Rebel News Podcast - DAVID MENZIES ｜ Jason Kenney Resigns; COVID Protest Court Victory for Albertans

00:00:00.200 Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you, in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favorite rebels.

00:00:08.880 I'm your host, David Menzies. Wow, what a bombshell.

00:00:12.900 Unexpectedly, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney announced that he'd be stepping down as leader of the UCP.

00:00:20.040 Sheila Gunn-Reed will offer her thoughts on the future of this party.

00:00:24.680 And score one for freedom, the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms secured a major court victory, which saw Judge Michael Dinkle rule that a chief medical officer of health order under which their client, Brad Carrigan, was charged does not apply to protesters.

00:00:45.720 Adam Seuss will have all the nitty gritty details and letters.

00:00:49.600 We get your letters. We get your letters every minute of every day, and I'll share some of your responses about a tale of two cities, the biker version, that is.

00:00:58.960 Namely, why were those motorcyclists who comprise Rolling Thunder demonized and vilified by the Ottawa authorities, yet bikers were warmly welcomed with open arms to Port Dover's Friday the 13th gathering last week?

00:01:14.480 Wow, looks like little Port Dover trumps the nation's capital when it comes to respecting our rights and freedoms.

00:01:22.840 Those are your rebels. Now let's round them up.

00:01:25.180 While 51% of the vote passes the constitutional threshold of a majority, it clearly is not adequate support to continue on as leader.

00:01:44.660 And that is why tonight I have informed the president of the party of my intention to step down as leader of the United Conservative Party.

00:01:55.180 I'm sorry, but friends, I truly believe that we need to move forward united.

00:02:00.540 We need to put the past behind us, and our members, a large number of our members, have asked for an opportunity to clear the air through a leadership election.

00:02:08.480 And I recommended, therefore, that the provincial board schedule a leadership election in a timely fashion.

00:02:15.200 Holy heck, indeed.

00:02:17.320 Jason Kenney, the man who saved Alberta from Rachel Notley, a.k.a. the Queen of the Destroyers, is now yesterday's man.

00:02:25.820 In an announcement that surely caught most political observers completely off guard,

00:02:30.600 Premier Kenney resigned on Wednesday evening after only getting a 50-50 approval rating from his party.

00:02:38.480 And now the question arises, who will be the next leader of the UCP?

00:02:43.400 And joining me now for more on this stunning announcement is our chief reporter, Sheila Gunn-Reed.

00:02:49.620 How are you doing there, Sheila?

00:02:51.280 I'm still shocked.

00:02:53.380 I am still shocked and flabbergasted.

00:02:56.180 And, you know, you're right.

00:02:58.520 Most political observers, and I count myself as one of them, I don't think we saw this coming.

00:03:05.960 Jason Kenney had sort of changed the leadership review criteria that 50% plus one was good enough.

00:03:16.140 And I thought, okay, he's downrigging that so that he can pass by the skin of his teeth,

00:03:22.360 say the majority of party members support him, which would be true upon a technicality,

00:03:28.220 and then just carry on like nothing happened.

00:03:30.700 So I was shocked to see after two years of doing the wrong thing and reacting constantly wrong to every impulse,

00:03:42.340 Jason Kenney finally, finally did the principled thing.

00:03:45.640 Isn't it something, and you know, pardon me, Sheila, when we look at the rise and dramatic fall of Jason Kenney,

00:03:53.800 if we rewind the tape, can you point out to our viewers, I guess, those events that led to his resignation in the first place?

00:04:04.940 Holy cow, there's a lot.

00:04:06.700 I think it, how long is this segment?

00:04:09.340 Ten minutes?

00:04:09.720 It started with, you know, Jason Kenney saying, we're going to take, and these were his words,

00:04:17.700 a more South Dakotan approach to COVID protocols.

00:04:20.680 South Dakota, as you know, Governor Kristi Noem, she didn't lock down.

00:04:24.800 Never once.

00:04:25.520 She just carried about her business.

00:04:27.260 They protected the vulnerable and then let everybody else live their lives

00:04:30.960 and recognize that they were grownups who could make their own decisions.

00:04:34.240 Jason Kenney promised Albertans that he would be that guy.

00:04:37.040 And we expected him to be that guy because I think that's the conservative approach,

00:04:40.920 that you don't need big government to help you make your health choices.

00:04:44.640 But then he wasn't.

00:04:46.260 Then all of a sudden, he was locking us down, closing our businesses, closing our restaurants,

00:04:52.320 and limiting our churches and canceling activities, making people wear masks, kids wear masks.

00:05:00.260 And so people thought, oh my goodness, that's a lot.

00:05:03.520 But then he reopened and apologized, saying, I should not have made some businesses essential and others not.

00:05:11.620 Albertans forgave and moved on.

00:05:13.560 But then the next lockdown came.

00:05:16.360 And then Jason Kenney, who said he didn't know what a vaccine passport even was,

00:05:21.100 and once he figured it out, decided, well, those things are unconstitutional, brought us in one of his own.

00:05:30.980 And so a lot of Albertans resented that.

00:05:34.360 Something he said would be illegal, he was then doing himself.

00:05:38.220 He also said if Albertans ran out and got a vaccine that they didn't actually want,

00:05:42.620 that he would open the province up and open it up for good.

00:05:46.180 It was called the best summer ever, but the best summer ever led to the fall and winter of discontent and disappointment

00:05:54.220 when Jason Kenney, after promising people, just get your vaccine and everything will be open again,

00:05:59.620 locked everything down again and brought in that vaccine passport.

00:06:04.320 And I think it was the flip-flopping, the flip-flopping, the flip-flopping, and the icing on the cake.

00:06:09.200 I think good for about 10% or 15% in that leadership review was the locking up of pastors,

00:06:15.140 the confiscating of churches, the confiscating of businesses,

00:06:19.360 seeing pastors like James Coates and Tim Stevens and Pastor Art Poloski

00:06:28.760 perp-walked out of their homes, their churches, like common criminals, 0.99

00:06:34.860 seeing the arrests of business owners, the shuttering of businesses,

00:06:40.960 Chris Scott of the Whistle Stop having his property seized

00:06:44.460 and then arrested for holding a protest against the government seizing his property

00:06:50.260 and him spending three days in jail.

00:06:52.820 I think seeing that sort of stuff, the sort of stuff that we saw then Jason Kenney do

00:06:58.760 to the convoy to Ottawa, and then Jason Kenney say

00:07:02.200 Justin Trudeau was wrong when he did the convoy to Ottawa,

00:07:06.440 but was perfectly fine when he was doing it to pastors and business owners and resistors here.

00:07:11.440 I think that is what really cost him the two-thirds that you really do need

00:07:17.080 to maintain the confidence of the party.

00:07:19.160 I think that last little bit, people just couldn't stomach and they couldn't get over it.

00:07:26.180 Here's the thing, Sheila.

00:07:27.420 Here in Ontario, we've seen a similar narrative.

00:07:29.940 We saw Doug Ford, he was not going to be about lockdowns.

00:07:33.060 We get locked down.

00:07:34.140 Well, unless you're part of a select few,

00:07:36.500 like the provincially owned Liquor Control Board of Ontario

00:07:39.260 and the Ford family owned Deco labels.

00:07:42.640 No vaccine passports, vaccine passports.

00:07:46.180 What I'm getting at is when you listen to Doug Ford,

00:07:49.280 he basically says, you know, folks, if it were up to me,

00:07:52.580 I'd open everything up tomorrow, et cetera, et cetera.

00:07:55.640 But it's the team, you see, it's the team making these decisions.

00:07:59.860 My question to you, Sheila, in terms of Premier Kenney and Alberta,

00:08:05.980 is this Premier Kenney acting on his own political instincts?

00:08:10.820 Or are there people behind the scenes that kind of like, you know, puppet masters,

00:08:16.140 they're forcing him to make these decisions?

00:08:19.260 What do you think?

00:08:19.920 No, I think Jason Kenney is his own man who made his own bad decisions.

00:08:24.060 And finally last night or Wednesday night, he made a good one when he resigned.

00:08:29.020 It is Jason Kenney and nobody else who is making the decision to be up on the

00:08:34.120 infamous Sky Palace patio.

00:08:37.160 As private social gatherings were banned in Alberta,

00:08:41.480 Jason Kenney was up in a building that we've dubbed the Sky Palace here in Alberta

00:08:46.720 because of its history.

00:08:47.800 He was up there having a private dinner and a whiskey party with some of his MLA's

00:08:56.140 and cabinet ministers.

00:08:57.780 That image, that's Jason Kenney.

00:09:00.620 That's not any puppet masters.

00:09:03.200 And, you know, Jason Kenney has said all along that it's him making the decisions.

00:09:08.060 He listens to the advice of his public health officers.

00:09:10.860 But ultimately, it's him and cabinet who are making these decisions.

00:09:15.060 And on Wednesday night, you know, he fell on his sword.

00:09:19.060 And I think it's the right thing to do because Alberta is one year,

00:09:23.520 almost exactly, to our next provincial election.

00:09:27.660 Rachel Notley is already campaigning.

00:09:29.960 And the UCP needs to get a new leader, get somebody in place, start the apology to her and start

00:09:38.160 campaigning because Rachel Notley, she's there and she's ready.

00:09:43.000 And she says she wants to be premier again.

00:09:44.920 And Alberta is in the midst of an economic recovery.

00:09:48.740 Investment is coming back to the oil patch.

00:09:51.040 We're starting to balance the budget after, you know, the better part of a decade of just

00:09:55.800 an economic catastrophe here in Alberta.

00:09:58.860 She's back around.

00:10:00.440 She will destroy it. 0.94

00:10:02.360 The woman is a scarecrow for oil patch investment. 1.00

00:10:06.140 She's just standing out in the field and the oil patch investors say, you know what, we're 0.83

00:10:10.240 going to South Dakota.

00:10:11.500 We're going to North Dakota.

00:10:12.940 We're going to Texas.

00:10:14.420 We can't have her back.

00:10:16.140 And so the UCP really has to get its act together, get someone with name recognition

00:10:19.560 and start making amends with the people of Alberta.

00:10:22.800 You know, but Sheila, I can't help but think when if we bring this back to Kenny, to me,

00:10:28.400 it's baffling if you are correct.

00:10:31.380 And I have no reason to denounce your instincts here that Kenny was the author of his own

00:10:37.300 misfortune in terms of all these terrible decisions, the lockdowns, the back passes, locking

00:10:43.880 up pastors, shutting down churches.

00:10:47.100 What was he thinking?

00:10:48.460 I mean, he these seem to be things that I would guess the majority of Albertans would

00:10:56.120 be against if you were to ask them.

00:10:58.440 So how did he think this was going to lead to him being a popular premier?

00:11:05.460 Well, that's the thing.

00:11:07.360 You know, Jason Kenny, when he campaigned to be the premier and also to be the leader of

00:11:11.260 the UCP, he sort of campaigned as I'm one of you guys.

00:11:16.340 I may have been working in Ottawa for the better part of the last two decades, but I'm still

00:11:20.780 a true blue Albertan.

00:11:22.400 And can't you tell by my true blue Ram pickup truck and my plaid shirts and my cowboy hat

00:11:28.700 and my cowboy boots that I'm wearing to every rodeo and farm fair all across the province.

00:11:34.160 And but at the end of the day, I think he surrounded himself with a bubble of hangers on.

00:11:41.100 There's a lot of people still kicking around from the Redford days.

00:11:44.600 And even after that, these people who just want to be in power and that's their only ideology

00:11:51.820 is to be in power.

00:11:53.020 They're not necessarily conservative.

00:11:55.100 And I think some of that may have infected Jason Kenny, too, whereas it was really easy

00:12:02.240 to take a principled stance in favor of religious freedom when you're in the federal government

00:12:07.680 and talking about defending religious freedom over in Iraq, over in China, over in Afghanistan.

00:12:15.700 For him here in Alberta, when he was the guy in charge, he just couldn't find those principles

00:12:22.040 anymore.

00:12:23.800 And I think, you know, a principled person, their principles shine when it's tough, not when

00:12:30.020 it's easy.

00:12:31.380 And Jason Kenny failed every time that he was tested there, except for Wednesday night.

00:12:36.660 Wow.

00:12:37.660 You know, it's so perversely ironic, Sheila.

00:12:40.800 You really couldn't make this up.

00:12:42.840 One last exit question.

00:12:45.200 Mr. Kenny is yesterday's man.

00:12:48.000 Now we have to look ahead to the future.

00:12:49.840 The other day, Daniel Smith threw her hat in the ring.

00:12:53.080 She wants to be the leader of the US UCP and presumably the next premier of Alberta. 0.98

00:12:59.960 How do you think things are going to shake out in the months ahead, Sheila?

00:13:04.320 You know, Daniel Smith is saying the right things.

00:13:07.360 Also, former Wild Rose leader Brian Jean, I think, is going to throw his hat into the

00:13:11.340 ring.

00:13:11.580 He hasn't announced it officially, but he ran as an MLA in his riding of Fort McMurray

00:13:16.440 on a plan to unseat Jason Kenny as premier.

00:13:20.780 Now, Daniel Smith, she held a press conference over Zoom on Wednesday, saying a lot of the right

00:13:27.400 things are Adam Sos questioned her on the treatment of the pastors and the lockdown resistors here

00:13:36.380 in Alberta.

00:13:36.840 And she directly acknowledged those people as the reason the rest of us are able to enjoy

00:13:43.220 our freedoms.

00:13:43.960 She said if she were elected the leader of the UCP, that she would go on an apology to

00:13:49.960 her to try to make this right to Albertans and try to make right their treatment at the 0.97

00:13:55.200 hands of the government.

00:13:56.600 She said that the persecutions of churches, which are ongoing still, those legal cases

00:14:02.040 are still in front of the courts.

00:14:03.260 She said that those charges should immediately be dropped.

00:14:06.380 She also said the charges against business owners should also be dropped.

00:14:10.120 Um, so she's saying a lot of the right things and she is one person who is not only acknowledging

00:14:15.900 the wrongs done by the government and the party that she is a member of, but also she's

00:14:22.120 willing to try to do her best to make it right.

00:14:25.160 Well, Sheila, these are fascinating days ahead indeed in terms of the Alberta political landscape.

00:14:31.500 And I know you and Adam will be, uh, on this, uh, and, and giving us the, the real

00:14:38.780 story and the other side of the story.

00:14:40.820 So buckle up. 0.96

00:14:42.680 Can't wait to see what happens next in wild rose country.

00:14:46.380 Sheila, thank you so much.

00:14:47.520 And you have yourself a great weekend, my friend.

00:14:50.620 I will.

00:14:51.080 You too, David.

00:14:51.940 Thank you so much.

00:14:53.040 And that was Sheila Gunn-Reed somewhere in the Northern hinterland of Alberta.

00:14:58.300 Hey folks, keep it here.

00:14:59.860 More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.

00:15:04.940 Adam Soaks here for Rebel News.

00:15:07.060 And, uh, last week I was very fortunate to be joined by Sarah Miller, who observed a

00:15:11.280 landmark decision, which effectively determined that the, uh, chief medical officer of health

00:15:17.400 in Alberta, the orders under which many people were charged for protesting and gathering,

00:15:21.380 uh, under, under a very specific window, do not actually apply to protesters in any way,

00:15:27.480 shape or form.

00:15:29.200 What we've seen previously, I think by large is people equating, disagreeing with somebody's

00:15:35.980 principles about, you know, being an anti lockdown person, just the court disagreeing

00:15:40.880 with that and then deciding, well, because I disagree with your principles, you, you must

00:15:45.460 be, you know, guilty or you must be at fault here.

00:15:48.980 Right.

00:15:49.540 Um, and that's not the same thing.

00:15:51.260 We can disagree about principles and still apply the correct legal analysis this morning.

00:15:55.020 I think the correct legal analysis was applied.

00:15:57.480 Obviously the language utilized within that decision and within that specific order discusses

00:16:03.340 private gatherings.

00:16:04.840 And the judge ruled effectively that protests are clearly not private social gatherings.

00:16:10.340 Finally, some good news on the freedom front.

00:16:13.220 A judge has ruled that protests are not so-called private gatherings.

00:16:18.260 Indeed, recently, Hatim Kerr, a lawyer with the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms,

00:16:25.680 secured a major court victory, which saw Judge Michael Dinkle rule that a chief medical officer

00:16:32.620 of health order under which their client, Brad Kerrigan, was charged does not apply to protests.

00:16:41.120 Apparently, the doctator forgot that freedom of assembly and freedom of speech and the freedom

00:16:47.420 of peaceful protesting are indeed charter rights.

00:16:51.300 Well, at least for now.

00:16:53.420 And joining me now for more on this ruling is our Calgary-based reporter, Adam Seuss.

00:16:59.300 How are you doing there, Adam?

00:17:00.660 Wonderful.

00:17:01.280 Happy to be here.

00:17:01.880 Thanks for having me.

00:17:02.840 You got it.

00:17:03.480 It's a pleasure.

00:17:04.240 So, Adam, ever since the mayor of Calgary essentially called the Freedom March's downtown

00:17:09.500 non-events and that they were punishable by law, we were stunned by this sort of overreach.

00:17:17.380 And now here's a major court victory, thanks to the JCCF, that states the banning of peaceful

00:17:24.380 protests is not a thing in this country, thank goodness.

00:17:28.300 I think this decision states the obvious.

00:17:30.840 But why did we have to go through these shenanigans in the first place?

00:17:34.880 Surely politicians and bureaucrats must have known that they were on thin ice with this

00:17:41.380 sort of stuff to begin with.

00:17:43.000 Yeah.

00:17:43.660 So, I mean, first off, I just want to clarify, there's like a little bit of nuance in the

00:17:48.460 legal language here.

00:17:49.480 So this court proceeding was actually set to span two days.

00:17:53.760 And the second day would have been an in-depth dive into the constitutional arguments and all

00:17:58.400 of that.

00:17:59.260 But what wound up happening is on the very first day, the judge reviewing the document said,

00:18:04.400 well, the charges here, this order pertains to private gatherings.

00:18:09.200 In fact, this order, which spanned December 2020 to January 2021, and a number of other

00:18:15.820 CMOH, or Chief Medical Officer of Health, orders, they all included language which related to

00:18:23.880 limitations on private social gatherings.

00:18:27.400 Now, what the judge determined, they didn't even get to the second day and they didn't get

00:18:30.900 into the constitutional arguments.

00:18:32.140 What the judge determined was that, in fact, no crime had been committed because a protest

00:18:37.680 is categorically and clearly not a private social gathering.

00:18:41.480 It is by its very definition open to the public.

00:18:44.500 And he went to a very sort of basic definition of what is private, what is public.

00:18:48.840 This is clearly public.

00:18:50.340 So in relation to this case, it is very clear and very particular that a number of these

00:18:56.480 orders, particularly the one spanning that term we discussed, but potentially other ones

00:19:01.260 that include that very same language may see a great many charges, tickets that were handed

00:19:06.880 out to protesters or protest organizers, hopefully thrown out because basically what they're going

00:19:12.440 to say is there's no crime committed here.

00:19:14.780 There's no criminal activity taking place.

00:19:16.520 So we don't need to have trials for these.

00:19:18.780 So this is likely to see a number of tickets just simply scrubbed, thrown away and not necessarily

00:19:25.160 dealt with in court.

00:19:26.280 But you're very right that this is wonderful news.

00:19:29.620 We also saw in respect to Jyoti Gondek, the Calgary injunction thrown out thanks to the

00:19:33.440 Democracy Fund's efforts and Chad Williamson of Williams and Law.

00:19:37.480 So we're seeing a number of legal victories that are starting to sort of incite and inspire

00:19:41.800 in some people some hope that the courts are starting to put aside their biases, put aside

00:19:46.780 maybe the fact they don't agree with some of these protesters or some of these pastors

00:19:51.000 and saying, well, they actually didn't break the law here, both in the spirit of the law

00:19:56.620 in that you have a right to protest, but also per the letter of the law, the way it was

00:20:00.420 written, there isn't even a crime to discuss.

00:20:02.240 You know, and let's speak honestly and frankly here, if these protests were, say, in the

00:20:09.200 name of Black Lives Matter, if this was some kind of a Greta Thunberg environmental demonstration, 0.98

00:20:14.580 if this was a pro-choice rally, these injunctions, these heavy handed efforts by law enforcement,

00:20:22.240 it's simply not happening.

00:20:23.980 But it seems to me, my friend, that we're living in a country where increasingly, yeah,

00:20:29.820 you have the right to protest if your protest is politically correct by the ruling elites.

00:20:36.300 Am I wrong here?

00:20:37.900 No, you're absolutely right.

00:20:39.600 And I do think that maybe the political class is waking up to this glaring double standard.

00:20:45.960 I think Canadians broadly, if you look at Justin Trudeau's popularity, are saying, hold

00:20:50.100 on a second, this isn't the Canada I grew up in.

00:20:52.060 These aren't the values.

00:20:53.360 Originally, the sort of politically correct movement was making sure that everyone had a

00:20:57.580 space in society and people weren't being stifled.

00:21:00.280 It's turned into this machine of stiflery.

00:21:04.100 That's what they do.

00:21:05.180 They try and silence people.

00:21:06.740 And very often, for all their talk of the margins, what they do is stifle people who

00:21:11.200 are on the margins, who have been victimized either by governments or authorities or have

00:21:15.600 faced religious persecution, as we have seen repeatedly here.

00:21:18.640 But we've seen on a federal level with the leadership race, there's been a significant

00:21:22.960 shift.

00:21:23.520 And they are now coming out in support of that.

00:21:25.680 Just mere minutes ago, I was in a presser with Danielle Smith, who has announced her

00:21:29.620 candidacy for the leadership of the United Conservative Party after Jason Kenney's announcement.

00:21:34.500 She flat out said that she's willing to tour the province if made leader and visit the people

00:21:41.180 who were incarcerated wrongly and personally apologize.

00:21:45.740 She also talked about how there's likely to be some sort of legal remuneration for people

00:21:49.900 who are incarcerated, and she was going to put an immediate freeze in whatever capacity

00:21:53.920 she could as leader without sort of trampling on the framework of the court systems. 1.00

00:21:58.740 But she would actually actively cease to whatever capacity she could investigations and

00:22:03.600 incarcerations going back as a result of COVID-19.

00:22:06.380 So I think, I'm hopeful that the majority of people, that the public opinion, and that

00:22:13.980 even politicians now, it took them a while to catch on, but the opinion has shifted.

00:22:18.460 And they're saying, you know what, enough is enough.

00:22:20.100 If someone wants to protest for freedom, if someone wants to protest for a pride parade, 0.97

00:22:24.300 if someone wants to do this, we as a Canadian society, we have space for everyone to express

00:22:28.720 their opinions, not just the pre-approved Justin Trudeau opinions.

00:22:32.100 Yeah, and in the case of Daniel Smith saying that, that was incredible, Adam.

00:22:36.720 And she's already, I guess, positioning herself on those files as the anti-Jason Kenney candidate.

00:22:44.840 But, you know, I want to get back to this whole realm of cancel culture, which is really a 1.00

00:22:50.500 cancer on our society.

00:22:52.420 And I mean, if you're a social media company, you can engage in that.

00:22:56.520 Not that I support it.

00:22:57.520 If you're a corporation like Disney saying, we're not going to say, ladies and gentlemen,

00:23:02.480 and boys and girls anymore, it's just friends.

00:23:04.760 So we don't, you know, insult anyone in the trans community.

00:23:09.100 Well, you can do what you want.

00:23:11.140 Again, it's odious, in my opinion.

00:23:13.480 But this is the state in the role of a cancel culture, Mandarin, if you will. 0.97

00:23:19.900 Picking and choosing which protests are correct and which protests are incorrect.

00:23:25.340 This is a complete, it's completely egregious to me, Adam, that we would have elected officials,

00:23:36.000 bureaucrats, law enforcement, being the censors of what is right and wrong in the public square. 0.59

00:23:44.540 Thank goodness we had this decision go the way it did.

00:23:47.800 Yeah, well, and I think the thing that people need to realize, if you're thinking like, well,

00:23:52.440 maybe it isn't quite so bad, or maybe they are picking and choosing, people are just overly

00:23:56.520 sensitive.

00:23:57.280 Literally, I think it was towards the end of May 2021, when there was a number of pro-Palestinian

00:24:03.860 protests.

00:24:04.980 Dina Hinshaw literally modified her order in order to allow for those types of protests. 1.00

00:24:10.700 So they had these things in place.

00:24:12.060 They were ticketing people who were protesting the government, protesting for freedom, ticketing

00:24:15.960 on other things.

00:24:17.380 Various groups were being targeted, but largely it was anti-mandate, anti-restriction groups

00:24:21.580 being targeted.

00:24:22.840 And then another group decided they're going to start having these great big protests.

00:24:26.360 And the government literally publicly goes out of their way to write an exception that

00:24:32.200 protests are actually allowed, but just make sure you throw your masks on.

00:24:35.040 It is so categorical and undeniable, and it's so always unilaterally targeted, without exception,

00:24:44.620 at one narrow spectrum of society.

00:24:47.960 Like, members of every faith denomination, congregations, were completely acting like total

00:24:55.340 scofflaws. 0.99

00:24:56.600 They completely disregarded any of these measures and protocols.

00:24:59.560 We saw it firsthand.

00:25:00.960 We went to a bunch of other denominations.

00:25:02.660 Police saw it.

00:25:03.400 Dina Hinshaw, if I remember correctly, I think it was her, said, we investigated those

00:25:06.800 claims.

00:25:07.120 There's nothing to them.

00:25:08.240 Meanwhile, you have 20 or 30 people gathering at Pastor Arthur Pawlowski's church.

00:25:12.480 It wasn't this massive gathering until they drew so much attention to it and targeted it.

00:25:18.160 This enforcement, this pressure, this demand from government authorities for people to bow

00:25:24.640 the knee, when they themselves, they're breaking the rules.

00:25:28.220 There was a, I think it was a Daily Wire article with Jason Kenney at one dinner, broke his

00:25:33.020 own rules like dozens of times.

00:25:35.220 The Sky Palace, they're breaking these rules.

00:25:38.080 There's no consequences.

00:25:39.400 Other groups are breaking the rules.

00:25:40.660 There's consequences.

00:25:41.620 If a pastor does it, if Chris Scott does it, and they're in a certain demographic and they're

00:25:46.000 advocating for freedom overtly.

00:25:48.900 Listen, the right to protest is not when things are easy.

00:25:52.660 It's specifically in order to protect people's rights to criticize their government.

00:25:57.900 The government allowed people to break the rules.

00:25:59.900 It wasn't ever really about protecting people's health because they allowed people to break

00:26:03.760 the rules.

00:26:04.300 The premier did it.

00:26:05.100 Other religious groups did it.

00:26:06.340 Other organizations did it.

00:26:07.940 The protests did it.

00:26:08.960 They allowed those people to break the rules.

00:26:10.680 And those were, according to the government, risks to people's health.

00:26:13.700 The only time they came down and hammered down was when people were actually exercising their

00:26:17.420 charter rights to criticize the government directly.

00:26:20.480 That's what they couldn't stand for.

00:26:21.720 And finally, as you say, we are starting to see politicians, we're starting to see the

00:26:27.280 courts, and we're starting to see society broadly at large say enough is enough.

00:26:31.820 Progressivism and this cancel culture that you talk about pushes and pushes and pushes.

00:26:36.460 Most conservatives are like, listen, if you're an adult and if you don't push it on kids and

00:26:40.700 you're living your life, I don't care what you do.

00:26:42.900 That's sort of a sensible live and let live mentality that I think most conservatives will

00:26:47.740 share, even if they don't personally agree with someone's lifestyle.

00:26:50.460 Progressives are not like that.

00:26:51.420 They push and push and push.

00:26:52.560 And I think with progressivism becoming so rampant in corporate America, broadly in society and

00:26:57.540 in politics under Justin Trudeau, they push too far and people are now saying enough is

00:27:01.800 enough and they're pushing back.

00:27:03.460 Well, that is indeed good news, as is this decision.

00:27:06.620 It's welcome good news, Adam, because I think in this day and age, there are too many on the

00:27:11.060 left.

00:27:11.480 There are too many in government and in the bureaucracies who consider freedom to be the new

00:27:17.660 F-word. 0.84

00:27:18.700 That is where we are in this day and age.

00:27:21.200 So it's good to see some blowback against this kind of Orwellian attitude.

00:27:27.220 Adam, great report.

00:27:28.540 Thank you so much for joining me.

00:27:30.340 Thanks so much.

00:27:30.760 Happy to be here.

00:27:31.600 You got it.

00:27:32.500 And that was Adam Seuss in Calgary.

00:27:35.420 Keep it here, folks.

00:27:36.320 More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.

00:27:38.420 David Menzies for Rebel News here in Toronto.

00:27:44.100 Well, folks, last week we ventured out to Port Dover.

00:27:47.900 Every Friday the 13th, there was a huge gathering of bikers.

00:27:52.460 We're talking tens of thousands of bikers that descend upon Port Dover to celebrate life,

00:28:00.620 liberty and freedom.

00:28:01.620 And I couldn't help but notice that what a change of scenery it was compared to a few

00:28:08.600 weeks ago in our nation's capital.

00:28:11.200 Remember when Rolling Thunder came into Ottawa?

00:28:14.080 And look at the reception they were given.

00:28:17.280 This downtown core of Ottawa was sealed off with roadblocks.

00:28:22.080 Everywhere you went, no stopping zones were put up for a special event.

00:28:27.040 What was the special event?

00:28:28.240 The taking back of our rights and freedoms.

00:28:32.200 And all these lawful bikers wanted to do, many of whom are veterans, was to do a circle

00:28:39.000 around the National War Memorial and lay a wreath.

00:28:42.700 And yet, for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, they were persona non grata.

00:28:47.000 Same with Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.

00:28:50.200 But in Port Dover, the bikers finally were welcomed with open arms.

00:28:55.700 Check out what they had to say to us.

00:28:58.260 But what do you think of the reception, it was two weeks ago today, that Rolling Thunder

00:29:02.720 rolled into Ottawa.

00:29:03.760 They were prevented from going downtown.

00:29:06.120 I heard that.

00:29:06.700 And all they wanted to do was ride around the National War Memorial and lay a wreath.

00:29:11.580 Why were they prevented from doing so?

00:29:14.580 Well, I guess the same reason that they were afraid of the same occupation all over in Rome.

00:29:19.000 Yeah, but that was so unlikely.

00:29:21.540 And I'm sure they knew that wasn't going to happen.

00:29:24.320 Well, that's probably what they were afraid of, right?

00:29:26.460 They basically fenced off the entire downtown court.

00:29:29.560 You saw the signs.

00:29:30.340 Yeah.

00:29:31.160 No stopping special event.

00:29:33.520 What's a special event?

00:29:34.780 Getting stripped of our rights and freedoms?

00:29:36.540 Exactly.

00:29:37.180 Exactly.

00:29:38.060 And why they couldn't let them go around the War Memorial.

00:29:40.980 That really made me upset.

00:29:42.740 Everything should have been open.

00:29:43.860 This lockdown is complete brainwashing.

00:29:48.700 There's no reason for it.

00:29:49.840 Ontario has been in the longest lockdown.

00:29:53.700 One of the longest lockdowns in the world, I think.

00:29:55.920 That's right.

00:29:56.400 And you know what?

00:29:58.380 I'm glad to be out there.

00:29:59.900 I'm glad to be out there.

00:30:00.480 And maybe it's that part of the problem.

00:30:01.640 When you look at the bureaucrats, when you look at the politicians, when you look at Mayor

00:30:05.080 Trump, they all got paid.

00:30:06.700 In fact, I think a lot of them got raises in the last two years.

00:30:09.880 They didn't have to suffer their doors being closed.

00:30:12.360 Because they didn't have to suffer all the king's horses and all the king's men coming

00:30:16.640 to their restaurant to shut them down. 0.90

00:30:18.280 Is that the problem?

00:30:18.420 If I'm not mistaken, anybody that had a government job got to keep their job.

00:30:23.700 And it was the bureaucrats that shut down everybody else. 0.66

00:30:28.060 So whether you're a municipal worker, a federal worker, a provincial worker, across the board,

00:30:34.600 across the country, nobody missed a picture.

00:30:36.900 But if you're in the private sector, the government said who and couldn't burn a living.

00:30:42.820 Why is it that we have a government right now that is picking and choosing causes and

00:30:48.060 groups?

00:30:48.900 Some are okay to demonstrate or celebrate and others are not.

00:30:53.740 Of course.

00:30:54.320 It all depends on if it aligns with your WM standards.

00:30:57.620 Truly a tale of two cities, at least when it comes to the rights and freedoms of Canadians

00:31:03.500 who want to assemble.

00:31:05.400 In Ottawa, for certain events, including a gathering of patriotic bikers, the capital remains a no-go

00:31:12.020 zone.

00:31:12.980 But in Port Dover, these folks are welcomed.

00:31:16.180 Justin Trudeau and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson should be ashamed of themselves.

00:31:20.520 But the thing is, they have no shame.

00:31:22.960 In any event, you had plenty to say about the Friday the 13th gathering in Port Dover last

00:31:29.660 week.

00:31:30.600 Mark Guy writes,

00:31:31.780 Indeed, Mark, be it the Freedom Convoy or Rolling Thunder, the people in these peaceful gatherings

00:31:46.460 were not violent.

00:31:47.980 They were not gunrunners.

00:31:49.460 They were not vandals.

00:31:50.760 They were not arsonists.

00:31:52.000 Despite all the putrid propaganda and demonization that was directed their way.

00:32:00.040 306 from the Sticks writes,

00:32:02.440 Not one government worker missed a paycheck during the lockdowns.

00:32:06.920 Let that sink in.

00:32:08.420 Actually, my friend, I think many politicians and bureaucrats actually gave themselves raises

00:32:13.640 during the pandemic.

00:32:15.220 But hey, we're all in this together, right?

00:32:18.220 Let that sink in.

00:32:19.760 Ueber writes, I like Rebel News, but this video seemed a bit one-sided.

00:32:26.360 Rebel News, don't turn into CBC Global and so on.

00:32:29.780 Cover both sides.

00:32:31.200 Well, Ueber, I am not sure the point that you're trying to make here.

00:32:35.900 Namely, what, pray tell, is the other side when it comes to this story?

00:32:40.500 The facts are restated.

00:32:42.540 Motorcyclists were welcomed in Port Dover last Friday, but essentially they were shamefully

00:32:48.280 banned from downtown Ottawa three weeks ago.

00:32:51.440 We merely ventured out onto the streets of Port Dover to ask folks why they were taking

00:32:55.900 part in this celebration.

00:32:58.240 Everyone was a happy camper.

00:33:01.040 I can guarantee you if we came across anyone saying that the Friday the 13th assembly was

00:33:07.400 awful for whatever reason, we would have included that response on camera.

00:33:12.060 In fact, we reached out to Norfolk County Mayor Crystal Chop.

00:33:16.520 She's the COVID Karen that declared last year's Friday the 13th event in Port Dover as a non-event.

00:33:25.780 Thousands of bikers showed up anyway. 0.99

00:33:28.580 To date, we have yet to hear back from Mayor Chop.

00:33:32.400 I suspect she's still curled up in the fetal position in her basement.

00:33:36.660 But as far as I can tell, this is the only killjoy person in the Port Dover area when it comes to

00:33:44.600 those Friday the 13th rides.

00:33:47.320 But she seems to be taking a page out of Ottawa Witchy Poo's playbook. 0.73

00:33:52.300 No more comments!

00:33:54.340 No more comments!

00:33:56.420 Do you mind me asking, what do you do for a living?

00:33:58.760 No more comments!

00:34:00.180 I'm now interviewing a sign.

00:34:01.740 Wow.

00:34:02.460 Best interview ever.

00:34:04.520 Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.

00:34:07.800 Thanks so much for joining us.

00:34:09.600 See you next week.

00:34:10.440 And hey folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.

00:34:14.880 Good night.

00:34:34.520 Good day.

00:34:45.120 Good night.

00:34:45.400 Good night.

00:34:45.540 Good night.

00:34:46.300 Good night.

00:34:46.380 Good night.

00:34:47.740 Good night.

00:34:47.800 Good night.

00:34:48.480 Good night.

00:34:48.840 Good night.

00:34:49.860 Good night.

00:34:50.760 Good night.

00:34:51.760 Good night.

00:34:51.900 Good night.

00:34:52.860 Good night.

00:34:53.320 Good night.

00:34:53.460 Good night.

00:34:54.360 Good night.

00:34:55.360 Good night.

00:34:55.940 Good night.

00:34:56.440 Good night.

00:34:57.640 Good night.

00:34:58.400 Good night.

00:34:59.900 Good night.

00:35:00.460 Good night.

00:35:01.320 Been ng lots of night.

Rebel News Podcast - May 21, 2022

DAVID MENZIES ｜ Jason Kenney Resigns; COVID Protest Court Victory for Albertans

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