00:03:12.280It's pretty cold outside of our offices, but we're pleased to stay warm with you today.
00:03:17.900Don't take that the wrong way, people.
00:03:20.680Before we start, just a reminder, if you're not yet a member of the Western Standard,
00:03:24.320please go to westernstandardonline.com and click on the membership section. Your membership
00:03:30.320contributions go a great way, a great deal of length in helping to ensure that the Western
00:03:35.520Standard is here, breaking stories that the mainstream media will ignore, covering angles
00:03:42.080that they don't even think about, and ensuring that you keep us bailout free. Well, today we've
00:03:46.800got some really great topics. Really, that's actually one big topic that we're going to
00:03:50.480break up into two why is ottawa detaining people in secret and why is the mainstream media ignoring
00:03:57.280this uh quite something it's been our all-time record uh all-time most read story uh these uh
00:04:03.920secret detentions uh when people when canadian citizens are returning to uh airports uh it's
00:04:10.000been our all-time most read story ever yet for some reason the media ignores it so we're going
00:04:14.800to talk about those two things let's try not to conflate the two gentlemen let's try to keep it
00:04:18.800uh segmented as clean as possible as always we welcome your comments um we'll we'll try to
00:04:24.880address them if we're not already talking about it uh directly if possible uh but uh let's start
00:04:30.080with you dave uh why don't you tell us what's happening with these uh detentions really is a
00:04:35.600crazy story derek this started last thursday at the calgary international airport uh when a
00:04:43.200returning traveler from Dallas was found to have the wrong COVID-19 test. She was supposed to have
00:04:52.560a PCR, I guess, and turned out she had an antigen test. So she was whisked away by security and
00:05:01.120police into a van and driven to the Western Airport Hotel where she was detained, put in room,
00:05:10.640had guards at the end of her door. And the same thing was repeated. On Saturday,
00:05:17.760a woman called Rebecca McDonald from Red Deer had driven down to pick up her son,
00:05:22.640who had been in the States for a couple of years. He had obtained two tests in Phoenix
00:05:28.960and was given the negative result. But again, it was for an antigen test and not the required
00:05:34.080test to get back into the country. He was again detained, whisked away by security and police,
00:05:41.960put in the van and taken to the West Ender. And the great problem is, or appears to be,
00:05:50.980with the families involved, they are told nothing. This poor woman, Rebecca MacDonald,
00:05:57.140was in tears in the concourse at the airport because nobody would tell her anything.
00:06:04.080She was, somebody told her the door that they were going to sneak her son out at, she was able to get over there in time and give him a hug and ask the police what was going on.
00:11:39.680And she made the point that prisoners are treated better than her son was.
00:11:46.700You know, at least if he was in jail, she would know where he was.
00:11:51.320But just imagine this poor mother, you know, not being told anything about what's going on
00:11:56.660and having her son, you know, taken away and put in the back of a van.
00:12:02.200It must have been absolutely terrifying for her.
00:12:04.540And, you know, she was in tears at the airport and she was just so frustrated because nobody would come and talk to her.
00:12:14.540Nobody from border services or the health people would come and talk to her, tell her what's going on.
00:12:20.640And, you know, that would have just calmed everything down.
00:12:23.140She would have known where her son is and, you know, he was basically, you know, freed on Monday afternoon, driven back to the airport and dumped off.
00:12:35.320So, and she's just, she's still furious and there's been no political pushback either.
00:13:06.900A few days later, he issued a tweet saying there needs to be transparency around it.
00:13:10.900He didn't call it for it to end, but he said there should be transparency around it.
00:13:15.280I mean, and that's literally the strongest we've heard.
00:13:17.400I haven't, unless I'm mistaken, I've heard zero from Aaron O'Toole.
00:13:22.620Justin Trudeau, I don't think, has even acknowledged that this is happening.
00:13:25.140He's acknowledged that there are new regulations for returning travelers, but hasn't even recognized that people are being essentially disappeared.
00:13:32.920I don't think people are being disappeared and never showing up again.
00:13:36.080They're not getting helicopter rides into the Pacific here, but they're being disappeared, and their families are not being notified where.
00:13:43.940there's no due process, there's no judge to go before. There's nothing. It's extraordinary.
00:13:53.480And it's not cheap either for these families. Trudeau said it's going to cost $2,000 to
00:13:59.700house them and feed them, and they're going to be expected to pick up the tab.
00:14:06.380The McDonald's son was not given a bill as he left. They may be sending it in the mail,
00:14:12.020But Rebecca McDonald has said, well, send it away.
00:14:23.660And we're going to stay on this story.
00:14:26.120That's, I think, a good segue to the next part about why it is the mainstream media are ignoring what is the biggest story in Canada right now.
00:14:35.220I mean, something else will take the headlines soon.
00:14:37.020but um uh so let's segue into the media coverage of this we'll begin with our own coverage uh you
00:14:45.260were already leading into this a bit about the kind of stuff we receive we get and we appreciate
00:14:50.000it from all of you when you send us tips and things that are happening but we get a lot and
00:14:54.66090 we don't take because it either it's just kind of conspiracy theory stuff or it's just not
00:15:02.620provable we might have a suspicion that there's something to it but if we can't prove it if
00:15:06.780there's not any there there, we can't run with it as proper news. But Dave, you, you know, we received
00:15:15.160this one, you and I chatted about it. This was a real person. This was verifiable. And we ran about
00:15:21.680so maybe just talk briefly just about how it is we kind of process this information that comes from
00:15:27.620the public. This isn't something we went looking for. It's something that came to us. We thrive on
00:15:32.220on tips from the public and we appreciate it but you know maybe talk about how we how we sort that
00:15:37.020through and how we came to the conclusion that this was a real story well it came to us in a
00:15:42.060facebook post by the the edmonton pastor and he described his emotions of not knowing where his
00:15:48.780wife was and his wife being whisked away and it was really really heartbreaking really what what
00:15:54.940he had to go through uh so we decided look this is a pastor he's publicly describing this in a
00:16:01.260in a facebook post uh he's not going to make it up uh you know so we we we ran with the story
00:16:09.020and the same thing happened with uh rebecca mcdonald first came to our attention through
00:16:14.220facebook she put up a very uh emotional video of herself walking through the the airport hallways
00:16:21.900crying wondering where her son was uh so you know this had actually happened it was involving real
00:16:29.420people and you know the police put out a statement saying they had nothing to do with it it was all
00:16:36.860federal health officials the alberta health services got a hold of me late saturday night
00:16:43.100and put out a statement saying hey nothing to do with us either they knew what the fallback
00:16:48.380was going to come and and they made it clear it was strictly federal health officials that were
00:16:54.540doing it so you know the the powers that be also confirmed that it was happening.
00:17:00.420Do we know which police were executing this? What police force?
00:17:03.420It was Calgary City Police. They're in charge of security at the airport.
00:17:08.620Well that's interesting though because they, Calgary City Police don't answer to Ottawa.
00:17:12.620They don't even answer the province. They answer to the city and the city is allowing this to happen.
00:17:17.900That's an interesting point to keep in mind.
00:17:20.300As Corey said, the officers are being put in a bad position.
00:17:25.720So we knew right away that this was a hot story, and we followed it throughout the weekend with several stories,
00:17:33.460and we'll be continuing to follow it in the upcoming days.
00:18:11.780they take their orders not from city hall but from the airport authority which by token takes
00:18:17.640theirs from canada customs and federal authority so it's a little convoluted there but uh as much
00:18:24.100as i like to leave things on city hall this one isn't really on there there's a lot there's enough
00:18:28.100blame uh to go around without making it up so that's that's a good that's a good point to add
00:18:31.680uh so let's talk about the media coverage of this we've talked about our coverage of it
00:18:36.380it is our biggest story it's our most read story in the history of the western standard
00:18:41.860It put us over 2.1 million readers last month.
00:18:45.600Obviously, that wasn't just that story, but that coming at the end of January put us over that hump to hit a milestone there.
00:18:52.740This story was out for, I think, about three days, and there was nothing.
00:18:58.400I mean, some of the other alternative media touched it after you broke it, Dave, but there was nothing whatsoever from the mainstream media.
00:19:07.500there was these nebulous stories alluding that there was something happening saying
00:19:12.760there's new restrictions on returning travelers, but they would not talk about any of these specific
00:19:18.620cases. They wouldn't talk about people getting disappeared and their families not being notified.
00:19:24.360It was just kind of very high level, like, well, here's a government news release,
00:19:27.540and the media would kind of regurgitate that news release for people. The kind of
00:19:30.880boring, generic crap you see all the time.
00:19:34.820Corey, why do you think they have completely ignored this until really just now?
00:19:40.020I mean, I should add, after three days and the mainstream media started to put out these
00:19:45.000kind of nebulous, generic stories about it, Jason Kenney issued his tweet.
00:19:49.380And once the leader of a government mentions something, well, then the media can say,
00:19:53.240OK, I guess it's official news now because a politician's talked about it.
00:19:56.740Why do you think they've just been so reticent to talk about the story?0.68
00:20:00.880because they're terrified of the cancel mob.
00:20:03.000There is an orthodoxy, a COVID orthodoxy,
00:20:30.500and look what happened. The leader of the official opposition was taking quotes from it and going
00:20:35.400haywire, and Drew Barnes actually backed down and apologized. I mean, they are outright scared of
00:20:41.560touching anything outside of what they're fed to regurgitate. Let's be honest, that's what the
00:20:47.020mainstream media is doing these days. They don't have the courage to dive into these issues anymore.
00:20:51.400The cancel mob knows how to hurt them and to scare them. They don't even call the offices of the
00:20:56.220mainstream media anymore. They call the sponsors and they say, if you touch that again, we're not
00:21:01.060going to buy a car from you or this and that. And the sponsors get scared that they call the media.
00:21:04.320It comes all the way down the line. I mean, this illustrates the importance of alternative media
00:21:07.900because the mainstream media is neutered. They knew about this story. They want to get the traffic
00:21:13.620and report on these things. These are people that really hate other journalists. They want to get
00:21:17.660out there, but they're scared. So it's all just milk and toast and follow the line. And we're
00:21:22.320seeing it today. And don't forget about the government money there, Corey. The mainstream
00:21:28.580media gets a huge amount, millions of dollars. 600 million. 600 million from Justin Trudeau's
00:21:34.340liberals. So, you know, the bosses know that the story makes the government look bad. So,
00:21:40.680you know, maybe that's the reason they're not covering it there. Yeah. I mean, at the end of
00:21:46.280the day media is a business unless you're the CBC but media is a business and you have to respond
00:21:53.080to what the people paying you say that is your sponsors and if your sponsors are worried uh well
00:21:59.240and if your prime sponsor is the government and then i was gonna say your other spot if your
00:22:03.080single biggest sponsor is now the federal government and they're increasingly beating
00:22:07.640their chest and look uh facebook wouldn't even let us boost the post uh at our own cost facebook
00:22:13.720wouldn't let us boost the post on this story because it's critical of COVID orthodoxy. And
00:22:20.920we're not peddling conspiracy theories here. COVID is real. This is not a fake thing.
00:22:25.880It's not a plandemic. It's a real thing. Governments are taking advantage of it to
00:22:31.240pursue their own ends. They're pushing their own agendas, taking advantage of the situation,
00:22:35.400but we're not pushing any conspiracy theories here. This is factual. This is a real woman
00:22:40.360that we have talked to and verified and Facebook tries to suppress it and you know it's no worry
00:22:46.520that the other guys are are worried about it about getting cancelled themselves I'm keeps me up at
00:22:52.040night wondering if you know when are we going to get deplatformed maybe it makes sense for us to
00:22:56.280be a little less nosy on these kinds of issues because we'll have no business if we get cancelled
00:23:02.520so there's a real fear there but also I think it's I think there's also a general sense
00:23:09.320of compliance within most of the mainstream and there are some exceptions within the mainstream
00:23:13.560media there's some good columnists and reporters out there who are still working behind enemy lines
00:23:18.840doing good work i don't want to take away from them but i'm talking corporately and on aggregate
00:23:24.040within the mainstream media i think uh there is a belief that even if these stories are correct
00:23:31.080and and true that they are still dangerous information to get out because it undermines
00:23:36.680government's authority that's what uh what's the name of that Quebec federal minister Stephen
00:23:41.560Gilbert or whatever Gilbert yeah I can't pronounce his name wants to control the internet yeah the
00:23:47.480heritage minister essentially he's the goal or something uh no no something with a g yeah
00:23:55.560but you know minister of heritage is a very weird Orwellian way of naming that department in Canada
00:24:01.240that's the minister of information that's the minister of propaganda that's the minister who
00:24:05.240controls the CBC, the CRTC, regulate social media. And he's talking about government law criminalizing
00:24:16.120speech online, particularly from news outlets, but people in general who undermine faith in
00:24:21.000government institutions. You know what? The best thing to come out of COVID is losing faith in
00:24:25.640government institutions, losing faith that the people in charge are always right because they
00:24:30.760appear on the television. Guess what, people? Just because Dave and Corey and I are sitting on
00:24:36.600video with a background behind us doesn't mean we necessarily know anything. I think we do. I think
00:24:42.840we have something to add. That's why we're talking. But just because we're appearing on video on a
00:24:46.760broadcast doesn't make us smarter than we otherwise are. But it's a magic trick the media can do.
00:24:52.120It's a magic trick politicians can do. You appear on the live feed of parliament and people say,
00:24:57.000well he must have some kind of intelligence to what he's talking about it's a magic trick
00:25:02.280and the media are a part of it so um you know covet if there is something good that's coming
00:25:08.920out of covet it's making people realize that maybe we actually aren't free because you don't
00:25:15.400have a freedom you don't have a right if that freedom or right can just be taken away with a
00:25:18.840stroke of a pen whatever you did have was then just a government-granted privilege a right a
00:25:24.280of freedom is something that cannot be taken away that your government is there to guarantee
00:25:28.920under all circumstances and if they can just take it away at the stroke of a pen
00:25:32.680that means it was just a temporary privilege that they grant you when it is convenient and now we're
00:25:37.880now we're seeing the federal government talk about criminalizing uh speech online particularly from
00:25:44.040media that would undermine faith in government institutions well i think that undermining of
00:25:49.960of faith is the one damn good thing that's come out of COVID so far. Well, it's something I said
00:25:55.200before, the healthiest thing that a person can hold right now is a distrust of government.
00:25:59.820I mean, among all your health issues and so on. But you know, that docile Canadian nature is
00:26:05.000catching up on us, though. I don't think enough people pay attention or think about or realize
00:26:09.420the importance of these fundamental rights that are being eroded right now. I mean, people who
00:26:14.900drafted these rights, these charters, these bills of rights and countries knew about these things.
00:26:19.680They realize that you have to enshrine these abilities for citizens to move around, for citizens to speak, to communicate with each other, to have a free press.
00:26:28.840And the government has taken full advantage of this emergency to cut into these very critical rights.
00:26:33.780And not enough people, I think, understand how scary this is.
00:26:37.880I mean, look at the basis of what seems to, you know, almost cliche is Miranda, right?
00:26:42.080So you see them on every cop show on TV and everything.
00:26:44.540But I mean, there was a reason those things are enshrined.
00:26:46.580You have to go through quite a process before you're going to detain somebody.
00:26:51.160You have to make sure that person knows every right they have before you detain them.
00:26:55.220Even the most odious of murderers get that or those rights as a basis before you can take them into custody.
00:27:04.140Former Security Minister Stockwell Day put out a tweet on the weekend blasting the government for doing this.
00:27:12.000And he followed up with another tweet last night saying, you know, Canadians have to start saying enough is enough and protesting this type of thing.
00:27:21.020And he said, if we don't, then we deserve everything we get when more and more rights are taken away.
00:28:53.380But he admitted as such that they're only doing this because of the restaurant revolt.
00:28:59.080They had no choice because they were not prepared to send men with guns and arrest people like you saw with that barbecue joint in Ontario.
00:29:05.300They had to do something. So I guess across the board, people have no choice but civil disobedience, nonviolent and non-property damaging civil disobedience. Isn't it nice when you can actually change something without burning a city down?
00:29:22.300Yeah, some people got really upset with me pointing out, you know, that this was more effective than all of the rioting and burning that some other groups had been doing over the last year.
00:29:29.620Some restaurants dared to feed people, and it worked.
00:29:32.920I mean, that's how civil disobedience works.
00:29:35.940The passive non-riotists, I mean, and again, going back to the real, not these fake trumped up things that people feel others are civil rights battles these days.
00:29:44.220The real ones from the 60s and 70s, they weren't violent, crazy things.
00:29:47.400These were people who dared to sit in a cafe.