Our pro-life reporting is being attacked. So is the truth. We can’t back down in the fight against abortion!View this email in your browser Photo Credit: Getty ImagesJames,The outrageous erasing of the White Coat Summit from the internet is only the latest in a long series of brazen acts of censorship against conservatives and all those who support legitimate free speech.
You may agree or disagree with the efficacy of Hydroxychloroquine against the coronavirus, but everyone should agree on this point:
No Big Tech company should have the power to erase from the internet the medical opinions of licensed practicing doctors simply because they do not like what they have to say about the coronavirus or their experience treating it. Americans and other free peoples do not need leftist computer programmers deciding what the best course of medical treatment is for them.SIGN PETITION
Google/YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Apple, and their Big Tech friends want to control what you see, what you read, what you think, and ultimately, how you vote. Not only do they spend hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying congress and buttering up big Washington DC think tanks, but now they brazenly and directly censor any content they don’t want you to see.
This must stop, but it won’t unless we demand it as forcefully as legally possible. We believe that we have reached the point were Big Tech must be broken up if legitimate free speech is going to survive and continue to thrive on the internet.
In an era where almost everything is polarized, there is an overwhelming support for breaking up the Big Tech monopolies. A recent Pew poll found that 75% of Americans believe that Big Tech companies have too much influence.
It is time to bring serious accountability to Big Tech for their attempts to use their monopolies to kill free speech.It is time to break up Big Tech.
Tonight Facebook censors deleted my post of America’s Frontline Doctors. The main form of communications for many people must now please and pander 2 Zuckerberg. If ma Bell did this to phone lines & communications would we be so accepting? #onpoli#cdnpoliQuote Tweet
Randy Hillier@randyhillier · 14hEarly this morning Facebook removed over 2500 likes and 2000 shares from my post regarding America’s Frontline Doctors. It appears the only freedom we truly have, is the freedom to comply with and obey the orthodoxy. #onpoli #cdnpoli twitter.com/randyhillier/s…
The right to freedom of expression is an indispensable Canadian right. It is foundational to our democracy, and defending that right is a basic conservative principle from which I will never retreat.
Unfortunately, in our political and popular culture these days, it is the left that writes the script of what you can believe, what you can express, and what you’re allowed to share.
There’s an ever-narrowing window of what’s acceptable to say, both in public and on social media.
Want a real border? You’re a racist!
Think balancing the budget is good? Why do you hate the poor?
The left throws around the word “diversity” a lot, but actual diversity of thought terrifies them. They’d rather ban ideas than engage in discussion about them, because they’re short on actual arguments.
Today, principled conservative ideas, ways of thinking that have informed the ascent of Western culture and civilization, are defined by the left as hate speech.
I’m concerned by online censorship and algorithmic bias used by tech giants like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to silence conservative voices. I will introduce legislation to make it illegal for these online platforms to ban a user unless that user has been documented breaking Canadian law.
Political correctness is a suffocating scourge; it is not the law.
To allow platforms to ban Canadians for political incorrectness is to allow only some political speech in the public square. It will be as fatal to our democracy to allow technology platforms to take this position as it would be to allow governments to do so.
We must guard against this kind of thinking and remember that earlier this year Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault spoke favourably of government regulation of news and other content on the internet.
I will also introduce legislation that specifically criminalizes “doxing”, the deliberate posting of contact information, including home addresses, of someone with the intent of inviting harassment and physical harm. This is a vile tactic often used to intimidate people who state opinions on social media deemed “unacceptable” by the radical left.
I am the only CPC leadership candidate dedicated to defending the foundational Canadian right of free expression in this way.
I have also committed to repeal Bill C-16 immediately and will fight against all attempts to impose “compelled speech” in Canadian life. I will make federal grants to universities conditional upon proof that all recipients respect free speech and free inquiry on campus.
If you value the right to free speech, feel free to make me, Derek Sloan, the #1 Choice on your CPC leadership ballot.
Trump’s Executive Order Aims to End Left-Wing Social Media Censorship of Conservatives
President Donald Trump has had it with the social media behemoths abusing the law by picking sides in the political, social, and cultural issues of our time – usually the side he’s not on.
And he’s particularly keen that the social media platforms wield great power to influence the masses ahead of the November election, so he’s preparing some executive actions to curb their ‘election meddling’ because Democrats in Congress won’t (since their party is benefitted by the censorship of conservatives). sponsor
“If Congress doesn’t bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders,” Trump wrote ahead of a House hearing on big tech Wednesday. “In Washington, it has been ALL TALK and NO ACTION for years, and the people of our Country are sick and tired of it!”
Slated to appear before the House Judiciary Committee regarding potential antitrust violations: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
During an interview with the Daily Caller in June, the president expressed his frustration with the repeated examples of Left-wing social media platform censorship of right-leaning opinion.
“It’s really unfair what’s going on with the conservative voice. You’d solve the entire problem of the various, you know, monopolists, if you ever voided Section 230.”
Trump is referring to a section of the Communications Decency Act which says, “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
The section gives platforms immunity for content posted, but over time the same platforms have begun censoring content — like a publisher.
So what are they? Platforms or publishers?
In response, Trump issued an executive order Monday aimed at making the distinction that, if they are upheld, will prohibit the kind of censorship taking place.
The Office of the Press Secretary issued this statement:
On Monday, the Department of Commerce, as directed by President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship, filed a petition to clarify the scope of Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act. The petition requests that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) clarify that Section 230 does not permit social media companies that alter or editorialize users’ speech to escape civil liability. The petition also requests that the FCC clarify when an online platform curates content in “good faith,” and requests transparency requirements on their moderation practices, similar to requirements imposed on broadband service providers under Title I of the Communications Act. President Trump will continue to fight back against unfair, un-American, and politically biased censorship of Americans online.
“When it comes to issues of public safety, the government is the one who must act on behalf of society at large. Law enforcement cannot delegate our obligations to protect the safety of the American people purely to the judgment of profit-seeking private firms. We must shape the incentives for companies to create a safer environment, which is what Section 230 was originally intended to do,” Attorney General William Barr said last month when the Justice Department issued its recommendations for the president.
“Taken together, these reforms will ensure that Section 230 immunity incentivizes online platforms to be responsible actors. These reforms are targeted at platforms to make certain they are appropriately addressing illegal and exploitive content while continuing to preserve a vibrant, open, and competitive internet,” he added.
“These twin objectives of giving online platforms the freedom to grow and innovate while encouraging them to moderate content responsibly were the core objectives of Section 230 at the outset.”
See everyone on Saturday, August 1, 2020 12:00 noon at Stuart Park! END THE LOCKDOWN RALLY IN KELOWNA
Hi everyone. Let me begin by saying what an awesome event we had this past Saturday in Kelowna. With about 35 people in attendance, we had a wonderful walk down Bernard St. which is now closed to vehicles. There was certainly a noticeably less amount of people there, primarily because of more fear mongering from Bonnie Henry two days earlier, where she issued another unreasonable, fear based order restricting activities in bars, pubs and restaurants.
However, whether some people agreed or not, with our huge signs and number of supporters, we definitely got everyone’s attention walking down the street. This is something we will do again at some point in August. I think likely the 22nd, to allow time for people to ignore Henry’s ridiculous directives. See the attached pix of some of our supporters!
During this rally, I described more negative and inflammatory actions by the B.C. media against us. Castanet reporter (if I dare call her that) Sarita Patel out of Kelowna, did a short interview with a woman named Grace Anderson, a downtown retail worker who claims to be an essential services employee, and found a brochure one of our committed freedom activists left at her business.
Ms. Anderson bemoaned our brochure, claiming that it was false, without of course specifying any errors, and which Ms. Patel reported in her story. No attempt was made to email us or solicit our viewpoint on the matter. Ms. Patel told me that they would hear my side of the story prior to our Saturday rally by a different reporter as she was not working, but her supervisor Colin reneged on that guarantee and refused to interview me on the basis that he disagreed with our position.
This of course without either of them actually reading our brochure or doing any investigative reporting, because Ms. Anderson destroyed our brochure after taking pictures of it. Of course, Ms. Patel made no attempt to read it on Ms. Anderson’s phone.
Hearing only one side of a story and reporting it – is pure propaganda, not investigative reporting.
Consequently, I raised the issue to our group on Saturday of taking a ½ day during the week to rally at several downtown local media establishments, including the Courier, Global News, Castanet, CBC and CTV, in opposition to their lack of fair media attention to both sides. This is exactly what Vaccine Choice Canada and others are doing in the Claim filed in Toronto recently.
Response from the group was overwhelming to say the least.
We have set aside Wednesday, August 5, 2020 to meet at Stuart Park. We will then walk to each of these new media outlets for about 30-45 minutes each. We will have several brochures and our Fact Sheet to hand out and hopefully get an interview with at least one of these MSM gov’t propaganda outlets. We will also have all our signs available to get their attention.
Let’s swarm each of their offices with our presence and demand that they hear our side of the story and to put the really damning questions to Henry, Dix and………dare I say it, Fartworth!!
We need as many people as possible
for these rallies – especially for the media!
If you have been unable to make it out to previous rallies, NOW is the time to come out!!!!
Bring at least two friends!!!
I have started working on a Youtube video to set out all the info that I am aware of hopefully on all aspects of the COVID Scam, from the intentionally false initial models, to the testing procedures, to the statistics that are kept, and the masks issue. This will be something that I hope will clarify for all those ‘on the fence’ to jump on board and see exactly what the Gov’t IS NOT TELLING US.
I am unsure how it will take to prepare as I will be doing a Powerpoint presentation, but I have started and will continue to work as I can to get it done. I expect in about two weeks to be done (estimate only!!!).
————
A new group opposed to masks has set up in Ontario. They have a few Youtube videos up as well.
I want to bring to your attention a chart from the WHO, circa May 12, 2020.
As you can see, the flu is markedly worse in many symptoms than COVID. So why Bonnie Henry, do you continue to impose unnecessary restrictions on our liberties and our social activities when this was never done for the flu even in its worst years?
In an article in today’s Vancouver Sun, Health Minister had this ominous quote attributed to him:
“As we approach our B.C. Day long weekend, let’s acknowledge right now that it can’t be like any B.C. Day long weekend we’ve ever had. This is our first B.C. Day celebration in our B.C. new normal.”
“Use ‘Covid sense’ to stop the spread and stay safe”
Van. Sun July 27, 2020 p. A11
Reading between the lines provides a frightening look into the future: there will be many more B.C. Day long weekends under similar circumstances as we see now, ie: this is permanent and will never end.
We cannot permit this to happen. Which leads directly to the real new normal that WE will practice.
The Real New Normal from now on, is:
Live normally and just say NO!
Do not fall into the trap of believing that it is only because of the Gov’t’s social distancing/masks demands that stores can now begin to slowly open. To the contrary, it is directly because of the Gov’t’s actions that we have sustained tens of billions of dollars in economic losses, permanent job losses, unknown deaths and needless suffering from cancelled surgeries, and incurred further health care costs resulting from these cancelled tests and surgeries, and actually placed thousands of people’s health and lives at risk. Communist PM Trudeau, Premier Horgan, Health Minister Dix, and Public Health Officer Bonnie Henry are the true cause of these problems and short of a public apology and immediate cancellation of the lockdown and social distancing policies, must be voted out of office next election, or fired for Ms. Henry.
See everyone on Saturday, August 1, 2020 12:00 noon at Stuart Park!
———————————————————————-
B.C. Doctors Interview?
We need to get some B.C. doctors/nurses who are willing to speak anonymously, both visually and in audio, as to what is truly happening behind the scenes, from a medical perspective and a political perspective in the medical community. We need to have local doctors/nurses providing accurate facts in relation to this issue.
If you know any doctors or nurses who would be willing to be interviewed anonymously, and with guaranteed power to review the interview prior to release, please contact me as soon as possible, and let’s see what we can arrange. U.S. doctors are still medical professionals, but we need local facts to support our cause.
Doing a video of BC medical people would really strengthen our demands on Premier Horgan and allow us to attack them – instead of waiting while they attack us.
If you know anyone “in the system” who can provide us anonymous tips and/or documents, we need all the help we can get. Please let me know.
After decades of monopolizing nearly every form of mass communication, the left found its information cartel under siege with the new freedoms enabled by social media. Conservative voices previously blacklisted from the mainstream could now reach large audiences and quickly became a severe threat to the narrative.
It wouldn’t take long before the left called for censoring or banning anyone to the right of communism under the guise of protecting us from “hate speech” and “misinformation.” Now the left’s Orwellian censorship crusade has set its sights on the next frontier: ban all comments.
Recently, Yahoo replaced its comment section with the following disclaimer:
Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting[.]
This new policy is hardly surprising. Yahoo is well known for publishing headlines that do not accurately represent the story. Beneath the misleading title, the article is often a sloppy summary of the event, written by an overeducated twenty-something who took a break from writing about Kim Kardashian’s lip care routine to inform us on political matters.
After suffering through the unpalatable article, the payoff often was within the comment section, which can sometimes serve as a refuge where truth prevails in the form of thousands of comments eviscerating the fake news above.
During the California wildfires and power outages of 2019, Yahoo published a story from Quartz titled “California’s Massive Power Outages Show Climate Change Is Coming for Everyone, Even the Rich.” The article shifted blame away from bad environmental policies by California Democrats toward the climate change monster. Some of the most liked comments were:
“This has nothing to do with climate change. Nice try though!”
“California’s problems with electrical transmission due to restrictive environmental laws regarding tree clearing and lumber industry. Decades of fuel buildup becomes a disaster zone.”
“Kansas has wind & droughts, oddly no fire issues. Guess clearing dry brush isn’t a liberal choice”
“I’m 53 years old. I don’t have the best memory, but I do think I remember wind and warm weather in the summer while growing up in northern California. I could be wrong though. Maybe they didn’t have weather back then.”
This humiliating saga for Yahoo went on for years. Finally, they’ve had enough.
What’s the point of publishing propaganda if anyone can scroll to the comment section and find the author’s misleading representation of the story, or deliberate omission of facts, exposed?
This mission to ban comments is not new, but Yahoo joining the boycott is revealing.
A few years ago, major publishers like ESPN didn’t appreciate what they found in their comment section. For ESPN and many other major websites, the problem was anonymity.
The solution was requiring a Facebook login to comment on articles. This way, people will think twice about posting “hate speech” in comment sections if they are no longer anonymous. To ESPN’s surprise, attaching identities before commenting did not stop the barrage of ridicule toward ESPN for its partisan politics, support of Colin Kaepernick, and nauseating coverage of Bruce “Caitlyn” Jenner receiving the Arthur Ashe award for courage.
The disdain for ESPN kept showing up within its comment sections, triggering ESPN to delete them altogether. Many other websites followed.
Fake news is all in vain if John and Jane Doe from Milwaukee can quickly dismantle its work in a few sentences. Now comment sections are becoming endangered species.
Do not dismiss the abolition of comment sections as trivial or unimportant. The extinction of comment sections on websites like Yahoo and ESPN is a domino falling within a larger inimical plot to ban all dissenting opinions. The left’s Utopia is a world where leftists can lie as much as they want, and nobody can contest their claims.
Twitter might be considered the most extensive comment section in the world, and like Yahoo, the media work hard to craft propaganda ripe to publish on it. The last thing they want is to have their lies exposed within the replies of their tweets.
Media elitists began pressuring Twitter to alleviate this predicament under the same phony pretense of stopping hate speech, abuse, and misinformation.
Twitter soon developed new features allowing users to hide specific replies to their tweets to combat “abusive comments.” The people at Twitter claim that this ability to censor comments reduces the amount of “toxicity on their platform,” but “toxicity” does not mean Sarah Jeong’s racism, professors claiming that the GOP and NRA want mass shootings, or Antifa promoting violence — things decent people might consider toxic. In leftist Newspeak, “toxicity” means any attempt to assail the leftist narrative.
The media attribute the motive for Twitter’s changes as an appropriate response to “pressure” to clean up its platform, but as Daniel Greenfield writes, “The pressure in question comes from the media. And its idea of cleaning up is censoring conservatives.”
Twitter is also testing a new technology, “sending users a prompt when they reply to a tweet using offensive or hurtful language, in an effort to clean up conversations on the social media platform.”
For the creators of fake news, the ideal solution is training people to self-censor.
How quickly terms like “pro-life” and “MAGA” find their way on the naughty list of hurtful and offensive language is unclear.
The purpose of eliminating comment sections on websites and replies on Twitter is to regain their monopoly of information.
A powerful weapon in the left’s repertoire of indoctrination tools is presenting their opinions and beliefs as if they were ubiquitous. Social proof can supplant supporting evidence.
When elites are “ratioed” on Twitter for fraudulent claims, it reminds users that an opposition does exist. When articles smearing the McCloskeys for defending their home against violent mobs contain thousands of comments expressing support for the St. Louis couple, it undermines the illusion of unanimous agreement about the evil of the McCloskeys the writer attempts to convey.
Democrats do not want voters to realize that their radical opinions aren’t the majority. As they move farther left, the only way to uphold this illusion is to prevent unapproved opinions from entering the public view.
RIP, comment sections.
Bode Lang is a conservative blogger who regularly produces conservative videos on YouTube. You can find him at https://www.youtube.com/c/Bodelang.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has kicked Cambridge MPP Belinda Karahalios out of the Conservative caucus for voting against her party on Bill 195, a bill which prevents MPPs from being able to hold the government to account for its use of emergency powers. In a democratic country, politicians are supposed to represent their constituents. By punishing Belinda Karahalios for voting according to her conscience, Doug Ford is disrespecting political rights that are essential to a democracy. We must stop political leaders from trying to violate a politician’s duty to their constituents, regardless of the party this occurs in. So please sign this petition demanding that Doug Ford reinstates Belinda Karahalios into the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario immediately.
Politics can be a dirty sport, but what Ontario Premier Doug Ford did to Belinda Karahalios was so blatantly disrespectful to our democratic rights.
On July 22, 2020, Doug Ford kicked Cambridge MPP Belinda Karahalios out of the Progressive Conservative caucus. This was not due to a scandal or some sort of offensive statement. Doug Ford kicked out Belinda Karahalios because she felt that Bill 195 went against her conscience, and so she was the only Conservative who voted against it.
She had good reason to be against it as well. Bill 195 ends the state of emergency in Ontario, but lets Doug Ford and his government keep the emergency powers from it, such as the closing of businesses, managing workforces, and prohibiting public gatherings. Doug Ford and one of his Cabinet Ministers can extend these orders one month at a time up until 2022 without needing a vote from the legislature.
This means that if the government started using these powers in a way that was unjustifiably authoritarian in the next two years, our elected officials would have no way of stopping them.
Social conservatives should be on the front lines in calling out Doug Ford for this. Bill 195 was a bill that even many within the mainstream media had issues with. Various organizations with differing political leanings such as the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Ontario Federation of Labour, and the Ontario Nurses’ Association called out Bill 195 as an anti-democratic power-grab.
If a politician cannot disagree with their party leader on this, then how can assure that pro-life politicians can disagree with pro-abortion party leaders? How can we assure that pro-religious freedom politicians can disagree with secular politically correct party leaders?
This is what it ultimately comes down to: do politicians represent their constituents or do they merely represent the agenda of their party? It’s been taken for granted in our country that though our politicians typically align with a political agenda, their jobs ultimately are to represent us.
We’ve seen on the left that this is often not the case. In most federal parties, for instance, you can’t be pro-life. If we let politicians like Doug Ford get away with punishing politicians for doing their job at representing their constituents and their basic political beliefs, we may soon not have parties where politicians can vote according to their conscience.
This is not merely an issue Conservative party members need to worry about, or even an issue Ontarians need to worry about. This is ultimately an attack on democratic freedoms in Canada.
,You probably met Tamara in one of our FightTheFines.com stories last week. She got slapped with a social distancing ticket for walking the shores of an empty beach in Cobourg, Ontario. You see, despite having very few cases, the town of Cobourg decided to close its beaches as part of their new COVID-19 regulations.
After Tamara refused to accept the ticket, bylaw officers called in the real police, who handcuffed Tamara, took her belongings, and hauled her off to jail.
Some say it’s best to just pay the fine and stop going to the beach until we’re told it’s safe to do so. But we think it’s better to let power-hungry law enforcement, bureaucrats, and politicians know that WEWANT OUR TIME IN THE SUN!
If our politicians can go to their cottages during this “crisis”, we can go to the beach. We’re fighting this ticket even if it costs us more than double what the original fine is worth. But we think that’s a small price to pay for standing up for our personal liberties.
We have Sam Goldstein, one of the best civil liberties lawyers in the country. Sam has been hard at work on all our cases, including this one – watch our coverage at FightTheFines.com. Sam is an excellent lawyer, and he’s not cheap.
Even if he’s giving us a healthy discount, fighting these cases is still very expensive. But he’s worth every penny — we’re already beating these cases in court!Please support our fight by donating at FightTheFines.com. And if you know someone who’s facing one of these ludicrous tickets, send them our way. If their case has merit, we’ll take it on. Yours truly, David Menzies P.S. If you want to donate to help us fight this and all our other cases, please go to FightTheFines.com. If you’ve already donated, you can still support us by following us on social media, liking and sharing our content with your friends, subscribing to RebelNews+, or making a purchase from the Rebel News Store. P.P.S. If you prefer to use snail mail you can send cheques to: Rebel News P.O. Box 61056 Eglinton/Dufferin R.O. Toronto, ON, M6E 5B2 Thank you.
, Tonight I’m having a book launch for my new book, China Virus: How Justin Trudeau’s Pro-Communist Ideology is Putting Canadians in Danger. It’s 100% sold out. I’m really excited about it.
But I think there’s a chance it could be cancelled.By the Communist Party of China. I know that sounds impossible.
The book launch is in Sherwood Park, just outside of Edmonton, Alberta. We have a contract with a grateful restaurant that is eager for paying customers after a four-month lock-down. So everything is set. But then the restaurant started receiving threats. Threats by e-mail. Threats by phone. Here, watch this video where I read out a four-page threat that was e-mailed to the restaurant: The threats weren’t even from Edmonton or from the restaurant’s customers.
Many of the threats were from out of town, from people with Chinese accents, warning the restaurant with all sorts of consequences if it dared to proceed. Now, make no mistake: my book is very pro-Chinese. As in: I support the Chinese people. I support Chinese democracy.
The real “virus” I talk about in my book — as you can see in the book’s title — is the Communist Party. And their chief victims are Chinese people themselves. So I want to draw a distinction between the Chinese people and loyal Canadians who happen to be of Chinese ethnicity, versus operatives of the Chinese Communist Party. Of course, the most passionate critics of the Chinese Communist Party are Chinese people. I stand with them.
But — as my book meticulously documents — the Chinese dictatorship bullies those democracy activists, even in Canada. And now they’re trying to do that to me. Some of the threats warn the restaurant of a boycott. That’s not very credible, given how the callers are all from out of town. Some threats warn of police investigations — also not credible. That’s what China does. That’s not how it works in Canada. (At least not normally — but you never know with Trudeau).
That four-page threat letter I saw also warned the restaurant of a giant protest — could be. I even heard that one Chinese operative had called up the restaurant, and offered them $3,000 to cancel my book launch! It’s not surprising.
As you know, Amazon banned my book for two months. And then after un-banning it, they banned it again. (And they un-banned it again — for now.) I think now we can now guess who was behind that Amazon censorship! Well, we’re going ahead with tonight’s book launch.
We’ve hired a security guard, and we’ve hired a lawyer, to come to the book launch to protect it from any threats. That’s crazy, but these are crazy times. If you have a ticket — we’ll see you tonight! If you don’t — don’t worry, we’ll have more book events across Canada. But now we know that we’re up against enormous forces, even more authoritarian than Justin Trudeau’s censors. If you haven’t yet got your copy of the book, please do so now before it’s banned for a third time.
And if you feel like it, please help support the book, by covering our legal and security costs, and our marketing costs — including the gorgeous billboard we just unveiled on the side of a major Canadian highway. (Maybe that’s what got China’s attention!) Just click here, or go to www.ChinaVirusBook.com. Thanks for your support. I believe in freedom for Canadians. And I hope that, one day, the Chinese people will have our same freedoms too. Yours truly, Ezra Levant P.S. We’re going to have more book launch events as pandemic regulations permit. We’ll post them at www.ChinaVirusBook.com. P.P.S. The book has been very well-received, with hundreds of 5-star reviews online! Click here to get your copy. I hope you like it as much
Toronto Mayor John Tory is really excited about Ontario
entering Stage 3 of reopening and bars and restaurants opening up
again.
Actually, what he’s really excited about is slapping
a whole lot of regulatory restrictions on them.
On Sunday, Tory sent a letter to Premier Doug Ford containing
six recommended rules to be imposed on these establishments, which
have absorbed a catastrophic financial hit due to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Tory is calling for mandatory masks for all staff and
patrons, earlier closing hours, occupancy restrictions, and for all
patrons to provide contact information that is to be kept for 30 days,
to allow for tracing as needed.
Wow! Where to begin?
Asking everyone for their contact information is not going to
go over well. That’s a bit of a safety issue. They might get a lot of
false information.
Again, as with the mandatory facemask rules, you have
to wonder whether recommendations like these are really about
protection—as is claimed—or politics.
Tory says that “experts” believe that masks keep people safer
and that restaurants and bars pose a higher level of risk for the
spread of the coronavirus.
Are these the same experts who were saying back in
March that masks weren’t necessary outside of hospitals, and that
anyone who suggested that the borders should be closed was a
racist?
We all want to stop the spread of COVID-19. We’ve all made
extraordinary sacrifices toward that end. No businesses have
been hit harder than the hospitality industry. Many of them have
closed and are never coming back.
In some cases, establishments built by generations of hard
work and dedication are gone forever.
A recent Leger poll shows that a national average of 22% of
Canadians will avoid bars and restaurants for as long as masks are
mandatory there.
We all need our country’s economy to rebound from this
setback, and bars and restaurants must be part of the resurgence. We
don’t need politicians like John Tory making the hard road back even
more difficult for them.
Mayor Tory’s recommendations are evidence of state overreach, which
has reared its ugly head during this crisis. Using the pandemic as a
cover, it imposes draconian limitations on our freedoms in the name of
the common good.
Those who voice opposition are shouted down as selfish and
reckless, and the statists consolidate their power.
Once given up, these freedoms will be difficult to regain.
John Tory is also calling for mandatory masks in
residential apartment buildings.
Canadians who feel more comfortable wearing a facemask should be by
all means do so, but masks should not be made mandatory.
Re-openings of businesses should be done responsibly and safely,
but without being hamstrung by statists who, having had a taste of
authoritarianism, are hungry for more.
I remain 100% opposed to making any eventual COVID-19
vaccine mandatory for Canadians.
I will continue to guard against any unjust
limitations of our rights introduced in the name of public safety or
other invocations of the “common good”.
