Professor, author and columnist Salim Mansur has been disqualified from seeking the Conservative nomination.

Mansur, a recently retired Western University professor, announced his candidacy last September in his home riding, London North Centre.

Despite being told by the Conservative Party of Canada’s regional organizer last November that he was allowed to launch his campaign and begin campaigning, Mansur received notice from the party’s executive director Monday morning that his nomination candidacy was “disallowed.”

“The (National Candidate Selection Committee of the Conservative Party of Canada) has disallowed your candidacy as a candidate for the Conservative Party of Canada,” said an email from Dustin Van Vugt.

No reason was provided in the email, but Mansur told me in a brief interview that Conservative leader Andrew Scheer’s campaign manager, Hamish Marshall, advised him last week of the party’s concerns with Mansur’s past writing and public speaking on Islamism and the politics of radical Muslims, which Marshall said will likely be portrayed by Liberals and others as Islamophobic, and become disruptive to the party’s national campaign.

It’s Mansur’s academic career that has held him in such high esteem by the Conservatives in the past, however. Mansur has testified before parliament on numerous occasions at the invitation of the Conservatives. In 2017, he was awarded the Canadian Senate’s 150th Anniversary Medal for his work promoting interfaith understanding, presented by Conservative senator Linda Frum.

Mansur, a devout Muslim, has been a stalwart opponent of radical Islamism and the groups advancing it within Canada. He’s chronicled this fight as a Muslim and as an academic in his bestselling book Islam’s Predicament: Perspectives of a dissident Muslim.

The retired professor said in an open letter on his website that his mission is to “elect a Conservative government in Ottawa with Andrew Scheer as our next Prime Minister.” On his platform page, Mansur cites economic growth, strengthening Canada’s security, and vigorously protecting individual freedoms as his priorities.

In the interests of disclosure, I have introduced Mansur to a number of political activists in London as a personal favour, and have served as a sounding board for some ideas he had about his campaign. I have received no compensation for these or any other efforts related to his candidacy.

While speaking at the Women Deliver 2019 conference, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about ejecting Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from caucus and how his actions affected his feminism. He responded by saying his handling of the two female Members of Parliament “increased his feminism”.

“It’s been a tough year in some ways for you, you put tough women in your cabinet,” said Doucet. “How did this change your feminism?” asked BBC journalist Lyse Doucet.

“It’s been a tough year in some ways for you, you put tough women in your cabinet,” said BBC News journalist Lyse Doucet. “How did this change your feminism?”

“It increases my feminism. It continues to challenge and make us think differently about it,” replied Trudeau.

The comments came during a Q & A at the “world’s largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women” in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Justin Trudeau spoke alongside other world leaders such as President of Ethiopia Sahle-Work Zewde, President of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta, and President of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Justin Trudeau’s “tough year” included the resignation of Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott from their respective positions in the Liberal government, followed by them being ejected from the party’s caucus.

The turbulent inner-party conflict came after former Justice Minister Wilson-Raybould alleged that the Prime Minister’s Office was involved in attempts to politically interfere with the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin.

Since then, both former Liberal party members have decided to run as independent candidates in the upcoming election.

China has once again shown its contempt for Canada as the Communist regime warns against helping the United States in the case of Huawei.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang recently warned Canada about the “consequences” of helping the United States in their proceedings against telecommunications giant Huawei.

“We hope that the Canadian side can have a clear understanding of the consequences of endangering itself for the gains of the U.S. and take immediate actions to correct its mistakes so as to spare itself the suffering from growing damage,” Geng said.

In December, Canada arrested Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou on an American warrant, the Chinese quickly retaliated by arresting two Canadians living in China.

Accused of stealing “state secrets,” Michael Korvig and Michael Spavor have been denied the right to a lawyer.

Despite the Chinese government denying the arrests were connected to the arrest of Wanzhou, Geng inferred a connection multiple times in his comments last week.

Wanzhou was arrested for allegedly lying to American authorities and allowing Huawei to do business with Iran — violating American sanctions.

Canada and the United States have recently been the target of Chinese aggression over the Huawei dispute, with the Chinese ambassador going so far as to accuse Canada of “white supremacy” in regards to their treatment of Wanzhou.

Several countries have banned or limited Huawei as the company’s close ties with the Chinese government are seen as a security concern.

American authorities found that Huawei was “unwilling to explain its relationship with the Chinese government or the Chinese Communist Party” and that Huawei “admits that the Chinese Communist Party maintains a Party Committee within the company.”

Canada has yet to decide the fate of Huawei in Canada, but in the meantime, the company has already established itself as a player in the telecommunications industry.

Security expert and True North fellow, Leo Knight, has been vocal about his opposition to Huawei entering Canada’s 5G network.

“The chief concern about the provision of 5G network technology is the potential for so-called backdoors that could allow Chinese cyber geeks to spy on the west or in the extreme situation to attack networks and, for example, take down the hydro grid or all air traffic communications,” said Knight.

“The risks of allowing Huawei to control our 5G networks are too great. This should be a no-brainer.”

Along with imprisoning Canadians and accusing Canada of white supremacy, China has also tried to put economic pressure on Canada to get us to abandon scrutiny of Huawei.

China has been blocking Canadian exports, most notably canola, using vague and unfounded reasoning.

As China continues to try to intimidate and bully Canada, there has been no indication on exactly how Prime Minister Trudeau will retaliate or protect Canadian interests.

A captured ISIS fighter who is a dual citizen of Canada and Trinidad has revealed that ISIS sent him on a mission to enter the US through the country’s border with Mexico with the purpose of committing terrorist activities upon entry.

Abu Henricki told authorities that the intelligence arm of the terror cell contacted him to enter the United States through a route from Puerto Rico through Mexico using false passports.

President Donald Trump is currently weighing options to curb the flow of illegal migrants from Mexico.

According to Henricki, ISIS was planning to target the US financial system after getting fighters into the country.

“They were going to move me to the Mexican side [of the U.S. southern border] via Puerto Rico. This was mastermind[ed] by a guy in America. Where he is, I do not know. That information, the plan came from someone from the New Jersey state from America. I was going to take a boat [from Puerto Rico] into Mexico. He was going to smuggle me in,” said Henricki about the plan.

Henricki also claims that ISIS also approached several other english-speaking fighters to participate in their plan to infiltrate the United States.

According to the 2018 Public Report on the Terrorism Threat to Canada, there are around 190 people who have left Canada to fight for an extremist organization. Out of those, the government estimates approximately 60 individuals are known to have returned to Canada since participating in terrorist activities abroad.

The Canadian government has failed to produce any meaningful plan to deal with ISIS fighters who wish to return to Canada. When pressured by the opposition to release a report on what the federal government would do about returning fighters, the Liberals produced a six-page report on the situation describing the legal difficulties behind the issue.

According to internal documents from the Privy Council Office, high-level government officials have discussed the possibility of repatriating ISIS fighters onto Canadian soil.

“However, as part of our due diligence, my officials, in consultation with the interdepartmental community, have evaluated a number of possible options/transfer scenarios,” read the memo.