"It's been a bumpy few weeks" for US-Canada relations, @RebelNewsOnline founder Ezra Levant tells Glenn. But do Canadians actually hate America after Trump's tariff announcement, his talk about making Canada the 51st state, and the brutal US-Canada hockey game? Ezra joins Glenn to give his perspective as a Trump-friendly, Trudeau-hating Canadian. Plus, he explains why "Justin Trudeau wants a trade war" in his last few weeks as Prime Minister and how Trump can punish Trudeau without hurting the Canadian people, and it all resolves around oil ...
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: All right. Let's go to Canada. And one of our good friends up in Canada.
Ezra Levant. Hello, Ezra, how are you?
EZRA: Hi, it's great to be on the show. You know, I love America. And I love Canada too. And I don't think I have to choose. And I also love Trump, by the way. So it's been a bumpy few weeks because Trump said, hey, Canada, we will have a problem, or we will slap you with tariffs.
GLENN: Yeah.
EZRA: And when you think of open borders. You think of the Mexican border, right?
And it's true, the vast majority numerically of the smuggling of people is on the Mexican side. But Canada is not perfect. And it's getting worse. There's actually more would-be terrorists that are nabbed on the Northern Border than the Mexican border.
GLENN: Yes, a lot of Chinese as well.
EZRA: Exactly.
And the cartels are active in Canada, including not just Mexican cartels. But, you know, there's big meth labs being found in Canada every week.
Here's the thing, if you look at the announcement that Trump made. This was back I think in November. He said, look, by the time I'm inaugurated on January 20. I want you, Mexico. And you, Canada. To basically do the preparatory work to seal the borders. Start working on it now.
Or else, I'll slap you with a tariff. So I think a grownup would say. He wants us to seal the borders. We should probably do that in our own interests anyway.
And he has. But let's just do the work. Because it's in our interest too. Trouble is, Trudeau said, no. I'm not going to seal the border.
I'm not going to crack down on illegal migrants and illegal drugs even if that's something we should do. I am going to focus on the "or else," and I will get into a sort of staring contest with an ally ten times bigger than us.
GLENN: Right.
EZRA: And I've watched Trump's announcement. He wants the border fixed, the tariff is the "or else."
But here's the thing. And I don't know if Trump has really ever thought about this, because he's dealing with bigger fish.
Like, he's dealing with Ukraine. He's dealing with the economy and the fires in LA. And getting his nominees through the Senate. So he's dealing with huge things.
I don't think he's following the minutiae of Canadian politics.
Because let me tell you one thing I think Trump didn't count on here. Some master negotiator. And the thing about a negotiation, is, the other guy, you know, you've got to be willing to walk away. And you have to make it so the other guy sort of doesn't want to walk away, because his alternative is worse. Here's the thing about Trudeau, Glenn. In January, Justin Trudeau announced, he will resign. And that will take effect on March 9th. That's like three weeks from now. So Trudeau doesn't have the interest of getting a deal. He wants his final few weeks as Prime Minister to be, you know, an epic superhero coming to save Canada. He wants to be captain Canada fighting against the big, bad Trump.
He doesn't actually want a deal, Glenn. Because that's boring. And that looks like he's taking orders from Trump.
If he fights Trump. If he says, no, no, no. I don't want to spend a few billion on border security.
I want to get in a hundred billion-dollar trade war. See, Trump is not used to negotiating with a guy who actually wants to hurt himself. But why would Trudeau want that? Two reasons: Number one, to change the narrative. He's the Captain Canada, saving our country from the big bad -- we have Trump Derangement Syndrome here.
But number two, Trudeau has wrecked our economy through taxes and debt. And inflation. And cost of living. So if Trump actually does bring in punitive tariffs. Trudeau can say, uh-huh.
This is on Trump. Not me. I didn't wreck the economy. Trump did.
So Trump is dealing with a guy who is acting in bad faith.
Justin Trudeau wants a trade war. He wants our countries to fight.
GLENN: So let me ask you this. I've been watching the reaction of some Canadians. And they're like, we're not going to become the 51st state. Do you guys understand trolling. Donald Trump is calling Trudeau the governor of the 51st state to minimalize him. As a mock of Trudeau.
We're not -- we're not thinking about buying you. We're not offering to buy you. And we're certainly not buying troops up there to take you. Do the Canadians just not understand that?
EZRA: I think it's a combination. Because here's the thing, for the last ten years, Trudeau has tried to denature Canada. Our founding prime minister is named John A. McDonald's. John A. McDonald's, our version of George Washington.
He's on our 10-dollar bill. There's statues of him everywhere. Trudeau stripped him off the 10-dollar bill. Trudeau presided over his statues being knocked down. Trudeau has told us, that we are a country that committed genocide against Indian people. Trudeau calls us sexist. Racist. He says. He told the New York Times, we have no core values.
We're basically a hotel. So he has been -- he changes our national anthem. Who asked him to do that?
Like, he's doing all these things.
GLENN: Wait. Wait. Wait. He changed your national anthem from O Canada, to what?
EZRA: It's still O Canada, but he changed the words. He went on Anderson Cooper's show. And Anderson Cooper said, well, what's a Canadian? Okay. Well, that's a question you would expect the prime minister to answer.
He said, well, we're not Americans. That's not -- that's not an identity. That's sort of an attitude. And so he -- here's a guy who for ten years has derided what it means to be Canadian. He's given away citizenship to millions.
So I think Trump in his uncanny way, detected within Trudeau a bit of an inferiority complex. A bit of a weakness. That 51st state thing. That governor thing.
It actually stings, because Trudeau has spent ten years destroying our national identity. And Trump must have got that somehow. Because every time Trump says that, it actually hurts. Because we have spent ten years destroying what's made us Canada.
And Trump figured it out.
GLENN: Well, he's very good.
He's very good at knowing where people's weaknesses where R.
I think that's one of his -- one of his real skills in negotiating.
He knows what the other side is thinking. And what they're afraid of. Let me -- let me ask you this: Are we -- is this going to turn into something?
EZRA: Well, you know, there was some booing. There was a hockey game going on.
GLENN: Oh, no. We're very well aware of it.
EZRA: Some people are very startled. The idea of fighting with Americans is unthinkable.
Really, you almost can't tell the difference between a Canadian and American. Words like about.
GLENN: Right. How long you'll wait for health care. Yeah. There's just a few things.
EZRA: There are some differences, of course. But I can't think of two countries that are more similar.
GLENN: Right.
EZRA: So the idea that we're in some battle with America, it's confusing. But here's the thing. Let me say a quick thing about the 51st state. You know how California, is this huge electoral college that always goes Democrat every time. Let me say this to my brothers in the United States.
You don't want another 41 million people who will vote Democrat.
GLENN: Oh, we've made that point. We've made that point. That's...
EZRA: I myself, would be a Trump supporter. And maybe the problems of Alberta, from where I am, would.
GLENN: Right.
EZRA: And, by the way, I know you have some challenges from Spanish bilingualism. You know, it's French. Get ready for French to be spoken.
I'm just saying, you know, there are a few details. But let me tell you, what -- what actually matters.
I don't know if you know, but the -- our free trade agreement. That Trump renegotiated with Canada.
It will give us he went you want. We have 170 billion, with a B, barrels of oil in our oil sands.
And you have access to it. You have preferential access to it. And so when Trump talks about slapping that with a tariff. My phrase is, is it America first? You're the customer. You need to displace the conflict oil you're buying from OPEC. How about instead of slapping oil with the tariffs, that's just going to your refineries? We're the number one source of American oil under America. You make about half of your own oil in Texas and other places. But the other half, we're your number one source. Then comes Mexico and Saudi Arabia. How about replace that OPEC oil with more Canadian oil?
And I know Trump is a deal-maker. Art of the Deal. How about do a 50-year deal with Canada?
You could buy every one of those 170 barrels of oil. 170 billion.
And that would last you 50 years. You would be able to displace every foreign barrel of crude. $13 trillion deal. That's a bigger deal than Greenland. You have access to your oil. It's yours.
Most of the companies operating there, are American-owned. The Canadian companies are all listed on your stock changes.
You own the companies. American all the way down.
GLENN: Right. Right.
EZRA: And you don't want China to get access to that oil? China is poking around Canada's oil. What does China want? China wants to you push Canada away. Don't. Don't, don't do it. And I just, I think Trump is shooting at Trudeau, but hitting us. Don't do that. Look, I have a creative way to get back at Trudeau. But don't do it by attacking Canada.
GLENN: What's your creative way?
EZRA: Well, I'll tell you, I mentioned before that Justin Trudeau has said that Canada has committed a genocide against our native peoples. But he says that in the present tense. He says, we are committing a genocide.
Really? That sounds like a crime against humanity.
What about issuing an executive order saying, taking notice of Justin Trudeau's confession, that he's presiding against over a genocide, we hereby put sanctions on Justin Trudeau and his cabinet.
They may not enter the United States. They may not fly over our country. They may not do this. So just like Trump is doing with that international criminal court.
GLENN: Yes.
EZRA: They wanted to arrest Netanyahu. If you smack Justin Trudeau around, he loves going to New York. He goes down to New York and parties.
And he sort of does what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Trudeau loves going to America. If you took that away from him, Trudeau would be floored.
Go after Trudeau. You want to punish Trudeau, me too. I've got some ideas. But Canadians -- get all the oil you want. Let's be good friends. And, by the way, you do a 13 trillion-dollar deal to buy oil for 15 years. Now we have money to build up our own forces. And be our best buddies like we were on D-Day. But we were in Afghanistan.
