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Sunday, September 14, 2025

Steven Pinker wins prize for controversy

By
Lindsay Shepherd
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On Tuesday evening, the Canadian-American Harvard cognitive psychologist and author Steven Pinker was presented with Simon Fraser University’s Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy.

The $5,000 prize was established at Simon Fraser University in 1993 to “encourage work that provokes and/or contributes to the understanding of controversy.” Past winners include fat activist Layla Cameron (2018), prostitution abolitionist Cherry Smiley (2014), and AIDS and euthanasia researcher Russel Ogden (1995). 

Some noted that Pinker is hardly a controversial figure: “His positions aren’t wild and crazy”, remarked SFU professor Mark Collard. “So, the ‘Pinker Puzzle’ is that his views are pretty moderate relative to the evidence and/or the views of his colleagues, and yet he’s often framed as controversial.”

However, Pinker acknowledged his inclination towards moderate, middle-of-the-road centrism, and titled his presentation “Who, Me, Controversial?” 

He then made a point to establish himself as a left-leaning Democrat, showcasing a picture of himself with Justin Trudeau (saying he was “sympathetic” to Trudeau), as well as mentioning he was a supporter of Hillary Clinton and financial donor to the Democratic Party. 

He noted he has never been de-platformed or protested, though one writer did call him “The world’s most annoying man”, and another called him an “annoying white male intellectual.”

During his lecture, Pinker touched on the politicization of academia, the moralization of intellectual issues, and some controversies he has been involved in throughout his academic career. The most recent controversy he has been embroiled in is related to his latest book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress. Pinker argues overall world progress has been made in terms of human health, safety, and happiness – but some counter that he is ignoring current human suffering and inequality.

While discussing free speech and open inquiry, Pinker remarked many university departments contain more Marxists than conservatives, and that from the “Left Pole” of academia, everything that isn’t far-left seems right-wing or reactionary. 

Pinker said he views authoritarian populism as the main ideological threat to progress, and stated open debate is necessary to prevent “perverse backlashes.” He named the far-left as an incubator of the alt-right, noting the left’s rejection of open debate has meant the alt-right can claim to have “the truth” that the left refuses to face. He also pointed out how opposition to capitalism and free markets is entrenched on university campuses, and how this leads some contrarians to adopt a radically libertarian “anarcho-capitalism.”

As Pinker himself emphasized, he is a mild and moderate centrist. His positive opinion of capitalism and his openness to engaging with conservatives are considered controversial only because of today’s far-left campus climate. 

Nora and Ted Sterling, the founders of the Prize for Controversy, stated “We hope, that by providing a substantial reward for creative, unconventional effort, it will contribute to works of this nature gaining both a forum and a degree of respectability.” Pinker already has both a forum and degree of respectability. But, seeing as we could still always use an articulate defence of free speech and open debate, there is no reason to complain about Pinker’s win. 

#ScheerMustGo campaign springs up post-election

By
True North Wire
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In the wake of the Conservative Party’s second-place finish in last week’s federal election, a campaign has formed to call for Andrew Scheer’s removal as Conservative Leader.

The Scheer Must Go campaign has a website and a small Twitter following of 352 as of Wednesday.

“For Conservatives to win, we need a leader who represents the modern conservative movement,” the website reads.

“We need a leader that can win across Canada”

The October 21 federal election saw the Conservative Party win the popular vote and gain seats, but fail to beat the scandal-plagued Liberal Party and remain the opposition party. 

Scheer Must Go claims to be organizing opposition to Scheer’s leadership ahead of the Conservative Party’s leadership review in April.

“We think defeating Justin Trudeau in the next election is of utmost importance to the national unity and continued prosperity of Canada. The Conservatives will never win with Andrew Scheer as our leader,” ScheerMustGo co-founder Anthony Koch told True North.

Koch says that the election result suggests that Andrew Scheer does not resonate in the seat-heavy Ontario and Quebec.

“Compared to 2015, Andrew Scheer lost votes in almost every single seat in Ontario and Quebec that we would need to win to form another majority. He needs to go.”

The Scheer Must Go campaign received unexpected publicity when Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Twitter account retweeted a post from the campaign. The retweet was quickly deleted, but not without being noticed.

“It was retweeted by a staffer by mistake who used to have access to the premier’s Twitter account,” an Ontario government official said.

Ford later confirmed that he does not support ousting Scheer from the leadership.

Despite the limited following, Koch says the feedback he has received has been positive.

Scheer has promised to stay on as leader of the Conservative Party, saying that under his leadership the party has improved its results significantly from 2015.

“We point to the fact that we won the popular vote, a million more votes for our party last night than ever before, and that we have the strongest opposition in Canadian history,” said Scheer. 

“More people voted for me and the Conservative platform than any other party.”

Gwyn Morgan: Liberals send debt into hyperdrive and ‘Generation Screwed’ will end up paying for it

By
True North Wire
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BY: GWYN MORGAN

In the 2015 federal election campaign, the Harper Conservatives proudly announced a no-deficit budget after years of working to rebalance spending and revenues following stimulus deficits necessitated by the 2008 global economic crisis. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, behind in the polls when the writ was dropped, announced “modest” deficit spending totalling $25 billion in the first three years, returning to a balanced budget in the fourth. Although this was seen as a risky strategy at the time, the Liberals were rewarded with a decisive majority.

That $25 billion ballooned to $70 billion. And Trudeau’s promise of a balanced budget has been replaced by a $93-billion deficit over the next four years. The NDP and Green election platforms proposed even higher spending. Yet, despite campaigns featuring such a staggering accretion of our national debt, pollsters found that deficit spending didn’t rank as a major election concern for most Canadians. Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, striving to balance political reality against the dangers of driving the country ever deeper into debt, proposed a $25-billion deficit in the first year moving to a balanced budget in five years. The election results confirm that most Canadians have lost all fear of deficit spending, no matter how large.

At the time of the 2015 election, Canadian economic growth was declining, so stimulus spending was a reasonable policy. Most economists believe that governments should constrain spending in good times to preserve financial capacity for stimulus spending during recessions. But instead of controlling spending during a robust economic period, the Liberals ran huge deficits in their first term and are now planning to greatly increase deficit spending in the second. That leaves no financial room for a recession. Since the last recession was in 2009, the Liberal plan would require 15 years without a recession, a most unlikely prospect. What would motivate the Liberals to risk putting Canadians in such economic peril?

The answer is that government spending is needed to offset a dramatic loss of private-sector confidence. A November 2018 Fraser Institute report stated: “The federal government’s introduction of higher taxes, mounting debt and increased regulation has left Canada a much less attractive place to invest. Crucially, Canadians have increasingly looked to other countries to invest, with the amount Canadians invest abroad rising 74 per cent from 2013 to 2017. At the same time … investment from other countries into Canada dropped a staggering 55.1 per cent.” The World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” analysis shows Canada dropped from fourth place in 2006 to 22nd in 2019. And a majority of respondents to a Business Council of Canada survey listed “uncertainty and lack of predictability in regulatory processes” as negatives for investors. That was before the election. The prospect of a profligate Liberal minority government dependent on the even more financially destructive policy positions of the NDP is enough to send even more investors scurrying to the exits.

That economic signals have remained strong while private-sector investment and job creation has been shrinking can only be explained by those billions of deficit dollars. Canada’s economy has become dependent on ever bigger government spending while, at the same time, its policies discourage private-sector investment. As Italians know all too well, the end comes when deficits can no longer be financed, pushing the country over a financial cliff.

Canada has seen that cliff before in the disastrous legacy of Justin Trudeau’s father. During the 15 years Pierre Trudeau was prime minister, federal spending rose from 30 to 53 per cent of GDP. Immense public spending overheated the economy, resulting in runaway inflation. By 1981, Canada’s prime lending rate reached an incredible 22 per cent. The inability to meet skyrocketing interest costs induced widespread corporate and personal bankruptcies. Escalating mortgage rates caused many Canadians to lose their homes. With government bonds yielding 19 per cent, accessing business risk capital was virtually impossible. By the time Trudeau-the-elder retired in 1984, Canada’s national debt had grown by 700 per cent and the country’s international debt ratings had collapsed. We were transformed from one of the financially strongest countries in the world into an economic basket case. It would be two decades before tough fiscal discipline overcame compounding interest payments and began to reduce the country’s real-dollar debt.

The current annual cost of servicing Canada’s trillion-dollar “market debt” (borrowed funds subject to interest payments) is $26 billion. But as Canada’s debt keeps rising, so will the interest rate investors require to fund it. The $93 billion in Liberal deficit spending together with a modest rate increase of two per cent would take the annual interest cost to more than $50 billion at the end of four years.

Just as the generation of taxpayers that came after Pierre’s reign ended had to pay for his profligacy, the next generation of taxpayers will bear the burden of paying down Justin’s debt. So why do most young Canadians vote for parties promising increased deficits? As Mark Milke has argued, “every generation has to learn about the consequences of excessive borrowing for themselves.” Building an immense national debt is like taking out a huge mortgage, then leaving it for your children to pay back. But not only will today’s young voters have to pay down Canada’s massive mortgage, they will also foot the mounting cost of caring for the aging people who allowed it to happen. Most young voters are oblivious to this reality.

But there is a group working to educate them. They call themselves “Generation Screwed.” Kris Rondolo, 29, the group’s executive director, warns: “over-spending equals debt, and debt is an unfair tax on Canada’s younger generations and those not yet born.” The Generation Screwed website includes a debt clock that shows Canada’s national debt amounts to $18,700 for every man, woman and child and is growing by more than $54 million a day. A “How screwed are you?” link lets you add your share of provincial debt to the national debt. Ontarians are the most screwed, owing $43,200 each. Quebecers come next at $40,700, followed closely by Manitobans. Albertans owe $34,400, just a little more than British Columbians. And now the debt clock will be going into hyperdrive for the next four years.

Liberals mull social media crackdown, despite no election “disinformation” problem

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The Liberals are eyeing further government control over social media companies in an effort to combat alleged “misinformation” and “disinformation” – even though there was no threat to Canada’s democracy from online content during the election.

“We will review, reflect and assess those measures in the coming months. At this stage, it is too early to speak publicly about what those could be,” said Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould.

According to Twitter, the Canadian election faced no organized disinformation or election interference campaigns after the platform implemented new policies with regard to political advertising. 

Despite no detection of foreign interference from either the government or social media companies, there were several instances where foreign entities or persons intervened or participated on Justin Trudeau’s behalf. As reported by True North, a former Clinton aide took part in organizing a fundraiser in New York City on Justin Trudeau’s behalf while the election was underway. Further, Elections Canada estimated that approximately 103,000 non-citizens were on the voter list. 

Since last year, the Liberals have refused to rule out forcing social media platforms into compliance with their demands to crack down on combating “disinformation”, even threatening to temporarily shut down access to the sites in Canada. The Liberals devoted $48 million towards their efforts to monitor social media over the election period.

“We didn’t see a major network of inauthentic accounts trying to [interfere] with the outcome of the election,” said Donara Barojan, head of operations for Astroscreen, a UK company that monitored the federal election for several days in October.  

According to a spokesperson for the Privy Council Office, a classified report will be made for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and an intelligence committee, who will decide whether the monitoring recommendations will become a permanent staple of Canada’s future elections. The report will not be made available to the public until next spring. 

Prior to the election, the Liberal government also threatened “financial consequences” for social media giants who don’t abide by their censorship rules targeting “hate speech”. Further details were outlined in the government’s “digital charter” which Canada implemented after the New Zealand Christchurch shooting. 

According to Justice Minister David Lametti, part of the government crackdown could include “using the courts, changing the criminal code, creating a regulatory body or advancing the powers of existing regulators such as the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.”

While the government has set their sights on regulating social media for disinformation they have turned a blind eye to fake news spread by the mainstream media. According to a Public Policy Forum paper, Canadians who consumed traditional media were more likely to be misinformed on basic governmental policy. 

VIDEO: Man pulls gun while handcuffed in Toronto police cruiser

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The backseat camera of a Toronto police cruiser captured the shocking moment when an arrested man pulled out a handgun while handcuffed. 

In the video, a suspect can be seen struggling to acquire the weapon hidden behind him. Eventually, he is able to get the gun onto his lap before letting it fall onto the ground. 

Investigators will be looking into the incident, which took place the evening of Oct. 27.

It’s not known how the weapon wasn’t confiscated during the man’s arrest, and how officers did not notice he was trying to access it while in the back seat. 

According to sources familiar with the incident, the officers are saying that they had not found the weapon despite searching the suspect prior to getting him into the vehicle. 

Ali Showbeg, 38, is currently facing nine charges, eight of which are related to firearms offenses. 

Toronto has recently been plagued by an alarming spike in criminal gun violence. In 2019, the city saw an all-time high of 395 shootings, resulting in a total of 582 victims, 33 of which died, while 194 were injured according to official Toronto Police Service statistics.

In response to the spike in gun crime, both the federal government and city officials have considered a handgun ban for law-abiding citizens. Implementing a national handgun ban would cost taxpayers around $2 billion to implement. 

A Public Safety Canada study found an overwhelming majority of Canadians opposed further action to ban handguns – 80 per cent of urban residents were opposed, as were 85 per cent of rural residents.

Toronto Mayor John Tory has been loudly advocating for a municipal handgun ban and has lobbied Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to crackdown on gun ownership. Prior to the election, Trudeau promised that if re-elected the Liberals would ban semi-automatic rifles and give municipalities more power to ban handguns possessed by licensed and law-abiding citizens.

Despite calls from politicians to crack down on gun rights, police officials, including the president of the Toronto Police Association, Mike McCormack say a ban would not have an impact on criminal shootings. 

“There’s no way in my world or any world I know that this [a handgun ban] would have an impact on somebody who’s going to go out and buy an illegal gun and use it to kill another person or shoot another person,” said McCormack.

LAWTON: Government made up the “misinformation” crisis

By
Andrew Lawton
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The Trudeau government and mainstream media have been beating the drum about the threat “misinformation” poses to Canadian democracy, but all evidence points to the fact that no such crisis of misinformation exists. Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould has nevertheless opened the door to regulate and crack down on social media companies, even though, by her own admission, there were no substantive misinformation issues during this month’s federal election.

True North’s Andrew Lawton has the latest.

Mainstream media provides cover for genocidal ISIS leader after Trump announces death

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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While the world breathed a sigh of relief after U.S. President Donald Trump announced the death of genocidal ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi on Sunday, some mainstream media outlets took the opportunity to provide cover for the Islamist extremist.

Several outlets including the Washington Post, the New York Times, MSNBC and Bloomberg took the announcement as an opportunity to criticize Trump or portray Baghdadi in a positive light instead of condemning ISIS.

In one glaring case, The Washington Post referred to the murderous leader of ISIS as an “austere religious scholar” in their coverage of the successful U.S. operation.  

The headline reporting on his death has since been changed from: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48” to “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, extremist leader of Islamic State, dies at 48.”

Initially, the story’s headline referred to al-Baghdadi as ISIS’ “terrorist-in-chief” but was quickly changed to the more favourable headline. The story was only updated by the outlet after wide public condemnation and outrage over the positive spin on the extremist responsible for countless human rights violations and deaths.

By 2017, the Global Terrorism Index reported that ISIS (or ISIL) had committed a total of 1,132 terror attacks worldwide, resulting in 9,132 deaths and 7,723 injuries. The Canadian government believes that a total of 180 people have travelled from Canada to fight for the terrorist organization and others like it, and that 60 have already returned to the country.

Similarly, the New York Times wrote an obituary on the Islamist leader highlighting his childhood as a young man with a “spiritual gift” and a model who cleaned the Mosque as his pastime. 

In another instance, an MSNBC reporter asked on live television whether the successful U.S. operation which killed al-Baghdadi and several other ISIS leaders “only reinforces the ideology of Baghdadi’s followers, and in fact, strengthens it?” 

Bloomberg also highlighted al-Baghdadi’s journey from “a little-known teacher of Koranic recitation into the self-proclaimed ruled of an entity that covered swaths of Syrian and Iraq”, referring to the illegal Islamic State established in the region. 

FUREY: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was Canada’s enemy as well

By
Anthony Furey
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Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was an enemy of Canada and now he’s dead. Canadians should be celebrating!

Baghdadi unleashed havoc in Canada. The Leader of ISIS inspired the terrorist attack on Parliament Hill in 2014 and he inspired hundreds of Canadians to travel abroad to join ISIS.

The Islamic State declared war against the West broadly and Canada specifically and their adherents took up the cause.

True North’s Anthony Furey explains in his latest video.

Three men charged after 15-year-old girl sexually assaulted and confined in Ottawa apartment

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Three men have been charged after a 15-year-old Ottawa girl was allegedly lured from a mall and sexually assaulted.

Police have charged Bile Mohamed, 27, Yusuf Yusuf, 30, and Ismail Moallim, 21, with sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault causing bodily harm, sexual interference and forcible confinement.

According to reports, the girl was lured by a man from a shopping centre in the city’s east end, and brought to his apartment, where police say she was sexually assaulted and prevented from leaving. 

The alleged incident took place on October 23, at approximately 10:30 p.m. 

One of the three men is also facing charges for theft, administering a noxious substance, uttering threats and breach of probation. 

The girl was able to escape the apartment after texting her family and notifying them that she was in danger. Eventually, she was found by police officers who were searching for her whereabouts.

The men were charged on Friday and will be expected to appear before a court. 

KNIGHT: The Trudeau government is proven wrong. Again.

By
Leo Knight
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Remember when Justin Trudeau and Catherine McKenna blamed climate change for the wildfires out west?

They were proven wrong yet again.

The RCMP revealed that the wildfires were caused by arson, not climate change.

True North’s Leo Knight wonders how the government can be so consistently wrong and still pursue their punishing economic policies.

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