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Wednesday, July 23, 2025

Patty Hajdu takes part in closed door Davos panel on borders and travel

By
Andrew Lawton
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A panel on opening up international travel closed its doors to media and the public.

The Davos Agenda, a virtual summit hosted by the World Economic Forum to launch the global organization’s Great Reset Initiative, only made a portion of its Restoring Cross-Border Mobility panel publicly viewable.

Canadian Health Minister Patty Hajdu was among the panelists, alongside the director-general of the Airports Council International, the president of JetBlue and Commons Project CEO Paul Meyer.

The Commons Project is the non-profit behind CommonPass, an app that lets travellers communicate health details like COVID-19 test results and vaccination status with airlines and governments to satisfy travel requirements.

A spokesperson for Hajdu declined to provide a transcript of what Hajdu said in the closed-door session, and did not comment on why Hajdu felt it was appropriate to participate in it.

“The programme and format for this event was (sic) determined by the World Economic Forum,” said Cole Davidson, Hajdu’s press secretary and social media advisor. “I would recommend reaching out to them for further information.”

During the public portion of the discussion, Hajdu defended Canada’s “rigorous” travel restrictions, which close Canada’s borders to recreational travellers and require anyone entering the country to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. All air travellers must also have tested negative for COVID-19.

“The 14-day quarantine is really the only sort of foolproof way to determine whether or not someone actually does have COVID, and we know that the pre-departure testing is a point in time,” she said.

Hajdu said despite some provinces wanting travel restrictions loosened, there are calls to further strengthen restrictions. She acknowledged the earlier remarks about the CommonPass and said the world needs to better work together.

“You’re hearing a lot in terms of digital tools and what that looks like. I would also say we need to collaborate more as a globe to actually combat the epidemic,” she said.

In particular, Hajdu called for “equity” to be front and centre in the response.

“So much of the travel in Canada is actually about family reunification. It’s about people moving around for work, and, you know, we’ve got a large, sort of, group of folks that move for reasons that are not recreational,” Hajdu said. “So I think we have to sort of stay focused on the equity issue and the systems that we design have to be designed through the lens that people from all around the world are going to be able to access this.”

The Davos Agenda concludes Friday. The World Economic Forum plans to have an in-person summit in Singapore in May.

Communist China fearful as Christian population continues to grow dramatically

By
True North Wire
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According to senior research director at Open Doors USA Dr. Ron Boyd-MacMillan, the Chinese government is fearful as the country’s Christian population continues to grow despite immense persecution.

Boyd-MacMillan recently told UK’s Express newspaper there is reason to believe the increase in persecutions in recent years is because the communist state fears the church’s growth.

“We think the evidence as to why the Chinese Church is so targeted, is that the leaders are scared of the size of the Church, and the growth of the Church,” he said.

“And if it grows, at the rate that it has done, since 1980 and that’s about between seven and 8 percent a year, then you’re looking at a group of people that will be 300 million strong, nearly by 2030.”

China’s population is expected to peak at 1.44 billion in 2029, meaning that in nine years Christians may make up 21% of the total Chinese population.

The Chinese government claims there are 44 million Christians in the country, but as most Christians practice in secret, estimates have put the true number at over 100 million.

In recent years, the Chinese government has increased persecutions of Christians. Christian religious leaders are often the main target, with many sent to prison for disobeying government dictates.

China has also undertaken efforts to “sinicize” Christianity in the country. Under the guise of removing Western influence, Christian symbols have been expunged from buildings and religious material has been censored.

According to official government statistics, China’s Christian population has doubled in the past 10 years.

Children received $636 million in CERB payouts

By
True North Wire
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The federal government paid a total of $635,980,000 in Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) payments to people under the age of 18, according to information obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.

Data from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) shows that a total of 317,990 applications were made by children as young as 15. A total of $81.3 million was paid to 15-year olds, $185.6 million was paid to 16-year olds and $369.2 million was paid to 17-year olds.

“Figures are stated for applicants who applied for the CERB through the Canada Revenue Agency’s My Account portal and the interactive voice response system,” CRA said.

“No records are available for ages 12, 13 or 14 as applicants must be age 15 or older to be eligible for this benefit.”

According to the Canada Emergency Response Benefit Act, anyone who is 15 years or older is considered a worker, regardless of if they have ever held a job.

As of October, the federal government paid out $81.64 billion through CERB, with a total of 8.9 million people applying for at least one payment of $2,000.

Unclear rules and little scrutiny have allowed many people who do not or should not qualify to receive thousands through CERB.

CRA provided 824,000 people who hadn’t filed their taxes with CERB benefits, despite such people being ineligible. Tens of thousands of people who earned over $100,000 in 2019 also received pandemic benefits.

In late 2020, around 441,000 Canadians received letters from the CRA stating that they may not have been eligible for the benefits they received and recommended that they pay back the CRA before the end of the year.

Calgary quietly removes “Bell Let’s Talk” flag from war memorial

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The City of Calgary quietly lowered and replaced a “Bell Let’s Talk” flag after locals expressed outrage over it flying in front of a national war memorial in place of the traditional Canadian flag. 

On Wednesday morning, a Reddit post sparked controversy after the corporate flag was photographed flying beside the cenotaph at Central Memorial Park. 

“I can’t think of a more inappropriate flag to swap out in support of a corporate campaign. I can appreciate the importance of talking about mental health, but this is the only flagpole at the Cenotaph and it doesn’t feel right to me,” wrote Reddit user HamRove. 

Media spokesperson for the City of Calgary Kaila Lagran confirmed to True North that the flag had been flying temporarily at the cenotaph prior to being removed.

“The City of Calgary continues to believe that it is important to acknowledge and promote discussions around mental health awareness and supports the annual Bell Let’s Talk initiative. While this temporary flag raising was well-intentioned, we understand that it was misguided to take down the Canadian flag at Central Memorial Park,” claimed an emailed statement attributed to the City of Calgary.

“As a result, we have returned the Canadian flag at Central Memorial Park and we will raise the Bell Let’s Talk flag tomorrow at Olympic Plaza while maintaining the Canadian and provincial flags at that location.”

Other locals on Twitter also pointed out the insensitivity of flying the Bell flag instead of the national flag at a memorial meant to honour fallen soldiers.

The corporate flag, which has been raised for past ceremonies at the memorial is part of Bell’s Let’s Talk mental health initiative.   

According to a news release by Bell Canada, the flag was set to be raised at a ceremony to commemorate Bell Let’s Talk Day on January 28th. 

“Communities and organizations around the country are showing their support for mental health with Bell Let’s Talk flag raisings, following earlier ceremonies by the Borough of Verdun and the Douglas Foundation in Montréal, RMC Kingston, the Service de police de la Ville de St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Central Memorial Park in Calgary, the Hamilton Bulldogs, the Ottawa Senators and the City of Timmins,” wrote Bell Canada. 

A number of other posts also indicate that the flag was replaced sometime on Wednesday morning or afternoon. 

“Flood of money” has done little to tackle First Nations poverty: report

By
Douglas Boyle
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Federal funding for Indigenous communities quadrupled between 1981 and 2016, but this has done little towards closing the gap between First Nations and non-First Nations communities, a new report finds.

The report, published by the Fraser Institute and prepared by University of Calgary professor Tom Flanagan, shows that despite the increases in funding, there’s been little change in Indigenous poverty and income inequality.

Since 1981, the gap measured in the Community Well-Being Index, a report that measures the quality of life through indicators like education, labor force activity and income, has only changed from 19.5 to 19.1 between First Nations and other Canadian communities.

Before reconciliation efforts by the current government, the rate of increase to federal funding for Indigenous programs grew by 2.5% annually. Trudeau doubled that rate shortly after taking office in 2015. The report states that Indigenous spending is now the federal government’s largest program expense, second only to national defence.

In combination with provincial expenditures and revenue from First Nation governments, more money is being spent on Indigenous initiatives than has been for the last 25 years.

These programs are now being called into question by the report, as the goal was to reduce income inequality between Indigenous and other communities. The last 25 years of funding has proven to be ineffective at tackling the issues facing northern communities despite increases to funding across federal, provincial and municipal levels.

The largest promise was to eliminate water advisories on reserves by March 2021, with an investment from the federal government of $1.8 billion. This goal will not be met.

The initiatives also focus on the lack of economic pricing for water and sewage, housing and education, but the report also paints a grim picture for these areas as well. Building newer and nicer homes will not be useful for long, as government ownership does not incentivise investment or maintenance, implying funding is not the root of the issue.

According to the report, the largest issue facing First Nations is the dearth of economic opportunity. With 70% of First Nations communities located more than 50 kilometres away from the nearest town or city and 20% of those lacking all-weather access roads.

While the report paints a damning picture of the effectiveness of the “flood of money” on Indigenous poverty, it suggests that the best option for remote community prosperity is the investment in infrastructure and natural resource development.

By investing in roads, railways, pipelines, powerlines and communications towers and allowing private companies to have a place in their building, First Nations communities would be better connected to the economy, the report says

In tandem with the development of natural resources like forestry, oil and gas or mineral mining, Indigenous communities would be much better equipped to tackle the persistent issue of income inequality. 

Ezra Levant on being fined for writing a book about Justin Trudeau

By
Andrew Lawton
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Rebel News founder Ezra Levant has been fined $3000 by the Commissioner of Canada Elections for the publication and promotion of his book The Libranos, about Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, which he published ahead of the 2019 election. Levant joined True North’s The Andrew Lawton Show to explain how he’s fighting back, and why this fine is a blow against press freedom.

Watch the full show.

BC “Am I racist?” ads cost approximately $70K: Office of the Human Rights Commissioner

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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An ongoing anti-racist campaign launched late last year has cost taxpayers approximately $70,000 so far, according to the office of BC’s Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) Kasari Govender.

“We have a legislative mandate to provide education to the province of B.C. on anti-racism and anti-discrimination. It is one of our core functions,” the Office’s Acting Director of Communications Elaine O’Connor told True North. 

“As such, this project was a strategic priority for our Education and Engagement department, and this campaign comes from dedicated project funding for this work.”

When the initiative first launched in November 2020, billboards asking commuters to consider whether they’re racist or not popped up in at least 23 communities across the province. 

Among the other messages included on the plain black posters were questions such as, “If I say I don’t see skin colour, am I racist?” and “If I want to forget our province’s history, am I racist?”

According to O’Connor, the cost estimate included “creative development, social media and traditional ad buys, brokerage and display on transit shelters, buses and billboards in locations across B.C.” for at least two months. 

The Office of the Human Rights Commissioner was revived by the province’s ruling NDP party in 2019 after having been scrapped in 2003 for financial reasons. 

The Office’s 2019/2020 annual report shows that last year Govender had an operating budget of $2 million and an annual capital budget of $1 million. Beginning in 2021, the office’s operating budget is expected to surpass $5 million per year through until 2023. 

According to O’Connor, the billboard campaign did face some challenges including several instances of vandalism but the posters were immediately replaced. As for the public reaction to the messaging, the Office continues to receive input on the campaign.

“BCOHRC received public feedback throughout the campaign, and continues to via email, polling and data. We were impressed with the level of engagement with the campaign and how seriously people grappled with their own thoughts and beliefs,” O’Connor told True North.

“This is quite unfortunate”: Elections Canada bureaucrats scramble after Trump retweet

By
Andrew Lawton
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Elections Canada was inundated with media requests, emails and social media engagement after the agency’s Twitter account was retweeted by former president Donald Trump in November, internal documents show.

Emails obtained through access to information show Elections Canada bureaucrats scrambling to respond to media inquiries after the retweet, which two officials called “unfortunate.”

“Yes, this is quite unfortunate and not at all intended,” Chief Electoral Officer Stephane Perrault wrote in response to an email from his counterpart in British Columbia. “Our social media team was simply responding to persistent questions and inaccurate stories about how we use Dominion. We have nothing against Dominion (or tabulation where it is warranted).”

In another email, deputy chief electoral officer Anne Lawson calls the tweet “very unfortunate, to say the least.”

“The only good thing about this: we’ve just been retweeted to 88 (million) followers,” one official wrote.

Included in the documents is a screenshot from an internal Slack messaging group, in which someone reacted to an article about the Trump retweet with a poop emoji, an image depicting a smiling pile of feces.

The catalyst was a tweet from Elections Canada responding to a surge in questions about vote-counting machines made by Dominion, a Canadian company put under the microscope by prominent Republicans following the 2020 presidential election.

“Elections Canada does not use Dominion Voting Systems,” the tweet said. “We use paper ballots counted by hand in front of scrutineers and have never used voting machines or electronic tabulators to count votes in our 100-year history.”

“THIS SAYS IT ALL,” Trump said in his retweet. 

One internal email suggests the initial tweet might not have gone over well among Elections Canada staff.

“Do we know yet who is approving the tweets we are issuing?” wrote one senior director.

“I do not know. This is the same thing that I saw on Facebook which I also reacted to,” her colleague replied.

The response generated was greater than Elections Canada had ever received, even during an election, one staffer noted.

Emails sent to Elections Canada from the general public show a combination of support for the message and criticism for seemingly meddling in a presidential election.

This concern was echoed by an impassioned media request from a Wall Street Journal reporter.

“I need answers immediately about a tweet that Elections Canada issued on Nov 16 about using paper ballots and not using the Dominion Voting System,” the reporter said. “Why did Elections Canada believe it needed to insert itself into a US electoral dispute?”

Majority of Canadians oppose Trudeau government’s immigration plan: study

By
True North Wire
-

A study commissioned by the Department of Immigration found that the majority of Canadians disagree with the government’s plan to increase the number of immigrants.

The study obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter found that 50% of Canadians agree with the statement: “It will be difficult for our economy to absorb many immigrants in the next year.”

“There were a number of participants who were more likely to point to the potential harmful impact of immigration during the economic recovery from COVID-19,” researchers wrote. 

“This included a small number of participants who declared themselves as usually pro-immigration, but were unsure or hesitant in the context of COVID-19.”

Out of the 1,500 people surveyed, 57% said Canada should limit the number of immigrants coming to Canada, with “very few” believing there weren’t enough immigrants.

In October, Liberal Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino announced that the annual immigration quota was being raised from 341,000  to 401,000 in 2021. At a time when Canadians were facing unprecedented unemployment levels, Mendicino claimed Canada needs more workers.

“Put simply, we need more workers, and immigration is the way to get there,” he said during a press conference. 

“Immigrants create jobs. At no time in recent history has that been more important.”

In June, a study commissioned by True North found that 76% of Canadians want a total pause on immigration until a vaccine is developed for COVID-19 and the unemployment rate drops down to pre-COVID levels. 

A total pause on Immigration was supported by the majority of Canadians across all regions, ages and political party preferences — including 67% of Liberal voters.

Liberals hold virtual election readiness “2021 kick-off” meeting

By
True North Wire
-

Liberal MPs, riding association presidents and campaign staff held a virtual meeting last week to discuss election planning in what has been called an “unofficial kick-off” to an election in 2021.

According to the Hill Times, senior Liberal Party officials gave updates on the party’s election planning and encouraged the audience to attend campaign training sessions.

“I wanted to remind you that we’re holding a special call tonight with caucus, EDA chairs, campaign managers and campaign teams to provide an update on party operations and organizing as we start this new year strong,” National Director Azam Ishmael wrote in an email to invitees. 

While the content of the meeting suggested the Liberal Party believes an election may be called this year, Liberal Senior Communications Director Braeden Caley said that similar meetings actually occur on a monthly basis.

Caley’s claim is disputed by other Liberal insiders, four of which anonymously told the Hill Times that they have never heard of monthly meetings of that nature.

“I can’t recall any meeting in December or the months before that. Maybe once before the start of a parliamentary session,” one source said.

Earlier in January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hinted that he may force an election this year. The official Liberal position is that they do not wish to hold an election during the pandemic.

In December, Trudeau put out a video calling for people who are interested in running for the Liberal Party to step forward.

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