Western Standard - April 10, 2025


VINDICATED： COVID-era protest ban ruled unconstitutional


Episode Stats

Length

23 minutes

Words per Minute

128.98944

Word Count

3,077

Sentence Count

136

Misogynist Sentences

2

Hate Speech Sentences

3


Summary

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

Randy Hillier served as the MP for Lanark, Frontenac and Kingston in the Ontario PC caucus from 2007 to 2022. He was kicked out of the caucus by Premier Doug Ford in 2019, for his opposition to the government's anti-lockdown laws during protests.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Mark Carney backed Bill C-69, Trudeau's No More Pipelines Law.
00:00:09.560 It's killing energy projects right here at home.
00:00:13.620 But guess what?
00:00:15.080 While Canadian workers get left behind, Carney's company, Brookfield, is busy buying pipelines in the U.S., in Brazil, around the world.
00:00:26.640 Shut down Canadian energy. Profit off everyone else's.
00:00:32.720 Mark Carney. Blocking Canadian jobs and banking foreign billions.
00:00:56.640 I'm Derek Fildebrandt, publisher of the Western Standard.
00:01:09.180 Just yesterday, there was a historic court ruling from, I believe it was the Superior Court of Ontario,
00:01:16.080 Ontario's Supreme Court, for lack of a better term,
00:01:18.460 that ruled that the Doug Ford, Ontario PC government's anti-lockdown rules,
00:01:26.700 sorry, anti-protest rules during COVID lockdowns were unconstitutional.
00:01:33.720 Many people were charged, fined, imprisoned unjustly under these laws,
00:01:40.060 restricting the right of Ontarians to demonstrate freely during the COVID lockdowns.
00:01:45.200 Funny enough, these laws seem to not have been applied to Black Lives Matter protests taking place at the time, but towards people protesting the laws themselves.
00:01:54.180 The face of many of these protests and the government's prosecutions against their anti-protest laws during lockdowns was Randy Hillier.
00:02:08.560 Randy Hillier served as the Ontario Member of the Provincial Parliament from 2007 to 2022
00:02:14.080 as the MVP for Lanark, Frontenac, and Kingston in different variations of that constituency.
00:02:21.720 He was kicked out of the Ontario PC caucus by Premier Doug Ford in 2019.
00:02:29.300 There's paper reasons for it, but it was very clear the reason he was kicked out was his opposition
00:02:33.540 to lockdowns, mandates, and other COVID measures.
00:02:37.280 So it's my pleasure to welcome to the program, Randy Hillier, coming to us from some undisclosed location in the Ottawa Valley.
00:02:46.320 From beautiful downtown Lanark County.
00:02:49.320 Pleasure to see you again, Derek, and pleasure to be on the show with you.
00:02:52.920 My pleasure.
00:02:53.800 And you're going to live with Cobb with Western Standard.
00:02:56.180 Oh, thank you.
00:02:57.220 Lanark County, I've got a lot of family history in that area.
00:03:00.720 It is a beautiful place.
00:03:01.980 And for the Albertans who might hold it against me for having roots in that area,
00:03:05.400 It is the closest thing to Alberta, uh, east of Saskatchewan.
00:03:09.680 If Alberta is ever its own country, I'm going to make sure that Lanark County is, uh, one
00:03:14.440 of our colonies.
00:03:15.600 All right.
00:03:16.360 Uh, Randy, um, maybe just, uh, briefly give us just a summary of, uh, you know, maybe
00:03:24.700 a bit beyond what I did in the introduction of what it is that happened with the charges
00:03:29.940 against you, what it is you were fighting against.
00:03:31.820 and uh and then we'll go kind of into the court battles from there yeah so this was all in
00:03:39.060 in 2020 i began to publicly oppose with rallies demonstrations public rallies and demonstrations
00:03:49.060 the lockdown measures that the doug ford government had imposed
00:03:55.460 And during 2020, 2021, leading up to the truckers' convoy in February 2022, these rallies became bigger and bigger and more frequently.
00:04:12.000 As a result, I received 25 provincial offense notices for organizing these rallies.
00:04:19.260 Each one of the offenses carried a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to a year in jail.
00:04:28.020 Eventually, 20 of them would be withdrawn, but there remained five prosecutors who were absolutely determined and vicious and wanted to get their pound of flesh from me.
00:04:39.260 There. And we argued this in the constitutional court. So yesterday's decision was in the Ontario Court of Appeals, the highest court that we have here. If the Crown seeks to appeal that decision, they will have to go to the Supreme Court of Canada.
00:04:57.780 So the appeals court ruled, without question, the measures that Doug Ford did during the Reopening Ontario Act were constitutionally invalid.
00:05:12.380 He did not have the authority to prohibit and ban the outright, the protests and the peaceful assembly.
00:05:23.140 So it's been four and a half years since those charges started.
00:05:29.800 And it has now come to an end unless the government, the Crown, decides to seek leave of appeal to the Supreme Court.
00:05:42.300 And do you have any idea, Randy, if the Crown is intending on appealing this to the Supreme Court?
00:05:47.900 Because this is a major curtailment of, and this sets precedent right across the country.
00:05:53.940 I know many provincial governments would be unhappy about this ruling with the precedent set.
00:05:57.900 Is there any indication that the federal or Ontario governments are intending to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada?
00:06:04.300 Not yet.
00:06:05.120 They have 30 days.
00:06:06.520 And there is still a remedy stage here.
00:06:08.880 We still have to, you know, will the law be struck down?
00:06:14.360 So when a law is found to be invalid constitutionally, Derek, then the question becomes, what do you do?
00:06:24.340 Do you read something else into the law to make it constitutionally valid, or do you strike down the law?
00:06:33.100 So over the next month, we'll be having further hearings about the remedy.
00:06:39.840 um um and i don't want to jump the gun or jump the shark here um and release anything but we'll
00:06:49.140 be i'll be going very strong that there can never be limits on peaceful assembly
00:06:56.960 in a free and democratic society if you prevent or prohibit peaceful assembly you are no longer
00:07:07.040 in a free and democratic society.
00:07:09.440 So there's that element to come, and then it will be the crown
00:07:14.260 will have 30 days, but they don't have an automatic right of appeal
00:07:18.280 to the Supreme Court.
00:07:19.220 They would have to make a strong case that this is a national
00:07:24.300 pressing concern that it should go to the Supreme Court.
00:07:28.880 But yes, many other provinces will be with trepidation on this
00:07:33.860 at other, you know, charges that are still before the courts
00:07:40.740 over the lockdowns, people that have been convicted of these.
00:07:44.960 We could see a significant number of successful appeals, et cetera.
00:07:54.460 So we'll have to wait and see, though, what comes up.
00:07:58.660 Yeah, this could have a domino effect for many people
00:08:01.180 who've been convicted under both Ontario
00:08:04.820 and other provincial anti-protest laws
00:08:09.320 during lockdowns.
00:08:12.760 Most things have been thrown out,
00:08:14.500 but some have stuck thus far
00:08:16.820 until your victory here.
00:08:18.520 Do you think there could be a domino effect
00:08:20.480 from your ruling?
00:08:22.640 Well, I think there's a few things.
00:08:24.160 So this is the first time the court has ever ruled.
00:08:28.220 Yeah.
00:08:29.280 Well, there's two things.
00:08:30.080 This is the first time that we've actually won against the lockdowns on a constitutional question.
00:08:37.480 There's been some successes like in Alberta.
00:08:41.420 Remember the courts ruled that the Alberta Health Services did not have the statutory authority.
00:08:49.420 Yeah, those were statutory victories, not constitutional.
00:08:51.640 Yours was constitutional, making it much more important nationally.
00:08:54.660 Absolutely.
00:08:55.120 And this is also the first time that a court of this stature has, in its first time a court, has ruled on the provisions of peaceful assembly as a protected right.
00:09:12.720 So the decision is quite powerful, very unique, and the judges, the three judges at the appeal courts recognize the significance of what peaceful assembly is in a free and democratic society.
00:09:31.340 So, and I think this coupled with the Mosley decision from January of, was it January 24 or 23, I forget now, but the Mosley decision that ruled the Emergency Act as ultraviolet or as unconstitutional, that coupled with this, I think will, can be utilized substantially by
00:10:01.340 any remaining uh individuals in front of the courts in ottawa on the on the truckers convoy
00:10:07.500 so this has been going on uh what about four years now four and a half years on this particular ones
00:10:12.700 i still have some other charges uh from the truckers convoy but uh we we won't confuse or
00:10:19.340 muddy the waters with those ones right today yeah uh yeah yeah you uh i mean you you've been racking
00:10:25.340 them up, uh, doing God's work, racking up these, uh, these COVID related charges.
00:10:29.960 Um, like what's been the cost you personally, uh, lawyers ain't cheap.
00:10:34.840 So I've been, um, so I've been very fortunate.
00:10:38.480 I, you know, you have to give a big thank you to, uh, uh, John Carpe and the Jason CF and
00:10:43.800 the charter advocates who have been handling these provincial offenses for me.
00:10:48.000 Uh, I am representing myself.
00:10:50.100 The cost of lawyers on the criminal charges was bankrupting me,
00:10:55.900 so I dispensed with my legal counsel on the criminal charges
00:11:00.140 about a year and a half ago.
00:11:04.500 So I've been able to keep my head above water
00:11:07.020 representing myself on that one.
00:11:09.740 That's dangerous, representing yourself in court,
00:11:13.120 especially on a criminal matter.
00:11:15.400 It wasn't, Derek.
00:11:17.060 Like it was, you know, my lawyer, I'd already given him over a hundred grand for the initial part of the defense.
00:11:28.460 And, you know, like I'm not a wealthy man, but regardless, I'd already given him a hundred grand.
00:11:35.560 He wanted another hundred grand to keep the defense going.
00:11:41.180 And I said to him, I said, you know, what's this going to cost in total?
00:11:47.060 And he said, well, you know, budget 500,000 bucks.
00:11:51.340 And, you know, it's not like I'm some Ottawa politician that has the nice gold-plated pensions.
00:11:58.320 Provincial politicians in Ontario don't get any pension at all.
00:12:02.440 So, you know, and I just said to him, so there was no risk to me, Derek.
00:12:08.860 It was either I went bankrupt and lost my home and put my family out of a home.
00:12:15.100 and still possibly get put in jail
00:12:19.080 because the Crown wanted three and a half years on that charge
00:12:22.420 or represent myself.
00:12:25.260 And at least then, you know, I knew I could keep my house
00:12:29.100 and my family wouldn't be homeless.
00:12:31.140 So, but anyway, I think, you know, the other,
00:12:34.080 what I want to tell you as well, which I find very unique,
00:12:37.420 this is a major, major constitutional win.
00:12:42.100 The first constitutional win, uh, from the COVID mandate, uh, Derek, um, uh, has a powerful
00:12:49.080 impact, not just in Ontario, but across the country.
00:12:52.120 Uh, and not one premier has mentioned it.
00:12:57.920 Uh, certainly Doug Ford, the premier in Ontario has not mentioned it.
00:13:01.260 Not one opposition member in any legislature has mentioned it.
00:13:06.460 Well, to be fair, we haven't even had question period in any provincial or federal
00:13:11.260 legislature since your decision i mean it it came down yesterday i think in the afternoon
00:13:16.540 so to be fair there hasn't been a chance for anyone to yet even in the scrum or even in a tweet
00:13:23.500 yeah not it yeah uh and polyev and carney have not mentioned it uh nobody nobody has mentioned
00:13:33.220 it but not only the political class has not mentioned it um the toronto star has not mentioned
00:13:39.380 it global news has not mentioned it um the national post has not mentioned it that you know
00:13:46.160 the global mail whatever you want the mainstream media has run away from this major constitutional
00:13:54.180 victory as if it never existed so uh you have a bit of a history with doug ford uh you know
00:14:03.240 like i don't know how you felt about him but when he first won the pc leadership uh i was
00:14:08.000 you know coming after rob ford i was uh kind of optimistic that ontario would actually maybe have
00:14:15.300 some solid conservative leadership uh he very quickly threw most of that under the uh off the
00:14:20.300 under the bus especially once he was elected premier uh you had your differences with him
00:14:26.080 you you've i've known you a long time you're a very outspoken guy like me you might not be suited
00:14:31.440 to political longevity uh for that reason but um you know doug ford was extremely upset with you
00:14:39.420 when you were uh leading much of the resistance in ontario against his covet lockdowns and mandates
00:14:44.520 those kinds of things uh has he called to apologize not yet um yeah you know uh like this is this is
00:14:57.020 vindication for many people Derek and you know it's not just vindication for me it's many many
00:15:02.880 people uh that who spoke out and said these mandates for were unconstitutional and um you
00:15:10.880 know but I you know we see this it's all our political class and the mainstream media class
00:15:17.780 um are just hoping that nobody notices the truth um you know I was thinking about this
00:15:26.780 the other day as well, like when I was reading the USA Congress final, their congressional
00:15:34.400 final report on COVID. And it is even somewhat harsher than, well, significantly harsher
00:15:41.780 than the Alberta government's review on COVID. You know, like, but they've released it. You know,
00:15:48.880 this was not a naturally occurring virus. This was done by gain of function. The vaccines were
00:15:55.900 neither safe nor effective and they caused significant harm and injury the masking the
00:16:04.040 social distancing the lockdowns were all harmful not dissimilar but stronger language than the
00:16:12.500 alberta review but once again nobody in our media our mainstream media and nobody our premiers our
00:16:20.540 opposition leaders, our political leaders are all hoping that nobody notices the truth and that
00:16:28.380 nobody will notice that the COVID emperor indeed had no close. So as mentioned, you've been fighting
00:16:36.900 this for four and a half years. You had a major, major victory yesterday, but there's still more
00:16:43.160 on the table. They're still coming for you. They're not done with you yet. What's next?
00:16:48.020 So I have these nine other criminal charges that I was, uh, that I was
00:16:52.580 representing myself on, uh, and I-
00:16:55.940 You are just a mafioso of, uh, of COVID, uh, breaking COVID laws, aren't you?
00:17:01.140 Those nine are from, uh, the horrible, um, and outrageous and audacity, uh, 0.54
00:17:09.620 audacious moves of me to go to Ottawa in the cold of February, 2022.
00:17:17.060 And, um, but I was successful in November of last year to, um, I brought up a Jordan application and the judge ruled in my favor that, uh, the crown had delayed foot drags and had been, uh, uh, too long in prosecuting me.
00:17:37.300 Uh, so she stayed all the charges against me.
00:17:40.000 Uh, later in December, uh, the crown, uh, appealed.
00:17:47.060 or they gave me notice of appeal on that application.
00:17:52.260 So I'm back in the appeals court on my Ottawa charges.
00:17:59.080 And this week, I just filed a notice of motion.
00:18:02.600 I'm sorry, my Ottawa charges, you're talking about Freedom Convoy, right?
00:18:05.060 Yeah.
00:18:05.240 And then yesterday, I just filed notice of motion to quash the appeal.
00:18:12.960 so um so these are uh uh you know i spend a lot of time doing legal stuff um uh rather than um
00:18:23.580 cutting and splitting my firewood that i should be doing right about now
00:18:26.640 but um you know it's um that's what we have to do uh to to defeat this legal machine and this
00:18:34.900 legal monster and its close brother or twin brother, the political machine and the political
00:18:43.200 monster.
00:18:44.760 Well, you've been quite the prison study lawyer so far.
00:18:48.680 You've done a heck of a job.
00:18:51.280 I'll just wrap up with this question.
00:18:54.880 It's a federal election happening right now.
00:18:58.220 What is it you're hoping to see from, I won't even ask about the liberals or NDP,
00:19:03.600 uh because they're sort of hopeless on the topic but what are you hoping to do at least see from
00:19:08.980 the conservatives uh you know in commitments they might make around the fall from covid and
00:19:15.240 protection of freedoms this kind of thing what are you hoping to see from polyev and the conservatives
00:19:19.200 well my expectation is zero uh so it's not um you know as you know derek i've been
00:19:27.960 intimately involved with the Conservative Party for a long time, and with the reform before that.
00:19:36.620 So, you know, I have seen the insides of the Conservative Party, and I don't,
00:19:47.460 I see them just as another Central Canada globalist entity, just like the Liberals,
00:19:56.900 And that has always taken advantage of the eastern and western extremities of Confederation.
00:20:07.820 They've consolidated and they ensure that central Canada always is well taken care of to the detriment of others.
00:20:16.260 Um, and I think, you know, what we've saw, uh, uh, this complete fraudulent, uh, narrative
00:20:25.220 that has been accepted across the country, uh, that this is a, an election to defeat
00:20:31.940 Trump, uh, and, and both parties have accepted that narrative and have promoted that narrative.
00:20:39.100 um and of course this is um if we were halfway intelligent if we were truthful in in canada
00:20:48.120 we would be saying to ourselves look at here last week the march employment numbers came out of the
00:20:55.000 u.s there was 228 000 new jobs created in um in the united states and in the same month we lost
00:21:03.320 another 33 000 jobs um yeah that maybe we should be thinking along trump's line that um that maybe
00:21:12.940 we should have manufacturing back here in this country maybe we should have an industrial base
00:21:17.500 maybe we should be able to exploit utilize and harvest our our natural resources uh and turn
00:21:25.980 them into wealth uh and and maybe in canada that there's only men and women as well and 0.72
00:21:32.240 and nothing in between and nothing beyond.
00:21:36.240 Maybe we should be promoting freedom rather than an attack
00:21:44.140 and being a hostile neighbor
00:21:46.400 to the largest economy in the country
00:21:49.260 and our greatest customer.
00:21:54.020 I don't see either party having the gonads and the stones
00:21:59.020 and the stones to be truthful with Canadians.
00:22:02.080 And I think they're leading us into a very, very dark economic time.
00:22:07.440 All right.
00:22:07.840 Well, you know, if you just get tired of fighting in the courts
00:22:12.860 for your basic freedoms in Ontario,
00:22:16.220 maybe I should just invite you to come to Alberta and declare asylum. 0.95
00:22:20.820 And we'll just grant you asylum here in the Wild Rose Republic. 0.89
00:22:25.500 and you could just live out your retirement
00:22:28.660 in a bit of peace.
00:22:30.820 There's a great many lovely, lovely Albertans
00:22:33.380 and it's been a great pleasure meeting
00:22:37.340 and talking with so many of the great people
00:22:41.000 that have over the years,
00:22:43.200 but also now with the referendum discussions
00:22:47.240 and the 51st state discussions,
00:22:49.800 you've got a lot of good people out there
00:22:51.300 and any normal redneck would love to live in wild goals. 0.57
00:22:59.100 Amen.
00:23:00.000 Thank you very much, Randy, for joining me today.
00:23:03.280 It's been a pleasure, and good luck in fighting the next nine dozen,
00:23:07.860 whatever you've got, charges in front of you.
00:23:10.220 Best of luck.
00:23:11.080 Thank you very much.
00:23:12.120 Thank you, Derek.
00:23:21.300 Transcription by CastingWords