The Trudeau government said they were going to “reimagine Canada” ahead of the Speech from the Throne. The Prime Minister’s Office told media outlets that Trudeau’s address to the nation was of “national importance.” Many Canadians were expecting big changes.
Lo and behold – the Throne Speech was a dud and Trudeau’s address to the nation was just a partisan speech.
True North’s Anthony Furey says Trudeau just wants the spotlight on him.
Canadians who were looking forward to regularly scheduled programming were instead exposed to “The Justin Trudeau Show, starring Justin Trudeau, live!”
For those who were anticipating a rousing Churchillian speech that would bring together the nation – and why else would you request such mighty television real estate? – they were sorely let down.
Read True North’s Anthony Furey’s latest in the Toronto Sun.
Toronto police fined 14 people $880 each after responding to a party on Tuesday night in Scarborough.
Police arrived on the scene of a “noisy party” to find approximately 40 people attending the get together.
Recently, the government of Ontario reduced the limit for indoor gatherings to 10 people due to a recent uptick in coronavirus cases.
On Monday, Toronto city council ordered police to focus on prioritizing the enforcement of coronavirus gathering limits.
“We will enforce provincial regulations in an effort to arrest the spread of COVID-19,” said Toronto Interim Police Chief James Ramer earlier this week.
“This is now a priority and we will prioritize resources collaboratively with the municipal licensing partners and public health.”
Originally Ontario gathering limits allowed for crowds of 100 people outdoors and 50 people indoors.
Prior to the shift in focus on enforcing coronavirus measures, Toronto Mayor John Tory announced a plan to defund the city’s police force in response to recent protests over alleged systemic racism within law enforcement.
The plan includes implementing “alternative” methods to policing, reducing the police service’s budget and addressing systemic racism.
“The financial implications arising out of the recommendations contained in this report are unknown at this time. If the recommendations are approved, financial implications – including for potential costs savings or re-allocations – will be assessed on an ongoing basis,” claimed the report by the Toronto Police Services Board.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s throne speech included further references to “online hate” legislation and plans to regulate social media giants who share Canadian content.
The throne speech which was delivered by Governor General Julie Payette on the Senate floor on Wednesday afternoon, marked the return of parliament this fall.
Included in a section on addressing systemic racism, the Liberal plan made reference to “taking action on online hate.”
While no specifics were provided on the government’s definition of what constituted “hate,” further attention to social media regulation was given early on in the speech.
“Web giants are taking Canadians’ money while imposing their own priorities. Things must change, and will change,” said Payette.
“The Government will act to ensure their revenue is shared more fairly with our creators and media, and will also require them to contribute to the creation, production, and distribution of our stories, on screen, in lyrics, in music, and in writing.”
Prior to the speech, several cabinet ministers within the Trudeau government have hinted at plans to regulate social media companies like Facebook.
Earlier this week, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities Catherine McKenna threatened social media companies with government oversight should they not act to combat hate speech and misinformation.
“I think there’s a lot that we can do, but the social media companies themselves need to step up. We don’t have to regulate everything but if you can’t regulate yourselves, governments will,” tweeted McKenna before tagging fellow Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault.
Prior to McKenna’s tweet, Guilbeault announced that his government plans on forcing social media companies to become licensed and to pay up for hosting Canadian news content on their websites.
“We’re going to put some fairness into the Canadian regulatory system, because right now there is no fairness. We have Canadian companies that have regulatory obligations and we have international web giants that have none. And that’s unsustainable,” Guilbeault said.
The throne speech also confirmed that the government does not intend on further extending Canada’s Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), a move which NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh indicated his support in a confidence vote would hinge on.
“If the government puts forward legislation, makes it clear they’re going to do these two things – extend CERB and put in place paid sick leave for all Canadians – we will support that,” said Singh on Tuesday.
According to the Liberal plan, CERB recipients will be transitioned to Employment Insurance (EI) and those who do not traditionally qualify for EI will be aided using a newly created Canada Recovery Benefit.
The speech also dedicated a significant portion on addressing the issues of systemic racism and intersectional feminism.
Part of the Liberal’s plan to address systemic racism in policing include instituting reforms to the RCMP and shifting to “community-led policing.”
“For too many Canadians, systemic racism is a lived reality. We know that racism did not take a pause during the pandemic. On the contrary, COVID-19 has hit racialized Canadians especially hard,” claimed the speech.
Plans to introduce legislation that would empower municipalities to further restrict or ban handguns were also mentioned.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also promised more work to introduce national pharmacare as well as extending internet access across Canada.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is having trouble staffing its embassy in Beijing due to the city’s poor air quality.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the pollution in China’s capital was so thick that it was affecting the quality of life of Canadian public servants.
“Air quality remains a concern for all staff and the Canadian-based families as it has a direct impact on their quality of life, e.g. remaining indoors, limiting physical exercise, wearing protective face masks while outdoors, as well as on their respiratory and cardiovascular health, particularly for those with small children, and overall morale,” said a contracting notice for renovations to the embassy.
“In addition, the air quality issue has an impact on staff retention and recruitment, with some staff considering early departure from the Mission and the department experiencing difficulties in filling positions due to concerns over air quality.”
Despite Beijing’s reliance on coal for energy, former Liberal Minister of the Environment Catherine McKenna praised China for tackling climate change.
In 2018, after Canada and China signed a climate change cooperation agreement, McKenna exalted China for its effort to lower carbon emissions.
“I was in China on a trade mission and saw the rapid shift toward clean energy that country is making,” McKenna told the House of Commons.
“In China, two wind turbines are erected every hour of every day, and in 2016 China added roughly enough solar panels to cover three soccer fields every hour.”
In 2018, China placed number one as the worst carbon dioxide polluter in the world.
For that year, China’s CO2 emissions totalled 10.06 GT (gross tonnage). In comparison, the US only polluted 5.41 GT of CO2 in 2018.
A Prince George, B.C. woman is suing the federal government after Trudeau’s gun ban put her business in jeopardy.
The owner of a hunting supply and firearm store Cassandra Parker says that the gun ban left her with tens of thousands of dollars in unsellable firearms without any warning and with no opportunity to recoup her investment.
“It was like getting hit by a car,” Parker told the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
“If we had [our firearms] stolen from us, like if I had a break in or there had been a fire, I’d have insurance to cover it. But when the government takes it and doesn’t initiate a buyback program, even immediately, I’m sitting on inventory I can’t sell.”
Parker says that a large portion of her businesses revenue came from firearms which are now banned.
On May 1 the federal government banned 1,500 different types of firearms, making their sale, import and transport illegal.
Gun owners will have two years to surrender their firearms to the government for “fair compensation.” Gun owners have yet to hear when they will receive compensation or how much compensation they can expect.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation has hired a lawyer to act as an intervener in Parker’s case.
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation says that a buyback program would likely cost taxpayers much more than what the Trudeau government will anticipate.
In 1993, the Liberals initiated the long gun registry and originally anticipated the program to cost $2 million. Over its lifetime, the registry had cost over $2 billion.
Parker says that the government’s gun ban is an assault on Canada’s legitimate firearms industry and the people who depend on it.
“It’s not this free-for-all shoot-everything mentality. It’s about hunting, it’s about target shooting, it’s about competitions and it’s about family businesses like ours where we have invested everything we can into a place where other families can bring their children, where they can continue traditions that have been Canadian traditions for hundreds of years,” she said.
The gun ban puts significant pressure on those who make their livelihood in hunting. Hunting and angling contributes $3.8 billion to the Canadian economy annually.
Last week a demonstration against the gun ban in Ottawa attracted thousands of people.
The government will present their throne speech this afternoon to outline their agenda in the upcoming parliament session.
Tune into our LIVE coverage of the government’s speech from the throne and find out what the mainstream media isn’t telling you.
True North’s Candice Malcolm and Andrew Lawton will provide endless coverage to keep you up-to-date.
Coverage begins at 1:30PM ET today.
Actor and director Kevin Sorbo is taking on the climate change alarmists.
Sorbo, of ‘Hercules’ and ‘Andromeda’ fame, now stars in Climate Hustle 2, a film exposing the activists capitalizing off of stoking global warming fears. The movie also features the skeptical climate scientists who call out the alarmists only to be maligned as “deniers” by the media.
Kevin Sorbo joins The Andrew Lawton Show to talk about this project, plus Hollywood hypocrisy and media bias.
Climate Hustle 2 premieres Thursday at 8:00pm. Streaming tickets are available at climatehustle2.com.
The 53-year-old Quebec woman arrested on suspicion of attempting to send ricin-laced letters to President Donald Trump and other officials also threatened to shoot the president should the poisonous letter fail, court records show.
Pascale Ferrier made her first court appearance in Buffalo, N.Y. after being arrested attempting to cross into the United States over the weekend with a loaded gun and a knife.
“I found a new name for you: ‘The Ugly Tyrant Clown’ I hope you like it. You ruin USA and lead them to disaster,” wrote Ferrier allegedly.
“I have US cousins, then I don’t want the next 4 years with as president. Give up and remove your application for this election. So I made a ‘Special Gift” for you to make a decision. This gift is in the letter. If it doesn’t work, I’ll find better recipe for another poison, or I might use my gun when I’ll be able to come. Enjoy!”
A Twitter account believed to have belonged to the suspect has since been deleted.
Screenshots of the account’s activity show several threatening statements with similar language directed towards Trump made prior to the poisoning attempt.
“I have a new name for Trump: “the ugly tyrant clown,” wrote user @pf1967 on September 9.
In another tweet, also dated to September 9, the account employed the hashtag #killtrump in response to a tweet calling on somebody to “please shoot trump in the face.”
Ferrier is currently being charged by US authorities for attempting to threaten the life of a US president. A not guilty plea has since been entered on her behalf.
The suspect has been arrested by US authorities in the past. On March 13, 2019, Ferrier was charged while in Mission, Texas, with carrying an unlicensed weapon, having a fake government ID and resisting arrest.
Ferrier’s next court appearance is scheduled for Monday, September 28, 2020.
Government lockdowns to limit the spread of the coronavirus have led to a dramatic spike in the cost of food across Canada.
On Tuesday, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois of Dalhousie University’s Agri-food Analytics Lab told CTV that Canadian grocery bills have gotten much bigger due to the pandemic, increasing by as much as 4% this year.
“We actually are expecting the average household in Canada to spend not just 9.1% of their budget, but maybe 10.5%, perhaps even 11%,” he said.
The Agri-food Analytics Lab published a report suggesting food prices have increased 240% since 2000. The report determined that the cost of food has increased much faster than the rate of inflation of the past ten years.
Price increases can also be attributed to the increased cost for businesses to meet coronavirus restrictions.
Last week, Charlebois said that many products Canadians often buy have seen significant hikes.
“What’s more expensive since January are onions, oranges, carrots, produce — lots of vegetables are more expensive. Beef is up about — depending on the cuts — on average six to eight per cent, which is what we predicted.”
Throughout 2020, Canadians struggled to make ends meet as the government shut down the economy to limit the spread of coronavirus. In the spring, unemployment reached unprecedented highs.
A recent survey by Ipsos found that 43% of Canadians still reported being either unemployed or on a reduced income due to the pandemic.
While many Canadians are still struggling financially after the pandemic shut down the economy, some politicians and experts are already warning of another round of lockdowns as coronavirus cases rise in some parts of Canada.
