Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ The process is the punishment in the trial of Tamara Lich

00:00:00.000 Tonight I'm in Ottawa where Tamera Leach is back in court. It's August 13th and this is the Ezra Levant Show.

00:00:14.000 Shame on you, you censorious bug.

00:00:17.000 Ezra Levant here in Ottawa. I have come to Ottawa with Sarah Stock one of our young reporters to cover the trial of Tamera Leach which is absurd to say it was two and a half years ago she was arrested.

00:00:40.000 The trial itself has been in the courts spread out over almost a year, over 40 individual days of hearings, dozens of witnesses.

00:00:51.000 I was in the court today, I counted there were 11 people. There was the judge, three clerks, two prosecutors and two defense teams of five lawyers total.

00:01:01.000 Just an absolute shocking amount of resources deployed to prosecuting Tamera Leach and her co-defendant Chris Barber on mischief charges.

00:01:12.000 Mischief which is the lowest order of crime in the criminal code, the kind of thing that you get charged with if you committed vandalism or if you broke someone's doghouse or mailbox or something.

00:01:23.000 Like it's the catch-all for minor offenses. Most mischief cases the judge looks at you sternly, wags his finger and says I don't want to see you in this court again young man, you fly straight now.

00:01:34.000 Like it's that. We've seen mischief cases across the country be dismissed with either the prosecution saying there's no public interest in proceeding, we're just going to stay the charges completely.

00:01:46.000 I'm aware of some cases where someone who was charged with mischief just had to make like a $100 donation to charity and that was it, no criminal record.

00:01:55.000 But they have thrown, according to one lawyer's estimate, five to ten million dollars worth of government resources at Tamera Leach and Chris Barber.

00:02:03.000 And I think I know why. I think it's sort of obvious why.

00:02:05.000 Because she's the moral authority, the lovable Métis grandma from Alberta who was so sweet and never got sour despite what was done to her.

00:02:14.000 Despite being thrown into prison for 49 days, much of that in solitary confinement, she never lost her positive attitude.

00:02:21.000 And others who were against her being discredited.

00:02:24.000 David Lamedi, the justice minister who approved the Emergencies Act, resigned in disgrace and scurried off Parliament Hill.

00:02:32.000 Justin Trudeau himself rebuked by the federal court along with Chrystia Freeland for invoking the Emergencies Act and seizing people's money.

00:02:39.000 All the antagonists on the pro-censorship, pro-martial law side have been rebuked in the public eye.

00:02:47.000 In fact, many people who were for the lockdowns are now trying to pretend they weren't.

00:02:52.000 They have not been able to be smirched to Mara Leach.

00:02:55.000 And I hope that she is acquitted in this case.

00:02:59.000 And that if anything, this backfires on the state for trying to criminalize her. 1.00

00:03:04.000 What's interesting, and it just sort of really came clear to me today, is yes, Trudeau invoked martial law by imposing the Emergencies Act.

00:03:12.000 And yes, the RCMP. And yes, Trudeau meddled with local police forces.

00:03:15.000 But for the last two and a half years, it has been the provincial government of Doug Ford, the so-called conservative premier,

00:03:22.000 that has prosecuted and put so many resources into prosecuting Tamera Leach.

00:03:27.000 You can't blame that on Justin Trudeau.

00:03:30.000 We've been covering this trial since the very beginning.

00:03:33.000 A variety of reporters for Rebel News, as well as a variety of lawyers for the Democracy Fund.

00:03:39.000 Because, of course, we have crowdfunded Tamera Leach's defense, which is very important.

00:03:45.000 I find this an agonizing trial.

00:03:51.000 There's no reason for the trial to be this long.

00:03:54.000 Complicated murder trials or terrorism trials are not this long.

00:03:58.000 I believe that it's a deliberate strategy by the prosecutors who know that it's very likely that Tamera Leach will be acquitted,

00:04:05.000 that they're going to turn the trial itself into a kind of prison sentence, a kind of punishment.

00:04:09.000 So even if Tamera Leach is acquitted, they will have got their pound of flesh from her anyways. 0.99

00:04:14.000 For example, it's not just when she was in jail, but she has been under all sorts of conditions.

00:04:21.000 She's had to put aside her real life to make her way to Ottawa all the time to be stigmatized by a criminal charge.

00:04:31.000 My point is, her life has been put on hold.

00:04:34.000 Not just the risk of a conviction, but the waste of time.

00:04:38.000 And luckily, we have Rebel News viewers to handle the costs of her legal defense. 0.70

00:04:44.000 But, of course, she hasn't been...

00:04:45.000 How can you have a job when you're called to Ottawa for your trial, when there's negative publicity?

00:04:51.000 It's just been a punishment of Tamera Leach precisely because she has embarrassed the regime. 0.62

00:04:59.000 All right, well, if you want to know the minute-by-minute updates on the court hearing,

00:05:04.000 you can go to a page you put together called TameraTrial.com.

00:05:09.000 We'll have stories there.

00:05:11.000 We've had them for the last 40 days.

00:05:12.000 We'll continue to put all our news there.

00:05:14.000 And I will have video updates during the breaks.

00:05:17.000 And I'll come to you after for some thoughts with both Mark Joseph of the Democracy Fund and Sarah Stock from Rebel News.

00:05:24.000 Well, we just wrapped up the first day of court after weeks of kind of intermission.

00:05:38.000 It's back at it.

00:05:40.000 Ottawa is hot.

00:05:41.000 It's the summertime.

00:05:42.000 I think court will go for the rest of the week and into next week as well.

00:05:46.000 Joining me for her first time court reporting is our young reporter, Sarah Stock, who joins me now.

00:05:51.000 Sarah, welcome to Ottawa and welcome to the Court Beat.

00:05:54.000 Yeah, thank you.

00:05:55.000 It was a lot more exciting than I expected it to be, to be honest.

00:05:58.000 What did you find exciting about it?

00:06:01.000 I think just the judge and the prosecutor going back and forth.

00:06:05.000 The judge was not taking anything from the prosecutor because they're reaching a lot of the time.

00:06:11.000 There's a lot of mistakes in their work.

00:06:13.000 They were missing details, getting information wrong.

00:06:15.000 And the judge didn't let any of it slide.

00:06:18.000 One of the crazy things about Ottawa is there's a lot of extremists and kooks.

00:06:23.000 And there's actually a crazy lady behind us who's on a pro Hamas shtick. 1.00

00:06:30.000 She's actually been banned from using a kind of sound weapon that she has put up to people's ears before with a kind of eardrum breaking sound.

00:06:42.000 Anyway, I think if we speak right into our microphone, we can talk over these pro Hamas nut bars. 0.97

00:06:47.000 Now, I have to go back to Toronto tonight, but I'm counting on you to continue doing the reporting here.

00:06:54.000 And I think there's two ways to do that.

00:06:56.000 One is a kind of stenography, like kind of court reporting that just every five minutes or so, try and describe, even in plain language, what was going on, who's on their feet.

00:07:09.000 If you can read one of the slides on the wall, something like that, especially when the judge pushes back.

00:07:15.000 I think that's very interesting.

00:07:17.000 The second is to kind of summarize things during the breaks in a video format.

00:07:23.000 Now, there's going to be kooks around.

00:07:26.000 That's just the nature.

00:07:27.000 But I think that sort of tells a story.

00:07:29.000 You have insane, provocative harassers, but because they're pro Gaza, the police don't care. 0.87

00:07:38.000 There was a massive march in Ottawa this weekend where they actually had a banner that said legal armed resistance.

00:07:46.000 I don't know what legal armed resistance means.

00:07:49.000 I don't think that's a thing.

00:07:51.000 Truckers, if they would have said armed resistance, would have immediately been arrested and prosecuted.

00:07:57.000 But not so with the pro Hamas crazies.

00:08:00.000 Yeah, I mean, they've pretty much taken away almost all of our gun rights in Canada.

00:08:05.000 Yeah, I think, I mean, isn't half of this trial, I know the coots four, there is some evidence of there being firearms just in the bed of a truck. 0.98

00:08:16.000 And that was enough evidence to prosecute those freedom protesters for a trial that lasted also forever.

00:08:23.000 And they were jailed as well.

00:08:25.000 There's no firearms in this case.

00:08:27.000 And that's one of the things that makes it so hard for the prosecutors.

00:08:30.000 What they talked about for about an hour or two today was how the trucker convoy had lawyers, had accountants, had a PR team, had like a war room organizing everything.

00:08:41.000 And so how do you prosecute someone for criminal mischief if they're engaging in such compliance?

00:08:49.000 How do you say what they're doing is illegal when they're daily negotiating with the police on where to park the trucks?

00:08:55.000 It'll be very interesting to see what they do here.

00:08:57.000 We tried to provide a lawyer on the scene in Coots, Alberta.

00:09:01.000 We sent the lawyer Chad Williamson and his colleague to be there through the blockade.

00:09:06.000 But it was, I don't know, I think there were trumped up charges there because there were weapons that were found.

00:09:12.000 I'm going to have to go back to Toronto.

00:09:14.000 I'm going to hand the torch over to you.

00:09:16.000 Hopefully you won't be persecuted by the pro Hamas crazies. 0.52

00:09:21.000 Maybe because you're not Jewish they'll lay off you. 0.50

00:09:23.000 Although I think she's genuinely mentally ill.

00:09:27.000 Hopefully people can hear our interview anyway.

00:09:30.000 Sarah, good luck to you.

00:09:31.000 You're getting a taste of being a street journalist.

00:09:34.000 Thank you so much Ezra.

00:09:36.000 You know, we're on the street, we're citizen journalists.

00:09:39.000 And just because someone's an annoying rabble, I mean, some people call us annoying rabble too.

00:09:45.000 So we have to have some tolerance for the kooks just as long as she's not violent. 0.95

00:09:49.000 I don't think we're that annoying.

00:09:51.000 No, I think she set a new standard.

00:09:53.000 All right, stay with us more ahead.

00:09:55.000 Well, Rebel News is deeply intertwined with Tamara Leach.

00:10:06.000 We published her best-selling biography, Hold the Line.

00:10:09.000 We covered the trucker convoy two and a half years.

00:10:12.000 And indeed now we are crowdfunding her legal defense with our friends at the Democracy Fund.

00:10:17.000 And that is, any donation to HelpTamara.com goes straight to the Democracy Fund,

00:10:24.000 which pays for Lawrence Greenspawn and his top legal team.

00:10:28.000 Speaking of top lawyers, Mark Joseph is a staff lawyer at the Democracy Fund,

00:10:33.000 and he is monitoring this trial and live tweeting it from the courthouse.

00:10:38.000 Great to see you, Mark.

00:10:39.000 Thanks for having me.

00:10:40.000 You have been covering this case almost every day.

00:10:42.000 You've been rotating with other lawyers from the Democracy Fund.

00:10:45.000 I think this is, what, day 40 or something of the trial?

00:10:48.000 Yeah, you know, I lost track.

00:10:50.000 I think it's up high 30s, could be 40, I'm not sure.

00:10:53.000 I have never heard of a mischief trial going this long.

00:10:57.000 Mischief can cover a lot of things.

00:10:59.000 There was a case of someone who blew up a high-tension power line in Quebec,

00:11:06.000 causing a blackout for an enormous number of people.

00:11:09.000 I think he was charged with mischief.

00:11:11.000 But even that shocking case that affected tens of thousands of people,

00:11:16.000 even that did not deploy the same government, prosecution, police resources as this.

00:11:22.000 I mean, and that's a shocking case, blowing up a hydro tower.

00:11:28.000 This, it seems like the government is just pulling the wings off a fly to be cruel.

00:11:33.000 Well, look, we had another lawyer, our staff lawyer, Adam Blake Galpo,

00:11:37.000 do a little research to see what other types of cases, how long they usually take.

00:11:42.000 And he found that some murder cases take a lot less time than this mischief case.

00:11:47.000 There's been, you know, a week-long murder trials, you know, three-day-long sex assault trials.

00:11:52.000 But this one is getting up there.

00:11:54.000 So we don't know why the Crown has chosen to devote this much judicial resources to this trial.

00:12:02.000 So we can only speculate.

00:12:03.000 But it is a lot of time.

00:12:04.000 Well, I think the answer is sort of obvious.

00:12:06.000 It's political.

00:12:07.000 Tamara Leach was the symbolic figurehead, sort of the Joan of Arc inspirer of the Trucker Convoy.

00:12:13.000 So smashing her and bringing her back down to earth, destroying her as a freedom icon is their goal.

00:12:19.000 I notice on Twitter some people are saying this is Trudeau's prosecution.

00:12:24.000 And in a way, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act.

00:12:27.000 There were many RCMP and even military involved.

00:12:29.000 But I think that the prosecution here is where all prosecutions other than some unique federal crimes are.

00:12:36.000 It's the provincial government of Ontario, that is Doug Ford and his Attorney General, who are behind this prosecution.

00:12:45.000 You can't say the prosecutors working for Doug Ford are Justin Trudeau's fault.

00:12:51.000 Am I wrong?

00:12:52.000 You know what?

00:12:53.000 That's a good question.

00:12:54.000 I'd like to speculate, but I really can't.

00:12:57.000 Let's pull it back to the law.

00:12:58.000 That's politics.

00:12:59.000 I can give my comments on the politics.

00:13:01.000 But on the law, you've been watching some of these and so have others, and so is our guest who's just joined us right here.

00:13:10.000 Welcome to the streets of Ottawa, where you make friends whether you want to or not.

00:13:14.000 A lot of the evidence that was given by so-called witnesses for the prosecution, they actually didn't have any evidence touching on Chris Barber or Tamara Leach.

00:13:26.000 They talked in general about the convoy, in general about what it was like to have the horn honking.

00:13:32.000 And it feels to me like they're trying to graft on evidence about a political movement onto two particular scapegoats.

00:13:39.000 The judge today pointed out a few times that there were a lot of trucker movements, a lot of trucker organizations.

00:13:45.000 She asked the prosecutor, how is this hung around the necks of these two particular individuals who are on trial for crimes?

00:13:51.000 Right, and I think that's a fair question.

00:13:54.000 I mean, when you're accused of a crime, the evidence has to go to the particulars of your conduct in relation to that offense.

00:14:03.000 So she was asking, okay, well, what direct evidence do you have about the mischief with relation to Ms. Barber or Mr. Leach?

00:14:11.000 And so that general contextual evidence doesn't go explicitly to their individual conduct.

00:14:17.000 I think that's a fair question she's asking.

00:14:19.000 Today, the junior prosecutor, Siobhan Weschler, if I'm pronouncing her name right, was going through legal precedents trying to convince the judge that the facts of the Leach and Barber cases, Chris Barber being the other defendants, match other cases.

00:14:36.000 One of the things that I noticed that none of the cases that were proffered were from senior levels of court that would be binding.

00:14:43.000 I didn't see any court of appeal rulings.

00:14:45.000 There were all minor rulings which are not binding on this judge.

00:14:49.000 But this junior prosecutor, Siobhan Weschler, pointed to the case of the University of Toronto pro-Hamas encampment that was there for almost two months.

00:15:00.000 And instantly I thought there's so many differences between that case and this case.

00:15:05.000 The first one is no one was charged with a crime for that Hamas encampment. 0.93

00:15:10.000 Second of all, they were committing actual crimes, trespass, uttering threats the whole time.

00:15:17.000 No one was charged.

00:15:20.000 And in the case of the trucker convoy, it was actually peaceful.

00:15:26.000 There was no violence.

00:15:28.000 And most importantly, these folks have been jailed.

00:15:32.000 Tamera Leach was jailed for 49 days.

00:15:34.000 It just seems like a really easy to distinguish case that shows the two-tier policing.

00:15:39.000 Weekly pro-Hamas marches, including in some cases uttering threats, no problem.

00:15:45.000 Have a trucker protest, go to jail.

00:15:48.000 Right.

00:15:49.000 Look, it's hard for me to comment on the analogies or the disanalogies there.

00:15:53.000 I mean, the judge noted that the encampment on the university, that's a civil case.

00:15:57.000 I think it was a civil injunction case.

00:15:59.000 Right.

00:16:00.000 It's just not comparable.

00:16:01.000 These were weird cases the prosecution was putting up.

00:16:03.000 Right.

00:16:04.000 I think the judge pushed back a little on that.

00:16:07.000 I don't know how much the prosecutor can make drawing in that civil injunction case.

00:16:13.000 They're just separate issues.

00:16:15.000 I mean, there's a different standard of proof at play as well.

00:16:17.000 So I think probably the defense will jump on that.

00:16:20.000 There was a case apparently it was just ruled on in recent days of someone not in the trucker convoy,

00:16:26.000 but in some rolling thunder convoy.

00:16:28.000 I don't know exactly what that is.

00:16:29.000 I'm guessing that's motorcycles or trucks or something.

00:16:32.000 Someone was yelling hold the line and waving at protesters.

00:16:36.000 That man was convicted of mischief in recent days.

00:16:39.000 I hadn't heard of that case.

00:16:40.000 I think the name of the accused was Blanchfield or something.

00:16:43.000 If that really is the law that a court convicted someone for saying hold the line and waving,

00:16:49.000 I feel like we're not living in a particularly free era right now.

00:16:53.000 Yeah, that would be a little disturbing.

00:16:55.000 I haven't read the case, but I think the judge did note.

00:16:58.000 You know, Justice Perkins LeVay is an excellent judge.

00:17:01.000 And she pushed back a little bit and she said,

00:17:03.000 well, in that case, wasn't the accused on top of his truck yelling things?

00:17:07.000 So she probably is wise to the fact that there is more than simply saying hold the line.

00:17:13.000 I think even in this case, the defense has made, you know, that point that simply saying that phrase doesn't constitute a mischief.

00:17:21.000 You know, I'm so glad you said that and you're sort of correcting me.

00:17:24.000 You're suggesting that there's more here that got that conviction.

00:17:27.000 And the reason that that's important for me is I want to be accurate.

00:17:30.000 The reason that's important for this trial is because this prosecution is desperately trying to say,

00:17:36.000 look, the low level that Tamara Leach did is another case is convicted of crime. 0.99

00:17:42.000 But you're pointing out that there may be well more.

00:17:45.000 And I think there's a little bit a few inaccuracies that are sprouting in.

00:17:49.000 For example, they cited the case of Arthur Pavlovsky, who was convicted of mischief in Lethbridge,

00:17:54.000 and his appeal is being heard next week in Alberta.

00:17:56.000 And I know about that case because the Democracy Fund crowdfunded for that, too.

00:18:00.000 And I actually attended some of that trial.

00:18:02.000 Just small things. The junior prosecutor said to the judge, oh, no, he wasn't a pastor.

00:18:08.000 And that was later corrected by another lawyer.

00:18:11.000 And the judge said, I knew it. I knew I was right.

00:18:14.000 And I don't know if a lot turned on that little error, but you have enough of these little errors.

00:18:19.000 And I've got to think a judge, you know, you make one mistake.

00:18:23.000 Fine. Everyone makes mistakes.

00:18:24.000 But case after case, you're stretching the facts to fit.

00:18:28.000 You're exaggerating a little bit here, there.

00:18:30.000 You're omitting here and there.

00:18:32.000 That's not going to win with a seasoned judge.

00:18:34.000 What a seasoned judge is going to do and say, oh, I can't take what this lawyer says at face value.

00:18:40.000 I have to double check everything she says because I don't want to be tricked.

00:18:44.000 Because even if it's not on purpose, even if it's just being sloppy, not malicious,

00:18:48.000 that deputy lawyer today on the prosecution side, I don't think she did her case any wins by getting so many facts wrong. 0.99

00:18:56.000 Well, in fairness, when you're on your feet, I've been in this position, you're arguing cases, you're trying to marshal your arguments.

00:19:04.000 Sometimes you miss little details, but judges, they never miss the details.

00:19:08.000 In fact, Justice Perkins always says, okay, take me to the citation, take me to the quote.

00:19:14.000 I want to read it for myself.

00:19:16.000 So she's not going to miss that.

00:19:20.000 And I think as well that the defense will make a point of that when they stand up because they're sharp.

00:19:26.000 They're going to say, well, you know, that case referred to does not sit on all fours with our case.

00:19:32.000 So they're going to distinguish it.

00:19:33.000 That's elementary legal stuff.

00:19:35.000 They're not going to miss that.

00:19:37.000 I want to remind our viewers that I don't know if you know this, Mark, but this judge, Justice Perkins McVeigh is her name.

00:19:43.000 She was appointed about 15 years ago.

00:19:45.000 So that's a fairly seasoned judge.

00:19:47.000 I'd say she's in her prime. 0.99

00:19:48.000 She's not so old that maybe she's having Joe Biden moments.

00:19:51.000 She's not so young that she's still learning.

00:19:53.000 I'd say Justice Perkins McVeigh is in the apogee of her career.

00:19:58.000 And it was a few years ago.

00:19:59.000 She was the judge in the case of prosecuting Vice Admiral Mark Norman, which was such a political case.

00:20:06.000 There was so much prosecutorial misconduct.

00:20:09.000 They didn't disclose things to Vice Admiral Mark Norman until way into the middle of the trial.

00:20:15.000 And it was not called a mistrial, but it was just a summary acquittal.

00:20:19.000 It was a shocking case of prosecutorial abuse.

00:20:22.000 In fact, I think the government paid all of Mark Norman's legal bills as some sort of compensation for their false accusations.

00:20:29.000 What's my point?

00:20:31.000 Justice Perkins McVeigh was the judge in that case.

00:20:34.000 So she is alert and alive to the fact that every now and again, just like anyone can lie.

00:20:42.000 Well, a prosecutor can lie or forget to disclose a key piece of evidence.

00:20:47.000 I think this is the best judge that Tamara Leach could have asked for because she knows all about legal shenanigans. 1.00

00:20:54.000 Well, look, I've been impressed with her. We've been in front of her before.

00:20:57.000 She doesn't miss anything.

00:20:59.000 She pushes back when she needs to.

00:21:01.000 She's very diplomatic about things.

00:21:03.000 It's hard to read her mind.

00:21:05.000 But she's been excellent so far.

00:21:07.000 So I agree.

00:21:08.000 I think Tamara Leach and Chris Barber have an excellent judge.

00:21:11.000 So we're just starting the week. It's Tuesday.

00:21:16.000 This is going to go a few more days this week.

00:21:18.000 Basically the crown prosecutor closes their case.

00:21:21.000 Then you have the two different defense parties.

00:21:24.000 You have Tamara Leach and Chris Barber.

00:21:26.000 Some days are set aside next week in case more time is needed for reply or whatnot.

00:21:31.000 But all the lawyers submitted big, thick, written arguments, more than 100 pages each.

00:21:38.000 And the judge really said, I just want you in your spoken remarks just to amplify things.

00:21:42.000 Don't read it to me. I'll read it myself.

00:21:44.000 I think this judge realizes things have gone on long enough.

00:21:47.000 She doesn't need them reading things to her that she could read on her own.

00:21:51.000 Do you think things will wrap up this week? Who knows, eh?

00:21:53.000 Yeah, hard to say.

00:21:55.000 I've been wrong about how long this trial will take before.

00:21:58.000 I anticipate it'll probably go longer.

00:22:01.000 But the lawyers seem optimistic they can wrap this up in time.

00:22:04.000 You heard that they gave away some dates in September.

00:22:07.000 So maybe, you know, we're optimistic that it'll wrap up soon.

00:22:11.000 Well, listen, thanks for, first of all, I follow your live tweeting.

00:22:14.000 And I retweet everything you're live tweeting because I know it's smart.

00:22:17.000 Because you're a practicing lawyer. You're with the Democracy Fund.

00:22:20.000 And you have been following a lot of these mischief cases and other COVID cases.

00:22:24.000 Well, for years, you were actually on the ground in Ottawa with our other counsel, Adam Blake Gallupo,

00:22:31.000 going from truck to truck, handing out information to the truckers.

00:22:34.000 So the Democracy Fund has been there.

00:22:36.000 We were defending Arthur Pawlowski.

00:22:38.000 We defended, I think, 55 truck.

00:22:40.000 When I say we, Rebel News encourages our viewers to crowdfund.

00:22:44.000 But the dough goes to the Democracy Fund and to lawyers, including Lawrence Greenspan and his team.

00:22:50.000 I've gotten to know Lawrence a little bit over the last year.

00:22:52.000 I think he's really sharp.

00:22:53.000 Yeah, he's one of the best criminal lawyers in Canada.

00:22:56.000 I think that, you know, no one disputes that.

00:22:58.000 So he's doing an excellent job.

00:22:59.000 And when he speaks, people listen.

00:23:01.000 Him and his team, they don't miss much.

00:23:03.000 You can see them taking copious notes.

00:23:05.000 They always stand up and object when they need to.

00:23:07.000 And they've done a great job.

00:23:08.000 So, you know, I remain optimistic that there'll be a positive outcome.

00:23:12.000 You know, it's funny when you say when they speak, people listen.

00:23:15.000 Even journalists who I would say are skeptical or hostile.

00:23:19.000 From time to time, Lawrence Greenspan comes out and right over here, he does sort of a quick scrum.

00:23:24.000 And you can see that even the state broadcaster, the CBC, which obviously has strong opinions against the truckers. 0.66

00:23:31.000 Even the CBC deals with Lawrence Greenspan with, I'm not going to say with reverence, but with respect.

00:23:38.000 They know they're talking to a straight shooter.

00:23:41.000 They know he's not a partisan.

00:23:42.000 He's just a pure lawyer's lawyer.

00:23:44.000 I like listening to Lawrence Greenspan.

00:23:47.000 But even more, I like watching the CBC and CTV listen to Lawrence Greenspan.

00:23:52.000 That's how good a lawyer he is.

00:23:54.000 Yeah.

00:23:55.000 I mean, we've seen it throughout the trial that he stands up and speaks when he needs to speak.

00:24:01.000 Otherwise, he's sitting down, letting the Crown do their thing.

00:24:04.000 So, yeah, I haven't.

00:24:06.000 He doesn't make a misstep.

00:24:07.000 His team is excellent.

00:24:08.000 And I think the judges respect a guy like that who's not wasting their time with Blather.

00:24:12.000 You know, I had a chat with Lawrence Greenspan downstairs.

00:24:15.000 And I presume it's okay to reveal it in public because it was just his speculation.

00:24:21.000 I know how much his bill is because the Democracy Fund is crowdfunding it.

00:24:26.000 And I don't think it's a secret to say it's approaching half a million dollars for him and his two co-counsel who have been working on this for a year.

00:24:33.000 But I said to Lawrence, what's your estimate of how much is being spent by the police and the prosecution and the court?

00:24:40.000 And I put numbers to him and I said five million.

00:24:43.000 He said north of that.

00:24:45.000 So I think he's right when you think about not just the two prosecutors, but the first team of prosecutors that was removed because they were out of control.

00:24:53.000 The judge, the clerks, all the witnesses, the prep time with all the witnesses, you know, the 40 days of hearings is just the iceberg on top of the water.

00:25:02.000 Seven eighths of which was preparation in advance.

00:25:05.000 And 40 days of court hearings where you could have had rape trials and murder trials and real trials, all of that pushed aside.

00:25:13.000 And I say again, it's Doug Ford on the hook even more than Justin Trudeau.

00:25:16.000 Lawrence Greenspan estimated, if I'm if I'm repeating what he said to me accurately enough, between five and ten million dollars to go after a Métis grandma who said, hold the line.

00:25:29.000 And that's the David and Goliath situation, which is why we need our crowdfunding.

00:25:36.000 There's no way a normal person could take on that kind of a machine.

00:25:41.000 No, absolutely not.

00:25:42.000 And and she's got the best legal representation she could she could have.

00:25:46.000 But it costs money.

00:25:47.000 I mean, in fairness to Lawrence, he could be doing other things.

00:25:50.000 So, you know, we've got to come up with with that funding.

00:25:54.000 Our donors have been excellent so far.

00:25:56.000 But, you know, people got to got to kick in if they want to see vindication here.

00:26:00.000 Yeah, I wish everyone could be in the courtroom, first of all, just to watch Lawrence in action.

00:26:05.000 But second of all, to see how crazy some of the arguments made by the prosecution is, too.

00:26:10.000 I don't think they brought their A game.

00:26:12.000 Obviously, I'm biased.

00:26:13.000 If folks want to help, the Democracy Fund issues a charitable tax receipt and the funds go to pay the legal bills.

00:26:21.000 Help Tamara dot com. 0.99

00:26:23.000 And we have tried to help her journalistically.

00:26:26.000 Rebel News has published her autobiography, which if you haven't read it yet, it's a great book.

00:26:30.000 It really is.

00:26:31.000 I thought I knew Tamara Leach. 1.00

00:26:32.000 I mean, I've met her a dozen times.

00:26:34.000 I didn't know half the things in that book.

00:26:36.000 I really recommend it.

00:26:37.000 Hey, Mark, thanks for talking with us on this sunny day.

00:26:40.000 And there's some colorful characters around here.

00:26:42.000 Welcome to downtown Ottawa.

00:26:43.000 I mean, that's just what what life on the street is.

00:26:46.000 And by the way, we do believe in freedom of speech.

00:26:48.000 Yeah.

00:26:49.000 Look, it's never boring.

00:26:50.000 And that's what's involved when when you're in public speaking.

00:26:53.000 Everyone gets their say, even the crazies.

00:26:56.000 So, yeah.

00:26:57.000 Well, some people call Rebel News crazy and, you know, everyone has their taste.

00:27:02.000 That's right.

00:27:03.000 Yeah.

00:27:04.000 So thanks for having me as I appreciate it.

00:27:05.000 All right.

00:27:06.000 There you have a Mark Joseph, a senior litigator at the Democracy Fund.

00:27:09.000 Democracy Fund has furnished the lawyer to Tamara. 1.00

00:27:12.000 Three lawyers, in fact, led by Lawrence Greenspan.

00:27:14.000 And Rebel News is delighted to help promote that because we got to win this one.

00:27:19.000 It's not just Tamara Leach who is on trial. 0.95

00:27:22.000 They are trying to put the entire convoy on trial.

00:27:25.000 Tamara Leach had an enormous moral victory over the government. 1.00

00:27:28.000 In fact, if you chart it, it was from the lockdown that Justin Trudeau's decline in the polls began.

00:27:34.000 They want to retroactively criminalize the convoy by convicting her. 0.95

00:27:39.000 That's why it's so important to acquit her.

00:27:42.000 I believe momentum is on our side.

00:27:44.000 You'll remember that the Federal Court of Canada under Justice Mosley

00:27:47.000 declared that the Emergencies Act itself was unconstitutionally invoked and implemented,

00:27:53.000 really taking the wind out of the sails of Trudeau and his charter busting thugs.

00:27:58.000 We'll keep on reporting from it.

00:28:00.000 This is our lunch break.

00:28:02.000 We're going to go back in about half an hour and cover the rest of the day.

00:28:05.000 I'm here today only, but my colleague Sarah Stock will be here all week.

00:28:10.000 And I know you'll follow her both on Twitter and on video.

00:28:13.000 We want to own the coverage of this story.

00:28:16.000 It's so close to our heart.

00:28:17.000 I'll talk to you a little bit later.

00:28:28.000 You know, I was here in Ottawa for a few days at the beginning of the trucker convoy.

00:28:31.000 It was an amazing festival feeling.

00:28:34.000 People were unironically breaking out in song, singing O Canada, flying flags.

00:28:39.000 It felt like a standing club victory night or something.

00:28:43.000 This square where I'm standing here was part of the action too.

00:28:46.000 Behind me, the National War Memorial where many of the truckers took it upon themselves to keep that clear of snow.

00:28:52.000 It was extremely cold and snowy.

00:28:54.000 And the truckers being, you know, working people who like to be productive and useful, took it upon themselves to beautify the city.

00:29:02.000 They shoveled and swept the snow.

00:29:05.000 They cleaned up the garbage.

00:29:06.000 And police reported that crime in the downtown area actually fell during the trucker convoy.

00:29:13.000 It's an interesting place to have a protest.

00:29:15.000 That building over there, the former train station which became a conference hall, is the temporary parliament.

00:29:22.000 While the main parliament building undergoes a billion dollars worth of renovations.

00:29:28.000 All around me are corridors of power.

00:29:31.000 You have all sorts of lobbyists and others with lots of government contracts around here.

00:29:36.000 The National Arts Center.

00:29:37.000 This really is the center of the capital.

00:29:39.000 And this is one of the places where the truckers would congregate.

00:29:43.000 It was an amazing time.

00:29:46.000 And I think it was the greatest peaceful protest involving politics in Canadian history.

00:29:53.000 Not only was it totally peaceful, not a single violent act committed by any trucker.

00:29:58.000 In fact, violence was committed against the truckers by the police, including against our own Alexa Lavoie, as you know.

00:30:04.000 But it changed things.

00:30:06.000 The copycat protests in Cootes, Alberta soon caused the provincial government out there to abolish its mandates and move away from the COVID lockdown insanity.

00:30:17.000 And soon around the world, other countries started following the Canadian example.

00:30:22.000 We've heard people from as far away as the Netherlands, Israel and Australia say they were inspired by the Canadian truckers.

00:30:30.000 There was even a modest American trucker convoy that we sent a reporter on.

00:30:35.000 The Canadian truckers inspired the world because I think people inherently trust truckers.

00:30:41.000 Truckers are independent.

00:30:42.000 Everyone knows they work hard, long hours.

00:30:44.000 And when you're in that cab, I can imagine you have a lot of time to think about things.

00:30:48.000 Maybe you listen to talk radio or listen to the news or you call in.

00:30:52.000 And those individual battalions for freedom is what freed our country.

00:30:57.000 It was no political party that freed us.

00:30:59.000 It was no media company.

00:31:01.000 It was no part of the establishment.

00:31:03.000 It was ordinary Canadian truckers who saved us.

00:31:07.000 And I think that was a magical moment.

00:31:09.000 I'm delighted that we had a role in it, both being journalists to document the truckers and crowd funders to help defend the truckers.

00:31:15.000 And that's what we're doing here.

00:31:17.000 Well, that's our show for today.

00:31:19.000 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here in the nation's capital, to you at home.

00:31:24.000 Good night and keep fighting for freedom.

00:31:30.000 Transcription by CastingWords

Rebel News Podcast - August 13, 2024

EZRA LEVANT ｜ The process is the punishment in the trial of Tamara Lich

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