EZRA LEVANT | Two crazy facts about the Algoma steel fiasco I didn’t know until just today
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Summary
Did you know that the government that loaned Algoma steel $500 million just two months ago knew all along they were going to lay off a thousand workers? It's nuts. I'll show you some footage of the whole thing.
Transcript
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Hello, my friends. I found out some crazy new news about this Algoma steel factory.
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Did you know that the government that gave them half a billion dollars just two months ago
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knew all along they were going to lay off a thousand workers? It's nuts. I'll show you some
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footage of the CEO of this company basically admitting that the whole thing to see the video
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footage. So you've got to go to Rebel News Plus. Go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe. It's
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eight bucks a month. You get the video version of the podcast, plus the satisfaction of keeping us
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Tonight, two crazy facts about the Algoma steel fiasco that I didn't know until just today.
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It is December 3rd, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
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Yesterday, I marveled that Algoma steel, which just announced the layoffs of a thousand workers.
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I was shocked that they had the audacity to do that just weeks after receiving $500 million.
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That's half a billion from taxpayers. $400 million came from the federal government and Mark Carney,
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and another $100 million from Doug Ford's Ontario. Of course, the taxpayer paid the bill,
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not the politicians. I thought, that's crazy. That's sharp practice. That feels unethical.
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To cash a check and then almost immediately fire a thousand workers. And so I was puzzled,
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and I said it last time in the show, I was puzzled of the official response from the government via the
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graphic design jobs minister, Patty Aydoux. Didn't mention the money at all. But I missed this video
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last night. Looks like the reason why the liberals didn't absolutely savage Algoma for taking the cash
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and then firing a thousand workers is because the liberals knew about this all along. They knew that
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the job cuts were coming, and they were fine with it, and they gave the half a billion without making
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a condition. If you watch that CEO of Algoma say as much in a somewhat diplomatic way.
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I think the government certainly knows our business strategy. It knows the pivot that we had made. It
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knew very well that the extreme pressure the company was under. I don't think anybody would loan the
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company half a billion dollars without asking very detailed questions about what our business plan was.
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I think the core concern is how do we protect the ongoing Algoma steel? How do we make sure this
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company is competitive, is viable? He said, I don't think anybody would loan the company half a billion
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dollars without asking very detailed questions about what our business plan was. That's what he
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said. Well, I'm not so sure about that. We learned recently that Melanie Jolie did not bother to read the
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contract in which the liberals gave billions of dollars to Stellantis, the carmaker, which shortly
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thereafter announced their layoffs too. So I think this CEO is overestimating the intelligence and the
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fiduciary duty of the liberals, especially the obvious DEI appointee, Melanie Jolie. But yeah, he's
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sort of in on it. They're all in on it, aren't they? So the government knew, which is why they're not
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criticizing Algoma for pocketing half a billion and which is why the CEO isn't embarrassing the
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government. Here's that rocket surgeon, Doug Ford. It's a tweet actually by a reporter who said,
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford acknowledged that his government was aware that massive layoffs at
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Algoma Steel were imminent well before the province agreed to loan the company a hundred million dollars
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in taxpayer funds. Quote, the Titanic was sinking. So he took a hundred million tax dollars from people
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in Ontario and invested it in the Titanic after he knew it was sinking. Hey, don't worry though. I mean,
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the CBC went to work trying to clean up this mess. Look at this story. It was posted at around 10 30
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PM last night when things started to fall apart. Algoma Steel is cutting a thousand jobs. So why did it
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receive millions in government loans? Steel producer received 500 million loans in September,
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$420 million in 2021. Yeah. So it's just under a billion dollars. Now I'm going to read to you
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four paragraphs in a row from the CBC story because it is just a work of art. The journalists there,
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just beautiful. Like you have to admire the pure government propaganda. You rarely see it executed
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so well. So I'm just going to read it to you. Four sentences. Bear with me. Back in September,
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the federal government boasted it was acting quote, to protect Canadian steel jobs with its announcement
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of $400 million in loans to Northern Ontario based Algoma Steel. The money would help it quote,
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adapt operations, stay competitive, and most importantly, protect the jobs and the workers
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who drive the industry. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement at the time,
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At the same time, the Ontario government said it would be kicking in $100 million of its own,
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meaning the steel producer would be receiving half a billion dollars in government money.
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But on Tuesday, just over two months after these announcements, Algoma Steel said it was issuing
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1,000 layoff notices to workers at its flat in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. This raised questions as to why
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the steel company was receiving millions of taxpayers' dollars. Yet some industry experts suggest that the
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funding is going to important, leading-edge technology that will drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
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and it's all part of the cost of Canada maintaining its steel industry in the wake of punishing tariffs.
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I don't know if that was written at the CBC or if it was written by someone at Algoma or if it was
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written by the Liberal Party of Canada, but really all three have merged these days, haven't they? It's really
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all the same. And they're all living off of the avails of you. Let me read this next amazing paragraph
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from the same CBC story. The government support has been generous, said Peter Worian, an economist
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with the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. But at the end
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of the day, you get a major environmental improvement. There's a long-range plan, he said, adding that it
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was the right thing for Ottawa to do. With the new technology, the plant was expected to cut
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greenhouse gas emissions by 70 to 80%. Hey, guys, we burned through a billion dollars. 1,000 men have
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been laid off. Hey, but did you know that we cut some greenhouse gas emissions for a billion dollars
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worth of cash? Yeah, if that's your primary goal ahead of jobs, ahead of a successful business, you can
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actually do that for free, you know, just to shut down the factory and then you have zero emissions.
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In fact, you could have given, you could have given every one of those workers a million dollars cash
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and had the same outcome. In fact, you would have lower emissions, wouldn't you?
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Let me keep reading. The government gave them the money to incentivize them to try the technology,
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being said, and talking about this new low-carbon technology. However, operating electric arc furnaces,
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because they use more efficient technology, is much less labor-intensive, meaning a plant requires
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fewer jobs, Mang says. If you can undercut everyone because you're producing so much cheaper than they
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are, then who would not want to buy from you, Mang said. Really? So this new technology, this green
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technology is so awesome trying to make steel without coal. It's so amazing that whoever does it just
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absolutely crushes their competitors. But for some reason, the only people who do use this amazing
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technology only do it when the government gives them huge wads of cash. Cash, is that what this
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professor is saying? Only a professor would say that because they're paid by the government too.
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Here's a union rep for the workers at Algoma saying there were absolutely no strings attached to the
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funding that the companies would have to keep some workers on. It was all a deal from executive to
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What is your message to those governments tonight, you know, following this news?
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Well, they should recognize that we are taxpayers and it doesn't matter which party we support.
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We are their citizens and they should be at least taking care of us. We're not asking them to find
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us jobs. But what we do want is for them to attach conditions to funding that says common sense needs
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to prevail and the workers need to be considered irrespective of what's happening with the company.
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We're not asking for handouts, but we're asking our workers have brought this company back from CCAA
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three times now. So we should be recognized by the government for attempting to keep the economy
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going. So what are we paying for if not the jobs? Well, the environment. I mean, the net zero. That's
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what Carney's all about. That's what we're paying for. It's just an incredible statement. Take a listen.
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With the centerpiece of the liberal government's climate agenda, would that help you in your business
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getting rid of that levy? Look, the carbon price is not our biggest problem right now. It adds,
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you know, 10, $20 per ton of steel to our production costs. When we are EAF, when we're converted to the
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EAF, our carbon intensity will be 70 percent lower. So we'll actually have an advantage versus our
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competitive competitors in both the U.S. and Canada that are making blast furnace steel that have a much higher
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carbon intensity. So we see that as a competitive advantage. We can deal with the carbon price. I think the
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government needs to be mindful of the escalation of it. They have to be mindful that it never becomes a barrier to a
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steel company being successful or never becomes a barrier to be able to continue to implement and
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improve your operations. But as long as it doesn't become that and it's implemented in a reasonable way,
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the carbon price is not the problem here. So this is awesome news. A thousand fewer workers. But hey,
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guys, the steel will have a smaller carbon footprint. And that's totally going to be a competitive
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advantage, including selling into the United States. What does that even mean? The steel is being kept
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out of the United States because of Trump's tariffs, not because of carbon levels. No one in the world
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says they're going to buy steel because it's a low carbon manufacturing process. No one in the world has
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ever said that. That's like saying low carbon oil is a competitive advantage. No, it isn't. I mean,
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customers buy oil from OPEC dictatorships and from Russia, from Iran and Venezuela. They literally
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buy blood oil from Sudan. No one cares about a few puffs of CO2 in their oil. No one is making their
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buying choices based on that. No one other than Mark Carney and Justin Trudeau even talk about carbon
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emissions in oil or steel. Oh, and now the CEO of Algoma. I guess if you gave me a billion dollars,
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I'd talk about whatever you want to as well. Hey, can I show you something from Canada's
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newspaper of record, the Globe and Mail, which although it's owned by Canada's richest oligarchs,
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still takes subsidies from the Carney government. Here, take a look at this. This was just last week.
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Corporate citizen of the year, Algoma's man of steel, Mike Garcia. When Trump's trade war threatened
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to sink Algoma, its American CEO, this year's corporate citizen of the year, launched Project
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Superman and averted certain disaster. That was published just last week. What a joke the Globe
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and Mail is. Oh, and look at this. Michael Garcia made $5.6 million personally last year. Now,
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I actually think he's worth every penny of it. That's just a 1% commission on the half a billion
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dollars he managed to squeeze out of Carney and Doug Ford. Totally worth it for Algoma investors.
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He just brought in a half a billion dollars. Pay him $10 million, whatever. I'm not sure he's
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corporate citizen of the year. I wouldn't call him businessman of the year. He's certainly not
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employer of the year. A thousand laid off men would argue differently, but he's a pretty good lobbyist,
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pretty good at working the Liberal Party to get money from them. That's a special skill set,
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and it involves praising carbon dioxide reductions even while you're firing a thousand men. He'll do it.
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He's your man. Oh, what's this from just five weeks ago? I missed this until today.
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Algoma Steel CEO Mike Garcia leaving Steelmaker for personal reasons, but with no regrets. Personal
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reasons. I get it. Take the 5.6 mil, lay off a thousand men, and then get out of town. He's literally
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planning on leaving the town. It must be nice, although I wouldn't want to be that guy.
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It's a club, though, isn't it? It's a cozy club. You got Mike Garcia. You got Algoma shareholders,
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including big U.S. banks. You got environmentalists. You got the Globe and Mail. You got a half a billion
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dollars in free money. It is a club, not an economy. It's a club, and you're not in it. Stay with us for
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We spend tens of thousands of dollars on security for our staff, but you can never totally protect
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someone who's going out into the streets. Case in point, this weekend, when our Quebec team, Alexa
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Lavoie and Guillaume Roy, were in the field covering a protest, even though they thought they would be
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okay, we had three security guards with them, but you can never be 100% safe, especially if someone
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Utterly outrageous. Guillaume had to go to the hospital for stitches, but even when Alexa was moving
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away from the mob, some man with a baby in a stroller tried to assault her. Take a look at
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Unbelievable. And there's no other journalistic company in the country that this happens to.
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Joining us now from Montreal is our very brave Quebec team, Guillaume Roy, the videographer,
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and Alexa Lavoie, our on-air talent. Guys, first of all, merci and thank you so much
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for putting up with this. You shouldn't have to put up with it, but I spoke to both of you
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when this happened. And you both said the same thing, that you will not let these attacks
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stop you from doing your work. So, on behalf of our viewers, thank you.
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Hi, Ezra. And it's our pleasure to tell the other side of the story, whatever the costs,
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Well, I'm very sorry this happened. Guillaume, show me your elbow. Is it still covered with a bandage?
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No. Okay. So, how many stitches? Four stitches in it?
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Well, I'm very sorry that happened to you. And it was quite a serious injury at the time.
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It was bleeding profusely. You had to go to the hospital. Tell me about the march you were covering,
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because we knew that you needed security, but we didn't think you would get out of hand.
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First of all, why we decided to cover the union protests, it's mainly because of the bill tree
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that the CAX government actually proposed recently to ask the union to be more transparent.
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And afterwards, we had Magali Piccard, who went out.
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She also insulted some of the politicians, like Éric Duhaime.
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She also went out saying she was at the war against the government,
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and she was ready to paralyze Quebec with a social strike.
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So, who is that? The head of the union was saying this?
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Got it. So, it was a very political union march, and you went there just to talk to people,
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and you actually had some success. I saw you were talking to a marcher who seemed to be happy
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Yes, but, you know, union members represent the population.
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There is some members that are favorable to freedom of the press,
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and they actually like us, as well as others that they were not happy to see us,
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But, yes, we had, like, successful interview until those moms just came and surrounded us
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Now, Guillaume, someone came up to you, and it was, the thing is, in a situation like that
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where you're in close quarters with people on purpose,
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because you have to get close to them to ask them a question and put the microphone to them.
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It's impossible to be in that close quarters without someone having the opportunistic chance to grab you.
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I mean, if the goal was to keep you 100% safe, we'd have to stop you from even going there.
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So, I'm sympathetic to security if someone sort of does a sneak attack.
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Tell me about the sneak attack on you. How did it happen?
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Who was it? Did you see them before they attacked you?
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No, I didn't see them, because there were so many people this day.
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Maybe the media said 50,000, but maybe like 10,000 people.
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And just the moment before, the Antifa group were very excited,
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And one person had an interaction with Alexa about our boss, Ezra,
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who is supposedly agitably racist against the French people.
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In fact, you guys, every time I see your work, it makes me love Quebec more,
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There's reasons to hope, and there's reasons to love.
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So, whoever that was, they were wrong, Guillaume.
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Yeah, and at this exact moment, someone put a pole on my backpack,
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like, grabbed my, or grabbed the camera pole, whatever.
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So, when I watched it after, I see, like, the speed that I heard the floor.
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And so, like, some minutes, like, five minutes after,
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And I saw the blood, like, falling, like, everywhere.
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Now, then, did you go straight to the hospital,
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I knew right away that he needed stitches because it was open.
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So, Guillaume went inside for a vaccine for the tetanus,
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and then the police helped us to go to the emergency,
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where Guillaume was actually treated pretty quickly
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So, but no, we had, like, a really quick service at the hospital.
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Well, I'm very glad to hear that, and it's sort of scary.
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In the past, the police have not been helpful towards you.
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we're suing the Montreal police called the SPVM
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because they have not lived up to their duty to protect you.
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In fact, sometimes it feels like they're on the side of Antifa.
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when we were first surrounded and physically assaulted
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They saw that there was some tension over there
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so they can go and look for the man who assaulted Guillaume.
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but the thing is they refuse to give us his name
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But so far we need to wait for the Crown Prosecutor
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I know that if it was a CBC Radio Canada reporter
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who was attacked, they would prosecute for sure.
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and thanks for who is, like, helping us with that.
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But, of course, we are ready to take some risk,
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And I would turn to the viewers now and say this.
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than we do even on rent and insurance for the office.
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who actually works at the Department of Defense.
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And I wonder if Antifa has some sort of detente
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Our security bill is thousands and thousands of dollars.
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And we are simply not going to let our people be bullied.
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but we're going to do our best to protect them.
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And of course, the security is for both Alexa and Guillaume.
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Are you still confident that we can tell the stories
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Unfortunately, I don't know if the viewer remember
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The Crown Prosecutor decided that they would not proceed
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to go ahead with their case for criminal harassment.
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by not only the justice, but also by the police.
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And never, ever, those individuals were arrested
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as I would treat myself if it was on the front line,
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Algoma replacing workers with automated green tech.
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Please, please, please try this low emissions technology
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other than those that the government pays to use it.
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And of course, that's not the problem in Canada.
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The problem is the tariffs that Trump is putting on.
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How much do you want to bet that they vote for him
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are pretty skeptical of left-wingers and environmentalists.
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Of course, there's not as many steel workers today
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when that is actually what Mark Carney is doing
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Carney pays the journalists in this country now,