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Wednesday, May 7, 2025

B.C. is projected to have the most per-person debt by the end of the decade: study

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
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Source: BC Legislature

British Columbia once had one of the lowest debt rates among the provinces. Now, its rapidly growing debt is projected to cause B.C. to have the highest per-person debt rate by the end of this decade.

A new study by the Fraser Institute projects that B.C. is on track to have the most debt per person, $36,909, in fiscal year 2029/2030. If fiscal policy doesn’t change, the province is also projected to have a debt-to-GDP ratio of 40.4%, making it the third highest in Canada, behind only Newfoundland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia.

The study examined each province’s fiscal plans in relation to its current per capita debt and debt as a ratio to GDP. It extended the spending rate and debt accumulation past B.C.’s fiscal plan, which ends in 2026/2027, to see if provincial financial trajectories continued where they would rank in relation to each other’s debt rates.

Before NDP Premier John Horgan’s election in 2017, B.C. had one of Canada’s lowest debt rates, which was improving year over year. 

“The B.C. government has substantially increased spending and overseen a rapid expansion in government debt,” the report said. “Nominal net debt was just $39.4 billion in 2016/17 and is now forecast to reach $226.8 billion by the end of the decade.”

The study shows that in fiscal year 2016/2017, B.C. had the second-lowest net debt per person in the country, at $8,109. It was second only to Alberta, which had a net debt of $2,122 per person.

In contrast, Newfoundland and Labrador had the highest net debt in the country, with $25,677 per person. Quebec had the second highest, at $23,275, followed by Ontario, with a net debt per person of $22,634.

In the same fiscal year, B.C. had the country’s third-lowest net debt as a percentage of GDP, at 14.9%. Saskatchewan had the second-lowest, with 13.5% debt to GDP, and Alberta had the lowest, with 2.9%.

“In less than 15 years, the provincial government is planning to increase the province’s debt, relative to the size of the economy, by almost three times,” Ben Eisen, a senior fellow at Fraser Institute and co-author of the study, said in a news release.

From 2000 to 2017, real per-person spending increased by 0.5% in the province, the provincial budget was balanced, and the province’s debt-to-GDP ratio had “steadily” decreased for “several years.”

According to the report, B.C. has the fastest-growing debt in Canada. From 2016/2017 to the current fiscal year of 2024/2025, it experienced a “uniquely rapid increase” in both measures of provincial debt.

The study showed that B.C.’s spending increased by 4.7% yearly from 2017/2018 to 2021/2022.

Since the B.C. NDP has been in office from 2016/2017 to the current fiscal year; the province’s net debt has grown by $8,213 per person, the largest increase in the country. Newfoundland & Labrador had the second-largest increase in that period, at $7,282, followed by Alberta at $6,426.

B.C.’s debt-to-GDP is forecasted to have increased by 7% at the end of this fiscal year when compared to when the B.C. NDP was first elected, making it the largest increase among provinces in Canada. Ontario’s debt-to-GDP, for example, has decreased by 0.6%, and Quebec’s fell by 7.6% in the same period.

In February, the B.C. NDP government unveiled a $7.9 billion deficit for the 2024/2025 fiscal year. 

Carson Binda, the B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayer Federation told True North in an interview that the deficit has only worsened since the budget was announced.

“The last budget presented by this government was an absolute dumpster fire, as far as taxpayers were concerned. And with today’s quarterly financial report, the government put that dumpster fire and poured gasoline all over it,” he said. “Our province is staring down a $9 billion deficit right now. Bad budgeting from this government is the reason why.”

He said that according to the province’s latest financial report on Tuesday, British Columbians face $4.7 billion in interest on their debt alone, which amounts to about $940 per British Columbian.

According to the government’s quarterly report, by the end of the fiscal year B.C. will be $128.6 billion in debt, making it the worst year for deficits in the province’s history.

“(That’s) money that taxpayers are going to have to pay back with interest, and that interest is already taking a huge bite out of our province’s finances, $4.7 billion this year alone,” Binda said.“That’s more money than this government is collecting in the carbon tax and motor fuels tax combined.”

He said if the Eby government had dealt with its debts, British Columbians could be looking at tax cuts, not the “constant tax hikes” it is seeing today.

“The very least taxpayers should expect from our politicians is that they’re able to stick to their own budgets,” he said. “Unfortunately, we’re not even seeing that bare minimum from the David Eby government.”

The B.C. NDP did not respond to True North’s requests for comment. 

The next provincial election in B.C is scheduled for Oct.19, 2024.

Canadian rent growth surges in affordable regions while expensive markets abate 

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
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Source: Unsplash

The latest figures show that rent increases in Canada’s most affordable provinces, such as Saskatchewan and Alberta, are outpacing growth in the country’s traditionally expensive markets like British Columbia and Ontario. 

This is according to Rentals.ca and Urbanation’s September 2024 Rent Report.

Giacomo Ladas, the associate director of communications for Rentals.ca, told True North that while it may seem counterintuitive, the provinces with the most expensive rents are seeing decreases while the cheapest provinces are seeing the opposite. He added that secondary markets near costly metropolitan areas, like Burnaby and Mississauga, are also seeing decreases.

The same report released in February showed Alberta leading the way in rent increases.

“Saskatchewan is kind of becoming the new version of Alberta. We’re calling it the last-ditch effort of affordable living in Canada. Asking rents in Saskatchewan are a third of the price in places like Vancouver. If you don’t have to live in a metropolitan core to work anymore, and you can work from home, then Saskatchewan looks pretty great,” said Ladas.  

While Saskatchewan recorded a 21% year-over-year increase in rents, followed by Alberta with an increase of 11%, British Columbia and Ontario, the provinces with the highest rents, experienced declines of 5% and 4%, respectively. This trend of rising rent in lower-cost provinces has been driven by interprovincial migration and a growing demand for affordable housing options.

The average asking rent across Canada was $2,187 in Aug., increasing 3.3% year-over-year, the slowest yearly increase seen in nearly three years. The increase was suppressed by a decrease of 0.1% on a month-over-month basis.

President of Urbanation Shaun Hildebrand applauded the rental increase coming back down to earth in a press release provided to True North.

“Rent increases in Canada finally returned to their longer-term average after nearly three years of excessive growth,” said Hildebrand. “This was achieved through a combination of more supply being built, as well as a rollback in demand from population-related changes in government policies.”

Ladas said that three factors affect national rent prices. 

“Apartment completions have reached our highest totals that we’ve seen in decades. I don’t know how much that’s saying because the market has been so undersupplied for decades now,” said Ladas. “There’s been a recent slowdown in population growth and there’s been a relative softening in the labour market. Typically, when those three things happen, we start to see a little bit of softening in the asking rents nationally. 

The population growth softening can be attributed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently backtracking on some of his mass immigration policies, cutting the permanent resident numbers and the temporary foreign workers program. The announcement of those cuts followed the Liberals implementing a two-year cap on international students, which aims to reduce the number by 35%. 

The difference in rent increase between the most expensive province, Ontario, and the least expensive, Saskatchewan, was 25%.

“Seeing a 25% swing from province to province across Canada, it’s quite large. It’s really showing that it’s not just a national story but a kind of provincial one as well, as there seems to be more of a levelling out not only between metropolitan areas but provinces as well,” said Ladas.

He added that people are drawn to places like Winnipeg, where they can find one-bedroom apartments to rent for $1,300 a month.

Meanwhile, larger urban centres like Vancouver and Toronto are seeing declines in rental demand. Vancouver’s rents dropped by 6%, marking the ninth consecutive month of decline, while Toronto’s fell by 6.9%, bringing the average rent in the city down to $2,697.

Ladas added that historically, Rentals.ca has seen 50-60% of its listings be one-bedrooms. The number has since dropped to 35-40%, which he attributes to people seeking roommates to mitigate costs, lower turnover rates from long-term renters, and more people working from home requiring a home office, all causes for Canadians to swap from renting one-bedrooms to two and three-bedrooms. 

Oshawa to change the name of Bagot Street due to ties to residential schools

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
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Source: Google Streetview

Oshawa City Council will soon meet to change a downtown street name because of the namesake’s alleged connection to the establishment of residential schools in Canada. However, some historians doubt the accuracy of claims made by activists.

The City of Oshawa announced that its councillors will meet on Sept. 23 to discuss changing the name of Bagot Street in Oshawa, Ont. to “Debwewin Miikan,” an Anishinaabemowin word meaning “Truth Road.”

Bagot Street is named after Sir Charles Bagot, a British politician and diplomat who was appointed as the second Governor General of the Province of Canada in 1841.

Bagot served as governor general of the Province of Canada for two years before dying. During that time, he elected a commission to address “Indian Affairs,” the commission became known as the “Bagot Commission.” After Bagot died, the commission submitted what is now known as the “Bagot Report,” which suggested the government support the establishment of residential schools.

The city is planning to rename the street because of Bagot’s connection to the commission, which recommended the residential school system.

Tom Flanagan, a political science professor emeritus at the University of Calgary and a chairman of the Indian Residential Schools Research Group, thinks changing the street’s name is a “malicious” and “deliberately destructive” attack on Canada’s history, culture and heritage.

He said Bagot’s role in the residential school system was “extremely marginal” and the attempt to cancel him from Canadian history is unwarranted.

“He appointed a commission which made a recommendation which was not acted upon. How much more marginal can you get than that,” he said. “Even if you don’t like residential schools, Bagot had nothing to do with them. He appointed a commission whose members recommended Residential Schools. But he himself had no connection with founding residential schools.”

The Bagot Report was submitted on March 20, 1845. Bagot resigned as Governor General due to illness in January 1843 and died less than five months later at the age of 61.

Although there were residential schools set up around this time, the majority of the schools were established with government support after 1880.

“There were residential schools which had been established previously (around the time of the report) by church authorities, both Protestant and Catholic, but they weren’t supported by government,” Flanagan said. “The Bagot Commission wanted to offer some government support.”

He said the recommendations from the Bagot report were accepted but “only very gradually,” with the first large-scale government funding of residential schools occurring in 1883 under Sir John A. Macdonald the first Prime Minister of Canada.

Flanagan said the key reasons members of government gave for the establishment of the residential schools were to spread Christianity, educate the largely illiterate Indigenous population and integrate them into British society as self-supporting members of the Commonwealth.

“It was generally believed by everybody in government that it was necessary for Indians to acquire knowledge of English and useful skills and also one or another version of Christian religion, so that they could become self supporting British subjects,” Flanagan said.

He said that day schools were more prevalent at the time, and the government had received reports that attendance at those schools was “irregular.” With students not attending school regularly, Flanagan said members of the government believed something had to be done as students were not learning effectively.

The day schools had largely been administrated by church missionaries and, according to Flanagan, were community school systems that taught children on native reserves, like regional public schools today.

“It was a question of effectiveness in the minds of government administrators, ‘were the day schools doing the job or not?’,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan hopes the people of Oshawa fight back against the name change, arguing that the changing of names and removal of statues is an attempt to retroactively cancel Canada’s founding figures, which is based on a radical and malicious agenda.

“It’s deliberately destructive. It’s an attempt to eradicate our own cultural heritage,” he said. “Canada’s fundamentally a British colony which gradually attained independence, and all our institutions have origins in British government. Governor General is one of those institutions, and so trying to get rid of Bagot is a collateral attack on the fundamental institution of Canadian government.”

Flanagan believes the push to erase the names of Canada’s founding figures is due to flawed philosophy and progressivism, which claims that the world is oppressed by white males, and everything they’ve ever created has to be torn down.

“I think it should be resisted at every step,” he said. “I hope people at Oshawa will see how malicious it is. There is some hope but all these battles have to be fought locally.”

True North reached out to several of the Indigenous groups which consulted with the City of Oshawa over the proposed name change but did not receive a response before the deadline provided.

The Mississaugas of Scucog Island First Nation, the first-nation group that occupied Oshawa pre-English rule was not available for comment.

The Mayor of Oshawa Dan Carter also did not respond to True North’s request for comment.

The Faulkner Show | What is going on in Brazil?

By
Harrison Faulkner
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Millions of Brazilians are now left without access to X, one of the world’s most popular social media platforms, after supreme court judge Alexandre de Moraes decided to ban the platform in the country following a months long spat with Elon Musk. Brazil is currently under the iron grip of Moraes and socialist president Lula. However, Brazilians are fighting back.

Joining Harrison on the Faulkner Show to discuss the ongoing situation is Argentinian journalist and commentator Mariano Pérez, the creator of Break Point.

Watch Break Point on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/ @BreakPointMP

Business Council of Canada calls on Liberals to revoke digital services tax

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Goldy Hyder - Source: thebusinesscouncil.ca

A prominent business lobby group is warning the Trudeau government about the pending damage to U.S. trade relations that will be caused by the digital services tax Ottawa imposed on its largest trading partner. 

The Business Council of Canada called for the Liberals to revoke the digital services tax in the wake of the U.S. Trade Representative Office requesting dispute settlement consultations under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement.

The council’s president and chief executive Goldy Hyder said that retaliatory measures by the U.S. would hurt Canadian businesses, the economy, and ultimately families in a letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and International Trade Minister Mary Ng on Thursday.

Hyder also warned of the impacts the tax would have on Canada’s relationship with the U.S. as the CUSMA trade agreement will be up for review in 2026.

“In successive meetings with senior U.S. officials, we have been repeatedly told that if Canada’s unilateral DST remains in place it will imperil the upcoming mandatory review of the CUSMA,” wrote Hyder.

Several U.S. companies have been critical of the 3% levy on foreign tech giants, with many claiming that it will lead to increased costs for Canadian consumers. 

Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Franco Terrazzano, told True North last month that other countries have imposed similar taxes, which only resulted in the cost of living becoming more expensive.

“Trudeau should be doing everything he can to make life more affordable, but this digital services tax will mean higher prices for ordinary Canadians,” said Terrazzano. 

“The feds need to stop dreaming up new taxes and new ways to make life more expensive.”

For example, Google announced it will implement a 2.5% surcharge for ads displayed in Canada beginning next month and Canadian advertising groups have warned that other companies are likely to follow in its lead.

There is also the issue that the DST violates Canada’s commitments under CUSMA, regarding not treating U.S. businesses less favourably than Canadian ones, which is the reason that U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai initiated the dispute consultations last month.

If Canada and the U.S. are unable to resolve the issue within 75 days, the U.S. may call for a dispute settlement panel to examine the discrepancy. 

Freeland and Ng remain committed to the tax, claiming that consultations under the trade agreement’s dispute mechanism will demonstrate Canada is still in line with its obligations.

However, Hyder argues that the federal government’s current stance will risk undermining the trade agreement and “our most important trade and investment partnership.” 

According to former general counsel for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Greta Peisch, the U.S. has long held concerns about Canada’s approach to the digital services tax.

“I think the United States has been clear about how serious it is,” Peisch told the Financial Post. “The argument is not that you can’t have a DST, it’s just that it should be neutral and not be inconsistent with our trade agreement.”

“We have commitments in our trade agreements not to discriminate based on national origin among the trade agreement partners, that would be inconsistent with our trade obligations.” 

Ford accuses Singh of being “greedy” for his taxpayer-funded pension

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Source: Facebook/Facebook

Ontario Premier Doug Ford accused NDP leader Jagmeet Singh of being a “greedy” politician only interested in securing his taxpayer-funded pension.

The Ontario premier said he’d “be floored” if Singh had the gumption to call an early federal election since it would jeopardize the threshold date he must pass in order to receive his parliamentary pension, which he can only qualify for after February.  

There has been much speculation of a potential early election in the wake of Singh’s decision to pull out of his party’s supply-and-confidence pact with the Liberals last week.

The NDP agreement has been propping up the Liberal government and allowing them to pass legislation and remain in power despite plummeting popularity.

The agreement between the two parties was first struck in 2022, with the NDP pledging to keep the Liberals in power until June of next year in exchange for support on certain issues. 

“As far as I’m concerned MP Singh is just blowing smoke,” Ford told reporters in Prince Edward County on Monday. 

“There’s nothing more important to these greedy politicians than collecting a pension. And he was elected in October 2019 and I’ll be floored, I’ll stand up here and apologize to all the greedy politicians if he calls the election early.” 

Ford made the comments during a funding announcement for a new water treatment plant in the area.

“But let’s face it, he wants his pension. He’s not going anywhere (until October 2025) because there’s him and a whole lot of other politicians who want to grab the taxpayers’ money,” he added. 

“So my bet is he’s not doing anything, he’s just putting on a big show like he has for the past number of years there.”

While Singh has denied any correlation between prolonging calling an election and his pension eligibility date, the coincidence has not been lost on critics and opponents. 

“Sellout Singh. He gets his pension. You pay the price,” said the Conservatives in an attack ad video earlier this summer and party leader Pierre Poilievre has been calling on Singh to either resign or trigger an early fall election for some time now.

Meanwhile at the provincial level, Ford stayed mum on whether Singh’s ending of the NDP-Liberal coalition would affect his own plans to possibly call an early election in Ontario. 

“We haven’t made that decision yet, we aren’t calling an election this year and we’re going to make sure that we continue with prosperity and creating jobs for the people of Ontario,” said Ford on Monday.

Despite $2.7 billion in taxpayer subsidies, Northvolt delays Canadian battery plant

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Source: northvolt.com

Swedish battery developer and manufacturer Northvolt AB announced it will be delaying plans to construct a battery plant in Canada that has already received billions in subsidies as consumer interest continues to decline. 

According to an analysis by the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Northvolt was given $2.7 billion in taxpayer subsidies to build the now-delayed Canadian battery plant between the Trudeau government and Quebec’s provincial government.

While the plant was originally expected to be built by 2026, the new date now remains unknown. 

Despite being Europe’s leading EV battery manufacturer and being backed by Volkswagen AG, Goldman Sachs, BMW, Siemens and BlackRock, the company is now shifting its focus away from EV batteries to its struggling first gigafactory in northern Sweden.

The factory has been riddled with delays and problems in addition to suffering from European automakers divesting from electric vehicles.

Northvolt confirmed that it would be pausing its cathode active material production, selling one of its sites and instead opting to buy from Chinese or Korean companies on Monday.

The company is also seeking a buyer or partner for its energy storage business based in Gdańsk, Poland.

Northvolt announced a new cost-cutting plan that would “regrettably include some difficult decisions on the size of our workforce,” which currently accounts for 7,000 workers.

News of the company laying off employees comes in addition to the announcement that it will be delaying plans to build three more gigafactories in a joint venture with Volvo Cars that were to be constructed in Canada, Sweden and Germany.

“Building a battery company from scratch is a profoundly capital-intensive and challenging endeavour. We have come a long way … Now it’s time to focus on the core, to learn from the past and to scale up our core business to make sure that we can meet our customers’ expectations and to help Europe achieve a sustainable battery ecosystem,” said Peter Carlsson, Northvolt’s co-founder and chief executive.

European automakers and the relatively new battery industry are poised to face many difficulties ahead, faced with needing massive investments to continue EV production and growing competition from China.

Volkswagen recently warned it may soon also close factories in its home market of Germany while Volvo has abandoned its goal of exclusively selling electric cars by 2030. 

BMW also cancelled a USD $2 billion contract with Northvolt recently, opting instead to give it to Korea’s Samsung SDI, due to the availability of supplies. 

Korean and Chinese companies are also starting to build battery factories in Europe, however, construction on some has become delayed due to a decline in interest in electric cars.

“As difficult as this will be, focusing on what is our core business paves the way for us to build a strong long-term foundation for growth that contributes to the western ambitions to establish a homegrown battery industry,” Carlsson added.

Similar trends are happening in Canada with Ford completely shifting away from EVs, announcing in July that it plans to build large super duty trucks at an Ontario production plant it had originally intended to use for electric vehicle production.

The automaker’s Oakville assembly complex was set to be converted into an all-electric vehicle plant but Ford has since said it will be investing $2.3 billion into super duty truck production instead. 

Despite taxpayers committing $590 million to Ford in the form of a subsidy partnership between the federal and provincial governments to build EVs, the company has delayed all EV plans for at least the next three years and laid off employees in the sector.

The Daily Brief | Could things get any worse for Trudeau?

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-
Source: Facebook

The remaining Coutts Four protesters have been sentenced to over six years each in prison.

Plus, more bad news for Justin Trudeau as five Liberal chiefs of staff are slated to abandon the ailing party.

And Conservatives want answers after the arrest of an alleged terrorist at the U.S. border.

Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Noah Jarvis!

Jewish groups want Zuckerberg to revoke permission for anti-Israel chant on Meta platforms 

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
-
Source: X

A coalition of Jewish groups from across the world wants Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to strike down the company’s decision to not remove a controversial phrase commonly chanted at pro-Palestine protests from its platforms. 

The Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism, the J7, including major Jewish organizations from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Argentina, and Australia, sent a joint letter to Zuckerberg, pleading with him to overrule the recent decision made by Meta’s Oversight Board.

The Oversight Board reviews decisions from individuals who have exhausted the appeal processes available through Facebook, Instagram, or Threads. The board members review whether Meta’s decision to remove or leave up content aligns with the company’s policies, values, and human rights commitments. 

On Sept. 4, 2024, the board decided that saying “From the River to the Sea,” a quote usually followed by “Palestine will be free,” should not lead to automatic content removal.

The decision concluded that the phrase does not violate Meta’s rules on hate speech and violence. The quote allegedly does not refer to or glorify Hamas, which the board said Meta has determined as dangerous. 

Hamas has governed Gaza since 2007 and has a presence in other regions. 

Richard Marceau, vice president of external affairs and general counsel for the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said his organization has regularly communicated with Meta’s staff over the years. However, this is the first time the seven biggest diaspora Jewish communities have jointly written to Zuckerberg. 

“We believe Meta’s oversight board got their ruling wrong and that, as CEO, Mr. Zuckerberg should overrule it. ‘From the river to the sea’ is blatantly antisemitic; it calls for the destruction of Israel and the establishment of one Palestinian state in the land,” Marceau told True North. “We encourage all social platforms to treat this phrase with the seriousness it deserves and to recognize that those that utter it intend it — it’s clearly meant to be divisive as it is hateful.”

The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs has previously called for stronger regulations to combat online hate, supporting government efforts like the Online Harms Act, which Marceau applauded.

“Part of the solution lies in diminishing the level of Jew-hatred online because what happens online does not stay online. It affects our community, our children, in real life,” said Marceau.

The Online Harms Act, Bill C-63, includes fines of up to $70,000 and life imprisonment for online hate crimes. With this Bill, Canadians can also report others who they fear might commit a hate crime, despite them having not yet done anything.

Despite showing support, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs hosted a webinar with two legal experts that raised significant concerns about the bill. They argued it was too vague and had serious gaps in oversight and regulatory guidelines. 

The Jewish communities writing the letter represent 90% of Jews globally outside of Israel. They said that their communities have not recovered from Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, which saw over 1,200 Israelis brutally murdered, over 4,000 wounded, and over 250 taken hostage, some of whom remain captive in Gaza. 

Despite making up less than 1% of Canada’s population, Jewish people accounted for 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes in 2023, according to Statistics Canada.

“We are profoundly dismayed at the Oversight Board’s decision, and we urge Meta to reject it and amend its hate policy to prohibit this phrase that effectively calls for the expulsion of half of the world’s Jews,” reads the letter.

The J7 wrote that accepting this decision would show that Meta has an indifference to online hate and harassment, which they said has been a pattern at the organization. 

“From the decade it took Meta to realize that Holocaust denial is indeed hate, to your well-documented role in the Genocide of the Rohingya Muslim community, to the ongoing failure to address hate against the LGBTQ community that has led to severe offline harms, to your role in fomenting movements rooted in conspiracy theories like Qanon that ultimately lead to the January 6 insurrection against the United States government, Meta has sadly made itself a haven for radicalization and extreme ideologies in the pursuit of profit,” reads the letter.

The phrase “From the river to the sea” is enshrined in the charter of Hamas, and hate speech that has been historically used by anti-Israel voices said the J7. 

“It is fundamentally a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, territory that includes the entirety of the State of Israel, which would mean the dismantling of the Jewish state. It is an antisemitic charge denying the Jewish right to self-determination, including through the forced removal of Jews from their ancestral homeland,”  reads the letter.

A recent study conducted by the University of Chicago showed that 66% of Jewish college students polled understood that the chant meant the expulsion and genocide of Israeli Jews. Only 14% of Muslim students said the chant meant the same thing.

“As the leaders of communities representing the largest Diaspora Jewish populations, we call on Meta to recognize the harm this phrase poses to the Jewish community worldwide, reject the Oversight Board’s short-sighted decision and urge it instead to take steps to address the ongoing issues with online hate and harassment that continue to proliferate across Meta’s many platforms.,” concluded the letter addressed to Zuckerberg.

It was signed by top Jewish organizations from Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Federal NDP candidate in Montreal byelection hands out anti-Israel campaign fliers

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: X

The NDP candidate in Montreal’s upcoming byelection received criticism from Conservative MPs and Jewish advocacy groups after handing out fliers which said a vote for him is a vote “to stop the genocide in Gaza.”

Craig Sauvé, the NDP candidate to replace former Liberal justice minister David Lametti’s seat in LaSalle—Émard–Verdun, is getting flack for campaigning on anti-Israel electoral promises and featuring a Palestinian flag on his campaign pamphlet. In contrast, the Canadian flag was noticeably absent.

Lametti resigned from politics two days after a federal court deemed Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act unreasonable and unconstitutional. The former justice minister who played a key role in the government’s response to the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa in February 2022 opened a vacancy in the riding.

The NDP campaign paper claims that there is a genocide in Gaza, a legal accusation that has not been proven in an international court.

“A disgraceful attempt NDP candidate Craig Sauvé to import a foreign conflict in to Québec and Canada,” the Jewish advocacy group the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs said on X. “In a bid for votes, Jagmeet Singh and the NDP are turning their backs on Canada and our values, fueling antisemitism in the process.”

Melissa Lantsman, the deputy leader of the Conservative party, also chimed in on X, wondering if Singh approved of the anti-Israel campaign message. Similarly, Conservative MP Marty Morantz questioned why the flier featured the Palestinian flag and not the Canadian flag.

In an interview with former CTV host, Ben Mulroney, Lantsman questioned the use of the flag and how Singh could have approved it.

“(As an MP) you are a Canadian parliamentarian, looking after Canadian interest to ensure that people can afford a home in a safe neighborhood, free of crime, and keep more of their money. That’s the priority of Canadians, and we’ve heard it from coast to coast to coast,” Lantsman said. “This is absurd, and it is an insult to every single Canadian that fought under that (Canadian) flag for what we have today.”

The NDP candidate did not respond to True North’s requests to comment, though as reported in a Globe and Mail article Sunday, the NDP defended the decision echoing the Liberal party stance on the Israel-Hamas war.

According to the Globe and Mail, the NDP released a statement saying they support both a ceasefire and for Hamas to return the hostages who remain in captivity after the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israelis on Oct. 7.

The party called a double standard, showing images of Poilievre posing with an Israeli flag. They accused Poilievre of supporting Israel regardless of how many “innocent Israeli and Palestinian people die.”

When asked for a response, the official opposition office directed True North to Lantsman’s comments and added no other comment.

The latest polling from Sept. 8, 2024, by 338, Canada, projected a close race, with the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberals being the leading contenders for the seat. The poll estimated that the Liberal candidate Laura Palestini has a 52% chance of winning, while the Bloc candidate Louis-Philippe Sauvé has a 42% chance of taking it.

The same poll estimated that the NDP would have a 6% chance of winning, with Conservative candidate Louis Ialenti not having a chance to win the seat with 13% support in the riding.

The byelection vote is set for Monday, Sept. 16, the same day parliament reconvenes in the House of Commons following the summer break.

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