Sheila Gunn Reid and Keean Bexte scrutinize Canada’s pandemic response, exposing Justin Trudeau’s alleged silence on China’s Wuhan lab ties ($830K funding) despite its suspected role in the "Wuhan virus" release. Reid highlights Trudeau’s 2013 "favorite dictatorship" remark and empty cargo plane returns amid shortages, while Bexte links Cargill’s 450+ cases to 2,000 temporary foreign workers in cramped conditions, questioning food security risks. A Toronto refugee shelter’s 86 confirmed cases—up from 75 last week—spark criticism of Health Canada and Mayor John Tory’s lack of enforcement, despite $100M taxpayer costs and safety violations at a parade. Their analysis reveals systemic failures where political priorities clash with public health, undermining trust in leadership. [Automatically generated summary]
You're listening to a free audio-only recording of my show, Rebel Roundup.
Tonight, my guests are Sheila Gunnreid and Kian Bexte.
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Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you, in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favorite Rebels.
I'm your host, David Menzies.
China's Pandemic Betrayal00:15:47
So, China releases a virus upon the world that has proven to be both medically and economically devastating.
And how does Justin Trudeau react?
Well, like a lackey, actually, given that our prime minister went out of his way to do Beijing's bidding.
Just wait till you hear what Sheila Gunn Reed has to say about this scandal.
And speaking of the Wuhan virus, there has been a huge outbreak of this virus at the Cargill meat packing plant located south of Calgary.
But two questions.
What has prompted such an outbreak?
And hey, why are the vast majority of employees here foreign workers to begin with?
Kien Bexty will offer his thoughts.
And finally, letters, we get your letters, we get them every minute of every day.
And I'll share some of your responses regarding my follow-up visit to a Toronto refugee shelter in which the Wuhan virus has gone, well, viral.
Yet, incredibly, it seems to be business as usual there.
Those are your rebels.
Now let's round them up.
Remember when Trudeau shipped almost all of Canada's entire strategic supply of masks to China?
Just as the Chinese spawn virus was then piggybacking on flights full of travelers over to Canadian airports?
Well, it's worse than just that.
You see, the Canadian government ran around gathering up supplies that the Chinese demanded, even running off to the Red Cross to get them.
Because at the time, our government knew that we didn't have the supplies we needed for ourselves to be giving away to the Chinese.
And now, the Western world is instead getting defective, possibly contaminated junk back in return from the Chinese.
That is, if we get them at all.
Look at this from the CBC.
Trudeau confirms some cargo planes sent to China for pandemic supplies returned empty.
On the ground, congestion blamed for preventing delivery of PPE during planes landing window.
Yeah, right.
We have a briefing note presented to the House of Commons Health Committee from Foreign Affairs Canada dated from the end of January.
The note was to Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne to prepare him for his talks with China's foreign minister about the coronavirus, including key messages of standing with China.
The note says that our offered supplies should have arrived.
And our first question was to ask China: is there something more we can do to assist?
Here on page 37, understand there have been shortages of medical equipment.
We are actively following up on options for providing supplies.
Now, here's where there's more to the preening story of Justin Trudeau's dangerous stupidity in giving away Canada's pandemic supplies to the very nation that actually manufactures the supplies in the first place and hid the extent of the pandemic until it was too late and may have actually released the virus on the entire world from their haphazard petri dish of a virus farm in Wuhan.
Trudeau didn't just offer the supplies to be nice.
The Chinese demanded them and Trudeau said, Okay, sure thing, boss.
Unbelievable.
The very nation that dumps yet another pandemic upon this planet paints itself as a victim, albeit a demanding victim, and seeks donations from the very nations it has victimized both medically and economically.
And of course, because we have Justin Trudeau as prime minister, he is more than happy to accommodate Beijing's communist Mandarins, even to the detriment of Canada and Canadians.
Again, unbelievable.
And with more on this sickening and scandalous story, is Sheila Gunread.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, my friend.
How are you doing?
Hey, David, I'm good.
Thanks for having me on the show.
Fantastic.
So, Sheila, let's cut to the chase here.
As in any story, we have to try and piece together what the motivation is of the main players.
And when it comes to Trudeau, this egregious lack of due diligence has to be all about getting that UN Security Council seat, no?
I don't know.
You know, it seems as though that's the motivation.
I mean, look at the soft-gloved approach he took with Iran after they shot down an airplane full of Canadians.
You'd think there would have been outrage instead.
He vowed to work closely with them, and then we never heard anything more about the investigation.
With regard to the Chinese, sure, I mean, sure, they are the gatekeepers of that Security Council seat that Justin Trudeau, for some reason, really wants.
However, he's had this xinophilic love affair with China as long as I think he's been in the public eye and as long as he's had political aspirations.
I think it was 2013 when he did that infamous ladies' night fundraiser, where he asked all of us girls what our favorite virtue is.
But at that event, he did say that China was his favorite dictatorship because of their ability to turn their economy on a dime and go green.
So, while, I mean, while his affection for China seems to be now about getting a Security Council seat, I think it's always been, and now it's just convenient because it does, you know, meet and end for him.
Yeah, I remember that 2013 Ladies' Night conference because, of course, Justin Trudeau self-identifies as a feminist, and he did use the words about having a level of admiration.
Sheila, just think about that.
Can you imagine?
I mean, this is a regime that brutalizes its own citizens.
And by the way, people think I'm being hard on China.
I'm being hard on the Mandarins in Beijing, the people in power, not the Chinese people who have to suffer through this garbage as well.
And yet, here's somebody raised in privilege, is now the prime minister of a democracy, and he's saying he has a level of admiration for a communist dictatorship.
Can you square that circle for me?
Well, because Justin Trudeau is not the things that he says he is.
He likes to paint himself as a human rights advocate and an environmentalist and a feminist.
But if you're any of those things, then you must despise the communist government of China.
And as you rightly point out, if you truly care about the Chinese people, they need to be liberated from the Chinese government.
The Chinese government locks up religious minorities, Muslim religious minorities, and forcibly re-educates them, forces the Catholic Church in China to be not loyal to the Pope in Rome, but rather to Beijing.
The Chinese government, Justin Trudeau says he's a feminist and we're supposed to believe him, then why is he so affectionate towards a government that forcibly sterilizes women, takes away their reproductive rights if they so choose to have one or more extra children in their family?
And if you're an environmentalist, China is just going about their business puking out not just carbon emissions, I don't care about carbon emissions, but particulate into the entire region where they exist.
And to some extent, that's why people frequently wear masks in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
It's to deal with the pollution.
And as it turns out, it helped keep them safe from the Chinese spawn virus that came out of, quite likely, that Wuhan lab that Justin Trudeau also gave $830,000 to.
Oh, you know, you're absolutely right when you put those facts on the table, Sheila.
It just does not compute.
And, you know, I'm telling you, in the last several weeks when I drive down Young Street in Toronto, when I visited Niagara Falls last month and I see virtual ghost towns and I see everything from mega malls to little mom-paw shops closed down, I am, I have emotions of sadness and rage.
And all I can think of is these Beijing bastards have to pay for what they have done to the world, period.
And instead, what do we have?
We have Justin Trudeau emptying the cupboard to give our medical emergency stock to help them out of this mess, leaving us vulnerable.
And contrast that with earlier this week, Sheila, I think this is one of many lawsuits to come, but the state of Missouri officially filed a lawsuit against China.
Why can't we have that kind of firmness and leadership and a request, well, you know, for a little quid pro quo in terms of what they have done to the Canadian economy?
You know what?
At this point, I mean, a lawsuit seems so far off from the Canadian government.
At this point, I'd love to hear just a little bit of criticism directed at the Chinese government for anything, for the fact that they hid the spread of the disease when the world needed the information about how the disease was spreading the most.
The fact that China locked down their citizens and prevented travel within the country while still allowing plane loads of people to come into our country.
There has been zero criticism of China, even when the Chinese don't send us the plane loads of PPE they said they were going to send us and that we sent planes there to pick up.
We get the Canadian government making excuses for the CCP and saying, oh, well, the airport was just a little too crowded for us to load up planes of PPE and bring it back.
There has been absolutely no criticism of the Chinese government by Justin Trudeau, even on things, again, that he says he cares about, like racism.
China right now is rounding up Africans, kicking them out of their stores because the Chinese government is now blaming Africans for the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
And yet, Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister Blackface, a learning lesson for all of us when he does something racism, he can't even stand up and condemn China for the things he says he cares about.
It's unbelievable, Sheila.
No, we're going to have to wrap it up here, but you're right.
There's not even a tiny scintilla of criticism to the Chinese regime.
And this is a regime, as you pointed out, that has no accountability.
They haven't accepted any responsibility for a global mess that they created by lying and by not putting in the proper protocols that could have curbed this Wuhan virus before it began.
And even their excuses of not having planes go back because of too much traffic on the ground.
I mean, for goodness sake, Sheila, I was at the airport, Toronto Pearson International, on Monday.
It looked like the Overlook Hotel from Stephen King's The Shining.
It was empty.
It was actually spooky.
So even their excuses are lies.
And it's too bad we have somebody in the Prime Minister's chair that can only have admiration for this despicable dictatorship.
Great commentary, as usual, Sheila.
And you stay safe and have a good weekend, my friend.
I will, you too, David.
Thank you.
And that was Sheila Gunn Reid, somewhere in the northern hinterland of Alberta.
Keep it here, folks.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
You might not know much about Cargill meats, so let me give you a little glimpse.
They're actually the largest American company that is not publicly traded.
Yes, you heard that right.
They are swimming in cash.
It's a family that owns this Cargill meat packaging.
And here in Alberta, just south of Calgary, north of High River, it has become the epicenter of coronavirus outbreak of the Wuhan flu outbreak here in Western Canada.
Over 450 cases have been linked back to this specific plant.
And it's all because the temporary foreign workers that are coming to work here, there's about 2,000 of them.
They're all being housed in very, very close quarters.
And it's having a terrible impact on Calgary and the surrounding area.
Let me explain why.
You can look at this photo to see exactly where in Calgary the largest parts of the outbreak is.
It's all in South Calgary.
I wonder why.
Well, if you look at Dr. Hinshaw and what she was saying at her press briefing on Monday, you can see that she has directly linked the cases here at Cargill to the outbreaks in Calgary.
The largest outbreaks in Calgary are in the south end, near the areas of Legacy and Shaughnessy.
It's all because these workers actually live in the south end of Calgary in very, very cramped, close quarters.
This is exceedingly frustrating because right now, Canadians are looking at 20% unemployment.
Over 2 million Canadians are looking for work.
But for some reason, this mega-rich ultra-corporation, this multinational corporation that is swimming in cash, is bringing temporary foreign workers into Canada.
Even after the travel ban, as Trudeau has allowed temporary foreign workers to come into this country, even after he banned everyone else.
But for some reason, our politicians and the businesses in this country have an addiction to temporary foreign workers, and it needs to stop.
Yes, for some reason, our country loves the idea of importing foreign workers to do jobs that Canadians could presumably do.
Hey, if Canada had a 0.0 unemployment rate, then I would understand the need to import foreign help.
But we've never had those numbers, and thanks to the Wuhan virus, so many more Canadians are now out of a job.
So really, what gives when it comes to all that imported help?
And with more on the Cargill situation, is our roving reporter, Kian Bexti.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, my friend.
Hey, David, thanks for having me.
Great to see you as always.
Kian, I think a lot of people would rightfully assume that working in a slaughterhouse is not an easy job, and it is hard work indeed, for sure.
So does this issue boil down to Cargill perhaps making the case to government that it simply cannot find enough Canadians to fill these jobs and therefore it has no other choice but to import foreign labor?
Well, that's what I've been hearing, David.
And I've been speaking with some folks who are rather close to the industry.
And they say, they claim that Cargill and JVS, a similar meat packaging plant in Brooks, they just can't find Canadians to do the job.
Cargill's Labor Dilemma00:07:42
They've tried, they've tried, they've looked and looked, and just no responses come in.
They put out a call for jobs and no resumes come in.
Unfortunately, I don't buy that story.
And even if that was the truth in the past, which I still don't really believe, even if it was the truth in the past, it's certainly not the truth.
Now there's 2 million, over 2 million unemployed Canadians.
The packing plant employs 2,000 people.
That's 0.1% of the unemployed population.
You're telling me there isn't 0.1% of the people looking for jobs right now that don't want to put food on their table for their kids.
I don't buy it.
So, Kian, if that isn't the reason, then what do you think is the unspoken reason for Cargill going after so many foreign workers?
Because it is cheaper.
They would have to pay Canadians probably a little bit more.
They can move through their workforces so they don't have long-term staff, which saves them money there.
It always costs money to have staff on longer.
You need raises and whatnot.
And if you can sort of shift through temporary workers, it's a nice little perk for the company.
And their margins are thin.
I'll give them that.
They're not making a killing on the killing floor.
Their margins are thin, so they're trying to save as much money as possible because Canadians do expect cheap meat, kind of like oil.
When they go fill up at the pumps, Albertans will always say, How is it this expensive?
We make the oil here.
How is it this expensive?
It's the same thing for beef.
When they go to the store and they see expensive beef, they say, This is like this is the beef capital of Canada.
How are we paying so much money for this?
They need to understand Canadians, as Canadians and North Americans do in a lot of cases when it comes to drugs and many products that they have normally purchased whose supply chains are outsourced through China.
We're going to have to pay a little bit more so that we can have food security and drug security.
And it's no different when it comes to the meat packing plant.
As Donald Trump has been talking about drug security, we might have to be paying a little bit more, but it's worth it.
At the end of the day, we might be losing some efficiencies in the economy.
But look at where we are at the most efficient situation that we're in right now.
We have, actually, I just saw a picture from Costco, and the meat cooler was completely empty.
So I'm waiting to see more and more reports of protein not being available to Canadians.
And it's all because of an unreliable workforce that carpools to work even after the chief medical officer said that it was a problem and that's what was spreading the virus.
So we're going to have to pay a little bit more for reliable workforces and Cargill's going to have to show some leadership on that.
Yeah, you know, I think one of the silver linings that might come out of this global pandemic, Kian, is this whole idea of, oh, I don't know, like a Fortress North America bringing manufacturing back and telling consumers that, yeah, you know what, you're going to have to pay a couple bucks more for that steak, and you're going to have to pay maybe $150 more for that nice mountain bike because it's going to be, you know, assembled in southern Ontario instead of in China.
But that's the new deal.
Because do you want something like what we experienced in the early half of 2020 to happen again?
And I think people, even with watching the pennies more than ever, thanks to this economic malaise, would agree to that.
But the other part I want to ask you about this whole foreign nationals issue, Kian, is that you've given the business case, but certainly they would need government approval.
They would need regulatory approval.
And I'm thinking if I were the Premier of Alberta, if I were the Prime Minister of Canada, wouldn't the response be to a huge company like that be, listen, I am the prime minister of this country.
I'm the premier of this province.
I'm about getting my own people jobs, get those people into the workforce.
Why isn't that the response as opposed to, hey, Cargill, what do you want us to do?
We'll give you a clear path to bring in foreign nationals.
Well, the obvious answer there is that our prime minister is Justin Trudeau.
What do you expect of him?
I mean, he prioritizes everyone except for Canadians all of the time.
Canadians are never first on his agenda.
It's whether it comes to foreign aid or this, Justin Trudeau, or even the Security Council seat.
Justin Trudeau has a long list of things and people that he cares about before it comes down to Canadians, and especially before it comes down to Albertans.
And I think you might be right about that, Kian.
Now, on the outbreak of the virus itself, you alluded to workers commuting and cramped cars.
And maybe, I mean, is this perhaps Cargill being what's the saying again, penny-wise, pound foolish, that they brought in this cheap labor, but they can't afford to have their own transport.
So they're all crammed in as they commute to work.
An outbreak happens, the plant has to shut down.
So maybe in the big picture, if they were hiring local Canadians who had their own means of transport, the plant would still be up and operating.
What do you think about that?
Yeah, that's exactly the point.
These workers, they don't come here because they think, oh, Canada, it's a great place.
I'd love to make it better.
They come here because it is a great place to work and they can make a lot of money compared to Somalia.
They're not going to be making even the order of magnitude of the amount of money that they're making here.
So, what they try to do is save as much money as possible because every dollar that they're spending here in Canada is money wasted back home.
Every dollar that they're spending here on a new car to get to work safely or accommodation that isn't 16 people in a room is $5 or $20 back home.
So, they're saving money at the expense of Canadians.
They're risking our lives and their own.
I'm seriously concerned about their health and safety as well.
But they're voluntarily putting themselves in these situations, risking our food security.
And look where we are now.
Wow.
And you make a very good point there that the majority, the lion's share of their earnings does not stay in the local Canadian economy at Sant of Shore.
Very quickly, an excellent question, Kian.
Given the Wuen virus global pandemic, given what's happened specifically to this cargo plant south of Calgary, when things return to some sort of normalcy, do you see anything changing?
No, I think we are morons that we weren't prepared for this pandemic in the first place.
And I think we'll continue to be morons, but hopefully I'm not correct.
We'll see.
Okay, then.
Well, Kian, thank you so much for weighing in on this important story.
I believe you have a second part going up about it, and I'll be and I'm sure our viewers will be anxious to see that report as well.
Thanks so much, and you stay safe, my friend.
You too.
And that was Kian Bexte in Calgary.
Keep it here, folks.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
Now, here's the thing, folks.
Coronavirus Outbreak Ignored?00:04:53
When I was here a week ago, as I said, 11 refugees, 12 staff had tested positive for COVID-19.
Now the number has ballooned.
It is now 74 refugees have tested positive for the Wuhan virus.
They haven't released the number of staff.
So according to my math, that makes at least 86 people at this center have tested positive for this virus.
Three have already been hospitalized.
So I sent emails to Health Canada and to Toronto Public Health.
And days later, there hasn't even been the courtesy of a response.
As well, I sent an email to John Torrey's office because you see, Mayor Tory likes to take to Twitter and he likes to brag about how many taxpaying, law-abiding citizens are getting nailed with those $880 COVID-19 tickets.
And yet, here at a city-funded refugee shelter where there are numerous violations taking place, well, John Tory, he's not bragging anymore on Twitter.
In fact, he won't return my calls either.
And that's not really a surprise because just on Sunday night, Mayor Torrey, if you can believe it, was involved in a parade down University Avenue to honor the emergency personnel working for the city in the hospitals on University.
And yet, the photos clearly indicate that there was a very, there was a lack of social distancing occurring there.
So, there you have it, folks.
It would seem to me there is a double standard when it comes to bylaw and law enforcement handing out those $880 tickets to people allegedly violating the Wuhan virus safety protocols, which is to say, if you are a member of the rank and file, you're going to get pummeled for even the slightest infraction.
But if you're a member of the political elite, such as, well, Mayor John Torrey, or if infractions are occurring at a city-run facility, well, nothing to see here, folks.
And here's what some of you had to say about the hypocrisy and the fact that it appears to be business as usual at one of Toronto's hottest hotspots for this virus.
Joey Johnson writes, David Menzies and Rebel Media, real reporters.
You won't see any of this on CBC or on any of the Trudeau-funded broadcasters.
That's for sure.
Keep up the good work, Rebel News.
Well, Joey, thanks so much for your kind words.
And you are right.
You'd expect a story about a huge coronavirus outbreak at a city-run facility that this would be leading the nightly news, but it's pretty much radio silence.
I suppose it might be politically incorrect to report this narrative, and for that matter, it might be financially incorrect to embarrass the federal government given that the feds are now in the business of cutting checks for so many media outlets.
Robert Brown writes, Why is this shelter not locked down?
Well, yes, Robert, that is the question.
Even the counselor for this ward, John Fillion, was demanding that this shelter go into lockdown mode, but it's still operating on a revolving door policy.
And yet, we've been constantly told all these weeks that public safety is paramount.
Looks to me that there are some elephantine exemptions to that rule.
Tony Manderich writes: Why are we paying for this BS?
Well, because we have no choice, Tony.
The City of Toronto, aka the taxpayer, is paying about $100 million a year to house refugee claimants at various properties in the city.
And by the way, that building I visited is the former headquarters for North York Hydro.
It used to be an office building and was never intended to be used as a hostel.
And according to experts, this is the sort of structure that allows the Wuhan virus to thrive.
If you or I had bought this building and informed the city we were turning it into a bed and breakfast for tourists, we'd be rejected in a nanosecond.
But apparently, the city of Toronto is exempt from following its own rules.
Nice.
Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.
Thanks so much for joining us.
See you next week.
And hey, folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.