The Republican front runner for President Donald Trump took the stage at CPAC over the weekend and delivered an electric hour and a half long speech to the adoring crowd. The question on everyone’s mind at the conference was who will Donald Trump select as his VP.
True North’s Harrison Faulkner spoke with CPAC attendees after the speech to ask that question and get their reactions to the President’s speech.
The Trudeau government has unveiled new legislation to crack down on so-called “hate speech.” Of course the government isn’t specifying what “hate speech” is but it’s clear what Justin Trudeau’s intentions are – he’s cracking down speech he hates. This is what leftist authoritarianism looks like.
Bill C-63, which is being presented by the government under the guise of “protecting children,” enables people to file complaints against others for posting “hate speech” and empowers the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal to order payments of up to $70,000. Instead of sounding the alarm on Trudeau’s latest attack on free speech, unsurprisingly, the legacy media is celebrating this power grab.
True North’s Candice Malcolm says Trudeau is pretending C-63 is about protecting your safety and children’s safety, but in reality Trudeau wants to control the internet, just like how he controls the media.
Tune into The Candice Malcolm Show.
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Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has voiced strong opposition to the Liberal government’s proposed Online Harms Act, asserting that robust criminal laws are the key to protecting children rather than censoring opinions.
Poilievre pledged to bolster criminal law and enforcement measures to ensure the well-being of children.
The Conservative leader’s remarks come in response to the unveiling of the Online Harms Act, also known as Bill C-63, by the Liberal government, which aims to combat what it terms “online hate” through stringent penalties, including hefty fines and the possibility of life imprisonment for hate crimes.
“Common sense Conservatives believe that we should criminalize and enforce laws against: sexually victimizing a child or revictimizing a survivor online; bullying a child online; inducing a child to harm themselves or inciting violence. Criminal bans on intimate content communicated without consent, including deepfakes, must be enforced and expanded,” said Poilievre in a statement.
“We believe that these serious acts should be criminalized, investigated by police, tried in court and punished with jail, not pushed off to new bureaucracy that does nothing to prevent crimes and provides no justice to victims.”
The Liberal government’s Online Harms Act, unveiled by Justice Minister Arif Virani, targets a range of harmful content, including materials that incite violent extremism, promote violence, or foment hatred.
The proposed legislation includes amendments to the Criminal Code aimed at enhancing the prosecution of hate crimes including maximum sentences of life imprisonment.
Under the provisions of the bill, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal would have the authority to impose fines of up to $70,000 and issue takedown orders for content deemed to violate the government’s definition of hatred. This includes payments of up to $20,000 to victims of online hate and up to $50,0000 for the government.
“We do not believe that the government should be banning opinions that contradict the Prime Minister’s radical ideology,” said Poilievre.
“Common sense Conservatives will protect our kids and punish criminals instead of creating more bureaucracy and censoring opinions.”
The Liberal government’s record immigration targets might not benefit people trying to buy their first home but Canada’s top telecommunications companies are raking in the dough due to the influx of new subscribers.
Cellphone plans are among the first things new immigrants sign up for upon arrival.
According to the credit-rating agency Morningstar DBRS, the few major carriers allowed to operate in Canada have seen cell plan subscriptions explode.
“For telecommunications incumbents, such as Bell Canada, Telus Corp., Rogers Communications Inc. and Videotron Ltd., international migration was a material contributing factor to strong subscriber growth in the 2022—23 period as more than a million immigrants entered Canada,” said diversified industries VP Vikas Munjal.
“That said, changes in policy or regulation, overall economic conditions, including a reduced or slower immigration flow or emigration given the ongoing cost of living crisis, as well as a maturing wireless market will likely challenge subscriber growth.”
According to Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri, the company is doing “extremely well” in signing up new immigrants to their plans.
Meanwhile, Quebecor Inc. CEO Pierre Karl Peledaeau, who owns the subsidiary Videotron, said they were doing “extremely well” due to the immigration targets.
Despite the inflow of new subscribers, cell plans by Canada’s top biggest subscribers are not getting any cheaper.
Rogers and Bell announced that they plan on increasing wireless data phone plan prices despite a promise from the Trudeau government that prices would come down.
Rogers revealed plans to make price adjustments to several phone plans including for Fido customers.
Prices hiked as much as nearly $9 per month depending on the bundle.
“We are committed to delivering mobile and residential services with the highest standard of quality and reliability to bring our customers the best network experience,” a Rogers spokesperson said.
Grant Abraham, the founder of the United Party of Canada, chose the riding of Durham, where former Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole held a seat, as the political battleground to debut his new right-of-centre party.
He’s a father of four boys aged 15 to 26, a husband, a lawyer, and the author of the Battle for the Soul of Canada : Firing the Forge, which he says outlines the necessity of his newly found party.
Abraham believes the current Conservative Party of Canada betrayed social conservatives, a large contingent of the Conservative base.
“The United Party of Canada is essentially a grassroots, fiscally conservative party that seeks to properly integrate the social conservative values that the Conservative party used to hold on to, and that were brought into the party from the Reform era people,” Abraham said.
In Abraham’s book, he discusses the “pathology of dysfunction” within the modern CPC.
“They move from a Preston Manning Reform era social conservative agenda to essentially having Pierre Poilievre refer to them as ‘those embarrassing and bombastic people’ that came to typify the Reform era.’”
Abraham was referring to a comment Poilievre made in 2006, lauding then Prime Minister Stephen Harper for not “seducing the centre” as some suggested but “taming the right,” by getting the Reform era conservatives to go along with legalizing gay marriage and abortion, “while making almost no sounds at all.”
Abraham believes social conservatives have been duped, and that his party would bring back a Reform Party-style social agenda into the modern political discussion.
“I feel that it’s profoundly significant [we’re] in Durham because I think the people in Durham were radically betrayed by Erin O’Toole,” Abraham said. “He promised a true blue platform for the country, then went as far left as Justin Trudeau in terms of the election.”
The UPC differs from the CPC on some key policies.
“I would want to see us come out of the Paris Accords…stop funding abortion policy overseas. We sent $700 million a year overseas to educate or inform developing countries towards abortion. I would like to see the family really strongly strengthened in Canada and assist with development of a strong adoption infrastructure,” Abraham said.
Abraham also opposes Medical Assistance in Dying as a whole.
“I think MAID as a treatment, that kids can elect for, is an abomination and I don’t see these issues being engaged by the CPC,” he said.
Though Abraham agrees mostly with the economic policies of the CPC, he believes the conservatives are positioned highly in the political marketplace because voters just want to be rid of Trudeau’s government.
“I’m saying we have deeper issues at play other than getting rid of this man called Justin Trudeau,” he said. “If we get rid of him, do we get rid of the plan to undermine the country?” Abraham said.
The UPC is anti-globalist and opposes Trudeau’s “post-national” vision for Canada.
“It’s something that we need to talk about because it starts the answer to the question of where has our country gone,” he said. “It’s why the United Kingdom left the European Union. Post-nationalism means we migrate our democratic sovereignty to governors that are somewhere else and someone else.”
Abraham named a few international groups he believes has too much influence in Canada, the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum and philanthropist George Soros.
“This is about contending for our borders, our people, our money, our wealth, our future, our prosperity,” Abraham said.
While many believe Abraham would be a natural fit for the People’s Party of Canada, the UPC founder says he refuses to join forces with Maxime Bernier’s party.
“I can’t live in a policy house that denies the existence of God,” he said. “There’s a clear libertarian humanistic framework within the PPC. It’s undeniable.”
The PPC allows pro-life candidates into the party and if those candidates were elected, they would be able to table any bill they want, including a pro-life bill.
However, due to the absence of an explicit pro-life stance from the PPC as a whole, Abraham felt he needed to provide a pro-life populist alternative.
Abraham applauded the PPC when it formed as he agreed with Bernier that Canada needed a new voice for conservatism. But as an Albertan, he doesn’t believe the west would elect Bernier due to his “Quebecness.”
Abraham would like to bring spirituality into the national discussion and agrees with potential voters he has spoken with that Canada is entrenched in a spiritual battle as well, hence the name of his book.
‘We’ve disconnected from the value framework and the moorings that built the nation. So when you look at our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we have the primacy of God in the rule of law,” he said.
He thinks without spirituality at the center of Canada’s political structures, Canada will lack the framework required to recognise the “encroaching darkness.”
Abraham aspired to be a candidate in the Conservatve leadership race in 2022, but was denied as a candidate by the Leadership Election Organizing Committee due to financing issues, according to the committee.
The Conservative candidate Jamil Jivani is the favourite to win in the Durham byelection set for Mar. 4.
For Abraham, while becoming an elected official would be an honour, introducing his party to Canadians is a “bigger win.” He said his party is targeting 250 seats in the next general election and his party is building.
City of Vancouver councillor Mike Klassen has withdrawn his request for cash for a trip to Halifax in March 2024 to join Mayor Ken Sim at the Juno Awards.
Last week, media reported that the funding request would be made at the Feb. 27 council meeting.
Sim and a staffer are already going to this year’s event, as Vancouver will host the awards in 2025.
Sim’s costs are being covered out of the mayor’s office budget, while Klassen needed council approval to cover his costs.
The estimated costs for Klassen’s trip included $1,885 for return airfare, $895 for four nights’ accommodation, $300 for ground transportation, $300 for Juno tickets and a per diem of $60 per day for five days, for a total of $3,650.
Klassen, who is a member of the city’s ruling ABC Vancouver party, said he was needed in Halifax to “take away some examples of what Halifax is doing to activate and energize their city for the Junos.”
As of Feb. 26, Klassen’s travel funding request was still on the council agenda for Tuesday but had been marked “Withdrawn” after he faced public backlash over the request.
On X, Canadian Taxpayer Federation British Columbia director Carson Binda called the request “a slap in the face of Vancouver taxpayers.”
When elected in 2022, ABC Vancouver – the municipal party to which Sim and Klassen belong – promised that it would better mange the city’s finances and cut spending.
The Trudeau government unveiled its “online hate” bill, which contains $70,000 fines for so-called hate speech and even life imprisonment for hate crimes.
Plus, Joe Rogan called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “weasel” and endorsed Pierre Poilievre for prime minister.
And Polish politicians roasted Trudeau over his treatment of Freedom Convoy protesters while the prime minister was in Warsaw on Monday.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Noah Jarvis!
Shootings in Canada’s largest city have already increased by 140% this year, when compared to the same time period in 2023, according to data from Toronto Police.
The latest data comes as a 16-year-old boy at a North York bus stop was gunned down and only 24 hours after the shooting, a 39-year-old man was fatally shot three times at the same intersection of Jane Street and Driftwood Avenue.
The 16-year-old remains in critical condition.
Both victims were innocent bystanders.
Toronto police Supt. Andy Singh told CP24 that they are monitoring the increase.
“We had a 10-year low based on our efforts to specifically be in this community, officers on foot, connecting with the community, creating spaces that make the community feel safe and we’ll continue to do that,” said Singh.
Police increased community patrolling in response to the heightened safety risk posed to residents after two shootings.
Toronto had been seeing a decline in shooting homicides over the last five years, however, the first two months of 2024 are showing a concerning pattern.
“I’m hoping that it’s an outlier and not a new trend,” Louis March with the Zero Gun Violence Movement told CP24.
“We cannot afford to have to double the number of shootings compared to last year, and also, the thing with shootings is that there are concerns for retaliation. If it’s gang-related, there’s going to be retaliation when, where, and how. So everybody’s going to be at the level of fear and despair that is needed at this particular time.”
March stressed the importance of dealing with the situation before it gets worse.
“So this year started off with bullets flying, at least in this neighbourhood…. and there’s something going on there that needs to be addressed. And we cannot wait until tomorrow to address it.”
City Councillor Anthiony Peruzza remained optimistic about the continuation of the five-year downward trend in shootings, saying he thinks that police have made great headway in restoring a sense of safety in the community.
“We’ve learned to reclaim our spaces. I think there’s better engagement between the public people in the neighbourhood and the police. There’s a really good neighbourhood officer units that have been set up in this area that have built up really good relationships with locals,” said Peruzzi.
March called upon community members to take responsibility upon themselves as well as cooperating with local authorities to keep the issue from escalating.
“The police have to work closer with the community right now, the government officials in the city has to be on the spot because they have their plans,” said March.
Perruzza echoed March’s sentiments.
“We need more engagement because we are our own best safety net; if you see something, speak up because that’s the way we deal with it. That’s the way we get to the bottom of it,” said Perruzza.
News of the spike in shootings comes on the heels of the largest gun bust in Ontario history through a joint investigation between Ontario Provincial Police and U.S. authorities.
Handguns and assault-style rifles were among the 274 illegal firearms seized as part of what was called Project Saxom.
The operation was part of an OPP-led investigation in cooperation with Dual Approach, a U.S. Homeland Security Investigation probe launched out of their field office in Buffalo, NY.
U.S. investigators seized 168 guns heading for Ontario and the OPP seized an additional 106 guns that had already made it into the province.
Five separate criminal networks were ultimately identified by the investigation.
The majority of guns seized in Ontario originated in the U.S.
Three Liberal MPs have been ordered by the Federal Court to unblock Rebel News on X and pay $1,750.
The ruling came after Rebel News was victorious in a lawsuit against Guilbeault, who blocked Rebel founder and owner Ezra Levant on the social media platform.
“What’s so crazy is that they’re doing to us exactly what Steven Guilbeault, Trudeau’s extremist environment minister, did to us — and he was smashed in Federal Court,” said Rebel News.
Guilbeault allegedly ordered his government department to block Rebel on X. The news organization could not receive any government news updates from the environment minister’s department.
“We couldn’t read anything, we couldn’t reply, and of course we couldn’t ask him journalistic questions on Twitter. We were effectively kicked out of the public square, which is what Twitter has become,” said Levant. “We were banned from a government service just because we disagreed with a politician.”
After a court battle that lasted more than two years, Guilbeault agreed to a “consent order” against him. He was ordered by the court to unblock Levant and never block the Rebel News founder again as long as he served as an MP. He was also ordered to pay $20,000.
Rebel News argued that Guilbeault blocking them from his official government account that makes government announcements and is run by an army of non-partisan civil servants is illegal.
“It would be like the passport office not giving us passports just because we criticize Trudeau,” said the news organization.
According to Rebel News, ministers Ya’ara Saks, Marci Ien, and Karina Gould felt they were above the verdict.
The three ministers allegedly blocked three different Rebel News journalists, which led to the news organization filing a 21-page lawsuit claiming that the ministers violated Rebel News’, Ezra Levant, Yaakov Pollak, and Sheila Gunn Reid’s constitutional rights.
The lawsuit was filed on October 10, 2023. Levant confirmed that the money arrived on Sunday.
Levant shared a screenshot of the cheque he received in the mail.
“The Federal Court ordered three more Liberal ministers to unblock Rebel News on Twitter. Ya’ara Saks, Marci Ien, and Karina Gould are forbidden to block us for the rest of their careers. They were also ordered to pay us $1,750. The money arrived. They made taxpayers pay!”
Rebel News’ owner said that the Liberal government argued these accounts were personal, not government accounts. He called this laughable, given the accounts have the grey government checkmarks on X.
“But if they really are personal, why are taxpayers footing the bill here?”
Rebel News is asking people to fill out a form if they have been blocked by a government official.
The federal government has filed to appeal against a Federal Court decision that ruled the invocation of the Emergencies Act to quash the Freedom Convoy protests in 2022 was unconstitutional and unreasonable.
The January decision was the result of an application for judicial review launched by the Canadian Constitution Foundation, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and several other applicants in 2022.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland promised that the federal government would appeal the decision last month, hoping to have it overturned.
“We have discussed it with the prime minister, with cabinet colleagues, with senior federal government officials and experts,” said Freeland. “We respect, very much, Canada’s independent judiciary. However, we do not agree with this decision and, respectfully, we will be appealing it.”
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s office said that if elected, his administration would drop the federal government’s appeal.
“Yes, Mr. Poilievre would respect the ruling of the court on this matter,” said a spokesperson for Poilievre’s office.
The Emergencies Act allowed the Trudeau government to freeze the bank accounts of people who were protesting against Covid-19 mandates and conscript tow truck drivers to remove vehicles from downtown Ottawa where the protest was taking place.
The act is an updated version of the former War Measure Act, and Trudeau’s invocation of it marks the first time since it was enacted in 1988.
The act is only supposed to be used as a last resort once all other law enforcement tools have been exhausted and when the country is facing a national emergency which presents “threats to the security of Canada.”
Justice Richard Mosley’s Federal Court decision found the measures to be extraordinary and in violation of Canadians’ right to freedom of expression and the right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.
Poilievre championed Mosley’s decision last month, saying that Trudeau “broke the highest law in the land with the Emergencies Act.”
“He caused the crisis by dividing people. Then he violated Charter rights to illegally suppress citizens. As PM, I will unite our country for freedom,” added Poilievre.
