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Friday, September 26, 2025

Smith confident ethics investigation will uncover no wrongdoing

By
Rachel Parker
-

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is confident a new investigation launched by Alberta’s ethics commissioner into whether the premier interfered in the judicial system will uncover no wrongdoing. 

On Monday, Smith announced she is under investigation by provincial ethics commissioner Marguerite Trussler as to whether she interfered in the administration of justice in relation to a Covid-19 prosecution.

“The premier welcomes this investigation, is fully co-operating with the commissioner and is confident this examination will confirm there has been no such interference,” Smith’s office said in a statement.

“As a result of the ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate for the premier to comment on this further until the investigation is completed.”

Last month, the Alberta NDP asked Trussler to investigate a phone call between Smith and controversial street pastor Artur Pawlowski discussing his criminal charges stemming from his involvement at the Coutts border blockade in February 2022.  Following the call’s release, the Opposition also said the premier is “unfit” to lead. 

“She should not be talking to someone who’s accused of criminal charges and telling them that she’s somehow looking into it,” NDP Justice Critic Irfan Sabir said on March 29.

On the call, Smith says she’s been in weekly contact with Justice officials regarding the pastor’s criminal charges. She also tells Pawlowski multiple times that she is unable to intervene in the legal matter.

“There isn’t really a mechanism for me to order them to drop cases,” Smith says on the call. “It’s just the way our legal system works, I’m afraid.”

Last week, Smith’s legal team took issue with the CBC’s coverage of the call and told the outlet to  retract a recent news story of the call, saying the outlet is seeking to revive a “manufactured controversy.”

The letter gives notice of the premier’s “intention to bring an action against the CBC.”

CBC Head of Public Affairs Chuck Thompson says the CBC stands by its journalism on this story and, if necessary, “will defend it in court.”

The Andrew Lawton Show | Trans activists want to ban Fox News in Canada

By
Andrew Lawton
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The LGBT advocacy group Egale Canada is calling on the CRTC to ban Fox News from Canadian airways, citing a segment Fox host Tucker Carlson did on his show on what Carlson characterized as the trans movement’s targeting of Christians. True North’s Andrew Lawton says these calls will get worse when C-11 passes and the CRTC isn’t just governing TV and radio stations, but also online content.

Also, a group of renegade Ontario lawyers is running in the Law Society of Ontario’s bencher elections to push back against the organization’s political overreach. Lawyer Lisa Bildy joins the show to explain why it matters not just to lawyers, but everyone.

Plus, Justin Trudeau gives the worst financial advice ever.

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Ottawa public school official claims Jesus was a drag queen 

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
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Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) “Trans and Gender Diverse Student Support Coordinator” Sara Savoia claimed on Good Friday that Jesus Christ was a drag queen who tells stories to children. 

“Here’s a reminder that Jesus himself was a radical activist… and a drag queen” tweeted Savoia Friday, adding that he was “also not white.”

Along with the tweet, she shared a meme showing an illustration of Jesus with children – with text saying “oh look, it’s a man in a dress telling stories to children.” 

When asked about Savoia’s post, Harvest Bible Church Lead Pastor Dr. Aaron Rock told True North “the very notion that (Jesus) dressed as a woman so he could entertain children is offensive to all Christians and unbecoming a public official.” 

Rock explained that Jesus’ clothing “matched with the Jewish customs of his day for men, as evidenced in the gambling away of his clothing to Roman soldiers at the foot of the cross.”

​“He is both 100% God, ensuring he lived his life on earth with absolute holiness, and 100% man, living his life in accordance with God’s creational design for a human male.”

This is not the first time that the progressive education official, who uses “they/she” pronouns, shared controversial statements on social media. 

In an Oct. 2022 tweet on Catholicism, Savoia wrote, “if that religion cannot change its practice of teaching children that there is something wrong with them because of their sexual orientation … then we should stop that religion from having a separate education system.”

Savoia has also posted and shared posts that are supportive of the teaching of gender ideology and Critical Race Theory in classrooms – while criticizing those who oppose wokeism.

Screenshot of a previously public tweet posted by Sara Savoia.

On “International Pronouns Day”, Savoia encouraged teachers to discuss gender pronouns with their elementary school students. She noted that gender ideology can be incorporated into arts and crafts by having students make “pronoun flowers.” 

Screenshot of a previously public tweet posted by Sara Savoia.

Savoia has also claimed that professionalism is a white supremacist concept and that learning skills are ableist. She has shared tweets promoting hormone blockers and even re-tweeted an Antifa account.

Savoia’s social media conduct is just the latest controversy to come out of the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB).

In March, controversy broke out after left-wing trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth shut down a delegation from a father of four concerned about biological males using girls’ washrooms. 

The latter resulted in multiple petitions calling for Kaplan-Myrth’s resignation –  which were shut down by change.org after Kaplan-Myrth and the OCDSB demanded that they be taken down.

Mobs of trans activists have also been present at recent board meetings. Videos uploaded to social media show them screaming and intimidating those with socially conservative points of views, among other things. 

True North reached out to Savoia and the OCDSB for comment, but neither responded in time for publication.

Prairie provinces sign MOU to boost economic growth in Western Canada

By
Rachel Parker
-

Alberta has signed a memorandum of understanding with Manitoba and Saskatchewan to collaborate on joint economic corridors projects to boost economic growth in Western Canada.

Transportation ministers from the three provinces announced the agreement from Edmonton on Tuesday morning. 

Alberta Transportation and Economic Corridors Minister Devin Dreeshen said the announcement takes existing agreements “to the next level.” 

“This is looking specifically, again, at economic corridors and to try to harmonize the regulations and to make sure that if a project has a scope outside of a province, and it goes across the country, that we actually can have the regulatory process set up,” he said.

“This advances further agreements, but it’s very specific for an economic corridor to make sure that we can have these big nation building projects built again in Canada, which we haven’t seen for quite some time,” he continued. 

Saskatchewan Highways Minister Jeremy Cockrill said the agreement commits the provinces to supporting the movement of people and goods, finding joint solutions, and improving highways and rail networks across our provinces. 

“We will encourage our federal partners to play their part in supporting infrastructure and protecting the supply chains in this country,” he said. 

Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk said the provinces want to show they’re open for business and industry despite challenges. 

“We can’t stay isolated,” he said. “We need to make sure that business service flow rate across prairie provinces and into your international markets such as Europe and Asia.”

Dreeshen said the provinces want to ensure industry has a level playing field to find investment and create jobs while the government creates a seamless regulatory process that operates at the speed of businesses. He said the agreement could bolster pipeline projects, new rail lines, utility lines, and telecommunication lines. 

“The whole intent of this MOU is to make sure that we have that speed of business, that level playing field for industry, regardless of the type of project in an economic corridor,” Dreeshen said. 

He also lamented the federal government’s Bill C-69, the Impact Assessment Act (IAA), which he said is a concern for all prairie provinces. 

Last month, ​​provincial government lawyers made their case for upholding a lower court ruling that the IAA is unconstitutional.

The act was adopted to “establish a federal environmental assessment process to safeguard against adverse environmental effects in relation to matters within federal jurisdiction,” the attorney general of Canada stated in written legal arguments to the Supreme Court.

Alberta lawyer Bruce Mellett said the province already does comprehensive reviews of projects, but now Ottawa is imposing new rules which prioritize federal policies. Manitoba lawyer Charles Murray argued “what we don’t need is one party always holding the trump card.”

Dreeshen said cancelled projects are costing the country “billions of dollars” and “thousands of jobs.” He also said the three provinces are reaching out to BC, Quebec, and Ontario. 

“In a perfect world, we would have all the provinces coming together realizing that economic corridors make sense.”

Trudeau gets ridiculed for suggesting Canadians use credit cards to make large purchases

By
Andrew Kozak
-

At a time when Canadians are in more debt than ever and while interest rates are at record highs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised Canadians to use their credit cards to make large purchases in order to grow the economy. 

Trudeau faced a fury of criticism online after he made those comments at a townhall in Moncton, New Brunswick over the weekend.

At the townhall, the prime minister explained how borrowing money as a government is similar to using a credit card and suggested Canadians use their credit cards to pay for their tuition and home renovations. 

“If you’re using your credit card to go back to school, or if you go into debt to build an expansion on your house, then you’re going to be able to sell your house for more,” said Trudeau in last week’s townhall in Moncton, New Brunswick. 

“If you’re making investments that are going to return, that is how you grow a strong economy because quite frankly, confident economies invest in themselves.”

Canadians were quick to criticize the prime minister, pointing out how Canadians are struggling to make ends meet. 

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre responded to Trudeau’s comments on Twitter.

“Want to know why 1 in 5 people are forced to skip meals; why 9 in 10 youth believe they’ll never afford a home; and why our debt has doubled?” Wrote Poilievre. “Just listen to the guy running our economy talk for a minute about credit cards.”

“Most don’t have a trust fund. My family didn’t have credit cards to fund things. We saved,” wrote Conservative MP Frank Caputo. “A PM advising to borrow at 28 percent interest to build wealth?”

“We have the highest consumer debt loads around the world,” wrote journalist Alex Pierson. “The PMs advice— we should just charge our way out?”

Twitter user @andi_1117 questioned Trudeau’s advice, pointing out that interest rates on credit cards are currently very high.

“Don’t use a credit card to invest in anything. Something that pays 29% interest is not a smart borrowing option. How is he Prime Minister?” 

The Liberals’ Budget 2023 revealed the party’s plans to push back balancing the budget until 2028. The budget unveiled plans to expand spending on dental care and being offering struggling Canadians grocery rebates. The Liberals are predicting a $40.1 billion deficit.

Canada’s interest rate is sitting at 4.5% after the Bank of Canada hiked rates eight times in the last year in an attempt to cool inflation.

The Daily Brief | Telford set to testify on Friday

By
Rachel Parker
-

Katie Telford will finally appear before the procedure and House affairs committee on the issue of foreign interference in Canada’s elections on Friday. The prime minister’s chief of staff’s appearance comes as the president and the board of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation resigned, blaming the fallout from donations the organization received which had ties to the Chinese government.

Plus, a shortage of Canadian farm operators is looming as more than 40% of farm operators will retire over the next decade, according to a new report.

And the Edmonton Public School Board plans to spend $1 million to fund a virtual school which it claims will address “systemic racism.”

Tune into The Daily Brief with Rachel Emmanuel and Lindsay Shepherd!

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LEVY: TDSB’s latest mandatory course – how to protest 101

By
Sue-Ann Levy
-

It has become obvious that the activist trustees at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) are not content simply to force Grade 11 students to take a mandatory Indigenous English course.

Now trustees Alexis Dawson and Debbie King – both of them community organizers and anti-oppression black activists – want all Grade 12 students on the board to study a course called Deconstructing Anti-Black Racism.

A motion to the board’s program and school services committee this week suggests that the course – which was created by the board’s Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement – become accredited and part of the Ontario school curriculum.

In the motion, the two professional agitators use a suspect 2020/21 TDSB Human Rights Office report, which claims that reported race-related incidents tripled over that year, some 61% of them involving anti-black racism.

The two activists pulled out a chart from the HR annual report to substantiate their claims, conveniently ignoring the fact that reporting anti-black racism and hate by students was made mandatory in November 2020, which evidently increased the number of incidents reported.

But the report also indicates that the office has a huge backlog which leads one to speculate whether the numbers are inflated or double-counted.

I say this because it is hard to believe the number of incidents tripled in 2020-21 when students were not in school for 20 of 39 weeks over those two years. 

Never let the facts get in the way of attempts by an activist to push his or her agenda.

As the two activists state in their motion, because “anti-black racism has a long/troubling history in Canada” (or so they say), the province’s Anti-Racism Directorate (run by a Kathleen Wynne leftover Patrick Case) gave the TDSB $200,000 to address the “historical and persistent” inequities in the outcomes of black students.

They reason that because the board approved a mandatory Grade 11 course called Understanding Contemporary First Nations, Metis and Inuit Voices in February, this Grade 12 course should be a natural next step.

All it proves is that once one opens the door to race activists, they never quit.

The Centre of Excellence for Black Student Achievement was created with the $200,000 and that Centre stewarded the creation of the Deconstructing Anti-Black Racism course.

The course — offered in a small selection of TDSB high schools (but which is not mandatory) — teaches students the common terms of black activists including white supremacy, microaggressions and of course, privilege.

Students learn Critical Race Theory (CRT), according to its creators, dispelling the myth that CRT is not taught in the TDSB. They are also given guidance in how to protest like good Black Lives Matter members in training.

Dawson and King propose that to “help affirm students’ intersecting identities and better understand racism, hate, intolerance and oppression” the course be available in every high school in the fall of 2023.

They also suggest that the course be accredited in the Ontario curriculum as a university pathway course.

Everything is absolutely preposterous about this motion.

To make a course in anti-black racism mandatory to the exclusion of all other ethnicities and minority groups experiencing hate and intolerance is so typical of black activists like these two trustees and their race-grifter friends.

What about a year-long course teaching how the lessons of the Holocaust are being repeated continuously?

Or a course to increase the understanding of ageism and how the disabled are treated as second-class citizens?

Besides, the last thing a TDSB student needs to get into university is a primer in black activism — unless they plan to major in Protest 101.

They need good strong academics and good marks in those academics.

I’d like to say this idea is completely ridiculous.

But with professional activists pretending to be trustees dominating the TDSB and a black activist as education director, anything can happen.

President and board of Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation resigns

By
Andrew Kozak
-

The president and the board of directors of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation have resigned, blaming the fallout from a donation the organization received which had ties to the Chinese government.

“In recent weeks, the political climate surrounding a donation received by the Foundation in 2016 has put a great deal of pressure on the Foundation’s management and volunteer Board of Directors, as well as on our staff and our community,” the foundation wrote in a statement.

“The circumstances created by the politicization of the Foundation have made it impossible to continue with the status quo, and the volunteer Board of Directors has resigned, as has the President and CEO.”

Three directors will be remaining on an interim basis so the Foundation can continue its work while finding replacements, the statement said.

Last month, the Globe and Mail leaked CSIS documents revealing that a wealthy Chinese businessman and adviser to the Chinese government made a donation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation worth $200,000 in 2016. 

The foundation returned the donation when it became public in 2023.  

The documents also revealed the Chinese regime’s favoured election outcome to be another Trudeau minority government term. 

The leaks also implicated 11 candidates who benefited from foreign interference.

This news comes as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, will appear before the procedure and House affairs committee on the issue of foreign interference in Canada’s elections on Friday. 

Last month, the Liberals launched a filibuster in an effort to keep the prime minister’s chief of staff from testifying at committee. 

The motion to summon Telford almost became a confidence motion – however, Trudeau ultimately backed down and Telford agreed to appear before the committee.

One in three Canadians in “bad” or “terrible” financial shape: survey

By
Andrew Kozak
-

Canadians continue to struggle to make ends meet due to the high cost of living, according to a recent survey. 

The Angus Reid Institute found that 34% of Canadians are in “bad” or “terrible” financial shape. This is up six percentage points compared to last July. 

The survey notes that more Canadians report poor finances compared to the start of the Covid-19 pandemic when governments first implemented lockdown measures. 

“The fact that more describe themselves in bad shape financially now perhaps speaks to how challenging recent months have been for Canadians,” the Angus Reid Institute says.

The survey also found that one-in-ten Canadians have resorted to other measures to cope with the dire economic situation, including borrowing from friends and family (13%), selling assets (11%), or seeking out a bank loan (8%).

The survey revealed that among those who stated that they’re in “terrible shape” financially, nine-in-ten (94%) say it is difficult to feed their household.

According to the Daily Bread Food Bank, close to 270,000 residents visited the food bank in the month of March – the highest in the 40-year history of the organization.

Prior to the pandemic, the food bank saw approximately 65,000 client visits per month. However, that number has quadrupled since then.

The charity is calling on the Ontario government to take immediate action to help address this growing food insecurity crisis.

The online survey was conducted from March 30 to 31, 2023, among a representative randomized sample of 1,600 Canadian adults who are members of the Angus Reid Forum. A probability sample of this size would carry a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Police chiefs demand urgent meeting with premiers to discuss violent crime

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-
Source: Pixaby

Canadian police chiefs from across the country are demanding an urgent meeting with all 13 premiers to discuss the violent random crisis. 

Last week, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) sent a letter to Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson calling for an urgent all-premiers meeting. 

“In the last six months, we have lost nine officers — eight of them to random violence,” wrote CACP president Chief Danny Smith.

“There is no question that the degradation of discourse around policing and police funding, the lack of accountability in our justice system, and the significant increase in drug, gang, and gun violence have all played a part in escalating the danger for our profession.”

The letter comes after several police officers were killed in Edmonton, Alb. and Louiseville, Que. recently. 

“The lack of coordination and integration of appropriate solutions and a political tendency to endorse one-off solutions, contains more risk than promise,” said Smith. 

“Policing is at a crossroad in our nation. The stresses and dangers of the job, combined with the intense politicization of policing that we’ve witnessed at every level, threaten the integrity and trust in our profession and our ability to safely and ethically ensure public safety.”

Other national groups have also called for a nation-wide approach to tackling violent crime. 

In January, the national president of Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) called on a cross-government commitment to protect Canada’s transit system as it faces a wave of random attacks. 

“Far too often we sit and listen to all of the kind words that come from CEOs and transit agencies and politicians saying ‘our hearts and best wishes go out to all of those victims. But it’s a one-off and our systems are safe’,” said ATU head John Di Nino. 

“Well, what we’re seeing today is that our systems are not safe and we need to ensure that the riding public has safe, reliable and affordable transit across this city and across this country. We can ill afford to do that by sitting on our hands and treating every incident as a one off.”

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