Elections Canada paid several social media influencers a total of $325,000 before scrapping the project due to partisan concerns.
The campaign was supposed to rally more young voters to the polls, however the entire project was struck down before it was fully implemented.
A total of $650,000 in taxpayer dollars was budgeted for the project, and nearly half of that amount had already been paid out before the plan was canceled.
According to Conservative MP and Shadow Minister of Finance, Pierre Poilievre, some of the influencers had praised Trudeau as “the ideal man” while disparaging former Prime Minister Stephen Harper as “Hitler” in the past.
When pressed on the issue, Elections Canada claimed that most of the taxpayer funds had already been used up.
“Most of that money has been spent already; we are working to recover some of it,” said a spokesperson for the department.
Ashley Callingbull, actor, model and First Nations activist
Andre De Grasse, Olympic sprinter
Mitch Hughes, YouTuber
Katherine Levac, comedian
Elle Mills, YouTuber
Maripier Morin, TV host and model
Alex Nevsky, singer-songwriter
Penny Oleksiak, Olympic swimmer
Nicolas Ouellet, TV host
Max Parrot, Olympic snowboarder
Thanh Phung, lifestyle/family blogger
Lilly Singh, YouTuber and talk show host
Maayan Ziv, photographer, disability issues activist and founding CEO of AccessNow
Reports claim that at least three of the influencers made partisan comments in the past.
“If Elections Canada’s CEO knew about the wildly partisan comments of these ‘influencers’ when he gave them money, he is biased. If he didn’t know, he’s incompetent,” said Poilievre about the decision.
It is currently unclear how much each of the influencers received for agreeing to be part of the project.
Jim Karahalios is the founder of Axe The Carbon Tax, a national campaign to oppose carbon taxes across the country.
Let’s be clear – the carbon tax won’t do anything for the environment. It’s a tax grab, period.
In this interview, Andrew and Jim talk about the history of the carbon tax in Canada and how Conservative parties don’t need to adopt a carbon tax in order to win.
Bill C-48 will put an end to oil tanker traffic along the northern coast of British Columbia. The legislation was narrowly approved with 49 senators voting in favour, 46 voting against and only one abstaining from the vote.
Federal Conservatives blasted the decision to pass the law in an official statement calling it an attempt by the Liberals to “attack” the oil and gas sector.
“Bill C-48 will help landlock Canadian energy exports and cost the Canadian economy billions of dollars,” said a statement by the Conservative Party of Canada.
“It will rob Indigenous communities in Northern B.C. and across the Prairies of potential economic development opportunities.”
The decision came a week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet announced an official approval for the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion
Alongside Bill C-69, the bills have been cited as being dangerous for the development of Canada’s oil sector.
Bill C-69 was also signed into law by the Senate this month. The legislation, which makes changes to the environmental regulations required for pipelines, has been called a threat to confederation by Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.
“The passage of these two bills not only undermines Canada’s economy but also the Canadian federation,” said Kenney.
“Their passage brings us closer to moving forward with a referendum on a constitutional amendment to eliminate equalization from the Canadian constitution. If Albertans cannot develop our resources within the federation, then we should not be expected to pay the bills in the federation.”
It shouldn’t need to be spelled out like this, but war memorials don’t glorify war. Just a couple of weeks after a Victoria councillor said Remembrance Day ceremonies are militaristic, the New Brunswick town of Sackville has put a memorial display on hold.
The 8th Canadian Hussars donated a retired light armoured vehicle to be installed in the town’s Memorial Park, but complaints about glorifying war and promoting militarism caused the town to scrap plans for the delay, even though the concrete pad was already being laid.
Almost every day now there’s a breathless news story or report in Canada on “fake news” or the vaguely defined phenomena of misinformation and disinformation. Some news outlets have even seconded full-time journalists to conduct investigations on the matter, holding these posts from now until – it seems – the October election.
They’re lengthy stories full of testimony of supposed experts in the field. Here’s the one big glaring problem with all of this though: Almost none of them ever offer up examples of actual damaging “fake news” that’s been unleashed in Canada in, say, the last six months.
I try to bring up this point whenever I’m on a radio or TV program and the question of “what do we do about fake news?” comes up. Back it up a bit, I say. Before we start discussing remedies and even regulations and fines, let’s first assess the severity of the problem.
It’s remarkable that we’re so deep into this conversation – to the point where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is going on about legal repercussions and news outlets are assigning beat reporters – yet it’s all entirely in the abstract. You can read an entire news feature on “fake news” and not once in the story will you read a genuine example of fake news.
It’s a big problem with this whole conversation. And to go on about fake news without really truly specifying anything is itself a version of fake news. Please, show us the evidence.
The only time I remember ever momentarily falling for fake news was a couple of days after the U.S. election. I saw a tweet by a news organization that I’d never heard of before claiming there had been a recount in certain states and that not only had Donald Trump won the electoral college but it was confirmed he’d now won the popular vote over Hillary Clinton. I was extremely doubtful but still clicked on the link. The website was a mess and the whole thing looked very unprofessional. I immediately concluded it was nonsense and shut the window. That was that. No real harm done.
Is this the sort of thing that we’re all supposed to be breathlessly on guard against? A blog posting false election results that is immediately apparent to any sane person only a few seconds after they click on it? If so, if that’s the problem we’re talking about here, it’s just not worth all of the fuss.
There are other real-life examples out there, but few of them have bearing on the average Canadian’s daily life.
Like the case of how Canadian Forces operating in Eastern Europe as part of a NATO mission have been maligned as living in luxury, stealing booze and being led by convicted killer Russell Williams (he’s still in jail and will be for a long time). It’s all false and part of a Russian campaign to sow distrust in NATO. But it has nothing to do with domestic issues in Canada.
There are real cyber problems out there to worry about – like financial and identity thefts, cyber attacks on critical infrastructure and attempts to steal classified information. Maybe we should adjust our priorities accordingly.
Weeks after Alberta Premier Jason Kenney repealed the province’s carbon tax, the federal government has set a date for its own carbon tax on Albertans.
Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said she’s informed her Alberta counterpart that the province’s residents will start paying the federally-imposed charge as of Jan. 1, 2020.
“I sent a letter to Minister [Jason] Nixon, he’s the Minister of Environment in Alberta, letting him know that as a result of Alberta’s decision to make it free to pollute in Alberta, that we will have the federal price on pollution,” she said.
“Alberta had a made in Alberta plan to put a price on pollution, and we clearly need Alberta to be part of our national climate plan.”
Alberta will be the fifth province to have a carbon tax forced upon it. The federal government imposed the tax on Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick on April 1, as a response to those provinces not having their own program meeting the federal government’s standards.
Alberta’s newly elected United Conservative government made the repeal of the carbon tax the first bill put forward in the legislature, symbolizing how much the carbon tax was despised by Albertans.
On Thursday the Albertan government announced that it is launching a court challenge to the federal imposition of the carbon tax on their province, asking the court if it is constitutional or not.
Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario have all also made similar challenges.
Albertans, as well as all Canadians, may have more reasons to despise the carbon tax.
The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) recently said that the government would need to nearly triple the carbon tax between now and 2030 to meet their climate-change goals.
This increase could raise the price of gas by as much as 30 cents per litre according to one estimate.
A report from last year painted an even darker picture, stating that the government would have to raise the carbon tax from the current $50 per tonne to $300 per tonne in order to make a real difference in carbon output.
A carbon tax makes the prospects of an economic recovery in Alberta look very low.
The federal government has made it clear that as long as they remain in power their carbon tax will be the only climate change plan they will accept.
True North reached out for comment from the MAC, and the Islamic Circle but had not heard back by the time of publishing.
Update:Shabir Ally from the IIDCI provided comment after the article had been published. It has since been included in the article.
Several controversial Islamist organizations have been awarded with a new round of funding from the Trudeau government’s Canada Summer Job program, True North has learned.
The Trudeau government’s handling of the grants has been mired in controversy and mismanagement since they announced a values attestation, which initially required organizations to sign a pro-abortion pledge or be deemed ineligible for funding.
Because of the controversial pledge, several organizations with Christian values — including summer camps and soup kitchens — were denied funding last summer.
Several organizations, however, which were awarded funding from the Trudeau government have had worrying links to Islamist ideology and terrorist groups in the past.
Once again this summer, the Trudeau government’s funding is raising eyebrows. The feds awarded the Islamic Society of North America-Canada (ISNA-Canada) with $25,787 in Canada Summer Jobs funding despite having its charity status revoked by the Canada Revenue Agency for allegedly funding a militant terror group.
However, True North has discovered that four other organizations with controversial beliefs have also been granted funding by the Liberal government this year.
Muslim Association of Canada (MAC)
According to official records, seven chapters of the Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) were listed as approved for funding. These chapters are located in:
Kitchener Centre
Two in London North Centre
Mississauga-Lakeshore
Ottawa West-Nepean
Scarborough Centre
Windsor-Tecumseh
As reported by True North founder and fellow Candice Malcolm in the Toronto Sun, the RCMP conducted a search warrant on MAC’s Mississauga headquarters in 2015 for allegedly funding a terror organization with links to Hamas.
Despite the group not facing charges, it was discovered that MAC provided $296,514 in funds to the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy-Canada (IRFAN-Canada), which has been designated a terror entity in Canada.
Islamic Information & Dawah Centre International
Another controversial group Islamic group to receive funding in 2019 is the Islamic Information & Dawah Centre International (IIDCI).
According to Ally, the comments were taken out of context from the rest of his sermon.
“Homosexuality is not comparable to pedophilia and murder, said Ally. I lectured at length to Muslims a very long time ago for a more inclusive view of the rights of persons of varied sexual orientations than most Muslims, especially in that traditional setting, were accustomed to hearing.”
“I believe that we qualify for the Canada Summer Jobs grant, since the core mandate of our organization respects the values underlying the Canadian Charter of Human Rights, and the rights and freedoms that the said charter grants to all persons without discrimination.”
According to the website, the group launched a campaign called “Defending Religious Freedom — Understanding Shariah” to educate the American public about Sharia law.
“So they said, ‘what is the position of Islam on homosexuality?’ They asked me this, a newspaper, right? So, I said, ‘put my name in the paper: The position is death,” said Quick in a Youtube video.
When asked about Quick’s past comments, the AlMaghrib Institute told True North that he has since changed his views.
“Dr. Abdullah is one of our contracted instructors and has stated his views have changed over time, taking into consideration those hurtful statements were made over 20 years ago,” said a spokesperson for the institute.
“We as an institute embrace multiculturalism and diversity, and would not allow any form of discrimination or hate.”
According to the Canada Summer Jobs website the group was awarded funding for its Milton branch.
The state-funded CBC published an article extoling the virtues of Marxism, the philosophy that became the precursor of communism, which has claimed upwards of 100 million lives due to genocide, war and famine.
You’d never see a mainstream media article suggesting we “embrace fascism,” so why is it acceptable to do this?
The Minister of Immigration Ahmed Hussen recently said at a World Refugee Day conference that he wants to see Canada take in more refugees as economic immigrants.
Currently, Canada has separate streams to process refugees and immigrants. By allowing refugees to enter through economic immigrant streams, the decision could potentially blur the lines between the two systems.
“My wish is that we continue to increase levels in our immigration system for refugees. I’m very open to saying that, and I will do whatever I can, in whatever position I am in, to continue to push for higher refugee numbers every single year,” said Hussen.
Currently, Canada takes in more refugees than any other country in the world. According to statistics from the United Nations, Canada welcomed 28,100 refugees in 2018.
Between February 2017 to March 2019, Canada has had a total intake of 41,577 illegal border crossers, only 13,857 of which have been finalized according to the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (IRRB).
Asylum claims have grown to such a degree that the system has become extremely backlogged. The IRRB has admitted that it no longer can eliminate the backlog but only manage its growth. Currently, refugee and asylum claimants must wait up to five years before even receiving a hearing on their application.
A pilot project by the Liberal government has already been in the works to streamline refugees through Canada’s immigration system.
According to National News Watch, one Syrian refugee has made it into Canada through the Liberal pilot.
