Tamara Leach critiques Canada’s Emergencies Act ruling, calling its $1.3B legal costs and protesters’ house arrest disproportionate while figures like Chrystia Freeland face no consequences. She ties this to Alberta separatism, dismissed as far-right by Jason Kenney despite broad support from Zoomers and families, framing it as a response to federal neglect—like Mark Carney’s divisive "green manifesto." Leach argues the movement’s pragmatic focus on self-governance exposes federalism’s failures, with no real legal barriers standing in the way. The episode underscores systemic targeting of dissenters over accountability for state overreach. [Automatically generated summary]
It's been a bad 10 days or so for Mark Carney and Tamara Leach joins the show to break it down.
I'm Sheila Gunn-Reed and you're watching The Gunn Show.
Well, you know who the guest is.
I I just told you it's our friend Tamara Leach, convoy leader, my new co-worker.
And she's going to discuss the very bad 10 days or so for Mark Carney's government from failed federalism, the rise of Western separatism in town halls and parking lots even, all across this beautiful province as Albertans are sending a message that they want a new deal and that new deal does not involve Ottawa.
Then the challenge, the appeal of a previous judge's ruling that found the invocation of the Emergencies Act was unlawful and unjust was upheld by a three-judge panel.
And so we're breaking it down.
I want Tamara's reaction to all that and a few other things.
I'll button it up.
Here's an interview we recorded yesterday morning.
Joining me now is my good friend and my new co-worker, Freedom Convoy activist.
I don't know what I'm supposed to call you.
I don't want to get you in trouble.
Tamara Leach.
And we want to talk about the government's reaction or lack thereof to the Emergencies Act ruling.
Then a convoy protester is out on bail after four years behind bars.
And then we'll talk about the rise of Alberta separatism.
Tamara is fresh back at her home because she's under house arrest from her community service, which she has almost done.
And Tamara, I was able to hear the Emergencies Act ruling where a panel of three judges reaffirmed a prior court's finding that the government acted illegally in invoking the Emergencies Act to end the peaceful freedom convoy protest.
And I got to see your reaction where you were moved to tears.
I was apprehensive.
You know, I'm always ready to be disappointed by a federal court, but they actually did the right thing for once.
But in spite of that, all the people involved in it are either still in cabinet or have gone on to other things like Christie Freeland.
Are we ever going to see anybody ever held to account for this?
You know, I sure hope so.
But I don't know.
We haven't seen accountability.
I mean, how many scandals are we at now with this government?
It's been nonstop for over 10 years and there's never been any accountability.
I find it a little bit ironic, you know, like the court has obviously found Chris and myself guilty of mischief and then Chris has the other charge.
And so as what normally happens is we're being held accountable.
So we are absolutely serving our sentences as we're supposed to be.
And so it's frustrating, you know.
I basically feel like we're being punished more harsh for a mischief than the government of Canada for breaching the charter rights of Canadians.
Yeah, it's a strange thing because they did the wrong thing, but all the consequences are yours.
Like they get to walk away.
They get to remain in cabinet.
get to go on to international gigs and you're stuck under house arrest doing a community service, which I think you would probably do anyway, because you're that kind of person.
But nothing bad will ever happen to them.
And in a real country, they would face serious consequences.
Their ethics breaches alone in a country like the United States would have them landed behind bars.
Like Freeland taking a job with a regime that takes money from the Canadian government is influence peddling.
And you would end up in jail for that in another country.
But in Canada, they just give her a pension and send her on her merry way.
Well, wasn't it South Korea that ended up invoking a form of martial law in their country too?
And I believe that their president or prime minister, pardon my ignorance, I'm not sure what they have, but he's in jail for doing exactly the same thing.
And you're absolutely right.
I mean, these MPs that were all involved in this decision making of the indication and the execution of it are failing upwards.
They're leaving for greener pastures.
I think Yara Sachs, if I'm not mistaken, I saw a rebel news report that she's been offered a position elsewhere too.
So they're just really throwing all the rules right out the window.
And you're absolutely right.
I mean, in a normal functioning democracy, these people would be held to account.
And at the very least, the MPs that are still in cabinet or in the government period would resign.
I mean, Bev Oda resigned over a $16 glass of orange juice.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was talking to Keith Wilson about that the other day.
The thing with the Bev Oda $16 orange juice was that it wasn't that it was too much for the liberals.
The liberals were going to make a sink out of it anyway and be completely insincere about it because we see how they spend other people's money.
Bev Oda faced pressure from conservatives who didn't like conservatives wasting people's money that way.
That's, I think, the difference between us and liberals is they really just care about power at all costs.
And sure, conservatives would like to win, but not if it means selling our souls or compromising ourselves along the way.
Exactly.
No, I would agree with that 100%.
I'm hoping, I'm hopeful that somebody will eventually be held accountable.
But I mean, what are we on?
Day 11 now.
It's been well over a week since the ruling was upheld and there has not even been a statement issued from the PMO or the justice minister who also was involved in the decision-making process, might I add.
And so that's very telling.
And I think we're dealing with a government, as we know.
And I think that's part of the reason why they appealed this in the first place was just to buy them some time, hope everybody moves on, focuses on hating Donald Trump and just forgets about it.
But it's shocking to me and very concerning, like I said, that not even a statement has been issued.
And I was going through some of the video footage that I have on my phone, obviously sent to me by other people during the takedown because I was in jail.
And it's pretty unsettling to watch the violence against Canadian citizens by law enforcement, obviously.
And we know now that it was excessive use of force.
Well, the thing that really got to me was what do they call them, the starlight tours?
The taking the pro because they're specifically trained against that, because people died when they did that in Saskatchewan.
So the law enforcement is trained not to do that.
And yet they did it to Freedom Convoy protesters.
And for people who don't know, that's when they round you up when it's real cold and it's dark and they take you outside of town and then drop you off somewhere where you have to find your own way back.
And it resulted in deaths, I think, too, in Saskatchewan.
And so they believe.
Yeah, they have specific training against this, but they did it to the Freedom Convoy protesters.
And we all remember how bitterly evil, cold it was.
They were taken in unheated vehicles and then just left outside of town.
Find your own way back.
But just don't go back to basically they were said, if you go that way, you're going to be rearrested.
So you need to go that way.
And they left them there.
You're absolutely right.
And lots of them, of course, being out in the cold all day, or some of them were held in transports all day, as you mentioned, their phones were dead.
Right.
So, you know, if it wasn't for the fact that other people with, you know, a bar of service left could get a hold of Bikers Church.
I mean, that's how they got picked up was the Bikers Church went and collected them all as they were being dropped off in the middle of a snowstorm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And nobody's ever been held accountable for that.
And we heard the victims of this testify at the Public Order Emergency Commission.
So this stuff is all on the record.
The victims of it are on the record.
And yet none of the officers involved have ever faced any professional consequences for any of it.
Right.
Well, don't forget the acting chief Steve Bell at the time also.
Well, he was in charge of the whole thing, obviously, but he also went on and did a press conference and said, basically, if you're supporting this in any way, we're going to hunt you down and financially cripple you for the rest of your life, basically.
Yeah, they threatened to take people's kids away from them.
Yep.
As though your politics made you a bad parent.
Moving on from that, I think we'll never see anything change on this until there's a different government in power.
And with the voting habits of Eastern boomers, I cannot reasonably see that in the near future.
And if Alberta leaves, I don't think it'll ever happen again.
I don't think there will ever be a conservative government in power.
But I wanted to talk to, and we'll talk about that in a second, but I wanted to talk to you about the recent news that Anthony Olinek, Tony Olinek, he's one of the Coots IV, initial Coots IV, who was convicted on mischief, but also some firearms related charges in a Lethbridge courthouse in 2024.
He's served four and a half years behind bars already.
He's been recently released on bail pending an appeal.
I just wanted to get your reaction to this because I had been in that courthouse covering that case and I always got the feeling like he was sentenced for the crimes they wanted to convict him on instead of the crimes he was actually charged with.
And I just based on the sentencing guidelines and historical sentences that had been given, I thought that they sentenced him for what they wish they could have got him on.
Yes, I agree.
They did.
They dropped the conspiracy to murder the police officer charges.
You're absolutely right.
But when it did come time to sentence them, it's like they were sentenced for that anyways.
It is absolutely appalling that Tony has spent this long in jail, especially in a remand.
I was just talking about this at my community service.
He's been in the remand the whole time.
Well, he was transferred to Drum Heller.
But when you're at the beginning of this, I mean, they were transferred from remand to remand to remand.
And let me tell you, as somebody who's spent time in a remand center, and I told my lawyer this too, like if I'm getting sentenced, I want it, it's got to be two years plus a day because I would much rather a penitentiary would be Disneyland compared to the remand centers.
And so even, you know, I believe it was the decision came, was supposed to come on the day that he, that the federal court ruling came out, actually.
And it's really concerning that they waited this long even to release him.
And I don't think he's been released yet.
I think they're just planning to release him.
But I could be, I could be mistaken on that.
But I mean, four years is incomprehensible, especially when you see a lot of the crimes that are happening across this country right now and violent criminals, violent sexual offenders, repeat offenders, violent offenders that aren't even Canadian citizens are getting let off so much easier.
It's pretty clear that anything related to the Freedom Convoy, they have gone after with a vengeance and a viciousness that I've never seen before.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, they were sentenced sort of in line with the two young men who had provided the firearm to the man who did the shooting of the Mayor Thorpe Mounties.
That was sort of what they were where that's the time that those guys got.
And that's how I sort of came to the conclusion.
Oh, they sentenced him for being involved in the execution of police officers because that's in their mind what they wish they were able to charge him with.
But he was actually convicted of just firearms related offenses and mischief, just like you.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I know.
It's, I mean, this man has lost four years of his life.
All of the Coots boys, you know, I think the Jerry and Chris Lysack were in jail for, I think it was at least almost two years.
Chris Carbert hasn't really been out that long.
I mean, these guys have lost years of their lives, years with their children and their families.
And, you know, I couldn't even compare my situation to theirs, honestly.
I mean, it's just, they were held in there for so long without even a bail hearing.
Right.
And I mean, I feel for him.
I feel for him.
Yeah.
The whole world has changed really since he's been in there, right?
For sure.
For sure.
He's coming out to a much worse Canada, by the way, and it felt bad even back then.
Seeing the Alberta Independence Movement00:08:09
Just moving ahead, I want to talk to you about Western separation, Western independence, as they like to call it, whatever that might look like.
You and I are a little bit deeply online, probably more so than other people.
It's just the nature of the work that we do.
But it's real interesting to see somebody who continues to miscalculate the anger of Albertans.
I think that was his fatal flaw.
Jason Kenney, former Premier Jason Kenney, coming out to malign Western independence-minded people as racist, crackpots.
I think he called them kooks or loons the other day.
These people used to be the people who reliably voted for him, who door knocked for him, fundraised for him.
He's sure as hell happy to take their money and votes when he was on church in 20.
Yeah, so were so many people.
And now he's totally turned on them because they think that there's a different way forward.
It's real interesting to see everybody talk about the independence movement, but they never actually talk to the independence movement.
And it's normal people.
It's moms.
It's dads.
It's overwhelmingly young, by the way.
Like, yes, the grandparents are there, but they're saying to me, I'll never see the benefit of us leaving Confederation, but I'm willing to put the work in and take the risk for my grandchildren, which is so much different than them Eastern boomers.
I'll tell you that.
But everybody's talking about them.
Nobody ever talks to them.
And if you talk to them, they will tell you exactly why they want to go.
I just wanted to get your take on this sort of organized derision of an entire diverse group of people from the established federalist elite.
Well, I think what we're seeing, it's going to be the exact same playbook that they used against the Freedom Convoy.
And I was again talking about this with the lady this morning too.
I get a lot of Freedom Convoy vibes, I guess, around the Alberta independence movement because it is hopeful.
And, you know, we do have everyday citizens that can go about and make some change.
But coming with that is also going to come exactly the same way that we were treated.
You know, first they laughed at us and they mocked us, which is exactly what happened.
Then they started with the name calling, racist, traitor, misogynist.
You know, they're going to, that's, and we're seeing that happen right now.
And then I've actually already seen some posts insinuating that we're all far right.
So you know where this is going.
They're going to do exactly, it's going to be exactly the same playbook as what we saw happen to us during the Freedom Convoy.
And it's just going to, I mean, exactly.
Nobody's asking why.
You know, they just want to call names and make a bunch of accusations and, you know, treat us like we're stupid hillbillies.
You know, the saying used to be the West wants in.
And I think we're just at a point now, at least for a lot of people that I talked to, that we just want out.
Like we don't care anymore.
There's nothing that we can do.
We've tried everything.
The Reform Party, we've tried everything.
And I, like you said at the beginning of this, I don't see a day in this country ever again where we will see a conservative government because it's all stacked against us.
Yeah.
I mean, if we leave, there's never a conservative government again.
And so who will be the biggest antagonists against the West leaving?
It will be the Conservative Party in their own self-interest.
And that's why they've trotted out their buddy Jason Kenney to act as a proxy, I'm sure.
And don't get me wrong.
You know, I think the conservative government, if they're, I'm sorry, the Conservative Party, I really do think they're fighting for the West.
For sure they are.
I mean, they're fighting for Western interests.
They care about firearms rights.
They care about property rights.
They care about free speech and religious freedom and oil and gas.
Yes, yes, yes, that is all true.
But they won't form government.
So how effective will they ever be?
You know?
Yes.
That's exactly right.
So, I mean, I just obviously I've sort of gone, you know, 360 on this whole thing because I obviously grew up very proud of my country.
Yeah, I was taught that diversity was our strength and we celebrated our multiculturalism at one point.
And I was very proud of everything that had to do with Canada.
And obviously, by the time the convoy started, I was already on board with the Wexit movement and the Maverick Party.
So I was already a proponent for independence before the convoy.
And it was the convoy that actually changed my mind.
And I did end up resigning.
I resigned my position with the Maverick Party.
And because I did believe that from what I was seeing, the unity, the support, just average Canadians coming together in like in ways that I always believed they would.
But it's become very apparent, you know, over the last four years that I just think we're better off on our own.
I don't see, I don't see anything changing.
And I think even politically, what we've seen happen in the last three weeks in Canada is very alarming to me.
Signing up with China, signing up with Qatar.
I mean, what's next?
North Korea?
And I strongly suspect that what we're seeing now here with Mark Carney, all of a sudden, I think he's going to call a spring election.
And I think he's really ramping up the TDS in order to make that happen.
That's all he's got, right?
That's all he's got.
He can't run on his own record.
What has he built?
What has he done so he can only run against Donald Trump?
But you know, I think there are a lot of people like you who say uh, we tried it their way.
Tried it their way a couple of times um when, only when we really only needed to try it once, but we had an Alberta Based prime minister and it's nothing got better.
You know we, we tried taking our concerns to them and people got arrested.
Um, we tried raising our voices and they accused us of being Russian funded and foreign funded and racist and Nazis and radicals.
And they're doing it all again.
It's all like, as you said, that it's all the same playbook.
So I understand a lot of people who are saying uh yeah, we tried, we.
There's got to be another reason, as Mark Carney says, than nostalgia and uh, I haven't heard that reason quite yet exactly.
Well, and so many people will say that we should stay because it's just always been this way.
You know, and that's one thing.
It's always been this way, we've always done things this way, and the only thing I can think of when people tell me that is, there was a time where they used to bloodlet people uh, because they thought that that was going to help them.
However, you know experience, time and science yes, the leeches and proved.
You know they had to make these changes.
And is it going to be easy?
No, it's not.
It's not going to be easy and some of us are probably going to have to sacrifice some things and mistakes are going to be made, but it's okay to make mistakes and I think a lot of people just need to understand.
You know, it is scary.
Change is always scary.
Um yeah, I think there's going to be more responsibility where responsibility already lies.
There's going to be more consequences where consequences already lie.
For Albertans, there's going to be more work where work already lies.
But what I know about Albertans, as a lifelong one of them, is that we're not scared of those things and I think, if I had to be honest with you, the rest is just paperwork.
Really yes, it's not like we have to move.
We don't have to pick up and move.
We don't have to get like a, a band saw, like cut the rest of the country off from us.
I think it's mostly just paperwork and us just taking on responsibility where we already have a ton of responsibility, like why wouldn't we pick up the places where the feds are failing and making life worse, and we're not scared of hard work.
No, that's exactly right.
If anyone could do it, it'll be us.
Albertans Unite!00:02:24
Yes yes uh Tamara, tell people how they can watch your show with our friend, Chris Barber.
Mr Chris Barber yes uh Chris, and I have started a podcast called house arrest.
Uh, house arrest with Chris and Tamara, and uh, it's every thursday nights at 6 p.m. Mountain Time, and we started it basically.
Well obviously, as a form of therapy, um sure, to get through the next 18 months.
Um, part of it is to mock, really what's happening, because we mock mockworthy things and I think um, this whole situation is is definitely mockworthy um, but we are, we're also getting people on.
Our first guest was Brian Peckford to talk about the charter, which we thought was very fitting.
Uh, we had Ray Mcginnis and Gordon Mcgill on to talk about THE Coots BOYS.
So, amplifying other, not just Convoy stories, but other stories in general.
Like, I'd love to get Kaylin Carey, the Vax Injured, two prominent voices for the Vax Injured on the show as well.
And Dr. Rogers.
So, you know, it's a great platform to get some great stories out and garner support for others too.
So, and it's really in line, I guess, with what Chris and I do.
You know, we like to have fun, but if it can benefit somebody else, then that's that's a huge bonus.
Yeah, and I think talking to people that, you know, if you got all your news from the mainstream media, you would only hear one version of.
And yes, uh, and there are two sides to every story: the mainstream media version, and then there's the truth.
So, mean girl media.
I've called them the mean girl media ever since you guys went to that thing.
And where was it where they were just terrible to you guys?
Oh, at the debate.
During the election, yeah, at the debate.
Some grown man in the mainstream media.
I don't want to give his name, but you know him and I know him.
He balled up a piece of paper and threw it at me.
I know.
Masked man.
That was the most embarrassing, ridiculous behavior I've ever seen.
And these are supposed to be professionals.
You know, it was like, it was, it was really tough to watch.
But so, yeah, I don't call them even the mainstream anymore.
I call them the mean girl media now.
Yeah, it was like somebody spoke Latin to a demon in that room.
Like they just all lost their faculties the second we stood up to the microphone.
Tamara, thanks so much for coming on the show.
New World Order Conspiracy00:07:03
I've got a busy day.
I know that despite the fact that you're on host arrest, you are always very busy too.
And I can't wait to see what you do next.
As you know, friends, the last portion of the show is always yours.
You become the guest in segment three because without you, there's no rebel news.
We don't take any money from the government.
So we don't care what they think about us.
You can certainly tell the people who do take money from the government because they're not as tough on the carney liberals as the liberals deserve them to be.
So I welcome your viewer feedback.
I want to know what you think about the work that we do here at Rebel News.
If you want to send me an email directly, it's sheila at rebelnews.com.
Put gun show letters in the subject line so I know why you're emailing me.
But I also read your comments on the work that we do.
Not just my work, but everybody's work.
That's sort of my job is to take the temperature of the audience and pass along your feedback to the team, not just to absorb it myself.
Now, on the topic of Western separation, Western independence, I interviewed Convoy lawyer, but also independence influencer, maybe is how I would describe him, Keith Wilson, on Ezra's show.
I was filling in for him earlier in the week because he's away.
That's one of the other things that I do around here.
And so I thought I would see what the viewers were saying about that interview with Keith and what Keith had to say about how Canada is just too big to make sense.
Too big and too, I think, culturally different.
The West is culturally different than the East.
I think the West is more culturally aligned with our neighbors to the South than we are with our neighbors to the East, most definitely, and also on the West Coast.
I'm not talking about the interior of British Columbia.
You guys are as Albertan as it gets or northern BC for that matter.
We were talking about the cultural divide, the economic divide, and the town halls that are taking place all across the province.
Seemingly, every single night, every single night, there's an independence town hall.
And every single night in, I would guess, a dozen places in the province, there's a petition signing.
So Tico Master One says, wife and I signed the forms for the referendum on independence last week.
Rural community, 400 people signed in the first two hours.
I completely believe that.
Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Zoomers were there signing a free and independent Alberta is the only way forward.
Let's go.
It is not the crowd of angry white men that the mainstream media who don't go to these things would have you believe.
There are a ton of Zoomers there.
I think our Zoomers in the West are better than the Zoomers anywhere else.
Our boomers in the West are better than everywhere else in this country, for sure.
I just think we're better.
And I know that might offend some of you in other places, but I hope you are a regional supremacist too.
That's how you make the place where you're at the best.
Be a regional supremacist.
I'm a regional supremacist, that's for sure.
Lee Yves Mexico says, it's a cabal.
Absolutely right, Keith.
Federalism isn't working very well for any Canadian.
That is also true.
Oh, KG Nagoyan, I think is how I say that.
Sorry, I butchered your name, obviously.
Need new signs for the CBC.
Can't believe Carney.
Let's go, Albert.
Very funny.
Yes, yes, yes.
Dolores Grenelle, Grinai, Grenelle, says Jordan Peterson had an excellent show on Carney's belief system versus Canada's values.
Yeah, Carney's values, which is the name of his manifesto, his green manifesto versus Canada's values.
Heather Harris, 7069, I'm a boomer and in full agreement to separate.
I'm not on par with them.
Don't lump us all together.
I would sign if I were an Albertan.
Okay, I say this every time I mention the Eastern boomers.
There's something wrong with your demographic cohort.
You do vote overwhelmingly liberal.
Now, if you are not one of them that voted for Mark Carney, I'm not talking about you.
And let me preface this by saying, there is something wrong with the mid-40 white woman.
Okay, that's my cohort.
I get it.
But when people are critical of the mid-40s white woman, especially in the United States, they're all at these ICE protests.
I know they're not talking about me, so I don't get uptight about it.
But there is something wrong with the Central and Eastern boomer voting cohort.
The demographics just played out.
But look, if you didn't vote for Carney, I'm not talking about you.
And I'm glad you didn't vote for Mark Carney.
I'm glad that you are a better version of your demographic.
And I know there are many of you out there who would move to Alberta, who understand what we're going through out here.
And I'm grateful for you.
But please don't be offended if I say things about Eastern boomers because I'm not talking about you.
All right.
And Chad G3985 says no new world order.
Well, you're going to have to take that up with our prime minister.
And he's our prime minister for now.
But hopefully, hopefully, you won't be my problem soon enough.
Yeah.
Also, I noticed on this very video that I took these comments from, there is a conspiracy theory warning about the new world order On YouTube and on any video that mentions the new world order, it says it's a conspiracy theory.
I don't know.
I just saw Mark Carney say it in Davos in front of the entire world.
So I don't know.
And he also said it in that press conference where poor Scott Moe from Saskatchewan looked like he was in a proof of life hostage video.
His head craned around so fast, I thought he was going to end up, as Lise said, in a neck brace.
So, I mean, it's comical to see our politicians use the term New World Order.
And then, if you say you don't want to be a part of it, you're the conspiracy theorist and the New World Order doesn't exist.
Excuse me.
Anyway, that's the show for today.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
I'll see everybody back here in the same time, in the same place next week.