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March 13, 2022 - Epoch Times
21:49
"Freedom Convoy" Against Vaccine Mandates Reaches Capital of Canada; Attacked by Prime Minister
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Good evening.
According to new data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it shows that Chinese companies, many of whom are either controlled by or have deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party, they have been buying up more and more American farmland.
In fact, over the last 10 years, the amount of land that they've purchased has risen exponentially.
However, now there's an effort over on Capitol Hill to actually fight back.
Meanwhile, as you might have noticed, there is a near total media blackout of the many protests that are erupting around the world, which are pushing back against the vaccine mandate.
And one of the largest such protests is actually happening right across the border in Canada.
Right now, there are somewhere between 50 to 100,000 truck drivers who are making their way to the Canadian capital of Ottawa in order to protest the new vaccine mandates that were lobbied against them.
However, Facebook has just kicked them off the platform— GoFundMe suspended their donation drive and it looks like Justin Trudeau is trying to escape.
Let's go through it all together.
This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
And now let's begin today's discussion by talking about how China is buying up more and more American land.
Now, you might not know this, but Chinese entities, many of whom are either controlled by or have very, very deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party, well, they have been buying up hundreds of thousands of acres of arable land across the United States.
And this appears to not be happening by chance.
Instead, it appears that this is actually part of a program which has a name within the country of China.
They call it the Food Silk Road.
And there are a lot of different initiatives within that program, such as investing in infrastructure, setting up free trade agreements with different countries, and, of course, acquiring farmland on foreign soil.
And so in terms of the data that we actually have available, it comes from the USDA, which is the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
And you should know that there is always a two-year lag in this type of data.
And so, as of this year, the earliest data that we have access to is 2020.
However, what we do know is that at the beginning of 2020, Chinese investors have purchased upwards of 192,000 acres of American agricultural land, and the value of that land is approximately $1.9 billion.
Now, you might say that that's not a lot.
However, the trend here shows an exponential increase in the number of purchases over the last 10 years.
In fact, here is what Dan Newhouse, who is a congressman from Washington, he's a Republican, here's how he describes the situation during a recent House Appropriations hearing.
The current trend in the U.S. is leading us toward the creation of a Chinese-owned agricultural land monopoly.
And of course, the number of acres that the Chinese have purchased might have actually skyrocketed even further during the pandemic.
We just won't know about it for another two years since, again, the USDA's data on farmland ownership is two years out of date.
And so in two years, we'll know what they brought up this year.
Regardless, let me give you an example of this type of land ownership and the dangers that it actually presents to us Americans.
About a year ago, there was a proposed wind farm project out in Texas, which was later revealed to be a potential national security risk due to the fact that its Chinese owners has ties to the Chinese Communist regime as well as to the People's Liberation Army.
And so the company in question, it's called GH America Investment Group, which is actually a Chinese-owned company, and it is a subsidiary of China's Guanghai Energy Company.
And over the last five years or so, this company spent about $110 million buying up approximately 140,000 acres of land out in Texas.
And just to give you a bit of comparison, 140,000 acres of land is approximately the size of Tulsa.
So that is obviously a good chunk of Texas that is now owned by a Chinese company.
Okay, so now the next question is who is actually the owner of this company who is buying up all this land?
Well, the man behind this particular investment firm is named Sun Guangxin, and he's a billionaire businessman from the region of Xinjiang.
And you've probably heard of Xinjiang before.
That's where they definitely don't have any concentration camps for millions of Muslims.
Regardless, Mr.
Sun, who is behind this wind turbine company, he is a former officer of the People's Liberation Army, and he's also currently the richest person in the Xinjiang region.
According to Fur, he has a net worth of approximately $1.9 billion.
And I think it goes without saying that the interests of the billionaire class in China, alongside the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, well, they are intertwined like peanut butter and jelly.
And so Mr.
Sun's plan out in Texas is to build between 50 to 130 wind turbines and then feed that energy into the Texas electrical grid.
And what's really interesting to note here is that the Treasury Department, the U.S. Treasury Department, they actually reviewed this acquisition of land, and they also reviewed the project itself, and they determined that the wind farm did not pose a national security threat.
However, you have local ranchers, local Texas politicians, as well as the U.S. military raising some serious concerns about both the project itself as well as its proximity to the Lawland Air Force Base, which is only about 70 miles down the road from this proposed wind farm.
And in terms of what the potential dangers actually are, Well, being so close to the base, American Military News, which is a military publication, they noted that not only is there the real possibility of spying, as well as potentially interfering in flight training, but also the Air Force base's power supply could be made vulnerable if you have a Chinese electrical company plugged into the grid just 70 miles down the road.
And generally, it's well understood that the power grid is a form of U.S. critical infrastructure that can pose a risk to the entire Texas electrical grid.
And as an example of how that might actually play out in practice, well, you might remember how back in March of 2019, there was a power grid attack that happened out west, and it disrupted California, Utah, as well as Wyoming's electrical utility systems for several hours.
And so naturally, allowing a Chinese company to connect to the U.S. power grid, well, it raises some serious cybersecurity concerns, which are then Amplified by the fact that this wind farm is situated just 30 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border and just 70 miles from the Air Force base.
And so that is just one example of the risk posed to Americans.
However, this initiative by the Chinese is not limited exclusively to only the land itself.
And as an example of what I mean by that, there was a case that took place back in 2017 when a Chinese state-owned company called the China National Chemical Corporation, otherwise known as ChemChina, they acquired another company called Sinjeda for $43 billion.
And what's interesting to note about that particular acquisition deal was that a lot of mainstream news pundits, they actually said it was a bad business decision on the part of the Chinese.
However, maybe they were not looking at the full picture, because in this acquisition, perhaps the Chinese firm was not looking for a large cash-on-cash return.
Maybe they were looking for some other type of intangible benefit that owning Sinjeda would offer them.
Here's how the National Pulse describes the situation with this acquisition.
Sinjata is the world's largest crop protection maker and third largest seed supplier.
The now CCP, which is the Chinese Communist Party-backed company, operates in 16 different states, invests in agricultural research and development every year, and employs more than 4,000 Americans in 41 states, which can be a great backbone to all the land that the Chinese are buying.
However, there is an effort in Washington, D.C. to push back against this Chinese takeover of Americans' farmland.
In fact, House Republicans, they recently introduced amendments to H.R. 4356, which is the Agriculture Rural Development Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2022.
And those amendments, they will block any new agricultural purchases by companies that are wholly or even partly controlled by the Chinese government.
And it would also bar Chinese-owned farms from tapping into federal support programs.
Here's specifically what the relevant part of that bill would say.
And for your reference, the relevant part comes under Section 777.
Here's what it says, quote, quote, what it says, quote, quote, what it says, quote, Agricultural land owned by the People's Republic of China or companies owned in full or in part by the People's Republic of China shall not be eligible for participation in programs administered by the Secretary of Agriculture.
If you'd like to read more about the Chinese Communist Party's land grab here in America or about this new bill which is aiming to actually fight back against it, well, I'll throw the links to several articles into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And all I ask in return is that you take a super quick moment to smash, smash, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
And now, before we move on over and discuss the massive trucker protest that's making its way to the Canadian capital, as well as the censorship that they're experiencing, well, I would like to take a super quick second to introduce our sponsor for today's episode.
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Now Roman in the studio, back to you.
And now let's move on over to Canada.
And to start with, there was a very, you can say, interesting tweet that was sent out by Canada's Prime Minister, Mr.
Justin Trudeau, just earlier today.
Here's what that tweet said.
Last night I learned that I have been exposed to COVID-19.
My rapid test result was negative.
I am following Ottawa health rules and isolating for five days.
I feel fine and will be working from home.
Stay safe everyone and please get vaccinated.
Now there is actually quite a few things going on here that we should unpack.
First of all, Mr.
Trudeau, who is fully vaccinated, who has just three weeks ago received his booster shot, who wears a mask everywhere he goes, and who then furthermore tested negative for COVID, well, he has decided that he needs to isolate himself for the next five days.
Now, you might ask yourself, is he just being very, very, very cautious?
Or is there something else going on?
Is there something perhaps happening in Ottawa that he would rather not have to deal with?
Well, let's take a look at the calendar of events that are happening over in Ottawa.
You have the Ottawa Senators NHL team playing a game of hockey on the 27th.
You have the Treadwell snowmobile drag races that are coming up.
And though, of course, this is not listed on the tourism website, but you also have between 50,000 to 100,000 truck drivers who are heading on over to Ottawa in order to protest the country's new vaccine mandate.
And wouldn't you know it, they are set to arrive there either later today or tomorrow.
Now, in case you haven't heard about this massive protest, which is actually quite possible given the fact that there has been a near total media blackout on the issue, well, let me set the stage for you.
Back during the very beginning of the pandemic, truck drivers in Canada, just like truck drivers here in America, they were essential workers who were given as much props by the government as nurses, doctors, and other medical staff were.
Here's in fact what Justin Trudeau said via Twitter back in March 31st of 2022, back just when the pandemic first began.
While many of us are working from home, there are others who aren't able to do that, like the truck drivers who are working day and night to make sure our shelves are stocked.
So when you can, please hashtag thank a trucker for everything they're doing and help them however you can.
However, while truckers were essential workers, cracks were already starting to show by the way that they were actually being treated.
Because while publicly you had them being touted as heroes by the federal government, on the ground, a lot of truckers were reporting that they were not even allowed to get out of their rig in order to use the bathroom when they were dropping off their loads.
And so they had to sit in their trucks for hours and pee in a bottle because they were not allowed to leave their cabins.
And so stuff like that was happening in 2020, 2021.
However, when you fast forward now to the year 2022, well, the situation has unraveled to a whole nother level.
Because right now, the Canadian government is starting to impose a strict vaccine mandate on long haul truck drivers.
Specifically, starting on January 15th, meaning just starting last week, the Trudeau government implemented a cross-border vaccine mandate on truckers who cross back and forth into America.
Here's how the Canadian Broadcast Corporation described this new mandate.
The mandate, which took effect on January 15th, states that all Canadian cross-border essential workers, including truckers, must show proof of vaccination at a port of entry to avoid stringent testing requirements and quarantine.
Truckers traveling within Canada are not affected by these new measures.
And so the way that this new Canadian vaccine mandate is set up is that on the one hand, if you are, let's say, an American truck driver, then you have to be fully vaccinated in order to enter Canada at all.
However, if you're a Canadian truck driver, then you actually don't have to be fully vaccinated in order to return to Canadian soil.
However, if it's the case that you're not vaccinated, then you will have to quarantine when you make your way back.
And so, for instance, let's say that you are a truck driver who regularly crosses the border.
You pick up some goods in Canada, you drive across the border into America to drive them off, then you pick up another load and drive back to Canada.
However, when you hit that border and you're not vaccinated, well, they will put you into a 14-day quarantine.
Here's in fact how the Canadian Ministry of Transport described the situation in a statement.
A Canadian truck driver who is not fully vaccinated can't be denied entry into Canada.
Canadian citizens, persons registered as Indians under the Indian Act, And as you can imagine, this type of requirement, well, it's pretty much untenable for anyone running a trucking business.
Quarantine for two full weeks when you're trying to run a load.
That makes it impossible.
You better hope that whatever you're carrying is not perishable.
And by the way, just for your reference, according to government estimates, and so trust them or not, somewhere between 10 to 15% of Canadian truckers are unvaccinated.
And so in terms of how many truckers this will actually affect, well, you had an estimate from the Canadian Trucking Alliance alongside the American Trucking Association, and they did the math and crunched the numbers for both sides of the border, and they looked at the numbers of truckers who will actually be affected, basically the number of truckers who cross the border regularly, and they found that up to 26,000 drivers will be sidelined because of this new mandate, both Canadian and American truckers combined.
And the problems that this will cause are fairly self-evident because not only do we have a supply chain issue across North America right now, but even before this whole thing flared up, you had a severe trucker shortage over in Canada.
In fact, as of last summer, there were somewhere between 20,000 to 25,000 truck driver positions that were going unfilled.
And so what all this amounts to is basically a perfect storm for the increase in food prices as well as food shortages throughout the country of Canada.
In fact, when you look at the Canadian Consumer Price Index, which was just released earlier this week, here's what you find.
The cost of food generally went up 2.2%.
But when you actually dig into some of the specific food items, well, some of those rose up considerably more.
For instance, things like eggs, they rose 6.3%.
Bacon went up 12.5%.
Meat went up 4.3%.
Seafood went up 3.4%, fresh fruit was up 2.6%, dairy was up 2.8%, and butter, which is a subset of dairy, was up 6.3%.
And so, just like in physics, in the political world, every action has an equal reaction.
And indeed, four days ago, something called the Freedom Rally was organized.
It's a giant convoy of truckers starting in British Columbia and working their way through the country heading to Ottawa, that's the capital of Canada, in order to protest this mandate.
Now, it's not exactly clear how many truckers have joined this convoy, but it seems like as they are getting closer and closer to Ottawa, It is growing considerably as more and more trucks are joining.
In fact, you can see a lot of footage floating around right now on social media with what looks like an endless cavalcade of trucks snaking miles on the highway.
I've seen estimates from as low as 30,000 to as high as 100,000 trucks having joined this convoy.
And one thing you'll notice if you look at the footage is that there are cheering crowds lining the streets and filling the overpasses as the truckers are making their way through the country, even though in some places the temperatures are below freezing.
And then some people, instead of actually joining the protest, they have instead given money to the Freedom Rally via their GoFundMe page.
In fact, they have raised to this very day over six million dollars.
However, as you can likely imagine, This type of demonstration is getting a lot of, let's say, significant pushback from the establishment.
In fact, before he went into quarantine, well, here's what Justin Trudeau had to say about the Freedom Rally.
The small fringe minority of people who are on their way to Ottawa or who are holding unacceptable views that they're expressing do not represent The views of Canadians who have been there for each other,
who know that following the science and stepping up to protect each other It's rather amazing that you can denounce a large protest like this based on the words of just a few individuals.
However, that looks like that's exactly what's being done.
Regardless though, the media, they have treated this trucker protest pretty much the same way that they have treated the other anti-mandate protests as well, through either a media blackout or by denouncing it altogether as either a form of terrorism or as a form of extremism.
Furthermore, GoFundMe, they froze the over $5 million in funds that the event organizers were able to raise.
And according to the description of the GoFundMe page, the money that was actually being raised was going to be used for, quote, help with the cost of fuel first, and hopefully food and lodgings to help ease the pressures of this arduous task.
Money raised will be dispersed to our truckers to aid them with the cost of the journey.
Funds will be spent to help cover the cost of fuel for our truckers first and foremost, and then will be used to assist with food if needed and contribute to shelter if needed.
However, to be fair to GoFundMe, we here at the Epoch Times did reach out to them and one of their spokespeople got back to us saying that they will continue to allow people to contribute funds to this particular drive.
It's only that they are working with the organizers to figure out how these donations will actually be dispersed.
Here's in fact what a spokesperson for GoFundMe told us here at the Epoch Times via email.
We are continuing to work directly with the organizer to gather information about how funds are being distributed.
This is part of our standard process to ensure the protection of all donors.
Once a withdrawal plan is provided by the organizer, our team is on standby to safely and quickly deliver the funds.
However, regardless of all the setbacks, all the media blackout, regardless of the censorship, and even regardless of those comments from Justin Trudeau, this trucker convoy has grown to epic proportions and it's even set, it looks like, to smash the world record.
Here's in fact what a spokesperson for this convoy told the Toronto Sun, quote, It is 70 kilometers long, which, by the way, is about 44 miles.
I've seen footage from an airplane.
It is impressive.
Regardless, we'll have to wait and see what happens once this convoy actually reaches Ottawa, which is set to happen either tomorrow or on Saturday.
The only thing that we know for sure is that Justin Trudeau will be in quarantine for the next five days, and so he will have an excuse to not actually face these truckers until at least Wednesday.
However, given, frankly, how long these truckers actually drove to get to Ottawa, I mean, barring any unforeseen circumstances, I'm sure they're going to be there for at least a week, perhaps even longer.
And you can be sure that we here at the Epoch Times, we will continue to cover this protest as it unfolds.
And so, until we have more information, let's head on back to the studio.
If you'd like to read more about what's happening over in Canada, as well as about all the other protests that are erupting around the entire world, well, I'll throw the links to several articles into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And again, all I ask in return is that if you haven't already, take a quick moment to smash, smash, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
And since you've completed this episode of Facts Matter, I would highly recommend that you go on over to Epic TV and check out an awesome episode of Crossroads, where Josh had a chance to speak with James Lindsay, and they discussed how critical race theory is essentially the new form of Marxism that's spreading here in America.
Here's a trailer for that awesome episode.
You hear it all the time that critical race theory is a Marxist type or Marxist-influenced or loosely Marxist ideology, but nobody really explains it that well.
But you come from an interesting point where, through the process of researching over the years, you've come to understand that not only is it Marxist-inspired, but it is Marxist.
What does critical race theory do?
It reproduces line of thought exactly.
The society is organized in structural racism and its main ideology is white supremacy.
Part of the idea is to cut ties to the continuity of culture.
When you understand what Marxism is almost at a faith-based level, what it proposes at its core about the philosophical understanding of how human beings exist and interact with the world, You can see why it's always going to fail.
If you'd like to check out that full episode as well as all the other phenomenal content over on Epic TV, I'll throw a link to it.
It'll be right there at the very top of the description box.
I hope you click on it.
Hope you check it out.
Hope you subscribe.
And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honest journalism that is based in truth and tradition.
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Subscribe to this YouTube channel if you haven't already in order to get this type of honest news content delivered directly to your YouTube feed while YouTube still allows it.
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And then until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.
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