The Candice Malcolm Show - September 30, 2022


Fake News Friday | ‘Indigiqueers’ dance for Truth and Reconciliation day


Episode Stats

Length

27 minutes

Words per Minute

185.03642

Word Count

5,098

Sentence Count

299

Misogynist Sentences

10

Hate Speech Sentences

10


Summary

In the latest episode of Fake News Friday, Andrew Lawton and co-host Harrison Faulkner discuss the Globe and Mail's take on the proposed changes to Canada's Public Service Pension Plan (CPP) by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.


Transcript

00:00:00.700 Searchlight Pictures presents In the Blink of an Eye on Hulu on Disney+.
00:00:04.800 A sweeping science fiction drama spanning the Stone Age, the present day, and the distant future.
00:00:10.800 About the essence of what it means to be human, regardless of our place in history.
00:00:15.180 The film is directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton and stars Rashida Jones, Kate McKinnon, and Daveed Diggs.
00:00:21.820 Stream In the Blink of an Eye now only on Hulu on Disney+.
00:00:25.420 Sign up at Disneyplus.com.
00:00:30.000 Good day, greetings everyone, and welcome to another edition of Fake News Friday, September 30th, 2022.
00:00:48.700 It is fantastic to have you aboard.
00:00:50.920 I am Andrew Lawton, helping you navigate through the blizzard of lies that dominates the fodder that we so lovingly curate for you on Fake News Friday.
00:00:59.820 Joined, as always, the man who rises above fake news at every opportunity, except when he's, like, mucking around in it just to find the good stuff for you, Harrison Faulkner.
00:01:09.480 Harrison, another week passes us by. How was this one for you?
00:01:13.300 It was good. It was good. We had a big announcement on Monday that the mandates were dropping for the mask and a Rive can and vaccines for entry.
00:01:21.640 But nonetheless, Andrew, even though we got some good news, of course, the usual menu of fake news was served right up to us this week, and there's quite a lot to get into.
00:01:30.820 There is, but I will, I think you prompted this in me, I will wish everyone tomorrow, if you're watching this the day it's released, Friday, tomorrow, Saturday, October 1st,
00:01:40.740 Happy Vaccine Mandate Freedom Day from the federal government.
00:01:45.400 It's a gift that is much too belated from Justin Trudeau, but nonetheless, one that will celebrate it.
00:01:50.700 So I think the old thanks for coming to the party at all, even if you came after we're already packing it up and everyone's left.
00:01:56.400 But in any case, let's talk about this one. So the Globe and Mail, I should preface this by saying, has been one of the few legacy media outlets that has been unafraid of really going after the liberals on some key stories,
00:02:10.880 especially when it comes to Justin Trudeau's ethics abuses.
00:02:13.900 So I don't do what Gerald Butts and Justin Trudeau do, which is say that the Globe is actually fake news.
00:02:20.200 That being said, every now and then, even the most well-meaning media outlet will sometimes succumb to that impulse to start spewing liberal talking points.
00:02:30.300 And in this particular case, they've run a column by Rob Carrick saying that the Conservatives are all wrong when they say that CPP, Canada Pension Plan Premiums, are not a tax.
00:02:41.640 They're running literal liberal talking points on this because this is what the liberals say.
00:02:46.440 When Pierre Polyev talks about increases to CPP, which the liberals are putting forward, that's more money that employees have to have taken out of their paycheck.
00:02:56.700 It's more money that employers have to pay out of their bottom line to have an employee.
00:03:02.700 So for all intents and purposes, that is a tax to Canadians.
00:03:06.280 It's a tax to Canadian businesses. It's a tax to Canadian employees.
00:03:10.520 And Pierre Polyev points that out, and the Globe and Mail just, bam, taking the liberal position there.
00:03:16.940 No, exactly. And really, what should we expect, Andrew?
00:03:19.480 We've seen, as you said, the Globe and Mail is not that bad.
00:03:21.500 We've seen many other legacy media outlets do Justin Trudeau's bidding for him and his government.
00:03:27.280 And they always try and nitpick out exactly where Polyev goes wrong.
00:03:31.960 And it's all about, it's always language, right?
00:03:33.740 It's always this politics language.
00:03:35.660 You can call it a premium or you can call it a tax.
00:03:37.780 But as you said, at the end of the day, Andrew, it's just money coming out of your pocket to pay into a system, which you eventually get money out of.
00:03:44.300 No one is questioning the definition of the pension plan and what that is all about.
00:03:48.740 But again, like you said, when you're paying money into a system and that goes up, that is, for all intents and purposes, a tax.
00:03:55.680 You are paying money into something.
00:03:57.780 And it's obvious because at the very end of this article by this Globe and Mail writer, he writes,
00:04:02.920 It'll take some sacrifice for households to afford higher CPP premiums next year, but it's justified by their future retirement needs.
00:04:10.300 It's a talking point.
00:04:12.060 It's a government talking point.
00:04:13.120 It's literally written by the PMO.
00:04:15.200 You'd almost think it's ridiculous.
00:04:16.920 But again, like we said, it's been the focus of Pierre Polyev, his first two weeks as leader.
00:04:21.860 He's been hammering the government on affordability.
00:04:24.020 And what a surprise.
00:04:24.860 We have the legacy media coming in to basically mop up the mess for Justin Trudeau exactly on this issue, on affordability.
00:04:31.240 The funny thing is, too, I mean, the Liberals are the ones that say, oh, the Conservatives can't call it a tax.
00:04:37.700 Oddly, if you go back about nine years, Justin Trudeau is well aware, well aware that these sorts of taxes are, in fact, payroll taxes.
00:04:49.280 That's why they're called that in political parlance.
00:04:51.480 But Justin Trudeau can't claim he doesn't know this because he said it himself.
00:04:55.580 Mr. Speaker, we have crowdsourced over 3,000 questions from Canadians across the country.
00:05:01.240 For the Prime Minister on economic challenges facing the middle class.
00:05:06.220 I want to ask the Prime Minister a question I received from Dustin in Calgary.
00:05:11.920 His question is specifically about his EI premiums, which are rising by $50 this year, a direct payroll tax increase.
00:05:22.240 Dustin would like to know why did the Prime Minister choose to raise EI premiums for him and every other working Canadian?
00:05:29.280 Ooh, interesting.
00:05:31.300 Justin Trudeau and Dustin from Calgary.
00:05:34.960 They might be the same person.
00:05:36.200 You never know.
00:05:37.100 Want to know why a raise to the EI premium, or as they call it, a direct payroll tax increase, is going into effect.
00:05:44.000 Now, this is in response to Stephen Harper raising EI premiums back in 2013.
00:05:48.960 No point in relitigating that policy, except to say that no government is immune, evidently, from adding these taxes onto consumers.
00:05:57.040 But that's besides the point.
00:05:58.480 Justin Trudeau says when he doesn't want to put them up that they're a tax, and then when he's doing it, no, no, no.
00:06:04.980 No one's allowed to call them payroll taxes.
00:06:06.780 No, exactly.
00:06:07.940 That's just the nature of politics, Andrew.
00:06:09.560 And I think, again, like I said, you have to just go into the article to realize what this writer is doing.
00:06:14.940 I mean, he has to do these gymnastics to try and get around the fact that, you know, it isn't a tax.
00:06:19.480 And he's trying to push the government talking point.
00:06:21.620 You just read part of the article.
00:06:23.120 He writes this.
00:06:23.940 However, things turn out, there's a degree of comfort in knowing that the CPP will be there.
00:06:27.400 In fact, enhancements being made to the CPP will produce higher levels of retirement income than previous generations had.
00:06:32.300 You know, he's talking about trying to promote the CPP when actually, when he's trying to criticize Pierre Polyev for saying that it's a tax.
00:06:41.660 It's like you've been instructed, hey, promote this and try and challenge the opposition leader.
00:06:46.900 It's another example, Andrew, of the legacy media opposing the opposition leader rather than holding the government to account.
00:06:54.040 Yeah, the semantics have always been annoying in politics and in media.
00:06:58.220 Like, I remember when Aaron O'Toole announced that the Conservatives were going to put forward a carbon tax.
00:07:03.180 He had said, oh, no, no, no, it's not a carbon tax.
00:07:04.820 It's like a rewards program.
00:07:06.300 And look, if you're asking Canadians to pay more money, it is a carbon tax.
00:07:10.600 You can say it's a worthwhile tax.
00:07:12.100 You can say it's a tax that is better managed economically.
00:07:15.320 But if you're demanding more money, especially in these inflationary times, it is a tax.
00:07:20.720 And to, you know, adapt the old Jean Chrétien line about a proof, a tax is a tax and it's a tax.
00:07:26.160 So it's a tax.
00:07:26.960 So that's my best Jean Chrétien impression.
00:07:30.040 Let's talk about the big media freakout this week, though, firing on all cylinders.
00:07:34.940 And that was the election of Georgia Maloney in Italy as the prime minister designate.
00:07:42.540 Now, this is a broad coalition that we have here.
00:07:46.240 The legacy media have not at all been too keen on this.
00:07:51.280 And neither has, I should say, Justin Trudeau or Melanie Jolie or the foreign policy apparatus of Canada, none of whom have given the obligatory congratulatory message that they gave to Mario Draghi, that they gave to Emmanuel Macron, that they gave to Anthony Albanese.
00:08:07.640 But there's been a particularly bizarre mainstream media take that's like trying to weave this into a weird global and Canadian context.
00:08:18.340 I was having trouble following this one, Harrison.
00:08:20.400 Maybe you can make some sense of it.
00:08:22.160 Well, right.
00:08:22.760 So what they're trying to do here and what we've seen from a couple of other legacy media sources this week is to try and take the election of Georgia Maloney and what we're seeing in Iran, for example, with the protests, the protests against the mandatory hijab there.
00:08:36.380 They're trying to basically say that because of this, because of the election of the first female prime minister in Italy, women's rights are under attack in Italy.
00:08:46.120 Try and follow that logic along with us because we're having some trouble ourselves.
00:08:50.600 But supposedly, Andrew, women's rights are under attack across the world and they're kind of using the protests in Iran and the election of Georgia Maloney to say, well, look, this is what's going on.
00:09:00.300 We've got women protesting for their rights in Iran when in Italy, a bunch of Italians just voted in some patriarchal first female prime minister.
00:09:09.780 Again, it's very difficult to follow along with the logic here, but we're trying our best.
00:09:14.000 And then on top of that, Andrew, what they're trying to do, what we've seen from a lot of legacy media sources is to say, actually, the protests in Iran are, you know, you can almost compare the struggles that the women are facing in Iran to what is going on in Quebec with Bill C-21.
00:09:28.520 So, again, we've got this one article from the Toronto Star where this columnist is trying to mix all three together.
00:09:35.700 She's trying to basically say that the election of Georgia Maloney spells, you know, danger for women's rights in Italy, again, which is hilarious.
00:09:43.240 And then, you know, the protests in Iran for women's freedom can be equated somehow to the protests in Quebec against Bill C-21, which is about basically saying if you work in the public service, you can't have religious attire on.
00:09:56.600 I'm not going to defend Bill C-21. I don't personally agree with it.
00:09:59.160 But, again, the idea that we can compare the two together is ridiculous.
00:10:02.700 And then, of course, to add on top of that, this idea, Andrew, that Georgia Maloney's election upholds the patriarchy in Italy, in Europe.
00:10:10.460 Try and, you know, help me out with this one, Andrew.
00:10:12.540 Yeah, I mean, let's first off just explain that away.
00:10:15.980 What they don't like is that she's pro-life and pro-family.
00:10:18.580 They don't like that she supports families that have a traditional structure, which, again, I'm a libertarian.
00:10:25.180 I don't support restricting gay marriage, but they don't like that she's pro-life, that she doesn't like abortion.
00:10:30.520 They like that she is taking that Viktor Orban position of believing that strong families build strong societies, which I don't think is a controversial thing.
00:10:39.160 But it's interesting how we hear all of the time this hand-wringing about how we need more representation and more women in politics.
00:10:44.960 And then you get a woman who's elected to a very prominent position in Italy, the head of that country's government, a G7 nation.
00:10:52.940 And all of a sudden, well, she's not the right kind of woman.
00:10:55.640 And this column in the Toronto Star makes this point that Maloney is an example of how representation in circles of power is meaningless
00:11:03.600 if the representative does not also challenge the existing hierarchy and bias.
00:11:08.680 The difference with Iran is it doesn't care to make its patriarchy palatable.
00:11:13.740 So the implication is that Iran and Italy are both patriarchies.
00:11:18.500 And Italy, though, is so particularly progressive because Italy has a woman as the patriarch.
00:11:24.560 Now, woman as the...
00:11:27.400 I'm rusty on my Latin, but I think that means gender, non-binary, gender-neutral, patriarch does.
00:11:38.980 So you can have a male patriarch, a female patriarch, a genderqueer, non-binary patriarch, doesn't matter.
00:11:46.480 You can have any kind of arc you want with that.
00:11:49.200 But it's absurd and it's offensive.
00:11:51.360 And it's like saying if you didn't like Barack Obama's policies that, well, he's not really the first black president
00:11:57.500 because, you know, he's not voting the right way or something like that.
00:12:01.440 She is a female that's risen up, the first prime minister of Italy.
00:12:07.020 You don't have to like her.
00:12:07.920 You don't have to respect her.
00:12:09.020 But it's amazing how they move the goalposts just to rationalize away that.
00:12:14.360 And as for, like, linking Italy and Iran and Quebec, I've had to write columns on deadline before
00:12:19.600 when I really don't know what I'm going to say.
00:12:22.280 This strikes me as that where it's like, oh, I've got to submit 800 words.
00:12:25.520 I'm only at 300.
00:12:29.260 Quebec.
00:12:30.100 Let's throw something about Quebec again.
00:12:31.500 That's good for 200 to 300 words.
00:12:33.520 And then, oh, shoot, I'm still 200 down.
00:12:36.420 Italy, Iran.
00:12:37.640 Yeah, OK.
00:12:38.060 Italy, Iran, Quebec.
00:12:39.080 Yeah, we'll do those three.
00:12:40.160 It's like one of these things is not like the other.
00:12:42.220 But anyway.
00:12:43.340 No, exactly, Andrew.
00:12:44.540 And I mean, the thing is, is, of course, it's very easy to figure out if you're trying to figure out
00:12:49.260 or get a kind of clearer idea about what's going on in world politics.
00:12:53.760 When Justin Trudeau, or not Justin Trudeau, because he's been silent, noticeably silent,
00:12:58.600 but when a lot of the legacy media are freaking out about the election of this woman, when
00:13:03.360 you've got, you know, leftists on Twitter losing their minds about Georgia Maloney's
00:13:06.920 election, one thing I saw on Twitter was this is a good sign as to whether or not you should
00:13:11.860 support this woman.
00:13:12.800 You know, if these people are freaking out about it, it's probably, you know, it's probably
00:13:16.920 that she's not that bad.
00:13:18.300 And in the article, this writer exposes her position.
00:13:21.900 You know, she writes quotes from Georgia Maloney as though they're the worst things
00:13:25.880 that can be said, as though it's like, oh, horrible that this woman has said this, such
00:13:29.460 as, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian, no one will take that away from
00:13:34.680 me.
00:13:35.060 So apparently that quote from Georgia Maloney is this evil sign that, yeah, exactly, that
00:13:40.620 the men are coming back to take over the women's rights again.
00:13:43.800 And, you know, this other line about how, you know, she writes this, at a rally by Spain's
00:13:50.000 far right Vox party in June, Maloney said, yes to natural families, no to the LGBT lobby,
00:13:56.300 yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology, yes to the culture of life, no to the abyss
00:14:00.680 of death.
00:14:01.420 Andrew, I've never heard anything so evil in my life.
00:14:03.520 It's like Mussolini's coming right back.
00:14:05.580 Yeah, it's bizarre, and I mean, this is a columnist, I should say, at the Toronto Star
00:14:10.920 whose job title is, if I'm not mistaken, social and racial justice columnist, and I think it
00:14:16.760 used to, she used to be the diversity and equity columnist, so it's like a position where
00:14:20.620 you have to find social and racial grievances that you could pluck out, and it's fascinating
00:14:27.240 to me that we're in an era, not all that surprising, but we're in an era where, you know,
00:14:32.760 the woman leadership that we all strive for in so many ways doesn't matter if the woman
00:14:37.520 doesn't support the things you support.
00:14:40.440 Yeah, exactly, and this idea, Andrew, that, you know, we're going to really compare the
00:14:45.840 plight of Iranian women who are protesting for their freedom to the Quebec bill, the
00:14:52.160 Bill C-21, is, it's ridiculous to me.
00:14:54.880 It minimizes the real struggle for freedom that we're watching from the Iranian women who
00:14:59.240 I think deserve, you know, immense praise.
00:15:02.000 It's been incredible to watch what they're able to do, and of course, with that will come
00:15:08.360 the legacy media horrible takes, as they always do, but again, it's just, it's ridiculous
00:15:12.960 to me that we're going to really compare the two together, as though there's even any semblance
00:15:18.120 of comparison to be had about the plight of Iranian women and religious Muslim women in Quebec
00:15:24.240 who want to wear a hijab in the public service, so it's just ridiculous to me, but predictable.
00:15:30.100 Yeah, very much so.
00:15:31.320 Let's turn to West Lincoln, Ontario, which if you've not been, I've driven through West
00:15:36.080 Lincoln, it's in the Niagara area, and specifically this weird, there's just a lot that's weird
00:15:43.260 about this story, and I want to set the stage here.
00:15:45.680 So, True North reported the other day that Harold Jonker, who's a Ward 2 councillor in
00:15:51.300 West Lincoln, was going to be suing the township he serves as a councillor in for taking away
00:15:57.560 his powers, for punishing him, basically, for his participation earlier this year in
00:16:02.980 the Freedom Convoy.
00:16:04.040 Now, True North does a lot of groundbreaking investigative work.
00:16:08.100 We publish exclusive reports.
00:16:09.980 This was not an exclusive investigative report.
00:16:13.020 This is a story that came from a press release from the agency representing Harold Jonker as his
00:16:18.900 lawyer, the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms.
00:16:21.760 So, that's the preface here.
00:16:24.600 This is the headline in In Saga, which is also branded as In Niagara Region.
00:16:30.720 It's a regional chain in that part of Ontario.
00:16:33.740 Far-right media site says West Lincoln councillor suing township after Freedom Convoy reprimand.
00:16:41.500 So, we're far right in the headline.
00:16:43.140 Now, in the lead, they're very generous.
00:16:44.440 In the lead, we're just a right-wing media site.
00:16:47.320 Claims a West Lincoln councillor is suing the township after being reprimanded for participating
00:16:51.900 in the February Freedom Convoy to Ottawa.
00:16:55.140 And then it says this.
00:16:56.400 However, after saying Ward 2 councillor Harold Jonker was suing the township, the same story
00:17:02.940 says just two sentences later that an organization called the ScareQuotes Justice Centre for Constitutional
00:17:09.840 Freedoms has announced a lawsuit on his behalf Monday.
00:17:13.440 The next line is my favourite.
00:17:16.580 Obviously, suing the town directly or another body suing the town in your name are two separate
00:17:23.600 things.
00:17:25.240 It gets worse, but I just want to reflect on that for a moment.
00:17:28.600 So, that's not actually obvious because it's not true.
00:17:30.980 And generally speaking, something that's not true, I'd be hard-pressed to call obvious.
00:17:34.900 But they're firstly saying that we are the only source of this information.
00:17:39.520 We are the font from which this information flows.
00:17:41.920 And then there's the difference between councillor Jonker suing and councillor Jonker's lawyers
00:17:48.000 suing, which is not a material difference or a difference at all.
00:17:52.060 And then they called Jonkers, they've added an S to his name here, for clarification over
00:17:58.220 the True North media story.
00:17:59.380 But that call hasn't been returned.
00:18:00.720 And then they're like concerned that the quotes that Jonkers, they gave him the superfluous
00:18:06.080 S again, had in the story were not from us, but from somewhere else.
00:18:10.300 No, we pulled them from the JCCF press release.
00:18:14.500 And then it goes on and on and gives some background on the story.
00:18:17.420 And then at the end, they get the name of their own mayor wrong, which was another little
00:18:22.120 amusing aside here.
00:18:23.100 So I looked and they're about 50-50 on how they spell Jonker's name.
00:18:27.480 Sometimes he's Jonker, sometimes he's Jonkers.
00:18:30.640 Jonker apostrophe S appeared once.
00:18:32.540 So that one, I'll give them as a correct one.
00:18:35.040 But the far right label, it was funny.
00:18:37.540 So I originally was attracted to the far right label because that is a very loaded and I would
00:18:43.380 argue defamatory way of describing someone.
00:18:45.980 You're making a statement there.
00:18:47.600 And in the case of True North, not one that's particularly true.
00:18:50.800 But then I read the story and I'm like, this would be like a fake news story contender
00:18:55.340 on its own, even without the swipe at True North, just because it was so bad.
00:18:59.740 Oh, yeah.
00:19:00.040 And well, we have an award show at the end of the year to highlight some of the very
00:19:03.000 best of the year.
00:19:04.260 And I think this one is probably going to make an appearance, perhaps.
00:19:06.640 And it's one of our practices at True North, not to make ourselves the story, right?
00:19:10.620 We always try and tell the story, not make ourselves a story.
00:19:13.420 But when other news outlets make us the story, we really can't do much about it, right?
00:19:17.300 I've never seen a story about a local politician in a local newspaper or a local media outlet
00:19:23.960 where the subject seems to be the media outlet that also reported on the story and not the
00:19:30.620 actual not the actual counselor himself.
00:19:32.820 It's a very bizarre situation where the headline talks about the media that reported on the
00:19:37.660 story and not even necessarily what's going on in the story itself.
00:19:41.700 Like True North is a part of this whole operation.
00:19:45.060 Andrew, do they think that True North is behind this JCCF lawsuit here?
00:19:49.360 I'm really, it's very bizarre.
00:19:50.760 I've never seen an article like this.
00:19:53.220 Yeah.
00:19:53.880 And I guess, I mean, the far right thing is a big, big thing.
00:19:57.620 And generally speaking, anytime this has appeared, we've pushed back against it and it's been
00:20:01.800 changed.
00:20:02.240 Now, in this particular case, they haven't even managed to change their typos.
00:20:05.620 So I'm not optimistic they'll change anything else.
00:20:07.540 And it's not that I'm worried about this influencing the four or five readers of In Saga.
00:20:14.880 Three quarters of those are just me refreshing it while I was reading it again before the
00:20:18.260 show today.
00:20:19.120 It's more that these sorts of things are very dishonest and very disingenuous and they need
00:20:24.920 to be called out and they need to be addressed at source.
00:20:26.920 And it shows that bias can sometimes be very subtle and other times it can just like hit
00:20:31.500 you over the head with a giant neon sign.
00:20:34.220 So take from that what you will.
00:20:36.020 Well, let's always, always keep with tradition here and end with a bit of a fun one.
00:20:41.160 Harrison, take it away.
00:20:42.760 Well, you know, like we said, we try and make it fun at the end of the show.
00:20:45.620 And when I first saw this, I thought, wow, this is absolutely hilarious.
00:20:48.820 But it's also almost sad how far we've fallen, Andrew, where we are at in society.
00:20:54.400 So on Global Okanagan, which is one of the regional global news Twitter accounts, there
00:21:00.260 was a video posted about a local performance for Truth and Reconciliation Day, National Day for
00:21:05.680 Truth and Reconciliation Day, otherwise known as Trudeau's Surfing Day, Trudeau's Surfing
00:21:09.360 Vacation Day.
00:21:10.260 Well, it's coming around this year once again.
00:21:12.920 And to celebrate the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, a group is basically, and
00:21:19.000 when I say this, there's a video to go with it and it'll give you all the visuals you need.
00:21:22.420 But a group is doing a two-spirit drag queen performance to honor National Day for Truth
00:21:30.320 and Reconciliation.
00:21:31.160 Just in case we haven't had enough serving of our daily dose of Clown World, check this
00:21:36.000 video out.
00:21:36.520 Two-spirit drag artist Ella Lamoureux has partnered with fellow drag artist RezDaddy and Rebellious
00:21:49.580 Unicorns to mark the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in a unique way, with a variety
00:21:55.360 show filled with indigiqueer artists.
00:21:57.520 Because unfortunately, Day of Reconciliation only happened because they found all those kids
00:22:01.180 in the Kamloops Residential Schools, so it took a very traumatic event for the rest of
00:22:05.560 the world to start believing in Indigenous stories and Indigenous peoples, so now I feel
00:22:09.420 like it's important for every year to just keep bringing it up and keep bringing it to
00:22:12.420 light again so people don't forget that this is their history and they're still learning
00:22:15.740 and growth and recovery to come from the past experiences.
00:22:19.360 The variety show is not just a series of performances, it's also an opportunity for the artist to have
00:22:25.100 honest conversations with the audience.
00:22:27.540 It is definitely a moment where we can celebrate Indigenous art but also bring recognition to
00:22:33.160 something that is terrible that happened.
00:22:35.740 But also I feel like if we can marry the two, make people have a very thought-provoking evening
00:22:40.000 but also have people have fun, I feel that it's going to put the message more deeply into
00:22:44.580 their hearts so they're going to remember more.
00:22:46.540 Not only is it a performance that won't soon be forgotten, it's also a fundraiser.
00:22:51.760 The proceeds of the event will be split between the performers and artists that are taking
00:22:56.020 part it as well as the two charities, the Indian Residential School Survivor Society as well
00:23:01.320 as the Two Spirit Motion Society.
00:23:02.640 The Indigenous and Proud event takes place Friday, September 30th at the Creekside Theatre
00:23:07.980 in Lake Country and tickets are available now.
00:23:11.440 If you can't make it in person, you can always live stream it or catch it online after the
00:23:16.220 event for a fee.
00:23:17.900 Sydney Morton, Global News.
00:23:19.560 So there it is Andrew, drag artists Ella Lamoureux and Rez Daddy are marking National Day for
00:23:27.360 Truth and Reconciliation in a unique way in Lake Country with a variety show filled with
00:23:32.200 Indigequeer artists.
00:23:33.600 Andrew, I can't think of a better way to remember the residential school system and to memorialize
00:23:41.640 the residential school system than to do a drag queen performance.
00:23:45.360 Is there anything more insulting to Canada's Indigenous population than something like that?
00:23:50.980 Well, surfing, I think, in Tofino.
00:23:53.200 But actually, yes, you're right.
00:23:54.960 Find it all.
00:23:55.780 I mean, because last year when the surfing thing happened, the view was that this is a
00:24:00.120 day that we are supposed to pay tribute to this with reverence and a level of somberness.
00:24:06.080 And I don't see how it's all that different from doing it.
00:24:10.540 Because if you're having a party, you're not really doing anything materially different from
00:24:14.120 surfing in Tofino.
00:24:15.280 I guess you're involving Indigenous people, which makes a difference.
00:24:17.960 But this isn't like the quiet contemplation and reflection that I thought the day was
00:24:22.120 supposed to be about.
00:24:23.220 No, exactly.
00:24:23.940 What it is is an opportunity for, Andrew, these people to push their ideology onto people under
00:24:29.260 the guise of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
00:24:33.120 They're basically using the memories of these people to push their ideology.
00:24:39.060 I think it's absolutely ridiculous.
00:24:41.220 I think it's incredibly condescending.
00:24:44.800 And of course, there's other language that I can use for it, which I won't use on the
00:24:47.720 show.
00:24:48.460 There was some interesting commentary on this.
00:24:50.920 A well-known Twitter account, Ian Miles Chong, he commented on this and wrote,
00:24:56.100 Dancing over the graves of their ancestors.
00:24:58.460 And yes, they're doing a drag queen dance over the graves of their ancestors.
00:25:01.560 I think it's absolutely accurate to write that.
00:25:04.300 John K also wrote, just a few years ago, anyone of any race who proposed something so
00:25:09.260 monstrously tasteless as this show would be properly denounced as either unhinged or
00:25:13.500 bigoted.
00:25:14.300 In 2022, on the other hand, Global News broadcast it like it's some profound act of healing,
00:25:19.840 absolutely beyond satire.
00:25:21.320 It is beyond satire.
00:25:22.640 You know, in the description of this event, they write, if we can marry the two, the two
00:25:27.240 being, you know, remembrance of Truth and Reconciliation of the residential school system,
00:25:32.620 and I guess indigiqueer drag queen dancing, if we can marry the two, this woman writes,
00:25:38.420 or this man writes, I don't even know, and make people have a very thought-provoking evening.
00:25:42.120 But also, people can have fun.
00:25:44.080 I feel like it's going to put the message more deeply in their hearts that they're going
00:25:46.820 to remember more.
00:25:47.560 Yes, exactly.
00:25:48.140 I think we weren't really aware just yet about what was going on.
00:25:51.780 So thankfully, with this drag queen performance with these indigiqueer artists, we'll finally
00:25:56.320 get the full picture, Andrew, of the residential school system.
00:25:59.220 Progress in Canada is really taking, you know, a new meaning these days.
00:26:04.100 It's really kind of, as John Kay writes, beyond satire.
00:26:07.760 I don't know if you've seen any of these lately.
00:26:09.940 There's this, like, trend online, these AI art generators, where you can just put in a
00:26:14.400 bunch of, like, random words, and it merges them together in something.
00:26:18.120 I feel that's what happened here, where they're just like, well, let's just merge these two
00:26:21.500 things and create something.
00:26:23.520 And it's not quite something that makes sense, but we're going to roll with it anyway.
00:26:26.640 Anyway, they're actually doing what that Toronto Star columnist was doing, which was like,
00:26:29.920 I've got a few half ideas here.
00:26:31.680 Let's all put them together and just make something new out of it.
00:26:34.620 The panic, the journalistic panic.
00:26:37.580 Yeah, we didn't have anything planned for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
00:26:41.400 So, well, here's a feather boa.
00:26:43.000 So, all right, let's roll.
00:26:44.920 Thank you to Global News Okanagan.
00:26:46.500 What would we do without them, really?
00:26:47.960 What would we do, really, without Global News in general?
00:26:50.000 Well, but no, thankfully, the Indigenous community can rest assured that Canada is going to be
00:26:55.600 thinking about the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation because of this great
00:27:00.060 indigiqueer drag queen story performance.
00:27:03.700 Wonderful.
00:27:05.120 On that note, we will have to wrap things up there.
00:27:08.380 I want to give a big thanks, as always, to my trusty co-host, Harrison Faulkner, host of
00:27:12.900 Ratioed, which I would definitely encourage you to listen to.
00:27:15.760 And while you're at it, why not subscribe to The Andrew Lawton Show as well, among the
00:27:19.820 other fantastic roster of True North content.
00:27:23.140 We don't have an indigiqueer drag show, but it is in development.
00:27:26.480 So stay tuned for the weeks ahead.
00:27:28.300 I'm Andrew Lawton.
00:27:29.320 Talk to you soon.
00:27:30.100 Have a great weekend.
00:27:30.920 Thank you.
00:27:31.320 God bless.
00:27:31.900 And good day to you all.