Erin O’Toole will take his seat in the House of Commons for the first time as Conservative leader after recovering from a COVID-19 diagnosis earlier this month.
O’Toole’s wife, Rebecca, tweeted Wednesday morning that O’Toole was “#strongerthanever” and ready to get back to work.
“Recovered from Covid-19 and first day out of our house in weeks,” she wrote. “Big day as @erinotoole takes his seat in the House of Commons as Leader of the Official Opposition. #strongerthanever.”
O’Toole’s return to Parliament will present his first opportunity as leader of the Official Opposition to directly challenge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is scheduled to attend Question Period.
The new Conservative leader delivered his response to last week’s speech from the throne from outside his home.
O’Toole had tested positive for the coronavirus on Sept. 16, the Conservative Party of Canada previously said. O’Toole, alongside his family, was tested after a member of his staff tested positive for COVID-19. Rebecca initially tested negative, though later tested positive after developing symptoms.
The O’Tooles initially sought out tests at an Ottawa testing centre but were turned away due to overcapacity, eventually turning to a House of Commons testing service for MPs and their families.
At the time, O’Toole attributed the difficulty to get tested to the Trudeau government’s poor handling of the pandemic.
“The Trudeau Liberals have created this mess by refusing to approve other testing methods – despite all our allies having, for months, multiple tests including much faster and less invasive methods,” he said.
“I stand with the thousands of Canadian families who are waiting in lines today for tests. It has been seven months, Justin Trudeau must answer for why we do not have access to more of the tests our allies are using.”
Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet and his wife also tested positive for the virus and remain in self-isolation.
Some health authorities and politicians are urging the government to impose more lockdown restrictions on Canadians in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The only problem is that there isn’t enough data or evidence to justify more lockdown measures.
True North’s Anthony Furey says Canadians are starting to question the government and pushing back against these lockdown restrictions.
When it comes to keeping busy in 2020, US President Donald Trump blows Prime Minister Justin Trudeau out of the water.
When comparing publicly available itineraries between the two neighbouring world leaders, True North found that Trump’s schedule was nearly twice as packed as Trudeau’s.
From January 1, 2020 to September 28, 2020, we counted that Donald Trump attended 1,055 different scheduled engagements, while Trudeau attended only 548.
Flight or other travel departures and arrivals noted in the itineraries were not included in the count due to discrepancies in reporting between the two schedules. Trudeau’s personal days, or times where Trump was golfing or had no public appearances were also not included. However, instances where either leader had media interviews were recorded in the final results.
Scheduled appointments for either leader included things like coronavirus press conferences, meetings with foreign dignitaries, phone calls, private meetings and a variety of other things world leaders get up to.
Both leaders have had an unprecedented year combating the coronavirus and its economic consequences.
One difference, however, has been the fact that while Trudeau is still recovering from the aftermath of an election that saw his government demoted to minority status, Trump is gearing up for an election of his own.
One of Trudeau’s busiest days to date was on February 14th when he attended 9 different engagements in which he met with various prime ministers, lawmakers and others while in Munich, Germany during his bid for the UN Security Council seat.
Meanwhile, Trump’s busiest day was on September 15th when he attended 12 different engagements. On that day Trump met with dignitaries from Israel, the Kingdom of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.
Over the same period, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken 62 personal days since January 1st.
In comparison, President Donald Trump had 34 golfing outings in 2020, and 61 instances where the president had no public events scheduled or had events cancelled.
The backlog of veterans looking for disability benefits will take years to process according to a report obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter.
While Veterans Affairs Canada claims to process benefits applications within 16 weeks, statistics show that 63% of veterans must wait longer. At the current rate, the Parliamentary Budget Office determined it would take three years or longer to process the current backlog.
“We foresee the backlog will be approximately 40,000 applications by the end of fiscal year 2022,” the PBO wrote in a recent report.
“Our projections show that, without additional resources, the number of pending applications for disability benefits would have reached approximately 140,000 by that time.”
Between 2017 and 2020, the backlog of claims jumped from 20,693 to 49,216.
To address the backlog within a year, the PBO report says Veterans Affairs would need an additional $103 million from cabinet.
In a statement to CBC, a spokesman for Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay dismissed the report, saying that the department’s current plan will address the backlog.
“We know that too many veterans are waiting too long for decisions on their applications and that we can and must do better,” said spokesman Cameron McNeill.
“[The report] does not take into account the many steps that Veterans Affairs is taking to make the process faster and more efficient. We’re confident in the plan we put forward to tackle the backlog, and we will continue to do everything we can to address it.”
While the issue of veterans not receiving benefits in a timely manner has dramatically increased under the Trudeau government, funds promised by Trudeau to veterans have failed to be disbursed.
The Trudeau government earmarked $105 million for Veterans Affairs in the last federal budget, but left the sum unspent.
In 2018, it was determined that the Trudeau government left $372 million in funding for veterans unspent during their first three years in power.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau turned on the tap for international aid on Tuesday, saying that Canada is ready to pledge $400 million to combat the coronavirus worldwide.
“Canada believes that a strong, co-ordinated response across the world and across sectors is essential. This pandemic has provided an opportunity for a reset,” Trudeau said Tuesday.
“This is our chance to accelerate our pre-pandemic efforts to reimagine economic systems that actually address global challenges like extreme poverty, inequality and climate change.”
According to Trudeau, the funds will be distributed to “trusted partners on the ground fighting COVID-19.”
Trudeau made the announcement during a High-Level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond videoconference. Trudeau co-hosted the event with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
The prime minister hinted at further international aid commitments to come out of Canada’s coffers despite Canada’s growing debt problem.
International credit rating agency Fitch Ratings issued a warning to Canada over the federal government’s excessive borrowing and spending ahead of Trudeau’s throne speech.
“New spending pledges announced by the Government of Canada in its latest speech from the throne will push the general government deficit and debt through FY22 further beyond Fitch’s June estimates and point to a broader expansionist fiscal policy,” said Fitch.
“Canada’s (current rating of ‘AA+’/Stable) general government debt to GDP ratio is already significantly higher than the median of its ‘AA’ rated peers, and failure to set clear post-pandemic fiscal anchors and reduce the federal deficit to sustainable levels after the public health crisis could renew negative ratings pressure.”
The latest fiscal outlook placed Canada’s federal debt at over $1.2 trillion. According to Fitch, gross government debt would account for 120% of economic output.
Independent Ontario member of provincial parliament Randy Hillier joined The Andrew Lawton Show to discuss the courage deficit in Canada’s political class, and the politics that’s driving the coronavirus lockdown in the absence of science.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s close relationship with the mainstream media is no secret.
When he’s not offering journalists poutine or bailing out the mainstream media, Trudeau likes to give members of the press jobs in his government.
Here is True North’s list of eight former reporters or members of the press who went on to work with the Liberals since Trudeau’s election in 2015.
Michael Den Tandt – Communications Advisor for Canada-US Relations
In February 2017, the PMO’s director of communications Kate Purchase announced the appointment of Michael Den Tandt to the position of communications advisor for Canada-US relations.
Before scoring a spot with the federal government, Den Tandt was a journalist and columnist with the National Post for nearly half a decade.
Prior to working with Postmedia, Den Tandt was employed by The Globe and Mail and QMI.
James Cudmore – Senior Advisor and Director of Policy
Former CBC reporter James Cudmore first took a position with the Liberal government in 2016 when he signed on to work as a senior policy advisor to Minister of National Defence Harjit Sajjan.
Cudmore eventually went on to become Sajjan’s director of policy before taking on the same position in the office of the Minister of Democratic Institutions.
While he was a reporter, Cudmore broke a story about a controversial $688 million supply ship proposal after Vice-Admiral Mark Norman provided him with sensitive documentation. Shortly after publishing the story, Cudmore took a job with the federal government.
The Conservative opposition at the time accused the Liberals of muzzling Cudmore while the government sought to prosecute Norman.
“Was his position created to reward for his great reporting or were the Liberals trying to shut Cudmore up?” asked Conservative MP James Bezan.
David Taylor – Director of Communications
In 2017, former CTV editor and CBC senior producer David Taylor began to work for the Liberal government.
Taylor has worked as a director of communications for three ministers. He first took a position as former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould’s communications head in January 2017.
Taylor then went on to work in the same position for the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities from December 2019 to September 2020. He is now the director of communications for Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti.
Bruce Cheadle – Director of Communications, Director of Issues Management
Veteran Canadian Press national affairs and energy reporter Bruce Cheadle first took a job with the Liberals in February 2017. At the time, Cheadle served with former Treasury Board of Canada president Scott Brison, until Brison resigned in January 2019.
Cheadle is currently the director of issues management for Infrastructure and Communities Canada.
Terry Guillon – Lead Media Advance at the Prime Minister’s Office
Before leading Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s press conference appearances, Terry Guillon managed the administration of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.
In February 2016, Guillon announced that he would be retiring from his Parliamentary Press Gallery position and taking up a job at the Prime Minister’s office, where he heads media logistics.
“I love this business and I definitely want to stay in it, and we’ll see for how long. And I’m so glad that I have this opportunity to basically move on to something that’s related to what I do now and on a bigger scale,” Guillon said at the time.
Allan Thompson
Allan Thompson worked for 17 years as a Toronto Star reporter and media educator before being nominated twice to run for the Liberal party in the 2015 and 2019 elections.
Chrystia Freeland – Deputy Prime Minister, Finance Minister
While she is now arguably the most powerful woman in Canada, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland used to be a journalist at a number of mainstream media outlets including the Financial Times, The Washington Post and The Economist.
From 1999 to 2001, Freeland served as a deputy editor for The Globe and Mail, where she also contributed a weekly column.
Freeland was handpicked by the Liberals to run in Toronto Centre’s 2013 byelection. She was then elected as Member of Parliament for University—Rosedale in October 2015, a riding that she still holds today.
Marci Ien – Liberal Candidate
CTV’s The Social host Marci Ien was recently acclaimed as the Liberal candidate for Toronto Centre in the upcoming October 26 byelection.
Ien was picked as the Liberal nominee in the riding of former finance minister Bill Morneau on the very same day that she first announced her intent to run for the nomination.
Colin Horgan – Liberal Party of Canada Speechwriter
In 2014, iPolitics journalists Colin Horgan teamed up with the Liberal Party of Canada as a speechwriter.
The position, which lasted over a year, spilled over into Trudeau’s first term as prime minister in 2015.
According to his LinkedIn, Horgan has also worked as a writer/producer for CTV News, and as a digital editor and contributing writer for Maclean’s magazine.
The Chinese Communist regime has rewritten a passage of the bible to conform to state propaganda and paint Jesus as a murderer.
According to UCA News, a textbook used in a state-run university completely fabricates part of the Gospel of John, falsely stating that Jesus stoned a woman to death for committing adultery.
When translated into English, the textbook reportedly states: “The crowd wanted to stone the woman to death as per their law. But Jesus said, ‘Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.’ Hearing this, they slipped away one by one. When the crowd disappeared, Jesus stoned the sinner to death, saying, ‘I too am a sinner. But if the law could only be executed by men without blemish, the law would be dead.’”
All legitimate versions of the Bible clearly state that Jesus did not kill the woman, nor did he ever claim to be a sinner. Jesus’ sinless nature has universally been acknowledged by all denominations of Christianity throughout history.
UCA reports that the textbook was leaked to social media by an offended Chinese Christian.
“I want everyone to know that the Chinese Communist Party has always tried to distort the history of the Church, to slander our Church, and to make people hate our Church,” the man wrote.
The Chinese government has long been accused of attempting to distort Christianity so that it matches communist doctrine.
To legally operate in China, churches must be registered with one of China’s state-approved denominations. Rather than churches, these denominations officially see themselves as part of the Chinese state.
In August, it was reported that authorities removed over 900 crosses from churches across China in an attempt to remove “Western” Christian symbols. Christians who opposed the removals faced harsh punishments.
Politicians and health officials need to spend less time debating societal restrictions and more time behaving like public servants, explaining to us the things that they’re doing to protect the elderly and vulnerable, strengthen the medical system and enable us to go about our lives as best as possible.
The Liberal government is moving ahead with its plans to enact government regulation of online media.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, amendments to the 1991 Broadcasting Act are imminent.
The proposed legislation comes on the heels of a report by the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislation Review Panel which recommended that internet news outlets should be registered with a government body.
“I will be tabling legislation in the coming weeks on the reform of the Broadcasting Act. We will have lots to say about that in just a matter of a short few weeks,” Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault told reporters.
The changes will be the first time the law has been amended since its introduction nearly a decade ago.
“We’re a minority government. I don’t think we’re having a bill that would try to encompass everything, not that we would necessarily want to include everything that was in the Yale report. So our approach will be a more targeted one,” said Guilbeault.
According to Guilbeault, the new legislative changes will ensure “there is fairness” in Canadian broadcasting by forcing international companies to comply with Canadian regulations.
As reported exclusively by True North, Guilbeault suggested last week that “some voices on the right” were responsible for claims that the Liberals intend to censor and license media companies.
Minister of Canadian Heritage @s_guilbeault just blamed "some on the right" for claiming the Liberal government seeks to license/censor online content creators during today's town hall on the media and information sector. #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/YnfqB8oxNL
“I’m not sure where you saw in the speech from the throne or some of my comments anything regarding censorship or licensing,” said Guilbeault in response to a question from a town hall participant on Friday.
“I mean, some on the right have claimed that this is what we were doing. It’s not and I read the speech from the throne a couple of times already and I can’t think of anything in the speech from the throne that this is our intention.”
The minister’s denial comes despite the fact that he himself has made explicit comments to that effect in the past.
Trudeau government to license Internet websites #cdnpoli
“If you’re a distributor of content in Canada and obviously if you’re a very small media organization the requirement probably wouldn’t be the same if you’re Facebook, or Google. There would have to be some proportionality embedded into this,” Guilbeault said on CTV’s Question Period.
Guilbeault later retracted his comments after facing public lashback.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s throne speech also included vague mentions of “taking action on online hate” within a section on systemic racism.
