fbpx
Friday, July 4, 2025

Alberta’s updated bill of rights will include right to refuse vaccination, Danielle Smith confirms

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
-
Source: X

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the fall update to the province’s bill of rights will protect Albertans’ personal medical decisions, including the right to refuse a vaccine.

Smith’s pledge came during a town hall in Bonnyville with over 300 UCP members, where she discussed strengthening residents’ liberties and freedoms, lowering taxes, protecting the province from federal overreach, and improving healthcare.

Smith confirmed the plans in a statement to True North.

“In the fall, we will be introducing legislation to amend Alberta’s bill of rights. Several amendments are being considered to strengthen Albertans’ individual and property rights, including an amendment to guarantee Albertans the right to accept or refuse a medical treatment,” she said.

Before becoming premier in 2022, Smith pledged to amend the Alberta Human Rights Act to prohibit employers from terminating employees based on their vaccination status, but she ultimately scrapped these plans after she was elected.

At the time, she called Albertans losing their jobs for declining to take the vaccine a “human rights violation.”

However, the Public Health Act takes precedence over all laws except the Alberta Bill of Rights, meaning an amended Alberta Human Rights Act would have done little to protect medical choices in the face of public health edicts. 

Smith also promised to ban post-secondary institutions from imposing vaccine mandates on students. 

“This decision damaged the education and mental health of thousands of Alberta’s best and brightest,” said Smith.

One of Smith’s first actions after being elected was to fire all 11 members of the Alberta Health Services’ board of directors just days after firing Chief Medical Officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw. 

Under Hinshaw’s leadership, Alberta Health Services advised former premier Jason Kenney to implement vaccine mandates and to close schools and churches. AHS officers visited churches to ensure compliance with protocols, fining or shutting down those that did not comply.

During Smith’s first press conference as premier, just hours after being sworn in, she said that the unvaccinated had experienced the most discrimination of any group in her lifetime.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau previously had harsh words for Canadians who opposed vaccination.

“There are also people who are fiercely opposed to vaccination, who don’t believe in science, who are often misogynistic, often racist too. It’s a small group, but it takes up space,” said Trudeau. “Do we tolerate these people?”

Conservative journalist defends vacation interview with Justin Trudeau

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: The Counter Signal

A conservative journalist who tracked down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his beach vacation and ended up interviewing him is defending his decision.

Keean Bexte, publisher of the Counter Signal, was criticized online – and by Trudeau himself – for approaching Trudeau on a family holiday, but Bexte said the prime minister’s record with independent media left him with no choice.

“Trudeau carefully selects which government-funded journalists are allowed to speak to him. Press conference rosters are managed by the PMO, and independent journalists are frequently arrested,” Bexte told True North. 

When Bexte confronted Trudeau alongside a colleague who goes by the name Kat Kanada online, the prime minister was annoyed that his vacation time had been interrupted. Nonetheless, he waved his security team away and granted a spontaneous interview.

Bexte, a former Rebel News journalist, and Kanada tracked down Trudeau’s plane by reviewing open-source information and approached him on a beach in Tofino, B.C.

Bexte and Kanada told True North that they wouldn’t have been able to speak with Trudeau if they hadn’t taken this approach.

Trudeau alternated between answering Bexte’s questions and challenging him on the ethics behind interrupting his family vacation.

“Do you think the prime minister should be able to have a family life?” Trudeau asked. “A lot of people look at the aggressiveness of tracking someone down and challenging them on vacation while they’re on the beach, And say ‘Wow, I don’t know that I’d want to sign up for this.’”
The interview touched on Trudeau’s political future. He told Bexte that he wasn’t looking for a replacement and that he would be running in the next election.

He said he’s not concerned about the polling numbers, which some show the Conservative Party coming out with a majority government, because he spends “a lot of time talking with Canadians—a lot of time, focusing on the things that we’re actually doing to deliver for people.”

Trudeau also said the Online Harms Act is “entirely focused on protecting kids” and is “actually not doing any censoring of the internet,” despite claims by free speech advocates and numerous legal analysts.

Bexte asked Trudeau how he could justify taking flying across the country vacation less than two months after his health minister, Mark Holland, said that families who take road trips are destroying the planet.

Trudeau said that because he only has ten days to vacation, he needs to fly to visit B.C., and as prime minister he must take a Royal Canadian Air Force Jet for security reasons, as was standard practice with his predecessors.

“If I’m going to go away with my family to a beautiful part of this country, where I spent time growing up, I need to do it this way,” Trudeau said.

Trudeau also said he works more than “the vast majority of Canadians” and deserves a holiday, though there have been reports that 24% of Trudeau’s time in office has been devoted to personal days.

“My kids spend all their life dealing with me as prime minister,” he said. “My son was just out there in the water splashing around and he came to see me because he was so excited that I came up to see him, and instead, he saw me giving an interview, being prime minister again. He just wants me to be (his) dad, and I’m gonna give him a little bit of that right now.”

Bexte agreed that politicians should be able to have private time with their families but clapped back that they should also answer questions from independent journalists.

“I think Canadians need to get answers from you more often than they do,” Bexte told Trudeau. “I think that you hide behind press conferences, that you determine who gets access to.” 

Trudeau said he does more press conferences than any other politician. Bexte noted that his government does not answer questions from independent media or invite them to press conferences.

Independent media, including True North and Bexte, then working for Rebel News, had to sue the government for access to the federal election debates in 2019.

Trudeau said he had nothing to do with which journalists got access to the federal leaders’ debates and that the Parliamentary Press Gallery, an organization made up of journalists, decides who qualifies as media.

Bexte said he thinks the interview went well. “Trudeau put his narcissistic personality on full display, lied frequently, and I’m glad we were able to show Canadians that,” he said.

Spirit suppliers sue LCBO over “contradictory pricing policies”

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario is now facing a lawsuit from several prominent alcohol conglomerates only days after ending its first ever province-wide strike. 

Spirits Canada filed a court application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to declare what it’s calling a “controversial LCBO-pricing term invalid and unenforceable.”

The lawsuit is in response to the LCBO’s “contradictory pricing policies” that were adopted by the retailer last year, allowing for suppliers to be penalized for non-compliance. 

Crown Royal, Canadian Club, JP Wiser’s, Forty Creek, Bacardi and El Jimador Tequila are all among the suppliers involved in the lawsuit.

In addition to the lawsuit, the suppliers have also contacted the Competition Bureau of Canada, claiming that the LCBO’s enforcement of its pricing policy is “an abuse of dominance with major anti-competitive implications for pricing and product choice impacting all Canadian consumers.”

The allegations have not been tested in court.

“As spirits suppliers, we have always appreciated our longstanding strategic partnership with the LCBO,” said Spirits Canada president and CEO Cal Bricker in a statement. 

“We are disappointed that we have had to refer the LCBO’s contradictory policies to the courts, but at this time, and amid retaliatory measures by the LCBO, we have been left with no other options.”

The suppliers said they’ve been trying to find a path forward with the LCBO outside of court.

The LCBO said in its own statement saying it is “aware of legal action taken by certain suppliers represented by Spirits Canada regarding select product pricing in Ontario.”

However, the Crown corporation called the claims made by Spirits Canada “inaccurate and highly misleading to consumers.”

“The fact is that when suppliers do not honour our legal agreements on consumer protection, the only people that lose are Ontarians,” said the LCBO on Wednesday. “By breaching the terms contained in our Purchase Order Terms and Conditions that require that LCBO receive the same or lower price as other Canadian liquor jurisdictions.”

The LCBO said its customers are unfairly made to pay more for alcohol than other Canadian consumers across the country.

“These are not retroactive tax bills, fines, nor penalties, but rather pricing chargebacks levied in accordance with terms of our long-term contracts,” reads the LCBO statement.

The liquor retailers said that their position remains that it would “not be fair to let a few suppliers gouge Ontario consumers.”

Spirits Canada represents almost 70% of all spirits sold by the LCBO and close to 35% of the retailer’s total products. 

The Competition Bureau confirmed to True North it received a complaint, but declined to comment on the application with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, to which the bureau is not a party.

The Faulkner Show | Who is Canada’s new Chief of Defence Staff General Jennie Carignan?

By
Harrison Faulkner
-

On the latest episode of The Faulkner Show, Harrison Faulkner is joined by the host of the Hard to Kill podcast and 15-year Canadian Armed Forces army veteran, Dave Morrow, to discuss the historic appointment of General Jennie Carignan as Canada’s next Chief of Defence Staff. The CAF are battling several critical issues right now such as a recruitment and attrition crisis, as well as a morale crisis. With the world in turmoil and lurching closer to all out war, this new appointment by Justin Trudeau may be his most significant appointment of his entire premiership of Canada.

Dave Morrow discusses the significance of this appointment, who the real Jennie Carignan is and the many stories and rumours circulating online regarding her leadership of a NATO mission in Iraq.

Watch The Hard to Kill Podcast on YouTube: www.youtube.com/@thehardtokillpodcast

Listen to The Hard to Kill Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-hard-to-kill-podcast-with-dave-morrow/id1455778118

Canada women’s soccer staff sanctioned after getting caught spying on rival team

By
Noah Jarvis, True North Wire
-
Source: Canada Soccer

As the Canadian women’s soccer team gears up for the Paris Olympics, two staff members, including an assistant coach, have been implicated in a scheme to spy on the New Zealand national team’s practices.

Team Canada have removed assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi from the Olympic team and have sent them back to Canada. 

On Tuesday, French authorities were notified of a drone that was seen flying over the New Zealand women’s soccer training session, which led to the drone operator’s detainment.

The drone operator was identified as Joseph Lombardi, a non-accredited member of the Canadian women’s team’s support staff. 

Lombardi is believed to have attempted to record the New Zealand women’s team practicing on July 19th, and on July 22nd ahead of Canada’s July 25 game against New Zealand. 

The Canadian Olympic Committee said that they were shocked by the incident and apologized to the New Zealand soccer team. 

“The Canadian Olympic Committee stands for fair-play and we are shocked and disappointed. We offer our heartfelt apologies to New Zealand Football, to all the players affected, and to the New Zealand Olympic Committee,” reads the COC statement.

Head Coach Bev Priestman offered to sit out of Canada’s game against New Zealand on Wednesday, a decision that the COC accepted. 

“I am ultimately responsible for conduct in our program,” said Priestman.

“Accordingly, to emphasize our team’s commitment to integrity, I have decided to voluntarily withdraw from coaching the match on Thursday. In the spirit of accountability, I do this with the interests of both teams in mind and to ensure everyone feels that the sportsmanship of this game is upheld.”

True North reached out to Team Canada for comment, though no response was received.

The Liberal government’s minister of sport and physical activity Carla Qualtrough emphasized that the spying scandal does not reflect Canadian values and supported the sanctions placed on Lombardi and Mander.

“Fair play is the highest principle of sport. The actions of those involved do not reflect Canada’s values or the values of sport,” said Qualtrough on X.

“When rules are broken, there must be consequences. I support the sanctions being imposed by the Canadian Olympic Committee, their apologies to New Zealand, and the decision of Head Coach Bev Priestman.”

The Canada women’s soccer spying scandal throws a wrench into the team’s attempt to repeat as Olympic gold medalists. 

Canada’s women’s soccer team placed first at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, beating out the competitive American team who placed third, and Sweden who lost to Canada in the final match to place second.

Alberta allocated $215 million in additional education funding due to population boom

By
Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
-
Source: Flickr

A surge in immigration has forced the province of Alberta to dip into its coffers to spend hundreds of millions more on education for the coming year.

The Alberta government has approved an influx of $215 million to be distributed throughout the province’s school boards for the 2024-25 school year. The announcement follows Alberta’s unprecedented population growth, resulting in a surge of new students.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said the provincial government seldom announces funding outside of the budget cycle, but the rising cost pressures caused by the population growth had to be addressed immediately. 

“I am confident that this new funding will help ensure that Alberta students continue to receive a world-class education,” said Nicolaides. 

Calgary Board of Education Chair Patricia Bolger said Calgary schools have seen 15,000 additional students enroll in the last three years. For next year, she expects an additional 8,000 to enroll.

“Together, these increases are enough to fill more than 38 new elementary schools. Right now, more than 150 out of our 251 schools are at or over capacity,” said Bolger.  

The board chair of Calgary Catholic Schools, Shannon Cook, said her board expects to contend with 2,800 new students this year. 

“Calgary Catholic thanks the Government of Alberta for the additional funding to help address the ongoing pressures of growing enrolment,” she said. 

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith previously told True North that Alberta’s unprecedented population growth of 200,000 people last year resulted in 22,500 new unfunded students. 

True North asked the premier and ministers how this funding would affect the unfunded student population but received no direct response. 

The $215 million in funding will be split up, with $125 million allocated towards operational funding and another $90 million meant for modular classrooms. 

All school authorities across the province will receive a share of the $125 million increase in operational funding. Funds will be provided based on the number of students each school authority serves.

The base instruction grant rate will be increased by 1% for all schools, and various other specific support grants will be increased by 2%, such as English as a second language.

Because the $125 million is being allocated through rate increases, school boards have complete autonomy and discretion on how they spend the money.

The additional $90 million will be invested to construct and install up to 100 new modular classrooms and relocate up to 50 modular units. 

The Alberta government said that these classrooms will provide up to 2,500 new spaces and 1,250 optimized spaces for students in the fastest-growing areas of Calgary and Edmonton.

Nicolaides said that he doesn’t like to call the modular classrooms, which causes him to think of trailers. He prefers “prefabricated classrooms,” which he said are “quite exceptional.”

Over the next three years, Alberta’s provincial government will provide $1.2 billion to address enrolment growth. The funding aims to assist in hiring 3,100 additional teachers and support staff. An additional more than $1.5 billion is being provided to address specialized learning needs in schools.

A record $9.3 billion will be spent on Alberta’s education system in 2024-25.

Editor’s Note: A change was updated to indicate Shannon Cook is the board chair of Calgary Catholic Schools, not Edmonton.

Rachel and The Republic | Trump’s life depends on what happens next

By
Rachel Parker
-
Source: Facebook

Today on Rachel and the Republic, Rachel Parker explains why former Secret Service director Kim Cheatle needed to go, and how Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s life depends on what happens next. Rachel also says some Democratic politicians shouldn’t be praised for their criticisms of the former director.

Finally, Rachel explains why Canada should take a cue from America and take a look at which government institutions and bureaucrats aren’t serving the Canadian public.

Tune into Rachel and the Republic now!

University of Alberta considers removing vintage artwork after accusations of racism

By
Noah Jarvis, True North Wire
-
Source: Wikipedia

The University of Alberta is considering removing a mural depicting Alberta’s pioneer history in response to allegations it reflects a history of racism and settler colonialism. 

This comes after a concerted push by anti-colonial activists who say that the mural is a racist depiction of Indigenous peoples that glorifies colonialism.

The ‘Alberta History’ mural was gifted to the University of Alberta in 1951 by renowned artist Henry George Glyde, who helped establish the university’s fine arts program in 1946. The mural portrays Fr. Albert Lacombe, an Anglican missionary of Indigenous ancestry, and Rev. George MacDougall, a methodist clergyman and missionary, preaching to a group of Indigenous peoples while Fort Edmonton looms in the background. 

Activists have taken issue with the depiction of Indigenous people wearing loincloths.

Source: University of Alberta

In 2021, the university administration conducted a consultation process to determine what should be done with the mural. Options range from leaving it as is to removing it altogether.

Odile Cisneros, a University of Alberta modern languages professor, told True North that the people who are calling for the mural’s removal do not understand history, calling for the artwork to be preserved.

Cisneros says that Glyde’s art comes from a tradition developed in the 1920s of Mexican muralism depicting Indigenous peoples in a way that honours them and lets them reclaim their heritage. 

“He is taking a cue from those artists who thought they were doing something revolutionary by actually representing Indigenous people in a public space where they had not been represented before,” said Cisneros. 

She said Canada’s difficult history with Indigenous people should be acknowledged and not whitewashed, but she advocates for a balanced view of the past that doesn’t demonize figures like Lacombe who were beloved by Indigenous people in his time. 

“There is more here than meets the eye, there is more here than racism in the mural,” she said. “Even if we were to admit that were the case, it’s a complex depiction. Every work of art has a degree of complexity that needs to be unpacked, and this is what we need to do, rather than label it a racist and destroy it.”

Cisneros fears the university administration wants the mural removed or destroyed based on the mood on campus and how the administration structured the consultation process.

She likened this to China’s cultural revolution, the Taliban’s destruction of Buddhist statues, and Nelson Rockerfeller’s destruction of the Man at the Crossroads mural.

“I didn’t think this would ever happen in Canada. This is one of the most shocking things I have ever encountered in my career.”

Tanya Harnett, an Indigenous professor of fine arts at the University of Alberta wrote a statement condemning the attempted removal of the mural, calling for it to be preserved with the installation of interpretive panels to help onlookers better understand what is being depicted.

“Rather than destroying the mural, a didactic panel is needed; one that gives context to this complex subject matter,” read Harnett’s statement.

“The Glyde mural is a living document. The spirit of the individuals are manifested in the mural itself. As a First Nation person, I am truly upset to learn that this work could be destroyed. The important historical Indigenous events depicted in this mural should not be subject to erasure.”

The University of Alberta held its final consultation session on the Alberta History mural July 23.

The Andrew Lawton Show | Trudeau’s ban on independent journalists comes back to bite him

By
Andrew Lawton
-
Source: The Counter Signal

Justin Trudeau and his office routinely bar and block independent journalists from attending their press conferences and otherwise having any opportunities to ask him questions. And yet, when Keean Bexte of the Counter Signal tracked Trudeau down to a Tofino beach, many of Trudeau’s defenders said it was in poor form to hassle a man on a vacation with his family. True North’s Andrew Lawton says he would agree if Trudeau didn’t shield himself from journalists he didn’t like during the rest of the year.

Also, the Competition Bureau is looking at what it suspects might be “anticompetitive” practices guiding gas prices. Dan McTeague from Canadians for Affordable Energy joins to weigh in.

Plus, despite how much politicians love to talk about free trade with other countries, there isn’t even free trade within Canada. Interprovincial trade barriers are costing the economy $200 billion a year, a new report from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says. CFIB interprovincial affairs director Keyli Loeppky joins the show to discuss.

DND says Iraq evacuation rumours about new defence chief are “false,” “disinformation”

By
Harrison Faulkner
-

The Department of National Defence says rumours that Canada’s new chief of defence staff tried to get out of Iraq ahead of the troops she was commanding on a 2020 NATO mission are “entirely false, baseless and unfounded.”

“We are aware of ongoing disinformation stories currently spreading on social media targeting General Jennie Carignan and her deployment to Iraq,” a department spokesperson told True North. “To set the record straight, these claims are entirely false, baseless and unfounded, with no credible evidence or reliable source to support these false allegations. They are aimed at undermining our organization and our mission.”

This response to True North comes after days of online rumours circulating on Reddit and the Canadian Army chat forum following Carignan’s promotion to general and her appointment as the new chief of defence staff.

The allegation, which was not accompanied by any evidence, is that while leading a NATO training mission in Iraq, Carignan, then a major-general, attempted to leave her post and extricate herself along with her personal belongings ahead of her troops under her command before being turned around by a more senior NATO general.

“She cut and run while she was in charge of the mission in Iraq,” 15-year Canadian Army veteran Dave Morrow said on the latest episode of the Faulkner Show on True North. Morrow was not in Iraq and never served under Gen. Carignan in his military career, but was relaying what he called “RUMINT,” an unofficial military abbreviation for “rumour intelligence.” 

“Now I wasn’t there but having spoke to folks that were, essentially we are dealing with a general who is in charge of her troops in Iraq, incoming fires so rockets started to be lobbed into the camp and she decided to cut and run, calls her own evacuation, packs up her carpets and the only thing that prevented her from getting on the helicopters was another NATO general from the United States basically dressing her down and telling her to get back into her post,” Morrow said.

Carignan made history with her appointment, becoming the first woman to lead the Canadian Armed Forces and the first woman to lead a Five Eyes military.

When news broke of Carignan’s appointment two months prior to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s announcement, the online rumours regarding her conduct in Iraq began.

“Like I said before, I’m excited to ask the ma’am to explain her actions in early January 2020 in a town hall. I’m eager to hear why she valued her carpets higher than the lives of her troops and why she decided to try (until the Americans stopped her) to evac first, said one Reddit user on the r/CanadianForces subforum last month.”

Comment
byu/dinosoursrule from discussion
inCanadianForces

At the official change of command ceremony in Ottawa last week, outgoing defence chief Gen. Wayne Eyre lashed out at the critics of Carignan’s appointment as “useful idiots” for Russian president Vladimir Putin.

“Our own institution is being targeted every day as we see pro-Kremlin trolls tailoring their insidious propaganda to cause maximum harm, in many cases with fabricated personal attacks,” Eyre said.

“This is a real issue that lures those who would drag us into the culture wars.”

Before being tapped by Justin Trudeau to become Canada’s top soldier last month, in 2021 then Lt.-Gen. Carignan was tasked with heading up the new post of chief of professional conduct and culture following a string of sexual misconduct allegations made by female Canadian Armed Forces members.

1...163164165...1,460Page 164 of 1,460

Related stories

© 2025 True North | Privacy Policy