Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ Pastor Artur's fight against government overreach continues

00:00:00.000 Shame on you, you censorious bug!

00:00:14.600 Hi there, it's Ezra Levant. We're doing the Ezra Levant Show on location today.

00:00:19.720 I'm in beautiful Lethbridge, Alberta. A glorious spring day.

00:00:23.280 Makes me nostalgic for growing up in southern Alberta.

00:00:25.640 Behind me is the courthouse in Lethbridge.

00:00:30.000 I'm standing a few blocks, about a half a block away from the main entrance

00:00:34.040 because there's a festive gathering as there always is

00:00:37.980 when Arthur Pavlovsky or the truckers are in trial in this courthouse.

00:00:42.980 So we just moved a little bit away from that because it's quite noisy.

00:00:46.860 They have loudspeakers, they have prayers, they have singing,

00:00:49.820 and they have dozens of protesters there in support of today, Arthur Pavlovsky.

00:00:55.740 As you know, Arthur Pavlovsky is a Christian pastor

00:00:58.020 who has been in trouble with the law actually for decades.

00:01:02.460 You might think he's a career criminal, but he's never been charged or convicted.

00:01:06.400 Actually, he's never been convicted of a crime in his life.

00:01:08.400 He has been charged with a crime, and that's what we're here to hear the results on today.

00:01:12.460 Arthur Pavlovsky is a thorn in the side of the establishment.

00:01:16.460 For years, he was prosecuted, and I'd say persecuted, by busybodies from City Hall

00:01:22.840 who hated the fact that he would minister to the poor on the streets of the city.

00:01:27.680 He would feed them, give them hot meals, and preach to them.

00:01:31.300 I'm not sure what the city elders hated more.

00:01:34.240 They took him to court nearly 100 times for that.

00:01:38.060 So it's no surprise that Arthur Pavlovsky was one of the first people

00:01:42.420 that butted against the system when the lockdowns came in.

00:01:45.980 You'll remember this footage of when Pastor Arthur was feeding the homeless.

00:01:50.260 I think this is March of 2020, very early days during the pandemic.

00:01:56.500 Look at this, and look at that abusive cop.

00:01:58.920 We are providing necessities of life to those that you and your bosses refuse to provide.

00:02:06.980 Do you guys do the respect for the social media?

00:02:09.080 Who's allowed to do?

00:02:09.840 Stand back from me a little bit.

00:02:11.220 Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

00:02:12.400 I need eight feet.

00:02:13.260 Stand back, okay?

00:02:14.580 Or what? 0.99

00:02:15.000 You're going to f***ing threaten me and f***ing abuse me? 0.99

00:02:17.620 Hey, guys. 0.99

00:02:18.880 Do not do that.

00:02:19.820 Tell him not to touch me.

00:02:21.460 Six feet away for everybody.

00:02:23.500 That's for everybody.

00:02:24.880 Well, that's when I reached out to him and said,

00:02:26.600 look, we've got to defend you.

00:02:28.020 Let us crowdfund a legal team for you. 0.71

00:02:30.000 And our Fight the Fines campaign was born.

00:02:32.700 He was client number one.

00:02:34.260 We've gone on, of course, to create the Democracy Fund,

00:02:37.620 an arm's-length charity to handle civil liberties litigation for over 2,500 people.

00:02:46.520 Pastor Arthur was client number one, and he's been the most busy client.

00:02:50.300 I think today's court hearing marks probably the 20th time during the pandemic alone

00:02:55.280 that Pastor Arthur has been on trial.

00:02:58.120 There's always a group of people outside supporting him from Calgary and from the local community.

00:03:04.340 As you may know, I was here a couple months ago for the two-day trial of the criminal charges

00:03:11.600 and a charge under the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act.

00:03:15.440 The criminal charges and the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act charges emanate from the same activity.

00:03:22.240 Pastor Arthur came down during the trucker convoy to give, I think it was a 17-minute sermon

00:03:29.440 to the truckers when they were holed up in a saloon one night.

00:03:34.080 That's what Pastor Arthur does.

00:03:35.720 He gives inspirational and religious speeches.

00:03:39.260 In that case, he talked a lot about the Solidarity Movement back in his home country of Poland

00:03:44.600 and how they believed in peaceful civil disobedience.

00:03:47.540 I'm going to show you a few minutes of that sermon taken from Arthur Pawlowski's own Facebook page.

00:03:56.180 Now, I hope I'm not committing a crime by doing it.

00:03:58.680 Here, take a look at what this two-day trial was about.

00:04:01.380 Polish people did it. 0.72

00:04:03.280 This is how they did it.

00:04:05.500 When they understood how powerful they are in that shipyard,

00:04:09.560 when Lech Walesa and others understood,

00:04:13.160 now they want to listen to us because we have blocked the entire thing.

00:04:17.640 They started to say, not just those demands, we want them all.

00:04:23.980 Here is what I want to tell you how this could work.

00:04:28.780 Send a message to the government officials with your ultimatum.

00:04:34.460 You see, for the past two weeks, they have been giving you ultimatums.

00:04:38.600 They were puffing their chest, coming with their guns and telling you, 0.99

00:04:41.680 you're all criminals, terrorists, racists, xenophobes and homophobes and whatever they could take. 0.99

00:04:48.580 They were coming here and they were telling you what to do. 1.00

00:04:51.340 Now, you tell them what to do.

00:04:53.840 You go to them and you say this.

00:04:55.960 Mr. Kenney, we're giving you 48 hours until Saturday noon

00:05:01.940 to get rid of every restriction in our beloved province

00:05:07.420 because we are free Canadians.

00:05:11.340 If you don't do that,

00:05:14.060 if you don't do that,

00:05:16.740 you be very careful

00:05:18.040 because you have never seen an angry Albertan yet.

00:05:22.380 And I'm, again, not talking about violence.

00:05:26.120 I'm not talking about swords and guns and all that stuff.

00:05:29.220 You've got the most powerful wings ever.

00:05:32.660 Who can move 1,000 trucks?

00:05:35.220 Who can move 10,000 truckers?

00:05:38.960 We can.

00:05:39.640 With 100,000 supporters.

00:05:42.500 I am calling right now every Albertan

00:05:45.480 not to go to Edmonton, but to come here.

00:05:49.920 Thank you.

00:05:50.780 Come here.

00:05:51.520 That's an excerpt.

00:05:57.000 And you can see it's classic Arthur Pavlovsky.

00:06:00.080 He's got some drama.

00:06:01.320 He has references to Nazism and communism,

00:06:04.200 the two extreme and totalitarian regimes

00:06:06.340 that dominated Poland for much of the 20th century.

00:06:09.220 And he was talking about taking inspiration

00:06:11.380 from Solidarnosc or Solidarity,

00:06:14.200 the political trade union led by Lech Walesa

00:06:17.280 that helped bring down the Berlin Wall, frankly.

00:06:19.380 That full 17 or 18-minute video was the only evidence in front of the court for two days.

00:06:28.940 There were no witnesses.

00:06:30.380 Arthur Pavlovsky didn't choose to take the stand.

00:06:32.860 For two days, prosecutors and defense lawyers,

00:06:36.400 and I'm trying to recall, I think there was about seven lawyers all told,

00:06:39.540 who haggled over the meaning of individual words and phrases in a Christian pastor's peaceful sermon.

00:06:46.280 It was actually absurd.

00:06:48.080 It will be extremely absurd if he's convicted today.

00:06:51.640 It was absurd that we had this trial at all.

00:06:54.060 There I was in the court of King's Bench, as it's now called.

00:06:59.120 And all these clerks and all these police and all these prosecutors and all these lawyers

00:07:04.560 and the jam-packed gallery were there

00:07:07.500 because the government thinks Arthur gave an illegal sermon.

00:07:12.000 Just stop and turn those words over in your mind.

00:07:15.160 It's not a phrase we associate with Canada, let alone the freest province in Canada, Alberta,

00:07:19.600 whose motto is literally strong and free.

00:07:22.940 So today is the day when the judge will release the verdict, and he could do anything.

00:07:27.000 He could convict on all the charges.

00:07:28.920 He could convict on some but not others.

00:07:30.820 Or he could acquit all across the board.

00:07:33.600 These aren't tickets.

00:07:34.960 The criminal code offenses are actually crimes.

00:07:38.020 And the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act is a quasi-crime.

00:07:41.980 It's never been used before.

00:07:43.380 That's a law that Jason Kenney's administration brought in

00:07:46.500 specifically to defend against eco-terrorism and Greenpeace stunts

00:07:50.780 where they would disrupt critical infrastructure like a pipeline or like an oil sands.

00:07:56.040 People who would literally go and sabotage millions of dollars worth of equipment

00:08:01.060 and cause tens of millions of dollars worth of damage.

00:08:03.780 That's the law.

00:08:05.100 It's never been used before.

00:08:06.640 Never been used on Greenpeace.

00:08:08.040 Never been used on any extremists like that.

00:08:10.320 But the government of Alberta is using it against a Christian pastor

00:08:14.900 who himself never blocked a road and never actually mentioned the word blockade

00:08:21.060 in his whole sermon.

00:08:22.840 Watch it for yourself.

00:08:24.040 1989, Poland had the first free and democratic election

00:08:27.700 after the second war.

00:08:33.580 We don't have elections anymore, friends.

00:08:36.360 Don't kid yourself.

00:08:37.620 You think we've elected our officials?

00:08:39.820 They were appointed.

00:08:41.360 We have no say in democracy anymore.

00:08:44.540 We've lost democracy.

00:08:46.340 Canada is not a democratic nation anymore.

00:08:49.440 And if those two years didn't show you that, then you must be blind.

00:08:56.400 We need our country back.

00:08:58.380 How are you going to get your country back?

00:09:00.320 If you're not going to stand up, stand up.

00:09:03.300 And thousands are coming to help you.

00:09:06.100 Be blessed.

00:09:07.520 I think it's stunning that that trial happened.

00:09:19.680 Now, the judge was acutely aware that this has the attention of the broader community.

00:09:24.600 But, you know, judges, I mean, they'll do what they want to do.

00:09:27.820 They are often politically immune.

00:09:30.480 And we want a degree of judicial independence, of course.

00:09:33.280 We don't want mob justice.

00:09:34.920 But I really think that it is not in the public interest to have proceeded against Arthur Pawlowski.

00:09:41.260 We'll see if the judge agrees or disagrees.

00:09:43.320 So I'm here early.

00:09:45.320 We're going to sit in the courthouse at 1.30 Mountain Time.

00:09:50.920 I talked to Arthur's lawyers, Sarah Miller and Chad Haggerty, on the way down here today.

00:09:56.000 They're coming here today, too.

00:09:58.020 The ruling will be read out, probably word for word from the judge.

00:10:03.700 Arthur's lawyers don't expect it to go that long.

00:10:07.200 I can't imagine the whole hearing will be more than an hour.

00:10:10.080 It's not a hearing, actually.

00:10:11.020 It's just the issuing of the judgment.

00:10:13.360 I imagine we will be out of there in half an hour.

00:10:16.900 And I'm frankly a little bit nervous because the judge was asking questions during the trial that indicated he may have been considering acquitting on the criminal charges but convicting under the Eco-Terrorism Act.

00:10:27.480 That will be a disgrace if it happens.

00:10:29.400 By the way, if that happens, the next step will be for Arthur's lawyers to challenge the constitutionality of that Critical Infrastructure Defense Act.

00:10:41.940 There was a big discussion during the trial.

00:10:43.980 Should the challenges to its constitutionality happen first or should he be convicted first and then they challenge the constitutionality?

00:10:52.460 The judge basically saying, we don't need to inspect the constitutionality of this law if Arthur is not convicted on it.

00:11:02.020 That seems to be common ground amongst everyone in the court, both the prosecutor and the defense.

00:11:06.400 So today is sort of step one in the verdict.

00:11:09.040 If Arthur is acquitted on everything, we're done.

00:11:11.580 If he's convicted on the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act, then Arthur's lawyers will challenge the constitutionality of that and he may win on those grounds.

00:11:22.640 So it's an extremely long, drawn-out process and that's sort of the point, isn't it?

00:11:27.820 The process is the punishment.

00:11:30.220 The prosecutors here, I've seen him in court before, he's obsessed.

00:11:33.940 He despises the truckers.

00:11:35.320 He's a lockdown tyrant and he has been tasked by the government of Alberta to hunt down anyone who embarrassed the regime.

00:11:44.380 What's so insane is that these charges came about under Jason Kenney's regime.

00:11:50.400 He's been thrown out by voters.

00:11:52.680 Danielle Smith, the new premier, the new leader of the United Conservative Party, expressly campaigned on throwing out these abusive and harassing charges.

00:12:01.460 But the media party has insisted that they proceed.

00:12:04.880 We'll see what happens today if there's a conviction.

00:12:08.240 That's it for me for now.

00:12:09.400 I'm going to go inside the court now.

00:12:11.480 I'm going to live tweet the hearings.

00:12:13.620 And the next you'll see of me is when we hear the result.

00:12:16.680 I keep calling it a hearing.

00:12:17.440 It's not a hearing.

00:12:18.220 It is the issuing of the judgment.

00:12:20.420 The judge will read it out afterwards.

00:12:22.360 I will talk to Arthur and I'll talk to his lawyers.

00:12:24.840 So as of right now, I do not know how this story is going to end.

00:12:28.340 I'll come back in a moment.

00:12:29.200 One day the history and God himself will judge those evil people.

00:12:40.840 Today, this is my final trial, the verdict for, according to them, a horrible crime of standing with the people, standing with the trackers and farmers.

00:12:59.640 And I want the whole world to know, again, this time with the trackers and farmers was absolutely incredible.

00:13:11.060 Not only I do not regret that I was part of the track convoy, I cherish it.

00:13:19.920 It's dear to my heart.

00:13:23.620 It is what I saw during that time.

00:13:27.060 I saw solidarity like I have never seen before in this country of ours.

00:13:33.700 Solidarity with different colors and different backgrounds, different trees.

00:13:40.800 It brought families together.

00:13:43.280 I saw people loving each other, feeding each other, praying with each other, singing, loving.

00:13:51.340 That's what Canada was always all about.

00:13:55.260 Freedom.

00:13:56.200 I did not emigrate here for money.

00:13:58.400 I emigrated here for freedom.

00:14:00.240 Freedom, and that very freedom is under attack from the very people that swore to protect our rights and freedoms.

00:14:09.180 For that, I say shame on you.

00:14:14.380 Mayors, MLAs, Members of Parliament, Premiers, and Prime Ministers, shame on you all.

00:14:25.380 One day, I hope soon, people will realize that we've lost representation.

00:14:35.080 That we need you people.

00:14:38.140 Not career politicians that care about you only before election, but politicians, a man, neighbor, just like you and me.

00:14:47.420 The people of the people, elected by the people.

00:14:51.900 Well, it is now 2.45 Mountain Time.

00:14:54.680 I just got out of the courthouse where for over an hour, the judge went through line by line his verdict.

00:15:01.500 And the news is guilty on all three charges.

00:15:04.920 The first was inciting mischief.

00:15:07.280 The judge took us through the portions of the speech where he said Arthur Pawlowski did, in fact, incite men to commit mischief, namely blocking the highway and committing that crime.

00:15:19.960 The second matter was the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act, an eco-terrorism law brought in by the Kennedy administration, designed to stop Greenpeace protesters from blocking pipelines or highways.

00:15:33.720 The law's never been used before, but it was used today, and in its first use, the judge again convicted Arthur Pawlowski under the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act.

00:15:44.880 The third part was breach of a court order.

00:15:48.900 Arthur Pawlowski was out on bail, and one of the conditions on him that he be of good behavior and keep the peace.

00:15:55.980 And the judge said, well, if you're convicted of a crime and convicted of breaking this serious infrastructure law, by definition, you've broken the order to keep the peace and be of good behavior.

00:16:07.020 So the prosecution running the boards, winning three out of three matters.

00:16:12.280 Now, I should say there was an interesting wrinkle.

00:16:15.900 There's a principle that you can't be charged with multiple offenses for the same act.

00:16:20.820 And so there was a discussion during the court hearing a few months ago of if the government loses on one, can they have another or drop one?

00:16:32.100 Because there's a redundancy.

00:16:34.160 And the fact that the judge convicted on all three, well, and just stay with me here for a second,

00:16:39.540 Arthur's lawyers had indicated that they want to do a constitutional challenge of the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act.

00:16:46.060 That's an anti-eco-terrorism law.

00:16:47.680 So the judge convicted Arthur on all three.

00:16:51.740 The prosecution won all three.

00:16:53.280 But now the prosecution jumped up and said, no, no, no, no, no, no.

00:16:56.100 We would like to stay the prosecution of the eco-terrorism law.

00:17:00.240 Please, please, please don't subject it to a constitutional challenge.

00:17:04.620 I want to stay that prosecution.

00:17:06.520 At which point Arthur's lawyer, Chad Haggerty, said, well, it's a bit late to do that, mate.

00:17:11.720 You prosecuted the case.

00:17:13.640 Once you won, you were convicted, and now you're worried that you'll lose on appeal.

00:17:18.380 Now you're worried that the entire law might be thrown out as unconstitutional.

00:17:22.380 It's a very strange wrinkle.

00:17:24.260 And I got the feeling that the prosecutor felt like he was in deep trouble.

00:17:28.140 He was merely supposed to convict this turbulent priest to shut him up, to get rid of that pesky Arthur Pawlowski.

00:17:35.000 But what he may have done is, in fact, cause one of the pride and joy laws of this province to eventually be thrown out.

00:17:44.600 We'll see how that goes.

00:17:46.160 But I could see that the prosecutor had a pyrrhic victory there in that he got Arthur, but he may have also lost the law.

00:17:53.260 Here's one more thing.

00:17:54.920 Arthur was convicted of two criminal offenses, like I say, putting aside the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act.

00:18:00.620 He was convicted of inciting mischief and convicting of breaking a court order.

00:18:04.480 Now, sometimes those offenses come with jail time.

00:18:08.420 But since Arthur has already served 52 days in solitary confinement before any substantive trial was held,

00:18:17.820 that amount of time pre-trial would more than set off any sentence he would receive.

00:18:24.100 In fact, often accused criminals get multiple credits.

00:18:28.240 So if you serve a week in jail, that's like two weeks after trial.

00:18:32.780 So Arthur already serving 52 days in prison before trial, there's no way that he will be sentenced to any jail time.

00:18:39.980 He may be fined.

00:18:41.700 But again, that could be set off against the 52 days jail he's already served.

00:18:45.200 But I say again, all the sentencing is put on hold until this constitutional question about the eco-terrorism law is treated.

00:18:53.220 So in a way, there's no clarity here.

00:18:55.960 There would have been clarity if Arthur had won on all cases.

00:18:59.640 And I actually thought that that was a real possibility.

00:19:02.080 Because to me, the idea that a Christian sermon could be parsed over days by judges and found to be a crime,

00:19:09.500 I thought that was too absurd even for 2023 woke Canada.

00:19:13.800 But alas, it was not.

00:19:14.740 Let me say what the judge said.

00:19:24.540 He said that Arthur encouraged the truckers to stay there, not to leave, not to go somewhere else.

00:19:31.440 And though they were already obstructing the highway before he got there, he encouraged them to continue to do so.

00:19:37.400 And he specifically said, don't go up to Edmonton, stay here, hold the line.

00:19:42.240 And he referred to Arthur's reference of the Polish Solidarity Movement, which was a kind of a general strike.

00:19:47.520 So the judge said that what Arthur said was actually incitement to commit a crime.

00:19:53.960 That's what the judge said.

00:19:54.740 Now, I've got to think that all these matters are legally appealable.

00:20:00.560 The gravamen, the center of what Arthur did, is political and religious commentary.

00:20:05.460 And to call that a crime, I think, is such a stretch, especially under the criminal law standard of beyond a reasonable doubt.

00:20:14.380 I think it's a very dark day for freedom of expression.

00:20:17.160 It's not over yet.

00:20:18.660 And we'll see what happens next.

00:20:20.660 Remember, Arthur was convicted of an offense, I think it's two years ago now.

00:20:26.240 And a judge, if you remember, in that case, actually ordered Arthur to read a little card.

00:20:31.080 Every time Arthur gave a sermon, every time Arthur did a video, did a media interview,

00:20:34.560 Arthur was ordered to renounce his beliefs and read some prescribed statement about how vaccines were good and lockdowns were good.

00:20:43.060 You might recall that shocking setback.

00:20:45.760 That was later overturned 3-0 by the Court of Appeal.

00:20:50.260 So just because Arthur lost today doesn't necessarily mean it won't be overturned on appeal.

00:20:55.920 Now, this judge was very careful in his reasoning.

00:20:58.700 And judges like to defer.

00:21:00.260 Appeal court judges like to defer to lower court judges.

00:21:03.180 So I don't know if it'll be as easy to overturn as that egregious case I mentioned before,

00:21:07.880 where Justice Adam Germain had this bizarre little handwritten note that Arthur had to read.

00:21:14.680 So in closing, Arthur Pawlowski was convicted on all three offenses.

00:21:21.460 The inciting mischief, the breach of a court order, and violating the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act.

00:21:27.300 That Critical Infrastructure Defense Act is being held in limbo while its constitutionality is being challenged.

00:21:33.520 The provinces is afraid of that.

00:21:35.160 This, in a nutshell, is not going away.

00:21:38.420 This will be many, many more months before even the matters today are resolved,

00:21:42.640 because the judge will not issue a sentence until this constitutional challenge is over.

00:21:46.620 This could drag on, literally for years.

00:21:52.300 And in fact, it would surprise me if it didn't.

00:21:54.860 Arthur Pawlowski has been in and out of courts for more than a decade.

00:21:59.200 We only started to defend him during the lockdowns,

00:22:01.960 but he had been in court more than a hundred times before that

00:22:05.680 for serving food to the homeless on the streets of Calgary without a restaurant permit and things like that.

00:22:11.500 So another frustrating day in what I will increasingly call, not the justice system, but the legal system,

00:22:19.780 the fact that so many government resources were going to crack down on a man's speech.

00:22:25.320 Let's call it what it was.

00:22:26.400 It was a spicy speech.

00:22:27.740 It was a fiery speech, as many pastors and clergymen are.

00:22:31.820 But to criminalize that, I think, is a new low for freedom in Canada.

00:22:35.440 And it'll be interesting to see how the media party covers it.

00:22:37.860 Looking around, you can see there are dozens of people who are here,

00:22:42.520 every one of them in Arthur Pawlowski supporters, some from Lethbridge,

00:22:47.060 some came in from other cities, including Calgary.

00:22:50.220 I met someone here from Red Deer.

00:22:51.840 So I think this has the attention of Canadians who are worried about freedom.

00:22:56.760 When I left the courtroom some 10 minutes ago, Arthur was huddled with his lawyers.

00:23:02.700 Today there was Sarah Miller and Chad Haggerty.

00:23:05.360 They were obviously planning next steps and what to do.

00:23:07.860 It's got to be stunning for Arthur to hear what happened.

00:23:11.000 I think he was hoping that he would be acquitted.

00:23:13.020 I thought there was a real chance of that.

00:23:15.260 I'm going to try and buttonhole them on their way out.

00:23:17.760 Obviously, I don't want to interfere with their conference.

00:23:20.720 So I'll come back to you one more time if I'm able to buttonhole Arthur or his lawyers.

00:23:25.960 Freedom!

00:23:30.820 Freedom!

00:23:31.540 Freedom!

00:23:32.740 Freedom!

00:23:35.280 Freedom!

00:23:35.780 Freedom!

00:23:38.780 Freedom!

00:23:38.900 Freedom!

00:23:41.280 Freedom!

00:23:41.720 Freedom!

00:23:42.000 Freedom!

00:23:43.800 Freedom!

00:23:44.800 Freedom!

00:23:45.260 Freedom!

00:23:45.600 Freedom!

00:23:46.300 Freedom!

00:23:47.140 Freedom!

00:23:48.260 Freedom!

00:23:49.100 Freedom!

00:23:50.340 Freedom!

00:23:50.520 Freedom!

00:23:51.300 Freedom!

00:23:51.940 Freedom!

00:23:52.800 Freedom!

00:23:53.580 Freedom.

00:23:58.720 Freedom, freedom, freedom.

00:24:13.460 It's okay.

00:24:17.760 What said she started? 0.98

00:24:21.380 You're not going to teach the chief anyway, you're not going to teach the chief anyway, you're not going to teach the truth, you're just a bum boy. 1.00

00:24:27.380 He's going to come around here. 0.73

00:24:29.040 Well, thank you so much.

00:24:33.020 What a joy to have such a French like you are.

00:24:36.300 No, no, it's okay.

00:24:36.980 Guys, can we get this message out, please?

00:24:39.260 Let's, let's, I mean, the mainstream media was supposed to be the last bastion of freedom, so at least let's allow them to record it.

00:24:51.380 Well, I am a very privileged man.

00:24:54.400 I want to let you know that, that I can be found worthy to stand up and fight for all the Canadians and for the Canadians, for the rights, the rights and freedoms.

00:25:04.980 Again, I'm not ashamed of what I did.

00:25:07.440 If I had a chance to do it again, I'll do it again, gladly.

00:25:11.840 I stood with the truckers, I stood with the farmers, I stood with Canadians.

00:25:21.700 I am a Canadian, I'm a proud Canadian.

00:25:23.800 I love this country and I came to this country for freedom and that freedom right now has been stolen from us.

00:25:31.960 So I'm not worried, actually.

00:25:33.640 I know that sooner or later justice shall prevail.

00:25:37.340 I have been in a court of appeals multiple times.

00:25:41.200 I do just that.

00:25:42.820 I keep fighting.

00:25:43.580 I guess in an interesting way, we are in a fight no matter what.

00:25:52.620 I was hoping that this ordeal will be over and we can just move on.

00:25:57.160 I mean, there is no pandemic, there is no restrictions, there are no longer mandates.

00:26:04.860 Why can't we just move on with our lives?

00:26:07.820 But obviously this corrupted government doesn't want to move on.

00:26:12.000 They have intention of stealing, robbing, pillaging.

00:26:16.860 And that's why I am starting a political party.

00:26:20.800 Because we, so what you think is the end, I just want to tell you, this is just the beginning.

00:26:31.160 It's the beginning of a political party that will actually work for the people.

00:26:35.920 It will be run by the people, not by globalists, not by corrupted politicians.

00:26:41.800 And I'm glad that God is allowing me to forward this to Albertans in this election that we have right now.

00:26:51.600 Solidarity movement of Alberta is going to be officially in the books in just a few days.

00:26:58.820 We have about 40 candidates already.

00:27:01.740 I have intention, of course, to run in Calgary.

00:27:05.680 Elbow, remember that.

00:27:07.380 When you see me door knocking, we're not stopping, we're moving forward.

00:27:11.440 And thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to expose the level of corruption that our beloved Alberta has reached.

00:27:19.600 I mean, you thought, and I thought, and so many other people thought that we have reached a very low, but it looks like they're still digging.

00:27:28.140 They're still digging.

00:27:29.780 And we shall be exposing them every single day.

00:27:35.000 I just have a word here from Proverbs 29.7.

00:27:40.000 And here is what it says.

00:27:41.680 The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.

00:27:49.680 This is exactly what we're fighting against.

00:27:52.660 We're fighting globalist people that have no concern for the little men.

00:27:57.560 I, on the other hand, I promise you this.

00:28:00.780 When elected, and one day I will be elected, I will work for the people.

00:28:05.100 I'll defend Canadian rights and freedoms.

00:28:07.860 I'll bring a real constitution to my beloved Canada and to this province that I adore.

00:28:13.980 And I'm going to do it not just for me, but for my children and for your children.

00:28:17.800 And if you want a man that stood for your rights for the past 24 years, I'm your man. 0.97

00:28:24.340 If you want flip-flopping political pancakes half-baked like Daniel Smith or a corrupted pathological liar, an evildoer, I call her the witch of the West, Rachel Notley. 0.97

00:28:36.460 Well, you can pick your NDP. 0.98

00:28:38.880 You can have your communism and socialism if you want.

00:28:41.720 You can have corrupted politicians if you want with so-called conservatives.

00:28:45.220 Or you can have real Albertans that actually want to represent you.

00:28:50.780 Not the party line, not the party callers, not the name, but the people that actually elect us.

00:28:57.260 And that's how it's supposed to be from the very beginning.

00:29:00.020 So I thank you so much for coming.

00:29:01.720 Unless you have some questions, I just want to summarize what happened in the court today is the fight is still on.

00:29:10.880 The fight is still on.

00:29:12.220 So can you explain just briefly, like, guilty on all three charges, why do you think that happened if you don't agree with that?

00:29:21.180 Well, of course it happened because they're making an example out of me.

00:29:24.440 You know that, I know that, four and a half million Albertans know that.

00:29:28.640 They're making an example out of a man, a Polish immigrant that grew up behind the Iron Curtain under the boots of the Soviets.

00:29:35.440 I've seen this movie before, and unless we change the script, we're going to see the same outcome of this movie.

00:29:41.580 And I'm telling you, as a survivor of communism and socialism, it does not end well.

00:29:47.700 So they don't like what I say.

00:29:49.420 They don't like where, you know, I'm coming from, what the expertise I'm bringing or the knowledge, if you will, growing up in totalitarian regime.

00:29:58.780 So that's why.

00:29:59.780 You mentioned Danielle Smith a couple of times there.

00:30:02.120 Did she break a promise to you today?

00:30:04.620 Oh, if you're not getting a...

00:30:06.620 You see, she did not only broke the promise to me.

00:30:11.740 She didn't follow with her promises to all Albertans because before she was elected, she was very precise and very clear.

00:30:21.580 She said that when elected, when you choose me over another man, I'm going to bring the amnesty and she could do it legally with the amnesty bill.

00:30:30.740 This whole thing would be over and we could move on with our lives.

00:30:34.440 Obviously, those people have no interest in moving on.

00:30:38.020 And again, I said that in the morning that the same people that are doing this to us, so the corrupted Justin Minister Tyler Chandra that was caught red-handed breaking the same rules and regulations and mandates that I was arrested for.

00:30:51.580 We're talking about Casey Maddu that came publicly and said this had never anything to do with science or keeping Albertans safe.

00:30:59.100 Safe was all about power control.

00:31:01.700 It was politically motivated.

00:31:03.300 We're talking about copying.

00:31:04.520 Were you promised anything specifically?

00:31:06.380 Again, I will not talk about my conversation with Danielle Smith.

00:31:09.700 I told you a week from now, I'm going to tell you the whole story, the full story of what really happened.

00:31:15.440 Now, it's not about my conversation with the premier or her promises.

00:31:19.580 This is about a great injustice that is being done, not just to me, but to thousands upon thousands of Albertans.

00:31:27.140 Because you've got to remember, this is not about me.

00:31:29.600 I don't represent me, Arthur Polosky.

00:31:32.140 I represent hundreds of thousands of people that were subjected to a tyranny that this country has never seen before.

00:31:40.060 They broke the law.

00:31:41.480 They broke the Constitution.

00:31:42.660 They broke the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

00:31:44.180 The Criminal Code of Canada, when the Gestapo entered my church against the Section 176, 1, 2, and 3.

00:31:51.100 All of the law that we thought we had has been thrown out in the past few years.

00:31:56.200 We are being told to follow the science.

00:31:58.180 When we do, we are deplatformed by people like you.

00:32:00.780 When we bring the real science, when we bring the real doctors, we are told they're not allowed to speak.

00:32:07.020 They're not allowed to point their side of the story.

00:32:10.340 And we've seen this for the past three years over and over again.

00:32:14.380 And when elected, this government is going to give you the right to see all the facts and all the science,

00:32:22.020 not just the government-approved science or Fauci science that came in public and said that the muzzles, as I call them, the mask, never worked. 1.00

00:32:30.860 And he never forced people to wear one, just like that pathological liar, our own domestic terrorist, Justin Trudeau-Castro, as I call him.

00:32:39.560 He said he never, never forced people to take the deadly injection. 0.99

00:32:45.100 They are liars. 0.99

00:32:46.420 Shame on the politicians. 1.00

00:32:48.180 Shame on the system.

00:32:49.560 The system is corrupted to the core.

00:32:51.120 And I promise you, when elected, we are going to change this system.

00:32:56.800 And we actually will go after those people that have done to us.

00:33:00.520 And we will make them accountable.

00:33:02.080 Any message for the premier?

00:33:03.880 I've got a question for you.

00:33:05.900 Well, if I was able to give a message to our premier, I would say, shame on you for not standing for the little man.

00:33:15.640 Shame on you for not keeping your promise.

00:33:18.560 Because when a politician cannot keep his or her words, her promises, the politician is absolutely good for nothing.

00:33:26.420 I think I have more trust in my dog than I have in the politicians right now.

00:33:32.100 Can you talk again about the Constitution?

00:33:34.140 Well, you see, I have been in the hot waters before, and I have been personally convicted before. 0.90

00:33:42.200 Of course, ridiculous charges.

00:33:43.820 Do you know that I am the first Canadian citizen in the history of this country to be convicted in inciting mischief?

00:33:50.740 And what did I do?

00:33:51.860 When I came to Cudes, the roads were open.

00:33:54.640 Not once I said, block the roads.

00:33:57.080 When I left, the roads were open.

00:33:58.920 I simply said to the Canadians, stand for your rights.

00:34:01.640 God and state-given rights.

00:34:03.160 Paralyze the system.

00:34:04.120 It didn't mean block the streets.

00:34:05.920 It meant do it, the Solidarity style. 0.88

00:34:09.760 That's what I said.

00:34:11.220 That's why I was wearing the hoodie.

00:34:12.980 I was referring to what I saw with my own eyes.

00:34:15.760 And you know how the Solidarity movement won the rights?

00:34:18.860 They just refused to work for the villains.

00:34:21.160 That's what I was talking about.

00:34:23.020 That's what I said.

00:34:24.060 You can interpret whatever you want. 0.99

00:34:26.140 I mean, you mainstream media are such a pathological liars.

00:34:29.740 You said that I was inciting violence, even though three times during my speech, I said repeatedly, no guns, no swords. 0.66

00:34:37.660 I'm not advocating violence.

00:34:39.400 I am against violence.

00:34:41.120 I have never been charged with violence.

00:34:42.920 I have never been charged even with assault.

00:34:45.200 I don't advocate for that.

00:34:46.740 But I do advocate to stand up for God and state-given rights.

00:34:52.080 Because if we don't have rights to protest, we have no rights whatsoever.

00:34:59.140 I got a question.

00:35:00.240 Can I borrow you for five minutes?

00:35:05.300 I want to know who has the parental rights or who has the rights over the children? 0.99

00:35:12.700 The parents or the government?

00:35:14.320 Well, you see, parents, of course.

00:35:15.900 The Bible actually is very clear on the subject.

00:35:18.620 It says the kids are a gift from God.

00:35:22.780 So thank you so much.

00:35:23.820 I'm going to do some interviews with my dear friend here, with Ezra.

00:35:27.640 And if there are other people that want to ask me questions, I'm at your service.

00:35:32.760 Thank you so much for coming.

00:35:34.180 Be blessed.

00:35:35.020 And do not lose hope, my friends.

00:35:36.960 Do not lose hope.

00:35:38.140 This is just a roadblock.

00:35:39.860 This is just a pickup, as you call it.

00:35:42.540 And we'll keep plowing.

00:35:43.500 We'll keep moving.

00:35:44.600 They're scared.

00:35:45.320 They're scared because if good people are elected, that means they lie.

00:35:50.140 The lies are going to be exposed.

00:35:51.740 That's what the whole thing is all about.

00:35:53.200 Thank you.

00:35:53.800 All right.

00:35:55.140 Kavlovsky, who was just convicted of three offenses.

00:35:58.140 Now, the Critical Infrastructure Defense Act is sort of in limbo while the constitutionality

00:36:03.220 is being challenged.

00:36:04.180 I got to say, I was sort of surprised.

00:36:06.800 I thought that this was a long shot by the government.

00:36:09.880 But they scored all three.

00:36:11.700 Are you surprised?

00:36:12.240 Well, you know, of course, Ezra, I wish that this ordeal would be over.

00:36:17.240 But, hey, we have been doing those rodeos before.

00:36:21.200 And I guess it's another step up.

00:36:23.640 So, as much as I would like this to go away, I'm looking forward to the next step.

00:36:29.900 Because every step of the way exposes their corruption, exposes how hateful of a people they are,

00:36:37.620 that they don't care about our rights and freedoms.

00:36:39.740 They don't care about the Constitution.

00:36:41.080 They don't care about the Criminal Code of Canada.

00:36:43.000 If a pastor can be convicted criminally for just giving a sermon, encouraging people,

00:36:48.460 hey, stand up for your rights, but do it peacefully, I mean, you're next, Ezra.

00:36:52.700 And any politician, now think about it.

00:36:54.840 This is an election in the province of Alberta.

00:36:56.640 Now, if a politician goes out there and says something that the government doesn't like,

00:37:01.740 he might be inciting something.

00:37:04.500 I mean, that's what was odd to me.

00:37:06.280 We had a two-day trial in February, or a couple months ago,

00:37:08.940 and then we had the judge go through an hour's worth of reasoning,

00:37:12.720 and it all looked very Canadian.

00:37:15.000 I mean, he's a Canadian judge with the Alberta code of arms on the wall,

00:37:19.080 and it's the legal system we're familiar with.

00:37:21.420 But if this were in China or Iran or North Korea,

00:37:24.780 if a Christian pastor was on trial and convicted for a crime,

00:37:29.440 I think we would say that's a political prisoner.

00:37:31.860 I think we would be shocked by it.

00:37:33.520 Is your faith in the Canadian system shaken at all?

00:37:39.760 Well, of course it is.

00:37:41.200 But like I said, this is not my first time that injustice has been done.

00:37:46.320 Because don't kid yourself, this is a great injustice.

00:37:49.240 I've seen this growing up behind the Iron Curtain, under the boots of the Soviets.

00:37:53.680 So what I'm saying is we must keep plowing.

00:38:01.860 We have to keep fighting.

00:38:04.060 We must do it peacefully.

00:38:05.540 We must use every legal means that we have at our disposal.

00:38:10.220 But also we have to understand that something shifted.

00:38:13.500 In the past three years, something changed.

00:38:16.140 It feels less like a democracy and more like a totalitarian police state.

00:38:21.360 What interactions have you had with other organizations?

00:38:25.180 I mean, Rebel News has been covering your case.

00:38:27.240 And we've been helping to crowdfund your lawyers.

00:38:29.480 I see today Global News was here.

00:38:31.060 I think the CBC was here.

00:38:33.760 And they certainly got a negative reaction from your supporters here.

00:38:37.840 What has been the coverage of your case here by the other media?

00:38:42.420 Have they been fair or have they been in the tank for the prosecution?

00:38:45.880 No, they were decided with the prosecution from the very beginning.

00:38:49.140 They accused me on the mainstream for months that I was inciting people to commit acts of violence.

00:38:56.140 As you know, the Crown Prosecutor compared my peaceful sermon to the truckers on the private property.

00:39:02.920 I was not in the middle of the highway.

00:39:04.640 I was not blocking anything.

00:39:05.880 I was in a private setting, on a private property, telling people to stand up for the rights.

00:39:11.380 And he compared that peaceful sermon to Rwanda genocide, to someone that was inciting murder, to commit murder on somebody else.

00:39:21.240 So the mainstream media is following that rhetorics.

00:39:23.880 I have been compared to a hateful person, white supremacist, racist, all kinds of different things were thrown at me.

00:39:31.000 And one of the biggest ones was that I was inciting people, people to commit acts of violence, which of course is such a lie, lie from the beginning to the end.

00:39:43.560 But it looks like they can get away with a murder.

00:39:45.900 Literally, they can get away with a murder and we cannot expose that murder because if you do, you're the hater, you're the bad guy.

00:39:53.900 You know, I was talking to your lawyer, Chad Haggerty, earlier today.

00:39:56.660 He said that he had a client who's a bank robber and was convicted and literally got probation, which means no jail time.

00:40:04.120 You've already served, I think, 52 days in jail.

00:40:06.880 I find that very out of sync that an actual violent bank robber gets no jail time.

00:40:12.760 You've done 52 days.

00:40:13.780 Not only that, Ezra, I am still on house arrest.

00:40:17.040 So 12 hours a day for over a year now since I was released in the end of March, since that last year, I'm on a house arrest.

00:40:27.860 Therefore, I'm still detained from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

00:40:31.720 That tells you everything.

00:40:32.840 So I served already like seven, eight months.

00:40:35.660 Well, I mean, I find it incredible that you have the resilience to put up with this because, I mean, just since we've been helping you, I think you've had close to 20 court appearances and you've had 100 before that.

00:40:48.600 And you get convicted and then you won on appeal and you were convicted today, but we've got the constitutional challenge.

00:40:54.700 So it's just, how do you not give in to the fatigue?

00:40:59.240 I mean, I'm tired just listening to it.

00:41:01.260 I mean, I'm not out of steam myself.

00:41:03.200 I know what motivates me, but I'm not the guy in legal jeopardy here.

00:41:07.100 How do you find the strength to be defiant, to lean into the hurricane?

00:41:11.420 Because there's unlimited resources on the government side.

00:41:15.700 It's a Goliath.

00:41:16.720 Now, you've got a lot of Davids chipping in 20 bucks, 50 bucks at SaveArthur.com.

00:41:20.800 So you've been able to match Goliath step by step.

00:41:23.600 But just from a personal point of view, don't you ever get tired?

00:41:26.540 I'll tell you two things that are keeping me going.

00:41:29.180 First is my family, my wife and my children.

00:41:32.580 Think about it.

00:41:33.520 I'm doing this for them.

00:41:34.740 What kind of a nation they're going to have tomorrow if a man like me will not stand up and fight?

00:41:38.760 Especially a man that have seen this before.

00:41:41.160 A man that grew up as a kid under the boots of this totalitarian crazy regime called communism and socialism.

00:41:47.700 And of course, Ezra is my fate.

00:41:49.560 My God.

00:41:50.320 He keeps me going.

00:41:51.560 In the Bible, it says that you have to stand up for what's right, even if it costs you.

00:41:55.840 So this is my price for humanity, I guess, to pay and I'm willing to pay it.

00:42:00.340 It's tiring.

00:42:01.200 I would be a liar if I would say to you, yeah, it's a beautiful, nice, rosy, right?

00:42:06.820 No, they're torms.

00:42:08.340 But I am willing to do it.

00:42:10.300 Why?

00:42:10.660 Because I have three beautiful children and I have many more in a church.

00:42:15.740 People that are suffering, people that are crying, people that have lost hope.

00:42:19.240 What they need, what Canada needs, what Alberta needs as a courageous man or a woman that was willing to stand up and say,

00:42:25.440 You know what?

00:42:26.140 I will stand against the giants of today.

00:42:28.380 I will be your David.

00:42:29.780 God, if you want to use me, I wouldn't use me.

00:42:32.240 But if you want to use me, here I am, Lord.

00:42:34.240 Use me.

00:42:34.980 Give me the smooth stone.

00:42:36.300 Give me the slingshot.

00:42:37.600 Give me the stick. 0.94

00:42:38.440 And I'm willing to take down the biggest giants that this country has ever seen.

00:42:43.700 Well, we'll see how that goes because there's another showdown looming with the Constitutional Challenge.

00:42:47.860 Listen, nice to see you today.

00:42:49.220 And we'll stay in touch in the months ahead.

00:42:51.460 And I don't think months, I think this will be years before it's done.

00:42:54.080 It could be, well, I'm ready.

00:42:56.300 I said to my lawyers, take this, please, all the way.

00:43:01.040 Whatever it takes, how long it takes.

00:43:03.500 I am at your disposal.

00:43:05.000 I'm at your service.

00:43:06.360 Just like I am at the service of Albertans in this election that we are in the middle of.

00:43:12.300 And we'll keep plowing and see what the future holds.

00:43:15.740 All right.

00:43:16.400 Well, we had planned to talk to Arthur's lawyers, Chad Haggerty and Sarah Miller.

00:43:20.980 But given the fact that this matter is very live, that there is at least a constitutional challenge and a sentencing hearing, that this is nowhere near done.

00:43:30.880 Both lawyers said to me they thought it would be inappropriate for them to give political commentary before that's done.

00:43:36.460 So we're going to skip talking to them, but I have your report that you have instructed them to fight on.

00:43:41.740 So we'll wrap up our show today.

00:43:43.480 I'm glad I came to Lethbridge.

00:43:45.280 I feel like this story is not resolved.

00:43:48.580 And we will have many more court appearances left.

00:43:51.860 It is so clear that the rule of law is damaged when a bank robber can go on probation and you serve 52 days, when truckers get jailed for honking horns.

00:44:05.220 But the public sector union honks horns and they get a billion dollar pay raise.

00:44:10.160 You know, I just posted something on my Twitter comparing what happened in Ottawa to what is happening in Ottawa at the Parliament right now.

00:44:18.520 I mean, the same thing. People have flags, they have banners, and they are opposing the government.

00:44:23.320 We were opposing the government. We got hammered. They are getting the raise.

00:44:27.640 It's incredible. Well, we'll keep telling all these stories and more at rebelnews.com.

00:44:31.900 And for those of you who want to chip in to Pastor Arthur's legal defense, go to savearthur.com.

00:44:37.860 And as you know, that defense is being carried out by the Democracy Fund, which is a registered charity at arm's length from Rebel News.

00:44:44.560 So, in fact, you will actually receive a charitable tax receipt for your gift.

00:44:49.120 That's it for today. On behalf of all of us at Rebel News, from Lethbridge, Alberta, to you at home, goodbye and keep fighting for freedom.

00:44:58.980 Keep fighting for freedom! 0.95

00:45:02.020 Shame on you, you censorious bug! 0.93

00:45:05.100 Bye! 0.99

00:45:09.960 Bye!

00:45:12.120 Bye!

00:45:21.660 Bye!

00:45:23.020 Bye!

00:45:25.100 Bye!

00:45:25.220 Bye!

00:45:25.800 Bye!

00:45:27.200 Bye!

00:45:27.820 Bye!

00:45:28.540 Bye!

00:45:29.520 Bye!

00:45:31.240 Bye!

00:45:31.280 Bye!

00:45:32.380 Bye!

Rebel News Podcast - May 02, 2023

EZRA LEVANT ｜ Pastor Artur's fight against government overreach continues

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