EZRA LEVANT ｜ Senator Denise Batters kicked out for supporting democracy within Erin O'Toole's Conservatives
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Summary
Today, I take you through Senator Denee Batters' attempt to get some party democracy in the Conservative Party of Canada, and explain why party members should have a vote on O'Toole's future. I'll give you my reasons and my explanations in today's show.
Transcript
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Hello, my Rebels. Today, I take you through Senator Denise Batter's attempt to get some
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party democracy in the Conservative Party of Canada. Obviously, Erin O'Toole doesn't like
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it one bit. He threw her out of the party. But I don't think that's going to end the problem,
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and I don't think it should. I think party members need to have a vote on his future,
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and it makes sense to have that vote earlier rather than later. I'll give you my reasons
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and my explanations. That's ahead in today's show. But before I get to that, let me invite
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you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. It's $8 a month. You get the video version of the
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show. I want to show you this great video that Senator Batters put out. You can hear it in the
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podcast, but I really want you to see it. Go to Rebel News Plus, click subscribe, and you get the
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Tonight, Erin O'Toole de-platforms another party rival. It's November 17th, and this is the Ezra
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer. The only thing I have to say to the
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government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody right to do so.
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How do you feel about the direction that Canada is going in? I think it's going in the wrong
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direction. I think it's not just Canada. A lot of the countries in the world are going the wrong
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direction. Most of the countries in Europe are, and the polling numbers for the American
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president, Joe Biden, are appalling, and the polling numbers for Kamala Harris, the vice
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president, are the lowest ever recorded. I think that's a sign that people think the world is going
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in the wrong direction. Here in Canada, we just had an election a few weeks ago, and the question is,
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where is the official opposition? On any of the core issues of the day, to me, the most shocking are the
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abridgements of our civil rights in the name of a pandemic. We have national vaccination rates,
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80, 90 percent, and yet the restrictions are getting harsher, not more lenient, including
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vaccine passports and banning the unvaccinated from even national airlines and railways. That's
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not a provincial decision. That's a Justin Trudeau decision. And yet, have you heard Aaron O'Toole
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express any doubts, even in the gentlest language about that? I have not. What about the lockdowns?
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What about the carbon tax? It's jacking up the price of everything. We talk about inflation and
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how the price of food is going up. That's in part related to the carbon tax. We don't import much of
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our food from China. Certain goods are, and that's where the supply chain can be snarled, waiting to
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get into the port of Vancouver, for example. But food, we grow a lot of that here. Why is the price of
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Canadian food going up? One reason is the carbon tax. Agriculture is carbon intensive. Anything that's
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shipped by rail or car or truck, it's carbon intensive, and the carbon tax keeps going up.
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Where's Aaron O'Toole on that? It's a bit tough for him to argue against inflation caused by a carbon
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tax when he supports that same carbon tax. One of the issues that concerns me is censorship.
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Although the liberals shuffled Stephen Gilbeau out of the censorship portfolio, the liberals say that
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they intend to bring it in. Have you heard Aaron O'Toole fight back against that? I have not. I think
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our leader, the opposition, is absent, and he's certainly not conservative. Maybe it's a good thing
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that he's absent because when he says something, he quickly flip-flops on the carbon tax, on defunding
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the CBC, just for example. I think we've seen some bad signs lately. For example, in the new shadow
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cabinet shuffle, Leslyn Lewis, who is a strong and powerful candidate, who won a seat in parliament,
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who placed very well in the leadership, she was left out completely. Just in terms of the Ottawa game
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of politically correct optics, that alone you would think she would be seated, let alone the fact that
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she has a powerful base in the party. Why was Leslyn Lewis sidelined by Aaron O'Toole? In fact,
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every leadership rival has been sidelined by him. Have you noticed that? Derek Sloan kicked out of the
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party. Jim Karajalios kicked out of the party even before the leadership was over. Rebel News itself
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marginalized. We're not part of the party, but it's quite odd that the most conservative-leaning media
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outfit has been canceled and deplatformed. Aaron O'Toole doesn't play well with others on his own
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team. I always wonder, can we have even just 10% of his rage and his turf war mindset directed at the
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Liberal Party of Canada instead of against others with his own party? But the fact is, Aaron O'Toole had
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his chance and he underperformed. He lost seats. He lost votes. And his great gamble, which was to
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make the party more liberal in return for winning seats in urban areas in Ontario, didn't pay off.
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They lost seats in the cities. So being a echo of the Liberals, a knockoff of the Liberals, did not
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actually work. That was his grand plan. So what should happen? Should Aaron O'Toole, after losing
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the election, be given another chance? Obviously, he thinks so since he hasn't resigned. Party members
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want to have a say in it. And the party constitution says after every election loss, they do get a say.
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But the question is, will that say happen now or years from now? It's in Aaron O'Toole's interest to
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have that pushed off as far into the future as possible to make it impractical to have a leadership
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review. However, if he is going to go, if he is going to lose the next election too, shouldn't he
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be weeded out now? That's a question that many people in the party are thinking, but not that many
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are saying until yesterday. Here's Denise Batters, a senator. Take a look. I'm Senator Denise Batters,
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and I'm launching a petition so that our party members can have their say on the leadership of the
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Conservative Party of Canada. I've been a Conservative my whole life. I came from the
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PC side of the party, and like so many others, I worked hard to help merge the Canadian Alliance
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and PC parties into our winning Conservative Party movement. On behalf of Conservative activists
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and members from coast to coast, we started this petition because we don't want to see this party
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ripped apart again. When we're divided, the Liberals win. Under Aaron O'Toole's leadership,
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the rift in our party is growing. He told us, this is not your grandfather's Conservative Party,
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and warned campaigning MPs they must agree 100% with his new direction, which constantly changes,
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or get out of caucus. As leader, Mr. O'Toole has watered down and even entirely reversed our policy
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positions without the input of party or caucus members. On carbon tax, on guns, on conscience rights,
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he flip-flopped on our policies within the same week, the same day, and even within the same
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sentence. He won the leadership claiming to be true blue, but ran an election campaign nearly
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indistinguishable from Trudeau's Liberals. We can't afford more of the same. Aaron O'Toole lost this
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election by every measure. Our party lost half a million votes, claimed fewer seats, and a lower popular
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vote than in 2019. We lost diverse seats and MPs in the GTA, Alberta, and in Vancouver suburbs.
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Mr. O'Toole's inability to communicate or connect with female voters left us with an even wider gender
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gap. Aaron O'Toole lost a trust election to Justin Trudeau, of all people. This campaign was not lost
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because of Mr. O'Toole's mistakes or inexperience. It was lost because of what Canadian voters perceive as
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his character flaw, that he is not trustworthy. You can't come back from that. Aaron O'Toole lectured
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our party members on election night, telling us we need to have the courage to change into what he
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hasn't yet said. But members deserve to have a say on this change and the future direction of this
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party, including our leadership. Fellow Conservative Party members, join me in signing this petition and make
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your voice heard. She's a conservative senator and one of the more outspoken bafflers of the liberals.
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A lot of senators of every party just sort of snooze on the job. Not Senator Batter. She's a fighter and I
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think she's sick of a liberal in conservative clothing. She was critical, no doubt about it, but what she was
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saying fits. She was inviting party members to sign a referendum to have that vote earlier rather than
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later. Oh my god, did she step on a landmine? I think maybe she knew what she was doing. And because
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she's a senator, she can't really be fired by Aaron O'Toole like, for example, an MP could be. I think a lot
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of MPs are scared to stand up to Aaron O'Toole because, as I mentioned, he throws out MPs who criticize him,
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even gently. Well, you can't fire a senator and if you say she's not allowed to call herself a
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conservative anymore, that's no big deal. Party labels don't mean much in the Senate anymore
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and she'll still be who she is. But you saw the lieutenants of Aaron O'Toole chime in in his
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support. And I want to read to you from Michelle Rempel, who you would think would have been a critic
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of Aaron O'Toole because of his support for the carbon tax. But here's what she said in a Twitter rant.
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I'm so profoundly disappointed in this, this being Senator Batters. Every Canadian will be focused on
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this for the next month instead of anything we do in the House. I asked my colleague to withdraw this
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petition, have it out in caucus instead, and for the good of Canada, let us MPs get back to work.
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I disagree with a lot of that. For one thing, I don't think that the conservative opposition
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was fighting the good fight. Certainly not Michelle Rempel-Garner, who was a health critic
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during much of the pandemic and really objected to nothing. There's nothing to stop the conservative
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party from fighting against the issues like inflation and the carbon tax, other than they're
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choosing not to do it. How can you when you yourself supported the carbon tax? I do agree in one way,
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though. Michelle Rempel-Garner is accurate. This will be something that distracts the public, or at least
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the media. I honestly don't think most Canadians care about internal conservative party issues.
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I honestly don't think most Canadians even know who Aaron O'Toole is. If you show them a picture or
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even mention the name out of context, they just don't know. But it is true that there are leadership
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questions. And the question is, will those be allowed to linger for two years, as O'Toole prefers,
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or will they be brought to a head soon, as Denise Batter prefers? If you're actually trying to remove
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the distraction, isn't it best to do so sooner rather than later? Isn't it best to do so earlier,
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so that whatever happens, the result can happen with enough lead time to prepare for the next election?
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I mean, seriously, would you really want a leadership review just a few months before an
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election rather than a few years before? Well, it won't surprise you that Aaron O'Toole did not take
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lightly to the criticism. And he lashed out. I suppose it's fair enough. I mean, tip for tap. And he fired
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Senator Batters in a voicemail. Now, again, I don't know. Maybe Senator Batters was not answering her
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calls. And maybe a voicemail is better than email. But it is sort of funny how eagerly he wanted to
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fire her. Let me read to you from the press release that Aaron O'Toole put out. I think it's classic.
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As the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, I will not tolerate an individual discrediting
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and showing a clear lack of respect towards the efforts of the entire Conservative Caucus,
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who are holding the corrupt and disastrous Trudeau government to account.
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Yeah, boss, I don't think that's what she was doing. I don't think she criticized anyone else
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other than you. I don't think she criticized her colleagues. And I don't think she really had
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anything to say about whether or not you are indeed holding Trudeau to account. I just think
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you're trying to switch the subject and you're actually hiding behind the human shields
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of your fellow Conservative MPs. I don't think Senator Batters is critical of them. I think
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she's critical of you. Don't say you fired her because she hobbled your teammates. Why don't
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you just for once be authentic and say you fired her because you're the leader and she wasn't
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following? I'll read some more. Eight weeks ago, Canadians elected Conservatives to hold Justin
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Trudeau accountable. That's just such a fun turn of phrase. That's a very odd way of saying eight
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weeks ago, we lost an election that we thought we can win and should have won. It's a very nice way
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of saying we're losers. Canadians didn't elect the Conservative MPs to be opposition. When you run,
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you run to form government. That's why it's called a shadow cabinet, a government in waiting.
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Erin O'Toole failed. Of course, the party bosses have piled on, but so too have other MPs who are
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complaining off the record to reporters, including to the CBC. Look at all these CBC reporters who are
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having the time of their lives, as I suppose Michelle Gardner-Rempel said they would, delighting
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in the civil war within the party. And wouldn't you, if you're part of Trudeau's CBC state broadcaster
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and you had a Conservative MP bad-mouthing the leader off the record, that would be a delight
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to report on that. You can't really criticize Justin Trudeau if you work for the CBC. You're
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not really allowed to. So it is true what Michelle Rempel-Garner said. This provides a distraction,
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at least for the CBC and the rest of the media party. But that's my point. Why have this distraction
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in the shadows, a game of cat and mouse for months or even years? Why not put the question? Why not
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ask people to put up or shut up? You know, there's a saying in politics, you can't beat someone with no
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one. All right. Erin O'Toole, I agree, is a weak candidate who failed. Okay. So who should be the
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leader instead? If there is someone, have a leadership race and let them stand. But if no one has that
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courage, then let Erin O'Toole lead. I do not like Erin O'Toole much. But if no one is willing to step
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forward and challenge him, let him be. That's why an early leadership vote makes sense.
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I saw the typical Conservative partisans closing ranks behind Erin O'Toole, and I can understand
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that. Part of being a party in the system we have is party discipline. There's less party discipline in
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the United States, for example, when parties routinely vote along their own lines, especially
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U.S. senators. They really vote how they want, no matter what the president says of either party.
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And so in Canada, you are expected to be loyal. Party discipline may mean something in a parliamentary
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system where without it, the government could fail. But as my colleague Sheila Gunn-Reed points out,
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it's a bit much for Conservatives who went to bat for Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott and
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Selina Shazer-Shavan. It's a bit much for those Conservatives standing up for strong women who were
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thrown away by Justin Trudeau to now throw away their own woman of valor who stands up to an out-of-control
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leader. I note that another senator criticized Erin O'Toole in much the same way. His name is Senator
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Mike McDonald. And for some reason, he wasn't fired like Senator Batters was. Why is that?
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I end by quoting something that Senator Batters says, which is, did Erin O'Toole lose because he
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was just finding his feet? It was just his first try that if Canadians get to know him, they'll really
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love him. Because that would be a reason to keep someone around for a second chance, like Stephen
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Harper had. But Erin O'Toole is not a newcomer. He's been in politics for decades. He was a senior
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cabinet minister. Everyone knows him in the political game. And I acknowledge that regular
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people don't know him. But what they know about him is authentic. He's not going to develop anymore.
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He is who he is. And I don't think he hasn't. When Stéphane Dion lost about 15 years ago to Stephen
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Harper, he wasn't going to suddenly become a different person if they let him run again. He
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wasn't simply going to suddenly become charming or authentic or have a winning personality or develop
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an EQ, an emotional quotient, or a social IQ. Those things were not going to happen. And the Liberal
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Party doesn't care about anything other than winning. That's really its chief job. They threw Stéphane
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Dion overboard because he was a loser. And another chance wouldn't change that. Same thing with the
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Green Party. Annemie Paul. Whether or not she chose to quit or was fired, I think it was a bit of both.
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She was not going to win if she had another chance. You could even say that about Hillary Clinton.
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There was just simply no way that Hillary Clinton was going to win in 2020 after losing in 2016.
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People already had an opinion about her. She wasn't going to change or evolve or be more likable.
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Her scandals weren't going to go away. I put it to you that another election for Erin O'Toole
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will not suddenly transform. The Liberals will not suddenly be weaker. In fact, I think in the last
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two elections there have been scandals and fiascos that the Conservatives should have been able to
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capitalize on but didn't. Whether Jody Wilson-Raybould or the Kielberger scandals or anything else,
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blackface photos. If you can't beat Justin Trudeau with the wind at your back, you're not going to
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beat him next time either. I say have the leadership review early. And may the best man or woman win.
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If no one challenges Erin O'Toole, if no one wants that job, then let the man keep it and maybe he can
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have it. But by throwing aboard anyone else in the party who disagrees with him, he shows a
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brittleness that I think shows why he's so weak. You know, he may be able to bully the remaining
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people in caucus by saying, if you don't support me publicly, I'll throw you out too. And he does
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have that power in our system. But hundreds of thousands of grassroots Conservatives in this
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country, well, he can't bully all of them. In fact, they're his boss, which is why I think he's so
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terrified of letting them have a vote. I salute Senator Batters. I'm glad she's using her relative
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immunity to his punishments to say what so many people are saying. Erin O'Toole is no conservative
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and he's no opposition leader. He just won't oppose. Stay with us for more.
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Last night, I removed Senator Batters from our national caucus. Our national caucus is about to
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have meetings to prepare for the return of Parliament. We're going to return to hold the
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government to account for the inflation crisis we're facing month after month, national unity
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crisis we're facing, and to make sure we show a professional approach to the pandemic and the
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return of Parliament. We have to have all members of the team focused at that. And it was a necessary
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decision to make for the well-being of our caucus, of our Parliament, and of the country.
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Well, how do you make the Conservative Party more conservative? Well, I think one of the ways
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is to get the decision-making and the discussion about the future of the Conservative Party away from
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the leader and those close to him and down to the party members, of which there were or are
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hundreds of thousands across the country. I think that's what Senator Denise Batters is trying
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to accomplish. Joining us now via Skype is our Alberta Bureau Chief and Chief Reporter,
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Sheila Gunn-Reed. Sheila, great to see you again. I referred to one of your tweets earlier today.
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Conservatives loved to champion Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott and Selena Cesar-Cevan when they
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spoke truth to power against Justin Trudeau. Well, this is the analogy in the Conservative Party.
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I think what's good for the goose is good for the gander. What do you think?
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Well, that's exactly it. And it's especially appalling to see this happen to Denise Batters.
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If I recall correctly, she's a Harper appointee. She's been a loyal soldier. She's been out there
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campaigning for whoever has been in charge. She's one of those people that when I think,
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you know what, maybe we should abolish the Senate, she does something that reminds me that they
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actually do things over in there. And, you know, I almost said Justin Trudeau, but it's Aaron O'Toole.
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He has done the exact thing that proves Denise's point. Denise said, you're acting like a liberal.
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You are really indistinguishable from Justin Trudeau. You flip-flopped on guns. You flip-flopped
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on the carbon tax. You flip-flopped on free speech. And the members deserve a say. And what
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does he do? He goes out and does the Trudeau thing. And that's firing the one woman who stood
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up to him. He, I mean, all he did was prove Denise's exact point. Yeah. And firing her by
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voicemail. And I suppose if you can't really get through to someone, I mean, his voicemail or email
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or something like that or a letter, but it, it, I just wish he was as tough with the liberals as he
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is on true conservatives. You know, you're right about Senator Batters. I mean, I'm not sure how
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many conservative senators are left. It's probably not very many, but if you asked me to name five of
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them, I think I'd have a tough time because most of them are pretty somnolent, pretty quiet. They live
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down to the Senate's expectation. Senator Batters is not one of those. She's actually a fighter and
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it's just so in keeping with his character for Erin O'Toole to get rid of the best people. Like
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he wouldn't appoint Leslie Lewis to the shadow cabinet. She's such an obvious person to appoint.
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I mean, forget about the liberal math of gender and ethnicity, but she has a following. She has a
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base within the party. And traditionally you heal. You, when, when Jean Chrétien beat Paul Martin,
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he made Paul Martin his finance minister, pulled him into the center. Stephen Harper beat Peter
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McKay, pulled him into cabinet, pulled Tony Clement into cabinet. So like part of leading is to expand,
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especially if you're in opposition to expand. But Erin O'Toole seems to be an expert at reducing
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the size of the party. It ain't working. No, I mean, Jason Kenney even did the same thing.
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He put his leadership opponents into positions of power, even turning one of them into a cabinet
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minister, even though he was a red Tory here in Alberta. But you pointed out Stephen Harper doing
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the same thing. And instead of reflecting on the conservative successes and doing those things,
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Erin O'Toole has done the things that were the greatest failures that Andrew Scheer did. For example,
00:24:10.680
you know, not putting Lesley and Lewis in the shadow cabinet, that's a great example.
00:24:17.140
Scheer did the same thing with Max Bernier. Max Bernier very nearly won the leadership. And instead
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of healing the rift within 50% of the party, Scheer tossed him out. And O'Toole, instead of learning
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something from it, he does the exact same thing. And to get back to Denise, she isn't even doing anything
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all that outrageous. The Conservatives keep telling us they're a party that listens to the grassroots.
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All she was trying to do was give the grassroots a voice from a safe place because she's in the
00:24:52.400
Well, that's the thing. I mean, it's not very persuasive to me to see Erin O'Toole's newly
00:24:58.360
appointed shadow cabinet picks defend Erin O'Toole because it's pretty clear they're doing that
00:25:03.980
because they don't want to be thrown out either. So you have to have some sort of immunity, to borrow
00:25:09.820
a word, to criticize him. A senator has that immunity and the grassroots people in the party do.
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I don't know. I think that it is true that any disharmony or civil war in a party hurts because
00:25:22.960
people say, if you can't govern your own party, how are you going to govern the country? There's a lot
00:25:27.040
of truth to that. But the fact is, Erin O'Toole lost an election that someone else could have won.
00:25:33.700
And there needs to be a party reflection on that. And as I said in my monologue,
00:25:37.660
if no one else steps forward to challenge him, if he wins that leadership review, if he beats a
00:25:44.700
challenger, great. Okay. So then that is the will of the party. Losing an election wasn't enough to
00:25:49.820
have him lose his job. And Stephen Harper lost his first election too. But the distraction is not
00:25:56.560
because the leadership vote is being called. It will be called no matter what. The question is, do it
00:26:00.720
now or do it in three years. And I think it's obvious that Erin O'Toole knows he's not really on
00:26:08.720
side with party members. He disparages them all the time. He tells them they have to change. He
00:26:14.340
basically says, I'm going to throw out true conservatives and Westerners in the hopes of wooing
00:26:18.820
Ontario liberals, except for it didn't work. Like, you know what? I got to tell you, Sheila, I didn't like
00:26:23.740
that strategy, which he telegraphed so clearly. Embrace the carbon tax. Embrace open borders
00:26:29.060
migration. Shut up about lockdowns. And in return, for the 10 seats they might lose in the West,
00:26:34.880
they'd pick up 40 seats in Ontario in the East. That's the theory. That was the strategy. And you
00:26:39.940
know what? If it would have worked, he could have said, well, you could be a perfect loser or a pretty
00:26:44.980
good winner, and we chose to win. Okay. And he would have a case to make. But it didn't work at all.
00:26:50.140
So not only did he destroy the conservative brand and renege on his promise of voters,
00:26:55.700
it did not even work. So what's even the point? Well, and that's the thing. Like,
00:27:01.100
you rightly point out, the reason he doesn't want to test the will of the people is because he knows
00:27:06.240
he will lose. And, you know, he will no longer be the leader. But he's hoping to reg the puck long
00:27:12.760
enough so that he can hang on to the leadership and go into the next election as the leader of the
00:27:22.000
party. But ultimately, he must know that people have already rejected him and his ideas once.
00:27:28.860
So for me, outside looking in, I see this as someone who wants to hold on to the power in the
00:27:36.120
party at all costs, but also to the detriment of the entire country. Justin Trudeau's plans for net
00:27:44.420
zero, all the things he promised at the UN climate change conference, that will cost 500,000 jobs in
00:27:52.180
the West. And that is the same goal that Erin O'Toole has committed to. So I guess, you know,
00:27:59.780
Erin O'Toole, he wants to hold on to power in the Conservative Party of Canada. But what's it going to cost?
00:28:05.760
It's going to cost 500,000 jobs in the West and more economic devastation, because Justin Trudeau
00:28:11.860
will surely win again. He will be Prime Minister as long as he wants to be, unless the Conservatives
00:28:18.220
get their act together and have someone who will put the country over his own ambitions.
00:28:23.500
Yeah, you know, both Andrew Scheer and Erin O'Toole assumed that Justin Trudeau would crumble,
00:28:29.540
that they didn't have to win, Trudeau just had to lose. But the thing is,
00:28:34.860
Trudeau is cannier and slier and a better campaigner than that. Plus, he has the entire
00:28:42.080
media party at his disposal and many other institutions. And you know what? He also has,
00:28:47.460
he's a household name and face. I put it to you, and we've done this before. We've shown
00:28:51.340
Erin O'Toole's picture on the street in, you know, just in, for example, in Toronto,
00:28:56.360
there's something called Young and Dundas Square. It's like a little Times Square of Toronto.
00:28:59.620
You show the picture, no one knows who he is. So just expecting that a handsome-ish,
00:29:06.740
young-ish, household name, last name, media-supported emoter and selfie-taker
00:29:14.960
is going to lose and it's going to fall into your lap, that's not going to happen.
00:29:21.020
You've got to stand for something. And you know what? I look to the United States because at least
00:29:25.780
they have some diversity. They've got 50 states and they have a diversity of approaches by Democrats
00:29:31.760
and Republicans. They have some true opposition. Here in Canada, we have 10 provinces, three
00:29:35.640
territories, all the governments, all the opposition are all in agreement on everything.
00:29:40.560
So I think, well, can't we have, like, I looked at this Virginia race. You had a Republican named
00:29:46.500
Glenn Youngkin. And he started talking about conservative issues like leave our schools
00:29:51.940
alone, don't teach trans extremism, don't teach critical race theory extremism. And he said things
00:29:59.100
with some courage, parents' rights. He was much more moderate on lockdowns. And boy, did the media
00:30:05.040
kill him. But instead of bending the knee, he held firm. His right-hand woman running for lieutenant
00:30:09.980
governor, Winsome Sears, a Jamaican immigrant to America, joined the Marines, wonderful patriot.
00:30:17.720
So just, he campaigned with confidence and he bloody well won. And he didn't bend the knee the first
00:30:24.020
time that CBC complained to him. Same with Ron DeSantis. And yes, Florida and Virginia are different
00:30:31.440
than Canada, but there's something about a conservative leader who speaks plainly on behalf of the people,
00:30:37.020
who doesn't buckle. I just, can we not try that for once? Can we just try that? People say,
00:30:44.020
well, the lockdowns are very popular in the opinion polls. Here's the Angus Reid poll here.
00:30:49.760
Lockdowns and forced vaccines are very, I hate to say it, they're very popular. Well, you know,
00:30:54.620
the reason for that, Sheila, is because every bloody voice calls for that in the media, in politics,
00:31:01.340
in culture, in law, every, well, how about if there was just one leader who said, you know what,
00:31:07.140
I'm actually going to look at what the word leader means. I'm going to try and lead opinion,
00:31:10.960
not follow it. I'm going to marshal the arguments the best I can. Day after day, I'm going to debate
00:31:15.560
this thing in the national discourse. I'm going to try to move numbers. If we actually tried,
00:31:20.160
maybe we'd have a Glenn Youngkin or a Ron DeSantis.
00:31:22.240
Well, yeah. And I mean, when the regular public, the regular news consuming public are constantly
00:31:29.260
inundated with how great lockdowns are, it's like gaslighting or brainwashing entire population.
00:31:36.320
If you express an opinion that you're like, maybe I don't think these lockdowns are so great,
00:31:41.020
but I don't want to sound like the crazy one. So you find yourself adopting these ideas that are
00:31:45.760
being shoved down your throat. And really in the case of, um, Youngkin and, and the, uh, election
00:31:54.640
there, what happened was somebody identified a single issue voter and said, I don't care if those
00:32:01.680
people are Democrat. I don't care if they're Republican. They have concerns. Their concerns
00:32:06.780
are valid and I'm going to fight for them. And that's what created this coalition of voters
00:32:10.720
that showed up at the polls, Democrats and Republicans alike voting for the same guy
00:32:15.420
because he identified a single issue that nobody else was offering an alternative viewpoint on.
00:32:21.580
And we saw polling the other day in a story that came out in Blacklock saying
00:32:26.380
that decision of Justin Trudeau to hit the campaign trail and demonize people who were
00:32:32.820
anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine passport, and just want to get left alone to go about their lives and
00:32:38.320
run their business and have whomever they want in their house. That decision for Justin Trudeau to
00:32:42.680
take to the campaign trail and demonize and marginalize and scapegoat them, that was a
00:32:48.440
conscious campaign choice based on polling. And Erin O'Toole at some point, actually not just Erin
00:32:55.480
O'Toole, anybody in that party could have come out and said, you know what, whatever you feel about
00:33:01.720
lockdowns, even if you think they work, I reject Justin Trudeau's politics of division and marginalization
00:33:09.800
of our fellow Canadians. But the Conservative Party of Canada under Erin O'Toole didn't even have the
00:33:15.480
guts to do that. Because I don't think Canadians even realized, at least some of them didn't realize
00:33:21.080
what Justin Trudeau was doing to them by scapegoating those people for the reason your freedoms were
00:33:26.880
taken away. The Conservatives could have said, no, it is Justin Trudeau who is taking your freedoms away
00:33:32.600
and your neighbors should not be blamed for it. But even that easy message wasn't coming out of the
00:33:38.160
Conservative Party. Yeah. Well, I have lost a lot of respect for so-called Conservative politicians.
00:33:47.560
I remember I used to be quite close to Jason Kenney, the Premier of Alberta. I was a friendly
00:33:52.560
enough acquaintance with the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford. I was on good terms with many Conservative
00:33:57.920
MPs. I still am. Some on the lowdown talk to me privately because they disagree with Erin O'Toole,
00:34:04.980
but they know if they say it, they'll be fired immediately from the party. But I no longer,
00:34:10.780
as the Bible says, put my trust in princes. They'll let you down every time. And I believe
00:34:17.920
that we have a mission here at Rebel News, Sheila. Our primary mission is, you can see it right in our
00:34:22.880
motto, telling the other side of the story. That's one thing that we can do well. And I think,
00:34:27.900
I mean, we've never had more reporters in Canada, Sheila. I don't know if you've ever stopped to
00:34:32.460
count, but there's, there are, I mean, some people sort of are halftime reporters, halftime editors,
00:34:38.420
but I think we're close to 20 people now who actually produce news in Canada. That's a significant
00:34:46.320
newsroom. Literally today, I just signed a contract with a young woman from Calgary to add to our team
00:34:52.520
there. I literally signed another, I signed two contracts today, one with another cameraman in
00:34:57.760
Quebec to help tell the story there. We have never been bigger. And why? Because that's one thing I
00:35:04.340
know we can do. We can tell the other side of the story. So to break the, to break the unanimity.
00:35:10.220
And then our friends of the democracy fund with whom we work closely, they can try to make a difference
00:35:15.140
in the courts. So that's where I'm putting my efforts because I'm so disappointed in the partisan
00:35:21.100
political system. Hopefully a leader will come that we can feel confident championing. But right
00:35:26.920
now the work has to happen in the nonpartisan sector, at least in my life. Sure. And I think
00:35:33.140
that's why I was so annoyed with what happened to Denise, besides the fact that even Justin Trudeau
00:35:38.120
had the gumption to yell at the women to their face. Erin O'Toole had to do it in a, in a phone call.
00:35:46.320
But because she was trying to do, I think part of what we do here every day, and that's give a
00:35:50.860
voice to the normals of the world, who are the ones that are told to shut up by the politicians,
00:35:55.520
that they can't say this, and that are treated as radicals by the mainstream media, when they're
00:36:02.940
just your friends, your neighbors, your family, people that you work with. That's what Denise
00:36:07.320
was trying to do. She was trying to give them a voice in their own party, and she was canceled
00:36:11.860
for it. Lucky thing for us, though, is nobody can cancel us. We seem pretty cancel-proof these days.
00:36:17.460
Well, that's right. I love being independent for that reason. Well, Sheila, it's great to
00:36:22.320
see you again. Thanks for fighting the fight every day, journalistically. And it'll be interesting
00:36:27.520
to see how the story plays out. I don't think that firing Senator Batters, who's sort of a fan
00:36:33.000
favorite, a party favorite, I don't think that's going to stop the problem. We already see other MPs
00:36:38.980
griping privately to reporters who are loving it. I think this problem is going to get worse for Erin
00:36:45.000
O'Toole. I hope he is shown the door. I have my picks for who I'd prefer to lead the party,
00:36:50.760
but I know one thing. Erin O'Toole is not going to get better with age. You know, some people,
00:36:56.520
they're green. Circumstances were against them. They need a second shot to prove who they really
00:37:03.500
are. I think we know who Erin O'Toole really is. He's an inauthentic flip-flopper who no one trusts.
00:37:08.600
Neither friends nor enemies trust him. He's not green. He's not a greenhorn. He's just someone
00:37:17.160
who didn't win. And I think he should move on and move aside. But I'm not a party member,
00:37:22.360
so I don't have anything to say. Sheila, it's great to see you. Keep up the fight.
00:37:26.400
All right. There you have it. Sheila Gunn-Reed, chief reporter of Rebel News. Stay with us. More ahead.
00:37:30.440
Your viewer feedback. Here's a note from Paul McCullough. Paul, it's great to hear from you
00:37:46.500
again. To put it simply, Trudeau's a beta male or lower, and Corporal Daniel Balford is an alpha
00:37:52.880
male. Think Cain and Abel. Well, that's a whole analogy right there, isn't it? I think
00:38:00.280
that Trudeau comes across as a beta male. He comes across as sensitive, and I think it's like a trick.
00:38:05.240
I think that's that male feminist move. I actually think that it's just a false front. Just the same
00:38:11.400
way he pretends to be anti-racist, but he's a blackface dresser-upper. The same way he pretends
00:38:16.820
to be a feminist, but he sexually assaulted Rose Knight. The same way he claims to care about, I don't
00:38:22.420
know, indigenous reconciliation, but he goes surfing in Tofino instead. I think the beta male thing,
00:38:28.500
the more I think about it, it's actually just an act to woo soft voters. I think he's very cunning,
00:38:35.760
and I think he's in league with some deadly people who are alpha males. I think the sniper spotter,
00:38:43.260
the corporal we spoke with, is an outstanding man, and he made a tough choice, a choice to sacrifice
00:38:49.360
his career for his principles, the choice Justin Trudeau would never make.
00:38:52.800
Brian 22 has a comment, sort of a trick comment. He says, comment deleted due to lack of proof of
00:39:03.160
vaccination. It's a joke. You're saying it as a joke now, but seriously, how long before you're
00:39:09.780
denied access to your bank account? Do you're denied access to your email account if you haven't
00:39:15.500
got your 23rd booster? Revelator 2 says, when I read some healthy, active top drawer in the community
00:39:22.760
person, died in his sleep, reason unknown, my BS detector keeps beeping and won't reset for hours.
00:39:28.980
Oh yeah. You know what? Someone showed me this the other day. Go to Google and type in died suddenly,
00:39:37.700
suddenly, and then click the news tab. You will be shocked at how many young, healthy people
00:39:45.320
are dying suddenly, people who were perfectly healthy until just a moment ago. Gee, I wonder
00:39:52.160
what that's all about. It's incredible. The efforts to pump up the numbers of people who died from COVID,
00:39:58.460
but to suppress the number of people who are having vaccine injuries. I don't know if we'll ever know
00:40:02.600
the truth. Well, that's our show for today. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel
00:40:07.960
World Headquarters, to you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom. And let me leave you
00:40:12.780
with a video from Melbourne, Australia of our dear friend Avi Amini, who went to a protest that's all
00:40:19.040
night, 24-hour protest. They're sleeping outside their legislature in Melbourne to protest the lack
00:40:24.920
of freedom. They were obviously called alt-right. Well, here's Avi talking to some of those white
00:40:30.560
supremacists. Get a load of this. See you later. Next week, campaign against racism and fascism
00:40:36.800
are rallying against this group. They're rallying against you. They're calling you a fascist,
00:40:42.920
far-right-wing extremist. What would you say to them? I say, why don't you just stop all the
00:40:50.320
segregation, come together for the common purpose, so that we can actually heal this country and heal
00:40:56.320
ourselves as people, so we can heal each other, so we can walk to a brighter day for once and for all.
00:41:05.440
For many months now, probably even coming up close to two years, we've been told by the mainstream
00:41:10.660
media, union leaders, politicians and far-left-wing activists that these freedom protesters are just a
00:41:17.680
bunch of far-right, QAnon, white supremacists. To the point where a group who call themselves
00:41:22.720
campaign against racism and fascism has organised a counter-protest for this Saturday at Victoria State
00:41:30.120
Library from 12pm, rallying in a COVID-safe way, I'm sure, against the evil far-right fascists. So,
00:41:37.800
as a responsible journalist that you know me to be, I decided to go deep undercover at last week's
00:41:42.740
protest to expose these dangerous supremacists. Watch and share what happened and then make sure,
00:41:48.000
if you haven't done so already, to head over and sign the petition at killthebill.com.au.
00:41:55.400
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. I was told that this protest was white supremacists. Are you the
00:42:01.600
leader? Yes, can't you tell? All of the minority parties that apparently care about minorities
00:42:07.680
are not standing up for us. It's absolutely, it's a shame, it's something to be ashamed of.
00:42:13.360
They're anti-fascists, yet they're protesting for the fascists. Like, the mental gymnastics you have
00:42:19.300
to do to try and draw that line of logic is just obscene. Delusional. Everyone's here. This is
00:42:25.160
Australia, mate. We've been past racism a long time ago, mate. We're the most multicultural country in
00:42:30.620
the world. Spoken like a true white supremacist. Be honest, are you a white supremacist? No, and I don't
00:42:37.600
think anyone is. Some people use it for their own interests, you know what I mean? I don't think
00:42:42.340
anyone is. I'm here on behalf of Victoria Police. These colours are way too happy. We're going to
00:42:47.480
send you a fine in the mail. The crowd now chanting to kill Bill. I don't know, who's Bill? Who's Bill?
00:42:56.540
I don't know. It's about Daniel's legislation bill. We don't want it. Oh, so they're not trying to kill
00:43:01.420
Bill. Not trying to kill Bill. Fuck it. I just thought maybe your white supremacist little thingos
00:43:08.500
were starting to get violent. It's all about peace. It's all about love. It's all about people coming
00:43:12.560
together and looking after our children. Are you guys white supremacists? No. You look like one.
00:43:20.560
Where are all those activists that every year march down the street saying abolish Australia Day and all
00:43:27.680
this other stuff? Where are they today? Why are they not standing for the indigenous Australians here
00:43:33.560
today that are crying out for help? Well, I don't know. I honestly don't know, but that's why I'm here.
00:43:41.020
Are you a white supremacist? Oh, you're going to have to figure that out yourself. Not at all, man. Not at all.
00:43:47.060
Not at all. This is for us. This guy definitely is. Come here. You've got to know her. We're all so. We do know. We're all brothers and sisters. She definitely looks like that far right wing fascist they were talking about.
00:44:00.440
I'll be honest. They're not known for the IQ or showers. I think it's fair to say we're not dealing with the pains of Britain.
00:44:09.160
They need to be with us now saying my body, my choice. So that's the time.
00:44:13.460
You're saying if they're against racism, they should be standing with you. Yes. To protect your body.
00:44:19.720
100%. White supremacist. Assyrian. Assyrian. Same. I know Assyria. Yes. Some of the most action people in the world.
00:44:28.820
All right. We have people here praying for our leaders. Our leaders have abandoned us. Yes. They've mistreated us.
00:44:37.160
And they're still praying for them. And they're still praying for them. Can you point them out? I'm going to kick them out of this party.
00:44:42.460
This is white privilege. This is white privilege. That's right. You obviously didn't get the memo. This is a white supremacist event.
00:44:51.700
It looks bigger on TV, doesn't it? White, black, silver, black, grey. We all are human beings.
00:44:58.220
We're fighting here for the rights of man, for the rights of humanity, whatever it is, mate.
00:45:03.100
This is like everyone fight. It's not about colour. It's not about, you know, where you come from. It's all about human.
00:45:11.980
We are all on the same boat. If the boat sink, we all sink. All human rights will sink.
00:45:22.060
You guys are not the blackest white supremacist I've seen in this group today.
00:45:29.480
We're here for the good cause for the people, brother.
00:45:34.480
It's time we all stand there before we don't get to stand.
00:45:49.800
and those using that to campaign against this group, basing it on racism,
00:46:01.260
Other you, mini in Melbourne, Australia for Rebel News.
00:46:03.720
Like, comment and share to let the world know that this group
00:46:07.720
is far more tolerant than the one you're going to see next week.
00:46:13.140
That's something a white supremacist would say.
00:46:25.800
It's our time to stand for our kids' freedoms, bro.
00:46:28.700
So, yeah, stand up, Aussie, New Zealand, let's go.
00:46:53.480
no matter what campaign against fascism and racism tell you,
00:46:58.020
this is some of the most diverse group of people
00:47:03.560
not for the white race, not for the black race,