Western Standard - February 26, 2026


Don’t let the Kamloops residential school child burial hoax get swept under the rug!

Topics
Kamloops residential school burial hoax Kamloops residential school gravesite independence referendum
Mentioned
Danielle Smith Mark Carney Corey Jeffrey Epstein Dave Winnick Chris Barber John Cleese Jason Kenney Roseanne Casimir Dave Naylor Keystone XL Revival Conservative West Peter Mandelson Nathan Newdorf Kamloops Band Prince Andrew Doug Christie Andrew Coins Medicine Hat Jared Yager and 11 more
Western Standard News Update ｜ Bill Gates admits sex with Russians supplied by Epstein ｜ 25 Feb 2026 Western Standard News Update ｜ Alberta Treaty Chiefs pass ＂non-confidence＂ against UCP ｜ 27 Feb 2026

Episode Stats


Length

46 minutes

Words per minute

194.84

Word count

8,990

Sentence count

461

Harmful content

Misogyny

11

sentences flagged

Toxicity

19

sentences flagged

Hate speech

12

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The Kamloops Indian Residential School Child Burial Hoax continues to baffle and anger Indigenous people across the country. It s been nearly five years since the discovery of 215 alleged graves at the site of a former residential school site, and the government has done nothing to identify the remains.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00 Thank you.
00:00:30 brilliant crazy week in politics and news with lots of stuff to discuss and rant and dissect and
00:00:39 go on about i've got lots to cover today um in a little while i'll have a guest on tamara leach
00:00:45 of course everybody remembers her from the convoy who's been arrested convicted sentenced
00:00:50 post-arrest community hours all that stuff we'll get updates from tamara and see exactly what's
00:00:54 going on with her now. And yeah, I think there was a recent court ruling saying the convoy
00:01:01 wasn't justified. They weren't supposed to, I mean, the Emergencies Act and things such
00:01:05 as that. But, you know, the courts find this years later, but nobody ever seems to face
00:01:08 consequences within government. But when you're outside of government, boy, they certainly
00:01:12 don't let off on you, do they? All right. Well, speaking of things not letting off on
00:01:16 and not letting go of, I want to go on about the Kamloops residential school child burial
00:01:21 hoax. I know you've heard me go on about it before but we can't stop talking about this. We can't let
00:01:26 them sweep it under the rug. It's been nearly five years since that bombshell revelation was released
00:01:30 at the graves of 215 children been found at the site of the former Kamloops residential school
00:01:35 site and since then the Kamloops First Nation was given over 12 million dollars expressly to
00:01:41 exhume and identify the remains. While the band made the money vanish it didn't move a single
00:01:45 teaspoon of dirt trying to find a grave. The hoax of the child burials is now moving into fraud
00:01:50 territory is some people have pocketed some serious coin here, haven't they? So no, we can't
00:01:54 let it go. And bands across the nation, they're emulating the Kamloops band approach and it's a
00:02:00 lucrative venture. It's also causing more social division among people already in a socially
00:02:05 dysfunctional state. There were a couple of reserves of the alleged grave sites. Some
00:02:09 excavation of those sites took place and then they discovered there was no remains there. So
00:02:14 rest assured the bands won't make that mistake again. They'll just keep demanding money not to
00:02:18 look. So Kamloops Band Chief Roseanne Casimir said in 2022, the nation's approach as an ongoing
00:02:26 process of, and this is her words, exhumation to memorialization, ongoing indeed. Once questions
00:02:33 began arising from people about how many children had been exhumed, the government leapt into the
00:02:37 issue by sealing the records of the alleged investigation. The band was supposed to produce
00:02:42 regular reports of their progress in investigating the alleged graves as part of their conditions
00:02:46 of the funding but rather than admit the reports were either trash or non-existent the government
00:02:51 covered it up for the band it's not the band's money it's the taxpayers money and we do deserve
00:02:56 to know where it went the campus band got another 12.5 billion to build a healing house to recover
00:03:02 from the trauma caused by the non-existent graves as well so as pressure continued to mount and
00:03:07 there has been some finally a little bit uh chief roseanne casimir said she issued a press relief
00:03:11 rife with excuses not to dig and basically full of outright bs the band claims they must seek
00:03:18 consensus from 38 indigenous bands before excavating and that spiritual protocols must 0.94
00:03:23 be considered that's simply a load of crap if spiritual protocols called for the remains to 0.92
00:03:28 be left buried by the alleged murderers there wouldn't have been millions spent digging up 0.95
00:03:32 the winnipeg landfill seeking the remains of two indigenous women spiritual protocols in just about
00:03:37 every culture typically demand the remains be dealt with by the family of the deceased
00:03:42 That's where the hoax has another challenge, though.
00:03:43 There's not a single family claiming to have lost a member at the Kamloops residential school site.
00:03:48 Despite these alleged murders having happened in the 50s and 60s,
00:03:52 not one family stepped up to say it was their son, cousin, daughter, whatever it may be.
00:03:56 Part of the funds given, actually, were to find these families,
00:03:58 but it appears the band put as much effort into that as they did in exhuming the graves.
00:04:02 We haven't even proven a single grave exists there.
00:04:05 To claim we have to treat these as sacred is just hooey.
00:04:08 Let's be blunt here.
00:04:09 If the band really thought there were children buried there, they'd be digging one up every month and issuing a fresh press release along with rage and demands for compensation.
00:04:18 The real reason the band won't dig is they know damn well there's no graves.
00:04:22 It would literally only take a couple hours to resolve the issue one way or another, and they refused to do it.
00:04:26 The RCMP knows there's no bodies there as well.
00:04:28 I mean, despite a commonly held myth, First Nations aren't really sovereign nations.
00:04:32 They are subject to the law of the land, just like any other municipality.
00:04:34 If a person was murdered and buried on a reserve land, the reserve has no authority to block a forensic investigation and exhumation.
00:04:42 If they did, they could start a cottage industry of selling burial plots to murderers. 0.85
00:04:46 The reason the RCMP isn't digging is because there was no bodies and there's no crime.
00:04:50 Hundreds of churches, though, were burned to the ground and scandalized over these revelations.
00:04:55 Hundreds of millions of tax dollars were tossed at the issue.
00:04:57 Fags were at half the last three months.
00:04:59 Relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people were frayed further than they already were.
00:05:03 and all over a hoax.
00:05:05 And yes, I'm going to keep using that word, guys.
00:05:07 The hoax isn't simply a footnote
00:05:08 that we can look back upon
00:05:10 and try to forget about.
00:05:10 It's an ongoing thing
00:05:11 as race hustlers continue to milk it 0.96
00:05:13 and take millions of dollars
00:05:15 to perpetuate it rather than resolve it.
00:05:17 As long as the Kamloops residential child burial
00:05:19 hoax remains investigated,
00:05:21 it becomes more difficult to believe
00:05:22 the allegations of abuse
00:05:24 at other residential schools, doesn't it?
00:05:26 People are going to look at every claim
00:05:28 with a jaundiced eye and with good reason,
00:05:30 even if some of those claims might be real.
00:05:31 For the sake of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, we must follow through and excavate 1.00
00:05:35 in Kamloops. We must hold the fraudsters responsible too. It should be our right to
00:05:40 see detailed reports on just where the $12 million was spent, and if any of it was spent on anything
00:05:45 aside from investigating the graves, we must demand it be repaid. If it isn't repaid, it's
00:05:50 time for legal recourse. The era of banned irresponsibility must end, and this hoax is
00:05:54 too damaging to leave unresolved any longer. All right, well that's what's got me wound up today.
00:06:00 Let's check in with our news editor, Dave Nehler.
00:06:01 How are you doing?
00:06:02 I'm doing okay, Corey.
00:06:03 How are you?
00:06:03 I'm all right.
00:06:04 You're a little rough in the throat.
00:06:05 I'm a little rough in the throat.
00:06:06 Been battling a bug for a couple of days, but I'm feeling well enough.
00:06:10 What do you say after work?
00:06:11 You and I go to Home Depot, get a couple of shovels, drive out there, start digging.
00:06:16 What do you think would happen?
00:06:17 Well, we'd be arrested quite quickly, I suspect, but I'm not a law expert.
00:06:21 How fast can you dig?
00:06:23 I don't know.
00:06:25 We'll have to wait the ground thaws a little more, maybe.
00:06:27 i'm kind of surprised in a way that nobody hasn't tried to do that you know i mean we've got a
00:06:32 got a nation of sort of people who might you know well it's just a lot of people yeah sitting around
00:06:38 nothing better to do with their time you know pop out and have a little digging party or something
00:06:42 i'm not counseling anybody no no no we wouldn't do that would we would we so you're roughly
00:06:47 recovered from your vacation now and yeah and back in the winter mode even though it's above
00:06:51 zero now it's as nice as a february is going to get so i'm not going to piss and moan too much 0.60
00:06:55 about returning to winter.
00:06:56 Ah, well, it's not been a bad one.
00:06:58 Yeah, February was good, except for the last week.
00:07:01 So, another busy day.
00:07:02 Again, we got leading off the site at the moment
00:07:04 is a column or a piece from Jared Yager out in Vancouver.
00:07:09 Apparently, a member of city council
00:07:10 lost their mind yesterday on a broadcast
00:07:14 and accused all of taking drugs. 0.79
00:07:18 They're all drug users.
00:07:20 He sort of quickly took it down and apologized.
00:07:23 but it's funny.
00:07:26 One of our favorite topics, recall.
00:07:28 Another fiasco this week with Nathan Neudorf.
00:07:32 The one recall petition against him has officially ended.
00:07:37 And apparently they didn't get one signature.
00:07:40 Not one, Corey.
00:07:41 Yeah, well, that was the one that they thought maybe some fellow
00:07:44 might have been doing it just to disrupt the recall process
00:07:46 and then purposely shelved it.
00:07:49 We've been getting a hold of him forever, and there's just no way.
00:07:53 Even if that's the case, I don't know, but none of these came anywhere, even vaguely close.
00:07:57 I mean, it wasn't going to happen.
00:07:59 No.
00:08:00 Keystone XL Revival is, again, making the rounds.
00:08:04 Our energy expert, Dave Winnick, has got the story on that.
00:08:08 This will come as no surprise to you, Corey.
00:08:10 MPs are saying the $2 billion that we've given to Canada Post taxpayers' money to keep them going is lost,
00:08:17 and we'll never, ever see it again.
00:08:19 Jeez, well, you never would have thought that they'd be at bad credit risk.
00:08:22 No, you wouldn't.
00:08:23 Speaking of a lot of money, there's more, the movement for a high-speed rail is moving forward between Ottawa and Montreal and Toronto.
00:08:33 The head guy says it's very sexy, but it could cost $90 billion, $90 billion.
00:08:39 And we know how these work. When they say $90 billion now, that means, oh, what, 20 years late and 10 times over budget.
00:08:46 But you look around the world and all the developed countries have high-speed rail.
00:08:53 right? I mean, how long has it been in Japan for decades? We should have been jumping on this ages 1.00
00:08:58 ago. I don't know. I mean, there's density differences and cultural differences and
00:09:02 things that make those more viable. I mean, California, I think is the model people should
00:09:05 look at if they want to see about a North American one. That hasn't been going very well.
00:09:10 It hasn't. Cuba, suffering greatly under the American embargo. So Canada is going to send 0.98
00:09:18 And money, millions and millions of dollars in aid is set to go to Cuba.
00:09:22 And some Tory MPs are saying, hey, wait a minute, don't remember, don't forget,
00:09:26 this is a communist country who jails dissidents and stuff like that.
00:09:30 You might want to think about it.
00:09:31 So does Canada.
00:09:32 So does Canada.
00:09:33 Yeah, true. 0.98
00:09:35 Bill Gates finally has admitted that, yeah, he did kind of have sex with those two Russians 0.69
00:09:40 that he came across while visiting Jeffrey Epstein.
00:09:45 So it was a $12 billion affair, Corey. That's how much he had to give his wife when they split up. $12 billion. Ouch. I'm not sure any affair is worth that much.
00:09:56 No, no. You know, I mean, we got the cost. Man, that's something. I mean, at first I'd been rolling my eyes with this Epstein thing for so long, but we're seeing it really starting to trickle out. It's starting to catch my interest more. I mean, this guy was a power broker.
00:10:12 I mean, you could see now, I think, I mean, I'm just guessing everybody else is, but he had quite a nice little leverage racket with a lot of powerful people.
00:10:20 Oh, absolutely.
00:10:22 Highest establishment in Great Britain, Prince Andrew, you know, the U.S. ambassador to, former U.S. ambassador to the United States, Peter Mandelson.
00:10:32 So, yeah, he had his thumb on a lot of people, a lot of very important people.
00:10:37 It's not that surprising then when he got arrested that he suddenly committed suicide.
00:10:42 Worst case of suicide I ever did see.
00:10:45 Well, it'll give us lots to keep unpacking and looking into.
00:10:47 I mean, it's a massive data dump, and there's still only more to come, I think.
00:10:50 A lot more to come.
00:10:51 The most damning stuff, because this is the stuff they're working harder to redact.
00:10:57 So, yeah, it's going to be interesting.
00:10:59 Story that won't go away.
00:11:00 Keeps on giving.
00:11:01 Well, that's good.
00:11:01 When we get a slow news day, we've always got the Epstein fuss. 0.88
00:11:04 If there is ever a slow news day.
00:11:06 True, we haven't had those lately.
00:11:07 Not a lot.
00:11:08 All right.
00:11:08 Well, thanks, Dave.
00:11:09 Well, let's pack your way back into the office there.
00:11:11 You bet.
00:11:11 thank you see you after the show see you later all right that is our news editor dave naylor and
00:11:16 yes lots on the go we cover everything from those international issues such as the epstein files to
00:11:22 of course a lot of domestic and local stuff and the reason we can do it so we're gonna nag shake 0.93
00:11:26 the cup rattle it uh beg for money i'm not begging we offer a service in return for subscriptions
00:11:31 guys check it out westernstandard.news slash subscription take one out it's ten dollars a
00:11:36 month, a hundred bucks for a year, well worth it. And we will, uh, you know, remain accountable to
00:11:42 you and be able to keep getting those reporters out there, asking those questions and getting
00:11:45 that information. Uh, so, uh, you know, in the next segment, we tried this last week, but this
00:11:50 is brand new. We're going to try and get some callers in if you like. Okay. So, uh, it's a
00:11:55 little different. We don't have like the full radio, uh, station sort of set up. What you do
00:11:58 is call if the first person gets in, uh, on a hold essentially at that point, we'll be able to pull
00:12:04 in a little later on to it. The phone number is 866-479-9378. It's extension 711. You'll see it
00:12:12 at the bottom. So yeah, consider it, you know, after that segment, call in, bend my ear, tell me
00:12:17 what you think about a few things, argue with me, let's have some fun with it. Lots of stuff to talk
00:12:22 about. I mean, I don't know where to begin. As Dave said, no shortage of news stories going on.
00:12:30 that ruling you might have seen, and I don't typically jump into the trans issues and all
00:12:35 that stuff. You know, I tend to be actually pretty socially liberal, but I'm also of the point,
00:12:40 you know, I'm a libertarian and people should be able to say whatever the heck they like,
00:12:42 whether you agree with it or don't agree with it. And that case in BC, $750,000 against that
00:12:49 teacher. And among the things within it was hurt feelings. Guys, there is no right not to have your
00:12:55 feelings hurt. I'm sorry. Hey, having your feelings hurt sucks. It all happens to us now and then.
00:13:00 Those are the lessons we learned all the way from elementary school, well, probably to the grave.
00:13:04 But it doesn't mean you should be financially compensated for it.
00:13:06 And that number is beyond the pale. 0.97
00:13:09 I mean, that's ridiculous. 0.95
00:13:11 It was bad enough hearing about a hairstylist. 0.77
00:13:13 They got fined $500 from one of these kangaroo courts, human rights tribunals,
00:13:20 because they didn't have a non-binary option.
00:13:23 But then hurt feelings.
00:13:25 I mean, I didn't look much into this teacher.
00:13:27 I'm guessing maybe he was pretty nasty and rude about things. 0.99
00:13:31 Oh, well, life sucks. 0.98
00:13:31 Get on, get over with. 0.92
00:13:33 750,000.
00:13:35 And that caught international attention from of all people.
00:13:38 And this is where I'm getting some hope, though, with the tide changing on some stuff.
00:13:42 John Cleese, you know, from Monty Python, from over there, always had been quite a lefty.
00:13:48 He liked to talk about politics on X and you see his commentary and things.
00:13:52 But he's hit that point, I think, where, well, for one, he's old enough.
00:13:55 You know, a lot of older people get to the point where there's just no filter left. 0.99
00:13:57 and they'll just say whatever comes in their mind. So just imagine what I'm going to be like
00:14:00 in 20 more years. Either way, Cleese has always been outspoken. And now, though, he's drifting
00:14:06 quite a ways from the left. And he was talking about doing a tour across Canada. He does, you
00:14:10 know, comedy speaking tours, things like that around the world. And he called up that ruling
00:14:15 and said, whoa, you know what? I think I might reconsider coming to Canada altogether if that's
00:14:20 the sort of thing they do when it comes to speech and ideas like that. You see, comedians are on
00:14:24 the front line of free speech. As well, he's been ripping into Islam in a way that I get on X and
00:14:31 follow John Cleese, this turnaround from a high profile person saying the quiet part out loud at
00:14:37 last, which is great to see. I mean, we've been ripping into some of those cultural problems and
00:14:41 problems for a long time, but now we're starting to see people on a different caliber level. So
00:14:46 check him out on there. Maybe some tides are turning. All right, let's get to my guest before
00:14:51 she gets arrested again or something like that it's uh barely everybody knows who she is and
00:14:56 she was with the uh truckers convoy of course and uh you know a terrible threat to the security
00:15:03 to the point of having to be imprisoned without bail for for weeks and weeks at a time uh now
00:15:09 she's mostly free and she's here to talk to us today so how's it going tamara it's going really
00:15:14 well cory thanks so much for having me it's nice to see you again oh yeah yeah it's been a while
00:15:19 So I appreciate that.
00:15:23 I guess part of it, though, for a lot of people, they might not have seen stuff just to bring them up to date.
00:15:29 You're still under a house arrest, but now because of workplace allowances, you're allowed to kind of travel around a bit, right?
00:15:36 Correct. Yes, I am currently serving an 18 month sentence, 12 months house arrest and then six months of curfew.
00:15:43 However, I was given 74 days time served due to the nearly 50 that I spent in jail, which is funny because that's pretty much unprecedented for a mischief period.
00:15:56 So my sentence will be complete on January the 21st.
00:15:59 Chris Barber's will be complete at the end of next April.
00:16:03 Okay, well, and you did some community service for a bit too?
00:16:08 I did, yeah.
00:16:09 I had 100 hours of community service to perform.
00:16:11 so between my church i work there once a week and also three times a week at the local food bank so
00:16:17 and i really enjoyed my time there it didn't really seem like punishment to be honest
00:16:22 i'm still volunteering actually at the food bank they're going to let me continue to do that which
00:16:25 is quite nice well that's you know kind of a good outcome though it's better if you just used to
00:16:30 those things rather than have a judge mandated you know it can ruin a good thing uh so i mean
00:16:36 I mean, frustration you've got to be expressing, I imagine, to a degree, though.
00:16:40 We're seeing, you know, rulings are following up and realizing it was the federal government that was unreasonable during the convoy, you know, month, basically, or months even.
00:16:51 I mean, the Emergencies Act was beyond the pale.
00:16:54 It was out of control.
00:16:55 But still, they never backed off on cracking down on you and Chris Barber.
00:17:00 But nobody in the government has been held accountable.
00:17:02 There's no sign that they will be.
00:17:03 Well, obviously, that is a source of frustration for Chris and myself, and I'm sure many other Freedom Convoy people that were that were persecuted or prosecuted and charged.
00:17:16 It is, as I just said, I've been convicted in a court of law, found guilty of committing mischief, and I'm serving my sentence.
00:17:24 And it is frustrating knowing that the government of Canada, the Liberal Party of Canada, invoking the Emergencies Act was ruled ultra-virus and unlawful.
00:17:33 And we haven't even had a statement from the PMO or the Justice Minister on the Federal Court of Appeals ruling, which upheld Justice Mosley's decision.
00:17:44 So apparently in Canada, mischief is a more heinous and punishable crime than trampling your rights and freedoms is the message that this is sending to Canadians.
00:17:54 Well, you know, it's something that should be applied to both, you know, your own case and with the federal government and how things have gone.
00:18:02 I mean, we've really let things get so slow in our court system, though.
00:18:06 These are things that should be resolved in much, much less time for the sake of the defendant, whether they're guilty or not.
00:18:13 uh and likewise with the government i mean if they've done wrong we want to get to the bottom
00:18:17 of it rather than taking four or five years and then things are forgotten or can be swept under
00:18:22 the rug or people kind of let it go i mean it's it's the process is the punishment well and i
00:18:28 think that's the point i think the point is is they want to just ignore this um this ruling um
00:18:33 and sweep it under the rug and hope everybody forgets about it like i said it's it's very
00:18:38 unusual that they haven't even issued a statement about it and not only that but even the pandemic
00:18:43 as a whole we haven't even had an inquiry or anything into the handling of it um what they
00:18:48 could do differently next time what they would do better what they wouldn't do i mean generally
00:18:53 in in a situation of that magnitude you see inquests and inquiries and investigations that
00:18:58 follow something like that so we haven't even seen um any type of any type of action in that
00:19:03 form yet either no and i mean i i don't think enough canadians should understand you know forget
00:19:09 the gravity of exercising something as serious as the Emergencies Act. I mean, it's a version
00:19:13 of martial law. It's an emergency button for a government if the aliens are invading or
00:19:19 if something really disastrous has really occurred to the point where we have to suspend
00:19:24 civil liberties for a short period of time to get it under control. And it's become quite clear
00:19:29 that that didn't meet that bar in Canada during the convoy. But again, there's been no consequence
00:19:36 for not meeting that bar the case in korea we we heard mentioned the other night with a
00:19:40 former prime minister there he got quite heavily penalized for uh wrongly imposing the emergencies
00:19:45 act there yes he's facing life in prison uh i believe for for his invocation of their version
00:19:52 of martial law um and justin trudeau got katy perry so you know um and and what we're seeing too
00:20:01 is that a lot of these mps that were involved or former mps that were involved in the decision to
00:20:05 invoke the emergencies acts are all failing upwards they're being you know sort of pushed
00:20:10 out of cabinet or pushed out of parliament into these nice cushy consulting jobs yara sacks i
00:20:16 believe the lady who stood up in the house of commons and said honk honk was the same as us
00:20:21 saying hile you know uh the bad guy um absolutely ludicrous is working for the sussex strategy group 0.85
00:20:29 now if you look up the sussex strategy group they're just a they're just a bunch of people
00:20:34 that sit around you know talking they're i mean this is this is how these people end up or they
00:20:40 get nice cushy ambassador jobs too right um but no accountability no it says a lot with a lot of
00:20:46 those jobs if they're ambassadorships there are other consultancies or things but it's amazing
00:20:50 how many of them end up out of the country for their soft landing where uh they will be forgotten
00:20:55 about and not questioned rather than even a local directorship or or crown corporation head or or
00:21:01 something like that going on here. A lot of them lately just seem to be hopping the border when
00:21:06 they finish up. Yes, I know. Everyone should be so lucky, eh? Yeah, I hear you. Well, as we sit
00:21:14 around talking for a living as well, we don't get compensated nearly as well as those guys do.
00:21:19 So speaking of which, you've been on the tour with myself, and this has been something you've
00:21:23 been working on. You've always been something of an independent maverick days in the past and
00:21:30 currently. So I'm going to, you know, take a leap and imagine you've kind of come to the same
00:21:35 conclusion of me, that the federation really can't be repaired, but maybe we can fix a part of it.
00:21:41 Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly. I mean, as you heard me talk about, I sort of did a whole 360
00:21:46 on the independence thing. Obviously, I grew up a proud Canadian and then joined, you know,
00:21:52 the Wexit movement and the Maverick party throughout that, actively helped Jason Kenney
00:21:57 and my local MLA in the 2019 provincial election and then of course my perspective shifted when I
00:22:03 went across Canada with the Freedom Convoy and I saw you know these Canadians all come together
00:22:07 and I really believe that you know it was worth saving. I still believe Canada is worth saving
00:22:12 I'm just unsure of if it can be saved and so I believe you know the the run for independence I
00:22:20 think this is a great way to exercise democracy and to give the Albertans a choice and a voice
00:22:26 and it's going to be a really exciting year.
00:22:29 I mean, it's really exciting to go out to these petition signings
00:22:31 and seeing all the smiling faces and a lot of hope
00:22:34 and a lot of excitement for the future again,
00:22:37 which is quite reminiscent of how it felt when we drove across Canada.
00:22:40 So as much as I think it's sad to see this happening
00:22:45 and I don't think anyone really wants to see Canada break apart,
00:22:49 we have to sort of save ourselves, I think.
00:22:52 You know, this is not working for us.
00:22:54 And you'll hear the question repeatedly, you know, if Alberta wasn't already a part of Confederation, if we were offered what we have now, would we would we agree to join?
00:23:05 And I think that's a wholehearted no.
00:23:08 But I think, again, I think it's just really important that we have an opportunity to actually exercise our democratic rights and give ourselves a voice and a say.
00:23:17 And it's going to be exciting to see how the next few months roll out.
00:23:23 Absolutely.
00:23:23 Absolutely. We're in for, I mean, historic years.
00:23:25 We've got a referendum approaching.
00:23:27 We've never had that happen out in Alberta before.
00:23:29 And, you know, I've been watching the independence movement for a long, long time.
00:23:33 And something, there's a lot, something very different this time.
00:23:35 I mean, there was Doug Christie and the West Fed and such in Western Canada concept back in the 80s.
00:23:40 And there was the Alberta Independence Party that started at the end of the 90s.
00:23:44 These came and went. They crested. They fell by the wayside.
00:23:47 But something's different this time.
00:23:49 I think the convoy has a lot to do with that and COVID in general.
00:23:52 because for the first time you know there's been lots of political-minded people and so on screaming
00:23:58 out hey your your rights are being eroded the government's getting too big it's uh we're losing
00:24:02 our checks and balances nobody really paid attention to it until they suddenly saw what
00:24:07 can happen when they suddenly realized you can be kept away from your workplace away from your
00:24:12 loved ones you can you know have your rights completely infringed upon and that feeling of
00:24:19 having um you know security i guess you could say is gone like people are engaged in a way we've
00:24:26 never seen before the meetings are still packed i mean we're sold out in edmonton the other night
00:24:30 and i would think that the convoy had something to do with that well i think what the convoy did
00:24:36 was it exposed a lot of shenanigans that were happening in our federal government i mean it
00:24:41 was so much more it ended up being so much more than just us traveling there to have a discussion
00:24:46 about the mandates um throughout the throughout the whole protest i mean the liberal government
00:24:53 continued to expose themselves um i think some nefarious intentions they showed that they were
00:24:58 not acting in good faith and so i think it really opened a lot of eyes um especially out in western
00:25:05 canada and and let's face it i mean western canadians are tired of being used and ignored
00:25:10 I think the MOU well a lot of people did applaud Daniel Smith and Mark Carney for the MOU regarding
00:25:19 pipelines I mean it's just a piece of paper and I think we're tired of lip service and we'd like
00:25:24 to see some concrete action. Absolutely so what do you think let's just jump the clock ahead a
00:25:34 little bit what if there was an independent Alberta an independent west what would you want to see to
00:25:38 make sure that we don't have to endure. I mean, there's always that risk that we flip out of what
00:25:42 we just left and into a smaller version of what that was. What should we be looking to do
00:25:48 to ensure we're making a better place rather than just a lateral move or even a worse move?
00:25:54 Well, you're absolutely right about that. A lot of these things tend to end up exactly the way
00:25:58 that they started. I think first and foremost, a smaller government is definitely necessary.
00:26:04 I think there's a lot of ways that we're going to be able to succeed. I mean,
00:26:07 you go out and you hear some people speak and it's all doom and gloom or pensions and you've
00:26:12 raised some excellent points and um and not only that i mean one of the great things i really like
00:26:17 about your book is that you are giving tips on how to do this successfully how to approach
00:26:22 independence successfully you know based on your own experience and some mistakes that you've made
00:26:26 in the past as well pardon me excuse me yeah well and that's part of it we can't forget our history
00:26:35 we can't forget the mistakes we've made that seems to be a bad habit we have doing is oh
00:26:39 sorry about that we'll deal with that later and then we just kind of move on that was part of my
00:26:43 rant to begin with with the Kamloops residential school gravesite thing too people are kind of
00:26:47 saying okay nothing to see here let's just stop looking and not look into that well hang on I
00:26:51 want to see a system where this can't happen again and I'm not seeing that and that's part of it too
00:26:59 you know with what was exposed during the convoy we're one more virus away from being locked down
00:27:04 again nothing has changed in that regard so i think it's important for us is if we're talking
00:27:10 about independence alberta to have people like yourself speaking about remind us we've got to
00:27:15 have those protections for individuals in in a new new alberta and that's one reason why why we still
00:27:22 have to see justice and accountability for the invocation in the first place um because if we
00:27:27 don't see that then then it just leaves it open for them to do it again what's to stop them from
00:27:32 doing it again if there's absolutely no consequences i mean what did it cost them a
00:27:37 couple of inquiries you know that i mean so yeah i think um i think it's really important that we
00:27:43 hold their feet to the fire here so uh just kind of getting in closing you did release a book a
00:27:49 while back i think i spoke to you when you when it first popped out but still not everybody has
00:27:53 read it yet and they really should it's called hold the line uh it gives some background of
00:27:58 course on everything that happened your your perspective on you know how you kind of fell
00:28:02 into a position of uh leading a convoy out there in ottawa where can people find your book uh it's
00:28:09 available on amazon actually or you can uh you can order it through the convoybook.com uh through
00:28:14 rebel news i believe also and yeah we're just getting started on book number two here with
00:28:19 in the next week or two so it'll be uh it'll be exciting it'll be an exciting summer right on and
00:28:24 And so where can people find you these days?
00:28:26 I know you've got a new job lately.
00:28:29 Yes, yes.
00:28:30 I'm working for Rebel News, actually, which works out fantastic.
00:28:33 It allows me to get out of the house for some work exemptions.
00:28:36 And it's going to keep me really busy.
00:28:38 So you can find me at Rebel News.
00:28:40 You can also find me on X at at Leech Tamara.
00:28:43 And you're touring on the Independence Tour.
00:28:46 There's five more stops left on that one.
00:28:48 I think it's independenctour.com to see where those are?
00:28:51 It is, yeah.
00:28:52 That's where you can see where we'll be coming.
00:28:54 you can get your tickets and all the information about our tour.
00:28:57 So, and it's been amazing so far.
00:28:59 I love the question and answer portion is actually my most favorite.
00:29:02 We've had some really thoughtful questions and some really thoughtful
00:29:06 concerns that have come out of this.
00:29:07 So I'm really happy about the discussions that I hope that we're sparking
00:29:11 anyways.
00:29:12 I hope so too.
00:29:13 No, it's been fun.
00:29:14 And just in case everybody's wondering, yeah,
00:29:16 I'm on that tour as well.
00:29:17 So if you want to come out and bend our ears and those question periods and
00:29:21 everything else, check out that independenctour.com.
00:29:23 get signed books all that good stuff and uh you know we're moving ourselves closer to that line
00:29:28 uh anything else you'd like to add before i let you go then no that's that's pretty much it for
00:29:33 me i think great well thank you our listeners and viewers really appreciate the update we're
00:29:38 always concerned about how things have been going it's been such a long drawn out for a few years
00:29:42 for you so thanks again and i guess we'll see you tomorrow night yes you sure will thanks a lot cory
00:29:48 have a great day thank you so one more time guys that is uh tamara leach you can find her book it
00:29:53 is called hold the line and yes she's working for rebel media it's we're competitors in that sense
00:29:58 but it's a you know we they're media outlets that are independent and complement each other we're
00:30:03 not at each other's throats i want to see everybody subscribe to both publications uh not just one
00:30:09 or the other and uh yeah there's a a lot to be fought a lot to fight for so let's see what else
00:30:17 we got going on here provincially um it's been interesting and we're seeing some folks coming
00:30:22 out on that uh you know as we're moving into a referendum year it's coming this fall one way or
00:30:28 another and uh where's nancy where's this star ndp leader who was going to bring them over the 1.00
00:30:36 line who was going to change everything the head nancy former mayor of calgary he was believe it
00:30:41 or not you can google this i know it sounds a little hard to believe i don't know i'm not a
00:30:44 good judge of of uh the main appearance but he was calgary's sexiest man four years running
00:30:51 apparently quite something and after all of that and he gets to the head of the new democrat party
00:30:58 and guess what he's flopping you know premier smith is still growing in the polls she's still 1.00
00:31:03 gaining she's doing all right what's he doing wrong i you know my views on it and i've watched
00:31:09 in she quite closely for quite a while uh is he doesn't know how to operate in a party environment
00:31:16 you see you got to understand it's a little different well it's one thing to be a mayor
00:31:20 and have a room of 15 people that you uh manage and he fought mostly with that city council the
00:31:28 whole time he was in there as mayor as well running a party is a whole different animal
00:31:33 that's where you actually have to have a little bit of humility which is something she doesn't 0.99
00:31:38 have it all you know i've been critical in many many ways on many many things and i'll continue
00:31:43 to be uh one thing i never saw out of him was signs of corruption you know i'll give credit
00:31:49 where it's or some in case he's mining his own pocket he's he's a rough political player he'll
00:31:55 play dirty he'll do a lot of that but he's not corrupted or anything that way his vice is his
00:32:00 vanity he says it outright he says he's the smartest man in the room he walks into a room
00:32:06 and he just glows. It's all about him. Well, that's not so well received in a party atmosphere.
00:32:14 And I got a feeling, I'm just guessing, that the NDP caucus isn't necessarily too thrilled
00:32:19 in being second banana to this man. You know, he's operating on his own. He's talking to them.
00:32:25 He's viewed, he was in the leadership, even though he wanted handily, as a bit of an outsider. He
00:32:29 didn't take his lumps climbing the union ladder to get to the head of the NDP as they usually do.
00:32:35 popped in from the outside as an outside savior. So in a party environment, if you don't have that
00:32:42 loyalty and support from your own party members and party organizers and such, you have a much
00:32:50 harder time being effective in office. Again, there can be a one-man show. You can't do that
00:32:55 as a party leader. You want to stand up as a party leader. You want to be the one that people go to
00:33:00 on things. But there are a lot of ambitious people underneath you who expect their due,
00:33:06 who expect to be respected, who want their voices to be out there as well. And they're just not
00:33:14 feeling it for him. So when you don't have that, he can't effectively take advantage of things. I
00:33:18 mean, that procurement scandal with healthcare, and it's really never been resolved. And that was
00:33:23 a bad screw-up on the part of the Smith government.
00:33:27 I've got to say, Notley would have really mopped the floor
00:33:31 with Smith over that one. She would have really made and scored some political 1.00
00:33:35 points. I do not want to see the NDP in. I'm not trying to
00:33:39 give tips, I guess, in a way that would lead to that. But it shows a different
00:33:43 skill set and ability to grab those issues and make use of them. Nenshi
00:33:46 is just there, and he just can't seem to get his feet going from under him. And even guys
00:33:51 who can't stand Premier Smith, like Don Braid, he's a columnist with the Herald, he's been there
00:33:56 forever. He's been writing, like, what the heck is with Menchie? He's a total flop. So that gives
00:34:02 Premier Smith a lot of free reign to do what she wants, you know, provincially, when you've got no 1.00
00:34:07 one breathing down your throat. But what an interesting political picture we've got on the
00:34:11 go right now. So let's go to the federal polls. I mean, provincially, support for independence has
00:34:16 been growing western standard has some exclusive polls you can see that and the ucp has been
00:34:21 seeing their support grow but federally mark carney is strong he's wrapping up the country
00:34:28 like it or hate it that's the reality the conservatives are speaking again of leaders
00:34:33 who can't just seem to manage to capture the imagination or the support of people in general
00:34:38 and i like peer palia but obviously a lot of canadians don't and they just continue to keep
00:34:45 sinking and sinking. And I don't get it myself. I mean, I certainly don't. So Carney is spending
00:34:50 like a madman. He's really not been governing responsibly. Yet at the same time, he's gaining
00:34:57 in support. Predominantly, again, Central Canada, of course, as usual. That's the thing. So the
00:35:04 rumors are really starting to hit about whether or not Carney is going to call a spring election,
00:35:08 a snap election. I'm starting to lean towards thinking he will. And, you know, if you'd asked
00:35:13 me a few months ago I would have said no and some people are thinking well he's getting this close
00:35:18 to a majority just by grabbing floor crossers why would he bother needing to hold an election well 0.99
00:35:24 because you want more of a majority if you want to do a bunch of things than just one or two seats
00:35:29 that still leaves you very vulnerable that still makes it difficult to maneuver you're also two or
00:35:34 three seats away from losing your majority at any given time the temptation has to be strong when
00:35:39 he's in a minority right now but sitting with a 13 14 percent lead in the country to find an
00:35:46 excuse and the government can always find an excuse to fall you know you could put out another
00:35:50 giant budget update or a giant policy or plan and you you know the usual political lines you're to
00:35:55 say this is so important that we must take it to the canadian people in an election rather than
00:36:01 just bringing it through legislation because i love you all and respect your views so much that
00:36:06 this is the only way we should possibly do this. So we're going to call an election where I'm going
00:36:11 to meet with the governor general, we're going to implement and put it to Canadian. See, I could
00:36:15 play that stupid game. In reality, it's anything but respect for Canadians. But you hit the 1.00
00:36:21 conservatives while they're down, you get in there, and suddenly you win in a majority with a 15-20
00:36:27 seat buffer. Now you can really do all you want. And what I'm starting to see too is election
00:36:32 style spending. Now, Carney already was spending in ways that made Trudeau look cheap.
00:36:37 But he's still ramping it up. Every day, he's putting out another spending announcement. That
00:36:43 deficit is massive, and it just keeps growing. Six billion more to Ukraine. You know, more for
00:36:49 this, more for that, more for this. And the billions just keep adding. You know what that
00:36:52 sounds like? It sounds like an election campaign. Because sadly, voters fall for it. They often vote
00:36:58 for whoever blows the most sunshine up their butts
00:37:02 and whoever promises the most spending.
00:37:04 They know that, as shallow as it is,
00:37:06 as destructive as it is,
00:37:08 because eventually we've got to pay the bill.
00:37:10 Carney, this fiscal expert,
00:37:13 and what kind of fiscal expert
00:37:17 puts us in a position where we're spending
00:37:19 a billion a week on interest on the debt.
00:37:22 Yet, that's what he's doing.
00:37:25 I smell an election coming.
00:37:26 It's going to do it this spring.
00:37:27 So let's say he does it, though. Let's say he does that. Let's say he's in with a full majority now. He's got a 10, 20 seat buffer. Think of where the independence movement sit. Think of what that will do to it. This independence movement that's already snowballing in Alberta, that in Saskatchewan and looking meetings, they're packing rooms out there as well.
00:37:48 And you know the election map will look just the same as it did before.
00:37:53 Liberal East, Conservative West, futility, inability to change,
00:37:58 an abusive, punitive, federal, centralized government
00:38:01 sniffing down their noses at us.
00:38:05 This is where we start getting closer to a winning referendum possibility.
00:38:10 Now, what about that?
00:38:12 There's just so much to cover here, right?
00:38:14 So Premier Smith put out her, what, nine, I think it is,
00:38:19 referendum questions that are going to be coming this fall on the 19th.
00:38:23 And I know some independent supporters aren't too thrilled with it.
00:38:26 I'd rather it was completely separate from it.
00:38:28 I honestly, I admit that, that's for sure, even a different day.
00:38:31 But the reality is, for responsibility-wise and so on,
00:38:35 you hold the referendum on the same day because, you know,
00:38:37 it's just one day of everybody voting.
00:38:38 You could have the advanced polls together.
00:38:40 Everything else like that, you stick them all together.
00:38:42 It's done in countries that do a lot of direct democracy.
00:38:45 If you look to Switzerland or some others where they hold a lot of regular referenda, there will be multiple questions on the ballot.
00:38:52 People are saying it'll distract too much from the next question.
00:38:56 No, it won't.
00:38:57 Guys, we'll have nine questions on the ballot plus an independence question on the 19th.
00:39:03 I promise you, 90% of the discussion and coverage is going to be on the independence question.
00:39:09 It's going to dominate.
00:39:10 and it won't be on the same ballot because there's there's constitutional there's citizens
00:39:14 initiated there's non-constitutional it'll all be day but these are separate things people are
00:39:18 saying that'll violate the clarity act because it won't be clear if multiple ballots where where
00:39:23 are you pulling this stuff out of really there's nowhere in the clarity act that says that you can
00:39:29 have more than one on the same day it's still clear the point is the question being clear and
00:39:35 the answer being yes or no. And the APP has been very clear in making sure that that question is
00:39:43 the exact phrasing of the Clarity Act. John's saying, we want one question, not nine. We no
00:39:48 longer want a United Canada, and she has to stop. Well, okay, I know. I'd rather just one. We've got 0.94
00:39:54 the nine. And there is a good side of some of this. And part of it is that she is throwing all
00:40:02 spaghetti against the wall and knows it's going to fail look at some of the questions you know
00:40:08 do you support the alberta government uh in directly of basically a pro appointing uh judges
00:40:16 to the court of king's bench there's no way they're ever going to allow that to get through
00:40:22 not going to happen we're not going to have a constitutional gathering in canada of the first
00:40:26 ministers to pull any of these off anyways but having a whole summer of the rest of canada
00:40:30 telling us to get stuffed. Every one of these, when Smith puts those out and the rest of the
00:40:34 tells her to get stuffed, that tells people that voting us on the independence question
00:40:39 is the only course left. So she's doing all of the whatabouts for us because there's a lot of
00:40:45 people and I get these at these Q&As when I go to those, when I go to those meetings and I'm
00:40:49 speaking there and people have a lot of questions. There's a lot of undecided. What about this?
00:40:53 What about this? What about this? Have you tried this? Have you tried this? Have you tried this?
00:40:57 And they're genuine questions.
00:40:59 There's still people want to make sure that everything's been tried first.
00:41:02 Well, it's throwing it out there and showing that, yeah, she's going to try, but it's going to fail.
00:41:08 And so, you know, let's carry on with it.
00:41:10 Another, I know they're a waste of time.
00:41:13 I understand in that sense.
00:41:15 Do you support the government of Alberta working with governments in other provinces to amend the Constitution to abolish the Senate?
00:41:20 You know, Smith knows enough about politics to know that will never pass.
00:41:25 you need quebec and ontario who and the maritimes who already dominate the senate it's the other 1.00
00:41:30 area where they really run the government over top of the way there's no way in a million years
00:41:34 they're going to change that but it's good to remind everybody they'll never change it isn't it
00:41:38 so let's have it out there uh it's the other one allowing the province to opt out of federal
00:41:45 programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction says health education social services
00:41:48 without the government losing any federal funding for its programs again
00:41:52 Again, the Laurentian elite, the Andrew Coins, the rest of them, they're going to tell Alberta 0.65
00:41:57 to go to hell on that. 0.96
00:41:58 That's fine. 1.00
00:41:59 That's fine.
00:42:00 And the other one is just a, it's almost bland.
00:42:03 It's talking about, you know, ending federal interference and laws dealing with provincial
00:42:06 and shared areas of a constitution.
00:42:09 I understand it's a lot of baffle gab.
00:42:12 It is a lot of paper that's going to be eaten up.
00:42:15 But I tell you what, if the independence movement isn't strong enough for people to
00:42:20 skip past those nine questions or whatever and vote yes or no on that question anyways,
00:42:25 then it's not strong enough to win. The question is clear on that. The question that will be on
00:42:32 that ballot is going to say, you know, do you want Alberta to become independent or not? And
00:42:38 you'll vote yes or no. So if we can't win based on that, you haven't won. You don't deserve to.
00:42:44 Alberta doesn't deserve to become independent. That's the bottom line. We've got the ability. 0.84
00:42:49 and uh you know again i don't think smith's perfect by any means i don't like every approach
00:42:54 she's done but i still applaud some of it in that she's given us the mechanism
00:43:00 that's something that's fully within her control she could have sat back and like let's say you 0.99
00:43:06 know when i play that devil's advocate like i talk about if i was pretending to be mark carney
00:43:10 let's say i was pretending to be smith who really wanted to shut down a referendum when the judge
00:43:15 said the question violated treaty rights and such and couldn't be held last last fall well boy i i
00:43:21 really wish we could give albertans the choice directly in a referendum on independence but alas
00:43:26 under the current system our justices have determined that it just can't happen because
00:43:31 of the the circumstances with the uh indigenous factor so a referendum can't be held and can't be
00:43:36 citizens citizen initiated i tried what i could i'm sorry about that let's move forward and you
00:43:42 you act as if you don't have a choice in it. Instead, what did she do? She amended Bill 14
00:43:46 or brought in Bill 14 to which amended the act so it could happen. That's not what somebody who
00:43:52 doesn't want the referendum to happen would do. Would she vote yes on the referendum? I don't
00:43:56 know. I think personally she probably wants the referendum held just for the political leverage 0.99
00:44:03 it gives her. That's always that hammer in the background. It helps her a lot. So I don't care
00:44:07 what her motivations are to be blunt. I just want the ability to vote yes or no and to campaign
00:44:12 on it and have that democratic vote. And so far we've got that. So stay focused on that.
00:44:18 And if she pulls the ability to hold a referendum, well, then we got a problem.
00:44:21 Then we got a different issue altogether. But so far we don't have that. And then, yeah,
00:44:25 there's a bunch of fluff in these non-constitutional questions too that are in there.
00:44:28 I'm not thrilled with that stuff. I mean, it's just polling really is all it's doing when you're
00:44:32 getting to that point. But there will be a bunch of referendum put before Albertans this fall.
00:44:37 I mean, we saw the equalization one, two from Jason Kenney and that went nowhere, right? 67%
00:44:41 of Albert and said, equalization is dumb and should be removed from the Constitution. 0.77
00:44:46 And Canada looked at it and said, yeah, well, that's a shame. Keep paying and we're not 0.84
00:44:50 transferring back to you. That's life. Either way, it's going to be one heck of a year. If you are
00:44:57 in Calgary or, you know, check out that independentstour.com. You can meet me tomorrow
00:45:00 night if it hasn't sold out yet. Edmonton was sold out. We're going to be hitting a bunch of
00:45:03 other spots, Grand Prairie, Medicine Hat, Lethbridge, and Westlock, I believe, as well.
00:45:08 and we can have these kinds of conversations in person be sure to tune into the pipeline tonight
00:45:13 uh we got marty up north with his show going nigel's got stuff derek just had an interview
00:45:17 with the premier actually i have to shamefully but i haven't had a chance to watch it i'm going
00:45:20 to watch it this afternoon so subscribe to those western standard channels guys share them with
00:45:25 your friends family everywhere else subscribe do all that stuff and this is how we will make
00:45:30 alberta a better place and the rest of the country a better place and get everything over the line
00:45:34 so thanks for tuning in we'll see you next week at this time
00:45:38 Thank you.