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Thursday, July 10, 2025

Zuckerberg regrets bowing to gov censorship requests during pandemic

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

In a letter to U.S. Congressman Jim Jordan, the founder and CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, admitted that the Biden administration and the FBI pressured the platform into shutting down free expression on Facebook and Instagram.

Zuckerberg said it was wrong for the federal government to pressure social media organizations during the pandemic and for the FBI to pressure them to silence credible allegations of corruption against the Biden family in the lead-up to the last presidential election.

The letter comes days after the CTV interrupted a broadcast of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s speech, calling him a conspiracy theorist while he was saying the government pressured media companies to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

“Looks like Mark Zuckerberg has joined the ranks of the crazed conspiracy theorists who claim that the Biden administration pressured Facebook to censor dissent during Covid,” Kennedy posted on X.

Zuckerberg said he was taking responsibility for what they decided to censor but that those decisions were made amid pressure from government agencies.

“In 2021, senior officials from the Biden Administration, including the White House, repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humour and satire and expressed a lot of frustration with our teams when we didn’t agree,” Zuckerberg said in the letter. “Ultimately, it was our decision whether or not to take content down, and we own our decisions, including COVID-19-related changes we made to our enforcement in the wake of this pressure.”

True North contacted Meta to ask if the Canadian government similarly attempted to pressure Meta into shutting down posts that it deemed misinformation but did not receive a response.

“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it. I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today,” Zuckerberg said. “I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction — and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again.”

The letter explains how the FBI “warned” Meta about a potential Russian disinformation operation involving the Biden family taking bribes from Chinese officials and a Ukrainian firm, Burisma, in the lead-up to the 2020 election.

A survey from the American-based Technometrica Institute of Policy and Politics found that 78% of those asked believed that “access to the correct information could have been critical to their decision at the polls.”

Zuckerberg said that after receiving pressure from the FBI and seeing the New York Post report on the corruption allegations against the Biden family, Meta demoted the story on Facebook. At the same time, its fact-checkers worked to verify it.

“It’s since been made clear that the reporting was not Russian disinformation, and in retrospect, we shouldn’t have demoted the story,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ve changed our policies and processes to make sure this doesn’t happen again — for instance, we no longer temporarily demote things in the U.S. while waiting for fact-checkers.”

True North could not verify with Meta if this policy would extend beyond the U.S. before publishing.

Liberals claim 553M trees in the works but won’t reveal how many have been planted

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
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Source: X - Forests Ontario

Five years after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to plant two billion trees by the year 2030, the Liberal government is barely a quarter of the way there.

A spokesperson from Natural Resources Canada told True North that as of Mar. 2024, agreements have been signed or are under negotiation to plant 553 million trees but it remains unclear how many of those trees have actually been put into the ground.

“Tree planting at this scale takes time and careful planning. It can take years from the start of a project to get from seeds to trees. For this reason, the 2BT program focuses on securing long-term agreements, in order to provide partners with the certainty they need to get the work done,” said the spokesperson.

Even if the 553 million trees had already been planted, not just as agreements, the Liberals would still be off-track. Considering the program began in Feb. 2021, to plant 2 billion trees in 10 years, as of Aug. 2024, the Liberals would have had to have planted 700 million trees to be on pace.

While facing pressure from climate activists including a 2019 Montreal rally led by Greta Thunberg, Trudeau spontaneously made the two billion trees pledge in a tweet. 

While Canadians may have become weary of tree planting goals thanks to the Liberals’ 2 billion trees promise, which continuously fails to meet targets, Forests Ontario is celebrating its own tree planting season. 

Forests Ontario announced the successful planting of 2.7 million trees across Canada this season on Thursday, bringing its national total to 46.5 million trees. 

However, Forests Ontario said that the record was in part due to support received from Natural Resources Canada’s 2 Billion Trees program, along with support from donors and planting partners. 

Forest Recovery Canada supported the planting of 700,000 trees outside Ontario this planting season, including over 380,000 in Alberta, more than 200,000 in Nova Scotia, over 70,000 in British Columbia, more than 60,000 in New Brunswick, and at least 5,000 in Manitoba. 

Peter Moddle, National Program Manager of Forests Ontario, said that connecting with communities and organizations interested in planting trees was a pleasure. 

“We are very proud of the accomplishments we made with our new planting partners across Canada this year, including restoring ecosystems after wildfires and extreme wind events like hurricanes,” said Moddle. 

Forest Ontario said that its tree-planting programs reduce the costs of tree planting, making it easier and more affordable for communities to plant them.

An audit done in Apr. 2023 by Canada’s Environment Commissioner, Jerry DeMarco, found that the Liberals’ two billion tree program would not hit the mark unless “significant changes” were made.

The audit highlighted that the goal was to plant 30 million trees in 2021 and another 60 million in 2022. The targets were already missed by at least 45 million trees by the time of the audit. 

DeMarco’s projections show that 76.2 million trees, 3.8% of the 2 billion target, will be planted by 2030.

The Liberals issued a press release in Aug. 2023 saying that their 2 billion trees program was exceeding goals. Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said that Canada had already planted 110 million trees, surpassing the 90 million goal up to 2023. 

However, only 56 million trees were actually planted through the Liberals’ tree planting program, while 54 million were planted as a result of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Fund.

The last milestone provided by the Liberals highlighted the opening of applications under the Indigenous Funding Stream in Oct. 2023. No updates have been given since.

However, Blacklock’s Reporter revealed an internal memo from the Department of Natural Resources said that the “two billion trees” was picked as a slogan, not to be taken literally. The memo allegedly said, “I can’t give an exact date on when the two billion trees will be planted exactly.”

Canadian civil liberties group threatens lawsuit following controversial Whitehorse city council policy

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
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Source: whitehorse.ca

A non-profit civil liberties group in Canada is threatening legal action against the Whitehorse, Yukon, city council over a controversial bylaw which the group says violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Canadian Constitution Foundation has given the Whitehorse City Council until its meeting on Sept. 16, 2024, to amend its civility policy, removing parts that the group deems to breach constituents’ freedom of expression.

The policy, which passed in a 4-2 vote, is a procedural bylaw that governs how members of the public can interact with their city council. The policy aims to prevent behaviour the council deems offensive or abusive in the form of language, signs, attire, and written documents.

“The CCF respects the work of local councils and understands the need to maintain a certain level of order in council meetings,” the group said in a letter to the Mayor and Council. “The CCF, however, after a careful review of the Civility Policy passed by the Whitehorse City Council, is of the opinion that this policy violates the right to freedom of expression guaranteed under section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and will chill members of the public from attending Council meetings and participating in our local democracy.” 

CCF contends with four main parts of the policy: a section that would allow councillors to restrict what their constituents can wear to a council meeting, a ban on bringing in signs with political messages, a ban on the distribution of “inappropriate” written material, and a ban on “microaggressions.”

The CCF argued that “hurtful or offensive ideas” are not  sufficient grounds to justify infringing on freedom of expression.

“The policy…recognizes the need to balance those rights with reasonable limits to maintain a safe, productive, and harassment-free workplace for Council and City staff,” the preamble to the policy said.

The policy allows administrators to discard or refuse to distribute any document that they have reasonable grounds to deem as “inappropriate.” The policy lists several examples of what could be deemed inappropriate including “making accusations” or using “insulting language” directed to council, administration, members of the public or “identifiable groups.”

“(Restrictions on what written material is allowed) disproportionately limits expression,” the CCF said. “Citizens are entitled to use language in their communications that others, including politicians, may find “insulting” or accusatory.”

The city defines microaggressions, which the policy would prohibit, as a “comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude towards a member of a marginalized group.”

“Even speech that ‘ridicules, belittles or otherwise affronts the dignity’ of people is not considered so extreme that it can be outlawed,” the CCF said. “It is thus difficult to see how ‘subtle’ and sometimes ‘unconscious’ or ‘unintentional’ expressions can be banned by Council.”

The CCF noted that giving the council authority to make the public remove or cover up a piece of attire such as buttons headware would have limited the efficacy of the women’s suffrage movement woman, which used buttons in its advocacy.

The group also argued that a ban on signs, which wasn’t merely about the size of the sign related to physical safety, clearly violates the public’s right to expression.

In his remarks to the council, councillor Ted Laking, one of two, along with Councilor Mellisa Muray, who opposed the bylaw, said passing the law could have unintended consequences in the future.

“Everybody has an opinion, and the person who’s calling for another opinion to be censored this week may find that they are having their opinion censored the following,” Laking said at the council meeting. “I think it’s certainly fair for us to hold ourselves as councillors to a certain level. We have some business to conduct here….but the delegate portion is an avenue in which the public can get their opinions and their beliefs on the public record.”

He said that because the city council is a publicly funded entity, it is crucial to allow the public to express themselves freely.

Mayor Laura Cabott and Councilors Dan Boyd and Kirk Cameron, who all voted in favour of the policy, argued that it had already been drafted at a previous meeting, which some members didn’t attend, and that voting against it now would cause undue work on the council’s administration.

“What this policy does – It protects people to come here to speak to us, even if we don’t like what they’re saying to us,” Cabott said while arguing for the policy to pass. “You can always rework something and make it better, and there are opportunities to amend, for sure, but I think it’s a shame in all the work that we put into this, all the input that we’ve had from the public, that we’re now just going to turn that off.”

BC Conservative MLA Teresa Wat defends attendance at event with senior Chinese gov official

By
Noah Jarvis, True North Wire
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Source: Facebook

The newly minted BC Conservative MLA Teresa Wat says that she is just as skeptical of the Chinese government as she is of all foreign governments after appearing at an event in which she sang the Chinese national anthem.

Wat was seen at the Lantern Festival banquet at Richmond, BC’s River Rock casino in February 2023, celebrating the lunar new year. 

Wat could be seen singing March of the Volunteers, the Chinese Communist’s national anthem and was given the opportunity to speak before the event’s audience in Mandarin.

The clip of Wat resurfaced after the now-deleted website “firejohnrustad.ca,” which was promoted to BC Conservative members, accused the MLA of having “strong ties to Beijing” while condemning BC Conservative leader John Rustad for allowing her to join the party.

At the February event, Wat sat at the same table as the Chinese consul general to Vancouver Yang Shu and members of the Canadian Alliance of Chinese Associations – a pro-China business group that, among other things, supports China’s annexation of Taiwan.

In a response to a question from True North asking why Wat decided to attend the event, she says that she made the appearance to show her support and respect for BC’s Chinese community.

“As a Member of the Legislative Assembly, I attend events with different community groups all the time. For me, attending this event related to the lunar new year and spring festival was no different,” said Wat.

“I was simply there to engage with the Chinese community and show my respect alongside other publicly elected officials.”

Wat says that as a former citizen of Hong Kong, she came to Canada to commit herself to public service as a Canadian.

“I came to Canada in 1989 from Hong Kong while it was under British rule. Since then I have dedicated my life to public service in Canada,” said Wat.

When asked about her views on the Chinese government, she says that we must treat China like all other foreign governments – with caution.

“I believe that as Canadians we must be cautious of all foreign governments, including China. I am obviously concerned about reports and allegations of interference in our elections by foreign governments,” said Wat.

True North asked Wat for her views on Canada’s diplomatic and trade relationship with China. She said that she is concerned with foreign interference and that we need to pursue Canadian values in our trade relationships.

“While this is a federal issue, I am concerned about reports and allegations of interference in our elections by foreign governments and think we need to fully investigate what happened,” said Wat.

“Our global trade relationships are important, but we must always uphold our Canadian values and laws.”

British Columbia has become the focal point for questions relating to foreign interference into Canadian elections.

Last year, the Globe & Mail reported on a CSIS document claiming that China’s former consul general for Vancouver Tong Xiaoling sought to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s interests by grooming Chinese-Canadians politicians for higher office. 

Xiaoling worked to elect pro-China politicians during the 2022 Vancouver municipal election in which the Chinese-Canadian mayor Ken Sims defeated incumbent Kennedy Stewart in a landslide.

Sims rejected the insinuation that he had worked with or received aid from the Chinese Communist Party, stating that he would not have been the subject of these allegations if he had white skin.

Former Conservative MP for British Columbia’s Steveston–Richmond East Kenny Chiu has repeatedly claimed that his election defeat in 2021 was, in part, a result of foreign interference from China.

In late July, Wat left BC United to join the BC Conservatives to seek re-election under their banner, joining MLAs Lorne Doerkson and Elenore Sturko. 

BC United accused Wat’s staff of exporting large amounts of confidential BC United information before she announced her decision to abandon the party.

China accuses Canada of “protectionism” over new tariffs on EV imports

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Source: X

The Chinese communist government is accusing Canada of “protectionism” in response to the federal government announcing it will be imposing tariffs on Chinese-imported electric vehicles and related components on Monday. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government would be implementing a 100% tariff on Chinese EV imports and a 25% tariff on imported steel and aluminum.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said that the country is “strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes this” decision in a statement released on Tuesday. 

The ministry claims these tariffs will disrupt the stability of industrial and supply chains on a global scale and damage the country’s economic ties with Canada. 

“Canada claims it supports free trade and the multilateral trading system based on (World Trade Organization) rules, but it blatantly violated WTO rules and announced it will take unilateral tariff measures by blindly following individual countries. It is typical trade protectionism,” reads the statement.

The ministry called on the Trudeau government to “immediately correct its wrong practices,” stating that Beijing would take any necessary measures to secure the interests of Chinese companies.

The tariffs are slated to take effect this October. 

“I think we all know that China is not playing by the same rules,” Trudeau told reporters in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Monday. “What is important about this is we’re doing it in alignment and in parallel with other economies around the world.” 

The U.S. and Mexico have already implemented trade tariffs against China regarding EVs and their byproducts earlier this year. 

Additionally, the European Union imposed tariffs of up to 37.6% on EV imports last month. 

“The Government of Canada intends to implement a 100% surtax on all Chinese-made EVs, effective October 1, 2024. This includes electric and certain hybrid passenger automobiles, trucks, buses, and delivery vans. This surtax will apply in addition to the Most-Favoured Nation import tariff of 6.1% that currently applies to EVs produced in China and imported into Canada,” said the Department of Finance in a statement on Monday.

Despite Canada following in the footsteps of its economic allies, the government was told by Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian to “not politicize economic and trade issues.”

“China’s burgeoning electric vehicle industry is the result of continuous technological innovation, a well-established industrial and supply chain and full market competition,” said Jian.

While Chinese EV companies have yet to gain a stronghold in Canada, they are able to sell EVs for as low as USD $12,000, with enough labour and stock to supply the world’s demand. 

Beijing officials argue that their domestic production keeps prices low and is helping to promote an environmentally green transition.

However, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently called out the practices of the Beijing government and accused China of producing “artificially cheap steel, aluminum and EVs,” saying that the country’s “massively subsidized steel” is made possible by “exploiting weak environmental and labour standards.”

“They’re doing this with the goal of crushing our steel, our aluminum, and our automotive production, and taking our jobs away,” said Polievere at a Stelco steel plant in Hamilton, Ont. earlier this month. 

The Conservatives have called for the government to add tariffs to Chinese semiconductors, critical minerals as well as any other EV components. 

The federal government said it plans to launch a second 30-day consultation concerning other sectors related to the auto industry, including “batteries and battery parts, semiconductors, solar products, and critical minerals” in a statement released on Monday.

“China has an intentional state-directed policy of overcapacity and oversupply designed to cripple our own industry,” said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland on Tuesday. 

“We simply will not allow that to happen to our EV sector, which has shown such promise.” 

The Daily Brief | Trudeau cracks down on TFW program

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-
Source: X

Canada imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum.

And nearly half a million Canadians are accessing employment insurance benefits as unemployment surges.

Plus, after admitting more than one million temporary foreign workers in Canada, the Trudeau government is cracking down on the program, pledging to bring fewer foreign workers in while strengthening restrictions.

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

Park ‘N Fly personal data breach affects 1M customers 

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
-
Source: X

Around one million customers who use the popular airport service Park ‘N Fly may have had their personal information compromised after the company fell prey to a data security breach last month. 

The company announced that a third-party breached its networks using an unauthorized remote VPN, which occurred sometime between July 11 and 13. 

However, news of the cyber attack was only made public over the weekend. 

While Park ‘N Fly’s platforms were fully restored within five days of the breach, the company estimates that around 1 million customers have likely had their personal information obtained by the cyber attack. 

Customers’ leaked information includes names, emails and mailing addresses, as well as Aeroplan and CAA numbers. 

“Needless to say, this is completely unacceptable,” former Ontario privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian told True North. 

“Access to one million customers’ personal information was gained by unauthorized third parties – customers’ names, addresses, emails, Aeroplan and CAA numbers were all accessed in this third-party data breach.” 

However, credit cards, payment information and passwords were stored on a separate server, which was not compromised by the breach, according to the company.

Park ‘N Fly said that it can assure customers with “certainty” that no customer “credit cards or passwords are stored on our servers and no payment information was compromised.” 

Still, Cavoukian wonders why customers’ personal information wasn’t strongly secured.

“Encryption and other forms of security can prevent such occurrences from taking place. Park’N Fly should be strongly admonished for the lack of strong security measures,” she said.

The company said it launched an investigation into the cause of the breach, aling with its cyber security partner as soon as it became aware. 

“Immediately upon discovering this event, Park’N Fly’s Information Technology team launched an investigation along with the cyber security partner to assess what types of information may have been accessed,” a spokesperson told True North.

“Additionally, Park’N Fly engaged with third-party experts to support its own security and IT teams. Security surveillance has since been increased through our cyber security partner, including updating the anti-virus software throughout the network.”

Park ‘N Fly confirmed that customers and stakeholders whose information was likely to have been directly impacted have already been contacted by the company directly via email.  

“At Park’N Fly, the trust and security of our customers are paramount. While we deeply regret any concern this incident may have caused, we want to reassure our valued customers and partners that we are taking all necessary steps to safeguard their information,”  said Park ‘N Fly’s chief executive officer Carlo Marrello in a statement.

“We remain committed to transparency and will continue to prioritize the integrity of our systems as we navigate this situation.”

Anti-Israel “Queers for Palestine” group the largest contingent at Capital Pride parade

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: Instagram

After weeks of major institutional groups pulling support from the Ottawa pride parade as a result of Capital Pride’s anti-Israel statements, the parade went on, with many celebrants marching against the Jewish state.

Organizations and institutions in Ottawa withdrew funds and participation from this year’s annual Capital Pride parade in August, including the Liberal Party, the University of Ottawa, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and several Jewish community groups.

The parade featured signs expressing a sense of solidarity with Palestinians and the LGBT+ community, showing the “Progress Pride flag” and the Palestinian flag beside each other. 

“The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO aren’t here but healthcare workers are,” one sign said. “We stand with Pride, not genocide.”

“Stonewall was an Intifada,” another sign said. “Pride is political.”

The Stonewall riots were what many called the first pride parade. It started when police officers raided a mafia-run gay club in New York City in 1969.

Intifada means to “shake off” in Arabic and is associated with uprisings and terror attacks on civilian locations in Israel. The deadly terrorist attack on October 7th is considered “Intifada” by anti-Israel activists.

The Green Party, representatives from the public labour union CUPE and NDP MPP Joel Harden were photographed in attendance. 

Harden donned a Palestine banner and wore a rainbow dress suit to the parade. 

In May, Harden was one of the Ontario NDP caucus members who walked out of the parliamentary chamber in protest against a ban on keffiyehs, a Palestinian headscarf connected to anti-Israel terrorist movements.

Ottawa police told True North the parade went on without a hitch Sunday, saying no incidents were reported.

The Jewish Federation of Ottawa, a group that penned a letter signed by six various Jewish community groups in Ottawa, being among the first major institutions to withdraw from the parade, hosted its own pride event Sunday at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre.

The event, which had over 250 guests, was hosted to support the LGBT+ community in Ottawa, which felt ostracized by Capital Pride’s anti-Israel stance.

“The event, held in partnership with the Greenberg Families Library, HaKibbutz, Hillel Ottawa, Jewish Family Services, Kehillat Beth Israel, Or Haneshamah, PJ Library Ottawa, the Soloway Jewish Community Centre, and Temple Israel Ottawa, brought together a diverse and vibrant cross-section of the community,” the group said.

Among those in attendance were Israel’s Ambassador to Canada Iddo Moed, MPP Lisa MacLeod, Deputy Mayor David Hill, and City Councillors Laine Johnson, Stephanie Plante, and Cathy Currie attended the breakfast as well as Alex Munter, the CEO of CHEO, and members of the Ottawa-Carleton district school board.

Award-winning Jewish drag queen Adrianna Exposée was the leading entertainer on Sunday.

“The Pride Breakfast is a testament to the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s dedication to fostering an inclusive, welcoming environment for all individuals, regardless of their background or beliefs,” JFO said. “By bringing together community members, local leaders, and international representatives, the event underscored the power of solidarity and the importance of standing together to support diversity.”

CTV interrupts broadcast of RFK Jr speech calling him a conspiracy theorist

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

During a live stream of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s speech endorsing Republican contender Donald J. Trump, CTV cut off the audio and began talking over the independent presidential candidate, calling him a conspiracy theorist.

Though True North was unable to find the full video of CTV’s broadcast, clips shared on X show CTV cutting Kennedy’s speech short, saying they would not allow conspiracy theories to be broadcast on their network.

Kennedy held a live-streamed press conference, during which he delivered a 48-minute speech on why he’s supporting the former president. 

In his speech, Kennedy outlined several priorities facing the U.S., that he was convinced Trump could work with him to address: ending the “forever wars,” the childhood disease epidemic, securing the border, protecting freedom of speech, and preventing U.S. intelligence agencies from “propagandizing, censoring, surveilling” and interfering with (U.S.) elections.”

He accused federal agencies of conspiring to re-elect Democrats.

“The DNC and its media organs engineered a surge of popularity for Vice President Harris based upon nothing, no policies, no interviews, no debates, only smoke and mirrors and balloons in a highly produced Chicago circus,” Kennedy said, referring to the Democratic National Convention. “How did the Democratic party choose a candidate that has never done an interview or debate during the entire election cycle? You know the answers. They did it by weaponizing the government agencies. They did it by abandoning democracy. They did it by suing the opposition and by disenfranchising American voters.”

When Kennedy discussed American media companies conspiring to elect the Democratic party to office, CTV anchor Todd Vanderheyden interrupted.

“What alarms me is the resort to censorship and media control and the weaponization of federal agencies,” he said. “When a US president colludes with, or outright coerces media companies to censor political speech, it’s an attack on our most sacred right, free expression, and that’s the very right upon which all of our other constitutional rights rest.”

Government officials pressured social media companies in 2020 to suppress information that the feds said was misleading, including Hunter Biden’s laptop, which a 2022 poll suggests could have swayed the 2020 election. The case landed in the US Supreme Court which by a 6-3 vote voted in favor of Biden saying the government’s actions were permissible.

Vanderheyden spoke over the CTV version of the broadcast, censoring the broadcast and calling Kennedy a conspiracy theorist.

“I’m going to have to jump in here. This is Robert F Kennedy, Jr. He was a so-called ‘third-party candidate,” Vanderheyden said. “I’m jumping in because he’s espousing conspiracy theories about why Joe Biden left the race and Kamala Harris – and then this is a sort of standard operating procedure for Kennedy. It’s one of the reasons why his candidacy really went nowhere.”

According to a November 2023 poll conducted by Ipsos and Reuters, Kennedy was polling as high as 20% support in a three-way presidential race against Biden and Trump. In contrast, Ross Perot received 19% support in 1992, the highest any third-party candidate has had in over 30 years.

“President Biden mocked Vladimir Putin’s 88% landslide in the Russian elections, observing that Putin and his party controlled the Russian press and that Putin prevented serious opponents from appearing on the ballot, but here in America, the DNC also prevented opponents from appearing on the ballot, and our television networks exposed themselves as Democratic party organs,” Kennedy said in the speech which continued to air on most other outlets that broadcasted it.

He said despite polling high at times, the “mainstream media networks” maintained a “near perfect embargo” on interviews with him.

“During the 16 months since I declared, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN combined gave only two live interviews from me. Those networks instead ran a continuous deluge of hit pieces with inaccurate, often vile pejoratives and defamatory smears. Some of those same networks colluded with the DNC to keep me off the debate stage,” he said.

Kennedy addressed the media executives who he said were in attendance.

“I’ll just take a moment to ask you to consider the many ways that your institutions have abdicated this really sacred responsibility, the duty of a free press to safeguard democracy and to always challenge the party in power,” he said. “Instead of maintaining that posture of fierce skepticism toward authority, your institutions have made themselves government mouthpieces and stenographers for the organs of power.”

Kennedy has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission, claiming the two major parties and CNN colluded to keep him from the June 27 debate.

CTV did not respond to True North’s request for comment. The organization isn’t immune to spreading misinformation. In 2022, it retracted a story from 2018 based on unverified sexual assault allegations against now-Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown.

Trudeau government places restrictions on temporary foreign worker program

By
Noah Jarvis, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

After admitting more than one million temporary foreign workers in Canada, the Trudeau government is cracking down on the program, pledging to bring fewer foreign workers in while strengthening restrictions. 

Amidst the Liberal cabinet retreat, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault announced new restrictions on hiring temporary foreign workers in markets with high unemployment rates, on the share of foreign workers allowed by an employer, and on how long foreign workers are allowed to work in Canada.

This comes after the government pursued a policy of fast-tracking temporary foreign worker application approvals during the Covid-19 pandemic to fill gaps in the labour market. 

In a press conference on Monday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau touted his government’s decision to liberalize the temporary foreign worker program and their retroactive decision to restrict access to the program.

“In the aftermath of the pandemic and facing severe labour shortages, we adjusted the program for temporary foreign workers. That’s what the business community needed, that’s what the business community was asking for and at that moment in time, those changes helped,” said Trudeau.

“But today’s economy is very different from what it was two years ago. Inflation has started to come down, employment is higher, we no longer need as many temporary foreign workers.”

Trudeau said that he ordered his employment minister to conduct a 90-day review to investigate changes in the high-wage temporary foreign worker stream.

Starting on Sept 26, the federal government will refuse to process labour market impact assessments for low-wage jobs in census metropolitan areas with an unemployment rate of 6%.

The government will also restrict businesses from having 10% or more of their workforce composed of temporary foreign workers in the low-wage stream.

This is a reversal of a 2022 policy change that allowed employers to hire 20-30% of their workforce through the temporary foreign worker program depending on the industry.

However, these restrictions will not apply to the primary agriculture sector, food processors, fish processors, the construction industry, and the healthcare industry. 

This is even though the plurality of temporary foreign workers work in the agricultural industry on animal and crop farms. 

In a United Nations report criticizing the temporary foreign worker program as a form of “contemporary slavery,” the report hones in on the exploitation of temporary foreign workers in the agricultural industry who often have to live and work in poor conditions.

The Trudeau government is also reducing the maximum length of employment for a temporary foreign worker from two years to one year.

Last week, the Trudeau government granted the Quebec government’s request to suspend the approval of temporary foreign worker applications for low-wage jobs in the Montreal economic region, with some exceptions.

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