The Liberal government intended to “use all tools” at its disposal to implement drug decriminalization nationally, according to an internal memo.
Plus, multiple wildfires force thousands to evacuate Jasper, Alberta.
And an Ottawa councillor resigned as a Conservative candidate due to an impaired driving charge.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Andrew Lawton and Lindsay Shepherd!
Joe Rogan doesn’t plan a visit to Canada anytime soon and Justin Trudeau is to blame.
The podcaster had strong words for Canada’s prime minister in a recent episode of his popular show, the Joe Rogan Experience, going as far as to say he won’t be visiting Canada until Trudeau is voted out.
Rogan was speaking to his guest, comedian Sam Morrill, about the trope of U.S. citizens who say they “will move to Canada if former U.S. President Donald Trump is re-elected,” which Rogan claimed to be the worst country of the two.
“That’s not a good place,” said Rogan. “It’s not a good place under this administration at least. They went sideways. Canada was an amazing place ten years ago. You go to Canada ten years ago, it was awesome.”
The UFC commentator cited Trudeau freezing the bank accounts of Canadians during the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest against COVID-19 mandates among the reasons for his perceived downfall of the country.
“They seized up the bank accounts of people who were protesting, the truckers,” said Rogan. “The people that were donating to the truckers, they seized their bank accounts.”
He went on to call Canada’s laws around freedom of speech “ridiculous” and that they give the government many opportunities to take punitive measures.
“Not only that but Canada has ridiculous free speech laws, they have hate speech laws. They can come down on you for a lot of things,” he added.
Morril asked Rogan where he’d previously liked to visit in Canada.
“I love Montreal, Montreal is amazing. I love Toronto. I love Vancouver. I love Canada, but I don’t go to Canada anymore.”
“You wouldn’t do a gig there?” asked Morril, referring to Rogan’s standup career.
“No, not while that guy is president, or prime minister or whatever he is, f**k you.” answered Rogan.
Morrill said that there were still people in Canada who were just looking to laugh and were fans of him, saying, “they want to see you still.”
“Get rid of that guy and I’ll come back,” said Rogan. “I just don’t trust any of it up there. I just think that they’re so far into tyranny right now. The laws that they’re passing, the s**t that they’re doing with the erosion of people’s rights, like…I don’t want to support it. I think it’s horrible.”
Morrill responded by saying that despite all that, people “still need a laugh.”
“They (Canadians) definitely need a laugh. They’re in the middle of a full blown communist takeover. It’s a scary spot, it used to be amazing,” said Rogan.
The podcast host went on to say that he always felt Canadians to be nicer than Americans on average, which is ultimately to their detriment.
“That’s why they get roped into hate speech laws, because they want to be kind. They want to be good people and they don’t realize that compelled speech has a terrible ending. It always ends in communism because someone has to compel that speech, and who does? The people with guns and they tell you what to do,” he said.
Morrill agreed with concept of supporting free speech, saying that “for all the awful s**t that people say, you still just have to be pro-free speech.”
This is not the first time Rogan has taken aim at the prime minister. He’s previously called Trudeau a “creepy dictator” and a “weasel” for his use of the Emergencies Act, policies on gun control, and internet censorship.
He also weighed in on the Canadian political landscape in an episode of his show featuring Ottawa comedian Tom Green, where he informally endorsed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
The Bank of Canada reduced its key interest rate by 0.5 percentage points, lowering its overnight rate to 4.5%.
It is the second consecutive rate cut by Canada’s central bank.
“With broad price pressures continuing to ease and inflation expected to move closer to 2%, Governing Council decided to reduce the policy interest rate by a further 25 basis points,” announced the Bank of Canada in a release on Wednesday.
The bank rate was also reduced to 4.75% and the deposit rate to 4.5%.
The central bank is continuing its policy of balance sheet normalization.
“The Canadian dollar has been relatively stable and oil prices are around the levels assumed in April’s Monetary Policy Report,” reads the release.
According to the Bank of Canada, the global economy is expected to keep expanding at a rate of around 3% through 2026.
Inflation has eased gradually in the U.S. and its economic slowdown is beginning to materialize, moderated by consumption growth.
Economic growth is continuing to gain momentum in Europe compared to last year.
While China’s economy is experiencing modest growth due to strong exports, it remains weak domestically.
The Bank of Canada said that global financial conditions have eased recently, resulting in lower bond yields and optimistic equity prices.
“In Canada, economic growth likely picked up to about 1.5% through the first half of this year. However, with robust population growth of about 3%, the economy’s potential output is still growing faster than GDP, which means excess supply has increased,” reported the central bank.
Canada’s economy has seen a drop in household spending, including in both consumer purchases and housing as of late, as well as indications that the labour market is slacking.
“The unemployment rate has risen to 6.4%, with employment continuing to grow more slowly than the labour force and job seekers taking longer to find work. Wage growth is showing some signs of moderating, but remains elevated.” it said.
The Bank of Canada is predicting a growth in GDP by the end of the year and through 2025 as a result of stronger exports and a recovery in household spending.
Additionally, borrowing costs have eased and business investments increased.
The central bank is also forecasting a robust growth in residential investment due to new government restrictions on admissions of non-permanent residents, which should result in a decline in population growth next year.
“Overall, the Bank forecasts GDP growth of 1.2% in 2024, 2.1% in 2025, and 2.4% in 2026. The strengthening economy will gradually absorb excess supply through 2025 and into 2026,” reads the release.
Consumer Price Index inflation lessened to 2.7% in June after increasing in May, now returning to its historical norm and the bank’s “preferred measures of core inflation have been below 3% for several months.”
However, shelter price inflation remains high as rent and mortgage interest costs continue to rise, acting as the biggest contributor to total inflation.
Inflation increased in the service sector as a result of increased wages, affecting areas like personal care and restaurants.
“The Bank expects CPI inflation to come down below core inflation in the second half of this year, largely because of base year effects on gasoline prices,” reads the release. “As those effects wear off, CPI inflation may edge up again before settling around the 2% target next year.”
The central bank said that ongoing excess supply is lowering inflationary pressures but that shelter and service costs continue to hold up inflation.
The Bank of Canada will announce its next overnight rate target in September and will publish its full outlook on the economy and inflation in October’s Monetary Policy Report.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw to talk about a pro-Palestine protest one day before the protest was shut down, government documents confirm.
Access to information documents obtained by Rebel News show that Trudeau had met with Demkiw to discuss, in part, a pro-Palestine protest on a Toronto highway overpass in a Jewish area, which had garnered national media attention.
The meeting raises questions about whether Trudeau influenced or encouraged a particular police response, which would jeopardize the independence of the Toronto Police Service.
In late December, a pro-Palestine demonstration emerged on the Avenue Road and the 401 highway overpass, close to a neighborhood with a significant Jewish population.
The demonstration was roundly condemned, however the police did not take action to bar demonstrators from protesting on the Avenue Road bridge for several weeks, until the day after Demkiw’s meeting with Trudeau.
In fact, the police were captured handing a box of Tim Hortons coffee to pro-Palestine protesters at the behest of those who could not reach the main demonstration.
Trudeau met with Demkiw Jan. 10 to discuss rising antisemitism, as described by Trudeau in a post on X.
In heavily redacted access to information documents obtained by Rebel News, the prime minister’s staff had specifically mentioned the protest at Avenue and 401 as a topic for Trudeau and Demkiw to discuss in their meeting.
“We are looking to chat about rise of antisemitism and Islamophobia and the protests on Avenue and 401,” reads an email from a Prime Minister’s Office staffer to Demkiw’s office.
The day after Trudeau and Demkiw held their meeting, Toronto police issued a ban on any demonstrations on the Avenue Road bridge.
Demkiw argued that the situation had escalated and that the demonstrations posed a threat to public safety and the surrounding Jewish community.
True North reached out to Prime Minister Trudeau for comment, though no response was received.
Rebel News’ Sheila Gunn Reid said it is inappropriate for the prime minister to insert himself into local policing matters, even if she supports the dismantling of the Avenue Road bridge protest.
“It looks like the Toronto police were waiting for permission from their political masters to finally do something. They were seeking permission, maybe approval from Trudeau who has no business injecting himself into the day-to-day policing of cities and towns in this country,” said Reid.
In an unambiguous decision, the International Court of Justice, a United Nations judicial body located in The Hague, declared in a non-binding ruling on last week, that Israel’s 56-year-long rule in “the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967” is “illegal,” and that it is obligated to bring its presence in that territory to an end “as rapidly as possible.”
In its decision, the ICJ said it determined Israel’s policy of settlement in the West Bank violates international law and that Israel had effectively annexed large parts of the West Bank — along with East Jerusalem, which was formally annexed in1980 — due to some of the seemingly permanent aspects of Israeli rule there.
The legal consequences of its findings, the court ruled, were that Israel must end its control of these areas, cease new settlement activity, “repeal all legislation and measures creating or maintaining the unlawful situation” — including those which it said “discriminate against the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” — and provide reparations for any damage caused by its “wrongful acts.”
In addition, the court said that all UN member states are obligated to ensure that any impediment “to the exercise of the Palestinian people of its right to self-determination is brought to an end.”
The ICJ’s decision is only an advisory opinion: it has no direct legal consequences on Israel or other UN member states. Still, it cannot be easily ignored because it could be a blow to the Jewish state’s international standing and add political pressure over its nine-month-old war against the Palestinian terror group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, part of Biblical Israel.
Israel did not take part in the hearings. Instead, it submitted a written brief describing the questions the court had been asked as “prejudicial” and “tendentious.”
Israel could also now argue that the ICJ’s extraordinarily narrow and biased legal opinion lacks historical or contemporary context.
There was never an independent Palestinian nation-state or even a distinct Palestinian people before the recognition of the sovereign State of Israel by the United Nations in 1948.
Between 1948 and 1967, when Egypt governed the Gaza Strip (part of biblical Israel) and Jordan controlled the West Bank, there was no cry about the foreign occupation of Palestinian lands.
Between 1917, when the British conquered these lands, and 1948, they formed part of the Mandate for Palestine. Earlier still, from 1517 to 1917, these two territories were part of the Ottoman Empire. Even earlier, these lands were part of the Muslim annexation of the Levant in the seventh century after hundreds of years of Roman rule following the exile of its Indigenous Jewish inhabitants in the first century AD. This expulsion was of indigenous people who had ruled over their own sovereign states for the preceding 2,000 years.
In 131 AD, Emperor Hadrian renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina and constructed the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the site of the former Jewish temple. Jews were banned from Jerusalem, and Roman Judaea was renamed Syria Palaestina, derived from “Palestine” in English and “Filistin” in Arabic.
In short, there is no “Palestine territory occupied since 1967” because there has never been a distinct Palestinian people with a unique language or culture who were displaced from land they had sovereignty over, whether as an independent state or other political entity.
None of this history or the lack of legitimacy of a people who only spuriously see themselves as Palestinians in opposition to the Jewish State of Israel has ever been recognized by the ICJ.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, numerous cabinet ministers, as well as settler leaders roundly denounced the ruling, with some calling for the immediate formal annexation of the West Bank in response.
“The Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land — not in our eternal capital, Jerusalem, not in the land of our ancestors in Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said, using the biblical names for the West Bank. “No false decision in The Hague will distort this historical truth, just as the legality of Israeli settlement in all the territories of our homeland cannot be contested.”
Equally unconscionable was the issue of this ruling during the middle of an existential battle between Israel and its Palestinian mortal enemies, most of whom strongly support the genocidal Hamas terrorists who are their political masters.
This ruling is a victory for Hamas.
“Israeli settlements act as crucial buffers against the kind of aggressions that tend to happen when your neighbors aren’t exactly sending you fruit baskets,” one keen Israeli observer argued. “Judea and Samaria have been a breeding ground for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians. Suggesting that Israel dismantle these settlements without any security guarantees is like telling someone to take off their bulletproof vest in the middle of a shootout.”
The ICJ is the same court that demanded on May 4 that the Israel Defense Forces halt all operations in Rafah.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in response to that ruling, that “the irrelevant order of the antisemitic court in The Hague should have only one answer: the occupation of Rafah, the increase of military pressure and the complete destruction of Hamas – until the complete victory in the war is achieved.”
Former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy wrote on X, “Hamas is holding 125 hostages, presumably many in Rafah. The ICJ has just told Israel it’s not allowed to try to save them and must relinquish military leverage. This is not justice. This is a travesty of justice.”
The ICJ is not only facing severe criticism for these and other highly selective rulings but also for the well-documented anti-Israel bias of the court’s president.
“Put simply, the UN’s highest legal body is a political tool of global antisemitism. The presiding judge in this case was ICJ President Nawaf Salam. He is from Lebanon, a country that does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. And in his spare time, he has tweeted such things as a meme that reads ‘unhappy birthday to you: 48 years of occupation.’ He is a politician – a rabid anti-Israel politician – dressed up by the UN as a judge,” Anne Bayefsky, the director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, told Fox News Digital.
Israel has never received justice at the International Court of Justice.
Hymie Rubenstein is editor of REAL Indigenous Report, a retired professor of anthropology, and a senior fellow at the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Canada’s largest insolvency firm warns that two-thirds of Canadians say that they “desperately” need interest rates to go down.
MNP’s latest Consumer Debt Index, which measures Canadians’ ability to pay their bills, endure expenses, and absorb changes in interest rates, shows Canadians feeling the pinch from high interest rates.
Despite the Bank of Canada cutting interest rates in June for the first time since 2020, 56% of Canadians worry rates won’t fall fast enough to provide the relief they require.
About the same number of respondents said that interest rates would need to drop much lower for their financial situation to improve in any notable way.
“Canadians may have hoped for a more significant cut to interest rates or to experience a quicker impact from the reduction. This leaves many individuals feeling disheartened,” said Grant Bazian, president of MNP.
65% of Canadians said high interest rates have negatively impacted their household finances.
While almost half of those polled, 47%, said that even if interest rates declined, they’d still be concerned with their ability to repay their debts, 34% said they are so indebted that lower interest rates would offer little relief.
Lower-income Canadians were more likely to believe that lower interest rates would not provide relief, with almost three in ten saying their situations were too dire for a rate cut to be of any assistance. 57% of those with an income of $40,000 or less said they would be in financial trouble if interest rates rise.
“Some individuals are living paycheque to paycheque, struggling to make ends meet and cover day-to-day necessities. Others are so deeply indebted that their financial challenges won’t be manageable, regardless of interest rates,” said Bazian.
Business insolvencies previously surged in Canada at rates not seen in 37 years, with consumer insolvencies increasing eight quarters in a row and reaching rates not seen since 2019.
MNP’s index revealed that 62% of those overwhelmed by debt and doubting the effect of lower interest rates were insolvent or on the brink.
“Those struggling with debt often feel overwhelmed by guilt and embarrassment due to the stigma that still surrounds this issue,” said Bazian.
Only 19% of Canadians said they could absorb an additional $100 in interest payments on debt.
Despite this, 32% said they would incur further debt to cover living expenses in the next year. An almost equal 31% regret the amount of debt they’ve taken on in life.
Almost half, 46%, said they were $200 or less away from failing to meet their financial obligations.
Regardless of interest rates, Baizan said the data shows that many Canadian households will need support to manage their debt payments over the following months.
Job security has been weighing on the minds of Canadians as well.
Only 40% don’t worry that they or someone in their household could lose their job.
The future isn’t looking very promising either.
29% of Canadians expect their debt situation to improve within a year. Stretching the timeline to five years, 39% of Canadians expect their debt situation to improve.
When looking at the past instead of the future, 29% of Canadians said that their debt situation is better than it was five years ago. Looking more short-term, 23% have seen their debt situation improve from a year ago.
Only 33% of respondents said they expect no debt in retirement.
Canada’s household debt previously surpassed 100% of GDP, giving the country the third-highest household debt in the world, trailing only Switzerland and Australia and far exceeding any other G7 country.
Over 30 stolen vehicles have been seized in the Montreal area, along with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, following raids by multiple Quebec police departments.
According to spokesperson Nicolas Scholtus of the Sûreté du Québec, the investigation that led to the seizure first began in March.
Police searched buildings and vehicles in the Montreal area on Thursday that were suspected to be linked to a criminal gang responsible for exporting stolen vehicles.
Police also discovered CAD $17,000 and more than USD $35,000 and six cellphones during the raid.
Officers from various police forces collaborated on the bust, including Montreal police devoted to fighting organized crime and provincial police.
The Port of Montreal, Canada’s second-largest port, has become a hotbed for the exportation of stolen vehicles, many of which are brought to Quebec after being stolen in Ontario.
Between last December and March, police have recovered around 600 stolen vehicles from shipping containers at the Montreal port, the bulk of which originated in the Greater Toronto Area.
According to the insurance fraud prevention group Équité Association, the rate of stolen vehicles is finally beginning to decline, with the agency reporting a 36% drop in the first six months of 2024, compared to that same time period last year.
The drop in thefts is likely due to several investigations launched last December by the Canada Border Service Agency in collaboration with various police departments.
Investigators involved with Project Vector, a multi-jurisdictional investigation announced the recovery of 598 stolen vehicles in April.
Of the 598 vehicles recovered under Project Vector, 483 were from Ontario and the remaining 115 were stolen within Quebec.
Police at that press conference confirmed that a vehicle was stolen every five minutes in Canada, meaning that about 135,360 vehicles have been stolen in Canada from January to April of this year.
Additionally, Peel Regional Police recently arrested three men in an auto theft bust involving 20 stolen high-end trucks worth a combined estimated value of $1.8 million.
That raid was conducted in Brampton and Bolton, Ont. and the three alleged auto thieves now face a total of 38 charges.
The joint probe was launched by the Canada Border Services Agency and Peel Regional Police’s Commercial Auto Crime Bureau.
Another reason for an increase in stolen vehicles being recovered is linked to the RCMP integrating the Canadian Police Information Centre’s stolen vehicle data into the Interpol database, the International Criminal Police Organization.
Since integrating the data in February, more than 1,500 Canadian vehicles have been detected worldwide.
Interpol confirmed in a news release that Canada ranks among the top 10 countries in hits received through the stolen motor vehicle database this year, out of the 137 countries connected worldwide.
Ontario police have arrested 18 people and laid over 100 charges in connection with a slew of home invasions and carjackings in the Greater Toronto Area.
The investigation called “Project Warlock” was a collaboration between Ontario Provincial Police, the Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force, York Regional Police, Waterloo Regional Police, Barrie Police and ServiceOntario.
Nine of those arrested were out on bail for other offences, police said.
Investigators found commonalities in these incidents together through “extensive video canvasses, physical evidence and forensics leading to the creation of Project Warlock,” which focused on an identified organized criminal network based in Brampton and Mississauga.
“Between November 2023 and January 2024, eight robbery incidents occurred in Brampton,” reads a statement from Peel Regional Police.
“Of these eight incidents, there were three home invasions, two involved firearms. There were two robberies involving firearms and three knife-point robberies. In addition, a series of carjackings occurred over a weekend in March 2024. These included five carjackings across the Greater Toronto Area, in both Peel Region and York Region, involving multiple luxury vehicles.”
A 14-year-old and two 17-year-olds were included among those arrested.
Over 150 charges were laid involving 17 home invasions, armed robberies, 12 stolen vehicles worth an estimated $1,200,000 in value and the seizure of four prohibited firearms.
Three of the firearms have been traced to the U.S. while the other had its serial number removed and has yet to be traced.
Additionally, police seized two imitation firearms and recovered over $55,000 worth of stolen property.
“During one of the home invasion incidents, a victim sustained a serious gunshot wound to the lower body that required medical attention,” reads the release.
The investigation led to police executing over 60 search warrants.
“Violence like this terrifies and shatters the sense of safety of residents and their families,” said Chief Nishan Duraiappah with Peel Regional Police.
“Everyone deserves to be safe in their homes, cars and at work. Our community is not a place for this type of criminality and Peel Regional Police will do everything to seize illegal firearms, arrest those who are terrorizing residents and deter criminality.”
Canada’s economy is trailing behind its international trading partners and is projected to be the worst in per-person gross domestic product among OECD countries by 2060, a new study finds.
According to a study by the Fraser Institute think tank, Canada is getting poorer, with economic growth “substantially” declining since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took office in 2015.
The study compared Canada’s GDP per capita, or the per person economic output of the country, to the other OECD countries in three separate periods: 2002 to 2014, 2014 to 2022, and 2022 projected out to 2026.
“Canadians are getting poorer compared to peer countries,” Alex Whalen, the director of Atlantic Canada Prosperity at the Fraser Institute and one of the authors of the study, told True North in an interview. “The unfortunate news is that Canada’s performance in terms of per person GDP has been poor and is projected to get worse.”
According to the study, Canada’s per capita GDP, measured in US dollars, exceeded the OECD average by $3,141 in 2002, had fallen to about the OECD average in 2022, and is projected to fall below it by $8,617 in 2060.
Whalen said Canada had an 8.6% lead over the OECD average for economic growth in 2002.
“That lead was still 8.2% in 2013, 8.5% in 2014, but that lead has vanished, and Canada actually trailed the OECD by 2022,” Whalen said.
The per person GDP ratings for each country reflect growth in economic output while accounting for inflation.
Between 2014 and 2022, the period primarily presided over by Trudeau’s Liberal government, Canada’s per capita GDP declined by around 9%, leaving it 0.5% lower than the 2022 OECD average, the study found.
“There’s projected divergence going forward in the OECD projections, as Canada will fall further behind the OECD through to 2060 if the projections hold,” Whalen said.
The study compared Canada to four of its “significant” trading partners, which have economies similar to Canada: Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
“There has been a separation between Canada and those countries during the (2014-2022) period as well,” Whalen said. “Per person GDP in Canada by 2022 was just 72% of that in the United States; if you go back to 2002, it was 81.5%.”
According to the study, the Canadian GDP per capita in 2014 was $44,710, 81% of the U.S.’s $55,605.
In 2022, Canada’s per person GDP was $46,035, while America’s GDP was $63,685, growing the gap from $10,895 to $17,649.
He said Canada’s other major trading partners with comparable economies told a similar story.
“Canada’s growth trajectory has diminished, even compared to similarly situated countries,” he said. “Canada’s GDP as a percentage of Australia was 101.2% in 2002, declining to 91.2% in 2022.”
Whalen pointed to several reasons Canada’s economic growth has fallen behind its peers.
“The largest policy factor depressing growth in Canada is the investment climate, which has experienced a precipitous decline in recent years,” Whalen said. “When there is less investment, there tends to be less growth. Workers are less productive, and ultimately, we see declining incomes, as shown in the study in 2014 and 2022.”
He said the natural resource sector, which drives a lot of growth in Canada, suffered the worst declining investment environment as it faced an increased regulatory burden.
Whalen said the increased regulatory burden on industry, the large and growing size of government, and Canada’s uncompetitive tax rates also contribute to the country’s declining economic growth rate.
“But the biggest single factor driving Canada’s relatively low and declining rates of growth is the investment record,” he said. “Canada needs to improve its investment climate if it wants to improve its growth trajectory. I think it’s pretty clear we’re in a growth crisis right now.
Canadian premiers are speaking out and demanding more money from the federal government to support the record number of asylum seekers entering into Canada. In 2023, a record of over 140,000 asylum seekers entered Canada seeking refugee status. These asylum seekers are housed and fed by the federal government in hotels at your expense because shelters in most provinces are full.
At a time when many are falling behind financially and the needs of Canadians are being put on the sidelines to continue this mass growth experiment, many people are wondering when is enough going to be enough? Simply papering over the cracks with more of our money won’t solve the fundamental issues at play.
Watch the latest episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner.
