Justin Trudeau has said what many Canadians had already figured out – that his government’s record on immigration has led to a “massive spike” that is “far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb.” The Conservatives have yet to provide their own target for immigration, except to say that it needs to be tied to housing, jobs, and healthcare. True North’s Andrew Lawton says Trudeau’s flip flop is no accident.
Also, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith calls the federal government’s failure to confiscate a single gun four years after announcing its “buyback” program a great success for Albertans and gun owners. Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights CEO Rod Giltaca joins the show to weigh in.
Plus, Canadian soldiers have been relying on food banks with increasing frequency – prompting questions about whose who put on a uniform to serve Canada are treated by their country. Veteran and author Tom Marazzo weighs in.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admits there’s been a “massive spike” in immigration “far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb.”
Plus, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek has downplayed the chorus of boos she received during a Calgary Flames puck drop.
And Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said there’s a “worrying trend” of prescription opioids seeping into the illegal market as she announced two new organizations to help those struggling with addiction.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Isaac Lamoureux!
Pro-Palestinian protesters rocked Toronto’s streets over the weekend as demonstrators made inflammatory statements and clashed with police.
Toronto police were prompted to arrest several protesters after the demonstration became unruly.
This past weekend, Toronto’s Palestinian Youth Movement rallied hundreds of protesters in the city’s downtown core to acknowledge “Land Day.” The Palestinian political day of observance marks the 48th anniversary of the Israeli government’s decision to confiscate a section of land for state purposes; a minority of which was Arab-owned.
At the protest, demonstrators could be heard yelling pro-Palestinian slogans like “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a slogan that Jewish organizations condemn as extreme and antisemitic as it refers to the erasure of the nation of Israel.
Footage from the protest shows the notorious Palestinian protest organizer Naved Awan calling for his fellow demonstrators to hold those accountable for failing to support the Palestinian cause, even at synagogues.
Deputy Conservative Party of Canada leader Melissa Lantsman denounced the rhetoric while putting out a wake up call for Canadians.
Openly chanting that you will target a place of worship is the new normal in Canada.
Federal Ministers hold hands with terrorists. City Councillors line up to make statements against police officers. Provincial officials silent.
As the protest grew more and more disorderly, the Toronto police attempted to control the protest by denying access to counter-protesters and limiting where demonstrators could march.
However, the situation quickly devolved, as the police were forced to arrest several ill-behaved protesters who had allegedly attacked the police.
Toronto police arrested 24-year-old Assia Rami who was charged with assault of a peace officer with a weapon for allegedly throwing horse manure at several officers.
The police also arrested Celeste Xiaoying Furlotte-Bois and also charged her with assault of a peace officer for allegedly using a flagpole to intentionally spear an officer.
A driver of a pickup truck was arrested at the protest for stunt driving under the Highway Traffic Act, as he was driving around with protesters in the truck’s bed. His license has been suspended for 30 days and his truck has been impounded for 14 days.
In a statement to True North, Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer said that protesters were first warned not to stand in the bed of a moving truck, but the warnings were not heeded.
“For months, police have unequivocally cautioned demonstration organizers and drivers about not having people riding in the bed of the truck or on the attached trailer while the truck is in motion – as stipulated in the Highway Traffic Act,” said Sayer.
“During Saturday’s demonstration, despite reiterated warnings, the driver allowed someone to stand in the bed of the truck as it was moving.”
Furthermore, Sayer claims that the driver had refused to cooperate with the police and got aggressive with law enforcement when confronted.
“The situation began to escalate when the driver refused to cooperate with police, abandoning the scene and withholding the vehicle’s keys, further obstructing lawful police action. When police moved in to secure the vehicle, demonstrators resorted to physical aggression against officers.”
Four more protesters were arrested for breach of the peace for unlawfully interfering with an arrest. Three of these protesters were released unconditionally while one was turned over to the Ontario Provincial Police for an unrelated matter.
The arrests sparked hysteria amongst the crowd as protesters could be heard comparing the Toronto police to the Ku Klux Klan and the Israeli “Occupation” Forces – a play off of the Israel Defence Forces’ name.
In the aftermath of their clash with Toronto police, protest organizers accused the police of brutalizing protesters, sending several to the hospital, and using a tactic known as “kettling” to entrap the protesters and provoke them.
Toronto-Centre MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam issued a statement claiming that the protest was shut down unlawfully, that the police used the kettling tactic, and implied that the protest was shut down because it occurred in a largely “racialized” neighbourhood.
“I have listened to stories of what happened that substantiate how the movement for Palestinian human rights is not being policed equally with other movements. Toronto has a long history of racialized residents facing over-policing and violence,” said Wong-Tam.
However, the Toronto police reject the allegations of police brutality and over-policing of Palestinian protests.
Toronto police spokesperson Sayer said that the police employed appropriate and necessary force to preserve public safety and order and that there was no kettling.
“Police employed appropriate and necessary force to preserve public and officer safety while maintaining order during protest activity, particularly when faced with violence and aggression. Several people have been charged with assaulting police with weapons,” said Sayer.
“There was no “kettling” – protestors were free to depart the event at any time.”
Canada’s former Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier backed the Toronto police’s handling of the situation and claimed that the police had likely not gone far enough.
“Based on the videos there should have been 60 or more arrested, not 6!” said Hillier.
Surely you mean police officers, not the derogatory term ‘cops’ , who are enforcing our laws. Based on the videos there should have been 60 or more arrested, not 6! https://t.co/DisNG27Q3B
At a subsequent protest the next day, Toronto4Palestine organizer Naved Awan lashed out at the police and “Zionists.”
“If the chief of police wants to go into a place of worship, or anywhere else, all of you have to be there and say ‘no’ you can’t be here, you’re over-policing us,” said Awan.
“Because what do Zionists like? Genocide. What do Zionists like? Ethnic cleansing. What do Zionists like? They like to be guilty of the Palestinian holocaust.”
Canadian elites are calling on the political leaders to increase funding to academic and civil society groups to “confront hate” and bridge the divide between Canadians.
In an open letter published Tuesday in the Globe and Mail, the signatories call their message a “clarion call for our collective future.” The letter advocates for further funding and partnerships with academic and civil society to “research the causes, scale and impact of issue-driven tensions and conflict in Canada.”
The letter calls on political leaders to “address the rise of incivility, public aggression, and overt hatred undermining the peace and security of Canadian life.”
Among the over 50 signatories of the letter are former Toronto mayor John Tory; Bernie Farber, the former chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network; former Quebec premier Jean Charest; and former federal finance minister Bill Morneau.
“Canadians appear increasingly unwilling, unable or ill-equipped to talk to or live peaceably alongside those with divergent views of complex and divisive issues, including, as in the current instance, those with significant geopolitical overtones and implications,” the letter says.
The open letter attributes the divide to a growing number of Canadians who no longer consider working alongside those with opposing views to be a Canadian value.
When reached by True North, former Toronto mayor and Liberal Art Eggleton said he would only do an interview about why he signed the letter after reviewing True North’s content. He later declined to speak.
“I have also checked out the (True North) website. I have nothing to add to what I said in the Globe and Mail,” he wrote. “It has the best expression of my views.”
The letter highlights an increasing divide among Canadians and references violence committed in Canada in the wake of tensions surrounding Israel’s war with Hamas.
Despite claiming to defend every Canadian’s right to hold strong and unpopular views, the signatories advocate for a review of current hate speech laws and their sufficiency as well as a more consistent enforcement of harassment and intimidation laws.
The federal government has tabled legislation that would reinstate a previously-repealed provision of the federal human rights code banning what the government views as online hate speech.
The letter called for further funding towards developing school curricula to foster “greater intercultural competency, increase community-level empathy and encourage a commitment to bridging differences at home and abroad.”
They call on the government to “jointly support national and local initiatives to confront hate and reaffirm the commitment of Canadians to mutual respect and peaceful engagement.”
The signatories ask politicians to commit to reaffirming the value of working together any chance they can.
None of the signatories contacted by True North responded by the time of publication.
Comedian Joe Flaherty, best known as a founding cast member of the Canadian sketch comedy series SCTV, died at 82 on Monday.
The Pittsburgh, Penn. native earned his chops in Toronto on the hit show Second City Television, better known as SCTV. He appeared alongside John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy.
Flaherty had worked with Second City Chicago for seven years before moving to Toronto to establish a Canadian outpost of the iconic improv theatre company.
It was there with that infamous Toronto cast of talent that Flaherty would create and hone some of his most iconic characters, including Count Floyd and Guy Caballero.
Outside of SCTV, he starred in the sitcom Freaks and Geeks and had dozens of cameos in comedy films such as Stripes, Back to the Future Part II and most notably, as the hired goon golf heckler in the 1996 cult classic Happy Gilmore.
“Oh man. Worshipped Joe growing up,” wrote Happy Gilmore star Adam Sandler in a social media post.. “Always had me and my brother laughing. Count Floyd, Guy Caballero. Any move he made. He crushed as border guard in Stripes. Couldn’t be more fun to have him heckle me on the golf course. The nicest guy you could know. Genius of a comedian. And a true sweetheart. Perfect combo. Much love to his kids and thanks to Joe for all the greatness he gave us all.”
Flaherty’s passing followed a brief illness, his daughter, Gudrun, said in a social media post.
Comedian Colin Mochrie expressed his condolences on X, writing, “I was incredibly fortunate to have worked with Joe Flaherty a few times. A sweet man that produced a lot of laughs. My deepest condolences to his family and friends.”
Ottawa-born comic Tom Green, who hosted Flaherty as a guest on his talk show, also lamented the loss of Flaherty.
So sorry to hear about the loss of comedy legend Joe Flaherty today. One of my true heroes from @sctv Growing up watching him made me think about comedy in a completely different way. I was so lucky to get to work with him and spend time with him. In fact he was our first… pic.twitter.com/sbU5fa5ZFx
“One of my true heroes from @sctv. Growing up watching him made me think about comedy in a completely different way,” wrote Green.
“Joe was one of the greatest of all time. My condolences to his friends and family and to all of his fans around the world. Rest in peace Joe.”
Even long after SCTV ended, Flaherty mainted a deep love for Toronto, serving as an artist-in-residence at Humber College.
“In over 50 years of our friendship, there were very few people as wise or hilarious when it came to comedy, teaching improvisation and the art of character work as Joe,” wrote SCTV co-star Martin Short in a press statement. “In ‘SCTV’ we called him the anchor. In life, he was simply the funniest man in the room. I just adored him.”
No one could have played the role of Donald like Joe Flaherty did. His comedic delivery was perfect and his role alone made Happy Gilmore the classic it is today. He will be missed. Rest easy Joe pic.twitter.com/npdVOjQFpp
A former MP hoping to reclaim his Toronto-area riding in Parliament must first win what’s becoming a hotly contested nomination race.
Former Richmond Hill MP Costas Menegakis is battling former National Post columnist Sabrina Maddeaux for the Conservative nomination in Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill.
The winner will face Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy in the next general election.
With the Conservatives riding high in the polls after nine years of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, Menegakis says the stakes are elevated.
“This is one of the most important elections in Canadian history. What’s happened over the better part of the last nine years in our country is unprecedented,” he said in an interview with True North. “The damage is tremendous. We’ve never seen it before. This is a time when we need experienced hands.”
In addition to serving as an MP, Menegakis was the former parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Chris Alexander, from September 2013 to October 2015.
Menegakis served one term in Parliament but lost in 2015, 2019, and 2021.
He needed special permission from the Conservative Party of Canada to seek the nomination this time around as the party’s rules prohibit candidates who have lost two elections from running without getting a waiver granted.
“I’ve lost elections before, and that’s not a secret. Most people who are involved in the electoral system understand that candidates are worth a small percentage of the actual vote that they get,” Menegakis said.
According to Menegakis, in federal and provincial elections, people generally vote along party lines rather than for an individual politician.
He credits the last election’s losses to federal issues and the Liberal Party of Canada’s effectiveness at appealing to NDP voters.
“Many good people lost their seats in the last election,” he said. “The work Trudeau did in his policies to grab those NDP votes cost many of us our seats and elections in hotly contested regions of the country.”
Menegakis’ opponent in the nomination, National Post columnist Sabrina Maddeaux, has never sought political office.
“She’s a competent columnist. I’ve read some of her stuff from the National Post, but Sabrina has no connection to the riding,” Menegakis said.
Maddeaux refuted that in an email to True North.
“I was born and raised in Richmond Hill. Sadly, thanks to Trudeau’s years of mismanagement, I, like many of my peers, am locked out of home ownership in the community I grew up in but have always proudly called Richmond Hill my home,” she said.
Menegakis accused Maddeaux of being a fair-weather Conservative, noting that few people want to run for the party when the Conservatives are down in the polls. Still, candidates emerge when the party is popular.
“I’ll use the word immature. To say, ‘He lost, but I can win,’ in an environment where you’re ahead 15 points in the polls…without having contributed before… to me is disingenuous,” he said.
Maddeaux responded by saying the Conservatives need “fresh faces with new ideas,” touting her enjoyment of knocking on doors in the riding and “meeting so many people who share the same concerns as me.”
Menegakis is no stranger to campaigning for political office. In previous elections, he says his team has consistently been in the top ten for most doors knocked on in the country.
He says the longer it takes for the nomination date, the more doors he and his team will knock on.
Both candidates say they’ve successfully signed new members up to the Conservative party to vote in the race.
At the doors, Menegakis has met with constituents from all age groups who he said have restored confidence in Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party.
“I have never heard such disdain for a sitting government and such hope for the leader of the opposition,” Menegakis said. “I believe (Poilievre) will be Canada’s next prime minister. And…I believe he will be an outstanding prime minister because he’s focused on the issues that matter the most to Canadians.”
If nominated, Menegakis says he will be an “experienced hand at the wheel” and a “strong voice” for the riding.
Menegakis said he has a record of being a constituency-focused MP, advocating for issues that matter to the riding.
He pledges to advocate for reducing taxes, focusing on affordability, investing in infrastructure, bringing business back to Canada and “responsible immigration,” something he says will be closer to Canada’s immigration policy when he was an MP, and Stephen Harper was the prime minister, with an emphasis on economic migration.
He said the Conservative party must focus on transparency and accountability going forward.
“After (Trudeau’s) out of office next year, and I firmly believe he will be, we’ll start coming back. We’ll come back to Canada,” Menegakis said. “I think better days are ahead, although there is a lot of hard work to be done to get there.”
Nominations are decided by Conservative Party of Canada members who live in the riding. The party has not yet set a date for the Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill nomination.
A Jewish mom living in downtown Toronto can’t believe her 10-year-old daughter was recently harassed during recess by a loud and aggressive crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters.
Given that the protest occurred in the middle of the school day, she has as much of a hard time understanding why the protesters — mostly from two nearby public high schools — were allowed to leave class to scream and shout on downtown streets and harass other young students.
The mom, a former human rights lawyer who did not want to be named for safety reasons, says the protesters marched by the elementary school’s playground on an afternoon just before March break.
She says their chants of “Free Gaza,” “Free Palestine,” and “From the River to the Sea” caused her daughter and a fellow Israeli student to burst into tears.
To make matters worse, some of the young kids outside with her daughter started chanting right along.
She said 10-year-olds know that “Free Gaza” is a derogatory term.
When the protesters say “From the River to the Sea,” what they mean is that Israel should be eliminated. It is antisemitic, she added.
”It created quite a commotion in the schoolyard,” she said, adding that some of her daughter’s classmates started mocking the two girls for crying.
One child even heard, “We hate the Jews.”
She has no issue with the teachers or principal, who were very caring. She learned that the protest was part of several planned for that day in the Toronto area.
Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird said he’s not familiar with the incident in question but the policy is that students are marked absent if they are not in class and don’t have parental permission.
He added that the students’ parents are contacted about the absence.
That doesn’t seem to matter much given the Toronto school board’s lax attendance policies and the fact that the mom is living in a very left-wing part of Toronto.
It seems that parents likely don’t care if their kids leave class in the name of alleged social justice.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t sit well with this mom.
”I am outraged that our publicly funded spaces and institutions are normalizing antisemitism and calling it free speech,” she said.
She added that it has become clear to her that, while compassionate and caring, the school staff don’t have what is needed to fight antisemitism.
Whatever the intended purpose of their presence, having the Safe and Caring Schools representative observe a protest seems to condone it.
The school is not able either to stop parents with no affiliation to the Middle East from dropping their kids off each day sporting keffiyehs, she said.
The mom registered what transpired as a hate incident with B’nai Brith and UJA.
She feels the bigger issue is what constitutes “safe and legal” when it comes to antisemitic comments.
“It’s like the government is waiting for people to say ‘we hate the Jews’ or ‘kill the Jews’ or to kill someone to actually make it count as hate speech,” she said.
“And a keffiyeh is no different to a Jew than a KKK outfit is to a black person, yet somehow it’s socially acceptable.”
Housing affordability worsened in every single market tracked, with some reaching the worst levels of all time, a report from one of Canada’s top banks finds.
The revelation from RBC’s latest analysis on housing affordability was that the median Canadian household now has to spend an unprecedented 63.5% of its income to afford the mortgage.
A report from Statistics Canada last Wednesday marked decline in satisfaction and hopefulness among young Canadians, with approximately a third of youth reconsidering home purchases or moving to a new rental in 2022, thanks to daunting financial pressures.
In Vancouver, a city the report says is “in full-blown crisis,” an average household has to spend 106.3% of its income to cover home ownership costs.
Other cities, such as Victoria and Toronto, saw similar deterioration, with households having to allot 80.2% and 84.8% of their incomes towards mortgages, respectively.
Housing affordability in Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax is at or near all-time worst levels. Ottawa’s aggregate measure reached an all-time high of 49.9%. Montreal also reached a record-high needed income for housing costs, at 53.3%. Halifax, whose long-run average aggregate measure was 31.9%, jumped to 45.3% of income required to spend on housing costs.
The 63.5% of median income needed to be spent towards owning a home across Canada rose from 61.8% in the third quarter. RBC’s report, authored by Robert Hogue, claimed that high interest rates helped propel this increase, offsetting the nationwide small price relief.
Despite many jurisdictions’ housing affordability being at an all-time low, the RBC expects rate cuts to start mid-year and act as a turning point for the country’s housing affordability.
“We expect lower borrowing costs will restore some of the massive losses during the pandemic. Any improvement over the coming year, though, is poised to be modest and leave budget-constrained buyers wanting,” read the report.
Statistics Canada reported that Canada has the highest household debt to disposable income ratio in the G7, at 185%, while the average for all G7 countries was 125%.
The average price of a home peaked at $838,690 in June 2022. At the time, the purchasing power of the average household was $598,200, a difference of $240,490 between cost and purchasing power. As of December 2023, the average price of a home was $796,271, while a household’s purchasing power was $496,700, a difference of $299,571 between cost and purchasing power.
While the cost of a home has decreased by $42,429, purchasing power has decreased by $101,900, nearly $60,000 more.
Much of the decrease in buying power has been due to increased interest rates when households have had to renew their mortgages.
“High rates have seriously crimped house hunters’ purchasing budget,” said Hogue.
The bank estimates that the budget for a household with a median income of $85,400 has decreased by 22% since the first quarter of 2022. Home prices have only decreased by 1.8% during that same interval.
“The ability of many Canadians to get into the housing market has greatly diminished,” read the report.
Despite the all-time worst housing affordability, RBC remains optimistic for the near future. The percentage of household income needed to spend on a home across Canada, reaching 63.5%, will decrease, according to the bank’s projections.
Data are not yet available, but the bank projects ownership costs to drop to 60% of household income in January 2024, when data becomes available, further lowering to 56.4% in January 2025.
“Meaningfully restoring affordability will likely take years in many of Canada’s large markets. In this context, we expect the housing market’s recovery to be slow at first, before gaining momentum as interest rate cuts accumulate,” said Hogue.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said there’s a “worrying trend” of prescription opioids seeping into the illegal market as she announced two new organizations to help those struggling with addiction.
Last month, Ottawa refused the Alberta government’s request to put chemical trackers in B.C.’s safe supply drugs to identify those drugs.
Smith says B.C. has a right to develop its own policy, but she has to ensure Alberta isn’t dealing with the fallout from it.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith: "I don't want anybody to think that there is any such things as a safe supply of opioids. That is what we were told when oxycontin came to the market and that's what led to the massive addiction crisis." pic.twitter.com/rbYdJfBnNc
“There are a percentage of clients on safe supply who sell their drugs to a drug dealer so they can get fentanyl and then those drugs become available on the illicit market,” Smith said at a press conference in Calgary on Tuesday. “So that’s what we’re trying to get a handle on.”
The premier also announced the creation of Recovery Alberta, which will become the provincial health agency responsible for mental health and addiction services currently delivered by Alberta Health Services.
The second new organization, the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, will conduct research and program evaluations, provide advice to the government on international best practices, and develop standards of practice on mental health and addiction.
“Alberta already leads the country in supporting recovery from mental health and addiction challenges, and the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence will further support this work,” Smith said. “Today’s announcement of these two organizations marks an important step forward in transforming our health care system.”
Smith said Recovery Alberta will be established through legislation to be introduced this spring. Operations are expected to pass from Alberta Health Services by July 1.
Those receiving mental health care through Alberta Health Services will continue accessing those services in the same manner. The province is currently working on the transition for employees moving from Alberta Health Services to Recovery Alberta.
The announcement follows the United Conservative Party government’s long-standing efforts to offer recovering addicts a recovery-oriented system of care which prioritizes treatment over so-called safe supply.
Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams said the UCP government has been working on Alberta’s recovery model for the past five years.
“These investments are making a difference and setting an example for others to follow what truly will have a recovery oriented system of care,” he said.
Williams also said Recovery Alberta will be the largest provider of services across the province, with $1.13 billion in funding currently supporting the mental health and addiction services.
An average of four Albertans died from overdoses every day last year, breaking the previous record set in 2021, according to data from the provincial government.
Smith had an emergency meeting with officials in B.C. last month after a massive drug seizure by RCMP reportedly contained some prescription opioids from “safe supply” programs. The Prince George drug bust seized more than 10,000 pills, including the highly addictive morphine and hydromorphone.
At the time, Smith said Alberta had been warning for years that high-potency opioids from these programs could be diverted and trafficked across Canada and cause irreparable harm and death in communities across the country.
“Unfortunately, that does not stop organized criminals from bringing it here illegally from other provinces,” she said.
Has Canada’s legacy media given up on pretending to be objective and neutral? It sure appears that way.
Last week, the Toronto Star published propaganda created by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office and the Canadian Press was caught quoting a major Liberal party donor and supporter without disclosing his partisan background and attempting to pass it off as “journalism.”
True North’s Candice Malcolm says Canada’s is bought and paid for by the Liberal government and have completely compromised their ability to publish objective, fact-based, and honest reporting.
