Jean Chretien tells Justin Trudeau to surrender to China. Will Trudeau do it？
Summary
Jean Chrétien tells Justin Trudeau to surrender to China. Will he comply? And why should others go to jail when you re the biggest carbon consumer in the world? Why should they be jailed when you won t give them an answer?
Transcript
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Hello, Rebels. Today I talk about Jean Chrétien's masterful, brilliant 3D chess, complex yet
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achievable plan to get our hostages back from China. I can sum up his plan in three words,
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which is miraculous considering it's like a Renoir painting. It's so amazing. And his plan is
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pay the ransom. Yeah, who could have thought of that one? And I explain to you why Chrétien
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said that. I proved to you that he's a Chinese lobbyist. Why are we even listening to the guy?
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Anyways, before I get to that, can you do me a favor and become a Rebel Premium subscriber? I know I
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ask you all the time, but I'd be grateful if you would do it. Go to the rebel.media slash shows,
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and it's $8 a month or $80 for a year. You get my show in video format, Sheila Gunn-Reed's show,
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David Menzi's show, and of course, it helps the Rebels stay strong. All right, here's my
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Jean Chrétien in China show. You're listening to a Rebel Media Podcast.
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Tonight, Jean Chrétien tells Justin Trudeau to surrender to China. Will Trudeau comply?
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It's June 14th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
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The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my
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Jean Chrétien, the most successful Liberal Prime Minister in memory, had some advice for
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Justin Trudeau, the weakest Liberal Prime Minister in memory. It was advice on how to deal with
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China, which has been holding two Canadians hostage for the better part of a year, Michael
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Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Chrétien's advice was pretty simple. Just surrender. Just pay the
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ransom to China. Give the Chinese everything they want. Just do it. Here's the Globe and Mail
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story from a day ago. Chrétien proposes cancelling Meng's extradition case to unfreeze relations with
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China. Just a reminder, Meng Wanzhou, if I'm saying that right, is a senior executive of the
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massive Chinese telecommunications company called Huawei. They make cell phones and amongst other
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things. And she also happens to be the daughter of the company's founder. She was arrested when
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she touched down in Vancouver at the request of the United States, which wants her extradited to
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the U.S. for various financial crimes, including illegally breaking sanctions in Iran. Meng is
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fighting that extradition and is out on bail, but can't leave the city of Vancouver. Of all the cities in
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the world to be kept in, Vancouver would probably be one of the nicest. And it's culturally pretty
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friendly to Meng, too. So she's not in a prison or anything, unlike the two Canadian hostages China
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immediately seized as punishment to Canada. Let me read some more from the article in the Globe.
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Jean-Claude Chen is floating the idea of having Canada's justice minister exercise his legal authority
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to stop the United States extradition of senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou as the means to
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normalize diplomatic relations with China. Sources say the former Liberal Prime Minister, who last week
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offered to serve as Canada's special envoy to China to help free two jailed Canadians, has discussed the
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idea of canceling the extradition process with business executives, according to sources with knowledge
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of the conversations. So just caving in, just giving them everything that they want. That's
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that's his advice. That's his complex, thoughtful, deeply experienced solution here, just to surrender
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to a foreign power. The proposal, I'm going to read some more, which has not been formally presented to
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the Trudeau government, would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping's demand that Ms. Meng be freed to return
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home before Beijing would reconsider reprisals it has taken against Canada. So it's not just a surrender.
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It's a surrender, total abject surrender, renounce everything the Canadian government has said about the rule of law,
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just cave in, abandon our U.S. ally in their police request. All that has to happen first, before China even
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considers releasing our hostages or ending its bans on canola and other imports. So it's not even a
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capitulation. It is a capitulation in advance, with no strings attached, fingers crossed that China will
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be nice to us. What? Is that the advice of a man who ran the Canadian government, three majority
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governments in a row for a decade? Is that really how Chrétien himself operated? In the countless large and small
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negotiations and disagreements and compromises that a prime minister faces, both with foreign governments, both
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friendly and unfriendly, and with provinces and territories with their particular demands and businesses and lobby
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groups with his own political coalition? Is that really the best Chrétien could do? His best advice? He's coming up on 80.
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His best advice is just, maybe he's over 80 now, is just do whatever the Chinese say, just give him
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whatever they want? No, of course not. So you have to understand that Chrétien is in fact a fairly
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shrewd negotiator, much more than Justin Trudeau's never negotiated anything in his life. He said his dad,
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trust fund lawyers do that. But you have to understand that Jean Chrétien is a negotiator in this case
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for the other side. Right now, not in the past, right now, at the same time he's giving Canada such great
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advice, he is a lobbyist for China, in China, on the Chinese side. You might know that Jean Chrétien's
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son-in-law is Andre Desmarais. He's the president of the accurately named Power Corporation. Huge
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company, multi-billion dollars. They own brands you would recognize, like Great West Life Insurance,
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London Life, the Investors Group. You've heard of all those. They're huge companies here in Canada,
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but they have huge international holdings, and they are huge in China. They went in early,
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and they went in big. They bet it all on China. Just an example, they're part of Bombardier's
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massive Chinese railway into Tibet. That's an industrial investment, but it's really a tool
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to colonize the region, to bring in Han Chinese, to dilute the ethnic Tibetans. It's a conquering tool.
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There's nothing Power Corporation won't do to get ahead in China. There's no human rights violation
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they'll turn a blind eye to. I point out the Tibet Railway, and that's why Jean Chrétien is such a
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perfect fit for it, and not just for Power Corporation run by his son-in-law, but any other companies that
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want to get ahead in China. They go to Jean Chrétien. He's connected in China. He gets it done for a huge
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fee. See, when Jean Chrétien resigned as Canada's prime minister, he couldn't go straight to work
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lobbying the Canadian government that he just left weeks earlier, and these days, there's even a five-year
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cooling-off period before any senior government officeholder can lobby the government again.
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But there's no rule against a prime minister quitting and then immediately going to work
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for a foreign government. There's no rule against that. And that's exactly what Jean Chrétien did.
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Literally, five weeks after stepping down, five weeks, he went to work in China, working to schmooze the
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Chinese government on behalf of rich clients. Oh, like his son-in-law who need connections, but a lot
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of other clients too. Hey, quick question. Aside from the ethics of that, do you really think that
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Jean Chrétien didn't take any steps, didn't have any conversations, didn't take any plans
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in advance of stepping down as prime minister while he was still prime minister? You really think he never
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crossed his mind that he was going to do lobbying in China until he was gone? Do you really think it
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was a blank slate until the day he stepped down? And then only in the five weeks, as he completely
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shut down his office as prime minister, shut down his office, said goodbye to staff, wrapped up all
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his projects, and just immediately went to work lobbying in China. Do you really think he did that
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all in five weeks? Or do you think, oh, there's a teeny tiny chance that while he was still our prime
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minister still making decisions on security matters and diplomatic matters and trade matters
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that he was already setting up his post-employment gig with China? Yeah, yeah, I think so too. So
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that's my point. Ever since then, Jean Chrétien has had his bread buttered by China, by doing what China
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wants, by getting other people to do what China wants so they can get what they want. So imagine
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asking that guy, imagine asking that lobbyist for his opinion about China. Yeah, you're going to get
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an answer, all right. Imagine Jean Chrétien still being treated as some sort of credible elder
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statesman on China instead of who he actually is, a total shill and lobbyist. And I mean, being treated
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as credible on that subject, not just by the Liberal Party, but by the media too, who ignore the fact that
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he is a bought and paid for lobbyist. Now, thank God for small mercies. But so far, at least,
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Chrystia Freeland seems to be rejecting Chrétien's approach. For now, at least, she's as cringeworthy
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as they come. I mean, I mean, remember this. I have sought repeatedly a meeting with Wang Yi,
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the foreign minister, my counterpart. Thus far, that meeting hasn't happened. But if Chinese officials
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are listening to us today, let me repeat that I would be very, very keen to meet with Minister Wang Yi
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or to speak with him over the phone at the earliest opportunity.
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She was just doing a public radio show, and she was just sort of begging, hey man,
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if you're listening, please call. I've sent you so many text messages. I've sent you flowers. I've stood
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outside your apartment with a big ghetto blaster, playing romantic songs. I've, you know, I've deleted all,
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But at least she doesn't appear to actually be on the Chinese payroll like John Quenchen.
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On the other hand, I'm not quite sure about these folks. See this story? China's annual reception
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for local BC politicians slated to go ahead. BC politicians. Here, let me read a little more.
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The Port Coquitlam mayor, at least, says reception inappropriate, given China's arrest of two
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Canadians. Well, bully for the Port Coquitlam mayor. But come on, you stick in the mud. I mean,
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to party, invite the families of the hostages. They could probably use a good stiff drink. And hey,
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China's paying, so why not party on? Let me read a little bit from the story.
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A yearly networking opportunity for Canadian businesses and British Columbia politicians
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will take place again this year, despite ongoing tensions between Canada and China.
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The Union of BC Municipalities has released the program for its annual convention,
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which brings together hundreds of mayors and councillors from across BC every September,
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showing a Consulate General of the People's Republic of China reception scheduled for one evening.
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The reception, paid for by China, has taken place every year since 2012,
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as a meet and greet, where people can swap business cards and eat appetizers.
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Well, I mean, you've really put these politicians to an ethical test, haven't you?
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I mean, standing up for Canadian hostages or free drinks and appetizers.
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Leave me not into temptation. Oh, how can I resist?
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You know, the whole thing's a disaster. Freeland not getting her calls returned,
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and the media clapping or just saying, yeah, good advice.
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We haven't had an ambassador from Canada to China in, what, half a year?
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They gave him a promotion to go to Paris, most beautiful city in the world.
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So we don't even have ambassadors to talk to each other anymore.
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The one guy who could help, the one guy whose calls get answered,
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so Trump doesn't even waste his time on our man-child president.
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At best, he sends his bland-as-toast vice president, Mike Pence.
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And what did Trudeau do with that opportunity when Mike Pence came up here a few weeks ago?
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What does Trudeau make with his short moments with the Veep?
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He thought the best use of that meeting was to lecture Mike Pence on a state abortion law in Alabama?
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I highlighted to the vice president that there was a significant amount of concern amongst Canadians
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on the new anti-choice laws being passed in a number of American states
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and highlighted that Canadians and indeed this government
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will always be a staunch defender of women's rights and a woman's right to choose.
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It was a cordial conversation, but it is one on which we have very different perspectives.
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I'm very proud to be part of a pro-life administration,
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and our administration has taken steps to stand for the sanctity of life at home and abroad.
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What we find troubling is the Democratic Party in our country
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and leaders around the country supporting late-term abortion, even infanticide.
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But those are debates within the United States,
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and I know that Canada will deal with those issues
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in a manner that the people of Canada determine most appropriate.
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But for President Trump, for me, for our administration,
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He didn't offer an opinion whatsoever on Canadian abortion laws
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You know, I would really have rather have heard Mike Pence
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give some words on Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, wouldn't you?
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But that was the opportunity that was the most important for Justin Trudeau.
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Now, look, I'm not savvy in the ways of Chinese diplomacy,
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but I think, you know who just had a bit of an idea?
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Some dignity, some standing by our Canadian values,
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but also being constructive where we could be, engaging,
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but on Canadian terms, saying what he meant and meaning what he said.
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I mean, I think they mean the opposite of this kind of diplomacy.
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And those little banalities, they probably mean the opposite of this.
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This band of millennial know-nothings that serve as freelance experts.
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They're so good at looking things up on Wikipedia.
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These know-nothing millennials have screwed up everything,
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from Saudi Arabia to India to China to the Philippines to NAFTA.
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So, yeah, give me back that boring old Stephen Harper police.
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What would Stephen Harper do if he were prime minister now?
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which is a shame, because I bet Harper would put aside any partisanship
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and personal feelings and give some real advice if he were asked genuinely.
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He might even go over to China and try and help if Trudeau asked him to
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And if you think that's a bad idea to call Harper,
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well, what's your alternative to do what Chrétien, the lobbyist, says?
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I don't know, but I think he would probably start
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by asking our U.S. allies for help nicely, in person.
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Stop sneering and lecturing about abortion laws or whatever.
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Trudeau can't bite his tongue around Donald Trump.
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Trudeau looks down on Trump, which is hilarious,
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considering what the two men have accomplished in life.
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and Harper would slowly work to bring back public dignity
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if China didn't comply when he asked China nicely.
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I remember years ago when the head of CSIS said
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there were more than 1,000 spies, Chinese spies in Canada.
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Now, they were mainly doing industrial espionage.
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There's not enough work for 1,000 military spies in Canada,
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The number today is, it's got to be 10 times larger.
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Maybe Stephen Harper would just start sending those spies home,
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And there are, what, 100,000 Chinese nationals in our universities
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taking up spaces otherwise available to Canadian kids,
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crowding our campuses, jacking up housing prices,
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The Chinese nationals maybe declined to renew their student visas.
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Maybe get out of that bizarre Asian infrastructure investment bank.
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Trudeau's putting Canadian tax dollars into a Chinese infrastructure bank.
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He won't even let private investors build pipelines in Canada,
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but he's sending our tax dollars to build pipelines in China, for China.
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How about, I don't know, showing some self-respect?
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How about showing China that there are some consequences to kidnapping our people?
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There's a reason why China hasn't kidnapped any Americans,
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even though it was an American extradition request.
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How about refusing to let Chinese goods transship through Canada
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We're letting Chinese junk come through our ports and into America.
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That's what's caused Trump to raise tariffs against us anyway.
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It's Chinese junk being dumped in the U.S., but it came through us first.
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How about just even making a moral statement once in a while
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in support of the Hong Kong democracy protests?
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How about speaking out in favor of China's moderate Muslims,
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the million Uyghur Muslims who are going through forced re-education camps
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I'm as tough as anyone when it comes to militant Islam,
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But I've been to Xinjiang, the Muslim province in China.
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I didn't see a single burqa the entire time I was there.
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It hadn't been colonized and radicalized by either Saudi or Iranian money or imams.
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It was a very comfortable live and let live Islam.
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Frankly, I think China's move of putting them in prison is probably radicalizing them.
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In any event, I think in China we found the only Muslims in the world that Trudeau is not championing.
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And I wonder if that's because they're moderate Muslims
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or if it's because they're punishers of the Chinese communists that Trudeau so admires.
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I guess what I'm saying is what Trudeau is doing isn't working.
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And what Khrushchev proposes to do, well, that's China's plan.
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I was the first Western leader to make a public speech on human rights in China.
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Well, that's Jean-Claude Chen when Stephen Harper was bringing a principled approach to the Canada-Chinese relationship.
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By the way, trade between Canada and China continued to grow under Stephen Harper.
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Of course, we kept buying more of their stuff than they bought from us in large part because we still don't have a pipeline that would sell oil to Asia.
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And I hate to be so blunt about it, but they steal our stuff.
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It was probably 10 years ago now that the head of CESIS said there were at least 1,000 Chinese spies in Canada.
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So what would Stephen Harper advise Justin Trudeau to do if Trudeau had the courage to ask Harper?
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Well, I think we know someone who might be able to make a pretty educated guess about that question because that someone is a friend of Stephen Harper and his former lawyer.
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I'm talking about Manny Montadegrino, the CEO of ThinkSharp, who joins us now via Skype from Ottawa.
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I think it's a good idea for prime ministers to call on old hands, past prime ministers, across party lines even.
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We heard from Jean Chrétien, but I think he's compromised because he does a lot of lobbying in China.
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Before we talk about what Harper might suggest to Trudeau, do you have a word about what Jean Chrétien keeps saying we should capitulate to China?
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You've had the prime minister and every lawyer and every senior cabinet minister say that we are a country of rule of law, and we've heard it, and that's what we are.
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Although Prime Minister Trudeau and 10 members of this PMO obstructed justice with the SNC-Lavalin, they've obstructed justice with respect to Admiral Norman.
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China knows all this, and so China is perplexing.
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They keep telling us, and they know that Canada is a country of rule of law, but they've seen some cracks with Justin Trudeau, and they're hoping to fill in between those cracks.
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So, to have, you know, I'm very suspicious of why the former prime minister, Chrétien, you know, once a member of my law firm, would come out on this side and say,
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well, sure, let's just forget about Canada's rule of law, and let's just help China the best way we can.
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And that just astounds me, and it just puts into question the whole bona fides of that statement.
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Yeah, I think that he's speaking not so much as a former prime minister, but as a current China-centric businessman,
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whose son-in-law, André Demery, is one of the most invested businessmen in China in all of Canada.
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Well, let me ask you a more speculative question.
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I think we know why Jean Chrétien said what he said.
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But I think that although Stephen Harper, I don't think he likes Justin Trudeau, and I know the feeling's mutual,
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but I think truly that if Justin Trudeau made a private phone call to Stephen Harper,
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I think he would swallow whatever residual anger he might have towards Trudeau.
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And I think he would actually give whatever his best advice would be to Trudeau.
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Do you agree with me that if Trudeau actually—
00:25:18.540
But if he called me and genuinely asked me something in the name of our country, I would answer my best.
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I mean, he is—but Ezra, I think we're at a point where it's just—the ship has sailed with Trudeau.
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And fundamentally, it starts with his inability to put his feet into someone else's shoes,
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to understand either a nation or a person or a principled person.
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Now, psychologists can designate a certain psychosis with that type of behavior,
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but there is too much evidence that if you look at what happened to the two senior cabinet ministers,
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you have Jane Filippot pleading, please don't do this.
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Our prime minister is only concerned about himself and only concerned about what he thinks.
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And so that's how we got into the problem in the first place with China.
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I mean, anyone who doesn't understand that China is a very serious player and they take things extremely serious,
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they do not like to be insulted, they do not like to be ridiculed.
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And this started from the beginning, in the very first meetings with the prime minister and China,
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to sit there and lecture him or them on his five virtue signaling clauses on his trade deal.
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He was kicked out at that point in time and he was called little potato.
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Now, you know, like Ezra, you've got to think, what kind of person doesn't understand?
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This is a people of 1.5, a country with 1.5 billion people, now the second strongest economy,
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This is a very serious player and has a long, long plan.
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It has egregious violations to the millions of Muslims and they have no rule of law.
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We've just gone through the 30th anniversary of Tiananmen Square.
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I mean, so if you're the prime minister of Canada, you've got to understand who China is.
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And the only way that we could get out of this is with help from either, you know, our best friend, neighbor, United States.
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He's burnt that bridge deeply by, you know, by calling, by backstabbing the president when they had a deal at the G20.
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By being the White House referring to, to our prime minister, there's a special place in hell for the, I mean, so, so it is really, I don't, you could have a thousand Harpers go and see, and nothing would result at this time.
00:28:16.800
There's just been too much damage and it continues and it continues.
00:28:20.780
So, so, you know, the other players that you might get on the world scene and, you know, if you care about Canada and you care about those two young men in the Canadian jail, you get, you, you, you muster up everything you can.
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You know, we've, we've insulted China or the prime minister insults China.
00:28:41.660
You know, the other, other players in the world scene would be Saudi Arabia, would be Russia.
00:28:51.820
Well, we, you know, we've, we have no diplomatic ties with Russia because the prime minister decided to lecture them on how they apply their own laws in their own country to their own citizens, which is just absurd.
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And as you know, there's also that kind of tension with Russia.
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And the reason why we're alone in the world, it's very simple, Ezra.
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Our prime minister put his own likability ahead of the Canadian interests, ahead of our Canadian economy.
00:29:23.120
And so, no one's here to help because this prime minister doesn't understand that very basic concept.
00:29:29.820
You know, I just, it's such a puzzle to me because Justin Trudeau is so obsequious to foreign leaders, to Cuba, for example, to China.
00:29:39.620
He said it's his favorite country, and yet he managed to bungle things in Cuba.
00:29:45.020
They use those sound weapons against our diplomats.
00:29:48.600
I can't think of a single country around the world that is friendlier towards Canada now than it was four years ago.
00:29:55.980
And yet Harper was tougher on all our enemies but had their respect.
00:30:06.420
Trudeau, with his love of China at the beginning, he's done that with feminism.
00:30:21.480
I think Trudeau likes his titles, likes to be something, but doesn't know how to get to it, doesn't know the hard work.
00:30:29.300
And it all comes down to doesn't know the hard work and are you true to your principles, are you true to yourself?
00:30:37.640
I mean, you know, if you look at the feminism issue, I mean, ostensibly, everyone thought at the beginning, well, look, well, this first time in history, two very strong principles.
00:30:48.900
I mean, we've never had a cabinet minister leave cabinet because they didn't trust the prime minister.
00:30:56.960
You couldn't get a better message to say this person does not speak the truth.
00:31:04.640
If you can't have gravitas in your own cabinet, how do you think you're going to get it with the president of the United States, with the president of China, with anyone in the world?
00:31:14.820
If you can't even get people in your cabinet to trust you.
00:31:26.980
Manny, you've, unfortunately, I have to agree with you that, as you said, the ships have already sailed here.
00:31:34.400
There's probably, I mean, I don't know if it's fixable, but it needs to be fixed because there are two Canadians over there and Canadian farmers are taking it in the form of import blockages, whether, you know, trumped up claims that Canadian canola has, you know, some blight.
00:31:55.100
I mean, it's, so we are suffering in various ways.
00:31:59.440
Let me come back to my hypothetical scenario, and I hope you don't think that's too fantastical to do, but maybe you could play along with me anyways.
00:32:10.920
If, I mean, you worked with Stephen Harper, you were his lawyer when he was the prime minister.
00:32:15.460
I'm sure you gave him advice outside of narrow legal matters.
00:32:18.560
If Justin Trudeau were to show a miraculous personal growth, call Stephen Harper and say, listen, I need your help.
00:32:31.300
What do you think Harper's one, two, three, four ideas would be based on your knowledge of Harper and how he solved these problems before?
00:32:46.900
Like, I think it's almost at an impossibility stage.
00:32:51.140
I think Harper, you know, our prime minister Harper, our ex-prime minister Harper understands, and is a very, very bright man, understands who Trump is.
00:33:02.700
I mean, prime minister Harper, his success was understanding everyone across the table.
00:33:08.760
So it's not, he wasn't interested in telling the world who he was.
00:33:14.760
He was very, very careful in listening to who they were.
00:33:19.220
So in one aspect, the prime minister Harper has and knows who Donald Trump is, as I do.
00:33:28.800
And so he does have that benefit that it appears that no one in this cabinet or this prime minister cares to do.
00:33:36.000
No one in Canada cares to, our media cares to listen to what this president is doing.
00:33:43.180
So if you can't, you know, they talk about, you know, we're listening to Canadians.
00:33:47.400
If you can't start listening to someone on the other side, whether you agree with him or not, if you can't start listening, you can't start solving the problem.
00:33:56.060
So does Stephen Harper have the ability to listen?
00:34:01.140
Does he have the ability to understand who he is?
00:34:12.160
We still, I mean, you know, like we are in our third year of President Trump.
00:34:19.340
We haven't invited him to Canada for a state dinner.
00:34:23.380
Donald Trump has gone to Japan, has gone to the U.K., completely full state dinners.
00:34:39.020
I think it was October, November, the latest appointment for Canadian ambassador.
00:34:43.400
And now she's been elevated to the United Nations, and there's no talk of a Canadian ambassador, and no one's concerned about that.
00:34:52.140
These are all facts that should tell you that pretty much America today under this government is tuned out of Canada.
00:35:08.260
And pretty soon, everyone's going to forget about Canada.
00:35:11.660
And if that does happen, that's not a good thing.
00:35:14.600
You know, I look at that Shinzo Abe, if I'm pronouncing that right, the prime minister of Japan.
00:35:19.680
And even though they have a deep language barrier, they both really seem to be trying to work together.
00:35:32.240
But it's also the ultimate way for two men to slowly harmonize with each other.
00:35:46.100
Like, it's a great way for two guys to get to know each other.
00:35:49.180
And the Japanese are closer to America now than we are, despite the geographic and language barriers.
00:36:05.320
You're touching on a point that I don't think anyone's talking about.
00:36:08.920
And that is, is Canada slipping away from being United States' number one trading partner, number one friend?
00:36:16.420
And if these bonds are created on the Brexit, if Brexit does happen and America was there, you know, in assistance with trade or whatever, if the bonds are going to be Japan, Mexico, and the UK, you know, Canada's...
00:36:37.760
Canada's special interest to America has been our oil.
00:36:42.840
America has been dependent on Middle East oil until this year, or I think last year, but I think it's this year.
00:36:53.220
Canada was its best friend because we supplied America oil, and we supplied America cheap oil.
00:37:03.120
Once we lose that ability, and Justin Trudeau is doing everything in his ability to stop oil in Canada, we have really very little to offer America.
00:37:17.580
So this oil attack is not only an attack against Alberta and against Canada's economy and this pipeline attack, it's an attack against a very special relationship that we've built for years with America.
00:37:34.700
I mean, you ask yourself, if President Trump wins another four years and he's looking to the north, other than being, you know, completely envious that the NBA title is in Canada, I mean, what does Canada offer America that America can't do by itself?
00:37:56.300
And that is a very, very question that has to be examined.
00:38:06.420
It can't keep taking away its very essence of its main product, and it can't be lecturing them.
00:38:12.600
So, you know, I think over time, I hope that a new president comes back and is in love with Canada and we continue this very strong relationship, because what could fall from this, Ezra, is we slip out of the G7.
00:38:31.760
These things can happen if America's not always thinking about its best friend, Canada.
00:38:39.060
Manny, you're making me sad because I see our levers slipping away.
00:38:43.240
And out of spite, we bought used jets from Australia instead of being a partner with America on those new F-35s.
00:38:56.800
Then I saw the F-35 go by and I said, oh, my God, that is, you can see it's so next.
00:39:04.980
And we just bought the used stuff off the Aussies so they can buy F-35s.
00:39:09.620
And I'm thinking, what is our place in the world?
00:39:12.640
Manny, I wish I could disagree with you because you're painting a sober picture that I wish there was some more sunny ways in it, but I don't see it.
00:39:25.100
And it's always tough, but do you think we will get those two hostages home if Justin Trude, until, let's say, the October election in Canada?
00:39:36.540
Do you think there's a chance those hostages are coming home before then?
00:39:41.380
I think the best thing that can happen for those two men, and Ezra, I said this before, I'm a dad and I have a son almost that age, and I have people that have done commerce in China, good friends.
00:40:02.140
And I think of those two men and the other two men in prison, those two Canadians.
00:40:07.220
I think the only hope, I mean, China is about face.
00:40:11.920
I mean, Justin Trudeau will change his mind on everything for a bump in the polls.
00:40:29.080
They punted their ambassador to France and said, it's an upgrade.
00:40:40.600
They will never, with this prime minister, they will never put their foot off the gas.
00:40:47.100
Our only hope is a new prime minister, a new, and from that point, new relationship could be set.
00:40:55.860
And from that point, those Canadians may come home, and from that point, maybe trade.
00:41:00.520
But they have already, as I have, they've already written off this prime minister.
00:41:17.580
They do know that Canada was in the middle of this extradition.
00:41:20.900
It has nothing to do with us except for our laws with America to assist them.
00:41:27.520
They know it's an American law that we're enforcing.
00:41:33.760
But they have not taken one solitary act against America.
00:41:40.560
There are no—because they know that this person is weak.
00:41:44.920
This person can't—the prime minister is weak.
00:41:47.160
The prime minister can't be trusted, and the prime minister is alone in the world, and the prime minister will relent if we keep pressure on.
00:41:55.060
And how does a prime minister put himself and a candidate in that position is beyond me.
00:42:00.640
You know, Manny, that is such a key point there.
00:42:02.520
This extradition is at the behest of the United States, but not for one second would they think of taking an American hostage.
00:42:11.200
So you took an American hostage with this president, you would see trillions of dollars of sanctions.
00:42:18.440
You would see the Chinese ambassador sent home from Washington.
00:42:22.680
You would see an aircraft carrier set sail, and President Xi knows that.
00:42:27.300
And that's why Xi Jinping—that's why they haven't touched Trump, because they—
00:42:33.100
And that's why they think they can push around Canada, because they have a weak prime minister who will say anything, do anything, and put himself ahead of his people, ahead of his economy.
00:42:50.200
I mean, it is almost, you know, insulting to think that the Chinese are not as informed as any other person would be.
00:43:09.940
Justin Trudeau's character will not change in the next six months.
00:43:13.860
And so China's calculations on how to deal with someone of his character will not change either.
00:43:19.620
Manny Montenegreno, what a pleasure to—I feel like you're a professor, and we are taking a master class.
00:43:25.820
You certainly helped us through the NAFTA process, and I think you really said a lot of interesting things today.
00:43:33.280
I'm going to re-watch this interview and pause it and contemplate it, because I learned a lot from you today, my friend, and I thank you for that.
00:43:43.880
Our friend Manny Montenegreno, the CEO of ThinkSharp.
00:43:47.100
And he joined us via Skype from our nation's capital.
00:44:07.640
The most important thing that we need to do is to get out of Trudeau's death grip.
00:44:16.540
I saw a poll today that only 6% of people really like Trudeau.
00:44:24.400
You know, some people hate a guy, more dislike him.
00:44:28.700
And then most people sort of, yeah, so-so in the middle.
00:44:31.100
And then some like him, and then very few really like him.
00:44:45.860
Bruce writes, we can only hope and pray Trudeau keeps making costly mistakes in this campaign.
00:44:52.320
We also need to get on Scheer's case to the point where he realizes he's alienating his base.
00:44:57.360
Yeah, listen, parties on the right sometimes take advantage and say,
00:45:04.080
They have to vote for us so we can tack to the left now.
00:45:08.420
Maxime Bernier, if he takes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5% of the vote,
00:45:12.040
because he's a true conservative and Andrew Scheer's gone namby-pamby,
00:45:16.100
well, that could cost the conservative party 10 seats.
00:45:21.080
I have not been following the rebel like I normally have been,
00:45:23.540
but after an extended absence, I tuned in the other day.
00:45:26.160
I like the distinguishing look your gray hair is offering us.
00:45:39.640
I think I'm forgetting things a little bit more.
00:45:43.060
But if that's what it took, that's what it takes.
00:45:50.080
On behalf of all of us here, I'm just joking around.
00:45:57.660
I'm like twice as old as the average person here at the Rebel.
00:46:11.160
Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters,