Rita Smith is the publisher of Road Warrior News/Taxi News.
Watching hundreds of hours and dozens of witnesses at the Public Order Emergency Commission may leave viewers wondering: what exactly was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s objective in evoking the Emergencies Act against the Freedom Convoy?
After all, he could have cleared downtown Ottawa in exactly the same way the Ontario Provincial Police cleared the Ambassador Bridge, using the same legislative authority the OPP used in Windsor. Instead, he opted to freeze bank accounts, arrest organizers, and threaten truckers’ commercial insurance and vehicle registrations.
It’s possible that in the Freedom Convoy, Trudeau’s team saw a real, growing opposition gaining support from millions of Canadian voters and taxpayers. The Convoy raised $10 million in only a few weeks; and when the government succeeded in freezing the truckers’ GoFundMe account, Convoy organizers turned around and raised millions again on the GiveSendGo platform.
They in fact raised more money in a month than the Liberal Party raised in the entire year of 2020. That’s a frighteningly impressive fundraising ability, demonstrated by a brand-new group with no political track record.
The truckers had more than an astonishing ability to raise funds: they also enjoyed the support of millions of Canadians.
From sea to shining sea across Canada, bridges were full of hard-working Canadians waving flags and cheering the truckers on. In my own GTA community, the bridge over the 401 was lined with parents and kids; blue collar workers and laptop loners; our local Canada Post delivery person in her Canada Post van.
The first man I met walking from my car to the bridge was a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor; one woman drove three hours from Bancroft to be there.
In a clever video by former Ontario MPP Rick Nicholls, he openeda brown-paper bag lunch packed by volunteers who supported the Truckers. Observed Nicolls: “Trudeau’s problem is not the truckers. Trudeau’s problem is the Canadians packing lunches for the truckers.”
In January 2022, I interviewed Greg Lyle of Innovative Research on a survey he had just conducted with regard to the Freedom Convoy. Lyle was particularly interested in support for the truckers: “A couple of things stand out: that 31% support for the truckers’ protest is far higher than the number of people that are actually hostile or hesitant toward the vaccine, which is in the single digits.
“At 31%, you’re way, way, way above that. It’s still the minority point of view. But at 46%, there’s not a majority that oppose. It’s what we call ‘a plurality,’ but it’s not a majority.”
(Remember, Trudeau won his 2021 election with only 32% of the vote: less than one in three voters, fewer than one in seven Canadians, voted for Trudeau’s Liberals.)
In our January interview Lyle, undisputedly one of Canada’s best pollsters, made an interesting observation: “There are questions such as, ‘Is someone doing this to harvest data? So that they have a big list and no-strings-attached funding to mobilize people for the next Tory leadership, and into a government party?’
“You know, that’s a possibility. Apparently, 250,000 people signed a petition,” Lyle added.
Fast forward a few months, and Erin O’Toole, who refused to support the truckers, got booted as Conservative leader and Pierre Poilievre, who met with the truckers on the street, was in.
I’m not saying that anyone did in fact use such a list. Just that the Liberals would have been right to be nervous about such a volume of fundraising combined with so many names coming together.
Trudeau is right to fear the truckers and the hard-working, tax-paying Canadians they represent. They may well elect the next Prime Minister, no matter what the POEC decides.
Rita Smith is the publisher of Road Warrior News/Taxi News.
The British Columbia-based credit union Vancity has launched Canada’s first-ever carbon tracking Visa card.
It will be first available for consumers in 2023 and will allow cardholders to track estimated carbon emissions on every purchase.
“Members will be able to see how their monthly tally compares to the national average, or which credit card purchases have the highest environmental cost,” said a statement by Vancity.
“The Carbon Counter will help Vancity card holders understand the carbon footprint of their purchases as well as provide advice on what they can do to reduce their emissions footprint.”
The credit union partnered with the sustainability tech company Ecolytiq, which has worked with other banks to create personalized environmental footprints for consumers.
The initiative is the first of its kind for a Visa card in Canada, but the concept has been floated elsewhere.
As first reported by True North, an executive with the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba revealed at the World Economic Forum earlier this year that the company was working on an individual “carbon footprint tracker.”
“We’re developing through technology an ability for consumers to measure their own carbon footprint,” said president J. Michael Evans.
“What does that mean? Where are they traveling? How are they traveling? What are they eating? What are they consuming on the platform?”
Critics of individualized carbon trackers have warned that the technology could pose a threat to privacy rights.
Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis has been an outspoken critic of governments introducing technology that violates the rights of citizens.
In an open written while she was running for the party’s leadership, Lewis blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for using the pandemic to launch a “socialist coup.”
“Many Canadians rightly fear the repercussions of Trudeau transforming Canada into a cashless society,” said Lewis.
“They have told me that they are afraid the Liberals will impose a social credit score, similar to the one that exists in China.”
On the final day of the Emergencies Act hearings, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a much-anticipated testimony where he defended invoking the Act and denied ever having called unvaccinated Canadians names.
The Prime Minister said that despite not reading the police plan signed off on by the RCMP to clear protesters using existing powers, he did not have confidence in the plan and decided to invoke the Emergencies Act anyways.
Under questioning from Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) lawyer Ewa Krajewska, Trudeau was asked about the plan that RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki had approved of on February 13 – one day before the Emergencies Act was invoked – to clear protesters from Ottawa using existing laws.
“We heard evidence from Commissioner Lucki of the RCMP that she had signed off on a plan to enforce and remove the protesters from Ottawa on February 13 that she was confident in. That she, the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) and the OPS (Ottawa Police Service) had confidence in. Did you hear that testimony?” Krajewska asked Trudeau.
“No, I disagree with that,” Trudeau responded. “I do not believe that the plan that was either signed off on supposedly by the RCMP or presented by the OPS on the 13th was in any real regards an actual plan for clearing the protests.”
When asked if this was a plan that Trudeau actually read himself, he responded. “I was spoken to about it, I did not see it myself.”
Trudeau then said that despite not reading the plan himself, the federal cabinet “did not have confidence in it.”
When asked about RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s plan to have trucks moved on Feb 13, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he had not personally read it, but still had no confidence in it. #POECpic.twitter.com/VVKwlsTnOm
Sujit Choudhry, counsel for the Canadian Constitution Foundation, brought forward the police plan, which was signed off on by Lucki to show Trudeau and the Commission. The document is heavily redacted – 4 pages of the 8-page plan are unreadable and blanked out from top to bottom.
“The rest of this document has been redacted so that’s page 4, page 5, page 6, page 7, page 8.” Choudhry said. “So Prime Minister, you said we should read this document. We can’t. It’s within your legal authority to instruct your counsel to remove these redactions. For the sake of the transparency of the commission sir, would you consider that request?”
Government lawyers immediately raised an objection stating that the question from Choudhry to seek transparency on behalf of the commission would put the Prime Minister “in an odious position.”
Choudhry responded to Trudeau, “You said we should read the plan, but I think you would agree that we can’t.”
“Indeed,” Trudeau responded. “Like I said, I haven’t read the plan but we’re in a situation where I have access to unredacted information and what I know and my understanding of this plan was that it was not a complete plan of engagement.”
Government of Canada lawyer intervenes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is asked if he will release the unredacted version of the police plan he said he had no confidence in.#POECpic.twitter.com/fc6Bh87KO2
While admitting that the threshold to declare a threat to national security as defined by Section 2 of the CSIS Act was not met and that CSIS Director David Vigneault did not have the legal requirements to investigate the Freedom Convoy, Trudeau remained resolute that using the Emergencies Act was the right decision.
When asked by Commission counsel if there was consensus among the Integrated Response Team – a group of senior civil servants and cabinet ministers formed to strategize a response to the Freedom Convoy – Trudeau testified that there was total consensus among the group for invoking the never-before-used Emergencies Act.
“There was consensus around the IRG table, there’s no question about it,” Trudeau said. “There was no voice saying ‘hold it, we don’t think you should do this.’”
Trudeau then confirmed that the CSIS Act threshold required for the agency to wiretap a Freedom Convoy organizer was not met, but that the threshold to declare a public order emergency was met.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that there was consensus among the Integrated Response Team to invoke the Emergencies Act and that nobody voiced concerns about the decision.#POECpic.twitter.com/n2Mlr11SLF
Krajewska then asked Trudeau to distinguish how the threshold could not have been met for CSIS to wiretap a Freedom Convoy organizer based on Section 2 of the CSIS Act but the threshold to invoke the Emergencies Act, which also relies on Section 2 of the CSIS Act, was met.
Krajewska put to Trudeau, “when invoking the Emergencies Act, that threshold, the level of threshold of the security threat that must be met cannot be any lower than it is when CSIS is proposing to surveil one person. That the threshold is no different. Do you agree with that?”
“Yes I do,” Trudeau responded.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggests the CSIS Act definition of a security threat has different thresholds when it's used for CSIS purposes from when it's used to justify the Emergencies Act.#POECpic.twitter.com/oyo3EPeJDq
At the end of questioning from Commission lawyers, Trudeau’s defense of the Emergencies Act largely squared on the results of the invocation of the Act, not the legal test that the government relied on to make the invocation – something that has been hidden from the Commission by the federal government claiming solicitor-client privilege.
“We were able to solve the situation with it,” Trudeau said in reference to the invocation. “I’m not going to pretend that it’s the only thing that could’ve done it but it did do it and that colours the conversations we’re having now.”
“I am absolutely, absolutely serene and confident that I made the right choice in agreeing with the invocation,” Trudeau said.
Justin Trudeau says he is "absolutely, absolutely serene and confident" that he made the right choice to invoke the never-before-used Emergencies Act on the Freedom Convoy.#POECpic.twitter.com/ne2tMjR3k8
Under questioning from Convoy lawyer Eva Chipiuk, in response to listening to Canadians describe their feelings about the Freedom Convoy protest and the difficulty that Trudeau’s public health restrictions and mandates placed on their lives, Justin Trudeau told the Commission that he “wished he could do more to convince people to get vaccinated.”
When asked about the effect Covid mandates had on Canadians, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he wished he had done more to get people vaccinated.#POECpic.twitter.com/MpUCQWcqoq
When confronted by Chipiuk about his comments that he made about unvaccinated citizens in a September 2021 french-language interview in which he called unvaccinated Canadians “racists,” “misogynists” and “extremists,” Trudeau told the Commission that he has “never called the unvaccinated names.”
“I did not call people who were unvaccinated names.” PM Trudeau denies calling unvaccinated Canadians names.
In a September 2021 interview, Trudeau referred to unvaccinated Canadians as extremists, misogynists and racists.#POECpic.twitter.com/IxWdQuUivf
After the Prime Minister’s cross-examination, counsel presented their closing arguments to Commissioner Rouleau.
Convoy lawyer Chipiuk used her closing arguments to call on Canadians to hold the political executive to account for invoking last-resort, never-before-used Emergencies Act on the Freedom Convoy protest.
“Let this inquiry be the starting point for all Canadians and that means all Canadians including government leaders to hold the executive branch of Canada to account. If there ever was a time for a Prime Minister to step down, now is that time,” Chipiuk concluded.
“If there was ever a time for a prime minister to step down, now is that time.”
In her closing statement to the Public Order Emergency Commission, Convoy lawyer Eva Chipiuk calls for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to resign.#POECpic.twitter.com/es0vwbirze
Government of Canada lawyers concluded the hearing by telling the Commission that the invocation of the Emergencies Act was justified given that it had the support of several provincial and territorial leaders, that the measures taken were “proportional, effective, time-limited and Charter compliant.”
They also stated that the measures were of “significant benefit” to law enforcement in deterring and dissipating “the illegal protests in Ottawa, Windsor and Winnipeg.”
Closing remarks from the Canadian Constitution Foundation focused on the government’s broad determination of the Emergencies Act to reach the legal threshold in order for their decision to be justified.
“It is simply not enough, as a matter of law, to say that the cabinet relied on a broader set of inputs to reach its decision,” Choudhry said.
“The invocation of the Emergencies Act has been and should remain to be exceedingly rare. But now that the glass has been broken on the Act, it can be used again. When the Commission asks hard questions on the use of the Act in 2022, it must also focus on the Act’s potential misuse in the future and protect the right to protest, parliamentary democracy and federalism.”
What happens next? Hearings have concluded. The next phase of the Commission begins on Monday as nearly 50 experts chosen by the Commission will commence a series of round-table discussions to assist the Commissioner in making recommendations for policy change in the future which will be used in the Commissioner’s final report.
You can read more about this next phase of the Commission here.
One of Atlantic Canada’s largest legacy media companies has ended home deliveries for some rural residents across northern Nova Scotia despite receiving federal funding to provide access to “local journalism.”
In a letter sent out to readers, the Saltwire Network claims the physical newspapers will no longer be printed to focus on new digital formats.
“More and more, our readers are looking for news and information wherever and whenever they want it (24 hours a day, 7 days a week), which means that our mobile apps, Saltwire.com and the e-edition replica newspapers have outpaced demand for the printed newspaper,” the Nov. 8 statement said.
“This delivery change enables us to focus our efforts to provide more quality journalism to provoke thought and action in our communities, and in new formats, including video and audio.”
The company – which owns dozens of newspapers across the region – justified taking federal “local journalism” government funding last year to save “news deserts” in remote parts of Eastern Canada.
On Mar. 15, 2021, Saltwire Network senior managing editor Steve Bartlett explained in an article titled “Yes, SaltWire takes federal funds to support journalism” that federally-financed local journalism initiative (LJI) reporters were crucial to covering news starved areas.
“Their work has been invaluable during a pandemic, with daily updates and evolving issues. Other LJI reporters are working in news deserts like western P.E.I. or central Newfoundland,” wrote Bartlett.
“One is bringing stories from the five Indigenous communities in Cape Breton, and another is committed to Nova Scotia’s growing community of newcomers.”
Despite this, the outlet ceased publication of Monday editions for four daily newspapers last month citing rising fuel costs and unsustainable print operations.
As exclusively reported by True North last year, the Liberal government and media advocacy groups tasked with overseeing the distribution of LJI funds couldn’t name who received $50 million in taxpayer subsidies.
Saltwire Network is also a member of the lobbying group News Media Canada which has supported government regulation of the media industry including Bill C-11 and Bill C-18.
Last week, True North reported on how the Edmonton Downtown Business Association’s Holiday Light Up event won’t have a giant Christmas tree and how the City of Edmonton is refusing to step in to provide a tree due to the environmental impact. In response, the Canadian Press is reporting how the association and the mayor are now victims of “racist attacks.” The only problem? Nobody knows what these “racist attacks” actually are.
Plus, Global News is freaking out about how Shopify is refusing to cut ties with online organization Libs of TikTok because the group doesn’t align with Global’s preferred political views.
And, the Globe and Mail publishes an op-ed about how socializing after work is not inclusive of women and other marginalized groups. Such bravery.
Tune into this week’s edition of Fake News Friday with Andrew Lawton and Sue-Ann Levy!
Following intermittent periods of online learning during the Covid-19 pandemic, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith won’t permit schools to move classes entirely online anymore. She’s also made good on her promise to ban masks in schools through regulatory changes.
A news release from the government of Alberta says parents and families have been given “little to no notice” that students would be required to move to online learning throughout the pandemic. Many families did not have the resources to support at-home learning, and online classes impacted students’ well-being and academic achievement, the release says.
Smith says parents and students have told her they desire a regular school environment.
“With that in mind, we have taken steps to protect and enhance educational choice,” Smith said in a statement Thursday. “Families are free to make their own personal health decisions, and, no matter what that decision is, it will be supported by Alberta’s education system.”
The regulatory changes ensure that students and parents have access to in-person learning and clarify that students cannot be denied in-person education over a decision not to wear a mask.
Kindergarten and pre-kindergarten classes are excluded, as are schools in sensitive settings like hospitals.
Last month, Smith said she won’t permit further masking of children in grades K-12.
“The detrimental effects of masking on the mental health, development and education of children in classroom settings is well understood, and we must turn the page on what has been an extremely difficult time for children, along with their parents and teachers,” she said in a statement on Oct. 29.
The comments came after an Alberta judge ruled that a February order lifting masking requirements in schools was “unreasonable” because it was made by cabinet, not the chief medical officer of health.
Smith has directed Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro to examine whether to appeal.
The latest regulatory changes, which took effect Thursday, come after Edmonton public school trustees voted to ask the province to reinstate mask mandates when a school is on outbreak status due to respiratory illnesses. Trustees said they would ask Alberta’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Mark Joffe for guidance about when to implement additional health measures.
Board Chair Trisha Estabrooks said health officials and the provincial government are showing an absence of leadership amid high cases of Covid-19, respiratory syncytial virus and influenza.
“The board of trustees in this case and the division is being put in this position to make decisions that we quite frankly have no jurisdiction or no expertise,” she told CBC News.
Education Minister Adriana LaGrange said parents and students want stability, while school boards desire clarity.
“Securing a face-to-face classroom environment means students can continue to learn successfully while allowing their parents to go to work,” LaGrange said in a statement Thursday. “It will also help to maintain and improve student mental health while minimizing student learning loss.”
The government also hopes the changes will minimize potential learning loss.
During the 2021-22 school year, a pilot program supported by a $45-million investment required school authorities to administer strategic learning assessments. Through literacy assessments, the province learned that about 70,000 at-risk students in grades 1-3 were 11 months behind grade level at the start of the 2021-2022 school year. That period followed 17 months of intermittent, at-home learning.
After returning to consistent in-person learning, assessments from May to June 2022 showed that the average learning loss dropped to 3.7 months.
The Alberta government provided $10 million in the current school year to continue the learning assessments.
The Ottawa Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) has rejected a controversial motion by trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth that would have imposed a mask mandate.
BREAKING: Trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth's mask mandate motion results in a 6-6 tie, meaning it has FAILED.
The trustees voted on the motion Thursday night after two long special meetings. The vote among trustees was tied 6-6, causing the motion to fail. The two student trustees, whose votes are not formally counted, both voted against the motion.
Kaplan-Myrth, who is known for controversial social media posts and media appearances, put forward the mask mandate motion amid what experts call a “tripledemic” of respiratory viruses – the seasonal flu, RSV and Covid-19.
Leadership means walking the walk. We will show you how it is done, at our meeting to #BringBackMasks to take care of students and educators. Here’s the motion. To angry parents: There are worse things than wearing a mask indoors. Speak to parents whose children can’t breathe. pic.twitter.com/ZyxwnGcO3M
The motion sparked divisive debate within the OCDSB community, with a special board meeting held Tuesday being the subject of disruption and protest by angry parents. The meeting ended up being adjourned with its continuation taking place in a virtual format Thursday night.
@ocdsb chair @LyraEvansOtt has shut the meeting down and all attendees are being asked to leave. The meeting will resume online only. The meeting ended with parents chanting “Tell the truth” and “SHAME” pic.twitter.com/Nqf0Rlr39n
Multiple concerned parents contacted True North to express their opposition to mandatory masking, and said their kids would not have complied with a mandate.
Amid concerns and criticism from parents, Kaplan-Myrth and other trustees made several amendments to the initial motion to water it down.
Dr. Nili explains why she amended her motion to relax enforcement and allow for anyone who claims an exemption to be exempt. She basically admits that she gave into the vocal group of parents who oppose masking their children. She claims to be "generous". pic.twitter.com/MlUFRbp4vk
Amendments included removing the requirement for medical masks, allowing anyone who claims an exemption to be exempt, removing enforcement and consequences for non-compliance, and reducing the threshold for its end.
OCDSB board chair Lyra Evans says that proposed amendments essentially turn Dr. Nili's mask mandate into a mask expectation. pic.twitter.com/qbkI7ToQJA
Following the defeat of her motion, Kaplan-Myrth took to Twitter and wrote among other things, “Sorry, (Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario) – we did all we could. Can’t do more as a Trustee. Can’t do more as a family doc. The children are not OK, and the grownups are reading from a “freedom” playbook. This is not a good time to be a person with disabilities, child, parent, senior, educator, HCW.”
Small businesses remain uncertain about the trajectory of the Canadian economic outlook for a third month in a row, a new report found.
As first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) November 2022 Business Barometer index indicated that confidence among business owners has declined once again.
Expectations for the next three months fell by 2.2 points since October, down to 43.8. Long-term confidence is also down by 1.2 points since the previous month and is currently sitting at 50.
“An index below 50 shows that there are fewer business owners feeling confident than feeling negatively about the next months,” explained the CFIB.
When broken down provincially, the only provinces that have a positive outlook for the short term are Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador, while the remaining provinces have levels below 50.
More businesses are also indicating that they’re looking to lay off workers rather than hire new employees in the next quarter.
Statistics Canada data also indicates declining faith in supply chains among business owners. An analysis by the department found that a “vast majority” of businesses expected the economic situation to get worse by the end of this year.
Small businesses have been devastated by government lockdowns and pandemic mandates.
A report produced by the Department of Industry on the state of small businesses last year found that at least 740,800 jobs were lost by the sector in 2021.
In August, the CFIB also found that as a result of the pandemic, small businesses have had to take on an average debt of $158,000 to stay afloat.
“Small firms are in for a rough recovery. Governments can step in and help by taking concrete measures. Governments need to decide whether they will make the problem worse by raising taxes,” said CFIB CEO Dan Kelly.
“Small businesses are feeling the financial pressure mount and seem to have much less room to maneuver.”
Chrystia Freeland took the stand at the Emergencies Act hearings Thursday and it was disclosed that at least one bank executive tried to caution Freeland against using the country’s banking system as a “political weapon.” Plus, Freeland described Freedom Convoy protesters as people who were trying to change policy at “gunpoint” and that she refused to negotiate with people who hold democracy “hostage.”
Also, a controversial motion by mask-obsessed trustee Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, which would have reimposed a mandatory mask mandate on students, staff and teachers, failed on Thursday evening.
And, Conservative politicians across Canada are pushing back against the Trudeau government’s attempt to ban hundreds more new models of rifles and shotguns through a last-minute amendment to Bill C-21.
Tune into The Daily Brief with Anthony Furey and Rachel Emmanuel!
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several of his cabinet ministers will appear before the Public Order Emergency Commission this week to justify the government’s use of the Emergencies Act to quash the Freedom Convoy.
Today, Prime Minister Trudeau will appear before the inquiry.
