Surfs up, dudes! It’s National Day of Truth and Reconciliation Day! To commemorate this special day, several “Indigiqueer” artists have decided to perform drag shows for reconciliation. Yep, you read that right.
Plus, this week, legacy media journalists rushed to defend Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s planned payroll tax, claiming that it isn’t really a tax even though it really looks like a tax. It’s a retirement savings plan, apparently.
And what do the Iran protests, Quebec’s Bill 21 and the election of Italy’s Georgia Meloni have in common? They’re all examples of oppressive patriarchy according to one Star columnist. …What?
Lastly, we’re being accused of being “far right” again. This time, because we reported on the fact a West Lincoln councillor was punished for attending the Freedom Convoy and is now taking the township to court.
The Metro Vancouver area has the highest price of gas in all of North America as of Friday.
On average, British Columbians in the region are paying $2.42 per litre at some stations. This comes after an abrupt 40 cent hike to the cost for fuel.
In comparison, the national average is just $1.61 per litre.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a wider gamut of price behaviours coast-to-coast in my career,” said GasBuddy head petroleum analysts Patrick DeHaan.
“A slew of unexpected refinery disruptions, including fires and routine maintenance, have seemingly all happened in a short span of time, causing wholesale gas prices to spike in areas of the West Coast, Great Lakes and Prairies, and some of those areas could see prices spike another 10 to 20 cents per litre or more until issues are worked out.”
“There remain many factors driving prices both up and down across the country,” explained DeHaan.
Despite facing calls to temporarily suspend taxes on gas in British Columbia, Premier John Horgan has refused to budge on the issue.
In March, the BC government announced a $110 rebate for drivers through the Insurance Company of British Columbia.
BC Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation Carson Binda slammed carbon taxes and gas taxes as being one of the factors contributing to unaffordability in the province.
“Here in the Lower Mainland, we have not one but two separate provincial carbon taxes that add about 26 cents a litre every single time you fill up your car,” explained Binda.
“On top of that, we also have a TransLink tax for residents of the Lower Mainland, which adds another 18.5 cents every single time you fill up your vehicle.”
The cost of gas is expected to climb all the way up to $2.46 per litre without any reductions for several weeks.
Mass resignations have forced the Green Party of Canada to change its leadership race plans as people flock to leave the party’s leadership organizing committee.
According to a recent news release by Green Party press secretary Fabrice Lachance Nove, members will now only have one round of voting to elect their new leader by Nov. 19.
“Effective immediately, to merge the first and second rounds of campaigning into a single round of campaigning with a voting period beginning at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on November 12, 2022 and ending at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time on November 19, 2022,” wrote Lachance Nove.
“This will allow all six candidates to run their campaigns through the November voting period.”
The announcement follows a handful of resignations, including leadership committee president Lorraine Rekmans as well as three other committee members.
Rekmans resignation came after interim leader Amita Kuttner claimed she was “misgendered” during a Sept. 3 leadership race launch.
“In moments like these I wonder – how can I ensure other people’s safety if I can’t even ensure my own?” said Kuttner about the incident.
The party stood behind Kuttner claiming it was an example of a pattern of “harassment” by some in the party.
“The September 3 incident was but the latest in a number of similar behavioural patterns that Dr. Kuttner has faced throughout their tenure,” a Green Party statement read.
After her resignation, Rekmans wrote that she was wrongly accused of being at fault over the incident.
“I find that some in [Green Party], wish to cling to the image of a political party that is the same as all the other political parties in Canada, fuelled by money, and controlled by people who wield power,” said Rekmans.
Ontario federal council representative Krystal Brooks also resigned claiming there was ongoing “deep manipulation” with the leadership race.
“I … recognize how deep the manipulation went prior to this event by Interim Leader, Dr. Amita Kuttner, although I’m not certain if you were aware that you were doing this or if you too were being manipulated,” Brooks explained in a Facebook post.
“I have lost all faith in Caucus and those who they choose to hide behind.”
Crown lawyers are arguing against the notion that racial profiling was involved in the routine stop which led to Calgary Police Service Sgt. Andrew Harnett being killed by the suspect in 2020.
Prosecutor Mike Ewenson dismissed claims by the now 19-year-old defendant that he feared racial violence from the officers responding to the call.
“At best, it’s all in the young person’s mind,” said Ewenson.
“He was not thinking what the young person tells you he was thinking that night.”
The man charged in the incident was 17-years-old at the time of Harnett’s death and so is protected by a publication ban under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
“He’s so self-assured he calls the officer ‘brother’ three times. He’s certainly not a shrinking violet . . . they’re talking like peers,” said Ewenson of the suspect’s arrest.
After being pulled over, the suspect allegedly killed Harnett after dragging him over 400 metres with a vehicle and flinging him into oncoming traffic.
“That vehicle’s being operated by this young person at a drastically dangerous speed with a human being on the side, and then efforts are undertaken to discharge that human being into and onto a paved street,” explained Ewenson.
“His flight wasn’t due to panic, it was due to determination to get that vehicle out of there.”
Defence lawyer Zachary Al-Kahtib defended his client saying he was a “young boy who panicked.”
“Historically, Indigenous, Black and racialized communities have different perspectives and experiences with practices such as street checks, carding,” argued Al-Kahtib.
“He’s believable when he says he did not mean to murder Sgt. Harnett.”
The court is expected to make a decision by Oct. 21, 2022 on the case.
Following Harnett’s death, Amir Abdulrahman and the 17-year-old suspect turned themselves in to authorities after warrants were issued for their arrest.
It used to be that high school and college graduates would forgo the potentially bigger money and gamble of the private sector for the security, benefits and gold-plated retirement packages in the federal civil service.
There was also the benefit of anonymity, particularly in government-town Ottawa where every afternoon like clockwork, the offices and cubicles empty as literally thousands head to the exits and home.
But those were the days.
Now comes news, thanks to an order paper question tabled by the Conservatives last week at the request of MP Kelly McCauley, that 90% of public service executives — collected $190 million in total bonuses in 2021-2022 – including those who in passport offices.
In an interview, McCauley called the bonuses “frustrating” and “disappointing” at a time when Canadians are reeling financially from Covid lockdowns and decades-high inflation rates, among other rising costs.
“We should not be rewarding departments that have people waiting outside 12 hours in the snow for a passport,” McCauley said. “We shouldn’t be rewarding anyone at immigration when there’s record backlogs for reuniting families.”
Not the passport office, you say, where waiting for a passport was more akin to Waiting for Godot?
Well, the Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), which oversees Canada’s passport program, paid out $11 million in bonuses for an abysmal failure.
This is totally wrong.
According to the government’s website, executives must meet or exceed commitments contained in their respective annual performance agreements as well as show six “leadership competencies” to be eligible for a bonus.
“Performance pay is an important component of executives’ total compensation package but must be re-earned each year,” Treasury Board Secretariat spokesperson Barb Couperus said in a statement.
“The at-risk nature of performance pay helps to hold executives accountable for delivery of results and excellence in leadership. Executives who do not meet performance expectations or cannot be assessed are not eligible for performance pay.”
With $11 million going to passport executives, who are obviously among the worst in the federal civil service, the Canadian taxpayer is being robbed by bandits in bureaucrats’ clothing.
There should be an uproar in the legacy media but, thus far, there’s been practically zilch.
McCauley also noted that in 2020-2021 (which last year’s performance bonus payments were based on), government departments and agencies only met 45.7% of their combined 2,722 departmental performance results, according to a federal database.
“When you’re missing targets over 50% of the time, taxpayers should not be rewarding failure,” he added.
But this is not new.
The federal government paid out over $171 million in bonuses to executives and public servants for 2019-2020, despite departments achieving less than half of their performance objectives overall that same year.
“You can only shake your head at it,” said McCauley. “I call it a very expensive participation award. Whether you fail or not, you get it.”
As of 2020, there were 300,450 public servants in the federal ranks, which is bigger than the population of the city of Kitchener, bigger than the city of Windsor, but almost equal to the population of Markham.
So it is no small number.
Neither is a $190-miilion payday in bonuses … a reward for a large failure — a failure bonus.
Gone are the days, therefore, when the private sector paid the most, even though their last pay raise was likely too long ago to remember.
Now the federal public service reigns, even though it is wholly unjustifiable.
The City of Toronto has refused to back down on a vaccine mandate for firefighters as organizations and governments across Canada do away with the requirement.
A recent letter by Fire Chief and General Manager Matthew Pegg outlines how firefighters are still required to have one or two shots of a Covid vaccine despite a lengthy arbitration with unvaccinated firefighters.
“The discipline issued to you as a result of non-compliance with the policy shall be removed from your record and your lost service and seniority will be restored,” explains Pegg.
“However, until such time as you provide proof of full vaccination in accordance with the policy or until further notice to you, you shall remain out of the workplace on a leave without pay or benefits, and your status as a city of Toronto employee will remain.”
The letter comes after 13 unvaccinated firefighters won a ruling which declared that the city acted in an unreasonable manner by firing those who refused to get the shot.
“The arbitrator upheld the City’s Mandatory Vaccination Policy as a reasonable exercise of the city’s management rights” city spokesperson Brad Ross told the Toronto Sun.
“The arbitrator found that the city was justified in requiring that a firefighter be vaccinated with two doses in order to report for work in [Toronto Fire Services]. The arbitrator also determined that the policy was reasonable at the time that it was introduced, and further found that the policy continues to be reasonable.”
“While the arbitrator said the discharge of firefighters who refused to be vaccinated was, in effect, automatic and accordingly, unreasonable, the policy still stands. The arbitrator did not order the city to automatically reinstate the firefighters to active duty, though they have now been reactivated as city of Toronto employees,” he continued.
In comparison, Toronto Police Service officers who were unvaccinated have been allowed to return back to work while other first responders like firefighters have not.
The Toronto Professional Fire Fighters Association has not responded to the Fire Chief’s letter to unvaccinated staff.
“Mayor Tory supports the City’s vaccination policy — a policy which the arbitrator in this case upheld as reasonable,” Mayor John Tory’s spokesperson Lawvin Hadisi told the outlet.
“The Mayor has always supported our first responders and is thankful that 99% of City employees, including first responders, got vaccinated. He believes this helped ensure we could maintain frontline services throughout the pandemic.”
Canadians favour the Conservative Party of Canada’s new leader Pierre Poilievre over Justin Trudeau as their top pick for prime minister.
An Ipsos poll commissioned by Global News was conducted after Poilievre’s election to the party’s top post, and found 35% of Canadians believe the new Tory leader is the best choice for prime minister compared to 31% of Canadians who think the same of Trudeau.
Poilievre is polling ahead of Trudeau in every province west of Quebec, including a 41%-34% lead in the vote-rich Greater Toronto Area.
The survey went on to find that 37% of voters said that Trudeau was “in over his head” as the prime minister, while only 21% of voters said the same of Poilievre.
A similar poll conducted just after Erin O’Toole’s election to the Conservative leadership found Trudeau favoured over O’Toole by one point.
The weak numbers by the Trudeau Liberals echo growing frustration among Canadians struggling to manage a higher cost of living resulting from record inflation.
During Poilievre’s leadership campaign, the Carleton MP focused on the cost of living concerns, making clear it clear the current government is to blame with catchphrases like “Justinflation.”
The Poilievre Conservatives have spent much of their time in Question Period attacking the Liberals for their plan to increase taxes and their inability to tame Canada’s record inflation.
With cost of living issues being front of mind for voters, 42% said the Conservatives are the party best equipped to manage the economy and inflation, compared to the Trudeau Liberal’s 33%.
A September Angus Reid poll found that half of Canadians would use “arrogant” to describe Trudeau, with 45% saying they believed him to be “dishonest” and 39% calling him “corrupt.”
An Abacus Data poll echoed the sentiment of the most recent Ipsos poll, finding the Conservatives ahead of the Liberals by five points if an election were held today.
The Trudeau government hasn’t been popular among the Canadian public for several years, as the Liberals only won 32% of the popular vote in the most recent general election.
The findings from the Ipsos poll were gathered between September 19-20. A total of 1,002 Canadians were interviewed – in this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled.
Throughout the pandemic, the Trudeau government politicized Covid and its absurd mandates and restrictions kept families apart and divided Canadian society. This week, however, the Trudeau government finally lifted the mandates and restrictions on travel.
But Shaun Rickard and Karl Harrison aren’t going to let the government off the hook, as they continue their court challenge to the government’s travel vaccine mandate.
However, because the mandates have been lifted, government lawyers have filed a mootness motion — arguing that because the mandates have been suspended the lawsuit challenging the government is no longer relevant. Will the court side with the government?
This week on The Rupa Subramanya show, Shaun and Karl join the show to discuss the latest developments in their ongoing challenge of the government’s mandates and restrictions.
This week, the government of Canada finally came to the conclusion that was reached by the rest of the world months ago – that Covid is over. However, for a certain population in our country, the dropping of mandates was a step too far.
The Covid zealots want to force all of us to wear giant N95 face masks and live in a paralyzed state of fear alongside them. That’s why the hashtag “#BringBackMasks” was trending on Twitter this week. They’re just as scared of a world without masks as they are about the virus.
Also on the show, Canada’s state broadcaster has gone completely off the rails. The CBC aired racist documentaries where a bunch of white women sit around a dinner table and listen to a black woman tell them how racist they all are and how they “uphold white supremacy.” Thanks, CBC.
Tune in now to the latest episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner!
A Saskatchewan woman has been left devastated after her mother died suddenly in a local Shoppers Drug Mart minutes after allegedly receiving her Covid-19 booster dose on Sept. 14.
According to Stephanie Foster, she had spoken to her mother Carol Pearce before she left her house for her vaccine appointment.
“She (texted) me at 12:31 p.m. and said she was waiting her 15 min,” said Foster.
“At 12:38 p.m. she was unconscious.”
One witness to the incident told the outlet SaskToday that people were saying that Pearce had died within “seven minutes” of receiving her shot.
“They were saying in the store that it was about seven minutes,” said an anonymous source.
“It wasn’t long at all before the ambulance was there.”
Saskatchewan Health is now claiming that the death was from “natural causes” after an investigation by the province’s coroner.
“The Saskatchewan coroner’s service has investigated this instance and determined that the person died from natural causes,” said Ministry of Health spokesperson Dale Hunter.
The provincial government has also claimed that as of Sept. 18, there have been “zero deaths” from immunizations.
Foster has disputed the official claims saying her mother was in good health before the incident.
“I do not believe this was caused from natural causes. My mom had no health conditions. I believe had she not gotten that Covid shot then she would be here with us today!” said Foster.
Both she and her mother have complied with all required public health measures, including receiving the recommended amount of vaccinations.
A fundraiser has been set up to help the Foster family pay for funeral arrangements and other expenses.
