Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Media, Politicians Can No Longer Ignore The Trucker Convoy

00:00:00.000 Hello, my rebels. Today's show is a little bit different. We didn't record it in the studio

00:00:04.180 because we had a fire in the studio and it's not usable. So I recorded it from home and that

00:00:12.280 probably won't make a difference to you if you're listening on a podcast, other than I didn't have

00:00:16.080 the teleprompter where I normally put all my notes. So my speaking is a little more herky

00:00:20.840 jerky, but we still did manage to patch together a great show. And thanks to our staff for pulling

00:00:27.100 together. I'd like to encourage you to get the video version of this podcast, not for today

00:00:32.320 because it's not as slick as we normally do, but for the future, especially since we're covering this

00:00:38.080 trucker convoy. It's just a visual story and I really would like to see you to see the fruits

00:00:43.660 of the labors of our team that's on the road. So you can do that by subscribing to the video version

00:00:50.640 of this podcast. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com and click subscribe. It's eight bucks per month,

00:00:56.720 about half the price of Netflix. And it's really the only place you're going to get the other

00:01:00.460 side of the story. All right, here's today's podcast.

00:01:17.880 Tonight, the trucker's convoy gets closer to Ottawa and Ottawa starts to sweat. It's January 25th

00:01:25.100 and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:29.040 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:32.740 There's 8,500 customers here and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:36.800 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I'm publishing it is because it's

00:01:41.200 my bloody right to do so.

00:01:48.060 Hi there. I'm standing outside my own house. There is a very gently used basketball hoop.

00:01:53.220 The reason is we had a bit of a fire at the studio today. Normally, we have a staff meeting

00:02:00.440 at 10 a.m. where half the team is in the boardroom and the rest of the team joins from afar via Skype.

00:02:06.860 Today is a rare day. I was taking the call from my house because I had another appointment and

00:02:11.740 suddenly I heard people in the boardroom say there was a fire and rush out and the rest of the team

00:02:18.140 didn't really know what was going on and then the feed from the boardroom cut out and it was very

00:02:23.840 dramatic and I immediately raced down to the office and luckily it was a small fire that was quickly

00:02:30.260 put out but when I arrived there were actually four fire trucks outside the studio. My first thought,

00:02:37.280 I won't lie, I was a little bit paranoid. I thought maybe it's arson, maybe it's sabotage of some sort.

00:02:42.040 No such excitement. It was just an electrical fire with one of our LED lights in the studio which is

00:02:49.340 ironic because those lights are very cool. They're not hot burning at all. Thankfully, we put it out

00:02:55.760 very quickly with a fire extinguisher. The problem is there was so much sooty smoke and of course the

00:03:03.140 light itself was burnt out that we have to clean and fix up that studio before we can use it.

00:03:08.600 So, I am going to do my interview today via Zoom and I'm outside in the chilly weather doing my

00:03:16.240 monologue without a teleprompter. Normally, I write my script out word for word and then we put it in

00:03:21.860 the teleprompter along with visual cues for the different elements so we're going to sort of go

00:03:26.280 homemade against today. Obviously, the story of the day is the story of the year. That's the

00:03:31.300 trucker convoy which is converging on Ottawa from around the country. I want to start by showing you

00:03:38.020 some of the on-the-ground work done by Mocha Beziergen, our chief videographer who's accompanied

00:03:43.900 on this trip by a new intern, Celine. I'll show you some of their reportage.

00:03:49.580 Wow, we are in the middle of Trans-Canada Highway and as you can see the long epic convoy is passing

00:04:01.800 by. Lots of wind, lots of wind there. I don't know if the wind is due to weather conditions or because

00:04:10.460 of the trucks that are passing by but this is pretty incredible. It's an incredibly long convoy. It's a

00:04:17.540 really very long convoy. Lots of enormous support all across the road. I've seen many, many people

00:04:26.060 out, came out to support these convoyers. Let's interview some people. I'm amazed. I'm just amazed by

00:04:36.460 the amount of love this convoy has received. I mean, it's crazy.

00:04:45.460 Hi. Hi, sir. How are you doing? Good to see you too. Thank you so much. What do you make of the

00:04:54.500 convoy? Yeah, I can't hear you. Are you excited? Yes, you betcha. We're going to follow along to

00:05:01.320 the medicine hat and then come back. What do you make of the Trucking Association of Canada

00:05:06.320 condemning the convoy? I don't know. I don't know. Okay. I'm not a part of it. I can't really.

00:05:15.320 Sure. Fair enough. What message do you have to Canadians? Stand up for your rights. Stand up for

00:05:22.320 freedom and carry on. We got to win this. Thank you so much. Thank you. Nice to meet you too. Thank you.

00:05:34.320 Moke is doing a great job and he's going to be with the convoy the whole way into Ottawa.

00:05:39.320 It's just a very exciting way to see the country and I spoke to Moke on the phone yesterday. I think

00:05:44.320 he's genuinely touched. As you know, he hails from Turkey. I think he was born in Canada, grew up in

00:05:50.320 Turkey. So he's sort of rediscovering Canada with the eyes of a new immigrant. And he tells me that the

00:05:56.320 positive feelings and the patriotism and the emotion that he's hearing from people along the road is very

00:06:02.320 inspiring. I love to see the country through his eyes. As he described it to me, he said, it's not just a

00:06:09.320 protest. It's a kind of peaceful revolution. I thought that was a wonderful phrase way of phrasing

00:06:14.320 it. So he is driving and filming with Celine and editing at night. So he's going full tilt. If you

00:06:21.320 want to see all his work, go to convoyreports.com and you can help chip in to cover his modest costs.

00:06:28.320 We did decide to rent a vehicle for him. His own car probably is not up for a cross-country journey in

00:06:34.320 the snow. So we rented a sturdier vehicle for him. He is staying in motels along the way,

00:06:39.320 which you would think would be very affordable. But of course, we're discovering when you have a

00:06:43.320 convoy of hundreds and hundreds of people with you, you tend to book up all the motel rooms in town

00:06:48.320 pretty quick. We talked about how GoFundMe had not yet succumbed to pressure to cancel what is now over

00:06:58.320 $4 million in crowdfunding. And the last I checked, they had not canceled it, but they're

00:07:05.320 quote, working with the organizer of the convoy to develop a plan for dispersing the funds. And

00:07:12.320 that's not to say they're going to cancel it, but it is obviously pressure. Then again, when you have

00:07:17.320 millions of dollars raised, you can see there is a bit of fiduciary duty to the donors that the money be

00:07:23.320 spent in a manner that was advertised. I have no doubt that will be successfully achieved.

00:07:30.320 What's interesting to me in that all the press coverage demonizing this crowdfunding,

00:07:36.320 they call it a Western separatist link to the Maverick Party. That's a fully registered political

00:07:40.320 party. You wouldn't see that kind of condemnation of the Parti Québécois or the Bloc Québécois. But none of

00:07:46.320 them mentioned that the organizer, Tamara Litch, is a Métis woman from the West. I mean, if she were

00:07:54.320 leading some pro-vaccine campaign or some pro-government campaign, you bet she would be treated as a

00:08:01.320 hero of the Indigenous community, someone who should receive Woman of the Year Award. I mean, you have a

00:08:07.320 young Indigenous woman who has created this enormous thing. That's a heck of an entrepreneur and a leader. You

00:08:15.320 never see her identity mentioned because that contradicts the official narrative, doesn't it?

00:08:21.320 Gerald Butts continues to rage, and I see that the hate machine of the, quote, anti-racist

00:08:28.320 establishment, all of whom are paid handsomely by Justin Trudeau, they have now engaged. I see that the

00:08:34.320 National Council of Canadian Muslims, which is the renamed version of CareCan, which of course was linked in an

00:08:42.320 indictment to a terrorist group in the United States. Their Canadian branch, which has renamed itself, is

00:08:49.320 condemning the convoy as racist and Islamophobic and all those things. The usual. And I sort of chuckled

00:08:58.320 because, you know, Mocha is a great guy and I look at him as an individual and as a great videographer, but he

00:09:04.320 happens to be Muslim as well. He's the number one booster of this convoy. He's loving it. He's from

00:09:10.320 Turkey himself. He always talks about freedom. And the thought that Mocha, our Muslim videographer, would be

00:09:16.320 participating in an anti-Muslim Islamophobic protest is just so laughable. I guess that's the difference

00:09:23.320 between being an independent journalist, as Mocha is, or being on Trudeau's payroll.

00:09:29.320 I see that a number of conservative MPs have decided not to be quiet anymore. Garnet Genuous, who has been

00:09:37.320 a good little boy repeating Aaron O'Toole's pro-carbon tax rhetoric, has decided to stand with the truckers.

00:09:43.320 It's nice to see. I wish it would have happened a little earlier, but you got to welcome someone when they're ready.

00:09:49.320 Other MPs, including Martin Shields and even Andrew Scheer, who is a very weak leader, as I think we can all agree.

00:09:55.320 Even he is stronger than Aaron O'Toole, who continues to evade the question. He doesn't want to be called racist

00:10:01.320 by the NCCM or mean things said about him by Gerald Butts. Aaron O'Toole, I got a message for you.

00:10:07.320 They're going to hate you no matter what. How about be on your team instead of trying to be on their team?

00:10:12.320 I see that the CBC, the state broadcaster that takes $1.5 billion a year from the government in the form of subsidies,

00:10:20.320 I see that it has started to very, very carefully talk about this convoy.

00:10:25.320 Like I say, they would never mention it's being led by an Indigenous woman.

00:10:29.320 The funniest thing though, instead of talking to actual truckers actually on the convoy,

00:10:34.320 they went to some truck stop somewhere else where the convoy had not yet been,

00:10:38.320 and they talked to three random truckers who were, you know, not particularly strong one way or the other.

00:10:44.320 You know, they said, oh, people should choose.

00:10:46.320 One of them said people should choose. One of them said people should like it.

00:10:49.320 But they just talked to three random truckers who were not part of the convoy.

00:10:54.320 And that was their story. What they don't have enough manpower.

00:10:59.320 They don't have a big enough budget to go to the actual convoy and talk to actual people on the trucks.

00:11:04.320 I guess not. Or maybe Gerald Butts doesn't allow them to do so. I'm not quite sure.

00:11:08.320 As Sheila Gunn-Reed told us yesterday, besides having this state broadcaster in the form of the CBC,

00:11:18.320 and the race mongers and the hate mongers at the NCCM and other groups smear the truckers,

00:11:25.320 there's a little bit of a work to rule by the weigh scales.

00:11:30.320 You know when you're driving on the highway and you see these signs that say truckers pull over

00:11:34.320 and they weigh the trucks to make sure they're not overloaded.

00:11:37.320 And they check the logs of the truckers to make sure they're not driving too much.

00:11:40.320 Well, these are empty trucks and they're in a political protest,

00:11:44.320 but oh boy, those weigh scales are open because anything does slow it down.

00:11:48.320 I mean, you can see it's an abuse of government when even the weigh scales are being politicized like that.

00:11:54.320 You know, I want to mention one more thing because the Minister of Transport in Canada, Omar al-Gabra,

00:12:02.320 the former head of the Canadian Arab Federation, anti-Semitic guy,

00:12:06.320 in his position of the Canadian Arab Federation, he called for the legalization of the Hamas terrorist group.

00:12:13.320 He called for the legalization of the Hezbollah terrorist group.

00:12:16.320 Bizarrely, he condemned police who went on an exchange with Israel.

00:12:21.320 Like the guy is a dyed-in-the-wool race baiter himself, and he's the transport minister.

00:12:26.320 And he announced that the number one way to fix the supply chain problem in Canada is not to exempt truckers from the vaccine,

00:12:36.320 but to enforce it and get those truckers off the road.

00:12:39.320 I don't know how that math works, but that's what he said.

00:12:42.320 I have a theory about Omar al-Gabra, and it's that he actually wants to do as much damage as possible to the transportation department that he runs.

00:12:53.320 And I know that sounds absurd. That can't possibly be true.

00:12:56.320 But, you know, as you know, Rebel News and the Democracy Fund were involved in a challenge of the airport quarantine hotels

00:13:03.320 where people had to stay in these Trudeau hotels at airports, pay for them, had to wait there for three days, whether or not they were safe.

00:13:15.320 It was really weird, even if they could drive straight home.

00:13:18.320 Anyway, we took that to the federal court.

00:13:20.320 And I was talking to our lead lawyer on that, and he had a theory that the absolute abusive nature of those quarantines was done on purpose.

00:13:30.320 And the ever-changing rules and the general incompetence, he thought that it wasn't just regular government incompetence,

00:13:36.320 but it was on purpose, designed to deter people from flying, that by changing the rules so often, making the rules so absurd and bizarre,

00:13:46.320 generally taking any of the fun and ease out of travel, that that was the whole point,

00:13:52.320 that instead of passing a precise, thoughtful, scientific law, they passed the sloppiest, ugliest laws they could,

00:14:00.320 and then change them and change them and change them, just to make people throw their hands up in the air and say,

00:14:05.320 I guess I won't travel anymore, that being the ultimate goal of the policy, to be so detestable.

00:14:13.320 And it sort of has a bizarre and dark sense to it, but what is the sense of literally taking thousands of long-haul truckers off the road?

00:14:23.320 How does that make sense? I mean, these aren't people who are driving for their own pleasure.

00:14:28.320 They're driving to bring stuff to grocery stores and department stores for thousands and millions of us.

00:14:35.320 What sense does it make to cause a supply chain crisis?

00:14:40.320 Well, I guess if you're a radical, you want a crisis because a crisis allows big government to posit itself as a solution.

00:14:48.320 So the theory of my lawyer, who said that maybe the sheer awfulness of this hotel quarantine was on purpose,

00:14:54.320 Well, let me extrapolate that. Does Omar Al-Gabra genuinely believe that taking thousands and thousands of truckers off the road will improve the economy, improve inflation, improve the supply chain?

00:15:07.320 I don't think he's that dumb. Normally, never ascribed to malice, what can be explained by stupidity.

00:15:14.320 But in this case, I think Trudeau and Al-Gabra actually want to damage the economy to perpetuate the crisis.

00:15:23.320 I want to leave with one more observation. I saw that there was a police officer from Durham named Aaron Howard, who made an online statement in support of the truckers, but she did so wearing her uniform.

00:15:39.320 Here, take a look.

00:15:41.320 Hey there. So I'm Constable Aaron Howard, coming to you from Ontario, Canada.

00:15:49.320 I'm just I really wanted to give a shout out to all the truckers. I think what you guys are doing is incredible.

00:15:56.320 You're fighting for our rights and freedoms. And right now it feels like we're a little bit at war and those rights and freedoms are at stake.

00:16:07.320 So you guys are honestly true heroes. What you're doing is just incredible.

00:16:13.320 I will be in Ottawa when you guys roll in. I'm going to be speaking on behalf of Police on Guard.

00:16:19.320 And we are thrilled, thrilled and honored to be able to be there.

00:16:25.320 I can't wait to meet you guys. Hope to talk to a lot of you in person.

00:16:29.320 Anyway, just wanted to give you guys a shout out and some support and keep rolling and we'll see you in Ottawa.

00:16:35.320 Now, obviously she's being investigated and she will surely be suspended or fired.

00:16:40.320 And I have to say on this one, I'm torn because I do not think police should be political.

00:16:47.320 Even if, as in this case, I happen to agree with the politics, we don't want people who are wearing the armor or the uniform of the state,

00:16:57.320 who have a monopoly on violence, saying which side of any political debate they're on.

00:17:03.320 They have to be nonpartisan. They have to uphold the law no matter who wins the political debate.

00:17:09.320 You don't want to be arrested by a liberal cop or a conservative cop.

00:17:12.320 You just want to be arrested by a cop who's following the law, not a party platform.

00:17:17.320 She's going to be investigated and she'll probably be thrown away.

00:17:21.320 But I can't help but realize and remember and notice that every police chief in Canada, indeed all around North America,

00:17:30.320 was happy to go to Black Lives Matter protests in full uniform and take a knee for that radical, racist, really Marxist organization.

00:17:40.320 So you had police chiefs across the country flying the Black Lives Matter flag.

00:17:46.320 I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with police being open to every race.

00:17:51.320 Of course, I believe in racial equality.

00:17:53.320 But Black Lives Matter is a very particular Marxist organization that supports anti-police violence, by the way.

00:18:00.320 And I want to say that what this lady did in support of the truckers is no more than her bosses did in support of Black Lives Matter.

00:18:10.320 Of course, they'll get promotions and raises out of it.

00:18:13.320 She'll get sacked.

00:18:14.320 Well, I want you to stay with us.

00:18:17.320 Sorry for this homemade addition.

00:18:18.320 Hopefully the studio will be back up and running tomorrow.

00:18:20.320 I'm going to talk to our friend Andrew Lawton about Aaron O'Toole being absent without leave on this debate.

00:18:26.320 And I want you to keep going to ConvoyReports.com because we've made it a point to update that page frequently with MOCA's reports from the road and other things that we gather.

00:18:38.320 So I think this is a very important story and it's a classic rebel story.

00:18:42.320 And frankly, you just can't believe the mainstream media when they report on it.

00:18:46.320 So go to ConvoyReports.com.

00:18:48.320 All right. Stay with us.

00:18:49.320 More ahead with Andrew Lawton.

00:18:56.320 Welcome back, everybody.

00:19:04.320 Well, as I mentioned at the top of the show, we had a small fire at the studio today.

00:19:09.320 No one was hurt, thank God.

00:19:10.320 And it was actually more smoke than flame.

00:19:13.320 It was put up pretty quickly, but the studio is unusable until it gets a proper cleaning from all the soot.

00:19:18.320 And of course, we do have to replace that one light that had an electrical malfunction.

00:19:22.320 It was a little bit of a scare this morning.

00:19:24.320 Thank God everyone's fine.

00:19:25.320 So I'm doing this show from home, which means I have a studio audience.

00:19:28.320 There's a couple of little doggies in the background.

00:19:31.320 You might hear the odd barking sound, and I can assure you that they're supporting every word I say.

00:19:36.320 I'm just joking around, explaining the different backdrop, but let's get serious for a minute.

00:19:40.320 The story of the day, in fact, I'd call it the story of the year, is the Trucker Convoy.

00:19:46.320 Why is it so important?

00:19:47.320 Well, I don't know.

00:19:48.320 I think everyone has their own reason.

00:19:50.320 I think it's national in scope.

00:19:53.320 It looks powerful and muscular.

00:19:55.320 All those trucks, it's a sign of the working class rising up against the ruling class.

00:20:00.320 It's so utterly unfair that people who work in basically isolation in the cab of a long-haul truck are required to be vaxxed to serve us.

00:20:10.320 These are the frontline people who kept us fed and clothed for the first two years of the pandemic, but they're not good enough now.

00:20:17.320 There's so many reasons this is clicking all at the same time.

00:20:21.320 It is grassroots.

00:20:22.320 It's populist.

00:20:23.320 It's a little rough around the edges, but I think we need some of that because the fancy folks have not been on duty.

00:20:29.320 You'd think that the leader of the conservative opposition would want to meet with them or have something positive to say about them.

00:20:37.320 But if you would think that, you're wrong.

00:20:39.320 Here's Aaron O'Toole on CPAC, the public interest broadcaster, evading the question for several minutes.

00:20:47.320 Take a look.

00:20:48.320 I assume that you knew that you were going to get questions on the trucker convoy today.

00:20:53.320 It's just striking as odd that you don't have a clear position on this.

00:20:58.320 So I'm going to try again.

00:20:59.320 I know that our colleagues, my colleagues have tried, but why are you unwilling to tell these truckers coming to Ottawa if you stand with them or not?

00:21:09.320 And do you have a position that you will make clear today?

00:21:13.320 Well, Travis, let me be perfectly clear.

00:21:15.320 As I just said in French, it's not for the leader of the opposition or political party to attend a protest on the hill or a convoy.

00:21:26.320 It's up to politicians to advocate for solutions in a cost of living crisis, in a supply chain crisis, in a way that's responsible and respectful of the public health crisis we're in.

00:21:39.320 We have done that, Travis.

00:21:41.320 In fact, a few months ago, we advocated for solutions to deal with the trucking crisis and the supply chain crisis in a way that promoted vaccinations, kept public health the priority,

00:21:52.320 but also made sure we didn't have a massive supply chain increase to shortages at a time where Canadians are already paying 10%, 20%, 30% more for goods.

00:22:04.320 That was Aaron O'Toole on CPAC.

00:22:06.320 He later went on CTV, where he also avoided the question.

00:22:10.320 Take a look at that.

00:22:12.320 Does the Conservative Party support the mandate that requires cross-border truckers to be vaccinated?

00:22:18.320 Yes or no?

00:22:20.320 We put forward a plan on this almost a month ago, Evan, that you can support vaccines, but you can also make sure you address the supply chain shortage.

00:22:30.320 We were already short thousands of truckers before COVID.

00:22:34.320 Now we're going to be short tens of thousands, and these are families that will be put out.

00:22:39.320 And what's disappointing, Evan, is a couple of years ago, before we had vaccines, we hailed truckers, we hailed grocery store workers, those essential workers as heroes.

00:22:49.320 And now we've allowed our debate on these issues to become so polarized, so divisive.

00:22:54.320 That's been Mr. Trudeau's approach, as opposed to actually saying, how can we tackle these critical supply chain shortages while having public health be at the top of the list as well?

00:23:05.320 So I understand the frustration with the Trudeau government's ignoring of the issue.

00:23:10.320 Okay, so the U.S. has the exact same mandate.

00:23:14.320 So both the Biden administration and the Trudeau government require cross-border truckers to be vaccinated.

00:23:20.320 You're saying you do not support that you would reverse the vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers.

00:23:27.320 Is that fair to say you would reverse the vaccine mandate?

00:23:31.320 What I said three weeks ago, Evan, and you know you covered the press conference.

00:23:35.320 But I'm just trying to say, what are you saying today?

00:23:37.320 We have to be structured to get vaccinated, but we can also address the supply chain shortages without 10,000 pink slips.

00:23:46.320 We've got to use everything in our toolbox to make sure that we tackle the supply chain shortage.

00:23:52.320 Because if there's shortage of goods, Evan, the price goes up and we've already got inflation at 5%.

00:23:58.320 We've already got 60% of Canadians worried about paying their grocery bills.

00:24:02.320 So this is leadership.

00:24:03.320 Dividing the population is not working.

00:24:05.320 We've got to come up with real solutions for a country that is tired of hollow words from Justin Trudeau for two years.

00:24:12.320 Okay.

00:24:13.320 And we're still in lockdown in the fifth wave of the pandemic.

00:24:16.320 Okay.

00:24:17.320 So just on leadership, I'm just trying to figure out who people should listen to in terms of your party.

00:24:21.320 So again, you've got one MP saying reverse the mandate.

00:24:24.320 I'm not sure if you support that or not.

00:24:26.320 Your finance critic calls the Canadian rule that cross-border truckers and the U.S. rule need it.

00:24:31.320 He calls it a vaccine vendetta that is leading to higher grocery prices.

00:24:36.320 So what is a vaccine vendetta in my mind, if you could tell me that?

00:24:41.320 And is that your position as well, that this is a vaccine vendetta and you believe the mandate is somehow punishing truckers and contributing to food shortages?

00:24:50.320 Is that the Conservative Party's position?

00:24:53.320 We need solutions to actually get products on shelves and not have tens of thousands of people lose their home, lose their livelihood, Evan.

00:25:02.320 Polarizing this debate has not worked.

00:25:05.320 Mr. Trudeau knows that.

00:25:06.320 So three weeks ago, we proposed a solution that would solve the supply chain shortage.

00:25:12.320 The Trudeau government about 10 days ago looked like they were actually going to follow what we recommended, what the Chamber of Commerce, what most of the small business organizations have all supported, Evan.

00:25:24.320 And you can do that while encouraging all the top healthcare provisions to be provided for, including encouraging vaccination.

00:25:31.320 We need to make sure we tackle the cost of living crisis and the supply chain shortage.

00:25:36.320 Weeks ago, Mr. Trudeau was blaming inflation on supply chain shortages.

00:25:40.320 Now he's making it worse.

00:25:43.320 Okay, so let's get a couple of things on the table if I can.

00:25:47.320 These truckers are going to come.

00:25:49.320 They've got support of your high-profile MPs.

00:25:51.320 They support these people to reverse the mandate.

00:25:55.320 Will you meet these truckers?

00:25:57.320 Will you go out and support these truckers when they arrive in Ottawa?

00:26:00.320 Well, as I said three weeks ago, Evan, we've been meeting with industry for the last two months.

00:26:06.320 And I will continue to meet with industry and individual truckers throughout this week and into the weekend.

00:26:12.320 Because people are advocating because they're losing their jobs.

00:26:15.320 They're losing their livelihoods.

00:26:17.320 And they want to make sure that they're heard.

00:26:19.320 As I said, this is what Canadians are a bit tired of, Evan.

00:26:22.320 Two years ago, we were calling essential workers heroes.

00:26:26.320 Now we're allowing the whole debate to become demonized neighbor against neighbor when there are ways we can tackle these shortages without dividing the country.

00:26:35.320 I get it.

00:26:37.320 I'm just trying to get a straight answer because it seems like your MPs are very clear.

00:26:42.320 They say, I don't support the trucker mandate.

00:26:44.320 I know you're talking about what you said three weeks ago.

00:26:46.320 I'm just asking you today.

00:26:47.320 And you're talking about clarity.

00:26:49.320 I mean, you know your transport critic Melissa Lantzman said there's a connection between the trucker mandate and empty grocery shelves.

00:26:55.320 You know she tweeted out a picture that, this picture here, this is not a Canadian shelf.

00:27:01.320 We found this, as everyone did, called on iStock.

00:27:04.320 It was from Britain.

00:27:05.320 It's a fake picture, as you know.

00:27:07.320 So it's not actually a reflection of what's going on.

00:27:09.320 So to get clarity, have you talked to Melissa Lantzman about tweeting out fake pictures, your own MP?

00:27:14.320 And just, look, I'll just, I just want it on the record.

00:27:18.320 Do you support getting rid of the border mandate?

00:27:21.320 Yes or no?

00:27:22.320 Evan, three weeks ago, as you know, I proposed a different solution other than the mandate to tackle the supply chain shortage

00:27:30.320 and to make sure that thousands of people weren't put out of work at a time we need them on the roads.

00:27:37.320 We are highlighting the same issues that the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, that most of the business groups in Canada are showing Canadians.

00:27:45.320 There's already out of control inflation.

00:27:47.320 If we continue to see supply chain shortages from semiconductors right through to food, it's going to drive up inflation even more at a time that Canadians are already falling behind.

00:27:59.320 So leadership's about putting out real solutions.

00:28:02.320 Mr. Trudeau didn't even get a question on this today, Evan.

00:28:05.320 This is a crisis and Canadians deserve to be heard by their government.

00:28:10.320 Okay, so you won't, so the truckers show up, if Mr. Trudeau was here, I'd ask him the same question, just for the record.

00:28:18.320 If the truckers show up on Parliament Hill, sir, will you meet them, yes or no?

00:28:22.320 We've been meeting with them for the last few months, and I will continue to meet this week and into the weekend with truckers and with the industry.

00:28:30.320 Both individual people suffering, but also the industry.

00:28:35.320 Three weeks ago, Evan.

00:28:36.320 But I'm talking about the so-called freedom convo.

00:28:39.320 This problem, which would actually tackle the supply chain shortage.

00:28:43.320 Mr. Trudeau's making inflation worse through his overspending, through his lack of attention on issues like the shortages,

00:28:51.320 and with the fact that he's continuing to just divide people and not deliver on the essential things we need in this pandemic.

00:28:58.320 You might remember a few years back when Andrew Scheer was the leader of the Conservative Party,

00:29:03.320 and he reluctantly met with a convoy back then.

00:29:07.320 It was a convoy about carbon taxes and the attack on the West.

00:29:10.320 Aaron O'Toole lacks the courage of Andrew Scheer.

00:29:14.320 I didn't think those words were possible in the English language, but it's true.

00:29:18.320 Joining me now is someone who is desperately hoping the Conservatives find their backbone,

00:29:23.320 and upset that they are now our friend Andrew Lawton from True North.

00:29:27.320 He joins us now.

00:29:28.320 Andrew, great to see you.

00:29:29.320 Thanks for joining us in our mock-up studio today.

00:29:32.320 Any time.

00:29:33.320 It's like a very triggering and traumatic flashback to early in the pandemic

00:29:37.320 when just everyone doing anything was in Zoom boxes from home.

00:29:41.320 So a little bit of a throwback whatever day of the week it is.

00:29:44.320 Well, thanks for your patience with us.

00:29:46.320 It was a little bit dramatic.

00:29:48.320 But listen, I want to give you credit.

00:29:49.320 You have tried, in good faith, to give Aaron O'Toole the benefit of the doubt.

00:29:56.320 During the election campaign, I remember you did a masterful interview with him

00:30:01.320 during the leadership of the Conservatives.

00:30:04.320 I think of anyone on the Conservative media, you have given him a fair shake,

00:30:08.320 probably more than anyone else.

00:30:10.320 And so when you express your disappointment in him, I take that to heart.

00:30:15.320 I gave up on him a long time ago, and I don't even pretend that he's salvageable in my mind.

00:30:20.320 But you're someone who's really given him a chance.

00:30:23.320 What's your take on his...

00:30:26.320 Compare him to a watermelon seed.

00:30:28.320 You push down this way.

00:30:29.320 He squirts that way.

00:30:30.320 You push down this way.

00:30:31.320 Like, you can't pin him down.

00:30:32.320 That's how I feel.

00:30:33.320 How do you feel?

00:30:34.320 Well, I think the big point here is that, for the most part, the default Conservative position,

00:30:40.320 when they listen to all of the advisors and consultants that tell them the way to safely run to the middle,

00:30:46.320 the default position for the Conservatives is talk about the economy and nothing else.

00:30:51.320 This is the big frustration a lot of people on the right have had,

00:30:54.320 that Conservative leaders only want to talk about taxes and all of that.

00:30:57.320 And the reason I bring that up now is that, for the most part, you can get away with it,

00:31:01.320 because the biggest issues facing Canadians in normal times are, by and large, economic ones.

00:31:06.320 Things like cost of living, taxes, other things.

00:31:09.320 The last two years, that is not the case.

00:31:12.320 There are certainly economic harms facing Canadians, especially from lockdowns.

00:31:16.320 There are health concerns through the COVID pandemic.

00:31:18.320 But for the most part, I'd say the biggest issue facing this country is, in general,

00:31:22.320 the rising power of the state and diminishing civil liberties and diminishing freedoms.

00:31:27.320 This is an unavoidable problem, and it's a government-created problem.

00:31:31.320 The Conservatives are the best position to oppose the government.

00:31:36.320 It's in their title, the official opposition.

00:31:38.320 Yet they're not doing any opposition on the things that really matter.

00:31:42.320 And that's been my great frustration, is that the biggest issues facing Canadians

00:31:46.320 are the issues where there is no opposition from within elected office.

00:31:50.320 I'm not talking about the PPC, who's trying to make a change from outside of the House of Commons.

00:31:55.320 I'm talking about among the members of Parliament in Ottawa, or on Zoom, or wherever they are.

00:32:00.320 There is no opposition on the biggest thing that matters.

00:32:03.320 So my frustration with Aaron O'Toole is that he's still stuck in this failed,

00:32:07.320 and I say failed because as recently as the last campaign in September,

00:32:11.320 it did not work for him, attempt to keep to the middle, but only confine the debate to these economic issues.

00:32:17.320 And the point I made in a newsletter I put out on this yesterday is that,

00:32:20.320 instead of being the official opposition, he's trying to make the Conservatives the official auditors.

00:32:24.320 Focus on cost of living, empty grocery shelves, but say nothing else of substance.

00:32:29.320 Yeah. By the way, I know what email service you're talking about, folks.

00:32:33.320 You can follow Andrew Lawton on his main channel, which is True North, our good friends over there.

00:32:39.320 But he also has an email called andrewlawton.substack.com.

00:32:44.320 Very easy to subscribe. I really recommend it.

00:32:47.320 So I'm glad you reminded me of that, Andrew.

00:32:49.320 Yeah, I think you're right about the Conservative Party.

00:32:53.320 I mean, there are role models in other countries.

00:32:56.320 In the United Kingdom, more than 100 Conservative MPs spoke out against Boris Johnson's lockdowns.

00:33:03.320 You have Conservatives in France. You have Conservatives in the United States, of course.

00:33:09.320 Only in Canada have our Conservatives been uniformly lockdownist.

00:33:14.320 And where do people go? I think partly the success of this trucker convoy is because all the people who should be protesting or standing up for freedoms aren't.

00:33:27.320 I saw Jason Kenney was generally speaking in favour of the truckers, but he only did so in terms of economic terms, because how could he himself stand up for their civil liberties given the lockdown he imposed in Alberta?

00:33:38.320 I don't know. I find it very depressing.

00:33:40.320 But I want to ask you about one thing. I noticed on Twitter, a number of Conservative MPs, including from Saskatchewan, are going much farther than Aaron O'Toole.

00:33:51.320 They're taking little video selfies of themselves and saying, I'm going to meet them. I'm going to personally greet them. I stand with them.

00:33:59.320 And it's as if after a two year slumber, at least some of the grassroots Conservative MPs are waking up.

00:34:06.320 Do you think they're going to get in trouble from Aaron O'Toole for doing that?

00:34:09.320 I think they're very quickly showing themselves to be in too large a number to be chastised in any meaningful way.

00:34:16.320 Martin Shields, who's a lesser known MP from Alberta, Bow River, Alberta.

00:34:21.320 He did a video in front of the Centennial Flame saying, hey, truckers, I'm waiting for you. Come on, I'll welcome you to Ottawa.

00:34:26.320 And then just this morning, Kevin Waugh, I'm sorry to Kevin if you're watching that I've mispronounced your last name, but he saw them off in Saskatoon, I think it was.

00:34:36.320 He said, all right, you guys have fun. I'll see you in Ottawa.

00:34:39.320 So he's going to hop on a plane and meet them there.

00:34:41.320 And people like higher profile MPs, Leslyn Lewis, Andrew Scheer, Pierre Polyev have all shown their support either explicitly for the trucker convoy or for truckers in the context of their civil liberties.

00:34:54.320 So this isn't just a couple of rural, unknown Alberta MPs. These are some bigger names.

00:35:00.320 In fact, names that probably have more cachet in the conservative movement than Aaron O'Toole does.

00:35:06.320 So as I said, everyone on the conservative base is getting on the convoy. Aaron O'Toole is just waiting by the side of the road for the bus. Who knows?

00:35:13.320 Yeah. Even Pierre Polyev has had some positive things to say. And you're right. It was remarkable to me that Andrew Scheer, who I thought his instincts were so timid and so wrong, even he is standing with them.

00:35:25.320 I don't know. I think I think that's hopeful. It's it's a shame because Aaron O'Toole could in so many ways revive his leadership by standing with the most lively, passionate part of the movement right now.

00:35:39.320 I haven't checked the latest crowdfunding stats. When I last looked yesterday, it was about three and a half million dollars.

00:35:45.320 That's four and a half million now by the time this airs. Yeah. And the reason that's important is that's a barometer.

00:35:52.320 I mean, you can do a lot of good things with four and a half million dollars, but it's just a symbol of 50,000 people want something so badly they're willing to pay cash for it.

00:36:01.320 Imagine if the conservative party itself had done that. I mean, it's it's because there are no other options. I find it very interesting.

00:36:09.320 I see on the other side, Gerald Butts, just in full shrieking mode, tweeting conspiracy theories that this convoy is somehow foreign Russian bots.

00:36:23.320 I swear he linked to some really weird thing about foreign meddling. I just made me laugh.

00:36:29.320 So he's obviously upset about it, which tells us that he realizes there could be a grassroots awakening.

00:36:37.320 He had the controlled opposition of Aaron O'Toole and the other parties for so long, and there's cracks in him.

00:36:43.320 I also see the NCCM. That's the National Council for Canadian Muslims.

00:36:47.320 I see they're now demonizing the convoy saying that there's xenophobic, racist, anti this and that.

00:36:53.320 I mean, you can see the usual suspects doing the smear again.

00:36:57.320 That tells me that they're worried about, which is, you know, no one shoots at a dead duck.

00:37:03.320 I think it's attracting this hate from the establishment because it's effective.

00:37:08.320 Oh, very much so. I mean, one of the two things that I would point out about this.

00:37:12.320 It's no longer just about truckers and vaccines, because one of the points to go back to Aaron O'Toole for a moment, Ezra,

00:37:19.320 is that he has not taken up a lot of these battles that have had to do with lockdowns and vaccine mandates and restrictions.

00:37:26.320 The only one he has taken up is against the trucker vaccine mandate.

00:37:31.320 He did come out to his credit earlier this month and said he's against the mandate.

00:37:35.320 But his argument wasn't vaccine mandates are wrong.

00:37:38.320 His argument was, well, I mean, store shelves are empty.

00:37:41.320 Do we really want to do something that's going to prevent you from getting broccoli?

00:37:45.320 And the problem is that's missing the mark that those concerns are real, but they're incidental to the fundamental question, which is what the convoy is about.

00:37:53.320 I mean, for these truckers, they're not shoppers, they're shippers.

00:37:56.320 So for them, it's not about the store shelves.

00:37:58.320 It's about their livelihoods and their lives.

00:38:01.320 And the reason so many truckers who are fully vaccinated people who aren't even in the trucking industry are joining this convoy is because this has become a very visible and very real manifestation of an anger that is not being addressed by any of the political class in Canada.

00:38:17.320 Yeah, you're you're right. I it upsets me when people say, oh, lay off the truckers because I'm hungry.

00:38:24.320 You know, that that's treating them as a kind of servant.

00:38:28.320 You know, I saw this picture of Jeffrey Bezos on his yacht being attended to by servants wearing masks.

00:38:37.320 And we see this a lot. I mean, when AOC went to the Met Gala, she was in this designer dress mask free posing for the cameras, all her servants wearing masks.

00:38:48.320 I that bothers me that bothers me when I see that and when you say, oh, let the truckers.

00:38:57.320 Don't punish the truckers because I'm hungry.

00:39:00.320 And when I go to the shopping market, the supermarket, I want to see things on the shelves.

00:39:05.320 OK, that's a very utilitarian.

00:39:07.320 So now I know what you want from me, but you're not respecting my essential dignity as a person.

00:39:13.320 And I find it sort of gross. But again, what do you do if you've supported the mandates for everyone else for a year?

00:39:18.320 You can't suddenly say, no, I value this one person's civil rights.

00:39:21.320 I find it a terrible place to be. Let me ask you this.

00:39:25.320 Yesterday I went through the truck news, which is an official truck industry trade magazine.

00:39:32.320 Every industry has a trade mag. And this one was denouncing the convoy.

00:39:36.320 I thought it was really gross. They were questioning the motives.

00:39:39.320 They were questioning the money. They were they were they were basically condemning the only people in the trucking industry to fight back.

00:39:45.320 And I checked and I realized that that trucking magazine had received ten grants from the media bailout.

00:39:52.320 And I looked at the Trucking Alliance, which condemned them.

00:39:55.320 And they have received hundreds of thousands of dollars from the federal government.

00:39:59.320 And I thought, well, OK, that explains why they're condemning the only people in their industry fighting back.

00:40:05.320 But one of the things the truck news said that bothered me is, it won't work. Just give up.

00:40:11.320 Well, I think it might work. I think it might work.

00:40:15.320 Am I being too optimistic and too naive?

00:40:19.320 Do you think if you have a thousand truckers rolling into Ottawa, do you think the government might blink or do you think Trudeau might say, no, I love to hate these guys?

00:40:29.320 I can paint them as redneck, racist, misogynist, violent, alt right types.

00:40:36.320 I want this showdown and it's going to give me an excuse to go at them harder.

00:40:39.320 What do you think is going to happen?

00:40:41.320 Well, I mean, if one of the trucks so much as dislodges a manhole cover, the whole thing will be held up as an example of domestic terrorism.

00:40:48.320 So I do think that a lot of this depends on what happens on the weekend.

00:40:52.320 We're talking about a city that is not meant to withstand the infrastructure.

00:40:57.320 They cannot withstand what's coming that way on the weekend.

00:41:00.320 And I'm going to be there as well. I know a lot of rebels will.

00:41:03.320 But at the same time, one thing that I do think you've touched on there, and this is not exclusive to trucking, is the divide between real people and the so-called industry associations that often represent them.

00:41:16.320 Remember, on the vaccine mandates, most unions in Canada have been very bad on this.

00:41:20.320 They've not been standing up for their employees, public sector, private sector.

00:41:24.320 There are some exceptions, but for the most part, individual people are left on their own.

00:41:30.320 Aaron O'Toole in that clip you played earlier and in that press conference was talking about, oh, I've met with the Canadian Trucking Association.

00:41:36.320 Are you meeting with the convoy, Mr. O'Toole? Yeah, I'm going to continue talking to the Canadian Trucking Association.

00:41:42.320 So the problem is these groups claim to be representative of their members in a way that they often aren't.

00:41:50.320 And I hear from disgruntled teachers all the time that are upset about how their union represents them and their interests.

00:41:56.320 We know some journalists, to their credit, have spoken out about Unifor and its political attacks on conservatives.

00:42:02.320 So the reality is it's certainly driving a wedge between the members and the associations.

00:42:07.320 And if politicians stop being able to lean on, no, no, no, we're consulting the industry because those associations have been shown to not represent the actual industry, that could be a big source of change.

00:42:18.320 Yeah, you know, it brings me to mind of all the chambers of commerce, including the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

00:42:25.320 None of them have been fighting for businesses or at least mom and pop shops.

00:42:29.320 They're all for the Walmarts and the Amazon.

00:42:31.320 Well, listen, Andrew Lawton, it's great to catch up with you, folks.

00:42:34.320 Let me just say it one more time.

00:42:36.320 Andrew's new newsletter is at andrewlawton.substack.com.

00:42:43.320 And of course, you can also see them on True North, which is TNC.

00:42:48.320 It's great to see you, my friend.

00:42:49.320 Thanks for fighting the good fight and good luck this weekend in Ottawa.

00:42:52.320 Yes. And if anyone's out there, do come say hello.

00:42:54.320 Right on.

00:42:55.320 OK, stay with us. More ahead.

00:42:56.320 Well, my friends, that's the show for today.

00:43:12.320 I'm out here in the chilly Toronto weather and hopefully our studio will be up and running tomorrow.

00:43:18.320 I was very alarmed when people ran out of the boardroom and we didn't really know what was going on.

00:43:24.320 And we just heard fire and where's the fire extinguisher.

00:43:26.320 And I ran down there and I saw the four fire trucks.

00:43:29.320 I was a little bit terrified, but thankfully it was more smoke than fire.

00:43:33.320 It was put out pretty quickly and it was just that one electrical light.

00:43:36.320 But for a moment, I was terrified.

00:43:38.320 I knew that we would be fine journalistically.

00:43:40.320 Of course, my first concern was that everyone got out fine and everyone did.

00:43:44.320 It was just a little bit of excitement, but I just want to explain to you why I'm doing the recording from home.

00:43:49.320 And I did the Zoom call from home because the studio is sort of scorched.

00:43:53.320 That's it for today.

00:43:55.320 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here from Rebel, I guess I'm not at world headquarters.

00:44:00.320 I'm at my own headquarters.

00:44:03.320 To you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom.

00:44:06.320 And let me leave you with Mocha's latest from the road.

00:44:13.320 Wow, we are in the middle of Trans-Canada Highway.

00:44:17.320 And as you can see, the long epic convoy is passing by.

00:44:23.320 Lots of wind, lots of wind there.

00:44:26.320 I don't know if the wind is due to weather conditions or because of the trucks that are passing by.

00:44:32.320 But this is pretty incredible.

00:44:34.320 It's an incredibly long convoy.

00:44:37.320 It's a really very long convoy.

00:44:39.320 Lots of enormous support all across the road.

00:44:43.320 I've seen many, many people out, came out to support these convoyers.

00:44:49.320 Let's, let's interview some people.

00:44:54.320 I'm amazed.

00:44:55.320 I'm just amazed by the amount of love this convoy has received.

00:44:59.320 I mean, it's crazy.

00:45:05.320 Hi.

00:45:06.320 Hi, sir.

00:45:07.320 How are you doing?

00:45:08.320 Good to see you.

00:45:09.320 Good to see you too.

00:45:10.320 Thank you so much.

00:45:12.320 What do you make of the convoy?

00:45:15.320 Yeah, I can't hear you very much.

00:45:18.320 Are you excited?

00:45:19.320 Yes, you betcha.

00:45:20.320 We're going to follow along to Medicine Hat and then come back.

00:45:23.320 What do you make of the Trucking Association of Canada condemning the convoy?

00:45:29.320 I don't know.

00:45:30.320 I don't know.

00:45:31.320 Okay.

00:45:33.320 I'm not a part of it.

00:45:34.320 I can't really.

00:45:35.320 Sure, fair enough.

00:45:37.320 What message do you have to Canadians?

00:45:39.320 Stand up for your rights.

00:45:42.320 Stand up for freedom and carry on.

00:45:45.320 We've got to win this.

00:45:46.320 Thank you so much.

00:45:48.320 Thank you.

00:45:49.320 Nice to meet you too.

00:45:50.320 Thank you.

00:45:51.320 Thank you.

00:46:09.320 Hi, gentlemen.

00:46:10.320 I'm Mocha Bezergan from Rebel News.

00:46:13.320 Can I ask you a couple of questions?

00:46:15.320 Can I interview?

00:46:16.320 Yeah.

00:46:17.320 What do you make of the convoy?

00:46:18.320 It's great.

00:46:19.320 It's great everyone supporting this.

00:46:22.320 We're sick of all the mandates and just our freedoms being chipped away at.

00:46:28.320 It's really good to see all the support.

00:46:32.320 Yeah, it seems like the final push.

00:46:34.320 It seems...

00:46:35.320 I have been to many protests.

00:46:37.320 This is the biggest one I've seen.

00:46:38.320 There are so many supporters all across the road.

00:46:42.320 It's really enormous.

00:46:43.320 Are you going to follow the convoy all the way to Medicine Hat?

00:46:46.320 Yeah, we're going to Medicine Hat today.

00:46:47.320 So, yeah, we took the day off work because we're sick of it.

00:46:54.320 Yeah, I guess it's worth it.

00:46:56.320 What is your message to Canadians who are watching right now?

00:47:01.320 If you're out there, try to get to support.

00:47:05.320 Stay on the side of the road.

00:47:06.320 We've been here since 9 o'clock and it's now 12, so we're running a little late.

00:47:11.320 But, yeah, if you get out here and support, it's great.

00:47:15.320 And, yeah, we're in this together.

00:47:17.320 Yeah, we are in this together.

00:47:19.320 Thank you so much.

00:47:20.320 Thank you.

00:47:21.320 Hi, ladies.

00:47:24.320 Are you excited for the convoy?

00:47:26.320 Very excited.

00:47:27.320 Proud to be Canadian today.

00:47:29.320 What is your message to Canadians who are watching?

00:47:31.320 It's time to stand up.

00:47:33.320 Don't let our freedoms go because we'll never get them back.

00:47:36.320 Well said.

00:47:37.320 Thank you so much.

00:47:38.320 Take care.

00:47:54.320 Bye.

00:47:55.320 Bye.

00:47:56.320 Bye.

Rebel News Podcast - January 26, 2022

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Media, Politicians Can No Longer Ignore The Trucker Convoy

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