Juno News - Politicians are afraid of the freedom convoy

00:00:00.000 Welcome to Canada's Most Irreverent Talk Show.

00:00:06.700 This is the Andrew Lawton Show, brought to you by True North.

00:00:12.800 Coming up, the convoy wages on and the Liberals still have nothing more to offer but vilification and smears.

00:00:19.400 Also, what does Aaron O'Toole's leadership ousting mean for the Conservative movement?

00:00:24.000 Plus, one of the convoy's lawyers joins me to talk about the legal battle.

00:00:30.000 The Andrew Lawton Show starts right now.

00:00:43.180 Hello and welcome to the Andrew Lawton Show here on True North, Friday, February 4th, 2022.

00:00:50.480 I've lost count of how far we are in the convoy because it's really, I mean, we're doing a tracking series at True North about this.

00:00:59.340 And I think we're up to like day 13 or 14 or something.

00:01:02.360 But it's tough because some people start the convoy on Saturday of last week.

00:01:07.300 And when the official festivities start, if you can call them that, in Ottawa.

00:01:12.440 But I got there Friday and it was still a rip-roaring affair.

00:01:16.280 And then when we got to a lot of people looking at this as when the convoy started.

00:01:20.880 But they started at different points.

00:01:22.180 So whatever day we're on, suffice it to say, it's a couple of weeks and we're looking at quite a significant chapter in history.

00:01:30.560 But the battle lines are being redrawn around this.

00:01:33.740 And a lot of people that were at first just trying to dismiss it as irrelevant were forced to reckon with the fact that it was a real thing and a big deal. 0.99

00:01:42.280 Which is why the narrative shifted from saying it was nothing and just a bunch of yahoos to, okay, well, they're racist, they're evil, they're hateful. 0.94

00:01:51.220 And then people started to see the footage of that not being the case. 0.98

00:01:55.260 Of people dancing, of people singing.

00:01:57.780 I saw this one video yesterday, which I absolutely love.

00:02:01.480 It was captured, I believe, by a post-millennial journalist.

00:02:04.980 And, I mean, just look at this raucous racist hate fest.

00:02:09.220 There they are, holding arms, walking in a circle, singing We Are The World, a song written to raise money for Africa,

00:02:36.780 written by two black men and produced by another, the great legend himself, Quincy Jones. 0.85

00:02:42.980 So racist.

00:02:44.540 Rupa Subramanya of the National Post has been doing a lot of great work and she should be commended for this.

00:02:49.700 She's just going and talking to real people and finding there's a diverse array of perspectives, of backgrounds, ethnic and otherwise,

00:02:57.080 of people that are at this convoy for any number of reasons who don't fit the mold that the liberals and the mainstream media have tried to insert them into.

00:03:05.220 And, again, when you look at what's actually going on, you can't dismiss this as violent.

00:03:11.580 You can't denigrate or malign these people unless you're doing it in bad faith, which is precisely what's happened.

00:03:17.740 So all of that hasn't worked.

00:03:19.360 So now the narrative is shifting one more time.

00:03:22.800 And this is where I think it's going to linger for a while.

00:03:25.440 They're disrupting infrastructure.

00:03:27.620 People in Ottawa need to get on with their lives.

00:03:29.820 All of these different things that are being said, which is why you have Ottawa Police, for example, going on a Twitter thread,

00:03:35.960 talking about how it's going to be deploying its crack investigative skills to look at license plates, financial records, surveillance footage.

00:03:43.540 They're trying to build a criminal file, it looks like, on every single person in downtown Ottawa who happens to be aligned or allied with the convoy.

00:03:52.820 And I don't know what's going to happen.

00:03:55.140 Justin Trudeau has said that he can stand down and will stand down the military.

00:04:00.100 He said he's not going to deploy troops.

00:04:02.320 Ottawa Police, it seems like, and again, this is just speculation on my part, looking at this from a bird's eye view perspective,

00:04:09.720 it looks like Ottawa Police doesn't want to go in there and have to be left holding the bag if it goes wrong.

00:04:15.700 They want political direction.

00:04:18.180 The politicians, however, don't want that.

00:04:20.400 They don't want to have to be holding the bag either.

00:04:22.280 They want police to go in there so they can say, well, I mean, they're independent.

00:04:26.500 You don't want politicians directing police, right?

00:04:30.160 That's where this is now.

00:04:31.560 I don't think anyone wants to be held responsible for what will happen if they start going in there.

00:04:38.300 And if I'm being perfectly candid, there are aspects of this that I'm very uncomfortable with because of the double standards.

00:04:44.720 A lot of people that had no issue with Idle No More and Occupy are saying this is the worst thing to happen in Ottawa.

00:04:51.740 The military needs to be called in.

00:04:53.460 And similarly, people that have been against blockades and were against occupations like you saw on Occupy Wall Street are saying that they're completely fine with this.

00:05:02.140 So that hypocrisy does cut both ways.

00:05:04.900 But the thing that's interesting to note here is that this inconsistency is completely of no interest to the media and to Justin Trudeau.

00:05:13.380 They're fine meeting with some protesters and who have some grievances, but only if those grievances are on side.

00:05:20.700 They're not interested in having a discussion with the truckers.

00:05:23.400 Francois Legault, a man who I find is just an absolutely contemptible human being for all the things that his government has done, he at least was not going to hide from the convoy.

00:05:33.580 He said that he would be prepared to meet them.

00:05:35.900 Again, that's the bare minimum he could do after threatening to fine the unvaccinated after imposing a curfew.

00:05:42.140 That's the bare minimum.

00:05:43.160 So I'm not giving him a gold star.

00:05:44.600 But I am saying that at least he is not cowering like so many other politicians are.

00:05:50.780 You've got Ontario Premier Doug Ford saying go home.

00:05:53.300 You've got Justin Trudeau that just decides to camp out at Harrington Lake with this convenient COVID strain and say that he is wanting this all to just go away.

00:06:05.840 Candace Bergen, the new interim leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, I think had a very strong performance in question period where she said,

00:06:13.200 at the very least, can we see an olive branch here?

00:06:16.640 And Chrystia Freeland said nothing of substance, nothing at all, really.

00:06:21.100 I mean, you may say what else is new, but the government is not willing to accept that perhaps it has pushed people to the brink and it has created this problem.

00:06:30.560 This is entirely a problem of the government's creation.

00:06:34.640 I'm going to talk very shortly with one of the lawyers representing the convoyers,

00:06:40.000 and we'll talk about what exactly that means and what the threats are right now,

00:06:43.500 because it isn't just Ottawa police, it's also big tech.

00:06:46.820 So that's coming up very shortly.

00:06:48.940 But I do have to talk for a little bit about what's happened in the Conservative Party of Canada this week.

00:06:53.980 Now, I'm going to take a bigger picture look at this for two reasons.

00:06:57.300 I don't like the horse race stuff when there are actually no horses racing.

00:07:03.220 It's easy to get in there and start being like,

00:07:04.960 oh, you know, is this backbench MP from Saskatchewan going to run,

00:07:08.240 or is this person going to run, or is this person going to run?

00:07:10.600 I don't like doing that unless we're actually seeing movement.

00:07:13.620 Right now, the big battle was who was going to be the interim leader after the defenestration of Aaron O'Toole.

00:07:19.080 That was settled very soon after, and it was Candace Bergen, a great choice.

00:07:23.440 She's a deputy leader.

00:07:24.380 She's a solid Conservative, she's well-liked, and then onward they move.

00:07:29.080 The big question now is who seeks the leadership, and who succeeds in that leadership bid?

00:07:35.460 Last time, we saw it really was a two-horse race between Peter McKay and Aaron O'Toole.

00:07:41.180 Obviously, the other candidates who made it to the final stage,

00:07:45.040 Derek Sloan and Leslyn Lewis, had an effect.

00:07:47.300 They were the reason that Aaron O'Toole won,

00:07:49.160 because he needed that down-ballot support from social Conservatives,

00:07:52.960 but it was, from the beginning, a two-horse race,

00:07:55.740 and there was never any movement from that.

00:07:58.120 This time around, I don't know.

00:07:59.900 I mean, it's impossible to have a discussion about the leadership without someone...

00:08:04.160 And again, I just know you're in the comments right now saying,

00:08:06.400 Pierre Polyev, Pierre Polyev, Pierre Polyev.

00:08:09.140 Candace, Malcolm, and I did a live stream the day that O'Toole was ousted,

00:08:13.020 and it was like six minutes after the result was announced.

00:08:16.040 We were on air.

00:08:16.860 We were live.

00:08:17.400 That's how responsive we were.

00:08:19.680 And like every comment was Pierre Polyev, Pierre Polyev, Pierre Polyev.

00:08:23.340 There was like a Leslyn Lewis thrown in there every seven or eight,

00:08:26.000 and then there was a Maxime Bernier or bust every now and then.

00:08:28.980 But most people I know want Pierre Polyev to be the leader.

00:08:32.980 If he gets in, he's not just this principled conservative ideologue.

00:08:38.280 He's organized.

00:08:39.340 He's well-liked.

00:08:40.360 He's well-connected.

00:08:41.260 So he can mount a very successful campaign, raise a lot of money,

00:08:45.660 electrify the race, suck the oxygen out entirely from other people if he gets in. 0.96

00:08:50.620 It's just very clearly known that he is considering a run.

00:08:54.340 The question, I think, will be when he decides to pull that trigger.

00:08:57.480 My recommendation would be if I were advising him to do it early

00:09:00.860 because I think it'll scare a lot of people out of the race.

00:09:04.260 The question looming is whether Peter McKay wants to jump back in.

00:09:08.000 As I understand it, he's got a fair bit of campaign debt,

00:09:10.980 so he might not even be allowed to.

00:09:13.040 Or if he is, he might have to raise the money to pay back that

00:09:16.460 before he can start anything else.

00:09:18.300 But all of that is to say that I think that a lot of people,

00:09:21.740 and this gets to the bigger picture part,

00:09:23.680 realize that the delusion that was advanced

00:09:26.380 by the more moderate faction of the Conservative Party

00:09:29.340 leading up to the 2021 election didn't work.

00:09:32.760 And this is the old myth that all the Conservatives need to do to win

00:09:36.160 is be more like the Liberals, to be more liked by the media,

00:09:38.800 to move to the centre, to not talk about red meat Conservative policies.

00:09:42.840 And if you do that, the media will get off your back,

00:09:45.800 moderates and Liberals alike will like you,

00:09:48.180 and you'll win in the so-called vote-rich GTA,

00:09:51.180 you'll pick up in Quebec,

00:09:52.280 and then you'll be on track to a majority government,

00:09:54.480 and Bob's your uncle.

00:09:55.740 Not Bob Ray.

00:09:56.980 The mythical Bob of the idiom.

00:09:59.660 Okay, Aaron O'Toole did that.

00:10:00.900 He rolled on the few red meat Conservative policies he had previously proposed, 0.75

00:10:05.940 like rolling back the Trudeau government's firearms ban,

00:10:09.640 like defunding and privatizing CBC,

00:10:12.160 like protecting conscience rights for healthcare workers.

00:10:14.740 He did all that.

00:10:15.760 In some cases, he rolled on them in the matter of the same press conference,

00:10:19.640 and still lost.

00:10:21.940 And not only did he lose,

00:10:23.440 he lost more than Andrew Scheer lost.

00:10:26.480 He lost seats that had been gained when the Conservatives had a socially Conservative leader

00:10:31.160 just two years prior.

00:10:32.300 Admittedly, not as clear in communicating that social Conservatism,

00:10:36.140 but the point stands.

00:10:37.640 Andrew Scheer as well tried to be liked.

00:10:39.380 He tried to deny who he was,

00:10:41.320 and by extension, who the Conservative base is.

00:10:44.540 And in doing so, what happened?

00:10:46.300 He lost.

00:10:48.220 Right now, there are no shortage of columnists.

00:10:51.400 If you look in the Toronto Star,

00:10:53.100 even the National Post,

00:10:54.160 the Globe and Mail telling you,

00:10:55.420 people who have never voted Conservative in their lives,

00:10:58.100 telling you what the Conservative Party should be,

00:11:00.180 trying to pretend that they can speak to the heart and soul

00:11:03.080 of the Conservative movement and of Conservative Canada.

00:11:06.980 Why on earth would anyone listen to these people?

00:11:10.180 They don't want Conservatism to succeed.

00:11:13.200 And when they say Conservatism can't succeed,

00:11:15.460 when they say it is an unwinnable ideology,

00:11:18.000 an unwinnable philosophy,

00:11:19.400 that's not true.

00:11:20.260 They're saying they don't want it to.

00:11:21.600 Nothing pleases these people more

00:11:24.940 than by having a litany of left-wing choices

00:11:28.000 so that no matter who wins,

00:11:30.460 there's going to be a left-wing person. 1.00

00:11:33.660 That's what they want.

00:11:35.440 They want more left-wing options.

00:11:37.500 They don't want there to be a Conservative Party.

00:11:39.320 They don't think it contributes anything of value.

00:11:41.440 If anything, it takes away from what they want

00:11:43.940 and uproots their cultural hegemony,

00:11:47.000 to borrow from Gramsci.

00:11:48.280 Oh, I've been reading too much.

00:11:49.980 I'm using words like Gramsci and cultural hegemony.

00:11:53.120 In any case, it uproots their dominance

00:11:56.060 in the ideological landscape.

00:11:58.060 They do not want Conservatism to win.

00:12:00.800 So they peddle this narrative that it can't.

00:12:04.200 And I did a newsletter about this yesterday

00:12:06.480 over at my Substack,

00:12:07.580 andrewlaughton.substack.com.

00:12:09.440 I said, let's appropriate a line from the Marxists here.

00:12:12.380 They always say real communism hasn't been tried.

00:12:14.740 I think there's a good case to be made

00:12:16.160 that real Conservatism hasn't been tried,

00:12:18.140 at least not since Stephen Harper.

00:12:20.740 And that's my advice

00:12:22.240 as someone who has voted Conservative,

00:12:24.460 who is philosophically on the right.

00:12:27.040 I'm not partisan, but I'm philosophically there.

00:12:29.840 And I want those ideas championed,

00:12:31.900 whether they come from the CPC, the PPC,

00:12:34.080 or anywhere else.

00:12:34.880 I want them in the landscape.

00:12:37.320 Start listening to who you are

00:12:39.320 and not be afraid to tell Canadians that.

00:12:43.080 What happens in Conservatism in Canada

00:12:45.520 is you get these leaders, these consultants,

00:12:47.640 these campaign so-called experts

00:12:49.440 that try to just narrow everything the party stands for

00:12:52.880 to this tiny, tiny, tiny sliver of economic issues

00:12:56.880 they think that Canadians care about.

00:12:58.580 And Canadians do care about pocketbook issues,

00:13:00.980 affordability, inflation.

00:13:02.920 But they also care about more than that.

00:13:06.720 And this is what we saw in the last election.

00:13:08.840 Canadians were staring at record inflation levels,

00:13:11.460 and they still voted the Liberals back in.

00:13:14.360 So this Conservative gamble of,

00:13:15.940 let's only talk about the budget,

00:13:17.380 let's only talk about inflation,

00:13:18.880 let's only talk about this,

00:13:20.040 that didn't even work.

00:13:22.900 And it's not to say you have to be,

00:13:24.800 you know, riding in on a Panzer tank

00:13:27.400 and shooting an AR-15 in the air

00:13:29.840 and wearing a cowboy hat

00:13:31.020 and saying that, you know,

00:13:32.140 we're going to roll back everything Liberal,

00:13:34.420 we're going to be pro-Defense,

00:13:35.500 we're going to be pro-gun.

00:13:36.880 No, it's not that.

00:13:38.740 Although, to be honest,

00:13:39.520 I'd vote for someone who did that.

00:13:40.840 So if you are planning a leadership bid,

00:13:42.620 if you want to do that as a video,

00:13:44.080 I'll probably get a membership

00:13:45.340 to the Conservatives and vote for you.

00:13:47.260 But the point is that you need someone

00:13:48.700 that's prepared to speak to Conservative issues

00:13:51.040 and someone who's also not afraid of the media.

00:13:54.880 And this is, to Pierre Polyev's credit,

00:13:56.820 one of the things he does well.

00:13:57.980 He rebuts the premises

00:13:59.840 that are traps in press conferences.

00:14:03.160 And if you look at this,

00:14:04.160 he doesn't quite do it

00:14:05.260 with as much bravado as Ron DeSantis,

00:14:07.320 but a very similar idea.

00:14:08.720 Maxime Bernier as well.

00:14:10.840 Not that a lot of reporters are interviewing him,

00:14:12.660 but when he does,

00:14:13.440 he will not accept the flawed premise.

00:14:15.740 He'll engage in the debate.

00:14:17.640 And the problem when you accept the premise

00:14:19.640 is that it's an unwittable question.

00:14:22.400 And the point that I raised in my substack

00:14:24.980 that I want to share here as well

00:14:26.340 is that when the media is hammering Conservatives,

00:14:28.760 it does happen on things like the Wee scandal

00:14:31.080 and SNC-Lavalin,

00:14:32.440 when the media is hammering the Liberals,

00:14:34.620 it is on matters of behavior,

00:14:37.560 of conduct, of competence.

00:14:39.380 When the media is hammering Conservatives,

00:14:41.860 they're wanting Conservatives

00:14:43.260 to answer for what they believe.

00:14:45.660 It's why do you believe this?

00:14:47.400 Why do you think this?

00:14:49.060 Why does this person in your caucus think this?

00:14:51.940 And the premise that the media puts forward

00:14:53.960 is that Conservatism is wrong

00:14:56.000 and dirty 0.88

00:14:56.760 and you should have to apologize 0.98

00:14:58.740 for being a Conservative.

00:15:01.160 And this only feeds

00:15:02.980 this leftward cultural shift

00:15:04.700 that we've been talking about.

00:15:06.080 It only feeds that 0.99

00:15:06.980 and makes Conservatism more unwinnable.

00:15:10.080 So you need to have someone

00:15:11.280 who's actually prepared

00:15:12.100 to be a cultural leader

00:15:13.240 who can start pushing back against this

00:15:15.040 and in doing so,

00:15:16.040 not just lead the Conservative Party,

00:15:17.780 but lead the Conservative movement.

00:15:19.700 And there is a leadership void

00:15:21.240 in that space right now

00:15:22.420 and I would love to see

00:15:23.500 a leadership candidate

00:15:24.320 and stay prepared to take that up.

00:15:25.540 We'll be back in just a couple of moments' time

00:15:27.720 with more of The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:15:29.400 Stay tuned.

00:15:32.520 You're tuned in to The Andrew Lawton Show.

00:15:38.220 Welcome back to the show.

00:15:39.920 Well, as I mentioned earlier on,

00:15:41.540 the situation in Ottawa

00:15:42.820 is changing quite drastically.

00:15:45.160 At first, it was just political grenades

00:15:47.560 that were being thrown

00:15:48.420 at members of the convoy

00:15:49.880 and now we're seeing Ottawa police

00:15:51.260 have started to ramp up their efforts.

00:15:53.740 We've had reports of some being ticketed.

00:15:55.960 We also have this issue of GoFundMe

00:15:58.520 putting a pause on the donation campaign.

00:16:02.380 I want to welcome into the show

00:16:03.580 Keith Wilson,

00:16:04.640 who is a lawyer representing the leaders

00:16:06.620 of the Freedom Convoy.

00:16:08.620 Obviously, it's quite hectic in Ottawa right now,

00:16:10.720 so we have him by phone.

00:16:12.480 Keith, I appreciate you taking the time.

00:16:14.580 Why do lawyers need to be involved now, 0.83

00:16:17.060 first off?

00:16:17.660 Well, as you can appreciate

00:16:20.140 with the manoeuvre that GoFundMe's made,

00:16:23.800 one of our roles is to remove that blockade

00:16:27.340 and have the money flow

00:16:29.040 to the leaders of the Freedom Convoy

00:16:32.340 so that the truckers

00:16:33.900 who have encouraged Canadians

00:16:36.740 and those around the world

00:16:37.820 with this convoy

00:16:38.780 and expended their personal funds

00:16:40.560 can receive the monies

00:16:42.320 that so many have donated.

00:16:44.400 There's a number of legal complexities

00:16:46.620 that arise with corporate law

00:16:49.040 and banking requirements.

00:16:50.940 Also, you mentioned the activities

00:16:53.500 of the Ottawa police.

00:16:54.900 There's been these strange threats

00:16:57.440 from city councillors and other things

00:17:00.040 that we've all heard about in the news,

00:17:03.160 that some of which are so strange,

00:17:04.680 I won't repeat them,

00:17:05.660 but we're ready

00:17:08.100 if the Ottawa police

00:17:10.140 or the city

00:17:11.340 seek to bring any injunction application

00:17:14.220 to seek to expel

00:17:16.480 the truckers

00:17:17.700 who are engaged in a lawful protest

00:17:19.520 in their nation's capital.

00:17:21.320 So we're on standby.

00:17:22.600 Here on the ground,

00:17:23.500 we've got a team of five lawyers.

00:17:25.340 We're all with the Justice Centre

00:17:27.240 for Constitutional Freedoms

00:17:28.960 and we've agreed to represent the truckers

00:17:31.600 and deal with any legal issues

00:17:33.000 that might arise here on the ground.

00:17:34.460 Let's talk about this GoFundMe situation

00:17:38.040 for a moment

00:17:38.680 because this campaign's up to almost $10,100,000

00:17:43.020 as I understand it at last look here

00:17:46.280 and this block has been in place

00:17:48.380 for I think well over a day now

00:17:50.600 and how much of this money

00:17:52.020 has already been withdrawn?

00:17:53.880 I mean, how much money of that $10.1 million

00:17:56.780 is GoFundMe itself holding right now?

00:18:00.100 So GoFundMe is holding,

00:18:02.680 $1 million has been advanced

00:18:05.020 and there are legal steps

00:18:08.880 that have to be implemented

00:18:10.340 in order to disperse that to the truckers

00:18:12.700 and that's the highest priority

00:18:14.700 of the organizers,

00:18:16.220 the legal team.

00:18:17.300 We also have accountants here,

00:18:18.460 the accounting team.

00:18:19.480 That's what we're working on

00:18:20.900 right this moment,

00:18:22.260 as a matter of fact.

00:18:23.040 And so GoFundMe is holding on

00:18:26.940 to in excess of $9 million.

00:18:29.540 Now, is this part of GoFundMe's standard procedure

00:18:33.260 or is there the implication

00:18:34.720 of some sort of funny business

00:18:36.480 either on GoFundMe's part

00:18:38.660 or perhaps pressure from outside,

00:18:40.620 from government or law enforcement?

00:18:42.100 Well, we all know

00:18:44.160 that the Trudeau government

00:18:46.880 is trying to put as much pressure

00:18:48.560 as they can

00:18:49.360 on the GoFundMe.

00:18:53.740 I'm sure you've covered

00:18:54.960 and I haven't even been at a chance

00:18:56.460 to really follow the news.

00:18:57.520 We've been so busy here on the ground.

00:18:59.880 But with these threats

00:19:01.660 to seize the funds,

00:19:04.080 the city's talked about that,

00:19:05.760 these calling some motion,

00:19:09.260 I understand,

00:19:09.620 and in Parliament

00:19:10.180 to have GoFundMe officials

00:19:11.980 come up and testify.

00:19:13.840 It's really incredible

00:19:15.040 that it is the Prime Minister

00:19:19.400 who's engaged in hate speech

00:19:21.920 by calling the unvaccinated truckers 0.81

00:19:26.400 misogynist and racist

00:19:28.220 and saying, you know, 0.98

00:19:30.240 how do we deal with these people

00:19:31.900 and other divisive comments

00:19:34.300 and the allegation

00:19:36.700 from the Trudeau government

00:19:38.020 as to why the funds

00:19:40.440 should not be released

00:19:41.480 or somehow seized

00:19:42.560 is because the truckers

00:19:44.300 are engaged in hate speech.

00:19:45.860 It's just remarkable 0.95

00:19:47.000 the hypocrisy here. 0.66

00:19:49.380 We had Nova Scotia

00:19:51.200 adopt an executive,

00:19:52.580 well, not an executive order,

00:19:53.620 but an order in council,

00:19:54.880 a ministerial directive

00:19:56.040 a few days back

00:19:57.640 that actually prohibited

00:19:59.260 somehow financing of the convoy.

00:20:02.740 So arguably anyone donating to this.

00:20:04.700 Now, I don't know

00:20:05.460 if that's even remotely enforceable,

00:20:07.960 but governments have shown

00:20:09.180 a willingness clearly

00:20:10.300 to crack down on the funding here.

00:20:13.180 And for the convoy,

00:20:14.200 they've said they're planning

00:20:15.420 to stay in place

00:20:16.360 and they need resources

00:20:17.340 to do that for fuel,

00:20:18.860 for food, and so on.

00:20:20.540 So going after the funding

00:20:22.220 is a very effective way

00:20:24.020 if you are trying to shut down

00:20:25.220 this peaceful protest.

00:20:26.960 Well, what it shows me,

00:20:28.980 or what it says to me, rather,

00:20:30.440 is that the politicians are afraid.

00:20:32.720 They're feeling the power

00:20:33.880 of the people,

00:20:34.780 not just across this country,

00:20:36.320 but around the world.

00:20:37.300 The spark that Tamara Leach

00:20:39.720 and Chris Barber lit

00:20:42.640 when they organized

00:20:44.080 the Freedom Convoy

00:20:45.160 and set up the GoFundMe

00:20:46.980 is just so incredibly inspiring.

00:20:52.580 And, you know,

00:20:53.600 I think politicians know

00:20:54.960 that if they get a petition

00:20:56.400 and it's got a thousand signatures

00:20:57.980 on it, or 5,000 signatures,

00:20:59.960 it doesn't mean much.

00:21:00.960 But what politicians know

00:21:02.820 is how hard it is

00:21:04.460 to raise money.

00:21:06.400 And when they look

00:21:07.220 at how much money

00:21:08.720 people, hardworking people,

00:21:11.520 have put into GoFundMe

00:21:13.040 because they believe

00:21:14.340 in their heart

00:21:15.060 that what these truckers 0.69

00:21:16.240 is doing is right

00:21:17.240 and it's the shining light

00:21:18.860 in the darkness

00:21:19.500 that we've been suffering through,

00:21:21.360 that's why they're scared.

00:21:22.760 And they should be scared.

00:21:24.280 They should be scared

00:21:25.260 because the people of Canada

00:21:28.060 are right to say

00:21:30.000 to the government

00:21:30.640 that you've overstepped

00:21:32.240 your authority,

00:21:33.440 you've gone where

00:21:34.160 you shouldn't have gone,

00:21:35.220 and it's time now

00:21:36.740 to immediately respect

00:21:38.020 our charter rights

00:21:39.020 and get rid of 0.81

00:21:40.380 all of these ridiculous

00:21:41.880 mandates and restrictions.

00:21:45.580 Does GoFundMe have,

00:21:47.400 in its terms of service,

00:21:48.840 wide latitude

00:21:49.720 to do exactly this?

00:21:51.260 Or would you say,

00:21:52.500 in your legal opinion,

00:21:53.420 that they're on thin ground

00:21:54.700 in their conduct right now?

00:21:57.140 Well,

00:21:57.760 I'm not going to,

00:22:00.480 as you would appreciate,

00:22:02.160 get into the nuances

00:22:03.920 of our legal position

00:22:05.440 in the media.

00:22:08.060 But I will share

00:22:09.460 with you and your listeners

00:22:10.940 or your viewers this,

00:22:13.280 that GoFundMe

00:22:15.540 exists and is successful

00:22:18.080 as a platform

00:22:19.040 because individuals know

00:22:21.400 that they can take their,

00:22:23.460 when they see

00:22:24.040 there's something out there

00:22:25.100 that they believe in.

00:22:26.360 Like, personally,

00:22:27.180 somebody had a brain aneurysm

00:22:29.640 and it was just

00:22:30.380 terrible impact

00:22:31.280 on their family.

00:22:32.020 And my wife and I donated

00:22:33.120 because we wanted

00:22:33.660 to get money to them.

00:22:34.680 I just, you know,

00:22:35.420 we've all donated

00:22:36.180 to GoFundMe

00:22:37.040 because we get moved

00:22:37.940 by someone in need

00:22:39.100 or somebody doing something

00:22:40.560 that we really want to support.

00:22:42.180 So we make that critical decision

00:22:43.720 to take our hard-earned dollars

00:22:44.900 and donate it.

00:22:47.140 And then we give that money

00:22:48.720 to that person

00:22:50.280 in the expectation

00:22:52.320 that they're going to get it

00:22:54.100 to the person in need

00:22:55.260 and that person doesn't do it.

00:22:57.820 That's a problem

00:22:58.700 for their platform.

00:22:59.960 It really comes down

00:23:01.080 to integrity.

00:23:02.720 Let me ask you this then, Keith.

00:23:03.960 Are they negotiating

00:23:05.400 or discussing this

00:23:06.500 in good faith?

00:23:07.360 Are they giving you

00:23:08.060 clear and transparent

00:23:09.160 timelines and positions

00:23:11.780 so that we can get this money

00:23:13.440 where it was donated to?

00:23:14.900 GoFundMe has raised

00:23:18.200 it's going through

00:23:20.980 responsible due diligence steps

00:23:24.700 to ensure that

00:23:26.720 the Freedom Convoy

00:23:29.540 has established

00:23:30.340 a not-for-profit corporation.

00:23:32.180 That occurred

00:23:33.120 with the accounting

00:23:33.780 and legal team on Monday.

00:23:36.220 We're taking the proper steps.

00:23:39.400 We've answered the questions

00:23:41.340 that GoFundMe

00:23:42.320 has reasonably raised.

00:23:43.860 And it's now

00:23:45.280 up to GoFundMe

00:23:46.600 to make a decision.

00:23:48.400 Are they going to release

00:23:49.680 the funds?

00:23:50.820 Not their money

00:23:51.860 but the tens of thousands

00:23:54.280 of people

00:23:54.860 who donated

00:23:55.460 in support of Freedom

00:23:56.760 and the initiative

00:23:57.980 of these truckers?

00:23:58.900 or are they not?

00:24:01.940 I know there have been

00:24:03.000 questions that have been

00:24:03.880 advanced by the media

00:24:05.180 and I think at one point

00:24:06.100 by the Ottawa Police Chief

00:24:07.240 about donations

00:24:08.520 coming from out of Canada

00:24:09.900 but I don't understand

00:24:10.820 why that's a problem.

00:24:11.880 I mean, the convoy

00:24:12.560 has become

00:24:13.140 quite globally significant.

00:24:15.200 I know it's been

00:24:16.080 covered on American media,

00:24:17.620 British media.

00:24:18.440 There's nothing inherently wrong

00:24:19.980 about donations

00:24:20.720 from outside of the country,

00:24:21.840 is there?

00:24:22.240 No, nothing.

00:24:24.800 It's a very bizarre criticism.

00:24:27.400 So I guess just

00:24:28.440 I know you have to get back

00:24:29.500 to your work

00:24:30.040 and it is busy

00:24:30.620 on the ground there

00:24:31.400 but are you hopeful

00:24:32.380 that this is going

00:24:33.140 to be resolved?

00:24:33.920 I am

00:24:36.360 and we're putting in

00:24:37.920 an alternative mechanism

00:24:40.040 for people to donate

00:24:41.240 and it's called

00:24:42.600 Give, Send, Go

00:24:44.820 and we hope to have

00:24:47.160 that operational today

00:24:48.440 so that if this becomes

00:24:50.740 a prolonged situation

00:24:52.060 with GoFundMe

00:24:53.760 that there'll be another way

00:24:55.480 for people to show

00:24:57.060 their support

00:24:57.780 for the efforts

00:24:59.480 that our truckers

00:25:00.320 are making

00:25:00.780 to restore our freedoms.

00:25:02.840 Give, Send, Go

00:25:03.320 that's as I understand

00:25:04.120 a Christian crowdfunding site

00:25:05.820 so obviously

00:25:06.620 this isn't a religious movement

00:25:07.880 but someone

00:25:08.800 who may be a bit more

00:25:09.640 ideologically on side

00:25:10.840 if that's the issue.

00:25:12.300 They have committed

00:25:13.300 that under no circumstances

00:25:15.300 will they impede

00:25:16.360 the flow of the donations

00:25:17.900 directly to the organization

00:25:20.220 to get to the truckers

00:25:21.300 on the ground.

00:25:22.500 Good.

00:25:22.880 Well I'm glad to hear that.

00:25:23.960 I'm glad you're on the ground.

00:25:25.000 Like I said

00:25:25.420 I think most Canadians

00:25:26.360 wish it didn't have

00:25:27.740 to come to the point

00:25:28.380 where a legion of lawyers

00:25:29.780 needed to show up

00:25:30.660 but as we see

00:25:31.320 some of these hurdles

00:25:32.480 that are being put in place

00:25:33.520 I'm glad you're there

00:25:34.480 to deal with them immediately.

00:25:36.300 I appreciate you

00:25:36.880 taking some time

00:25:37.660 out of that

00:25:38.100 to talk to us today.

00:25:39.140 Thanks very much Keith.

00:25:40.680 Thank you very much Andrew.

00:25:42.240 Keith Wilson

00:25:43.040 lawyer representing

00:25:44.460 the leaders of the convoy

00:25:46.020 retained by the

00:25:47.040 Justice Centre

00:25:47.600 for Constitutional Freedoms

00:25:48.820 which has been

00:25:50.020 on the ground.

00:25:51.180 We will leave it there.

00:25:52.620 Certainly we'll have

00:25:53.140 more updates on this

00:25:54.060 in the coming days.

00:25:55.160 We've got reporters

00:25:55.820 on the ground in Ottawa

00:25:56.920 and I may be back there myself

00:25:58.740 but at this point

00:25:59.860 we are just seeing

00:26:00.540 what's happening with this

00:26:01.580 and these truckers 0.98

00:26:02.540 they said they're there

00:26:03.320 to stay

00:26:03.880 but obviously

00:26:05.240 this means that

00:26:06.160 some people are trying

00:26:06.900 to turn off the tap

00:26:08.000 of the funds

00:26:08.840 that make that possible.

00:26:09.900 So whatever you think

00:26:10.580 about it

00:26:10.940 these certainly seem

00:26:11.780 to be very related.

00:26:13.860 We have to wrap it up.

00:26:14.940 We'll talk to you

00:26:15.420 in just a couple days time

00:26:16.540 with more of Canada's

00:26:17.720 most irreverent talk show

00:26:19.060 here on True North.

00:26:20.100 Thank you.

00:26:20.580 God bless

00:26:21.020 and good day to you all.

00:26:22.440 Thanks for listening

00:26:23.060 to the Andrew Lawton Show.

00:26:24.580 Support the program

00:26:25.300 by donating to True North

00:26:26.540 at www.tnc.news.

Juno News - February 05, 2022

Politicians are afraid of the freedom convoy

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