Rebel News Podcast - Red Deer's Antifa invasion, Canada's Embassy in China needs renovations!

00:00:00.000 Hello, Rebels. You're listening to a free audio-only recording of my show, Rebel Roundup.

00:00:06.160 Tonight, my guests are Sheila Gunn-Reed and Andrew Chapados.

00:00:10.780 Now, if you like listening to this podcast, then you would love watching it.

00:00:15.400 But in order to watch, you need to be a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.

00:00:20.180 That's what we call our long-format TV-style shows here on The Rebel.

00:00:25.820 Subscribers get access to watching my weekly show as well as other great TV-style shows too.

00:00:33.620 It's only $8 a month to subscribe or you can subscribe annually and get two months free.

00:00:40.880 And just for podcast listeners, you can also save an extra 10% on a new premium membership

00:00:48.160 by using the coupon code PODCAST when you subscribe.

00:00:53.440 Just go to rebelnewsplus.com to become a member.

00:00:58.580 And please leave a five-star review on this podcast and subscribe in iTunes or wherever you listen to podcasts.

00:01:07.640 Those reviews are a great way to support Rebel News without spending a dime.

00:01:13.640 And now, enjoy this free audio-only version of my show.

00:01:23.440 Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you,

00:01:36.840 in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favourite Rebels.

00:01:41.820 I'm your host, David Menzies.

00:01:43.640 Well, just when we thought we were out of the Wuhan virus woods,

00:01:47.920 along comes more lockdowns in various regions of Ontario,

00:01:51.480 ranging from sit-down restaurants and theatres to indoor gyms.

00:01:55.800 Yeah, because apparently outdoor gyms are all the rage as the weather gets colder here, right?

00:02:00.860 Andrew Chapitose drops by to ponder whatever happened to the province's allegedly conservative premier, Doug Ford.

00:02:09.080 And how do you like them, Wontons? 1.00

00:02:12.640 Apparently, the Canadian embassy in Beijing suffers from poor morale.

00:02:18.360 The federal government thinks it's due to the building not being green enough,

00:02:22.980 but it's more likely due to staffers who live in fear of being targeted by the Chinese Communist Party,

00:02:30.440 a la the two Michaels.

00:02:32.660 Sheila Gunn-Reed will have all the details.

00:02:35.160 And finally, letters.

00:02:36.500 We get your letters.

00:02:37.300 We get your letters every minute of every day.

00:02:39.780 And I'll share some of your responses regarding my story on the thousands of Ontario personalized license plates

00:02:47.320 that were this year declined by a secret star chamber of bureaucrats.

00:02:53.500 The thing is, some of those rejections make no sense whatsoever.

00:02:58.120 Then again, the personalized license plate committee is staffed by bureaucrats, after all.

00:03:03.540 So, those are your Rebels.

00:03:05.100 Now, let's round them up.

00:03:11.500 Welcome back to Andrew Says on Rebels News.

00:03:13.360 Ontario saw a record high 939 cases on October 9th.

00:03:18.100 Meaning, of course, we need to shut down bars, gyms, and any other place that people go to for exercise or for fun.

00:03:25.260 Because who cares about mental health, right? 0.99

00:03:27.520 Now, that might sound a little bit harsh if we didn't have all the information that we now have.

00:03:31.500 With an added 19 people in hospital for COVID in the entire province, this is apparently a monumental spike in cases.

00:03:38.820 Meaning, shut it down now.

00:03:41.360 The cases in intensive care have barely moved and it remains around 50 for the entire province.

00:03:46.560 That's 50 people for almost 400 hospitals and about 230 patients for COVID altogether.

00:03:51.920 That means if you put one person with COVID in each hospital, you would still have more than 150 hospitals without any COVID patients at all.

00:04:00.560 Yet, for some reason, Premier Doug Ford is giving more money to healthcare workers and now shutting down businesses for 28 days.

00:04:07.820 You heard it right.

00:04:08.920 After giving billions of dollars to increase hospital capacity and increasing wages significantly,

00:04:14.200 Ontario hospitals are now laying off nurses, citing financial challenges.

00:04:18.340 Hmm, that's a little weird.

00:04:20.820 They've stopped elective and sometimes life-saving procedures to make way for COVID patients,

00:04:25.400 but there aren't enough, so now we have to give them more money to clear the backlog of people waiting for these treatments.

00:04:31.760 Funny how that works, isn't it?

00:04:33.640 Previously, we told you about how a COVID case doesn't actually mean you've tested positive.

00:04:37.720 You can just be around a place where others have.

00:04:40.720 If you're looking for a better definition from the government, well, I'm sorry to tell you there isn't one.

00:04:44.460 They just say the word outbreak and case closed.

00:04:47.680 Not literally, of course.

00:04:49.100 But now, there are new reports coming out that in addition to cases not being cases and adding deaths and cases from months ago,

00:04:55.920 the death count for Ontario actually includes people who didn't actually die from COVID-19.

00:05:00.660 But you're not allowed to know how many because that would be just too honest of them.

00:05:05.560 Many people knew this already, but they were conspiracy theorists.

00:05:08.900 How dare you deny the existence of this virus? 1.00

00:05:11.100 Put on your mask and shut up. 1.00

00:05:12.400 We showed you articles that said that. 1.00

00:05:14.580 Ride your bike and drive in your car alone with a mask.

00:05:17.260 People are doing this.

00:05:18.560 People are dropping dead in the streets, they say.

00:05:20.500 Don't you want to save lives?

00:05:22.500 Toronto's Associate Medical Officer of Health says this.

00:05:25.840 Individuals who have died with COVID-19, but not necessarily as a result of COVID-19,

00:05:30.640 are all included in the case counts for COVID-19 deaths in Toronto.

00:05:34.420 Seems logical, doesn't it?

00:05:36.020 While gym, bar, and restaurant owners get destroyed over inflated numbers,

00:05:39.680 hospitals and school boards rake in the money.

00:05:42.400 Your money.

00:05:43.300 You don't get to decide where your tax dollars are going anymore,

00:05:45.840 and apparently, neither do the people you voted for.

00:05:48.900 Unelected regional doctors get to suggest their colleagues get more money for less work,

00:05:53.280 quite literally, while people die.

00:05:55.640 For your own safety, please sign the check.

00:05:57.980 Don't worry though, we are using this time wisely to make sure there is more diversity in government-run ads.

00:06:02.800 That's a new thing.

00:06:03.520 We've also, during a pandemic, managed to find half a billion dollars for electric car assembly.

00:06:09.540 So, healthcare workers, teachers unions, and green energy sectors?

00:06:13.240 Doug Ford is basically a progressive now.

00:06:15.780 This person who ran on Open for Business and Balancing the Budget

00:06:19.120 apparently has found billions and billions of dollars to spend

00:06:22.420 while he shuts down other people's businesses.

00:06:25.080 Remember, he's for the people.

00:06:27.000 It's only going to get worse if we allow it.

00:06:35.860 Look at Australia.

00:06:36.920 Look at the UK.

00:06:38.020 They are testing a COVID passport.

00:06:40.100 Meaning, if you can prove you don't have COVID,

00:06:42.200 which of course will turn into proving that you've gotten a vaccine,

00:06:45.400 then you will have the privilege, not the right,

00:06:47.540 but the privilege, to live without a mandatory quarantine.

00:06:50.460 Thank you, overlords.

00:06:52.360 All hail the state.

00:06:53.480 Yes, how odd indeed.

00:06:55.740 Remember those election slogans of the Doug Ford PCs way, way back in,

00:07:01.320 oh, what was it, 2018?

00:07:02.820 You know, Ontario, Open for Business and For the People.

00:07:07.720 Given what's happened to so many Ontario businesses and the people who own them,

00:07:13.280 it looks like those slogans had all the fortitude of weak old linguine.

00:07:17.480 Because increasingly, when it comes to tackling the Wuhan virus in Ontario,

00:07:23.660 it would appear that the cure is far worse than the curse.

00:07:28.260 And joining me now regarding the latest coronavirus craziness is Andrew Chapiteau.

00:07:34.240 So, Andrew, there's another slogan making the rounds these days.

00:07:39.080 Namely, we're all in it together.

00:07:41.840 I think that might have just displaced the two other biggest lies of all time.

00:07:47.620 Namely, the check is in the mail.

00:07:49.880 And hi, I'm from the government.

00:07:52.020 I'm here to help you.

00:07:54.120 It's been, the government run by Doug Ford has certainly taken a turn, hasn't it?

00:07:59.520 I mean, I noticed today he stated that when hiring teachers,

00:08:03.940 the most important things were talent and skill, as long as, along with diversity.

00:08:08.420 Which is one of his latest and greatest claims that we should be doing when hiring teachers.

00:08:13.900 But aside from that, the COVID fiasco that we can all call it,

00:08:17.980 not that we're denying the existence of the actual illness,

00:08:21.720 but the lack of transparency and just the lack of logic around these lockdowns and restrictions

00:08:27.680 has really gone off the rails.

00:08:29.500 I mean, first it was, let's get deaths and everything down.

00:08:32.700 We need to make sure the ICUs are open for people with COVID. 1.00

00:08:36.020 We need to make sure the hospitals are open.

00:08:38.440 Now it's, the cases are out of control.

00:08:40.760 Oh wait, the cases aren't out of control.

00:08:42.160 Let's add some from months ago.

00:08:44.080 And it seems like it never stops, David.

00:08:47.120 But you know, Andrew, here's the thing.

00:08:48.540 And you make this point, I think, in your video.

00:08:50.180 So the, it's one thing to talk about coronavirus positive cases.

00:08:55.860 It's quite another ball of wax to talk about the number of deaths.

00:09:00.360 So when you have hundreds of people daily testing positive,

00:09:04.760 that doesn't translate into hundreds of deaths now, does it?

00:09:08.460 No, and that's the problem with these daily pressers Doug Ford has been giving.

00:09:12.820 There's no transparency about what a case actually is.

00:09:15.780 There's no transparency about how many people are in ICU beds or in hospital in general.

00:09:21.660 Right now, there's as many people in hospital.

00:09:25.200 I don't know what, I don't even know what a number to compare it to.

00:09:27.560 Is cars being sold?

00:09:29.160 I don't know.

00:09:29.740 But if you look at the number of people in ICU,

00:09:32.480 you can fit one person for every four hospitals in the province.

00:09:36.540 There's way more beds and hospital facilities than there are COVID patients in the province of Ontario,

00:09:41.720 which begs the question, why are we still having these restrictions?

00:09:45.960 Now, they're putting more nurses and more, I don't know if you want to call them hospital attendants,

00:09:51.600 they're hiring more to make up for the backlog that they have already caused.

00:09:55.020 But it doesn't make sense because they've already laid off so many nurses previously.

00:09:59.400 So what they've gone ahead and done is they've fired nurses,

00:10:03.400 but then given the hospitals more money to hire nurses. 1.00

00:10:06.400 It doesn't make much sense to me.

00:10:07.440 And, you know, going back to that, those 2018 promises, Andrew, you know,

00:10:11.780 for the people and Ontario open for business,

00:10:15.000 you would think that Doug Ford of 2018 in 2020 would embrace,

00:10:21.140 oh, I don't know, the Swedish model of dealing with the Wuhan virus.

00:10:24.240 They didn't decimate their economy.

00:10:26.280 They didn't go for this huge shutdown.

00:10:29.920 And for good reason.

00:10:31.820 What have we seen here?

00:10:32.940 We have seen spikes in depression, in suicides, in spousal abuse.

00:10:38.800 And I think one of the worst things of all,

00:10:41.160 relatively young, healthy people dying on elective surgery lists

00:10:45.420 because they can't get their procedure done in hospital.

00:10:48.860 Well, they're doing the same thing with businesses now.

00:10:51.740 We're going to have to close a lot of you guys down.

00:10:53.760 We're going to have to say no indoor dining and gyms can't operate or anything,

00:10:57.580 but you can eat outside.

00:10:58.680 Go get more takeout, please.

00:11:01.840 But at the same time, we're going to give you more money.

00:11:04.400 So we're going to stop you from making money,

00:11:06.860 but we're going to give you money from people's tax dollars.

00:11:09.460 It doesn't make, again, it doesn't make any sense.

00:11:11.440 He's just writing checks left, right, and center.

00:11:13.640 Here you are a nurse's union. 1.00

00:11:16.500 Here you are a teacher's union.

00:11:17.980 Here you are business loans.

00:11:20.160 And what's the end game here?

00:11:21.720 Doug Ford ran on leveling the debt out and being open for business.

00:11:26.480 And now we're closing businesses and creating astronomical debt that nobody can account for.

00:11:31.660 Andrew, who is controlling Doug Ford?

00:11:34.040 Because even with this latest rollback to stage two that Peel Region, Ottawa, and Toronto

00:11:39.260 went into starting Friday midnight of last week,

00:11:44.320 we had Doug just 48 hours earlier saying he didn't want to,

00:11:50.100 I'm paraphrasing, but he didn't want to decimate restaurants and gyms,

00:11:54.560 you know, many of which are just hanging on, you know, by their fingernails.

00:11:59.280 And then without any kind of new scientific breakthrough, unless I miss something,

00:12:04.440 48 hours later said, yep, stage two for Peel Region, Ottawa, Toronto.

00:12:08.900 So what I'm saying is that with a lack of scientific breakthrough,

00:12:13.440 what made him flip-flop in the space of two days?

00:12:16.520 Well, they claim it's the numbers going up in those regions,

00:12:20.240 but it's not, they put them over the limit of what they normally would have been.

00:12:25.100 But they also did that by adding numbers from previous months

00:12:28.220 when they added the mask mandate.

00:12:30.820 So a lot of times they don't set a marker down

00:12:33.500 or an asterisk next to the statistics that says they've added people.

00:12:37.400 Or they, and they don't mention any time, like I mentioned in their press conferences,

00:12:40.760 they don't say, hey, this is how many people are in ICU.

00:12:42.840 This is how many hospital beds we have available.

00:12:45.340 These are the amount of people who are actually dying.

00:12:47.440 As for who's controlling him, I think what's happened here is

00:12:50.360 he's seen that he gets positive feedback from a more liberal or left-leaning voter base

00:12:55.280 when he does things like say, everyone's going to die, you're killing people.

00:12:59.260 Yeah.

00:12:59.980 And he likes that.

00:13:01.500 And Justin Trudeau says, hey, you know,

00:13:03.240 we can maybe help you out with some more stuff if you keep going like this.

00:13:05.880 So let's get together and build this electric car facility or enhance it

00:13:11.700 so that they can assemble the products there.

00:13:14.700 After, you know, years of them having this voucher or whatever you want to call it,

00:13:19.400 this benefit for people buying electric cars in Ontario.

00:13:22.140 And guess what happened?

00:13:23.040 Nobody bought electric cars.

00:13:24.780 So I'm not sure what the plan is here when they build these cars.

00:13:28.360 But Doug Ford seems to be liking the attention he's getting

00:13:31.580 from a left-leaning voter base and he's running with it.

00:13:34.080 Oh, yeah.

00:13:34.840 And the way he, you know, is so buddy-buddy with members of the mainstream media

00:13:39.860 who made his late great brother's life a living hell, Rob Ford,

00:13:45.280 it's really something unbelievable to see, at least personally for me.

00:13:49.840 But, you know, Andrew, I mean, I really, my heart goes out,

00:13:52.440 especially when you look at sectors like the restaurant industry.

00:13:56.380 I can tell you, I believe the stat is within the first three years,

00:14:01.280 80% of new startup restaurants go out of business.

00:14:03.840 That's in a roaring economy, right?

00:14:06.500 So goodness knows how many of these restaurants aren't coming back

00:14:09.600 in this, you know, quasi-depression, if we can call it that.

00:14:13.280 And fitness facilities, too.

00:14:14.620 You know, my son just joined a martial arts place a couple of days ago last night.

00:14:21.540 He said something to me, and it just felt heartbreaking to me.

00:14:24.600 He said after the class, you know, the master, the teacher, you know, this.

00:14:28.900 I believe it's a sensei.

00:14:30.460 Sensei, yes.

00:14:31.200 You can tell I'm not hanging out at a martial arts class.

00:14:33.980 But he said, you know, and here's this incredible black belt super athlete,

00:14:39.720 and he was saying to everybody, please, you know, don't quit.

00:14:43.620 You know, I really want to see you all come back.

00:14:47.240 And this is a gym in New York region, which is under the closure, but, you know,

00:14:51.760 is still hanging on by its fingernails.

00:14:54.680 I don't understand why Doug Ford couldn't resist whoever this mysterious the team is 0.99

00:15:02.360 that's directing him and say, no, darn it. 0.95

00:15:06.020 I said open for business, and I mean open for business. 0.98

00:15:08.700 And by business, I don't mean the moving vans clearing out yet another bankrupt enterprise.

00:15:16.340 Well, personally, I think some of these businesses need to stand up for themselves more.

00:15:19.800 I mean, I get emails, as I'm sure a lot of you guys do at home,

00:15:22.840 from wherever you get your hair cut or your gym or what have you,

00:15:27.420 and they say, oh, please come, make sure you're not exhibiting any symptoms,

00:15:31.920 please wear a mask and all this.

00:15:33.520 You're basically, anyone who disagrees with this whole charade, let's call it,

00:15:38.420 which is probably about half of people, to be fair,

00:15:41.580 they're going to be turned off from that.

00:15:43.000 They're going to be turned off by you just kowtowing to all this stuff.

00:15:45.880 Having said that, I realize that these people need to do whatever they can to stay open.

00:15:49.420 As for the mysterious veil of Doug Ford's advisors,

00:15:54.360 how come we're not allowed to know who any of these doctors are?

00:15:56.660 How come we're not allowed to see them?

00:15:58.220 He won't even say how many there are.

00:15:59.700 He says it's more than one.

00:16:01.480 It's possibly even hundreds.

00:16:03.220 Yeah, Doug Ford's got a giant room of a big black circle,

00:16:06.380 or a big black table of people sitting around it, conspiring, telling you,

00:16:11.360 like, there's probably a few doctors who he trusts and thinks are great,

00:16:14.980 probably not much more than the ones that come out into the press conferences.

00:16:18.780 But the point is that we didn't vote for these people.

00:16:21.120 Yeah.

00:16:21.200 So Doug Ford's writing checks to everybody,

00:16:24.240 and everybody who wasn't elected gets to make the decisions

00:16:28.100 on whether people get to run their lives.

00:16:29.980 I don't understand it.

00:16:30.820 And, Joe Andrew, one last thing is the fact that when he'll say things at press conferences

00:16:36.700 like, you know, I want businesses to succeed.

00:16:40.140 You know, I really feel for the little guy, the mom, pa.

00:16:43.840 But health trumps economy.

00:16:47.200 We've got to go health first.

00:16:49.000 Why can we still buy cigarettes in Ontario, then, if that's the case?

00:16:52.360 I mean, if use is directed, this is a product that will likely end your life sooner

00:16:57.840 or make you ill with cancer.

00:17:00.300 So why are those things still on the shelf if it's all about health

00:17:03.580 and not about the economic well-being of the province?

00:17:06.260 Well, it's obviously the tax revenue that stuff like that brings in.

00:17:10.480 But it's akin to the morbidly obese woman in Dolarama who's telling people to put on their mask. 0.52

00:17:16.680 Don't you care about other people's health, David Menzies?

00:17:19.060 I'm standing here eating a six-foot sub, but you're not wearing a mask.

00:17:22.240 Who's killing more people?

00:17:23.160 I don't know.

00:17:25.060 Well, next time you have a six-foot sub, invite me over. 0.98

00:17:29.040 That sounds like a little too much money for a single survey.

00:17:31.480 But Andrew was a great commentary.

00:17:32.980 And I think what Andrew said, too, if a critical mass of businesses and gyms in these areas

00:17:39.480 just open their doors, really, what do you have to lose?

00:17:43.220 If everybody opened up for business, it reminds me of what's happening with the Yahoo Nation protests.

00:17:48.560 Those are illegal.

00:17:49.440 You can't have an outdoor gathering of more than 25.

00:17:52.340 There hasn't been a single fine for those people or the organizers.

00:17:55.760 In fact, law enforcement has given them escorts to march right down Yonge Street.

00:18:00.620 So I think maybe that is the option to go with.

00:18:05.080 Strength in numbers.

00:18:06.480 Just defy the men anyways. 1.00

00:18:08.160 And hey, like I said, if you're about to go out of business, how can you lose anyways?

00:18:12.540 What do you have to lose?

00:18:13.120 Maybe we should update that name from Yahoo Nation now.

00:18:15.480 MySpace Nation.

00:18:17.060 MSN Messenger Nation, maybe?

00:18:19.420 With an emoji?

00:18:21.880 We'll take it under advisement.

00:18:23.600 Andrew, thanks so much.

00:18:24.600 And keep it here.

00:18:25.320 More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.

00:18:30.620 Canada's embassy in Beijing requires a master plan to sketch out expensive embassy campus upgrades.

00:18:39.460 And these upgrades have to please environmentalists, encourage staff retention, and maximize capacity for new electronic immigration processing.

00:18:48.920 It's all right here on the Government of Canada's buyandsell.gc.ca website.

00:18:54.500 Our country's Beijing mission is experiencing, quote, major growth over the last 10 years.

00:19:01.180 Yeah, I bet it is.

00:19:02.600 And as such, it now requires renovation and redevelopment.

00:19:06.380 And friends, it better be green.

00:19:08.420 A 50-page request for an architectural and engineering proposal was uploaded by Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne's Global Affairs Canada.

00:19:18.720 It identifies the need for, quote, space optimization to be conducted over the next 20 years at the compound.

00:19:26.920 Or, as the request frames it, the ministry seeks to enhance its presence through excellence in its missions abroad.

00:19:35.400 Requirements for the master plan are basically to not run afoul of the communists in China and to virtue signal to the green movement who seem to care more about carbon emissions than they do about human rights.

00:19:49.600 Look at this.

00:19:50.200 Weird flex, but okay, given that China is still the world's greatest.

00:20:20.200 Now, aside from practical considerations like physical renovations, these documents are full-on nonsensical design jargon.

00:20:32.080 Look at this.

00:20:32.620 The master plan should be a product of pragmatic creativity, balancing functionality and site constraints and opportunities with design elements that will appeal to investors, stewards, environmentalists, employees, visitors, and the host country alike.

00:20:52.160 Now, the master plan also shows just how scared the liberals are of annoying the communist Chinese government.

00:21:00.000 Look at this.

00:21:00.760 The master plan will incorporate a diverse environmental, social, cultural, economic, and political considerations, including but not limited to heritage, existing and future context, land use, government priorities, community amenities, accessibility, security, cultural, and regional realities.

00:21:24.240 So, friends, is that a yes to Uyghur slave labor to put in the solar panels or no? 0.99

00:21:30.000 Because I can't really tell here.

00:21:31.620 So, Canada's embassy in Beijing has staffing issues.

00:21:35.960 Golly, it must be the design of the building.

00:21:38.380 Building, you know, not being green enough and not being culturally sensitive enough, right?

00:21:44.240 Or maybe staff retention has more to do with, oh, perhaps Canadian staffers living in fear of the Chinese communist government potentially coming after them.

00:21:56.080 And then there's the added fear of the Justin Trudeau liberals turning a blind eye to that sort of vendetta,

00:22:02.460 a la the two Michaels who have been incarcerated now for almost 700 days.

00:22:10.260 Shameful.

00:22:10.780 And joining me now with more on this depressing and maddening story is Sheila Gunn-Reed.

00:22:17.080 Welcome to Rebel Roundup, my friend.

00:22:19.540 Hey, David.

00:22:20.040 Thanks for having me on the show.

00:22:21.480 Always a pleasure.

00:22:22.440 Well, Sheila, first of all, my hat goes off to you for going through all of that bureaucratic baffle gab that was in that RFP.

00:22:31.880 Now, I know you live up in farm country, but have you ever come across such an excess of BS in such a small footprint ever before? 0.64

00:22:42.640 It was bureaucraties and SJW nonsense just shoehorned into 50 pages of virtually unreadable garbage.

00:22:53.280 And, you know, the priorities of this government are laid bare in this RFP, this request for, you know, an architectural master plan about how they're going to upgrade the embassy because nobody wants to work there. 0.84

00:23:12.400 And for some reason, the liberals can't figure out why.

00:23:15.220 And really, when our largest trading partner in the United States is disengaging from China and taking steps to sort of move back from China,

00:23:22.920 we are just going all in and saying, you know what, we need to do more, be more.

00:23:27.500 We need to make sure we're on the ground.

00:23:29.240 And we need to make sure that we are green and culturally and politically sensitive to what's going on in China.

00:23:37.240 It's very strange.

00:23:38.440 You know, that's especially concerning to me.

00:23:40.460 And you alluded to it in your piece, Sheila.

00:23:43.440 When you're talking about culturally and politically sensitive to China, what does that even mean?

00:23:49.100 Does that mean turning a blind eye, as you mentioned, to the Uyghurs? 1.00

00:23:53.800 Does that mean not saying anything about the two Michaels that are being, that have been incarcerated for almost 700 days now and perhaps even being tortured?

00:24:04.900 What is your take on what that statement really means?

00:24:09.380 What we know from this 50 pages in the RFP is that there will be no focus on, you know, the stuff that normal people care about and that the liberals claim to care about, by the way.

00:24:18.640 And that's human rights.

00:24:19.860 The RFP, and I'll read directly from it, says that we must be respectful of the urban landscape.

00:24:29.260 What is that?

00:24:29.960 The smog in Beijing and the cultural and social fabric.

00:24:36.200 So I guess be respectful of communist authoritarianism.

00:24:40.200 And then to create a low to nil energy footprint by implementing measures to reduce consumption of all utilities, if possible, and prove and demonstrate Canadian innovations in sustainability and implement opportunities to green overall operations.

00:24:57.600 So those are the focuses here.

00:24:59.520 But nothing on human rights.

00:25:01.360 Nothing on religious freedom.

00:25:02.720 As we speak right now, the Chinese communist government is cracking down on Catholics.

00:25:11.080 And Cardinal Zen, he's a cardinal of Hong Kong, and he's trying to raise the alarm bells.

00:25:17.420 We've heard nothing from Justin Trudeau's liberals about that.

00:25:20.720 The Uyghurs are imprisoned by the millions in concentration camps are being reeducated. 0.97

00:25:27.880 None of that stuff is a focus here by the liberals.

00:25:31.000 The one thing that they are focusing on trying to do is move to greater immigration processing out of the Beijing embassy and to do it paperless, which makes us vulnerable to Chinese hacking.

00:25:46.980 Well, you know, a couple of things unpacked there, Sheila.

00:25:49.140 First of all, if they're talking about being respectful of the urban landscape, shouldn't that mean that this embassy should be getting its energy from burning coal?

00:26:01.040 Because that would fit in with those images in your video of what Beijing looks like.

00:26:07.240 It looks like the fog coming into San Francisco Bay, for goodness sakes, it's so thick.

00:26:11.700 And that little line, that throwaway, low to no energy, I mean, Sheila, can you operate any office of any size with no energy?

00:26:22.020 What are they talking about?

00:26:24.180 They are increasing the size of their embassy in Beijing.

00:26:29.340 And China, on a good day, uses more coal than the entire rest of the world combined.

00:26:38.480 Do they really think that greening the Canadian embassy, which will be an outrageous expense that we as a nation cannot afford,

00:26:47.820 do they really think that's going to make a difference or is it just going to be one of those like, look at us, we're so green, look what a bunch of good people we are.

00:26:55.820 Just ignore those concentration camps because have you seen our low-flow showerheads?

00:27:01.000 And Sheila, how much of a, I guess, a clear and present danger is it to work as a diplomat, as an ambassador, what have you, in a country like China?

00:27:12.160 One of the Michaels, of course, is a former diplomat.

00:27:15.640 That didn't seem to carry any weight in terms of the treatment he's received without outrageous incarceration.

00:27:22.400 Is that indeed really one of the pressing fears that if I say or do something wrong or if the Chinese government needs a scapegoat to do a quid pro quo on one of their citizens being arrested in Canada,

00:27:38.040 they might come after me and, oh, wow, Justin Trudeau, he sure got my back, really, doesn't he?

00:27:44.260 Yeah, I mean, the ministry, the foreign affairs ministry has said, oh, we're having a tough time getting people to work there because of the smog in China.

00:27:54.220 That could be true to a certain extent, but I think it's more fear of being kidnapped

00:27:59.120 and then having a completely inept and useless government that will allow you to languish for nearly 700 days with no hope and no end in sight,

00:28:08.860 as is the case with the two Michaels, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and Spavor himself is a former diplomat.

00:28:17.760 So if we think that the Chinese government would not target Canadian diplomats, well, they already have.

00:28:24.640 And they're using Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig as political hostages.

00:28:29.020 That's really all they are.

00:28:30.560 It was a kidnapping.

00:28:31.740 It wasn't really an arrest.

00:28:33.080 And if people want to help us raise the profile of the plight of those two men, we're taking it all the way to the United Nations,

00:28:41.120 they can help us and see the complaint we've drafted at freethetwmichaels.com.

00:28:47.720 So I guess wrapping it up then, Sheila, if you want to have a job in this embassy in Beijing,

00:28:56.100 ignore the smog, be like the three monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil when it comes to the human rights sewer that is China these days. 0.97

00:29:09.220 But rest assured, you'll be going to work nine to five in a green office environment with a low to no energy profile.

00:29:21.260 It sounds like madness to me.

00:29:23.100 It's crazy that they think that they could like these are low six figure jobs.

00:29:32.460 But I wouldn't take a low six figure job if Justin Trudeau was the guy in charge of getting me home if I was kidnapped by an authoritarian regime.

00:29:42.140 And that's really what this comes down to.

00:29:44.380 No, well said, Sheila.

00:29:45.900 Another great piece from you.

00:29:48.180 And again, thank you ever so much for going through all that bureaucratic manure.

00:29:55.420 Just from the lines you exerted, my eyes were glazing over.

00:30:00.040 I can't imagine reading the whole document.

00:30:02.700 But that's why you're the best in Canada when it comes to these FOI requests.

00:30:07.080 So thanks again, Sheila, and you have a great weekend.

00:30:10.120 You too, David.

00:30:11.220 Thank you.

00:30:11.580 And that was Sheila Gunn-Reed somewhere in the hinterland of northern Alberta.

00:30:16.780 Keep it here, folks.

00:30:17.800 More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.

00:30:19.960 So say you have $310 burning a hole in your pocket.

00:30:30.080 Maybe you want to buy a vanity plate, you know, one of those custom jobs to state what you like or don't like and drive around the province with that on your vehicle.

00:30:40.260 Well, you'd probably come to a Service Ontario outlet like the one in this mall.

00:30:45.160 But you knew it was at a Service Ontario outlet, didn't you, folks?

00:30:48.480 Because this lineup is stretching all the way from the parking lot to the sidewalk, reminiscent of bread lines in Moscow in the Soviet Union days.

00:30:58.940 But I digress.

00:31:03.120 Here's the deal.

00:31:04.520 The province recently released its list of rejected personalized plates.

00:31:11.460 And wow, what a list it is.

00:31:14.140 24 pages long.

00:31:16.780 You can have your plate rejected for a number of reasons pertaining to several different categories.

00:31:22.680 And when I reached out to the ministry, I was told that all personalized license plates are subject to review by the designated nonpartisan staffers who comprise the Personalized License Plate Review Committee.

00:31:39.860 Almost sounds Orwellian, doesn't it?

00:31:41.440 This organization will not tolerate failure.

00:31:44.440 And why would your vanity plate be rejected?

00:31:47.900 Oh, there are so many, many reasons.

00:31:51.160 For example, abusive, obscene language, and derogatory slang.

00:31:57.360 Now, I guess since these plates are technically property of the province, you don't want F-bombs driving around the road. 1.00

00:32:05.620 But still, one of the words, one of the plates that was rejected that stands out for me is the seven-word.

00:32:13.140 Is that, I suppose, in reference to the late, great George Carlin, the comedian who once did a great riff on the seven words you can't say on radio or TV?

00:32:25.780 I mean, there are a lot of words you can say whenever you want, you know?

00:32:28.220 Pneumonia!

00:32:28.900 Nobody gives you a lot of...

00:32:30.000 All right, you can't yell it in the hospital a great deal, but what the hell?

00:32:32.940 Now, my favorite category for banning personalized license plates is human rights discrimination.

00:32:41.320 Essentially because, folks, it makes no sense whatsoever.

00:32:45.320 For example, any reference to COVID-19, such as COVID, COVID-19, COVID-20, COVID number, COVID with a K-19, that was banned under the proviso of human rights discrimination.

00:33:00.040 How is referring to this pandemic crippling the planet as somehow running afoul of human rights discrimination?

00:33:08.620 Is the Doug Ford government worried about offending the Mandarins in Beijing? 1.00

00:33:14.760 Who knew that the government had a secret star chamber of nameless bureaucrats acting as censors for personalized vanity plates? 0.99

00:33:24.020 Oh, I get it.

00:33:25.160 Having something profane on a plate, such as the full F-bombs belt out, that could be over the line.

00:33:31.560 But how does a plate stating hate Bruins get rejected on the proviso of human rights discrimination?

00:33:39.920 I mean, a Bruin is a bear, after all, or is this a matter of protecting the feelings of Boston Bruins fans?

00:33:47.580 It's just insane.

00:33:48.880 Gee, I wonder if getting insane on a plate would be approved.

00:33:54.080 That's the perfect descriptor for 2020, I should think.

00:33:57.860 In any event, here's what you had to say about Ontario's over-the-top license plate censorship.

00:34:05.300 Jeff Taylor writes,

00:34:06.680 When leftist public sector employees are making decisions on personalized license plates,

00:34:12.560 of course they're going to judge submissions from the general public through the lens of left good, right bad.

00:34:19.900 Of course leftists would disapprove of the plate reading a blessing.

00:34:25.340 You know, I think you nailed it, Jeff.

00:34:26.960 And yes, folks, a blessing was actually one of the rejected plates under the religious category.

00:34:35.360 But who would be offended by that plate?

00:34:37.700 Wiccans? 0.79

00:34:38.660 Satanists?

00:34:39.640 Give me a break already.

00:34:41.580 Brandon M. writes,

00:34:42.960 Since Ontario only allows eight characters at most on a plate, I would put no gun ban on mine.

00:34:50.120 Oh, no you wouldn't, Brandon.

00:34:52.240 Alas, gun references are under the ban when it comes to Ontario plates too, because the mindset is, if you own a gun, you are obviously a very bad person.

00:35:02.820 Don't you know?

00:35:03.400 Dr. McGillicuddy writes,

00:35:05.540 When it takes less time to get on a roller coaster at Canada's Wonderland than it does to get a license plate at Service Ontario,

00:35:14.220 you know you've got a problem.

00:35:15.640 Yeah, that is problematic to be sure.

00:35:18.620 And you know something else that's problematic?

00:35:21.300 That redesign of the plates that occurred last year.

00:35:24.740 They might look whiz-bang groovy in the daytime, but come nightfall, they are invisible.

00:35:30.600 Total fail.

00:35:32.220 Hey, maybe Doug Ford can put those two words on a vanity plate for his SUV.

00:35:37.300 Reed Green writes,

00:35:39.860 What are the chances MAGA is allowed?

00:35:42.860 Oh, Reed Green, I would say the odds of anything MAGA being approved for an Ontario plate would make even the most reckless gambler cringe.

00:35:53.040 And Mostly Peaceful Protest writes, 1.00

00:35:55.920 Idiocy. 0.99

00:35:57.100 Bureaucrats love arbitrary rules. 1.00

00:36:00.260 They can never be wrong.

00:36:01.720 Forget vanity plates anyway. 0.69

00:36:03.540 No need to fork over extra revenue to the state.

00:36:06.240 Besides, it's probably smarter not to have a memorable license plate for many practical reasons.

00:36:12.660 You know, you're probably right, Mostly Peaceful Protest.

00:36:15.320 Besides, why not save that $310 and simply get a bumper sticker made for your vehicle at a fraction of the price.

00:36:24.300 You can use more than eight characters and you can embrace automotive freedom of speech without a bureaucrat giving you the thumbs down.

00:36:33.140 Well, at least you can for now.

00:36:35.460 Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.

00:36:38.620 Thanks so much for joining us.

00:36:39.880 See you next week.

00:36:40.620 And hey, folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.

00:36:44.420 Good night.

00:36:44.820 Thank you.

00:36:45.320 Bye.

00:36:45.640 Bye.

00:36:45.820 Bye.

00:37:05.940 Bye.

00:37:06.140 Bye.

00:37:06.940 Bye.

Rebel News Podcast - October 17, 2020

Red Deer's Antifa invasion, Canada's Embassy in China needs renovations!

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript