There’s a lot of fear and anxiety across the country when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic, the economy and the increase of political violence in our streets.
There are more than enough politicians and pundits in the media who will only discuss the negative aspects of these issues, but there’s rarely ever anyone who’s willing to say “everything is going to be alright.”
True North’s Anthony Furey is optimistic and says he believes in human innovation.
CBC wants Canadians to know “how to choose the right sex toys and tools” according to its official Instagram Page.
“Your age, your abilities and your body type all matter,” said the CBC.
The Instagram post links to an article on CBC Life dated to February 25, 2019 by Michelle Bilodeau.
“Are you looking to bring a sex toy into a couples experience, or use it for some solo time? If you have a vagina, do you want something for clitoral stimulation or penetration? What about anal penetration? It’s helpful to think of all of the above for a few important reasons,” writes Bilodeau.
This is not the first time in recent memory where a government entity has been in the business of giving Canadians sex advice.
In 2019, through the National Film Board of Canada, the federal government paid for a mobile game that teaches people how to stimulate a clitoris.
“The experience aims to explode a number of myths about women’s pleasure by giving users the opportunity to try out different motion “techniques” on their smartphones in an attempt to find out what makes their clitoris avatar happy,” said a news release on the application.
More recently, Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam told Canadians that they should wear masks while having sex and if possible opt for masturbation instead.
“Like other activities during COVID-19 that involve physical closeness, there are some things you can do to minimize the risk of getting infected and spreading the virus. Canadians can find ways to enjoy physical intimacy while safeguarding the progress we have all made containing COVID-19,” said Tam.
“The lowest risk sexual activity during COVID-19 involves yourself alone.”
The federal deficit is closing in on $400 billion, but that won’t stop Justin Trudeau from spending more for a “green recovery.” It’s not just fiscal conservatives who are sounding the alarm on Trudeau’s out of control spending – even bureaucrats and Liberal MPs are questioning Trudeau’s intentions.
Plus, public health officials storm into Canadian’s bedrooms. In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Dr. Theresa Tam is now advising Canadians to avoid kissing and to wear masks during intercourse.
These stories and more on the True North Update with Candice Malcolm and Andrew Lawton!
Federal Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault praised the actions of the Australian government after it vowed to make social media giants pay for Australian news shared on their platforms.
“We remain committed towards ensuring a comprehensive, more equitable digital regulatory framework here in Canada. That includes making sure that Canadian news organizations continue to inform and empower our communities,” tweeted Guilbeault on Wednesday.
“As for Facebook’s action, the Canadian government stands with our Australian partners and denounces any form of threats.”
The proposed law would force Facebook and Google to pay royalties for local news sourced in Australia, even when shared by users and not the companies themselves.
In response to the Australian government’s proposed legislation, Facebook announced it would respond by blocking news sharing altogether in Australia.
Mainstream media companies in Canada like the CBC and the Toronto Star have also been lobbying the government to further regulate the industry and legislate laws that would protect their content.
In February, several representatives of Canadian mainstream media organizations co-signed an open letter calling on the Liberals to toughen copyright laws to prevent others from reporting on and aggregating their news coverage on alternative platforms.
Under the Trudeau government, mainstream media and local media outlets were granted a $595 million media bailout at the taxpayer’s expense.
Among those designated to distribute the federal bailout money were media executives themselves.
Recent reports show that companies who had executives on the Local Journalism Initiative panel were awarded a portion of the fund.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, FP Newspaper Inc. received $4.5 million in public funds from the federal government despite the fact that senior member and publisher of Winnipeg Free Press Bob Cox was on the aforementioned panel.
Recent financial statements show that federal funding made up 38% of the company’s revenue in the second quarter of 2020.
Minister Guilbeault has even gone so far as suggesting that Canadian media companies must register with the government and become licensed if they wish to operate within Canada.
“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 in February.
“We would ask that they have a licence, yes.”
Guilbeault later retracted his comments after a wide public backlash.
An email sent out by a chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is chock-full of anti-police messaging and rhetoric.
The email from CUPE Local 905 President Katherine Grzejszczak was shared with True North by one of its recipients. In it, Grzejszczak accuses “far-right militias” of “wreaking murderous terror” on Black Lives Matter protesters.
“The recent events in Kenosha, Wisconsin show that police murder of Black people is ongoing while far-right militias are wreaking murderous terror on people protesting for human rights,” it reads.
The email goes on to reference cases such as the acquittal of Michael Theriault, the recently disclosed SIU report on the death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet and the death of Ejaz Choudry, among other incidents of alleged systematic racism within Canada’s police forces.
“The Ontario Human Rights Commission’s report on anti-Black racism in the Toronto Police Services provides statistics to back up long-standing claims by the Black community of systemic anti-Black racism,” the email says.
“As a union, we stand in solidarity with BIPOC members in our unions and communities. The fight for racial and economic justice are two sides of the same coin.”
CUPE Local 905 represents approximately 6,000 public service employees, including first responders like paramedics stretching across multiple regions in Southern Ontario and the GTA.
Its parent organization, CUPE, also represents over 2,000 employees employed in fire and police emergency services, according to its website.
The policing community says it is on the receiving end of attacks, however.
In response to accusations of systematic racism, National Police Federation President Brian Sauvé told the parliamentary public safety committee that there has actually been a dramatic increase in attacks against police officers as a result of the anti-police messaging.
“We are hearing more cases of members being yelled at, confronted, spat on and assaulted while on duty,” he said in July. “This is unacceptable. All Canadians should be free from harassment and assault including those on the front line.”
True North reached out to CUPE 905 President Katherine Grzejszczak for comment but had not hear back by the time of this article’s publication.
Alberta’s Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jason Luan shut down the possibility that his government would follow other provinces and seek to provide a “safe supply” of drugs to addicts.
“The government of Alberta is not going to spend a dime of taxpayer money to become a drug dealer to supply addicts,” said Luan.
“A taxpayer-funded drug supply? We’re not going to do that.”
The federal government has made several moves to introduce a publicly funded drug supply for addicts in various jurisdictions.
Last month, the Liberal government announced that it would be moving forward with $600,000 in funding for a Toronto project that would deal highly addictive opioids to drug users.
In March, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved an initiative by Vancouver to supply hard drugs during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The federal government has taken all measures required for this to be operational. Now we’re just waiting for the provincial guidelines,” said Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart.
BC’s chief medical health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry applauded the federal government’s decision to supply drugs to the province’s addicts.
“It’s an important piece to ensure we can help support those people as best we can … to ensure that they’re able to comply with our public health advice around isolation or quarantine,” said Dr. Henry.
In July, more people died of drug overdoses in BC than of coronavirus, homicide, car accidents or suicide combined. Statistics show that first responders arrived on the scene to 2,706 overdoses during that month alone.
A petition against the Trudeau government’s gun ban has closed with 230,905 signatures, making it the largest parliamentary petition in Canadian history.
On Wednesday, the petition’s sponsor Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner thanked those who signed petition e-2574 on Twitter.
The petition was created in response to the Trudeau government’s decision to ban 1,500 types of rifles in May.
“The Prime Minister’s firearms confiscation regime, undemocratically imposed without debate during a pandemic while Parliament is suspended, is an assault on Canadian democracy,” the petition claims.
“We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Prime Minister to immediately scrap his government’s May 1, 2020, Order in Council decision related to confiscating legally owned firearms and instead pass legislation that will target criminals, stop the smuggling of firearms into Canada, go after those who illegally acquire firearms, and apologize to legal firearms owners in Canada.”
Trudeau’s gun ban gives gun owners who own a prohibited weapon two years to surrender it to the government. As of May 1, Canadians can no longer buy, sell, import or transport prohibited guns.
The gun ban was issued unilaterally by the Trudeau government by an order-in-council from cabinet. No legislation has been voted on by the House of Commons affirming the gun ban.
The Trudeau government set aside $250 million for a gun buyback program.
The petition noted that the majority of firearms used in violent crimes are obtained illegally or are smuggled into Canada.
“‘Assault rifles’, or fully automatic firearms, have been banned in Canada since 1977.”
Earlier this year, a different petition asking the federal government to respect the rights of firearm owners by putting a gun ban to a vote in parliament received 175,310 signatures, making it the second-largest petition ever at the time.
41% of Canadians want immigration quotas to be reduced according to official numbers with the Department of Immigration.
Despite the widespread support for a reduction in Canada’s immigration rate, the Liberal government has decided to boost the quota to 341,000 immigrants to be admitted this year.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, in a telephone annual tracking survey, the Department asked Canadians whether there were “too many, too few or about the right number” of immigrants in Canada’s quota.
The findings of the poll showed that 52% of Canadians agreed with the statement that “Canada should focus on helping unemployed Canadians rather than looking for skilled immigrants for our workforce.”
Meanwhile, 51% believed that immigrants should do more to integrate into Canada, while 30% believed that “immigration is causing Canada to change in ways I don’t like.”
On the other hand, only 19% described immigration as “very positive” for Canada.
“The department conducts an ongoing research program to help it develop a better understanding of Canadian attitudes toward the issues surrounding citizenship and immigration,” wrote researchers.
“By gauging and analyzing the opinions of newcomers and immigrants, the department gains insights into important policy areas related to the mandate of the department.”
In a plan tabled in Parliament on March 12, Liberal Immigration Minister proposed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic that Canada’s immigration quotas should be increased by one percent annually to 351,000 in 2021.
However, according to deputy immigration minister Catrina Tapley, it is doubtful that the federal government will meet the 341,000 target for this year.
“It’s difficult to say what an estimate might be given that there are so many uncertainties, so many uncertainties on travel, so many uncertainties in other countries that affect people’s ability to complete their application,” said Deputy Tapley on June 17 during a Commons immigration committee hearing.
“But I want to be clear, we have continued to process applications and we are continuing to land individuals during this period.”
A scientific poll commissioned by True North in June showed that 76% of Canadians strongly agree or moderately agree that there should be a temporary pause on immigration until a coronavirus vaccine is created or unemployment drops to pre-coronavirus levels.
“What is a little more surprising is that 67% of Canadians who cast their vote for Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party support the idea of shutting down immigration into Canada for the time being,” wrote True North founder Candice Malcolm.
“Perhaps the PM should think twice before he degrades and name-calls those with whom he disagrees on immigration — including two-thirds of his own party’s supporters.”
Unions are making all teachers look bad. It’s time for regular teachers to get in the game and take back control of their unions.
True North’s Anthony Furey discusses in his latest video.
An Ontario town quietly removed a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in the early hours of Thursday morning in the interests of “reconciliation” with the Indigenous community.
According to officials in Baden, a community in Ontario’s Wilmot Township, the statue was moved to an undisclosed storage location after councillors voted for the removal until they can agree on the statue’s future.
This decision comes less than a week after a mob illegally took down a statue of Macdonald in Montreal.
“The statue will remain in the secured storage until all consultation has been completed and a report to Council is presented at the March 1, 2021 Council meeting, as set out in the Notice of Motion,” said a media release from the Township of Wilmot.
“This is a step forward towards reconciliation and the Township of Wilmot is looking forward to conversations with the Indigenous Community.”
The Macdonald statue was featured on Prime Ministers Path, a walkable park featuring life-sized statues of all of Canada’s former prime ministers.
There have been several protests and acts of vandalism directed at the statue over its supposed representation of white supremacy and racism.
Despite the town claiming it’s “honoured” to host the Prime Ministers Path, an open letter in June, after the Macdonald statue was vandalized for the first time, characterized the founding father as a “controversial historic figure” and vowed to engage in “discussions” about the statue’s future.
A number of politicians, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Erin O’Toole spoke out against the toppling of the Montreal statue.
“We are a country of laws, and we are a country that needs to respect those laws even as we seek to improve and change them,” Trudeau said.
“Those kinds of acts of vandalism are not advancing the path towards greater justice and equality in this country.”
