At least two Ontario post-secondary schools have signs telling people it’s none of their business if they encounter someone of the opposite sex in the bathroom.
It’s another instance of forced tolerance, which is so bad in the United Kingdom that police are actually arresting or reprimanding people for tweets deemed “transphobic.”
True North’s Andrew Lawton explains.
An Ethiopian man from Toronto who was captured in Syria, Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed, admitted to helping ISIS produce their gruesome execution videos.
Mohammed was captured by the Syrian Democratic Forces and is one of approximately one hundred Canadians who has left the country to fight for an extremist cause.
Since being caught, he has admitted to being a narrator to two ISIS films, one of which shows a mass execution of captured soldiers.
The execution site in the video was confirmed by an open-source Candian intelligence group called iBrabo.
The Trudeau government has been hard-pressed on the issue of Canadian citizens who have traveled to the middle east to fight for extremist causes abroad.
Mohammed, is one of many Canadians whose case is being reviewed by the government.
The Conservativeshave criticized the Trudeau government of their handling of Canadians who have gone to fight abroad.
Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer has supported a hard on crime approach to those individuals involved in fighting for foreign terrorist organizations.
“Put them in prison, charge them and take away their ability to walk the streets and infect others with their extremist ideology,” said Scheer.
According to a former CSIS officer, a significant number of Canadians were involved in ISIS’ propaganda operations.
“Someone who is working in the propaganda wing can hurt us over and over and over again,” said an anonymous source.
Mohammed was also known for being a commander of an ISIS unit, which included over a dozen terrorist fighters.
When detained by his captors, the former Toronto resident was armed with an AK-47 and several handguns.
In his interviews, Mohammed admitted that he joined ISIS in 2013 over the internet and immediately left to fight for the group abroad after his indoctrination.
The Trudeau government guesses “around 60” Canadians who have been suspected to have left to fight for extremist causes have returned from abroad.
Justin Trudeau is taking the provinces to court to fight for his “right” to impose a tax on Canadians during a federal election year.
Isn’t that craziest thing ever?
Even if Trudeau wins this court battle, True North’s Anthony Furey thinks Trudeau will regret this move.
The provincial government of Saskatchewan has taken the federal Liberals to court over what they call an “unconstitutional” carbon tax which comes in effect on April 1st.
The first appearance took place in the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal on February 13th.
Lawyers representing the province of Saskatchewan argued that the federal government doesn’t have the power to impose a tax regime in the province. Lawyer Mitch McAdam pointed to the inconsistency of forcing a tax only on those provinces that haven’t created a carbon pricing plan of their own.
In the province, support for the carbon plan is the lowest nationwide. A recent poll by Angus Reid shows that in October 2018, only 29
Soon after the Liberal government announced that it would impose a federal carbon tax on the provinces up to $50 a tonne by 2022, several premiers have challenged it politically and now judicially.
A University of Regina study shows that the federal carbon tax could potentially reduce Saskatchewan’s GDP by $16 billion while having a negligible effect on Canada’s carbon emissions.
In Ontario, Premier Doug Ford was the first to challenge the carbon tax as unconstitutional.
“The federal carbon tax will eliminate jobs and make life more difficult for families, seniors and everyone who works hard to get ahead in Ontario and across our country,” said Ford in a news release.
Saskatchewan Premier, Scott Moe, echoed Premier Ford’s concerns.
“We are thankful for the support of Premier Ford and Premier Higgs, and the people of Ontario and New Brunswick, for intervening in our case against this unconstitutional and harmful federally imposed carbon tax,” said Scott Moe.
“Premier Ford and Minister Mulroney have shown great leadership in introducing a constitutional challenge against this job killing carbon tax, and Saskatchewan is proud to stand with the people of Ontario in this fight.
Along with Saskatchewan and Ontario, the province of New Brunswick is also joining the judicial challenge of the federal carbon tax plan.
The United Conservative Association, SaskPower/SaskEnergy, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan and the International Emissions Trading Association are also present as interveners on behalf of the province in the court challenge.
During the first court appearance, an intervener for the United Conservative Party of Alberta stated that the carbon tax directly threatens Canadian federalism.
“It’s the position of the United Conservative Association that allowing Canada to expand its constitutional powers at the expense of the provinces will upset the balance of federalism in Canada,” said lawyer, Ryan Martin.
Lawyers on the side of Saskatchewan argued their case citing that the government doesn’t have the jurisdiction to implement a tax in selective parts of the country.
This article originally appeared in the Toronto Sun.
Abdulrahman El-Bahnasawy was either a hardened terrorist or a mentally ill drug abuser exploited by a cruel system. Depending on who you ask.
The deeply troubled man from Mississauga, Ontario, has been sentenced to 40 years after pleading guilty to seven counts of terrorism last March.
His thwarted attempts in New York City were an ISIS-fuelled plot where he would have unleashed carnage and bloodshed on Manhattan landmarks.
Now, his mother tells the Sun she refuses to accept his guilty plea and wants to present the facts – ones that tell the story of his mental health and how unfair Canadian and U.S. authorities have been to him.
Khadiga Metwally told The Sun in an email that her 21-year-old son is a “sick kid” and that a U.S. prison is “the harshest environment any kid [can] face.”
“He tried suicide three times with poor treatment in the harsh environment in prison,” Metwally moaned.
“My son was arrested by all unfair reasons… (he was) manipulated by FBI with the help of RCMP.
“They manipulated him by ‘hyper’ talking while he was manic and wasn’t under treatment.”
She added: “Then [he] was arrested from the family car during our vacation visit to New York City. My son had only his bag and a few clothes. Nothing to threat[en] anybody.”
And it’s all Canada’s fault, Metwally said calling the charges “fabricated” and stating her son did not get the treatment he needed.
She also shared a document addressed to CAMH from the RCMP, requesting El-Bahnasawy’s records in a drug rehabilitation program during its investigation.
“This document shows the dirty role which the RCMP played to manipulate and drag a mentally ill boy via the internet until he got arrested in the U.S.,” Metwally writes. “We need to show you all his other medical reports but on time inshallah.”
“When we moved back to Canada, we seeked (sic) mental health treatments for my son locally, however, we were, unfortunately, the three-quarters [of] Canadians who had a hard time seeking [getting] such help.”
Metwally said she has gone public to warn other Canadian parents that authorities can twist their children’s words and intentions.
“Our story is an alarm for all Canadians to act effectively to protect their kids from any kind of ‘net manipulating’ … specially from very sensitive organizations who [are] supposed to protect them not to manipulate,” she said.
What investigators said about his role in the Big Apple bomb plot:
— Purchased 40 lbs. of hydrogen peroxide to be used in an improvised explosive device;
— Admitted mailing bomb-making material to the New York City area prior to the deadly plot;
— The U.S. Dept. of Justice said he “pinpointed bomb locations on a map of the subway system”;
— Used “encrypted electronic messaging applications” with his co-conspirators, and
— The plan was to bomb subway system and Times Square in addition to carrying out mass slaughter with guns in busy Big Apple restaurants and concert venues.
“[He] plotted with Talha Haroon, a 20-year-old U.S. citizen living in Pakistan and Russell Salic, a 38-year-old Philippines citizen and resident, to conduct bombings and shootings in heavily populated areas of New York City during the Islamic holy month of Ramadhan in 2016, all in the name of ISIS,” the DOJ said.
It adds: “El-Bahnasawy acquired bomb-making materials and helped secure a cabin within driving distance of New York City to use for building explosive devices and staging the NYC Attacks.”
But the plot was thwarted when an FBI operative posing as an ISIS fanboy infiltrated this cell and offered to take part in the plot.
In May 2016, El-Bahnasawy travelled from Toronto to the New York City area, according to the DOJ, “in preparation for the attacks.”
His mother doesn’t believe it.
El-Bahnasawy’s legal eagles argued he was mentally ill and unfit to stand trial. The judge disagreed.
Just 18-years-old at the time of his arrest, the sophisticated ISIS cell he belonged to targeted a number of New York City landmarks in the spring of 2016.
El-Bahnasawy said he wanted to “create the next 9/11” and in some terror one-upmanship unleash attacks worse than the 2015 massacres in Paris and Brussels.
Meanwhile, his mother seemed to believe her son was indulging in some online fantasy or “online chatting”.
The unsporting police, she believes, targeted her boy while he was off his meds and on a waiting list for mental health treatment.
“With good medication, he shows great results. But during entrapment, he was waiting in waiting list [for] mental health [treatment] in Canada,” Metwally said.
To prove her point, she shared his health records from CAMH.
According to the documents, El-Bahnasawy was a mental wreck in 2013-2014.
A heavy drug user – including heroin and air fresheners — he also suffered from anxiety, depression and occasional hallucinations.
While his mother claims the family is Canadian and lives in the Toronto area, in CAMH reports the young terrorist calls Kuwait the family’s “home”.
But in a 24-page handwritten letter presented at his trial last year, El-Bahnasawy claimed he wanted to live a normal life in Canada.
And he wanted to experiment with drugs but his devout parents were controlling and authoritarian.
El-Bahnasawy had lived in Canada since he was seven years old and claimed to have kissed the ground when the family arrived from Kuwait.
As for racism and bullying, he said it was not part of his experience.
“The students all treated each other the same, including me,” he wrote. “I quickly started making friends and I remember it being a great feeling.”
But his mother tried to put the kibosh on the boy’s newfound freedom, he claimed.
Finally, she sent him back to Kuwait where he did experience the harsh realities of racism and became a dope dealer and heavy user.
By the age of 17, he was back in Canada and off drugs. But he suffered from depression and suicidal tendencies.
“My parents forced me to enrole (sic) in an Islamic school, I wasn’t Muslim and didn’t identify as Muslim, but it was better than Kuwait,” he wrote, adding it was during his time at the Islamic school in the Toronto area that he become radicalized and drawn to ISIS and “militant jihad.”
According to a 2018 forensic psychological evaluation of El-Banhasawy — shared with the Sun by his mother — he came from an intact, well-educated moderate Sunni Muslim family. He has average intellectual abilities but was diagnosed with bipolar disorder; his heavy drug use in his teenage years contributed to deeper cognitive problems.
The report states that the racism he experienced in the Middle East, as well as his social problems, drug use and over-protective parents led him towards ISIS and the jihadist ideology.
According to the doctors assessing El-Banhasawy, “this is not an unusual path through which young people become involved in extreme political violence.”
The documents came unsolicited to the Sun, which made no deals at all concerning receipt of the material.
Twenty-four hours later, Metwally apparently had a change of heart. She wrote again to say “please destroy them all.”
Twitter has banned a parody profile of Environment Minister Catherine McKenna for a second time, according to the account’s creator.
A screenshot posted on the latest version of the Catherine Mckenna parody (@mockennna) shows their previous account (@CatheeMckennna) had been permanently suspended on Wednesday.
Despite clearly identifying itself as a parody in the bio, Twitter considers it to be an impersonator.
The creator of the parody accounts informed True North that this suspension came without warning. The account was temporarily suspended prior to when Twitter claimed the account was an impersonation.
Despite making all the requested changes Twitter demanded of them, they were still suspended.
The creator also mentioned to True North that the old account had never been blocked by Minister McKenna’s office, but the new account was blocked immediately after it was created.
“Each social media platform has procedures in place that any verified user – of any party – can follow when they have been impersonated. Decisions on whether those accounts violate a platform’s Terms of Service are made solely at the discretion of the companies themselves,” McKenna’s Press Secretary told True North Centre.
“We all have a responsibility to protect our democracy and make sure our political debate is grounded in the facts.”
While Minister McKenna’s office did not comment as to whether or not they reported the parody account to Twitter, they had previously admitted to reporting the first iteration of the parody account last June.
The effort to censor a parody account is just one of many examples of the current government monitoring social media.
In 2017 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly told Facebook Executive Sheryl Sandberg that the social media giant needs to do more to address “fake news” or else face more regulations.
The government has just recently announced it will be spending $7 million on a campaign to tell Canadians what to believe online ahead of an election, alongside a new government task force to identify so-called “misinformation.”
Since rejoining Twitter as @mockennna on Wednesday, the McKenna parody has gotten nearly 2000 followers and plans to continue as before.
A Liberal bill overhauling Canada’s national security laws creates a loophole surrounding the promotion of terrorism.
Under the current laws, advocating for terrorism is a crime. Under the new laws, it only will be if a specific person is being directly
True North’s Andrew Lawton explains why this is so dangerous.
The Liberal-dominated Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights adopted a motion to interview three witnesses for an investigation into the alleged SNC-Lavalin political interference allegations.
The list, which includes the current Attorney General, David Lametti, fails to include two key individuals involved in the SNC-Lavalin fiasco, including Gerald Butts, and the former Justice Minister and Attorney General, Jody Wilson-Raybould herself.
Wilson-Raybould has since resigned from her position as the Minister of Veterans Affairs in the Liberal cabinet.
Opposition parties have been calling for a Justice Committee investigation into accusations that the Prime Minister’s Office attempted to pressure the former Attorney General to intervene in criminal charges against SNC-Lavalin.
During the meeting, the Liberals also arranged that the interviews be done “in camera” or behind closed doors and without transparency.
“It means in secret, no media, no transcripts, no public information, nothing. Total silence,” said Conservative MP, Pierre Poilievre.
Using their house majority, the Liberals defeated a bipartisan NDP–Conservative motion to add Butts and Wilson-Raybould to the witness list.
“We don’t have the tools, we don’t have the budget, we don’t have the mechanisms to go through the kind of fishing expedition and witch hunt the Conservatives would like to see.” said Liberal MP Randy Boissonnault.
NDP MP Nathan Cullen disagreed. Cullen argues, “Of course we have the power, the question is whether or not we want to use the power or not.”
A later amendment brought forward by the Conservatives, to waive Wilson-Raybould’s solicitor-client privilege and allow her to testify was also shut down by the Liberal majority committee.
“That is not an investigation, that is just simply going through the motions,” said NDP MP Nathan Cullen shortly after the justice committee adjourned.
Another separate investigation by the ethics commissioner was also launched shortly after the accusations came to light in the Globe and Mail. However, this investigation could take months to complete.
Although the original intent for the Justice Committee meeting was supposed to be a thorough inquiry into the key players involved in the SNC-Lavalin affair, the governing Liberals have widened the study’s scope.
This column originally appeared in the Toronto Sun
The SNC-Lavalin scandal and ensuing coverup have all the
That report cited sources who claimed former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould was demoted and shuffled from that role because she refused to intervene to stop the public prosecution of the Liberal-connected Quebec multinational. She was allegedly pressured by the PMO, but refused to do its dirty work.
The story has taken many twists and turns since.
Trudeau originally denied the report and insisted he never directed Wilson-Raybould to intervene, stating, essentially, that there’s nothing to see here.
“In our system of government, of course, (Wilson-Raybould’s) presence in cabinet should actually speak for itself,” said Trudeau on Monday evening.
On Tuesday morning, Wilson-Raybould abruptly resigned from cabinet.
In her resignation letter, she informed Canadians that she had retained one of Canada’s top lawyers to advise her on how she could tell her side of the story, despite Trudeau’s insistence on maintaining solicitor-client privilege.
When former prime minister Stephen Harper’s office was caught up in a scandal involving housing expenses from Conservative Senator Mike Duffy, Harper immediately waived this privilege to allow for an open and transparent investigation.
Trudeau offered no such gesture.
Instead, he hit back, with a combative news conference where he all but called Wilson-Raybould a liar. He once again gave his evolving side of the story, claiming she had been “inconsistent” with him all while condescendingly referring to the former attorney general as “Jody” while calling her male colleagues by their last names and titles.
Things went from bad to worse for the Trudeau government on Wednesday when members of Parliament held an emergency meeting of the Justice Committee to launch an investigation into what really happened.
The six Liberal MPs on the committee practically transformed themselves into agents of the PMO, blocking calls to have key witnesses testify — including Wilson-Raybould and top PMO officials — while name-calling opposition MPs and insisting on studying a law that the Liberals slipped into the last omnibus bill to protect SNC-Lavalin rather than investigating the scandal itself.
By mid-week, it was clear that the Trudeau government was in panic mode. Trudeau could barely make it through a news conference without saying something stupid, forgetting his lines, or simply looking like a deer in the headlights.
On Thursday, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather did the media rounds and claimed that Wilson-Raybould was demoted from her position because she doesn’t speak French (he later apologized and admitted it wasn’t true). Then, on Friday, Trudeau claimed that if Liberal MP Scott Brison had not resigned, Wilson-Raybould would still be attorney general.
The coverup is often worse than the crime, and, in this case, the possible crime itself is likely the worst allegation of political corruption and obstruction of justice in recent Canadian history.
Justin Trudeau once campaigned on bringing openness and transparency to Ottawa.
Rather than upholding this promise and letting the truth come out — allowing Wilson-Raybould to speak publicly, initiating an investigation through a parliamentary committee and offering straight answers rather than rehearsed lines and an ever-evolving storyline — it seems the federal Liberals are back to their old ways.
Far from the Sunny Ways PM that promised to do things differently, Trudeau is looking more and more like the corrupt leader of a Montreal Old Boys Club that operates under its own set of rules.
If the PMO did press undue influence on Jody Wilson-Raybould, someone in the PMO has to go.
Is it time for Justin Trudeau to cut ties with his senior staff, including Gerald Butts?
True North’s Anthony Furey discusses.
