The Candice Malcolm Show - Why don’t politicians trust Canadians？

00:00:00.280 Politicians in Ottawa and Toronto rule out ending the lockdown.

00:00:04.320 Meanwhile, Quebec, Saskatchewan, many American states, and much of Europe move to reopen

00:00:09.940 their economies, which really begs the question, why don't politicians trust Canadians, especially

00:00:15.980 Canadians in Ontario?

00:00:17.840 Plus, Andrews share flip-flops, and the Toronto Star attacks a Conservative MP for spending

00:00:23.880 time with her family.

00:00:25.760 I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice Malcolm Show.

00:00:30.000 Hi, everyone.

00:00:34.380 Thank you so much for tuning in.

00:00:36.120 We are back to doing a regular show.

00:00:38.220 We had been doing the True North update, where I was joined with Andrew Lawton.

00:00:41.500 We're doing that every day to keep you up to date during the pandemic.

00:00:44.860 Well, things have slowed down a little bit news-wise in terms of the pandemic, so we're

00:00:48.680 back to a regular schedule of doing The Candice Malcolm Show plus The Andrew Lawton Show, so

00:00:53.300 you can catch that every day as we used to do it before.

00:00:56.280 There is a lot I want to get to today, so let's jump right into it.

00:01:00.660 I think the big story that is now upon us here in Canada is, look, we have been in lockdown

00:01:06.480 for weeks, coming on two months now, where we have been at home, we have been told that

00:01:11.440 we have to work from home.

00:01:12.580 And a lot of people, frankly, can't work from home, which is why we have millions upon millions

00:01:17.120 of Canadians collecting the new emergency benefit.

00:01:20.380 We have countless small businesses, particularly restaurants and businesses in the hospitality

00:01:25.940 industry going bankrupt, going out of business, a wage subsidy that's sort of too little,

00:01:30.960 too late for so many businesses.

00:01:32.980 True North has been covering it, and I really encourage you to check out the work of my colleague,

00:01:37.140 Lindsay Shepard.

00:01:37.820 She has been interviewing small business owners and doing a lot of work just trying

00:01:42.000 to understand how business owners are getting through this really tough economy, given all

00:01:47.960 the government-imposed lockdowns.

00:01:50.220 Well, I think things have started to turn.

00:01:52.260 We've started to learn a lot more about the coronavirus.

00:01:55.220 I fully admit, at the beginning of this all, it was an unknown virus.

00:01:59.340 It was an unknown, mysterious virus that originated out of China.

00:02:02.720 China is a repressive communist authoritarian society, so information is so tight, we just

00:02:09.120 didn't really know what we were dealing with.

00:02:11.180 And so politicians were acting out of an abundance of caution.

00:02:14.840 I was one of the people at the beginning saying, hey, look, I don't think that we should be going

00:02:19.820 about business as usual.

00:02:21.300 I think that the Canadian government took way too long to take action, particularly when

00:02:25.900 it came to closing our borders, when it came to, you know, really alerting the Canadian

00:02:31.500 public of the dangers of this coronavirus and encouraging people to stay indoors.

00:02:37.300 You know, that was two months ago now, and I think that things have really changed.

00:02:40.300 I think that we've learned that the coronavirus isn't nearly as deadly as we had originally

00:02:46.620 thought.

00:02:47.000 It certainly is communicable.

00:02:48.940 It's fast-spreading.

00:02:50.160 It reaches a lot of people, but it doesn't kill nearly as many people as we originally

00:02:54.560 suspected.

00:02:55.720 Recall that the World Health Organization had originally said that the death rate for this

00:02:59.400 thing was 3% to 4%.

00:03:01.540 It's now looking like it might be more like 0.3%, which is still deadlier than the flu.

00:03:07.020 And given the fact that it spreads a lot faster, it is a deadly thing.

00:03:11.140 However, not to the point where we have to shut down our entire economy and our entire

00:03:15.540 society waiting, everyone just cowering at home, not allowed to leave their house, sort

00:03:20.140 of fear of either catching the disease or getting arrested or getting fined by these ridiculous

00:03:25.680 bylaw officers that seem to be picking on Canadians just going about their daily routine, trying

00:03:32.760 to have our daily routine anyway, in terms of getting fresh air, getting exercise, getting

00:03:36.920 out of the house, and not trying to get too close to other Canadians.

00:03:42.000 And really, we've just created a society where everyone's at home, and we're living in complete

00:03:47.960 fear.

00:03:48.400 We're living in fear, and our politicians are reinforcing that idea.

00:03:52.180 But that's particularly the case here in Ontario.

00:03:55.420 I think that there are some differences across the country.

00:03:58.460 I used to point this out on the True North update almost every day.

00:04:01.460 So many of the provinces across Canada have barely been affected by the coronavirus.

00:04:05.920 I mean, Prince Edward Island is the example that I like to point to, where there have been

00:04:09.740 23 cases of coronavirus, 23, and zero deaths.

00:04:14.460 And given that it's an island, given that Prince Edward Island could easily lock down security

00:04:18.560 and control who comes and goes from the island, it makes no sense to me as to why they ever

00:04:23.080 locked down in the first place, why they would ever shut down small businesses and restaurants

00:04:27.540 and hair salons and force business owners to make really, really tough economic decisions 0.97

00:04:32.700 about their livelihood.

00:04:34.640 So given all that, we're at a situation now where things have started to turn.

00:04:39.200 People are starting to say, hey, you know, why is it that we're so paranoid over something

00:04:45.080 that really, I mean, it's bad, but it isn't as bad as we thought it was originally.

00:04:50.200 A lot of places are starting to reopen.

00:04:53.220 And one of the other things I find really, really interesting, it's highly underreported

00:04:57.320 in my opinion, is the fact that here in Canada, of the deaths, of the cases, of the deadly

00:05:03.000 cases of coronavirus, 79% of them have taken place at long-term care facilities and at senior

00:05:10.360 centres, 79%, so nearly eight in 10 deaths in Canada have been related to long-term care

00:05:17.280 facilities, which again, begs the question of why do all Canadians need to stay indoors?

00:05:23.660 Why do all Canadians need to practice such heightened levels of quarantine and self-isolation

00:05:28.940 and economic lockdowns, when we know that the vast majority, the overwhelming majority

00:05:33.680 of cases target one very small, very vulnerable section of the population?

00:05:39.420 Instead of having everybody locked down, why don't we take all the extra precautions to protect

00:05:44.380 the most vulnerable people in our society, the ones that we know will be the most affected

00:05:49.520 and impacted?

00:05:50.180 And part of the problem is that this conversation that I'm trying to lead, this conversation I'm

00:05:54.540 having right now, is not being engaged.

00:05:57.780 The mainstream media is not having this conversation.

00:06:00.720 Politicians basically refuse to acknowledge it.

00:06:03.160 And when I say politicians, I mean the handful of people that are leading the efforts, Prime

00:06:07.560 Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, and people in their government.

00:06:13.080 So those two governments specifically.

00:06:15.140 Because Quebec has had the worst number, the most number of cases with coronavirus, and yet

00:06:21.260 their attitude is totally different than Ontario's.

00:06:25.040 So in Ontario, you know, Doug Ford announced sort of a plan, supposedly, to be reopening the

00:06:32.200 economy.

00:06:32.520 But it's really not a plan.

00:06:34.020 It's really nothing.

00:06:35.200 The framework to reopen the economy.

00:06:38.060 On Monday, Premier Doug Ford revealed Ontario's plan to reopen the province and ease coronavirus

00:06:43.540 restrictions currently in place.

00:06:45.080 But they didn't really announce anything.

00:06:46.920 The framework is about how we're reopening, not when we're reopening.

00:06:50.620 So they didn't really give a timeline.

00:06:52.740 They didn't give any concrete dates.

00:06:54.220 They just sort of released this framework idea of how they might reopen the economy eventually

00:06:59.720 when it does get reopened.

00:07:01.920 Ford said, progress doesn't mean we can quit now.

00:07:05.020 And that's why I won't set hard dates until we're ready, because the virus travels on its

00:07:09.000 own speed.

00:07:10.160 The Premier emphasized the government will be basing their decisions on the advice of the chief

00:07:15.280 medical officer of health.

00:07:17.060 But we know that Doug Ford has no interest in reopening society, reopening the economy,

00:07:21.020 because over the weekend, there were a group of protesters who went to Queen's Park.

00:07:25.320 Now, these protesters were harshly maligned in the mainstream media, and not just in the

00:07:30.860 mainstream media, by politicians themselves.

00:07:33.980 Doug Ford slammed this group of people for protesting.

00:07:37.480 He said that they were a bunch of yahoos. 1.00

00:07:40.560 And he said that they were reckless and what they're doing is selfish.

00:07:43.040 OK, first of all, I just want to note, just because we have coronavirus doesn't somehow

00:07:48.280 mean that we have given up all of our democratic freedoms.

00:07:50.920 We still live in a free democratic society where people have the right to protest.

00:07:57.340 They have the right to protest against their government, particularly when the government

00:08:00.280 is taking tyrannical steps to shut down the economy in defense of something that's basically,

00:08:07.440 by all accounts, by most accounts, an overreaction, a massive overreaction.

00:08:13.080 I think we'll look back at the early spring of 2020, you know, for years, for decades, and

00:08:20.440 sort of scratch our heads as to what we were thinking when we shut down the global economy

00:08:25.260 because we were afraid, because we're afraid of a mysterious virus and we massively overreacted.

00:08:31.340 And so I'll play this clip of Doug Ford.

00:08:34.180 Just listen to the way that he condemns people who are exercising their democratic rights.

00:08:40.300 These people that are absolutely irresponsible, it's reckless to do what they're doing.

00:08:47.340 And personally, I think it's selfish.

00:08:49.520 We have, you know, a bunch of yahoos out in the front of Queen's Park sitting there protesting 1.00

00:08:55.580 that the place isn't open as they're breaking the law and putting everyone in jeopardy.

00:09:01.140 Putting themselves in jeopardy, putting the workers in jeopardy, and God forbid, one of

00:09:06.600 them end up in the hospital down the street.

00:09:08.840 So Doug Ford thinks it's absolutely irresponsible and reckless, even though these protesters,

00:09:14.760 from best I can tell, were practicing their own social distancing.

00:09:18.380 They were staying six feet apart.

00:09:19.820 They were following, generally, the medical health guidelines as to what you should do when

00:09:24.920 you're outside.

00:09:25.400 Now, I won't defend all of them because I know anytime you have a group of protesters, it

00:09:29.820 does attract fringe people who, you know, promote ideas that I don't necessarily believe in.

00:09:35.260 For instance, you know, there might be people who are opposed to vaccinations.

00:09:38.780 I am definitely not one of those people.

00:09:40.820 But that said, in a democratic and free society, not only should we allow space for people who

00:09:46.940 want to protest, but we shouldn't outright condemn them as being reckless and yahoos and 1.00

00:09:52.460 really trying to undermine them.

00:09:53.920 We still, again, promote the idea of a diversity of opinions and thoughts.

00:09:58.500 That's what makes for a wholesome civil society where we can come to, you know, where we can

00:10:05.320 reach a consensus on ideas that we disagree with.

00:10:07.500 So outright condemning people just because they are protesting is not something that you

00:10:12.140 should want to see.

00:10:13.120 And look, I like Doug Ford.

00:10:14.440 I have a lot of time for Doug Ford, but I don't understand his really, his massive overreaction

00:10:19.700 on this and condemning peaceful protesters and also his sort of resistance to any idea

00:10:26.160 of wanting to reopen the economy.

00:10:29.140 And he's far from alone.

00:10:30.780 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said this week, he said on Monday, that life won't return

00:10:36.220 to normal until we have a vaccine, not until we have, you know, flattened the curve, not

00:10:42.720 until we've gotten past sort of the worst of typical flu season, which is when the weather

00:10:47.540 is cold.

00:10:48.700 No, he says that we won't return to normal until a vaccine is developed, which he says

00:10:52.960 will happen two to three years from now.

00:10:55.300 Now, let me just make a point.

00:10:56.820 First of all, there's no guarantee that we will ever develop a vaccine.

00:11:02.500 There are many illnesses.

00:11:03.660 There are many, many viruses that go around that simply don't have vaccinations against

00:11:08.900 them, that are too complex, that are too, you know, they change too much and we cannot

00:11:13.600 create a vaccination.

00:11:14.800 So there's no guarantee that we will ever have a vaccine for coronavirus.

00:11:19.180 And even if we do, he says that it could take two or three years from now.

00:11:22.120 What if it doesn't?

00:11:22.720 What if it takes five years?

00:11:23.960 Even if it does take two or three years, what does that mean that life won't return to

00:11:28.040 normal for two or three years?

00:11:30.240 I mean, having the leader of a country come out and say that, this is what he said, what

00:11:35.380 is normal life will take a long time to return.

00:11:38.500 And even at that point, two, three years from now, even once a vaccine against COVID-19 is

00:11:43.420 available, we will have changed our behavior.

00:11:46.760 We will have taken measures as a society that will be different from what we used to do,

00:11:50.860 Trudeau said in French on Monday.

00:11:52.140 Again, while leaders all over the world are coming up with proactive plans to get workers

00:11:57.260 back to work for allowing small businesses to reopen their doors and really getting the

00:12:02.360 economy going as well, while also, of course, being cautious about the spread of coronavirus

00:12:07.880 and protecting, like I said, the most vulnerable people in Canada, our leaders are still stuck

00:12:12.140 in this framework of we can't reopen because we can't risk a single case or a single death

00:12:18.320 unnecessarily.

00:12:19.180 Well, I think that the rest of the world has sort of moved past that.

00:12:22.040 It's now a time to consider balancing the rights and freedoms of the entire society that's

00:12:29.340 stuck at home that harms their ability to provide for their families, to make money, to engage

00:12:36.480 in the world and society, and the health of the most vulnerable.

00:12:41.060 I think we can probably do both.

00:12:42.620 I think that we can open up the economy to young and healthy people, allow them to go back 1.00

00:12:46.760 to work, allow people that are very, very low risk of contracting coronavirus or at least

00:12:51.380 having a severe reaction to coronavirus, while also protecting and allowing measures to be

00:13:00.480 maintained for people who are in that vulnerable situation.

00:13:03.460 Like I said, 79 percent of deaths in Canada have occurred at long-term care facilities and

00:13:08.240 retirement homes.

00:13:09.100 To me, that is the big, big story.

00:13:10.880 And that is what should be emphasized.

00:13:13.380 We should not be imposing these rules over everyone.

00:13:16.880 We should be protecting the most vulnerable people.

00:13:22.020 And interestingly, other provinces in Canada seem to get this.

00:13:25.680 So Quebec has announced that they will be reopening their economy.

00:13:30.720 Premier Francois Legault said that the coronavirus pandemic is under control outside of long-term

00:13:36.080 care homes and senior residences.

00:13:37.860 As long as that continues, the economy should be able to reopen gradually.

00:13:41.960 Government already relaxed restrictions on some businesses that had been forced to shut

00:13:45.920 down in March.

00:13:47.100 Those included companies in mining, landscaping, gardening, as well as residential pool centres

00:13:52.220 and body shops.

00:13:53.940 Residential construction was allowed to resume on April 20th, but only on projects that needed

00:13:58.820 to be delivered by the summer.

00:14:00.440 And then the big news was that Quebec will begin reopening its elementary schools and daycares

00:14:05.020 on May 11th, Legault announced, on Monday.

00:14:08.800 So at the time, again, when the provincial government in Ontario and the federal government

00:14:12.820 in Ottawa are saying, no, it's not time yet.

00:14:15.880 There you have Quebec really going ahead with their own plan.

00:14:19.280 And they're not alone.

00:14:20.180 Saskatchewan has also been leading the curve in terms of reopening their economy.

00:14:24.680 And again, there's no reason why Saskatchewan has to take the same precautions, since there

00:14:28.600 were very, very few cases and very, very few deaths so far.

00:14:32.400 So Saskatchewan reopened its economy and services in five phases, starting on May 4th.

00:14:38.020 So Premier Moe said last week that the coronavirus curve had already flattened in its province

00:14:42.200 and that reopening will be gradual and methodical.

00:14:45.880 The first phase is reopening medical services that had previously been banned under the current

00:14:50.460 public health order.

00:14:52.180 And that includes dentistry, optometry, physical therapy, optricians, podiatry, occupational therapy,

00:14:58.380 and chiropractic treatment.

00:15:01.080 Also being rolled out in stages during the first phase is the resumption of low-risk outdoor

00:15:06.320 activities with precautionary measures in place.

00:15:08.840 So that includes fishing and boating, golfing, and other outdoor activities with maintaining

00:15:15.400 physical distancing rules.

00:15:17.660 The online reservation system for provincial parks will launch on May 4th with overnight camping.

00:15:23.060 Starting on June 1st, park access is restricted to Saskatchewan residents.

00:15:28.780 So a little bit of common sense that we're seeing in Saskatchewan, common sense that we're

00:15:32.300 not really seeing in the rest of the country, unfortunately.

00:15:35.700 I mean, the whole idea of the coronavirus and it being very contagious is that you shouldn't

00:15:41.100 get within six feet of someone.

00:15:42.680 If you have to, you should wear a mask, which shows it really defies logic why we ever shut

00:15:47.480 down outdoor parks, Canada's national parks, hiking trails, those kind of things, given

00:15:52.240 that you're outside.

00:15:54.040 You're outside.

00:15:55.020 You're not in a confined space with someone.

00:15:56.660 You're not sharing the same air and having recycled air.

00:15:59.820 You're out in nature.

00:16:01.280 And that should be the place where we're encouraged to go at a time where we can't go other places.

00:16:06.660 So again, kind of defies logic.

00:16:09.040 But that's where we are with coronavirus policies these days.

00:16:13.160 One of the other things that was pretty interesting, Ezra Levant over at The Rebel,

00:16:16.980 found this clip.

00:16:18.440 I guess it had been floating around online, but I saw it through his Twitter account.

00:16:23.220 So he posted a picture of Theresa Tam talking about pretty authoritarian measures to enforce 0.95

00:16:29.280 a quarantine.

00:16:30.080 Theresa Tam, of course, is Canada's chief medical officer.

00:16:33.040 She is sort of appointed from Justin Trudeau, and she's really taken the lead on providing

00:16:37.440 health advice to all Canadians.

00:16:39.760 She's leading the charge as to why Canada shouldn't reopen their economy. 0.58

00:16:45.980 She's sort of one of the leading voices encouraging us to maintain these really, really draconian

00:16:51.480 measures to keep Canadians inside to stop the spread of coronavirus.

00:16:55.800 Well, there was a 2000 video from the National Film Board in Canada, a documentary called Outbreak,

00:17:02.500 which was based on Professor Michael Bliss's history of Montreal's smallpox epidemic in the 1880s.

00:17:10.000 So basically what this documentary did was look at the historical outbreak that happened in

00:17:17.040 1880 in Montreal.

00:17:18.000 It was a truly deadly story.

00:17:20.500 The book is called Plague, the story of smallpox in Montreal.

00:17:23.460 And then they juxtaposed that with a hypothetical 21st century pandemic, where they talk about

00:17:30.620 what might happen if there was something like this that happened today.

00:17:33.760 Really interestingly, it does feature Theresa Tam, Dr. Theresa Tam.

00:17:38.320 And just listen to the language that she uses. 0.93

00:17:41.100 Listen to how she talks about how a government could stop the pandemic and really impose all

00:17:47.560 of these, again, authoritarian measures to enforce a quarantine.

00:17:51.720 Let's play that clip.

00:17:53.020 I think the public has to know this is one of the worst case scenarios in terms of an

00:17:57.960 infectious disease outbreak in that their cooperation is sought.

00:18:02.780 If there are people who are non-compliant, there are definitely laws and public health powers

00:18:09.960 that can quarantine people in mandatory settings.

00:18:13.700 So you can hear Theresa Tam talking about how you could track people, put bracelets on them,

00:18:31.080 have police enforcing the quarantine to ensure that people stay at home.

00:18:35.920 That was sort of a hypothetical idea of how you would make sure that sick people remain quarantined

00:18:41.720 during a plague or a pandemic.

00:18:43.940 Whereas we've sort of applied some of those rules anyway to all of society, not just to

00:18:48.700 the sick, but to everyone.

00:18:50.380 I'm not talking about tracking people or putting bracelets on them, but certainly the policing

00:18:54.320 aspect where you have police officers patrolling large public parks, giving fines, basically trying

00:19:01.580 to scare people into going back into their home, even as we're getting sort of nice spring weather.

00:19:07.180 Again, it just sort of gives you a window into the mindset of these public health bureaucrats

00:19:12.620 and how they think and really just the lengths that they're willing to go to prevent what could be

00:19:20.540 the worst case scenario, even though we know that the worst case scenario isn't going to happen.

00:19:24.460 To me, it fundamentally comes down to a question of trust.

00:19:27.740 Do our politicians, do authorities in Canada, do those public health bureaucrats trust Canadians

00:19:34.080 to be responsible, to socially distance, to wear masks if they have to, if they have

00:19:38.960 to go into a confined space?

00:19:40.980 They trust Canadians to keep their distance, to wash their hands, to stop the spread on their 1.00

00:19:46.480 own.

00:19:47.020 If the lockdowns were going to be let up, if they're going to be ending tomorrow, it's a

00:19:53.100 fundamental question.

00:19:54.060 Do they trust Canadians? 1.00

00:19:55.140 I think that you're seeing in some parts of the country, some politicians like Francois

00:19:59.760 Legault in Quebec, like Scott Moe in Saskatchewan, are exercising some level of trust saying,

00:20:06.400 you know, we want you to get out, we want you to go outside, but we also want you to be

00:20:10.380 safe and we trust you.

00:20:11.600 So here's a framework for you to go back into society.

00:20:15.320 Whereas the other politicians like the Doug Fords and the Justin Trudeau's, Theresa

00:20:19.600 Thames, who just don't trust Canadians.

00:20:21.380 They think that government, heavy-handed government measures are absolutely necessary, as Doug

00:20:25.520 Floyd calls them.

00:20:26.460 Otherwise, these yahoos are going to be reckless and irresponsible and undo sort of all of the 1.00

00:20:31.780 public health measures that his government has imposed over the past several weeks and

00:20:36.700 months.

00:20:37.220 So I ask this question to my audience on Twitter, to my followers and readers over there.

00:20:42.780 Do you trust Canadians to be responsible and socially distanced if the lockdowns were to 0.79

00:20:48.920 end?

00:20:49.560 Of the people who voted, which so far there's been 4,300 votes, 80% said yes, people can

00:20:55.620 be trusted.

00:20:56.540 Whereas 19.5%, so basically 20%, say no, we need government lockdowns.

00:21:03.020 I think that's a really interesting mix.

00:21:04.380 Obviously, it's not a scientific poll by any means.

00:21:06.600 But it does show you that the people following me on Twitter anyway think that Canadians should 1.00

00:21:12.080 be trusted.

00:21:12.760 And therefore, it might be time to let up on some of these lockdowns and let people get

00:21:17.700 back to work, regardless of what Dr. Theresa Tam may say.

00:21:22.680 And well, speaking of Dr. Theresa Tam, last week I thought this was just a really frivolous, 0.53

00:21:27.800 ridiculous news story.

00:21:29.200 The story of a conservative leadership candidate and MP, Derek Sloan.

00:21:34.240 He released a tweet criticizing Theresa Tam and released a video sort of talking about

00:21:40.160 how the World Health Organization has really dropped the ball.

00:21:43.880 Chinese communist government has been unduly influencing the World Health Organization, and 0.92

00:21:48.340 they have both had an undue influence on Canada.

00:21:51.180 And therefore, he believed that Dr. Theresa Tam should be fired.

00:21:54.500 Now, this was kind of misconstrued in the media or misinterpreted or maybe properly interpreted

00:22:00.580 if you think that Derek Sloan is a bad person and a racist person.

00:22:04.440 I don't think that there is evidence for that.

00:22:07.220 But again, you know, it depends on how you view him as an individual, I guess.

00:22:13.000 But anyway, the media and all of liberals, all the liberals and many conservatives deemed

00:22:19.160 that his criticism of Dr. Theresa Tam was malicious and racist.

00:22:23.200 And it was really driven by her ethnicity as a person who is of Chinese ethnicity and not

00:22:30.620 based on her competency as a public health official.

00:22:35.240 So at the time, the conservative leader, Andrew Scheer, basically said that he wasn't going

00:22:40.520 to engage in this line of reasoning.

00:22:43.320 I really thought it was just a slow news day and that people were looking for basically

00:22:49.140 it was almost like they hadn't had cancel culture.

00:22:53.160 Cancel culture hadn't taken into effect.

00:22:55.680 You know, the mob hadn't rightfully chased anyone from their position in a couple of months

00:23:00.160 because we've all been so distracted by the coronavirus.

00:23:03.320 And this was like an opportunity for the mob to jump back on their high horse and engage

00:23:08.500 in cancel culture and basically call out a conservative for supposed racism, which is

00:23:14.860 one of their favorite activities of the left and particularly the woke mob on social media.

00:23:20.920 So at the time, Mr. Scheer, Andrew Scheer, said that he wasn't going to engage.

00:23:25.240 He says, as a rule, I don't comment on leadership candidates or on policy announcements or positions

00:23:30.880 that leadership candidates have taken.

00:23:33.160 Scheer said, ultimately, it will be up to conservative members to select the next leader of the party.

00:23:38.500 So basically, Scheer just didn't engage.

00:23:41.060 And he said, I'm not going to dignify this.

00:23:43.620 It's up to conservative members to decide who their leader is going to be.

00:23:47.420 Well, on April 28th, Andrew Scheer had a decisive flip-flop reminding us of why he didn't win the election in October,

00:23:58.080 why he's not the prime minister of Canada.

00:24:00.300 Basically, every time he's pushed on an issue, every time there's a tough situation in front of him,

00:24:05.440 he basically folds to left-wing pressure.

00:24:07.820 And so that is what happened.

00:24:09.520 Let's play that clip of Andrew Scheer.

00:24:11.100 I do not agree with his position, with what he said.

00:24:14.760 That is not the position of our caucus.

00:24:16.100 And I believe it is not appropriate to question someone's loyalty to their country.

00:24:20.540 I believe that is a very serious accusation that you have to have some very substantial evidence to make.

00:24:27.240 OK, now, I'm not going to go too far in my way to defend Derek Sloan, because I think that the argument that he was making,

00:24:33.360 while part of it was really accurate and dead on, I think that he was a little bit sloppy in the way that he was criticizing a public health official

00:24:42.320 and not the political partisans who appointed them.

00:24:44.960 And I also don't know Derek Sloan well enough to know whether he's operating in good faith or bad faith.

00:24:51.620 But just on the surface, the idea that you shouldn't criticize someone just because they happen to be ethnically Chinese in this case.

00:24:59.660 Like, you can't say something that is true.

00:25:02.400 What is true is that Theresa Tam has been incompetent, that she has been taking her marching orders from the World Health Organization,

00:25:10.420 which is lockstep, you know, shoulder and shoulder, shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese communist government.

00:25:15.540 I think that there's so much corruption and so much wrong with that relationship between the Chinese communist government

00:25:20.400 and the World Health Organization that all Canadians should be questioning why we are part of the World Health Organization.

00:25:26.920 And that organization massively, massively needs to be held accountable for the terrible decisions that they have made

00:25:32.920 throughout the course of this pandemic.

00:25:34.820 And we should also be able to question why Canada is taking such orders and doing so much to defend the World Health Organization

00:25:43.280 and ensuring that our policies are aligned when really our interests are not aligned.

00:25:48.860 I think that that's all well and fair.

00:25:50.580 So the idea that we can't criticize a public health bureaucrat who has been incompetent

00:25:55.820 and done a lot of things that put Canadians in danger and the fact that she has a relationship

00:26:01.720 with this really, really corrupt institution, the World Health Organization and its relationship with China, 0.78

00:26:07.960 I think that's all well and good.

00:26:09.780 And the fact that we now live in a society where you can't criticize someone

00:26:12.780 because we all have to walk on eggshells and be so sensitive

00:26:15.400 and be so nervous about the accusation of potentially someone misconstruing what we're saying,

00:26:21.200 even if it's intentional, even if they're acting in bad faith.

00:26:24.860 Basically, we live in a society where we can't have free discourse.

00:26:27.880 We can't actually discuss ideas.

00:26:29.500 We can't actually hold politicians accountable because we're so afraid of political correctness.

00:26:34.220 That is a dangerous place to be in.

00:26:35.960 I have no expectation of Andrew Scheer to be the person that sort of rises above that and condemns it and calls it out.

00:26:41.760 But it's pretty disappointing to see him, you know, on April 23rd saying,

00:26:45.960 I'm not going to get involved.

00:26:47.180 And then on April 28th, you know, jumping over to the liberal side

00:26:51.680 and basically groveling and apologizing for a conservative who expressed their opinion.

00:26:58.000 But that's, you know, that's the Canadian media landscape that we live in today.

00:27:02.660 One more story.

00:27:03.740 This is This Week in Fake News.

00:27:05.440 I want to talk about is a story in the Toronto Star that's making the rounds

00:27:10.260 about conservative MP Michelle Rempel-Garner, who is working from Oklahoma during the pandemic.

00:27:17.640 So prominent conservative MP Michelle Rempel-Garner, who's the MP for Calgary Nose Hill,

00:27:23.340 we learned that she has been working remotely from Oklahoma in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

00:27:29.940 Rempel-Garner said she traveled to Oklahoma where her husband and stepchildren live.

00:27:34.680 on an unexpected and urgent private personal matter before Canada and the U.S. imposed

00:27:40.700 travel restrictions at the border.

00:27:42.980 In a statement to the Toronto Star, Rempel-Garner said she has been in constant contact

00:27:48.180 with conservative party whip Mark Strahl, and the party has advised her to shelter in place

00:27:53.380 and work remotely like all other MPs.

00:27:56.940 So Toronto Star journalist Susan Delacour tweeted,

00:28:01.340 news to me, conservative MP Michelle Rempel has been living in Oklahoma throughout the

00:28:07.440 COVID-19 crisis.

00:28:08.940 Any other MPs working, living abroad, I wonder?

00:28:12.860 So to me, this is totally a manufactured crisis and a fake news story.

00:28:17.600 We know that just about every single member of parliament has been working remotely,

00:28:22.360 working from home.

00:28:23.440 Since the start of the crisis, a select few people from each party have gone to Ottawa to

00:28:28.580 create the sort of shell parliament so that they can still pass legislation, the emergency

00:28:33.220 legislation.

00:28:34.500 And basically the media were the ones that were saying a couple of weeks ago, when the

00:28:38.760 Conservatives were pushing for the government to come back, to have parliament have full

00:28:43.680 sittings, the media were the ones saying, wow, it's so reckless, it's so irresponsible.

00:28:48.940 MPs should not be traveling.

00:28:50.220 MPs should not be in Ottawa.

00:28:51.360 They should not be having to go into the House of Commons to vote.

00:28:54.200 But encouraging everyone to stay with their families, work remotely, work from home.

00:28:58.980 And now we learn that a conservative is in Oklahoma, which is where her husband and her

00:29:03.300 stepchildren happen to live.

00:29:05.100 It literally makes no difference whether she is in Alberta, where her constituents are.

00:29:11.500 She's not allowed to see them.

00:29:12.560 She's not allowed to go to her office.

00:29:14.000 She's not allowed to go and meet with people.

00:29:16.680 So again, why does it matter where she is?

00:29:18.880 She's pretty much in the same time zone, maybe an hour different than where she was.

00:29:23.020 And she's with her husband and her stepchildren.

00:29:26.280 I'm old enough to remember like three weeks ago when Justin Trudeau broke his own social

00:29:31.340 distancing rules to go see his kids and his wife who were staying in a different province.

00:29:36.500 And the mainstream media said, absolutely nothing to see here.

00:29:39.800 No big deal whatsoever.

00:29:41.440 The prime minister and his personal life and his time with his children should be off limits.

00:29:46.060 And journalists and Canadians shouldn't be asking questions or covering it.

00:29:50.840 And yet here we have a conservative MP who is more or less doing the same thing, except

00:29:54.640 for she hasn't traveled.

00:29:55.700 She's remaining sheltered in place.

00:29:58.200 She just happens to be in Oklahoma.

00:30:00.080 And supposedly this is some horrible scandal that requires a news piece.

00:30:05.520 Well, why is it that the prime minister's life, personal life with his kids is off limits?

00:30:09.940 But a conservative MP spending time with her kids and her husband, that's fair game for 0.80

00:30:16.020 the media to speculate about, for journalists to mock on social media.

00:30:20.940 I think this just shows the underlying bias that left-wing Canadians have against America.

00:30:25.720 Frankly, there's a whole part of this article talking about how Oklahoma, I'll read right

00:30:30.820 here, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced plans to reopen the state's economy last week,

00:30:35.860 indicating the state had successfully flattened the curve beginning May 1.

00:30:39.820 Restaurants, sporting events, sporting venues, gyms, movie theaters, and places of worship

00:30:44.480 will be permitted to reopen as long as they follow certain precautions.

00:30:48.000 According to the local NBC affiliate, Oklahoma has reported 3,280 cases of COVID-19, including

00:30:55.440 197 deaths.

00:30:57.000 So why is that relevant?

00:30:58.620 Why is what the political decisions of Oklahoma to reopen their economy have to do with the

00:31:04.020 fact that Michelle Rumpel is there?

00:31:05.860 Well, again, they're just sort of showing the fact that they disagree with probably Oklahoma's

00:31:11.420 policies to reopen their economy, perhaps.

00:31:15.100 It's just the whole story is just a non-story.

00:31:18.260 The fact that Michelle Rumpel is with her family isn't really our business, if you want

00:31:22.520 to say that where Justin Trudeau is and where he's staying isn't really any of our business.

00:31:28.200 And just because she happens to be on the other side of the border, she's still in the same

00:31:32.120 time zone, she can still potentially get to Ottawa if she needs to.

00:31:36.940 This is, to me, fake news.

00:31:39.700 All right, guys, thank you so much for tuning in to an episode of the Candace Malcolm Show

00:31:44.640 with Candace Malcolm.

00:31:45.680 Thank you so much.

00:31:46.380 And we'll be back again later this week.

00:31:48.020 Thank you.

The Candice Malcolm Show - April 28, 2020

Why don’t politicians trust Canadians？

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