Rebel News Podcast - Trudeau bans Rebel News from his press conferences — but declares he supports press freedom

00:00:00.000 Hello, my Rebels. Today, I read you a large comedy document.

00:00:03.500 It's Justin Trudeau's World Press Freedom Day statement.

00:00:07.500 He obviously didn't write it. I don't think he even read it.

00:00:10.720 But it makes him out to be a big believer in the free press, except that's just not true, is it?

00:00:15.920 I go through the case against Trudeau's fake belief in free press.

00:00:20.780 I'll give you evidence he's against it.

00:00:22.920 But the key in today's show, it's the last half of the show,

00:00:26.400 where I talk to our lawyer, Aaron Rosenberg, because you know what?

00:00:30.920 We're doing something about it.

00:00:32.820 I'm not going to give it away, but you're going to have to listen.

00:00:34.820 All right, that's it for that.

00:00:37.640 Let me just invite you to become a premium subscriber.

00:00:40.900 Go to rebelnews.com.

00:00:42.260 And for eight bucks a month, you get the video version of the show.

00:00:44.880 Okay, here's the rest of the podcast.

00:00:51.400 You're listening to a Rebel News podcast.

00:01:00.000 Tonight, Justin Trudeau bans Rebel News from his press conferences,

00:01:05.840 but issues a press release saying he supports press freedom.

00:01:09.360 It's May 4th, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.

00:01:13.700 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:17.120 Well, there's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:21.440 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I'm publishing it is because it's my bloody right to do so.

00:01:27.320 I think Justin Trudeau is the worst prime minister in terms of press freedom since his father, Pierre Trudeau,

00:01:39.260 who brought in the War Measures Act.

00:01:41.400 As you know, Pierre Trudeau put the country in a type of martial law,

00:01:45.560 arresting hundreds of political enemies without a warrant.

00:01:48.080 I'm not sure if you know this, but in addition to hunting Quebec separatists with the FLQ terrorist group,

00:01:53.700 Trudeau put the media in Quebec under censorship.

00:01:57.460 I know this, and I only learned this when I met the man who was appointed

00:02:01.280 the English language censor for Quebec during that period of time.

00:02:05.020 David Radler was his name.

00:02:06.680 Did you know that?

00:02:07.420 Did you know that to fight Quebec separatist terrorists,

00:02:11.880 you had to censor every English-speaking newspaper in Montreal?

00:02:15.980 Yeah, me neither, but that's why you and I aren't as smart as Pierre Trudeau.

00:02:19.120 But now you know where Justin Trudeau comes by his love for authoritarianism and censorship.

00:02:24.980 It certainly has come out during the virus crisis.

00:02:27.180 Trudeau really couldn't rouse himself to do anything about the actual problem.

00:02:31.020 He gets out of bed at the crack at 10, does a 20-minute press conference

00:02:34.420 to hand-selected stenographers from the CBC and the other media party reports,

00:02:39.280 and then goes back to his house and puts on his pajamas again.

00:02:41.860 The only world leader to take literally 40 days off just out of sheer laziness.

00:02:46.840 No medical advice to do so.

00:02:48.140 He doesn't have the virus, never did, never bothered to get tested. 0.98

00:02:50.620 He's just that lazy.

00:02:53.040 But he hasn't been lazy in what he really cares about, censorship.

00:02:56.980 As I showed you a few weeks ago, he wants to make it illegal to publish fake news about the virus,

00:03:00.900 which is going to be quite a trick, given how he and his staff seem to be

00:03:03.780 the chief communicators of fake news themselves, like this doozy.

00:03:08.360 Masks have to be utilized appropriately, too.

00:03:11.820 Most people haven't learned how to use masks, so there's many practical aspects of this.

00:03:15.660 So our advice right now is there is no need to use a mask for well people.

00:03:22.000 Yeah, or this one.

00:03:23.660 Canadians think that we can stop this at the border, but what we see is a global pandemic,

00:03:29.100 meaning that border measures actually are highly ineffective and in some cases can create harm.

00:03:34.520 Yeah, not sure if banning fake news about the virus makes sense when you've got

00:03:37.980 Peking Patty doing your talking for you. 0.51

00:03:40.840 There's no indication that the data that came out of China in terms of their infection rate

00:03:46.040 and their death rate was falsified in any way.

00:03:49.160 Yeah, that's a bit kooky.

00:03:51.080 When the Chinese Communist Party is publicly praising you in English language tweets,

00:03:55.240 maybe you're running just a little too pro-commy.

00:03:57.860 But really, what's the point of criminalizing fake news about the virus anyway?

00:04:01.260 Seriously, what does it accomplish?

00:04:02.500 Does it matter if people think it comes from eating bats, which is a theory I think the

00:04:07.600 Chinese Communist Party prefers, versus U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who, I don't

00:04:14.300 know, seems to think it might have come from the Wuhan Virology Institute, where they handle

00:04:18.980 viruses like this.

00:04:19.780 I don't think Pompeo is saying the virus was genetically engineered, though I've heard that

00:04:23.860 theory out there too.

00:04:25.740 But my point is none of those theories has been proven conclusively.

00:04:28.460 I don't know, none of them will likely be proven one way or the other until the Chinese Communist 1.00

00:04:33.620 Party is extirpated, just like we didn't know the real truth about the Chernobyl explosion

00:04:37.860 until after the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was deposed.

00:04:41.340 Why is it so important for Trudeau to ban one theory or another?

00:04:44.680 Nothing turns on it, really.

00:04:46.540 Everyone has their own theory.

00:04:47.660 It's human nature to wonder about this virus that has thrown our lives into such a tailspin.

00:04:51.720 All of us, except for lazy Trudeau, that is.

00:04:53.820 Even if we knew conclusively where it came from, why does he care so much about criminalizing

00:04:58.180 someone who had a dissident opinion, even if it were kooky, even if it were wrong?

00:05:02.200 We don't criminalize so-called flat earthers. 0.63

00:05:05.020 We don't criminalize people who believe in Bigfoot or aliens or even people who think

00:05:09.860 9-11 was an inside job.

00:05:11.440 It's awfully, you know, communist to want to criminalize gossip about the Chinese Communist

00:05:16.660 Party.

00:05:17.620 There's a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship.

00:05:27.180 Trudeau doesn't just want to criminalize journalists he doesn't like.

00:05:30.740 He wants to pay more cash to the journalists he does like.

00:05:33.700 It's a carrot and a stick.

00:05:35.620 In fact, in Trudeau's proposed massive new bailout for the economy, he literally proposes

00:05:39.740 larger grants for journalists than for the entire agricultural sector.

00:05:44.300 By the way, the largest recipient of Trudeau's existing bailout, Post Media, which currently

00:05:48.660 receives $140,000 per week from Trudeau, they're still failing.

00:05:52.680 I see they announced they're closing 15 newspapers and laying off about 80 staff and reducing the

00:05:58.380 salaries of the remaining staff.

00:06:00.000 I'm not happy about that, but neither am I happy about the other 2 million Canadians who've 1.00

00:06:03.900 been laid off in the past month.

00:06:05.360 The thing is, waitresses, bartenders, retail sales clerks, barbers, they've all been laid 0.76

00:06:10.040 off because the government forced them to close.

00:06:12.680 Newspaper journalists were actually deemed essential services, and you'd think that news is more

00:06:16.940 newsy than ever, but Post Media still failed to make a go of it.

00:06:21.060 Same with the Star of the Globe.

00:06:23.520 Maybe it's because of really weird stories like this one in Post Media that claims that

00:06:26.800 no, no, no, no, no, the virus didn't come to Canada from China, it came to Canada from

00:06:31.480 Europe and America.

00:06:32.980 They really argue that in Post Media.

00:06:35.540 Yeah, I'm old enough to remember way back when the first case came to Canada, it was on

00:06:39.840 January 25th in Ontario, a man flew in from China, breezed right by customs, went home

00:06:45.720 and got really sick.

00:06:46.680 Then he went to the hospital.

00:06:47.660 The province had an emergency weekend press conference.

00:06:50.100 He came in from China.

00:06:51.420 Then his wife got sick right after him.

00:06:53.140 I don't know why Post Media would lie about that.

00:06:56.120 I like a lot of things about Post Media, but I'm not sure why they would lie about this,

00:06:59.760 except for something that's been on my mind more and more.

00:07:02.300 Newspapers are dirt cheap.

00:07:03.380 They're going out of business every week or so, which means you could literally buy them

00:07:06.980 for nothing.

00:07:07.500 Just agree to take them over.

00:07:08.880 You'd actually be saving Post Media and other companies, you know, like Saltwire in the Atlantic.

00:07:13.400 You'd be saving them a lot of money in termination pay and shutdown costs.

00:07:16.700 So if you had a million, a few million, a few tens of millions of dollars, or seriously,

00:07:21.560 if you had $100 million, you could buy almost every daily newspaper in the country combined.

00:07:25.900 Here's the stock market capitalization of Post Media with all the dailies.

00:07:29.220 Toronto Sun, Ottawa Sun, Winnipeg Sun, Calgary Sun, Nampton Sun, Saskatoon Star Phoenix,

00:07:34.140 Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette, National Post.

00:07:36.500 The value of all those companies, they're all owned by Post Media.

00:07:39.860 All their shares on the stock market, just over $100 million for all of them.

00:07:45.260 Now, they have some big loans too, but seriously, we know China has trillions of dollars in foreign

00:07:50.180 currency reserves.

00:07:51.200 We know they like to invest in Canada.

00:07:52.940 Why wouldn't they just buy up some newspapers?

00:07:55.920 Do you think the left-wing journalists who work there would object?

00:07:58.760 Do you think it would be hard for them to swap one government patron, Justin Trudeau,

00:08:02.740 for another government patron, Xi Jinping?

00:08:05.400 They're already carrying China's water.

00:08:07.020 I mean, it's painful, with a handful of important exceptions like the Globe and Mail, Steve Chase.

00:08:12.100 I really can't tell the difference between most Canadian journalists and Chinese journalists

00:08:17.500 working for Xinhua or the People's Daily.

00:08:20.300 Oh, you better believe that Canada's journalists would be fine if China actually did own them.

00:08:24.880 You bet they would.

00:08:26.060 At least they'd get paid.

00:08:26.860 That's all that's important to them.

00:08:27.860 And you bet Trudeau would be fine with that too.

00:08:29.980 He'd probably still give them a taxpayer bailout.

00:08:33.260 Now, as you know, Trudeau loves the media that he can rent or buy.

00:08:36.100 He loves them, but he hates with a rage as hot as a thousand suns the handful of media

00:08:41.420 who just won't be bought.

00:08:43.280 There's so few of us, I can count us on four fingers.

00:08:45.900 Blacklocks, the research website based in Ottawa that does great work reporting on Parliament's

00:08:51.320 details.

00:08:52.220 True North, that's our friends.

00:08:54.060 Candace Malcolm, Andrew Lawton, Anthony Fury, a couple others.

00:08:57.820 The Postmillennial, a great website based in Montreal.

00:09:00.860 And of course, us.

00:09:01.520 That's four.

00:09:02.320 I think I just named them all.

00:09:03.700 He hates us.

00:09:05.200 As you know, Trudeau's handpicked debates commission literally banned us at Rebel News

00:09:09.160 and True North from asking questions at the leaders' debates last year.

00:09:12.220 We had to go to court to get an emergency injunction against him.

00:09:15.020 Oh, he hated that and he wasn't done with us.

00:09:17.920 Even after the election where he lost his majority, you'd think he'd be chastened, but he wasn't.

00:09:22.140 His election commissioner summoned me to an interrogation at a high security facility

00:09:26.600 in Quebec where they threatened me with various penalties.

00:09:29.000 I took in a hidden camera to document their insane threats, including their refusal to

00:09:34.380 rule out a police raid on our offices.

00:09:36.540 Okay.

00:09:37.460 So if she does, but please pass on to her that if there's any subpoenas or orders like that,

00:09:43.540 just flip them to me in my email because I want my lawyers to respond to that.

00:09:47.740 So no search-and-destroy raids, no SWAT-style bust-down-the-door raids, Phyllis.

00:09:55.920 Do we have an agreement on that?

00:10:01.320 You're not going to be corrected.

00:10:02.860 I'm saying if you need something from me, if you need documents.

00:10:05.960 If we need something from you, we're going to reach out to you.

00:10:07.760 Okay.

00:10:08.360 Okay.

00:10:08.860 So you're undertaking right now that you will not raid rebel offices without notice to me in advance.

00:10:15.200 Are you undertaking that now?

00:10:16.340 As I said before, we can't undertake-

00:10:18.940 You're the investigator, Tim, and you're saying you will not undertake to me that if you want

00:10:24.840 a document, you'll email me instead of breaking down the door with a warrant.

00:10:29.600 You will not give me that undertaking here, Tim?

00:10:32.220 I don't think anyone's going to break down the door.

00:10:34.060 Luckily, they haven't done that yet, and I hope they won't.

00:10:37.100 I think some of the liberals' worst plans have been put on hold by the virus, like Stephen

00:10:41.180 Gilboa, the convicted criminal that Trudeau appointed to cabinet as heritage minister.

00:10:45.120 Like him saying he wants to license news websites?

00:10:48.720 License them like we're in, you know, China? 0.69

00:10:51.840 Media organization would need to have a license.

00:10:54.500 Yeah, not good.

00:10:55.720 But don't forget, he was specifically instructed by Trudeau to come up with a plan to censor

00:10:59.200 social media sites like Facebook in 24 hours.

00:11:02.100 So no trial, no opportunity for defense, just demanding it like a king would treat a lowly

00:11:06.680 subject.

00:11:08.440 That's going to be revived.

00:11:09.520 It's literally the second item on Gilboa's job description.

00:11:11.780 That's coming at us.

00:11:12.500 I tell you all this because, and you'll laugh so hard, because yesterday Trudeau celebrated

00:11:17.680 World Press Freedom Day.

00:11:19.680 Look at this.

00:11:20.900 By celebrated, I mean that someone on his staff wrote up some nice words while Trudeau stayed

00:11:24.900 at home in his pajamas and his vacation beard.

00:11:28.140 Let me read this to you.

00:11:29.000 A statement by a prime minister on World Press Freedom Day.

00:11:31.600 I'll read some.

00:11:32.080 Today on World Press Freedom Day, we reflect on the crucial work of journalists in Canada

00:11:36.800 and around the world.

00:11:37.800 We also honor the dedicated journalists who have lost their liberty or their lives while

00:11:41.880 in pursuit of the truth.

00:11:43.420 The theme of this year's World Press Freedom Day is journalism without fear or favor.

00:11:47.860 It reinforces the fact that press freedom cannot be achieved unless journalists can work safely,

00:11:52.540 free from censorship, intimidation, and violence.

00:11:55.220 When journalists and other media workers cannot investigate and report without interference,

00:11:58.620 the public is deprived of reliable, accurate information, and the foundation of our democracy

00:12:03.260 starts to erode.

00:12:04.560 Now, there's some obvious points there, media free from violence.

00:12:07.340 Can you name a single journalist in Canada over the past few years who's been physically

00:12:10.720 attacked?

00:12:11.380 Just one.

00:12:13.180 From the CBC or CTV or Toronto Star or anything like that?

00:12:15.960 I can't.

00:12:17.360 Maybe I missed one or forgot one, but I don't think such a journalist would ever stop talking

00:12:21.320 about it if it happens, so I'm going to go with no.

00:12:23.940 But I can name you five rebel news journalists who have been attacked in the past five years.

00:12:27.720 It's every few months we always sue the person who hits us, but I'm just saying, not a word

00:12:35.180 in our support or our defense from anyone in authority, let alone other media.

00:12:39.920 I think they all sort of like it.

00:12:41.200 They egg on the radicals, don't they?

00:12:42.800 I mean, look at this.

00:12:43.780 It is disappointing to see the conservatives and the member opposites engage in handling

00:12:51.660 rebel media conspiracy theories.

00:12:54.500 It is disappointing to see the conservatives engage in peddling rebel media conspiracy theories.

00:13:00.720 Yeah, when Trump demonizes CNN, the entire media party gets all a flutter about it.

00:13:04.800 How dare you?

00:13:05.640 When Trudeau does it, the media party nods along approvingly.

00:13:09.040 There's some comedy here.

00:13:10.000 The guy who's proposing new laws to censor people with incorrect opinions, talking about

00:13:14.600 being free from censorship.

00:13:15.960 But then again, his deputy prime minister, Chrystia Freeland, was literally at a media freedom

00:13:20.580 conference when she tried to ban Rebel News at the conference.

00:13:23.740 Remember that?

00:13:24.520 When Sheila Gunn-Reed and our friend Andrew Lawton from True North was there.

00:13:27.220 Okay, so, um, Glover Mail, um, Global, um, CTV, Altaxera, CBC, and the National Economic

00:13:37.400 Committee.

00:13:38.520 And the other?

00:13:39.020 What about the rest?

00:13:39.620 The rest of us?

00:13:40.460 The rest will have to stay back.

00:13:41.840 No, I think we all go.

00:13:43.140 No, that's nonsense.

00:13:44.040 No, no, no, no, no.

00:13:44.580 That is nonsense.

00:13:44.860 We all go.

00:13:46.140 That's, let's take us to the room and we can see if we can go.

00:13:48.880 No, we're not going, Brittany.

00:13:49.800 We're just not.

00:13:50.360 We're all going.

00:13:50.860 This is a media freedom conference. 0.98

00:13:52.200 Yeah, this is ridiculous. 0.75

00:13:53.300 We just don't do that. 0.92

00:13:53.780 No.

00:13:54.000 Yeah, here's how Trudeau's statement ends.

00:13:57.780 He didn't write this, of course.

00:13:58.860 He didn't even read it.

00:14:00.240 It was issued in his name by whoever his nanny is.

00:14:04.020 Used to be Gerald Butts, might still be.

00:14:05.680 I don't know.

00:14:06.220 So here's what someone wrote for him and someone else read and approved.

00:14:09.960 A free-thinking, independent, and respected media is the cornerstone of any democracy.

00:14:14.640 One cannot exist without the other.

00:14:15.980 That is why Canada continues to defend press freedom and condemn all attempts to stifle the press.

00:14:21.240 It is why, together with other members of the Media Freedom Coalition, Canada calls on all states to protect access to free media and support the free exchange of information during this pandemic.

00:14:31.040 Today, we recognize all the journalists and media workers who start conversations, shine light on stories that would otherwise not be told, expose injustices, and hold the powerful to account, often at great personal risk.

00:14:41.300 They are a vital part of all healthy democracies, and through their work, they spur change and increase transparency that benefit all of us.

00:14:47.820 He's the guy bringing in pandemic censorship.

00:14:51.800 He's the guy blocking conservative reporters from attending his daily press conference.

00:14:55.920 He's instructed his ministers to license journalists and punish them deeply if they resist his censorship fiat.

00:15:01.800 That's Justin Trudeau, just like his father, really.

00:15:04.940 Except back then, when Pierre Trudeau brought in the War Measures Act, there were a few journalists who asked him if, in fact, it was too much.

00:15:11.380 He was going too far.

00:15:12.340 And I think it's our duty as a government to protect government officials and important people in our society against being used as tools in this blackmail.

00:15:24.940 Now, you don't agree to this, but I'm sure that, once again, with hindsight, you would have probably found it preferable if Mr. Cross and Mr. Laporte had been protected from kidnapping,

00:15:35.160 which they weren't, because the steps we're taking now weren't taken.

00:15:39.580 But even with your hindsight, I don't see how you can deny that.

00:15:46.160 No, I still go back to the choice that you have to make in the kind of society that you live in.

00:15:50.460 Well, there's a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don't like to see people with helmets and guns.

00:15:54.760 All I can say is, go on and bleed.

00:15:56.860 But it's more important to keep law and order in this society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don't like the looks of a soldier. 0.70

00:16:06.420 At any cost?

00:16:07.460 At any cost?

00:16:08.140 How far would you go with that?

00:16:09.180 How far would you extend that?

00:16:10.360 Well, just watch me.

00:16:11.280 Yeah, today it's the rest of the media party, the rented journalists, the sold-out journalists, maybe soon the China-paid journalists,

00:16:17.180 who are actually just fine with Trudeau's censorship, just fine with it.

00:16:21.340 In fact, they're the ones calling for it.

00:16:24.240 The CBC especially, as you can see in their disgraceful smear against the Epoch Times last week.

00:16:29.080 It's up to us, my friends.

00:16:30.700 It's up to you and me to stand up for our freedoms, don't you think?

00:16:33.700 Well, wait till our next guest.

00:16:35.320 I'll show you what we're doing, not just talking, what we're doing about the free press here.

00:16:41.280 Stay with us.

00:16:42.380 You don't want to miss this.

00:16:55.520 Well, look, we're in the commentary business, the news business, the opinion business, we got all that.

00:17:00.600 But every once in a while, you have to stop talking and start doing something about it.

00:17:05.600 You know the old joke, everybody always complains about the weather, but no one ever does something about it.

00:17:10.620 Well, today is the day we did something about it.

00:17:15.380 You'll recall that in October, when Justin Trudeau's hand-picked debates commission banned us from attending the leaders' debates,

00:17:22.400 we went to the Federal Court of Canada, and in a long-shot emergency application, we won the day.

00:17:30.280 And we won a court order commanding Trudeau's staff to let us in.

00:17:35.820 And it was a great victory, not just for journalism, but for freedom.

00:17:41.040 Well, as you may know, for several weeks now, Justin Trudeau has been having these very tightly managed scrums outside of Rideau Cottage.

00:17:50.000 That's what they call his 22-room mansion.

00:17:51.920 We were banned from attending in person, but we were told, well, you can join by conference call.

00:17:58.840 And the conference call was managed by the Canadian government, so by civil servants, by neutral, nonpartisan public servants, not Liberal Party hacks.

00:18:09.540 And so more than 20 times we've dialed in and said our name and affiliation, and 20 times we were not picked,

00:18:21.120 while the same pet reporters for Justin Trudeau are picked again and again, sometimes twice even on the same day.

00:18:30.020 For example, the Canadian press, obscure freelancers like Justin Ling, who throws softballs at Justin Trudeau, picked regularly.

00:18:40.000 The statistical odds of us being on 20-plus calls and never being called once,

00:18:46.280 and other pro-Trudeau stenographers being called almost every day,

00:18:51.520 well, it's to the point where it's statistically impossible.

00:18:56.380 Of course it is.

00:18:57.940 We're being banned.

00:18:58.980 And so we've reached out to the same crack team of legal eagles who fought the censorship of us at the Federal Debates Commission and won to fight this one, too.

00:19:11.400 And joining us now via Skype from his home office is our friend Aaron Rosenberg.

00:19:15.920 You'll recognize him as one of the Debate Commission lawyers.

00:19:18.660 Aaron, great to see you again.

00:19:21.060 Oh, so nice to see you.

00:19:22.020 Thanks for having me.

00:19:23.420 Well, thank you for being our lawyer.

00:19:25.700 And you and your colleague, David Elmola, have put together a lawsuit and today filed it in the very same federal courthouse where we had our trial in October.

00:19:39.060 And it's styled Rebel News Network Limited applicant versus Canada Privy Council Office and the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary of the Cabinet and the Attorney General of Canada.

00:19:52.400 So we are suing the government.

00:19:54.940 Why don't you take our viewers through it?

00:19:57.380 I've read the document.

00:19:58.280 Obviously, I've approved it.

00:19:59.800 Tell us what the case is and what it isn't.

00:20:02.520 Well, this is a case about two very important principles, first being freedom of the press, second being holding government to account.

00:20:15.080 That means government accountability and transparency, both of which appear to be severely lacking in the context of Justin Trudeau's daily press briefing.

00:20:26.540 What we have is a system that is arbitrary, that's shadowy, that's run by the Privy Council, and that is meant to provide vital information to Canadians about this ever-developing crisis.

00:20:47.580 And unfortunately, these press briefings provide access to a severely limited number of appointed reporters.

00:21:01.100 And as a result, media organizations like Rebel and others are denied the opportunity to put important questions to our leaders and most particularly our prime minister.

00:21:13.220 And so if organizations like Rebel are not able to put questions to our prime minister, then Canadians across the country are not being provided the information that they so deserve during these really trying times.

00:21:34.520 And so we put together this application to hold the administrator of these press briefings to account so that organizations like Rebel and others can hold the government accountable for the information that Canadians deserve.

00:21:54.700 Yeah.

00:21:54.960 You know, him holding, hiding out in his house, not going to work for nearly two months.

00:22:01.140 It's strange.

00:22:02.120 It's bizarre.

00:22:02.760 Even Boris Johnson, who got the virus and went to the hospital, he's back at work.

00:22:08.200 The only world leader who's hiding out is very strange.

00:22:11.560 I think he's hiding from the problems, hiding from scrutiny.

00:22:14.980 And that's what gets me is, I mean, seriously, some of the softball questions are so unbelievable.

00:22:19.220 Let me just show you two of them.

00:22:20.640 Here's one where a reporter, I think from Reuters, actually said, how are you holding up?

00:22:25.520 Are you worried about burnout?

00:22:27.700 They're saying to this that the guy who works half an hour a day.

00:22:30.700 Take a look at this.

00:22:31.400 Yeah.

00:22:31.960 Secondly, you're speaking to us every day.

00:22:34.460 The deputy prime minister is either having meetings or speaking to us.

00:22:38.140 Dr. Tam is speaking to us virtually every day.

00:22:40.180 What are you guys doing to prevent burnout?

00:22:42.180 I mean, there's no way you can continue at this pace.

00:22:44.760 Are you drawing up some sort of rota?

00:22:46.520 If you think that was a one-off, look at this series of questions in French, asking with outrage that Trudeau was allowing hand sanitizer in the country without English and French bilingual labeling.

00:22:59.500 I'm not kidding.

00:23:00.520 This is the kind of softball questioning.

00:23:03.200 It's like being kissed by a little puppy that the media party puts to Trudeau.

00:23:07.420 Just take a look at this.

00:23:08.180 Good morning, Mr. Trudeau.

00:23:10.740 So, Health Canada yesterday decided to lift certain restrictions with respect to cleaning products.

00:23:19.660 And the official languages committee says that this is about people's safety.

00:23:30.720 Why was that decision made?

00:23:34.120 And why should there not be proper information on products coming in from the United States?

00:23:41.660 Does that mean, Mr. Trudeau, that there could be other exemptions in the coming weeks?

00:23:48.520 Anyhow, my point is that Trudeau chooses these loving questions, but it's not actually him.

00:23:55.400 And, Aaron, that's a very key point I want to tell our viewers.

00:23:58.320 And you and I discussed this at length.

00:24:00.600 We're not asking a court to make Justin Trudeau answer us, to make Justin Trudeau like us, to make Justin Trudeau invite us to a liberal party hangout.

00:24:12.440 This is a nonpartisan government agency that's doing the vetting.

00:24:16.700 This is not Trudeau or his political staff.

00:24:19.180 This is the Privy Council office that's supposed to treat Canadians equally regardless of any characteristics.

00:24:25.380 They're the ones who obviously have this secret blacklist.

00:24:31.020 And we're trying to get through the civil service.

00:24:33.300 If Trudeau says, I'm not answering the rebel, or I hate the rebel, or maybe he'll actually answer us, as he finally did in a leader's debate,

00:24:42.660 we're suing the Privy Council, which is acting like a censor or, I don't know, maybe Trudeau's nanny, protecting him from any tough questions.

00:24:51.560 Well, that's right.

00:24:53.800 And, you know, it's hard to bring home the critical nature of these briefings and these opportunities.

00:25:05.700 You know, much can be said about the content of these briefings.

00:25:11.760 But this is really, you know, House of Commons only started doing virtual sittings last week.

00:25:22.040 And so this was really the only opportunity the Canadians had to see the prime minister, the head of state,

00:25:29.220 to talking about providing updates on this pandemic as it pertains to Canadians.

00:25:37.140 And so other than that, you know, where else are you going to go for your information in terms of what the prime minister

00:25:45.500 and what our public officials are doing about this pandemic?

00:25:48.960 So if the press cannot put these questions to the prime minister during this opportunity,

00:25:55.400 then it's highly unlikely that they'll be able to get answers to those questions.

00:26:00.300 You know, if Justin Trudeau wants to invite over his pet journalists, they're all on the government payroll pretty much.

00:26:07.460 If he wants to invite them over for coffee, I'm not going to say, hey, I'm going to sue to get an invitation to get to the private Christmas party for Justin Trudeau.

00:26:16.500 But that's not that.

00:26:17.340 Let me read from paragraphs three and four in the lawsuit, because I just want to help our viewers understand we're not actually suing Justin Trudeau.

00:26:24.740 I don't believe that you should be able to sue Justin Trudeau or Donald Trump or Jason Kenney to make them answer you.

00:26:32.760 Although I should note that Donald Trump loves going to CNN and he loves taking on the toughest questions. 0.91

00:26:38.980 Trudeau is a bit of a coward that way. 0.67

00:26:40.540 We're suing the Privy Council Office. 0.96

00:26:42.440 And let me just read from paragraphs three and four of the lawsuit, because I think they make this clear.

00:26:46.340 The respondent, the Privy Council Office, PCO, provides objective, nonpartisan support to the prime minister, portfolio ministers and cabinet in order to facilitate the effective operation of the federal government.

00:27:00.300 The PCO is led by the respondent, the clerk, who also serves as secretary to the cabinet and head of the public service.

00:27:07.800 The clerk's role is to advise the prime minister and elected government officials in managing the country from an objective, nonpartisan public policy perspective, unquote.

00:27:19.840 So that's and by the way, folks, you can see this whole lawsuit.

00:27:23.500 It's only nine pages long.

00:27:24.640 It's very plain English on the website below this.

00:27:29.160 And I wanted to read that part of your beautifully drafted lawsuit.

00:27:32.100 Because I say again, I don't expect to be allowed into a liberal party club event.

00:27:38.920 I don't expect to be allowed into the personal home of Justin Trudeau.

00:27:43.900 But if the nonpartisan civil service is having an event, they should act like the nonpartisan civil service, just like the post office should deliver my mail and the electric company should put electricity to my house.

00:28:00.840 If the nonpartisan government is having a press conference, we should be allowed to make calls.

00:28:07.120 And we're not.

00:28:08.940 And other media have already given up.

00:28:11.560 Black Locks Reporter, True North, they've simply given up.

00:28:15.280 I don't want to give up.

00:28:16.620 I want to sue.

00:28:17.420 And I'm grateful to you guys putting together such a great lawsuit.

00:28:20.980 Well, I appreciate it.

00:28:22.160 It's an honor to do this type of work.

00:28:24.040 Look, you know, these types of media organizations, independent media organizations, need to have the opportunity to put these questions to the prime minister during this critical time.

00:28:38.200 And the Privy Council, whose purported role is to act in a non-arbitrary, nonpartisan manner and to provide support to the prime minister and the prime minister's office, you know, it's hard to understand at this point why these types of media organizations cannot participate in these important briefings.

00:29:01.180 And, you know, the other thing is that – and something that you highlighted earlier, Ezra, is that, you know, the federal government has reiterated time and again its commitment to freedom of the press, free expression in Canada.

00:29:15.920 In fact, I believe yesterday was World Freedom of the Press Day, and the prime minister put out a statement heralding the federal government's action and commitment to freedom of the press, especially during this pandemic.

00:29:35.460 And yet this process is interfering with media's opportunity to put questions for all Canadians to the prime minister.

00:29:47.240 And so I think that this process raises a lot of questions about the federal government's commitment or stated commitment to freedom of the press at this time.

00:29:55.420 You know, as you were talking, you made me think about how vociferously and vigorously the Trudeau government opposed our lawsuit last time in October when they kicked us out of the leaders' debates.

00:30:08.020 I remember you and your colleague, David, worked all weekend, and you fought like crazy, and you worked all weekend, and the hearing was on Monday.

00:30:16.500 And our total legal fee was $18,000, and it was money well earned.

00:30:21.000 The two of you guys and your staff worked basically four days straight, and we won.

00:30:26.380 Well, we finally saw how much the five Government of Canada lawyers, they billed taxpayers $131,000.

00:30:35.580 I don't even know how you could do that.

00:30:37.120 They only worked for four days also.

00:30:39.300 They billed almost 10 times as much.

00:30:42.600 They had five lawyers.

00:30:43.500 It was crazy.

00:30:44.200 My point is, Trudeau will go to any extreme length to stop us from asking him questions.

00:30:54.060 He spent $131,000 last time.

00:30:56.300 I think he's going to go crazy here.

00:30:59.140 He's going to throw so many lawyers against us.

00:31:01.760 And you know what?

00:31:02.440 I think the worst part of it is most media party journalists at the CBC and the bailout newspapers are going to say,

00:31:09.740 yeah, we don't want Rebel News there because they don't want any competitors there asking better questions than them.

00:31:14.760 They don't want us to stink up the joint by asking accountability questions instead of, hey, Justin, how are you holding up?

00:31:20.900 Well, yeah, you know, it's also important to remember that at the Debates Commission, you know, when Rebel was asking, was demanding access to the media scrum at the debate.

00:31:35.460 Well, as it turned out, when the Rebel reporters were granted the opportunity and given the access to the media scrum, in fact, they asked important, hard-hitting questions that became the standout questions at the media scrum itself.

00:31:53.320 And so it's understandable why the federal government might, for political reasons, want to evade Rebel News.

00:32:03.060 Ultimately, it's critical that Rebel keeps up this fight to ensure that these hard-hitting questions are being asked of the federal government and the prime minister, especially during these really tough times for Canadians.

00:32:13.820 Yeah. Well, I remember when we contacted you in such a rush last time, because, of course, they only banned us the day, like the Friday before the Monday where the debates were outlandish behavior.

00:32:26.860 And you, I remember our conversation on the phone. You said, Ezra, I want to let you know this is a long shot. You probably won't win.

00:32:34.300 It's going to cost you money. And I said, well, we got to fight anyways. And the bill was $18,000. And the miracle is we won.

00:32:41.580 You and I haven't talked about the details here, but I think we should let our viewers know this is probably going to be just as large a fight, if not larger.

00:32:55.300 And it's also a long shot fight, because no one's ever tried this before. No one's ever said we have the right to be treated equally by the civil service to at least ask a question.

00:33:05.940 Even if Trudeau ignores us or insults us or says, pass, that's up to him. And I would never seek to command him to answer.

00:33:13.840 But no one's ever tried to compel the nonpartisan bureaucracy to let a reporter ask a question.

00:33:20.700 So this is new law and is very important law. Do you think that the battle here will be just as tough?

00:33:26.940 Do you think it'll be even tougher, maybe? I want to know, because we have to crowdfund this.

00:33:33.840 And we've set up a page, letusreport.com. Tell me what we can expect to come in from the other side.

00:33:40.060 They threw five lawyers at us, which was crazy. They'll probably do the same here, right?

00:33:46.240 Well, that's right. I mean, if history is any indication, money is no object in relation to dealing with this.

00:33:55.140 They will hire the best lawyers in the country to to to fight rebel, to ensure that rebel is not successful in this application and that it does not proceed to ask the tough questions to the federal government, including prime minister.

00:34:10.300 I think we're going to I think we're going to see a big fight. We are facing a big battle here.

00:34:16.680 Well, I know you're up for it. You and David did such a wonderful job.

00:34:20.180 And the debates commission, you know, I've been in too many courtrooms in my life, but that was some of the finest advocacy I've ever seen.

00:34:28.140 Now, of course, I don't want to get off track, but that fight is still going.

00:34:31.980 We're still battling the debates commission. They're still trying to shut us down.

00:34:36.480 They know the next election could be here within months or even a year or so.

00:34:41.020 So they're trying to bat us down. We're still fighting them.

00:34:43.260 I don't think we've actually reported that back to our viewers.

00:34:46.080 But this is the big fight now.

00:34:47.880 Last word to you, Aaron, you filed this today and it'll be served directly on the government by the federal court, if I understand their procedure.

00:34:55.740 I know things are sort of in a slowdown because the courthouses are physically shut down because of the virus.

00:35:02.340 So I don't know if we'll get our justice quickly.

00:35:05.940 How soon does the government have to reply to our lawsuit?

00:35:11.800 Well, the government has 10 days to respond to this lawsuit by way of filing a notice of appearance.

00:35:17.580 So they're on pretty strict timelines.

00:35:20.020 And again, that's all subject to the current court shutdown, which we expect to be lifted fairly soon.

00:35:26.000 But yes, these timelines are very short and they will have to respond very quickly.

00:35:31.940 Well, I'm glad I couldn't ask for a better team of lawyers than you and David.

00:35:36.380 And you know what?

00:35:37.580 I remember when you said, Ezra, this is a long shot of the debates commission.

00:35:41.040 I remember what I said.

00:35:41.840 I said, we have to do it anyways, if not us, who?

00:35:44.840 And so I want to tell you in advance, I've read the lawsuit.

00:35:48.120 I think it's great.

00:35:48.860 I thank you.

00:35:49.520 And David, I hope we win.

00:35:52.400 I think there's a chance we win.

00:35:54.060 But even if we don't, fighting for free press and fighting against Trudeau's slow strangulation

00:36:01.680 of alternative voices in this country, I can tell you right now, no matter the outcome,

00:36:06.720 this was already worth it in my mind.

00:36:08.680 So thank you to you.

00:36:10.520 Thank you, Ezra.

00:36:11.220 All right, there you go.

00:36:12.740 Folks, if you want to help out, go to letusreport.com.

00:36:16.260 I believe we can win.

00:36:18.440 We won last time.

00:36:19.760 We got the same legal eagles and we got even worse censorship that just couldn't be clear

00:36:24.280 about it.

00:36:24.760 It's statistically impossible what they've done.

00:36:27.220 And I want to air that out.

00:36:30.240 Stay with us.

00:36:31.100 Your letters to me next.

00:36:32.140 Hey, welcome back to my monologue Friday about CN suing the railway blockaders.

00:36:44.840 Barb writes, excellent.

00:36:46.300 About time they're held accountable.

00:36:48.380 Yeah, you know, I want to dig more into the story.

00:36:50.600 I don't understand why the court case was filed back in February, but it was sort of low key

00:36:56.500 and CBC's running it as news.

00:36:58.040 I'm trying to figure out what is new, if it's still proceeding.

00:37:00.260 But I thought it was worth going through nonetheless.

00:37:03.340 Dave writes, amazingly, they did not break up the blockades until Quebec was running

00:37:07.240 out of propane.

00:37:08.320 If Alberta was running out of propane for heat, we would finally be thawed out now.

00:37:13.140 You're so very right.

00:37:14.640 I mean, it was when Quebec started talking about armed resistors, armed protesters, armed

00:37:22.840 terrorists. 0.53

00:37:23.340 Only then that people started to get serious about protecting the railways.

00:37:28.060 They don't care about the West in Ottawa.

00:37:30.680 They sort of liked the fact that it was shutting down Alberta's essential industry.

00:37:34.700 You tell me how long they would stand for that if it was an essential industry like,

00:37:38.240 let's say, Ontario's remaining auto sector that was blocked like that.

00:37:44.840 On my interview with Joel Pollack, Paul writes, great to see Michael Flynn.

00:37:48.200 It's been a long time coming.

00:37:49.520 People need to be going to jail over this.

00:37:50.940 People need to be losing their jobs over it.

00:37:53.220 Well, yeah, I don't understand how all the FBI and CIA and other deep state permanent security

00:38:02.060 networks, how none of them have been charged with anything.

00:38:06.380 Clearly, they were breaking a lot of laws.

00:38:08.180 They were lying under oath in many cases.

00:38:10.940 I don't know.

00:38:11.860 Is Donald Trump afraid to prosecute and investigate?

00:38:16.120 Is he being counseled against it?

00:38:18.140 I don't quite understand why not a single Democrat has been charged, let alone convicted or sentenced.

00:38:25.300 But a bunch of Trump's people have had all those things happen to them for trumped up charges.

00:38:29.440 I don't get it.

00:38:31.040 Well, what do you think about our new LetUsReport.com lawsuit?

00:38:34.420 I think it's pretty exciting.

00:38:36.320 And again, we're not demanding that Justin Trudeau pick us.

00:38:39.580 We're not demanding that Justin Trudeau answer us.

00:38:41.980 We're demanding that the so-called neutral, non-partisan civil service let our calls through.

00:38:48.440 They're blocking us.

00:38:50.020 And that's against the law.

00:38:52.180 That's it for today.

00:38:53.200 Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, to you at home,

00:38:56.940 good night and keep fighting for freedom.

00:38:59.200 We'll see you soon.

00:39:13.780 We'll be back with you.

00:39:15.720 We'll be back with you.

00:39:18.180 We'll be back with you.

00:39:19.240 We'll be back with you.

00:39:21.800 Thank you.

00:39:22.160 We'll be back with you.

00:39:22.940 We'll be back with you.

00:39:23.360 We'll be back with you.

00:39:24.140 We'll be back with you.

00:39:24.560 We'll be back with you.

00:39:25.500 We'll be back with you.

00:39:26.680 We'll be back with you.

Rebel News Podcast - May 05, 2020

Trudeau bans Rebel News from his press conferences — but declares he supports press freedom

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