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Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu accuses Liberals of ignoring election interference

Source: The Andrew Lawton Show

Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu said the Liberal government is still in denial about foreign interference in Canadian elections.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently responded to a question about allegedly receiving more election interference briefings from law enforcement in 2021 than the former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole.

“The Conservatives continue to try and play partisan games with the facts and the issues before us that are very, very serious,” said Trudeau.

He added that independent panels have submitted reports showing the election’s integrity was upheld. Trudeau said he would trust the commission and looked forward to participating next week. He believes the commission’s reports will “reaffirm the integrity of those elections but also make important recommendations… to keep our elections safe and our democratic institutions safe for the future.”

During his testimony at Canada’s inquiry into foreign interference, O’Toole reported that his party fell victim to an extensive misinformation campaign masterminded by China and its affiliates, resulting in the defeat of as many as nine candidates in the 2021 election.

Chiu, appearing on the Andrew Lawton Show on Thursday, said that Trudeau’s inability to recognize election interference is a problem that sends two messages.

“The government seems to be still in denial mode,” said Chiu.

Firstly, he said this type of response tells Canadians not to be concerned about election interference. Secondly, Chiu added that it sends a message to hostile nations, such as Russia, Iran, and China, who may have an interest in harming Canada, that “we’re still burying our heads in the sand… So come and exploit our people in any way that you can.”

True North previously reported that Chiu accused the Chinese Communist Party of targeting him with a disinformation campaign that was a factor in him losing his 2021 riding of Steveston—Richmond East.

Chiu said he felt a deep sense of vindication with the recent support he’s received about his allegations that surfaced years prior.

“In 2021, I wasn’t hallucinating. I wasn’t daydreaming, or like, Jeniffer O’Connell, the Liberal MP, said that I’m being Donald Trump,” said Chiu.

He explained that some demographics of Canada’s population are very segregated in how they receive information. For example, if Vladimir Putin wanted to control Canada’s Russian population, which doesn’t speak English or French, Chiu said that it would be a simple task.

“All they have to do is buy out the media… and then pump this information to these diaspora communities that use Russian social media. This is what I observe to be the case in Canada. And it’s still ongoing,” he said.

Chiu said the media platforms that cater to these segregated communities, such as WeChat and other popular Chinese social media, are not monitored and have controlled messaging from the authoritarian regime. 

Summoning the President or CEO of Facebook to testify would be easy enough, said Chiu. However, trying to do a similar task with TikTok or its mother company would be unlikely.

Chiu explained that Canada has fallen behind when it comes to tackling these issues.

“Compared to other Western democracies that have done something substantial to safeguard their democracies and national sovereignty, Canada has done barely anything,” he said. 

The former Conservative MP previously tabled a private member’s bill in the House of Commons to create a public registry for anyone working with hostile regimes. The bill was defeated. 

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world. It’s very cruel. We must safeguard our citizens,” said Chiu.

He proposed that Canada’s easiest way forward would be establishing a foreign influence transparency scheme, similar to what Australia has implemented. Chiu added that certified fact-checkers could monitor media in their native language during elections to ensure diaspora communities are not overrun with misinformation.

Such was the case in 2021 when Chinese-language social media labelled Chiu as a “race traitor” and white supremacist supporter, leading some to believe he was anti-China.

Canada should consult with Taiwan, which has been at the forefront of an infowar with China, said Chiu.

“They have garnered tremendous amounts of experience and ideas, and I’m sure they are more than willing to share with us.” 

Taxpayers paid $27.2 million for bonuses at Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Housing Minister Sean Fraser / Michel Tremblay CEO - CMHC - Source: Facebook/Facebook/cmhc-schl.gc.ca

The prospect of Canadians struggling with a worsening housing crisis has not stopped the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation from dishing out generous bonuses to 98% of its workforce last year.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation issued a press release on Thursday, highlighting access-to-information records, which showed that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation issued over $27 million in bonuses in 2023.

The bonuses in 2023 push the total amount received in bonuses since the beginning of 2020 by CMHC employees to $102 million.

Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Franco Terrazzano, criticized the bonuses, questioning their alignment with the CMHC’s 2023-2027 corporate plan’s primary goal which called for “housing affordability for all.”

“Why is the CMHC patting itself on the back and showering its staff with bonuses when Canadians can’t afford homes?” asked Terrazzano. 

Last year, the CTF showed that the corporation paid almost $27 million in bonuses in 2022.

Terrazzano also posted a video to X, pleading that anyone sick and tired of hearing the same story send a letter to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, asking her to “stop rewarding failing bureaucrats with taxpayer-funded bonuses.”

He highlighted that home prices had increased substantially year-over-year since 2020, leading nearly 70% of Canadians to say that homeownership was only for the wealthy.

The federation revealed that over 2,283 CMHC staff members took home a bonus last year, amounting to taxpayers paying them $27.2 million, with the average bonus being approximately $11,800.

The corporation’s ten executives received $4.1 million in total compensation in 2023, including $3.1 million in salary and $831,000 in bonuses. Executives also received $211,000 in other benefits. 

On top of the bonuses, over 2,000 staff members, 89% of the CMHC got a pay raise in 2023. The CTF revealed that not one CMHC employee received a pay decrease.

1,073 CMHC employees possess a six-figure salary, increasing 15% from 2022. The six-figure salaries alone cost taxpayers $140 million in 2023.

Terrazzano told True North that the CTF will continue digging up and highlighting wasteful spending by the federal government. 

“Canadians deserve to know this information,” he said.

Terrazzano said that holding the government to account will persist if the Conservatives form government.

“We’ve also seen [the] Conservative Party Leader say he will end the bonuses for failing government authorities, and we will hold him to that if he forms government,” he said.

 The Conservative Party issued a press release on the same day as the CTF’s

“Despite constant Liberal Government photo-ops, Canada will have fewer housing starts in 2024 than in the previous year. And housing starts in 2025-2026 will still be lower than they were in 2020-2021,” said the party, highlighting the corporation’s housing market outlook.

“Already, Trudeau has overseen a 107% increase in the price of rent while down payments have also doubled. But under this Liberal Government, Canadians shouldn’t expect relief any time soon. In the same report, the CMHC predicted that ‘rents will rise and vacancy rates will fall,’ as more people compete for less housing,” added the Conservatives.

The party added that last year, the CMHC’s CEO said that the Liberals have “no plan” to fix the housing crisis.

True North reported on Wednesday that RBC said that housing affordability in Canada had reached an all-time low.

Terrazzano said that in last year’s budget, Freeland said she would find about $1 billion in savings at the Crown corporations.

“The feds need to stop rewarding failures with bonuses,” he said.

“These bonuses should be the first thing on the chopping block.”

Cop found guilty of misconduct over Freedom Convoy donation seeks judicial review

Source: Unsplash

A Windsor police officer has requested a judicial review from the Ontario Divisional Court regarding a finding that he had engaged in discreditable conduct for donating $50 to the Freedom Convoy. 

Constable Michael Brisco was placed on unpaid leave as a result of the Windsor Police Service’s vaccine mandate at the time of his donation on Feb. 8, 2022. 

Brisco donated $50 via the online financial service GiveSendGo as an expression of his protest against vaccine mandates and his support for those who were demonstrating in Ottawa at the time. 

His donation was made privately and did not mention his status as a police officer.  

However, a court order allowed for the government to freeze the GiveSendGo account before the money could be received by members of the Freedom Convoy. 

The GiveSendGo website was subsequently hacked and donor information was leaked to the public. 

The Ontario Provincial Police obtained the hacked information and circulated it throughout various policing agencies across the province, despite having prior knowledge that the donor information had been obtained illegally. 

The information leaked did not initially identify Brisco as a police officer but after the information was cross-referenced with a police members’ database, his identity became known to the OPP.

“It was unfortunate that private donor information was unlawfully accessed. It is outrageous that the Ontario Provincial Police obtained this information to assist in persecuting police officers who were exercising their right to free expression,” said lawyer Darren Leung, who is representing Brisco.

According to the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, Brisco was called before a Windsor Police Service investigator and forced to answer “questions about the donation pursuant to the Police Services Act.” 

Following his questioning, the Windsor police charged Brisco with discreditable conduct and he was later summoned to a Discipline Hearing. 

Brisco’s charges were predicated on the notion that he knowingly contributed to an illegal protest.

However, the only evidence presented by the Windsor Police Service were newspaper reports which cited “the opinions of the Prime Minister, the Premier of Ontario, and the (then) Ottawa Police Chief.”

The prosecution presented submissions which attempted to link the Ambassador Bridge protest to the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa to imply Brisco was in support of the Windsor bridge blockade. 

However, while sharing a similar goal, the two protests were not connected from any organizational perspective or a financial standpoint.  

Brisco himself stated that his donation was intended for those protesting in Ottawa, not Windsor. 

Despite the prosecution’s claim lacking hard evidence that Brisco was supporting any illegal activity, he was found guilty of discreditable conduct on March 24, 2023, following a six-day hearing before a Hearing Officer. 

“The evidence used to convict Constable Brisco amounted to nothing more than opinions from people who did not like the message,” said Lueng.

He was fined the equivalent of fourteen days’ pay on May 18, 2023. 

The decision was appealed a month later but it was upheld by the Ontario Civilian Police Commission in February 2024. 

Lawyers with the JCCF, who have been assisting Brisco throughout his case, applied for a judicial review. 

This process allows for courts to ensure that the previous decisions made by an administrative body, (in this case the Windsor police) were fair, reasonable and lawful. 

The JCCF believes that Brisco’s private political donation is and was Charter-protected.

“Like other Canadians, police officers enjoy Charter freedoms and can express themselves within reason. Canadians should not be punished for expressing their political views, especially when evidence against them is obtained by unlawful means.” reads a JCCF release

Brisco has been a police officer for 15 years and is currently on active duty.

“We are hopeful that the Divisional Court will see that the entire conviction was unreasonable,” said Lueng.

Windsor Police Service did not respond to a request for comment from True North.

“Our kids first”: Doug Ford wants to fill medical schools with Ontario students only

Source: Facebook

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he doesn’t want foreign medical students who don’t end up working in Ontario to take up spots in the province’s medical schools.

At a press conference to announce the funding of a new medical school at York University, Ford said his “number one pet peeve” was foreign students leaving Ontario after getting a medical education.

“I want to support Ontario students,” he said. “God bless everyone else coming to our country. Someone from ABC country comes and pays a little more, and I understand that money pays for some of the local students.”

Ford pointed out that nearly one in five medical students in the province are from other countries.

“Get rid of the 18%. I’m not being mean, but I’m taking care of our students, our kids first,” he said.

According to the Ontario College of Family Physicians, 2.3 million Ontarians lack access to a family doctor. 

Many Ontario students end up seeking their medical education abroad.

“These kids, and I talk to a lot of their parents, they have to go to Ireland, or they go down to the Caribbean, or they go to Australia, or they go down to the United States, and guess what happens? They meet someone, and they don’t come back home,” Ford said.

For the entering class of 2023 at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine, 90% of the university’s medical students are from northern Ontario. The other 10% are from the rest of Canada, mostly in rural and remote areas.

The northern Ontario medical school, which has campuses in Thunder Bay and Sudbury, Ont., relies on tuition for 12% of its revenue and is currently lobbying the provincial government for $4 million in additional subsidies.

A representative from the university told True North that these averages have remained mostly the same since 2005.

The university’s selection process requires applicants to be Canadian citizens or permanent residents by the time of the application deadline for the year they wish to study. This is in contrast to Ontario’s other medical schools, which take applicants from around the world.

Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. only accepts Canadian citizens and permanent residents into its medical school.

Admissions data from the university show 77% of its medical students are from Ontario, 17% are from western provinces, and 6% are from Quebec and eastern provinces.

In his Thursday press conference, Ford announced his government would invest $9 million in the new medical school at York University, which is expected to begin classes in September 2028.

Ratio’d | Justin Trudeau ADMITS FAILURE on Mass Immigration!

Justin Trudeau told the media on Monday that Canada has taken in too many temporary immigrants for the country to handle. That’s interesting…what happened? Just a few months ago, Trudeau was steadfastly defending his mass immigration agenda.

The reality is, Canada is embarking down a path of irreversible mass immigration that is having disastrous consequences for Canadians. Meanwhile, nobody is addressing Canada’s plummeting birthrates. If Canada wants to preserve Canadian culture and values, we need to address the country’s low birth rates. Solving demographic problems shouldn’t be solely dependent on immigration.

Watch the latest episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner

Jewish organization denounces Alberta NDP MLA’s anti-Israel activism

Source: Facebook

An Alberta MLA is facing criticism from a prominent Jewish organization over her anti-Israel commentary.

The Jewish Federation of Edmonton has accused Edmonton NDP MLA Janis Irwin of cozying up to people who support “the erasure of the state of Israel without condemning Hamas, a recognized terrorist entity by the Government of Canada.”

Among other things, Irwin shared a post denying that Hamas committed mass rapes against Israeli women.

This comes despite testimonies showcasing sexual violence from Israeli women, and the United Nations finding “reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence — including rape and gang-rape — occurred across multiple locations of Israel and the Gaza periphery during the attacks on Oct. 7.”

In a statement posted to X, the Jewish Federation of Edmonton accused Irwin of “ardently demonstrating that she does not support all Albertans, including those impacted by the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack.”

Since Oct. 7, Irwin has shared numerous posts on X promoting anti-Israel protests, several of which she has attended.

“Extremist views do nothing to support the peace process or steps towards a two-state solution. It also creates unsafe environments for many (Jewish Edmontonians), including students,” said the Jewish group.

The organization hopes Irwin will show solidarity with the Jewish community and attend an Empty Shabbat Table installation at the Alberta legislature grounds on Friday, to mark six months since the Oct. 7 attack.

“She has never attended any events or vigils calling for the release of the hostages,” the organization noted.

Irwin’s office did not respond to a request for comment from True North about the federation’s criticism or whether Irwin would attend the event.

Irwin did, however, share an X post from freelance writer Jeremy Appel criticizing the federation.

“Anyone even remotely acquainted with Janis Irwin knows that the insinuation here, that her support for the Palestinian cause is rooted in anti-Jewish prejudice, is an entirely malicious fabrication,” said Appel’s post.

Studies showing that diversity improves corporate performance were flawed

Source: Facebook

Studies purporting that racial diversity amongst corporate executives drove better financial performance were found to be unreliable and are not capable of being replicated.

Four studies the international consulting agency McKinsey & Company released between 2015-2023 pushed the idea that diversity and equity measures would lead to improved results.

The company claimed that racial diversity among a corporation’s leadership helps to drive better financial outcomes for the given corporation. 

The McKinsey studies alleged that firms with an ethnically diverse executive team are more likely to financially outperform than they are to underperform compared to companies without diverse executive teams. 

However, this assertion is being challenged by authors Jeremiah Green and John R. M. Hand who contend that McKinsey’s findings are illegitimate because they were unable to replicate the findings that McKinsey had reached.

In their own review of the studies, Green and Hand explained that since McKinsey has not made public the detailed datasets, nor the names of the firms studied, they were forced to perform a quasi-replication using companies listed on the S&P 500 index to test McKinsey’s findings empirically. 

Measuring earnings before income and tax, the duo found that there was no statistically significant difference between firms with a “diverse” executive team and those without one.

“The key takeaway…is that, in contrast to McKinsey’s results, we do not find a statistically significant positive correlation between McKinsey’s measures of the racial/ethnic diversity of the executive teams of firms in the S&P 500® Index,” wrote the authors.

Green and Hand’s report criticized McKinsey’s conclusion from their already questionable results. Notably, the conclusion that racial diversity allows firms to earn more may be flawed, and that instead greater financial performance may lead companies to diversify their workforce.

McKinsey – a multinational consulting firm – has fully dedicated itself to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion and championing its commitment to environmental and social governance.

McKinsey has been criticized for their role in advising governments during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as their collaboration with corrupt and authoritarian governments around the world.

McKinsey clients over the years have included the governments of China, Turkey, Russia,  South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and more.

Under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Canadian government has seen an exponential increase in its reliance on McKinsey’s services, primarily by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and the Canadian Border Services Agency.

Ford rejects call from chief medical officer to increase drinking age to 21

Source: Facebook

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he disagrees with the province’s top doctor’s recommendation to increase the drinking age to 21 and decriminalize certain drugs.

Ford pointed out the absurdity of someone being old enough to serve in the Canadian Armed Forces but not be able to enjoy a drink.

“I disagree with raising the (drinking) age to 21 and one of my principles (is) these young people they put a uniform on and go fight for freedom around the world, driving tanks and heavy military equipment, and putting their lives on the line for democracy and they can’t go back later and have a beer?” he said during a press conference in Oliver Paipoonge, Ont. Wednesday. 

“That doesn’t cut it.”

Ford was responding to a recommendation made by Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore, who suggested the change as part of his 2023 annual report.

The province’s drinking age wasn’t the only recommendation that the two didn’t see eye to eye on however, as Moore also suggested decriminalizing simple possession of unregulated drugs for personal use.

However, the health minister’s office took issue with the notion of decriminalizing hard drugs and immediately rejected the suggestion. 

Ford said despite the disagreement, he still has a lot of respect for Moore.

“I think the world of Dr. Moore,” Ford said. “As far as I’m concerned he’s a champion. He has his opinion, we have ours. We believe in treating people like adults. All across the world you get to go into a retail store, a big box store and buy a bottle of wine with your steak, or maybe a six pack of beer, like the rest of the world does. That’s what we believe in.”

Ford added that he’ll “always support Dr. Moore and the job he’s doing.”

Other alcohol-related recommendations from Moore’s report are that the province “establish and maintain a moratorium on alcohol privatization (i.e. no further privatization of the alcohol distribution system, and no expansion of existing private retail channels).”

Moore also recommended implementing a system to “maintain or reduce current per-capita levels of retail outlet density,” one which would, “limit or prevent further extension of hours of sale in both on- and off-premise outlets.”

Moore also believes that by increasing Ontario’s alcohol pricing system, the province would see a reduction in alcohol related harms.

“Increase the legislated tax rates and minimum pricing per standard drink for all beverage types sold both on- and off-premises,” read the report. “Automatically adjust the taxes and minimum prices annually to keep pace with inflation so alcohol does not become less expensive relative to other goods over time.”

On decriminalizing hard drugs such as opioids and implementing a safe supply program akin to the one in place in B.C., Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones said the province would not be complying with the report’s recommendation. 

“We want pathways for treatment (for those) that have addiction issues,” said Jones. “And we are making those investments. I think there is a better way than legalizing drugs, and opioids in particular.”

Jones added that the Ford government is looking into finding alternate treatment possibilities for addicts, despite Moore’s insistence that decriminalization would save lives. 

According to Moore’s report, many deaths caused by substance abuse are “preventable,” arguing that it’s the unsafe supply of drugs already available in the streets that “harm too many people too young, devastate families, destroy communities, and reduce life expectancy, we must act.”

“Decriminalization … allows the justice and enforcement systems to focus their resources on stopping the organizations and individuals profiting from unregulated drug sales rather than on people who use substances whose needs would be better met in the health system,” said the report.

However, police have been warning about the dangers of safe supply programs as many of the drugs handed out under those outlets do often wind up in the hands of organized crime, who then sell them back to addicts in a practice known as diversion. 

A recent drug bust in Prince George, B.C. led to the seizure of many pills which were discovered to have originated from safe supply programs. 

“Organized crime groups are actively involved in the redistribution of safe supply and prescription drugs,” said Corp. Jennifer Cooper of the RCMP’s Prince George detachment following the bust last month.

Majority support the death penalty for murder as crime surges across Canada: poll

Kingston penitentiary - Source: Unsplash

A majority of Canadians believe that murderers should deserve the death penalty, as attitudes shift concerning capital punishment.

The number of Canadians who support capital punishment for murderers has now reached 57% across the country. 

A recent poll by Research Co. showed that 35% of Canadians moderately or strongly oppose the death penalty for murderers, while 9% of respondents were not sure.

The survey shows that half of Canadians who support reinstating the death penalty believe that it will serve as a deterrent for potential murderers. Half of Canadians also believe that “a convicted murderer has taken a life, so the death penalty fits the crime.”

Other reasons include saving the taxpayers money, as opposed to having murderers rot in prison with 48% of Canadians expressing this view. 

A similar percentage, 47%, also said that capital punishment would provide closure to the victim’s families. However, only 28% said that murderers cannot be rehabilitated.

While total police-reported crime rates per 100,000 people have increased by 8.3% in Canada between 2015 and 2022, violent crimes have increased by 23.4%, according to Statistics Canada.

The severity of such crimes has increased notably as well.

The crime severity index, which accounts for both the volume and severity of crimes, has increased from 70.4 in 2015 to 78.1 in 2022. However, the violent crime severity index has risen from 75.3 to 97.7. The non-violent crime severity index has increased by just over five points.

Research Co. conducted a similar poll in March 2023. Since then, support for the death penalty for murderers has increased by three points. This increase mirrored 2023’s three-point rise from 2022. 

Mario Canseco, President of Research Co., highlighted the differences in support for capital punishment based on who respondents support politically. Conservatives (69%) were more likely to support re-introducing the death penalty, followed by Liberals (56%) and NDP voters (49%).

Despite the majority support for reintroducing the death penalty, the preferences of Canadians reveal a nuanced stance when presented with a direct choice between capital punishment and life imprisonment without parole. 

Despite support for re-introducing the death penalty, most respondents preferred dishing out life sentences when given the option. Faced with these sentencing options for convicted murderers, 55% of Canadians leaned towards life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, contrasting with the 35% who still favoured the death penalty. The rest remained undecided on this matter.

In 1962, Arthur Lucas and Ronald Turpin became the last individuals to be executed in Canada, marking the end of the death penalty era. Despite last-minute appeals and public outcry, the convicted murderers were hanged back-to-back in Toronto’s Don Jail. Their fates were sealed despite the trend of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker commuting court-imposed death sentences to life imprisonment.

In 1976, the House of Commons passed Bill C-84, removing the death penalty from the Canadian Criminal Code and replacing it with a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for 25 years for all first-degree murders.

For those opposed to capital punishment, the biggest concern raised by 67% of respondents who disagree with capital punishment was that someone might be executed after a wrongful conviction.

Research Co.’s data were based on an online survey conducted between March 8 and March 10, polling 1,002 Canadian adults.

The Andrew Lawton Show | NDP MPs are bailing

Source: Facebook

Three NDP MPs – including longtime party stalwart Charlie Angus – have announced today they aren’t seeking re-election, with Angus acknowledging the beginning of a new “political era.” True North’s Andrew Lawton says it’s no surprise, as the latest polling shows Conservatives could make serious gains even in NDP ridings, including Angus’.

The public inquiry into foreign interference is underway, vindicating past reporting that the Liberals were the beneficiary of assistance from the Chinese regime. Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu joins to discuss.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has conceded that a “massive spike” in temporary residents in Canada has been “far beyond” what the country can absorb, but his former immigration minister, Sean Fraser, says the federal government isn’t to blame for this, but rather businesses that have made use of temporary foreign workers. Trudeau’s about-face on immigration has left an opening for a real conservation about the issue in the next election – but will political leaders have the courage to have one? Macdonald-Laurier Institute researcher Joe Adam George joins to discuss.

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