David Menzies critiques Justin Trudeau’s 2021 Senate appointment of Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen, bypassing Alberta’s democratic municipal election process, while repeating past snubs like Mike Shake. He interviews Sheila Gonreed on Albertans’ frustration, then shifts to BC nurse Amy Hamm, facing disciplinary review for gender-critical activism despite no patient harm claims. Menzies mocks the Toronto Blue Jays’ COVID-19 border exemptions and their 1994 "fan" slogan, tying it to corporate privilege over public health. The episode ties political interference, media bias, and elite hypocrisy to broader cultural risks, reinforcing his defiance of establishment narratives. [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.
Alberta's Senate Choice Controversy00:10:41
So the people of Alberta voted for a senator a while back, and recently, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said to hell with the democratic process as he decided to handpick his own senator.
Oh, but of course, Sheila Gunread has all the details about yet another shameful incident, courtesy of the Laurentian elites.
And I know the calendar reads 2021, but it sure feels a lot like the fictional dystopian world of 1984.
The latest case in point, a BC nurse is now under review by her governing body for espousing supposedly politically incorrect thoughts when it comes to transgenderism.
Drea Humphrey has all the details.
And letters, we get your letters.
We get them every minute of every day.
And you had plenty to say about the Toronto Blue Jays suddenly qualifying for a so-called national interest exemption.
Translation, unlike the rest of us, these pro athletes don't have to follow the same COVID-19 rules.
Talk about a foul ball.
Those are your rebels.
Now let's round them up.
Another day, another Laurentian elitist slap in the face to us, Albertans.
You know the disrespect?
It never ends.
On Thursday, Justin Trudeau announced that he was appointing a shiny brand new senator for Alberta.
And if you live in another province, that might seem like a routine thing for you, having some detached, idiotic leader in Ottawa choose for you who will represent you in the Senate by offering a gravy, high-paying patronage appointment, a big thank you for being a loyal liberal, and you get the job for basically the rest of your working life.
Oh, but not here in Alberta.
That is not how it works here in Alberta.
Here we choose our own senators to represent us.
We have done this for decades.
When we hold municipal elections, we also elect our senators based on the accepted conventions and expectation that the prime minister will just simply appoint who we choose for ourselves.
Here it is.
The order in council and writ of election for the 2021 Alberta Senate election was issued on June 23rd, 2021 to hold an election to select three Senate nominees who may be summoned to the Senate of Canada to fill a vacancy or vacancies relating to Alberta.
The Senate election will take place on October 18th, 2021 in conjunction with the 2021 Alberta municipal elections.
All local jurisdictions holding elections on October 18th, 2021 will facilitate the vote by also issuing the Senate election ballot to electors.
In addition to Election Day voting, local jurisdictions may also offer advanced voting, institutional voting, and special ballot voting.
At each voting opportunity, the Senate election ballot will be provided to electors to vote in this election.
So everybody gets a chance to choose their senator.
And we put forward two different senators.
So the prime minister can choose.
People put their names forward to run under a party banner.
But Trudeau knows we'd never choose a liberal senator after all the liberals have done to us.
You know, blocking pipelines, phasing out our jobs, carbon taxing the industry that managed to survive, the industry the liberals didn't kill.
Oh, and the liberals also caused trade wars that hurt our farmers and that's right, grabbed our guns.
So on Thursday, Trudeau disregarded the will of the entire Alberta electorate and he appointed his own senator.
Even as we head to the polls to make our choices for ourselves, in October, Trudeau appointed the mayor of Banff, Alberta, Karen Sorensen.
And boy, she was sure happy to take the $161,000 per year salary for basically the rest of her working life, plus special top-ups.
She was just fine to steal that job from the person Albertans were going to choose to do it without an ounce of shame.
I mean, who does that?
Question, who indeed could be so shameless in terms of disregarding the democratic process and backstabbing the person who was actually elected to serve as a senator from Alberta?
Answer, a Justin Trudeau acolyte.
That's who, after all, Justin himself said a while back, he has admiration in his heart for the basic dictatorship that is China.
And sometimes it feels as though Canada has become more China-ish when it comes to this federal government dissing our democracy.
Joining me now for more on this story is Sheila Gonreed.
How you doing there, Sheila?
I'm great, David.
Thanks for having me on the show.
Always a pleasure.
Sheila, this is shocking, but not really surprising.
But tell me, especially on the heels of a presumed fall election, did anyone see this coming?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, I guess I did.
Because Justin Trudeau already did this once.
We have a senator in waiting.
He's already elected.
His name is Mike Shake.
And Justin Trudeau passed him over to choose Paula Simon, a failed print journalist.
Actually, she's not failed, but I mean, she's a print journalist in a sunset industry.
She was working for Post Media, primarily the Edmonton Journal.
And she had actually in the past written columns that were critical of the unelected, unaccountable Senate.
And then she was chosen to be an unelected, unaccountable senator by Justin Trudeau.
And she was like, okay, where do I sign up?
So, and so, you know, so for Justin Trudeau to do it again on the heels of the very next Senate election, no surprise, pretty galling, but if you're an Albertan, just a part of a pattern, really.
You know, Sheila, whether you're, I mean, we have two camps, pro-Senate, anti-Senate, but if the Senate is going to be a reality, I've never understood why it's not an elected position.
All the other positions are elected.
So what is this contempt that our system has for the idea of people having a voice in terms of who they want them to represent in the Senate?
Well, I think it's very difficult to make constitutional changes in Canada, right?
You've got to involve Quebec for some reason, and it's just a big catastrophe.
So in Alberta, we found a way around that.
We're, you know, nothing if not cagey people.
And we examined the situation and we found a way to get our at least a couple E's of our Triple E Senate, the, you know, elected Senate.
We wanted some it to be chosen by the people.
And so without submitting the entire country to this enormous constitutional change that would go on for years and years, we just said, you know what we're going to do?
We're going to make this real easy.
We'll do it during municipal elections.
Everybody's going anyway to vote.
We're going to elect our own guy.
Actually, we won't just elect our own guy.
We'll elect two of our own guys and we'll let the prime minister will take the tough part of making the decision out of the hands of the prime minister.
We wouldn't want Justin Trudeau to do too much of that thinking stuff.
And so we'll choose two people and the prime minister can choose the one that he likes best.
So we haven't completely taken the choice out of the prime minister's hand and send the guy Albertans chose to represent us to the Senate to at least have our say in what happens to us because otherwise, by and large, the prime ministers and the governor generals are always from the East.
And so this was a way for us to be in.
Alberta wanted in.
We wanted our own say, and this was a way for us to do that.
And there has been nothing but a series of liberal prime ministers disregarding the will of the people in Alberta and doing whatever they want.
And they took this from us.
And so it was really no surprise for Justin Trudeau to take it from us that way too.
And Sheila, how are everyday Albertans reacting to this appointment?
And for that matter, how is the mainstream media in Alberta reacting to this?
Oh, the mainstream media doesn't seem to care.
I mean, one of their own was the last senator chosen from Alberta.
So they don't really seem to care.
Jason Kenney's pretty mad about it, obviously speaking.
Albertans, I think some of us are mad, but some of us are just like, you know what?
Figures.
Figures.
I mean, after, you know, six years of Justin Trudeau just doing whatever he wants to us and liberal governments historically doing whatever they want to us, I mean, this is just all par for the course, really.
Well, Sheila Gunread, in wrapping, let me put you on the spot here.
When are you going to run for the Senate?
David, are you mad at me or something?
No, on the contrary, to have someone of your character, your intelligence, your diligence, I think that's what's desperately needed.
And you would be Justin Trudeau's worst nightmare to boot.
And you know, you've had all kinds of people urging you to do so.
So what's the deal with Sheila Gunread not running?
David, you know that I think politicians are awful people by and large.
So I just don't want to be one.
I really, I just don't want to be one.
And I know people say, well, then you would be in an independent senator and that's true, but I just, no thanks.
No thanks.
I think I have important work here holding politicians to account on behalf of the people.
I don't want to be one of them.
I want to work for the people and I think this is the best way to do it.
Well, I can't argue against that, but nevertheless, hope abounds.
Thank you so much.
Tell Ezra to stop making you ask me that, by the way.
This is coming from my heart, not Ezra.
But I know Ezra's on side with wanting you to run, though.
But Sheila, thank you so much.
Accusations Against Amy00:09:45
Great report, as always.
Thanks, David.
Have a great weekend.
Thank you so much.
And that is Sheila Gunread, who will not be a senator anytime soon, somewhere in the hinterland of Northern Alberta.
Keep it here, folks.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
This is Amy Hem, the transphobic nurse.
No, I'm just joking.
I'm totally joking.
Although it's not funny, because that's basically how you're being labeled for some of the things that you've spoken out against when it comes to rights for women, correct?
That's right.
Yeah.
So I've retained lawyers at the Justice Center for Constitutional Freedoms after I found out that my college of nurses in BC, because my day job is as a nurse, they've been investigating me for my alleged transphobia for months.
And this was after basically some people in the public complained about me because of my gender critical activities, including articles that I've written, an iHeartJK rolling billboard I was involved with, my social media pages.
And so these activists have targeted me at work and they claim that I shouldn't be allowed to practice nursing because I would be a threat to gender diverse people, which is completely absurd.
And none of this is, none of it has to do with me performing my job.
There are no patients involved.
It's all just activists complaining about what I have done outside of work.
Now, for those of you who don't know already, we actually did a report on the billboard you just mentioned.
It was almost a year ago back in September.
It was an iHeartJK Rowling billboard because like yourself, J.K. Rowling spoke out about some of these issues as well.
Let's watch a clip of that right now.
It's the most visible, one of the more visible examples of free speech being curtailed, but not the worst.
Like this, I mean, it's just the billboard, right?
Honestly, it's just a billboard, but it's kind of an example of ridiculous things that are happening around free speech and around parents' rights, around women's rights, around children's rights.
But those are very like quiet fights that aren't really being reported on, right?
So I think that the value of something like this going up, getting painted all over it, being taken down instantly, it's big and it's flashy and it's newsy and it gets people talking.
And I think that's the real value of it.
And so what do you think about some of the stances J.K. Rowling has been taking lately?
Oh, she sucks.
Like, it's terrible.
As far as I know, she just says pretty despicable things about trans rights.
She doesn't believe in trans rights.
She seems like a terrible person.
I think J.K. Rowling is an honorary white male because of that, a cis white male, and should probably donate her breasts to a trans man who's transitioning or trans woman who's transitioning.
So, Amy, you're telling me that after that billboard went up, it's this whole time, I think it's been 11 months or so since then, you've been dealing with a backlash and a threat against your work, I guess, from things like that.
Tell us some of the accusations specifically against you.
Yeah, so the I mean, the complainants basically have said I'm transphobic and I'm a threat.
One of them is anonymous and is allowed to remain anonymous because they said that I could retaliate against them, which is quite insulting to me because they're trying to make me lose my job.
I'm a single mother with two young children and they're trying to destroy my life, but they think that I would somehow retaliate against them.
Well, folks, I know the calendar reads 2021, but it sure feels a lot like the fictional dystopian world of 1984.
And the latest case in point, Amy Hamm, her crime, saying and thinking things that are supposedly politically incorrect.
Well, at least when it comes to the radical trans community.
And joining me now to discuss this matter further is Drea Humphrey.
Welcome to Rebel Roundup, Drea.
Thank you.
Hello, everyone.
Drea, there is so much to unpack here.
But first of all, I think everyone, including Ms. Hamm, would like to know the name of her accuser, but apparently that's too much to ask.
I think this is absolutely outrageous.
What's your take?
Yeah, that is outrageous.
And I mean, there was no evidence.
I mean, I tried to look for anything.
And according to Amy Hamm, there's no evidence to support that she would be a danger or a threat to anyone.
So how do you even get away with making such a complaint that, you know, threatens your livelihood?
And you don't even have to say who you are.
It could be anyone.
But Drea, what's even more outrageous?
I mean, there's all kinds of loons out there.
That's a given.
It was ever thus.
But the idea that the BC Nursing Association would actually take on this complaint as being credible about one of their members liking J.K. Rowley?
I mean, like, where's the crime here?
There's no crime at all.
And, you know, we're talking about issues of concern that protect women as well.
And so you would think that the trans community would be supportive of that and understanding of that.
You know, Amy Hem talks a lot about safe spaces for women, you know, in rape shelters and in sports, you know, making it more fair there.
These are just simply discussions.
They're not topics of hate.
They are issues in the day that we live in and the time.
And it's just really kind of scary to think that if you say or speak out about these things, you could possibly lose your job or be disciplined.
You know, Drea, I think, you know, there might be a difference between the trans community and what I call the radical trans community.
I think, you know, and I say that because I was covering last month a demonstration outside a female prison in Kitchener.
And it was about how biological males simply have to say, I'm female, and suddenly you're doing time with vulnerable females in a prison.
And one of the protesters out there saying this is the wrong policy was somebody who is transgendered.
And it leads me to believe that even if you have trans people saying, this is offside, this is wrong, I don't support this, why is it the authorities, those running the prisons, those running the nursing associations, are so beholden to the radical elements in the transgender community in the first place.
I think everybody is just so scared.
Like, that's what I think everybody is functioning on.
Some businesses, it's, you know, I don't think in this particular situation, but sometimes it's money motivated.
Are they going to lose customers?
But I think everybody is just really scared of going against the narrative.
And can you blame them with cancel culture mobsters like what's happening to Amy Hamm?
I mean, I guess that's what it is.
And then also it doesn't help that we only see sort of one narrative predominantly in media and things like that.
So that's what people are conditioned to think.
They have to think when they're too lazy to think for themselves.
You know, I think you're right.
It is the fear factor.
We live in a day and age of canceled culture, Drea.
And yet, again, when I look at the radical trans community, we are talking about a percent of a percent of a percent of a percent of people.
This is quite literally the lunatic fringe.
And when you see even people who are transgendered speaking out against this, speaking out against that grifter, Jonathan Yaniv, saying, please don't lump us in with that guy.
You know, I'm just struggling with what the basis for the fear is.
It is such a fraction of a percentage.
And I don't think they're on the right side of history on this one.
No, I think that your report, if people haven't seen it yet about the predator in the park who is a woman, I mean, it's like you say, the vast majority of people understand what's happening there.
But still, there were so many articles that I saw, or not so many, but there were some articles that still, you know, they just won't call it like it is like you did.
So I don't know what the answer to is.
It doesn't make any sense to me.
I've always been someone who speaks my mind or else it would really bother me if I wasn't able to do so.
And I think Amy Hamm, from what I can see of her activism, hasn't said anything actually transphobic.
And so people just throw these labels out and then you have these companies thinking they have to react because maybe if they don't, then they're transphobic too, right?
Million-Dollar Baseball Debacle00:08:38
So I think you nailed it there.
And one last question, Drea.
First of all, how do you think this is going to play out for Miss Hamm?
And if she is disciplined in any way whatsoever, is she thinking about legal action against the nursing association?
Well, she's being represented right now by the JCPF.
And my understanding is basically the College of Nurses and Midwives has already put forward some sort of discipline arrangement of discipline that she wasn't able to speak on.
And then her and her lawyer are discussing whether they're going to accept it.
And then if they don't accept it, then I guess there's more of a legal battle there too.
She seems like a fighter, but she also seems exhausted.
She's a mom of two who usually, if you get into healthcare, you become a nurse.
You care about people.
You care about their health.
And, you know, she's being challenged on levels like that.
Well, thank you so much for this, Drea.
If there's anyone that has a given apology, it is her association for taking this anonymous complaint as something credible about her character.
Again, it is just so outrageous and egregious to me that this is actually a story in the first place.
But you have a good weekend, Dre, and I know you'll have a follow-up to this when we get some more information.
Absolutely.
Thanks.
Bye, everyone.
Okay, and that is Drea Humphrey in Vancouver.
Keep it here, folks.
More of Rebel Roundup to come right after this.
After almost a two-year absence, baseball is back in town.
The Toronto Blue Jays are having their unofficial home opener against the Kansas City Royals tonight.
And it makes me scratch my head, though.
How in the world do the Blue Jays get to travel back and forth across the border because all their opponents are American-based teams?
Whereas if you or I did so, well, we have to go to one of those quarantine hotels.
Well, according to the Toronto Blue Jays on their website, the club was granted a national interest exemption by the federal government that will allow major league baseball games to be played at Rogers Center with robust health and safety protocols in place.
How do you like that?
Well, the first thing I thought is, what are these things called national interest exemptions and who gets them?
Well, I went to one of the Government of Canada websites about this and it says the following, quote, the national interest exemption is intended to be used in exceptional circumstances only.
All other exemptions must be considered before giving consideration to applying the national interest exemption.
And it goes on with a lot of bureaucraphic baffle gap.
But how is it that, you know, baseball in the city of Toronto is considered something of national interest, something that is exceptional?
I am baffled by this.
It's just a sports team having fun in games, after all.
Or could it be, folks, that this is yet another glaring example of money talks and bullshite walks, even during a pandemic?
In other words, if you are a multi-million dollar baseball player employed by a multi-billion dollar corporation, which is to say Rogers, well, you don't have to worry like the great unwashed masses do of checking into a COVID quarantine hotel every time you cross the border.
Oh, no, no, no.
That sort of stuff is just for the ham and eggers.
This is of national significance.
This is of, I guess, international importance, given that all of the Blue Jays' opponents are based in U.S. cities.
What was that old tagline that Carl Malden used to say in advertising the American Express card back in the day?
Oh, yes, membership has its privileges and professional athletes are amongst the most privileged people on our entire planet.
It actually brings to mind another quote, this one from George Orwell, namely, all animals are equal, but some animals, such as Blue Jays, are more equal than others.
So how do you like them apples, folks?
If you're a professional athlete earning millions, suddenly you now qualify for a national interest exemption when it comes to border crossings and violating social distancing mandates and the rest of it.
You know, I think I'm going to go out and buy a Blue Jays uniform and wear it the next time I have to cross the border.
I'll just say I'm from the farm team or something.
I wonder if I'll get the royal treatment as well.
In any event, you had plenty to say about yet another glaring example of one law for thee, one law for me.
M-E-D-W writes, the national interest exemption should be in place Canada-wide now.
Time this fiasco ended.
Oh, I agree, M-E-D-W.
It's not like a year and a half ago when COVID-19 was being treated as the second coming of Ebola.
We know better now, and I maintain that the so-called cure, i.e. All those debilitating lockdowns has been far, far worse than the curse.
Weldon Morrison writes, I quit watching woke sports a year and a half ago.
You know, I hear this from so many people.
The utter wokeness has become a major turnoff for a huge segment of sports fans who are sick and tired of being lectured to.
And that's going to have a debilitating effect for sports leagues when it comes to attendance and TV ratings in the future.
Case in point, last month's baseball all-star baseball game was the second least watched all-star game in history.
Only 8.24 million people tuned in.
By way of comparison, in 1980, more than 36 million people watched the game.
So less ratings means teams will be forced to charge less money for advertisements, and that will lead to a major cash crunch when it comes to paying all these multi-million dollar prima donnas.
Good.
Yuki Pyrow writes, Rebel, how about exposing Rogers and Bell?
Well, Yuki, I had a companion piece posted earlier this week regarding what I call the swindle of the century, aka the story of Skydome.
Here's the skinny.
It was supposed to cost $150 million.
It ended up costing $570 million when it was finally completed in 1989, almost all of the funding coming from the taxpayers.
And then in 2004, Old Man Rogers buys the stadium for $25 million.
In other words, just 4% of the original construction costs.
What a scandal.
And hey, Rogers customers, just think about that the next time you get your cell phone or cable bill.
Johnny Strank writes, Baseball is an essential service.
Come on, everybody should know that.
Well, Johnny, obviously the Justin Trudeau liberals believe this to be the case.
And why not?
Pro Sports is today's equivalent of bread and circuses, a distraction from the real issues people should be paying more attention to.
And Jane Pearson writes, everyone should boycott these events.
Well, Jane, I got to tell you, I was way, way, way ahead of the curve on this file, at least when it comes to the Toronto Blue Jays.
I used to be a huge fan, going to about 15 games a year.
And then in 1994, the season was cut short by the player strike.
I was stuck with a pair of tickets for a game that was never played.
If you can imagine, the Blue Jays refused to give me a cash refund for these tickets.
In 1995, I had to go to small claims court facing off against the Blue Jays' big Bay Street law firm, and I won.
Thankfully, the judge did not agree that the Blue Jays thought that they were above the law.
There was no national interest exemption for them on this issue, and I've never bought a ticket since.
Oh, and by the way, the marketing slogan for the Blue Jays that year was 1995, the year of the fan.
Can you believe the audacity of these pompous bird brains?
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.