Rebel News Podcast - July 15, 2025


EZRA LEVANT ｜ Toronto protest tanks for Gazan refugees as nobody came


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hello my friends. I heard there was going to be a protest by refugees from Gaza in Toronto and I
00:00:07.080 wanted to see, is that true? Have they been weaponized already? Are they ungrateful? What
00:00:12.660 do they have to say? So I went down there and we had a lot of bodyguards and we thought it was
00:00:16.500 going to be a big fracas, but well, I'll show you what we saw instead. It was very unusual,
00:00:23.220 very interesting, and it was a bit of a surprise. That's ahead. But first, let me invite you to
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00:00:32.200 rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe. And not only will you get the video of what we're doing,
00:00:39.220 you'll have the satisfaction of supporting Rebel News because we get no government money and it
00:00:43.640 shows. All right, here's today's podcast.
00:00:57.400 Tonight, I went to a protest by people from Gaza, except there was no one there from Gaza. I'll
00:01:07.520 show you what I saw. It's July 15th and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
00:01:10.960 Hey everybody, it's Ezra LeVant. I am in Toronto on this hot, hazy summer day. I'm at a location
00:01:32.340 on St. Clair Avenue, which is a lovely broad street in the city. I'm outside an immigration office. This
00:01:40.420 is the federal government's immigration office. And I'm here because I was told that there would
00:01:46.200 be a mass rally for and by Gaza refugees who want less red tape, want more funds, want more,
00:01:54.780 they're technical demands that I suppose any immigrant group could make. But in the back of
00:02:00.680 my mind, I thought, are Gazans who have come here as refugees, are they really in Canada protesting
00:02:07.020 already? Are they really making more demands of Canada so soon? Or my hunch was, is it just going
00:02:15.220 to be the same old pro-Hamas anti-Semitic protests that we've seen over the last two years? The Gazans
00:02:23.520 were supposed to muster here on St. Clair Avenue and in Scarborough, part of the greater Toronto area.
00:02:30.020 But I'm here to report at neither location has really anybody showed up.
00:02:35.900 So where is everybody?
00:02:39.920 Yeah, I guess you've, uh...
00:02:42.220 I heard that there was also nobody at the Scarborough location.
00:02:50.060 Now, I don't know if you saw what happened earlier. There was a white Anglican minister,
00:02:54.700 if I heard him correctly, who was sitting here showing his solidarity with Gazans, and he actually
00:02:59.920 told me he's been to Gaza twice. He was quite polite, and I was polite to him, and I tried to
00:03:04.740 engage him in some basic conversation. Um, he didn't tell me much because there was a Palestinian
00:03:12.000 activist with him who was telling him not to talk to me.
00:03:15.580 I've been to Gaza twice. The hospital.
00:03:16.800 You've been to Gaza?
00:03:17.640 I've been to the hospital. I'm an Anglican priest.
00:03:19.620 Oh, yeah?
00:03:19.900 No, no. We have a hospital in Gaza. The hallelujah hospital.
00:03:22.900 I'm not sure why we're being killed when we're explicitly being asked to not be killed.
00:03:26.400 Well, it's a public protest.
00:03:27.900 Yes. And we don't want to talk to him. We don't want to be on camera.
00:03:30.900 At least I'll speak for myself. I don't want to do it.
00:03:32.900 So when were you there? When were you in Gaza?
00:03:35.900 2015, 2016?
00:03:37.900 But he did say, and I think he was joking, that the Jews should move from Israel to Florida.
00:03:43.900 And, of course, a lot of Jews love Florida.
00:03:46.900 I think the Israelis should all move to Florida.
00:03:48.900 I think that would be the best solution.
00:03:49.900 I'd like to move to Florida.
00:03:50.900 Well, I mean, it's already protected on all sides.
00:03:53.900 There aren't many Jewish people there. It could be the new...
00:03:55.900 I know you're joking around. I think you're joking around.
00:03:57.900 No, no. I'm serious.
00:03:58.900 So the Jews should all leave for Florida?
00:04:01.900 Well, hang on.
00:04:02.900 Don't talk to him. He's going to twist your words.
00:04:04.900 How am I going to twist his words?
00:04:06.900 But I think he was just joking around.
00:04:08.900 I tried to ask him why no other Arab countries in the region will take these Palestinian refugees.
00:04:15.900 And that's not a trick question. It's a real question.
00:04:18.900 Because I heard that in Syria, the new government has offered citizenship to Palestinians from Gaza.
00:04:27.900 Have you heard of that?
00:04:28.900 You'd like them all to move to Jordan.
00:04:29.900 If you are Palestinian, you are most likely Muslim. You speak Arabic.
00:04:34.900 You're from that part of the world. Everything from your food to your language to your cultural traditions to your job skills are a fit for Arabia.
00:04:43.900 Not so much so for Canada.
00:04:46.900 Why wouldn't Palestinians, if they were offered refuge, why wouldn't they take it in the area?
00:04:54.900 And he said it's because there were Zionist machinations by the leaders of those countries.
00:04:59.900 I didn't quite get his details from that.
00:05:02.900 One question. I know you're sort of busy.
00:05:05.900 Why are other Arab countries in the region not taking Palestinian refugees?
00:05:10.900 Do you know why that might be?
00:05:12.900 Yeah, yeah. I mean they all have leaders who are supported by the West.
00:05:18.900 Is this going to be appearing on your channel somewhere?
00:05:22.900 I noted in the news the other day that the new regime in Syria has mused about accepting a million migrants from Gaza.
00:05:32.900 Which, you know, I wonder if that's part of some larger Trump deal.
00:05:38.900 Of course, Trump managed the Abraham Accords in his first term where he made peace between Israel and Bahrain and United Arab Emirates and Sudan.
00:05:49.900 Is there a new peace deal in the making?
00:05:52.900 I don't know, but I am curious how that might go.
00:05:55.900 Can I ask you a question?
00:05:56.900 Oh, sorry. I'm being interrupted.
00:05:58.900 Tell me your name properly.
00:05:59.900 I'll ask you off camera.
00:06:00.900 Well, I'm busy recording a show, but you can ask me.
00:06:02.900 You can ask me.
00:06:03.900 Okay.
00:06:04.900 That's the Palestinian lady who was sort of telling the white chaplain not to talk to me,
00:06:08.900 which is too bad because I thought he had some mildly interesting things to say.
00:06:13.900 I think it'd be better if the...
00:06:14.900 But do not talk to this man.
00:06:15.900 DeSantis, isn't he the governor of Florida?
00:06:16.900 Yeah.
00:06:17.900 He's already welcomed all these Jews to come back after the...
00:06:20.900 There's no point.
00:06:21.900 To come back from where?
00:06:23.900 Remember when they were bombing Iran and they couldn't get out of Tel Aviv airport.
00:06:28.900 Oh, right.
00:06:29.900 So DeSantis said, come on to Florida.
00:06:31.900 So they all flew to Florida and got in there.
00:06:33.900 So I think that's the best solution.
00:06:35.900 Anyhow, back to the reason I'm here on the street.
00:06:37.900 I saw the sign that said there was going to be a protest.
00:06:41.900 And of course we brought our beautiful billboard truck.
00:06:44.900 And that's just a straight fact on the side there.
00:06:47.900 Polling shows that 75% of residents in Gaza actually support Hamas.
00:06:53.900 It's one of the reasons I think that countries around the world are so cautious about taking migrants from Gaza or the West Bank.
00:07:01.900 What if they actually support Hamas?
00:07:04.900 Hamas has ruled over Gaza with an iron fist for more than 20 years.
00:07:10.900 I don't know if you know this, but Gaza used to be occupied by Israel.
00:07:15.900 But in 2005, they removed every single Jew from Gaza, withdrew every single Israeli soldier, and gave the land back to the people.
00:07:26.900 They had one election and only one.
00:07:29.900 The Hamas terrorist group won it and of course never had another election since.
00:07:34.900 So for 20 years, Gaza has been run as a sort of dictatorship.
00:07:40.900 Islamic extremism is part of that. Sharia law is in effect in Gaza.
00:07:45.900 But more than that, they have turned Gaza into a terrorist base camp.
00:07:50.900 They've taken billions of dollars in Western aid.
00:07:53.900 But instead of spending that on infrastructure for the people, they built underground tunnels and rockets, as you know.
00:07:59.900 That all came to a head on October 7, 2023, when terrorists flooded into southern Israel, massacring over a thousand Jews and taking more than 200 hostage.
00:08:11.900 I've been to Tel Aviv, which is the beach on Israel, and I've had the pleasure in my life to be in other beaches in the Mediterranean.
00:08:18.900 And it's one of the loveliest bodies of water around.
00:08:21.900 I wish I could daydream about Gaza if it had taken another path in sort of an alternate history.
00:08:28.900 If they had seized the moment and actually, when Israel left 20 years ago, decided to become, I don't know, like a new Dubai.
00:08:37.900 They surely would have had its support not only from the West, but from moderate Arab leaders who would prefer to have a peaceful, prosperous, safe and maybe even free Palestinian region rather than the terrorist hotbed.
00:08:53.900 Imagine if that money, instead of building underground tunnels, built towers like Dubai.
00:08:58.900 Imagine if that money, instead of equipping and arming soldiers, was equipping and launching small businesses.
00:09:06.900 Imagine a lovely beach rather than a terrorist campground.
00:09:10.900 I don't know if that dream is possible at all.
00:09:13.900 But anyways, we came down here because we wanted to talk to the Gazans who we were told would be protesting.
00:09:20.900 But there aren't any.
00:09:22.900 There aren't any here and there aren't any at the other location in Scarborough.
00:09:27.900 And in a way, that's good news because it tells me that the Gazans, the actual real migrants who came here from Gaza, are not becoming weaponized by the political partisans in Canada yet.
00:09:44.900 They've only been here a number of months.
00:09:46.900 You can see, let's go back to that billboard sign before that Palestinian lady came up.
00:09:50.900 It's impossible to vet migrants from Gaza because what database do you check?
00:09:59.900 The police in Gaza are Hamas.
00:10:02.900 The schools are Hamas.
00:10:04.900 The courts are Hamas.
00:10:07.900 Partisans would say, well, there's the civilian side of Hamas.
00:10:11.900 It's the same entity.
00:10:13.900 So if someone actually was up to no good, if someone actually was a terrorist in Gaza, it would be impossible for us to know.
00:10:22.900 Who do you check against?
00:10:24.900 If someone were to come to Canada from another country, you could at least check with their police, check with their records, check with the courts.
00:10:30.900 None of that exists in Gaza.
00:10:33.900 In fact, the one thing you do know is that the people who would be permitted out of that place are or have the approval of Hamas itself.
00:10:43.900 Hamas controls the people there still.
00:10:45.900 Israel has not completely eradicated them.
00:10:48.900 So that is our billboard truck.
00:10:52.900 And I've heard a couple of people respond to it, some positively, some negatively.
00:10:57.900 Our petition is clear.
00:10:59.900 NoGazaRefugees.com.
00:11:02.900 If Saudi Arabia and Jordan and Lebanon and Syria and Egypt, well, Syria might be open-minded, but it hasn't been so far.
00:11:11.900 If none of the people closest to Gaza who know Gaza the best, if none of them want to take Gaza refugees, why would we do so in Canada?
00:11:22.900 Far away from home.
00:11:24.900 The weather is inclement compared to the Mediterranean.
00:11:27.900 Everything from the culture to the food to the language to interactions.
00:11:33.900 It's a very different.
00:11:34.900 Canada is about as opposite from Gaza as it gets.
00:11:37.900 It makes no sense other than as the political weaponization of migration, which is what the Liberals have done.
00:11:45.900 Recently, Mark Carney has said Islamic values are Canadian values.
00:11:50.900 These are Muslim values.
00:11:53.900 These are Canadian values.
00:11:56.900 And there is a way to look at that, that he was being generous and referring to the noble precepts that can be found in any holy book, including the Koran.
00:12:10.900 And I think perhaps we should give Mark Carney the benefit of the doubt that he meant that in a good way.
00:12:16.900 The same as I'm sure he said that when he's at a Sikh temple or a Jewish synagogue.
00:12:23.900 I wouldn't read too much into that, and I think it was probably Mark Carney trying to be welcoming.
00:12:29.900 But why has Canada welcomed so many millions of people?
00:12:32.900 It's the political weaponization of migration.
00:12:36.900 Well, I came here with a series of questions to ask any protesters if they really were from Gaza.
00:12:47.900 If they have gratitude to Canada for taking them.
00:12:50.900 What demands, if any, they actually have from the government.
00:12:53.900 Why they would be protesting outside the building.
00:12:56.900 But like I say, there are actually no Gazans here.
00:13:00.900 We saw one white Anglican pastor who says he visited Gaza a decade ago, and I believe him.
00:13:07.900 And his minder, his handler, a Palestinian woman who didn't want us to talk.
00:13:12.900 Well, I think that's it.
00:13:14.900 There's not much more to say.
00:13:16.900 Toronto is an interesting place.
00:13:19.900 There's been anti-Semitic marches every week on the streets of this city going back more than a year.
00:13:25.900 The hate encampments at the University of Toronto.
00:13:29.900 Low-level crime.
00:13:30.900 And I'm not talking about hate crime.
00:13:32.900 I'm talking about kinetic crimes.
00:13:34.900 Trespass, arson, assault, uttering threats.
00:13:38.900 I think that Canada is changing.
00:13:40.900 How could it not if you bring in 2 million people a year?
00:13:44.900 That's going to change the country.
00:13:46.900 No one asked Canadians if we want to take Gazans.
00:13:50.900 No one asked how we possibly vet them from a terrorist-infested place like Gaza.
00:13:57.900 What do you think?
00:13:58.900 To follow this story or learn more, go to NoGazaRefugees.com.
00:14:03.900 That's NoGazaRefugees.com.
00:14:05.900 And if you like this truck, if you think it's a conversation starter, if you think it says things that we ought to be able to talk about in Canada while we're still free, then chip in a few dollars to keep this truck on the road.
00:14:19.900 It won't surprise you to learn that we actually brought security with the truck because we didn't know what we would find here today.
00:14:25.900 In the past, when we've driven the truck around, the truck itself has been attacked.
00:14:29.900 So, no need for the security today, but better safe than sorry.
00:14:35.900 From Toronto, for Rebel News, I'm Ezra LeVant.
00:14:49.900 Well, I don't know if I should believe it, but there are rumors, or maybe it's propaganda, that Mark Carney, the new Prime Minister, actually intends to cut spending.
00:14:59.900 I am a skeptic.
00:15:00.900 I do not believe it.
00:15:02.900 I think that when he uses the word cut spending, he often follows it up immediately with make investments.
00:15:09.900 So, he's just renaming spending as investment.
00:15:12.900 Sorry, when the government spends something that's not an investment, you're taking away from real investments by taxing real Canadians.
00:15:18.900 I am a hyper skeptic, but I do see headlines, and I see people lamenting that the, you know, 10-year party in Ottawa might be coming to an end.
00:15:29.900 So, to get to the bottom of it, there's only one guy I really trust.
00:15:32.900 He's not a member of any political party.
00:15:34.900 He takes no government funding, and his job is literally to be the champion of taxpayers.
00:15:39.900 You know who I'm talking about?
00:15:40.900 His name is Franco Teresano, and he's the boss of the Taxpayers Federation, and thank goodness we managed to get him today.
00:15:46.900 Franco, great to see you.
00:15:48.900 Frankly, I really need your advice here, because there are some people who are trying to convince me that Mark Carney is going to cut the government.
00:15:55.900 And I don't want to close my eyes to the possibility of a miracle.
00:15:59.900 We have to always be ready for miracles.
00:16:01.900 But I simply don't believe that Mark Carney is a cutter.
00:16:05.900 His entire team is the same as it ever was.
00:16:07.900 His advisors are the same as it ever was.
00:16:09.900 And he, by definition, is a government interventionist.
00:16:12.900 Will you tell me the truth?
00:16:14.900 Well, look.
00:16:15.900 Spending cuts?
00:16:16.900 I'll believe it when I see it.
00:16:17.900 Okay?
00:16:18.900 Like, I do think you're right to be skeptical.
00:16:20.900 But let's just start here.
00:16:21.900 We do need spending cuts.
00:16:22.900 Right?
00:16:23.900 We should have spending cuts to the bloated federal government and its bloated bureaucracy.
00:16:27.900 Let me just give you a couple numbers here.
00:16:29.900 2015, the government spent $296 billion.
00:16:33.900 Okay?
00:16:34.900 2024, $540 billion.
00:16:37.900 That's nuts.
00:16:38.900 That's nuts.
00:16:39.900 So from $296 billion in 2015 to $540 billion in 2024.
00:16:45.900 So yeah, we need some spending cuts.
00:16:48.900 Now, you asked the question, are we actually going to see spending go down?
00:16:52.900 I'm skeptical just like you are, Ezra.
00:16:54.900 And here's why.
00:16:55.900 Because guess what?
00:16:56.900 Fool me once.
00:16:57.900 What is it?
00:16:58.900 Shame on you.
00:16:59.900 Fool me twice.
00:17:00.900 Shame on me.
00:17:01.900 Well, in 2023, a lot of people didn't see this in the budget.
00:17:03.900 It was buried.
00:17:04.900 But the government actually said it was going to find $15 billion in savings over five years.
00:17:09.900 That was the 2023 budget.
00:17:11.900 Well, 2024 comes around.
00:17:13.900 And what happened?
00:17:14.900 The government increased spending by $25 billion.
00:17:18.900 So you know what?
00:17:19.900 When you increase spending by $25 billion, you're saving money wrong.
00:17:24.900 Now, Ezra, will Carney make spending cuts?
00:17:27.900 Honestly, I'm skeptical.
00:17:28.900 We'll have to wait and see to know for sure.
00:17:30.900 But what I think is going to happen is likely they will continue to increase spending,
00:17:36.900 but spending growth won't be as high as what it was under the Trudeau era.
00:17:40.900 Yeah.
00:17:41.900 I'm looking right now at a tweet you published, which included a graph called full-time equivalence
00:17:48.900 in the federal public service.
00:17:50.900 So obviously that's not just people in Ottawa, but that is where a lot of bureaucrats are.
00:17:55.900 And it shows what some would say is a prediction that the number of, and by the way, the graph
00:18:02.900 is slightly misleading and I'm sure it was not generated by you because it makes it look
00:18:06.900 like a much more dramatic cut because the graph starts at 300,000 instead of starting
00:18:11.900 at zero.
00:18:12.900 So it really emphasizes the modest cuts that are coming.
00:18:15.900 But you can see that that's just predictions.
00:18:18.900 And their past four predictions in a row, they've blown through them.
00:18:25.900 So yeah, I would love it if we started to ease the size of the public sector that's on everyone's
00:18:31.900 back.
00:18:32.900 But this very chart shows the government's trying to mislead even in their promise.
00:18:36.900 And you can see that their predictions in 2022, 2023 and 2024 have all been blown through.
00:18:45.900 That's why I don't believe it, Franco.
00:18:47.900 Well, yeah.
00:18:48.900 I mean, great point.
00:18:49.900 I mean, first of all, look, I don't give much credit to the government ever.
00:18:53.900 Any government doesn't really matter political stripes.
00:18:55.900 They don't really give us much reason to give them credit.
00:18:57.900 But one agency or department that I think I will give credit to is the parliamentary
00:19:01.900 budget officer.
00:19:02.900 Right.
00:19:03.900 And it's the parliamentary budget officer's report that says, hey, hold on a second.
00:19:07.900 The bureaucracy increased again last year.
00:19:11.900 OK, and it's increased crazy amounts over a decade plus.
00:19:16.900 And what the PBO report shows and kudos to the PBO, it shows exactly that, that even when
00:19:21.900 the government says they're going to reign in the size of the bureaucracy, they go over
00:19:26.900 budget.
00:19:27.900 And even if and the PBO is very clear, even if these so-called savings materialize, the
00:19:33.900 bureaucracy will still be bigger after those savings than what it was during the height
00:19:39.900 of the pandemic.
00:19:41.900 So even if these savings come true, they're very, very marginal.
00:19:45.900 And Canadians are still paying for way too many paper pushers, way too many tax agents,
00:19:51.900 way too many bureaucrats.
00:19:53.900 That is such a crazy point that even if they make the cuts, it's more bloated than at the
00:19:58.900 height of COVID.
00:19:59.900 And I'm looking at that chart and Stephen Harper left us with a modest.
00:20:04.900 I mean, it was still too big, but it would the size of government declined year after year,
00:20:10.900 10, 11, 12.
00:20:11.900 If we are still bigger than the COVID deepest moments, that's insane.
00:20:17.900 I think COVID broke a taboo.
00:20:20.900 It smashed the psychological barrier of out of control, insane spending and borrowing.
00:20:27.900 Because I think people say, well, it's never before crisis.
00:20:30.900 We have to do it temporarily.
00:20:32.900 Well, just like the income tax, I suppose, was temporary till we get through this great war.
00:20:37.900 No, that was World War One.
00:20:40.900 I think that there is no longer a political media consensus that you have to be a prudent
00:20:48.900 business person in government.
00:20:50.900 You have to be prudent with the money.
00:20:52.900 I think that the media no longer holds government to account.
00:20:55.900 And even other parties, it's, I mean, I suppose the conservatives are the least worst.
00:21:00.900 But it used to be, show me your plan for balanced budget.
00:21:04.900 Show me your costed plans.
00:21:06.900 I mean, there was a time even in the liberal government where they actually did balance the budget.
00:21:10.900 I'm thinking of Paul Martin and John Christian.
00:21:12.900 I'm showing my age now.
00:21:13.900 That was more than 20 years ago.
00:21:15.900 That's gone.
00:21:16.900 Can we get it back?
00:21:17.900 Oh, we most certainly can get it back.
00:21:19.900 I mean, it's not, it's, things aren't too far gone that we can't correct this ship.
00:21:23.900 Um, but look to your point, uh, unfortunately we, we don't have a political consensus.
00:21:27.900 I think that people are sick and tired of these politicians, you know, hiking our taxes
00:21:32.900 and wasting our money.
00:21:33.900 I think the ordinary Canadian is sick and tired, but look the political elites.
00:21:37.900 I mean, when they, they would just love to spend your money on themselves.
00:21:41.900 I mean, look at all the trips.
00:21:42.900 They go lavish trips all around the world, but like to your point, even the conservatives,
00:21:47.900 right in the last election, if we're going to call a spade a spade, the conservative party
00:21:51.900 was not promising to balance the budget, right?
00:21:54.900 Like let's just call a spade a spade.
00:21:56.900 And Hey Ezra, let me just dive a little bit deeper into these bureaucracy numbers to show
00:21:59.900 you how crazy it is.
00:22:00.900 Okay.
00:22:01.900 So you, you are now paying for 99,000 more federal bureaucrats today than you were in
00:22:08.900 2016, 99,000 more federal bureaucrats, but it's not just the size that has gone up.
00:22:14.900 So has the cost because the extra pay raises, the bonuses, all the other perks folks in less
00:22:20.900 in a decade, the cost of the bureaucracy has gone up 73%, a 73% increase in the cost of
00:22:30.900 bureaucracy.
00:22:31.900 Are you getting anywhere close to 73% better services from the federal government?
00:22:38.900 I mean, come on.
00:22:39.900 Yeah.
00:22:40.900 You know, um, there's a saying in government in the deep state.
00:22:44.900 And I don't mean that in terms of spy craft.
00:22:46.900 I mean, in terms of the permanent bureaucracy that never goes away.
00:22:49.900 There's a phrase, maybe you've, I'm sure you've heard it firemen first, which is if you insist
00:22:55.900 that a bureaucracy cut spending, they will cut firemen first because that'll freak everybody
00:23:01.900 out.
00:23:02.900 And they say, Oh my God, we can't spend, cut any money.
00:23:05.900 We've got to keep the firemen.
00:23:06.900 Another move they do in the States is they shut down national parks because that'll get
00:23:11.900 people squawking.
00:23:12.900 They don't cut the crazy stuff.
00:23:14.900 They cut the one or two things that people actually love, depend on, feel are essential
00:23:19.900 like firemen.
00:23:20.900 And let me make a reference to a story by Clayton domain.
00:23:23.900 Our friend is over at a true north who has a story exclusive leaked email shows liberals
00:23:29.900 to cut $98 million annually from RCMP budget.
00:23:34.900 Now I believe that the RCMP is bloated.
00:23:36.900 If they have so many DEI officers that the other day, you probably saw that one lady saying
00:23:41.900 if someone suddenly starts talking about traditional family values, they might be a violent extremist.
00:23:46.900 Like they've got, they're so woke.
00:23:48.900 Well, radicalization in general, quite often will show by people isolating themselves and
00:23:55.900 changing their behavior, like changing what they're saying on a subject, like becoming
00:24:01.900 more extremist.
00:24:02.900 Like, and if someone, you know, was very believed in equal gender rights, but all of a sudden
00:24:11.900 are leaning towards like traditional values.
00:24:14.900 And that might be a sign that they're becoming more extremist.
00:24:19.900 It's, it's a liberal move.
00:24:20.900 It's like a fireman first move to say, oh, we have to cut.
00:24:24.900 Well, we have to cut from the police a hundred million.
00:24:26.900 We're not going to cut bureaucrats.
00:24:28.900 We're not going to cut insane foreign aid.
00:24:31.900 We got to cut the cops.
00:24:33.900 I know there's room to tighten the belt at every institution, including the RCMP, but that's
00:24:39.900 such a fireman first move, isn't it?
00:24:42.900 Oh, it's the oldest trick in the book, right?
00:24:44.900 Oh, you want a little bit of savings.
00:24:46.900 Well, let's go after the thing that people actually want.
00:24:49.900 Yeah.
00:24:50.900 Right.
00:24:51.900 That is the oldest trick in the government playbook.
00:24:53.900 All governments do it.
00:24:54.900 All bureaucrats do it because they don't want to let go of your wallet.
00:24:58.900 Right.
00:24:59.900 So you want to fear you into thinking that there is no fat on the government stake to cut.
00:25:03.900 But boy, let me tell you, there's lots of fat in Ottawa.
00:25:05.900 Right.
00:25:06.900 So you're totally right, Ezra.
00:25:07.900 This is the oldest trick in the government book.
00:25:10.900 But, you know, to a point that you raised to or maybe a point that I'll really nail
00:25:14.900 home is like, look, no disrespect to to any service member, you know, whether that's in
00:25:19.900 the police or in the forces.
00:25:22.900 But, you know, like after 10 years of a Trudeau government, I think that you should be able
00:25:28.900 to find savings in every single area of the budget, regardless of what it is.
00:25:34.900 Right.
00:25:35.900 After the Trudeau government's crazy spending spree, savings should be found everywhere.
00:25:40.900 Like, let me just give you an example about Department of National Defense.
00:25:43.900 Right.
00:25:44.900 Where the Department of National Defense spent, what, 30 million dollars on sleeping bags
00:25:48.900 that didn't work because they weren't warm enough for the Canadian winter.
00:25:52.900 Really, military intelligence didn't see it coming that it gets kind of cold in Canada
00:25:57.900 during the winter.
00:25:58.900 Yeah.
00:25:59.900 You know, I'm looking at your tweet.
00:26:00.900 You've got a great tweet out there with sometimes it's a small examples that are more
00:26:05.900 persuasive than even the big examples.
00:26:07.900 It's tough to wrap your mind around the word billion.
00:26:10.900 But then you read and I'm looking at your tweet here.
00:26:12.900 Eighty one hundred dollars to organized DJ like disc jockey workshops in Turkey and Georgia
00:26:21.900 for the LGBTQ community to, quote, bring more diversity into the world of DJing.
00:26:27.900 Now, I haven't been in a nightclub in a long time, I have to tell you.
00:26:31.900 But I don't think that the LGBTQ community is underrepresented in DJing.
00:26:36.900 And if it is, I don't know if it's Canada's role to be sending foreign aid to Turkey and
00:26:41.900 Georgia to fix that.
00:26:42.900 That's just so insane.
00:26:43.900 I wish we had a Canadian version of what Elon Musk and his Doge team were doing just by
00:26:49.900 the hundred just saying, nope, nope, nope, nope.
00:26:52.900 All these are interesting ideas.
00:26:54.900 None of them are important or more important than letting taxpayers keep their money.
00:26:58.900 And you've got like half a dozen examples just in this one tweet.
00:27:02.900 And that and that is not even one percent or one percent or one percent of the problem here.
00:27:06.900 Oh, we got the receipts.
00:27:07.900 And look, hey, look, you want to put on this DJ workshop?
00:27:10.900 I got an idea.
00:27:11.900 Pay for with your own money, right?
00:27:13.900 Like, I don't care.
00:27:14.900 You know, fill your boots with your own money, not with taxpayers.
00:27:17.900 Here's a couple other good ones, Ezra.
00:27:19.900 Global Affairs spent eighty eight hundred bucks on a sex toy show in Germany called
00:27:25.900 whose jizz is this?
00:27:27.900 Oh, my God.
00:27:28.900 Now, Ezra, I don't know.
00:27:30.900 Maybe I'm a little old fashioned.
00:27:31.900 But if the Germans want to throw a little sex toy show, how would they pay for it them
00:27:35.900 themselves? You know, not with our money.
00:27:37.900 Or how about this one?
00:27:39.900 Global Affairs, twelve grand.
00:27:41.900 So seniors in other countries could talk about their sex lives in front of live audiences.
00:27:46.900 And these aren't even Canadian seniors.
00:27:48.900 The government is outsourcing old people sex stories.
00:27:51.900 Oh, you know what?
00:27:53.900 I don't know why there's such a focus on sex.
00:27:55.900 I think it's because Trudeau said he's going to export feminism and export his cultural views
00:28:00.900 around the world.
00:28:01.900 I really think that's part of it.
00:28:02.900 I if I recall, he said he had spent eleven billion dollars promoting feminism.
00:28:07.900 So maybe that's where I'm quoting again from your tweet here.
00:28:10.900 One thousand seven hundred dollars on a musical about lesbian pirates.
00:28:18.900 That feels like it's made up.
00:28:20.900 That feels like that can't be true.
00:28:22.900 It's like, you know, those mad libs where you just ask people for a random adjective.
00:28:25.900 Like that just can't.
00:28:27.900 I find that really crazy.
00:28:29.900 And I've seen a lot of crazy stuff.
00:28:31.900 Were there really a musical on lesbian pirates that got seventeen hundred bucks?
00:28:37.900 Oh, we got the receipts, access to information requests.
00:28:40.900 Look, Ezra, I don't even have a joke for you.
00:28:42.900 I'm just going to read you the description of the musical that we got from the government.
00:28:45.900 OK, the musical tells the untold story of the ruthless maverick and lesbian pirates
00:28:51.900 who met while cross-dressing as male pirates, fell in love, slaughtered swaths of men,
00:28:56.900 stole treasure and escaped persecution of the law.
00:29:00.900 There you have it, folks.
00:29:01.900 You know what?
00:29:02.900 I got nothing.
00:29:03.900 I got nothing.
00:29:05.900 Nothing will top that, Franco.
00:29:08.900 Oh, boy.
00:29:09.900 Well, I'm so glad you're out there fighting the good fight.
00:29:11.900 You know, I want to let you know that I'm more partisan than you are, of course.
00:29:16.900 And I'm no fan of Mark Carney.
00:29:18.900 If he actually does make cuts, real cuts, I'll say it and I'll thank him for it.
00:29:24.900 But I am not yet persuaded that he will.
00:29:27.900 I think it's part of a trick.
00:29:28.900 I don't think he is.
00:29:30.900 I think that you have really a reheated, revived, exhumed version of Trudeau's government.
00:29:37.900 I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am.
00:29:39.900 Franco, great to catch up with you.
00:29:41.900 Thanks for your time.
00:29:42.900 Hey, thank you so much.
00:29:43.900 There he is, Franco Teresano, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
00:29:46.900 Stay with us.
00:29:47.900 More ahead.
00:29:48.900 I'm just going to go check out some pirate musical now, if you don't mind.
00:29:58.900 Oh, hey, everybody.
00:29:59.900 I am back in the studio now, of course, after having been out at this protest for Gaza.
00:30:10.900 And we thought it was going to be a big deal.
00:30:12.900 And I think the cops did, too.
00:30:13.900 They had six police cars parked on the street.
00:30:17.900 By the time it was obvious that nothing was going to happen, three of them left.
00:30:22.900 But to have a serious police presence, both in downtown Toronto and in Scarborough.
00:30:28.900 And we took it seriously, too.
00:30:30.900 We had four big bodyguards, partly to guard the truck and partly to guard me, I guess.
00:30:36.900 Because I thought it was going to be a big brouhaha, like the anti-Semitic pro-Hamas protests
00:30:42.900 every week at Bathurst and Shepherd, which is in a Jewish neighborhood with a pro-Hamas
00:30:47.900 types drive in.
00:30:48.900 Didn't happen.
00:30:49.900 There were just two people there.
00:30:50.900 And they were very ideologically different.
00:30:53.900 One was sort of an elderly Anglican guy who seemed like sort of a left-wing do-gooder.
00:30:58.900 I don't have anything mean to say about the guy.
00:31:01.900 And there was someone who seemed like a Palestinian social worker, but I'm not sure if she was
00:31:06.900 Palestinian herself.
00:31:07.900 It was very different than the paid professional protester types that we're used to seeing.
00:31:12.900 And it was an interesting thing.
00:31:14.900 I was prepared to ask some real questions of people from Gaza, but I guess the good news
00:31:19.900 is they're busy building a life here.
00:31:22.900 They're not becoming radicalized and weaponized into protesters.
00:31:25.900 I guess, thank God for small miracles.
00:31:28.900 I'm not sure what to make of Syria's idea of bringing a million Gazans to Syria.
00:31:34.900 I'm not sure if people in Syria would like that too much.
00:31:37.900 But it suggests that possibilities are being floated as trial balloons in the region.
00:31:43.900 And that's because things are shaken up.
00:31:46.900 Things are disrupted.
00:31:47.900 Bashar Assad of Syria, gone.
00:31:49.900 Hezbollah, extirpated from Lebanon.
00:31:52.900 The heads of Hezbollah, gone.
00:31:54.900 2,000 of them blown up with pagers.
00:31:57.900 Iran, neutered.
00:31:58.900 I think there is a short window of possibility in the Middle East.
00:32:03.900 I think the Saudis and other Sunni Muslims want a deal done.
00:32:06.900 It would be interesting to see if Trump can do it.
00:32:08.900 You know, there's a lot of chatter these days about Trump, including about things like the Epstein files,
00:32:13.900 which I believe are important.
00:32:14.900 But just every day, Trump is scoring an enormous, huge, important victory of sorts that maybe are just as important as the Epstein files.
00:32:25.900 By the way, I believe that Jeffrey Epstein was a rapist.
00:32:28.900 It's not even a matter of question.
00:32:30.900 He was convicted of same.
00:32:31.900 And I think the sophistication of his operation suggests he was working for one or more international spy agencies.
00:32:39.900 Wouldn't surprise me at all if he was working for the CIA and the FBI and Israel and the Five Eyes.
00:32:47.900 I think that's sort of how it works.
00:32:49.900 We'll find out.
00:32:50.900 But in the meantime, Donald Trump is proving that he can chew a bubble gum and walk at the same time, as the kids say.
00:32:57.900 I mean, he just announced a huge new trade deal with Indonesia where they're dropping all their tariffs for American goods.
00:33:03.900 Indonesia is an enormous country, almost a third of a billion people there.
00:33:07.900 How is that not an important accomplishment that alone more than Biden achieved in his entire term?
00:33:14.900 So, yeah, I think that Donald Trump has had the most consequential and most successful for six months of any presidency, perhaps other than Lincoln.
00:33:22.900 And, you know, I'm a Canadian.
00:33:25.900 He's an American.
00:33:26.900 But I can say on behalf of the rest of the world, Donald Trump is improving the place, don't you think?
00:33:32.900 That's our show for today.
00:33:34.900 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rubble World Headquarters to you at home, good night.
00:33:39.900 And keep fighting for freedom.