Jason Kenney throws Alberta into a brutal lockdown. But why are Walmart and the NHL exempt？
Summary
Jason Kenney throws Alberta into a brutal lockdown, but why are Walmart and the NHL exempt? Ezra takes you through it point by point, and gives his thoughts on why this is a bad idea. Subscribe to Rebel News Plus to get immediate access to all new episodes and show-related promo codes.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Hello, my rebels. Today, I look through Jason Kenney's new lockdown on Alberta.
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The first thing to note is that he said he would bring in these harsh measures
00:00:08.340
if the infection rates, or the case rates per 100,000, as they're called, were 350 plus.
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So he said, oh, if they're really bad, that's going to trigger the lockdown.
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But in fact, yesterday he said he's putting the lockdown in at 50 per 100,000,
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one-seventh the level, a level that's lower than every single province,
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other than the small population Atlantic provinces.
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I'll take you through it point by point, and I'll give you my thoughts on it.
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Before I get there, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
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You get the TV version of this podcast, plus extra shows like David Manzi,
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And you get the satisfaction in knowing that your eight bucks a month
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Tonight, Jason Kenney throws Alberta into a brutal lockdown.
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It's May 5th, and this is the Ezra LeVant Show.
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
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The only thing I have to say to the government, the why I'm publishing,
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Last night, Jason Kenney announced the harshest lockdown yet for Alberta.
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He's banning pretty much all social interaction, both inside and outside,
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shutting down countless businesses, and he's doubling down on his enforcement.
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We are doubling the basic fine for violating public health measures from $1,000 to $2,000.
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The maximum fine for serious offences remains under the law $100,000.
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And we are introducing a tougher enforcement protocol for repeat offenders,
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because we will not tolerate those who endanger the health of their fellow Albertans,
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while the vast majority of people are doing the right thing.
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This is the chart from the Alberta government's own website of COVID stats,
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well, it's about five a day on average, 81 years old,
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with on average three or more very serious health conditions pre-existing,
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I'm not happy that five people a day are dying from COVID,
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but it's nowhere near the leading cause of death in that province.
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And as you can see in the government's own graph,
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it's pretty much the rate of death since the beginning of the whole thing last year,
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except for that big spike in December and January,
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So why is the government locking everyone down now?
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Someone who tests positive, but doesn't even get sick?
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it's over in a couple of days like the regular flu,
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They've been coming at us since we lived in caves.
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People who get sick from the virus and get better,
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and that's a good thing to be worried about, I guess,
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the 81-year-olds with heart conditions and strokes and cancer?
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that is not who Jason Kenney's new rules focus on.
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What will change are the rules for everyone else,
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people who aren't dying and who aren't even getting sick.
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Starting May 5th, additional restrictions come into effect
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for regions with at least 50 cases per 100,000 people
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These restrictions will be in place for at least three weeks
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Province-wide restrictions remain in effect for all other communities.
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Well, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on, hang on.
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Just the other day, Jason Kenney was threatening tough measures,
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Literally all of Canada would be locked down under that rule
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except for the small population provinces in the Atlantic.
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It's lower than he said it would be just a couple days ago.
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Except for his government gatherings, I presume.
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The meetings of his cabinet to ban everyone else they meet.
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All outdoor social gatherings must be limited to no more than five people
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Mandatory physical distancing must be maintained at all times
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So two people can meet up outside in a giant field with three people,
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Look, I know the political class, the media class.
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But normal humans will not do that, cannot do that.
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Do you really think that even conservative MLAs will follow that rule?
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Half of Kenny's MLAs and even his own chief of staff
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scoffed at his no-travel rule for the public over Christmas.
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All indoor sport, performance, and recreation activities
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Indoor fitness and recreation facilities must close,
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Not a single person under age 20 has died from the virus in Alberta, by the way.
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I don't think that indoor sports for youth are the problem, do you?
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There are no 81-year-old triple sick people in those groups that were just banned.
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Why are you punishing kids by making them unhealthy?
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Why do you think this will suddenly make people in seniors' homes safer?
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All outdoor activities and recreation activities are prohibited,
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except with members of your household or your two close contacts if you live alone.
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This includes all group physical activities, such as team sports,
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fitness classes, training sessions, and one-on-one sessions,
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and training activities, all practices, training and games.
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Again, I don't think there's a lot of 81-year-olds with strokes and diabetes and cancer
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But look at this next bullet point and realize what's going here.
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This is about power and influence and who's on the inside and who's on the outside.
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Professional sport organizations that have received an exemption can continue,
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I thought people were really, really bad if they did that and needed extra enforcement.
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Not only do NHL players get to play while your kids don't,
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but their exemptions include the right for them to have their whole entourage go out to restaurants for dinner
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and have those restaurants open up to serve them, but only them.
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See, your problem as a citizen or as a kid who wants to play hockey is that you don't have the right lobbyists
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and you're not millionaires playing hockey for billionaires.
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You're just kids wanting to burn off some energy and hang out with friends and have fun.
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See, the virus doesn't touch the millionaires, you see.
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Mandatory additional restrictions for high case regions effective May 5th.
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Remember, they're calling high case regions 50 cases or more,
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when just two days ago, Kenny said it was 350 cases or more.
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Retail services must limit customer capacity to 10% of fire code occupancy, not including staff,
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So stores can have 10% of their fire code capacity.
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So a Walmart that could legally hold, say, I don't know, 1,000 or 1,500 people can take 10% of that,
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so 100 or 150 at a time, as if they even count, as if they even limit it.
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Mandatory additional restrictions for high case regions.
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Faith services are limited to 15 in-person attendees.
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Physical distancing must, between households must be maintained at all times.
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You just said that Walmart could have 10% of its fire code.
00:11:13.640
But a church, even a large church, even what they call megachurches, it could hold thousands,
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they can only have 15 people no matter how large they are?
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So Walmart gets 10% of their capacity, but a huge church doesn't?
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You know, they banned singing in churches, but not in Hollywood studios.
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That's why the Supreme Court of the United States struck down that ban, because it was bigoted against churches.
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The Center Street Church holds over 3,000 people.
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He said he'd crack down on regions of the province that had 350 cases per 100,000.
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I disagree with that on its own right, but he literally said that 48 hours ago.
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New measures apply to municipalities or regions with 350-plus cases per 100,000 people,
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Now he just made it 50 cases per 100,000 cases.
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Not people sick, not people in the hospital, just cases.
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But he's still exempting his NHL friends, and he's still exempting the lobbyists from Costco and Walmart.
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We are doubling the basic fine for violating public health measures from $1,000 to $2,000.
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The maximum fine for serious offenses remains under the law $100,000.
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And we are introducing a tougher enforcement protocol for repeat offenders,
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because we will not tolerate those who endanger the health of their fellow Albertans,
00:13:01.420
while the vast majority of people are doing the right thing.
00:13:06.600
You know, many Albertans, like many other Canadians, love being told what to do.
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They find it, you know, feeling a safety and security being bossed around.
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Other people are holding the stick during the lockdown.
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The staycation class, the lockdown class, the bureaucrats, the officials, the teachers, unions,
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But many Albertans, I don't think they're going to, rural Albertans in particular,
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who have nothing to do with spreading diseases in big cities,
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anyone, rural or urban, who looks at the science on the government's own website and asks,
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why are you bullying children and young people and shutting down businesses for families
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Or some people will say, you know, we live with risk every day.
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Life is about making thoughtful decisions about risk, whether it's crossing the street or what
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And 14 months into this, it's not the apocalypse we were told it would be.
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The time for panicking, if we wanted to panic, might have been in the beginning of the pandemic,
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Or it might have been in December, when the death rate suddenly quintupled in Alberta.
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Why is it happening only now, this panic, when the death rate is down to five a day,
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The hyperdrama is necessary to keep the state of fear going,
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because the pandemic itself doesn't seem to be scaring people,
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Nobody wants to be here, especially after 14 months with multiple waves of this pandemic.
00:14:57.300
You know, my old magazine that's being reborn, called the Western Standard,
00:15:02.120
I haven't been with them for over a decade, but I think they're doing a great job now.
00:15:07.320
You know, the Western Standard reported that Jason Kenney told his caucus,
00:15:10.380
he doesn't much care for his party's base anymore.
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That's the Aaron O'Toole, Patrick Brown approach to conservative politics.
00:15:19.840
But really, at what point is it obvious that Albertans are done with living in fear,
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and how the government's cracking down on them.
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Well, early this morning, the RCMP raided the Whistle Stop Diner in the small town of Mirror, Alberta.
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As you know, we have been crowdfunding a lawyer to defend that shop.
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It's a diner. It's a general store. It's a gas station.
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It's really the only thing in Mirror, population 502.
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Well, this morning, police raided it and put a chain on the door.
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A few hours after that, I went live via Skype with our friend Sheila Gunn-Reed, who was on the scene.
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Joining us now live from Mirror, Alberta, at the site of the police raid,
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is our friend and chief reporter, Sheila Gunn-Reed.
00:16:34.180
I'm just landing here at the Whistle Stop, just trying to sort everything out.
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I guess, like everybody involved, at 6.30 this morning, RCMP,
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along with Alberta Health Services and the RCMP Conflict Resolution Team,
00:16:49.740
whom I've seen down at Grace Life Church, rolled in here and padlocked the doors
00:16:55.580
and cut Chris Scott off from, according to him, about $70,000 worth of inventory,
00:17:05.140
perishable inventory that he had stocked up for an event that they are holding here on Saturday.
00:17:12.320
And it sounds like the event is still going to go ahead, whether or not they've locked the doors.
00:17:18.800
Yeah, now, I looked at the Alberta regulations for restaurants,
00:17:23.940
these new draconian regulations that were brought in last night by Jason Kenney.
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Kenney announced a bunch of different rules last night.
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Some of them took almost immediate effect, but others, I think, delayed a few days,
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And I would imagine that so that restaurants could use up their perishable inventory.
00:17:46.580
That's just my guess if I had to wonder why some things kicked in on May 5th and some things kicked in until May 9th.
00:17:56.040
Justin, if you can, can you go to Alberta.ca slash stop the spike?
00:18:03.780
We'll put them up on the screen, Sheila, as we go, just to make sure.
00:18:06.380
So my first question is, if restaurants aren't being banned for another four days,
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which I believe is the case, and I'm going to check that really with you on screen here in real time,
00:18:19.060
why would this restaurant, corner, store, gas station essentially be expropriated today?
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And we'll put those, it looks like Justin's found them here.
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Can you scroll down a little bit and go to gatherings, indoor and outdoor?
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Province-wide prescriptions, place of worship, scroll down, businesses, restaurants, there we go.
00:19:00.320
Okay, so I got it on the screen right here, Sheila.
00:19:02.180
It says, mandatory restrictions, province-wide, effective May 9th at 11.59 p.m.
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All in-person dining, including on patios, is prohibited.
00:19:19.880
Restaurants, pubs, bars, lounges, cafes, and food courts can be open for takeout, curbs,
00:19:24.920
So why is this rule that doesn't take effect until midnight on Sunday being enforced against
00:19:41.520
Well, it seems as though they're doing exactly to the Whistle Stop what they did to Grace Life Church,
00:19:46.460
and that is acting on an earlier closure notice.
00:19:50.160
So Albert Health Services has been issuing Chris closure notices all along.
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He's just been saying, stick it on the wall with the other one.
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And so now they're using those prior closure notices to shut Chris down before his anticipated
00:20:08.540
super-spreader event, as they say, coming up on the weekend.
00:20:17.080
Like, for example, is the building, I see the building behind you.
00:20:19.680
It looks like people are still able to pump gas.
00:20:24.520
Those are people, just supporters, who saw the live stream that Chris posted this morning
00:20:30.320
at 6.30 and decided they had to do something and come down here.
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I mean, these are old-timey sort of small-town Alberta gas pumps.
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You can't just put your debit card in and pump away.
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You have to go inside the store, prepay for your fuel, then come back out.
00:20:52.320
So what Alberta Health Services and the RCMP did this morning when they locked the doors
00:20:58.240
on this little gas station, convenience store and restaurant, is they cut off this small
00:21:03.920
town and all the rural people around here from their only convenience store and gas station.
00:21:10.120
The next closest convenience store and gas station is 20 kilometres up the road in Bashaw.
00:21:22.300
You can't go to the corner store now if you live in Muir if you need milk.
00:21:26.320
You've got to fire up the vehicle and go to Bashaw now.
00:21:34.280
I mean, Jason Kenney last night made it pretty clear that there's certain people he blames
00:21:46.900
But apparently this virus is the fault of the whistle stop and the fault of people who
00:22:00.600
But it is, according to various governments, the fault.
00:22:05.960
And so I suppose it's fitting that they're meting out a collective punishment by shutting
00:22:11.060
down the essential services for that whole town.
00:22:15.700
I mean, I haven't been in the whistle stop, but I've seen your footage from inside.
00:22:22.060
And there is the restaurant, but it's also a counter.
00:22:31.520
A hundred years ago, they would call that the general store.
00:22:41.320
Now, where is the owner himself, who we see on the screen right now?
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He's gone home for a shower and a cup of coffee.
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And then I texted him before I came on air with you.
00:22:57.100
And are there any law enforcement or Alberta government people on the property?
00:23:06.020
And that's an interesting thing that was in Chris's live stream this morning, is when he
00:23:12.260
was demanding and even pleading with the government officials to be allowed to go inside of his
00:23:19.200
own property and turn the gas off, turn the equipment on, secure his restaurant for a long-term shutdown,
00:23:32.040
And they also said that they need to get out of here, the law enforcement, before other people
00:23:45.600
They said, no, no, no, this is going to be quick.
00:23:48.500
We're going to get out of here because we don't want to be around when everybody else
00:23:53.300
Because they know that what they've done is shameful and disgraceful.
00:24:00.560
Chris did have, I believe, one of his cooks and one of his staff who wait tables and operate
00:24:09.940
the cash register on the convenience store side.
00:24:13.300
It's my understanding that they were both here because they were preparing for the morning
00:24:22.220
And so, you know, the RCMP, it's clear in their conversations with Chris in that live
00:24:27.580
stream, wise of Chris to record that and broadcast it, that they knew that they had to get out
00:24:34.100
of here before Chris's customers started showing up because they knew that the customers would
00:24:40.040
Chris has the support, not only of his community, but of so many Albertans.
00:24:45.460
And again, AHS and the government cannot point to a single case that's attributed to this
00:24:53.720
restaurant that's been operating at full capacity, operating outside, holding events outside since
00:24:59.560
it opened in objection to these restrictions in January.
00:25:04.280
All the problems are in the city and the rural people are being collectively punished.
00:25:09.060
And that's what I said at the beginning of the show.
00:25:10.880
When you have a town of 1100, you know everybody and you can much more effectively gauge the
00:25:17.820
risk to you and to others and make your own decisions because you know what's going on.
00:25:24.780
Do you know if those cooks or whoever were there in the morning, do you know if anyone
00:25:35.920
I mean, that would take some calm presence of mind to take out a cell phone and film things.
00:25:44.260
It's my understanding that it didn't, but that's just on the cursory information that
00:25:53.580
Maybe that did happen, but I do know that, you know, as soon as the RCMP showed up, they
00:25:58.600
Chris was on his way down here and that was it.
00:26:11.600
Okay, I thought we'd just see a bunch of Ford F-250s and whatnot.
00:26:55.400
What's that little structure there by the pickup?
00:27:01.580
Oh, he wanted to have an outdoor movie theater to...
00:27:03.780
So people could still get together during the pandemic, right?
00:27:11.740
I left my cell phone and my other tripod right in the middle of the street.
00:27:19.460
So when the pandemic first hit and Chris was looking for ways to keep his community together
00:27:27.400
and keep them from being isolated, he bought this movie screen so that people could come from all around and have outdoor movies.
00:27:39.060
And they cooked popcorn and whatever and delivered it to the car so that everybody could social distance.
00:27:47.320
And I remember the same health inspector said, no, you can't gather even if in your individual cars.
00:27:52.820
So that's what I mean by disgraceful public food.
00:27:55.580
So I see there's some picnic tables in the movie theater.
00:28:01.780
So let's point the camera to the left a little bit.
00:28:13.860
Yeah, so this is the Stop Freedom Park, they call it.
00:28:19.360
And so this is where they host events so that when Adam and I were here a couple weeks ago
00:28:26.400
for their big barbecue with Adam Skelly, it was all sort of right here.
00:28:32.080
And so this is their patio and they're cooking burgers because even though they're locked out,
00:28:56.720
He's put up a fence to keep the government out.
00:29:32.300
Well, there's a fan of Sheila Gunn-Reed, I'll tell you what.
00:29:41.180
I'll have to buy some Whistle Stop gear, some merch.
00:29:47.640
I think you can find that on their Facebook page.
00:30:03.640
I don't need to give instructions to the country boys about things.
00:30:07.360
Like, I don't have big hands, but look, like how...
00:30:15.380
Like I said, I wouldn't lock my bike up with that.
00:30:22.460
So not only have they closed the store itself, but...
00:30:30.980
Okay, so it's difficult because it's sort of behind...
00:30:33.640
the bars here, but it says that it's closed to the public, and not only have they closed
00:30:40.640
the store itself, but they've closed the campground next door, which also is run by Chris here
00:30:57.400
It says it's ordered closed to public access until such time that this order is rescinded
00:31:02.780
by an executive officer of Alberta Health Services.
00:31:09.780
In trial with Pastor Coates, I learned that an executive officer can be any health inspector.
00:31:18.940
It's just a fancy name that's trying to intimidate you.
00:31:21.140
And then it looks like there's propane, lots of propane uses in the country.
00:31:32.100
So this is not just your regular 7-Eleven in the city.
00:31:38.440
And also the campground, that's where they'd want the propane for.
00:31:41.760
So if they're closed, but I see there's campers there.
00:31:48.120
And some of these are long-term campers, people who work in and around the area.
00:32:06.880
Some of them are just camping here because they need a place to camp.
00:32:40.100
Okay, I was going to read some, but let's go and see if we can say a quick hello to Chris.
00:32:52.680
Well, sometimes your reception is crystal clear.
00:33:04.200
I tell you, I saw his, what does he call it, his zombie burger.
00:33:09.640
And, you know, I'm going low carb these days, so I would probably just order that without the bun.
00:33:14.920
And I know that's a really city thing to do, but I would eat it like a meatloaf.
00:33:25.260
I don't know if it matters, Rebel News Girl, but you might want to put this on the web.
00:33:51.040
Okay, Chris, so 6.30 this morning, your staff were in the store when it happened?
00:34:07.360
Ezra, you and I were talking about this a couple days ago.
00:34:12.020
AGLC, and so that's the gaming and liquor and cannabis people, plus the RCMP, came and confiscated your liquor.
00:34:24.300
I was expecting different enforcement, but after Premier Kenney's address last evening, I don't, I'm not surprised.
00:34:31.420
And so are you, I guess I'll flat out ask you, are you going to cut the locks and go back in?
00:34:36.560
No, I'm not going to cut the locks, but we are still open for business.
00:34:39.460
We're going to be serving coffee and burgers all day.
00:34:41.560
We've got fries coming, and we'll be doing everything outside in the park.
00:34:54.240
Well, listen, I'll let you talk to Chris offline because we're at the top of the hour.
00:35:00.400
Let's confirm for him that we are happy to crowdfund his lawyer, Chad Williamson, who I know is on the case, and that we'll continue to do so as he continues to battle.
00:35:11.280
And if anyone wants to chip in, that's at FightTheFindStar.com.
00:35:14.320
So give Chris my best, and I'll sign off with you now, Sheila, and I'll let you talk to Chris on your own schedule.
00:35:24.660
Sheila Gunn-Reed coming to us live from Mirror, Alberta, a town of 502 citizens.
00:35:33.640
I wonder if that chain that locked the gates will stay on there.
00:35:39.200
I mean, any of those folks could cut it off in a second.
00:35:41.820
The only reason they wouldn't is if they respected the government authority behind that chain.
00:35:47.240
I mean, look, that's the only gas station in town.
00:35:50.480
You have to drive an hour if you're going somewhere in back if you can't get to that general store.
00:35:56.220
I wonder if people will respect the government, which is, you know, manifested in that chain,
00:36:05.900
I don't think the government or even the police have the same respect that they did.
00:36:30.820
Yeah, you know, Bill Gates looks like a bit of a schlep, to use a Yiddish word.
00:36:38.620
The thing about Yiddish words is you don't even have to really know what they mean.
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You know, a schlep, you say, oh, he's a little schleppy and a schlemeel.
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I think when you're worth how much money he is, I mean, I don't think he cares about his appearance.
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I think he's always been a nerd his whole life.
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But I think he uses that nerdiness to avoid looking like Darth Vader.
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I mean, George Soros really does indulge the Darth Vader meme.
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But I think that Bill Gates sneaks through life by having a bit of a Columbo look.
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When, in fact, he's a deeply strange guy who has supervillain ideas.
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Lawrence writes, I'm curious on why Gates is buying up huge areas of land.
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And I wonder, I mean, we read yesterday that his girlfriend tried to get him off meat.
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But now that he's telling people not to eat meat and he wants them to drink poop water.
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Anyone who actually wants to blot out the sun and means it, as opposed to just some script writer for a James Bond movie,
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So I don't know what he's doing with that land.
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Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters, see you at home.