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Friday, September 26, 2025

Upcoming Stephen Harper keynote speech to focus on middle-class families

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Former prime minister Stephen Harper will be a keynote speaker at the Canada Strong and Free Networking Conference next week and will offer his thoughts on the challenges faced by the middle-class. 

According to the organization’s president Jamil Jivani, Harper will be giving an address, followed by a conversation with former leader of the Reform Party of Canada and Canada Strong and Free Network founder Preston Manning.

The conference will be taking place on Mar. 22 to Mar. 24 at the Westin Hotel in Ottawa. 

“As a millennial who watched Mr. Harper on television as a teenager, it’s surreal for me to welcome him on stage in Ottawa. Mr. Harper’s leadership has informed how my generation of conservatives think about politics and public policy. He is uniquely able to bring different generations of Canadians together,” Jivani told True North. 

“Mr. Harper will speak to the theme of our conference, “working for the middle class.” Given Canadians need more economic growth and the challenges of inflation and affordability crises, this is a key time to be thinking about what it looks like to have an economy that prioritizes the needs of middle-class families.”

Other speakers at the conference include Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, MPs Garnett Genuis, Melissa Lantsman, Jasraj Singh Hallan and others. True North’s Andrew Lawton, Elie Cantin-Nantel and Noah Jarvis will also be speaking. 

Harper, who was a Reform MP from 1993 to 1997, eventually became the first Canadian prime minister elected under the Conservative Party of Canada banner. 

“Reform started with five people meeting in Calgary in 1986, and using the tools that democracy gives to us all – freedom to speak, assemble, organize, and vote – started a process which produced a reform-friendly majority government twenty years later,” Manning told True North. “That legacy should inspire those who want a change of government at the federal level today.”

According to Jivani, in hindsight, many of the Reform Party’s policies remain relevant today and having Harper and Manning on stage together is a unique opportunity for the conservative movement. 

“I personally wasn’t old enough to remember much about the Reform Party days. So there’s a lot of history in Canada’s conservative movement that I enjoy learning about now. With Mr. Harper and Mr. Manning together in Ottawa, it will be a special opportunity to hear them both reflect on the legacy of the Reform Party and its contributions to Canada,” said Jivani.

“If you look back at the Reform Party policies that Mr. Harper and Mr. Manning ran on in the 1990s, many of them are very relevant today.”

Jivani pointed to decentralized health care, bail system reform and representative Senate reform as examples.

“It’s important that we understand why the Reform Party was successful in challenging the Liberal Party of Canada in the 1990s, and what today’s conservative movement can learn from that moment in history in order to successfully challenge the Liberal Party today,” said Jivani.

“The Canada Strong and Free Network is focused on engaging the next generation of conservative leaders. We are happy to build bridges between generations, so millennials and gen z-ers are supported and mentored to lead Canada into the future.”

CFIB calls on feds to make pro-small business budget provisions

By
Connor McDowell
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A federation of small businesses is calling on the government to introduce pro-small business policies in Canada’s upcoming budget.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) released a list of recommendations on Tuesday, asking the Government of Canada to introduce a range of changes in the March 28 budget to help small businesses thrive.

“Small businesses are doing everything they can to dig themselves out of the hole the pandemic put them in,” said CFIB president Dan Kelly. “The current economic challenges are not making that easy. [Small businesses] want the government to listen to their concerns and take action now.”

The group’s recommendations included that the government reduce small business taxes from 9% to 8%, reduce small business’ credit card fees, and create a pathway for unskilled foreign workers to earn permanent residency through labour.

The CFIB also asked that the government extend the repayment deadline for pandemic emergency relief funds. The request asked for an extension from December 2023 to as far as December 2025.

Small businesses need assistance, the federation said, because many economic pressures are out of their control.

“Many small firms are slowly recovering from years of subpar business conditions,” said chief economist Simon Gaudreault. “Now, they’re getting hit with rapidly increasing costs.”

CSIS believes China interfered in Vancouver election

By
Connor McDowell
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Canada’s spy agency believes China interfered in Vancouver’s 2022 municipal election, according to a news report.

The Globe and Mail reported on Thursday that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service believes Chinese diplomats aided an interference campaign in Vancouver’s recent election for mayor. 

CSIS reports said China’s goal was to elect a specific Chinese Canadian candidate through “grooming” the individual and bringing Vancouver’s ethnically Chinese citizens out to the polls. The election ended with Chinese Canadian Ken Sim beating the incumbent mayor by 37,000 votes, despite the incumbent receiving roughly the same number of votes that elected him years earlier.

The report comes weeks after True North reported that Chinese police stations, one in Vancouver, are connected to interference networks used by Beijing.

A human rights activist this month told True North that previous CSIS reports – saying Chinese Canadians were bussed into an Ontario riding and coerced to vote for Beijing’s favourite candidate – are consistent with the activity of these overseas police stations. 

Along with the goal of bringing ethnically Chinese citizens out to the polls last fall, diplomats at China’s Vancouver consulate aimed to “groom” a municipal politician, the Globe said.

“[The Chinese diplomat] passed information on this individual to someone who she hoped ‘could become acquainted with them’ and assess if they were worth ‘grooming,’ the document said. The aim was to discover if the individual was a ‘good sapling to cultivate.’”

Ken Sim declined the Globe’s request for an interview about these allegations.

Reports of interference in Vancouver’s 2022 municipal election comes one day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed David Johnston as the ‘special rapporteur’ to investigate interference claims.

The Daily Brief | Trudeau appoints his “special rapporteur”

By
Anthony Furey
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On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed former Governor-General David Johnston as the ‘special rapporteur’ to oversee Canada’s investigation into Chinese election interference. Johnston, who Trudeau describes as a “family friend” and just so happens to also be a member of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation, is tasked to look into allegations of foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections and to provide recommendations on how the government should respond.

Plus, the Conservatives have rejected a pro-life candidate seeking the party’s nomination in the Ontario Conservative stronghold of Oxford. According to a statement from pro-life political action group RightNow, Gerrit Van Dorland was targeted for his beliefs.

And a new survey reveals that four-in-five Canadians feel sustainable living is much easier for wealthy people.

Tune into The Daily Brief with Anthony Furey and Rachel Emmanuel!

SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY BRIEF

BONOKOSKI: Getting tough on the contraband tobacco market

By
Mark Bonokoski
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It is rare in Canada that a major narcotics bust does not have the element of contraband tobacco as the cash cow.

They go together like glued paper, with the cigarettes used to either generate cash on their own, or to finance criminal projects like drug running, firearms purchases and human smuggling.

Just the other day, for example, RCMP out of Winnipeg seized $2.5 million in drugs, 19 firearms including seven semi-automatic rifles or machine-gun-like weapons, and contraband cigarettes that, if legal, would have yielded $1.47 million in federal and provincial tax revenues.

The contraband played second fiddle in the media as if it was no big deal when the seizure, in fact, represented 143 master cases of unstamped and therefore illegal First Nations cigarettes.

So it was no small haul.

That many master cases represents 7,150 cartons, or 71,500 20-cigarette packs. Or one million, four hundred and 30,000 individual cigarettes.

If legal, they would have sold for a minimum of $1,430,000, of which approximately 75% would have been taxes.

Project Dawgpound, launched in May 2022, disrupted a multi-commodity criminal network centred in Manitoba, reaching communities province-wide. 

The criminal network’s tentacles also stretched to Calgary, Vancouver, Pickering, Ont., Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, Moncton, N.B., and Prince Edward Island.

Project Dawgpound investigators seized large amounts of various drugs, including 7.8 kilograms of cocaine, 327 tablets of MDMA, 13.82 kg of crystal MDMA, 116 grams of purple down, 139.45 grams of carfentanil, 2.06 kg of crystal methamphetamine, and five kilograms of psilocybin (magic mushrooms). 

Nineteen firearms, vehicles, electronic devices, drug trafficking paraphernalia, and “Crazy Indians” gang patches were also seized.

“Project Dawgpound yielded fantastic results and got a kilo-level trafficker and his network off the streets,” said Inspector Grant Stephen, in Charge of Federal, Serious and Organized Crime for Manitoba RCMP. 

“We will continue to enforce against the illegal drug trade and disrupt networks that often lead to or are connected with organized crime in the interest of creating a safer Manitoba and a safer Canada.”

Such major seizures, however, are rare.

Back in 2018, The Sûreté du Québec (SQ) arrested 60 people and conducted 70 raids across Quebec as part of a massive police operation targeting contraband tobacco, drug trafficking and money laundering at an international level.

The SQ, which is relentless in its pursuit of the contraband tobacco network, said Mygale — or Operation Tarantula, in English — was then the largest operation in Canada against contraband tobacco and trans-national crime.

Operation Mygale involved a total of 700 officers in Quebec and Ontario, while simultaneous raids took place elsewhere across North America, in South America and in Europe.

Officers carried out arrests and raids in homes and businesses in the Montreal region, on the Kahnawake Mohawk territory on Montreal’s South Shore, the Laurentians, Lanaudière, the Montérégie and Six Nations in Ontario.

The seizures in Operation Mygale ended up being impressive.

Police seized tobacco, money, and drugs during their two-year-long investigation, including:

  • Over $13.5 million in tobacco.
  • Over $1.5 million related to illicit transactions in Canada.
  • Almost $3 million in American currency.
  • 836 kilograms of cocaine.
  • 21 kilograms of methamphetamine.
  • 100 grams of Fentanyl.
  • 16 kilograms of marijuana.

The success of Operation Mygale served to emphasize the SQ’s reputation as the fiercest law enforcement agency in Canada when it comes to tracking down and prosecuting players in the contraband tobacco market—of which the Hells Angels tended to control in Quebec.

For the Hells Angels, contraband tobacco was as good as gold, the tremendous proceeds of which paid for their gun running, their hardcore narcotics trade and their human trafficking operations.

Death was never ruled out, as the Biker War can attest.

The Quebec Biker War (French: Guerre des motards au Quebec) was a vicious turf war in Montreal lasting from 1994 to 2002, between the Quebec branch of the Hells Angels and its rival, the Rock Machine.

The war left 162 people dead, including civilians. There were also 84 bombings and 130 cases of arson.

In March 2002, American journalist Julian Rubinstein wrote about the biker war.

“Considering how little attention the story has attracted outside Canada,” he said, “the toll is staggering: 162 dead, scores wounded. The victims include an 11-year-old boy killed by shrapnel from one of the more than 80 bombs bikers planted around the province.

“Even the New York Mafia in its heyday never produced such carnage, or so terrorized civilians.”

The majority of those Quebec Hells Angels, however, did end up in prison.

Four-in-five Canadians feel sustainable living is much easier for wealthy people

By
Rachel Parker
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A new survey reveals that four-in-five Canadians feel sustainable living is much easier for wealthy people. 

Onyen Corporation, an Environmental Social Governance (ESG) reporting software company, asked investors and consumers several questions to determine their personal commitments on workforce diversity, ethical supply chains, and companies’ obligations to the communities in which they operate.

The survey found that young adults aged 18-34 are more likely to believe that sustainable living is much easier for wealthy people at 83% than adults aged 55-plus at 75%.

“The onus of sustainability has often been placed on consumers, but that has changed,” said Laurie Clark, Onyen CEO. 

“As companies seek greater access to capital, and now $175 trillion dollars in financial assets targeting Net Zero, they will need to consider their ESG strategies and reporting to ensure their ongoing viability.”

The survey also found that four-in-five consumers (81%) are willing to extend the life of their cell phone an extra year or more if it benefits the environment, according to the survey. But, only 38%  feel strongly about this commitment.

“While the numbers are heartening, the truth is in the details here for many of the responses,” said Clark. “Real change happens when people move from feeling strongly about something to acting on it.”

Another three-quarters of Canadians expressed concern about the environmental risks of transporting hazardous materials, and the same proportion (76%) acknowledged that there are environmental risks embedded in supply chains. When taking a closer look at the numbers, only 31 and 22% feel strongly about these categories, respectively.

 “With the 10-year anniversary of the deadly Lac-Mégantic rail disaster upon us and the Ohio train derailment still in the news, we wanted to shine a spotlight on Canadian attitudes of supply chain safety,” said Clark. “In my view, while many people want manufacturing jobs in their communities, they often don’t want to inherit the risks of transporting those goods.”

On Feb. 3, 2023, 38 cars of a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Several railcars burned for more than two days before emergency crews conducted a controlled burn at the request of state officials, releasing hydrogen chloride and phosgene into the air.

The Ohio attorney general is now suing Norfolk Southern to force them to pay for groundwater and soil monitoring as well as economic losses. 

From February 22- 24, Onyen’s online survey was conducted among a nationally representative sample of 1,506 Canadians who are members of the Angus Reid Forum, balanced and weighted on age, gender, region and education. For comparison purposes, a sample of this size would carry a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. 

Trudeau appoints ‘special rapporteur’ to probe Chinese interference allegations

By
Connor McDowell
-

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed former Governor-General David Johnston as the ‘special rapporteur’ to oversee Canada’s investigation into Chinese election interference.

The prime minister has tasked Johnston to look into allegations of foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, and to provide recommendations on how the government should respond.

Trudeau previously announced he would abide by the rapporteur’s recommendations, including if now-named Johnston calls for a public inquiry. 

“I am confident that [Johnston] will conduct an impartial review to ensure all necessary steps are being taken to keep our democracy safe and uphold and strengthen confidence in it,” Trudeau said in a release.

According to the release, Johnston will step down from his current role as head of the Leaders’ Debates Commission. 

The commission previously banned True North and Rebel News from covering a debate during the 2019 election – but the ban was overturned by a Federal Court judge. 

Prior to Johnston’s appointment, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre scoffed at Trudeau’s decision to appoint a special rapporteur.

“Why do we need a special rapporteur? What does this rapporteur even do? It sounds like a fake job,” Poilievre told reporters in early March. 

A series of reports from The Globe & Mail and Global News recently revealed the Canadian Security Intelligence Service suspects China interfered in elections and candidate nomination races during 2019 and 2021. The reports claim that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was made aware of this intelligence – a claim that has led to widespread scrutiny over his government’s inaction.

In response to Trudeau’s appointment of Johnston as special rapporteur, many pointed to speeches from the past, in which Trudeau described Johnston as a “family friend.”

As True North’s Harrison Faulker pointed out on social media, Johnston is currently a member of the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation. 

Pastor says drag storytime damages children, library says it’s about respect

By
Connor McDowell
-

While a Calgary pastor says drag storytime events are indoctrination, supporters say the events are one of many programs offered with the goal of diverse learning experiences.

Pastor Derek Reimer – who was arrested this month for disrupting a drag storytime – told True North he is compelled to be assertive in protesting the events because he feels children are being indoctrinated.

“If adults want to engage in the adult entertainment of drag, that’s their decision. They’re consenting adults,” Reimer told True North. “Although when you involve a little child, now that’s the innocent.”

Reimer said the belief system that anyone can be who they want to be – involving sexuality and identity – should be contained to adults. He said it’s inappropriate to present children with role models who tout these ideas, and often participate in sexualized shows at separate venues.

“The drag queen story hour that I attended, it wasn’t near as vile as some of the strip-club type drag queen events I’ve seen online,” said Reimer. “But it’s going in that direction. So if we know that’s where it’s headed, let’s abandon. Let’s abort.”

Reimer said supporters who think the events are helping children are misguided – but not everybody sees it that way.

Calgary Public Library spokesperson Mary Kapusta told True North the events are one of many offerings that serve an overarching goal of diverse and inclusive learning experiences. 

“By providing our members with a diverse array of programs and services, we hope to cultivate an environment where everyone can learn, discover and explore ideas and information,” she said.

A statement from the library earlier this month said Reimer’s disruption pushed the boundary of protest, and amounted to intimidating, disruptive behaviour around small children.

Kapusta said organizers plan to continue hosting events safely, and hopes attendees will feel the intended message of love, acceptance and respect. 

Liberal MP says she’s safe from Chinese interference because she’s “white and Dutch”

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Liberal MP and parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Development, Anita Vandenbeld, said she’s safe from Chinese election interference claims because she’s “white” and “of Dutch descent.”

According to Vandenbeld, her Chinese colleagues are not as lucky and could have their lives ruined over reports that they’re working for “a foreign interest.” 

“As soon as you say someone is disloyal to this country, as soon as you say someone is working with foreign agents for a foreign interest, not just that individual, their families, their communities, their lives are ruined,” said Vandenbeld. 

“Once you say that about someone, how do you prove a negative? How do you prove that you’re not?” she continued. 

“I can go back to my constituency and tell people, first of all, I’m white, I’m of Dutch descent…Obviously I am not working for China.” 

As first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, Vandenbeld made the comments during a House of Commons house affairs committee meeting which discussed the recent reports that China interfered in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

Eleven mostly unidentified MPs, most of whom are believed to be Liberal, have been implicated by reports citing leaked intelligence documents.

One Liberal MP has far been publicly named as having benefited from operations directed by the Chinese government. 

According to intelligence sources, Chinese officials bussed students and the elderly to a Liberal Party nomination race in 2019 ordering them to vote for MP Han Dong. 

Dong and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have denied the allegations.

“As you are aware, we are unable to comment on your questions regarding secret or top secret matters. That is the law. There are so many factual inaccuracies in your questions that it is not possible to even begin to answer your questions,” wrote the Prime Minister’s Office in response to news reports.

“Han Dong is a strong representative who served his community through the pandemic and consistently works to make life better for people, including calling out discrimination that is too often targeted at the Chinese Canadian community.”

Crowd attacks police officers trying to save overdose victim

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

A crowd in Victoria, British Columbia attacked police officers and stabbed them with a needle while the officers attempted to resuscitate an overdose victim.

According to a media release by Victoria Police Department (VicPD), on Saturday night an officer was called to respond to an overdose incident on Pandora Avenue. 

“Officers located the person in distress, who was unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing, a short distance away in the 900-block of Mason Street. Officers administered nasal Naloxone that they were carrying and began chest compressions and CPR,” VicPD said.

“While officers were providing life-saving medical care to the person, a crowd gathered and began to attempt to intervene in the emergency medical care officers were providing. Additional officers attended and began to move the crowd back. One of the officers was then stabbed under the arm with a needle by a man in the crowd.”

The suspect involved was arrested and has since been charged with obstruction and assaulting a police officer with a weapon. 

“The person suffering from the overdose regained a pulse, resumed breathing, and a short time later, regained consciousness. Despite the arrival and offers of care from BC Emergency Health Services paramedics, they declined further medical attention,” the release states. 

The incident comes as the Victoria Police Board once again faces threats of defunding from City Council.

In February, municipal politicians requested a budget reduction for the VicPD, ordering a budget that “caps the property tax increase at inflation (6.96%) and that the Police Board develop a new draft budget at the same rate.”

The reduction would be tantamount to a $1.7 million cut for the department. Writing to City Council, Police Board Finance Committee chair Doug Crowder rejected the cut saying that it would jeopardize the police’s ability to protect the community. 

“Although the board acknowledges the difficult choices council has to make during this inflationary period, the board is still of the position that the budget it has presented is one that meets the legislative requirements under the Police Act to provide adequate and effective policing to the city and Township,” wrote Crowder. 

“Therefore, the Board is not prepared to amend the budget as requested by Council.”

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