative. Those stickers are free, by the way. All right. That's

00:01:04.720 a little pitch for me, but enough for me. Enjoy a podcast. I guess it's still more of me, but here

00:01:11.900 you go. Tonight, Alberta brings in the worst vaccine passport in Canada. It's September 16th, 0.94

00:01:18.460 this is the Ezra Levant Show. Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I

00:01:25.380 know? There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer. The only thing I have to say

00:01:31.120 to the government of a wire publisher is because it's my bloody right to do so.

00:01:40.580 I want to talk to you about Alberta, but first I want to show you this clip from Australia. A man

00:01:46.740 arrested in a cemetery, visiting his family graves by himself with a mask on. And then the guy who

00:01:57.360 films it, he's harassed, harassed by police. Take a look.

00:02:03.820 He's doing fair income. He's locking him up for visiting the loved ones.

00:02:09.360 You've been fair income. I'm here for visiting my loved ones.

00:02:15.400 Are you, are you, are you, are you, are you locking him up for visiting the loved ones?

00:02:18.400 Isn't this Australia?

00:02:19.700 Where is he from the middle?

00:02:20.360 What's your name?

00:02:21.860 What's your name?

00:02:22.480 What's your name?

00:02:22.920 It's my name.

00:02:23.540 My name's Sergeant Gleens from Melbourne Police.

00:02:25.320 What's the way to do?

00:02:25.820 I've always said if you want to see the future, you can look to Australia for a time machine

00:02:52.820 to see how our civil liberties, always taken for granted in our constitutional monarchy,

00:02:58.700 our lucky part of the commonwealth with our rule of law.

00:03:01.380 Look to Australia for a time machine to see our near future in terms of policing and police

00:03:08.220 violence in the name of public health.

00:03:10.920 And look to Israel for the future of an over-medicated, over-vaccinated country that keeps doubling down 1.00

00:03:18.120 on stupid, they're now on their fourth shot, two shots and now two boosters, and they've 1.00

00:03:24.460 never had it worse. 1.00

00:03:26.100 They're super-vaxxed, but they have more infections than any of their immediate neighbors who are

00:03:32.080 almost completely un-vaxxed.

00:03:34.280 And I saw this weird news today in nowhere less than the New York Times.

00:03:38.320 Researchers in Israel reported that a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID vaccine can enhance

00:03:45.680 protection in adults older than 60 for at least 12 days?

00:03:52.260 A result that is unsurprising, experts said, and does not include long-term benefit.

00:03:56.560 So you get a vaccine booster shot and it works for 12 days?

00:04:01.360 Not even two weeks?

00:04:03.000 Hey, no problem.

00:04:04.000 You only need 25 boosters a year, guys.

00:04:06.060 I know why Pfizer would like that.

00:04:08.440 I'm not sure if that's normally how we do medicine or really buy anything that's that

00:04:13.340 obsolete.

00:04:13.980 It doesn't work too well.

00:04:15.580 But Trudeau says that that will be our future.

00:04:18.140 I don't know if you remember, but he already bought more than 400 million doses, according to

00:04:24.260 the CDC.

00:04:24.800 That's about 10 shots per man, woman, child, and baby in Canada.

00:04:30.680 Here's another CBC story.

00:04:33.780 Now it's about 11,000.

00:04:39.080 What happened?

00:04:41.300 Israel has the highest seven-day rolling average of new daily coronavirus cases per million people.

00:04:49.160 The CBC stories, that's called cognitive dissonance, isn't it?

00:04:51.920 So blend them both together, Australia and Israel, and that's where we're headed, but 0.97

00:04:56.540 we don't change our direction.

00:04:58.700 For the first part of the pandemic, Alberta was amongst the freest places in Canada, but

00:05:03.820 then it became the most brutal, a full pendulum swing.

00:05:06.700 That was the only place in North America, the only place in the free world that I know

00:05:09.740 of, where Christian pastors were arrested just for opening their church doors.

00:05:14.420 And that's just one or two.

00:05:15.600 There was a whole series of them.

00:05:16.700 I think there were five pastors in the end who were arrested.

00:05:19.440 And this week, the Alberta government was still at it.

00:05:21.900 I don't know if you followed Sheila's reports, but the Alberta government was back in course

00:05:25.880 demanding that Pastor Arthur Pawlowski go back to prison for 21 more days because he

00:05:31.800 wouldn't apologize to the government.

00:05:33.560 And if you think I'm kidding, I'm not.

00:05:35.600 I read the government's legal documents.

00:05:37.780 That's what the government prosecutor said in court.

00:05:39.840 They want him to say sorry or to go to jail for not saying sorry.

00:05:44.820 I'm not making that up.

00:05:46.800 But Jason Kenney, after prosecuting pastors and small businesses, suddenly saw the polls

00:05:51.280 or heard from voters or his backbench or whatever.

00:05:53.620 And so as quickly as he brought in the brutal lockdown over Christmas, he lifted it and said

00:05:59.740 he was going to be the best summer ever.

00:06:01.320 That was some weird government tagline, as if governments make decisions for you about

00:06:06.060 what's going to be great or not, or if you're going to be happy or not.

00:06:08.560 But I guess Kenney meant he wanted to take a vacation himself, and he knew he couldn't

00:06:13.660 do so while locking the rest of the province down.

00:06:16.360 He tried that before over Christmas, actually, locked the whole province down.

00:06:20.640 Then he and his cronies, his own chief of staff went to the UK, a lot of his MLAs went

00:06:25.740 to Hawaii or Vegas. 0.95

00:06:26.780 It blew up in his face because it proved he was just a cheater.

00:06:30.740 Well, summer's over, and so is freedom. 0.85

00:06:33.380 It's just nuts.

00:06:34.220 Last night at 6 p.m. local time, Kenney and his team just declared a total lockdown of

00:06:40.840 the province.

00:06:41.600 They went from free to lockdown, just like that.

00:06:43.780 And the only way out is a vaccine passport.

00:06:46.400 Now, he didn't have the courage or the honesty to call it a vaccine passport, so he called it 0.89

00:06:49.960 a Restriction Exemption Program, or REP.

00:06:54.140 What a crock.

00:06:55.100 More like RIP for Alberta's freedoms. 1.00

00:06:57.420 But look at that.

00:06:58.180 The default is that you're not free.

00:07:01.820 The default is that you're under house arrest, that you're banned from things.

00:07:05.200 You have to then get the government's permission to get out.

00:07:09.280 Here, listen a little bit.

00:07:10.460 That is why the government has reluctantly decided to adopt the Restriction Exemption Program,

00:07:18.320 a proof of vaccination program for participation in certain discretionary activities that have

00:07:24.380 a higher risk of viral transmission.

00:07:26.600 No one will be compelled to get vaccinated against their wishes, and a negative test option will

00:07:33.300 be offered as an alternative.

00:07:35.460 But with unvaccinated patients overwhelming our hospitals, this is now the only responsible 1.00

00:07:42.540 choice that we have.

00:07:43.920 I had earlier committed not to introduce proof of vaccination because of concerns I had around

00:07:50.340 privacy rights.

00:07:51.180 But the government's first obligation must be to avoid large numbers of preventable deaths.

00:07:57.580 The lockdown rules are so intricate and so bizarre, with no science behind it, no police,

00:08:03.480 no business person, no one will understand these rules.

00:08:06.660 They're so complicated.

00:08:07.600 Everything that didn't work before will be tried again, but worse.

00:08:11.320 And all of it, Kenny swore he simply would never do.

00:08:15.020 Here's Kenny answering a question about a month ago from our own Adam Seuss.

00:08:20.140 What's your position on vaccine passports for those individuals unwilling to be vaccinated?

00:08:24.180 Opposed.

00:08:24.720 And we've been very clear from the beginning that we will not facilitate or accept vaccine

00:08:28.640 passports and that, in fact, we regard, I believe that they would, in principle, contravene

00:08:34.000 the Health Information Act and also possibly the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy

00:08:40.220 Act.

00:08:40.540 We also amended the Public Health Act to remove the 110-year-old power, allowing Alberta to

00:08:46.660 force people to be inoculated.

00:08:48.600 So these folks who are concerned about mandatory vaccines have nothing to be concerned about

00:08:52.600 and there will be no vaccine passports in Alberta.

00:08:54.580 And will the provincial government act on behalf of Alberta citizens if the federal government

00:08:58.140 seeks to impose such restrictions?

00:09:00.160 Yes.

00:09:00.880 Adam Seuss asked that question and here is Kenny saying to another reporter that he didn't

00:09:06.700 even know what a vaccine passport was.

00:09:08.720 Can you believe me?

00:09:09.760 But in any event, it was against privacy law, said Kenny.

00:09:14.120 Here he is answering another report.

00:09:16.200 We have no capacity to, I don't even know what a vaccine passport is.

00:09:21.320 All I know is this, that it's illegal based on the Privacy Act to ask somebody whether they've

00:09:26.880 received a certain medical procedure or not, including a vaccine.

00:09:30.360 So the government of Alberta at least will not be participating in anything like that.

00:09:34.080 Of course, we got the truth from Doug Ford, of all people, who said that he was on a conference

00:09:38.240 call with the other premiers, all of them who were plotting a vaccine passport all along.

00:09:43.320 And unfortunately, the federal government decided to go to an unnecessary election, which I'm still

00:09:55.600 shaking my head over in the middle of a fourth wave.

00:09:58.000 Now, I'm not going to go through it all, but I want to show you one moment from their grave announcement

00:10:03.400 last night, just around 10 seconds.

00:10:05.660 Listen to Tyler Shandro, the disgraced health minister caught partying in the Sky Palace.

00:10:11.240 Listen to what he's going to do now.

00:10:13.320 For unvaccinated people who are 12 and older, they will not be permitted to attend any private

00:10:18.700 indoor social gatherings.

00:10:19.920 Hang on, so you're seriously going to tell people they cannot gather in private and in

00:10:25.000 their homes if they're not vaccinated?

00:10:27.540 So they're healthy, they're perfectly healthy, but they can't meet in private homes.

00:10:31.000 You're going to go to a private home with police.

00:10:33.140 There were lots of questions last night about police.

00:10:35.420 So maybe like they did with Pastor Arthur, get them on the highway and demand to see people's

00:10:39.000 medical records.

00:10:39.820 And if they don't, they're dirty.

00:10:41.440 And we put dirty people in jail. 0.98

00:10:43.340 And even if they're healthy, we'll get them sick in jail. 0.61

00:10:46.160 And if they're clean, though, they're fine.

00:10:48.000 And I got to tell you, Israel's experience tells you that if you don't get your regular

00:10:53.360 booster from Pfizer, you will be deemed unclean again by the government.

00:10:58.460 What was so gross about last night is that the Alberta UCP, that's the United Conservative

00:11:02.440 Party, are now talking like Trudeau talks.

00:11:04.680 It's called gaslighting, trying to tell people to believe the opposite of what they see, believe

00:11:09.200 the opposite of the truth, and not to believe your own lying eyes. 1.00

00:11:13.120 You're the crazy one. 1.00

00:11:14.440 Here's what I mean. 0.99

00:11:15.080 And here's Trudeau calling for people to love each other and be kind to each other.

00:11:19.440 He has this sort of first date voice that he always does.

00:11:22.800 It's so creepy.

00:11:24.000 And then he talks about respect before immediately downsing his enemies.

00:11:28.180 Remember, this is the Trudeau way.

00:11:30.080 We know that the only way to move forward as a country is to move forward together and

00:11:35.780 to listen to each other and to learn from each other, not to affix labels, not to allow hate

00:11:43.440 to fester in corners of our society.

00:11:46.340 And yes, we are seeing vocal hatred and intolerance rising in some pockets of our communities.

00:11:54.940 And the question that all the rest of us have to ask is, what do we do?

00:12:01.460 Do we sit back and say, oh, let's leave them space for their anti-vax beliefs, for their

00:12:07.080 misogynistic beliefs, because we don't want to ruffle the boat, rock the boat, or ruffle

00:12:12.680 feathers?

00:12:13.060 Or do we stand up?

00:12:17.640 Do we say, no, not in Canada, not in our Canada?

00:12:22.020 We leave room for everyone and we stand up for each other in Canada.

00:12:25.760 That's what we've done over these past six years.

00:12:27.720 Did you see that?

00:12:28.360 So Trudeau talked about how tall he was and how respectful before viciously smearing his

00:12:32.940 opponents.

00:12:33.640 Well, Kenny and his crew did something similar last night.

00:12:36.680 They punished Albertans.

00:12:38.260 They took away Albertans' legacy.

00:12:40.200 They broke their promise.

00:12:41.320 They lied.

00:12:41.860 They blamed Albertans for their own policy failures.

00:12:44.600 And then, in the very next breath, they scolded Albertans for not being kind to each other.

00:12:49.460 You Albertans, you should be happy prisoners.

00:12:52.060 Don't be so mad. 0.87

00:12:53.680 It was a sick performance, but very much in the Trudeau style. 1.00

00:12:56.420 Tell your listeners that you're the kind one, unlike the vicious, disrespectful bastards 1.00

00:13:02.420 you're running against. 1.00

00:13:03.580 What's so nuts is that Albertans are actually doing okay.

00:13:07.460 It's true there are 106 acute care hospitals in Alberta, and in them are 218 people in intensive

00:13:17.920 care with COVID.

00:13:18.880 So that works out to two patients per IC unit, on average, in the province.

00:13:27.080 And for that, the entire province has been shut down, and all medical privacy and personal

00:13:30.740 choice is being flattened.

00:13:31.980 I'm not happy that anyone is sick or dying, but that's life.

00:13:37.440 The average deceased person from COVID in Alberta is 79 years old, and more than 95% of them had

00:13:42.900 serious underlying conditions.

00:13:44.580 Two, three, four deep health problems pre-existing all at once.

00:13:48.780 And on top of that, COVID was enough to undo them.

00:13:51.740 And that is sad, but can you please tell me how closing a nightclub for people in their

00:13:57.600 20s or closing a bar or a gym or a coffee shop is going to save a bedridden 90-year-old

00:14:04.440 dementia heart and kidney patient from getting COVID?

00:14:09.280 I want to save that person, by the way.

00:14:12.180 I just don't know how sending police into private homes to check if healthy people are

00:14:17.680 unvaxxed and persecuting unvaxxed people.

00:14:20.060 I just don't know how that achieves it.

00:14:23.240 Are there really any 90-year-old people with dementia and heart disease and liver disease

00:14:27.000 hanging out in schools?

00:14:30.100 If not, how is putting masks on children going to help anything?

00:14:33.820 Not that masks do anything, especially with kids dropping them on the floor, sharing them,

00:14:37.680 laughing, spitting in them, getting them, like masks and kids don't even go together.

00:14:42.040 None of this makes any sense, and I'm tired of trying to find any sense because it's not

00:14:46.100 about sense, it's about control and fear and a breakdown in democracy.

00:14:50.820 I thought Tyler Shandro calling for house-to-house punishments for unvaxxed people was the closest 1.00

00:14:55.620 thing I've ever heard to not see ideology in any Canadian government, and I say that very

00:15:01.900 carefully.

00:15:03.480 Maybe we'll have to hide unvaccinated people in the attic. 1.00

00:15:07.060 Maybe one of them will write a diary about it.

00:15:10.140 But of all the people assembled last night for Jason Kenney's announcement, none of the

00:15:16.080 media were upset about this.

00:15:17.980 In fact, they were raging at Kenney, but they were only upset that he didn't do this sooner

00:15:23.600 and harder.

00:15:25.160 I'm serious.

00:15:26.980 One such journalist is an awful person named Tyler Dawson.

00:15:31.180 He's with Trudeau's Post Media Company, and he's the journalist who tried to ban Rebel

00:15:35.400 News from joining the Alberta Press Gallery, which shows you his authoritarian streak, which

00:15:40.220 might explain why his thoughts last night immediately turned to police enforcement of these insane

00:15:46.120 laws, especially the household law.

00:15:50.440 Just a reminder of what that is.

00:15:52.300 For unvaccinated people who are 12 and older, they will not be permitted to attend any private

00:15:58.000 indoor social gatherings.

00:15:59.220 Because Tyler Dawson is thinking like a cop, thinking like a snitch, he's a pretty good

00:16:05.900 prophet for how things could go.

00:16:08.400 You can really see the guys here who would have been cheering for Stalin or Hitler as they

00:16:13.700 tighten their grip on society.

00:16:15.160 We have those people in our society.

00:16:17.480 So this authoritarian, Tyler Dawson, asked some real questions about where this is going.

00:16:23.400 Nothing about health, by the way.

00:16:25.020 You'll see none of these questions are about health.

00:16:26.600 This is not a health measure.

00:16:27.880 This is a control and domination measure.

00:16:29.860 Let me read to you from Tyler Dawson.

00:16:32.580 Okay, a couple of hours later, and I have a couple further questions about the vaccine

00:16:36.540 passport.

00:16:38.220 Businesses had six hours tonight to adjust to new rules for tomorrow.

00:16:42.660 They will then have four or five days of these rules.

00:16:45.720 Then they can run the exemption program.

00:16:49.080 That's four or five days to fire unvaccinated staff, presumably, or acquire rapid testing for

00:16:55.440 them.

00:16:56.440 Then they need to figure out how they will advertise their stance on vaccines.

00:17:00.800 They also need to figure out how to enforce these rules.

00:17:04.800 Exactly.

00:17:05.380 So you have to fire everyone.

00:17:07.000 What if it's a family business, by the way?

00:17:09.300 What if you, or I don't know, on the other side of the spectrum, what if you run a hospital

00:17:12.740 and the nurses or doctors or orderlies won't vax?

00:17:15.660 You're going to fire them all?

00:17:16.840 What if someone says they have a legitimate exemption, which is a thing in law?

00:17:24.220 Is some middle manager somewhere, some shopkeeper, going to now be the court that makes those

00:17:29.020 decisions?

00:17:29.580 They're going to have little courts, little trials.

00:17:31.400 Maybe in the coffee shop, we're going to have a trial.

00:17:33.820 And the employees or the customers have to spill the beans on the most intimate private

00:17:38.280 health details to the court at the little Starbucks or something, little Starbucks court,

00:17:42.460 maybe?

00:17:43.240 I can imagine some bullies in society loving this and others being absolutely disgusted

00:17:49.720 by it.

00:17:50.160 Tyler Dawson of Trudeau's Post Media is hostile to Alberta, and he is aware that the feeling

00:17:55.040 is mutual.

00:17:56.100 He knows that this will not go down well outside of the lockdown class.

00:18:00.260 The rich doctors and rich politicians and journalists will be loving the last 18 months.

00:18:05.900 Let me read some more.

00:18:07.240 Which, given the mood, I'd be inclined to hire a security guard to do.

00:18:10.640 I guess my thought is, is there de-escalation training for staff, support to hire security,

00:18:17.100 training on messaging, or government signage to put in windows?

00:18:21.080 Exactly.

00:18:22.200 Exactly.

00:18:22.660 You're going to tell someone to get out of the store?

00:18:24.740 You're going to tell an employee to get out of the store, and it's just going to go down

00:18:28.000 smooth?

00:18:29.320 And that's just the businesses.

00:18:31.880 That thug Tyler Shandro, the health minister, was talking about going into people's homes to

00:18:36.180 enforce things.

00:18:37.000 You try that, someone's going to reach for their gun.

00:18:41.920 You go in their house and tell them to break up their family, they're going to reach for

00:18:44.560 a gun.

00:18:46.120 I'll close with Tyler Dawson, the reporter.

00:18:48.400 He says, might be the UCP has got it right.

00:18:51.660 Certainly, they've gone very close to what critics have been hollering about for weeks.

00:18:56.800 Anywho, I just wonder how you manage a wholesale shift like this in a few days when the mood

00:19:01.980 is very ugly.

00:19:04.220 The mood is very ugly.

00:19:07.300 Was there a single word about health in all that, in his whole rant?

00:19:10.860 No.

00:19:11.540 It's not about health.

00:19:12.400 Never is.

00:19:12.880 Never was.

00:19:13.760 It's about compliance and submission and control, and that we all have to bend the knee and bow

00:19:19.280 down to the new priestly class.

00:19:22.020 The mood isn't sour about the disease.

00:19:24.120 Everyone's concerned about it in their own measure.

00:19:26.020 Do you know anyone who's died from the virus?

00:19:29.940 And by that, I mean, have you talked to that person in the last five years?

00:19:33.040 Very few of us actually know that.

00:19:34.440 It's not the black death of Europe that killed a third of the population.

00:19:37.700 The ugly mood is there.

00:19:38.940 It's against politicians who have no mandate to destroy lives and livelihoods.

00:19:43.960 And then to tell the little people to be grateful, not to be angry about it.

00:19:46.540 And you're not protesting happily enough.

00:19:49.300 Let me end with what I'd call Tyler Dawson's diary entry.

00:19:52.620 Dear diary, I can't help but notice the people demanding this didn't seem to devote very much

00:20:01.400 time to making policy implementation suggestions beyond F the anti-vaxxers.

00:20:09.680 He's got a little bit of self-awareness, doesn't he?

00:20:12.980 Because that is how the media feels and the politicians feel and the emergency room doctors.

00:20:18.520 And they tell us that.

00:20:19.600 I mean, without the swearing, that was half the front page of the Toronto Star the other day.

00:20:24.540 That's what Trudeau says.

00:20:26.260 He calls more than 10 million un-vaxxed Canadians, you people who will face consequences.

00:20:31.260 Everyone needs to get vaccinated and those people are putting us all at risk.

00:20:36.860 So let me tell you what you already know.

00:20:38.300 We're going to fight this with everything we have.

00:20:40.160 And I see in the news that Saskatchewan has announced the same thing as Alberta.

00:20:43.860 I think fighting this will likely be the thrust of Rebel News for weeks and months, and maybe

00:20:50.240 even years to come.

00:20:52.160 Stay with us for more.

00:21:00.700 Well, I'm coming up on half a century, which is a very long time.

00:21:05.180 I should tell you, when I was a young man, one of my first real jobs was to go to Autocop

00:21:10.520 and be a legislative assistant for Preston Manning, then the leader of the Reform Party.

00:21:15.400 And one of my jobs was to work as a young staffer on the question period, questions that

00:21:20.840 we put to the Liberal government.

00:21:22.600 And I had a boss in Parliament, and his name was Jay Hill, MP.

00:21:29.780 Well, Jay is now the leader of the Maverick Party.

00:21:34.540 And I haven't talked to him in a while, so it's a bit of a reunion.

00:21:37.480 We're not going to talk about old times, we're going to talk about his latest political

00:21:41.660 project, the Maverick Party.

00:21:43.800 We spoke to one of his star candidates, Tariq El Naga, the other day.

00:21:48.060 So it's a pleasure now to join Jay Hill via Skype from Calgary.

00:21:51.940 Jay, great to see you again.

00:21:53.200 You haven't aged a day, by the way.

00:21:55.540 Oh, you're so...

00:21:56.320 Since you were with my boss about 25 years ago.

00:21:57.620 Nice to see you again.

00:21:59.600 Ezra, you always were so, you know, it just flows, right?

00:22:04.700 You know, I was going to say...

00:22:06.220 And I won't elaborate further on what flows, but it's great to see you again.

00:22:12.580 Well, likewise.

00:22:13.720 And you can take a little bit of credit and a little bit of blame for all the things I've

00:22:19.620 done since I worked with you on Parliament Hill.

00:22:22.020 No, I'm kidding.

00:22:22.440 Those were great days.

00:22:24.220 And I think you and I both learned a lot about challenging the status quo.

00:22:29.320 I think there were some wonderful times in the Reform Party.

00:22:31.860 In the end, I don't know how successful it was, but now you're the leader of the Maverick

00:22:36.560 Party.

00:22:37.460 Tell me what lessons you learned from the Reform Party experience that you're taking to the

00:22:41.880 Maverick Party.

00:22:43.920 Well, Ezra, the first thing is I have to admit that I'm a slow learner.

00:22:48.640 It's taken me most of my life to put together the fact that the West is never going to get

00:22:54.460 a fair shake, a fair deal, or whatever you want to call it, out of Confederation, out

00:22:59.860 of Canada, until we determined to change the way in which we're governed and we're treated.

00:23:06.800 And so that's really what motivated the Maverick Party for me to come out of retirement a little

00:23:12.340 over a year ago.

00:23:14.080 Actually, tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of Maverick.

00:23:17.900 We're only running 29 candidates in Western Canada.

00:23:21.160 We'll only ever run in Western Canada, Ezra, because the lesson I learned from Reform was 0.93

00:23:29.180 that once we expanded and became a party running all across Canada, then you have to water down

00:23:34.660 your message to try to appeal to where the votes are.

00:23:38.180 And of course, those are in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa, and that corridor from Windsor City

00:23:44.500 to Windsor up to Quebec City.

00:23:47.460 And we don't intend to make that mistake again.

00:23:50.360 Again, we're going to be effectively the Bloc Québécois of Western Canada and represent

00:23:56.400 what is best for the West.

00:23:58.440 You know, I was thinking about that very thing when I watched the debates.

00:24:01.620 And like I say, one of your candidates joined us for a little pre-show conversation, because

00:24:06.140 I understand why the Bloc Québécois leader was in the French-language debates.

00:24:10.960 And by the way, there were two French-language debates, but only one English debate.

00:24:14.620 I mean, I didn't understand why the leader of the Bloc Québécois was in that one.

00:24:19.420 I mean, he's an interesting guy, but he wasn't running any candidates outside Quebec.

00:24:24.120 He had nothing but contempt for Alberta and the fossil fuel industry, for example.

00:24:28.220 And I thought, if he can be in the English-language debate, even though he has no chance of being

00:24:32.900 prime minister, he's not running any candidates outside Quebec, why isn't the Maverick Party

00:24:37.160 allowed in any of the debates, including in the Quebec debates?

00:24:40.940 I mean, it would seem analogous to me.

00:24:44.180 Well, not entirely, I guess.

00:24:46.140 In fairness to Monsieur Blanchet, there are some Anglophones, I think, still residing in

00:24:53.780 Quebec that would prefer to hear the English debate.

00:24:58.820 Whereas we're only ever going to run in Western Canada, as I said, Ezra.

00:25:03.660 So we're not looking for any votes in Quebec.

00:25:06.520 Yeah.

00:25:06.700 I suppose I was speaking more symbolically than anything, but it was quite symbolic to

00:25:11.840 me to hear the French-language debate, all the parties wooing Quebec at the expense of

00:25:17.800 Alberta.

00:25:18.260 Like, at least a quarter of that debate was just bashing Alberta. 1.00

00:25:21.560 All the parties, I must say, in different degree, talking about wrapping up the oil sands.

00:25:26.160 I just thought it was symbolically, it would be the same as if Maverick were in those debates.

00:25:32.320 Now, let me ask you, I'm a little bit curious about the fact, we talked about this for a minute

00:25:35.780 before we turned the camera on.

00:25:37.500 I was surprised that you yourself weren't running, because I've gone through your list

00:25:41.620 of candidates, and there's some interesting people from different walks of life, but none

00:25:45.520 of them really have national name recognition.

00:25:48.660 They're not high-profile people.

00:25:50.560 At least they didn't ring a bell for me.

00:25:52.560 Whereas you have a long career in politics.

00:25:55.740 How come you yourself are not running?

00:25:57.580 Well, as I've been saying to people, I served 17 years in Parliament.

00:26:04.520 As you know, you and I met when I was a very young and still dark-haired member of Parliament,

00:26:13.180 and you were considerably younger as well.

00:26:15.320 But I served 17 years, and I guess I just tell people I served my time.

00:26:22.180 I was relatively happily retired until I started to worry about my three young grandchildren

00:26:28.620 here in Calgary, and what the future held for them with the way this country is being destroyed

00:26:34.220 by the old political parties.

00:26:36.660 And I'm increasingly concerned.

00:26:39.340 That's why I came out of retirement to start this party.

00:26:42.100 Having said that, myself and the three other former reform colleagues that have also stepped

00:26:49.700 out of retirement, none of us are running.

00:26:53.240 You'll recognize the name.

00:26:55.340 Names, Val Meredith, Leon Benoit, and Alan Kirpan are the other three.

00:27:01.600 Between us, we have 60-plus years of parliamentary experience.

00:27:05.500 And we're all working to mentor this new group of members of candidates that we hope to be members

00:27:13.780 of Parliament under the Maverick banner.

00:27:16.600 And that's our role, is to establish credibility for the movement and the party, and to build

00:27:23.660 the party and mentor the next generation of Mavericks.

00:27:28.560 I absolutely do remember those names.

00:27:30.780 I mean, they were in Parliament when I was a young pup helping, so it's good to hear.

00:27:35.500 I didn't know they were involved.

00:27:36.560 Thank you for that information.

00:27:37.900 Let me ask you about the fellow that both you and I followed to Ottawa back in the 90s, namely

00:27:44.240 Preston Manning.

00:27:45.120 He's retired, too.

00:27:46.220 For a while, he ran the Manning Centre.

00:27:48.260 Do you still keep in touch with him?

00:27:49.960 Has he given you any words of advice from his experience building the Reform Party?

00:27:54.800 Well, absolutely.

00:27:57.720 I still keep in touch with Preston.

00:27:59.500 I consider him a good friend, and I hope that's reciprocal.

00:28:04.120 Of course, he lives not far from me here in Calgary.

00:28:08.020 And he has taken a far different approach, as you know, Ezra, all of his political life.

00:28:16.820 He believes in Canada.

00:28:18.500 He believes in trying to make it work.

00:28:20.440 So where we part company is, I believe very strongly that until the West is prepared to

00:28:28.360 at least mutter the word independence, we're never going to get a fair deal.

00:28:34.340 And that's where I part company not only with Preston, but with people like Jason Kenney

00:28:38.500 that somehow believe that if you just continue to wrap yourself in the maple leaf flag and

00:28:44.600 expect to be treated better or equally or fairly, that somehow it'll happen.

00:28:51.620 I've come to the sad realization it's not going to.

00:28:54.520 And that's why I'm advocating taking a page from Quebec's playbook and moving us to achieve 1.00

00:29:02.700 this similar autonomy that Quebec has carved out for itself over the last several decades.

00:29:09.040 Speaking of former colleagues, I think there was overlap between you and Maxime Bernier.

00:29:15.440 I can't remember.

00:29:17.280 There was, yes.

00:29:17.920 There was.

00:29:18.520 So he, you know, he went rogue, some would say.

00:29:22.780 And when he started the People's Party, I think there was a lot of skepticism because

00:29:27.080 starting a party from scratch is just such enormous work, as you know.

00:29:29.940 But the latest polls I've seen in this election show that he has some momentum, whether it's

00:29:35.520 6% or 11%.

00:29:37.060 Those are all respectable numbers.

00:29:39.220 And I just looking at his social media, he seems to be drawing crowds.

00:29:42.980 Now, I don't know if he's going to actually punch through anywhere, but he's certainly having

00:29:47.300 fun, it looks like.

00:29:50.560 What are the differences, would you say, other than the Western focus?

00:29:54.640 Are there other differences between you and the People's Party?

00:29:59.360 Because they certainly seem to be on a roll in their own way.

00:30:02.800 How would you distinguish your candidates from their candidates?

00:30:07.260 Well, I think you hit on it, Ezra.

00:30:08.880 The single biggest difference is that our core foundation for Maverick is that we would

00:30:15.840 be a truly representative Western voice.

00:30:19.560 What's best for the West?

00:30:20.660 You know, the Blanc-Québécois, all those years, and you were there as well as I, they've

00:30:26.120 been there 30 years now, I believe.

00:30:28.580 And their strategy in the House of Commons is very simple.

00:30:32.540 If legislation or motion before the House is deemed to be in the best interest of Quebec,

00:30:37.700 they speak in favor of it, and they vote for it.

00:30:40.220 And if it isn't, they don't.

00:30:41.920 And I have thought for quite some time how refreshing that would be to have some, in this

00:30:48.220 case, Maverick members of Parliament, that would have the freedom to do the same.

00:30:53.320 And that's why we put the word freedom into our logo, right into our name.

00:30:57.740 You can see it right above my head behind me.

00:31:00.480 Because we believe that freedom is such an important word when it comes to addressing the

00:31:08.080 needs, the aspirations, and building the future destiny for Western Canadians.

00:31:12.560 And so we have a plan to accomplish that, and we have this twin-track mission statement

00:31:18.800 we've developed, where we can either develop the autonomy, the fairness, and respect that

00:31:23.900 the West deserves within Confederation, or failing that, we can lay the foundation for

00:31:30.140 future independence.

00:31:32.200 We're talking with Jay Hill, the leader of the Maverick Party, formerly WEGZIT.

00:31:36.200 You emerged from the WEGZIT movement, am I right? 0.99

00:31:38.060 Well, what happened, Ezra, is that when we cast about just a little over a year ago to

00:31:45.320 start this federal political party, WEGZIT Canada offered to turn their party over to

00:31:51.880 us, and that's what happened.

00:31:55.200 It had already accumulated the necessary signatures and jumped through all the hoops to be eligible

00:32:00.680 for recognition as a federal political party.

00:32:03.760 So instead of starting right from ground zero, we did take over WEGZIT Canada, but once we

00:32:10.300 had that, we virtually changed everything about it.

00:32:13.320 I think most people recognize that WEGZIT was singularly focused on Alberta independence.

00:32:19.940 That's no longer our mission.

00:32:22.440 As I said, we have a twin-track mission statement.

00:32:25.160 We've changed the name.

00:32:26.280 We've changed the principles.

00:32:27.740 We've changed virtually everything that existed with WEGZIT. 0.97

00:32:31.400 But we have retained this call for greater independence for Western Canada.

00:32:38.760 Fair deal.

00:32:39.680 Listen, I've got one last question for you.

00:32:41.100 I just finished doing a monologue about the lockdowns and the vaccine passport in Alberta.

00:32:48.560 And I'm still muddling through it, but there's certain things there that strike me, frankly,

00:32:52.580 as unalbertan.

00:32:53.280 And I'm just shocked to hear that there will be restrictions on healthy but unvaccinated people

00:33:01.640 meeting even in private, even just like in homes.

00:33:06.020 I'm trying to get a legal opinion on that if that really, like that's what was said yesterday.

00:33:12.060 I have trouble believing that's actually in here.

00:33:14.580 And I know that one of the things that Bernier has done in his People's Party is he's styled

00:33:20.520 himself as the anti-lockdown candidate.

00:33:23.020 And I think that that was very wise.

00:33:26.240 I think he does believe that point of view, but it's also wise because he really takes 0.95

00:33:30.720 that whole space up.

00:33:32.300 Does the Maverick Party have a position on lockdowns?

00:33:35.500 And again, I think there was overlap between you and Kenny in Parliament too.

00:33:39.180 Do you have any views on what he's done?

00:33:41.120 Well, of course, as an individual, I do, Ezra, but I find it slightly hypocritical, if I could

00:33:49.720 say this, that federal political parties and leaders would, like Max, would say on one

00:33:57.240 hand that there should be this clear differentiation between our two levels of government, federal

00:34:03.960 and provincial, and yet they are heavily involved in the case of Max in being critical of what

00:34:10.940 the premiers and provinces are trying to do in addressing this pandemic.

00:34:16.840 So am I concerned and do I have some problems?

00:34:19.320 Of course, of course I do.

00:34:20.900 And I draw people's attention back to the fact that at its core, Maverick believes in freedom.

00:34:26.040 So on this issue, we believe that there should be no government that can force a Canadian

00:34:33.400 citizen, regardless of where they live, to inject something into their body that they 1.00

00:34:38.460 don't wish to.

00:34:39.300 And that's the freedom, the freedom of choice.

00:34:43.000 And we, you know, personally, I have no problem if people weigh the pros and cons and decide

00:34:49.580 not to have a vaccination.

00:34:53.100 I have chosen to be vaccinated, but that's my personal choice.

00:34:57.480 And so that's where we come off.

00:35:00.360 But as far as being like Max and, you know, coming out to Alberta repeatedly to attack the

00:35:07.760 provincial government, my view on that is that there are many people and many organizations

00:35:12.820 and indeed even a few media organizations like Rebel News that will hold the provincial

00:35:19.900 governments across the land to account for the decisions that they have made and are making.

00:35:26.260 That's the rule.

00:35:28.760 People will protest.

00:35:30.500 And that's appropriate in a democratic country that they have the right to protest and let

00:35:37.440 their views be known.

00:35:38.920 And I don't have a problem with that either.

00:35:40.520 But as I said, I think it's hypocritical for someone like myself to say, okay, well, you

00:35:46.800 know, I'm and have been greatly opposed to the imposition of a national carbon tax by a federal

00:35:54.160 government on the provinces and in particular on Alberta and then turn around and inject

00:36:01.080 myself in attacking a provincial government, regardless of where it is, for decisions they're

00:36:07.040 making.

00:36:07.760 I'm running for federal office or my party is, my candidates are.

00:36:12.060 We're not looking to inject ourselves into decisions that are made by premiers or provinces.

00:36:18.540 Fair enough.

00:36:19.280 I understand the constitutional point.

00:36:21.500 Well, Jay Hill, it's great to catch up with you.

00:36:22.900 It's been far too long.

00:36:24.120 I still feel like calling you a boss, but I got to resist that urge.

00:36:28.220 I'm joking around.

00:36:28.860 It's great to see you again.

00:36:30.160 Good luck to your candidates.

00:36:31.360 It was a pleasure meeting Tarek Il Naga on the show the other day.

00:36:34.740 And good luck on election night.

00:36:37.260 Thank you very much, Ezra.

00:36:38.520 And thanks for having me on your show.

00:36:39.940 Right on.

00:36:40.380 My pleasure.

00:36:40.960 There you have it.

00:36:41.340 Jay Hill, he's the boss of the Maverick Party.

00:36:43.560 And as you can see, the word freedom is right in their logo.

00:36:46.220 Stay with us.

00:36:47.420 More ahead.

00:36:47.920 Hey, welcome back.

00:36:54.140 Instead of letters today, I want to just tell you a few things that we're doing around the office.

00:36:57.880 We had a great event in Regina the other day.

00:37:00.440 I tried to film a show on location.

00:37:03.700 We had 1,500 people buy tickets and not all of them showed up in the end because we had to postpone several times.

00:37:09.980 But there was still at least 1,000 people in the room.

00:37:13.180 And Dr. Patrick Moore gave a great talk.

00:37:15.160 It was just really wonderful to get out there and meet people again face to face.

00:37:19.040 I think a lot of people just enjoyed being at a large event, at a large theater again.

00:37:23.280 I know I sure did.

00:37:24.400 I don't know how if that's...

00:37:25.700 I think we just missed the lifting of the drawbridge in Regina.

00:37:30.120 I understand that Saskatchewan is bringing in harsh lockdown rules too.

00:37:33.320 We have another event for those in the greater Toronto area on September 21st.

00:37:41.400 So the day after the federal election and the day before Ontario brings in its vaccine passports,

00:37:47.520 in that one-day window on September 21st, we're having a special event at the Canada Christian College,

00:37:54.380 which is about 25 minutes east of Toronto, with Tucker Carlson, the Fox News host.

00:37:59.560 Now, he's not coming in in person, but he's doing a live big screen Zoom chat.

00:38:05.040 So me and Dr. Charles McVitie of the university will be having a Q&A with Tucker.

00:38:09.420 And it'll be all about civil liberties and lockdowns and censorship.

00:38:14.000 So last I checked, we had sold about 40% of our tickets in the first day.

00:38:18.680 But if you're in the greater Toronto area, just go to rebelnews.com slash events.

00:38:25.260 And I think we're going to sell out...

00:38:27.200 I'm going to see if there's a way where we can let people outside the greater Toronto area participate by watching on Zoom.

00:38:33.280 We have to check and get permission with Tucker because he's very conscious about what recordings are made of his events.

00:38:40.540 And there's a lot of rules I don't want to get offside with him because I'd like to do other events with him too.

00:38:44.940 So this throws into doubt different rebel events we were planning for the fall

00:38:51.180 because there's simply no way we're going to comply with the snitch and secret police role

00:38:57.540 that Jason Kenney and other premiers are asking us to do.

00:39:00.040 We're just not going to do it.

00:39:01.600 We are going to fight back in other ways.

00:39:04.080 I just want to show you this thing.

00:39:05.400 I don't think I've told you about it before, but we have a new program called WeWon'tAsk.com.

00:39:12.200 And it's simply these stickers that are perfect for businesses to put up on their front door.

00:39:21.080 And we have a smaller version that they can put up their cash register.

00:39:24.300 And it just says, We Won't Ask.

00:39:26.060 And there's two versions.

00:39:27.120 One says, We Won't Ask About Your Vaccination Status.

00:39:29.420 And one, We Won't Ask About, and it lists a bunch of things like your race, your religion, disability, things like that.

00:39:35.960 I'm hoping that this will become a grassroots response where thousands of people put these stickers on their businesses

00:39:43.500 and say, I'm not being a secret policeman.

00:39:45.500 I'm not being a snitch.

00:39:47.420 If you go to WeWon'tAsk.com, we'll send it to you for free.

00:39:50.920 And if you want it even faster, we have the high-res version.

00:39:54.660 You can actually print it out yourself for free at home so you don't even have to wait for us to mail it to you.

00:40:01.100 So I'm hoping that that catches on.

00:40:04.040 And I should tell you, and I hope to have our first reports out tomorrow,

00:40:09.220 we have filed our first lawsuit against vaccine passports.

00:40:14.140 We filed it in British Columbia.

00:40:16.100 And I believe that Drea Humphrey will have the report on that.

00:40:19.440 We're still catching up.

00:40:20.680 We've been doing so much work.

00:40:21.720 I should also tell you that we've taken a case of an Air Canada employee.

00:40:25.860 And I hope to actually, in the end, represent dozens or even hundreds of Air Canada flight attendants, pilots, gate agents,

00:40:33.820 other people who are being told, take the vaccine or be fired.

00:40:37.160 So we're scrambling.

00:40:38.380 I think I told you before that our goal is to hire in-house 10 full-time lawyers to do nothing but fight this insane constriction of our freedom of all our civil liberties.

00:40:52.240 I just keep coming to that clip I showed you three times earlier today of Tyler Shandro, the so-called health minister,

00:40:59.820 the one caught in the Sky Palace having a boozy party, party for him, but everyone else has to be in lockdown,

00:41:06.440 when he actually said you may not gather in private, even if you're completely healthy,

00:41:12.580 even if you had the virus and recovered so you have natural immunity, you may not gather in private.

00:41:19.600 And they had a lot of talk last night about police enforcement.

00:41:23.040 That is what a police state authoritarian sounds like.

00:41:27.160 And we will do everything we can to stop that, journalistically, legally, and I think maybe politically, too.

00:41:34.460 That's our show for today.

00:41:36.160 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home, good night.

00:41:40.760 Keep fighting for freedom.

00:41:41.780 Bye.

00:41:56.440 Bye.

00:41:57.220 Bye.

00:41:58.260 Bye.

00:41:58.400 Bye.

00:41:58.440 Bye.

00:42:00.940 Bye.

00:42:03.560 Bye.

00:42:05.500 Bye.

00:42:06.640 Bye.

00:42:08.860 Bye.

00:42:09.120 Bye.

00:42:09.640 Bye.

00:42:10.000 Bye.

00:42:10.380 Bye.

Rebel News Podcast - September 17, 2021

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Alberta brings in the worst vaccine passport in Canada

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