Fake News Friday ｜ CBC brags about its “award-winning Canadian creators”
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Summary
Join Andrew O'Lawton and Sue Ann Levy as they discuss the growing trend of anti-gay protests in Canada, including the ban on "gay propaganda" in public schools, and the new ban on the use of the word "far right" in the media.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome to you all Friday March 17th 2023 happy St. Patrick's Day to the Irish among
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you and the 95% of other people who just pretend they are Irish inexplicably on St. Patrick's Day
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you don't need to pretend to be Irish today you can just go out and wear green and drink
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if that is your prerogative joined by Sue Ann Levy the co-hostess with the mostess Levy that's an
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authentic Irish name is it not Sue Ann? Actually I come from roots of Mick Levy but I changed it when
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my relatives changed it when they landed in Canada from Mick Levy to just Levy. Okay so Sue Ann
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Mick Levy and Andrew O'Lawton here for Fake News Friday there we go we're starting off with the
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fake news being the very names by which we identify ourselves. How was the week Sue Ann?
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Great cannot complain. One thing not fake is that I've been on a great program I encourage your
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viewers lost nine pounds so far in four weeks. There we go we can start doing infomercials on
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Fake News Friday but it'll be honest coming from you people won't know what to think.
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It's not a fake I'm not faking it. I might need to do like that program times 20 for it to be
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meaningful but we'll we'll have to chat off there about that. Lots of stuff happened this week in the
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world of fake news one in particular that I want to focus on which is a bit of a bigger picture topic
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I know we spoke in the last show or maybe it was a couple of weeks ago about the trend of drag story
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times that are seemingly pervasive now at every library and county fair imaginable but what's
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interesting is that the focus of the outrage from the media is not on these shows but on people who
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dare to raise questions about these sorts of shows. In Calgary they've now made it illegal to protest
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them and the media likes to talk about this as being the new trend of the far right. There was a piece
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in global news that talks about how anti-LGBTQ protests are on the rise in Canada. What's going
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on the reporter asked and I think let's just start and talk about the headline there. I don't think
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there is at all an honest way you could say that protesting something very narrow and very specific
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like a drag show of any kind or a drag show for kids is an anti-LGBTQ2 protest.
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I certainly don't feel it and you know that I'm L in the LGBT series of alphabet letters so I you know I
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don't feel it. I think it's a legitimate these are legitimate concerns by parents. You know my dear wife
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asked me whatever happened to librarians reading stories to kids in libraries? Whatever happened to
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that? Why do we have to bring in these drag queens who are outrageous and really are very very you know
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geared to mature audiences? They're actually some of them very obscene so I think little kids don't
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understand it at all. So you know so the people I hate the word the use of far right too Andrew. So
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anybody who protests or is concerned about the impact on kids young kids we're talking very young
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kids is far right. What has happened to our world? What has happened to our you know the sentiment in
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Canada? We're not allowed to speak up about this sort of thing. Yeah that's a great point about the
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librarians. I mean this is librarian erasure if nothing else. Where's the librarian union standing up
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about you know having their jobs taken away for for whatever the reason. But you know it's interesting
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because the idea that we see people that are frustrated with this very narrow and very specific
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thing. I would say it's not even an anti-T protest necessarily let alone an anti-LGBTQ2 protest because
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they're in my experience anyone who's raising issues with this is not saying we don't like drag
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performances they're saying hey keep it away from the children and we can debate that point. There are
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drag queens that have gone on TV and talked about why they think it's important and why everyone needs
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to stop their criticism. Let's have that debate and we can have it without denigrating people as being
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part of this new far-right cabal which is what the media is doing and in doing so relying on the
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Canadian anti-hate network. So I know you have a lot of experience writing about this and researching
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this. Why who are they and why has the media given them the authority on determining what's extremist?
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Well they're joined at the hip with the liberal government headed by Bernie Farber. He used to be
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the CEO of the United Jewish Federation and he kind of parted ways with them and I think he's a really
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bitter sort of mean guy and he you know he's formed this anti-hate network again funded by the Trudeau
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government and the interesting thing is that they spew in many ways more hate than it than you or I or
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anybody that they criticize. So they target people who have an opinion they don't you know I haven't
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heard them speak up. For instance they did not speak up about or came out very late out of the gate
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about the Laith Maroof scandal. You know the gentleman who was funded who's virulently
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anti-semitic again funded. They had to wait until the Trudeau government made it acceptable to criticize
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him before they would criticize. Exactly. So they're they're biased they're conflicted and I you know I
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don't know why the media I mean I used to not yell at but say to the people I worked with that
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Toronto Sun why are you even quoting Bernie Farber because he is so far out there now his opinion is
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not perceived particularly in the Jewish community with any weight whatsoever so and I mean now they
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they weigh in on things that aren't hateful and ignore things that are hate. Yeah Bernie Farber just
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for context a lot of people might know of him because a year ago or just over a year ago during the
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convoy he tweeted out this vile anti-semitic poster that he said a friend of his saw at the convoy in
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Ottawa and it of course turned out that the photo had been taken like three months earlier in Miami
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before the convoy started before the convoy existed and when he was called on this by Jonathan Kaye he
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said oh well it's the type of thing you would see at the convoy so he creates and invents hate where
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no hate exists and and as you mentioned Sue Ann he ignores it in many cases when it does exist if
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it goes against his narrative. Exactly I mean that was the funniest thing being caught in the act with
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a flyer that was from Miami posted in Miami and you know but he eggs on people that's the thing so the
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media still think he's an authority and he eggs on people and encourages them to hate uh what say you and
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I are are talking about with legitimate concern I have to say that the anti-hate network hates me
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so you know hates me for having an opinion and some common sense but this is like how crazy our world
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has become with these kind of people who are are funded by the Trudeau government and do the exact
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opposite of what they're really supposed to do in a real world. Yeah and some of it is just disingenuous so
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there's one person here who is uh quoted in this article in Global who says that the criticisms of
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drag story time is coming from white heterosexual men from the far right with religious backgrounds
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that are trying to demonize the LGBTQ2 community and I would like to note that I'm getting the
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acronym right every single time I'm not fumbling one bit even getting the two in there and the thing
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about that that I find troubling for many reasons is that if you look at the landscape of who it is
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that's criticizing these performances it's actually more in my experience coming from women that are
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concerned about the implications on women's spaces of the trans movement it's not I mean yes there's a
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there sort of is a bedfellows uh between radical feminists and the Christian right on some of these
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issues but overwhelmingly the the issues I'm seeing are coming from mothers they're coming from lesbians
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they're coming from gay men that don't like what's happening here. Exactly and this speaks to and I'm glad you
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brought that out because this speaks to the great divide in the LGBTQRS community because there are
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okay two two one two three um there are those who espouse queer theory well I hate the word queer I
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absolutely hate it but now they want to be called queer because that means they're radical and progressive
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um but the average person the mainstream say LGB well I don't know if I should include T because the T's
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have become radical but the mainstream people uh abhor this kind of stuff they have core queer theory
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they think it's radical they're upset about kids uh being indoctrinated in schools and it relates to that
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as well gender ideology at a young age being you know taught in schools um so this has created this
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huge divide so you've got these really radical trans people and radical you know queer people as they
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call themselves um they're the ones who are pushing this and the anti-hate network has um latched on with
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them and you know one person we we've talked about Faye Johnson for example the trans activist who's
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making also Hershey or they she yeah yeah who's also whatever the chocolate's called now yeah Hershey
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who's making money from the Trudeau government it gets funded she's also she is also funded by the
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Trudeau government and is also um espousing this queer theory where she hates any lesbians any women
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who say well you might be a biological male you're not really you know and discuss the reality of
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the biology of transgenderism so you know this this is you know again like I said to you the great
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divide that has occurred and you know enabled by organizations by the but like the Canadian anti-hate
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network well and I think you're right there Sue and extreme voices in any movement are always the
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loudest and they they cloud out people like I I'd I've never talked about this but I had a when I ran
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for office in 2018 I had a really heartwarming encounter and and people that are familiar with
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the history know that I said some things that I I terribly regret about uh the gay community and and
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uh they were coming up when I ran for office and I knocked on the door of one guy when I was out
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canvassing and I said you know hi I'm Andrew Lawton I'm seeking your vote and he said I'm gay
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and I said oh I'm you know I that's fine I'm I'm Andrew and he said I don't give a bleep if you
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march in a pride parade are you going to lower my taxes and I I think that there are probably a lot
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more people like him than there are people trying to vilify and demonize and on race as well I think
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there are a lot more people that would welcome a dialogue even with people that they might have
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some pretty fundamental disagreements on than people that want to silence other people yes and that's
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created this huge divide in Canada and I dare say it goes back to the federal government they're
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funding all these crazy groups who are sending out messages that you're a white privileged male I'm a
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I don't know white lesbian Jewish you know and I'm a white supremacist as well that's the that's the
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yes yes a turf exactly yeah well again I think it's safe to say that the left does very well this idea
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of reclaiming a word that was the whole uh impetus behind slut walk it's as you mentioned queer I
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mean that's another one it used to be this thing that you'd never dare say it's like the n-word and
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now it's something that people are calling themselves so we need to reclaim things ourselves
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don't let the anti-hate network redefine what extreme is that's right so we are but we're not far
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right I love that I absolutely love that so I always say to these people are you far left
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what is far right you're far left obviously if you criticize us call us these yeah but far but far
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left is deemed like fun and harmless whereas far right is like deemed the uh uh second coming of
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Adolf Hitler this is a bit of a heavier topic so let's revert back to one that we always enjoy
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which is Canada state broadcaster the CBC getting a little bit defensive on Twitter this week the
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National Post published a column by Chris Selle which I actually agree with the fundamental point
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of he said CBC can't hope to measure up to even the BBC's fiascos and what he's talking about here
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is that BBC despite being a state broadcaster tends to be regarded a bit better because it produces
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better content I mean some of the British programs that BBC has uh released onto the world have been
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vastly superior to CBC which has given us a couple of goodies like Schitt's Creek which is very popular
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and Kim's Convenience but they also give you need I remind you the colonial or anti-colonial talking
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tomato isn't it true that feminists don't like boys I think we're really gonna need this episode
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or the gender fluid South Asian nanny that is living a complicated existence yeah not exactly the
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stuff of BBC but CBC gets a little defensive of this they tweet out a screenshot of the National
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Post column and say we've got some internationally award-winning Canadian creators production teams
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and actors who might disagree Sue Ann doth they protest too much absolutely I mean if CBC would
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stick to the Schitt's Creek and Kim Convenience kind of shows and stop trying to niche market this is
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what it is niche marketing appealing to a very select group of people I mean a transgendered nanny that's
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very interesting but who would watch that you've got to wonder about their ratings if they aren't uh if
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they weren't propped up by the Liberal government would they be producing number one these shows and
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number two uh you know with their ratings they have no we don't know anything about their ratings
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let's put it that way so uh I dare say maybe three people watch these kinds of shows but again they're
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bailed out by the federal government so they don't have to worry uh BBC actually does produce some good stuff
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and and I've seen some of it on Netflix and it's clever and you know and there's some thought put
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into it this is all appealing and pandering to a select group and CBC has lost its way it's just
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really lost its way when it produces stuff like this I mean I try to keep on top of media in Canada so
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our colleague Harrison Faulkner put together a list of some CBC shows now I've not verified this so if it's
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wrong you can take it up with Harrison I'm just going off of his word here instead of uh telling
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my computer that I might like looking at CBC's website every now and then but he put a list of
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shows together that I've never heard of which sound insanely uh CBC-esque one is Canadian Ballroom
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Extravaganza in which 10 ballroom stars such as they are pair up with 10 queer and trans filmmakers
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for dance battles there's revenge of the black best friend about a self-help guru who wants to
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cancel the entertainment industry's reliance on the token black characters there's virgins which
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follows the lives of four women who are too modest for the big city but too provocative for the east
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African homes from which they come oh some ethnic tension there uh real blackity talk that's okay
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real blackity talk shines perspectives on non-binary black folk in Canada and then Queens which is a
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comedy mystery whodunit following an eclectic cast of Toronto drag queens whodunit is probably the evil
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uh white conservative character without even seeing the show that's probably the culprit of it so
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Sue Ann are these on your uh and your lovely wife's uh evening viewing viewing uh I've never ever heard of
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them and and you would be in the whodunit you would be Andrew in a trench coat with uh yeah the
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second well that's the thing you could probably see whodunit just by virtue of the character it's
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like I don't know uh because they couldn't like cast the drag queens as the criminals because that would
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be stigmatizing like I I'm a part of me thinks that Harrison has pranked me here and he just like
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plugged in some inputs into one of those AI uh generators of just like give me some titles of
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woke CBC shows and these aren't even real things but I think they're real well again I'm talked about
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pandering to a select group and they don't even make sense this stuff is you know I have no problem
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now I mean we see commercials with people of color and visible minorities we have you know men kissing
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on tv I don't care include everybody we you know and and shows have gay characters they have
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uh all kinds of visible minorities but to target a entire show around these specific oppressed
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intersectional groups is madness it's just you know I can't believe that they have any viewers for these
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shows other than I don't I don't think they do I like because they're not driven by ad revenue
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they're driven by subsidies and that's like the entire uh CBC existence here now so can you imagine
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them filming the drag queen one in Toronto them running up and down the street looking for you and
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your trench coat yeah so I I you know what if CBC does an open casting call I might even just audition to
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uh uh to get it over with here uh all right we've got time for one more here a Waterloo region that is
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in southwestern Ontario near me near me their public schools diversity job fair has garnered racially
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charged backlash they wanted to hire more indigenous black and racialized staff but now people are calling
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out well why are they discriminating against white candidates who may be just as qualified for the job
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now interestingly enough they turned off comments on their tweet uh because of the backlash so they
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didn't seem to like that people were calling out uh hey why is one's race relevant at all to their job
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at the Waterloo region school board well I think this has been going on and you know as you know I did a
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story about it I think this has been going on for a long long time but quietly now they feel that they
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have no problem just broadcasting their uh it's not even equity hiring it's selective hiring and I do
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think it's sort of a reverse form of racism in the list of people that are invited to the job fair
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are custodians and maintenance people and secretarial staff so what are you going to do if you don't have
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the qualifications but you have the you know appropriate uh skin color or whatever are you going
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to get a leg up on other people I mean it's it's a recipe for disaster I think uh whatever happened to
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hiring based on merit I thought that that was you know basically a human right that was part of the
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human rights code and then now everything has been topsy turned on its head really turned on its head or
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ear or whatever you want to call it um and you get selected treatment if you are indigenous in this case
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or uh how uh are racialized as they call it or are black and you know it's the statistics I quoted in
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my article the student population is very limited in those groups however they're not asking for Asian
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teachers for example they're not asking for LGBT teachers they're narrowing it very very uh selectively
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to this group of people I don't think that's right but I mean this is the Waterloo School Board
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sorry to drone on about this but this is the Waterloo School Board I've done too many um stories
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to count about the craziness that's gone on there particularly under the education director
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Jihan Jiwan Chanika who doesn't like to capitalize his name just to jump in they were the ones who back
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in October posted a thanksgiving thanksgiving tweet that was like happy fall long weekend
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and they canceled valentine's day at some schools yeah so you know it's just a progression of a long
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line of things that have happened but uh I think the pendulum has swung this way far far out and
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hopefully it'll swing back but right now I'm like my goodness be interesting to um to have someone
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like Trudeau go in blackface and see if he's let into the job fair
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you went there I didn't go there it was all her take it up with Sue Ann I did no such thing there
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uh that anyone can take issue with but uh yeah you know I will say on a more serious point to try to
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pivot it back to something that doesn't get me canceled alongside you uh by uh you know tonight
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we're talking about some cases entry-level jobs uh you know a custodian a secretarial worker
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administrator whatever they're called you know I'm actually a big believer in diversity in the
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workforce when diversity enhances the workforce so if you have for example a marketing team you
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don't want all white men because they're probably going to think more similarly about some things than
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people that have different backgrounds on some jobs though I don't think it matters I don't think
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it matters uh the race of someone who's pouring a coffee at Tim Hortons I don't think it matters the
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race of someone who's teaching your children when there's only going to be one teacher in the
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classroom I mean if you're going to have you know like the pantheon and have you know like the panel
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of gods in the classroom and you want one from every group and every nation and tribe on the earth
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then fine but for the most part I don't get why it matters and and this idea of focusing on these
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statistics and numbers it's like these school boards are trying to solve a problem that I don't think
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actually exists well that the problem you're right the problem is that there are poor math
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poor literacy uh poor reading scores at school boards right across the province so they think
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that their logic is that if we bring in more faces that match the kids who are in the classroom
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then they'll be able to relate to these people and um then all of a sudden you know everything will
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break free and they'll do well in their testing and they'll achieve blah blah blah but that's not
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the case a good teacher is a good teacher and it's actually exalting to white supremacists like
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yourself because it's saying that you don't understand you don't understand um you know the
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issues of you know blacks or racialized people I mean you know it's crazy stuff
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uh yeah you called out justin trudeau and blackface I get to be the white supremacist we are just like
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canceling ourselves and each other every which way on this show let's end it before we do any more
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damage here uh sue ann levy fantastic work as always at true north that people can catch up with
00:23:57.820
at tnc.news uh we will talk to you all next week