It was quite something to log in to Twitter last weekend during President Donald Trump’s Tulsa rally, his first since the lockdowns came into effect.
Both anonymous accounts and prominent journalists and public figures unleashed non-stop jabs at every aspect of the rally as if they were auditioning to be some low-rent MSNBC version of Rodney Dangerfield.
Trump got no respect from the gatekeepers of the approved, official and never to be questioned mainstream narrative, one that has insisted since 2016 that every thing even vaguely concerning the American presidency be filtered through the lens of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
With no help coming from the Trudeau government, the Grain Farmers of Ontario warned MPs that the future of the agriculture sector looks bleak.
The President of the organization Markus Haerle told the agriculture committee earlier this week that a collapse in prices caused by the coronavirus means that many grain farmers have no chance of making money this year.
Haerle, himself a farmer, told MPs that the pandemic has created “risks that are bigger and more current than I have ever experienced in my farming career.”
“We are at a point that we cannot even break even,” he said.
The Grain Farmers of Ontario recently launched a campaign to educate the public on the plight farmers are facing. The group notes that American farmers have received $22 billion in aid from their government while Canadian farmers have gotten very little.
“Our grain farmers cannot compete with farmers who are able to survive these low prices with support from their government. The U. S. farmer is our direct competitor,” Haerle told MPs.
“Now we are in crisis. Prices of all our commodities are below the amount of money that we have spent to grow those crops.”
The Grain Farmers of Ontario have noted that Ontario Premier Doug Ford has been a strong advocate for farmers, but without interest from the federal government, there is little Ford can do.
The federal-provincial agriculture ministers’ meeting, scheduled for mid-July, has been postponed to the fall. Without this meeting, no meaningful federal-provincial agreements can be made.
“I think it would be very important for the Canadian government to show leadership through this crisis, show what it is willing to offer up, and I’m nearly sure that the provincial governments will actually sign on to the programming that would be proposed,” Haerle said.
Farmers have also been trying to show the government that the carbon tax is causing their businesses to suffer.
Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau claims that the average carbon tax bill for farmers is around $200-800. But farmers have repeatedly told the government that this estimate ignores many of the costs associated with farming.
Many grain farmers have seen carbon tax bills of $2,000-20,000 for drying their grain.
The Canadian Federation of Agriculture estimated that at least $2.6 billion would be needed to keep the agriculture sector intact during the pandemic.
Haerle fears that without assistance Canada risks permanently losing food security.
The media and politicians continue to obsess over systemic racism. It’s all they can talk about.
According to Trudeau, systemic racism is found in every institution in Canada – is that true? RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki couldn’t even find examples in the RCMP when she appeared before a committee earlier this week.
Toronto Mayor John Tory is asking Toronto City Council to develop alternatives to police in certain situations.
On Monday Toronto City Council will be voting on a motion penned by Tory asking council to create “alternative models of community safety response.”
Tory connected his motion to recent calls to defund police departments across the world.
“In recent weeks, here in Toronto and around the world, people have been raising their voices and calling for an end to racism generally, to anti-Black racism and to racism experienced by Indigenous and marginalized communities,” Tory told reporters earlier this week.
“As mayor, I acknowledge that despite our city being one of the world’s most diverse, systemic racism continues to be a real issue here in Toronto and there is much more all of us can do and must do to confront it and to eliminate it.”
The motion specifically calls for the creation of a separate agency to deal with non-violent or non-weapons-related situations. The motion suggests that in these cases police involvement is unnecessary.
Earlier in March, a motion was put forward by Coun. Josh Matlow and supported by Coun. Kristyn Wong-Tam, demanding that Toronto Police Services’ budget be cut by 10%.
The earlier motion by Matlow and Wong-Tam does not specify exactly how the $122 million taken from Toronto police would be used. The motion also does not discuss how police would fare with fewer funds, even as violent crimes continue to grow in the city.
Today Mayor tabled his own policing report to sideline our #DefundThePolice motion. He doesn’t cite a % or any budget reduction which is at the core of the movement to reform policing. Mayor now asks TPS board which he’s controled for 6 years to reform policing. Not good enough.
Royal Canadian Legion branches across Canada are at risk of closure as the charitable group finds itself largely unable to qualify for coronavirus aid programs.
The Legion has been calling for governmental support before branches are forced to permanently close. Founded in 1925, the organization offers community and meal programs to current and former members of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP and serves as a social hub.
“We’re a 95-year-old organization. And in that 95 years, we have prided ourselves on being self-sufficient, we have not reached out for funding. But these are unprecedented times,” National Executive Director Steven Clark told CTV.
The organization says that 124 branches will likely not survive the coronavirus pandemic financially, and another 357 are facing financial difficulty.
“Of our 1,381 branches, 167 have applied for federal assistance programs, but unfortunately only 55 have received that funding so it’s still a very small percentage,” Clark said.
The Royal Canadian Legion has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau twice expressing how crucial it is to ensure charitable groups have access to support during the pandemic.
In his letters, Royal Canadian Legion Dominion President Thomas Irvine expressed his frustration that for-profit businesses and industries can qualify for government assistance but many charities cannot.
“Much to our surprise and alarm, the new Emergency Community Support Fund announced by your government cannot help our Branches with the operational costs they continue to incur; this was confirmed by direct communication with ESDC. The program’s parameters need to be expanded in order to help the Legion and other not for-profit entities,” he wrote.
“I am angered to see that businesses whose sole purpose is to provide entertainment are getting relief, while our Legion Branches – which are literally helping to save lives and improve communities – are struggling with the fear of closure, with no government help in sight.”
While the Trudeau government has been engaged in unprecedented spending to try and keep the economy afloat during the pandemic, many have noticed glaring holes in the way the government is handling coronavirus aid programs.
It was recently revealed that 90% of small businesses cannot qualify for a program that was supposed to give them a rent subsidy. Only 16% of what was originally budgeted for the rent subsidy has been distributed so far.
Canadian farmers have also found themselves without support from the federal government: Ontario grain farmers are estimating a 35-40% loss of income this year.
A regular host of CTV’s The Social has apologized for past blog posts that contained derogatory, racist and homophobic language.
Elaine “Lainey” Lui, who also co-hosts Etalk, faced a backlash on social media after her blog posts with titles like “Worst Ghetto T*ts: Janet Jackson,” and “So Why Can’t She Sniff a Gay Midget Dwarf” resurfaced online.
Lui repeatedly apologized for the posts and claimed that she wrote them because she “wanted to continue to be popular” while also blaming white supremacy.
“In that moment the only way I can explain it is by saying it was part of what I kept doing because I wanted to continue to be popular,” said Lui on The Social.
“I have been conditioned in white supremacy, and I have enabled white privilege, even as a person of colour myself, because we too, given that white supremacy is so dominant, can have bias.”
Only shortly before her blog posts resurfaced, Lui was denouncing Jessica Mulroney for her “white privilege.”
“Over and over again, Jessica Mulroney demonstrated her white privilege. Sasha Exeter called her out, and in response she threatened her. Sasha went public and she flexed her Meghan Markle friendship, half-assed her apology, and then, once again, threatened her with a ‘liable (sic) suit.’ Wrong and strong is terrifying. White privilege is terrifying – it terrified Sasha and it terrifies so many others. Still,” wrote Lui at the time.
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.
“They all tended to be white boys who weren’t, let’s say very nice, they were not generally thoughtful, they were often bullies. Their parents were able to afford to spend $5,000 a year on hockey,” said Allen.
Researchers claim that Black Lives Matter protests in the US did not lead to a spike in coronavirus cases. Thousands participated in the protests and did not adhere to public health guidelines.
The study which was published by the National Bureau of Economic Research employed data from over 300 of the largest protests in the US.
“Our findings suggest that any direct decrease in social distancing among the subset of the population participating in the protests is more than offset by increasing social distancing behaviour among others who may choose to shelter-at-home and circumvent public places while the protests are underway,” claimed the report.
Prior to the anti-racism movement which swept across the world after Minnesota resident George Floyd died while in police custody, Canadian politicians were condemning people for gathering in parks and joining anti-lockdown protests.
If you march in the anti-racism protest, Premier Ford will thank you.
In April, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called anti-lockdown protesters exercising their fundamental freedoms “a bunch of yahoos” and claimed that they were endangering others because of their behaviour.
“These people that are absolutely irresponsible, it’s reckless to do what they’re doing. Personally, I think it’s selfish,” said Ford.
Meanwhile, as anti-racism protests raged in Toronto and elsewhere, Ford took a totally different tone to those who gathered in massive crowds.
Toronto Mayor John Tory also joined Ford in commending the protesters who congregated for the anti-racism rally, saying that he would join the protesters and kneel if asked to.
“The message from those protesters is we simply have to involve every person and every effort to wipe out anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, racism and discrimination of any kind in this city, and make it the most inclusive city in the world,” said Tory.
“I haven’t ruled out attending and I certainly would be quite prepared to take a knee.”
During another instance at Toronto’s Trinity Bellwoods Park, Ford also condemned those who gathered outside to enjoy the weather.
“First of all, I’m disappointed to say the least with everyone who showed up at Trinity Bellwoods on Saturday,” said Ford.
“Why don’t you do us all a favour and go get tested now, go to a local hospital or assessment centre and get tested.”
Diplomats and former politicians are calling on Trudeau to appease the Chinese regime and swap Meng Wanzhou for the two Michaels.
The media and public officials continue to look in every nook and cranny for examples of systemic racism in Canada. The only problem is that they can’t find any – as RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki demonstrated this week.
Plus, Fitch Ratings stripped Canada of its AAA status. What does this mean for Canada and is this Justin Trudeau’s fault?
Tune into The True North Update with Candice Malcolm and Andrew Lawton!
A number of experts and former Canadian politicians have signed a rebuttal letter to a high profile call to swap Meng Wanzhou with Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.
The letter, which was published by the Macdonald Laurier Institute, calls on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to uphold the rule of law and not give in to China’s demands.
“Since these arrests, some have argued that Ottawa should simply release Meng in exchange for the release of Kovrig and Spavor, most recently in interviews with and letters signed by a number of high-profile Canadians,” said the letter.
“These arguments are not only wrong in principle but would involve Canada betraying important values and letting down a number of our key allies.”
Over 20 prominent Canadians have signed the letter so far including former federal Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Christopher Alexander and former Canadian diplomat in Beijing Charles Burton.
The letter rebukes another document signed on June 23 by senior statesmen and members of Canada’s elite, who argues that the Canadian government has the authority to release Meng and secure the freedom of the two Michaels.
“There is no question that the U.S. extradition request has put Canada in a difficult position. As prime minister, you face a difficult decision. Complying with the U.S. request has greatly antagonized China,” claimed the letter.
“Removing the pressures of the extradition proceeding and the related imprisonment of the two Michaels will clear the way for Canada to freely decide and declare its position on all aspects of the Canada-China relationship.”
Many critics of the letter accused the signatories of ignoring the rule of law and Canada’s extradition agreement with the US.
Even the prime minister offered his harshest words yet regarding China’s imprisonment of the two Canadians.
“The reality is releasing Meng Wanzhou to resolve a short-term problem would endanger thousands of Canadians who travel to China and around the world by letting countries know that a government can have political influence over Canada by randomly arresting Canadians,” said Trudeau on Thursday.
“We need to continue to be absolutely crystal clear that Canada has an independent judiciary and those processes will unfold independently of any political pressure, including by foreign governments. We deplore what China did.”
