Ezra Levant at Calgary’s Conservative Party convention (Feb 2) highlights Pierre Polyev’s 87.4% approval, contrasting it with Jason Kenney’s 51% and criticizing media attacks like CBC’s This Hour Has 22 Minutes mocking him as "whiny." Guests—MPs Andrew Lawton and Aaron Gunn—blame Liberal policies for economic decline, bureaucracy, and lost investment, rejecting UNDRIP compromises and calling BC Premier David Eby’s "treasonous" label on Western separatists arrogant amid BC’s 75,000 annual net migration. Brody, leader of 1BC, condemns Trudeau’s convoy crackdown, including bank freezes, as lacking empathy, while convention motions push for CBC privatization and parental rights. Levant warns Mark Carney’s potential April election could exploit U.S. midterm timing, vowing Rebel News’ independent counterattack—even if it means re-registering as a third-party group—to hold both parties accountable. [Automatically generated summary]
Tonight, Rebel News is at the Conservative Party convention.
I'll tell you all the details.
It's February 2nd, and this is the Esther Levant show.
shame on you you sensorious bug oh hi everybody i'm I am at the Conservative Party conference in Calgary.
Thousands of people.
It's an enormous gathering.
And I'm coming to you on Saturday.
The key vote happened yesterday, namely that Pierre Polyev received a vote of confidence by 87.4% of the party, if my memory is correct to the exactitudes.
That's about as high as Stephen Harper got after his first election attempt when he didn't make it.
It's not quite as high as Danielle Smith's affirmation by her provincial party.
And recall Jason Kenney, the Premier of Alberta, left the position after receiving just 51% of the vote by the UCP after his disastrous handling of COVID.
Anyhow, the party seems united.
And of course, there's the old saying, you can't beat someone with no one.
By which I mean, if not Pierre Polyev, then who?
And I think a lot of the disparagement of Pierre Polyev is bad faith criticism by people who hate him anyways.
If you look at most of the people who've been slagging Pierre Polyev, it's liberals.
It's the CBC.
They mock him.
Just the other day, I saw this outrageous sketch on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, just mocking Pierre Polyev, trying to denormalize him.
Not funny at all, just trying to make him come across as whiny and grating.
Take a look.
Oh my God, this is Pierre's worst New Year's party yet.
You think so?
Remember 2021?
We had to help him put his contacts in.
This one's worse.
Look around.
We're at a loser party.
Maybe we should go to the Liberal Party.
Hey, hey, hey!
Isn't this party something, team?
No music, fully lit, hard chairs.
I love it.
Yeah, yeah.
Too bad some of the group left for the Liberal Party.
Traitorous scum.
Yeah, I hate Traitorous Scum.
Plus, I heard the party sucks anyway.
You know, open bar.
Can you imagine enjoying a drink you didn't earn?
Yeah.
Plus, New Year, new Pierre.
I'm nice and I'm fun now.
You guys want to play my favorite party game?
I test.
Yeah, maybe in a bit.
Okay, you're missing out.
Yeah, it's not even funny.
It's just insults and mean girl stuff.
I think they're forgetting to use the laugh track over there at this hour's 22 minutes.
Anyways, I think Pierre Polyev can win, and I know that because for about a year he was miles ahead of the Liberal Party until Mark Carney came in, nuked the carbon tax, and whipped up anti-Americanism against Donald Trump.
I don't think that Pierre Polyev managed to parry that quickly enough.
I don't think they came up with a strategy quickly enough.
They didn't change quickly enough to adjust to the new lay of the land.
But I think it is certainly possible to win the next time.
Now, the liberal media, it's like they were shot at and missed.
So they felt like it was a miracle the last election that Polyev was kept out.
And they want to keep it that way.
That's why the importance of independent journalists is even more important.
Not just Rebel News, but there's a lot of influencers who are here.
The Conservative Party knows that if they are going to have any hope of getting their message out, it's not going to be through liberal mouthpieces like the CBC or CTV.
It's going to be through independent people like Rebel News and the influencers who are here.
Anyways, here, without further ado, let me play for you some videos of the proceedings last few days.
And then let me end with a conversation with my friend Sheila Gunnreid, who's our chief reporter, who was here the whole time.
I should tell you that one of the exciting things about Rebel News' coverage has been that Tamara Leach, our newest hire, was here as a reporter.
As you know, we hired her and we have a very careful agreement with her probation officer.
She's under house arrest, which is outrageous, but there is a legal exemption for work.
And Rebel News has, in fact, signed an employment contract with Tamara.
So her coming to Calgary and her traveling around, that is all permitted under the terms of her sentence.
I feel great about that.
And just watching the people here come up to her and take selfies with her and hug her and catch up with her is very affirming for her.
And we're so proud of our affiliation with her.
And it's a rebuke to all of those in the regime media who disparaged her.
And even, let's be fair, to some conservatives who were too timid about the truckers at the time.
Anyways, I just wanted to put in that plug for the great work that Tamara Leach is doing.
Also, a shout out to Sid Fizzard and Angelique Toy, who've been working hard out here.
Without further ado, here are some highlights from the Conservative Party convention.
It's Tamara Leach here with Rebel News, and I am joined by Andrew Lawton, MP from Ontario, and also a good friend of mine.
Andrew, how are you enjoying the convention?
It's good.
It's always good to be around members of our Conservative family from across the country.
We had a great showing last night, really decisive results in support of Pierre Polyev's leadership.
And I think also pretty clear to Canadians broadly what the stakes are after 10 years of liberals.
So glad to be taking what happens here and head back to Ottawa and hold the Liberal government to account next week.
Yes.
I love watching you in the House of Commons.
I mean, you've just, you're such an inspiration, I think, for so many people that want to get involved in politics.
And I just want to say, you know, I watched your exchange with Stephen McKinnon the other day in the House and I was obviously unimpressed with his answer.
I mean, what did you think of that?
Well, look, I mean, I didn't ask the question expecting an answer, but I had hoped that there would be one.
And one of the big frustrations I've seen is that the Liberals will want to claim credit for things that Justin Trudeau did when it suits them.
And then when it's something controversial, they say, oh, this is a new government.
We have nothing to do with that.
And the exchange you're referring to, I was asking if the Liberals will accept the Federal Court of Appeal ruling on the Emergencies Act and accept that they violated the constitutional rights of Canadians or if they would appeal it.
And he wouldn't give an answer.
And again, it's another example of their trying to disclaim responsibility for this Trudeau era decision.
But now if they appeal it, they have to own that decision.
And they have to basically own that they do not believe they broke the law, even though two courts have ruled that they did.
Exactly.
Four judges, actually.
Yes.
So, which is with some very direct wording, I might add.
I mean, I thought the decision, the wording in the decision was pretty decisive.
So going forward now, like, how is the Conservative, how would a Conservative government hold this whole situation to account?
Because it was ruled as unlawful.
Now, in my opinion, history would dictate that a decision like that would force MPs involved in that decision-making process and anybody else to resign.
Well, certainly cabinet ministers need to bear accountability for what they've done.
And, you know, obviously Christy Freeland and Justin Trudeau are now out of office.
I do think that Canadians get very frustrated when you can, you know, violate the most fundamental freedoms we have as Canadians and that there doesn't seem to be outrage.
We haven't seen a lot of pressure from the media.
The Liberals have not really come out and apologized at a bare minimum.
So I think that from a conservative perspective, I would say that for starters, we vow to not do it.
We vow to not go down that road.
And I think those judges' rulings need to be a really important warning that you can't just, for political convenience, target your political opponents in those sorts of ways.
And, you know, whether there are changes to the Emergencies Act itself, I would certainly be happy to look into that process.
But I think the whole point of it is that the act is supposed to constrain governments from doing what the Liberal government did.
Absolutely.
And so changing gears a little bit here, we're obviously in beautiful Calgary, Alberta.
And as you know, there's quite a little independence movement happening here.
So what would you say to Albertans to encourage them to stay in Confederation and remain a part of the country of Canada when you know obviously there is a lot of issues and valid concerns I think that Albertans have?
You know, I love Canada and I love Alberta and I love the fact that Alberta and Albertans are a part of this beautiful country.
I will say that I understand the frustrations people in the West have, but I'm also very mindful being an Ontario MP.
I don't want to be the one coming here and telling Albertans how they have to think and how they have to feel.
You know, I think that in general, right now, the Conservatives are putting forward a vision for a Canada that would alleviate a lot of these concerns.
And I think we need to sell that to all Canadians in the next election.
And we're trying to make the country a better place for everyone to make sure confederation works.
But I'm also not going to be an Ontarian that's going to come and tell Albertans that they don't have grievances with the status quo.
Right, exactly.
And what's next for you?
Look, we have our Premier Danielle Smith as a speaker here.
We have our policy discussions on the agenda.
We have lots more people from across the country that I haven't seen in a while that I'm hoping to connect with.
And then on Monday, we head back to Ottawa and get back to work.
Well, it's always great to see you.
I want to congratulate you on a smashingly successful convention, the largest one I believe you guys have had.
I believe so, yes.
That's what I heard anyway.
So congratulations, and it's always great to see you.
And thank you for making the time for me to do it.
You too, Tamara.
Thank you.
Sheila Gunread for Rebel News.
I'm here in Calgary at the largest Conservative convention ever and a common sense policy resolution just died on the floor.
Government Backlash00:15:12
I'm here with Billboard Chris Elston, an advocate for the rights of children and bodily autonomy.
Tell me what just happened.
Yeah, I'm an advocate for the rights of children to grow up without having body parts removed, without being sterilized with chemical castration drugs, cross-sex hormones, and a resolution to make it so that children could get therapy to feel comfortable in their skin as God created them, so that children could receive the message that they are beautiful as they are, no drugs or scalpels needed.
That resolution to protect kids did not pass.
It was close, but that's bizarre.
You know, what I saw was, you know, a policy that protected the rights of parents to seek religious or psychological therapy for kids who are struggling with gender identity.
And we know that when kids struggle with gender identity, it does put them at risk of suicide.
Why wouldn't you want them to be able to go to therapy?
Right.
So a few years ago, a bill passed called Bill C4, which made it a crime of conversion therapy to try to make a gay person straight.
Everyone agrees with that.
We shouldn't do that.
But the real purpose of this bill was the gender identity component.
And these same bills get presented all over the world by the trans activists.
And they use the sexual orientation component to buy support for the real reason these bills are created, which is to stop people from helping children to feel comfortable with their sex.
So it is now a crime.
If your little girl says she's a boy, it's a crime to say, no, sweetheart, you're a beautiful girl.
We love you just as you are.
It's a crime to help her to feel comfortable as a girl.
Same for boys.
It's totally okay to convince your little girl that she was born in the wrong body and that she needs puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and a double mastectomy at the age of 14.
That's what apparently passes for compassion.
So the actual conversion therapy going on is what all of our MPs unanimously voted for with Bill C4 because most of these kids, according to all the academic studies, would grow up to be gay.
They're now telling these kids that they're born in the wrong body.
In Iran, gay men will be killed.
But the first Ayatollah issued a fatwa which made it okay for them to be trans.
So to stay alive in the country of Iran, the gay men transition.
That's homophobia.
We do the same thing here and we call it love and acceptance.
And the MP, Tamara Cronis from Nanaimo Ladysmith, got up on the mic, objected, and she said that this was very divisive.
You know what's divisive?
Maiming and sterilizing kids.
We should stop doing that.
We would expect that the Conservative Party would be fundamentally different than the left on this issue, that this should be the place of common sense and reality.
But we saw that it is completely divided in the room.
Yes, a lot of these people are confused.
But it is incredible to me because I travel the world.
I've been out on the streets for five and a half years talking to tens of thousands of people.
I get 90% support on the street.
I was just in Davos at the World Economic Forum, where you'd think I'd have a lot of opposition.
There was only one person who was opposed to what I was doing.
I had non-stop enthusiastic support, which I get all over the world.
But for some reason, this Conservative Party is too afraid to tell the truth about this.
They don't even want to hear about it.
They just want to bury their head in the sand and pretend that they're helping kids when they're doing the exact opposite.
If they want to win liberal votes, this is the number one way they could do it.
It's by saying stop the chemical castration of children, get men out of women's sports, and you'd have moderate leftists all day long coming over to the Conservative Party, but they're all afraid.
Yeah, they couldn't vote to empower parents to get their own children the help that they need to deal with this issue.
Now, I think that it is like an 80-20, 90-10 issue, even in this room, but I think across all political parties that people are against sterilizing children.
I think they're scared of the mainstream media.
That's what it is.
So yesterday this resolution passed, there's two stages.
In the first vote, it passed with 68%, which I was shocked that it was that low.
But I'm told from someone in the know that leadership of the Conservative Party encouraged their people to vote against this resolution.
So this is coming from the very top.
This is on Pierre Polyev.
I can't confirm or deny that, but I do know that it was split in this room.
And I also know that these people in their hearts and minds know that sterilizing kids is wrong.
So they're too scared of the CBC in the room, I guess.
It's absolute cowardice.
Let the radical left scream.
Who cares?
You know what you can do?
You can just ignore them.
And you can do what is right and you can stand up to protect kids.
But here in Canada, not even the Conservative Party will do it.
And I travel all over the world.
I deal with politicians all over the world.
I spoke in the European Parliament twice last year.
I went to Australia.
I met with 20 different MPs and senators.
I worked with politicians in the UK.
This is the only Conservative Party that won't speak out against this.
It's a shame.
It's a shame.
And people expect more.
Yes, and I wanted to come here, and I am here to make friends.
I'm here to make allies.
I'm here to turn enemies into allies.
And I want to be a friend of the Conservative Party.
But they have to wake up.
This is the greatest child abuse scandal in modern medicine history, and they are enabling it.
It's a gift to the Liberals.
Chris, thanks so much.
You know, this interview is sort of on the fly.
You came over.
We were all sort of stunned at what we saw.
But thanks for articulating the problem with just what unfolded here.
Thank you.
Yes.
Stop being afraid of the media.
Yes.
Just tell the truth.
It's not hard.
Aaron Gunn, MP from North Island Powell River, BC.
Thanks for joining me, Aaron.
Thank you for having me.
So day two of the convention.
What are your thoughts so far?
Well, I think there's a lot of energy in the room.
There's a lot of unity, despite what you might hear on the mainstream media.
And a lot of talk about how this country in so many ways is worse off than we were 10 years ago because of liberal and NDP policies, whether it's on the fiscal side of things, whether it's keeping our resources in the ground, handing out free drugs.
And we've been, myself, other MPs, and we just heard from Pierre articulating an alternative vision for Canada where we make a smaller government to make room for bigger citizens.
Yes, exactly.
And so some of the, as you were just talking about, some of the biggest concerns I think for Canadians right now obviously is the economy and the resources.
So some of the solutions that you guys are going to put forth, what do you have in mind?
Like Bill C-69, for example, Bill C-48, those types of things.
Well, repealing that kind of legislation.
So, you know, Mark Curry and the Liberals, they've talked a big game about setting up this special projects office and try to streamline process approvals, development approvals.
But it's the Liberals' own policies that are stopping all of these developments from happening in the first place.
And we just say, you know, it's not that this country, we have so much ingenuity of the Canadian people.
We have such an incredible wealth of natural resources.
We don't actually really need the government to step up in any particular way.
We just need the government to get out of the way and give this country back to those who built it, the people.
And there's people ready to build things in this country, but just over and over again, the bureaucracy, the red tape, the political decision-making slows things down.
And this country was built on pioneers who built things.
We're a couple a mile away maybe from the Canadian Pacific Railway that goes right through the heart of downtown Calgary.
The ribbon of steel that made Canada what it is today.
So we just have to get back, I think, to that mentality and empowering citizens to step up.
Absolutely.
Now, I'm sure a lot of Canadians like me are watching some of the things that are happening in BC on a provincial level as far as the land grabs that seem to be happening now and property rights.
So is that something that you think that a conservative government federally can help curb?
And I think that has a lot to do with the UNDRIP policies that have been implemented.
So I mean, that's a big concern for a lot of Canadians because it's their property.
Yeah, look, I think there's, in some cases, you have to react to decisions that the court makes that you don't agree with.
But I think it's important as people that hold political office to articulate clearly where we stand.
And that is, in this case, there can be no compromising of private property rights.
And that has to be a red line.
And, you know, whether how you go about doing that maybe depends on what the courts decide to say.
As far as I'm concerned, if you have to enshrine it in the Constitution to ensure that it's protected, then that's what you have to do.
But that's got to be a red line that we can't cross because if you start compromising private property rights, who in their right mind is going to invest a cent in Canada, whether it's a resource company or whether it's someone that just wants to buy their own home, if you can't guarantee the fee simple title beneath her.
Yeah, I agree.
I think we need to see that definitely stabilize for sure.
And I mean, I'm personally worried about the economy.
I mean, I think even if a Conservative government is elected tomorrow, for example, I think so much damage has been done, I think, to our reputation that it would take a long time before these businesses are going to come back and invest in Canada again.
What are your thoughts on that?
I mean, look, it's not going to be a problem you fix overnight.
I tell people that there's lots of problems facing the country.
Some are actually pretty easy to fix, like the fact that we keep allowing repeat violent offenders out onto our streets.
I mean, that's an easy one to fix.
You stop releasing them out of the prison system.
Other issues, like the fact we've doubled our national debt in the last 10 years, that's a tough one to fix.
The fact we're running the largest deficit in Canadian history outside of COVID.
And then, as you pointed out, the fact we've lost so much investment.
You know, they say, you know, investment is kind of like trust.
It leaves on horseback and returns on foot.
So it's going to be a lot easier to lose it than it is to get it back.
But the thing that we have going for us, again, is we have so much incredible natural wealth in this country.
And we have a great workforce and an educated workforce.
So I think if we do get government in that is pro-investment, that sets the playing field where people want to come here and do business, I do think you will get capital and investment back in the country.
Yes.
And I know you're on a bit of a time crunch here, so I just have one more question I want to ask you.
So there is three provinces in Confederation right now that are all seriously talking about seeking independence.
And so what would you tell the people that are seeking separation?
Like what reasons would you give, say, Albertans to stay as a part of Confederation?
Look, I understand why people are frustrated in many of these provinces after 10 years of Liberal government, as Pierre was saying earlier.
But look, this is, for me, when it comes back to supporting this country and supporting Confederation, we have to take the long-term view.
This country's been around for over 150 years.
It's one of the longest continuous democracies in the world.
And the vision that built this country that John A. McDonough laid down in 1867, where we built the national railway that we fought and defended through two world wars, the foundation of that is still there.
We just need a government that steps up to realize Canada's true potential once again.
And so I think the foundation is covered in so much government mismanagement, bureaucracy, and red tape and infringement on the constitutional rights of Canadians.
But we can fix that and the foundation.
And we are fundamentally stronger together as long as we get a government in Ottawa and in my case in British Columbia as well.
It's not any better in Victoria, I can tell you.
And that gets this country working again for the incredible citizens that call Canada home.
So I do think that we are stronger together.
We just have to pull together to make Confederation work better for everyone.
Hey, everybody, I'm Lise Murrow from Rebel News here at the biggest Conservative convention to date in Calgary, Alberta.
I am joined today by the inimitable fortress of a woman, Dallas Brody, leader of 1BC.
Dallas, thanks so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me.
Buddy, I want to just start out by asking you why it is you do the work that you do.
The work I'm doing is driven by my sense over the last few years before I got into politics that think this country's drifting away from everything that I had growing up.
I was born in 62 and I'm watching things change to not for the better.
I'm very doing this because my ancestors, I'm a fifth generation British Columbia.
I consider myself Indigenous.
I grew up here.
They built Vancouver, parts of British Columbia.
They loved it and they gave us so much and they fought in wars and we owe it.
And I really feel that it's not about me.
I need to be brave and stand up and say what needs to be said.
And I also have children, and I'm very concerned about the future we're leaving them with right now.
It's not looking good for them.
Yeah, I don't think you're alone in that.
I think there are a great many Canadians that feel that we are reaching a critical moment where if we don't do something, all of this is lost.
And then it's for what?
And it's for what?
And then it's for what?
And then you're left.
And I have many friends who are around my age, and they say, well, I'm leaving.
I'm going to move to here.
And I get mad at them sometimes.
I say, if you, you guys, if everybody just left Britain and didn't fight, then look what would have happened.
They stood.
We have to stay and fight for what's right.
And I know that nobody likes to be the one who's criticized at the dinner party or the person who loses friends because they're saying uncomfortable truths.
But it's a time for finding our inner bravery and saying, I don't care if you're going to be mad at me.
I need to say this and do this.
And I know that that takes bravery, but think about the bravery it took to get out of those boats at Normandy.
Like, that's bravery.
This is simply overcoming some social discomfort.
And once you get over it, because once you've been called a bad name once, that's the worst time, right?
It gets easier from there.
And then you realize what kind of power that gives you, to just not be stopped and speaking the truth.
It is truly a sight to behold.
And you, nobody is doing a better job in Canada right now than Dallas Brody and taking up all the air in the room.
Oh, Dallas, they're jealous of you.
They want the attention that Dallas Brody is getting, but only Dallas Brody is telling the truth, and that's why she's getting it.
Dallas, you are dealing with David Eby as a premier in British Columbia.
And we are so sorry, British Columbia.
David Eby's Losing Streak00:07:52
Like, how could he manage this for this many years?
But he recently called independence-minded Western Canadians treasonous, didn't he?
Didn't he call someone like traitors, treasonous?
Yes.
What do you say to independence-minded Western Canadians to try and compel them to stay in Canada?
Like, what would your words of advice be?
Well, I can't believe.
Well, first of all, I couldn't believe it when I heard him commenting on that.
I said to myself, David, the entire province of British Columbia isn't functioning.
Every single file is on fire.
9-11, 9-1-1, full SOS fire stage.
Crisis everywhere.
And you're sitting here throwing rocks at people in Alberta who are trying to get a better deal for their province.
It's outrageous.
It is not treasonous to say that making some arrangements.
If the people vote to leave, they have the right to make arrangements with other countries for support and banking and international relations.
I mean, this is what's involved in being an independent country.
This is what happens.
And so I was shocked because to me, that was arrogant of him.
Keep your nose in our own province.
You've got enough problems of your own, David, and deal with that.
It's terrible.
And this is a legitimate and lawful referendum that's taking place here.
It may not succeed, but there needs to be a transition plan if it does succeed.
You have to have a transition plan.
I've already started dreaming of my transition plan for when I take over British Columbia and become Premier of that province, and I'm going to have transition teams on every front.
You're in charge of fixing forestry.
You're in charge of fixing mining.
You're in charge of fixing the hospitals.
You come back in two weeks and I want to plan and we start immediately.
I think we need more of this kind of energy.
Dallas Brody, you go and fix the mess you made right today.
Yes.
And I love this for us.
I love this for us.
You deserve this after this many years of NDP rule.
Like, you need a big correction.
Oh, we need a big correction.
And it's been a decline that is now falling right off a cliff.
We have a net outward migration out of British Columbia for the first time in our history.
It's up to something like 75,000 people a year leaving now net outward.
And we're not losing, we're losing good people, young, ambitious people.
We're not losing drug addicts.
Oh, they're still coming.
We're losing good people with hopes and dreams and futures and children.
And we're also losing people with lots of money because they're saying I'm done.
It's great to finally meet you, Michelle.
It's really nice to meet you, Tamara.
Thank you for everything you've done.
And thank you for everything that you've done and continue to do.
I really appreciate now that you've moved on from being a member of parliament that you have a little more freedom to be a little bit more vocal.
So we were just discussing Andrew Lawton got up in the House of Commons the other day and addressed the Federal Court of Appeal ruling upholding Justice Mosley's appeal.
And you saw Stephen McKinnon's reaction and what were your thoughts on that?
Woo, Tamara, it was a lot.
It was a lot of emotion.
So, you know, Steve McKinnon is a Liberal House leader.
And I can't believe how you've been doing this all day with this behind you.
You are a focus lady.
There's like talking going on behind us.
Okay, so in a nutshell, what I'm so upset about and what's so shocking, and you lived this, so I just was on the ground experiencing it.
But every day when I walked through those streets and I saw the families and people who just wanted to go to work, right?
So Andrew Lawton stood up in the House of Commons to your point.
He said, you know, will you accept the federal courts of appeal that you were, it was illegal what you did.
Invoking the Emergencies Act was illegal.
And Steve McKinnon, the Liberal House leader, literally doubled down.
Like he literally doubled down.
His repeated endorsement of the occupation of this downtown, of the disturbance and unbelievable annoyance that this created for residents of downtown Ottawa and of the fact that it was an unlawful demonstration.
Divided the country even further, dismissed the people who left their jobs, their families, to advocate to go to work.
And the pushback I have for this, you already know this.
Yes.
But the anger inside of me is why were the people there in the first place?
Why did an occupation happen?
Why did you let that happen?
And then when they got there, when they got there, instead of coming out and negotiating and talking, he went and hid.
And it is such a vilification of people whose lives were ruined.
And I thought a lot about it, Tamara.
Like, I pulled over, I recorded a video, I was so angry, and I've never posted it.
But you know what I think it is more than anything?
It's leadership without any empathy.
It's leadership that can't fathom that their lives weren't impacted, so they're the problem.
Instead of understanding that people lost their jobs, they got sick, they died, they couldn't go visit their mothers in the hospital, they couldn't go to work.
They were planning their own suicides.
That's something that we heard every single day.
I think that's what's missing.
And it was kind of like a light bulb moment for me when I saw this.
And it was such validation, right?
The day that the Federal Court of Appeal said it was illegal.
We knew it.
Everybody knew it was an overreach.
Everybody knew.
And it was the day that changed my view of politics in the Liberal Party.
Because I really thought Justin Trudeau was going to revoke it after they cleared the streets.
I was like, oh, he'll pull it back.
Because I walked to the House of Commons that day and there was nothing in the street.
And not only did he not revoke it, he doubled down.
And he froze people's bank accounts.
I mean, you're like Michelle, I know.
But I think it's just from an outsider's perspective.
It is a leadership that it is so cruel because it has no empathy to understand that your policies, just because they didn't hurt you, doesn't mean they didn't destroy someone else's life.
And I think one of the disappointing things, like you just mentioned, it's like they're being selective on which Canadians they're going to support and look after and take care of.
Winners and losers.
That's right.
And I mean, and I've always said that, especially about Justin Trudeau, because he said some pretty horrible things during that period.
I did.
Like about should people like me be tolerated.
And it just struck me as, you know, if you're a leader, you lead all of your people, even if you don't agree with them.
That's right.
You vilify and demonize a portion of society just because they don't agree with you.
And you at least try to understand them.
That's right.
You at least try to meet with them to understand them because, hey, he said it best.
We experienced it differently.
It's so true.
I just used that quote today, too.
It's absolutely true.
Well, and I think in Justin Trudeau's case, like I was obviously paying a lot of attention throughout that whole two-year period of the pandemic.
And he actually wanted to invoke the Emergencies Act at the beginning of the pandemic so that he could spend what he wanted without having to be accountable, you know, just to have those powers.
So I personally, I was shocked that he didn't end up invoking it in the end, obviously because I was there on the ground and I'm like, what is the problem here?
But I was not surprised because of the fact that, you know, he'd been saying that for quite some time.
Who wanted him to invoke it, Tamara?
Who was the man behind the scenes at the time?
Mr. Mark Carnes.
That's exactly.
And I guess the question I leave for people, I know a lot of viewers who watch Rebel are already, they already understand all this.
Finding Middle Ground00:02:56
But there's still people I meet every day who are so hateful to the convoy.
They are so hateful to the people who went there to have their voice heard.
And I have to say to them, you have to ask yourself, why?
Why did they go to Ottawa?
Like, that is the question you need to answer because nobody was listening to them.
And how else are you supposed to execute your voice?
And what you guys did is really something.
And I mean, I took the heat for it too.
I got called every name in the book when I first, I have a text from one of our city councillors calling me a national embarrassment that I'm pathetic.
And she said, you know, you need to be neutral.
And I'm like, neutrality?
When people can't pay their mortgage?
Like, what are we doing?
And at least, okay, let's find a middle ground.
Let's find some kind of, there was nothing.
There was no middle ground.
She left me under the weather for a couple days, so I was not able to make it here until today.
But I was watching on Twitter what was going on.
How's it been the last couple days here at the Conservative Party Convention?
It's been real busy.
We are treated actually like every other media outlet.
The riser that we're sitting on right now, we're right beside CBC Radio Canada.
There's no special treatment for media, which is all we ever asked for.
We just want to be able to do our job.
We've had access to MPs, activists.
It's been a very, very busy convention, especially with Tamara Leach here.
You know, on a journalistic mission, it's hard for her to actually work because everybody wants to stop, talk to her, thank her, and take their picture with her.
You know, she is turning into a real journalist, but she's also an ambassador for freedom, for civil liberties, for the truckers, and now even for Rebel News.
So I couldn't be prouder.
And thanks as our senior chief reporter.
Thanks for keeping an eye out to help her grow into the great journalist I know she'll become.
Yeah, she was able to sit down with her own MP.
She was able to sit down with Andrew Lawton and discuss her time in the Freedom Convoy.
He wrote a book about it.
He's been really hard on the government in the House of Commons for their violation of civil liberties.
That was reaffirmed by three judges just a couple of weeks ago.
So with that decision being levied against the Liberals, Tamara's been a very popular person here at the convention.
That's right, because I think there were some politicians who were maybe risk averse.
But now that we know that the actual lawbreakers were the government, you know, it's funny, when I was at Davos last week, I asked both Justin Trudeau and Christia Freeland about that.
I said, how do you feel about being rebuked again by a three-judge panel of the Federal Court of Appeals unanimously?
Yeah, and both of them were avoiding the issue.
Failed CBC Debates00:03:43
Neither of them would show any compunction.
So I think Tamara Leach's star is continuing to rise.
So Rebel has a great deployment here.
You're here, Sid Fazard is here, Angelique Gutoy.
Tamara Leach and I finally made an appearance.
Tell me more about the conference itself.
Has there been any big battles, any interesting tussles?
I mean, we know that the big thing was 87.4% thumbs up for Pierre Polly, which I sort of thought he would get.
Some of the media were implying that he was in trouble.
They don't know this party, obviously.
Other than that, have there been some big moments?
You know, there was just a few minutes ago, there was a policy motion that was passed overwhelmingly by the grassroots to force the CBC, if the Conservatives ever form government, to exist in the free market.
And it was funny, the MPs who spoke to it, so Gerard Deltel spoke against the motion, which is peculiar.
He said, you know, it's necessary for francophones to have access to Canadian content that way.
And, you know, the young man who spoke in favor of it was very francophone.
And he said, look, there are plenty of French language resources out there that are fair that we don't have to pay for unless we want to.
So that just passed.
And then I had, I spoke to Chris Billboard, Chris Elston, because a motion failed to pass.
It was very close.
And it was on affirming the rights of parents to seek counseling and therapy for their children to deal with gender dysphoria that doesn't involve gender affirming care or surgeries.
And that failed because they said it was too divisive.
Which for me, that reads as too, we're too frightened to go up against the CBC on that issue.
Well, of course it's divisive.
I mean, there couldn't be two more different outcomes.
It's disappointing.
You know, back to the CBC point for a second.
The other day, I went to the CBC's homepage when Iran was just the marchers, the democracy, and there was a credible report out of Iran that suggested that the regime had murdered more than 30,000 people in two days.
That is such a shocking number.
It's almost hard to process.
It's a small city.
And I went to the CBC homepage and I scrolled all the way down.
I couldn't find a single story about that.
There were five stories about Minnesota and ICE.
The top foreign stories was some guy climbed a tall skyscraper in Taiwan.
That was the world story.
Why are we, like, where's the Canadian culture at all?
Gerard Delta may have said we need it for Frank to tell the francophone Canadian stories.
They're talking about Minnesota.
They're talking about Trump.
I unfortunately follow this hour's 22 minutes, the government comedy channel.
They spent about a quarter million dollars taking their entire team to Greenland just to smear Trump, just to have Mark Crits do his Trump impression.
Like it was so cringe.
And the whole time I'm thinking, how on earth is any of this in keeping with their mandate under the Canadian Broadcasting Act?
So the fact that there's still a debate in this room over should we get rid of the CBC, it feels really obsolete.
And why are we even discussing it still?
It should be unanimous.
But you're telling me it passed.
It did pass.
It passed.
Camping in COVID Times00:06:00
We also saw policy resolutions that passed on property rights, free speech, on the Jordan Peterson rule on professional organizations censoring their people.
There was some discussion about whether that's provincial jurisdiction or not, but it should be part of the party ethos, I think, to protect the free speech of professionals.
You know, one thing that I've noticed, we've got these name tags.
You and I are registered.
There's also influencers have their own, like those are online personalities.
The pleb is here.
Mark Dixon is here.
Jasmine Lane is here.
I'm really excited to see the party reaching out to the online media because social media is the only way you're going to defeat the $1.5 billion here to the CBC.
Well, and we know that the federal government also pays influencers to advance their ideas.
They did it around COVID.
They do it around specific pieces of legislation all the time.
Now, these guys are not government-funded.
They're not funded by the party.
But they are advancing ideas.
And by the way, this is an overwhelmingly young convention.
There's a ton of young people.
So if you bring in the influencers, that's pretty smart.
You know, Alan Fryer, who used to be a mainstream media reporter, I follow him on Twitter.
He said if I had the choice between a convention of young people or the boomers who want more free stuff, he knows which side he'd be on.
I thought that was a keen observation.
In the past, I remember when I was a youngster, the Reform Party was always knocked at being old people.
And that was a real knock that the mainstream media would say.
Now the Conservative Party is young.
If you look at the polls, young people are far more likely to support Conservative people.
And yet, that whole line of criticism, that the media party would never make it anymore because it's their friends who are old and entrenched and established.
I don't know.
I think it's from what I've just detected today, the conference is good, but I think people still are grieving in a way the fact that what was going to be a majority government we all watched for a year was snatched away and now might be another three years.
Or it could be very soon.
You know, I was talking to some conservatives in the know, I won't say who, but there's a real concern that Carney could drop the writ in March to have an election in April because the Americans are headed to midterms.
And so Trump will no longer be outwardly focused on foreign policy and he'll be inwardly campaigning.
And so Mark Carney really only has a small window to be the anti-Trump elbows up guy to round up all those scared boomer votes.
Well, if that comes, we will register again as a third-party election group.
I can't wait.
The reason we do that is because if we didn't, we would be harassed by elections candidate.
You remember that in 2019, I wrote a book criticizing Trudeau called The Libranos, and we had lawn signs promoting the book.
They had three words on them, buy the book, which was specifically permitted under the law.
But elections candidates chased me for about six years.
They didn't chase the People's Republic of China for bussing in teenage foreign nationals in the GTA ridings.
They were busy going after my book, so I thought, for sure, they're going to go after us again, especially our big, beautiful billboard truck.
So if there is another election, Sheila, we're going to register as a campaign group.
And you know what?
I'm totally fine with it because they're requiring us to do that to speak candidly and clearly, and we will.
And in fact, I'm sort of excited about getting back into a fight.
In the last election, Rebel News targeted two different districts.
One was my own riding where Ya'ara Sachs, the self-hating Jew who held hands with Mahmoud Abbas, we had a bit of a campaign there.
And also Maji Johari, who is a pro-regime Iranian MP in Richmond Hill.
Both of them lost.
And I think Rebel News deserves a little bit of paternity for that.
So I'm ready to fight again.
And if the Liberals want to have another run in it, let's give them a run for it.
Well, and to be clear, we're never campaigning for the conservatives.
We're just campaigning against the liberals.
Yeah.
You know, Rebel News is independent in a number of ways.
We don't take any government money, and there's very few media companies that can say that.
And also, we hold the conservative parties of this country to account when we think that they're slipping.
We certainly did that in Alberta when Jason Kenney was the premier, who was cracking down hard on churches during COVID times.
I remember the Sky Palace lunch he had.
Well, we did it here today when I interviewed Billboard Chris Elston on the gender-affirming care resolution that didn't pass.
And I think that's one of the reasons that we're trusted by our viewers is that they know we're not just going to echo.
I mean, we call Doug Ford a liberal, which is what he is.
We criticize conservative.
And I think they know it.
So some of them are a little scared to be interviewed by us because it's not just going to be softballs.
I think that's good positioning.
We're right-wing, we're conservative, we're freedom-oriented, we're all those things, but we're in no one's pocket.
And I like Pierre Paulian, by the way.
If I were a party member, I for sure would have voted to give him another shot at things.
I think he can win.
I think it was a terrible step back that he didn't.
I have some ideas for how he might do things differently.
But we're not in his pocket.
And the fact that they have not yet scheduled a meeting for you to interview him tells me they're a little bit scared of you too, Sheila.
And honestly, that's where I want to be.
That's where I want to be because they know I'm going to ask the tough questions.
And I think our viewers want us to be there too.
And we're not taking cheap shots at the conservatives.
We're not being mean or gotcha.
We are asking ideological questions, philosophical questions, because there's no point in winning if we're just liberal light.
Taking An Independent Approach00:01:21
And I think Rebel News has helped move the Overton window.
Certainly we did during COVID times.
I think we did in Alberta.
I think our criticism of Jason Kenney led to a Premier Daniel Smith, who is the leading conservative thought leader in this country.
Bold on guns, bold on medical choice, bold on free speech.
So, I mean, that's a good thing.
Yeah.
Oh, we absolutely were.
And that was hard because Jason Kenney was a personal friend and certainly an ideological friend when he was a federal cabinet minister.
He was great.
But he went from being the federal cabinet minister in charge of religious freedom to the provincial premier in charge of prosecuting churches.
So we had to tell it like it was, and I think we earned some trust with our viewers.
And we'll take that approach into the next election if it's coming this spring.
I think we take that approach every day.
I think we do.
It's great to see you.
Thanks for holding the form while I was under the weather.
Thanks, everybody, for tuning in.
And thanks to our whole team that deployed here, including Tamara Leach, our latest addition to Rebel News.
I was just delighted to see her here.
Thanks, Sheila.
You got it.
All right.
Bye, everybody.
Well, that's our show for the day.
And by the way, we're not done tonight.
We have a reception for Rebel News supporters at the James Joyce Pub.