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Tuesday, July 8, 2025

Alberta, Ontario and Quebec ranked poorest on COVID Misery Index

By
True North Wire
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Albertans have been the most miserable during the pandemic, closely followed by Ontarians and Quebeckers, according to a new report from the MacDonald-Laurier Institute (MLI).

In the Provincial COVID Misery Index, MLI found that Canada’s larger provinces suffered from much higher rates of coronavirus and felt more harm from government lockdowns.

“Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta in particular have not only failed to keep COVID cases and deaths under control but have also been extremely reliant on reactive and stringent lockdowns and their economies have suffered disproportionately,” MLI wrote.

“When considering Disease Misery, Quebec is by far the worst of all the provinces on this measure, languishing under high caseloads, high COVID-19 deaths, and high excess deaths – and this dismal record is only partially mitigated by recent lower case counts.”

The Provincial COVID Misery Index measures the relative misery caused by COVID-19, the government response to the pandemic and the economic fallout, giving each a score of 0 to 100.

Prince Edward Island was ranked as the least miserable, with a score of 65.99 out of a possible 300. Alberta, the most miserable, received a score of 206.59.

MLA attributes Atlantic Canada’s low misery scores to the province’s ability to keep travellers out of the region.

With the Trudeau government refusing to close the border for weeks in 2020, larger provinces with international airports received most of the brunt of the initial positive cases.

MLI senior fellow Richard Audas said that earlier action to close the border could have resulted in fewer cases and fewer restrictions for larger provinces. MLI also suggests that the ideological commitment to lockdowns by some health experts may be contributing to the prolonged misery.

“Lockdowns were originally pitched to Canadians as a magic bullet,” said Audas, who also designed the Provincial COVID Misery Index. 

“Unfortunately, while the disease itself is predictable, human behaviour is not.”

In a previous index ranking the misery felt in fifteen developed nations, MLI ranked Canada fifth most-miserable, largely due to the economic impact of lockdowns.

Trudeau blasted for not listing IRGC as terror organization despite prior commitment

By
True North Wire
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The Liberal government received harsh criticism from the opposition on Tuesday after failing to deliver on a promise to list the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization despite voting in favour of a motion to do so in 2018. 

Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister was pressed by Conservative MPs Shannon Stubbs and Marty Morantz during Question Period on why the Liberals have failed to list the organization on its terror list.

“January 2020’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ attack on Flight 752 was an intentional act of terrorism.  All 176 on board were killed, including 55 Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents. In 2019, the US White House declared that the IRGC actively participates in, finances and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft. When will the Liberal government stand up for Canadians and list the IRGC as a terrorist organization?” asked Stubbs. 

“We have been standing up for Canadians and particularly the families of those who were tragically lost in PS752 on the 8th of January 2020 and we are reviewing the Ontario court decision at the moment. We have said right from the beginning, in all of the communications with Iran, that they have failed to be transparent, open and accountable for the actions they have committed against flight PS752 and we will not cease to pursue them on that matter until they’ve provided all the necessary answers with respect to that tragedy,” replied Garneau. 

According to the 2018 non-binding motion, the government committed itself to “immediately designate the IRGC as a listed terrorist entity under the Criminal Code of Canada.”

In 2019, the administration of former US president Donald Trump set an international precedent by designating the IRGC as a foreign terrorist organization. 

In a statement on the matter, Trump said that the US “recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a state sponsor of terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft.” 

The designation came shortly before Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 was shot down by Iranian forces. 

An Ontario Superior Court has since ruled that Iran’s downing of the flight was an “intentional act of terrorism” despite claims by the Iranian government that the incident was accidental. 

“The plaintiffs have established that the shooting down of Flight 752 by the defendants was an act of terrorism and constitutes ‘terrorist activity,’” wrote Ontario Justice Edward Belobaba. 

Trudeau silent on Victoria Day as leftists try to cancel Queen Victoria

By
True North Wire
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remained silent on Victoria Day as the former monarch’s name and legacy continue to get attacked in Canada.

Neither the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) nor Trudeau’s social media accounts issued any Victoria Day messages on Monday.

Victoria Day, May 24, is not only Queen Victoria’s birthday, but also serves as the reigning monarch’s official birthday in Canada.

On Tuesday, Trudeau’s office issued statements commemorating Africa Day and the 75th anniversary of Jordan’s independence.

Last year, Trudeau had a phone call with Queen Elizabeth II, personally offering his best wishes for her the coming Victoria Day.

The PMO did not respond to a request for comment.

In recent weeks, Queen Victoria, Canada’s first monarch, has been attacked by activists for her role in early Canadian history.

Last week, True North reported that the Toronto District School Board is entertaining whether to strip the former monarch’s name from Queen Victoria Public School. 

The school board suggests Queen Victoria has a “racist legacy,” saying that “some school names do not reflect the values of contemporary Toronto.”

Last week, a group of politicians proposed renaming the province of British Columbia, whose capital is named Victoria, to “reflect the diverse population of our Province.” The name for the province was personally picked by Queen Victoria 1858 when it became a colony.

During his term as prime minister, Stephen Harper put out multiple statements recognizing the importance of Victoria Day and the person who ruled the British domains from 1837 to 1901.

“Today, let us celebrate our rich and colourful heritage and, in particular, our enduring ties with the institution of the Canadian Crown. As an institution at the centre of our political system, the Crown and all Members of the Canadian Royal Family are an integral and valued part of our collective national identity.” Harper’s office wrote in 2014. 

“Victoria Day provides us with an opportunity to honour Her Majesty for her steadfast loyalty to and affection for our country and all Canadians.”

Media pounce to call O’Toole “sexist,” ignore Liberal’s anti-women record

By
True North Wire
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Mainstream media journalists and Liberal supporters pounced on the opportunity to imply Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole was “sexist” over the long weekend, despite the Liberal government’s abysmal record when it comes to women’s issues. 

On Friday, O’Toole tweeted about how his wife had a “cold one waiting” for him after his run and soon after political pundits like Evan Solomon jumped on the opportunity to imply that O’Toole’s framing of tweet was an “old stereotype” about women. 

Although Solomon’s tweet received quick backlash from Canadians, other Liberal commentators joined in, implying O’Toole was sexist for the tweet. 

Currently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is being accused by the opposition of covering up a sexual harassment scandal at the highest levels of the Canadian military. 

Liberal Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan was implicated in the scandal after it was revealed that in 2018 he refused to see evidence regarding allegations made against retired general Jonathan Vance. Since then, a number of other victims have come forward with allegations regarding senior members of the Canadian military. 

The Liberal government’s shoddy history around women’s rights doesn’t end there. Trudeau himself once faced allegations that he groped a female reporter nearly 20 years ago while at a music festival. 

In response to the allegations, Trudeau claimed that the victim might have experienced the interaction “differently.” 

Additionally, Trudeau was also blasted for being anti-woman after he kicked out former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould from his cabinet after she revealed that the prime minister tried to interfere in the SNC-Lavalin trial. 

Since the Liberal government was elected in 2015, a number of Liberal MPs have also faced serious allegations including former Liberal MP Marwan Tabbara who is facing criminal harassment and other charges. In 2019, the Liberals decided to allow Tabbara to run for the party despite facing an internal probe into sexual harassment allegations made against him.

In 2015, MPs Massimo Pacetti and Scott Andrews were kicked out of the Liberal caucus over accusations of harassment made by two NDP MPs. 

In 2016 and 2017, MPs Darshan Kang and Hunter Tootoo, as well as the PMO deputy director of operations Claude-Éric Gagné, were also accused of inappropriate behaviour or sexual harassment.

United Church of Canada offering racially segregated “racial justice” courses

By
True North Wire
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The United Church of Canada is holding courses on “racial justice” — with attendees being segregated by race.

According to the United Church’s distance learning website, the church is offering a four part “Racial Justice Workshop,” with two of the parts being segregated into white and non-white classes.

The training is mandatory for all active ministry personnel and open to the public.

“We will be meeting in separate groups according to our racial identities: one group are people who self-identify as Indigenous, Black and other Peoples of Colour (BIPOCs) and another group are people who self-identify as White,” the course description reads.

Ministry personnel in the United Church have been required to take racial justice training since 2006 and have appeared to make combatting racism a priority, going so far as to create a “Dismantling White Privilege Working Group.”

The course description goes into detail trying to justify segregating attendees by race, saying that white people and people of colour have different needs. 

“Why are we meeting in separate groups for these initial sessions? It is because the learning needs of BIPOCs are often different from the learning needs of White people. Because of their lived experiences, BIPOCs certainly have different day-to-day realities than those of White people,” it reads.

“There is, however, a difference between historical segregation and creating settings by self-identified groups that are beneficial for people to have their own space and conversations.”

The United Church has prided itself on taking left-wing stances on many social issues. In 2016, the United Church urged members to support Bill C-16, a law which added self-declared gender identity as a protected category under the law. 

In another instance, the United Church decided to keep self-proclaimed atheist Gretta Vosper as a minister within the church, calling off attempts to expel or reprimand her.

Many Christian leaders and other thinkers have condemned some churches’ embrace of leftist ideology, saying it distracts from Biblical teachings.

In a recent appearance, author and commentator Douglas Murray warned that the modern church is becoming “a social action group” which will increasingly become irrelevant as tradition and the Bible are forgotten.

Wuhan lab staff went to hospital month prior to first reported COVID-19 case: report

By
True North Wire
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Several staff members at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) sought medical help a month prior to the first official case of COVID-19 being reported, fueling theories that the virus originated in a Chinese lab.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing an undisclosed US intelligence report, three WIV researchers went to the hospital seeking help for an unspecified illness prior to the pandemic.

The illnesses all occured in November 2019, over a month before the first official cases of COVID-19 were reported in Wuhan.

Anonymous officials familiar with the report told the Wall Street Journal the report and the lab theory warrant more investigation.

The Chinese government has rejected the report, as well as any suggestion that the virus originated in a Chinese lab. On Monday, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said that no WIV staff had fallen ill in November.

“The United States continues to hype up the lab leak theory. Does it care about traceability or is it just trying to distract attention?” he said.

Evidence of the lab leak theory has been building since early 2020, with one US official saying there is a “growing body of evidence” that points to the WIV as the origin of the virus.

Chief medical advisor to US President Joe Biden Dr. Anthony Fauci recently said he is not convinced COVID-19 evolved naturally and wanted to see continued investigation into its origins.

While the lab leak theory has been credible since the beginning of the pandemic, those who have shared it have found themselves attacked and de-platformed.

When True North founder Candice Malcolm raised questions about the origins of COVID-19, she was immediately attacked by Canadian journalists.

Individuals and groups which shared the theory additionally got censored by some social media platforms, particularly by Facebook.

BC doctor stripped of ER shifts after raising COVID vaccine side effect concerns

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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A local BC family doctor is claiming that he is being reprimanded by health officials after speaking out about alleged Moderna vaccine complications when administering the drug to patients. 

According to Dr. Charles Hoffe from Lytton, BC, he was suspended from the St. Bartholomew’s Health Centre’s emergency shift due to the alleged “vaccine hesitancy” his claims have caused. 

“On 29th of April, 2021, the Interior Health Authority suspended my clinical privileges, for the crime of causing  “vaccine hesitancy”, for speaking out about my vaccine injured patients.  So I am no longer allowed to work in the ER,” Dr. Hoffe told True North.

“I am still permitted to see patients in my private practice, which is not under the jurisdiction of the Interior Health authority, but I have effectively lost about 50% of my income. This is the price of advocating for the safety of my patients.”

In April, Hoffe published an open letter addressed to BC’s Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry claiming to have seen “numerous allergic reactions,” one “sudden death” and a few cases of “ongoing and disabling neurological deficits” after administering 900 doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to nearby First Nations community members. 

“So in short, in our small community of Lytton, BC, we have one person dead, and three people who look as though they will be permanently disabled, following their first dose of the Moderna vaccine. The age of those affected ranges from 38 to 82 years of age,” Hoffe claimed in the letter.

His allegations were dismissed by Interior Health’s Kamloops-based medical health officer Dr. Carol Fenton, who said there have been “no deaths or lasting adverse reactions” connected to any COVID-19 vaccine in BC, let alone in the Interior Health region.

A community notice dated May 4 posted to the clinic goes on to allege that the removal of Dr. Hoffe would “leave a significant gap in physician staffing” at the hospital, however, Dr. Hoffe continues to see patients privately at his office which is attached to St. Bartholomew’s. 

The notice was posted outside of the Lytton Medical Clinic, where Hoffe practices.

“Dr. Hoffe is usually on duty as the emergency room physician in Lytton for two weeks out of every month. So his suspension by the Interior Health Authority, is likely to mean that the emergency room in Lytton will be closed for at least two weeks out of every month,” the notice alleges. 

“These problems are further exacerbated by the fact that Interior Health Authority has also decided to reduce laboratory services in Lytton to 2 days per week. Apart from the negative impact on the quality of health care in Lytton, this will make recruitment of any new physicians extremely difficult.”

Neither the Interior Health Authority nor BC Health Minister Adrian Dix replied to inquiries from True North as to whether Dr. Hoffe is under investigation. 

Recently, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia put out a warning claiming that any doctors found to “contradict public health orders and guidance” would be subject to investigation and potentially regulatory action.

According to the College’s official website, privacy laws bar the organization from revealing whether there is an ongoing investigation regarding one of its members.

O’Toole hits back at Twitter trolls by bringing his wife a glass of wine

By
True North Wire
-

Conservative leader Erin O’Toole served up some Twitter sass and a crisp glass of wine in a single tweet.

After facing criticism from the left and a number of journalists for tweeting that his wife, Rebecca, gave him a “cold one” after a run, O’Toole made sure he was the one offering a beverage after the next run.

On Sunday, O’Toole tweeted a photo of him holding out a tray with a glass of rose wine on it to Rebecca, a not-so-subtle reference to the feigned controversy caused by the previous tweet.

“Brought Rebecca a glass of rose after my run today. Hope everyone is enjoying a relaxing long weekend,” he wrote.

On Friday, O’Toole tweeted that Rebecca greeted him at home with a cold beer.

“Starting the long weekend off right. Rebecca had a cold one waiting for me after my run. Wishing everyone a safe and relaxing long weekend,” he wrote.

O’Toole’s well-meaning tweet was immediately attacked by leftists and journalists for supposedly reducing women to antiquated stereotypes of housewives at their husbands’ beck and call.

This criticism was amplified after a tweet from CTV host Evan Solomon suggesting O’Toole’s tweet is at odds with the Conservative party’s plan to woo women voters.

FUREY: What would Canada do if something much worse than COVID-19 happened?

By
Anthony Furey
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When it comes to COVID-19, Canada’s public officials have failed to have a proper proportional response.

What would Canada do if another 9/11 were to take place? What about an electromagnetic pulse attack? Canada’s pandemic response would not bode well if something much worse than COVID-19 were to take place.

Anthony Furey discusses in his latest video.

MALCOLM: This may be the very last Victoria Day long weekend

By
Candice Malcolm
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I hope readers of this column enjoy the upcoming Victoria Day long weekend. After 15 gruelling months of complying with ever-changing public health orders, half-baked shelter-in-place guidelines and a failed COVID-19 strategy from our clueless politicians, Lord knows we all need the holiday.

Aside from all that, this may be the very last Victoria Day long weekend.

If the Woke left has its way, it will continue on its destructive trajectory of erasing our history, tearing down our institutions and cancelling anything or anyone that doesn’t meet its evolving dictates.

Surely, Queen Victoria will not stand the test of time — according to the totalitarian standards of our progressive betters, that is.

A Toronto District School Board campaign has already begun to rename Queen Victoria Public School, founded in 1887, citing “a racist legacy” and “systemically racist policies.”

Without bothering to provide any specific examples of this so-called racist legacy, the TDSB simply claims it has a mandate to rename schools in order to “celebrate the diversity of Toronto.”

Two months ago, a group of far-left Antifa vandals likewise desecrated a statue of Queen Victoria at McGill University, covering her in red paint and accusing her of “genocide.”

In a Facebook post taking credit for the incident, the group claimed its actions were meant to shed light on the “criminal legacy” of Great Britain.

“Just put the British Royal Family, all of them, into a limousine, give them a drunk French chauffeur, and let nature take its course,” wrote one member on Facebook.

Regardless of the views of the mob, Queen Victoria was actually quite modern for her time.

She was a strong woman, raised by a single mother and became a single mother herself. She redefined the Royal institution, cutting back on the lavishness of her uncles and establishing the image of the Royal Family as admired and relatable to the growing middle class.

Queen Victoria ushered in a strong and more visible constitutional monarchy, and oversaw a large and democratic transfer of power away from the aristocracy (including herself and her family) and towards elected officials in the House of Commons.

She was the sovereign when Canada was established in 1867, hence why her name was so widely used in the naming of public places. Both the capitals of British Columbia and Saskatchewan — Victoria and Regina — were named after the Queen.

Queen Victoria focused on civics, leading dozens of charities and educational efforts. She introduced the Victoria Cross, given to honour great acts of bravery to British servicemen, awarded based on merit, not rank.

None of this matters, of course. Once the Woke left sets its sights on erasing something or someone, it’s a done deal. No one wants to defend a “racist”, lest they be deemed one as well.

Queen Victoria was not perfect, just like John A. Macdonald, Winston Churchill and other historical figures who paved the way towards building and preserving our free and peaceful society.

We don’t remember and honour these figures for their flaws — their outdated views on “diversity and inclusion” — but instead we honour them because of their contributions and the role they played in shaping our society.

But the Woke left has decided that we must instead judge our past leaders by today’s evolving standards, and thus, no one is safe, least of all a woman so powerful the entire Victorian era is named after her.

If that’s the case, then surely Canada Day and Remembrance Day will be next, followed by Christmas and Easter. They’ll soon demand we remove any British-sounding name and eventually our entire British-inspired system of government.

Nothing can survive the purity tests of the Woke left.

If we don’t stand up for our civilization — our values, our traditions, and history — no one will. The freest, most peaceful, most prosperous, most tolerant and most pluralistic society in human history will destroy itself from the inside.

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