Many grassroots Conservative members have concerns about Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole.
While he campaigned as the “True Blue” candidate during the leadership race, we’re not seeing much of that same energy now. Further, when it comes to critical issues like government-enforced lockdowns, O’Toole has been relatively quiet.
Anthony Furey discusses in his latest video.
An investigation into an organized crime group allegedly involving outlaw motorcycle clubs by multiple police forces in Ontario has resulted in dozens of arrests, hundreds of charges, the seizure of multiple firearms and more than $1 million in drugs.
In a statement released on Friday, police revealed 55 search warrants were executed in Durham Region, Belleville, Madoc, Montreal, Hamilton and Toronto. 28 arrests were made and 291 charges were laid for offences, including break-and-enter, participation in a criminal organization, firearm trafficking and possession of controlled substances.
The six-month probe dubbed Project KAKIA was led by Durham Regional Police’s (DRPS) Gun and Gang Enforcement Unit. The operation was conducted in partnership with the RCMP Transnational Serious and Organized Crime Unit, the Canada Border Services Agency, Ontario Province Police and police services in Peterborough, Toronto and Belleville.
The police investigated multiple criminal networks that allegedly involved members of the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club from the Brooklin and Belleville charters and the Red Devils Motorcycle Club.
Officers seized approximately $1.2 million in drugs and 32 firearms — five shotguns, 15 rifles and 12 handguns. The drugs seized included cocaine, psilocybin, cannabis marijuana, cannabis resin, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl and cannabis edibles packaged as candy.
Police also seized two percussion grenades, overcapacity magazines, thousands of rounds of ammunition, five vehicles, $290,000 in cash and $148,000 in property allegedly obtained by crime.
The investigation also provided additional information related to a homicide that occurred in Oshawa, Ont. on Nov. 29, 2020, in which a father of two Justin Blight, 27, was gunned down in a shootout at an apartment on Simcoe St. near Athol St.
Anyone with new information about this investigation is urged to call the DRPS Gun and Gang Unit at 1-888-579-1520, ext. 5800, or the RCMP in Ontario at 1-800-387-0020, or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
The Chinese government has instituted a new wave of persecution against “illegal social organizations” which includes house churches and independent Christian groups.
Earlier in April, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) announced a new campaign to clamp down on groups which operate without approval of the Chinese regime.
The campaign was created to remove groups that do not support the government ahead of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party.
The campaign has already begun in the province of Sichuan, which recently published a list of 84 “illegal social organizations” which will be targeted.
The list included several Christian groups, including the Early Rain Covenant Church, an underground Christian organization which has been heavily persecuted by the Chinese government in recent years.
“In the eyes of the Chinese government, any religious group that refuses to submit to the CCP, or even charity groups, are seen as ‘illegal organizations,’ for the government is fearful that these civil groups can become a force that overthrows them,” dissident Father Francis Liu told Radio Free Asia.
In order to legally practice Christianity in China, churches must be registered with the Chinese Communist government and obey strict regulations. In recent years, this has included incorporating state doctrine into sermons.
The desire to “sinicize” Christianity and ensure every church complies with Communist doctrine has led to renewed persecutions of independent churches.
This past year, persecutions have included the arrests and “disappearances” of Christian leaders.
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told a Liberal Party policy convention audience that “extremists” make up the ranks of Canada’s gun lobby.
“Not every person who is in the gun lobby is an extremist, but anybody extremist is in the gun lobby,” said Blair during a panel on gun violence.
In response to Blair’s comments, the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR) lashed back at the minister accusing him of slandering hard working and law-abiding Canadians.
“The ‘gun lobby’ is moms, dads, grandparents, teachers, lawyers, cops, military, tax payers. It’s average Canadians,” wrote the official CCFR Twitter account.
Under the Trudeau Liberals, around 1,500 firearms were prohibited after the federal government bypassed debate in the House of Commons and introduced Bill C-21 using an order in council.
The law effectively bans the ownership, sale and distribution of those guns throughout the country, giving owners of the guns a limited time period to turn their firearms into the government under a federal buyback program.
According to prior statements by Blair, the minister assured a House of Commons committee in June 2020 that it was a “mistruth and deception put out by the gun lobby” and that his government was not intent on legislating such a ban.
Since then, the Liberals expanded the legislation to include “any device, including an unregulated airgun that looks exactly like a conventional regulated firearm (i.e., shoots over 500 feet per second).”
“No further ‘replica’ firearms could be imported into, or sold/transferred in Canada,” a government document claims.
In response to the legislation, a record number of Canadians signed a parliamentary petition urging the federal government to change course.
“We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Prime Minister to immediately scrap his government’s May 1, 2020, Order in Council decision related to confiscating legally owned firearms and instead pass legislation that will target criminals, stop the smuggling of firearms into Canada, go after those who illegally acquire firearms, and apologize to legal firearms owners in Canada,” reads petition e-2574 which was signed by 230,905 Canadians across the country.
To find out more about the Trudeau government’s infringement of firearm rights, tune into True North fellow Andrew Lawton’s documentary Assaulted: Justin Trudeau’s War on Gun Owners when it’s released this Spring.
This week, the NDP will be holding their policy convention and a number of wide-sweeping foreign policy proposals have been put forward.
While Jagmeet Singh has come out against some, including disbanding the Canadian military, a number of significant proposals still remain on the table.
Sam Eskenasi discusses how these policies, and those of other parties, might affect everyday life in Canada should the balance of power change in the House of Commons.
The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) will be replacing the term “master” bedroom from all of its databases and its multiple listing service with the more politically correct term “primary” bedroom.
According to a news release by TRREB, the change was introduced by the organization’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force as an attempt to better align with Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) practices.
“It will also address the negative connotations surrounding “master” bedroom, which many Members, others in the industry, and the public at large associate with terminology rooted in slavery and/or sexism. We also heard some of your concerns about the offensive undertones associated with this term,” claimed the news release.
“We know that words matter, and this is a step forward in rethinking outdated terms and modernizing the language used in the real estate industry.”
Among the bodies to be impacted by the change include Stratus, Collaborate, Matrix, TRREB.ca and any WEBForms® used by agents in the region.
“The real estate industry across North America is starting to come together around primary as a more appropriate term and to ensure ongoing productive communication between real estate professionals and their communities,” said the news release.
Since 2020, the CREA has removed the term “master” bedroom from its own platforms citing its relationship to slavery and male centricity.
“There is no definitive historical proof showing the term ‘master,’ when used in real estate to describe rooms of a home, is associated with slavery; however, the term’s relationship to slavery and its male centricity has caused concern,” wrote a CREA blog post on the change.
A US news outlet published a report regarding WE Charity’s involvement with California Governor Gavin Newsom, while a number of Canadian parliamentary committees continue to investigate the organization and its ties to the Liberal government.
According to ABC7 NEWS, approximately 1,400 schools and nearly 400,000 students in the state were funnelled through WE Charity programs with the endorsement of Newsom.
Between 2014 and 2016, while Newsom was still the Lt. Gov. of California, he became a co-chair of WE Day California alongside his wife, Jennifer Newsom.
During a 2016 WE Day California event, Newsom delivered remarks alongside San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo.
“No one is given a ticket here, you have to earn the right to get here,” said Newsom at the time.
Newsom’s involvement with the charity extended beyond even speaking engagements, after a letter sent to former California State Superintendent Tom Torlakson revealed that Newsom had urged Torlakson to have school districts and administrators attend WE Charity’s event.
State records also reveal that a request by Newsom led to a donation from Comcast to WE Charity totaling $242,500. Additionally, it was revealed that another organization with ties to WE founders Craig and Marc Keilburger sent Newsom and his wife baby gifts worth $110.
“Over the years, WE Charity has provided youth volunteerism programs to 18,000 schools in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, empowering young people to help more than 5,000 causes. In California, WE Charity serves 1,400 schools and educational groups with free curricular programs supporting youth service, youth mental health, and trauma-informed learning programs,” WE Charity said in a statement provided to ABC 7 NEWS.
Currently, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is being investigated by the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner regarding his involvement in WE being awarded a $900 million student service grant last summer despite the Trudeau family receiving close to half a million dollars in compensation and reimbursements from the group.
During the most recent testimony by the Kielburgers before the House of Commons ethics committee, Marc Kielburger blamed the Trudeau government of “hiding behind” the children’s charity to avoid a political scandal.
“WE Charity agreed to help, that’s what charities do, they help for what is needed. We didn’t advise the prime minister and Minister Morneau to not recuse themselves, we never prorogued parliament, we’re not involved in the decision to filibuster the committee this fall,” said Marc Kielburger.
“This is a political scandal for the government, not WE Charity. The government hid behind a children’s charity by letting it take the fall for their political decisions, and the opposition allowed them.”
Ontario hospitals have been instructed to stop all non-emergency surgeries by April 12.
In a memo obtained by CBC News, Ontario Health CEO Matthew Anderson said that elective surgeries have to be stopped to make room in ICUs for potential coronavirus patients.
“Given increasing case counts and widespread community transmission across many parts of the province, we are facing mounting and extreme pressure on our critical care capacity,” Anderson wrote.
“We are instructing hospitals to ramp down all elective surgeries and non-emergent/urgent activities in order to preserve critical care and human resource capacity.”
On Thursday, the Ford government issued a provincewide stay-at-home order as a new round of lockdowns began in the province. The decision was sparked by a spike in coronavirus cases, including new variants of the virus.
The last time Ontario stopped non-emergency surgeries was in March 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic. While it is unknown how many people died due to surgery postponements, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott estimated the number to be dozens as of April 2020.
The president of think-tank SecondStreet.org Colin Craig says the province is not considering the effects the move will have on Ontarians waiting for life-saving surgeries.
“Many patients will suffer because of the Ontario government’s decision to postpone procedures again. For example, the government conceded that upwards of 35 patients died in the first half of 2020 because their heart operations were postponed,” Craig told True North.
“It’s not clear if the government is taking the impact to non-COVID patients into consideration when they postpone procedures. When we previously asked the government for data on how many procedures they postponed in 2020, they told us they didn’t have any data. It’s pretty incredible that the government wasn’t tracking this problem.”
The government of Ontario claimed to have “no records” on postponements due to the pandemic, but the Canadian Medical Association Journal estimates 148,364 surgeries were postponed in the province last year.
In the history of any country, there exists moments which define that nation’s character and identity. The Battle of Vimy Ridge is one of those milestones for Canada.
On April 9, 1917, on a cold and wet Easter Monday, thousands of Canadian soldiers embarked the rough terrain of Vimy, Pas-de-Calais, France dodging bullets and shrapnel during a grueling battle against the German Empire.
Their struggle would be a turning point for the Great War and a lesson of virtue for all nations.
French and Allied regiments who had gone before them had been laid waste by the German war machine and the world turned to Canada as its last hope.
Canadian divisions fought non-stop, each line of brave men being replaced by another, intent on taking the long-held German position. The fight would wage on for over three days claiming the lives of 3,500 Canadians and injuring 7,000 others.
Finally, on April 12th, after suffering a relentless barrage of bullets and incoming German artillery fire, Canada had gained the upper hand. Within hours the German lines broke and the Allies declared Vimy Ridge theirs.
It was a campaign of military brilliance, Canadian technological prowess and sheer northern grit.
Canadians can look to the legacy left behind by the brave souls who risked it all to serve their country.
The Battle of Vimy Ridge teaches us that even under impossible odds and through the toughest of circumstances, Canada marches on.
As a marker of that Canadian spirit, the Canadian National Vimy Memorial still reaches into the open sky today as a reminder of Canada’s limitless potential.
Lest we forget.
An Ottawa gym owner defied provincial COVID-19 lockdown orders by opening the doors of his small business to patrons hoping to exercise indoors.
FRST Fitness on Bank Street remained open on Thursday despite Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s latest directives for gyms and personal care services to shut down.
“I believe that everybody is responsible for their own health and they should take their own health into their own hands,” FRST Fitness owner Spencer Ayres told CityNews.
“Everybody should be out, opening up their businesses in light of this new lockdown and showing their support for other small businesses.”
FRST Fitness’ opening was attended by at least 70 people who were there to show their support and protest Ontario’s latest strict lockdown regime.
Independent Ontario MPP Randy Hillier spoke at the gathering which was also attended by the group No More Lockdowns Canada.
“I have a responsibility to defend their freedom, for them to make the choice, for them to have responsibility, that’s what made Canada great,” said Hillier.
“In every barn yard, in every backyard, in every small business, in every legislature, in every where, I will defend freedom.”
FRST Fitness isn’t the only gym to defy the province’s lockdown restrictions. In March, Sharky’s Athletic Club in Sarnia opened its doors to customers despite the region’s grey level lockdown. According to owners Bill and Cindy Van Hoogenhuize, they were handed a fine of $1,000.
Yesterday, Ford plunged the province into a state of emergency and declared a new stay-at-home order which effectively requires Ontario residents to remain in their residences unless it is for essential reasons.
Non-essential businesses and retailers are required to be closed for all indoor shopping or indoor dining. Meanwhile, big box outlets are being allowed to remain open at a 25% capacity to sell essential items.
The order went into effect on Thursday and will be enforced for a 28-day period.
