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Saturday, August 2, 2025

Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan has stake in Abu Dhabi LNG pipeline project

By
True North Wire
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A new report reveals that the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) is part of a group of investors paying $10.1 billion USD for a large stake in an Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) natural gas pipeline. 

The project is one of the largest infrastructure deals the world has seen in 2020, according to the Financial Post.

“This strategic transaction is attractive to Ontario Teachers’ as it provides us with a stake in a high-quality infrastructure asset with stable long-term cash flows,” said the OTPP’s chief investment officer Ziad Hindo. 

“This new partnership with ADNOC and a group of world-class institutional and infrastructure investors expands our global presence and provides further geographic diversification to our portfolio.”

According to the official OTPP website, the organization takes into account climate change when considering investment options. 

Abu Dhabi is a part of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has been responsible for various human rights abuses. According to Human Rights Watch, the UAE has been involved in curbing the rights to free expression, as well as discriminating against women and outlawing homosexuality. 

“We engage with a variety of stakeholders and use our influence to encourage climate-positive actions and catalyze change,” claims the OTPP. 

While Ontario teachers are pouring money into foreign state-owned energy projects, Canadian oil and natural gas projects struggle to get over hurdles imposed on them by provincial and federal governments. 

Earlier this year, Ontario teacher groups like the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) came out in support of protests targeting the BC LNG pipeline organized by those claiming to represent the Wet’suwet’en Nation.

“The 60,000 members of OSSTF stand in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en peoples. OSSTF calls on all parties to respect the position taken by the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs, respect Indigenous sovereignty, and acknowledge and that they have never ceded their jurisdiction to the lands they have governed and have been stewards of for generations,” claimed a statement by the OSSTF. 

“Forcibly removing peaceful land defenders from their traditional unceded lands is a violation of the UN Declaration.”

Chinese wealth a “powerful source of influence” among influential Canadians: intelligence report

By
True North Wire
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China is using its wealth to interfere in Canada’s affairs by currying favour among Canadian politicians, business leaders and other influential individuals, a report by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians claims. 

The report also singles out Ottawa for not doing enough to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s influence through the use of countermeasures. 

“The People’s Republic of China utilizes its growing economic wealth to mobilize interference operations: ‘with deep coffers and the help of western enablers, the Chinese Communist Party uses money, rather than Communist ideology, as a powerful source of influence, creating parasitic relationships of long-term dependence,” claims the report. 

The report labels Canada as an “attractive and permissive target” for interference operations by countries like China and the Russian Federation. 

Among the institutions targetted in these operations are various levels of national and sub-national governments, the mainstream and ethnic media, as well as academia. 

“The threat faced by Canada’s governance and decision-making institutions is not only a federal problem. Elected and public officials across all orders of government are targeted: members of the executive branch, members of Parliament, senators, members of provincial legislative assemblies, municipal officials and representatives of Indigenous governments,” writes the report. 

According to former ambassador to China David Mulroney, the CCP uses its wealth to sway Canadian political and business leaders in their favour. 

“There are people a lot more senior than I was in government, and they have some serious business links with China,” Mulroney told Global News. 

“China is very willing to weaponize trade and investment to compel people to say what they want them to say.”

Liberal Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne recently got into political hot water after it was revealed that he had a million-dollar mortgage on two properties in the UK with a Chinese state-owned bank.

Critics of Champagne’s financial decision to accept a loan from the bank questioned whether it opened up the minister to potential influence from the foreign state.

Champagne has since repaid the two mortgages with the Bank of China and refinanced them with a Canadian bank. 

RCMP commissioner claims there’s systemic racism in force but can’t think of examples

By
True North Wire
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RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki had a hard time trying to think of examples of systemic racism in Canada’s federal police force on Tuesday. 

MPs questioned Lucki while she appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security before passing a motion to study racism within Canada’s policing community. 

Liberal MP Greg Fergus asked Lucki to clarify whether there was systemic racism in the RCMP.

“Yes, there’s absolutely systemic racism. I can give you a couple of examples that we’ve found over the years,” said Lucki. 

For her example, Lucki explained that a training requirement that involved a six-foot broad jump could be seen as systemically racist because it disadvantages certain people. 

“Evidence told us that the average person can broad jump their height. Of course, how many six-foot people do we hire? And there are people in all different cultures that may not be six feet, including there’s not a lot of women that are six feet tall, that would not be able to get through that type of test,” explained Lucki. 

Not satisfied with the answer, Fergus pressed Lucki further. Unable to provide clear examples of systemic racism in the force, Lucki called on the force’s chief human resources officer Gail Johnson. 

“That would be systemic discrimination. But I’m trying to think of systemic racism,” said Fergus. 

Outlining another example, Johnson claimed that northern recruitment unfairly created disadvantages for people unable to write aptitude tests.  

Lucki faced public backlash earlier this month after she struggled to define whether systemic racism existed in the RCMP. 

“If systemic racism is meaning that racism is entrenched in our policies and procedures, I would say that we don’t have systemic racism,” said Lucki on June 11th before claiming that the force was indeed plagued with the problem.

Last week, the RCMP Veterans’ Association came out against Lucki’s characterization of the force in an open letter. 

The Association’s President Sandy P. Glenn called the racism allegations “extremely disappointing.” 

“Making sweeping generalization statements about any group of people is always unfair and in the case of a senior executive member, singularly inappropriate and inaccurate. Thoughtless statements from our political leaders put frontline Members of the RCMP at risk,” wrote Glenn. 

“Not for a moment do we deny that there are anomalies in the National Police Force. It will happen in any organization and the RCMP is no exception. But the anomalies are not the rule and to paint the entire organization with the same brush is to deny the dramatic role that the Force has played in the establishment of this country and in continuing over many years to ensure peace in Canada for all our citizens. Not some of our citizens – all of our citizens regardless of race, creed, colour or gender.”

Housing prices may decline by $100,000 in Western cities in 2020: analysts

By
True North Wire
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Government analysts estimate that house prices in many Canadian cities will fall by as much as $100,000 as a result of a recession caused by the coronavirus, with cities in Western Canada facing the most significant declines.

In the report Housing Market Outlook: Special Edition Summer 2020, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation warned that there is a lot of uncertainty around how the housing market will change in the coming months.

“Making decisions on the basis of continually increasing house prices and incurring debt to do that might be a risky proposition,” Deputy Chief Economist Aled ab Iorwerth said.

“We do not know for example if there will be a second wave of the virus.”

The report determines that housing prices in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Calgary will fall by around $100,000, with Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa facing much smaller declines.

The report adds that housing prices in the West are harder to predict as the future of Canada’s energy sector remains uncertain.

Early in June the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation estimated that Canadian housing prices will fall by an average of $45,000, with the housing market unlikely to fully recover until 2022.

The government agency is also worried about growing household debt Canadians have taken on in recent years.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation CEO Evan Siddall told MPs that as many as 20% of homeowners may defer mortgage payments by September.

“This is people dealing with uncertainty and conserving cash just like they hoarded toilet paper, because they could, because banks were offering – and we were,” Siddall told the Commons finance committee.

“The resulting combination of higher mortgage debt, declining house prices and increased unemployment is cause for concern for Canada’s longer term financial stability. As much as one fifth of all mortgages could be in arrears if our economy has not recovered sufficiently.” 

Prior to the pandemic, many Canadians were pessimistic about their financial situation, especially when it comes to paying for a mortgage. In a December poll, 46% of millennials believed they would never be able to own their own home.

RCMP warn Saudi exile and vlogger about serious threats to his life

By
True North Wire
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The RCMP has warned an exiled Saudi dissident that Saudi Arabia has made serious threats against his life. 

29-year-old Omar Abdulaziz was told that he was a “potential target” of the repressive regime and asked to take measures to protect himself. 

“The warning about serious threats to his life was different this time. It was formal and conveyed with a clear sense of urgency and advice to take precautions. It felt more credible and more concrete,” said Abdulaziz’s attorney Alaa Mahajna. 

Abdulaziz was a close compatriot of murdered Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

“[Canada] received some information regarding my situation that I might be a potential target,” Abdulaziz told the Guardian. 

“[Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] and his group or – I don’t know – his team, they want to harm me. They want to do something, but I don’t know whether it’s assassination, kidnapping, I don’t know – but something not OK for sure.” 

Abdulaziz is a popular vlogger who currently lives in Montreal. His Youtube show which frequently satirizes the Saudi government has hundreds of thousands of views and he has nearly 500,000 followers on Twitter. 

Abdulaziz is not the first Saudi in exile to recently face growing threats from the Crown Prince. 

According to a National Post report, the children of former Saudi intelligence operative Saad Aljabri disappeared in his home town of Riyadh. Authorities believe that the disappearance is an attempt by the Saudi government to force Aljabri to return home. 

Both Aljabri’s 21-year-old son Omar and his 20-year-old daughter have been captured in what sources close to the family call a “hostage situation.” 

Critics of the Trudeau government have accused the prime minister of overlooking Saudi Arabia’s human rights abuses after signing an extensive arms deal with the Middle Eastern kingdom. 

In April, Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Finance Minister Bill Morneau defended their government’s decision to follow through on a $14-billion dollar light-armoured vehicle contract with the Saudis. 

“[Cancellation] would have put the jobs of thousands of Canadians at risk, not only in southwestern Ontario but also across the entire defence industry supply chain, which includes hundreds of small and medium enterprises,” they said in a joint statement. 

Journalist for China-owned paper says Huawei CFO is worth 10 imprisoned Canadians

By
True North Wire
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A journalist with the state-owned China Daily newspaper tweeted that Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was worth 10 imprisoned Michael Kovrigs and Michael Spavors. 

“People often fail to note that Meng is worth 10 Kovrig & Spavor, if not more,” tweeted Chen Weihua, who is the European Union bureau chief for the paper. Chen’s tweet has since been deleted from the social media platform. 

The China Daily is an English-language propaganda publication owned by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China.

Chen’s comments come days after China launched formal charges against the two Canadians who have now been held in Chinese prisons for over 500 days. 

Many see China’s unlawful detainment of the pair as retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Meng, who is wanted by US authorities for wire and bank fraud charges related to her alleged circumvention of sanctions on Iran. 

A BC Supreme Court judge recently ruled that Meng’s case passes the double criminality requirement and that her extradition proceedings can move forward. 

Yesterday, the US State Department issued a harsh statement condemning China’s imprisonment of Kovrig and Spavor. 

“These charges are politically motivated and completely groundless. The United States stands with Canada in calling on Beijing for the immediate release of the two men and rejects the use of these unjustified detentions to coerce Canada,” wrote Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. 

“Additionally, we echo Canada’s call for immediate consular access to its two citizens, in accordance with the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, as China has prohibited such access for almost six months, and the world has no knowledge of the two Canadians’ condition.”

While the two Canadians are being denied consular visits, Meng has been under house arrest in one of her Vancouver-area mansions. 

To mark the one-year anniversary of her arrest, Meng issued a public letter complaining about her conditions while at home and the fact that she gets to read books “from cover to cover.” 

“Right now, time seems to pass slowly. It is so slow that I have enough time to read a book from cover to cover. I can take the time to discuss minutiae with my colleagues or to carefully complete an oil painting,” wrote Meng at the time. 

Yesterday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the arrests of Spavor and Kovrig “political” and stated that the communist state’s actions were unacceptable.

“This using of arbitrary detentions as a means to advance political gains is something that is fully unacceptable in a world based on rules,” said Trudeau.

Vancouver school board trustee under fire for saying Caucasian kids are a visible minority

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The mob has set its sights on a Vancouver School Board trustee after he opposed a motion to remove police liaison officers from the district’s schools. 

Calls for trustee Fraser Ballantyne to resign or be removed from his position have surfaced after he said that “Caucasian kids are actually the visible minority” during a Monday night Board of Education vote. 

“You know, when you look at it, the Caucasian kids are actually the visible minority, so, when we get a sense from the population of our secondary schools and winter schools I think it’s really important to hear what they have to say about it, and their feelings of the relationships that have been developed over the years,” said Ballantyne. 

“I think a number of trustees would be very surprised at the value of what their connectedness is to this program.”

On Tuesday, Ballantyne publicly apologized on Twitter for his remarks saying that his intention was to “hear all perspectives” on the matter. 

“My comments were in NO way intended to detract from the importance of hearing from the Black, Indigenous & other racialized students & communities. I sincerely apologize to those who were offended by my comments regarding the SLO [program],” tweeted Ballantyne. 

Ballantyne was among the six trustees that voted down the motion to have the officers removed, while only three voted in favour of the motion.  

While the program’s removal did not pass, the Board agreed to an independent third-party review of the presence of the officers at Vancouver schools. 

Several people on Twitter have since called for Ballantyne to either resign from his elected position or be removed from the Board. 

“Step 1: Fraser Ballantyne needs to resign. He has lost his mandate and legitimacy,” said Twitter user WePivot. 

“Fraser Ballantyne needs to resign. Someone this unaware, and so obviously disinterested by the entire conversation fundamental to the safety of those inside the VSB is unfit to hold their elected position on the elected School Board,” said Twitter user David Knights Cowling. 

True North reached out to Ballantyne for comment but did not hear back from by the time of publication. However, a spokesperson with the Vancouver School Board emailed the following statement regarding Mr. Ballantyne’s remarks. 

“In discussing these motions, trustees shared their perspectives, based on what they’ve heard from others (email correspondence, delegation presentations, information about programs and operations received previously) as well as their own experiences,” said the Vancouver School Board.

“We are also aware Trustee Ballantyne has addressed comments made during the debate on social media.”

The Vancouver Police Department’s (VPD) School Liaison Unit has been in effect since 1972. Officers with the unit have been involved in counselling, crime prevention and education.

According to the VPD website, School Liaison Officers are involved in crime prevention lessons, acting as legal resources for students and investigating criminal offences related to schools. 

While at the board meeting, Ballantyne called the removal of the liaison officers “dangerous and irresponsible.” 

“I’ll just give you a personal experience; where I was working with a SLO [School Liaison Officer] where we lost, between May and September, eight girls. I’m not going to say the high school, but at the high school.” 

“I’ll give you the very ending of the story. Very lucky that we got five back. But the girls that came back from being in prostitution, they were recruited in a very sophisticated way and the SLO in this particular case was extremely talented.”

Calls to defund police have grown since protests have broken out globally over the death of George Floyd.

Recently, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board passed a similar motion to terminate a police liaison program at local schools. 

MALCOLM: We must always remain vigilant against terrorism

By
Candice Malcolm
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35 years ago today, a Khalistani terrorist group based in Vancouver, BC murdered 329 people in the deadliest terrorist attack in Canadian history.

An investigation revealed that the Babbar Khalsa terror group was responsible for the attack and that Talwinder Singh Parmar was the mastermind of the attack.

Sadly, many Khalistanis activists and many Sikhs in Canada still openly praise and glorify Parmar. This is despicable and should be called out every time.

True North’s Candice Malcolm says we should honour the victims of this evil act of terrorism and that we should always remain vigilant against terrorism.

Canada promises more support for foreign workers as Mexico resumes worker program

By
True North Wire
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Despite unprecedented unemployment, the Trudeau government has promised more support for foreign workers so Mexico we resume sending foreign workers to Canada.

A week after Mexico stopped sending foreign workers to Canada, the two countries announced a new deal to give extra protections to farm labourers on Monday.

The Mexican government says that Canada has committed to more support for Temporary Foreign Workers (TFWs) and more inspections of Canadian businesses to ensure Mexican nationals are protected from the coronavirus.

The Canadian government has said that officials will be taking extra measures to ensure businesses are doing enough to keep foreign workers safe.

“In cases of significant non-compliance by employers of temporary foreign workers, strict sanctions will be applied,” federal employment minister Carla Qualtrough said in a letter to Mexico’s ambassador to Canada.

In May, Canada reported its highest unemployment in modern history at 13.7%. Statistics Canada reports that 40.3% of Canadian students are unemployed.

True North Founder Candice Malcolm recently proposed a national work program to create jobs for young Canadians while also reducing the need for TFWs during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a recent poll, 61% of Canadians surveyed believed that “Canada should temporarily pause the Temporary Foreign Workers program until a vaccine is developed for the coronavirus and the unemployment rate drops down to pre-coronavirus levels.”

Mexico is one of the biggest sources of foreign workers in Canada, making up half of Canada’s foreign labour force on farms.

Last week, Mexico began blocking its citizens from coming to Canada as foreign workers. The decision was prompted after two Mexican TFWs died of coronavirus after arriving in Canada.

Over 300 Mexican TFWs have tested positive for coronavirus while in Canada, with many large outbreaks occurring at farms.

“It’s so we can reassess with the federal authorities, provinces and farmers why this happened and if there is anything to correct,” Mexican Ambassador Juan Jose Gomez Camacho told CBC.

At least 5000 Mexican TFWs who were prepared to come to Canada had been blocked from coming to Canada by the Mexican government.

While Mexico had protected its citizens by preventing them from travelling abroad during a pandemic, the Canadian government has done everything it can to ensure foreign workers can get to Canada.

During the peak of the coronavirus pandemic between March 15 to May 8 around 13,000 foreign workers approved to come to Canada.

The Trudeau government has pledged $50 million to pay for foreign workers to self isolate for two weeks before they begin working in Canada.

Journalist attacked by masked mob demanding removal of John A. Macdonald statue

By
True North Wire
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Protesters calling for the removal of a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald were videotaped attacking a reporter in Kingston, Ont. on Saturday.

In footage published by Rebel News, journalist David Menzies is seen being aggressively shoved and dodging projectiles thrown by a group of masked demonstrators. 

Even though Menzies was reporting from a public space, the activists demanded he leave the area. When he didn’t, he was physically forced to leave by the mob. 

According to Menzies, protesters attempted to sabotage and steal his crew’s camera equipment.

“When we didn’t initially leave on our own accord, we were forced to do so as the inexplicably angry mob engaged in physical violence while trying to vandalize and even steal our equipment,” wrote Menzies. 

Earlier this week, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson announced he had no intention to remove the historical statue despite the demonstrations. 

Protesters throughout Canada have been calling for historical monuments be removed and for placenames to be changed due to their perceived racist pasts. 

“I certainly do not condone vandalism,” Paterson told the Whig-Standard. 

“I don’t think it’s helpful. I don’t think it’s constructive. We’ve been working really hard as a city to try to bring people together on this issue, understanding that it’s complex, and there are different viewpoints.”

Instead of toppling the statue, Paterson plans on further educating the public on both the negative and positive sides of Macdonald’s life. 

“I’m very supportive of what I’ve heard from the community, that there’s a better way here, and that’s to add to history and not take away from it,” said Paterson. 

“We need to clearly talk about both the good and the bad of Macdonald’s legacy, and be clear in that, so we can make Kingston a true museum without walls.”

Several other cities have seen calls to have monuments removed. Black Lives Matter activists in Toronto have set their sights on a statue of Canadian Methodist minister and education advocate Egerton Ryerson. 

A petition is requesting that Ryerson University topple the statue and take it away from campus grounds.

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