Ezra Levant critiques Quebec’s failed public prayer ban as a misguided response to Hamas-linked protests, where tens of thousands prayed outside Montreal’s Catholic Basilica amid violence and police inaction. Meanwhile, Pierre Polyev and Larry Brock push for Canada’s "castle law," allowing homeowners to use reasonable force against intruders like Jeremy McDonald, who faces charges after defending his home from a 3 a.m. crossbow-wielding criminal. Brock argues provincial premiers could halt prosecutions now, but Ford’s office persists—highlighting the urgent need for clearer self-defense laws amid rising home invasion fears and public backlash. [Automatically generated summary]
I've got two exciting things I want to tell you about.
The first is I went to a Pierre Polyev press conference today.
I put a question to him and I got an interesting answer.
I want to show you the whole back and forth.
But first, I want to tell you about a proposed bill in Quebec that would ban praying in public places.
Now, what are they worried about?
Are they worried about the Amish again or Quakers?
Are they worried about Hindus?
Oh, you know what they're worried about.
Hamas protesters praying outside the Catholic Basilica.
I'll tell you how this proposed bill came about and why I think it's not going to work.
But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
That's the video version of this podcast.
I want you to see the videos that our reporter Alexa Lavois did from outside this mighty church in Montreal that got so many views.
It forced the politicians to act.
Just go to RebelNewsPlus.com, click subscribe.
It's eight bucks a month.
Might not sound like a lot of dough to you, but boy, it adds up for us.
It's how we stay free and independent of government.
We don't take any government money and it shows.
Oh, yeah, one more thing.
This podcast is brought to you by Rebel News.
That's right.
So if you want to support us, why not do it in a win-win fashion?
By shopping for yourself, one of my favorite things to do, head to RebelNewsStore.com to pick the patriotic gear that pleases your heart.
And while you're there, use coupon code DREA10 to save while you do.
Tonight, our coverage of Hamas protests outside of Quebec Church shamed that province into action.
But is it the right action?
It's August 29th, and this is the Estra Levant Show.
Shame on you, you censorious bug.
Hey, I want to talk to you about what's happening in Quebec, and I think it's really a direct result of our news coverage there by our star in Montreal, Alexa Lavoie.
But please do stick around after that because I had a question that I put to Pierre Polyev today at a news conference.
And I thought the question was interesting, if I may say so myself, and the answer was interesting too.
So please stick around for that.
I know you would anyways.
But I want to talk to you about Quebec.
And it's an interesting place.
And we really didn't do a lot of work there as Rebel News until a couple of years ago when we hired Alexa Lavoisier.
She's got to be one of the bravest journalists at Rebel News.
It is such an uphill battle to fight for freedom in Quebec, but she does it so courageously in English and in French.
I think she's really made a difference.
In fact, I know she does.
That's what today's story is about.
Quebec, especially Montreal, I think, has a worse media culture than even the rest of Canada, than even Toronto or Ottawa, if you can believe it.
I think the media there are more obedient to power.
They're more clubby and clicky.
It's a smaller pond.
We saw this during COVID times when we sent our journalists to Montreal to do journalism during the curfew at night.
You might remember that Quebec actually brought in a curfew for adults.
Whether you were sick or healthy, whether you were jabbed or not, you had to be at home by 10 p.m.
Now, there was an exemption for journalists, bizarrely.
So we took that exemption and we went on the streets and we were the only journalists who did that.
Not a single other Montreal journalist had any curiosity or had any non-conformity saying, well, let me go out and see what it's like.
Like they were just so obedient.
It was so weird.
We also saw this at the leaders' debates in Montreal.
That's where that in the last general election, all the journalists were gathered together in Montreal, the CBC headquarters actually, to see their reaction to rebel news.
It wasn't so much that they hated that we were more conservative or whatever, it's that we were different and outsiders and were not part of their club.
It's so tough being a rebel in Quebec.
So, I salute our Alexa.
And by the way, that club, it's not just journalists in the club, the club includes the police and politicians.
They're all in it together.
Our reporters have been threatened by police.
Here they are threatening Alexa just a couple weeks ago.
Threatening her with her ass just for doing journalism.
I'm going to ask you about her.
I'm going to ask you about it.
It's your decision to start with the name of the country.
Sérieusement?
On se voit en cours?
Je veux avoir ton badge number.
Il y a un arrêt pour ça, madame.
Tu veux avoir ton badge number?
7737.
Moi aussi.
519.
Votre nom, c'est?
Cyber.
Allaire.
Vous?
Secto.
Allaire, allez.
Non, parce qu'on va se voir en cours, monsieur.
Vous savez que je suis en cours contre vous?
Bien oui oui oui.
Ils vont avoir refusé de nous protéger.
D'avoir refusé de nous protéger?
Vous avez juste...
I have the right to be here.
I am here.
You do not protect the journalists.
You are not there.
You are not there.
You are very good to work here.
You don't need to be there.
Because you think that the street street is not an actuality, monsieur?
In the moment, there is a law to ban these street street street.
We are not in the same direction.
Okay, you are on the side of the Muslims?
The Islamists?
Police stand by literally five feet away from Alexa while she is attacked by Antifa.
She is attacked by Antifa.
Antifa and police both hate rebel news.
Take a look.
And I mentioned when we went there during COVID, the police tried to raid our houseboat.
We had rented a houseboat Airbnb because we had 17 rebels there, and that was a cheaper option than getting 17 hotel rooms.
The police tried to raid our place.
That turned into quite a big thing.
Remember that all of a sudden, all of the Montreal police were on us like we had done something.
Come back with a warrant.
Who are these rogue, dirty cops?
Hey, you gotta stop lying.
You gotta stop lying.
You won't bear it.
When Montreal police accost our reporters, you know what they call us?
Jew media.
What?
What are you saying?
I'm with Rebel News.
i'm not media jewish smash my head on the police suv
They started expanding the police perimeter as if we're like a COVID crime scene.
They will taser you.
They have already arrested one of our reporters.
Yeah, Montreal is a tough place to be a freedom journalist.
But I think the interesting story I want to talk to you about today is the church.
There's this big church called the Basilica in Montreal.
It's very old.
It's very gorgeous.
It really feels like one of the great churches of Europe.
There's a real Catholic history, of course, to Quebec, and that was one of the essential challenges between French Canada and British North America.
And when the Brits finally won that war in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, I think was that 1763, part of the deal of Canada was that Quebecers got to keep their Catholic traditions, their churches, their schools.
It was actually a remarkable deal to preserve their civil rights as far back as almost 300 years ago.
That really is quite an accomplishment when you think about it.
But of course, those are not the ascendant demographics now.
Depending on whose math you look at, Montreal is more than 10% Muslim.
And of course, many Muslims are freedom-loving Muslims who are just glad to get away from Sharia law.
But unfortunately, many agitators are Islamists, do support Hamas, and there's no denying it.
Tens of thousands of people have marched in support of terrorism.
So that's really affected the whole province and even the whole country.
As Melanie Jolie, the former foreign minister said, it's the demographics.
If you want to know why she's pro-Hamas, she told Tom Malkara, another politician, it's the demographics of her own riding.
She's not talking about the Greeks or the Italians or the Jews.
She is talking about Islam.
And it's very interesting because the city of Montreal was sued for actually over $100 million by protesters who said that the government was too harsh on minorities and Palestinians and Muslims and pro-Hamas supporters.
And the city confessed.
They basically threw the trial.
So it was basically laundering tens of millions of taxpayers' dollars from the city to these racial activist groups, which was a huge payment to them.
But it was also a message to the police: do not stop the pro-Hamas protesters.
It was an incredible thing that has not been reported on that I've seen in English Canada.
Let me say that again.
A bunch of pro-Hamas protesters sued the government of Montreal, which basically settled, like they admitted, they said, you're right, we were racist.
Whoa, I guess we have to send tens of millions of dollars to all the radical activists in the city.
Gee, that worked out well.
It's basically money laundering from the city to these activists.
So they don't want to hear the other point of view.
They don't want to hear the pro-Canada point of view.
They don't want to hear the anti-Hamas point of view.
They don't want to hear the freedom point of view.
They didn't want to hear the point of view that was COVID skeptical.
And so they ignore these stories.
Like I said, when we went out there to talk about the curfew, there were no other reporters on the street.
In fact, police were shocked to encounter us.
They said they had never seen another reporter cover it, like ever.
And I think these Hamas protests that have taken over the streets of Montreal, just as they've done in Ottawa and Toronto, the mainstream media does not report on them.
And if they're forced in some way to report on them, they support them.
They whitewash the terrible things that are said.
But that's what's so interesting about the decision by the pro-Hamas protesters to target the most glorious church in the city, the Great Montreal Basilica, to target it for their pro-Hamas protests, and then to do something so astonishing.
So much chutzpah is to have a mass prayer.
These are Hamash protesters right outside the Montreal Basilica.
And who covered that?
That was going on week after week.
And there were no mainstream media journalists there except our friend Alexa Lavois and her videographer, Guillaume Hua.
Let me play for you.
I'm not going to play the whole thing because it's quite long, but let me play a couple of minutes for you from one of Alexa's many videos down there.
This one got more than 300,000 views on YouTube alone.
I tell you, Alexa's coverage on this and other occasions outside the basilica was seen by millions of Montrealers and Quebecers, even if no one from the Montreal Gazette or other official media were there.
They watched Alexa do it.
Alexa Kept Returning00:03:51
just watch a little bit the two group faced off with montreal for palestine standing for a long time in front of the counter protester They played, of course, the card of racism and Islamophobia while flashing middle fingers.
The anti-Israel protesters seemed surprised and shaken when they saw the counter-protesters waving the Quebec flag.
Hey, seriously?
C'est n'importe quoi, votre affaire.
Hey, vous savez, là.
Vous connaissez la ligne, là.
Je suis désolée.
Vous avez...
Est-ce que vous avez fait une...
Oui, on l'a sort du périmètre.
On vous a laissé une zone?
Je n'ai pas, je n'ai pas.
Un collègue...
On ne vous agresse pas, on veut discuter avec vous là-bas.
Oui, arrêtez, vous venez.
Alexa kept going back again and again.
Here's another clip of that.
There are other places in Montreal that have been taken over by migrants as well.
Alexa covered some of that, including, for example, swimming pools.
It's not really new, but this phenomenon is increasing with the fact that we receive a massive new immigrant here in Quebec and in Canada.
Quebec's Religious Expression Dilemma00:10:01
I wouldn't say so.
I don't think there's a correlation between race and that movement now.
But I think in Europe, it was existing.
It's important to say Quebec and Canada are very supernatural.
It's not certain, but I think the feminists, the feminists, two stars, we're like, no, because it's not a good thing.
I think people Mass immigration has brought many challenges.
And what I'm about to show you is one of the most concerning.
Women and children no longer feel safe.
Incidents of staring, groping, and inappropriate behavior have been reported multiple times right here in Montreal's public swimming pools.
Now, let me say a few things about prayer.
I believe that everyone should have the right to pray.
A Jew in a synagogue, a Christian in a church, a Muslim in a mosque.
There are close to 100 mosques in the Montreal area.
There's no shortage of places to pray.
But to pray on a public square or in a public street outside the Catholic basilica is not about religious expression.
It's about power.
It's about dominance.
It's about taking over territory, dominating public places, and violating any number of rules against public gatherings without a permit, blocking the street, blocking the sidewalk, and basically daring the police to push them away, lest they get hit with another multi-million dollar lawsuit.
This is about changing the feeling about who's in control.
The police are no longer in control.
The politicians are not.
The Hamas street mob is.
By the way, they do the same thing in Toronto all the time.
In fact, when David Menzies was simply on the street reporting on one of these street prayers, which, you know, it's a fake thing.
They just say it's a prayer because they want to give themselves a kind of political bulletproof armor.
It was David who was arrested just for standing there.
Remember that?
I tell you, I keep saying if only the trucker convoy in 2022 had just flown the Hamas flag or worn kafias, they would still be there three years later.
The police wouldn't do a thing.
Maybe the police would bring them hot coffee and donuts.
But that's the thing about independent journalists like Alexa.
Just because the CBC and Le Devoir and La Presse and the Gazette don't cover something as astonishing as Hamas protesters outside a Catholic basilica.
I mean, by the way, I hope it doesn't get burnt like the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
And if it does, God forbid, may it never happen.
Hopefully the government doesn't rule out arson and terrorism before even doing an investigation.
But when you have Hamas protesters outside a church, it's time to put in surveillance cameras and a few more fire extinguishers, don't you think?
Anyways, who cares about the regime media?
Because between all of Alexa's videos on the subject, millions of views were seen by Quebecers about what was going on in English and in French.
And so it was that Quebec actually ran out of patience with the Hamas protesters.
They didn't quite have the courage to say it, but it was Alexa's coverage.
That's not just my opinion.
Other public personalities in Quebec, like Dimitri Soudis and Eric Duhem, the leader of the Conservative Party in Quebec, noted in tweets that it was Alexa Lavois' work which raised the issue.
The information got out.
And even though Quebec is further down the road of political correctness than pretty much anywhere else in Canada, other than Mississauga or Hamasa saga, as I call it now, remember that girl with the AK-47 earrings?
Hamas is not a terrorist group.
Oh, it isn't, man.
First of all, Hamas is not a terrorist group.
Hamas is not a terrorist group.
What is it?
Like a motorcycle club?
It is a resistance that has been fuming for 75 years of colonialism, of occupation, of murder, of rape, of little children, of women.
That's what they are.
They're a resistance.
You think Canada is a colonialist country too?
Everything that they do is justified.
Including what happened last week.
Every single thing they have done is justified.
Yeah, so even though the rest of the media doesn't want to talk about it and polite society doesn't want to talk about it and the demographics say you don't want to talk about it, Alexa Lavois allowed Montrealers to talk about it.
And so look at the news in the newspapers today.
Here's the CBC.
Their headline, Quebec plans to table bill banning prayer in public.
The proliferation of street prayer is a serious and sensitive issue, Minister says.
Let me read a little bit from the story.
The Quebec government intends to present a bill banning prayer in public.
Secularism minister Jean-François Roberg said in a statement Thursday that, quote, the proliferation of street prayer is a serious and sensitive issue.
The Premier of Quebec has given me the mandate to strengthen secularism, and I am determined to fulfill this mandate diligently, he said.
Quote, this fall, we will therefore introduce a bill to strengthen secularism in Quebec, in particular by banning street prayers.
But my friends, this is a second-degree solution to the problem, an indirect solution aimed at an indirect manifestation of the problem.
What I mean by that is the problem is actually not all that praying in the streets.
I mean, that is a problem, yeah.
But the problem is, that's more a symptom than the problem.
Do you know what I'm getting at?
The problem are the people themselves.
They're Islamists.
I'm using that word differently than Muslim.
A Muslim is someone who follows the Islamic faith.
An Islamist is a political weaponization of Islam, sometimes including with violence.
They're weaponizing Islam to attack the institutions of the state.
And in this case, the institutions of the Catholic Church.
Not all Muslims do.
You could see in Alexis' coverage, many of the counter-protesters against Hamas were actually secular Muslims who hate the Islamists.
The problem is not the prayer outside the basilica.
That's a symptom.
The problem is mass immigration.
The problem is no integration into Canada or Quebec.
The problem is they were told they could keep their foreign ways, including being un-Canadian and bringing their old bigotries with them, bigotry against the Jews, bigotry against the Christians.
If you bring in 2 million people a year every year to Canada, which is what Trudeau and Carney have been doing, you're not going to be able to solve this problem by going after secondary issues like, oh, whether it's halal butchers or praying on the street.
You're not going to be able to stop it.
And by the way, we've seen this before.
If you bring in laws to solve a secondary problem, for example, hate speech against Jews, let's say, which is happening a lot.
Hate speech targeting Christians, hate speech targeting Jews.
If you say that's what we're going to do, those laws are going to be used by Islamists to target Christians and Jews.
And that's how I think this rule against public praying will be used.
There are occasional Jewish and Catholic parades in Montreal.
I can't think of a Jewish parade, but I'm sure there is occasional praying in a park or something.
I don't know.
And I know there are some official Catholic events, including a parade.
Would those now be banned after centuries of the French Catholic fact in Quebec, after the Treaty of the Plains of Abraham, where they came to an agreement that Catholics would retain their religious rights?
Are we going to end centuries of Catholic expression in Quebec so that we can try to stop Islamist expression?
How about deal with the Islamists themselves instead of trying to put a band-aid on one of the problems caused by them?
There is no other group that is causing this problem that's going outside the basilica regularly disrupting the public on purpose.
Stop trying to say this is about laicism.
That's the word they use in French to talk about the opposite of religiosity.
This is not about secularism.
It's not about all religions.
It's about stopping one particular political religious force.
But Melanie Jolie points out, they've got the demographics.
Look, here's my thoughts about this Quebec ban.
It came about because Alexa Lavois showed what was happening on the street where the rest of the media wouldn't.
But the proposed solution to limit freedom of expression for religious prayer, I know what they're trying to do.
Crown Prosecutors' Dilemma00:16:14
It's obvious.
They're trying to get these Hamas supporters away from the church.
But if they can't even name the problem, they'll never be able to stop it.
Stay with me for more from my quick chat with Pierre Polyev today.
Ezra Levant for Rebel News.
I'm in Brampton, Ontario at a Pierre Polyev news conference where he's going to roll out his ideas for a castle log.
You know what that means?
A man's home is his castle.
There's been headlines recently about a man from Lindsay, Ontario named Jeremy McDonald, who was asleep in his home at 3 a.m. when a serial criminal out on bail broke in with a crossbow.
Jeremy defended himself.
There was an altercation and the intruder was sent to hospital.
But Jeremy, the homeowner, was prosecuted.
An outrageous event, but all too common in the crime wave that is Canada now.
Crime is raging to such a point where people are now demanding the ability to defend themselves in their own homes because they know the law will not defend them.
And rightly, Canadians believe that they need to defend themselves if an intruder who's probably out on bail for the 100th time under liberal laws comes into the house.
And frankly, they should have the right to defend themselves and their property against an intruder.
But it is sad that we've come to a place where people feel the law will not protect them.
And Mr. Carney has sent home Canadian MPs.
While crime, the cost of living, housing costs, immigration are all up while elbows are down.
Crime's out of control across Canada, and it's no surprise.
There's a combination of things.
Mass immigration from low-trust societies is part of it.
But I think the anti-police ideology of big city mayors is another part of it.
Finally, I think police are afraid if they do the wrong thing, if they overreact, they'll be the ones on trial.
I think police have pretty much been ordered to stand down.
Trouble is, they were what was standing between crime and citizens.
Crime has skyrocketed so much so that Canada now has a higher violent crime rate than the United States, with the exception of murder itself.
Those are shocking statistics that a generation ago, no one would have believed.
I think an emblem of where we are now was that Toronto police officer who a few months back gave advice to people who didn't want home invasion robberies and said, just keep your key fob near the front door so that the home invaders don't have to go rummaging around your house.
Remember when he said that?
Take a look.
To prevent the possibility of being attacked in your home, leave your fobs at your front door because they're breaking into your home to steal your car.
They don't want anything else.
A lot of them that they're arresting have guns on them and they're not toy guns.
They're real guns.
They're loaded.
Yeah, well, ordinary civilians are not built for fighting crime.
That's the police's job.
But when people do stand up for themselves and defend their homes, they are the ones who are prosecuted by police.
It's as if the government is saying, we won't protect you, but you better not protect yourself.
There's been a spate of home invasions, and then there was a case of Jeremy McDonald, the man from Lindsay, Ontario, who decided he wasn't going to wait around for police.
He was going to save himself from a 3 a.m. home invasion.
You just mentioned the incident in Lindsay, Ontario, and you posted about it on social media earlier this week.
Do you think Canada needs a castle law or a castle doctrine on the books to shield homeowners from facing criminal prosecution like the gentleman in Lindsay, Ontario, for defending their loved ones and properties during a break-in?
The law needs to be clear that if someone comes into your house uninvited to steal your property or harm your family, you need to be able to do whatever is necessary to stop them.
Let's go listen to Pierre Polyev and see if we can ask him a question or two.
Based on the principle that your home is your castle, we're calling on the government to introduce and immediately pass the stand-on guard law.
Failing which, one of our party's MPs will put forward such a bill.
It will amend section 34.2 of the criminal code, which right now says that you can defend yourself based on nine very complicated and vague conditions.
Now, look, if you're defending your house, you don't have time to think through nine different conditions.
You have one condition, to protect yourself and your kids.
And it is wrong for the law, for the police, and for judges to apply a complicated, indecipherable legal doctrine against you when you were only doing what is right.
Our amendment instead will change section 34.2 of the criminal code to say that the use of force, including lethal force, is presumed reasonable against an individual who unlawfully enters a house and poses a threat to the safety of anyone inside.
The proposed amendment is reasonable and prudent.
It applies only to the unlawful entry of a home and preserves proportionality.
Simply put, it means you have the right to use force to defend your home and your family against someone who threatens you and who has entered illegally.
This bill will also put Canada in line with other developed civilized countries.
Ireland, several Australian states, Spain, the United Kingdom, and some American states already have this principle embedded.
And it will make sure that Canadians are treated right for a change.
We think that our role in this parliament is to put forward good ideas.
And so my message to Mr. Kearney is steal our best ideas.
Work with us.
Let's get it done.
Let's put our country first.
Who cares who gets the credit?
Take our ideas so that we can reverse not only the crime and chaos liberals have caused, but let's also take these ideas to bring the cost of living, immigration, and unemployment down, keep our people safe.
Let's put our country first.
Let's once again work together, all of us from all parties, to make this a country where everyone who works hard gets a beautiful house in a safe street with good food on the table, united under our proud Canadian flag.
Thank you very much.
Oh, thank you.
Yes, Ezra.
Thanks for having me here, Ezra Levant from Rebel News.
For years before marijuana was decriminalized, it was the position of police and prosecution not to charge anyone with small amounts in possession.
So they didn't wait for the parliament.
I see that Mark Carney's favorite premier, Doug Ford, has said he's for the Castle Law.
Did everyone hear about the story in Lindsay?
So this criminal that's wanted by the police breaks into this guy's house.
This guy gives him a beating, and this guy gets charged.
Like, and the other guy gets charged.
But like, something is broken.
I know someone breaks into my house or someone else's, you're going to fight for your life.
This guy has a weapon.
You're going to use any force you possibly can to protect your family.
I'm telling you, I know everyone would.
I get more calls than anyone in the country.
People are done with this.
They're absolutely done.
They're finished.
You should be able to protect your family when someone's going in there to harm your family and your kids.
You should use all resources you possibly can to protect your family.
And maybe these criminals will think twice about breaking into someone's home.
And other provinces like Alberta have said that too.
Well, if you don't want to get shot or beaten up, don't break into people's houses.
It's pretty straightforward.
Will you call on Doug Ford not to wait for Kearney to reconvene Parliament, but rather to issue a statement that there will be no more prosecutions of homeowners who defend their homes just as a matter of policy, because right now his prosecutors are going after Jeremy McDonald, whose home was invaded in Lindsay, Ontario.
And those are provincial prosecutors for doing that?
Yes.
Well, I think that's a great idea.
I don't know the legal powers that a premier has to direct the prosecution service, so I would not comment on it, but I would hope prosecutors would stop going after law-abiding people who are defending their property.
We need prosecutors to go after criminals.
Now, as for their ability to do that, I've never been a crown prosecutor, so I don't know.
We have a crown prosecutor here, Larry Brock.
So maybe he can jump in on this.
But I will say this: we need to change the law.
Let's make the law clear.
Let's bring in place the idea that your home is your castle so that no prosecutor, judge, or police officer can ever go after someone who is defending their home against an invader who presents a threat.
Do you have anything to add, Larry?
Prosecutor, this is the prosecutor.
Thank you.
Thank you, Leader.
Although crown prosecutors in every province, particularly in Ontario, maintain independence, as long as they can justify that independence, they are still directed policy-wise by the Attorney General.
In this case, the Attorney General of Ontario being Doug Downey.
To answer your question, Mr. Levant, Mr. Downey has that ability to perhaps direct crowns in light of what we are doing at a federal level to reflect upon the change in legislation we hope is about to come.
So you were the former senior prosecutor.
The law is the law, but the government can decide what the legal priorities are for prosecutions.
How would it work if a province like Ontario or Alberta decided to take the lead and stop prosecuting homeowners who defend themselves?
That's a legal thing that's just a policy decision, right?
Well, it is.
And I spoke in response to your question in very general terms because every case is, as you know, fact-specific, right?
So that's why I started by saying every assistant crown and crown attorney maintains a degree of independence.
And that independence is free of any interference from a crown manager, crown director, or in this case, all the way to the top of the chain, being the attorney general, so long as the decision made by that crown attorney can be justified by policy and by law.
So to answer your question, given the outpouring of concern that a number of people have, a number of police unions are speaking out against this, police associations are speaking out against this.
In this case, Doug Ford is speaking out against this.
He has the ability to have that discussion with his minister.
And that minister has the ability to direct crowns across the province to really reflect on that decision to continue a prosecution.
I find there's a great gulf between what Premier Ford says.
He says he stands in solidarity with his homeowner, but it is his domain.
The prosecutors and police are within provincial jurisdiction too.
I suppose he could do, he could say, look, unless there's an egregious case, we're just not going to put resources to this.
He could change this without waiting for Parliament, right?
He can't change the law.
But he can change the, he can say it's not in the, my assessment of the public interest of Ontario is we're not going to put resources.
But that's not his domain.
That's the domain of the Attorney General flowing down right to the Crown prosecutor who has carriage of, in this case, the McKenzie file.
You've got to ask yourself two questions, Ezra, as a Crown Attorney, whether it's a shoplifting charge all the way to a multi-homicide case.
Is there a reasonable prospect of a conviction?
Is the evidence such that you receive from the Crown that you can produce evidence to the court to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt?
And secondly, and most importantly to your point, is there a public interest in continuing the prosecution?
So what I have seen from Crowns across this great country of ours is they have relied on the public interest to discontinue a prosecution involving a homeowner who have defended themselves.
But again, it's very case specific.
It depends on the circumstances.
It depends on the time of the day.
It depends on the force that was used, the weapon that was brandished, a whole litany of factors.
And that's why Pierre is saying we don't want a judge to second guess the immediate decisions made by a homeowner.
At 3 a.m. in the dark.
Precisely.
You've literally got seconds to make a decision.
And your first instinct is to protect your family.
Right, right.
Thank you for this education.
I know you were in the heart of these decisions as a prosecutor.
So I can imagine that this bill that your leader proposes really reflects how it really is for police.
Well, we're seeking to clarify this area.
So that right now we have a massive gray area when it comes to defense of home and defense of property.
We're hoping to make it much more clear, give more confidence to police, to lay a charge.
It could be confusing.
But more importantly, I think it signals an intent by the federal government in the hopes that it deters for these individuals to commit this heinous act.
Thank you very much.
Nice to talk with you.
Here is Larry Brock, Member of Parliament for Brantford, Brant.
Brantford, Brant South, Six Nations.
Got it.
Thank you very much.
That's the name of the district.
Well, I'm glad Pierre Polyev and Larry Brock are putting forward that bill to parliament.
But as you can see in my question, I don't think we actually have to wait for Parliament.
Provincial premiers can make the public policy decision not to put any resources, not to prosecute or charge people for defending their homes.
Remember, that's what happened with marijuana laws decades before it was legalized.
Police simply did not lay charges if you had a modest amount.
Maybe they'd make you throw the joint in the gutter or something.
Police decided that was not in the public interest to focus on for crime fighting.
And I think that Doug Ford has been talking so tough about supporting the victims of home invasions, but he's the one whose prosecutors are going after these people.
So let's see what happens.
But I felt like today was a good use of my time.
It was very nice to be invited to a press conference to put a question that was answered both by the leader of the party and by a criminal justice expert, Larry Brock, the MP.
And I think my idea sort of perked their ears up a bit.
So I'm glad I came out here today.
If you want to join the battle to defend Jeremy McDonald, we're crowdfunding.
He's the man in Lindsay, Ontario who had the home invasion.
He's the one being charged.
He's a man of modest means.
Go to savejeremy.com.
Defending Jeremy McDonald00:00:16
I'm here in Brampton, Ontario, where Pierre Polyev is talking about home invasions and a castle law.