Omar Khadr, a former Guantanamo detainee who received a $10.5 million settlement and a 2017 Liberal apology for his role in a 2002 attack that killed Canadian soldier Nathan Cirillo, was allowed onto Parliament Hill during Trudeau’s Eid speech on June 23—despite security claims of post-alert prevention. Conservative Senator Leo Hussokas demanded answers over perceived lax oversight, while Amnesty International dismissed concerns as "politicized," and Khadr’s lawyer accused critics of Islamophobia. Meanwhile, Rebel Media’s exclusion from the CPC convention in Halifax and Maxine Bernier’s divisive departure over multiculturalism and supply management policies risk handing Trudeau an electoral advantage, despite public discontent over his immigration and debt policies. The episode critiques Hollywood’s shift toward progressive messaging, like The Meg’s retro masculinity clashing with modern PC trends, questioning whether storytelling now bows to ideological agendas over audience appeal. [Automatically generated summary]
Tonight, a convicted terrorist visited Parliament Hill and if you've got a problem with that, then the media is going to call you a racist Islamophobe.
It's August 23rd.
I'm David Menzies, and this is the Ezra Levin Show.
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You come here once a year with a sign, and you feel morally superior.
The only thing I have to say to the government for why I publish it is because it's my bloody right to do so.
Convicted terrorist Omar Cotter just can't stay out of the news, it would seem.
How odd you'd think our multi-millionaire ex-jihadi would take that public apology and that eight-figure check and lay low somewhere, perhaps in a regime that shares his value set, such as, oh, I don't know, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan.
But earlier this week, news emerged regarding a little field trip Omar took in late June, specifically to Ottawa and more specifically to the parliament buildings.
Now, how does that grab you?
Especially given that the last time an Islamist jihadi went to the parliament buildings, it resulted in the brutal murder of Nathan Cirillo.
Now, I hate to be a worry ward here, but where the hell was security?
In any event, what attracted Omar to Ottawa was that his BBF Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was hosting a celebration marking that magnificent Canadian holiday known as Eid Alfateur.
This lauding of this Islamic holiday was taking place within the Sir John A. MacDonald building, which incredibly, given the political revisionist climate of 2018, is still called the Sir John A. MacDonald building.
But Omar makes for a fairly recognizable figure given that his picture has been in the paper on more than one occasion.
Being a convicted terrorist tends to bring about that sort of publicity, alas.
Yet here's where the story gets really interesting.
Prime Minister Trudeau, who it should be noted is nicknamed a jihadi Justin in certain circles, well, even he realized it would be somewhat toxic to be seen hobnobbing with Canada's most famous jihadi, especially with an election just a year away.
So apparently, Justin's people went running to their friends in the media party to put a spin on the Cotter visit.
And so it was that earlier this week, a remarkable story appeared in the Globe and Mail headlined, quote, liberals took steps to block Omar Cotter from celebration near Parliament Hill, end quote.
Wow, how the tide has turned, eh?
I mean, after all, it was only just last summer in which these same liberals were giving Omar a groveling public apology and cash for life.
And now suddenly this fellow is persona non grata, even at an Islamic event, no less.
How do you like them, halal apples?
Good thing the PR people at the globe could spin this for the Liberals to make them look squeaky clean while making the conservatives look like, yep, fear mongers and bigots.
For starters, here's the story's lead paragraph.
Quote, the Liberal government took steps to bar Omar Cotter from attending a celebration near Parliament Hill in late June, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was the keynote speaker, even though Mr. Cotter was not on the guest list for the invitation-only event, end quote.
You see, Omar was merely a wannabe party crasher according to the unnamed sources the Globe spoke to.
Oh, and by the way, whatever happened to the Globe's policy of not quoting unnamed sources, I guess there's a different set of journalistic ethics in place when Canada's national newspaper is doing damage control for the Prime Minister.
Now, the story then goes on to note that the government alerted parliamentary security to make sure that Omar and his wife did not make it into the event.
As well, the Prime Minister's office said Omar did not meet with the Prime Minister or any Liberal cabinet ministers.
Now, I will point out here that as always, the devil is in the details.
While this statement notes the PM and cabinet ministers did not meet Omar, it doesn't say whether or not Omar met any backbench Liberal MPs.
And you know, I guess we'll never know.
Now, here's where things get even more interesting.
Omar's presence on Parliament Hill that day prompted Conservative Senator Leo Hussokas to demand answers from security officials.
Hussakos justifiably wanted to know how a convicted terrorist was able to get onto Parliament Hill in the first place, said he, how could this happen?
Why is security so lax on the Hill?
How could an individual like that not be on a barred list?
If he is allowed to come on Parliament Hill, I assume just about anybody can, end quote.
And well, you can kind of guess what happens next, folks.
The Globe, with the Hussakos quote in hand, decides it's time to demonize conservatives.
For here's what Alex Nev of Amnesty International said, quote, the constant exaggeration that Cotter poses some sort of dire security threat is overstated and frankly largely politicized and it is time to bring it to an end, end quote.
Nev said Canadian politicians have to stop demonizing Omar since the evidence shows he's just trying to live a normal and peaceful life since his release from prison.
Yeah, come on everybody.
All that murdering and maiming, oh, that's behind little Omar now.
He's a retired jihadi, don't you know, just hoping to settle down as he shops for a mansion and a Ferrari paid for by you, the Canadian taxpayer.
Oh, but the Globe wasn't quite done yet with their spin cycle.
They sought comment from Omar's longtime lawyer, Dennis Edney.
And par for the course, Edney accused the Conservatives of singling out Omar because of his religion.
Quote, I just think they are concerned about their own bigotry.
Omar Cotter is a Canadian citizen.
All I can say is, if it was him, that's his constitutional right to be able to be there.
And why are they so worried about it as opposed to other individuals who come in?
It sounds to me of some Islamophobia, end quote.
Yep, there you have it, folks.
So moving forward, let it be said, Omar Cotter is just a regular run-of-the-mill Canadian kid, albeit one with copious quantities of blood on his hands.
But surely the time has come to forgive and forget.
And if you aren't into forgiveness and forgetfulness and you take issue with the likes of an Omar Cotter walking the hallways of our federal government, then you're obviously a bigot and a racist and an Islamophobe.
So please kindly alter your behavior accordingly.
Well, Sheila Gunn-Reed is off to cover the Conservative Party of Canada convention in Halifax later for this weekend.
But the question arises, will she actually be allowed in or will she be deemed persona non-grata for reasons that, well, remain evasive, to say the least.
Joining me now from Halifax to explain this bizarre scenario is indeed the host of the gun show, Sheila Gunread.
Welcome to the Ezra Levant Show, Sheila.
Hey, David, thanks for having me on.
Always a pleasure, my friend.
Okay, so earlier this month, Sheila, the Rebel exceeded more than 1 million YouTube subscribers.
I would presume that most of these subscribers are pro-Conservative Party.
And yet, Andrew Scheer doesn't want us to cover the party's annual convention, yet he has plenty of time for the likes of the CBC.
Explain, please.
You know, David, could you really be, could you imagine being so scared of the likes of Rosie Barton and Wendy Mesley that you would exclude the most pro-conservative, pro-small government, pro-grassroots network in the entire country from coming to your convention to tell the conservative side of the story?
You know, when you say it out loud, it sounds too crazy to be real, but that is the reality of the rebel on the ground here in Halifax.
They are not letting us in, but that doesn't mean that we haven't had a warm reception outside.
People are very happy to see us here.
They're happy to talk to us, and they're glad that we came.
Now, Sheila, so you've already tried to get into the convention.
Is that correct?
I'm waiting until the big boss gets on the ground here before we really try to breach the gate.
But we're doing our work here from the outside.
And, you know, like when the UN tried to ban me, I did a lot of, I think, really strong journalism from outside because there's always a story to tell.
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
I think this actually makes this into a bigger story than what would have happened if they would have allowed you in.
Yeah, maybe there'd be a couple of cranks saying, oh, look, you know, they let the rebel in, but it would have died down.
Now this is an ongoing narrative in the 24-hour news cycle.
And I'll tell you, Sheila, I think some of the best reporting you've ever done for Rebel was when the UN wouldn't let you into that European conference you tried to cover because you discovered so much hypocrisy outside of the conference, which let's face it, was a complete snooze fest, right?
You know what?
I'm almost glad the UN banned me because I wouldn't want to sit through all the scoldings and the picturing and the lectures from people who want me to use less water while they're watering the ground to keep the dust off everybody's shoes.
And the same thing is happening here.
We're hearing from people who, you know, who are conservatives.
They paid the money to come here and they wanted us to be inside because we speak for them.
Now, like Andrew Scheer, he may have wanted us to be as compliant with him as the CBC is with Trudeau.
But unlike the CBC, we are journalistically independent.
We don't answer to any politician.
We're accountable to our donors and our grassroots viewers, and every single one of those million subscribers on YouTube, that's 2 million eyeballs that Andrew Scheer could be talking to.
And he's just deciding that those aren't the people he wants to appeal to.
It is just incredible.
And, you know, Sheila, given what happened just earlier today with that bombshell of a news conference that Maxine Bernier delivered, you would think Mr. Scheer wants as few distractions as possible, but this is turning into a real fiasco.
By the way, what do you make of Mr. Bernier's announcement, Sheila?
You know, I understand every single point that Maxine Bernier made.
I absolutely do.
I agree with him on this issue of multiculturalism.
I agree with him wholeheartedly on Supreme Manage.
I agree with him that after he goes out on these issues and gets a sense for the grassroots, this CPC, the Conservative Party, comes in and sort of scoops up all the support that he has tested the waters on.
I agree with him on everything.
I even agree with him when he says the party has become morally corrupt and not a place that actually promotes conservative values all the time.
I agree with him 100%.
But being an Alberta conservative who has spent the last decade, to be honest, wandering in the wilderness, I don't think what he's doing is the right thing.
I don't think leaving the party is the right thing.
For example, if I worked in government, I would go in every single day trying to find a way to burn it all to the ground.
And I think that's the approach that Maxime Bernier should have taken: to work from the inside because he does have the support of 50% of the grassroots.
He should have stayed within the party and made a difference for all of us from inside.
Instead, he's really handing the next election over to Justin Trudeau.
And to be honest, Andrew Scheer's mishandling of this is probably going to spell the end of Andrew Scheer because when Andrew Scheer loses the next election, he's going to be out on his butt too when the party unceremoniously decides to replace him with somebody better and probably someone bolder, just like we saw in Ontario with Doug Ford.
You know what, Sheila?
I couldn't agree with your analysis anymore.
I think you've really nailed it, unfortunately.
I mean, even before Bernier's news conference of earlier today, you know, when you look at how Trudeau has just fumbled the ball on just about every file imaginable, Scheer and the Conservative Party should be ahead by at least 10 points in the poll and they're in the polls and they're not.
And now you have this, this, you know, which can only I see dividing the party.
I think the Judah liberals are going to win this election by default, if anything.
Yeah, it really was.
It was becoming Andrew Scheer's next election to lose.
I know that normally in Canada, we have two back-to-back governments, the same government, and then we sort of switch.
But because of the problems with immigration and the problems with debt and this divisive identity politics that Trudeau plays, there's really been a backlash lately.
And the Conservatives should be, for all intents and purposes, 10 or 20 points ahead.
Conservatives Divided Again00:02:36
But they really can't get their act together.
Andrew Scheer is coming off as petty, both in his treatment of us and of Maxine Bernier.
And Maxine Bernier is coming off as divisive now when he last week was talking about uniting the country.
It's just a mess.
Absolutely, Sheila.
And tell me, we, for whatever inexplicable reason, are persona non grata, according to Shear at this convention.
But you mentioned earlier you've been speaking to a lot of grassroots people, Rebel fans.
What are they saying about Bernier's announcement and Scheer's handling of this file right now?
You know, I was speaking to a gentleman who is opposed to supply management.
He said maybe a new party needs to come of this.
I was speaking to some other members and they said that this just speaks to Andrew Scheer's lack of leadership skill because it has been his job in the last 15 months to unite the party and the party has never been more divided.
In fact, Stephen Harper's coalition that he built between red Tories and reformers, SOCON and more socially liberal conservatives, that's all dissolving and it was dissolved in the span of two weeks.
And, you know, this should have been the convention to bring everybody back together and they couldn't be more divided.
And Sheila, a little crystal ball gazing.
Is there any way to fix this?
Is there any kind of, I don't know, backroom in private diplomacy where, you know, Humpty Dumpty can be put back together again, if you will?
You know, as far as I understand, although the news is very, very new, Maxine Bernier has not left to start his own party.
He's left caucus, which means that there could be a way back.
But is Scheer willing to be the bigger man and be willing to appeal to those things about Maxine Bernier that appeal to half the party and be willing to use Maxine Bernier's skills?
I'm not sure.
And has Maxine Bernier now gone and burned that bridge?
I suppose we're going to know on Saturday, but right now it feels like conservatives are in for a rough road for the next five years instead of the next one year.
I agree, Sheila, and it didn't have to be this way.
And it's so sad.
Listen, we have to wrap it here.
Sheila, good luck trying to get him.
Ben's Take On Retro Action00:08:54
Whatever you do, please don't get arrested for trespassing.
We don't want to get a criminal record out of this.
And thank you so much for going.
Thanks so much for going to Halifax to cover this.
It's going to be a fascinating conference, needless to say.
Thanks, David.
Okay, then.
And that was Sheila Gunn Reed reporting from Halifax, folks.
Keep it here.
More to come after this.
For those of you who say they just don't make action-adventure movies like they used to thanks to political correctness, well, you probably haven't seen the surprise hit of the summer, The Meg.
For here's a movie that features Wadeford folks, a masculine He-Man hero actually saving women and children.
Wow, makes you kind of wonder how this flick ever saw the light of day in the first place.
Joining me now about this retro action yarn is our Hollywood-based rebel, Ben Davies.
Welcome to the Ezra Levant Show, Ben.
It's so good to be here.
I feel at peace.
Now, Ben, full disclosure, I haven't seen The Meg yet.
So I don't know if this giant shark movie shares most of its cinematic DNA with the classic Jaws or the cheesy sharknado.
But what is striking, at least according to your review, is that this movie might be the most politically incorrect film of the summer, right?
Yeah, it was fascinating.
You found these tropes that you remember from these 80s action movies and just this insane stuff and the classic manhood call to action moments.
I'm like, I haven't seen this in years.
And you see women like fawning over the lead guy because Jason Statham is ripped in this movie and they have him with his shirt off.
And the women are like, oh my gosh, he's so cute.
I'm like, what is this?
And then you realize this is for the international market.
This is for the people all around the world that don't care about the ridiculous politics going on right now right now in the United States, where men can be men and women can admire men and we can want these action heroes back the way they were.
And that's why it was so different because it was specifically made for the international market.
And it was mind-blowing to see this back on the screen.
You know, I think that's a fascinating element of your review.
As you said, especially for the international market, this was made for, especially China, as I understand.
And is this maybe a new trend that, I mean, there's, you know, billions of other filmgoers other than Americans.
So we're going to make films the way we want that plays internationally.
And if we get a piece of the American pie, you know, so be it.
Do you see this as the beginning of a trend this way, Ben?
It could be.
I think it's more of an indictment, too, on the way America has ruined a lot of their movies and their heroes to try to play identity politics and be progressive.
And it just doesn't sell with the international market.
So they have to like do new movies specifically for that because we've so isolated ourselves in this insanity in the United States.
And yeah, I think we may see more of it, but the China box office itself, they only allow about 11 to 14 movies per year there.
So it's very specific and it's very big movies that are allowed to be there.
So I don't know how much it'll branch off necessarily and be specific for that or if it will just be a few specific movies themselves.
You know, Ben, I think you're onto something here too about people tuning out of the movies because of political correctness.
And we see so many examples.
Heck, earlier this month, I had my own little rant about something called the Hurricane Heist, where the protagonist, a good old boy from the South, he throws in with deference to Donald Trump, there is indeed man-made climate change happening.
And suddenly from the most unlikely source, we're getting this environmental sermon.
And when you read the comments to the commentary, it's so many, so often you see people saying, this is the reason why I don't go to the movies anymore.
So maybe when you see something like The Meg going retro to the 80s, like you mentioned, maybe this is a winning formula to win back some of the domestic market too.
Oh, definitely.
I mean, movies that stay true to being real and with its values and being conservative and just portraying characters as they would normally be, not activists in every scene.
You have a movie that's more believable, which is what we all want.
We love being thrown into a space opera like Star Wars.
And it's fine that it's unbelievable as long as we understand the characters.
But what happens is when you have a character jump into a scene and they start talking about nonsense for no reason because they're specifically trying to inject some political agenda into it, you immediately check out because you don't believe it.
You're like, okay, this is not longer.
We're not longer in the space opera.
We're in some Twitter feed in 2018.
It completely ruins the cinema and what's going on in the movies.
And it really hurts, it hurts the writers, I think, most of all, because when you do this, when you make people insert these politics into art, which movies are so much of art, these storytelling, these stories should be timeless, it ruins it because you're trying to make a story that is so complex and you're forcing in these moments and it takes you completely out of it, like talking about man-made climate change in an action movie.
It's like, what is this?
And it just ruins the stories.
And these writers are shackled to this ideology, too, because they can't get their scripts sold unless they do it.
Well, indeed.
And Rob Cohen, the director of Hurricane Heist, this is someone who has publicly said, Ben, that he has fantasies of torturing Donald Trump because of his environmental record, if you can believe it.
But you know, it's funny too.
You made mention that the hero, the protagonist in The Meg is the classic male action hero.
And it's almost as though so many films have gotten away from that.
I remember Ben, 1979 Alien came out, and it was completely against type that the Sigourney Weaver character, the female, ends up being the hero and saving the day.
But now, these days, that is so du regueur of having weak male characters and a strong female lead that something like the Meg is kind of like 1979's alien.
It's an actual strong man that saves the day.
Yeah, that is really interesting.
I never thought about that.
And it's something that's talked about so much, how there were no strong women or whatever.
It's like, no, they were great, strong female characters for decades, decades, but they just weren't completely masculine, anti-men, feminists in movies.
That's the only difference.
It's like that's, that's what's been going on.
Yeah, this is definitely, it took me a moment to process the fact that I'm sure it stood out just like Sigourney Weaver did back in the 70s, but to see Jason Statham's character be introduced, whereas a group of people that were desperate, no one could save these people at the bottom of the ocean.
They're like, there is one man who can save us.
And they're like, duh, no, there's no way.
He's washed up.
He'll never come back.
And they bring Jason Statham in and literally just talk about how he's in perfect physical condition.
He's the only one that can save us.
And he's like, it's so classic.
Like this masculine here going to save the day and save these women at the bottom of the ocean.
It was really, it was refreshing and shocking to watch.
And even though the movie was terrible, it was just a fun roller coaster.
It was hilarious.
And you made mention too, in terms of the political correctness element, Ben, that there's a scene where a female character catches the male character in the buff and leers at him for a little while, which I guess in this post-Me Too era, you're not supposed to do films like that anymore, right?
No, yeah.
She completely violated him with her eyes and took away his dignity because she saw him with his shirt off.
And if this was reverse, even if this movie just played in the United States mainly, like if it wasn't just pandered to the Chinese market, like it would still be crazy.
But if it was reversed and it was a guy leaning back to catch a peek when the girl was changing, this would be front page news in the New York Times.
Like it was, I couldn't believe it.
In the theater, I was looking around just to see if anyone noticed.
Like, did you see what she just did?
Like, this is 2018.
You can't do that.
But no one cared, obviously.
It's just, oh, it's hilarious to sit there and watch it.
Well, you know, Ben, we'll wrap it here.
You said it's not really a good film.
I think you gave it two out of five stars, but would you still suggest that people see it to get, I don't know, rediscover that retro action vibe that has gone missing in the last couple of decades?
I don't know, man.
It's got a giant shark.
What could be bad about it?
Yeah, the giant shark who makes no sense either.
But I would see Vile 22 if you want to see a more masculine film or a movie like that.
But it is at least fun to watch in some ways.
Okay, then.
Well, I guess the innuendo I'm getting from you, Ben, is wait for the DVD release.
So maybe that's what I shall do.
Thank you so much for weighing in on this film then, Ben.
Absolutely.
And that was Ben Davies from Hollywood.
Giant Shark Fun?00:00:55
And keep it here, folks.
More to come right after this.
Well, folks, that's our show for tonight.
Ezra and Sheila are at the Conservative Convention reporting from the outside, of course, because they won't let us in.
They will have a show from the convention tomorrow.
It's exciting times with Bernier leaving the Conservative Party and Sheer not backing down.
Let us know what you think.
Do you think Bernier is in the right or in the wrong?
Or did Sheer push him out of the party prematurely?
We would love to know your thoughts.
Email Ezra at the rebel.media or comment below.
Until next time, good night and don't miss tomorrow's episode with Ezra and Sheila from Halifax.