In the wake of Canada Action's decision to cancel their planned protest convoy to Ottawa, Glenn Carrot of Yellow Vests Canada joins me on The Gunn Show to talk about what the mainstream media has been saying about the protest movement and what it's all about.
00:00:00.000Canada Action has officially cancelled their convoy to Ottawa but the mission to bring Alberta's concerns to Justin Trudeau's doorstep is far from over.
00:00:10.800I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.
00:00:30.000Canada Action has pumped the brakes on their protest convoy to Ottawa.
00:00:36.260Now this is from their official press release.
00:00:39.180Unfortunately, we have come to the decision that it is no longer viable to proceed with our planned convoy.
00:00:46.320We cannot confidently mitigate the unexpected challenges associated with this event.
00:00:52.500As such, we will be issuing full refunds to all of our donors.
00:01:01.060But the Yellow Vest convoy, that one's still going ahead.
00:01:04.380You see, they've got lots of truckers willing to participate.
00:01:06.960They've got lots of cash in the bank to help them get there.
00:01:09.800And they have lots of people and supporters.
00:01:13.060Now these two convoys, both scheduled to leave the same day, were often painted as dueling convoys from competing movements.
00:01:21.500Canada Action and Rally for Resources have both been pretty anti-Yellow Vest protests from the very beginning.
00:01:29.700Making statements in the media denouncing the Yellow Vests and their convoy efforts and being clear to disassociate Canada Action from the Yellow Vests and their convoys.
00:01:40.580The Yellow Vests movement, yeah, it's controversial, but that's what happens when you have an organic growing movement that doesn't have, for lack of a better word here, a manifesto that defines exactly who they are.
00:01:55.960That absence of a manifesto leaves a vacuum where your enemies can fill in the blanks about your motives.
00:02:02.200Now I think I'm one of the few people in all of Canadian media outside of my colleagues who has actually taken the time to wade into the Yellow Vests protests to actually ask them what their concerns are and then allow them to answer in their own words.
00:02:15.920Now this diverse group of people have been referred to as white nationalists, as liars, as xenophobes and extremists.
00:02:26.780Opinion, Yellow Vests Canada are just a high visibility hate group.
00:02:31.400Let's hope that those caught up in the lies and misinformation from the Yellow Vests can see through to the truth and come to the realization that we are all of the human race.
00:02:43.720Now whoever wrote this garbage article doesn't even have the guts to put their name to it.
00:02:48.760It's simply printed as being written by Bay Today staff.
00:02:53.260This Guardian article trotted out a political science professor from the University of Toronto who said of the Yellow Vests,
00:03:02.140When you scratch the surface, it's very shallow.
00:03:05.500It's a vehicle for those who are very conservative and anti-immigrant and who want to use anything they can against the current government.
00:03:14.380Speaking of shallow, that's a very shallow assessment of the Yellow Vests momentum.
00:03:22.460They saw their Facebook grow to over 90,000 members in just two short weeks.
00:03:27.940It's a pretty shallow assessment of the record-breaking trucking convoys that are being organized all across the prairies,
00:03:36.300primarily on Yellow Vest Facebook pages.
00:03:39.940And it is a pretty shallow assessment of the Yellow Vest issues by someone who's never spoken to them.
00:03:46.940Last week I had my friend Bernard Hancock on the show and we talked about oil and gas issues.
00:03:51.540And he said he didn't like the Yellow Vest, which is, of course, his opinion.
00:03:56.640And this is a place where my guests get to express their opinions.
00:04:01.780And at the time, I told Bernard I'm willing to talk to anybody who's willing to come on my show.
00:04:07.840So, this week, I have the main organizer for the Yellow Vest convoy to Ottawa as my guest.
00:04:15.460You'll see me ask him tough questions.
00:04:17.980You'll see me ask him about what the mainstream media says about his Yellow Vest convoy and the movement.
00:04:26.540And you'll see me ask him to define what the Yellow Vest convoy to Ottawa is all about.
00:04:32.140So, joining me tonight in an interview we recorded yesterday is Glenn Carrot of Yellow Vests Canada.
00:04:57.880Now, Glenn, I would describe Glenn as one of the main organizers for the Yellow Vest convoy to Ottawa.
00:05:04.420But the reason I have Glenn on the show today is because I want to give Glenn a chance to define his convoy because I think if Glenn doesn't, the CBC and really the enemies of what Glenn is trying to do will do it for him.
00:05:20.120And I don't think they will treat him fairly.
00:05:22.580Last week, I had Bernard Hancock on the show.
00:05:25.020He's critical of the Yellow Vest movement, but I gave him a chance to say his piece, and I'll talk to anybody on the show here.
00:05:32.360So, I wanted to have Glenn on because I do want to treat the Yellow Vests fairly.
00:05:36.500I think I've done more talking to them than anybody else in the media.
00:05:40.260And so, joining me now from Innisfail.
00:05:46.760Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself before we get into anything else?
00:05:52.420Because you really aren't a radical, are you?
00:05:54.920You're not the wackadoodle that I think the mainstream media would like to portray many of the people involved in the Yellow Vest movement.
00:06:23.920And, you know, I hope that by the end of all this that we can really portray that that's the type of people that are just trying to fight for our country.
00:06:32.220You know, and I think that's really what it is about.
00:06:34.740When I've gone to, I mean, these convoys that are happening all across the province and I guess even into Saskatchewan, they really aren't being organized by the oil industry and the official representatives of the oil industry.
00:06:50.220Like Canada Action, they are being organized on Yellow Vest Facebook pages by just average citizens who've had enough.
00:07:06.240You know, Canada actually has done their part in doing some rallies and their work has been pretty extensive with that.
00:07:15.700And that's actually why right from the start that I reached out to all these groups to try and combine them so that we could, you know, get this one convoy together and work collaboratively and find some common ground that we can move forward with this.
00:07:29.360So, yeah, you know, it isn't just the Yellow Vest.
00:07:31.960There's been some rallies with some business people.
00:07:39.760So, we just want to be the ones that are open to bringing everybody together.
00:07:45.900You know, and I'm so glad to hear you say that because I have seen people, and I would say even people who present themselves as official representatives of the pro-oil movement, attack the Yellow Vest.
00:07:59.940And I'm very glad to hear you say that you're not doing the same, that, you know, you do see that you have common goals.
00:08:10.060And like you said, you're fighting for Canada.
00:08:14.700I think the word I would use is you're somewhat ecumenical with the other side who have sort of done their best to, what's the right word here, discredit what you're trying to do.
00:08:28.080You really did want to work with Canada Action and bring the two convoys together.
00:08:35.820And again, we've never been the biased ones that, you know, we've said, you don't have to wear the Yellow Vest, just get behind the movement.
00:09:16.560And, you know, and at the end of the day, and Bernard's, I did watch your clip on Bernard, and you know what, we stand behind everything that Bernard said.
00:09:27.160We have to get our product to Tidewater.
00:09:30.080We have to get Canada, the rest of Canada, using our product.
00:09:33.260We have to change the image of our product.
00:09:36.220And we got to stop spending money on foreign oil.
00:09:39.600And, you know, at the end of the day, there's very little difference between the two groups.
00:09:45.260And, again, I wish we could have just found common ground so that we could have moved forward.
00:09:49.360But, you know, the carbon tax is, of course, another issue with ours.
00:09:53.860And, you know, Canada's identity is an issue with Yellow Vest.
00:09:59.400So at the end of the day, we're very common goals with the oil and gas industry and the bad rap that it's got undeservedly.
00:10:07.780So, you know, it is unfortunate that we couldn't move forward together.
00:10:11.700And, you know, I hope they continue, you know, continue with their good work of spreading the news of oil and gas and that it is a good, viable energy sector for our whole country.
00:10:27.380So I believe that the issue of not having tidewater access for our oil and gas and the fact that there's such foreign influence on environmental issues in Canada are part of, I think, the broader tent of Yellow Vest issues.
00:10:47.480I think it is all about national sovereignty, that a country should be making decisions for itself in the best interest of the country.
00:10:57.920And so I understand how the issue of foreign influence and environmental issues blocking pipelines falls right into migration issues and aversion to the United Nations.
00:11:12.160It's all part of the same issue, and that's about national sovereignty, really.
00:11:24.620My father migrated from Iowa, you know, from the Rainy Creek area in Bentley.
00:11:32.960And, you know, those are our forefathers and our grandfathers, and they took on Canada.
00:11:38.660They became Canadians, and they took on what it meant to be a Canadian.
00:11:42.780And that's what we really need to be careful that we don't lose that identity.
00:11:46.820We are not against immigration, but not in the least.
00:11:50.140But let's just make sure it's controlled and that we, you know, that we don't have people coming illegally that are criminals and that shouldn't be in the country.
00:12:01.440And just control it, you know, because we've got to watch our identity.
00:12:05.160We're Canadians, and we need to stay Canadians.
00:12:07.700Now, I wanted to ask you some questions about the convoy.
00:12:15.300The convoy organized by your group, it's still going forward, is it not?
00:12:24.420We've been, you know, again, reaching out to all the groups.
00:12:28.240We've, you know, we still, you know, if any group, we still say yellow vest or not yellow vest, get behind it.
00:12:34.480You know, we just want to band together and make this a big rally and a big show for Ottawa that it's not just Western Canada.
00:12:45.700It's all of Canada that's upset with the current government.
00:12:49.000So, you know, it doesn't matter if you want to wear, have the yellow vest around your back, but just get behind the movement.
00:12:57.000That's, you know, there's various different ways to be.
00:12:59.400You know, I can use a sports analogy of, you know, you can be a Toronto Blue Jays fan, you can write various different ways.
00:13:05.940You've got the players on the field, the bad boys, and then you've got people in the stands that are fans, and you've got people at home that are fans.
00:13:14.020You know, they don't all wear the jersey, the Toronto Blue Jays jersey, but they're all behind it.
00:13:19.980And that's what we need is for Canada to get behind what we're doing, and what we're doing is fighting for your rights and for the things that just aren't right in the government today.
00:13:30.000So, you know, look at our motto and get behind the movement.
00:13:34.820You know, I think that's one thing, some of the rhetoric that bothered me from some of the more fringe elements of the movement was, you know, this anti-Quebec sentiment.
00:13:47.700And don't get me wrong, I'm one of the largest, loudest critics of Quebec politicians and the Quebec government.
00:13:54.640But I would suggest that probably the people of Quebec, much like the people of Ontario now, they're very supportive of our oil and gas industry.
00:14:11.080Ontario had one of the governments that was the most against pipelines in the entire country under Kathleen Wynne, very anti-oil and gas development.
00:14:22.720All it took was one election for the true voice of the people to be heard.
00:14:27.580And now Doug Ford has passed a motion that says he will never stand in the way of pipeline development and blocking our access to the rest of the country.
00:14:37.080So I'm glad to hear you say that, you know, there are other ways for Canadians to support you without participating in the convoy.
00:14:44.380Because I really, truly believe this is a Canadian issue.
00:14:47.940And I truly believe that most good, common sense Canadians, no matter what political ideology they are, do support prosperity for the country.
00:14:59.960I mean, you know, again, we go back to the energy sector, that how important it is for Canada and for our way of life.
00:15:05.780And, you know, for Quebec to say that they don't have an appetite for pipelines, well, is your appetite better fed by supporting foreign oil in countries like Saudi Arabia that don't have very good human rights?
00:15:22.660I mean, there was a girl on the news this morning, sorry, I can't remember the name, but came over from Saudi Arabia because of all the abuse that's going on over there.
00:15:32.300Is that what they would rather support?
00:15:35.140Or would they rather support their own country and have our energy sector go throughout the whole country and we can prosper by having this?
00:15:45.800You know, that's one really great point.
00:15:48.280And I don't think the Liberals are capable of making the connection there, that we have this young woman who has immigrated to Canada because she feared for her life.
00:15:58.400And yet the Liberals cannot connect the human rights abuses to Canada actually supporting those human rights abuses by 40 percent of the oil in the Irving oil refinery coming in on a tanker ship from Saudi Arabia.
00:16:18.080We are enriching the regime that oppresses young women like that.
00:16:22.940And yet we have a government that calls itself a feminist government.
00:16:25.560Exactly, $50 million a day in foreign oil.
00:16:30.660And, you know, they may portray that, oh, we wouldn't want that young girl to come to Canada.
00:16:36.700That is so absolutely false that, I mean, good for her.
00:16:40.360I mean, what a strong, strong lady to come.
00:16:43.580And Canada needs to open their arms to that.
00:16:46.640But they need to go through the proper process to make sure that, you know, that she's taken care of and that the proper people are coming to this country and, you know, get rid of the criminals that aren't supposed to be coming to this country.
00:18:37.260And in order for our world to move forward in any kind of way, whether, you know, in 10 or 20 years or 50 years, if we do move away from oil and gas, that technology is going to come from the oil and gas industry.
00:18:49.120Because that's where innovation starts.
00:18:54.420There will be no innovation into renewables without the help and cheap, affordable, reliable energy from our old friend fossil fuels.
00:19:02.460I wanted to dispel some myths or give you a chance to answer to some of the allegations that we commonly hear, especially in the media, about the yellow vest.
00:19:15.380We've heard Bob Ray, former NDP, now liberal Bob Ray, compare the yellow vest movement to the brown shirts.
00:19:24.240What do you have to say in response to that?
00:19:27.220Well, first of all, I don't know what the brown shirts are.
00:20:56.740And the only way to do that is to have some sort of control, whatever that control.
00:21:02.200You know, all I'm saying is let's revisit it.
00:21:04.720This just isn't, this isn't working the way it's moving forward right now.
00:21:09.080But there is all kinds of races in our movement and we are not prejudiced people.
00:21:13.480And we are being portrayed as that and racist, but we are not.
00:21:18.360I think you're being portrayed as that by people who have never bothered to talk to you.
00:21:23.580We've never actually seen a yellow vest protest.
00:21:28.500You've never been to a yellow vest convoy.
00:21:32.960I've even seen people say that the yellow vests are anti-women.
00:21:37.360And when I go to these yellow vest protests, I see lots of female truckers and a lot of chivalry.
00:21:43.920There are people tripping over themselves to carry my camera equipment.
00:21:47.780What do you have to say to allegations that the yellow vests are somehow anti-women?
00:21:51.520Oh, again, absolutely ludicrous to think that, that, you know, you're right.
00:21:57.880We're hardworking Canadians that want to band together and there just isn't a prejudice there.
00:22:04.960And you made a good point is that it's all the people that aren't coming out to these rallies that are painting a brush because they see it in France.
00:22:13.120And, you know what, it saddens me to see, you know, what's happened to France for sure.
00:22:20.060It didn't start as a radical movement.
00:22:22.160But let's ask ourselves, not that I'm saying that it's okay by any stretch of the imagination to have violence or anything like that, that I would never, ever say we want to be peaceful.
00:22:31.860But why doesn't the government listen before it gets to that in France?
00:22:35.980We're not going to be like that in Canada by any stretch.
00:22:47.000I often ask people at these protests that do you think the government is listening to you?
00:22:53.900Because I think if this were autoworkers or nurses or government bureaucrats who were protesting in this way, week after week, in big cities and small towns, in the cold, over and over and over again, I think that the government would be brought to its knees.
00:23:15.040But I just don't think the government is listening to you.
00:28:59.840So now you've heard it for your own ears.
00:29:05.980You've heard Glenn define the Yellow Vest Convoy.
00:29:08.760You know what he stands for now and what he hopes to achieve.
00:29:12.140You don't have to take the word of the mainstream media or second and third party amateur analysis of what his Yellow Vest Convoy stands for.
00:29:21.280You heard it straight out of the horse's mouth.
00:29:26.360Now, despite all that's been said about Glenn Carrot, the man doesn't seem to have an ounce of animosity directed at people who call him names he says that he's not.
00:29:37.160I think that's pretty telling about Glenn, don't you?
00:29:39.980And I think that Glenn has more in common with his detractors than his detractors would like to admit.
00:29:46.700The movement to defend Canada's oil and gas sector is bigger than one man, one organization, or even one group.
00:29:53.440Well, everybody, that's the show for tonight.