The Candice Malcolm Show - Fake News Friday ｜ The legacy media is FREAKING out over Musk’s Twitter takeover

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00:00:30.000 Welcome, everyone, to another edition of Fake News Friday.

00:00:44.000 Swimming through the, you don't really swim through a blizzard of lies.

00:00:47.000 You don't really swim through a blizzard.

00:00:49.000 Swimming through the whirlpool of lies, I guess.

00:00:52.000 We're already starting with fake news.

00:00:53.000 Say cesspool.

00:00:54.000 Cesspool, there we go.

00:00:56.000 Swimming through the cesspool of lies.

00:00:57.000 Staying warm through the blizzard of lies.

00:00:59.000 I'm mixing my metaphors left, right, and center here.

00:01:02.000 As you just heard, they're joined in a very special turn of events here on the program

00:01:06.000 by the great Sue Ann Levy, veteran journalist, columnist, former political candidate,

00:01:12.000 and my wonderful colleague at True North on another Friday, November 4th, 2022.

00:01:18.000 Sue Ann, great to have you on the Fake News Friday hot seat for the first time.

00:01:22.000 How's the week been?

00:01:24.000 It's been very interesting.

00:01:26.000 And I just want you to know, before we start, that I'm fake too.

00:01:30.000 Every part of me is fake.

00:01:32.000 So I fit in with Fake News Friday.

00:01:35.000 Like just today, or has your entire career been like a simulation from Mark Zuckerberg's metaverse?

00:01:40.000 According to my critics, I am a fake, so.

00:01:43.000 Okay.

00:01:44.000 Well, we'll try to find the strains of reality that only the True North powerhouse 0.95

00:01:50.000 that is you and I today can deliver to people here.

00:01:53.000 Speaking of the Twitter trolls, let's talk about Twitter here,

00:01:57.000 because this week has been incredible as Elon Musk cements his grasp on the ownership of Twitter.

00:02:03.000 And to my knowledge, he hasn't even made a single change in the overall user experience.

00:02:09.000 Certainly, some executives have been fired.

00:02:11.000 But he's talked about making people pay for checkmarks, which is like either,

00:02:16.000 I don't even know if he's trying to troll people or if it's genuinely the policy direction they're going.

00:02:20.000 But it has caused like a blue checkmark freakout. 0.94

00:02:23.000 And I know you and I both have the coveted blue checkmarks.

00:02:26.000 But I like to think we aren't exactly part of the blue check brigade like some of our current and former colleagues in media are.

00:02:34.000 Yeah, you know, it's a very bizarre reaction.

00:02:37.000 Actually, for the longest time, I didn't even know I had a blue checkmark or what it meant.

00:02:42.000 But, hey, you know, some people covet it and they think that they're extra special.

00:02:48.000 You know, a lot of the legacy media think they are extra special anyway.

00:02:52.000 So blue checkmark just adds to their, you know, feeling of speciality.

00:02:57.000 So, I mean, they've gone absolutely nuts.

00:03:01.000 Now, is it true that Donald Trump got let back on Twitter?

00:03:05.000 I think they've talked about it. I don't think it's happened yet.

00:03:09.000 He said that people who were banned or suspended for, I forget the wording he used,

00:03:14.000 but it was like minor or something experience infractions would be brought back.

00:03:19.000 He said he'll have a review and all that.

00:03:22.000 But to be honest, it's like Trump coming back is going to just absolutely send the world of blue checkmarks into a frenzy.

00:03:29.000 But the taking their money, I think, is particularly hilarious.

00:03:33.000 Because the latest version of the policy, I think, is that to keep your blue checkmark, you're going to have to pay $8 a month.

00:03:39.000 But it also sounds like everyone will be able to, even if you're not a celebrity or journalist or, you know, former county dog catcher,

00:03:47.000 you'll be able to pay the $8 and if you prove your identity, you'll get a checkmark.

00:03:51.000 So it's going to be a symbol of you being a real person, not just this thing reserved for the elites.

00:03:57.000 And the blue check brigade in Canada has been particularly exceptional in its response. 0.91

00:04:03.000 I want to read a couple of them here.

00:04:05.000 Ian Hannamansing of CBC, his was a bit tamer.

00:04:08.000 His was a bit tamer. He said, I don't know how this will end for now, but let's hope good, thoughtful people can overcome the noise.

00:04:15.000 So he's taking a bit more of a hopeful approach.

00:04:17.000 David Aiken of Global News, where I used to work, says, once again, Elon has it backwards.

00:04:23.000 Pay us blue checks, $20 a month, and maybe we'll stay.

00:04:27.000 Every ad agency and media organization has the analytics.

00:04:30.000 There's no business case to be made to pay for a blue check.

00:04:33.000 So David Aiken is saying that he is providing such a critical and pivotal public service to Twitter users that he should be paid $20 a month for the privilege of his voluntary tweeting.

00:04:44.000 Would you pay $20 a month to see David Aiken's tweets?

00:04:47.000 Absolutely not.

00:04:48.000 Actually, he's blocked me, so I can't see them anyway.

00:04:51.000 So yeah, you shouldn't be able to block people if you're getting paid to tweet.

00:04:55.000 Exactly.

00:04:56.000 So, you know, the blue checkmark, it should come with some conditions.

00:05:00.000 First of all, if you're going to have to pay for a blue checkmark, and I don't suspect that's going to happen.

00:05:06.000 But, you know, there's a lot of anonymous trolls on Twitter who take great stabs that I know at me, and I'm certainly, I'm certain at you as well, and say some pretty horrific things.

00:05:18.000 And they do that from behind their veil of anonymity.

00:05:22.000 And, you know, if the blue checkmark ends that, I mean, I've always stood up for what I believe in.

00:05:29.000 And, you know, my name is out there and yours is as well.

00:05:32.000 And so, you know, if it gets rid of those anonymous trolls, so be it.

00:05:40.000 I wouldn't.

00:05:41.000 And the other thing is, as we said, David Aiken has blocked me.

00:05:45.000 Anybody that they don't like who criticizes him or says something that, you know, he's well known for blocking people who criticize him.

00:05:53.000 As I do INDP politicians, I have a whole host of them who have blocked me.

00:05:58.000 So if you want to be on Twitter and you want to have your blue checkmark, you're not allowed to block people.

00:06:03.000 So I think it's not a bad idea if, you know, under those conditions.

00:06:09.000 Yeah, I mean, the idea and I don't even know if it's serious or if he's just so offended by the concept of having to pay that it's just his natural response.

00:06:15.000 But it's like there are people with blue checkmarks who are the reporter for a newspaper that has a circulation of, you know, a few hundred or a few thousand in a smaller town.

00:06:26.000 And I'm not begrudging them. I'm just saying that they aren't hugely influential Twitter users.

00:06:30.000 And then there are like, you know, the Kim Kardashians and the Justin Beavers who have millions.

00:06:34.000 So the idea that like any one of them is providing an equivalent service that should be, you know, they should be compensated just for being on the on the Twitter machine is, I think, a bit bizarre here.

00:06:44.000 And I think there's a tendency in general and this is not about David Aiken by a lot of people in media now to confuse Twitter with working and Twitter with reporting.

00:06:55.000 And it's not to say that live tweeting proceedings isn't a key event, but there are some people where it's like I'm not sure they're doing much more than just sitting on Twitter all day.

00:07:03.000 And I think that's the mindset here is that so many of them just view it as this, this basically this part of their existence.

00:07:10.000 Yeah. And I, you know, when I, I was in the business for a long year time or I've been in the business for a long time, 32 years.

00:07:18.000 When I started out, we didn't have social media. We didn't have it till 2000.

00:07:22.000 I think it was, I first went on Twitter in 2009 when I ran for the conservatives.

00:07:27.000 And so I used it to tweet my stories to promote them.

00:07:31.000 It was one more forum, but you're right. A lot of them do use.

00:07:35.000 I can think of one particular TikTok star in Ottawa.

00:07:39.000 He uses Twitter a lot to promote whatever.

00:07:42.000 Now, I mean, I, I do say the odd thing controversial on Twitter, just the odd thing without writing a story.

00:07:50.000 Without writing a story. However, I'm not full time in the mainstream media anymore.

00:07:56.000 And I think you're right about that, that that has become their way of conveying what is going on, whether it's covering a hearing as you are, the Freedom Convoy or anything else.

00:08:06.000 Well, and it raises the question. I mean, I'll you, I don't want to pick on David Akin, but I'll, I'll raise the, the David Akin scenario here.

00:08:13.000 So let's say David Akin with his blue check mark is tweeting away while he's doing his work.

00:08:18.000 Who gets the $20 a month that he thinks he's owed David Akin, the individual or global news.

00:08:24.000 And you know, who's the owner of the account. It's him personally, I presume.

00:08:27.000 But like, are we talking about just making this part of the mainstream media content platforms?

00:08:34.000 And that is why I think a lot of these people that are demanding that they be paid for tweeting are like, I feel like they're almost trying to do an end run around their, the outlet that they work for when they say, no, no, no, I want to get my salary there.

00:08:44.920 But I also want to get a check from Elon Musk for, for tweeting.

00:08:48.900 Well, in a lot of media now, I know we had post media, we had a social media policy, conduct policy.

00:08:56.660 So you're still considered a member of whatever media platform you're writing for.

00:09:02.560 So you're right.

00:09:04.560 Yeah, you're representing them regardless.

00:09:06.560 Yeah, where the heck is your money going to go?

00:09:07.560 Am I going to, I'm not going to get, I wouldn't get the $20 personally would go to, you know, my employer.

00:09:12.560 So I'm not really sure.

00:09:14.700 I mean, it just, it just conveys, you know, the, I guess the absolute arrogance of some of these people who think they are so important that the whole world wants to hear what they have to say.

00:09:27.740 Yeah, and you've got some conspiracy theories emerging too.

00:09:31.140 Rachel Gilmore, who's also with Global, Global's winning the Elon Musk freak out discussion here.

00:09:36.800 Rachel Gilmore has said, it would be great if Elon Musk could clarify whether there will still be any criteria for verification beyond having $8 a month.

00:09:44.880 So she's saying like already, no, no, no, you shouldn't just be able to pay, you need to be able to earn it.

00:09:50.300 You need to be, you know, at that elite level, I guess is how I read it.

00:09:53.920 And then she also writes, if Twitter becomes a platform where anyone with $8 can impersonate a president with a blue tick next to their name, that would be dangerous.

00:10:01.780 So she's interpreting the policy as if I could pay $8 and say, I want to be Sue Ann Levy with a blue check mark and then go out and feed all these.

00:10:10.240 You can have it.

00:10:11.360 You can, you can be.

00:10:12.200 No, your career will never recover if my words are put into your Twitter account, I assure you.

00:10:16.780 But it's like, I don't know how you get there.

00:10:19.300 Like Parler, for example, which I had when it when it first came out before the whole January 6th thing happened and they pulled it offline.

00:10:27.860 And Parler had a thing where you could get a red badge on your account if you submitted proof of who you were.

00:10:35.260 So you had to, I think, like scan your driver's license.

00:10:37.980 And it was a way that you were verifying your account was real in the sense that it belonged to you.

00:10:43.000 And it wasn't like a status symbol.

00:10:45.180 And as I take from what Elon has proposed, that's what it is there.

00:10:48.700 So I would say if you take the anonymity away from the trolls, the user experience is going to be a lot better.

00:10:54.740 I agree 100%.

00:10:56.400 And I think that needs to be a condition because and there are people who will just form fake account after fake account after fake account.

00:11:04.660 And just to come after specific people, I know I have.

00:11:08.140 Or they'll do a fake Sue Ann Levy account.

00:11:10.640 I've had a few of those.

00:11:11.820 I guess I was told I never made it until I had a fake Sue Ann Levy account.

00:11:15.980 That one seems to have disappeared.

00:11:17.220 But, you know, and you see there's a fake John Tory account, which was quite amusing during the election.

00:11:23.760 But having said that.

00:11:24.920 It's actually better than the real John Tory account.

00:11:26.840 Yeah, exactly.

00:11:27.280 I prefer the fake John Tory than the real John Tory.

00:11:30.400 It was really funny.

00:11:31.440 Yeah, it was very funny.

00:11:32.420 But having said that, you shouldn't be able to be definitely, if you have a blue checkmark, able to attack people using some anonymous name that people never know.

00:11:44.500 I mean, stand up for what you say.

00:11:45.920 Yeah, I have a big issue with the anonymity on the Internet in general because there are people that stick their necks out every day.

00:11:52.200 And I don't just mean me.

00:11:53.080 I mean people that are a lot more courageous than I am that stick their necks out at great risk.

00:11:57.620 And, you know, when someone just lobs their grenades from the comfort of, you know, rando 17925, it's like there's a bit of injustice there.

00:12:05.160 But let's turn to the Public Order Emergency Commission.

00:12:09.820 Now, this is where I think Twitter journalism does have value because there's so much happening.

00:12:13.580 You've got to look to sometimes the live tweeting to keep up with it.

00:12:17.880 But the convoy organizers were testifying this week.

00:12:22.380 And Tamara Leach just started her testimony Thursday evening. 1.00

00:12:25.660 And this is, again, her first time being able to speak her mind because of the bail conditions that she's under since the convoy ended.

00:12:32.500 And there is a little bit of an odd narration going on by some of the mainstream media journalists.

00:12:38.420 And in some cases, it's proof that they haven't really followed along with the story too closely.

00:12:45.560 Like there was one, for example, David Baxter, who is a videographer.

00:12:50.720 I think he's actually with Global, too.

00:12:52.400 This is like Global is featuring very heavily in our program today.

00:12:56.760 So it's not like we're not doing it deliberately.

00:12:59.060 This is not like my revenge for them firing me.

00:13:01.200 I've had that already.

00:13:01.940 But David Baxter, he tweeted out after the Freedom Convoys GoFundMe got shut down.

00:13:06.740 And Chris Barber testifies e-transfers went to Tamara Leach's personal bank account.

00:13:11.200 And he doesn't know what happened with all the cash.

00:13:14.180 This is a description that makes it sound like Tamara Leach got a bunch of money into her personal account. 1.00

00:13:19.300 And nobody knows where it went.

00:13:20.860 That was how that tweet looked.

00:13:22.700 And I was in the room when the testimony took place.

00:13:25.540 And I've also literally wrote the book on the convoy.

00:13:28.140 And I was like, well, that's, I mean, that's not, that's an example of how something can be, as Dan Rather would say, fake but accurate.

00:13:34.760 Like it's, the words are technically true, but when you string them together like that, they're not.

00:13:40.120 Because what actually happened was they didn't have a not-for-profit account set up yet.

00:13:44.920 So Tamara Leach had a dedicated personal account to receive the money. 1.00

00:13:49.140 She added Chris Barber as a joint account holder so there would be accountability.

00:13:53.620 And when he says he doesn't know what happened with all the cash, they're talking about entirely different money.

00:13:58.380 They're saying when people showed up and handed cash to convoy organizers or to truckers, he said, I wasn't overseeing that, so I don't know how it was distributed.

00:14:07.700 That wasn't my wheelhouse.

00:14:09.340 And it's amazing how much of an incentive there seems to be for so many in the media to build this very sinister narrative when the facts just don't support that.

00:14:18.200 Well, I think, and I've been watching, you've been watching it a lot more closely, and you wrote a damn fine book, by the way.

00:14:26.320 I really enjoyed it.

00:14:27.320 And I think watching from afar, not in the depths of Ottawa, I think there's a tremendous, tremendous push by the mainstream media, the legacy media, to prove that they were right.

00:14:43.360 And some of the testimony, or a lot of it has come out, you know, showing that the emergency didn't have to be declared, and that, you know, it wasn't with the bouncy castles and all kinds of stuff.

00:14:59.240 It wasn't, you know, the protest that it was made out to be.

00:15:02.820 And I think the mainstream media will grab at any shred, any shred, like you say, and twist it and manipulate it.

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00:15:41.220 To make it seem like they were right all along.

00:15:43.980 They didn't do their job in the first place.

00:15:45.860 You did your job.

00:15:47.480 And some of the independent media did their job.

00:15:49.980 But they didn't do their job.

00:15:51.980 They didn't bother talking to people.

00:15:53.960 They got it wrong in the first place.

00:15:56.080 And they're going to be damn concerned.

00:15:58.940 I mean, they're going to make sure that they, you know, there's never an apology, never an admission of being wrong.

00:16:05.960 So they're going to manipulate the truth again to make it seem like they're, you know, that they were right all along.

00:16:12.520 Yeah, and that's a tremendously astute observation, Sue Ann, because it's a lot like some of the politicians and their COVID measures.

00:16:22.380 Now that, you know, so much we've learned about the science has refuted everything they said early on, they've still invested themselves in this one thing and really can't admit they're wrong without shattering all their credibility.

00:16:32.880 And, you know, you look at the media coverage of the convoy, it was, there were Russians behind it, it was a foreign influence campaign, it was violent, they were white supremacists.

00:16:41.240 When all of those things crumble, those stories still exist.

00:16:44.780 And it's like they have to keep fueling that idea that this thing happened.

00:16:50.440 And, I mean, an example of this, David Akin tweeted again,

00:16:53.500 Convoy lawyer Wilson's public order emergency commission testimony pointing so far to three potential reasons to invoke the Emergencies Act.

00:17:00.600 So it's like he's trying to make the case for the Emergencies Act, oddly.

00:17:04.620 Law enforcement leaking info, many groups attended the protest, no single point of contact or control,

00:17:09.940 even Freedom Corp types could not convince the Rideau Sussex group to move.

00:17:14.180 I don't know how you get from those three things to, yes, the Emergencies Act was justified.

00:17:21.040 It's like, I don't even think one of the government of Canada's lawyers would try to make that direct leap in the way that David Akin did in the tweet there.

00:17:28.180 And didn't they also, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, didn't they also talk about the fire hoax again,

00:17:34.800 and it's been proven wrong that somebody set arson, that they were still trying to raise that, the specter of that?

00:17:41.380 Yeah, I mean, that was like, that's probably one of the most incredible examples of not just media malfeasance,

00:17:48.580 but political malfeasance, because those false reports, which was completely erroneous, completely shattered,

00:17:54.580 were cited on the floor of the House of Commons and committee by politicians who, to my knowledge,

00:17:59.600 none of them have apologized or recanted now that that story has crumbled.

00:18:04.260 Yeah, it's just, and as you say, it's just like COVID, because we're hearing more and more stories of people having these sudden heart attacks,

00:18:12.180 these sudden strokes, and yet I'm still getting those stupid texts from Shoppers Drug Mart,

00:18:18.200 from the drugstore, saying, come and get your booster, come and get your booster.

00:18:22.340 You're still being pushed.

00:18:23.620 There's still talk about masks.

00:18:25.160 You know, people are still wearing masks, like they're, you know, have masked psychosis.

00:18:32.080 And I think there are certain members of the media and certain politicians who just will not let it go.

00:18:39.100 And they have to be proven that they did the right thing.

00:18:42.340 They have to prove, I should say, that they did the right thing.

00:18:45.440 Yeah, and I think it's really incredible.

00:18:48.000 And, you know, one thing, like I should say, is that these commission hearings are incredibly grueling.

00:18:53.140 They start at 9.30 in the morning.

00:18:55.540 They go to, you know, on Thursday night when Tamara Leach was testifying, it went till, I think, 7.30 at night.

00:19:00.780 And they only took in that time about like an hour and 45 minutes worth of breaks and lunch over the course of the day.

00:19:06.560 So there's a lot there.

00:19:08.040 And it's interesting because it means that if you're a journalist,

00:19:11.120 you've got hours and hours and hours of testimony that you can sort of pluck from to find your story.

00:19:16.180 And it's always interesting to see where like a headline will come out of it.

00:19:19.600 And I'm like, that's what you took from today?

00:19:21.740 Like that's the, that's, that's the narrative that you extract from this.

00:19:25.180 So, uh, anyway.

00:19:26.520 Welcome, welcome to my world, Andrew, because I spent so many years covering city hall and I'd sit through council meetings and then, you know, somebody would cover some shred.

00:19:36.260 They, they talk to a politician about some stupid little thing, meanwhile, ignoring the obscene spending on a huge project.

00:19:43.980 So, you know, this is the, the situation with the legacy media in Canada today, unfortunately.

00:19:51.840 Yeah.

00:19:52.040 That's why everyone knows until the end of time, $16 orange juice, but could anyone tell you the deficit of that same year or something like that?

00:19:59.940 So, uh, this one is, I'm interested in your take on, it's, uh, goes back to Ontario politics.

00:20:05.060 A lot of the same journalists who I think were cheerleading or certainly running interference for the federal government's crackdown on the convoy protesters are all about charter rights.

00:20:16.380 It's when it comes to the, uh, decision by the Doug Ford government to invoke the notwithstanding clause to impose a contract on educational workers in Ontario.

00:20:26.340 Now, again, I mean, say what you will about the notwithstanding clause.

00:20:29.580 I've got significant issues with it.

00:20:31.700 It is a tool available to provinces.

00:20:33.580 And if you don't like that it's a tool available to provinces, then deal with the constitution that Pierre Elliott Trudeau, uh, imposed on the country back in, in 1982.

00:20:42.060 But it's been interesting seeing just how much of a pretzel people are twisting themselves in on this issue.

00:20:48.400 They totally miss the, you know, they are totally disconnected from what Justin Trudeau did with the emergencies act.

00:20:54.880 It's like, it didn't happen.

00:20:56.500 He didn't impose this on Ottawa.

00:20:59.380 We didn't have all these lockdowns.

00:21:01.580 They just, that is sort of the narrative has been, history has been reinvented.

00:21:06.620 Let's put it that way.

00:21:07.960 But, you know, let's talk to nuance in Ontario.

00:21:10.740 I've spent a lot of years covering teachers' unions.

00:21:14.540 Uh, they're intransigent.

00:21:16.400 They will find anything, any reason to use kids as pawns.

00:21:20.900 And they, uh, once again, after many lockdowns, kids being out of school for, God knows, 200 days, was it more than 200 days?

00:21:30.840 Um, you know, they're not reading the room, the NDP.

00:21:34.100 It's mostly the NDP.

00:21:35.900 It's, uh, some of the legacy media.

00:21:38.500 They're not reading the room.

00:21:39.680 Um, parents want their kids in class.

00:21:42.440 Kids have, are failing math tests.

00:21:45.420 Their, their scores are lower than ever.

00:21:47.900 English, literacy, all those things have really plummeted, uh, because of COVID and because of the lack of in, in class instruction.

00:21:55.320 And, you know, I think it's a bit rich for all these people to be screaming and yelling about workers' rights.

00:22:03.380 Well, I'm sorry.

00:22:04.280 I, in this case, I do agree with the Ford government, with Stephen Lecce, that this has to be imposed.

00:22:10.520 A strong signal has to be sent to education workers because if it's not, the teachers will follow suit.

00:22:16.840 And these are CUPE workers.

00:22:19.300 So there are support administrators, EAs, things like that.

00:22:23.240 But the teachers are watching this very closely.

00:22:26.080 So make no mistake.

00:22:27.860 Um, they, you know, they're fighting not just for the CUPE workers, but they're fighting for teachers' contracts and they're fighting for, I mean, everything is a ripple effect.

00:22:37.720 And, you know, I feel sorry for kids.

00:22:40.820 Kids are constantly used as pawns.

00:22:42.740 I've watched this over the years in Ontario.

00:22:45.420 Those teachers' unions really don't really care about the kids. 0.97

00:22:49.160 It's, they always say it's all about the kids, but it's not.

00:22:51.780 Yeah, I would agree with that.

00:22:53.080 And I also think that it's a little cute, all the pearl clutching about, oh, kids must be in school, from some of the same unions that were the most outraged by governments trying to eventually ensure that schools stayed open.

00:23:04.880 And I think, trust me, my primary frustration on that is with the Ford government for locking down and shutting down schools as much as they did.

00:23:12.920 But at the same time, you also have to look at the unions and a lot of the people that are, again, getting very pearl clutchy about it right now, saying you actually weren't as concerned about kids being in school back when so many jurisdictions were saying it was safe to do so.

00:23:25.640 But now that it's politically convenient, that's the tack you take of, oh, how dare you, you know, push us into a situation where kids have to, where schools have to be shut down.

00:23:34.880 Yes, and the masking and all that.

00:23:37.280 I mean, I've heard, I've seen tweets where they said, how dare they, how dare they impose this notwithstanding clause, because kids need to learn that they have the, you know, that they will have the right to strike when they get older.

00:23:50.200 Well, they're not going to be able to strike, they're not going to be able to get a job if they can't read and write.

00:23:55.080 So that's the bottom line.

00:23:57.600 They've got to be in class and they've got to, you know, they've got to be subject to, you know, some in-class instruction, serious in-class instruction.

00:24:07.060 And this is all political theatre, I feel, from the CUPA unions and from all the activists, mostly the NDP in Ontario who are screaming and clutching their pearls or whatever they wear.

00:24:20.000 I don't know, some beads, worry beads, whatever they wear.

00:24:23.260 Some of the media response to this has been amusing.

00:24:27.360 Andrew Coyne, who I think is always going to be the one to find, like, the most obscure angle or connection to a story, which sometimes we need.

00:24:34.280 I mean, he, like, dusted off the, like, old-school constitutional lexicon here and had in his Globe and Mail column,

00:24:41.840 what Ottawa should say to the provinces, I see you're notwithstanding clause and I raise you disallowance,

00:24:46.740 which to my knowledge has not been used in, like, 106, 107 years.

00:24:52.280 And this is, like, antiquated section of the Constitution that technically allowed the federal government to veto provincial legislation.

00:24:59.680 So he wants to have, like, federal veto authority over the provinces when they use their veto authority over the charter.

00:25:07.440 And it's like, eventually, it's like, well, who has the veto here? Everyone but the children.

00:25:11.120 Yeah.

00:25:12.000 Well, that's the thing.

00:25:13.020 It all comes down to kids being used as pawns by the unions.

00:25:16.420 And I've seen it time and time again.

00:25:19.540 I mean, it was in the 90s.

00:25:21.360 It was, and I don't, I'm dating myself, but I did cover the province-wide strike in 1997.

00:25:26.780 And they're all standing on the lawn of Queen's Park, you know, demanding their rights.

00:25:31.280 But really, it's all about pay.

00:25:32.820 It's all about perks.

00:25:35.180 Ontario spends an obscene amount on education and kids are still failing.

00:25:40.920 So what are we saying?

00:25:43.220 What are the, teachers' unions are not delivering, as far as I'm concerned.

00:25:47.700 Yeah.

00:25:47.980 And I think that's very much true.

00:25:49.780 And anyone that tries to make this, you know, into some egregious, like, unconstitutional thing,

00:25:54.500 I mean, it's the very definition of the Constitution, to use a section that the Constitution gives you.

00:25:59.180 Like, Liberal MP Mark Gerritsen had tweeted,

00:26:01.560 Just for the record, when Ford Nation used the Notwithstanding Clause,

00:26:04.660 he effectively gave his government the ability to ignore this document with a picture of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

00:26:10.740 And I can just restate my response to him, which was,

00:26:14.000 Dude, you voted for the Emergencies Act.

00:26:16.000 So take from that what you will.

00:26:17.940 Exactly.

00:26:18.320 We always like to end things on a bit of a light note here.

00:26:23.240 It was Halloween at the beginning of the week.

00:26:26.080 So many of you may have dressed up.

00:26:28.000 I was stuck in Ottawa, which is a scary enough place without it being Halloween.

00:26:32.460 But CBC has decided to unironically run in its first-person section,

00:26:37.600 which is where people who aren't conventional journalists or columnists share stories from their lives.

00:26:41.700 Because I am a witch, I'm not evil, and I'm not your Halloween costume.

00:26:48.500 So just to preface this, we have cultural appropriation, we have racial appropriation,

00:26:55.040 we have the ban on blackface, which I think is a very good ban. 1.00

00:26:58.180 No one should be doing blackface. 1.00

00:26:59.520 We have all of these forms of appropriation where we're not supposed to partake in someone else's experience.

00:27:03.760 Well, the witches say they've had enough of their culture being appropriated on Halloween. 0.70

00:27:10.300 So it's time to ask you, Sue Ann, have you ever dressed up as a witch for Halloween,

00:27:15.060 and do you wish to make amends for it?

00:27:17.540 Not only have I dressed up, but I'll get you, my little pretty, and your little dog, too!

00:27:25.100 That's appropriation.

00:27:26.620 You're going to get cancelled, Sue Ann.

00:27:28.020 You're going to get your checkmark taken away.

00:27:29.760 You are going to be absolutely...

00:27:30.900 You have just appropriated witchhood.

00:27:33.960 I know.

00:27:34.820 I'm going to be burned at the stake.

00:27:36.680 That's all there is to it.

00:27:38.240 No, you're burning at the stake jokes.

00:27:39.640 That's appropriation, too.

00:27:40.800 You can't do any of it now.

00:27:42.180 At the end of it, I don't even know what you have left in society.

00:27:45.040 When even like...

00:27:45.620 Because I get...

00:27:46.120 That was the old line you hear a lot of the time from Indigenous people.

00:27:48.780 My culture is not a costume.

00:27:50.080 And it's like, okay.

00:27:50.900 I didn't know that people were offended by the pointy hat and the big warty nose and all of that.

00:27:56.520 But apparently, according to Suzanne McRae, who is a Winnipeg-based...

00:28:02.640 I'm using the description here.

00:28:04.600 A Winnipeg-based writer and activist who practices witchcraft, which in fairness, I think is the only way you can survive a life in Winnipeg. 0.89

00:28:13.400 But she says, every Halloween, we have the witch talk.

00:28:17.260 A witch is not a costume.

00:28:18.520 I call myself a witch to challenge the stereotype of an ugly old woman with warts on her nose making deals with the devil. 0.97

00:28:25.820 I didn't know witches made deals with the devil, but I mean, it turns out I don't know enough about witchcraft.

00:28:31.420 Well, I guess she hasn't seen the play Wicked with the green witch.

00:28:35.660 That's true.

00:28:36.380 That is true.

00:28:37.700 That is true.

00:28:38.380 So I think she needs to get out of Winnipeg and go see Wicked on Broadway.

00:28:43.020 It's actually going to be playing in Toronto.

00:28:44.780 Let's invite her to Toronto to see Wicked.

00:28:46.960 I was going to say, we might have to fundraise to fly her out, but you know where this joke is going. 0.62

00:28:52.380 She can just take her broom. 1.00

00:28:54.220 Exactly.

00:28:54.580 I can lend her one.

00:28:56.500 I have one.

00:28:58.420 Well, no, you got to get the broom to win.

00:28:59.980 Well, maybe you can just like fly the broom to Winnipeg to pick her up and then she can grab her the broom. 0.99

00:29:05.060 Yeah.

00:29:05.460 And then she, well, no, if you fly, you're appropriating her culture again. 1.00

00:29:10.720 So she says she performs weddings and hand fastings the old Celtic way.

00:29:16.260 I don't know what a hand fasting is.

00:29:17.480 It sounds a little bit raunchy if I, if I, I don't want to Google it just in case.

00:29:21.820 But she says she uses the word witch as an act of reclaiming and says it's important to remember the near genocide of witches in the 16th and 17th centuries.

00:29:31.460 Now, this was like the only thing Justin Trudeau has not apologized for is the near genocide of witches five, 400 years ago.

00:29:38.720 Well, I think he's going to have to apologize for that Broadway show then wicked because, you know, green witches. 1.00

00:29:47.640 So let me, let me just to put a pin on this.

00:29:51.120 When Pierre Polyev says he wants to defund CBC and the media freaks out, he should just pull this story up on his phone and hold it to the camera and say nothing else.

00:30:02.740 Like this is like case in point in 600, 800 words, the case for defunding CBC.

00:30:08.020 There are so many cases, but this is a good one.

00:30:11.480 I have to say, well, maybe we could put a spell.

00:30:14.140 Maybe we could, you know, boil, boil, cauldron, trouble, you know, the whole thing, throw in a few toads and all that.

00:30:21.700 And poof, CBC is gone.

00:30:29.140 There you go.

00:30:30.460 So we got like, we got, we got everything this show.

00:30:32.660 We got to, we got Sue Ann's impersonations and we even got a spell just for good measure at the end there.

00:30:38.640 So Sue Ann, get the, start tweezing those bristles on your broom so we can get our guest of honor to the premier of Wicked. 1.00

00:30:47.140 Do you want a long, really long one or?

00:30:50.780 Well, I don't know if she's bringing a guest.

00:30:52.920 If she's bringing a guest, you need a long one.

00:30:55.180 It's a business class broom.

00:30:57.060 But, and remember, we got to do the carbon offsets on the broom just to keep Catherine McKenna and Mark Carney happy.

00:31:02.820 I'm going to have an Air Canada broom because you don't get served anything on Air Canada anymore.

00:31:07.000 There you go.

00:31:09.480 And on that happy note, it has been an absolute pleasure.

00:31:13.800 Sue Ann Levy joining me.

00:31:15.160 You can catch her fantastic work at tnc.news and you can follow her on Twitter while she still has the blue check mark.

00:31:21.760 And also I am on the Andrew Lawton show throughout the week.

00:31:24.760 So do come and have fun there, especially as we continue covering the Public Order Emergency Commission.

00:31:30.360 Sue Ann, have a great weekend.

00:31:31.600 Thanks so much for doing this.

00:31:32.500 Thank you.

00:31:33.240 I got to fly away now.

00:31:34.440 Goodbye.

00:31:37.000 Bye.

The Candice Malcolm Show - November 04, 2022

Fake News Friday ｜ The legacy media is FREAKING out over Musk’s Twitter takeover

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