Canada’s nationwide protests against Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax—scheduled to rise from $65/tonne in 2023 to over $170 by 2030—united truckers, farmers, and families under slogans like "CO2 is the gas of life" and "Maple Leaf in Distress." Footage from Ottawa, Calgary, and Lloydminster showed defiance despite police tensions, with Trudeau dismissing cost claims as "revenue-neutral" while critics like Pierre Polyev and premiers Danielle Smith (Alberta) and Scott Moe (Saskatchewan) framed it as economic sabotage. The movement’s unity across regions—from Quebecers questioning exemptions to legal battles like David’s upcoming court case—suggests a growing backlash against federal overreach, climate policies, and "woke" ideology, challenging Trudeau’s narrative of progress. [Automatically generated summary]
I am at our world headquarters for Rebel News in Toronto in a secret, secure location.
But across the country, Rebel News reporters are live on location for a nationwide series of protests against Justin Trudeau's plans to hike the carbon tax today by a whopping 23%.
And I should let you know, that's not it.
The Liberals have passed a law that the carbon tax will go up every year.
In fact, by the time they're done, it'll be more than doubled, maybe about double what it is right now.
Now, you might be thinking this is an insane time to raise a tax on, well, everything that uses energy, from farmers' tractors, to the trucks that ship our things to the, you know, heating our house, whether it's heating oil or natural gas or anything that is taxed for its carbon dioxide.
You might be thinking that, and you would be right, but you fail to understand the point of the carbon tax.
And this is what its promoters themselves say.
The carbon tax, they say, is not about a cash grab.
No, no, no, they say.
It's about nudging you to change your behavior.
They say that when you drive, when you heat your home, when you put your kids on a school bus, when you do anything with energy, they call that pollution, even though carbon dioxide is a harmless, colorless, odorless gas that is actually plant food.
All life on earth needs carbon dioxide.
It's a trace element, only 400 parts per million in the atmosphere, but essential for all plant life.
They want you to use less, to emit less carbon.
They want to make certain activities so expensive that you do less of it.
So the fact that using carbon is 23% more painful today, that's not a negative side effect to them.
That's the whole point.
That's why they're doing it.
They're doing it because they want to change your behavior.
They want to socially engineer your life.
Now, Justin Trudeau is probably the largest user of private jets in Canada.
But of course, the rules are different for him.
We're going to, in the course of the next hour, visit our reporter, Alexa Lavoie, on the streets of Ottawa, where I see a large protest is gathering, and so too are the police response to it.
We're going to go to Nanaimo, B.C., where there's a small crowd.
I understand that later today, Pierre Polyev, the leader of the Conservatives, will have a large rally there, but that won't start for several hours.
To Calgary, where our reporter Angelika Toy is on the scene.
And our chief reporter, Sheila Gunn-Reed, is at the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan in that interesting city of Lloyd Minster.
But first, I want to show you some little video clips that our team has posted so far this morning.
And there are other citizen journalists from other outlets on location.
But let's start with this one from Alexa Levois, a pro-carbon tax protester and some counter-protesters.
Let's take a look at her video that she tweeted earlier this morning.
The price of gas goes up.
The price of heating goes up.
The price of groceries goes up.
They don't give you back line.
They take it up.
Why are the price of groceries not up?
There's not a single tax.
You're not going to convince me.
I've already had this conversation many times than I thought I got beat up for having this conversation.
So I don't feel safe talking about it with you.
They didn't beat you up.
I don't feel safe talking about it.
I mean, nice.
That's an honest question.
I don't know what happened last time I had this conversation, right?
It really upset them.
When you try to have an adult conversation, they're children that haven't grown up.
That's the problem.
Yeah, but she gets rebates.
I don't know this loser.
I know that think I actually know who that lady is.
I think that's Deanna Sharif.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I think she's a professional protester.
You can sort of tell she's got a body cam.
She got her gear.
And she says she knows people there.
She's sort of ready to protest.
I think that she's a little bit wackadle, as my friend Sheila would say.
And if you're protesting for higher energy taxes, you're probably a little bit wackadoodle from the beginning.
But I don't think that that was a grassroots citizen.
I think I recognize who that person is.
I want to show you some anti-tax protesters arriving at Crow's Nest Lake.
Now, that's near the Alberta-BC border.
Let's take a look there and see how the traffic is mustering at that location.
Let's take a look.
A little windy.
Looks like some campers.
It's a little bit reminiscent of the trucker convoy, wouldn't you say?
If I understand where Crow's Nest Lake is, it's near the Crowces Pass.
I'm going to guess.
So that is high in the mountains there.
Not a lot of use for electric cars in the mountains where distances are long and the temperature in the winter is often cold, which makes it very taxing on electric vehicles.
If you don't have carbon, you're not moving.
And if you don't have carbon, you're freezing to death.
It's springtime there, but you can still see it's a little bit frosty.
Speaking of which, here are scenes from Calgary: Highway 1 and the Highway 22 interchange in Alberta.
Absolutely gorgeous footage.
You can see the snow-capped Rocky Mountains in the background, excuse me.
Looks like, again, I'm getting vibes of the trucker convoy from two years ago.
They're flying the Canadian flag.
Look at that.
I think I know exactly where that is.
That's sort of a parking mustering area just outside the city.
Alberta's Winter Vistas00:13:53
Frankly, I think that's on the way to Banff if I understand where this was taken.
Doesn't that look like fun?
I bet you some of these folks participated in the Freedom Convoy two years ago.
And really, it's another form of freedom.
Back then, it was our freedom of association, our freedom of our bodily autonomy, freedom to not have our lives dictated to because we were or weren't jabbed.
The lockdowns, the rules that you couldn't attend a funeral or a wedding.
You couldn't have more than a half dozen people over for Christmas dinner, those insane rules.
That and in the end, the vaccine mandate for truckers, which launched the Freedom Convoy.
The fact that so many Canadians are on the edge of financial disaster now with interest rates skyrocketing.
You know, I was reminded that every month, how many people in Canada are run out of their, let's say, fixed five-year mortgage.
If you took a mortgage out five years ago and locked in a great rate for five years, let's say your mortgage rate was 2% or even lower, if you recall, mortgages were very cheap a few years ago.
So you've been paying a mortgage payment, which is, let's say, half principal and half interest.
But now your fixed rate is now going to jump and you have to renew.
Well, interest rates are double.
what they were when you bought your house.
And so every single month when I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of Canadian families finish their fixed term for their mortgage, now their mortgage payment is $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 more, especially in cities where housing is so expensive to begin with, like Vancouver and Toronto.
And yet Justin Trudeau insists on jacking up carbon taxes by 23%.
There's already tremendous inflation and a phenomenon called shrinkflation.
That's a made-up word, of course, but what it means is to try and fake it, that they're not raising prices, companies are selling smaller amounts of food, for example, for the same price.
So they'll still sell you a steak for $15, but now it'll be this small instead of this big.
So between inflation and shrinkflation and mortgage rates going up and the price of housing because of Trudeau's out-of-control immigration, for him to raise taxes 23% today on carbon is absolutely insane.
Our friend Sheila Gunreed has footage from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.
Here, a tax protest convoy is rolling from Saskatchewan to Alberta at the border.
Let's take a look at what our friend Sheila Gunreed caught earlier today on camera.
Look at that.
Are you not getting those trucker convoy vibes again?
What does that one say?
Rip-wrap top soil.
Okay, that's just a company's rig.
I wonder what kind of a vehicle that is that doesn't look like a police vehicle.
There's a Trump flag.
You gotta love it.
Oh, no, that's an anti-Trudeau flag.
Excuse me.
I thought it said Trump.
It said F. Trudeau.
Those are pretty popular flags.
These are good people.
What does that say?
CO2 is the gas of life.
Exactly right.
It's called plant food.
What does that one say?
You cannot tax people into poverty to change the weather and an upside-down flag, end the carbon tax.
Isn't that true?
We hear a lot about misinformation and conspiracy theories.
Have you ever heard anything so insane as thinking that if we just pay 23% more in this particular tax in Canada, that's going to change the weather?
What?
That is not science.
That is disinformation.
But how many mainstream journalists say it?
Hey, let's go to our next clip.
It's our friend Efrain Oswaldo Flores Monsanto.
He is in Hamilton, Ontario.
He published this footage of, he calls it protesters against the liberal NDP carbon tax.
He's very wise to call it that, because without the support of Jagmeet Singh, Justin Trudeau could not govern the way he is.
Hamilton is a working-class city, the steel mills there.
But if you know anything about steel mills, you know how carbon intensive they are.
You cannot make steel without coal.
I don't know if you know that.
You can't make it with solar power.
You can't make it with wind power.
Need the extreme heat that only coal can provide.
You cannot make steel without coal.
And by the way, if you've ever driven through Hamilton, maybe you're driving on your way down to Niagara Falls, you pass this mighty industrial heartland.
And if you were a critic, you might say it looks like the land of Mordor in Lord of the Rings, like it's there's smoke and there's fire and there's steel.
Imagine being an NDPer for the working classes, i.e., for the steel makers, and being against carbon and wanting to tax carbon.
By the way, I saw a poll the other day that the majority of union workers in public sector, in private sector unions, support peer polyevs, so obviously they're not buying into it.
Here's video from Efron earlier today.
Let's take a look.
Axe the tax.
F. Trudeau, I tell you, whoever came up with that flag concept, F. Trudeau is made of mints.
Axe the tax.
You know, I love the fact that they've got the Canadian flags, and I say that because if you're as old as I am, you remember 1995 when there was a referendum in Quebec to separate.
And the Liberal Party pretty much co-opted the Canadian flag and said, if you're for Canada, you're a Liberal, vote for us, etc.
It's a very close-run thing, that referendum, by the way.
But the freedom movement, the truckers, and now the anti-carbon taxes, they fly the Canadian flag.
Sometimes they fly it upside down, which, as you know, is a pretty much universal signal of distress.
There's another video footage from Efron showing the crowd is gathering on that overpass.
We have one more clip I'd like to show.
And it's not from Rebel News, but it's from another independent journalism outfit called Dacey Media, who's on the streets a lot, especially in Ottawa.
And I find their stuff interesting.
So here's Dacey Media, something they uploaded.
Actually, this is from the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border.
Pardon me, I said it was from Ottawa.
This is from the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border, which is very interesting because, of course, the Atlantic for so long was a Liberal Party stronghold.
There have been occasions where every single seat in Atlantic Canada has gone liberal.
And now you have liberal MPs and liberal premiers of provinces saying, we just can't bear this burden anymore.
Do not raise the tax.
Here's how it looks on the ground, courtesy of Dacey Media.
And the carbon tax, exactly.
The owner of that rig is probably an independent contractor.
These guys are going to be taking the brunt of it.
And so everything that their trucks ship, what do you ship in a truck like that?
Answer, literally everything.
From food to retail goods to high-tech gadgets to literally everything goes by truck.
It goes by train, goes by ship and by train, and those trains disgorge onto trucks.
And by the way, every single delivery service you have to your house, carbon taxes are going up 23%.
How can that not be passed on to customers?
So those are some video clips.
Here's one more we have, I think, of a helicopter.
Where is this from?
This is Adam Seuss.
So I presume this is in Calgary.
Oh, it's a helicopter with a carbon tax message printed on the side.
Axe the tax on a helicopter.
That's very exciting.
Spike the hike.
Well, those are, as you may know, the two mottos that Pierre Polyev has used.
Look at how much fun is that.
I wonder if those are some of the lads who flew their helicopters up to the Whistle Stop diner to show support for the restaurant in Mirror, Alberta that wouldn't shut down.
I know a couple guys came in by helicopter to patronize that restaurant a couple years ago.
I bet it's the same guys because they're freedom lovers.
Here's another clip from Sheila Gonrie.
Let's take a look at it.
This is also from the Alberta-Saskatchewan border.
Let's take a look.
It looks like it's turning into kind of a festival situation.
Looks cool out there, but it's obviously warmer than the minus 20 that was at Coots during the border protests there or Ottawa.
That looks fun.
People brought snacks and drinks, proudly serving the Midwest.
And okay, that's just a corporate sign.
Looks like a barbecue's kicking off.
Would you know?
How much fun is that?
And how real and grassrootsy is that?
We showed you earlier one pro-carbon tax protester who I think was Deanna Sharif, professional shit disturber, to be candid.
Compare that to the real life community spirit style.
Even if it's sort of a crappy hot dog, they always taste better because there's that community spirit, that friendly neighbors, almost like potluck.
Hey, it looks like we've got some more video from Alexa Lavois from Parliament Hill.
Yeah, let's show that.
Now, you're going to have a few professional protesters for the carbon tax, but I don't know a single human, like normal person, who's for that.
Unless you have some angle, unless you're paid to say that.
What normal person says, yeah, I want to pay more taxes.
Brother, if you want to pay more taxes, go ahead and do it.
Don't make the rest of us.
You know what?
This is the vibe.
I was there for, I think, two and a half days during the original.
Oh, look at that.
Axe the tax.
No!
You give it.
Ax the tax!
Right on.
How much fun is that?
That's what it was like during the trucker convoy, except for you don't need gloves and a hat now because it's not minus 20.
They're having some fun.
They're singing some songs.
They got some placards.
I see a little cooler there in the background, I think.
I don't quite see any bouncy castles or hot tubs, but the day is still young.
Isn't that fun?
Coast to coast to coast.
I don't know about the northern coast, but I tell you one thing.
I have been to Inovik.
I have been to Tuktayuktuk.
It's all fossil fuels up there.
Their electricity does not come from wind or solar.
It comes from diesel generators.
And without fossil fuels, it simply would not be habitable.
Up there, I'm having fun looking at these videos that are here's from Angelica by the highway.
I know exactly where this is.
This is where you head on out to the mountains.
Angelica says, drivers are honking in support of the Axe the Tax rally on Highway 1 in Alberta.
Again, a glorious spring day, cool but sunny.
That's the way it is in southern Alberta.
How much fun is that?
Of course, they've got the Canadian flags.
People love that spirit.
They were inspired by the trucker convoy two years ago.
And I think this is, they want to recapture that spirit.
Yeah, don't be shy.
Feel free to put through more videos.
Is this a new one here from Sheila?
Here's one from Sheila.
Let me read.
She says, Some of the video of the staging area for the tax protest on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border straddles both sides of Highway 16.
Some guys are blaring Metallica in the distance, laugh out loud, very prairie.
Let's take a look at what that is like and pump up the sound if we've got some Metallica going on.
Don't you wish you were there?
I mean, I'm in Toronto at our studio.
I mean, I like it because it's home, but I wish I were there.
I feel like I'm missing out.
Grassroots Anti-Tax Rally00:14:41
You know, the last time there was a grassroots anti-tax movement in Canada, I think it was the 1990s.
I think it was to get taxes down in some way.
Maybe it was a GST-focused thing.
Yeah, I think it was.
Remember, there was Brian Mulroney brought in the GST, and the Liberal Party of Canada promised to scrap it.
And they didn't.
When they got in, they kept it.
And so there was an attempt to hold them to that promise.
And you might recall that one of the liberals, who actually later became Deputy Prime Minister, Sheila Copps, resigned her seat and had a by-election because she made a promise to do so.
She was from Hamilton too, by the way.
Now, a lot of what you saw out there was very grassroots.
Homemade signs, ordinary people, as contrasting the professional protester we saw in the form of Deanna Sharif.
But on top of that, you have the Taxpayers Federation, which is a very grassroots populist citizen-funded group.
But Pierre Polyev has very wisely, I think, made fighting the tax a central theme of his campaign.
And I think it's wise.
There's a lot of issues that are more cultural battles, immigration numbers, transgender extremism, the pro-Hamas hate marches on the streets of Canada.
And those are divisive issues and they're spicy issues.
And of course, we care about those for moral reasons here at Rebel News.
But most people in Canada, I mean, if they think about those issues, it's not as a central fact of their life.
Most people have not had their life affected by the Hamas hate marches.
The Jewish community has.
But if you want something that touches every Canadian, especially young Canadians, trying to get their start in the world, trying to buy a house, trying to move out of their folks' house, trying to get ahead in life, trying to keep up with inflation, this is the issue.
This and housing prices and Polyev has just absolutely made the Liberals and their New Democrat coalition wear this, and I think it's very wise.
Now, I should tell you, we have plans to go to our people on the ground.
Olivia, do we have any of our reporters standing by?
We're still winning.
Okay, so let me know as soon as we have those folks.
We do have, like I say, Alexa Lavoie in Ottawa, Drea Humphrey in Nanaimo, and Jalika in Calgary, and Sheila Gundrid in Lloyd Minster, which straddles the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta.
So let's go to some clips.
I've shown you some raw footage that was taken earlier today on the highways, several from our reporters and one from the Atlantic from Dacey Media.
Pierre Polyev had a huge rally in Edmonton recently, over 2,000 people.
He claims it was 3,000, probably somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 people there.
And the provincial premier I mean, most provincial premiers are against the carbon tax.
In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith is vehemently against it and has been leading the charge against Trudeau's environment minister, the extremist Stephen Gilbeau.
So Danielle Smith showed up at Pierre Polyev's federal conservative rally.
Here's Polyev introducing Premier Danielle Smith.
Take a look at that.
That's the first clip of Polyev introducing Danielle Smith at the AXTA Tax rally in Edmonton.
Take a look.
It is a tax designed to concentrate control in the hands of more bureaucrats and politicians in Ottawa and take that control and money away from the people who rightly earned it.
It is part of a broader destructive agenda of big government and small people that impoverishes the citizen to the benefit of the state.
But the good news is, across the country, we are seeing an outbreak of common sense.
Seven premiers across Canada, seven premiers and 70% of Canadians have called on Trudeau to spike the hike.
But they wouldn't have had the courage to do it had there not been a trailblazer leading the way in your common sense conservative premier.
the great Danielle Smith.
Way to go.
She's building a car.
She's building a common sense coalition.
And you know what?
Every single political party at a provincial level, liberal, NDP, and otherwise, is now, and in other parts of the country, I should say, now opposing the carbon tax.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, the Liberals oppose the carbon tax.
In Nova Scotia, the NDP opposed the carbon tax.
In British Columbia, the NDP is fighting to hike the carbon tax.
And here in Alberta, we just don't know.
Would you be willing to join with me, Premier Smith, in calling on all the NDP candidates for the leadership to write Justin Trudeau and tell him to spike the hike?
100%!
100%!
You know, I can't believe that this city voted NDP with all the conservatives in this room.
But you have the power to call all of the NDP leadership candidates and all of the MLAs and tell them to tell their boss, Jugmeet Singh, in Ottawa, that he should axe the tax and spike the hike, and we just might get somewhere on it.
Well, Premier, give it up for the Premier.
You know what?
It is a lot of fun to be in.
I know that Alberta is a good idea.
There are 2,2,500 people.
It is exciting.
And I think the NDP are making a terrible mistake hitching their wagon to Trudeau's carbon tax.
But what are they going to do?
I mean, the NDP was created as a party of farmers and factory workers.
That's its history.
This is a war against both.
It's a war against farmers who probably use more fuel than anyone other than truckers.
I mean, every farm vehicle, think about it.
There's no solar-powered combine, sorry.
And factory workers, I mean, forget about it.
Liberals and NDPers these days are against factories because it's gross blue-collar stuff.
They're all for environmental extremists and wokeism.
Now, I understand that Pierre Polyev is holding a rally in Nanaimo BC tonight.
Nanaimo is a city on Vancouver Island, and I think Vancouver Island is in play.
There's some parts of it that are very green.
Remember, that's where Elizabeth Mayne is from.
She's about an hour and a half south of there.
But our friend Drea Humphrey is on the ground in Nanaimo right now.
Let's connect to her by Zoom or Skype if we can.
Drea, can you hear me?
I can hear you.
Can you hear me, Bob?
I sure can.
Crystal clear, great to see you.
Thanks for joining us live.
Tell me where you are and what you see.
Well, I'm in Nanaimo right now.
There's a group that's just started to gather for the carbon tax protest.
We're in front of federal MP Lisa Marie Barron's office up there.
And two door down, you have another NDP, this time provincial Sheila Melkinson, the MLA.
So that's where they're gathering right now.
It's just started.
So this is just one of the legs in BC.
I think our big meeting in BC is probably a convoy that is headed out to Hope.
There are people going from Kelowna, Langley, BC, all the way up to there.
So I've got some eyes over there.
We'll get some footage of that as well.
That's great.
Thank you for that.
Now, if I got my time zones right, it's still only 10:30 a.m. in BC out there in Nanaimo.
So these folks are gathering now.
I understand that tonight, though, Pierre Polyev is having a large rally there.
Is that accurate?
That's absolutely correct.
So there is a press conference happening in the afternoon, which I'll be covering.
And then also, I will be covering the rally.
Now, it's important to note that there is another rally happening at the legislator in Victoria, too.
So some people are there right now.
But I'm in Nanaimo covering all the stuff that's happening, carbon tax related today.
Well, I love Nanaimo.
I used to visit there every year.
Tell me what some of the signs say.
I can see some of them taxed enough already.
Isn't that the truth?
I saw a flacker there, I think, remarking on the fact that while taxes for you and me go up today, salaries for MPs are being raised today, too.
Isn't that crazy?
That's right.
There was a sign here about the salaries.
I think the lady, it was a young lady, and I think she's walking away over there.
I don't remember exactly what it said, but she's calling that out.
I think if I had to recap, it was something like MP salary means poverty for us or something like that.
So she's down there.
And I think there's one lady who wants to say something.
Did you want to say why you're here?
Oh, I'd love to say that.
Can you hear her?
Yeah, go ahead.
Hi, it's Ezra Levant in Toronto.
Why are you at that rally, ma'am?
Hey, just hang on.
I got to get an earbud in.
He says, why are you at the rally?
Why am I at the rally?
I'm at the rally for redemption of what Trudeau's father started in this country back in the 80s.
And I watched it decline back then.
I watched my father have to line up at the welfare office back then.
And I'm witnessing it again today.
And I cannot believe it's taken this many years to keep the Trudeau family out of this country and out of politics.
It has to stop.
We as Canadians have got to raise up a backbone and start to fight.
We can still be a nice country.
We can still be a peaceful people, but we've got to raise up a backbone.
Wow.
Very powerful.
Thank you for sharing that thought with us.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, you're welcome.
Dre, that's incredible.
I remember, I mean, I was very young when Pierre Trudeau was prime minister, but the devastation of his policies, especially in the West, and it sounds like that woman has those memories at the top of her mind as Trudeau Jr. destroys the economy, cost of living, making it impossible for people to buy homes.
Very moving.
And frankly, I got the chills there because I was not expecting that answer.
Hey, there's a sign behind you right now.
What does that say?
I'm just curious because I love the homemade signs.
Taxed enough already.
Okay, we see that one.
Are there any perfect?
Are there other signs we can take a peek at?
Yeah, we've got some acts the tax signs.
It looks like they've walked to a different location on the end.
Some people waving.
Okay.
Yeah, there's an actual act, which is quite interesting here.
That's right.
That's right.
Acts the tax.
Look at that creativity.
Look at that.
I mean, that must have taken an hour to make.
How long did that CDPD do?
Oh, it was probably a couple hours.
A couple of hours.
So lots of dedication.
People are done with this tax.
And as you know, British Columbia has a bit of a unique situation.
We have the highest amount of taxes that we pay for gas, and we have our own carbon tax, which has to match the federal carbon tax for you.
But also, you know, it has no hold on it.
It could exceed if they wanted to in this government.
So in some ways, British Columbians have extra reason to be out here today.
Last question, Dre.
And by the way, thanks so much for going there.
And the connection is crystal clear.
It's perfect.
Thank you very much.
You're outside the offices of a federal MP and a provincial MLA.
Have either of them, I take it neither is in their office at this hour, has any staff, has there been any interaction or have people been going into the offices?
Have they said anything?
Or is it all closed up?
It is all closed up.
It doesn't look like anyone's in there.
I don't know if you can see.
I'm trying the door right now.
It's locked.
In fact, every time I've covered a protest, doesn't matter what day it is.
I mean, it is Easter Monday, but even on a normal day, I have not seen them be open in British Columbia.
So I don't know what type of work they're actually doing.
Well, that certainly is a metaphor.
The fact that the door is locked and no one is home, but everyone outside can holler into the wind because the government doesn't care.
They're raising the tax over the objections of the people.
The fact that there is no one home there, even though that's where they're supposed to be listening to their constituents, that they don't care what the constituents say, that the doors are locked.
They probably knew there was a protest, and they said, just lock the doors and let them stay outside.
What do we care?
I really think that is emblematic and symbolic of this government.
Drea, thanks very much for making the journey, and I look forward to your report tonight from the large Acts the Tax Rally.
I'm very curious because I know Nanaimo, there's liberals, there's new Democrats, but there's also a history of conservative parties.
Obviously, Pierre Polyev thinks that the region is in play if he's doing a rally there.
Last word to you.
Price on Pollution Protests00:09:09
Absolutely.
I'm looking forward to covering it and seeing if it's going to tack a house like we're seeing in other places across the country.
I spoke to some people when I was trying to get a feel for what the protests were going to be like on the island, and everybody I reached out to said they were going to the rally tonight.
So I am suspecting that it will be a good turnout.
Thank you, my friend.
That's Drea Humphrey, our BC Bureau chief on the streets of Nanaimo, where the politicians are hiding.
Thanks, Drea.
We have other folks on the ground, and I just want to see if we can make a connection with them.
Olivia, let me know if we're able to connect with Angelika in Calgary, Sheila in Lloyd Minster, or Alexa in Ottawa.
In the meantime, I see that our friend Lincoln Jay looks like he's got some imagery from Uxbridge, Ontario.
Let's just take a look at this.
I haven't even seen this yet.
Looks like a big rig.
Go ahead and play the clip.
Nice.
Oh, and there's a farm rig.
Carbon taxes, higher grocery prices.
Exactly right.
I love this spear.
Look at that.
Another no carbon tax.
Look at that, John here.
You can tell by those classic colors, yellow and green.
No carbon tax.
Look at that.
I love seeing the agricultural support.
That reminds me a little bit of the Coots, Alberta protest.
You had the truckers, but the farmers were actually the backbone of that protest.
Look at those.
Yeah, there's that big rig again.
Well, I think that's courtesy of our friend Lincoln J. Isn't that interesting?
All right, Olivia, you'll let me know if we make a connection with our other reporters on the ground.
And I'm just looking through our live stream Slack channel to see if there are other clips.
Was there an extra one there from Alexa Lavoie that I see 32 minutes ago in Slack?
Did we see that one yet?
I'm looking at Slack.
Maybe she's gone ahead and tweeted it.
I think we've seen some of those.
It's in Slack.
I'm not sure if we played the one in Slack.
Yeah, that's the one right there.
Let's just take a look at what that one is.
I'm curious about Ottawa because, of course, that was the most dramatic location for the trucker convoy.
And also the police there were the most abusive, shooting people, guns, beating people.
That's really where the Emergencies Act was deployed for Trudeau's vanity.
I'm not sure if we have any reports of police abuse yet today, but it wouldn't shock me because, again, these anti-tax rallies embarrass Trudeau, and that's really what he hates the most.
Go ahead and play that clip if you can.
You know what you need to do?
So that's outside the Chateau Laurier.
It's quite a group.
Spike the hype, tax the carbon tax.
Looks sort of fun.
That looks like a good group.
I recognize that journalist there, Donald, I think is his name.
Good stuff.
Well, you know what?
I like the fact that this really is happening across the country.
The numbers are not as large as the trucker convoy, but we've checked in in Ottawa, Uxbridge, Nanaimo, Lloyd Minster, Calgary, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick.
I think we've got something, another Alexa Vid.
Let's go ahead and play this one.
Yeah.
Protesters are arriving.
Remember, it's still early across much of the country.
It's 1.40 p.m. here in the Eastern time zone, but out west where we were just chatting with Drea, it's still only 10.40 in the morning.
All right, well, while we wait for word from our correspondents on the ground, Olivia, I see in the rundown of clips we have one where Trudeau accuses the premiers of lying about the cost of the carbon tax.
But again, he's got to pick a lane.
Like I say, if you think about the carbon tax from the liberal point of view, if you actually take them at their word, and remember the father of the liberal carbon tax was actually Stéphane Dion, who was the environment minister under Jean-Cretchen.
He was briefly the leader.
He ran against Harper in 2008, and he called it the green shift.
He said, tax carbon and rebate it on other stuff to get people to shift their behavior.
He was very candid.
The whole point was to punish the use of energy.
Well, that's what Trudeau, he said, put a price on carbon, a price on pollution.
But why?
How does putting a price on pollution, as if a tax is a price and if carbon dioxide is pollution, but taking them at face value, how does that lower the, change the weather?
Well, the thinking behind it, the liberal thinking is if we make using energy punitive enough, you'll do less of that stuff.
So if we make food expensive, you'll eat less of it.
If we make heating your home more expensive, you won't make your houses warm in the winter.
If we make travel more expensive, you won't fly or drive as much.
The whole idea of the carbon tax is to change behavior.
So to say, for Trudeau to say, oh, don't worry, you actually get more money back, that's not only not true, that's not the point.
The whole point is to be punitive.
Here, let's take a quick look at that Trudeau video and then we'll go to Sheila Gunrid, who I see is standing by.
Play the Trudeau vid.
Mr. Prime Minister, you keep telling Canadians a carbon tax program is revenue neutral, but you have the opposition and a lot of premiers saying it's costing them money.
Do you think you're losing the communications battle here?
The facts matter.
The premiers, conservative premiers specifically, are misleading Canadians.
The conservative opposition in Ottawa and Pierre Polyev are not telling the truth to Canadians.
The parliamentary budget officer himself says very clearly that eight out of ten families across the country do better with the Canada carbon rebate because we have put a price on pollution.
It is more money in the pockets of families right across the country at a time where more money is needed.
And it's concrete action to fight climate change at a time where we're seeing the impacts of extreme weather events, floods, fires, droughts.
Conservatives are ideologically opposed to fighting climate change, to making polluters, even big polluters, pay.
And we put a price on pollution that makes sure people are looking for ways to reduce their emissions.
And families, particularly low-income and middle-income families, do better with more money in their pockets to continue to raise their families and build a future.
That's what our price on pollution is all about.
And that's what the conservatives, politicians across this country are trying to mislead Canadians about.
What a mishmash of things.
So you're going to be doing less polluting, which is what they're trying to do here, less carbon dioxide emissions.
I refuse to accept that that is pollution.
But on the one hand, he's saying we're going to get people to use less energy.
But on the other hand, they're going to get more money from this.
What, if they don't heat their home or something?
And at the same time, he implies this will change the weather.
If you just pay 23% more, this will change the weather.
There won't be extreme weather events.
By the way, the weather has been really peaceful over the last decade in terms of hurricanes, tornadoes, extreme weather events.
Pancake Breakfast Convoy00:02:51
There have been fewer than ever, actually.
But he's engaging, I'm not even going to call it disinformation, sort of a climate cult, like sacrifice a virgin to the volcano and the volcano won't erupt or whatever.
Like he's literally saying if Canadians pay 23% more in taxes, the weather will change.
That's what he's saying.
Let's go to our friend Sheila Gonride, our chief reporter, who is live on location at the Saskatchewan-Alberta town of Woidminster.
It's a very interesting city.
It actually straddles the border.
Sheila, great to see you.
How you doing out there?
I don't know if you can hear me for the horn honking and the wind.
It's cold.
We've been here since 745, but there are a few hundred people here.
There's trucks.
It looks like Canada Day behind me with all the flags.
So we're just on the Saskatchewan side where people are getting a little bit more money in their pocket because of the Scott Lowe government's efforts to shelter the people here from the carbon tax by not collecting the carbon tax on their home heating and electricity because they're able to do that thanks to a Crown Corporation that acts as the energy distributor here.
But I mean, lots of Albertans, lots of people from Saskatchewan.
The entire parking lot across the way is full of trucks, semi-trailers, RVs, tractors.
It feels like the convoy again.
It looks like it.
It looks like a lot of fun.
It looks cool, but not deep freezing, although you look warm in your hat.
And I saw your footage earlier of the snacks.
It looks like there was a grill.
And, you know, I guess that was breakfast out there.
I'm very interested in what the snacks were.
I hear some honking.
It looks like a bit of a party.
I mean, I'm from Calgary.
And, you know, one of the fun things about Calgary is the Stampede breakfasts for one week a year.
Everywhere you go, there's people cooking up pancakes and sausages and serving coffee for free to walkers by.
And it just has a team spirit.
That's the vibe I was getting from your footage.
It looks like that's how it is.
That's completely it.
So there was a slow roll of the trucks through town.
They went to the Alberta side and then they came back a couple of times.
But yeah, when everybody got back, they came back to a full pancake breakfast, sausage, bacon, pancakes, beans, coffee, juice.
We did take part, that's for sure, because we were here really early.
And we needed some warm food in our belly.
But yeah, free pancake breakfast, very family friendly, despite all the F Trudeau flags.
Lots of little kids here.
Vibes And Pancakes00:14:42
And there's people walking up and down the side of the highway giving out donuts and treats.
And it's nothing but honks of support.
Yeah, that's us enjoying the pancake breakfast.
That's our favorite volunteer, Lise.
She's from Saskatchewan.
And then Keen and his beautiful fiancé.
We're taking a quick break from working so hard.
Well, that's great.
And I'm glad you gave me the whole menu breakdown.
Now I'm even more jealous that I wasn't there.
Now, I see some flags behind you.
Again, I mentioned earlier that the truckers and the freedom movement has appropriated the symbols of Canada, which I find delicious because I remember 20 years ago, the Liberal Party tried to own the flag and own the symbols of patriotism.
And they did so to fight the separatists in Quebec and their referendum.
And it's amazing to me now when regime media and liberal politicians say anyone who says words like freedom or flies the Canadian flag are suspect.
They have actually conceded that the patriotic symbols belong to the freedom fighting grassroots.
It's really quite a change from 30 years ago.
Well, and I think a lot of these people in another time would probably have considered themselves to be soft Western separatists.
But I think a lot of the people here have that same sentiment that Samara Leach had, that she went into the freedom convoy being sort of finished with Canada.
And now she feels it's something important and something to fight for.
And that's what we're seeing here.
I'm old enough to remember when this would be behind me, the majority of the flags would be Alberta or Saskatchewan flags and not Canadian flags.
That's just the way it is out here.
But, you know, we're seeing the inverse where people are realizing that Canada is ours and it doesn't belong to the Laurentian elite.
Yeah.
And, you know, I remember when Preston Manning debuted the Reform Party, his motto was the West wants in.
And he basically said, hey, separatists, we can reform things.
Now, it didn't quite work out that way, but he gave people some constructive hope.
And I'm going to say that Pierre Polyev is doing the same thing.
Aaron O'Toole, the last Conservative leader, was disgraceful.
He wouldn't be seen with the truckers.
He was a carbon tax aficionado.
He said, oh, I'll just call it a carbon levy.
That's how different I am.
I mean, just an absolute sellout.
And that demoralized conservatives, demoralized Westerners.
And I think people felt, well, what's the point?
Every party in Ottawa is against me.
But the truckers actually were the ones who managed to throw overboard Aaron O'Toole and Jason Kenney.
The truckers are responsible for the two greatest acts of political hygiene in Canada of 2022.
And Pierre Polyev, in his own way, has embraced the freedom movement.
He's certainly leading the charge on the anti-carbon tax stuff.
He's cautiously talking about transgenderism, cautiously talking about immigration, as opposed to being absolutely a cheerleader for the liberal point of view, like Aaron O'Toole was.
I think, well, there's some honking.
I think that Pierre Polyev is giving Westerners in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and even BC some hope that maybe things can be fixed in Ottawa.
I note that some of those flags are upside down, which is a signal of distress, which is true, but they are still Canadian flags that are upside down.
Yeah, well, and let's not forget that it's not just Pierre Polyev that is giving Westerners hope.
also our own premiers, Scott Moe, Danielle Smith, and their constant fight for provincial autonomy against the federal government.
They're showing these people that there is a way forward within Confederation where the provinces have more control of their fate.
You know, you're so right to mention those provincial premiers.
I remember when basically the entire map was liberals, I'm speaking provincially now, liberals, New Democrats.
I mean, Doug Ford is still pretty useless as a conservative, but now you've got Scott Moe, who is a hero.
You've got Atlantic premiers willing to stand up and even challenge their own party.
Doug Ford, late to the game, is sort of saying, yeah, I don't like the carbon tax so much anymore.
I think that there is a unity amongst premiers.
I think, and in Alberta, especially to go from a carbon tax collecting Rachel Notley to a freedom fighting Danielle Smith is quite an about face.
I think there's some reasons for optimism.
And I'm always careful about saying that because how many times do you have to be burned?
But I tell you, seeing these grassroots protests gives me a bit of hope.
Last word to you, Sheila.
Well, you know, it really does.
It is much like the Freedom Convoy where Canadians who are sometimes diametrically opposed, sometimes it feels like the provinces are constantly fighting with each other, Alberta, Quebec.
But, you know, this is something that really unites people.
And we've talked to, you know, dozens and dozens of people in the crowd today, and it is all the same thing.
If they haven't had to make tough decisions for their family because of the carbon tax, they know they will.
It's moms and dads complaining that they have to work too much, that they're seeing their kids too little because of Justin Trudeau's punishing tax on everything.
They're talking about how young people will not be able to afford the same things that their parents have.
These are things that unite Canadians.
This is not just a Western issue.
This is something that resonates with people in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Lloyd, Minster, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver.
This is truly a problem imposed on Canadians by Justin Trudeau for no other reason than that he can't.
Well, I tell you, I really wish I was out there.
I had that feeling during the TruckerCon where I went to Ottawa for a few days.
I loved every second of it.
I'm deeply grateful that I did go.
Of course, I couldn't get out to Coots because I was on the no-fly list because I wasn't jabbed.
Now, just to see this, I mean, we've been talking to Drea out there in the Nanaimo.
In a moment, we're going to go to Adam Saos in Calgary.
You're in Saskatchewan there.
We saw some footage from the Atlantic.
Alexa Lavoisier was in Ottawa.
It feels like we got the whole band back together.
We're covering the Truckers Coast to Coast this time.
They're joined by not just truckers, but farmers and ordinary people of all sorts.
It really is an exciting feeling, and it is really fit for rebel news because we tell the other side of the story.
So much of the media is lecturing us about why no, no, no, carbon taxes are actually really good for you.
I mean, just an astonishing story in the CBC about how experts say the carbon tax is good for you or experts.
Who's an expert in my own life other than myself?
No, no, no.
You're wrong.
Experts say this is really good.
Like this is just the regime media all over again, just like they were during the Truckers.
Just no, no, you guys are wrong.
You guys are January 6th insurrectionists.
You're probably violent.
We're just going to read our press releases from Trudeau.
They're doing the same playbook again, but it looks like no one's listening to the bad guys anymore.
Sheila, it's great to see you.
It looks like our camera froze there a little bit, although I think we were pretty much done chatting with Sheila.
It's great to see her out in the field.
And like I said, I sort of am a little jealous that I'm not out in the field too.
I understand that our friend Adam Sos is on location in Calgary.
Olivia, let me know if we're ready to chat with Adam.
Of course, Calgary is.
Do you have some good footage from you?
Oh, we've got some footage from.
I can't hear you through my ear.
I'm just hearing you through the wall.
But go ahead.
If we've got some footage from Adam, Adam's based in California.
Oh, it looks like we've got some drone footage.
Oh, yeah, let's show this for sure.
Okay, some snow on the ground.
Well, there's a lot of vehicles.
This looks like it's that highway one.
Oh, maybe this is from the helicopter.
It's from that.
I can hear the chopper.
You know what?
I bet those are the good guys who flew up to the Mirror Alberta Whistle Stop Diner in helicopters.
Okay, so you can see that's sort of the looks like there's a lot of vehicles parked in that little turnoff.
And you can see all the people on the side of the road.
Makes me slightly nervous that they're standing near traffic, but it looks like the vehicles are slowing down.
You know what?
I'm not going to be a safety Karen, but it makes me slightly nervous that they're standing on the side of the Highway 1 like that.
Here's some footage of the city itself.
And I don't suppose that that's the convoy there in the center.
I don't think it is.
That just looks like a beautiful shot of Calgary.
I grew up in Calgary, and one of my favorite things was the cold, sunny days in the winter.
Oh, here.
Looks like Adam is ready in front of the helicopter.
I want to know more about this helicopter.
Let's see if we can go live.
Adam, great to see you.
Thanks very much for being on location.
I was looking at that helicopter.
Are those the good guys who went up to the Whistle Stop Cafe by helicopter to patronize Chris Scott when he was attacked by the government?
That's right.
In fact, when they posted these pictures on social media, Chris Scott immediately said, are you coming up for a burger?
This is also the helicopter that we went down.
We did some coverage of the Freedom Convoy as well as the Coots sort of border protests.
So we've been very fortunate in a friend who has this helicopter, the Rebel Copter, as we lovingly call it.
But as you can see, emblazoned axe the tax on the other side of the helicopter.
You have Hike the Spike.
They are working all weekend to get these tackles like done.
And it looks incredible.
People have been like waving from the ground.
It's been pretty great.
Did you actually go up in the Rebel Copter?
I remember we gave it that name when we had that special mission.
I knew it.
I thought these guys have got to be the guy.
I met them.
They're great.
They're real, you know, they're frisky, fun-loving, troublemaking Albertans, which is the kind you got to love.
Did you go up with them today?
Every time, yeah.
Are you coming up there?
That's my footage.
Yeah, the tweets you're showing there.
That's me filming.
We actually flew over an Angelica on the ground in Calgary.
They were filming us from the ground.
So we'll get that shot as well.
Oh, we're going to have multiple angles of it.
Incredible.
And there was a big crowd there.
I'll tell you.
If people look close on that footage where the traffic is starting to back up, the little shadows you can see is probably about 100 people along the side of the highway.
But yeah, we'll do a couple more laps around.
I don't know if we'll quite get out to the borders.
It's a bit of a haul to get there and back.
We'll stop in at a couple of the other sort of planned protests around the city, certainly, before we head back.
And I'll be airborne.
We stopped to fuel up the pilot for a quick bite of lunch.
That's why I can join you without the choppers deafening us.
But yeah.
Well, that's great.
And of course, you know, helicopters don't fly on, you know, pixie dust or solar.
They fly on fuel.
Everything that moves relies on carbon.
Everything that keeps us warm relies on carbon.
But I know those guys from their support for the Whistle Stop Diner, and I am delighted to know.
I forgot that we called it the Rebel Copter when you were in a mission down to Coots.
That's amazing.
Well, please pass on my personal regards to those guys.
I haven't had the pleasure of meeting them, and it's wonderful to have an Air Force like that.
And as I was saying earlier, we did have a clip of one professional protester pro-carbon tax, but I just don't think any severely normal person would say, Yeah, I don't think I'm paying enough for fuel.
I mean, like, there's no one, there's no one in favor of this, is there?
No.
Well, and the reason that this helicopter is out today is because he is a business owner.
He has a major construction company, and he even commented in an interview that we'll be sharing at stopthecarbontax.com that the reason he's doing this is because the slur charge, the surcharge on the fuel today is nothing compared to all the construction vehicles that he's fueling.
Furthermore, maybe not everyone owns a business, but normal people just trying to heat their homes, just trying to get by.
Well, those folks are struggling.
And that's ultimately, it's the same thing as the pandemic protest.
Severely normal people simply trying to live their lives in the government, making that impossible.
That's again what this protest is all about.
Yeah.
And of course, in some ways, we are able to detect the carbon tax directly in our own lives.
If we get a fuel bill, if we get an energy bill.
But of course, embedded within everything we buy at a store is the cost of getting it to the store.
And if it's food, the cost of the farm equipment to grow it.
So this really is an everything tax.
And I'm delighted to see this national uprising.
I haven't seen a good national anti-tax protest in more than 20 years.
And it is a pleasure to see it again.
Last word to you, Adam.
You know, I think the thing that I would just like to comment here, and if it's a little bit boring and political, I apologize.
Lots of people are commenting on the fuel tax going up and saying, why aren't you criticizing that?
Well, frankly, I would criticize that.
But the difference here is, is that is a sort of market-linked oil price-based thing that isn't being added to our costs.
So when oil prices change, that sort of price changes.
It goes up and down.
That is a different thing altogether.
And that's based on a plan, planned sort of economy, a planned budget for the province, adding to that this carbon tax that nobody wants, nobody needs, nobody voted for.
And now it's not just the people standing alone.
It's seven provinces saying enough is enough.
It's a different conversation altogether.
So for folks making that comparison, let's just cut it out.
Let's focus on the real new tax, this hiked carbon tax.
Got it.
And you're talking about an Alberta-specific measure that I understand.
All right.
Well, listen, Adam, great to see you again.
And I'm delighted that you are with the Rebel Copter, as we called it back then.
I'm sure they have a nickname for it too.
Thanks very much for giving us those airborne shots.
Definitely One Lane Traffic00:12:38
That's amazing.
Thanks so much.
Appreciate it.
All right.
There you have it.
Adam Sos from the Calgary area.
I knew it when I saw that helicopter.
I thought, I bet I know who that is.
All right.
Well, let me just check with Olivia here, who is our producer who's managing this live stream.
I've been very encouraged by it.
I'm in high spirits.
It's reminding me of the happy times of the Freedom Convoy.
Now, those were sad times and dark times and tyrannical times and authoritarian times in many ways.
When I say the happy times, I mean the happy consequence of enough Canadians standing up and saying we are going to, in a peaceful Canadian way, push back.
That is the happiness that I'm feeling again here.
I mean, obviously, things are dark economically in particular, and they're about to get worse.
And Trudeau is going to destroy many businesses and make it very hard for a lot of families.
I just saw statistics that Canadians are actually spending less on food in recent months.
It's not because Canadians are suddenly less hungry.
It's because the cost of food is rising.
So these are dark times.
But to see the happy warriors across the country go out and speak up is so encouraging.
And I saw a statistic the other day that nearly half the Liberal MPs have indicated that they will not run again.
I think they see the writing on the wall.
Now I see that our other Calgary correspondent, Angelika Toy, is ready to join us.
Is she ready yet, Olivia?
Or do we need a few more minutes to connect with her?
I didn't quite hear that because you're not coming through on my one minute.
Okay, so we'll go to Angelika in a minute.
Oh boy, here's something.
I mentioned before about how I saw those people on the road and it made me nervous because I know this highway.
This is highway, this is the highway to Banff from Calgary to Banff.
It's Highway 1, as it's called, the Trans-Canada Highway.
And cars go down there.
I think the speed limit's 110.
And a lot of cars go 120, 130, let me tell you from personal experience.
So they're putting out pylons.
They're reducing it by, it looks like they're reducing it by two lanes.
Would you agree with me?
That's what it looks like.
Angelika says, breaking, Axis attacks protesters have blocked a lane.
So maybe one of those is, maybe there's only one lane being blocked and the other is sort of an easement there.
But I was wondering when I saw those people on the road, it made me a little nervous, but traffic was slowing down.
I see we have Angelika on standby now, wearing her rebel hat and a nice warm coat.
Angelika, great to see you.
What's the temperature like there?
I hear the honking horns.
So it looks like it's warm in spirit.
Is it chilly out there?
Hi, Ezra.
Supposed to be 11 degrees.
I'd say it's just a bit under, but it's definitely brought the crowd out, considering it's not minus 20.
So yeah, that's been great.
Well, it's very exciting.
I see someone behind you in a costume with a flag.
And I saw some of the aerial shots of people on the road that made me sort of nervous because I know that road, but it looks like they've got pylons and everyone's slowing down.
And it looks like most of the drivers are honking their support because they're not being blocked.
They're just temporarily being slowed down.
And it sounds like they're supportive.
Every other truck is honking its agreement.
Yes, definitely.
They've actually, originally they negotiated with the RCMP to just block off a certain portion.
And it looks like they are moving the lanes right now.
They're moving.
They're moving them back, actually.
Looks like the RCMP have turned on their sirens.
All right.
So you're saying they negotiated with the RCMP to close a lane, and now the RCMP are turning on their sirens.
So the protesters are moving back.
Is that right?
Yes, that's what I've heard from some protesters that they were negotiating, but the protesters did themselves then move the pylons up to fully block the lane.
But yes, it looks like right now the RCMP are trying to interfere with what's happening here.
So is that, are those RCMP vehicles on the left there?
Or help me figure out what we're looking at.
So we have the RCMP that is the white vehicle with this.
I'm not sure if you guys can actually see the okay.
So they're making room for an ambulance.
Oh, I see.
Okay.
Well, that makes a lot of sense.
Well, look at that.
Getting her done.
There we go.
Safety first.
Nice.
Okay.
Well, that's the right thing to do.
And there's the RCMP.
So maybe if they negotiated that one lane, maybe they'll take the lane back now.
Let's see if that happens.
Essentially, yeah.
Let's see, here we go.
Yeah, that's exactly that's exactly what happened.
Isn't that neat?
There was an ambulance, so they cleared it.
Ambulance went through, and then they closed it off again.
Very interesting.
How many folks would you say are there?
We saw an aerial shot.
It looked like, I don't know, I'm not going to guess.
You're right in the heart of it.
How many folks would you say are there?
I would approximate around 200.
Yeah.
There is people who keep trickling now, I guess, since it's warmed up and it's later in the day.
So people are, more people are starting to come in.
Yeah, it's only 12 noon out there in Alberta right now.
Now, tell me what kind of people are there?
I see Alberta flags, Canadian flags, some homemade placards about Trudeau with the odd F bomb, which I can completely understand.
So who are these folks?
Are they locals?
Did they come in mainly from Calgary?
What are they like?
Amazing.
There is definitely a variety of people.
I know some people did convoy down from Edmonton and Red Deer.
There's definitely quite a variety of people here.
And I see some guys.
Are there any families there?
Or probably being by the side of the highway is not the best place for a kid to be.
I don't see any kids.
There were some kids, I think, up in Lloyd Minster where Sheila was.
What's it like there?
Is it just sort of adults?
The majority are adults, but I have seen some kids and some families.
There was actually a kid earlier.
They set up an axe attacks place where kids can like throw axes and they have like a target done.
So some kids have been playing with that.
That's great.
So basically, the police are watching over things, but they're not making any moves.
They're not arresting.
Have you seen any tickets being handed out or even parking tickets?
I haven't seen any of that taking place, but I did stumble upon two RCMP officers speaking to a woman earlier.
And as I approached them with my camera, they asked me to step away.
So I did get that on camera.
Hopefully we can add that to the reports.
That's about it so far.
Right.
Now, you don't want to obstruct police, but you have the right to film them as long as you're not interfering with their work.
You know, the RCMP, it's always a good idea to give people the benefit of the doubt and treat everyone with respect.
But I think the RCMP have shredded their reputation given their misconduct in Alberta during the COVID lockdowns.
And, you know, obviously, we don't want you to get in any trouble.
We wouldn't want you to be arrested.
But just because a cop says, don't film me, that's not how we roll.
And you know that because you've been a freedom fighter with Rebel for years.
Definitely.
They only stop us from filming when they don't want the public to know something.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, listen, keep up the great work.
It's very exciting to hear all the horn honking.
And it's very interesting to see how it's one lane that's blocked.
Is it just one lane that's blocked off?
Is that right?
Yes, at the moment, there's one lane.
There is a curb lane that makes it look like it's two lanes because there's a merge into the into the Petra Canada gas station where all the trucks usually are.
Right.
Because there is a rest stop here as well.
Well, listen, thank you so much for going out there.
It looks, I'm not going to say it looks fresh and chilly, but sunny.
It looks like great Alberta weather.
Thank you for being there.
Definitely.
Thank you, Ezra.
All right.
There you have it.
Angelique Catoy on the ground.
We just spoke to Adam Soch, who was in the air.
On land and air, we've got you covered.
Very interesting.
And wasn't it interesting that we saw that the RCMP were asking people to clear the road, but it was just for the ambulance to go by.
And then the peaceful protesters took that lane back.
Very interesting.
All right.
Now I understand that our nation's capital, our friend Alexa Lavoie, is on standby.
Olivia, you tell me when we're ready to talk to her.
I have enjoyed going around this great country of ours.
We saw Drea Humphrey in the Naimo, B.C., and that was early morning out there in Pacific time.
We saw Sheila Gunreed having a nice breakfast up there at the Lloyd-Minster border.
And I'm a little hungry just hearing how much fun that community barbecue was.
We went to Adam Sauss, our eye in the sky.
Isn't that neat, the helicopter story?
And very interesting to see Angelique Toy on the ground on the Highway 1, Trans-Canada, west of Calgary, where the RCMP were working with protesters to manage a lane reduction, not a blockade, but a lane reduction.
And if judging by hornhonking is any guide, Calgarians, especially truckers, don't mind this symbolic lane reduction because they know that the carbon tax will hit them all.
Very interesting.
And I tell you, I wish that I was the guy who invented the F. Trudeau flag because I'd be a millionaire by now.
You see those flags everywhere.
By the way, I see a super chat come in by Michael Epp.
He says, hi, Ezra, send Menzies' lawyer the following case law.
Rice versus Connolly, R. V. Guthrie.
Arbitrary IDing in Canada is not possible.
Okay, thank you for that.
We do have a lawyer.
And in fact, David's first appearance is this week.
So we'll have more on that.
Okay, Olivia, how are we doing with connecting with Alexa Lavois?
Okay, we're still waiting for Alexa to get in live.
And by the way, I think our connections have been quite clear.
With Drea, it was crystal clear.
With Sheila, it was pretty clear.
The wind, I think, made things a little bit hard to hear, but we could hear her pretty well.
Same with Adam, same with Angelique.
I have to say that whatever the cell system we're using, it's been excellent today.
Sometimes when you go live in the field, it's a little grainy or choppy.
That's not how it's been.
Let me just check to see if there are any other super chats.
Yeah, there's one from Abelist SL, who chips in five bucks and says, have you heard about the Babylon Bee anti-white racism scandal and related controversies regarding the CEO being a Christophobe who bashes legitimate criticism of the Jewish faith and community?
No, I haven't heard about that.
To call the Babylon B anti-white or anti-Christian is, I'm just going to completely disagree with you.
I follow the Babylon Bee quite closely.
I think they're hilarious and they're clearly Christian inspired.
So unless you can point to something, I just don't know what you mean.
The Babylon Bee is the funniest and the most popular Christian comedy on the internet.
And I make a point of reading all this stuff, so I'm going to politely disagree with you there.
All right.
I think you'll give me a heads up when we have Alexa.
We're just standing by for Alexa from Ottawa.
Quebecers Stand Firm00:14:55
In some ways, Ottawa is the most interesting.
I'm not surprised that you have a nice big protest in Calgary.
I'm delighted to see you have a protest forming in the Naimo.
Obviously, a Saskatchewan-Alberta border is going to be one of the best places in the world.
But how is Ottawa, and more importantly, how are authorities in Ottawa responding?
We have footage from the St. Catharines overpass.
So back to Ontario.
Now, let's take a quick look at this.
Trudeau must go with the Maple Leaf in Distress.
Looks like people on both sides of the Overpass.
Lots of homemade signs.
On that side, it looks like dozens of people.
And it's tough to tell on this side.
I think it's safe to say there's 100 protesters on this bridge.
Jail Bird, I love the homemade marks.
That's the thing about conservative or freedom-oriented protesters.
They typically don't have a pre-fab placard printed for them by some professional organizer.
They make their own.
You know what?
I've attended dozens of protests in our time.
And you go to a left-wing protest, you ask people, what are you here for?
What do you stand for?
They often clam up.
They're afraid they don't know what to say.
And they say, talk to her.
She's the spokesman.
Talk to him.
He's a spokesman.
They don't know because they're just a rent-a-mob.
That's the left-wing professional protester side.
Whereas conservative or populist or freedom-oriented people, like you go to any of the COVID lockdown protests, you ask people, what are you here for?
They'll talk your ear off for an hour.
They know exactly why they're there because they thought about it because they're not professional protesters.
I'd say the same thing here.
Every single person at these protests knows exactly why they're there.
And they made their own signs because it's from the heart.
All right.
I see out of the corner of my eye that our friend Alexa Lavoie is now joining us via Skype.
And I see behind her one of the buildings of Parliament.
It looks like she's on Wellington right now.
Alexa, how are you?
Can you hear me?
Yes, I can hear you, Israel.
Well, it's great to see you.
And I see that you're walking with a group of people.
It looks like you're walking east on Wellington and behind you is the West Block and the Wellington Block, if I'm getting the names right.
And you're moving east towards the center block.
How many people are there?
And have they shut off the road?
It looks like you're on the road.
Have they closed the road?
So they've closed one side of the street for now, but it seems that now they have closed both sides.
But the protester went to the Quebec side.
So they took the bridge.
They marched the other side to Quebec.
And now they are on their way back to Parliament Hill.
Wow.
So how many protests?
It's a little bit difficult to tell.
How many protesters are still on the Ontario side with you?
And how many, just rough estimate, cross the bridge over into Quebec?
So there was some protester who actually stayed at the Parliament Hill.
And so I would say about maybe a little bit less than 100 have marched to the Quebec side and back, I would say, roughly.
A lot of people say that they were expecting more people to protest today, but because the fact is there is multiple protests across Canada.
And so that divide a little bit like the people in small spots.
But right now, everything is very peaceful.
Police are really peaceful also with the protester.
We had one incident where we had a counter-protester who came and tried to disturb the people.
She was actually a pro-Cabourn tax.
To using that this is actually good for people and is it profitable for Canadians?
So so far, now we are coming back.
We just arrived at Parliament Hill.
Right.
And people are slowly arriving.
Now, let me ask you this.
Are police allowing you onto Parliament Hill?
I can see center block and the peace tower behind you.
Are you allowed up there?
Yes, so because I think it's Chris Dorsey, he did the demand for being on Parliament Hill starting at 11 a.m., having the rights to use speakers and also flags.
So right now there is no interdiction of anything.
And so it's why the police is not bothering nobody with either like speaker or you see like there is megaphone and loud noise.
I see some police, I think, behind your shoulder wearing those police liaison vests.
Are those police officers?
I can't quite tell from where I am.
They are police liaison.
So we have on the ground RCMP, Ottawa Police.
There is also the Parliament Hill officer, and they are liaison police.
It's so interesting to me that they've closed the road.
What kind of signs are you seeing people hold up?
I imagine, I think I saw Axe the Tax is one of them.
That's a great slogan at Rhymes.
Are there other creative slogans or even other subjects, other issues that people are protesting at the same time?
Yes, I saw also a sign mentioning the raise that Justin Trudeau and the MP will get today.
So they are increasing income to Justin Trudeau and the MP.
And so a slogan mentioning that since the citizen is getting poorer, but the elite, the bureaucrats are getting richer.
There is also a sign about children, protect the children.
And there is, I would say there is all kind of like sign.
By the way, we are farmers.
We are fishermen that are on the ground protesting the carbon tax.
That is actually a stressing to mention.
Isn't that interesting?
Now, one last question.
You were on the streets of Ottawa for us as one of our team covering the trucker Freedom Convoy two years and one month ago.
And it was very interesting.
And one of the things that made me feel so great about that were the number of Quebecois truckers and others who came to Ottawa.
And it proved to me that Canadians of all backgrounds believed in freedom.
Are there Quebecers here today?
Or as you said earlier, are they perhaps at Quebec-based protests in Hull, in Gatineau, in Montreal, in Quebec City?
Do you hear any francais being spoken on the street today?
There is a few Quebecers.
A lot of Quebecers are really disappointed to not see more of them, especially because I have the impression that Quebecers feel that they are exempt from that rise of carbon tax.
But the thing is, sometimes they don't really think that in every goods we will be impacted by the federal carbon tax.
And so there is just a, I would say I saw some people who speak French, but I need to say that some people from Ottawa speak both languages.
Right.
So I don't know exactly where they are coming from, but I met some people from Montreal and some people from Gatineau.
So I know there is some Kibbeker here today.
Right.
Well, it's very exciting.
I don't know if you know, Alexa, but over the last hour and a half, we've been talking to our reporters, Drea Humphrey in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, BC, Sheila Gunread at the border between Saskatchewan and Alberta, Adam Sos and Angelika Toy from west of Calgary, including in a helicopter.
So we've had coverage from different parts, and we've picked up other footage from the Atlantic.
So it's been a very exciting national movement.
We've had footage from, I think, St. Catharines, if I'm remembering, and Hamilton.
So really, if you count up all the cities, and of course, we're not everywhere, but I'm so proud of our rebel team for being out on the streets.
I'm excited because I feel that same democratic rebellion, that peaceful rebellion that I felt two years ago.
This time it's about financial freedom, whereas two years ago, it was about personal freedom.
But I'm delighted that Canadians care enough to stand up, especially when it's chilly.
What's the temperature like there in Ottawa?
I see you wearing a nice warm coat.
It's not as cold as it was two years ago during the trucker.
What's it?
No.
My God, during the trucker, it was so cold.
Here today is about six degrees.
I don't know what is the field temperature because I would say the sun is pretty warm.
So it's actually a good, good temperature today to be outside.
Yeah.
Well, it looks great.
And I'm so glad you're there.
And I'm living vicariously through you and our other journalists who are out amongst the people.
Now, you started with us not long before the Freedom Convoy went to Ottawa.
In fact, I think your coverage in Ottawa really helped establish you as a great citizen journalist.
Has anyone recognized you and given you a shout out on the streets?
I'm just curious.
Everybody.
I would say there is so many people who recognize us.
And it's good to see some people are just marching in the street and they recognize us too.
So I think Ruben News have a lot of fans around here.
Isn't that great?
Well, Alexa, thank you so much for going out there today and for reporting and for joining us live.
Again, a great connection.
I'm delighted that all of our reporters at Crystal Clear Connections today really made it feel like we were right there with you.
So thanks for joining us, Alexa.
Thank you.
Have a great day.
All right, you too.
Well, there you have it, Alexa Lavoise.
She's our chief correspondent in Quebec, of course.
And maybe you think I'm talking too much about how perfect the connection is.
It's just that sometimes when you go live on location, it's not.
So I just really feel like we got a really good sense of how it is across the country, don't you?
And obviously the numbers are not as enormous as they were during the absolute crisis of the lockdowns.
I mean, that was a civil liberties bonfire, the worst in a generation.
And the country had reached the boiling point.
And it was actually a miraculous working class-led freedom movement, completely peaceful.
It was really, I don't think in the rest of my life, I'll see anything as amazing as the trucker convoy was.
But this has those same vibrations.
It has the same positive spirit, the team spirit, the community spirit, the grassroots spirit.
We did see that one person, Alexa mentioned, the pro-carbon tax protester.
I think I recognized her as Deanna Sharif, who's like a professional left-wing antifa-style rabble-rouser.
So I don't even think that counts.
We saw real people standing up against Trudeau, up against the tax, and quite a few places made the same.
Like we saw Drea mentioning the sign about the salary hike for the MPs, and we heard Alexa mention that too.
It is not lost on people that the same day they raise taxes on the rest of us, they give themselves a pay raise.
Very interesting.
Well, I think, you know, we do have another reporter on the ground in Lethbridge, Alberta.
I refer to my friend Robert Krachik, who is down there covering the trials of the Couts 3, which starts tomorrow.
In fact, I'm going to be heading out there myself for the first day in court.
I'm not sure if we'll be able to get Robert soon enough.
Is he still some time away, Olivia?
Yeah.
All right.
You know what?
I'm going to make the decision that since we got Alberta pretty well covered.
We had the southern end with Angelika and Adam, and we had the more northern end with Sheila.
So I'm going to make the decision if we can't get Robert right away.
We'll just catch up with him tomorrow.
But I really enjoyed this live stream.
Thank you to all of you who are watching on the different platforms.
And that's rebel news for you.
Our specialty is being out in the world on video, telling you what the mainstream media will not tell you.
And it's like a rerun of the Freedom Convoy, where you have the regime media back then saying, take the jab.
Everyone's doing it.
Anyone who's against it is a conspiracy theorist.
You see the regime media now, those 200 economists saying, carbon tax is good for you.
If you're complaining, you're wrong.
Only far-right people don't like paying taxes.
And oh yeah, if you pay the tax, this will change the weather.
Yeah, no, that's not how it goes.
Yeah, look at that.
Some more great footage.
Axe the carbon tax, lest we forget our war vets.
Good one.
Shame on Parliament.
So these look like we are the solid majority, but okay, so someone made these beautiful signs.
Okay, there's some controversial views there about climate change.
And Eli's lie, yeah, there's some good stuff there.
You know what?
Great Footage from Ottawa00:02:03
Very interesting.
Some chalk.
Listen, that great footage from Ottawa.
Some different flags.
We saw that lady earlier.
She was singing a song, wasn't she?
They'll tax us till we're broke.
Spike the hike, axe the tax.
What an interesting collection of people and the police out there in force, but not getting handsy.
Make Canada great again, I think that said.
The cops standing by there, but just keeping an eye so far.
A bunch of police cars there.
I think there are some cops who would like to crack some skulls, but I think they also know that they overplayed their hand in what they did during the trucker convoy.
Of course, it's been ruled illegal.
The invocation of the Emergencies Act was illegal and unconstitutional.
Well, it's 2.31 Eastern Time, 1231 Alberta Time, and 11.31 a.m. in British Columbia.
What a pleasure it's been to host this live stream over the last 90 minutes.
I'll be back at 8 p.m. Eastern time tonight with my show.
It's called The Eyes from the Van Show.
Until next time, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel World Headquarters and across the country, to you at home, goodbye and keep fighting for freedom.
The NDP Trudeau carbon tax on the farmer who grows the food and the trucker who ships the food is a tax on all who buy the food.
Now they want to quadruple the tax.
I'm Pierre Polyev.
I'll axe the tax so you pay less and bring home more.
I am the one being punished for speaking truth, yet he can mock females and say, you know, call me a bigot, incite hate, and nothing's being done about that.
But I'm the one being silenced by my federation.
Freedoms Under Attack00:02:41
A lot of women are silenced and feel silenced in that they have no voice or they're afraid to speak up, fear of maybe getting kicked out of the federation to be called names, right?
For backlash.
They're trying to silence everyone by using me as an example.
So, I mean, more and more people are going to be afraid to speak up.
When it comes down to sports, which is my platform, it's bodies that play sports, not identities.
And we have to stick to biology.
We got to call a spade a spade.
We have to call a man a man and a woman a woman.
I have a huge amount of support.
We just need those voices to be heard and people to speak up more.
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There's so much more energy in Canada to fight back against woke, to fight back against tyranny.
The counter reaction eventually to relentless identity politics is for the other side to start saying, okay, identity politics.
Right or wrong, what it does is it creates more of itself.
It's like it's contagious.
These tyrannical regimes weaponize the idea that people think they're the only one who doesn't get along with everything, doesn't go along with everything, right?
And so they're ashamed that they're not good enough to get it.
If they don't buy in, they're going to get excluded.
They know that the axe comes for them.
And so they're going to do anything to stay included.
That's the psychology of inclusion.
That's the word, right?
People are waking up and saying, oh my gosh, what's really going on?
And a lot of them are getting answers, and a lot of them are figuring it out.
They cross the uncrossable line.
They mess with our kids.
We've heard from Sikhs, we've heard from Muslims, we heard from Christians, we heard from atheists, we heard from all kinds of people.