Health officials around the world are warning that a second wave of the novel coronavirus could be imminent.
Is Canada doing enough now to get ready for it? We’ve already shut down the economy – is this all going to be worthwhile?
True North’s Sam Eskenasi discusses.
Climate alarmists have been lecturing us for years about this – if only we could shut down the economy, we could reduce our carbon footprint and save the world.
Well, we’re living it now. Coronavirus has forced Canadians to self-isolate and businesses to shut down. Are you enjoying it?
True North’s Anthony Furey discusses in his latest video.
As we go through prolonged periods of self-isolation under COVID-19, there is no doubt that many of us are spending significantly more time in front of our cellphones, mindlessly searching the internet for content to distract ourselves from the horrors of the existing pandemic. For some Canadians, this has meant checking out “TikTok”, the video-sharing social networking application.
Recent Google trends show Canadian interest in the app has jumped significantly since COVID-19 forced Canadians to self-isolate.
While on its face, TikTok seems harmless as users, predominately teens and young adults, share videos of themselves dancing, lip-syncing, and having fun. But upon learning more about the application and the conduct of its developers, it should become clear to any Canadian that they should delete TikTok and opt for content elsewhere during this time.
TikTok was developed by the Chinese-technology company Bytedance and was first launched in international markets in September 2017. Since then, the app has been downloaded over 1.5 billion times, and given that only 7.4% of these downloads have come from China, the large majority of downloads have come from international users, including in Canada and the United States.
Following its launch internationally, concerns were instantly raised about the national security risks of using the application.
An investigation by an American think-tank in January 2019 found that the use of the app requires consenting to a privacy policy that allows TikTok to harvest significant data on its users, including their location, images and biometric data. As a Beijing-located company, TikTok is under a legal obligation to share any information with the communist Chinese regime – who already have a long record of state-sponsored hacking and cyber-espionage – if requested.
In response, many US authorities have begun security investigations into the application. Following the advice of the Pentagon, the US army has banned the use of TikTok on government-issued phones, and Congress has passed similar legislation which prohibit all federal employees from accessing the application on their devices as well.
There is no doubt, we should be following the same protocols in Canada.
However, Canada should not just be concerned about using an application that puts their security and privacy at risk but should also avoid supporting an application which blocks videos which critique the Chinese government. Content unfavourable to the Communist Party of China is regularly deleted, including videos which expose China’s human rights abuses of ethnic and religious minorities, and videos which show support for the democratic protestors in Hong Kong.
In using TikTok, Canadians are complicit in supporting this censorship, in defiance of our shared values to support freedom and democracy, and in contrast to our own long-history of accepting immigration from minorities who have fled China to avoid prosecution from their Communist Party. For example, Canada has welcomed thousands of Chinese immigrants who practice Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that was outlawed by the Communist Party of China since 1999 – with recent reports that the state government has even been murdering and harvesting the organs of the practisers since.
Despite these controversies, TikTok continues to rise in prominence, and it has attracted the use of big-named celebrities and partnerships with sports organizations like the NFL. Most recently, the World Health Organization has partnered with TikTok to start a campaign sharing information about COVID-19. Given China’s intentional muddling of truth about the global outbreak, one must be cautious about accepting these “facts” at face value.
It is important that users should see through the façade of TikTok, rather than resort to using it at this time – even while dealing with months of self-isolation that, admittedly, can be boring. But TikTok is a harmful application that suppresses the flow of information on Chinese human rights abuses and democratic reform, and opens up users to huge security and privacy risks.
Canadians, it’s time to delete TikTok.
The federal government’s deficit could balloon to $112.7 billion in the 2020-2021 fiscal year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux’s estimates, the deficit will be $89.5 billion higher than prior forecasts of government spending.
“While additional fiscal measures will likely be required to support the economy in the coming months, the government’s balance sheet prior to these shocks was healthy,” said Giroux.
“Given credit market access at historically low rates, and looking to historical experience, suggests that the government could undertake additional significant borrowing if required.”
Giroux’s estimates do not take into account the Liberal government’s decision to increase the economic bailout package to $52 billion, up from $27 billion.
The report based its estimates on the assumption that social distancing measures would remain in effect up until August.
Giroux also estimated that the Canadian economy would contract by 5.1% this year, the largest contraction since 1962.
Earlier this month, the Royal Bank of Canada predicted that the Canadian economy will fall into a recession because of the economic impact of COVID-19.
RBC forecasted that the economy will have an annualized decline of 2.5% and 0.8% in the second and third quarters of the fiscal year, respectively.
Unemployment has also been on the rise across Canada with unprecedented numbers of people applying for employment insurance.
RBC economists predict that the unemployment rate could grow past 11% by April as more and more Canadians lose their jobs.
The price of Western Canadian Select heavy oil plummeted to $4.58 USD per barrel on Friday morning.
The ongoing oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, combined with the global coronavirus pandemic is causing the already struggling industry to crash.
Prices fell by 30.5% yesterday, bringing prices down to $6.45 USD per barrel at the end of the day.
The low prices have forced some producers to hold onto their product instead of transporting it to potential customers.
“Prices are so low that there’s no point in transporting if you don’t have to. If you can move it into storage, you will,” RS Energy Group senior associate Stephanie Kainz told the Financial Post.
According to oil and gas analyst Matt Purhy, the low price could lead to a halt in approximately 20% of Canada’s bitumen production.
Alberta Premier Jason Kenney recently announced new stimulus measures to help the oil and gas industry weather the storm.
“This will be, I believe, the most challenging time in our economy for several decades,” said Kenney on March 20th.
“I think the government of Canada understands that we cannot afford to lose the single largest subsector of the Canadian economy, the largest export industry.”
Part of the plan includes waiving $113 million worth of Alberta Energy Regulator fees and providing a one-year extension to oil and gas tenures. Kenney also established an economic advisory panel to plan the province’s future economic recovery.
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Justin Trudeau announces more support for small businesses, but he can’t answer a simple question about the carbon tax.
The Conservative Party finally, finally suspends the leadership race.
Plus, Candice and Andrew answer all your questions!
True North’s Candice Malcolm and Andrew Lawton have the latest on the deadly virus spreading across Canada.
The Trudeau government has approved giving addicts in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside a “safe” supply of hard drugs during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mayor Kennedy Stewart announced the federal approval, claiming that it would provide pharmaceutical-grade drugs to 20% to 30% of users in the area.
“The federal government has taken all measures required for this to be operational. Now we’re just waiting for the provincial guidelines,” said Stewart.
As part of its strategy to deal with coronavirus, the city has set up several homeless shelters to house around 140 people where social-distancing precautions can be enforced.
Portable washrooms and hand-washing stations were installed in the Downtown Eastside with more coming on the way.
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.
The city has been seeking approval to provide drugs to addicts from the Trudeau government for some time now.
In November 2019, the city applied for $6 million in federal funding so that it can distribute heroin to people legally.
According to Stewart, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was open to the idea at the time.
“(Trudeau said) that he wants to work together … and open to having a conversation and then looking to us to lead, with healthcare professionals, to try and figure out the best solutions to these problems. So I’m very encouraged by that and grateful,” said Stewart.
According to the BC Coroners Service, a total of 981 people died from drug overdoses in 2019, and since 2016 82.5% of all overdose deaths were related to the deadly opioid fentanyl.
A Chinese cyberespionage actor targeted Canada and several other nations in what security experts are calling the “broadest campaign” of recent years.
The US cybersecurity company FireEye released a report on March 25 detailing attempts by a Chinese actor identified only as APT41 to access and exploit vulnerabilities in various industries.
“Beginning this year, FireEye observed Chinese actor APT41 carry out one of the broadest campaigns by a Chinese cyber espionage actor we have observed in recent years,” claimed FireEye.
The sweeping attack targeted a number of industries including banking, government, healthcare, media and defence, among others. Over 75 of FireEye’s customers were targeted by the group.
According to FireEye Threat Intelligence, APT41 is likely a state-sponsored “dual espionage and cyber crime operation,” meaning they conduct surveillance on behalf of the Chinese government, while also seeking criminal profits.
“FireEye Threat Intelligence assesses with high confidence that APT41 is a prolific cyber threat group that carries out Chinese state-sponsored espionage activity in addition to financially motivated activity potentially outside of state control,” writes FireEye.
“This is remarkable because explicit financially motivated targeting is unusual among Chinese state-sponsored threat groups, and evidence suggests these two motivations were balanced concurrently from 2014 onward.”
The USA, Australia, India, Italy, Japan, France and the UK were among the other countries also targeted in the attack.
FireEye did not reveal which specific organizations were hit by APT41. According to the firm’s Security Architect Christopher Glyet, there are multiple explanations for the attack including trade tensions between the US and China, as well as recent clashes over China’s role in the coronavirus outbreak.
The attacks attempted to abuse vulnerabilities in software created by Cisco, Citrix and other companies. According to both Cisco and Citrix, the vulnerabilities have since been resolved.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that the federal government will be providing a 75% wage subsidy for small and medium businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
On Friday Trudeau told reporters that this new subsidy rate will replace the original 10% wage subsidy announced last week, saying that 10% is not enough.
“Last week we had announced that we would cover 10% of wages, but it’s becoming clear that we need to do more — much more,” he said.
“So we’re bringing that percentage up to 75% for qualifying businesses.”
Trudeau says that this measure will help companies keep employees on the payroll and help the economy recover more quickly once the pandemic is over.
While the details have not been made public, Trudeau did say the new subsidy will be backdated to March 15.
Last week Trudeau announced a 10% wage subsidy for eligible small and medium businesses up to $1,375 per employee and to a maximum of $25,000 total per employer.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced many Canadian businesses to close their doors for the foreseeable future.
Last week nearly one million Canadians filed for Employment Insurance as their employers shut down and cut hours.
On Friday Trudeau also announced a Canada Emergency Business Account program. The program will soon see banks offering $40,000 interest-free loans to qualifying businesses.
If certain requirements are met, up to $10,000 of these loans will be forgivable.
Trudeau says he hopes these new measures will encourage businesses to rehire employees and keep them on the payroll until they reopen.
A Newfoundland woman was arrested twice within one week for ignoring a mandatory coronavirus self-isolation order.
The 53-year-old was apprehended by police in Corner Brook only one day after being released from custody for violating her initial self-isolation order.
She is being charged for one count of failing to abide by special public health measures as well as two counts of breaching a release order.
The woman, who has no fixed address, is not displaying any symptoms of coronavirus.
According to Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Const. James Cadigan, no other individuals have been arrested in the province for contravening emergency orders.
Provincial and federal governments have been cracking down on people who are ignoring directions from public health officials.
Anyone entering Newfoundland and Labrador from outside the province has been ordered to self-isolate for 14 days whether they are displaying coronavirus symptoms or not, as individuals can be unwitting carriers of the virus.
People who violate the order could face hefty fines, criminal charges and even jail time. Those disobeying public health emergency measures can be fined between $500 and $2,500 or be sentenced to a six-month jail term.
According to government statistics, Newfoundland and Labrador has 67 confirmed cases of COVID-19.