Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Canada's Ostrich Scandal is a Test for our Love of Freedom

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Did you see what I did the other day with the federal health minister?

00:00:04.380 I asked her a super friendly question, maybe even a softball question, and she just stood there

00:00:09.080 blinking while her staffer said, don't answer, don't answer. Well, he actually said, next question,

00:00:13.780 next question, but it had the effect of bossing his actual boss around. Crazy stuff. I'll show

00:00:19.160 you the video that explains it all. But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel

00:00:23.240 News Plus. That's the video version of this podcast. I want you to see my interaction with

00:00:28.280 Marjorie Michelle. That's the new health minister. It was crazy. And I want you to see it and have

00:00:33.760 my explanation for it. To see it, you need to become part of Rebel News Plus. Just go to

00:00:38.820 rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month. You get all the video content in

00:00:43.360 this show, plus the satisfaction of keeping Rebel News strong. All right. Tonight, seriously,

00:00:49.360 what's going on with those ostriches? It's October 20th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:00:53.740 You know, I didn't get the ostrich story for a long time. It just seemed a little too odd, a little

00:01:14.920 too niche, a little too obscure. I mean, not to be mean, but I don't really have a natural affinity

00:01:20.420 for ostriches. I don't think a lot of people do. They're not exactly swans or even peacocks. I mean,

00:01:26.940 they're not beautiful. But this is not a test of your affection for a particular species. I mean,

00:01:33.120 it's very easy to love dogs, isn't it? Much more than to love ostriches. But that is not the point.

00:01:40.280 The point isn't even about animals themselves. I don't actually believe in animal rights. I believe

00:01:46.160 that animals are property. We should treat them humanely. But that's more a limit on our own

00:01:50.600 conduct. It's not for the sake of the animals. We must not be cruel to other people or other living

00:01:55.480 things. But this ostrich story, the more I've learned about it, it's about people and about

00:02:00.340 governments. Ostriches just happen to be the flashpoint. It's about a government that insists

00:02:05.160 on mass killing hundreds of healthy birds. Because last year, a fraction of them got sick. But then

00:02:14.140 they all got better. And now they are immune. That's an interesting story. And it's about a

00:02:21.400 foolish, slavish adherence to Kafka-esque rules. Red tape that makes no sense. Processes that make no 0.99

00:02:28.960 sense. And if you ask about it, you'll be told, don't ask or you'll get in trouble. Like one of the

00:02:34.980 craziest things is that the farm themselves have offered to test the birds to show they're not

00:02:39.640 sick. And the government says, if you test the birds on your own, that is an offense and you'll

00:02:44.180 be fined or even jailed. That's Kafka. It's about a total lack of transparency, including even about

00:02:51.860 the so-called science. I'd like to see the science here. What is the science exactly that says we have

00:02:57.940 to kill healthy birds? It reminds me of the same science that for a period of a few years during

00:03:04.260 COVID-19, suddenly natural immunity, i.e. the kind of thing we all did when we were kids. You know,

00:03:09.880 I remember when I was a kid and someone got chicken pox or measles, all the other moms and 1.00

00:03:13.820 dads had our kids play with those kids, had their kids play with those kids. So you would get sick

00:03:18.220 as a kid and then get immune. That's called natural immunity. It's been known about for centuries.

00:03:24.080 Suddenly natural immunity doesn't apply to COVID-19. Suddenly natural immunity doesn't apply in the

00:03:28.960 case of these birds. I mean, that's what I mean by junk science. But we're supposed to believe it 0.86

00:03:33.300 because they're wearing hazmat suits. It's also about the thuggish threats of police to enforce

00:03:39.380 foolish political policies. There were some police forces around the world that said, yeah, no, we're

00:03:44.560 not getting into mask patrol. We're not getting into six foot of separation patrol. But those were

00:03:49.720 fewer in number than the police who loved it. I remember seeing a video of some cops literally

00:03:54.800 with a measuring tape in a barber shop to make sure that barber's chairs were six feet apart and not

00:04:00.160 an inch less because, you know, science, if it's six feet less than an inch. Of course, in some

00:04:04.320 countries it was two meters, not six feet. They're not the same. In some places it was one meter. You

00:04:09.180 think there was science behind that? There was not. All of those things are back here again. All of them

00:04:14.280 are back. And there's lots of questions to be asked about it. But very few answers, just speculation and

00:04:21.480 conspiracy theories fill the void. If you remember, the very first person I interviewed when I went to the

00:04:26.940 Ostrich Farm was the cop to try and get some understanding. There was no understanding to be

00:04:31.840 coming. Basically, the cops said, we're not in control. We're here to be errand boys for the

00:04:37.060 Canadian Food Inspection Agency. They're calling the shots. We're just doing what we're told. Really?

00:04:41.780 Can anyone rent you for this? Can any bureaucrat get 50 cops to be pulled away from everything less

00:04:48.500 important to go into the middle of BC for a month or two and just be on standby? I mean, what powers

00:04:54.180 to this CFIA have? And just all of these things and no transparency, of course, conspiracy theories

00:05:01.260 are running wild. It has to, to fill the void. And in that way, it's just like COVID too, isn't it? And if you

00:05:07.140 dare say the wrong things during COVID times, you'll be shut down on social media, on Facebook, on YouTube.

00:05:12.080 If you dare say, well, maybe it came from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Well, back then you would lose

00:05:18.400 your voice. And so far that hasn't happened here. It reminds me of that silly saying, shut up, he

00:05:25.360 explained. That's the only explanation we've received from authority. So I went to the source 0.99

00:05:29.860 about this whole regime. Who's the boss? Who's in charge? It's not the RCMP. They told me.

00:05:38.060 The CFIA, well, they answer to someone. Who do they answer to? Well, I Googled it.

00:05:42.720 And the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. And again, why is the Food Inspection Agency having

00:05:48.800 anything to do with ostriches that are not for food? That's weird. Do they even have any experience

00:05:52.960 with it? That's weird. Anyways, they all answer to the Minister of Health. And I didn't know who

00:05:57.720 Mark Carney's new Minister of Health was, but her name is Marjorie Michelle. And she's actually from

00:06:05.240 Justin Trudeau's old district in Quebec called Papineau. She's a Haitian Canadian. And I found this

00:06:10.540 really interesting. Her dad used to be the Prime Minister of Haiti. So I don't know what that says

00:06:17.820 other than if she grew up in the household of a Prime Minister, she probably is fairly savvy. Even

00:06:23.320 if she's not that smart, and I have no idea how smart or dumb she is, she would know how a Prime 1.00

00:06:28.060 Minister talks and, you know, pivots and dodges questions. Like, even if you're not smart growing up 0.99

00:06:34.900 in the household of another politician, you just learn. So I'm guessing she's not a bad politician.

00:06:42.100 And I assume she's smart enough to make it into cabin. Although looking at Melanie Jolie,

00:06:47.140 I realize it's a very low bar, Stephen Gilboa even lower. Anyways, so I was looking forward to

00:06:51.540 putting a question to her. Now, how could I do that? Because of course, Rebel News never gets

00:06:55.300 accredited in the House of Commons. Well, that's the thing. Marjorie Michelle was on the road,

00:07:00.740 she was going to Alberta for a joint press conference after joint meetings with all of

00:07:06.980 her provincial counterparts. So it was the federal health minister, Marjorie Michelle, and all the

00:07:12.980 provincial and territorial ones gathered together. So Alberta was co-hosting him. And I applied to be

00:07:19.940 credentialed, I applied through the federal government, they simply refused to write back.

00:07:24.260 So I applied to the provincial government. And I said, look, don't let the feds bring their Ottawa

00:07:29.140 censorship to free Alberta. And there was a back and forth. And in the end, the federal government

00:07:34.100 agreed to credential Rebel News, which was pretty cool. And they said, Ezra, are you going to be on

00:07:38.660 your good behavior? And I said, of course I am. I mean, when am I not? I made a joke about, you know,

00:07:44.260 that clip from the office where Jim was asked, Jim, I need you to be on your best behavior. And he said,

00:07:49.540 well, I already promised someone else I'd be on my worst behavior. I made that joke.

00:07:53.700 And then I immediately said, I'm kidding. I'll be on my best behavior. I was early. I checked in.

00:08:01.140 I introduced myself. I got my name tag. I was literally, I think there was one other journalist

00:08:07.780 in the room. I checked in so early. I sat near the mic and I thought, what a good boy am I? And

00:08:15.620 then they opened up the questions. And I put a question to the Alberta health minister about a

00:08:19.460 different subject. But then I asked the, I was given two questions. I asked the federal health

00:08:23.780 minister a question and she actually looked engaged. She actually looked interested. 0.93

00:08:28.100 Here is my question. My question sounds long, but I timed it. It's actually less than a minute.

00:08:34.180 And I didn't, there wasn't even one second after I finished my question that someone

00:08:41.700 interrupted here. Watch for yourself. Here's the whole thing. Take a look.

00:08:44.980 Thank you, minister, for agreeing to accredit Rebel News. I very much appreciate your

00:08:49.140 dedication to freedom of the press. I have a question about the ostrich farm. Now,

00:08:54.020 don't worry. I'm not going to ask about the lawsuit because I don't want you to

00:08:57.380 talk about anything that are before the courts. But there was a letter. And I noticed in the

00:09:02.020 statement, you talk about Canada-US cooperation. I know that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., your US counterpart,

00:09:09.060 has written saying he thinks that there's some medical research value in these ostriches because they

00:09:14.580 had avian flu, but then have recovered and they're now immune. In fact, he's offered to do the research

00:09:21.780 and even to pay for it. It seems to me that we need allies around Trump's cabinet table.

00:09:28.660 And if you could throw him a bone and say, sure, Secretary Kennedy, you can study these birds.

00:09:34.980 It's sort of no skin off Canada's nose. And don't you think it would be helpful to have an ally in

00:09:40.660 Trump's cabinet when we're doing our trade negotiations? That's my question. Don't you think

00:09:47.940 it would be helpful to have a friend? Thank you. Next reporter. Merci. 0.55

00:09:54.740 Oh, you're not going to answer, Minister? I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?

00:10:00.900 Next question. Thank you. Minister, did I miss an answer? I don't get it. Okay. I'll sit down.

00:10:12.420 I guess it's question period, not answer period. Merci beaucoup.

00:10:15.700 What on earth is going on? You know, as soon as I said my question, he said,

00:10:19.860 prochaine question or something, which I knew enough French means the next question. I thought he maybe

00:10:25.460 didn't. I thought maybe he was saying, all right, wrap it up, Levant. You've been talking for a full

00:10:29.460 minute. Where's your question? I honestly thought his first interruption was because I was going

00:10:34.660 long. So he said, oh, that is my question. Why won't you throw Trump a bone? And then he just said,

00:10:39.700 next question in French. And I thought, am I missing something? So I put on my simultaneous translation

00:10:46.580 headphones. But no, he kept interrupting. It took me about three times to realize what was going on.

00:10:53.140 Now, the minister herself looked at me. She was attentive. I know she can speak English. And even if she

00:10:58.980 didn't have a strong grasp of it, those headsets or translation, but why was some guy whose name

00:11:05.460 I don't even know, who was he who was interrupting his boss? I mean, why would you have a press

00:11:12.980 conference and why would you credential journalists if you simply weren't going to answer them? Part of

00:11:18.740 me thinks she was being handled by that staffer. And if I was a leftist, I'd say, oh, so he was

00:11:26.420 mansplaining to her. He didn't think the poor little lady could answer. He was whitesplaining 0.96

00:11:32.020 to her. That's what I would say if I was on the left. Not really on the left, but it is noticeable

00:11:37.620 that she was being handled by someone who we don't know. She's not really the cabinet minister in charge

00:11:44.820 of health, is she? She reports to a boss, some guy on the side saying, next question, next question. 0.93

00:11:50.180 Who is the boss? I do not know. But I have a theory that that guy who kept interrupting,

00:11:55.540 I have a theory that he's some communications staffer probably sent from the prime minister's

00:11:59.540 office to stop her from interacting from Rebel News. And I actually, hand to God, I think he

00:12:06.260 believes their BS propaganda that we are like January 6th insurrectionists, we're domestic right-wing

00:12:12.980 extremists, and that maybe I was going to hop over and, you know, wrestle her or something. I think 0.99

00:12:18.900 they believe their BS. They thought this about the Canadian truckers. Oh my God, they're so dangerous.

00:12:23.860 No, they got bouncy castles and hot tubs. These people hate ordinary Canadians, especially those

00:12:30.020 on the right. Anyways, it was sort of fruitless in a way. It's sort of like when we used to talk to

00:12:38.260 Jagmeet Singh. Remember that loser, that footnote in history, that nothing, that empty suit? And we 0.84

00:12:43.860 would ask him questions and he would never answer. Remember when Dre Humphrey put a great question to him?

00:12:49.140 At the last leader's debate. Here, let me, let me play it again before we take a look.

00:12:52.980 Hello, Mr. Singh, Dre Humphrey with Rebel News. Your party takes great pride in standing against

00:12:58.740 hate such as white supremacy, Islamophobia, and online... Sorry, I didn't get your outlet.

00:13:03.620 Dre Humphrey with Rebel News. Okay.

00:13:06.660 You know where I'm going to go with this though, right?

00:13:09.220 Can I speak? Yeah, you can. I'm just going to say you know where I'm going to go with it though.

00:13:11.940 Wow.

00:13:12.580 Your party takes pride in standing against hate such as white supremacy, Islamophobia,

00:13:17.380 and online hate speech. Yet you stay silent about ongoing attacks against Christians,

00:13:23.380 even after Conservative MP Jamil Javani's order paper question revealed that over 200 churches

00:13:29.700 have been targeted by arson and vandalism since claims of remains being discovered at former

00:13:35.300 residential schools swept the nation in 2021. These claims have been disproven by bans that excavated

00:13:42.980 and remain unproven by those that have not. Will you condemn the rise in acts of hate against

00:13:49.620 Christians today and explain what your party will do moving forward to keep Christians safe from hate in Canada?

00:13:58.180 Again, thank you, but I'm not going to respond to an organization that promotes

00:14:02.100 misinformation and disinformation like Rebel News, so no, I'm not going to respond to your question.

00:14:05.780 Wow.

00:14:06.420 What she said had no misinformation in it.

00:14:10.580 Perhaps you didn't hear me. Over 200 Christian places of worship have been attacked in Canada since

00:14:16.820 2021. Many served First Nations communities, many were historic, and they diverted police

00:14:25.140 and resources and put others at risk. What do you say to Canadians who see your refusal to answer,

00:14:31.380 especially from one of the few media outlets here that are not funded by the state, as proof that a vote

00:14:37.380 for you is a vote for a dangerous radical party that gaslights the public into thinking it stands against

00:14:43.540 hate when its silence is instead emboldening Christophobia? Your question is another example

00:14:50.340 of why I don't respond to agencies like Rebel News that promote misinformation and disinformation.

00:14:55.620 In the case of Jagmeet Singh, and I say this, I've thought about this a lot. I don't think this is name

00:15:02.180 calling. I think Jagmeet Singh was always a little bit dumb. Have you ever seen him say anything deep or 1.00

00:15:09.220 complex or full of policy? He, you know, he was always like as deep as a puddle and he would have

00:15:16.180 a few catchy phrases. I think his say, oh, I don't talk to Rebel News was just a dumb guy's way of saying, 0.98

00:15:22.580 I don't have any clue what you're talking about. I don't have a good answer. So I'm going to rename 0.95

00:15:28.420 my stupidity of as some sort of weird principle that I don't talk to conservatives, which is not a 0.99

00:15:34.820 good principle. Anyway, so I tweeted, Rebel News first tweeted, and then I personally retweeted 0.96

00:15:41.220 that video. And between the two tweets, about a million people, a million people watched my,

00:15:49.380 I wouldn't even call it an interaction because it wasn't very interactive, watched my question and

00:15:53.300 the lack of answers. And I don't know if most people even heard of this Marjorie Michelle before. I

00:15:58.420 honestly didn't until I Googled her. What a bad way to make your introduction to Canadian life,

00:16:06.020 Canadian political life, as the woman either unable or unallowed to answer a pretty friendly 0.66

00:16:12.580 question. Let's play it one more time. I put it to you. This was friendly. This was me on my best

00:16:17.620 behavior. And I thought this was an interesting question. I bet you haven't heard that question

00:16:21.620 before, have you? Here, take a look. Thank you, Minister, for agreeing to accredit Rebel News. I very much

00:16:26.660 appreciate your dedication to freedom of the press. I have a question about the ostrich farm. Now,

00:16:32.260 don't worry, I'm not going to ask about the lawsuit, because I don't want you to talk about anything

00:16:36.660 that are before the courts. But there was a letter, and I noticed in the statement, you talk about

00:16:41.380 Canada-US cooperation. I know that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., your US counterpart, has written saying he thinks

00:16:49.620 that there's some medical research value in these ostriches, because they had avian flu, but then have

00:16:55.540 recovered and they're now immune. In fact, he's offered to do the research and even to pay for it.

00:17:02.180 It seems to me that we need allies around Trump's cabinet table. And if you could throw him a bone and

00:17:09.060 say, sure, Secretary Kennedy, you can study these birds. It's sort of no skin off Canada's nose. And don't you

00:17:16.020 think it would be helpful to have an ally in Trump's cabinet when we're doing our trade negotiations?

00:17:24.660 That's my question. Don't you think it would be helpful to have a friend?

00:17:27.460 Next reporter. Merci. 0.98

00:17:33.060 Oh, you're not going to answer, Minister?

00:17:34.900 I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?

00:17:39.860 Next question. Thank you.

00:17:43.540 Minister, did I miss an answer? I don't get it. Okay. I'll sit down. I guess it's question period,

00:17:51.940 not answer period. Merci beaucoup.

00:17:54.100 Yeah, just stonewalling. In a way, it reminded me of my one-sided interview with Avi Amini,

00:18:00.180 of Albert Bourla, the CEO of Pfizer. Remember that one? Here's just a few moments from that.

00:18:05.940 Mr. Bourla, can I ask you, when did you know that the vaccines didn't stop transmission?

00:18:11.860 How long did you know that without saying it publicly?

00:18:14.740 Thank you very much.

00:18:15.940 I'm sorry.

00:18:16.260 Answer that question. I mean, we now know that the vaccines didn't stop transmission,

00:18:21.860 but why did you keep it secret?

00:18:25.540 You said it was 100% effective, then 90%, then 80%, then 70%, but we now know that the vaccines

00:18:32.420 do not stop transmission. Why did you keep that secret?

00:18:35.780 Have a nice day.

00:18:37.620 I won't have a nice day until I know the answer. Why did you keep it a secret that your vaccine

00:18:44.180 did not stop transmission?

00:18:45.540 Is it time to apologize to the world, sir, to give refunds back to the countries that

00:18:52.980 poured all their money into your vaccine that doesn't work, your ineffective vaccine?

00:18:58.740 You know, I get that a lot at Davos. Here's a few moments with Larry Fink,

00:19:02.100 the boss of BlackRock. Same thing. No answers. Remember that one?

00:19:05.940 Mr. Fink, are you going to follow Donald Trump's

00:19:08.580 plan and get rid of DEI and ESG in your companies?

00:19:15.540 BlackRock really is the opposite of Donald Trump in so many ways. You're authoritarian,

00:19:21.140 you're anti-populist, you're top-down. Are you going to change it all in light of the US presidency?

00:19:29.460 How has Donald Trump, have you talked to Donald Trump since he was elected?

00:19:34.420 Is the World Economic Forum a counterpoint to Donald Trump?

00:19:43.460 The thing about Burla and Larry Fink is they're not political officials. They're public in the sense

00:19:49.940 that they're in the public sphere and the public, you know, there's a lot of interaction that control

00:19:54.980 a lot of things. But at the end of the day, Albert Burla and Larry Fink work for companies,

00:20:00.020 not for me. I'm not a shareholder of their companies. I'm just a media person on the street.

00:20:05.620 In a way, I mean, I think it shows a thin skin on their part. I think it shows a lack of transparency.

00:20:12.340 I think it shows a haughtiness. But I don't know if there's anything morally wrong with a businessman

00:20:18.980 ignoring a stranger journalist. But what about Marjorie Michelle? Because I'm not an outsider.

00:20:25.220 I'm a full Canadian citizen. In fact, I've been a citizen longer than she's been. I was a citizen

00:20:31.460 since I was born. How dare she look down her nose at me and her staffer. That's so gross. 1.00

00:20:38.820 This is a cabinet minister who works for me. I think in Canada, they've been in power so long 0.80

00:20:46.020 that they believe that the government is our master, not our servant. I think they need to

00:20:55.060 have their attitude changed on that, don't you? Stay with us for more on this subject.

00:21:00.740 Welcome back. You know, I've done my best to reach out to authorities to try and get their

00:21:14.100 explanation for things at the Edgewood, B.C. Ostrich Farm. In fact, when I was out there briefly

00:21:20.020 a couple of weeks ago, the very first person I interviewed was an RCMP spokesman. And I thought,

00:21:25.940 you know, I've heard the criticisms. I've heard the case made by the ostrich farm.

00:21:30.820 Let me do my best to get the other other side of the story. And I have to say, talking to the police

00:21:36.660 officer was not fruitful. I mean, basically his answers to everything was, we're just here as

00:21:43.220 security for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. And they, of course, had nothing to say themselves.

00:21:49.300 Here's a quick clip of that longer interview. I'll only show you about a minute. Take a look.

00:21:54.420 Rebel News Armada was telling the other side of the story. And we're sympathetic to the ostrich farm 0.97

00:21:59.620 and even the ostriches. But it behooves us to get your side of the story if the police indeed have a

00:22:05.780 side. Maybe you could start by telling us who's here on behalf of the RCMP and what your mandate is.

00:22:13.300 Yes. Well, so in any situation where there's protest, we are an impartial party. So in this particular case,

00:22:22.020 we're on site at the request of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. And our role here specifically

00:22:28.580 is public safety, to keep the peace and to enforce the law. Now, I spoke to some of the other officers,

00:22:36.740 they're coming in from pretty far afield. I mean, it looks like a pretty big operation. Are you at

00:22:41.540 liberty to disclose how many RCMP are involved? We don't speak to numbers specifically for operational

00:22:46.980 security reasons. What I can tell you is there are a number of different support units under the

00:22:53.540 critical response unit here. So overall operations is conducted by critical response unit, which

00:22:59.780 responds to such things as wildfires, floods, things of that nature, as well as protests.

00:23:07.300 Those support services that you may have seen over the last couple of weeks, we have a remote

00:23:11.620 pilot aircraft system, obviously. We've got some medics here, among others. So to ensure that we

00:23:20.180 don't compromise public safety in any one community, we bring in officers from across the province.

00:23:25.700 As you may have seen on Friday, I actually had a chance to put a question to the federal health

00:23:30.820 minister herself. And I tried to be so gentle and softball. You saw me, I said, don't talk about the

00:23:38.100 lawsuit. Just try and help me understand why the federal government wouldn't at least pause the

00:23:43.860 execution of these birds, even to placate U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy,

00:23:50.580 Jr. And you saw how that went. She just looked at me blankly and her staffer insisted we move on. 0.88

00:23:58.340 Here's a clip from that. Thank you, Minister, for agreeing to accredit Rebel News. I very much

00:24:03.620 appreciate your dedication to freedom of the press. I have a question about the ostrich farm. Now,

00:24:09.300 don't worry, I'm not going to ask about the lawsuit, because I don't want you to talk about

00:24:13.140 anything that are before the courts. But there was a letter, and I noticed in the statement,

00:24:17.700 you talk about Canada-U.S. cooperation. I know that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., your U.S. counterpart,

00:24:24.340 has written saying he thinks that there's some medical research value in these ostriches,

00:24:29.380 because they had avian flu, but then have recovered and they're now immune. In fact,

00:24:34.900 he's offered to do the research and even to pay for it. It seems to me that we need allies around

00:24:42.100 Trump's cabinet table. And if you could throw him a bone and say, sure, Secretary Kennedy,

00:24:48.660 you can study these birds. It's sort of no skin off Canada's nose. And don't you think it would be

00:24:53.460 helpful to have an ally in Trump's cabinet when we're doing our trade negotiations?

00:25:01.620 That's my question. Don't you think it would be helpful to have a friend?

00:25:04.420 Next reporter. Merci. 0.98

00:25:10.020 Oh, you're not going to answer, Minister?

00:25:14.500 I don't understand. Did I do something wrong?

00:25:16.180 Next question. Thank you.

00:25:17.940 Minister, did I miss an answer? I don't get it. Okay. I'll sit down. I guess it's question period,

00:25:28.900 not answer period. Merci beaucoup.

00:25:30.980 So weird. I got to tell you, there's all sorts of theories and rumors and hunches that people have.

00:25:37.940 And this silence in the case of the health minister, total silence in the face of legitimate

00:25:43.300 questions. It's not helping. It's making things look even more suspicious. I mean, there's got to be

00:25:49.300 a good explanation for things and failing us being told that we'll come up with our own theories. Well,

00:25:55.140 one man who's been on the ground of the ostrich farm for, I think, over a week now, and he has

00:26:00.900 brought some interesting tools and an interesting eye to things is our friend, Chris Dacey. Normally,

00:26:07.300 he's in Ottawa. Sometimes we see him in Toronto or other places, but he has decamped for Edgewood,

00:26:13.140 BC. Chris Dacey joins us now. Chris, great to see you. Thank you for joining us from British Columbia.

00:26:20.740 Yeah, thank you. And it's actually going on over just just over two weeks now.

00:26:24.100 Oh, my gosh. Well, you're becoming an old timer out there. When I visited, it was very brief.

00:26:30.900 There was a fairly good-sized crowd of people there. Are the people still there in their RVs

00:26:36.900 and their tents and their cars? Is it still a bit of a mass event?

00:26:42.180 Yeah, definitely. There's still a large number. I would say the number has slightly dwindled,

00:26:47.060 but people are still coming and going continuously. So, yeah, the numbers are a bit lower, but it's

00:26:51.620 still quite a large number of people here. Presently, a few are gone. There's actually a rally going

00:26:58.820 on in, I believe it's Kelowna, this morning. So, there was a rally at the RCMP, and a lot of

00:27:03.460 people went over there for that. Huh. Now, you're used to covering the Ottawa protest scene,

00:27:09.300 which is a very particular group of people, both on the police side and the protest side. I mean,

00:27:14.740 I suppose there's different protests, but it's a bit of a different thing. I think in BC,

00:27:19.140 we have a permanent standoff. How would you compare what you traditionally report in Ottawa

00:27:25.540 versus what you're seeing in BC? Are there any similarities, or it's just a completely different

00:27:31.540 kettle of fish? Yeah, I would say that this is a pretty unique situation. The only similarities

00:27:37.060 is being stood up face-to-face with police, which I mean, that's happened to me a number of times,

00:27:41.460 but other than the RCMP and the large number of police, this is a pretty unique kind of place

00:27:47.380 and a pretty unique protest. I don't even know if it's protest. I wouldn't say that. Supporters,

00:27:52.500 I don't even know what to call it, to be quite honest. Huh. Now, you mentioned you've been there

00:27:56.740 for two weeks. I guess time flies. I think the police have been there now. I think it's going

00:28:02.660 to be measured in months, and I don't quite understand it because they're, like I said,

00:28:07.620 they're there sort of as the escorts, the bodyguards to the farm inspection people,

00:28:14.180 the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. So the cops, at least they say they're not the deciders here.

00:28:20.500 They're not the bosses here. It's like they're the helper outers. How are they doing? I mean,

00:28:25.780 I asked the cop, what's your morale like? And his answer was, well, it's our job.

00:28:31.780 You actually managed to see an image of an RCMP chaplain, as in a religious clergy member,

00:28:40.900 who traditionally, if I understand military or police chaplains, their job is to help with morale,

00:28:48.020 help pep people up, help people get over grief or a crisis. Why would the RCMP be bringing in a

00:28:55.460 chaplain for their own people? Yeah, well, I imagine that people must be having a hard time.

00:29:01.460 If there's a chaplain, generally, it's because people are in need of, like you say, moral support.

00:29:06.100 I have posted in the last few days a little bit about the behavior or kind of the stress of the

00:29:11.540 RCMP. There's been a number of incidents, you know, with even with RCMP leadership,

00:29:16.340 yelling at supporters here, yelling at each other, and even an incident where an RCMP officer was

00:29:22.020 yelling back and forth at a PLT. So the RCMP-

00:29:24.980 PLT, that's just for our viewers. That's a police liaison team. That's sort of like the police ambassadors.

00:29:31.860 Is that right? Yeah, correct. So we have those in Ottawa as well. We have them on Parliament Hill.

00:29:37.060 So those are kind of go-betweens. So they are police officers, but they're not really involved

00:29:41.060 in the policing. They're more go-betweens. But there has been obvious tension here. And

00:29:47.540 it seems to me that it's not really about this order. I think it's tension being under the orders

00:29:53.220 of the CFIA. Every time you ask the RCMP anything or there's a request, the RCMP are basically,

00:29:59.620 they're going to hand off notes and they're going to ask permission from the CFIA for everything.

00:30:04.420 And then they come back to the family and they'll say, oh, yes, no. Generally, it's no for every

00:30:08.820 question. But the CFIA is definitely in charge. It's very strange, honestly.

00:30:14.900 Yeah. Now, I mean, that's one of the things I asked the cop spokesman is where are all these

00:30:21.300 police from? Because Edgewood is just a very small place. Kelowna is about two and a quarter hours

00:30:27.940 away by highway. It's not a huge city, but it's a city to get that many police officers. I estimate

00:30:34.900 there's about 50 of them all together. And they come in different shifts and they're coming back

00:30:39.860 and forth. Like it's a really big operation. My guess, Chris, is it's the largest police operation

00:30:45.300 in British Columbia. It's been going on for more than a month. People have come in from quite far away

00:30:51.380 to get 50 RCMP. Now, they are getting paid a premium, overtime, travel pay, like they're making

00:30:58.420 money. But it wouldn't surprise me if they're lonely, if they're a little irritated, if, like you

00:31:04.100 say, they're not used to working for some government bureaucrats in the food inspection side of things.

00:31:10.500 Plus, you know, police are curious people. They go online. They would check social media.

00:31:15.460 They probably are getting an earful and some might be numb to it. But, you know,

00:31:20.500 I think police want to think of themselves as the good guys. Maybe it's all adding up,

00:31:25.220 being away from home, a purposeless mission, being criticized by the public and social media.

00:31:31.460 Maybe that's why the chaplain's there. These cops just don't want to be there.

00:31:35.380 Yeah, it very well could be. And I know that since I started providing certain kinds of video,

00:31:42.340 Mike Rude has taken some incredibly good video with the camera equipment that we have here.

00:31:46.980 And we're just trying to answer questions that the public have, right? The RCMP attempted to help

00:31:51.940 answer this question by flying a drone to do a head count, and they were reprimanded by CFIA.

00:31:58.580 Yes. Yeah. So, I mean, I can see that there'd be frustration. I mean,

00:32:02.260 it's starting to get to a point where this is looking very embarrassing. The CFIA are not

00:32:07.620 transparent. They have no spokespeople, not for the family, not for the public, and not for the media.

00:32:12.420 And then the RCMP are here kind of doing their bidding, but they're the front face.

00:32:17.060 So they're getting, you know, they're getting a lot of the heat when, I mean, just following orders,

00:32:21.780 but they're, I mean, they're here under the warrant and that's what they're here for, but it's CFIA show.

00:32:26.100 And I think that's frustration on their part.

00:32:29.460 Yeah. You know, I mean, the government, I think, has a moral duty to let the public know some basic

00:32:35.140 things. I accept, even though I disagree with what the CFIA are doing, I accept that they may have some

00:32:41.780 confidential processes or operations. I get it. But to never say anything, not say a word,

00:32:49.300 to be completely opaque. And by the way, it comes from the minister herself. Chris, I don't know if you

00:32:54.660 saw that blank look on her face when I, like, my question was so softball, like from the top down.

00:33:01.220 And these cops are the ones that are taking the abuse for it. And as you say, you know,

00:33:07.380 they're following orders, but that's not a great excuse. I don't know. I find the whole thing

00:33:11.860 frustrating. Let me pick on something you said. You said the police had offered to use a drone to do

00:33:17.620 a head count of the birds because how many have passed away? Have any been killed so far?

00:33:23.540 Have there been any accidents? Has any ostrich died? And the CFIA tried to keep that confidential

00:33:30.580 or secret. Now, you were saying that the police offered to do a drone sweep, but they got in

00:33:36.420 trouble for it. Or maybe I misunderstood you. Tell me about the drone and the head count.

00:33:40.260 Yeah. So the drone was flown actually just a while ago now. So for quite some time,

00:33:46.340 people have been asking for a head count, which isn't unreasonable, I don't think. And not having

00:33:51.700 the head count is causing a lot of stress. It's causing a lot of wild speculation. And so the RCMP

00:33:56.340 decided to try to try to fly a drone quite high this time. So there wouldn't be another incident

00:34:00.500 where the birds got spooked. I think they learned from that. But they put their drone up and they were

00:34:04.980 reprimanded pretty almost immediately after. Now, how were they reprimanded? How did you hear about

00:34:11.380 it? Did you see it? Did they tell you? How do you know they were reprimanded?

00:34:16.580 I didn't see it personally, but that's the message that was related to me from the family.

00:34:20.900 Isn't that interesting? I mean, I've seen like, of course, every police officer

00:34:26.260 has their own personality. Now they're all under the same marching orders. But even when I was there for

00:34:31.700 my brief time, I could see some who were more friendly, who were trying to, you know,

00:34:36.820 build some sort of rapport with people. And I remember this one particular guy who had a mask

00:34:42.020 on and whenever the people, like there's sort of a police line of yellow ribbons, which is sort of

00:34:47.540 like a DMZ or something. And the farmers come up to that line and the police come up to that line

00:34:52.980 and they sort of meet, it would be like the Berlin Wall or something. And when the farmers come up and

00:34:58.980 talk, the police are there and they're trying to keep the energy level down. They're trying to,

00:35:03.460 you know, be friendly. I mean, I respect that's hard work, but there was this one cop I saw who

00:35:07.860 had his face mask on, who was filming any farmer who came close. And I thought, yeah, I'm going to

00:35:13.540 swear here. That guy's a bit of an asshole. He's enjoying the antagonism. He's spying on people. 1.00

00:35:19.940 Why is he doing that? Does he think the people are the enemy? So there's different personalities

00:35:27.300 of different police. And I don't know, in their own way, they're cooped up too.

00:35:34.820 Yeah. And I've definitely noticed that some police officers are a little different than others. And

00:35:39.140 honestly, I've gotten into it a little bit with a couple of them who I thought were being pretty rude.

00:35:43.860 That area you're talking about is actually called the arrest gate. It's by the RCMP, not me. That's

00:35:49.300 what they called it for their operation. And that's the gate that this property on the corner,

00:35:54.020 there's a family on the corner that aren't the farm, but just happened to be near the farm and

00:35:58.740 they needed their property. So they line up against that at the arrest gate. And there's some tension

00:36:03.460 there sometimes, especially at night, when that family wants to get cleaning out of their property,

00:36:08.180 they have to come in and ask permission and a few things could go wrong. And there's been,

00:36:12.660 you know, a few incidents there and that kind of bothered me a bit. I had like shining my eyeballs,

00:36:16.900 like high powered flashlights. That didn't make me too thrilled and directly into my camera while

00:36:21.700 I was trying to film. So, you know, things like that, that don't go over too well with me. And

00:36:26.260 I have a bit of history with the police. I'm emotional at times. And there was once or twice,

00:36:30.180 I got a little bit heated, but you know, nothing crazy.

00:36:33.540 Isn't that funny? You made me think of something from a few years ago during the lockdowns.

00:36:37.700 There's a church south of Edmonton called the Grace Life Church. And the police came

00:36:41.220 and they put a fence around the whole church and sort of commandeered it and turned it into like

00:36:45.620 a police base. It was really crazy. But there was a neighbor who shared part of the entrance road

00:36:52.500 and the police blocked his road and the fury with which he came out at those cops who blocked him

00:36:59.380 instead of just the church. It was outrageous that they blocked the church. But you made me just think

00:37:03.620 of the police sort of being ham-fisted, not planning well, not taking into account neighbors. It's quite

00:37:09.540 something. Now, I think everyone's waiting on the Supreme Court of Canada to issue an advisory on

00:37:18.180 whether or not they will hear an appeal. You have a right to appeal anything to the Court of Appeal in

00:37:24.020 your province. But not everyone has the right to appeal it to the Supreme Court of Canada. In fact,

00:37:30.420 you have to sort of make a little application called for leave to appeal. The Supreme Court has to say,

00:37:39.460 yes, your case is important enough or controversial enough that we think it should be one of the small

00:37:46.980 number of cases we can hear. There's only one Supreme Court. They don't have time to hear a thousand

00:37:50.740 cases a year. So right now, everyone's waiting to hear whether or not the Supreme Court of Canada will

00:37:58.020 grant leave to appear in the Supreme Court. So until the Supreme Court says yes or no to whether

00:38:04.340 they'll take the case, everything's frozen. So that's how we sort of know that these ostriches 0.75

00:38:10.180 aren't in jeopardy right now because the Supreme Court still hasn't let us know when they're going to

00:38:17.540 make that ruling. This could drag on for months, Chris. I mean, the Supreme Court is not known for being

00:38:24.180 fast. What would happen if this thing goes, I mean, I don't know what the weather's like out there,

00:38:30.820 but what happens if this thing goes to Christmas or to the new year? What happens if it's snow on

00:38:36.500 the ground? I mean, how are they even going to handle things then? Yeah, I mean, there's already

00:38:41.380 snow now if I look out in the tops of the mountains and it's definitely getting cold here at night. I do

00:38:46.420 know that people around here and their supporters, they're already starting to prepare,

00:38:49.300 hunker down for winter. So it sounds like people are going to keep riding this out. As far as winter

00:38:55.620 coming, actually, that brings up an interesting concern as well. Normally, there's preparations

00:38:59.460 for winter that are done on this farm. Normally, there's a lot of stuff that is done on this farm.

00:39:03.220 And a lot of that work doesn't seem to be being done. The birds are going to need protection during

00:39:07.220 the winter and some sort of shelter and bedding. And it seems like a lot of the regular farm work that

00:39:11.860 should be done on a farm is not getting done right now. Wow. How do you think it's going to end?

00:39:20.900 I mean, I suppose that's a tough question. You don't have any secret knowledge, neither do I.

00:39:28.020 But just based on your gut and how the CFIA has handled itself, how the RCMP has handled itself,

00:39:33.940 how the how the counter protesters, if I call them, how do you think this is? I mean, what's going to

00:39:42.020 happen? Yeah, I mean, it's hard to say, really. And I'm not going to guess what the court may do or

00:39:47.940 or anything like that. But I mean, this is such a big story already. So much attention still. And

00:39:53.300 it's and it's continuing to keep that, you know, the attention of the of the media and of people,

00:39:58.420 which I've never seen anything really like that. If they go ahead with this, like, I can imagine,

00:40:05.140 honestly, I don't know. Everything about this is so bizarre. I just think that if they do go ahead,

00:40:11.300 people are already quite upset with what they're seeing. They're upset with the behavior of the

00:40:14.500 CFIA with unelected bureaucrats and, you know, the armed wing of the government protecting them.

00:40:19.540 So there's a lot of upset people. If they start killing birds, that ups, you know, that that will

00:40:25.300 seriously up the energy and the and the emotion for people. So I'm kind of wondering if they're

00:40:30.660 they're holding out or they're waiting till winter, hoping things will die down. I'm not really sure,

00:40:35.540 but I don't see how this plays out. Well, the government's not one to normally back down.

00:40:40.740 Yeah. Let me ask you one last question before we let you go. You have managed to zoom in. I think

00:40:47.460 you've got a great zoom lens or something. Tell me a little bit about that. I tried to put my phone

00:40:52.660 on the other end of a telescope and that did not work, but you found a solution. Tell me a little

00:40:58.820 bit about this. I don't know if it's a lens or a telescope. Tell me how you managed to zoom in

00:41:04.740 because you had some unique footage really close up of the CFIA interacting with the ostriches. How

00:41:11.780 did I mean, if it's a trade secret, then don't tell me. But if you if if it's something you feel

00:41:16.980 comfortable sharing because I think you you really cracked the code on that. Yeah. I mean,

00:41:21.860 the the camera itself is a Nikon P 1000 and it has a hundred and twenty five times optical zoom.

00:41:27.860 Wow. Wow. Well, there's your answer right there. I mean, you can see you can see the craters on the

00:41:33.380 moon with one hundred and twenty five times zoom. I did actually while I was here. There was a full

00:41:38.980 moon or a super moon and I got some great pictures of that. And and those photos and videos are coming

00:41:44.020 from I mean, very I won't say exactly where crown land. But some of them are well over a mile away,

00:41:50.500 two miles. We were, I think, five kilometers away one time filming. So it's one heck of a lens.

00:41:56.580 Wow. Well, that really showed the lengths that the government is going to hide what they're doing.

00:42:02.900 It really is quite shocking. Well, Chris, we're so grateful that you're there. Thank you for being there.

00:42:08.100 Different rebels have done shifts. I don't know if we have a rebel on the ground right now. I have to

00:42:12.340 check if Dre is there. She's gone a few times, but she always has to go back to Vancouver sort of

00:42:17.380 to refuel and things like that. But I'm glad you're there. What's the best way for people to follow

00:42:21.780 your work, Chris? Yeah, all my work is going up to X at Chris Dacey on X. And while I'm here,

00:42:28.420 I'm also sharing stuff to Facebook. I have been banned from Facebook, but we're using Mike Rood,

00:42:33.700 Sergeant Mike Rood retired, the Rood Awakening Tour Facebook page. So for people on Facebook, check that out.

00:42:39.460 He does a lot of a lot of work helping the veteran community. So it's nice to be collaborating with

00:42:43.460 him. Great. Well, you know, I really am grateful for your work. Like I say, you've got some new stuff

00:42:49.380 that no one saw before until you got that 125 times lens. And I think you're sort of a seasoned

00:42:56.820 veteran from the streets of Ottawa. And I think there's a little bit of the trucker convoy spirit

00:43:02.020 out there amongst the ostrich supporters. I mean, it's obviously a lot of differences, but that same

00:43:06.740 feeling of standing up to the government against long odds. So Chris, I'm really glad you're out

00:43:10.980 there. And thanks for sharing your info with us today. Yeah, thanks for having me, Ezra.

00:43:15.620 All right. Our pleasure. There you have it, Chris Dacey. And you can follow him as I do on X.

00:43:21.220 Stay with us. Your letters to me next.

00:43:32.740 Hey, it's Monday night. It's great to be back in the studio. So much is going on. You know,

00:43:35.940 I zipped out to Calgary for that half question to Marjorie Michelle and I came back. But you know,

00:43:42.500 I'm hopping on a plane tonight because something absolutely terrifying and heartbreaking just happened

00:43:48.500 in Dublin and the government just turned the largest hotel in Ireland into a migrant center

00:43:57.780 for military age, single men. Gee, what could possibly go wrong? People who destroy their ID illegally 1.00

00:44:05.620 come into the country and are put up at taxpayer expense in a luxury hotel, three square meals a day,

00:44:11.940 cell phone, spending money, but we have no idea who they are. Well, a horrific, horrific thing

00:44:17.780 happened tonight. A 10 year old girl was raped and one of the migrant men from this City West hotel

00:44:24.180 was accused. And already a huge crowd is gathering outside the hotel. This is what we've been reporting

00:44:30.580 about and warning about for more than a year in Ireland. And we've seen it in the United Kingdom too.

00:44:35.620 So Lincoln Jay and I are immediately getting on a plane to cover what I think is going to be a massive

00:44:41.140 protest outside City West. And what some politicians are saying is a breaking point in Irish politics.

00:44:47.460 We'll go and see what we find. You'll be able to follow all our reportage from Dublin at

00:44:53.940 migrantreports.com. So I got to get out of here. I got to get on that plane. Until next time,

00:44:59.380 on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home.

00:45:02.980 Good night. And keep fighting for freedom.

00:45:16.500 good night.

00:45:18.180 Good night.

00:45:22.380 Good night.

00:45:23.860 Good night.

00:45:24.940 Good night.

00:45:27.020 Good night.

00:45:29.440 Good night.

Rebel News Podcast - October 20, 2025

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Canada's Ostrich Scandal is a Test for our Love of Freedom

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