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Saturday, July 5, 2025

Elections Canada wants non-citizens barred from voting in nomination races

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Source: Facebook

Elections Canada wants to change rules for the political nomination process in the wake of foreign interference, including measures to bar non-citizens from voting in party candidate nominations. 

Other proposed changes include requiring parties to publish contest rules and explicitly outlawing voting more than once.

The changes are listed in a discussion guide intended to help chief electoral officer Stéphane Perrault as he drafts his final recommendations for the  commission of inquiry on foreign interference.

The guide was also made in preparation for a meeting between the Advisory Committee of Political Parties and the chief electoral officer last month to discuss the conduct of elections, political financing and the administration of the Canada Elections Act.

The discussion guide and a May 30 briefing to Perrault were obtained by the Canadian Press through an access to information request. 

“We recognize that some changes may create a burden for political entities or affect internal policies,” reads the guide.

“We believe the gain is important: Nomination contests that electors trust, and fewer opportunities for contest irregularities that lead Canadians to question the legitimacy of elected members of Parliament.”

The guide addresses that before last September’s general meeting, there was “little appetite for changes” to the regulation of nomination contests. 

However, following the findings of the foreign interference inquiry, the chief electoral officer “has an obligation to consider ways to strengthen the transparency and security of nomination contests.” 

The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians expressed concerns in a report released last month that there were many loopholes in the current system that foreign actors could easily exploit. 

“This is a critical gap, because a number of ridings in Canada are considered ‘safe seats’ for one party or another, so a successful nomination may amount to a candidate’s election,” reads the report.

According to Perrault’s briefing note, the Canada Elections Act provides “limited regulation” of contestants and federal nomination races. 

For example, only contestants who accept $1,000 in contributions or incur $1,000 in expenses are obligated to file a financial return. 

Additionally, Elections Canada has no way to verify whether campaigns are under the threshold.

Nor does the act mandate any specific obligations around candidacy, voting, counting or results reporting outside of the identity of the successful nominee, meaning each party dictates their own nomination rules. 

“Unlike the Liberal Party, the Conservative Party does not hand out free memberships,” director of communications for the Conservative Party of Canada Sarah Fischer told True North. “Only citizens and permanent residents can purchase a Conservative Party membership to vote in a nomination race.”

The Liberal Party of Canada, which did not respond to True North for comment, does not require party members to be citizens or permanent residents. Temporary foreign workers and international students are permitted to vote in nomination races. 

However, a key change suggested by the discussion guide is to require voters in nomination contests to be Canadian citizens. 

According to the guide,”non-citizens may be more vulnerable to intimidation by a foreign state.” 

Other recommendations include requiring all nomination contestants to file a financial return; and banning the bulk purchase of party memberships.

“We have implemented a number of measures to protect against the inappropriate purchase of party memberships, including eliminating bulk membership purchases and prohibiting the purchase of a membership with cash or prepaid credit cards,” said Fischer. 

“The Poilievre campaign specifically lobbied for these strict rules, which the Leadership Committee wisely implemented.”


Edmonton man with history of violence arrested after random attack that nearly killed a man

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, True North Wire
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Source: Mack Male

A 60-year-old Edmontonian was the victim of a brutal, unprovoked attack that nearly left him dead. 

The assault occurred last week in broad daylight near the bustling intersection of 92 Street and Jasper Avenue. 

The Edmonton Police Service has reported that an assailant, identified by police as 41-year-old Storm Saskatchewan, attacked the man without any apparent motive. 

The alleged victim, who was on his way to a local gas station, was rendered unconscious and subsequently choked with a shopping bag in the attack.

According to an Edmonton Police Service press release, the police department’s downtown patrol played a crucial role in saving the victim’s life. 

“Thankfully, officers were nearby at the time of this assault. They undoubtedly saved the complainant’s life. Had they not acted so quickly, we may be discussing significantly more tragic circumstances today,” said acting Edmonton police inspector Michael Dreilich.

“There is no place for this type of brazen, random violence in our city.”

Despite the suspect’s attempt to flee, the officers’ prompt action led to his arrest following a brief pursuit, polcie say. 

The victim was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries but has fortunately been released after receiving necessary medical care.

Saskatchewan, who has a history of violent offences and was believed to be under the influence of drugs during the attack, is now facing charges of aggravated assault and attempted murder. 

Immigration minister tells international students to return home with skills learned in Canada 

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
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Source: X

Justin Trudeau’s immigration minister said citizenship and residency “should never be the promise” for foreign students getting an education in Canada.

Immigration Minister Mark Miller admitted in a Bloomberg interview that foreigners have been using the international student visa program as a “cheap way” to obtain permanent residency and citizenship in Canada.

“That should never be the promise,” Miller said in an interview with Bloomberg published Wednesday. “People should be coming here to educate themselves and perhaps go home and bring those skills back to their country.”

He noted that the government is trying to change the direction of some immigration policies to return to “its original intent,” where students come to Canada’s colleges and universities to learn, not just as an easy way to get a job and enter the country.

Miller committed to reducing the number of temporary residents over the next three years to 5% of the population, down from 6.2% in 2023—from 2.5 million temporary residents to just over two million.

The Liberal government might even surpass its goal announced in January to lower the international student cap, reducing new study permits by 35%. 

According to an education recruitment company, the government is on track to reduce the number of international students by 48% from 436,678 study permits in 2023 to potentially 229,000 this year.

Since Trudeau took office, the number of post-graduate work permits has increased almost fourfold. According to Stats Canada, 27,200 annual PGWPs were issued in 2015, compared with 132,000 new PGWP holders in 2022.

Bloomberg also reported that the Liberal government is looking to address the issues surrounding the temporary foreign worker program being “used and abused” by business owners trying to make easy money.

Labour market impact assessments are intended to prevent the system from being misused. They force businesses that want to hire temporary foreign workers to prove their need for them and ensure that they have tried to hire Canadians first. The worry is that business owners are selling these LMIAs to foreign workers, exploiting both the hopeful newcomers to Canada and the system itself.

In 2023, the Liberal government issued more temporary foreign worker permits than the previous year despite Canada’s rising unemployment rate. The rate rose from 6.2% in May to 6.4% in June 2024, continuing its steady climb of 1.3% since April 2023.

Historically, an unemployment rate of over 6% in an economic region would trigger an automatic rejection of temporary foreign worker applications in lower-wage businesses, such as food and retail. However, permits continue to be issued due to the Liberal government removing the automatic rejection policy in April 2022.

“Removing the automatic refusal to process (the LMIAs) will help employers in regions where severe labour shortages have persisted despite an unemployment rate of 6% or higher,” the announcement read.

By June 2023, two territories and nearly six provinces were at or above the 6% unemployment rate threshold, yet more TFW permits were issued that year. The four Atlantic provinces were above 6%, with PEI, Newfoundland, Labrador, and Nunavut above 8% unemployment.

Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, Immigration Refugees Citizenship Canada issued 147,863 work permits under the TFW program. This is up over 50% from 96,437 over the same period in 2022.

The government attributed the rise in temporary foreign workers to the economy re-opening after the COVID-19 pandemic. However, before the pandemic in 2019, Canada issued 98,310 permits through the TFWP, which is about the same number as in 2022.

Government policies such as reducing the cap on how many TFWs a business can hire from 30% to 20% and cutting the time that LMIAs are valid in half from 12 months to six months are expected to bring the amount of new TFW permits being issued down in 2024 when compared to 2023.

Fewer immigrants are deciding to become Canadian citizens: study

By
Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Hamilton Citizenship Ceremony / Copyright: JOEY COLEMAN / THEPUBLICRECORD.CA

Fewer immigrants are choosing to become Canadian citizens, according to a study from the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, which found that interest in naturalization has plummeted by 40% in recent years.

The citizenship group’s study found that a growing number of immigrants are still choosing not to become citizens up to 10 years after arriving in Canada.

The organization’s analysis builds on findings from Statistics Canada, which revealed “a sharp decline in naturalization rates among immigrants within 5 to 9 years of arrival, dropping from 75.4% in 1996 to 45.7% in 2021.”

A spokesperson for the federal immigration department told True North there are a range of explanations for this, from education levels and income to language proficiency.

“Other factors include changes to migration patterns and international events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the citizenship policies and socio‑political and economic conditions of the country of origin of the individual who is seeking citizenship,” the spokesperson said.

The decision not to take the oath is made most often among highly educated economic immigrants, who have options outside of Canada.

“Higher education levels correlate with lower naturalization rates; citizenship uptake is lowest among university-educated immigrants, who represent a growing proportion of recent immigrants across census periods,” the Institute for Canadian Citizenship study said.

The organization warned that the Trudeau government must “avoid diminishing the value of citizenship.”

“It can achieve this by making citizenship a more visible and celebrated part of the immigration journey, such as highlighting the meaningful impact of in-person ceremonies to immigrants and the greater public,” it said. 

This is something the Trudeau government should take note of, as it has toyed with the idea of replacing the oath of citizenship ceremony with a virtual “click of a mouse” procedure last year to deal with the backlog.

Conservative immigration critic Tom Kmiec said that if elected, his party plans on “returning to in-person citizenship ceremonies to celebrate those immigrants who take the oath of citizenship.” 

Kmiec said that the NDP-Liberals have been “undermining the value of becoming a Canadian by introducing click citizenship and forcing new Canadians to take their oath of citizenship virtually.”

According to the immigration think tank’s analysis, despite record high immigration levels, citizenship rates “have declined across all major source countries, education levels, and provinces of residence,” read the study. 

“For immigrants who arrived between 2011-15, naturalization rates vary significantly – up to 45% – across the top 10 source countries; immigrants from Iran have the highest rates while those from China have the lowest.”

Countries which have prohibitions on dual citizenship also affect naturalization rates.

Family class immigrants hold the lowest naturalization rates and refugees the highest. 

Those admitted under the family category are the least likely to seek citizenship, whereas naturalization rates within the economic class and among refugees were the highest. 

Immigration lawyer Sergio Karas told True North that highly educated immigrants would likely find better opportunities in the U.S., whereas those entering Canada with a lower skill set are more likely to be content obtaining Canadian citizenship.

“Lower-skilled immigrants and refugees are usually eager to obtain Canadian citizenship because they come from countries whose passports require visas to travel almost anywhere, or they are war-thorn, or unstable, so a Canadian passport is a door opener,” said Karas. 

However, even those categories experienced 10% and 5% declines respectively across the timeframe analyzed. 

Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia, the three provinces which have seen the most significant spike in immigration numbers, “experienced the largest declines in naturalization.”

Factors like Canada’s high cost of living are undoubtedly linked to immigrants being less inclined to become citizens, with the trend of ‘onward migration’ steadily increasing since the 1980s. 

Onward migration refers to immigrants who arrive in Canada and then subsequently leave for a myriad of reasons.

The Institute for Canadian Citizenship published a study on immigrant retention last fall that found many newcomers “may not be seeing the benefits to Canada,” due to its strained healthcare system, unaffordable housing, and underemployment. 

“To reverse the trend of declining citizenship rates, the government should allocate a larger portion of its settlement services budget to programs that educate, encourage and prepare immigrants for citizenship,” recommended the group.

“Furthermore, to maintain focus on the issue, governments should adopt meaningful performance targets focused on the naturalization rates of recent immigrants – those who arrived within 5-9 years – and expand the availability of data on the citizenship process to enable better tracking.” 

Kmiec said that under Trudeau’s administration “it comes as no surprise that the best and brightest are discouraged from making a permanent commitment to Canada.” 

BC Conservatives deny NDP claim they’ll cut healthcare funding

By
Noah Jarvis, True North Wire
-
Source: BC Conservatives

The BC Conservatives are denying a claim from an NDP MLA alleging that the party wants to cut healthcare by billions of dollars.

On Thursday, the BC Conservatives announced their party’s healthcare platform, promising large reforms to the province’s single-payer healthcare model.

After the BC Conservatives’ healthcare announcement, Langford-Juan de Fuca MLA Ravi Parmar uploaded a video to X, with the caption claiming that the BC Conservatives want to make the biggest cut to the province’s healthcare budget in history, and that this would result in doctors and nurses being fired.

Parmar pointed to page 12 of the BC Conservatives’ “Patients First” healthcare plan, claiming that the BC Conservatives are planning a $4.1 billion cut to the province’s healthcare and that they want to privatize the healthcare system.

“John Rustad held a press conference today and he was having trouble talking about the particulars of his plan, but let me give you a big one. GDP spending targets page 12, what he’s proposing is $4.1 billion in cuts from our healthcare system,” said Parmar.

On page 12 of the BC Conservatives’ healthcare platform, the party cites an assessment from Deloitte projecting Canada’s healthcare spending as a share of GDP to rise from 12.4% to 13.9% by 2040, and that reforms and modernization can bring this figure under 11%.

The BC Conservative healthcare platform does not promise any cuts to healthcare spending, nor do they state that they plan to cut back on the number of nurses or doctors.True North reached out to the NDP and Parmar for comment, asking him how he had come up with the $4.1 billion figure but no response was given.

Parmar potentially used the figures from the Deloitte assessment to reach the $4.1 billion figure.Dropping Canada’s healthcare expenditures as a share of GDP from 12.4% to 11% would represent a 12.1% drop in healthcare spending as a share of the economy.

For fiscal year 2026-2027, the BC government is projected to spend $34,594,000,000 on healthcare, and a 12.1% slash in the healthcare budget would total just over $4.1 billion.

However, the Deloitte assessment was not specific to British Columbia, and the assessment stated that reaching the 11% target would only be possible with significant reforms.

Furthermore, the BC Conservatives did not state that they would cut the government’s healthcare budget as a share of GDP, as the party merely cited the Deloitte assessment to highlight a national problem.

In a comment to True North, BC Conservative spokesperson Anthony Koch said that he has no idea where Parmar had gotten the figure, and that the claim is a lie.

“We do not plan on cutting the province’s healthcare budget by 4.1 billion (or at all). Our promise yesterday clearly outlined the fact that we want to invest more, not less, in British Columbia’s healthcare system,” said Koch.

“We have absolutely no idea where that number came from, it’s made up. It’s just another lie from the NDP.”

BC Conservative Leader John Rustad said that the $4.1 billion figure is a lie while MLA Elenore Sturko accused Parmar of fear mongering.“

Conservatives will grow health spending & innovate, so BC’s patients get more services for less. Sadly, I’ve seen this 4.1 billion in cuts lie repeated unchecked by media,” said Rustad.

“Typical NDP fear mongering. With this type of fake math it’s no wonder we have an $8 billion deficit – all while British Columbians are dying on healthcare waitlists,” said Sturko.

“The old PC days are back”: Outcry after UCP ministers receive free tickets for Oilers games

By
Rachel Parker, True North Wire
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Source: Facebook

Conservative activists are comparing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government to Alison Redford’s PCs following the revelation that ministers and officials accepted Edmonton Oilers playoff tickets from a man involved with a multi-million-dollar government contract.

The Globe and Mail reported Thursday that Alberta cabinet ministers and government officials attended Stanley Cup playoff games in a Rogers Centre suite as guests of Sam Mraiche, whose company was part of the deal to obtain children’s medicine from a Turkish pharmaceutical company during a shortage in 2022.

Former MLA Drew Barnes was first elected under the Wildrose banner led by Smith in 2012, which pitched itself as an alternative to the increasingly corrupt PC government.

“In 2012, Danielle and many of us felt called to Edmonton to represent everyday Albertans and end cronyism, drastically reduce and reform lobbying, reduce the size and reach of government,” Barnes told True North.

“I would ask Smith and the UCP caucus to embrace those values.”

The 2012 election was won by Redford, but she was forced to resign just two years later after she racked up thousands in travel expenses which included flying her daughter’s friends around on a government plane. She also spent millions of taxpayer dollars to renovate the top suite of the Queen Elizabeth Building to use as her own private quarters, later nicknamed the ‘sky palace.’

Nadine Wellwood, spokesperson of the 1905 Committee which takes a critical view of Smith’s tenure, said the government’s behaviour is what most Albertans thought Smith would eliminate.

“This is far too familiar a story for most, as it seems the old PC days are back,” she told True North.

“Now every Albertan is wondering how many more special favours have been granted to political elites; and what deals are being made in back rooms in exchange for such favours?”

The Globe also revealed that Smith took in an Edmonton Oilers playoff game in Vancouver in a private box with tickets from Sam Jaber, who sits on the board of Invest Alberta, a Crown corporation designed to promote, identify, and pursue investments in the province. Redford was named to that board in June, to outcry from conservatives.

Alberta Affordability and Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf is the only minister named in the Globe article for accepting tickets from Mraiche. He said he received clearance from the ethics commissioner before joining colleagues, including other ministers and government officials, in the suite.

Last year, the UCP passed legislation allowing the premier’s chief of staff to determine what gifts political employees can accept. The legislation also raised the threshold of acceptable gifts to $500 from $200.

Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi said he wants Smith to disclose all staff and politicians who have accepted tickets, who the tickets came from, and who paid for travel. He wants to remove the ability for the premier’s chief of staff to approve gifts and called on the government to disclose all the accounting from the children’s medicine deal.

“Having ministers and staff sit in lobbyists’ luxury boxes while we are facing an affordability crisis in this province not only looks bad, it shows they’re living in a different world than the average Albertan,” Nenshi wrote on X.

Mitch Sylvestre, a conservative organizer and the president of the Bonnyville-Cold Lake-St. Paul United Conservative Party constituency association, said he is “disappointed and saddened” by the revelation. Sylvestre, a longtime Smith supporter, said those involved have jeopardized the government.

“I’m completely astounded at how this has happened, and how those people would not know better,” he said.

LCBO ends strike after union reaches tentative agreement

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Source: Facebook

Ontarians running low on their stocked-up liquor supply may be in luck after the weekend.

The LCBO has announced a “tentative agreement” with the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, ending the strike by next Tuesday.

According to the LCBO, the strike will end at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, July 22, and staff will “return to business as usual” on Tuesday, though the terms of the agreement have yet to be ratified.

“We recognize the disruption the strike caused for our employees, partners, and customers who rely on our services, and we thank everyone for their continued patience and understanding as we begin resuming regular operations,” the public company said in a release.

The LCBO said it would share further details once the agreement is ratified.

The union led the first LCBO strike in the province’s history on behalf of around 10,000 workers after Premier Doug Ford announced he would allow convenience stores to sell alcohol. 

The LCBO and OPSEU returned to the bargaining table on Wednesday. The union was intent on sticking it to Ford, saying his plan put “big box CEOs and billionaires before the needs of Ontarians.”

The union claimed that allowing convenience stores and grocery stores into the alcohol market would result in the liquor store cutting its employees’ hours, costing thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in public revenue.

Convenience store owners told True North last week that they would love a chance to compete against the otherwise monopolistic government-run liquor stores amid high taxes and low profit margins.

The terms of the agreement have not been made public, but Ford has previously said he would not budge on his plan to have ready-to-drink cocktails sold at convenience stores and grocery stores across the province. “It’s done. It’s gone. That ship is sailed and is halfway across Lake Ontario,” he said at the Cool Beer Brewing Company in Etobicoke on July 10.

On Monday, Ford’s government announced that it expedited getting booze into convenience stores. What was initially scheduled for Aug 1, the government moved to Thursday, July 18, despite the union’s strike.

Off the Record | Trudeau buys $9m luxury condo for former journalist

By
Andrew Lawton
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Source: Facebook

As Canadians struggle with the high cost of everything, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s governmente decided to use taxpayer money to purchase a $9 million luxury condo in New York City for the consul general to New York, former legacy media journalist Tom Clark. Honestly, is anyone surprised by this government’s complete disregard for taxpayers any more?

Plus, while the Liberals hope former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney is their saviour, a new poll reveals only 7% of Canadians recognize him.

And after the attempted assassination of former U.S. President Donald Trump, the American legacy media continue to do President Joe Biden’s dirty work.

These stories and more on this week’s episode of Off the Record with Andrew Lawton, Noah Jarvis and William McBeath!

The Daily Brief | Another Liberal MP resigns

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-
Source: Facebook

Minister of Labour and Liberal MP Seamus O’Regan confirmed his resignation and that he will not seek re-election in the next federal election in a statement on Thursday.

Plus, Ford Canada is reversing course and plans on using an Ontario facility originally designated for EVs to produce Super Duty trucks.

And the Liberal cabinet is said to be holding a virtual meeting to discuss “appointments” on Friday, leading some to speculate if the prime minister is considering another cabinet shuffle.

Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and William McBeath!

New labour minister vows to “continue the path,” insists caucus united behind Trudeau

By
Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
-
Governor General of Canada Mary Simon, Minister of Labour and Seniors Steven Mackinnon and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau - Source: Facebook

Despite poor polling numbers, a critical byelection loss, and numerous Liberal MPs jumping ship, Justin Trudeau’s most recently shuffled cabinet minister says the government intends to stay the course.

Trudeau made his government House leader, Steven Mackinnon, the new minister of labour and seniors Friday, replacing the post vacated a day earlier by the prime minister’s longtime friend, Seamus O’Regan.

After being sworn into his new role, Mackinnon promised the Liberal government would continue its current trajectory despite a “devastating” by-election loss in Toronto—St. Paul’s and a growing list of Liberal MPs leaving politics ahead of the next election.

“We are determined to continue on the path that we have set for Canadians,” Mackinnon said in front of Rideau Hall Friday. “This caucus is foursquare behind our leader. This caucus is foursquare behind the policies that we’ve adopted and proud of the record that we have.”

Mackinnon said the government remains committed to the same agenda despite the loss in last month’s Toronto—St. Paul’s byelection, once a Liberal stronghold, and poll numbers suggesting an embarrassing loss for the Liberals come the next election.

“I don’t believe for a second that Canadians are judging…whether it be (our) dental care, whether it be a plan to tackle climate change or our support, during the pandemic, in a harsh way,” he said. “I think that governments have a challenge every day to wake up and continue to offer solutions to Canadians. We will obviously continue to do that.”

O’Regan cited family reasons for his retirement from politics.

“Ultimately, my family comes first,” O’Regan said in a media statement posted to X Thursday. “I need to be a better husband, son, uncle, and friend, and this job means and deserves a lot of time in order to do it well.”

O’Regan will remain the MP for the Newfoundland riding of St. John’s South–Mount Pearl, where he has served since 2015, but won’t seek reelection.

Ontario MP Karina Gould will return to her position as the government House leader after her maternity leave ends later this month. MacKinnon held her position in her absence.

Mackinnon wouldn’t give a straight answer on whether Trudeau would shuffle around his cabinet this summer, saying all he could confirm is that he is going to work as the minister of labour and seniors and that he’s going to do his best to work in that capacity as part of a team.

“(We) wake up every day and try to do the work for Canadians,” he said. “That work is going to continue. We’re entering what will be a very challenging year, an interesting year, and a promising year, I think, and we all have confidence that the Prime Minister will guide us through that.”

Mackinnon was asked if Trudeau should use his vacation time to consider stepping down as prime minister, but the new minister affirmed that the Liberal party is very much behind him in whatever he decides.

“The prime minister has obviously the full authority and full discretion to make the choices that he wants to make. And our confidence in him to make those choices is total,” he said.

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