Speaker 1: That's gonna that's gonna be way too charring to open
Speaker 1: an episode. Ware, Well, we already did it, so keep moving. Yeah,
Speaker 1: uh huh. Um, the episode is actually going to start
Speaker 1: with Garrison saying that's way too jarring to open an
Speaker 1: episode with, and the listeners won't know that much. That
Speaker 1: is a much easier opening. Um, alright, so we're doing
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be I'm gonna be reading a thing today
Speaker 1: and then we're going to talk about the thing that
Speaker 1: we're reading. Um, and and and who are you? And
Speaker 1: who is here? Oh? Yeah, this is it could happen here,
Speaker 1: this is it could happen here. I'm I'm Garrison, I
Speaker 1: am our resident Canadian. Yeah, that's Anderson. That's Anderson the
Speaker 1: dog in here. We had we had to hire a
Speaker 1: Canadian for a diversity quota. You do not anyway, We
Speaker 1: have Chris here, Robert Evans as usual. Um, Sophie, So
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about We're gonna talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about about Canada today. So in the in like the
Speaker 1: scripted what if scenarios first positive in the original it
Speaker 1: could happen here. Um. It detailed what it might be
Speaker 1: like to live in the United States during a modern
Speaker 1: civil conflict. And like one of the stories that we
Speaker 1: kind of tell ourselves as a culture is about you know,
Speaker 1: crossing up into the safe haven of Canada whenever stuff
Speaker 1: breaks out in the States. Um, whether that be like
Speaker 1: an escape from just the hell that's us politics, um,
Speaker 1: or you know, going up into the cold northern terrain
Speaker 1: better equipped to deal with climate change. Canada is kind
Speaker 1: of just viewed as a bastien of like of liberal
Speaker 1: democracy in North America. Um. You know, I've I've made
Speaker 1: jokes in the past about using my Canadian passport to
Speaker 1: escape up into the forest of Alberta when things get
Speaker 1: too dicey here in the States. But this like weird
Speaker 1: utopian view of Canada is not just wrong about Canada's
Speaker 1: current political state, but also assumes that a Canada is
Speaker 1: like immune to the political shifts that the States have
Speaker 1: gone through the past few years. Which is it's it's
Speaker 1: very obviously not um so like Canada internationally is and
Speaker 1: specifically in the States, it's it's used as like, you know, Canada,
Speaker 1: it's it's used it's like America's little brother, but it's
Speaker 1: you know, it's much more you know, democratic, it's much
Speaker 1: more liberal. It's like it's like this kind of ideal
Speaker 1: scenario for like what the state's could be. And like
Speaker 1: Canadians have a weird view of the States as well.
Speaker 1: Like Canadians, they're both like the like they're kind of obsessed,
Speaker 1: Like a lot of Canadians think no more about US
Speaker 1: politics and then they know about Canadian politics, um, but
Speaker 1: almost in like a way that we watch sports. It's
Speaker 1: it's like it's like this thing that we like watch
Speaker 1: as entertainment, like like some kind of like sick reality show.
Speaker 1: That's how I think a lot of Canadians really view
Speaker 1: US politics, um, because it's just so wacky compared to
Speaker 1: the kind of more like civil parliamentary system that we
Speaker 1: have in Canada. US politics just looks very very bizarre,
Speaker 1: and there's always this notion it's like, no matter how
Speaker 1: bad things can get in Canada, at least we're not
Speaker 1: the States, at least at least we're not at least
Speaker 1: we're not the US. And that is kind of a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of how a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: can get really get can just like surviving Canada longer,
Speaker 1: because it's just they view it like at least, at
Speaker 1: least we're not as bad as the other people. So
Speaker 1: that's how you know, it gives them kind of some
Speaker 1: kind of sense of security. But in terms of like
Speaker 1: in terms of Canada as a country, you know, we
Speaker 1: we we've said that Canada as a country is basically
Speaker 1: just you know, a few mining companies in a trench coat,
Speaker 1: and the trench coat is healthcare. Um. And that's that's
Speaker 1: really all they are is as as as a country. UM.
Speaker 1: But today we're gonna be talking about kind of Canada's
Speaker 1: slide towards farther right wing politics, UM. Both you know,
Speaker 1: historically and then more recently, because a lot of what
Speaker 1: we've seen in the States has happened kind of in
Speaker 1: its own weird Canadian way around the same time. UM.
Speaker 1: But before we before we really get started, I think
Speaker 1: could be remiss not to mention how the Canadian government
Speaker 1: has historically treated Indigenous and First Nations people um. Living
Speaker 1: on that land. Of course, it's like not only just
Speaker 1: hundreds of years ago, but a lot more recently as well.
Speaker 1: Just in the past year, there have been thousands and
Speaker 1: thousands of like hidden graves found across the provinces at
Speaker 1: the sites of these residential schools, UM and the process
Speaker 1: of looking for these on Mark Graves has like just
Speaker 1: just started. UM. The Canadian Historical Association published a letter
Speaker 1: this past Canada Day Canada Day is like Independence Day
Speaker 1: but for Canada, UM, saying that it was abundantly clear
Speaker 1: that Canada is guilty of is guilty of genocide. UM.
Speaker 1: I know there's there's a few episodes Behind the Bastards
Speaker 1: UM and I think even worse here that that talk
Speaker 1: about residential schools UM and and the genocide of Indigenous Canada.
Speaker 1: So you can you can check those out. And I
Speaker 1: wrote this episode to be more focused on Canada's political
Speaker 1: shifts the past five years. But since we're talking to
Speaker 1: be talking about Canadian fascism, I thought it would be
Speaker 1: irresponsible to not mention this upfront as like a thing
Speaker 1: responsible and very responsible. So I'm gonna try to take
Speaker 1: us through aspects of Canadians of Canada's politics chronologically. UM.
Speaker 1: You guys can button and kind of ask questions and
Speaker 1: clarifications about stuff. UM. But the first thing that we're
Speaker 1: gonna start with is actually going to be on the
Speaker 1: First Nations the side of things, and that that's kind
Speaker 1: of how that that's what mostly Indigenous people are called
Speaker 1: in Canada's First Nations. Um. Even you know, the Indigenous
Speaker 1: people up in Canada most amused that term. So that's
Speaker 1: the term I'll be using for some some of this stuff,
Speaker 1: just because that's the one that's used up there. Um.
Speaker 1: So the the residential schools program is where I'm gonna
Speaker 1: briefly mention a few things about it, just because of
Speaker 1: how it kind of relates to some of the stuff
Speaker 1: that we're gonna be talking with for the rest of
Speaker 1: the episode. UM yeah, I'm gonna I'm gonna read someone.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna read some words by by Duncan Campbell Scott.
Speaker 1: Who was the department who was who was the Deputy
Speaker 1: Superintendent of Indian Affairs. This was like a rank in
Speaker 1: the Canadian government. Um. He served as the Deputy Superintendent
Speaker 1: from nineteen thirteen to nineteen thirty two. UM. And he's
Speaker 1: arguably like the main architect of the residential schools program. Um.
Speaker 1: He was. He was also good friends with the first
Speaker 1: Prime Minister of Canada, John John John McDonald. So here's
Speaker 1: here's here's how this guy the the architect of this program.
Speaker 1: This is this is how he kind of talked talked
Speaker 1: about this in letters to both his like his underlings,
Speaker 1: and just like openly quote it is readily acknowledged that
Speaker 1: Indian children lose their natural resistance to illness by habituating
Speaker 1: so close in the residential schools, and that they die
Speaker 1: at a much higher rate than in their villages. But
Speaker 1: this does not justify a change in the policy of
Speaker 1: this department, which is geared towards a final solution for
Speaker 1: our Indian problem. It is quite within the market to
Speaker 1: say that fifty percent of children who passed through these
Speaker 1: schools did not live to benefit from the education in
Speaker 1: which they had received. So that's that's just what he
Speaker 1: calls it. He he says, the final solution to the
Speaker 1: Indian problem. It's very very very clear. What what like,
Speaker 1: that's just the language he uses. And this was like
Speaker 1: before Hitler though, like this was this was paying attention
Speaker 1: to these Yeah, yeah, like this this is just like
Speaker 1: this is the mindset of all of these same people.
Speaker 1: This is all of all of the same thing. Um.
Speaker 1: Another another another quote from this dude is I want
Speaker 1: to get rid of the Indian problem. I do not
Speaker 1: think of it as a matter of fact that the
Speaker 1: country ought to continually protect a class of people who
Speaker 1: are able to stand alone. That's my whole point. Our
Speaker 1: objective is to continue until there's not a single Indian
Speaker 1: in Canada that has not been absorbed into the into
Speaker 1: the body politic, and there's no Indian question and no
Speaker 1: Indian department. That is the whole objective of this bill.
Speaker 1: The bill referring to the residential schools program. So that's
Speaker 1: that's how he talks about these things. Um. There there's
Speaker 1: other letters that he's sent that's like telling his um,
Speaker 1: his like agents because he had like agents stationed at
Speaker 1: at Canadian at Canadian reserves to like not let Indians
Speaker 1: do dancing because both that's you know, that's doing their
Speaker 1: cultural practice, but also it'll astract them from learning how
Speaker 1: to do Western farming. Um, Like they weren't allowed to
Speaker 1: go to fairs or exhibitions or anything that you like
Speaker 1: that anything that has like that is reminiscent of like
Speaker 1: any kind of cultural tradition that is not white in European. Um.
Speaker 1: So he he is, he is a pretty pretty pretty
Speaker 1: bad dude. He probably deserves his own his own thing
Speaker 1: that this this specific guy. But you can can you
Speaker 1: can kind of see like these like fascist ideas and
Speaker 1: rhetoric are not foreign to Canada. Um. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's been there since its infancy. And now Canadian politics
Speaker 1: is very different in a lot of ways compared to
Speaker 1: American politics. Uh. Canada tries to kind of follow the
Speaker 1: European model, whereas America is very much like the rebel
Speaker 1: state that tries to play on its play by its
Speaker 1: own rules. Um. Kind of the first main difference is
Speaker 1: that Canada isn't a two party system. Um. It's it's
Speaker 1: more like a two party plus system, because yeah, there
Speaker 1: still is the main Liberals in the main Conservatives, but
Speaker 1: there are there are other parties that actually can get elected. Um.
Speaker 1: And it's it's not it's not like a strictly two
Speaker 1: party system the same way the States is. So that
Speaker 1: makes things more interesting. Um. And another thing that's really
Speaker 1: interesting about like a cultural politics that's that's different from
Speaker 1: the States. You know. Besides, you know, Canada obviously has
Speaker 1: like a parliament and a prime minister. That's different, but
Speaker 1: that Canada view and Canadians view nationalism and patriotism very differently, uh,
Speaker 1: compared to to like United States. Um. Citizens patriotism and
Speaker 1: in some ways nationalism have always been kind of more
Speaker 1: of a liberal progressive thing, um, you know, in the
Speaker 1: opposition to the States, where it is not really seen
Speaker 1: as a liberal progressive thing. Um. It's like, even under
Speaker 1: conservative leadership, Canada kind of prides itself as as sort
Speaker 1: of like liberal utopia. And that's where a lot of
Speaker 1: the patriotism and celebration of Canada comes from among its
Speaker 1: you know, mostly liberal and more socially progressive citizens. They
Speaker 1: like celebrate Canada as like this great progressive nation, and
Speaker 1: that's where a lot of the patriotism comes from, is like,
Speaker 1: oh look, look how progressive we are. Um. Then the
Speaker 1: nationalists in part can be a bit more tricky, uh,
Speaker 1: because you first need to understand like the English and
Speaker 1: French divide which within the country, which I barely understand
Speaker 1: that to be honest, I was I was, I was.
Speaker 1: I was born in the Prairies. That was you know,
Speaker 1: much more of like the Protestant English English settlement. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm not from Quebec, but we'll be talking about Quebec
Speaker 1: a lot here because it is very important to how
Speaker 1: nationalism works in Canada. So the divide between the French
Speaker 1: and the English make elections really interesting because the English
Speaker 1: majority politicians usually need to court some of the French
Speaker 1: Canadian population and and people in Quebec in order to
Speaker 1: get enough parliamentary seats to have a majority government, because
Speaker 1: Canada works on having a majority within the parliament. Um,
Speaker 1: you can have a minority in in in the parliament
Speaker 1: like the Liberals currently have. So even if you know,
Speaker 1: someone doesn't win a plurality of votes, that can still
Speaker 1: be in control of the government in any in a
Speaker 1: minority or usually a majority capacity. We'll get into this
Speaker 1: kind of stuff later. Um. But even though they need
Speaker 1: to get see from Quebec to have you know, a
Speaker 1: decent control of parliament, Quebec kind of likes to act
Speaker 1: like its own special country. Um. They even have their
Speaker 1: own like federal political party, uh the block Kebuqua and
Speaker 1: so like that. That that's a that's a federal party
Speaker 1: that operates in forwarding the interests of Quebec. Sometimes it
Speaker 1: functions as like a separatist party, but not really anymore.
Speaker 1: Um So, although the Blockbuqua is a lot is a
Speaker 1: lot more secular and progressive than basically any any other
Speaker 1: major party outside of the n d P UM but
Speaker 1: despite them being much more like socially progressive, that are
Speaker 1: also like one of the biggest nationalist parties UM in Canada.
Speaker 1: And you know, the far right parties in Canada have
Speaker 1: had always had their you know brand of ethno nationalism,
Speaker 1: but that was that's that's been much less pronounced than
Speaker 1: the kind of like keep non French Canadians out of
Speaker 1: Quebec and keep Americans out of Canada type of nationalism
Speaker 1: that's common with like liberals UM and specifically you know,
Speaker 1: progressives inside Quebec, which you can't blame them for wanting
Speaker 1: to keep Americans no, yeah, like you can good sense,
Speaker 1: if I could keep Americans out of America, I would
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah. But so that kind of sentiment, you
Speaker 1: can see how that connect, like you know, be used
Speaker 1: to foster some not good things though that that that
Speaker 1: that specific type of thinking of of like keeping nationals,
Speaker 1: like you know, keeping four nationals out of your state. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good to not have Americans there, but you know
Speaker 1: that's going to get extended towards other people's unfortunate yeah,
Speaker 1: and and like so even though you know, the nationalism
Speaker 1: can be a lot more progressive, that's not to say
Speaker 1: as no nationalism does not come up within these sets
Speaker 1: UM which is going to bring us to UH when
Speaker 1: when a briefly talk about something from the thirties called
Speaker 1: the called the National Unity Party of the National Unity
Speaker 1: Party of Canada. Um, the National Unique Party, National Unity Party.
Speaker 1: That is a weird thing to say. Um was was
Speaker 1: originally called the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party. Oh wait,
Speaker 1: now that remind national socialism That seems like a term
Speaker 1: with a little bit of baggage. Yeah, remember correctly, yep,
Speaker 1: it sort of does. Um so that this was a
Speaker 1: party formed in nineteen thirty four by a little Nazi
Speaker 1: shirt head named Adrian Urkhan. Um. Now that is if
Speaker 1: you cannot tell that it's me trying to say a
Speaker 1: French name. So he is from Quebec. This is a
Speaker 1: lot of Canadian Nazi stuff originates inside Quebec because it
Speaker 1: already has such nationalist tendencies. Um So, our cons introduction
Speaker 1: into nationalism started around the turn of the century amid
Speaker 1: fears in Quebec that Chinese immigration would threaten the white
Speaker 1: French Canadian working class. Um. This is still a big
Speaker 1: thing in Canada. Uh. Racism and nationalism against the Chinese
Speaker 1: is still a big thing. We will talk about this
Speaker 1: at the very end of this of this, of of
Speaker 1: these episodes, because it's still a thing the Conservative Party
Speaker 1: talks about a lot um. So, yeah, his his internnationalism
Speaker 1: was because of fears of Chinese immigration in the early
Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds. Um, the the anti his so his anti
Speaker 1: immigrants upbringing, plus the fact that he attended the Catholic
Speaker 1: school um that there there there was no there was
Speaker 1: no public schools in Quebec until the nineteen sixties. All
Speaker 1: of the schools were either Catholic or Protestant. Now, this
Speaker 1: is also part of the cultural divide inside Canada where
Speaker 1: usually the English speakers are Protestant and they're usually further
Speaker 1: west and the and the Catholics are usually you know,
Speaker 1: French Canadians. There's a lot of that inside Quebec. Um,
Speaker 1: so he went to a Catholic school, of which were
Speaker 1: at the time very anti Jewish because what was happening
Speaker 1: is the Jewish people in Quebec wanted to make their
Speaker 1: own Jewish schools and the Catholics, like in charge, didn't
Speaker 1: want that because then that'd be less people were inside
Speaker 1: Catholic schools and they weren't you know, learning Catholicism. So
Speaker 1: there's a lot, a lot of stuff going on here
Speaker 1: that is kind of extreme contributing. So he was you know,
Speaker 1: already anti immigrant because of the Chinese and then he
Speaker 1: got got exposed to anti Semitism inside its Catholic schools
Speaker 1: UM and that you know, pushed him onto this specific path.
Speaker 1: So in nineteen thirty R. Khan made a deal with
Speaker 1: the head of the Conservative Party RB Bennett that in
Speaker 1: exchange for fifteen thousand dollars, which is like two hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty thousand dollars in today's money, Our our con
Speaker 1: would craft a smear campaign UM trying to assist the
Speaker 1: Conservatives in basically smearing the Liberals to gain more Conservative
Speaker 1: support inside the province of Quebec, which at the time
Speaker 1: was majority liberal leaning. So Our Khan got to work
Speaker 1: and started prepping you like pseudo fascist propaganda for the
Speaker 1: Conservatives UM. And by the nineteen thirty federal election it
Speaker 1: absolutely worked UM Bennett and the Conservatives one they gained
Speaker 1: twenty four parliamentary seats in Quebec, which is a massive success.
Speaker 1: Like before they did not win any seats in Quebec,
Speaker 1: so gaining twenty four seats in for over the course
Speaker 1: of just one election, massive win. UM so after getting
Speaker 1: the after getting the Conservatives elected, the Conservative Party dropped
Speaker 1: our Khan because he was you know, a little hashtag
Speaker 1: problem matic um uh huh. So after he got dropped
Speaker 1: by the Conservatives short shortly later, our Khan made contact
Speaker 1: with the growing Nationalist Socialist Party in Germany. Um. And
Speaker 1: over the next few years he just he started to
Speaker 1: gain more fascist contacts around the world. He would exchange
Speaker 1: letters people from people like people, people from the German
Speaker 1: Nazis would come over and meet with what and come
Speaker 1: over to Canada and see what he was doing. He
Speaker 1: would travel around meeting other other Nazis around the world. Um.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of just like just gaining a lot,
Speaker 1: a lot more contacts. So then in nineteen thirty four
Speaker 1: he formed his own fascist party, which is the Canadian
Speaker 1: National Socialist Unity Party. And within that year, so in
Speaker 1: in the you know, midnighteen thirties, it merged with other
Speaker 1: Canadian nationalist parties that were more based in the west,
Speaker 1: so you know, in the prairies like Alberta, Saskatchewan and BC.
Speaker 1: So he emerged a few other kind of nationalist groups
Speaker 1: and started gaining traction, getting thousands and thousands of members.
Speaker 1: This actually became an actual thing. You can find footage
Speaker 1: of of his rallies and they're just terrifying, just like
Speaker 1: you know, just it's the same thing whenever you see
Speaker 1: like the Nazis, you know, rallying in Britain. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it feels different than watching a Nazi rally in
Speaker 1: Germany because you can feel a lot more, you know,
Speaker 1: if it's it's it's the same feeling. But come but
Speaker 1: come home your own countrymen kind of do the same
Speaker 1: thing that you associate with the old footage of dead
Speaker 1: people is exactly. Yeah. So he was getting thousand numbers
Speaker 1: across Canada, um you know, mostly in the provinces of
Speaker 1: of Quebec and Alberta. So the two main provinces we're
Speaker 1: to talk about are going to be Quebeca and and
Speaker 1: Alberta because that's where a lot of a lot of
Speaker 1: the far right stuff gets started out. Um So in
Speaker 1: ninety eight, so that's like four years after he started this, Uh,
Speaker 1: the Canadian National Socialist Unity Party merged again, this time
Speaker 1: with various nationalist group groups and so called swastika clubs
Speaker 1: um in that we're already inside like Ontario and Quebec.
Speaker 1: So on the eastern side of Canada. So now he
Speaker 1: he united both the Quebec stuff Eastern Canada and Western Canada.
Speaker 1: And then he called that the nack Sational Unity Party.
Speaker 1: Um and Our Khan appointed himself the Canadian fural Gosh.
Speaker 1: Yes so, and I'm going to quote from a Time
Speaker 1: Time magazine piece from July of ninety eight, Our Cohn
Speaker 1: scheduled Canada's first national fascist convention for Kingston, Ontario. The
Speaker 1: mayor and city council did not want a fascist convention
Speaker 1: held in their city and called the police to prevent it. Defiantly,
Speaker 1: Leader Arkhan slipped forty five of his leaders into a
Speaker 1: room near police headquarters. It's this old tibe language held
Speaker 1: forth unmolested for five and a half hours. Upon emerging,
Speaker 1: Leader Arkhan wired thanks to the mayor for his courtesy
Speaker 1: extended and announced the formation of the new National Unity Party.
Speaker 1: A flaming torch will be the new party's emblem Canada
Speaker 1: for Canadians, it's slogan and the upraised arm of its
Speaker 1: salute for king Country and Christianity. Moving on to Ontario,
Speaker 1: Leader Arkhan supported by eighty five of his blue shirts.
Speaker 1: He claims there were eighty thousand members at the time
Speaker 1: held a meeting in Mancy Hall that that was attended
Speaker 1: by about eight hundred sympathizers. More impressive, however, there were
Speaker 1: three anti fascist counter demonstrations held simultaneously. Two outdoor anti
Speaker 1: fascist meetings drew four hundred persons until broken up by
Speaker 1: police fearing a clash, but at maple Leaf Gardens the
Speaker 1: Canadian League of Peace and Democracy attracted ten thousand so
Speaker 1: as was the first big fascist rally in Canada. There
Speaker 1: was like, you know, ten thousands of these more liberal
Speaker 1: people rallying elsewhere and four hundred like anti fascists ready
Speaker 1: to you know, beat up these Nazis. Um what then
Speaker 1: the police beat them up. Because history doesn't change times
Speaker 1: of flat circle, we're still doing the same thing. Now.
Speaker 1: Do you know who won't rally eight hundred Canadian Nazis
Speaker 1: called the Blue Shirts to sell you products us promise that, yeah,
Speaker 1: depending depending what Hello Fresh has recently been sending there.
Speaker 1: Why do you always pick Hello Fresh? There are so
Speaker 1: many worse brands that we can't ignore the fact that
Speaker 1: they've been increasingly building their militant capacity for the last
Speaker 1: seven years. Anyway, here's some ads we have too much
Speaker 1: to read and we are back talking about the Canadian
Speaker 1: Blue shirts. UM, hello fresh, hello shut please continue Blue
Speaker 1: aprons arons. Thanks Chris, Thanks Chris for saving the bit.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you. Um. So next year after his
Speaker 1: first rally, nine, World War two obviously started to ramp
Speaker 1: up and the Canadian government arrested our Cohn for plotting
Speaker 1: to overthrow the state UM and his National Unity Party
Speaker 1: was banned from federal elections. Our Khan was released from
Speaker 1: prison after the war, but he continued his political aspirations. UM.
Speaker 1: He ran for a federal election twice in Quebec, once
Speaker 1: in nineteen forty nine and once in nineteen fifty three.
Speaker 1: Both times he uh he ran under his National Unity
Speaker 1: Party banner, despite it being banned from elections. I don't
Speaker 1: know how he did that, um, both times. Laws are fake. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Both times he placed second with over five and a
Speaker 1: half five and a half thousand votes, which was about
Speaker 1: like thirty percent of of of the vote. Um. Actually,
Speaker 1: but the second time he ran as he ran just
Speaker 1: under a nationalist banner UM, and he got second as well,
Speaker 1: but he got like the vote, so he did a
Speaker 1: slight slightly better just running as a nationalist in Quebec.
Speaker 1: Not like the National Unity thing, because that was you know,
Speaker 1: more overtly Nazi. But he kept holding National Unity Party
Speaker 1: public rallies until the mid sixties. His last rally, I
Speaker 1: think attracted like one thousand supporters, too many. I was
Speaker 1: hoping you were going to say, like three, and there
Speaker 1: was probably sad footage, but that's sad in a different way. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So he finally died in nineteen sixty seven, and with
Speaker 1: him also died the National Unity Party. I So I
Speaker 1: bring this one up because it's one funked up and
Speaker 1: interesting um and too. It's like it's indicative of the
Speaker 1: weirdness that can come out of Quebec's nationalist political bent. Uh.
Speaker 1: We can see that now with a modern fact, you know,
Speaker 1: neo fascist Canadian political party that's based out of Quebec,
Speaker 1: which we will talk about shortly, um. But even like
Speaker 1: the nationalist tendencies within Quebec's more mainstream progressive population, Like
Speaker 1: I'm going to read some of the policy positions of
Speaker 1: the block Keebuqua party. That's that's that that's the that's
Speaker 1: like the Quebec sovereignty you know, party that is still
Speaker 1: actually very very popular in in elections, specifically in Quebec.
Speaker 1: And just ahead of this, if you're a French speaker
Speaker 1: and you're frustrated by Garrison's pronunciations or my pronunciations of Quebecua,
Speaker 1: that your language isn't real and it's fine, and you're
Speaker 1: from the French. Yeah, and you're responsible for this Nazi
Speaker 1: so unlike unlike English speakers who have been responsible for Spanish.
Speaker 1: That's my take, okay, anyway, saying Spanish here here here
Speaker 1: is the progressive liberal block kibu qua policy positions UM
Speaker 1: Quebec sovereignty you know, up into independence. But usually it's
Speaker 1: just you know, them pushing the interests of Quebec. Um. Environmentalism,
Speaker 1: abortion rights, you know, pro abortion rights UM, l G
Speaker 1: l G l g B, t Q rights UM, the
Speaker 1: legalization of of assisted suicide, UM, opposition to Canadian participation
Speaker 1: in the Iraq war. UM abolition, abolition of the abolition
Speaker 1: of the monarchy. All right, Uh? Forcing forcing immigrants to
Speaker 1: speak French in Quebec lost, blocking immigration to Quebec. You've
Speaker 1: also lost me. The Quebec Secularism law, which bans public
Speaker 1: workers in positions of authority from wearing just symbols primarily
Speaker 1: targeted at Muslims and seeks exemption Quebec's exemption from the
Speaker 1: requirements of the Multiculturalism Act. Yeah. I mean, I don't
Speaker 1: know the Multicultural Act, but it's great. It's it's it's good.
Speaker 1: So yeah, so you can kind of see how like
Speaker 1: they have you know, all these like, you know, pretty good,
Speaker 1: pretty good progressive sings, and then and then they get
Speaker 1: really anti immigrant, right, so this is like, this is
Speaker 1: kind of hard to explain to Americans, how like you
Speaker 1: can be very like pro gay, pro you know, abolition
Speaker 1: of the monarchy, but then also be like, no, but
Speaker 1: we don't want those brown people in Quebec. Yeah. So yeah, anyway,
Speaker 1: we're we're gonna move on from Quebec specifically, but don't worry,
Speaker 1: we will be back because you're still a problem. But
Speaker 1: there there are there are other things too, are other
Speaker 1: things to discuss. So after our cons fascist Canadian movement,
Speaker 1: there was a stint of like Canadian skinheads in the seventies,
Speaker 1: you know, around the same time as the UK and
Speaker 1: the US UM In the seventies, there was an unsuccessful
Speaker 1: Nazi party called the Nationalist Party of Canada that spawned
Speaker 1: a skinhead gang called Heritage Front Um Heritage Front disbanded
Speaker 1: around the mid two thousands because the Canadian Feds infiltrated
Speaker 1: it and kind of you know, cut that down, so
Speaker 1: critical support to the Canadian fans. But now we're gonna
Speaker 1: move on to unite the right. Uh not not not
Speaker 1: the United Right that you're thinking of, the Canadian Unite
Speaker 1: the Right movement from the ninety nineties and early two thousands.
Speaker 1: But that one probably wasn't problematic right there. It has
Speaker 1: no lasting problems. So because of Canada, because of Canada's
Speaker 1: multi multiparty system, there's more opportunity for ideologically similar parties
Speaker 1: to split the vote, you know, of people leaning in
Speaker 1: a certain direction. Um. Throughout most of the later half
Speaker 1: of the twentieth century, they were multiple conservative right wing
Speaker 1: parties that were operating at the same time, which did
Speaker 1: split the right of center vote. This is in part
Speaker 1: what allowed Canada to rise as like a liberal haven,
Speaker 1: because for a while the Conservatives just couldn't get elected
Speaker 1: because they were in the vote too many ways, leaving
Speaker 1: the main Liberal party to win the vast majority of elections. UM. Obviously,
Speaker 1: this frustrated right wing politicians and vote and voters than
Speaker 1: in the nineteen nineties, there were there were there were
Speaker 1: two main right wing parties. There was the older Progressive
Speaker 1: Conservative Party. They're like a classically fiscal conservative party with
Speaker 1: slightly less socially conservative beliefs, so you know, I would
Speaker 1: rather take them compared to the alternatives here. Um. The
Speaker 1: other major party was a right of center party called
Speaker 1: the Reform Party, which was much more of like a
Speaker 1: right wing populist and extremely socially conservative party, more similar
Speaker 1: to like the Trump era Republican Party. You know, they're
Speaker 1: they're they're they're much they're much more right wing populist,
Speaker 1: they're way more socially conservative, kind of what we traditionally
Speaker 1: think of as like, you know, like a racist Republican
Speaker 1: that this this this is their party called called the
Speaker 1: Reform Party. So after after loss after loss throughout the
Speaker 1: nineties and during the turn of the century, concertative efforts
Speaker 1: were being made between these two parties to unite into one.
Speaker 1: In nineteen, there was a Unite the Right conference held
Speaker 1: in Toronto, Ontario, trying to bring together politicians and delegates
Speaker 1: from these two main conservative parties. But they also brought
Speaker 1: in some much more extreme Christian fascist parties, which there
Speaker 1: was like four of at the time. There was a
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of Christian fascist parties around this time. Um,
Speaker 1: So the conference garnered a negative news coverage in part
Speaker 1: to due to the inclusion of these far right Christian
Speaker 1: extremist parties. And then after the conference, polls were conducted
Speaker 1: that suggested that many of the Progressive Conservative supporters would
Speaker 1: rather vote liberal than vote for the new kind of merged,
Speaker 1: more extreme right wing party. So like a lot of
Speaker 1: these a lot of these fiscal conservatives are like, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to vote for all of this weird racism.
Speaker 1: I just don't want there to be higher taxes. So
Speaker 1: like I'm gonna I'm gonna rather vote for the liberals
Speaker 1: than vote for these fucking weirdos, which I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that, that's the conservative I would rather have. Ye.
Speaker 1: Um So, the conference didn't sit well with the with
Speaker 1: the Progressive Conservative Party, um it's politicians or or the
Speaker 1: political leaders. So the merger plans were cut off. They're like, no,
Speaker 1: we're not going to do this. You guys are too
Speaker 1: weird and racist. We're not doing this. Um. Then in
Speaker 1: two thous No, I think it is important that this
Speaker 1: was after nine eleven. I think this is really the
Speaker 1: reason why this happened. UM one of the original Reform
Speaker 1: Party founders that the Reform Party is the more populist one.
Speaker 1: So one of the original founders named Stephen Harper, took
Speaker 1: control of the populist Conservative Party and worked to improve
Speaker 1: the optics of the more extreme sides of his party.
Speaker 1: I think it's very important that this this happened after
Speaker 1: nine eleven, and this is how the merger actually worked.
Speaker 1: So in two thousand three, merger talks sort of up again,
Speaker 1: and in August of that year the two parties announced
Speaker 1: the merger had been completed. There was a new United
Speaker 1: Conservative Party. UM. In the announcement, Harper is quoted as saying,
Speaker 1: our swords will henceforth be pointed at the Liberals, not
Speaker 1: to each other, And in December Harper was voted in
Speaker 1: as the new party leader. The work did pay off
Speaker 1: in the two US and six Canadian federal election. The
Speaker 1: Conservatives gained a controlling minority government among the electorate, with
Speaker 1: the former co founder of the extremist you know, populist
Speaker 1: Reform Party, Stephen Harper, becoming the new Prime Minister of Canada.
Speaker 1: So this is how he got from Reform Party to
Speaker 1: being the you know, the prime minister in through the
Speaker 1: through the two thousand's um he was the prime Minister
Speaker 1: of Canada for most of the time I lived there.
Speaker 1: That that that's who I think of when I think
Speaker 1: of the Prime Minister of Canada's I think of Stephen Harper.
Speaker 1: So Harper remained as Prime minister until the two thousand
Speaker 1: and fifteen election that saw noted black face appreciator Justin
Speaker 1: Trudeau elected under the Liberal Party. So that's good. What
Speaker 1: a good system we have that that that man like
Speaker 1: just your range of his blood. Look, say what you
Speaker 1: will about the man, very careful, know you under no
Speaker 1: circumstances gonna hand it to him. You do not, in
Speaker 1: fact have to hand it to him. Well, you have
Speaker 1: to hand him the little towel that he uses to
Speaker 1: get the black face off of his face. He can
Speaker 1: go into his work running Canada. Uh huh, yep, cool country.
Speaker 1: Didn't find out that like five of our governors all
Speaker 1: had black face photos. It was it was. It was
Speaker 1: a big year for black face. It really, it's incredible
Speaker 1: because I can't picture like again, I grew up very
Speaker 1: right wing and definitely had some said some uncomfortable things
Speaker 1: in my time. I don't think there was ever a
Speaker 1: point in which I would have been like, yeah, this
Speaker 1: seems like a good idea. It's what the fuck like? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's pretty What is the joke there? It's pretty it's
Speaker 1: pretty bad. Justin Trudeau liberal, Yeah, he is. He is
Speaker 1: the one. All of the wind Mom's thirst over. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's scans, that's not yeah anyway. Um, Beyond making it
Speaker 1: easier to vote in right of center candidates, what what
Speaker 1: the Canadian Unite the Right accomplished was pushing the conservative
Speaker 1: establishment much further to the right than what the previously
Speaker 1: popular Progressive Conservatives had established, while maintaining the respectability and
Speaker 1: civility the progressive Conservatives had cultivated. We are now going
Speaker 1: to skip ahead to two thousand seventeen. UM. In January seventeen,
Speaker 1: soon after the US President Donald Trump put into place
Speaker 1: the travel band from from you know, seven Muslim majority countries,
Speaker 1: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delivered a message via Twitter to
Speaker 1: those fleeing persecution, terror, and war. Canadians will welcome you,
Speaker 1: regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength. Hashtag welcome
Speaker 1: to Canada. So Trudeau is like, if the US is
Speaker 1: gonna be racist. We're gonna we're gonna let them in. UM.
Speaker 1: For this uh, for this next part, I'm going to
Speaker 1: quote from the New York Times. UM. Just hours after
Speaker 1: watching the television reports East in Canada would accept immigrants
Speaker 1: that were shunned by Trump, the twenty eight year old
Speaker 1: political science student packed his glock, handgun and rifle and
Speaker 1: trudged through the snow covered streets of Quebec to a
Speaker 1: nearby Islamic cultural center. As fifty three men were finishing
Speaker 1: evening prayers. He unloaded forty eight rounds. Six people were killed,
Speaker 1: several of them with shots to the head, and nineteen
Speaker 1: others were injured. One was paralyzed for life. In the
Speaker 1: month before his rampage, the shooter tralled the Internet eight
Speaker 1: hundred and nineteen times for posts related to Mr Trump,
Speaker 1: reading his Twitter feed daily, and homing in on the
Speaker 1: American president's travel ban on several Muslim majority countries. He
Speaker 1: kept a cash of guns underneath his bed at his
Speaker 1: parents house, and among his friends was just his twin brother.
Speaker 1: The shooter told investigators that he wished he had killed
Speaker 1: more people and he wanted to protect his family from
Speaker 1: Islamic terrorists. Experts on Radicalization say that in Quebec, the
Speaker 1: French speaking province surrounded by an English speaking majority, the
Speaker 1: anti immigrant far right offers fertile, fertile, imperilous ground first
Speaker 1: ecologically unstable youths seeking a sense of identity and a
Speaker 1: scapegoat the head of the Canadian based Center of Prevention
Speaker 1: of Radicalization leading to Violence, they said that the Quebec
Speaker 1: mosque shooter was in part of was part of a
Speaker 1: growing number of educated, middle class to white youths in
Speaker 1: Quebec drawn to far right ideas, fueled by the election
Speaker 1: of Mr Trump and fanned by fears of immigration that
Speaker 1: threatens Quebec's identity. When the Anti Radicalization Center was started
Speaker 1: in two thousand and fifteen, they dealt with sixteen cases
Speaker 1: of youths in the province that we're getting radicalized by
Speaker 1: the far right. Last year, which was like six uh,
Speaker 1: this center had one hundred and fifty four such cases.
Speaker 1: So this is this is kind of the the arc
Speaker 1: of things. Really, Trump's Trump's election did respire, did did
Speaker 1: spur a lot of this growing like oh, these political
Speaker 1: beliefs are acceptable now, right, Like this is something that
Speaker 1: is like we are we are, we are allowed to
Speaker 1: do this, and that that did echo in Canada and
Speaker 1: across a lot of the a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of other countries. What what one of one of the
Speaker 1: victims of the of the Quebec uh massacre his his
Speaker 1: father said that he come to Canada from Algeria in
Speaker 1: the to escape terrorism. UM and he said that like
Speaker 1: Quebec did not create the monster the shooter, but the
Speaker 1: Islamophobia that is inherent inside Quebec gave him like the motive.
Speaker 1: So this is really does relate to connate to like
Speaker 1: the political situation of Canada. And it's very it's it's
Speaker 1: it's not a coincidence that the majority of these types
Speaker 1: of attacks are inside either Quebec, Toronto or um. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're if you're a white, if you're if you're
Speaker 1: in Alberta. It's sadly it's more tied to like other
Speaker 1: other like conservative values, but like a lot of it
Speaker 1: is around Quebec for a lot of these like shootings
Speaker 1: and all these acts of terrorism. Um there was like
Speaker 1: the there was the in cell guy who ran over
Speaker 1: tons of people in Toronto with his car. Um same
Speaker 1: same kind of thing of like of getting more more
Speaker 1: used to these kind of having these far right ideas
Speaker 1: be more allowed, um and then think them as more
Speaker 1: of like a normalized thing. So that so the Quebec
Speaker 1: mosque shooting, uh kind of well couple a lot of
Speaker 1: people in Canada's being like, oh, we're not immune to this.
Speaker 1: This is like an actual thing that we have to
Speaker 1: deal with. Two. Um. And the next few months after
Speaker 1: Tradeo's January announcement, border crossings did see an increase in
Speaker 1: Canada formally accepted more immigrants and refugees and and not.
Speaker 1: And there was like, uh, the term in Canada is
Speaker 1: like an irregular spike of border crossings. Um. The fact
Speaker 1: the way Canadian media reported this, I think it's very irresponsible,
Speaker 1: the way they tried to like frame this as like
Speaker 1: after this announcement, We're getting so many irregular crossings that
Speaker 1: only fueled this type of like this type of anti
Speaker 1: immigrant sentiment. Um. It was. It was not really great.
Speaker 1: A lot of the old articles I pulled up for
Speaker 1: this for like, had really had really disgusting framing, especially
Speaker 1: you know, viewing it now. So in March, the Canadian
Speaker 1: Parliament passed a motion that condemns Islamophobia and request that
Speaker 1: the government recognized the need to quell the public of
Speaker 1: climate of fear and hate, specifically around Muslims and immigrants. Um.
Speaker 1: The motion was non binding, so it doesn't it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean anything. It's just the government saying something nice. Um.
Speaker 1: But it's still it's it's still sparked tons of outrage. Um.
Speaker 1: You know. It called on the government to condemn Islamophobia
Speaker 1: and all forms of systemic racism and discrimination. Uh. The
Speaker 1: the margin was passed by like, it was passed by
Speaker 1: a margin of like two hundred two h two over
Speaker 1: ninety so people a lot of a lot of the
Speaker 1: Conservatives in Parliament didn't didn't like this, but it it's
Speaker 1: it's it garnered so much online backlash. There were there
Speaker 1: were petitions and nationwide protests condemning this bill as an
Speaker 1: attack on free speech. Um and Uh. The person who
Speaker 1: introduced the bill um uh in an MP named um
Speaker 1: Akra Khalid see death threats um on through like their
Speaker 1: email and like they had like their private private information leaked.
Speaker 1: And it turned in this very very big kind of
Speaker 1: one of the first things where it had like these
Speaker 1: like national protests in Canada that you know, similar to
Speaker 1: how we had like the free speech thing around to
Speaker 1: two US and seventeen. This was like the Canadian version
Speaker 1: of that and how this kind of started. Um And
Speaker 1: in December, Urdeau signed into the United Nations Global Migration Pact.
Speaker 1: There's another non binding incentive designed to provide understanding among
Speaker 1: nations about how to deal with the global immigration crisis. Again,
Speaker 1: all these things are just people talking um. But it
Speaker 1: made people very very mad because if you're talking about it,
Speaker 1: that means it actually is real and it's actually gonna
Speaker 1: affect you, or it's just ignoring that these problems exist.
Speaker 1: So really, after Trump's election, after the Quebec, after after
Speaker 1: the Quebec mosque shooting, then we have all these bills.
Speaker 1: This kind of ignited a in person rallying possibility and
Speaker 1: in person protests that Canada hadn't really seen before for
Speaker 1: this type of like anti immigration sentiments. UM. And we'll
Speaker 1: we'll talk more about these protests after after we have
Speaker 1: a little little bit of an ad break. You know,
Speaker 1: who doesn't get protested except for that one time when
Speaker 1: they illegally overthrew the government of Ecuador. Uh have to
Speaker 1: be more the that's right, Garrison, our sponsors only one
Speaker 1: time did they inside cause mass protests as a result
Speaker 1: of overthrowing a sovereign government. That's pretty good, Garrison, pretty good.
Speaker 1: Are you trying to do like a Banana republic thing?
Speaker 1: What are you? What are you doing? I'm just saying
Speaker 1: most podcasts three to four governments overthrown by their sponsors.
Speaker 1: All right, it could happen here just the one baby, Hello,
Speaker 1: welcome to Why Canada isn't a liberal utopia? Uh and
Speaker 1: actually has a lot of the same sytemic problems that
Speaker 1: every other Western country does. And it's not immune to
Speaker 1: fascist infiltration and option so as so I know, we
Speaker 1: we've you've talked a lot about Quebec and stuff, which
Speaker 1: is uh great because yeah, it is a problem. But
Speaker 1: this exists in the Western provinces as well. Saskatchewan, Alberta,
Speaker 1: BC have a lot of these growing kind of things.
Speaker 1: But they're not French Canadians doing this. They're more like
Speaker 1: you know what we in America would you know recognize
Speaker 1: as like rural conservatives. Um. So, around all of this,
Speaker 1: you know, increased discussion around immigration in t seventeen um
Speaker 1: around the same time people in Western Canada had we're
Speaker 1: facing a bit of an economic recession. They had you know,
Speaker 1: significant job loss around this time UM, and projects that
Speaker 1: traditionally brought work to the area, like pipelines were you know,
Speaker 1: there was discussion of them getting stalled and people you know,
Speaker 1: moving more towards renewable energy. This kind of increased a
Speaker 1: lot of the political tensions between the Eastern you know,
Speaker 1: liberal majority Canada and the western more rule Canada. UM
Speaker 1: quoting an article from the CBC, Uh, Trudeau just keeps
Speaker 1: giving away all of our money to immigrants, said Samantha too. Boy,
Speaker 1: that is a that is a French name. I'm not
Speaker 1: even attempted that one. Samantha Frenchie anyway, This mother of five,
Speaker 1: she attained a January fifth rally with a webster, her husband,
Speaker 1: and two of their children. It was her first protest
Speaker 1: for any cause we're stuck paying for all this money
Speaker 1: that he wants to give away to everybody but Canadians.
Speaker 1: My kids are growing up, and my grandkids and all
Speaker 1: of their kids are going to be poor and stuck
Speaker 1: in a hole that they're never going to get out of.
Speaker 1: This is this is you know, very common type of
Speaker 1: thing like oh, we're getting taxed and taking all of
Speaker 1: our money and giving giving away to immigrants. This happened
Speaker 1: after this, after the Syrian refugee crisis, when Canada's sort
Speaker 1: of accepting a lot of Syrian immigrants. That's that's around
Speaker 1: the time that I left Canada. Um. But I totally
Speaker 1: remember people, you know, having very similar sentiments of like,
Speaker 1: why are we you know, paying for all of these refugees, know,
Speaker 1: and of that that that's that's the thing that happens
Speaker 1: in the States too. Yeah. Um. So the economic tensions
Speaker 1: developing in Western Canada, combined with the increase in anti
Speaker 1: immigration sentiments among conservatives, were in part spurred by the
Speaker 1: Trump presidency, led to the Canadian Yellow Vest movement. UM.
Speaker 1: This is totally separate from the French protest movement. UM.
Speaker 1: The Canadian version just stole like the working class branding,
Speaker 1: just used it for their proto fascist crusade. Um. So
Speaker 1: the Canadian yellow Vests were a a group of connected
Speaker 1: protest movements over the course of nineteen that had a
Speaker 1: lot of like in personalities but also a lot of
Speaker 1: online mobilization. It's kind of since tide out, but it
Speaker 1: was a major force in pushing right wing extremism in
Speaker 1: Canada and having it be accessible to like regular people.
Speaker 1: Right it's it's not it's not like the Proud Boys
Speaker 1: at all, where it's like you know, specific you know,
Speaker 1: bad people doing this thing. It was like appealing to like,
Speaker 1: you know, the oil workers, appealing to like the moms.
Speaker 1: It was like it was it was it was primarily
Speaker 1: used Facebook as a means of passing off this type
Speaker 1: of information and making it seem you know, acceptable. Um
Speaker 1: the Canadian Loovest's quoting an article from Vice UM Canadian Yelovests,
Speaker 1: which had over a hundred thousand members on their Facebook
Speaker 1: as of May, carries the greatest potential for radicalization leading
Speaker 1: to violence in Canada right now, according to the executive
Speaker 1: director of the Canadian Anti Hate Network UH. The group
Speaker 1: description says it says it was created to protest the
Speaker 1: carbon tax and build that pipeline and stand against the
Speaker 1: treason of our country's politicians who have the audacity to
Speaker 1: sell our country's sovereignty over to the globalist u N
Speaker 1: and their tyrannical policies. But concerns over Canadian soil sector
Speaker 1: appeared to be a very little factor in the discussion
Speaker 1: that goes on inside these groups. Instead, members are obsessing
Speaker 1: over with the defending you know Western civilization from Islam
Speaker 1: Bashing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and spreading whatever you know,
Speaker 1: far right conspiracy theory is trending at the time, and
Speaker 1: I cannot overstate the amount that these people hate Trudeau.
Speaker 1: But it's it's not for like reasons because he wore
Speaker 1: black face. Like they find the most bizarre ways to
Speaker 1: hate this man. Um A lot of these people think
Speaker 1: that Justin Trudeau is the illegitimate son of Fidel Castro.
Speaker 1: This is this is kind of look similar. This is
Speaker 1: a very a very popular conspiracy theory in Canada. It
Speaker 1: is like the way that Trudeau is treated by conservatives
Speaker 1: is baffling because like, I hate Justin Trudeau, but I
Speaker 1: think I hate him for like reasonable reasons, Like he
Speaker 1: made a lot bunch of promises around you know, environment
Speaker 1: stuff that he didn't follow through on. He doesn't do
Speaker 1: he doesn't do anything he is. He does a lot
Speaker 1: of black face. It's like there's a lot of reasons
Speaker 1: to hate Justin Trudeau, but not because he's the illegitimate
Speaker 1: son of Fidel Castro leading us to like leading trying
Speaker 1: to sneak Canada into it the socialist You end, like,
Speaker 1: that's not that's not what he's doing, like like the
Speaker 1: illegitimate son of Fidel Castro. There's a couple of those
Speaker 1: in the United States. One of his daughters is now
Speaker 1: like a right wing radio personality and fun that makes
Speaker 1: so much sense. He you know, he's Castro. He did
Speaker 1: a lot of fucking like who who would care? It's
Speaker 1: not your your fault, who your dad is. It's just
Speaker 1: like this is it's it's like it's like a weaker,
Speaker 1: like funnier version of Birtherism. Yeah, it is. It makes
Speaker 1: it is like the Canadian version of that. Like it's
Speaker 1: very weird. He's like justin Trudeau is very cringe e.
Speaker 1: He lies about all of his promises. Um, he talks
Speaker 1: about game. He does a lot of virtue signaling. It
Speaker 1: does a lot of black face. There's are all really
Speaker 1: good reasons to a lot of black face. Um yeah,
Speaker 1: a lot of black face. But the way, the ways
Speaker 1: that they come up with trying to make him seem
Speaker 1: like a bad dude just baffling. Um, very very bizarre.
Speaker 1: So um. In an interview with somebody from the Yellow
Speaker 1: Vests exposed Anti Fascist Research Team, which was a very
Speaker 1: good Twitter account around it's it's it's inactive now, but
Speaker 1: this this was a very good account, a very good
Speaker 1: account that did really really solid research into the into
Speaker 1: the Ellis movement. UM. In an interview, they were asked
Speaker 1: what type of impact they think the elves Is could
Speaker 1: have in Canada and this was this was their response.
Speaker 1: The image of the threat is no longer the skinhead, blooded, blood,
Speaker 1: blood and honor type. We're dealing with average people who
Speaker 1: don't understand the impact of the rhetoric. They're calling for
Speaker 1: the mass death of an entire religion, or they're celebrating them,
Speaker 1: or they're celebrating the violence against that religion, or they're
Speaker 1: celebrating violence against government officials. They are just one step
Speaker 1: away from outright fascism, but they can't see that, and
Speaker 1: they refuse to see that, which I think it's very
Speaker 1: is a very good UM summary of like how the
Speaker 1: yellow vests were a popular movement specifically on Facebook. UM.
Speaker 1: Another part of it was the idea of like Western
Speaker 1: separatism UM, Like you know, the people in Western Canada
Speaker 1: feel ignored, They feel you know, put upon, They feel
Speaker 1: oppressed not just for feelings, not not just for being Westerners,
Speaker 1: but they honestly feel oppressed because they're white they feel like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're focusing on you know, only gonna give money to
Speaker 1: the brown people. That's the kind of thing that they
Speaker 1: feel like in the West. Um, they're like, well, you know,
Speaker 1: my right to free speech was taken away because of
Speaker 1: the because of the non binding bill, and refugees can
Speaker 1: just walk across the border and they make more money
Speaker 1: than I do. So they they have they have all
Speaker 1: these all these ideas that are not actually based in reality,
Speaker 1: but they can believe them. Um, and they you know,
Speaker 1: find these new sources that are just echo chambers that
Speaker 1: reinforce this belief to the point where they become radicalize themselves. Um.
Speaker 1: It's very it's a very very common thing, especially around
Speaker 1: twenties nineteen. I was tracking a lot of these Facebook
Speaker 1: groups around twenty nine as well, just in my spare time, UM,
Speaker 1: because it's just interesting to watch them interact. UM. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give like, you know, like a brief recap of
Speaker 1: like a typical yell yellow US protest around like Edmonton,
Speaker 1: UM based a bit off of a cup of of
Speaker 1: of of a few CBC articles, So you know, protesters
Speaker 1: would gather around in front of UM like the Legislative building,
Speaker 1: holding signs wearing bright yellow vests. Um. And they would
Speaker 1: do this like basically every every weekend for you know,
Speaker 1: months and months and months on end. Um. Some protesters
Speaker 1: why stand at the podium showing conspiracy theories about how
Speaker 1: powerful the Jewish families controlling the world are um as
Speaker 1: one as one dude did at the Alberta Legislature UM
Speaker 1: on like January. Um. Some may come sporting red make
Speaker 1: Alberta great again? Hats uh, this was very very popular,
Speaker 1: very popular. Um. Others may proud the sidelines, stress like
Speaker 1: they belong to a biker gang. Um instead of only
Speaker 1: instead of Hell's Angels, patches that you have patries that
Speaker 1: say wolves of Odin and Canadian infidels. Uh. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: give you one, guests, what type of ideology the Wolves
Speaker 1: of Odin have? Yeah? The the communists, Yeah, no, they're not,
Speaker 1: say um, but most of the protesters voices are not
Speaker 1: away from like are not from the fringes. Most of
Speaker 1: them just have jobs, um, you know, you know in
Speaker 1: like high rises, or they drive for uber the or
Speaker 1: their teachers or pipe fitters or real estate agents. And
Speaker 1: although their message is like muddled by all of these
Speaker 1: other like you know, much more overtly extremist kind of
Speaker 1: talking points. They all have one thing in common that
Speaker 1: they feel like they're getting ignored and being left behind
Speaker 1: by the liberals in the East. UM. This is echoed
Speaker 1: by one of the person they got interviewed at these
Speaker 1: rallies was named Lynn Smith, who was a former oil
Speaker 1: and gas worker who now works in the school system. UM.
Speaker 1: They were at a a yellow vest rally on in
Speaker 1: January nineteen. It was like the first first fourth protest
Speaker 1: she attended. UM. She said, they're just giving away our country.
Speaker 1: We have no rights anymore, they're taking them away. No
Speaker 1: more Lord's prayer, but they're putting prayer prayer rooms in
Speaker 1: schools for Muslims. Um, marry Christmas. You're you're You're not.
Speaker 1: You're not allowed to say it anymore. It's supposed to
Speaker 1: be happy holidays. They're changing, they're changing our country, and
Speaker 1: we've got to stand up and say something about it,
Speaker 1: because because this is our country. I was born here,
Speaker 1: my parents are born here. It's wrong. So you know,
Speaker 1: I'm sure people in the States they're from earlier with
Speaker 1: this type of rhetoric. UM, but just the the increased
Speaker 1: nature of in Canada was surprising to a lot of
Speaker 1: Canadians and like president of a lot of like liberal Canadians,
Speaker 1: because they're like, but you're you're in Canada, Why are
Speaker 1: you doing the States thing? What? Why are you doing
Speaker 1: the thing that they do in the States. Why are
Speaker 1: you doing it here? Um? But you know, the same
Speaker 1: reason you know people do in the States is because
Speaker 1: they feel ignored by politicians, you know, saying that's that's
Speaker 1: why this happens in Saskatchewan and Alberta m NBC way
Speaker 1: more than it happens in like Ontario. Right. It's because
Speaker 1: you know, the more farther away you are from you know,
Speaker 1: the big cities, the less your interests are cared for
Speaker 1: by a lot of politicians. So the ones that speak
Speaker 1: to you are these like extremists who are trying to
Speaker 1: pray on these actual you know, financial insecurities. Um. So
Speaker 1: A lot some of the protesters say that they're not
Speaker 1: like a post immigration but but most of the focus
Speaker 1: of the Edmonton Yellow Best rallies has been has been
Speaker 1: about who can come into the country and how they're
Speaker 1: allowed to get here. Um. One one guy named Brett Webster,
Speaker 1: the father of five, who works like a construction construction
Speaker 1: industry says they're overwhelming our resources. We can't properly vet
Speaker 1: these people and make sure it's safe for them to
Speaker 1: come in and make sure that they're skilled and assimilate
Speaker 1: into our country and know our ways and our values.
Speaker 1: So most of the extremest stuff in Canada outside of
Speaker 1: Quebec does come from does come specifically from Alberta. You know,
Speaker 1: the big big cities in Alberta are our Calgary and Edmonton.
Speaker 1: This happens also in a lot of the more rural
Speaker 1: areas that you know, mostly used to run on like
Speaker 1: oil drilling. Um. After losing an election to the more
Speaker 1: social democratic NDP party UH, the two provincial Conservative parties
Speaker 1: in Alberta had their own little mini Unite the Right
Speaker 1: and merged together in to us in seventeen, leading to
Speaker 1: their success in the polls in tween. So then the
Speaker 1: Conservatives have since then, they've done a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: stuff in Alberta, like cutting down their health care to
Speaker 1: actually a lot of a lot of the Conservative voters
Speaker 1: don't like, but like they voted for because that was
Speaker 1: the platform. You just were being scared of brown people,
Speaker 1: so you voted for the Conservatives. But now, but now
Speaker 1: your healthcare is cut. So that's that's how politics works. Um.
Speaker 1: So that that's kind of a brief summary of the
Speaker 1: yellow vest movement and how it how it gained a
Speaker 1: lot of popularity. Um. They they would do rallies around
Speaker 1: like polling centers. They would they would they would like
Speaker 1: they would attack people. They would have you know, violent
Speaker 1: rallies where a lot of like older older men who
Speaker 1: were in the Yellows movement would be you know, pretty
Speaker 1: violent towards you know, and anyone in their area during
Speaker 1: a protest. UM. But they kind of kind of around COVID,
Speaker 1: the yellow Vess kind of sput it out. A lot
Speaker 1: of the people in these Facebook groups got you know,
Speaker 1: moved into other conspiracy theory groups, um, and the Ells
Speaker 1: movement kind of lost its train. Um. So that's where
Speaker 1: we're kind of going to end for today, is with
Speaker 1: the kind of the Elves kind of fizzling out. And
Speaker 1: then the next part we'll talk about what's happening from
Speaker 1: like and the election that year took like kind of
Speaker 1: the present fascist rumblings um inside different sectors of Canadian politics.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that is that's my that's my very very
Speaker 1: brief right up of of right wing populism and extremism
Speaker 1: in Canada. Uh. Pre yep, it's fun. It's not fun.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's it's it's upsetting. Um, and it's you know,
Speaker 1: it's a lot of the same problems we have here
Speaker 1: of you know, politicians really ignoring people in certain parts
Speaker 1: of the country which provide provide very fertile recruiting ground
Speaker 1: for a lot of extremists. I think it's going to
Speaker 1: all end well, well, that is our that is our
Speaker 1: that is our official policy, that everything is going to
Speaker 1: turn out great. Yeah, it seems fine. I mean there's like,
Speaker 1: there is actual ways of preventing this from happening. Right,
Speaker 1: It's not it's it's not a hopeless thing. We can
Speaker 1: actually do it if we want to. Just people with
Speaker 1: power to do it, don't don't don't like doing it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well and good. That is the message of the pod Sophie.
Speaker 1: Cool and good. So yep, that's that's Canadian fascism part one.
Speaker 1: Cool um. I would recommend if people want to learn
Speaker 1: more about the Canadian uh yellow vests, check out the
Speaker 1: yellow Best Exposed Twitter account. Uh. There's also like there's
Speaker 1: also articles about them. They were a very a very
Speaker 1: good anti fascist research team. Um yeah, I would just
Speaker 1: recommend if you want to learn more about this, the
Speaker 1: specific movement, all of their work on it has been great.
Speaker 1: Um so yeah, shout out, shout out to Yellow Vests Exposed.
Speaker 1: That's the pod. Alright, Well go get your Tim Hortons
Speaker 1: and tomorrow, yeah, I go get your Tim Horton's and
Speaker 1: you're I don't know, maple syrup and go find a
Speaker 1: moose fo Zone Media or Happen Here pot on the
Speaker 1: twits and the inst against Bye bye everybody, a goodbye
Speaker 1: a It could Happen Here is a production of cool
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