David Menzies highlights the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario’s (ETFO) August 2025 motion—passed 480–193—to combat "anti-Palestinian racism," despite no recorded incidents, while Jewish students face harassment like a six-year-old called "half human" or Hebrew school teachers labeled liars. A University of Toronto study found schools often fail to address anti-Semitism, punishing victims instead. Meanwhile, Chinese tariffs on canola—75% on seeds (August 2025), 100% on oil/meal (March 2023)—cost Western Canada $1B in a day, with Alberta losing $2.4B annually to China. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe blames Ottawa’s EV protectionism for targeting farmers while shielding Ontario industries, noting Prime Minister Mark Carney’s focus on Ukraine’s Zelensky over China’s Xi. Pierre Polyev’s proposed Sovereignty Act seeks to dismantle climate policies and industrial taxes, but critics call it unfeasible. The episode reveals deepening divides: Western Canada’s economic alignment with U.S. states like Texas clashes with Ottawa’s ideological priorities, raising questions about national unity. [Automatically generated summary]
If you appreciate the news that Rebel brings you, consider being a part of what makes it possible.
You can do so by subscribing to our exclusive content at RebelNewsPlus.com.
That means get exclusive shows, documentary, behind the scenes, and more.
And it's for a cheap price as low as $8 to start.
We appreciate your support.
Tonight, it's official.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario now officially supports anti-Semitism.
I shall explain all.
It's Wednesday, August 13th, 2025.
I'm David Menzies, and this is the Ezra Levant Show.
Shame on you, you censorious bug.
Well, folks, it's pretty much official.
Anti-Semitism is moving from the streets and back alleys and is now being embraced in the classroom, even elementary classrooms.
I shall explain.
The Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario is currently having its annual general meeting in Toronto.
Now, noting that teachers' unions in Canada are leftist, uber-woke cabals is about as newsworthy as remarking that there's saltwater in the Pacific Ocean.
However, there is no teachers' union in our great dominion that is so ridiculously woke as the ETFO.
By way of example, do you remember when these nut bars garnered international attention in 2018 for all the wrong reasons?
15-Letter Acronym Controversy00:02:52
That's when the union decided that the four-letter initialism, LGBT, was not nearly inclusive enough.
So they cooked up a new and not so improved 15-letter initialism.
Yes, 15 letters.
Here goes.
LGGBDTIQQAPP.
Gee, I think they forgot to include WTF.
This lunacy caught the attention of Tucker Carlson, who was with Fox News at the time, and Tucker invited onto his show Stephen LaDrew, the former president of the Liberal Party of Canada, to discuss this claptrap.
Spoiler alert, didn't go all that well for LaDrew.
Teachers in Durham, Ontario had to attend an inclusiveness training course for the Deep Breath here, LGGBD TTTIQQAPP community, which is apparently a community, that 15-letter acronym intended to encompass all sexual minorities.
It may soon be required at schools.
Stephen LaDrux is a former president of Canada's Liberal Party, and he joins us tonight.
Stephen, thanks for coming on.
Hi, Tucker.
So what does this acronym mean specifically?
What are the categories?
Well, I mean, it's generally shortened to LGBTQ, which is the communities, and there's a few extra ones they've added in there.
But no one goes by that.
Maybe that's to teach kids the alphabet or not.
But generally, it's referred to, and the Prime Minister referred to it yesterday in the House of Commons during his apology, as LGBTQ.
And some people don't even know what it means, but they just know that means inclusiveness.
It's a good thing.
It's a question of tolerance.
Yeah, so nobody knows what it means, even though I thought kids go to school to get an education so that they can, you know, get to know the meaning of things.
But because this initialism is inclusive, that means it's good.
By the way, in an unbelievable twist of irony, there was very, very little inclusion for Stephen LaDrew's opinions.
You see, LaDrew was fired by Bell Media after this interview aired.
Here is the question and the answer that made Bell hang up on LaDrux as in permanently.
What's Two Spirit?
Well, Two Spirit sounds like there's someone they don't know whether they're, you know, fish or foul.
They don't know whether they're frick or frack.
So they're clearly confused.
And, you know, again, if you're confused, what better place to go than to be at school?
Oh, no, Stephen LaDrew.
How dare you call confused people confused?
Unhinged Members' outrage00:04:37
And so it was that a 20-year career with Bell Media was terminated when the unhinged members of the Rainbow Mafia reacted with predictable outrage.
Oh, P.S. Ledru's focus on the show that night was making the case that Canada is a bastion of free speech.
Unbelievable.
But that was seven years ago.
So what does the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario do for an encore in 2025?
Well, they've gone from ignoring anti-Semitism to, well, actually embracing anti-Semitism, something that is very fashionable in certain circles these days, including the prime minister's office.
In any event, check out this motion that was tabled the other day at the union's conference, quote, that ETFO create a resource on best practices to support Palestinian students and distribute this response to all members.
The resource's scope should include anti-Palestinian racism, affirming Palestinian identity, and teaching about Palestinian history, end quote.
That's right.
It is unsafe to be openly Jewish in certain neighborhoods in Ontario, and for that matter, in Canada.
And the response by the ETFO is to focus on so-called anti-Palestinian racism.
Makes you wonder who were the terrorists and who were the victims on October 7th, 2023.
You know, when almost 1,200 people were massacred in Israel and some 250 were kidnapped by Hamas.
In the meantime, anti-Semitism, including violent anti-Semitism, has emerged as a very ugly stain on Canada.
On a weekly basis, the Hamasholes gather in Jewish neighborhoods to chant genocide, displace Wastikas, and even cosplay as the terrorist mastermind Sinoir.
As well, Jews are being physically assaulted in broad daylight.
Synagogues are being vandalized.
One private Jewish girls' school in Toronto has been shot up three times so far.
And the response from law enforcement?
Well, they deliver the hooligans coffee and donuts while arresting peaceful counter-demonstrators and members of the independent media who might, you know, further incite the violent mob.
Nice.
And the response from the media, well, pretty much radio silence, the mainstream media, that is.
And the response from our elected officials, oh, you guessed that ZipZilt, Nada, oh, sure, they'll say, hate has no home here.
And then they'll roll out the red carpet to hatred by doing nothing to stop the haters.
Indeed, used to be that the massive Walk with Israel event would attract a who's who of those in the political class.
But this year, the prime minister, the premier of Ontario, the mayor of Toronto, they were all noticeably AWOL.
Hey, then again, maybe in the case of Mark Carney, there was no appetite to attend as people at this Solidarity March tend to keep their clothes on, thereby depriving Carney the opportunity of hugging men in thongs like he did at the Vancouver Pride Parade.
But I digress.
The point is, with all this repugnant anti-Semitism raging, Ontario's elementary teachers union is obsessed with anti-Palestinian racism.
Hate to be a nitpicker here, but when it comes to anti-Palestinian racism, I defer to Romulan Center Vreenak.
It's a fake.
That's right, it's fictional.
It does not exist.
It's a nothing burger with cheese.
Oh, and don't take my word for it, folks.
Just consider the Toronto District School Board, which, much like the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, is absolutely obsessed with anti-Palestinian racism while turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to anti-Semitism in its classrooms.
Six-Year-Old Targeted00:02:57
This despite a huge outcry from Jewish students, parents, and their allies, hundreds of whom gathered at TDSB headquarters last June to stage a demonstration.
We've seen firsthand what's been happening at these schools, and it's not acceptable.
I'm an employee of this board, and I'm a little sick of the nonsense.
I'll just leave it at that, the nonsense.
The TDSB needs to gain control of the situation and understand the widespread suffering that they have allowed to persist.
Students miss school because they're afraid of being targeted for being Jewish.
And even teachers have missed school because they're afraid that their students will target them.
I do hope we can make a difference.
I think we will because Jewish students, parents, staff, everybody needs to feel safe and supported in the place of education.
And it's time that we stepped up and made those changes.
And let's examine the facts of the matter, shall we?
I point to a recent study, anti-Semitism in Ontario's K-12 schools by University of Toronto sociology professor Robert Brime.
Brime was commissioned to study this issue by Deborah Lyons, Canada's special envoy on combating anti-Semitism before she resigned last month.
Here's the skinny.
Brime surveyed 599 Jewish parents who had reported 781 anti-Semitic incidents in Ontario's education system from October 2023 until January of this year.
Overall, Brian reported nearly one in six anti-Medic incidents were initiated or approved by a teacher or involved a school-sanctioned activity.
In six out of ten reported cases of anti-Semitism, the school involved either didn't investigate, denied it was anti-Semitism, or punished the victims by recommending they take remote classes or switch schools rather than the perpetrators.
Some of the stories Brian uncovered are truly disturbing, such as a six-year-old girl being told by her teacher that she was only half human because one of her parents is Jewish.
Another teacher told a different six-year-old girl who was wearing a necklace with a pendant in the shape of a map of Israel that this was actually a map of Palestine and that her Hebrew school teachers are liars.
Anti-Semitic Motions Debunked00:12:37
Remember, these are the teachers acting in such a gross and egregious way, not the anti-Jew bullies in the classroom who routinely get a free pass when it comes to anti-Jew hatred.
Keep in mind that Statistics Canada notes that while Jews make up 1% of Canada's population, 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes today are aimed at Jews.
And what's being done to address off-the-charts anti-Semitism in this province?
Oh yeah, that's right.
The Educrats are pushing anti-Palestinian racism that doesn't exist.
You know, isn't this akin to the city of New York post-9-11 commissioning a report on al-Qaeda bigotry in the Big Apple?
Incredible.
Well, I can tell you that many in the Jewish community are saying enough is enough.
On Monday, Mir Weinstein of Israel Now went down to the Sheridan Hotel in downtown Toronto that was hosting the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario conference.
He was there with others to take a stand against that ludicrous motion.
And the result?
Well, the educators first called security and then the police.
Mayor, I kind of felt like I was walking into the movie at the halfway point.
I saw this big commotion.
You have your allies here.
They were displaying signs.
Nothing, absolutely nothing hateful on those signs.
But it looked like the people here at the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario did not like your mere presence here.
And here we are, kicked to the curb.
Meir, first of all, their annual general meeting is taking place here.
For you and your friends here, what is the point of contention with the elementary school teachers?
The problem is that there is an element, a significant element, within the teachers' associations who are here.
They want to present a motion that's vile, it's anti-Semitic, it's discriminatory against Jewish teachers and Jewish students from the elementary schools.
It's unbelievable From little tiny kids.
And what is the nature of that motion, Mayor?
The motion is calling for the introduction of anti-they call it anti-Palestinian racism to be adopted across the board in all Ontario elementary schools.
And in that definition of anti-Palestinian racism, it says any elements of support for Israel, be it if you're wearing a Star of David, if you have an Israeli flag, anything for Israel that a Jewish teacher has or a non-Jewish teacher has with them or a student has with them, they have to be discriminated against because under that definition of anti-Palestinian racism,
they are the most racist people in all of Ontario.
This is incredible.
You're telling me that a Jewish teacher or perhaps even a Jewish student displaying a symbol proclaiming their Jewishness, this would be verboten.
You'd have to say, in your example you gave me, remove the star of David.
That's what they want.
That's exactly what they want.
So what they're trying to introduce here is Hamas talking points.
And unfortunately, in the majority of Islamic countries, there's widespread discrimination against Jews.
There's hardly any presence of Jewish communities in those Islamic or Arab countries because of such vile anti-Semitism.
They want to bring it here into our Ontario schools.
So what was the result, you ask?
Well, I'm ashamed to say that the motion passed 480 to 193.
Yep, anti-Semitism is nothing, but anti-Palestinian racism, well, that's everything.
And as Meyer mentioned, how will anti-Palestinian racism measures be enacted?
Perhaps ordering a Jewish student to remove a Star of David pendant, telling a student to remove a shirt that has Israel written on it?
Well, we shall see.
Oh, and here is the really, really inconvenient truth regarding anti-Palestinian racism.
Like I said earlier, it simply does not exist.
Don't take my word for it, folks.
The Jewish Educators and Families Association recently filed an FOI request with the Toronto District School Board.
JEFA was most curious about how many anti-Palestinian racism incidents occurred at TDSB schools.
And here is the answer they finally received in writing from Canada's biggest school board: quote, there are no responsive records pertaining to reported incidents of anti-Palestinian racism within TDSB, end quote.
Got that?
0.0.
You know, I wonder what other anti-racism vanity projects school boards and teachers' unions will be pursuing in the future.
How about anti-Klingon racism?
How about anti-Asgardian bigotry?
And you know, I hear we have a big problem on our hands these days regarding discrimination against hobbits visiting from Middle Earth.
But get this, the teachers at the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario general meeting wouldn't accept their own data.
Check out this surreal discussion with a teacher that I had.
Don't know her name, but she had the pronouns she, her embroidered on her shirt.
So, yeah, I think that tells you all you need to know about her.
Why are there anti-Semitic motions on the table here?
What is the motion that you're feeling concerned about?
Well, why do you think these people are here with the Jewish community?
I'm asking you, what is the motion that you are feeling concerned about?
We've heard that there are sanctions that want to be put in place regarding Jewish teachers and Jewish students.
I don't think that's correct information, so I think you should get some informed about what you're protesting.
Okay, what is the contentious motion there?
Sure, that's why I'm asking you.
You're an elementary teacher, right?
Okay, oh, are you she, her?
I am.
Oh, okay.
You never know these days.
Wait a minute, ma'am, how many incidents of anti-Palestinian racism have been recorded?
I don't have the data for like.
TDSB says zero, precisely zero.
Okay, okay.
Yeah, how many incidents of anti-Semitism?
I've also said there in my state.
I just a little bit to love, folks.
That's it.
Just for us.
Why are you obsessed with anti-Palestinian racism?
So it's not an obsession.
We are educators who are protecting all students in the system.
There's education that protects queer and trans students, education and curriculum that supports and protects black and racialized families.
By the way, how do queer and trans people do in Gaza?
I can't answer that question.
I'm not informed.
Oh, really?
Okay, they are actually killed.
They are thrown from a rooftop.
Okay.
So it's important to protect students who are coming from these places.
Which places?
I mean, any places where harm and violence is happening, right?
Okay, then.
But you're concerned about so-called anti-Palestinian racism.
We find no record of that existing.
Do you really believe that people who are Palestinian aren't experiencing racism?
Well, that's what the stats say.
Do you believe that in your heart?
I see every Sunday morning, ma'am, chance for genocide, the display of swastikas, people cosplaying as Sinoir.
That's anti-Semitism.
But do you really believe that?
And who's doing it?
I have no idea.
Really?
You should go to Shepherd and Bathers at 11 a.m. every Sunday.
Do you believe that Palestinian folks are not experiencing racism?
I have not seen that recorded.
I could argue that this demonstration is an example.
I mean, it's intimidating, it's intense.
Oh, so this is an anti-Palestinian demonstration?
It feels like it, yeah.
How so?
It feels misinformed.
You know, aren't these teachers and educats utterly amazing?
On one hand, they dismiss their own data.
On the other hand, they come up with solutions to problems that don't exist.
And by the way, it's not just the teachers' unions and the school boards.
Other institutions are joining the dogpile.
Recently, Blacklock's reporter acquired a 2023 letter from George Acke, the CBC's director of journalism standards.
In the memo, George explains why it is verboten for the state broadcaster to call Hamas terrorists terrorists.
His reason?
Well, the T-word is too highly politicized and reflects a certain narrative.
You know, isn't that akin to not calling Paul Bernardo a serial killer?
We wouldn't want to reflect a certain narrative about that guy, would we?
Certainly, the public broadcaster is in line with their sugar daddy, Prime Minister Mark Carney, who announced two weeks ago that Canada would indeed recognize Palestinian statehood, thereby rewarding bloodthirsty terrorists.
Oh, and get this: the Toronto International Film Festival just announced this week that it had canceled its invitation to screen a documentary about the October 7th, 2023 Hamas attacks.
Oh, it's not freedom of speech, folks.
No, nothing like that.
You see, it's a copyright issue.
The filmmaker did not receive permission from the Hamas terrorists whose clips are featured in the film.
And no, I'm not making this up.
And just think about this.
If we had a World War II documentary and it showed Auschwitz, would we need to reach out to the Nazis to get their permission to show concentration camp victims?
Utterly disgraceful.
What a coward that runs the Toronto International Film Festival.
And it's even more shameful for the fact, folks, that it is propped up by taxpayer dollars.
Disgusting.
Bottom line, slowly, ever so slowly, the line moves.
Canada is no longer a completely safe haven for Jews anymore, as various institutions from schools to teachers' unions to the federal government to film festivals bend the knee to the violence-prone Hamashols.
You know, I wasn't around in Germany in the 1930s, but was this how it all began in the early days of what would become the Holocaust?
Is this what German Jews experienced in Frankfurt and Berlin and Cologne as one by one their rights were curtailed until they were eventually deemed subhuman and then loaded upon cattle cars?
it sure seems that way to me hey folks i know how it is these days Even in the summertime, our lives are so busy, and that means a lot of you don't get the opportunity to tune into the live stream that happens every day at one o'clock Eastern Standard Time.
Canola Tariffs Strain Agriculture00:14:56
And today, well, we had a real humdinger of a panel discussion co-hosted by my beloved colleagues.
That would be Sheila Gunread and Lise Merle.
And they had on their show as guests, convoy lawyer Keith Wilson and political commentator Michael Kouros.
enjoy.
Let's get into the canola tariffs.
So So it was announced that China, on top of their 100% tariffs on Canadian canola, are now adding an anti-dumping tariff on top of that.
You can call it whatever you want, but it's just another tariff on top of a tariff.
And all of this is in response to the insane protectionist policies of the Trudeau government and now the Carney government continuing it on by tariffing inbound electric vehicles from China to protect the highly subsidized electric vehicle manufacturing industry in Ontario and Quebec.
And here it is, Canadian farmers in the West paying the price for these policies.
But we saw Scott Mo yesterday come out and make a statement.
And he calls it what it is.
You know, he pins the blame on the protectionist policies on these electric vehicles that absolutely nobody wants.
So let's listen to Scott Moe and then we'll get some reaction from the gentleman and Lise.
I'm extremely disappointed with respect to the decision that the country of China has made in further increasing their temporary tariffs on our canola seeds, which will add to the existing tariffs on canola oil and meal.
This is a response to the government's tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles largely.
And China's decision to impose preliminary anti-dumping duties, or what we would call temporary tariffs, is set at 75.8%.
That's on Canadian canola seed as of August 14th, this Thursday.
That will have a devastating impact on the price points for Saskatchewan's canola industry, and I would say ultimately, Saskatchewan's ag producers.
So let me be clear that this hit will stop a significant amount of trade that is flowing into China today.
This comes on top of the decision that China made in March of this year to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian canola oil, canola meal, as well as pea imports and add to that some pork and seafood exports as well.
Beijing has also announced an anti-dumping probe for Canadian imports of pea starch, which they will be working on in the weeks and months into the future.
That is another potential impact for Western Canadian ag producers that we just simply can't withstand at this moment.
This announcement, and I would say that the timing of this announcement is particularly hard on our ag producers in this province and across Canada, as they are hard at work starting their harvest procedures and getting their harvest underway.
We've estimated about 12 million acres of canola seeded in Saskatchewan just this year.
And the Canadian canola industry is about $43 to $45 billion each and every year.
That is responsible, that industry, for over 200,000 jobs, Canadian jobs.
And with China accounting for about a third of our exports, the United States of America would be about 40% of said exports.
They total about $5 billion.
China's exports total about $5 billion annually, much of that coming from our province of Saskatchewan.
To put this in context, this $43 to $45 billion canola industry, Canadian canola industry that we have employing just over 200,000 people.
That is significantly larger than the steel industry, the aluminum industry, and the car manufacturing industry combined.
It's about the same size as the Canadian forestry industry, of which we saw significant sports for just this past week.
Each of those industries, the steel, the aluminum, and the EV industry, have also been hit hard by U.S. tariffs, as has our forestry industry, been hit hard by U.S. tariffs.
But canola producers hit with these Chinese tariffs, I would say that they deserve the same attention by our federal government, our Prime Minister, as we're seeing in other industries.
And we are asking that this be dealt with immediately.
And I reached out to the Prime Minister this morning, and I expect I'll be speaking with him at some point later today, as has our Agriculture Minister reached out to his Commer Park and our Trade Minister, talking to his counter.
We've been asking our federal government and Prime Minister Kearney to engage at the highest level since the federal election.
And for over a year now, we've been asking, or about a year, we've been asking the federal government to engage with China and start the advancement of those conversations to find our way to a solid and secure trade environment moving forward.
The Prime Minister, in fairness, has started those conversations, meeting with the Prime Minister of China.
And I would say most certainly now that the next step is for the Prime Minister to meet with the President of China, and I'll be expressing the urgency and the need for that meeting to happen when we talk at the next opportunity.
We need immediate action on this file.
This is a significant Canadian industry, as I say, about comparable in size to the Canadian forestry industry, much larger than the steel and the Indian industry combined.
We are engaging with every opportunity that we have.
We are engaging at all levels with ministers engaging with their counterparts, not only in the federal government, but in provinces across Canada.
We have meetings planned with Chinese representatives for later this week, and we've been actively engaged on this issue since before even these tariffs were announced, and even prior to the tariffs on canola, oil, and meal, which were announced this spring.
I would say this: we are faced not only in Saskatchewan, but in Canada and many countries around the world in an ever-changing geopolitical environment.
Our trade relationships around the world are very, very fluid and they're changing rapidly, changing by the day in some cases.
And so, collectively, I would say that we as Canadians, we need to very much focus on taking care of Canadians at every level of government.
We as Canadians also, and I would say that our federal government cannot sacrifice a $43 billion canola industry, 200,000 jobs in that industry that is largely based in France and Western Canada to protect a pledging electric vehicle industry, largely based in Eastern Canada.
I will go to Michael first.
Michael, I'm very grateful that Scott Mo pointed out the treatment of the steel industry and the automakers and even the forestry industry in comparison to the federal government's reaction to 200,000 jobs in a $43 to $45 billion made in Canada industry.
You know, it's really clear that they just don't care about the West as much as they do the East.
Well, here's where I would take issue with that, because yesterday, the Emergency Management Minister Eleanor Alzewski came to Saskatoon and announced $4.2 million in funding directed through the Prairie Economic Developments Canada, and that'll create 30 jobs.
Oh, okay.
That's cash money.
That's cash.
That's 4.2 million bucks.
Now, mind you, the canola is 43 billion.
Well, it's a good start.
Oh, for peace's sakes.
They actually came into Saskatchewan and announced this yesterday: $4.2 million to our agricultural sector.
Unfortunately, here's what I think about the sort of the liberals that are in charge of this.
Besides the fact that basically they could, if they, if they were smart at all, not smart at all, but I can see an announcement coming from them that basically they would actually get Chinese-operated combines that would be electric.
And then basically, the Chinese would take the canola tariffs off if we can actually get that settled.
Yeah, that would not work.
But the reality is, my fear is either the feds don't know what they're doing or they know exactly what they're doing.
And at this point, I don't know which one it is.
Now, Keith, this is the sort of thing that just fuels Western separation sentiment.
It just causes it to boil.
This makes separatists every single day.
And let me be clear, as a farmer and someone who has been a canola farmer in the past, you know, with tariffs and Justin Trudeau prancing through India that sort of put a damper on my desire to be a canola farmer.
Even people who are, you know, identified themselves as Canadians, they see this and they say, this is inarguable.
They just don't care about the West and they're willing to punish the West so that they can help out Eastern industries that are failing.
Well, first of all, giving $4.2 million from government doesn't create jobs.
It doesn't create markets.
It's insulting.
I'm sure the folks in Ontario and the Liberal government don't understand that a new combine costs $1.2 million.
So this is like absolute peanuts.
This doesn't even begin to shadow the operating costs for one farm in Alberta or Saskatchewan that's planting canola.
This is just pure nonsense.
But more importantly, it just reminds us of what the Liberals in Ottawa and in particularly Central and Eastern Canada that keep the voters that keep putting them in power.
They're absolutely clear on what the role is of Albertans and Saskatchewan.
And that is we are to work hard and provide them with the fruits of our labor through equalization payments and sending all kinds of money to Ottawa so they can sprinkle it in other places and around the world on crazy ideas.
And if an industry has to take a hit because of global affairs and world trade dynamics, then it's obvious it's not the industries, the cherished automotive industry in Central Canada that's going to take a hit.
It's not the steel and aluminum industries, not even the forestry industry.
It's going to be those pesky farmers out on the prairies that will just, they're our mop.
We'll use them to mop up.
So this is just yet another.
Imagine on the positive side, the trade deal that an independent country of Alberta or an independent country of Saskatchewan could be negotiating with China right now, instead of us being victimized and economically harmed by the ideological extremists in Ottawa.
Yeah.
And when we look at, you know, I'm glad you brought up trade deals because the liberals seem hell-bent on destroying the relationship with the Americans over supply management to protect Quebec farmers and Ontario farmers.
But Western farmers, we are just sacrifices on the altar of whatever green reset they have planned with these unusable electric cars.
Lise?
No, I'm so happy we're talking about this topic today.
Mike might remember that the only time I ever cried, actually cried on the radio, was over canola exports.
Mike, it was about 10 years ago.
We were talking about this exact same issue, Chinese tariffs being imposed on our canola producers in Western Canada.
And I cried.
And then my phone blew up with 75 people asking me if I was okay.
And I said, I'm fine, but it's just so overwhelming.
But all of this to say that we've been at this for 10 solid years.
The farmers of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, and in some places, BC have been under the thumb of an unreliable, we'll say, trade partner, a relationship that has been absolutely fumbled by the federal government.
In 10 years, the federal government couldn't solve this problem.
So, Keith, I like something that you said.
Could you imagine where Saskatchewan and Alberta would be if we were negotiating our own trade contracts with China?
Well, isn't it, isn't it funny?
Carla Beck, the leader of the NDP, just yesterday said, Scott Mole, why aren't you on a plane going to China to negotiate trade contracts?
And I say, yes, Carla, this is the energy that they want.
Yes, we should be negotiating our own trade, our own trade agreements with countries that the federal government just can't keep a handle on.
Yes, we should.
Let's go.
I'm glad you brought up the NDP.
Let's go to Manitoba's NDP Premier Wabcanu, who while I disagree with him on a great many things, like a great many things, he seems to be the least crazy of all the NDP.
Now, that, I mean, the bar is quite low there, but he does put a number on what vaporized from the canola industry in just one day.
And let's continue to point out that these are retaliatory tariffs from China to Justin Trudeau and now Mark Carney's tariffs on their electric vehicles.
Chinese tariffs on canola cost Western Canada a billion dollars today, and it could cost us more later this week.
These 75% tariffs on our canola from China are causing damage at this important time of year.
We've been standing up for farmers.
Now we need to see the federal government offer that same sort of support that they've shown for steel and auto and lumber.
Let's help our farmers.
Let's help Canada.
Okay, my concern is, though, that that came out of the mouth of an NDP here, Michael, which means when they say support, they don't mean going to China, sorting this out and stopping the tariffs on electric vehicles.
They mean handouts.
And farmers don't want handouts.
We want the federal government out of the way.
Supporting the Wrong Cause00:12:02
Yeah, you nailed that.
The reality is this support, support to left-wing politicians is new ways of finding welfare.
Well, basically, some of the most independent people in the world are basically Saskatchewan, Alberta, Western Canadian farmers.
They don't want handouts.
They want somebody to go and fix the problem so they can do the work.
And that's not happening here.
And that's sort of the ethos of basically the East.
You know, we'll just, it will make you happy.
We'll placate you.
We'll throw some more government money at you and that'll make you happy.
Well, that doesn't make anybody happy.
And by the way, Mark Carney is basically, he's got a kind of a weak schedule this week.
There's one world leader he's speaking to, and that's Zelensky.
He's not even talking to anybody basically in China.
He's talking to Zielinski because Trump and Putin are actually trying to get this Ukrainian basic, this war over, and Carney's got to be in there because that's what the big, that's, that's what will give him some street cred amongst politicals in the world.
He's got to be in there.
He has nothing to offer, nothing at all to offer, right?
So basically, why isn't he working with President Xi in China to make sure that this thing happens?
He's pointed in the wrong direction.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Keith, you know, my concern is they're just going to say, oh, Western Canadian farmers, here's a bunch of money to change the headers on your combines.
Go do something else.
And, you know, this is, and we pointed out yesterday on the show, there's no more Western Canadian or a Canadian produce than canola.
It was developed here to grow here in our climate, so much so that it has to be swathed to ripen because of our short growing seasons.
It's made for our soil conditions.
And yet, all the elbows up by Canadian people, they're missing an action on this.
They don't care whatsoever.
They don't care.
Yeah.
Well, what a lot of people may not understand outside of agriculture is that for most farms that produce grains, canola is their most profitable crop.
And like an order of magnitude, it's way more profitable than wheat and barley And other commonly produced crops, so much so that farmers produce it in a crop rotation as tight as possible to maximize the revenue to stay viable.
But I think what we're seeing here is a domino effect.
And it comes right back to the ideological extremist of the Trudeau liberals, and now we see the Carney liberals, which is there is no sacrifice too great, particularly for Saskatchewan and Alberta to endure,
to promote their obsession with climate alarmism and what they see as their opportunity to reshape us away from a free market economy, you know, based in individualism, rights, markets, and so on, to one of state control because we have an emergency.
The reason this canola situation is now upon us is directly related, as we've been talking about, to the EV mandate, which is a direct result of their obsession over their creation of a climate crisis.
So, you know, we're not, things aren't getting better.
I wasn't sure when Carney was campaigning as to, he was trying to portray himself as a pragmatist.
And I thought maybe he's changed.
Maybe he's not the carney of the book of values, because it's pretty clear what that's about.
It's an environmental socialism.
But we're now it's becoming increasingly clear.
And, you know, I'm not convinced.
I'm increasingly suspicious that his antagonism of the United States, our closest and largest trading partner, people don't understand.
I've done work with the agricultural industry trying to create access, get access to foreign markets.
And one of the huge liabilities we have is distance, shipping costs.
The margins are so small that you can't compete once you get land your product.
So to have this massive market right beside us is so valuable.
I'm wondering if he's doing the Venezuelan trick, Carney is, of using, antagonizing the relationship with the United States and to some extent others so that it can mask and he can camouflage his economic failures.
Say, you know, oh, we would be doing great if it wasn't for Orange Man Bat.
You know what?
We saw that during the campaign.
The liberals couldn't campaign on their own record.
Mark Carney couldn't campaign on his own record because the Liberals' record was his.
And so they relied on Privy Council research that they only had access to, by the way, to craft a campaign of anti-Americanism.
The whole elbows up thing was based on Privy Council research that only the Liberals had access to.
And I think we're just seeing a continuation of that because we're in a housing crisis, we're in a healthcare crisis, we're in an inflation crisis, we're in a debt crisis, we're in a crime crisis.
And the only thing the liberals can point to is the Americans, because, you know, I hope the liberals find who's been in charge for the last 10 years that created all these problems.
Lise.
No, going back to going back to Wab Canu standing in a canola field, wasn't it Coulter Wall that said the devil wears a suit and tie?
I'm pretty sure.
I'm pretty sure that that's Wab Canu was who he was referring to in that moment, because in terms of trustworthiness, would you trust a man at a suit and tie in the middle of a canola field talking to you?
I would not, Wab Canu, I would not.
But further to how this is impacting some of these green or sustainable or net zero initiatives are going to impact our ag industry in Canada is that even though the consumer carbon tax has been sort of suspended for the moment, that doesn't apply to industry.
And in Western Canada, this means the eg industry.
And we must not underestimate the naked contempt that Ottawa or Eastern elites have for our Western farmers.
Okay, they don't care.
They've shown us over and over again that they don't care.
And there is no price too big to pay for them.
It's true.
It's absolutely true.
So unless the feds immediately stand up for our Western eg producers, like they are for potential uranium development, like let me see that same energy that's going into excitement by the feds on uranium development in Saskatchewan for our ag producers.
And then I'll start taking them seriously.
But no, it looks like we're on our own in Western Canada.
We're on our own.
Yeah.
And further to, you know, Wab Canu pointing out that it's a billion dollars in one day just vaporized from the industry and nobody seems to have any sort of sense of urgency on it.
Danielle Smith points out that China is Canada's second largest agricultural export market, worth 2.4 billion last year.
And they take in nearly 70% of Alberta's canola.
So this is particularly devastating for Alberta's farmers, just as they're about to swath.
And she points out who's responsible for this mess.
These tariffs are in response to the federal government's imposition of 100% tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and 25% on steel and aluminum.
So again, Alberta farmers are paying the price for protectionist policies to save Ontario jobs and nobody seems to care.
So Sheila, Sheila, I've got to comment on that.
Please.
Part of the responsibility is basically the provincial government's here as well.
And I'll tell you why.
Okay.
I make it a rule in my client files never to have a client that exceeds a certain percentage of revenue per year.
Yeah.
If we've got 70% of our canola going to China, we have not done a great job at diversifying.
Right.
At diversifying, because we're dealing with people that are potentially very dangerous and crazy, right?
Right.
Now, same could be said about the U.S., but the thing is the U.S. is a capitalist economy still, and it will remain that way.
But if we're actually doing 70% of our trade with China, the problem is that we haven't diversified enough to other countries or other jurisdictions to get our product.
So that when they do something inevitably crazy, and they will, we say, yep, that's going to hurt, but our products are going to other places as well.
So that lies on the provincial government.
It lies also on the feds.
And everything that you've said about the feds, and Keith, I think you're absolutely right on this idea that Kearney does not know how to deal with Trump.
And as long as he can make Trump, Orange Man bad, that basically that's his entire political posturing.
That's what it is.
Unfortunately, things are going pretty well for the people in the States right now.
And when will it be that Canadians actually catch on to the fact that they're doing okay there right now?
Right.
So unless you're there illegally, if you're there legally, it's not that bad in the U.S.
So I think that part of the blame line is that there hasn't been foresight in governments to diversify economy enough with enough players.
And of course, the biggest, the majority of the blame lies with Carney, who doesn't seem like he's, it shouldn't fix this at all.
Yeah, Keith, go ahead.
Sure.
I mean, that's easier said than done.
And I take your point.
But for example, in the European Union, they've put restrictions on What you're allowed to import in terms of canola and other grain products that are really not restrictions based on any substantive ground, but ones to prevent the method of production here in Alberta or in Canada from having access.
So it's very difficult to get access to markets.
It's a decades-long process.
That's why when Carney talks about we're just going to create new trading partners, like what is the if we're going to sell more soap to Belgium, are all the companies going to say, oh, geez, you guys want in?
Okay, we'll take some product off the shelves for you.
No, it's just ridiculously naive.
It's dangerous.
And everything this guy keeps doing, I've said to a few people recently that I think independence is going to actually happen.
And there's going to be a really clear explanation as to why Alberta and Saskatchewan will become independent.
And the answer will be Mark Carney.
He is going to deliver independence.
And I understand what you're saying about this taking decades.
The Saskatchewan Party has been in power in Saskatchewan for 17 years.
For the most part, the Conservatives, right, or the basically whatever the Conservatives are in Alberta right now, have been in power for the majority of the last 70 years.
So the thing is, yep, you're right.
You know, it's the old oak tree thing.
You cut down an oak tree.
The best time is to do it 25 years ago.
The next best time is now.
You're right.
These trade partnerships are very complex, but not nearly as complex as a trade partner saying, you're cut off.
We're not buying anything more or putting a big trade.
So no matter what you do, it's going to be hard.
But the lack of foresight of these governments not doing this 10, 20 years ago is why we're suffering today.
Sovereignty Act: Killing the Oil and Gas Cap00:04:18
Yeah.
And I guess the same could be said about failing to get a pipeline to tide water, like an actual pipeline to tidewater.
One last topic on our Western panel before we hit an ad break.
I know we're up against the middle of the hour already, but I want to get to this one.
Video from Pierre Polyev, I think, doing his best to lean into the separatist sentiment, but I think he is, he's already missed the boat on that.
That parade is marching and he's not in front of it.
But he's introducing the Canadian Sovereignty Act.
So let's hear what that entails.
By repealing the Anti-Development Law.
The Sovereignty Act will legalize pipeline and other major projects by repealing the Anti-Development Law C-69.
It will legalize shipping Canadian energy off the northwest coast of BC by repealing C-48.
It will axe the industrial carbon tax, something the Europeans are doing.
And given that our competitors in America have no industrial carbon tax, it is untenable to force our people and our industries to pay this tax.
We will get rid of the oil and gas cap that kills jobs.
We will get rid of the ban on plastics, the petrochemical industry that produces our plastics.
The plastics themselves are essential, and so are the jobs that go along with it.
This, by the way, this plastics ban is not about, you know, it's just saving your straw.
It's about saving you about $400 or $500 a year in food that would otherwise go bad because it would not have plastic to preserve it.
And we have a wonderful Alberta-based petrochemical sector that contributes to plastics that we need to protect.
We'll get rid of liberal censorship laws that prevent our energy companies from talking about their incredible achievements and their environmental stewardship.
We will legalize into the future your right to drive a gas or diesel-powered truck or car by repealing the Liberal EV mandate.
All of this will be in one bill.
Next, we're going to reward those who build.
We'll get rid of the capital gains tax when you reinvest your proceeds here in Canada.
This will cause a boom in Canadian investment.
Here in Canada, we get about half the investment per worker as they do in the United States of America.
We get about 14, 15 grand of investment per worker in Canada.
In the States, it's 28 grand, both measured in U.S. dollars.
No wonder that the American economy is leaving us behind.
We need to reward investment by letting people who sell one asset and reinvest the money in Canada do so without capital gains tax.
We will give free trade bonuses to the provinces, paying them the economic benefit that results from them opening their markets to fellow Canadians.
We'll protect innovation by requiring in this law that the minister do a review and present a plan to stop the mass sell-off of Canadian inventions, discoveries, and innovations.
We pay for all these incredible technological breakthroughs in Canada, often with tax dollars that subsidize it at university research and elsewhere.
And then it's sold off to the Americans.
And we become dependent on them for the technology that we ourselves invented.
Finally, outside of the bill, we are making a call to action.
Today, Conservatives are calling on Prime Minister Cartik to have pipeline construction underway for at least two projects and to have at least one new natural gas liquefaction project and a road to the ring of fire in Ontario under construction by the first anniversary of him taking office.
The Prime Minister can and must do this, and he can do it by consulting First Nations as required under Section 35 of the Constitution.
Okay, I'm going to go to Keith first here.
It sounds to me like the Canadian Sovereignty Act is just the Conservative Party platform put into law and it was rejected by the people who decided the election outcome in Ontario once already.
We Will Continue to Lose00:08:34
But then he ends with, you know, we need to have pipeline projects underway.
Here's the problem.
No company wants to build them.
There are no proposed pipeline projects, West East pipeline projects right now, because the Liberals are in power and these pipeline companies are not going to invest millions and billions of dollars into something that will die on the vine like Energy East, like Northern Gateway, and in no small part, just the saga of Keystone XL.
Well, I think they want to build them, but they don't want to go on a fool's errand.
Right.
And they know that, and I know that you meant, Sheila, I'm not trying to be unfair.
No, no, no.
Is that, you know, I feel sorry for Pierre Polyev.
Me too.
Because the reality is Canada's done.
And the reason I say that, and I'm so resolved to it, is it's not just structural, the imbalance in how electoral power functions.
It's cultural.
It's the ethos of the people.
And if he says things to be responsive to conservatives by small C conservatives, so somebody who is politically conservative as opposed to a political party in Alberta and Saskatchewan or Western Canada, he's going to lose votes in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, PEI, Nova Scotia.
And if he says things to be responsive to their perspectives and needs and ethos of the world around them, he's going to lose votes on the prairies.
And it's because we're fundamentally different people.
And it's become increasingly clear that we see the world through a different lens, that Albertans and people from Saskatchewan want less government in their lives.
They want government to get out of their way.
They're okay not being totally safe.
They want a little risk, actually.
So to live a good life, you got to have some risk.
And they don't frankly think government's capable of keeping them safe anyway.
And, you know, then we got, you don't go for a walk in the woods in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, because you might break your leg or start a fire.
So I really feel sorry for him.
I think it's a reflection that Canada is doomed, that it's become increasingly clear that we have different goals and we have different prospects.
You know, one of the scariest things tables I have come across, it's a table that it's about equalization.
And it doesn't show the raw, it shows the raw numbers, but it shows the percentage of the revenue to the province that comes from equalization payments.
And Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and a few others, it's 20% or more.
So 20% of their provincial revenue to deliver education, healthcare, infrastructure, social programs, et cetera, to run their jails and their court system come from Alberta and Saskatchewan, but primarily Alberta.
So it's a dysfunction.
I just, what Pierre's announced and just on the C5 stuff, you know, so the reason Carney said we're going to designate national projects, we're going to shovel ready, we're going to build, we're going to all these slogans together is a sentence.
Here's the problem.
Well, why did he have to bring in Bill C5?
It's because he has acknowledged that the Bill C69, which is the Environmental Assessment Act, the tanker ban, the EV mandate, the net zero mandate, the emissions cap, all of these things combined are creating a disincentive to investment.
Investment dollars have choices.
They're going to other countries, creating wealth and jobs in those other countries instead of Canada.
So he says, okay, I'm going to create a bypass and the cabinet's going to approve certain projects.
And then he says, well, yeah, but only those projects that every premier consents to.
So now a pipeline to tide water on the West Coast can be vetoed by the Premier of Nova Scotia.
What the heck?
That's not even the current condition of the dysfunctional system.
And then he added last week that First Nations effectively get a veto.
So now the bypass is actually more problematic and more clogged and more uncertain than the problematic legislative policy framework that it was designed to overcome.
Canada's in a bad spot.
Yeah, remember the National Energy Board, the NEB, and how it was just non-political.
It only cared about technical stuff.
Wow, what a time to be alive.
Michael, I saw you nodding along with Keith when he said that the West is culturally different.
I would dare say culturally incompatible with the rest of the country.
And so when I hear Pierre Polyev saying these things, I think, yeah, it hits my ear nicely.
But people in Toronto, they may be clutching their chests in disagreement.
You know, it's amazing.
There are different types of conservatives in this country.
You have the conservatives, Western conservatives, which we're all familiar with, but then you have Eastern Conservatives that'll ban you for $25,000 for walking in the woods.
Right.
That's a conservative premier, right?
Right.
We are more kindred.
Well, I think we have to face this.
The thing is, quite frankly, you know, I may be called anti-Canada because of saying this, but the reality is our kindred spirits are not east to west.
They're north-south.
BC basically is California.
We have more in common with people in Texas, Idaho, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin.
The East, they have more in common with people in New York and Maine and that sort of thing, New Hampshire, right?
We're north-south, not East-West.
And the thing is, the reason why we'll lose is because there's just more of them there.
There's more people in the East, and we will continue to lose.
Here is speaking to basically people that understand it, but you're absolutely right.
That was the platform of the conservatives, and we lost in that.
So, you know, as much as I'd like this, I don't know why I want Canada to sort of remain an independent country other than basically this is what I've grown up with for the last 60 years.
But the reality is, I have relatives who live in the U.S. They're enjoying their time down there way, way better than we're enjoying our time here in Canada.
They're really enjoying their time there.
And you ask them, is there any regrets?
And the only response I get from is yes.
I wish I would have done it sooner.
And because Canada is an exceptionally hard and complex place to live, aside from the natural, you know, the cold and the harshness of the climate.
It's just hard to live here.
Taxation, multiculturalism, which nobody sees eye to eye on anything, immigration, the depth of socialist structures in this country.
It's just harder to live here than it is in the U.S.
Now, that's not in all cases because the thing is, some places in the U.S. are hard to live with, particularly in poor areas and crime and that sort of thing.
So it's not all roses.
But if you are a person that wants to make something of themselves, wants to work, make money, live in a nice area, I think they've got a pretty much a better life than we do down here, or up here, rather.
Yeah.
Lise, last word goes to you before we wrap up the panel.
Yeah, just going back to Pierre Polyev's piece there.
Yeah, that was nothing new under the sun.
Anybody that saw him in the federal election campaign heard all of those things before.
But what I thought when I was watching him is that Pierre Polyev right now is experiencing Alberta immersion.
Okay, Alberta immersion.
Because for years and years and years, Pierre Polyev had his safe seat in Carleton.
Okay.
He was Ontario-centric, Ottawa-centric.
He was surrounded by kind of woke Eastern conservatives that were in his sphere of influence and actively influencing him.
And now that he's got a little bit of distance between himself and the woke Eastern conservatives, he's going to be hearing a lot of very Alberta opinions.