The Trudeau government has refused to say whether or not the carbon tax has made any impact on emissions.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, a report released on December 20 by Environment Canada estimated that greenhouse gas emissions increased from 716 million tonnes in 2017 to 723 million tonnes in 2018, the biggest increase since 2014.

“Current estimates do not yet fully account for future reductions from green infrastructure, clean technology and innovation,” said the report.

The December 20 report has since been withdrawn. Environment Canada would not confirm their previous estimates when asked by Blacklock’s.

While the federal government has promised the carbon tax will not exceed $50 a tonne in 2022, it was revealed in September that the federal government has been secretly planning on increasing the carbon tax since 2017.

“The overall approach to pricing carbon pollution will be reviewed by 2022 to ensure that it is effective and to confirm the path forward, including future price increases,” an internal report from February 2017 stated.

The report conflicts with a statement then-Environment Minister Catherine McKenna made in 2019 saying the carbon tax will not increase after 2022.

“The price will not go up. The plan is not to increase the price post-2022. We are doing exactly what we said we’d do,” McKenna said in June.

Despite the eagerness of environmental groups to raise the carbon tax further, real-life examples suggest a carbon tax makes little difference. 

When a carbon tax was implemented in British Columbia from 2007 to 2017, carbon emissions only decreased by 0.46%. The carbon tax was one of many measures British Columbia has used to try to decrease emissions.

Environment Canada did not respond to True North’s request for comment.

Quebec emergency rooms are taking in more patients than they can handle over the holiday season. The overflow has been described as critical in a number of regions of Montreal.

According to Health Index data, stretcher occupancy is at 162% in Montérégie, 184% in Lanaudière and 152% in the Laurentians. 

On average 49 patients had to wait for over two days on a stretcher before being seen by a doctor. 

The highest occupancy rates were at Pointe-Claire with a rate of 200%, the Douglas Institute which had 233% and the Jewish General Hospital which stood at 206%. 

Canada’s universal healthcare system has been plagued with growing wait times and inefficiencies. According to a survey by the Fraser Institute, Canadians seeking to see a specialist have to wait on average 10.1 weeks, up from 8.7 weeks in 2018. 

As reported on by True North fellow Andrew Lawton, hundreds of thousands of Canadians have been opting to leave Canada to get their medical treatment in the United States, where they can often see a practitioner right away.

Provincial and federal regulations have created a health system in Canada that is even more restrictive than communist China’s. 

As pointed out by True North founder Candice Malcolm in the National Review, Canada’s healthcare system requires current taxpayers to subsidize the healthcare treatment of Canada’s increasingly growing elderly population. 

According to the Commonwealth Fund, Canada was tenth out of 11 developed countries in terms of healthcare quality and came in last for timeliness. 

Despite being labelled as “free,” Canadians are paying an average of $10,500 a year through taxes for healthcare. 

Home foreclosures in Fort McMurray are up by nearly 800% in 2019 when compared to 2015. 

By 2019 the previously booming city had seen a total of 220 foreclosure statements of claim. In comparison, for the 2015-2016 year, there were only 26 foreclosures. 

Property values have plummeted over the last few years hand in hand with disappearing jobs due to a struggling oil and gas industry. According to Alberta Foreclosure Stoppers’ founder Ryan Chernesky some clients in the area have seen their home values decrease by up to 50%. 

“I think the hard times are already here. There’s a lot of homeowners that are very much underwater and they’re simply biding time, hoping the property market will increase,” Chernesky told the CBC.

The amount of drilling rigs and wells dug in the province has sharply declined since 2015. 

According to Government of Alberta statistics, there are currently only 93 active drilling rigs, while in January of 2015 there had been 272. 

The amount of wells drilled has also fallen by 28.2% since 2018. In October 2019, only 408 wells were drilled in the province, compared to 576 in January of the same year. 

Along with a decline in property values and the housing market, Alberta is experiencing a surge in business insolvencies. Insolvencies in the province are up by 70% from 2015 levels. 

According to the Oil Sands Community Alliance, 20% of businesses have been lost in Fort McMurray since 2015. Despite high amounts of losses across Alberta, Fort McMurray was faced with a business loss that was nearly double the provincial average. 

“In general, the decline in oil prices has affected business establishments in all of Alberta, but specific to Wood Buffalo the wildfire has also impacted that,” said analyst Shafak Sajid. 

A new Canadian security agency is investigating the government’s handling of terror convict Abdulrahman El Bahnasawy after receiving a complaint he’d been “entrapped” by Canadian and American authorities.

The review has been launched by the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA). The Kuwait-born El Bahnasawy lived in Canada until his 2016 arrest in New York City, where he was planning to commit terrorist acts on behalf of ISIS.

The complaint blames officials for exploiting underlying mental health issues.

“Both agencies knew of his mental health problem and so entrapped him online, taking advantage of his unstable mental health, while he was manic and on the waiting list for mental health treatment,” the complaint says.

El Bahnasawi’s arrest came after an FBI and RCMP investigation found he was communicating with ISIS co-conspirators to attack various sites in New York, including the city’s subway system. 

By the time of his arrest, authorities found he had purchased materials for use in an explosive device and had shipped them from Canada to the US.

“He planned to detonate bombs in Times Square and the New York City subway system, and to shoot civilians at concert venues,” said US Attorney Geoffrey Berman.

“[He] plotted with Talha Haroon, a 20-year-old US citizen living in Pakistan and Russell Salic, a 38-year-old Philippines citizen and resident, to conduct bombings and shootings in heavily populated areas of New York City during the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan in 2016, all in the name of ISIS,” said the US Department of Justice. 

El Bahnasawy is appealing his 40-year sentence in the US.

As reported by True North’s Candice Malcolm, he developed radical “militant jihad” views while attending a Toronto-area Islamic school. 

After his arrest, El Bahnasawi’s parents claimed their son was “sick” and struggled with drug addiction and mental health issues. Despite claims that these issues played a role in El Bahnasawi’s activities, an American court found him mentally fit to stand trial. 

While on trial, El Bahnasawy was represented by lawyers who helped convicted terrorist Omar Khadr get out of the U.S. and back into Canada.

Two Ontario NDP MPPs were spotted at a Toronto rally where the deceased Iranian terrorist Qasem Soleimani was mourned and terror groups were being openly supported. 

MPPs Marit Stiles and Rima Berns-McGown were seen among members of the crowd outside of the U.S. Consulate on Saturday, according to Brian Lilley from the Toronto Sun. Stiles is currently the NDP education critic, while Berns-McGown holds the critic role for poverty and homelessness. 

The rally comes at a time of an escalating U.S.-Iran conflict, which saw the death of Soleimani in a targeted airstrike ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump. 

Members of the crowd flew Hezbollah and Popular Mobilization Force flags. Hezbollah, which receives support from the Iranian regime, is listed as a known terrorist entity by Public Safety Canada and has been responsible for several terrorist attacks throughout the Middle East. 

“One of the most technically capable terrorist groups in the world, Hezballah is a radical Shia group ideologically inspired by the Iranian revolution. Its goals are the liberation of Jerusalem, the destruction of Israel, and, ultimately, the establishment of a revolutionary Shia Islamic state in Lebanon, modelled after Iran,” writes Public Safety Canada. 

Both Berns-McGown and Stiles tweeted about their presence at the rally, and Stiles called on people to “stand together against US aggression.” 

“About to speak at the Toronto anti-war rally. Come on out if you’re able,” tweeted Berns McGown.

“We must stand together against US aggression in Iran. We must stand for peace,” tweeted Stiles.

The Ontario NDP released an official statement about the incident claiming that the rally was “in support of peace.” 

“Like many people throughout the world, Ontario’s NDP MPPs hope for a stable, lasting peace in Iraq and throughout the region. Flags or banners carried by others at the pro-peace rally are not endorsed by any NDP MPPs in attendance,” wrote the statement sent to the Toronto Sun. 

Later that evening the Mahdi Youth Society staged a vigil for Soleimani who was referred to as a “hero of Islam.” The rally was met by counter-protesters and saw at least one physical confrontation take place between the two groups.