A motion to oppose the looming carbon tax hike passed in the Nova Scotia Legislature on Tuesday and received support from all parties unanimously.
“While Liberals & NDP have flip-flopped, PCs have been clear we want the carbon tax scrapped entirely,” posted the Nova Scotia PC Party on X.
The Trudeau government is scheduled to increase the federal carbon tax from $65 to $80 per tonne of carbon dioxide emitted on April 1.
Canadians will also feel the hike at the pump, as they will soon be paying an additional three cents per litre on gas, bringing the total levy to $0.18 per litre as of next month.
The increase will affect home heating as well, raising it from $0.12 per cubic metre to $0.15.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has made scrapping the federal carbon tax central to his campaign.
However, he brought it to the next level during a recent rally in Etobicoke, Ont. where he called upon Canadians to protest outside the offices of Liberal and NDP MPs and to bombard them with phone calls and emails in opposition to the tax.
The recent unanimous decision in Nova Scotia suggests that the call was heard by some.
“Will Nova Scotia’s 8 current Trudeau Liberal MPs listen to the UNANIMOUS call from the NS Legislature to spike the Liberals’ April Fools’ Day 23% carbon take hike? Or will they continue to ignore their constituents?” asked Poilievre in a post to X, following the announcement.
Will Nova Scotia’s 8 current Trudeau Liberal MPs listen to the UNANIMOUS call from the NS Legislature to spike the Liberals' April Fools' Day 23% carbon take hike?
Or will they continue to ignore their constituents?
Seven out of 10 premiers are now voicing public opposition to the tax hike.
The ratio of premiers who oppose the hike mirrors the sentiment felt by many Canadians in general, with nearly 70% now in opposition to the coming hike as well.
A poll done by Leger for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation found that the majority of Canadians, 69%, were opposed to the hike, while the remaining 31% supported it.
Canada’s broken immigration system is spilling out onto the streets and creating chaos and division like we’ve never seen before in Canada. But instead of focussing on actually fixing Canada, the Trudeau government is more worried about meeting with a terrorist and appeasing the pro-Hamas mobs.
Trudeau’s ministers met and held hands with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian dictator who has denied the Holocaust and is openly and proudly anti-semitic. Further, the Liberals supported a radical anti-Israel NDP motion in the House of Commons which supported the establishment of the State of Palestine. Meanwhile, warring tribes continue to clash in Canadian cities, crime runs rampant and foreign workers are lining up in droves for minimum wage jobs.
Candice Malcolm says the government is prioritizing foreign politics over Canadians. Everything the government does is determined not by principle or their morals and values, but instead by winning votes. As a consequence, Canada’s social fabric is coming apart.
A recent analysis by the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy argues that the time has come for the federal government to remove its income-tax exemption for First Nations people.
Tom Flanagan, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Calgary wrote the report, titled, The Section 87 Indian Act taxation exemption: An analysis. The study examines the pros and cons of the income tax exemption for First Nations people
The exemption is relatively new in Canada’s history, explains Flanagan.
It wasn’t until Nowegijick v. The Queen, a 1983 Supreme Court decision that ruled in favour of appellant Gene A. Nowegijick, that he should be exempt from paying federal income tax on income earned while living on a reserve.
The decision to revise s. 87 of The Indian Act extended to include not only income earned but also purchases made by Indians on reserves.
“This special privilege applying to the approximately one million Registered Indians in Canada has no logical foundation and serves no obvious purpose of public policy. Its main outcome has been to generate resentment by the other 39 million Canadians who are required to pay taxes on income and sales,” reads the analysis.
Initially, the federal government applied property tax exemptions to First Nations to prevent provincial governments from being able to seize reserve land on the basis of unpaid taxes.
The more recent exemptions on income earned were a result of court cases and not actual modifications to TheIndian Act implemented by Parliament.
While Flanagan agrees with the importance of the original 1876 tax exemption on property “justified by the unique purpose of Indian reserves,” he believes the latter exemptions have led to an exploitation of the system.
Supporters of the income tax exemption argue that it allows for more independence within First Nations people to own and operate businesses, however, Flanagan argues that outside of a small handful of reserves, that is not the reality.
“Every Indian reserve in Canada is a tax-free economic zone, yet most are certainly not hotbeds of economic development. However, a small number, perhaps a few dozen out of the 630-plus First Nations, have achieved prosperity through business success, hosting casinos, hotels, residential and commercial real estate developments, and industrial investment,” writes Flanagan.
He points out that tax exemption alone has not been sufficient enough “to achieve success, as most First Nations are still mired in poverty. The First Nations that have succeeded seem to have aggressively exploited local economic opportunities.”
Even GST, which is collected on reserves by the Canada Revenue Agency is ultimately transferred back to the reserve band government.
“So, the First Nation is taxing its own members to a small extent but taxing Canada to a greater extent. To illustrate the profitability of the scheme, the Cowichan Tribes distribute all the proceeds of what they call the “Tobacco Tax” to members” which was “$3.6 million in 2020 divided among 5,600 members.”
Flanagan’s analysis recommends that it’s time for the federal government to revise s. 87 of The Indian Act so that it returns to its initial framework of applying to land only.
“The main function of the section was always to protect reserve land from taxation and seizure by local or provincial governments, so this protection will continue, even though the wording of the new section 87 should make it clear that “property” means real property only and does not include either personal property or income,” suggests the analysis.
Flanagan noted that while amending s. 87 will come with a great deal of political pushback, he argues that there is no legal obstacle to it as the Nowegijick decision was based on an interpretation of The Indian Act, meaning Parliament is still capable of passing new legislation to change this.
He also believes that the change could be in line with reconciliation, as it would reduce resentment held by some Canadians towards First Nations people.
“Removal of the exemptions for income and sales taxes combined with a public explanation of the rationale for the exemption from property tax would diminish the resentment that other Canadians feel because of privileges for which there was no good reason.”
Only certain band members would be affected by the change, as many who are living in poverty would not have to pay the new income tax.
However, all would have to pay GST and federal sales taxes.
“Hopefully, such payments will engender greater interest by members in how the band government spends its revenues, leading to better, more informed participation by members.”
“The effect might be small at first, but it would be in the right direction,” writes Flanagan, who believes that it would, “help move First Nations in the direction of meaningful self-government.”
The House of Commons passed an NDP opposition motion advocating for a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after significant last-minute amendments softened its original call for the immediate recognition of Palestinian statehood.
The motion, which all New Democrat and Bloc Quebecois MPs and nearly all Liberals supported, has sparked widespread condemnation from pro-Israel groups.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather was one of just three Liberals, alongside Marco Mendicino and Ben Carr, to oppose the motion.
Prior to the vote, Housefather made his opposition to the motion clear in a post to X.
“On Monday the NDP has a motion that it pitches as a call for a ceasefire. It does so without demanding Hamas surrender & no longer rule Gaza. It also calls for a litany of other things hostile to Israel. Changing foreign policy to reward a terrorist attack. Not smart,” he said.
During the debate of the motion, he gave a near ten-minute emotional speech, pleading that Canada “should not be passing motions that make a terrorist organization equivalent to a democratic state.”
Debate on the opposition motion started on Monday afternoon and lasted around six hours. Fourteen amendments, agreed to by Liberal and NDP leadership behind closed doors, were introduced shortly before voting, prompting a chaotic scramble by MPs to discern what the motion was, and allegations that the chamber’s rules had been broken.
What a farce. Parliament debates a published motion all day and then at the 11th hour, the Libs and NDP cook up a totally new motion. They don't even have the amendments in French. MPs are going ballistic that their privileges have been infringed – and they're right.
Independent MP Kevin Vuong, who opposed the motion, pointed out that the amendments were so hurried they weren’t even available in both official languages.
“This is not how you make policy, never mind something so substantive for Canada,” said Vuong.
The speaker suspended the House for 40 minutes but ultimately dismissed concerns by MPs that they didn’t have the time or debate to consider the rewritten motion, which passed with 204 votes for and 118 against.
Deputy Conservative leader Melissa Lantsman warned about what supporting the motion would entail.
“This motion is about rewarding Hamas for their massacre. This motion is a vote to reward the murder, the rape, the kidnapping of Israelis, and this motion is deeply irresponsible for this parliament,” said Lantsman.
Despite the opposition from some Liberal MPs, Ya’ara Saks, who is Jewish, voted in favour. She was seen last week holding hands with Holocaust denier and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.
Carr, one of the Liberal MPs who voted against the motion, wrote a letter to his constituents explaining his reasoning before the vote.
“I maintain that no peace is achievable so long as Hamas is in charge of governing Gaza. How can we recognize or negotiate the borders of a state that is governed by a group of people listed as a terrorist organization by our own government and who seek the destruction of Jews?” he wrote.
The opposition motion originally called to “officially recognize the State of Palestine and maintain Canada’s recognition of Israel’s right to exist and to live in peace with its neighbours.”
The amended version of the motion replaced this section with “work with international partners to actively pursue the goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, including towards the establishment of the State of Palestine as part of a negotiated two-state solution, and maintain Canada’s position that Israel has a right to exist in peace and security with its neighbours.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs issued a press release saying that it was angered and disappointed by the passage of the amended NDP motion.
“We are angered and deeply disappointed that the Liberal government has chosen to effectively sub-contract Canadian foreign policy to anti-Israel radicals within the NDP and Bloc Québecois,” said Shimon Koffler Fogel, the organization’s president and CEO.
“B’nai Brith Canada is outraged by the House of Commons’ decision Monday to adopt an unprecedented and appalling anti-Israel proposal introduced by the NDP,” said the organization.
“Far from addressing the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the region, the motion calls for measures that would help Hamas reclaim power in Gaza and resume attacks against Israeli civilians.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh celebrated the motion’s passing in a post to X.
He said that the vote had “forced the Liberals” to stop selling arms to the Israeli government, support the ICC and ICJ, place sanctions on extremist settlers, and much more.
Despite being posted Monday night, the post to X already has a community note.
“The motion in question does not ‘force’ the Liberals to do anything. According to the House of Commons procedure, motions are non-binding,” reads the community note.
Radio-Canada’s headquarters in Montreal was vandalized by far-left extremists in response to a documentary about gender transition therapy for minors.
Plus, Rebel News journalist David Menzies was arrested by Toronto police while covering a pro-Palestinian protest outside a Liberal fundraiser.
And a True North exclusive reveals officials from Veterans Affairs complained that Canada’s military structure is dominated by white men and based on a tradition of racism.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Noah Jarvis!
Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie has joined the growing chorus of political leaders across party lines opposing the carbon tax.
Crombie announced her party’s plan to address climate change in a two-minute video posted on X (formerly Twitter) Monday morning.
Her plan includes a Climate Action Panel involving families, scientists, environmentalists, and “other experts” to assist the Ontario Liberal policymakers address climate-related issues. However, she assured Canadians that her plan would not include a carbon tax.
“Instead, I want aggressive action to build up transit, invest in electric vehicle infrastructure, reform land use planning to build livable, walkable communities to protect our water and nature, green our energy grid, support our farmers, and find ways families can save money by helping our households become more energy efficient,” Crombie said.
Crombie began her announcement by criticizing the Ford government.
“This Conservative government has taken us backwards. They have no plan to fight climate change,” Crombie said.
A spokesperson for Ontario Environment Minister Andrea Khanjin disputed this in a statement to True North.
“Ontario continues to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Canada and is responsible for almost all of Canada’s progress towards its Paris Agreement goal,” the spokesperson said.
According to the Government of Canada website, Ontario’s emissions per capita are the third lowest in Canada, 43% below the national average.
Khanjin’s spokesperson said this was possible because of the government’s investment in green technology, such as green steel, which she says is the emissions reduction equivalent of taking one million cars off the road.
“Our government is also protecting over 400,000 acres of land through the recently expanded Greenlands Conservation Partnership while building critical infrastructure such as the Ontario Line, which will take 28,000 cars off the road daily.”
The Ontario Line will be a 5.6-kilometre subway line from the Exhibition Place, through downtown Toronto and to the Ontario Science Centre.
Franco Terrazzano, the federal director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, a non-profit advocacy group for lower taxes and less government waste, told True North in an interview that Crombie’s announcement is good news for Canada.
“What strikes me from the announcement today is that you have politicians from all parties leaving the sinking carbon tax ship. ” Terrazzano said.
Not only Crombie in Ontario but also the Liberal Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, Andrew Furey, and NDP leadership hopefuls in Alberta have now distanced themselves from the federal government’s carbon pricing policies.
Terrazzano thinks seeing politicians across the political spectrum speak out against carbon taxes is a welcome sight.
“The carbon tax makes fueling your car to get the kids to school more expensive, for you to heat your home and stay warm during the winter months and to buy groceries more expensive,” he said. “It taxes the farmer that grows the food and the driver that delivers the food, and it taxes families that buy the food.”
The taxpayer advocacy group released the results of a Leger poll that showed 69% of Canadians opposed the federal carbon tax hike on April 1.
Terrazzano attributed politicians’ move away from the carbon tax to the fact that most Canadians are against it now.
“Crombie should go a step further, pick up the phone, call Trudeau, and tell Trudeau not to raise the carbon tax again on April 1,” Terrazzano said.
He said that if the federal carbon tax is still in effect, the absence of a provincial one will not significantly change the situation.
“The federal government requires Canadians to pay their mandatory minimum carbon tax, so either the province has to put one in, or the federal government will bring one in,” he said.
According to the government’s independent, nonpartisan Parliamentary Budget Officer’s report, the carbon tax hike set for April 1 will cost the average Ontario household $600 more than they get back in rebates annually. In Alberta, that number is up to $900 yearly.
Hate crimes have increased 93% in Toronto since October 7, 2023, compared to the same period last year, according to a news release on Toronto Police Service data.
The news release highlighted the key points that Chief Myron Demkiw provided to the Toronto Police Services Board on hate crimes in the city.
“It has been 163 days since the Middle East crisis began, and the impact of the geopolitical unrest abroad continues to affect people worldwide, including in Canada and right here in Toronto,” said Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw. “We are laser focused on the task at hand: keeping the city safe.”
The police have attended to 989 hate crime calls since October 7, 2023, the same day that Hamas attacked Israel. During this timeframe, the Toronto police have laid 30 charges and made 24 protest-related arrests.
December and January saw a reduction in calls related to hate crimes, but February saw a significant increase of 67%.
“Of the 84 hate crimes so far in 2024, 56% are antisemitic. Last month saw the highest number of antisemitic occurrences in the last three years,” said Demkiw.
While antisemitism led the way, the second highest hate crimes were targeting the 2SLGBTQI+ community, followed by anti-Black, and anti-Muslim/Arab/Palestinian attacks.
Of 2024’s total hate crimes, 47 have been antisemitic. There have been 11 hate crimes targeting the 2SLGBTQI+, an increase from six at the same time last year. There have been five hate crimes targeting the anti-Muslim/Arab/Palestinian community, a rise from only one last year during this timeframe.
From October 2023 to February 2024, an average of 157 hate crimes were attended to each month.
2023 saw a 53% increase in hate crimes reported in Toronto, reaching 380 compared to 248 in 2022.
Since October 1, 2023, 203 hate crimes have been confirmed by the Toronto Police — an increase of 93% from the same period of the prior year.
There have been 69 arrests and 173 charges related to hate crimes since October 7, 2023. Mischief accounted for 25% of these charges, while uttering threats and assault accounted for 17 and 16%, respectively.
Hate-related graffiti was common, resulting in 342 occurrences since October 7, 2023.
There was a spike in hate-related graffiti in October and November 2023, followed by a decrease only to peak again in February 2024.
True North previously reported about Statistics Canada’s most recent data on hate crimes, showing 3,576 hate crime incidents in 2022. The report shows that hate crimes targeting the Jewish population accounted for 67% of all hate crimes targeting a religion.
Ontario had the most police-reported hate crimes in Canada in 2022 at 12.7 incidents per 100,000 people.
In a sharp rebuke of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s lack of investment in housing, the Conservatives say the decrease in residential construction is a failure of the prime minister.
The statement follows a report from Statistics Canada highlighting the investment in building construction in the country in January.
The report shows that investment in building construction declined by 0.9% between December 2023 and January 2024. This followed decreases every single month since September 2023. Investment in residential sector construction decreased by 1.4%, while investment in non-residential sector construction increased by 0.2%.
True North previously reported that investment in housing saw a 17.9% decrease in December, the lowest monthly decrease since October 2020.
“Since Trudeau was elected, the cost of rent and a downpayment has doubled, taking more and more money out of Canadians’ paycheques. Despite this, his Liberal government is still failing to build the homes that Canadians desperately need,” said the Conservative party.
The party further emphasized that the figures reveal a significant downturn in residential construction investment, which it claims plummeted by 23.93% when comparing the last 12 months to the same 12-month period two years ago.
From a dollar perspective, Ontario led the decline with a $228 million decrease in investment in residential construction, going down by 4.1%. However, some provinces and territories decreased by an even larger percentage, such as New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, and Yukon, which decreased by 6.4%, 7.3%, and 21.3%, respectively.
The Conservatives highlighted that in Canada’s two most unaffordable provinces, British Columbia and Ontario, the residential construction investment decrease was even more pronounced.
In Ontario, this investment declined by 12.09% between January 2023 and 2024, while British Columbia declined by 17% in the same period, based on the data showing investment value that is seasonally adjusted and constant.
True North previously reported a concern echoed by the Conservative party, that rent rose 10.5% in Canada last year.
“This means rent increases are significantly outpacing Canadians’ paycheques. No wonder that an additional one million people will have to access a foodbank this year on top of last year’s record high,” said the Conservatives.
While Canada and many provinces and territories saw decreased investment in residential building construction, some saw increases. Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut all had increased residential building construction, in order from least to most.
For investment in non-residential sector investments, increases in the institutional and industrial industries were offset by declines in commercial investment.
Investment in the commercial industry decreased for the seventh consecutive month, with seven provinces contributing to the decline.
A focus group of Canadians told Canada’s cyber intelligence service to not stray too far into pushing an agenda and present itself as an authority on truth, when questioned about a media campaign to combat disinformation.
In a recent study conducted by Ekos Research Associates on behalf of the Communications Security Establishment, Canadians expressed reservations about the government’s approach to combatting disinformation.
The study, titled “Study on Online Disinformation Advertising Creative Testing (2023-2024),” aimed to gather insights to refine the CSE’s advertising campaign strategy.
CSE’s campaign seeks to educate Canadians about the nature of disinformation, its creators, and their motives. To do this, the agency deployed various ads directing individuals to a campaign landing page for further information on the subject.
The study, which cost taxpayers $45,192, organized eight online focus groups comprised of participants from various regions across Canada. These groups discussed different concepts proposed for the campaign and provided feedback on their suitability for the target audience.
Among the key findings, some Canadians were concerned that the government was going too far with its efforts to rein in disinformation.
“A number of participants expressed reservations about the Government presenting itself as an ‘authority’ on disinformation, perceived that the Government of Canada would be declaring what is true or not, or cautioned that an authoritative tone would reduce the likelihood that some Canadians would go to or use the website to learn more,” researchers wrote.
“Many emphasized the need for neutral presentation of examples of what to look for or how to fact check, being careful not to use this as an opportunity to further an agenda.
Around the time the study was conducted in September 2023, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly pledged Canada as a leading signatory to a United Nations initiative to fight disinformation globally.
The document calls on signatory countries to take “necessary and appropriate measures, including legislation, to address information integrity and platform governance.”
The majority of new immigrants to Canada believe that their life has become “more expensive” living in their new home than what they had anticipated it would be before arriving, according to a new poll.
A Leger survey, first reported by the National Post, found that the overwhelming majority (84%) of newcomers to Canada who arrived within the last 10 years found that their new life is either “significantly” or “somewhat” more costly than what they had expected while still living in their country of origin.
Only 2% of respondents believe their new cost of living to be “less expensive,” compared to what they thought it would be before migrating.
What makes the surprise more shocking is that 70% of respondents cited economic concerns as a primary reason for emigrating to Canada in the first place.
Another large cohort of respondents, 45%, cited educational opportunities as a primary reason for coming, while 18% cited family reunification.
Recently arrived immigrants aren’t the only cohort of the population who feel the cost of living has ballooned, it’s a sentiment now widely felt across the general public in Canada.
According to the poll, inflation was the leading concern for 34% of Canadians and 29% of newcomers.
Healthcare was the second highest concern for Canadians and fourth highest among recent immigrants.
Canada’s exponential population growth has been spurred on largely by immigration, now making up 23% of the total population.
For example, immigrants only made up 15% of the country’s population in 1971.
Now, many Canadians are starting to feel that there is a link between record-high immigration rates and the increased cost of living.
A previous Leger poll found that half of Canadians believe that the country is taking in too many immigrants, with 39% of that group believing that it’s affecting the country’s cost of living.
It’s not just immigration alone that is driving up the high cost of living; however, there is also a housing supply shortage, which ultimately lends itself to the cost of everything else increasing as well.
“A large component of this cost of living issue has to do with the cost of housing, most notably in large cities where regulatory hurdles have prevented housing supply from adapting to the rising demand,” Renaud Brossard, vice president of Communications at the Montreal Economic Institute told True North.
“This is something that’s affecting all Canadians, and municipal politicians need to realize that the more hurdles they put up, the less housing gets built, and the less affordable it becomes for all of us.”
Despite the growing concerns around rising immigration levels, the majority of newcomers surveyed, 82%, said they felt welcomed in Canada, with another 74% saying they feel that they are well-integrated within Canadian society.
