Canadians aren’t the only ones sick of the Trudeau government’s carbon tax. Even Jagmeet Singh and David Eby are pulling their support from the punitive tax that does nothing for the environment and has cost Canadians thousands of dollars. But don’t worry – Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault made a cringey video defending the tax…
Plus, Jagmeet Singh confronted a protester who appeared to call him a “corrupt bastard,” and NDP MP Charlie Angus says it’s all the Conservatives’ fault.
And the Canadian Armed Forces faces their toughest challenge since World War II: missing tampons mandated in men’s washrooms.
These stories and more on Off the Record with guest host Kris Sims, Isaac Lamoureux and Cosmin Dzsurdzsa!
Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen has issued a public apology to independent journalist Kat Kanada for falsely accusing her of being influenced by the Russian government.
In a now-deleted post to X, Gerretsen said that he blocked The Counter Signal’s journalist Katrina Panova, better known as Kat Kanada, while also claiming that a foreign government was paying her to engage with the Kingston MP.
The allegation from Gerretsen came just days after the American right-wing media group Tenet media had been accused of succumbing to a Russian propaganda campaign in which the media group received millions of dollars from the Kremlin.
“I finally blocked someone on here. I draw the line at a foreign government paying you to engage with me. Parliament needs to study this. And this person needs to be brought before committee to answer questions,” said Gerretsen.
Canada's dumbest MP Mark Gerretsen accuses Kat Kanada of working for Russia
The liberals are melting down harder than I have ever seen before
Gerretsen did not provide any evidence for Kanada’s connection to Russia and after his initial post, stating that he merely found Kanada’s content divisive and offensive. Gerretsen pointed out that Kanada had been filmed associating with Tenet Media influencer Lauren Southern and clarified that he was not alleging Kanada was directly being paid by the Russians.
I’ll say it…@PierrePoilievre knows he is going to be the last weirdo alt-right leader standing come Nov (🇬🇧, 🇫🇷, and soon 🇺🇸). He is trying everything possible to seize power before his time comes.
Shortly after, Counter Signal lawyers served Gerretsen with a statement of claim accusing the Liberal MP of defaming Kanada.
A week later, Gerretsen struck an agreement and issued an apology to Kanada on X, stating that he had gotten heated by Kanada’s comments and should not have made the claim.
“I would like to sincerely apologize to @KatKanada_TM for my previous post in which I alleged that she is funded by the Russian government,” said Gerretsen.
“Canada is a democracy, and in the context of debate over political issues or current affairs, things can sometimes get more heated than they should. I should not have made this statement regarding Kat.”
As part of the agreement, Gerretsen will be donating $1,000 to the Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank in Nanaimo, BC, a charity that Kanada selected.
While Gerretsen disabled the comments function under his tweet, however, the sole reply is a comment reiterating the claim that Kanada is funded by the Russian government.
Gerretsen is well known in the House of Commons for provoking conservatives with inflammatory statements while labeling his political opponents as “alt-right.”
Upon former Conservative leadership contestant Roman Baber claiming the Conservative nomination for the Toronto riding York Centre, Gerretsen accused the former Ontario MLA of being “alt-right.”
Gerretsen frequently accuses Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre of pandering to the alt-right or belonging to the alt-right himself.
I’ll say it…@PierrePoilievre knows he is going to be the last weirdo alt-right leader standing come Nov (🇬🇧, 🇫🇷, and soon 🇺🇸). He is trying everything possible to seize power before his time comes.
In response to Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen’s apology to an independent journalist after falsely accusing her of being influenced by Russia, Conservative MP Michael Cooper calls Gerretsen a “Twitter troll” and accuses him of “spreading disinformation.” pic.twitter.com/ZAsGNbLWyz
Despite tearing up his coalition agreement with the Liberals, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says he would back Justin Trudeau in the Conservatives’ upcoming non-confidence vote.
Plus, a True North exclusive reveals one Ontario school board has prohibited the teaching of books by white authors that may contain racial slurs, including a novel by American Pulitzer prize winner John Steinbeck.
And a recent report revealed that an investment firm chaired by Mark Carney is currently in talks with the Liberal government to manage billions of taxpayer funds.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and William McBeath!
The Bank of Canada announced it’s officially dropping its plans to introduce a central bank-regulated digital currency after years of bandying around the idea.
The proposed “digital loonie” would have offered Canadians a retail central bank digital currency CBDC, that could have been used for transferring funds or everyday purchases like gas and groceries.
“The Bank has undertaken significant research towards understanding the implications of a retail central bank digital currency, including exploring the implications of a digital dollar on the economy and financial system, and the technological approaches to providing a digital form of public money that is secure and accessible,” the bank told CBC News.
Canada’s central bank initially launched a research project into the possibility of a digital dollar in 2017, however, it said it will be shifting its focus away from the concept after completing public consultations in 2022.
According to a Bank of Canada staff discussion paper released this summer, Canada would require its own digital currency to maintain monetary sovereignty.
The three main risks posed by implementing a CBDC are “increased potential that fragmentation of the monetary system could create inefficiencies, increased ability of issuers of private forms of money to exert market power and increased difficulty implementing timely and adequate regulation due to the rapid pace of change,” reads the paper.
While over 130 countries are exploring the possibility of a central bank digital currency, only three have officially launched one; Nigeria, Jamaica and the Bahamas.
According to the central bank’s research, “the main arguments for why cash has been and remains essential to a well-functioning monetary system” is that retail public money, among being “a cornerstone of the monetary system,” which aids the regulatory framework and also “supports confidence in the system and the uniformity of the currency.”
However, the bank said that “in a future where cash is less relevant and is no longer a competitive payment alternative to private money, issues could arise in the uniformity of the Canadian dollar,” which could cause the idea of creating a CBDC to resurface.
The Eby government plans to run a massive $7.9 billion budget deficit this fiscal year. This would be the largest deficit in provincial history and the largest deficit in Canada (relative to the size of each province’s economy).
And yet, the $7.9 billion official deficit number actually understates the government’s financial mismanagement this year. Indeed, a closer look shows that things are even worse than they appear.
For starters, the government’s accounting of its revenue (and therefore its overall budget balance) makes no distinction between tax revenue and non-renewable resource royalties (mainly from natural gas).
Why is this a problem?
Because non-renewable resource royalties are onetime revenues, depleted each year when the resources are extracted and sold. In other words, you can’t generate tax revenues from the same natural gas source more than once.
Rather than spend away these revenues each year, the government should save and invest them so they generate an ongoing stream of revenue in the form of interest on investments. Treating non-renewable resource revenue like other forms of taxes is akin to selling the family silver one year but spending as though you’ll be able to sell the silver every year. For perspective, if you exclude natural gas royalties from total revenue, the B.C. government’s $7.9 billion deficit jumps to $8.7 billion this fiscal year (2024/25). Clearly, the government is relying heavily on resource royalties to fund its spending.
Another problem is the government’s treatment of carbon tax revenue. When the B.C. government introduced its carbon tax, it promised the tax would never be a “tax grab” because it would be “revenue neutral”—that is, all the money raised from the tax would be used to reduce other taxes so the government would collect the same amount as before. This aligns with widely accepted best practises for carbon tax design.
The government dropped this commitment, however, starting in 2013/14, and in later years reversed several business and personal income tax reductions that had been designed to offset the carbon tax. In fact, the government went much further, raising some tax rates higher than they had been originally.
So, the carbon tax is no longer revenue neutral. Some of the money is returned to British Columbians through a tax credit to low- and middle-income residents, but not all of it. By holding onto some of the carbon tax revenue rather than returning it to taxpayers, the government is keeping the deficit smaller than it would be if the government adhered to best practises for a carbon tax. In fact, if the carbon tax were truly revenue neutral, the deficit would increase by hundreds of millions of dollars.
And that’s not all. The Eby government’s official deficit number for this fiscal year is only based on day-to-day operating expenses including salaries of government employees and interest payments on debt. The government excludes spending on longer-term capital projects such as highways and bridges even though they increase provincial debt.
This government uses this accounting approach because capital projects are assumed to provide benefits over the long term. However, once you factor in capital spending, B.C.’s debt (after accounting for financial assets) increases by $18.9 billion this year, more than twice the government’s official operating deficit.
The Eby government has entered uncharted waters, with historically large operating deficits. What’s more, it’s conveniently including non-renewable resource royalties in general revenues, and using carbon tax revenue that should be returned to British Columbians to prevent the official deficit from growing even larger.
The government’s official deficit looks bad. When you take a closer look, things go from bad to much, much worse.
Ben Eisen and Tegan Hill are analysts at the Fraser Institute.
The highly controversial Canadian documentary ‘Russians at War’ finally premiered at TIFF this week after being suspended due to heavy protests against the film and threats made against film festival staff from pro-Ukraine protesters. Protesters, as well as Canadian politicians and Ukrainian diplomats, label the publicly funded documentary “Russian propaganda” and argue that it seeks to whitewash Russian war crimes. The directors of the film categorically deny the accusations and maintain that their documentary is an anti-war film.
The director, Anastasia Trofimova, a Russian-Canadian woman who previously worked for the CBC and RT, formerly Russia Today (a state-sponsored Russian media company), embeds herself with a Russian military unit in occupied Ukraine and documents the daily struggle of Russian soldiers as they become disillusioned with their country’s war effort and lose sight of what they’re fighting for.
On the latest episode of Ratio’d, Harrison reviews the controversial film and interviews protesters and attendees of the screening.
Watch the latest episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner!
After the Bloc Quebecois signalled that it would oppose a Conservative non-confidence motion to trigger an election, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced on Thursday that he would be doing the same despite breaking off a coalition agreement with the governing Liberals.
In a statement given to reporters ahead of Question Period in the House of Commons, Singh vowed to continue to prop the Liberals and vote “no” on the non-confidence motion slated to take place next Wednesday.
“New Democrats came to Ottawa to get stuff done, to work, for people to fight, for people not to play Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative games, so we will not be supporting Pierre Pollievre’s motion,” Singh said.
On Wednesday, BQ leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said his party would continue to support the Liberal government by voting no on the motion as well. In a statement Wednesday, Blanchet took offence when a reporter asked why he continued to prop up the Liberals.
“I am propping nobody up!” Blanchet said. “I never support Liberals, so help me God, I go against the Conservatives on a vote that is only about Pierre Poilievre and his huge ambition for himself.”
Conservatives would need the support of both the BQ and NDP on the next non-confidence motion to trigger an early election. Otherwise, the election will take place no later than October 2025.
Singh said he won’t let Poilievre “tell us what to do.”
“We’re not going to listen to someone who wants to cut the things that people need right now. Canadians need relief, not more cuts. We’ve got people’s back,” Singh said.
Despite opposing the Conservative non-confidence motion, Singh said Justin Trudeau does not deserve another chance at governance.
“I do not believe that Justin Trudeau deserves a second chance. He has let you down, and it has meant that people are worse off,” Singh said.”If things are bad now, Pierre Poilievre is proposing a future that will be even worse. We are here to stop conservative cuts, and I’m here to become the next Prime Minister for this country.”
In a statement, the Conservative Party said Singh “ripping up” the coalition agreement with Trudeau was amounted to nothing more than showmanship.
“The only way the NDP can pull out of their coalition with Justin Trudeau is to vote non-confidence and trigger a carbon tax election. But Jagmeet Singh refuses to do this, placing his $2.3 million pension over the people,” the statement said.
In a statement before Question Period in the House of Commons, Poilievre called Singh a fraud, accusing him of theatrics to win a byelection in Winnipeg.
“He looked (Winnipegers) in the eye and said he had torn up the carbon tax coalition. Well, as soon as the votes were counted and he no longer needed the people of Winnipeg, he betrayed them,” Poilievre said. “He taped back together the carbon tax coalition agreement, and he sold them out again. It was a big Hollywood production.”
On Thursday, the Premier of Quebec Francois Legault urged Blanchet to support Poilievre’s motion and trigger an election, but the BQ leader said the motion did not mention Quebec’s sovereignty over immigration.
The Conservative motion reads, “The House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the Government.”
Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer has said due to the motion’s “simple” language, any party can explain to Canadians their reasons for agreeing with the statement.
Despite indicating that he plans to support the government in the non-confidence vote, Blanchet on Wednesday stated that he lacks confidence in the Trudeau government.
“No I don’t have confidence in the Trudeau government, but I do have reasonable confidence in seeking an increase in pensions for thousands of Quebecers,” Blanchet said.
Blanchet also indicated that if the Liberals do not comply with the BQ’s demands for immigration control and increased funding for seniors’ pensions, he will help trigger an early election.
With the exception of a small contingent of dedicated constituents and fans, the plight of Jennifer Johnson had largely been forgotten by Conservative Albertans.
The MLA for Lacombe-Ponoka has been sitting as an independent since she left the United Conservative Party caucus during the 2023 general election campaign following controversial comments she made about the trans community.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has not committed to allowing Johnson back into caucus. And over time, Johnson was forgotten by both the press and Smith’s base, buried beneath a myriad of more pressing issues like high living costs and the immigration crisis.
Until, earlier this week, when a video surfaced of Johnson meeting with a member of the trans community at the request of the Lacombe Pride Society, the Ponoka Pride Society, and the Central Alberta Pride Society. The so-called trans woman “Karla Marx” asked Johnson if she would commit to saying that trans women are indeed women.
Johnson paused.
“I’ve never been asked that before,” she said. “ I want to take some time to think on that.”
The response was not nearly good enough for Marx — nothing but total, uncritical obedience ever is for the woke mob. Marx lambasted the MLA, saying the incident would be made public and Marx would be speaking against Johnson and her bid to rejoin the UCP caucus.
From what I’m hearing, it seems unlikely MLA Johnson will be let back into caucus. But she would be a valuable asset. She possesses courage and the ability to think for herself – rare traits among the political class. https://t.co/u3Vt1zakar
Only, no one had been talking about Johnson rejoining caucus. Not really. Not in mainstream Conservative circles, not among organizers privately.
And now, the issue is front and centre ahead of the UCP AGM next month in which Smith will face a review on her leadership. It might not be an easy victory. The premier has been accused of moving to the centre since winning the party’s leadership contest with detractors lamenting a lack of tax cuts, lack of progress on a provincial police force or pension plan, and a parental rights legislation that’s been promised but not yet tabled.
And now, for continuing to punish Johnson, who speaks for Smith’s base when she continues to uphold biological reality.
In the days since the clip was released, Johnson has been the subject of an outpouring of sympathy and gratitude. Even J.K. Rowling, an outcast among the Harry Potter cast whose careers she constructed, weighed in, agreeing with an X user who said the video showed a man trying to control a woman.
The clip has made the rookie politician from a rural riding an unlikely hero in the Conservative movement.
Marx’s effort to cancel Johnson for good has spectacularly backfired. Across the province, Conservatives are demanding that Premier Smith welcome Johnson back into the party.
Smith has said she will raise the matter with her caucus. But she might not have a choice.
It’s a concession she can make at a time when she needs to hold onto support from the membership, not the province.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault has had enough of the Trudeau government and is calling on the Bloc-Quebecois to vote with the federal Conservatives next Wednesday to trigger an early election.
In a statement given to reporters at the National Assembly on Thursday morning, Legault asked the provincial Parti-Quebecois to pressure its “comrades” in the Bloc Quebecois to vote with the Conservatives on Wednesday to trigger an early election.
“I’m asking Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon to have the courage to ask his Bloc Québécois comrade to back down, not to support the Trudeau government next week, to defend the interests of Quebecers and the Quebec nation,” Legault said in French. “Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon has a duty to stand up, to be brave and to challenge Mr. Blanchet.”
Last week, after the NDP announced an official end to the NDP-Liberal coalition, the leader of the Bloc-Quebecois, Yves-Francois Blanchet, positioned his party to form a coalition with the Liberal party to keep them in power in exchange for “gains” for Quebec.
Blanchet said he wanted Quebec to have more control over immigration and increased funding for seniors pensions.
In response to the indirect request, Blanchet told Legault that the answer was still no.
“It remains no. I am neither Conservative nor Liberal… I am the leader of the Bloc Québécois. I serve Quebecers, not the Liberals, according to my own judgment,” Blanchet said.
Blanchet said on Wednesday that the Bloc will not support The Conservative’s Sept. 24 motion, which states, “The House has no confidence in the Prime Minister and the government.”
“The Conservatives’ motion does not at all address Justin Trudeau’s failure on immigration,” Blanchet said. “I happily assume that if and when the Bloc dislodges the Liberals, Mr. Legault will support the Bloc Québécois.”
Blanchet indicated that he will be keeping an eye on a National Assembly of Quebec motion, which would urge Quebec officials in the House of Commons only to vote confidence in the government if it “respects Quebec’s areas of jurisdictions.”
In another statement Thursday afternoon, Blanchet said the BQ may help trigger an election in the next few weeks.
“Part of what we (Legault and Blanchet) both want is the same. We want more powers for Quebec and immigration because only Quebec should manage and administrate this issue for Quebecers,” Blanchet said. “If (Legault) is patient a few weeks, maybe Santa Claus will come and give him an election.”
In a statement, Plamondon responded to Legault’s request. The PQ Leader said he would not pressure Blanchet as the Conservatives haven’t committed to giving Quebec full powers over immigration to the province.
“These are federal immigration policies that have been imposed on us, and that clearly exceed our reception capacity. Faced with this, (Legault) is telling us, under his breath, that the solution to (his) seven-year failure is Pierre Polièvre,” Plamondon said in French.
Plamondon said the Liberals and the Conservatives have “the same posture” regarding immigration.
“It’s a regime that’s hostile to us, whether it’s the Liberals or the Conservatives, and that’s why we’re advocating getting out of it, and that’s also what the Bloc is advocating,” Plamondon said.
Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer said that each party who votes non-confidence in the current government with Conservatives can explain their own reasons for supporting the motion.
“We put forward a very simple motion that just expressed that fact every political party can think about the failures of this Trudeau Government and the suffering that it has caused on Canadians,” Scheer said in a statement to reporters Thursday. “It’s a clear statement of nonconfidence, and any political party who votes in favour of our motion can explain why they have no last confidence in the government.”
Scheer said any party who votes against their motion can alternatively explain to Canadians why they continue to keep the “corrupt and out of touch” Liberal government in power.
The Conservative party cannot succeed in its non-confidence vote without the support of the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois caucuses.
An Ontario school board has taken the extraordinary step of banning all books written by white authors that contain the “N-word” even if they have themes that counter racism.
An administrative procedures directive to educators by the Lambton Kent District School Board instructed teachers to never teach material written by white authors that contains the N-word.
In particular, the school board singled out Noble Prize winner and author John Steinbeck’s book Of Mice and Men. The novella, which is set during the Great Depression follows the travails of two migrant workers. It has been the frequent target of censors who take issue with the offensive and racist language used by characters often towards the black stable hand character named Crooks.
LDKSB refused to respond to True North’s request for comment and clarification.
“Written materials containing racial slurs or epithets should never be used in class if they are written by authors who do not belong to the group about whom the material is written (ie. John Steinbeck is a white author and the use of his novel, Of Mice and Men, is no longer acceptable as he uses the n-word throughout his writing),” wrote school board officials.
“There are times when teachers will use materials, that is connected to appropriately aged curriculum, by authors from racial backgrounds that contain racial slurs and epithets specific to that author’s racial group. As said before, great care must be taken in preparing students to encounter such texts.”
The school board emphasized that “teachers should never allow that word to be used aloud in class nor allow anyone to re-write that word out for anyone to see.”
“For clarity, the use of books that include the N-word will only be permitted if the author of the book is Black,” the directive reads.
Teachers are also required to read an in-depth trigger warning explaining that the book was written by a minority should it contain offensive language.
Attempts to ban the book have also been in the U.K. as recently as last year. The American Library Association currently lists the novella as the 28th most frequently banned and challenged book.
However, scholars specializing in Steinbeck’s work have disputed interpretations of the book as racism.
According to San Jose Nicholas Taylor English and comparative literature director Nicholas Taylor, the book delves into the exploitation of racism, sexism and disabilities during a troubling period in American history from a realistic perspective.
“There’s a long history of Steinbeck’s books being banned or being debated. A lot of controversy,” Taylor told the Niagara Gazette in 2021.
Steinbeck was no stranger to controversy, but his philosophy was he wanted to people to understand one another, and he felt the way to do that best was to present them as they are.”
\Earlier this year, the Surrey school district also banned the novella following an “equity scan.”
