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Saturday, September 27, 2025

Liberals announce extra measures to protect byelections from foreign meddling

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Source: Elections Canada

The Liberal government announced on Tuesday that it has activated “additional measures” to protect upcoming federal byelections from foreign interference activities.

In a press release, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc announced that the Security and Intelligence Threats (SITE) Task Force will be monitoring the lead up to the byelection and providing threat assessments to parties and government bodies.

“Since coming into office, our government has put robust measures in place to protect the integrity of our elections and ensure Canadians can continue to have confidence in their institutions. As the threats to our democracy evolve, so does our approach,” claimed LeBlanc.

“The measures we are putting in place for the duration of these byelections build on existing mechanisms, all with the goal of continuously reinforcing our defenses against foreign interference.”

SITE is expected to produce an unclassified report for the public the day after Canadians go to the polls, while a classified report will also be submitted to the Prime Minister and others.

The move comes as the Official Opposition is urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take more action in protecting Canada from foreign interference.

“He’s stalling on a foreign agent registry, he won’t shut down illegal police stations, and he doesn’t have the courage to call a national public inquiry,” said Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman.

“Why would anyone believe he takes national security seriously?”

A recent testimony by Michel Juneau-Katsuya, who used to head the Asia-Pacific desk at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, told the house affairs committee that the actions described in allegations that China interfered in Canada’s elections are “bordering on treason.”

“(There needs to be) jail time because we’re close to treason here, literally. So I say jail time now, the size of the jail time would be judged by jurisprudence and by our system but definitely jail time,” said Juneau-Katsuya.

“I want to be very clear. We can prove that every federal government from Mr. Mulroney to Mr. Trudeau (has) been compromised by agents of Communist China. Every government was informed at one point or another. Every government chose to ignore CSIS warnings.”

The Daily Brief | A different approach to Canada’s drug crisis

By
Rachel Parker
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UCP leader Danielle Smith announced on Monday that a re-elected United Conservative Party government would pass legislation to force addicts who are a danger to themselves or others into treatment.

Plus, the London Public Library is refusing to rent theatre space to an academic freedom group, claiming a planned lecture on free speech goes against the library’s policy on workplace harassment.

And the Trudeau government has conceded that there could be more Chinese police stations operating in Canada.

Tune into the latest episode of The Daily Brief with Rachel Emmanuel and Lindsay Shepherd!

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BONOKOSKI: A two-horse race in Portage–Lisgar

By
Mark Bonokoski
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced four federal byelections set to take place June 19, with political analysts predicting no incumbent party will lose its seat.

They may have spoken too soon.

In the Manitoba riding of Winnipeg South Centre, Liberal candidate Ben Carr is looking to win the seat last held by his father, long-time MP and former cabinet minister Jim Carr, who died of cancer in December.

Southern Manitoba’s riding in Portage-Lisgar is vacant after Conservative MP and former interim party leader Candice Bergen resigned in February.

The Ontario riding of Oxford riding was left vacant after Conservative MP Dave MacKenzie stepped down in January.

And, in March, Liberal MP, former cabinet minister and former astronaut Marc Garneau resigned from his riding in Quebec’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Westmount after 15 years in politics.

There may be one riding, however, where the party’s chosen candidate fails to come through—Portage-Lisgar, forever an uber-conservative riding that has a curious option in play.

Bernier says he will run in what he predicts will be a “two-horse race” for the rural Manitoba seat.

The People’s Party of Canada (PPC) leader—aka Mad Max—says the vote in Portage-Lisgar will be a choice between him or a man he called a fake conservative.

If anything, it will be interesting.

In the last federal election, Bergen won handily, as expected, with 52.52% of the vote, having represented the riding since 2008.

But the PPC candidate came a strong and respectable second.

Prior to Bergen, it was Conservative Brian Pallister who represented Portage-Lisgar before going on to be elected the premier of Manitoba and, prior to that, it was the Reform party under Jake Hoeppner.

So its conservative credentials are strong.

Earlier this month, and with Bergen gone, Conservative Party members nominated Branden Leslie, a former Conservative campaign manager in the riding, as their candidate.

Bernier, meanwhile, held several roles in Stephen Harper’s Conservative government, including leading the industry and foreign affairs ministries.

He quit the Conservative Party in 2018 after losing its 2017 leadership contest to Andrew Scheer.

After forming his own party, Bernier ran in his former seat of Beauce, Que., in the 2019 and 2021 elections, losing both times to a Conservative candidate.

Bernier made his first local pitch in his bid to become the MP for Portage—Lisgar, with the Quebec politician telling a Manitoba gathering that society has been “overtaken by evil” and flooded with “pervert ideas.”

Among talking points ranging from the “radical left” to “cultural Marxism,” Bernier promised he would come out on top of what he called a “two-horse race between the People’s Party and the fake Conservative party” in the upcoming byelection in the Tory stronghold riding.

“We are living in a completely different society, one overtaken by evil,” Bernier told a crowd of around 80 people Friday morning in a Portage la Prairie hotel.

“The worst part of that is as these pervert ideas are being pushed everywhere in Canada, there is not a single MP fighting against these in the House of Commons.”

Bernier’s PPC is a right-wing party that campaigns on cutting immigration numbers, censoring gender and sexuality education for children, reopening the debate on abortion laws, and defunding the CBC.

The presumptive front-runner in the byelection, of course, is Leslie, who beat out former MLA Cameron Friesen for the spot. Leslie, who grew up on a farm near Portage, ran a “pro freedom” intra-party campaign that criticized Friesen’s part in Covid-19 lockdowns and mask mandates.

Bernier said Friday he wasn’t worried about Leslie taking votes from people who share the pair’s ideological values.

“If he’s elected, when he’ll be in Ottawa, he will be silent, like the Conservative Party of Canada — the Conservative Party of Canada was nowhere to be seen during the COVID hysteria,” he said.

Bernier said plans to stay in Portage for the entirety of the byelection campaign period, and will move to the area if he wins. No matter the result, he would continue to lead the PPC, he said.

His hotel speech earned him a standing ovation.

Parents concerned about trans ideology in Canadian classrooms (Ft. Colin Craig)

By
Andrew Lawton
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A new poll from Leger for SecondStreet.org shows a majority of Canadians feel the public school system is heading in the wrong direction. Majority surveyed also believe that schools should inform parents if their child discusses changing their gender pronouns or transitioning. SecondStreet.org president Colin Craig joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss and analyze the recent poll’s findings.

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When will Canada stand up to China? (Ft. Brian Lee Crowley)

By
Andrew Lawton
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Last week, Canada expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei, who had allegedly played a role in the targeted harassment of Conservative MP Michael Chong. This is just the latest in a series of scandals involving political interference from Beijing, which have raised concerns over China’s influence on Canadian affairs. Macdonald-Laurier Institute managing director Brian Lee Crowley joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss the growing concerns of political interference, and the implications for Canada’s relationship with Beijing.

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UCP would force dangerous addicts into treatment

By
Rachel Parker
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A re-elected United Conservative Party government would pass legislation to force addicts who are a danger to themselves or others into treatment, leader Danielle Smith announced from Calgary on Monday. 

The Compassionate Intervention Act would be the first involuntary treatment law in Canada to specifically target addiction.

Smith said the Act would allow a family member, doctor, psychologist, or police officer to make a petition to a specially appointed non-criminal judge to issue a treatment order. 

“This step would be a last resort in order to save lives and to prevent the overdose deaths, assaults, and attacks happening in Alberta as a result of drug use,” she said. 

Treatment orders would vary, but could include evidence-based medication treatment, outpatient counselling, medical detox, inpatient addiction treatment, or attendance in an inpatient treatment program.

The UCP would also build over 700 new publicly funded treatment beds across 11 new recovery communities. Four of these communities will be built in partnership with First Nations including Kainai Nation, the Enoch Cree Nation, the Siksika Nation, and the Tsuut’ina Nation.

Another five new 75-bed mental wellness centres would be built, adding a total of 375 inpatient mental health beds across the province.

Smith was flanked by families and individuals touched by addiction as she made the comprehensive mental health and addictions announcement. Recovered addict Abi Plesa said her family “saved her life” after she fell into addiction for six years at just 12 years old. 

“I truly believed I wasn’t going to make it past 16 years of age,” she said. 

“I hated anyone or anything that stood between myself and my drug use, and I was a danger to myself and others living in a world of darkness without a way out.”

At age 16, her parents obtained a court order to place her into detox before she entered a treatment centre. Plesa said her parents were “scared for my life” and had no other choice. The final intervention worked and gave her the tools and support to recover, she said.

“Without (my family) making the decision to intervene, I believe I would be dead,” she said. 

“Because of their actions and because of the hope that others had for me, I’m here today, standing before you, forever grateful, and alive.” 

Asked by True North what her response is to those who call forced treatment “inhumane,” Plesa said she didn’t want anything to get in the way of her drug use while she was an addict. 

“Addiction — it’s a disease, it’s a brain disease,” she explained, adding that she needed intervention to become “sane” again.

“I was extremely grateful… to be given that opportunity.”

Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley said the act is “another example” of Smith making an announcement without consulting with frontline workers. She said the UCP’s plan to invest in more recovery and eliminate the accommodation fee is excellent, but that she’s heard from “other folks” struggling with addiction that forced treatment doesn’t work. 

“The recovery is good, but the idea of force recovery, rarely, rarely succeeds,” she said in response to a question from True North on Monday. 

The announcement is the second tier in the UCP’s pitch to address public safety amid record levels of violent criminal activity. 

Last week, Smith announced the Safe Streets Action Plan, which would implement bracelet monitoring of dangerous offenders out on bail and deploy sheriffs to monitor them. The UCP would also add 100 more patrol officers on city streets, continue to deploy sheriffs alongside Calgary and Edmonton police officers to address public disorder, create new anti-fentanyl and illegal-gun trafficking teams, and increase funding for internet child exploitation and gang suppression units. 

In an announcement last month, Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley promised to hire 150 more police officers and pair them with the hiring of 150 social workers, mental health workers, addictions counsellors and more. The announcement came even as several NDP candidates have a lengthy history of espousing defund the police rhetoric.

Ratio’d | Justin Trudeau is LOSING in Toronto!

By
Harrison Faulkner
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Recent polling data is absolutely devastating for Justin Trudeau. For the first time since becoming prime minister, Toronto, the safest region for the Liberals is now electorally in play. A major loss for Trudeau in Toronto would mean the end of Trudeau’s government. The other key voting block that Trudeau used to always be able to rely on was female voters. But just like the city of Toronto, women voters in Canada seem to be turning their back on the once-beloved prime minister.

If polling from the legacy media won’t convince you, don’t worry. All you have to do to see how the people view Trudeau is to head down to your local Canadian Tire parking lot on a Saturday night. A new F*** Trudeau party might be planned at a Canadian Tire near you!

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

Court upholds school board shutting down anti-pride flag presentation

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

A recent decision by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ruled on behalf of a school board after it denied a member of the public from giving a presentation arguing against the flying of pride flags at Ontario schools. 

On May 21, 2019, applicant Ann Gillies requested to deliver an oral presentation before the Bluewater District School Board on the issue but was denied the request and told to submit her presentation as an email instead, citing human rights legislation. 

“Transgender children don’t exist – this term was brought into being by a coalition of pressure groups and political activities. It is NOT a scientific or medical term,” a copy of Gillies presentation submitted to the court reads. 

“We have a moral obligation to open transgender doctrine to critical scrutiny. We stand in solidarity with biology, human design, physical reality, health and moralism. As parents and concerned citizens we politely ask that you do not support the harmful transgender ideology by allowing the LGBT flag flown at our schools in June.”

Gillies then pursued a judicial review of the school board’s decision, claiming that her right to freedom of expression was impacted. 

On May 1, 2023, the Superior Court found that the board acted appropriately and dismissed Gillies application, ordering her to pay the board $5,000 in costs.

In its ruling, the Superior Court claimed it was “only necessary to imagine a trans student in attendance” of such a presentation.  

“To understand the rationale for the Board’s decision, it is only necessary to imagine a trans student in attendance in the audience at the Board meeting where the applicant was making the presentation, and hearing it publicly declared that they do not, in fact, exist, but are instead the construct of a ‘harmful transgender ideology’,” wrote the Superior Court. 

“With regard to the balancing exercise, the respondent highlights its duties to promote an inclusive school climate for pupils of any sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, and to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment. Transgender individuals are one of the most disadvantaged groups in society, frequently facing threats to their very existence.”

Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) lawyer Marty Moore told True North that the organization was disappointed with the ruling and hopes to press the matter of freedom of expression in an upcoming case involving the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB).

“We were disappointed by the ruling in this case, in which the Court dismissed the application from the bench.  We believe that freedom of expression is a crucial part of democratic governance and look forward to advancing this central principle before the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on the Burjoski and Ramsay matters being heard the week of June 5, 2023,” Moore told True North in an emailed statement.

The WRDSB is currently embroiled in several legal challenges after being accused of silencing trustee Mike Ramsay and former teacher Carolyn Burjoski during a public school board meeting after they expressed dissenting views.

The case has already attracted interest from other school boards in the region seeking a way to stamp out presentations from the public on gender ideology issues. 

On May 15, the Durham District School Board cited the case as an example to justify a “legal framework for vetting of public presentations and questions.” 

“The very recent decision of the Ontario Divisional Court in Gillies v. Bluewater District School Board, 2023 ONSC 1625, considered a substantially similar issue,” wrote the DDSB’s general counsel Patrick Cotter. 

“The reasoning and conclusions in Bluewater decision confirm the Board’s authority to vet questions in a manner that balances charter rights with the Board’s obligations and commitments.” 
Gillies’ opposition to the pride flag flying at public schools is not the only such instance in recent memory. An April meeting at the York Catholic District School Board erupted with angry parents after the board decided to raise a pride flag.

In a subsequent comment given to True North after the article was published, the York Catholic District School Board (YCDSB) said that the YCDSB has not made a decision to fly the Pride Flag in June.

“We have a long-standing policy that says only the Canadians flag is flown at YCDSB properties and some community members have asked us to change that policy so the Pride Flag could be flown in June, but no decision has been made either way at this time,” said the YCDSB’s communications senior manager Mark Brosens in an emailed statement.

Olivia Chow allegedly met with a CCP-aligned group

By
Noah Jarvis
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Toronto’s leading mayoral candidate Olivia Chow had allegedly spoken to and received a gift from a pro-China group that routinely and ardently denies China’s lacklustre human rights record.

According to a report from the National Post, Chow met with the Council of Newcomer Organizations (CCO) on April 30th, despite them being a pro-China group that has denied China’s Uyghur genocide and opposed Hong Kong’s pro-freedom protests. 

The CCO was founded by former Liberal MP Geng Tan and identifies itself as a non-political group that seeks to unite groups from varying ethnic backgrounds. 

The pro-China group has received $160,000 in federal government funds over several years from Heritage Canada and from Employment and Social Development Canada. 

In 2019, when pro-democracy protests broke out in Hong Kong in response to a proposed extradition law and numerous cases of police brutality, the CCO maligned the protests and repeated the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) line of reasoning. 

In 2021, when a House of Commons motion passed denouncing the genocide being perpetrated against Uyghur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province, the council issued a statement condemning the motion. 

It has been reported that Chow spoke to the CCO, and the executive chairman Xing Jiyuan gifted Chow a large Chinese porcelain vase – wishing Chow well on her bid for the mayoralty. 

The Chow campaign claims that she had arrived at the event midway through to bring greetings, and that she is a strong supporter of democracy and human rights.

“Olivia Chow has always stood up for the forces of freedom, human rights and democracy here in Canada, in China and beyond. Since 1989, Olivia has stood side by side with pro-democracy advocates at the annual Tiananmen massacre commemoration in Toronto and incurred the wrath of some people that supported the Chinese government,” said Chow’s spokeswoman. 

This isn’t the first time Chow has aligned herself with pro-CCP groups during her run for Mayor. 

Chow was recently accused of meeting with the Fu Qing Business Association, an organization associated with one of China’s overseas police stations in the Greater Toronto Area. 

London library bans academic freedom lecture

By
Andrew Lawton
-

The London Public Library is refusing to rent theatre space to an academic freedom group, claiming a planned lecture on free speech goes against the library’s policy on workplace harassment and poses a risk of “physical danger.”

The Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS) was barred from booking a space at London, Ont.’s public library for a May 19 talk by British author Joanna Williams titled “Sex, Gender, and the Limits of Free Speech on Campus.”

SAFS is an academic society whose mandate advocates freedom in teaching, research and scholarship.”

In an email chain between SAFS and the London Public Library, provided to True North, library staff asked SAFS to review details about Williams’ talk, including PowerPoint slides and a lecture outline, to make an “assessment” of the event.

SAFS president Mark Mercer, a philosophy professor at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, provided samples to other talks Williams has given.

Nine days later, the library’s meetings and events coordinator, Robert Giorgini, told Mercer, “as per the Library’s police governing room rentals, we are not able to approve the rental request.”

Giorgini initially declined to elaborate on the rejection, but when pressed by Mercer for further details cited three specific policies the library claimed Williams’ talk would “engage”:

  • “A risk or likelihood of physical danger to participants or the audience or misuse of the property or equipment;
  • “The potential or likelihood of the event to negatively impact or impede the ability of others to enjoy the services and facilities of the Library, and/or Library operations;
  • “The Renter or Event content is or is likely to be in violation of Library policy, including, but not limited to, the Library’s Rules of Conduct, Charter of Library Use or Workplace Harassment and Sexual Harassment Prevention policies.”

When asked by Mercer to explain how Williams’ lecture would infringe on any of those criteria, Giorgini said the library “will not be providing any additional information or details at this time.”

Giorgini and the London Public Library’s communications manager did not respond to a request for comment from True North.

Mercer called the library’s decision “deeply disturbing.”

“The library is acting as a censor,” he said. “Officials at the library do not like Joanna’s views or what they understand those views to be and have decided to no-platform her. The decision contravenes the library’s own codes and stated purpose.”

Mercer said there has “never been a disruptive protest at a SAFS event,” nor even a need to hire security. Even a former lecture by Jordan Peterson took place without issue or protest. Even if there was a risk of protest, however, Mercer said using that as a basis to deny space is to “give in to the heckler’s veto.”

In an email to True North, Williams said the library’s decision proves the point she intended to make in her talk about the threats to free speech.

“By refusing to host some debates but not others, these institutions are effectively taking sides, curtailing free speech and limiting the terrain of public debate,” Williams wrote. “That the London Public Library has refused to host my talk on sex, gender and the limits of free speech ironically proves the very point I intended to make – that this topic has been put off limits in an ostensibly free society. No one benefits from this censorship. Conflicts remain unresolved and disputes are driven underground.”

Williams’ talk, which is open to the public, will now take place at London’s Delta hotel, Friday from 6:30pm to 8:00pm. Mercer said SAFS is seeking internal library records to “hold the London Public Library to its own principles.”

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