Earlier this year, Steven Guilbeault said the federal government will no longer fund municipal road projects because building roads encourages people to drive cars. Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the implications of this decision on Alberta’s transportation infrastructure, and the province’s plans to manage and fund road projects independently.
Social justice activist charged for pro-Palestine protest at Jewish-owned business
An outspoken social justice activist and perennial protester was arrested and charged for conducting a disruptive protest inside an Israeli-Canadian business.
Anna Lippman, a PhD candidate at York University and a high-profile member of Independent Jewish Voices – an anti-Israel advocacy organization – was arrested by Toronto police along with other demonstrators for participating in an unlawful protest this past January.
According to Toronto police, Lippman, Desmond Cole and Helene Furlottee-Bois were arrested after unlawfully entering Awz Ventures’ office in the Yonge and Eglinton area.
Lippman was charged with forcible entry, mischief to property, member of an unlawful assembly, member of an unlawful assembly while masked, and failure to leave premises when directed. Both Cole and Furlottee-Bois were slapped with a similar slate of charges.
World Beyond War Canada – a pro-Palestinian advocacy organization – condemned Toronto police’s arrests against the activists, claiming that the police is actively seeking to quash the pro-Palestinian movement.
“Toronto Police Services once again on the wrong side of history as they continue to criminalize the Palestinian solidarity movement,” reads WBWC’s X post.
None of the activists deny that they protested at the business, but they still claim that the Toronto police set out to send a message to the pro-Palestinian movement.
Furthermore, WBWC claims that undercover police officers had assaulted one of the three activists during their arrests.
Lippman says that concern for “Jewish safety” is being used as cover for Toronto police to shut down pro-Palestinian demonstrations and allows companies to do business with Israeli corporations they view as helping the Israel Defence Forces.
“The action at Awz highlights that we refuse to have Jewish safety used as cover for investors to profit from genocide and occupation,” said Lippman.
Cole reiterated a similar message, vilifying the Toronto police for the arrest.
“Toronto police are today criminalizing us for calling attention to this company, whose business aids the surveillance and punishment of Palestinians. Our commitment to Palestinian life is unshakeable, and the TPS will never silence us,” said Cole.
True North columnist Sue-Ann Levy ridiculed Lippman for her activism and applauded her arrest at the hands of Toronto police.
Eby defends drug decriminalization as Liberals and Conservatives raise concerns over B.C. approach
British Columbia’s NDP premier, David Eby, is facing criticism for going all in on his government’s controversial drug decriminalization agenda as criticisms mount.
Eby’s defence of his policy comes as federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks plans to visit to B.C. to discuss growing concerns and controversies surrounding the three-year pilot program, which decriminalized simple possession of up to 2.5 grams of heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, or MDMA.
“It’s an incredibly challenging issue. We’re trying to keep people alive, get them intro treatment. We’ve opened hundreds of new treatment beds this year alone,” Eby said to CTV News this week.
“We have attempted to put in place a system that recognizes some of the impacts we’ve seen of the ongoing toxic drug crisis that we’re in, including public drug use by some individuals, and we’re not going to let it go.”
Saks’s office noted in a statement that her government “indicated from the outset that the B.C. exemption (to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act) would be rigorously monitored and evaluated.”
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre also took a swipe at Eby this week, calling his drug decriminalization policy “radical” and “dangerous.” He also criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for abetting it.
“They are the ones that brought in decriminalization. Eby asked for it, Trudeau granted it, and they both put your tax dollars into heroin-grade opioids that can kill people and get our children hooked on drugs,” Poilievre said.
Centre for Responsible Drug Policy director Adam Zivo says Eby is clinging to ideology over science.
“The fact that the premier is doubling down on drug decriminalization is concerning,” said Zivo. “It suggests that his approach to addiction policy is rooted in ideology, not evidence because, we must remember that there is no evidence that drug decriminalization has saved any lives at this point.”
To the contrary, Zivo said B.C.’s drug decriminalization project has made things significantly worse.
“I have spoken with dozens of youth who have said that drug decriminalization makes them feel unsafe and seems to normalize drug use and, in a sense, even encourage drug use among their peers,” he said.
B.C. set a record of 2,511 suspected illicit drug deaths in 2023, despite the decriminalization pilot.
Zivo believes “there is no justification for perpetuating a policy that has endangered so many people across the province, including health care workers, who now have to worry about walking through plumes of meth and fentanyl while simply doing their jobs.”
These concerns were echoed by Saks’ office, which said in a statement that “Health care workers have a right to a safe workplace,” noting that B.C. has committed to addressing implementation issues in such settings.
Zivo believes it’s time to scrap the decriminalization experiment altogether.
“I think that British Columbia, in partnership with the federal government, should end decriminalization as soon as possible and pivot towards investing into treatment capacity.”
B.C. Conservative leader John Rustad also criticized the Eby government’s approach to drugs in a statement to True North, calling his continued commitment to decriminalization “insanity.”
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” said Rustad. “David Eby doubling down on drug decriminalization is insanity.”
Rustad is pledging to end drug decriminalization if he is elected B.C. premier.
“There is no such thing as a safe supply of hard drugs. More people are dying than ever before,” he said. “We must bring back common sense to B.C. and under a Conservative government, we would end decriminalization and the so-called ‘safe’ supply of hard drugs.”
Rustad wants to “restore the health and dignity of addicts” by “converting all injection sites into recovery intake centres,” and build facilities that “emulate the Alberta model in helping addicts overcome their addiction and live fulfilling lives.”
CRA alleges it was defrauded out of $37 million through telecom “carousel scheme”
The Canada Revenue Agency paid out $37 million in taxpayer money to alleged telecom scammers, according to a recently unsealed affidavit.
Documents obtained by CBC show that a CRA litigation officer alleged that Gold Line Telemanagement, a Toronto-based company made “material misstatements” on tax returns and was “part of a group of companies that participated in sham transactions.”
The affidavit was kept from the public for 10 months because lawyers at KPMG ,the legal branch of Gold Line, said its release could cause “irreparable harm” to the company.
Pressure from the CBC caused the law firm to eventually reverse its decision to keep the affidavit confidential.
Gold Line has provided prepaid long distance cards as well as other telecom services for decades and denies the CRA allegations.
According to its own court filings, the company stated “there was no deceit, intentional or otherwise,” instead claiming that Gold Line was solely engaged in the long-distance telecom business.
The CRA alleges that Gold Line began acting as a middle party in the telecom industry in 2016, claiming to buy and sell international phone call minutes which were really just “sham” transactions.
Gold Line claimed $37 million in sales tax refunds and received the money from the CRA.
Certain companies involved with Gold Line’s supply chain were already the subject of fraud accusations last year, where the CRA admitted to paying out over $63 million in what the agency now calls “illegitimate” tax refunds.
The CRA now claims to have wrongly distributed $100 million in fraudulent payment since last year to carousel schemes, also known as “missing trader fraud.”
These schemes involve “a group of entities who work together to sell goods to each other, or, at times, provide the appearance of selling goods” and Canadian tax authorities have been aware of this practice for years now.
The scheme involves supply chains of fake companies and invoices which creates the appearance of numerous legitimate business transactions having occurred, then the companies submit fake tax refund claims to be paid out by the government.
Court filings in the case state the KPMG provided Gold Line with external “accounting support” as well as audited financial statements but did not prepare any of the GST returns that are in question.
Gold Line sold over 10 million more minutes than it purchased, according to a CRA analysis.
“There is overwhelming evidence that Gold Line was colluding with its suppliers and customers to deceive the CRA” reads the affidavit.
The CRA alleges that Gold Line either became involved in the scheme through “grossly negligent” practices or knowingly dealt with Canadian suppliers who were not registered to collect GST or HST.
These companies also don’t have proper telecom licences and “had no business location, had no telecommunications experience and had no employees other than the shareholder/director.”
The CRA alleges that “the purchase and sales transactions” made by Gold Line were a “sham,” however the other companies involved in the supply chain also deny these allegations, none of which have been tested in court.
LAWTON: Feds won’t say if corporate welfare is working
The federal government has decided not to disclose whether companies that received subsidies have fulfilled their job-creation promises, with internal documents suggesting they do not track this information. Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta director Kris Sims joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the concerning lack of transparency regarding the use of taxpayer money.
LAWTON: Ex-Liberal MP reveals why Trudeau is losing grip on his party
As Justin Trudeau’s popularity continues to decline, many stalwart Liberals have started breaking away from the party. Former Liberal MP Dan McTeague joined True North’s Andrew Lawton at the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference in Ottawa to discuss why lifelong Liberals seem to be distancing themselves from the Prime Minister.
Liberals force banks to identify carbon rebates by name in direct deposits
The Liberals will force Canadian banks to identify the carbon rebate by name when issuing direct deposits to Canadians.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s federal budget contains various amendments to the Financial Administration Act.
“In Budget 2024, the government proposes to amend the Financial Administration Act to provide regulation-making authority to prescribe labelling requirements by financial institutions for government payments accepted for deposit in customer account statements and online banking records,” reads the budget.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said that about 80% of Canadians receive their rebates through direct deposits, the other 20% of whom receive it via mail.
“We’re working with financial institutions to make sure that it’s labelled properly so that people actually know what it is,” he said. “In many cases, it was very difficult for people to actually see that they were getting it.”
True North previously reported that the Liberals rebranded what was previously known as the “Climate Action Incentive Program” to the “Canada Carbon Rebate” in February.
The name change was only that, with no changes to the federal carbon pricing scheme or size of rebates.
Federal director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Franco Terrazzano called the rebrand “putting lipstick on a pig.”
“Trudeau’s real problem isn’t that Canadians don’t know what his government is doing; Trudeau’s real problem is that Canadians know his carbon tax is making life more expensive,” he said in a statement.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the rebrand would not save the Liberals from its dwindling poll numbers.
“Canadians will see it for what it is: a tax on the fuel they use to drive their kids to school, a tax on the food they buy, a tax on the businesses that they run, a tax on everything,” said Smith.
Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs echoed Smith’s concerns in a post to X.
“No matter what they call it, Canadians know that the carbon tax is just that — another tax,” she said.
She added that the Parliamentary Budget Officer showed that Albertans pay $1,000 more than they receive in rebates.
The Department of Environment and Climate Change Canada has been disputing with banks for the past two years about how carbon rebates are labelled when they are deposited into users’ accounts.
“The fact that they haven’t been doing it now for many years led us to take this position,” said Guilbeault. “I think we took it for granted that since people were receiving it, people knew they were receiving it,” he added.
“We’ve come to discover over the last few months that it wasn’t the case, in part because the way it was labelled, or mislabelled, I should say, by most financial institutions,” said Guilbeault according to the Canadian Press.
Some banks have already changed the rebate label to “Canada Carbon Rebate,” whereas other banks have yet to implement any changes.
True North previously reported that the Conservatives passed a non-binding motion, compelling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to convene an emergency meeting with Canada’s premiers to discuss the carbon tax.
The motion followed 70% of Canadians and 70% of provincial premiers asking Trudeau to “spike the hike.”
CBSA memo says high-risk foreign nationals may be released due to lack of space
Foreign nationals deemed to be high-risk by the Canada Border Services Agency may soon be set free due to a lack of space at detention centres.
The CBSA has been retrofitting its Laval, QC detention centre to create more space for high-risk detainees, however prolonged delays may force the agency to release some foreign nationals who are considered both a threat to public safety and a flight risk.
In an internal memo sent out by the National Detention Contingency Task Force on March 20, the task force explains how these delays may surpass its ability to detain dangerous persons as several provincial holding contracts are set to expire.
In June, Ontario and Quebec are scheduled to join seven other provinces in no longer housing high risk detainees facing deportation. Newfoundland and Labrador also announced that it’s ending its contract with the CBSA in 2025.
Provinces are required to give one year’s notice before cancelling their detainee contracts which Ontario, Quebec and Newfoundland have already done.
Alberta gave its notice in 2020, giving the Trudeau government ample time to find a solution to this problem.
The Trudeau government was notified by Alberta that it would cease taking immigration detainees in 2020, and the latest provinces also provided the federal government with one year’s notice prior to cancelling their contracts.
The document, obtained by CTV News, states that delayed infrastructure improvements to the Laval Immigration Holding Centre “will create a capacity gap in the CBSA’s detention capabilities, compromising the CBSA’s immigration enforcement continuum and increasing public safety and program integrity risks.”
The CBSA plans to evaluate each detainee’s case and limit detention to only those individuals who pose the highest risk to public safety and release the rest to alleviate its temporary loss of capacity.
The agency acknowledged in the memo that this decision “may result in higher rates of non-compliance.”
A total of 5,248 people were detained by the CBSA last year, being jailed for an average length of 17 days.
If the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada determines that a foreign national is a flight risk or a danger to the public or themselves, they are sent to a detention centre.
About 16% of detainees are considered high-risk and held in provincial jails instead, which can result in them being incarcerated for months before their deportation.
According to president of the Customs and Immigration Union Mark Weber, three CBSA detention centres currently have inadequate security infrastructure as the facilities in Toronto, Laval, QC and Surrey all have shared sleeping quarters and open spaces in place of individual cells which can be locked.
Ottawa weighing allowing foreign grocers into market to lower prices
The federal government is looking to lure international grocery companies into the Canadian market to help create more competition among domestic food retailers.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne is hoping to bring in retailers from the U.S., Germany, Turkey and Portugal to increase competition as Canadians’ grocery bills have skyrocketed in recent years.
“A lack of competition in Canada’s grocery sector means Canadians are paying higher prices,” reads a section of the federal government’s new budget released this week.
Champagne began calling out Canada’s biggest grocery retailers like Loblaws, Metro and Empire last fall for their lack of transparency regarding high price inflation.
He wrote a letter to the antitrust watchdog, the Competition Bureau to take action and “confront abuses” in the market.
Last September, Champagne met with the CEOs of Canada’s biggest grocery chains to discuss their high pricing.
“The large grocery stores have accepted to work with the government of Canada. This is a step in the right direction,” Champagne told reporters after their September meeting. “We’ll keep on pushing them. Trust me, this is just the beginning.”
However, very little materialized from that meeting, which opposition leader Pierre Poilievre later called nothing more than a photo-op.
The federal government then went as far as to threaten a windfall tax on grocery chain’s profits if food prices did not become more stabilized.
Champagne’s actions are in response to Canadian voters expressing their frustration with the continued high cost of living since the pandemic.
Food prices are now 23% higher than they were before lockdown, according to the latest inflation data.
A survey from last fall found that Canadians are putting their grocery bill ahead of their nutrition, with 45.5% of respondents saying the cost of their groceries outweighed the importance of their food’s nutritional value in terms of what they are purchasing.
The minister began bandying around the idea of introducing foreign grocery chains into the Canadian market in February and top officials in the industry department provided Champagne with a list of potential candidates.
An access-to-information request revealed that Champagne is looking into mostly European grocers along with one California-based outlet, called the Grocery Outlet Holding, which has 470 discount retail stores in the U.S.
The most popular European chains the government is attempting to acquire are Germany’s Aldi, which has over 2,000 outlets already in the U.S. and Lidl, owned by the Schwarz Group.
So far, none of the companies have confirmed any interest in opening up retail outlets in Canada.
“Canada needs solutions to help bring grocery prices in check. More competition is a key part of the answer,” read a report from Canada’s Competition Bureau last year.
The report noted that after Aldi opened in Australia, domestic operators were forced to significantly reduce their prices.
“The successful entry of international grocers into the Canadian industry may be the best option to bring about lower prices, greater choice, and increased levels of innovation,” the report said.
A spokeswoman for Metro told the Wall Street Journal that it welcomed further competition from abroad, noting that U.S. chains like Walmart and Costco have already been in Canada for years.
Other companies being looked at by Champagne are Germany’s Edeka Group and Rewe Group and the France-based Les Mousquetaires, among others in Portugal, Spain, Norway and Holland.
Off the Record | Trudeau gives MORE money to CBC
It’s Friday, so kick back, grab a drink and enjoy the latest episode of Off the Record with Andrew Lawton, Harrison Faulkner and Noah Jarvis!
This week, the Trudeau government unveiled its massive budget, which included a $40 billion deficit and $115 billion in new spending over five years. And of course – despite the CBC’s declining viewership, dwindling revenues and massive mismanagement, Justin Trudeau gave the state broadcaster even more money.
Plus, a True North exclusive reveals a Royal Military College chaplain who was hailed by the Canadian military as an LGBTQ champion on Transgender Day of Visibility has been suspended following an alleged groping request.
And Harrison and Noah take over to talk about about Andrew’s most dreaded topic: sports. This week, Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter was banned for life from the NBA after violating the league’s gambling rules.
These stories and more on Off the Record! Tune in now!
