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Monday, September 29, 2025

BONOKOSKI: Should Mendicino resign or can his young staff be blamed?

By
Mark Bonokoski
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As the hoi polloi calling for Marco Mendicino’s head continues to grow over the transfer of convicted killer and rapist Paul Bernardo to a medium security prison, there is a rather odd defence for the public safety minister which has not been explored.

The staffers who knew about Bernardo’s transfer were undoubtedly young — perhaps too young to even know who Bernardo is.

Hence, the truth is spoken regarding political aides on Parliament Hill being described by MPs as the “boys (and girls) in short pants.” They are not paid much.

A spokesperson for the prime minister’s office has revealed that Justin Trudeau was only told the convicted felon would be moved to a medium-security prison on the day it happened — despite his staff being notified months in advance.

Ditto with Mendicino.

There are now calls from the Opposition for his resignation, of course, after news broke earlier this week that his office was also told three months ago about Bernardo’s impending transfer.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre believes Marco Mendicino should be held responsible and doesn’t believe his claims that he did not know of the transfer ahead of time.

Now I’m just guessing. But in 2015, when I was a communications advisor to Transport Minister Lisa Raitt, I got the distinct impression that the age of the average political aide was somewhere around 23.

So, in today’s world, that puts them born in the year 2000.

Paul Bernardo was born in 1964. At 58, he is damn near an old man. When he was committing his heinous crimes, first as the Scarborough Rapist and then as a schoolgirl killer between the years of 1987 and 1990.

So the majority of aides on Parliament Hill had yet to be born when Bernardo was doing his dirty work. Ask them what the Berlin Wall was and you’ll probably get some puzzling looks, although politics might help them make a connection.

When it comes to Paul Bernardo, however, it is extremely doubtful he was ever studied in high school so how would they know about this particular psychopath who committed his offences a decade before they were born?

So there is the possibility that when word came down of Bernardo’s transfer from the Millhaven maximum-security penitentiary near Kingston, Ont., to a medium-security prison in the Quebec Laurentians, he’d be no different from a “Joe Smith.”

There’d be no red flags, just a name. And you can’t possibly know what you don’t know.

Now this may be a bit of a reach but with first-hand knowledge of Parliament Hill such as mine; it may just have some credence — which would drive Trudeau and Mendicino up a wall when, if true and knowing what they know, they didn’t get word of Bernardo’s transfer until the 11th hour.

Trudeau is 51; Mendicino’s 49. Twice the age of the average staffer, they’re old enough to know.

Mendicino expressed shock when news of the controversial transfer broke. Correctional Services has since confirmed his office was informed of the pending transfer on March 2, and then notified again on May 25 that it would be happening four days later.

The public safety minister says his staff never told informed him and corrective measures have been taken in his office.

He released a statement on Wednesday afternoon, saying he shared the “anger and disappointment” of the decision and outlined the directives he will be issuing to the Correctional Service of Canada “to ensure that they put victim’s rights at the centre of these decisions.”

The minister has not said if anyone on his team has been fired, and neither has the prime minister.

OP-ED: The Test of Time: Battling to Keep Canadian History Alive

By
Emma Haynes
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This is my “David and Goliath” story, except that it’s not about a Biblical-era youth staring down a nine-foot-tall man. No, it’s about the pebble that was used to bring the giant to the ground.

My Goliath was a decade of genuinely useless social studies in elementary and secondary school. The pebble was Mr. Rajala, my grade 10 history teacher at Fort Frances High School in northwestern Ontario. Mr. Rajala was an amazing storyteller who was passionate about his subject and opened my eyes to the vastness and wonder of history. I had entered his class with a vague and fragmented understanding of my country’s past. I left it the way a reader feels after finishing a great book: thrilled by a gripping plot, filled with new insight and actively searching for more to devour. 

In today’s environment, it’s safe to say that students are unlikely to leave their history classes loving Canada. Whether they are a 10th-grade student in Ontario leaving the only high school history class they will ever have, or are taking a university course that teaches them Canada’s past is an embarrassment, we are failing as a nation at teaching students how to even talk about our country’s history. 

Unlike David, we face more than one Goliath: there is the growing hatred for certain histories because they do not align with the current cultural conversation, and there is the lack of prioritization of the subject in our schools. This is occurring from coast to coast. Alberta, to take just one example, has been fighting on both fronts since the UCP government two years ago introduced a revamp to the elementary school curriculum that includes more on the basics of Western history and more instruction on facts in general. It was immediately criticized by school boards, academics, teachers and even some parents, who claimed the curriculum was too Eurocentric and was “the stuff of nightmares.” An NDP MLA called it irrelevant to students, claiming there was no point in teaching about historical figures like Genghis Khan.

These disputes around Canadian history are not attempting to speak to our story, but instead are responding to a moment in time when disagreement is taken by one side to mean rejection. Calls to cancel Canada Day and the tearing down of statues are just two manifestations of this unfortunate trend. Last year, as Blacklock’s Reporter discovered, “Management at the national archives has deleted a website feature honouring John A. Macdonald as ‘redundant’ and ‘offensive.’ The content including historical facts and photos for schoolchildren was deemed out of step with ‘our diverse and multicultural country’,” archivists were quoted as saying. This outrageous move elicited a few squeaks of protest, but no eruption of outrage from Canada’s senior historians or educators.

Destruction seems the only answer for those who don’t know how to work through the more dubious aspects of our past without destroying everything in the process. Two years ago the BC Museums Association encouraged museums, galleries and heritage organizations to reinforce the calls to cancel Canada Day by cancelling all of their planned events as well, and by advocating that people participate in “service disruptions” against those who chose to celebrate. This was a protest of Canadian history and national pride from a group meant to preserve it.

On the activist website rabble.ca, a blogpost entitled A settler’s guide to cancelling Canada Day: July 1st and beyond suggested that, “If you’ve been invited to a private [Canada Day] BBQ, respectfully note that you won’t be celebrating and use the opportunity to talk about why.” It went on to encourage instead spending the day tearing down statues, and celebrated the actions of those who toppled Sir John A. Macdonald’s statue in Montreal, gleefully pointing out that the vandalism broke off the statue’s head. This kind of destruction doesn’t aim to advance the understanding of history. It is born of anger and nihilism, it seeks to polarize and divide, and it even attempts to speak for those who have no desire to be a part of such violence. 

Read the full op-ed at C2CJournal.ca.

Ottawa parents criticize woke trustee for wanting to ban anti-gender ideology protests

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
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Ottawa parents are criticizing woke public school trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth for wanting to ban protests against gender ideology near schools.

Kaplan-Myrth’s demand comes amid three protests against gender ideology at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board taking place in the past week; including one organized by prominent parental rights advocate Chris Elston (Billboard Chris) and student activist Josh Alexander – which was attended by many people of diverse backgrounds, including Muslims.

In an op-ed published in the Ottawa-Citizen, Kaplan-Myrth said the well-attended protest “shows it’s time to create ‘safe zones’ around Ottawa schools.”

“A transphobic organizer held a rally outside three schools (Broadview Public School, Nepean High School and Notre Dame Catholic School),” wrote Kaplan-Myrth. “Whereas he pulled this stunt in 2021 and was chased out by students, parents and community advocates, this year he had an entourage of more anti-LGBTQ protesters.”

“Today we appeal to all levels of government to create ‘safe zones’ around schools, to make it an offence in the vicinity of schools to hold protests that target or intimidate students and staff on the basis of their gender identity, sexuality, race, religion or other protected categories under applicable human rights legislation.”

Kaplan-Myrth added that “we must not allow groups that are organized around hate to intimidate or harass students or staff inside schools or in the vicinity of schools.”

In her op-ed, she also shared opposition to bills in the United States that seek to prevent biological males from participating in women’s sports and to require those receiving life-altering gender transitions to be over the age of 18.

Kaplan-Myrth has also launched a petition on Change.org demanding that her “safe-zones” be put in place.

Her push to ban protests is, however, not sitting well with Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) parents.

One mother who attended the protest against gender ideology told True North, “we are not protesting the LGBT, but we are standing up for our children and protecting them from the gender ideology indoctrination that the OCDSB is forcing and promoting.” 

“While the LGBT have rights under the Canadian Charter, all Canadians also have the right to religious freedom under the same Charter. Our religious freedoms do not end where the LGBT rights begin.” 

Another mother told True North she was “appalled by the false narrative and hateful rhetoric towards conservatives and faith communities.”

“In the past months, the OCDSB board and all levels of Government have labelled everyone they don’t agree with as far-right extremists, as hateful, intolerant, transphobic bigots, just to name a few,” added the mother. “As a right-of-centre conservative, Evangelical Christian, former Manager of Diversity and Inclusion and graduate in work psychology, I believe their approach only leads to more division.”

“Dr. Kaplan-Myrth needs to be reminded that the right to peaceful protest is for all Canadians, not only people she agrees with, and that religious freedoms must be respected. Shaming and cancel culture only produces harm.”

Another parent told True North that while he believes “something should be in place so that students are not intimidated while at school by protesters regardless of their position on a topic” – freedom of expression must also be protected.

The father added that he supports the LGBTQ community, but objects to the teaching of gender ideology in schools. 

“As someone with friends in the LGBTQ community, I do stand with that community. However, I do not condone having talks about gender reassignment surgeries and other such topics with children.”

“Children’s minds are easily influenced and if governments make it easier for kids to get this information and then act on it, these children might make a decision they later regret. It’s one thing to get a tattoo at 16 behind your parents back that you regret at 30. It’s totally different to completely destroy one’s body and then regret it later in life.”

The father believes “we must reinforce the point that schools are to be a place of education and education only,” adding that “by bringing a politically hot button topic into schools the way it currently has been takes away from the educational foundations our children need.”

In addition to being criticized by parents, Kaplan-Myrth was criticized by lawyer Ryan O’Connor, who said her proposed law would be unconstitutional.

Like many other public school boards in Ontario – the OCDSB has embraced wokism, gender ideology as well as “Equity, Diversity and Inclusion” (EDI) ideology.

In an email obtained by The Epoch Times, the OCDSB suggested that teachers should use “they/them” neopronouns for all students until students tell them “their preferred pronouns.” The email also said LGBTQ teachings should be embedded in the “overall learning environment” and are not “open to debate or selective participation.”

Along with other OCDSB trustees, Kaplan-Myrth has been very supportive of gender ideology. 

In addition to counter protesting concerned parents alongside Antifa last Friday, she silenced a father worried about biological males in girls’ washrooms at a school board meeting, and successfully lobbied Change.org to shut down community petitions demanding her resignation. 

Kaplan-Myrth also tried and failed to impose mandatory medical masking on OCDSB students, teachers and staff earlier in the school year.

True North reached out to Kaplan-Myrth for comment, but she did not respond in time for publication.

Supreme Court won’t hear case of dying, unvaccinated woman requiring organ transplant

By
Rachel Parker
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Source: Facebook

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear the case of a dying, unvaccinated woman who’s been denied an organ transplant. 

Sheila Annette Lewis is dying of a terminal illness. She was removed from the top of the organ donor transplant list after refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

Lewis said the Supreme Court owes her an answer as to why it won’t hear her case. 

“This is the highest court in Canada that doesn’t want to do right by the people of Canada,” she said in an interview with Rebel News. 

Lewis was unsuccessful at both the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench and the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2022, with both levels of court finding that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply to the Covid-19 vaccine policies of Alberta Health Services (AHS), the Alberta Hospital where she would receive her transplant, or her transplant doctors. Both courts also dismissed her claims under The Alberta Bill of Rights.

In a November ruling, the appeal court acknowledged it’s a “virtual certainty” Lewis will die without an organ transplant. 

In January, Lewis filed a court application asking the Supreme Court of Canada to hear her case against Alberta Health Services. In March, she provided her Alberta Transplant Program doctors with a privately funded medical report, known as the Kinexus Report, establishing her natural immunity to Covid-19. 

Lewis has now filed a new negligence claim against AHS and awaits a court date. 

“I’m not going to go away,” she said. “I have to fight for my life.” 

“I don’t want to die. I’m 58 years old and I have reason to live. I have grandchildren and I have children.” 

Speaking to Rebel News, Lewis also wondered why Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and her newly appointed cabinet ministers, including Health Minister Adriana LaGrange, aren’t stepping in.

Smith has long spoken about the discrimination unvaccinated Canadians faced during the pandemic, as they were barred from restaurants, movie theatres, gyms, and, in Lewis’ case, a life saving organ transplant. 

But, during the recent provincial election campaign, Smith said she would leave the complicated decision of organ transplants up to the experts. 

“I’ll defer to the experts on that,” she said in May.

In November, the Health minister’s office said transplant programs are obligated to do all they can to ensure the best possible outcomes of a donated organ. Patients awaiting treatment are required to be vaccinated against infections like diphtheria, tetanus, polio, pneumococcal pneumonia, meningitis, influenza, Covid-19 and more, the office said. 

The former Alberta Health minister, Jason Copping, lost his seat in the May 29th election. 

Shandro, Issik have filed for judicial recounts

By
Rachel Parker
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UCP candidates Tyler Shandro and Whitney Issik have filed for judicial recounts in their respective ridings of Calgary-Acadia and Calgary-Glenmore, True North has learned.

Both candidates lost their seats by less than 50 votes in the May 29th election. 

“In light of the close election results in Calgary-Acadia and Calgary-Glenmore, the United Conservative Party candidates in those electoral districts have filed for judicial recounts,” UCP spokesperson Dave Prisco told True North.

“This action, taken with full respect for the electoral process, reinforces our firm commitment to complete transparency. It enables a thorough examination, especially of the yet-to-be-reviewed advance polling ballots, to ensure intention of each eligible vote is accurately accounted for.”

“We look forward to the process unfolding in a transparent manner, underscoring the importance of accuracy and integrity in our electoral system.”

Last week, Elections Alberta released the official election results for the 2023 Alberta provincial election, which included automatic recounts in both Calgary-Acadia and Calgary-Glenmore because the ridings were decided by less than 100 votes.

Shandro lost Calgary-Acadia by seven votes to NDP MLA-elect Diana Batten on election night. The official results following the recount reveal that Batten won by 25 votes, increasing the margin by 18 ballots. 

Issik lost Calgary-Glenmore to NDP MLA-elect Nagwan Al-Guneid by 30 votes on election night. That margin widened to 42 votes following the recount, an increase of 12 ballots. 

Under the judicial recount process, each candidate will argue the specifics of each ballot before a judge. 

Issik was former premier Jason Kenney’s Environment and Parks Minister but had no portfolio in Smith’s government. Shandro was the Health Minister during the Covid-19 pandemic but was shuffled to Justice minister before Kenney’s leadership review. He retained that file under Smith. 

“The Liberals and NDP have voted to enable attackers,” Conservatives denounce defeat of Bill C-311

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
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Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall is denouncing the Liberal-NDP coalition for defeating her Private Members’ Bill aimed at protecting vulnerable pregnant women, claiming they “have voted to enable attackers.”

Bill C-311, titled ​​the Violence Against Pregnant Women Act, failed Second Reading in the House of Commons Wednesday. 113 MPs voted in favour of, while 205 voted against.

“By voting against this bill, the coalition has silenced the voices of vulnerable women who face violence when pregnant,” said Wagantall in a press release. “They have also silenced the 70% of Canadians and 73% of Canadian women who want to see increased protection for pregnant women in our laws.”

The bill sought to amend the Criminal Code of Canada to add abusing and causing physical or emotional harm to a pregnant woman to the list of “aggravating circumstances” during the sentencing process.

This would have meant that an offender could have received a harsher sentence for assaulting a pregnant woman.

Only Conservatives ended up supporting the bill. The Liberals and NDP voted against it, claiming it was “anti-abortion.” The word “abortion” is not mentioned anywhere in the text of the bill.

Bloc Quebecois and Green MPs present also voted against Bill C-311, as well as Independent MPs Han Dong and Alain Rayes.

Wagantall says the government is showing their unwillingness to address violent crime in Canada by rejecting her bill. Intimate partner violence has been steadily increasing over the past years, with women making up the majority of victims.

“Shamefully, the Liberals and NDP have voted to enable attackers to continue to murder, maim, and assault a woman in her most vulnerable state without tougher consequences for their actions.”

Wagantall also extended her thanks to Canadians who supported her bill. 

“I extend my sincere thanks to the thousands of Canadians who have made their desires known through their letters, phone calls, opinion polls, and comments of disgust and disappointment with the Liberal social media campaign that opposed the bill.”

She added that she was “honoured by the strong support of my Conservative colleagues and our leader, the Hon. Pierre Poilievre.”

Over 80 pregnant women in Canada have been killed in recent years. 

These women include 18-year-old Rori Hache, who was killed by a man who repeatedly hit her in the head with a hammer or a similar object, and 31-year-old Cassandra Kaake who was killed by a man who strangled her, slit her throat, poured gasoline on her and set her house on fire.

Rori Hache. (Facebook Photo)
Cassandra Kaake. (Molly Matters)

Wagantall acknowledged families of victims, noting, “I am in debt to the families of victims who have invested so much hard work and emotional capital into seeing true justice achieved for pregnant victims of crime—notably Jeff Durham, who lost Cassie and Molly; and Sherry and Chan Goberdhan, who lost Arianna and Asaara.”

“To all of these Canadians, I want you to know that your work is not in vain. The majority of Canadians are on side with the protections C-311 would have provided. The day will come when Canadian law recognizes this gap in the Criminal Code and ensures that those who violently attack pregnant women receive serious jail time.”

“One day, the sentences for these criminals will match the crime.”

The Daily Brief | Did Facebook block Premier Smith?

By
Rachel Parker
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The company that runs Facebook, Meta, is disputing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s claims that she was blocked from posting on Facebook.

Experts are wondering why the Trudeau government didn’t pull out of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank sooner.

And Canadians are not happy with the current approach governments are taking to address the rising issues of crime and addiction.

These stories and more on The Daily Brief with Rachel Emmanuel and Andrew Lawton!

SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY BRIEF

The Andrew Lawton Show | On C2C: Can Canadian law be saved?

By
Andrew Lawton
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Many legal challenges against Canadian Covid restrictions and mandates have fallen flat, with judges embracing deference to government focusing more on the “reasonable limits” to Charter freedoms rather than the freedoms themselves. Beyond this, professional misconduct processes are weaponized against dissident thinkers, longstanding legal norms have been upended, and public confidence in the law impugned. Law professor and C2C Journal contributor Bruce Pardy says there’s been a “descent of Canada’s legal system into Alice-in-Wonderland surrealism, a state that poses dangers to virtually every Canadian and to the future of the rule of law itself.”

He joins True North’s Andrew Lawton to talk about his latest essay, Legal Canons and Social Fables: The Law in Canada Has Never Been Perfect but Now it is Losing its Way, and whether Canadian law can be saved. Read his essay here.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ANDREW LAWTON SHOW

PBO warns recent corporate handouts set dangerous precedent

By
Neil Sharma
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Following massive deals the Trudeau government signed with large corporations, which have seen taxpayers foot billions of dollars, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) warns that such instances of corporate welfare set a dangerous precedent.

“It leads to all kinds of behaviours we’ve seen in the past, and while it can also lead to the development of a strong ecosystem, it comes at a significant cost, and the risk established in a precedent like with Volkswagen is other companies will expect certain treatment,” PBO Yves Giroux told True North.

“We see Stellantis is keen to renegotiate with the government of Canada to receive comparable to what Volkswagen is receiving, so there are risks to being that generous with corporations.”

Stellantis and LG Energy Solutions received government subsidies to begin construction on an EV battery plant in Windsor next year, but have since threatened to choose alternate sites if the government doesn’t sweeten the pot like it did for Volkswagen.

Moreover, the significant cost to which Giroux referred is the Liberals’ claim they’re subsidizing the Volkswagen plant to the tune of $13.2 billion, when the actual figure is closer to $16.3 billion because the government is providing tax compensation.

“The issue I have with the deal is the lack of full transparency,” Giroux said. 

“The government indicated a number publicly, but based on documents we’ve seen and discussions with Department of Finance officials, as well as those at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, the numbers at play are higher.”

Giroux noted the Volkswagen plant is six times Environment and Climate Change Canada’s annual budget.

“[The government is] certainly not demonstrating restraint in its spending,” he said. “To spend that much money on one plant is certainly something that’s unprecedented, in my opinion.”

In terms of the economic benefits for Canadians, Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne claimed the Volkswagen plant will create roughly 3,000 jobs and $200 billion in economic activity, but Giroux is doubtful.

“Based on the usual multipliers, when you have significant projects like this one, that seems to be a very, very generous assessment of the economic impact of such a project,” he said. “We have not looked at specific numbers to arrive at our own estimate, but a first look suggests it’s very optimistic to anticipate economic impacts of that magnitude.”

Aaron Wudrick, director of the domestic policy program at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, agrees, and says Champagne’s numbers were plucked out of thin air.

Wudrick slammed the government’s deal with Volkswagen, stating it’s problematic for government to pick winners and losers, and that there’s little prior evidence of successful outcomes.

He says companies that don’t receive generous grants can’t compete with ones that have, and are left with little choice but to strong-arm governments whenever possible, creating a cycle of dependency.

“The thing that makes this Volkswagen plant unique is it’s exponentially more money than has ever been spent before, so they’ve essentially taken an idea that’s expensive and has failed repeatedly and supersized it,” he said.

Wudrick recalls Bombardier subsisting off of government handouts for more than half a century before it finally sold itself and downsized.

“I think the auto industry writ large has a lot of this too,” he said. “There was a lot of trumpeting around the bailouts of Chrysler and General Motors during the financial crisis [of 2008], and once again it was framed as essential, but all the evidence and analysis shows taxpayers lost billions of dollars on that transaction. Eventually, plants like Oshawa, once the money runs out, either close or shrink.”

Ratio’d | Secret memo exposes plan to mislead public about the vaccine

By
Harrison Faulkner
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Source: Facebook

Thanks to an unredacted memo from the Privy Council uncovered by Blacklock’s Reporter, we now know that the federal government, as early as May of 2021, instructed public health officials to downplay and skew data relating to adverse reactions and injuries from the Covid-19 vaccine in order to maintain confidence in the public health regime in Canada.

This is a bombshell story that confirms what most people knew all along – the government intentionally misled the public about adverse reactions to the shot in order to increase uptake.

Further, Pfizer and other Big Pharma companies worked with the government to block access to the vaccine contracts from being made public.

The public health narrative that Canadians were told by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Theresa Tam and the rest of the government is crumbling.

Watch the latest episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner.

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