Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Canadians are abandoning the Liberals, so Trudeau pays off his base： journalists

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. Justin Trudeau shores up his base. Who's that? Who's his base? Is it young

00:00:06.520 people? Is it minorities? Is it Quebecers? No, silly. It's journalists. I'll give you the latest 0.88

00:00:12.640 on his huge bailout for his best friends. But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber

00:00:17.220 to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of this podcast. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com,

00:00:22.580 click subscribe, eight bucks a month. You get the video version. And more than that,

00:00:25.860 you get the satisfaction of knowing that you help keep Rebel News strong. All right,

00:00:31.160 here's today's podcast. Tonight, as Canadians abandon the Liberal Party in record numbers,

00:00:51.840 Trudeau pays off his base. Journalists. It's March 1st, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:01.140 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:01:13.740 You know, you shouldn't put too much stock in polls. They're not a prediction for the future.

00:01:17.380 They're a snapshot in the present. But still, you got to like how the polls have been looking for

00:01:22.540 about a year now. In fact, in the last month or so, they're the worst ever results for Trudeau.

00:01:28.860 It is a fact that Donald Trump's approval numbers in Canada are higher than Justin Trudeau's approval

00:01:35.220 numbers in Canada. Isn't that weird? And I like looking at all the pollsters because they have

00:01:40.560 different approaches and different reliability. But abacus research is my favorite. First of all,

00:01:45.060 I know David Colleto, the boss there. I used to work with him a decade ago at Sun News,

00:01:48.800 and he's a really nice guy. But I like them because they're liberal. And so when they report

00:01:53.220 bad news about Justin Trudeau, you know they're doing it against their instincts. But they have

00:01:58.540 to be honest about it. It's sort of like when the New York Times criticizes a liberal. You know

00:02:03.680 it's got to be bad for them to say so. One of the statistics I like to look at is different

00:02:09.000 demographic groups. Westerners, men, women, young people are for the conservatives in a way that I

00:02:16.380 don't think has ever been the case in my lifetime. Now every other demographic seems to be for them

00:02:20.840 too, including women. For the first time I can remember, conservatives have an advantage 0.94

00:02:24.620 with women. And I contrast that to the United Kingdom where only one percent, according to a poll,

00:02:31.420 only one percent of young people plan to vote conservative in the next election. Just incredibly

00:02:36.820 shocking. The economy is a disaster. Immigration is out of control. That makes everything else 1.00

00:02:42.820 tougher. There's crime. There's political violence and threats of violence on the streets in the form

00:02:47.900 of these Gaza protests. And not just protests, they get into crimes as well. And now massive corruption

00:02:54.780 scandals. I think there was three in one day the other day. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Not just

00:02:59.320 wasted. Wasted would be one thing. This is being pocketed by crooks. And in the middle of this,

00:03:05.760 Trudeau announces his biggest censorship bill ever, the Online Harms Act. And I've been paying

00:03:13.020 extremely close attention to that. I've been reading everything I can about it. And it is my

00:03:17.740 observation, and you correct me if you think I'm wrong here, that this Online Harms Act is only being

00:03:24.100 supported by those who are being paid to support it or who will have a direct benefit from it. I have

00:03:29.920 not seen a single organic expression of support by anyone. No one was calling for this. No one is

00:03:38.560 saying, yes, finally, the government can tell me what I can or can't see on the internet. As I've told

00:03:44.540 you before, most of the bill is stuff that's already law. I was just looking at it again today. There's a

00:03:50.180 section of the bill that requires Twitter and Facebook and YouTube to have a block button. Yeah,

00:03:56.640 good idea. They've had it for more than a decade. They're required to be able to flag spam or other

00:04:02.480 content. Yeah, they all have that. Wasn't that weird to have a, I demand that you have a block

00:04:09.400 button. Okay, well, we have one. So your demands are met. I demand we put that into law. Okay, you do

00:04:16.200 you. We'll have the block button whether or not you do it. Like it's just such an awful law. Half of it is

00:04:22.020 just stupid stuff. I mean, if those things weren't done, if there weren't a law against revenge porn, 1.00

00:04:27.620 for example, it would be a good idea to introduce it. But Stephen Harper already did that. The law

00:04:31.500 against revenge pornography, it was enacted in 2014. Like I say, this is only about controlling what you

00:04:37.640 do and say on the internet. No one actually wants that other than the very small clique of people

00:04:42.800 who intend to profit off it. Even the normally somnolent Canadian Civil Liberties Association,

00:04:50.320 the so-called civil liberties group that basically decided to go on holiday during the pandemic,

00:04:56.120 even they mustered themselves to say something against him. I'm curious what the Senate of Canada

00:05:01.460 will do. Of course, it's completely packed by Trudeau's hand-picked appointees, but they are

00:05:07.260 independent only in one way is that they don't have to see collection again. So if they're truly

00:05:12.460 troubled by something, they might actually occasionally speak out. If you remember,

00:05:16.420 that's what caused the end of the Emergencies Act when it looked like Trudeau would not muster the

00:05:21.420 support he needed for it. In the Senate, even liberals were saying, whoa, this guy's out of

00:05:26.740 control. There's a few ex-journalists in the Senate. I wonder what they have to say about things. On both

00:05:33.640 sides, there's Pamela Wallen on the conservative side, and there's Paula Simons on the liberal side and 1.00

00:05:38.160 others too. I wonder what they have to say. I'm sure it'll pass, of course.

00:05:42.460 The liberals have such a huge majority. But things aren't going great for the liberals,

00:05:48.680 is what I'm saying. No one's happy with the economy. Even mainstream journalists are saying

00:05:55.100 immigration's out of control. So the liberals are trying to shore up their base in what could be an

00:06:00.040 election year. I think it's 50-50 that we'll have an election in 2024. So who is this liberal base to

00:06:06.900 be shored up? Obviously, it's Hamas supporters. It's a full-court press for their vote every week. 0.68

00:06:15.560 Seriously, every cabinet minister who's even close to that file is weighing in on a weekly basis.

00:06:21.260 And with good reason. There are now areas in this country where the pro-Hamas vote is significant 0.97

00:06:27.920 enough to make a difference. I don't know if you saw this news. In the United Kingdom yesterday,

00:06:32.700 they had a by-election in the district called Roschdale. And who won that? Not Labour, not the

00:06:39.740 conservatives, but a sort of independent, extreme pro-Hamas candidate, George Galloway. Just a

00:06:48.260 shocking win. Take a listen to him.

00:06:50.640 Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza. You have paid and you will pay a high price for the role that you have 0.95

00:07:05.940 played in enabling, encouraging, and covering for the catastrophe presently going on in

00:07:18.100 occupied Palestine in the Gaza Strip. Oh, by the way, here he is literally hugging

00:07:24.860 a leader of Hamas. So yeah, that's what Trudeau wants. He wants a half a dozen Hamas 0.67

00:07:30.740 ridings in this country. He thinks he can get them. I think he can. But who else is for Trudeau?

00:07:37.340 Not young people, not minorities, other than the small, I don't know if it's small, I wish it was 1.00

00:07:42.900 small, pro-Hamas segment. Not women, not even Atlantic Canadians, not even Quebecers. So who

00:07:47.740 is his base? Well, the answer is so obvious. It's journalists. They're not numerous, but they have

00:07:54.140 megaphones and magnifying glasses. So what they say is echoed many times over. And wouldn't you know

00:08:01.680 it, look at this. Justin Trudeau's taking care of those who he wants to take care of him. Ottawa adds

00:08:08.380 funding to CBC, despite executives' claims it was asked to cut its budget. That's what they think is

00:08:15.160 important. The lie of the executives said, that's not what's important. What's important is that

00:08:19.460 Trudeau is taking care of the journalists, so they take care of him. I'll read a little bit.

00:08:24.120 Documents released Thursday show CBC will get $1.4 billion in 2024-2025. Canada's public broadcaster,

00:08:30.880 it's not the public broadcaster, it's a government broadcaster, there's a difference.

00:08:35.880 Canada's government broadcaster is getting an increase in funding, despite executives insisting

00:08:40.820 that a request to cut CBC Radio Canada's budget for the next fiscal year was one reason they

00:08:45.340 announced layoffs for 10% of staff. Now, I'm sure it's true. I'm sure the Liberals, you know, this is

00:08:52.280 a back and forth. CBC was sort of saying, well, we're going to lay people off if you don't get us,

00:08:56.040 give us more money. It was sort of a negotiation of sorts. But look, of course, Trudeau's going to pay

00:09:02.280 these people off. Let me keep reading. Documents Canadian Heritage released on Thursday show CBC will get a

00:09:07.120 $1.4 billion budget in 2024, up from the $1.3 billion it spent in the previous year. The increase

00:09:13.920 amounts to $96.1 million, which the department says is primarily attributable to salary increases

00:09:19.640 following the ratification of collective agreements. Oh, so they're all getting raises.

00:09:23.940 You're in it. They're all, did you get a raise last year? No. In fact, you had a real reduction in

00:09:28.940 your per capita GDP, and more is coming when they hike the carbon tax on April 1st. Let me keep reading.

00:09:35.140 The broadcaster announced in December it would cut 800 jobs and $40 million from its production

00:09:40.900 budget because of $125 million projected shortfall for the coming fiscal year, which begins on April

00:09:46.680 1st. You know, there's a saying in Washington, D.C. I think it applies here in Canada too,

00:09:51.360 firemen first, which is if you tell a government organization they have to cut money, they're

00:09:56.500 going to obviously cut the one thing people care about the most. We're going to, oh, because the

00:10:00.980 government has reduced our budget, we're going to have to lay off the firemen. Not any of these

00:10:05.040 useless bureaucrats, the firemen. And so I think that's the game CBC's executives were playing. 0.95

00:10:09.600 They were saying, well, Justin Trudeau, if you don't give us more money, we're going to have to

00:10:13.540 lay off hundreds of staff. Uh-oh. Oh, good. You're going to give us more money. You know, Catherine Tate, 0.88

00:10:20.540 the CEO of the CBC, is one of the absolutely worst people in Ottawa. And I think even her own staff 0.96

00:10:26.660 hates her. I'm on TikTok, which is a Chinese app. I shouldn't be on it because it's spying on me.

00:10:31.420 But I get the feeling that the people at the CBC who actually run the TikTok account actually hate

00:10:37.660 Catherine Tate because it's only on TikTok, not on Twitter or the websites, that they have the most

00:10:42.980 unflattering videos of her. I think they actually hate her. Here she is lying a few months ago about 1.00

00:10:50.300 bonuses and saying, no, no, no, we don't have bonuses. It's just performance, May. And no, I'm not going

00:10:54.740 to tell you if I'm going to take a bonus myself. Remember this loathsome woman. 1.00

00:10:58.760 Will you be giving bonuses to executives? 0.76

00:11:00.780 My response to that question is to say that we have a process, a rigorous process. It is not my

00:11:08.920 decision to award performance pay. It is, in fact, the decision of the board of directors.

00:11:15.120 And that decision comes at the end of the fiscal year. We have another two months before we reach

00:11:20.240 the end of the fiscal year. And as I have also said in public, everything is on the table. So we

00:11:26.200 will see at the end of fiscal year, based on results and where we are financially.

00:11:31.240 So as a CEO, you do not make the decision. You have no say in whether or not bonuses are granted.

00:11:38.260 All of the management team measures and analyzes our results on an annual basis, which are published

00:11:46.880 very clearly in our quarterly reports. As the CEO, you have no say in whether or not bonuses are given.

00:11:52.140 All of the management team presents to the board of directors the results of our year against KPIs,

00:11:59.980 key performance indicators that have been tracked throughout the year. And based on the analysis

00:12:05.640 and the results, the board of directors makes its decision. I should just point out, perhaps of

00:12:12.100 interest. For example, last year, we did not meet two of our KPIs and our bonus level was reduced.

00:12:20.100 It's just really weird to me that someone who lives in New York City would be hired to run the

00:12:24.120 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. I know for at least the first part of her tenure, she would 0.75

00:12:28.840 commute back and forth from New York. She'd fly in because she cares about carbon emissions. You see,

00:12:34.580 it's really weird to me that a New Yorker is running the CBC, but it's all about politics.

00:12:39.880 What's incredible to me at all is that such a failure has been allowed to continue because the

00:12:44.980 CBC audience continues to decline. I showed you this the other day. Frankly, I should show it to

00:12:50.340 you every day. According to their own statistics, according to their own annual report, the CBC is

00:12:56.640 losing viewers every year. Canada's population is skyrocketing, mainly because of immigration.

00:13:02.180 But the endemic population, as in the not the immigration population, is at least staying the

00:13:10.360 same. How can you have a country that's never been more populous have declining viewership of the

00:13:16.940 CBC every year? Because people hate it. Imagine giving them a bigger budget. Who gets a raise for

00:13:25.640 failing worse every year? Well, that's the CBC. And by the way, don't believe the $1.4 billion

00:13:31.380 figure. That's just their official budget. They also get special money. So countless sums through,

00:13:39.280 for example, they got special pandemic money. There's all sorts of other money other than

00:13:43.760 their official budget. So it's surely closer to $1.6 billion. Anyways, look at this news just today.

00:13:49.340 So we heard about the CBC yesterday. Here's the news about more payoffs. Support for independent

00:13:55.400 local journalism. Because you deserve to know. This is actually an official government press release.

00:14:00.460 Deserve to know what? What Trudeau wants me to know? The government of Canada remains committed

00:14:07.020 to helping Canadians access news coverage on topics of local interest that affect them. That is not true.

00:14:13.180 Because of Bill C-18, which was going to ring out Facebook for $100 million to give payouts,

00:14:18.940 to Justin Trudeau's favorite journalists, you cannot post a Canadian news story on Facebook.

00:14:23.540 I don't know if you know that. You can't post a rebel news story on Facebook. Justin Trudeau

00:14:28.360 and his atrocious scheme backfired. And so one of the largest sources of Canadian news has been cut

00:14:34.840 off. Thanks, Trudeau. And let me read the press release. Local journalism reflects our day-to-day

00:14:40.720 realities, informs us about issues that might affect us, and through storytelling, unites us as

00:14:47.180 neighbors and Canadians. I don't really think that's what it does, but hey, you do you.

00:14:53.140 The government of Canada remains committed to ensuring that all Canadians can access sustainable

00:14:58.380 and robust independent news. That's a lie. There really isn't any independent news left in Canada

00:15:04.900 because every single newspaper, every TV station, every radio station is heavily regulated by government

00:15:11.180 and is subsidized by government. Literally 99.9%. And that's not an exaggeration. We've shown you

00:15:18.220 before that there are 1,500 different news companies on the toll. No, I didn't even know there were that

00:15:24.700 many news outlets. Let me keep reading. The Honorable Pascal Saint-Ange, Minister of Canadian Heritage,

00:15:31.980 announced $58.8 million in funding to extend the local journalism initiative for the next three years.

00:15:37.480 A pure election year bribe is what this is, folks. That's why they're announcing it now.

00:15:43.600 This is an election year, or next year is for sure, and they need to shore up their base. Let me

00:15:47.580 continue a little more. To protect the independence of the press. Did you know government can protect

00:15:54.100 the independence of the press? I didn't know that. The only way to protect the independence of the

00:15:57.620 press is not to meddle, not to use a carrot or a stick. To protect the independence of the press,

00:16:02.000 the government will continue to work with not-for-profit organizations to administer this funding.

00:16:06.540 These organizations provide the funds that support media organizations, produce local journalism in

00:16:11.920 underserved communities. This just isn't true, and I know this from personal experience. 1.00

00:16:20.020 A few years ago, Justin Trudeau announced something called the QCJO News License, the Qualified

00:16:25.160 Canadian Journalism Organization. You have to apply to the government, and that was the precursor to

00:16:31.680 getting all sorts of benefits for your newspaper or your website. Now, we would never take money

00:16:36.980 from Trudeau, but we wanted the status. We were refused. We were rejected. They said what we do is

00:16:42.300 not news. They said less than 1% of what we do is news, and they denied us. Just like the hand-picked

00:16:48.500 debates commission that Trudeau set up denied us as well. It is a lie to say that this is independent,

00:16:54.000 and it is a lie to say that this is being done at arm's length from government. But look,

00:16:57.520 I've got to tell you this, folks. Bribing journalists like this, it's not going to save

00:17:03.920 them. In fact, it's going to drag the media down with them, because every day that the

00:17:10.620 journalists of this country mimic the liberals of this country, they absorb the hatred that's

00:17:16.420 directed at the liberals. I'd like to see polling for journalists the same way I see polling

00:17:21.080 for politicians. I think it's not going to save either the liberals or the newspapers,

00:17:27.120 but it will explain a lot of the editorial decisions that you see by the regime media

00:17:32.940 this year. Stay with us for more.

00:17:35.600 You know, I love Saskatchewan. It's not the flashiest province, and they sort of like it

00:17:51.480 that way. But their premier, Scott Moe, he's tough. He looks just like a folksy neighbor on

00:17:57.440 the outside. You never see him coming, though. Bam! Let me show you a tweet that he tweeted

00:18:01.860 the other day. He was one of his cabinet ministers standing outside Parliament Hill with a bit

00:18:07.040 of an announcement, Saskatchewan-style. Take a look at this.

00:18:10.020 I'm here in Ottawa, where 40 years ago, Pierre Trudeau took a walk in the snow and decided

00:18:14.380 to resign as prime minister. Today, I took a walk in the rain and made an important decision

00:18:18.800 about carbon tax. After the cold start, we're all well aware that it still went to Saskatchewan.

00:18:25.880 Justin Trudeau continues to lead Saskatchewan people out in the cold.

00:18:28.920 Last October, the Liberal NDP government here in Ottawa further divided Canadians by exempting

00:18:34.420 home heating oil from their unfair and unaffordable carbon tax.

00:18:38.960 This moat provided affordability relief for people in Atlantic Canada, where the largest

00:18:43.980 concentration of homes heated with oil are looking. But it gave a cold shoulder to Saskatchewan

00:18:48.960 people, predominantly heat or coal, natural gas or electricity. When asked what it would

00:18:54.200 take to extend similar affordability relief to families in Western Canada, a Liberal minister

00:18:59.440 suggested that we should elect more lividers. That's no way to run it, but our government 1.00

00:19:04.280 responded immediately and sent a clear message to the federal government that we could not

00:19:10.000 accept this unfair. That's why Premier Stotlow announced that Saskatchewan would stop collecting

00:19:17.560 the carbon tax on residential and to give Saskatchewan families the same affordability relief that

00:19:23.120 Trudeau is giving to Atlantic Canada. On January 1st, we followed through on that.

00:19:29.720 This has already saved Saskatchewan families a lot of money through January and 5th, and

00:19:35.400 will save the average outfall above $400 this year. In addition to affordability, this is

00:19:42.060 also about fairness, and our government refusing to allow Trudeau to treat Saskatchewan people

00:19:47.620 like second-class citizens. The carbon tax has always been unaffordable. But up until now, 1.00

00:19:54.980 it may have been like fair. The heating oil exemption for Atlantic Canada changed that,

00:20:00.860 and our government simply is not going to accept this unfair treatment of Saskatchewan families by Trudeau.

00:20:07.740 Well, that's Dustin Duncan, the Sask Energy Minister. Now Saskatchewan, for historical reasons,

00:20:14.820 cultural reasons, still has some publicly owned utilities, including the energy company. And that

00:20:20.880 is the mechanism by which Scott Moe, the Premier, and Dustin Duncan, the Cabinet Minister there, are able

00:20:26.660 to say, you know what? We control that energy operator, and we are not going to be tax collectors for

00:20:36.820 Justin Trudeau. We're just simply not going to do it, and we're allowed to make that political decision

00:20:41.020 as the political masters of the public utility. That wouldn't be possible in provinces where it's a

00:20:48.260 private sector company that would pretty much have to obey the feds. The feds cannot make the province

00:20:53.700 a tax collector for them. And if you doubt me, ask Quebec, which for jurisdictional reasons and reasons

00:20:59.420 of cultural pride and sovereignty association, they have control over a lot of their own tax collection

00:21:05.680 and pensions and Quebec police. I like that. And it reminds me of the lie that Environment Minister

00:21:13.620 Stephen Gilboa told my colleague David Menzies the other day. I don't know if you saw this. I want to

00:21:18.760 play it for you in case you haven't. My buddy David, who normally gets arrested and roughed up by

00:21:24.840 liberal bodyguards, he encountered Stephen Gilboa, the Environment Minister on the street the other day,

00:21:31.260 and I was shocked they didn't try and arrest him. They didn't assault him. I think they realized we're

00:21:37.260 going to sue the living daylights out of them. So David walked and talked with Stephen Gilboa for a

00:21:42.140 couple of minutes down the street, and David put to Gilboa that very question. Why are you only

00:21:48.160 taxing Westerners? Why did you give an Atlantic exemption? I want to show you this video for the

00:21:53.340 substance of it, but also to show you that I think the liberals are sick of being sued and pummeled by us.

00:21:59.360 We have more news on that file to come. But look at this, Stephen Gilboa actually answering some

00:22:03.440 questions. He's lying, but at least he's being a grown-up about it, a grown-up liar. Take a look. 0.99

00:22:08.020 Mr. Gilboa, according to this press conference, it looks like this program is available for residents

00:22:15.540 of the city of Peterborough. In that regard, it's reminiscent of the announcement last fall that

00:22:21.700 only Atlantic Canadians would receive relief from the federal fuel charge if they heat their homes

00:22:29.960 with heating oil. Given that your Prime Minister once said, a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,

00:22:37.880 why is it that only some Canadians qualify for relief and others do not?

00:22:43.820 Actually, the premise of your question is wrong. The home-eating oil rebate applies to Canadians

00:22:50.900 who use heating oil all across the country. And I'll give you an example. There are more people

00:22:54.560 who heat their homes with oil in Quebec than in all of Atlantic Canada. So it's not a project,

00:22:59.960 it's not a program that's specific to Atlantic Canadians. What we're announcing today is a partnership

00:23:05.040 with the city of Peterborough, but we're announcing similar partnerships. And we've heard from the Canadian

00:23:10.700 Federation of Municipalities that 1 in 2100 similar programs have been funded through the Green

00:23:17.220 Municipal Funds. And we're hoping to fund even more with those type of announcements. Thank you.

00:23:22.400 Of course, it's technically true, but that's actually a substantive lie. Anyone with home heating oil is

00:23:29.760 exempted. But of course, the vast majority of home heating oil users in this country are in the

00:23:33.840 Atlantic provinces, aka liberal writings. All of this is a preamble to introduce one of our most

00:23:40.340 popular guests on the Ezra Levin Show. He's an advocate for taxpayers. And these days, we need

00:23:46.220 all we can get. Unfortunately, a lot of people out there are co-opted because they take government

00:23:50.620 grants, not our next friend. The Taxpayers Federation for a Generation has eschewed government funding,

00:23:56.960 which is why they're allowed to be so independent and forceful. Let me introduce to you my friend,

00:24:02.080 Franco Teresano. You know what? There was a lot of preamble, a lot of intro. We played two videos

00:24:07.140 before getting to you, but you've got the news we really wanted you to come on about.

00:24:12.140 They're raising the carbon tax on April Fool's Day, aren't they?

00:24:15.700 Oh, they sure are. Hey, folks, I mean, people are struggling with just the price of necessities,

00:24:21.260 right? Whether it's just hamburger meat at the grocery store or trying to fuel up your car on the

00:24:24.940 way to work or staying warm during the winter months. Well, the Trudeau government seems either

00:24:30.060 not to know the struggles Canadians are going through or just doesn't care. Because on April 1,

00:24:34.820 the joke's on you, dear taxpayer, the government is raising the carbon tax again. And let's just go

00:24:41.100 back to what the government of Saskatchewan is doing. Hey, can I just say it's great to see a

00:24:45.800 premier coming off the bench and actually trying to stick up for their taxpayers there in Saskatchewan.

00:24:51.540 You know, I think it's very clear that Scott Moe, the premier of Saskatchewan, his heart

00:24:55.320 is in the right place and Trudeau is in the wrong. I mean, what did Trudeau think was going to happen

00:25:02.120 when he did a pure political ploy to take the carbon tax off of furnace oil, which predominantly

00:25:07.860 helps Atlantic Canadians, where they were falling in the polls, but leaving 97% of Canadian families

00:25:14.620 out in the cold and paying the carbon tax on their home heating bill. So folks, look, Saskatchewan

00:25:20.800 premier Scott Moe is pushing back. And the thing that you all need to know is that again, on April 1,

00:25:25.960 the Trudeau government is going to be cranking up the carbon tax once again.

00:25:29.820 Hmm. Hey, I know that there's something else that goes up every year, and I think it's also

00:25:34.460 an April Fool's Day. And you correct me, Franco, I know this is your area of expertise. So if I've

00:25:38.740 got it wrong, you got to let me know. Is it also true that every April 1, the members of parliament

00:25:45.580 and the senators give themselves an automatic raise too? Is that true?

00:25:49.120 Oh, it sure is, right? So on the same day that they take more money from your wallet,

00:25:55.560 they're stuffing more money into their own wallet, right? So a lockdown, sky high inflation,

00:26:02.460 people losing their job, people losing their businesses, none of that stopped our so-called

00:26:07.920 representatives in Ottawa. They're supposed to represent us, but they're not representing us

00:26:12.540 very well on this issue, are they? None of that stopped members of parliament for rubber stamping

00:26:17.420 their pay raises year after year after year. And again, on April 1, they're about to give themselves

00:26:22.940 another raise. This year's pay raise will range from an extra $8,100 for a backbench member of

00:26:30.200 parliament, all the way up to an extra $16,200 for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Okay, so stay with me

00:26:36.500 here for another second, folks. After this raise goes through, a backbencher, along with collecting

00:26:42.320 dust, will be collecting a salary north of $200,000, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's new salary

00:26:49.220 will be about $405,000 smackers. There is no job in the private sector that he could possibly get on

00:26:58.380 the merits that would pay him more than $100,000. The man has no tangible skills. I mean, the money is

00:27:06.140 just the icing on the cake for him. He's atrocious in every way. But the idea that he's getting a raise 0.86

00:27:12.540 after his misconduct, his incompetence, his failure, is shocking to me. It's just so, I mean, there's 365 days

00:27:19.960 a year. It's a leap year. So this year, there's 366 days in the year. The odds that they chose April Fool's Day

00:27:29.000 for both the carbon tax hike and the pay raise, I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I think 0.97

00:27:35.300 they think we're fools. I think putting it on that day is their way of saying you're fools. And 0.99

00:27:40.820 frankly, this applies to the opposition MPs too, because they're all getting the pay raise. Franco,

00:27:46.380 are you aware of any conservative MP or new Democrat MP or block MP who is saying, no, I'm not going to

00:27:54.120 take it and I'm going to prove I'm not going to take it? Some of them sort of mumble something once a

00:27:58.460 year, but I've never seen proof that they're not all in on it. So there are some things they're all

00:28:03.060 colluding against the taxpayer. Do you have any evidence to the contrary? No, that's a great point

00:28:08.740 here. Let me just step back one second though, and I'll get right into that. I promise. Okay.

00:28:12.220 But one thing I have to show you folks is that since the beginning of 2020, okay, this will be their

00:28:17.900 fifth pay raise since the beginning of 2020. So lockdowns, business losses, job losses, sky high

00:28:24.440 inflation, raise every single year. Now to the point, carbon tax up, MP pay up, you pay higher taxes,

00:28:32.120 they take higher pay. Do you see how it works folks? And I'm glad you brought up that other

00:28:37.220 question about the opposition, right? Because the liberals or the government could stop the pay

00:28:42.420 raise with this simple piece of legislation, just like it was stopped in 2010 to 2013, following the

00:28:48.360 08-09 recession. So it can be done and it should be done. Now to the main question, that's a great

00:28:54.760 one. And I haven't seen a single member of parliament truly attack the member of parliament pay

00:29:03.100 raise. While the liberals could stop it tomorrow, all that would really need to happen is for one

00:29:07.820 opposition party to truly break ranks with the rest of the parties in the house of commons,

00:29:12.620 to launch a campaign against it, to put in a private member's bill, to take the social media

00:29:17.780 and to make a real stink about this. So my message to any member of parliament who's watching this show

00:29:23.680 and who wants to be a true taxpayer champion, well, if you really want to be a taxpayer champion,

00:29:29.880 you've got to oppose the carbon tax hike and you've got to oppose the MP pay raise.

00:29:34.800 Yeah. Hey, I want to talk to you about one more thing. A few weeks ago now, it's about a week

00:29:39.280 old now. There was a little startup airline, about two years old in Canada called Lynx,

00:29:45.240 L-Y-N-X, like the big cat. And I flew on it a couple of times. It's not as luxurious as let's

00:29:52.800 say an Air Canada seat or even WestJet. It was a real economy, ultra low cost carriers, what they

00:29:58.860 called themselves. And it was cheap. It was sort of the people's airplane. It was just for students

00:30:04.300 and tourists and, and small business people and people who really couldn't afford to fly at regular

00:30:09.860 prices. So this was, I mean, they have these in Europe, more Ryanair and EasyJet and things like

00:30:14.720 that. But this was a Canadian version and they flew for two years and they had about 20 cities they went

00:30:20.320 to. And I guess it's about a week ago now, a little more, they announced that they're shutting down

00:30:27.000 and they listed six reasons, Franco. And I don't know if you read them. Almost all of them had to do with

00:30:32.500 the federal government. They talked about regulation. They talked about inflation. They

00:30:36.500 talked about the eroding currency because their costs are in U.S. dollars leasing those jets.

00:30:42.620 They talked about carbon taxes. They talked about, you know, fuel taxes. And I think six out of six

00:30:49.220 or five out of six reasons they said they were going out of business had to do with this government's

00:30:54.800 misconduct. And I thought to myself, this is terrible. It's terrible for the staff and owners of Lynx.

00:31:02.080 It's terrible for the Canadian consumer who now has less choice and more cost.

00:31:08.180 But, Franco, that's what I think. I think in the liberal government,

00:31:12.180 this is a success. Because remember the whole theory behind the carbon tax.

00:31:18.700 Punish polluters. That's what they say. Punish behaviors that emit more. So by driving Lynx out of

00:31:26.100 business, they're achieving their climate goals by getting people to fly less. And if they cause

00:31:32.640 people to give up their cars, you and I would call that a disaster. They would call it a success.

00:31:37.920 The whole point of the carbon tax, this is what they say, is to change your behavior, to nudge people

00:31:44.700 to doing things that involve less energy. Killing Lynx looks awful to you and me, but to them it's a

00:31:50.360 success. Isn't that the whole point of the carbon tax? So, Ezra, I hadn't heard about that, but let me

00:31:56.640 just make a point about the broader economy that is, in essence, a similar issue, okay? So these

00:32:03.960 regulations, these taxes, when the federal government is increasing costs for businesses through the

00:32:10.280 regulatory environment, through higher taxes, through the money printing, you know who that

00:32:15.340 benefits? That benefits the bigger companies that are better able to deal with the higher cost from

00:32:22.220 taxation and regulation and pushes the smaller companies out of the market, okay? So that helps

00:32:28.220 quasi-monopolize industries to the benefit of the big corporations, and that hurts the smaller businesses

00:32:35.640 who are trying to break into the market or who are just trying to compete, and it also hurts the

00:32:40.240 consumer, right? So not only are you paying the direct price of these taxes and regulations that

00:32:46.040 directly drive up the price of goods, but you also suffer through the regulation that forces out the

00:32:52.640 smaller companies because the monopolization or the quasi-monopolization of industries drives up costs

00:32:59.200 for consumers that way. And while I don't know the specifics of what you brought up, I can tell you that

00:33:05.340 that is a huge issue across Canada, including multiple different sectors, where you have the

00:33:10.780 government increasing regulatory costs, increasing tax costs that drives out the smaller and medium-sized

00:33:17.500 businesses, and it makes life in Canada more expensive by reducing competition.

00:33:22.820 Yeah. I think these are troubling times. Link's going out of business. I see other companies,

00:33:27.900 if I'm not mistaken, I think Lush Cosmetics announced it's shutting down 33 locations. There's

00:33:33.140 announcements of companies shutting down all the time. You know, sometimes economists point to GDP,

00:33:39.780 gross domestic product, and say, well, it's growing. No, it's only growing because of massive immigration

00:33:44.620 on a per capita basis. Canadians are poorer now than we were 10 years ago, 10 years of moving backwards

00:33:52.380 in terms of prosperity. Canadian provinces are now poorer on a per capita basis than even states like

00:34:00.260 Alabama, who, you know, who I think Canadians would probably in a snobby way say those, those yokels, 0.98

00:34:05.780 those poor southerners. Yeah, they're richer than us. The average Canadian is poorer than the average U.S.

00:34:13.060 black person. And blacks are, you know, underdeveloped minority, economically challenged. There's a lot of 1.00

00:34:18.980 systemic problems there and other problems. Canadians are even poorer still. We think we are a world-leading

00:34:28.640 country, but we are falling behind in so many ways, Franco, and it's heartbreaking. And I think people

00:34:34.600 feel it, even if it's not reflected in the official media. Last word to you.

00:34:39.560 Well, I just want to end on the MP pay raise, okay? Because, Ezra, this thing just, it drives me nuts.

00:34:45.280 I get, there's so many things to be mad about with this federal government and the way it wastes our money

00:34:49.500 and overtaxes us Canadians. But this MP pay raise drives me completely nuts. It makes me sick to my stomach

00:34:56.580 to think of some of my family members working so hard for the money they earn and the taxes they pay

00:35:01.900 and for the federal government to be making life harder for them and for so many Canadians with higher

00:35:07.620 taxes, with the money printing, with the massive deficits, making it harder for average Canadians

00:35:13.360 and then turning around and giving themselves raises. It absolutely makes me sick to my stomach. So,

00:35:18.940 folks, if there is one issue that you can oppose in the next coming weeks,

00:35:23.420 I would say probably oppose the carbon tax, but a close second

00:35:27.080 is that MP pay raise. It drives me nuts. And I hope, I hope more Canadians can take action.

00:35:34.180 Well, you and I are both nonpartisan and someone might joke and say, come on,

00:35:38.800 you're not nonpartisan. No, I am nonpartisan. I haven't been a member of a political party in 20

00:35:43.260 years. I criticize conservatives even harder than I criticize liberals when they, when they drop

00:35:48.540 conservative values. And I think, Franco, you guys are the same way, which is why people trust you.

00:35:52.660 Um, but I, I think that Canadians are waking up every demographic, every region, every age group,

00:36:00.620 I think is starting to say we are on the wrong path. And so this has been a very depressing

00:36:05.340 conversation, but I do want, I do believe that change is coming and I think it's coming in the

00:36:11.460 ballot box. And I think that Canada is not done yet. We will have better days ahead.

00:36:17.460 So these are dark times now economically and in other ways, but I think we'll get through it.

00:36:23.600 Franco, great to see you. Keep up the good work over the Taxpayers Federation.

00:36:27.800 Thanks for having me on, Ezra. Appreciate it.

00:36:29.640 It's our pleasure. There you have it. Franco Teresano.

00:36:31.840 He's the boss of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. Stay with us. More ahead.

00:36:36.000 Hey, welcome back. Your viewer mailed to me. Let freedom reign. Honk says, I just read the email

00:36:53.380 I received from CJ, that's the Jewish association, asking for my support and to let my MP know. I'm

00:36:59.900 glad I came upon this video because I was trying to figure out why they would ask for this and to

00:37:04.380 support this criminal government. Thanks, Ezra. Yeah, look, CJ, I mean, I think I've told you

00:37:09.060 this before. I was on a precursor organization to CJ about 15 years ago. And back then they were

00:37:15.840 trying to have some conservative point of view because they wanted to get along with Stephen

00:37:18.780 Harper. They've abandoned that altogether now, that's for sure. Yeah, they've been paid a quarter

00:37:24.920 million dollars by Trudeau. But I think that they're just, it's not even the money. I think

00:37:29.540 you just think like liberals. They are based on, you know, Montreal liberal Jewish money,

00:37:36.160 the Bronfman family, which typically is liberal. And they do some good work. They do. I mean,

00:37:42.640 I used to be on their board a decade ago or more, more than a decade ago now. But signing

00:37:49.800 on to the most odious censorship bill in Canadian history is a terrible idea by its own measure,

00:37:56.740 but it is an even worse look for a Jewish organization to say, yeah, we want a piece 0.99

00:38:02.920 of this censorship action. I said in my monologue today, I haven't seen any organic expressions of

00:38:08.000 support for this atrocious bill. None. The only people who have are those being paid off. I think

00:38:13.060 the official Jews shot themselves in the foot and offended countless supporters and frankly offended 0.94

00:38:18.600 a lot of Jews who said, I'm not for censorship. Chemistry of questionable says, of course they did. 0.99

00:38:25.520 Have you seen the censorship laws they forced through in Europe? You can't disagree with the

00:38:29.300 current opinions of past events. I don't know exactly what you mean by that, but yeah,

00:38:33.600 I think that censorship is on the rise around the world. Ireland, it's terrifying, for example.

00:38:38.860 I think New Zealand has pulled back from the worst of Jacinda Ardern's ideas. They had an election.

00:38:44.200 Hopefully we'll get rid of Trudeau too.

00:38:47.580 Gordtron says, Canada needs an Orwell bill that if it's in 1994 or can be argued to be along the same

00:38:53.520 dystopian line that it is against the national interest. Canada could be the center of the next

00:38:57.400 renaissance, but it needs a way from influencing products and markets. Well, remember when I,

00:39:04.680 were you watching the other day when I read from our republished version of 1984, that section where

00:39:10.640 Winston Smith, the hero in 1984, is being tortured and his torturers holds up the fingers and says,

00:39:15.680 how many fingers? How many fingers, Winston? And it's obviously four. And Winston wanted to say

00:39:21.480 four, but the torturer made him say three or five or whatever. And when Winston said, fine,

00:39:27.060 fine, it's five. No, you have to believe it. I think so much of politics these days is psychological

00:39:32.980 manipulation and gaslighting and making you say things that you know are false. I think that's

00:39:40.340 what transgenderism is. You see it's a man, you know it's a man, you know it's insane for them to go 1.00

00:39:46.580 in a girl's change room, but they force you to do it. I, um, it's absolutely crazy to me. And that's

00:39:54.340 just one aspect of the total gaslighting. Trudeau saying, I'm for civil liberties while he brings in

00:40:00.000 the censorship law. Trudeau saying, I'm against division when he pitted vaccinated against

00:40:04.460 unvaccinated. It really is an info war. There's a battle on for your mind, as Alex Jones would say.

00:40:11.060 Well, that's our show for today. Thanks for watching today and all week. Until next time,

00:40:14.700 on behalf of all of us here at Rubber World headquarters, to you at home, good night

00:40:17.720 and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - March 02, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Canadians are abandoning the Liberals, so Trudeau pays off his base： journalists

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript