Western Standard - Crazy year of the convoy and what's ahead

00:00:00.000 Tamara, welcome to the Western Standard Studio. We've really been looking forward to this. It's

00:00:03.920 overdue to have you in here. It really is. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here finally and meet

00:00:08.540 everyone in person. I really appreciate it. I'm hoping we can have a good conversation,

00:00:12.640 cover a lot of things. I want to clear some misconceptions or things that have been thrown

00:00:16.420 your way. I'm going to start with one though, because I noticed our news editor went and did

00:00:19.500 it right off the bat. I asked you point blank in the news because we've talked in the past and

00:00:22.720 years come by, you know, through a matter of a party. I never refer to a person by their last

00:00:26.320 name, so it never occurred to me. And pronouncing your last name shouldn't be that complicated,

00:00:29.320 but it gets some people. It's Tamara Leach. Yes. So just see, we get that out of the way. So, 0.97

00:00:36.200 you know, further interviews and things like that. Nobody gets it right there. See,

00:00:40.520 we've already fixed up one big misconception in the first minute in the show. Yes. So,

00:00:44.840 I mean, I guess I'm just going to start with, I want to talk a bit on the personal. How are you

00:00:49.500 doing? I'm doing really, really well. It's been quite busy. Obviously, there's still a lot going

00:00:55.960 on with the lawsuits and the criminal charges and everything. So that's keeping me busy. But,

00:01:01.600 you know, I consider myself an eternal optimist. So, I mean, I don't let it get me down.

00:01:07.660 Well, good. I mean, that's what I was happy to see when you came in the newsroom, you chat with

00:01:10.560 everybody. You're really upbeat. I mean, you've had just a bizarre year that, you know,

00:01:14.280 14 months ago, you never would have imagined it was going to happen. And you're still in the midst

00:01:19.720 of it. So, like, what kind of legal timeline are you looking at? I know they keep changing things,

00:01:25.860 but I mean, is there kind of a light at the end of the tunnel where you might get closure on this?

00:01:31.200 Well, I'm really hoping so. So far, our criminal trial, because Chris and I are still at this

00:01:35.580 point co-accused, and so we'll be tried together, is set for September 2nd. And I believe they've got

00:01:40.080 two weeks set aside for that. So, as far as the criminal stuff goes, I'm really hopeful that after

00:01:45.200 that, that stuff will all be dealt with. And then, of course, we have the ongoing civil suit.

00:01:50.580 So, I never thought I'd have so many lawyers in my life.

00:01:54.800 Yeah, I was just reading about that civil suit this morning, actually. They're looking at hundreds

00:01:59.040 of millions of dollars, which is ridiculous. I mean, it's, I guess, a point of principle thing,

00:02:03.900 then blood from a stone. You know, as far as I know, you don't have hundreds of millions of

00:02:08.300 dollars laying around. No. There's another one to clear up. I mean, I just get so infuriated when I

00:02:13.500 watch the social media things, and you haven't had much chance to speak. One was a rumor, and again,

00:02:18.660 that, oh, you've run off with a whole bunch of money out of this. I didn't see the Ferrari drop

00:02:25.040 you off today or anything like that. So, yeah, I mean, people have been very helpful in things,

00:02:29.980 but you haven't been standing by a bunch of money. No. I mean, and all that, all the money that was

00:02:35.420 donated, it was locked up immediately anyways. We have absolutely no access to it. So, I've heard I

00:02:41.420 bought property in Haul, Quebec. I heard I've taken off to Mexico. I, you know, I hear all these

00:02:46.980 rumors, and it's quite funny. And, and the ironic thing is that if people really want to know what's

00:02:52.680 going on with the money, it's a Google search. It's not that hard. We've had a forensic audit done,

00:02:57.160 and then, of course, we had Fintrac investigate where the donations came from. So, I chalk that up

00:03:03.660 to laziness. Yeah. Well, and people just want to perceive certain things. Like I said, that's

00:03:08.980 part of what frustrated me. And as I said, I wanted to get you on talk and for people to realize they

00:03:13.080 don't have to agree with what the convoy was about, perhaps, or things like that. But you've just

00:03:18.280 really been dragged through the mud as a terrorist. The terms I've heard, you know, Nazi extremist,

00:03:25.100 things like that. And at least to my knowledge, if you are all of those things, you keep them very,

00:03:28.880 very well bottled up because I haven't seen any indications of this so far. Yes. Thank you. I

00:03:33.700 don't think I'm a Nazi, no. No. And just the, the absurdity of this, this whole mess. And I mean,

00:03:40.720 also the fact that the government's been feeding it too. I mean, the vitriol in trying to keep you

00:03:45.620 locked up, speaking of points of principle, I mean, if you look at the basics of bail, it's if a person's

00:03:52.480 presenting a risk to society, if you let them out, you know, then perhaps you should keep them in.

00:03:56.780 Our government hasn't been doing it very well in general. We had a police officer killed by a

00:04:00.140 gentleman out on bail and we're seeing all sorts of very dangerous people put out on bail all the

00:04:03.980 time. But you really had to battle. I mean, you've never committed a crime. You've never harmed any

00:04:10.540 criminal record, nothing. Nope. No. And I imagine you haven't harmed anybody since you've been on bail.

00:04:15.380 No. Yeah. I've been behaving well. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. You know, I don't really,

00:04:22.080 I don't really understand it. I think in a way I'm lucky that I'm not allowed on social media right

00:04:27.540 now because, you know, people can be cruel and I like to pride myself. I think I have pretty thick

00:04:32.200 skin though. I don't, I don't really let it get me down there. My dad always said 10% of the people

00:04:37.500 aren't going to like you anyways, just because, so I'm not going to please everybody.

00:04:42.220 No. When that's again, I mean, yeah, you still, sometimes you look at stuff and you read,

00:04:45.720 but you can't help yourself. But I mean, over time you get, some people get used to it.

00:04:50.120 But you know, you need to understand though. I mean, that whole narrative was crafted

00:04:53.980 by the PMO and the public safety office about us before I even got into big red in medicine hat

00:05:00.300 and left on the convoy. I mean, this was all, this narrative was totally crafted.

00:05:04.840 Well, part of my theory, my theory on it for what it's worth is that, I mean, among the,

00:05:08.640 there was no single leader of this whole movement. It was a really unprecedented organic thing that

00:05:14.340 happened. And the, the thing that you scared them with was that you aren't a demon. You don't have

00:05:21.880 swastika test attitude on your face. You don't have a big, long crazed criminal history. No.

00:05:26.980 And that's not what they want to be projected to the public. They want it to be seen that everybody

00:05:31.020 involved in this was insane and they're seditionists and they were trying to, you know,

00:05:35.400 rip the country to shreds. That's my job.

00:05:37.460 And, but I think that's part of why they really cracked down on you. I mean, if you were kind of

00:05:44.000 off the handle, they would just sort of give a rope.

00:05:47.480 Yeah, that's right. Well, and, you know, we were talking before earlier about the protests that

00:05:52.200 happened in early 2020. So, I mean, I am Métis. So if I had been protesting in that protest and burning,

00:06:01.560 you know, railway ties, would the outcome have been different? Maybe I would be hailed as a

00:06:07.440 hero by the liberal government now. Well, yeah. And it's more of the frustration. I mean,

00:06:13.080 you brought that up when we were talking before too. So, I mean, it was like COVID saved the

00:06:16.440 government's butt from a sticky situation when, and actually it's related to what I was ranting

00:06:20.340 about. The CGL pipeline sparked it off. Some, some protesters got removed from it and then it

00:06:25.500 sparked protests across the country. They blocked railways. It was First Nations, mostly, actually, 0.99

00:06:30.820 I think, enviro activists hiding behind First Nations people. But yes, because of the, 0.97

00:06:35.980 the COVID hit, it kind of gave them an out and everything kind of came to an end. But otherwise,

00:06:42.020 as you said, the government was in, they were negotiating all over the place. These guys are

00:06:44.800 blocking rail lines. They're, they're lighting fires. They're getting very dangerous and they're

00:06:48.760 negotiating. But with you guys in Ottawa, there was never a single even attempt to converse with

00:06:55.100 you. And that's just so wrong. Yeah. Especially during that protest in particular, the prime minister

00:07:01.500 kept talking about the importance of dialogue and the importance of keeping dialogue open and hearing

00:07:06.900 the other side of the story. And he never once wanted to hear our side of the story.

00:07:10.820 No. And as I said, you didn't even try. You know, I said, I know politics, you can go through the

00:07:16.760 motions, you can even send a representative from the privy office down to say, okay, we're going to

00:07:21.180 talk to them. And then they can sit and go through the motions. Then they come back and say, ah, these

00:07:24.680 guys are, they're intractable. We couldn't get anywhere. But at least you showed, you tried.

00:07:28.980 Yes. They didn't even offer that much. Which still surprises me to this day. Because I mean,

00:07:35.480 you know, one of the things I said about the donations, I mean, we raised over $10 million

00:07:39.560 twice. And, but it was never about the money. It was the statement behind the money. You know,

00:07:46.660 and I think that really the support, the monetary support through donations, the donations that

00:07:53.360 receive, we received food and clothing from Canadians, and just the people that showed up on the overpasses

00:07:58.540 and the side of the highways, I think that really scared them.

00:08:02.480 Well, it should. I mean, that raised more money in a few weeks than the entire governing party does

00:08:07.440 in six months. So, I mean, it shows an outside, a lot more support. It's hard to pretend that this

00:08:14.580 is only three, 5,000, whatever amount of people in Ottawa, when clearly you've got donor numbers in

00:08:19.300 the tens of thousands of people supporting it from, from outside of there, possibly hundreds of

00:08:23.140 thousands. Likewise, you didn't get any calls from Putin in large donations.

00:08:27.920 Yeah, that was hilarious, actually.

00:08:35.460 I mean, maybe we talked a bit about just when you started, if you kind of run, because I mean,

00:08:39.340 again, you weren't a professional activist. This isn't your thing. You were politically active

00:08:43.080 before. That's how I first ran across you. You were on the board with the Maverick Party.

00:08:46.180 So you're active, and you started the fundraiser for people going out when the convoy was going.

00:08:55.640 But I mean, at that point, you didn't imagine anything that was going to turn out like this.

00:08:58.200 No, and I laugh about this, because we did not see that coming, really, literally. Like, when I first

00:09:04.340 talked to Chris Barber, I just offered, I said, this is my skill set. I'm good at logistics and

00:09:09.160 administration and organization. How can I help you? And I just had, when I started the fundraiser, I just

00:09:16.640 assumed, you know, we'd make maybe $20,000 in donations, which would pay, say, for Chris and Bridget and

00:09:22.340 some truckers to drive across the country and stand up with their signs on Parliament Hill and then hop

00:09:27.680 in their trucks and come back home. And, you know, we blew past that in 24 hours. I think we were over

00:09:32.660 $100,000 in donations within the first 24 hours. Well, I think part of it was just, you were the

00:09:37.440 first one out with it. Yeah. And you tapped into something that was much bigger. People didn't even

00:09:41.660 know was there until they had the ability to contribute. Yeah. Well, like I said, it was a perfect

00:09:46.540 storm of events, I think. Well, and a lot more people, again, I think that's part of why I got it,

00:09:51.620 because people could see there's a lot more behind this than the others. Like most people just,

00:09:55.780 they don't have the ability. You got the kids at home, you got the job or whatever. I can't pick

00:09:59.240 up and drive across the country to take part in that protest. But boy, I really like what they're

00:10:02.560 doing. So here's $10, here's $50, here's $100 or whatever. Yeah. Well, and again, people, I think

00:10:08.620 just so many people were able to come and every Canadian just wanted to feel like they were a part

00:10:14.340 of it. So if they couldn't come or they couldn't go to the road, I mean, you know, they wanted to be a part

00:10:18.380 of it. So even donating $10 made them feel, you know, that they were part of the gang kind of.

00:10:23.240 Well, that's it. So I know it's hard. It's working with hindsight. Are there things you,

00:10:31.700 I know this could be dangerous, are there things you wish you'd done differently yourself?

00:10:35.300 Not really. You know, I mean, I look back at that. Obviously, I spent a lot of time thinking

00:10:42.660 about everything and what I could do differently. And, you know, I'm a believer that everything

00:10:47.760 happens for a reason. And so I don't know what we could change. I mean, other than say the exit

00:10:53.720 strategy to get out a little bit sooner. But, you know, that was one of the things with the deal

00:10:58.160 with the city that we were so excited about, at least from my perspective, like I thought that was

00:11:02.640 going to give us an out or going to allow us to start, you know, so we start with the city and

00:11:08.180 then maybe we can talk to the province next and then maybe the feds will come in, you know, like

00:11:11.980 I really saw that as a first step in an exit strategy. Yeah, because there does have to be

00:11:17.520 an end game. We were kind of talking about it outside. You can't camp indefinitely for months.

00:11:22.000 I think some people might have been prepared to, but realistically things had to come. But there was

00:11:25.860 just never a chance for that plan to form or go into action because everything, well, finally the

00:11:30.960 emergency sacks said, okay, everything's going to blow up now. Well, and I don't think any of us

00:11:35.800 really thought that the federal government would not come out and talk to us. Like, you know, I've

00:11:42.780 thought for sure within a week, somebody would be sent to just hear us out or ask what we wanted or

00:11:48.240 ask what the problem is. And, you know, that just never happened. Any conflict. I mean, negotiation is

00:11:54.060 the first step. If it's, and I don't, I'm not comparing this to a bank robbery, but let's say there was a

00:11:58.460 bank ice and there's a bunch of hostages. You don't come in guns blazing. You start by negotiating.

00:12:03.000 That's right. Yeah. And they didn't even start there. They went straight to the enforcement

00:12:07.600 aspect of it. So, I mean, you had a lot of time to think, a lot of time while you were in remand.

00:12:12.240 Just to review, how long were you in custody?

00:12:15.380 48 days in jail, all told, between the summer and last winter.

00:12:20.680 Yeah. I mean, aside from one weird night in the 90s, you know, in a drunk tank, I haven't had experience

00:12:25.320 in the jails. But for what I've heard, remand is kind of one of the worst spots to be in, too.

00:12:31.160 Because it's just, it's a temporary, theoretically, custodial spot, you know, whereas a long-term

00:12:35.860 facility, at least you'll have some services. That's right. Yeah, that's right. Yeah.

00:12:38.800 That's why they offer prisoners, I think, two to one on sentences for remand time spent.

00:12:45.720 It must have been, at least brought you down while you were in there. I mean, you know, tough on you, right?

00:12:51.480 Nope. You know, when I was arrested, I just felt like, you know, through the course of this whole

00:12:57.180 thing, I feel like so many things got exposed. I mean, the mainstream media definitely exposed

00:13:01.420 themselves. You know, Justin Trudeau comes right out of the gate, calling us a bunch of names and

00:13:05.400 organizations like GoFundMe exposed themselves, you know. And so when I was arrested, I was literally

00:13:12.280 just at peace with it. I just thought, okay, you know, you're hot, my higher power, what I choose

00:13:16.420 to believe in, obviously had more work for me to do. And I didn't feel afraid. I just,

00:13:24.760 you just put one foot in front of the other. And, you know.

00:13:28.200 Well, and one thing to thank you guys for what you brought up in a sense, like, was it, was it that,

00:13:32.240 yeah, they really did expose just how broken the establishment media is. And just from a selfish

00:13:38.120 perspective in the Western Standard, our subscriptions shot through the roof over that period. Same with

00:13:42.800 rebel and post-millennial and true north, because people were so repulsed by the terrible slanted 0.98

00:13:50.280 coverage we saw from CBC, CTV, global, they were all awful. Yeah, it was terrible. And people saw

00:13:56.660 through with them. Yeah, yeah, that's good. It's about time. And I'm really happy that

00:14:00.100 organizations like this one and, you know, all the independents are finally getting some traction.

00:14:05.440 Well, and people are retreating to us, I guess, in a sense. So, yeah.

00:14:08.840 Yeah. So, what are your plans going for? I mean, you can only do so much while you're still kind

00:14:13.840 of in a legal limbo. But still, I mean, you got plans. You're not going to be in jail for 30 years,

00:14:18.760 despite what some people are claiming to wish upon you and such.

00:14:22.100 Yeah. Hopefully not 30 years, no. I'll be long dead by then, I'm thinking. So, yeah, I don't,

00:14:30.820 again, everything is still a bit in limbo with these charges and everything hanging over me. But

00:14:35.080 I do have a book coming out that should be out hopefully within the next few weeks. So,

00:14:40.000 I've been working on that. And then we'll see. It's just, there's just so much going on right

00:14:48.460 now. It's hard to know where I'm going to land, you know. But I've had a lot of people ask me about

00:14:54.140 entering politics, which is something that I'm not really keen on doing now, if ever. But

00:14:59.740 so, I guess we'll see. We'll see how it all falls apart or falls out. I mean, yeah.

00:15:07.020 So, what's the biggest, I'm just trying to clear misconceptions. What's the biggest one you'd like

00:15:13.480 to cover today while you're on here? Like, the list is so long and things that have gone around

00:15:18.320 out there or false news or things like that. Like, what would you like to clarify while you've got

00:15:22.760 it on? That's a good question because there is so much. I think from my perspective, especially

00:15:33.760 sitting through that whole inquiry, that was six weeks of, you know, when I was there just about

00:15:39.060 every day listening to the testimony and all the witnesses and everything. And my takeaway from

00:15:44.820 the POEC was, regardless of what you think, you know, we were just a bunch of, we're just a bunch

00:15:51.060 of grassroots, blue-collar workers. And we were professional. We were organized. You know, I think

00:16:02.760 that we were able to identify problems before they occurred. And I'm really, I feel like we did

00:16:10.220 everything right, just about, for the most part, you know. We were worried about safety and keeping

00:16:14.920 people safe. We were advocating for peace and love and respect and respecting the police officers,

00:16:22.000 you know, which is stuff that you don't hear very much anymore, you know. So, when I look back on it,

00:16:29.120 I think we just did so many things right. And I'm just so proud of the truckers and the supporters.

00:16:36.300 And, you know, we didn't even break a window there.

00:16:40.860 No, and that was striking. I mean, for a protest with that many people, and no matter where on the

00:16:46.260 spectrum you are, sometimes you're going to attract some people who get a little too excited,

00:16:50.440 or some people who are just outright crazy, and they're going to do some damage or hurt people.

00:16:53.700 And as much as the warnings constantly came out, it wasn't happening. This was a very, I mean,

00:16:58.880 annoying for people. I understand. If I lived down there and the horns were going for days,

00:17:02.220 I'd be getting grumpy as well, or trying to get to work in the traffic. I mean,

00:17:05.680 but that's what happens with protests. You live in Ottawa. Well, it is the capital city.

00:17:10.100 Yeah. But there was no riots. There was no, again, despite the efforts of some media sources.

00:17:16.960 You know, there were no buildings being burned down. The arson. No shotguns seized.

00:17:23.880 I guess also to clarify, too, though, I mean, part of the problem with a non-centrally sort of led thing,

00:17:29.800 though, I mean, there were a few of you who were certainly the representatives and organizers,

00:17:32.560 but at the same time, it was diverse. The border issues. I mean, there was Windsor and Coutts in

00:17:38.020 Alberta, but those had no, I mean, you have to say they're related. I mean, it all blew up at the same

00:17:43.080 time. It's the same grievances and concerns, but these were separate protests.

00:17:47.180 They were all separate, their own grassroots movement. And when we were, I think Emerson was

00:17:53.400 the first one that we heard of, and we were on our way to Ottawa still. So, and we were so busy when

00:18:00.380 we got on the ground. Like, we knew that they were happening at these different locations, border

00:18:05.260 crossings, but I couldn't follow it. I was too busy. You know, like, I knew that they were happening.

00:18:10.120 I tried to just get kind of the Kohl's Notes versions throughout the day to find out, you know,

00:18:14.540 how things were progressing down there. But yeah, like we, we had enough of our own things to worry

00:18:22.080 about in Ottawa, let alone those, right? But yeah, well, it's just that there's separate issues still

00:18:27.520 being dealt with in the law that there's the Coutts bunch, you know, and you can't speak to it

00:18:32.920 because you had absolutely nothing to do with it. That's right. Yeah. But that gets thrown onto the

00:18:36.900 Ottawa protests at the same time. People saying this was an active sedition and there were firearms

00:18:40.840 and there was none of that. Well, nobody's been charged with sedition. No. And that's

00:18:45.260 another one. Which is funny. Yeah. If it was treason, if it's sedition, we have it on the

00:18:49.400 books. Yeah. And they certainly weren't afraid to charge you with everything they possibly

00:18:52.360 could. So you'd think they'd probably would have thrown that into the bunch. If they, if

00:18:56.400 that's, if they thought that that's what we were going to do, which was never, I mean,

00:18:59.540 that was never the case, you know. Can you address a little bit of that? Most of that came

00:19:04.300 from that ridiculous memorandum of understanding that was kind of posted on Facebook, but that was just

00:19:09.300 kind of something hatched up by a little group on their own. A different organization, right? A totally

00:19:14.000 different organization. I've never even read it. I don't even know what it says. I mean, you know,

00:19:18.500 that was never our intention. You know, we just wanted to be heard and wanted the federal government

00:19:24.200 to take a look at how these, these mandates and stuff were affecting people, you know, and again,

00:19:29.940 like every single day driving across this country, people were crying on my shoulder because they were

00:19:35.520 about to kill themselves or they just lost their business or they just lost their job or, you know,

00:19:42.540 like that was, that was our, the, the core group, I guess that was our main concern was, you know,

00:19:49.820 there has to be a better way. Well, and again, that's something I appreciate at least. And I'm

00:19:54.180 sure a lot of Canadians do that. You show that there's a line and there's a point where Canadians

00:19:58.740 have had enough. And even if it's a minority of Canadians, if you're talking about 10% or 20%,

00:20:02.860 that's a significant minority of Canadians are saying we've had enough. We're not putting up

00:20:08.720 with this any longer. That's right. We just kind of hope that lesson got driven home to,

00:20:12.180 I don't know, that's not a government that's easy at taking lessons, but you know, there is a line

00:20:17.500 eventually. Yeah. And I mean, had there been, say after the protest, he's just guessing. And I mean,

00:20:22.820 you wouldn't have taken part of it, but if they increased more restrictions and brought more stuff

00:20:27.160 down, I got a feeling a very tired population would have pushed back again. They said that's enough.

00:20:32.060 Well, the Ontario government during the POEC, we're talking about bringing masks back in and

00:20:39.040 recommending them and they all but stopped short of mandating them. You know, we're obviously kind

00:20:44.500 of watching that very closely because I was curious to how far they were willing to go again. But

00:20:48.220 yeah, they just stopped short of mandating it. Yeah. And I mean, there's a lot that just seem eager

00:20:53.380 to bring in as many mandates and controls as they can. And there were people fighting against the

00:20:58.380 removal of the ridiculous vaccine passports in Calgary. The govern me harder daddies. I call 1.00

00:21:05.120 them the govern me harder daddy. And I still get on her case with Deborah Yellen, heads of the

00:21:10.600 Chamber of Commerce. These are business leaders supposedly said, it'll be bad for restaurants if

00:21:15.080 you get rid of that vaccine passport. This is telling me a business leader, you've never run a 1.00

00:21:19.600 business. I ran a restaurant for five years. Yeah, that's right. And if you're going to have one more

00:21:23.280 step that annoys and limits your customers and everything, it's not good for business. I mean,

00:21:27.560 don't, you can try to make the cases for health, but don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining

00:21:32.420 and say that it's doing me good as a business because it's not. That's right. But that need to be

00:21:38.360 exposed because she shows that there was that element of people, they want more. They want to keep the

00:21:42.740 restrictions. I don't know what it is, that security blanket that govern me harder. Yeah, I don't know.

00:21:47.700 I don't see that. I don't talk to anybody that actually wants more restrictions and more rules

00:21:53.520 and more laws. I don't run in those circles. No, yeah, that's outside of our bubbles. And that's

00:21:58.140 things we need to be careful with. I mean, it's good that you got a break from social media. We're bad

00:22:01.140 for that. We can talk about algorithms too. We hear a lot of our own echo chambers, but hey, there's

00:22:05.300 other voices out there. Maybe just to kind of finish up, maybe, you know, you're not planning on

00:22:10.660 organizing protests. Again, we're standing for that. Yeah, no, but no. But worrisome on where

00:22:14.620 we've had this precedent set on crushing protests. We're seeing that big debate in

00:22:17.960 Calgary right now with, again, where a person just agrees or disagrees with the

00:22:23.020 readings and libraries and things like that, where the city has banned protesting

00:22:27.220 within 100 yards of the facility. You've got to be really careful when you start limiting

00:22:32.520 the ability to protest, even if you don't like. That's right. That's what protest is. You know, we were kind of talking about that before.

00:22:37.660 Yeah. When you crack down on them, the next government might be after you with that same legislation.

00:22:44.120 That's exactly right. And that's kind of what I say when people talk about how, like, lock her up and throw away the key and I hope she goes to jail for life. 0.89

00:22:52.000 Well, that's fine if that's what you want. I mean, but you have to realize that this government isn't going to be in power forever.

00:22:58.960 And maybe the next one is going to find fault with something that you've done.

00:23:02.840 You know, I mean.

00:23:03.600 It might be the head of Greenpeace next time.

00:23:05.100 That's right.

00:23:05.420 It might be an Indigenous leader because it's a government that doesn't particularly feel as fond of their protests.

00:23:10.580 Yeah.

00:23:10.780 I mean, you've got to protect these.

00:23:11.840 I find it ironic and a little bit funny that you can ban protests because that's actually what a protest is.

00:23:20.700 I mean, I mean, wasn't it Trudeau that said at the POEC in his testimony that he doesn't think it's right that people protest in order to change policy?

00:23:27.680 Like, that's the whole point of having a protest.

00:23:30.180 Yeah, I know.

00:23:33.540 And it is a fuzzy area when you get between civil disobedience and the right of protest.

00:23:38.680 It's a fine line.

00:23:39.620 And, you know, the lines get crossed.

00:23:41.580 So just the state has to intervene.

00:23:42.880 And I know my libertarian followers cringe when I say that.

00:23:45.660 Sometimes there's a line crossed.

00:23:47.220 But I think it all has to be respectful.

00:23:51.780 And that's kind of my biggest thing is to always be respectful.

00:23:57.080 You know, like we didn't want to go to Ottawa and call people a bunch of names and be rude and terrible.

00:24:02.960 You know, you know, then when the mask mandates were in, I put a mask on to walk into a store.

00:24:08.000 You know, I put it on at the last minute and take it off as soon as I could.

00:24:11.580 But, I mean, I could still respect their rules.

00:24:13.560 And I didn't go in there and call them names or tell them how stupid I thought it was.

00:24:17.960 You know, like, I think you're going to lose people when you start being disrespectful and rude.

00:24:24.120 Yeah.

00:24:24.920 There was a circumstance in that in Calgary.

00:24:26.880 There was a bunch of protesters who went into a mall and really made a racket and yelling.

00:24:30.340 I mean, these are innocent mall security people and retail clerks.

00:24:33.060 Look, they probably don't like the masks any more than you do.

00:24:36.280 You're not doing your cause any favors when you get on their case.

00:24:39.340 Maybe kind of asking about that as trying to lead or be one of the leaders of this group in a sense.

00:24:44.880 How many fires did you have to put out?

00:24:46.280 Because as I said, there are some kind of offbeat people.

00:24:49.820 I mean, one of the best things I saw was that one clown walking around with that Confederate flag.

00:24:55.140 Yes.

00:24:55.860 And he was masked.

00:24:56.720 And I still wonder how much he really did.

00:24:58.840 And he happened to be masked as well.

00:25:00.360 But they didn't put up with that.

00:25:02.060 And that was the best thing I could see.

00:25:03.220 The other protesters chased him off.

00:25:04.600 Not the police, not anything else.

00:25:05.940 They said, hey, you aren't with us.

00:25:08.000 Get stuff.

00:25:08.700 Go away.

00:25:09.620 And they didn't do it rudely or call him any names.

00:25:13.380 They just said, you're not welcome here, so please leave.

00:25:16.820 Did you guys make some of those efforts occasionally?

00:25:18.880 Oh, yeah.

00:25:19.540 There was a lot.

00:25:21.760 I mean, we were putting out lots of fires, honestly.

00:25:24.940 But, you know, for the most part, people were really good.

00:25:28.260 Of course, any type of protest or large gathering like that is going to attract a few bad eggs.

00:25:33.660 And, again, we just kept our message about peace and love and unity.

00:25:38.960 And, you know, if something came up, we just fixed it, you know.

00:25:44.640 There was the Shepherds of Good Hope.

00:25:46.360 That was, like, I think the first incident that I heard of.

00:25:50.440 And I still don't even know the story there, what happened.

00:25:52.880 But, you know, we heard that some truckers went in and stole a bunch of food.

00:25:57.540 And they were rude, which I can't see, period, happening.

00:26:01.160 But, you know, what did we do?

00:26:02.820 Well, we took a bunch of donations.

00:26:04.500 And we had food banks and shelters turning food away because we were giving so much away.

00:26:11.400 You know, but that was because of the generosity of Canadians, you know.

00:26:14.420 Like, it was incredible.

00:26:16.760 Well, I mean, it was quite something.

00:26:19.040 We're starting to have to run the time out.

00:26:21.920 But, I mean, it's good just to be able to look back and review.

00:26:24.080 Because I think with most of the tempers, when they calm down,

00:26:27.360 I think a lot of people will look back on this and realize that there was a lot of mistakes made on a lot of parts.

00:26:32.500 And, but, I mean, I think it will look kindly mostly on a lot of the organizers' parts as compared to what you've taken.

00:26:38.800 I'm biased on that.

00:26:39.740 I don't know.

00:26:39.900 Some people are always going to despise every part of it.

00:26:41.500 Oh, of course, yeah.

00:26:42.880 Right to the end.

00:26:43.720 I mean, something I'm hopeful for, a lot of judges, they still, liberal appointed or not,

00:26:47.620 they take the role very seriously and they follow the law seriously.

00:26:50.360 And I'm hoping it's a rational one when the time comes when they realize, you know,

00:26:53.920 we're not serving the world any better by putting you back behind bars or any kind of crazy odious sins.

00:26:59.140 Yeah, I know.

00:27:00.160 I don't know.

00:27:01.120 I'm not sure what the outcome will be.

00:27:02.340 But after 48 days in jail over a mischief, I'm not, I just can't see them putting me back in.

00:27:08.480 But, you know, who knows?

00:27:09.680 Nothing, really nothing would surprise me anymore.

00:27:11.900 I was, I allowed myself to be surprised when that happened,

00:27:14.600 when they sent homicide detectives all the way from Ottawa.

00:27:17.640 Two of them flew them to Madison Hat to pick you up and fly you back.

00:27:21.060 Yeah, again, surprised and outraged me, not just because of cracking down on you,

00:27:26.520 but okay, look at the resources.

00:27:27.840 These are homicide detectives.

00:27:28.920 Homicide detectives.

00:27:29.340 There's some dead people you should be finding the killers of.

00:27:31.860 I mean, you've got better things to do.

00:27:33.640 And right at that time, there had been like a mass stabbing in Ottawa.

00:27:37.940 I think a city councillor and her daughter were stabbed.

00:27:41.540 And so, yeah, like I thought that was a little, a bit of an overreach too.

00:27:46.880 I mean, two arm aside.

00:27:48.340 I'm literally five feet tall.

00:27:50.340 Yeah, I noticed you were a small person when you came in.

00:27:53.820 I mean, you only need so much restraint, you know,

00:27:55.540 a little masking tape on the airplane seat and you're not going anywhere.

00:27:58.880 And, you know, the irony is literally all they would have had to do was call me and say,

00:28:03.320 Ms. Leach, we're concerned you've breached your conditions.

00:28:05.960 Please go to the police station.

00:28:07.220 And they had me surveilled and followed and then taken down the street on my way home from work.

00:28:13.820 Actually, I was on my way home from my sureties.

00:28:15.980 I just stopped at my sureties so that she could go through all my devices and make sure I wasn't

00:28:21.140 on social media or communicating with people I'm not supposed to be communicating with.

00:28:24.980 So, you know what I mean?

00:28:25.900 Like, yeah, it was, it was a bit of a surprise.

00:28:32.040 I'm really not that big of a deal.

00:28:35.200 They really are.

00:28:36.200 And as I said, you, you, you, you are to them.

00:28:39.860 You're a symbol of, there are, there were rational people behind it.

00:28:44.160 And I don't think they want the public to see that.

00:28:46.300 And you're, you're still letting the public know that.

00:28:49.100 So I really do appreciate that.

00:28:50.320 And I really appreciate you coming in today.

00:28:52.140 I'm looking forward to the book.

00:28:53.440 I hope we can talk again when that's out.

00:28:55.500 Absolutely.

00:28:56.020 We will.

00:28:56.860 Great.

00:28:57.120 Anything else you'd like to say to the audience before you let you go?

00:29:00.520 Thanks for all the support that everyone's given.

00:29:03.940 And yeah, I, I look forward to seeing what the next few months brings.

00:29:07.980 Awesome.

00:29:08.320 So, yeah.

00:29:09.140 All right.

00:29:09.880 Thank you very much.

00:29:10.900 All right.

00:29:11.160 Without the CSSA, our gun rights would have been taken long, long ago.

00:29:16.000 These guys are on the front lines helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms regulations

00:29:21.720 and legislation in Canada, and more importantly, educating the public about how we keep guns

00:29:27.340 out of the hands of the wrong people.

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Western Standard - March 16, 2023

Crazy year of the convoy and what's ahead

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