Last week, the Supreme Court of Canada rebuked the Liberal government’s “no more pipelines act,” ruling it largely unconstitutional. Canadian Taxpayers Federation Alberta director Kris Sims joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss what this win means for Alberta, and how she expects the federal government to retaliate.
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Saskatchewan passed a parental rights bill on Friday, which would see parents informed when children under the age of 16 choose to go by a different pronoun while at school.
The bill also invoked the notwithstanding clause after LGBTQ advocacy groups challenged the law in court on Charter grounds.
According to Minister of Crown Investments Corporation Dustin Duncan, the bill is ultimately about giving parents more say over their children’s education.
“It is the government’s belief that parents are partners in their children’s education,” said Duncan.
Some Saskatchewan parents are firmly standing behind Premier Scott Moe’s approach.
In recent interviews with True North, a father of two in Saskatoon, whose children are enrolled in public schools emphasized that he believes children lack the capacity to fully grasp the intricacies of the subject at hand and are, regrettably, being exposed to sexual influences far too early in their development.
“My job as a parent is to protect my boys’ development and be the arbiter of what they are learning and when,” the father told True North.
“This (policy) confirms that parents are informed if their child is going through developmental changes.”
Mother of four, Nadine Ness also said that the public generally supports Moe’s decision.
“When I’m out there in the public, and just talking to anyone in general, they know this is a really good move,” Ness told True North.
“I’m glad that Scott Moe is taking it a step further and recognizing the gross overreach of the courts. Parents are the ultimate authority over their children’s education.”
Saskatchewan isn’t the only government to wade into the parental rights debate. New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs also introduced a similar policy in his province and was recently able to wade off a leadership challenge within his own party.
Hamas, a designated terrorist organization, is responsible for a heinous attack which resulted in many Israeli hostages and hundreds of civilians murdered. They have also been accused of using Palestinian civilians as human shields.
Despite Hamas’ brutal crimes, western countries are witnessing massive pro-Hamas protests taking place in public places. As a result, governments have resorted to banning these protests. But do these protesters have a right to protest despite supporting a designated terrorist organization?
Rupa Subramanya says if these protests remain peaceful, they should not be banned by governments. Protesters have a right to free speech and a right to assembly. On this episode of The Rupa Subramanya Show, Rupa is joined by counsel at the Canadian Constitution Fund, Josh Dehass, to discuss this contentious issue.
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Earlier this week, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne criticized major grocers for not being “forthcoming” about their plans to stabilize food prices, despite claiming to already have a plan in motion. Canadian Taxpayers Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the ongoing issue of food prices, and why the government seems unable to get a grip on the situation.
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The bulk of Canadians do not believe peace can last between Israelis and Palestinians, according to a new Leger poll.
The poll found over half of respondents said that lasting peace wasn’t possible and less than 20% agreed that a peaceful resolution could be a possible outcome.
Respondents who claimed to have a good understanding of the Hamas-Israel conflict were also the same cohort who believed a peaceful ending was impossible.
Nearly two-thirds of respondents said that they were actively following the conflict as it began to unfold on Oct. 7 and almost 50% said they had a good comprehension of the situation.
In the days following the Hamas attack, Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) have retaliated with airstrikes in the Gaza strip and have cut off power and other services as part of their siege in an attempt to quash the terrorist organization.
Over 2,800 Palestinians have been killed and around 500 more died in a hospital explosion on Wednesday, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, who are controlled by Hamas.
Confusion shrouds who is responsible for the hospital explosion as Hamas is blaming Israel, while the IDF claim it was the result of a misfired missile that came from Gaza.
The Israel retaliation comes after over 1,400 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 and hundreds more have been kidnapped and are being held hostage by Hamas.
U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed that the IDF plans to conduct a ground assault of the territory in the coming days. He is expected to visit Israel on Wednesday, according to CP24.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned Hamas’ attack as “a terrorist attack” at the outset of the conflict.
The same poll found that around 40% of Canadians believe the country’s support to Israel is “about right” while 10% said that they didn’t believe it was enough.
Over a third of respondents said they had no opinion on that matter while 16% said they believed Canada was giving too much support to Israel.
Since Oct. 7, Canada has aided in getting over 1,300 citizens and permanent residents out of Israel via military flights, however getting Canadians out of Gaza and the West Bank has proven to be much more difficult.
Of the Canadians stuck in the West Bank, so far only 21 have been bussed out of the region to safer refuge in Jordan and no safe route has yet been acquired to get the estimated 200 more Canadians out of Gaza.
A majority of those polled, 71%, said they support Canada’s decision to help people evacuate, however only 57% felt it was Canada’s responsibility to repatriate their citizens once out of the conflict zone.
The poll was conducted between Oct. 13 and Oct. 15 and a total of 1,548 Canadians responded to questions created by Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies.
The poll cannot be given a margin of error because it was conducted online and therefore cannot be considered a valid representative sample.
Newly released documents suggest a disconnect between the CBC’s environmental narratives and internal practices, notably its executives’ reliance on gas-intensive personal transport.
In a surprising revelation unveiled by Rebel News, Canada’s state broadcaster, CBC, has reportedly spent $131,761.47 on personal drivers for its executives since 2019, despite intensifying their climate change coverage.
Government documents released by Rebel News shed light on this expense, revealing a disparity between the broadcaster’s public stance and internal practices. Despite vocalizing strong support for climate action and dedicating extensive coverage to the topic, the use of gas-intensive vehicles for executive transportation seems to contrast starkly with the network’s environmental commitments.
CBC’s previous statements highlighted their intentions to bolster climate change coverage. “Our own research tells us that Canadians want to understand what’s happening (the facts and the science) and learn more about what can be done. There is a hunger for constructive solutions,” CBC said.
The organization had even brought on board a senior producer, Anand Ram, with a specific mandate to oversee climate coverage.
“Under the banner “Our Changing Planet,” CBC News, Current Affairs and Local will make climate change a significant focus of our journalism and a priority area of coverage across our newsrooms, programs and digital platforms,” said CBC.
Yet, in an apparent inconsistency, the data reveals that CBC executives continued to utilize the services of personal drivers, predominantly using vehicles like the Ford Explorer.
Interestingly, while 2020 saw the cessation of the approximately $45,000/year private driver position due to COVID-related concerns, the broadcaster didn’t entirely forego the service. Instead, CBC shifted to contract-based drivers, amounting to approximately $4,400 in 2022 and projected to be approximately $6,000 in 2023.
Furthermore, the expenditure records hint at a preference for gasoline over more eco-friendly alternatives. For instance, CBC reportedly spent 11 times more on gasoline ($6,631.67) than ethanol ($604.69).
While the specifics and motivations behind these decisions remain under wraps, these revelations raise questions about the alignment between the CBC’s public messaging and its internal policies. The broadcaster has yet to comment on the matter.
The criminal mischief trial of Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber continued this week, with disgruntled Ottawa residents testifying on behalf of the Crown. Epoch Times reporter Matthew Horwood joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the latest developments, and what he expects to see as the trial continues.
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The University of New Brunswick philosophy department was apparently so scared to be outed as a department that leaned conservative and Christian that they canceled a planned lecture featuring a conservative Christian.
Dr. Corey Miller of the US evangelical organization Ratio Christi was originally going to deliver a speech titled “Is Christianity Good or Bad for Civilization?” as part of the University of New Brunswick’s (UNB) philosophy of religion lecture series.
However, his title raised concerns among the organizers, so he changed it to “Religious Beliefs: Axiological Reflections on Western Civilization.”
But the concerns didn’t end there.
According to the College Fix, email records show that one single student felt bothered by past media coverage of Miller, which had him implicated (and vindicated) in a dispute over LGBT issues while he was previously working as a professor.
“The student was not stridently angry, but was concerned that you might have anti-LGBTQ views,” Robert Larmer, chair of UNB’s philosophy department, wrote to Miller in an email just days before the scheduled September 21 talk.
The UNB philosophy department was afraid the university would cancel their lecture series, so, they opted to preemptively cancel Miller.
“As part of a lecture series an invitation was extended to Corey Miller to participate as a potential speaker. A mutual decision was made with Ratio Christi to not go forward with the lecture,” Heather Campbell, UNB communications officer, told True North.
Miller disputes the idea that he agreed to be canceled – he told the College Fix he believes UNB’s faculty canceled his lecture because they already felt “under the spotlight by the university for being a bit more Christian and conservative at a secular university.”
“For Christian professors to operate — you’re operating clandestinely — and that’s why I’m not surprised by the fear and trembling by that department at the University of New Brunswick,” he said.
According to Miller, the UNB philosophy faculty “acted sheepish for no reason” and consequently “have become part of the cancel culture problem.”
Robert Thomas, president of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship, said the decision to cancel the talk “showed a lack of intellectual courage.”
“Demands for conformity and purity tests for speakers impoverishes campus culture and limits the exchange of ideas that is necessary for a robust education that can confidently confront differences of opinion and belief in a pluralistic and free society,” Thomas told True North.
“To be fair to the university’s philosophy faculty, the department did still wish to have Dr. Miller speak. However, out of concern for the future of the still young lecture series, they chose to avoid potential controversy,” read a Radio Christi Canada blog post.
“We can certainly appreciate these concerns, but unfortunately, cancelling could only be done at the expense of freedom of thought and speech. Such is the recurring trend of cancel culture on our college and university campuses.”
The day after his UNB lecture was supposed to occur, Miller delivered a talk titled “Is Jesus genuinely unique to basic morality?” at Crandall University, a Christian liberal arts university in Moncton, NB. That lecture went forward without incident.
The City of Edmonton announced that it would light up the High Level Bridge in the colours of the Palestinian flag to “acknowledge the humanitarian crisis” ongoing in Gaza.
The decision has sparked an impassioned debate online and comes after the bridge had previously been lit up in the colours of the Israeli flag to honour the victims of the recent Hamas attack.
“From October 19–20, the High Level Bridge will be lit in red, white, black and green to acknowledge the humanitarian crisis and all people struggling as a result of the violence and conflict in Gaza. #Yeg #LightTheBridge,” posted the City of Edmonton on X.
A number of Edmontonions were upset by this decision, however they could not relay their comments directly to the City of Edmonton’s X account as the post disabled the option to comment.
“2 days for terrorist scum is 3 days too many,” posted Jerry T.
“As a Canadian, I wish to distance myself from the lighting of the High Level Bridge in Palestinian colours by the City of Edmonton. This action does not represent me or many Canadians. As a minimum, you could remain neutral. The cowards turned off replies,” posted Dennis Thomson.
“Any one around old enough to remember how Canadians used to light memorials to German civilian casualties after the Nazis ran amuck in Europe raping & killing civilians with glee? No? Didn’t think so! The ones producing the memorials should be the victims of their own oppressors,” posted K Wayne Sharp.
Other people were happy about the decision to acknowledge the complexity of the Israel-Hamas conflict.
“The fact that a city in Alberta is willing to light up in Palestinian colours *at all* is actually pretty incredible, and a sign the narrative is turning against Israel,” posted Kieran Green.
Gordong Johnson wrote, “The Calgary tower has been lit Israeli blue for the past week. Somebody in Calgary has already decided which side they are on. Will this be the new Battle of Alberta?”
The Hamas attack began on Oct. 7 and has left more than 1,400 Israelis dead and thousands more injured, missing or kidnapped by Hamas.
The Israeli counter attack remains ongoing and so far 2,600 people have died and thousands more wounded as a result of the airstrikes in Gaza.
Earlier this week, Danielle Smith had strong words for Justin Trudeau, after the Prime Minister published a letter in which he warns the Alberta premier against leaving the Canada Pension Plan. Macdonald-Laurier Institute domestic policy director Aaron Wudrick joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the ongoing debate, and why this issue has become a focal point in the relationship between the federal government and Alberta.
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