Rebel News Podcast - Kenney's “bizarre” immigration announcement is “a solution in search of a problem”

00:00:00.500 Hello, my rebels. You're listening to a free audio only recording of my show. It's called

00:00:05.600 The Ezra Levant Show because I'm Ezra Levant and it's a show. And today we talk about a

00:00:10.940 weirdness from my old friend Jason Kenney. We were truly friends, but we haven't talked

00:00:15.980 in a little while. There's a space between us and I think it's ideological. And I get

00:00:21.180 into that a little bit today. I don't talk about personal stuff. I talk about the political

00:00:24.500 stuff. Why is Jason Kenney making an immigration announcement in a provincial campaign in

00:00:29.800 Alberta? It's got nothing to do with Alberta politics. Alberta politics are oil, gas,

00:00:34.700 pipelines, taxes, investment, announcing you want to increase. No, you want to lobby Justin

00:00:44.460 Trudeau to increase immigration to Alberta. Where did that come from? And Alberta has

00:00:50.820 extremely high unemployment of skilled labor force. You want to bring in more cheap foreign 1.00

00:00:56.560 labor force. And that's an economic plan. It makes no sense other than as a politically

00:01:03.400 correct virtue signaling strategy. And I explain that in the monologue ahead. So I'm glad you're

00:01:10.380 going to listen. If you like listening to these podcasts, you would love to watch it. I show

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00:01:44.800 let me invite you to enjoy today's podcast.

00:01:51.760 You're listening to a Rebel Media Podcast.

00:01:54.980 Tonight, Jason Keddie's running to be premier of a province, but he made an immigration campaign

00:02:00.560 announcement. What a weird strategy, but I think I can explain it. It's February 25th,

00:02:05.360 and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:02:06.980 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:02:12.780 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:02:16.840 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I'm publishing it is because it's

00:02:21.240 my bloody right to do so.

00:02:28.400 Look, let me put you out of suspense. Jason Kenney is going to be the next premier of Alberta.

00:02:33.580 Any poll, every poll for months has shown that it's going to be a majority government for

00:02:39.260 Kenny's new UCP party. That stands for the United Conservative Party. The only question is

00:02:44.200 how big of a blowout will it be? Personally, I feel no risk predicting that Kenny will win every

00:02:50.240 single seat in Calgary, every single rural seat, and probably half of the seats in Edmonton. It's

00:02:56.760 going to be massive. Look, the NDP win in 2015 was accidental. The other parties all

00:03:03.040 imploded just at the perfect time, and Rachel Notley had a pleasant enough smile, and she

00:03:08.160 didn't blow it in the debates, and she didn't seem scary, and that was enough for Albertans

00:03:13.420 who were disgusted with Jim Prentiss, disgusted with Danielle Smith of the Wild Rose Party,

00:03:18.320 who defected to Prentiss's conservatives and tried to kill the Wild Rose Party. It was all

00:03:22.860 so gross and undemocratic that voters just burnt them all to a crisp. I get it. Vengeance.

00:03:29.580 Now those two parties are gone. Abacus Research confirmed at the time what we all knew. Albertans

00:03:37.100 didn't actually vote for any NDP policies. 91% of people who voted for the NDP in Alberta

00:03:43.180 said they just wanted a change. They didn't know what the NDP stood for. Trouble is, the

00:03:48.860 change they voted for was a bunch of kooks. In some cases, actual communists. I mean, Notley

00:03:54.620 herself wore a wristwatch with the portrait of the communist terrorist Che Guevara on

00:04:00.640 it. Most of her MLAs were all accidental. They truly never thought they'd win. They just

00:04:05.140 put their name down as a favor to someone. Some were actually kids still living with their

00:04:09.980 parents. For some, it was the first real job they actually had. I'm not exaggerating.

00:04:15.560 You even had real-deal communists, like this weirdo named Rod Loyola.

00:04:34.560 Yeah, in case you can't tell, he's praising Hugo Chavez, the tyrant back in the day of Venezuela.

00:04:40.180 That's crazy. But really, not much crazier than the fact that the oil sands province had

00:04:46.320 just elected a premier, you can see her on the left there, who literally attended anti-oil

00:04:51.340 sands, anti-pipeline rallies. I bet fewer than one in a thousand Albertans knew what they

00:04:56.620 were truly going to get. So yeah, what a disaster. Notley brought in a carbon tax that she didn't

00:05:02.020 even mention once during the election campaign. Notley capped production of the oil sands, just

00:05:07.780 passed a law. Notley brought in anti-oil sands lobbyists, like Sappora Berman, and appointed

00:05:14.880 her senior government position, co-chair of the oil sands advisory council. Berman actually

00:05:20.180 never stopped being an anti-oil sands lobbyist while she ran the oil sands policy for Notley.

00:05:26.560 I'm not going to list all the disasters. There were a lot of them, but it is finally all about

00:05:30.720 to come to an end. You can sort of tell that it's the final hours in the Notley regime.

00:05:36.420 They're all in the bunker while the bombs are going off outside. They're doing crazy things

00:05:41.140 that show they know it's almost over. Just the other day, Notley appointed Ed Whittingham,

00:05:47.580 the famous anti-oil sands lobbyist, to Alberta's oil regulatory tribunal called the Energy Regulator.

00:05:54.440 So he's not just an advisor now like Sappora Berman. He's now a quasi-judge with the jurisdiction

00:06:01.800 to directly make orders against oil and gas and pipeline companies. Of course, that proves

00:06:08.260 any of her 11th hour pro-oil rhetoric is a joke. I mean, we all knew that. We all knew she didn't want

00:06:16.260 the oil sands to succeed, even though she's been making noises to that effect. But mainly, I think

00:06:20.560 it shows that these folks are going to raid the place, burn it down, steal the cutlery on their way

00:06:26.060 out. Appointing Ed Whittingham to the Energy Regulator is so insane. I think they know that

00:06:32.440 Jason Kenney's going to fire him, so he'll just get a huge severance package. I think that's all this is

00:06:37.280 about. They're just appointing people to things just to grab 10 grand, 50 grand, 100 grand on their

00:06:43.200 way out the door. Like I say, they're going to strip the place down to the studs. All right, back to

00:06:48.020 the campaign trail. Jason Kenney could go on holidays until the election and still win a

00:06:54.320 majority. In fact, I would think that's probably better if he did that, since the campaign's going

00:07:01.900 to be nothing but gotcha smears against him by the media party. They did a dozen news stories the

00:07:07.640 other day about how Kenney briefly lived with his widowed mother, and the media actually published

00:07:15.620 floor plans of her house. And this was all in the legitimate media, and the whole point was to

00:07:21.420 try and allege that Kenney had falsely claimed expense accounts as an Ottawa MP a decade ago or

00:07:27.380 something. So get ready for 35 days of that. Like I say, Kenney couldn't do worse than, I mean,

00:07:34.540 if he went on vacation till it's over. He should just hide till it's over. Frankly, he should send away

00:07:40.840 all his candidates too. All of them. Since every one of them is going to be gotcha-ed on the campaign,

00:07:47.600 and they're probably not all that skilled at dealing with gotcha questions, no one needs to

00:07:52.640 door knock in this Alberta election campaign on either side. You're not going to learn anything

00:07:59.200 in 60 seconds at your doorstep in Alberta that you don't already know about Rachel Notley and the NDP

00:08:05.420 or Jason Kenney and the UCP. Nothing. The cake is baked. It's over. Everyone has made up their mind.

00:08:14.760 But Kenney and his team have been colonized psychologically by the media party. As in,

00:08:22.520 their main enemy isn't the NDP. I don't really even think they're reacting to the NDP much

00:08:27.200 anymore. It's almost the reverse. The NDP are now acting like the official opposition to Kenney.

00:08:32.100 They know they're done. They're sounding like an official opposition more and more now.

00:08:36.540 Kenney isn't afraid of the NDP, but he lives in absolute terror of the media party. I think it's

00:08:42.880 something he learned in his decade in Ottawa. In Ottawa, the media is the most powerful force.

00:08:48.580 They can shape things. They control things. Harper tried to ignore them, but they had their revenge

00:08:53.460 on him, certainly in the 2015 election. The CBC is the worst, of course. Harper and Kenney,

00:08:58.640 who was in cabinet, had a decade to privatize the CBC or even shut it down. They didn't.

00:09:04.320 And so it absolutely mauled them in the 2015 federal campaign. And it's gotten worse ever

00:09:09.840 since Trudeau took office and gave the CBC a huge budget increase. Now that works in Ontario and

00:09:17.620 Quebec and maybe the Atlantic and BC. Although even as I'm just saying that, I note that Ontario

00:09:23.640 voted for Doug Ford in defiance of the CBC and Quebec voted for a new party led by that

00:09:28.460 CAC that actually bans burqas and limits immigration. So even Quebec did that in the defiance of the

00:09:35.220 CBC and even New Brunswick in the Atlantic just threw out their liberal party too. So yeah,

00:09:40.160 even places that, that, uh, like that ignored the CBC. So you don't have to be afraid of them

00:09:45.780 anymore. But Alberta, Alberta, which always hated the CBC and which the CBC always hated feelings

00:09:52.040 mutual, Alberta, public enemy number one of the CBC, Alberta against whom the CBC deployed David

00:09:56.920 Suzuki for 40 years. Imagine being afraid of what the CBC says about you when you're running to be

00:10:02.720 the premier of Alberta. It's actually a certification, a validation, an affirmation of indication.

00:10:08.700 If the CBC hates you, if they like you, that's your problem in Alberta. But Jason Kenney's mind

00:10:17.460 was colonized by the CBC in his decade in Ottawa. He learned to appease them, to try to calm them,

00:10:23.420 to compromise with them. He cares what they think about him. He really does. They hate him

00:10:27.860 more than anyone almost. They certainly hate him more than they hate Andrew Scheer. It's obvious.

00:10:33.460 But like a battered wife who refuses to leave an abusive relationship, 1.00

00:10:38.500 Kenney thinks he can, I can just turn him around. I can make them love me.

00:10:42.800 If he just stops doing certain things that annoy them.

00:10:46.400 I first saw this side of Kenney two years ago when he turned against the 3,000 Albertans who were

00:10:51.700 campaigning at a rebel rally outside the legislature against Rachel Notley's carbon tax. Now, if you

00:10:57.700 recall back in December 2016, all the cool conservatives were for the carbon tax. You remember that?

00:11:03.740 Preston Manning was writing in the Globe and Mail for the carbon tax. Patrick Brown, the Ontario

00:11:08.340 Tory leader, for the carbon tax. Several federal conservative leadership candidates were for the

00:11:13.040 carbon tax, like Michael Chong. I can't even remember the other no-names. Only we here at the rebel

00:11:17.960 stood firmly with the people. 3,000 unemployed men and women rallied with us on the steps of the

00:11:23.660 legislature in Edmonton. And I remember there, in that large rally, it was about a 90-minute rally,

00:11:28.700 I remember there was about 30 seconds of banter at the rally where some people chanted,

00:11:32.560 lock her up. It was an homage to the Trump rallies we had all seen on TV. Remember, this was in

00:11:36.940 December, just a month after Trump's big win. So it was a joke. It was a pop culture reference. It

00:11:41.200 was 30 seconds. And it was banter. Unemployed men and women blowing off steam. Obviously,

00:11:45.820 they didn't want to physically take Rachel Notley and lock her up and, you know, take her down to the

00:11:51.580 provincial jail or something. They wanted her to not bring in the carbon tax and to vote her out. 1.00

00:11:57.260 But the CBC pretended that they were actually going to lock her up. Just like last week,

00:12:02.480 the CBC pretended that when Senator David Tkachuk said he wanted to roll over the liberals, well,

00:12:08.120 the CBC just knew what this lifelong Democratic politician really meant was that he wanted someone

00:12:13.920 to physically get into a truck and physically roll over some liberals and kill them.

00:12:20.220 The CBC pretended that's what Senator Tkachuk meant. They pretended that they thought you were

00:12:27.860 that stupid and they ran with that. Well, back in December 2016, Kenny saw the CBC about to destroy

00:12:33.040 the reputation of regular working people. Oh, they want to kidnap Rachel Notley and lock her up

00:12:39.020 somewhere. And so Kenny made a choice. Instead of standing with unemployed Albertans or just ignoring

00:12:44.260 the media, how about that? He joined the CBC mob against them. Kenny, who used to be the boss of the

00:12:49.520 Taxpayers Federation for crying out loud? Imagine him turning against an anti-tax rally because they

00:12:54.200 were too vivacious. They weren't, these unemployed men and women weren't complaining politely enough.

00:12:59.160 Not because he turned against them, not because they did anything wrong, but because the CBC manufactured

00:13:04.500 some fake outrage as if they were going to, like I say, walk in and actually handcuff Notley and like

00:13:13.220 hold her in like some fake jail or something. You've got to think that was what they meant

00:13:19.000 to believe the CBC fake outrage. So when the CBC came to Jason Kenney, who hadn't even attended the

00:13:24.580 rally, which is curious when you think about it, and the CBC said, what do you think? Instead of

00:13:31.280 ignoring them or saying, well, I wasn't there, I don't know, or saying, well, I can understand their

00:13:35.260 frustration. I might have phrased it differently, but I can understand their frustration. He condemned

00:13:39.000 them. Kenny saw the CBC was hunting for a scalp and he chose to appease them. This is what he tweeted.

00:13:48.680 He said, there are good reasons to oppose a carbon tax, but calling on our democratically elected

00:13:53.220 premier to be locked up is ridiculous and offensive. I'm offended. Yeah, that doesn't work for a

00:13:59.200 conservative to play the fake offended grievance card. That was the last time Jason Kenney had

00:14:04.740 anything to do with the rebel, by the way. He realized at that moment when the CBC confronted him

00:14:10.900 that the CBC were going to call anyone who was truly conservative a racist or violent or whatever.

00:14:16.800 No one in Alberta believed that. The CBC is fake news in Alberta. No one trusts them.

00:14:25.440 They're clowns. They're haters. They're quite often carpetbaggers sent from Toronto to hate Alberta

00:14:31.420 because they can't even get Albertans to work there because they need to bring that hate Alberta 1.00

00:14:35.800 mentality. And just like Rachel Notley, 10 of her first 12 chiefs of staff were outside the province,

00:14:40.760 from outside the province. But Kenny blinked in the face of that. He chose his own comfort

00:14:46.060 rather than loyalty to those men and women. I think there was a little flash into his mind.

00:14:50.660 And I think he did it again with the United We Rule convoy the other week. Andrew Scheer and

00:14:56.540 Maxime Bernier both came to speak at the United We Rule convoy when it was on Ottawa. Frankly,

00:15:02.080 I was a little bit impressed that Andrew Scheer showed some courage. I think it's because Maxime Bernier

00:15:06.820 is hot on his tail. So good for both of them. And Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Saskatchewan Premier

00:15:14.800 Scott Moe sent out encouraging messages. Just absolutely encouraging, not a negative word.

00:15:23.180 Kenny refused to meet with the convoy even as it passed through his own city of Calgary.

00:15:29.200 And his only tweet to them scolded them for talking about other issues. Glad to see they've

00:15:37.300 decided to keep the focus on our oil and gas workers. This issue is too important for distractions.

00:15:42.720 He's even in his praise, he's damning them because they talk about Trudeau's corruption or mass

00:15:49.640 immigration. More lecturing, just like he did after the carbon tax rally in 2016. It's weird.

00:15:55.680 That's an Ottawa snobbiness. It's unalbertant. But the real point is,

00:16:01.620 it's not going to buy Jason Kenney any relief from the CBC. They're going to do their best to destroy

00:16:06.860 him no matter who he throws under the bus on the conservative side. So appeasing the media

00:16:12.780 is not going to work. And it's not necessary. Like I said, Jason Kenney could go away for two months

00:16:20.000 on a holiday and turn off his cell phone. And he'll come back as premier. It is a done deal in

00:16:27.300 Alberta. And all of the above is the only way I can process the bizarre Jason Kenney announcement

00:16:34.080 today. I'm not in Alberta as much as I'd like to be these days. I'm here in exile in Toronto. I think

00:16:38.980 I'm in Torontonia now. But I get out west fairly often and I talk to Albertans every day, both old

00:16:45.680 friends and members of the public and viewers. And I have to think if that, I have to think if

00:16:50.600 you were to knock on a thousand doors in Alberta and say, what's the key issue in this provincial

00:16:55.200 election? I got to tell you, I don't think a single person would say, you know, with this

00:17:00.280 provincial election, what we need, we need more immigration. What? I doubt one person would say

00:17:09.040 that. But that is what Jason Kenney's announcement today was. Here, listen.

00:17:12.600 We need to use the power of immigration as one strategy to restore investor confidence and to

00:17:22.880 build new businesses to create prosperity for all Albertans. During my tenure as Minister, I quadrupled

00:17:30.780 Alberta's allotment under the provincial nominee program, which helped to double immigration levels

00:17:37.100 to Alberta from about 21,000 to about 42,000 new permanent residents a year. The only province,

00:17:43.680 I believe, that does not focus immigration on less populated, like rural regions, and nor

00:17:49.860 do we use the ability to nominate people for work permits to get them here faster before they

00:17:55.320 get permanent residency. What? Immigration is a federal matter. It's not a provincial matter,

00:18:01.380 other than some tweaks. I mean, the main point here, though, is that there's massive unemployment

00:18:07.540 in Alberta right now. It's worse than any other province in Canada, other than those in the Atlantic.

00:18:13.160 Alberta's unemployment is worse than Quebec. It's worse than Ontario. That means there are lots of

00:18:17.300 unemployed men and women right now who are actually the most skilled workforce in the country.

00:18:24.000 Let me say that again. Alberta's unemployed people are the most skilled unemployed people in Canada.

00:18:30.260 They're not out of work because they did something wrong. They're not out of work because they don't

00:18:33.500 have the skills. They're out of work because Rachel Notley and Justin Trudeau. There is no shortage of

00:18:38.840 workers. There is a shortage of jobs. And Jason Kenney wants to bring in more workers before our existing

00:18:48.340 Alberta unemployed or hired and to rural parts. What does that even mean? Is this even a provincial

00:18:55.840 election platform? It's so weird. It sounds like Jason Kenney just took some of his old files from when

00:19:00.700 he was a parliament cabinet minister and he's repurposing them? Immigration in a provincial campaign?

00:19:06.300 By the way, it doesn't even make any sense. Canadians don't want more immigration? Here's the Angus 0.86

00:19:11.200 Reid survey from a few months ago. Literally only six percent of Canadians want higher immigration.

00:19:17.380 That's that black line at the bottom there. Forty-nine percent, the red line, want less. 0.89

00:19:22.060 Thirty-one percent, the blue line, say, well, keep it as it is, maybe. So it's, what, eight to one

00:19:28.860 want less immigration as to more. It's not broken down by province there, but I'm pretty sure 1.00

00:19:33.480 support for more immigration is even lower in Alberta. How could it not be? Alberta already has 1.00

00:19:37.620 plenty of people who are looking for work right now, bringing in cheaper foreign labor to undercut

00:19:42.200 them helps no one, or even bringing in more skilled labor. How does that help out our own

00:19:47.500 unemployed skilled labor in the province now? This is a solution in search of a problem. It doesn't

00:19:52.440 make sense. And listen to Kenny's justifications of it. Here, listen for a bit here.

00:19:56.960 The goal will be to end large backlogs, speed up processing times, proactively attract talented

00:20:04.040 newcomers from overseas, welcome job-creating entrepreneurs, and encourage settlement in rural

00:20:10.200 Alberta, which needs population the most. His first two goals there are really weird.

00:20:16.120 Fix the immigration backlog and speed up processing. How's that an Alberta provincial issue? Fix the

00:20:22.660 backlog as in there are foreigners who really want to come here, and they're not getting enough 1.00

00:20:27.460 service quickly enough. That's his top priority. It's the first thing he mentions, making things

00:20:32.040 convenient for foreigners. And the second one, speeding up processing times. That's not the problem.

00:20:39.600 The problem is that Alberta has nearly 7% unemployment, and it's skilled workers in Alberta who can't find

00:20:45.720 work. And he's really excited about bringing in foreigners faster. Who came up with this? 0.72

00:20:52.140 Bringing in job creators? Okay, good idea. I'll believe it when I see it. But that's not the pitch here.

00:20:57.820 The pitch is really bringing in cheap third world labor to a province that already has unemployed 1.00

00:21:02.720 Canadian labor. I really can't believe Jason Kenney referred to Brooks, Alberta, as his example of a success story.

00:21:10.840 Brooks is a good example. They have managed to do this partly because of the large meatpacking plant there

00:21:17.700 that has been very proactive in recruiting newcomers. But this is the single most effective way that we can

00:21:24.840 help to revitalize economic growth in smaller communities. Brooks. He's really using that

00:21:31.680 Brooks meatpacking. Brooks is a small town in Alberta that decided to hire cheap foreign workers 0.99

00:21:39.660 in their meatpacking plant rather than to hire Canadians for a couple of bucks an hour more. 0.97

00:21:45.460 And they thought Somalis would be the perfect people to work in Brooks, Alberta. So no surprise 1.00

00:21:54.880 that it has been a disaster. The crime rate in that town doubled. Alberta is now famous for having

00:22:01.680 exported Somali terrorists to ISIS. But just from a plain old economic point of view, which is being

00:22:08.420 touted here as the rationale, why? How is bringing in cheap foreign labor, which is the story of the

00:22:14.080 Brooks meatpacking plant? That's exactly the story he refers to. How is it a success that you've got

00:22:21.720 some employed, low cost labor from Somalia in Brooks? This is so weird. It's like Kenney's running for 0.98

00:22:32.340 prime minister, you know, for the liberals, you know, appeasing, you know, Ahmed Hassan's Somali. He's got 0.78

00:22:42.140 that nailed down. Appeasing the CBC, appeasing migrant lobby groups. Alberta doesn't need more 1.00

00:22:49.240 migrants, especially for economics. Here's a chart showing that the province has had nearly zero net 0.99

00:22:58.320 immigration for the past five years, as in people are leaving Alberta almost as quickly as they're

00:23:04.360 coming in anyways, because there's no economic opportunity there. People are getting up and

00:23:10.120 leaving the province and he wants to bring in more Somalis. Why is he doing this? He actually said he's

00:23:21.340 going to lobby Justin Trudeau and Ahmed Hassan to ask for more. Listen, we would, I would happily lobby

00:23:30.700 the federal government to increase Alberta's allotment under the provincial nominee program.

00:23:35.920 As federal minister, I took it from 1,200 to 5,000, quadrupled it, which took the number of

00:23:43.160 immigrants coming through the program from about 4,000 to 22,000. That helped to double the overall

00:23:50.700 number of immigrants coming to Alberta from about 21,000 in 2005 to on average 42,000 when I left as

00:24:01.180 immigration minister. And I'm proud of having doubled immigration levels to Alberta, partly by giving

00:24:08.780 Alberta a 400% increase in its nominee. But since then, Alberta has been flat.

00:24:15.860 What is going on here? The oil patch is hurting. The pipeline industry is dead. Coal is being positively

00:24:23.860 euthanized by the NDP. Pipelines are not being built. It's collapsing the prices. What's going on here?

00:24:30.400 I know a lot of immigrants that came here with high hopes, but couldn't find jobs. And they've ended up

00:24:39.800 leaving for Toronto or Vancouver. That's a terrible shame.

00:24:42.520 Yeah, I guess that's sad. But why is that more sad if it happens to foreign citizens than when it

00:24:51.980 happens to Canadians, to Albertans? And how is bringing thousands of more people going to change

00:24:59.440 that? What is even going on here? Alberta is having a very tough time. Albertans are. Albertans are

00:25:06.260 homeless. Albertans are on welfare. Albertans need jobs. It is sad that the unlimited pool of people

00:25:13.580 around the world, the 7 billion people who could come to Canada if they could. It's sad that 7 billion

00:25:18.200 foreigners can't get jobs in Alberta. Sure. But it is more sad that Albertans can't. To focus on this, 0.75

00:25:24.740 to say this is a priority, to make this announcement, to say he's going to lobby Trudeau for more migrants,

00:25:30.780 that is not real. That is not what Albertans are asking for.

00:25:36.260 That's what the CBC wants? That's Jason Kenney trying to win the love of the CBC?

00:25:43.580 Trying to prove how woke he is? So woke that he's going to lobby Justin Trudeau for more migrants?

00:25:51.820 Jason Kenney is more scared of the CBC than he is of anything else.

00:25:57.020 If you're wondering how he's going to govern, I think that's what you need to watch.

00:26:01.680 I've never, never in my life heard someone in small town Alberta say they want Trudeau to pour

00:26:08.640 more migrants into their town. Pretty sure Brooks is a cautionary tale, not a role model. 1.00

00:26:15.180 If you want to know what Jason Kenney responds to, don't look to a carbon tax rally or a pipeline

00:26:20.540 convoy. I don't think he likes those. Look to what they're gossiping about at the CBC headquarters

00:26:27.660 in Toronto. Look to what the media party is twittering about online. That's what Jason

00:26:33.220 Kenney responds to. Please tell me if I'm wrong here, because I wish I was, but I don't think

00:26:39.800 I am. Stay with us for more.

00:26:42.620 I believe my support for Trump has affected my entire life, but modeling in particular,

00:27:00.360 it's just, you know, the fashion world is like Hollywood. You're not allowed to not only be

00:27:04.340 Republican or conservative, but you're not allowed to be different. So I think anyone that doesn't

00:27:08.080 support the president, who obviously everyone hates in the fashion world, is going to be

00:27:12.180 ostracized right away. Elizabeth Pipko is a successful model. That was until she publicly

00:27:18.020 came out of the closet. Oh, it's worse than you think as a Trump supporter. Since then, she has

00:27:24.100 been blackballed from the industry. Joining us now via Skype is Elizabeth Pipko. Elizabeth,

00:27:30.240 pleasure to meet you. Thank you for joining us today.

00:27:32.200 Thank you for having me.

00:27:34.060 You know, I would think that modeling, like sports, is ideology-free. I mean, I could see

00:27:41.280 it in the dramatic arts, like acting or music, where there's always some editorial content,

00:27:47.440 but sports is just sports. And I would think modeling is just modeling. How come the industry

00:27:53.520 is intolerant of any political diversity?

00:27:55.600 I honestly don't know. I think it's shocking to a lot of people. I don't think I was aware

00:28:02.940 of how strange it was just because I was in the middle of it all. But I remember actually talking

00:28:07.380 to my dad, I think, two weeks ago when we were talking about it after everything kind of came

00:28:11.660 out. And he asked me if other models post things, even if they agree on the liberal side, if they

00:28:16.420 post about it. And I said, yeah, they're at the Women's March. They're posting terrible things

00:28:20.160 about our president, everything. And he thought that the weirdness was the fact that I came out

00:28:25.540 with the fact that I support the president. My models are supposed to stay neutral. He didn't

00:28:28.940 understand that we actually weren't allowed to just be Republican or be supportive of the

00:28:32.340 president, that it wasn't a left-right kind of like equal playing field. He genuinely thought that

00:28:37.340 it was the fact that I came out in general and any kind of support that was shocking to people,

00:28:41.680 he didn't get that it was actually the fact that I was a Republican or a supporter. And that's what

00:28:45.580 was crazy. He really didn't understand that. And I think that's kind of when it hit me that we're

00:28:49.420 really not allowed to be ourselves if it, you know, is separate from anything that other people,

00:28:54.320 you know, like the mass majority kind of believe in. Well, give me some examples of how things

00:28:59.060 changed once you let it slip out, that you were not just a Republican. I mean, maybe they could abide

00:29:05.760 a token Republican, but that you actually volunteered on Trump's campaign itself. I mean, that's the worst

00:29:13.180 thing imaginable. What happened? Give me examples of what happened to you once,

00:29:19.420 that dark secret was revealed. I'd say the worst part was like the online, you know, trolls that

00:29:26.420 hate, obviously people didn't understand why I did it or, you know, why someone would do that. Or

00:29:31.160 instead of, you know, applauding the fact that anyone at a young age, I was only 21 and I not

00:29:35.260 only volunteered, but I ended up getting a full-time job on the campaign. So instead of applauding the

00:29:39.660 fact that a 21 year old who was doing all these things was also, you know, working for a presidential

00:29:43.640 campaign, which was my biggest accomplishment. It was all about tearing me down and, you know,

00:29:47.640 showing how terrible that must be and how terrible I must be. My parents must have been to raise me

00:29:51.760 this way. A lot of anti-Semitic comments that they did not actually expect and just a lot of

00:29:56.480 negativity that I think we kind of see, you know, thrown at, you know, Trump's and the family and

00:30:01.460 all that, that I didn't expect to be thrown in my direction that obviously they don't deserve

00:30:05.220 either. But I didn't realize how little support or like affiliation you have to even have with the

00:30:09.840 president to be hated by, you know, everyone at least on the internet. But it definitely,

00:30:14.040 it hit me pretty hard, but you know, that's okay. Well, let me differentiate because the internet

00:30:18.640 is a limitless fountain of trolls and hate and many of them could be anonymous and many of them could

00:30:28.320 be automated. They could be bots. And I don't want to put too much stock in internet hate. I'm not,

00:30:36.500 I'm not downplaying it and I'm sure it, it's stung to have harsh comments like that. But if,

00:30:43.380 but really, I mean, I, I have an enormous number of haters online too. I just block them.

00:30:49.900 I'm not, I'm not condescending to it, but I guess what I'm more interested in is from official sources,

00:30:58.380 from modeling agencies, from bookers, from gigs you would have, from real people who you had a real

00:31:06.340 relationship with, not, not hecklers, uh, in the internet ether. Um, can you tell me, did you have

00:31:12.900 any gigs that were canceled? Did you have an annual event that you were always invited to that suddenly

00:31:18.340 dried up friends who you worked with who suddenly didn't want anything to do with you? To me, that's

00:31:23.720 more telling than, than what the internet would do to you. Right, right. Um, I mean, the reason I bring

00:31:29.220 up the internet, it's actually, it was a lot more than just, you know, the trolls that you mentioned,

00:31:32.980 um, I try to avoid all of it. You know, my, my husband, my brother, they kind of like watch out

00:31:36.900 for me and tell me if there's something super, super sweet that I have to respond to them like

00:31:40.180 I do, but otherwise I try to avoid all of it. But I was scrolling through it once stupidly.

00:31:44.500 And it was actually photographers that I had previously worked with that I knew that I would

00:31:48.660 definitely consider friends, um, that were kind of, you know, involved in the trolling. You know,

00:31:52.740 it was shocking to see people that I had worked with before kind of admitting that people on the internet

00:31:57.460 who are not just bullies are now like, they would rather be on their side than my side,

00:32:00.900 someone they've known for years and claimed to like before I came out with my support. So

00:32:04.500 the internet was more than just, you know, anonymous spots for sure. But I mean, my agency kind of

00:32:09.620 removed my photo from their website and haven't spoken to me, which is interesting. Um, I didn't

00:32:14.260 actually find any shoots. I kind of planned the fact that I was going to kind of, you know, admit that

00:32:18.420 I worked for the present and all that. I kind of known for a while that it was about time, but I didn't have

00:32:22.260 any to plan because I knew what was going to happen. And I was genuinely afraid, honestly. But on top of

00:32:27.140 that, it's a lot of people that I used to know, friends, models that have reached out to me. A few

00:32:30.660 have said, Hey, I wanted to unfollow you, but I know you. And I realized that, you know, there's

00:32:34.580 deeper things in politics, but most have blocked me or unfollowed me or said their process, obviously,

00:32:39.700 which I expected because I hadn't been treated that way by friends before who knew in 2015,

00:32:44.100 2016, that I supported the president. But this one kind of came as a group. That was a lot, you know,

00:32:48.900 for sure. You know, I, I've been in some situations in my own life where, um, some people

00:32:56.420 whispered their support to me, but said, Oh, I can't support you publicly, or I'll be devoured

00:33:02.900 by the mob too. Have you seen some of that? Have you seen timid conservatives, timid Republicans,

00:33:08.820 timid Trumpists in the industry who, you know, probably should come to your aid, but they too would

00:33:16.740 be thrown under the bus if they did? Yeah, a lot. Um, on the campaign, actually,

00:33:21.140 I was working once and, um, one of my jobs, I actually ran the volunteer center that we had

00:33:25.460 downstairs and I came down, uh, once and I recognized the model who I had worked with at Wilhelmina, my,

00:33:30.500 uh, my ex agency, actually. But, um, he was on America's Next Top Model. He was a really big deal.

00:33:36.020 I was starstruck when I met him years ago, but we had become good friends and I saw him and he was

00:33:40.500 wearing a MAGA hat actually, but it was obvious he was trying to cover his face more than anything else.

00:33:45.860 And I came over him and I hugged him. You know, I mean, we genuinely felt like a sense of connection

00:33:49.460 in that moment. Like, you're here, I'm here. You know, we have, you know, we have some support

00:33:53.060 amongst, you know, each other, but it was very obvious that he really did not want anyone to

00:33:58.100 know that he was there. He was there volunteering and, you know, wanting to genuinely help the

00:34:01.300 president, but yeah, not to share it with the world. I knew that I wasn't going to. I told him not

00:34:05.460 to mention it, you know, that I was there and we kind of went on our way, but I've also received a lot

00:34:09.060 of messages and, you know, saying what I did. And a lot of people, mostly photographers actually,

00:34:14.180 but a few models as well, they're telling me that they were told that if they feel their views,

00:34:18.420 they will have their, you know, career fully destroyed. No one will ever work for them.

00:34:21.860 People have called them, you know, Nazis, white supremacists, everything. A lot of people have

00:34:26.420 told me that they, you know, feel my pain, but more so than feel my pain, I think they're just

00:34:30.340 genuinely scared because they know that the world is, you know, going in this direction. And

00:34:34.100 I mean, people want to be creative. They want to be allowed to do something like this. And I

00:34:36.980 don't feel like politics has enough fear, obviously. And when it becomes, you know,

00:34:40.420 your livelihood, it's a lot scarier. Well, let me ask you a little bit about how

00:34:45.380 you came to be a Republican in a very hostile industry. I understand you're 23 and you mentioned

00:34:52.580 you've been a Trump supporter since 2015. So I guess you were, you know, 19 or 20 at the time.

00:34:59.220 May I ask what, what it was? I mean, most young people aren't that political. And if they are,

00:35:03.540 they go with the flow, which is, you know, left of center. How did you break from that pack? How

00:35:10.500 did you swim against the current? What was it that made you a Trump supporter?

00:35:16.660 I think since growing up, I've always been interested in politics more so than the average,

00:35:21.860 you know, young person. I've always kind of been passionate about it, which led me to a lot of,

00:35:25.700 you know, research. A lot of people nowadays are more interested in doing what their favorite

00:35:29.060 celebrity tells them to do than what they genuinely believe they should do. A lot of people don't

00:35:32.580 want to do the research and, you know, come to their own conclusion. So I was doing that since

00:35:36.340 a very, very young age. I think in eighth grade, we had a mock election. It was McCain versus Obama.

00:35:42.420 You know, in the real world, we had a mock election in school and kind of from eighth grade,

00:35:45.220 I got super involved in just doing my own research and getting involved. But with Donald Trump,

00:35:49.380 it kind of became, this was the first election when I could vote, so it became a lot more important

00:35:53.540 for me. He obviously was someone that everybody knew beforehand. So everyone was super, you know,

00:35:57.780 interested in him. And I could, you know, watching interviews that he had given,

00:36:00.900 reading his books. And I just, I knew that he was different. You know, I knew that as someone

00:36:04.980 that had researched it, at least for the years of good research, that everyone was kind of the same.

00:36:08.420 Politicians, you know, there's a negative connotation with the original. And I knew that

00:36:12.420 he was different. He was, you know, special in his own way. And he not only was continuing on,

00:36:16.420 despite what, you know, the terrible things we were saying about him, which was inspiring in

00:36:19.700 its own right, he believed in most of the things that I believed in. And I decided to throw my support

00:36:24.100 behind him. And it actually helped me, you know, he inspired me every single day. And I, you know,

00:36:28.420 don't think I'll waver in supporting him ever.

00:36:31.460 And you mentioned some of the attacks against you were anti-Semitic. I understand that you're

00:36:35.860 Jewish, which I suppose makes you a double minority as a Trump supporter. I personally think that Donald

00:36:42.100 Trump is the most pro-Israel president since the founding of the state of Israel. I don't think I

00:36:48.260 need to prove that. I mean, just whether it's a symbolic move, like moving the embassy from Tel Aviv

00:36:54.740 to Jerusalem, or basically telling the Palestinians, he's not going to engage in their BS anymore, 0.88

00:37:02.020 just with a single tweet ending decades of false moral equivalence between the Palestinian

00:37:08.980 terrorists and Israel. I think he's amazing. But I would say that I'm a minority amongst Jews. And I 0.97

00:37:14.020 think in America, it's the same way. Can you talk a little bit about being a pro-Trump Jewish 0.81

00:37:23.140 person too? Because I got to think a lot of liberal Jews are bashing you for that too.

00:37:29.140 Yeah. I mean, to me, maybe because I am young and naive, it was kind of very obvious as a Jewish 1.00

00:37:33.860 person. In general, I kind of think the Republican Party supports, you know, Israel and the Jewish

00:37:38.660 people more, but Donald Trump very obviously supports the Jewish people and Israel. So it was a

00:37:43.140 no brainer to me that in terms of things, you know, on my list that I vote for, Donald Trump was

00:37:48.100 number one, you know, that was kind of always the case. But I think now actually after the election,

00:37:52.100 we're seeing a lot more anti-Semitism, especially in the Democratic Party, which, you know, is only

00:37:56.900 proving our point. So I think the people that are saying Donald Trump or his supporters are anti-Semitic

00:38:00.980 are, you know, ridiculous or naive, or I don't know if they're trying to, you know,

00:38:03.940 hide the truth or they're just totally unaware. I don't understand what's happening. But

00:38:08.420 the Democratic Party has proven, you know, time and time again, that we don't

00:38:12.340 care about Israel or the Jewish people and that they genuinely, you know, preach things

00:38:16.820 when they're running for office and then forget about them. President Trump was the only president

00:38:21.460 to obviously move the embassy after president after president said that they would, you know,

00:38:25.060 from Barack Obama, George Bush, everybody. So, you know, that was something. And we obviously believed

00:38:29.220 him, which was a first for me because I was told not to believe politicians. I believed him and he

00:38:33.220 delivered. But more importantly, the Democratic Party from the Iran deal to the BDS movement,

00:38:37.940 everything going on now have proven that they're, you know, slowly but surely becoming more and more

00:38:42.500 anti-Semitic. And I think people that don't understand why Jews side with Donald Trump should

00:38:46.980 start, you know, doing their research and, you know, realizing what it is that they care about

00:38:51.060 and realize that the Republican Party and especially President Trump totally align with all of this.

00:38:56.020 Well, I have to say that I find you a very forceful advocate. I just have a sense that probably

00:39:01.940 the last two years has given you 10 years worth of experience. I mean, it sounds like they put you

00:39:07.780 through the ringer. It's just, I mean, reading a little bit about your story.

00:39:13.140 Can I ask what your plans are now? I mean, I know, of course, Donald Trump has this re-election

00:39:19.620 campaign chair in place, Brad Parscale. They're obviously doing campaign-style rallies around

00:39:25.940 the country. Are your plans political? Do you hope to get back into modeling? Are you going to,

00:39:32.900 I don't know, start a family? Are you going to stay in the public arena? Or like, tell me a little

00:39:36.980 bit about what you plan to do because I'm impressed with how articulate an advocate you are. I love the

00:39:42.820 fact that you didn't bend the knee when you were attacked. So I just really want to know,

00:39:47.380 as I'm sure our viewers do, what is the next chapter for Elizabeth Pipko?

00:39:52.820 I mean, I wish I knew the next chapter, obviously, but I'm pretty confident that I'm going to pursue

00:39:58.020 something political just because, you know, coming out as a Trump supporter has given me not only,

00:40:03.300 you know, fear, like I mentioned, but so much strength. I mean, the amount of messages that

00:40:06.580 I've gotten from people saying that I inspired them, which is, you know, A, amazing, but B,

00:40:11.060 terrifying that people are scared to share their views in support of, you know, a president who got,

00:40:15.300 you know, elected fairly in, you know, the United States of America. So that's terrifying.

00:40:19.380 And if I can be someone that can inspire others to come out and get a support for our president and

00:40:23.220 feel more confident, you know, that's going to mean the world to me more than any modeling job ever

00:40:26.820 could, obviously. My husband actually works on the 2020 campaign, so I feel emotionally involved in some

00:40:32.420 way for sure. But I'm hoping to be involved, obviously. I think at least growing up the way

00:40:38.180 I did with parents, you know, grandparents who came to America and kind of raised me to be a proud

00:40:44.100 American before anything else. I'm a patriot and I love my country. And I think it's going to come

00:40:48.420 before most things for me, even at my young age, as crazy as that might sound. So if I can, you know,

00:40:53.140 in any way feel like I'm doing the right thing for my country and, you know, supporters of the

00:40:56.820 president, supporters of now me who think that what I did was incredible, I'm going to keep going and I'm

00:41:00.820 going to, you know, keep trying to, you know, save my country and do what I can. Because it's been

00:41:05.060 probably the best month of my life, the scariest it's been. It's been pretty incredible. And if I

00:41:09.860 can make any kind of change and of course help our president, you know, get reelected, I'm going to do that.

00:41:14.340 Well, that's very encouraging. And I'm so glad to hear it ending that way. It's not ended yet,

00:41:19.140 but I'm so glad that it did not end with you being broken by the attacks on you. And it sounds like you

00:41:26.020 had a lot of support. If your husband is in fact working on the reelection campaign, it sounds like

00:41:30.340 you've got a lot of support right there at home, which is obviously critical. Well, listen, what a

00:41:34.580 pleasure to meet you. And, and I hope that we can keep in touch with you as your own plans develop.

00:41:39.860 You're a very articulate advocate, as I said before, and whatever you do next, I hope we can

00:41:45.860 observe it and maybe even be a part of it. Definitely. Thank you. What a pleasure.

00:41:50.500 Well, that's Elizabeth Pipko, a model who was blackballed in the modeling industry after 1.00

00:41:57.220 revealing to the public that she was a supporter of Donald Trump. Stay with us. More ahead on The Rebel.

00:42:13.220 Hey, welcome back to my monologue on Thursday about three rebel reporters being assaulted in three weeks.

00:42:17.300 John writes, I've supported rebel media in the past, but this, in my opinion, borders on the ridiculous.

00:42:22.660 And I think a judge might think so as well. Your reporter wades into the fray of an emotionally

00:42:26.660 charged demonstration and gets slightly jilted physically in the midst of a protest. That is

00:42:31.380 the risk one takes in entering those environments. I think you're wasting your time and money on this

00:42:34.900 one, but it will not be my money. Well, John, I appreciate your opinion and the fact that you watched the

00:42:40.100 video and wrote in, I couldn't disagree with you more. I cannot think of a single incident

00:42:48.740 in 10 years, in 20 years, where a liberal journalist in Canada was attacked ever. I can't

00:42:54.340 even think of one. In fact, it's so good for journalists here. They have to make up offenses.

00:42:59.860 Oh, he swore at me on live TV or charge him with a crime. Being sworn at, you know, welcome to my

00:43:05.540 morning. I get sworn at more times by lunch than your CBCer does all day.

00:43:14.340 To be hit and have his property broken simply for asking a question when police are a few feet away

00:43:20.980 is wrong. But I put it to you, John, that this is not an anomaly or a blip. It is a trend. I've told you

00:43:27.140 that three of our people have been attacked in three weeks. David Menzies, Efron, our cameraman,

00:43:32.420 and Kean Bextie. I remind you that Sheila Gunn-Reed was attacked. I point out that not a single

00:43:39.140 journalistic organization lifts a finger. They don't care. They only care about leftist journalists.

00:43:43.940 They don't even care at all. They're just really about the bailout. So I'm going to disagree with

00:43:47.380 you. As a conservative, I'm going to disagree with you. And as an employer, I'm going to disagree with

00:43:52.820 you. It is absolutely essential that our staff know that if they are attacked on the job because

00:43:59.140 they're a rebel, we're going to fight back for them because the cops don't seem to.

00:44:04.340 And it's absolutely imperative that the world know that if you take a run at a rebel, you better

00:44:11.140 hide because if we find you, we will sue you forever until we get justice. We will sue you

00:44:18.420 even in defiance of the, like an insurance company would say, oh, just walk away. It's not worth the

00:44:22.260 money. It'll cost you 30 grand to sue and you'll win three grand. The math doesn't add up. This is not

00:44:26.260 about the math. This is about you cannot punch a rebel with impunity. That used to be the motto of

00:44:33.700 the, I think, the Stuart Kings. And I'm not even Scottish or Stuart, where were the Stuarts? I got, I

00:44:39.700 don't even know my British history well enough. Nemo me impune lacheset. That's, that's Latin for no one

00:44:47.620 cuts me with impunity. For God's sakes, that was a royal motto. I think that was the Stuart Kings.

00:44:51.940 That's, you can't punch, you can't punch a rebel with impunity. Revelation writes, I think the money

00:44:58.820 would be better spent going after the police. We need to push the police to do their job regardless

00:45:02.740 of one's politics. Look, we have contacted the police in all the cases here. At the end of the

00:45:08.100 day, you cannot compel the police to lay charges. You just can't. They have police discretion and it

00:45:13.380 ought to be that way. You can file a private prosecution. That's where you go to court and say, judge, I've hired my

00:45:19.700 own lawyer to enforce the criminal code because the cops won't. So you go to court with the criminal

00:45:24.020 code and you prosecute under the criminal code with your own private lawyers. That's rare. It

00:45:31.060 does happen sometimes. And sometimes the Crown prosecutor takes over those charges. But I think

00:45:37.460 a civil suit is probably a better fit. Liza writes, I couldn't donate much this time, but I would feel

00:45:43.220 better about giving over my hard earned money if the rebel were getting some of it back in a lawsuit,

00:45:47.860 especially with the Radisson manager. Why not take them to the cleaners?

00:45:51.460 OK, well, I don't want to get into detail about our legal strategy because I don't want to give

00:45:56.180 away things that are covered by the confidentiality of our legal plan and what we've talked to lawyers

00:46:02.100 about. But it's just a matter of law that you get pushed around and even punched a bit. You're not

00:46:08.100 going to get 100 grand for punching someone in the nose. You're just not going to. So we're suing for

00:46:12.420 the amount. In Radisson, we're suing for $10,000 per guy, 20 grand, because I don't want to be one of

00:46:19.940 those silly guys who sues like for 20 million bucks when they know it's a $20,000 lawsuit.

00:46:26.100 This is a real lawsuit. And I want a judge to take it really. And in the case of Sheila Gunn-Reed,

00:46:32.260 she was awarded $3,500. You're not going to get all your costs back in court. I can't remember

00:46:38.500 what costs we won. In Sheila's case, it was like maybe $1,000 or two. So yeah, we're not going to

00:46:45.220 get it back. It's just not how it works. Anyways, thanks for letting me tell you those details. I

00:46:49.380 hope I'll have some news. In fact, I may have some news as soon as this week on one of these matters,

00:46:54.740 and I can hardly wait to share that with you. Listen, I appreciate your support. It's not even a case of

00:46:59.540 economics. I can think of 20 better things to spend $60,000 on than a lawsuit in Ottawa and

00:47:08.660 a lawsuit in Toronto. I can think of a lot of better things like hiring a new reporter. But

00:47:14.740 this is another way of saying to David, Efron, and Kian that we value them and we're going to

00:47:22.740 protect them. This is the best I can do. It's the best I can do. Well, folks,

00:47:26.340 that's the show for today. I hope you enjoyed it. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here

00:47:30.340 at Rebel World Headquarters, good night and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - February 26, 2019

Kenney's “bizarre” immigration announcement is “a solution in search of a problem”

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