Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Trudeau Foundation’s David Johnston does what we knew he would — and covers up for Chinese benefactors

00:00:00.000 Hello, my rebels. Today, we're going to talk about David Johnson whitewashing Justin Trudeau's

00:00:04.660 collusion with communist China. And David Johnson himself is so compromised, it's really quite

00:00:09.340 shocking. Plus, we're going to talk to Gordon G. Chang about how the Chinese government really has

00:00:15.020 this influence operation around the world. But first, let me invite you to go to the

00:00:18.240 rebelnewsplus.com website. That's where you get the video version of this podcast.

00:00:23.280 We put a lot of effort into the video side of things. And today, we're going to show you a

00:00:26.720 bunch of clips from different press conferences about David Johnson's report. So I'd encourage

00:00:32.200 you to get the video version. And by the way, it's only eight bucks a month, rebelnewsplus.com.

00:00:37.220 And that eight bucks goes a long way for us because we do not take any government money,

00:00:40.760 as you know. We rely on viewers like you. All right, here's today's podcast.

00:00:56.720 The Trudeau Foundation's David Johnson does what we knew he would and covers up for the

00:01:05.920 Trudeau Foundation and its Chinese benefactors. It's May 23rd, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:10.760 Hey, welcome back. It's great to see you. I hope you had a good long weekend. You'll notice I am

00:01:30.500 not in my usual place because we've got some very exciting news about a decision we've made to

00:01:36.040 refresh and refurbish our studio. You know, we've been in our current offices for about

00:01:41.580 six years. And listen, I loved them and everything was fine. But, you know, some of our technology was

00:01:47.440 eight years old, which doesn't sound very old, but it's sort of like dog years. Eight years old in

00:01:51.340 computer video time is like a century. So I'll tell you about a project that we're about to launch.

00:01:59.360 I'll tell you in another video, but we are rebuilding our dream and we're going to make the studio even

00:02:05.660 better. And I'll share those details with you later. But for now, I'm in our boardroom. And in

00:02:11.400 fact, what you see behind me are some plaques throughout our office. I mean, we don't have a

00:02:16.140 lot of public tours or people coming by our office. It's sort of in a low-key setting. And actually,

00:02:20.580 for privacy reasons, we don't really want the world to know where we are because we have some,

00:02:25.000 you know, there's some people who have malice towards us. But our office has really two kinds of

00:02:30.380 decorations. One are inspirational images of contrarianism and freedom fighters through the

00:02:36.380 ages. And the other is plaques and bricks on the wall with the names of people who have gone above

00:02:44.120 the call of duty and have supported us. And that plaque behind me is one example. You can also see

00:02:50.080 the YouTube plaques when we got 100,000 followers and a million followers. They don't monetize us,

00:02:55.980 but they do acknowledge how successful we've been. So I'm in the boardroom. And I hope to be back in

00:03:01.820 the studio in a few days. But check my other video coming soon about the studio. I hope you'll be

00:03:06.620 excited like I am. Anyways, that's why I am sitting where I am. But today was a remarkable day about

00:03:13.260 Chinese influence in Canada. And it's sort of funny. It's like that old movie phrase, the call is

00:03:20.280 coming from inside the house. There's something strange about Justin Trudeau, whose brother

00:03:27.300 Alexandra wrote a book published by Communist China, about David Johnson, who went to China,

00:03:35.500 who opened up a Chinese Communist Party Confucius Institute at his university, who had dealings with

00:03:41.840 China, who sent his own children to China. There's something bizarre about Justin Trudeau and

00:03:48.920 Alexander Trudeau and David Johnson looking for the Chinese influence. They are the Chinese 1.00

00:03:57.740 influence. It's like when O.J. Simpson said he was going to look for the real killer. Yeah, mate,

00:04:03.740 you did it. And the thing about David Johnson is he looks exactly like you would want a governor

00:04:13.800 general to look. It's almost like they said Donald Trump chose Mike Pence as vice president because

00:04:19.740 he just looks so vice presidential. Handsome, gray hair, very moderate, nothing too wild, central casting

00:04:29.180 vice president. And I think he lived up to it. The look in that case, the book was like its cover.

00:04:34.880 I think David Johnson is like that. He looks good. He looks old, but not mentally out of it like, say,

00:04:46.960 Joe Biden. But the trouble is, he is as corrupt as they say he is. Let me give you an example from

00:04:54.380 personal experience. Because he looks so officious, David Johnson accepted an appointment by his old

00:04:59.980 friend, Justin Trudeau, to serve as the chair of the newly founded Debates Commission. For some reason,

00:05:07.260 after a hundred years of having, 150 years of Canadian politicians having debates without government

00:05:12.820 involvement, Justin Trudeau nationalized us. Well, for some reason was so he could control it. And he

00:05:17.800 put his pal David Johnson in charge and he told David Johnson to keep out rebel news. And David Johnson

00:05:22.760 did. And we went to court in 2019 and we won. But David Johnson did it again. And we went to court in

00:05:30.240 2021 and we won. But the fact that David Johnson, who's supposed to be above the partisan fray and

00:05:36.960 supposed to believe in freedom of speech and a diversity of opinion because he was a university

00:05:40.840 president, would carry out Trudeau's partisan errands so brutally and even in the face of a court ruling

00:05:46.920 would do it again, shows do not be fooled by the central casting, you know, bureaucrat. He is a

00:05:54.000 hardcore Trudeau partisan. And of course he did exactly what Justin Trudeau hired him to do. It was a

00:06:02.080 laugh. You know, there's two ways to get your information about David Johnson and Justin Trudeau

00:06:07.940 and Communist Party influence. One is to follow the CBC. They're in massive damage control mode. And I

00:06:15.500 remember the panel they had the other day where they had Chantal Hebert defending Trudeau. She is a

00:06:24.320 Trudeau Foundation alumna. It was just incredible. Well, that's incredible as a pundit, but imagine David

00:06:30.500 Johnson as a Trudeau Foundation elder. In fact, he didn't even mention the Trudeau Foundation in his

00:06:37.920 presentation today. It was rather incredible. So you can get your news from the CBC or from

00:06:43.180 alternative media. And I just want to give a shout out to a Rebel News supporter named Andy Lee, who I

00:06:49.860 think she speaks Chinese because she certainly does excellent research. And the Chinese language press

00:06:56.140 is full of hundreds of images of Justin Trudeau, his family, his senior cabinet, and David Johnston

00:07:04.480 going to Chinese Communist Party events. So he's deeply involved with the Chinese Communist Party. I'm not

00:07:12.720 talking about ethnic Chinese or cultural Chinese. I'm talking about the Chinese Communist Party.

00:07:18.000 Imagine putting David Johnson in charge. It's like O.J. Simpson looking for the real killer.

00:07:24.420 All right, enough preamble from me, but I want to show you a half dozen clips that I think sum up what

00:07:30.400 happened today. Here's David Johnson ruling out a public independent inquiry. No, no, no.

00:07:37.460 That's the wrong idea. There should be further inquiries, David Johnson recommended. And surprise,

00:07:46.520 he recommends that he do it. Imagine that. Take a look at this.

00:07:51.160 Another central piece of my mandate and a requirement of this first report was to determine if a separate

00:07:58.140 public inquiry or public process is required to investigate foreign interference in our democracy.

00:08:04.840 There have been widespread calls for a public inquiry from media, opposition parties, and parliament

00:08:13.100 through a motion passed in the House of Commons. When I began this process, I thought I would come

00:08:20.540 to the same conclusion, that I would recommend a public inquiry. Well, it would have been an easy

00:08:27.900 choice. It would not be the correct one. Yeah, you have to understand that out of 38 million Canadians,

00:08:35.160 the best person he recommends to look into this is himself. Frankly, that's a move that they probably

00:08:43.060 gave him advice to do from the Chinese embassy. Now, by the way, a lot of this reporting came from

00:08:49.620 the Globe and Mail, and I got to give them credit. They have been strong on this, like they were about

00:08:53.360 their reporting about Jody Wilson-Raybould and how she stood up to Trudeau's corruption. You'll remember

00:08:58.380 that the first thing Justin Trudeau said when he was faced with the Globe and Mail revealing

00:09:03.160 that Jody Wilson-Raybould was fired as justice minister because she wouldn't go along with Trudeau's

00:09:07.320 corruption. Trudeau looked the camera in the eye and said the Globe and Mail reporting is not true.

00:09:13.000 I just want to show you that just to see what a cold-blooded, bold-faced, sociopathic liar 0.96

00:09:19.100 Justin Trudeau is when it suits him. Remember this flashback? Did you or anyone in your office

00:09:24.620 pressure the former attorney general to abandon the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin?

00:09:30.220 The allegations in the Globe story this morning are false. Neither the current nor the previous

00:09:37.480 attorney general was ever directed by me or by anyone in my office to take a decision in this matter.

00:09:46.040 Well, it was actually the same reporters that broke the story on Chinese involvement and that's exactly

00:09:52.700 the same response that Trudeau and his team have had. And so the reason the story progressed

00:09:59.100 was because CSIS agents who were so appalled by the obvious compromising of Canadian leadership,

00:10:07.540 the Manchurian prime minister, if you will, that CSIS started leaking facts to the Globe and Mail,

00:10:13.560 including the fact that CSIS had warned about Chinese involvement for years and given reports

00:10:20.640 to Trudeau and his office and they had ignored them. Here's David Johnson saying, no, no, no, no,

00:10:27.700 pay no attention to the CSIS memos. Trust me. I can't show you any of the intelligence, but

00:10:34.240 I've looked at it and it's all fine. Take a look.

00:10:37.900 Foreign interference is not usually embodied in discreet, one-off pieces of intelligence.

00:10:44.560 It cannot be dealt with on a one-off, look-what-I-found basis. The limited leaked intelligence

00:10:51.720 and subsequent reporting have led to misapprehensions relating to incidents that are alleged to have

00:10:57.320 occurred in the 2019 and 2021 elections. Moreover, I have found no examples of ministers, the prime

00:11:06.260 minister or their offices knowingly or negligently failing to act on intelligence, advice or recommendations

00:11:14.120 on the issues I have investigated related to the 2019 and 2021 elections. However, I did find that

00:11:22.720 there are significant and unacceptable gaps in the machinery of government.

00:11:27.160 Don't believe your lying eyes. Don't believe the memos. Don't believe the CSIS agents. Believe me,

00:11:33.380 Justin Trudeau's lifelong family friend and a man who sent his own daughters to school in China and

00:11:40.600 invited the Confucius Institute to his university. Trust him. It's all okay. He can't show it to you

00:11:45.780 because it's a secret, but you'll trust him because he looks the part. It was absurd to choose David

00:11:55.380 Johnson as the interrogator here. There's a saying in law, justice must not just be done, it must be

00:12:01.980 seen to be done. And of course, when a judge is compromised in some way, the judge must recuse

00:12:08.400 himself from the role I'm talking about in a court. A judge wouldn't just recuse himself from a case where

00:12:14.120 there's a real conflict, but where there's the appearance of a conflict. There's a phrase in law

00:12:18.700 that justice has to be done in a way that does not bring the administration of justice into disrepute.

00:12:26.220 That's an old phrase, bring the administration of justice into disrepute. So it's like the saying

00:12:32.460 about Caesar's wife. She must not just be pure, she must appear to be. David Johnson, even if he wasn't

00:12:41.120 in a conflict of interest, looks like he is. And so the fact that he did not have the dignity

00:12:49.460 to recuse himself from the role shows that he is not fit for the role. But anyone who says so, well,

00:12:57.980 how dare they? You take a look at him saying he's above reproach.

00:13:02.780 I've been fortunate in my public life to have served as chair of or member of advisory committee or task forces

00:13:10.600 on probably two to three dozen different occasions over those years, with appointments by prime ministers,

00:13:18.560 several, premiers, several, ministers. And on none of those previous occasions has my impartiality

00:13:26.620 integrity or integrity ever been questioned. This is the first time it has happened. And let me simply

00:13:34.180 say that's very troubling for me because this kind of baseless set of accusations diminishes trust in

00:13:43.220 our public institutions. And the terrorist people who are publicly minded, who are quite prepared to

00:13:48.780 take on public service responsibility task force and so on, there's a chill on that. And that's very troubling.

00:13:54.060 Don't you see, if you ask questions, you're keeping good people out of public life. Yeah.

00:14:02.880 Boy, he hates the media. Half of his report was criticizing the media. It's sort of a theme with

00:14:09.400 Justin Trudeau, isn't it? Well, Pierre Polyev just scorched back. And, you know, he's been saying so

00:14:15.640 for weeks that this was basically Trudeau tapping his old friend to exonerate him. And it exactly came

00:14:22.160 true. People were critical of Pierre Polyev for not meeting with David Johnson. But why

00:14:26.400 give the thing, you know, credit? I want to point out one quick thing before I show you the Pierre

00:14:32.700 Polyev clip. Aaron O'Toole, I think, was one of the weakest leaders the Conservative Party has had,

00:14:37.140 well, frankly, since Joe Clark. He was afraid of his own shadow. He was afraid of the media. He stood up

00:14:41.720 for nothing. He stood for nothing and he fell for everything. But Aaron O'Toole was interviewed,

00:14:47.820 briefly, by David Johnston for his report. But look at this revelation. And Aaron O'Toole,

00:14:55.640 who is so gentle, he handed the win to Justin Trudeau in the last election.

00:15:02.060 He says boldly for Aaron O'Toole that, first of all, David Johnson only talked to Aaron O'Toole at

00:15:09.380 the last minute after the report was written. In fact, Johnson told him it was written and already

00:15:14.360 at the translators to be translated into French. That he asked, he didn't ask any questions. He

00:15:21.320 just sort of talked to O'Toole. And that he gave the impression that he had done research into

00:15:28.300 corruption by the Chinese government, but that it was all just for show. Box checking is what Aaron

00:15:35.440 O'Toole called it. So even Aaron O'Toole, who was such a pushover, said it was just an absolute

00:15:41.320 exercise in whitewashing. Well, here's what Pierre Polyev, who's got a little bit higher octane than

00:15:48.260 Aaron O'Toole, here's what he said today. But unfortunately, there's no common sense in Justin

00:15:52.860 Trudeau's Ottawa. We see today that his ski buddy, cottage neighbor, family friend, and member of the

00:16:01.380 Beijing-financed Trudeau Foundation came out and did exactly what I predicted, helped Trudeau cover up

00:16:08.440 the influence by Beijing in our democracy. We know that Beijing interfered in two elections

00:16:15.380 to help Trudeau win. We know that Beijing gave $140,000 to the Trudeau Foundation with the express

00:16:22.860 purpose of buying the love and the loyalty of Justin Trudeau. And we know that Trudeau has been

00:16:29.040 briefed on these matters for years and done absolutely nothing about it except try to keep it

00:16:34.000 quiet and call names anyone, name call anyone who spoke out about it. And then in order to further

00:16:41.660 sweep the matter under the rug, he put his friend, his ski buddy, his cottage neighbor, and Trudeau

00:16:48.920 Foundation member David Johnston in charge of today's whitewash attempt. But conservatives are not

00:16:58.000 buying it. We need a full public inquiry to get to the bottom of Beijing's interference in our

00:17:05.360 democracy. And that's what I will deliver when I am Prime Minister. There will be a full public inquiry

00:17:10.760 into this mess. And in the meantime, we will continue to push for a real foreign influence registry that

00:17:17.560 exposes anyone who does paid work on behalf of foreign dictatorship to manipulate our politics.

00:17:24.340 It's just common sense. Let's bring it home. Let's bring home control of our democracy

00:17:30.100 back into the hands of the Canadian. Well, of course, the media party knows which side of the

00:17:36.200 bread is buttered and they stuck with their boss, Justin Trudeau. But I like one of the things I like

00:17:42.080 most about Pierre Polyev is that he's not afraid to call out journalists when they are acting like the

00:17:47.300 liberal war room. Take a look at this. I presume you watched Mr. Johnson's presentation earlier today.

00:17:53.960 And he said that when he started the process, he thought that he would conclude there should be

00:18:00.760 a public inquiry. He didn't come to that conclusion because he says there's a lot of confidential

00:18:06.340 information. Now, one thing he proposes, he's going to have public hearings about things that he can

00:18:11.340 talk about in public. But he also invited the three opposition leaders, which includes you,

00:18:15.900 to join ENSICOP. Would you join ENSICOP?

00:18:21.200 David Johnson is Trudeau's ski buddy.

00:18:24.860 You're not answering the question.

00:18:26.840 I'll answer it how I choose. You get to ask the question, I get to answer it.

00:18:30.980 I'll choose how I answer it. And the answer is that David Johnson is a ski buddy,

00:18:37.640 chalet neighbor, family friend, and member of the Trudeau Foundation. He has no business in this job

00:18:45.920 because it is a fake job that he is incapable of doing impartially. And none of his recommendations

00:18:51.120 can be taken seriously because he's in a conflict of interest. And frankly, it's incredible that he

00:18:57.080 didn't even mention the Trudeau Foundation in his report, even though publicly available intelligence

00:19:03.520 showed that the dictatorship in Beijing had given money to the Trudeau Foundation for the express

00:19:12.480 purpose of buying the love and loyalty of Justin Trudeau, the prime minister of Canada. Now,

00:19:17.980 Johnson's part of the Trudeau Foundation. So, of course, he wouldn't want to investigate himself.

00:19:24.380 But frankly, that's why he should have recused himself. As for any proposals he might have to

00:19:30.600 silence me, the answer is no, I will not be silenced. Thank you.

00:19:35.280 Will you be joining ENSECOP?

00:19:36.960 No.

00:19:37.500 By the way, ENSECOP stands for National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. And

00:19:43.080 that's a trick and a trap that Polly saw. Trudeau and his friends in the Trudeau Foundation and David

00:19:50.760 Johnson want to keep things quiet. They want to keep things secret. And they say if Pierre Polly have

00:19:56.560 really cared about this, he would take a oath of secrecy and look at things in secret. But that's

00:20:02.180 not really how we do democracy. I understand that there's certain things when it involves

00:20:05.820 spycraft that you have to keep confidential. But this is much more than about spycraft. It's about

00:20:11.940 the bizarre fact that Canada has more Chinese diplomats than almost any country in the world,

00:20:17.080 despite our small size. But like I say, the problem isn't even in the embassies. The problem

00:20:21.880 is in the prime minister's office in his cabinet. Well, here's Justin Trudeau. And Justin Trudeau has

00:20:30.140 this remarkable skill. I see it every time. And once you know it to look for it, you can't help but

00:20:36.240 see it all the time. When Justin Trudeau does something terrible and gets caught, he has this move where

00:20:41.840 he sort of takes himself out of the role as a player, as an actor, as the chief political and legal

00:20:48.220 actor in the country, and becomes an observer, a pundit, a commentator. Oh, we've all learned a lot.

00:20:55.160 We plural. So he's with you. He and you are the same now. He's commenting and observing, and he's often

00:21:01.000 clucking his tongue in disappointment. Oh, we really have to do better. And he puts himself outside as an

00:21:09.480 actor so that he's not the one to blame. He shares your disappointment. Here's Trudeau today.

00:21:16.640 Given the reaction from opposition leaders, are you concerned at all about the political risk of not

00:21:22.620 holding a public inquiry? Like I said, I look forward to party leaders choosing to actually

00:21:32.300 get the security briefings, security clearances necessary to see the facts that underpin this

00:21:40.400 report. So that going forward, we can continue to have robust, informed debates on the best way

00:21:48.220 to keep Canadians safe in a world in which foreign interference is increasingly a challenge for us,

00:21:55.740 for all of our allies as well. I don't think Canadians would want or expect any of their leaders 0.92

00:22:04.400 to choose to choose ignorance when they can choose to have the facts laid out for them.

00:22:13.260 And I can assure you, in our democracy, there are always going to be plenty of things to

00:22:18.480 criticize a government on and to challenge us to do better. But let us please, grounded in an

00:22:25.260 understanding of the true facts and not choose to risk weakening Canadians' confidence in our

00:22:34.240 institutions by building partisan attacks on things that are patently untrue.

00:22:42.580 Foreign interference is a challenge for us. You see, he's the victim here. He's not the instrument 0.97

00:22:49.660 of foreign interference. His brother didn't collect a $140,000 check from China, plus publish a book

00:22:56.140 from China. Trudeau didn't roll over for China for 900 days when they seized and kidnapped the two 0.92

00:23:02.960 Michaels. No, no, no, no, no, no. Foreign interference is a challenge for us. He's not the instrument of it.

00:23:09.420 And who's standing with him? Mendocino, the public safety minister, who, like Trudeau,

00:23:15.880 lied and disputed the Globe and Mail's report when it first came out. And Bill Blair, who we also

00:23:22.120 learned, waited for months before authorizing any investigation into Chinese bullying of conservative

00:23:28.480 MP Michael Chong. I think perhaps the most frustrating reaction today was from Jagmeet Singh. I almost forget

00:23:37.160 about him. I think everyone forgets about him. I don't think he's, you know, it's like Churchill's old

00:23:41.360 saying. An empty taxi pulled up at Parliament Hill and Jagmeet Singh got out. When was the last thing

00:23:47.880 Jagmeet Singh said or did anything of consequence? I truly, honestly can't think of anything. But here's

00:23:55.060 what he had to say on this disgraceful day in a tweet. He said, nothing short of an independent

00:24:01.060 and public inquiry on foreign interference is good enough. I'm deeply disappointed in the

00:24:06.320 rapporteur's report. We'll be taking these concerns directly to the PM and use all our tools in

00:24:12.220 Parliament to get answers for Canadians. Um, no, you won't, mate. Justin Trudeau does not have a

00:24:20.840 majority government. Justin Trudeau only acts like he has a majority government because he can count on

00:24:27.040 Jagmeet Singh's votes every single time. In fact, there's sort of a rule of thumb. The tougher Jagmeet Singh

00:24:35.100 talks, the more you know he's going to sell out. That's why he's talking so tough to try to distract

00:24:40.560 you. Jagmeet Singh said he will use all the tools in Parliament to get answers for Canadians. But we know

00:24:48.380 that's not true because the only tool that would work is a vote of non-confidence. Jagmeet Singh could

00:24:56.100 bring down Justin Trudeau today, but he doesn't want to. He could say to Trudeau, have a public inquiry,

00:25:04.420 led by a judge, let's say. And Trudeau, you can't pick the judge this time like you did with the

00:25:09.980 Trucker Commission. He could say that and say, or else, or else we leave your coalition. But he didn't

00:25:19.040 say that. And he won't say that because he's a sellout. In his own way, he's just as compromised

00:25:27.700 as David Johnson. Stay with us. We have more on this subject with our friend Gordon Chang.

00:25:43.060 Well, what's happening in Canada with the influence of Communist China is not unique. We see similar 0.89

00:25:48.840 influence operations around the world, including in Australia and New Zealand, in the United Kingdom,

00:25:54.080 and the United States. Indeed, every country in the world, in Europe and Africa, in Asia, Oceania.

00:26:01.600 But Canada seems to have it worse than most. I was startled to see that Canada has more Chinese 1.00

00:26:07.580 diplomats here doing who knows what than countries many times the size of Canada. Why would China

00:26:14.660 have many more operatives in this country than in the United Kingdom, which has nearly

00:26:18.980 double our population? And far more than in Australia, even more than the United States.

00:26:25.280 That tells me that they're making progress here that they feel needs more hands on deck.

00:26:31.480 Joining us now to put David Johnson's report in a larger context is our friend Gordon G. Chang. He is

00:26:38.140 our go-to expert on China. And if you're not following him on Twitter right now, you're doing it wrong. Go to

00:26:43.020 Gordon G. Chang in Twitter. He joins us today from St. Louis. What a pleasure to have you back on the

00:26:48.560 program. I know that you track the communist Chinese influence around the world. How would you place

00:26:55.700 Canada in terms of its resilience and resistance to Chinese influence? Or have we frankly succumbed to

00:27:02.700 it? Canada has succumbed to China. And we can see this in any number of ways, especially over the last 0.64

00:27:10.420 decade. And I think the reason why China had more, quote unquote, diplomats in Canada than other places

00:27:16.900 is because Canada simply allowed that to occur. You have a family, the Trudeau family, extremely

00:27:26.380 influential in Canadian politics, also very close to communist China and other communist states.

00:27:33.440 So I think that Beijing just saw this as an opportunity. And what we're seeing in Canada right

00:27:38.900 now is something, a healthy development, a pushback. The Chinese, because they could do all these 1.00

00:27:45.020 things, they did them. They've overstepped as they overstepped in Australia, as they've overstepped

00:27:50.660 in the United States and elsewhere. And so it's really critical right now for the Canadian political

00:27:56.820 establishment, as well as the Canadian people, to make it clear that this is completely unacceptable

00:28:02.220 and that they will impose costs on Canadian politicians who are in China's pocket.

00:28:07.220 You know, one of the things that's so interesting and so difficult is that there are Chinese-Canadian 1.00

00:28:13.360 politicians of every political stripe. Those who were critical of Beijing, like Michael Chong,

00:28:20.700 the Conservative MP, they were targeted and their families were targeted. And some others weren't

00:28:27.320 just targeted for harassment, but they were targeted for in their primaries or their nominations,

00:28:32.040 as we call it. So Chinese-Canadian MPs who wanted to stand up for freedom and democracy

00:28:37.280 and to resist, they were often, well, targeted and in some cases removed. How do we help Chinese-Canadians

00:28:46.900 break free of the long arm of Beijing? And I know it's a tough one. I mean, I can imagine,

00:28:52.920 for example, Rudy Giuliani taking on the Italian mafia. He did it because he didn't want Italian-ness 0.99

00:29:00.180 to be synonymous with crime. And sometimes I see a Jewish politician's, I think, yikes, 1.00

00:29:08.160 in a way he's representing me too. And so it's a sensitive issue. How do we strengthen

00:29:13.820 Chinese-Canadians who love Canadian values like peace and freedom and independence? And how do we

00:29:19.720 make sure that we do that and empower them and not paint all Chinese-Canadians? I mean, obviously we

00:29:25.440 don't. But I think some Chinese activists in Canada, like there's a senator, a liberal senator,

00:29:30.620 who's saying this is just anti-China racism. How do we push back? And maybe you have a particular

00:29:35.280 opinion on that.

00:29:37.700 Well, a couple of things. First of all, it's a very difficult thing to do because you've got to

00:29:42.380 take China out of the Canadian political establishment, which means you've got to start at the top. 0.82

00:29:47.340 And we got to see, you know, from David Johnston's report, we can see that China's allies are fighting

00:29:54.200 back tooth and nail. Now, you know, with regard to ethnic Chinese in Canada, and this is the same 0.86

00:30:00.280 issue in the United States, we have many Chinese who appear more loyal to Beijing than to the United

00:30:10.620 States. And so, you know, we have a First Amendment. And that First Amendment gives you a right to be silent.

00:30:17.020 as well as to speak. But Chinese Americans are putting themselves in a very difficult position

00:30:23.320 because I think other Americans legitimately can ask, why are we having, as in our country,

00:30:30.240 people who are more loyal to an enemy than they are to our country? And that means that Chinese 1.00

00:30:36.320 Americans have got to start talking among themselves on these issues. These are the same things, of course,

00:30:42.460 in Canada. Because other Canadians, I believe, have a legitimate question. Why are Chinese Canadians 1.00

00:30:49.060 so loyal to Beijing? You know, it's so tough. And we never want to imply, you know, a disloyalty. And

00:30:58.400 that's what I want to fight against. That's why I love courageous Chinese Canadians. And I'll put

00:31:02.980 Michael Chong in that category. And, you know, the Epoch Times, which publishes in Canada, and then there's

00:31:10.080 NTDTV, which is a related TV station. These are Democrats. And when I've spoken to them, and many

00:31:16.580 of them are in the Falun Gong faith, that might motivate them. But so what? I love the fact that

00:31:22.100 they have a freedom orientation. And they tell me, Joe Wong, the head of NTDTV in Canada, tells me that

00:31:28.920 he gets phone calls from mainland China, from his family, saying the police are there. And Joe, will you

00:31:35.520 stop doing what you're doing? Like, I think one of the reasons that they're silent is because of

00:31:40.460 the threats. And it's sort of like that Italian mafia example. Why didn't more Italians speak up

00:31:46.280 to the mafia? Well, because maybe they'd get killed if they did. I don't know. I think that we have a

00:31:50.500 crisis, and we owe it to our Chinese-Canadian brothers to help them resist this influence from

00:31:57.240 Beijing. I don't know. I want to be so careful because I hate it that the communist Chinese 1.00

00:32:03.980 spokesmen are trying to say any question about Chinese influence is a racist thing. I know that's

00:32:10.280 not true, but they sort of want it to become true. Yes. And you had a previous Chinese ambassador

00:32:17.200 to Ottawa, who actually was trying to divide Canadians along racial lines. Lu Xiaoyi, who is in France,

00:32:26.320 who's also made some very controversial comments recently. But when he was in Canada, he tried to do

00:32:33.960 that. And the problem here for Chinese-Canadians is that other Canadians have allowed this to occur.

00:32:42.420 So, for instance, if Justin Trudeau had started expelling Chinese diplomats en masse, closing their

00:32:48.360 consulates, I think Beijing would have gotten the message, and therefore, Joe Wong would not have

00:32:53.300 gotten calls from his relatives in China. So Justin Trudeau opened the door. And that's the same as in my

00:33:00.460 country as well. But it is a problem. Because, you know, just to put this in the context of where I

00:33:06.480 look at this in the United States, Lydia and I, my wife, were in San Francisco recently. You look at

00:33:12.760 Chinatown, and you see the flags of the People's Republic, not American flags flying over Chinatown.

00:33:19.280 China. And so, as I said, I think that we have legitimate questions about the loyalty and the 0.99

00:33:25.760 presence of Chinese in our country. Wow. And, you know, this is going to be the same issue elsewhere. 1.00

00:33:32.380 I mean, that's such a tough thing to hear. And I think you have a license to say that because you

00:33:38.140 yourself are ethnically Chinese. It's a very difficult thing to talk about. I mean, I would be shocked to see

00:33:44.300 the People's Republic of China flag flying in Canada in an area like that, but I'm sure it happens.

00:33:50.700 Let me ask you this. If you had, I mean, one of the things that's interesting about Canada is that

00:33:54.940 there's about 100,000 Chinese nationals who go to school in Canada, especially the University of

00:34:01.460 British Columbia in Vancouver. And these are often, by the way, outstanding students. But I know a lot of

00:34:07.600 them are the sons and daughters of Communist Party officials, because it's not just a random

00:34:12.040 application who gets to go to Canada to school. I think it's largely controlled on the Chinese 1.00

00:34:17.640 government side. And, like, I think of the various benefits and perks and friendships that Canada

00:34:24.160 shows China that, like you say, expelling diplomats. I think that's a good one for starters. 1.00

00:34:29.860 You know, we are, I like the idea of training Chinese Canadians in thoughts about freedom and

00:34:35.700 showing them our ways. But if these are just giving perks and privileges to the sons and daughters of

00:34:40.660 the Communist Party, I don't think we're achieving that. Can you help me come up with maybe a list of

00:34:45.420 two or three things that the Canadian government can do besides expelling diplomats, maybe limiting

00:34:51.640 Chinese Communist Party children going to our universities, maybe, you know, stopping some

00:34:58.020 certain exchanges? What are the things we can do to let China know that we don't like this path,

00:35:03.900 you know, short of economic sanctions, which I don't know it would be feasible? What can we do to

00:35:09.260 signal our disapproval of Communist China? If I could just sort of put this in the context of

00:35:15.140 what's happening in the United States, where we have somewhere between 350 to 390,000 Chinese students

00:35:22.240 in our colleges and universities. And many of them, perhaps as many as 13%, commit acts of espionage

00:35:29.900 against the United States. And so we have this issue of the theft of U.S. intellectual property by

00:35:37.100 Chinese students. The issue here, though, is, I believe, one of American tolerance, because we have

00:35:45.540 known for decades that Chinese consular officials in the United States, also Ministry of State Security

00:35:54.500 agents, have surveilled Chinese students on our campuses. And they do that through a number of

00:36:01.200 different ways, including the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, CISA, which are often run by

00:36:07.500 Chinese consulates. And so we've allowed this to occur. And of course, Chinese students feel compelled 0.97

00:36:14.280 and coerced to do things, even which are crimes on our soil. But we have created the conditions where

00:36:21.740 they, as a practical matter, don't have a choice. So it's up to us, for instance, to make sure

00:36:27.660 that Chinese consular officials, Ministry of State Security agents are not in a position to do that.

00:36:33.160 And we should be disbanding CISA chapters across the country. You know, Chinese students can come here 1.00

00:36:40.180 and we have to give them, it's our obligation to give them an environment where they can make a choice,

00:36:46.720 where they can choose democracy. We haven't done that. So that's our fault. I imagine the same is also

00:36:52.860 true in Canada as well, Ezra, because this is issue, I think, primarily not of the students'

00:37:00.220 behavior, but of coercion and intimidation. Yeah. You know, it's interesting, you give the

00:37:06.420 number of just under 400,000. That shows, I mean, Canada is about one-tenth the size of the U.S. So

00:37:12.280 the fact that we have the proportionate of two and a half times the number of Chinese students,

00:37:20.540 and that we have more diplomats, shows you the proportion of the problem here in Canada is even

00:37:26.560 greater than in the U.S. Well, listen, Gordon, you've said some very powerful things. And it

00:37:31.420 breaks my heart in a way, because I know that the spirit of freedom and yearning for freedom is in

00:37:37.900 every person in the world. And so I'm with you that we have to strengthen the opportunities to

00:37:44.500 choose freedom for Chinese Canadians and Chinese Americans and students. And I take your point. I

00:37:50.840 mean, we at Rebel News are very critical of Communist China, but we want to take very great

00:37:58.040 care. In no way do we cast dispersions against people based on ethnicity and race. And you've

00:38:03.880 said some very bold things, and I think you're in a position to do so. It sort of breaks my heart to

00:38:08.100 hear some of the things you're saying. But that's the reason why we've got to fight this. We've got to

00:38:11.940 make, we've got to remove any doubt. We've got to strengthen freedom-loving, democratic-loving

00:38:17.800 Chinese Canadians. I don't know, maybe I sound like I'm gushing here, but I find this a little 1.00

00:38:21.940 bit stressful to hear the things you're telling me. Well, they are. And it's because of an indulgent

00:38:28.760 attitude that America, for instance, has had for, you know, especially since the Cold War,

00:38:34.840 where we thought that we could integrate China into the international system, that their communist 0.96

00:38:40.600 former government really didn't matter, and that there was the end of history, as Francis Fukuyama,

00:38:47.460 the American political scientist, said. Now you have to understand that that's not the case.

00:38:53.080 History is continuing, and the bad actors seem to be winning right now.

00:38:59.460 Before we go, let me just ask you for a word on Taiwan, because I know you speak with great

00:39:03.600 expertise and information on that. What's the status on Taiwan? I know that Beijing recently

00:39:11.380 conducted exercises that looked like they were swarming the island. It really looked like a dress

00:39:17.460 rehearsal for an invasion. How did that shake down? Did that result in any change on the U.S. posture?

00:39:24.740 What's the status of Joe Biden and his commitment to the island? What's up with Taiwan?

00:39:29.820 Things have been very quiet recently. They were the exercises you pointed out. Beijing has done

00:39:36.640 that before, especially when U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went to the island in August of last

00:39:44.400 year, where they basically, China, after she left, China was practicing what looked like a blockade,

00:39:52.400 which probably would be something that Beijing would do either before or after invading the island.

00:39:59.380 So they've been continuing to do that. Things are fairly quiet, though. And the reason is that

00:40:05.200 the presidential election in Taiwan is coming up in next year, early next year. And that is,

00:40:12.460 I think people are sort of getting ready for that. You know, the political parties are in the process.

00:40:19.160 One has chosen its candidate. The other is in the process of doing so. So I think Beijing is sort of

00:40:25.080 being a little bit in the backgrounds until that heats up. But when it heats up, Ezra, as it will

00:40:33.020 towards the end of this year, then we are going to see a lot of fireworks. And then we are going to

00:40:38.800 see, I think, the international system tested, just like it was tested in the months leading up to the

00:40:44.400 invasion of Ukraine. Incredible. Well, listen, thank you for this. And I just want to tell you how much 1.00

00:40:52.340 personal affection I have for you and Lydia and how you fight for freedom and how you embrace the

00:40:58.100 values that are, I think, are in the hearts of all mankind and that you speak up so bravely and I'm

00:41:03.480 sure at great cost. So you have my support and I know the support of our many viewers and fans. And I wish

00:41:10.360 you much strength and success. Thank you for fighting for freedom for all people.

00:41:15.540 And Ezra, thank you for your voice, because your voice gives inspiration, not just to Canadians,

00:41:20.820 but to others as well. So we really appreciate it. And we are energized and we are inspired by you.

00:41:28.720 Well, you're very kind. All the best to you, my friend. And folks, once again, if you're not doing it,

00:41:32.840 if you're not following Gordon, please do. He's at Gordon G. Chang on Twitter. Take care and stay with us.

00:41:38.920 More ahead.

00:41:40.360 Well, that's the show for today. I'm sorry it was a little herky-jerky and in a different place

00:41:54.920 because we got all sorts of construction going on. I'll show you that in another video.

00:41:59.360 Thanks so much for your support. As always, I'll be back here tomorrow. And listen, we keep fighting

00:42:05.340 for freedom every day. That's what this battle is about. Until next time. Good night.

00:42:10.360 Bye.

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Rebel News Podcast - May 23, 2023

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Trudeau Foundation’s David Johnston does what we knew he would — and covers up for Chinese benefactors

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