New Leger polling from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation reveals that 69% of Canadians are opposed to the federal carbon tax increase set for April 1, echoing a broader sentiment of dissatisfaction with the current government and its policies. Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the mounting concerns and complaints surrounding future carbon tax increases.
The Alberta Roundup | Activist doctor misleads Albertans on Smith’s gender policies
This week on the Alberta Roundup, Rachel covers an activist doctor who accused Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s policies of contributing to his trans nephew’s suicide.
Also on the show, Smith is encouraging parents to take their child for the MMR vaccine following a measles outbreak across Canada. The premier also weighed in on efforts to unseat Calgary Mayor Jyodi Gondek in Calgary, calling the recall legislation unfair.
Rachel also responds to some of your comments.
Tune into the Alberta Roundup now!
SUBSCRIBE TO THE ALBERTA ROUNDUP
Quebec farmers “drowning in red tape” protest record low profits
Farmers have gathered in Rimouski, Quebec to voice their concerns in the days leading up to the province’s next budget announcement.
Several hundred farmers from Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie region travelled to Rimouski to participate in the demonstration by the Federation of the Union of Agricultural Producers (UPA) of Bas-Saint-Laurent.
Dozens of tractors and trailers joined together in a convoy to circle the street in front of the office of Minister Maïté Blanchette Vézina, who represents the Bas-Saint-Laurent and Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine regions.
Afterwards, the tractors moved to the offices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Quebec.
The demonstrators say they are particularly worried about what the future holds for the next generation of farmers.
Dairy producer François Pigeon from Saint-Eugène-de-Ladrière and administrator of the Fédération UPA of Bas-Saint-Laurent told CBC’s Radio-Canada in an interview that their intention is not to block traffic, only to impede it, to make people aware of the importance of agriculture and see how it affects their daily meals.
Pigeon acknowledges that the protest was inspired by the ongoing European farmers protests in places like France, Belgium and Poland.
However, Pigeon wanted to make clear that the demonstrators had no intention of creating any social unrest, just merely wanted their presence to be recognized.
The rising cost of supplies for farmers like fertilizer, fuel and machinery has led to them being faced with record low profits.
One farmer’s sign read, “notre fin sera votre faim,” which translates to “our end will be your hunger.”
A delegation of farmers from the Gaspésie-Les Îles UPA travelled to Rimouski as well, to show their solidarity with the Lower Laurentian producers.
The province’s net agricultural income is projected to drop from $959 million in 2022 to $66 million in 2024, according to the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
That marks a 49.2% decrease of net income from 2023 and an 86.5% decrease for 2024. Losses of that magnitude haven’t been recorded since 1938.
“[We want to] express the dismay of many producers,” said François Pigeon in French.
“The majority of us have a hard time making ends meet, we’re drowning in red tape, we’re drowning in regulations. We have a price that is not fair for our products. We want to raise awareness among the population to demand agricultural policies from our governments.”
Despite not meeting with protestors on Friday, Vézina confirmed in a written statement to Radio-Canada that her government “is mobilized to support [the farmers]. My colleague, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, is working, in collaboration with the sectors, to improve the working environment and support you in the face of current challenges. We are monitoring and will continue to monitor the situation carefully over the coming months.”
The Bas-Saint-Laurent UPA, said that a meeting is scheduled to take place with Minister Vézina on March 15.
Support for child vaccinations and mandatory vaccine policies plummets
There’s been a four-fold increase in parents of minors who say they’re “really against” vaccinating their kids, reveals a new study from the Angus Reid Institute.
One-in-six parents of minors, or 17%, are against all vaccines for their children following the COVID-19 pandemic.
There’s also been a 15-point decrease in the number of Canadians who support mandatory childhood vaccination in schools. That policy, in place in Ontario and New Brunswick, has support from 55% of Canadians.
Opposition to mandatory childhood vaccination in schools has risen from 24% to 38%.
Another 71% of Canadians feel the anti-vaccination movement is going to lead to unnecessary illness and suffering in the population, the survey found.
Earlier this week, 17 cases of measles were confirmed across Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia. More than half the cases were in the Montreal area. Of those, just three were linked to travel outside of the country, meaning community spread was occurring.
One case in Ontario was linked to a high school, resulting in a public health notification to 1,500 students and 150 staff notifying them of measles exposure.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the province had one case of measles in November and it was imported, meaning someone was infected outside the province and carried it in.
“We’re very pleased to see that we haven’t had some of the same issues that we’ve heard about in other provinces,” she said in an unrelated press conference Thursday.
Smith said the number of families opting for the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, has dropped about seven points to 72%. The drop is “concerning.” she said.
“We want to make sure that people understand that this is available and that we hope that they look at the risks because the risk of consequences for measles can be very, very high.”
Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s office also warned that measles can have very serious effects for children that become infected.
“Alberta’s government encourages all parents to confirm if their child has been immunized and to speak with their primary care provider if they have any questions or concerns about immunizations.”
Gay conservatives say they’re no longer welcomed in queer community
“It was harder to come out as a conservative than it was to come out as gay.”
That’s a phrase you’ll often hear from gay conservatives, including from Conservative party deputy leader Melissa Lantsman.
Gay conservatives say they’re being increasingly ostracized and targeted by progressive members of the queer community who are hostile to the idea that LGBT people can lean right.
Calgary-based gay talk show host David Oulton experienced this hostility first hand last month, when he was dropped by the LGBT network OutTV after voicing support for Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her recently announced gender and parental rights policies. Oulton also faced online abuse from queer activists.
It turns out that Oulton is not alone. Several gay and lesbian conservatives from across Canada spoke to True North about their experiences with the queer community.
While queer activists like to portray their community as a diverse, inclusive and supportive safe space offering a sense of belonging, these things only tend to extend to progressives.
True North columnist Sue Ann Levy, who came out on the front page of the Toronto Sun in 2007, noted in an interview that she quickly went on to become a pariah within the queer community due to her writing, including her coverage of the move to ban police officers from the Toronto Pride Parade.
“When I started writing about BLM’s takeover, and I started writing about their finances, then they turned on me, and really, really nastily,” said Levy. “The head of Pride back then did a whole thing on Facebook about how I don’t deserve a seat at the table, like I’m not truly gay because I’m conservative.”
Levy says this form of thinking is not okay. “We have to accept each other, it doesn’t matter your politics. There are a lot of gay conservatives.”
Calgary-based lesbian writer Eva Kurlova believes queer activists view anyone who is not progressive as the enemy.
“People on the left, especially the far left, tend to really see anybody who’s right of centre, even slightly right of centre, as just immoral, just a bad person, a bad character,” said Kurlova. “They don’t think it’s someone who simply wants better for society, but in different ways. They think it’s just like a bad person who wants bad for society.”
She added: “There’s this sense that conservative people are incredibly homophobic, and so if I’m siding with them, then I’m self-hating, I’m a traitor.”
Accusations of self-hatred and treason aimed at gay conservatives have gotten more prevalent amidst conservative premiers implementing new parental rights and gender policies.
James Decker and Jason Brandick, both gay supporters of Alberta’s Smith government, say they’ve experienced online abuse from the queer community over their politics.
Decker told True North he faced an online smear and harassment campaign on Facebook, as well as death threats.
“I’ve seen the incredibly hurtful things that they’ve said. And I would never do that to someone, regardless of their political stance. I would never, ever drag them through the mud like that,” he said.
“And what they don’t realize is that their posts and their little jabs and the campaign against me had reach across Canada. I was receiving all sorts of lovely, lovely death threats, I had to get the police involved. I’m worried about my family’s safety.”
Brandick has also faced hateful comments, with people accusing him of being a traitor, a Nazi and even a child killer, simply for supporting Smith.
“I’ve been told I should be forced into conversion therapy, I’ve been told that I should be forced to get a lobotomy.”
Brandick, who lost his partner to suicide six years ago, takes great offence to claims that his support for Smith equates to wanting trans-identified children dead.
“I think it’s disgusting. I don’t understand why anyone would weaponize the suicide of a loved one. It blows my mind, I think it’s beyond inappropriate,” he said.
Transgender conservatives have also been on the receiving end of online abuse from progressives.
Decker says queer activists have tried to erase and invalidate the lived experience of one of his transgender friends, who supports Smith. Meanwhile, Tiffany Gillis, another trans woman who supports Smith, noted on her X (formerly Twitter) account that the vast majority of the hate she has received has been from the left.
Haojun Li, a recent college graduate living in Winnipeg, Manitoba, told True North he did not bother getting involved in the queer community when he moved to Canada from China, knowing that he would not be welcomed as a gay conservative.
He said the expectations of him as a gay man, and as a visible minority, have eerie similarities to what he fled.
“I feel a lot of resemblance with my experience back in China, because in China you have to live according to your stereotypes… If you are a Chinese man, you should live up to the stereotype that belongs to a Chinese man,” he said.
“That’s the way I had to grow up, and I hated that way.”
National Post Columnist Adam Zivo, who is openly gay, knows the queer community well. Zivo has been an active promoter of LGBT causes, and has led pro-LGBT initiatives like a 2016 photography project celebrating queer love, an LGBT bus wrap, and LGBT art installations. He has also travelled to countries where LGBT people are oppressed to report on that oppression.
Despite this, Zivo noted that many in the queer community take issue with him not being a progressive.
“A lot of people liked me, and a lot of people did not like me… because I was fairly open about being a centrist at the time,” he said. “People would call me a fascist or a racist, and it was really annoying.”
The backlash from within the community increased when Zivo began writing for the National Post, where he has criticized, among other things, the push to medically transition young children.
Zivo also said that some of his gay friends have faced backlash from within the queer community just for associating themselves with him.
“One of my friends was literally kicked out of a party because he defended me at that party,” he said. “(Another) one of my close friends, I recently tagged him in an Instagram story, and then he reposted on his story… And he had several people contact him and say, ‘why are you hanging out with that Adam guy?’”
The people True North interviewed believe there is a growing numbers of gays and lesbians who are identifying conservative or simply not woke. However, fear of reprisals from the queer community is keeping many of these gays and lesbians silent.
“I do know a few other people who go to community events and clubs, and they have to really stay quiet about their support of this government, of this premier, of these policies,” noted Kurlova. “They have lost friends and they know when to keep their mouth shut.”
Canadian oil and gas crucial for global security: NATO official
As energy insecurity continues to pose a significant global threat, one NATO official is emphasizing the critical role of Canadian oil and gas in maintaining stability and security worldwide.
According to the Canadian Energy Centre, an Alberta government-owned corporation tasked with promoting the oil and gas sector, Juljius Grubliauskas, a NATO representative from Lithuania, underlined the profound societal impact of energy scarcity when it comes to global security.
“I remember clearly from my childhood in 1990 when the Russians cut off energy supplies to try to break the resolve of the Lithuanians, (and) that affected the daily lives of every citizen,” said Grubliauskas.
“Having a lack of energy has a massive social impact and massive cascading effects like prices immediately jumping, massive inflation and such. Today obviously many things have changed and the energy landscape looks much different, but the principle that energy is closely linked to national security and the independence of nations to make their decisions still remains true.”
According to Can Ögütcü, a NATO energy security policy expert based in Brussels, the reliance on oil and gas from North America, particularly Canada and the United States is paramount.
“We need to be sure that we’re going to have security of supply of production in the U.S. and in Canada,” said Ögütcü.
“We have lost one import supplier, the Russians. We are in the transition to perhaps also lose another big supplier, the Middle East Gulf countries, as maritime routes become more and more insecure.”
North American energy integration emerges as a pivotal aspect of global energy security. While Canadian oil and gas primarily flow to the United States, the integrated pipeline system facilitates their re-exportation from the U.S. gulf coast to global markets.
A recent report by S&P Global reveals that Canada and the United States have surpassed the Middle East as the leading producers of oil and gas globally. This shift not only consolidates energy security within the North American continent but also extends its reach to allies worldwide.
Joseph Calnan, an energy security analyst, underscored the significance of infrastructure projects such as the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline and the Keystone pipeline in bolstering energy security for both North America and NATO allies.
“North American energy integration, things like the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline and the Keystone pipeline are absolutely crucial pieces of infrastructure, not just for the energy security of North America but also increasingly for the energy security of NATO allies,” said Calnan.
LAWTON: Lawyer reacts to Trudeau’s latest censorship scheme (ft. Christine Van Geyn)
Last week, the Liberals introduced Bill C-63, also known as the Online Harms Act, which would impose heavy handed measures on those found guilty of online “hate speech,” including fines of up to $70,000. Canadian Constitution Foundation litigation director Christine Van Geyn joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the Trudeau government’s latest attempt to regulate online speech.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE ANDREW LAWTON SHOW
LAWTON: Liberals’ hate speech bill poses biggest threat to the most vulnerable
In a recent column, University of Saskatchewan law professor Dwight Newman suggested that the Liberals’ proposed Online Harms Act contains amendments which could be used to disproportionately punish marginalized individuals. Newman joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to explain how a bill supposedly designed to protect the most vulnerable could end up harming them the most.
Doug Ford claims credit for Jamil Jivani’s success after “liberal elites” swipe
Ontario’s premier says a newly elected Conservative MP wouldn’t be anywhere without him.
Doug Ford claimed credit for Jamil Jivani’s success in response to the Durham MP-elect’s byelection night claim that “liberal elites” are ingrained in Ontario’s education ministry.
“I gave that young man an opportunity. He showed up. No one even knew who he was. Came in my office, I gave him an incredible opportunity,” said Ford at a press conference Friday.
“To be very frank, you go to root cause he wouldn’t even be where he is if I didn’t give him that opportunity.”
In his victory speech after winning a byelection Monday, Jivani blamed “liberal elites” for many problems facing Canadians today.
“When we talk about what’s happening in the country right now, I do think it’s liberal elites betraying the working class. When I say liberal elites, I am talking about Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party,” he said.
“I’m also talking about the liberal elites who run the Ontario Ministry of Education in this province… the liberal elites who are activists and academics trying to consistently undermine law enforcement and public safety, leaving the most vulnerable Canadians with fewer protections from our justice system,” said Jivani.
In an interview Thursday on True North’s The Andrew Lawton Show, Jivani elaborated by saying that on the education file, the Ontario PCs “have upheld a policy agenda that is very similar to what you might have seen with a Liberal government in power. They have focused on a lot of virtue signalling. They are focused on race politics. Meanwhile, the average student in Ontario is still struggling with math, with reading, with writing.”
Jivani has not responded to Ford’s comments directly, but shortly after, he posted a picture with his mom to X.
“I wouldn’t be where I am today without my mother, the real MVP. Love you mom,” said Jivani, on International Women’s Day.
Ontario’s premier said that if the MP-elect came to him, he could provide some lessons on how to speak to his constituents.
Ford said that Jivani should focus on putting money back into the pockets of his constituents and the carbon tax.
“We’re going to do great for his riding that he’s going to represent. I want to wish him all the best. And hopefully, he wins that riding,” he said.
Despite being considered illiterate in Grade 10, Jivani received a scholarship to study law at Yale University by age 22.
Jivani said in his victory speech that the liberal elites are holding back middle and working class Canadians from prosperity, calling out telecom executives, big banks and left-wing activists.
“What all of these folks have in common is that they are serving a privileged few while turning the backs on the majority of people in this country,” said Jivani.
To make any notable difference in Canada right now, you have to fight for the middle and working class, he said.
Durham’s MP-elect said the media are not interested in providing an objective view of what’s happening.
“I will not be someone who’s going to get pushed around by journalists who think if they give me bad coverage, I’m going to change my values. I was elected because of my values, and I will continue to stand for them.”
Ford was asked about the apparent tension between his party and the federal Conservatives.
“I have no tension between the federal Conservatives,” he said, adding that he is open to working with anyone as long as it’s in the province’s best interest.
Liberals resume funding to UNRWA despite Hamas concerns
International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen announced that the Trudeau government would resume funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, despite calls from within the Liberal caucus not to do so.
Hussen’s announcement comes after allegations surfaced in October 2023 that some UNRWA staff may have been involved in Hamas attacks against Israel.
“In recognition of the robust investigative processes underway, UNRWA’s efforts to address serious allegations made against some of its staff, including the implementation of internal measures to improve oversight and accountability, as well as the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza, Canada is resuming its funding to UNRWA so more can be done to respond to the urgent needs of Palestinian civilians,” said Hussen.
“Canada will continue to take the allegations against some of UNRWA’s staff extremely seriously and we will remain closely engaged with UNRWA and the UN to pursue accountability and reforms.”
The decision to resume funding follows pressure from some Liberal MPs, including Anthony Housefather and Marco Mendicino, who both called for a complete end to Canadian support for the organization.
Housefather and Mendicino cited concerns about past allegations of UNRWA staff involvement in terrorism and the use of antisemitic materials.
“We are deeply troubled by these allegations,” the MPs wrote in a joint statement released earlier this week.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, however, had not committed to extending the funding ban.
“We will continue to move thoughtfully forward,” Trudeau told reporters on Thursday.
The accusations against several employees of the UNRWA sparked significant concerns that funds were being diverted to Hamas.
Among the allegations are claims of involvement in heinous activities such as kidnapping, distributing ammunition, and participating in a massacre that resulted in the deaths of 97 Jewish civilians.
Several individuals were accused of playing a role in the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7, as outlined in a dossier provided to the United States government by Israel.
