True North

Canadian families can expect to pay an additional $487 for groceries next year due to rising prices. 

The estimate comes from Canada’s Food Price Report, which was published in collaboration with Dalhousie University and the University of Guelph.

Meat, vegetables, fruits and seafood will all be affected by a price increase. The study expects an anticipated change of 4% to 6% more for the price of meat in 2020. 

“The 2020 forecast suggests overall food prices will increase 2 to 4%. It also predicts that annual food expenditure for the average Canadian family will rise by $487 from 2019 figures. Annually, this represents a total forecasted household expenditure on food of $12,667,” writes the study’s authors. 

The study points to several factors contributing to the price increase, including the ongoing trade war with China, uncertainty around the new NAFTA agreement and climate change. 

The report singles out several environmental factors that will increase food prices in Canadian grocery stores. This includes environmental activism around single-use plastics. 

Several grocery stores, including Sobeys, have banned plastic bags, while others such as Loblaws, Walmart and Metro have all reduced the use of plastic. 

This increase might put many families over the edge, considering a recent report by the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy which showed that October saw a 13.4% increase in insolvencies across the country. This makes it the highest level of personal insolvency in Canada since the 2008 financial crisis. 

Another Ipsos survey conducted earlier this year found that nearly half of all Canadians believed that they were $200 or less away from financial insolvency.

Huawei has announced that it will be moving its U.S. research centre to Canada in response to Trump’s sanctions on the company. 

Canada is currently at the centre of a diplomatic dispute between the two superpowers over the extradition of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei. 

“It’s obviously political interference from the U.S. I think Canada should ask Trump to reimburse its losses,” Ren told the Globe and Mail. 

Meng is wanted by the U.S. in relation to several fraud charges and breaking international sanctions on Iran. She was detained by Canadian authorities last December on an extradition request by the U.S. 

Currently, Huawei has extensive research relationships with Canadian post-secondary institutions. In total, the company has over $56 million worth in financial ties to universities in Canada according to the CBC.

In 2018, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) warned university leaders that there were national security concerns regarding the relationship and that institutions should use caution when working with the company or employing its technology.  

After the ties were initially revealed, the former assistant director of operations of CSIS, Andy Ellis, urged on Trudeau to probe the company’s involvement immediately.

“If I was Mr. Trudeau, I would say I want all of you in the intelligence community to tell me the length and breadth of what is going on here and to recommend to me some actions that mitigate it,” said Ellis. 

Over a dozen Canadian universities currently have ties with the company, including the University of Waterloo, the University of British Columbia and the University of Toronto, among many others. 

Last month, U.S. lawmakers warned Canada that if they were to allow the company to operate on its 5G network, it could jeopardize the two neighbouring nations’ intelligence-sharing relationship.

“It would make it very difficult to have a full intelligence-sharing [relationship] with a partner who has installed a direct line to Beijing,” said Senator Angus King at last month’s Halifax International Security Forum. 

A majority of other countries in the “Five Eyes” intelligence community have banned the technology including the U.S., New Zealand and Australia. 

A member of the McGill University student government has been told she must resign or she will be impeached after she accepted a free trip to Israel offered by a Montreal-based Jewish group.

Jordyn Wright, a member of the Board of Directors at the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU), says that she was singled out by the student council for her Jewish faith.

“The SSMU Legislative Council voted to call for my resignation from my positions in student government. The SSMU President personally singled me out, and actively encouraged others to attack me,” Wright wrote on Facebook.

Wright’s trip to Israel, scheduled for the end of December 2019, is called the “Face to Face” tour and is provided by Hillel Montreal, a cultural organization for Jewish students. Participants will travel throughout Israel and the Palestinian Territories to learn about the geopolitical instability in the region from its residents.

Early in November, the McGill chapter of Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights alleged that Wright’s trip would be a conflict of interest.

During a meeting on November 21st, the SSMU’s highest body, the Board of Directors, decided that Wright’s trip would not be a conflict of interest. One week later, on November 28th, the SSMU Legislative Council voted to call for her resignation anyway.

“Only I was targeted, despite the fact that another non-Jewish Councillor will also be joining me on the trip,” Wright said.

This is not the first time student groups at McGill have been accused of targeting Jewish students.

In 2017, three Jewish or pro-Israel students were barred from joining the SSMU Board of Directors, at the time it was alleged that this move was organized by groups on campus supporting the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement against Israel. In another instance, a student councillor told McGill students to “punch a Zionist today.” An attempt to impeach him failed.

Earlier this year McGill’s student newspaper refused to publish a letter defending Israel until the University intervened.

Wright says she will be attending the trip to Israel later this month and has no intention of resigning.

Wright expressed disappointment that the student government at McGill does not live up to its own standards when it comes to anti-discrimination.

“McGill’s student leaders consider themselves to be champions of equity, inclusivity, and diversity. I am appalled that McGill politics continues to exclude and discriminate against Jewish students.”

President Donald Trump called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “two-faced,” after an embarrassing video of Trudeau and other world leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and the UK’s Boris Johnson speaking at Buckingham Palace, was released.

When asked Wednesday what he thought of the video, Trump said Trudeau was “two-faced” and went on to suggest Trudeau was annoyed with Trump for pointing out that Canada was falling short on its NATO commitments.

In the video, the world leaders are heard talking about a long press conference and staff supposedly in disbelief with their boss.

No name was picked up by the pool camera that caught the moment, though it followed a press conference by American President Donald Trump.

In the video, Trudeau is seen making the comments and grinning with fellow statesmen in London’s Buckingham Palace while attending a NATO summit. 

“He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top,” says Trudeau. 

“You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.” 

The video was first posted by CBC, which suggested Trump was the subject of the conversation.

Earlier in the day, Trump had pressed Trudeau on Canada’s NATO defence spending commitment during a bilateral meeting.

During their press conference, Trump asked Trudeau to tell him exactly how much of its GDP Canada was spending, in relation to the NATO commitment of 2% of GDP. Trudeau was unable to provide a clear response. 

“The number we talk about is 70% increase over these past few years,” said Trudeau.

When Trump asked for the exact figure, Trudeau looked towards his staff and was told by an aide that Canada was spending 1.4% of its GDP on defence. Trump has called on countries to live up to their commitments.

In reality, NATO predicts that Canada will spend a total of 1.31% of its GDP on defence this year.  

Trump called Canada’s spending “slightly delinquent” but claimed that Canada would meet the goal “quickly.” 

The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy has reported a 13.4% increase in insolvencies for the month of October since last year, according to the Globe and Mail.

Insolvency refers to financial distress in which Canadians are unable to pay their bills.

The office declared a total of 13,200 insolvencies for the month, making it the highest amount since the 2008 financial crisis. 

Annually, so far 2019 has seen a 10% increase in insolvencies in comparison to the same period in 2018. 

Canadians throughout the country are struggling to pay off their debt. Similar trends are affecting every province. 

In total, Canadian household debt has ballooned to $2.25-trillion, growing a total of $870 billion over the past ten years. 

An Ipsos survey from earlier this year found that nearly half (48%) of all Canadians are reporting buying $200 or less away from financial insolvency. 

The same poll reported that any interest rate increase would make struggling Canadians bankrupt and that another 54% worry about their ability to repay their debt. 

Economic growth in Canada has slowed down in the past few months and the unemployment rate has remained steady. 

During October, the Canadian economy lost nearly two thousand jobs and the unemployment level stagnated at 5.5%. A total of 16,100 full-time jobs were lost while part-time work grew by 14,300 jobs.  

Past comments have resurfaced of the newly-appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in which he called China a “very inclusive society.”

François-Philippe Champagne made the comments on China Global Television Network (CGTN) program while part of a delegation to China discussing a free trade agreement. CGTN has direct links to the Chinese Communist Party and is owned by the national broadcaster, China Central Television.

“Canada and I would say China, stands out as a beacon of stability, predictability, a rule-based system, a very inclusive society,” said Champagne on May 9, 2017. 

Champagne replaced Chrystia Freeland as foreign affairs minister after Trudeau unveiled his new cabinet in November. 

True North reached out to Global Affairs Canada for comment but had not heard back by the deadline. 

Nearly two years after the comments, Canada’s relationship with the communist country has frozen over. Currently, two Canadians are being held on trumped-up charges in retaliation to the arrest of Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou who is facing extradition to the U.S.

China has recently been facing international condemnation over the internment of the Uyghur Muslim minority in re-education camps. According to Human Rights Watch, estimates place the number of people being held in camps at around one million.

China has a long and sordid history of cracking down on religious minorities and those defending them. In 2015, the Chinese government detained, interrogated and tortured over 200 human rights lawyers. China has also admitted to harvesting the organs of prisoners, including practitioners of the Falun Gong religious sect. 

The Liberal government has reiterated its approach to the Chinese government as a commitment to the international rules-based order. In July, Prime Minister Trudeau claimed that Canada’s advocacy for the two detained Canadians is “working.”

“One of the things that we’ve seen is that our approach of highlighting, around the world, the concerns that people have with the arbitrary detention of two Canadians by China, is working … countries are concerned not just for Canadians but the challenges this poses to the rule of law and to the international rules-based order,” said Trudeau.

Both Michael Kovrig and Micheal Spavor will have been detained for one year on December 10.

Yesterday, former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley suggested that the Canadian government should swap Wanzhou with the Canadian pair in a “prisoner exchange.”  

A development bank partly funded by the Canadian government is considering funding a new pipeline project in Asia.

The Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which has received $256 million from Canadian taxpayers over the last five years, has already funded three pipelines across Asia.

Among other projects, the AIIB has financed new pipelines in China, Bangladesh and Azerbaijan.

The AIIB is headquartered in Beijing, China and is run by a former Chinese bureaucrat Jin Liqun. The Chinese Communist government owns about 26.5% of the bank’s voting shares.

Founded in 2016, the AIIB is an internationally-funded bank created to invest in infrastructure projects in Asia. 

The latest project being proposed to the AIIB is a 229 km natural gas pipeline near Beijing. The first pipeline project in China approved in 2017 will soon be delivering natural gas to over 200,000 homes.

Minister of Finance Bill Morneau currently sits on the AIIB’s board of directors. On the Department of Finance website, the government maintains that Canada’s participation in the AIIB has been a moral good.

“Canada’s participation in the AIIB helps to promote inclusive global economic growth. Investing in quality infrastructure aids economic growth by enabling the movement of people, goods and services, which can have significant positive benefits,” the website reads.

“As well, it advances Canadian priorities on mobilizing private capital, gender equality and innovative financing.”

Since 2016, Canada has only approved one pipeline project on Canadian soil. In the same period, the Canadian-funded foreign bank has seen three approved and start construction.

“This Liberal government’s pipeline priorities are completely wrong. They are more focused on creating energy jobs in Asia whilst neglecting the highly-skilled, middle-class, energy workers here in Canada,” Conservative MP Tom Kmiec said on his website.

The Conservative party has strongly opposed Canada’s investment in the AIIB, with opposition leader Andrew Scheer demanding Canada divest after China banned Canadian canola due to unfounded health concerns earlier this year, a move widely seen as retaliation to Canada’s arrest of Huawei CEO Meng Wanzhou. China also banned Canadian pork and beef products from June until November.

Chinese aggression has also turned towards Canadian citizens since the arrest of Meng, with Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor nearing the one year anniversary of their arrests in China. Both men are still being denied basic legal rights.