WestJet’s Ed Sims suspended flights to Moncton, Fredericton, and other Atlantic Canada hubs on November 2nd, citing 30% NAV Canada fee hikes and low demand, but Ezra Levant argues government-imposed quarantines—not virus risks—are the real barrier, despite minimal hospitalizations in regions like Newfoundland. A Gallup poll reveals COVID-19 fear gaps between U.S. Democrats and Republicans, hinting at political overreach prolonging restrictions. Meanwhile, Saskatchewan’s NDP leads slightly in Regina but struggles outside cities, contrasting with the Sask Party’s rural-backed fiscal conservatism and Dr. Sakib Shahab’s cautious, trust-based pandemic policies. Levant questions whether Ontario’s Blue Party, led by Jim and Belinda Care Helios, can unite beyond Ford Nation defectors like Randy Hilliard, echoing past challenges faced by Harper and Manning. The episode underscores how ideological policies, not public health data, often dictate travel and governance decisions. [Automatically generated summary]
Today WestJet announced that they're basically stopping to serve all of Canada east of Montreal.
It's very sad, but completely predictable.
The WestJet CEO put up a five and a half minute video explaining why, but did he really explain why?
I think he was missing one key word in his blame storm.
I'll show that to you in a minute, but first let me invite you to become a Rebel News Plus subscriber.
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All right, here's today's podcast.
Tonight, WestJet announces it's shutting down most of its Atlantic flights.
But who does it blame?
It's October 14th, and this is the Ezra Levant show.
Why should others go to jail when you're the biggest carbon consumer I know?
There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
The only thing I have is in the government.
But why?
It's because it's my bloody right to do so.
You know, my last big flight, I flew to London, England, a couple of days before the lockdown came in.
This is the departure area in Toronto's Pearson Airport.
People's Fears Revealed00:04:40
I took this photo as I was flying out.
I was pretty much there all by myself.
And this is Heathrow Airport in London.
When I landed, normally one of the busiest airports in the world, it was a total ghost town.
This is the arrivals area.
There's normally hundreds of people there.
That was March 12th, if I recall.
Just days later, jurisdictions across the West would invoke their emergency powers laws and lock down and quarantine things.
It hadn't happened yet the day I was traveling.
There were no rules yet about the pandemic.
People were just getting nervous.
That's what kept them away.
Authorities said two weeks to flatten the curve, and they were actually pretty much right.
The pandemic peaked exactly a month after my last flight to Heathrow.
Mid-April is when it peaked in most parts of Canada.
And it has been trailing downwards ever since.
Don't believe the BS about cases.
A case is not someone being sick.
It's not someone with symptoms at all, necessarily.
It's just a case.
And as Ontario's deputy public health officer says, about half the cases are just false positives, as in the test got it wrong.
You know, I think a lot of people think that testing is going to really solve the whole problem.
And it isn't.
It's one component of a response.
If you test somebody today, you only know if they're infected today.
And in fact, if you're testing in a population that doesn't have very much COVID, you'll get false positives almost half the time.
Yeah, so my point is, people were genuinely scared about the virus in March.
And so on their own, as the personal photos I just showed you prove, people just stopped flying because we all had no clue what was coming, how bad it would get, how the virus was even transmitted, who was vulnerable.
So people just stopped going places.
I was on a plane in Canada a few months ago, and it was like being on a private jet, not a soul on the airline.
But what's it like now?
Is the virus still a risk?
Are people choosing not to fly because they're scared of the virus?
Like when they were scared back in March?
What's actually going on now?
Well, sure, some people are scared, absolutely.
Look at this fascinating poll by Gallup.
This is in the United States.
It asks Americans about their fears.
And it's remarkable that people's fears correlate to their political party.
They correlate a bit to gender.
It makes sense.
Women typically do less risky things than men do.
It's one of the reasons women live longer, actually.
But look at this chart.
Attitudes and behaviors related to COVID-19 by party and gender.
Look at these questions.
Are you worried about getting the coronavirus?
About 80% of Democrats are, less than 30% of Republicans are.
Are you worried about getting it at work?
Democrats are twice as worried.
Do you practice social distancing?
Most Democrats do.
Most Republicans don't.
Are you avoiding going to public places?
What a sad question that is, eh?
More than 70% of Democrats say yes.
Fewer than 40% of Republicans do.
Are you avoiding friends and family?
That has got to be the saddest question ever asked in a poll.
More than 60% of Democrats are, only about 30% of Republicans are.
Do you always wear a mask indoors?
90% to only 45%.
Can you see I'm blending the gender numbers here since men and women are a bit more worried than men in each case, but really, I'm trying to show you the party affiliation here.
And look at this question here.
Do you always wear a mask outdoors?
Think about that.
Outdoors?
Almost 40% of Democrats say they do.
Barely 10% of Republicans say they do.
I was at Lake Louise a few months ago, and I was in the middle of the lake, and I saw a husband and wife canoeing by.
It was just the two of them.
In the middle of the lake with their masks on, in the middle of a lake.
I snapped a picture.
I'm sorry.
I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Well, I've stopped snapping pictures of such insanity.
I see it every day now.
People by themselves, in their own car, mask on, in their own car by themselves.
All right.
Last poll question.
Are you ready to return to normal activities?
Only 5% of Democrat men, only 3% of Democrat women say they are, compared to 64% of Republican men, 54% of Republican women.
Now, maybe these Democrats are lying to pollsters.
They are expected to be scared, so they say they are.
But if not, those are crazy numbers.
Why Are People So Afraid?00:07:42
Something's really wrong here.
I mean, what is going on?
Why are people so afraid?
Or are Democrats just saying that to make it seem like Trump is reckless?
I have no clue.
Are they really that afraid of the world?
Only 3% of Democrat women are ready to return to normal life?
Are they just telling pollsters what they want to hear?
I was a little bit afraid of the world back in April, but I'm not now.
The pandemic is long over.
And my point is, some people are still scared.
The polls I showed you demonstrate that.
At least they say they're scared.
But a lot of other people are, you know, sort of ready to get on with their lives, even if they want to wear a mask.
They want to get on with life.
So why are we going into new lockdowns now?
Why are we quarantining our country still?
I saw new lockdowns in various places, including Saskatchewan.
In the past two months in a province aside of France, there have been two deaths from the virus, one per month in Saskatchewan.
I'm not happy that anyone's dying, but sorry, that's not a crisis.
But they just brought in the stricter rules because two people are in ICUs in the province.
One in Saskatoon, one in Regina.
I'm not kidding.
Atlantic Canada has practically been spared from the bug.
But they are in full panic mode.
You can't even fly there from other provinces.
I'm seriously, you know, they have a regional quarantine.
They actually sent police to the roads to do check stops to stop people from coming in.
We wanted to send a reporter to cover a story in Nova Scotia.
He was banned, not allowed.
Fellow Canadian, not allowed.
Which brings me to last night's sad announcement by WestJet.
WestJet is shutting down their flights to Atlantic Canada.
Just poof.
It's almost all gone now.
Also, Quebec City gone.
They're still going to have a few flights to St. John's and Halifax once in a while, but it's devastated.
Taken them 10 years to build up.
They're just gone now.
They're letting go 100 or so staff on top of those they already laid off.
That's very sad.
Let me play for you some of the video announcement by WestJet CEO Ed Sims.
I can't stand the sight of Santa Mon, I got to tell you.
He's the wickedly woke social justice warrior who's come out against WegZ, and he's a weird mask extremist who insists babies wear masks on the plane, even though the government says babies are exempt.
He's just an awful, awful political activist, totally contrary to WestJet's roots and their traditions.
But even despite his odious politics, I feel for him, or more accurately, I feel for his staff, who he's laying off.
Listen to this.
I won't play the whole thing, but just listen a bit.
But the lack of travel demand, combined with domestic quarantines, means that sadly, we can no longer maintain our full Canadian network of service.
It has taken decades to build this robust Canadian network to its highly competitive position.
And over the last eight months, we are beginning to see these efforts unravel.
Effective Monday, November the 2nd, we will suspend service to Moncton and Fredericton, New Brunswick, to Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Charlottetown on Prince Edward Island, and to Quebec City.
Services to Halifax, Nova Scotia and St. John's, Newfoundland will continue, albeit with dramatically reduced frequency.
That's bad news for passengers, and of course, get ready for fares to rise on whatever airline remains.
We have dramatically increased service across Atlantic Canada over the last decade.
And everywhere we have flown has seen a doubling of available flight options and a halving of the average airfare.
Yeah, that's over.
And get a load of this.
Airports in NAV Canada, that's a civil aviation service at airports, they've decided to jack up their fees now.
They think it's a good time to raise fees at airports now, at least according to this guy.
What has made this situation even more difficult is that five of the airports we currently serve in Atlantic Canada are part of a larger group of airports that have announced substantial fee increases.
NAV Canada, the federal body responsible for air traffic control, is taking an almost 30% fee increase.
With thousands out of work and a COVID-induced recession in full swing, price increases that make air travel even more expensive are not what the traveling public needs or can even afford right now.
I'm sure that's true.
I mean, Parliament voted to give MPs a raise in the deepest depths of the pandemic back in April.
So yeah, of course, these federal agencies are grabbing more money.
So it's tough to stay mad at this woke leftist WestJet CEO, but I don't really care about him.
He's a gazillionaire.
He'll do fine when he's done in Canada.
He'll go somewhere else.
It's his workers I feel bad for.
But in his whole five and a half minute speech, I won't play all of it to you, he blamed the pandemic and he blamed higher costs and he mentioned reduced demand.
And that's all true, but he only said the word quarantine once in passing and then immediately moved on and didn't expand on that.
But like I say, I want to fly to Atlantic Canada.
I want to send our staff to Atlantic Canada, but we're not allowed to because of what the governments there say.
The provincial governments who have brought in the no-fly quarantines and the federal government that continues to bar most travel from the United States too.
Why didn't this brave, woke WestJet CEO mention that?
Let me be clear: the virus did not stop these flights.
The virus is pretty much gone, at least gone to the point where it's no longer categorizable as a pandemic.
The masks are just public health theater now.
We're safe now.
There are some cases, but hospitalizations are minimal.
What's stopping people from flying now are the politicians and lockdowns and quarantines and panic mongers, of whom Ed Sims is amongst the worst, with his weird fetish for forcing babies to wear masks.
What a weirdo.
That's an extension of the junk science fear-mongering that's caused places like Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick to lock down.
You know, no one has died from the virus in PEI, not one person.
A grand total of two people have died in New Brunswick, 800,000 people in there.
But they're in a total political freakout.
They won't let planes come in from Toronto or whatever.
Rather, they won't let people in.
The planes can come in, but not the people, so it makes no sense to let the planes in.
That's what the WestJet CEO just said.
What those cities all have in common is they're panic zones.
They're not pandemic zones.
Grand total of four deaths in Newfoundland, Labrador, lockdown.
Sure, you can blame the virus.
You can even blame passenger demand being low.
It's true.
But what's stopping people from flying to these very cities that are being shut down now?
And what's stopping people from flying to and from the United States is not a Chinese virus.
It's Canadian politicians.
Too bad Ed Sims politics won't let him say that.
Stay with us for more.
Saskatchewan's Political Sentiment00:12:12
Well, we love Saskatchewan.
It's a rebel country, that's for sure.
For many years, it was the best governed province in Canada, but that wasn't always the case.
I don't know if you recall, back in the day, that province had the nickname Red Square.
It was run by the NDP socialists.
I was worried about it, but then the Sask Party turned it around.
The great Brad Wall breaking through and winning.
Scott Moe taking over the reins.
What's going to happen this time?
Will the NDP make a comeback?
I have my opinions, but look, I'm based out here in Toronto.
What do I know?
If you want to know what's really going on in Saskatchewan, talk to the man who has the ear of the province.
His name, of course, is John Gormley, and he is the most popular talk show host in the prairies.
He's the boss of Rawl Cole Radio's flagship show, call letters C-K-O-M and C-J-M-E.
My friend John Gormley joins me now.
I am so glad to talk with you because every day you listen, you have your ear to the ground, unlike anyone else I know.
Well, it's been forever since you and I have chatted, Ezra.
I hope you're well.
Yeah, the election, of course, we're a set election day regime, so we knew all along it would be the 26th of October.
The only question was, you know, how long would the writ be in this kind of thing?
So it's a fast election, 28 days all around.
It started very much as expected, and the SASC party goes into this.
They, of course, were elected with Brad Wall in 07 and 2011 and 2016.
Scott Moe takes over the reins in 2018.
So it's his first election as the SAS Party premier and leader.
Now, my sense of that province is that a lot of the antipathy towards parties with the name conservative or whatever was overcome.
Bradwall totally rebranded free enterprise and smaller government and made it part of the culture.
That's my sense.
And that the NDP now is, I'm not going to call them a fringe party, but they're certainly a minority.
And their strength is maybe the public sector unions.
It's not so much farmers voting for the NDP anymore.
Am I aesthetically or emotionally summing it up that the SAS party is now sort of the center of opinion and the NDP is more the left and the left in Saskatchewan just isn't that big anymore?
You know, you summed it up very well.
And it's really odd when you chart.
I mean, the NDP was the first, like Bill Eberhardt, you know, in Alberta, in Edmonton, Bible Bill Eberhardt with social credit, Tommy Douglas with the NDP.
These were populist parties.
You know, and Douglas, though a Fabian socialist, was able to knit together organized labor, small business, farmers.
He had this huge big tent and really governed this place uninterrupted, the exception of a quick blip in the 60s and another in the 80s.
They governed here from 1944 to 2007.
So the NDP has very much moved now to a much more further left.
University academics, social justice activists, many of the public sector people.
The SAS party, which was a formulation in 1997 where four liberal MLAs and four conservative MLAs joined together, but more than the center-right axis, they broke the back of the old vote split.
You know, only twice in that long run since 1944.
And the NDP actually, I think it was three times, not twice, three times, taken 50% of the vote.
They always split between conservatives and liberals.
So now there's the NDP and other, and other has been a lot bigger and more dominant.
Yeah.
You know, for a while there before Jason Kenney became Premier of Alberta.
And I think Saskatchewan is probably better run, maybe because they haven't had it, weren't hit so hard.
Alberta's just been hit again and again and again.
I like how Saskatchewan has been doing it, not only provincially, but they spoke out against Justin Trudeau's carbon tax.
And they seem, I mean, it's the little province fighting back.
It's only, what, 1.2 million folks, but boy, they were in some ways holding the Ford as the official opposition, really, to Trudeau.
I mean, Kenny's joined that a bit now, but I really think there was a provincial pride, a pride in mining, a pride in oil and gas, the pipeline.
I think that Saskatchewan really kept the flame burning when the NDP took over Alberta.
Let me ask you, in this election, is there anything that looks like it might break loose?
I mean, my hunch, but again, I'm here in Toronto, what do I know, is that the Sask Party is going to win it again because they're just providing not only good government in these crazy times, but they were standing up with a bit of Saskatchewan pride to Trudeau's depredations.
That's my hunch, but you tell me if there's something cooking on the ground.
Not much.
There is a softening.
Of course, Regina, when the NDP starts to come back, they usually come back in Regina.
Of course, it's the capital city.
Nothing quite like Redmond in Alberta.
But there are some dominant and longtime historic NDP seats in the capital.
Right now, a new poll out this morning actually shows the NDP just a nose ahead in Regina.
A poll two days ago showed them just a nose behind.
But even in Regina, you've got certain riders that go very strongly, Sask Party, very strongly Regina.
So there are three seats that the NDP could snatch away from the Sask Party, but really everywhere else.
You know, Saskatoon, the two parties are always a bit closer, but the Sask Party has a pretty robust lead.
Again, there are three seats if the NDP bangs on all cylinders, they take from the SAS party.
But outside of that, I mean, let's give the NDP those six or seven seats.
They're only at 13 seats in a 61-seat house.
You go outside the two big cities.
It is, I mean, the popularity runs 65 to 70% Sask Party.
So they're pretty strong, but I think they're correct.
Saskatchewan has food, fuel, and fertilizer.
I mean, we're the number two oil producer.
Our conventional oil production in a day isn't that far behind Alberta.
But of course, Alberta has the oil sands.
So we're number two, but we're a bit back.
We are the number one producer of lentils, mustard, and peas on earth, not just in Canada.
So our food production here puts us, we punch so far above our weight.
You know, we're like Kansas, Nebraska, you know, everything rolled into Saskatchewan.
And then, of course, we have fertilizer.
The potash play, which of course, 70 million new people on earth every year need food and protein.
They need potash.
So we're a more diverse economy than Alberta.
And unlike Alberta, and I lived and practiced law in Edmonton for a number of years, sadly, when Alberta is rocking, you know, all cylinders are clicking, Alberta tends to spend to meet the surplus.
Then, of course, when there's a downturn, it's a really tough remake.
Saskatchewan is much more conservative fiscally.
Even in the old NDP day, they were socialists, but they were very conscious on balanced budget.
There's a thing in our DNA, which, you know, you might grow and expand a bit.
And we've got a $2 billion deficit.
Big number, but boy, you compare us to Alberta or anywhere else.
That $2 billion, we're going to pay down fairly quickly, whereas other places with the pandemic, it's a challenge.
And of course, the pandemic itself, there's very much, I think, a favor to the incumbency you know in the pandemic.
So those things factor to not really give the NDP very much, you know, if we do the football analogy, they haven't got much of a hole to hit in this line running the ball.
Right.
I think that frugality, maybe that comes from being farmers and a farming province going back to the Great Depression.
You learn if you have something to save, you save it for a rainy day.
I think that's a great trait of Saskatchewan people.
Let me close with one last question.
You're very generous with your time, John.
It's great to talk to you again.
You mentioned the pandemic, and I think you're right that in times of distress or confusion, people maybe stick with the devil they know, the government they know, they don't want to change horses, they don't want to have a sudden shift.
I get that.
And I think we're seeing that in other jurisdictions, other provinces, and even federally too.
But that said, I keep an eye on Saskatchewan.
And luckily, it has not been hit badly, at least compared to, say, Quebec or Alberta or Ontario, by the pandemic.
Last I checked, there were a grand total of nine people in the hospital, two in ICUs, one in Regina, one in Saskatoon.
Now, two deaths in the last two months.
Now, any death is a tragedy, but it is not the same kind of mass panic event that you saw in New York State, for example.
So I got a question for you.
Do you think there will come a time when folks in Saskatchewan say we can normalize again?
Thank God the worst of it never came here.
Let's just stop living in fear.
Teresa Tam and the World Health Organization, thanks very little, but we think we're ready to go the way of Christy Noam, the South Dakota governor, who's saying, look, freedom is our way.
If you want to wear a mask, go ahead.
If you want to be careful, you know, God bless you, but we're not going to live in fear and panic in a lockdown.
That's a prairie sentiment also.
I'm waiting for that moment in Saskatchewan because I think that they're living like they're in Montreal instead of in the Great Prairies.
Now, that's, again, me from far away.
What's it like on the ground there?
You know, it's an interesting prescription.
We have, we had the very first reopen plan.
We announced it first.
We actioned it first.
So we've had full retail.
All our stores, everything have been open since June.
You're right.
We've been fortunate.
I mean, we had active cases last week in the 20s.
All of a sudden, they're now up over 200.
But we had that earlier in the summer.
We went back to the 30s.
So we've had a bit of a yo-yo, but we've had 25 deaths.
You're correct.
We have 100 intensive care beds in the province.
The most we've ever had in them have been four patients.
We've got two in them today.
So touch wood, we're doing well, but we've also got a chief medical health officer, Dr. Sakib Shahab, who exemplifies Saskatchewan life.
You know, the guy's all about calibrating in tiny bits.
For example, he won't mandate masks.
He said, you know better.
Wash your hands, don't touch your face, keep distance, and wear a mask if you're indoors and you can't assure distance.
In many ways, if it gets worse, you'll see him say, okay, let's go to mandatory masking.
But he wants to leave it up to the judgment and the willingness of people to do it right.
So we flattened the curve, but boy, by no means are we out of the woods.
But so we're not quite at Christy Noam level.
I don't know if we will be, but boy, our province and our chief medical health officer have been all about gradualism, trusting citizens to be smart and touch wood.
And fingers crossed, it's continuing to work.
Well, it's a wonderful place.
I keep thinking the word neighborly.
When I think Saskatchewan, that word neighborly, it's one of the best places in the world.
You know that.
And I love to visit.
And I got to get out there soon.
We've got a couple of folks out there today covering the debate in Regina.
I'll be doing a live stream tonight with Sheila Gonread at 7.30 p.m. Mountain, sorry, Eastern Time.
Eastern Time.
5.30 p.m. Mountain Time.
Is Saskatchewan on Mountain Time?
I better check.
That's the other thing.
We never change.
That's right.
I got to check my time zones.
Yeah.
So half the year Alberta comes up to us and then we call ourselves Mountain because Alberta wants another half we're central because Winnipeg wants that.
We never change.
We are always in a state of Saskatchewan first.
That's right.
You know what?
I got to get my ducks in row.
Saskatchewan First00:04:23
I got to re-Saskatchewan to find my life.
John Gormley, thank you for taking the time to be with us.
May you go from strength to strength.
Your show is one of the reasons Saskatchewan has that community feeling, that neighborly feeling.
And I know driving on those highways in Saskatchewan, which is how Saskatchewan people spend quite a bit of their lives just on those highways, listening to the common sense on your show and calling in and having that way to express themselves.
That is the citizens' democracy that really characterizes that great province.
So keep it up and consider us fans.
Thank you very much, my friend.
We'll see you again soon.
All right.
There you have it.
John Gormley.
He's with Ralcol Radio.
You can find him on the call at C-K-O-M and C-J-M-E.
Obviously, I'm a super fan, and I don't care who knows.
All right, stay with us.
more ahead.
Hey, welcome back.
Marion writes, I had pleasure meeting Rob on a few occasions from his council days all the way to mayor.
He was truly awesome guy I respected.
Doug is just liberal in hiding.
He has been praising Justin and helping his agenda.
I just think that Rob knew who he was.
However troubled he was and however foolish he was sometimes, he actually had a core there.
A heart of gold, as people would say, but he knew who he was and he knew who hated him and he knew who loved him and vice versa.
Doug, I think, is enjoying being, you know, the toast of the town at all the cocktail parties.
Ted writes, Jim and Belinda are normal and prove their actions and consequences to be independently thinking Canadians.
They represent our views and act normally and got disapproval from globalists.
It tells us everything.
We must now unite to put them into power.
Let's do it, Canadians.
You're talking about their proposed new Blue Party.
Listen, I'm hopeful.
Not because, you know, they came up with the idea, oh, let's start a party.
Yeah, you and what army.
The answer is they had an answer to the what army.
Belinda is an MPP, and Randy Hilliard, an MPP, may join.
So suddenly you've got two MPPs.
Now you're cooking with gas.
Can you get that up to three or four?
Probably through defections.
And then you actually have kind of an opposition.
Bruce writes, all former Ford Nation folks should join and support the new Blue Party.
Doug Ford is a typical politician.
He is the backbone of an invertebrate.
We need convictional conservatives like Jim and Belinda to lead the way out of the Ford-Ford government.
Well, let's see if we can do it.
I mean, let's see if they can do it.
I mean, as I said to them yesterday, it's one thing to be the party of Ford dissenters.
But you've got to be more than just people who have rejected or have been rejected by Doug Ford.
You have to stand for something, and you've got to show the ability to grow and put together a coalition.
I was saying to one of my colleagues here, when Stephen Harper took over the Canadian Alliance Party way back in the day, the first thing he did was try and rebuild the coalition.
He reached out to Chuck Straw, Deborah Graham, Monty Solberg, J. Hill that had that breakaway Democratic representative caucus or whatever, and he put that back together.
He started putting the pieces together and reaching out beyond his comfort zone, reaching out to the conservatives, Peter McKay.
So he showed, Harper showed an ability to grow and to compromise and be a diplomat.
I wonder, it'll be interesting to see if Jim and Belinda Care Helios, who are scrappy and prickly sometimes, if they can compromise and bring others aboard.
You can't just have two people as MPPs in a party.
You've got to show reasons for people to join.
You've got to show the possibility of growth.
That's the challenge.
I watched Preston Manning do it for years when I was a youngster in the Reform Party.
It is hard work.
You're on the Hustings 200 days a year.
You're just going all the time, church basements, hotel rooms.
I guess these days you're doing it more in Zoom meetings.