Rebel News Podcast - July 24, 2025


EZRA LEVANT ｜ Ezra recaps Tamara Lich's explosive sentencing hearing


Episode Stats

Length

28 minutes

Words per Minute

163.962

Word Count

4,742

Sentence Count

378

Misogynist Sentences

14

Hate Speech Sentences

5


Summary

Rebel News is on location at Tamara Leach's sentencing hearing outside the Ottawa Courthouse. She and Chris Barber were both convicted of mischief for their part in blocking a trucker convoy in the G20 protests in 2011.


Transcript

00:00:00.240 Tonight, Rebel News is on location at Tamara Leach's sentencing hearing.
00:00:04.620 It's July 23rd, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
00:00:07.660 But like I said, terrorists deserve to go to jail, and I hope they do get a substantial sentence.
00:00:14.320 We'll see what the judge gives.
00:00:16.280 And this had nothing to do with freedom, as they call it.
00:00:20.100 I don't, I think, I think they're, it's just, that group was kind of like white supremacists.
00:00:30.200 Shame on you, you censorious bug.
00:00:44.700 Ezra LeVant here outside the Ottawa Courthouse.
00:00:46.960 It is just after 1 p.m., and the courthouse is now on a lunch break.
00:00:51.200 Very interesting morning.
00:00:52.420 We're here, of course, for the sentencing hearing of Chris Barber and Tamara Leach,
00:00:57.720 who were both tried together and convicted together of mischief in regards to their participation
00:01:03.660 in the peaceful trucker convoy in this city three and a half years ago.
00:01:08.980 The Crown prosecutors, and I say again, they answer to Doug Ford, the provincial conservative premier.
00:01:14.400 They're not Justin Trudeau's men or Mark Carney's men.
00:01:17.640 Doug Ford's prosecutors have made an astonishing demand of the judge that she meets out seven years in prison
00:01:24.800 for Tamara Leach and eight for Chris Barber, as well as seizing his semi-truck nicknamed Big Red.
00:01:31.940 An absolutely incredible demand with no basis in law or precedent.
00:01:37.740 It's truly revealing.
00:01:39.600 The mask has slipped.
00:01:41.380 We see that this is a vendetta, a vengeance prosecution.
00:01:46.780 So many lawyers and so many cops and so many city officials have been dining out on this prosecution for three and a half years.
00:01:56.220 Just so many interesting little details.
00:01:58.240 Let me give you one example.
00:01:59.720 The Crown prosecution went first, and one of the things they were trying to say is how much money the convoy cost the city.
00:02:07.320 And they claimed that estimates were in the tens of millions of dollars.
00:02:11.380 Now, how that is on the head of two of the tens of thousands of protesters, I won't know.
00:02:17.880 But there was this particular moment when a prosecutor was mentioning hotels that were seeking millions of dollars in compensation.
00:02:26.220 And I thought to myself, hang on, I remember what it was like because I came for the trucker convoy and this city was shut down.
00:02:32.380 And the judge recognized that, in fact, the Chateau Laurier, the fanciest hotel in the city, they claimed they lost money.
00:02:39.600 And the judge said, hang on, weren't they shut down because of the lockdowns, not because of the convoy, because of the lockdowns.
00:02:46.980 In fact, wasn't that why they were able to be the hotel for all the cops to stay in.
00:02:52.400 And in fact, the trucker convoy was a windfall for both the hotel and the cops.
00:02:58.480 Another weird lie from the prosecution.
00:03:02.120 And I think the big lie of the prosecution was this, that in order to justify their astonishing and authoritarian demands for seven and eight year sentences,
00:03:12.760 they have to argue that this mischief is unlike anything that the court has ever seen, ever, ever, ever.
00:03:21.240 And so on that basis, the court should ignore other precedents.
00:03:24.660 You know, the one thing about our legal system is precedent.
00:03:29.200 If you only understood one idea, it would be that in Latin they say stare decisis, stand by the decision.
00:03:35.840 It's essential to have the rule of law for people to be treated the same way for the same offense.
00:03:41.080 If you have the same facts and the same charges, you should theoretically receive the same result.
00:03:46.820 Anything else.
00:03:48.100 And people don't believe the law is even handed.
00:03:50.800 I was in Lethbridge, Alberta, when Justice Keith Yamauchi went through case after case after case.
00:03:56.580 And it became clear before he got to his sentencing what the answer was going to be.
00:04:00.160 Zero time in jail, because that's what the precedents are.
00:04:03.240 Greenpeace blocks forestry trucks.
00:04:07.340 Greenpeace blocks pipelines.
00:04:09.380 There's so many cases of the environmentalist left blocking in a protest and getting charged with mischief.
00:04:17.520 And I can't recall a single case where there was a custodial sentence as long as there was no violence.
00:04:22.900 We heard this morning also from Chris Barber's lawyer, Diane Magus, about another big leftist protest.
00:04:30.040 This one that did turn violent.
00:04:31.920 You might recall the G20 in Toronto.
00:04:34.640 I think that was in the year 2010.
00:04:36.220 It actually went into a full-blown riot and people went there with malice aforethought.
00:04:40.980 They went there dressed in what's called the black block style.
00:04:44.860 Black head to toe, face obscure to make their identification impossible for police.
00:04:51.460 There were riots.
00:04:52.280 Police cars were trashed and smashed.
00:04:54.440 Oh, by the way, I just want to interrupt myself.
00:04:56.240 Look what's pulling up over here.
00:04:57.800 That glorious truck, that rebel billboard truck, doing a nice slow drive-by.
00:05:05.160 I've got to interrupt myself because would you look at that magnificent truck.
00:05:11.860 You know, earlier police came by and told us to move the truck.
00:05:15.000 You know, the truck itself is used, but the apparatus on the back is set.
00:05:26.880 That's what he's doing.
00:05:32.940 Oh, sorry.
00:05:34.900 We actually respect you and you, and we are not parking here.
00:05:54.160 We're driving through, but it is not a private property.
00:05:56.840 It is, the Ministry of Attorney General owns the property, and they do not want people
00:06:01.100 driving through, they don't want people driving through the fire room.
00:06:03.520 Is that what they told you?
00:06:04.380 Yes.
00:06:05.160 Well, that car is there.
00:06:06.380 I know, but I just looked up late down, so I'm going to make sure that car is moved as well.
00:06:09.980 But if you could please advise me, you're more than welcome to driving out the street.
00:06:12.720 I'm going to bail on keep doing loops, keep doing loops.
00:06:15.460 Yeah, and I'll be here in case there's an illegal fracca.
00:06:18.720 We're in the right place if there's an illegal problem.
00:06:20.520 My name is Eszlavaia.
00:06:21.700 Hello?
00:06:23.280 Thanks, my friend.
00:06:23.980 Happy to you.
00:06:24.340 So, we're doing loops today, but that's just how it is on a public street, a public place.
00:06:31.660 This isn't a public street.
00:06:33.280 I'll call you right back.
00:06:34.320 It just is.
00:06:35.200 And we're just going to keep doing it.
00:06:36.220 Look at all the appearance there.
00:06:38.180 Absolutely not problem.
00:06:39.620 We're going to keep doing that loop again and again and again.
00:06:41.720 There's no reason for Ottawa police to make a new issue when there is nothing.
00:06:47.340 Sorry, you said your name is?
00:06:48.420 My name is Ezra.
00:06:49.480 E-Z-R-A.
00:06:53.340 I note that they have allowed other trucks, including the CBC's truck, to be here with
00:06:58.900 no problem.
00:07:00.060 The only people getting threats for tickets are the Tamara Leach trucks.
00:07:03.980 Well, you know what?
00:07:05.140 That's not my first rodeo.
00:07:07.060 Let me get back to my story, though, about the G20 riots in the year 2010.
00:07:11.680 Diane Magus, who's the lawyer for Chris Barber, went through some of the most astonishing cases.
00:07:18.240 Riots, robberies, smashing police cars.
00:07:21.620 The most violent, shocking, terrifying things you could see.
00:07:25.040 They were faced with mischief charges in the G20.
00:07:28.180 And even what I just described, people dressed head to toe in black to escape detection.
00:07:32.920 These are people who went in with a riot plan.
00:07:36.720 17-month sentence.
00:07:38.340 21-month sentence.
00:07:39.940 And yet this same prosecutor wants an 84-month sentence.
00:07:44.440 That's what seven years is for Tamara Leach.
00:07:46.660 Just incredible.
00:07:47.340 So we heard a lot about that.
00:07:50.020 Mercifully, it was briefer than I had thought.
00:07:53.300 I thought we were going to go through one after the other of what are called victim impact
00:07:58.380 statements.
00:07:59.120 As the term suggests, when there is a crime committed, there is a place for the victim.
00:08:04.800 Sometimes the victim testifies in a criminal trial.
00:08:08.060 But in the sentencing part, that's when people get to say, well, here's how this crime affected
00:08:12.660 me.
00:08:13.320 Here's what it's done to my psychology or to my life.
00:08:16.120 But that's typically for a crime where you actually have a victim, where you were robbed,
00:08:21.340 where you were stabbed, where you have PTSD because you were in a store that was smashed
00:08:27.740 by Antifa.
00:08:29.200 What exactly are the victim impact statements of people in the city, half of which weren't
00:08:34.620 even working during the lockdown?
00:08:36.740 They were getting paid, but they weren't coming downtown to work.
00:08:39.960 And it was incredible to hear the discussion between the prosecutor and the judge about
00:08:44.800 people's feelings, about the feelings they felt.
00:08:49.020 And there were all sorts of uncorroborated gossip.
00:08:51.960 Like, I saw poop on my lawn and I ascribe it to the truckers.
00:08:56.820 Really?
00:08:57.620 Now, I should say there is a lot of poop in Ottawa, even right around the courthouse here.
00:09:03.820 There's some rough and tumble types.
00:09:06.760 To ascribe that to the truckers who, if anything, were cleaning up the downtown.
00:09:11.380 I saw them shoveling snow.
00:09:12.820 I saw them keeping the place immaculate.
00:09:15.940 That's the quality of evidence.
00:09:17.880 But imagine living in a country where someone's thin-skinned feelings about a political nature
00:09:23.360 are enough to put you away for seven years.
00:09:26.820 That's what the prosecution is asking the judge to do.
00:09:30.380 Anyways, mercifully, the prosecutors ended their case.
00:09:34.620 And Diane Magus, the lawyer for Chris Barber, stood up and started making her case.
00:09:38.640 And primarily, it was going through the actual case law.
00:09:41.700 You know, the law law, not the feelings law.
00:09:45.320 We're on a lunch break now.
00:09:46.600 I imagine that she'll take another hour, maybe two, when we resume.
00:09:50.740 And then Lawrence Greenspawn, who is the lawyer for Tamara Leach, will probably start today
00:09:56.400 and then he'll go tomorrow.
00:09:58.240 They had set aside three full days if necessary, but it's clear to me this will end either tonight
00:10:04.440 or more likely tomorrow before noon, which is a miracle considering how this has been drawn out so much
00:10:10.680 by the prosecution.
00:10:12.340 You know, I was inside there.
00:10:13.880 I counted the number of cops in the room and outside, half a dozen.
00:10:18.240 I counted the government lawyers, four.
00:10:21.200 But then I realized there were others sitting in the pews behind me.
00:10:24.940 Three defense lawyers for Tamara Leach, one today for Chris Barber, three clerks and a judge.
00:10:31.080 How many people?
00:10:32.000 Oh, and that doesn't even touch on the witnesses.
00:10:34.440 All the cops who came through, all the city bureaucrats who came through in the months
00:10:38.500 that this thing was in trial.
00:10:40.340 This trial has been a feast for this government city.
00:10:46.000 Everyone has gotten rich off this.
00:10:48.720 And you know what?
00:10:49.440 It's just the most Ottawa thing I've ever seen.
00:10:52.360 Just no rush at all.
00:10:53.860 Who's rushing?
00:10:54.920 I mean, the taxpayers are paying for the prosecution.
00:10:57.640 They spent an hour fidgeting with the Zoom because they wanted a couple of journalists to be able to join in by Zoom.
00:11:04.920 And that took probably half an hour to do.
00:11:07.560 If you want to see Ottawa at its worst, come in and look at this trial.
00:11:11.540 And, you know, there was a hubris to it also.
00:11:16.600 Sort of how dare these peasants from the boonies, from the provinces, come to our sacred Ottawa and protest.
00:11:24.180 I'm not kidding.
00:11:24.700 The prosecutor at one point tried to distinguish between those cases I mentioned in Alberta at the Lethbridge Courthouse between Alberta and Montana where there was a blockade.
00:11:36.480 The court had heard that there were zero prison terms for two of the men, zero days in custody, and a 30-day term for another one for a particular reason.
00:11:46.220 And the crown actually said, well, that's just Coutts, Alberta.
00:11:50.080 This is Ottawa.
00:11:51.800 How dare the peasants come and dirty our town?
00:11:54.620 Well, actually, that's the whole point of Ottawa.
00:11:56.620 It's the capital city, and it's owned by the people, not bureaucrats with fat contracts with the government paid for by taxpayers.
00:12:03.940 There is so much gall.
00:12:06.100 There is so much hubris in this prosecution.
00:12:08.920 And I'm embarrassed that the judge has allowed it to go on this long.
00:12:11.780 And I do want to mention, and I can't remember if I mentioned it before here or if I was talking to someone else, there is a civil suit in this city, a class action against the trucker convoy.
00:12:22.480 People who say their mental happiness was distraught by it.
00:12:26.340 Again, like I say, part of Ottawa's purpose is to allow people to come here and protest.
00:12:31.500 I mean, it's a perpetual thing.
00:12:32.720 I worked on Parliament Hill 25 years ago or more, and I had a view of the lawn outside Centre Block.
00:12:39.100 Like, literally every day there were protests.
00:12:41.760 Sometimes there was two or three protests, one after each other.
00:12:46.120 This city is where you go to protest and petition your government.
00:12:49.980 And yes, that includes having some truckers who leave a lane open for emergency vehicles, who work with police to make it as amenable as possible.
00:12:58.460 The hubris of saying you're not allowed to come to our town, and we're actually going to sue you for $300 million.
00:13:07.180 Again, they haven't sued any other left-wing protests.
00:13:10.820 They haven't sued any Hamas protests in this town that are far more abusive.
00:13:15.400 It's just the trucker freedom protesters that are being sued.
00:13:18.580 But even the ambulance-chasing lawyer for that, his name is Paul Champ, he issued a tweet today saying that the law is plain.
00:13:27.940 Tamara Leach deserves zero time in jail.
00:13:30.760 That's simply the precedent.
00:13:32.300 Now, someone might say he's trying to help Tamara Leach now so he can get punitive damages from her later.
00:13:39.500 But I think the simple meaning of his tweet is the most important one, which is even the people who hate Tamara Leach, and this city is full of them,
00:13:52.240 even they acknowledge that every legal precedent says she goes free.
00:13:57.560 In fact, she's already spent 49 days in jail.
00:14:02.360 And I think there's another thing at play with Paul Champ.
00:14:04.780 He's a left-wing activist, extremist on the left.
00:14:08.040 He knows, as I said, that the vast majority of protests in Canada are on the left.
00:14:14.520 And the vast majority of political violence in this country is on the left.
00:14:19.300 And if suddenly, because of one hard case, the trucker convoy, there's a new precedent of seven years in prison,
00:14:27.160 well, okay, you'll get Tamara Leach.
00:14:29.880 But you've just set a new precedent that's going to go to all of Paul Champ's friends.
00:14:33.560 All the Antifa thugs, all the pro-Hamas thugs, all the Greenpeace thugs, all the labor union thugs,
00:14:40.420 every wicked activist on the left who knows now that the most they'll get is a slap on the wrist.
00:14:46.980 If we set a new precedent with Tamara Leach, even people like Paul Champ know that will come back to haunt the left,
00:14:53.380 because it's the left that are protesting.
00:14:55.940 So it'll be interesting to see what happens here.
00:14:58.180 I actually don't have a lot of confidence in this judge anymore.
00:15:00.860 I was quite certain she would have quit, but she's actually convicted.
00:15:05.040 I think that the conviction will be appealed as well as any sentence above zero.
00:15:10.100 But I'm glad to be here today.
00:15:12.360 I'm glad to see all the citizen journalists who are here as well.
00:15:15.900 And there were quite a few mainstream media journalists in there.
00:15:20.300 Look, this was the number one news story in Canada in 2022.
00:15:24.920 And Tamara Leach was the number one personality in that number one story.
00:15:28.940 And since then, the government has been trying to retroactively criminalize it.
00:15:35.280 They suffered a huge setback when the federal court of Canada ruled that, in fact,
00:15:39.800 it was their Emergencies Act that was illegal, not the trucker convoy.
00:15:44.140 And this prosecution and indeed persecution of Tamara Leach is their attempt to retroactively denormalize the convoy.
00:15:54.560 That's why it's so important that we fight back and win.
00:15:57.700 I'll have more later.
00:16:09.160 Well, I'm mad about this whole thing.
00:16:10.900 Someone who's a little bit cooler under the collar than me is our friend Mark Joseph,
00:16:15.180 senior litigator at the Democracy Fund.
00:16:17.080 As you know, the Democracy Fund is crowdfunding Tamara's legal bills.
00:16:22.300 Mark, what did you think of this morning?
00:16:23.820 Well, I mean, the Crown made their case that this is an unprecedented event.
00:16:30.460 The protests were harmful, harmed the community.
00:16:33.900 And they presented, I think, a number of cases, which they say stands for the proposition that that should result in a severe penalty,
00:16:43.020 custodial penalty of seven or eight years.
00:16:45.280 And then Diane Magus, counsel for Chris Barber, got up and noted, I think properly, that a lot of those cases don't apply.
00:16:54.960 Those cases, in particular the G20 cases, involved a lot of violence, a lot of property damage, assaults, thefts, that really distinguished them.
00:17:05.560 So, I think the Crown is on the back foot a little.
00:17:08.400 They're going to have a difficult time establishing that seven years is an appropriate sentence.
00:17:12.460 You know, when I saw Paul Champ, the class action lawyer who's suing Tamara Leach, Chris Barber and the truckers,
00:17:22.060 even he, who hates Tamara Leach, tweeted that the precedents show she should get zero jail time.
00:17:30.300 Why would any lawyer who has an obligation to be temperate and, I think, lawful,
00:17:39.060 why would they go to such extremes that feel so political to me?
00:17:42.940 I, like, I have, I've covered so many of these cases.
00:17:47.460 Seven years is so far outside the norm.
00:17:50.120 How can a, how can a lawyer be true to their professional ethical obligations and say,
00:17:55.740 oh yeah, throw her in prison for seven years for something that's really akin to a shoplifting charge?
00:18:01.300 Well, I mean, the process of the Crown's reasoning is opaque to us, defense lawyers.
00:18:07.600 So, it's just, it's just speculation.
00:18:09.540 But, remember, you can take any position you like in court to advance your client's cause,
00:18:15.560 as long as it's not completely absurd.
00:18:18.220 You know, so the Crown's position, I mean, our view is that it is, it's not backed up by case law,
00:18:24.260 but they're really not bound by anything really outside that.
00:18:30.500 So, yeah, I mean, they can take whatever position they like.
00:18:34.160 They just have to justify it in court.
00:18:35.680 Well, I think it's deeply embarrassing that that represents the government of Ontario.
00:18:39.000 And that's another thing.
00:18:40.240 This was a provincial prosecution.
00:18:42.620 There are some federal prosecutions.
00:18:44.400 Some of them are for drugs, some for terrorism, I would imagine.
00:18:47.620 This is Doug Ford all the way.
00:18:50.300 Look, I don't know where this is coming from.
00:18:54.240 Again, we don't know what's going on in the Crown's office.
00:18:56.720 But, look, the Crown has to make decisions as to where to spend judicial resources.
00:19:01.020 And they spent 45 days of trial here.
00:19:03.260 Then we've got another two days of sentencing.
00:19:05.420 We've had motions in between.
00:19:06.720 I mean, that's a lot of judicial resources.
00:19:09.160 And I don't have to tell your view as to the state of the affairs in communities across Ontario with respect to crime.
00:19:16.340 That's just incredible.
00:19:17.520 Well, thanks for taking some time to chat with me.
00:19:19.780 I'm mad about this because I just feel like this is a...
00:19:24.100 You know, I used to be a lawyer a long time ago, and I loved being a lawyer.
00:19:27.780 I looked up to the law.
00:19:29.140 I thought, well, it's a flawed system, but it's the best system we have.
00:19:32.560 There's that phrase that I remember learning in law school, bringing the administration of justice into disrepute.
00:19:40.160 And that was something you never wanted to do.
00:19:42.660 You didn't want people to laugh at the law or mock the law or hate the law because the law is what we've got to keep us away from barbarism.
00:19:50.240 And prosecutions like this that are so clearly double standards, I think they bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
00:20:01.640 You don't have to answer to that.
00:20:02.900 It's just what I feel.
00:20:03.680 Well, look, I mean, you want justice to be plied with parity, and you want the sentences to be proportionate.
00:20:10.680 So I think, you know, Justice Perkins Bay is going to look to those principles, and she's an excellent judge.
00:20:16.680 She doesn't miss a trick, and she's going to look to the case law, and that's going to be it, I think.
00:20:21.700 Thanks for talking with me, Mark.
00:20:22.960 Thanks for having me.
00:20:23.800 Cheers.
00:20:24.020 Well, our truck has been driving around Ottawa.
00:20:35.460 We love to have it here at the courthouse because it irritates all the right people.
00:20:39.100 But we've taken it around town, too, including to a neighborhood that I used to live in way back in the day when I worked at Parliament Hill.
00:20:45.240 It's called the Byward Market.
00:20:46.660 It's sort of a cool place, youngish, lots of bars and restaurants.
00:20:51.080 Some civil servants live there, too.
00:20:52.460 How did they react to the truck?
00:20:55.220 Alexa, you just got back, and you were telling me that it was, let me just say, mixed reactions.
00:21:00.800 Real mixed reactions.
00:21:02.660 Some people told me that they perceive the protesters as terrorists.
00:21:08.220 Some of them say white supremacists.
00:21:10.420 Oh, my God.
00:21:11.200 And some of them, I've said that they should have harsher sentences, more than 20 years.
00:21:18.340 Some of them say 20 years or bring back the lifetime penalties, you know, lifetime in jail.
00:21:25.540 And it was like, okay, but it's only a peaceful protest.
00:21:31.320 But lots of people over there still believe that it was dangerous to walk downtown Ottawa during that protest.
00:21:41.660 Can I just ask quickly, what did you think of the Freedom Convoy?
00:21:45.200 I think it was horrendous, right?
00:21:47.460 I mean, these were terrorists causing grief to all of the residents of Ottawa.
00:21:52.440 Frankly, embarrassing Canadians like ourselves.
00:21:55.760 Embarrassing Albertans like ourselves.
00:21:57.700 I wish they never did that.
00:21:59.080 And I really do hope that they get what they deserve in court.
00:22:03.540 I think it was ridiculous.
00:22:04.780 The Crown is asking eight EUs.
00:22:07.140 Do you think it's enough?
00:22:07.840 Anyway, so those are my...
00:22:08.860 I think whatever the Crown asks for, the judicial system should be allowed to run.
00:22:13.700 I think it's absolutely ridiculous when politicians, like Trump is doing in the U.S., right?
00:22:18.740 Firing people in the judicial system.
00:22:22.320 That's unacceptable.
00:22:23.240 So, Polyev and his, some of the, well, Polyev, first of all, not even as an MP right now,
00:22:30.580 making comments that are contrary to what the judicial system is trying to do, completely inappropriate.
00:22:37.560 We don't need politicians.
00:22:38.780 They shouldn't be above the law.
00:22:40.160 They shouldn't have any jurisdiction over the law.
00:22:44.180 And you have to let the Crown prosecutors do their job.
00:22:47.900 They're the experts in this.
00:22:48.860 But like I said, terrorists deserve to go to jail, and I hope they do get a substantial sentence.
00:22:55.760 We'll see what the judge gives.
00:22:57.740 Well, that shows you the power of propaganda.
00:23:00.440 You and I were both here in this city, and it felt so safe because there were so many...
00:23:05.660 You know, it felt like data.
00:23:06.960 I would not want to walk around Ottawa at night today.
00:23:10.560 I just wouldn't.
00:23:11.320 It would be too dangerous.
00:23:12.600 But to walk around during the convoy felt extremely safe because everyone was everywhere.
00:23:18.860 And I know that crime fell in the downtown.
00:23:22.820 So I think that's the power of propaganda.
00:23:25.220 People who were lied to or their friends made up stories or gossip.
00:23:29.440 I think that's what's going on there.
00:23:30.800 Let's throw to some of your clips.
00:23:32.300 I know you're going to take some time to edit them a bit, but you've already put some clips up.
00:23:36.160 Let's take a quick look.
00:23:37.080 Let me ask you quickly, like, what did you think about the Freedom Convoy 2022?
00:23:42.460 The Freedom Convoy?
00:23:43.940 Yeah, what did you think of it?
00:23:44.880 It's kind of late in the day to be asking.
00:23:46.420 I know, I know.
00:23:47.320 It was a problem.
00:23:48.800 Yeah.
00:23:49.240 I live around here.
00:23:50.560 It was a problem.
00:23:51.200 I had a lot of threats from people yelling at me for wearing a mask, people coming over
00:23:57.560 in front of my house, ringing bells, yelling, freedom, freedom, freedom, interfering with
00:24:03.340 conversations with neighbours, because I live across from where they were staying.
00:24:09.400 So it was intrusive and it was unnecessary.
00:24:14.160 I don't think they accomplished anything.
00:24:16.640 I think they were more of a laughing stock at the end.
00:24:20.420 I think they've shown themselves for what they are.
00:24:23.820 Also, I think the people who are the leaders were not just leaders of that group.
00:24:28.400 I think initially they were anti-immigration.
00:24:32.240 They were gun lobbyists.
00:24:34.320 They belonged to a different group than the one they portrayed themselves as being part
00:24:43.620 of here.
00:24:44.760 And they hid behind the Freedom Convoy, I think, in order to pass on their views about, well,
00:24:55.360 they're racists.
00:24:56.280 You know, and nobody brought that up as much, but there was a lot of racism going on up there
00:25:05.160 near Parliament.
00:25:07.540 And people of colour were being harassed and called names.
00:25:15.020 And this had nothing to do with freedom, as they call it.
00:25:18.640 And I think it's just that group was kind of like white supremacists.
00:25:28.680 Well, Alexa, thanks for making the journey here.
00:25:31.560 I feel that Rebel News has supported Tamara Leach as one of our biggest causes, whether
00:25:36.880 it was crowdfunding with the Democracy Fund for her legal defence or publishing her book
00:25:41.300 or helping her with her expenses.
00:25:43.420 And it's one of the things I'm proudest about.
00:25:45.160 And I remember when we met you during the lockdowns, that's when you joined Rebel News
00:25:49.580 and you've gone on to great things.
00:25:51.100 So thank you for being part of the effort.
00:25:53.220 I think it's important.
00:25:54.600 I think we are doing a great job at Rebel.
00:25:56.780 Well, I'm glad we're here and we're going to follow this to the end.
00:26:00.080 We have already told Tamara that we will crowdfund any legal appeals she needs.
00:26:05.480 It's the least we can do.
00:26:07.260 For Rebel News, I'm Ezra Levant, outside the Ottawa Courthouse.
00:26:15.160 Well, we've heard that the trial will continue after lunch and probably tomorrow morning,
00:26:24.720 but it will not go on to Friday as we originally feared.
00:26:28.260 I'm talking about the sentencing hearing.
00:26:29.780 So we will not have a result today or even tomorrow.
00:26:33.960 What will likely happen is this judge will take some days or even weeks to review the submissions.
00:26:39.400 And she'll probably convene the lawyers back in the courthouse to finally announce the result of this sentencing hearing.
00:26:48.020 Just insane demands on the part of the government, discrediting demands, I think.
00:26:52.400 We'll keep you posted how it goes.
00:26:54.180 I'm going to be back tomorrow live tweeting the proceedings.
00:26:58.220 Our truck is going to continue circulating.
00:27:00.320 Alexa is going to go attend with the truck to see what people have to say.
00:27:03.440 And as I mentioned a moment ago, we have pledged to continue supporting Tamara to the very end.
00:27:09.760 And hopefully the very end will result in an appeal that overturns her conviction.
00:27:16.860 And if there's even a day of sentencing that overturns that too.
00:27:20.840 That's our show for today.
00:27:22.200 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us at Rebel, around the world, to you at home,
00:27:26.660 good night and keep fighting for freedom.
00:27:28.780 Hi, everybody.
00:27:36.060 I was just talking to Tamara Leach.
00:27:37.620 As you know, tomorrow, she's back in court in Ottawa facing sentencing for her role in the trucker convoys.
00:27:43.940 You know, Rebel News has supported her all the way.
00:27:46.160 We published her book.
00:27:47.340 We've helped crowdfund.
00:27:48.440 I talked to her about her security.
00:27:50.480 Remember, she's been paying her security herself.
00:27:53.340 We've covered the bill so far.
00:27:54.800 And I said, Tamara, do you have security?
00:27:57.300 Because there are so many crazies outside that Ottawa courthouse.
00:28:01.440 She has needed it before.
00:28:02.820 She said she was having some trouble finding security.
00:28:05.680 Rebel News, as you know, has connections with security because we always need it for our reporters.
00:28:10.400 So we've lined up security for her.
00:28:12.860 And I've also offered to pay her travel costs.
00:28:15.420 Remember, she's coming back and forth from Alberta at her own expense, hotel, gas, etc.
00:28:22.320 I said, there's no way you should bear that burden.
00:28:24.900 Let me try to crowdfund that.
00:28:27.280 We'll take care of the security.
00:28:28.720 We'll take care of your hotel and your travel.
00:28:31.000 If you want to help me protect Tamara Leach as she comes and goes in Ottawa.
00:28:35.460 And I know that sounds sort of extreme.
00:28:37.960 But the kooks who are around the courthouse there are actually one of them was just convicted, Deanna Sharif.
00:28:44.460 Help me protect Tamara.
00:28:46.560 Go to protecttamara.com.
00:28:49.100 We have already arranged her security.
00:28:51.420 So she'll be good.
00:28:52.260 I just need your help to pay the bill.
00:28:53.800 Go to protecttamara.com.