Auditor General Karen Hogan has taken aim at the government’s multimillion-dollar boondoggle that is the ArriveCan app. Hogan’s report found that Canada’s paid too much, the public service didn’t ensure value for money, and the whole thing lacked even basic management and due diligence. True North’s Andrew Lawton asks whether anyone is surprised. Aaron Wudrick of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute joins to discuss.
Also, Health Canada officials floated a ban on smoking in private homes as an acceptable tobacco control measure ahead of a global World Health Organization summit.
Justin Trudeau has been so far silent on the attempted arson of a Regina Catholic church on the weekend. He can’t condemn vandalism and threats against other religious institutions quickly enough, but never wants to wade into assaults on Christians.
Plus, while CBC was complaining about budget woes, it was sending executives on high-flying foreign junkets. Kris Sims from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation returns to weigh in.
One of Canada’s largest public sector unions has been hit with 14 human rights complaints from Jewish members who allege a “culture of discrimination and harassment” amid their union pushing an “anti-Israel agenda.”
The complaints, which accuse the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) of “advocating unbalanced and biased views towards Israel and creating a culture of fear, discrimination and bias towards Jewish (union) members,” list several problematic events.
Incidents include hosting a “solidarity with Palestine” webinar in which participants allegedly accused Israel of colonialism, apartheid and genocide. “The webinar featured presenters who actively presented one-sided and biased views,” the complaints claim.
The union is also accused of having handed out “antisemitic” flyers promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement, rejecting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, and targeting Zionism.
Furthermore, the complainants take issue with the union promoting the Ceasefire Now Coalition, which they say falsely accused Israel of bombing the Al-Shifa hospital, as well as with the promotion of anti-Israel rallies and a donation of $25,000 to the controversial UNRWA agency.
Last month, Canada joined the United States in suspending funding to UNRWA following allegations of staff involvement in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on Israel.
Many of the complainants say they tried bringing up their concerns to the union’s leadership, but investigative or remedial actions were not taken.
The complainants are represented pro bono by lawyers Daniel Lublin and Marc Kitay.
“The essence of the complainants’ case is that PSAC is clearly advancing an agenda that discriminates against Jewish union members, including donating union funds to UNRWA despite credible reports of agency workers holding innocent Israelis hostage and other behaviours that adversely impact them,” said Lublin in a statement.
“A union’s job is to represent the interest of all its members,” added Kitay. “No one should be made to feel like a second-class citizen or targeted because of their background and beliefs. There must be impartiality.”
Kitay stated that “PSAC’s alleged behaviour is a clear violation of the Canadian Human Rights Act that prohibits the union from engaging in differential treatment on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, and religion or religious beliefs.”
The complainants are making several demands, including orders to require the union to “cease engaging in any form of discrimination, hate or offensive conduct towards Jewish members,” to “ensure impartiality and balanced views of panelists and presenters at future conferences,” to “immediately cease funding UNRWA and to take steps to reclaim the funds previously designed to UNRWA,” and “prohibiting PSAC from providing financial support to BDS or other related causes using member dues.”
The complainants also want $100,000 each in damages, for the leadership to undergo antisemitism education training, and for the union to issue an apology.
“Jewish members of PSAC should not be forced to endure their union’s dissemination of anti-Israel views and anti-Jewish propaganda, which creates an unsafe environment where Jews are villainized in the eyes of their peers,” said Kitay.
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs helped the complainants find free legal representation.
In a statement to True North, a Public Service Alliance of Canada spokesperson said that while the union “opposes all forms of oppression, racism, and discrimination,” it will continue to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
“The unrelenting bombardment of civilians in Gaza and mounting death toll, along with the lack of water, electricity, medicine and food, has created a humanitarian catastrophe that must not be ignored.”
The PSAC spokesperson added that “members experiencing antisemitism, anti-Arab racism, Islamophobia or any other form of discrimination in their workplace will receive the full support of their union.”
PSAC is not the only Canadian public service union to find itself in hot water over anti-Israel activism.
CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn expressed support in a social media post for a Palestinian phrase commonly acknowledged as calling for the destruction of Israel and said on Thanksgiving saying he was “grateful” for “resistance.” He later apologized for that post.
Several CUPE locals have also promoted anti-Israel content.
As we all think about reasons to be thankful this #thanksgiving2023, I know I'm thankful for the power of workers, the power of resistance around the globe. Because #Resistance is fruitful and no matter what some might say, #Resistance brings progress, and for that, I'm thankful
Twenty-five CUPE Ontario members filed a human rights complaint against the CUPE union and its leadership last November, alleging that their actions promoted “violence and discrimination against Jewish people.”
Maxime Bernier says if people vote their conscience, the People’s Party of Canada is poised to win its first seat.
Bernier visited Scugog on the weekend to campaign for PPC candidate Patricia Conlin in preparation for the Durham byelection taking place Mar. 4 to replace former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole.
Over 60 people attended the event held by Conlin and Bernier at Castle John’s in Port Perry, in the northern part of the Riding of Durham.
Conservative activist Josh Alexander and former Ontario MPP Randy Hillier were expected to attend but didn’t arrive.
“I believe that if people are voting in line with what they believe, Patricia will do very well,” Bernier said. “The goal is to win, but we know we are a young party. So, step by step, we are growing.”
Bernier and Conlin went door knocking before the event and said there was “big momentum” for the PPC.
Bernier said the PPC has a better chance of winning a seat in a byelection due to low voter turnout.
According to Elections Canada, the average turnout for all by-elections since 2016 has been approximately 30.7%.
“That can help Patricia because our people are very motivated,” Bernier said. “If not, we’ll see, and she’ll be with us next time.”
In 2019, the PPC had 1.6% of the popular vote in the general election. By the 2021 election, where the issue of lockdowns and mandates was vital for many voters, the party received 5% of the vote, but Bernier said support is still growing.
“So at the next election, if we doubled or tripled our score, that would be great. I know that we have the right ideas. We just have to be out there to speak about them,” he said.
Conlin, who also ran for the PPC in Durham in 2021, is optimistic about a win for the PPC this by-election.
“It’s going to make a huge difference in Canada because we will finally have a seat to hold the Conservatives accountable,” she said.
She thinks having a PPC voice in the House of Commons will put pressure on Pierre Poilievre on issues such as parental rights and “unsustainable immigration.”
Conlin says the party’s platform and track record speak for themselves. The PPC fought against mandates and lockdowns and is currently against net zero climate policies and unsustainable mass immigration.
“It’s time that we return power to the people and we elect a candidate of the people, for the people, who will introduce ‘Canada first policies’ so we have a hopeful future and make our country great again,” she said.
Mario Greco, the 2021 PPC candidate for the nearby Vaughan—Woodbridge riding, said the PPC can break through the logjam of partisan politics.
“We don’t have to rely on the big government of Liberals or Conservatives. We can focus on grassroots movements here because we’re not focused on politicians; we’re focused on people.” Greco said.
Conlin told attendees that Bernier would attend another campaign event in Hampton, Ont., next week, and she mentioned that Alexander might also attend that one.
The Conservative candidate is Jamil Jivani, while Robert Rock, who ran for the Conservative nomination against Jivani, is standing for the Liberals.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller is warning that Canada’s economy has become too dependent on cheap labour from international students and temporary foreign workers, however many businesses don’t agree.
“We have gotten addicted to temporary foreign workers,” Miller told BNN Bloomberg in an interview on Tuesday.
“Any large industry trying to make ends meet will look at the ability to drive down wages. There is an incentive to drive labor costs down. It’s something that’ll require a larger discussion.”
Miller recently announced a two-year cap on international students, reducing the annual amount by 35%. There are also plans to reduce the amount of weekly work hours students are permitted to have.
Miller said the federal government will continue to take the necessary measures to curtail Canada’s dependence on temporary foreign labour. However, some businesses have pushed back on Miller’s sentiments, saying that there aren’t enough domestic workers to fulfill certain job gaps in the economy.
There are over 2.5 million non-permanent residents in Canada, according to data from Statistics Canada. That figure accounts for slightly more than 6% of the country’s population, many of whom fill key positions in the labour force.
The massive jump in population also increases rental prices and contributes to the overall housing crisis however, leading many Canadians to want more restrictions on immigration.
“I will have to be a little more surgical than I have in prior steps I’ve taken,” said Miller. “There are consequences to taking a decision that would limit that flow of people for businesses, for the economy.”
Miller said he’s working alongside Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault on what changes need to be made to the temporary foreign worker program concerning potential exploitation of some lower-wage sectors.
Canadian Federation of Independent Business president Dan Kelly accused the federal government of being in “panic mode” and making abrupt policy changes without considering their long term effects, particularly on rural communities who rely heavily on migrant workers.
“I worry that we may be scapegoating the temporary foreign worker program and the international student program to too great a degree and thinking that this is some big panacea or big fix,” said Kelly in a BNN interview.
Some companies that employ international students have already begun lobbying against the proposed reduction of permissible work hours.
“Some of the big-box stores, some of the businesses that have international students, have pushed relatively hard to preserve the 40-hour work week,” said Miller. “Some student groups call for it as well because a lot of employers want you to be able to commit to more than 20 hours.”
Among those lobbying for international students to have a 30 hour work week while class is in session is the Retail Council of Canada.
“For international students, retail can provide a way to supplement their incomes, enhance language skills, and provide useful employment skills – everything from front-line retail and customer service, to logistics and supply chain,” wrote spokeswoman Michelle Wasylyshen in an email to BNN Bloomberg.
Pancholi released her campaign launch video only hours before speaking with Jespersen on Thursday.
She was specifically referring to the consumer carbon tax, which she said has become a political football and a distraction that has kept both the provincial UCP and federal Conservatives from taking any meaningful action on climate change.
The announcement comes two days after federal NDP’s Charlie Angus tabled a bill in the House of Commons that would jail and fine people for speaking positively about oil and gas.
Manitoba’s NDP premier, Wab Kinew, stopped collecting carbon tax on home heating in November. Kinew said that the carbon tax was not a “silver bullet” to address climate change, and asked the federal government to provide data or evidence towards which policies can best help solve global warming.
The tax was repealed by the UCP in 2019 but re-administered by Ottawa as a federal levy.
Nonetheless, Pancholi said that she is proud of the work done by the Alberta NDP to bring in the climate leadership plan in 2016.
If the Alberta NDP won the next provincial election, the party would have to convince Ottawa to accept an Alberta emissions program without a carbon tax.
Pancholi was first elected in 2019, serving as a critic for children’s services and education. She was not in government during Rachel Notley’s time as Alberta Premier.
“The public support for consumer carbon tax is still very, very low. 68% of Albertans still do not buy into the idea of a consumer carbon price,” she said. “And then we have a federal government that has undermined the very premise of a consumer carbon price by carving out exceptions for heating oil and for certain areas of the country.”
The current Alberta government has been reactive, instead of proactive on the climate file, according to Pancholi.
Pancholi suggested developing a plan with experts, climate activists, and industry to create a proactive, not reactive plan “because we can’t afford to wait any longer.”
The leadership candidate has her eyes not just on her current campaign, but also the 2027 provincial election.
“The rural outreach strategy is critically important,” said Pancholi. “I believe it’s imperative that any leader of this party is focused on leading the entire province, not just the two major cities.”
She added that the NDP increased its vote in almost every riding outside of Edmonton and Calgary in the last election and that the momentum needs to carry forward.
While Calgary and Edmonton were predominantly orange, signifying NDP-winning ridings, almost the entire rest of the province was Blue.
Former justice minister Kathleen Ganley was the first NDP candidate to announce a leadership bid. Others rumoured to be joining the leadership race are Edmonton MLAs David Shepherd, Sarah Hoffman, Jodi Calahoo Stonehouse, and former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi.
Party members will pick a new leader on June 22.
Alberta’s next provincial general election is scheduled for May 31, 2027.
The energy industry is taking aim at an NDP member of Parliament’s efforts to ban advertising supporting Canada’s resource sector.
The Canadian Association of Energy Contractors has spoken out against Bill C-372, also known as the Fossil Fuel Advertising Act.
Introduced by northern Ontario NDP MP Charlie Angus, the bill seeks to ban the advertising of Canadian oil products and even proposes jail time or hefty fines for offenders.
Mark Scholz, President & CEO of the energy contractors group, expressed the association’s strong opposition to the proposed legislation.
Scholz said that the bill would hinder Canada’s ability for a more climate-friendly future.
“CAOEC is disappointed by the lack of knowledge surrounding the energy issues that Canadians and many countries face. This bill would impede our country’s ability to foster a sustainable energy industry, strengthen decarbonization efforts, and advance Indigenous economic reconciliation,” said Scholz.
“Our association will always stand up for the hard-working women and men who produce the world’s cleanest oil and gas, and will continue to advocate that people have access to responsibly produced Canadian fossil fuels.”
The association represents energy service companies, including several Indigenous-owned and -operated firms, which pride themselves on offering high-paying, skilled jobs in small and rural communities.
Scholz said these companies are pivotal in Canada’s energy transition and recognize the importance of environmental protection alongside economic growth.
“Canada is the best in the world at producing responsible and environmentally sustainable oil and gas, and no legislation can muzzle the truth. The facts are clear – we need Canadian oil and gas, and our people will deliver on this promise,” said Scholz.
The energy contractors group is comprised of 95 member companies engaged in land drilling, directional drilling, offshore drilling, and service rig operations.
Together, they operate a significant fleet of 444 drilling rigs and 735 service rigs across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and Atlantic Canada.
In recent decades, technology has become an integral force in shaping the trajectory of the Canadian oil and gas industry. In this latest instalment of the Unjust Transition series, Secure Energy CEO Rene Amirault sits down with True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the intersection of technological innovation and environmental sustainability.
Farmers in Saskatchewan are angry with the federal government for harming their ability to ensure food security.
The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities has issued a stark warning about the detrimental impact of what it terms “ineffective” federal climate policies on the ability of Saskatchewan farmers to lead the world in agricultural production.
Representing rural communities for over a century, the group has been a vocal critic of the federal government’s carbon tax and its fertilizer emission reduction target.
Ray Orb, president of the association, emphasized the urgent need for support from both federal and provincial governments to address the challenges faced by farmers.
Orb outlined several key areas where support is crucial, including combating inflation’s adverse effects on loans and purchasing power, and countering proposed regulations on fertilizer emissions.
“(We need) support to deal with ineffective environmental policies that dictate that farmers find solutions to reduce their carbon footprint when the technological advancement required to convert an entire farming operation to renewable energy simply does not yet exist,” said Orb.
“And, lastly, support shouldering record inflation-fueled price hikes for gas, fertilizer, and herbicides. Expenses that pave a path to unsustainable agriculture, lower production, and food insecurity.”
One of the central concerns raised by the rural municipality group is the discrepancy between government policies and the practical realities of farming.
Saskatchewan’s agricultural sector plays a pivotal role in global food supply chains, with the province renowned for its consistent and high-quality production of grains, oilseeds, pulses, livestock and other products.
Additionally, recent research shows that Saskatchewan has some of the most climate-friendly agricultural products in the world, outpacing other countries in terms of low-emission production.
Saskatchewan achieved record-breaking agricultural exports totalling $17.5 billion in 2021.
“Every family in the province is feeling the pinch in their household budget, the cost of food and fuel are just a few things that have been hit with inflation hikes,” said Orb.
“Producers are hurting, in turn, consumers too. Saskatchewan is a self-sustainable province, we utilize everything we produce and see it on our kitchen tables, it’s time to start unifying our goals.”
“No Jews, no news” is a popular aphorism summarizing the global preoccupation with this unique Middle Eastern indigenous ethnic group from nearly the time most of its members were exiled from their ancient homeland by its Roman invaders in the first century AD.
We heard it at a Jan. 12 UN Security Council meeting at which Algeria spoke about what it called the threat of forced displacement of Gazans by Israel. Israel’s permanent representative at the UN, Gilad Erdan, denied this charge – all the movement of Palestinians from one part of Gaza to another has been both voluntary and aimed at protecting civilian lives – while rebuking the security council for not condemning actual displacements taking place around the world.
“As we speak, there are over one million Muslims being forcibly removed from their homes, all of their possessions taken from them as they face poverty, famine and disease. No, I am not talking about the situation in Gaza, but about Pakistan’s forced displacement of 1.3 million Afghans,” said Erdan.
“Why does the forced displacement of Muslims from a Muslim country mean nothing to the Algerian representative and the council? I’ll tell you why: No Jews, no news,” said Erdan. “Over the past decade, 50,000 Christians in Nigeria have been butchered and hacked to death. Is this even a concern to the council? Again, no Jews, no news.”
Erdan could easily have added that most ethnic groups in the world have no sovereign state of their own nor any hope of ever obtaining one.
Depending on definition, there are between 11,500 and 24,000 different ethnic groups in the world distributed among only 195 sovereign states.
The Philippines, for example, is inhabited by more than 182 ethnolinguistic groups – people with distinct cultures and languages going back millennia. The 17 UN recognized Middle Eastern states are populated by dozens more ethnic groups.
One of the harshest critics of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians is China, a country with 56 officially recognized ethnic groups, including the Muslim Uyghurs, a 12-million strong Turkic ethnic group occupying the so-called autonomous region of Xinjiang.
Since 2014, the Chinese government has been accused by various organizations of subjecting Uyghurs in Xinjiang to widespread human rights abuses, including forced sterilization, forced vocational training, and forced labor in what has been described as crimes against humanity, or even genocide. Almost none of this condemnation has come from the UN.
Even less is ever written about the mainly Muslim Kurds, a people with their own language and distinct culture going back to at least the Middle Ages. Numbering between 35 and 50 million people, they are the world’s largest stateless nation.
Denied a promised state of their own in 1920, they continue to live in exploited minority status in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria. Tens of thousands have perished in 40 years of off-and-on fighting between the militant Kurdish Workers Party and its many regional enemies with hardly a murmur of outrage from an outside world consumed only by news about the Jews.
Indifferent to the weak relation between ethnicity and statehood, western political elites endlessly keep pushing for two sovereign states in a region the Roman invaders namedSyria Palestinia during their short-lived conquest (63 BC — 66 AD). The main conquered people, most of them later exiled, were indigenous Jews divided into two independent states, the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria) and the Kingdom of Judah. No such people as the Palestinians existed at that time.
This history formed the basis for an endless yearning among Jews to return to their ancestral homeland, a hope fulfilled with the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
The name Palestine was an obvious choice for the UN-sanctioned rebirth of the ancient homeland because the Jews living there were called Palestinians until 1948. But it was rejected by Jewish officials because “It is likely that the Arab state that will be established in the Land of Israel will also be called Palestine in the future, which could cause confusion.” In the end, the most straightforward option was selected: Israel.
As for the people now calling themselves Palestinians, their national identity largely originated in opposition to Israel’s statehood: had Israel never been re-created, there would never have been any call for a separate Palestinian people or state.
Seemingly ignorant of this history, Justin Trudeau has said Canada is “crystal clear” that there needs to be a Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state.
Such “crystal clarity” is difficult to discern especially given that the Palestinians already have a state of their own in the Kingdom of Jordan, a newly created post-World War I nation where Palestinians form most of the population and where it is illegal for Jews to live.
None of the bombastic oratory about a two-state solution has given recognition to the threat Palestinian sovereignty would pose to Israel’s survival or that neither of the two main combatants are demanding a two-state solution: countless political polls, including very recent ones, show most Israelis and Palestinians seek only a single state of their own from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
If anything is “crystal clear” it’s the words of the 2017 Hamas charter: “Hamas rejects any alternative to the full and complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
With enemies this keen to literally enact “no Jews, no news,” statehood for the Palestinians would only strengthen the call for Jewish liquidation by legitimizing it with political independence.
Ontario has pledged to freeze taxes on alcohol for the next two years to help support the province’s alcohol and hospitality industries, according to a press release from the Government of Ontario’s website.
The beer basic tax and mark-ups on alcohol at the LCBO are rates scheduled to adjust annually based on a rolling three-year average set by Statistics Canada’s Consumer Price Index for Ontario.
The Ford government had previously frozen the beer basic tax and LCBO mark-up rates in 2018 until March 1, 2024.
However, the government announced Friday the freeze will remain in place until March 1, 2026 on Friday.
“Our government is constantly looking for ways to make life more affordable for Ontario families by putting more money back into their pockets,” said Premier Doug Ford.
“From stopping increases to the beer tax to cutting the gas tax, we are keeping costs down for businesses and families across the province.”
The basic beer tax was estimated to increase 4.6%, with LCBO mark-up rates being indexed to inflation.
The Ford government’s freeze on these taxes over the last six years has saved an estimated $200 million in relief.
“It’s good to see the Ford government providing relief and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should do the same and scrap his upcoming alcohol tax hike,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director of the Canadian Tax Federation.
The Trudeau government scheduled to raise its excise tax to be by 4.7% on April 1, 2024 as part of its alcohol escalator tax, which automatically raises the excise tax on beer, wine and spirits annually.
The Liberals first introduced this policy in 2017, as part of its federal budget, without a vote in Parliament.
“Canadians are struggling with affordability so at the very least Trudeau shouldn’t be making life more expensive with tax hikes,” said Terrazzano.
Ford’s decision is part of a bigger plan to broaden the province’s alcohol retail marketplace, which includes the sale of alcohol products in convenience and grocery stores Ontario-wide, beginning no later than Jan. 1, 2026.
“Our government is building on its commitment to offer choice and convenience to consumers while providing certainty and stability for the alcohol and hospitality sectors,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Minister of Finance in the press release.
“As we prepare to transition to a new alcohol retail marketplace, this pause on beer basic tax and LCBO mark-up rates will help make it easier for businesses by providing savings for consumers and helping brewers to reinvest in themselves and their workers.”
The Ford government also intends to conduct a “targeted review of taxes and fees on beer, wine and alcoholic beverages with the aim of promoting a more competitive marketplace” for consumers and producers who are based in the province.
“Premier Doug Ford is doing the right thing by freezing beer taxes,” said Jay Goldberg, CTF’s Ontario director. “Ontarians are struggling with the high cost of living and Ford is showing leadership by freezing taxes.”
