With upticks in COVID-19 cases, politicians are already talking about plunging us into another lockdown when we’ve barely gotten out of the first one. Though when you look at the numbers, deaths – the most accurate metric for the actual extent of the virus – have remained constant for over two months, even when cases are apparently on the rise. True North’s Andrew Lawton explains the stakes.
Also, why Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is apparently racist and homophobic, plus Phelim McAleer joins to discuss his new film that aims to expose the deep state, ObamaGate The Movie
CTV’s The Social co-host Marci Ien announced on Thursday that she intends on running for the Liberal nomination in the riding of former finance minister Bill Morneau.
Hours later, the Liberal Party of Canada announced they selected Ien to be the Liberal candidate for Toronto Centre. Ien was the second person to seek the nomination for the riding, following Toronto lawyer Paul Saguil.
A community leader, broadcaster, advocate, and mom — for over 30 years, @MarciIen has been a champion for a better and more inclusive Canada, and we're excited to welcome her as our new Liberal candidate for Toronto Centre. pic.twitter.com/bthTFgyTGx
“I’ve always strived to provide a voice to people who need it most — and now more than ever, we need all Canadians’ voices and aspirations to be reflected in the hard work of building a better future,” Ien tweeted at the time of her announcement.
“That’s why I’m running to be your Liberal candidate in Toronto Centre.”
Morneau resigned from his seat and his cabinet position in the wake of the WE Charity scandal. Morneau along with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau were implicated in the scandal due to close personal and financial ties with the organization after it was awarded a $900 million federal student service grant.
According to Ien, she has left her position at Bell Media with the hopes of connecting “in a new way” with Canadians.
In a 2018 Globe and Mail op-ed titled “The double standard of driving while black – in Canada,” Ien accused Toronto police officers of racially profiling her after allegedly failing to stop at a stop sign.
However, the Toronto Police Service disputed Ien’s allegations, claiming that race was not involved in the decision to pull her over.
“I have viewed the video footage of your vehicle stop,” wrote Toronto police Staff Superintendent Mario Di Tommaso at the time.
“You were stopped because of your driving behaviour. You failed to stop at a stop sign. It was dark. Your race was not visible on the video and only became apparent when you stepped out of the vehicle in your driveway.”
In response to the police rejection to claims of racism, Ien maintained that “being black had something to do with it.”
In 2019, The Social celebrated the firing of Hockey Night in Canada host Don Cherry.
Cherry was fired by Sportsnet late last year after he was accused of making racist remarks while on air after he called out people who refused to wear poppies on Remembrance Day. After refusing to apologize for his remarks, Cherry was forced to leave the network.
In response to Cherry’s comments, The Social host Jessica Allen made negative remarks on air about “white boy bullies” who play hockey and look up to Cherry.
Two Liberal ministers are among the nine Canadian officials ordered to cut ties with former ambassador to the US David MacNaughton.
Earlier this week, Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion issued the directive one year after MacNaughton was found to have broken the Conflict of Interest Act.
Among those named by Dion include deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains.
Canada’s Chief of Defence Staff General Jonathan Vance was also barred from speaking with MacNaughton, among several other senior officials within Trudeau’s government.
While acting as president of Palantir Technologies Canada, MacNaughton met with Ottawa’s top brass on multiple occasions on his company’s behalf.
In his ruling, Dion writes that MacNaughton “has acknowledged, with the benefit of hindsight, that these communications and meetings, to the extent they could have furthered the interests of Palantir, were contrary to [the act].”
MacNaughton was named ambassador to the US by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in 2016 and he played an active role in the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) negotiations.
Trudeau himself is currently facing an ethics investigation for his role in the WE Charity scandal.
Dion’s investigation was prompted after reports revealed the close personal and financial ties between the prime minister and WE Charity co-founders Marc and Craig Kielburger.
During the Keilburger’s testimony, the pair disclosed that the prime minister’s mother Margaret Trudeau had received up to a shocking $479,944 for various speaking engagements.
“My mother and my brother are professionals in their own right who have engagements and have for many, many years, with many different organizations across the country, and I don’t have the details of their work experiences or expenses,” Trudeau said during his own testimony.
Chinese Ambassador Cong Peiwu accused unnamed Candian media platforms of painting China in an unfair light.
“Some Canadian media out of the motive to seek attention distort the truth about China which has misled the Canadian public,” said Cong during a webinar to the Canada-China Friendship Society.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Cong made no reference to two imprisoned Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor during his remarks.
“The United States has acted like a barbaric bully who behaves against the basic norms of international relations. Unfortunately Canada was taken advantage of by the United States and acted as an accomplice in the process, making Meng Wanzhou’s detention the crux of current China-Canada relations,” said Cong.
This is not the first time that Cong has levelled accusations against the press regarding its coverage of China.
In March, the ambassador accused western media outlets of spreading “fake news” by reporting on China’s mass incarceration of ethnic and religious minorities in re-education camps.
Cong defended China’s forced labour and mass imprisonment practices by saying that the facilities were “vocational training centres.”
“With the help of the local governments, they have found good jobs, decent jobs. So that is good for the stability in the region,” said Cong about the Xinjiang region, where millions of Uyghurs are suspected to be held.
Critics of the Trudeau government have blamed the prime minister for disrupting Canada’s inquiry into China’s human rights abuses after proroguing parliament in August.
“It’s really frustrating that now that committee cannot meet because of the prorogation. That’s just one area where, in terms of shutting down the work of parliamentary committees, the prorogation also killed the Canada-China committee which cuts short the important work being done,” Conservative MP and member of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations Garnett Genuis told True North.
The Trudeau government says it will continue pushing for an expensive second carbon tax in Canada even as the coronavirus pandemic continues to harm the energy sector.
Originally reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, earlier this week Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told reporters that he will not abandon the new Clean Fuel Standard his government plans to introduce in the House of Commons later this year.
“It’s certainly an important part of the climate plan,” Wilkinson said.
“We intend to move forward, but of course we’re looking for ideas from industry about how we can ensure we do that in a way that’s going to work for them as well.”
Under the Clean Fuel Standard, energy producers will be mandated to reduce the overall amount of carbon dioxide created in the production and consumption of fossil fuels. As a result, producers will have to either blend fuels with biodiesel or ethanol or invest in processes that reduce carbon output during production.
Canadian Energy Research Institute, Canadian Chamber of Commerce and Chemical Industry Association estimates that the Clean Fuel Standard will cost between $150 and $180 per tonne of carbon emissions.
By comparison, the current carbon tax is capped at $50 a tonne, or twelve cents per litre.
Canada’s energy sector is still trying to recover from the recession caused by coronavirus earlier this year. In April, global oil prices hit unprecedented lows, with most Albertan energy firms dramatically reducing production.
In March, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers requested that the government push the start of the Clean Fuel Standard back three years to allow the industry to recover.
Speaking to reporters, Wilkinson made it clear that he will not pause the Clean Fuel Standard because he wants to address climate change. Wilkinson also cited the ongoing California wildfires as one of the products of climate change they are looking to prevent.
“We want to work to ensure that we are moving towards a low carbon future,” he said.
“We want to work very actively with the oil and gas sector to reduce emissions intensity as we have been doing. We want to work on a plan that will be inclusive for the oil and gas sector on how we achieve net zero by 2050.”
As coronavirus cases begin to rise, politicians like Justin Trudeau and Doug Ford are threatening Canadians with another lockdown.
Is this really necessary? Whatever happened to “two-weeks to flatten the curve?”
True North’s Anthony Furey says even with a vaccine, we may need to learn how to live with the coronavirus long-term and stop talking about these blunt lockdowns.
First Justin Trudeau shut down the economy, then he shut down Parliament. Instead of being holding Question Period with opposition MPs, he held daily press conferences with hand-selected journalists — primarily from friendly government-funded outlets. There was no oversight, no accountability and no transparency.
So how are Canadians supposed to hold Trudeau to account?
In today’s episode of the True North Speaker Series, Candice Malcolm sits down with Conservative Finance Critic Pierre Poilievre. Pierre is one of the few figures in Canada willing to challenge the prime minister and hold him accountable for his scandalous ethics violations and disastrous fiscal policies.
In this exclusive interview, Candice and Pierre discuss all the problems in Ottawa and a Conservative vision for a better Canada.
The York Region District School Board has voted to rename Vaughan Secondary School in the name of championing anti-racism.
On September 15, the board voted unanimously on a motion to have the school’s name changed due to its namesake’s historical associations with slavery.
Vaughan Secondary School, which opened in 1989 was named after Vaughan, Ontario, where it is located. The city of Vaughan received its name from British parliamentarian Benjamin Vaughan.
Another historic erasure by the mob. York Region's public school board is renaming Vaughan Secondary School for "equity and inclusivity, and anti-racism" reasons. Joke is on them when they realize whatever they rename it will still be in Vaughan, Ontario. For now. pic.twitter.com/UB3QhaPtFp
According to the motion, the school’s name detrimentally affects the “sense of belonging and well-being” of black students living in the city and potentially lead them into experiences of “degradation, harm, and psychological violence.”
“The name of Vaughan being attached to a school perpetuates these harmful effects against Black students, families and the community,” writes the motion.
“To ensure students at the school are supported as the Board plans next steps, curriculum has been developed for teachers and mental health support will be available for students and staff, including identity specific mental health support facilitated by Black mental health professionals.”
The budget impact statement of the name change is expected to be approximately $90,000.
The decision comes as activists throughout Ontario and beyond are waging a campaign to change place names and to have Canadian monuments removed from public spaces due to historical wrongs.
In Toronto, Mayor John Tory has bent over backwards to appease activists by launching a full review of Dundas Street, along with numerous other allegedly contentious place names.
“Considering the renaming of Dundas Street is just the beginning of the work we need to do to build a Toronto where we all belong,” said Toronto mayor John Tory.
“I appreciate the thoughtful and thorough research and analysis that has gone into this briefing note by City staff and look forward to the working group’s future recommendations.”
Activists have also been pushing for mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua to rename Vaughan itself.
Huawei has hand picked dozens of influential Canadians who it sees as “key opinion leaders” that could help its chances with 5G and Meng Wanzhou’s extradition case in Canada.
Meng is currently facing extradition to the United States over alleged wire fraud charges related to the breaking of American sanctions on Iran. In retaliation to Meng’s arrest by Canadian authorities, China imprisoned two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, under spurious allegations of espionage.
A list obtained by the Globe and Mail reveals that University of Ottawa professor Pascale Massot, who is a key adviser to Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne is included among its ranks.
Massot advises Minister Champagne on Asia Pacific issues and has advocated for continued ties with China in the past.
“The current dominant narrative depicting China as a threat to the global order creates a hunkering down mentality,” wrote Massot in a 2019 paper.
Huawei describes those included in the dossier as having “made relatively positive comments or provided valuable information on Huawei’s brand image, Huawei products, and the controversial affairs involving Huawei.”
The document, which is believed to have been shared with the Chinese government, also names several high-profile Canadians, including former Quebec premier Jean Charest and former Conservative minister Stockwell Day.
In its ordering, the list arranges individuals based on how beneficial their public comments have been for the company and it also details how staff are assigned to generate relationships with Canada’s opinion leaders.
In total, around 30 different profiles of former politicians, lawyers, academics and business people are named in the document.
“Like every major corporation and many not-profits, Huawei routinely monitors pertinent issues and prominent voices that hold the potential to influence its operations and its future. This is common practice and common sense across the business world,” Huawei Canada vice-president of corporate affairs Alykhan Velshi told the Globe and Mail.
“Like other major corporations, we don’t publicly discuss these details.”
The file also contains detailed information about Huawei’s contacts with Canadian journalists, including off-the-record conversations and details about whether wining and dining was involved.
This is not the first time that Huawei has eyed influential power players to achieve strategic goals
As reported on by True North, shortly after the 2019 election Huawei was engaging in a “diplomatically forceful” lobbying campaign to get access to Canada’s 5G network.
“There’s always going to be naysayers that they don’t want to meet with you…[but] there are a lot of smart parliamentarians who were either re-elected or newly elected,” said the company’s vice-president of government affairs.
Among those mentioned as potential lobbying targets in the Trudeau government were former minister of finance Bill Morneau, Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade Mary Ng, President of the Privy Council Dominic LeBlanc, and Minister of Innovations, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains.
In the midst of a global pandemic, the Department of Foreign Affairs is planning on constructing an enormous monument to honour itself outside their headquarters in Ottawa.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, 500-sq. metres have been reserved for a large statue with room to “accommodate gatherings and small ceremonies.” Department management wrote that the monument is to commemorate the work of their employees.
“Employees can find themselves separated from their families for extended periods while posted in distant locales,” wrote staff.
“This involves sacrifices by spouses and children who leave family, friends and sometimes careers behind.”
The cost of the project will be a hefty $2,611,250 plus applicable taxes. The monument is to be completed by 2024.
According to a Global Affairs notice, artists and sculptures are invited to submit their ideas to create a “thought-provoking” space.
“An expert jury is being assembled for this competition,” they wrote.
“The jury will play an advisory role to the Minister of Canadian Heritage as minister responsible for commemorative monuments on federal lands.”
Over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, the Liberals have let the deficit balloon to nearly $400 billion. The government currently has no plans to reduce spending and return to a balanced budget.
Ahead of the throne speech on September 23, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has hinted of an “ambitious green agenda.” Trudeau has advised his cabinet ministers and bureaucrats to “reimagine Canada.”
One Liberal insider told CBC that the cost of these new promises are “on a scale we haven’t seen before.”
Canada’s Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux says that the deficit will soon become unsustainable if the Trudeau government continues its current spending levels.
