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.
A grown, 28-year old Alberta man has filed a human rights complaint against a single father of two after not getting hired for a babysitting job.
The father asked James Cyrynowski, the man who applied for the babysitting job on Kijiji, for his sex and age. When Cyrynowski replied and never heard back, he lodged a discrimination complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission.
True North’s Andrew Lawton talks about how the human rights industry has gotten out of hand.
May 18, 2016: Trudeau apologized to Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus for the Komagata Maru incident
May 19, 2016: Trudeau apologized for elbowing NDP MP Ruth Ellen Brosseau
Nov 28, 2017: Trudeau apologized to LGBT Canadians for “state-sponsored, systematic oppression.”
Dec 20, 2017: Trudeau apologized for Aga Khan private island trip.
March 26, 2018: Trudeau apologized to Tsilhqot’in Nation for hanging six chiefs
March 28, 2018: Trudeau apologized because the Catholic Church didn’t take responsibility for Canadian residential schools
Nov 7, 2018: Trudeau apologized to Jewish people for turning away the MS St. Louis
March 8, 2019: Trudeau apologized to the Inuit for colonial policies
May 23, 2019: Trudeau apologized to Poundmaker Cree Nation for their chief’s treason conviction
Aug 15, 2019: Trudeau’s minister apologized to Inuit of Baffin Island for failing to provide adequate facilities
While there are many things Trudeau has apologized for, on the following issues, the prime minister hasn’t issued an apology:
1. He hasn’t apologized for pressuring Jody Wilson-Raybould
Since Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion ruled that prime minister broke the law, Justin Trudeau has yet to issue an apology to his former indigenous Attorney General and Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.
As the person behind the allegations of political interference in the judicial system, Wilson-Raybould faced threats to avoid “butting heads” with the Prime Minister, inappropriate pressure from members of the Prime Minister’s Office and eventually expulsion from her party’s caucus.
Wilson-Raybould’s father, Chief Bill Wilson called the treatment of his daughter a “kick in the teeth”.
Further, Wilson-Raybould was also gagged by solicitor-client privilege and denied the opportunity to provide further testimony and evidence to the Liberal-dominated justice committee which investigated the allegations.
Instead of offering an apology to all of those affected by his inappropriate behaviour, the prime minister reiterated his belief that everything he did was in order to protect Canadian jobs. SNC-Lavalin denied this claim.
2. He hasn’t apologized for groping a female reporter
When it was revealed that Justin Trudeau inappropriately groped a female reporter while attending a music festival, the prime minister brushed the event off.
Instead of offering an apology for sexual misconduct, Trudeau insisted that two people can experience the same events “differently”.
“There’s a lot of uncertainties around this. In terms of my recollection, there was no untoward or inappropriate action but she was in a professional context. Who knows where her mind was and I fully respect her ability to experience something differently,” said Trudeau about the groping allegation.
Although the victim has decided not to launch an investigation into the matter, Trudeau has yet to admit he did anything inappropriate.
3. He hasn’t apologized for misleading to Canadians
Among other things that Mario Dion’s SNC-Lavalin ethics report revealed was that the prime minister publicly and repeatedly misled to Canadians.
Shortly after the initial Globe and Mail report revealed the extent of the government’s interference, Trudeau denied all of the allegations calling them false.
“The allegations in the Globe story this morning are false. Neither the current nor the previous attorney general was ever directed by me or anyone in my office to take a decision in this matter,” said Trudeau in February.
However, now that the ethics report corroborated the story, Trudeau evidently appears to have misled Canadians during the original press conference in Vaughan, Ontario.
4. He hasn’t apologized to Admiral Mark Norman
Shortly before the case against Admiral Mark Norman fell apart and Crown prosecutors dropped breach of trust charges against him, his lawyers were preparing to accuse the Trudeau government of politically interfering in their client’s case as well.
Since being vindicated of all wrongdoing, the government refused to pay for Admiral Norman’s legal fees and failed to give him his former position back.
Despite calls to do so, Trudeau has yet to apologize to Admiral Norman.
5. He hasn’t apologized for the border crisis
Under Trudeau’s watch, the border situation has grown to become a crisis.
According to the union representing Canada Border Services Agency employees, the department doesn’t have enough resources to keep track of all of the bogus refugee claimants who have been ordered for deportation.
The number of migrants crossing illegally into Canada has steadily increased since 2018.
According to the president of the Customs and Immigration Union, Jean-Pierre Fortin, the CBSA would need to double its number of agents to properly handle keeping track of those who have been denied asylum.
“The people who do check them within CBSA, it’s a very small group [called] inland enforcement officers,” said Fortin.
Recent reports have revealed that a number of illegal immigrants from Mexico with serious criminal backgrounds have made it into Canada with phony passports and have since fallen off the radar.
It is believed that approximately 400 Mexican cartel members have gained access to the country since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lifted visa requirements for Mexico.
Canadian officials are struggling to keep track of the large number of violent criminals, some of which are believed to be hitmen and drug traffickers.
CBSA border officials admit that since the Liberal government announced the visa changes, the border with the United States has seen an 80% increase in drug seizures, along with a 500% increase in inadmissibility.
Further, as reported by True North, in British Columbia the CBSA has revealed that they are receiving people with “unknown nationalities” after being processed by the RCMP.
“For various reasons, there are times when the CBSA cannot immediately determine a person’s country of origin upon their arrival in Canada,” said CBSA Western Canada Communications Officer, Luke Reimer.
A Freedom of Information request with the RCMP revealed that over half of the migrants crossing illegally into B.C. from Washington were of an “unknown nationality”.
“We certainly don’t have the resources to track them down and to deport them,” said Fortin about the general situation.
Pro-Hong Kong protestors showed up in droves in cities across Canada in support of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong. And believe it or not – counter protestors in support of the Communist Chinese government also showed up.
Even a former Liberal Ontario Minister voiced his support for Beijing and urged Canadians not to support the Hong Kong democracy movement.
What is going on here? Are there actually that many people in support of a communist regime or is there something else going on here?
You know that federal government carbon tax that causes the price of everything to go up? Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said in a newspaper op-ed that it will create 19,000 jobs.
What she neglected to mention were all the thousands it will eliminate, which was even acknowledged in the report she was citing.
True North’s Andrew Lawton has the real story.
True North is covering the federal election, but we need your help to do it. Please chip in to our election coverage fund to fight back against biased media coverage and journalists receiving government money: https://tnc.news/help-us-cover-the-election/
Canada’s conflict of interest and ethics commissioner, Mario Dion, found that Justin Trudeau’s pressuring of Jody Wilson-Raybould to interfere in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin broke federal ethics rules.
Yes, the Prime Minister of Canada broke the law again. And he probably won’t get punished for it.
This is where the Liberals and the media want the story to end. They want this story to simply be a minor gaffe on Trudeau’s part.
Justin messed up again. Move along! Nothing to see here, folks.
But this scandal is much bigger than Canadians realize.
Under Trudeau’s watch, the Canadian government became an arm of SNC-Lavalin, Canada’s biggest engineering firm. The Canadian government worked for SNC-Lavalin.
As Jonathan Kay explains in a series of tweets, SNC-Lavalin was essentially able to turn the entire PMO and major ministries into its personal lobbying operation.
SNC-Lavalin successfully changed Canada’s constitutional system so it could get off the hook for alleged crimes it committed.
Those crimes?
SNC-Lavalin is facing federal corruption charges associated with its business dealings in Libya. SNC-Lavalin had a “cozy relationship” with the son of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The company allegedly hired prostitutes for him during a visit to Canada a decade ago.
In the ethics commissioner’s report, it was revealed that it was SNC-Lavalin that originally suggested to the government a budget implementation bill should be used to introduce deferred prosecution agreements to Canada. As a result, in 2018, the Trudeau government quietly introduced legislation to provide for deferred prosecution agreements in Canada in the government’s 582-page budget legislation.
In contrast, when SNC-Lavalin approached the Harper government, they were turned away.
Trudeau’s defence is that he was trying to “save jobs”. But this was never about saving jobs – SNC-Lavalin admitted such.
The fact is that Justin Trudeau was willing to change our constitutional system for his friends at SNC-Lavalin.
The Canadian government has been corrupted.
This is why Canadians should pay attention to this scandal.
The federal government should operate in the best interests of Canadians, not in the interests of large corporations.
A demonstration in solidarity with Hong Kong’s democracy movement was blocked from marching through downtown Toronto by a group supporting the People’s Republic of China.
On Saturday, hundreds of people met in front of Toronto’s Old City Hallin support of the ongoing protests in Hong Kong against a controversial extradition bill supported by the Chinese regime.
The pro-democracy protesters in Toronto intended to march peacefully around the Eaton Centre, but shortly after arriving, the group found its path was blocked by counter-protesters chanting “one China” at the crowd.
“They do not have a permit to stage this rally here,” said Gloria Fung, one of the organizers of the pro-Hong Kong rally.
“They are only here to jeopardize our freedom of expression. In Canada we show zero tolerance to this kind of intimidation and harassment.”
Fung noted that Canadians enjoy a high degree of freedom of expression that is not seen in mainland China.
“This is Canada. We have the constitutional right to freedom of expression. No one can take that from all of us.”
The pro-Beijing protesters largely refused to talk to the media, but one man told reporters that “we want one China. Anything can be negotiated, but we want to talk in peace.”
In Hong Kong mass demonstrations have occurred against a bill which would have allowed the government to extradite Hong Kong residents to mainland China to face trial.
Protesters believe this bill would lead to the arrest of government critics and human rights campaigners on the autonomous island.
Protests have been ongoing for over 10 weeks now, with protesters calling for the resignation of the pro-Beijing leadership of Hong Kong’s government and for free democratic elections.
Beijing has called the ongoing demostrations in Hong Kong the “sprouts of terrorism” and used the police to crack down agressively.
Canada has remained relatively quiet on the situation, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau only saying that China should “be careful” when dealing with the pro-democracy demonstrators.
Global Affairs Canada gave a similarly light-handed approach, decrying violence on both sides and asking for restraint.
“For the last two months, large numbers of citizens have been exercising their fundamental right of assembly. However, there has recently been a rising number of unacceptable violent incidents, with risks of further violence and instability,” the department said in a statement.
Pro-Hong Kong and pro-Beijing demonstrations have occurred across Canada in recent weeks, including one featuring a former Ontario Liberal minister telling a crowd in Markham to support the Chinese government and police force.
Canada’s conflict of interest and ethics commissioner found that Justin Trudeau’s pressuring of Jody Wilson-Raybould to interfere in the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin broke the federal ethics rules. That sounds serious because it is. But despite the severity of the finding, such a violation carries no real punishment.
That needs to change, True North’s Andrew Lawton says.
