Sheila Gunn Reid and Keean Bexte expose Alberta’s Purple Perk coffee shop owner, Paul Overholt, facing Orwellian media attacks after April Fools’ pranks mocking Justin Trudeau—CTV and CBC falsely reported his closure despite COVID compliance. Meanwhile, Reid details three anti-lockdown protesters arrested in Edmonton, including Cody Holler, while Jason Kenney defends their right to free speech; contrast Doug Ford’s "Yahoo" smear campaign against PC voters, despite his own lockdown violations and Trudeau’s $853M UN funding. The episode reveals double standards in protest policing and urges conservatives to rally behind targeted businesses, from Calgary pastors to Toronto butchers, as systemic bias escalates. [Automatically generated summary]
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Welcome to Rebel Roundup, ladies and gentlemen, and the rest of you, in which we look back at some of the very best commentaries of the week by your favorite Rebels.
I'm your host, David Menzies.
Well, thanks to the Wuhan virus, staying afloat in business is harder than ever, but make sure you don't say anything that offends Justin Trudeau and his trained SEALs and the media party because they just might conspire to try and put you out of business.
Supporting Paul, the Purple Perk Owner00:11:32
Wait till you hear Kian Bexi's story about a Calgary coffee shop that was targeted by the authorities and the fake news cabal for absolutely no good reason.
And in a somewhat related story, I always thought we had the right to free speech in Canada, but as Sheila Gunread discovered while covering a protest outside the Edmonton legislature, apparently espousing the wrong ideas in Alberta's capital can get one arrested and hauled off.
Sheila will have all the disturbing details.
And finally, letters, we get your letters, we get your letters every minute of every day.
And I'll share some of your responses regarding yet another protest on the lawns of Queen's Park last Saturday by individuals who just want to get back to work or school.
But get this, Ontario Premier Doug Ford would seem to have little patience for contrary opinions.
In fact, he'd like to see some of these people kicked out of Canada.
And he says he'll even help them pack their bags.
Say what?
Those are your rebels.
let's round them up.
Key and back see for rebel news outside of Purple Perk in downtown Calgary.
This is a cafe that has become a bit of an icon in Calgary, known for its outspoken owner.
He actually posted a bunch of signage outside on April Fools labeling this as Justin Trudeau's campaign headquarters, calling Justin Trudeau an April fool.
And you know what happens when you make fun of our dear prime minister?
Well, government scrutiny comes along with it.
AHS actually came to this establishment and posted this sign on his door.
You can see it here that says this establishment is closed.
Well, it's not actually closed.
It's kind of misleading.
And CTV and the mainstream media were quick to jump on him to punish him for his opposition to the favorite of the mainstream media, Justin Trudeau.
I'm here to speak with him today and grab a coffee because this business is actually open.
And as funny as this is, as comical as it is to put caution tape on these benches, I notice that actually right down the road, there's a city bench that isn't sectioned off.
Anyone can sit on it because it's city property.
But if you were to get a coffee and sit on these benches, you would be an existential threat to the national security of Canada and you will be punished along with this business owner, business owners just like Paul, who are all hanging by a thread during these times.
Let's go speak to Paul.
Contrary to what the mainstream media has said, you are indeed open.
CTV published an article saying Purple Perk is closed, along with a slew of other articles from the mainstream media that were really quick to jump on you for allegedly having people that were drinking your coffee on the sidewalk.
It seems crazy the times that we're living in.
Could you give us some background about that CTV article?
What happened to your business here?
What did AHS do?
Why did they do it?
AHS just dropped by to make sure that nobody was being served beverages or food on the patio or inside, which we have not done since the first part of March.
This has been completely closed off and blocked off.
There hasn't been customers staying there.
Okay, so Purple Perk owner Paul Overholt is obeying all the COVID-19 rules, but he commits the pseudo-crime of wrong speak.
And for that, the powers that be sick the health authority on him and the propaganda arm of the Liberal Party of Canada are dutifully dispensing fake news that the Purple Perk has been shuttered.
Well, it doesn't get any more Orwellian than that, folks.
And with more on the Calgary coffee shop crackdown, is our roving reporter, Kian Bexti.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, my friend.
Hi, David.
Thanks for having me.
Great to see you.
You know, Kian, I found this story downright scary.
The fact that an entrepreneur with a cheeky sense of humor could incur such wrath.
What do you make of this over-the-top reaction to Mr. Overholt's whimsy?
Well, of course, the mainstream media was super eager to throw him in the trash.
I mean, he has been a common poster of memes that go against the mainstream media narrative.
He puts up, he ridicules Justin Frudeau.
He even posted a meme that brought a lot of attention to him.
It was a meme of Hitler, and he said, and it said, you did the right thing reporting this small business or something like that.
It was something along those lines.
And it was calling out the people who have reported him over and over and over again to the state for having his business open and operating, and people were upset with him.
And he compared that to Nazi Germany.
And that just referencing Hitler in that way drew the ire of the CBC and CTV and every leftist in Calgary because he had the gall to make a joke like that.
Obviously, he wasn't praising Hitler in any way.
He was saying that Hitler is bad and it's bad if you try and act like we're in Nazi Germany.
And he compared the current state of society to that.
And the mainstream media wasn't having any of it.
So they were quick to jump for when a health notice was posted by Alberta Health Services that sort of misleadingly looked like the business was closed when in fact it wasn't.
You know, and Kian, let's stay on the mainstream media's role in this fiasco.
You know, once upon a time, I remember if you saw a little coffee shop owner incurring the wrath of government, well, the media would go to bat for the little guy, for the underdog.
I mean, you know, the media used to operate under the proviso of afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.
But instead, like you alluded to, they inferred that he had been shut down when, as a matter of fact, it's just that you can't sit on the premises or on those outside benches, just like any other Calgary coffee shop.
I think that was disgraceful.
Yeah, and I mean, just even that, the public ordinance that is saying that he can't have people sitting on the benches.
I mean, I saw them, and there's a bench right next to his business.
It's a city bench that's not taped up, and people, customers, could go take a coffee and sit on the city bench, but not on his own benches, which were all very distant from each other.
It's a big joke, is what it is.
It is, and it's factually incorrect.
And as I've always said, when it comes to those in the media that are editorializing as opposed to reporting, you are entitled to your own opinions.
You're not entitled to your own facts.
And there was no danger, by the way.
In fact, I found it very amusing.
It was very creative of you to set up across the street on your own chair and film yourself drinking a coffee.
I was praying in a way that a Calgary by law officer or a police service officer would come by and give you one of those $880 tickets.
I'm thinking, hey, maybe Kian Bexie is our next fightthefines.com victim.
Those fines are really stacking up.
We actually have, I think, almost a dozen people that we are actually fighting the fines of.
And if anyone's interested to go to it, it's at fightthefines.com.
There's two pastors actually in Calgary that the Calgary police have been targeting for giving food to the homeless.
You wouldn't believe this stuff if you didn't see it with your own eyes, that the Calgary police are targeting the very people who are keeping society running and people alive during this pandemic.
It's kind of a disgrace.
Yeah, they've been almost as bad as the Lethbridge police going after 19-year-old girls in Star Trooper outlines.
I mean, the world is upside down, Kian.
But tell me, obviously, the government was trying to send a message to this entrepreneur in Calgary.
Is the owner of the Purple Perk, Kian, is he going to modify his ways?
Is he going to be less cheeky?
Is he going to be less political?
Or is he going to double down on his commentary?
I certainly hope not because just in the short time after this has happened, I've had almost a dozen people reach out to me personally saying that they're going to go to Purple Perk, just to make a point.
Because conservatives, they're always faced with this problem, right?
That all these businesses like Google and Facebook, social media or otherwise, they're always on the side of the leftists.
And well, it's because the leftists spend more money.
The leftists spend more time on Facebook and using Google.
And they're appeasing their viewer base and their customer base.
And conservatives, when it comes to culture and when it comes to businesses, they need to actually be using it so that businesses don't always bend the knee when the mainstream media comes knocking for their two pounds worth.
So I certainly hope that he doesn't change what he's been doing.
I think that he's a great guy.
He's an interesting guy, and it's great coffee there.
So I'm going to keep frequenting that business.
Hopefully he keeps it up because I love the jokes that he posts, especially when it comes at the expense of Justin Trudeau.
And I think that Calgarians will rally behind that.
So hopefully it doesn't change much.
Well, Kian, I can tell you next time I'm in Calgary, I'm going to make a special trip to go and have coffee and something to eat at the Purple Perk.
And I guess that's the most important question of all.
I think you alluded to it.
How is the coffee?
How are the edibles there?
Is it worth pursuing?
Yeah, I mean, I didn't have any of the baked stuff, but the latte is what I had.
It was great.
They had a lavender latte.
I wasn't brave enough to try that.
But they come in these nice purple cups.
And you know what?
Business actually reminds me of this guy a little bit.
Do you remember that?
And I'm not a Torontonian.
I'm not from the center of the universe, but there's a business there that butchers the meats in front of everyone.
And it really triggered all of these vegans.
Oh, yes.
Yes.
So when they were being grilled by everyone, I think conservatives and people who enjoy eating meat really rallied around them, didn't they?
Oh, Kian, I can tell you 100%.
When Efren, the cameraman here and I went down to cover the antler protest by the vegans, talk about the rule of unintended consequences.
First of all, I think that video had more than a million views.
And I can tell you, after the protests of the vegans trying to put this guy out of business, I'm not sure what it's like in these days of the pandemic, but when things were normal, you needed a reservation to get Antler.
They created the absolute opposite of what they were trying to do.
So yeah, 100%.
I think that's an excellent point.
I hope other Calgarians, if they cherish freedom, they will go and support this entrepreneur and they will recognize how unfairly he was treated by both government and the media.
Premier Kenny's Response00:15:05
I certainly hope so.
Great.
Well, Kian, thank you so much.
Great story.
And you stay safe out there in Calgary, my friend.
Will do.
Take care.
Okay, thank you.
And that was Kian Bexte.
Keep it here, folks.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
And let me be clear here before I go on.
I don't have to endorse what people are saying to support their absolute right to say it, to say it loudly, to say it boldly, to just shout at an empty legislature on a Sunday afternoon.
Holding fringe ideas at the legislature plaza isn't illegal as long as you're doing it peacefully.
Now, the police, they began to move in on at least three protesters.
First, they moved in and handcuffed a man and took him away.
Then they moved in on a man who was standing and then sitting alone in the empty legislature fountain.
Now, sure, that man was slightly belligerent and had been previously yelling into a megaphone.
But who among us hasn't been there?
I know I have been belligerent at the legislature yelling about the government.
But you can see for yourself.
He's not violent.
He's not threatening anyone.
He's not drunk that I can tell.
He's not running around.
And we found out this morning his name is Cody Holler.
Now, the legislature sheriffs cited section 73.1 of the Public Health Act when they arrested Cody.
But section 73 detailed penalties, not what the offense was.
Just look for yourself.
It says penalty.
Why couldn't these cops tell this guy what he did wrong when he was doing it wrong?
Now, I reached out to the Edmonton City Police Media Liaison first thing this morning.
I wanted to know what happened to the three men that were arrested and detained at the legislature for protesting the government.
Yes, what indeed happened to those three men protesting the government?
After all, maybe they were loud or crass or spouting politically incorrect ideas.
Last time I looked, that wasn't illegal in Canada.
Well, not yet.
And with more on this story is Sheila Gunreed.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, my friend.
Hey, David, thanks for having me on the show.
Always a pleasure.
So, Sheila, in terms of those three men who were arrested and carted away, do we have the latest?
I mean, will this be fodder for our next fight the fines crusade?
It very well could be.
We've tracked down one of them by name, and we did get confirmation that now I don't know which person was arrested for what, but we do know that Edmonton City Police did arrest one person, and then the legislature sheriffs charged and took away two more.
I haven't been able to get the details from the legislature sheriffs as to what those two guys have been charged with and/or if they have pricey fines.
But, you know, we're trying to track them down.
And we did end up eventually having Premier Jason Kenney weigh in on the arrests because it seems as though it's his opinion that the legislature sheriffs and the Edmonton City Police, while maybe following the letter of the law, were not acting in the spirit of the law in that these guys were not standing near anybody.
They may have been saying, like you say, politically incorrect things.
They may be the crankiest ones in the bunch, but certainly that's not illegal.
And if you're going to be cranky with the government, probably on the steps of the legislature is the right place to do it.
But yeah, Premier Kenny did weigh in and say that he expects our law enforcement to be balancing people's rights of assembly and free expression with these public health orders.
And it doesn't seem like that happened that day at the legislature.
And I do want to talk about Premier Kenny's response and contrast that with what some of the words Premier Ford has been saying about much bigger protests on the lawns of Queen's Park here in Toronto.
But before I ask you about that, what exactly were these three individuals saying?
I mean, my line in the sand when it comes to free speech is that as long as you're not advocating violence or death to an individual or a group of individuals, then rant away.
So what was it that they said?
Do we know, Sheila, that triggered law enforcement to move in in such a heavy-handed fashion?
Well, I was there, so I heard every word that they said.
I was there before the protest started.
I stayed after things broke up to less than 15 people.
The whole day started off as a gun protest in response to Trudeau banning 1,500 popular rifles and shotguns.
However, the other side of the protest also started showing up.
And in Alberta, the other side of the protest is not the left-wing side of the protest.
It's probably the further right side of the protest.
And that is just the beauty of Alberta.
And that's what happened.
And these guys showed up and they, what was a gun rights protest turned into a completely anti-lockdown protest.
They wanted the economy open back up.
Some people were saying some things about Bill Gates and other theories, conspiratory or otherwise, but holding those ideas is not illegal.
And this one gentleman was yelling into a megaphone at the empty legislature six feet away from the person beside him.
And he wasn't saying anything about Any particular religious group or any number of people who are protected under human rights legislation, none of that.
There was none of that.
It was basically anti-government, anti-vaccination rhetoric, anti-lockdown rhetoric.
And that's fine.
But the police came in and grabbed up the three loudest, biggest troublemakers and took them away.
And that's not how we do things in this country.
No, that is incredible.
And certainly it doesn't look like law enforcement in this regard had a leg to stand down.
Now, I think to his credit, Sheila, Premier Kenny, he wants some answers.
He wants to know why this triggered a response.
And good for the Premier for doing that.
Contrast that, Sheila, with what Doug Ford has been saying about the protesters at Queen's Park.
There's been three this Saturday from noon till two.
There'll be a fourth one.
After the first one, he called them a bunch of Yahoos.
After the second one, he noticed people with upside-down Canadian flags.
Somehow, incredibly, Premier Ford thought that was a slur against the military and said, if you feel that way, I basically want you out of the country and I'll help you pack your bags.
He actually said that, Sheila.
And what is more mystifying is that if you talk to the people on the lawns of Queen's Park, the vast majority of people I've met there in the three weeks I've covered these protests, Sheila, they voted PC in 2018.
So Ford is training his sites on his own base.
What is going on here?
Well, what did they say?
Sounds like the Premier doth protest too much, don't you think?
Because every time he expresses some sort of outrage at people who just want to be able to return to their regular lives and have the province focus on the vulnerable, Premier Ford calls them a name or calls them down.
And it is instead Premier Ford who seems to be the guy who bends the rules or breaks the rules or does that which he tells other people not to do.
We were all highly critical of Justin Trudeau when he crossed the border into Quebec to meet with his family when he said nobody else should do that and everybody should be on isolation.
And Premier Ford at the time said everybody's got to stay at a cottage country on the Easter long weekend.
Well, lo and behold, he went up to Cottage Country on Easter long weekend to, quote, check on the plumbing.
Sure.
Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people would love to have checked on the plumbing.
And then just recently on Mother's Day, Premier Ford has a bunch of people over to his house to celebrate Mother's Day.
And we know you've talked to people who've gotten tickets for having family gatherings in their homes during this coronavirus lockdown.
So it seems like there's two sets of rules, one for the rest of us and one for Premier Doug Ford.
You know, Sheila, I can't believe how tone deaf our leaders have been.
Take that cottage example you said.
You know, at the end of the day, I don't begrudge Doug Ford or anyone else for going out into cottage country.
They're paying taxes on those cottages.
They should be allowed to reside in them.
There's no health risk, let's be honest.
But, and if Doug Ford had said, now don't go to Cottage Country unless you have to check on the roof for the plumbing or the electrical work, that's an exception.
Spend a couple of hours, then come right home.
Then I cut him some slack.
But for him to say, don't do this, it's a matter of life and death, it's a matter of public health, and then he does it.
And then we see John Torrey posing for group photos, violating social distancing laws.
And we see Prime Minister Trudeau, you know, crossing the provincial borders to go to his cottage.
This is staggering that leaders of all levels, like you said, one law for me, one law for thee.
Well, yeah, and the audacity for them to think that we wouldn't find out, especially if you're a conservative.
Conservatives are under so much scrutiny.
What the heck was Premier Doug Ford thinking?
Of course, we were going to find out that he went up there.
Of course, we were going to find out that he had a Mother's Day get-together.
People are looking for him to screw up, and now he's got a whole army of disaffected conservatives also looking to see if he's making any screw-ups because we are helping people fight the fines that are happening in Doug Ford's Ontario for doing the things that Doug Ford is now doing.
Like the mother, the one that really bothers me is the case that you covered of the man who is having a Passover get-together, I believe, in his house.
And he gets a ticket for that.
But then Doug Ford has a Mother's Day get-together in his house, and everyone's like, Oh, it's fine.
And then Doug Ford goes, Oh, maybe we should change the rules.
Well, yeah, maybe you should change the rules for yourself now that you've been caught, but you never considered changing the rules for this nice man who just wanted to have a religious get-together because the churches are closed.
Oh, 100%, Sheila.
We got to wrap it here, and I can hardly wait to cover any of these court proceedings when we get back to normal with all of our cases.
I think Sam Goldstein is going to be batting a thousand.
You know, it's so outrageous.
And all I can say, I'll be at Queen's Park this Saturday, and I can hardly wait to see what slur Doug Ford comes with to describe his own base.
Like I said, incredible.
Sheila Gunread, great reporting as always, and thank you so much.
Thanks, David.
Have a great weekend.
You too.
And that was Sheila Gunread, way, way, way up north in Alberta, where she is safe and sound.
Keep it here.
more of rebel roundup to come right after this premier ford's interpretation of an upside down flag was expressing disdain or disrespect for the military and that he would personally help you pack your bags to find another country to live in what he What do you make of those comments?
Well, I offered him the same thing.
If he doesn't like it, he can pack his bags and go somewhere else too.
He can go back to his cottage that he told us not to go to.
Maybe they should understand what it stands for.
A country in distress.
We're in distress.
We would love to pack his bags in 2022 and send him back to the cottage.
Literally, he was just trying to turn the people who are really ignorant against the Protestants.
What he was aiming to do was to make people mad at the people who are actually fighting for freedom.
The reality is that an upside-down flag, like you've said, is just a sign of distress, nothing more.
And the fact is, no one's moving anywhere, Doug Ford.
We voted you in.
And how about you go ask Judea why he's giving $853 million of taxpayers' money to the UN?
That's who he should worry about.
We're not moving anywhere.
We're going to stay here and demand for our rights.
Period.
We think we have rights and freedoms, but we have privileges and allowances.
And the way they've rolled this out is a perfect example of when push comes to shove and the authoritarians want to enforce their will upon the people.
This is what happens.
Well, I come from a military family, so a lot of people in my family have actually fought and died for our freedom, the freedoms of Canada that I'm trying to defend now by speaking out.
So, yes, I do consider it very insulting.
Same with him calling us a bunch of Yahoos.
As far as I'm concerned, we're the Yahoos that pay him.
We're his boss, and he should start listening to the people.
When you can't articulate your position with facts and data, you name-call.
That's an ad hominem attack.
And he's got nothing, so he's name-calling.
And it's intellectually dishonest.
Well, Yahoo Nation returned to Queen's Park last Saturday for protest number three, and they were more revved up than ever.
You see, after the first protest, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called these people a bunch of Yahoos.
Yet the people I met there were, well, they were well-spoken, tax-paying citizens who simply want to go back to work or go back to school.
Where's the Yahoo part about that?
But after protest number two, I think the Premier really blew it by calling those with upside-down flags being anti-military when an upside-down flag is a universal symbol of distress.
And then he'd say he'd pack their bags so they could presumably leave the province or even the country.
Really, Doug?
You want to exile people for having a different opinion?
Wow.
And here's what some of you had to say.
Lake Nipissing writes, everyone, stop begging the government to let you open your business and open up en masse.
Hey, as far as I'm concerned, Lake Nipissing, as long as businesses pledge to practice the same social distancing etiquette as Walmart and Costco and LCBO, then what's the risk?
Exiling Dissenters?00:01:42
And why this double standard in the first place?
So yeah, open for business.
And should bylaw come by and whack you with an $880 fine for doing so?
Hey, just go to our website, fightthefines.com.
And if your case has merit, folks, we'll go to bat for you in a court of law and pick up your legal fees while doing so.
Charlie CCC writes, Canadians should embrace the term Yahoos like us Trump supporters embrace deplorables.
Oh, rest assured, Charlie, the people at the Queen's Park protests are now wearing Yahoo as a badge of honor.
Ponguido97 writes, the day of reckoning will arrive as voters face the truth.
Doug Ford isn't Rob Ford.
Well, Pognito97, what you wrote is sad, and I'm afraid it's also very true.
Douglas Mirowowski writes, simple fact, Ford is pulling a Trudeau, thought he was a conservative.
Well, Douglas, we had so many comments like yours.
The only difference is that Justin, to the best of my knowledge, doesn't attack his own base.
But I can tell you, the majority of the protesters at these Queen's Park events voted PC in 2018.
I don't know what Ford is thinking by attacking them.
And Maxwell Smart writes, as a vet, I'll help Ford pack up his office.
Ha!
The old midnight move trick, eh, Chief?
Those of a certain age will get the reference to the late, great Don Adams.
Well, that wraps up another edition of Rebel Roundup.
Thanks so much for joining us.
See you next week.
And hey, folks, never forget, without risk, there can be no glory.