Ezra Levant critiques Justin Trudeau’s Remembrance Day hypocrisy, contrasting his $10.5M apology to convicted terrorist Omar Carter with alleged neglect of veterans, including ISIS-linked reintegration cases. Interviewing Marco Van Huygenbos, a peaceful Trucker Convoy protester now facing 10-year prison sentences under Alberta’s Kenney government, Levant highlights media bias and legal intimidation, questioning whether Trudeau’s Emergencies Act or the commission will deliver real accountability. Meanwhile, U.S. callers mock Democratic security concerns amid Hunter Biden’s scandals and warn Trump’s attacks on anti-"woke" governors may backfire. The episode underscores systemic distrust in government responses to dissent and justice. [Automatically generated summary]
At Rebel News, we're not afraid to have dangerous discussions, and we want to have them with you at our upcoming Rebel Live events first in Toronto, November 19th, and again in Calgary, Saturday, November 26th.
Just go to RebelNewsLive.com to get your tickets today.
Hello, my friends.
It's Remembrance Day.
I have a Remembrance Day tradition.
I always read a certain poem from Rudyard Kipling.
I don't read Flanders Fields, but today I'm going to play you a beautiful recording of Flanders Fields by Leonard Cohen.
He's got such a beautiful voice.
And then I'm going to read to you in my own way, Rudyard Kipling's poem called Tommy, which chokes me up every year.
I mean, I sort of well up.
I mean, I don't cry, but I get a little emotional at the same lines every year.
It just sort of gets me.
Then we have an interview with a trucker from the Coots border blockade who is being prosecuted now.
His name is Marco Van Huygenboss, and we'll talk with him in a bit.
But first, let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus.
It's the video version of this podcast.
The reason I'd like you to do that is: number one, we produce this show as a video, so there's a lot to see.
And number two, it's $8 a month, which I know is, you know, it's not nothing, but it actually means a lot to us because if enough people buy an $8 subscription, we can make our payroll around here.
Because remember, we're demonetized by YouTube, and we don't get any government money.
We would never take it.
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All right, here's today's show.
Tonight, it's Remembrance Day, the one day a year the liberals say they care about our soldiers.
It's November 11th, and this is the Ezra Levant show.
Shame on you, you censorious bug.
Today is Remembrance Day.
I have a Remembrance Day tradition, as you may know, that I started a decade ago in the Sun News Network.
I read a poem by Rudyard Kipling, which isn't so much about remembering soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, but actually about treating soldiers properly now all the time.
Of course, I also love In Flanders Fields, which is the reason we wear poppies on our lapels.
Let me play for you a powerful reading of that by the late Leonard Cohen, if I may.
Come right back afterwards.
This is a video from Legion Magazine.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow between the crosses,
row on row, that mark our place.
And in the sky, the larks, still bravely singing, fly, scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead.
Short days ago, we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved, and were loved.
And now we lie in Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe.
To you from failing hands, we throw the torch.
Be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep.
Though poppies grow in Flanders' fields.
That's a great poem, but the one I think about more is simply called Tawny, written by the poet Rudyard Kipling in 1890, which was before the horrors of the Great War were even imaginable.
Proofs and Promises00:05:06
The left thinks that Canada is a peacenet country, but that's just their historical illiteracy.
Canadians have paid a disproportionate price in the wars for Western liberty.
We joined both the First and Second World Wars before our American cousins did, and in very high numbers too.
And those wars and the war in Korea and the dozens of military missions over the decades, none of them were to defend our own soil.
They were to defend our friends and allies and the very idea of freedom and democracy.
It's one of the reasons Canada is so well loved around the world.
It's the reason why Parliament Hill is awash in colorful tulips every year.
That's a gift from the Netherlands for helping to liberate them.
It's important to the Dutch, but it's not so important to Justin Trudeau, who had more important things to do in Cambodia.
That's where he is.
The things Trudeau cares the most about, I think, are the things that he remembers hearing as a child when his father was prime minister, mocking Queen Elizabeth, hostility to Alberta, especially Alberta Oil, and of course demeaning our soldiers, despising them really.
I mean, look at this.
This is Pierre Trudeau reincarnated.
So my question is to you, Mr. Prime Minister, what veterans were you talking about?
You know, because you have ISIL or ISIS members coming into a reintegration program.
You did a backdoor deal with Omar Kadar with not even stepping into the courtroom.
You know, so again, my question is, what veterans were you talking about?
Was it the ones that fought for the freedoms and values that you so proudly boast about?
Or was it the ones who fought against?
Because honestly, Mr. Prime Minister, I was prepared to be injured in the line of duty when I joined the military.
Nobody forced me to join the military.
I was prepared to be killed in action.
What I wasn't prepared for, Mr. Prime Minister, is Canada turning its back on me.
So which veteran was it that you were talking about?
Thank you, sir.
Thank you for your passion and your strength and being here today to share this justifiable frustration and anger with me and with all of us here.
Thank you for having the courage to stand here and thank you for listening to my answer.
On a couple of elements you brought up.
First of all, why are we still fighting against certain veterans groups in court?
Because they are asking for more than we are able to give right now.
They are asking for more than we, well, no?
Hang on.
You're asking for honest answers.
Imagine talking that way to a wounded veteran, to his face.
Imagine what he says behind his back.
If only Trudeau treated our veterans as well as he treated Omar Carter, the terrorist, murderer, and war criminal that he paid $10.5 million to and gave an apology.
Trudeau always mocks our military.
Remember this?
So will you be Jean-Trétien, though?
You still want to see the proof is the proof is the proof?
Or you pretty well made up your mind that it would be better for us to stay in the long conversation.
I haven't made up my mind, but the onus is on Mr. Harper to demonstrate that a shift from a non-combat role that we've established right now to a combat role is the right thing for Canada, the right thing for Canadians, but also the right thing for the international community.
There are an awful lot of things that Canada can and should be doing.
I mean, think about Canada's reputation around the world and what we've done around refugees.
Whether it be the Vietnamese boat people, whether it be the Ismailis in Uganda, in East Africa, whether it be even more recently the Tamil community fleeing civil war in Sri Lanka.
Canada has been a place that draws in and helps refugees in a significant and serious way.
Now, in this situation, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of displaced peoples in the region who aren't looking to all leave the region.
That's where their homes are.
They need support to get through this very, very difficult time.
Canada has a capacity and an expertise in doing just that.
Why aren't we talking more about that?
Why aren't we talking more about the kind of humanitarian aid that Canada can and must be engaged in, rather than trying to whip out our CF-18s and show them how big they are?
It just doesn't work like that in Canada.
It's just weird to see this anti-military activist sound so butch now about war in Ukraine.
Drums Begin to Roll00:02:49
He really treats soldiers as political pawns on a chessboard.
The whole thing reminds me of that poem by Kipling called Tommy.
Tommy Atkins being the British nickname for a soldier like G.I. Doe is a nickname in America.
Here's the poem.
I'll do my best to read it.
You can see lots of beautiful readings of it on YouTube, including a great one by Roger Moore, the old James Blonde actor.
I really recommend that.
I'll try it.
I went into a public house to get a pint of beer.
The public canny up and says, we serve no red coats here.
The girls behind the bar, they laughed and giggled fit to die.
I outs into the street again and to myself, says I, oh, it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy go away.
But it's thank you, Mr. Atkins, when the band begins to play.
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play.
It's thank you, Mr. Atkins, when the band begins to play.
I went into a theater as sober as could be, but gave a drunk civilian room, but hadn't none for me.
They sent me to the gallery around the music halls.
But when it comes to fighting, Lord, they'll shove me in the stalls.
For it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy wait outside.
But it's special train for Atkins when the trooper's on the tide.
The troop ship's on the tide, my boys, the troop ship's on the tide.
Oh, it's special train for Atkins when the trooper's on the tide.
Yes, making mocking uniforms that guard you while you sleep is cheaper than them uniforms and they're starvation cheap.
And hustling drunken soldiers when they're going large a bit is five times better business than parading in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this and Tommy that and Tommy, how's your soul?
But it's thin red line of heroes when the drums begin to roll.
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll.
Oh, it's thin red lines of heroes when the drums begin to roll.
We aren't no thin red heroes, nor we aren't no blaggards too.
But single men in barracks, most remarkable like you.
And if sometimes our conduct isn't all your fancy paints, why single men in barracks don't grow into plaster saints?
Well, it's Tommy this and Tommy that, and Tommy fall behind.
But it's pleased to walk in front, sir, when there's trouble in the wind.
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind.
Oh, it's pleased to walk in front, sir, when there's trouble in the wind.
You talk of better food for us and schools and fires and all.
We'll wait for extra rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cookroom slops, but prove it to our face.
The widow's uniform is not the soldier man's disgrace.
Where it's Tommy this and Tommy that and chuck him out, the brute.
But it's savior of his country when the guns begin to shoot.
And it's Tommy this and Tommy that and anything you please.
And Tommy ain't a blooming fool, you bet that Tommy sees.
Stand Ground in Southern Alberta00:15:41
I have a tough time reading that every year.
Stay with us after the break, a special interview with Marco Van Hugenbuys, who's one of the three peaceful protesters charged.
And the Crown is seeking 10 years in prison for him.
I'll talk to him next.
one of the coots truckers.
I find that poem very hard to read without choking up a little bit.
Every single year, the same line gets me.
Anyways, Remembrance Day.
One of the things the soldiers fought for was freedom, freedom of peaceful protest, freedom to dissent.
In fact, not just the freedom, the right, the duty to oppose your government.
Well, that's what our next guest did.
He was one of dozens of truckers at the Coots border crossing in southern Alberta.
A peaceful protest, completely peaceful, and it actually had the desired effect.
The province of Alberta dropped their vaccine mandates in response to it.
It was wonderful.
However, in his last month as premier, Jason Kenney fired off his salvo.
He launched a prosecution against three of those peaceful truckers.
Rebel News promised to defend those men, and indeed we did.
I went down to Lethbridge last week, you might recall, and I met Marco there.
And today I spoke with him when he was in Ottawa.
What I'm going to show you is an excerpt from our live stream earlier today.
As you know, every single day we have had wall-to-wall coverage of the Trucker Commission.
That's the inquiry into the invocation of the Emergencies Act by Trudeau.
We rented an Airbnb in downtown Ottawa right near the Commission, and we've got four bedrooms there that our rebel reporters are staying in.
And we've set up a kind of makeshift studio in the kitchen of this Airbnb, and it's like our base camp just for a month and a half.
And it's a hub of activity.
And I was there when we just got it going.
It's a hoot, but a lot of work there.
We're live tweeting the commission all day.
We're having an evening wrap-up every single day.
We're interviewing lawyers.
We're interviewing witnesses.
It's a great project.
If you haven't checked it out, please go to truckercommission.com.
Anyways, I appeared on the live stream today, and I interviewed Marco Van Huygenboss from Fort McLeod.
Actually, it's a town in southern Alberta.
And I'll play for you some excerpts of that and some other things I think might be of interest.
I just didn't want you to miss it because I thought it was an interesting conversation.
So here's my conversation earlier today with Marco Van Huygenboss.
The man of the hour, Marco Van Huygenboss, he's a town counselor from Fort McLeod, Alberta, not too far away from Coots.
Fort McLeod is near Lethbridge, which is a larger city in southern Alberta.
He's a town counselor.
I had the pleasure of meeting him last weekend in Lethbridge when he briefly appeared in court with two other truckers who are being prosecuted for inciting mischief.
I think that's the species of crime.
Now, mischief is the kind of charge that is often given out for vandalism or spray painting, something.
It's the kind of thing normally you get a slap on the wrist and the judge says, I don't want to see you back in this court again.
Fly straight, youngster.
But no, no, the Crown is proceeding by what they call indictment.
I understand that the government wants 10 years in prison for Marco, Alex, and George, his other two truckers, completely nonviolent.
I say again, Marco himself is a town counselor.
He's an upstanding citizen, a leader of his community, and he's actually in Ottawa because he was testifying before the commission.
Do we have Marco in the studio?
Yes, we do.
You know, we're going to have a quick ad break.
Oh, no, there he is.
No need for an ad break.
Marco, how are you doing?
Nice to see you.
Good to see you, Ezra.
Thanks for having me.
Well, it's a pleasure and thanks for waiting patiently.
I understand you've been there.
And welcome to our little pop-up studio in Ottawa in our Airbnb.
Now, last I saw you were in Lethbridge and you were one of the three defendants.
And I know you have to be careful about what you say publicly because, of course, the prosecution will be watching this and they'll want to scrutinize any word and use it to hang you.
So I'm not going to ask you anything about the case, but maybe you can tell me without referring to anything that would touch on your trial.
I want to be careful for you.
Why were you there?
Why were hundreds or maybe even thousands of men and women from all across southern Alberta and other places streaming in?
Why did they feel it was important to peacefully protest that day in February?
We were there to stand up to a government gone rogue.
During the 18 months at that time of COVID, we had seen our local municipalities, our boards, all of the powers that are given us through our Westminster Parliamentary Democracy essentially put in a box and put on a top shelf.
And Kenny, with his pick committee and the authorities given to AHS through their emergency measures, were running the province.
And the inability to communicate with our elected officials drove us to a place that essentially drove us to Coutz.
That was where we made the stand to demand accountability from our representatives.
And the mayor of Coutz, and again, mayor is a big word for a place of two.
I was a student council rep in school, and I had more constituents than the mayor of Coots does, but he is the mayor.
Tell me how the local town reacted.
Like everyone knew people who were on the line, and there may have been disagreements about it, but these were not strangers.
These were friends and neighbors and family in many cases, weren't they?
Correct.
Correct.
I'm not from the Coots area, from Warner County, but a lot of the individuals, a lot of the residents of Milk River and Coots supported this.
The mayor himself testified that it was probably a 70-30 split.
And it comes back to, you know, 70-30 split.
30% of the people might not have agreed with certain tactics that were being used, but to say they didn't support us, I would disagree with that.
I believe all of Alberta supported us.
But being an organic event, there's things that happened that were out of our control.
We responded to it, right?
It's essentially we built the plane as we were flying it.
I've heard that comment a few times this week.
But to say, you know, 70-30, I think that's a pretty accurate description.
But back to that 30%, I never really interacted with that 30%, so I can't attest to that.
But the support was there from the communities surrounding Coots and the county.
Yeah, we're looking on screen of different imagery.
That's our friend Kian Simoni, who, along with Sidney Fazard, was down there for the bulk of it.
Very interesting to be embedded with the truckers.
They were right there in the saloon.
They watched the negotiations.
Tell me about the role of it.
I remember getting a phone call from Sid and Keen about how it was going.
And there was a worry that the RCMP negotiators were not negotiating in good faith, that they were misleading, that they were sort of silver-tongued devils and tricking folks.
And I thought, boy, there's a chance that's going to go wrong.
So we mustered some crowdfunding money and we sent down a lawyer, Chad Williamson, who I think was a perfect fit for this project.
And Chad is representing you and the other two truckers.
There's Chad right there.
But he's representing you in court now.
But back then, he was sort of a go-between just to make sure that everyone knew their rights and to liaise with the cops so that they had someone.
I'm not saying that the truckers were unsophisticated.
I'm just saying that they aren't used to hard-bitten negotiation with tough hombres on the other side.
That's what a lawyer does every day.
A litigating lawyer fights against another side all the time, every day.
That's how they're mentally trained.
Whereas a trucker is a friend to all.
He's not getting into fights.
So you put a bunch of truckers in the room, then you send in these silver-tongued devils from the RCMP.
That's not actually a level playing field.
You add Chad Williams into the game.
Okay, now it's a level playing field.
That's at least how I think of it, but I wasn't there.
How was it?
Did Chad fulfill that kind of a role when he was there as a liaison?
Absolutely.
Chad with his colleague Martin, they came down and they, you know, in layman's terms, explained what we were up against and what could happen.
And if it happened, how we had to respond.
You know, you have a right to a lawyer.
I remember the exact terminology.
I think it was something yes, yes, no.
But it was in the event of arrests.
And we felt that that would be what it came to.
We weren't going to resist.
We weren't going to fight back, but we were going to stand our ground.
And we also knew that eventually, systematically, the government would have to remove us.
We were aware of that.
We made that decision.
And that decision when you have truckers and farmers and families who come down there knowing they could go into the world of legal prosecution, something they're not aware of, something they're not familiar with, but showed up anyways and stood their ground.
That was powerful.
You know, it was amazing.
I was just, we were showing on the screen there men and women, truckers, farmers.
I think they were singing O Canada.
One fella had his hat off over his heart.
We also saw about 20 cops, you know, and again, so those are the truckers there.
I think this was sort of the showdown day where a bunch of truckers came and were basically saying, you got to get out now.
But you can just see what I mentioned earlier: Ottawa, Windsor, those are big cities with big police forces.
You could get three, four, 500 cops, a SWAT team, riot horses, helicopter dispatched in a matter of hours in those cities.
But in Couttes, Alberta, the best the cops could muster was 20 folks.
And the exuberance and the sheer numbers and the flat open spaces, those cops were showing it on camera now.
They turned and walked away.
Like they thought they could get the truckers to blink.
The truckers didn't blink.
The cops blinked.
I thought that was a fascinating moment.
That was an extremely powerful moment.
That was the Tuesday of the first week.
I remember that clear as day.
I remember their first attempt.
And this syncs with that The farmers and the truckers breaking the very preliminary Milk River blockade at that time.
They blew through there.
You might have seen videos of that previously.
But they had made the attempt and had essentially told a few truckers because we didn't have a barricade.
We didn't have a barrier.
We just had trucks on the highway facing east and west.
So we had no real way to stand our ground in a way that the RCMP would have to essentially come to a standoff with us.
And they had convinced a few truckers to leave by just essentially saying, you know, you're leaving or you're getting arrested.
So that's a pretty obvious decision.
But out of the, you know, it was a pretty, the weather was pretty crappy.
Out of the blue, I would say blue, but out of the white came these truckers and these farmers who had seen on the social media platforms that the RCMP was enforcing in Couts.
And they could not watch that happen to their friends, to their families, to their fellow Albertans.
So they broke through that barrier.
And the timing of that was just phenomenal.
It wasn't planned, but the timing.
And when they showed up, we ended up taking that equipment and forming a fence-to-fence metal barrier with equipment, trucks, and trailers and farm implements.
I remember this one tractor coming in with a big double disc and it just parked on the highway and it folded its wings down and there it was.
And the RCMP had essentially retreated when those trucks and tractors rolled in.
And they made one more attempt.
And that's when the protesters came out of the saloon and came from their trucks, et cetera, because it was minus 30 and with windshield.
And we formed a line and we stood in front of that barricade and we sang O Canada.
And I remember, you know, clearly indicating, you know, we maintain our distance.
We did, we wanted a no contact.
That was our goal.
And we were successful with that.
The numbers and then the force that was presented with equipment and the people on that highway turned the enforcement effort into a failure.
And the RCMP took an approach that led to more of a that essentially led to negotiations going forward.
Now, we're gathered here today because we're talking about the Trucker Commissioner inquiry and whether or not the use of the Emergencies Act was legally, morally, constitutionally, politically justified.
It's pretty clear that the answer to that is no.
And the way I know that is that your blockade, which was by far the most effective in the country, was resolved before the Emergencies Act was deployed.
It was resolved.
Tell me a little bit about your testimony before the Trucker Commission this week.
Yeah, so I got subpoenaed a couple months ago.
And obviously, leading up to it, not sure how it would transpire.
So I watched a lot of it from Alberta.
This is not something that has ever happened, essentially.
The Emergencies Act has never been enacted.
So the inquiry has never been necessary.
So becoming familiar with the proceedings, et cetera, I remember showing up a couple days early and just getting my feel of the room, but going in prepared.
I sat down with Martin, my legal counsel, who was sponsored by TDF and my criminal lawyer, Yov Nev, who works with Chad from Williamson Law.
We did a lot of preliminary prep and I came in and I was able to articulate well and speak to what, you know, there.
I was subpoenaed, but there was also a willingness on my part to get in front of the commission, to get in front of the country and to share the truth of what happened in Coots.
The truth of what happened has never been fully shared.
And a lot of the truth cannot be shared yet as there's legal prosecution.
But the narrative in the mainstream media has changed from an event, a peaceful event, where there were, unfortunately, situations outside of the main blockade that cast a bad light on us, but it was separate.
Sharing the Truth00:12:54
But over the last 10 months, that separation has diminished.
And now, all of Coots, you know, it essentially goes back to the way the media paints this now: is that every trucker was on that highway holding a gun.
And that's ridiculous.
So that was part of my goal was to come to the commission and to share the truth of that and to also share that it was not necessary.
You know, we're in Alberta, we're in Coots.
Like, no disrespect to the people in this great city, but who's Ottawa to us?
You know, Ottawa is this faraway place for us, and we understand the role of Ottawa.
But the Emergencies Act, I might have heard about it, but that was not something that made me shake in my boots.
We had gone there with the goal to communicate with our, or to demand accountability of our provincial government.
But when things turned to the situation on hand, we were prepared.
We were prepared to make that stand.
So there was nothing in the Emergencies Act that was going to change that situation.
So in leaving, our decision and the timing of it, which is public, has nothing to do with the implication of the Emergencies Act.
And that had to be shared from my part.
And unfortunately, and this is probably, you probably lead to this in your questioning, but unfortunately, the government of Alberta in their cross-examination of me and even the testimony of the deputy justice minister a day or two later was very vague in this.
It was, you know, if their goal as the province of Alberta, which they also believe that the Emergencies Act was not necessary, and that's why they requested standing at the commission.
But I'm surprised as to how they represented, you know, the government of Alberta, the council, essentially put me on the stand.
It was a prosecution of Markov and Jugabas in Ottawa.
Well, that's obviously a holdover from Jason Kinney's regime.
The new premier of Alberta, Danielle Smith, is more sympathetic to freedom and more critical of lockdownism.
But obviously, she's only been in the office for a few weeks.
And you have all these, in fact, your prosecution, the prosecution of you and George and Marco, sorry, you're Marco, excuse me, and Alex.
The prosecution of you three peaceful protesters was started under Kenney in his last month as premier.
Correct.
And now it's like a zombie that's operating under its own energy.
And I think the premier has to call it off.
And I think it's absurd, the demand for 10 years in prison.
I think your lawyer is right when he said last weekend at the rally outside the courthouse that there's no jury in Lethbridge that would convict.
Like if 70% of the people of Coots were in support and their town was being blockaded, but still 70% of them supported it, you're not going to find a jury to convict in Lethbridge.
This is pure vendetta.
But you know what, Marco, and I appreciate your time today.
We got your back.
And when I mean that, I don't just mean we have your back morally and journalistically, but we're, as you know, we're crowdfunding the legal offense.
You mentioned the lawyers, Chad Williamson, he's got a couple colleagues.
You all have Neva's one of them.
We even put up a billboard, put up some digital billboards around Lethbridge.
I saw one with my own eyes.
And the website we set up is truckerdefensefund.com, truckerdefensefund.com.
Because I think one of the, those are the three men there.
There's Marco, that's you on the right, and then that's George in the middle, and then that's Alex on the left.
I had the pleasure of meeting all three of you at the courthouse last weekend for the first time.
And I was very glad I came down there.
There's me early in the morning.
My face is blue because there's a police light flashing.
I got there very early, and police in Lethbridge, there were police with their flashers on every single street corner.
I don't know what they were expecting if they were expecting Lethbridge to be locked down by the convoys.
I don't know.
But this is all about intimidating you, overwhelming you, stressing you out, bankrupting you, taking up all your time and money.
And we can help with some of that, namely the money side.
And so we have committed.
And this is, I made this commitment to the truckers when you were in the saloon.
I remember that our reporters were in the saloon with you, and they called me, and I was at home.
It was dinner time.
It was after dinner in Toronto.
That's where I live.
And I got the call from the lads.
And he put me on speakerphone and we chatted back and forth.
And I said, fellas, we'll crowdfund a lawyer to help.
And if any of you get charged, we'll crowdfund the lawyer to defend.
And that has come to pass.
And so I went down there to Lethbridge to see you guys look you in the eye and say, we're going to help you.
Now, I myself am not independently wealthy, but if we have enough ordinary people chipping in 10 bucks, 50 bucks, 100 bucks, we can pay for a whole trial.
It's going to be an expensive trial.
Yeah, you can see the, though, that's me speaking with my face reflecting the flashers.
It was crazy.
Like every street corner in downtown Lethbridge had a police car with flashers on.
You can see I was standing right like they're still crazy.
The cops down there are still mad.
At the courthouse, they had 20 cops.
I said to one of them, is there some trial of a drug kingpin?
Is El Chapo inside or something?
And I made a joke to one of them, all you need is a police helicopter.
He said, yeah, I wish we had one.
Yeah, brother, I think you're going after the wrong bad guys here.
So folks, if you can help out at TruckerDefensefund.com, Rebel News is paying for Chad Williamson and the rest of his firm to defend Marco, George, and Alex.
Listen, you'd be generous with your time.
It's nice to see you.
I'm glad you're in the nation's capital.
I'm glad you had a chance to put your side of the story on the record.
I'm disappointed, but not surprised that the Alberta government thought they'd try and put you on trial.
That's the same government that imploded on itself because of its abusive lockdowns.
I mean, it's quite something that Jason Kenney, once the leading politician on the right in Canada, didn't even finish his term.
And it's because of this abusiveness.
I'll give you the last word, Marco, before you head back west.
Are you hopeful?
Do you think the Trucker Commission Inquiry will do a good job?
Are you just give me your reflections?
As you said, this is a whole new thing for you.
You've never been subpoenaed before.
You've never participated in a hearing like this before.
You've never been charged with a crime like this before.
Give me your thoughts.
Well, we're definitely hopeful.
We always have to remain hopeful.
Otherwise, what is the fight for?
But as to any brutal consequences, I'm concerned we're not going to see a lot.
We may see some minister take the fall, but to see anything actually change, I don't believe that will happen.
And that's very unfortunate because the goals of Coots, Emerson, Sarnia, Windsor, Ottawa specifically, it was a demand for accountability.
You know, our representatives have forgotten who they represent.
And like I keep on saying, For trust to be rebuilt, we need to see accountability.
And this is just one part of that process.
Well, stay there for one more second.
I want to play clip number two, which is Trudeau.
When he was asked, would he resign if there was no justification for his invocation of the Emergencies Act?
And here's how that exchange went.
Take a look.
Inquiry that starts today, 65 witnesses over 30 days.
You know, when it's all wrapped up, and the commissioner, if he finds that there was no justification for the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act, should there be consequences for the federal government, including your resignation?
We knew from the very beginning that invoking the Emergencies Act is a big step.
It had never been done before, given these unprecedented illegal protests.
We needed to take action.
We took it in a way that was measured, that was responsible, that was time-limited.
And we knew full well that there needed to be a public inquiry.
Canadians need that level of transparency and accountability.
And that's why we launched this inquiry.
That's why I'm so happy to be that I offered from the beginning to be part of appearing at this commission.
And we're going to make sure that Canadians see the situation we were facing and how the tools we used were appropriate.
If it's found that there was no justification for it, again, what should the consequences be for that?
I think the important thing is for Canadians to understand the situation we were in and the choices we make.
We didn't enter into using the Emergencies Act lightly.
We used it with a sense of it was the necessary tool at the time.
We used it in a way that was measured and proportionate.
And we're really pleased that the Commission is going to be able to hear from all these witnesses.
And that was why I offered to appear.
What an odious tyrant.
Of course, he's not going to resign if and when the Commission finds it was unjustified.
Here's a man who's been convicted on the Conflict of Interest Act more times than any other prime minister in history combined.
Of course he doesn't resign.
He laughs at it.
Here's a man where mere hours after the federal court ruled that he must accredit rebel news journalists to the debate commission.
And when we ask him questions, he says, I don't have to.
Well, actually, the judge just said, you do, and you're violating our charter rights for not.
He's a petty man who's a son of privilege who doesn't believe the law applies to him.
Of course, he will not resign if and when he's found to have abusively used this law.
And of course, the media party will let him get away with it.
Even in his answer there, he used the phrase illegal protest.
That's not a thing in Canada.
If you're engaged in a riot, that's illegal.
But protests, by definition, are not illegal.
Nonviolent protests are not illegal.
He's a wicked liar.
And of course, he'll skate as he always does.
Mark, a last word to you.
I know I said that before, but I just wanted to play that Trudeau clip.
I'll say a last word to you, and then we'll throw to a commercial.
And we do have other guests on standby.
It's almost the top of the hour, and I've gone a little slowly here.
We've got a lot of clips.
My colleague Lincoln Jay is going to take over for me in the chair here.
But Marco, it's a pleasure to talk to you.
What message will you bring back to Fort McLeod and Lethbridge?
And if you return to Coots from your journey to Ottawa, do you think justice will be done?
Let me ask you that.
Do you think Canada is still the Canada you thought it was and grew up in?
It's not the Canada that we grew up in.
That's a tough question.
Do I, yeah, there is hope.
I believe that's why we're here.
I believe that's why we stood up.
But we have no choice.
There is no last frontier somewhere else.
This is it.
and specifically Alberta.
We look at that, you know, it's still, it's Alberta, and there's a remnant there that speaks to generations past, and we have to fight.
We have to protect that.
And ultimately, my goal to come down to the commission was to share a truth and to fight that.
It was a fact gathering journey.
And I just hope that Tyler Shandro and his ministry do what they plan to do and hold Trudeau accountable instead of fighting Albertans like they have for the last two and a half years.
Yeah, that's a great point.
Marco Van Hugenboss, nice to see you again.
Thanks for appearing on the show for such an extended period.
I'm going to say goodbye to you now, and we're going to roll some short ads.
And when we return, in my place will be my colleague, Lincoln Jay, and we'll go back to you in the studio there, our colleagues Celine and Sid, and we'll continue our special broadcast at about the halfway point in the Trucker Commission of Inquiry.
So it's a pleasure sitting with you this past hour.
Marco, thank you very much.
We'll say goodbye to you and stay with us because there's more ahead after these messages.
Hey, welcome back.
Your letters to me as tech a caught says Democrats screaming about national security is a joke.
Trump Targets Youngkin00:03:00
It's a joke, of course.
I mean, Hunter Biden is the most compromised man in America from a foreign affairs point of view.
It was like that with Hillary Clinton, too, by the way.
When she was Secretary of State, her husband, Bill Clinton, ran the Clinton Foundation.
Basically, every foreign country, every foreign government, foreign business that Hillary dealt with as Secretary of State, Bill hit them up for a multi-million dollar donation to the Clinton Foundation.
It was such a total shakedown.
It's shocking to me that both of those people are not in prison for it.
But yeah, imagine thinking that Elon Musk is the one compromising American national security.
American Honey 40 says, I love Trump, but we shouldn't be attacking our own right now.
Well, I mean, listen, politicians fight each other.
It's one of the things that politicians do.
But it was so unprovoked.
I mean, I have never, and I follow Ron DeSantis pretty closely.
I really think he's interesting.
I think a lot of people around the world do, even here in Canada.
And I don't think he's ever said a word hostile to Trump at all.
It was just such an unprovoked outburst.
And then I got to tell you today, take a look at this.
As you know, Trump fired a salvo off at Ron DeSantis yesterday, just, you know, calling him Ron desanctimonious and saying he wouldn't be nothing if it weren't for Trump.
And yeah, he's only a moderately successful Republican.
None of that's true.
None of that was provoked.
Today, Trump went after another successful Republican governor, Governor Youngkin from Virginia, who did a great job, came from, what, 10 points behind to win that state.
He's governing very well.
And he's sort of cut from the same cloth as DeSantis and that he's taking on wokeism and he just does it.
He gets it done.
I have no idea why Trump is attacking these two successful governors.
They're sort of the heroes of the movement.
You know what?
I mean, I like Trump for all the same reasons that other people do.
But boy, stop shooting at your allies.
It is weird.
Someone with a nickname Sleepy Eye says, let Trump in for four years and then DeSantis for eight years after that.
Well, listen, I'd sign up for that.
Sure, I would.
In fact, DeSantis, he's fairly young.
He's got a long career ahead of him.
And maybe he should serve his full second term as governor of Florida.
But, you know, that would be a happy outcome when you just described 12 years of Republican rule.
I'm not sure if that's likely to happen.
But I think that it's backfiring on Trump in a number of ways.
I acknowledge that Trump is absolutely the leader of the pack for the 2024 presidential primary on the Republican side.
I mean, who else would it be?
I think all polls show it's Trump number one.
A distant second is DeSantis, and then a bunch of also rans like Mike Pence, frankly.
But it's so unnecessary to shoot at fellow Republicans, especially, by the way, the midterms are not over.
I don't know if you remember, but the state of Georgia requires the winner in their Senate race to have more than 50% in the vote.
And the Republican and the Democrat each got around 49%.
Let's Watch A Clip00:07:03
So they're having a runoff.
And imagine bringing that internal party quarrel to the headlines when your party is trying to squeak in ascendancy in Arizona.
Sorry, not Arizona, in Georgia.
I just don't get it.
That's our show for today.
Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters to you at home, good night and keep fighting for freedom.
Celine Gallis here with Rebel News here in Ottawa for the Public Order Emergency Commission, a public inquiry investigating whether or not it was justified and necessary for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to invert the Emergencies Act, which was previously known as the War Measures Act.
The Liberal cabinet essentially declared martial law back in February on the Freedom Convoy protesters who were protesting federal COVID-19 mandates across the country.
While the convoy of trucks that traveled from BC to Ottawa were settling in, a grassroots rebellion was taking place in Coutz, Alberta, where protesters had blocked the border on and off for over 14 days.
You can learn more about this at truckerdocumentary.com.
Our focus today is on Pastor Archer Provlowski, a preacher from Calgary who visited the blockade to provide a sermon.
I'm again not talking about violence.
I'm not talking about swords and guns and all that stuff.
You've got the most powerful wings ever.
He was subsequently arrested under the Critical Infrastructure Act and spent 51 days in jail after being denied bail.
He was the only person ever charged under the anti-ecoterrorism law.
This isn't the first run-in with the law that he's had.
Archer has been arrested four times during the COVID-19 crackdown, but four pastors total were arrested over the last two years of the pandemic for not adhering to restrictions.
You can actually still help him out in court as we crowdfund his legal defense through the Democracy Fund, a registered charity at savearter.com.
Let's go back to what we're here for.
During the inquiry, Marlon DeGrande, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Public Safety and Emergency Services of Alberta, was questioned on Archer Polowski's involvement during the blockade.
So let's take a look at that.
Here we see an indication from him on February 4th that Archer Polowski had showed up and fired everyone up at the Couts protest site to convince them to stay.
You aware of that?
Yeah, I actually am aware of that event.
Yes.
But I'm telling you, there is this huge opportunity right now that we have been given.
God has given us this moment in history.
Why?
Because international media are watching you right now.
That's power.
You're in 1980.
Thank you.
Have you seen that speech before by Archer Polowski?
No, I haven't, actually.
Thank you.
Do you hear that he is singling out Premier Kenny as the source of the problem and I believe he referred to Kenny's mafia?
Yes, what I heard, yes.
And he said this is our Alamo, referring, I take it, to the standoff at the Alamo in Texas.
That's, I assume the reference.
But why?
Archipolowski was charged because it was believed that he incited the crowd to possible violence.
It was believed that he had involvement in the blockade.
And yet, just a day before, during the testimony of Marco Van Hugenbos, a participant and alleged organizer of the Coots blockade, it was reiterated that Pastor Archiprovlowski had no prior involvement whatsoever.
Take a look here.
By that, those individuals that had come in to leave for Edmonton, coffee with Kenny.
That happened just before Pastor Arthur Plowski came in.
And he might have actually been in the audience while I was explaining the motive, et cetera, et cetera.
But the unanimous agreement was to stay.
And this has never been Pastor Arthur has charges in regards to this, but his charge is that he incited us to stay because coffee with Kenny was seen as us leaving.
Before Pastor Arthur reached the podium or even reached the building, I'm not sure the events, the protesters had decided we were staying.
The decision to stay had nothing to do with Pastor Arthur.
Furthermore, the next testimony was Coots Mayor Jim Willett, who mentioned in a revealed text message with Alberta Minister Rajan Sani, quote, Archipulowski had shown up and fired everyone up to convince them to stay, unquote.
Regardless of who or what actually made the trucker stay, what does a COVID-defiant pastor have to do with the Emergency Measures Act?
Who can move 10,000 truckers?
We can.
With 100,000 supporters, I am calling right now every Albertan not to go to Edmonton, but to come here.
Thank you.
Let's go.
The testimony of Marlon deGrant followed up with another thing that has nothing to do with the Emergencies Act, explaining that Adam Sows, a rebel reporter, had hitched a ride in a helicopter heading down to deliver food for the truckers.
Let's take a look here.
Mr. Saney is still on the next day, February the 6th.
She's asking, was food dropped off to the protesters by helicopter, right?
Correct.
Yeah, and that's the character of the rumor that was going on about Paul Brad that he had dropped off food by helicopter, right?
Well, I don't see his name on this text, but certainly that was one of the rumors, whether there was other rumors that the minister was hearing about other helicopter drops.
And I'm not even sure.
I think by this point the NOTAM or the notice of airmen restricting airspace might have been in place as well.
So that might have been, I don't want to put myself on the mind of the minister as to what she was inquired about.
Sure.
According to Mayor Willet, at least, he says rebel rented a chopper and made a video which circulated.
Is that according to your recollection of what happened there?
See, I'm not familiar with any information around Rebel News renting a chopper, but certainly that's the post from the mayor.
It's important to note that a helicopter was planned because the RCMP were blocking off the roads and it points to where they were starving off peaceful protesters.
Let's watch a clip of Rebel News reporter Adam Soise heading down to Coots.
Careful Senior, we are just making our way to Coots and there is an ARCP set up barricade preventing people attempting to join the protest, attempting to join the blockade.
And they are currently holding up the highway, an incredible sight to be seen.
Today was yet another day where we failed to see any compelling evidence to suggest that the Emergencies Act was in fact justified.
Spoiler alert, the Coots blockade was resolved before the Emergencies Act was even invoked.
If you missed that, it means that you haven't been watching our coverage at truckercommission.com.
So head over there right now where you can also donate to fund our on-the-ground journalism here in Ottawa.