On last night's episode of The Ezra Levant Show, Ezra was joined by former CBC reporter Jennifer Dundas, a descendant of Henry Dundas, after whom Dundas Street was named.
"In June 2021, when staff recommended renaming Dundas Street, they said it would cost $5.1-$6.3 million. Earlier this year, media reports quoted an unofficial estimate of $8.6 million," Jennifer tweeted.
BREAKING: Staff at the City of Toronto have doubled their estimate of the cost of renaming Dundas Street.
— Jennifer Dundas (@jldundas) December 13, 2023
The new estimate is $11.3 – 12.7 million.
In June 2021, when staff recommended renaming Dundas Street, they said it would cost $5.1-$6.3 million. Earlier this year, media… pic.twitter.com/nURyeWQdzC
Ezra asked Jennifer to provide insights into who Henry Dundas was, considering her direct lineage and extensive study of his life. He also inquired about the reasons behind Henry Dundas being celebrated in Ontario for two centuries and questioned why so many things named after him.
Jennifer Dundas responded:
He was the most powerful politician in Scotland for a good three decades at the end of the 18th century, early 19th and was a Secretary of State including Home Secretary, the War Secretary during the revolutionary wars with France.
He was the Lord Advocate which is like a solicitor general attorney general for Scotland.
And he volunteered his time.
He worked pro bono to represent a black slave who was fighting for his freedom in the Scottish courts.
And he took that case up to Scotland's highest court.
And not only did he win freedom for that slave who had, who had been brought to Scotland from Jamaica, he won a declaration from the court that nobody could be a slave on Scottish soil.
After winning a case for Joseph Knight, Henry Dundas saw the abolition movement gaining traction against the Atlantic slave trade. When William Wilberforce aimed for just ending the slave trade, Dundas disagreed. To truly stop it, he suggested abolishing both the trade and slavery at once. So, he proposed a gradual abolition instead.
"And his vision was that by within seven or eight years, the entire slave trade would be abolished," said Jennifer. "And within a generation, slavery itself would be abolished because every child born to a slave would be born free and would have to be educated at the expense of the owner of the parents."
This is only an excerpt of last night's episode of The Ezra Levant Show. To watch the full episode, become a subscriber to RebelNews+.
