fbpx
Tuesday, May 6, 2025

FUREY: A scandal worse than Trudeau’s harshest critics predicted

By
Anthony Furey
-

Nobody saw this coming. Were there people who believed it was possible that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and those around him improperly pressured Jody Wilson-Raybould on the SNC-Lavalin file? You bet.

But nobody guessed it would be as bad as Wilson-Raybould said it was during her bombshell testimony on Wednesday. This scandal has become worse than Trudeau’s harshest critics predicted.

“For a period of approximately four months between September and December 2018, I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the Attorney General of Canada in an inappropriate effort to secure a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with SNC-Lavalin. These events involved 11 people (excluding myself and my political staff) – from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Privy Council Office, and the Office of the Minister of Finance. This included in-person conversations, telephone calls, emails, and text messages. There were approximately 10 phone calls and 10 meetings specifically about SNC-Lavalin that I and/or my staff was a part of,” Wilson-Raybould said.

That was just the opening paragraph of an opening statement that lasted over half an hour. During that time, Wilson-Raybould did not present innuendos or rumours or impressions – she offered up detailed accounts of those meetings, phone calls, text messages and more that practically incriminate several of the most senior people in government.

Not only did Wilson-Raybould detail numerous examples of this “consistent and sustained effort” but also explained how she made it to clear to them multiple times that she felt this was inappropriate influence and wanted it to stop.

“I was irritated by having the meeting as I already told the Prime Minister et cetera that DP [deferred prosecution] was not going to happen and that I was not going to issue a directive,” she says of one such incident. Another was a meeting with now former Principal Secretary Gerald Butts where she explicitly tells him to stop pressuring her and then he goes right on pressuring her again a moment later.

Speaking of Butts, it looks like he is the one in the biggest trouble here. Wilson-Raybould cites a text message to her from her Chief of Staff concerning a meeting the latter had with Butts: “Gerry said: Jess there is no solution here that does not involve some interference.”

Wow. A flat out admission of intent to interfere in the justice system. If true, this is not just politically damning but potentially warrants obstruction of justice charges.

Now Butts himself denies any influence in his resignation letter. And Trudeau says he disputes Wilson-Raybould’s “characterization of events”.

It is for these conflicting reasons that there needs to be an RCMP probe, to get to the bottom of this and sort out these competing “perspectives,” to use Trudeau’s current favourite word.

Right now, Wilson-Raybould is the most credible voice at the table. Far more so than Trudeau, whose story keeps changing. Or top bureaucrat Michael Wernick, who gave a masterful but failed attempt at distracting from the issue at hand with his committee testimony theatrics.

A very bad scandal indeed. One with consequences that could very well go beyond the political sphere and into the legal.

Canada’s allies fight to revoke citizenship of terrorists while we let them return

By
True North Wire
-

While other countries have moved to revoke the citizenship of terrorists who have left their countries, Canada has moved to protect the citizenship of dual-citizen terrorists.

This month the British government has moved to revoke the citizenship of Shamima Begum, a London teenager who joined ISIS in 2015.

British law allows the government to revoke citizenship of those who act “in a manner which is seriously prejudicial to the vital interests of the UK.”

British Home Secretary Sajid Javid has taken a strong stance against allowing terrorists like Begum to enjoy the benefits of British citizenship and has asked the government to close loopholes which may allow other terrorists to return to the UK.

While the British are working to keep terrorists out of their country, Canada has done the opposite.

In 2016 the Trudeau government passed Bill C-6, a bill which protects dual-citizen terrorists from having their citizenship revoked.

Not only did bill C-6 help people like Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a convicted terrorist who helped plan the 2008 Mumbai attacks which left 166 people dead — it also reinstated the citizenship of those that were revoked under the Harper government.

This includes Zakaria Amara, the Toronto 18 mastermind who was convicted of plotting terrorist attacks against Canadians.

Meanwhile, on Monday United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected a lawsuit from a former US resident who joined ISIS and wants to be allowed to return.

“She’s a non-citizen terrorist; she has no legal basis for a claim of U.S. citizenship,” he said.

“She’s not coming back to the United States to create the risk that someday she’d return to the battlefield and continue to put at risk American people, American kids, American boys and girls that were sent to help defeat ISIS — she put them at risk, she’s not a U.S. citizen, she’s not coming back.”

As more ISIS fighters try to return home, Canada has made it clear that its door will still be open.

FUREY: The SNC-Lavalin Debacle and Mark Norman Affair are beginning to converge

By
Anthony Furey
-

We have a situation on our hands here.

Will Jody Wilson-Raybould face the same fate as Mark Norman?

True North’s Anthony Furey says it’s sad that Canada has become a country where we have to worry about political interference in the justice system.

KNIGHT: Jody Wilson-Raybould takes a wrecking ball to the House of Commons

By
Leo Knight
-

Former Attorney General and Minister of Justice Jody Wilson-Raybould took a wrecking ball to the House of Commons today with her testimony before the Standing Committee on Justice when she described the pressure, direct and indirect,interference applied to her and her Chief of Staff to abandon the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin over bribery charges resulting from business dealings in Libya.

The issue was over so-called Deferred Prosecution Agreements (DPA) which was only brought in as a tool in the Criminal Code as a result of a tack on to the budget legislation in July and passed by Parliament in September.

There seems to be no doubt that this tool was enacted with the sole purpose of affecting the ongoing prosecution of SNC-Lavalin in this case.

The pressure being applied to Wilson-Raybould began in early September before the ink was barely dry on the legislation. The former AG’s opening statement set the table for what was to come.  

“For a period of approximately four months between September and December 2018, I experienced a consistent and sustained effort by many people within the government to seek to politically interfere in the exercise of prosecutorial discretion in my role as the Attorney General of Canada in an inappropriate effort to secure a Deferred Prosecution Agreement with SNC-Lavalin. These events involved 11 people (excluding myself and my political staff) – from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Privy Council Office, and the Office of the Minister of Finance. This included in-person conversations, telephone calls, emails, and text messages. There were approximately 10 phone calls and 10 meetings specifically about SNC-Lavalin that I and/or my staff was a part of.”

“Within these conversations, there were express statements regarding the necessity for interference in the SNC-Lavalin matter, the potential for consequences, and veiled threats if a DPA was not made available to SNC. These conversations culminated on December 19, 2018, with a phone conversation I had with the Clerk of the Privy Council – a conversation for which I will provide some significant detail.”

After the Christmas break when she returned to Parliament on January 7th, she was told by the Prime Minister she was being removed as Attorney General and being shuffled to Veterans Affairs in what was clearly a demotion.

Stunning stuff.

What this also does is lay bare the inherent corruption in the Liberal Party of Canada and as such as government.  

The Trudeau government was barely in office when lobbyists for SNCLavalin came knocking looking for help after they were charged criminally in 2015 with offering Libyan government officials $48 million in bribes and defrauding Libya organizations of a further $130 million.

The list of who SNC lobbied over the next couple of years reads like a veritable who’s who of the Liberal government and ultimately reached into the PMO and the Privy Council and virtually all stops in between.

What seems unclear at this point is whether or not the Prime Minister can still command the respect of Parliament. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer gave a press conference after her testimony and called upon the Prime Minister to resign.

In 1983, when PierreTrudeau  was feeling the pressure of office he took a “walk in the snow” to consider his position. He resigned the office of Prime Minister the next day.

It’s time for the RCMP to get involved and begin investigating whether a breach of Sec 139 of the Criminal Code occurred and if so, by whom.

It’s also time for the Prime Minister to take his own “walk in the snow” and consider his position.

Poll shows Canadians feeling worse under Trudeau

By
True North Wire
-

A new poll suggests nearly half of all Canadians think Canada is worse off under Justin Trudeau while less than one in four think it’s doing better.

When polling firm Leger asked Canadians “is Canada doing better or worse since the election of Justin Trudeau’s liberal government in 2015?” a staggering 46% of Canadians thought Canada is doing worse, compared to only 22% who thought Canada is doing better.

Unsurprisingly, the Western provinces overwhelmingly believe Canada has gone in the wrong direction. Trudeau’s opposition to pipelines and the energy sector have had a devastating impact on the west.

“In Alberta, for example, we see that 59% of people believe Canada is doing worse, so there are regional issues affecting that overall number, but it is quite staggering,” Leger said.

The poll also shows that Andrew Scheer is considered the best leader in 8 out of the 12 key areas Leger asked Canadians about, including taxes, public safety, and economic growth and employment.

Justin Trudeau was only considered best in three areas.

The Leger poll, which came out on February 21st, is just one of the many polls which have indicated that Canadians feel less well off and more infuriated after four years of Liberal government.

An Angus Reid poll from February 5th shows that 63% of all Canadians think that the West gets treated poorly by the federal government, with half of Westerners believing succession from Canada is a real possibility for them.

Higher taxes and a battered oil and gas sector have made life more expensive for Canadians. It’s no wonder the number of Canadians who would call their financial position “good” hit a three year low, according to Ipsos.

Poll after poll indicates Canadians haven’t seen the benefits of the Trudeau government’s plan to “grow the middle class, and help those working hard to join it.”

Increased pessimism will spell trouble for Trudeau as a federal election is scheduled for fall of this year.

True North Field Report: United We Roll protesters mischaracterized by mainstream media

By
True North Wire
-

Armchair journalists, who didn’t bother attending the United We Roll protest in Ottawa claimed the protesters were racists and white nationalists.

However, the people True North’s Graeme Gordon spoke to last week were by and large ordinary blue-collar folk from across the country concerned about their and Canada’s economic future.

Learn more: tnc.news/2019/02/22/gordon-un…by-mainstream-media/

https://soundcloud.com/candicemalcolm/united-we-roll-protesters-mischaracterized-by-mainstream-media

Check out our newest product – The True North Field Report

Listen on iTunes


Listen on Spotify


Listen on Soundcloud

LAWTON: Canadians are over Trudeau. Are you?

By
Andrew Lawton
-

A new poll shows Canadians are feeling the country is worse under Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. The Liberals carried just one of three by-elections this week. The People’s Party of Canada got over 10 per cent of the vote in one of them.

True North’s Andrew Lawton was live to tackle what this means headed into October’s election.

Pro-carbon tax rally cancelled for poor attendance

By
True North Wire
-

A rally in support of the carbon tax had to be called off after only nine people showed up.

The alleged demonstration outside the New Brunswick legislature in Fredericton was to last seven hours on Feb. 15, but the group of nine all gave up within an hour.

Among the nonet was New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon.

The group had disbanded before any journalists arrived to cover the event, which was inspired by teenage Swedish environmental activst Greta Thunberg’s pro-carbon tax advocacy.

“The main goal of this strike is to voice our support for the implementation of a revenue-neutral carbon fee and dividend policy (carbon tax),” said the Facebook page for the event.

The organizer was disappointed by the lack of uptake from the community. This should come as no surprise to Canadians considering how unpopular the carbon tax is.

“Ideally I’d like to have high school students take the lead, but that’s not happening yet,” said organizer Dominique Deveaux.

A couple of protesters who had arrived late had told the media they had seen similarly weak turnouts on similar events across New Brunswick.

The event came just a few days after federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer told a crowd in Fredericton that the “Conservatives’ job number one will be to repeal the carbon tax.”

The Liberal government is looking to impose a carbon tax on the provinces by $50 a tonne by 2022.

Several provinces, including New Brunswick, have joined in a lawsuit claiming the imposition of a carbon tax on the provinces is unconstitutional. New Brunswick will be intervening in Ontario’s constitutional challenge of the carbon tax in April.

The Fredericton group is planning another demonstration in late March.

Feds disapprove of Quebec’s planned immigration reform

By
True North Wire
-

The federal government has voiced its anger at Quebec for emphasizing the importance of integration and wanting to be more selective about who is allowed to immigrate to the province.

The new Quebec government’s Bill 9 would reform the province’s immigration system to ensure that immigrants’ values match those of the province.

Bill 9 would ensure immigrants learn French and adopt the “democratic values and the Quebec values expressed by the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms” before they get permanent residency.

The federal government has said he doesn’t believe these conditions should exist.

Federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc​ said earlier this month that the government does “not support the reintroduction of conditional permanent residency.”

The Trudeau government dropped the conditions on maintaining permanent residency that were introduced under the previous Harper government.

Through the current legislation, Quebec Premier François Legault wants permanent residents to affirm belief in gender equality, respect for democracy, and other values in Quebec’s provincial charter.

Bill 9 will also put an emphasis on job-matching and remaining in specific regions to help deal with those scamming the current system by leaving Quebec as soon as they get permanent residency.

“In 2016, there were five times as many immigrants from Quebec’s immigrant investor program living in greater Vancouver than there were in all of Quebec,” said True North founder Candice Malcolm in a column on the topic.

“Come work in Quebec, but you will have to learn French and have the knowledge of Quebec values to be here forever,” said Quebec immigration minister Simon Jolin-Barrette.

While debating Bill 9 in the Quebec national assembly, Liberals shouted down Jolin-Barrette while he was trying to address the house.

Premier Legault, for his part, believes his government’s plan will address the serious misuse in the current system, adding he expects the federal government to get behind the plan.

“I am confident that the federal government will give Quebecers what Quebecers want,” he said.

LAWTON: More schools must let kids be kids

By
Andrew Lawton
-

Two Quebec schools are letting kids engage in rough play, complete with body contact, even if it means they might get hurt.

The new rules are the antidote to a generation that has been bubble-wrapped and coddled, says True North’s Andrew Lawton, who thinks more schools should embrace this approach.

1...1,4311,4321,433...1,460Page 1,432 of 1,460

Related stories

© 2025 True North | Privacy Policy