After 5 days of hearing Ottawa residents and city officials testify that the Freedom Convoy caused residents to hear “phantom honking” aka imaginary sounds, that protesters created a ‘Purge’-like atmosphere without any evidence of violence and that protesters committed multiple acts of “microagressions”, it’s safe to say that the Emergencies Act inquiry has been a complete clown show.
Also on the show, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new found fascination with taking selfie videos is getting out of hand. This week, Trudeau and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland made a very uncomfortable video celebrating the fact that they are giving you back some of your own money. How generous!
Tune in to the latest episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner.
Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Premier Andrew Furey is facing heat after accepting a luxury vacation from a billionaire friend currently working on a hydrogen plant project with the province.
Reports reveal that Furey along with his father, Senator George Furey, who is currently Speaker of the Senate, both took a fishing vacation at Rifflin’ Hitch Lodge in July 2021.
The owner of the resort, John Risely, chairs the company World Energy GH2, which is seeking government approval for a wind power plant in western Newfoundland.
World Energy GH2’s bid to begin construction is currently facing an environmental assessment. If completed it would be allowed to build 164 wind turbines.
According to Progressive Conservative Opposition leader Barry Petten, access to information documents show the government considering a lift on a wind turbine ban only months after the Fureys returned from their fishing expedition.
“The premier spends days with a billionaire donor who’s leading a wind development project in a luxury cabin, and he expects people of the province to believe that wind energy did not come up once. Three months later, public servants start talking about removing the wind moratorium in our province,” Petten said in the Legislature.
“Is this where the deal was struck or is this the biggest coincidence in Newfoundland and Labrador history?”
Furey has denied allegations that there was any inappropriate influence or negotiations.
“I’ve never made a secret of the friends that I have,” Furey told reporters.
“Some of them are very successful, and I take great fortune in having those friendships. But I don’t discuss confidential business of government with them, and I’ve taken the extra step of having ethical walls set up.”
“Everybody’s been critical of me from Day 1. About first my charitable work, then me practicing medicine, and now about what I do on my vacation time. Like, we need to — we need to have some respect for public figures here in their own personal time.”
Furey also pointed to the fact that he is not in charge of the final say on whether the project would go through and pointed to Energy and Technology Minister Andrew Parsons as having the final say.
“No one has been approved for absolutely anything at this point,” said Parsons.
The United Conservative Party government is calling on NDP leader Rachel Notley to condemn the recent invitation of an Alberta NDP convention speaker who once pleaded guilty to assaulting a taxi driver in 2004.
The speaker in question is Manitoba NDP leader Wab Kinew who faced domestic violence charges and pleaded guilty to assaulting a cab driver along with refusing a breathalyser in 2004.
Wab Kinew pled guilty to assaulting a cab driver whom he allegedly uttered racial slurs towards. He also faced two domestic violence charges, following allegations from an ex-partner.
Peace River MLA Dan Williams said Notley should “practice what she preaches” and condemn Kinew’s history of violence — and uninvite him from the NDP’s weekend convention.
“There is no excuse for hurting others. Treating Kinew like some sort of hero is a slap in the face to victims of crime,” Williams said in a statement to True North.
“Rachel Notley never does the right things when push comes to shove. She is always first in line to cast moral judgement on others, but when it comes to violent and abusive figures within her own party, she has nothing to say.”
I am so pleased to announce that Manitoba NDP Leader and the province's next Premier Wab Kinew @WabKinew will be attending our Convention Oct. 21-23!
The invitation to Kinew comes as Notley accused Premier Danielle Smith of showing sympathy to an “international war criminal and an illegal invasion of Ukraine demonstrates horrendous judgment” for saying Ukraine should be neutral to end the war with Russia – comments which she has since apologized for
In September 2004, Kinew pleaded guilty to refusing a breath demand, assault, failing to report for bail supervision, and breaching a court-ordered curfew. He was fined $1,400 for all four offences under a joint Crown and defence recommendation.
In 2017, Tara Hart of Winnipeg told APTN she was in a common-law relationship with Kinew in 2003 when she became the alleged victim of a domestic assault. Hart alleged Kinew threw or pushed her across the room and she suffered rug burn on her legs and hands.
Hart said she was speaking out though fearful.
“I’m scared of his people that support him to come against me,” she told ATPN. “He has a lot of friends.”
Kinew denies the assault. The charges were stayed by the Crown in 2004, meaning Kinew’s guilt or innocence was never determined.
The Alberta NDP has told True North it has a policy not to accept media requests from our publication. The Manitoba NDP did not respond to a request for comment by publication.
The gong-show autopsy of the Freedom Convoy, playing out now as an inquest into the invoking of the Emergencies Act, shows more of why the protest lived rather than why it eventually died out.
Incompetence would not be too strong a word. Over-reaction could also be worked in, driven by paranoia and self-serving politics.
Let’s be blunt. The Freedom Convoy interrupted a relatively small pocket of Ottawa near Parliament Hill while the rest of the country was largely sleeping well. Yet it was given the profile of a massive and potentially dangerous civil disobedience exercise that had gone irretrievably off the rails.
According to Transport Canada’s top bureaucrat Michael Keenan, however, the convoy outside Parliament had to be dismantled not as a safety risk but because it was an embarrassment—a public symbol of the “spiritual source of the protest movement.”
“It is obviously less tactically important but has a greater impact from a visibility and communication angle,” he said.
Put it this way. I live a few blocks away from what was the protest’s epicentre and was not disrupted in the slightest, even though Ottawa’s image of quiet civility was given a black eye.
In fact, I slept like baby, the protest barely noted, although the same could not be said for the Speaker of the House of Commons, Anthony Rota.
So concerned was he over his own safety that he ordered an armed detail of the parliamentary police to stand guard outside his precinct apartment while he slept.
All this is said, of course, with the wisdom of hindsight.
The Police Services Board chair, Councillor Diane Deans, testified at the commission that, at the height of the protest, there was an “insurrection” of serious infighting going on within Ottawa Police Services to undermine the authority of its unpopular leader, Chief Peter Sloly.
Sloly decided mid-protest to grab a final cheque and run.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson colluded with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to heap scorn on Ontario Premier Doug Ford who was more concerned with the blockage of Windsor’s Ambassador Bridge to Detroit, a major trade thoroughfare, than he was with a small noisy pocket of Ottawa with honking horns, bouncy castles and hot tubs.
This is not to say the city wasn’t warned. A spot-on piece of intelligence from the Ontario Provincial Police spoke to the protest being a long-haul event with some possible extreme elements, and not some easily handled weekend demonstration like the farmers and their machinery.
The hotel association even warned authorities that extended hotel bookings were the norm rather than the exception.
The Freedom Convoy was digging in, yet virtually nothing was done to stop the big rigs from taking control.
Who’s to blame for that? The police cannot be directed by politicians so it falls on them for doing nothing.
The invoking of the Emergencies Act—it sounded more serious when it was called the War Measures Act—was a case of over-reaction and overkill.
National security was never in doubt, even though a small pocket of that small pocket talked of overthrow and anarchy
The important but lacking ingredient was brains.
So, what was the prime minister thinking? Obviously not very much.
The police did not need extra powers. They just needed to do their job.
The Public Order Emergency Commission, led by Justice Paul Rouleau, is studying whether the convoy protests in Ottawa and at sections of the Canada-U.S. border met the threshold to justify invoking the Emergencies Act. The commission is at the beginning of six weeks of public hearings aimed at answering that question and has not yet heard from federal officials.
According to the Act, a public-order emergency can be declared only when threats to the security of Canada are so serious that they constitute a national crisis that cannot be effectively dealt with under any other existing law.
This will be a tough sell but, then again, the feds have yet to testify.
Look to them to cover their asses, too—like just about everyone thus far.
As Canada makes it easier to apply for medically assisted suicide, the consequences are wreaking havoc on Canadians who experienced physical issues that led them to making such a decision. In 2021 alone, more than 10,000 Canadians chose to be euthanized.
On this episode of The Rupa Subramanya Show, Rupa takes a dive into the philosophy and ethics of medically assisted death for those who are experiencing terminal health issues or who are struggling for more benign reasons, such as a woman who could not afford home care.
Rupa advocates for a serious conversation about the ultra-permissive conditions that allow patients to qualify for a medically assisted death and warns of the dangerous territory Canada is heading in.
The Ontario Divisional Court has sided with regulators in suspending the practice of a physician who handed out a Covid-19 vaccine exemption to a patient.
In a decision handed out this week, Dr. Crystal Luchkiw was admonished for having opposing views about the pandemic and not abiding by public health requirements.
“I am satisfied that the conclusion of the (regulator) — that she was ungovernable and as a result her patients were exposed to harm and/or injury — is reasonable and supported by the evidence,” wrote Justice William Chalmers.
In a podcast appearance on the Democracy Fund earlier this year, Luchkiw discussed her suspension and the ensuing fallout.
“My suspension in my community has caused such chaos, amongst pharmacies, amongst my colleagues, amongst my patients,” said Luchkiw.
“And I have quite an existential crisis dealing with not being able to care for my patients.”
Luchkiw has said she hopes to appeal the decision. During an investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSO), Luchkiw refused to hand over documents to investigators.
“She took the position, through her counsel, that the College did not have the lawful authority to conduct the investigation,” explained Justice Chalmers.
Luchkiw is not the only Ontario doctor being investigated for controversial statements about the pandemic and the public health response to it.
Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill has also teamed with the Democracy Fund to request that her record be scrubbed after she was cited by the College for speaking out against lockdowns at the height of the pandemic.
“It was unreasonable for the CPSO to insist that doctors’ comments align with the government,” explained lawyer Lisa Bildy.
“The College’s duty is not to the government, but rather to the public, and those interests are not necessarily aligned.”
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) intelligence officer Pat Morris testified that they had spies embedded into the Freedom Convoy protest to collect information on participants ever since trucks began arriving in Ottawa.
From January 29, one day after the trucks arrived, the OPP had officers in the crowds collecting the “mood, tenor and plans” of the protesters.
Morris revealed the OPP’s plans while testifying in front of the Public Order Emergency Commission (POEC) on Wednesday.
OPP intelligence officer Pat Morris says that from January 29th until the end of the protests in Ottawa, the OPP had spies embedded into the protests to collect information on "mood, tenor and plans" of the protesters. #POECpic.twitter.com/IGC2lEWObV
Despite testifying that a narrative circulated about extremism in the protests in Ottawa and Windsor, the protests never reached the OPP’s threshold of a threat to national security according to reports by the National Post.
OPP intelligence officer Pat Morris states that while a narrative circulated about extremism at the protests in Ottawa and the Ambassador Bridge, the events had not met the OPP’s threshold for a threat to national security. #POECpic.twitter.com/L0i4bMXaKg
“Everybody was asking about extremism. We weren’t seeing much evidence of it,” Morris said.
Morris stated that OPP “found no credible intelligence of threats,” and that “the lack of violent crime was shocking.”
Morris found the legacy media’s portrayal of the events “problematic.” He never saw proof that the protests were inspired or influenced by Russian or American sources.
Morris also confirmed that intelligence reports were received by former Ottawa Police Services (OPS) Chief Peter Sloly saying that protesters were planning to stay “long-term” despite claims from OPS officials that they did not expect the protest to last more than the first weekend.
According to a Jan. 20 Hendon report – codenamed after an operative employed to surveil protesters – OPP intelligence warned that convoy protesters had “no exit strategy for departing Ottawa” and that they had planned to stay until all Covid-19 restrictions were lifted.
“There was no exit strategy, but there were extensive demands being placed. And the fact that we felt those demands could not be met meant that they, meaning the protesters, would be there for a long period of time,” Morris said in the hearing, even expecting the protests to last multiple weeks or months.
When cross examined by lawyer Brendan Miller, Morris said that he has no evidence of espionage, sabotage, or foreign influence.
“I saw online rhetoric, I saw information on social media, I saw assertions of that type of activity. I’m aware of no intelligence that was produced that would support concern in that regard,” Morris responded.
The POEC is expected to continue for several weeks before reaching a conclusion on whether the invocation of the Emergencies Act was justified. Notable witnesses will include Interim Police Chief Steve Bell, former Police Chief Peter Sloly, organizers Tamara Lich, Chris Barber and Tom Marazzo.
A Liberal government plan to tax the digital services of major tech companies may end up costing Canadian consumers over $3 billion per year, according to a new paper released by a Canadian think-tank.
“No matter how the government dresses up its digital tax bill, it is Canadian consumers who will once again pay for it,” said Olivier Rancourt, an economist at the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), and the author of the new paper.
The new tax, which is aimed at tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Facebook and Airbnb, was unveiled in the 2021 budget and is set to be implemented in 2024. When a “Netflix tax” was floated in 2015, which would have seen consumers facing an additional tax for such services, the Liberals joined the Conservatives and NDP in vowing to not implement such a thing.
However, the Trudeau government now plans a workaround where they say it is the company and not the consumer that will pay for the digital services tax (DST). The tax works out to 3% of gross revenue for companies with Canadian revenue of over $20 million per year.
“The revenue targeted is that from online marketplace and advertising services as well as from social media services and user data,” Rancourt’s paper explains.
The MEI research explores how a similar tax was introduced in France several years ago and what resulted was lower than anticipated revenue combined with the tax being passed on to consumers.
“If we consider a price increase similar to Apple’s or Amazon’s in France, with the tax entirely passed on to consumers, the loss would then be close to $3.3 billion a year, even before considering the losses in investment and productivity which will in turn affect all economic sectors,” Rancourt observes. “These costs for Canadian consumers would thus be nearly equivalent to the hoped-for revenues from the tax over five years, namely $3.4 billion.”
Last year, Google spoke out against the tax, claiming in a statement that it “would undermine the multilateral consensus and raise prices for Canadians. We hope [the Liberal government] will reconsider.” The Liberals have previously signalled that they consider the DST a stop gap measure until more international standards are implemented for taxing large tech companies.
While the DST is distinct from Bill C-11, which has been dubbed the Internet censorship bill, it remains one of several plans the Trudeau government has to bring about greater government involvement in online activities.
NDP leader Rachel Notley spent most of the week calling on Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to apologize for her past comments on Ukraine. And now that Smith has apologized, Notley says it isn’t enough.
Smith apologized on Tuesday for suggesting Ukraine remain “neutral” to resolve the war following pressure from the Alberta NDP, the federal NDP and the legacy media.
Notley is now moving the goalpost and saying the new premier must outline a plan to fix the damage she allegedly caused.
“Danielle Smith’s comments about Ukraine damaged Alberta’s international standing as a secure, stable energy provider. In the long-term, that means less investment, less jobs and less opportunity in our province,” Notley wrote on Twitter.
“An apology is one thing. Now, we need a plan to fix it.”
Danielle Smith’s comments about Ukraine damaged Alberta’s international standing as a secure, stable energy provider.
In the long-term, that means less investment, less jobs and less opportunity in our province.
An apology is one thing. Now, we need a plan to fix it. #ableg
The apparent controversy emerged after comments Smith made in April on the social media platform Locals were unearthed.
“I think the only answer for Ukraine is neutrality. There are thriving nations that have managed with neutrality,” Smith said at the time.
Notley spent the week attacking the premier on Twitter with sentiments like “The Alberta NDP is unequivocal in support for Ukraine” and “It really is OK to admit it when you’re wrong. Especially when you’re the Premier.”
In another tweet, Notley accused Smith of showing sympathy to an “international war criminal and an illegal invasion of Ukraine demonstrates horrendous judgment.”
Showing sympathy to an international war criminal and an illegal invasion of Ukraine demonstrates horrendous judgment.
This isn’t leadership. It’s harmful to Alberta’s international reputation and could cause long-term damage to our economic future. #ableg#yyc#yeg
NDP MP Charlie Angus also weighed in, accusing Smith of pushing “pro-Russian, pro-Putin separatist propaganda” in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
Neither Notley nor Angus bothered to explain how calling for Ukrainian neutrality was akin to showing sympathy to Putin or pushing “pro-Russian propaganda”
An apology from Danielle Smith was needed and is a positive step.
Now, we need real action to address the damage and pain caused to Alberta’s Ukrainian community, to our economy and to our province’s reputation on the world stage. #ableg#yyc#yeg
Notley’s attacks come as she seeks to position the NDP against Smith’s United Conservative Party ahead of a spring general election. She also asked Smith to apologize for acknowledging the discrimination unvaccinated Canadians have faced over the last two years.
On Day 5 of the Emergencies Act hearings, explosive cross examination of Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) intelligence officer Pat Morris confirmed that there was no intelligence that indicated the Freedom Convoy met the legal threshold required for the federal government to invoke the Emergencies Act.
When cross examined by Convoy lawyer Brendan Miller, officer Morris said that he had no evidence of espionage or support of espionage, no evidence of sabotage or support of sabotage and that there was no evidence of foreign influence activities that involved the threat to any person.
Miller continued to press Morris, whose job it was for the force to lead the intelligence-gathering effort of the OPP, on the lack of evidence that must be met in order for the government to be justified in declaring a national emergency and invoking the Act.
“I saw online rhetoric, I saw information on social media, I saw assertions of that type of activity. I’m aware of no intelligence that was produced that would support concern in that regard,” Morris responded.
Miller then asked: “You didn’t see any evidence in the intelligence of activities within or relating to Canada directed toward or in support of a threat or use of acts of serious violence against property for the purpose of achieving a political, religious or ideological objective within Canada or in a foreign state?”
Morris answered: “In relation to the things you’re discussing, we collected all the information which some information asserted attempts at that. We did see that and had to consider that. Did we have any credible evidence that that would occur? No.”
Miller then asked Morris if it was possible that federal intelligence agencies would withhold intelligence from the OPP.
“I believe that I would’ve been informed,” Morris said. “I received no information in relation to the probability of that activity.”
You can watch the entirety of Convoy lawyer Brendan Miller’s cross examination of Pat Morris below.
An email written by Morris was examined under questioning from Cara Zwibel, counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, in which it states that the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET) – which is lead by the RCMP – reported that the protests in Ottawa and at the Ambassador Bridge did not meet their threshold for a threat to national security.
OPP intelligence officer Pat Morris states that while a narrative circulated about extremism at the protests in Ottawa and the Ambassador Bridge, the events had not met the OPP’s threshold for a threat to national security. #POECpic.twitter.com/L0i4bMXaKg
In that same email, Morris appears frustrated at political leaders, questioning them on the source of their information regarding “extremist involvement” in the convoy.
This email from OPP intelligence officer Pat Morris is damning. He questions where political figures are getting their information about "extremist involvement" in the convoy because there was no intelligence he'd seen supporting that conclusion. pic.twitter.com/Nz3gBnGbeS
Morris also made numerous claims throughout his testimony which contradict many media reports surrounding the criminal behaviour of protesters in Ottawa and around reporting that protesters were armed.
Morris dismissed concerns that protesters were armed in Ottawa as “hyperbole”, saying “we produced no intelligence to indicate that these individuals (protesters) would be armed. There has been a lot of hyperbole about that,” Morris said under questioning from Commission counsel.
Ontario Provincial Police intelligence officer Pat Morris says that the OPP "produced no intelligence to indicate that these individuals (protesters) would be armed."
Morris labels the coverage of potential firearms at the protest as "hyperbole." pic.twitter.com/SCWiCgIntx
Commission counsel spent considerable time probing OPP intelligence collected on the convoy prior to January 28th – the day that protesters arrived in Ottawa.
Asked about potential threats and criminal activity occurring in the convoy prior to January 28, Morris said that the “absolute lack of criminal activity was conspicuous.”
“There was almost no reported criminal activity of any of this activity coming across Canada,” Morris said under questioning from Commission counsel. “So it was conspicuous for the absolute lack of criminal activity.”
OPP intelligence officer Pat Morris says "there was almost no reported criminal activity" across Canada during the convoy's movement across the country prior to the Ottawa protests.
When questioned by Ottawa Police counsel, Morris told the commission that “open fires”, “honking” and “ideological fringe elements” were not considered threats by the OPP intelligence bureau.
Morris also testified to the extent with which OPP spies were embedded inside the protests to collect intelligence on the “mood, tenor and plans” of the protesters.
OPP intelligence officer Pat Morris says that from January 29th until the end of the protests in Ottawa, the OPP had spies embedded into the protests to collect information on "mood, tenor and plans" of the protesters. #POECpic.twitter.com/IGC2lEWObV
Although Morris testified that the protests never reached the OPP’s threshold of a threat to national security, the protests in intelligence reports were labelled a potential threat to national security in part because, as is written in an OPP intelligence report, the “threat to [Canada’s] reputation by virtue of coverage in the international media of what was transpiring in Canada.”
Um, what? OPP says convoy was labelled a potential national security threat in part because of the "threat to [Canada's] reputation by virtue of coverage in the international media of what was transpiring in Canada." pic.twitter.com/BZruLbB6mt
Former Chair of the Ottawa Police Services Board (OPSB) Diane Deans testified in the morning, prior to Morris’ cross examination.
Deans’ testimony spent considerable time on her involvement in the resignation of former police chief Peter Sloly and her eventual resignation from the board as Chair.
Deans went on to accuse Ottawa mayor Jim Watson of using the protest as an opportunity to “settle some old scores” against her.
Former chair of police services board Diane Deans accuses Ottawa mayor Jim Watson of using the Freedom Convoy "crisis" to "settle some old scores."#POECpic.twitter.com/d1UVygZwQV
A recording of a phone call between Deans and Mayor Watson was admitted to the Commission as evidence. In it, Deans asks Watson if council will move a motion of no-confidence in her as Chair of the OPSB and if Watson planned to vote against her. Watson said in the conversation he wasn’t sure.
You can listen to the entire phone conversation between Deans and Watson below.
What happens next?
Hearings resume tomorrow morning at 9:30am ET.
Craig Abrams and Carson Pardy of the OPP and Patricia Ferguson of the Ottawa Police Service are still to testify this week.
