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Monday, July 21, 2025

Alberta MLAs newest additions to growing “End the Lockdown Caucus”

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Two Alberta MLAs and several former local politicians joined the growing “End the Lockdown Caucus” on Tuesday. 

Alberta United Conservative Party (UCP) MLAs Angela Pitt and Drew Barnes were among the half dozen or so politicians added to the organization’s roster this week following its formation on February 4th. 

According to a letter signed by all members of the caucus, the purpose of the organization is to “ensure there is open, honest, and public debate regarding the COVID-19 government response.”

“​After careful examination and scrutiny of mitigation measures undertaken by all levels of government, it is now evident that the lockdowns cause more harm than the virus and must be brought to an end,” claimed the statement.

Upon the caucus’ formation, the organization initially consisted of a handful of individuals including independent MP Derek Sloan, former MP and PPC leader Maxime Bernier and independent Ontario MPP Randy Hillier. To date, the caucus has 27 members including mayors, former and current councillors, and several former MLAs. 

True North spoke to both Barnes and Pitt regarding their decision to join the organization. 

“The message of the End the Lockdown Caucus is consistent with my advocacy since April. Cypress-Medicine Hatters are suffering a mental health and economic crisis as big as the COVID crisis,” said Barnes. 

“We need to take a regional and safe practice approach in dealing with Covid mitigation measures. Cypress-Medicine Hat people have shown great respect for social distancing, mask wearing, and demonstrating safe practices in their businesses. I have also been advocating for 5 minute rapid blood tests and extra support for Long term care residents and workers.”

According to Barnes, his decision to join was first prompted after he was contacted by “numerous constituents” requesting for him to support the caucus. 

“I have always spoken in caucus for Albertans having the right to protect their civil liberties and choose how they live their lives and protect their families. I will continue to advocate for other elected officials to join,” Barnes told True North. 

Similarly, Pitts indicated that it was an “easy choice” after she too was contacted by a constituent urging her to join the group.

With regard to whether she will be calling on her fellow UCP MLAs to join the group, Pitts said that she “absolutely” would. 

“Our party principals are: a robust civil society made up of free individuals, strong families, and voluntary associations, freedom of speech, worship and assembly, economic freedom in a market economy which encourages the creation of wealth through free enterprise, and protection of the right to own, enjoy and exchange property. It aligns perfectly,” said Pitts. 

Alberta pastor arrested for violating coronavirus restrictions multiple times

By
True North Wire
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An Alberta pastor has been charged and fined after he held multiple church services that violated public health orders.

Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church near Edmonton was charged for violating the Public Health Act on Sunday. The church had held services beyond capacity for several weeks despite being ordered to stop by Alberta Health Services 

“There are many different discussions and considerations at play in relation to the Grace Life Church and their non compliance,” said Inspector Mike Lokken of Parkland RCMP.  

“We have ensured that the church is well aware of the conditions that they need to follow and they have been afforded repeated opportunities to comply. In collaboration with AHS, we have now followed up with escalated enforcement.”

Once the service was complete, Pastor Coates was arrested and issued a $1,200 ticket. Coates was released and is due to appear at Provincial Court in Stony Plain on March 31.

Current public health orders allow for 15% capacity at places of worship, with masks being required as well. Inspectors on Sunday found the church to be nearly full with around 300 people in attendance. RCMP and AHS inspectors found that congregants were also not wearing masks.

In a statement, GraceLife Church says they have taken appropriate precautions to limit possible spread of coronavirus, including their own contact tracing. 

The church argues that current restrictions are absurd given the nature of the virus, adding that the rights and freedoms of all people are being stamped out by government.

“We are gravely concerned that COVID-19 is being used to fundamentally alter society and strip us all of our civil liberties. By the time the so-called ‘pandemic’ is over, if it is ever permitted to be over, Albertans will be utterly reliant on government, instead of free, prosperous, and independent,” the statement reads.

“Otherwise we may not get them back. In fact, some say we are on the cusp of reaching the point of no return. Protect the vulnerable, exercise reasonable precautions, but begin to live your lives again.”

Green Party leader calls for Winter Olympics to be relocated from China

By
True North Wire
-

Recently-elected Green Party of Canada leader Annamie Paul has issued a call for the 2022 Winter Olympics to be relocated from Beijing, China due to the ongoing genocide against the country’s Uyghur minority. 

In a Tuesday morning tweet, Paul also asked Canada to consider bidding itself as an alternative location for the international event citing past experience with hosting the Olympic games. 

“If an ongoing genocide is not reason enough to relocate a sporting event, then my question is, what is?” asked Paul during a press conference. 

“China has proven itself to be incredibly resistant to liberalization of human rights and fundamental freedoms. here is no reason to credibly believe that the celebration of the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, alongside a genocide, will produce any such results.” 

Paul is not the only Canadian politician who has issued calls for the Olympics to be relocated or for Canada not to participate. 

Over a dozen federal MPs from every party issued an open letter calling for the games to be moved due to an ongoing “genocidal campaign” being committed by the Chinese Communist Party.

“Mass rapes and numerous acts of torture are being committed in these camps. Women are being forcibly sterilized, adults and children are being kidnapped, and surveillance camera systems are being combined with artificial intelligence software to track Uighurs around the globe,” wrote the letter. 

“Some may argue that sports and politics should not mix. We would respond that when genocide is happening, it is no longer a matter of politics, but of human rights and crimes against humanity.” 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been facing growing pressure to listen to the international community and Uyghur rights advocates and declare China’s actions in the Xinjiang region a genocide.

Last week, Trudeau stopped short of labelling the crisis a genocide but did say that he “acknowledged” the US government’s recent decision to do so. 

“We have been speaking up directly to China’s leadership for many years now on our concern of women and ethnic minorities in Western China and throughout China. We will continue to stand up for human rights everywhere around the world. We will continue to call for better transparency and understanding what’s happened,” said Trudeau. 

“We acknowledge that the US has made the determination that these acts constitute a genocide. We will continue our work with them and with other allies to move forward and protect these people.”

The departure by the US government was made in January prior to the departure of former US president Donald Trump. 

Variable Variants

By
Andrew Lawton
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Just as provinces start easing their lockdown measures, Toronto’s top doctor says we’re transitioning into a “new pandemic” because of the COVID-19 variants the federal government is using to justify its draconian travel restrictions.

Also, after 26 years of hearings and litigation, the Canadian government still hasn’t been able to deport a former member of a Nazi killing squad: True North’s Andrew Lawton discusses with Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs CEO Shimon Koffler Fogel, plus speaks with lawyer Jared Brown about Canadian Lawyer magazine’s decision to yank an article criticizing mandatory pronouns in court.

Public Health Agency rejected offer to supply masks last March

By
True North Wire
-

The Public Health Agency of Canada ignored a proposal from a major supplier to produce face masks at the beginning of the pandemic because N95 masks were not a “top priority” at the time.

According to records obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, a broker from industrial giant Honeywell offered an entire production line at their Mexican facility to produce N95 masks for Canada.

“If Canada needs those masks, the company was at one point yesterday open to dedicating to a line of production for Canada in their Tijuana facility,” wrote the broker. 

“They have already done this for the U.S. at their U.S. facility. The Mexico facility is not part of the U.S. order. It is worth considering this.”

Officials were informed of the offer on March 19, 2020, just days after the pandemic began in Canada. The broker was quickly informed that the Public Health Agency was not interested. 

“There were initial discussions, but (the Public Health Agency of Canada) rejected the Honeywell masks,” wrote Senior Policy Advisor Kelly Murdock.

“Right now N95 masks are not the top priority.”

Within weeks of the refusal, Canada was facing shortages of face masks, forcing the government to buy at inflated prices on the open market. For some orders, the government was paying as much as $10 per unit.

At least eight million N95 masks purchased in China were found to be faulty and not on par with federal standards. 

It was later revealed that the Public Health Agency of Canada destroyed 2 million N95 masks from the national stockpile in 2019. While the agency claims the masks expired, new masks were never ordered.

Unlike other offers to produce masks, Honeywell has not requested federal subsidies as part of the agreement.

In the beginning of the pandemic, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam repeatedly advised Canadians against wearing masks.

“Right now there is no need to use a mask for well people,” said Tam during a March 28th briefing. 

At one point Tam even warned that masks could lead to spreading the virus and said that “the effectiveness of the use of non-medical masks has not been well demonstrated” on April 1. 

“What we worry about is actually the potentially negative aspects of wearing masks where people are not protecting their eyes or, you know, other aspects of where the virus could enter your body, and that gives you a false sense of confidence,” said Tam on March 30th.

Canadian Lawyer Magazine censors article critical of gender pronoun directive

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

On February 7, Canadian Lawyer Magazine unpublished a February 5 opinion article critical of a BC policy that directs lawyers to state their gender pronouns at the beginning of court proceedings.

The article, written by commercial lawyer Shahdin Farsai, argued that the practice constituted compelled speech and violated the privacy rights of individuals. 

“On December 16, 2020, both the BC Supreme and Provincial courts issued practice directions to lawyers that require parties and/or lawyers to state their preferred gender pronouns at the beginning of all court proceedings, which are ‘to be used’ by all participants appearing before the courts including judges,” Farsai recounted in her op-ed, which has since been archived online.  

“Practice directions do not have the force of law as do formal enactments and court rules, but they express the view of the court regarding matters of practice and procedure…the directive employs mandatory language that implies that other court participants must employ someone’s preferred pronoun when referring to them in the third person in court.”

The day after the article was published, over 150 lawyers penned an open letter to the magazine’s editors demanding that the magazine remove the article. 

The letter signatories also threatened the magazine by declining to write any future articles or take any interviews with the publication. 

True North spoke to Jared Brown, who is a litigator in Toronto and a Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario about the article and how censorship and political correctness threaten the integrity of the legal profession. 

“I can’t say I’m surprised, the Canadian legal landscape is quickly becoming a political and ideological monoculture where independence and courage are in short supply and opinions even moderately outside of extreme leftist orthodoxy are not tolerated,” said Brown. 

“The ideological capture of the legal profession and its liberal institutions by a certain brand of activist leftist politics openly hostile to liberalism and liberal democracy is now being enforced with the authoritarian toolkit of censorship, political correctness and denunciation.”

According to Brown, lawyers have a duty as the “last independent bulwark against oppression and tyranny” and must stand up “against efforts to co-opt the profession into the service of a particular ideology or politics.” 

“We refuse to be pulled into a debate about the worth of trans and non-binary lives. The human rights of our colleagues are not something that should be debated. Put simply, this is not a ‘two-sides’ issue,” read the letter. 

“We request that Canadian Lawyer remove the article, issue a retraction and apology, and outline the steps it will take in the future to ensure that its articles are both legally correct and respect the human rights of all of our community members, particularly members of the LGBTQ2S+ community.”

An editor’s note now appears on the page in place of Farsai’s piece. 

“An article posted on our website titled ‘British Columbia’s practice directions on preferred gender pronouns in court are problematic’ has been removed,” wrote Canadian Lawyer Magazine Editor Tim Wilbur. 

“The article did not reflect the views of Canadian Lawyer Magazine, Key Media and its related entities.”

Jim Karahalios reveals cancer diagnosis to supporters

By
True North Wire
-

Former Conservative leadership candidate and co-founder of the New Blue Party of Ontario Jim Karahalios has revealed that he is currently fighting cancer.

In a statement celebrating the New Blue Party of Ontario’s registration with Elections Ontario, Karahalios informed supporters that he was diagnosed with bone cancer in early December and began treatment.

“After a couple of months of knee pain, doctors diagnosed a tumour in my femur. A biopsy confirmed it was osteosarcoma — a type of bone cancer that has no known causes and that typically affects younger people like the late great Terry Fox,” he wrote.

“The good news is the prospects of curing and surviving the illness are much greater today than they were when Terry Fox was diagnosed.”

In October, Jim Karaholios and his wife, former Progressive Conservative MPP Belinda Karahalios announced the creation of the New Blue Party as a right-of-centre alternative to the Ontario Progressive Conservatives.

Karahalios told supporters that he will be having surgery to remove the cancer in the future and is optimistic about his prognosis.

“Within days of my diagnosis, I began aggressive chemotherapy treatment that I am half-way through completing. The treatment has been very difficult but over the last few days I have been feeling the best I have in a long time. In the near future, I will also be undergoing major surgery.”

“The doctors have told me they are treating my diagnosis as curable and it is their hope that the treatment and surgery will rid me of this terrible disease.”

Jim Karahalios rose to prominence campaigning against Ontario’s carbon tax, later creating Axe the Carbon Tax to fight carbon prices across Canada. He later ran for the Conservative party leadership but was disqualified for criticizing Walied Soliman, the chair of O’Toole’s campaign, for past comments on Sharia financing.

Karahalios will continue to take a leading role in the New Blue Party of Ontario and says that party remains committed to running in the next provincial election scheduled for 2022.

Beijing demands Canadian media do more to promote China

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The Chinese embassy in Canada issued a statement last week demanding that Canadian media outlets do more to promote “China-Canadian friendship.” The embassy also accused Canadian outlets of being used by “anti-China” forces to slander Beijing. 

“We call on relevant Canadian media to abide by professional ethics, respect facts, distinguish right from wrong, and do more to promote China-Canadian friendship and mutual understanding between the two peoples, instead of being used by anti-China forces as a platform for disseminating disinformation, attacking and slandering China,” wrote a spokesperson for the embassy. 

China has been recently ramping up its propaganda efforts to contain the international blowback to the Chinese Communist Party’s mass internment and human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority in the Xinjiang region.

The statement was issued in response to an article by the National Post which characterizes the situation as a genocide. However, this is not the first instance where the CCP regime has taken issue with Canadian reports it views as unflattering. 

Last week, the embassy issued a similar statement calling on Canadian media to tow the CCP line when it comes to reporting on Hong Kong and Taiwan. 

Recent reports on Xinjiang reveal extensive use of torture, mass rape and forced labour in numerous concentration camps believed to house approximately one million Uyghur men, women and children. 

Critics have been pushing the Canadian government for some time now to classify the CCP’s treatment of the Uyghurs and other minorities as a genocide.

Last month, the US State Department declared that the actions perpetrated against the Uyghur peoples in China constitute an ongoing genocide. 

“I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state,” said former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

In response to the US decision, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stopped just short of making the same declaration but did claim that he “acknowledged” the American designation. 

“We have been speaking up directly to China’s leadership for many years now on our concern of women and ethnic minorities in Western China and throughout China. We will continue to stand up for human rights everywhere around the world. We will continue to call for better transparency and understanding what’s happened,” said Trudeau in the House of Commons. 

Canadian embassy in China apologizes for Wuhan T-shirt controversy

By
True North Wire
-

The Canadian Embassy in China publicly apologized after a staff member allegedly made a custom T-shirt.

“The Embassy of Canada wishes to convey our sincere regret that the private production of T-shirts for embassy staff featuring Wuhan and the logo of a popular hip-hop group has offended public sentiment in China,” the statement read.

“These T-shirts were not produced to make any statement, political or otherwise, and we regret the offence they may have caused.”

Images of the T-shirt went viral on Chinese social media in the past few days. The images show an altered version of the logo of American hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, with the large “W” of the logo redesigned to look like a bat.

The bat is a reference to the theory that the coronavirus was first transmitted to humans from bats in Wuhan.

The T-shirt offended the Chinese government, which lodged a formal complaint with Canada and demanded an explanation.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said China recognized Canada’s apologies and notes that Canada should consider the T-shirt incident “as a lesson learned and make sure such things won’t happen again.”

In a previous statement to Reuters, the foreign service stated that the employee did not mean to create an offensive design, adding that that “W” is not meant to be a bat.

“The T-shirt logo designed by a member of the Embassy shows a stylized W, and is not intended to represent a bat. It was created for the team of Embassy staff working on repatriation of Canadians from Wuhan in early 2020.”

In response, one Chinese artist known for his anti-Western sentiments put out an image of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the Batman franchise villainess Harley Quinn.

FUREY: Canada made pandemic playbooks but didn’t follow them

By
True North Wire
-

Anthony Furey studied various pandemic preparedness documents that have been put together by different levels of governments in recent years. It appears public officials aren’t following their own playbooks in their response to COVID-19.

Anthony notes how the playbooks anticipated a situation much worse than the COVID-19 pandemic, but they actually call for less restrictive measures than the ones that have now been enacted.

Read Anthony’s report in the Toronto Sun.

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