Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ It's been 50 years since the Summit Series： is Canada freer now than during the clash against the Soviets？

00:00:00.000 Tonight, where were you in 72?

00:00:18.400 Any Canadian over the age of 55 knows what I speak of.

00:00:22.240 Please allow me to share my thoughts on the iconic Summit series, A Half Century Later.

00:00:30.000 It's Wednesday, September 28th, 2022.

00:00:33.600 I'm David Menzies, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:00:38.300 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:00:52.200 Where were you in 72?

00:00:54.620 Now, anyone over the age of 55 knows exactly what I'm talking about, for it was on this

00:01:01.480 day, 50 years ago, that the most famous goal in Canadian hockey history was scored.

00:01:09.560 Now, this is where I was half a century ago, folks, sitting on the floor at Dainsbury Public

00:01:18.160 School.

00:01:19.320 Indeed, there I was with all of my classmates watching the game during school hours, no

00:01:24.820 less, on a small 20-inch black and white television set.

00:01:30.080 Now, there are some things in life that you never forget, and the dying seconds of Game

00:01:36.880 8 of the Summit series, well, that was one of those things that I shall always remember.

00:01:45.200 And yet, two things stand out about the 72 Summit series some 50 years later.

00:01:51.680 First of all, YOY is the hero of that series, Paul Henderson, still not in the Hockey Hall

00:02:01.220 of Fame.

00:02:01.760 As well, we all know that the Summit series was far more than eight exhibition hockey games.

00:02:08.360 The narrative was us versus them, capitalism versus communism, democracy versus tyranny.

00:02:16.120 And yet, here's the thing, folks.

00:02:17.920 A half century later, how democratic, how free are we in Canada of 2022 versus 1972?

00:02:29.560 Allow me to go back to the studio and provide some analysis.

00:02:35.460 Hard to imagine, but a half century has actually passed since that piece of vulcanized rubber

00:02:41.120 left the stick of Paul Henderson and somehow found its way past Soviet Union goaltender

00:02:47.620 Vladislav Trechak.

00:02:50.100 Check out the video evidence, which never, ever gets old.

00:02:53.840 Well, here's the shot.

00:02:55.900 Henderson made a wild, bad fourth spell.

00:02:58.740 Here's another shot, right by the score.

00:03:01.400 Henderson has scored for Canada.

00:03:04.900 Henderson, right and out of the net.

00:03:08.120 And the players of the team are going wild.

00:03:11.480 Henderson, right and out of the focus, no, with 34 seconds left in the game.

00:03:18.240 As everyone is overcome by emotion, there is a realization of forgettable moment.

00:03:34.200 Wow.

00:03:35.580 That was the final exclamation mark on a comeback for Canada that was so utterly improbable,

00:03:41.740 given how shockingly the series started on Canadian soil.

00:03:47.600 I say shockingly because this was supposed to be a cakewalk for Team Canada.

00:03:53.340 By this point in time, Canada had stopped sending teams to Olympic hockey tournaments

00:03:58.160 due to the inherent unfairness.

00:04:01.180 Back then, professionals were ineligible to play in the Olympic Games,

00:04:05.460 so amateurs had to be sent to represent Canada.

00:04:09.140 This rule did not apply to the Soviets, however.

00:04:13.160 Oh, sure, on paper, the Soviets were considered to be amateurs,

00:04:17.060 but in reality, they were the cream of the Russian hockey crop.

00:04:22.140 And so it was that a wide-ranging belief kicked in.

00:04:26.680 Namely, if the very best Canadian players in the NHL

00:04:30.960 ever took on the best that the Soviet Union had to offer,

00:04:34.540 well, the Russians would be utterly annihilated. 0.52

00:04:39.140 Come 1972, that thesis was finally put to the test

00:04:43.440 with a summit series featuring four games in various Canadian cities

00:04:48.060 and four games in Moscow.

00:04:50.480 And just about every single sports writer back then predicted

00:04:54.640 that the end result would be eight games to zero for Team Canada.

00:04:59.980 It looked as though that prophecy was going to come true.

00:05:03.580 In game one at the Montreal Forum, Canada scored two quick goals

00:05:07.720 in the first period, and the route was on.

00:05:11.640 Not quite.

00:05:13.260 The Soviets rebounded, and when the dust settled, 0.95

00:05:16.240 they had, shockingly, won the game 7-3.

00:05:21.480 Team Canada would win at Maple Leaf Gardens.

00:05:25.040 Game three ended in a 4-4 tie in Winnipeg.

00:05:28.000 And in Vancouver, the Russians again prevailed with a shocking victory 1.00

00:05:33.020 leading to a cascade of boos and catcalls directed at Team Canada

00:05:38.240 from its Canadian fans in the Pacific Coliseum.

00:05:42.560 And that led to perhaps one of the most famous interviews

00:05:46.660 in Canadian hockey history.

00:05:49.180 Check it out.

00:05:49.700 As a team of outcasts head to their dressing room,

00:05:54.020 one player remains on the ice.

00:05:56.880 Phil Esposito is given the microphone to address a wounded nation.

00:06:02.620 For the people across Canada, we tried.

00:06:04.700 We did our best.

00:06:05.880 And for the people that boo us, geez, I'm really,

00:06:09.680 all of us guys are really disheartened and we're disillusioned,

00:06:12.580 and we're disappointed in some of the people.

00:06:14.240 We cannot believe the bad press we've got,

00:06:17.720 the booing we've gotten in our own buildings.

00:06:20.460 And if the Russians boo their players,

00:06:23.420 if the fans, if the Russians boo their players,

00:06:24.940 like some of the Canadian fans, I'm not saying all of them,

00:06:27.540 some of them booed us, then I'll come back

00:06:30.040 and I'll apologize to each one of the Canadians. 0.71

00:06:32.020 But I don't think they will.

00:06:33.540 I'm really, really, I'm really disappointed.

00:06:35.780 I am completely disappointed.

00:06:37.540 I cannot believe it.

00:06:38.860 Some of our guys are really, really down in the dumps.

00:06:41.540 We know, we're trying.

00:06:42.480 Hell, I mean, we're doing the best we can.

00:06:45.380 And they've got a good team, and let's face facts.

00:06:47.940 But it doesn't mean that we're not giving it our 150%

00:06:51.000 because we certainly are.

00:06:53.060 I think, Phil, the disappointment is a natural thing

00:06:57.060 because the whole thing was an unexpected thing.

00:06:59.520 You know, we all live with the National Hockey League.

00:07:02.300 We've all been so proud over the years of how great they are.

00:07:05.160 It's unexpected because the press said that we were so good.

00:07:08.200 Not one of us said we were good.

00:07:09.820 No, no, no, this is the thing.

00:07:10.780 This is the thing that I'm, on behalf of the fans, I must say that probably,

00:07:16.320 since everything is relative, we know how good you people are.

00:07:20.220 The people didn't realize how good the Soviet team was,

00:07:22.700 and now we found out how good they are.

00:07:24.140 I think we can appreciate how good both teams are.

00:07:26.840 But I'll tell you, we love, I mean, every one of us guys,

00:07:30.420 35 guys that came out and played for Team Cannon,

00:07:32.980 we did it because we love our country, and not for any other reason,

00:07:36.020 no other reason.

00:07:36.740 They can throw the money for the pension fund out the window,

00:07:39.860 they can throw anything they want out the window.

00:07:41.160 We came because we love Canada.

00:07:43.040 And even though we play in the United States and we earn money in the United States,

00:07:46.520 Canada is still our home, and that's the only reason we come. 0.98

00:07:49.000 And I don't think it's fair that we should be booed.

00:07:51.480 As I was doing that, people were yelling and screaming at us,

00:07:56.320 calling me names.

00:07:58.780 Communism is better, don't you admit it now, and all this other stuff.

00:08:02.020 This is Vancouver, and guys out of the stands were yelling that communism is best,

00:08:09.520 and it's supreme.

00:08:11.540 That's when I really realized, man, we are in a war here.

00:08:16.400 This is no game.

00:08:18.400 This is war.

00:08:19.860 Wow.

00:08:20.780 Cue the goosebumps.

00:08:23.020 Canada, of course, would go on to prevail.

00:08:25.320 Well, and you know, if you want to relive the 1972 Summit series in text,

00:08:31.540 I highly recommend Ken Dryden's new book, The Series.

00:08:36.560 What I Remember, What It Felt Like, What It Feels Like Now.

00:08:41.880 By the way, folks, please don't hold it against Mr. Dryden that a while back,

00:08:46.180 he was a liberal member of parliament.

00:08:47.900 Ken Dryden strikes me as a classical liberal as opposed to a Marxist liberal

00:08:53.800 toiling for Prime Minister Blackface McGroper.

00:08:58.380 Now, here's the question, given the Paul Henderson heroics, however.

00:09:04.020 Why is this man still inexplicably not in the Hockey Hall of Fame?

00:09:10.520 Lest we forget, Paul Henderson wasn't a one-hit wonder in that series.

00:09:15.220 The Toronto Maple Leafs forward also scored the winning goals in Game 6 and Game 7.

00:09:23.180 Talk about coming through in the clutch.

00:09:26.380 And yet, for reasons that remain murky, the powers that be at the Hockey Hall of Fame,

00:09:32.060 the same hall that once inducted Gilbert Stein,

00:09:36.120 are of the opinion that Paul Henderson isn't worthy?

00:09:39.960 Granted, Henderson's NHL and WHA career statistics from 1962 to 1981 are not Gretzky-like numbers,

00:09:50.660 but who cares?

00:09:52.260 It was Henderson's unforgettable goal in 72 that literally had Canadians dancing in the streets.

00:09:59.780 To add insult to injury in recent years, the Hockey Hall of Fame has become yet another Canadian institution

00:10:06.560 beholden to the tyranny of political correctness.

00:10:10.520 Female players are now being inducted into the hall.

00:10:13.900 And really, I don't mean to slam women's hockey, but come on.

00:10:17.240 How many people on the planet have seen the likes of Cammy Granato or Angela James play hockey? 0.57

00:10:23.100 But that's the thing with the hall.

00:10:25.800 Gender equity now eclipses bona fide achievement. 0.78

00:10:30.240 As well, for reasons that again remain murky,

00:10:34.040 while the powers that be at the Hockey Hall of Fame are of the opinion that Paul Henderson isn't worthy of inclusion inside the hall,

00:10:42.580 there's a statue of Henderson scoring the winning Game 8 goal located outside the hall.

00:10:48.900 And get this, the guy he scored the goal on, that would be Vladislav Treczak.

00:10:55.200 He's in the Hockey Hall of Fame, but not Paul.

00:10:59.160 Incidentally, I spent a week at Treczak's goaltending school back in 1997.

00:11:05.500 I was able to speak with the old Russian gumper and was surprised to learn that his biggest hockey regret 0.99

00:11:12.160 was not letting in Henderson's series winning goal in the last minute of play,

00:11:16.720 but rather he remains bitter to this day that he was pulled in an Olympic game against the Americans in Lake Placid back in 1980.

00:11:27.340 Team USA, comprised of a bunch of college kids, would eventually go on to win the Olympic gold medal that year.

00:11:35.780 It truly, truly was a miracle on ice.

00:11:39.340 1980 to the Americans is what 1972 was to the Canadians.

00:11:43.700 In any event, I've asked various sports writers why Paul is not in the hall.

00:11:49.660 And speaking on the condition of anonymity, one theory is that Henderson made enemies in the sport

00:11:55.840 when he became a born-again Christian shortly after the Summit series.

00:12:02.340 Henderson's life was never the same after he scored that goal.

00:12:05.540 He would be mobbed by idolizing fans, and this apparently was a big factor in Paul Henderson re-embracing Christianity.

00:12:16.720 Now, if that is the case, this is downright shameful.

00:12:20.240 Most Canadians wouldn't care if Henderson had become a born-again Scientologist,

00:12:24.540 because surely Henderson deserves to get into the hall for his on-ice accomplishments,

00:12:31.080 not because his religious beliefs have allegedly upset Hall of Fame board members and some media types.

00:12:38.880 But then again, we do live in a nation in which certain people applaud those who incinerate Catholic churches. 0.76

00:12:47.680 But getting back to the statistics argument, one source tells me there are at least two dozen other players in the hall

00:12:58.360 with inferior stats compared to Paul Henderson.

00:13:02.320 And again, nobody in the hall ever scored a goal that had Canadians from coast to coast to coast

00:13:11.400 literally celebrating in the streets.

00:13:14.440 Don't you think the 50th anniversary of this extra-special event would be a superb time to correct such an appalling injustice?

00:13:25.980 My second point, in the half-century that has passed, let me ask you, dear viewers,

00:13:32.720 do you feel freer in Canada today as opposed to our dominion of yesterdecade?

00:13:38.380 After all, we now live in a Canada wherein you can have your bank account frozen for supporting a freedom convoy.

00:13:46.720 We live in a Canada in which one can be secretly wiretapped by law enforcement for showing up at a freedom rally.

00:13:55.880 We live in a Canada in which medical apartheid is embraced when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccination shots.

00:14:02.860 We live in a Canada in which you can be cancelled for espousing an opinion that ruffles the feathers of certain elitists.

00:14:13.180 Hey, I was only 10 years old back in 1972, but looking back, Canada then sure felt freer than Canada now.

00:14:22.480 Indeed, how disturbing is it that Canada today is actually embracing bits and pieces of the tyranny that defined the now-defunct USSR?

00:14:37.360 Then again, we do have a prime minister who admires the basic dictatorship of China.

00:14:45.500 Bottom line, time to put Paul in the hall.

00:14:49.920 And let's put the Justin Trudeau Liberals in the electoral penalty box for gross misconduct when the next federal election rolls by.

00:15:01.680 Maybe Justin loves communism, but I subscribe to the chant that was uttered by the 3,000 or so Canadian fans who attended those final four games in Moscow.

00:15:15.720 Namely, Nayat Nayat Soviet.

00:15:19.920 Well, folks, welcome to the People's Republic of Ontario under head honcho Doug Ford.

00:15:35.800 So many facets of this province need fixing, but Dougie is sending millions and millions of dollars over to the LCBO so that this virtual monopoly can have its stores look more like Martha Stewart designed them.

00:15:52.260 Give me a break.

00:15:53.160 I mean, it gives you a cause to drink, but, well, the LCBO recently delisted my favorite Scotch, Black Bull.

00:16:01.740 And when it comes to the LCBO, it's their way or the highway.

00:16:07.060 And joining me now from True North is Andrew Lawn.

00:16:10.920 He has some things to say about the LCBO and that astonishing puff piece that appeared in the National Post of all places.

00:16:18.220 First of all, Andrew, welcome to the Ezra Levin show.

00:16:21.520 And what was your take on that story?

00:16:24.400 It came across like advertorial to me.

00:16:28.440 Yeah, it did.

00:16:29.740 And, I mean, if it were a federal crown corporation, I'd be wondering if it was just auditioning for some of that, like, precious, sweet bailout money or something.

00:16:37.540 But I don't know what they're benefiting from by sucking up to the crown corporation when it's Doug Ford running the show.

00:16:43.840 And, you know, it's interesting because I worked at the LCBO for many, many years because even though I hate it as a libertarian, when you're a university student and they're paying you like $25 an hour to be a cashier, it's a pretty sweet deal.

00:16:56.480 But the thing that I would point out is that there should not be an LCBO marketing department.

00:17:02.560 Any dime that's spent on doing anything to promote the LCBO is wasted money.

00:17:08.660 No one has another option.

00:17:10.500 Like, I could literally just find a just random person who has no customer service mentality, put them in like the back of a truck with a few cases of liquor,

00:17:22.780 and you go up and pay them in cash to get your product, and it wouldn't matter because that's the only option for the products that the LCBO carries for the most part.

00:17:30.760 Oh, you're so right, Andrew.

00:17:32.880 If I want to get a bottle of scotch, it quite literally is, as I said earlier, the LCBO's way or the highway, i.e. I get in my car and drive to Buffalo.

00:17:42.260 I'm sorry, that option's not available yet for me until arrive, Ken, and all the restrictions leave.

00:17:48.100 But come October, I can start doing that again.

00:17:51.060 But, Andrew, I want to address the biggest fallacy of all when it comes to the LCBO and other provincial liquor monopolies, and it's this.

00:18:00.860 People go, it's such a cash cow for government. 0.79

00:18:05.420 Now, I can tell you, back when I was freelancing, I believe it was the annual report for 2004, with a financial analyst, I sat down.

00:18:14.260 And what we did, Andrew, that year, is we removed the taxes collected by the LCBO, which the LCBO inexplicably categorizes as revenue.

00:18:26.500 It turned out they actually lost $35 million of memory serves for that year.

00:18:33.920 Can you imagine a government-run monopoly, liquor monopoly, actually losing millions of dollars?

00:18:39.600 What I'm getting at, Andrew, is if you were to privatize the system like they did in Alberta back in the 90s, the government is still collecting the taxes.

00:18:50.520 And that's their role, to regulate and tax, but not to warehouse and retail alcohol.

00:18:57.460 Wouldn't you agree?

00:18:58.060 Yeah, it's like the Ontario government losing money on online gambling.

00:19:03.840 Like, it takes a special kind of success as a government to find a way to lose money at the realm where literally the slogan is that the house always wins.

00:19:13.920 The house always wins unless it's the Ontario government running the only liquor retailer in town.

00:19:18.520 How do you lose money on that?

00:19:20.340 I think that, you know, it's fascinating to me.

00:19:22.640 And I remember a few years back when Ontario switched to the HST, the liquor sales tax was, if I'm not mistaken, at 18.5% or 19%.

00:19:32.200 It was in there.

00:19:33.520 And when the HST went into effect, liquor got subsumed under it.

00:19:37.800 So the tax went down to 13%.

00:19:39.660 And that means that the price of alcohol at the LCBO should have dropped by 5%, 6%.

00:19:44.740 But oddly, it didn't.

00:19:46.240 The prices stayed exactly the same, even though the taxes went down by a considerable sum.

00:19:51.820 Because the markup went up.

00:19:53.900 And LCBO justified this by saying that it was so that people would drink responsibly, as in a good deal is antithetical to people not just going on a binge anytime they go there.

00:20:06.580 And it strikes me that we're giving a lot of deference to this agency when we're not, as Ontario consumers or taxpayers, getting anything good for it.

00:20:16.640 No, that's a great observation.

00:20:18.220 And I think, Andrew, a very significant point in history for the LCBO and the province of Ontario.

00:20:25.840 We go back to 1995.

00:20:28.340 Mike Harris running for premier.

00:20:30.580 He won majority and then a second majority.

00:20:32.620 And if you recall, my friend, one of the top three planks of Mike Harris's common sense revolution was to privatize the LCBO.

00:20:42.900 And what you saw then under the stewardship of Andy Brandt, who used to be with the progressive conservative government, they started to spend money like drunken sailors.

00:20:53.560 LCBO stores used to be very nondescript little buildings.

00:20:56.860 Suddenly, you got these Taj Mahal liquor temples.

00:21:02.040 And I think, Andrew, the idea was to create a network of stranded assets, i.e., if the province ever went ahead with privatization, as a private enterprise, you couldn't viably operate some of these stores in a competitive system.

00:21:21.200 It's too many millions of dollars invested in the store and the overhead.

00:21:25.560 So it's almost as though the fix was in in terms of, you know, polluting the waters, forever allowing the province to go through a privatization.

00:21:35.480 What would you say to that, sir?

00:21:37.100 I would agree.

00:21:37.980 And I'd say the big elephant in the room there is staffing as well.

00:21:41.360 No private operator would ever pay LCBO staff, who many of them are very kind, very capable, and very helpful.

00:21:48.700 But no one would ever pay them $50,000, $60,000 a year to be cashiers.

00:21:54.240 And I'm not denigrating that.

00:21:55.740 It's a job, and it's a good, honest job.

00:21:57.880 But that is not what the market would bear under any other circumstances.

00:22:01.460 So you're right that an investor would look at this and head for the hills, which is why the only, the only demographic that is opposed to privatization seems to be big labor.

00:22:12.840 Big labor and government, I guess.

00:22:14.360 But I'm going to view them as being one and the same right now.

00:22:17.460 No one, this isn't even a left-right issue, liberal conservative, because all of them can enjoy the splendor that is holding up a glass of sangria or having a martini or whatever.

00:22:28.040 And it's baffling to me that no government, even the most bootstrappy, free-market-tier conservative governments, will go near this.

00:22:37.180 It is incredible.

00:22:38.760 And I think one of the reasons, Andrew, especially if you look at the sunshine list, you see so many cronies making high six figures, working at the LCBO, working at the OLG.

00:22:49.920 These are kind of like elephant's graveyards for loyal politicos to go to and get a nice, comfy job.

00:22:57.640 But, Andrew, what we have to address, when you step back and you say, when you compare Canada to the United States, why do we have provincial liquor monopolies?

00:23:10.600 Why do we have provincial lottery monopolies?

00:23:14.280 And with both entities, it comes down to this, Andrew, as you well know, social responsibility.

00:23:19.900 You see, if we were to allow potentially harmful products or money-draining products like lottery tickets, if we left that up to the private sector, well, the next thing you know, you have 15-year-olds drinking Colt 45 in the parking lot.

00:23:37.480 All the private sector cares about is making money.

00:23:40.160 We, at government, you can trust us.

00:23:43.360 And yet, you know, from 10 years ago, Andrew, we did that experiment when I was at Sun News.

00:23:48.080 We sent a 15-year-old clad in a burka to buy hard liquor to three stores.

00:23:54.160 No problem.

00:23:55.740 And I'll give you a quick anecdote.

00:23:57.460 In 1986, I'm 23.

00:23:59.740 I was working in Alberta at the time, visiting Southern California.

00:24:02.920 Had a driver's license, had my ID, and I wanted to buy for my friend for putting me up for a few days a case of Budweiser.

00:24:11.220 I went to one, two, three, finally the fourth store before somebody would serve me.

00:24:17.840 And it was explained to me, the guy would say, look, you have out-of-state ID, even out-of-country, so we're not really allowed to accept that.

00:24:26.500 And I believe that you're 23, that you're legal to drink.

00:24:31.840 But if you're not, and if this is part of a sting, I face a fine.

00:24:37.620 I think the number was either $10,000 or $50,000.

00:24:40.640 If it happens again, I lose my liquor license.

00:24:42.820 Therefore, I lose my livelihood.

00:24:44.100 So sorry for the margin I'm making on a case of beer.

00:24:47.180 It's not worth it.

00:24:48.480 So, Andrew, I'm telling you this story because that proves the private retailers are really working under social responsibility, given the penalties.

00:24:58.460 The three LCBO units that I went to with the 15-year-old, none of them were punished.

00:25:04.400 Nobody was suspended.

00:25:05.940 Nobody was fined.

00:25:07.260 What do you make of this fallacy that the government is socially responsible?

00:25:12.800 Well, there was actually a study in Ontario, it would have been 12, 13 years ago now, where someone did organize that sting.

00:25:22.080 And they went to variety stores to buy cigarettes, beer stores to buy beer, and LCBOs to buy some product from the LCBO.

00:25:30.480 And they found that the highest performing as far as asking for ID and refusing when ID wasn't available was the group of variety stores they went to.

00:25:39.180 The second highest performing was the beer store.

00:25:41.280 The worst was the LCBO.

00:25:44.020 And while individual LCBO employees may be reprimanded if they don't do the ID checks, for a convenience store, you're right, they could lose their entire license.

00:25:53.080 And I've seen variety stores that have to hold up a very embarrassing sign on their door or on their rack for the cigarette saying,

00:25:59.460 we are not allowed to sell cigarettes for X number of weeks because we were caught selling to a minor.

00:26:04.840 So there is a huge, huge, huge downside if one of those privately owned businesses runs afoul of a law, which, like it or not, is the law in place right now for purchasing certain substances.

00:26:17.840 No one's going to shut an LCBO down.

00:26:19.740 In fact, even when every other business in Ontario was shut down, the LCBO got to stay open.

00:26:24.060 A hundred percent.

00:26:25.520 And, you know, Andrew, you are so right.

00:26:27.220 I mean, to personalize this, I live in Richmond Hill at the corner of Bayview and Major Mac a couple of years ago.

00:26:32.520 There was a convenience store.

00:26:34.560 He was the target of one of those things.

00:26:36.920 And what do they do is they get kids that look older than they are.

00:26:40.100 It's very malicious.

00:26:40.980 I think sells a pack of cigarettes, loses the right to sell tobacco.

00:26:45.920 Now that store is bankrupt.

00:26:48.060 It's gone.

00:26:48.940 And literally two kilometers down the road was one of those LCBO stores that sold that 15 year old, the hard liquor.

00:26:55.660 No harm done.

00:26:57.540 You know, Andrew, there's so many other angles.

00:27:00.100 You know, I love the idea of the marketing.

00:27:02.420 Why are you marketing?

00:27:03.180 Why are you giving air miles or aeroplan miles now?

00:27:06.660 So, again, what part of monopoly do you not understand?

00:27:12.040 Yeah, I mean, it's funny because I get my aeroplan miles from Air Canada, which is Air Canada's way of saying, you know, we really want you to book with us instead of WestJet.

00:27:21.080 So we're going to give you these things.

00:27:22.260 The LCBO is saying, you know, we'd really rather you.

00:27:25.960 Well, never mind.

00:27:26.880 Just have some aeroplan miles.

00:27:28.780 Yeah.

00:27:29.360 And again, it's so unnecessary. 0.50

00:27:31.380 And here's the hypocrisy.

00:27:32.420 Once upon a time, you could go into Shopper's Drug Mart and on a prescription sale, Andrew, get Optima points.

00:27:39.300 And the government outlawed that, right, saying that was some kind of ethical breach.

00:27:44.060 But you're giving aeroplan or air miles to liquor purchases?

00:27:49.300 Like, what's the difference here?

00:27:52.440 I guess the final question.

00:27:54.400 I mean, billboard campaigns, too.

00:27:55.900 I've seen them on the Gardner off the road.

00:27:58.540 It's like, that's expensive real estate.

00:28:00.220 It's like, you're either trying to woo me away from your non-existent competitor, or you're just trying to convince me to drink in the first place, which seems to violate the LCBO's social responsibility mandate.

00:28:12.140 Bingo. 0.92

00:28:12.920 It is sucking and blowing at the same time. 0.93

00:28:16.400 And we can, if you look at the LCBO's magazine, Food and Drink, you could do arm curls with that.

00:28:22.020 And yet we're in an age where print is, it's a sunset industry.

00:28:27.840 Why, oh, why is Food and Drink so successful?

00:28:31.660 And by the way, how completely unethical it is for the LCBO to be in the publishing business.

00:28:36.300 They have no bailiwick there.

00:28:37.640 They're in the alcohol business.

00:28:39.280 Well, I can tell you, Andrew, what the sales reps do, allegedly, is they go to advertisers, they go to suppliers,

00:28:47.100 and they say, you know, our holiday issue of Food and Drink is coming up, and I'm sure you would like to support us, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

00:28:56.780 Basically, the underlying thing is, you don't want to lose your listing.

00:29:00.580 You don't want to go to a part of the store where there's not a lot of visibility, and suddenly, wow, what a great way to sell ads and pad up that magazine.

00:29:10.340 It is despicable.

00:29:13.580 Yeah, and again, it's not to say that I have any issue with the content of the magazine.

00:29:17.860 It's quite a good magazine, but if it is something that can stand on its own two legs and be profitable from advertising,

00:29:24.600 then let's let a number of private publishers who I'm sure would absolutely love the opportunity to run a profitable title take it over.

00:29:31.460 If it's not profitable, well, why does it exist at all?

00:29:34.620 What benefit does it provide the taxpayers of Ontario, who are the shareholders of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario?

00:29:42.440 Yeah, absolutely.

00:29:43.460 I call it the liquor corruption bureaucracy of Ontario, by the way, Andrew.

00:29:48.080 One last question.

00:29:48.740 That's the French translation, I think.

00:29:50.840 One last question, Andrew.

00:29:53.360 Let's say you're Premier Andrew Lawton of Ontario, or at least the Finance Minister of Ontario.

00:29:59.440 What do you do when it comes to this entity?

00:30:05.380 Like you demonstrated, you say you're socially responsible, and that means, translation, we limit liquor sales,

00:30:13.420 yet you run contests, you advertise, you give away aeroplan miles to increase liquor sales.

00:30:19.800 This is a cat.

00:30:21.360 It doesn't make sense to exist in the first place.

00:30:24.620 What would you do, sir?

00:30:25.740 So I think the first step, like I mentioned, is eliminate any line item in the budget that is unnecessary in a monopoly.

00:30:34.860 So overnight, I'd slash the entire marketing department, cut every contract with outside marketing vendors.

00:30:40.740 That means food and drink.

00:30:41.760 That means aeroplan.

00:30:42.740 That means advertising.

00:30:44.000 All of it.

00:30:44.920 The next thing I would do is delist any product that you can buy in a private store.

00:30:49.620 So some private retailers are able to sell beer and wine, like grocery stores and some variety stores.

00:30:56.420 If it's in one of those, you don't need it at the LCBO.

00:30:59.320 And third, I would put it up on the auction block immediately.

00:31:03.640 Thank you for option number three.

00:31:06.320 Get me aboard that government of yours in our fantasy land, Andrew.

00:31:10.160 You sound like you've got the...

00:31:11.620 No, I should say, I'm going to bump them all down.

00:31:14.360 Number one, appoint David Menzies CEO and then do the rest with your assistance at the helm.

00:31:20.120 Well, you know, Andrew, if I'm appointed CEO, then I can give myself back that bottle of Glenn Farkless 105.

00:31:27.060 And folks, it's the most oft-asked question.

00:31:29.540 Did you get your bottle?

00:31:30.560 The answer is no.

00:31:31.820 But next week, we're going ahead with a small claims action.

00:31:35.920 Can you imagine?

00:31:37.400 It's a $115 bottle of scotch and it costs $100 to file the case.

00:31:42.520 But there's your social responsibility.

00:31:45.320 These are bullies.

00:31:46.820 These are bureaucrats that think they can make up the law as they go along. 0.97

00:31:52.080 Andrew, what a pleasure.

00:31:53.400 Like I said, I'd invite you out to have a drink with you with my favorite scotch Black Bull.

00:31:59.380 But the LCBO, for whatever reason, they delisted that, my friend.

00:32:03.500 So maybe we'll drink Perrier or something one day.

00:32:08.020 Well, you better make sure when I do appoint you CEO, you better make sure to get a good severance negotiated because hopefully you'll be out of a job in a month when the whole thing goes.

00:32:16.220 Oh, Andrew, that's job one.

00:32:19.300 That's job one indeed.

00:32:21.080 Andrew Lawn, True North, what a pleasure.

00:32:23.560 Thank you so much, my friend.

00:32:25.420 Thank you, sir.

00:32:26.380 Thank you, Andrew.

00:32:27.460 And folks, more of the Ezreal event show to come right after this.

00:32:33.500 Well, folks, just tons of response from Ezreal event's monologue last night regarding how we must never forget what governments, bureaucrats, and even members of law enforcement did to us during the COVID-19 pandemic.

00:32:57.860 Jessica's Fluid Art writes,

00:33:00.940 I will never forget how I was forced to stand outside at minus 30 while my husband buried his last grandparent alone.

00:33:09.200 I will never forget the family who disinvited me to Christmas and other family events.

00:33:15.640 I will never forget the leaders who debated tolerating me taking up space.

00:33:22.400 You know, I am so sorry for your loss.

00:33:25.320 I am so sorry you endured all those indignities.

00:33:29.200 And that is the point, folks, that Ezra was making last night.

00:33:32.820 Let us never forget how we lost so many rights, liberties, and freedoms all in the name of science that was more weird science or political science as opposed to medical science.

00:33:46.900 And M. Shecky writes, they're still pushing their jabs vigorously.

00:33:52.420 When a new booster is available, there will still be lines of mass geniuses gladly rolling up their sleeves.

00:33:59.460 Oh, no, you're so right.

00:34:00.360 And one of the most despicable examples was that City of Toronto campaign ad campaign that was that was recently pulled.

00:34:08.720 It is atrocious. My colleague Tamara Ugolini has an item on this basically showing how a child unvaccinated has to stay inside and watch her friends play outside because, you see, she's unclean. 0.97

00:34:23.920 She's not jabbed. How despicable. 0.98

00:34:27.580 And of course, this being a City Hall production, are any heads going to roll for this indignity?

00:34:33.040 Of course not. Unbelievable.

00:34:35.280 Well, folks, thank you so much for tuning in.

00:34:38.440 The big boss man, Ezra Levant, he'll be back tomorrow.

00:34:41.780 In the meantime, as always, stay sane.

00:34:45.320 For Rebel News, I'm Tamara Ugolini here to show you a recent study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, that's also called JAMA,

00:34:55.160 that found that COVID-19 mRNA does not stay at the injection site as we've been previously reassured.

00:35:02.120 Titled Detection of Messenger RNA COVID-19 Vaccines in Human Breast Milk,

00:35:08.060 the Pediatrics Division of JAMA tweeted that causation is warranted regarding breastfeeding infants younger than six months of age in the first two days after maternal COVID-19 vaccination.

00:35:21.080 Because as it turns out, and after careful review, the researchers found trace amounts of BNT162b2 and mRNA-1273 COVID-19 mRNA vaccines in the expressed breast milk of nursing mothers.

00:35:37.460 Immunologist and virologist Dr. Byron Bridle tried to alert the public to this potential on May 27, 2021, during a brief radio interview with Alex Pearson.

00:35:48.660 What has been discovered by a scientific community is the spike protein on its own is almost entirely responsible for the damage to the cardiovascular system if it gets into circulation.

00:36:00.640 Indeed, if you inject the purified spike protein into the blood of research animals, they get all kinds of damage to the cardiovascular system,

00:36:08.960 and it can cross the blood-brain barrier and cause damage to the brain.

00:36:11.500 And then also a publication that was just accepted for a scientific paper, just accepted for publication that backs this up,

00:36:20.360 looked at 13 young healthcare workers that had received the Moderna vaccine, which is the other messenger RNA-based vaccine we have in Canada,

00:36:30.040 and they confirmed this.

00:36:31.440 They found the spike protein in circulation, so in the blood of 11 of those 13 healthcare workers that had received the vaccine.

00:36:38.560 What this means is, so we have known for a long time that the spike protein is a pathogenic protein.

00:36:44.980 It is a toxin.

00:36:45.920 It can cause damage in our body if it gets into circulation.

00:36:49.120 For speaking out with safety concerns, Dr. Bridle was rigorously fact-checked, smeared by an anonymous imposter,

00:36:55.920 and repeatedly ridiculed on social media platforms,

00:36:59.200 while mainstream media and employers alike amplified the voice of self-proclaimed experts.

00:37:03.560 Like that of Dr. Tara Moriarty, who is a dental professor at the University of Toronto,

00:37:09.900 and principal investigator at the Moriarty Lab, an infectious disease research lab.

00:37:14.620 She's also the co-founder of COVID-19 Resources Canada, CanCovid, and hashtag ScienceUpFirst,

00:37:21.500 and oddly is active in health misinformation responses and research.

00:37:28.160 In September of 2021, Moriarty appears to quell the hesitancy of union workers in ACUPI,

00:37:34.900 which is Canada's largest union of public employees,

00:37:38.440 in a vaccine policy town hall that undoubtedly saw the termination of employees who did not comply.

00:37:44.500 It's actually hard to get it to stick around for long enough to get an immune response,

00:37:50.400 and it probably only lasts in our bodies for about two days, maximum two days,

00:37:56.300 and then it starts disappearing quite quickly.

00:37:59.560 And because of the way it's picked up, it doesn't get carried around the body.

00:38:03.560 It's in the location where it's injected.

00:38:07.340 This is the direct advice of so-called experts to employers, employees, and the general public alike

00:38:13.320 that forced pregnant and breastfeeding women to choose between the health and wellness of their babies

00:38:18.580 or to remain gainfully employed so that they could provide for those same babies, 0.61

00:38:24.500 based on advice that is being shown in real time to be faulty and based on misinformation.

00:38:30.380 It's an impossible choice that no one should ever be forced or coerced to make.

00:38:37.960 To learn more about how Rebel News has been shedding light on this

00:38:42.160 and helping these mothers who chose the health and wellness of their babies

00:38:46.040 over the uncertainty of this biological product, go to saveourmoms.ca.

00:38:53.540 And one quick look at the manufacturer's own product monograph, that's the package insert,

00:39:00.380 would have informed anyone questioning the safety and efficacy of these products

00:39:05.180 to slow down and wait for more data.

00:39:10.020 So we've got the monograph, and the monograph, for those of you who don't know,

00:39:13.680 is a little piece of paper that's inside the drug vial.

00:39:16.440 When you leave the pharmacy, most people throw it away.

00:39:18.840 It's a big document.

00:39:19.980 We reproduced that in our report verbatim.

00:39:23.000 We didn't change it.

00:39:23.820 And what we were after there was, you know, everything you do in life has risk associated with it.

00:39:32.180 So we wanted to see what Pfizer knew or didn't know and what they told the government

00:39:37.380 about their drug concerning pregnancies.

00:39:39.900 And we wanted to examine what the risk to a pregnant woman was of actually contracting the disease

00:39:45.680 and dying of it.

00:39:46.760 Fertility.

00:39:47.700 It is unknown whether comertity, comertity is Pfizer's name for their vaccine,

00:39:53.660 has an impact on fertility.

00:39:56.260 Pregnant women. 1.00

00:39:57.360 The safety and efficacy of comertity in pregnant women has not been established.

00:40:02.140 It is unknown whether comertity is discreeted in human milk.

00:40:06.460 Pediatrics.

00:40:07.200 The safety and efficacy of comertity in children under five has not been established.

00:40:11.620 They didn't look at toxicity.

00:40:12.860 The carcinogenicity, in other words, can it cause cancer?

00:40:17.380 Carcinogenic potential was not assessed.

00:40:20.020 This is what Pfizer said.

00:40:21.960 And then if you looked at what the province of Manitoba were telling pregnant women,

00:40:26.020 they were saying it was safe.

00:40:27.580 They were monitoring it.

00:40:29.260 The vaccines have been used for 50 years and they were one of the greatest things ever 1.00

00:40:32.820 that ever occurred in medicine.

00:40:34.700 And don't be worried.

00:40:36.380 We've done the greatest bit of science on this and it's safe and we're monitoring you.

00:40:40.300 We've got you.

00:40:40.820 We've got your back is what they said.

00:40:42.860 Because this was an impossible choice based on faulty data and a horrific imposition that

00:40:48.840 was thrust onto hardworking, principled people based on this faulty product that was amplified

00:40:54.380 by misled, at best, experts.

00:40:58.180 And I think that the truth will continue to prevail.

00:41:00.880 For Rebel News, I'm Tamara Ugolini.

00:41:03.100 Let's play dialogue with somebody.

00:41:03.120 Let's play.

00:41:03.180 Let's play.

00:41:03.660 We've got parole.

00:41:03.980 Turn over to help me.

00:41:04.440 You're in a wrong way.

00:41:04.640 You're not a wrong way.

00:41:04.780 Let's play.

00:41:05.360 Let's play.

Rebel News Podcast - September 29, 2022

EZRA LEVANT ｜ It's been 50 years since the Summit Series： is Canada freer now than during the clash against the Soviets？

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