Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Thank you, America—from your lucky northern neighbour

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. It is Independence Day for our friends to the South. And yes, they are our

00:00:04.780 friends. You know, as Wob Canoes said, it was actually a lovely line. We'll never be the 51st

00:00:10.320 state, he said, but we can be your number one friend. I really liked how he said that. I don't

00:00:15.340 know if we'll ever be a U.S. state, but we certainly are lucky to have them as our number

00:00:20.520 one friend. And I want to tell you some of my favorite things about America and why America

00:00:26.440 is the best thing to ever happen to the whole world. And I say that as someone born and

00:00:31.240 raised in Canada. So I'll give you my thoughts on that. I'd love your thoughts in response.

00:00:35.500 But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version

00:00:39.700 of this podcast. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com. It's eight bucks a month. And we need that to

00:00:44.900 pay the bills because we get no money from the government. And it shows.

00:00:56.440 Tonight, it's Independence Day in the U.S. So let me tell you why that makes Canada the

00:01:09.580 luckiest country in the world. It's the 4th of July, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.

00:01:13.840 You're fighting for freedom! Shame on you, you sensorism bug!

00:01:26.440 Everyone loves America. Even the people who say they hate America couldn't do without it. They're

00:01:34.300 just unwilling to admit it. They don't need to admit it. American industry, American inventions,

00:01:39.600 American culture, American pop songs, American automobiles have conquered the world. Iran's 1.00

00:01:45.160 ayatollahs type out their impotent messages on Twitter in English. When foreign dictators need 1.00

00:01:52.340 serious medical care, they fly to the U.S. No one flies to Cuba or North Korea. Of course,

00:01:58.360 millions of people do say they hate America, and it's best to believe them, and they mean America 1.00

00:02:03.800 harm. And they try to hurt America whenever they can. I think of Osama bin Laden for one of the worst

00:02:10.220 examples. You know, when he was found in Pakistan, he sure had a lot of American stuff with him, for

00:02:16.280 someone who hates America, from American books and American CDs and goofy internet memes even,

00:02:24.200 all in English, of course. And yeah, lots of American pornography too. So of course he hates

00:02:31.200 America, but in a way he loves the fruits of it compared to the failed state where he spent his

00:02:38.260 final months, the backwater of Pakistan. Obviously Osama bin Laden is a mass murderer, one of the most 0.74

00:02:44.120 evil people, but in a way he reminds me of leftists on university campuses who are tweeting against

00:02:51.220 America and against capitalism while using an $800 iPhone. You know what I mean? The thing is, when

00:02:58.380 you're as big and as strong as America, you're like a giant lion, and you don't respond to hecklers who

00:03:05.340 are a bit more like jackals. You don't respond to every insult you don't need to. You know it's just

00:03:11.000 chatter, just banter, because you're more powerful than the rest of the world combined. And with the

00:03:15.760 power comes the ability to let things slide. You don't have to assert your dominance all the time,

00:03:20.480 everyone already knows. But every once in a while you have to. Pearl Harbor was an unforgivable attack

00:03:27.360 that had to be responded to. Same with 9-11. Trump took a different approach with Iran recently.

00:03:32.680 He let Israel clear out the anti-aircraft missiles in that country, and then Trump sent in the B-2 bombers

00:03:38.160 for the final touch, blowing up Iran's nukes. I like Trump's minimalist approach to intervention,

00:03:44.000 but maximalist approach to looking strong. It's what Teddy Kennedy said more than a century ago about

00:03:50.320 walk softly but carry a big stick. Forgive me, but I want to show you a clip from a movie around 20 years

00:03:57.200 ago with the actor Christopher Walken. Watch 90 seconds of this. It reminds me of America.

00:04:08.160 You watch those nature documentaries on the cable?

00:04:16.000 Yeah. You see the one about lions?

00:04:20.160 Yeah. Look at this lion. He's the king of the jungle. Huge mane out there. He's laying down under a tree

00:04:30.940 in the middle of Africa. He's so big. He's so hot. He doesn't want to move. Now, the little lion comes,

00:04:42.460 they start messing with him. Biting his tail, biting his ears. He doesn't do anything. The lioness,

00:04:50.940 she starts messing with him, coming over, making trouble. Still, nothing. Now, the other animals,

00:04:59.580 they notice this, and they start to move in. The jackals. Hyenas. They're barking at him, laughing at him.

00:05:10.460 They nip his toes and eat the food that's in his domain. They do this, and they get closer and closer

00:05:20.540 and bolder and bolder until one day that lion gets up and tears the shit out of everybody, runs like the wind,

00:05:29.180 eats everything in his path. Because every once in a while, the lion has to show the jackals

00:05:36.300 who he is. Don't you think that's a metaphor for America? America looks down in the dumps sometimes.

00:05:46.900 Like, maybe it's in decline. It looks weak sometimes, and bad things happen. Let me play for you a five-minute

00:05:53.940 radio broadcast from the early 70s from CFRB, which was the biggest radio station in Toronto,

00:06:01.380 which was heard into the U.S., and it actually became a rallying cry for Canadians who love America

00:06:07.580 and were upset that, you know, it was being beset by jackals and hyenas. By the way, I want to show

00:06:13.740 you this. I have a vinyl record of this broadcast. Look at this, hanging in my office. That's how things

00:06:20.100 went viral in 1973. People loved the broadcast so much. So Gordon Sinclair, the man who did it,

00:06:26.800 he re-recorded it, and they pressed it into records, and they sold like hotcakes. That's how

00:06:32.760 things went viral in the 70s. I've got that on my wall. It's one of the few things that I really

00:06:37.500 treasure. And it reminds me of how America has been our best friend forever. Here, listen, I'm going to

00:06:44.640 play for you five minutes of it. It's worth the time, but don't go away. I got my version of Gordon

00:06:49.700 Sinclair's love letter to America afterwards. But here's what Gordon Sinclair said in 1973, and it went

00:06:55.120 viral. And remember, that was when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister. So it was a lot of leftist

00:07:00.000 thinking afoot. Here's Gordon Sinclair. I'm Gordon Sinclair, what they call a seasoned Canadian

00:07:05.360 commentator on radio station CFRB in Toronto. And way back on the fifth day of June, I did an

00:07:12.120 editorial about the Americans. It was titled, Let's Hear It for the Americans. Well, this had an

00:07:19.380 enormous response, both from the United States and from Canada. And so we've decided to put

00:07:25.500 it on television, and therefore I'll read it. Now, normally when I'm on television, I don't

00:07:30.340 wear glasses. But a fellow of my age, which is approaching 74, has to wear them to read.

00:07:36.880 And so I'll put on the glasses and read the editorial and do the best I can. Here we go.

00:07:42.400 Well, the United States dollar took another pounding on German, French, and British exchanges

00:07:47.640 this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there

00:07:52.820 by 41% since 1971. And this Canadian thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans as the

00:08:00.520 most generous and possibly the least appreciated people in all the world. As long as 60 years

00:08:06.940 ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the

00:08:11.940 Yangtze. Well, who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did, that's who. They 0.53

00:08:18.020 have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges, and the Niger. Today, the

00:08:24.400 rich bottom land of the Mississippi is underwater, and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.

00:08:30.560 Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by

00:08:36.560 the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of

00:08:43.120 those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

00:08:48.840 When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, 0.99

00:08:54.960 and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. And I was there,

00:09:00.140 I saw that. When distant cities are hit by earthquake, it's the United States that hurries into hell.

00:09:06.560 Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities

00:09:14.620 have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped. The Marshall Plan, the Truman Policy,

00:09:20.960 all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. And now newspapers in those

00:09:27.900 countries are writing about the decadent, war-mongering Americans. Now, I'd like to see just one of those 1.00

00:09:36.420 countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.

00:09:42.200 Come on now, you, let's hear it. Does any country in the world have a plane to equal a Boeing jumbo jet,

00:09:48.440 the Lockheed Tristar, or the Douglas 10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines,

00:09:56.500 except Russia, fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a woman 1.00

00:10:04.080 on the moon? You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy,

00:10:10.500 technocracy, and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the moon,

00:10:16.780 not once, but several times, and safely home again. You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs

00:10:23.700 right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded.

00:10:30.580 They're right here on our streets in Toronto. Most of them, unless they're breaking Canadian laws,

00:10:35.400 are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend up here. When the Americans get out of this

00:10:43.360 bind, as they will, who could blame them if they said, to hell with the rest of the world? Let somebody

00:10:49.960 else buy the bonds. Let somebody else build or repair foreign dams, or design foreign buildings that

00:10:56.460 won't shake apart in earthquakes. When the railways of France and Germany and India were breaking down

00:11:02.900 through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central 0.86

00:11:08.760 went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both of them are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times

00:11:16.540 when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name to me even one time

00:11:23.280 when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the

00:11:29.460 San Francisco earthquake. Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damn tired

00:11:36.360 of hearing them kicked around. They'll come out of this thing with their flag high, and when they do,

00:11:42.540 they're entitled to thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

00:11:48.440 I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally,

00:11:55.140 the American Red Cross was told at its 48th annual meeting in New Orleans this morning

00:12:01.080 that it was broke. This year's disasters, with the year less than half over, has taken it all,

00:12:08.160 and nobody, but nobody has helped. I love that, and I sort of choked up a little bit a couple times

00:12:15.820 listening to him say that. He was talking about mainly economics and finances and coming to the aid of

00:12:21.020 natural disasters. Those are real things, but it was almost like he was taking for granted the larger

00:12:26.260 stuff, the existential stuff. National security, the belief in freedom, the opposition to tyranny. I

00:12:31.620 mean, remember, that was in the darkest hours of the Cold War. But you can imagine how anti-American

00:12:36.780 Pierre Trudeau was, and that was early in his disastrous terms. So good for Gordon Sinclair.

00:12:42.580 America looked weak again during the Biden years, but the lion is back, don't you think?

00:12:49.440 Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine when Obama was in office, not when Trump was in office the first

00:12:54.600 time, but then again when Biden was in office again. Do you think that's a coincidence? I'm

00:12:59.940 not saying this is a partisan thing. There have been powerful and confident leaders who were

00:13:05.000 Democrats. You'd probably have to go back in time 75 years to find one. I'm just saying America is a

00:13:11.240 lion. Lots of jackals out there, lots of hyenas laughing. I love that little monologue by Christopher

00:13:17.940 walking, don't you? But that emphasizes physical dominance and deterrence, which is a big part of

00:13:24.040 our world. Ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union, for nearly 50 years after the Second World

00:13:29.240 War, history was almost frozen as NATO and the Warsaw Pact stared each other down under the nuclear

00:13:35.740 doctrine of mutually assured destruction. The only wars were really proxy wars, like in Vietnam.

00:13:41.400 But the stability of the mutually assured destruction era is gone, paradoxically. So yeah,

00:13:49.160 Trump's invigorated military and his demands that NATO allies pay up is absolutely important

00:13:54.940 for the stability of the world. I just can't resist to show you this little item from Ireland,

00:14:01.220 which has the tiniest military budget in Europe as a percentage of their GDP. They've decided to convert

00:14:07.140 some of their military vehicles to electric vehicles, as in the kind that have to stop

00:14:12.660 and be plugged in every few hours. They are literally paying someone to take out the diesel

00:14:18.800 combustion engine and replace them with battery-powered engines. That is a real story. That is an

00:14:25.460 unserious country compared to the lion. Anyways, forgive my little detour there. I love America,

00:14:31.000 and there's no contradiction to being a Canadian and saying that. It really is a great nation and a good

00:14:36.040 nation. And in a way, we're the luckiest people in the world, that we get our own country with our

00:14:41.260 own peculiarities. But because of sheer proximity, we get so many benefits of American greatness,

00:14:46.920 even if we're sometimes one of those nosy jackals and hyenas biting and laughing at the lion that

00:14:52.720 protects us. We obviously benefit from the military. Let's not kid each other. Our aging CF-18s could

00:14:58.920 not defend our northern airspace. I mean, for example, we weren't even able to take down that

00:15:03.820 slow-flying, low-flying Chinese spy balloon that flew over North America under Biden. It wasn't

00:15:10.400 shot down until Americans could do it. I think it's probably safe to say that being America's 1.00

00:15:15.120 neighbor is the only reason why China or Russia haven't just laid claim to vast swathes of our 0.99

00:15:21.060 Arctic. So obviously, militarily, we benefit, which is probably why we're amongst the lowest

00:15:26.900 in terms of paying our way. We're free riders. Economically, what a blessing, what an unearned

00:15:35.140 blessing to be literally next door to the world's largest, richest market. What an advantage to us

00:15:41.000 when the great markets of America are just a short truck ride or train ride away. I mean, Windsor,

00:15:45.700 Ontario is practically merged with Detroit, Michigan when it comes to assembling automobiles. The same car

00:15:51.240 goes back and forth across the borders several times before it's done. Imagine how lucky Honda or Toyota

00:15:57.160 or Kia or Hyundai would feel if Japan or Korea were just across a bridge from America. And of course,

00:16:03.960 so many American cultural values seep across our borders to our benefit. It's not in our laws.

00:16:09.700 It's not in our constitution. But by mere proximity to them, I think we have a stronger commitment to

00:16:15.160 freedom of speech and the rule of law than we would have if we were far away. It's not for nothing that

00:16:19.680 the final showdown in terms of freedom of speech on social media is shaping up to be the European

00:16:25.240 censors versus America and the First Amendment. And you've already heard from our Prime Minister Mark

00:16:31.780 Carney that he wants to join the Europeans. Apparently, becoming the 28th EU country isn't

00:16:38.180 as offensive to him as becoming the 51st US state. How can you not admire America's meritocracy,

00:16:44.980 their science and industry? Look at Elon Musk, a one in a billion man. But the fact that he could

00:16:50.440 have stayed in South Africa where he was born and raised, or he could have stayed here in Canada

00:16:55.200 where he came and went to university, but he chose America because really how could he have done any

00:17:01.240 of the things he has done in Canada politically, economically, scientifically? Just think of the

00:17:07.920 regulations and the taxes. I mean, they'd have him do a carbon emissions analysis of his rocket ships.

00:17:15.180 You think I'm kidding, but of course, that's what they do. They do gender analysis of major projects 0.95

00:17:21.440 here in Canada. They would censor his Twitter project. They would tax his SpaceX project. But

00:17:26.700 really, if you want to work with smart entrepreneurial people and you want to pay them well,

00:17:31.460 of course you're going to go to America. Everyone in the world wants to go there, entrepreneurs and

00:17:35.900 dreamers and builders, but also people who just want to mooch off of them. That's why I'm excited

00:17:41.860 about Donald Trump's re-migration project. He's making America more American and less illegal

00:17:47.640 foreigners. America is special that way. It's about 400 years old, really, which is old. 1.00

00:17:52.800 And the political entity called the United States of America is almost 250 years old. But

00:17:56.860 other than Indian bands, it's not a unique ethnicity like being Irish or English or French is.

00:18:02.860 America was settled and built originally by the English and the Dutch and the Germans and the

00:18:07.820 French even. And there was the Spanish and Latino influence. And then came later waves of Italians

00:18:12.820 and Greeks and Jews and Chinese. And as Trump thoughtfully points out, there are foundational

00:18:17.960 black Americans who were brought to America as slaves, but built the country. A moral challenge 1.00

00:18:23.640 America is still reckoning with, but hardly a unique blight. Slavery has existed in almost every country

00:18:29.960 over the course of time. Only America has gone through such a brutal self-examination

00:18:34.880 and even in part a civil war over it. Part of the genius of America is that it Americanized

00:18:42.280 those immigrants. Of course, they lived amongst themselves at first, but there is an American-ness

00:18:47.200 that verges on blood and soil nationality. America is about land, the ability to buy land,

00:18:53.580 to have land of your own, not just to be a feudal serf indentured to some lord. The Wild West with

00:19:00.620 open vistas, land is a big part of it, which is why the automobile culture in America is stronger

00:19:06.360 than anywhere else. Cars are a key to freedom in a big country, which is why so many leftists have

00:19:11.700 declared war on cars. America, of course, has the world's best constitution in that it is a vital

00:19:17.820 document. You might find it hard to believe, but the Soviet constitution, for example, here's

00:19:23.040 the 1977 version promulgated under Brezhnev that mentions the word freedom 18 times, but of course

00:19:31.640 it was a lie. It was propaganda. Here's an excerpt, just for example, article 50. In accordance with the

00:19:37.180 interests of the people and in order to strengthen and develop the socialist system, citizens of the

00:19:42.540 USSR are guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press and of assembly, meetings, street processions and

00:19:49.340 demonstrations. Exercise of these political freedoms is ensured by putting public buildings,

00:19:55.860 streets and squares at the disposal of the working people and their organizations by broad dissemination

00:20:01.620 of information, by the opportunity to use the press, television and radio. Yet not a word of that is

00:20:08.340 true, but it sure looked pretty on paper, didn't it? In America, they live their constitution more or

00:20:15.020 less, and more or less supporting the constitution is a bipartisan thing. It's under assault more than

00:20:20.900 ever to be sure, but there is a general agreement that the American revolution was noble and its

00:20:26.380 constitution is a document protecting the people from tyrants. We don't have that same rebellious

00:20:33.080 mindset up here, do we? I guess what I'm saying is the United States feels like the last great hope

00:20:40.440 for freedom and progress, not just for America, but for all mankind. I mentioned Elon Musk earlier.

00:20:46.480 None of his projects would have had a chance in a communist, racist kleptocracy like South Africa, 0.91

00:20:53.120 where he was born. Canada would have strangled it so slowly through taxes and regulations and just

00:20:59.620 driven him mad, I'm sure. Only America, with its combination of freedom and property rights and

00:21:04.620 independent courts and upward mobility for anyone based on merit and a generally high-trust society

00:21:10.740 where you can feel safe dealing with strangers, whether it's just a pedestrian on the sidewalk or a

00:21:16.660 man shaking your hand with a business deal, they've created something special over 400 years. It's not

00:21:22.600 just an address, it's not just a hotel. It's not what the UK's Keir Starmer said about his country,

00:21:28.520 that mass immigration has made it a nation of strangers.

00:21:32.180 Let me put it this way. Nations depend on rules, fair rules. Sometimes they're written down,

00:21:40.840 often they're not. But either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights,

00:21:49.040 of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.

00:21:56.100 Now, in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more

00:22:04.060 important. Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers.

00:22:09.700 But enough explaining why America is great. Let's just take a moment to say thank you to them.

00:22:15.500 Seriously. I would like to thank the United States for being Canada's best friend, even when we don't

00:22:22.360 quite deserve it, even when we're a bit too righteous and a bit too jealous. I'd like to thank

00:22:28.320 the United States for protecting us with the world's mightiest military. Even though we haven't kept our

00:22:33.700 promises to pay our fair share as a NATO ally, we take more than we give, yet they go through the

00:22:39.300 motions of treating us like equals. I'd like to thank the US for buying our stuff, about $600 billion worth

00:22:47.120 every year, giving us so many jobs. We've seen them ask for the right to sell products into Canada,

00:22:53.080 too. But for a few ridings in rural Quebec, every Canadian political party has put Quebec's dairy

00:22:59.240 cartel above not only America's free trade interests, but the interests of Canadians in having inexpensive,

00:23:06.720 plentiful dairy and poultry, too. That's a jackal move, needlessly irritating the lion who protects us,

00:23:13.700 isn't it? I like America no matter who the president is. You have to. A country is more than its political

00:23:19.980 class. I liked America even when Barack Obama unleashed racial civil wars to radicalize his base. I liked it

00:23:28.140 even when Joe Biden projected weakness around the world. But those were the only times that so many other

00:23:33.120 people around the world said they loved America because they saw America undoing itself, receding,

00:23:38.400 retreating. Like the man said, they sensed weakness. You know, we take things for granted. Our whole lives

00:23:45.580 we've been at peace because of America. Our whole lives we've known only plenty. We live a life so

00:23:51.780 luxurious that we can choose to worry ourselves about luxury issues that have no real meaning other than we

00:23:58.580 need to keep ourselves feeling vigorous since there are no more dragons to slay. I'm talking about

00:24:03.860 insanity like transgenderism or pronouns or even climate alarmism. That's the kind of thing you 0.94

00:24:09.760 can choose to worry about when you have nothing to worry about. We've all seen the meme. I love this

00:24:15.620 one. Have you seen it? Hard times make strong men. Strong men make good times. Good times make weak men.

00:24:24.280 Weak men make hard times. That's our risk. It's been good for so long. We've been made weak and unserious.

00:24:31.960 Now, America cannot afford to be weak and unserious, and they've decided to be great again. That's a phrase

00:24:38.100 that makes some Canadians' eyes roll. Great. Who does he think he is? That's so over the top.

00:24:43.880 America great? No, no. It's the same greatness that we had in Canada to hew a country out of rivers and

00:24:51.440 forests and rock, to blast a railroad through the Rocky Mountains, to settle the second largest country in the

00:24:57.960 world, to make a real country, to fight alongside our allies on D-Day. We were great too. I don't know

00:25:05.320 how great we are now. Some people don't want us to be great. Just another reason to thank God for our

00:25:11.820 friends, the Americans. Stay with us for more.

00:25:25.540 Hey, welcome back. I remember a few years ago when COVID mania was at its highest heights,

00:25:30.280 and judges, unfortunately, because of demographics, because of social status, were amongst the biggest

00:25:37.560 victims of the psychology, the mass formation psychology, as it was called. They were the ones

00:25:44.780 most afraid, most persuaded by the fear-mongering. A few reasons for that. First and most obvious

00:25:50.340 reason is judges are typically older. A senior judge probably doesn't even get appointed until their

00:25:55.920 40s or 50s or even their 60s. So these are people who, if anything, would know more people who were

00:26:04.840 ill because of COVID. Someone who's 20 and is banned from working in a restaurant, banned from going to a

00:26:11.480 gym, probably doesn't know anyone who became gravely ill because of COVID. Whereas a 70-year-old judge,

00:26:18.600 many of their friends would be terrified, as would the judge. Obviously, psychologically, judges are

00:26:23.980 creatures of the establishment. They defer to authority. Someone with a white lab coat and a

00:26:28.840 clipboard saying COVID is going to kill you. A judge by nature is going to be impressed by the appeal

00:26:38.920 to authority. I am that chief public health officer. Judges, by definition, defer to authority. It's the

00:26:46.360 whole system of precedent. I remember one of the lowest moments in jurisprudence, when

00:26:53.460 a former judge, he's retired now, in Alberta, Adam Jermaine was his name, he was appointed by the

00:26:59.020 liberals, he ruled against Arthur Pawlowski, saying that Arthur Pawlowski, and in a bizarre

00:27:05.380 addendum to the courtroom, maybe you remember this, Pastor Arthur Pawlowski was ordered whenever he

00:27:12.680 spoke about COVID publicly, whether it was in a personal conversation, on Facebook, to his church,

00:27:19.100 on TV. He had to then take out a little card that was written by the judge and read this judge's

00:27:26.440 personal comments about how Arthur's views were dissenting views and they were not shared by the

00:27:33.200 government. The most insane thing. And the judge thought he could do that. And I remember reading

00:27:40.880 the ruling where the judge says, we all know someone who's died because of COVID. Really?

00:27:44.900 I don't know any such person. I mean, maybe it's because I'm not a 75-year-old judge.

00:27:52.040 And this, COVID was real. It was a bad flu. And its average age of the victims was in the high 70s,

00:27:59.860 early 80s. So no, we didn't. Anyhow, my point is, things were atrocious in the thick of it. And I put it

00:28:06.960 to you that judges were uniquely susceptible to being terrified. And they acted as such.

00:28:14.100 Well, now it's halfway through 2025. And COVID's been over for a while. And we're actually learning

00:28:19.300 how things really were. We're learning just today. I read on Global News, which was such a propagandist

00:28:25.780 during the whole fracas. Global News is now saying how the vaccine injury bureaucracy

00:28:32.100 jokes around all day, watches Netflix, goofs off, like they're finally starting to mock

00:28:38.420 and deride and criticize the people in the white lab coats. We're starting to see

00:28:43.380 some independent thinking happen. About five years too late, but here it is.

00:28:48.240 And I say all this because I just got some good news moments ago. And here to tell us that good news

00:28:54.500 is someone who has been fighting these battles from the darkest days. His name is John Carpe.

00:28:59.720 He's the boss of the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms. And he joins us now

00:29:03.480 by Zoom from Calvary. John, welcome back. Great to see you. We were just talking a moment ago about

00:29:08.740 a decision that I am quite pleasantly surprised by. Why don't you say it? What is the news in the case

00:29:16.360 of the government versus Evan Blackman? Why don't you tell us who Evan Blackman is and what the latest

00:29:22.460 news is in his court fight? So Evan Blackman is one of many Canadians that was wrongfully arrested

00:29:29.660 and unjustly charged criminally for having done nothing criminal, but just participating in the

00:29:36.600 peaceful Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa. So he was arrested February 2022 when there was the big,

00:29:43.840 uh, the violent crackdown, uh, under the emergencies act. And, uh, he was acquitted at trial. The only

00:29:53.120 thing the crown had was a video from a drone and no audio. And, um, interestingly, the video shows

00:30:03.520 Evan Blackman encouraging other, there was going to, it looked like there might be an altercation

00:30:09.600 between protesters and police. Evan Blackman was holding his hands out to tell the other protesters

00:30:16.400 to stand back. He got down on his knees and took off his hat, put his hand over his heart and sang,

00:30:23.520 Oh Canada. And there's five minutes, five minutes of footage or he's kneeling before the police.

00:30:28.560 Wow. Uh, very peacefully. Wow. And so he's acquitted of all charges. Unfortunately,

00:30:33.600 the crown appealed and, um, that in itself is so abusive and that's in Ontario, eh?

00:30:39.280 You know what? For all the criticism of Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney, it's Ontario's prosecutors

00:30:45.040 who are leading the fight against Mr. Blackman and against Tamara Leach. And, and you can't put

00:30:51.680 that on Trudeau or Carney. That is on Doug Ford and his attorney general. Sorry for the interruption.

00:30:57.760 Back to you. No. Well, and these same crown prosecutors complained publicly about that.

00:31:02.800 There's a lack of resources. So when for people charged with, uh, sexual assault, murder, serious

00:31:10.800 crimes, they need to get to a trial within 30 months, right? Otherwise it's going to be dismissed.

00:31:17.040 And, and the Ontario crown prosecutors state publicly that, that they don't have enough resources.

00:31:22.240 And so you have people accused of murder, rape, aggravated assault, who are walking away

00:31:28.800 without a trial. And yet the crown prosecutors in Ontario are prosecuting people like Chris Barber,

00:31:34.640 Tamara Leach, Evan Blackman. Hey, let me interrupt before you go any further. You mentioned this

00:31:39.360 prosecutor. Do you know him by name, by any chance? Uh, I know that's a detail that you might not have

00:31:43.600 in front of me. Okay. Cause, cause there are some out of control prosecutors. I'm starting to get to

00:31:47.440 know their names. Uh, one of them who was, uh, really started the battle against Tamara Leach,

00:31:52.400 Moyes Karimji is his name, just completely emotionally out of control, really a rogue actor.

00:31:58.320 He was actually suspended from working on Tamara Leach's case. I can't believe he's still practicing

00:32:02.800 law, let alone for a prosecutor. Anyways, I'll, I'll follow up with that later. But so, so Blackman was

00:32:08.800 acquitted. The crown is appealing, even though their evidence seems quite weak. Um, so that appeal is

00:32:15.920 coming, but I understand you told me this just moments ago that something sort of neat happened.

00:32:21.760 Now you're going to have to explain it in layman's terms because it's a sort of a technical, uh, subpoena,

00:32:28.160 but why don't you tell us what an Ontario judge just ordered? And this goes to my point that we're

00:32:33.280 no longer in the madness of 2021, 2022, when judges were doing crazy things like locking churches and

00:32:41.440 making people read out self-denunciations. Maybe judges are getting a little more balanced

00:32:45.840 stuff. Tell us what the latest is. So Evan Blackman, like so many, like hundreds of other

00:32:51.360 Canadians, he suffered the freezing of his bank accounts. And of course this happened suddenly,

00:32:57.760 caused great hardship on him. Uh, he's a businessman, he's running his business through

00:33:03.600 bank accounts. So I guess like, like all businessmen do. And, um, this of course was denounced by

00:33:10.880 the federal court in January, 2024, uh, a court action with several groups, including the justice

00:33:17.840 center. We're participating in that when the court ruled that, uh, Trudeau acted illegally

00:33:23.680 when, uh, declaring a national emergency. And, uh, the court also ruled that the,

00:33:29.920 the freezing of bank accounts was an unjustified violation of the charter right to be free from

00:33:36.080 unreasonable search and seizure. So in the course of this appeal, what, uh, what our lawyers have done

00:33:42.640 is we have made an application, uh, to the court for an order that the RCMP and the Toronto Dominion

00:33:51.760 Bank be ordered to turn over all of their relevant documents relating to the freezing of the bank

00:33:58.160 bank account of Evan Blackman, because this could be relevant in his defense. And, uh, the court is

00:34:06.080 interested in seeing what, what was the thinking here? Why were his accounts frozen and did the

00:34:12.000 freezing of his accounts? Was there a relationship between that and the criminal prosecution?

00:34:16.560 And so our lawyers made the application and, uh, we got an order from the judge, um, I believe it was

00:34:24.000 July 2nd stating that, uh, the RCMP and the TD Bank are compelled to turn over the documents, uh,

00:34:32.880 about the freezing of the bank accounts of Evan Blackman. And as far as I know, that's the,

00:34:38.640 that's the first time in Canadian history that we're going to see some documents pertaining to this very

00:34:45.920 mysterious and nefarious, uh, behind the scenes doing their dirty deeds in darkness,

00:34:52.240 freezing of bank accounts. Uh, we're going to see some documents and that should be extremely

00:34:56.480 interesting. It absolutely. And first of all, I'm going to make a prediction, which is the TD Bank

00:35:03.120 or the RCMP or both are going to appeal this subpoena because they may, they might not want their

00:35:11.200 dirty deeds done in the dark to be brought to the light. And they've got nothing but money for lawyers,

00:35:18.000 don't they? So my first prediction is they're going to appeal this because they do not want

00:35:24.160 what they said privately and internally to come out. The second thing is, I think if that fails,

00:35:32.320 if this subpoena maintains, I know I'm going to sound conspiratorial here, John, but it wouldn't

00:35:38.960 surprise me if the prosecutor drops the appeal so that this can't happen. What I'm getting at, John,

00:35:48.000 is if you were able to smoke out what TD Bank said and heard and was told and who they talked to

00:35:56.800 and what the RCMP was told and who they talked to, I'm guessing it's something so dark

00:36:03.280 that the government would do anything. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if within the next week,

00:36:07.120 forget the appeal, John, I think they're going to drop the charges against Mr. Blackman,

00:36:11.680 drop the appeal because they would do anything to avoid those documents coming to light.

00:36:20.080 What you've just said is within the realm of the possible, we'll have to wait and see. But I'll

00:36:24.800 tell you, I saw something similar, Ezra. This is going back two or three years. We had numerous clients

00:36:30.960 who were charged with failing to use the arrive cam, right? So we were providing lawyers for people

00:36:37.920 with the, as you were with the democracy fund, you know, people charged, fined, you know,

00:36:44.560 $5,000 or $10,000 or more for not using this stupid dysfunctional app. And we tried so hard to get

00:36:53.840 this before the court as a constitutional challenge to say, we're challenging the constitutionality of the

00:36:58.880 requirement. And yet, whenever we had a trial scheduled on the merits, where we're going to

00:37:05.760 argue the constitutionality, and the government would be forced to come into court with its witnesses,

00:37:11.920 expert or otherwise, and testify for the, you know, medical scientific basis for forcing everybody to use

00:37:19.360 the arrive cam app. Whenever it got to something on the merits, the, the crown would withdraw,

00:37:25.680 or the government's witnesses wouldn't show up, and we would win. But we win these victories without,

00:37:31.760 without getting to the heart of the matter, which is that the federal government had no scientific

00:37:37.680 basis or medical basis for these lockdown policies. So I think it's the same with the democracy fund.

00:37:44.000 I'd have to check with Mark Joseph, our litigation lawyer for details, but I don't think they ever

00:37:48.960 dared let it get to a trial. And I think that we took over a thousand arrive can cases. In fact,

00:37:56.080 right now you might know we're taking arrive can app claims for the Amish. John, I don't know if you

00:38:00.320 heard about that. The Amish who are very old fashioned, like they don't use tech at all. They 1.00

00:38:05.840 were given these, these multi-thousand dollar fines, and they actually have liens put on their farms,

00:38:11.680 because they didn't use the arrive can app, but they're Amish, they don't use phones, like they, 0.86

00:38:15.360 they eschew modern technology. And we're having good luck there too, because I think the government

00:38:21.440 realizes those were atrocious policies. And it goes back, you know, sometimes all it takes is one

00:38:26.960 person to stand up and say, no, I want a hearing. And too often people just go with the flow or say,

00:38:33.040 oh, there's all hope is lost. And you know, you guys at the Justice Center were on it from day one,

00:38:38.800 you were pre-existing, you were ready to fight. I remember when Democracy Fund was ramping up,

00:38:43.680 we had a very tough time finding lawyers, even at very high rates, hourly rates, like we were

00:38:49.680 willing to pay. Like it was so hard to find a lawyer that was willing to swim against the tide. Lawyers,

00:38:57.200 you know, they like to think of themselves as brave and defenders of freedom. But especially

00:39:01.920 in the first year, the peer pressure was so extraordinary that lawyers who have no problem

00:39:07.520 defending accused murderers did not want to be defending accused mask not wearers. Or like it

00:39:18.240 was, the mania was so high. And yeah, I'm really excited about Mr. Blackman's case. But I say again,

00:39:24.560 I think the government's just going to drop it rather than have those internal documents revealed.

00:39:28.480 We'll wait and see how it how it progresses.

00:39:33.280 Um, hey, just one more minute before we go, because I think that Evan Blackman case is so

00:39:38.000 interesting. And by the way, do I don't know if you have this info at your fingertips and I'm

00:39:42.000 putting you on the spot here. Do we know whose drone that was? Because we heard that the Canadian 0.62

00:39:46.560 forces had deployed a drone and the RCMP was using drone footage. I don't know if it was their own or if it

00:39:52.400 was improperly the Canadian forces spying on their own citizens. Do you have any info as to the

00:39:59.040 provenance of the drone footage? I think there was a lot of law breaking going on by the government back

00:40:03.600 then. I don't know if it was, uh, you know, the, the Canadian military, the armed forces or the,

00:40:10.640 the RCMP, the Ottawa police, this, this was taking place on February the 18th. So we had the illegal

00:40:17.200 uh, invocation of the emergencies act. So it could have been technically legal under the illegal

00:40:24.720 invocation of the emergencies act. Right. But I don't, I don't know whose drone it was. Yeah.

00:40:30.320 Hey, really quickly, Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta has brought in laws trying to limit, uh,

00:40:36.160 transgender extremism, especially as it relates to young people who are making irreversible surgical

00:40:43.200 or chemical decisions. And it feels so dumb to talk about this because the rest of the world

00:40:50.800 has moved so far along. I mean, the United States, um, has made it illegal for universities to force

00:40:59.680 women and girls teams to accept male trends, you know, trans athletes. University of Pennsylvania

00:41:06.000 just agreed to strip all the trans athletes of their awards, give it to the properly winning 1.00

00:41:10.720 women. And this includes the very famous case of Leah Thomas, the man who still had his full twig

00:41:17.280 and berries, by the way, he was just claiming he was a woman. So the U S is moving so far away from

00:41:22.960 this. The United Kingdom has had a massive inquiry into this. They're, you know, their, their high court

00:41:30.400 recently said there's only two, two sexes, men and women. Like the, the, the top court in the UK

00:41:36.000 has said, sorry, we, we just have to tell you there's only men and women. And that's a politically

00:41:40.960 correct country. Canada alone is hurtling towards this crazy transgenderism. Give me an update of 1.00

00:41:47.520 what's going on because Danielle Smith, I thought came up with a very compassionate, balanced point

00:41:52.320 of view there that, that showed compassion for the kids, but stopped the madness. I understand,

00:41:58.320 uh, a liberal appointed judge thought, uh, differently of it.

00:42:04.640 Yeah. So the, the bill 26 is the Alberta legislation that, uh, and if it goes into force,

00:42:12.560 which now it's not because of the court ruling that I'll get into in a minute, but bill 26, uh,

00:42:18.240 would prohibit the, uh, giving the puberty blockers and the opposite sex hormones to

00:42:25.360 children and teenagers under the age of 16. So no more puberty blockers and no more giving

00:42:34.080 estrogen to boys or giving testosterone to girls, uh, age of 16 and 17, it could be allowed, but with

00:42:42.800 parental consent. And so this is, as you said, as we're, we're, we're following the world, uh, or Alberta

00:42:50.640 is following the world, uh, these very progressive politically correct countries, Sweden, Denmark,

00:42:57.680 Norway, uh, other countries, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, all these countries are moving away

00:43:04.240 from this practice of giving, uh, like life-changing puberty blockers and opposite sex hormones to

00:43:14.320 teenagers. And so Alberta enacted the legislation. It was, um, challenged in court by the, uh, LGBT 1.00

00:43:23.600 ETC group, uh, uh, a gal Canada and, uh, some other groups and some individuals who are arguing essentially

00:43:33.200 that children have a constitutional right to receive puberty blockers and opposite sex, uh, hormones.

00:43:42.400 And, um, so court ruling came down on Friday, the 27th of June and the court, uh, issued an injunction

00:43:52.720 preventing this, uh, new legislation from going into force until such time as there's been a full

00:43:58.480 hearing on the merits. And as you and I know, that could be at least a year, probably two years,

00:44:04.480 possibly three years from now, by the time you have a full hearing on the merits, uh, and, and a court ruling

00:44:10.640 is going to be years from now. So, uh, what's, what's interesting is the double standard, um, under

00:44:18.640 when Canadians challenged lockdowns, the courts were incredibly deferential and said,

00:44:23.760 and slow, by the way, and, and slow. And they would say, oh, it's moot. Like, oh, sorry,

00:44:29.040 I interrupted you. You're right. And the courts were atrocious.

00:44:32.480 So they would say, well, the science, you know, there, maybe there's not a lot of science to back

00:44:38.080 up the lockdowns, but it's, it's really complicated. And as one Ontario judge, uh, Renee Pomerantz said

00:44:44.400 that she was neither equipped nor inclined to resolve scientific controversies. And so they were

00:44:48.960 hugely deferential and they said, well, if the government, you know, we got to trust government.

00:44:53.280 And if it looks like government might be reasonable in the context of unsettled science, we're just

00:45:00.640 going to, you know, give it our stamp of approval. Now here we've got a situation where the, the science

00:45:07.680 is, uh, probably more solid, uh, in favor of the Daniel Smith government policy than, than what any

00:45:15.680 science ever was in favor of lockdowns. But now the court saying, oh, no, no, no, no, where there's

00:45:20.480 no deference to the Smith government on how to deal with this issue of purity blockers and opposite

00:45:27.040 sex hormones being given to teenagers. Was this a charter ruling? Was this based on the charter of

00:45:32.000 rights? So I presume then it's the kind of thing that a government could say, all right, uh, we have

00:45:38.560 let us engage in dialogue with the courts and we will invoke section 33 of the constitution called

00:45:44.640 the notwithstanding clause, which says notwithstanding, but the court says, um,

00:45:49.840 this law will be immune to charter challenges for a period of five years.

00:45:54.080 And I hate it when people say that's a, um, you know, it's against the charter to you,

00:45:59.840 or it's somehow hostile to the charter, or it's a loophole of the charter. It's section 33 of the

00:46:05.120 charter. It was essential to the charter becoming law. If that weren't in there, no premier would have

00:46:10.080 signed it. So people would say, oh, it's against the charter to use section 33 of the charter.

00:46:14.480 I think that Danielle Smith should immediately invoke section 33 to, and, and if she wants to 0.89

00:46:20.720 have those consultations and studies as well, you know, fill your boots. But I think we're getting

00:46:26.560 into a situation and frankly, I think Canadian judges love to copycat us judges every week.

00:46:32.560 Another U S judge tries to enjoin Donald Trump from deporting some, some criminal migrant and the

00:46:40.160 Supreme court down there. It keeps, it's like whack-a-mole keep hitting down these rogue district 0.78

00:46:44.960 court judges. Um, if there was a notwithstanding clause in the U S constitution, I'm sure Donald Trump

00:46:50.400 would have used it a long time ago. They don't have one down there. Um, they're more litigious in some

00:46:56.000 ways. I think Danielle Smith should, without compunction or apology, invoke section 33 of

00:47:02.240 the charter, just to let judges know, um, you can run for office if you really deeply feel that way.

00:47:10.000 And I think it's, it's, I agree with you. It's definitely open to her to do that. Um,

00:47:15.280 um, I do not speak on her behalf, but I have the impression that she is perhaps she's hoping to win

00:47:21.760 at trial. I think she wants to use it as a last resort. And, and, uh, I think she's hopeful that

00:47:28.240 maybe, you know, courts will see the wisdom of protecting children and that she's going to use 1.00

00:47:34.640 it at a later date. Uh, the other option they have, because, because this court ruling from,

00:47:39.600 from June of 2025, because that's going to mean, uh, probably two years, three years of the law not

00:47:46.160 being in force. Uh, she can also appeal that to the Alberta court of appeal, which would take,

00:47:52.640 you know, six, nine months to, to maybe get a ruling and possibly overturn it that way.

00:47:57.600 Yeah. But I think she should, she should do both. She should appeal it and invoke the charter. Look,

00:48:03.360 my old friend, John O'Sullivan used to always say, it's better to fight in the first

00:48:08.160 ditch than the last ditch. Why waste time? Why monkey around? Why grant this power to some other

00:48:14.800 force, whether it's a court of appeal or a trial judge? This is one of those 80, 20 issues where

00:48:19.840 80% of the people are, and, and by the way, her approach of, you know, under 16, um,

00:48:28.000 and 17 and 18 with a parent's permission or whatever, that's so moderate. Frankly, it's quite soft.

00:48:35.040 And I, I just think that if you're going to allow, you have American states, you have American

00:48:40.080 states criminalizing it, where if, if a doctor is going to, you know, they're going, they're going

00:48:46.320 to jail. So this is, this is very, this is very, very soft. Uh, I, I agree. Well, I think, um, I think

00:48:53.040 we should maybe start a petition to, to invoke the, to normalize the notwithstanding clause. For some

00:48:58.720 reason, the Laurentian elites have managed amongst themselves, at least to demonize the notwithstanding

00:49:05.040 clause. Notwithstanding clause basically says courts are not the final say forever. The

00:49:11.520 legislatures can pass a law and for five years it can stand and then it has to be reviewed. And I

00:49:19.120 think that's a, that's a pretty good balance. John, it's great to catch up with you. Lots of good news.

00:49:23.920 I'm very excited about that subpoena against TD Bank and the RCMP. And, uh, hopefully Danielle

00:49:30.560 Smith will invoke the notwithstanding clause on this and many future occasions. Great to see you.

00:49:37.440 Good to see you, Ezra.

00:49:38.560 There he is, John Carpe, the boss of the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedom. Stay with us.

00:49:43.760 your letters to me next. Oh, hey there. Welcome back. Your letters to me. A couple of letters about

00:49:59.840 the UN's plans or proposal, at least to criminalize people who defend fossil fuels. The first letter is

00:50:06.960 from Andrea Lindsay, who says, we just passed our big, beautiful bill. The UN and its mandate are dead to

00:50:13.040 us. I like that spirit. And I, and you know, today being the 4th of July independence day,

00:50:19.600 I wish we had a little bit more independent spirit up north here in Canada too. Frank Valeden says,

00:50:24.640 when you can't win the debate, criminalize the opposition. These people are the ones who should

00:50:28.960 be defending themselves in courts. I think you're exactly right on that. I mean, let truth and falsehood

00:50:36.240 grapple. Um, that's why they want to censor voices. That's why they use that phrase misinformation,

00:50:42.320 disinformation. Hey, one more thing before I go, I want to let you know that we are having our 10th

00:50:47.680 birthday party, rebel news turned 10. And so we're going to have a 10 year celebration in Calgary on

00:50:52.880 September 18th. We're going to have drinks and snacks and live music and our rebel talent will be

00:50:58.960 there. You could say hi in person, take a selfie. It's going to be me, myself, David, Sheila, the whole

00:51:04.880 team. And if you're a super fan, we're going to have dinner beforehand. You can get a VIP ticket for

00:51:09.680 that. You can get all the details at happybirthdayrebel.com. That's our show for the day.

00:51:16.880 Until next time on behalf of all of us here at rebel world headquarters to you at home,

00:51:21.280 good night and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - July 05, 2025

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Thank you, America—from your lucky northern neighbour

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