Ezra Levant praises America’s enduring influence—from Canada’s reliance on U.S. military deterrence and economic aid (like post-WWII recovery) to global cultural dominance, even among critics like bin Laden. He contrasts this with Canadian courts’ selective deference, freezing bank accounts during the Freedom Convoy protests while shielding COVID policies from scrutiny, as seen in Evan Blackmun’s case where subpoenaed RCMP/TD documents may expose government motives. Alberta’s Bill 26, blocking puberty blockers for minors without consent, faces a June 27, 2025 injunction from LGBT groups, yet Levant argues courts lack authority to permanently override laws like America’s Notwithstanding Clause equivalent. Meanwhile, Rebel News celebrates its 10th anniversary in Calgary on September 18th amid growing backlash against UN fossil fuel censorship, reinforcing the fight for free speech and policy transparency. [Automatically generated summary]
It is Independence Day for our friends to the south, and yes, they are our friends.
You know, as Wab Canoe said, it was actually a lovely line.
We'll never be the 51st state, he said, but we can be your number one friend.
I really liked how he said that.
I don't know if we'll ever be a U.S. state, but we certainly are lucky to have them as our number one friend.
And I want to tell you some of my favorite things about America and why America is the best thing to ever happen to the whole world.
And I say that as someone born and raised in Canada.
So I'll give you my thoughts on that.
I'd love your thoughts in response.
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.
It's eight bucks a month.
And we need that to pay the bills because we get no money from the government and it shows.
Tonight, it's Independence Day in the U.S.
So let me tell you why that makes Canada the luckiest country in the world.
It's the 4th of July, and this is the Esser Levant show.
Shame on you, you censorious thug.
Everyone loves America.
Even the people who say they hate America couldn't do without it.
They're just unwilling to admit it.
They don't need to admit it.
American industry, American inventions, American culture, American pop songs, American automobiles have conquered the world.
Iran's Ayatollah type out their impotent messages on Twitter in English.
When foreign dictators need serious medical care, they fly to the U.S.
No one flies to Cuba or North Korea.
Of course, millions of people do say they hate America, and it's best to believe them, and they mean America harm, and they try to hurt America whenever they can.
I think of Osama bin Laden for one of the worst examples.
You know, when he was found in Pakistan, he sure had a lot of American stuff with him for someone who hates America from American books and American CDs and goofy internet memes, even, all in English, of course.
And yeah, lots of American pornography, too.
So of course, he hates America, but in a way, he loves the fruits of it compared to the failed state where he spent his final months, the backwater of Pakistan.
Obviously, Osama bin Laden is a mass murderer, one of the most evil people, but in a way, he reminds me of leftists on university campuses who are tweeting against America and against capitalism while using an $800 iPhone.
You know what I mean?
The thing is, when you're as big and as strong as America, you're like a giant lion.
And you don't respond to hecklers who are a bit more like jackals.
You don't respond to every insult.
You don't need to.
You know, it's just chatter, just banter, because you're more powerful than the rest of the world combined.
And with the power comes the ability to let things slide.
You don't have to assert your dominance all the time.
Everyone already knows.
But every once in a while, you have to.
Pearl Harbor was an unforgivable attack that had to be responded to.
Same with 9-11.
Trump took a different approach with Iran recently.
He let Israel clear out the anti-aircraft missiles in that country.
And then Trump sent in the B-2 bombers for the final touch, blowing up Iran's nukes.
I like Trump's minimalist approach to intervention, but maximalist approach to looking strong.
It's what Teddy Kennedy said more than a century ago about walk softly but carry a big stick.
Forgive me, but I want to show you a clip from a movie around 20 years ago with the actor Christopher Walken.
Watch 90 seconds of this.
It reminds me of America.
You watch those nature documentaries on the cable.
Yeah.
Trump's Big Stick Approach00:16:13
You see the one about lions?
Yeah.
Look at this lion.
He's the king of the jungle.
Huge mane, oh dear.
He's laying down under a tree in the middle of Africa.
He's so big.
He's so hot.
He doesn't want to move.
Now, the little lion comes.
They start messing with him.
Biting his tail, biting his ears.
He doesn't do anything.
The lioness.
She starts messing with him.
Coming over, making trouble.
Still, nothing.
Now, the other animals, they notice this.
And they start to move in.
The jackals.
Hyenas.
They're barking at him, laughing at him.
They nip his toes and eat the food that's in his domain.
They do this.
And they get closer and closer and bolder and bolder.
Until one day, that lion gets up and tears the shit out of everybody.
Runs like the wind.
Eats everything in his path.
Because every once in a while, the lion has to show the jackals who he is.
Don't you think that's a metaphor for America?
America looks down in the dumps sometimes.
Like maybe it's in decline.
It looks weak sometimes, and bad things happen.
Let me play for you a five-minute radio broadcast from the early 70s from CFRB, which was the biggest radio station in Toronto, which was heard into the U.S.
And it actually became a rallying cry for Canadians who love America and were upset that, you know, it was being beset by jackals and hyenas.
By the way, I want to show you this.
I have a vinyl record of this broadcast.
Look at this, hanging in my office.
That's how things went viral in 1973.
People loved the broadcast so much.
So Gordon Sinclair, the man who did it, he re-recorded it and they pressed it into records and they sold like hotcakes.
That's how things went viral in the 70s.
I've got that on my wall.
It's one of the few things that I really treasure.
And it reminds me of how America has been our best friend forever.
Here, listen, I'm going to play for you five minutes of it.
It's worth the time, but don't go away.
I got my version of Gordon Sinclair's love letter to America afterwards.
But here's what Gordon Sinclair said in 1973, and it went viral.
Remember, that was when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister.
So it was a lot of leftist thinking afoot.
Here's Gordon Sinclair.
I'm Gordon Sinker, what they call a seasoned Canadian commentator on radio station CFRB in Toronto.
And away back on the fifth day of June, I did an editorial about the Americans.
It was titled, Let's Hear It for the Americans.
Well, this had an enormous response, both from the United States and from Canada.
And so we decided to put it on television, and therefore I'll read it.
Now, normally when I'm on television, I don't wear glasses, but a fellow of my age, which is approaching 74, has to wear them to read.
And so I'll put on the glasses and read the editorial and do the best I can.
Here we go.
The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French, and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany.
It has declined there by 41% since 1971, and this Canadian thinks it's time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people in all the world.
As long as 60 years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtze.
Well, who rushed in with men and money to help?
The Americans did, that's who.
They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges, and the Niger.
Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is underwater, and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help.
Germany, Japan, and to a lesser extent Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts.
None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
When the Frank was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris, and I was there.
I saw that.
When distant cities are hit by earthquake, it's the United States that hurries in to help.
Managua, Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples.
So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes.
Nobody has helped.
The Marshall Plan, the Truman policy, all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries.
And now newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent, war-mongering Americans.
Now, I'd like to see just one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.
Come on now, you, let's hear it.
Does any country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the Douglas 10?
If so, why don't they fly them?
Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes?
Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a woman on the moon?
You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios.
You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles.
You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon not once but several times and safely home again.
You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at.
Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded.
They're right here on our streets in Toronto.
Most of them, unless they're breaking Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from Ma and PA at home to spend up here.
When the Americans get out of this bind, as they will, who could blame them if they said to hell with the rest of the world, let somebody else buy the bonds.
Let somebody else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that once shake apart in earthquakes.
When the railways of France and Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them.
When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose.
Both of them are still broke.
I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name to me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble?
I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damn tired of hearing them kicked around.
They'll come out of this thing with their flag high, and when they do, they're entitled to thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of these.
But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians.
And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.
This year's disasters, with the year less than half over, has taken it all, and nobody, but nobody, has helped.
I love that.
And I sort of choked up a little bit a couple times listening to him say that.
He was talking about mainly economics and finances and coming to the aid of natural disasters.
Those are real things, but it was almost like he was taking for granted the larger stuff, the existential stuff, national security, the belief in freedom, the opposition to tyranny.
I mean, remember, that was in the darkest hours of the Cold War.
But you can imagine how anti-American Pierre Trudeau was, and that was early in his disastrous term.
So good for Gordon Sinclair.
America looked weak again during the Biden years, but the lion is back, don't you think?
Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine when Obama was in office, not when Trump was in office the first time, but then again when Biden was off in office again.
Do you think that's a coincidence?
I'm not saying this is a partisan thing.
There have been powerful and confident leaders who were Democrats.
You probably have to go back in time 75 years to find one.
I'm just saying America is a lion.
Lots of jackals out there, lots of hyenas laughing.
I love that little monologue by Christopher Watkin, don't you?
But that emphasizes physical dominance and deterrence, which is a big part of our world.
Ever since the breakup of the Soviet Union, for nearly 50 years after the Second World War, history was almost frozen as NATO and the Warsaw Pact stared each other down under the nuclear doctrine of mutually assured destruction.
The only wars were really proxy wars, like in Vietnam.
But the stability of the mutually assured destruction era is gone, paradoxically.
So, yeah, Trump's invigorated military and his demands that NATO allies pay up is absolutely important for the stability of the world.
I just can't resist to show you this little item from Ireland, which has the tiniest military budget in Europe as a percentage of their GDP.
They've decided to convert some of their military vehicles to electric vehicles, as in the kind that have to stop and be plugged in every few hours.
They are literally paying someone to take out the diesel combustion engine and replace them with battery-powered engines.
That is a real story.
That is an unserious country compared to the lion.
Anyways, forgive my little detour there.
I love America, and there's no contradiction to being a Canadian and saying that.
It really is a great nation and a good nation.
And in a way, we're the luckiest people in the world that we get our own country with our own peculiarities.
But because of sheer proximity, we get so many benefits of American greatness, even if we're sometimes one of those nosy jackals and hyenas biting and laughing at the lion that protects us.
We obviously benefit from their military.
Let's not kid each other.
Our aging CF-18s could not defend our northern airspace.
I mean, for example, we weren't even able to take down that slow-flying, low-flying Chinese spy balloon that flew over North America under Biden.
It wasn't shot down until Americans could do it.
I think it's probably safe to say that being America's neighbor is the only reason why China or Russia haven't just laid claim to vast swaths of our Arctic.
So obviously, militarily, we benefit, which is probably why we're amongst the lowest in terms of paying our way.
We're free riders.
And economically, what a blessing, what an unearned blessing to be literally next door to the world's largest, richest market.
What an advantage to us when the great markets of America are just a short truck ride or train ride away.
I mean, Windsor, Ontario is practically merged with Detroit, Michigan when it comes to assembling automobiles.
The same car goes back and forth across the border several times before it's done.
Imagine how lucky Honda or Toyota or Kia or Hyundai would feel if Japan or Korea were just across a bridge from America.
And of course, so many American cultural values seep across our borders to our benefit.
It's not in our laws.
It's not in our constitution, but by mere proximity to them, I think we have a stronger commitment to freedom of speech and the rule of law than we would have if we were far away.
It's not for nothing that the final showdown in terms of freedom of speech on social media is shaping up to be the European censors versus America and the First Amendment.
And you've already heard from our Prime Minister, Mark Carney, that he wants to join the Europeans.
Apparently, becoming the 28th EU country isn't as offensive to him as becoming the 51st U.S. state.
How can you not admire America's meritocracy, their science and industry?
Look at Elon Musk, a one in a billion man.
But the fact that he could have stayed in South Africa, where he was born and raised, or he could have stayed here in Canada, where he came and went to university, but he chose America.
Because really, how could he have done any of the things he has done in Canada, politically, economically, scientifically?
Just think of the regulations and the taxes.
I mean, they'd have him do a carbon emissions analysis of his rocket ships.
You think I'm kidding, but of course, that's what they do.
They do gender analysis of major projects here in Canada.
They would censor his Twitter project.
They would tax his SpaceX project.
But really, if you want to work with smart, entrepreneurial people and you want to pay them well, of course, you're going to go to America.
Everyone in the world wants to go there.
Entrepreneurs and dreamers and builders, but also people who just want to mooch off of them.
That's why I'm excited about Donald Trump's remigration project.
He's making America more American and less illegal foreigners.
America is special that way.
It's about 400 years old, really, which is old.
And the political entity called the United States of America is almost 250 years old.
But other than Indian bands, it's not a unique ethnicity like being Irish or English or French is.
America was settled and built originally by the English and the Dutch and the Germans and the French even.
And there was the Spanish and Latino influence.
And then came later waves of Italians and Greeks and Jews and Chinese.
And as Trump thoughtfully points out, there are foundational black Americans who were brought to America as slaves, but built the country, a moral challenge America is still reckoning with, but hardly a unique blight.
Slavery has existed in almost every country over the course of time.
Only America has gone through such a brutal self-examination and even in part a civil war over it.
Part of the genius of America is that it Americanized those immigrants.
Of course, they lived amongst themselves at first, but there is an American-ness that verges on blood and soil nationality.
America is about land, the ability to buy land, to have land of your own, not just to be a feudal serf indentured to some lord.
The wild west with open vistas, land is a big part of it, which is why the automobile culture in America is stronger than anywhere else.
Cars are a key to freedom in a big country, which is why so many leftists have declared war on cars.
America, of course, has the world's best constitution in that it is a vital document.
You might find it hard to believe, but the Soviet Constitution, for example, here's the 1977 version promulgated under Brezhnev that mentions the word freedom 18 times.
But of course, it was a lie.
It was propaganda.
Here's an excerpt, just for example, Article 50.
In accordance with the interests of the people and in order to strengthen and develop the socialist system, citizens of the USSR are guaranteed freedom of speech, of the press, and of assembly, meetings, street processions, and demonstrations.
Exercise of these political freedoms is ensured by putting public buildings, streets, and squares at the disposal of the working people and their organizations by broad dissemination of information and by the opportunity to use the press, television, and radio.
Yet, not a word of that is true, but it sure looked pretty on paper, didn't it?
In America, they lived their Constitution, more or less, and more or less supporting the Constitution is a bipartisan thing.
It's under assault more than ever, to be sure, but there is a general agreement that the American Revolution was noble and its Constitution is a document protecting the people from tyrants.
Why America Feels Great00:04:56
We don't have that same rebellious mindset up here, do we?
I guess what I'm saying is the United States feels like the last great hope for freedom and progress, not just for America, but for all mankind.
I mentioned Elon Musk earlier.
None of his projects would have had a chance in a communist, racist kleptocracy like South Africa, where he was born.
Canada would have strangled it so slowly through taxes and regulations and just driven him mad, I'm sure.
Only America, with its combination of freedom and property rights, and independent courts and upward mobility for anyone based on merit and a generally high trust society where you can feel safe dealing with strangers, whether it's just a pedestrian on the sidewalk or a man shaking your hand with a business deal.
They've created something special over 400 years.
It's not just an address.
It's not just a hotel.
It's not what the UK's Kier Starmer said about his country: that mass immigration has made it a nation of strangers.
Let me put it this way: nations depend on rules, fair rules.
Sometimes they're written down, often they're not.
But either way, they give shape to our values, guide us towards our rights, of course, but also our responsibilities, the obligations we owe to each other.
Now, in a diverse nation like ours, and I celebrate that, these rules become even more important.
Without them, we risk becoming an island of strangers.
But enough explaining why America is great.
Let's just take a moment to say thank you to them.
Seriously, I would like to thank the United States for being Canada's best friend, even when we don't quite deserve it, even when we're a bit too righteous and a bit too jealous.
I'd like to thank the United States for protecting us with the world's mightiest military, even though we haven't kept our promises to pay our fair share as a NATO ally.
We take more than we give, yet they go through the motions of treating us like equals.
I'd like to thank the U.S. for buying our stuff, about $600 billion worth every year, giving us so many jobs.
We've seen them ask for the right to sell products into Canada too, but for a few ridings in rural Quebec, every Canadian political party has put Quebec's dairy cartel above not only America's free trade interests, but the interests of Canadians in having inexpensive, plentiful dairy and poultry, too.
That's a jackal move, needlessly irritating the lion who protects us, isn't it?
I like America no matter who the president is.
You have to.
A country is more than its political class.
I liked America even when Barack Obama unleashed racial civil wars to radicalize his base.
I liked it even when Joe Biden projected weakness around the world.
Those were the only times that so many other people around the world said they loved America because they saw America undoing itself, receding, retreating.
Like the man said, they sensed weakness.
You know, we take things for granted our whole lives.
We've been at peace because of America.
Our whole lives, we've known only plenty.
We live a life so luxurious that we can choose to worry ourselves about luxury issues that have no real meaning other than we need to keep ourselves feeling vigorous since there are no more dragons to slay.
I'm talking about insanity like transgenderism or pronouns or even climate alarmism.
That's the kind of thing you can choose to worry about when you have nothing to worry about.
We've all seen the meme.
I love this one.
Have you seen it?
Hard times make strong men.
Strong men make good times.
Good times make weak men.
Weak men make hard times.
That's our risk.
It's been good for so long.
We've been made weak and unserious.
Now, America cannot afford to be weak and unserious, and they've decided to be great again.
That's a phrase that makes some Canadians' eyes roll.
Great.
Who does he think he is?
That's so over the top.
America great?
No, no, it's the same greatness that we had in Canada to hew a country out of rivers and forests and rock, to blast a railroad through the Rocky Mountains to settle the second largest country in the world to make a real country to fight alongside our allies on D-Day.
We were great too.
I don't know how great we are now.
Some people don't want us to be great.
Just another reason to thank God for our friends, the Americans.
Stay with us for more.
Hey, welcome back.
Covid's Impact on Judges00:15:00
I remember a few years ago when COVID mania was at its highest heights.
And judges, unfortunately, because of demographics, because of social status, were amongst the biggest victims of the psychology, the mass formation psychology, as it was called.
They were the ones most afraid, most persuaded by the fear-mongering.
A few reasons for that.
First and most obvious reason is judges are typically older.
A senior judge probably doesn't even get appointed until their 40s or 50s or even their 60s.
So these are people who, if anything, would know more people who were ill because of COVID.
Someone who's 20 and is banned from working in a restaurant, banned from going to a gym, probably doesn't know anyone who became gravely ill because of COVID.
Whereas a 70-year-old judge, many of their friends would be terrified, as would the judge.
Obviously, psychologically, judges are creatures of the establishment.
They defer to authority.
Someone with a white lab coat and a clipboard saying COVID's going to kill you.
A judge by nature is going to be impressed by the appeal to authority.
I am that chief public health officer.
Judges, Judges, by definition, defer to authority.
It's the whole system of precedent.
I remember one of the lowest moments in jurisprudence when a former judge, he's retired now, in Alberta, Adam Germain was his name.
He was appointed by the Liberals.
He ruled against Arthur Pavlovsky, saying that Arthur Pavlovsky, and in a bizarre addendum to the courtroom, maybe you remember this.
Pastor Arthur Pavlovsky was ordered, whenever he spoke about COVID publicly, whether it was in a personal conversation, on Facebook, to his church, on TV, he had to then take out a little card that was written by the judge and read this judge's personal comments about how Arthur's views were dissenting views and they were not shared by the government.
The most insane thing.
And the judge thought he could do that.
And I remember reading the ruling where the judge says, we all know someone who's died because of COVID.
Really?
I don't know any such person.
I mean, maybe it's because I'm not a 75-year-old judge.
And this, COVID was real.
It was a bad flu.
And its average age of the victims was in the high 70s, early 80s.
So, no, we didn't.
Anyhow, my point is, things were atrocious in the thick of it.
And I put it to you that judges were uniquely susceptible to being terrified.
And they acted as such.
Well, now it's halfway through 2025.
And COVID's been over for a while.
And we're actually learning how things really were.
We're learning, just today, I read on Global News, which was such a propagandist during the whole frackah.
Global News is now saying how the vaccine injury bureaucracy jokes around all day, watches Netflix, goofs off, like they're finally starting to mock and deride and criticize the people in the white lab coats.
We're starting to see some independent thinking happen about five years too late, but here it is.
And I say all this because I just got some good news moments ago.
And here to tell us that good news is someone who has been fighting these battles from the darkest days.
His name is John Carpe.
He's the boss of the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms, and he joins us now by Zoom from Calgary.
John, welcome back.
Great to see you.
We were just talking a moment ago about a decision that I am quite pleasantly surprised by.
Why don't you say it?
What is the news in the case of the government versus Evan Blackman?
Why don't you tell us who Evan Blackmun is and what the latest news is in his court fight?
So Evan Blackmun is one of many Canadians that was wrongfully arrested and unjustly charged criminally for having done nothing criminal, but just participating in the peaceful Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa.
So he was arrested February 2022 when there was the big, the violent crackdown under the Emergencies Act.
And he was acquitted at trial.
The only thing the Crown had was a video from a drone and no audio.
And interestingly, the video shows Evan Blackman encouraging other, there was going to, it looked like there might be an altercation between protesters and police.
Evan Blackman was holding his hands out to tell the other protesters to stand back.
He got down on his knees and took off his hat, put his hand over his heart and sang, oh, Canada.
And there's five minutes of footage.
He's kneeling before the police very peacefully.
Wow.
And so he's acquitted of all charges.
Unfortunately, the Crown appealed.
Unbelievable.
That in itself is so abusive.
And that's in Ontario, eh?
You know what?
For all the criticism of Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney, it's Ontario's prosecutors who are leading the fight against Mr. Blackmun and against Tamara Leach.
And you can't put that on Trudeau or Carney.
That is on Doug Ford and his Attorney General.
Sorry for the interruption.
Back to you.
No.
Well, and these same crown prosecutors complain publicly about that there's a lack of resources.
So when for people charged with sexual assault, murder, serious crimes, they need to get to a trial within 30 months, right?
Otherwise, it's going to be dismissed.
And the Ontario Crown prosecutors state publicly that they don't have enough resources.
And so you have people accused of murder, rape, aggravated assault who are walking away without a trial.
And yet the crown prosecutors in Ontario are prosecuting people like Chris Barber, Tamara Leach, Evan Blackmun.
Hey, let me interrupt before you go any further.
You mentioned this prosecutor.
Do you know him by name by any chance?
I know that's a detail that you might not have in front of me.
Okay, because there are some out-of-control prosecutors.
I'm starting to get to know their names.
One of them who really started the battle against Tamara Leach, Moyes Kurimchi is his name, just completely emotionally out of control, really a rogue actor.
He was actually suspended from working on Tamara Leach's case.
I can't believe he's still practicing law, let alone for a prosecutor.
Anyways, I'll follow up with that later.
But so Blackmun was acquitted.
The Crown is appealing, even though their evidence seems quite weak.
So that appeal is coming.
But I understand you told me this just moments ago, that something sort of neat happened.
Now, you're going to have to explain it in layman's terms because it's a sort of a technical subpoena.
But why don't you tell us what an Ontario judge just ordered?
And this goes to my point that we're no longer in the madness of 2021, 2022, when judges were doing crazy things like locking churches and making people read out self-denunciations.
Maybe judges are getting a little more balanced now.
Tell us what the latest is.
So Evan Blackmun, like so many, like hundreds of other Canadians, he suffered the freezing of his bank accounts.
And of course, this happened suddenly, caused great hardship on him.
He's a businessman.
He's running his business through bank accounts.
So I guess like all businessmen do.
And this, of course, was denounced by the federal court in January 2024.
A court action with several groups, including the Justice Center, were participating in that when the court ruled that Trudeau acted illegally when declaring a national emergency.
And the court also ruled that the freezing of bank accounts was an unjustified violation of the charter right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
So in the course of this appeal, what our lawyers have done is we have made an application to the court for an order that the RCMP and the Toronto Dominion Bank be ordered to turn over all of their relevant documents relating to the freezing of the bank account of Evan Blackman because this could be relevant in his defense.
And the court is interested in seeing what was the thinking here.
Why were his accounts frozen?
And did the freezing of his accounts, was there a relationship between that and the criminal prosecution?
And so our lawyers made the application and we got an order from the judge, I believe it was July 2nd, stating that the RCMP and the TD Bank are compelled to turn over the documents about the freezing of the bank accounts of Evan Blackmun.
And as far as I know, that's the first time in Canadian history that we're going to see some documents pertaining to this very mysterious and nefarious behind the scenes doing their dirty deeds in darkness, freezing a bank accounts.
We're going to see some documents, and that should be extremely interesting.
Absolutely.
And first of all, I'm going to make a prediction, which is, the TD BANK or the RCMP, or both, are going to appeal.
This subpoena because they may not want their dirty deeds done in the dark to be brought to the light.
And they've got nothing but money for lawyers, don't they?
So my first prediction is they're going to appeal this because they do not want what they said privately and internally to come out.
The second thing is, I think, if that fails, if this subpoena maintains I know i'm going to sound conspiratorial here John, but it wouldn't surprise me if the prosecutor drops the appeal so that this can't happen.
What i'm getting at john, is if you were able to smoke out what TD Banks said and heard and was told and who they talked to, and what the RCMP was told and who they talked to, i'm guessing it's something so dark that the government would do anything.
In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if, within the next week, forget the appeal, john.
I think they're going to drop the charges against mr Blackman.
Drop the appeal, because they would do anything to avoid those documents coming to light it.
What you've just said is within the realm of the possible.
We'll have to wait and see, but I i'll tell you I saw something similar as this is going back two or three years.
We had numerous clients who were charged with uh failing to use the arrive can, right.
So we were.
We were providing lawyers for people with the, as you were with the Democracy FUND.
You know people charged fined, you know, five thousand or ten thousand dollars or more for not using this, this stupid, dysfunctional app.
And we tried so hard to get this before the court as a constitutional challenge, to say we're challenging the constitutionality of the requirement.
And yet, whenever we had a trial scheduled on the merits, where we were going to argue the constitutionality and the government would be forced to come into court with its witnesses, expert or otherwise, and testify for the you know medical, scientific basis for forcing everybody to use the Rifcan app, whenever it got to something on the merits the, the crown would withdraw or the government's witnesses wouldn't show up and we would win.
But we win these victories without, without getting uh to the heart of the matter, which is that the, the federal government, had no scientific basis or medical basis for these lockdown policies.
So I think it's the same with the Democracy FUND.
I'd have to check with Mark Joseph, our litigation lawyer for details, but I don't think they ever Dared.
Let it get to a trial.
And I think that we took over a thousand ArivCan cases.
In fact, right now, you might know we're taking ArivCan app claims for the Amish.
John, I don't know if you heard about that.
The Amish, who are very old-fashioned, like they don't use tech at all.
They were given these multi-thousand dollar fines, and they actually have liens put on their farms because they didn't use the ArivCAN app.
But they're Amish.
They don't use phones.
Like they eschew modern technology.
And we're having good luck there, too, because I think the government realizes those were atrocious policies and goes back.
You know what?
Sometimes all it takes is one person to stand up and say, no, I want a hearing.
And too often people just go with the flow or say, oh, there's all hope is lost.
And, you know, you guys at the Justice Center were on it from day one.
You were pre-existing.
You were ready to fight.
I remember when Democracy Fund was ramping up, we had a very tough time finding lawyers, even at very high rates, hourly rates.
Like we were willing to pay.
Like it was so hard to find a lawyer that was willing to swim against the tide.
Lawyers, you know, they like to think of themselves as brave and defenders of freedom, but especially in the first year, the peer pressure was so extraordinary that lawyers who have no problem depending, sorry, defending accused murderers did not want to be defending accused mask not wearers.
The mania was so high.
Anyway, I'm really excited about Mr. Blackman's case, but I say again, I think the government's just going to drop it rather than have those internal documents revealed.
We'll wait and see how it progresses.
Hey, just one more minute before we go, because I think that Edmund Blackman case is so interesting.
And by the way, I don't know if you have this info at your fingertips, and I'm putting you on the spot here.
Do we know whose drone that was?
Because we heard that the Canadian forces had deployed a drone.
And the RCMP was using drone footage.
I don't know if it was their own or if it was improperly the Canadian forces spying on their own citizens.
Do you have any info as to the provenance of the drone footage?
I think there was a lot of law breaking going on by the government back then.
I don't know if it was the Canadian military, the armed forces, or the RCMP, the Ottawa police.
This was taking place on February the 18th.
So we had the illegal invocation of the Emergencies Act.
So it could have been technically legal under the illegal invocation of the Emergencies Act.
Smith's Notwithstanding Clause00:10:32
Right.
But I don't know whose drone it was.
Yeah.
Hey, really quickly, Danielle Smith, the Premier of Alberta, has brought in laws trying to limit transgender extremism, especially as it relates to young people who are making irreversible surgical or chemical decisions.
And it feels so dumb to talk about this because the rest of the world has moved so far along.
I mean, the United States has made it illegal for universities to force women and girls' teams to accept male trans athletes.
University of Pennsylvania just agreed to strip all the trans athletes of their awards, give it to the properly winning women.
And this includes the very famous case of Leah Thomas, the man who still had his full twig and berries, by the way.
He was just claiming he was a woman.
So the U.S. is moving so far away from this.
The United Kingdom has had a massive inquiry into this.
Their high court recently said there's only two sexes, men and women.
Like the top court in the UK has said, sorry, we just have to tell you there's only men and women.
And that's a politically correct country.
Canada alone is hurtling towards this crazy transgenderism.
Give me an update on what's going on because Danielle Smith, I thought, came up with a very compassionate, balanced point of view there that showed compassion for the kids, but stopped the madness.
I understand a liberal appointed judge thought differently of it.
Yeah, so the Bill 26 is the Alberta legislation that, and if it goes into force, which now it's not because of the court ruling that I'll get into in a minute, but Bill 26 would prohibit giving the puberty blockers and the opposite sex hormones to children and teenagers under the age of 16.
So no more puberty blockers and no more giving estrogen to boys or giving testosterone to girls.
Ages 16 and 17 could be allowed, but with parental consent.
And so this is, as you said, we're following the world, or Alberta is following the world.
These very progressive, politically correct countries, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, other countries, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, all these countries are moving away from this practice of giving life-changing puberty blockers and opposite-sex hormones to teenagers.
And so Alberta enacted the legislation.
It was challenged in court by the LGBT ETC group, AGAL Canada, and some other groups and some individuals who are arguing essentially that children have a constitutional right to receive puberty blockers and opposite sex hormones.
And so court ruling came down on Friday, the 27th of June, and the court issued an injunction preventing this new legislation from going into force until such time as there's been a full hearing on the merits.
And as you and I know, that could be at least a year, probably two years, possibly three years from now.
By the time you have a full hearing on the merits and a court ruling, it's going to be years from now.
So what's interesting is the double standard.
Under when Canadians challenged lockdowns, the courts were incredibly deferential and said by the way.
And slow.
And they would say, oh, it's moot.
Like, oh, sorry, I interrupted.
You're right.
And the courts were atrocious.
So they would say, well, the science, you know, maybe there's not a lot of science to back up the lockdowns, but it's really complicated.
And as one Ontario judge, Renee Pomerance, said that she was neither equipped nor inclined to resolve scientific controversies.
And so they were hugely deferential.
And they said, well, if the government, you know, we got to trust government.
And if it looks like government might be reasonable in the context of unsettled science, we're just going to, you know, give it our stamp of approval.
Now, here we've got a situation where the science is probably more solid in favor of the Daniel Smith government policy than what any science ever was in favor of lockdowns.
But now the court's saying, oh, no, no, no, no, there's no deference to the Smith government on how to deal with this issue of puberty blockers and opposite sex hormones being given to teenagers.
Was this a charter ruling?
Was this based on the Charter of Rights?
So I presume then it's the kind of thing that a government could say, all right, But let us engage in dialogue with the courts, and we will invoke Section 33 of the Constitution called the Notwithstanding Clause, which says, notwithstanding what a court says, this law will be immune to charter challenges for a period of five years.
And I hate it when people say that's a, you know, it's against the charter or it's somehow hostile to the charter or it's a loophole of the charter.
It's section 33 of the charter.
It was essential to the charter becoming law.
If that weren't in there, no premier would have signed it.
So people who say, oh, it's against the charter to use section 33 of the charter.
I think that Danielle Smith should immediately invoke Section 33.
And if she wants to have those consultations and studies as well, you know, fill your boots.
But I think we're getting into a situation.
And frankly, I think Canadian judges love to copycat U.S. judges.
Every week, another U.S. judge tries to enjoin Donald Trump from deporting some criminal migrant.
And the Supreme Court down there keeps, it's like whack-a-mole, keep hitting down these rogue district court judges.
If there was a notwithstanding clause in the U.S. Constitution, I'm sure Donald Trump would have used it a long time ago.
They don't have one down there.
They're more litigious in some ways.
I think Danielle Smith should, without compunction or apology, invoke Section 33 of the Charter just to let judges know you can run for office if you really deeply feel that way.
And I think it's, I agree with you.
It's definitely open to her to do that.
I do not speak on her behalf, but I have the impression that she is, perhaps she's hoping to win at trial.
I think she wants to use it as a last resort.
And I think she's hopeful that maybe courts will see the wisdom of protecting children and that she's going to use it at a later date.
The other option they have, because this court ruling from June of 2025, because that's going to mean probably two years, three years of the law not being in force, she can also appeal that to the Alberta Court of Appeal, which would take, you know, six, nine months to maybe get a ruling and possibly overturn it that way.
I think she should do both.
She should appeal it and invoke the charter.
Look, my old friend John O'Sullivan used to always say, it's better to fight in the first ditch than the last ditch.
Why waste time?
Why monkey around?
Why grant this power to some other force, whether it's a court of appeal or a trial judge?
This is one of those AD-20 issues where 80% of the people are on.
And by the way, her approach of, you know, under 16 and 17 and 18 with a parent's permission or whatever, that's so moderate.
Frankly, it's quite soft.
And I just think that if you're going to allow American states, you have American states criminalizing it, where if a doctor is going to, you know, it's mutilation, it's child abuse.
They're going to jail.
So this is very, very soft.
I agree.
Well, I think we should maybe start a petition to invoke the, to normalize the notwithstanding clause.
For some reason, the Laurentian elites have managed, amongst themselves at least, to demonize the notwithstanding clause.
Notwithstanding clause basically says courts are not the final say forever.
That legislatures can pass a law and for five years it can stand and then it has to be reviewed.
And I think that's a pretty good balance.
John, it's great to catch up with you.
Lots of good news.
I'm very excited about that subpoena against TD Bank and the RCMP.
And hopefully Danielle Smith will invoke the Notwithstanding Clause on this and many future occasions.
Great to see you.
Good to see you, Ezra.
There he is, John Carpe, the boss of the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedom.
Stay with us.
Your letters to me next.
Oh, hey there.
Welcome back.
Your letters to me.
A couple letters about the UN's plans, or proposal at least, to criminalize people who defend fossil fuels.
The first letter is from Andrea Lindsay, who says, We just passed our big, beautiful bill.
The UN and its mandate are dead to us.
I like that spirit.
And I, and, you know, today being the 4th of July, Independence Day, I wish we had a little bit more independent spirit up north here in Canada, too.
Frank Vallen says, when you can't win the debate, criminalize the opposition.
These people are the ones who should be defending themselves in courts.
I think you're exactly right on that.
I mean, let truth and falsehood grapple.
That's why they want to censor voices.
That's why they use that phrase misinformation, disinformation.
Hey, one more thing before I go.
I want to let you know that we are having our 10th birthday party, Rebel News turned 10.
And so we're going to have a 10-year celebration in Calgary on September 18th.
We're going to have drinks and snacks and live music, and our rebel talent will be there.
Fan Dinner Beforehand00:00:17
You could say hi in person, take a selfie.
It's going to be me, myself, David, Sheila, the whole team.
And if you're a super fan, we're going to have dinner beforehand.
You can get a VIP ticket for that.
You can get all the details at happybirthdayrebel.com.