Ezra Levant and Aaron Gunn critique Justin Trudeau’s "mad king" phase, exposing his $10M+ disinformation policy—a Liberal resolution demanding government-funded media control and platform accountability—while questioning why Canada hasn’t expelled 100+ PRC diplomats targeting Canadians like Michael Chong, despite Vienna Convention rights. They contrast Trudeau’s vaccine mandates with his neglect of Ukraine or border security, calling it hypocritical, and link his "safe supply" opioid push to rising addiction deaths—over 3,000 in BC last year, surpassing COVID-19 tolls—ignoring Margaret Trudeau’s warnings about drug harm. Viewers warn of C-18’s censorship risks, with Silicon Valley tech firms facing Canadian fines, while provinces like Quebec and Alberta push back against federal overreach, risking funding losses. Levant’s segment reveals a government prioritizing ideological control over public safety, deepening Canada’s crisis. [Automatically generated summary]
Today I take you into the bosom of the Liberal Party's convention.
I'll show you a clip from Justin Trudeau's speech.
I want to show it to you because he bears his teeth in that angry manner that he does from time to time.
I want you to see it.
And then I'll read to you from a policy proposal that was voted by the Liberals to be amongst their top 20 ideas.
It won't surprise you to hear that it involves censoring the media.
I'll show you that and more.
But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
That's the video version of this podcast.
Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click subscribe.
It's eight bucks a month.
What a bargain.
And, you know, in addition to getting the video stuff, you will support Rebel News because we do not take any money from Trudeau.
How could we?
We criticize him.
He would never give it to us, and to take money would mean we would have to bend the knee to him.
99% of the media in Canada bend the knee to Trudeau.
We will not.
All right, here's today's podcast.
Tonight, Trudeau enters his Mad King phase.
It's May 5th, and this is the Ezra Levant show.
Shame on you, you censorious bug.
Yesterday was an astonishing day on Parliament Hill.
Michael Chong, a Chinese-Canadian MP for the Conservative Party, who has criticized communist China.
It was revealed this week that the Chinese government was targeting him and his family, both overseas in Hong Kong and here in Canada.
And in fact, one of the people targeting him was known, and he was actually given diplomatic credentials to be here in Canada working for the Chinese embassy.
There's over 180 Chinese diplomats with those credentials.
Trudeau had lied about it, saying he didn't know and no one knew and he blamed Cesus, but Cesus met with Michael Chong and told him the truth that Trudeau had lied.
It was shocking.
Now watch this.
Watch Michael Chong go head to head with Melanie Joli, the foreign minister, probably the least serious, least qualified foreign minister Canada has ever had in office.
Listen to her stammer a bit and then basically say, well, we can't do anything because China's watching us and we don't want to displease the Communist Party.
Have you ever seen such weakness before?
We would take action.
Article 9 of the Vienna Convention is a very important thing.
I've heard your answer.
No, no, but I'm not finished.
Why is this diplomat still here?
Article 9 of the Vienna Convention is clear.
Article 9 says that the government can declare a diplomat persona non grata for no reason.
The article is clear.
So why is this diplomat still here, a diplomat who has more rights and immunities than the Canadians around this table to go around and conduct his foreign interference threat activities?
He has diplomatic immunity.
He cannot be criminally prosecuted.
We all remember the case of the Russian diplomat who mowed down a Canadian citizen in a drunk driving case and killed her.
And Minister Manley was unable to do anything about it.
You have given accreditation to a diplomat here who is using his diplomatic immunity to target not just me and my family, but other members of parliament.
So why do you, minister, continue to allow this diplomat to be accredited in this country on Canadian soil?
That is the question.
And you haven't answered the question.
Well, let me be able to answer the question.
And of course, Michael, I understand your frustration and I understand your anger.
We haven't expelled a single diplomat.
Can I just say that?
We are one of the only democratic allies in the NATO alliance that has not expelled a single PRC diplomat.
And Canadians are being targeted by the over 100 diplomats accredited.
Okay, thank you.
So, first and foremost, what we're doing right now as a government is we're assessing the consequences that we'll be facing in case of diplomatic expulsion, because there will be consequences.
I think it's important that Canadians know what we've learned from the two-michold experience is that, of course, China and the PRC will take action.
These interests, including economic interests, consular interests, and also diplomatic interests, will be affected.
And therefore, no, Michael, I just want to finish my answer because this is very important.
It's about you, but it's about also the interests of the country.
So, as we are assessing the interests, and I know that we are under pressure to go fast, we need to make sure as well that we protect our democracy.
And that is why we will take action in light of the facts that are being presented regarding your case and any MP that could be targeted.
So, that's why my deputy minister right now is meeting with the Chinese ambassador and summoning him.
And that's why also we're assessing different options, including the expulsion of diplomats, because it is important that we take a decision.
A disgraceful show of weakness, lack of national confidence, total submission to China, so gross.
I don't even know why the Chinese need spies here.
They're right in the heart of the government.
Vaccinated Diplomats?00:06:08
But where was Trudeau yesterday?
He was in Ottawa.
He just didn't bother going to question period or anything like that.
He was very busy, though, doing other important things.
It was May 4th yesterday.
Now, you might know that the children's movie called Star Wars, it had a catchphrase, may the force be with you.
And it's become a meme.
May the fourth be with you, is a joke for when the it's the fourth of May.
So on May 4th, Star Wars fans say that.
It was a children's, May the Fourth Be With You.
It's a funny joke if you're a kid.
So here's what Trudeau was doing yesterday, not dealing with the Chinese spy scandal, not dealing with an MP being attacked by a foreign diplomat, not answering Michael Chong in parliament.
He was busy and he tweeted about it.
He said, I have an important message for you.
Oh, you have something to say about Michael Chong?
No.
Yeah, he's a child.
He has the moral seriousness of a child.
But he had time to go to his party's political convention.
He gave a partisan speech, which is fine.
And listen to one of his attacks on his opponent, Pierre Polyev.
Look at Trudeau's face.
Look at the moment he bares his teeth that way.
He does that when he can't control his rage.
Take a look.
But this, this is what the Conservative Party of Canada has become under Pierre Polyevre.
Even Aaron O'Toole knew that.
Before he left, he admitted that members of the Conservative Party went deep down into the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories during the pandemic, and they show no sign of coming out.
It's quite telling that when Pierre Polyev sat down with President Joseph R. Biden a month ago, he used his precious time to complain about vaccine mandates.
Not borders, not jobs for the middle class, certainly not Ukraine, but vaccine mandates.
So Pierre Polyev mentioned forced vaccines to Joe Biden that Joe Biden still has in place today.
You know, they're still in place for another week.
You can't go into America if you're not jabbed.
It's one of the, I don't even know if there's another country in the world that has that rule.
It makes no scientific sense.
It makes no health sense.
It makes no economic sense.
It makes no sense between our two countries supposedly allies.
But put aside making sense, it's just downright immoral.
And look at the rage with which Trudeau spits out his words.
Yeah, he's full of hatred.
I think he always has been, at least towards anyone who crosses him, like the truckers.
For a brief moment a few days ago, Trudeau pretended, oh, I never forced anyone to get the vaccine.
I guess he's done pretending.
Here's our little video mashup of that gaslighting.
If you don't want to get vaccinated, that's your choice.
But don't think you can get on a plane or a train beside vaccinated people.
And now is the time for people who are still resistant to getting vaccinated to realize that that choice, which has consequences on putting our kids at risk,
which has consequences at having us risk more lockdowns because they haven't chosen to get vaccinated yet, that there will be consequences for those people in not being able to go to a gym or a restaurant, not being able to go to a movie theater, not being able to get on a train or a plane.
I want to stand up for the choice of those who are there for their neighbors, not those who are risking us all going into further lockdowns of slowing our economic recovery.
Trying to bring people together is not always compatible with science, with respect for human rights, with the best way to move things forward.
I mean, when Aaron O'Toole talks about, oh yes, we need to unite people, we need to bring people together, he's talking about defending the rights of people who are anti-vax.
That's why we've been unequivocal.
If you want to get on a plane or a train in the coming months, you're going to have to be fully vaccinated so families with their kids don't have to worry that someone is going to put them in danger in the seat next to them or across the aisle.
Unfortunate that people who chose not to get vaccinated are now the ones clogging up our ICU systems and our hospital beds that should be available for people who did their work and did get vaccinated, making sure that businesses that choose to move forward with vaccination requirements aren't subject to unnecessary or unjustified lawsuits.
If you make a choice, a personal choice, to not get vaccinated, then I will have no sympathy for you when you come to me and said, oh, but I can't go out to a restaurant with my friends, or I'm not being allowed to go to the gym, or my employer is telling me I have to continue to work from home.
You don't have a right to endanger others.
Those people are putting us all at risk.
Worrisome Mainstream Media Loss00:08:20
So what do they do at these liberal conventions?
Well, they get drunk and then do the blackface thing or anti-Indigenous thing, other racist things inspired by Trudeau.
Don't take my word for it.
I'd never make that false accusation.
Take it from this Liberal delegate who was there.
My name is Dawn Upshaw.
I'm from Nova Scotia.
I'm African Canadian, the black loyalist.
I'm also Miss Dissany Cree from Bay James.
I attended a reception last night.
We're here from different time zones.
People are tired.
People are hungry.
And there was liquor served at the event.
So people were getting drunk and tired rather quickly.
And that's when the racism come out.
So I was here last night listening and reacting to racism from liberals.
So when you respond to racism, do not respond with food, fun, and fashion shows as you've done in the past.
Do something and let us do something and let us be the people who guide you.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
I'm very, very sorry that that happened.
And I think we all want to make sure that we condemn any type of racism of any type.
And we need to understand that actions matter more than words.
Yeah, never let a Trudeau liberal get away with calling you racist or sexist or anything.
But seriously, when they're not drunk and racist, they're planning new ways to rule you like this.
So this document here is the proposed 2023 policy resolutions.
This is where liberals daydream about what they want Trudeau to do.
There are a ton of ideas, many of them kooky ideas, that come up from the grassroots of the party.
All parties get this, and they winnow down the ideas to get rid of the more extreme ones.
I think there's 338 riding associations in the country.
So the Liberals whittle down all their ideas to the 20 best ideas.
Here's how they say it.
Note, the following policy resolutions are presented and submitted by provincial territorial boards, liberal policy commissions and the liberal caucus.
Registered liberals from across the countries have prioritized the following 20 resolutions through a national online voting and discussion process.
And the resolutions below will be presented at the National Convention.
The resolution is not considered a policy of the party unless it has earned majority support as a priority at a national convention.
So these have been voted on by liberals across the country.
These are the 20 ones that they like the best.
What you are about to read is what they consider one of the most important issues in the country.
Top 20 out of hundreds, I presume.
Now I'll read it to you and I'll intersperse my thoughts in between each sentence, okay?
It's called Combating Disinformation in Canada, and it's sponsored by the Liberal Party of Canada in British Columbia.
Now, there's a bunch of preambles.
Whereas the United Nations Secretary General recognizes disinformation as an existential risk to humanity.
So I shouldn't have laughed.
I should have read that with a straight face.
Yeah, it's an existential risk to humanity, just like climate change, just like COVID, just like we need gender reassignment surgery, just like your tax increase.
Whatever they want to do, it's essential.
You see, it's an emergency.
And the UN says so, so it must be true.
Whereas online information sources are the source of most disinformation aimed at and or available to Canadians.
But I don't even know if that means isn't everything online?
Even most books are online.
Don't we all watch TV online now?
What does that sentence even mean other than trying to sound very deep?
Whereas those who produce misinformation seek to undermine trust in people and institutions, including mainstream media and governments.
Now, I disagree.
First of all, you can disagree with and distrust government for good reasons.
It's not misinformation.
You just disagree with the establishment.
And I think the establishment has done an impressive job of undermining their own credibility and their own trust, don't you think?
Whereas one recent poll found 44% of Canadians believe much of the information from news organizations is false.
And 71% believe official government accounts of events are untrustworthy.
So you mean to say that 29% of people still trust politicians?
That is a shockingly high number of people who still trust.
I guess those are liberal voters.
Whereas the demand for information 24-7 has increased the need for programming contemporaneously with the loss of advertising revenue to online platforms.
I don't even know what they're saying there.
Whereas to reduce costs, mainstream media no longer employs as many reporters with extensive knowledge of particular subject areas and fills content with opinion programming rather than news.
And whereas the result has devalued mainstream media as a source of news and information, be it resolved that the Liberal Party of Canada, and I'll read the next part next, but you notice they're talking about the mainstream media.
They're worried about the mainstream media losing trust.
By the way, what is mainstream media?
What's the definition other than just media trudeau controls?
I think that's why they like the mainstream media.
It's just that what they mean is the Trudeau media.
And yeah, that's all their throat-clearing preamble.
That's all their because, because, because.
Here's what they want to do because of that.
They have two points.
The first is request the government provide additional public funds to support advertisement-free news and information reporting by Canadian media through an arm's-length nonpartisan mechanism.
So naturally, liberals want more money for their friends, more taxpayers' money, but why should it be advertising-free or subscription-free?
Why can't they earn a living?
If you can't sell ads or sell subscriptions or crowdfund like we do, why should your hobby be called a job and bailed out by taxpayers just because the liberals like you?
Why?
I don't quite get it.
The laugh is they're already doing that.
They're already handing out hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
They're just not doing it in an arm's length, nonpartisan way.
But look at this second recommendation.
This is really weird.
Request the government explore options to hold online information services accountable for the veracity of material published on their platforms and to limit publication only to material whose sources can be traced.
Oh, to limit publication, eh?
Now, it used to be that reporters would hold politicians to account.
Citizens would hold politicians to account.
We would all hold politicians to account.
No longer, don't you see, politicians will hold you to account.
Politicians here will hold journalists to account.
Politicians will tell reporters what is true or not about the politicians.
Politicians will tell you what to believe or not.
They'll demand to trace your information sources.
What a laugh.
Especially given that the very next policy idea in this booklet is to protect whistleblowers, except if the government will want to trace your whistleblowers, I guess, if he blows the whistle on them.
What a bunch of little fascists in training.
They're all in on it.
You remember my story a couple of days ago about the CBC threatening Twitter?
That if Twitter didn't delete certain tweets the CBC didn't like, the Trudeau government would punish Twitter?
That's what the CBC threatened Twitter with.
Well, Matt Tybee is an American reporter who released the first wave of the Twitter files, which showed internal censorship at Twitter before Elon Musk.
He got in touch with us and sent us this.
It's an internal email from Twitter Canada where the Twitter executive says they had reviewed the censorship demands by the CBC and found they didn't amount to anything.
They were unreasonable.
So the CBC threatened to sue them, to sue them.
During the call with Cam Gordon and myself, the CBC threatened legal action, so Cam and I ended the call.
What?
Why would the CBC, which is a news organization, call up Twitter and threaten to sue them, a private company, because they didn't censor people the CBC wanted them to censor?
CBC's Threatening Move00:12:32
That's so weird.
Why do we have to pay for that to begin with?
But what has that got to do with journalism?
Hey, you know who has Trudeau's number?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
He's running for president.
He's seeking the nomination of the Democratic Party.
Look at this amazing tweet from him just yesterday.
The financial censorship of political enemies is something we're used to seeing under authoritarian regimes.
No one was surprised when Russia froze more than 100 bank accounts tied to opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
But Canada did it too, locking more than 200 accounts of people protesting vaccine mandates.
Kennedy 24.
That got 3.5 million views that tweet.
RFK Jr. is John F. Kennedy's nephew.
He's the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, who was the Attorney General.
RFK Jr. is a progressive American political legend.
And he's against forced vaccines, just like Pierre Polyap.
He doesn't mind if Trudeau scowls at him.
He knows that Trudeau is just a little thug.
I think some people are waking up.
At least I hope so.
Stay with us for more.
Hey, welcome back.
You know, there are some neighborhoods that are known around the world, Skid Row in Los Angeles.
There were some places even in Canada, East Hastings Street, that for years were known as the dangerous drug place where people who perhaps should be institutionalized either for medical care or psychological care, they were just dumped on the streets.
But the thing about Skid Row and East Hastings Street is they are in every big city in North America now.
Maybe not so much in Florida, but in Vancouver, Calgary, Emmonton, Toronto, certainly, and across Democrat-led cities.
But I've never seen anything as shocking as this, well, it's almost a billboard in Vancouver.
Hard drugs for sale, top quality.
Just come on in and buy it.
It's just the craziest thing, but actually, it's completely unsurprising.
How different is that from what politicians and activists call safe injection sites?
This was just a man trying to make some money off it.
Well, police shut it down after a few hours, but not before our friend Aaron Gunn went there to take a look around.
He's joining us now via Skype to tell us the story of the latest dystopian development from Vancouver.
Aaron, great to see you.
Part of me thinks, what's the big deal?
To pretend that there's been no hard drugs and other things for sale in the streets of Vancouver is a bit of a laugh.
Maybe it's just that this guy was more brazen than anyone else.
Police were embarrassed by it.
But actually, what he's doing isn't new, is it?
No, it's not.
And in fact, you almost have to thank him for being the perfect example of how ridiculous the situation in Vancouver has become.
Yes, not everybody's got a big sign out front when they're selling crack or cocaine or crystal meth, but it's widely available.
It's never been easier to get drugs or to get high in BC.
And I know you mentioned that these kind of skid rows are popping up all over the country in big cities.
Well, here in BC, which is obviously the flashpoint of Justin Trudeau's decriminalization, it's come to small cities too.
It's in cities as small as Duncan and Campbell River and Penticton, where they have their own mini skid rows there.
And the drug use is open and rampant and the crime that's associated with it, of course, because if you're going to be spending $100 or $200 a day on your drug habit, you got to find a way to get that money.
And you probably don't have a nine-to-five job.
So there's all sorts of deep societal consequences from this.
But of course, this particular instance in Vancouver, which we stumbled upon, it wasn't even my plan to be in the city that day was just kind of, you know, Vancouver's reached a peak absurdity, or at least for today.
We'll see what happens tomorrow.
Yeah.
Hey, let me read from the Vancouver police press release.
And even in the press release, there's some irony.
I'll put it on the screen here.
VPD, Vancouver Police Department, arrests illegal drugstore operator.
Vancouver police have arrested a man for drug trafficking in connection with an illicit drug dispensary that began operating yesterday in the downtown Eastside.
See, there are plenty of drug dispensaries.
It's just that this guy wasn't part of the club, you see.
VPD's organized crime section launched an investigation, began gathering evidence after the suspect started selling cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, and heroin out of a mobile trailer parked near Maine and Cordoba streets.
And then I just got to read this part, Aaron, and I'd love your reaction to this.
This is from the cops.
And it's not funny.
It's absurd.
That's why I'm smiling.
It's actually extremely sad.
We support measures aimed at improving public safety for people who use drugs, including harm reduction services and decriminalization, says Constable Tanya Vizintin.
However, we remain committed in our position that drug trafficking will continue to be the subject of enforcement.
Well, hang on, which is it?
You can't suck and blow.
Are you arresting this guy just because he's not part of your approved drug dealing NGOs?
Like, how can you, that's a 180-degree turn in the course of one paragraph.
We're going to crack down on drug trafficking, but we support dispensaries to give people good drugs.
Well, which one is it, sister?
Well, exactly, Ezra, and here's the other little hidden truth that the government probably doesn't want you to know, and I think is going to explode over the next six months.
The biggest drug dealer in Canada right now, when you're talking about powerful addictive drugs, is the federal government.
It's Justin Trudeau with the so-called safe supply program, a so-called safe supply that they've rolled out across the country.
I've chatted with pharmacists off the record that are discussing over a thousand pills every single day of powerful addictive opioids.
So maybe the feds and maybe the police are just worried about this individual entrepreneurial individual taking some market share away from the government.
You know, we're talking in an absurd way because it's an absurd situation, but it's deeply troubling.
I have trouble wrapping my head around the ideology for this, but there was a video I saw by a futurist intellectual named Yuval Noah Harari.
And we've mentioned him on the show before.
Aaron, I don't know if you've ever come across him.
He's sort of the muse at the World Economic Forum.
He's sort of Klaus Schwab's ideas guy.
And he talks about a future where most people are, quote, useless because of high-tech and automation and AI.
And he says the thing to do with useless people is drugs and video games.
You're taking a listen to Yuval Noah Harari talk about a terrifying dystopian future where people are deemed useless.
Again, I think that the biggest question in maybe in economics and politics of the coming decades will be what to do with all these useless people.
I don't think we have an economic model for that.
My best guess, which is just a guess, is that food will not be a problem.
With that kind of technology, you will be able to produce food to feed everybody.
The problem is more boredom.
And what to do with them?
And how will they find some sense of meaning in life when they are basically meaningless, worthless?
My best guess at present is a combination of drugs and computer games.
I think that is a terrible future that we want to fight against.
But Justin Trudeau goes to Davos almost every year.
He loves that place.
Christy Frieland, the deputy prime minister, is actually a trustee of the World Economic Forum.
I don't know how you can be a trustee of that while also in the Canadian cabinet.
It's really crazy.
I think there's an ideology that some people want as many people drugged, helpless, in some state of suspended animation.
They don't want them to be independent, free, and healthy.
I can think of no other reason for the government doing what you've just described, Aaron.
Well, at the very least, I think the point that you're making, Ezra, is an important one, which is that this push for decriminalization, this push to just hand out free drugs, this is not the compassionate solution.
You are basically telling these people, this is the best you can do.
This is your lot in life.
And we're going to almost treat what's happening in places like the downtown east side as a palliative issue.
You know, when I was standing outside this truck, and to be clear, the police knew it was there.
They knew it was coming.
The guy publicized it beforehand and allowed him to operate for the entire day.
They didn't actually arrest him until the following day.
So there's huge lines there of people buying mess and heroin and cocaine.
And the police didn't do anything.
So it was completely operating in broad daylight for 24 hours.
We even got a picture of a police car driving by while this was happening.
But while I was standing there interviewing people, a group of three or four individuals actually walked past the truck and were quite animated and frustrated and angry.
And they were walking just one block away.
There was a recovery house for people that were formerly addicted to opioids who are now kind of part of the 12-step process.
The one individual told me he'd been clean for a year and was just insulted that the government would be allowing this to happen right in front of his face.
I think it's an important part of the story because even those right in the worst throes of addiction, it's amazing with health, with recovery, with treatment.
People can turn their lives around.
They can return to being taxpaying and productive members of society once again.
And when you just start handing out free drugs like this, when you allow other people to be openly dealing drugs or using drugs right in the open, which is commonplace here in British Columbia, you are enabling this kind of behavior and you are normalizing this kind of behavior.
And the deep societal consequences that are going to stem that are going to echo, I think, for years and decades to come from the policies of this government are, I think, actually quite sad because these are people's lives at the end of the day, as you pointed out.
Yeah.
You know, I think one way to think about it is alcoholism.
I mean, there's drug addictions and there's alcohol addictions.
And in fact, alcohol is a kind of drug.
And if someone's an alcoholic, they need attention, they need reform, they need a 12-step program, they need a buddy in those 12-step programs, someone to call if they're feeling vulnerable.
They need an accountability moment.
And of course, the old Alcoholics Anonymous, you know, there was a spiritual element.
It was actually quite central to it.
You had to give yourself over to a higher power.
And the idea that instead of the AA program, Alcoholics Anonymous, obviously I've never been to one.
I'm not a drinker myself.
But they've been enormously successful for a number of people, not for everybody.
Imagine throwing out the Alcoholics Anonymous model and saying, no, we're going to do the opposite.
We're going to have free drinks.
It's just going to be really safe.
Free drinks, but I promise you they're safe and it's in a friendly environment.
And if you want help, after you've taken all your drinks, we'll give you like we just know instinctively, viscerally, that would be absolute madness and insanity if it would never fly for alcoholism.
Why are we doing that to drug addicts?
And I doing that to them because you're tempting them, you're entrapping them.
And I just can't fathom a mind that says this is good.
This is safe.
I find it deeply depressing.
And you're so right how this will echo for decades and for generations, by the way.
Canada's Dying Addiction Crisis00:04:30
Yeah, no, and the other thing is, I saw Trudeau making a statement on this as well.
He's been very pro-Safe Supply.
He says we need to look at the evidence.
We need to follow the data.
Well, if you're in British Columbia, the evidence is in, the data's in.
I mean, 2,000, 2,000 young British Columbians as dead last year who could, you know, mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters who died unnecessarily from overdoses, from dangerous drugs.
I don't think it's surprising that when it's never been easier to get drugs, it's never been easier to overdose on drugs.
So I think we've been heading in the exact wrong direction.
What we've done around harm reduction and safe consumption, the project that we have, working with BC to decriminalize possession of harder drugs now.
As we, I mean, there was a lot of shouting about that, and it's a very politically polarizing issue still.
And you can see the conservative leader doing videos about how bad that is.
But grounding ourselves in facts and data and public treatment and evidence of a public health problem is the way to move forward on this.
So we're going to continue to invest in supporting people.
Yeah, more young people in BC die from drugs.
Even at the height of the pandemic, more young people were dying from drug overdoses than from the coronavirus.
You know, it's funny that Trudeau said that because as you may know, Justin Trudeau's own mother, Margaret Trudeau, has had a lifelong battle with both drugs and mental health.
And she has publicly said on many occasions that when she used drugs, her mental health deteriorated.
And I'm not picking on her.
I'm just saying what she said, and she's right to say it.
And that's a good thing that Margaret Trudeau talks about that that way.
How can Justin Trudeau be the son of that mother, witness what she went through, and then call for more drugs and heavy drugs?
It boggles the mind.
I'm really concerned about the direction of all this.
I think this arrest was just for show because it was too much.
It was too over the top.
But I think things are going to continue to get worse.
You tell me, what's that new mayor of Vancouver doing?
Does he have anything to say about this?
I mean, you know, he's not, he's better than the last mayor, which is maybe the only positive thing that I can say about him.
I'm sure I have a funny feeling that this van would probably still be up and operating today if we had the old mayor Kennedy Stewart still in.
But look, I think that whether it's Kensim, the mayor, or conservative leaders, especially across the country, it's time to draw a line in the sand.
And that line, I think, has to be the government perpetuating and enabling the problem by handing out free drugs and turning a blind eye to open destructive behavior in our city streets.
That's what Portugal's done.
That's what other countries in Europe have done that don't have the same kind of problems as Canada or on the west coast of the United States.
And we just have to say, you know, this is someone told me, I'm filming a documentary right now, Ezra, and somebody told me you get what you tolerate.
So if you tolerate rampant drug use, if you tolerate kind of this chaos, disorder, disarray in our city streets, obviously the random violent attacks that stem from the psychosis that stems from the rampant addiction problem that we've allowed to spiral out of control, you're going to get more of it.
And we keep getting more of it.
And unfortunately, in the short term, I don't see the situation getting better, at least until we have a change of leadership at the provincial and federal level, provincial and BC, because that's who's really driving and pushing these policies forward.
Yeah, very, very sad.
Aaron Gunn, filmmaker and social commentator, great to have you on the show.
Tell us where we can find more Aaron Gunn.
What are you up to?
Is there someplace we should go if we want to, I mean, for example, your film, your short film on Vancouver was such a viral hit.
Is there anything new you'd like to tell our viewers about before you say goodbye?
Yeah, working on a sequel to the Vancouver film, which is going to be out later this month, actually.
It's going to be called Canada's Dying, taking a look at how these issues, the addiction crisis, homelessness, and this revolving door justice system is affecting, as you pointed out at the start of this interview, not just BC, but the entire country.
Facebook's Global Struggle00:05:05
And to watch that and all my content, it's best just to follow me on social media and you can just type in Aaron Gunn to Twitter or YouTube or Facebook or Instagram.
And I'm sure you'll be able to track me down.
Great.
Well, I'm very much looking forward to Canada dying.
Your video, Vancouver is dying, went super viral.
And I think it helped shape the outcome of that Vancouver election.
There you have it.
Aaron Gunn, great to see you.
Thanks for stopping by today.
I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me, Ezra.
It's our pleasure.
All right, folks, stay with us.
More next.
Hey, welcome back.
Your letters to me.
Wilfred Blakey says, you mentioned that Trudeau is trying to overcome the internet and have complete control.
After all, the internet is a free thing.
I don't mean to sound any attitude.
It's just that I can't come up with a name for it.
If it is free and Trudeau wants to own it, and if it is worldwide, then I don't see how one jerk in one country can overcome the world from his rooster's nest and expect everyone to obey him.
I don't know if there is a name that accurately suits him.
As you can tell, I have no use for him, and the sooner he is out of office, then the better for the world.
Well, obviously, Trudeau can't stop companies usually headquartered in California.
You know, Twitter is in San Francisco.
They're all in Silicon Valley, which is really near San Francisco, YouTube, Facebook.
Obviously, they're not going to be changed by a Canadian tyrant, but their operations in Canada could be, or they could be shut down.
These global tech companies have to operate in a country under the laws of that country.
And if those laws are intolerable, then at a certain point they exit the country.
Let me give you an example.
My understanding is that Rumble, the YouTube competitor, refused to ban Russia Today, RT.
That's a Russian state broadcaster.
So France barred Rumble.com from being in France.
And that's too bad for France.
But Rumble said we're just not going to do that.
So I don't know.
You could probably still find a way to get it in France.
But that's an example of how a little pip squeak country can tell the biggest companies what to do.
They sort of can just with regards to their little fiefdom.
So Trudeau could try and ban Facebook, YouTube.
I don't know if he would succeed at banning them, but he would probably just prosecute them and fine them.
And they have assets in Canada.
They have offices in Canada.
And by the way, they don't want to be rogue.
They don't want to be lawbreakers, but they might just shut down certain things.
Facebook and Google have both been talking about cutting off news because one of Trudeau's censorship bills, C-18, wants to tax them for linking to news.
It's sort of crazy.
Mike Boland says, if the CRTC bans Fox News, then I'd like to see Elon Musk ban the PM Twitter feed.
You know, it's absolutely insane the CRTC regulator is actually having hearings on banning Fox.
Like, could they be more out of sync with the times?
Could they be more a caricature of tyrants?
The day after C-11 passes, the CRTC now talks about going into newsrooms to inspect their ethics policy.
They have hearings about banning Fox News.
If you don't think that they're coming to censor you, what will it take?
My heavens, look at they're just, they can't even wait for the law to be proclaimed to start censoring.
Gary Schoutson says the West doesn't have to separate from Canada.
All they have to do is exert their constitutional rights under the BNA.
Quebec has done this for decades.
It's time the rest of the provinces do the same and more.
By the way, federal income tax is unconstitutional.
Only the provinces can have an income tax.
I believe the rights are outlined in section 1551 of the BNA and a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1955 stated the provinces.
All right.
I'm going to stop there.
I don't know about those sections or the Supreme Court reference you're referring to.
It is correct that the provinces have yielded, have given up a lot of their jurisdiction to the feds in return for cash.
And Quebec has tried to reverse that trend by taking over their constitutional rights and getting the cash too, which is the best of both worlds.
That's what Danielle Smith is talking about with their Sovereignty Act.
And Saskatchewan is doing similar things.
I agree with you to an extent.
For example, there is no constitutional reason why the RCMP is the police force for rural Alberta.
They just sort of bought their way in by subsidizing it and saying to the province, hey, we'll police you for cheaper than you can police yourself.
But a lot of the things that the provinces give up to the feds are not the feds under the BNA Act, which is now called the Constitution Act of 1867.
Anyways, I appreciate the email and all the emails.