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Thursday, July 17, 2025

LEVY: Can the Conservatives please stop playing identity politics?

By
Sue-Ann Levy
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As a staunch small-c conservative, I’ve found myself let down one too many times by the party that claims to represent me – one that seems repeatedly hellbent on wrestling defeat from the jaws of victory.

An incident this past Sunday in Thornhill, a riding north of Toronto, made me wonder, yet again, if the party truly wants to oust Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, possibly the worst leader we’ve had in decades.

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, desperate to show he embraces the big tent his predecessor apparently didn’t, thought he had the perfect candidate in Melissa Lantsman to replace the well-respected Peter Kent, a former journalist for Global News.

Lantsman, a long-time party insider and highly paid lobbyist, is young, urban, hip, and a married lesbian. 

She isn’t the first lesbian to run for the Conservatives. I ran in St. Paul’s in 2009 for then-new Tory provincial leader, Tim Hudak.

But this time it’s different.

Back in 2009, while the media repeatedly wrote that it was a “coup” to get a gay woman to run, the focus was more on my feistiness as a journalist.

But while I wanted the focus of my campaign to be on my substance and not sexuality, Lantsman has embraced identity politics. This is partly because of O’Toole’s near-obsession with proving the Conservatives are not what the media portray and mostly because she, herself, has made her gayness a huge selling point.

Parachuted into Thornhill, she has promoted herself repeatedly as the gay candidate of record to change the face of the party. She also co-authored an op-ed in 2019 contending then-leader Andrew Scheer had to feel comfortable with LBGT issues if the party was ever to win.

Perhaps that has been to distract from her baggage–namely that after being a prominent member of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s war room she promptly jumped back into lobbying.

During COVID she lobbied the province on behalf of Extendicare, even while seniors were suffering tremendously and dying in the hundreds in Extendicare-operated or owned homes. 

She also represented Walmart to the Ford government – which decided to keep Walmart open during the lockdowns while small shops were ordered shut for more than 200 days.

Lantsman and her team had to know questions about her lobbying would come up during a campaign. Her activities were brought up several times by the Ontario NDP during COVID.

But when David Menzies of Rebel News arrived at Kent’s Summer BBQ Sunday and endeavoured to ask her about her lobbying efforts, she was ill-prepared – running away when he persisted.

It very quickly descended into a circus.

The tactics reminded me of those used by the progressives when they don’t like hard questions from a journalist.

Remember this is the very same party whose leader has consistently insisted he’s a free speech advocate and for the people, unlike our current PM.

When Menzies endeavoured to ask Lantsman whether she’d won the nomination based on merit or because of her sexuality, things went off the rails.

He was shoved, water thrown on him and aggressively blocked from getting any further answers.

It was a fair question given that there remains a cloud over a nomination race which long-time MPP Gila Martow was pegged to win, not to mention because of Lantsman’s own focus on her sexual identity.

I know Menzies.

He may be a pesky reporter who far too often makes the story about him when it shouldn’t be. 

But he’s fair, tenacious and certainly not homophobic.

However, what this party that supposedly embraces free speech did next should leave all of us concerned.

The Lantsman team called the cops, not just one but several, had Menzies arrested, took his private notes and were caught photographing them.

I saw all of it on the video footage provided to me.

A few hours later, instead of apologizing for overreacting, Lantsman herself issued a press release accusing Menzies of “homophobic behaviour” and alleging she felt personally in danger.

To repeat, these are not tactics Conservatives should embrace. This is the stock and trade of the very progressives our party is seeking to replace.

So it’s now off-limits to ask an openly gay candidate – who has repeatedly promoted her gayness – a question about her sexuality? After all, she’s the one who made it a campaign issue.

Besides, what will happen when the progressive media start asking her tough questions about her lobbying efforts? Will her team call the cops on them too? Accuse them of being homophobic?

What will happen if O’Toole wins and Lantsman becomes one of his MPs?

Will she also turn her back on constituents who criticize her? Will one of her minions throw water on them?

In other words, is this a portent of things to come?

This incident should cause all of us to question whether the O’Toole team only pays lip service to free speech – and when push comes to shove, there’s not much difference between the Conservatives and the other two parties.

Or maybe they just aren’t ready for Prime Time.

The party should be very embarrassed about what happened in Thornhill on Sunday.

Whether they’ll realize it doesn’t make them look good is another story.

Ontarians want Line 5 to keep operating: poll

By
Harrison Faulkner
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Ontarians disagree with Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s attempts to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline, according to a recent poll by Angus Reid.

In November 2020, Governor Whitmer issued an executive order to Enbridge to shut down the project, citing environmental concerns. At its peak operation, the pipeline carries 540,000 barrels of oil from Sarnia, Ontario to Superior, Wisconsin and supplied energy to Ontario and Quebec.

According to the Angus Reid poll, when asked if the pipeline should stay open or be shut down, 49% of Ontario residents said “keep it open,” 28% favoured shutting it down and 22% were unsure. Michiganders echoed similar sentiments, with 48% saying “keep it open,” 25% wanting to shut it down and 27% unsure. 

On the other hand, when Quebeckers were asked the same question, only 36% were in favour of keeping the pipeline open. 

A shutdown of the cross-border Enbridge Line 5 pipeline would have a profound impact on both the Canadian and US economy. Ontario estimates that 5,000 direct jobs and over 23,000 indirect jobs will be put at risk if Line 5 shuts down.

A shutdown will also lead to increased truck and rail traffic. According to IHS Markit, 45,000 additional trucks or 15,000 more railcars would be required to deliver resources between the regions should Line 5 halt operations. 

The Angus Reid poll also revealed that if Michigan turns off the tap on Line 5, three-quarters of Ontarians (76%) and 58% of Quebecers believe the Energy East project should be revived. 

Energy East was a 4,500-kilometre pipeline proposed to carry 1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Eastern Canada. Due to stringent regulations set out by the Trudeau government, TransCanada cancelled the Energy East pipeline in 2017.

Is Justin Trudeau hinting at another CBC bailout?

By
Candice Malcolm
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A new memo shows that the Trudeau government is concerned about the financial state of the CBC and claims it is under “immense financial pressure.” 

This despite the CBC receiving $1.2 billion from the government each and every year. 

The CBC has declining ad revenues, minuscule audiences and, worst of all, it pushes divisive identity politics and imported US culture wars.  

Candice Malcolm lays out the facts, and points to some of the silliest stories found over at the state broadcaster.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CANDICE MALCOLM SHOW

Derek Sloan announces new political party

By
Caitlin Rose Morgante
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At a rally in Southern Alberta on July 25, Ontario MP Derek Sloan announced he was starting a new political party. While he has yet to reveal the name, Sloan says the party will be the “greatest patriotic movement Canada has ever seen.”

Sloan has been a vocal opponent of government lockdowns and strict public health measures. The MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington was one of the first politicians to join the End the Lockdown Caucus, a non-partisan organization calling for an end to lockdowns, which they claim violates Canadians’ fundamental Charter rights.

Sloan rose to prominence during the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Leadership Race. In January 2021, the Conservative caucus voted to remove him, citing a “pattern of destructive behaviour.” Current CPC leader Erin O’Toole said he would not permit Sloan to run again after it was revealed that Sloan’s leadership campaign received a $131 donation from notorious Canadian white supremacist Paul Fromm.

Sloan has since denied that he had knowledge of the donation, citing the fact that his campaign raised well over $1.3 million. 

The announcement of Sloan’s new party caught many Canadians by surprise, with many expecting Sloan to join Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada (PPC) — which was formed in 2018 after Bernier lost the Conservative Leadership race. 

The PPC caters to a number of Conservative voters who are critical of the CPC. Bernier has traditionally focused on economic issues such as challenging the power of the dairy lobby. In the 2019 federal election, the PPC garnered 1.6% of the popular vote nationwide. It is unclear how Sloan’s new party will differentiate from the PPC, but Sloan has received significant support from pro-life voters due to his socially conservative views. 

“Mr. Bernier made several overtures to Mr. Sloan to join the PPC and we are disappointed that he declined and decided to launch his own party. We don’t really understand why he believes this was necessary, given that he seems to agree with most of our platform,” PPC spokesperson Martin Masse told True North.

“We wish him good luck but he has decided to become a competitor instead of joining us, and there won’t be any collaboration between us.”

True North reached out to Alberta independence activist and former politician Cory Morgan to ask him whether Sloan’s new party will be successful and if there is a future for another right-of-centre party in Canada. 

“The few that have grown into major players began with a dedicated niche as all parties do. They consolidate their support there and then begin compromising in order to broaden their support,” Morgan said. 

“Eventually, they merge and become what they were formed to fight in the first place. We saw it with the Reform Party federally and the Wildrose Party provincially. Generations ago, it was the federal Progressives. It is a cycle and is more a sign of a broken system than anything else.“

Morgan argues that conservatives are unlike the Liberals, who are not bound by any particular ideology.

“Conservatives…constantly try to find pillars of support from issues and ideologically focused groups which work in the short-term but tend to splinter in the long term as the party waters down in trying to win elections.”

Canadian citizen ISIS fighter will face justice

By
Caitlin Rose Morgante
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Prosecutors will proceed with charges against a detained Canadian ISIS fighter Mohammed Ali, according to documents released to Global News by Global Affairs Canada (GAC) under the Access to Information Act. The documents show how federal officials are managing Canadian citizens held in Syria.

Ali left Toronto to join ISIS in April 2014. Ali told Global News he was on an ISIS sniper team. He made jokes about beheadings, promoted terrorist attacks in Canada and offered advice on how to join ISIS on social media. In one post Ali said he “can’t wait for the day ISIS beheads the first American soldier.”

Ali, also known as Abu Turab Al Kanadi, is a 30-year old Mississauga resident and is currently detained in Syria. Kurdish fighters apprehended him in June 2018 as he attempted to cross into Turkey and return to Canada. His children, who were born under ISIS rule, and his wife Rida Jabbar, a former Vancouver resident, are staying at a detention camp for ISIS families.

The next step of prosecution is for criminal charges to be filed in court, which does not appear to have happened yet since Ali remains in Syria. There is no indication that the Canadian government has made an effort to return Ali to Canada to face trial despite the fact that it has been more than three years since charges against him were first approved. 

There are at least 14 other Canadian adults detained at camps for ISIS affiliates, as well as dozens of children who have been born in ISIS territory, but Canada is washing their hands of them.

The government has decided not to repatriate the Canadian citizens detained in Syria facing charges because they claim it is difficult to gather evidence that proves what the individuals did in Syria.

To date, three Canadians including two children and one woman have been let go. The woman made it to the Canadian diplomat post in Erbil and is waiting to return to Canada. Currently, the detainees do not face formal charges in Canada. 

Last month, 23-year-old Ikar Mao was sentenced by a federal court to serve 49 months in prison and a 12 month probation period on Wednesday. However, due to his pre-trial detention, the accused will not spend a single day further behind bars.

Mao pleaded guilty to joining ISIS in 2019. As a result of his guilty plea, Crown prosecutors agreed to drop a second charge against Mao and separate charges against his wife Haleema Mustafa. 

Pearson Airport reverses decision to separate vaccinated and unvaccinated travellers

By
Harrison Faulkner
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Toronto Pearson Airport appears to have changed its mind about separating international travellers by vaccination status.

On Saturday, a spokesperson for the airport told the CBC that the airport was planning to implement separate queues for travellers and said this measure was intended to streamline the border clearance process. 

“There are different entry requirements for vaccinated and non-/partially vaccinated travellers, which have been broadly communicated by the Government of Canada,” airport spokesperson Beverly MacDonald said.

However, by Sunday night, the airport released another statement saying that the decision has been reversed.

“Toronto Pearson, in collaboration with the government and other partners, has determined that separation of vaccinated and partially/non vaccinated travellers in customs lines results in minimal operational efficiencies,” a statement from the airport read.

“As such, the practice will be ceased as of July 26, 2021, with entry requirements based on vaccination status being enforced once a passenger reaches CSBA.”

Vancouver International Airport has already implemented separate queues for travellers based on their vaccination status.

“For vaccinated passengers, if they meet the criteria of having had a Canadian-approved vaccine, at least 14 days prior to travel, then they don’t have to do the two weeks of quarantine upon arrival into Canada. Additionally, there’s no longer a government-approved hotel that they have to stay at,” Vancouver airport’s vice-president of passenger journey, Robyn McVicker, told CityNews.

The government recently announced that as of July 5, fully vaccinated Canadians are exempted from quarantine measures. Starting August 9, fully vaccinated US citizens are also able to enter Canada without quarantine measures.

Ontario universities face legal fight over vaccination mandates

By
Caitlin Rose Morgante
-

Ontario universities that require all students to get COVID-19 vaccines are staring down the barrel of a legal confrontation. 

The Constitutional Rights Centre (CRC), which represents Children’s Health Defense Canada, announced on July 26 that it had sent legal notices to Western University and Seneca College. The documents threaten lawsuits unless the universities scrap their vaccine mandates.

The CRC says mandatory vaccines “have no place in a Constitutional Democracy.”

Seneca College was the first post-secondary institution in Canada to require vaccinations for students returning to campus this fall. Those who do not comply will be left to resume their studies “online or in a flexible-delivery format.” In its letter to Seneca, the CRC says the university contravenes its own discrimination and harassment policy by “making an arbitrary and unlawful distinction between vaccinated and unvaccinated students.”

Western University announced its COVID vaccine policy on May 27, 2021, which “requires students living in residence to have received at least a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine preferably before their move-in date but at least within 14 days following their move-in date.”  The CRC states that Western’s mandate “runs afoul of the principles and objectives… of numerous statutes including, the Healthcare Consent Act, and the Personal Health Information Protection Act.”

In the letter to Western University, the CRC states that since “the COVID-19 vaccine has not been approved by Health Canada for general use and has only been made available for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA), the decision and responsibility for mandating lies squarely and exclusively with the university.”

In Ontario, most universities, including the University of Waterloo, Wilfred Laurier University, the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto, have decided to mandate vaccines.

Standing in stark contrast to Ontario is Quebec, where most universities, including McGill and Concordia, do not require the COVID-19 vaccine.

McGill University’s “view is that [they] cannot legally require this in the Quebec context unless the Government mandates vaccination.”

On their website Concordia University writes, “to date, public health authorities have not given any directives that would require Concordia to make vaccinations mandatory for faculty, staff or students.”

The CRC says it is preparing to send letters to more institutions because “colleges and universities are not above the law, especially the Constitution.”

“Educational institutions have no business pressuring, influencing, forcing, compelling, coercing, nor extorting students to assume an Emergency Use Authorization only inoculation as a term of attending,” asserts the CRC. 

Eco-protesters cut down 18 trees to prevent logging of Fairy Creek watershed

By
Harrison Faulkner
-

Eco-protesters on Vancouver Island are so determined to prevent old-growth logging of the Fairy Creek Watershed area that they’ve resorted to cutting down trees themselves to prevent it. 

The RCMP in British Columbia says protesters cut down 18 trees to block vehicle access to the area, which was a breach of an injunction against the blockades that have been in place for months now.

The RCMP says they found trees had been cut with chainsaws and laid across a road to prevent vehicles from entering the area. The RCMP also says they observed one person smoking a cigarette surrounded by dry and tinder forest.

RCMP Chief Supt. John Brewer said in the statement that he is “gravely concerned” about the cutting down of trees and smoking in areas where wildfires could start. He says this type of behaviour is a danger to the safety of both officers and activists.

Since August 2020, protesters have been blockading logging roads near the Fairy Creek drainage on western Vancouver Island. Despite the BC government approving the request of a group of First Nations to defer old-growth logging of approximately 2,000 hectares for the next two years, the blockades continue. 

According to the RCMP’s statement on Saturday, 16 people were arrested — including one individual who allegedly assaulted a police officer. 494 people have been arrested since the blockades began.

Teal Jones, the forestry company at the centre of the protests, holds licenses to allow it to log in the area. Teal-Jones signed agreements with the Pacheedaht First Nations, and the nation signed a revenue-sharing agreement with the province for all timber cut on its land. 

In April, Pacheedaht Chief Jeff Jones and hereditary Chief Frank Queesto Jones indicated they were against the blockades. 

The protesters are part of a group called the Rainforest Flying Squad. 

On its website, the Rainforest Flying Squad says it is “a volunteer driven, grassroots, non-violent direct action movement” that is “committed to protecting the last stands of globally significant ancient temperate rainforest on Vancouver Island.”

The group claims that the old-growth logging of the Fairy Creek watershed area is “the ecological destruction of this land as colonial violence and a by-product of white supremacy and global capitalism.”

Trudeau government claims the CBC is under immense financial pressure

By
Harrison Faulkner
-

Despite receiving $1.2 billion annually from Canadian taxpayers, the Department of Canadian Heritage claims the CBC is under immense financial pressure.

“The Covid-19 pandemic and the challenges of covering it put immense pressure on CBC’s workforce, operations, finances and systems,” said the April 20 briefing note Funding Support For The CBC, which was first reported on by Blacklocks Reporter. 

“The postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics also put additional pressure on its cash flow.”

The CBC was steadily losing advertising revenue long before the pandemic, with CBC TV revenue decreasing 53% between 2014 and 2019.

Previous reports have shown that the CBC engages with very few Canadians, with less than 4% of Canadians regularly watching CBC TV in 2019 and only 0.8% tuning into its evening newscasts.

In addition to receiving $1.2 billion annually from taxpayers, the Trudeau government recently gave the state broadcaster an additional $21 million in its latest budget.

“Budget 2021 proposes to provide $21 million in 2021-22 as immediate operational support to the CBC/Radio-Canada,” the budget document reads.

“This funding will ensure its stability during the pandemic and enable it to continue providing news and entertainment programming that keeps Canadians informed.”

The government briefing note claims the CBC is a source of “trusted news and information,” but also acknowledged widespread complaints from Canadians. 

“The CRTC received more than 10,000 public interventions, many of which were critical of a perceived left-wing bias in CBC’s news reporting,” the briefing note reads. 

Earlier this month, CBC Ombudsman Jack Nagler’s 2021 Annual Report noted how the state broadcaster often does not provide enough information to viewers about its panellists. Various CBC programs have featured pundits that have received contracts from the Liberal government without making those contracts apparent to the viewers. 

“Fighting for you:” Poilivere’s pre-election video goes viral

By
Harrison Faulkner
-

The high profile Member of Parliament and Conservative candidate for the riding of Carleton’s election message is pretty simple — Make more. Cost less. Paycheques. Not debt.

Ahead of an expected federal election, Pierre Poilievre posted a video on social media warning Canadians about the government’s growing debt and looming financial crisis.

The video has gone viral, with more than 300,000 views on Twitter and 190,000 views on Facebook.

“We had to spend during the pandemic, but Trudeau’s plan to borrow forever means inflation and bankruptcy,” Poilievre says in the video. 

Poilievre argues that the federal government should prioritize Canadian interests and rely on a domestic supply of goods and services.

“Instead, let’s become the best place for businesses to build, hire and make stuff here in Canada,” Poilievre says.

In May, Statistics Canada reported that Inflation in Canada reached its highest rate in a decade as the prices of everyday goods continued to rise. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation on commonly purchased consumer goods and services on a year-over-year basis, rose 3.6%.

Meanwhile, in June, the government agency reported that the country lost 33,000 full-time jobs despite provinces reopening their economies and lifting or easing public health restrictions.

Poilievre blamed the Trudeau government for Canada’s sluggish job numbers. 

“This is a disastrous economic record – one we warned about and the government ignored our warnings, and now Canadians are suffering the consequences for their failures,” Poilievre said. 

Canada’s federal debt surpassed $1 trillion dollars this year following a frenzy of pandemic spending by the ruling Liberal government. In its latest budget, the government revealed a whopping deficit of $354 billion with no plan to pay down the debt and balance the books.

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