Ezra Levant (6:59)
I mean it when I say he's one of the good guys. But the thing about being a good guy is you have to do it, you have to act on it. You can't just be good in your heart quietly. That's not enough. At least it's not enough for a member of Parliament. I mean, look at the word parliament. It comes from to speak out, to advocate. Ordinary private citizens can keep their own counsel. Ordinary people have the right to remain private. You don't have to jump into every battle. But if you positively signed up for the battle, if you signed up for politics, if you ran on a promise to say certain things, the battle of ideas is actually your job. You gotta act on it. Now I really do like Garnet Genuis, in case you're in any doubt. But look at this that he wrote late last night. You tell me if you are as disappointed as I am. He. He wrote this on X now called, or used to be called Twitter. He said I have disappointing news to share about further attacks on free speech. My event at York University scheduled for this Friday is now cancelled due to a decision of the student union not to allow it. I'm pretty surprised. We've done the same event concept at universities in four provinces without incident. I stand in a public area in front of a banner and talk to students as they walk by about jobs and unemployment, but the student union at York won't allow it. York students who want to talk about jobs and unemployment should please contact my office. I still want to hear your stories. So that's it. Instead of going to the students where they are with the hope of meeting people, not just die hard conservatives, but people who aren't political, people who aren't convinced to engage them and convince them, you think it's a substitute to tell them to phone your MP's office? Actually not even their own MP's office to phone you out in Fort Saskatchewan. Who came up with that one? That is not a substitute. That is not good enough. Here's what I wrote in reply to Garnet Genuis on Twitter and I tried to be my friendliest, the friendliest version of myself. I said, hi Garnet, I think you could have a different response than just accepting this outcome and tweeting about it. Number one, I think you should go to court. The student union may be governed by the Charter of Rights and therefore have an obligation to respect your freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of association, et cetera, et cetera. Even if they're not governed by the charter, there are likely other procedural rules of fairness that apply. It's already Thursday, but you should go to court anyways because you could reschedule the York University meeting for another day. Number two, the student union may have the ability to eject you from their property, for example, if you were set to speak in a building owned by them, but they wouldn't have the ability to ban you from anywhere else on campus. There are plenty of meeting rooms, even auditoriums on campus where they have no power. Number three, most people who are banned from campuses don't have the money, know how or large media presence to fight back. You have all three. I think it behooves you to push back against the censorship, not only for yourself, but to set illegal and political precedent for others. And number four, frankly, why wouldn't you just show up? What are they going to do, arrest you? At most they give you a trespass notice, which you'd ignore and continue to talk. If they finally did call real police, then slowly leave and let that be the defining image for York University in 2026. Spark a larger debate about freedom. Get the Board of Governors and the university president on the record. It is not acceptable for a student union to ban an MP from speaking on campus. Going along with it strengthens it. That's what I wrote. What do you think? There's other points I could have made too, like maybe they're breaching a contract or inducing a breach of contract. I'm thinking like a lawyer for a second. It almost doesn't matter. The point is to fight and to show a bit of courage not to back down at the first whiff of Wokeism. I mean, if a member of Parliament can't stand up to censorship at York University Student Union, how is an ordinary student expected to do so? You're a grown man with a lot of power and if you can't stand up, how could some 18 or 19 year old stand up? Isn't part of being in public life part of being a leader? Isn't it being a role model, setting an example? Some loser left wing student who says no, you can't come and you say okay, anyone can phone me out there in Fort Saskatchewan now. After I posted my response, Garnet Genuis wrote this. He said some people have suggested that I proceed with the event. Anyways, yeah, that'd be me. I am willing to do so called unauthorized events on campus. I did one previously at Concordia. I. I don't believe that student unions should be able to shut these things down. In this particular case, I've been working with a group of local students to facilitate the events. I don't want to create a situation in which they could face indirect consequences. I'm always ready to deal with controversy. Are you really, mate? Are you really? But I don't want to leave someone else holding the bag. Well, isn't that what you just sort of did? So bottom line, I expect to be back at York, but not this Friday. I'm sorry, I don't buy it. I don't want to create a situation in which they could face indirect consequences. They're precisely the ones who have to suffer the direct consequences of you bailing. You quit their event because some WOKE student said you can't do it. And what consequences are you referring to? Is there some threat against them? And if so, you've just accepted that or you're letting it stand without pushing back? I'm sorry, I just don't think that's good enough. You can't be the cowardly lion. You got to have some courage. Not when you have the power of an MP's office behind you. You have nothing to lose. You can't be fired. Your expenses are covered. You're your own boss. You're very strong as an mp. You can challenge this petty ruling. If you get in trouble. Parliament's board of an internal economy will Take care of you, for example, paying for your legal defense. I know that you've got access to every journalist in Canada. You could send an email and get on cbc, ctv, Global News immediately. You have power, but you're bending the knee to some woke urchin. You need to channel a bit of that. U.S. senator from Louisiana, John Kennedy. Not the late President, but, but this guy.