Western Standard - LIVE： Triggered - Politically motivated race-baiting must stop!

00:00:00.000 Transcription by CastingWords

00:00:30.000 Good morning. It's February 3rd, 2022. Day after Groundhog Day. Still cold out. Welcome

00:00:42.160 to Triggered. I'm Corey Morgan. This is the Western Standards live show. It comes to you

00:00:46.720 every day at 11.30 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, Monday to Friday, except holidays,

00:00:52.020 unless something's breaking, and then we'll still carry on with the show. It's that important to us.

00:00:57.220 comments are welcome again one of the great things about being live we've got a comment stream we've

00:01:01.520 got people listening on youtube and rumble and facebook uh get in there get in on the discussion

00:01:06.580 i won't necessarily read out every comment or question but i might get them to our guests and

00:01:10.820 you know have some discussions with each other that's part of the fun of interacting on something

00:01:14.660 live try to keep it civil though uh you know we've had some trolling and things going on just ignore

00:01:19.700 the trolls if they're commenting and uh pick out the civilized people and and we can have some good

00:01:24.180 discourse here. I got a great lineup again today. My first guest is going to be Travis Smith. He's

00:01:30.500 an associate professor of political science at Concordia University. He spent a night visiting

00:01:36.840 a truck stop when people were staging and getting ready to go to the convoy in Ottawa. And he

00:01:41.880 interacted with the people there and had some thoughts he put into a column that he shared

00:01:46.180 with the Western Standard. And it's just good to get some dialogue with people who actually been

00:01:50.680 there. You know, we're getting so much bad news these days. Let's talk to people who were there

00:01:54.220 on the ground and find out what's been happening. Along that same line, those who are familiar with

00:01:59.520 the show have seen that James Finkbeiner has been down at the protests in the Coutts, Alberta area

00:02:04.980 by the American border for quite some time now. He's been reporting to us live and giving us

00:02:09.600 updates from there. And it's still ongoing. It sounds like they're making some progress and

00:02:14.100 agreements and some traffic is moving, but there's still some hangups and tensions and different

00:02:18.780 blockades starting up in different spots. So we'll check in with James and from that location

00:02:23.640 and see how things are going and what's happening. Then Kerry Diot is going to join me. He was a

00:02:28.560 Canadian conservative activist. He was a member of parliament for the electoral district of

00:02:34.020 Edmonton, Grispa. I think I'm pronouncing that correctly from 2015 to 2021. And we're going to

00:02:39.940 talk about, yeah, this new conservative leadership race that has suddenly come up. Nancy saying we

00:02:45.960 can't access your online site. Is it offline or censored? I should say. We are having some

00:02:51.420 technical difficulties there. It's not censorship, but it's very frustrating. And I assure you that

00:02:57.080 people are running as hard as they can to get that darn thing up and running again.

00:03:01.580 And as soon as it is, Dave's going to let me know and we will get you back there. For the time being,

00:03:06.020 we can talk about news here. So yeah, we'll get that from James. So before I get into what's got

00:03:10.240 me triggered today, I do want to talk about our sponsor, one of the good news things. And these

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00:04:20.000 currencies. Okay. Well, what's got me going on today? What's got me triggered? I'm tired of

00:04:25.640 race baiting. Racism in developed nations is at its lowest point in modern history. You wouldn't

00:04:30.680 know it though. And if you're listening to the progressive woke set, if you believed everything

00:04:34.560 from the hysteric left lately, you'd think we're living in a world of lynching and our political

00:04:38.440 systems are dominated by a racial caste hierarchy. As politically motivated progressive politicians,

00:04:44.740 activists, and media members continue to perpetuate the myth of widespread, unchecked racism,

00:04:50.220 they're actually creating racial divides among citizens where there hadn't been any before.

00:04:55.180 I'm not denying that work still needs to be done. Racism still exists. I mean, there are

00:04:59.400 still odious individuals out there who feel their race is superior to others, and they even form 0.98

00:05:04.120 small groups and they go out and try and promote their Sikh ideology. These people, though, are 0.92

00:05:08.800 truly a minority of a minority, and they're chased away from pretty much any organization or gathering

00:05:13.920 once their leanings are identified. I remember quite well in the early 90s, skinheads still

00:05:19.980 openly walked the streets in modern nations. We used to see them in Calgary downtown all the time.

00:05:24.000 They still represented a tiny minority even then, but they felt comfortable enough in their racism

00:05:28.480 that they marched around and openly displayed it. When's the last time you've seen one of them?

00:05:32.060 Klan members perhaps? Any signs of organized racism? Again it's out there

00:05:36.380 but you don't see it as it's so tiny. It's gone. Organized racism has been

00:05:40.760 driven into the sewers where it belongs. Your average person's immediately

00:05:44.060 repulsed by acts of racism and they condemn it when they see it. Racism is

00:05:48.320 now being used as a political tool by the left and has to stop. The statements

00:05:53.180 from some media outlets all the way up to the Prime Minister with regards to

00:05:56.120 the Truckers for Freedom Convoy have been divisive and frankly disgusting. You

00:06:00.440 don't have to agree with the goals of the convoy or the protests itself at all in order to see that

00:06:06.300 has absolutely nothing to do with racism. You can call out the anti-vaccination messaging, the

00:06:11.680 blockage of streets, or even the use of horns as a tool for protest. But it's ludicrous to call

00:06:17.060 this a racist movement. When people like the Prime Minister call everything they oppose racist,

00:06:22.020 nothing is racist. Those few real acts of racism that happen out there are overwhelmed by reports

00:06:27.120 of fake racism, such as those on the Truckers for Freedom convoy. I watched a horrific interview

00:06:32.600 on CTV of a black woman in Ottawa who was claiming she'd been locked in her home for

00:06:36.420 days, even before the protests got there. And she felt she had, would remain hidden throughout

00:06:41.900 these protests as she felt racists in the convoy would hurt her if she went out. Now, whether this

00:06:45.880 woman was truly agoraphobic and believed that racists were waiting outside her doors, or if

00:06:51.260 she was just trying to feed that false narrative of widespread racism in the protests, it was a

00:06:55.780 ridiculous interview. It fed fear and division, and it was an outright irresponsible piece.

00:07:01.800 Those sorts of interviews are all too common in a world with a legacy media fixated on racism.

00:07:07.820 People of all races are participating in the convoy. The long-haul trucking industry is a

00:07:12.100 massive component of South Asian drivers. How insulting must it be for those guys who are at 1.00

00:07:16.360 the protests, Sikhs, and such, to be called white nationalists by national leaders in the media?

00:07:23.080 I mean, God, talk about being targeted.

00:07:26.140 Any efforts to counter the false claims that the protests in Ottawa are race-based

00:07:29.980 are quickly attacked by the establishment.

00:07:31.720 They jealously want to guard and foster their division.

00:07:34.400 I watched a live video of a peace pipe ceremony being held within the Ottawa protests 0.97

00:07:38.120 by a number of Indigenous people.

00:07:39.420 I was impressed.

00:07:40.880 And I tweeted a picture, there it is right there, about this gathering of people.

00:07:45.340 They were banging on drums, smoking a peace pipe.

00:07:47.400 I think they were getting ready to set up a teepee out there.

00:07:49.660 thousands of people shared and liked the peaceful show of solidarity and diversity when i tweeted

00:07:55.480 it others though were enraged that i dared to tweet it liberal laurie mark burry tweeted liar

00:08:01.660 at me in a quick response he later implied that the photo was from another period he went silent

00:08:06.900 when i finally posted a link to the live video guys it wasn't faked it wasn't made up it was

00:08:11.480 from something that happened on the hill why has this got you so outraged and senator patrick

00:08:16.260 Brazow. For those who don't remember him, Justin Trudeau beat the piss out of him in a boxing match

00:08:21.000 actually that was held by Sun News Network some years ago. But he jumps in and offers a correction

00:08:26.580 with some sort of statement from local indigenous organizations that condemn the protests.

00:08:31.700 Now, Brazow and the First Nations groups that he shared the statement from don't represent the

00:08:35.760 views of every indigenous citizen any more than I do. Native individuals hold diverse views and

00:08:41.960 express them just like everybody else. And implying that they hold some sort of hive mind,

00:08:46.440 as Brazow did, is actually a form of racism in itself. My tweet was then swarmed by the typical

00:08:51.860 liberal fart catchers, to no effect, I don't care. I mean, they attacked those things, but what was

00:08:55.740 striking was how virulently and quickly they came out just because I put something out they didn't

00:09:00.400 like. The narrative of the protests being racist is fake and it's easily disproven. The people

00:09:06.060 perpetuating this myth know it's fake, and that's why they respond so hysterically when evidence to

00:09:10.420 the contrary of their agenda is presented. The racial division and distrust being sowed by race

00:09:15.100 baiters during this truckers convoy protest is unforgivable. People are being driven apart

00:09:19.800 while racial lines are being drawn. This is what fosters real racism, and it's coming from the

00:09:24.700 establishment left. We could actually be setting ourselves backwards when we've been doing so well.

00:09:29.300 The world needs to heal when this pandemic ends, economically and socially. We should be looking

00:09:34.160 for ways to constructively unite people rather than hatefully divide them. A good first step

00:09:39.240 towards finding that unity, though, is to end the race baiting now. It starts with the Prime

00:09:43.440 Minister, it goes on to the legacy media, and on with the rest of the activists. Call it out when

00:09:47.700 you see it, guys. Don't let them get away with it. That's what's got me triggered today.

00:09:53.140 Now, let's get on to some other news. There's, of course, all sorts of things to get me triggered

00:09:56.980 there. We'll bring in our news editor, Dave Naylor, and see what we've got going on in the newsroom

00:10:02.700 at the Western Standard office today. How's it going, Dave? It's going well, Corey. How are you?

00:10:07.320 Well, good, good. I'm annoyed, but you know, that's standard.

00:10:10.560 Yeah. You know what? And I've got an idea for you.

00:10:13.820 Apparently, if you are a federal government worker, you have access to seminars to help you breathe better.

00:10:22.640 Believe it or not, we've got a story on the site, whenever it comes back up,

00:10:27.180 that Ottawa has spent $153,000 hiring people to give seminars to their stressed out workers

00:10:35.840 on how to relax and how to breathe properly.

00:10:39.620 Boy, my show would get pretty boring if I relaxed though, wouldn't it?

00:10:42.640 Yeah, but I mean, it's again, just another sign of nobody cares about taxpayers' money

00:10:49.800 in Ottawa and they'll throw it at ridiculous things.

00:10:54.120 Another thing, obviously, we're keeping tabs on this morning is the trucker situation in Alberta.

00:11:01.140 A deal was reached yesterday afternoon to open up the Coutts border crossing.

00:11:07.280 They've got one lane going in each way, and commercial traffic is now moving between Canada and the United States.

00:11:15.780 But, you know, they may not get very far because just up the road in Milk River, there is another blockade that started.

00:11:22.060 These are truckers that tried to get down to Coutts in order to support their colleagues there, but they came across an RCMP roadblock, and the RCMP were not going to let them in, so negotiations failed late last night, early this morning, and our James Finkbeiner says about 150 trucks have now blockaded that highway near Milk River.

00:11:46.680 So it seems to be one step forward, one step back in trying to get this thing solved.

00:11:53.380 The GoFundMe, Corey, you'll remember, passed $10 million yesterday.

00:11:57.980 Well, that's finally being shut down.

00:12:01.660 You remember when the convoy first started, there were those nasty false reports by the mainstream media that it had been closed, which were untrue.

00:12:11.660 But now it has been.

00:12:12.740 And the GoFundMe wants to just make sure that everything's done right and all their I's are dotted and their T's are crossed.

00:12:21.000 So they're working with organizers on that now.

00:12:24.700 I know $1 million of it had already been released.

00:12:29.500 And this is to help pay for food and lodging and gasoline and everything that truckers need.

00:12:38.040 Truckers are against vaccine mandates, obviously.

00:12:40.880 and we've got an interesting story on uh ucp talking points uh the western standard has a

00:12:47.840 source that has provided us with what what uh ucp mlas are being told to tell their angry

00:12:55.600 constituents and basically what it is is it's just a plea for time uh stalling for time and

00:13:02.000 basically saying we're working to get the pandemic restrictions uh released so uh still no time frame

00:13:08.960 in alberta the premier seems to be shortening it you know he initially said march and then the end

00:13:15.280 of february and now there's even talk of it coming out sooner than that uh so that's what we've got

00:13:24.880 on the site that nobody can see at the moment uh but corey i've got to tell you about this breaking

00:13:30.240 story in bowden that mel risden our top reporter is working on a whole bunch of kids a dozen of

00:13:38.640 them or so decided they weren't going to wear masks today so the teachers locked them in a boot

00:13:45.200 closet believe it or not and they are having to spend the day locked in this boot closet and uh

00:13:53.040 mel with brilliant reporting has been able to talk to one of the uh one of the 30 apparently

00:13:59.520 kids that have been locked in the boot camp or in the boot uh the boot room so that's going to be

00:14:05.760 an explosive story that Mel is putting together right now and

00:14:09.640 we'll be keeping an eye on that situation because 30 kids

00:14:13.920 locked in a room, somebody's got to put a stop to that and I know lawyers

00:14:17.820 are already involved. So that's what's on the go at the moment, Corey.

00:14:22.220 Well, another day full of all kinds of news to look forward to. Hopefully that

00:14:25.820 sights up soon and there'll be a lot of great reading just waiting for you guys there

00:14:29.760 as soon as it gets rolling. And yeah, that's ridiculous. I mean, we've been hearing things, the teachers have

00:14:33.660 at least we can't say with all of them, but the unions and some of it, some of the worst in this.

00:14:37.900 I mean, we've seen video of kids with masks being taped to their faces and things like that.

00:14:43.040 I mean, now locking them in boot rooms over wearing masks over a virus that doesn't hurt kids.

00:14:48.560 And it doesn't seem to be, at least very rarely hurts kids.

00:14:51.520 I shouldn't, you know, overstate, but we're just, this panic is maintained.

00:14:55.240 Even it seems the lighter this pandemic gets, the stronger some of the restrictions and insanity gets.

00:15:00.540 I'll tell you, Corey, if I was a parent of one of those 30 kids locked in that room,

00:15:04.640 I'd be making my way to the school right now, ready to kick down some doors.

00:15:08.260 And I suspect that more than a few are right now.

00:15:11.060 Well, we'll be watching to keep up to date with that.

00:15:13.820 And everybody, yes, as soon as that site, that stubborn site is up and running,

00:15:16.860 I will let you all know.

00:15:18.760 So thanks for checking in, Dave, and we will talk to you later.

00:15:22.160 We will indeed, Corey.

00:15:23.100 Thanks.

00:15:23.940 Thanks.

00:15:25.140 Yeah, it's been just a busy, crazy time.

00:15:27.920 I'm not a web expert, but I mean, our site's been getting record traffic. It's just been

00:15:31.920 beating the heck out of it. I don't know if that has anything to do with why it's having

00:15:35.040 the difficulties it is today. But we are getting that rectified because of course it's it's we've

00:15:39.520 got to get that news out here. You know, and getting back to that story that hasn't been

00:15:43.840 getting nearly enough press lately, it's getting out there is getting out to a degree with the

00:15:47.280 mainstream, but this should be explosive. We're not hearing a lot. And that's that Johns Hopkins

00:15:51.760 university study using metadata from, I believe it was 23 other studies, checking out the cost

00:15:59.280 benefits of lockdowns and restrictions. I mean, we've got the evidence, we've got two years worth.

00:16:02.800 And again, this isn't some small little group or institute or anything. It's Johns Hopkins

00:16:06.960 University. These guys specialize in research. That's what they do. It's as credible as it gets.

00:16:11.600 And they determined that all the lockdowns restrictions have led to a 0.2% reduction in

00:16:17.200 in mortality with the pandemic. What a waste of time. And plus, they could list all sorts,

00:16:22.460 of course, the damages that these restrictions and lockdowns have done. I mean, it's been massive.

00:16:27.520 Why are we not raising this study on the flagpole and saying, holy cow? I mean, again,

00:16:32.160 let's not fault the people who didn't know any better and locked us down before, but obviously

00:16:36.140 it didn't work. Let's stop. Let's back off. People are entrenched. They won't back off.

00:16:41.860 They found their position. They won't let go. And that's what's happening with protests. That's

00:16:46.040 what I was talking about with those those crazy people pushing on the racism narrative we need

00:16:50.260 compromise we need level heads those numbers are coming in guys the science is speaking let's change

00:16:55.340 the policy to reflect it and as Dave was saying it sounds like the provincial government even

00:16:59.520 though they're perhaps speeding their reopening faster than they anticipated due to outside

00:17:03.260 pressures they're moving towards that with reasonable pressure put on government we can

00:17:08.400 move them we can do that the convoy and we'll be checking in with James in a little while it sounds

00:17:13.160 like they're letting some people through now, but it's been on and off, they're negotiating,

00:17:16.980 but at least negotiations open, and that's important. And the government looks like it

00:17:20.620 might be moving on some things, and that's important. I mean, just on a micro level,

00:17:24.120 I mean, in here, you might notice, you see, Derek insists that I wear a necktie when I do these

00:17:28.420 shows. I can't stand wearing neckties, drives me bananas. But, hey, he calls the shots around here.

00:17:33.080 So I've been tying terrible knots now for weeks and weeks, and it drives Derek bananas.

00:17:37.040 He actually comes in and manually fixes my tie at times just before shows. But, fine. You know

00:17:42.580 what? Derek dug his heels in. We got to a point of compromise. As you can see, I've got a nice

00:17:47.160 Windsor knot. I've always known how to tie them. I just felt if I ruined them long enough, Derek

00:17:51.520 could back off. Instead though, I've compromised. We've gone. I'm wearing the correct apparel and

00:17:59.420 the tie is on. We found a compromise though because however, I still refuse to wear underwear

00:18:03.320 and I will not move on that point. But Derek's happy. I'm happy. We've got a better looking tie.

00:18:08.620 We can have compromise and agreements happening all over the place. If Derek and I can come to

00:18:12.260 middle ground there. The government and the protesters can. Okay, I'm going to speak quickly

00:18:16.840 to one of our sponsors here, about one of our sponsors before I bring our first guest of the

00:18:22.160 day on. Well, second, I guess, after Dave. And that is the Canada Shooting Sports Association.

00:18:28.200 These guys are great. If you own, collect firearms, or if you want to get into firearms

00:18:33.800 responsible, of course, recreational use. These guys got all the resources there for you. Their

00:18:38.700 website is cssa-cila.org. And it's the Canada Shooting Sports Association. That might be an

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00:18:56.780 shooting, things for hunting. And most importantly, at least in my view, they are lobbying on your

00:19:02.160 behalf to continue to maintain and enjoy firearms. And they have legal challenges put out

00:19:08.520 towards the federal government on behalf of firearm owners. And again, coming back to putting

00:19:13.100 pressure on government, government will back off if we put pressure on them. So if you are concerned

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00:19:28.660 going to do it. So go to the Canada Shooting Sports Association, check them out, take out a

00:19:32.800 membership with them, help them help you. Because if we don't stand up for ourselves, they will take

00:19:37.800 our rights away they're a great sponsor okay so i am about to bring in travis and travis smith

00:19:47.320 wrote a piece for us uh he went out to check out the convoy he went to a truck stop actually met

00:19:52.600 with a number of people and uh i don't believe if i recall from the column he found a bunch of

00:19:57.080 fire breathing extremists or crazy people or people bent on destruction of the nation but

00:20:01.640 we'll talk to him and confirm that in a moment so uh hey there travis how are you doing good to see

00:20:06.200 you uh cory how are you doing excellent yeah no thanks very self-conscious i didn't get the memo

00:20:11.960 about the dress code oh yes so i see guests are exempt from it which again is part of it you know

00:20:17.240 troubles me because i'm overcome with envy at that comfortable uh unrestrained neck of a guest

00:20:22.040 out there whilst i'm still bound up like this but i will get over it and as i said i'm quite

00:20:27.400 unrestricted and free in other areas that the audience need never see or really think about any

00:20:31.240 longer. So when you got to the, you went, I mean, let's just kind of lay out. You decided to go out

00:20:38.780 and see firsthand and check out who the people were and met with a bunch when they were en route

00:20:43.140 to Ottawa at a truck stop, right? On the way to Ottawa in Van Cleek Hill, about an hour's drive

00:20:49.220 just over the border of Quebec. And right, I had been talking to some locals who were planning on

00:20:56.660 volunteering to donate some food. And I sort of got wind of it. And I thought I was going to go

00:21:01.660 and check it out. So arrived, you know, before sundown, and trucks were starting to roll in

00:21:08.040 all kinds of vehicles, big and small. And they, you know, kept their bright lights on and honked

00:21:14.800 their horns. And what developed over the course of several hours, despite the fact that it was

00:21:20.980 minus 20 degrees outside was a really sort of you know friendly environment in which you know

00:21:26.880 people who never met each other you know were smiling and and nodding at each other you know

00:21:33.300 lots of you know hope and optimism in the air as it were uh volunteers had set up uh in a barn with

00:21:40.960 a giant spread of food and provisions uh for the for the truckers and it was just really fantastic

00:21:48.720 more than anything else for me, Corey, was just to see that, you know, that locals all on their

00:21:55.160 own acting voluntarily could put something together in which they could try to help some

00:22:02.200 people out, make sure that they had a safe place to stay the night. Some people were offering to

00:22:07.860 make sure that, you know, they could, you know, get a hot shower in the morning and that they

00:22:13.480 would have some food. And it was just a very friendly environment. And there were all kinds

00:22:18.380 people there women and men french and english speaking vaccinated unvaccinated young and old

00:22:23.900 uh and it was you know fireworks and and it was just a positive atmosphere it was just to me more

00:22:30.620 than anything else corey what was refreshing was to see that this was still part of the canadian

00:22:36.460 spirit i really went because i was worried i was worried that after you know two years of being

00:22:41.740 isolated uh made to be afraid of each other told that if you're in the vicinity of other people

00:22:46.780 it's going to be catastrophic uh being angry at each other accusing each other not being allowed

00:22:53.260 to gather not being allowed to voluntarily assemble in order to try to do the kinds of

00:22:58.140 things that canadians usually do to help each other out i was afraid that we had lost those

00:23:02.620 habits i was afraid that we wouldn't see those again and so my attitude was when i wrote the

00:23:07.340 article for the western standard was whatever people think about the the truckers themselves

00:23:13.660 whatever people think about the convoy itself i wanted to let people know that i was really

00:23:19.420 impressed and really it was the most sort of hope inspiring uh thing i've seen to see just all

00:23:25.100 around that uh just ordinary canadians across the ideological spectrum across the socioeconomic

00:23:32.460 spectrum just pitching in and trying to do good deeds by one another in a friendly classic canadian

00:23:39.260 way. That's when I got to see Corian. That's, you know, I got to see people as well the next day

00:23:45.000 over the overpass. These are, these are hope-filled people, whatever they're being depicted like in

00:23:49.580 the, in the, in the media. These are hope-filled people being, being friendly Canadians. It was

00:23:53.800 really refreshing to see. Great. Now I'll just cut in quickly. We got a note. So finally our

00:23:58.580 pesky site is fully up and running. So to see Travis Smith's column and the news Dave was

00:24:03.880 talking about and everything else, go to westernstandardonline.com. It's up and running.

00:24:08.220 we got that rectified, so thanks for bearing with us. And so yes, back to you, Travis. I said it

00:24:14.500 at the start of the show, but I should also expand on it. So you're an associate professor at

00:24:19.780 Concordia University, I believe, in political science? That's correct, yes. Okay, great. Yes,

00:24:25.980 so you've written as well on just the culture in general. I guess that's some previous columns that

00:24:31.700 I've seen from you and such, and that sort of ties into this, though. I mean, you're looking at the

00:24:35.900 broader social culture uh issues that are going on and i mean it was it's nice to see something

00:24:40.900 positive though we we don't we don't have to give up we're not losing that's what i wanted to that

00:24:46.040 was the message i wanted to say was that you know this is uh there's a sign that canada can bounce

00:24:50.380 back the canadians can be canadians again and all these efforts that have been made to sort of drive

00:24:56.540 us apart from each other and antagonize us and set us against each other uh there's no to me it

00:25:02.760 a great hope a great time to hope that that won't necessarily succeed and i wanted to cheer that on

00:25:07.880 yeah yeah i have been writing a number of things uh across a number of venues i decided that you

00:25:15.240 know i i so my own research originally my dissertation was on the politics of medicine

00:25:20.840 i wrote a i wrote my dissertation on to be frank the way which medicine could be used to destroy

00:25:25.480 liberal democracy and i sort of you know watched what was going on for the longest time and you

00:25:31.480 know didn't want to believe that that might be what was actually going on because it just seems

00:25:36.280 so unfathomable and unlikely uh and more than anything else what really started to motivate me

00:25:41.960 to start writing was when they introduced the passport certificates that to me was the thing

00:25:47.640 that said that's not about public health that's a political measure and it's not a good one it's one

00:25:52.440 that uh signals that uh our rights to voluntary consent are under threat and in a fashion that

00:25:59.080 could be rendered permanent and could in much more thoroughgoing fashion affect all the small

00:26:03.880 aspects and details of our lives in so many ways and i know that the politicians told us that they

00:26:08.760 were temporary and limited but they're the same politicians that told us that they wouldn't

00:26:12.120 implement them so i was wary of believing it when they put them in place like that

00:26:15.720 and so as soon as those went in place i thought you know what out of out of an abundance of caution

00:26:21.880 i thought i better start writing and and and and saying you know this could get bad this could go

00:26:27.560 in ways in which that are very i don't know un-canadian as or and i want to stand up for

00:26:32.600 the country that i love and believe in and uh and the people that and the the character of the

00:26:37.880 canadian people and the i found it very disturbing that people were so quick to sign on to this

00:26:44.680 platform in which the government was in some sort of you know overbearing domineering way going to

00:26:52.920 deign to give us a tiny bit of our freedoms back if only we're willing to surrender whatever they

00:26:59.120 demanded from us. And so I've written a number of pieces that have that kind of concern about them.

00:27:04.000 But this past, last weekend, when I saw what I saw, I was like, okay, maybe there's reason to

00:27:08.580 think that things will turn out well rather than poorly. Yeah, well, it's been an inspiring week.

00:27:13.300 It really has. I mean, part of why government, look, the nature of government is always to just

00:27:18.360 take a little more control, take a little more control. They are authoritarians by nature. These

00:27:23.540 are people who have gotten into power because they want to run things. Even if they feel their

00:27:27.380 intentions are good, they always want more and more control. That's just as natural as gravity.

00:27:33.500 And they'll push it as far as the citizens will allow. And Canadians have always been very passive.

00:27:38.860 We're fairly docile. We weren't a nation built out of revolution, such as the United States,

00:27:42.800 for example. So we don't quite embrace, I think, that pushback against the state attitude as much.

00:27:47.440 But now we seem to have hit more of a tipping point.

00:27:50.280 And I think it's great because it's been a protest.

00:27:52.840 It's been effective.

00:27:53.820 It's been shaking the establishment. 0.96

00:27:55.800 But it's still been distinctly Canadian.

00:27:57.420 And as you've been pointing out, it's been polite.

00:27:59.980 It's been upbeat.

00:28:01.000 It's been congenial.

00:28:02.380 It's been uniting.

00:28:03.780 It's been waving flags.

00:28:05.340 I mean, yes, you know, again, we got that sick legacy media focused on a couple of outlying

00:28:09.620 disgusting flags and overlooking the thousands and thousands of Canadian flags.

00:28:14.060 We don't even see that many flags waving proudly on Canada Day.

00:28:16.540 Right.

00:28:17.060 Right. Now, Corey, you know, as well as I do, this wasn't always the reputation of Canadians that we were wimpy or something like that.

00:28:23.260 I mean, our reputation in the World Wars defies that caricature.

00:28:28.320 Even just growing up in the 1970s, you know, we were rough and tumble, beer drinking, hockey playing, body checking guys.

00:28:36.720 And so the sort of attitude that, you know, you don't you don't mess with Canadians was was a stereotype up until more recently, I think.

00:28:46.160 And what's interesting is, you know, the images we're getting are, you know, as much as the media wants to depict what's going on in places like Ottawa as if it were, you know, the most violent and the most vile sorts of people engaging in wanton acts of destruction.

00:29:03.400 You know, if that was the case, the footage of that would be everywhere.

00:29:06.240 But they don't have the footage of that because that's not what's happening.

00:29:09.480 These are your neighbors.

00:29:12.900 These are the people that supply you with the goods that you need to live your life.

00:29:18.820 These are the people we go to the pub with and have a conversation with at the bar.

00:29:23.080 These are the people that we hang out with and play a game of Euchre with.

00:29:28.960 And so it's just striking the difference between what I see and what I'm familiar with and the way in which it's being depicted.

00:29:42.180 by the Prime Minister and by his agents in the media.

00:29:46.760 Well, that's why it's been so, I mean, that's the other thing that's heartened me is watching.

00:29:50.700 People haven't fallen for what the mainstream's done.

00:29:52.960 They overplayed their hand.

00:29:54.380 I mean, people can see through just how badly they've gotten.

00:29:57.660 And alternative outlets like ourselves have turned into a go-to.

00:30:00.500 We've gotten, I mean, a boon out of this.

00:30:03.220 People have finally said that's enough out of the mainstream.

00:30:05.760 And they're coming in droves to outlets such as ours and Candace's True North or Rebel

00:30:10.060 and other places where they can bypass it.

00:30:12.080 And then the ability for people like yourself to say, well, I'm going to get up and go out on the ground and just see for myself.

00:30:17.660 I mean, if you'd have gone there, I imagine, and they were all vicious and nasty and spitting at you.

00:30:21.960 I would have left me in an instant.

00:30:23.840 I'm an anxious person, Corey.

00:30:26.320 I'm an academic.

00:30:27.380 I just prefer to keep with my books and teach my classes.

00:30:31.600 I'm not an activist.

00:30:33.620 Well, that's it.

00:30:34.220 And you probably would have written.

00:30:35.520 This would have been my comfort zone to go there.

00:30:36.900 Yeah.

00:30:37.220 And you would have written saying, geez, I hate to say it, but we've got a bunch of crazy people heading to Ottawa.

00:30:41.560 I wanted to see something nice, but it's not going on.

00:30:43.180 I would have raised that alarm in an instant. Absolutely.

00:30:45.680 And that's not the vibe by God at all.

00:30:49.840 Can you imagine what the overpasses would have been like

00:30:52.220 if it was positive 20 degrees out instead of minus 20?

00:30:55.180 Oh, yeah. I mean, and that's a factor for older people,

00:30:59.160 mobility challenged or just general comfort.

00:31:01.280 It depends on how dedicated they are.

00:31:02.840 That's a chilly place to go standing around outdoors.

00:31:05.240 I was a surveyor for 20 years. It's unpleasant.

00:31:07.920 So you better be pretty dedicated to get out there.

00:31:09.920 and thousands were. And we saw Hutterites out there. I don't think maybe some Eastern viewers 1.00

00:31:14.280 not who don't have a lot of experience with Hutterites don't realize how significant that is.

00:31:19.060 I mean, these are usually some of the most politically impartial people around. They just

00:31:23.780 want to be left alone. They're on the colony. They have their thing and they stay out of politics if

00:31:28.220 at all possible. And they were out because they're also business people. They're also and some Hutterite

00:31:33.440 leaders were saying they they're not anti-vaccination. The majority of Hutterites have

00:31:37.000 on in and got vaccinated, but they drive trucks. They have businesses, they're farmers and they're

00:31:42.720 concerned for this. And again, this needs to be reported on, you know, we're seeing something

00:31:46.680 happening in Canada. We haven't seen in a long time. Yeah. This is the portrait that they're

00:31:51.460 trying to portray is trying to minimize the diversity of people who are concerned about

00:31:58.640 policies like the mandates and the lockdowns. I mean, the portrait they're trying to play is

00:32:04.100 false. And which also is not only false, I can't be the only one who finds it disturbing

00:32:11.100 that our own prime minister seems to suggest that people of color and women don't want to

00:32:18.300 be free and don't like freedom. I don't get that. I don't know why that's acceptable for him to be

00:32:22.620 implying. Of all people, he's one who really shouldn't be speaking on behalf of people of

00:32:27.460 color uh but i mean again he takes it upon himself as the woke uh self-styled messiah of of uh

00:32:35.460 political correctness i think and it's and people are seeing through it i think

00:32:39.380 we started seeing some really ugly rhetoric out of him during the campaign and if anyone

00:32:43.300 should be accused of speaking hate some of the language that he's put in some of his interviews

00:32:47.460 then and since then um deliberately trying to manufacture division trying to set canadians

00:32:54.260 against each other make them distrust each other make them you know ready to accuse each other or

00:33:00.740 worse when they when all canadians ought to be realizing by now who's who's actually been

00:33:07.380 responsible for the misery that they've been enduring for so long but it's it's a kind of

00:33:11.700 misdirection it's a you know one of the oldest tricks in the book for political leaders to make

00:33:17.620 sure that they don't take responsibility for themselves and trying to accuse uh the people

00:33:22.260 that they've harmed of being the guilty parties so that the other people who've been harmed can

00:33:28.320 can direct their anger at them instead. Yeah, well, we're starting to see through and around

00:33:32.460 it and means through things such as social media, communication, independent media like ours, you

00:33:37.880 know, we're getting to the citizens without that filter of the establishment out there. But I

00:33:44.300 noticed that, of course, Bill C-10 has reared its ugly head again, and the government is kind of a

00:33:50.580 curveball. I know you hadn't spoke on it before, but it seems an indication the government's

00:33:54.520 worried about having their messaging bypassed. And here they come again to see if they can find

00:33:58.420 ways to control the information that's leaking beyond their gatekeeping.

00:34:02.380 Look, the whole discourse around misinformation stinks of the discourse in the PRC about what

00:34:10.800 they call rumor mongering, where you can be accused of crimes if you're engaged in rumor

00:34:15.940 mongering and uh this is disturbing i've got a close friend of mine who's from beijing who came

00:34:23.780 to canada became a canadian citizen my son and i went and stood there for him at his citizenship

00:34:28.500 ceremony and he says to me that he can't believe how much canada looks and sounds like the place

00:34:35.940 that he left behind him now and it's very distressing and something like that degree of

00:34:40.580 censorship is very concerning. It is absolutely, and I don't think they will get away with it,

00:34:47.640 you know, I don't, but it could turn into a very ugly battle. I mean, social media control of

00:34:51.900 information, the world has changed. The best the government can do is play whack-a-mole,

00:34:55.080 but for every source they block in one spot, it'll spring out in five others. But again,

00:34:59.240 they can really divide us and make quite a mess in their efforts to do so. We're concerned at the

00:35:05.180 Western Standard. I mean, we're doing fantastic as an alternative media outlet. We would be the

00:35:09.280 low-hanging fruit out there because we are a legitimate media company. We're a registered

00:35:13.900 company. There's a number of licensing things or things that the state could do to try to shun our

00:35:19.640 message. But then other individual voices, independent ones, will spring out of the sides

00:35:23.060 and make up for it. But they could really just harm this new development of free exchange of

00:35:28.780 information. And I'm kind of worried about it. It's pretty much an attack upon another attack

00:35:34.040 upon another one of our most fundamental rights yeah this this this increasing sort of idea that

00:35:41.000 uh there's no aspect of the lives of citizens that shouldn't be uh regulated into into oblivion

00:35:51.080 well i'm optimistic and apprehensive at the same time i really appreciated you know you're getting

00:35:56.120 off your butt and going out there in person so you can tell us the people who haven't been able

00:36:00.040 to see it necessarily face to face that indeed, you know, this isn't a violent or crazy or nasty

00:36:04.800 movement. These are genuine Canadians expressing themselves. And I'm certain the ones that are

00:36:09.400 still on the Hill are just the same. So in closing, that's an assistant professor at

00:36:13.680 political science at Concordia University and columnist for the Western Standard occasionally,

00:36:19.400 Travis Smith, where else can we find more information on what you're up to and where

00:36:23.280 you're writing in such, Travis? People can find me at at 22, Travis G. Smith.

00:36:28.060 and I've written articles on COVID times in Convivium and for the Society for Academic

00:36:37.980 Freedom and Scholarship among other places. Great yeah that's one of the ones I was

00:36:41.940 referencing Convivium so if you look that up then there's some great extended pieces in there for

00:36:47.060 more reading on your thoughts on all those things. Yeah there's a couple of articles that I wrote

00:36:51.320 back last fall October November where I posed the question as to whether or not we're living in a

00:36:55.280 place called not Canada.

00:36:56.960 Yeah.

00:36:57.740 Well, I appreciate your work and I appreciate you joining us today, Travis.

00:37:01.220 I hope we get to talk again soon.

00:37:03.140 Be happy to be back on the show.

00:37:04.380 Thank you very much for having me today, Corey.

00:37:06.260 Wish you all the best.

00:37:07.040 I hope everybody is taking care of themselves and taking care of each

00:37:09.720 other there and to you.

00:37:11.500 Thanks Travis.

00:37:13.800 So there we go.

00:37:14.300 And you know, I really like to run just those counterpoints and you know what,

00:37:17.240 if there had been, I mean, I've talked about that in past shows before I went

00:37:20.340 to protests here in Calgary that were smaller and unfortunately the tone wasn't

00:37:24.800 good.

00:37:25.020 It wasn't rational and I reported as much.

00:37:26.780 I was disappointed.

00:37:27.580 I was hoping to see, you know, a better thing developing.

00:37:31.680 And this Truckers for Freedom Convoy has done that.

00:37:35.140 You know, the same people are involved.

00:37:36.560 It's always happened, but there's such a larger number of people now that they aren't getting

00:37:39.760 sidelined or sidetracked by the less rational folks, perhaps, in the midst.

00:37:47.440 So, yeah, sorry, I got a little sidetracked there.

00:37:50.960 With some of those commentary, you know, from Brad Hagen, you know, an interesting thing

00:37:54.720 and Derek was saying it in the newsroom this morning

00:37:57.000 and we see memes about it and there's a lot of truth about it

00:37:59.120 is everything that was a conspiracy

00:38:01.020 theory, you know, a couple

00:38:03.200 of years ago is becoming fact today. I mean, not

00:38:05.140 everything yet. There's still some pretty crazy conspiracy

00:38:06.960 theories out there. You know, I don't think the lizard people are

00:38:09.060 running around or

00:38:09.880 you know, that we're being controlled by microchips

00:38:13.200 from Bill Gates or anything. But some

00:38:15.160 of them are definitely coming along. I mean,

00:38:16.960 I spoke with somebody else about, you know, the Great Reset.

00:38:19.940 It's unfortunate that it's

00:38:21.020 called that because even off the bat, it sounds

00:38:23.140 almost a little conspiratorial.

00:38:24.720 and people dismiss it, you know, but this is from the World Economic Forum. This is their own words.

00:38:31.520 You can look it up. Great Reset. So Brad brought that up because Justin Trudeau spoke to that World

00:38:37.180 Economic Forum. He talked to them and he said in other interviews, if you Google that stuff,

00:38:41.280 Justin Trudeau talks about Great Reset and what that theory is. It's a thought of pursuing a

00:38:47.520 socialist paradise. If we could just break down the system hard enough, we can rebuild it into

00:38:53.040 something in their eyes beautiful, which it tends to be a very socialist world that doesn't involve

00:38:59.740 individualism. It's not a conspiracy theory. It really is something that some of these people

00:39:04.960 believe in Ottawa, not all of them, but Justin Trudeau does seem to be an adherent to it. And

00:39:09.560 they see this pandemic as an opportunity rather than a tragedy, a problem. They see a bigger end

00:39:18.980 to this than just hindering the spread of a virus. They're looking at a way to reset the

00:39:25.300 population. And as Brad's saying, perhaps reset the banking system. And I know Brad differs with

00:39:29.900 me on some of these things, but that's okay. That's loud. And that's what we do. And I did

00:39:33.500 see the video, Brad, but I am going to talk about getting out of what is the conventional banking

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00:40:40.840 wealth. So that's where we are with that sponsor. I want to go on to a good news story. You know,

00:40:48.640 we're going to check in with James Finkbeiner pretty soon here. But I, you know, I'm always

00:40:53.380 negative. I'm always crabby and then things like that. For those familiar with him, Stephen Carter

00:40:58.300 has been fired again. Stephen Carter was the weenie behind the leader. He always is. That's

00:41:05.780 his role. And, you know, with every leader, you always have one. You have the, you know,

00:41:12.860 person behind Mr. Burns. What's his name again on The Simpsons? Why am I forgetting that? Either

00:41:17.240 way, I mean, he's even more principled than Stephen Carter. Carter was, yes, there's the

00:41:24.080 cover from The Sun, Chief of Stiff, he was called. That was put out just shortly after, I believe,

00:41:29.400 he got fired from Premier Redford's office. This guy shows up like a rash on Alberta politics,

00:41:34.000 has for quite some years, so I'll give a little bit of history of him. Yeah, he was at Redford's

00:41:37.960 office. He managed to be the campaign manager who got Nenshi elected,

00:41:41.960 but I think him and Nenshi parted ways later. He always parts ways with his

00:41:45.840 employers pretty quickly afterwards. He moved on. He was with the Wildrose Party, unfortunately,

00:41:50.200 while I was in the Wildrose Party on the board. He didn't last very long

00:41:53.920 there before he left in scandal. And then, unfortunately, and maybe

00:41:57.960 as we talk about the book down the road, somebody at the Wildrose Party

00:42:02.180 he foolishly hired him yet again. And, uh, and, uh, he was, uh, he quit, I think only a couple

00:42:11.460 months afterwards. And of course had all that information. Where does he go? To Alison Redford's

00:42:17.680 office to work for Premier Redford with another party. I mean, this is a man who just, wherever

00:42:21.460 his bills are paid, he'll go. So he went on from that. He went on to, uh, what's her name? Uh,

00:42:28.640 Sandra Janssen, if those people remember that, hysteric, opportunistic, progressive, conservative 0.99

00:42:34.540 member of the legislature.

00:42:37.100 She was always playing the victim going on, but to be honest, what she was was not the

00:42:41.240 sharpest knife in the drawer.

00:42:42.860 She was in Jim Prentice's government.

00:42:44.320 She actually tabled legislation to hinder gay-street alliances in schools, and when that all fell

00:42:51.280 apart, she suddenly tried to model herself as a defender of rights for the LGBTQ community.

00:42:57.400 Then she crossed the floor to the NDP, from the Conservatives to the NDP, in order to get a cabinet seat.

00:43:06.620 Of course, she said, no, I'm not there to get a cabinet seat. I'm there to be there.

00:43:10.480 Well, she got put into cabinet. 1.00

00:43:11.700 And then before the election loomed, it looked like she was going to lose her seat. 1.00

00:43:14.860 She left Rachel Notley hanging and quit without notice and vanished from the political scene. 0.69

00:43:19.860 We don't miss her. I kind of miss her for some of the comic relief.

00:43:22.580 Either way, going farther back, Stephen Carter, for a short period, was her campaign manager.

00:43:26.880 as she tried and failed to run for the progressive conservative party leadership. They didn't even

00:43:30.880 manage to get enough signatures to get her name on the ballot. She claimed, of course, it was

00:43:34.880 prejudice and she was a victim and that's why she didn't run. But it's baloney. It's because nobody

00:43:38.360 supported her. Carter then moved on to the Alberta party. Now my timelines might be a little

00:43:42.460 bumped around here. The Alberta party was this group that, you know, they've been around. They're

00:43:47.720 still around. They try to keep saying, we're the middle. We're the middle. You know, we're not the

00:43:52.200 left. We're not the right. And what it leads to all the time is electoral obliteration. Though

00:43:56.220 they did have one leader who was doing really well, and he won a seat in Calgary Elbow, I believe it

00:44:02.100 was. And man, I am terrible with names sometimes. He was a really good guy, actually. That's part

00:44:07.680 of why he won. He won on the force of his own personality. But Stephen Carter and some other

00:44:11.740 progressive conservative hacks got in there and said, we can fix this Alberta party. And they

00:44:16.960 managed to actually push the leader aside, the popular leader, the one who had his seat. And

00:44:22.240 they brought in the former mayor of Edmonton, Stephen

00:44:26.460 Mandel, in there and said, this is how we're going to win. Well, Stephen Mandel

00:44:30.080 led the Alberta party into electoral obliteration. They lost the one seat

00:44:34.380 they had. And I think they had a floor crosser who gave them a seat for a bit too or something. But 0.50

00:44:38.040 it was the end of the thing. And then Carter just kind of marched off onto another

00:44:42.140 thing. He set up a business deal. That's what the Chief of Stiff

00:44:46.320 thing was about, that it was supposed to involve a big show with the Dalai Lama and a bunch

00:44:50.420 of things. And it all fell apart and went to crap. And a number of creditors got hooped. That's why

00:44:55.040 he's known as Chief of Stiff. And either way, all the way along the lines, he managed Jody Gondek's

00:45:01.760 campaign in Calgary to be mayor. And she won. And after, right on the 100th day of her being in,

00:45:08.820 Carter got fired. So, I mean, he's a guy who'll do anything to win. It makes for, I guess,

00:45:15.640 you know if you're not worried about principle and things a good campaign manager if your goal

00:45:20.740 is just to get in and nothing else he pulls that off he's done it multiple times but once he's in

00:45:26.720 there they can't tolerate that that weasel and he ends out on his butt Dave's been reporting on that

00:45:32.380 and there's a number of background as to why he got fired he said to the news yesterday that he

00:45:37.000 didn't know but it sounds like a lot of people do and we'll be hearing more about it so either way

00:45:40.260 there's your good news story for today i mean it's not too ongoing because guys like him are

00:45:45.800 never gone he will just surface somewhere else but for the time being he is not in the mayor's

00:45:51.160 office and i'm happy for that good luck on your job hunt steven uh looks good on you uh by the

00:45:58.960 way just a teaser for at the end of the show something different and on a positive note i got

00:46:02.620 a fantastic thing we'll play at the end as we're talking patriotic upbeat things from the protests

00:46:09.120 Well, we've got a version of the national anthem that is fantastic and quite fun.

00:46:15.340 And we will play that at the end of the show for those of you who are still with us at that time.

00:46:21.120 That's what I'm saying. Stick with us. We've got stuff going all the way along.

00:46:23.960 Just another reminder, I'm going to be checking in pretty quickly here.

00:46:26.940 Has somebody, Brad, just said anything new on Cootes?

00:46:28.700 I'm going to find out pretty quickly in a couple of minutes here.

00:46:30.720 I'm going to bring James in. He's been languishing down there for days, live, interacting with the people, getting direct news.

00:46:37.180 and that's what's important. Again, we're not, there's so many rumors. I mean, everything's

00:46:40.360 turning on a dime so fast. It's so important to get people on the ground and see. That's what was

00:46:47.520 great with Travis. That's what's great with James down there. You know, they can at least talk one

00:46:52.400 on one. It's still hard. You know, I mean, it's a, it's hard for James. He's got a ground level view

00:46:56.320 in one spot and everything's now spread out. They're up by Milk River. They're down by Kootz

00:46:59.340 and we're talking distances at 20, 30 kilometers away. Uh, you know, so think of it like a football

00:47:05.720 game, you know, if you've got seats right on the edge of the field, hey, it's excellent for the

00:47:09.980 experience of the game. But in reality, if you're sitting way up on the nosebleeds, you're going to

00:47:13.580 see a whole lot more of the game. You need that balance between those perspectives. So James down

00:47:17.440 on the ground, and he's tracking it as fast and furiously as he can. He's doing a fantastic job.

00:47:22.540 But sometimes, yeah, you hear one thing down the south end of the protest, and there's a different

00:47:25.920 thing happening in the north end. So it's constantly unfolding and changing as we go.

00:47:30.520 um yes let's see Mike Thomas yes I had him on the show oh wait a minute looks like James is here

00:47:37.080 okay well we're live and things happen now why not I was just going to ramble about Mike Thomas

00:47:43.060 anyways if James is ready to talk I'll I'll take him in and we'll get an update how you doing James

00:47:47.740 I'm good how are you Corey good good well you look warm and indoors that's good it's a little

00:47:53.520 better out there today isn't it it's way better today the wind almost feels warm today it's uh

00:48:00.080 still i think it's minus 10 still but it feels a whole lot warmer so you've been entrenched down

00:48:06.960 there for days now on the uh coots trucker border convoy blockade siege whatever description we want

00:48:14.640 to do day by day as things evolve uh where are things standing right now may you give us a rundown

00:48:20.240 today is probably the most dynamic fluid day that that's been going on down here uh things are

00:48:27.600 changing minute by minute by minute um but you know what the word of the day today is de-escalation

00:48:34.960 uh i think every every group down here has kind of come off of a hard line position

00:48:41.520 and they're they're talking to each other they're negotiating with each other um you know nobody's

00:48:48.080 nobody's worried about swat vehicles rolling in anymore nobody's worried about mass arrests

00:48:52.640 nobody's worried about truckers getting pulled out of their trucks um nobody's worried about

00:48:57.680 the blockades being blown by tractors today uh you know things are things are at a very calm

00:49:03.680 place right now um that's not to say things won't change because the uh the the the truckers are

00:49:11.680 telling me that they're going to hold the line and and that's what they're going to do is hold the

00:49:16.240 line okay so it's been back and forth as you said though in fluid there were some changes like they

00:49:21.920 did start opening up and letting traffic through uh part of it what people have to understand is

00:49:26.400 like there's more than one blockade so in order for that to work the rcmp have to actually open

00:49:30.720 up farther north and let traffic through and uh it's gotten some commercial vehicles through to

00:49:36.720 the border but there's still hindrances going on yeah so just to give you a bit of a timeline corey

00:49:42.480 uh yesterday afternoon shortly after our show we had uh some some breaking news from from the group

00:49:49.040 uh they had been in communication with a group of mlas and uh it was originally reported to

00:49:54.960 us that they had struck a deal they had struck a deal with the mlas uh that turned out to be a

00:50:00.480 miscommunication between the the massive group of of uh protesters here and essentially there's

00:50:09.200 uh part of the group is is working with the mlas part of the group we're working with lawyers part

00:50:13.840 of the group we're working with farmers part of the group are working with truckers and that's

00:50:17.920 the thing with this kind of protest is is it's not one group that's leading this there are several

00:50:23.040 groups that's leading this so there's been so much discussion and confusion around the discussion

00:50:29.040 that's going on um that uh everybody just kind of said like we we don't know what's going on

00:50:35.600 um but what ended up happening was the truckers as a show of good faith pulled to the shoulder

00:50:41.920 of the road opened up a lane in both directions in and out of the village of coots opened access

00:50:47.600 to the border moved out of the way and and said we're not leaving we're holding the line but we

00:50:54.880 are not going to create an illegal blockade anymore there's no illegal blockade at coots

00:51:02.160 so from there um over the course of the day um more protesters who had originally left the

00:51:10.080 original protest from saturday and others that have wanted to join the protest started to arrive

00:51:16.720 at the milk river uh checkpoint the police checkpoint now there has been a group down there

00:51:22.560 uh since saturday since the uh police checkpoint went up uh the majority of them there's about a

00:51:29.200 core group down there 25 to 50 people that have stayed um basically since that checkpoint went up

00:51:35.520 uh there's also been you know another 50 to 100 um other protesters that have joined that area

00:51:43.120 to support them um last night i went down i talked to them earlier in the evening i asked them you

00:51:49.120 know why are you guys here what brought you guys here and they said we're here to show the guys

00:51:53.680 in coots that they have support they're not alone we're here to hold the line with them

00:51:59.920 over the course of the evening um commercial traffic was restored uh to the border at about

00:52:05.520 11 o'clock uh two two commercial vehicles passed through the police checkpoint and uh we followed

00:52:12.400 them all the way back to the border we watched them cross through uh they made it they made it

00:52:17.520 all the way from milk river all the way into the united states completely uncumbered and nobody

00:52:22.800 pulled out nobody stopped them nothing happened around that time discussions with uh the the two

00:52:29.200 different groups the the group at milk river and the group at coots uh they started talking to the

00:52:34.080 rcmp and they said well there you go there there's your proof that we've done what we've been asked to

00:52:38.800 do can the protest groups join each other and the the answer has been no the rcmp have not let any

00:52:47.120 additional protesters down to the coot site um there there is a checkpoint there they're letting

00:52:52.880 locals through they're letting um media through and they're letting the occasional commercial

00:52:58.400 vehicle through i do not want to say that they are letting every commercial vehicle through

00:53:02.960 because i haven't talked to the rcmp about it i asked the sheriffs about it on my way through

00:53:07.760 earlier and they said well it depends and that's the other thing they have sheriffs down here they

00:53:14.720 have rcmp down here i have seen lethbridge municipal police down here with the rolling

00:53:20.080 protests across the province the rcmp the sheriffs everybody are spread thin they are they are moving

00:53:26.480 around and responding to everything as they can so it's just it's a it's a fluid situation across

00:53:33.280 the whole province right now corey but i i drove down to milk river this morning i wanted to go

00:53:38.720 see what was happening down there and uh i tell you i drove all the way from coots all the way

00:53:44.000 through milk river there was a clear lane open all the way through there was a clear lane open

00:53:48.800 all the way back and it's it's not the zigzagging clear lane that it was before it's a straight shot

00:53:54.400 all the way through uh there there's no obstacles in the middle of the lane and as i understand it

00:54:00.560 right now. The protest vehicles are moving further out of the driving lanes and onto the shoulder.

00:54:09.420 Yeah, so things sound like they're calming down. I mean, part of it was

00:54:12.300 prefaced on some of the negotiations. There was some misinterpretation about potentially a number

00:54:18.180 of MLAs that were negotiating or might be coming down. It sounds like some sources said there were

00:54:23.540 some perhaps acting on their own, but it never had the sanction of the United Conservative Party.

00:54:29.020 at the Western Standard, I mean, we've got the sources saying UCP MLAs were told to stall for

00:54:33.700 time over ending these COVID restrictions. It sounds like the government is backing down

00:54:38.620 provincially, but they're doing it slowly and painfully and not necessarily, they don't want

00:54:45.260 to admit it's in response to this protest, I suspect. That's what I'm actually being told

00:54:53.280 by a lot of the protesters down here today, is that's what they're hearing. They're hearing from

00:54:58.420 their MLA contacts. And I got to tell you, a lot of these rural MLAs have been responding to their

00:55:03.860 constituents. I've been told like several different examples of where these people have

00:55:08.760 reached out to their MLAs. They've sent them pictures. They've been communicating with them.

00:55:12.940 The MLAs are in communication with their constituents. And I mean, just like the

00:55:18.060 truckers right now and differing opinions on how they want to handle this protest and what they

00:55:23.000 should do. The MLAs are having the exact same situation. I think everybody just wants to do

00:55:29.400 what the right thing. And I think they're trying to get there. They're just working out how to get

00:55:36.600 there right now. Yeah, well, in an already complicated situation, we do have a premier

00:55:43.040 who's facing a leadership review in April. A lot of people speculated he was holding the restrictions

00:55:48.480 almost as a card in his pocket that he could drop before then and drop the restrictions and make

00:55:52.540 everybody happy, but now he's moving it up and he's moving it up. And now he's even saying

00:55:56.080 it's going to come quickly, but it makes it difficult for him to keep caucus under control

00:56:01.780 when, you know, there's a lot of, unfortunately, politics being played here. I mean, he doesn't

00:56:06.900 have that control over all of those MLAs that a stronger premier or he, or as he did when he was

00:56:12.800 stronger himself in the past. So it's hard to get a clear message from elected officials right now.

00:56:16.840 yeah exactly and and i mean we've kind of seen that the whole way through like you've got uh

00:56:23.740 todd lowens you've got drew barnes you've got the the rebels inside the caucus and and uh you know

00:56:30.540 there's just been a lot of mixed messaging the way the way people feel in the cities is not the

00:56:35.600 way people feel in the country and it's reflected from their constituents up to their mlas and then

00:56:41.420 their MLAs try to represent them and you know they're getting head off and and just like um

00:56:47.040 the these rural Albertans these truckers these hard-working blue-collar people feel like they're

00:56:51.780 not being listened to a lot of these MLAs are feeling the same way right now uh I've tried

00:56:57.400 reaching out to a couple of them I haven't got any responses back as of yet um they've been

00:57:02.380 coordinating a lot of stuff uh they've been helping to de-escalate this situation and and you know uh

00:57:08.120 Earlier this week, there was just a vacuum of political leadership.

00:57:13.000 Nobody was stepping into any kind of role.

00:57:15.900 Nobody was talking this situation down.

00:57:18.840 And you know what?

00:57:19.620 When they started talking to these protesters, that's when things started to de-escalate.

00:57:25.600 When these truckers felt like they were being listened to, that's when the situation came down.

00:57:31.700 But they want to be clear.

00:57:33.560 They are backing down, but they are holding the line.

00:57:36.360 They are not forming an illegal blockade, but they are not ending their protests.

00:57:42.440 They are staying here.

00:57:44.520 There's only been a couple of protesters that have left, and they left in response to commercial traffic being let through last night.

00:57:51.360 There was a few tense moments last night.

00:57:53.460 Around 11 o'clock, those commercial vehicles came through.

00:57:56.600 By about 12 o'clock last night, the Milk River protesters blockaded the southbound lanes.

00:58:03.660 they would not let commercial vehicles through there anymore and by about 1 30 we started

00:58:12.720 receiving reports that there was farm equipment and tractors with dozers coming to blow the police

00:58:18.300 line and i raced back down there i was there till almost three o'clock this morning uh the tractors

00:58:25.680 did show up there was an extremely frustrated protester operating that tractor and the other

00:58:31.800 protesters got out in front of that tractor and they talked them down they said look this is not

00:58:36.700 going to help anything this is not going to change the minds of anyone this is not going to win hearts

00:58:41.960 over to our cause so calm down and you know what he calmed down he uh he shut his unit off he backed

00:58:48.800 away they de-escalated the situation and everything remained calm all the way until this morning

00:58:54.520 this morning they had some meetings uh the group at coots drove down to talk to the group at milk

00:59:00.880 river they said guys we need open lanes we do not want to form an illegal blockade and they have

00:59:08.320 opened up the lanes i have some video that i'm going to get out here as soon as i possibly can

00:59:13.120 showing that the lanes are open all the way to milk river and all the way from milk river back

00:59:17.360 to the border great you know and something you said it was very important and it's worth um

00:59:22.960 transferring because we got protests of course all across the country particularly the one

00:59:26.400 in ottawa and how a lot of them just want to know that their voices are getting heard at the higher

00:59:32.320 levels of power i mean some people are saying all or nothing will never budge until we get

00:59:36.160 everything but a lot of people are reasonable like if they know it's being respectfully listened to

00:59:40.560 it can already calm things and in ottawa we have none of that the prime minister won't even

00:59:45.280 acknowledge the thousands of people up there i mean i understand okay he doesn't have to come

00:59:50.240 up and say yeah you're right and i'm going to reverse all of my mandates or i don't expect

00:59:53.920 to go in there and shake hands and meet with them in person, but acknowledge them, respect them,

00:59:58.800 listen to them. And you know what? It's a better, if you don't like them blocking things up, that's

01:00:02.820 a more effective way to get them to stop rather than insulting them. Like, you know, Justin Trudeau,

01:00:08.500 if you remember in the past, he went and went into the teepee of the fake hunger striker,

01:00:12.960 Teresa Spence, the one who managed to actually gain weight on a hunger strike. He took her

01:00:16.920 seriously enough to go right into the teepee and spend some time with her or with Black Lives

01:00:20.540 matter. I mean, they were rioting all over the country and Justin goes out there and kneels with 1.00

01:00:24.920 them. Now, I don't expect such, you know, behavior perhaps with this protest, but as you found down

01:00:31.460 there, and I'm certain the mindset of the demonstrators is similar all over. If they

01:00:36.140 could just be respectfully heard, they can start to work towards a resolution of all this.

01:00:41.900 Oh, exactly, Corey. You know what surprises me is that the words that everybody uses for the

01:00:48.660 police is de-escalation. Why can't you guys de-escalate a situation? Why does it always

01:00:54.600 end in violence? And what we're seeing is Justin Trudeau and Jason Kenney have poured gasoline on

01:01:01.740 this fire by accusing them of assaulting police officers, of being racist, of being white

01:01:08.840 supremacists. And, you know, all of these things are just fundamentally untrue. The mainstream

01:01:15.280 media is reporting this Nazi flag like every single protester that went there is carrying this

01:01:20.700 Nazi flag. And these people are sitting here looking at each other and saying, this isn't

01:01:24.860 what's happening. We just want to be listened to. We want to feel like the people that we elected

01:01:31.320 to represent us are listening to us. And once they started getting that, this situation here

01:01:38.600 de-escalated. And I think if our leaders would have approached the situation by saying, we're

01:01:46.200 listening to you, we understand, we're going to work at this together, I don't think we would

01:01:53.020 have got to this point. And I know that's offering my opinion and stretching there, but I've been

01:02:00.280 with these guys for six days now. I have not seen any violence. I've seen a lot of prayer. I've seen

01:02:07.220 a lot of thoughtful conversation uh and and and they just have been painted in a different light

01:02:13.860 and i and and it's it's important today to see that the protesters are are de-escalating the

01:02:20.940 rcmp have asked them de-escalate de-escalate and at every possible chance both the protesters

01:02:27.820 and and the police have de-escalated and and i think that is a very positive positive message

01:02:34.720 from this. Yeah, absolutely. And again, it's not just your opinion, because you are reporting on

01:02:38.700 what you've seen down there. I mean, if they wanted to remain intransigent, if they were still

01:02:42.880 upset, those trucks would still be fully blocking that road. They never would have backed off.

01:02:47.720 Things might even have gotten, unfortunately, violent if things had stayed entrenched. I mean,

01:02:52.440 you have to have a vent, you know, the pressure keeps building up. And these guys have shown

01:02:57.100 they're willing to back off a little. They're not leaving the site, but they're seeing reason,

01:03:01.740 and they'll move. We've seen heated social media voices and fools saying, oh, just get in there

01:03:06.900 with the bulldozers and move them. Even if you had the equipment, that's a recipe to take a

01:03:13.560 peaceful situation, even if it's frustrating, and turn it terribly violent and people will get

01:03:17.960 hurt. And that's just a ridiculous approach. This has been, I think so far, I mean, there's lots of

01:03:22.820 fingers to point, but a good example of behavior on the part of the police and the protesters.

01:03:29.600 I mean, there's some mistakes on both sides, but they're working towards resolution.

01:03:34.440 Yeah, and that's exactly what's going on.

01:03:37.580 There's a group of protesters here at Coots and a secondary group of protesters at Melk River.

01:03:43.020 Both groups are talking to each other.

01:03:45.040 They're talking to their local MLAs.

01:03:48.860 They're talking to the RCMP, and they're talking to the lawyer that they've retained.

01:03:55.460 And all of them are listening to each other.

01:03:58.280 and and they're taking cues from each other and as one group backs off another group backs off

01:04:03.160 as the drivers here cleared the lanes and opened the lanes up the rcmp presence just greatly reduced

01:04:09.980 uh at one point that you could you could look every direction and you would see headlights and

01:04:15.640 flashing lights at night uh there was checkpoints all over the place those have backed off for the

01:04:21.140 most part now you don't have an rcmp vehicle on every corner in the village of coots anymore and

01:04:27.180 and you know what last night um it took them nine and a half hours i was told but uh police on guard

01:04:34.300 uh actually brought down food and the rcmp escorted them from the milk river checkpoint

01:04:40.700 to the coots saloon and uh they they came in they had a meal together they talked about their fears

01:04:47.020 they talked about their frustrations and there was some great dialogue going on in there it was

01:04:51.900 just great to see right you know i i just i uh you know the rcmp's taken a lot of heat for a lot

01:05:00.700 of stuff for a long time we've we've seen the calgary police and their interactions with hockey

01:05:05.180 players and arresting pastors and just all of this craziness over the course of the pandemic

01:05:10.620 and what we're seeing here is just the opposite of that they are meeting with these people they are

01:05:15.420 respecting them no one's yelling at each other no one's threatening each other it's been calm

01:05:20.460 respectful conversations even as the rcmp was doing the original um line and and and we live

01:05:28.060 streamed it and they were going truck to truck to truck they were knocking on the doors and they

01:05:32.220 were telling the drivers you can drive out of here right now or you can be arrested and some of them

01:05:39.500 left some of them drove drove away some of them just got out of their trucks and uh and uh walked

01:05:45.740 to the back of the line with the rest of the protesters the rcmp could have drug those people

01:05:50.060 out of those trucks arrested them and taken them to jail and and and they didn't and uh you know

01:05:56.220 by not doing that they de-escalated the situation the truckers moved off to the side they opened up

01:06:02.100 the lanes but they they are saying they are going to stay here they want the government to make

01:06:07.960 changes and they're going to stay here until that happens no and it's good we can give credit where

01:06:12.360 it's due and getting those reports from the ground um before i let you go and i want to talk a bit

01:06:17.120 about where people can find you because you keep updating and we'll keep breaking in live if

01:06:20.240 anything does develop and get rolling uh both uh cheryl and jason did ask though there was a rumor

01:06:25.180 i think we clarified that at the newsroom this morning about paul brant showing up there i don't

01:06:29.460 believe there's been any direct evidence that that really happened and perhaps that might be a

01:06:33.380 internet rumor unfortunately uh it sounds like it's a rumor yeah it's a rumor uh it's definitely

01:06:41.160 going around i've heard it a lot here uh i have been asking as many people as i can about it

01:06:48.200 and uh nobody has seen him yeah i think it's probably in the realm i mean paul brandt's

01:06:55.720 been very supportive of things and outspoken on but i suspect that this one might just be uh the

01:07:00.560 realm of things but that's important and that's part of the commenting thing with a live show

01:07:03.720 you know people want to get their questions in you've been on the ground and uh so who knows

01:07:07.520 maybe he snuck in and out of there nobody quite noticed it but more than likely it might have

01:07:10.900 been just a rumor um so where uh somebody's saying we have a photo yeah nobody's been able

01:07:16.880 to identify paul in that photo i'm afraid i uh i actually passed that photo around last night and

01:07:22.360 one of the ladies that's in that photo told me that she's in that photo and paul brandt is not

01:07:27.280 in that photo so um unless paul brandt himself says that he's in that picture i am not going to

01:07:35.060 confirm that because i have tried i have asked a lot of people and they have all told me that

01:07:39.740 that's not Paul Brandt and he is not in that picture. Yeah. And others are referencing the

01:07:43.940 picture as well. If it gets confirmed, I mean, Hey, we'll report it. I mean, it'd be a pretty

01:07:46.900 cool thing. We don't want to hide it if he was down there, but as it stands, we can't say it if

01:07:51.140 we don't have proof. So at that point, but we, we, you know, gave what we, what we know on the

01:07:55.800 ground. So as people have seen as well, you'll pop in. I mean, we're not sure when Derek's going

01:08:00.600 to let you come back to Calgary, but if anything breaks you, of course, we'll come in with live

01:08:05.640 coverage and where can we watch like your Twitter account there and such, because you tweet things

01:08:09.320 as soon as they happen yeah I've been live tweeting from from my my Twitter

01:08:15.020 account my Twitter handle is at Jimmy Bianchi I believe you've retweeted a lot

01:08:20.660 of my stuff so your followers can can find me there as well other than that

01:08:26.480 I I've been sending my reports back to the newsroom Mel Rizdin's been writing 0.52

01:08:31.520 the story for us she's been keeping us updated she's been doing a great job her

01:08:35.900 and I are in constant contact.

01:08:39.360 Other than that, if you need to reach out to me,

01:08:41.280 you can send me an email,

01:08:43.080 jfinkbeiner at westernstandardonline.com.

01:08:46.420 Great, thanks, James.

01:08:47.560 I'll let you get back to things down there.

01:08:49.740 I appreciate the direct news and information.

01:08:54.520 We will talk again soon, I'm sure.

01:08:56.740 Thanks a lot, Corey.

01:08:57.640 Take care.

01:08:59.120 All right, so quickly,

01:09:00.160 I'm going to get to our next guest pretty soon.

01:09:02.080 He's in the lobby there.

01:09:03.420 I just do want to quickly remind everybody,

01:09:05.040 if you haven't already subscribed to whatever social media channel you're watching on right

01:09:09.320 now, because as I said, when we get breaking things, as has happened a couple of times over

01:09:13.080 the last few days, we will go on and do that. And if you're subscribed to the YouTube channel or the

01:09:18.320 Rumble or Facebook, you'll get an alert so you know what's happening right when it's happening.

01:09:22.720 As you see with James, we have people on the ground at these events as they happen. Or when

01:09:28.260 Aaron O'Toole suddenly found himself out of the leader's seat yesterday, Derek and I jumped right

01:09:33.220 in with a live coverage of that. So, you know, be sure to subscribe on all those social media

01:09:38.800 channels and share it. And then you can bypass that mainstream media that only gives you a little

01:09:42.660 snippets of things. So I'm going to talk to getting on to O'Toole and his leadership.

01:09:49.480 Kerry Diodd, people might, in Alberta, everybody knows who he is, but he was a member of parliament

01:09:53.340 for Edmonton Grispa from 2015 to 2021, an Edmonton city councillor from 2010 to 2013. And then he was

01:10:01.420 a journalist in radio, TV, newspapers, a lot in Edmonton. He was with the Edmonton Sun since

01:10:06.200 the mid-80s. I read many of his columns as I read Politics in Growing. So it's great to have

01:10:14.120 him on and we'll bring him in and let's talk about the other unfolding event going on. While

01:10:18.720 Canada is going crazy, we're suddenly into a conservative leadership race. Hey, Kerry,

01:10:23.480 how are you doing? I'm doing great, Corey. How are you? Very good. Thanks. There's certainly,

01:10:28.480 at least for a news organization, plenty to keep us occupied these days, sometimes positive,

01:10:33.480 sometimes negative. So I appreciate you coming in. You know, we knew there was a lot of threats to

01:10:38.500 Aaron O'Toole's leadership, you know, leading up to this, but still, it seemed to come quite

01:10:43.340 suddenly and quite decisively. I mean, that wasn't a close vote. No, it wasn't. And I think that,

01:10:49.420 I think it all started essentially back way before the election was called on the whole

01:10:56.000 carbon tax issue because we were not consulted about it was kind of sprung on us and i think

01:11:02.560 that uh you know in 2019 when i would go to the doors and knock on doors and say hey do you want

01:11:08.560 to get rid of the carbon tax people go absolutely okay so vote for me we'll get rid of trudeau and

01:11:14.320 the carbon tax it took a huge um plank out of our our platform and despite what anybody said

01:11:22.880 even if you could try to argue, it wasn't really a tax, it was a savings plan. I had people at

01:11:28.560 the doors tell me, you know what, I like Trudeau's plan better because I get money in my pocket.

01:11:33.440 So it was an experiment that didn't work. Yeah. And I mean, there were a number of

01:11:38.560 people perhaps who weren't happy with some of the stances that Mr. O'Toole had taken,

01:11:42.720 but personally for me, that was the big one too, because it was just such a clear and flagrant flip

01:11:47.520 to flop. I mean, the Taxpayers Federation had a picture of him standing next to a sign signing

01:11:52.040 saying he will never do that. I mean, you couldn't talk around that and say that you didn't claim

01:11:56.900 otherwise. And it wasn't like it was 10 years earlier when he made that pledge. That was just

01:12:00.720 a short time before the election. So that certainly frustrated people and lost a lot of confidence in

01:12:06.160 him. And of course, the thing that was being told to us at the time, and we all sort of somewhat

01:12:14.280 accepted a little bit we said look we've got to win seats around the big areas around metro

01:12:19.160 toronto we've got to do these kinds of things we've got to we've got to um do these kinds of

01:12:25.400 measures and i i personally did not like it but i i would go to the doors and explain it to people

01:12:32.840 and say look this is the rationale they they would be upset i'd say this is the rationale

01:12:37.640 this is a way that we can win, give it a try. But obviously those kinds of stances did not win us

01:12:45.400 the election. So I think from there, it was the beginning of the end for Aaron's vision. It really

01:12:50.500 was. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, we'll move on from Aaron. He clearly, he took his kick at the

01:12:56.640 can. He didn't win the election. He lost the confidence of his own caucus and now he's no

01:13:02.740 longer the leader. So, I mean, we all can always dissect and look a little further back into that.

01:13:07.960 But now looking forward, we're going into a leadership race. One name we know isn't going

01:13:13.820 to throw her name in the hat, I guess, is Candace Bergen because she's taken on the role of interim 0.98

01:13:17.980 leader. What do you see developing now? I mean, they're kind of in a rush. We've got a minority

01:13:22.940 government. You can't have a really protracted leadership race at this point. No, I think you're

01:13:27.720 right it's let's let's face it a government could fall at any time nobody knows exactly what could

01:13:33.880 happen and it's a very volatile time in in society um so uh first off candace is a really good choice

01:13:42.520 she's good she's solid she's conservative she's well respected and she will do as well as uh as

01:13:49.480 an interim leader obviously the first name that pops up in everybody's mind is Pierre Polyev and

01:13:57.620 there are so many people who are not even big political junkies who say that guy that that

01:14:06.840 Pierre yeah I like that Pierre what's his name you know Polyev yeah yeah that guy that guy we

01:14:11.980 like that guy so he would have a huge influence in alberta we would kick butt in alberta if we

01:14:20.360 chose him as a leader assuming he he goes for it and you know he's got some difficult choices to

01:14:25.340 make he's got a young family but he has what i like about pierre he's got a built-in following

01:14:30.940 he is uh i loved his clip the other day when the uh the cbc was going on about the demonstrators

01:14:40.480 And he just talked, he just, I think everybody saw it.

01:14:45.380 He talked about the fact that the CBC doesn't demonize left-wing protesters the way they demonize the trucker protests.

01:14:54.020 And he really put them in their place.

01:14:55.760 It was great.

01:14:57.280 Yeah, he's been fantastic.

01:14:58.700 I mean, there's no denying Pierre's smart as a whip and he's quick on his feet.

01:15:03.020 And something, though, you know Pierre better not.

01:15:05.340 You've had more interaction with him.

01:15:07.140 There's different types of skills.

01:15:08.800 That's something I sort of talked about, what I think kind of happened with Premier

01:15:11.560 Kenney.

01:15:11.980 You know, he was a magnificent cabinet minister, but he's really having some challenges as

01:15:15.580 a leader and a premier, I think.

01:15:17.800 And nobody can deny Jason Kenney's a hardworking, smart man, but he just can't seem to quite

01:15:22.160 get the leadership thing rolling.

01:15:24.660 Just Pierre Polyev, now he's been an incredible opposition member.

01:15:27.680 He holds into account.

01:15:28.540 I think that's almost part of, even though he didn't purposely, what harmed O'Toole

01:15:31.900 because he would steal the spotlight because he was so effective in holding government

01:15:35.020 to account in the parliament.

01:15:37.260 do you think though Pierre has then what it takes to pivot into a leadership role you know talking

01:15:42.040 to caucus uniting caucus and getting that broader appeal across across Canadians rather than you

01:15:47.840 know the ones he already has well I certainly know what the media will say right off the bat

01:15:52.000 and they've already started talking about that they'll say the party is pivoting hard right

01:15:56.420 the party is going all right it's it's just again it's the media narrative and it drives me crazy

01:16:01.900 As a longtime journalist who I worked in journalism for 30 years, I'm just embarrassed by the mainstream media.

01:16:09.840 I never realized until I became a member of Parliament how anti-conservative they are and how anti-fair they are.

01:16:18.240 It's embarrassing.

01:16:20.340 They're cheerleading lockdowns.

01:16:22.520 They're cheerleading trying to get rid of protesters in Ottawa.

01:16:28.860 It's just it's an embarrassment.

01:16:30.640 and they will go after the likes of of pierre or anybody that comes from the conservative

01:16:36.320 the the true conservative side of the conservative party as some kind of alt-right there's it and

01:16:42.720 i think i think canadians will tune it out if you look at here's here's an interesting stat to talk

01:16:47.520 about how how people uh uh view things right now the the truckers uh raised 10 million dollars from

01:16:57.840 average ordinary canadians before the uh gofundme page was was shut down that's more than all the

01:17:05.280 major political parties in canada raised in the last quarter so that tells you there's a movement

01:17:10.960 there and i know that people like pierre people who are true to conservative roots can tap into

01:17:17.040 that movement people are sick of this middle of the road manby pamby try to please the left

01:17:23.840 scenario we never we're never going to get some people to vote for us never and by playing up to

01:17:30.640 them is a huge mistake these people will never vote for us no and that's good you know to hear

01:17:38.160 we're hearing it from a lot of former journalists you know and uh even rex murphy i mean an icon of

01:17:42.640 the cbc but he he can't help but speak now on how rotten that institution has become

01:17:47.280 uh and and yes but we what i've gotten excited about as you pointed out with the fundraiser

01:17:51.840 for example, and the amount of attention. And of course, with people like us at the Western

01:17:55.120 Standard, the legacy media aren't the gatekeepers of information anymore. They can't stop it. It's

01:18:00.800 like they put up a dam and the water's just flowing around and it's getting to people

01:18:04.400 despite their best efforts. And as you said, people are starting to tune them out. So yeah,

01:18:09.560 if the next leader of the Conservatives isn't reactive to them, they could probably blunt that

01:18:15.860 weapon yeah i agree and you know what the uh the reason that the people's party got such a bump in

01:18:22.920 the last election is that nobody seemed to be speaking for a lot of canadians and i think that

01:18:29.820 if we have a solid person with conservative values real conservative values it will spell the end of

01:18:38.200 the ppc essentially but we in the last little while um under the previous leader unfortunately

01:18:45.420 we're too afraid to be unapologetically conservative and that's not alt-right that's

01:18:51.540 just conservative values we care about freedom we care about family we care about balanced budgets

01:18:57.360 and we care about private property rights that's that's what most Canadians uh care about so we've

01:19:04.640 got to start reflecting what Canadians think and you think about how they if you saw the scenes

01:19:10.160 when the truckers went across the country people came out by the thousands to cheer them on like

01:19:14.700 heroes. So we've got to tap into that market. If we're missing that market, we're missing

01:19:19.820 the heart of Canadians. Yeah, well, so going to the other end of it, this race is probably going 1.00

01:19:26.240 to develop with people with different visions and views. Where, I mean, it's going to be a race

01:19:30.680 between, you know, Pierre is clearly in the small C conservative camp, assuming he decides to run.

01:19:34.580 I mean, we're being presumptuous, but he's certainly the most popular at this point.

01:19:38.020 Where would the progressive voice come from? Do you think Peter McKay would throw his hat in again,

01:19:42.060 or Michelle Rumpel-Garner or somebody, you know, Chong even?

01:19:45.840 There's certainly been rumors around that.

01:19:49.340 I think that we will probably have a few because it's a good gig, let's face it.

01:19:57.920 But it takes a lot of money and it takes a lot of effort.

01:20:02.040 I know that my former colleague, Marilyn Gladue, has talked about it.

01:20:05.760 I've got a lot of respect for her.

01:20:08.160 She comes from a good background as an engineer.

01:20:12.060 as somebody who's very pro-energy and uh she's her french is is quite good and that's the one

01:20:19.180 thing maybe albertans don't want to hear this but it's true you need a good command of french

01:20:24.060 french language to be a willing candidate a good candidate and that's where people like pierre

01:20:29.340 shine and and uh maryland glad you would shine um there are others they would have to brush up on

01:20:35.740 that because sooner or later you have to debate in both official languages and you don't want a

01:20:41.980 leader to be crucified in quebec you just don't we we need them we we've shown that we can win in

01:20:47.740 quebec but you've got to have at least passable french in order to convince them and and steven

01:20:53.900 harper certainly managed to do that so it's not a loss caused by any any stretch i think there

01:20:59.340 there could be um there could be a pretty full field and it's going to be pretty exciting i think

01:21:05.100 it's got to be done sooner than later though just because of the situation with the minority

01:21:11.100 parliament and uh i think trudeau is is uh it's bound to do just about anything i mean the last

01:21:18.700 the latest polls show that he's neck and neck with the ndp so they could trigger things they've got

01:21:26.140 a balance of power now they could decide hey this is a perfect time it might be our only opportunity

01:21:31.580 so we better be ready uh yeah and i mean even once you a new leader is in i mean it takes a

01:21:37.100 little time for whoever that may be to establish themselves to set up a shadow cabinet hopefully

01:21:41.020 get some profile uh even you know get some time in in parliament i mean it's difficult in a

01:21:45.820 minority situation when you don't know when it happens so you you just can't afford to take your

01:21:49.900 time i i'm gonna ask while i got you here and i mean plans are fluid are you considering you

01:21:54.780 know jumping back into the political uh circle again yeah well i was lucky enough to have one

01:22:00.860 caucus meeting after the election loss and i told caucus at the time i'm eager to take that seat

01:22:06.300 back from the ndp um i think that uh it was a situation where a lot of things it was the perfect

01:22:13.500 storm against us and i think that it's very winnable and i think this new the leadership

01:22:19.500 race will inject a lot of excitement into things and uh i mean in 2019 i won by 26 percentage

01:22:26.700 points so the conservatives are there we just have to find them and i think this race will inject a

01:22:32.380 lot into uh of excitement into conservatives in this province and i don't it's conceivable

01:22:39.260 that we could run we could win the whole province just just like they win every seat in saskatchewan

01:22:45.660 yeah no and i'm looking forward to that and i'd like to see you back in there having that ndp

01:22:49.340 thorn in there is just uh just hurts isn't albertan but you know that's how democracy goes and

01:22:53.900 And leadership races, I mean, they can be a fantastic opportunity or, you know, for party building, for getting excitement, fundraising.

01:23:01.000 If it's done right, you know, if it's not divisive, if it's not too personal, it can actually be a very good exercise in preparing that party.

01:23:07.420 Because I think people have got to be getting tired of the Trudeau liberals.

01:23:10.160 They just need the right leader they can embrace and they will go with the conservatives.

01:23:14.120 Well, what's really interesting is you look at the U.S. right now, what's happening with Joe Biden.

01:23:18.560 And he's roundly unpopular within one year and people are fed up with him.

01:23:23.900 and the midterms they're going to kick they're going to kick butt and yet we've put up with

01:23:28.380 justin trudeau the same kind of leader since 2015 a a leader who's out of touch with canadians who's

01:23:37.660 nobody i mean the vast majority of people in canada don't like him so it's it's a it's a

01:23:45.180 wide open opportunity it's just that we've we've got to get better as conservative we've got to get

01:23:50.700 get the message out there we've got to be true to our our roots we've got to be we've got to we've

01:23:55.460 got to be true and um and just campaign as conservatives not some kind of mixed bag messaging

01:24:03.100 where people don't know where we're coming from it's got to be a straight uh message of of true

01:24:09.440 conservatives i think most people here's an example i use um if you were to have a random

01:24:16.700 poll of canadians and say you've got two choices prime minister for prime minister and only two

01:24:21.680 choices david suzuki or don cherry where do you think they they vote oh yeah the support exists

01:24:29.680 especially a rhetorical question i think on cherry for all his uh for all his uh grumpiness and his

01:24:37.200 bad media uh publicity would out duel david suzuki and public's in the mind of public of the public

01:24:45.180 And so that, I mean, I think Canadians, they're not naturally liberals.

01:24:49.920 I think they're naturally small C conservatives with all those values that conservatives value, family, religion, private property rights, and balanced budgets. 0.74

01:25:00.160 We just have to find those people and reignite their passion.

01:25:05.100 Yeah, no, I think we can win without apologizing for being conservative.

01:25:08.200 We just have to learn how to package it, and maybe we're going to have that opportunity soon.

01:25:11.580 So it's good to hear you're still pounding the pavement there because it's still going to be a battleground in Edmonton when the opportunity comes up again.

01:25:17.980 And it's important to make sure we have a good, solid candidate who's going to take that seat back.

01:25:22.120 So it's good to hear. And I really appreciate your joining us today just to give an update as this develops.

01:25:26.700 I mean, as I said, a crazy news time and trying to keep up with everything that's going on at once.

01:25:31.180 So thank you again. And where can we keep up with what you're doing right now?

01:25:35.680 You can find me on Facebook. You can find me at Kerry Diot on Instagram.

01:25:40.220 You can find me at KerryDiott.com.

01:25:43.600 I'm out there and I'd love to come back and talk some more.

01:25:46.820 Let's hope that we have a really robust leadership and buy memberships and get involved.

01:25:54.280 And let's get rid of Justin Trude on the Liberals.

01:25:56.680 Great.

01:25:57.160 Thanks.

01:25:57.440 And yes, you said it for me.

01:25:58.400 I hope you can come on again and talk to us all again soon.

01:26:01.420 All right.

01:26:01.680 Have a good day, Kerry.

01:26:02.380 And we'll talk again.

01:26:03.400 Thanks, Corey.

01:26:04.380 Great.

01:26:04.580 so yes uh for political weenies like me uh you know we've got a leadership race coming and i

01:26:11.340 i love those things i know that they can be challenging and stuff like that but as i was

01:26:15.260 saying with carrie and as carrie said these could be very productive important exercises and we we

01:26:20.180 should look i guess critically at ourselves or conservatives are there i don't have a membership

01:26:23.720 any longer but i cheer for teams and uh see what went wrong last time re-evaluate it and and make

01:26:30.460 your decision going forward. You know, as, as Kerry said, these are winnable. It's been done

01:26:34.460 before. Uh, Quebec has had large tracts of it go conservative before Alberta can go NDP free. We

01:26:41.400 can do this. We can take that seat back in, in Edmonton and, uh, we'll watch as it goes. A lot

01:26:46.460 of people, again, Pierre is the name that just keeps coming up. We'll see. He hasn't said himself,

01:26:51.440 you know, if, if he's going to go for it, but he's certainly already the favorite before coming out

01:26:56.160 the gate. So that's going to develop as it goes. Now, tomorrow, I'm going to have Renaud Broussard

01:27:00.620 from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation in Quebec. And there are conservatives out there, there really

01:27:04.440 are. And he's going to talk to me about how the vax tax, they backed off on it. You know, things

01:27:09.120 again, pressure, bad ideas, they will go away. And that has happened. You know, the Premier of Quebec

01:27:15.300 is not going to follow through on that tax, I call it a fine on unvaccinated people. And we're 0.99

01:27:23.980 going to have Western Standard columnist David Makachuk back on. He talks on international

01:27:27.240 issues and some other things. I know he stirred up our comment scroll on Facebook with his last

01:27:31.600 column, but that's okay. We don't always have to agree. I like getting folks on so we can get all

01:27:35.460 stirred up and talking about those sorts of things. So again, that reminder, you know,

01:27:40.240 we are an independent outlet. Before I get onto that video, I want to play, which is great.

01:27:44.320 We're an independent outlet. We rely on you guys. This is how we bypass the mainstream media.

01:27:49.020 Come on in there, westernstandardonline.com slash membership.

01:27:53.880 Take out a membership.

01:27:54.840 It's $10 a month.

01:27:56.120 Best $10 you'll spend.

01:27:57.280 Honest.

01:27:57.640 I'm not just blowing smoke here.

01:27:59.400 And plus, you got a two-week trial.

01:28:00.700 If I'm full of it, you don't think it was worth $10 a month after two weeks.

01:28:03.940 Don't keep it going.

01:28:04.680 But well over 90% of the people who try the trial stay on.

01:28:07.860 It's less than a newspaper subscription used to cost.

01:28:10.120 You get all of that content from Dave and Mel and me and Mac and Chuck and so many other

01:28:16.820 columnists and news writers. We've got Amber up in Edmonton. She's doing great. So check it out,

01:28:22.140 get on there, subscribe to us on all those other social media channels, share it to everybody else.

01:28:26.300 Now on a nice patriotic bent, even though I am, you know, something of an Alberta independence

01:28:30.440 leading person, all the same, I'm not ashamed of Canada. I just want to change the system of it.

01:28:34.020 And I think independence be the way to go there. I'm going to play a video of the national anthem

01:28:39.080 with a number of images from, it's from, by the way, Meme the Left. I got to give credit where

01:28:43.040 do meme the left on youtube they put it together and people take it where it is tongue in cheek

01:28:48.000 there's some trucks uh moving around and there's the prime minister moving around it's not one of

01:28:51.280 those threatening things it's just fun it's the anthem watch that video and we'll have our clothes

01:28:56.320 and i will see you guys tomorrow morning at 11 30 a.m

01:29:13.040 Thank you.

01:29:43.040 Thank you.

01:30:13.040 Transcription by CastingWords

01:30:43.040 We'll be right back.

Western Standard - February 04, 2022

LIVE： Triggered - Politically motivated race-baiting must stop!

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