Rebel News Podcast - DAVID MENZIES ｜ Anti-Keystone is pro-Putin; Transit union challenges vax policy

00:00:00.000 Hello, Rebels. You're listening to a free audio-only recording of my show, Rebel Roundup.

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00:01:14.460 Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you,

00:01:32.700 in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favorite rebels.

00:01:37.760 I'm your host, David Menzies.

00:01:39.600 Well, as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, let it be said that if you are anti-pipeline

00:01:46.440 and if you are anti-fossil fuels, then you are, by default, pro-Putin.

00:01:52.880 Sheila Gunn-Reed shall explain all.

00:01:55.540 And how do you like this?

00:01:56.820 The city of Hamilton, Ontario, has come out with a new vaccine policy giving city workers until May 31st, 2022

00:02:04.780 to be fully vaccinated or provide proof of an approved medical exemption.

00:02:11.260 Anyone who fails to do so will face termination.

00:02:15.020 But unlike so many other unions that are complicit with such policies,

00:02:19.160 the amalgamated transit union, Local 107 in Hamilton, is going to bat for its members

00:02:26.800 and is actually challenging the city's draconian vax policy.

00:02:32.040 Tamara Ugolini has all the details.

00:02:34.700 And letters, we get your letters, we get them every minute of every day.

00:02:38.140 And you had plenty to say about Brampton Mayor, sneaky Patrick Brown, losing yet again.

00:02:44.880 Remember how he prevented kids from using Brampton rec facilities while he played hockey with his buddies

00:02:53.220 and had yours truly arrested for trespassing simply for practicing journalism?

00:03:00.480 Well, we had our day in court recently.

00:03:02.960 Spoiler alert, we won and Brown lost again.

00:03:07.360 Loving it.

00:03:08.440 Those are your Rebels.

00:03:09.860 Now let's round them up.

00:03:14.880 You just told me you signed my petition.

00:03:20.100 Yes.

00:03:20.820 That's the one to Joe Biden.

00:03:22.700 Yes, from this morning for the Accel pipeline.

00:03:27.340 And so I hope that we in Alberta get our work back and that we get our oil.

00:03:31.520 For years, Canada has been importing oil from other countries.

00:03:35.040 When we have enough oil right here within this province.

00:03:38.280 We need to push them now to stop oil.

00:03:40.740 You can blame Biden.

00:03:42.200 Like, I'm not a big Trump supporter.

00:03:43.980 But I guarantee if Trump was in there, Ukraine would not have been invaded.

00:03:47.700 I guarantee that.

00:03:49.260 Today, we are announcing our intention to ban all imports of crude oil from Russia.

00:03:59.320 An industry that has benefited President Putin and his oligarchs greatly.

00:04:04.780 Sheila Gunn-Reed for Rebel News and I'm back here in my home studio.

00:04:09.240 But the video you're going to see was filmed over the weekend at the Alberta legislature at the weekly freedom protest.

00:04:15.260 Now, while I was there, I saw dozens of Ukrainian flags in amongst the signs of people who come out every single week in the capital city to protest COVID-19 restrictions.

00:04:24.440 And that should really come as no surprise if you know something about Western Canada.

00:04:29.880 Outside of Ukraine and Russia, Canada has the largest population of people of Ukrainian descent.

00:04:34.960 And most of those people live out here on the prairies.

00:04:38.340 Which made it so crazy for CBC to have claimed that the freedom convoy to Ottawa, which was led by Westerners, was some kind of Russian-backed operation.

00:04:47.600 Remember this?

00:04:48.220 Given Canada's support of Ukraine in this current crisis with Russia, I don't know if it's far-fetched to ask, but there is concern that Russian actors could be continuing to fuel things as this protest grows, but perhaps even instigating it from the outset.

00:05:07.440 Now, that claim was too ridiculous, even for the CBC.

00:05:10.620 They ultimately ended up having to walk it back in shame.

00:05:13.040 But while I was at the legislature on that other story, I thought I would ask the people with Ukrainian flags what they thought about America and Canada helping fund the Russian war machine by purchasing Russian oil when we just have so darn much oil here in Alberta that we can't get to market because of blocked, stalled, or cancelled pipelines.

00:05:31.400 President Joe Biden cancelled Keystone XL pipeline when it was nearly complete.

00:05:35.060 It would pump enough oil every single day to offset Russian imports and then some, while creating Canadian and American jobs.

00:05:42.500 Now, you can sign our petition to President Joe Biden, calling on him to immediately allow Keystone XL to be completed, and we will hand-deliver that petition to the American Consulate in Calgary.

00:05:53.440 Just go to buildkeystonexl.com, sign it, share it, we'll do the rest.

00:05:57.980 The Energy East pipeline was euthanized through onerous regulations created by the Liberals here in Canada.

00:06:03.160 That pipeline would have taken ethical Canadian oil to the Irving Oil Refinery in St. John, New Brunswick.

00:06:08.160 Currently, Canada imports about half a billion and a little bit more dollars worth of Russian oil each year.

00:06:14.740 That was at least until yesterday, Monday, when Justin Trudeau made that announcement to cancel Russian oil imports,

00:06:21.100 something he should have done a long time ago instead of landlocking Freedom Oil from here in Alberta.

00:06:26.200 But credit where it's due, it's a good move, long overdue.

00:06:29.540 But hopefully it's a realization for the Liberals that every barrel of oil that they import from a dictatorship instead of using Alberta oil is soaked in blood.

00:06:39.460 Freedom Oil. Wow, that has a great ring to it, doesn't it, folks?

00:06:44.020 And make no mistake, if you are anti-pipeline and if you are anti-fossil fuels, then guess what?

00:06:50.740 This means you are, by default, pro-Putin as he carries out a brutal attack against Ukraine.

00:06:59.500 Sorry, greenies, that's just the way it is. 1.00

00:07:03.000 And joining me now is our chief reporter, Sheila Gunn-Reed.

00:07:07.180 How are you doing there, Sheila?

00:07:08.640 I'm great, David. Thanks for having me on the show.

00:07:10.780 Fantastic. Always a pleasure.

00:07:12.440 Sheila, with Justin Trudeau as prime minister and with Joe Biden as U.S. president,

00:07:18.080 we really have two incredibly weak leaders who share a hate-on for domestic oil and gas,

00:07:25.860 ostensibly because they want to redo our nation's carbon footprints.

00:07:31.300 Yet, look at the end result, Sheila.

00:07:33.160 The price of the pump in Canada, it's heading towards $2 a litre,

00:07:37.020 while Russia is being so enriched thanks to oil going beyond $110 U.S. a barrel

00:07:43.800 that Putin is now able to easily finance his war with Ukraine.

00:07:49.400 So, Sheila, this is infuriating beyond words for me because at the end of the day,

00:07:55.240 the energy policies of Trudeau and Biden have nothing to do with saving the world

00:08:00.740 and everything to do with meaningless virtue signaling as innocent people die.

00:08:07.060 What say you?

00:08:08.480 You know, this has been a long game for the environmentalist movement,

00:08:11.520 but also for Putin. 1.00

00:08:12.840 In all of this, the environmentalist movement have been useful idiots for the Soviets. 0.99

00:08:20.160 They really have been, or at least for the new Soviet Union, the new Russian imperialism. 0.99

00:08:26.580 There have been congressional reports that say for years,

00:08:31.540 the Russians have been using an offshore holding company to dump money into environmentalist mega-charities

00:08:41.740 in San Francisco, where all of these things are headquartered.

00:08:45.980 One of them was the Tides Foundation.

00:08:49.100 The other one, I think, is called Sea Change.

00:08:51.280 And from there, that money is greenwashed, basically, and spread out,

00:08:57.460 and it funds the domestic anti-fracking and anti-pipeline movement.

00:09:03.720 And that has been the real Russian meddling in Western politics for a very long time. 0.99

00:09:11.740 And it has worked really well using well-meaning Western idiots to get the job done for them. 0.99

00:09:18.740 The Russians needed to make sure that Canadians and Americans never became so energy independent 0.99

00:09:26.780 that they would export liquefied natural gas to Europe,

00:09:30.880 because they need that stranglehold on Europe, and particularly Germany,

00:09:37.840 who buys, I think it's 40% of their natural gas comes directly from Russia, from Gazprom.

00:09:45.160 And so they were able to manipulate geopolitics by having so many countries in Europe beholden to them.

00:09:56.120 And all of that happened because the Western world was hamstrung by the environmentalist movement.

00:10:03.620 And that's the Green New Deal in the United States, 0.95

00:10:06.640 and that is the liberal carbon tax, anti-pipeline gender theory crammed into every energy policy happening here in Canada. 0.98

00:10:17.000 All of that, the Green movement, the people who are right now running around with Ukrainian flags in their Twitter bios,

00:10:24.880 they did this through their Green policies.

00:10:28.280 You're 100% right.

00:10:29.460 Right, and talk about bait-and-switch.

00:10:31.300 When Joe Biden was running for president, Sheila, you remember, he passed himself off as a moderate.

00:10:37.500 And once he assumed power, it was abundantly clear that he was this progressive, almost American Marxist, if you will.

00:10:46.780 And I don't exaggerate, in the first week of taking office, he killed the Keystone XL deal.

00:10:52.000 And it's just amazing, just a few days ago, there was the State of the Union address, Sheila,

00:10:58.920 but he didn't address anything about how to get out of this quagmire.

00:11:04.660 And it's doubly tragic that when Donald Trump was president, the U.S. was energy self-sufficient for more than 70 years.

00:11:15.520 And yet, last year, the Biden administration imported 232 million barrels of Russian oil.

00:11:24.420 Again, going back to my premise that that's what's funding this war against Ukraine.

00:11:31.040 Sure. I mean, Joe Biden fancies himself to be Joe Lunchbucket.

00:11:35.160 He's never been working class, but he thought of himself as a working class, pro-union kind of guy.

00:11:42.060 When, as we know, it's always been Donald Trump, who was the blue-collar billionaire,

00:11:48.660 probably more comfortable with the guys on, you know, in the hard hats than he was with the business guys.

00:11:55.660 But Biden, in his first act on the job, he canceled the very nearly complete Keystone XL pipeline.

00:12:05.460 That is something that Donald Trump made a point to push forward as quickly as he could.

00:12:09.900 And that pipeline would take oil from Alberta, from the oil sands through Hardesty, Alberta,

00:12:16.340 a small town along the pipeline route, to refineries in America and then export if need be.

00:12:24.840 That pipeline, if it were operational today, would be flowing 830,000 barrels of clean, ethical Canadian oil every single day.

00:12:38.340 Instead, Joe Biden canceled it.

00:12:41.100 He canceled American jobs, which doesn't align with his blue-collar Joe Lunchbucket persona.

00:12:49.200 He canceled Canadian jobs.

00:12:51.140 And he continues to fund the Russian war machine because every day, I think it's about 600,000 barrels of Russian oil come into the United States.

00:13:02.020 The Keystone XL pipeline would offset that and then some, while adding capacity,

00:13:09.220 which drives down the cost of living and the price of gas in the United States.

00:13:14.960 By reigniting that pipeline, it addresses a whole host of issues.

00:13:19.440 It creates American jobs.

00:13:20.700 It offsets Russian oil.

00:13:22.020 It drives the cost of living down.

00:13:23.380 But Biden won't do it because he's beholden to the green side of the Democrats.

00:13:28.680 And it's gotten so bad in the United States that Joe can't, there's no, I guess, escape hatch from this bad idea of killing Keystone XL.

00:13:40.400 That he was taken to pleading with OPEC, the world's other oligarchs and dictators, to increase capacity because the price of oil was going up so fast in the United States and increasing cost of living.

00:13:54.820 While he simultaneously pulled permits on American drilling and canceled that one cross-border pipeline.

00:14:02.200 The solution is so simple.

00:14:05.660 Drill, drill, drill, frack, frack, frack, flood the market, starve the Russian oil machine, create American and Canadian jobs, and address inflation. 0.80

00:14:15.760 But he just won't do it because he wants to kiss butt to the AOC wing of the party.

00:14:21.460 You're so right, Sheila.

00:14:23.040 That's what I was hoping to hear in his State of the Union address instead of, you know, getting Iranians confused with Ukrainians as the victims of the Russian invasion.

00:14:33.140 But here's the thing, Sheila.

00:14:34.460 I'm going to be devil's advocate here.

00:14:36.240 Let's say that man-made climate change is a real thing.

00:14:41.120 Let's say there is a really good case for carbon taxes and for, you know, stalling the development of fossil fuels in North America.

00:14:52.300 Couldn't Prime Minister Trudeau and President Biden say, we subscribe to this, we believe this is real, but now is not the time to go down this route.

00:15:03.720 Couldn't that give them an escape hatch in terms of reducing the effects of inflation, which are severe right now, and putting an end to the Russian war machine?

00:15:15.560 Why won't they do this?

00:15:18.360 Let's, and I hate to concede it, but let's concede it for the sake of argument that, you know, humans are increasing global warming because of our fossil fuel consumption.

00:15:29.060 Let's, let's play devil's advocate here.

00:15:33.420 Then you should be fracking.

00:15:35.820 We saw a substantial drop in American greenhouse gas emissions during the fracking renaissance that happened under President Donald Trump.

00:15:44.760 Because natural gas is as clean burning as it gets, if you care about those sorts of things.

00:15:50.340 I don't necessarily, but I like natural gas.

00:15:52.860 I think there should be all options on the table, natural gas, oil and gas, coal, methane, whatever.

00:16:01.640 But the flip side of the argument is, the demand is not going down for natural gas and oil.

00:16:11.040 We know we do it cleaner and better here in North America.

00:16:16.000 And I know right now there are Canadian and American expats working overseas who know exactly what I'm talking about.

00:16:23.780 If you worked in a foreign oil and gas field in Kazakhstan, in Russia, in Africa, you know what the environmental standards are like there versus what happens here.

00:16:37.440 So if you care about the environment, if even if you care about greenhouse gas emissions, then North America has to be the place where we do these things, where we drill and frack and produce the world's energy.

00:16:51.880 And one last question to you, Sheila.

00:16:53.260 I mean, I look at who, you know, the people who are the face of the environmental movement these days.

00:16:59.640 It's Greta Thunberg, David Suzuki, Al Gore, and it's John Kerry, yes, who's worried that the Ukraine invasion might be a diversionary tactic away from the real war, the war on climate.

00:17:13.580 And yet all of these people that I just mentioned, Sheila, when it comes to the hypocrisy of what they say and how they live, for example, Al Gore, I understand, I came across an article once upon a time.

00:17:25.120 His carbon footprint is something like 28 times greater than the average American.

00:17:31.260 Totally believable, because when you live in a mansion and you fly everywhere by private jet, oh, you're darn rootin' tootin' you're going to have a Godzilla-sized carbon footprint.

00:17:42.180 Why are we taking our moral cues, why are we taking advice on energy policy from the biggest carbon hypocrites on the planet?

00:17:51.680 You know, it's interesting, because when they say that we need to reduce or live smaller or live greener, they mean we, not them.

00:18:05.560 For example, David Suzuki, he's got five kids, but he thinks there are too many people on the face of the earth.

00:18:11.380 So he means that you and I should have fewer kids.

00:18:14.900 We should be subject to population control, not them.

00:18:18.260 You and I shouldn't be able to travel on an airplane, but John Kerry can take a private jet to fly to the UN Climate Change Conference.

00:18:26.900 I've seen that firsthand.

00:18:29.060 I'm supposed to ride a bike to get groceries.

00:18:31.800 These people can have their drivers run their limo for hours while they wait on them at the Climate Change Conference so that it's a comfortable temperature for them to get in.

00:18:44.720 This isn't about climate change.

00:18:46.300 It has never been about climate change in much the same way that COVID was never really about controlling a disease.

00:18:53.280 You are the disease they want to control.

00:18:56.220 And be it through climate change, carbon taxes, or COVID measures, they want to control you and how you live your life.

00:19:04.740 Climate change is just the vehicle by which they do it.

00:19:06.920 You're so right, Sheila.

00:19:08.580 And I got to tell you, I was going to try to do my part for the planet today by riding my bike into work, but I just didn't want to freeze my ball bearings off.

00:19:16.740 Anyway, Sheila, thank you so much for your insight.

00:19:20.420 And you have a great weekend, my friend.

00:19:23.000 I will.

00:19:23.480 You too, David.

00:19:24.020 And if people want to sign my petition that we will deliver to the American consulate in Calgary, right in the heart of oil country, calling on President Joe Biden to bring Keystone XL back online for the sake of his country and ours and freedom around the world, just go to buildkeystonexl.com.

00:19:43.800 Fantastic.

00:19:45.060 A worthy petition indeed.

00:19:47.840 And folks, that was Sheila Gunn-Reed from somewhere in the northern hinterland of Alberta. 0.55

00:19:54.000 Keep it here.

00:19:54.860 More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.

00:20:02.220 By all means, there are certain places where it makes sense to have these types of people.

00:20:07.600 Where you're in close contact, we're talking bus operators.

00:20:10.420 We're on a mask, we have gloves, and we're behind a, what we call a bio shield.

00:20:17.420 So we're not coming into close contact.

00:20:20.120 And I guess one of the biggest ironic things for us is we allow our passengers on.

00:20:25.920 We're not allowed to ask for them for their vaccination.

00:20:29.960 But yet they put that type of bonus on us.

00:20:32.200 So what we're asking is we're asking for city council to reconsider their position.

00:20:36.400 We had a policy that was effective, that effectively kept everybody safe.

00:20:41.640 And we're asking them to maintain the policy of allowing the option of testing.

00:20:46.300 Tamara Ugolini with Rebel News bringing you another instance where a union is actually backing its members in respecting their right to bodily autonomy and medical privacy.

00:20:57.320 It's a small union out of Hamilton, Ontario called ATU 107.

00:21:03.000 That stands for Amalgamated Transit Union.

00:21:05.680 Their president, Eric Tuck, represents approximately 800 transit professionals.

00:21:11.280 They work primarily for the city-owned Hamilton Street Railway and bus operations.

00:21:16.820 Collectively, they carry over 30 million people every year.

00:21:20.700 And so far, they have a fantastic safety record.

00:21:23.020 On January 12th, 2022, the city of Hamilton came out with a new vaccine policy that gives city workers until May 31st to be fully vaccinated or provide proof of an approved medical exemption.

00:21:38.900 Anyone who fails to do so will face termination as of June 1st, 2022.

00:21:44.480 This news received attention with mainstream media at the end of January, when veteran transit workers began to speak up and attest this vaxxed or be axed policy.

00:21:59.320 Shortly thereafter, on February the 8th, Local 107 issued a press release challenging and condemning this policy.

00:22:07.780 In this interview, I'm catching up with President Eric Tuck to discuss why he's backing his members, what he hopes to achieve, of course, by doing so.

00:22:17.880 And then I will hear from him about the basis of this press release.

00:22:22.960 Let's check it out.

00:22:23.660 We set a press release out because our employer, the Hamilton Railway, which is the city of Hamilton, has put out a mandate for a vaccination mandatory policy, which up until now, we had been working with a vaccine verification policy, which you simply had to declare.

00:22:43.240 And if you weren't willing to declare, because, as you know, our medical information is private and should have the right to keep that private.

00:22:52.100 If our members wanted to keep that private, they would not have to declare.

00:22:55.540 They would simply have to participate in a short education video and then participate in the rapid testing.

00:23:04.520 This was a policy which we had agreed with.

00:23:07.560 We felt it was reasonable, given what we were going through.

00:23:10.900 We felt that that was extremely heavy handed.

00:23:37.180 It has the potential to violate several of our chartered rights, as well as the Privacy Act of Canada, the area of human rights, and our chartered rights.

00:23:48.620 Based on that, we filed a grievance.

00:23:50.780 And you've had record turnout, from what I understand, to vote on this procedure to continue with arbitration.

00:23:57.880 Can you tell me what that's looked like with the members?

00:23:59.940 Yeah, so we have a small local, about 800 members, and normally for an arbitration vote, you would get maybe 50 or 60 members.

00:24:08.980 This issue has been very polarizing for my membership.

00:24:12.300 We had over 300 members come out and vote.

00:24:14.700 That's how important it was to them.

00:24:16.780 And the majority of the members, 55 percent, voted in favor of proceeding to arbitration because they really felt that it was important that we defend members' rights and defend their jobs.

00:24:27.920 Well, knock me down with a feather, for here we have a union that truly believes it should defend its members' rights and defend its members' jobs.

00:24:39.300 Now, once upon a time, folks, that's what all unions used to do.

00:24:43.520 Going to bat for the rank and file was actually the ostensible policy reason for a union to exist in the first place.

00:24:50.940 But then COVID-19 and the COVID-19 vaccines came along and suddenly the majority of unions, be they private or public sector unions, marched in lockstep with management.

00:25:05.640 Which is to say they suddenly supported draconian policies that demanded workers get the jabs or those workers would lose their jobs.

00:25:16.700 How weird is that?

00:25:18.260 And joining me now for more on this story is Tamara Ugolini.

00:25:23.520 How are you doing there, Tamara?

00:25:25.720 Hi, David.

00:25:26.660 Well, I'm doing all right.

00:25:27.560 How are you?

00:25:28.240 I'm doing great, my friend.

00:25:29.760 So, Tamara, it was delightful to see this Hamilton Transit Union actually support its members as opposed to, if you'll pardon the pun, throw them under the bus.

00:25:40.760 As Mr. Tuck noted, the majority of the rank and file support this move.

00:25:46.080 But before we get into ATC's fight with the city, I want to get your take on why it is that so many unions in Canada are on side with management when it comes to mandatory vaccination policies.

00:26:02.280 Gosh, I wish I could make sense of it, David.

00:26:06.060 I think that at the very beginning, you know, we've seen all across the COVID response.

00:26:10.880 It's these knee-jerk, hysteria-driven, public polling responses that aren't evidence-based.

00:26:17.920 And so, I think that these companies feel like their hands are tied and they have to toe the line or they'll face some sort of legal repercussion or reprimand for not doing so.

00:26:28.960 As we've seen, you know, everything falls under the wayside in the name of health and safety.

00:26:35.660 And so, I guess they're trying, doing their best to uphold this.

00:26:39.980 In the meantime, disregarding all of these other worker rights and things like personal choice and bodily autonomy.

00:26:47.580 And one thing that I always note, too, under OSHA, the occupational health and safety legalities that are in place,

00:26:55.480 is that there has to be explicit consent to medical surveillance.

00:27:00.140 So, not only just, you know, consenting to vaccination, but actually to have your records and your medical data surveilled by your employer.

00:27:10.340 And so, there's a lot of muddied waters here.

00:27:13.380 And I think that unions were just trying to err on this side of caution by going so heavy-handed in this one direction.

00:27:22.260 You know, the pendulum on all levels of government, union and workplaces has swung so far on this one side that now, as we see, you know, it's bound to start to come back the other way.

00:27:32.800 But, you know, Tamara, if I'm a member of a union and my union is taking the role of management, I'm saying to them, why am I paying union dues?

00:27:44.520 You're supposed to be fighting for my rights, not aiding and abetting a company that wants to terminate me.

00:27:52.260 Yeah, absolutely.

00:27:54.060 Unfortunately, you know, I don't have the answers there.

00:27:57.280 My husband was on the receiving end of one of these mandates from his union who didn't back him whatsoever.

00:28:04.080 And so, it seems to be few and far between, obviously, which is why I've featured—this is actually the second story that I've featured of a union backing of its members.

00:28:12.960 The first one was sometime late 2021, where one particular nurse had her grievance filed and backed by the Ontario Nurses Association.

00:28:22.980 So, that was really rare.

00:28:25.280 And I haven't had an update from her yet.

00:28:28.180 But another instance where, you know, we see these tides kind of turning, that maybe these decisions weren't actually based on anything sort of concrete and sound evidence.

00:28:40.000 Yeah, and there doesn't seem to be any give and take, any negotiations, any communications.

00:28:45.180 I remember, Tamara, going to the North Toronto office of Unifor.

00:28:50.660 I think that's the biggest private sector union in the country.

00:28:54.020 And there was a demonstration there, primarily by autoworkers who faced an axe if they didn't get jabbed or reveal their vaccination status.

00:29:04.120 And the response by the president of Unifor, Jerry Diaz, was to send everybody home, lock the building, and call the police on his own membership, who were peacefully protesting.

00:29:18.300 And, again, I don't understand this idea of unions going this direction.

00:29:25.640 Because, let's face it, unions tend to be left of centre.

00:29:28.840 And if you're left of centre, you're all about, well, let's look at what feminists have said for decades when it comes to abortion. 1.00

00:29:37.540 My body, my choice.

00:29:39.340 I guess, did that only apply to terminating a baby's life, Tamara?

00:29:43.980 And it doesn't apply to anything else, such as experimental vaccines going into one's body?

00:29:51.020 It would appear that way, sadly.

00:29:53.940 It goes back to, also, I have a similar story, which I never ended up reporting on.

00:29:58.380 But one of my other previous reports included a gentleman, maybe you remember, Joe McDonald, who was removed from his workplace due to noncompliance with their mandatory testing policy at the time.

00:30:10.800 And he was part of the iron workers' union.

00:30:12.860 So, I don't remember the number of the union.

00:30:15.300 But, nonetheless, he had a meeting.

00:30:17.580 So, he found a new job.

00:30:18.500 And then he went to a meeting where they were discussing to impose this vaccine mandate.

00:30:22.760 And it was very divided between the members.

00:30:25.200 And there ended up being, like, a physical altercation between the membership and some of their union representatives.

00:30:34.300 And, yeah, the union reps, they locked the door and they called the police on these guys.

00:30:38.400 And they were trying to oppose and attest this mandate.

00:30:41.840 So, I mean, that's the state of affairs here.

00:30:43.720 Any dissenting voices.

00:30:45.040 And we saw that in Ottawa, right?

00:30:46.600 Anyone who is opposition or dissenting, they get physically violently squashed.

00:30:53.960 It's absolutely unbelievable at this point.

00:30:57.760 And do you know what the added tragedy is for me, Tamara, when it comes to unionized workers?

00:31:03.680 It's this.

00:31:04.220 I really think being forced out of your work, fired with cause, not being entitled to employment insurance, losing your benefits, pensions.

00:31:15.220 We've heard it all.

00:31:16.560 I really think there is incredible fodder there for a wrongful termination lawsuit.

00:31:22.180 But, as you know, and I don't know what your husband's experience was, Tamara, when you are part of a union, you surrender so many labor rights.

00:31:32.340 There's only so much a labor lawyer can do to you because you're part of a collective bargaining agreement.

00:31:40.320 What's your take on that, Tamara, the fact that legalistically there's so little that can be done for these people that are, I think, being wronged?

00:31:51.540 Absolutely.

00:31:52.320 I tend to agree.

00:31:53.680 And the thing that's exhausting with the union is that you have to exhaust all of your union representation before you can seek outside counsel.

00:32:01.920 So a lot of these members who've, you know, for instance, contacted Rebel or the Democracy Fund asking for assistance, they have to actually play this game and go through their union first.

00:32:12.660 And the union provided lawyer and exhaust all of that before they can seek outside counsel.

00:32:18.260 So by the time it's all said and done and you go through all of these various levels of trying to get representation, I mean, this is months, maybe even years.

00:32:27.280 But as we're seeing now, you know, the provincial medical officer of health here and more and all across Canada is now starting to rein back in these policies and these mandates.

00:32:36.780 So it begs to reason that, I guess, we terminated people's jobs and destroyed their livelihoods for, what, four months of enforcement of this heavy-handed policy that wasn't based on any data or science on an injection that doesn't prevent transmission or spread.

00:32:53.640 I mean, I think at this point we need to really ensure that something like this doesn't happen again.

00:33:01.440 And like you said, you know, we uphold the bodily autonomy, our right to my body, my choice.

00:33:07.240 If we just hand that decision-making over to the state, then what do we have left as individuals, if not choice in terms of what happens to our own sovereign bodies?

00:33:16.460 Oh, 100 percent. Tamara, one last question. When it comes down to this Hamilton local, I'm just wondering, how hopeful are you that they will succeed in their fight against the city as the clock ticks to that deadline in which to get vaccinated?

00:33:33.720 And you said the words just now, heavy-handed. When I think of heavy-handed, I do think of Hamilton.

00:33:38.940 I don't know if you remember, last year I was covering a protest in Hamilton, and by-law took a telephoto photograph of me shaking hands with somebody.

00:33:49.320 Evidently, that's a by-law infraction in Hamilton. I was sent a $360 ticket. It's called an AMPS ticket, which means I can't even get a day in court.

00:34:00.980 It was emailed to me. I have to pay it for being in front of City Hall shaking somebody's hand.

00:34:07.300 So what I'm getting at, it seems that Hamilton, you know, the city fathers there, are really entrenched in terms of a very hard line towards COVID-19 dissenters, if you want to call them that.

00:34:21.860 So again, I guess the question is, what do you think the chances of success will be for this particular Hamilton union?

00:34:30.060 Well, you know, in my conversation with Eric Tuck, it really sounded like he wasn't backing down, and they had record turnout of their membership to vote on this.

00:34:39.200 So I have high hopes that he's not going to lay down, and he seems to have a really great representation, who has a lot of experience with advocating for workers' rights.

00:34:50.060 So, like I've said, as we see that tide turn and that pendulum kind of swing back now, and there not being the same justification for a mandate or a policy such as this,

00:35:01.040 and certainly now there's no government overstep into, in terms of these directives and things that they put out for employers to mandate,

00:35:10.160 there's none of that that the employers can just fall back on now and say, oh, well, we were just following orders.

00:35:15.100 We were just following the provincial guidelines. Well, that's not in place anymore.

00:35:18.640 So I do have high hopes that they'll see, hopefully, a backpedal on something like this.

00:35:23.860 And again, I just hope that it never happens again. It should have always been choice.

00:35:28.740 All of this should have just been left up to individual choice. Make your own risk assessment.

00:35:33.380 If you want to stay home for the rest of your life and wear a mask, you know, while you shower, go for it.

00:35:38.580 Let the rest of us get out there and live.

00:35:40.540 A hundred percent, Tamara. And, you know, like we've said before, it's funny.

00:35:45.520 Before there was a COVID vaccine, people like bus drivers going to job every day, dealing with members of the public.

00:35:52.860 They were the frontline heroes. And suddenly, if you don't take the vax now that's available, you're a frontline zero.

00:36:00.260 There's the exit. Absolutely despicable. Tamara, great job on this. 1.00

00:36:04.680 Let us know what the resolution is when it comes to fruition, my friend.

00:36:09.160 Certainly will do. Thanks, David.

00:36:12.160 Thank you so much. And that was Tamara Ugolini in Coburg, Ontario.

00:36:17.380 Keep it here, folks. More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.

00:36:25.720 Hey, sports fans. We finally have an update to the Patrick Brown Hockey Night in Brampton saga.

00:36:31.380 Now, Brown is the man who was this close to becoming Ontario Premier until a palace coup orchestrated by his own party ousted him as leader of the Progressive Conservatives.

00:36:44.160 Thank God.

00:36:45.480 Brown is currently the mayor of Brampton.

00:36:47.240 Brampton and like so many other cities during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brampton's playgrounds and sports fields, well, they were close to the kids.

00:36:56.580 But Mayor Brown, well, he sneakily used a city-run ice facility so that he and his Barry buddies could play pickup hockey.

00:37:07.840 Talk about chutzpah. Now, for those who may have missed this outrageous example of one law for me and one law for thee, please check out the video evidence when we caught Brown red-handed.

00:37:22.320 We're getting the bums rush, but holy mackerel, I think I see Patrick Brown himself.

00:37:29.660 Oh, hey, how you doing?

00:37:32.200 Mr. Brown, right?

00:37:33.600 Yeah.

00:37:34.480 David Manzi with Rebel News.

00:37:36.620 You're in a city facility?

00:37:38.000 What's that?

00:37:38.480 You're in a city facility?

00:37:39.500 Yeah, so are you.

00:37:40.660 Yeah.

00:37:41.440 So, are you playing hockey here?

00:37:43.780 No, I'm just coming to check in our facility.

00:37:46.080 So, I'm going to check. You're not supposed to be here, actually.

00:37:49.260 Oh, okay.

00:37:49.840 We were told that you play pickup here.

00:37:52.320 Mr. Brown, how come the kids in Brampton can only practice sports, but your buddies can play hockey?

00:38:01.060 Yeah.

00:38:01.500 So, I don't know why you are harassing people in the city of Brampton, but you shouldn't be.

00:38:08.860 Oh, who's harassing who?

00:38:11.060 Your guy handed out 122 by-law violations in one week.

00:38:17.920 Mr. Brown, why is there a hockey game going on in this arena?

00:38:25.160 I thought you're only allowed to practice sports, not play them.

00:38:29.080 And who is paying the $1,000 a day, Mr. Brown, for this rink?

00:38:37.700 Mr. Brown, are these taxpayer dollars being used for your buddies to play hockey on this rink?

00:38:44.020 Or are you paying it?

00:38:49.180 Or perhaps we'll lead Solomon?

00:38:50.580 So, Mr. Brown, why is there one law for me and one law for thee in this city?

00:39:02.580 Mr. Brown? 0.94

00:39:03.300 Wow, talk about two minutes for egregious hypocrisy. 0.91

00:39:12.340 But here's the thing, folks.

00:39:14.280 Even when we caught Brown breaking provincial mandates and his own city's bylaws,

00:39:21.180 Mayor Brown didn't care.

00:39:22.300 He kept playing hockey on a weekly basis.

00:39:25.080 So it was that we kept showing up at the Earnscliff Recreation Centre

00:39:30.160 to query the mayor as to why children were forbidden to set foot on a baseball diamond or a soccer field.

00:39:37.920 Yet he could play ice hockey to his heart's content.

00:39:41.960 Well, he didn't like those questions.

00:39:44.720 And instead of providing answers, Mayor Brown called the cops?

00:39:49.380 Oh, yeah.

00:39:50.460 Check out this footage from September 2020.

00:39:53.120 Spoiler alert, I arrived at the rink's parking lot in an SUV.

00:39:58.320 I left sitting in the back of a police cruiser.

00:40:02.220 Check it out.

00:40:03.420 You wanted to leave then.

00:40:04.700 Arrest him or go away.

00:40:05.940 You said that there's two options.

00:40:07.060 Arrest him or go away, mate.

00:40:08.220 Just arrest him. 0.85

00:40:09.360 Arrest him or go away.

00:40:10.660 Okay, let's do that.

00:40:13.760 This is...

00:40:14.600 I get all of this...

00:40:15.680 They arrested David Menzies.

00:40:17.400 He's in the car right now.

00:40:19.600 Sure.

00:40:21.500 Very good.

00:40:22.200 In the end, this is her father.

00:40:24.200 Yeah, same David.

00:40:25.680 Amazing.

00:40:26.600 So while Patrick Brown was breaking the rules by playing shinny indoors, I was arrested

00:40:33.220 for practicing journalism outdoors.

00:40:36.280 My crime?

00:40:37.540 Trespassing.

00:40:38.460 Yeah.

00:40:38.940 Somehow I was trespassing on the parking lot of a taxpayer-funded rec facility.

00:40:46.080 How is that even a thing?

00:40:48.320 Well, as it turns out, practicing journalism upon the parking lot of a taxpayer-funded facility

00:40:54.080 is not a thing.

00:40:56.180 After all, despite what Mayor Brown and some members of the Peel Regional Police believed.

00:41:02.420 And thanks to the efforts of our Ottawa-based legal eagle, David Amber, those ludicrous trespassing

00:41:09.720 charges were indeed tossed in a court of law.

00:41:13.100 The reason?

00:41:13.600 Well, Mr. Amber convinced the Crown that there was no reasonable prospect of prosecution.

00:41:20.320 And really, how could there be? 0.93

00:41:22.140 Bottom line, Rebel News wins again, whereas that unlovable loser, Patrick Brown, suffers yet 0.99

00:41:28.580 another humiliating loss. 0.99

00:41:31.080 Loving it!

00:41:31.880 In any event, you had plenty to say about Mayor Brown thinking he was above the law and

00:41:38.420 then using law enforcement as his own Praetorian guard to shut down independent media.

00:41:46.060 Dave Kay writes,

00:41:47.480 The hypocrisy throughout the last couple of years has been overwhelming.

00:41:52.180 If these politicians and bureaucrats are not taking the supposed pandemic seriously,

00:41:57.800 then we know it's not really serious.

00:42:02.140 You nailed it, Dave.

00:42:03.240 I think the fact that pompous politicians like Patrick Brown were so often caught breaking

00:42:09.080 the rules that they were telling everyone else to follow is actually a good news story from

00:42:14.680 a virus perspective, which is to say, if Brown really thought he was going to endanger his

00:42:21.340 life playing hockey, well, there's no chance he would have gone to that rink in the first

00:42:25.860 place.

00:42:26.240 It's too bad this sociopath prevented everyone else in Brampton from enjoying sports, too.

00:42:33.400 But then again, the past two years has not been about controlling the virus.

00:42:38.620 It's rather been about controlling the populace by taking away people's rights and freedoms.

00:42:46.100 I want the 80s back, writes Brown has always been a weasel. 0.98

00:42:50.780 And Tunk Althea writes, sneaky Mayor Patrick Brown, a major clown.

00:42:57.740 Gentlemen, gentlemen, please kindly retract these defamatory statements. 0.95

00:43:02.840 I mean, how dare you insult the fine upstanding members of the weasel and clown communities?

00:43:11.000 Gypsy Lil writes, if Mr. Menzies was charged for trespassing because of a civic lockdown,

00:43:18.180 did the police also charge Mr. Brown along with all the others at the rink for trespassing?

00:43:24.720 No, they did not, Gypsy Lil. 1.00

00:43:27.680 Talk about political privilege. 0.76

00:43:30.760 Talk about one law for me, one law for thee.

00:43:35.620 Felix Culpa writes, I love the fact that his hockey sweater number is zero.

00:43:41.300 Oh, actually, Felix, take a closer look.

00:43:44.080 His number is double zero.

00:43:47.360 Talk about truth in advertising.

00:43:49.500 Then again, now that I think of it, maybe negative one trillion would be a more appropriate number, 0.52

00:43:56.720 given the awful character attributes of this degenerate.

00:44:02.040 Voice of Reason writes, Patrick Brown is already being talked about as running for the upcoming federal conservative leadership race. 0.95

00:44:10.680 He is dishonest and lacks integrity.

00:44:13.000 This incident proves it.

00:44:15.500 And besides, he is no conservative, just another liberal light, which the conservative party does not need after two of them,

00:44:24.640 Scheer and O'Toole, back to back.

00:44:27.260 Well, Voice of Reason, I've heard those rumors too, but I would say this,

00:44:31.840 that the odds of Patrick Brown becoming the new leader of the conservative party of Canada

00:44:36.720 would make even the most reckless gambler cringe.

00:44:40.800 But if the highly improbable were to come to fruition, the end result would simply be this.

00:44:46.780 Number one, as leader, Brown would make conservative supporters pine for the glory days of Aaron O'Toole.

00:44:53.960 And secondly, Justin Trudeau will win his fourth election.

00:44:58.760 Oh, death, where is thy sting?

00:45:00.620 And finally, YRCRC Fabrications writes,

00:45:06.420 Personally, I find Menzies nothing but nauseating and annoying, but he was right, 1.00

00:45:11.820 and I'm glad that the bogus charges were tossed.

00:45:15.000 Well, there you have it, folks.

00:45:16.340 Even when my haters are on side with this ruling, you know that Patrick Brown truly crossed a line. 1.00

00:45:25.560 Hopefully, come fall, Bramptonians will send a message to this lying liar, this losing loser, 1.00

00:45:32.440 this crying crybaby, this shameless skirt chaser, which is to say, 1.00

00:45:38.560 please, folks, give Patrick Brown the boot. 0.99

00:45:41.180 You deserve better.

00:45:42.980 Much, much better.

00:45:44.360 Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.

00:45:47.740 Thanks so much for joining us.

00:45:49.940 See you next week.

00:45:50.780 And hey, folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.

00:45:55.060 Good night.

00:46:14.360 Good night.

00:46:14.800 Good night.

00:46:15.000 Good night.

00:46:21.640 Good night.

00:46:22.120 Good night.

00:46:23.080 Good night.

00:46:23.580 Good night.

00:46:27.180 Good night.

00:46:27.640 Good night.

00:46:28.240 Good night.

00:46:29.040 Good night.

00:46:29.600 Good night.

00:46:31.460 Good night.

00:46:32.140 Good night.

00:46:34.080 Good night.

00:46:35.120 Good night.

00:46:35.780 Good night.

00:46:37.220 Good night.

00:46:37.940 Good night.

00:46:38.440 Good night.

00:46:39.040 Good night.

00:46:40.300 Good night.

00:46:40.980 Good night.

00:46:41.200 Good night.

Rebel News Podcast - March 05, 2022

DAVID MENZIES ｜ Anti-Keystone is pro-Putin; Transit union challenges vax policy

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