Ezra Levant

So Long Sharia Law

2012-05-16T00:23:52Z

Kansas state representative, Peggy Mast, on the passing of her state’s anti-sharia bill.

This segment aired on The Source May 15 2012.

What's Amir Attaran Hiding?

2012-05-16T00:17:16Z

Liberal media darling Amir Attaran is a big fan of freedom of information requests, except about when they're targeted at him. Ezra Levant has more.

This segment aired on The Source May 15 2012.

Get Behind Bill C-377 - Demand Labour Union Transparency

2012-05-16T00:14:02Z

John Mortimer of Labour Watch, on why Canadians should get behind Bill C-377 in unlocking union transparency.

This segment aired on The Source May 15 2012.

Violence pays off: Charest’s concessions an absurd reward to rioting students

2012-05-15T11:52:36Z

Three weeks ago, some of the student protesters in Montreal thought they needed to ratchet up their antics.

They had been complaining that Quebec’s university students were hard done by, so they went “on strike.” But it wasn’t convincing.

The majority of students know a student strike is just code for skipping class. For most kids, who actually are trying to get a degree to get a job in this uncertain economy, a student strike could jeopardize their exams. And a student strike doesn’t make sense to taxpayers. It’s tough to be sympathetic to university students who pay the lowest tuition in the country — and who still will pay the lowest in the country, even after the modest increases will be enacted, many years from now.

So what do you do if your protest is fizzling? If it’s not winning big media coverage, and if the coverage it is receiving isn’t positive? Well, normal students would probably go back to school.

But these protests weren’t being led by normal students. They were being orchestrated by radicals and professional activists.

Time to try out a new tactic.

And so on Wednesday, April 25, protesters threw homemade incendiary devices. No one was killed — they were smoke bombs, really. But they were terrifying for the people who were caught in them.

That day, the protest was no longer a protest. Because its central characteristic was no longer an exchange of ideas, a debate, a counter-argument to the government’s tuition proposals. It ceased being a protest and became a riot. Because it was no longer about persuasion. It was about terrifying and threatening any doubters.

These weren’t random acts. They were co-ordinated. Smoke bombs were thrown in two Montreal subway stations.

Just to state the obvious: A bomb is not an argument. A bomb signals the end of an argument — the transition from peace to violence, from democracy to terrorism.

Yes, terrorism. What else does the word mean? Promoting political change by instilling fear in your opponent’s mind. Terrorism does not have to kill anyone to be terrifying.

So, faced with organized, planned, co-ordinated political violence, what did Jean Charest do? He gave the rioters what they wanted. He agreed to water down his already modest tuition increases, and to delay them.

He rewarded the violence.

But as Rudyard Kipling would say, once you pay the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane.

The students saw a simple cause and effect — ramp up the extremism and get results. Go violent, get concessions.

If a few smoke bombs that shut down the subway for half an hour could do that, imagine what a large, concerted bombing effort could do?

And so it came to pass. Last week, student rioters set off bombs in the subway, billowing smoke through the system, shutting down the whole thing. More than 100,000 passengers were affected. The Montreal Board of Trade estimated that for every hour the subway was down, the city lost $11 million in business.

After the bombs went off last week, Charest told reporters, “It’s inexplicable. There’s no reason to commit acts of intimidation and violence.”

Really? Inexplicable means it can’t be explained.

No reason to commit acts of intimidation? Why, there is every reason indeed. This can be explained. There is a reason. And the reason is that Jean Charest has rewarded this violence with concessions.

And so he should expect more of it.

This column appeared across the Sun Chain May 15 2012.

Quebec Student Protests Hijacked

2012-05-14T23:17:43Z

Ezra Levant looks at how the Quebec student protests have been hijacked by an undercurrent of violence.

This segment aired on The Source May 14 2012.

Protecting America From Sharia Law

2012-05-14T23:13:59Z

David Yerushalmi talks about his efforts to outlaw Sharia law in the United States.

This segment aired on The Source May 14 2012.

Cops Cave To Radicals

2012-05-14T23:10:53Z

McGill University Student, Marc Fortin, on why he takes issue with the rioters blockading and preventing hard-working students from going to class in Montreal.

This segment aired on The Source May 14 2012.

Ask and you shall (tax) receipt - Why is our revenue minister allowing Tides Canada to continue its money laundering?

2012-05-12T14:51:50Z

There’s a radical lobby group based in the most left-wing city in North America, namely San Francisco. It’s called the Tides Foundation. It’s where left-wing billionaires funnel their money to promote radical causes.

A few years ago, they decided to colonize Canada. So they set up a branch plant in Vancouver, called Tides Canada Foundation. And they got charitable tax status from Revenue Canada.

That was very important. Because it let them issue charitable tax receipts to donors, in effect making the Canadian government subsidize those donations.

So they got a coveted charity number. In return, they had to abide by the law. Substantially all of their work had to be truly charitable — less than 10% was allowed to be political in any way. And zero percent was allowed to be partisan.

They got that charity status. And so the Trojan Horse was in. And once they got their charity number, they started funnelling money to their favourite left-wing causes — but still using their charitable tax receipts for that.

It’s hard to get a charity number. You have to do something truly charitable. Food banks, schools, hospitals, that kind of thing. It’s not for political groups or groups that “raise awareness.”

You can’t just be a charity in your own mind — it has to be something that everyone in the community believes in. Like food banks. Not like political protests against the oilsands. Or for the oilsands, for that matter. Nothing in public dispute like that.

But Tides isn’t really about boring things like food banks. They love radical left-wing politics. And so once we gave them a charity number, they could hardly wait to share it with all of their friends.

Here’s how it would work. Take a left-wing group that could never, ever qualify as a charity itself — say, the animal rights extremists called People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). They could never give their donors a charitable tax credit.

No problem. Tides Canada agreed to lend their charity number to PETA. Revenue Canada would never allow that. But Tides just did it.

They weren’t even secret about it. They turned it into a business model. They did it hundreds of times.

Remember Brigette DePape? She was that Senate page who stood in the middle of Parliament holding up a sign saying “Stop Harper.” Well, now she’s part of an extremist lobby group called the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition. It’s a political group, obviously. They don’t do public service like helping the elderly, or training seeing-eye dogs. They are a pressure group against the government. That’s fine — but it ain’t a charity.

No problem — Tides Canada is happy to lend their charitable number to DePape’s political group.

Same thing with ForestEthics, the ironically named lobby group that tries to convince American companies to boycott Canadian goods and services that have something to do with the oilsands. It’s anti-Canadian sabotage. It’s not illegal — even idiots have the right to free speech. But it sure isn’t charity.

Well, no problem. Up until last month, Tides Canada was happy to lend their charity number to ForestEthics to fund its job-killing campaign. (ForestEthics announced in April it was splitting from Tides Canada — and giving up its charitable status — so it can take on more political activity). There’s a term for this: Money laundering.

Big donors — including big U.S. donors — used Tides Canada’s charity number to pay less tax than if they gave the money directly to non-charitable groups.

Tides Canada was literally renting out its charity number to non-charities — they charged a 10% commission. For that fee, they allowed political donors to get tax shelters they didn’t deserve. And to even remain anonymous while doing it.

So non-charitable donations to political groups were being laundered through Tides Canada’s charity number — depriving Canadian taxpayers of thousands, perhaps millions of dollars in taxes, and funnelling it straight to groups who would never, on their own, be allowed to give a charitable receipt.

None of this is in dispute. The only question left is, why is Revenue Minister Gail Shea allowing it?

This column appeared in the Sun News chain May 12 2012.

Jean Charest Or Larry The Stooge

2012-05-10T23:17:30Z

Menzies on the hunt for Jean Charest’s, ahem, balls on the streets of Montreal.

This segment aired on The Source May 10 2012.

Charity Behaving Uncharitably

2012-05-10T23:08:10Z

Ezra continues his expose on the Tides Canada Foundation uncharitable behavior

This segment aired on The Source May 10 2012.

Free Speech Wins On Facebook

2012-05-10T22:56:39Z

John Carpay, president of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, on the free speech victory in Alberta where the appeal court ruled in favour of students’ rights to criticize professors on Facebook, much to the U of C’s chagrin.

This segment aired on The Source May 10 2012.

Money Laundering Charities

2012-05-09T23:28:37Z

Ezra Levant with yet another exposé of dirty money tricks by the Tide Foundation, will the government finally act?

This segment aired on The Source May 9 2012.

Oil From The West To The East

2012-05-09T23:25:41Z

Enbridge spokesman Paul Stanway on why eastern Canadians should be interested in the oilsands, especially reversing Line 9.

This segment aired on The Source May 9 2012.

A Tale Of Two Irans

2012-05-09T23:22:37Z

Sayeh Hassan, lawyer and democratic rights activist, on the two Iranian-Canadians who currently face execution in Iran

This segment aired on The Source May 9 2012.

A Conservative Quebec?

2012-05-09T23:18:17Z

Ezra Levant speaks with Eric Duhaime about the growing conservative, libertarian and industrious movement in Quebec.

This segment aired on The Source May 9 2012.