Western Standard - HOLD THE LINE： Tamara Lich recently released book interview

00:00:00.000 new book out hold the line and let's bring tamara in and talk about it hey how's it going out there

00:00:06.000 it's going great corey how are you great rant this morning oh thanks you know well i've always got

00:00:11.120 lots of rage and fury that i have to vent forth to everybody else or i'll be yelling on the sea

00:00:16.320 trains and they'll think i'm another one of the addicts otherwise so so yeah i mean uh you know

00:00:24.080 we pretty much everybody's familiar with your story but we'll go over a bit of it uh overall

00:00:28.560 as well i mean we we the last time you were with us you mentioned there was a book coming and uh

00:00:33.120 here it is it's out it's published it's been making a lot of waves uh tell us a little bit what's the

00:00:39.520 basis of the book then is this a first person narration is this giving the history of what

00:00:43.440 happened what is a within that book yeah well it's basically telling the story of how i came to be

00:00:51.120 involved and what my involvement was once we got to ottawa and ever since really um i i love it

00:00:58.560 i i think it captures the story really nicely and it's a nice easy read and i think it'll

00:01:05.600 i think it'll answer a lot of people's questions i i've been very quiet for the last year as you know

00:01:10.400 so i think this will give people an opportunity to have some of their own questions answered also

00:01:17.280 yeah and you have been quiet and for for good reason on a lot of it you've had to be i mean you've

00:01:21.440 had to be very careful because of your status for those that already know you're technically you're still

00:01:25.520 on bail uh you know there's conditions attached to that if those are violated they already showed

00:01:30.480 that there's some people be more than overjoyed to stick you back and holding if they could find

00:01:34.480 an excuse uh there's clearly i'm guessing since you're still free and talking to me unless you're

00:01:40.080 in a hidden location there's no problem then with publishing this book it's not going to violate any

00:01:44.720 of your your bail conditions or anything like that no and and we actually sent the draft to

00:01:50.560 my criminal lawyer for him to read and review and edit and uh actually i was a little surprised

00:01:56.480 too i wasn't sure what he was going to think but he he sent his edits back and said best of luck

00:02:02.400 well it's good to be careful i mean you've already uh done your your share of time and remand i'm sure

00:02:07.440 you'd rather not have to repeat any of that if you can help it so how far back does this book go into the

00:02:15.200 story then i mean is this more background on you or does it kind of begin when the the convoy begins

00:02:20.320 or uh where does it start it starts with a basically a brief background about my history and how i ended

00:02:28.320 up becoming involved but the bulk of the book is all about uh the whole event all the convoy how i came

00:02:35.760 to meet chris and bridget and uh you know all the wonderful people that i've been so blessed to work

00:02:41.120 with over the last year and a half um because we've become like family really most of us and um

00:02:47.680 so it goes into a lot of the day-to-day uh things that were happening on the ground there in ottawa and

00:02:52.640 all the things that we were dealing with i mean it was it was chaos it was a beautiful beautiful chaos

00:02:59.040 well and i mean you've you well yourself have become a polarized polarizing figure because you've

00:03:04.720 become something of a figure recognizable to do with the convoy which of course was a polarizing event

00:03:09.120 in itself and i mean we'll address a little of the misinformation you're not allowed on social

00:03:13.120 media but i am and i'll get out there and stir everybody up but of course as soon as we announced

00:03:16.880 you're coming on we get the usual people jumping out and i see the book gives you the opportunity

00:03:20.720 to clarify a lot of things and of course one of the things that come oh here comes the grifter she's

00:03:25.360 looking to make more and more money out of this whole thing and of course the false allegation that

00:03:29.760 you took money from any of the fundraising or things such as that with the convoy and such i imagine you can

00:03:34.960 uh clarify a lot of that within the book right absolutely yeah absolutely um yeah there's there's

00:03:42.640 always going to be questions about the money and if this convoy taught me anything it is really that

00:03:47.440 money is the root of all evil um they we had a forensic audit done everything is accounted for all all the

00:03:55.920 donations that weren't able to be refunded to people is sitting in an escrow account we have a 406 million

00:04:03.520 dollar civil lawsuit that we're facing for nuisance and then we have two orders general of ontario one

00:04:11.920 was a forfeiture order and the second was a seizure order so i uh you know i don't even know if we'll

00:04:17.200 ever see those donations but obviously if we do win all these cases our objective is to make sure that

00:04:24.480 that money gets used what it was donated for and that is too we've got registration forms for some of

00:04:29.760 the truckers um another part of the group also did a poll on facebook to find out what people wanted

00:04:35.760 and i mean that's one of the things that i was always very mindful of is that we never looked at

00:04:41.680 that as our money i mean that was canadian's money so it was always important to have their input

00:04:47.200 and so they conducted a poll to find out you know what if people wanted any of those funds should we ever

00:04:53.840 have access to it to be used for legal representation uh over and above uh refunding and we had an

00:05:00.880 overwhelmingly positive response so we'll see there's lots to get before we even get close to that stage

00:05:07.120 so you're not coming to us from a mansion full of servants or anything like that and sleeping

00:05:12.800 i'm still waiting i haven't got my swiss bank accounts opened yet i also heard i've got

00:05:17.920 property in mexico and a mansion in hall quebec and it's just ridiculous people need to find something

00:05:25.760 better to do with their time and honestly it's a google search if people really want to know

00:05:30.560 that badly they could put in some effort and do some research it's all out there in the public domain

00:05:35.680 well and you do have to watch what you search like if you search cory morgan worth i've had people throw

00:05:40.320 that at me there's some goofy sites like celeb wiki and everything that say that i'm apparently worth

00:05:44.160 between one and five million dollars and come on you think i'd be wearing a cheap sport coat like

00:05:48.000 this if that was the case i mean uh the internet isn't always accurate that's where things like

00:05:52.560 getting things straight from the person himself with something like a book at least you can cut

00:05:57.040 through it and get your direct interpretation of what happened then yes exactly and i think it's really

00:06:02.480 important to get the truth out and i'm really happy you know we wanted to get try and get this book

00:06:07.200 out a lot sooner but i'm actually very happy with the timing i mean it's really interesting to see

00:06:11.840 what's going to happen with this peace act strike that's happening out east uh see how they're

00:06:16.560 handling that once they start blocking some infrastructure and uh you know everything

00:06:22.080 happens for a reason i've always said that and the timing of this book i think is is really good

00:06:26.480 there's a lot of truth coming out now there's a lot of good things happening uh testimony and evidence

00:06:31.440 coming out now again at the national citizens inquiry so yeah i'm really happy with this and i hope

00:06:37.440 everybody uh appreciates it and and and enjoys it good yeah and i mean something that i i imagine

00:06:43.600 the book will go into i'm sorry i apologize usually when i get these i've read the book already and i'm

00:06:47.920 going to i promise i just wasn't able to get a copy in time to do so but it'll give some clarity too

00:06:54.240 like a lot of people don't understand you didn't anticipate what was going to happen like this was a

00:06:59.600 snowball that just grew and sort of took you up within it i mean it started as a small initiative and and

00:07:06.000 you know the the world went went crazy but you weren't a professional activist you weren't

00:07:10.160 anticipating or seeing a future or anything like what happened and i guess the book can show those

00:07:14.480 steps on how you ended up where you did yes i i think in the category of did not see this coming

00:07:20.560 this is number one for sure uh so did you have some collaboration within the book then with some

00:07:27.680 of the other people who were at the uh protests with you or prior to it like is it is it all just

00:07:33.760 yourself in in the writing or are there some other uh oh no it yeah it references you know chris barber

00:07:39.840 uh bridget and all the all the core team that was involved at the beginning it references all of that

00:07:46.080 too so um yeah i mean there's a whole story there this is just that this is the story from my perspective

00:07:52.800 and and what my experience was well and that's yeah an important part to point out i mean you're not

00:07:59.360 speaking for the entire convoy or even the everything that happened you didn't see you

00:08:02.880 were just one person i mean certainly one pivotal person but it was a very decentralized and unusual

00:08:08.720 sort of protest i mean you can't really lump it all into one area but at least you can speak for the

00:08:14.000 part that you were a part of that's right yeah exactly yep i'm happy to say my piece very much so

00:08:20.320 and it is interesting when you see yes the the public service alliance of canada and i know uh nigel our

00:08:27.440 our uh opinion editors working on that or it might be up pretty soon with a column pointing out the

00:08:32.240 parallels though that we've got people now that are hindering trade across ports of entry that were

00:08:37.920 blocking things on parliament hill that are keeping people from get to their work i'm not hearing anybody

00:08:43.120 talking about the emergencies act with them yet no i know isn't it ironic um it it really comes down to

00:08:51.440 who's doing the protesting in this country it seems these days um we were just a bunch of dirty blue

00:08:58.160 collar workers that were going to say our piece and so i think we were looked upon in some circles uh with

00:09:06.960 disdain and why are you here and so it is interesting to see how these guys are getting treated and let's see

00:09:14.640 if he opens up some dialogue with them and wants to talk to them and hear what they have to say

00:09:18.400 well yeah and that's a an excellent point like and i'm not saying we want to get in there with the

00:09:23.840 horses and start batoning the pro the the strikers or things like that two wrongs don't make a right

00:09:29.840 i mean if they are blocking people from getting to work then perhaps we should work on making room so

00:09:34.480 people can do so and things like that but i mean we don't want to see the emergencies act imposed

00:09:38.480 against more people we want to point out just that it was wrong then and it would be wrong now but

00:09:43.520 it's interesting how they have quite a double standard when it comes to what merits that sort of action

00:09:48.080 it certainly is yes i'm watching with great interest put it that way

00:09:52.880 yes absolutely and uh i hopefully i mean as you said too though was that there will be dialogue

00:09:59.360 there's already dialogue there's negotiators i mean even if they're not getting anywhere

00:10:03.680 with the union that that was the the biggest most insulting part of the whole convoy thing there was

00:10:09.040 never an effort to even make dialogue even to show up give you guys 20 minutes and then walk away

00:10:14.720 say okay they're all crazy but we tried yes yeah that's right yeah i i mean a little bit of effort

00:10:21.440 goes a long way in my opinion and in our case for sure for sure so uh what uh what portion i mean

00:10:30.080 writing was new to you i mean you've always been vocal online and active with things like that but i

00:10:34.400 mean uh you know i i wrote a book recently as well there were some parts i enjoyed writing more than

00:10:39.360 others or i could really get into i mean uh was there a part of that engagement i mean you had a

00:10:43.600 lot of time being sort of locked down even post-con voice so that that helped uh but what what do you

00:10:49.280 really feel most satisfied with in that book oh boy that's a tough question um

00:10:57.440 i enjoyed it i i think it was really therapeutic for me because obviously this book was written

00:11:03.200 before i went to testify at the national or at the poec in ottawa so i found it very therapeutic for

00:11:11.040 myself to get a lot of stuff out um i think one of my favorite things about the book honestly is the

00:11:18.800 relationships that we had that we forged you know since i mean you're talking about a group of people

00:11:25.040 that had never met before didn't know each other and just came together and had this beautiful um crazy

00:11:33.920 experience you know uh all with one common goal of trying to make our country a better place and and um

00:11:41.840 the whole thing cory it's so hard to just pick something i i'm really pleased with it i think

00:11:46.640 there's a lot of good information in there um i've i've always been very a very open person and

00:11:53.360 transparent and i think it gives people an opportunity to get to know me better also so which

00:11:59.600 is important and that's always been important to me from day one yeah well there's been a lot of

00:12:05.360 efforts to really demonize and dehumanize a lot of the people taking part and you know that that's not

00:12:10.640 unique to the left there's the conservatives who can pretty pretty nasty online as well and doing

00:12:14.640 things like that we can't forget that there's people behind those news stories and people

00:12:18.800 behind these events that are going on and giving the opportunity at least to speak up for themselves

00:12:22.800 you don't have to agree with them but you know show a little respect i guess and so true i've seen

00:12:28.000 people that wish i would wish wish me dead uh i've seen comments you know that they wish wish i would go

00:12:35.120 back to jail or that would they want me to go to jail for the rest of my life like i i guess the

00:12:39.760 thing is that they don't understand is that if that gets allowed to happen in this case this government

00:12:45.440 isn't going to be in power forever so next time it could be them with a different government in power

00:12:50.720 you know so uh it's a really important case i i think me and chris's criminal trial is going to be

00:12:56.400 very important and and set a precedent for what's going to happen for for all canadians going forward in

00:13:02.800 cases like this yeah and then while i've got you then you know before i let you go so how are things

00:13:07.760 going with your your criminal trial i mean things just go so agonizingly slowly through our system

00:13:12.800 is the timeline progressing at all with that well we've been in and out of court hearings for the

00:13:17.600 last month and a half i guess nothing really was solved monday morning we did get a decision from

00:13:23.360 the trial judge that she is going to stay our trial judge which is very good news for us because that

00:13:28.880 means hopefully everything will stay on schedule chris and i are co-accused and so we'll be facing

00:13:35.040 trial together and that is set to commence on september the 5th and uh lasts for two weeks

00:13:41.280 well hopefully i mean we're hoping for a positive resolution but i just imagine a resolution whatsoever

00:13:46.000 is just you know hanging halfway between has got to be stressful yeah you're right well the the punishment

00:13:51.200 is in the process right yes absolutely and they certainly used every bit of it that they could

00:13:56.880 so uh before i let you go where can people find a copy of that book for themselves and are there any

00:14:01.200 events or things you'll be going to to promote it uh yeah i i think i'm coming to calgary on may 6th

00:14:07.920 for a book signing i i haven't quite confirmed it yet but it sounds like it'll be may 6th at the canyon

00:14:12.640 meadows cinemas and then we'll be scheduling a tour here uh i was gone yesterday so i didn't have access

00:14:20.080 to my emails but i'll be checking that today and we'll be starting a book tour right away and some

00:14:24.160 book signings right now you can find the book uh at theconvoybook.com or right from amazon also so

00:14:32.400 well very excited i hope everybody likes it i hope you have to let me know what you think corey

00:14:36.880 i will i will get it i i don't uh i don't bs when i say i'm gonna read a book i so i'm looking forward

00:14:42.560 to it so thanks for writing that and uh everything you've done tamara and thanks for coming on again

00:14:47.440 today and uh yeah i'll send a note once i've finished reading your book there perfect my pleasure and

00:14:52.160 thanks so much for having me it's always good to see you great thanks tamara have a great day

00:14:56.720 thanks so that was tamara leach and yes that new book as you can see it's quite easy to find just

00:15:01.600 look it up look up tamara hold the line it's on amazon and she'll be going around promoting it it's

00:15:06.720 good to get direct stories on what happened i mean especially something is is haywire is the convoy and

00:15:13.040 let's get some clarity and you might not agree with everything she's written them in fact if you read

00:15:16.720 with everything there's probably something a little wrong with you we've got different points of view

00:15:20.000 that's the problem we have these days nobody's respecting other points of views so this is where

00:15:24.240 you can clarify some stuff and get that out there and i get annoyed with that oh it's grifting well

00:15:29.040 you know what you don't have to buy the book that's it that's grifting is one of the guns to your head

00:15:34.000 and the ones who do that are the government not private enterprise this is private enterprise don't

00:15:38.800 buy the book if you don't like it then but uh you know i'm gonna buy it and uh i'm certainly gonna

00:15:44.320 review it and talk about it hey if it's terrible and everything else i'll be real polite about it but

00:15:48.480 i'll still give an honest review but i'm sure it'll be good

Western Standard - April 27, 2023

HOLD THE LINE： Tamara Lich recently released book interview

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