DAVID MENZIES ｜ CBC's Freedom Convoy Hit Piece; Poilievre at UBC
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Summary
Alexa Lavois looks into a CBC hit piece that claimed a good Samaritan was conned out of thousands of dollars by the Freedom Convoy folk. And the Pierre Polyev Express continues to chug along, and the conservative leadership hopeful, recently swung by the University of British Columbia, was interviewed by Andrea Humphrey regarding his support for the blockchain economy. And finally, we get your letters!
Transcript
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Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you,
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in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week
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by your favorite rebels. I'm your host, David Menzies. Alexa Lavois looks into a CBC hit piece
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on the Freedom Convoy. You see, the state broadcaster claimed that a Good Samaritan
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was conned out of thousands of dollars by the convoy folk. Just one little teeny-weeny problem.
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Turns out that the so-called Good Samaritan, well, he's actually a con man,
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not the Freedom Convoy people. Yes, thanks to an appalling lack of fact-checking,
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this CBC story may be one of the worst examples of fake news so far this year.
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Alexa has all the appalling details. And the Pierre Polyev Express continues to chug along
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the conservative leadership hopeful, recently swung by the University of British Columbia.
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Andrea Humphrey was able to interview Mr. Polyev regarding his support for the blockchain economy.
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And finally, letters. We get your letters. We get your letters every minute of every day.
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And I'll share some of your responses about my commentary regarding an Ontario government-run magazine
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devoted to the sale of alcohol that recently ran a story about Ramadan.
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Apparently not the nitwits who produce that fish wrap known as Food and Drink magazine.
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Those are your Rebels. Now let's round them up.
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My landlord, when I got arrested and asked if I could search my property
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because they thought, like, I had weapons, I was an organizer.
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Here is what I could debunk concerning the lies about the donation and the money he lost.
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This is only a part of it, as other people also contributed to help him financially during the convoy.
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But we cannot know the exact amount he received.
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Let's start with the claim in the CBC article that Engelhardt spent over $13,000
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Engelhardt also said he wrote to the convoy's organizer several times to be refunded
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for what he had spent on fuel for the truckers.
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I asked my bank on February 14th, how much money did I spend from January 27th to the 14th?
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He said he included receipt and screenshot of his bank statement.
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The person in charge of the refund confirmed to me that Engelhardt had no receipt,
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only picture of his account with unverifiable transfer and expense.
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I guess he doesn't realize that the problem with such a true confession slash mea culpa is this.
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You see, when you are a con man confessing that you are no longer a con man,
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the thing is, how do we truly know that this confession is not part of yet another con job?
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Sorry, Mr. Engelhardt, I don't buy what you are selling, nor do I doubt many people are either.
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But hey, let's not forget Martin's accomplice in this most recent grifting scheme.
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And that would be the CBC, which was so gung-ho to demonize the patriots
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who made up the rank and file of the trucker convoy
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that our state broadcaster forgot to do, you know, a little due diligence like fact-checking.
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And joining me now to discuss this shameful man and an even more shameful piece of so-called journalism
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is our Quebec City correspondent, Alexa Lavoie.
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So, Alexa, lots of blame to go around here, but who do you have more contempt for?
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The con man, because I guess con men do what con men do, which is to take advantage of good Samaritans,
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or the CBC, which really just couldn't be bothered to show a little initiative
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So, for me, I would say, like, both of them are to blame.
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Like, when you know that you are actually doing some bad stuff, fraud, example, scamming people,
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you are not exposing yourself in the story, in the mainstream media.
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So, of course, if you decide to expose yourself, you take the consequences that come with.
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And the CBC had the job to probably verify and do some fact-checking for, like, what they give to them,
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like, bank account or, like, the ticket they receive.
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They didn't check anything, and they didn't verify who was this man.
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Afterwards, the people were seeing him say, oh, we are feeling so sorry for him.
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They didn't know what, who they were giving money.
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And now I find out that that man is not, completely not the one that people was expecting.
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but you have, like, a really huge criminal record only, like, and I, this is only in Quebec.
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We are, I'm not talking about the rest of Canada.
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Well, you know, Alexa, thanks to your superb investigative journalism on this file,
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you have exposed the CBC for being duped by this person.
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Maybe they were willingly being duped, and that would be a story unto itself.
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But the thing is, now that the cat is out of the bag regarding this guy's background
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and his nefarious activities in the past, has the CBC retracted this story, apologized, made a correction?
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So, I know that they did a correction when they saw, like, when it was saying, like,
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oh, I got arrested, and on the, he said that on the 15th,
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but on the ticket of the police officer, he was on the 10th.
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So, they rectified on their webpage some of the small information.
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But when we talk about the fact that CBC have reported on this man on 2018,
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and they didn't check on their own archive about the man in question,
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and as well, when, you know, that on the bank statement,
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that he was claiming, like, welfare from two provinces.
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I think it's more like, or negligence, or they just wanted to let that out of the story.
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Well, Alexa, I know CBC is funded to the tune of more than a billion-plus dollars a year,
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making it virtually an extension of the government.
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But even by a government bureaucrat standard, how lazy can you get?
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I mean, they could even check their own stuff on their own website.
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Do you think, Alexa, I mean, we can't prove this, of course,
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but do you think CBC was intentionally trying to pull a fast one,
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that they knew damn well this guy was a con artist,
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and they were just hoping that nobody would notice,
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but it didn't get past your eagle eyes, thank goodness.
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because recently, as you know, like, he did, like,
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a lot of threat of suicide, as at me, on text message.
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So we know that he's unstable, we know that he's a really troubled man,
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but the fact that CBC have reported him as a troubled man,
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like, missing because they were scared for his health,
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And, Alexa, you said something very important there.
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Sure. He has threatened you or implied threats to you via text messages or phone calls.
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Yeah. So after, so first of all, I tried to reach him for his time
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because I wanted to maybe have an interview or I had some questions for him.
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So I wanted to let the chance to him to explain himself.
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So the conversation ended up really, really fast
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So afterwards, afterwards that my first report went out,
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he called, he tried to call me many times during the night.
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It was during the night, like, 11, and at 1 a.m.
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he was sending me, like, a lot of text messages.
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I never answered because I was like, his message doesn't mean anything.
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And so he sent me another message at night the other night,
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and saying, like, I'm taking 30 deal-a-deal, that will make the job.
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I called the police for his safety and his help
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because it was my responsibility at least to advise the police
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But the fun fact is, like, he doesn't have, like, any home.
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So the police was not able to know where he was.
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You know, Alexa, this anecdote makes me believe that when we show the video
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where he's saying, oh, I was bad in the past, I'm reformed now,
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You know, I think that was a lot of BS about him saying,
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you've been so mean to me, I'm going to kill myself now.
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This guy is a creep, and yet this is the poster boy CBC uses
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to demonize decent, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens
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And especially, you need to know that I show a couple of people
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in my report that I had in interview, but I talked with many, many, many people, okay?
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And I talked with Coventry Road, the main people who was in charge
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He never provided any receipt, as he say, at CBC.
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He had only bank statements, and as well, like, a lot of people say to me
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that they donate to him, or cash, or e-transfer money.
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And especially for this woman who reached out to me and telling me, like,
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she gave me the proof of $3,000 that she gave to Martin
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So he actually lived on the well-being of people.
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And it's not, and as well, like, he cannot be, like, sued for donation.
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Donation is like the person wanted to give you money.
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So I don't, you cannot sue someone for having, actually agreeing
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So he has, like, a narrative, like a narrative, a story
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And people are just like, okay, I want to help you out.
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I can't wait to see the third part of your wonderful investigative report.
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Before I let you go, less than two hours ago, you were at the infamous Roxham Road,
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So we went to see a little bit of the establishment there.
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And at Roxham Road, of course, we saw a couple of taxi.
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Of course, on the taxi, they have the advertising, like, border crossing, Roxham Road.
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And so an entire family came, nice, nice clothes, nice new shoes, actually, luggage.
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And they were actually, I think they had, like, still, like, the plane ticket, like, on the luggage.
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So probably they were from New York or something like that.
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But I can't believe, like, they are exempt to PCR tests.
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And as well, like, if they cannot pay for their hotel, the federal government will pay for their quarantine room hotel.
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And afterwards, you know that in Montreal right now, the capacity of the shelter for them, it's overreach.
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It's the highest level rate of illegal immigration right now.
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Well, I mean, there's so much to delve in there, Alexa, but I think you nailed it on the head.
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Here we have people, unvaccinated, no PCR tests.
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You or I, if we don't have vaccinations, we are landlocked in Canada.
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If we need to see a relative in British Columbia, well, you know, say hello to a four-day drive across our dominion.
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Thank you also for staying on top of that story.
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And as far as the CBC is concerned, I know officially those letters stand for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
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I'm beginning to think they stand for crap, bullshite, and more crap.
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Alexa, you have a wonderful weekend, my friend.
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And that was Alexa Lavoie coming to us from Montreal today.
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More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
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Yeah, so recently you said that you are for Canada becoming sort of the blockchain capital of the world.
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I'm just wondering if that means, and I've got to read it because I'm learning with everyone else here.
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Does that mean you support centralized digital currency like we're seeing with Canada, that they're developing with MIT, like what we're seeing that just rolled out with China and their social credit system?
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So you have central bank digital currencies, which are controlled by government.
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You have decentralized blockchain assets like Bitcoin, which are controlled by no one.
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Basically, Bitcoin is controlled by the majority of the processing power on the network, which is held by thousands of people all around the world who don't even know each other.
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And that's the genius of the blockchain and the genius of Bitcoin.
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It is controlled by a protocol, and you can buy and sell it without any intermediary.
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That is verified by thousands of people around the world through their computer network.
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And those people don't even know each other, so they can't conspire to control it.
00:18:04.660
Wherever Mr. Polyev goes, he is greeted by hundreds of enthusiastic supporters.
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And such was the case recently when Mr. Polyev dropped by the University of British Columbia
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to chat with the young Conservatives on campus there.
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One of the topics discussed was his desire for Canada to be a leader when it comes to blockchain technology.
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Of course, there are so many other topics that are resonating with grassroots Conservatives,
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from his support of the trucker convoys to his pledge to defund the CBC statements that earn Polyev standing ovations wherever he goes in our great dominion.
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And joining me now from Vancouver is Drea Humphrey.
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Wonderful. So, Drea, for red meat Conservatives, I think Pierre Polyev is certainly saying all the right things.
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But at the end of the day, the question arises,
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is he the Conservative champion that can knock Justin Trudeau off his throne?
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Or is Mr. Polyev too good to be true, given what we witnessed with Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole,
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namely a couple of candidates that didn't come as advertised?
00:19:26.000
Yeah, you know, that's something we're going to have to wait to find out the answer to.
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But definitely when it comes to sort of a movement appearing to be happening, he seems to be doing that.
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And we've had the opportunity of seeing him go head-to-head with Trudeau many times before,
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so that gives us a little bit of a taste on how they would be up against each other.
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But, you know, I haven't, there's nothing Mr. Polyev has ever said that I disagree with.
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Sometimes it's more just what you wish he would have said at certain times.
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Yeah, you know, I mean, as you said, Drea, time will tell.
00:20:01.720
I will say this, my gut feeling is telling me that Pierre Polyev is the real deal.
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I could be totally wrong, we'll find out in the months and years ahead.
00:20:12.920
But certainly compared to the other so-called frontrunners in this race,
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and I speak of Jean Charest when he was out in your parts,
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I saw a photo on Twitter, Drea, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
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It looked like he was in a library that was half-filled, and the look on the people's faces,
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And then we have, you know, the sneaky beaver himself, Patrick Brown.
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And he made news the other day by saying that he wants to take the Tamil Tiger terrorist organization
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This is an organization that is recognized as a terrorist organization by 33 nations, Drea.
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This is a terrorist organization that has actually killed a former prime minister of India,
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something so many other terrorist organizations would love to have on their resumes.
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Just showing you that Patrick Brown will say anything to anyone.
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How can these two dimwits possibly be contenders,
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given the kind of crowds and the kind of things Pierre Polyev is saying?
00:21:27.880
Well, I think there's always diversity in any party, really.
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And so we're seeing that, like, in full with this race,
00:21:38.940
But yeah, when you point out things like, you know,
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that's the promise you're going to make is taking someone off the terrorist list
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or a group off the terrorist list that is like that.
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But I guess you can put your own foot in your own mouth while you're running.
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But that apparently had been the largest political gathering at UBC for over five years.
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So nothing to do with the lockdown or anything like that.
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So that just shows that there is something new happening right now.
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And I guess maybe people who are running against them
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are just trying to find their own way to stand out.
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You know, and I do notice, Dre, and I don't know if you've noticed it,
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it seems that Mr. Polyev is really appealing to the youth demographic.
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I see a lot of young people going to his rallies.
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that the critics of Pierre Polyev are playing the race card.
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Here's one from somebody called Ismahan Razavi, she, her.
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She's with an organization called Champion Communications,
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and showed the huge gathering the other day in Calgary of Pierre Polyev supporters.
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Calgary is the third most diverse city in this country.
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This crowd does nothing to reflect that translation.
00:23:31.920
I think, I mean, there are those who are basically likening Pierre Polyev
00:23:44.540
Or do the people you interviewed, do they come across like that to you?
00:23:48.640
Well, you know, in his BC visits, it was a very diverse crowd.
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You couldn't just kind of point the camera at one angle
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Use the race card if you don't like someone for whatever reason.
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Now, when there really is some evil racist person,
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people are just going to roll their eyes because they're just going to think it's another time
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of, you know, the radical left using the race to try to silence a movement
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Oh, but, you know, that's the thing, Dre, as you well know,
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that when it comes to the radical left playing the race card,
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If Mr. Poliev was getting a disproportionate number of people of colour, Asian people,
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they would never dare issue a treat like, look at all these Chinese people.
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I mean, you know, I think this is really dangerous ground.
00:25:03.380
I think they are really dividing Canadians when they use the race card selectively this way.
00:25:11.120
Yeah, I mean, we saw this over and over with our protest coverage, right?
00:25:16.880
Or I would like to say it would be representative of the percentage of where you live,
00:25:23.140
I mean, you know, it would be abnormal to have 50% black people at a protest in Vancouver, right?
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But we saw over and over it get painted one way.
00:25:35.740
So again, you know, because this is a conservative race,
00:25:42.540
And I don't think anyone who is ready to see a change in Canada is really going to buy it anyways.
00:25:49.780
And I personally think, Drea, that Jean Charest gave himself a self-inflicted fatal wound
00:25:57.100
when he came out and condemned Pierre Poliev for supporting the Trucker Freedom Convoy
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and further suggested that his support of the convoy should disqualify Mr. Poliev for running for conservative leader.
00:26:13.400
Is Jean Charest so out of touch that he doesn't realize that it was Aaron O'Toole's wishy-washy stance on the truckers
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that got him ousted as the conservative leader?
00:26:31.640
If you were ever wondering, you know, is this a liberal putting on a blue suit for a moment,
00:26:40.000
And even I think Evan Solomon was kind of like, well, no, he supported the truckers.
00:26:43.940
There was a little bit of an argument there about, you know, what happened there.
00:26:47.580
And so you can just see he's going on with this false narrative and trying to use that to win.
00:26:53.140
But it definitely, I think, worked the opposite and just showed his true colors.
00:26:58.720
And I guess that, I don't know if the library tweet you saw was after that, but perhaps that played into it.
00:27:04.660
And speaking of true colors, the only colors that count, if you ask me,
00:27:08.760
while Charest says he's true blue, we can't ignore the elephant in the room.
00:27:13.740
Namely, he was a red liberal premier of Quebec for eight years.
00:27:18.520
I mean, how does he have the chutzpah to run for the conservative leadership with that on his resume, Drea?
00:27:25.620
I saw a funny meme where it was like him getting his tattoo off from liberal and getting a new tattoo on.
00:27:32.520
But yeah, eight years is a pretty dedicated amount of time.
00:27:40.700
But I will say it's a very exciting race and politics are not always exciting.
00:27:45.740
So it's kind of good to have, you know, the craziness in there.
00:27:50.120
And maybe that strengthens the votes of other people, right?
00:27:54.580
And, you know, the convention for the conservatives, it's not till September.
00:27:59.540
In a political timeline, that is an eternity, Drea.
00:28:05.020
As the saying goes, today cannot possibly dream of what tomorrow will bring.
00:28:09.700
But I'm going to ask you to go out on a limb here.
00:28:11.720
What do you think is going to happen come September based on these early results where we see Polyev getting standing room only crowds, incredible ovations.
00:28:26.140
And meanwhile, Jean Charest is in half-empty libraries.
00:28:31.820
And Patrick Brown is in basements in Brampton talking to terrorist supporters.
00:28:36.760
What do you think is going to happen come September?
00:28:38.920
Well, just based on what's going on today, it would be probably we would see Polyev win.
00:28:46.300
Although I think people are also underestimating Dr. Lewis.
00:29:02.920
She had won the pot one or whatever, however you say it, but got the popular vote in the last leadership race.
00:29:09.780
So perhaps there's some sort of grassroots movement there that isn't getting as much exposure.
00:29:16.900
And who knows how close they could be come September 10th.
00:29:21.200
But again, that's all based on what's happening now.
00:29:23.860
Well, I'll tell you, Andrea, Dr. Leslie Lewis would be my second choice.
00:29:34.460
As I said before, my gut tells me he's the real deal.
00:29:37.720
But at least, Dr. Lewis, she is a conservative.
00:29:41.000
When you look at the others, come on, Jean Charest, that's a liberal.
00:29:47.220
The reason why he was ousted from the PC Ontario, rather the PC Ontario, yes, leadership role,
00:29:55.200
was because he had thrown fiscal conservatives under the bus and social conservatives under the bus.
00:30:01.060
There was no one else to throw under the bus but him.
00:30:03.320
And then we have Leona Alislev, the liberal that crossed over to the Conservative Party in 2018
00:30:09.960
because internal polling in her writing, which happens to be the writing I'm in,
00:30:15.700
showed that it was going to swing conservative.
00:30:19.340
But alas and alack, the best laid plans, she lost her seat last fall with the last federal election.
00:30:31.420
Drea, why is it that the Conservative Party seems to attract people who are phony conservatives?
00:30:47.660
I didn't know the backstory you just said about crossing the floor.
00:30:51.220
I did know that she crossed the floor, but I didn't know why exactly.
00:30:55.580
And, you know, with that said, let's hope we see more of that this time around.
00:30:59.720
And maybe that would be a reason for more liberals to become conservative.
00:31:04.560
Maybe they're going to see, oh, my goodness, there is some traction happening there.
00:31:11.700
So maybe that is one of the reasons that people do move to the conservatives,
00:31:14.940
is that they can kind of see that the culture is changing.
00:31:17.900
And perhaps they just want to jump off the sinking ship.
00:31:21.540
Yeah, they might be rats, but it's OK if there are rats, I suppose.
00:31:33.120
And by the way, I almost forgot to mention another difference compared to what we saw with Mr. Scheer, Mr. O'Toole.
00:31:39.900
Mr. Poliev is actually giving interviews to rebel news reporters.
00:31:48.740
They might be brief, but he's not running away.
00:31:56.340
So that that is a major plus for himself as well.
00:32:01.360
Drea, have a wonderful weekend and a joyful Easter, my friend.
00:32:13.000
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
00:32:15.260
You see, on page 24, there's an article regarding the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, which kicked off earlier this month.
00:32:33.260
Right off the bat, does anyone see an issue here?
00:32:36.700
The LCBO doesn't sell food, of course, but it does sell alcohol and lots of it.
00:32:43.540
How is it possible that the dim-witted staff at Booze Inc. might be the only ones in the province who don't realize that practicing Muslims aren't supposed to drink beer, wine, and spirits?
00:32:57.740
In any event, here's where things get interesting.
00:33:00.640
When it's time for Ramadan fasting to end, food and drinks suggest partaking in such marvelous edibles as hearty lamb, legume soup, and a funnel cake-type fritter called Zulbia.
00:33:15.120
That sounds delicious, but what does one wash it down with?
00:33:20.800
By the way, do you think the LCBO was fined or it suffered any other punishment for breaking, you know, the law?
00:33:36.240
So much for this agency's claim that it deserves a monopoly for liquor based on the concept of social responsibility.
00:33:45.880
In any event, you had plenty to say about the LCBO trying to woo Muslims to imbibe alcohol during Ramadan,
00:33:54.000
and it's penchant to sell alcohol to minors clad in burkas.
00:34:00.120
After all, better for the LCBO to break the law, I guess, other than come across as being culturally insensitive.
00:34:15.100
Well, they aren't supposed to, that's for sure.
00:34:18.200
Do you think the food and drink people are ignorant to this fact, or in their LCBO obsessive quest to be inclusive,
00:34:28.580
maybe their wokeism trumped common sense, or maybe the food and drink editor was drunk as a skunk when that story idea was pitched.
00:34:38.820
In any regard, your tax dollars hard at work yet again, folks.
00:34:43.500
The Flat Rock writes, down south, you can buy a 60 of vodka for under $15 U.S.
00:34:51.640
Wow, yet another argument to get government out of the booze retailing business
00:34:57.160
and allow the private sector to come into it, which has been the case in Alberta since the early 90s.
00:35:12.080
Mike writes, can you please tell me if the LCBO gave you the bottle they stole from you, the one you paid for?
00:35:24.700
Well, first of all, thanks so much for the compliment, Mike.
00:35:27.420
And folks, in case you missed it, Mike is referring to our video from a year ago,
00:35:33.020
in which I bought three bottles of scotch from the LCBO's Leaside store in Toronto.
00:35:44.040
Maybe it was an honest error, or maybe they were pissed off that my face diaper slipped below my nose at one point.
00:35:51.980
Yes, I got yelled at for that by an LCBO staffer.
00:35:55.740
Nevertheless, LCBO Corporate did the right thing for a change by ordering that store
00:36:01.740
to give me the bottle that was bought and paid for, namely a bottle of Glenn Farkless 105 Scotch.
00:36:08.200
But when I went to pick up the bottle, the store manager, a COVID super Karen, if ever there was one,
00:36:17.780
In the meantime, folks, we sent a legal demand letter to the LCBO, which has been inexplicably ignored.
00:36:25.680
Then again, as the sale of booze to minors proves, this entity thinks it is above the law, I guess.
00:36:33.940
So it looks like we are headed to small claims court to get justice.
00:36:39.740
Once again, when it comes to Booze Inc. run by Big Brother,
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it's always a matter of customer service excellence, not astonishing.
00:36:51.140
Doodad writes, David, is this a late April Fool's joke or are you serious?
00:37:00.560
You are correct when you say you aren't that smart.
00:37:03.700
Well, Doodad, I know this video comes across as resembling a delayed April Fool's Day joke,
00:37:10.540
and it's definitely a ridiculous story, I grant you that, but I'm just reporting it.
00:37:17.040
Why shoot the messenger? And not to be a nitpicker here, but there's supposed to be an apostrophe in Fools,
00:37:24.760
and the F should be uppercase. At least I'm smart enough to know that.
00:37:31.600
And Anonymous Person writes, and this affects me how?
00:37:36.320
Well, Anonymous Person, assuming you are an Ontario taxpayer,
00:37:39.660
how do you feel about your provincial government using your tax dollars to publish a magazine
00:37:44.820
and they have absolutely no mandate to be in the magazine publishing business in the first place?
00:37:55.140
And doesn't the outrageous double standard bother you when it comes to the LCBO
00:38:00.500
actually breaking the law by selling booze to minors?
00:38:03.580
As you know, if a variety store operator is caught selling cigarettes to a minor,
00:38:09.040
we're talking serious financial penalties here.
00:38:13.020
Heck, the government even runs gotcha sting operations to zap small shop operators,
00:38:19.920
but the LCBO Leviathan just shrugs its shoulders and promises to do better in the future.
00:38:26.040
So maybe this does not affect you directly, but it sure bugs the hell out of me,
00:38:32.820
and I assume the vast majority of Ontarians, regardless of political ideology.
00:38:40.200
Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.
00:38:43.040
Thanks so much for joining us. See you next week.
00:38:45.120
And hey folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.