Fentanyl has killed tens of thousands Canadians. Every day, an average of 22 Canadians die due to a toxic drug overdose and in British Columbia, opioid overdose is now the leading cause of death among youth aged 10 to 18. Fentanyl is made with precursor chemicals that flow through Canada’s borders originating from China. Organized Chinese gangs have been in the middle of this drug trade, ripping apart a generation of young Canadians.
On this episode of The Faulkner Show, Harrison is joined by Garry Clement, the former National Director of the RCMP’s Proceeds of Crime division. Clement argues that China is waging a drug war on Canada and that the government needs to be doing more to target organized Chinese gangs who have the backing of the CCP from entering into and operating inside Canada.
The radical left and the legacy media lost their collective minds over Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s gender policies, which aim to prevent minors from undergoing irreversible treatments to change their gender. Since Smith unveiled her policies, the legacy media has attempted to mislead Canadians about what the policies actually are.
On this episode of The Candice Malcolm Show, Candice examines a CTV News clip about how trans activists are protesting Smith’s policies and she explains exactly how the media is trying to mislead Canadians about this important issue.
A Bank of Canada staff working paper on monetary policy lists a professor affiliated with China’s central bank and a university allegedly implicated in a Chinese cyberespionage operation as an author.
People’s Bank of China School of Finance associate professor Ji Zhang was one of several cited in a staff working paper published by Bank of Canada researchers on Feb. 6.
The research paper was titled “The Role of International Financial Integration in Monetary Policy Transmission.”
It lists Jing Cynthia Wu from the University of Notre Dame and National Bureau of Economic Research, Yinxi Xie from the Canadian Economic Analysis Department and Economic and Financial Research Department of the Bank of Canada, and Ji Zhang from the People’s Bank of China School of Finance at Tsinghua University as authors.
However, against the backdrop of this collaboration, recent reports have shed light on growing concerns surrounding research affiliations with individuals connected to the Chinese government.
The Bank of Canada claimed it has “no connection” with the author or the People’s Bank of China.
“Researchers at the Bank of Canada routinely work with other researchers and academics at other institutions around the globe as part of their work. The Bank has no connection with the co-author of the paper you refer to or their affiliated institution,” said a Bank of Canada spokesperson.
Additionally, the Bank of Canada maintains that staff working papers are a “forum for staff to publish work-in-progress research independently from the Bank’s Governing Council” and that views contained in the research are not to be attributed to the bank.
In particular, both the People’s Bank of China and Tsinghua University have raised alarms from those following China’s espionage networks closely.
A July 2022 report submitted to the US Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee alleged that an espionage network called the “P-Network” specifically targeted Federal Reserve employees under the direction of Beijing.
One of the concerns highlighted by the report was the fact that several Federal Reserve employees had close ties with the People’s Bank of China.
“The investigation found multiple U.S. Federal Reserve employees with close ties to the People’s Bank of China – China’s central bank,” concluded the report tabled by US Senator Rob Portman.
Additionally, a cybersecurity research firm linked a covert cyberespionage operation targeting the Tibetan community to Tsinghua University, where the People’s Bank of China’s School of Finance is located and Ji is a researcher.
“Following our research uncovering the Chinese RedAlpha campaigns targeting the Tibetan community, Recorded Future’s Insikt Group identified a novel Linux backdoor called “ext4,” deployed against the same Tibetan victim group,” wrote Recorded Future’s research division, Insikt Group.
The cybersecurity firm discovered that repeat connections emanate from infrastructure registered to the elite Chinese post-secondary school.
“We also identified network reconnaissance activities being conducted from the same Tsinghua University infrastructure targeting many geopolitical organizations, including the State of Alaska Government, Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, the United Nations office in Nairobi, and the Kenya Ports Authority,” said Insikt Group.
The Bank of Canada has organized joint conferences with Tsinghua University and the University of Toronto in the past, focused on the Chinese economy. The last one was held virtually in 2021 where Ji presented on a monetary policy panel with former Chinese central banker Sun Guofeng.
Late last year, Sun was arrested by Chinese authorities and sentenced to 16 years in prison for bribery, leaking secrets and insider training. The arrest came as Xi Jinping’s regime seeks to tighten its control over the country’s finances.
In Canada too, the spectre of academic espionage has cast a shadow over collaborations with Chinese researchers. Recent revelations have brought to light a disconcerting pattern of research associations between Canadian universities and entities affiliated with the Chinese government.
A damning report by Strider Technologies has unearthed a trove of research projects linking top Canadian academic institutions to scientists with ties to the People’s Liberation Army PLA.
The University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, McGill University, and the University of Waterloo stand among the implicated, their esteemed reputations tarnished by associations with Chinese military-linked research endeavours.
Canada’s top spy bureau, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, has issued stern advisories to research institutions in the recent past in response to these threats, highlighting the insidious nature of Chinese government initiatives such as the Thousand Talents Plan.
Under the guise of academic exchange and talent recruitment, these initiatives serve as conduits for the infiltration of Canadian research institutions, laying bare the vulnerabilities inherent in the pursuit of so-called scholarly collaboration on the global stage.
The spectre of espionage looms large, casting a pall over the collaborative endeavours between the Bank of Canada and its Chinese counterpart.
New data from Statistics Canada show that just 37 per cent of Canadians trust the media. While it’s more than the number that trust federal politicians (28 per cent), journalists have a lower trust score than the school system, the justice system, and police. An exchange yesterday between Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and a Canadian Press reporter may reveal why this is, True North’s Andrew Lawton says.
Also, anti-Israel protesters have descended on Toronto’s Jewish Mount Sinai hospital where they blocked access and in one case scaled the building to fly a Palestinian flag. Yet the politicians who condemned protests at hospitals during the pandemic have been silent.
Meanwhile, a Liberal-appointed senator has apologized for saying that Canada should do security checks on anyone coming from Gaza.
Plus, NDP MP Charlie Angus’ proposed private member’s bill would ban promoting how oil and gas development can be good for Indigenous communities. First Nations LNG Alliance CEO Karen Ogen-Toews joins The Andrew Lawton Show to discuss.
Auditor General Karen Hogan released a scathing report revealing the ArriveCan app cost Canadian taxpayers an estimated $59.5 million with little value provided.
Plus, a prominent Toronto lawyer says the Trudeau government’s ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ agenda is contributing to judicial vacancies that are resulting in serious criminal trials being tossed.
And police are investigating the arson of a Regina church that was set ablaze by man in a balaclava.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzsurdzsa and Noah Jarvis!
The United States has seen a spike in migrants crossing into the border from Canada due to less security checkpoints compared to entering through Mexico, particularly through Ontario and Quebec into New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.
U.S. officials have recorded 191,603 encounters with people crossing into their country through Canada last year, marking a 41% increase compared to 2022.
The majority of migrants still use legal ports of entry, but last year over 12,2000 were apprehended at other entry points, an increase of 241% from 2022, according to the New York Times.
Canada does not require travellers from Mexico to have a visa upon entry, which leads many to fly into Canada first and then enter the U.S. through an area known as the Swanton Sector.
This sector is a 475 km strip of land that runs along Ontario and Quebec and borders U.S. states New York, Vermont and New Hampshire.
The Conservative party’s immigration critic said this is also straining Canada’s immigration system as many Mexican nationals simply make their asylum claims in Canada upon landing.
“The Liberals broke the immigration system and won’t enforce reasonable restrictions,” said MP Tom Kmiec. “We know there is an exponential increase of asylum claims by Mexico nationals since 2016 and the Liberals refuse to take action despite the fact that the Immigration Refugee Board’s official numbers show only 11% were approved as convention refugees between January and September 2023.”
Kmiec noted that Conservatives have called on the Liberals to reimpose the visa requirement for Mexican nationals to “stop this continuing abuse of our asylum system.”
U.S. Border Patrol Agents have apprehended over 3,100 people from 55 countries within the Swanton Sector since Oct. 1, 2023.
That figure, which includes only the fourth quarter of 2023, amounts to more than the total illegal crossings for the sector over the last four fiscal years combined, from 2019-2022.
U.S. Border Patrol officials have also reduced 37 migrants along the Canadian border since October 2022. This is often due to migrants getting lost in the woods or falling into frozen water and contracting hypothermia.
Kmiec said Canada bears a lot of the blame for this.
“After eight years of Trudeau, he has broken our immigration system and spent millions of dollars through our border security agency on management consultants and corrupt insider contracts while neglecting front line security at our borders,” he said.
Last week, a special committee was held on the issue and Kmiec asked Immigration Minister Marc Miller if he held any responsibility for the growing problem by not acting sooner on the issue. He also asked Miller whether Canada would reimpose the visa requirement for Mexican travellers, though Miller said he wouldn’t answer the question “publicly.”
“Trudeau lifted common sense visa requirements which led to increased fraud and abuse in the asylum system, adding huge delays for legitimate asylum claimants. Trudeau is not worth the cost, and he is not worth the corruption and chaos,” said Kmiec.
Over a dozen migrants, including families, a pregnant woman and children have been found frozen to death in rivers or in the forest over the past two years, while attempting to cross into the U.S. through Ontario and Quebec.
The sale of cannabis has been legal in Canada for over five years now, but its illicit sales are still flourishing due to lower prices and better quality, according to a recent study.
Consulting firm Deloitte published a study, which found that the two major areas where illegal cannabis sellers outperformed legal retailers were in pricing and a greater variety of products for the consumer.
The study gathered data from 624 legal cannabis store websites and compared it with 57 illegal online retailers over a period of two months last year.
The study did not include data from legal retailers’ brick-and-mortar stores or any government-run outlets.
The illicit sites tend to put more of an emphasis on selling strictly ready to smoke dried weed and extracts, whereas many legal vendors offer cannabis-infused beverages, gummies and vape cartridges.
“It’s mostly the strain variety, but also just the sizes,” Deloitte’s Christopher McGrath told National Post. “You can buy kilograms from these online websites, whereas legal sites cap you at 30 grams.”
Despite their illegality, these sites are open about the products that they are selling, including other drugs, which aren’t legal for authorized retailers to sell like magic mushrooms and LSD.
“It didn’t seem like they had any fear of enforcement,” said McGrath. “There’s a lot of confidence in the illicit market that there will be no enforcement.”
The average price on an illicit site is about $6.24 per gram, whereas licenced sites offered an average price of $7.96 per gram.
Those price gaps widen even further depending on how much one buys.
A 3.5 gram purchase can be as much as 67% cheaper on an illicit site than what it would cost on average on a legal one.
It’s not hard to tell why in times of economic stress, Canadians are choosing the cheaper option, despite its lack of legitimacy.
“One year after legalization, 52% of Canadians obtain (at least some of) their cannabis from a legal source (compared to 22% prior to legalization),” reads a statement from Public Safety Canada.
“However, it seems that Canadians are still obtaining their cannabis from the black market. In the third quarter of 2019, results from the National Cannabis Survey show that 42% of Canadians had purchased cannabis from an illegal source.”
MaryJane’s Cannabis store owner Samuel Gerges, thinks that the federal government needs to go back and correct some of the mistakes it made when first legalizing the drug.
“Governments should avoid making similar mistakes for the sake of market expansion, such as more permissive advertising regulations,” said Gerges. “There’s not two licenced producers or retailers that are happy with the state of legalization, even the ones that are doing well,” Gerges told the National Post.
“(Prime Minister) Justin (Trudeau) wanted to race to be the first to legalize as a country, now we’re also going to be the example of what not to do.”
Diversity, equity and inclusion programs in universities lead to even more prejudice and bigotry, a new study has found.
A recent research report published by the Aristotle Foundation for Public Policy, authored by social scientist David Millard Haskell from Wilfrid Laurier University, casts doubt on the effectiveness of the practices touted as solutions to systemic racism.
Haskell’s study, titled “Reality Check,” critically examines existing scholarship on DEI initiatives, aiming to ascertain their impact on societal harmony and prejudice reduction.
Drawing from a wide array of research published in leading social scientific journals, including contributions from prestigious institutions like Harvard University and Princeton University, Haskell’s findings challenge the prevailing narrative that DEI instruction leads to lasting positive behavioural changes.
Proponents of DEI training often assert its efficacy without sufficient empirical evidence to support their claims,” Haskell said.
“However, there’s clear empirical evidence that certain aspects of DEI instruction lead to greater prejudice and even harm,” explained Haskell in a press release.
The report highlights several key concerns. Firstly, past research suggesting the effectiveness of DEI instruction suffers from methodological weaknesses, including issues with internal and external validity and indications of publication bias.
This raises doubts about the reliability of claims regarding the impact of these interventions.
Secondly, recent meta-analyses conducted by Haskell reveal a significant gap between the exponential growth of DEI training programs and the lack of evidence supporting their efficacy.
Despite the widespread implementation of DEI initiatives, proof of their effectiveness in reducing prejudice and fostering inclusivity remains elusive.
Moreover, DEI instruction has been associated with the activation of bigotry, with certain core concepts like “white privilege” being directly linked to increased hostility toward majority populations.
While acknowledging the value of diversity in society, Haskell cautions against the divisive nature of DEI instruction, which he argues can lead to a more hostile and fragmented world.
“’Organic’ diversity—where individuals of all colours, creed and ancestry are free to flourish within a Canadian mosaic that values everyone equally—is a good thing,” said Haskell.
Instances of punishment, expulsion, and employment termination faced by individuals who challenge DEI narratives underscore the suppression of dissenting voices within educational and professional settings.
Furthermore, DEI proponents’ adoption of divisive rhetoric, such as labeling Asians as “white adjacent” and accusing them of perpetuating “white supremacy,” underscores the potential for these initiatives to exacerbate rather than alleviate societal tensions.
A Conservative MP is blaming the “Liberal-NDP coalition” for blocking his motion to condemn an attempted arson at the Blessed Sacrament Parish church in Regina, Sask.
Before Wascana, Sask. MP Corey Tochor could finish reading his proposed motion, which required unanimous consent, to condemn the attack, MPs from the Liberal and NDP benches yelled “No!”
Tochor said it was a “shameful” display.
“Yesterday I asked for unanimous consent to condemn the attempted arson at the Regina church. But they did not allow me to,” he posted on X. “It is shameful that this NDP-Liberal coalition refuses to condemn these hateful attacks and will shut us down when we attempt to raise the issue.”
Yesterday I asked for unanimous consent to condemn the attempted arson at the Regina church. But they did not allow me to.
It is shameful that this NDP-Liberal coalition refuses to condemn these hateful attacks and will shut us down when we attempt to raise the issue. https://t.co/ribC3Zj5Ih
A masked arsonist can be seen approaching the office entrance of the church, dumping the contents of a jerry can on the back steps and setting the church on fire before running away.
Firefighters saved the historic church – the oldest Catholic church in Regina – from being completely destroyed, however due to the damage caused by the arsonist, there will be no scheduled eucharist until Ash Wednesday on February 14, according to the church.
The Regina Police Service is continuing its arson investigation and the suspect is still at large. Anybody with information is encouraged to contact Regina police or Crime Stoppers.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre posted to X Monday saying he’s “thinking of the Blessed Sacrament Parish Catholic community after their centuries-old church was vandalized by arson.”
Thinking of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic community in Regina, after their century-old church was vandalized by arson.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather also condemned the arson attempt on social media saying, “The idea that one would try to burn down a church is a sickening attack not only on its congregants and on Christians but on the values we are supposed to share as Canadians.”
Churches are sacred places. The idea that one would try to burn down a church is a sickening attack not only on its congregants and on Christians but on the values we are supposed to share as Canadians. I condemn this in the strongest terms.https://t.co/WPROkzSyvi
The attempted arson of the Blessed Sacrament Parish is the 100th church attack to have occurred in Canada since First Nations bands claimed in the spring of 2021 to have located the remains of children in unmarked graves at the sites of former Indian residential schools.
The attack at the Regina church was the 46th arson attempt on a church. Since True North began tracking church attacks in 2021, at least 33 have been completely burned to the ground.
Although Liberal and NDP MPs quickly shut down this motion to condemn the latest church burning in Saskatchewan, in October 2022, a motion from NDP MP Leah Gazan to condemn Canada for committing genocide against First Nations people was agreed on by all 338 MPs.
As of Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to comment on the latest arson attempt.
Creepy crawlies or delicious delicacies that are good for the environment?
A University of British Columbia professor thinks that opening people’s minds to the idea of an insect-based diet could be a key step in fighting climate change.
Prof. Yasmin Akhtar, a sessional lecturer in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems at the University of British Columbia, said in an article published by her university that she incorporates insects into her own diet.
Akhtar even recommended her recipe for a “berry smoothie with cricket protein” to Canadians.
“People should be thinking about alternative protein sources, and insects could be the meat of the future,” Akhtar told UBC’s Beyond.
The key reason people should consider eating bugs is that rearing insects for consumption produces far less emissions than traditional animal husbandry, Akhtar said.
“Rearing insects requires much less space, fewer resources like water and much less feed,” said Akhtar.
Despite these advantages, cultural taboos and squeamishness remain significant barriers to insect consumption.
Akhtar acknowledged this challenge but emphasized that insects can be delicious when prepared properly and people only need to broaden their horizons for the sake of the planet.
“For some people, eating insects triggers a disgust response. They’re thought of as dirty, and pests,” said Akhtar.
“They usually have a nutty flavor, and insects absorb the flavor of spices very well.”
The biologist recommends first-timers begin experimenting with insect flour and protein powders as an “easy way to incorporate bugs” into the average diet.
For the more adventurous, it is recommended to barbecue, boil and cook bugs like any other food.
“Just like other animal proteins, insects should be treated before they are consumed, using heat to boil or cook them, for example,” said Akhtar.
To showcase the culinary potential of insects, UBC recently hosted a Bug Bake Off, where students competed to create insect-laden dishes that were both delicious and environmentally friendly. The event garnered significant media attention.
Indeed, international organizations like the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Economic Forum have advocated for insect-based “meat” as a sustainable alternative to traditional animal-derived proteins.
