DAVID MENZIES ｜ Quebecers reward Premier Legault's civil rights abuses & Global News brands a vet fighting for freedom as a 'white supremacist'
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Summary
For those hoping for regime change in the People s Republic of Quebec, Monday was a sad day indeed. The Legault government was rewarded with yet another majority mandate. What went wrong? Or do most Quebecers have no trouble whatsoever with their rights being eclipsed? In the name of COVID-19 safety protocols, our Montreal reporter Alexa Lavoie will weigh in with her analysis. Andrea Humphrey weighs in on why Global News is now being sued by James Topp for defamation.
Transcript
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Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you, in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favourite rebels.
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Well, for those hoping for regime change in the People's Republic of Quebec, Monday was a sad, sorry day indeed.
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The Legault government was rewarded with yet another majority mandate.
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What went wrong? Or do most Quebecers have no trouble whatsoever with their rights being eclipsed?
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In the name of COVID-19 safety protocols, our Montreal reporter, Alexa Lavoie, will weigh in with her analysis.
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Most Canadians would likely consider veteran James Topp, he's the man who marched across Canada in the name of freedom,
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to be a true patriot, but not Global News, which actually maligned Mr. Topp as a white supremacist.
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Drea Humphrey will weigh in on why Global News is now being sued by Topp for defamation.
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And I'll share some of your letters about that massive protest in Richmond Hill, Ontario last Saturday
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by mostly Iranian Canadians denouncing the Iranian regime regarding the death of Masa Amini,
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that 22-year-old lady who allegedly broke the hijab dress code and paid for it with her life.
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I mean, as an English-Canadian, if I were to tell you what little I knew about Francois Lago when he first won,
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I would say he was a little more business-oriented, a little bit anti-political establishment.
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But I think he's really become the lockdown guy and the big government guy and the anti-freedom guy.
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So maybe that's sort of the vote that Eric Duem and the Conservative Party has picked up.
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You know, I'm just looking at the CBC projections.
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There's still a lot of votes yet to be counted.
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In fact, it looks like most polls have not been counted yet.
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The average of the four opposition parties is that they needed,
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for every 5% of the vote they got, they got one seat.
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Whereas the Coalition Avenir Quebec, they got 10 times that.
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So for every vote they got, every percentage of the vote, they got two seats.
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Let me say that again because I think I might have garbled a bit.
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The vote for the CAC was so efficient that for every percent they got, they got two seats.
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But for the opposition, for every percent they got, they got one-fifth of a seat.
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So the opposition combined, which had more than 50% of the vote, only has 29 seats.
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The CAC had 10 times more seats for every vote.
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And I don't want to over-talk about that because that just sounds like complaining at the electoral system.
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He will have less than half the votes by the time we're done.
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But he will have probably 80% of the seats, Alexa.
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Do you think he will think this is a complete endorsement?
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Do you think Legault will say, you see, everything I did was popular.
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Do you think that's a lesson Legault might take from things?
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Well, as you know, like, we said Legault, it's governing with surveys.
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It's always do a call for something that he wants to implement, like for the curfew or for the mask.
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And after that, it was like, this is what the Kyivikr wants.
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And it would do again because it would say, oh, I was right.
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So now I know that I can do whatever I want me.
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Do Quebecers like to have their rights and liberties abridged in the name of fighting a pandemic?
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Or is there something more at play in this story?
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And joining me now is our Montreal-based reporter, Alexa Lavoie.
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I must say, Alexa, in my visits to Quebec in the last two years, at every protest I attended,
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And based on this passion that I heard, I thought there might indeed be regime change coming to your province,
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given how brutally locked down Quebec was during these last couple of years.
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So in the immortal words of Fred Willard, what happened?
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You need to understand that one of the promises of Mr. Legault four years ago,
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it was to change the scrutiny, like, oh, the vote mode was working.
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So they were supposed to change it because it's not working well and it's not representing the democracy anymore.
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What we can see so far, the Conservative Party is second in most of the riding,
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When we look at the Liberal Party, with 14% of the vote, they gained the first opposition with 21 seats, I think.
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We need to do something about how the vote is working,
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because right now you have just one position and the rest of the voice is not heard.
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But it's really difficult to understand because now we have more than half a million of people
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who are our friends with nobody to represent their voice at the National Assembly.
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But, you know, Alexa, twas ever thus with our parliamentary system,
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you know, first past the post, as opposed to a, you know, a proportional percentage ranking.
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I'm a fan of the system as it is, to be quite frank.
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I'm just wondering if we drill down deeper in terms of who was voting for the Legault government again.
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I was told that he really captured a lot of the votes from the seniors in Quebec,
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that they, I guess, drank the media Kool-Aid, the mainstream media, that is,
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that having a curfew, having these mask regulations,
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having these brutal eclipse of Quebecers' rights and freedoms,
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that this was a good thing because, you know, the premier, he's keeping us safe.
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But just before the vote, Mr. Nago did a video saying,
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if you get us elected, you will receive between $400 to $600 to fight inflation.
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And for the 70 years old and more, you will receive $2,000 in check at your home.
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So, of course, like, everybody was like, oh, but for $2,000, it's a lot for seniors.
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You need to understand that for some of the elderly people, they are not rich.
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But the thing is, like, in Quebec, the population is more whole than active.
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So, for sure, like, but you need to understand one thing.
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So, Mr. Legault promised the same electoral program
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that the Conservative Party now, four years ago.
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It was almost the same promise that the Conservative is promising now.
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So, what happened is, like, Mr. Legault did promise so much
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for the active population who voted for him in 2018.
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And now, most of the people who voted for the de la CAQ,
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now they did vote for the Conservative Party of Quebec.
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and he should not be, like, represented in the National Assembly,
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but because they didn't want to give any space to Éric Duhaime.
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And, you know, Alexa, maybe we should wrap it here.
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I'm piggybacking on the conversation you and Ezra had on election night.
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because all of the stuff he did to the residents of Quebec,
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I think if we do ever go into a COVID-fighting lockdown mode,
00:11:26.860
he might lock down even more severely the province of Quebec,
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was perhaps the most locked-down jurisdiction in all of North America.
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but I would say it wants to turn completely our energy to electricity
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when you know that we will have less and less electricity
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and we maybe have some problem to produce electricity.
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So I think just making some mistake on the decision
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on electricity economy or any other big decision that we will fail
00:12:14.760
Well, maybe, who knows when the next election will be,
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I assume four years, and we'll see what happens there.
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But I really wasn't expecting the result that we saw on Monday.
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And now, like I said, I just worry about how emboldened Premier Legault is,
00:12:37.740
not just for lockdowns and COVID policies, but for anything.
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He must feel like he's King Midas right now, Alexa.
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So hopefully he will keep his arrogance in check,
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But in La Beauce, like La Beauce riding, for the two candidates,
00:13:06.960
But just because of that, it's La CAC who gained all the riding there.
00:13:23.100
Well, you could always, I guess, go down to Florida where Yankee is.
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That seems to be the freest jurisdiction in all of North America.
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And I know there's a lot of Quebecers that love to lounge in the beach there.
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So maybe that's an option as opposed to enduring four more years of emperor,
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You have yourself a wonderful Thanksgiving, my friend.
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More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
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How many kilometers real quick have you marched?
00:14:13.880
Yeah, probably, probably between 6,000 and 6,500 now.
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Well, you would think that would be the main story when you hit the news.
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You've done so long and people have come together.
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But instead, there was a different article that was put out back in August.
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But tell us why you filed this notice of libel.
00:14:57.820
I think we had been taking the innuendo, the rumor mongering, the insinuation, and the guilt
00:15:10.140
You know, with dignity and grace from the corporate media, this kind of, this commenting, the stealth
00:15:25.540
But what happened on August the 18th, there was an article put out by Global News.
00:15:29.600
And in the URL, the article itself, I have several, there's several labels applied.
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But they're egregious enough, again, insinuating that I am an extremist or the far right, whatever
00:15:59.560
So, I felt that now, that was the time to stop taking the stuff lying down and to start
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pushing back a little with regards to at least getting some advice about potential legal action.
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There was, in the URL, a particularly offensive label applied to me, as well, in search engine
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optimization, so Google search tags, in other words.
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To say that I've not even been asked to comment on an article that is written about me, or in
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which, you know, I'm referred to, at least, I think is a self-problematic.
00:17:04.940
Let's see what we can do as far as legal action.
00:17:13.340
And we then began a crowdfunding effort to fund the legal action against global news over
00:17:21.000
Well, I've got to tell you, with covering many freedom protests, you know, and getting
00:17:26.040
my boots on the ground and speaking to the people, which is not something you see as often
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with, you know, global news reporters and things like that.
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I heard that from so many people that they were getting labeled with these horrible names
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like, all of a sudden, freedom represented, you know, white supremacy and these things.
00:17:44.120
The article you're speaking to is called, or speaking about is, Good PR, Why Anti-Hate
00:17:49.080
Experts Are Urging Politicians to Step Up Vetting Practices.
00:17:53.760
It was written by Rachel Gilmore, who's made a little bit of a Twitter buzz recently for,
00:18:00.500
you know, saying that basically journalists are at risk from how other politicians or things
00:18:09.040
So it's interesting when you're saying you felt like you were tied to these horrible things
00:18:17.300
Is drama queen Rachel Gilmore of Global News the dumbest journalist in Canada or the worst
00:18:27.460
After all, can you imagine insinuating that Armed Forces veteran and freedom fighter James
00:18:38.660
What a malicious dolt this fake news huckster is to imply that Topp is a threat to society
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as opposed to somebody that is standing up to a government that seems to rejoice in stripping
00:18:54.760
And with more on this story is our Vancouver-based reporter, and that would be Drea Humphrey.
00:19:03.300
I'm glad I'm not on your journalistic bad side.
00:19:09.740
I call him as I see him, and you're as good as gold, Drea.
00:19:12.900
But you know, Drea, I hope Mr. Topp's case is heard sooner rather than later, given that
00:19:20.180
Global News is allegedly on the brink of bankruptcy as they lobby the government for yet more taxpayer-funded
00:19:27.840
That tells me that the vast majority of Canadians aren't buying what Global Woke News is selling,
00:19:35.280
But this hit piece by Rachel Crymore is beyond the pale.
00:19:39.200
What do you think her motivation was in terms of defaming James Topp in such a fashion?
00:19:49.660
But I did notice that she did two articles that were sort of focused on MP Pierre Paliab,
00:19:56.920
who, of course, was campaigning for the leadership of the race.
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So if I had to guess, I would think the point was to, you know, sort of vilify him by association.
00:20:09.580
But boy, did she pick the wrong person to do that with when you pick James Topp, you know,
00:20:19.400
He is the perfect example, if you want to start some sort of movement for human rights,
00:20:27.140
The man has just been walking across the country through all types of weather since February,
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And he's been doing so peacefully and people have been so inspired and encouraged.
00:20:41.300
And here he is, you know, being put in articles without being reached out to,
00:20:46.880
ones that could make people believe he's a white supremacist,
00:20:50.860
simply for standing for the freedoms that so many millions of Canadians want to have back.
00:21:00.420
And I will say this, while vilifying an armed forces veteran like James Topp is beyond the pale,
00:21:07.000
and there's no evidence to support their conclusions that he's a white supremacist,
00:21:12.660
I do understand the motivation in terms of vilifying and demonizing Pierre Paliyev,
00:21:20.120
because should he become our next prime minister, there's a new sheriff in town.
00:21:26.680
And the mainstream media and the CBC, those billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies,
00:21:38.400
So Global News and all the other lamestream media outlets,
00:21:42.160
they have a very good motivation to tear down Pierre Paliyev.
00:21:59.180
Well, you know, I think the legacy media over the last two years
00:22:06.220
and giving them labels, you know, maybe headed by our prime minister,
00:22:11.520
you know, making them look racist and things like that.
00:22:16.420
I think, like I said, Topp was sort of an afterthought for a different mission,
00:22:21.120
but boy, did it backfire, because he lawyered up.
00:22:25.680
And he got a really good lawyer from RELAW out in your neck of the woods,
00:22:32.320
and they said, you know what, we think you have a case here.
00:22:36.140
And Global News has 30 days, well, had 30 days, of course, time has passed,
00:22:42.080
But you can see that they went ahead in that article
00:22:44.300
and already have done sort of a retraction to point out
00:22:50.160
that none of the names in this article are, in fact,
00:23:03.620
and less they are following the reports that are covering
00:23:18.780
they have put an editor's note on the original story, an update,
00:23:26.060
the URL for this story has been revised to omit a reference to white supremacist
00:23:32.580
to avoid any misunderstanding that persons named in the URL
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And as we know from our own defamation training,
00:23:54.160
perhaps the least amount of damages is going to be applied to you
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as opposed to a media organization being arrogant
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and saying, nah, we're fine where it is, or we'll get around to it.
00:24:05.680
So this tells me, Drea, they know that they screwed up big time.
00:24:13.460
And what's also concerning about this is that they use the URL
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and search engine optimization tabs, big words there, to link.
00:24:26.580
So that means when people are searching things like white supremacists in Canada,
00:24:30.500
whose name pops up from one of the biggest news organizations in Canada.
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because enough is enough of these baseless, harmful labels.
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who seems to be the biggest drama queen in Canadian media right now.
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This is someone who has been moaning that she's being attacked.
00:24:59.640
And it's not the kind of attacks that you or Alexa Lavoie or Sheila Gunn-Reed have endured,
00:25:09.860
And here she uses her platform to basically write a mega mean tweet regarding James Topp.
00:25:23.280
what is it with this chick that she is continually taking her blouse off?
00:25:35.200
You know, I wonder if Rachel Gilmore doesn't realize that the true measure of a woman or
00:25:46.280
Because this woman just comes across as a bimbo to me so often.
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I don't even know why her corporate masters at the failing global news tolerator.
00:25:59.460
Well, I'm slightly annoyed that I know her name.
00:26:04.960
But I think we should end with a quick update on top because that's really who people should
00:26:10.240
be talking about on Twitter, not Miss Rachel Gilmore.
00:26:19.740
But he is very much looking forward to finally taking a rest.
00:26:25.420
And so this Saturday, he will be heading back to British Columbia and doing that.
00:26:31.020
So you can catch up more on him on Canadianmarches.ca.
00:26:38.380
Oh, I think he's marched over 6,000 kilometers, you know, which is astounding.
00:26:45.300
And one day if I bump into him again, I got to ask him how many pairs of running shoes he's
00:26:52.320
But you know, the media being the way it is, Drea, when he flies back to BC, your neck of
00:26:57.300
the woods, they'll probably condemn him for the carbon footprint by going on a jet craft.
00:27:03.200
You know, they're probably going to say, why didn't you march back?
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And I know you'll give us another update, especially regarding this defamation lawsuit once we have
00:27:36.220
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
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David Menzies for Rebel News here in Richmond Hill, Ontario.
00:27:46.420
And a massive protest is taking place right now on Yonge Street between 16th Avenue and
00:27:58.820
And the reason is much like the reason for protests erupting in Iran and all over the world.
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Late last month, Masha Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman, died in police custody very mysteriously.
00:28:17.960
Well, the morality police arrested her because she wasn't wearing her hijab properly.
00:28:24.760
So the protest has spread to all of Iran's 31 provinces, to cities around the world.
00:28:31.860
And here we are in Richmond Hill where there are literally thousands of people taking to the street.
00:28:37.340
And I've got to tell you, folks, two questions spring to mind.
00:28:41.260
One is what can Canada and other Western democracies do to help the Iranian people right now,
00:28:49.000
especially since thousands have been arrested, dozens have been killed while demonstrating.
00:29:01.280
The Liberal MP for this writing, the writing of Richmond Hill, that would be Majid Johari.
00:29:07.200
I don't think he'll dare show his face today, much like he didn't dare show his face at the vigil two years ago
00:29:14.660
when the Ukrainian Airlines plane was shot down.
00:29:18.520
That's because, if you can imagine, folks, Majid Johari actually supports this regime.
00:29:26.500
Yes, a Canadian member of parliament is an ally of the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world,
00:29:37.740
In any event, let's wade into the crowd and see what these folks have to say.
00:29:45.480
I think most people here, virtually everybody, would agree with that.
00:29:49.400
I guess there's a lot of people experiencing buyer's remorse from the 1979 revolution.
00:29:55.200
Yeah, I agree with that, and that's why we're all here,
00:29:58.640
and we're supporting the people and our people and their voice in here.
00:30:03.620
And, you know, it's such a shame what happened to Ms. Amini.
00:30:08.820
She was arrested by the morality police, died for not allegedly wearing her hijab properly.
00:30:15.720
How can this force be called the morality police?
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That seems to be the most immoral thing possible, killing someone for not wearing clothing properly.
00:30:28.160
These protests have spread to all 31 of Iran's provinces.
00:30:33.840
They've spread to major cities around the world.
00:30:35.680
Here we are in Richmond Hill, thousands of people.
00:30:40.500
In terms of tangible change in Iran, what would you like to see countries like Canada do to help the Iranian people?
00:30:48.500
Sure. The main thing that we want to get across is getting the IRGC as a terrorist organization.
00:30:55.840
There's going to be people here that you don't know they're associated with the regime back home, but they are.
00:31:00.340
They're going to be taking pictures of everyone, trying to catch them back home, putting them in prison.
00:31:07.960
They own multiple businesses all around the GTA.
00:31:14.320
Well, that was the scene in Richmond Hill last Saturday when more than 50,000 people showed up to protest the Iranian regime.
00:31:21.340
But these people realize that they have no ally in the Justin Trudeau liberals.
00:31:27.240
The very MP for Richmond Hill is pro-regime, if you can believe it.
00:31:31.280
And this government, for reasons that remain somewhat baffling, has yet to put the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the terrorism list.
00:31:40.620
Then again, when it comes to Prime Minister Blackface McGroper, he has admiration in his heart for the basic dictatorship that is China in terms of, you know, getting things done.
00:31:52.740
Maybe he also admires Iran for the same reasons.
00:31:57.820
In any event, you had plenty to say regarding the ever-growing thirst for regime change in Tehran.
00:32:25.440
I get more hopeful every day that the mullahs are headed for defeat in Iran because Johari, you know, kind of like a rat jumping off a sinking ship.
00:32:46.380
As the saying goes, a leopard cannot change his spots.
00:32:54.820
And where was Justin's chief enabler, Jagmeet Singh, when all this was going down?
00:33:00.380
Or is this NDP woke clown of the belief that denouncing the Iranian regime might somehow be deemed as Islamophobic?
00:33:14.140
You really think Trudeau will do anything about this?
00:33:19.120
He has proven he likes countries that are dictatorships.
00:33:23.240
And have you ever seen the anger in his eyes when a strong woman stands up to him?
00:33:30.560
The prime minister, unlike Pierre Polyev, was noticeably absent from this protest.
00:33:36.800
But then again, in fairness, he was preoccupied with urgent business.
00:33:42.740
I just can't remember if that urgent business was surfing or bungee jumping or channeling the band Queen at a karaoke event.
00:33:51.960
Oh, let's pray for a regime change in Iran and in Canada, too.
00:34:02.400
You see, people, you never know what can happen.
00:34:05.300
And this is a perfect example why gun rights are important.
00:34:14.740
And wouldn't it be great when all the currently legal firearms that are being confiscated from law-abiding Canadian gun owners in the upcoming gun grab,
00:34:24.300
that all those guns would be sent to Iran to help the revolution?
00:34:29.440
That would be the right thing to do, which means, of course, the Trudeau government won't do it.
00:34:38.960
Please do your proper research first before you parrot mainstream bias.
00:34:44.200
There are very few independent reporters in Iran, and this looks very much like another Arab Spring or color revolution effort on behalf of the usual suspects, not our friends.
00:35:03.240
Richmond Hill is home to a huge Persian population.
00:35:06.440
Now, I can tell you, every single Iranian I have met, with the noticeable exception of the Liberal MP for Richmond Hill, Majid Jabroni, is anti-regime.
00:35:18.840
Look, the Shah was by no means a Boy Scout, but when it comes to the 1979 Iranian Revolution,
00:35:24.560
the vast majority of Iranians now indeed suffer from buyer's remorse thanks to the vile theocracy that has taken place in Iran.
00:35:34.120
Let's hope there is a second revolution, the sooner the better, in order to oust this hideous and misogynistic regime.
00:35:42.880
Well, folks, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.
00:35:47.740
Have yourselves a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving.
00:35:52.320
And hey, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.