David Menzies critiques militant vegans staging a 19-person die-in in Toronto on New Year’s Day, pressuring Bolsonaro to adopt a plant-based diet, while ignoring 595M media bailout implications for Trudeau. He mocks their $4B+ liquor/gambling bans via the Islamic Party of Ontario, comparing its Sharia push to liberal contradictions in diversity policies, and notes media silence despite its extremism. The episode ends with a jab at CBC’s reimagined nativity scene—replacing Christian figures with Indigenous and secular icons—while questioning why such edits spark outrage only when cultural symbols are altered. [Automatically generated summary]
Tonight, a handful of vegan protesters in Toronto make for front page news, while out in Alberta, thousands of trucker protesters are virtually ignored.
It's January 3rd.
I'm David Menzies, and this is The Ezra Levent Show.
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
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.
Vegetarians will tell you that nothing makes them look worse than vegans, and vegans will tell you that nothing makes them look worse than vegan extremists.
And with good reason, folks, is there anything that screams arrogance, ignorance, and a sense of entitlement?
More so than a bunch of vitamin B12 deficient loudmouths demanding that everybody must become part of the Carrot Crusader contingent.
Yes, these days, vegans aren't merely asking for tolerance.
They want affirmation.
Besides, they already have our tolerance.
Hey, you want to go eat copious quantities of kale and Brussels sprouts?
Who cares?
Eat as much as you want, little buddy rabbit.
But it would be kind of nice if the carnivores and the omnivores of this planet didn't have to endure sanctimonious sermons when it comes to chowing down on a cheeseburger.
We're not despicable speciesists.
We're merely taking our rightful place atop the food chain.
65 million years ago, the apex predator was the T-Rex.
Today it's us, Homo sapiens.
Yet these militant vegans won't shut the hell up.
I referred to a couple of recent stories emanating out of Hogtown, and boy, I bet the vegans really, really hate that nickname for Toronto.
For starters on New Year's Day, the so-called animal rights activists blocked traffic at a major Toronto intersection as they staged a die-in to get this, protest the inauguration of Brazil's new president, Mr. Bolsonaro.
According to a CTV report, organizers of the protests say nearly 50 people participated.
Here's a photo that ran with the CTV piece.
I'm counting 19 people, including the ones who appear to be wearing oversized Muppet costumes.
Now, some activists held signs urging President Bolsonaro to, quote, go vegan or we die, end quote.
Huh, let's see now.
Go vegan or die, eh?
You know, I think I'm opting for the electric share, please.
I kind of like the idea of leaving behind one final little carbon footprint as I depart to the sweet hereafter.
Even so, Anita Kranjik is an organizer with Toronto Climate Save and the Extinction Rebellion.
Gee, that sounds like a whole lot of activism.
Anyway, she told CTV that vegans want Bolsonaro to live on a plant-based diet for a month.
That's right.
They want him to be as miserable as your average vegan.
Then again, think of the upside, Mr. President.
After day 30 of enduring such a diet, even a weak-old Big Mac is going to taste like a Gordon Bleu culinary masterpiece.
But you know, if any reasonable person were to protest any country in South America, wouldn't the obvious choice be the socialist utopia that is Venezuela?
Oops, I said reasonable person.
I forgot we're talking vegan extremists here.
But say, since Venezuela gets a pass while Brazil gets vilified, do you think there's something more to the vegan protests than merely leafy-based food choices?
After all, Bolsonaro, who has been called Brazil's Donald Trump, wrote a populist wave of anti-establishment sentiment to presidential victory back in October.
No dear, we can't have that, can we?
First Trump, then Doug Ford, now this boy from Brazil.
This populist thing, it's getting out of hand, isn't it?
So let's demonize Bolsonaro as enemy of the environment.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
After all, he already announced Brazil has withdrawn its offer to host this year's UN summit on climate change.
How dare he?
I mean, the UN bigwigs were really, really looking forward to having some fun in the sun in Rio de Janeiro this year, with the air conditioners running at full blast, mind you, given all that hellacious, freezing cold weather they had to endure in Poland at last month's climate change summit.
Oh, Bolsonaro, you bastard.
Meanwhile, yet more Toronto-based fruitcake vegans were doing their best to put a restaurant out of business for having the temerity to serve horse meat by staging protests outside La Palette on Queen Street.
This group is called the Grassroots Anti-Speciesism Shift.
That's supposed to read as an acronym that spells out the word grass.
But because grassroots is one word, the acronym actually spells out the word gas.
And given the hot air coming out of their mouths and the broccoli-scented flatulence coming out of their tailpipes, I think gas is a most fitting moniker indeed.
By the way, if the gas folks ring a bell, it's probably because of their protests directed at another Toronto restaurant last year, Antler.
We covered one of their anti-antler wine fests back in March.
Check out this excerpt.
We were designed to eat plants.
Humans were designed to eat plants?
We're not omnivorous by nature.
Absolutely not.
Because we don't, first of all, I don't see you have sharp teeth like all the animals who eat meat, right?
If you were a meat eater, you would chase the squirrel without any tools and just using your bare hands and your teeth, you would eat it.
There is no right way to kill someone who does not want to die.
What does that mean exactly?
It's exactly what it means.
There's no right way to kill someone that does not want to die.
So these animals that are being consumed in this restaurant and in every other restaurant or for clothing, for entertainment, they don't want to die.
They want to live their lives.
They want to be free.
Now, you know, it's funny because I've seen these kind of signs at like anti-abortion rallies.
Would you be anti-abortion too?
This is irrelevant, I believe, for this protest.
So right now we're talking about animal rights.
So I would, you know, answer any questions you have regarding that.
Yeah, not exactly Menta Club material, is it now?
The thing is, the vegans' master plan went south big time.
They wanted to put Antler out of business.
Instead, it's now hard to get a reservation at Antler.
I predict the same thing was going to happen regarding La Palette as sympathetic meat eaters descend en masse to make a statement with their wallets.
Speaking of publicity, the mainstream media really seems to have its priorities in order regarding protests these days, doesn't it?
A handful of loony-tuned vegans assemble to try and force an eatery into bankruptcy or to lecture a foreign head of state and hey, the Live Eye team is immediately dispatched.
But when some 2,000 trucks descend upon Niskiu, Alberta to protest the Trudeau government's grotesque mismanagement of the pipeline file, well, something that should be treated as a front-page story all across Canada is instead relegated to the back pages or ignored completely.
Then again, with that $595 million media bailout package pending, the mainstream media doesn't want to embarrass their main beneficiary, Justin Big Bucks Trudeau.
So as vegan zealots demand that we must adopt their dietary ways and demand that President Bolsonaro must embrace a corrupt UN globalist agenda, oh, there's plenty of time to cover these pathetic lost causes.
I mean, these vegans, they're so cosmopolitan, so intellectual, so hip.
But when there are protests by salt of the earth truckers rightfully demanding that this federal government get off its collective arse and greenlight much-needed multi-billion dollar pipeline projects so that they can go back to work and make the oil sands great again, well, that's just a bunch of rednecks and deplorables out in the hinterland fussing over stuff they don't really understand, right?
So three cheers for the veganites who are clearly getting enough nutrients even though they avoid meat consumption.
Political Party's Sharia Proposal00:13:53
As for the mainstream media, no need to rock the boat, guys, not with those much-coveted taxpayer-funded welfare checks about to arrive in the mailbox any day now.
Well, voters of Ontario rejoice if you're tired of the same old, same old political parties, you know, the PCs, the liberals and the NDP.
Well, now you have a brand new alternative.
Yes, say hello to the province's newest political organization, the Islamic Party of Ontario.
And joining me now to analyze the merits of a party that prefers Sharia law to the Canadian Constitution is Candace Malcolm, the founder of the True North Initiative.
Welcome to the Ezra Event Show, Candace.
Thanks for having me, David.
Oh, always a pleasure.
Now, Candace, I got to tell you, when I initially heard about this Islamic Party of Ontario, it was literally on January the 1st, although I had to check my calendar to make sure it wasn't April the 1st.
Candice, who is behind this party and what is his agenda to begin with?
Well, I have to say, I felt the same way, David.
When I first saw people kind of passing along this party platform on social media, I read it and I thought it was a joke or a hoax or something like that, like people pretending to be Islamists but who didn't actually believe this kind of stuff because, you know, the content of the platform is crazy.
It's actual Sharia law.
It's calling for, you know, kind of like 11th century morality, banning alcohol and all kinds of stuff that is just really bizarre.
But lo and behold, this is a real political party.
This is something that's being proposed.
The name was reserved back in October.
And the individual behind it is a sort of a kind of unknown guy in Toronto.
He is a political activist.
And in the past, he's even taken shots and gone after Tarek Fatah, who is the sort of progressive Muslim.
And he's a writer at the Toronto Sun.
And so, you know, it's really interesting that this is coming up.
It's real, apparently.
And this is where we are in Canada, where we have political parties proposing, you know, very different kinds of ideas and morality here in Canada.
So welcome to 2019, I guess.
It's amazing.
And for Terek Vittel, this individual has called him an Islamophobe, even though Tarek is a Muslim the last time I checked.
I guess he's not the right kind of Muslim.
But, you know, Candace, you do say it's a real political party, and so it is.
But I mean, surely this is a no-hoper.
I mean, if we project ahead four years to the next Ontario provincial election, what is the over-underline in terms of how many votes this joke of a party gets?
Is it even 100?
Well, I hope it remains a very, very small fringe party.
But this is kind of the concern that we have in Canada.
You know, this is Justin Trudeau's post-national Canada, where we don't have a core identity or core values.
And so because of that, we kind of welcome everyone and everything.
You know, that can be great when it comes to cuisine and different types of celebrations, cultural celebrations.
But when it comes to people and politicians who want to set laws in our country, having a group of people that want to impose Sharia law, the party platform says that they believe that Sharia is the natural governing force in Ontario, that Canada should live under the supremacy of their God, Allah.
And it has everything that you would expect from Sharia law, including bans on adultery and drug use and alcohol, very against same-sex marriage and gender identity and all these kind of progressive things.
So I think it's going to be an interesting thing to watch how progressives and how the left and how liberals like Justin Trudeau act and react to a political party.
On the one hand, the people on the left, they love diversity and they love welcoming people and saying that Canada has no identities, so we have to adhere to other people's identity and respect everyone's culture, while at the same time going after their sort of prized social causes, pet causes like identity politics.
So it should be interesting to watch.
Hopefully it does remain a small fringe party, though.
And I think you've nailed it here in terms of a very important point, Candace.
When you look at what the Justin Trudeau liberals, or the left for that matter, en masse stand for, freedom of the press, freedom of expression, women's rights, gay rights, and on and on it goes, these values are toxic to the people behind the Islamic Party of Ontario.
Sharia law has no tolerance for these kind of liberal freedoms.
So like I said, it just seems so perversely ironic to me that liberals support the kind of diversity, some of which is completely against liberalism to begin with.
Absolutely.
Like you'll have liberals defending Sharia law and saying, oh, it's just a personal values.
It's just a personal belief system.
And then you have the people who actually believe in Sharia law saying, no, no, it's going to be the law of the land.
It needs to govern not just all Muslims, but all people.
And a fundamental aspect of Sharia law is that women have lower value than men, that non-Muslims have lower value than Muslims.
And that sort of basic lifestyles in Canada, like, you know, being gay or being divorced, is just totally not allowed.
And so, yeah, it's going to be an interesting, you know, to see these two forces collide.
But also it shows you how, David, how people from other parts of the world with truly barbaric and evil ideas take advantage of our freedoms and our liberties.
They take advantage of free speech in Canada and free political association to try to push a political party that would end those things, that would end freedom of association and free speech.
And this is sort of a fundamental problem that we find ourselves in here in the West.
You know, and it's funny, Candace, when I've interviewed Islamists, and I always find the key question is, how compatible is Sharia law to Canadian law and the Canadian Constitution?
And typically the answer is it's about 98% compatible.
And maybe it is, but you know what, Candace?
I'm really, really worried about that 2% that's not compatible, like, oh, I don't know, stoning adulterers, perhaps, right?
Well, and that's another interesting point, David, is that usually Islamists are much more coy than this.
They usually try to kind of hide their agenda and say like, oh, no, you know, we just want to be peaceful here in Canada.
And meanwhile, you know, they're doing all sorts of nefarious things in their mosques or in other languages away from the sort of mainstream behind closed doors.
Well, this is kind of the opposite, which is why I thought it was a joke at first.
This is a political party putting it all out there.
This is what we believe in.
This is what we want in Canada.
And maybe it's a good thing to sort of shine some light so that Canadians can see some of the sort of unfortunate and nefarious aspects of political Islam.
And you know, Candice, you're reading my mind.
You made an excellent point, and it was the question I was just about to ask you.
The way I look at things, and you tell me if I've got this right, I would say that the majority of Canadian Muslims that want nothing to do with Sharia law and perhaps even fled countries to get away from that garbage are embarrassed by this.
Conversely, those hardcore Islamists aren't happy with this guy, too, because like you said, they like to work within the system to change the system very quietly, almost as fifth calmness.
So I don't think they relish this guy getting all this kind of attention for putting it all out there in terms of what he wants in terms of an ideal Canadian Islamist society.
I think you're absolutely right.
I think that there's a lot of truth to that, that most of the Muslims that I know and interact with, you know, specifically fled Sharia law.
And one of the things they love about Canada is the freedom not just to practice a religion, but a freedom not to be religious, not to practice a religion.
And the last thing they want is the tenets of the authoritarian governments that they fled to show up here in Canada.
And then, yeah, the other side is that they want to, you know, the true Islamists and the people who are a force for pushing Islam, political Islam in Canada, don't like to do it out in the open.
So it's pretty surprising that this individual has popped up.
I don't know if he's sort of a mainstream figure in Muslim communities in and around Scarborough and Toronto, but he's putting himself out there.
So we'll have to wait and see how many members he'll get.
Maybe there is a constituency for this kind of political party.
I kind of worry about it.
The idea of a political party based on sort of religious fundamentalism isn't necessarily new in Canada, but we haven't really seen a party like this pushing Sharia law.
And I worry that it'll have an impact that it'll create a bunch of other little copycat political parties and groups coming up and pushing this sort of divisive tribalism here in Canada.
And Candace, it's one thing for any nutbar out there to propose some kind of ideology in terms of running a country, running a government.
But you know, the nitty-gritty of government, I think, is doing all the little things that affect us directly, building infrastructure, picking up the garbage, you know, plowing the streets of snow.
And when I look at the platform, for example, liquor and gambling, i.e. lottery tickets, that would be all banned under the Islamic Party of Ontario.
So I'm thinking the LCBO last year took in more than $2.1 billion in profits.
The OLG, I think they were around the $2 billion mark.
So we're writing off almost $5 billion right off the bat.
How would this guy replace that kind of revenue, especially in a province that has an enormous debt and deficit as Ontario?
Well, I think you've probably given it more thought than they have government in Canada.
But, you know, it's one of those things that if you're a French party, you can just propose the craziest ideas without actually having to make any of it make sense.
And, you know, if these guys had their own way, who knows?
There'd probably be a whole new taxation system where non-Muslims would be taxed at different rates than Muslims, as is difficult and, you know, common practice throughout the Middle East and Islamic societies.
So who knows, David, but hopefully we won't ever have to explore those ideas in Canada.
Yeah, what a dilemma for me.
Do you want to convert to Islam, Menzoid, so you avoid paying the higher tax rate?
Maybe we're talking it.
Candice, one last question, because we're almost right out of time here.
What do you make of the lack of mainstream media coverage of this party?
Tarek Vital wrote a column in the sun.
I don't see anything from the CBC.
I don't see anything from the Toronto Star.
And I bet their producers and their editors would say, oh, this is fringe.
You know, this is nothing.
Yet I can't help but think if somebody else out there started a white supremacy party of Ontario or what have you, they would be all over it and condemning its values and its platform.
What do you make of the near total absence of mainstream media coverage of the Islamic Party of Ontario?
Well, that's sort of typical mainstream media practice when it comes to anything regarding radical Islam.
They don't know what to say.
They don't want to talk about it.
They'd rather keep it from Canadians, which frankly is the reason why, part of the reason why the mainstream media is dying and people are looking to alternative sources like the Rebel or the True North Initiative to get their news because they know that the mainstream media is afraid to touch these issues.
And you're absolutely right.
If this was a white supremacist party or a Nazi party or probably even a Mormon party of Ontario that was proposing the similar kinds of morality, you know that there would be the sort of hit pieces and hate pieces in the CBC, Toronto Star, etc.
But because it's Muslims and it's Islam, the media treats it with kid gloves and they don't want to be critical and they just have a very difficult time reporting it probably because of some of the issues that we discussed here, how it contradicts core liberal values.
But at the same time, they have to promote multiculturalism and they can't criticize another culture.
So it puts them in a dilemma and they just prefer to ignore it, which does a disservice to Canadians.
Again, that's why I think more and more people are tuning into alternative and independent media.
Oh, 100%.
How sad, Candace.
We're only into day three of 2019 and the liberal lust for hypocrisy and the double standard.
United Church's Wacky Nativity Scene00:04:11
It looks as alive and well as it was in 2018.
Candace, thank you so much for joining us on this issue.
We'll have to monitor this party, especially on Election Day in about four years and see what kind of support there is out there for a Sharia pro-Sharia party called the Islamic Party of Ontario.
Thanks again and happy new year to you, Candace.
Thanks for having me.
Happy New Year to you too.
You got it.
And folks, keep it here.
More of the Ezra Levin Show to come right after this.
You know, I'm still chuckling over a CBC story about a United Church in Calgary that's displaying what's being described as a different take on the nativity scene, which is to say that if you drop by the Red Deer Lake United Church, you will come across a, quote, inclusive cross-cultural display that includes an Indigenous wise man, end quote.
According to the CBC, Reverend Nick Coates says he was expecting congregants and others to push back, but everyone has loved the updated and reimagined version of Christ's birth.
Well, but of course they do.
I mean, we are talking about the United Church here, whose unity seems to be driven by the pursuit of wackiness.
In any event, one of the Meiji is Canadian astronaut Roberta Bondar, who holds out the Milky Way constellation to symbolize the gift of knowledge.
The Meiji with the dreadlocks is American musician Michael Franty, who brings the gift of music.
The shepherds are depicted as poor teenagers.
I think they would make me cross the street, actually.
Oh, let's not forget to mention the wise man who is meant to look like Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Belgarde.
And forget about such old school gifts as gold, frankincense, and mirth, because Belgarde's gift is a blanket.
Hey, if I'm the baby Jesus, I'm kind of feeling a little gypped right now.
By the way, shockingly, the baby Jesus is still depicted as a baby.
You know, to be honest, I was expecting Bumblebee from the Transformers movie franchise to be playing the role of the Son of God.
Oh, and there seems to be no outrage about cultural appropriation here.
No, sir.
Reverend Coates notes that, quote, by contemporizing some of the traditional imagery and by decolonizing some of the characters, the hope is to create a scene that sparks curiosity, engagement, and wonder.
I hope this nativity can cause people to stop, engage, and wonder, what does Christmas really mean?
End quote.
Call me a crank here, but I thought Christmas was about the birth of Christ.
I mean, have you ever noticed how the word Christ is actually part of the word Christmas?
Hey, lots of feedback from my commentary two weeks ago about that wacky reimagined Nativity scene at a United Church in Calgary.
Never Again Canada writes, can we be surprised?
It's the United Church, the most unchristian, progressive, leftist denomination out there.
Well, I'm afraid you're right, Never Again.
I'm not even sure one can call the United Church a Christian church anymore.
It's kind of devolved into a goofy cult, really.
Kiefer Rawcliff writes, now let's see their Birth of Muhammad version.
No, Kiefer, you will not see that kind of display.
That sort of imagery tends to bring out the Grinch in certain folks.
Scott Carr writes, this is a disgrace.
How would they like it if we modified Canadian Indian totem poles with Mickey Mouse, Foghorn Leghorn, Speedy Gonzalez, Yosemite Sam, and the like?
That would be similar degradation.
Oh man, Scott, could you imagine the outcry over that sort of reimagining?
Texas Bound After All00:00:36
Not to mention the copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Warner Brothers.
Cal El writes, brother, I know you may not want to leave, but I have a room for you at my place in Texas if you want to get out of there.
Well, I'll tell you what, Cal-El, can I get back to you in late October after the federal election?
Which is to say, if there isn't regime change in the great white north, well, giddy up, partner.
Maybe I'll be Texas bound after all.
Well, that's it for this edition of the Ezra Levin Show.