Rebel News Podcast - EZRA LEVANT ｜ What did we learn from last night's Conservative leadership debate？

00:00:00.000 Hello, my friends. I go through the Conservative Party leadership debate,

00:00:04.220 which was awful. I have to say I've watched probably 100 debates in my time.

00:00:08.500 American presidential debates, Canadian debates, provincial debates, even municipal debates,

00:00:14.540 debates, debates, debates. This was the worst I've ever seen. And I think I'll make that case to you.

00:00:22.340 Boy, it's something. You can hear it if you're listening to a podcast, but boy,

00:00:26.720 I'd like you to see it. It's just unbelievable. Tom Clark, a liberal lobbyist, was the moderator.

00:00:33.000 I don't know how that happened, but it did. You got to see it with your eyes. That's why I want

00:00:37.180 you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's the video version of the podcast. Just

00:00:42.300 go to rebelnewsplus.com. Click subscribe. It's eight bucks a month. You get my show every night,

00:00:48.140 plus four weekly shows. That's a lot of stuff for just eight bucks a month.

00:00:52.140 rebelnewsplus.com. Click subscribe. We don't get any money from Trudeau,

00:00:56.400 so we rely on these subscriptions. All right, here's today's video.

00:01:14.140 Tonight, the Conservative Party leadership debate doesn't tell us a lot about the Conservative

00:01:19.520 Leadership Candidates. They've told us a lot about the media. It's May 12th, and this is

00:01:24.160 the Ezra LeVant Show.

00:01:27.820 Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?

00:01:31.500 There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.

00:01:35.560 The only thing I have to say to the government about why I publish it is because it's my bloody

00:01:40.440 right to do so.

00:01:41.420 I'm not a member of any party, haven't been for more than 10 years, but I got to tell you,

00:01:51.180 I am very engrossed by the Conservative Party leadership race. I wasn't the last time around

00:01:58.660 when Aaron O'Toole slouched across the finish line, and I didn't even find it interesting

00:02:03.500 that much when Andrew Scheer squeaked by Maxime Bernier to take the party over.

00:02:10.040 But this time, it feels different because there's a genuine choice there, a strong clash of opinions.

00:02:17.120 I think it's great. And I think we saw this in not last night's leadership debates, but the ones

00:02:23.560 very recently held not by the party itself, but by Preston Manning's old think tank.

00:02:29.560 The moderators were our friends Candace Malcolm of True North and Jamil Giovanni. I want to show

00:02:35.860 you a few excerpts from them. It was a brawl. It was a rollicking debate, and that's the whole

00:02:43.000 point of debates. Show a clash of ideas. Show the clear choices. Here are some clips from that debate.

00:02:49.560 I'm going to begin with you, Mr. Paliyev, and I want to start with the trucker convoy. It's

00:02:54.620 something we've already been discussing. You've been criticized for your support for the trucker

00:02:58.900 convoy. One of your fellow candidates has even said you should be disqualified for leadership

00:03:03.660 of the party based on your engagement with the convoy. As we all know, public opinion on the

00:03:09.760 trucker convoy is sharply divided. The Trudeau government and the mainstream media have gone

00:03:14.340 to great lengths to vilify the truckers. And back in February, you said that you were, quote,

00:03:20.120 proud of them. That's right. Has your opinion on the trucker convoy changed since? And is your

00:03:25.860 support of the truckers a liability moving forward? No and no. My position has not changed.

00:03:33.400 I said at the very outset before they even arrived that I simultaneously stood with the

00:03:38.020 law-abiding and peaceful truckers who were fighting for their livelihoods and liberties

00:03:42.360 while condemning any individual who breaks the law, blocks critical infrastructure, or behaves badly.

00:03:49.620 That is the position I took then. It's the position I take now.

00:03:52.620 Now, Mr. Charest learned about the trucker convoy on CBC, like other liberals, and he misrepresented

00:03:58.720 them. He believes that I should be censored. He believes I should be canceled from this leadership

00:04:06.700 race and disqualified, in his words, because I don't share his liberal viewpoint. That is the

00:04:11.920 kind of cancel culture and censorship you would expect from Justin Trudeau, but instead we're

00:04:16.820 getting it from this liberal on this stage. And frankly, Mr. Charest, for you to talk

00:04:23.920 about law and order is a little bit rich given that your party, your liberal party, took a

00:04:28.700 half million dollars of illegal donations when you were the head of that party. The average

00:04:33.460 trucker has more integrity in his pinky finger than you had in your entire scandal-plague liberal

00:04:40.260 cabinet. So I do stand up for the freedoms of Canadians, and I acknowledge that the working

00:04:51.760 class has been demolished in this country over the last couple of years. We don't need elites

00:04:57.360 who have been able to rely on special contracts with Huawei to look down on them and call them

00:05:03.000 criminals. Instead, we need to stand up for the people who are struggling and give them hope

00:05:07.200 for the future, and that's what I will do.

00:05:10.600 Next to you, Mr. Charest. You led a liberal government in Quebec, and your record as

00:05:16.080 premier includes raising taxes and introducing a cap-and-trade program. Many conservatives don't

00:05:21.880 connect with you, and frankly, some are wondering why you're running for leader of this party.

00:05:26.760 So I'm wondering if you can set the record straight. Are you a conservative?

00:05:31.380 Thank you very much. And Roman, thank you for your comments. And Leslyn, I have

00:05:37.140 a deep respect for the position that you hold on the issue of abortion. And I want to say

00:05:42.320 a word about social conservatives tonight, because we may not agree on all issues, but

00:05:47.740 who are the people who call themselves social conservatives? And I'm not a hyphenated conservative.

00:05:53.800 But who are they, if not people who have a faith-based life, believe in their families and their communities?

00:06:01.800 They sound like pretty good people to me. And they are part of our family, and they will

00:06:06.240 always be part of our family, and they need to be respected.

00:06:09.980 Now, in this room tonight is Preston Manning, who called before this debate that we act respectfully

00:06:17.320 in the view of uniting the party after the leadership race. Well, so much for that, Pierre.

00:06:25.020 In this race, I stand with a record as a conservative all my life. I'll give you an example, Candace.

00:06:32.660 I believe in fiscal conservatism. The Liberal government that succeeded me, Mr. Couillard

00:06:37.940 that followed, left an $8 billion surplus after 15 years to Mr. Legault. $8 billion. You're

00:06:44.780 not going to see that in your lifetime again. A higher credit rating in Quebec than Ontario.

00:06:51.160 We reduced taxes. In fact, I reduced taxes in 2007-8, income taxes for middle-class, lower-income

00:06:59.000 Quebecers, which actually allowed Quebecers to do better than Canada, the United States,

00:07:04.080 or Europe, or Ontario during the Great Recession. The credit rating agency says one of the key

00:07:09.500 decisions for us, having a better performance, more jobs, more economic growth, was the fact

00:07:15.260 that I reduced taxes, which was opposed by this person here, Pierre Pellievre. He was

00:07:20.040 opposed to it back then. So enough of the hypocrisy. On the Hill, I agree with Scott. This mess 0.75

00:07:27.780 that we've witnessed is the fault of Mr. Trudeau. But Mr. Pellievre, during that period, supported

00:07:34.020 an illegal blockade. You cannot make laws and break laws and then say I will make laws for

00:07:41.020 other people. I'm sorry, but that is a question of basic foundation in my life.

00:07:47.020 You're out of time, sir. Thank you.

00:07:50.480 You could say it was bruising. That would be a fair term. Pierre Pelliev and Jean Charest

00:07:55.020 in particular. Going at it, the issue, in part, one of the many issues, of course, being the truckers.

00:08:01.280 Were they criminals conducting an illegal blockade, as Jean Charest said? Or were they

00:08:05.740 freedom fighters, as Pierre Pelliev would say? I thought it was a great debate, but the media

00:08:10.980 party didn't say so. They don't like rambunctious conservatives. They don't like all this talk about

00:08:16.420 freedom. They don't like any populism. They want people like Aaron O'Toole and Andrew Scheer.

00:08:22.400 Basically, they tolerated house conservatives of the media party, of the establishment. They

00:08:29.440 didn't like this much. You can see that in all the headlines. It was universally panned

00:08:33.480 by everyone other than the conservative party members themselves, who seemed to love it.

00:08:39.620 I thought it was a very clarifying debate, and congrats to Jamil Giovanni and Candace Malcolm

00:08:44.280 for chairing it. Well, last night was the first official debate. I don't know why there was such

00:08:50.900 a thing. Why wouldn't the party just allow any old group to have a debate? Well, the party has a

00:08:56.060 couple. One was last night, and they have another French-language debate coming up. But I understand

00:09:00.020 that it is mandatory for the candidates to participate, and if they don't, they are fined

00:09:05.540 $50,000, which is quite something. So they were all there. There were 1,000 people gathered at the

00:09:12.540 convention center in Edmonton. It looked like it was very exciting. I don't know if you caught our show

00:09:18.060 last night. Tamara Ugolini and I were sitting here in Toronto live-streaming the event, and we had

00:09:23.000 four reporters on the scene, on the ground in Edmonton. We talked to them a bit last night, and

00:09:27.880 they said it was very exciting at first, until things got really weird really quickly. Now, I sort of

00:09:35.400 had a premonition that they would when I heard the strangest thing. You're in Alberta, which is the

00:09:40.980 conservative heartland. It's the place where the Reform Party was built. It was where Stephen Harper and

00:09:46.520 Preston Manning and Jason Kenney and Ralph Klein, all these conservative people are from there.

00:09:51.900 It's where, pound for pound, the conservative party is the strongest. It's where conservative

00:09:56.300 media are the strongest. We are quite strong in Alberta, too. There's the Western Standard online.

00:10:01.460 There's even some conservatives left in the mainstream media. Our friend Lauren Gunter at

00:10:06.680 the Edmonton Sun, our friend Rick Bell of the Calgary Sun. But bizarrely, and this is what spooked

00:10:12.380 me from the get-go, I learned that they were going to fly in from Ottawa to Edmonton, a Liberal Party

00:10:20.020 lobbyist named Tom Clark, who almost a decade ago, you might have known him as a TV man. He was with

00:10:27.340 CTV, and then he quit them in a huff when they didn't promote him to National Nightly Anchor, and then

00:10:33.020 he worked for Global for a year, a few years. He was a very pro-liberal, not a particularly effective or

00:10:41.000 bright journalist, but he had a good look to him, and he had a nice voice. He was chatty.

00:10:45.820 So he was a liberal, and if you doubt me, look at this. Here is, I think, the defining moment of who

00:10:53.200 Tom Clark is and was. He's a pilot, and that's quite an accomplishment, and he has a little plane,

00:11:00.480 which is wonderful, and he had this shtick of going up in the air with a newsmaker and interviewing

00:11:06.840 them while flying in his little plane, and it's a little unusual. It's a bit of a show-off move. I

00:11:12.720 suppose if I was a pilot, I would absolutely want to show off that way, too, but it was actually

00:11:17.700 amazing in that the politician you're grilling cannot run away, can't say, oh, I'm late for

00:11:25.540 another appointment. There's no one else in the plane to interrupt and say, oh, the candidate has to go.

00:11:30.120 There's no storming off. You are stuck in that plane with a reporter. Oh, my God. Think of the

00:11:39.140 questions you could ask. You could ask the most personal things, the most daring things,

00:11:44.760 and you just would be trapped in there for at least, I don't know, if you're up in the air to

00:11:49.220 come down 20 minutes, let's say. Here is what Tom Clark thought. Everyone, in fact, he says it's what

00:11:56.660 everyone wanted to know. Here is the question he put to Justin Trudeau when he had Trudeau in his

00:12:02.780 plate. So I guess the first thing I should ask you is, are you feeling lucky? The entire country wants

00:12:08.620 to know, what shampoo do you use? What a disappointing answer this is going to be. Whatever happens to be

00:12:17.020 hanging around at the time. That is so deeply embarrassing. I can't even believe it. That's Tom

00:12:23.540 Clark. That was him at his apex. That was the great Tom Clark in his prime. Not long after that,

00:12:29.980 he left to join Global Public Affairs as a lobbyist. You can check. He is a registered

00:12:34.560 Canadian lobbyist. He hasn't done journalism for years other than he was hired by his old friend,

00:12:41.280 Justin Trudeau, perhaps as a reward for those softball shampoo questions. And he was hired to vet

00:12:48.180 people who were to be recruited by the CBC. So he was the person that Justin Trudeau trusted

00:12:56.740 to choose who would run the state broadcaster. That tells you exactly who he is. So when I learned

00:13:03.340 that he was going to be flown in from his lobby firm in Ottawa to Edmonton, because apparently in a

00:13:11.500 province of what's the population there now, almost five million, whatever it is, you can't find a

00:13:17.720 single person who could moderate this debate. You can't find a journalist. You can't find a

00:13:22.840 professor. You can't find some professional emcee. You can't find some party elder. You cannot find

00:13:29.360 anyone, not only in Alberta, but nowhere in the West. You need to go to Ottawa and pluck someone out of

00:13:36.940 the deep state, someone who has never shown any interest in conservative or Western things.

00:13:42.440 And the only time he's expressed himself on politics, he's a hard pro-liberal activist. I mean,

00:13:49.460 he hasn't tweeted a lot lately since he's joined the lobby firm, but here's a couple of them.

00:13:53.820 Here's one of them where he likes someone mocking the conservative party short-lived civil liberties

00:14:01.100 caucus. Why are you liking someone mocking civil liberties? Or are you mocking the conservatives?

00:14:08.180 It's tough to tell. Here's another one where he wants everyone to see, and again, he's just

00:14:13.720 retweeting and liking someone denouncing the truckers. All right, those are legitimate points

00:14:20.720 of view, and I'm not here trying to cancel Tom Clark. I'm just saying Tom Clark is exactly what

00:14:26.780 you think he is, exactly what he says he is. He is a registered lobbyist who lives his whole life

00:14:33.980 in Ottawa and works for the man. He literally works for Justin Trudeau. And someone in the

00:14:39.680 conservative party thought, he's the best person in this entire country to moderate amongst the

00:14:46.800 candidates. It was so bizarre. But as the debate started yesterday, I thought, maybe I've been too

00:14:54.440 harsh on him. Maybe he'll really do some homework here and he'll have great questions. I was

00:15:00.680 immediately disappointed, and it was actually worse than I thought. The first thing I heard

00:15:06.540 was a lot of Tom Clark. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if you added up the amount of talk time

00:15:14.000 that Tom Clark actually had more than some of the candidates on the stage. In fact, there were a few

00:15:20.200 very shocking sort of Joe Biden seniors moment moments when Tom Clark forgot to ask questions

00:15:29.680 of certain of the candidates. There were six candidates on stage, and Tom Clark on several

00:15:34.280 occasions just simply forgot that there were people there and had to come back to them. It was

00:15:38.740 very embarrassing. But the most embarrassing thing was that Tom Clark insisted on these bizarre rules.

00:15:46.300 I don't know if he himself drafted the rules or the conservative party did, but the way he enforced

00:15:51.660 them was truly bizarre. He scolded and denounced any of the people in the thousand-seat auditorium.

00:15:59.920 If they gave any feedback at all, if they clapped, if they booed, if they cheered in any way,

00:16:05.580 he would stop the debate and scold them. You know, take a look at this when they cheered.

00:16:11.720 You'd be master of your own destiny and a captain of your own life. Thank you.

00:16:21.880 All right. Folks, here's the deal. Supporters of any candidate, the time that you cheer is going

00:16:28.360 to be taken away from your candidate. Just so you know, that's the way the deal works here.

00:16:32.260 Here, take a look at this when they booed.

00:16:34.360 But on this issue, let's, can we be clear on one thing? Every candidate in this race needs to tell

00:16:40.820 the women of Canada where they stand, whether they're pro or against. They, the women of Canada,

00:16:45.800 deserve to know where they stand. And Mr. Poliev's answer, quite frankly, does not fit that test.

00:16:52.440 Okay.

00:16:55.180 All right.

00:16:55.640 And why in both cases was he penalizing Pierre Poliev and only Pierre Poliev? How did he know who the clappers were?

00:17:14.340 And look, if you don't want any noise from the crowd, why did you invite them? I've had the pleasure in my life

00:17:20.340 on occasion to speak before hundreds and even thousands of people. It's incredibly thrilling.

00:17:25.780 There's an adrenaline rush. You get energy off it. You rise to the occasion. I mean, you can just

00:17:31.560 imagine the difference between a performance in studio of an artist, a singer versus a performance

00:17:36.920 in a stadium. I mean, think of the greatest rock and roll concerts of all time. They're in large

00:17:42.100 stadiums when the energy is massive. Why would you have a thousand revved up partisans in a room and

00:17:48.460 then shush them like you're in some library? It was deeply embarrassing, but nothing compares

00:17:54.740 to this clownish, sad trombone sound. When I say clownish, that's not an insult. That's a description. 0.85

00:18:04.380 Tom Clark said that if these six candidates even mentioned Justin Trudeau's name or even mentioned 0.80

00:18:12.860 him as the prime minister, that he would interrupt them and play this sad clown sound. Take a listen. 0.73

00:18:22.460 But what we asked you to do was to finish this sentence. My vision for Canada is you will have 45

00:18:32.460 seconds in which to tell us what your vision is. And but there's a twist and you know it. You can't

00:18:40.660 mention any other candidate on the stage and you can't mention any other federal leader. If you do,

00:18:46.520 there's going to be trouble. And here's what you're going to hear.

00:18:53.320 Now, I know that Tom Clark loves Justin Trudeau. We saw the shampoo question. I know

00:18:59.180 that Tom Clark works for Justin Trudeau, that CBC gig. I know that. But at least for one night,

00:19:06.480 he was paid handsomely by the Conservative Party of Canada to, I don't know, to vet the candidates who

00:19:12.720 have a job, which is to defeat and displace Justin Trudeau. These six candidates are their whole

00:19:20.420 purpose, their mission. The reason this contest is afoot is they want to choose the one best able

00:19:27.200 to defeat Justin Trudeau in the election. That is the job description. It is not

00:19:31.580 a distraction. It is not an insult. It is the mission of the official opposition to become

00:19:38.260 the government. And it's the mission of the leader of the opposition to displace the prime minister.

00:19:43.640 Why on earth would a moderator of a Conservative Party debate say the one person you cannot mention

00:19:51.740 is the liberal prime minister? I mean, I know why Justin Trudeau would love that.

00:19:56.280 No criticisms of him. But why on earth would any debate moderator say that? Why of all things is

00:20:03.600 that off limits? Who says who? Isn't that exactly what the thousand people in that room and the

00:20:10.640 thousands watching on TV wanted to see? How would you take on Justin Trudeau? It's like a job interview.

00:20:16.180 Tell me how you would take on Justin Trudeau. What would you do to take on Justin Trudeau? That was the

00:20:20.780 one thing that the clownish Tom Clark would not allow. It was bizarre. And he played that 0.92

00:20:27.400 wah, wah, wah, wah trombone sound like it was, I don't know, The Price is Right or The Gong Show or

00:20:34.100 some goofy daytime TV show. Take a look. And all parties are guilty of it. I'll give you the most

00:20:41.380 obvious example. And I'm going to use the name of another party leader now because I think I'm allowed

00:20:45.220 to. But if you look at the way the prime minister used vaccine mandates and actually divided Canadians

00:20:51.000 by demonizing one great person. You know the rules. You just broke them. We're moving on. Okay.

00:20:55.620 All right. Oh, talk about clownery. There was this one moment where they handed out little ping pong

00:21:03.640 paddles and the candidates had to hold up the ping pong paddle when they wanted to speak, but they could

00:21:09.560 only do it a certain number of times. And once they had exhausted their paddle time, they were forced to

00:21:17.220 remain silent. Tom Clark would not call on them, even if they were, had something to say, even if they

00:21:23.920 were being debated about or attacked by another candidate. Once you used your paddle times, you

00:21:29.700 couldn't talk anymore. Take a look. Now moving on to the next segment of the debate, which is called

00:21:36.920 Faceoff. And before we start that, I'd like to bring Em up, who is going to give you all a prop.

00:21:43.800 And I'll explain to everybody what this is all about. So as we are handing these out, this in a way

00:21:51.640 is the segment that you've all been waiting for when the candidates can choose who they want to debate

00:21:58.180 on any particular issue. And here's the way it's going to work. I'll introduce the topic of the debate

00:22:03.660 to a candidate. Not the question, just the topic. And then you decide, you tell the audience who you want to

00:22:11.160 debate this with. Once you've chosen your opponent, I will then tell you what the question is.

00:22:17.980 There will be three rounds of the person you have chosen to debate. The first round, each person gets a minute

00:22:25.080 each. The second round, you get 45 seconds each. The third round, you get 30 seconds each. Now this is where

00:22:32.400 it gets interesting and why you have the prop in your hand. After we've done the three rounds between

00:22:38.240 the two people, anybody else can answer this by simply raising your paddle. And you will have a guaranteed

00:22:45.500 30 seconds to put your 30 seconds in with. Here's the trick. There are six questions and you can only

00:22:55.380 use your paddle five times. You can use it all on one question if you want, or you can use it wherever

00:23:01.460 you think you have the greatest advantage. So there is some strategy involved here. And I wish you good

00:23:08.780 luck with this. I swear it was like some reality show or some goofy entertainment show. It was not

00:23:15.400 serious in any way. Everything was so short. There were some questions that were only given a 15 second

00:23:22.440 response time. It was also goofy and Tom Clark, I don't know, he really came across like he was a game

00:23:30.080 show host. And he started off by saying it was going to be a serious debate. And for the first few

00:23:36.760 seconds, I believed him. But whether it was lack of preparation, lack of imagination, or he was

00:23:42.280 literally a mole trying to undermine the conservatives, the largest section in the entire debate was not

00:23:49.760 about foreign policy, was not about economic policy, was not about political campaign tactics. It was

00:23:57.660 reality TV style, bachelorette TV style questions like, I don't know, what book are you,

00:24:06.760 reading? What music are you listening to? Who, what historical figure would you like to have dinner

00:24:14.180 with? If you binged watch a show on Netflix, what would it be? Those four questions, he actually

00:24:22.480 asked them. Take a look at some.

00:24:25.280 With Mr. Charest and Mr. Charest, the very first question I have for you is what book are you reading

00:24:29.960 now? What book are you reading now? Oh, I'm Mr. Charest and I wanted to ask you and give everybody

00:24:37.380 a chance. There's a question and there's a twist to the answer. I want to know who your political

00:24:43.340 hero is and you cannot say Winston Churchill. Thank you all very much. That was actually really

00:24:50.900 interesting to hear all that. Dr. Lewis, I'm going to start with you and then of course everybody else

00:24:56.680 gets a chance. I know you're all busy. I know that you've got, you've got stuff that you're doing

00:25:00.980 right now, but when you have the opportunity to sit down and listen to some music, what do you listen

00:25:06.700 to? I would say. I want to go to a question, maybe a little more lighthearted to getting to know you a

00:25:13.260 little bit more. I, and there were a lot of people who want to know this. It's not just me, trust me.

00:25:19.680 But, uh, Mr. Baber, what was the last thing that you binge watched on TV?

00:25:28.900 Um, what historical figure from any time, anywhere would you most like to have dinner with?

00:25:37.120 I think it was Patrick Brown last night who answered saying, look, I'm on a campaign. I'm

00:25:40.780 running around this country. I'm not curling up with a nice book to while away the time. It was a

00:25:45.920 bizarre question. I mean, have one of those just for a lighthearted moment to cleanse the palate,

00:25:50.840 but it was seriously the longest part of the entire show, the entire debate where these,

00:25:56.660 and, and it dawned on me that maybe that shampoo question that Tom Clark put to Justin Trudeau,

00:26:04.140 maybe that wasn't just softball. Maybe that's the true intellectual level at which Tom Clark operates.

00:26:12.100 I mean, seriously, the shampoo question, how is that any different from the, from the Netflix

00:26:16.600 question? Look at it again in the light of his disastrous performance last night.

00:26:21.020 So I guess the first thing I should ask you is, are you feeling lucky?

00:26:24.000 I mean, the entire country wants to know, what shampoo do you use?

00:26:30.620 What a disappointing answer this is going to be. Whatever happens to be hanging around at the time.

00:26:36.500 I think the only thing more embarrassing is that Justin Trudeau gave a thoughtful answer

00:26:40.620 to the shampoo question like he was ready for. Look, I'm not the only one that was criticizing.

00:26:45.140 The entire internet was just shocked with Tom Clark. The fact that he was exhumed and shipped in from

00:26:51.960 his lobby firm, no one could understand it. And everyone was appalled by it. I mean, you know,

00:26:58.820 whether it was Evan Solomon of CTV or Paul Wells, formerly of McLean's,

00:27:02.940 I think it was universally panned as the worst debate in Canadian history. And I'd have to agree.

00:27:09.100 Now, there were some substantive questions asked by Tom Clark. Now, again, you're in Alberta and

00:27:16.080 you're in Edmonton, a city I've had the pleasure of living in myself. Gateway to the North is one of

00:27:21.940 its nicknames, along with City of Champions. Gateway to North, what does that mean? Well, it means

00:27:27.560 exactly that. If you want to go to the Yukon and Northwest Territories, you're probably going

00:27:32.880 through Edmonton. And more practically, it means the oil sands. Edmonton is the gateway to the

00:27:39.220 world's third largest reserves of oil. Oil is very much in the news these days, what with Russia's

00:27:45.680 energy sales to the West, oil and gas and pipelines. And yet, instead of talking about the oil sands or

00:27:53.340 pipelines, instead of talking about other Western conservative rural issues, instead of talking

00:27:58.880 about, oh, I don't know, firearms, instead of talking about equalization payments for the West,

00:28:04.360 instead of talking about Alberta's place in the West or the Western, in the country or other Western

00:28:10.540 provinces, the questions that Tom Clark was obsessed with are the questions that Justin Trudeau would want

00:28:19.400 to talk about. He literally kicked off by talking about an American court case called Roe v. Wade,

00:28:27.220 a case that has not and has never applied to Canada, has no ramifications for Canada whatsoever.

00:28:35.280 But Tom Clark wanted to talk about abortion and smoke out where the conservatives stood on that.

00:28:41.080 And he was relentless on it, because that's what Trudeau would want him to talk about. I say again,

00:28:45.980 I don't know if Tom Clark actually was a Liberal Party mole. I now believe he's not actually clever

00:28:51.920 enough to do such a mission. But I should say, if he was a Liberal Party mole, what would he have done

00:29:00.520 differently other than talk about Roe v. Wade? There was another debate question that was so

00:29:11.200 out of place, it was bizarre. I'm interested in Indigenous issues. And you know what Justin Trudeau

00:29:15.420 says he is too. He said that giving drinkable water on Northern Indian Reserves was his top priority.

00:29:22.160 Well, it's been seven years since Trudeau was elected, and there are still dozens of boil water

00:29:26.860 advisories. Trudeau can't wait to ship billions of dollars to any foreign country that gives him a

00:29:33.300 reception in the photo op, but he still has not solved the problem of unclean drinking water in

00:29:38.160 Canada's Northern Reserves. So if you were going to ask a question about Indian affairs, about Indigenous

00:29:44.540 rights, I would think that that would be a place to start. You could talk about many issues. You could

00:29:50.680 talk even, if you want to, about reconciliation. You could talk about missing and murdered Indigenous

00:29:56.100 women. But I think that Tom Clark last thought about politics when he was working at Global

00:30:03.640 News. And so he asked a question about a 1995 study that's so obscure, it's called the Truth and

00:30:09.900 Reconciliation Commission. They had like 90 plus recommendations, some of which were very odd,

00:30:15.540 like having a national day off of work for, yeah, that's just one example. That's actually one of the

00:30:22.200 least odd ones. And instead of asking a genuine question, he put this weird question, do you accept

00:30:30.940 every one of the 90 plus recommendations? And if not, tell me the one you don't. So this is a document

00:30:38.060 that is seven years old. Really no one's talked about it in seven years. It was really a response to the

00:30:44.360 Harper government. You've had seven years of Trudeau in power, seven years of him making problems,

00:30:50.880 breaking promises. Tom Clark thinks it's 2015. So he's not just asking about the 1995, sorry, the 2015

00:31:00.520 Truth and Reconciliation Commission. His question is a pure gotcha question. He's not asking a

00:31:06.680 substantive question. He's asking, name one of the 90 plus recommendations. That's like the trick

00:31:12.400 question that they played on George W. Bush when he was running for office 20 odd years ago. Name the

00:31:18.660 president of Kazakhstan. What's the prime minister of Kyrgyzstan. It's more a jeopardy question. It's not a

00:31:26.600 question that goes to knowledge adjustment. Here, take a look. We're going to go to the final question now. It's

00:31:30.420 Mr. Polyev. Mr. Polyev, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission presented its final report in 2015. That is

00:31:37.400 seven years ago. And it contained 94 recommendations. Would you make all would you make a commitment to

00:31:45.220 implementing all 94 recommendations? Okay, and I just want to bring you and Dr. Lewis in because

00:31:51.100 there was just one thing I didn't quite understand. Would you, Dr. Lewis, implement all 94 recommendations?

00:31:57.200 I will implement any recommendation that uplifts the lives of Indigenous people. We have let them down. 1.00

00:32:05.920 Even our missing and murdered Aboriginal women, we have not committed to even dealing with that issue,

00:32:12.020 which is a fundamental issue that affects the core of the society on reserves.

00:32:18.520 Okay. Mr. Brown, if we don't implement all 94, what ones would we not implement of the 94? Choose one

00:32:27.880 that you would not implement. I think there should be questions about Indigenous issues, including

00:32:32.360 economic opportunity. They're in the city. That's the gateway to the oil sands. The oil sands are the

00:32:38.140 largest employer of Indigenous people in the country. Tom Clark doesn't know that because

00:32:43.600 he's an Ottawa lobbyist. He doesn't know anything about the West. He didn't prepare. He killed time

00:32:48.700 by asking about TV shows and music and movies. He doesn't know any conservative issues or Western

00:32:55.680 issues, and he couldn't be bothered to try them. There was actually moments where they were booing

00:33:01.320 Tom Clark. It was deeply embarrassing, but not embarrassing enough for him to stop.

00:33:08.080 You know, it put the candidates in a pickle because after one, two, three inane questions

00:33:13.220 more suited for a daytime game show, what do you do as a candidate? Do you go along with it to show

00:33:19.900 you're a good sport, or do you sort of take on the moderator and stink up the joint and object?

00:33:25.800 It's a tough call because you don't want to seem to be uncooperative within the party, but the party

00:33:32.160 threw them into this barrel with this liberal activist. What's so telling is that Tom Clark

00:33:39.500 didn't talk about certain things. He didn't talk about anything that could possibly embarrass Justin

00:33:47.240 Trudeau. He didn't talk about the fact that the price of housing in Canada has doubled under Justin

00:33:54.280 Trudeau's watch. In fact, in the last year alone in some cities, it's up nearly 30%.

00:33:58.280 He didn't talk about the price of gasoline at the pumps, which is partly due to world forces,

00:34:07.360 global forces, but largely due to Trudeau's taxes, including his carbon tax that he raises year after

00:34:12.960 year. He didn't talk about inflation, and he didn't talk about other issues like China and China's

00:34:21.640 seizure, for example, the two Michaels, China's threats to Canada in terms of industrial espionage

00:34:27.560 and economics. Any question that could possibly embarrass Justin Trudeau was simply ignored by

00:34:35.000 Tom Clark, or maybe he's never heard of them because he lives in that Ottawa liberal bubble.

00:34:40.340 I think the only interesting moment of the debate, if I may say so, was afterwards when there was a

00:34:49.300 scrum. Now, unlike the debates, the journalistic, the media scrum was not a requirement of the

00:34:56.740 candidates. They were not fined for not attending. And interestingly, Pierre Polyev did not attend the Q&A

00:35:03.520 afterwards. But the other candidates did. And the most absurd thing was, the only question the CBC

00:35:11.380 asked, and I heard them ask it again and again, in French, by the way, was about global warming and

00:35:17.720 how can you win if you're not in deep with the UN's global warming plans. Here, look at how many times

00:35:23.740 they asked the same question again and again and again and again. It's all they wanted to talk about.

00:35:29.560 Take a look. How can conservatives win if they don't have an environmental plan, if their members

00:35:35.540 don't vote for a motion recognizing climate change? But how can conservatives win on the environmental

00:35:42.880 plan if those members are not backing up any kind of plan on climate change? And if you can also try

00:35:48.820 to answer in French. As for Mr. Aitchison, I'm Audrey with and everyone French CBC. How do you think that

00:35:55.660 conservatives can win on the environmental aspect if a majority of their members vote against a motion

00:36:01.900 recognizing climate change? Mr. Charest, how do you think that conservatives can win on the environmental

00:36:08.640 plan if a majority of members vote against a motion that recognizes the existence of climate change?

00:36:15.920 Tom Clark, actually, was obsessed by the same thing. They're a perfect match, the CBC and Tom Clark.

00:36:21.460 I think the best reporters there, if I may say so myself, were from Rebel News. We had four reporters

00:36:28.240 there and we asked five or six questions. Here's a montage we prepared of the Rebel questions. I don't 0.88

00:36:35.520 think any of these were actually raised during the debate itself. But look at some of the talent of our

00:36:42.100 reporters. They're talking about everything from censorship to carbon taxes to firearms rights to the

00:36:49.220 embassy in Jerusalem. Take a look. Hi, Mr. Aitchison. Selene Gallis for Rebel News.

00:36:55.600 The liberals have imposed a backdoor gun registry through an order in council which changes regulations

00:37:01.060 to require retailers and sellers to collect data on purchasers. New rules come into force May 18th.

00:37:07.680 Will you commit to repealing these?

00:37:09.160 I will. Canada has among the most regulated firearms industry in the world. The problem

00:37:16.120 that we have in this country is the issue of illegal guns coming across our border and getting

00:37:20.500 into the hands of gangs. That's a much more difficult challenge to deal with. And you see

00:37:26.240 the liberals time and again using firearms and legal law-abiding firearms owners in this country

00:37:31.760 as a whipping tool to try to lather up their base and generate votes while not dealing with the real

00:37:38.800 issues. It's the wrong approach for Canada. What we need to do is address the real problem,

00:37:46.060 not demonize law-abiding firearms owners.

00:37:49.140 Hi, Mr. Sherry-Adams-Souls from Rebel News. I know this is a question you've been asked a number

00:37:53.260 of times and I completely respect and appreciate your sentiment that no one should have to apologize

00:37:57.920 for work that they have done in the past. But I just wanted to give you an opportunity to address

00:38:02.820 the fact that Huawei was developing AI technology to enforce the CCP's social credit system and to

00:38:09.380 identify weak years for internment. In light of this, do you have any apprehension or criticism

00:38:14.080 of the company aside from the work that you yourself were doing?

00:38:18.340 All the work that I've done in my lifetime has always been aligned with the interest of Canada.

00:38:24.340 Private, public sector, period. It's that simple.

00:38:27.920 And for Huawei, I would ban Huawei. I'm very clear on that.

00:38:33.440 And just to remind you how things evolved, it was a Conservative government that brought Huawei

00:38:38.540 into Canada. A Conservative government of which Mr. Putty-Ebb was a member of.

00:38:43.460 I mean, Huawei was actually a sponsor on Hockey Night in Canada.

00:38:47.160 So my position is very clear. Thank you.

00:38:50.220 Adam Sos here for Rebel News. The Allen Inquiry found that foreign funding for Canadian-based

00:38:56.000 environmental initiatives totaled $1.28 billion from 2003 to 2019, most of it largely untraceable,

00:39:03.900 and a substantial amount of it was dedicated to blocking Alberta oil and gas development.

00:39:08.540 Do you see this as a problem? And if so, what will you do to change it?

00:39:11.780 Absolutely. I think it's important that we have the courage and conviction to develop our natural

00:39:18.520 resources, even in the face of foreign interference. And where we can detect that foreign interference does

00:39:27.880 exist and that it's preventing us from realizing our potential, building pipelines, developing our natural

00:39:37.300 resources, getting our product to market, offsetting foreign dictator oil. We should definitely ensure

00:39:46.160 that those individuals and those organizations are stamped out and comply with our laws, which means

00:39:57.960 not blocking critical infrastructures.

00:40:00.080 Sheila Gunn-Reed, Rebel News. You have given some confusing statements around moving the embassy

00:40:07.240 to Jerusalem. Will you commit to moving the Canadian embassy to the Israeli capital of Jerusalem?

00:40:15.940 No, I will not move the embassy. I support the position that was articulated under Stephen Harper's

00:40:21.560 government, which was not to move the government as it would make the peace process more difficult.

00:40:26.380 You have said that now is not the right time to raise the carbon tax. However, you have been a proponent

00:40:33.700 of the carbon tax. So when then would be the right time to raise the carbon tax?

00:40:38.100 So I don't support raising the carbon tax, period. And I believe that we should respect provincial

00:40:44.160 jurisdiction. What I would say is I think there needs to be a serious conversation about carbon tariffs

00:40:50.180 at the border, given the fact that we continue to see product dumped in Canada from China and India

00:40:56.700 that competes with Canadian goods, and frankly, product that doesn't have the same environmental

00:41:02.080 or labor standards.

00:41:04.220 Former Conservative Party heritage critic MP Alan Reyes actually pushed for more censorship from the government,

00:41:09.480 calling out the Falun Gong-founded Epoch Times by name, calling it a conspiracy site.

00:41:14.420 Now the party opposes Trudeau's call to regulate the Internet. What changed, and why didn't you speak sooner?

00:41:21.040 I apologize. I'm having difficulties hearing you, but I think I understand the general tone of your question.

00:41:25.440 Look, I think that there is no freedom of speech in Canada without a free and independent media.

00:41:30.300 And that means that we need to be, we need to stop subsidizing mainstream media.

00:41:35.160 We need to stop the bailouts. We need to defund the CBC.

00:41:37.740 And also, we should not having some sort of lip and test test by government bureaucrats saying who's a journalist

00:41:47.000 and who's not a journalist. I think that, excuse me, independent media provides available perspective

00:41:53.640 and it should be encouraged.

00:41:55.620 Rebel News had more questions to these candidates than any other media outlet.

00:42:01.840 There were a few other independent journalists there.

00:42:04.420 Wyatt Claypool from the National Telegraph.

00:42:07.260 Rachel Emanuel from Western Standard Online.

00:42:09.660 Andrew Lawton, our friend from True North.

00:42:12.220 And of course, the four rebels I've just shown you.

00:42:15.200 I was very proud of it, and I think it stood in contrast to the absolutely atrocious media party.

00:42:20.880 I think that that's this country going forward.

00:42:26.640 I think you have the deep state, professional lifers, insiders like Tom Clark,

00:42:33.240 who get sweet gigs even with the establishment elements of the Conservative Party.

00:42:37.980 Like, how did that even happen?

00:42:39.780 You've got the journalists and the debate moderator, Tom Clark,

00:42:43.260 obsessed with global warming in the United Nations,

00:42:46.120 topics a million miles away from regular people who care about inflation,

00:42:50.620 cost of living, and frankly, there's civil liberties.

00:42:54.580 You've got the deep state, the permanent establishment, the elites.

00:42:58.840 And on the other side, you have the grassroots, citizen journalists, and populist candidates.

00:43:05.120 There's a real divide in this country, too.

00:43:07.760 It's interesting.

00:43:09.360 If you think about what would have happened last night without the citizen journalists,

00:43:13.900 it would have been like more and more and more Tom Clarks afterwards.

00:43:17.040 I think, if I had to guess, I think that Pierre Polyev is going to win this election.

00:43:24.400 He has the largest crowds, the most momentum, and he seems to have the most excitement.

00:43:30.000 Jean Charest, I think, is one of the most seasoned operators, and his argument is simple.

00:43:35.160 He's won before, he knows about government, and he is a more moderate face that might make liberals vote for him.

00:43:42.360 I don't know, possible.

00:43:44.120 Patrick Brown was pretty slick, but I just don't think he has the horsepower outside of Ontario,

00:43:49.880 although he has surprised people before him.

00:43:52.760 I think, in the end, if I had to guess, I'm going to guess that Pierre Polyev is going to win this leadership.

00:44:00.400 And then he's got a choice.

00:44:02.460 What does he do to a party that is used to the Aaron O'Toole, Andrew Scheer way of campaigning,

00:44:10.840 the Aaron O'Toole, Andrew Scheer way of talking to the media,

00:44:14.560 of obsessing with pleasing the CBC and talking about global warming?

00:44:18.920 Will Pierre Polyev, if he wins, will he continue to be the conservative populist?

00:44:25.560 Talking about challenging the Bank of Canada for their inflation.

00:44:30.040 Talking about shutting down the CBC.

00:44:33.160 Will he continue to do the things that pleased the audience last night?

00:44:37.820 Or will he, too, become a Tom Clark?

00:44:40.040 Well, we'll see soon, won't we?

00:44:42.840 Stay with us.

00:44:43.660 We'll talk to our friend, Adam Sose, who put two questions to the candidates last night.

00:45:01.480 And joining us now, live from the streets of Edmonton,

00:45:04.600 where the Conservative Party debates were held last night,

00:45:07.720 is our friend, Adam Sose.

00:45:09.580 Adam, great to see you.

00:45:10.540 So I understand you are at the March for Life today,

00:45:13.760 and I'm going to talk to you about that in a minute.

00:45:15.620 But first, we just finished talking about the conservative leadership debate.

00:45:19.880 Give me two minutes on that before we talk about what you're up to today.

00:45:24.480 First of all, what was it like to actually be there?

00:45:27.180 From my vantage point, it was very distracting having a terrible format

00:45:32.800 and a host that was clearly not a proper fit.

00:45:35.840 What was it like actually being in the room?

00:45:38.300 You know, I have to say, when we first arrived there,

00:45:41.480 the mood was very energetic.

00:45:43.400 People seemed extremely happy to be gathering under a new

00:45:47.140 and somewhat renewed Conservative Party,

00:45:49.700 many interested to see some specific candidates.

00:45:52.620 But effectively, as soon as the actual debate started

00:45:55.260 and that awkward format with Tom Clark unfolded,

00:45:59.020 the energy absolutely vacated the room.

00:46:01.120 It seemed like people couldn't get an argument going

00:46:03.120 or make a point for more than 30 seconds without being cut off.

00:46:06.380 And there was a long segment of questions that were about silly things

00:46:10.220 like, what Netflix series have you been binging?

00:46:13.540 What's your favourite book? 0.96

00:46:14.960 It was frankly just silly.

00:46:17.180 And people were basically leaving throughout the course of the evening.

00:46:20.320 By the time the media scrum was over,

00:46:21.980 they very much intended for people to speak with the leadership candidates.

00:46:25.480 Instead, the place was empty.

00:46:27.120 We couldn't even speak with people to get their opinions after the debate

00:46:30.080 because frankly, no one was left in the building.

00:46:31.700 So it started off on a positive note, but it just dwindled as the evening went on.

00:46:36.420 And that's a sentiment that was shared by virtually everyone we spoke with,

00:46:39.500 other journalists as well.

00:46:41.060 Yeah.

00:46:41.520 I mean, last night when I was doing the live stream with Tamera here,

00:46:45.680 I was following on Twitter Evan Solomon, who's a pretty straight shooter.

00:46:49.940 I think he's with CTV, if I'm not mistaken.

00:46:51.840 And he just couldn't understand it. 0.84

00:46:53.360 He said, silly questions, very short speeches, as short as 15 seconds, 0.92

00:46:58.180 and really, no debating. 0.97

00:47:00.640 It's just very strange.

00:47:02.280 I don't know if Tom Clark was actually a Liberal Party mole.

00:47:08.200 But if he was, I don't know if he would have done anything differently. 0.89

00:47:11.820 He just made a clown show, the whole thing. 0.95

00:47:14.240 Literally, that clown sad trombone, wah, wah, wah, wah. 0.91

00:47:18.340 And, like, ping pong paddles. 0.94

00:47:21.000 It was, I don't know, I was deeply embarrassed for him

00:47:24.460 and for the Conservative Party who selected him.

00:47:28.820 But, hey, not my circus, not my monkeys, as they say.

00:47:32.400 Let's talk about what you're doing today.

00:47:34.540 You stayed overnight in Edmonton, and I see behind you some protesters.

00:47:40.220 Tell us what's going on in the streets of Edmonton today.

00:47:42.480 Yeah, so we're right at legislature, actually, today,

00:47:45.180 and the March for Life is taking place, even before the event kicked off.

00:47:49.220 A number of counter-protesters, among them MLA, or NDP MLA, Janice Irwin,

00:47:54.300 dancing, playing loud, very profanity-laden music,

00:47:58.200 already engaging in some altercations,

00:48:00.020 even sort of bumping an evidently pregnant woman.

00:48:03.000 So I've seen counter-protesters at every March for Life I've attended.

00:48:06.500 But things with the situation with Roe v. Wade in the United States

00:48:09.260 seemingly escalating.

00:48:10.700 I must say the crowd itself for March for Life here

00:48:13.160 is smaller than I have ever seen.

00:48:15.360 There's loud music blaring there in the distance.

00:48:17.860 The March for Life crowd is doing their thing.

00:48:19.520 We're a little bit away, so you can actually hear what we're saying.

00:48:22.600 But, yeah, not a massive turnout, but already some altercations.

00:48:25.860 Security has also been involved with some of the action

00:48:30.000 that's been going on behind us as well,

00:48:32.120 which is something that doesn't really tend to happen at March for Life.

00:48:34.720 So already some shocking action just as this event is underway.

00:48:38.840 So let me get that straight.

00:48:39.920 You said that Janice Irwin, an NDP member of the legislature,

00:48:43.320 was part of the counter-protest, and she was...

00:48:47.280 What was she doing again?

00:48:48.420 I want to make sure I got that right.

00:48:50.100 Yeah, she does this every year. 1.00

00:48:52.520 She's always at March for Life with these people.

00:48:54.680 We actually spoke with her just before we ran into her,

00:48:57.180 and she said she wouldn't be coming back.

00:48:58.860 And then 10 minutes later, there she was. 0.98

00:49:00.920 She had a large sign.

00:49:02.080 I can't recall what the message was on the sign.

00:49:04.640 But she was dancing with the group of counter-protesters,

00:49:07.500 kind of moving towards the March for Life crowd.

00:49:11.320 And then there was a bit of maltrication.

00:49:12.380 I don't think she was involved in any of that,

00:49:13.800 but she very much, the counter-protesters, cheered when she arrived.

00:49:17.480 And then she was holding a sign and kind of counter-protesting this peaceful gathering.

00:49:21.400 On the other side, however, we do have presently right now,

00:49:25.100 and I think Sid is filming it,

00:49:26.640 Emily Dan Williams from the UCB giving an address with his family, I believe.

00:49:31.180 His family and kids are here as well.

00:49:33.420 So two sort of opposite sides of a coin, certainly.

00:49:37.320 Right.

00:49:37.800 And listen, I believe in the right to protest and counter-protest peacefully.

00:49:41.760 I just wanted to check on Janice Irwin.

00:49:43.380 So she was not involved in...

00:49:45.760 She wasn't shouting profanity.

00:49:47.440 She was not involved in any physical altercation.

00:49:49.940 Just to check on that.

00:49:50.860 I don't believe so, but we did have two or three cameras rolling on the incident there.

00:49:55.300 I know she was within that crowd, but I don't believe she engaged in any of those answers.

00:49:58.580 Okay, well, I'm very glad to hear that,

00:50:00.120 because that would have been very disappointing otherwise.

00:50:03.600 So is this part of a larger...

00:50:06.980 Like, are there March for Life rallies in other cities and towns as well?

00:50:11.560 Yeah, all the way across Canada.

00:50:13.140 I believe we're going to have our team heading out to a number of the March for Lifes across the country.

00:50:18.080 Some of them take place on different days.

00:50:19.560 There's obviously, a little bit later, a massive one in Washington and the United States as well.

00:50:23.940 I believe these have been going on for something like 30, 40 years.

00:50:27.620 There's a very long tradition.

00:50:28.940 I don't know how many there have been in Alberta, but there's a long tradition of these.

00:50:32.420 It's certainly sort of a unified effort.

00:50:33.720 And one of the things that I did want to comment on is the fact that there's very often very little media coverage.

00:50:39.100 But these are very often the largest protests and gatherings.

00:50:41.880 And other than maybe these new COVID-19 mandate gatherings that we've seen,

00:50:47.080 these are the largest gatherings and protests in the country very often.

00:50:50.160 And there's next to no media coverage of them, unfortunately.

00:50:52.060 Right.

00:50:52.800 So we've got you there.

00:50:55.540 It's, you know, let me just check the time, the time zones.

00:50:59.560 It's lunch hour out there in Calgary as we're talking to you right now.

00:51:03.940 Is this a, is, is, did this just start or is it wrapping up?

00:51:07.940 Is it the same time around the country?

00:51:10.380 Is there a bigger event on the weekend?

00:51:12.440 Tell me a little more about it.

00:51:14.200 Yeah.

00:51:14.640 So there are different events.

00:51:15.780 I don't, I don't have the exact times and dates for all of the different events.

00:51:19.540 I believe there's one in Ontario on Friday as well.

00:51:22.360 I'm in the one in the United States, I believe is later in the month.

00:51:24.680 So they're not necessarily all in the same days.

00:51:26.360 Very often that comes down to when they can book the space for protest and gathering.

00:51:30.940 This one is usually on a weekday.

00:51:33.040 Other ones more so on the weekends.

00:51:35.140 It's just starting at 1230.

00:51:37.080 It's going to go till 230.

00:51:38.400 And past years, it has actually been a march through the streets.

00:51:41.180 But I guess there's some delays in scheduling with COVID-19 apparently.

00:51:44.860 So they're just going to remain here for two hours.

00:51:47.000 It will not be the traditional marches through downtown Edmonton.

00:51:50.320 Got it.

00:51:50.960 Well, I guess what's interesting is just a few days ago, a judge in Calgary ruled that these

00:51:57.340 COVID rules against quote, private gatherings cannot be used to stop public protest.

00:52:04.260 So that was, I think, really the first time a judge in this country has pushed back on these

00:52:11.280 authoritarian lockdowns.

00:52:12.900 Am I right?

00:52:14.200 Yeah.

00:52:14.700 And so just to clarify, so people don't get the wrong impression, that specific order pertained

00:52:20.360 to the CMOHO health order that their CMOH health order that extended from December 2020

00:52:27.000 to January 2021.

00:52:28.560 But any other health orders that have very similar language may eventually fall under

00:52:33.860 that umbrella.

00:52:34.380 But it was certainly the first time that a judge ruled effectively that public protests

00:52:39.140 don't constitute private gatherings.

00:52:41.120 So there are likely to be wider range of precedents set from that.

00:52:45.040 Yeah.

00:52:45.420 You know, what's pitiful is that it is literally May 2022.

00:52:49.960 So we're like, what, almost 30 months after these lockdowns began.

00:52:55.180 It took more than two years for our judicial system to rouse itself from its slumber to

00:53:03.120 defend civil liberties and only in the meekest of ways.

00:53:06.520 Very depressing.

00:53:07.720 Well, Adam, listen, it's great to see you in the field.

00:53:10.320 I was glad you were there last night.

00:53:12.420 Rebel News, I think, led the pack in coverage.

00:53:15.880 We had more questions, better questions than anyone else.

00:53:18.600 You were there and I appreciate you staying up there today.

00:53:20.960 Thanks for keeping in touch.

00:53:21.880 Thanks for keeping in touch.

00:53:23.880 All right.

00:53:25.740 A little bit windy, but we'll say goodbye to Adam there.

00:53:28.380 Stay with us.

00:53:29.000 Your letters to me are next.

00:53:41.840 Hey, welcome back.

00:53:42.840 Your viewer mail, Aaron Calla Lindley says, look into the white gold rush and what they did

00:53:48.660 to China after that melanin scare in formula, it's big business.

00:53:53.620 Just like masking, this was done in China first.

00:53:56.900 I tried to get into the formula business, tried to make a healthier version than Nestle.

00:54:02.040 It is so controlled.

00:54:04.520 Well, I don't know much about that, but I know it's bizarre that in the 21st century,

00:54:10.860 in the wealthiest country in the world, there is a shortage of baby formula.

00:54:16.040 I was looking at some Trump advisor on Twitter saying this would never have happened under Trump.

00:54:22.020 I believe that.

00:54:23.220 But he said if Trump, if it did happen under Trump, Trump would have called the CEOs of

00:54:29.380 the companies to a meeting, an emergency meeting in Washington, where he would have tried to sort

00:54:35.080 it out and order them to sort it out.

00:54:36.660 He would have ordered the FDA to put that factory back online.

00:54:39.720 He went through a sort of a checklist of action.

00:54:42.820 And I read that and I said, that is exactly what Trump would have done.

00:54:47.080 He would have taken command and he would have approached it like a hotel construction boss

00:54:51.940 facing some logistical problem.

00:54:54.600 He would have solved it.

00:54:55.540 Joe Biden doesn't even know what day of the week it is.

00:54:59.560 Chris Black says, thanks, good show, but very sick.

00:55:04.540 No wonder the U.S. is out of baby formula. 0.84

00:55:06.960 I didn't know about Bill making fake formula.

00:55:09.840 They only knew about the meat, which is in our stores now.

00:55:12.800 Don't buy anything that's already cooked from the freezer section in stores.

00:55:17.520 Yeah, it's not just fake formula.

00:55:19.260 I mean, I suppose in some ways, baby formula is sort of a manufactured thing.

00:55:25.540 But the fake breast milk, there's just something really gross about it.

00:55:31.000 And I'm just learning about a World Economic Forum idea called transhumanism,

00:55:35.680 where they sort of hack the human body and mind.

00:55:39.760 And I don't like it one bit.

00:55:41.340 And I feel like this artificial milk and artificial meat and eat bugs and live in pods thing.

00:55:48.800 It's part of a dystopian future.

00:55:50.480 And I don't know why these billionaires are so obsessed with it.

00:55:53.940 I find it really creepy.

00:55:56.360 Arana Nation says, I would love to see a debate with just Jim Carahalios and Derek Sloan alone.

00:56:04.880 Yeah, well, I don't think there would be much to disagree on substantively.

00:56:09.940 You know, Randy Hillier, Derek Sloan, Jim and Belinda Carahalios.

00:56:13.560 These are all people who generally have a freedom orientation and are critical of Doug Ford.

00:56:18.980 I agree.

00:56:19.480 But there's a split is in the foot.

00:56:21.620 And I think they're just going to, I don't know if they have a chance to win anywhere.

00:56:26.820 But I think they're going to cut into each other.

00:56:29.280 There has to be sort of a unite the right.

00:56:31.860 I just don't see him.

00:56:34.200 That's our show for today.

00:56:35.080 Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home.

00:56:39.400 Good night.

00:56:40.720 Keep fighting for freedom.

00:56:41.720 And let me leave you with our video of the day of Drea Humphrey at the B.C. Supreme Court hearing a vaccine passport challenge funded by our friends at the Democracy Fund.

00:56:53.860 All right.

00:56:54.420 Good night.

00:56:55.760 Drea Humphrey here with Rebel News standing next to the brave and strong.

00:56:59.900 And hopefully you will be free of the discrimination you face from vaccine passports.

00:57:07.480 Now, you, like us, took the ferry.

00:57:09.600 You came with your husband to be here in court today, long awaited after seven months of being segregated and discriminated because you medically cannot get the vaccine passport.

00:57:19.440 How are you feeling walking out of the courthouse?

00:57:21.660 Uh, well, like you said, medically, I medically feel very happy that I'm here because, um, you know, the last couple of weeks I, I wasn't feeling very well and, uh, I was in bed a lot.

00:57:34.620 And I thought, oh, I hope I'm better for the big day so that I can go.

00:57:38.840 And, uh, I just rested up the last couple of weeks and I'm happy to say that I'm here and I, I hope to see, you know, and, and, uh, an end to this that includes never having to endure a winter in isolation, complete isolation again, like that segregated.

00:57:58.420 I hope that that's something that I can put behind me.

00:58:02.320 Well, that reminds me of something that one of your amazing lawyers, uh, William Cates from JSS Barrister, both Cates, as well as Mr. Robert Hawks flew, uh, from Alberta to be here today to fight for your medical freedom and other British Columbians.

00:58:17.700 But one of the things Cates pointed out is yes, the vaccine passports are dropped, but the three plaintiffs are living in fear that they will return.

00:58:27.380 Do you agree with that statement?

00:58:29.220 Oh, definitely.

00:58:30.440 Um, I, I think we've learned that there's no telling what may happen.

00:58:34.880 I mean, even over the winter, I was, there was an end date that was initially given to the passport system when it was put in, in the fall.

00:58:42.300 And I thought, okay, it's going to end.

00:58:45.640 It had an end date.

00:58:46.600 And then when they extended it, uh, I mean, really, uh, I don't mind saying I cried cause I was, I was so upset because here you are counting down for something and then it gets, it's further.

00:58:57.380 We're in the distance again.

00:58:58.220 And so I think we've all been able to see how just unpredictable this entire thing has been and we just don't know what's coming.

00:59:05.620 And, and of course my fear is fall winter will roll around and cases or variant or something happens and we're back to where we were before.

00:59:16.100 And I'm back to where I was before at home, possibly away from my family.

00:59:21.260 And I, I, I just hope that I do not have to go through that again.

00:59:25.840 Well, we'll have to wait to see what happens from this case.

00:59:28.180 This is the second case that challenged the vaccine passport in British Columbia.

00:59:32.740 You can find the details on the first case, which took place on April 19th and 20th.

00:59:38.220 Uh, from what I could see, I was the only reporter at the time.

00:59:41.800 I haven't looked in the last week or so who reported on such an important case.

00:59:45.800 And both of those cases sort of challenged the vaccine passport and the strict exemption regime, which started off with zero medical exemptions for people like Lee.

00:59:57.640 Lee's story is also linked below and you have, uh, rare illnesses that prevent you from being able to take the vaccine.

01:00:04.200 Then there were other plaintiffs like Mr. Prendiville, who has one of the recognized, even the government says, yes, this is one of the categories of adverse reactions, which is perichiditis, the swelling inflammation of the sack around the heart.

01:00:18.660 Now, one of the things that Mr. Cates also brilliantly brought up is that, so even though once he had this exemption, British Columbia didn't make any changes to the QR code to allow people like yourself or him that had that paper saying Bonnie Henry says that I'm exempt to be able to just peacefully walk into a place and scan the code.

01:00:41.420 Even though they did make an exception when the government decided that children with only one vaccine would be able to get into events.

01:00:50.340 What was something else that stood out for you today in court?

01:00:53.800 Well, it was just, even with that, I thought just, just because, um, the government lawyers are saying something existed, meaning that there was exemptions just because you say, you know, they say existed, but in the form it existed in it.

01:01:06.680 Is it useful?

01:01:07.760 That's the question.

01:01:08.380 Is it used?

01:01:08.860 Like, it's not, it's not useful.

01:01:10.400 You can tell me I can get an exemption all you want to tell me, uh, but here I am months and months.

01:01:17.540 I'm the whole time months later that I've, that I've been trying to seek a recognized exemption.

01:01:22.560 And I would think and hope that I'd have one by now, if that was something that was obtainable, considering I've got lawyers and, and, and, and my doctor and we're standing in front of the Supreme court.

01:01:33.960 So, um, if it was something that was just accessible, wouldn't I have it by now?

01:01:40.420 Well, that's another thing that was definitely brought up in court today.

01:01:43.360 Also very similar to what was brought up in the first case brought on by the Canadian Constitution Foundation, which just how difficult it was for doctors to a, uh, be brave enough to write an exemption when one is warranted, um, and be figure out how to.

01:01:59.960 So that was kind of your situation.

01:02:02.360 Um, now I'm going to rant for just a little bit here.

01:02:05.340 So bear with me.

01:02:06.400 One thing I thought was very strange, almost hypocritical possibly was that in the first case of a similar challenge, like I just mentioned, uh, justice, chief justice Hinkson, who's ruling over all of these four cases that are coming up.

01:02:20.820 He really emphasized and questioned the council there about why the council hadn't provided an affidavit from a doctor stating that they had fear about writing medical exemptions.

01:02:35.120 Instead, it was just the plaintiff saying my doctor was scared to write an exemption.

01:02:38.760 In your case, you have this hero of a doctor.

01:02:41.880 And I know that because I've done so many reports on the other side of the story with COVID-19.

01:02:46.340 That type of fear is a real thing, um, who eventually signed an affidavit and said, yes, part of the struggle, even though he did advocate and say, you know, you medically, you shouldn't get it.

01:02:56.800 Part of the struggle was the fear of what would happen to me if I wrote that medical exemption.

01:03:01.860 And then justice Hinkson is like, well, what kind of doctor is too afraid to write a medical exemption?

01:03:07.400 And I'm like, you got the affidavit you wanted.

01:03:10.040 Um, but yeah, there was a lot to unpack there.

01:03:12.820 There's going to be more written info below.

01:03:14.840 Uh, I assume justice Hinkson is going to preside over all or wait to hear all of the matters before he makes a judgment.

01:03:23.020 Um, like I said, there's been two already.

01:03:24.780 We have an interview coming up with you with a gentleman who is representing himself in the third case.

01:03:30.240 It's a bit of a broader case.

01:03:31.620 And there is also the organization, which is challenging some of the vaccine mandates as well.

01:03:37.500 I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that, uh, chief justice Hinkson is going to listen to all of the cases together.

01:03:43.900 But what I do know is that Rebel News will be bringing you the reports you can trust on what actually takes place in court today.

01:03:51.320 Any final words?

01:03:52.360 What do you want to say to the people who made this day happen for you?

01:03:55.000 I just want to once again say thank you.

01:03:56.960 Um, being here today, uh, I, I am so grateful and I don't take a second of it for granted.

01:04:04.380 Um, you know, like I said, I didn't even know if I was physically going to be able to get here.

01:04:09.520 Um, and so, and, and just fighting for, for this, uh, it's, it's given me hope, uh, through what was a very, very trying, uh, time.

01:04:26.400 And, and so the whole time I've just been thinking about today's the day that I get to be heard.

01:04:31.400 I get to hear my voice heard and I just hope that, um, I hope for a good outcome.

01:04:36.760 Well, don't we all, this is just one of around 20 vaccine related cases that we have helped the Democracy Fund take on by your generous donations at fightvaccinepassport.com.

01:04:49.400 Please continue to donate there to keep those cases going strong.

01:04:53.880 I'm Drea Humphrey with Rebel News and this is Leah Liason.

Rebel News Podcast - May 13, 2022

EZRA LEVANT ｜ What did we learn from last night's Conservative leadership debate？

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