Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Is this sky-high inflation the result of bumbling politicians or conniving ones？

00:00:00.200 Oh hey Rebels, what's going on? I bet right now you're shocked to hear my voice. I bet

00:00:06.040 you were expecting Ezra Levant's melodious vocal stylings right now, but unfortunately

00:00:10.320 it's me, Sheila Gunn-Reed, and I'm filling in for Ezra Levant tonight. Tonight we're

00:00:16.300 talking about whether or not the sky-high inflation, the worst in 40 years, what the

00:00:22.040 Bank of Canada's governor describes as painful, is it by design or by accident?

00:00:30.000 I'll lay out the case, you be the judge, and I'll show you exactly why the mainstream

00:00:34.020 media doesn't seem to care anyway. And then we're talking to Conservative Party

00:00:37.980 leadership hopeful Roman Babber about his commitment to Canada. It's his new policy

00:00:44.460 document. We walk all the way through it or as much as we have time for. And then of

00:00:49.880 course, naturally, we get to your letters to Ezra. Now, you're listening to the audio

00:00:55.840 version of this show, but to get ad-free and early the video version of this show,

00:01:02.820 let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's what we call our premium

00:01:08.360 long-form paywalled shows here on Rebel News. You get access to Ezra's nightly fully produced

00:01:14.560 Ezra Levant show, David Menzies' fun Friday night show Rebel Roundup, my Wednesday show with

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00:01:35.980 All of that. And boy, it sounds like a lot. It's only eight bucks a month. Just go to

00:01:40.120 rebelnewsplus.com to become a member today. And now please enjoy this free audio-only version

00:01:46.700 of Ezra's show. Tonight, are sky-high inflation rates simply an accident caused by idiotic politicians 1.00

00:02:09.600 or are they something more? Something sinister and by design? Then, Conservative Party leadership 1.00

00:02:16.560 hopeful Roman Babber joins us to discuss his commitment to Canadians. It's July 21st, 2022.

00:02:24.400 I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed, but you're watching The Ezra Levant Show.

00:02:27.940 You're fighting for freedom! Shame on you, you censorious bug! 0.90

00:02:39.600 I want to show you this clip from the governor of the Bank of Canada, a guy named Tiff Macklin. It

00:02:49.900 comes on the back of a Statistics Canada report from just Wednesday that said Canada's annual

00:02:55.280 inflation rate has crept up over 8% from 7.7% in May. It's the largest yearly change in about

00:03:01.060 four decades. Anyway, here's the clip.

00:03:03.600 There's no way around it. 8.1% inflation is painfully high. We do expect, we know gasoline

00:03:11.560 prices came down in July, so a month from now when StatsCan publishes July inflation,

00:03:16.980 it probably will come down a bit. But look, unfortunately, inflation is probably going to

00:03:22.320 start with a seven for the rest of the year. It is going to be painfully high.

00:03:26.780 When a liberal appointee is saying that things are painful and bad, trust me, it's painful and bad and

00:03:34.000 probably worse. But painfully high? That's the plan if you listen to Chrystia Freeland,

00:03:38.900 our deputy prime minister, our finance minister, and the woman whose financial prowess was just so

00:03:44.120 stedler that she ran an entire news division of Reuters right into the dirt. Anyway, this painful

00:03:50.700 inflation that's biting into your family's savings as you try to cover the cost of essentials at the

00:03:55.520 grocery store and fuel in the minivan. Well, it's what Freeland wants. Take a listen.

00:04:00.980 From my perspective, this price increase in fuel costs is a reminder of why climate action is so

00:04:13.620 important and why as a country, we have to work even harder and move even faster towards a green

00:04:23.680 economy. It's an insurance policy against higher energy prices. Your suffering is her opportunity.

00:04:31.920 So just shut up and keep suffering. She makes no bones about it. She's actually proud of it. Look at 0.99

00:04:36.980 this clip. Real proof point for me that Canada can, Canada will seize the opportunities in the green

00:04:46.720 transition. And so much of that seizing of opportunities is going to happen here in Calgary,

00:04:52.480 is going to happen here in Alberta. When I tabled the budget last week, one of the things that I

00:05:00.080 emphasized was that the green transition is here. The world economy, our trading partners, they have

00:05:09.180 decided that their economies are going to go green. And this is a huge, huge transformation. It is the

00:05:18.280 biggest transformation of the global economy since the industrial revolution itself.

00:05:27.820 We have a unique opportunity here in Canada and here in Alberta to be leaders in that green transition.

00:05:38.320 And I've seen the evidence just in the past hour here today.

00:05:42.440 Now, it's not just government printing money like it's going out of style and spending like there's

00:05:48.420 no tomorrow driving up inflation rates. It's so much more. It's supply issues on the housing market.

00:05:56.240 The housing market's being pressured by inflated immigration targets that are now making it hard for

00:06:01.180 young Canadians to get into their first homes. It's a carbon tax and then a hike on the carbon tax on top 0.85

00:06:07.480 of that, making the cost of groceries and food and basically everything that travels by a truck or a

00:06:12.420 train or a plane even more expensive to the consumer. That same tax is also crushing the family trying to

00:06:18.640 fill up their car on the way to soccer practice these days. And if all that, all of that were not

00:06:23.740 enough, there's liberal price fixing on essential foodstuffs that will ultimately hurt the poor the most.

00:06:29.840 Let's look at this from Black Locks just today. Food prices were up 9% compared to the same time last

00:06:37.560 year. And yet a federal agency, the Canadian Dairy Commission, last February 1st raised wholesale milk

00:06:43.380 prices by 8.4%. The wholesale cost of butter went up 12.5%. The commission stockpiled butter and cheese

00:06:50.200 to maintain prices. The Agriculture Minister's office in a separate briefing note titled The Milk Price

00:06:56.740 Increase for Producers Acknowledged Federal Regulators Approved Higher Costs Despite the Worst Inflation

00:07:03.140 in 39 Years. They don't care. They just don't care. They've done this to you and they're hell bent on

00:07:11.540 making it worse because who needs cheese when you can, I guess, just eat the bugs. And the media,

00:07:17.460 they don't seem to care either. They're supposed to hold truth to power. But if you can't make ends meet,

00:07:23.140 well, here's someone who works for the CBC, their personal finance expert, in fact, telling you what

00:07:28.200 to do. Take a listen.

00:07:30.140 Shelter and hydro in combination should be about 30% of your income. And that is much higher

00:07:36.700 right now, especially in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, where rents are much higher.

00:07:42.720 One way that you can mitigate that is by speaking to your employer about getting a raise. With inflation,

00:07:49.260 the way that it is going, it is completely reasonable right now, especially in this tight

00:07:53.680 labour market, to go to your employer and say, I need you to bump my wage because it's becoming

00:07:59.040 impossible for me to still survive in the city that I was hired in. And if that doesn't work,

00:08:04.780 looking for another job, especially if you've got skills that are in demand, will often give you the

00:08:09.200 bump that you need in order to afford that apartment and that rent that goes with it.

00:08:13.140 I can hear a whole bunch of people at home going, so my boss will say no.

00:08:18.700 Yeah, and that's a fair point.

00:08:20.940 Guys, it's obviously just that simple. Just get a better job, ask for a raise. And frankly,

00:08:26.020 it's no wonder these people who exist in the subsidised, insulated bubble of the CBC think

00:08:30.880 this way. In April, we reported that the CBC was on track to pay out $12 million in pay raises

00:08:36.440 over the course of 2022. But Black Locks again, today they have a higher number, 0.87

00:08:41.200 $30 million in pay raises at the CBC. So yeah, I guess if you can't make ends meet,

00:08:47.220 you can just ask for a raise that you don't deserve if you work at the CBC. And you'll

00:08:51.760 probably get it. But in the real world, for the people who pay those inflated salaries at the CBC,

00:08:57.440 well, it just doesn't work that way, sister. After the break, someone who is trying to inject some

00:09:03.060 reality into not just the financial situation in Canada, but also the democratic situation in Canada

00:09:08.660 joins me. Conservative Party of Canada, leadership hopeful, Roman Babber joins me after the break

00:09:15.700 to explain his major campaign policy announcements today. Stay with us.

00:09:20.780 Welcome back, everybody. One of the great things about Patrick Brown no longer being in the race to

00:09:38.720 replace Aaron O'Toole as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is that the other

00:09:43.380 more serious and less scandal-plagued candidates have a chance now to advance great policy ideas,

00:09:54.620 things that matter to Conservatives and ultimately matter to Canadians without being overshadowed by

00:09:59.920 Patrick Brown and his many, many scandals. And one of those candidates who is advancing some,

00:10:07.160 I think, fantastic policy ideas is Roman Babber. He was, as you know, removed as a member of the

00:10:15.740 Ontario PCs for his principled stance against lockdowns and COVID restrictions. And he joins me

00:10:21.880 right now because he is releasing his commitment to Canada and he's going to walk us through it.

00:10:28.060 Roman, thanks for joining us on the show. Why don't you explain to us why you felt the need to,

00:10:34.860 I guess, put pen to paper and document your commitment to Canada?

00:10:42.280 Look, I've enjoyed this race. And I also think that it's been a very positive race in that it's

00:10:49.360 been a race of ideas. Contrary to the traditional allegation that Conservatives are afraid to put forth

00:10:55.240 a bold and principled stance during leadership races, I wanted to spark a conversation on some

00:11:01.700 things that really matter to Canadians. And some of those, I think, are long overdue. I'm running

00:11:08.580 against socialism in Canada. That's why I think it's appropriate to suggest that we should end

00:11:14.700 equalization payments instead of continuing this provincial interdependency. We should probably phase

00:11:22.200 out supply management instead of telling farmers how much dairy they can produce. And we need to have

00:11:28.200 the courage to stand up for all Canadians and defend them against Bill 21 and Bill 96 in Quebec,

00:11:35.080 and so on and so forth. I think that we should make this race about the conscience and the future 1.00

00:11:40.760 of the Conservative Party. And that means not being afraid to put forth bold and courageous ideas.

00:11:46.360 Now, you've got a sort of a four-point plan of your commitment to Canada. And the first one is defend

00:11:52.360 Canada's democracy. And, you know, not only in there do you talk about decentralizing powers away from the

00:11:59.900 Prime Minister's office, and I suppose that goes back to giving power to the MPs to exercise matters of

00:12:07.180 conscience without being booted from caucus. But also, I suppose that involves giving powers back to

00:12:15.260 the provinces, too, to make decisions without meddling from the Prime Minister's office.

00:12:21.740 Absolutely. So, look, the principal reason why I'm in this race is because I think we're watching an 0.76

00:12:27.660 unprecedented erosion of Canada's democracy. And as someone with a unique perspective on how

00:12:32.940 precious and fragile our democracy is, I think it's incumbent on us to stand up for our country and

00:12:40.340 all Canadians. So, first, I will end this 21st century segregation that we've been seeing for

00:12:45.620 the last couple of years. I'll pass federal legislation to ban all passports and mandates 1.00

00:12:49.880 and medical discrimination. I'll restore the freedom of speech. That's the most important thing

00:12:53.940 we can do because through speech, we protect all other rights. So, I'll repeal the liberal censorship

00:12:58.280 laws. I'll defend regulated professionals. I'll speak to the social media giants.

00:13:02.940 Through the Bureau of Competition and ensure that Canadians are not censored online. And most

00:13:06.860 importantly, we have to ensure free and independent media. And that means end all media dependency

00:13:12.700 on government. But at the same time, you can't restore democracy in Canada without restoring

00:13:16.940 democracy in the Conservative Party of Canada. So, restore parliamentary democracy by decentralizing

00:13:21.820 power away from the PMO, allow free votes on matters of conscience, and encourage MPs to express

00:13:26.380 their views without fear of reprisal.

00:13:30.300 You know, I think that's a really great thing that you're talking about, that free speech is,

00:13:36.320 you know, it's the thing by which we argue about all the other rights. And, you know, I was talking

00:13:42.460 to Ezra the other day about one of the great things about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is that he is

00:13:48.060 unafraid to use all the levers of power at his disposal to advance his agenda. And we see the left do this

00:13:54.620 all the time. Justin Trudeau does it all the time. It's how he banned 1500 popular models of Canadian

00:14:00.420 firearms. He just did it. Now, I disagree with his agenda, but he's using all the levers of power to

00:14:06.460 advance it. And it's nice to see a Conservative talking about doing the same, saying, you know what,

00:14:11.740 I'm going to advance and pass this legislation, I'm going to get it done, instead of Conservatives

00:14:17.320 being afraid to advance ideas. We always talked about, you know, the left talked about Harper's

00:14:24.460 hidden agenda. 10 years later, 15 years later, I've never seen it. We're still looking for it.

00:14:31.360 It was so slow and hidden that nobody ever found it. And the left is always up front, at least we,

00:14:36.260 we may disagree with them, but we know what we're getting. And it's nice to see a Conservative

00:14:40.920 like yourself talking about it. One of the things you, I think is a new policy to you, is the repeal

00:14:50.820 of supply management. Now, as a farmer, I've got a unique perspective on this. I'm not a supply managed

00:14:56.520 farmer. So I don't, I'm not, I'm not pro supply management. If I can make it, they can make it.

00:15:02.900 But I think this is a new policy for you, or at least I've never seen you talking about it.

00:15:08.940 Um, so why is, why now, why are you talking about this? Why is this a, a Roman babber issue now? 0.98

00:15:16.680 It's just to your earlier comment, very quickly, we do not need to be afraid of, of presenting a

00:15:23.420 serious, uh, proposal and agenda before Canadians. Uh, I think that that in fact is what lost us the

00:15:31.040 prior two elections is that we're afraid to be ourselves or we run to the right during leadership.

00:15:36.320 And then we pivot to the left, uh, during the general election that is, uh, inconsistent with

00:15:41.660 our brand. We need to ensure that the Conservative party stands on principles and, and folks might

00:15:46.040 disagree with me, uh, but that's okay. That's democracy. But at the very least, you will always

00:15:50.340 know where I stand. Like I said, at the outside of the interview, I'm running against socialism

00:15:55.200 in Canada. And that means that, uh, I do not believe that we should have central planning

00:15:59.880 of the economy. And I can't imagine a more quintessential policy that plans the economy

00:16:04.720 centrally than supply management, whereby effectively, uh, a Politburo of sorts, uh,

00:16:11.520 the Dairy Council of Canada, uh, regulates how much dairy products we may produce every year.

00:16:17.840 I find that terrible for the consumer, uh, of course, for prices, especially when prices

00:16:23.560 are, um, are skyrocketing in the grocery stores, we are spilling out thousands of, uh, gallons

00:16:30.660 of milk, uh, when we need to encourage increasing supply, not decreasing, especially given that, uh,

00:16:39.500 we have, uh, a lot of money in the economy. And so I think that if a Canadian wants to get up

00:16:45.700 and farm, uh, we should not prevent them. Of course, uh, I understand that some folks own

00:16:50.880 concessions and quotas, and we need to figure out a way to wean ourselves off supply management.

00:16:56.000 And that means maybe looking at amortization, uh, looking at some sort of exchange, uh, policy,

00:17:02.120 but I want to free, uh, our ability to farm. You know, I, I think that's great. I think very

00:17:10.120 rarely people think outside the box on this issue. Uh, and, um, you know, it's nice to see that you

00:17:17.040 are addressing those arguments where they say, well, I have a quota, this expense, this quota

00:17:20.880 is expensive. You're, you're rendering it useless to me. You've actually sort of thought a little bit

00:17:27.280 down the road about how we're going to deal with people who hold these quotas so that eventually

00:17:32.460 there will be more farmers in the marketplace, um, to bring those costs down to consumers. I think

00:17:38.220 it's wonderful. Um, one of the things that you're sorry, go ahead. I was going to say, absolutely.

00:17:43.300 We cannot devalue someone's personal property. We cannot come in and overnight render it, uh,

00:17:50.180 uh, render it, uh, uh, without any value, sorry, devalue it overnight. And so what I propose we do

00:17:58.720 instead, we have some models to look at. New Zealand has been able to wean itself off supply management.

00:18:04.420 Uh, but most importantly, I think we need to think about the longterm and we have too many

00:18:10.920 cartels in Canada, whether it's maple syrup or agricultural products. Uh, we're limiting the

00:18:16.460 supply of, uh, fertilizer for instance, uh, through a cartel, which makes no sense either. We need to

00:18:24.000 free up our economic opportunity, especially at a time when we're seeing an unprecedented price

00:18:29.020 inflation. You know, one of the policy issues you talk about in your commitment to Canada is

00:18:35.920 standing up to China. And again, that is something that I have not seen a lot from the other

00:18:41.300 candidates. In fact, I would, uh, I would, I think credibly accuse one of the other candidates,

00:18:46.600 Jean Charest of being at least some point in his career in the pocket of, uh, a CCP linked

00:18:53.160 company named Huawei. But you have said that since you were born under a communist regime,

00:18:59.460 you really understand why people, particularly people from China come to Canada, um, to have

00:19:05.340 their rights protected. And, um, you're going to make sure that some of those Chinese style policies,

00:19:12.800 uh, of, you know, uh, hijacking intellectual property, um, cracking down on religious minorities, 0.71

00:19:19.700 you're going to make sure that they never come here, but you're also going to speak out against 0.97

00:19:24.780 China doing it. Um, and I know a lot of candidates, they're just scared because of the sheer economic

00:19:32.420 force of China to say these things. Again, we should not be afraid and we should project moral

00:19:38.840 clarity on issues that are important to Canadians. Uh, like many of your viewers know, I was born and I

00:19:44.840 lived under a communist regime under the first almost nine years of my life. And, uh, I recall

00:19:50.600 the fear of religious prosecution that my family, uh, experienced, uh, being, uh, Jewish, uh, part

00:19:58.680 Ukrainian and part Russian in the former Soviet Union. And so I believe that communism is evil and

00:20:04.880 we must confront such evil without fear. And so, uh, my government will stop pandering to China 0.96

00:20:12.000 and we'll rally the international community to oppose, uh, their onerous lockdowns. They're still

00:20:17.660 locking down tens of millions of healthy people. They're oppressing, uh, religious minorities. 1.00

00:20:23.700 Specifically, we know that they are, um, transporting, uh, Chinese Muslims into, uh, camps. They're stealing 1.00

00:20:33.660 our intellectual property. They have taken over, uh, effectively Hong Kong's democracy and they're

00:20:39.460 threatening Taiwan. We need to work with, uh, countries around China and encourage the manufacturing

00:20:47.260 flow to some of the neighbors in the region. And we need to rally the international community

00:20:53.060 to stop pretending that, uh, China is, is not one of the worst, uh, human rights abusers around the 1.00

00:21:00.000 world. And in fact, a regime that is destabilizing the world and lead the international community to

00:21:05.460 this moral clarity. I wanted to ask you, I know it's not in your policy document, but you've

00:21:12.140 obviously thought about this issue. So I'm, I'm going to ask you about this. You touched on the

00:21:17.160 treatment of the Uyghurs in China, and there's some strong overlays between what's happening to

00:21:23.560 the Uyghurs and the residential school system here in Canada that the liberals speak out. I think most

00:21:30.440 people disagree with the treatment of, uh, Canada's indigenous people in the residential

00:21:35.260 schools, but right now in China, they are taking, uh, Uyghur children, preventing them from speaking 1.00

00:21:42.800 their language, practicing their religion and taking away their Muslim names, basically sending 0.99

00:21:47.240 them to these re-education schools for little children while their parents are off in the

00:21:51.640 re-education camp and the forced slave labor camp. And we don't hear Justin Trudeau talking about this

00:21:58.640 at all. He rightfully speaks out against anti-Muslim racism and bigotry in Canada and around the world.

00:22:09.460 He invited the entire world to come to Canada when Justin, or I'm sorry, when President Trump imposed

00:22:17.520 what the left called a Muslim ban with his immigration policy. But we don't hear about this systemic

00:22:25.780 racism and genocide against this Muslim minority in China. Why do you think that is?

00:22:34.680 I think, uh, Justin Trudeau is weak and lacks moral principles. Um, this is not the only issue

00:22:41.220 on which he's hypocritical, but to go back to this issue, when every year, um, we use the phrase

00:22:50.400 never again, we should mean the words never again. And I am very hesitant to make all sorts

00:22:58.800 of historical comparisons. Um, it's something that is very, very sensitive to many folks,

00:23:04.700 but it's for that reason that we need to be open-minded and appreciate what is transpiring

00:23:11.080 in China. And of course we know that the only religion allowed in China is communism, which is,

00:23:17.360 and so it's not new for them to oppress religious minorities. We know, for instance, the Falun Gong 1.00

00:23:23.700 people, the Falun Dafa people, something that I take a considerable interest in, um, effective

00:23:29.400 practice, uh, a form of meditation with breathing, with, uh, yoga techniques and, and some spiritual,

00:23:36.040 uh, enlightenment. And, and they have been oppressed and jailed since the early nineties in China.

00:23:42.940 They have been, uh, used, uh, potentially in all sorts of, uh, markets around the world that are

00:23:50.400 just unthinkable. And I think we have a duty as loving and peaceful people to, uh, speak for

00:24:00.540 human rights all around the world. I don't propose an interventional pot, an interventionist policy,

00:24:05.900 but I do propose that we project more moral clarity on, on such important issues.

00:24:15.120 You know, it's, it's interesting that you brought up, you know, the Falun Gong and the fact that

00:24:19.800 what's happening to the Uyghurs, it's happening to other religious groups in China as well. You

00:24:24.960 rightly point out that communism is the only allowed religion there. For example, Cardinal Zen,

00:24:30.000 he's the Cardinal, the Catholic Cardinal of Hong Kong. He was arrested in May, May 25th. And, uh,

00:24:38.040 he has been an outspoken advocate for a free Hong Kong for a very long time. And it has been an

00:24:46.140 absolute failing of the Canadian government to speak up on his behalf. Um, there's a Canadian singer

00:24:53.480 was also arrested at the same time. Um, it was not just Cardinal Zen, but again, Justin Trudeau,

00:25:01.340 too scared of China. And as you rightly point out, has no moral clarity and has been completely 0.97

00:25:06.380 silent on this issue. The man is a political prisoner based on his religion and Canada who,

00:25:12.080 you know, we used to take the lead in these issues. I think we were instrumental in dismantling,

00:25:19.060 um, South African apartheid and we are completely silent on this.

00:25:25.700 Absolutely. I think part of the issue is that, uh, over the last couple of years,

00:25:30.040 we have completely taking our eye off the ball around the world. Uh, we have been focused on

00:25:36.800 COVID response, which as you know, I'm, I'm a big critic of because I felt that we need to reassess

00:25:41.900 our, um, our COVID response and, and focus on where the risk is, which is primarily in long-term

00:25:47.900 care homes and, and congregate settings and beef up our hospital capacity because the virus is so

00:25:52.360 transmissible, uh, arrest of the virus, I believe is naive, but it's not just the Chinese regime 0.94

00:25:58.120 that, uh, Justin Trudeau refuses to stand up. I believe that one of the greatest threats to world

00:26:04.800 peace and stability is the, uh, Republic of Iran. And I remember after, uh, the Ukrainian plane was 0.94

00:26:12.540 shut down with 158 Canadians on board. Uh, I remember he met with the foreign minister about

00:26:17.900 a month later and effectively bowed to him. Um, I joked at the time that, that he was Justin's,

00:26:23.740 uh, Valentine and I'm very, very concerned about the fact that Canada is unwilling to, to play,

00:26:31.800 uh, a key role and, and project, uh, this moral clarity and, and delineate for the international

00:26:39.780 community, uh, right from wrong. And, and, and that's something that I think prime minister Harper

00:26:44.360 did very, very well. And so I certainly look forward to restoring, uh, such credibility around

00:26:50.380 the world, but I want to stress that we're not going to restore our credibility around the world

00:26:55.660 until we restore democracy at home. And, and I want to come back to the fact that we are seeing

00:27:04.280 a remarkable erosion of our rights. We still have close to 20% of Canadians treated like second-class

00:27:09.440 citizens. We have censorship legislation working itself through the courts, uh, through the,

00:27:13.820 through parliament. We have, uh, an unlawful invocation of the emergencies act. We have the

00:27:18.800 top police officer in the country, potentially doing the prime minister political favor. Uh,

00:27:23.700 I would propose, uh, at least at the outset to focus on restoring democracy at home before we can

00:27:29.900 credibly opine on what's transpiring around the world. You know, you're, you're right to say that

00:27:35.840 because, uh, so often we see, you know, Chinese politicians and bureaucrats, they chirp us online 0.67

00:27:44.800 all the time. Um, and they probably have, you know, at least the ability to point out some serious

00:27:51.860 hypocrisy by the Canadian government on some of these things. I, I suppose it would be pretty hard

00:27:56.580 to speak out against Cardinal Zen when he didn't say anything, when James Coates, Pastor James Coates

00:28:01.900 was sitting in prison in Canada or, you know, speaking out against political prisoners while

00:28:06.980 Tamera Leach is still in prison. Um, now, one of the things I wanted to talk to you about that

00:28:12.420 sort of sets you apart, even amongst your own conservative colleagues is on the issue of

00:28:19.800 environment and climate change. Because as I'm reading through your policy document here,

00:28:24.600 you note a very mainstream, reasonable, uh, I think it's a pretty accepted fact here that Canada

00:28:33.900 is a carbon sink that, that we actually soak up because of the size of the boreal forest,

00:28:40.660 more carbon than we emit. And yet Canadians are still being taxed on their carbon emissions.

00:28:47.940 Do you think, I guess my question is, are you going to, uh, face some criticism for just saying this

00:28:53.820 very acceptable mainstream scientific fact that most kids in grade 10 biology understand?

00:29:03.060 We cannot be afraid to talk about some of the difficult issues that, that are facing our

00:29:07.920 country. And I think that, um, if anything learned from last couple of years is that it was our fear

00:29:15.200 to stand up to the left wing cancel culture COVID mob that has allowed this remarkable catastrophe,

00:29:22.040 uh, to go on for almost two years. You know, I, I said a couple of days ago, we somehow, we allowed,

00:29:28.660 uh, government and public health and our school system to convince our children that if they play,

00:29:34.780 that if they play next to one another in close proximity, that someone God forbid may die.

00:29:40.560 We have, uh, we're raising a generation of children that have suffered a mental trauma

00:29:45.320 who will have difficulty potentially leading a normal life. And, and we should not be afraid

00:29:51.560 to confront those that seek to further, uh, potentially, uh, whether it's purposefully or not

00:29:59.540 to inflict harm on our country, on our, on Canadians and our, on our economic interests. And we should not

00:30:06.880 be afraid to address, uh, the discussion around the environment and climate change, but take it a hand

00:30:13.800 on Canada produces only one and a half percent of all global emissions. Uh, it's even if we were to

00:30:21.380 cut all of them, it's not clear that it would actually make any material difference in the

00:30:25.800 climate. We know that most nations, uh, are now giving up on the Paris accord. We know who the

00:30:31.760 polluters are. Um, I, I think it's a pie in the sky that is not attainable and not necessary,

00:30:36.620 which is why I'll take Canada out of the, uh, Paris accord. And we're blessed with so much forest,

00:30:42.300 as you say that most, if not all of our, uh, greenhouse gases are actually naturally absorbed.

00:30:48.440 Um, that is why I oppose the carbon tax. I do not believe that taxing Sally $10 at the gas pump

00:30:56.940 is actually going to affect the global climate. I don't think that anyone, uh, really believes that

00:31:03.040 anymore. And I will not impose a regressive tax on Canadians, which achieves nothing other than

00:31:09.220 effectively punishing Canadians and making life more expensive. So, uh, you know, right now we're

00:31:14.100 planting 360 million trees a year. Uh, I will look to increase it, uh, to maybe half a billion,

00:31:19.780 but I think that, um, Canada's natural resources are a blessing. It's one of the themes of, uh,

00:31:26.500 my commitment to Canada is to make Canada a natural resources superpower. And that means repealing

00:31:31.800 the anti-pipeline bill, um, rethinking, legislating, and negotiating the three main pipelines,

00:31:36.740 and revisiting the discussion on Excel. Americans are very unhappy with the price of gas and clarify

00:31:41.620 the duty to consult, uh, encourage the, uh, creation of refinery capacity and, uh, reconsider

00:31:47.600 our approach to mining and invest and encourage mining. I think the only way we get out of the

00:31:53.480 fiscal hole that we're in right now is to unleash our economic superpower. And we can do that through

00:31:59.400 Canada's natural resources. Yeah. I see in your policy document, you are making sure that you don't

00:32:04.920 leave Canada's indigenous communities behind, particularly in those partnerships with the 1.00

00:32:09.360 resource industry. Um, most, I think most Albertans know that if you were to pick, uh, a resource or

00:32:16.620 sorry, any industry in this country that you would describe as indigenous, it would be the resource

00:32:22.520 industry. I think, uh, indigenous people are double represented in, um, mining and resource extraction

00:32:31.300 projects as a percentage of the workforce versus a percentage of the Canadian population. Um, so, um,

00:32:38.540 you've rightly pointed that out in here. The one last thing I want to talk to you about, because I

00:32:42.360 could probably talk to you all day, but I'm sure you have other things to do. Um, healthcare, um,

00:32:48.580 it's, it's an evergreen problem that you, you just pick up the paper, you go on the internet and you see

00:32:57.400 the healthcare system is in collapse and it's not a COVID thing. This is a perennial problem in Canada.

00:33:04.600 So how do we fix that? And is, uh, is there room in your plan for private innovation to alleviate the

00:33:15.120 load that the publicly funded system is bearing?

00:33:19.460 Um, Chile, if I may very quickly on indigenous policy, as I travel the country, uh, I realize how

00:33:26.120 prevalent and, and still important and raw this issue to so many Canadians, both indigenous and

00:33:32.640 non-indigenous. And I think that, um, that it's certainly something that the Canadian government,

00:33:38.240 that our future conservative government should be thinking about. Um, we must be mindful of our

00:33:43.380 history. So we don't repeat the mistakes of the past, but we should not be, uh, encouraging or

00:33:48.900 succumbing to Justin Trudeau's divisive, divisive, uh, rhetoric. So I think that the best thing we

00:33:54.260 can do for reconciliation is actually improve the lives of indigenous people. And, and we can get

00:34:00.540 a good start with water. We still have hundreds of communities around Canada that still don't have

00:34:06.220 access to clean and safe drinking water. And given today's technologies where we can essentially drop

00:34:11.400 water anywhere and make water out of air, that is inexcusable, which is why I'm committed to,

00:34:16.600 uh, making sure that every Canadian community has water by the end of my first term.

00:34:22.080 But, uh, back to your question on healthcare, we have to acknowledge, we have to concede that Canada

00:34:27.600 has one of the most efficient healthcare systems in the world. And one of the lowest rates of hospital

00:34:34.000 beds in the OECD, my, um, my region of North York has one of the lowest, uh, bed numbers in the

00:34:40.420 countries and therefore in the developed world, that's unacceptable. So we have to own up to the fact

00:34:45.600 that we're probably overdue for a major capital expansion as our population is getting older

00:34:51.420 and people are living longer. We need more beds, but it cannot come without, uh, administrative

00:34:57.720 improvements. For instance, in the province of Ontario, we have more healthcare bureaucrats

00:35:01.580 than family physicians. I read in the post, uh, media last year that, uh, Canada has about 10 times

00:35:07.340 more healthcare bureaucrats than Germany per capita. So that's impossible. So we need to work with the

00:35:12.340 provinces to reduce our administrative burden. If we're going to look at a capital injection.

00:35:16.600 And second of all, I am in favor of looking at a private delivery model still within the framework

00:35:21.780 of the Canada health act. We should encourage doctors and surgeons to, to innovate and see patients

00:35:29.000 outside of, uh, the hospital or existing frameworks. We should encourage private imaging, uh, and diagnostics.

00:35:35.920 And at the same time, we can still remain within the single healthcare, uh, payer system where, uh,

00:35:42.480 a private supplier would build government, uh, directly. And finally on healthcare, I'm going

00:35:46.580 to amend the Canada health act to make sure that we will not discriminate against any Canadian

00:35:51.700 because of their medical status or their personal healthcare choice.

00:35:55.660 Yeah. It's funny when people talk about healthcare, they just pretend like Saskatchewan doesn't exist.

00:36:00.700 Saskatchewan does this all the time or Quebec, you know, they do this all the time.

00:36:05.000 They have lower wait times. They spend far less in Saskatchewan than they, we do here in Alberta.

00:36:10.800 They have better outcomes. And yet it seems to be that in the other eight provinces, the only way

00:36:18.600 of delivering something is the same way that you keep doing it. That doesn't work. So I'm happy to

00:36:22.560 see that you've sort of examined some of these Canadian success stories and are willing to allow

00:36:27.720 replication of that in other places. Uh, Roman, how did people find out more about your commitment

00:36:34.380 to Canada and support you as you try to advance these ideas within the Conservative Party of Canada

00:36:40.180 leadership race? Well, everyone's encouraged to visit joinroman.ca, joinroman.ca and click on

00:36:45.440 policy is where you can find the entire document commitment to Canada, which is essentially four

00:36:50.580 pillars. Restore Canada's democracy, uh, uh, restore Canadian opportunity, make Canada a natural

00:36:57.700 resources, superpower, and real estate trust in government. We have a record deficit of trust in

00:37:04.020 government. Now we've got to say what we believe and do what we believe is right. I'll propose a

00:37:07.740 judicial inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, review the lobbying act and the

00:37:11.940 representation formula, most importantly, restore and defend the rule of law. Uh, we are, uh, running an

00:37:18.160 excellent campaign. I think we have certainly influenced the conversation very much in the democracy

00:37:23.360 direction among all other candidates. Uh, I would remind your, um, uh, viewers that it's a ranked

00:37:29.860 ballot. Uh, there is no vote splitting. They can comfortably put me, rank me first. And then, uh,

00:37:35.880 another, perhaps a more popular candidate who's likely to survive longer on the ballot than I am,

00:37:40.400 uh, after me, uh, although we do see a path to winning and, but, but if we're not going to get there,

00:37:47.720 then, um, we ask that, uh, your viewers rank us first to send a strong message of democracy

00:37:54.720 to the conservative party of Canada, and that we reward politicians that say what they believe and

00:38:01.120 put their constituents ahead of politics. Uh, join Roman.ca. We're one of the least underfunded,

00:38:06.680 we're the least funded campaign. Uh, but at the same time, we're doing great and I'm excited for

00:38:11.120 the conclusion of this race. Yeah, you're sure punching up Roman. Thanks so much for coming on the

00:38:16.400 show. I wish you the best of luck. Uh, I, I admire how unafraid you are to advance these ideas because

00:38:22.540 these are truly mainstream ideas. If you take a minute to talk to the grassroots, uh, Roman,

00:38:28.180 thanks so much for coming on the show. Best of luck in the race and your letters to Ezra read to me,

00:38:34.180 read by me after the break.

00:38:46.400 This is the portion of the show where, well, Ezra used to call it his hate mail, but we don't get a

00:38:52.580 lot of hate. In fact, we get a lot of pretty thoughtful responses to our work from our viewers

00:38:59.200 out there in the wild. And unlike the mainstream media, we don't close our comment section.

00:39:03.360 We want to hear from you. We want to know what you think about our work, good or bad. So let's go to

00:39:09.620 our first letter. It's from Claude or Claude. I'm sorry if I'm saying it improperly. Who writes Trudeau

00:39:16.760 got that hilarious bowl cut. So people would feel sorry for him and vote for him in his sneaky new

00:39:21.720 election that he's soon to call. I see that photo of Justin Trudeau with his new haircut. And I know

00:39:29.940 for sure that his hairdresser probably votes conservative. I feel like that is a haircut given

00:39:37.040 from spite. Someone who has had their business closed one too many times thanks to the COVID

00:39:44.560 scare lockdowns and is quietly fighting back in the one way they know how. Next comment is from

00:39:53.040 Char West or Char West. Thank you. It's about time conservatives as well stopped focusing on Biden

00:40:00.560 and started talking about policies. Yeah, you know what? Biden is a decrepit aging

00:40:07.840 old man whom I think is being abused by the Democrat establishment. I don't know how we report them for

00:40:17.280 elder abuse, but what I see is absolutely that. He should be shuffling around in his slippers

00:40:23.200 in a nursing home visiting with his grandchildren and just relaxing, eating dinner at four o'clock and

00:40:31.400 going to bed at 730. Unfortunately, he is in charge of the nuclear codes and that's where I've got a real

00:40:41.060 problem. But it's really his policies, which are not even his policies. I think his policies are the

00:40:47.420 policies of the people who are currently abusing him. It's the Green New Deal types. He's a very easily 1.00

00:40:54.400 manipulated, vulnerable old man and the green radicals of the Democrat Party. They're doing the 0.83

00:41:02.660 manipulating and we can see it playing out in his policies every single day. Hutch 101 writes,

00:41:09.220 the only success for Canada is for the Liberals, the millstone hanging around the necks of Canadians and

00:41:15.140 the only success will be them being voted out. You know, that is very true when you look at what is

00:41:23.440 currently hindering the Canadian economy. It is a lack of pipelines. It's carbon taxes. It's a hike in

00:41:31.540 the carbon tax. It's inflation. It's the price of buying a home in this country that is being driven up

00:41:41.660 by supply shortages because of hyperinflated immigration targets. All those things are liberal

00:41:49.580 policies. Some conservatives are talking about them. Some are not. But we do need a great reset,

00:41:59.960 to use the language of the left, of the political system in this country. And I think, I think we're about

00:42:05.760 to get it. Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight. Thank you so much for tuning in. If you'd

00:42:11.000 like to leave Ezra a line, drop him a line to read on the show here. These are his contact details.

00:42:19.800 If you want to leave a comment there, maybe your comment will be right on air. Again, I say,

00:42:24.200 we welcome your viewer feedback. We want to hear from you. You are our success. Anyway, that's the show

00:42:30.800 for tonight. Thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you to everybody in the studio in Toronto who

00:42:35.200 put the show together tonight as I did my best to fill in for the boss. And as Ezra always says,

00:42:43.300 keep fighting for freedom. Finally, a little bit of good news to report on the crooked politician

00:42:49.060 front. Sneaky Karen Selowitz, Richmond Hill's self-appointed queen of Ward 5, was recently found 1.00

00:42:56.920 guilty of fraud. Yet, despite the conviction, there remains a bitter aftertaste. In fact, the outcome

00:43:04.900 of the Selowitz fraud case makes me seriously question the justice system as well as the

00:43:11.100 municipal act when it comes to crime and punishment. Now, before I address that aspect, allow me to recap

00:43:19.800 Karen's odious shenanigans. Astute viewers might recall that last month, Rebel News aired 0.64

00:43:26.900 an exclusive interview with the person Karen Selowitz had hoodwinked. That would be Patty Burton

00:43:33.380 Garcia. Patty was hired by Selowitz to work as a part-time assistant for the councillor beginning 1.00

00:43:41.020 in the summer of 2019. Her salary was $25,000 and Patty was paid approximately $900 every two weeks. 0.60

00:43:50.200 But as soon as Patty received her first paycheck, things took a weird twist. Namely, Selowitz informed

00:43:59.740 Patty that she and her boyfriend, Derek Christie, would be taking the lion's share of Patty's paycheck. 0.86

00:44:07.180 Yeah, typically about $800. Eventually, Selowitz and Christie dinged Patty for some $21,000. In other words,

00:44:17.300 more than 80% of Patty's actual earnings. Now, the motive for Selowitz acting like the taxman on steroids

00:44:25.780 was apparently financial desperation. It was around this time period that Selowitz was in the process

00:44:33.120 of being docked a whopping 315 days pay. This was due to numerous successful complaints

00:44:41.760 that had been filed against Selowitz to the city of Richmond Hill's integrity commissioner regarding her

00:44:49.980 misbehavior. Now, losing 315 days worth of pay is quite a hefty penalty given that, oh, there's only

00:44:58.280 365 days in a year, but I digress. In any event, Patty actually agreed to this outrageous clawback of her 1.00

00:45:07.420 wages, given that she had a desire to contribute to public service and that she was making ends meet

00:45:14.300 thanks to her existing pension. But things came to an ugly head around tax time the following year.

00:45:23.680 Patty was informed by her accountant that because on paper she was earning that full salary, well,

00:45:30.840 she owed the Canadian Revenue Agency about $4,000. Patty was stunned and when Patty told Selowitz about the

00:45:39.880 impending tax hit, the councillor allegedly responded with three words, not my problem. Talk about chutzpah.

00:45:50.400 But it later became Karen's problem, all right. Oh, big time. Once law enforcement got involved,

00:45:57.040 this was fraud, plain and simple. And not only was Patty being defrauded, so too were the residents of

00:46:05.160 Richmond Hill, given these were tax dollars that Selowitz was redistributing, yeah, redistributing into

00:46:13.240 her own bank account, that is. Well, this case dragged through the courts for some 18 months, but last

00:46:20.180 week, a verdict was finally handed down. Selowitz was found guilty of fraud under $5,000. And according

00:46:28.620 to the court, Selowitz has already allegedly paid back the full restitution to the city of Richmond Hill.

00:46:38.120 Where this cash challenge person got the moolah is anyone's guess, however. But here's the thing,

00:46:46.280 this conviction was the result of a plea deal. The original charge was fraud over $5,000. And Selowitz

00:46:55.500 was also facing a charge of breach of trust by a public officer. She was caught red-handed. There was

00:47:03.480 evidence galore. So why a plea deal in the first place? And another thing that makes me question the

00:47:11.100 justice system pertaining to this case. And it's the so-called penalty. Most would argue that Selowitz

00:47:17.980 should be behind bars for what she did. But instead, this fraudster will serve a three-month 0.76

00:47:23.980 conditional sentence, meaning that she is simply required to remain in her residence daily between

00:47:31.240 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. except for emergencies. Wow, that's harsh. And yes, my tongue is firmly inserted

00:47:40.200 in my cheek, folks. Because you see, for the last several months, Selowitz has existed as a house

00:47:46.380 hermit. She hasn't even shown up to numerous council meetings in person, deciding to simply zoom in her

00:47:54.260 contributions such as they are. So how is it that being confined to quarters between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.

00:48:01.220 is a penalty in the first place when Selowitz has already volunteered to confine herself to quarters

00:48:08.840 on basically a 24-7 basis? And holy Patrick Brown Batman, in the aftermath of this humiliating

00:48:17.480 criminal conviction, you would think that Selowitz would be full of contrition and that she'd be 0.85

00:48:23.900 issuing mea culpas all around? But no. Like sneaky Patrick himself, a familiar pattern emerges, namely

00:48:32.440 Karen breaks the rules, Karen gets caught breaking the rules, and then Karen plays the victim card, 1.00

00:48:40.860 claiming that for some unfathomable reason, so many people are out to get her as part of some grand

00:48:48.100 conspiracy. It's pathetic. Now, we did reach out to Karen Selowitz to get her side of the story. We even 1.00

00:48:55.220 visited her condominium, but she declined to comment. However, she's all over social media shedding

00:49:03.720 crocodile tears about her plight while blaming others for her troubles. Her rants are vomit-inducing,

00:49:12.280 quite frankly, given how tone deaf she is. Indeed, check out this nugget, quote, over the past four and a half

00:49:20.260 years, I have been on the receiving end of ongoing hateful and hate-filled bullying, enduring abusive

00:49:28.220 and malicious treatment, including cyberbullying on Facebook, end quote. Oh, there's been bullying these

00:49:36.400 past four and a half years, all right. Except, Syphilitz was not on the receiving end. Rather, when it comes to

00:49:44.100 being a bully, she's the star quarterback. Case in point, you might recall her infamous recorded rant, in which 1.00

00:49:51.280 Karen went after Richmond Hill resident Steffi Goodfield. At the time, Steffi was a stage four cancer patient. And what was

00:50:01.320 Steffi's crime, you might ask? Well, Steffi had the utter gall to use the words Ward 5 to describe a music

00:50:10.800 festival she was organizing in Ward 5. But crazy, Karen, she apparently thinks she owns the copyright for 1.00

00:50:18.820 the term Ward 5. Check out this two-minute slice of utter insanity. 0.87

00:50:24.940 Please be advised that nobody but Richmond Hill councillors use the term Ward in any event unless you are a

00:50:35.740 councillor. So you can let him listen to this if he doesn't have the balls to call me back. But be advised, 0.94

00:50:41.900 Steffi, that if you in any way, or if Matt Bergman in any way calls your Sunday night jam at

00:50:48.760 Archibald's, the Ward 5 event, there is going to be serious problems that you are both going to have

00:50:55.100 to deal with legally. Astonishing. And much like how the good people of Brampton are cursed with

00:51:02.040 Patrick Brown, so too are the folks in Richmond Hill with Karen Sullivan. You see, under the Municipal Act,

00:51:11.100 she is still allowed to sit on council. And she's allowed to run for re-election in the fall.

00:51:16.660 But how can this be? It was just proven in a court of law that she defrauded the city out of

00:51:24.340 thousands of dollars. And now this fraudster can continue to carry out making financial decisions

00:51:32.500 on the behalf of the city? That's outrageous. And me thinks the Municipal Act clearly needs to be

00:51:40.020 revised so that elected fraudsters are kept away from the taxpayer-funded cookie jar.

00:51:47.020 For Rebel News, I'm David the Menzoid Menzies. 0.60

00:51:52.040 Hey folks, have you been to the Rebel News store lately? Well, you should. The number one hit of the

00:51:58.940 summer is our Justin Castro t-shirt. That's the one that has half of Justin Trudeau's face,

00:52:05.840 and the other half is Fidel Castro's face. You know what the rumors suggest. I gotta tell you,

00:52:12.980 the resemblance is uncanny. Say, do you think maybe that's why Justin Trudeau went out and got

00:52:19.540 that Jim Carrey dumb and dumber haircut the other day to, you know, downplay the resemblance? Yeah, 0.99

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00:52:29.180 what a promotion we're running. Type in the promo code SUMMER, that's SUMMER, buy two unisex t-shirts,

00:52:38.580 get the third one for free. So come on, strike a fashionable pose this summer and tell Justin

00:52:46.860 Trudeau what you really think about his potential DNA.

Rebel News Podcast - July 22, 2022

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Is this sky-high inflation the result of bumbling politicians or conniving ones？

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