Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Canada's left-wing circus comes to censor Rebel News

00:00:00.000 Tonight it's time to call 9-1-1. The cops are coming for Rebel News. It's no

00:00:04.740 laughing matter. It's June 21st and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:00:12.000 Shame on you, you censorious bug!

00:00:24.000 I'm Ezra LeVant in downtown Toronto. In front of me, Toronto City Hall.

00:00:28.000 Behind me, a billboard truck. I sometimes call it a jumbotron truck because it's a

00:00:33.000 digital billboard. On it are messages paid by a third-party advertiser.

00:00:39.000 Canadians opposed to the occupation of our streets and campuses.

00:00:43.000 The ads on that truck have raised the ire of the censorship left.

00:00:48.000 So all your typical censors like the mayor, Olivia Chow, but also new radical censors who support Hamas.

00:00:56.000 Because you can't criticize Hamas in Gaza, they'd kill you.

00:01:01.000 But now we have a lot of Hamas supporters in Canada.

00:01:04.000 And they don't like being challenged and that's the thing.

00:01:07.000 I didn't make those ads and you know what I have to say.

00:01:11.000 I put my name to what I have to say.

00:01:13.000 But these are ads by other people who feel like they can't speak out.

00:01:18.000 Either their voices are silenced or they would be subjected to retaliation and cancel culture.

00:01:25.000 And in fact, Toronto's police chief has proven them right.

00:01:28.000 Because he announced before any investigation, let alone prosecution or conviction,

00:01:33.000 that this was an Islamophobic hate crime. It was very weird.

00:01:37.000 First, the police department put out a tweet and then the police chief himself.

00:01:42.000 And in a very Hamas kind of thing, a prominent Muslim advocate and a friend of Justin Trudeau, 0.94

00:01:50.000 Mohammed Faki, put out a $25,000 bounty for information about who owned the truck.

00:01:59.000 Own the truck. Well, I actually am hoping to claim that $25,000 because it's me.

00:02:06.000 Rebel News owns the truck. And there's a story in that also.

00:02:10.000 Rebel News has probably rented a hundred billboards over the 10 years of our existence.

00:02:16.000 Sometimes they're at the side of the road. Sometimes they're on trucks like this.

00:02:20.000 But we found that in the last eight months, it was very difficult to get a truck company to agree to criticize Hamas.

00:02:28.000 Not that they support Hamas. They absolutely don't.

00:02:31.000 They're just terrified that their trucks would be attacked, their drivers would be attacked.

00:02:36.000 And they said, no, we just can't risk it. And I understand.

00:02:40.000 So we got ourselves our own truck. And I think there's actually a large market for people who want to speak out

00:02:46.000 and don't want to be subjected to attacks by politicians or the police chief.

00:02:51.000 Now, it's absolutely crazy to call this billboard truck hate speech.

00:02:57.000 You might know that I've been in the free speech battle for more than 20 years.

00:03:03.000 And I've studied the laws pretty closely.

00:03:06.000 I myself was once prosecuted under the Alberta Human Rights Code for publishing the Danish cartoons of Mohammed.

00:03:14.000 That's almost 20 years ago now.

00:03:15.000 The law that the police chief is talking about for this truck is probably section 319 of the criminal code, which is such a high bar.

00:03:24.000 You have to prove a crime was committed beyond a reasonable doubt.

00:03:28.000 And the law actually has built into it defenses, like if it's a religious debate or a matter of public policy.

00:03:36.000 There is zero chance that this billboard comes within a country mile of a crime.

00:03:43.000 I mean, it's part of a public debate.

00:03:46.000 And actually, I think one of the reasons why the police chief, Myron Dempsey, was so sensitive to these billboards

00:03:52.000 is they shine a light on his own inability to keep the city safe.

00:03:57.000 The reason that people feel motivated to take out ads like these is because they feel like all their politicians and police

00:04:05.000 and many media have let them down.

00:04:08.000 Toronto is in the middle of a massive crime wave, regular crime like home invasions and car thefts.

00:04:15.000 It's just astonishing how many crimes are committed every day.

00:04:19.000 And even here at City Hall, the general dilapidation of the city, homeless people living under on benches

00:04:27.000 right outside the mayor's office.

00:04:29.000 Toronto is in decline.

00:04:30.000 And a lot of that decline is crime.

00:04:32.000 And this police chief, I don't know if you recall,

00:04:35.000 they actually put out advice to have your car keys near your front door.

00:04:40.000 So when the home invasion gangs break in, they grab the keys and go and don't have to look through your house.

00:04:44.000 That was actually their advice.

00:04:47.000 Well, Marco Ricciardi had a new message for vehicle owners who keep their fobs in Faraday pouches.

00:04:53.000 To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your fobs at your front door.

00:04:58.000 Because they're breaking into your home to steal your car.

00:05:01.000 They don't want anything else.

00:05:02.000 Well, that's bad enough.

00:05:03.000 But imagine now adding on top of that regular crime wave an anti-Semitic crime wave,

00:05:09.000 where you have, for example, an apartheid siege of the University of Toronto,

00:05:14.000 where they actually have a fence and little masked thugs ask if you're a Jew or not.

00:05:19.000 And if you are, you're not allowed to pass.

00:05:21.000 That's going on right in the heart of the city and the police are fine with them.

00:05:25.000 I've shown you examples from the shooting of the Jewish girls' school,

00:05:30.000 to blocking a bridge into a residential neighborhood,

00:05:34.000 to the full-day hate march outside a synagogue.

00:05:38.000 Each of these things are crimes.

00:05:40.000 And I'm not talking about hate crimes.

00:05:42.000 They're just crimes.

00:05:43.000 They're regular criminal code crimes.

00:05:45.000 Uttering death threats, trespass, mischief, vandalism, graffiti.

00:05:49.000 And the police chief has let it roll.

00:05:51.000 And my theory is it's because he takes political orders from the mayor,

00:05:56.000 who also put out a tweet denouncing this as an Islamophobic hate crime.

00:06:01.000 And just right now you can see that's a leader of a terrorist group.

00:06:06.000 I think that's actually going from memory, Khaled Mishal, a Hamas leader right then.

00:06:11.000 That's his own words translated into English.

00:06:15.000 If showing that video and the others are hate speech,

00:06:20.000 well, it's what the Hamas people have said.

00:06:24.000 I say again, these aren't our ads.

00:06:26.000 There's blue font, white background ads.

00:06:28.000 They're not Rebel News ads, but we're airing the ads.

00:06:31.000 And, you know, we've only had the truck for a short period of time.

00:06:35.000 But my rule of thumb of who we can rent the billboard truck to or not,

00:06:40.000 is actually inspired by Elon Musk.

00:06:43.000 I don't know if you remember, but when Elon Musk took over Twitter,

00:06:46.000 he reinstated various Twitter accounts that had been banned by the previous regime.

00:06:51.000 And some of those Twitter accounts are frankly foul.

00:06:55.000 They're rude. They're racist. 0.99

00:06:57.000 But Elon Musk said he would apply the standard, the same standard as the law.

00:07:04.000 Now, he actually has a few other standards in there about, you know, impersonation and things like that.

00:07:10.000 But Elon Musk is saying we'll follow the law.

00:07:13.000 If you have lawful speech, you can be on Twitter, which is different from the previous regime,

00:07:17.000 which says if you say anything politically incorrect or offensive, we'll ban you just because we can.

00:07:22.000 That's my view with the Rebel News truck as well, is that I'm not going to apply a daintiness standard,

00:07:31.000 a censorship cancel culture standard to what's on the truck.

00:07:35.000 Now, obviously, I'm a freedom oriented, conservative oriented person.

00:07:38.000 So I don't think I would run pro Hamas ads on this truck.

00:07:42.000 But the good news for the pro Hamas people in town, like the mayor and the police chief, 0.99

00:07:46.000 is there is another billboard truck circling this city with Hamas messages, including calls for genocide.

00:07:54.000 You know, I haven't been talked to by the mainstream media in years.

00:07:57.000 And it's not surprising. I prickle at them. They prickle at me.

00:08:01.000 And we sort of leave each other alone.

00:08:03.000 In the last two days, I've had four mainstream media interviews.

00:08:07.000 And I've actually enjoyed all four of them. Surprisingly, the CBC was quite straightforward.

00:08:11.000 And they ran what I said fairly unedited. I was pleasantly surprised.

00:08:16.000 I spoke to the Toronto Star. I had to correct some things, but I think they did OK.

00:08:20.000 The former mayor of Toronto was on radio talking about me for hours today.

00:08:25.000 I don't listen to AM radio, but I was told about it. So I called in here.

00:08:29.000 I want to play for you a few minutes of my debate with John Tory, the former mayor of Toronto,

00:08:36.000 who's now on radio. I think I got a little shouty.

00:08:40.000 And it's hard to debate with someone who controls the microphone.

00:08:44.000 And I'm not sure if me being a noisy Jew was the best line to use. 0.66

00:08:50.000 I mean, but I think that is actually a point because the Jews of Toronto are quiet, most of them. 1.00

00:08:57.000 They're just sort of licking their wounds and they can't understand what's going on.

00:09:01.000 Rebel News texted in and knew we'd been discussing this truck going around the city this morning and asked for a chance to respond.

00:09:08.000 And so we're giving them that chance. Good morning, Ezra.

00:09:11.000 John, thanks very much. I'm surprised you had me on the show.

00:09:13.000 Well, look, we're trying to be fair.

00:09:15.000 I certainly have always tried to sort of make sure everybody has a chance to say their piece.

00:09:18.000 I'll just introduce you.

00:09:20.000 I want to just I want to disagree with you there, because what you've just been talking about is criminalizing people with different opinions.

00:09:29.000 That billboard truck and the ad that's been running on it is a different opinion.

00:09:34.000 You might even think it's a rude opinion.

00:09:36.000 You definitely think it's a wrong opinion.

00:09:38.000 Got it. And you know what?

00:09:39.000 You could actually be right.

00:09:41.000 But what you've then done is said that should be prosecuted as a crime instead of debated.

00:09:49.000 And so that's why I'm surprised that you are having me on, because who knows?

00:09:53.000 Maybe you think disagreeing with you is a hate crime.

00:09:57.000 No, it's not like it's not about me.

00:09:59.000 OK, let me have a chance for you, Ezra.

00:10:01.000 You've had an hour to defame me.

00:10:03.000 You didn't even invite me on the show, John.

00:10:05.000 Well, because that shows that your ideas are brittle.

00:10:08.000 That's why you want to censor anyone who contradicts you.

00:10:11.000 I don't want to censor anybody.

00:10:12.000 You want me prosecuted.

00:10:14.000 You want me prosecuted.

00:10:15.000 OK, why don't you finish and then I'll have a word, OK?

00:10:18.000 I know.

00:10:19.000 You know why you want me prosecuted, John?

00:10:21.000 You know what?

00:10:22.000 I think you're being very dramatic the last hour.

00:10:24.000 And I think I know why.

00:10:25.000 And I love your answer to this.

00:10:27.000 Me and the 10 people I've had on roundtables this morning who agree with me, by the way,

00:10:30.000 all of them to a person.

00:10:32.000 Gee, it's almost like you've invited your own echo chamber in.

00:10:35.000 But, John, here's my question to you.

00:10:36.000 For eight months now, Toronto has had a crime wave of anti-Semitic violence,

00:10:43.000 including a girls' school that was shot up by masked men.

00:10:47.000 People masked Hamas supporters going through Jewish neighborhoods,

00:10:52.000 shrieking anti-Semitism, roads into residential areas.

00:10:56.000 And I've talked about it here a hundred times, Ezra.

00:10:58.000 I've talked about all those examples of how unacceptable that is.

00:11:00.000 You have never asked for the prosecution of hate crimes against them.

00:11:03.000 Oh, absolutely.

00:11:04.000 We've talked about it.

00:11:05.000 And the police have been investigating all of those things, Ezra.

00:11:07.000 And you know that.

00:11:08.000 No, the police have turned a blind eye to them. 1.00

00:11:11.000 That's rubbish. 0.99

00:11:12.000 The police, there is an apartheid siege of the University of Toronto right now, 1.00

00:11:18.000 where they check your religion.

00:11:20.000 And if you're a Jew, you're not allowed to. 1.00

00:11:22.000 And, Ezra, if you were listening yesterday, I'm sure you don't monitor this program 24 hours a day.

00:11:27.000 If you were listening yesterday, I said the U of T and everybody else involved have left this way too long

00:11:32.000 because of that kind of behavior that is going on

00:11:34.000 and because it represents an occupation of public property that is inappropriate.

00:11:38.000 I said that yesterday and the day before that and the day before that.

00:11:41.000 And the notion the police are not investigating the anti-Semitism

00:11:44.000 and incidents of anti-Semitism in Toronto, you're the one that's ill-informed.

00:11:47.000 You're in a news organization, so-called, and you should know that.

00:11:50.000 They're investigating it.

00:11:51.000 There's the hate speech prosecution.

00:11:53.000 There's a billboard truck going around Toronto right now with anti-Semitic pro-genocide messages.

00:11:59.000 That billboard truck has been driving around with impunity.

00:12:02.000 Neither the media nor the police give a damn because you're afraid.

00:12:07.000 And I know why you're afraid.

00:12:09.000 Because the demographics of this town suggest that the Muslim vote is very important.

00:12:14.000 And that's why politicians are turning a blind eye.

00:12:17.000 Ezra, I have seen no video as there is of the truck that...

00:12:20.000 Oh, I thought you were in the news business, John.

00:12:23.000 Ezra?

00:12:24.000 When I stand up against Tomas, I suppose part of it is because I'm Jewish,

00:12:28.000 but most of it is because I'm Canadian.

00:12:31.000 I don't want terrorists here from Gaza or from anywhere.

00:12:35.000 And I don't think any group should be picked on like the Jews are being picked on in Toronto. 0.96

00:12:40.000 I wouldn't feel good if the blacks were being picked on or gay people were being picked on. 0.88

00:12:45.000 And by picked on, I don't mean political sparring. 0.99

00:12:47.000 I mean assaults and harassment and death threats.

00:12:52.000 That's what's going on in Toronto all the time.

00:12:54.000 I think that's the reason why the police chief hates these ads.

00:12:57.000 Anyhow, we came down here to City Hall to prove a point.

00:13:02.000 And the point is all the establishment, the current mayor, the former mayor, the police chief,

00:13:10.000 all the Islamic extremist groups, they can say that this is a crime.

00:13:15.000 And I think that would scare, frankly, 99% of people.

00:13:20.000 I mean, really, if some Islamic activist was putting a $25,000 bounty on your head,

00:13:27.000 and if a police chief was saying he's investigating you for a crime.

00:13:31.000 Sorry, I can't say that without laughing. It is not funny.

00:13:33.000 It's just so crazy. I have to sort of giggle when I say it.

00:13:36.000 I think 99% of people would say, whoa, danger, get out of this, turtle, do whatever,

00:13:43.000 throw yourself upon the mercy of the establishment.

00:13:46.000 But you got to look at our name. It's called Rebel News.

00:13:49.000 It's not called Obedient News. It's not called Whatever the Boss Says News.

00:13:55.000 It's called Rebel News. And these ads, in my mind, are reasonable.

00:14:02.000 I don't agree with every nuance of them. I didn't make the ads.

00:14:06.000 People can judge for themselves.

00:14:08.000 And as I said in my fourth interview on Anthony Fury's radio show,

00:14:14.000 if you don't like these messages, roll out your own messages.

00:14:18.000 So, yeah. Yesterday, the chief of police and the mayor said, this is a crime.

00:14:24.000 Today, I'm here on their turf saying, no, it ain't. You know where to find me.

00:14:31.000 I think that they thought I would bend the knee.

00:14:34.000 I do not bend the knee to Olivia Chow or Myron Demki.

00:14:39.000 And the reason for that, it's not personal.

00:14:42.000 It's that we all have freedom of speech.

00:14:45.000 And I think they need to refresh their memory about the Charter of Rights.

00:14:49.000 I don't need their permission to disagree with them.

00:14:53.000 And contrary to what John Tory, the former mayor of Toronto, thinks,

00:14:57.000 he can disagree with me, but he can't send me to jail.

00:15:02.000 I'll keep on my little journey.

00:15:04.000 I wonder where I'll wind up next.

00:15:06.000 But my point of parking the truck here is, this is my country, too.

00:15:15.000 Anti-Semitic thing on that truck.

00:15:17.000 Okay.

00:15:18.000 Well, I got, I mean, that's, you're making a case.

00:15:20.000 Can I engage with you?

00:15:22.000 I give you my word.

00:15:23.000 I won't edit it.

00:15:25.000 You gave me the finger and I waved at you and you came back.

00:15:28.000 It's all good.

00:15:29.000 And I don't mind because what I said to my friend.

00:15:32.000 Don't throw a brick through your window.

00:15:34.000 What I said to my friend was, I'd much rather have someone give me the finger

00:15:37.000 than try and send me to jail or ban me.

00:15:40.000 That's my point of view is we should be able to.

00:15:42.000 It's up to them now, right?

00:15:43.000 I don't know.

00:15:44.000 But my point is, I don't think the cops should decide what is or isn't

00:15:47.000 a legitimate political opinion.

00:15:49.000 Haven't that's what they always done?

00:15:51.000 Well, I'm pushing back, but I don't think the cops should be able to do that.

00:15:55.000 Like, I'm pretty sure the cops have always done that to people.

00:15:58.000 Okay.

00:15:59.000 Well, this is my moment to say I'm not going to roll over for it.

00:16:03.000 All the best, man.

00:16:05.000 The power of the state comes for you.

00:16:08.000 Well, you know what?

00:16:09.000 I mean, it sounds like we almost have some common ground then.

00:16:12.000 And maybe therein lies the problem, right?

00:16:17.000 I mean, we're miles apart, but yet, I think what you're driving at is okay.

00:16:25.000 The way you're saying it, I disagree with.

00:16:28.000 All right.

00:16:29.000 Well, I accept that.

00:16:30.000 I think there's a real crisis on this issue, and there's hot points of view on both sides.

00:16:36.000 And my view is air it out.

00:16:38.000 Let the debate happen in a marketplace of ideas and let people choose.

00:16:43.000 Right.

00:16:44.000 Yeah.

00:16:45.000 Well, sometimes people choose horrible things.

00:16:50.000 But, you know, they're allowed, I suppose.

00:16:53.000 This is supposedly a democracy.

00:16:55.000 So...

00:16:56.000 All right.

00:16:57.000 Well, listen, thanks for...

00:16:58.000 You got that right.

00:16:59.000 But, like I say, good luck, man.

00:17:01.000 Because when they come, they come heavy.

00:17:04.000 Well, thanks very much for talking.

00:17:07.000 All right.

00:17:08.000 Well, that was interesting.

00:17:09.000 There's a fellow who, when he saw the truck pull out, he gave me the finger.

00:17:13.000 And he seemed mad.

00:17:15.000 I waved at him.

00:17:16.000 And then he came over, and we talked a bit off camera, and then we talked on camera.

00:17:21.000 And I don't know, I think he...

00:17:24.000 In the end, I think he actually had some agreement.

00:17:28.000 Looks like we've got a police officer here, which is perfect.

00:17:31.000 Because I was looking to...

00:17:33.000 Let me see if I can go in and find the chief.

00:17:40.000 Hi.

00:17:43.000 Excuse me.

00:17:44.000 I see you're filming me.

00:17:46.000 Can I ask you some questions?

00:17:48.000 I'd like to meet with the chief.

00:17:50.000 Is he available?

00:17:52.000 I see you're holding your phone.

00:17:55.000 So I know you're filming me.

00:17:57.000 Can you come and talk to me?

00:18:00.000 Or send the chief in to talk to me?

00:18:06.000 Excuse me.

00:18:09.000 I've come to turn myself in to the chief.

00:18:11.000 I'm Ezra Levant.

00:18:12.000 The chief was tweeting about me.

00:18:13.000 He said I was committing a hate crime with that truck out there.

00:18:16.000 So I thought I'd bring myself here and...

00:18:18.000 Can we just start over here, please?

00:18:20.000 Just one at a time.

00:18:21.000 Yeah.

00:18:22.000 So I thought I'd come in.

00:18:24.000 She's probably pretty busy chasing down other billboards or something important like that.

00:18:28.000 I thought I would see if he wants me to turn myself in to be arrested.

00:18:31.000 Or if he wants to come out and have a chat.

00:18:33.000 Either are likely outcomes.

00:18:35.000 Or if he wants to send...

00:18:36.000 Like he sent a cop down, but she sort of ran away when she saw the camera.

00:18:40.000 I'm just sort of here to throw myself on the mercy of the law.

00:18:43.000 Sure.

00:18:44.000 If you just give me one second.

00:18:45.000 Perfect.

00:18:46.000 I can head over to the duty desk and get a police officer to come over and discuss all those terms you just talked about.

00:18:50.000 Perfect.

00:18:51.000 So in the meantime, can I just have other...

00:18:52.000 Absolutely.

00:18:53.000 Absolutely.

00:18:54.000 Absolutely.

00:18:55.000 Do it again.

00:18:56.000 No, that's fine.

00:18:57.000 No, just a quick pullback.

00:18:58.000 Yeah, yeah.

00:18:59.000 And then you get everything right back.

00:19:00.000 Yeah, come on in.

00:19:01.000 Yeah.

00:19:02.000 Yeah, we have some officers all the way down. 0.97

00:19:03.000 Perfect.

00:19:04.000 Handcuffs or...

00:19:06.000 That information is not given to me.

00:19:07.000 I'll put my name.

00:19:08.000 Sure.

00:19:09.000 My cell phone.

00:19:10.000 Yeah.

00:19:11.000 Which goes direct to me.

00:19:12.000 My email, which goes direct to me.

00:19:13.000 And if you could pass it on up the chain.

00:19:14.000 I'll put it on.

00:19:15.000 Yeah.

00:19:16.000 Yeah.

00:19:17.000 And then you get everything right back.

00:19:18.000 Come on in.

00:19:19.000 Yeah, we have some officers all the way down. 0.97

00:19:20.000 Perfect.

00:19:21.000 Handcuffs or...

00:19:22.000 That information is not given to me.

00:19:23.000 I'll put my name.

00:19:24.000 Sure.

00:19:25.000 My cell phone.

00:19:26.000 Yep.

00:19:27.000 Which goes direct to me.

00:19:28.000 My email, which goes direct to me.

00:19:29.000 And if you could pass it on up the chain.

00:19:34.000 To the boss.

00:19:36.000 Sure.

00:19:37.000 I know he's probably tweeting or something important.

00:19:39.000 But he did say he wanted to investigate the truck.

00:19:45.000 So we brought the truck here.

00:19:47.000 I'm here.

00:19:49.000 Happy to come back.

00:19:51.000 And I don't know.

00:19:53.000 I'm just sort of surprised he was so butch online.

00:19:56.000 But in person, he's not here.

00:19:59.000 I think I'm pretty...

00:20:01.000 You know, unthreatening.

00:20:03.000 I think we can all agree on that.

00:20:08.000 I'm gonna say please call or email.

00:20:14.000 Sure.

00:20:15.000 Okay.

00:20:16.000 So you could fire this up the chain of command.

00:20:29.000 I mean, it is true.

00:20:30.000 I am unannounced.

00:20:31.000 So I didn't have an appointment.

00:20:32.000 I'll give him that.

00:20:33.000 But I think he could have come down just for a minute.

00:20:37.000 Or sent someone.

00:20:38.000 The chief's busy.

00:20:39.000 He's running a big operation.

00:20:40.000 But I think he could have sent just someone down.

00:20:43.000 Even to say make an appointment.

00:20:45.000 I think he wasn't on his best behavior today.

00:20:48.000 Manners wise.

00:20:50.000 But I'll tell that to him if I ever tell him.

00:20:52.000 All right.

00:20:53.000 Cheers.

00:20:54.000 Take care.

00:20:55.000 Thank you.

00:20:56.000 Well, look.

00:21:05.000 The chief's been tweeting about me.

00:21:08.000 He's had the department chief tweet about me.

00:21:13.000 Obviously, he's talking to political leaders.

00:21:16.000 Wouldn't be surprised if he's got a phone call from Trudeau's

00:21:20.000 Captain Mohammed Faki.

00:21:24.000 When we brought the truck and parked it right out front,

00:21:28.000 they did send what I thought was a press officer right away.

00:21:34.000 And I saw that.

00:21:36.000 So I said, oh, hey.

00:21:37.000 But she sort of ran away.

00:21:39.000 But she was holding her cell phone down like this to film me. 0.97

00:21:42.000 But she wouldn't talk to me.

00:21:45.000 And, okay, that's okay.

00:21:46.000 Watch your step.

00:21:47.000 Watch your step.

00:21:50.000 So I waited for more than an hour.

00:21:53.000 And obviously, they're just not going to come down.

00:21:56.000 They, I mean, if I were to put their best case for why they

00:22:01.000 wouldn't meet me, because they're investigating me and they

00:22:05.000 don't want to talk to me, other than in the context of an

00:22:08.000 investigation.

00:22:09.000 I don't know.

00:22:10.000 I think it's because of politics.

00:22:13.000 I think they thought that if they just threaten me and threaten

00:22:18.000 people, you know, the mayor's making a threat, the department's

00:22:22.000 making a threat, the chief's making a threat.

00:22:24.000 I really think that works 99% of the time.

00:22:28.000 But I'm a little more stubborn than your average bear.

00:22:32.000 But I didn't come today in a heavy way.

00:22:36.000 I brought the truck that they're so interested in.

00:22:39.000 I brought myself that they're so interested in.

00:22:42.000 And they hid.

00:22:45.000 I waited for an hour.

00:22:47.000 And they didn't even send a junior person down.

00:22:51.000 I think they painted themselves in a corner.

00:22:56.000 On the one hand, they've made so many promises to political bosses

00:23:01.000 like the mayor.

00:23:02.000 And wouldn't surprise me if some federal cabinet ministers

00:23:06.000 got in on it.

00:23:07.000 So they've really promised that they're going to go hard.

00:23:10.000 But on the other hand, that truck does not break the law.

00:23:14.000 Maybe in North Korea, it would. 0.97

00:23:16.000 Or China, it would. 0.94

00:23:17.000 Definitely in Gaza, it would. 0.97

00:23:19.000 But not in Canada.

00:23:21.000 I know the law well enough.

00:23:23.000 And I actually know the specific section of law, 319,

00:23:26.000 that they would try and use, which is such a high bar.

00:23:32.000 And it specifically exempts religious debates or matters

00:23:37.000 in the public interest.

00:23:39.000 I don't know.

00:23:40.000 I just want to say one more thing.

00:23:42.000 I was waiting up there in the sort of entry area,

00:23:46.000 the reception area.

00:23:48.000 That's the main police headquarters.

00:23:50.000 There's a lot of police divisions around town.

00:23:52.000 But that's the main one.

00:23:53.000 And I watched people come and go all day,

00:23:56.000 for an hour that I was there.

00:23:58.000 And someone came in with remains of sort of drug paraphernalia

00:24:05.000 still attached to their arm.

00:24:07.000 And he was a guy who was obviously having a really rough go

00:24:11.000 in his life.

00:24:12.000 And he was wearing, as sort of short pants, a garbage bag. 0.81

00:24:17.000 Let me say that again.

00:24:18.000 He was wearing a garbage bag instead of pants.

00:24:21.000 He still had like a rubber band around his arm.

00:24:28.000 And I think there was even an attachment for a syringe to go in there.

00:24:31.000 And I'm not condemning.

00:24:33.000 I'm not criticizing.

00:24:34.000 I'm pointing out, oh my God, is this city falling apart.

00:24:38.000 We saw it at City Hall.

00:24:40.000 We saw it in the police station.

00:24:42.000 A guy with drug paraphernalia still on him, wearing a garbage bag, asking for water and help.

00:24:52.000 And by the way, the cop tried to give him advice.

00:24:55.000 But this city is falling apart.

00:24:57.000 You can hear a siren in the background.

00:25:00.000 Okay, it's an ambulance.

00:25:01.000 Maybe it's a drug overdose.

00:25:02.000 I don't know.

00:25:03.000 But there is such a crime wave going on in Toronto.

00:25:06.000 I don't know if you know, but Toronto is by far the car theft capital of Canada.

00:25:11.000 I hope it wasn't an overdose.

00:25:18.000 But I got to tell you folks, there are so many drug users in this city just on the street.

00:25:24.000 And by the way, the Trudeau government and the city government want to do more of that.

00:25:29.000 My point is that there are real problems in Canada.

00:25:32.000 In a lot of ways, the country is falling apart.

00:25:35.000 Home invasion crimes, which used to be shocking and used to be rare,

00:25:39.000 are pretty much daily occurrences now, multiple times a day sometimes.

00:25:44.000 And for the chief of police to take his time away from other projects to tweet about our billboard

00:25:50.000 and to get the police department to tweet about our billboard

00:25:54.000 and prejudge it as Islamophobic and prejudge it as hateful,

00:26:00.000 before even the investigation begins, is very political.

00:26:04.000 I think he has actually poisoned the case already by litigating in advance of an investigation.

00:26:13.000 You cannot trust an investigation where the police chief in advance says that's the enemy.

00:26:20.000 That's Islamophobia. 0.68

00:26:21.000 How does the chief know?

00:26:22.000 He hasn't even watched the ad in question other than a very short clip.

00:26:26.000 It is all performance art done for two reasons.

00:26:30.000 Number one, to assuage the powers that be.

00:26:34.000 Mayor Olivia Chow, Justin Trudeau, the prime minister.

00:26:37.000 And second of all, and most obviously, if anyone's come to downtown Toronto recently,

00:26:42.000 because if you're the police chief presiding over the Detroitification of Toronto,

00:26:49.000 the collapse of this city in terms of crime and all sorts of other problems from traffic to infrastructure

00:26:58.000 to things just not working, if you're the police chief who's the concierge for this crumbling city,

00:27:07.000 wouldn't you want to change the subject too?

00:27:11.000 That's it for now, but this obviously won't go away.

00:27:15.000 You saw I left my phone number and name for the chief.

00:27:18.000 I resisted the urge to write an insulting note.

00:27:20.000 I resisted that.

00:27:22.000 I doubt he'll call. 1.00

00:27:23.000 He's a bit of a coward. 0.99

00:27:24.000 He might send some cops to my place. 0.99

00:27:27.000 I'll let you know if that happens, believe me.

00:27:30.000 Look, I'm built this way for my whole life.

00:27:34.000 I've been fighting against people who want to censor me.

00:27:37.000 And I'm not saying I'm always right in my views, by the way.

00:27:40.000 I think part of being a human is changing your mind on certain things

00:27:43.000 and even getting things wrong from time to time.

00:27:46.000 What I'm saying is I should have the right to be wrong.

00:27:50.000 Canadians should have the right to say something that other Canadians disagree with.

00:27:55.000 And the answer to a billboard ad that you don't like is not to call the cops.

00:27:59.000 That's what an angry two-year-old would do, smash.

00:28:02.000 No, we teach children to control their emotions.

00:28:05.000 And if it's a billboard or a political comment you don't like, get your own billboard.

00:28:10.000 Like I say, there is a Pro-Hamas billboard truck in this city that the police don't seem to care about.

00:28:16.000 Run a political campaign. Start a website. Have your say.

00:28:20.000 Or ignore it, by the way. You don't have to respond to everything in life.

00:28:24.000 The fact that so many people in power and so many political leaders want to silence this truck

00:28:32.000 shows that we're losing not just the country we once had, but the principles we once had as a country.

00:28:41.000 That's it for today. I'm going to go back to our office.

00:28:44.000 We'll drive in the truck, see how many hand waves we get and see how many fingers we get.

00:28:49.000 Until next time, on behalf of us here at The Rebel, to you at home, goodbye and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - June 21, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Canada's left-wing circus comes to censor Rebel News

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