The way the Liberals handled the SNC-Lavalin affair is another example of the blatant corruption in which this party seems to thrive.
Have the Liberals realized that they are able to get away with more and more? Are Canadians forgetting these violations as time goes on? True Norths Leo Knight discusses this frustrating development.
BY: ANTHONY FUREY
A document has been doing the rounds on social media that purports to be instructions on propaganda used by the Chinese government to deal with the Hong Kong protests.
The guidelines include minimizing the tally of people attending pro-democracy protests, framing the debate as one of riots (pro-democracy) versus the rule of law (Beijing Communists and the Hong Kong police), and labeling the protesters as puppets of the West.
It’s unclear whether this is a document for internal government use only or if it’s being pushed to Chinese Communist Party-controlled media. And there’s no way to confirm it.
It’s not like there’s a free press that can work their sources or file access to information requests to confirm these documents. But it certainly bears all the signs of CCP propaganda.
What sort of media would this, or similar directives, be distributed to though? The People’s Daily is a major publication in China that is directly owned by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and it’s been publishing since 1948. It is the media mouthpiece of the CCP.
That’s not the only one though. There are other publications that routinely offer pro-Beijing coverage and commentary. And not because they’re independent papers that have, of their own volition, determined that’s what their editorial slant will be. But because they’re also under the sway of the CCP.
It’s a hard thing for a North American news consumer to wrap their hands around, but it’s true. It’s not just a phenomenon happening in China either, but also here in Canada.
Foreign affairs journalist Jonathan Manthorpe breaks all of this down in detail in his new book Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada.
“In 1990, the CCP launched a series of newspapers [the China Press] for the North American market that were directly under its control,” Manthorpe writes. “Editorially, China Press newspapers are cheerleaders for the CCP regime.”
Manthorpe adds that “The Sing Tao operation fell into the CCP’s grasp in the late 1980s when its then owner, Sally Aw Sian, had a corporate financial crisis and turned to Beijing for help.” The Sing Tao Daily is one of the more visible Chinese-language publications in Canada.
Recent coverage in The Sing Tao Daily of the Hong Kong-related events taking place in the Toronto area has slanted favourably towards those voices opposing the democracy activists.
There are even two Chinese media outlets under the control of their government that have membership in the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa, meaning they have special privileges in the federal Parliament Buildings only granted to accredited media. One is the previously described People’s Daily, the other is Xinhua, the official news agency of the People’s Republic of China.
The question is not if there is Chinese language media in Canada under the sway of Beijing. That is an established fact. The question is just how much influence it will wield in Canada – whether it’s during the Hong Kong protests, the Meng Wanzhou affair, or any of the other issues that Beijing may wish to assert its position on. What is undeniable is that this is all a considerable cause for concern.
Canada’s sparsely protected border with the United States may be used by terrorists to sneak into the United States, according to a report by the National.
During the first six months of 2018, forty-one people on the Terrorist Screening Database were stopped trying to cross from Canada into the United States, compared to just six trying to cross from Mexico.
Canada’s border with the United States is largely unguarded. Waves of illegal border crossers from the United States have crossed into Canada in recent years, revealing just how porous Canada’s only land border is.
Some of America’s most famous terrorist plots or successful attacks have come at the hands of Canadian citizens.
In 2017 Amor Ftouhi, a Tunisian-Canadian living in Montreal slashed a police officer’s throat in the Flint, Michigan airport. He reportedly searched for “gay clubs” in the area on his phone before the attack.
America prosecutors are seeking a life sentence for Ftouhi, meanwhile, his lawyers have argued that alleged Islamophobia in Quebec is what radicalized him.
Another man, Abdulrahman El-Bahnasawy, a Kuwaiti who lived in Mississauga, was charged for trying to plant bombs in New York’s Time Square and subway.
Individuals south of the border appear to be actively working with extremists residing in Canada.
In January, RCMP arrested a minor and charged him with terrorism-related offences after police raids found explosive substances in Kingston.
RCMP revealed afterwards that they started investigating the minor after receiving a tip from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US, suggesting a cross-border conspiracy.
As Canadian ISIS fighters from the Middle East trickle back into Canada, it has been predicted that many will take part in sleeper cells and new terrorists groups to continue the fight at home.
With dozens of terrorists trying to enter the US through Canada, and dozens more ISIS fighters potentially arriving in Canada shortly, Canada risks becoming a considerable security concern for the United States.
The Trudeau Liberals have recently unearthed 14 year old footage of Andrew Scheer denouncing gay marriage – a common sentiment at the time. The problem is, modern day Scheer has said that he is fine with the legalization of gay marriage.
Are the Liberals stuck in the past? Is Justin Trudeau trying to get revenge for the groping allegations against him that were brought up from the past? True North’s Anthony Furey discusses this recent desperate play by the Trudeau Liberals.
Another day, more Liberal committee shenanigans. The Liberal majority on the ethics committee banded together to block a motion that would allow Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion to testify about his report finding Justin Trudeau broke the law with regard to SNC-Lavalin’s prosecution.
It’s a profoundly untransparent move, and one that may backfire on the Liberals, True North’s Andrew Lawton says.
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Lost in the news yesterday, or perhaps more accurately, not covered in the news by the mainstream media yesterday, was the successful victory by Dr. Tim Ball, a retired University of Winnipeg professor, in a defamation lawsuit brought against him by the notoriously thin-skinned Michael Mann of the infamous and thoroughly debunked ‘hockey stick’ theory related to global warming.
This is the second lawsuit successfully defended by Dr. Ball. The first was dismissed last year in which B.C. Green Party leader Andrew Weaver sued for defamation and lost. Apparently, in the courts, the truth is still an absolute defence.
And so it proved in the lawsuit brought by Penn State prof Michael Mann as decided by B.C. Courts this week.
Dr. Ball is called a cynic or a denier deemed so by the worshipers of the religion of climate change. All he has done is merely point out the holes in their arguments and apparently they get all snitty about that.
If you don’t believe as they do you’re the devil.
A denier.
A word correlated to those who deny the Holocaust as though if you don’t accept the religion of climate change you’re the same as the racists who deny the Holocaust.
Dr. Mann was exposed for manipulating the data he used to create the so-called hockey stick graph. And no amount of protesting he may do will change that.
Why he is still employed at Penn State is a mystery. There’s a significant credibility issue surrounding his work as upheld by the courts. Dr. Ball, tongue in cheek, said he should be in the state pen as opposed to Penn State.
The problem is that things like the hockey stick graph, no matter that it has been debunked, is at the heart of our political policy and legislation like the carbon tax.
And the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, won’t brook any dissension. Neither will the recently rescued from career oblivion after his resignation in the SNC-Lavalin scandal, Gerald Butts, who calls anyone who disagrees a nazi.
I am not a scientist. I am but an old ex-cop and investigator who looks for evidence before coming to a conclusion in matters. And that evidence does not support the position of McKenna or the government. Nor does it support any reason to impose a carbon tax on the economy which is punitive at a time our economy should be flourishing along with that of our largest trading partner.
But the Prime Minister and the rest of the Liberal government are true believers despite the evidence to the contrary.
I’m sure that the fact that Butts is a former executive leading the eco-loons at the World Wildlife Foundation plays a role. He believes what he believes and no amount of evidence will sway his opinions. Unfortunately, his opinions, however wrong, have dire consequences on the country as a whole.
Good on Dr. Ball for standing up to the eco-loons. Pity the media would rather spout the government nonsense rather than cover the result of an actual court case.
What were the top most biased stories in Canada last week? What were the worst examples of fake news pushed by mainstream media reporters?
True North Founder Candice Malcolm goes through the worst news stories of the week in her NEW weekly podcast monitoring fake and biased news in Canada.
The United Kingdom has revoked the citizenship of Jack Letts, a British-Canadian dual citizen accused of being a supporter of the terror group ISIS.
Letts, also known as “Jihadi Jack” for his connections to Islamic extremism, is currently in a Kurdish prison in Syria awaiting justice.
British law allows the government to strip suspected terrorists of citizenship if they are a citizen of another country.
As Letts is a citizen of Canada through his father, the imprisoned terror suspect is, in theory, the sole responsibility of Canada now.
The British Home Office defended the practice of revoking citizenship as an internationally legal way to prevent terrorists from making a home in the United Kingdom.
“This power is one way we can counter the terrorist threat posed by some of the most dangerous individuals and keep our country safe,” the Home Office said in a statement.
Letts left the United Kingdom in 2014 for Syria shortly after converting to Islam.
A keen supporter of Islamic extremism online, Letts once said that he wished to “perform a martyrdom” on British soldiers.
Letts is largely believed to have joined ISIS while in Syria, although this has not been proven in court. Letts fled the ISIS capital of Raqqa two years ago as the city was captured by the Kurds.
Letts told British reporters he was taken prisoner by the Kurds as he tried to flee to Turkey. He has remained in prison ever since.
The Canadian government criticized the United Kingdom for revoking Letts’ citizenship, claiming the British government is ignoring the duty it has to its citizens.
“The Government of Canada is aware that the United Kingdom revoked the citizenship of Jack Letts. Terrorism knows no borders, so countries need to work together to keep each other safe,” Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said in a statement.
“Canada is disappointed that the United Kingdom has taken this unilateral action to offload their responsibilities.”
Goodale’s statement comes months after a heavily redacted report was released which suggested that the Canadian government was actively looking for ways to bring imprisoned ISIS fighters to Canada. The report notes an event where the Canadian government contacted Letts earlier this year.
Prior to 2016, Canada could have revoked the citizenship of those suspected of terrorism in the same way the United Kingdom has done, thus preventing Letts from becoming a Canadian liability.
However, in 2016 the Trudeau government passed Bill C-6 which prevented terrorists from losing their citizenship.
Bill C-6 allowed convicted terrorists like Zakaria Amara to retain their Canadian citizenship. Amara was the ringleader of a sophisticated terrorist cell known as the Toronto 18. He recruited, trained and groomed fellow Islamist extremists and worked towards a deadly terrorist plot.
Goodale insists that the government is not required to bring Letts to Canada, but has not indicated if they had been considering bringing him to Canada before the United Kingdom revoked his citizenship.
“There is no legal obligation to facilitate their return,” Goodale said.
“We are not able to comment on specific cases or national security operational matters.”
Prime Minister Trudeau did not give a clear answer when asked if Canada was considering bringing Jihadi Jack to Canada.
Andrew Scheer, the Leader of the Official Opposition, said if he was Prime Minister, he “would not lift a finger” to bring Jihadi Jack to Canada.
The Leaders’ Debate Commission sent the first round of invitation to its two official leaders’ debates, excluding People’s Party Leader Maxime Bernier.
Today, Bernier sent this letter to Debate Commissioner David Johnston, citing five ridings in which PPC candidates have considerable profile, as well as media monitoring findings showing more coverage of Bernier than of the Green and Bloc Québecois leaders, who were invited to the debate.
Among the Liberals who voted against the motion to have Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion testify before this week’s committee on his SNC-Lavalin report was an MP who was caught breaching conflict of interest rules by Dion only a month ago.
Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld was found guilty in July of trying to use her position to sway voters to vote for her husband for an Ottawa city council seat.
“The documentary evidence revealed a campaign strategy aimed at using Ms. Vandenbeld’s position as a Member of the House of Commons to communicate with voters in order to convey a positive endorsement of her spouse as a serious candidate so as to increase his chances of being elected,” said Dion’s official report.
On Wednesday, Vandenbeld was one of the five Liberal MPs present on the committee who blocked Conservative MP Peter Kent’s motion to have Dion testify on his damning SNC-Lavalin report.
The report titled Trudeau II found that Justin Trudeau broke section 9 of the Conflict of Interest Act which “ prohibits Members from using their position as a Member to influence a decision of another person so as to further their private interests.”
“For these reasons, I found that Mr. Trudeau used his position of authority over Ms. Wilson‑Raybould to seek to influence, both directly and indirectly, her decision on whether she should overrule the Director of Public Prosecutions’ decision not to invite SNC-Lavalin to enter into negotiations towards a remediation agreement,” said Dion in his decision.
In October 2018 Vandenbeld sent robocalls and publicly campaigned for her husband, including sending her constituents letters of support for the candidate. She was then also investigated for breaking section 9, as well as section 11.
While Vandenbeld was not found to have contravened section 9, she was found to have contravened section 11.
“Section 11 of the Code prohibits Members from attempting to engage in any of the activities prohibited under sections 8 to 10 of the Code. It serves to bring within the scope of the Code any actions intended to further private interests, regardless of their result,” said Dion.
Dion didn’t apply a penalty with his finding, though he’s only empowered to fine MPs up to $500.
Commissioner Dion ruled that while Vandenbeld was guilty of breaching conflict-of-interest rules she would receive no punishment.