Ontario has imposed a sweeping stay-at-home order, except businesses, individuals and law enforcement can’t figure out what’s expected of them while the order is in place. True North’s Andrew Lawton says the only thing worse than the province-wide house arrest is the lack of clarity surrounding it. Also, the Trudeau government wants to regulate social media speech.
Plus, InvestNow’s Gina Pappano joins the show to explain how anti-oil activists are targeting Canada’s energy sector – and how we can fight back.
Exactly one year ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) falsely claimed that there was no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus.
“Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China,” the WHO tweeted on January 14, 2020.
Preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission of the novel #coronavirus (2019-nCoV) identified in #Wuhan, #China🇨🇳. pic.twitter.com/Fnl5P877VG
Since then there have been over 93 million coronavirus cases worldwide and nearly two million people have died as a result of the virus. In Canada, 687,000 people have contracted the coronavirus and 17,508 deaths have been reported since the pandemic began.
The erroneous claim, which was based on false reports by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP,) was spread by the global organization despite the fact that China was hurryingly buying up the world’s personal protective equipment supply.
Meanwhile, Canada has not been immune to China’s influence on the coronavirus narrative.
As the pandemic was surging throughout the country, Liberal Health Minister Patty Hajdu echoed CCP talking points and discouraged closing Canada’s borders.
“The praise I offered China during the early days was based on their historic containment efforts. Don’t forget that there were millions and millions of Chinese people under, essentially confinement, if you will, for a very long time and in fact in some of those cities people are just getting back to normal and that was a public health measure that was never seen before,” said Hajdu defending her remarks.
Hajdu’s enthusiasm for China was so forthcoming that the Chinese foreign ministry praised the minister for her support.
“We noticed relevant reports and applaud the Canadian health minister’s objective and fair remarks,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
According to a report by the US Department for Homeland Security, the CCP “intentionally concealed the severity” of the virus while it was restricting exports of medical supplies and hoarding up goods abroad.
Even by February 2020, the WHO continued to advocate on China’s behalf, encouraging international allies to not ban flights from China, claiming that it would “unnecessarily interfere with international trade.”
Since then, critics have accused the international organization of kowtowing to Chinese interests.
A 2020 study by the University of Ottawa and the Université de Sherbrooke revealed how the WHO promoted Chinese narratives over focusing on the hard facts of the situation.
“It is difficult to distinguish World Health Organization recommendations based on science and expertise versus political recommendations,” the report says.
“For example, China’s actions were praised on multiple occasions by the WHO without scientific background and context.”
Researchers found that the WHO’s contradictory messaging and public relations failed to reduce stress and misinformation.
One man is in custody after swastikas were spray painted on a Montreal synagogue.
On Wednesday afternoon, the 28-year-old suspect was seen spraying anti-Semitic graffiti on the doors of Shaar Hashomayim in Westmount. Synagogue security notified the police who arrested the suspect within minutes.
The Jewish community is outraged by today’s vile assault on Congregation Shaar Hashomayim in Westmount. This attack targets the entire community and all those who embrace civility and tolerance. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/LN12Fhb89J
“I was actually walking to another meeting and was maybe 100 metres away from the synagogue,” said Rabbi Adam Scheier.
“I quickly turned around and when I got there, the perpetrator had already been put in the back of a police car.”
Security cameras show the suspect brought a can of gasoline, presumably with the intent of setting the building on fire.
Shaar Hashomayim is one of the largest and oldest synagogues in Canada and also contains a private kindergarten and elementary school.
Police say the suspect likely suffers from mental health problems and will remain in custody until he can be brought before a judge. A court-ordered psychological evaluation is likely.
True North contributor Sam Eskenasi says the brazen attack on a synagogue shows that extreme anti-Semitic beliefs continue to persist in Canada.
“The intense level of hatred displayed — shown in the fact that this person chose to leave their house during a provincial lockdown and curfew simply to vandalize a place of worship — is troubling because anti-Semitism often moves beyond simple vandalism to more serious crimes, and rarely stays confined to the Jews.”
Less than a year ago, another synagogue in Montreal was completely ransacked, with the Torah and other sacred artifacts damaged or destroyed.
Residents of an Ontario town still want the government to know they don’t want a wind farm after a court decision overturned a previous project’s cancellation.
The community of North Stormont, Ont. has repeatedly asserted its unwillingness to host the Nation Rise Wind Farm, despite the previous Liberal government’s attempts.
The project was cancelled in 2019 by Ontario Progressive Conservative Environment Minister Jeff Yurek due to concerns for local bat species, however this decision was reversed by the Ontario Superior Court.
This has reignited a years-long fight for residents opposed to the project.
Ruby Mekker, a member of the grassroots Concerned Citizens for North Stormont, said the community’s concerns haven’t been heard.
“In all we signed three petitions – two for the minister and one was submitted with our appeal. We also signed notices of non-consent,” said Mekker. “The council refuses to do anything to address the resident’s issues.”
Some residents would have accepted the cancellation for any reason from their growing list of complaints, including declining property values, fire suppression concerns, water contamination, noise pollution, adverse health effects from turbines and threat to local wildlife.
Over a decade ago, Ontario, then under Liberal rule, pledged to make half of the province’s energy renewable by 2025. As a result, major energy contracts were given out through a competitive process called the Large Renewable Procurement. (LRP)
Ontario eventually settled on EDP group, a Portuguese energy company, to erect 29 wind turbines that would supply Ontario with 100 Megawatts of renewable energy. North Stormont was chosen as the location.
Mekker says she doesn’t know why the project was not cancelled.
“This project failed to meet any of the four requirements such as community approval and indigenous consent, but they approved it anyways,” said Mekker.
There have been similar opposition to wind turbines in other communities, such as White Pines’ opposition to a wind energy project in 2018, which cost the Ontario government $231 million to cancel in 2019 even though turbines were already standing.
The scrapping of White Pines set a precedent for community opposition to energy projects. With the arrival of the Doug Ford administration, early-stage green energy projects were being cancelled in their hundreds.
North Stormont’s critics of the project feel they have not been afforded the same privilege to decide what is good for their community.
In 2015 the township declared itself an “unwilling host” for the Nation Rise Wind project. They would go on to oppose the same motion again while contesting the project at the level of the Independent Electricity System Operator. (IESO)
“I think what concerns me most is the loss of our democratic rights,” said Mekker.
“The government of Ontario is proceeding, they are forcing this on people despite the harm it could cause.”
Two Christian sisters who disappeared in Pakistan two months ago have been found murdered.
Abida Bibi, 23, and her sister Sajida, 25, disappeared in Lahore after going shopping on November 26. Last week, police located their bodies in a drainage ditch.
Muhammad Mumtaz and Muhammad Naeem Butt, sister’s supervisors at a pharmaceutical factory, have been arrested in connection to the murders.
“They often complained about being harassed by two Muslim coworkers,” Rani Bibi, the sisters’ mother, told International Christian Concern (ICC).
“However, I asked them to ignore the harassment and continue their jobs. I was worried that they might lose their jobs if they complained to the administration against Muhammad Naeem and Muhammad Mumtaz, the kidnappers and killers.”
Investigator Iftikhar Hussain told reporters that the accused confessed to kidnapping the women and demanded they convert to Islam and marry them. Both women were already married.
“During interrogation, Naeem confessed that they had abducted the sisters, and after keeping them hostage for a few days for satisfying their lust, had slit their throats and thrown their bodies into the drain,” Hussain said.
Open Doors USA ranks Pakistan as the fifth most dangerous country for Christians in 2021. Violence against Christians is primarily against women who are often the target of forced marriages and conversions.
Earlier this month, a 44 year-old man who kidnapped, raped and forced a 13-year-old Christian girl into an Islamic “marriage” was granted bail. As many as 1,000 forced marriages occur in Pakistan annually.
Police in South Africa reportedly fired rubber bullets and stun grenades into a crowd at a church service in what has been called a “indiscriminate shooting of Christians.”
South African media reports that on Jan. 10, police broke up a church service of around 250 people in the community of Sebokeng near Johannesburg. Videos posted online appear to show police shooting wildly at the fleeing crowd.
Some churches in Sebokeng are refusing to remain closed as required under lockdown level three. Several groups of churches have called a meeting for today. The Police have arrived and shut down the gathering. @ManqobaMchunu is there. #eNCA Courtesy #DStv403pic.twitter.com/PEWyBbINqL
Other videos appear to one elderly congregants bleeding from an eye injury sustained from the police assault.
Police reportedly arrested the church’s two leaders as well as a female congregant for violating South Africa’s lockdown and defying police.
Under South Africa’s current lockdown measures, religious services and public gatherings of all kinds are banned and the entire country faces a nightly curfew.
South Africa has the highest rates of coronavirus on the continent, with around 1.2 million cases and over 32,000 deaths.
The leader of the opposition African Christian Democratic Party Rev. Kenneth Meshoe told the media that it was absurd that churches are forced to close while non-essential businesses like casinos are still open.
“If churches are able to comply with the same health and hygiene protocols as those in the business sector, why shut them down?”
“Most, if not all, churches have been complying with the health and hygiene regulations, but it appears to us that churches have become a soft target,” he said.
A Gauteng Police Services spokesman defended police action, saying that the gathering was illegal and that they did not begin shooting until the congregation began to oppose the breakup.
Building a ministerial cabinet is no simple task. There are many things to consider, such as regional representation and the skills and qualifications of the MPs.
But Justin Trudeau has two problems – he has too many seats in Toronto and is committed to a “gender-balanced” cabinet.
Sam Eskenasi discusses Trudeau’s latest cabinet shuffle.
New court revelations detailed Huawei CFO and Chinese heiress Meng Wanzhou’s luxurious life under bail as she awaits the results of a years-long extradition trial.
While Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been holed up in Chinese prisons, Meng has been dining out with friends, having family visits and attending private shopping sessions at Vancouver’s high-end boutiques.
The conditions of Meng’s $10 million bail agreement requires her to wear a GPS tracker and pay for court-ordered surveillance. Meng is also subject to a curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Meng recently asked for the court to even further loosen her bail conditions to allow her to move around freely outside of curfew without the presence of her bodyguards.
Court records also show that Huawei had chartered a plane to take her back to China before a much-anticipated double criminality court decision last spring.
The detail was revealed during a cross-examination of Meng’s husband, Liu Xiaozong. Liu and their children have been allowed to visit Meng while she stands trial.
In December, Chinese ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu complained about the alleged unfair treatment of Meng while under house arrest in her multi-million dollar Vancouver mansion.
According to Cong, Meng’s arrest was not comparable to the arrest of the two Michaels because she is innocent.
Meanwhile, both Spavor and Kovrig have been subject to the grueling conditions of China’s incarceration system.
During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the pair were even denied access to consular visits.
Two staff members at the federal employment department were found to be misusing government credit cards, but the government isn’t saying what happened to them, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
In a statement, the Department of Employment and Social Development said one manager and one employee were involved in the misuse. It didn’t say if police were involved, or what happened to the two bureaucrats.
“A manager was found to have committed wrongdoing by directing or counseling an employee to commit wrongdoing and seriously breached the departmental Code Of Conduct,” staff wrote in a statement.
“The investigation also found the internal integrity and security office in the Western Canada & Territories region had committed wrongdoing by contravening government contracts regulations and Treasury Board contracting policy.”
The announcement came after a 2019 audit of the department found that only 30% of purchases on department credit cards were approved beforehand. Up to that point the department spent $34 million through cards.
True North fellow Andrew Lawton says it shows extreme irresponsibility to allow fraud to take place in government and not assure Canadians that the perpetrators have been punished.
“It’s egregious that people entrusted with taxpayer money are spending it so irresponsibly, but all the more so that the government won’t say whether the individuals involved in this were fired or not,” he said.
“A few thousand dollars here and there might not seem like much when one looks at Canada’s debt, but it adds up, and contributes to a culture that doesn’t respect whose money it really is – the taxpayers’.”
Similar audits initiated in 2018 and 2019 also found misuse of government credit cards. Auditors determined staff at the National Research Council used credit cards to buy products like souvenirs, and shared the cards with unauthorized staff. Another instance of potential credit card fraud was found at the Department of Fisheries.
Pay increases for Alberta bureaucrats are costing the province’s taxpayers $18.7 million according to a new report.
Documents obtained by the Canadian Taxpayer Federation (CTF) through freedom of information reveal the Alberta government gave pay raises to 7,384 bureaucrats in 2020. Only nine people were exempt or opted out of the raise.
All members of the Alberta public service, including part-time, full-time, temporary and permanent workers were included in the spending.
The CTF’s Alberta director Franco Terrazzano says it is clear we are not all in this together and is calling on Premier Jason Kenney to assure these pay raises do not increase taxes for Albertans.
This is the fifth consecutive year that Alberta public servants received raises – cumulatively amounting to $245 million – though it particularly stings in 2020 when many private sector businesses shut down or were forced to lay off workers, Terrazzano said.
“It’s unacceptable that thousands of bureaucrats received pay hikes while families and businesses were locked down,” he said. “We can’t keep asking workers who lost their jobs or businesses to pay higher taxes so thousands of bureaucrats can collect bigger pay cheques.”
Terrazzano said bureaucrats should “share in the burden and take a cut.”
“We need relief, we don’t need bureaucrats getting bigger salaries. That’s why Premier Kenney needs to reduce these mounting costs.”
The call was echoed by United Conservative Party MLA Drew Barnes, who noted the wage gap between the public and private sectors was already significant.
“All levels of government must immediately spend less so they can tax less,” Barnes told True North. “The pay and benefits gap between the public and the private sectors was already inequitable. These public sector pay increases magnify the unfairness, and they create a burden on our economy, taxpayers, and future generations.”
Barnes added the province needs to “restore the Alberta advantage,” meaning government must “reduce spending, get public sector salaries in line, restore competitive taxation, and focus on free enterprise and the economy.”
Second Street, a Canadian think tank says, it has been decades since governments have cut employee pay.
Now that the private sector is reeling from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Second Street says a small reduction in employee pay could help governments avoid raising taxes of struggling families and businesses.
In normal times, these measures could limit rising deficits without disrupting services. A far less drastic measure for policy makers than layoffs.
