Rebel News Podcast - The National Post attacks their star columnist, Rex Murphy. Meet the members of the mob.

00:00:00.000 Hello my friends, today I go through the latest in the National Post's struggle session denouncing

00:00:05.080 Rex Murphy. I go through the letter written by about 30 people, well it wasn't written by 30

00:00:09.580 people, it was signed by about 30 people in the National Post newsroom denouncing Rex as a racist

00:00:15.060 and I see some interesting things about those 30 names including there's not a single black person

00:00:21.740 on the list. Oh and it gets better from there so stay with me for that and then afterwards I

00:00:26.260 interview a member of the provincial parliament of Ontario who is sick of the pandemic lockdown.

00:00:32.560 Oh it's a good show today. Hey before I invite you to listen to the podcast please consider

00:00:36.660 becoming a premium subscriber. We call it Rebel News Plus. It's eight bucks a month. You get the

00:00:41.940 video version of the podcast plus shows by Sheila Gunn-Reed and David Menzies and all that is

00:00:46.780 available at rebelnews.com and just click the subscribe button. Okay here's today's show.

00:00:56.260 Tonight the National Post bows to the mob and attacks their star columnist Rex Murphy. It's June 15th

00:01:13.540 and this is the Ezra LeVance Show.

00:01:15.040 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:21.080 There's 8,500 customers here and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:25.120 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I'm publishing it is because it's my

00:01:29.720 bloody right to do so.

00:01:35.740 A while back I showed you Rex Murphy's column in the National Post that made the case that

00:01:39.940 while not perfect Canada is not a systematically racist country. In fact as Rex pointed out being

00:01:47.240 un-racist being tolerant being multicultural that's the focus of so much of our public institutions.

00:01:54.800 It's absurd to call Canada racist frankly and it only suits the purpose of federal politicians

00:01:59.660 looking to divide us against ourselves for their own interests. So Rex Murphy wrote that column

00:02:05.740 and a young Indo-Canadian woman from Sri Lanka actually fairly new to Canada. She still has a

00:02:11.920 fairly thick accent. She condemned not only Rex as racist but condemned Canada as racist. Yeah

00:02:20.620 unlike the tolerant paradise of Sri Lanka and its decades-long ethnic civil war about 200,000 immigrants 0.89

00:02:28.080 have recently come to Canada from Sri Lanka. I'd be surprised if 20 people have moved from Canada

00:02:35.340 to Sri Lanka to Sri Lanka. So that young woman Van Mela Subramaniam who is a junior writer for the

00:02:42.020 National Post hasn't even been there for two years. She made a fuss about Rex Murphy and she was given

00:02:46.960 a column in the National Post to rebut him. All right fair enough but I read it carefully. She

00:02:52.980 she didn't rebut him actually. She just insulted him again and again for being white and 73 years old.

00:03:00.740 Funny that sounds racist to me and ageist too. Maybe she proves her point though. Canada still has

00:03:09.420 pockets of racism and intolerance. She just didn't mean herself did she? Maybe we do need to do a better

00:03:14.960 job of teaching newcomers like Van Mela Subramaniam about respecting people of all backgrounds.

00:03:20.880 She's a bit of a bigot. I was disappointed because I'd like to see a clash of the intellectual

00:03:25.900 titans. I mean Rex Murphy I don't know if you know this he's a Rhodes scholar for heaven's sakes. He's

00:03:31.020 the editor of a dictionary. I bought it. It's got a lot of words in it. If you if you come for Rex

00:03:37.600 don't bring an intellectual knife to a gunfight is what I'm saying. Calling him names and saying he

00:03:43.940 shouldn't even have the right to an opinion. She wrote that in the post. That just doesn't do it. 1.00

00:03:48.580 It was so weak, so awful, so embarrassing. But that wasn't the end of it. On Friday I noticed

00:03:55.140 this. An editor's note conspicuously put on top of Rex Murphy's column. Look at that.

00:04:03.820 This column by Rex Murphy provoked a strong reaction from readers. Okay that's good. That's

00:04:08.540 what you're trying to do. Upon review it was determined that there was a failure in the normal

00:04:14.240 editing oversight that columns should be subjected to. This issue has been identified and policies

00:04:20.720 changed to prevent a repeat. We apologize for the failure. Hmm? There was a failure in the normal

00:04:30.340 editing oversight that columns should be subjected to? Well may I point out that that editor's note

00:04:37.800 needs an editor. That sentence ends with a preposition subjected to? I'm kidding. Who are we

00:04:44.100 kidding? There was nothing wrong with the editing of Rex Murphy's column. He's a Rhodes Scholar. He has

00:04:50.960 the entire Oxford English Dictionary at his home. That's as big as an encyclopedia. You're telling me

00:04:55.940 there was an editing problem with Rex Murphy from guys who don't even know how to end a sentence

00:04:59.820 grammatically? Yeah no. The issue has been identified? Really? Okay uh what issue? It has been identified?

00:05:07.780 Well it it hasn't been identified in this editor's note has it? Policies have been changed to prevent

00:05:13.140 a repeat. Oh I thought it was an editing problem not not a policy problem. What policies plural have

00:05:19.840 been changed? We apologize for the failure. Sorry mate I still don't know what the failure is. Is it the

00:05:27.020 policy or or what's what's the issue here again? Other than the obvious Rex Murphy said something

00:05:32.720 politically incorrect and the cowardly editors of the National Post don't quite have the courage to

00:05:37.640 come right out and say it because they'd lose what remains of their plummeting circulation and Rex

00:05:42.840 Murphy himself would probably quit if the truth came out. You're not allowed to say what Rex said.

00:05:47.400 What a bunch of weasels are at the National Post eh? I'm so embarrassed. I used to work there 20 years

00:05:52.280 ago when it stood for something. All right so this is basically where we were the other week when I

00:05:57.240 defended Rex Murphy's column the first time against Van Mello's Supermanium. I think it might have stung

00:06:02.520 her a little bit because listen to this. I'm going to play this twice and please tell me if you

00:06:06.900 understand this baffle gap. What has the response been like from this article? What have you learned

00:06:11.260 from it? There were people who were very very supportive but there were also people who are very racist

00:06:16.360 in their responses. Very very angry calling me a racist for saying for kind of saying that a white

00:06:24.960 person was racist which in itself is a problematic statement for you know various reasons that would

00:06:30.880 probably take us another 30 minutes to explore. People who were very racist for calling her a racist 0.94

00:06:37.400 because calling a white person a racist which is problematic for various reasons. How does this

00:06:44.680 person even work in communications industry? But she's lying. She wasn't called a racist because she 1.00

00:06:50.440 called Rex a racist. She didn't actually call Rex Murphy a racist in the article which is odd that she

00:06:56.520 didn't know that. It's almost like maybe she didn't write her own essay. She was called a racist because

00:07:02.940 she denounced Rex Murphy specifically for being a 73 year old white male. It was her first and most

00:07:09.680 adamant argument. She was shocked that she would be called a racist for being a racist because normally

00:07:15.400 she gets to be a racist and nobody calls her out for being a racist and unlike Rex Murphy she really

00:07:21.280 is a racist so I guess he he has a lived experience with racism now. Boy are these people full of crap 1.00

00:07:28.020 and it's take a look at that one more time. It's unbelievable. What has the response been like from 1.00

00:07:33.000 this article? What have you learned from it? There were people who were very very supportive but there were

00:07:37.700 also people who were very racist in their responses very very angry calling me a racist for saying for

00:07:44.960 kind of saying that a white person was racist which in itself is a problematic statement for

00:07:51.600 you know various reasons that would probably take us another 30 minutes to explore. Anyways that was

00:07:56.480 actually um weeks ago now that that whole thing happened but the editor's note went up just on Friday

00:08:01.620 just as incoherent as Van Mela Subramaniam but then a story leaked to vice.com to a reporter who just

00:08:11.000 happens to have worked with Van Mela at Vice. Gee I wonder I wonder who leaked it to her. Um it's this

00:08:18.480 woman another Indo-Canadian woman it's so weird literally every single news outlet in Canada now has a

00:08:24.840 racism columnist but none of them are black men all of them are Indo-Canadian women literally the

00:08:33.220 highest income ethnic group in Canada. Someone will have to explain that phenomenon to me one day

00:08:38.800 why you've got like six Indo-Canadian women writing about the Black Lives Matter beat. They're the richest 1.00

00:08:46.320 people in Canada. Anyways put aside that let me show you what was given to Vice. Um journalists at

00:08:56.220 Canada's biggest conservative newspaper revolt over column denying racism. In audio from a town hall

00:09:02.640 National Post journalists are heard grilling their editors about the publication of Rex Murphy's column.

00:09:07.420 The opinion editor called it a f-up. I won't say the whole word. Okay so now we know why that editor's

00:09:13.740 note went up when it did and now we know what the issue and policy and failure were. It was nothing

00:09:20.180 to do with Rex. I frankly doubt the man has had a spelling or grammar error in 50 years of work.

00:09:25.840 It was a thought crime. That's what the problem was. There was a big struggle session at the National

00:09:32.940 Post. I don't think Rex himself was in on it but boy the editors sure were. What a disgrace they are.

00:09:38.240 Here read this. The publication of a column by Rex Murphy that denied the existence of systemic racism

00:09:43.680 in Canada was an f-up according to the National Post's opinion editor who made the remark in an

00:09:48.480 internal town hall. Oh so there was no editing problem. It was just Rex Murphy isn't allowed to

00:09:54.220 have that opinion. It's an opinion column though. On the opinion pages though. But you see it's not

00:10:02.480 allowed as an opinion now because a group of junior writers and interns at the newspaper didn't like it.

00:10:10.480 Okay. Vice News has obtained an audio recording of the town hall which took place June 10th as well as

00:10:16.180 an email exchange between journalists at the newspaper and editor-in-chief Rob Roberts. The email sent to

00:10:21.900 Roberts June 4th described Murphy's column as lazy, ignorant, and dehumanizing the black and 0.99

00:10:27.980 indigenous peoples. It was signed by around 30 journalists, more than half the Post's newsroom. 0.96

00:10:33.080 Just stop there for a moment. Imagine calling Rex Murphy either ignorant or lazy. I mean you can call 0.98

00:10:38.520 him wrong. You can call him unfair or unreasonable. You can call him a white male as Supermanium did. 0.74

00:10:44.820 Those are all matters of opinion though. Wrong, you know mean, whatever. But lazy and ignorant? Yeah I don't

00:10:52.580 think they've ever met Rex Murphy. Let me read some more. For journalists of color in the National

00:10:58.160 Post newsroom, every time a piece like this is published we feel more unwelcome at this paper

00:11:03.200 and come closer to giving up on this industry, the email said. Wow, 30 people signed it, more than half

00:11:09.760 the newsroom. And they said they found it demeaning as people of color and indigenous people.

00:11:14.080 Guys, there are no black people or indigenous writers at the National Post. Just none. There are a few of

00:11:26.440 those wealthy and privileged antis from India, as we discussed at length the other day. It's a wonderful

00:11:32.600 phenomenon. Indo-Canadians are literally richer than Chinese Canadians, literally richer than Jews. 0.98

00:11:39.600 They're the top of the heap. And I say keep it up guys. We need to learn from how is that community

00:11:44.920 so successful in Canada. I admire Indo-Canadians so very much. But yeah, they're not black or indigenous 1.00

00:11:53.160 and they're not really thinking about giving up on the industry. Any of these writers, the white ones

00:12:00.380 or the Indo-Canadians, sort of the opposite. The National Post and the rest of the media industry

00:12:05.320 keeps laying off reporters every few months because no one wants to read their crap. People 0.99

00:12:10.080 want to read Rex Murphy. Oddly enough, they don't want to read people who just came here so recently

00:12:15.480 that they have a foreign accent, but they're telling us that we're bigots. Oddly enough,

00:12:20.780 that doesn't seem to sell newspapers. But boy, is Matt Gurney a coward. He's the editor who said this 0.99

00:12:28.560 was an F-up. They all stabbed Rex Murphy when he wasn't there. I remember when Matt Gurney was a

00:12:35.240 conservative way back in the day. He was a conservative for about 10 minutes and then he

00:12:39.780 decided he wanted to fit in with the cool kids in Toronto and not be marginalized for being, you know,

00:12:46.040 conservative. So he specialized in being a conservative who isn't conservative, who craps on

00:12:51.420 real conservatives. So liberals like conservatives like him. My old friend Charles Adler has gone the

00:12:56.300 same path too. If you need to earn money and can only think of yourself working for one of Canada's

00:13:02.440 few large media oligopolies, that's the way to do it. It's quite sad. Hey, do you believe Laurel and

00:13:10.460 Hardy over there? I thought you edited it. No, I thought you edited it. Who's on first? No, who's on second?

00:13:17.580 No, that's just embarrassing. I read the story in Vice by Van Mela's friend about the town hall meeting

00:13:22.960 at the Post. I like that. Like they're voters or something, like they're shareholders at a board

00:13:27.180 meeting or something as opposed to what they really are, interns. As the Post's longtime chairman,

00:13:32.500 Paul Godfrey says, the newspaper's pretty crummy these days, but it's not yet unacceptable. That's how

00:13:38.480 he calls his papers. And they're going to keep cutting dead weight until they get some profit out

00:13:44.180 of it, which means he's going to cut those self-important journalists at the town hall.

00:13:49.160 But this, here's the chutzpah. But Gurney said, Murphy's column wasn't at a level that I would

00:13:55.780 have wanted it to be. In particular, he said the statement declaring Canada isn't racist,

00:14:01.500 which ended up being the headline was indefensible. Hey guys, Matt Gurney really wishes Rex were a

00:14:08.680 better, you know, better writer, better thinker, you know. I mean, Matt Gurney has to defend Rex's work

00:14:14.540 and he can't. It's indefensible. Rex really let Matt Gurney down, guys. Now I know you probably

00:14:21.480 have never heard of this Matt Gurney I'm talking about. I just Googled him. I swear I chose this

00:14:26.600 video by him at random. It showed up in the first Google results. I'm going to play it for you in

00:14:31.780 full. It's only about 90 seconds. I want you to hear the kind of editorial level that the National

00:14:36.640 Post aspires to. This is Rex Murphy's editor. I'm not even kidding. This is the guy who calls the

00:14:42.020 publication of Rex's column an F up. This is the guy who says Rex Murphy's views are indefensible.

00:14:48.040 This is 90 seconds, but it will feel like 90 minutes. Watch this. Normally I write about pretty

00:14:54.500 serious stuff. Policy, international affairs, social issues. Don't really have any of that on my mind

00:14:59.740 today, at least not yet. What is on my mind is that Twitter can be really annoying sometimes.

00:15:05.420 Partially it's my fault because I only actually really follow fellow journalists. I mean, I also follow

00:15:11.220 some of my friends, a couple of musicians I like, actors who've been in TV shows I've liked, things

00:15:17.100 like that, but mostly it's journalists. Last night, wife's in bed, kids are down to sleep, don't have

00:15:22.440 really anything going on. So I decide I'm going to read a book and just kind of keep up on Twitter. I'm

00:15:26.600 looking for some easy, cheap entertainment. All I see are dozens of Canadian journalists all

00:15:31.640 breathlessly reporting the same two vote lead or four point drop or whatever in the two by-elections

00:15:38.860 that were going on that aren't going to matter because we have a general election coming up

00:15:42.160 in a year anyway. So what we really need to do rather than have my entire Twitter feed,

00:15:47.300 I can just keep scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and see dozens of people reporting

00:15:51.060 the same really preliminary useless news. We need to appoint a Twitter pool. We need to come up with

00:15:56.840 a way, just like sometimes you can't send all the reporters with the prime minister. So you send one

00:16:01.880 guy with a camera and everybody gets to share the coverage. We need someone like this on Twitter

00:16:06.740 so we can have one person tweeting the news. It's something like this that's planned. And

00:16:11.960 the rest of us can just go on tweeting about cats or stupid things our spouses have said or 0.99

00:16:16.900 cute kitten videos or sports or music or video game controversies. You know, the important stuff 0.99

00:16:24.080 we ought to be using the internet to talk about.

00:16:25.900 What? I feel dumber now. I don't even know what that was. And that video was approved by someone 0.93

00:16:38.160 and someone pointed the camera at him and said, you nailed it. You totally nailed it. Look at the

00:16:45.020 view count on that video. It's a five views, including mine. How do you only get, that's for real.

00:16:51.640 Yeah. Talk about a policy failure and editing failure. What even was that?

00:16:58.080 How can that guy be Rex Murphy's boss? Oh my God. It's so weird. Anyways, I haven't heard the audio

00:17:05.360 of this two hour struggle session like Vice has. I understand it wasn't done in person. It was over

00:17:10.300 Zoom, which is like Skype people at all their homes on their webcams. I take it that Rex Murphy

00:17:15.820 himself wasn't on the call. I doubt Matt Gurney or Rob Roberts, that's a great name too,

00:17:20.380 would have had the courage to call Rex's column an F up if he had been there. I'd like to hear the

00:17:25.760 audio in a slow down and rubberneck at a traffic accident kind of way. But I did get a copy of the

00:17:32.820 complaint email that was circulated and I'd like to read some of it to you now. Some of it was quoted

00:17:38.420 in the Vice article. I'll just read a little bit, but my main point is at the end of it. Okay. So stick

00:17:43.960 with me for a couple more minutes. Good morning, Rob. We wanted to email you about Rex Murphy's

00:17:49.400 column. Canada is not a racist country, despite what liberals may say. We are hurt, saddened,

00:17:55.280 and angered by this column. Stop there for a second. Do you think that's really true? Do you think

00:18:01.420 these 30 men and women are hurt, saddened, angered? Are you children or grown-ups? You know you work

00:18:13.220 for a newspaper, right, that has an opinion section, right? Do you know what happens there? People have

00:18:20.000 opinions, sometimes even different ones. Imagine saying you work for a newspaper, but you're hurt

00:18:26.460 and saddened and angered because you didn't agree with something on the opinion page. I think I've

00:18:31.800 seen this before. Donald J. Trump is now President of the United States. President Obama.

00:18:40.200 What a great honor to be able to introduce for the first time ever anywhere that 40...

00:18:48.060 Yeah. I'm not going to read this whole complaint, but here's more. This column dehumanizes black and

00:18:53.460 indigenous peoples, erasing their lived experiences of racism in this country. Murphy's argument that

00:18:58.600 Canada is not a racist country is not a controversial opinion. It is outright false. I'll get back to the

00:19:04.360 race thing in a moment, but I say again, Rex Murphy offered an opinion. Opinions are reasonable or

00:19:09.800 unreasonable. They're persuasive or not persuasive because they're opinions. If someone says,

00:19:15.880 those vegan Beyond Burgers are delicious, it's not true or false. It's an opinion. You can agree

00:19:23.300 or disagree or call someone crazy, but it's not outright false because it's an opinion.

00:19:29.500 These critics are not real journalists. They're children throwing a tantrum. Let me read some

00:19:34.200 more. As post-media employees, we would like to know what the editorial standards and processes

00:19:39.580 are that would allow a piece like this to go live. Imagine the chutzpah of junior interns demanding 0.96

00:19:45.600 to know why Rex Murphy, the National Post's only remaining brand name columnist, is published.

00:19:50.460 Imagine not knowing the answer. Whether you agree with them or not, imagine the chutzpah of these

00:19:55.080 no-name millennial cannon fodder journalists, many of whom are going to be laid off next quarter

00:20:00.020 in Paul Godfrey's next round of cuts. Imagine them demanding to oversee the editor-in-chief's

00:20:06.020 decision. I'd like to speak to the manager, please. And then they go back home to their

00:20:10.240 parents' basements and feel hurt and saddened. Let me read some more.

00:20:14.200 Murphy's generalized statements about a welcoming immigrant system and tolerant schools are lazy, 0.95

00:20:20.820 ignorant, and frankly, point to how little care he gave to the subject of his column. 1.00

00:20:25.820 Lazy and ignorant, eh? 1.00

00:20:27.820 You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means. 1.00

00:20:32.820 Okay, I promised I wouldn't read it all. Let me just read a little more.

00:20:38.040 For the journalists of color in the National Post newsroom, every time a piece like this

00:20:41.460 is published, we feel more unwelcome at this paper and come closer to giving up on this industry.

00:20:46.600 Hey, guys. Please don't give up on the industry. I mean, please hang in there a little bit longer

00:20:52.460 for Paul Godfrey to give up on you. Actually, he doesn't even own Post Media, does he?

00:20:58.880 That's right. Post Media is owned in New Jersey by a cutthroat hedge fund called Chatham Asset

00:21:07.860 Management. They're headquartered in the States. No offense, I don't think Chatham Asset Management

00:21:14.180 in New Jersey could even find Canada on a map of North America. They're not called Chatham

00:21:20.000 Editorial Management. They're called Chatham Asset Management. And their only goal is to wring

00:21:24.920 every last penny from a dying company. I just read the biographies of their senior officers.

00:21:31.800 Their MBAs, their bankers, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers. Guys, I'll let those asset managers

00:21:39.180 in New Jersey know that you really don't want to give up on this industry. Okay. Let me read some more.

00:21:45.760 We ask that you, along with senior editors involved in publishing Murphy's Column, begin taking the first

00:21:52.000 steps towards accountability. Hey guys, you're junior writers and interns. Van Mella has been at the

00:22:00.400 Post for not even two years. I think it's wonderful that you're asking your bosses to answer to you.

00:22:06.520 I think you should write a letter to Chatham Asset Management too and demand accountability from them. 0.68

00:22:11.580 I mean, they're a bunch of old white guys. They're that bad. Total Rex Murphy types. You'd hate 1.00

00:22:15.960 them. You should ask them to begin to take the first steps of accountability. Maybe they'd fly in

00:22:21.200 on their private jet from Chatham Asset Management and you could take the bus from your parents' house

00:22:27.240 and you could meet up somewhere and talk. Let me read some more. An editor's letter published to

00:22:34.520 the website could be a great start. Well, they did that, didn't they? Rob Roberts and Matt Gurney

00:22:39.260 Caved In. We would also like to have this issue addressed in a newsroom town hall. Well, they did

00:22:45.600 that too. They caved in. Anyways, it rambles on a bit more and it's signed by a bunch of whiners.

00:22:50.740 And I say again, not a single one of them is black or indigenous. I swear to God, not one of them is 1.00

00:22:57.160 black or aboriginal. So they put all the minority names right at the top just to make it look a little

00:23:05.140 bit less white and male. Like I say, it's largely Indo-Canadian women, literally the most successful, 0.98

00:23:10.920 wealthiest, most privileged group in Canada. And they're just role play. It's almost like they're

00:23:15.460 in blackface in a way. Devika Desai, junior web producer, two years on the job. She came to Canada

00:23:23.020 from Dubai. So yeah, she must really hate racist Canada. Deanna Duong. She's been at Post Media. 0.97

00:23:31.640 I kid you not. She's been there for eight months. She's still on probation. Bianca Barty. She graduated

00:23:39.440 from school last year. She's a junior web producer at the Post. Has she found the bathroom yet and the

00:23:46.780 cafeteria yet? No matter. She knows that Rex Murphy's wrong because she knows the newspaper

00:23:53.200 business. She held down a job at the Toronto Star for five whole months before coming to Post.

00:24:00.340 Sounds like you guys hired a real keeper there. I mean, good going. Anisha Demon, another junior web

00:24:07.560 editor. She graduated in 2018. So she's been at the Post for two years plus two months. So she's the old

00:24:14.120 pro. And that is it for minorities. There are no more minorities. Then it's just a bunch of white guys

00:24:23.940 who are just as white as Rex Murphy. But unlike Rex Murphy, they're terrified of being called racist.

00:24:31.280 So they will sign literally anything so they don't get smeared like he did. Some intern wrote a childish

00:24:39.580 tantrum letter. And some of these reports, I know some of them. Some of them have been at the Post

00:24:44.040 for 20 years actually. They actually signed this Dear Diary letter written by some Marxist intern

00:24:50.980 saying they were hurt and angered and saddened by Rex Murphy saying that Canada is a great country.

00:24:57.620 No, they weren't hurt and angered and saddened. They were just cowardly like Matt Gurney and Rob Roberts. 0.97

00:25:02.580 Let me read some more. Richard Warnica. He's so white he's pink. Adrian Humphreys. I really like Adrian 0.97

00:25:09.920 Humphreys and his work. I've interviewed him before for a book he did. He's so white. I think 1.00

00:25:15.700 he actually might be an albino. I'm not being mean. I'm just describing him how white he is. I think 0.94

00:25:20.980 he's an albino. Nikola Sokic. He's another baby journalist. He's been there for eight months and

00:25:27.780 he's telling them what, look at this guy. Jacob Dubé hasn't even been with the Post for a year.

00:25:33.280 Here's what he's like in his normal life. His Twitter feed calls for the abolition of police.

00:25:40.300 So yeah, good hire, National Post. I'm shocked that he wants to tear you down the same way he

00:25:45.620 wants to tear down society. Caleb Marsh is a hoot, judging by his social media posts. He's all about

00:25:52.060 being alternative and zigging where the world is zagging. Diversity, a little bit eccentricity. 0.99

00:25:57.360 diversity. He's for a diversity on everything except a diversity of opinions. Not on that.

00:26:06.380 Well, either that or he's just scared of being labeled a white racist, so he turned on Rex.

00:26:12.820 Here's Victor Ferreira. Surely he should respect Rex Murphy just by virtue of his uncomfortable hair.

00:26:21.760 The guys are like twins. All right, I'll stop there. It's just pitiful. Talk about cultural 1.00

00:26:27.220 appropriation. Not a single black or indigenous reporter. A few Indo-Canadian women of wealth 0.99

00:26:32.320 and privilege. A bunch of kids just out of school. Seriously, some of them, I think, are still doing

00:26:37.060 their co-op work placement. And a few anti-sympathizers, according to their own social media, plus a bunch

00:26:43.220 of old white guys who are just plain terrified of getting labeled it racist if they don't keep their

00:26:47.960 heads down and go along with anything and sign anything and just let the girls from India do 1.00

00:26:53.260 the talking. You know, if the National Post had any self-respect, they'd bring in a black lecturer 1.00

00:26:59.240 to tell these bigots what's wrong with stereotyping. Someone like Candace Owens. To tell these non-black 1.00

00:27:06.500 activists that not all black people have the same opinion. And that it's a little bit racist to think

00:27:12.280 all blacks think alike and happen to think like they do. And it's really racist for a bunch of privileged 0.98

00:27:17.140 white kids plus three privileged brown women to claim to speak for black people. I think they 1.00

00:27:23.720 all need some lessons on free speech too, by the way. And I think Rex Murphy himself could give that

00:27:28.340 lecture to the newsroom. And I think each of these kids needs a bit of a spanking. A reminder that they 0.97

00:27:37.680 are junior employees and interns, not the board of directors. Hey guys, I don't think the coward Matt

00:27:45.040 Gurney would actually bring in Candace Owens for a talk. And I don't think Rex Murphy feels the need

00:27:50.420 to answer a bunch of lazy, ignorant people who call him lazy and ignorant. But I bet those guys down at 0.99

00:27:58.100 Chatham Asset Management, I bet they're preparing the spanking right now, even as we speak. You know,

00:28:07.880 I think the National Post could lay off pretty much everyone on that list and just keep Rex Murphy

00:28:14.600 and be even more profitable as if the reverse happened. What do you think? Stay with us for more.

00:28:37.880 Welcome back. Well, we have been covering the weekly rallies outside of Toronto's Queen's Park

00:28:43.520 legislature of severely normal people, often working class people, begging the government for 0.99

00:28:49.880 to let them go back to work. There are many very thoughtful arguments made from the abstract idea

00:28:57.740 of freedom to the practical idea of people have to pay their bills and every argument in between.

00:29:04.140 But alas, from within Queen's Park, it seems unanimous. Every politician is enjoying this lockdown just

00:29:13.040 a little bit too much, except for one MPP. That's what provincial politicians are called in Ontario. 0.98

00:29:20.520 Let me read to you from his website and let's see if you can guess who it is before I introduce

00:29:27.280 him to you. He's on hold and we'll interview him via Skype in a moment. Here's what his website says.

00:29:34.140 On March 13th, we declared a state of emergency. I was in support of giving the Premier the authority

00:29:40.020 to make swift decisions to handle the COVID-19 outbreak while the legislature was in recess.

00:29:46.940 Now, three months later, I can see this power has been abused to the detriment of the people of Ontario.

00:29:54.000 Let me read just one more paragraph.

00:29:56.100 Throughout this outbreak, we have seen groups come together in defense of democracy,

00:29:59.820 with the hope of keeping our economy from ruin and to protect those left behind by our shuttered

00:30:05.540 healthcare system. Phone call after phone call began to learn the damages this lockdown has created

00:30:11.480 for countless people in my riding. From business closures to bankruptcies, ignored medical procedures

00:30:18.120 to unnecessary deaths. None a result of COVID-19, but rather the orders put by this government to

00:30:24.700 fight it. Has the cure become more dangerous than the disease? Very thoughtful questions.

00:30:33.040 And it won't surprise many of you to know that the MPP who wrote this is our friend, Randy Hillier,

00:30:39.420 the MPP for Atlantic Frontenac and Kingston, who has represented that riding and its predecessor

00:30:45.960 since 2007. What a pleasure to talk with you today, Randy. Welcome back to the program.

00:30:50.520 Great to speak with you today, Ezra. Well, likewise, and hearing those and your website goes on for

00:30:57.560 several more paragraphs, I would invite everyone to read it for themselves at RandyHillierMPP.com.

00:31:03.660 You really make the case to lift the emergency powers because I really think that flatten the curve

00:31:12.820 for two weeks has turned into flatten everything for three months, hasn't it?

00:31:17.280 Well, we certainly have flattened our economy. We have certainly flattened our access to health

00:31:24.140 care and medical attention. We have suffocated and killed off social interactions, which are

00:31:31.040 exceptionally necessary for people. And we've killed our education system. So we have flattened a lot of

00:31:40.340 things, Ezra. And it has caused significant harm, significant injury, significant consequences to a great

00:31:50.320 many people who are really not at risk to any great degree. You know, we know a lot more about the virus now

00:32:04.440 than we did back in March. And, you know, and if you're elderly, if you're in confined locations,

00:32:13.140 if you have poor health, you are at exceptional risk. But that doesn't apply to a great many people or the

00:32:25.140 majority of people in Ontario. And they are now facing significant hardship. Like I said, the numbers of

00:32:35.460 people that we've talked to who can't get necessary medical attention and who are in pain and suffering as a

00:32:44.700 result are not considered during this state of emergency. And it really is. It's time. It's it's long past time,

00:32:56.460 in my view, that elected members of the legislature are permitted once again, to engage in discussion,

00:33:05.480 engage in debate, and pass approval or disapproval on behalf of their constituents on government policies.

00:33:15.620 Randy, I remember those early weeks, no one knew a lot about this virus, because you couldn't trust

00:33:21.860 China, even if they were telling the truth. You really couldn't trust them. And what every public 1.00

00:33:28.080 health official said was we have to flatten the curve. And I mentioned that phrase, it doesn't mean

00:33:33.020 we're not going to get sick. It means we have to slow down the infectiousness of the disease,

00:33:39.920 so it doesn't overwhelm the hospitals. They never said, stay at home, so you don't get sick. It was so

00:33:46.600 that we don't all get sick at once. But here I'm showing on the screen now, a graph published by the

00:33:53.040 government of Ontario, of the number of outbreaks, we never reached that overload point, we have

00:34:00.060 absolutely flattened the curve. It's lower than even the best case scenario models predicted.

00:34:06.560 The new rate of infections is as low as it's been in two months. So the rationale has changed,

00:34:13.340 hasn't it? They said, don't overwhelm the hospitals. The hospitals are ghost towns now. Why are we still

00:34:18.740 in lockdown? Well, that's right. You know, we've met the objective. The objective was not to overwhelm

00:34:26.800 our health care system. And we beat that in spades. And kudos to the government for that part of it,

00:34:34.000 because they have, especially in the early days, when there was so much uncertainty, when there was so

00:34:40.400 much misinformation, when there were so many unknowns, you had to take a precautious attitude towards

00:34:47.200 this in a very cautious approach. But, you know, evidence has been revealed. And facts and evidence

00:34:55.960 are apparent now. But we achieved the objective. Our health care system was not overwhelmed. Our

00:35:04.560 hospitals are near empty. Our emergency rooms are empty. Our doctor practices, you know, physician

00:35:12.620 practices are still not, many of them are still not operating yet. And so we achieved everything

00:35:19.120 that we set out to achieve. And we know that those, you know, the peak of this was mid-April.

00:35:31.680 And we've seen since that time, a very steady decline. You know, we never, the most we ever had

00:35:43.320 was 1,000 people in our hospitals, where we added additional capacity of like 15,000. So, you know,

00:35:53.200 that's been achieved. Why are we still in this state of emergency? Why are elected members not permitted?

00:36:01.560 To discuss. Hear the, hear the advice. And, and past, as we're elected. You know, it's,

00:36:12.660 it's unwarranted and it's unjustified over three months later. And now talk today, coming out of

00:36:21.280 Queen's Park, is there going to extend it through July for this state of emergency? You know,

00:36:28.440 we did, again, we, we couldn't trust the numbers from communist China, but now we have so many 0.98

00:36:34.760 numbers from Canada itself and the United States and even Italy, which sort of got the virus before

00:36:40.820 we did. And it is not a virus that, uh, that affects the young in a great manner. I don't think

00:36:48.720 there's a single Canadian under age 20 who has died from the virus. I was looking at, uh,

00:36:55.120 well, we know that's true. There is nobody under the age of 19 has been, um, has died as a result

00:37:02.960 of COVID. And if you look at the Ontario numbers, um, you know, it is well over 90% of, uh, people who

00:37:12.940 have, um, suffered fatalities are, uh, over 60 and with, um, other serious health problems as well.

00:37:24.460 You know, in the area that I represent, Ezra, we have the two health units, uh, has a population

00:37:31.500 of about 400,000 people. And this is, I think, important for people to realize because different

00:37:37.740 areas are affected and impacted differently, but in this area of 400,000 people, we have had three

00:37:45.980 deaths from COVID outside of long-term care and the average age was 86. Um, and, you know, just to keep

00:37:54.700 that in perspective, you know, the, the life expectancy in this country is 82. You know, as much as we would

00:38:02.380 like to live for, for a long, long time, um, you know, there is an end date for us all. And if you

00:38:10.140 are sick and elderly, um, um, you know, the virus is a far greater and an elder with other illnesses

00:38:21.580 ought to be taking greater precautions, but it closed down our education system to close down our healthcare 0.81

00:38:28.620 system, uh, to close down our economy, uh, reduce our standards of living, reduce the social determinants

00:38:36.780 of health. Um, uh, you know, we have to look at that and look at it critically. And is this a reasonable

00:38:47.500 approach to continue on? Yeah. Um, passing judgment on, on those early days, because I do think there was

00:38:54.780 a lot of good things done in the early days, um, some not so good things as well, but, uh, but that

00:39:01.020 was more from the unknowns in the misinformation. Um, but is it, is it justified to continue down that

00:39:10.060 path today? I don't believe so. Well, I mean, you, you mentioned the average age in your district,

00:39:16.700 400,000 souls, the average age of the, uh, of the three deceased in the mid eighties. And of course,

00:39:23.020 each of those deaths is a tragedy for the family, but it, it points to where we ought to point our

00:39:27.820 care as opposed to closing down all the schools, closing down all the sports, closing down. I mean,

00:39:33.580 it's summertime now, all the summer activities for kids camps. It, it's just madness to me that

00:39:41.020 if the people in jeopardy our, our, our grandparents and great grandparents,

00:39:45.820 give them 90% of the attention, 90% of the care and 90% of the worry and let the kids run around.

00:39:53.900 I, it, it boggles my mind. And here's my question to you. You know, Doug Ford a lot better than I do.

00:40:00.220 You were originally elected as a conservative and you know, the man and you knew his late brother.

00:40:06.700 Those were reasonable business people, common sense. They had, uh, you know, a foot on their

00:40:12.380 feet were on the ground. They weren't part of this elite, uh, bossy authoritarian class of public

00:40:19.020 health officials and, and, and I know better than you types. How, how is it that Doug Ford

00:40:26.220 is now not only listening to what the elites say, but disparaging those let us work protesters,

00:40:33.820 calling them yahoos and whatnot. What's happened to Doug Ford, the man who used to stand up to the

00:40:39.740 elites and the bossy people? Yeah. Listen, the, uh, referring to people as yahoos 0.99

00:40:45.820 for having a view and having an opinion that is contrary to your own is, you know, it's contemptible.

00:40:54.460 And, you know, listen, I, I, um, I think Doug is a, is a good individual. Um, I also believe that, um, he's

00:41:05.340 placed all his confidence, all his faith in, um, and misplaced his confidence and faith

00:41:16.060 in only public health officials. And as much as public health is important, uh, to us all,

00:41:24.780 important to society, um, there's other, uh, aspects of our lives that are also important

00:41:31.900 that ought to be taken into consideration. And, and, and he's made this choice that not only,

00:41:38.460 uh, you know, most of us expect experts to provide guidance and advice, but we don't expect experts

00:41:48.700 to make the decisions on our behalf. And this is what Doug has done. And he has said it clearly cabinet

00:41:56.140 will debate and discuss policy, but the COVID command table, that unaccountable, that unelected group of,

00:42:05.580 uh, public health officials who we won't even identify, will make the decisions.

00:42:10.940 Um, and they're not, they're not suited. They're not competent to make decisions about the economy,

00:42:20.860 about our education, about, um, you know, our social interactions. They're, they're public health

00:42:27.820 officials. You know, as it reminds me, you know, of, of, uh, Stephen Leacock's old saying about experts,

00:42:36.940 you know, an expert is somebody who goes to university to learn more and more about less and less every year,

00:42:48.140 until such time that they know everything there is to know about very little.

00:42:53.900 Uh, um, you know, and we need to understand that that's why our, our governance, our country has been

00:43:03.820 so blessed and so effective is we listen to in a democracy. We listen to everybody. We hear

00:43:11.740 various perspectives from in various diverse opinions, and we use that knowledge to make a

00:43:18.620 policy that is beneficial to everyone. We don't look at just a singular, uh, facet of life to make

00:43:27.660 all our determinations on. Yeah. Well, I tell you, show me someone who's calling for a

00:43:34.860 lengthened lockdown, and I'll show you someone who hasn't missed a paycheck. The average paycheck

00:43:40.700 for a lot of these public health officers is in the $300,000 plus range. Not only are they enjoying

00:43:46.780 a healthy living, they're, they're having the time of their lives. People listen to them. They're,

00:43:50.700 they're celebrities on TV. And as you say, they don't have any messy business, like actually having to

00:43:56.060 listen to constituent concerns. Hey, I got one last question for you, Randy. And by the way,

00:44:00.780 thank you so much for joining us. And, and I would refer everyone to your website,

00:44:04.620 RandyHillierMPP.com, where you refer to a petition on the subject. I know, uh, informally that there are

00:44:13.020 close to half a dozen conservative MPPs who share your skepticism of this never ending lockdown.

00:44:21.740 First, it was two weeks, then it was a month. Now it's three and a half months. Do you sense that

00:44:27.020 there is anyone else in the legislature, either within the government benches, or perhaps in the

00:44:33.020 opposition, who would say enough is enough? And the reason I asked that is because the emergency act

00:44:38.700 under which Doug Ford and the other political leaders in this country operates, they have sort

00:44:43.260 of fail safes in them. And if a certain number of MPPs or federally MPs object or want a, uh, a do over

00:44:51.900 or another vote or want to hold things to account, it's possible to trigger that accountability with a

00:44:58.540 handful of other MPs. Do you have any indication that conservatives, NDP or even liberal MPPs share your

00:45:07.180 growing concerns? People are sharing those concerns, Ezra. However, um, you know, party discipline is a

00:45:18.700 significant component of, uh, uh, every elected member's, um, um, determinations. I'm fortunate that I'm

00:45:28.700 independent, uh, and I can speak my mind without fear or favor, um, you know, and, and let's not be, uh,

00:45:38.700 there is still a significant public opinion as well, Ezra, uh, and it goes back to what you've just

00:45:45.980 previously said, um, you know, there are a lot of people in the pub, in public service and in, uh, in political

00:45:54.700 life who continue to derive their full incomes, continue to have their, uh, their pensions building,

00:46:02.300 um, and, and not having to go to work. And, you know, um, that's, that's a pretty good life. Um, you

00:46:10.860 know, they're not suffering in that regard, um, you know, um, you know, and, and there is a significant

00:46:19.980 amount of fear that still is there, you know, the, for the last three and a half months, people have

00:46:25.260 been faced a barrage every day, um, a continuous barrage every day of the fear of COVID. So let's not

00:46:34.060 be, um, you know, we can't dismiss those circumstances. Um, but I do know there are other MPPs

00:46:41.500 who share my views, but however, um, they're not able because of party discipline to speak as freely

00:46:53.100 as I am. Yeah. Well, we sure are glad that you are there speaking freely and thank you for joining us

00:46:58.220 today. I know you're out in your riding and you're in a, uh, somewhat public place there. So I appreciate

00:47:03.900 you jamming us in for this interview. It's so nice to see you again. It's so good to hear a blast

00:47:08.700 of common sense. I will refer people to your website, RandyHillierMPP.com. We'll have a link

00:47:14.900 to that under this video. It's great to see you. I hope we can keep in touch, not only on this issue,

00:47:20.060 but other issues. I feel like you are, as you say, you have the liberty to speak your mind,

00:47:25.820 whereas most MPPs don't. So it's great to see you. Good chatting with you, Ezra, as always, and hope to

00:47:31.980 keep in touch. And, uh, um, and yeah, uh, being independent does provide me that opportunity and,

00:47:39.900 uh, um, I'm not going to lose sight or, uh, and I will take advantage of, uh, having that freedom

00:47:47.340 to speak independently. Right on. Well, thank you, my friends. Stay safe, stay healthy, keep fighting

00:47:53.140 for freedom. Right on. Right on. There you have it. RandyHillierMPP.com. He is the member of

00:47:59.780 provincial parliament for Lanark, Frontenac, and Kingston, and has represented that region of

00:48:05.780 Ontario since 2007. Stay with us more. Hey, welcome back to my monologue of Friday on cancel

00:48:20.420 culture. Sherry writes, this woke culture nonsense seems more like censorship in disguise. It is

00:48:25.860 clever in that it keeps people in line with whatever narrative is being pushed, always afraid

00:48:29.700 to voice a real opinion because of fear of the mob. Oh, exactly. You know, I was looking at the names

00:48:35.780 of the people who signed that letter condemning Rex Murphy. There are people on that list who I know

00:48:41.620 support Rex. I used to work in the National Post 20 years ago. Um, some of the people have been there

00:48:46.660 the whole time. Rex is beloved at the post, maybe not by some of these new woke interns, but those

00:48:54.180 folks who have been there 10, 20 years signed this letter. They are utter cowards. They're afraid. 0.99

00:49:01.300 They're afraid. I don't know. Is it morally acceptable to knife someone in the back, call them a racist

00:49:07.380 to save your job if you're worried your family will go hungry? I don't know. I don't know. I think it

00:49:13.540 would take probably more than that for me to defame a friend as a racist falsely. Bruce writes,

00:49:19.940 how true it is that today's cancel culture are like Maoists holding self-denunciation sessions 0.91

00:49:24.500 and self-criticism sessions. Oh, yeah. I mean, seriously, all we were missing at the National Post

00:49:30.580 were those big dunce caps with signs on them. Um, just utterly pitiful. On my interview with Candace

00:49:37.700 Malcolm, Paul writes, great to hear from Candace. Being a big fan of True North, Canada's political

00:49:42.500 parties represent the interests of a handful of elitists and special interests, not the interests

00:49:46.100 of the Canadian people. Candace Malcolm, one of my favorite people. And I'm so glad she still has a

00:49:51.700 forum at the Toronto Sun from time to time. And I hope that will continue. But, you know,

00:49:59.460 she hasn't denounced Rex Murphy. So will she be next for the high jump? I sure hope not. But,

00:50:04.900 you know, post media, it's, if they'll, if they'll treat Rex Murphy that way, they'll treat anyone that

00:50:11.060 way. That's our show for today. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters,

00:50:16.420 good night and keep fighting for freedom.

Rebel News Podcast - June 16, 2020

The National Post attacks their star columnist, Rex Murphy. Meet the members of the mob.

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