In a new column for Inside Policy, London family physician Dr. Ramona Coelho highlights her concerns with the prioritization of MAiD expansion over addressing systemic barriers to healthcare. Dr. Coelho joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the concerning trend, and what it could mean for the future of healthcare accessibility in Canada.
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Facing a surge in illegal crossings at the Canada-United States border, American officials are pressing Canada to impose visa requirements on Mexican visitors.
According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. officials have been expressing concerns to Canada over refugee and asylum seekers jumping the Canadian border as a gateway into the country, circumventing the United States’ stricter southwestern border.
The escalating situation has drawn the attention of presidential candidates, with Nikki Haley advocating for heightened scrutiny of the northern crossing during a recent visit to New Hampshire.
Former Republican contender Vivek Ramaswamy has also called for a border wall with Canada.
The influx of migrants intercepted at the Canada-U.S. border has prompted Washington to ramp up pressure to mandate Mexican visitors to acquire visas but the Liberal government in Ottawa has yet to show any signs it would re-impose a visa requirement.
The lifting of traditional visa requirements on Dec. 1, 2016, enabled Mexican citizens to opt for a $7 Electronic Travel Authorization, or eTA, a process taking only minutes to complete, to gain entry into Canada.
Confirming ongoing discussions, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated that the U.S. has been engaging with Canadian authorities on this matter. However, Canada remains cautious about revealing any new restrictions prematurely, fearing a potential surge of border traffic that border officers are ill-equipped to handle.
The Swanton Sector, a 295-mile expanse dividing New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont from Quebec and Ontario, has witnessed a rise in illegal crossings from the north. This area, lacking substantial fencing and with sparse Border Patrol staffing, facilitates unauthorized entries through snow-covered fields, perilous passages across the St. Lawrence River, or traversing dense forests and wetlands.
Canada itself has experienced a surge in Mexican asylum seekers, with numbers more than doubling in the past year. Despite this, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to lift the visa requirement for Mexican visitors in 2016, aiming to bolster ties with a significant trade partner, remains unchanged. Presently, Mexicans can secure electronic travel authorization by completing an online application for around $5.
As both nations grapple with immigration complexities, discussions persist between Canadian and Mexican officials to devise strategies that mitigate the flow of asylum seekers while addressing security apprehensions and humanitarian responsibilities.
As reported by True North in 2022, the Trudeau government remained firm on its 2016 decision, maintaining the exemption of visa requirements for Mexican citizens. The stance persists even as major cartels, such as Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation, have taken a dominant role in fentanyl trafficking, surpassing traditional suppliers like China.
Don’t get me wrong. The conversation needs to continue. More than ever even following the isolation of the pandemic. We need it to stimulate innovation and end the stigma around mental illness.
However, Bell’s continued involvement through its various campaigns promoting mental health awareness, along with its multiple initiatives as one of Canada’s most recognizable brands, has become counterproductive and, sadly, a punchline.
Bell’s involvement in the mental health cause was tenuous at best for the last couple of years. Then came this month’s bombshell news that Bell planned to cut 4,800 jobs, or 9% of its workforce across Canada.
Local newscasts gone. Veteran journalists out. Already thin news resources stretched even further to ineffective levels. Shows like W5 and The Debate, cancelled. Local radio stations sold. That last part may ultimately prove to be a good thing for local communities, as Bell Media had centralized programming, the stations just sold being local in name only.
Since the layoff announcement, Bell has been condemned by the political class across Canada and the political spectrum, all denouncing the cavalier and heartless way the company went about things. Not to mention multiple comments pertaining to the millions the company has received from hardworking Canadian taxpayers. As well, comments alluding to the added stress on the affected employees and their families across Canada, seemingly a mere afterthought for Bell. All this to say, if the brand wasn’t damaged before, it’s a badly wounded lame duck now.
On a recent episode of the Big Blue Bent podcast, where Montreal conservatives comment on the state of politics in Canada, I opined that it was time for Bell to end its mental health advocacy and annual Bell Let’s Talk Day. This was following my realization that in years past, social media was abuzz with people sharing their stories on a chosen January day, pledging their support and engaging in a collective effort to end the stigma. And then throughout the year, Bell would hold events to distribute the funds.
This year’s Bell Let’s Talk Day, the hallmark of the company’s mental health campaign, had a different vibe. Something seemed off. Enthusiasm was missing. I noticed less social media interaction on the topic and regarding the campaign. In fact, I saw more posts from former Bell Media employees, many cut in previous rounds of layoffs, forced retirements and other restructuring decisions, denouncing how the company dealt with them and former colleagues.
And who can blame them? Others not associated with Bell also wrote about not wanting to participate this year, given Bell’s less-than-stellar employee relations record. How can anyone take those events seriously or want to be associated with this company given its past and recent actions?
There have always been detractors. I remember a minister I worked for saying to me over a decade ago that while he wholeheartedly supported the mental health cause and the need for important conversations, he was leery of what he saw as an obvious marketing and self-promotion campaign by Bell. It was a sentiment shared by others as well. Nevertheless, despite their concerns, the cause and the need for the conversations were more important for them.
In previous editions of Bell Let’s Talk Day, the company would release real time updates of social media interactions that qualified for its five cents a pop contribution. I tried in vain to find such updates this year. They may have been updates somewhere, but I couldn’t find them.
Which brings us back to the battle to make things better and end the stigma surrounding mental health. Bell has raised a lot of money and awareness with its campaign. That cannot be denied. As a longtime advocate for mental health, I cannot thank the company enough for this.
But time has come for Bell to step aside from its various mental health initiatives. Bell has lost what was left of its credibility to be an effective advocate for mental health.
Bell has become an anchor preventing the cause from advancing further. I would hope that others will step up to fill the void, to keep the conversation going. To help those in need. To end the stigma.
For the sake of the mental health battle and cause in Canada, Bell needs to exit and end its mental health involvement. Its continued involvement will only serve its own interests, ultimately hurt the cause and make its continued involvement nothing but a series of punchlines, funny or not.
Matthew Conway was a longtime Conservative staffer in Ottawa and spent two years heading up Francophone Affairs for Caroline Mulroney in Toronto. He is currently President of Conway Direction, Public Relations in Montreal.
A Canadian surgeon has served up a stark assessment of the effects of sex-change operations.
In a recent address to colleagues, Dr. Alex Laungani of Canada’s Metropolitan Center Of Surgery said there are particular risks associated with male-to-female genital surgeries, known as vaginoplasties.
Speaking at an event sponsored by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, Dr. Laungani highlighted concerns regarding the quality of care provided to transgender patients undergoing such procedures.
The event was recorded, and footage of Dr. Laungani’s remarks was made public following a records request by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Dr. Laungani raised alarm over the increasing number of clinics catering to transgender patients, emphasizing a perceived lack of proper training among medical professionals.
“A gender surgeon should… have a training and documented supervision and gender-affirming procedure, which means we’ve seen a growing number of programs throughout the world of gender affirmation probably with a lack of training and not proper training for now,” said Dr. Laungani.
He argued that while the expansion of services has provided greater access to surgery for transgender individuals, it has come at the cost of adequate training and proficiency among practitioners.
“The most-dreaded complication is to perforate the rectum while you are dissecting the vaginal cavity,” Dr. Laungani stated.
“You are essentially dissecting the cavity between the prostate and the rectum and there’s literally no space there. So you have to create a new plane in a spot that doesn’t exist. So you’re very much close to the rectum and it’s very hard. It’s very easy to get in there.”
He also highlighted post-operative issues, including the reopening of surgical wounds in a significant percentage of cases and difficulties in achieving orgasm for many patients.
Furthermore, Dr. Laungani described the necessity for patients to regularly dilate their newly-created canals using a vibrator-like device to prevent collapse—a process he likened to a “full-time job” for the first few months post-surgery.
Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre recently echoed concerns over irreversible gender transitions for children, applauding Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s stance on implementing “common-sense protections.”
In response to a poll indicating significant public support for banning gender reassignment surgeries and cross-sex hormones for children, Poilievre urged Prime Minister Trudeau to respect provincial autonomy on such matters.
The British Columbia NDP government’s pre-election budget has alarmed critics as it projects a staggering deficit and unprecedented debt accumulation solely fueled by high government spending.
The budget, unveiled by Finance Minister Katrine Conroy Thursday, reveals a daunting deficit of $7.9 billion projected for the 2024/2025 fiscal year.
This unprecedented deficit forecast marks a historic milestone for British Columbia, coinciding with the provincial government’s heightened spending targeted at easing the burden of soaring cost of living for residents.
Some are saying that it was strategically timed ahead of the next provincial election which is set to take place this October.
Conroy explained the higher spending by pointing out the urgent need to tackle problems like housing, healthcare, and the environment, which have worsened due to increasing inflation rates.
The budget allocates funds towards initiatives like a home-flipping tax, a one-year boost on the B.C. Family Benefit, an electricity credit for consumers, and additional spending to stimulate the rental housing market.
Yet, critics worry about whether such extensive spending can be maintained. The budget proposes a strategy where anticipated deficits are slated to reduce gradually from $7.9 billion in 2024/25 to $6.3 billion in 2026/27. However, the province’s debt indicators are forecasted to rise substantially, although they are projected to stay within what the government considers “affordable” boundaries.
“The Ministry of Debt Interest is now the fourth biggest in the province,” said Canadian Taxpayers Federation British Columbia director Carson Binda.
“We’re sending billions of dollars a year to Toronto bond fund managers instead of keeping that money in the pockets of hardworking taxpayers, who desperately need tax relief.”
One of the most concerning numbers in the budget is the expected net debt, which covers long-term investments like roads and schools. By 2026/27, British Columbia’s net debt is predicted to soar to $128.8 billion, showing a massive 227% increase since fiscal restraint ended in 2016/17.
Inflation-adjusted program spending per person reached a record high in 2022/23, standing at $14,275 per person, a stark $3,739 increase compared to 2016/17 figures.
This increase in spending is worrying, especially since it’s not just due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Fraser Institute reports that even without pandemic-related costs, British Columbia’s adjusted program spending per person reached record highs in 2022/23, indicating a broader pattern of rising government spending.
True North’s Harrison Faulkner is in Washington DC for the CPAC conference. The American conservative movement have gathered to listen to conservative media, politicians and world leaders ahead of the upcoming presidential election, and headlining the festivities this year is former US President Donald Trump on Saturday.
True North asked American conservatives what they think of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Unsurprisingly, they aren’t big fans.
True North also caught up with Nigel Farage, CPAC Hungary Chairman Miklós Szánthó and former acting director ICE Tom Homan to discuss the current problems on the US Northern border with Canada.
Watch the latest episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner!
The union representing 29,000 provincial health-care professionals has failed its members after just $5,000 was awarded to some employees placed on unpaid leave for months over the Covid-19 vaccine, says prominent Alberta lawyers.
A binding arbitration agreement between Alberta Health Services (AHS) and the Health Science Association of Alberta agreed to the one-time, non-pensionable payment to employees who were placed on unpaid leave for up to a year.
Alberta litigator Leighton Grey of Grey Wowk Spencer LLP said the union failed to protect members’ rights amid the vaccine mandate, and now, to secure adequate compensation.
“It’s not a great deal, actually. It’s kind of a pittance compared to what was done to these people,” Grey told True North. “When I talk to these workers…they feel betrayed by the employer.”
He also said employees can’t sue Alberta Health Services because, legally, the union is their representative.
Unvaccinated healthcare workers were placed on unpaid leave in December 2021. They were allowed to return to work in January 2022 on the condition that they pay for regular testing at their own expense. Vaccinated employees were supplied with testing kits.
One former family counsellor told True North her request for a religious exemption from the COVID vaccine was ignored. When she went to the Health Science Association of Alberta with others asking for help, the union recommended that concerned employees simply get the shot.
The union was “not helpful, whatsoever,” she said, adding, “After 16 years of service, I was deemed unfit to work overnight.”
The source’s name is being withheld because her complaint that the union failed to protect her is before the Alberta Labour Relations Board.
To add to matters, the former employee was deemed ineligible to collect the $5,000 compensation because she used her remaining sick days before going on unpaid leave for a year. She’s since made the decision not to return to an “abusive employer.”
“The fact of the matter is, I was discriminated against on a religious basis.”
A Health Sciences Association of Alberta representative told True North a response was forthcoming, but later recalled the email.
Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Calgary lawyer Jeffrey Rath said the damages to the employees are easily calculated and far exceed the token $5,000.
“All of those people should have gotten complete backpay,” he said, adding that unions, with the blessings of the Alberta NDP and leader Rachel Notley, did nothing to protect their members.
Grey said unions, especially in the context of COVID-19 and vaccine mandates, are very much “in bed” with the employers. Now that Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is “dismantling” AHS, it appears the organization is cleaning up its many grievances and human rights complaints, he said.
“It’s a mop up job for what happened as a result of the vaccine mandates that were imposed on these health care workers,” he said.
It’s caused a huge brain drain — one that he’s not sure can be remedied, Grey said.
“We’ve lost a lot of tremendous people because of this.”
A prospective Conservative candidate has bowed out of the race, taking aim at “unprecedented foreign interference” he says was directed his way.
Kaveh Shahrooz, a lawyer and Iranian human rights activist, had just launched a bid for the Conservative nomination in the Greater Toronto Area riding of Richmond Hill. He ended his campaign Thursday, accusing the Conservatives of letting “significant foreign interference” by the Iranian regime go “unaddressed.”
“Disinformation about me was amplified by Iranian regime cyber accounts,” he said. “I was physically monitored and threatened. Our campaign volunteers were afraid for thee safety of their families in Iran.”
Shahrooz said he wanted “additional time to fight back.”
The lawyer is an outspoken opponent of the Iranian regime. Richmond Hill has a large Iranian community and is represented by Iranian-born Liberal MP Majid Jowhari.
Shahrooz used to be a card-carrying Liberal and once vied for a Liberal nomination, but he said he “tore up” his membership in 2016 when the Liberals would not join the Conservatives in voting to condemn the ISIS genocide that targeted ethnic minorities, including Yazidis. It was the first step of many in a trajectory towards changing his political affiliation.
Last week, he gave a talk called The Head of the Snake Is In Tehran: How Fighting For Human Rights In Iran Changed My Views on Israel. He spoke of his upbringing in Iran, how he and others in the country were taught to hate Israel, how he eventually found common cause with the Jewish state, and how to fight Islamists.
Though not Jewish, Shahrooz sported a yarmulke when he addressed 270 attendees via video and in-person at Adath Israel Synagogue in North York. The Iranian-born Canadian is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute’s Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests and a former senior policy adviser on human rights to Global Affairs Canada.
Shahrooz’s advocacy and brief political run were motivated by horrors of the Iranian regime that have affected his family directly. His mother received a call telling her that her brother had been executed by the Islamic Republic. Shahrooz said her pain-filled scream fuels him “each day to get up and right for justice.”
Shortly after the call, the family moved to Canada for a “better life for their kids.”
Shahrooz said that he’s noticed many of those seeking a “free and democratic Iran, accountability for the Iran, Iranian regime’s mass crimes, and the horrendous gender and religious discrimination in that country” are Jewish or have connections to Israel.
“They understand without me having to explain very much, how cruel and murderous dictatorships can be. And they understand that regimes like Iran’s don’t respond to reason, that their behavior doesn’t improve with dialogue,” he said.
However, he also noticed how many of those who oppose Israel “purportedly on human rights grounds” were “suddenly silent” when it came to how Iranian women are treated like second-class citizens.
“The same people were always quick to condemn Israel for its treatment of Muslims, couldn’t bring themselves, for example, to condemn China,” alluding to the country’s Muslim Uighur community placed in concentration camps.
“For these people, moral condemnations were incredibly easy when it came to Israel, and nearly impossible for everyone else,” he noted. “I can no longer ignore the hypocrisy, the selective morality, the unfair application of one set of standards to Jews and the Jewish state, and another, to other people in other continents.”
In light of his newfound clarity, he said that a two-state solution is not possible until the “absolute obliteration of Hamas” – a terror group whose stated goal is to destroy Israel.
Countries like Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and other places will not know peace, until “we cut the head of the snake,” he said, referring to the Iranian regime. Doing so involves “smartly designed sanctions,” listing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp as a terror organization, and supporting “ordinary citizens who are ready to risk life and limb to overthrow this regime.” He said Iranians are sick of their government using their national wealth to fund terrorism.
“So long as Iran’s regime has power, there will always be Hamas, there will always be Hezbollah,” he said at the synagogue. “So long as Iran’s regime is in power, we will be under threat from Tehran to Tel Aviv to Toronto.”
Perversely, one of the issues that had motivated his entry to politics was a desire to combat foreign interference in the Canadian democratic process. He told True North he believes the Liberals have not taken the threats posed by “bad actors,” including Iran, seriously.
To Shahrooz’s mind, Trudeau gives the impression that Iran can be reasoned with, yet it is a “gangster and mafia regime” that supports “the worst kinds of terrorism in the world” and should be dealt with as such.
He told True North that his knowledge of post-revolution Iran – a place where people could be killed for saying the “wrong thing” – has shaped his beliefs on free speech. He called free speech “a master value” to ensure the “ability to democratically solve problems.”
The Liberals and New Democrats have reached an agreement on a “historic” pharmacare bill, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says.
This announcement comes after Singh had put Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on notice earlier this month to come up with a plan or face repercussions including losing the NDP’s support in the supply and confidence agreement propping up the Liberal minority government.
Singh told CBC journalist Rosemary Barton in a yet-to-air interview that the agreement would be historic, describing it as a significant milestone for Canadians.
“We’ve secured something really important, I would say really historic for Canadians. We’re really excited about this,” said Singh.
The draft legislation, crafted through extensive discussions, outlines the framework for a national pharmacare program, one of Singh’s key demands from Ottawa.
Additionally, it promises immediate coverage for essential medications such as contraceptives and diabetes treatments. According to Singh, the system “clearly points to a single payer” model.
“We’ve gotten a lot. And more important, people are going to get some real help,” said Singh.
Earlier this month, Singh had issued a stern warning to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, indicating that the failure to present adequate pharmacare legislation by the March 1 deadline would have severe repercussions on the confidence-and-supply arrangement.
Singh’s firm stance underscored the NDP’s unwavering dedication to delivering tangible results on healthcare reform.
“I made it clear… this is something we’re very serious about. We’re not going to extend this any further. We’re very serious that pharmacare has to be delivered,” Singh reiterated during a press conference.
With the March 1 deadline looming, the pressure was on the Liberal government to fulfill its promise on pharmacare. Failure to meet this deadline would jeopardize the stability of the confidence-and-supply agreement, potentially leading to significant consequences for the government.
A Freedom Convoy organizer still on trial for his role in the 2022 trucker protest is suing the federal government for freezing demonstrators’ bank accounts after a court finding that the Emergencies Act was unconstitutional and unreasonable.
It was under the invocation of the Emergencies Act that the Trudeau government justified freezing the bank accounts of those opposing COVID mandates in the three-week-long Ottawa protest.
Chris Barber, a Saskatchewan trucker who led the convoy across Canada to Ottawa, argues in his lawsuit that his Charter rights were violated.
Barber filed a statement of claim last week in a Court of King’s Bench in Saskatoon, alleging that the unprecedented decision by the federal government to invoke the act was an abuse of power.
Barber owns and operates a trucking company in southwestern Saskatchewan. The lawsuit claims that his frozen accounts resulted in missed payments as well as defaults on loans, damaging Barber’s credit score, which “marred indefinitely” his business for future funding applications.
“This disruption deprived (Barber and his wife) of the ability to conduct basic financial transactions and live normal lives, leading to severe inconvenience, hardship, embarrassment, exclusion from modern society, and damaged personal and business relationships,” reads the claim, which also names Barber’s wife and his trucking business as plaintiffs.
A spokesperson for the Trudeau government said that so far, no statement of defence has been filed.
“We will review the claims in order to determine next steps,” wrote the spokesperson in an email to Global News.
The Freedom Convoy was co-organized by Barber, along with Tamara Lich and others, to oppose vaccine mandates and other pandemic restrictions.
Both are currently on trial in Ottawa on charges of mischief, intimidation and several charges related to counselling others to break the law.
Barber’s lawsuit is in response to a decision by Federal Court Judge Richard Mosley that the invocation of the Emergencies Act and the measures employed under it were unconstitutional and unreasonable.
Mosley said that the use of the act ultimately led to the infringement of Canadians’ constitutional rights and that the Trudeau government failed to require that “some objective standard be satisfied” before freezing citizen’s bank accounts.
He concluded that the act of freezing bank accounts breached the Charter prohibition against unreasonable search or seizure.
The Trudeau government has vowed to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.
The statement of claim said that Barber had all of his personal and business bank accounts frozen within a day of the invocation without notice.
This prevented him from withdrawing or depositing money. Additionally, he could not use his credit cards and all of his automatic payments were blocked.
His daily living expenses like food, fuel and medicine were made inaccessible, reads the lawsuit. Barber “suffered and experienced fear and anxiety due to the anticipated loss of income.”
The Trudeau government’s decision to freeze bank accounts was for the “improper purpose of dissuading and punishing” protesters for exercising fundamental Charter rights, alleges the lawsuit.
