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Saturday, July 26, 2025

Police investigating radical climate activists over Emily Carr painting vandalism

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Police are investigating after radical climate activists in British Columbia threw maple syrup at an Emily Carr painting and glued themselves to a Vancouver Art Gallery wall on Saturday. 

Other such incidents of environmental protestors vandalizing famous artwork have been reported around the world in recent weeks. 

In October, two climate protesters similarly threw a can of soup at a Van Gogh painting on display at the London National Gallery. 

According to the group Stop Fracking Around, such incidents are an attempt to alert the public to the dangers of climate change. 

“It’s just a question of trying to get the public and especially our leaders to actually respond to the climate emergency which Canada has declared,” said spokesperson Don Marshall. 

Protesters called on the government to shut down the Kitimat Coastal GasLink pipeline. The government-approved pipeline has an agreement with all 20 elected Indigenous communities along its route. The painting that was targeted is titled “Stumps and Sky.” 

Carr was a painter who often incorporated First Nations subject matter and themes into her artwork. 

Indigenous BC Liberal MLA Ellis Ross referred to the act as a “crime (and) vandalism.” 

“This is not news. Crime, vandalism, violence, ecoterrorism are condoned in BC,” tweeted Ross. 

Police have indicated that they know the identities of the perpetrators and are currently investigating. 

“We believe we know who the women are and will conduct a full investigation,” said a Vancouver Police Department representative. “No arrests have been made at this time.”

British Columbia has imposed several anti-energy development policies including a tanker ban along its coastline. 

In May, the province’s government-run electricity provider, BC Hydro, bashed the use of natural gas and gasoline vehicles on social media despite regulating several natural gas projects. 

The Daily Brief | Canadians push back against mandatory masks

By
Anthony Furey
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While Ontario has stopped short of bringing back a mask mandate, a couple Ontario universities have reintroduced the controversial measure and require masks be worn at all-times while indoors. However, non-compliance appears to be a huge problem.

Plus, the shortage of children’s pain and fever medication appears to be getting worse. Health Canada announced an emergency supply from the US and Australia is expected to arrive in Canadian hospitals soon.

And, a recent ruling by an Ottawa small claims court states that the Canadian Anti-Hate Network assisted the far-left extremist group Antifa.

Tune into The Daily Brief with Anthony Furey and Jasmine Moulton.

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GUEST OP-ED Capping energy industry emissions is all pain, no gain

By
Olivier Rancourt
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Source: Wikimedia

Olivier Rancourt is an economist with the Montreal Economic Institute.

It’s hard to wrap one’s head around what $45 billion represents. It’s such a huge number that for most of us, it essentially becomes meaningless.

And yet, it’s about as much as our federal government spends in a month. It represents nearly $1,200 for every man, woman, and child living in the country. And it’s also the annual loss in economic activity Canada can expect if Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault goes forward with his plan to cap oil sands emissions.

Simply put, what Ottawa is proposing is to put what amounts to a hard limit on greenhouse gas emissions specifically from oil and gas producers. Respecting that limit would require our country’s energy industry to lower its emissions by about half by 2030.

This federal requirement would only apply to Canada’s oil and gas sector. Aircraft manufacturers in Quebec, say, or auto-plants in Ontario, would be free to increase emissions however they pleased. But it’s not like one tonne of greenhouse gases emitted by these is any better or worse than one emitted by energy producers.

The good news is that emissions per barrel have been going down for a while in Canada. Since 1990, greenhouse gas emissions per barrel of oil extracted from the oil sands have fallen 33%.

The bad news is that energy producers will probably not achieve a larger reduction in seven years than they did over three decades. What’s more likely is that they’ll keep dropping at the same rate as in recent years, which would mean a 12% reduction in per barrel emissions by 2030. 

That is no mean feat – it should even be celebrated – but it would still leave the industry far short of nearly halving its emissions, as this federal measure would require. Accounting for existing production and demand forecasts, this would mean a drop in annual production equivalent to at least $45 billion.

Of course, if an industry loses $45 billion in revenue, that means thousands of people out of work. It also means a significant drop in government resource royalty and tax revenue.

At a time when our federal government is grappling with a large $36.4-billion deficit, and when an aging population is helping to bring our provincial health care systems to their knees, our governments can ill-afford to kill the golden goose like this.

Some might argue that it’s all worth it to prevent climate change. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely it’ll even make a dent.

That’s because our oil industry is primarily an export-oriented industry. Roughly 80% of the oil we produce gets shipped abroad by rail, pipeline, and boat.

In a global market such as this one, a permanent and foreseeable drop in domestic production is only going to export that production elsewhere. Russia, Iran, and Venezuela would have few qualms about turning on the taps in response to Ottawa’s decision to turn ours off. They would be more than happy to take their share of that $45 billion we’d be giving up.

In addition to these countries’ abysmal human rights records, their lack of regulatory oversight compared to Canada’s strict environmental norms means we might actually just end up exporting production to a far more polluting locale.

That’s ultimately what’s so frustrating about Ottawa’s oil and gas emissions cap proposal. It amounts to nothing more than political greenwashing, where we get to feel like we did something, but we really just paid through the nose for something with little to no positive effect.

Put simply, an emissions cap specific to oil and gas producers would be all pain, no gain for Canadians.

Olivier Rancourt is an economist with the Montreal Economic Institute.

FUREY: Mandatory masks again? Seriously?

By
Anthony Furey
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This isn’t an old video from 2020. We are seriously having this conversation again. Just when you thought it was all over and despite everything we’ve learned about Covid, there are people pushing the government to impose a mask mandate again – in 2022.

Thankfully, public health officials have not mandated masks yet but that won’t stop the Covid authoritarians from continuing to push for more mandates and lockdowns.

True North’s Anthony Furey says it’s bizarre we’re having this conversation again and it’s time for the Covid zealots to get a life.

Laurier student leads “peaceful revolution” against mask mandate

By
Anthony Furey
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Whether it’s wearing a clear plastic bucket over his head instead of a mask or loosely tying a zip loc bag around his mouth, Wilfrid Laurier University student Kamil Bachouchi is coming up with humorous and creative ways to lead what he calls a “peaceful revolution” against his school’s mask mandate.

“Finding a way to mock the current regulations, without disobeying them, was what I deemed the best course of action to open peoples’ eyes, while waiting to garner the widespread support to initiate a school-wide refusal of the mask mandates,” the 21-year-old philosophy student explained to True North.

However, the student says that it’s really only one class that he even needs to wear the spoof masks in. One of his teachers issued an ultimatum that students needed to wear one or be kicked out. But in most other classes, teachers apparently don’t care if students don’t wear them and the policy does not seem to be widely enforced.

“Now, it’s hard to find someone wearing a mask in those classes,” Bachouchi says of several of his courses.

Bachouchi began posting images of himself to Twitter lampooning the mask rule a couple of weeks ago, although the mandate has been in place since the beginning of the fall term. Laurier is one of the few non-medical facilities in Canada that requires masks be worn.

“I had been debating doing something about these mask mandates for a while,” Bachouchi explains. He says he was one of the small number of students who was kicked out of school the previous year for refusing to disclose vaccination status.

“The students are supportive and open to this fight, they just need to know that they aren’t alone in fighting for their rights,” says Bachouchi, who plans to go on to law school after undergrad.

A similar experience is unfolding at another Ontario post-secondary institution. The University of Waterloo reinstated a mask mandate on Nov. 4 and is already facing blowback and non-compliance from students. A recent True North story explained how a student scrawled “mask mandate is a joke” on the whiteboard in front of a class.

“Lots of students won’t put them back on,” a lecturer from Waterloo explained on social media.

Are you a student or faculty member at Wilfried Laurier University who has information to share about the response to the renewed mask mandate? Email us at [email protected].

Alberta axes fuel tax again, but here’s why not all provinces will be so lucky

By
Rachel Parker
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Canadians for Affordable Energy says not every province is in a financial position like Alberta to remove its provincial fuel tax, even though they should.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said on Thursday her government will “lock in” the fuel tax holiday for Albertans, one day after Nova Scotia Finance Minister Allan MacMaster said he can’t remove the provincial fuel tax because the federal government won’t allow it. 

Dan McTeague, president of Canadians for Affordable Energy, said Nova Scotia doesn’t have many options to offset the revenue from the fuels tax, while Alberta can rely on its oil reserves. 

“They have no way of making it up, they have nothing to fall back on,” McTeague told True North. 

“The provinces are not in the same financial position as Alberta. They’re having trouble and they don’t really have much room to drop the tax, even though they ought to.” 

Nova Scotia’s provincial tax, or the motive fuel tax, is expected to raise nearly $260 million for the provincial government this year.

Newfoundland and Labrador reduced its provincial fuel tax by almost half earlier this year as a temporary measure. In July, Ontario reduced its gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre and the fuel tax by 5.3 cents per litre, a reprieve that will last until the end of the year. 

Former Alberta premier Jason Kenney first removed the provincial fuel tax on April 1, as oil prices skyrocketed and as a federal carbon tax increase to $170/tonne came into effect. When oil prices relaxed in October, the province partially reinstated its fuel tax to 4.5 cents per litre on gas and diesel.

Speaking at the Rural Municipalities of Alberta fall 2022 conference on Thursday, Smith said her government will take decisive action in the coming weeks to help Albertans “cope with the worst financial pressures.” 

“Our government is also going to lock in removing the provincial fuel tax and ensure that the gas stations lower the prices appropriately when we do that,” she said. 

“Alberta is home to massive energy resources which belong to you and it’s time to ensure that you benefit from that ownership.”

On Wednesday, Nova Scotia Finance Minister Allan MacMaster said he can’t cut into the 15.5 cents tax per liter tax on gasoline or diesel because the federal government won’t allow it. 

“They’ve just simply said we can’t do it.” MacMaster said. “There is a federal document that you cannot go and offset the carbon pricing because it would defeat the purpose of what they’re trying to do, which is trying to raise the price of fuel, so people stop buying it.”

Yet, federal Immigration Minister and Nova Scotia MP told the CBC the province is free to follow the lead of other provinces and cut provincial fuel taxes. 

McTeague said the Liberal government wants to tax energy, the very thing people use to survive. He said the federal Liberals and their colleagues in the New Democratic Party are committed to “undermining affordability.”

“We’ve been saying it for five or six years; people are starting to believe us.” 

Feds buy millions of made-in-China Canadian flag pins

By
Andrew Kozak
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In an effort to boost national pride, including on Remembrance Day and Flag Day, the Trudeau government has bought millions of Canadian flag pins from China.

According to the Globe and Mail, the Department of Canadian Heritage confirmed that over six million lapel pins purchased since 2020 were all made in China. The Chinese-made flags have cost the government $345,000.

The pins will be distributed to elected officials to hand out to the public. They are also handed out at public events organized by Canadian Heritage. 

The Department of Canadian Heritage says the government is bound by international trade rules and is unable to give preference to Canadian businesses for products worth more than $100,000.

“Approximately one million national flag of Canada plastic lapel pins and 14,000 floating flag of Canada pins are distributed annually,” said spokeswoman for Canadian Heritage Caroline Czajkowski. 

“The procurement of six million pins took place over the last two fiscal years to replenish stock and cover multiple years of distribution.”

Conservative MP Tony Baldinelli said he was shocked when he learned the origin of the pins.

“Surely at a time when Canadian businesses are struggling to recover from a two-year-long pandemic, our Canadian government could procure these pins from Canadian manufacturers,” said Baldinelli.

On Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Canadians should be weary of doing business in China and consider the “geopolitical risks.” The government is expected to unveil its new China strategy in the coming months. 

“What I would like to say to Canadians doing business in and with China: you need to be clear-eyed,” Joly said during an event at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. 

“The (decisions) you take as businesspeople are your own. As Canada’s top diplomat, my job is to tell you that there are geopolitical risks linked to doing business with the country.”

Despite its new approach to the Chinese Communist regime, critics continue to slam the Trudeau government for its lack of action on national security. 

Following a Global News report that Canadian intelligence officials warned Prime Minister Trudeau that China had allegedly targeted Canada with a vast campaign of foreign interference, former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu told True North that despite being briefed on China’s interference in Canadian politics, the Trudeau government has set the issue on the sidelines with nobody in power paying attention.

“Compared to other Western democracies that have done something substantial to safeguard their democracies and national sovereignty, Canada has done barely anything,” Chiu told True North. 

BONOKOSKI: Beware the scammers preying on businesses going bankrupt

By
Mark Bonokoski
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Bankruptcy filings for new businesses jumped 48.5% in the third quarter of this year, the largest percentage increase in 35 years of records.

The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcies (OSB), along with the Canadian Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Professionals (CAIRP), argue there is no need to panic but they are issuing an alert.

They are urging Canadians to beware of unregulated, unlicensed debt advisors who claim to be authorized to assist with insolvency options.

They are nothing but scam artists.

Some charge hundreds or even thousands of dollars for services they are not licensed to provide, or for unnecessary services offered before, during or after a consumer proposal or bankruptcy filing.

“Canadians can feel confident that when they seek advice from a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT), they are dealing with someone who has demonstrated they have the knowledge, experience and skills to help them make informed choices to deal with their debt,” said Jean-Daniel Breton, chair of CAIRP, the national voice on insolvency matters in Canada.

“They are the only debt-relief professionals in Canada legally required to offer a complete financial assessment, explain all the options for debt-relief and offer unbiased advice.”

“The concern is that more Canadians are reaching their breaking point financially, and as many desperately search for solutions to their debt problems, they may be lured by unrealistic promises to quickly solve their debt problems or fix their credit score,” says André Bolduc, vice-chair of CAIRP.

“Unfortunately, those promises can end up being too good to be true.”

In the third quarter of this year, 25,860 Canadians filed either a consumer proposal or a bankruptcy. Consumer insolvency filings in Q3 are 24.9% higher compared to the same quarter of 2020, yet filings are still 25.5% lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

In 2022, therefore, insolvencies are up 5.9% year over year.

“The stigma of bankruptcy prevents many from seeking the advice of a Licensed Insolvency Trustee. In actuality, we can offer options for insolvent consumers to avoid bankruptcy by negotiating an agreement with creditors to reorganize their financial affairs,” said Breton. “This process, called a consumer proposal, can only be done by speaking with a LIT.

“LITs may recommend non-insolvency options such as talking to your creditors, consolidating your debts, establishing and following a budget or a Debt Management Plan (DMP). If needed, they can refer you to a reputable credit counselling agency to access DMP services, for example.”

Put simply, bankruptcy is a legal process that lets businesses or individuals clear their debts – and Canadians have a lot of debt.

In 2020, Statistics Canada reported that the average Canadian household was holding $1.77 of credit-market debt for every dollar of disposable income.

That’s why “good faith debtors” (i.e.; an insolvent person) have the right to make a fresh financial start by declaring bankruptcy. 

The Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act (BIA) is federal legislation designed to help protect individuals from inescapable debt, and it gives insolvent debtors certain tools for resolving their debt with creditors.

But all is not lost.

After bankruptcy, one is at least allowed to keep necessary clothing, one vehicle (worth up to $7,117), household furnishings and appliances, equipment used to earn a living, and certain types of life insurance. You can even keep your RRSPs and RRIFs, except for contributions made in the 12 months before your bankruptcy.

So, it’s not the end of the world, though it might seem like it.

The Alberta Roundup | Unvaccinated woman denied organ transplant

By
Rachel Parker
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This week on The Alberta Roundup, Rachel discusses how a woman is being denied an organ transplant due to her Covid-19 vaccination status and how the Alberta Health Minister is accepting the Alberta Court of Appeal’s ruling on the matter.

Plus, United Conservative leader Danielle Smith will return to Alberta Legislature after voters in Brooks-Medicine Hat gave her the nod to be their next MLA.

And a former NDP MLA has pleaded guilty to a charge under the Health Information Act after he was charged for illegally attempting to access private information contained in the Alberta Health vaccine portal in September 2021.

These stories and more on The Alberta Roundup with Rachel Emmanuel. Tune in now!

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LEVY: The latest alarming school board edict on prosthetic breast teacher

By
Sue-Ann Levy
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When school board administrators, trustees and teachers unions claim it’s “all about the kids”, don’t believe them for a moment.

The latest proof is the decision this past week by Halton District School Board trustees and administrators to sanction the outlandish, verging on obscene, dress of transgender high school teacher Kayla Lemieux.

Their latest edict states clearly that Lemieux’s rights to gender expression far outweigh the rights of others in the school.

Lemieux, a transgender shop teacher at Oakville Trafalgar High School, caused an international sensation at the start of this school year for sporting outrageously mammoth breasts and tight tops with protruding fake nipples to class.

The school, which was subject to several protests in September, became an international laughing stock for allowing this to occur.

As True North learned in October, Lemieux is actually an employee of the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board who went on leave last year.

In an unnecessarily arduous report to the board this past week, HR superintendent Sari Taha states that implementing any sort of formal, or heaven forbid professional dress code or grooming standards, would likely expose the Board to “considerable liability.”

Taha’s report says even though the dress code would be non-discriminatory, it would likely be found “discriminatory” if it adversely impacts on an employee based on their Code-protected grounds.

The report also notes that employers need to “make allowances” to allow employees to express themselves according to their “lived gender.”

“We note that if the employer desires to foster a culture of professionalism, respect, equity and inclusion, a truly reasonable and non-discriminatory dress code or grooming standards would most likely fail to yield the intended results,” says the report.

What this ridiculous report confirms is that Lemieux’s interests in personal expression far outweigh the board’s interests in maintaining a professional working environment.

It seems the board is far more concerned about legal action from the teacher or her union than allowing students to learn in an environment where a teacher doesn’t look like a caricature of a drag performer – and a rather freaky one at that.

How entirely gutless of them. They should absolutely be ashamed of themselves.

This outfit, I’m afraid, misrepresents and mocks women. No real (biological) woman would ever walk around the street showing off obscenely large breasts with protruding nipples, let alone teach class that way.

It shows how far overboard woke school boards are prepared to go to pander to protect themselves from the transgender activists.

Clearly common sense is no longer common at Ontario’s school boards.

It points yet again to why Ontario’s public boards need to experience a rude awakening and not just through declining enrollment. 

Bringing in school choice and charter schools would be a strong message to these woke warriors that kids should come first.

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