Justin Trudeau is on his way back from India after yet another blunder-filled trip to one of Canada’s best allies. From pulling away from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s handshake to skipping out on a dinner, Trudeau showed literal interest in playing nice with Modi and India. In response, Modi excluded Trudeau from a video montage of G20 dignitaries arriving. True North’s Andrew Lawton discusses with Carleton professor Vivek Dehejia.
Plus, a sit-down with MP and former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer from the weekend’s Conservative convention in Quebec City.
Taiwan’s top diplomat struck a cordial note while offering the Taiwanese government’s support to its “very good friend,” Canada, as Ottawa looks to mount new defences against growing interference efforts by the Chinese Communist Party.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Taipei last week, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu glowingly spoke of the growing cooperation between Taiwan and Canada and reaffirmed the island nation’s commitment to helping Canada if requested.
“Canada is a very good friend of Taiwan, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “The cooperation between Canada and Taiwan has been increasing tremendously in the last few years.”
When asked about advice the Taiwanese government would be able to provide Canada about how to combat interference campaigns from Beijing, Wu confirmed that the offer from Taiwan to assist Canada is on the table but stopped short of providing direct advice in a public forum.
“I have to be careful in giving the Canadian government any advice. Anything at all,” Wu said. “But we have told our Canadian friends that if they think that the information campaigns or United Front or that kind of thing is getting too serious in Canada, we would like to engage with the Canadian government.”
“We can share our experiences with our Canadian friends.”
Wu also lauded the “positive” change in posture that the Trudeau government has taken toward Beijing.
“We also see the Trudeau government is taking much more proactive actions and a posture on what China represents as a malign force influencing Canadian politics. So all of these are very positive.”
As part of Taiwan’s effort to gain recognition among partners around the world, the government has prioritized Taiwan’s accession as a member state in intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization.
The well-documented reality that China has infiltrated these organizations is not lost on Wu, who spent a considerable amount of his time at the press conference rallying “like-minded” countries to combat and reject Chinese infiltration in the United Nations.
“The United Nations has to be the organization to maintain peace and stability in this region. But somehow something is wrong with this organization. This organization has been taking too much Chinese infiltration to the degree that they would accept China’s interpretation of Taiwan’s status,” Wu said.
“China’s penetration into major international organizations is a matter for like minded countries to deal with, not just Taiwan.”
“Democracies around the world need to work together to prevent China from penetrating into international organizations and twist rules and norms of these organizations and the rules-based international order.”
Wu was also asked about the possibility of invasion from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and how the government is preparing for the worst case scenario but downplayed fears by referring to experts that say war in the Taiwan Strait is not on the horizon.
“A lot of people are talking about the imminence of invasion by China or that war is about to take place in one or two years,” he said. “But when talking about security relations between Taiwan and China I think there’s a growing consensus among key analysts in the United States and also in Taiwan that war is not imminent.”
Wu noted that China’s military and diplomatic provocations across the Taiwan Strait aren’t doing them any favours if their goal is to achieve unification peacefully. In playing the role of devil’s advocate, Wu offered his own advice to the CCP.
“To me, the long term strategy of China should be something like ‘build better relations more friendly to Taiwan’ so that Taiwanese people will entertain some sort of relations with China,” he said.
“But what China has been doing is to push Taiwanese people further and further away and I’m not sure whether that is in China’s own interest.”
While speaking to a Bloomberg New Economy summit in Singapore last week, Justin Trudeau told the audience that Canada was clear-eyed on the threat posed by China but that an effort to rebuild relations with the country is underway.
“We will continue to look for ways to engage constructively, in ways of mutual benefit and try to rebuild a positive relationship in the interests of Canadians but we’re not going to be naive about it.”
When asked if he shares the concerns that Canada’s allies have over the future of Taiwan, Trudeau said that Canada’s concern for the Taiwan is exemplified by Canada’s naval presence in the region.
The Conservative Party of Canada’s national convention in Quebec City saw considerable pushback against the rampant woke ideologies that seem to have proliferated in Canada since the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
From resolutions taking aim at gender ideology and “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) to keynote speeches that denounced cancel culture and censorship – Conservatives made clear that wokism has no place in their party.
Anti-woke policy resolutions:
Conservative delegates passed several anti-woke policy resolutions at the convention.
Policy resolution C-7, which received support from 69% of delegates, made the party support for a ban on life altering and irreversible gender transitions for children and teenagers, while encouraging “positive mental and physical health support for all Canadians suffering from gender dysphoria and related mental health challenges.”
Meanwhile, policy resolution C-15, which added to the party’s policy declaration the assertion that “women are entitled to the safety, dignity, and privacy of single-sex spaces (e.g., prisons, shelters, locker rooms, washrooms) and the benefits of women-only categories (e.g., sports, awards, grants, scholarships),” passed with 87% support.
A 15 y/o girl speaking @ the Conservative convention in favour of the resolution to protect women’s spaces. “More than once I’ve had to hide in restrooms with my (sisters) to avoid men that have followed us around stores, and now we want to open up the doors and say ‘after you.’” pic.twitter.com/QIZflBAKRd
Ninety-five percent of delegates voted for policy resolution A-16, which made the party oppose DEI hiring practices while supporting the restoration of “merit in Canada’s innovation by directing hiring practices associated with federal research funding away from ideology and instead emphasizing first and foremost, supporting and retaining Canada’s top research talent, irrespective of personal immutable characteristics.”
Resolution A-19, which opposed mandatory DEI training for workers, passed 81% support. The proposal notes that “those employed in the public sector, unions or self-regulated trades/professions should not be forced to make affirmations, or participate in ideological programs, as a condition of employment or practice.”
Delegates clapped and cheered at the passage of all five resolutions.
Anti-woke keynotes:
Keynote speakers at the Convention also took aim at wokism.
Party leader Pierre Poilievre took aim at woke cancel culture in his speech, and praised Quebecers for not going along with wokism.
“This business of deleting our past must end. And this is a matter on which English Canada must learn from Quebec. Quebecers—and I’m saying this in English deliberately—do not apologize for their culture, language or history. They celebrate it. All Canadians should do the same,” he said.
Poilievre also said “liberals run down freedom so they can justify taking it away.”
Retired Lt.-Gen. Michel Maisonneuve and his wife, retired Maj. Barbara Maisonneuve, made woke ideology a key part of their speech.
“Canadian values are being destroyed due to a lack of leadership and a woke movement that panders to narrow special interests,” said Michel.
Barbara added that the woke agenda “demonizes anyone who dares to disagree. If you are not woke, you are labelled a far-right extremist, a fringe radical and somehow not Canadian. Where is the common sense in that?”
Michel also defended Canada’s fathers of confederation, who have been targets of the woke mob over the last few years.
“Our fathers of confederation were not perfect, but they created a country that became the Canada that we know today.”
Former British member of the European Union parliament Daniel Hannan, Baron Hannan of Kingsclere also took aim at wokism in his speech.
He criticized Trudeau for saying that Canada is a “post-national” state without a core identity. “It’s almost like Trudeau would rather have a bland, woke, decaffeinated, vegan, alcohol-free (though not drugs-free), high-tax, high-spend, UN-compliant, social democratic blancmange.”
Hannan also took aim at the cancelling of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A Macdonald.
“As recently as 2020, there were 10 statues of Sir John A. Macdonald in this country. Now there are just two. One on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and one in Queen’s Park in Toronto. And they’re both under constant police protection.”
“Seriously though, why go after Sir John, the man who saw the potential of this country, stretching from sea to sea. What crime did he commit? He wanted Indigenous Canadians to have full voting rights. He was decades ahead of his time in trying to give the vote to women.”
“Is his offense to have lived in the wrong century? Or to have been a Tory? Or is it something more sinister? Is his real crime, in the eyes of the woke, to have created this country in the first place?”
Hanan also made a lightbulb joke about woke people. “How many wokies it takes to change a lightbulb? THAT’S NOT FUNNY!”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a tense exchange with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his trip to India for the G20 summit in New Delhi and was later lambasted by the Indian press for comments he made while there.
Plus, a viral clip of Pierre Poilievre joking with passengers on the PA system of a WestJet flight has triggered singer-songwriter Jann Arden.
And gamers are being forced to choose pronouns for their characters in the new hit game Starfield – and many are not happy.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Noah Jarvis and Andrew Lawton!
It’s been one year since Conservative members elected Pierre Poilievre to serve as party leader. Since then, the Carleton MP’s polling numbers have skyrocketed across all regions and demographics.
True North’s Elie Cantin-Nantel wanted to find out if Conservative members were satisfied with Poilievre’s performance so far.
Elie reports from Quebec City at the Conservative 2023 Convention.
Trustees on the Ottawa Carleton District School board (OCDSB) came within one vote last night of sanctioning aggressive attention-seeking trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth for violating the board’s Code of Conduct after she lost control in a series of texts to a fellow trustee.
A total of eight votes were required to rule that she breached the code, but only seven voted in favour and four abstained (likely those who have supported her and her childish antics since she won as trustee a year ago.) No one voted with her.
Serial masker and doctor Kaplan-Myrth – who has become infamous for her unrelenting social media outbursts usually related to white supremacists, anti-Semitism and transphobia – couldn’t even hold it together at Monday night’s meeting, disrupting it so much a recess had to be called after an hour.
She, in fact, had been permitted to attend the special meeting if she remained silent, a meeting held to discuss a series of reports stemming from complaints by her black colleague Donna Dickson that she breached sections 3.17 and 3.18 of the code of conduct which says trustees should respect differing points of view and act with decorum at all times.
But chairman Lyra Evans, who has consistently been an ally of the controversial doctor, appeared not to know how to handle her outbursts, ones which resembled a temper tantrum by a screaming toddler.
Trustee Donna Dickson urges her board colleague to deem that Nili Kaplan-Myrth breached the code of conduct. pic.twitter.com/NpIzqCjkGs
According to the documents and a report on the complaint done by an outside contractor – which cost $20,000 – Kaplan-Myrth lost control in a series of texts to Dickson last November after she indicated in a very respectful way that she would not support another mask mandate.
Kaplan-Myrth, trying to guilt Dickson into relenting, indicated that Trustee Donna Blackburn “doesn’t care if Black and Indigenous children get sick,” that Trustee Lynn Scott “doesn’t care if Black and Indigenous children get sick” and new trustee Matthew Lee “doesn’t care if children with disabilities and immunocompromised family members can’t safely go to school.”
When that didn’t work, Kaplan-Myrth started harassing her in a series of texts, urging her not to vote “with white supremacists” and not to talk to her “about equity.”
Dickson, sounding emotional, pleaded with her fellow trustees to find her guilty of a breach and to issue sanctions.
“We are here about conduct unbecoming to the board,” she said. “We need to ensure there is accountability for such actions.”
WATCH: An angry Nili Kaplan-Myrth interrupts trustee Donna Dickson, who is making the complaint against her, and tries to get her complaint out of order. The request was rejected by the chair. pic.twitter.com/y7EOH8DLPe
While a legal opinion stated flatly that the doctor had breached the Code – a sentiment echoed by several trustees – others referred to Kaplan-Myrth’s credentials and to the idea that she didn’t understand her limits as trustee.
Trustee Amanda Presley, who claimed she read the report 15 times, wondered if the doctor really understood her “role and responsibility as a trustee” as they’d just been sworn in last November.
Blackburn responded that “no one needs training to know what was said was wrong” and Kaplan-Myrth’s comments were plainly inappropriate.
“Some trustees want to blame (Dickson) for filing a report,” she said.
“Kaplan-Myrth has not made many efforts to change her behaviour.”
Blackburn is 100% right.
"You have been out to get me from day one!" Nili Kaplan-Myrth angrily interrupts trustee Donna Blackburn, resulting in the chair having to call a recess. pic.twitter.com/n39aohmWeh
Trustees missed a tremendous opportunity to send a clear message to a highly narcissistic trustee, who in my view, has turned that board into a circus and who constantly plays the victim when called out for her bad behavior.
What really troubles me as a Jew who has fought real antisemitism and has seen it up close at various anti-Israel/anti-Jewish events is how she uses the Jewish card to try to get sympathy.
We never heard a word about her religion before she landed in hot water. Now she uses it incessantly.
As someone who has exposed several antisemites and paid the price for it, I can’t for the life of me think she is getting that much antisemitic vitriol.
She really has no business being a trustee.
Her antics are not about the kids but about her.
Yes trustees yet again dropped the ball.
If they think Kaplan-Myrth is the least bit remorseful for her behaviour, all they have to do is reflect on her answer to the chair when asked to issue an apology for shouting at Blackburn.
Raising her voice so even the residents of Orleans could hear her, she responded: “I absolutely will not!”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has once again found a way to embarrass Canadians while on an international trip.
This time, Trudeau found himself in hot water at the G20 summit held in New Delhi by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is no secret that Canada-India relations under Trudeau’s leadership have been at rock bottom. However, Modi’s latest snub and Trudeau’s response caught the ire of Indian pundits, who have accused our prime minister of failing to contain a rising Khalistani movement in Canada while lecturing the world on supporting peaceful protests and also cracking down on protests in Canada.
To cap off the humiliation for Trudeau and for Canadians, the prime ministers jet has left Trudeau stranded in India.
Notorious left-wing Ottawa school board trustee Nili Kaplan-Myrth is facing a code of conduct complaint from a fellow trustee, who is accusing her of racism.
A source familiar with the matter told True North the complaint will be discussed at a special board meeting scheduled for Monday evening. The meeting’s agenda shows time allocated for “determination of possible breach” and “possible application of breach sanctions.”
Kaplan-Myrth, an Ottawa physician, confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) Monday afternoon that she was facing the complaint. In a nine-part thread, she said she was being unfairly targeted for her progressive beliefs.
NOT OK. In the face of antisemitism, disinformation, and a campaign by the far-right to see my head roll, today I’m on trial with @OCDSB, accused of a code of conduct violation for calling out white supremacy and saying #Ottawa trustees should all care about health & safety.🧵
She claimed the OCDSB has “a toxic pattern of conservative trustees abusing its ‘code of conduct’ process to try to silence progressives.”
Kaplan-Myrth also said accusing her of racism “is a violation of my constitutional right to speak the truth and to advocate for my constituents.” She also accused the school board of violating its commitment to social responsibility and causing her harm.
the code of conduct as a way to try to silence progressives. What a bloody waste of money, time, and energy. This happens across #Ontario, is going on now at @UCDSB. The toxicity is a pattern at @OCDSB.
Ironic that conservatives say don’t focus on “divisive” issues. 9/🧵
“Going after me is entirely politically motivated. So what’s next? I’ll continue to work as an OCDSB trustee. And I won’t abide toxicity inside or outside of the school board. I was elected in Ottawa because I speak, I advocate. Onward.”
According to the OCDSB, being found guilty of violating the code of conduct may result in the imposition of sanctions.
Sanctions could include censure, barring trustees from meetings, and removal from committees.
The special board meeting to address the allegations against Kaplan-Myrth will take place Monday at 7:30pm.
Kaplan-Myrth has been embroiled in several controversies since she was elected last year.
She previously tried to mandate medical masks on public school students, teachers and staff – a proposal that was rejected amid loud opposition. Kaplan-Myrth, who wears N-95 masks outside, famously claimed on a TVO panel that the phrase “return to normal” is “far-right.”
Ottawa District School Board Trustee candidate Nili Kaplan-Myrth says the use of the word “normal” is the “far-right language of anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers.” #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/VUZxZee0C9
In her X thread, Kaplan-Myrth claimed that “the link between white supremacy and anti vax mask rhetoric is well established.”
“It is also confirmed that many of the people who shut down our OCDSB board meeting in Nov 2022 weren’t our constituents. They were convoy-adjacent, organized groups of antivaxx/anti-maskers.”
Kaplan-Myrth has also militantly pushed for gender ideology, while shutting down those who disagree with her.
In March, she silenced a father worried about biological males in girls’ washrooms at a school board meeting. She also successfully lobbied Change.org to shut down community petitions demanding her resignation.
Ottawa progressive public school trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan Myrth shut down a concerned parent speaking at a yesterday’s board meeting “on the grounds that (his speech created) an unsafe environment for people who identify as gender diverse.” Source: Robin Larocque, YouTube pic.twitter.com/2vXM3yJrbS
Jann Arden announced she will be boycotting WestJet after the Calgary-based airline let Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speak using the PA system on a flight to Calgary on Monday.
Poilievre was on a flight from Quebec City to Calgary Sunday, which WestJet added to its schedule to accommodate delegates to this past weekend’s Conservative Party of Canada convention.
Arden is a singer-songwriter from Alberta best known for her musical output in the 1990s. She has been outspoken in her views on social media regarding subjects like politics, vaccine mandates and animal rights.
A Conservative convention delegate on board while Poilievre made his remarks posted a video to X.
“It’s not everyday you get a speech like this on a plane. @PierrePoilievre on our flight to Calgary,” wrote @JenniferElle_ on X.
Arden reposted the video writing, “Hey @WestJet you and I will not be doing business ever again. This is so ridiculously disappointing.”
Poilievre was given the PA system to make some comments and jokes with the passengers.
“Who’s ready for a home you can afford?” Poilievre asked flight passengers, who responded with cheers and clapping.
“Who’s ready for some common sense? Who’s ready to give a big thank you to the WestJet pilots and crew?”
“This is your captain’s warning, a little bit of turbulence but it will only last about two years,” joked Poilievre, prompting a big laugh from the passengers.
“At which time we’ll have a totally new crew and pilot in charge of the plane. We’ll pierce through the storm, safely land in our home, in the country we know and love. Your home, my home, our home. Let’s bring it home.” concluded Poilievre, receiving applause before handing the PA system back over to the flight attendant.
The federal government have spent over $400,000 subsidizing companies that transform crickets into food for people since 2018, according to a report from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).
“Canadians are struggling as inflation pushes up grocery bills, but subsidizing snacks made out of bugs doesn’t sound like the right solution for taxpayers,” said Franco Terrazzano, the CTF’s federal director.
“The feds are having their ‘let them eat crickets’ moment,” Terrazzano added. “If someone can sell crickets as food, we wish them the best of luck, but taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for it.”
Since first beginning to fund these projects in 2018, the government has spent a total of $420,023 of taxpayer money on them.
“If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to take a bite out of crunchy crickets, he can do it without taking a bite out of taxpayers’ wallets,” said Terrazzano.
The CTF compiled a list of all the corporate welfare deals that the federal government has with cricket processing companies based on data provided by the government’s proactive disclosure of grants and contributions.
NAAK Inc. is a Montreal based company that has received a combined $171,695 from the government in the last five years.
The company’s co-founders had been “introduced … to the benefits of adding insects to (their) diet” through a friend and NAAK said their main goal is “democratizing insect consumption.”
Cricket energy bars are NAAK’s most popular item, however they have received corporate welfare money to develop other potential food products like steak, sausages and falafels, all made out of crickets.
NAAK is not the only company receiving money to produce cricket based products for human consumption, there is also Entologik, Prairie Cricket Farms, Gaia Protein and Casa Bonita Foods.
Casa Bonita Foods plans to “manufacture high protein snacks made with cricket flour.”
Prairie Cricket Farms produces roasted crickets and cricket powder, which is designed for adding to bowls of cereal.
Many of these companies believe that eating insects will be the “protein of the future,” like the founder of Entologik, who hopes to grow their company into “the largest producers and processor of edible insects in Canada.” The federal government has also made multiple payments to Aspire Food Group, a cricket processing plant located in London, Ont for a combined total of $8.7 million in subsidies. The bulk of the company is devoted to the production of pet food, however they spend about 10% of their workload on processing crickets for human consumption.
