Kinew most popular premier, Ford and Higgs fall to last place

Rachel Parker, True North Wire
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Kinew most popular premier, Ford and Higgs fall to last place

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew is the most popular provincial leader in Canada, while Ontario’s Doug Ford and New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs came in dead last.

The latest provincial approval ratings were reported in a new survey by the Angus Reid Institute. 

Kinew, whose NDP government was elected in October 2023, has approval from 66% of his province. In contrast, Ford and Higgs have the approval of just 31% of Ontarians.

Late last year, Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government was rocked by the Greenbelt controversy. Ford was forced to backtrack and apologize for a plan to develop parts of the Greenbelt after it was revealed his family had close ties with some developers who stood to benefit from the deal. 

Ford won a four-year mandate in 2022, but sources told Global News this month that the PCs have been weighing the benefits of an early 2025 election. 

Meanwhile, Higgs has faced calls for a public inquiry from the opposition Liberals over more than $100 million awarded to contract nurses to help address a healthcare staffing crisis in 2022. 

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey is the second favourite premier, and was given the green light from 55% of his residents. That’s an eight-point bump from last quarter.

He’s followed by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe who has the approval of 49% of the province. 

Next comes Alberta’s Danielle Smith, who became premier after winning the United Conservative Party’s leadership contest in October 2022. Smith’s UCP was re-elected in a general election less than a year later in May 2023.

Support for Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston remained steady at 44%, and BC’s David Eby trails him by one point, at 43%.

In a rare move, the progressive premier aimed at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the Western Premiers Conference in the Yukon earlier this month, saying the West deserves more dollars for immigration stressors, like Quebec. Eby also said the newcomers are making it difficult for young people to afford housing. 

The three least popular premiers all have approval ratings below 40%, with Quebec Premier Francois Legault sneaking in ahead of Ford and Higgs with approval from 36% of his residents.

The Angus Reid Institute conducted an online survey from June 14-20, 2024 among a representative randomized sample of 4,204 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. The margin of error varies for each province, ranging from plus or minus three points to plus or minus seven points.

London, Ont. police say no evidence Pride gerbil deaths linked to anti-LGBT poisoning

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, True North Wire
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London, Ont. police say no evidence Pride gerbil deaths linked to anti-LGBT poisoning

Police have shot down accusations that homophobic hate was behind two animal deaths at an Ontario Pride festival.

After two gerbils died and a goat got sick at a pop-up petting zoo during this year’s Pride festivities in London, Ont., event attendees jumped to the conclusion that the animals were poisoned as part of an anti-LGBT hate crime. 

The claim was based on one email sent to Little Hobby Hill Farm owner Bethany Tout expressing disappointment that the petting zoo decided to support Pride festivities. 

“Pride has no relation to a petting zoo and there is no reason to conjoin these … Please consider your events and what you support,” the anonymous complainant wrote. 

Tout shared the email with CBC News, which then published a news report implying that the animals were poisoned in an anti-LGBT hate murder plot. 

“I’m really hoping that it’s not true that someone did this. I really hate to think that someone would do this intentionally,” Tout told CBC. 

The claims prompted a full investigation by the London Police Service, autopsies and toxicology reports, to determine if the animals were intentionally killed. 

On Tuesday, the London Police Service contradicted the claims circulated by CBC News:  there was no evidence that the animals were intentionally poisoned. 

“While we can confirm two animals have died, at this time the cause of death does not appear to be as a result of intentional poisoning and is still under investigation,” London police Sgt. Sandasha Bough told the London Free Press. 

“The initial misinformation appears to have been posted and shared via social media, and not from the owner of the involved animals.”

CBC’s article has since been updated to reflect the new information.

In a statement published on the petting zoo’s Facebook page, Little Hobby Hill Farm said that it had reached out to event organizers to ask if there was pesticide or rodenticide present at the Oakridge park where the Pride event took place.

True North reached out to the City of London’s park management office with similar inquiries but received no response. 

“We did not/ nor do not intend on speculating that this is a hate crime and we still want to desperately believe that someone would not want to intentionally hurt our animals,” wrote Little Hobby Hill Farm. 

“Today the police have released a statement that they do not believe this was an “intentional poisoning.”

Social media posts by supporters circulated soliciting donations to Little Hobby Hill Farm and spreading the claim that the deaths were hate-related. 

The Andrew Lawton Show | Liberal ministers rally behind Justin Trudeau

Andrew Lawton
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The Andrew Lawton Show | Liberal ministers rally behind Justin Trudeau

Justin Trudeau says he’s not going anywhere after the Liberal party’s embarrassing loss in Toronto—St. Paul’s. Today, Liberal cabinet ministers have been lining up to say they have confidence in him while pledging to do better to listen to Canadians. True North’s Andrew Lawton says it’s clearly too little too late, although Trudeau is the only one who doesn’t see it (or refuses to acknowledge it).

Also, this week the government is fighting in the Federal Court of Appeal to defend its plastics ban – a ban predicated on the false claim that plastic is “toxic.” The Canadian Constitution Foundation is intervening in the case against the ban. CCF litigation director Christine Van Geyn joins the show to discuss.

Plus, did rampant antisemitism help drive Liberal voters to the Conservatives in Monday’s byelection? An upstart third party group called Jewish Ally campaigned to mobilize Jews and their allies to support Tory candidate Don Stewart, who narrowly won the race. Jewish Ally founders Andrew Kirsch and Stephen Taylor join the show to discuss why they did it.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ANDREW LAWTON SHOW

The Daily Brief | Tommy Robinson arrested in Calgary

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The Daily Brief | Tommy Robinson arrested in Calgary

English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson was arrested in Calgary moments after delivering a speech on censorship and government overreach.

Plus, a recently updated animal-human influenza pandemic agreement between Canada, Mexico and the U.S. lists vaccine mandates, border measures and travel restrictions as part of its mandate.

And the head at a public library in British Columbia boasted that applications from white people were wholly disregarded when hiring for every executive position except her own.

Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Lindsay Shepherd!

SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY BRIEF

Conservative MP’s bill proposes criminal offences for church arson, causing wildfires

Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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Conservative MP’s bill proposes criminal offences for church arson, causing wildfires

A Conservative MP is putting church arsonists on notice.

Conservative MP Marc Dalton introduced a private member’s bill to amend the Criminal Code to include specific arson offences targeting places of worship. He is also seeking a new offence for causing a wildfire.

“This enactment amends the Criminal Code to create an offence for causing a wildfire and an offence for causing damage by fire or explosion to a place of worship,” reads a summary of the proposed legislation.

“It also requires a court to consider as aggravating circumstances, in the context of arson by negligence, the fact that it resulted in a wildfire or the destruction of a place of worship.”

Despite minimal media coverage, dozens of churches have burned down across Canada over the past several years, most recently St. Anne’s Anglican Church earlier this month. A total of 100 churches have been vandalized or burned since True North began tracking church fires across Canada in 2021 after the Kamloops residential school announcement.

Located in Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood, the designated historical site was constructed between 1907 and 1908 and contained the only known religious works of Canada’s most famous artist collective The Group of Seven. Members of the group had painted murals within the church’s interior in 1923. 

While the cause of that fire remains under investigation, other recent church fires have led to arrests and charges of arson, as they were deliberately levelled to the ground.

Security footage caught the arsonist at the fire at the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Regina, Sask. in February, leading to 31-year-old Jordan Willet being swiftly apprehended. 

The attack at the Regina church was the 46th arson attempt on a church.

Since True North began tracking church attacks in 2021, at least 33 have been completely burned to the ground.

That church fire in Regina prompted Conservative MP Corey Tochor to introduce a motion to condemn the attack, seeking unanimous consent from the House.

However, before he could finish reading his proposed motion, MPs from the Liberal and NDP benches yelled “No!”

Tochor called their response a “shameful” display.

Conservative MP Jamil Jivani lambasted the NDP and Liberals for being unable to condemn church burnings during the standing committee on Justice and Human Rights on Islamophobia earlier this month.

Jivani voiced his confusion about what he viewed as a lack of coverage and outrage from the political establishment over recent attacks on religious communities, particularly Christians in Canada.

“Since 2021, we’ve had over 100 Christian churches burned, vandalized or desecrated in Canada,” Jivani said. “When I see that, I see the lack of media coverage of those attacks on religious freedom, when I see that we cannot even in the House of Commons get every party to agree on condemning those attacks on religious freedom. I think to myself, ‘Yo, dawg, are we like in The Truman Show or something right now?’”

The Truman Show, a 1998 movie starring Jim Carrey, is about a man who lives his entire life unaware that he is actually in a TV show.

“It just seems so frustrating and puzzling how you get to this point,” he said. “Often, I will hear from constituents who are concerned about it, and they’ll express a sense of hopelessness like ‘Well how do you get people to care about this?’ Then I see other communities go through their own ordeals when it comes to attacks on their religious freedom.”

Nearly half of 124 arrested by Ontario’s carjacking task force were out on bail

Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
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Nearly half of 124 arrested by Ontario’s carjacking task force were out on bail

Nearly half the people arrested by Ontario’s Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force were out on bail at the time of their arrest, a number that skyrockets to almost three-quarters for minors.

Between Sept. 2023 and Mar. 2024, the task force made 124 arrests, laid 749 criminal charges, seized eight firearms, and recovered 177 stolen vehicles — valued at over $10 million.

The task force was co-led by the Toronto Police Service and Ontario Provincial Police, along with various other local police services from Ontario.

Toronto Police Deputy Chief Robert Johnson emphasized that law enforcement is just one branch of the system.

“It’s really concerning that 44% of those arrested were out on bail at the time of their arrest, and 61% were subsequently released on bail yet again,” he said during the Toronto Police Service’s press conference.

Criminal defence lawyer Ari Goldkind said that only those unfamiliar with the bail system think it doesn’t require reform.

“It focuses on all the wrong questions. It is obsessed with third rail issues that leave not only the victims of crimes helpless and hopeless but leaves victims in the same communities as the offenders at risk and at the will of those very offenders,” he said in an interview with True North.

The police refrained from offering solutions to Canada’s catch-and-release system, noting that this falls within the court’s domain. Goldkind, however, was more direct.

“We need to focus on a dangerousness concept of why people should or should not get bail, rather than irrelevant, unrelated, woke notions of justice, which quite simply are failing Canadians coast to coast,” said Goldkind. 

The police also provided details on Project Titanium, an investigation into a criminal network engaged in violent auto thefts, home invasions, and other non-violent auto theft incidents. The project was initiated based on intelligence from the Ontario Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force.

Project Titanium successfully dismantled a criminal network while solving 21 home invasion investigations, making eight arrests, recovering 23 vehicles, and laying 103 criminal charges.  

Among the 124 arrests made by the Ontario Provincial Carjacking Joint Task Force, 36 were minors, 47% of whom were re-offenders. Twenty-six out of the 36 young offenders, 72%, were released on bail. 

“The Youth Criminal Justice Act, in the eyes of many, has become a joke,” said Goldkind. “While it has many noble reasons to exist, for those that do juvenile or youthful hijinks, the change in the last 10 to 20 years of criminality for murder, carjacking, home invasions, and serious crimes of violence by those that know they will not even get a slap on the wrist, or who are being manipulated by those over 18, so as to avoid punishment, is something that should be the top order for our Parliament.”

Johnson said that all police can do is bring offenders before the court, and then the court system takes over.

“Thankfully, in this country, people are given a second chance. But, when it’s multiple times, it is frustrating, for sure,” said Johnson.

Johnson said that auto thefts in 2024 are down 28% in Toronto. However, he added that these crimes have contributed to an increase in home invasions, violent robberies, and gun violence. 

“The time for change should be now. The time for historical or kumbaya thinking should be over. The law-abiding and taxpaying citizens of this country deserve no less,” said Goldkind.

Carbon, fuel tax removal keeps two provinces’ inflation rates lower than rest of country

Isaac Lamoureux, True North Wire
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Carbon, fuel tax removal keeps two provinces’ inflation rates lower than rest of country

Two provinces are still prospering from cutting taxes on fuel, as inflation in Saskatchewan and Manitoba rose at half the rate as the rest of the country.

While inflation in Canada rose 2.9% between May 2023 and May 2024, inflation in Manitoba grew by 1.3% and by 1.5% in Saskatchewan. No other provinces saw their consumer price index increase less than 2.6%, according to Statistics Canada’s most recent data.

The province where inflation rose the most was Nova Scotia, which saw its CPI increase by 3.7% between May 2023 and May 2024.

CPI measures price changes as seen by Canadian consumers.

Saskatchewan attributed its inflation rate – the second-lowest in the country – to its removal of the carbon tax.

“Our government will continue to stand up for Saskatchewan with the elimination of the carbon tax on home heating as a significant measure in the fight to tackle inflation,” said Saskatchewan  Minister of Trade Jeremy Harrison. “The federal carbon tax negatively impacts the interests of this province and the people who live here. Our priority will always be the defence of our economic well-being against the out-of-touch federal Liberal/NDP coalition government.”

The only province that saw inflation increase more slowly than Saskatchewan was Manitoba.

They started to see the tax cuts limiting the effects of inflation earlier this year. Inflation in the two provinces fell more quickly than the rest of the country after Saskatchewan ceased collecting its carbon levy and Manitoba paused its fuel tax.

Manitoba had the lowest inflation in the country for the fifth month in a row.

“Our government took action right away to lower costs for families by cutting the 14-cents-a-litre gas tax, putting money back in your pocket and lowering overall inflation in Manitoba,” said Manitoba Finance Minister Adrien Sala.

The Manitoba Bureau of Statistics estimates that the fuel tax pause has contributed to decreasing inflation by 0.4%. The tax pause on gas also contributes to lower inflation on food and anything else shipped with gas.

The Bank of Canada previously claimed that removing the carbon tax would cause inflation to decrease by 0.15 points. The governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, later updated that figure to 0.6 percentage points. The updated calculation was still criticized for not considering second-round or pass-through effects from the supply chain. 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation previously applauded Manitoba for pausing its fuel tax, while Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took some flack for reintroducing the fuel tax in her province after Albertans had had a brief reprieve from it.

Inflation in Alberta rose 3% between May 2023 and May 2024.

Grocery prices experienced the largest month-over-month price increase since January 2023. Inflation of grocery prices rose for the first time since June 2023, as they had been steadily decreasing since. In June 2023, grocery prices had a CPI change of 9.1%, decreasing every month until May 2024, when they rose to 1.5% from April’s 1.4%.

iPolitics falsely reported Liberal win in Toronto—St. Paul’s byelection

Quinn Patrick, True North Wire
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iPolitics falsely reported Liberal win in Toronto—St. Paul’s byelection

A mainstream media outlet has quietly erased any trace of an erroneous byelection call.

Online news outlet iPolitics falsely reported that the Liberals won the hotly contested Toronto—St. Paul’s byelection in a since-removed story published early Tuesday. 

“The federal Liberals narrowly retained a central Toronto riding in a closely watched byelection on Monday that was seen as a must-win for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,” reads the original iPolitics article. 

However, Conservative candidate Don Stewart won the riding in the early hours of Tuesday morning, beating out Liberal candidate Leslie Church by two points.

Despite the riding being a longstanding stronghold for the Liberals for over 30 years, Stewart was elected with 42.1% of the vote. Stewart narrowly edged out Church with a 590-vote lead over her by the time all ballots were counted.

NDP candidate Amrit Parhar finished in a distant third with 10.9% of the vote.

iPolitics’ publisher did not respond for comment when contacted about the false report. 

The outlet’s owner, Brian Storseth, directed True North to the editor of iPolitics, who did not respond to a request for comment.

The seat had previously been held by Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, who won the riding by 24 points in 2021, continuing the long line of Liberals to hold it since 1993.

“Thank you Toronto—St. Paul’s!” said Stewart in a post to X, following the results of the byelection.

“I am beyond humbled for the trust you have put in me and I will never take it for granted. I promise to be YOUR voice on Parliament Hill.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre responded to Stewart’s victory by congratulating him and urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call an early election in a social media post on Tuesday. 

“Here is the verdict: Trudeau can’t go on like this. He must call a carbon tax election now,” wrote Poilievre. 

The loss of Toronto—St. Paul’s has been devastating to Trudeau’s reputation as leader of the Liberal party. However, he has rejected the idea that he will step down ahead of the next federal election.

Trudeau and Freeland offer few words in reaction to Liberal byelection loss

Clayton DeMaine, True North Wire
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Trudeau and Freeland offer few words in reaction to Liberal byelection loss

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said they “clearly” have work to do if they want to stay in government at the next election.

After losing a critical byelection in the Toronto—St. Paul’s riding on Monday, Trudeau and Freeland sounded off about what the loss could mean for their party.

“This was obviously not the result we wanted. But I want to be clear that I hear people’s concerns and frustrations,” Trudeau said at a press conference on ocean conservation in Vancouver, B.C. on Tuesday.

“These are not easy times and it’s clear that I and my entire Liberal team have much more work to do to deliver tangible real progress for Canadians across the country to the sea.”

Trudeau congratulated Conservative Don Stewart for his narrow victory in the riding and thanked the Liberal team that attempted to get Leslie Church elected before leaving the presser without taking any questions from the media.

Freeland’s comments were a far cry from her comments the night before when she said that voting for Conservatives in the byelection was voting for an alternative that was “really cold and cruel and small.

“She said a vote for the Conservatives was a vote for cuts, austerity and “not believing in ourselves as a country, not believing in our communities and in our neighbours.”

But now facing the results of the byelection the following morning she said this was an indication for the Liberal party to do better.

“This is a disappointing result for us. We take the result very seriously. We know that Canadians are hurting right now,” Freeland said. “We know that we have to work hard to win back their trust.”

She said this tells her that they need to do more of what they have been saying they would do all year, such as “building more homes faster…delivering programs that make life more affordable for Canadians, like dental care, like early learning and child care, to deliver with investments to grow the economy and to create great jobs.”

“We know that we need to do it in a fiscally responsible way. Because it is so important. To continue on the path we’re on,” Freeland said.

She noted that inflation has been within the Bank of Canada’s inflation target of 3% for the last five months.

“That is good news. But we have more work to do so that we can support the Bank of Canada in lowering rates because we know that that will bring relief to Canada and Canadians.”

When asked by a reporter if the Liberal party could win anywhere under Trudeau’s leadership, given that they lost in a typical Liberal stronghold, Freeland, speaking for the party, pledged continued support for the current Prime Minister.

“Our government is focused on working hard for Canada and Canadians and on delivering results for Canada and Canadians,” she said.

“That is what the Prime Minister is focused on. That is what we are all focused on. The Prime Minister is committed to leading us into the next election and has our support.”

Stewart was elected with 42.1% with a narrow 590-vote lead over Church by the time the election was called early Tuesday morning.

“The results sent Justin Trudeau a loud and clear message: He is not worth the cost.” Stewart posted on X on Tuesday afternoon. “Pierre Poilievre has a common sense plan that is resonating in every corner of the country, including right here in the heart of Toronto.”

“Reclaiming Canada” conference proceeds despite cancel campaign

Lindsay Shepherd
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“Reclaiming Canada” conference proceeds despite cancel campaign

The “Reclaiming Canada” conference, hosted by We Unify at the Victoria Conference Centre in Victoria, B.C. was a standing room only event on the weekend.

The 400-seat theatre was at capacity as audience members anticipated the first session on health and science, featuring TV personality and addictions specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky, Stanford University professor of medicine Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, and other medical professionals who reminisced on the unscientific premises of COVID lockdowns, masks, and vaccines.

A group of approximately 50 protesters from the group “1 Million Voices for Inclusion” were gathered outside the venue on Saturday morning, with many prominently flying flags of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers and the BC General Employees’ Union. 

Local B.C. NDP MLA Grace Lore was also present at the protest to pressure the Victoria Conference Centre into cancelling the conference and rejecting bookings from freedom-minded groups.

The protest quickly dwindled to a group of ten who wrote phrases such as “Hormones Save Lives,” and “Queer Liberation Now” in chalk on the pavement, as well as repeated scrawls of “Shame.”

Source: Lindsay Shepherd

“I have to admit disappointment over the turnout; while respectable, we expected far more to attend,” protest organizer Martin Girard wrote on his anarchist blog.

“1 Million Voices for Inclusion” activists launched a month-long campaign to get the City of Victoria to cancel We Unify’s booking at the municipally-run conference venue, but the city stood strong.

“The city’s actions are subject to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and there is a right to freedom of expression in public places,” city spokesperson Colleen Mycroft told Chek News.

B.C. Green Party leader Sonia Furstenau wrote a letter to Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto calling for the conference to be cancelled.

“Hosting the ‘We Unify’ conference at a City of Victoria-owned venue is a direct contradiction of the ‘Declaration of Ongoing Solidarity with Gender-Diverse Residents of Victoria’ adopted by Victoria City Council in 2023,” wrote Furstenau.

The other sessions at the Reclaiming Canada conference were titled “Tech and Media,” “Democracy and Law,” and “The Future,” featuring speakers including Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, Rebel News journalist Drea Humphrey, and former Newfoundland premier Brian Peckford.

The protesters’ fixation on gender issues stems from how some of the conference speakers, such as social media influencer Zuby, have spoken out against biological males invading women’s spaces and women’s sports by claiming to be trans.

The Victoria Conference Centre demanded the day before the conference that We Unify pay $50,000 in security, but We Unify spokesperson Karla Treadway said the amount had not been settled as the venue had not yet provided a risk assessment report.

“There’s no confirmed fee… we said we wanted confirmation that we were actually at risk and requiring that kind of security because this is just a really peaceful event. And we just can’t imagine that that would even be remotely necessary,” Treadway told True North.

“So we asked for data to show that we’re actually in a position requiring maximum security, we’re still in negotiations as far as number, but it has nothing that our safety team can’t deal with.”

Treadway said the We Unify organizers were not intimidated by the protesters’ and leftist politicians’ attempts to ban their event. 

“This is not a political event. It’s a nonpartisan event. We invited Liberal speakers, NDP speakers, and legacy media – they all declined. And we really see that this is a real serious problem that people can’t actually talk anymore,” said Treadway.

“This is a grassroots movement, and it’s just going to keep on getting bigger and bigger. Our intention is to build bridges.”

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