Even in the 90s, we all knew wearing blackface was wrong. So why didn’t Justin Trudeau?
His excuses don’t add up, and he’s refusing to answer simple questions, such as “how many times have you worn blackface?”.
True North’s Anthony Furey asks, does he actually think he’s going to get away this?
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Justin Trudeau wore blackface on three separate occasions – potentially more. True North’s Anthony Furey says this goes beyond hypocrisy. It goes beyond being hoisted by his own petard. It’s just outright bad and wrong.
Yet the Left and the mainstream media have made up a ton of excuses for Trudeau. The arguments in Trudeau’s favour have become desperate and simply bizarre.
New data reveals that foreign firms are cutting their investments and production in Alberta’s oilsands, with many leaving Canada entirely as prices remain low and no new pipelines appear to be coming.
As Canada increasingly becomes an undesirable place to invest, foreign investors are beginning to speak out about the difficulty they face in Canada’s oilsands.
“I think Canada itself creates significant barriers to new investment,” said Satoshi Abe of Japan Canada Oil Sands Ltd.
“Additional investment in Canada will only become attractive once there is sufficient egress of its resources and more certainty around its regulatory processes, which we are clearly lacking.”
A report originally unearthed by the Canadian Press revealed that oil output from foreign-owned firms fell dramatically over the past four years, going from 647,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2014 to 573,000 b/d in 2018.
Likewise, foreign production in the oil sands slipped from almost 33% in 2014 to 20% last year.
This decrease in production has coincided with major foreign firms withdrawing from the Canadian economy.
In August, True North reported on the exit of a major firm, Kinder Morgan, from the Canadian market. With the Canadian government buying their Trans Mountain pipeline project early this year for $4.5 billion, their exit from Canada was widely expected.
Construction of the expansion to the now state-owned pipeline has yet to begin.
Another major exit was Devon Energy Corp. which sold its Jackfish thermal oil sands project earlier this year. Other companies which have either left Canada or significantly cut investment include Royal Dutch Shell, Equinor, ConocoPhilips and Marathon Oil.
There are now only 12 foreign-owned companies producing oil in Alberta, and many of them do not have significant production. While remaining in the market, these firms are also shrinking their investments.
The largest foreign-owned firm by production, France’s Total SA, sold one of its oil sands project to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. last year, saying Canada is not a desirable destination for their investment.
“Reducing our exposure to Canada’s oil sands by selling this asset is in line with our global strategy to focus our oil investments on low-break-even resources and develop a resilient portfolio in the mid and long term,” said Total SA CEO Patrick Pouyanne.
In total, foreign firms have taken nearly $40 billion out of Canada’s economy by shrinking their oil sands investments which equates to about 1.6% of Canada’s total GDP this year.
With projects like Trans Mountain, Keystone XL, and the Enbridge Line 3 extension paralyzed by legal and legislative troubles, it’s unlikely any new foreign firms will try to enter the oil sands anytime soon.
True North’s Andrew Lawton has been banned from covering Trudeau’s events, but that won’t stop him from reporting on the truth.
While in Hamilton, Andrew interviewed the Liberal candidate in Hamilton East—Stoney Creek, Bob Bratina, about Trudeau’s blackface incidents. Bratina downplayed the scandal, claiming Trudeau’s blackface is “not about mockery”.
Let us know what you think.
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In most campaign media coverage, you’ll see Trudeau referred to as the Liberal leader, so as to avoid appearing to give him an edge based on incumbency. Irrespective of this convention, he is the prime minister. And I’m not allowed to cover announcements of what he’ll do if his party is given another mandate.
I learned this on Sunday when I showed up to a suburban home in Brampton, Ont. Trudeau announced a measure to cut cellphone bills in the house’s backyard. Or so I heard. I wasn’t actually there. Instead, I stood on the sidewalk and waited for it to end so I might get an opportunity to ask Trudeau a question, as the Liberals’ approved reporters were allowed to at the press conference.
I had intended to ask him about policy, though now the only question worth asking was why I was banned from covering his campaign. He shook my hand, presuming I was there as a supporter. He ignored my question about my campaign coverage.
Maybe he didn’t hear me.
I did get an answer from a party official – Trudeau’s press secretary on the campaign trail, Cameron Ahmad – who told me I was barred because I’m not with an “accredited” media outlet.
Ahmad knows me. I’ve corresponded with him numerous times over the years, and it was he who arranged an interview between Trudeau and I during the last campaign. At the risk of tooting my own horn, I hosted a daily talk radio show for five years and have written national columns in the Toronto Sun, the National Post and Global News. Despite being conservative, no one has ever accused me of being unprofessional, which is why I’ve interviewed people of all parties without issue – former Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne and numerous Liberal cabinet ministers included.
Despite this, Ahmad said I’m not engaged with an outlet that is “recognized” as being a journalism outfit. Recognized by whom, though? It’s not clear.
Journalists don’t require state permits in Canada. There is no centralized database or registry of people in media. Nor should there be, especially in an era of evolving media business models. Just because I don’t work for a corporate legacy outlet doesn’t mean I’m not doing real work.
Two subsequent interactions with Ahmad have revealed the Liberal party doesn’t really have a cohesive definition of “accredited” – just that True North, a digital outlet published by a charity registered with the federal government as having a mandate for journalism, doesn’t fit the bill.
This isn’t the first time I’ve been banned from a press conference. It happened in July at Global Conference for Media Freedom in the United Kingdom, co-hosted by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and the Government of Canada. I was accredited to cover the conference – but hand-picked by Freeland’s staff, alongside Sheila Gunn Reid of the Rebel, to be excluded from Freeland’s press conference.
Reporters from all outlets who were invited stood firm and told Freeland’s office they’d boycott the press conference if Gunn Reid and I weren’t permitted to attend.
But on Sunday afternoon in Brampton, I was standing alone. The approved reporters were quickly ushered into the backyard, unaware that I was fighting for my right to report on the day’s events.
I hope they’ll take a stand for my cause today, though I haven’t heard anything yet.
I’m still assigned to cover the Trudeau campaign for True North. Though our requests to be invited onto the campaign’s media bus – despite our willingness to pay for it, as all outlets must – have been rebuffed for the same reason, a lack of accreditation.
This morning, I rented a car (a red one, coincidentally) in which I’ll follow the campaign bus and do what I can from the outside.
For a prime minister who talks about media freedom, this is just plain wrong. It’s also short-sighted. As I told the Liberals yesterday, by excluding me from access to the campaign, I’m left to cover my own exclusion.
Candice Malcolm and I have appealed our case to the Liberal Party of Canada’s director of communications at the request of the team on the tour. We’ve been directly and unequivocally told she will be in contact to work through whatever issues there are.
One way or another, I’m on the campaign trail now. True North isn’t getting any of the mainstream media’s $600 million. To do this, I need your support. If you can make a contribution to our coverage, please do.
Justin Trudeau is campaigning with Hamilton East—Stoney Creek Liberal Bob Bratina today. In this True North exclusive, Bratina, who was first elected in 2015, tells Andrew Lawton that Trudeau’s blackface is “not about mockery” and that discussing the photos, for which Trudeau has apologized, is a “waste of everybody’s time.” Bratina further said his constituents think the matter is “silly.”
The Liberal media relations office did not respond to True North’s request for comment about Bratina’s remarks.
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Whatever happened to press freedom in Canada?
True North’s Andrew Lawton attended Trudeau’s campaign stop in Brampton, expecting to be able to cover the event.
However, Trudeau’s staff stepped in and blocked Andrew from covering the event. And of course, they also wouldn’t let Andrew onto the Liberal media bus!
It’s been a turbulent few days for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And to make matters worse for the Liberal Party leader, he can’t seem to keep his story straight.
Canadians learned our diversity-promoting, politically correct-obsessed prime minister had the poor judgement to paint his skin black to impersonate people from other races.
He did it on several occasions. It seems like he’s something of a “blackface” enthusiast.
On Wednesday night, after Time Magazine published the story of the first incident of “blackface,” Trudeau came clean. He admitted that, as a teacher at West Point Grey Academy in Vancouver, he painted his face, neck and hands black and wore a turban to make himself look Arab. He was 29 years old at the time.
Trudeau scored points, some claimed, because he proactively admitted it was the second time he’d done the “blackface” schtick.
“When I was in high school, I dressed up … with makeup on,” he said.
“Makeup” is the new Liberal euphemism for “blackface.”
A few moments later, CTV published the photo from Trudeau’s high school yearbook. There he was, Afro and all.
Just as some Liberals began heralding Trudeau for his honesty and maturity in admitting and apologizing for his worst mistakes, we learned there were plenty more skeletons in this man’s closet.
Trudeau’s heartfelt apology on Wednesday night was not the “learning moment” he had claimed. He hadn’t fully come clean. On Thursday, Global News released a video of Trudeau, again in “blackface,” this time dancing around like a racist fool.
And so, on Thursday afternoon, Trudeau did the whole song and dance again. He marched out in front of reporters and apologized, again. This time, he blamed it all on his “privilege” and a supposed bubble that famous, rich, white Liberal men apparently live in.
Trudeau’s apology didn’t add up.
When asked why these incidents of racism were not flagged when Trudeau first ran for office for the Liberals, he said he never disclosed them. He was too embarrassed by his own stupidity.
A few minutes later, however, a reporter asked how many times he had dressed up in “blackface” over the years. Trudeau didn’t give a number. He said he couldn’t remember how many times because he never thought it was a big deal.
So which is it? Was playing “blackface” so normal to him that he lost track of how many times he did it? Or was he so embarrassed by his “blackface” episodes that he chose to omit the truth, first to the Liberal Party of Canada and then to all Canadians?
When did he have his change of heart — from wearing “blackface” without realizing it was wrong, to feeling so embarrassed about it that he lied to everyone?
Trudeau wore “blackface” to a ritzy gala in 2001. By 2003, he was a star in the Liberal Party and given the honour of hosting a tribute to outgoing Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien at the Liberal convention.
In 2006, he was named a chair of the Liberal youth wing, in 2007 he became a Liberal candidate and in 2008 he was elected to Parliament.
At what point in those few years did Trudeau finally realize that painting your skin black and mimicking American racists from the 1950s was not appropriate in the 2000s?
Justin Trudeau’s political career should be over. Given Trudeau’s history, however, it may take him a few decades to figure that out.
The Liberals are proposing to ban “assault weapons” like the AR-15, and give municipalities the right to implement local handgun bans. Both of these are in spite of a wealth of evidence suggesting lawfully owned and registered guns are not the sources of gun crime.
Also, the AR-15 is not an “assault rifle”, despite Justin Trudeau’s claims to the contrary. True North’s Andrew Lawton lays down the facts.
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The CBC’s coverage of the federal election is just further proof that they’re in love with Justin Trudeau. And Global News helps Green Party Leader Elizabeth May spread fake news!
True North’s Candice Malcolm dissects this week’s most biased news.
