Juno News - The hypocrisy of protecting critical infrastructure

00:00:00.280 Radical left-wing environmentalists are still wreaking havoc on our economy and undermining

00:00:05.560 the rule of law in Canada. They must be stopped. I'm Candice Malcolm, and this is The Candice

00:00:09.840 Malcolm Show.

00:00:15.300 Hi everyone, thank you so much for tuning into The Candice Malcolm Show. I'm really

00:00:19.420 pleased today to be joined by my friend Aaron Gunn. Aaron is an independent journalist, a

00:00:24.580 common sense pundit, and he recently ran for the leadership of the BC Liberals. We're going

00:00:28.920 to get into all of the juicy details about that. Aaron Gunn is one of the few voices in

00:00:33.960 British Columbia that advocates for common sense and for respect for the taxpayer. With

00:00:38.360 over 50 million video views and thousands of followers, Gunn has become a steadfast opponent

00:00:43.060 of cancel culture and identity politics. Gunn couldn't stand by while politicians appeased

00:00:48.300 the woke mob and disrespected taxpayers. This is why Aaron Gunn decided to run for the leader

00:00:53.160 of the BC Liberals on an explicitly conservative platform, but unfortunately, after gaining

00:00:58.200 the support of thousands of members, he was unfairly barred from running for the upcoming

00:01:02.580 leadership race by the BC Liberals Leadership Election Organizing Committee. It's a wild story.

00:01:07.380 We're going to talk about all of it on the show today, but first, Aaron Gunn, thank you

00:01:10.780 so much for joining us.

00:01:14.200 Thank you for having me, Candice. It's great to be here.

00:01:17.880 Yeah, well, you're a familiar face on the show. You've been on a number of times, and we're

00:01:22.440 sort of talking to you in the midst of your platform, launching your campaign. It seemed

00:01:27.780 to be a lot of momentum and a lot of excitement. And then you just sort of, you know, the BC

00:01:32.620 Liberals just sort of put a wall in front of you. So why don't you walk us through what

00:01:37.580 happened there? And, you know, is that it for your political career when they told you

00:01:42.200 couldn't run? Or do you still have plans? And what's up next for you?

00:01:44.620 Well, I'll tell you right off the bat, we're definitely just getting started. But what happened

00:01:49.960 was we were in the race for about two weeks. We had signed up and garnered the support of

00:01:56.360 thousands of British Columbians in a party, the BC Liberal Party, that was in pretty rough

00:02:03.800 shape. And just to take a step back, this is a party that's supposed to be brands itself

00:02:08.600 as a free market coalition of Liberals and Conservatives. And they asked for my help during

00:02:13.400 the last election. One of the candidates asked for my endorsement, asked for me to campaign for

00:02:18.040 them. And they asked me to run as a candidate for them. So we put our name forward, we tried

00:02:22.520 to mobilize social media following. I think that the people that control the party got scared that

00:02:29.800 we were going to pull this off and win. And then out of nowhere, they basically came out and said that

00:02:37.000 my views were somehow inconsistent with that of the party, they mentioned reconciliation, and without

00:02:44.040 providing any examples whatsoever, and basically nixed the candidacy right there. So a lot of people

00:02:49.000 asked me, how can they do that? It's just an unelected seven person committee. And of course, the irony

00:02:54.760 and the hypocrisy of all this is that unelected committee, none of the people on it are Indigenous. And the

00:03:00.840 one Indigenous person in the race, Alice Ross, has appeared in my videos and supported my entry into it. So

00:03:07.080 I think it was just about a small group of people trying to hold on to the little enclave of political

00:03:14.600 power that they've carved out for themselves. And they viewed me as a threat to that.

00:03:19.080 Well, rightfully so. I mean, you are a threat. And it's, you know, in the best kind of way,

00:03:24.600 you're a threat because you're an actual, you know, you speak for the people and your message really

00:03:30.360 resonates, which is why you have such a big following online, Aaron. You know, it's interesting,

00:03:34.200 because I hear a lot of people complain when elections roll around that they don't like any

00:03:38.120 of the candidates. It's like, really, you know, this is the best we can come up with. And, you know,

00:03:43.640 it doesn't really feel like true democracy when you're kind of given a selection of like three or

00:03:49.480 four very similar politicians. And it seems like the saga with them blocking you is exactly the problem,

00:03:56.440 because they have these, the political parties hold so much power in our system. And, you know,

00:04:01.480 it's a decision of a small, like you said, unelected group of people who are claiming to

00:04:06.360 speak for an entire big tent party that's supposed to be the girls and conservatives. So, 1.00

00:04:12.040 so, so, so, so what, what, what's next for you? I know, I know you said that you're just getting

00:04:15.560 started. I know that there were some rumors out there that you might be running an independent

00:04:20.280 campaign or going over and joining the BC Conservatives, which is a very small party, but,

00:04:25.320 but, but, you know, maybe, maybe with someone with your, you know, star power, you might lift

00:04:30.200 the fortunes of that party. What are you going to seek out another party or what are you going to do?

00:04:35.880 Well, first off, I have to agree with you 100% that the political parties in Canada wield way too much

00:04:41.320 power. Obviously in other countries and other systems, there's a lot more limits on that, on that

00:04:46.680 power. And that's, that's a really unfortunate thing. Now, the solution to that, or the only solution to that,

00:04:52.520 is to go and create new parties or breathe life into kind of small existing parties. So that's

00:05:00.840 exactly what we're looking to do. Kind of a wrap up event. We had a big event in Chilliwack. We are,

00:05:06.680 I promise that during the next, or by the time of the next provincial election, there will be a new

00:05:12.360 common sense alternative that British Columbians can vote for without holding their nose. Now,

00:05:16.680 whether that's a new party, whether that's the BC Conservatives, as we've been talking to people

00:05:22.600 there, that still remains to be seen. And we're going to make sure we do our due diligence before

00:05:28.200 we reveal all our cards. But the status quo in British Columbia, like much of the country,

00:05:34.680 I might add, is just not, in my opinion, not acceptable. And I think British Columbians and

00:05:40.920 Canadians, generally speaking, deserve a lot better than the choices that they've been given recently.

00:05:47.640 So it's interesting, Erin, because one of the criticisms I've heard from the political left

00:05:52.600 in British Columbia is that they're not happy with the NDP government because they think that the

00:05:58.200 government is going too hard against these blockades and these protesters. And, you know,

00:06:04.040 the left thinks that, what, the premier should step in and cancel all these projects and block them all.

00:06:09.640 I know that you, through your independent reporting, through your excellent political series,

00:06:14.040 politics explained, you know this issue inside and out. So for us, the rest of us watching in the

00:06:21.240 rest of the country, it almost feels like deja vu. It's like, wait, protesters are up in Ferry Creek

00:06:27.480 again. And okay, now they're blocking coastal gas link. Like, is this just going to happen again and again?

00:06:32.760 So I'm wondering if you can help us understand, let's start with the Ferry Creek ones, because

00:06:39.720 those were the ones that were going on earlier this fall in September. And that's up on Vancouver

00:06:45.560 Island. I believe you visited that site. Can you talk a little bit about what that project is and

00:06:51.320 why the protesters are, what the protesters are doing and what they hope to accomplish?

00:06:56.120 Yeah, well, the first thing I think I should just mention, you listed them off Ferry Creek,

00:07:02.200 coastal gas link, throw TMX in there as well, these kind of ongoing blockades and acts of breaking the

00:07:11.080 law to try to make a political point that have continued through BC. The thing you have to

00:07:15.400 understand that Canadians have to understand is that this is an industry. This is a protest industry.

00:07:21.000 So just like any industry, they have to keep money flowing in and they have to keep their activities

00:07:25.320 going. So they will always find something to protest regardless of the facts on the ground.

00:07:30.200 With regard to Ferry Creek, that was just a run of the mill cut block in British Columbia

00:07:38.040 that a company called Teal Jones bid on and had the rights for the provincial government.

00:07:43.240 And that activists clung to, it's about two hours outside of Victoria and started protesting

00:07:49.320 and started trying to paint as somehow the last old growth or ancient forest in British Columbia,

00:07:54.840 which just isn't true. They're 10 million hectares, so billions of trees that are already protected in

00:08:00.360 provincial parts and old growth management areas. And they were just cutting down a really small part,

00:08:08.040 as is done throughout British Columbia, forestry is our most important industry. And the amazing thing

00:08:12.280 that just shows the hypocrisy of these activists, you're talking about an industry that is 100%

00:08:17.160 sustainable and renewable. We have the highest environmental standards in the entire world,

00:08:21.240 much like oil and gas and mining. And the other thing is that particular cut block up in Ferry Creek

00:08:31.560 was 100% in partnership with local First Nations. And then now the NDP government under the pressure

00:08:37.320 from the activists has deferred about a third of old growth logging in British Columbia or so-called old

00:08:43.880 growth logging. And who gets hurt by that the most? Not the big corporations who just take their money from

00:08:48.840 British Columbia and go buy sawmills in the United States, but local First Nations and small forestry

00:08:54.840 dependent communities that now have no local economy and have no more local jobs for people in those

00:09:02.200 communities to go work. So it's a really damaging decision. But of course, even with the moves by the

00:09:08.280 NDP government, these activists always want more and more and more and honestly aren't going to rest until

00:09:14.040 all of our industries are put out of work. It's interesting because I hear the rumbling from the

00:09:20.280 political left saying that they want the NDP government to do more. But you make an excellent

00:09:24.120 point that it's like whenever the NDP is in power in British Columbia, the forestry industry suffers.

00:09:30.120 I remember in the 90s growing up in BC and there were so many communities that were devastated by the

00:09:35.400 closure of pulp and paper mills. A lot of young men were just moving to Alberta because there were no

00:09:39.480 opportunities in British Columbia. And it seems like that might be happening again, except for now

00:09:45.560 we're in an unfortunate position where those kind of jobs don't exist in Alberta in its large numbers.

00:09:51.320 Let's shift gears then and talk about the coastal gas link because that was the one that we saw

00:09:56.840 multiple protests throughout November, including arrests. And that was the pipeline that David Suzuki

00:10:02.920 said that it would be a shame if someone blew up this pipeline, basically alluding to domestic terrorism

00:10:10.760 and giving it a pass. And you had the CDC defending it until David Suzuki finally came out, clarified and

00:10:15.960 apologized. So I understand that you visited this project as well. And it seems like a similar story that

00:10:22.840 has the blessing of the First Nations communities. And then there's just a couple of really loud activists

00:10:28.520 that are trying to disrupt it. So can you can you tell us about that?

00:10:31.080 Yeah, the coastal gas link pipeline is the perfect example that shows just how shameless these

00:10:37.800 protesters are. This is a pipeline that's exporting Canadian natural gas to Asia, which is the cleanest

00:10:43.800 natural gas in the world. It's going to Asia to displace coal fired plants. So it's good for 0.68

00:10:48.520 particulate pollution. It's good for CO2 emissions, which is what the activists claim to be so concerned

00:10:54.280 about. And it's also supported by all 20 elected First Nation bands along the pipeline route. So if you were

00:11:00.040 looking for some kind of pipeline that you could put up on a pedestal as health as kind of the ideal

00:11:05.320 pipeline, this would be it. And yet they're still protesting relentlessly against it. And it's

00:11:10.280 actually shameful what they've done is they've gone into these communities, they've taken again, these 0.67

00:11:15.000 are these are not homogeneous communities. First Nations like anybody else, they've taken one or two

00:11:21.240 First Nations people, they've put them up on a pedestal and then said that somehow the pipeline is

00:11:26.280 violating their rights. Again, even though all 20 elected First Nation bands from Fort St. John,

00:11:32.520 all the way down to Kitimat, where the LNG export terminal is, I've signed on and support the pipeline,

00:11:38.280 including the Wet'suwet and First Nation band. So it's disgraceful what's going on. I visited these

00:11:46.520 protesters. And at the end of the day, when you visited them, and I had these conversations with them

00:11:51.000 as part of my documentary series, it's it's clear that they don't have any idea what's going on,

00:11:56.200 they don't know the details. A lot of them are professional protesters or, you know, they're given

00:12:01.640 kind of free, free room and board at these protest camps that have been been erected. And then the the

00:12:10.760 protest groups use the free media earned media off of that to raise money to continue to fund themselves

00:12:15.960 and to shop themselves around to billion dollar US foundations. So that was quite evident that

00:12:20.440 what's happening. And the sad part is, is, again, it's not so much the big corporations that are

00:12:25.560 getting hurt. It's the small First Nation groups and small communities in northern BC that would have 0.69

00:12:30.920 the most to gain from a project like this. Such a shame. I mean, the way that you explain it so

00:12:35.880 clear cut, and yet, it seems to be this this real, you know, difficult issue that our politicians don't

00:12:42.600 really know how to solve. I wonder, I remember from your Politics Explained documentary series,

00:12:49.480 you were confronted by some of these protesters. Was that coastal gas? Or was it somewhere else?

00:12:54.360 Can you walk us through what happened there? Well, I guess you could say I was confronted

00:13:01.160 both at a lot fairly free at coastal gasoline pipeline up by Houston, and then also someone or

00:13:07.960 a group of people called the tiny house warriors that were protesting the TMX pipeline. Now, the

00:13:15.720 what the confrontation that happened at TMX was, was, which is just north of Kamloops, was probably

00:13:23.160 in place called Blue River, was the most animated, to put it nicely. And it just goes to show that so

00:13:29.480 many of these people are unhinged, and they don't know the facts of what they're talking about. I mean,

00:13:33.080 I was up at Ferry Creek talking about the forest industry. You know, none of these people actually

00:13:38.040 know what they're doing. It's the same with coastal gasoline. And it's the same with TMX. So, you know,

00:13:44.920 these protesters, I think, I don't know what's going on in their own personal lives, but they're

00:13:49.240 searching for some kind of philosophy that's greater than themselves. And they just latch on to it

00:13:55.480 without actually knowing what they're talking about. But of course, the people running these movements

00:13:59.000 know exactly what they're doing. And it is an industry, it's a multi million dollar industry,

00:14:03.320 in fact, probably close to closer to a multi billion dollar industry.

00:14:07.560 Well, yeah, the point you just made reminds me of Jordan Peterson chapter in his book,

00:14:12.280 you know, get your own house in order before you go out and change the world. If only,

00:14:15.800 if only these people on the political left would bother trying to learn from what Dr. Peterson has to

00:14:21.640 teach. So, Aaron, like, what can we do about these these groups? Because, you know, the way that

00:14:28.040 you're describing it, it seems like, you know, a group of people just their goal is to upend the

00:14:34.280 rule of law to try to overrule the democratic will of the people to have their way like basically just

00:14:41.160 stop our industry, which would have devastating effects, not just on the individual workers,

00:14:45.400 but on the whole economy. Like, I don't know what they want, if not oil and gas, like, sure,

00:14:51.000 you can have a dream of 100 years from now where we don't use fossil fuels, but that's not the reality

00:14:56.200 today. And stopping Canadians from being able to produce this good that is in such a ban. I mean,

00:15:04.840 it's just frustrating to watch. So, I mean, you studied the issue carefully, you did these

00:15:09.240 documentaries on it. What do you think needs to be done? What can Canada do to make it clear that,

00:15:16.440 you know, we uphold the rule of law and respect industry and, you know, we want to have a cleaner,

00:15:22.760 safer environment. But, you know, the way that they're going about it is not going to solve those

00:15:27.160 things.

00:15:30.040 Yeah, I would say that the number one thing that this country is missing that it could use a lot

00:15:35.320 of right now is, well, there's maybe two things, but the first thing would be political courage.

00:15:39.720 So I think politicians, regardless of political party, need to draw, you know, a line in the sand,

00:15:45.400 a red line that says, if you want to protest peacefully on the side of the road, that is 100% your

00:15:50.680 right will always be your charter protected right in Canada, or it should be. But that line's crossed

00:15:56.840 when you start infringing on the rights of on everybody else. And we start trying to really

00:16:02.520 take anti-democratic elections. I mean, a lot of these pipelines were issues in provincial and federal

00:16:07.160 elections that yielded certain results. And by going out and breaking the law and obstructing

00:16:13.800 people from going into work, like in the case of coastal gas link or blocking highways in

00:16:17.480 Victorian Vancouver, you're really thumbing your nose at democracy and the democratic decisions

00:16:21.960 that Canadians made. So I think that needs to be a red line in the sand. And it's time to actually 1.00

00:16:26.360 get top on these protesters. And I actually think also cracking down on groups who are knowingly

00:16:32.360 financing legal activity and financing the illegal discord in Canada. The second thing I would say

00:16:40.600 is it comes down to people like myself and people like you can as a true north to continue to bring the

00:16:47.320 truth to these issues and for Canadians who want to hear the truth and know what's actually going on

00:16:51.880 to continue to support groups like this. Because we do, I think, have a deficit in the mainstream media

00:16:59.080 of good, solid reporting. So it's important to get the facts out there.

00:17:05.720 Well, I couldn't agree more with that second point. I want to ask you about that first point,

00:17:09.400 though, because, well, there's two things. First of all, we saw the Trudeau government

00:17:13.320 remarkably pass a law in this legislature. So we had a shortened parliament. Trudeau waited until

00:17:19.480 the very end of the year, basically, to have the House of Commons sitting in. One of the only

00:17:23.560 pieces of law that he introduced was this law making it illegal for protesters to block hospitals,

00:17:31.400 gearing against the sort of anti-forced COVID vaccine crowd. People who, in my estimation,

00:17:40.120 are rightfully protesting, being fed up with a system of lockdowns and politicians who lie.

00:17:46.280 But Trudeau went out of his way to put this heavy-handed law out there where protesters,

00:17:52.200 if they are blocking, obviously, no one should block hospitals, no one should harass hospital

00:17:55.640 workers. That's uncalled for. But, you know, the politics behind targeting these people,

00:17:59.960 you know, it's noticeable that these are the people that he's trying to punish while the other people,

00:18:07.000 but all this stuff is happening in British Columbia, all this stuff is happening all the time.

00:18:10.520 You know, they kind of turn a blind eye to it. So I wanted to get your take on Trudeau

00:18:16.520 passing out a lot of block hospitals. And then also, in Alberta, we saw the Kenney government

00:18:20.840 do this long report studying who were behind all of these sort of shadowy anti-Alberta oil and gas

00:18:29.880 campaigns. And I mean, the report was super interesting, but I don't really know if it's

00:18:35.000 going to lead to anything. So I wonder if you could comment on those two issues.

00:18:41.160 Yeah, well, first on Trudeau's law, I might mention that you might not be familiar with it,

00:18:46.360 the BC actually introduced, I don't know exactly where this is, or shockingly, it hasn't been

00:18:50.760 challenged yet, but they actually introduced like a like a bubble zone legislation. So you can't even

00:18:55.480 protest on the sidewalk within a certain distance from from hospitals, it's like a couple kilometers

00:19:02.520 or something like that. And again, at the same time, we're basically allowing activists to shut down

00:19:08.440 highways and arteries. And in many cases are actually important for people actually trying to get to

00:19:15.160 the hospital among many other important things. So I think that, yeah, it shows a double standard,

00:19:23.480 but I think it also shows when it comes to the environmental groups, this isn't just an assortment

00:19:29.880 of individual people who are fearing being arrested. This is an organized campaign. Up in Ferry Creek,

00:19:37.800 they know exactly what they're doing. People sign up, who's prepared to be arrested? Have you been

00:19:41.560 arrested before? Okay, maybe you don't want to do it because the judge will be harder on you.

00:19:45.320 They've got people waiting to grant you bail to pay all your legal fees. So it's an organized campaign

00:19:51.560 of illegal protests. And I think that's the big difference. And that's why they've been more

00:19:55.720 resilient. But again, it just comes down to political courage, where you need to have politicians who are

00:20:00.760 who are willing to take them on, and not to basically get get pushed around. But by what really is like

00:20:07.320 1-2% of the population who thinks that extremist tactics can can dictate their will to everybody

00:20:13.720 else. And then what did you think about the study out of Alberta? Do you think did you look into it?

00:20:20.360 Do you think that that kind of initiative is helpful? Do you think it'll lead to anything?

00:20:25.240 What's your take on that on that initiative?

00:20:27.160 Well, I think that it could lead to something as far as the potential of financing groups that are

00:20:38.760 engaging in illegal activities. And maybe there's some law that again, it would take political courage

00:20:44.360 from the federal space. But but beyond that, I think, look, these left wing groups, we all know

00:20:50.120 they're getting big dollar funding, they're getting US funding to wage these campaigns. And it's

00:20:56.920 up to people that that are that are proud of Canada, want to stand up for Canada, Canada's

00:21:02.520 resource industries and independent media to stand up against them and for people to support those

00:21:07.480 individuals, such as yourself at True North. As far as like having a, you know, the the information

00:21:15.400 war, the misinformation war, trying to combat these narratives. I mean, that is part of democracy. I

00:21:20.840 think that and the fact that we've been able to shed light on it, I think is a good thing. But I

00:21:26.600 think the bigger thing actually, is that conservatives, but particularly conservative

00:21:31.240 politicians need to step their game up and and go after these groups and and shine the light on what

00:21:36.520 they really are. And I think Canadians are smart enough to make their to make the appropriate

00:21:40.520 decisions if if politicians actually take the lead, if that makes sense.

00:21:45.000 Oh, absolutely. I think that there would be a huge appetite for a politician who is willing to speak

00:21:50.200 out against this, this chaos, this lawlessness. And, you know, you make a good point about how

00:21:54.600 we protect hospital workers as we should. But why don't we extend that same courtesy to the blue collar 0.98

00:22:00.600 workers in Northern British Columbia, Northern Vancouver Island, who are just trying to go to work in

00:22:04.600 the same way as doctors and nurses. There really is a double standard. And, you know, it's it's it's

00:22:10.520 it speaks, I think, volumes about the sort of snobbiness of the legacy media and politicians who who

00:22:17.080 cheerlead, you know, the laws against protecting doctors and nurses and then completely, like we said,

00:22:23.880 turn a blind eye. Well, Aaron, it's been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for joining the

00:22:27.240 Candice Malcolm show. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a Merry Christmas. Thank you, Candice.

00:22:32.920 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well. All right. Thank you so much. I'm Candice Malcolm.

00:22:37.960 And this is the Candice Malcolm show.

Juno News - December 07, 2021

The hypocrisy of protecting critical infrastructure

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript