As of last week, four Ryerson University Student Union (RSU) executives were facing impeachment, and one executive resigned over an incident involving a non-indigenous student performing the song “Colors of the Wind” from the Disney film Pocahontas at a campus event.
True North’s Lindsay Shepherd explains how this story is an example of social justice ideology tearing people apart, destroying relationships, and causing workplaces to break down.
You’re not going to hear about this story in the mainstream media. This is why independent media is so important. Support True North: http://www.tnc.news/donate/
Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced today that the Liberal government is expecting a $26.6 billion deficit for this year, exceeding prior projections of $19.8 billion.
In 2020, the Liberals are projecting an even higher deficit of $28.1 billion.
The fall fiscal update is intended to size up the Canadian economy before the new year.
Part of the reason behind the higher than expected deficit was $10 billion in new spending since the spring budget.
Among the new spending, the government plans on spending $1.8 billion to compensate dairy farmers for losses caused by concessions on Canadian dairy in the new NAFTA agreement.
Another $5 billion was spent on employee pension benefits and an extra $2 billion for the Hiberian oil project in Newfoundland and Labrador. The government is also proposing to raise the Basic Personal Amount (BPA) on income taxes to $15,000 by 2023.
Morneau defended the increased spending by saying that it was necessary in order for Canada to continue moving in a “positive trajectory.”
The report noted that the economy has been growing with increases in wages outpacing inflation. In 2019, employment also grew by nearly 400,000 jobs and the economy is expected to grow an average of 1.7%.
However, economists have warned that Canada is facing a potential recession in the next 12 months. Oxford Economics predict a 40% chance of a recession during this period.
A recent Nanos poll also found that a startling 56% of Canadians think that a recession is “likely” or “somewhat likely” in 2020.
Intersectionality meets the federal fiscal update. How on earth does a gender analysis go "beyond gender to consider additional identity factors"? https://t.co/z6t3sJCIYdpic.twitter.com/BWBeRskk0F
The budgetary update also included a “Gender-based Analysis” summary meant to analyze how identity groups are affected by government policies.
“Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA+) is an analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and non-binary people may experience policies, programs and initiatives. GBA+ goes beyond gender to consider additional identity factors such as ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, income level, and mental or physical ability,” writes the budget report.
The former vice-president of SNC-Lavalin has been found guilty of five charges related to the company’s dealings in Libya.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Guy Cournoyer found Bebawi guilty of corruption of foreign officials, laundering proceeds of a crime and fraud charges.
“The company adopted an unusual, unlawful and dishonest practice by artificially inflating the prices of contracts, paying bribes and misappropriating money for personal gain,” said Crown prosecutor Anne-Marie Manoukian.
Prior to the conviction, the court heard that the company used a shell corporation to funnel $118 million involved in its dealings with the son of former Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
According to crown prosecutors, Bebawi pocketed $26 million for himself and his uncle while also bribing Saadi Gaddafi, in order to secure lucrative contracts in the country.
During another hearing on November 22, one of Bebawi’s past lawyers was also accused of trying to bribe a trial witness so that he would change his testimony to suit Bebawi’s defence.
Constantine Kyres was accused of bribing one of Bebawi’s coworkers, Riadh Ben Aïssa, with $8 to $10 million. Kyres was recorded making the offer by an undercover police officer who posed as a consultant.
The company was also accused of spending $2 million on parties and prostitutes for Gaddafi while he was in Canada.
Former SNC Lavalin executive Bebawi guilty on all charges in international corruption case – The Globe and Mail https://t.co/Da30ZKpkBp
— Jody Wilson-Raybould 王州迪 Vancouver Granville (@Puglaas) December 15, 2019
SNC-Lavalin has been at the centre of the national spotlight since February, when the former Liberal Justice Minister and Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould, revealed that the Prime Minister’s Office attempted to have her intervene in the trial.
According to an investigation into the claim by the Ethics Commissioner, Mario Dion, Justin Trudeau broke ethics laws when he directed those close to him to pressure Wilson-Raybould to offer SNC-Lavalin a deferred prosecution agreement.
“The authority of the Prime Minister and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and attempt to discredit the decision of the Director of Public Prosecutions as well as the authority of Ms. Wilson‑Raybould as the Crown’s chief law officer,” wrote Commissioner Dion.
The ruling was the second time that Trudeau was found to have broken ethics laws since he accepted a trip from the Aga Khan in 2017.
Now more than ever, we need our government to get serious about the economy. True North’s Anthony Furey says this means, stopping the caveats, getting off the agenda of “phasing out the oilsands” and realize real human beings are being affected.
As of last week, four Ryerson University Student Union (RSU) executives were facing impeachment, and one executive resigned over an incident involving a non-indigenous student performing the song “Colors of the Wind” from the Disney film Pocahontas at a campus event.
The RSU vice-president equity, vice-president education, and vice-president operations are facing impeachment over accusations they broke student union bylaws — specifically, they were accused of not working 40 hours a week as per their job descriptions.
However, RSU president Vanessa Henry is facing impeachment for a very different reason: the vice-president marketing, Victoria Anderson-Gardner, accused Henry of “creating a hostile space for students.”
Anderson-Gardner cited one reason for her motivation for impeachment: at a recent on-campus brunch event, a non-indigenous student performed the song “Colors of the Wind” from the Disney film Pocahontas. Anderson-Gardner stated “That film is definitely discriminatory against the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island…I was personally triggered,” but couldn’t convince the president to be equally as offended by the occurrence.
The RSU subsequently released a statement defending the “Colors of the Wind” incident, but because some executives disagreed with the content of the statement, it was quickly deleted. The statement pointed out that the performer was an international student who “is in fact Indigenous on her own land” and that “when speaking on cultural appropriation it is important to understand that there are multiple ethnicities who are considered Indigenous.”
Anderson-Gardner claimed the statement released by the RSU was “anti-indigenous,” but when she took that up with the president, Vanessa Henry, Henry accused Anderson-Gardner of being “anti-black,” because Henry herself is black.
Then, last week, the vice-president equity resigned, claiming the RSU environment was unhealthy and damaging.
The same day that the vice-president equity announced her resignation, Victoria Anderson-Gardner also resigned, issuing a statement on her Facebook that read, in part:
“I am stepping down as the VP of Marketing of the Ryerson Students’ Union…The work environment and recent events triggered my PTSD along with the extreme traumas I have experienced in my life…How my trauma has been dealt from [sic] the board who considers themselves as my “employers” has been retraumatizing…When you see the acute pain of an Indigenous person and move forward with your meeting in order to follow the rules (Robert’s rules of order), you’ve chosen to be violent.“
Ultimately, in a board meeting held on December 10th, the motion to impeach the vice-president education did not pass, the motion to impeach the vice-president operations was put off until the spring semester, and the motion to impeach the president will be discussed at an upcoming board meeting.
To summarize: Of the six elected RSU executives, four are facing or were facing impeachment, two have resigned, and only one is seemingly free of conflict and controversy.
Funnily enough, this was the second impeachment scandal this year for the Ryerson University student union. In February 2019, the previous president — Ram Ganesh — was impeached for overspending and financial mismanagement. The student government under Ganesh allegedly spent hundreds of student dollars at a shisha lounge, LCBO liquor stores, and a bar.
While some might write off the RSU-Pocahontas case as a petty spat between a group of student union executives, this story demonstrates how social justice ideology, which convinces its devotees to take offense at instances such as a non-indigenous person singing “Colors of the Wind,” actually has the power to tear people apart, destroy relationships, and cause workplaces to break down.
Andrew Scheer’s tenure as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, and Prime Minister-in-waiting, came to an abrupt end on Thursday morning. Scheer announced he was stepping down to spend more time with his family.
While the mainstream media trumped up a rumour that Scheer was resigning over a scandal involving improper use of party funds to pay for his children’s Catholic schooling, it turns out that was fake news.
As the Sun’s Brian Lilley confirmed, “there was no scandal because the party had agreed to pay the difference between what the Scheer family was paying in Regina versus what they were paying in Ottawa.”
Scheer told Lilley that he was leaving because he was exasperated and frustrated. His heart wasn’t in it anymore.
There were plenty of signs that Scheer was unwilling to push back against the naysayers.
He didn’t fight back against the biased anti-conservative media during the campaign, and he didn’t stand up to the Conservative Establishment calling for his head after the campaign.
One Conservative MP I spoke to described him as “Low Energy Andy” — a play on Donald Trump’s nickname for Jeb Bush during the 2016 Republican Primaries.
A more apt comparison, I believe, is Andrew Scheer to Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for President who lost to Barack Obama in 2012 after Obama’s dismal first term in office.
In 2012, the U.S. economy was slumping, Obama rammed through his unpopular Obamacare program, and his government was marred in scandal, including a failed policy dubbed Fast and Furious to buy illegal weapons from drug cartels that went sideways and was linked to the death of a Border Patrol Agent.
On top of this, two months before the general election, Obama tried to cover up a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other U.S. officials. Obama’s team lied about the attack, claiming it was an organic protest over an anti-Islam film.
The election was Romney’s to lose. And in the end, he did lose — because he failed to fight back. He was too polite, too much of a gentleman to defend himself against the many unfair accusations circulating in the media.
Romney, like Scheer, is a family man and man of faith. There is no doubt both would make good leaders, but neither had what it takes to win.
In the U.S., what came next was the anti-Romney. A brash, rude, pushy candidate who was willing to fight back and transcend the anti-conservative media bias.
Canada doesn’t need a Trump to beat Trudeau. But someone with some of his characteristics would go a long way.
Just hours after Scheer stepped down, our political cousins in the U.K. were voting in droves to elect Conservative leader Boris Johnson to a massive majority government.
The Conservatives picked up 66 new seats, including Labour strongholds and seats not won by a Tory since 1935.
Johnson is an unapologetic conservative who was willing to defend his policies — like Brexit — no matter how much the media hated them. He ran an amusing campaign with a simple, punchy message: “Enough. Let’s get Brexit done.”
When Conservative Party of Canada members vote to elect Scheer’s replacement, they should look for someone with Johnson’s characteristics: someone with a backbone, a little bit of charisma, with the courage to push back against the biased media and the conviction to stand up for conservatives values and ideas.
This week the venerable Time magazine named 16-year-old Greta Thunberg as their person of the year.
Seriously.
A poll said Time should have named the Hong Kong protesters, who are fighting for their rights against Chinese tyranny, should have been the choice.
So, let’s see, thousands of folks fighting for human rights or a snotty 16-year-old who is delusional about what climate change is.
U.S. President Donald Trump promptly took to Twitter, as he often does, to opine that she had anger management issues and she should go to a movie with a friend. He ended it with “Chill Greta, chill.”
Thunberg then changed her Twitter profile to say, she was “a teenager working on her anger management problem. Currently chilling and watching a good old fashioned movie with a friend”.
What’s bizarre in all of this is she doesn’t realize she is being mocked. And why not?
She is preaching climate doom as a teenager who has no life experience, no analysis of actual science and just regurgitates leftist talking points about climate.
The reality is that there is no one among us who would take advice from her about balancing our household budget. So, why should we take her advice on economic policy that will affect nations for generations to come?
Greta is a child. Whether or not she has anger management issues, I will leave for others to decide. What I do know is that the climate is changing, and has always done so and will always do so.
I am a simple person. I’m an old ex-cop who relies on actual evidence to come to a conclusion on anything.
Which brings me to our government and the incredibly foolish carbon tax, which does nothing for the environment.
The Prime Minister knows it is a punitive tax on Canadians. That’s why he announced a tax cut ostensibly for the middle class this week.
The carbon tax adds on to everyone’s budget, and it’s not just the extra cost on a litre of gas, although that is a significant part of it. It adds to the cost of everything, from the cost of growing produce to farmers to the cost of shipping it to market, to the cost of delivering it to the grocery store.
We are all paying a lot more a year for this nonsensical policy of the government. For the government to announce they are going to give a little of this back is insulting. They are blatantly ignoring the fact that it is their virtue-signalling policy that is causing the problem in the first instance.
And as for Greta, just shut up and go back to school.
The Chinese Embassy to Canada praised Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil after he met with the Chinese ambassador to Canada to discuss “cooperation with China.”
Premier Stephen McNeil met with China’s Ambassador to China Cong Peiwu on December 9, 2019 and promoted “mutual benefit and win-win results,” according to a news release by the Chinese embassy.
“Ambassador Cong appreciated Governor McNeill’s long-term efforts to promote Nova Scotia’s cooperation with China, introduced China’s policies and measures to further open up to the outside world, and welcomed Nova Scotia to seize China’s development opportunities and deepen its pragmatic approach to China,” wrote the official statement.
As reported by True North,the Chinese Ambassador had a similar discussion with Winnipeg’s Mayor, Brian Bowman.
On December 5, 2019, Bowman posted about how he discussed the “protection and promotion of human rights” with the ambassador.
Canada’s relations with China have become strained since Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was arrested by Canadian authorities over a request for her extradition by the U.S. Meng is currently wanted by the American government for multiple fraud charges and allegedly breaking U.S. sanctions on Iran.
In response to Meng’s arrest, the Chinese government arbitrarily detained two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. The pair have been in a Chinese prison for over a year now.
Recently, the Chinese embassy released a statement condemning Foreign Affairs Minister François-Philippe Champagne for characterizing their arrests as arbitrary.
“These two Canadians are and will remain our absolute priority. We will continue to work tirelessly to secure their immediate release and to stand up for them as a government and as Canadians,” wrote the statement released by Global Affairs Canada.
In response, the Chinese government called the statement “irresponsible” and insisted that the rights of the two Canadians were being respected despite the arrest.
“The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition, and has also made solemn representations to the Canadian side,” claimed the embassy.
We’ve already seen a roll call of potential entrants for the Conservative leadership race to replace Andrew Scheer.
True North’s Anthony Furey says it won’t be enough for leadership hopefuls to talk about their electability or how they can keep the party united all while steering away from provocative ideas.
A new Conservative Party leader will be picked in the coming months and True North’s Anthony Furey hopes members pick a leader based on their policy ideas.
China, climate change and the opioid crisis are all pressing matters that candidates need to have solutions for.
Anthony explains in his latest video. True North will have the latest news for the conservative leadership race. Support truly independent media: http://www.tnc.news/donate/
