Western Standard - Live update from Parliament Hill

00:00:00.000 Good afternoon. Good afternoon. I'm Melanie Risden with the Western Standard. We're just

00:00:12.420 going to do a live check-in right now in Ottawa. We're going to Parliament Hill right now. We're

00:00:18.680 going to check in with Chris Scott, who has been in Ottawa since the Freedom Convoy arrived. And

00:00:26.500 And just looking to do a quick check-in with you, Scott.

00:00:29.500 How's, or sorry, Chris, how's everything going?

00:00:32.560 How's the sentiment in Ottawa right now?

00:00:36.260 Well, it's going really well.

00:00:38.660 It's a really, really positive vibe everywhere I go.

00:00:42.380 People are, it's unbelievable how people are coming together to make this thing a success.

00:00:47.780 We were just taking pictures of people pulling wagons with jerry cans of diesel,

00:00:52.100 asking truckers if they need fuel.

00:00:53.960 We get people coming up to our door and bringing us hot soup.

00:00:56.500 and coffee and and things like that so it's uh it's absolutely amazing and you've been there

00:01:03.300 since uh did you roll in on the weekend saturday was it i don't know it's all a blur when did we

00:01:08.900 get here i think we got here friday yeah we got here on the friday yeah i'm sure it has been a

00:01:14.100 blur so how like so i understand there were a a horde of trucks and vehicles that came through

00:01:19.620 on the weekend some have left now but um how many would you say have stuck around

00:01:24.420 Oh, that's a good question.

00:01:27.680 I don't know.

00:01:29.420 There's a few streets still full of trucks.

00:01:32.180 Wellington, which just runs parallel to the parliamentary grounds, is almost full.

00:01:38.580 There are some gaps in there for where guys have had to leave.

00:01:41.960 You know, they have other commitments and jobs coming up and stuff like that.

00:01:45.540 So it's not as full as it was.

00:01:47.780 But it's also important to remember that there's hundreds of trucks stationed outside of town that haven't been able to get in.

00:01:55.560 So what happened was when we were pulling into town, the OPP had just started to put up barricades and roadblocks.

00:02:04.720 And they were basically directing or stopping traffic from going down Wellington.

00:02:08.680 And then they even started pulling graders and stuff across intersections downtown to stop trucks from continuing to plug up the downtown core.

00:02:18.420 So a lot of those trucks that were in the convoy are outside of town.

00:02:21.880 They've set up tents and shelters and food stations, and they've got clothing down there.

00:02:27.460 It's absolutely unbelievable.

00:02:28.960 And I just, I can't stress enough how amazing it is, the support that people have given this group.

00:02:37.080 And it's not just people who came with them.

00:02:39.820 These are people from Ontario and people who live in Ottawa that have really stepped up to make this a success.

00:02:46.200 Now, speaking of support, I understand that the GoFundMe for the Freedom Convoy has now exceeded $10 million, if I have that correct?

00:02:58.220 As far as I know, yeah.

00:02:59.620 And it's important to point out with that that I don't think I've ever seen any movement or especially a political one that's garnered that kind of support ever.

00:03:11.940 So $10 million, a political party would be just beside themselves raising that much cash in that short of time.

00:03:19.120 But it just doesn't happen.

00:03:20.060 So that $10 million is a very, very significant measure of the amount of support that Canada is giving this cause.

00:03:28.360 Chris, what's the game plan?

00:03:30.500 How long are you there?

00:03:31.800 What's going to happen?

00:03:34.400 Well, that's a good question.

00:03:35.740 So, of course, the end goal is to force the government or convince the government to end the COVID mandates and restrictions

00:03:46.200 and get us back to a place in Canada where we're not divided by the country's leadership

00:03:52.480 and we can start getting back to accepting each other's choices.

00:03:58.480 So that's the ultimate goal is to get rid of the mandates.

00:04:01.460 Now, there are some who think that this is some sort of a blockade that's going to force the government to do something to concede to the demands of this group and just drop the mandates.

00:04:16.040 And I really don't see it like that.

00:04:18.460 The way I see this is this movement has basically, it's united Canada for sure, and it's ignited Canada.

00:04:25.960 So now cities all over the province or all over the country are doing the same thing.

00:04:30.680 people are taking it to the streets and what's happening is it's shifting it's shifting the

00:04:36.700 winds of public opinion and it's showing the government in like a physical show that Canadians

00:04:44.020 have had enough so what I'm hoping to achieve with this is that get people encouraged tell

00:04:50.360 them they're not alone in their thoughts that this what the government's doing is wrong and

00:04:54.800 have them stand up for themselves. Absolutely. And it seems that the sentiment is carrying across

00:05:03.840 the country. I know you and I were sort of talking a little bit about what's happening in Alberta

00:05:08.000 right now. There is a massive movement happening in Alberta right now beyond even what's been

00:05:15.580 happening at the Coutts border since Saturday. Have you heard much about what's going on there?

00:05:19.860 well i just get information kind of off social media and from friends of mine that are down

00:05:25.560 there and what i've heard about the coots demonstration is that you know the the legacy

00:05:31.280 media has done a a really good job at being legacy media and that they haven't really

00:05:38.220 just one second there's some horns going again

00:05:41.520 the horns might be going for bed can you still hear me i can still hear you it must get loud

00:05:54.800 around there it certainly does yeah so what i was saying is that the the legacy media the

00:06:00.460 mainstream media or the the media party some as some call it they they've tried to spin both of

00:06:06.280 these demonstrations as something they're not so they keep calling the the cutes thing a blockade

00:06:11.360 And I know there's a lot of conflicting information out there, but the information that I'm getting from friends of mine who are down there is that traffic is able to move.

00:06:22.340 And I can't say 100% either way because I'm not there, but like everything I've seen, it's a very positive experience down there.

00:06:31.920 And people are, it's encouraging that people are stepping up in both of these types of demonstrations.

00:06:39.180 well and and to speak to that yes so in speaking with uh the organizers in coots at the at the

00:06:47.020 coots blockade they are calling it a blockade and and they do want it to be made known that they are

00:06:53.500 that their plans are to disrupt traffic in the area they do want to uh they feel like they they

00:07:00.060 have needed to to make this stand and and to make it um you know uh something that people people

00:07:07.740 government uh will feel you know like that it will be making a statement um because yeah i i think a

00:07:15.580 lot of these people are feeling like they're not heard they're not being heard um and again you

00:07:20.060 know i was just having a conversation with um one of the one of the fellas that's involved in another

00:07:26.380 blockade that has been set up now this is a a blockade just north of um north of uh fort mcleod

00:07:35.260 on Highway 2, right on the Old Man River Bridge.

00:07:39.740 And they've set up there and they've kind of staggered the vehicles.

00:07:44.200 So it sounds like, again, they are letting traffic through, but very, very slowly.

00:07:51.560 And the sentiment is, this is not about being pro-vaccine or anti-vaccine.

00:08:00.960 He mentioned that a lot of people who have been participating and that are in these groups that are sort of sharing information and mobilizing on these telegram groups and social media groups, a lot of the people are vaccinated, have chose to be vaccinated, but are pro-choice and believe that it should be the right to choose.

00:08:22.920 And so this is really, you know, they want to drive home that this is really about freedom.

00:08:28.500 This is really about the freedom of choice versus being anti-vaccine.

00:08:32.860 So, you know, I just want to clear that up too.

00:08:35.860 But I have heard from Stavely, Grassy Lake, Coaldale, sounds like they've got stuff happening

00:08:44.640 near Red Deer.

00:08:45.880 I've just heard Brooks is coming on board with a blockade.

00:08:49.160 Now, again, these are some of them are blockades.

00:08:51.560 Some of them are considered what they call a slow roll or, you know, a slow roll convoy, which is, again, meant to disrupt traffic.

00:09:02.400 And really, the goal is to make noise and, you know, to be heard.

00:09:09.260 And which is happening in Ottawa as well with all of the trucks that have come out there and are still waiting outside the city.

00:09:15.020 So give me another. Tell me, what have you guys been up to?

00:09:21.200 what um you know what do you guys do through the day well i'm going to comment on what you said

00:09:26.400 first here that's a that's a fair assessment so i i did say on our way out here and in the days

00:09:32.640 prior to leaving uh for ottawa from mirror that yes this is going to inconvenience people uh the

00:09:38.480 people in ottawa will be inconvenienced by their you know the traffic patterns being disrupted it's

00:09:43.280 going to be noisy there's going to be a lot of people so yes it is absolutely an inconvenience

00:09:47.600 And it's the same thing with all the demonstrations happening across the country right now.

00:09:52.440 And so there are people who, they're legitimately upset that they're being inconvenienced in their daily lives.

00:09:59.960 And I cannot stress enough that no matter which side of the fence you're on,

00:10:05.600 it's important to understand that there are people who have been inconvenienced or even worse in the last two years by the actions of our government.

00:10:16.780 And these inconveniences are far more impactful than just not being able to drive down a street.

00:10:22.520 I mean, we're talking about people who have lost their businesses, who have lost loved ones,

00:10:27.180 families that were unable to be with their grandparents in their final days because of this.

00:10:33.140 So everybody has been inconvenienced in one way or another in the last two years.

00:10:38.280 And at the end of the day, it's a result of poor government policy.

00:10:42.400 So when you're going about your life and you're inconvenienced by one of these things,

00:10:47.280 I would just encourage people to understand why this is happening and why we're dealing with this inconvenience now.

00:10:55.780 It's not something that most of these people want to do, probably none of them.

00:11:00.100 And you're right, a lot of the people that are participating in these demonstrations,

00:11:03.880 they are fully vaccinated, even though I don't think that that's a proper term.

00:11:08.180 and they're doing this because they see the inconvenience that's been happening to their

00:11:13.380 friends and their neighbors over the last two years and they're saying it's enough so that's

00:11:17.040 a you know I just I just can't stress that enough that it's not it's not that people are doing this

00:11:24.340 out of spite or anger it's just that they realize it's time to take it to the streets because

00:11:29.480 we are done with the inconvenience and the divide that we've experienced in this country over the

00:11:34.760 two years yeah and speaking of the inconvenience i just interviewed uh josh van herk uh he was

00:11:41.880 somebody that i just spoke with who is uh one of the people participating in the blockade just south

00:11:47.800 or sorry just north of fort mcleod and uh he is a truck company owner so he owns a a trucking

00:11:57.160 company and has for 17 years he said um because of the mandates he's lost three quarters of his

00:12:03.160 drivers so his his business is struggling so again when we're talking about inconvenience

00:12:09.800 um you know i think i think i think the tough thing is for for anyone who's chosen to be

00:12:16.120 vaccinated i think you know there there may be and this is not for everyone because i do know

00:12:22.440 that there are a lot of people participating in these in these protests in the blockades and the

00:12:26.760 rallies the freedom fighters i know josh said he wanted to be called a freedom fighter not a

00:12:31.560 protesters so uh josh i'll respect that um but but a lot of them have chosen to be vaccinated

00:12:38.120 and so again this is not about pro pro pro or anti-vax but but i think that for some people

00:12:43.960 who have chosen to be vaccinated it's almost like you know there there is no consequence anymore to

00:12:49.560 them you know they they have done what they felt was right for themselves or their families um they

00:12:55.240 have made the choice that they've made um it has not impacted their ability to work it has not

00:13:00.040 impacted their ability to travel. It has not impacted a large portion of their life. Whereas

00:13:06.440 for those who choose to look at it as a freedom of choice, they have lost businesses, lost jobs,

00:13:16.120 like you said, have not been able to see loved ones, not been able to visit care facilities or

00:13:22.200 hospitals because of their choice to not be vaccinated. So yeah, when we're talking about

00:13:28.520 how this has affected people's lives, I can understand that these freedom fighters,

00:13:36.920 these protesters, one of the blockade fellows that I spoke with over the weekend was saying,

00:13:42.760 we know this is going to be an inconvenience for people. We completely understand that,

00:13:47.000 but we have to take a stand now. It's kind of that slippery slope where when we start to lose

00:13:55.000 our our rights to choose you know what's next what you know it's yeah folks so and so yeah

00:14:01.720 that's right and the longer we wait the harder it becomes i i i said and i'll say it again if we had

00:14:07.720 stood up last january when when the restaurants and gyms and and small businesses in alberta did

00:14:12.760 and the world was watching we would very likely not be in this situation right now at least that's

00:14:17.400 my opinion um so yeah there there comes a time when you have to rip the band-aid off because

00:14:25.480 those that have chosen to follow all the restrictions all the rules on the mandates

00:14:29.080 uh got their jobs they still can't participate in society we still can't fully not fully yeah i mean

00:14:37.400 hockey we they can't go to hockey games they got arenas closed um downtown in ottawa here

00:14:42.840 you wouldn't believe how many businesses are shuttered like there's a lot of businesses that

00:14:46.840 went bankrupt because of these restrictions and those people they may never get a business their

00:14:51.400 their business back again and some of those people they chose to follow the restrictions

00:14:55.640 and mandates that the government set forth and yet they still suffered so that's where we're at right

00:15:00.280 now it's it's basically how long do you keep on doing the same thing over and over and over again

00:15:05.640 and experiencing all this collateral damage before you have to look at what's happened

00:15:11.720 and and accept that there was a different path there is a different path and the quicker we get

00:15:16.360 on that path the less damage we're going to inflict on canadians we've got some comments

00:15:23.480 coming in here uh excellent job chris hold the line boys says keila another fella roy says uh

00:15:30.840 thank you trucks and everyone participating uh frederick says it's time to kick out trudeau

00:15:37.160 now so with this you know petition in ottawa uh on parliament hill um can you speak to the response

00:15:48.680 that we have seen from trudeau from our prime minister which petition are we referring to

00:15:54.280 well i i mean the the the petition for the mandates meaning the whole freedom convoy

00:15:59.480 the you know petitioning for the mandates to be to be dropped uh so not not necessarily a

00:16:06.600 circulating petition but i just mean what what the uh what the goal is of the of the freedom convoy

00:16:11.960 can you speak to to um our prime minister's response so it's basically fallen on deaf ears

00:16:20.280 and what's happened after that is um the the mainstream media the legacy media has failed to

00:16:28.040 do their jobs with journalistic integrity and they're not telling both sides of the story and

00:16:32.920 they're they're they're acting as in in my opinion they're acting as a propaganda arm to the federal

00:16:39.160 government so when when we see stuff in the news about this in in the mainstream news um it doesn't

00:16:45.800 reflect it doesn't reflect the the how monumental that this is uh the fact that it's unified

00:16:52.200 canadians and and uh encourage people to actually have dialogue about this it's more about almost

00:16:59.800 everything i've seen ends with and just get your vaccine so it's really fallen on deaf ears and the

00:17:05.800 only media that that bothers to try and tell both sides of the story are the independent so

00:17:12.120 i guess i'll say thank you to the western standard because you guys do a very good job of that

00:17:15.880 and as a matter of fact i'm sure you already know that i have a a small relationship with

00:17:20.920 with the Western Standard where they've offered my viewers a three-month free subscription by

00:17:25.740 subscribing at Friends of the Whistle Stop. So that's amazing. And it's important because if

00:17:31.080 the media had been doing their jobs and telling both sides of the story, we would be in a different

00:17:38.420 spot right now. We really would. And the fact that our Prime Minister, instead of acknowledging the

00:17:45.900 fact that Canadians are unified in their desire to get rid of these mandates, he's focusing on

00:17:50.840 a single flag that i didn't see personally by the way um or a couple incidents of people

00:17:58.380 possibly doing things that they didn't really understand that they had a bad public perception

00:18:03.780 he focuses on those and he calls these the group of people here racists and xenophobes and um he

00:18:11.160 says that they're what was it their opinions yeah misogynist and that their opinions aren't

00:18:17.240 what did he say oh i try and scrub that stuff out of my mind they're not acceptable yeah

00:18:24.280 a fringe minority and since when in canada has it ever been acceptable to tell a minority group

00:18:31.080 no matter what the group is that their views and opinions are unacceptable that is the most

00:18:35.320 un-canadian thing i've ever heard so i don't believe this is about petitioning the trudeau

00:18:41.160 government to to drop the mandates i believe that this is about

00:18:47.240 Continuing to build on this momentum and igniting and uniting more Canadians to stand up and say we've had enough, those that feel like maybe they'll be persecuted for their views, they need to get visible and they need to be heard.

00:19:01.940 Because the only way this changes is if the government's perception of the public shifts.

00:19:11.840 And as you've seen in the past, the Liberal government, it doesn't matter what the situation is or what the issue is, they will flip-flop.

00:19:20.760 They'll go from the sky is blue one day to the sky is green the next day if they think that that's what the public wants to hear.

00:19:27.900 So this is about getting loud.

00:19:30.760 And speaking of loud.

00:19:32.800 And speaking of loud.

00:19:34.740 So when I decided I was going to get behind this convoy and join them and drive a truck out here to Ottawa, that was the aha moment for me.

00:19:43.460 For two years, Canadians have been waiting for something to get behind, for something to pave the way so that they can stand up and speak their minds and know that there are millions of people standing with them.

00:19:56.260 And this is that moment.

00:19:57.760 So I don't believe that there's been so much information and so many groups trying to say, oh, we're going to, you know, we're going to get rid of the government.

00:20:07.080 We're going to overthrow the government by everybody signing this piece of paper.

00:20:09.940 It doesn't work like that.

00:20:11.160 That's not what that's not how Canada works.

00:20:13.340 It never has.

00:20:14.720 Petitions rarely make any difference.

00:20:16.740 They potentially allow your MP or your MLA to speak on an issue for a certain period of time in the House.

00:20:24.120 That's what a petition does.

00:20:25.100 and that's that's like a that's a government thing this is a people thing and at the end of

00:20:30.760 the day people have all the power and things like this are bringing it to light uh to those that

00:20:37.900 don't know that so that that's what this is about it's the power of the people not the power of a

00:20:42.600 petition it is i've got a comment here from somebody saying that uh the coots truckers

00:20:51.340 have negotiated, and I don't know if you've heard of this, and we're still waiting to

00:20:55.780 have full confirmation of this, but Kutz Trucker is negotiating with 30 MLAs to drop the mandates

00:21:01.920 and restrictions here.

00:21:04.000 Looks like the MLAs are going to be meeting with government officials today.

00:21:08.400 So we're obviously going to sort of keep our eyes and ears on that and update people as

00:21:17.060 quickly as we can.

00:21:20.240 You know, lots of lots of response here from people just really thanking truckers, thanking

00:21:26.440 you, Chris, for for being out there for, you know, stepping up.

00:21:32.780 So well said, someone says, thank you.

00:21:36.940 Let Chris talk instead.

00:21:38.660 So hey, I'm happy to let Chris talk.

00:21:42.260 So yeah, so Chris, you had mentioned that you're where you're parked, where you're staying

00:21:48.160 your about a five-minute walk you said from Parliament Hill and and and things

00:21:54.700 hopefully aren't minus 30 still there oh it's a beautiful day I think it's like

00:21:59.380 zero or something oh it's plus four Wow now now we've got a lawyer I'm just

00:22:05.800 gonna make sure do we do we have Chad we don't have Chad right now okay so well

00:22:10.880 we we were going to touch base with the lawyer so I thought maybe I would

00:22:13.980 coordinate it where you walk over to Parliament Hill are you are you interested

00:22:17.480 going for a walk and just showing us the sights of what you're seeing yeah i probably should go

00:22:24.120 for a walk because there's people have been bringing us donuts for days and uh it's it's

00:22:28.600 important to go for walks so so having said that i know i've seen a lot of mainstream media reporting

00:22:35.480 that people in ottawa are fed up the sentiment that you're getting and hearing and the response

00:22:42.920 that you're seeing from people seems a bit different well okay so it would be completely

00:22:48.840 disingenuous to say that everybody in ottawa is uh supportive of this um this it's you you can't

00:22:57.880 by any measure say that this type of thing um would make everybody in a city happy it absolutely

00:23:05.480 won't and as a matter of fact there's a starbucks where i'm parked and i went in there to grab a

00:23:09.320 coffee and i said to the young lady behind the counter i said hey you know sorry about all the

00:23:12.860 noise um you know what do you think of all this and she said well we we haven't been able to work

00:23:19.200 in two days because of this and she was cranky she was visibly upset and i get it there's horns

00:23:24.320 blaring there's trucks in the streets there's a lot of people it it really is people get upset

00:23:32.160 with that i i totally understand and i didn't say anything at the time but i really wish i had

00:23:36.860 mentioned like i'm sorry for that you haven't been able to work for a couple days but i haven't been

00:23:41.560 able to operate my my restaurant for almost two years at least in the capacity that it needs to

00:23:46.140 operate in order to stay in business and that's what this is all about there are people in this

00:23:50.120 town that are angry uh the mayor is like he does not like us at all um the the police are very

00:23:57.580 friendly um and yeah the reception for this isn't all positive for sure but

00:24:05.100 i said this before people don't get involved in things generally unless it affects them

00:24:12.780 personally and now this is affecting a lot more people than it did in the past and at the very

00:24:18.880 least it's opened up the it's opened up dialogue like the the opportunity i had to speak with a

00:24:25.220 young lady and it was a missed opportunity but i won't i won't make that mistake again

00:24:28.800 it's it's opened up that dialogue so we can start saying hey i'm really sorry that you're

00:24:33.920 being inconvenienced by what's happening here but this is why we're doing it and this is the

00:24:38.940 inconveniences we've seen so please when you're getting frustrated and angry because you're

00:24:44.260 hearing horns please remember that there are people out there who have literally lost loved

00:24:50.340 ones lost careers lost the opportunity to play in the nhl like the list goes on and on and on

00:24:59.120 So, yes, there are people in Ottawa who 100% are upset with this, and I get it, but we have to look at that as an opportunity to have conversations with people.

00:25:13.100 Did you, by any chance, get a chance to see the Tucker Carlson rant that he did for about 17 minutes, not last night, but the night before?

00:25:27.060 Was it about Justin Trudeau?

00:25:29.120 i caught a little bit of it and then my phone started ringing and it didn't quit till i fell

00:25:35.280 asleep but uh yeah that's that's important that there are people like tucker carlson and uh

00:25:43.280 there there's actually a lot of them in the states that have watched what the leader of

00:25:48.320 our country is doing how he's talking about his countrymen and women and they think it's disgusting

00:25:54.720 and they are hammering on them as they should because even our brothers and sisters to the

00:25:59.780 South, they've been going through the same things, but they, I don't think they've really

00:26:04.360 been subject to a leader that's treated them that quite that bad.

00:26:10.620 Yeah, I think, I think the sentiment there is that, that there is, you know, especially

00:26:15.880 with the leader of a, of a nation as large and, you know, prominent as Canada, that you

00:26:21.620 would you would have some diplomacy uh especially in your language so i think and and i'm not sure

00:26:28.340 if you had a chance to see the interview that um that i did with justin trudeau's half brother

00:26:34.020 uh kyle kemper who basically agreed and said the same thing this is this is uh sort of a a really

00:26:42.340 awful way to be speaking as a leader of a nation when you are talking about your own your own

00:26:49.300 citizens when you're you know and and and when you're talking about um you know some of the

00:26:54.500 verbiage that has been used to describe some of the protests and some of the activity that's

00:27:01.060 been happening in ottawa i mean the the footage that i've watched and the the pictures and the

00:27:08.020 video show you know you can see canadian flags for miles uh and and the one-off flag of of uh

00:27:17.460 you know confederate flag or a nazi flag i mean i'm sure

00:27:21.460 have you seen very many of those types of flags flying there because

00:27:25.380 what what seems what seems interest to me

00:27:28.980 interesting to me is the hyper focus that comes

00:27:33.140 of that one-off sort of bad seed or or the handful of bad seeds that that

00:27:39.940 that perhaps show up in in poor taste but but to

00:27:44.660 label the entire movement and everybody's uh everybody that's there on parliament hill

00:27:50.980 as being of like mind with somebody who would carry a flag with the nazi symbol on it seems

00:27:57.940 it just seems so far-fetched well let's uh let's compare this to something else so

00:28:04.500 i guess in order oh and this brings up another point in order for the liberal government to

00:28:10.260 paint this entire movement with that brush because somebody brought a hate symbol into the mix which

00:28:17.140 i know i didn't see it uh i haven't seen a confederate flag i haven't seen any swastikas

00:28:22.500 or any hate symbols at all um there is one flag that i've seen a lot of and i don't understand

00:28:28.260 what it means it's a black flag and it says f maple leaf ck trudeau but i don't get it like

00:28:34.180 it's not even a word it's i don't know maybe somebody will explain it to me but other than

00:28:38.420 that i haven't seen any derogatory flags and if the liberal government's going to use those examples

00:28:45.700 to paint everybody here as racists and xenophobes and keeping in mind that there are people of all

00:28:51.060 races backgrounds colors genders political stances here it's not just uh one race then they have to

00:28:59.620 basically call the entire liberal party racists because their leader justin trudeau

00:29:04.820 on multiple occasions has presented himself in blackface and that is a horrendously racist thing

00:29:11.760 to do. Maybe you know 20 or 30 years ago it may have been kind of yeah there you go. It may have

00:29:18.940 been you know just a comical thing and nobody really was offended by it but that has changed

00:29:23.340 and it's the same thing with the confederate flag. At one point that flag was used to represent a

00:29:29.380 certain ideology that didn't really have anything to do with racism. But the image was hijacked by

00:29:35.160 a group that held values that differ from ours, in which they're not inclusive, and they don't

00:29:42.860 like other races. So now we're in a position where we have to be very careful on what symbols we use

00:29:49.020 because they've been associated with that. So it could have possibly been just somebody who likes

00:29:54.720 the flag and didn't intend it to be a racist symbol.

00:29:59.100 However, yes, in things like this

00:30:02.660 it's important to use proper judgment and make sure that we're not presenting the wrong image.

00:30:06.980 Just like our Prime Minister. And I want to point out that

00:30:10.800 Arnold Beardson, the MP for Peace River

00:30:14.840 in Alberta,

00:30:18.100 he raised a motion in the House, I think it was this morning, and the

00:30:22.700 motion was, will the House condemn the use of blackface? And why not? It's a horrendously

00:30:30.760 racist thing to do. We don't want to see people running around in blackface. It's a very poor 1.00

00:30:35.240 image of, you know, it doesn't scream acceptance and inclusiveness. And the entire liberal caucus

00:30:44.220 voted no. They refused to condemn blackface. And now that really drives home my point.

00:30:51.880 The Trudeau government, the Liberal government, does not push policy or bring in laws with anything to do with ethics or morality or doing what's right.

00:31:03.300 They do what they think is going to make them win. 0.58

00:31:07.200 And they know if they pass that motion condemning blackface, it would cause them problems because their own leader has participated in those actions. 0.71

00:31:15.420 And it's the same with the COVID restrictions.

00:31:17.480 They're not doing this because they believe it's an ethical or a moral or a right thing to do.

00:31:21.340 they're doing it because they believe that it's what they need to do to win and i had a conversation

00:31:27.240 with mr pearson and i and i told him the message that i'd like to get into the house is that our

00:31:31.480 mps they better stop worrying about chasing the poles and chasing boats and they better start

00:31:37.220 standing up and doing what's right regardless of whether or not it it people get upset with them

00:31:42.820 because we remember that and we are going to remember that when everything to do with covid

00:31:48.000 it's done we're going to look back and we're going to remember the men and women who stood up

00:31:51.660 and did what's right because when when these court challenges get through when the supreme court is

00:31:56.620 done with all this stuff it's the truth is going to come out that what's happened was unethical

00:32:01.980 immoral and it caused more harm than good and it had nothing to do with benefiting the people of

00:32:07.220 canada so now is the time for those mps and i'm not talking about just conservative or uh liberal

00:32:13.520 or block or ndp i'm talking about all of them as individuals standing up for what's right

00:32:19.280 and doing the right thing because we're going to remember it you know chris interesting talking

00:32:25.600 about the symbolism some of the symbolism that has been used uh and and i think a lot a lot of

00:32:31.200 people would agree that um you know using a nazi flag as some the symbol even just the symbol or

00:32:38.480 the confederate flag is is in poor taste i don't deny that at all uh a lot of people and and the

00:32:45.120 but the way it's been perceived you know i had a conversation with a group of people very recently

00:32:50.800 and we were talking about this we were saying you know why would somebody come to something

00:32:54.640 like this talking about freedom and bring a nazi flag and and you know i mean this is all

00:32:59.360 hypothesis but i i would suspect i would think that what they are displaying by bringing a nazi

00:33:06.720 flag which i don't agree with i'll go on the record right now i don't agree with with carrying

00:33:11.840 that in in any way to to get a point across but i i feel like um our hypothesis was that perhaps that

00:33:21.040 the display is showing what they feel our country is becoming the the path and and i get it again a

00:33:29.680 lot of people have been very offended by that because i mean when you're comparing what

00:33:33.840 Canadians are facing right now to what happened in Nazi Germany with the Jews. I mean, there's

00:33:39.760 no comparison. And for the record, I agree with that as well. I would never want to compare the

00:33:46.160 two. But I feel like the sentiment is people are saying we are becoming this fascist communist

00:33:53.520 place and our rights are being eroded as was witnessed in those times. And so the display of

00:34:03.040 a nazi flag is not it you know and again hypothesis but it was not necessarily um you know an attack

00:34:12.640 on canada or or or supporting of nazi ideology or movement it was more so to to symbolize where

00:34:23.840 they feel that our country is going so i understand that again i i don't feel that it's a great

00:34:30.320 comparison and i also feel like it is um it is very disrespectful but that i think is the

00:34:36.800 sentiment people really are feeling like we are sliding down a slippery slope as we were talking

00:34:44.000 about earlier so uh so i just wanted to to mention that i i've had conversations around with this

00:34:51.280 with many people and i've heard similar feelings from a lot of people well you know that that could

00:34:58.720 be it it absolutely could be i and the other the other pretend it could also be somebody brought

00:35:06.800 that in here to make this look like that i don't know and i didn't think yes it's entirely possible

00:35:13.960 and it's it's plausible and it's probable but i don't know for sure um i wish i had seen that

00:35:20.240 because if i had seen that i would have approached that person and had a conversation with them and

00:35:24.560 asked them and i would have i would have given them my opinion that that was in poor taste and 0.99

00:35:29.200 and i would have probably more used words like you know what that's really stupid you shouldn't 0.97

00:35:34.560 be doing that because no matter what you think of that what you're showing other people uh has 0.98

00:35:40.400 the potential to derail an otherwise genuine movement right exactly there you know this this

00:35:47.200 is not what happened in in nazi germany to the to the jews and actually not just the jews other races

00:35:52.880 uh as well was horrendous and this is not that but there are a lot of parallels and

00:36:02.880 the parallels are more in the structure and the mechanisms that were you that were used to

00:36:07.860 accomplish that those heinous acts and and the mechanisms were um a leader who rallied a country

00:36:15.720 by using the media and and forcing not forcing but convincing the people of the country to fight

00:36:25.180 amongst each other by segregating them uh telling them it was okay to bully their neighbors

00:36:31.100 and basically basically swaying the public's opinion to pit them against another group a

00:36:39.700 minority group. And no, this isn't like that, as in the government's not rounding up people

00:36:47.840 in rail cars and sending them to their death. But the government is absolutely using the media

00:36:55.740 to make people fight amongst each other. And I really believe that part of the reason for that

00:37:01.340 is it's become quite apparent over the last few months that our healthcare system has been

00:37:06.820 mismanaged like it's it's horrible the mismanagement that's happened and this is not just an alberta

00:37:12.800 thing it is a countrywide thing um you look at the stats for the ontario uh health and from the

00:37:18.080 ontario health authority and it shows that their hospitals have been overwhelmed at numerous times

00:37:23.980 throughout the last 30 years it happens because the government has failed to keep those providing

00:37:29.620 health services accountable and now we're in a position where uh those those organizations or

00:37:35.340 government has to either acknowledge that they've failed to exercise exercise proper oversight

00:37:41.420 on these organizations providing health care and that's what this problem is or they convince

00:37:48.940 people that it's a minority group's fault and they let society bully those people and blame them for

00:37:56.780 it and you can see that in some of premier kenny's uh words that he uses like a problem of the 0.63

00:38:02.860 the unvaccinated or you know you'll get your rights back if the unvaccinated just get vaccinated

00:38:08.180 those things cause division and they cause people to fight and it takes the spotlight off the 0.98

00:38:14.200 government's failings and off the health services providers failings and if we if we can if we can

00:38:20.740 see what they're doing and continue to focus on what the real problem is we will be in a way way

00:38:26.840 better place because canadians are starting to wake up to the fact that uh the government is

00:38:32.600 using the media uh the ones that are that are eating at the trough of the canadian media fund

00:38:38.200 they're using them to promote their ideology and agenda and they've had enough and you see that in

00:38:43.400 uh in independent media subscriptions like the western standard and rebel media and todayville

00:38:48.920 and and and uh what's the epoch times like their their subscriptions are going through the roof 0.90

00:38:54.760 because canadians are not stupid and they know what's being done to them they're paying attention

00:38:59.640 to history and they're not going to let history repeat itself so well it's interesting you bring 0.93

00:39:07.560 that up too when we're talking about how the spin or or how the media has been covering this there's

00:39:12.920 been i mean i'm sure you've heard uh uh i believe it was yesterday jason kenney came forward with a

00:39:19.560 statement a public statement saying that police officers or RCMP officers at the blockade had been

00:39:27.960 assaulted and that there was there he didn't go into detail but there was some sort of a ramming

00:39:35.080 incident that that led to an accident and and however what has what has become known to us

00:39:45.800 and has been admitted by the RCMP is that there was no assault. There was no assault on any

00:39:51.880 officers. Now the RCMP, to this point I haven't seen yet, the RCMP have not come out with a

00:39:59.800 statement kind of refuting what the Premier has said, which to me is, it's sort of shocking,

00:40:07.800 because I feel like in any other circumstance if the RCMP was identified as being involved

00:40:14.840 in something that wasn't, wasn't factual, I feel like there would have been a statement released.

00:40:22.080 However, nothing's been released. So that's got a lot of people frustrated. We've had, I have had

00:40:26.960 so many people emailing me saying, what's the situation with this? Did this really happen?

00:40:31.080 Were people assaulted? There was no assault on RCMP officers by anyone from the blockade,

00:40:38.700 from anyone in coots uh and that you know and so uh i think kenny is is going to need to make a

00:40:47.260 public retraction of that because look let's be honest the statement of like i have to say the

00:40:53.980 statement of accusing um anyone of of attacking our authorities a police officer an rcmp officer

00:41:04.060 uh whichever that is that is a a huge allegation and that needs to be retracted if it's become

00:41:12.780 known that that is not what happened now who knows perhaps kenny was given some faulty information

00:41:18.380 and and if that's the case that's fine but i think i think we need to be hearing

00:41:22.620 from it and it needs to be as public of a retraction as it was an announcement claiming

00:41:28.540 that there was uh you know that there was an assault against rcmp officers well you know that

00:41:34.700 doesn't happen with premier kenny and if there's one thing i've learned about that man is that he

00:41:39.420 lies he's lied to us numerous times and so has his uh you know the chief medical officer of health

00:41:46.780 um those involved in his close circles they have lied to us on numerous occasions we've caught them

00:41:51.580 in that the western standard has done a great job of uh keeping them accountable to the people and

00:41:57.340 what i've seen after that happening is there is very it's very few times where he actually

00:42:03.900 issues a retraction um he's said things about me not using my name but using people the groups that

00:42:11.900 i'm in and he's accused us of doing things like being super spreaders now there is zero evidence

00:42:20.380 to support that i've never had any issues in all of the things that we've done at the whistle stop

00:42:24.860 cafe and we've had like believe it or not thousands and thousands and thousands of people

00:42:30.700 through that little cafe in in in weekends um he's lied about numerous things the chief medical

00:42:37.340 officer officer of health lied about a 14 year old boy dying of can of uh covet they lied about

00:42:43.820 an infant dying of covet and these lies just keep piling up and piling up and piling up so when i

00:42:49.100 hear jason kenney speak now um if he says he's going to do one thing i know he's going to do the

00:42:54.940 other and if he's saying that there was an assault on rcmp i know that there wasn't an assault on rcmp

00:43:00.060 because it's going to come out in a week or two that that didn't happen and another thing that's

00:43:04.780 important to remember is that these demonstrations everybody has a cell phone and everything's being

00:43:09.180 recorded from every angle for every minute of every day i walk down the street and i do a live

00:43:13.740 stream and it's nothing but a sea of people doing live streams in front of me so if something like

00:43:19.180 that did happen there will be evidence there would be evidence of it there'll be video evidence no

00:43:24.620 question um but why why would he do that why would he say that these violent acts are happening and

00:43:32.940 this is a it's a bad nature protest because he doesn't like it he doesn't like these protests

00:43:38.780 and these demonstrations because it's making his government look terrible i've made his government

00:43:42.860 look terrible and i'm just some guy that has a cafe but i ended up going to jail because i protested

00:43:49.180 and i got sentenced i got big fines um i had a compelled speech thing they tried to say i

00:43:54.920 couldn't leave alberta and um i'm on probation and the judge told me that i needed to follow

00:44:02.160 the science so i was like okay i'm gonna start following the science so i've interviewed people

00:44:06.520 like dr peter mccullough um i've interviewed uh dr roger odkinson i've interviewed uh the

00:44:12.260 Honorable Brian Peckford. I've gone right to the horse's mouth to get the information that we need

00:44:18.440 to make proper decisions. But our government hasn't done that. Our government is just pushing

00:44:23.780 the same agenda they have over and over and over again and trying to force us to do things that

00:44:27.820 have failed in the past over and over and over again without actually following the science.

00:44:32.820 So the silver lining to this is that people like me have been put in a position where we have to

00:44:38.180 go find that information for ourselves. And when we do, I think about what our premier has said

00:44:45.080 and what our health authority has said, and it doesn't fit. So either they are terribly misinformed

00:44:52.080 and whatever experts they're talking to shouldn't have their jobs or they're lying. And either way,

00:45:00.440 it's a terrible, terrible thing to have rampant in your government, especially when they're trying

00:45:07.520 to tell you that you have to do something to your body that other doctors are speaking out against

00:45:12.800 in order to be a full member of society uh chris cheryl has a comment here chris uh i loved your

00:45:20.000 idea from the other night about only honking and making noise from 7am to 7pm for ottawa area

00:45:25.280 residents so maybe we can uh take a moment to just remind uh even some of the truckers in the convoys

00:45:32.160 uh anyone in the blockades people in ottawa uh that are watching um yeah these these these poor

00:45:39.040 area residents do need to live through through this as well so um you know your your suggestion

00:45:46.320 was uh just to kind of keep the honking during the day correct yeah and that and that's my

00:45:50.960 suggestion i do need to point out that i'm not an organizer um i don't have any authority over

00:45:56.080 anybody here i'm not a leader or anything like that so these are just my suggestions because

00:46:01.600 i'm trying to navigate this just like everybody else and i see a path that we need to take to

00:46:06.240 achieve our goal and part of the path in my opinion is that we need to we need to keep as many friends

00:46:12.560 as we can we don't want to make enemies out of people who may be sympathetic to our cause

00:46:17.920 but become our enemies because because of honking i mean we're here people know we're here uh and

00:46:25.520 and we we we're making noise and we're very visible so that's my suggestion and i'm certainly

00:46:31.840 not gonna i'm not gonna tell people what to do but that's what i'm doing that's that's what i

00:46:38.240 can do myself personally to try and reduce the impact on those around uh susan says full steam

00:46:45.120 ahead chris thank you uh i have another comment here uh could someone put a human rights complaint

00:46:52.480 against trudeau for hate speech i i wanted to mention this one from clive because i have seen

00:46:58.000 numerous uh comments from from our viewers right now that are saying the same thing how is this

00:47:03.760 not being considered hate speech how how is he not up on hate i mean this is these are public

00:47:09.200 statements being said as you said to a minority so yeah and the premier kenny has done the same

00:47:15.680 things like they're both guilty of the same thing and i don't mean guilty as in they we've gone

00:47:21.200 through court and they've been pronounced guilty but public opinion public perception has them

00:47:25.680 guilty of uh of some type of hate speech and you mentioned you said full steam ahead so my

00:47:32.560 organization wsfullsteamahead.org um we like we really really want to do something that even even

00:47:42.240 if tomorrow the mandates are lifted there's still the potential for it to happen again right it's

00:47:46.880 it's not a one and done so we've decided that we want to build our membership and become a voice

00:47:53.680 powerful enough that we can actually influence policy and and educate people as to why certain

00:47:59.520 policies are are great and why others are dangerous to to Albertans or Canadians in addition we also

00:48:07.440 originally wanted to help people who were getting fired because of the the mandate um to file a

00:48:13.680 a claim against their employer and get them into court so that they could get some sort of remedy

00:48:19.120 and we realized after we had floods of emails there are thousands upon thousands probably

00:48:25.200 hundreds of thousands of people in canada who are affected by that mandate so we sat down as a board

00:48:33.120 and we discussed this and we came to the conclusion that we're not going to actually do that what

00:48:37.440 we're going to do is we are going to file a claim against the pmo and any of these other government

00:48:42.800 officials who have are responsible for implementing these measures without proper justification without

00:48:48.960 the science to back it up and we are going to open this claim up to every person in canada

00:48:53.840 who has been affected by these mandates so basically what we're saying is yes there are

00:48:59.360 100 human rights violations there's charter violations there's all sorts of things that

00:49:04.000 have been pushed on canadians that are should have never happened and we want to open this

00:49:09.440 up to not only the individuals who have been fired from their employers but also those employers have

00:49:15.120 been forced to implement those mandates because at the end of the day i don't think any of these

00:49:22.000 well i should i'm gonna i'm gonna change it very few of the employers or big companies that have

00:49:26.720 implemented those mandates want to do that because the number one resource that we have in canada the

00:49:32.240 most valuable resource we have is labor and when you do put a mandate like that in you shoot yourself

00:49:38.480 on the foot and you're you're killing your you're you're taking away from your labor pool so if you

00:49:45.360 if you take it let's take a federal carrier that had to implement a vax mandate because the trudeau

00:49:49.520 government said you're federally regulated everybody has to be vaccinated now they're

00:49:53.840 forced to fire some workers they're forced to tell their contractors they have to fire workers if

00:49:59.600 they're not vaccinated all of those people have been victimized by a government that implemented

00:50:06.080 mandates without justification and they will all be uh they'll all be plaintiffs in this

00:50:13.360 so that's what we want to do and i'm glad you brought up that human rights things because

00:50:18.400 that human rights thing because in the last well as long as i've been alive human rights

00:50:23.840 issues have always been paramount in canada and it's because we canada is accepting inclusive

00:50:29.840 and and we don't like that kind of segregation and division so yes absolutely 100 uh there are

00:50:36.960 people like me and organizations like mine who are working on that stuff but it is not a quick fix

00:50:42.400 i mean we're talking supreme court stuff right and when you look at supreme court matters it's

00:50:48.160 it's years five years six years seven ten years it's a long time so in the meantime

00:50:54.880 movements like this that unite canadians to stand up for their rights and tell the government that

00:50:59.200 no we're not going to submit to these uh divisive and uninclusive policies this is what is important

00:51:07.600 to help right now at this minute well i've got jade who's made a comment here if these mandates

00:51:14.080 stay then they will mandate things like you should the euthanasia sterilization they will mandate

00:51:20.160 every new vaccine it will never end so it's time to say no now uh chris i have a suggestion if

00:51:26.400 you're willing. What are your thoughts on perhaps you walking down to the Parliament buildings and

00:51:35.280 being able to give us a view of what's going on down there right now. And then I'm just going to

00:51:41.680 do a quick check in while you're walking down there and we're going to find out, check in with

00:51:46.560 our reporter James down in Cootes and see if there's anything happening there. And then you

00:51:52.880 can just relink in with us once you get to uh the parliament buildings and uh we can we can have a

00:51:58.400 live look at uh at what things are looking like in ottawa right now how's that yeah it'll be my

00:52:03.680 pleasure i'm actually looking forward to going down there and seeing what's going on because

00:52:07.760 there's there is literally people dancing in the streets for the last few days here it's amazing

00:52:12.880 well we would like to see that so so yeah if you're if you're open to that um we can you can

00:52:17.680 disconnect with us now once you get down there just click the link back and and we'll jump back

00:52:22.160 in with you okay sure yeah that would be awesome thanks so much for speaking with us we've had a

00:52:28.240 lot of people just uh sending their well wishes to you their prayers to you and uh and thanking

00:52:33.440 you for what you're doing there chris and and what you've been doing throughout the entire pandemic

00:52:38.800 uh standing up for choice and for freedom so a lot of thank yous here uh from from the viewers

00:52:45.760 so thanks again we'll talk to you in a few okay thank you okay all right so it sounds like we have

00:52:53.360 got james finkbeiner on uh on sort of standby right now uh and we're going to check in with

00:52:59.760 james and just see uh how things are going now last i heard james uh sorry if you've been waiting

00:53:04.720 for a bit uh is it still really cold down there is it warming up it is it is absolutely terrible

00:53:10.800 the wind is picked up it is probably the coldest it's been uh the temperature is a little bit

00:53:16.640 warmer but the wind is the wind is just awful right now so you it looks like you're um well

00:53:24.080 you're at the blockade and is it is it what's going on right now i know that the lawyers are

00:53:30.320 there they were going to speak with us but they've gone into a meeting um what's happening right now

00:53:36.480 yeah so uh the lawyers are still keeping communication open between uh the the protesters

00:53:42.720 and uh right behind me here is actually where the uh the main stoppage was this was where the

00:53:48.800 original blockade happened um i'm gonna flip my camera around and show you guys around a little

00:53:54.080 bit here uh sorry just bear with me so uh right here this is where the uh the the main blockade

00:54:03.840 was originally uh taking place and as you can see most of the vehicles have peered out of here

00:54:09.440 uh over the last couple of hours uh everybody's kind of hopped back into their units they started

00:54:14.560 moving stuff out there's uh an open lane now in both directions um they're still kind of shifting

00:54:21.600 vehicles around but there's a lot of moving parts uh this rcmp vehicle and uh this black truck here

00:54:27.920 actually just had a bit of a fender bender i don't think they could see around one of the trucks so

00:54:33.520 So, I mean, that's just one of the things, right?

00:54:36.320 It's part of a situation when you have the highway block like that, you know, things are dangerous and accidents can happen.

00:54:42.040 And I think that's part of what happened today is I think people started to realize that after five days and the amount of people here, the amount of equipment, the amount of driving, that, you know, things can't stay safe forever.

00:55:02.040 and you know part of the community came in some of the locals and said to the

00:55:08.340 truck drivers they said you know if we keep this up things are gonna get

00:55:12.780 dangerous somebody's gonna get hurt we don't want anybody to get hurt what we

00:55:16.680 want here is a peaceful protest we we want our government to listen to us and

00:55:21.300 they're starting to listen to us so so that I'm clear I understand that they've

00:55:27.180 opened up a lane but nobody has left is that right like they've just sort of

00:55:31.680 cleared um the opportunity for people to get through more now one lane in each direction

00:55:38.160 but nobody is planning to leave um until we see where things go with speaking with the mlas is

00:55:44.560 that right yeah that's right so uh all of the trucks have pulled over to the to the shoulder

00:55:49.920 they've left one lane open uh they'll pull over full further um they just want to see what the

00:55:55.200 mlas come back with so uh they're in communication with uh with some of the mlas they're just waiting

00:56:01.280 for an update uh what they've said is that if the mlas either don't come back to them or don't open

00:56:07.040 a dialogue with them that they can shut this highway back down again within a matter of minutes

00:56:14.080 and so uh the are the lawyers uh participating in the chat with the mlas are the did i understand

00:56:22.400 that the mlas are actually coming down to coots border or what you know it was originally said

00:56:28.800 that uh that some of the mlas were coming down um obviously they want to remain anonymous right now

00:56:35.360 while they work things behind the scene there's actually some area town councillors here as well

00:56:41.440 uh they've asked to remain anonymous just while they're helping facilitate discussions uh there's

00:56:46.720 some of the original farmers for justice people here that are helping with negotiations between

00:56:51.440 the truckers the mlas uh reaching out to their contacts from over the years uh you know you're

00:56:57.200 in a fairly politically active area you've got a lot of a lot of politically active farmers

00:57:02.160 and uh and and they're all they're all working the phones right now they're all coming up with

00:57:06.400 a solution i think i think everybody here has kind of got uh one goal in mind they they want

00:57:12.800 they want uh the the kenny government and and the trudeau government to listen to them

00:57:17.840 to to take their concerns um and to heart and uh and and i think everybody's starting to realize

00:57:26.080 that uh ultimatums just aren't going to work from either side and and i think we're going to see

00:57:31.440 some more progress here today uh you know i and i'm sure you've heard we we put our story out on

00:57:37.840 it just a little while ago there are numerous they're calling them sort of pop-up um slow roll

00:57:46.000 convoys numerous pop-up blockades that are happening and just spreading across alberta

00:57:52.560 right now I spoke with a couple of people one municipal councillor who did not want to share

00:57:58.400 his name referencing you know how much flack the grant hunter has has received from from making

00:58:06.800 his stand so so I won't mention his name but he he is part of quite a few of the Facebook groups

00:58:14.160 the telegram groups some of these trucker groups and freedom convoy groups and apparently they

00:58:21.680 have got uh all sorts of things popping up uh grassy lake has has uh uh looks like um i don't

00:58:29.200 have all the details whether in that area it's more of a slow roll which means they're the vehicles

00:58:35.360 are just taking up the lanes and they're moving slowly so traffic kind of gets stuck behind them

00:58:40.160 or an official blockade so i don't know exactly what's happening at each location but i do know

00:58:45.760 that near grassy lake highway number three they've got something rolling there highway number two at

00:58:52.640 fort mcleod i spoke with josh van herk who was set up there with he said about 30 other vehicles from

00:59:02.240 semis to farm equipment to trucks and vehicles and suvs and whatnot so they've kind of done a

00:59:08.640 staggered situation right near the old man river bridge um just north of of fort mcleod

00:59:17.520 and so they're doing a staggered situation on the highway so uh you know it slows down

00:59:22.480 traffic considerably again they're standing in solidarity uh what josh said was they are going

00:59:29.120 to sit there as long as it takes and they said they're trying to take the heat off of the fellow

00:59:34.560 truckers at coots um one of the things josh was really frustrated with was some of the misinformation

00:59:40.240 that's been spread uh including jason kenney announcing that rcmp officers had been assaulted

00:59:46.560 um you know just uh some of the bad press that's been put out um that you know he says in an effort

00:59:54.080 to try to turn people away from understanding the stand that these um that these protesters

01:00:01.760 and these truckers are trying to make uh sounds like they are also uh setting up something in

01:00:07.360 staveley uh there's something near red deer i heard brooks uh something's going on there

01:00:12.960 uh they've got something on highway 3 near pincher creek uh sounds like uh i even heard uh over near

01:00:19.200 coldale and noble forge there is stuff happening everywhere in alberta right now and i'm hearing

01:00:26.560 from some of these groups that this is going to be the case for for quite some time uh josh says

01:00:34.640 we're not going to quit he said some of us are fighting for our livelihoods we are not going to

01:00:39.120 give up um until we see uh you know some some relief from these mandates yeah so that's what

01:00:47.520 we're hearing too a lot of those groups are in communication with this group and uh they're

01:00:52.240 saying that they're going to continue slow rolling down the highway keeping their rolling uh

01:00:56.800 rolling convoys going uh to ensure that the mlas continue to meet to ensure that the dialogue stays

01:01:03.040 open and it's the same thing these guys here they they lose their livelihood with this vaccine

01:01:08.960 mandate they can't work they can't feed their family they have wives they have children they uh

01:01:14.560 they're they're desperate and uh and they're showing today that that they're willing to make

01:01:20.000 some concessions they're willing to say hey you know what we don't deal in absolutes like you guys

01:01:24.800 do and uh and they're saying let's let's uh let's make some progress let's uh let's discuss what's

01:01:31.920 happening let's discuss how we can make this change so that uh so that everybody can get back

01:01:36.880 to work so that everybody can take care of themselves uh james one of the questions i had

01:01:42.800 was and and i i have to assume by the fact that they are opening up some lanes right now

01:01:48.000 are they getting the supplies they need now are they getting the food the gas the fuel

01:01:52.400 everything that um that they needed uh for the blockade yeah earlier this morning the rcmp

01:01:58.480 actually let the village of coots get a fuel truck in now that fuel truck that came in is for the

01:02:04.000 village of coots uh that truck will not be going around filling up the trucks uh however it does

01:02:10.160 sound like a shipment of propane did get in so uh some of the heaters now have fuel for them

01:02:16.880 uh they're kind of negotiating how they can get diesel into some of these trucks

01:02:21.280 uh they're they're gonna work on that uh we've heard that there is a couple of trucks coming

01:02:27.760 down from the red deer area with food groceries and meals for these guys um so some some stuff

01:02:36.000 is getting in now the rcmp still does have the area cordoned off uh they're still only letting

01:02:41.120 locals in and uh they're basically saying uh if you're here as a protester and uh you're cold

01:02:48.080 you're tired you're running low on fuel you're welcome to leave at any time um but you can't

01:02:53.080 come back so uh that's why a lot of these guys they're still hunkered in uh they've made good

01:02:58.680 on their word they've opened up the lanes uh vehicles are are able to get in and out of here

01:03:04.380 uh in the uh the left-hand lane now no problem um but uh the rcmp still haven't opened up the area

01:03:12.060 to traffic they so and again this is i mean there has never been um as far as i understand there

01:03:21.100 has never been uh a cut off or or the stoppage of any emergency vehicles in and out of the area

01:03:28.620 So safety was also a concern, as I understand it, from organizers at the blockade all along.

01:03:38.620 Yeah, that's right, Mel. They had always planned to make sure emergency vehicles could get in.

01:03:43.620 They let the mayor of Cootes know that they would be here.

01:03:47.620 They let the mayor know that they would leave access for area residents, and they did.

01:03:51.620 and they did and i mean i've been i've been able to work my way in and out of this area absolutely

01:03:56.820 no problem uh for the last five days uh it takes a little bit of navigation it takes a little bit

01:04:02.260 of time but you can get in and out and and i understand that in an emergency seconds matter

01:04:07.460 and and you don't want to have an ambulance impeded and uh they they've all been more than

01:04:13.780 willing to move absolutely everything out of the way to get everything in and out of here

01:04:17.380 A lot of, again, a lot of thank yous. Even thank you to you, James, for braving the cold. I know,

01:04:26.020 I don't know if you need to go sit somewhere warm, but have you had a chance to speak with

01:04:30.920 many of the locals? I have, actually. I had coffee with a bunch of locals earlier this morning,

01:04:38.320 and that's where a lot of the discussions about getting the lanes open. Some of the locals

01:04:44.120 basically said hey guys you know what we really support what you're doing here we believe in what

01:04:49.340 you're doing here but we need a lane open we need a lane open another in every direction you know

01:04:54.600 our kids got to go to school we got to get in and out uh our residents are being um you know they

01:05:00.320 they gotta show their ids they gotta say where they live they gotta say where they work to get

01:05:04.460 in and out of their homes and uh they basically said you know we're we're reaching that point

01:05:10.960 where you're going to overstay your welcome so let's uh let's show some good faith let's get

01:05:15.760 some real discussions going and the locals help drive those conversations and uh and and you know

01:05:21.660 the locals have been uh helping them get supplies in i know i showed earlier um a video of uh some

01:05:29.120 some of the protesters actually using toboggans and wagons to cross over a field to get fuel and food

01:05:35.140 here uh sorry uh james that last sentence to get i i didn't quite catch that the last sentence was

01:05:47.220 to get fuel in there yeah to get fuel and food in here i'm just gonna hop back inside yeah i was

01:05:53.140 gonna suggest it looks uh it's unbelievably though the wind here is just cold and you know that

01:05:59.380 that's part of it that's part of uh what happened and what was going on is just the temperature and

01:06:04.340 the wind is uh it's low it's cold it's uh it's the the wind chill is just crazy today the blowing

01:06:12.220 snow is just it goes right through you and that was part of it the the locals and the protesters

01:06:18.380 knew that someone was going to get hurt uh you know you're running low on fuel fuel uh somebody's

01:06:24.360 going to freeze and nobody wants to see anybody hurt nobody wanted to see any violence nobody

01:06:30.180 wanted to see aggression they just wanted to be heard that's right uh now i i spoke with uh one

01:06:38.820 of the rcmp officers on site there this morning who again did confirm um there was there was the

01:06:47.060 allegation that some rcmp officers or or law enforcement officers had been assaulted again

01:06:54.980 just want to take that time to say that was that was actually not the case there was no assault

01:07:02.020 on any law enforcement officer by anyone so we're you know we're waiting for we have received a

01:07:11.060 statement from Jason Kenney but no real retraction also was hoping to see and sorry I haven't I

01:07:19.620 I haven't had a chance to check the Twitter feed from RCMP but we were thinking that we would have seen the RCMP come forward and speak out against that.

01:07:31.780 And you had even confirmed with me this morning, you spent a lot of time trying to get to the bottom of what assault happened and nobody could reference any assault.

01:07:45.820 No, that's right. We have asked everyone, the protesters. Actually, after Jason Kenney's press conference, the protesters began asking amongst themselves who assaulted who, what had happened.

01:07:58.060 uh if the protesters would have found who assaulted the police they would have turned

01:08:04.140 that person over to the police themselves these are not violent people these are very respectful

01:08:09.680 very prayerful people they are family men they uh they are just concerned about the future

01:08:15.500 for themselves and the futures for their families that's right and i've and i've spoken

01:08:21.260 with a number of people that are involved in the blockade at Coots, as well as a lot of people who

01:08:31.580 are doing these sort of pop-up blockades that are happening in and around Alberta, small towns down

01:08:37.900 south, even coming up as high I've heard as Red Deer. I think we're probably going to, have you

01:08:44.200 been have they been talking about some of these um down at coots james yeah definitely uh it appears

01:08:51.800 that they're that through social media all of these groups are i wouldn't say that they're

01:08:56.600 coordinating with each other but they're talking to each other and they're supporting each other

01:09:01.320 and people that couldn't make it down here to to this protest area have taken up protest areas

01:09:07.560 across the province and uh they're all showing support and they they've all said you guys have

01:09:12.840 opened up a lane good for you we're gonna keep rolling we're gonna make sure that the mlas uh

01:09:18.600 meet we're gonna make sure that they have those discussions and we're gonna support you guys and

01:09:22.600 what you guys are doing down there okay i uh just checking do we have we connected with chris again

01:09:29.960 okay so james if you want to hold on or we can i can touch back with you or do you have anything

01:09:35.080 else that you want to update us on right now or maybe we can connect with you in a bit uh when

01:09:40.360 you can again get us in touch with uh or have a conversation with um chad williamson which is one

01:09:46.200 of the lawyers that the group has brought down who sounds like he's in a meeting right now

01:09:51.000 yeah so uh we we were lucky we got a quick window there with uh with with uh mr williamson uh

01:09:57.560 unfortunately he had another meeting and then he had another interview and uh then just like

01:10:03.240 most of us here he needed to get a bite to eat uh it's been a really really busy day everybody's

01:10:09.320 been going non-stop so uh i'm hoping that i can catch up with him later on today and uh get a

01:10:15.800 few words in with him um but for now i i am going to go warm up uh it looks like the trucks are uh

01:10:23.640 mostly uh clear clearing that lane open now uh and and i'll follow up later with some more video

01:10:30.760 after i see what else is going on here in a couple hours okay sounds good and we'll keep our again

01:10:35.960 our eyes and ears on what's happening with these discussions with the mlas as soon as we as soon

01:10:42.200 as we get word awesome thanks james okay go warm up all right so it sounds like we have chris again

01:10:50.600 uh chris scott was joining us earlier in case you missed it um uh owner of whistle stop cafe

01:10:57.320 and freedom fighter and sounds like he has so he is down in ottawa he was parked in a truck and

01:11:05.080 chatted with us for a while chris it sounds like you are now um walking the parliament and showing

01:11:12.280 us what's happening down there yeah that sounds loud can you even hear me there's a lot of people

01:11:29.320 there

01:11:43.560 this is chris scott live at the parliament buildings chris can you hear me at all

01:11:49.240 I'm guessing that's a no so we've asked Chris to head down to the Parliament

01:11:59.180 buildings and just show us what's happening there show us what's

01:12:03.360 happening on Parliament Hill and here we are

01:12:07.360 a lot of canadian flags you can see

01:12:30.080 here are the trucks there's the parliament

01:12:37.360 and of course it is 5 30 in Ottawa right now so the Sun's starting to set

01:12:53.800 Wow

01:12:55.800 I would imagine earplugs would probably be a much-needed essential for visiting the convoy.

01:13:10.740 A lot of families, a lot of children.

01:13:26.680 a lot of messages there from canadians right in front of the parliament

01:13:45.440 stand your ground

01:13:56.680 That's incredible.

01:14:15.260 I really think that this, you know, this has been a real unifier for our country and for Canadians alike.

01:14:26.680 lots of comments too from people who are watching right now a lot of people calling

01:14:37.480 out our Prime Minister right now Justin Trudeau for the hate speech and

01:14:43.180 And Jade says no one should lose their job if they don't want to jab its criminal.

01:15:13.180 you probably can't hear me chris but heidi says you are awesome and you speak the truth

01:15:31.580 barb says yes chris you are right keep spreading good common sense and truth

01:15:43.180 so

01:16:00.060 oh

01:16:13.180 was so great thank you that was fantastic and i like how you put it on the side

01:16:25.260 we're actually live with the western standards in alberta right now oh sweet yeah let's say hello

01:16:30.780 chris yeah uh no i don't i don't know someone's a little shy

01:16:38.940 you can hear me but just getting a lot of them a lot of great comments about what you're doing

01:16:48.700 there thank you obviously i i can't hear anything anyone's saying but uh you get the picture yeah

01:17:05.100 uh donnie says chris you are such a great wow that was loud

01:17:12.700 can you hear me at all chris

01:17:18.700 I'm guessing not. Just a lot going down. This is the Parliament in Ottawa and we are

01:17:26.600 speaking with Chris Scott right now from the Whistle Stop Cafe who jumped in a big truck

01:17:32.940 and drove across the country to join many other Canadians protesting the mandates and

01:17:39.700 asking for the government to take them down. And you can see that it's not a small fringe

01:17:48.140 minority um and it's not a walk down yeah it clearly is not um you know a bunch of radicalists

01:17:59.500 i mean we've we've been seeing families down there we've been seeing children down there

01:18:03.100 People who really just want their freedoms back

01:18:33.100 so we're walking away from the noise on the way on our way back to the truck to meet with uh mr shear

01:18:59.020 Oh, you're going to be, you're meeting with Andrew Scheer right now?

01:19:04.260 Yeah.

01:19:05.240 Wow. Well, that'll be an interesting conversation, I'm sure.

01:19:09.960 Yeah, we're looking forward to it.

01:19:13.360 Very good. You know what? Before I wrap up with you, Chris, if I could, I have had one comment that I read here from Linda.

01:19:21.060 she says go home

01:19:23.660 it's time for this to leave

01:19:25.840 what do you say to people who

01:19:27.520 say you've said

01:19:29.700 your piece, time to go home

01:19:31.600 what do you have to say?

01:19:34.660 Well I guess I'd say

01:19:36.240 I understand

01:19:37.380 what you're saying

01:19:39.520 and your frustration that this is

01:19:41.380 continuing but

01:19:42.680 there's a lot of men and women here who are very committed

01:19:45.920 to seeing this through

01:19:46.920 and to encouraging the rest of Canada to stand up

01:19:50.180 and demand that their government release everybody from these restrictions.

01:19:54.720 And it's not just unvaccinated folks or vaccinated or people that wear masks or don't.

01:20:01.920 They really are doing this because they want everybody to be free of this

01:20:05.540 and they want to get to a place where we can start healing the damage that's been done.

01:20:11.140 So, yeah, I don't think anybody's going home anytime soon.

01:20:14.740 But what I would say is that get out of your home, take it to the streets

01:20:19.680 and tell your government that you've had enough and that's the quickest way to to end this

01:20:28.960 Chris thank you so much thank you for spending some time with us giving us an update on how

01:20:34.960 things are going in Ottawa thank you very much again so much love coming your way from viewers

01:20:41.920 a lot of people just thanking you for for everything you've done Gerald says Chris you're

01:20:48.160 a great honest man. You know, just many, many comments here just thanking you for what you're

01:20:55.680 doing. And thank you again for taking us down to the parliament buildings and letting us all see

01:21:01.280 see how things are looking and just get a really good feel for the Canadians that are down there

01:21:09.760 and that are really pushing for our country to be set right again and our country and our freedoms

01:21:16.640 to be respected and uh you know again it does not look like a a crazy fringe minority it looks like

01:21:23.920 uh a lot of really good canadians that are that are banding together right now absolutely

01:21:31.120 well have a good conversation with mr sheer i'll be uh interested to hear how that goes

01:21:37.680 and i will let you know all right and chris you know what we would love to check in with you again

01:21:42.480 so uh you and i will stay in touch okay we'll do another check in with you and see how things are

01:21:46.480 going sounds good thanks melanie okay thanks chris bye and thanks to everyone for joining us um i've

01:21:55.360 seen a few people um looking you're this is maybe um you know you're catching us you've just joined

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01:23:35.540 You

Western Standard - February 02, 2022

Live update from Parliament Hill

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