The Candice Malcolm Show - Is Elon Musk really spreading “misinformation” about Canada？

00:00:00.000 The Toronto Star recently published an article claiming that Elon Musk is spreading misinformation.

00:00:05.700 What did Elon Musk do? Well, he said that Canada doesn't protect freedom of speech.

00:00:09.520 Now, at the same time, the CBC released a smear campaign against the same man, Elon Musk,

00:00:14.200 accusing him of hate speech and encouraging more censorship on his platform X.

00:00:19.520 So which one is it, Legacy Media? Does Canada support free speech?

00:00:23.120 Or does Canada support censorship because you can't have it both ways?

00:00:26.320 It's Fake News Friday. I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice Malcolm Show.

00:00:30.000 Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning into the podcast today.

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00:01:04.540 So I have been waiting all week to tell you about this op-ed.

00:01:06.980 I love Fake News Friday. It's my favorite show of the week because I want to talk to you about this op-ed

00:01:11.160 that was published over in the Toronto Star earlier this week.

00:01:14.320 This is what the story looked like.

00:01:15.980 Elon Musk's misinformation about Canada, a dangerous sign.

00:01:19.640 Musk's remarks were a stark reminder that misinformation can come from the most unexpected sources,

00:01:24.580 even those perceived as knowledgeable.

00:01:27.340 So why is the Toronto Star attacking Elon Musk?

00:01:29.340 And what exactly did Musk say that was so dangerous?

00:01:31.860 Well, here is the clip in question.

00:01:33.720 It is from a summit with the New York Times when Elon Musk just sort of has a throwaway line

00:01:37.960 where he talks about Canada and says two quick things about Canada.

00:01:40.660 This is what that looked like.

00:01:41.800 And, you know, a lot of these, a lot of things that we take for granted here in the United States

00:01:46.980 that don't even exist in Canada.

00:01:48.800 There's not enough constitutional right to freedom of speech in Canada.

00:01:54.580 So, you know, and there's no Miranda rights in Canada.

00:01:58.320 People like think like, you know, you have the right to remain silent.

00:02:00.780 You don't actually in Canada.

00:02:02.300 But like I said, it's a throwaway line.

00:02:04.000 He was clearly talking about something else.

00:02:05.700 He's talking about freedom of expression in the United States and protecting that.

00:02:09.260 And then he just sort of decides to compare it with Canada.

00:02:12.440 So if you're looking at it from a Canadian perspective, you have to know the context

00:02:15.480 that he is talking about Canada in comparison to the United States.

00:02:19.280 The United States has the most robust constitutionally protected free speech.

00:02:22.960 They have a culture that really, really takes seriously their First Amendment,

00:02:26.620 which is the right to freedom of expression.

00:02:28.620 And that is encoded in their law.

00:02:30.520 It's something that the Supreme Court takes seriously.

00:02:32.800 So in comparison to the United States, Elon Musk is saying that Canada is not a country

00:02:37.980 that protects free speech.

00:02:39.860 Now, as you could see in that clip, it was just two quick lines in an interview.

00:02:43.060 He doesn't really elaborate.

00:02:44.560 He doesn't provide further explanation.

00:02:45.980 So all we really have are the two statements to work off of claim number one,

00:02:49.480 that there's no constitutionally protected right to free speech in Canada, and claim number

00:02:53.140 two, that there are no Miranda rights in Canada, like the whole idea that you have the right

00:02:56.740 to remain silent.

00:02:57.400 He says, no, you actually don't in Canada.

00:02:59.840 OK, so those two quick claims led to the writing and publishing of this entire article.

00:03:04.680 Let's go through that article to see how the author and how the Toronto Star justify the

00:03:08.880 claims that what Elon Musk said is dangerous and misinformation.

00:03:12.460 So my colleague Harrison Faulkner went through this article or mentioned this article on a show

00:03:17.440 ratio the other day.

00:03:18.160 Go check that out because he did a great job of just pointing out the absurdity of this article.

00:03:22.940 But basically, the premise is this individual, I suppose, is from Afghanistan.

00:03:27.300 He's talking about how life under the Taliban was really scary and horrible, and they came 1.00

00:03:31.700 to Canada and they felt so relieved.

00:03:33.460 And now hearing this statement from Elon Musk left them feeling, quote, uneasy about the possibility

00:03:39.120 of another collapse due to misinformation.

00:03:41.520 And so what does he have to say specifically about Musk's claims?

00:03:45.200 Well, he says, let's set the record straight.

00:03:46.980 Section two of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms unequivocally protects fundamental

00:03:52.220 freedoms, including freedom of expression.

00:03:55.240 So again, there's not really a lot of substance to this article other than that one claim that

00:03:59.600 he just says that Canada unequivocally protects fundamental freedoms.

00:04:03.960 Well, is that true?

00:04:04.760 Is that right?

00:04:05.260 Now, I don't want to get too deep into constitutional theory, but look, every country in the world

00:04:09.640 has a written constitution.

00:04:11.060 Every country in the world can write things down in a constitution, but that doesn't necessarily

00:04:15.300 mean that those are embedded values.

00:04:17.020 Those are values that are upheld at every level of government, every level in society

00:04:21.020 and by the court.

00:04:22.860 And so the main difference between the country like the United States, as I mentioned, is

00:04:26.340 that they have this commitment, this cultural commitment, this government commitment to

00:04:29.900 freedom of expression that is unlike any other country.

00:04:32.400 So yes, sure, Canada does have a charter.

00:04:35.280 And right there, it says that we have the right to freedom of expression.

00:04:38.580 But just because it's written down doesn't mean that it is an absolute right.

00:04:42.460 So I'm going to read from the Government of Canada's own guide to the Charter of Rights

00:04:47.140 and Freedoms.

00:04:47.760 This is what the Government of Canada has to say about our rights and freedoms in the

00:04:51.360 Charter.

00:04:52.020 It says this, however, the rights and freedoms in the Charter are not absolute.

00:04:56.780 They can be limited to protect other rights or important national values.

00:05:00.920 For example, freedom of expression may be limited by laws against hate propaganda or child

00:05:05.800 pornography.

00:05:06.900 Section one of the Charter says the Charter rights can be limited by law so long as those

00:05:11.960 limits can be shown to be reasonable in a free and democratic society.

00:05:15.400 So this is just one example.

00:05:16.840 But it shows that Canada's commitment is not to absolute fundamentalist freedom of speech.

00:05:22.240 We've seen that.

00:05:23.100 Every Canadian knows that.

00:05:24.160 We've seen example after example of the government abending freedom of speech.

00:05:28.440 I mean, just look at the Trudeau government censorship regime.

00:05:30.640 Look at the way that they interfere in the free press.

00:05:33.100 They're obviously not committed to freedom of expression in a real way.

00:05:37.140 And I will continue to demonstrate that throughout this episode that Canada doesn't have the same 0.74

00:05:41.120 fundamental commitment to freedom of speech.

00:05:43.920 Now, look to the Toronto Star.

00:05:44.920 If you're going to make a claim, if you're going to make the headline of your story saying

00:05:49.060 that a public figure is spreading misinformation, you better be right.

00:05:53.660 You better have receipts and you better be able to defend yourself with facts.

00:05:57.180 The Toronto Star doesn't do that.

00:05:58.160 They just had that one line that says that Canada unequivocally respects freedom of speech.

00:06:03.700 They don't provide that context that Elon Musk was comparing Canada with the United States.

00:06:07.900 Remember, the United States is a country with the best constitutionally protected freedom

00:06:12.060 of speech on planet Earth.

00:06:14.040 In fact, interestingly, and a little ironically, I will say, the United States is frequently criticized

00:06:19.680 by the likes of the Toronto Star and others for being too militantly pro-speech.

00:06:25.200 Here's an example.

00:06:25.820 This is an article from the Toronto Star, it's about a decade old, but it is when then

00:06:29.560 Prime Minister Stephen Harper repealed Section 13 of the Human Rights Act.

00:06:34.100 So those of you who remember, those of you who are paying attention to politics 10 years

00:06:37.220 ago, know that this Section 13 was a real thorn in the side for free speech activists.

00:06:43.320 But what did it do?

00:06:44.080 It allowed basically the creation of these kangaroo courts, which were designed to punish people

00:06:48.960 for things that they said that other people did not like.

00:06:52.380 It basically turned hate speech into a weapon that you could use in Canadian courts or sort

00:06:57.240 of fake Canadian courts to punish people who said things that were offensive or said things

00:07:01.500 that other people didn't like.

00:07:03.200 Stephen Harper repealing Section 13 was a huge victory for freedom-loving Canadians, especially

00:07:07.580 for people in my field, in the journalism and commentary field.

00:07:11.360 It was a huge victory.

00:07:13.100 And so, of course, the Toronto Star at the time hated it.

00:07:16.160 So here in this article, the Toronto Star is telling us how much that they loathe Stephen

00:07:20.360 Harper for repealing this section.

00:07:22.600 And the author calls those who support free speech members of the far right.

00:07:26.040 He calls them hateful.

00:07:27.180 He calls them bigots and so on and so forth.

00:07:29.580 And so here, I'll just read you a few examples from the story.

00:07:31.940 He's talking about the philosophy behind Section 13, why it was created and what it did for Canada.

00:07:37.000 He said, in Canada, there was to be freedom of speech, but also freedom from hate.

00:07:41.920 That was going to be the Canadian way.

00:07:44.100 So the Canadian way was going to be to balance freedom of speech with freedom from hate.

00:07:49.280 If you're balancing a person's right to freely express themselves, balancing that with another

00:07:53.600 person's right not to be offended, well, you can't really have both.

00:07:56.840 Those two things don't really coexist.

00:07:59.220 And the emphasis in Canada is always on the latter, always on the person not wanting to

00:08:02.980 be offended.

00:08:03.840 And therefore, the former, the freedom of speech, doesn't really exist in a meaningful

00:08:06.820 way.

00:08:07.540 Continue to read here from the article.

00:08:09.120 It says, this was challenged by advocates of American style free speech, an unholy alliance

00:08:14.440 of media that wanted a few restrictions on content as possible, and anti-Semites and others

00:08:20.200 who wanted to be free to spread their bigotry.

00:08:22.660 So did you get that?

00:08:23.880 American style free speech is used as a pejorative by the likes of the Toronto Star.

00:08:28.940 And they claim that the only ones who are really calling for free speech are greedy

00:08:32.740 journalists, anti-Semites, and bigots.

00:08:35.400 Well, you can't have it both ways, Toronto Star.

00:08:37.700 You cannot claim that Canada has some absolute right to free speech and that it is constitutionally

00:08:42.520 protected, and then also say that hate speech is bad and that American style free speech

00:08:48.340 is something contemptible.

00:08:49.640 Those two things cannot exist at the same time.

00:08:51.800 But of course, the Toronto Star does want to have it both ways.

00:08:54.680 They want more restrictions on speech.

00:08:56.460 They believe that so-called hate speech should be illegal.

00:08:59.160 They believe in government control and government funding of the media, including their own newspaper.

00:09:03.260 And they believe that vague concepts like denialism should be illegal in Canada.

00:09:08.160 Here's a story that they wrote very recently about how Canada should consider legal options

00:09:12.000 to fight residential school denialism.

00:09:14.540 In this article, they basically advocate for new laws, making it illegal to deny claims,

00:09:20.460 official claims about residential schools, which again, things that would never happen in

00:09:24.580 the United States, things that would never happen in a country that has a serious,

00:09:28.360 constitutionally protected free speech.

00:09:30.580 And that's the greater irony of this whole piece.

00:09:33.180 This very article which calls Elon Musk's speech misinformation.

00:09:37.300 It's part of a broader campaign designed to restrict and curb freedom of speech.

00:09:42.540 And speaking about that mindset and that broader campaign to curb freedom of speech, a campaign

00:09:46.460 where Justin Trudeau, by the way, is one of the leading figures.

00:09:49.680 Look at this article in the CBC.

00:09:51.500 It is also about Elon Musk, but this time it is criticizing him for the exact opposite thing

00:09:57.040 that the Toronto Star is criticizing him for it.

00:09:59.540 So CBC calls this investigative journalism, but they're really just employing the exact

00:10:03.360 same tactics that Media Matters employed recently against Elon Musk and X to try to

00:10:08.060 get advertisers to flee X, to flee that platform.

00:10:11.340 So Media Matters, for those who aren't familiar, is a U.S. highly partisan, far-left organization

00:10:16.420 whose job is simply to take conservatives out of context.

00:10:19.620 They clip conservatives or they find things that conservatives said.

00:10:22.780 They take it out of context and they use that to try to get advertisers to leave conservative

00:10:27.300 platforms to stop advertising for conservatives.

00:10:29.940 That's literally all that they do.

00:10:31.480 Recently, they decided to take aim at Elon Musk.

00:10:34.560 And Elon Musk, good for him, to his credit, he decided that he had had enough of their loathsome

00:10:39.720 routine.

00:10:40.160 He called it an evil propaganda campaign.

00:10:42.640 And he is suing them in what he calls a thermonuclear lawsuit.

00:10:45.880 This is what he had to say on the topic.

00:10:47.360 After Media Matters published a smear campaign against them, he writes, the split second courts

00:10:51.600 open on Monday.

00:10:52.580 X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and all those who colluded

00:10:57.520 in this fraudulent attack on our company.

00:11:00.820 So what does the CBC go and do?

00:11:02.700 Well, the lazy state broadcaster, who, as we know, is really nothing more than a front

00:11:07.040 for the Trudeau government.

00:11:08.360 They took the exact same hatchet job premise, the evil propaganda campaign, and they simply

00:11:13.260 applied it to Canada.

00:11:14.900 So here's what that story looked like.

00:11:16.000 It says, CBC Investigates, Bell Media, Angus Reid, and other Canadian brands halt ads on

00:11:21.440 X amid extremism concerns.

00:11:24.280 Advertisers increasingly reticent since Elon Musk took over a platform a year ago.

00:11:29.060 So the whole premise of the CBC article is that they've refreshed ads over and over and

00:11:33.180 over again until they saw an ad from one of those companies next to a post that they

00:11:37.900 don't like.

00:11:38.680 And then they screenshotted that and pressured those companies to stop advertising on the

00:11:44.000 platform.

00:11:44.480 So it's not investigative journalism.

00:11:45.740 It's really just bullying mixed with activism, mixed with really deceitful, dishonest journalism

00:11:51.180 practices.

00:11:51.740 It's pretty sleazy.

00:11:52.960 And it's all based on the premise that free speech is bad and employing cancel culture is

00:11:58.580 good.

00:11:59.240 And as Elon Musk said, it's a fraudulent attack.

00:12:02.660 It isn't authentic.

00:12:03.680 It isn't real.

00:12:04.400 It isn't true.

00:12:05.060 I really wish that Elon Musk would notice this and deploy the same thermonuclear lawsuit against

00:12:10.140 the CBC for more or less doing the exact same thing as media matters.

00:12:13.800 But there we have it.

00:12:14.780 We have two legacy media outlets, two of the leading pro-Trudeau leftist publications in

00:12:20.000 Canada saying at the same time that Elon Musk is guilty of misinformation for saying that

00:12:25.440 Canada doesn't protect free speech.

00:12:26.780 But then also saying that Musk's platform doesn't do enough to crack down on free speech, saying

00:12:32.820 that there is an unchecked rise in hateful content.

00:12:36.420 The CBC in this piece is proving Musk right and showing that the Toronto Star is flat out

00:12:41.100 wrong.

00:12:41.800 Canada, under the Trudeau government, values censorship.

00:12:44.620 They do not value free speech.

00:12:45.920 The CBC is working very hard to shut down voices it disagrees with.

00:12:50.480 Well, in that same interview where Musk said that Canada doesn't really value free speech,

00:12:54.520 he also had a message for advertisers, a message for those woke and dying companies like Disney

00:12:58.780 who followed the censorship recommendations by media matters and pulled their ads off of

00:13:03.280 facts.

00:13:03.760 This is what Elon Musk had to say to them.

00:13:05.680 If somebody's going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, 1.00

00:13:10.140 go f*** yourself. 1.00

00:13:11.100 Seriously, Elon Musk should say the exact same thing to the CBC, to the Toronto Star and 0.99

00:13:27.000 the Trudeau government and the entire fake news censorship regime in Canada. 0.99

00:13:30.880 Go f*** yourself. 1.00

00:13:32.040 It's Fake News Friday. 1.00

00:13:32.860 I'm Candice Malcolm and this is The Candice Malcolm Show.

00:13:41.100 I'm Candice Malcolm and this is The Candice Malcolm.

The Candice Malcolm Show - December 15, 2023

Is Elon Musk really spreading “misinformation” about Canada？

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