Canada’s foreign service spent thousands of dollars staging performances where seniors shared their sexual encounters on stage in Austria, Taiwan and elsewhere.
According to a press release by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), the stage show by the Toronto theatre troupe Mammalian Diving Reflex was titled “All the Sex I’ve Ever Had’ and received $12,520 from Canadian taxpayers.
Global Affairs Canada paid for the trips to Austria, Taiwan and Australia via the Mission Cultural Fund (MCF).
The group spent five weeks in Taipei City in 2019 to select and train a group of elderly people who shared their sexual experiences with live audiences. The show, which cost $4,000, was supposed to promote the Canadian values of free speech and tolerance.
“I’d like to meet the person who thought paying for seniors to relive their sex lives in front of a live audience in another country is a good use of Canadian tax dollars,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano.
“How do sex stories from seniors in other countries promote Canada?”
The MCF was first started in 2016 with a budget of $1.75 million per year, but according to the CTF the fund has been spending much more than its budget – about $2 million extra each year for the first three years.
Global Affairs has also been involved in other controversial projects via the fund.
In 2019, the MCF paid Canadian artist Peaches $8,813.70 for a sex toy art exhibit in Hamburg, Germany called “Whose Jizz Is This?”
“First we learned of the so-called art show in Germany featuring giant sex toys, and now we’re learning taxpayers are also on the hook for these weird stage productions where seniors share sex stories,” said Terrazzano.
“What on earth is going on at Global Affairs Canada?”
Alberta has declared a state of emergency to marshal additional resources to deal with raging wildfires across the province.
Plus, as King Charles III and Queen Camila were crowned over the weekend, Canada unveiled a new design for the Canadian Royal Crown that sits atop the Canada Coat of Arms, replacing religious symbols with snowflakes and maple leaves.
And Liberal Party members pass a number of resolutions at their national convention over the weekend, including calling on the government to commit to a universal basic income and requesting the government limit material published online.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Rachel Emmanuel and Andrew Lawton!
Thousands of people in several parts of Alberta and eastern British Columbia are still being evacuated to avoid continuing wildfires that are burning across the region.
Nearly 30,000 Albertans have been evacuated from their homes as of Sunday evening as more than 100 distinct wildfires spread across the province. 31 have been classified as “out of control” by wildfire officials.
The Alberta Emergency Management Agency is prioritizing the evacuation of people living in Edson, Evansburg, Entwistle, Wildwood, Hansonville, Fox Lake, Rainbow Lake, and Drayton Valley, where more than 40 structures have already been damaged.
Firefighters from Ontario and Quebec have been dispatched to Alberta on Saturday but the province needs additional help to combat the fires.
Alberta declared a state of emergency on Saturday after rising threats due to the fires.
“This is not a step that we took lightly,” said Premier Danielle Smith in a news conference. “But it’s one that will allow the quickest and most effective response.”
Officials in Fort St. John, B.C. are calling on residents to evacuate the area as the Alberta wildfires being to spread across the border.
The Boundary Lake and Red Creek wildfires have done considerable damage as strong winds lead to its continued growth. The Boundary Lake wildfire has grown to 3000 hectares and the Red Creek fire has reached 1550 hectares as it moves towards Fort St. John.
Wildfires continue to burn near Grand Prairie, Sturgeon Lake, Utikuma Lake and across Big Lakes County.
Four years ago, Caylan Ford’s life changed overnight when she fell victim to the destructive force of cancel culture. Left with no way of earning a living, and no platform to defend herself, Ford turned to her experience as a documentary filmmaker to help tell her story. Now, newly released documentary “When the Mob Came” chronicles her experience with cancel culture and media misrepresentation. Produced by Still Waters Studio, in association with Vek Labs Inc., the documentary seeks to answer questions about cancel culture, public shaming, and de-platforming campaigns. Documentary creator Caylan Ford joined True North’s Andrew Lawton to share her personal experience with being cancelled, the impact it has on an individual, and the difficulties of rebuilding a career and reputation.
Charges have been dropped against 14 Freedom Convoy truckers who participated in the Coutts, Alberta protest last year.
In February 2022, protesters blocked the Canada-US border in Coutts to protest Covid-19 restrictions like vaccine mandates. The demonstration lasted around two weeks until the RCMP discovered weapons after executing a search warrant.
Fourteen truckers were charged with parking violations, but all were exonerated after The Democracy Fund’s (TDF) lawyer pointed out that the law in question did not apply to vehicles parked in an urban area.
The truckers were part of Trucker Law, a TDF project that provided free legal defence for peaceful Freedom Convoy protesters. They were represented by Sean Mihalcheon of Williamson Law.
“While this victory for freedom is a cause for celebration, there are many court battles left to fight. TDF continues to defend the rights of peaceful protesters charged with criminal and provincial offences across the country,” TDF said in a statement.
Meanwhile, another Freedom Convoy trucker who participated in the Ottawa demonstration has been told to turn himself into the Ottawa Police Service as he awaits four criminal charges.
Harold Jonker, who runs Jonker Trucking Inc. out of Niagara, Ont., has announced that he’ll turn himself into the Ottawa police on May 10, where he’ll be fingerprinted and have a court appearance.
He faces one charge of mischief for obstructing property; one count of intimidation by blocking or obstructing highway; and two counts of counsel for an uncommitted, indictable offence.
Jonker said he’s surprised that he’s being charged 15 months after the 2022 Freedom Convoy ended.
“I’m definitely scratching my head like, ‘Why now? Why not a year ago?’” he told True North.
I understand them getting upset, no question about it, but the source of their ire is gone, exorcised from the network’s lineup of star attractions, his arse fired out the door.
So, give it a rest.
In case you haven’t heard, an LGBTQ rights group has asked the CRTC to ban Fox News over “false and horrifying claims” made by ex-host Tucker Carlson regarding transgender individuals.
Worse, the CRTC has actually opened a public consultation on the complaint asking the broadcast regulator to ban Fox News from cable packages in Canada.
The group — Egale Canada — published an open letter following a March appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight in which it said Fox News’ “coverage aimed to provoke hatred and violence against 2SLGBTQI communities, particularly those who are Two Spirit, trans, nonbinary and gender non-conforming (2STNBGN).”
The group said Carlson made false claims about those communities, including “painting them as violent and dangerous.” The segment aimed to provoke resentment and violence against 2STNBGN people through false claims and “malicious misinformation,” Egale Canada executive director Helen Kennedy said in the open letter.
“During the segment, Carlson made the inflammatory and false claim that trans people are ‘targeting’ Christians. To position trans people in existential opposition to Christianity is an incitement of violence against trans people that is plain to any viewer.”
The letter also accused the segment of stoking resentment against 2STNBGN individuals through misinformation “including that trans people are given preferential treatment in employment and other opportunities.”
Carlson was fired from Fox for unrelated transgressions after Egale Canada went public with its request in early April.
The CRTC maintains a list of international channels, cable, satellite and IPTV providers can include in their packages. In March 2022, the CRTC removed Russia Today following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Now there is no law against Egale asking the CRTC to boot Fox News from its cable offerings, but quite another for the CRTC to actually begin the first steps at doing such.
Egale is angry, understandably, but there is a big difference between being offended as in Egale’s case and being invaded murderously by a hostile regime as in the case of Ukraine.
So booting Russia Today makes sense, Fox not so much.
Or am I wrong? Can Carlson truly and honestly be put in the same breath as Russia’s Vladimir Putin?
Now, I only have a vague idea what 2SLGBTQI stands for, other than it perhaps represents a sexual and-or nonsexual identity minority which doesn’t deserve discrimination or ridicule.
Perhaps Egale Canada will want me banned, too, for not being 100% empathetic and sympathetic. Or argumentative clumsy.
But I put a lot of weight on free speech, even its ugly side.
Had Carlson not been fired for an unrelated sin, I would be in total favour of picketing Fox News and/or demanding the head of Carlson be served on a spike. But not the spiked head of Fox News as a corporation, no matter its inability to steer what proper society might define as a proper course.
Not all right-wingers are nut bars, after all. In fact, fiscal conservatives can be quite likeable.
Now, I am trying not to offend people here. But I am offended.
I’m offended more by the CRTC considering opening consultations into the banning of Fox News, and less offended by Egale Canada calling for it.
Interested parties and the public can submit their comments through the CRTC website until June 2.
As Toronto’s mayoral candidates announce their plans to fix the city’s cost of living crisis, a number of candidates have rejected Josh Matlow’s proposal of a parking lot tax to fund his net-zero climate change proposal.
In April, the Matlow campaign announced a plan to spend $200 million annually on a net-zero climate change program that would be funded by a parking lot tax.
Both Anthony Furey and Brad Bradford have denounced the idea of imposing a parking lot tax on business owners.
Furey – who is on leave as True North’s vice-president of editorial and content – told True North that as mayor, he would not support the implementation of a parking lot tax, saying that such a tax would only contribute to the cost-of-living crisis.
“A parking levy would just be passed on to regular folks as new fees,” says Furey.
“We’re facing an affordability crisis and this is the last thing people need.”
Furey also rejected the idea the the city of Toronto needed to spend $200 million annually to reach net-zero emissions by 2040.
“People I speak to want a focus on core services, which have suffered in recent years. The priority must be on public safety, easing congestion and tax relief – not funding climate activism,” says Furey.
Instead Furey insisted that the city conduct a program review and halt the introduction of any new taxes.
“Toronto residents are being taxed enough. As Mayor of Toronto, I will halt any plans for new taxes.”
Bradford also spoke to True North on the matter, calling further tax hikes on small business owners a “disaster.”
“We need less talk and more action at City Hall to make life more affordable, not new taxes that make life more expensive for people and businesses in this city,” says Bradford.
The parking lot tax has generated some outrage on social media, as prominent psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson ridiculed the plan on Twitter.
“How about up yours woke moralists. Save the bloody planet with your own money,” tweeted Peterson.
How about up yours woke moralists. Save the bloody planet with your own money. https://t.co/lbtsLP0QSj
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) May 4, 2023
The Ana Bailão campaign told True North that Bailão will be revealing her position on the parking lot tax and other revenue tools in the coming months.
Results from Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustee candidate Robert Pella’s municipal election recount have ruled in favour of incumbent Joseph Martino in Ward 1 Etobicoke North.
The Oct. 24 election saw Pella – a Catholic lector who is involved with his local youth ministry – lose by one vote to Martino, pitting the incumbent’s 2,148 votes against Pella’s 2,147.
Pella believed that he had won the election on the night of Oct. 24, but when he woke up the next morning, his success had changed overnight.
“Last night when I went to bed, I believed I had won the election by seven votes. I was shocked when I woke up this morning and saw it completely reversed,” Pella told the Toronto Star in October.
The hopeful trustee opted for a ballot recount, believing the results of the election to be “down-right suspicious.” Pella said that his initial recount request was denied by the TCDSB, so he decided to seek court action instead.
Though Pella wanted a recount of all ballots, he was amenable to making “concessions.” In a press release, he said that “he was prepared to limit the proposed recount” to both adjudicated and spoiled ballots as well as the additional category of “undervotes,” a term that defines ballots not marked with a vote for trustee.
Pella alleged that although the city was “prepared to allow these categories of votes to be reviewed and recounted,” the TCDSB and Martino “opposed on all fronts” prompting his deferral to the legal system.
Ontario Justice Michael Dineen ultimately ruled in favour of a partial recount but permitted it only for adjudicated ballots – blank or unreadable ballots for which election staff try to determine voter intention – received from the mail and long-term care facilities along with spoiled votes.
Pella believes that if undervotes had been counted, this could have potentially swayed the election to different results.
“I am disappointed that I was denied the opportunity to recount the 258 ‘undervote’ ballots, for which voting machines did not detect a vote for Catholic trustee. A manual review was denied. I believe this further recount would have helped resolve public uncertainty about a one-vote election result,” he said.
Social conservative lobby group Campaign Life Coalition (CLC) is disappointed with the ballot recount outcome, believing that a “balance of power” was at stake in Pella’s recount.
“Ward 1 was the key to maintaining the balance of power for the ultra-liberal, majority bloc of trustees like Martino who advance anti-Catholic causes like Gay Pride Month and the teaching of Gender Fluidity to children,” said Jack Fonseca CLC’s Director of Political Operations. “If the faithful Catholic Pella had been allowed to win that seat, the left-wing hegemony would likely have been lost.”
Pella, unsatisfied with the recount results, remains dubious about future voting in the city.
“The entire process was an expensive recount application, which only examined
one spoiled ballot. Catholic school voters in Ward 1 have been denied some added confidence in the electoral process.”
With week one of the 2023 Alberta provincial election campaign coming to a close, Rachel Emmanuel is joined by the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation Alberta Director Kris Sims and Crestview Strategies Senior Campaign Strategist Evan Menzies to discuss the top campaign moments of the week.
Rachel, Evan and Kris discuss the top themes emerging from the campaign, and how UCP leader Danielle Smith’s pledge to cut taxes compares with NDP leader Rachel Notley’s promise for free birth control.
They also take a look at polling trends, and discuss how a UCP announcement spent more time in the headlines after a disagreement over the costing.
Election Watch, a special edition of the Alberta Roundup, will run for the four week election campaign. Tune in now!
United Conservative Party leader Danielle Smith says she has no plans to campaign on a provincial police service or an Alberta pension plan. She also won’t tout her now-passed Alberta Sovereignty Act, a pinnacle campaign promise during the leadership campaign just months ago.
Smith made the comments on Global News’ morning show on Friday, five days into a two-horse race between the Alberta NDP and the UCP with both parties focusing efforts on battleground Calgary.
Smith pointed to other policies her party is putting forward; that includes $10-a-day daycare and her government’s work on addressing the health care crisis which is plagued by long wait times for a family doctor, at walk-in clinics and emergency rooms, as well as a surgical backlog.
“They’re not in our campaign because I think we’ve got so many things that we have done that we’re excited about,” she said.
Smith’s Sovereignty Act passed in December, just ten days after being tabled. It was pitched to voters during the leadership race as a means to bar federal legislation deemed harmful to the province and its interests, but Smith has so far declined to use it.
Smith told Global that a provincial police service and pension can be revisited after the election.
“We have said that we’re going to do consultation on a number of these issues,” she explained.
In November, Smith told Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis to work with Justice Minister Tyler Shandro to launch an Alberta Police Service. She instructed Shandro to “finalize a decision” on the matter, but included no timelines.
The UCP included no money for a provincial service in its February budget, but instead offered cities funding to remove the RCMP and set up a local force.
Smith’s calls for a provincial police service and an Alberta pension were popular with her conservative base during the UCP leadership race, but she’ll need to attract moderate voters in Calgary’s swing ridings to win a strong majority government.
A recent Leger poll found that 58% of Albertans disagree with replacing the RCMP in communities it currently services, compared to 21% who support the idea.
On Thursday, Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley said she’s seeking to attract “conservative” voters who aren’t sold on Danielle Smith.
“You have every right to be concerned about the positions that my opponent has taken on a number of fronts,” she said.
That call came after weeks of Notley banning conservative media outlets from NDP media availabilities.
