Podcast Summary: EZRA LEVANT | Carney's Grocery Rebate Is Just a Campaign Stunt: How About Some Real Fixes?

Podcast: Rebel News Podcast
Host: David Menzies (for Ezra Levant)
Date: January 31, 2026

Overview

This episode centers on the Liberal government's recent "Canada's Groceries and Essentials Benefit"—an affordability measure announced by Prime Minister Mark Carney. Host David Menzies critically assesses the program, branding it as a superficial campaign stunt that fails to address deeper issues regarding affordability, government waste, and mismanaged immigration policy. The episode is interspersed with satirical commentary, discussion of recent government spending follies, and a special segment from the Conservative Party convention featuring an in-depth interview with MP Michelle Rempel Garner about the failures in Canada’s immigration system.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Mark Carney’s "Groceries and Essentials" Benefit

• Announcement Recap (00:15–01:10)

  • Carney unveils a program to inject "hundreds of dollars more into the bank accounts of more than 12 million Canadians" via a 25% hike in the GST credit and a one-time extra 50% payment.
  • Menzies mocks the photo-op setting, emphasizing the PM’s detachment from ordinary Canadian realities.

• Superficial Solutions, Deeper Problems (01:10–04:00)

  • Menzies equates the benefit to “a band aid to a bullet wound.”
  • He criticizes Carney for blaming inflation on COVID-19 and climate change, ignoring decade-long Liberal fiscal policies.

  Notable Quote:

  "From an economic perspective, Canada needs major surgery. But with this announcement, Dr. Carney is essentially applying a band aid to a bullet wound."
  — David Menzies (03:00)

• Comparative Political Bait and Switch (04:00–07:42)

  • Highlights U.S. and Virginia politics, noting how affordability promises morph into higher taxes post-election.
  • Calls this “the very definition of bait and switch,” tying it back to the Carney government.

2. Government Spending and Wastefulness

• Examples of Waste (07:42–15:00)

  • Menzies critiques massive government outlays—from legal aid and supplemental health for non-citizens to TV ad campaigns and the multi-billion-dollar “gun grab.”
  • Cites Blacklock’s Reporter on $885M for illegal aliens and refugees, while 6.5M Canadians lack a family doctor.
  • Criticizes $76.4M in federal PR ads as “virtue signaling,” and slams the $6B buy-back program as futile.

  Notable Quote:

  "Economic calamity isn't so much a revenue issue, but rather a spending issue."
  — David Menzies (08:30)

• Bureaucracy, Bonuses, and Academic Grants (15:00–18:00)

  • Canadian Taxpayers Federation reports: 98% of government executives received bonuses despite failing half their metrics.
  • Highlights “ludicrous” Social Sciences research grants (e.g., $105,000 to study grocery carts, $20,000 on Peruvian Rock music’s gender politics, $94,000 for research on selfies).

  Memorable Moment:

  "Does anyone other than narcissist Justin Trudeau really care about the science of selfies?"
  — David Menzies (17:18)

• CBC’s Protected Status

  • Asserts defunding CBC could save $1.4B/year, but predicts Liberals will never touch it.

3. Affordability as a Campaign Ruse (18:00–20:56)

• Argues Carney’s GST credit increase mirrors election tactics rather than genuine reform.
• Alludes to growing speculation of an imminent federal election.

Notable Quote:

"If Carney really cared about the affordability crisis, he wouldn’t hand out crumbs...He would take a flamethrower to all the...wasteful government spending."
— David Menzies (19:30)

4. Conservative Party Convention Interview: MP Michelle Rempel Garner on Immigration (20:56–31:19)

Segment Highlights:

• Liberal Immigration Policy Failures

  • Rempel Garner details abuse in the Temporary Foreign Worker (TFW) program, labeling parts of it "akin to slavery" (United Nations language).
  • Argues reforms to curb abuse were undone under Trudeau, leading to wage depression, youth underemployment, and exploitation.

  Notable Quotes:

  "Especially in like the low skilled workers streams, you see employers bringing these temporary foreign workers to Canada, but they're tied to that employer. So there's, it's, it's been rife with abuse."
  — Michelle Rempel Garner (22:20)

  "With a 20% youth unemployment rate across this country...I haven't heard an argument yet...that [the TFW program] somehow benefits Canadian youth."
  — Michelle Rempel Garner (22:50)

• Systemic Asylum Abuse

  • Highlights record asylum claim backlogs (300,000+), rampant "visa hopping," particularly among foreign students.
  • Describes the “Frazier wave” (after Sean Fraser), allowing nearly a million foreign students in, then switching status.

  Standout Detail:

  "There are now at this moment...2.1 million people in Canada who are here with expired or expiring visas."
  — Michelle Rempel Garner (26:50)

• Restoring Order and Conservative Solutions

  • Outlines Conservative proposals: abolishing TFW program, tying citizenship rules to actual permanent residency.
  • Blames government reluctance on heavy lobbying by business and “diploma mills,” and on virtue signalling (e.g., #WelcomeToCanada tweet).

  Telling Moment:

  "Canada can be an open and welcoming country, but you can't bring in so many people that housing, health care, jobs, other things can't, social infrastructure can't keep up. And that's clearly what happened."
  — Michelle Rempel Garner (28:44)

5. Listener Feedback & Closing Banter (31:30–End)

• Menzies reads and reacts to listener comments on previous monologues regarding dystopian themes in Canadian governance and political corruption.
• Tone remains critical, sarcastic, and skeptical of the Liberal government throughout.

Amusing Exchange:

"The Liberals say I could keep my eye clamps...they assured me I would watch nothing but CBC for the rest of my days."
— Listener comment, paraphrased by David Menzies (31:50)

Timestamps & Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------------|-------------------------------------------------------| | 00:15–04:00 | Carney’s announcement and Menzies’ critique | | 04:00–07:42 | Political bait and switch: US & Virginia case study | | 07:42–15:00 | Government spending, waste, and virtue signaling | | 15:00–18:00 | Taxpayers Federation reports & grant scandals | | 18:00–20:56 | CBC and election speculation | | 20:56–31:19 | Michelle Rempel Garner interview @ CPC convention | | 31:30–End | Listener feedback & closing |

Tone & Language

• Cynical, sarcastic, and direct—Menzies employs satire, rhetorical questions, and biting humor.
• Critical of government waste at every level, skeptical of Liberal motives, and sympathetic to fiscal conservative solutions.
• Conversational and accessible, using personal anecdotes and popular culture references (e.g., "A Clockwork Orange," Ford F-150 ads, "Disco Inferno" lyrics).

Conclusion

This episode of The Ezra Levant Show is a hard-hitting, caustic critique of the Liberal government’s new affordability measure, depicting it as a campaign ruse against a backdrop of unchecked government waste. The feature interview with MP Michelle Rempel Garner adds substantive analysis of immigration failures, making the episode both a political commentary and a platform for Conservative policy advocacy. For listeners—supportive or skeptical—it’s an engaging deep-dive into the intersection of government spending, affordability, and immigration policy in Canada.