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Friday, July 11, 2025

Calgary warns Ottawa’s net-zero electricity plan would hike costs by $45 billion

By
Rachel Parker
-
Source: YouTube

A new energy industry update for the City of Calgary found that proposed net-zero federal electricity regulations would increase electricity prices in Alberta by $45 billion over 15 years. 

The report, prepared by the City’s Corporate Planning and Financial Services, comes amid climbing electricity prices in Alberta partly due to the quick transition from coal to renewable sources. 

The update found that there was a significant change in electricity price predictions from the second financial quarter to the third financial quarter — the latter of which came after the federal government released its Clean Electricity Regulations which includes a commitment to net zero by 2035.

“The new electricity price forecast has prices declining from current highs until 2024 before climbing to prices never seen before in Alberta,” analysts wrote.

“This legislation is the main driver of an unprecedented increase in more recent electricity  price forecasts for 2025 and beyond.”

The update was presented to Calgary’s Community Development Committee on Sept. 27. 

Ottawa’s Clean Electricity Regulations, released on July 26, are part of a suite of federal measures to move Canada’s electricity sector to net zero as “an enabler for broader decarbonization of the economy,” explains a federal government website. 

The report says the new regulations would create a significant impediment to economic growth in Alberta, which is already hindered by sharp increases in electricity costs contributing to “significant local inflation.” Future price declines would be short-lived through 2023 and 2024 before ballooning to $45 billion between 2022 and 2036, the report found.

Tom Olsen, CEO of the Canadian Energy Centre, said the federal government’s proposal is one of several that have made energy costs and hence modern-day life more expensive for Canadians.

“Politics aside, if you focus on a specific outcome without taking into account the entire energy mix and the implications for every day Canadians, economic pain will follow,” he said in an email to True North. “Everything will become more expensive.”

The report also said the Clean Electricity Regulations fail to address environmental impacts that don’t eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. The regulations focus on direct emissions but don’t address environmental impacts from lifecycle or upstream emissions, the report found. 

“For example, wind turbines require a significant amount of oil to operate and solar panel construction requires a considerable quantity of rare elements.”

“Ultimately, there are environmental trade-offs associated with all sources of electricity generation when one considers direct, lifecycle and upstream emissions.”

It also said higher electricity costs will impact lower-income individuals and households disproportionately. 

Legault says immigration hike would be “a bit suicidal” for French fluency

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Premier Francois Legault said on Wednesday that accepting over 50,000 immigrants a year into Quebec would be “a bit suicidal” for French language fluency. 

Legault made the comments while fielding questions from reporters on the decline of Quebeckers who speak French. 

“People say, where did you draw this capacity to integrate (idea) from. The most recent numbers are clear. There is a decline,” said Legault. 

“So if we use the same recipe, it will produce the same cake. What we say is stick with 50,000 but be more demanding on the knowledge of French. But until we have stopped the decline of French, I think that, for the Quebec nation, which wants to protect French, it would be a bit suicidal to increase it.”

Legault’s statements were immediately criticized by the President of Montreal’s Chamber of Commerce Michel Leblanc.

“It’s not suicidal. In our mind, it is not at all suicidal,” said Leblanc. 

“The risk we are living with now is the weakening of companies that want to grow, that want to accept contracts, that want to export and that need (people) to fill these posts. The objective is to integrate them, to make them feel comfortable, to make sure they learn French,” he continued. 

“But we need to have more immigrants. We need to have all the help we can get. That’s the main message from every business, in Montreal but also all across Quebec.”

In defence of his comments, Legault explained that “everybody understands” that he was talking specifically about the decline in the French language. 

“It’s an expression in Quebec to say that if we increase the number of immigrants while French is in decline, it would be a bit suicidal,” said Legault. 

“I think everyone understands what that means. We have to stop the decline (of French). It’s not by increasing immigration that we’ll stop French.”

Opponent and leader of Québec solidaire Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois slammed the premier’s comments as divisive. 

“What is suicide? Suicide is to kill oneself. Is the outgoing premier of Quebec saying that welcoming people to Quebec would bring death to the Quebec nation?” he said.

“What we need in Quebec is a leader who brings people together. Look at what is happening around the world. Look at the rise in conflict and tensions. It seems to me Quebec deserves to be lead by someone who brings Quebecers together no matter what your religion or the colour of your skin or how your name sounds you are a Quebecer. ”

On Tuesday, Quebec Conservative Party leader Eric Duhaime said that while he’s not interested in building a border wall to stop illegal immigration into the province he wouldn’t rule it out as a final option. 

“We should not exclude any option to make sure that we’re standing against Ottawa and telling the federal government that this is not acceptable. Quebec is not going to let in more illegal immigrants to come in than legal immigrants,” said Duhaime. 

Saskatchewan NDP distances themselves from Jagmeet Singh, cancels convention invite

By
Noah Jarvis
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The Saskatchewan NDP’s provincial council has voted to cancel their invitation of federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh to their party convention.

According to the Regina Leader-Post, the Saskatchewan NDP originally planned on inviting Singh to the party convention, but opted not to invite him over concerns that the federal NDP’s reputation holds back the provincial NDP’s success.

Saskatchewan’s NDP feels that the federal NDP’s coalition with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party has hurt the party’s reputation, turning would-be NDP voters into Saskatchewan Party supporters.

The Saskatchewan Party, the province’s dominant centre-right party, has amassed the province’s support by taking a tough stance against the Trudeau government’s efforts to quash resource development and pipelines, policies that Singh’s NDP supports.

The Saskatchewan NDP were trounced in the 2020 general election by Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party, only winning 13 of the 61 seats in the Saskatchewan legislature. 

After the 2020 election, the Saskatchewan NDP concluded that the federal NDP needs to be challenged when they promote policies that are not in the best interest of Saskatchewan.

“Many Saskatchewan New Democrats told us that the federal NDP has reinforced the provincial party’s problems on economic issues and made it more difficult to connect with working class voters in both urban and rural seats,” read a 2020 report reflecting on the NDP’s defeat.

Not everyone was happy with the party’s decision not to invite Singh to the party’s convention, as some raised concerns about not being progressive enough or being perceived as racist. 

Some party members believe that the move makes it look like the province’s NDP is shifting rightward on the political spectrum, with one source telling the Regina Leader-Post that the decision makes it look like the Saskatchewan Party is controlling the narrative. 

After the Saskatchewan NDP’s provincial council voted 30-28 vote to disinvite Singh from the party’s convention, allegedly “a few people” walked out in protest. 

The party made a compromise to instead allow Singh to appear in a video that will be shown at the convention. 

According to Singh’s office, the federal NDP leader looks forward to having discussions with the Saskatchewan NDP leader Carla Beck, as Beck attempts to revive the party from four consecutive electoral defeats. 

ArriveCan chaos caused some travellers to defecate themselves while waiting to cross border

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Parliament was told on Tuesday the government’s controversial ArriveCan app, which was designed to speed up border crossings, actually increased the amount of time travelers spent entering Canada. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, officials with the Customs and Immigration Union told the House of Commons trade committee that things got so bad for some travellers that they defecated themselves while waiting to cross the border. 

“I am hearing from one of our officers at Niagara Falls that he’s had travelers who come through who had actually urinated and defecated themselves having been stuck in the car for so long, to give you an idea of how terrible and drastic the situation at our borders was and how terribly short-staffed we are,” explained national president Mark Weber. 

“The greatest difficulty we had was people simply didn’t know they had to complete the app or we had cases where some people just refused to fill it out,” Weber said. 

“We had to deal with a good 30 to 40 percent of travelers arriving without it completed which caused the four or five-hour lineups that we saw.”

Earlier this week, the Liberals announced they would be making ArriveCan optional for travellers entering Canada and were scrapping remaining border vaccine mandates. 

Records show that over a million travellers passed through the Canadian border without ever using the application and less than 200 were fined for disobeying public health rules. 

House of Commons documents indicate that between Jan. 1 and Aug. 31, a whopping 1,651,900 travellers arrived at the border for entry into Canada without having submitted their public health information through ArriveCAN prior to arrival.”

ArriveCan also caused issues for Hurricane Fiona rescue efforts in Nova Scotia. According to Nova Scotia Power, a US crew assigned to provide aid had an “issue related to ArriveCan” when entering Canada. 

“I do know that there was a situation where some crew from Maine were having an issue at the border, ” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said. 

Nova Scotia’s top doctor rejected invitation to free speech in medicine conference

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang turned down an invitation to an upcoming medical conference on free speech claiming that nobody at the public health unit was available to present. 

True North was shown emails by Free Speech in Medicine conference organizer Dr. Chris Milburn in which Dr. Strang rejected an invitation to appear.

“We would like to invite you personally, or someone you feel could represent public health in your stead, to speak on the issue of how the difficult balance between allaying public fear and maintaining science-based policy was maintained during COVID,” wrote Milburn.

“Thank you for this invitation but none of the (Medical Officer of Health) team is able to present at this conference,” Strang replied. 

Milburn – who was the former department head of emergency medicine for Nova Scotia’s eastern zone – was fired from his three-year position after he gave an interview last year in which he critcized the “de-facto rule” of public health decision-makers. 

Since undergoing the ordeal Milburn has continued his practice as a doctor and hopes that the conference will bring together professionals to underscore the importance freedom of expression plays in science. 

The event will take place from Oct. 28-30 and features notable guests such as Dr. Matt Strauss, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, lawyer Bruce Pardy, journalist Trish Wood and others. According to an agenda posted online, topics to be covered include the polarization of medicine, Covid and kids and the science behind masks. 

Milburn told True North that he doubts Strang’s assertion that there was nobody available to present. 

“They are a huge organization with tons of staff,” said Milburn. “I think what he’s saying, without wanting to say it directly, is: ‘We don’t want to speak at your conference because we don’t owe you any explanations. We do what we want and don’t have to explain it to you, or anyone’.” 

True North reached out to Strang for comment and to ask why he rejected the invitation but did not receive a response by the time the article was published. 

Milburn has presented the event as a fully-fledged academic conference and an opportunity for Canadians to hear directly from those who have been branded as “medical heretics” for voicing opinions contrary to the dominant pandemic narrative.

“I don’t think the general public knew how politically correct and shut down conversations in medicine were even prior to all this crazy stuff happening in the field with critical race theory and all that,” said Milburn. “It was already happening.”

“I think it’s an amazing conference that has pretty privileged information… So it’s going to be typically useful for people to come in here and hear the evidence (for themselves).”

BONOKOSKI: Can Trudeau resurrect his battered persona?

By
Mark Bonokoski
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Will Justin Trudeau stay on as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, or will he make an early exit by re-enacting his late prime ministerial father taking that now-famous walk in the snow?

Like chewing gum on an overnight bedpost, Trudeau has lost a considerable amount of flavour since uprooting the Harper Conservatives in the 2015 federal election.

He has since become a liability, slowly perhaps but assuredly.

Two polls released last week — Nanos and Leger — appeared to produce the writing on the wall for the Trudeau government, both showing the Conservatives in the lead and the Liberals losing ground to a re-emerging NDP.

That, said the Globe and Mail’s Konrad Yakabuski, is a “political scenario made in Tory heaven.”

But it all depends on how the newly minted Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre comes out of the box.

“The steps Mr. Poilievre takes in the coming weeks, both inside and outside the House of Commons, will determine whether he can move beyond empty sound bites (like defunding the CBC, for example, and firing the Bank of Canada governor), he offered precious little in the way of concrete policy proposals during the leadership campaign,” writes Yakabuski.

“Based on his rhetoric, you would have to conclude that, as prime minister, he would undertake a purge of the country’s institutions so brutal and indiscriminate that Ottawa itself might cease to exist.”

This, of course, is more than just a bit of a reach.

Typically, the Tories win when the progressive vote gets split between the Liberals and the NDP. Trudeau has won three elections by minimizing this split, in part by persuading enough progressives that only the Liberals can block a Conservative victory.

That strategy has worked particularly well in Quebec, where the Liberals won 35 seats in 2021.

If Mr. Trudeau remains leader, the Liberals are likely to resort to this strategy again in the next election. But it is far from clear if this tactic would be enough for them to eke out even a minority victory next time. After almost a decade of Trudeau rule, voters will be increasingly open to considering the alternatives. Centrist voters will look at Poilievre.

What they see will depend on whether the Conservative leader succeeds between now and the next election in crafting a credible image as “prime-minister-in-waiting.”

If Poilievre sticks to the tough script he used to win the Tory leadership, he will be a much easier adversary for the Liberals to define.

But Trudeau has been around possibly too long to resurrect his battered persona.

The scandals he endured are no longer as forgivable, and the ethics violations resonate a little louder.

He is no longer the Pied Piper of “sunny ways” and no longer the great hope the Liberals first envisioned when he became leader of the then third-party Liberals.

Canadians have grown tired of him.

But it’s still early days.

The Andrew Lawton Show | Even when lifting restrictions, Trudeau threatens more of them

By
Andrew Lawton
-

The federal government has finally ended the vaccine requirement for entering Canada and is making ArriveCan optional as of October 1. While this is a good thing, it’s too little too late, True North’s Andrew Lawton argues. The federal government has admitted no wrongdoing, and even while Justin Trudeau announced the restrictions were lifting, he threatened more of them if Canadians don’t get boosted.

Also, Conservative Party of Quebec candidate and physician Roy Eappen joins the show to talk about the prospect of a conservative revolution in La belle province.

Plus, the federal government says it’s all about harm reduction but is about to impose a new tax on vaping. Imperial Tobacco Canada president and CEO Ralf Wittenberg joined The Andrew Lawton Show to discuss the war on vaping.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ANDREW LAWTON SHOW

Border guards searched electronic devices of 33,000 travellers

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) searched the phones and electronic devices of over 33,000 travellers before a court case struck down the border agency’s ability to conduct random searches. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the data was provided in an Inquiry of Ministry filed by Conservative MP Raquel Dancho. 

A total of 33,373 devices were randomly searched by CBSA officers between Nov. 1, 2017 and Dec. 31, 2021. 

“How many searches involving the viewing of contents on individuals’ electronic devices has the Border Services Agency conducted?” asked Dancho.

“Information is only available starting from November 1, 2017, which is when the Agency started collecting data on digital device examinations,” explained the CBSA before disclosing the amount.

After legal challenges were filed against the CBSA for treating electronic devices like ordinary goods in 2020, the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the practice breached Canadians’ constitutional rights. 

“Devices now contain vast amounts of data touching on financial and medical details, the personal likes and propensities of users and their geographic movements over time,” explained the court. 

Bill S-7, also known as An Act To Amend The Customs Act, is currently before the House of Commons. The bill would require CBSA officers to prove that there’s a “reasonable general concern” that a law was broken before searching any electronic device. 

“If the agent escorting the dog is bound to have a ‘reasonable suspicion’ to sniff the luggage I think an agent must at least have similar grounds to sniff through my computer,” explained Senator Pierre Dalphond. 

The CBSA debacle is the latest controversy concerning the federal government’s incursion into the privacy rights of Canadians. 

In February, the Liberal government was forced to temporarily suspend a Public Health Agency of Canada surveillance program after it was revealed that the agency had spied on 33 million mobile devices without the consent of Canadians.

While PHAC maintains that it took steps to protect the privacy of Canadians, critics have accused the program of being an unprecedented overreach. 

Record number of illegal crossings into Canada by asylum claimants in 2022

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The number of asylum claimants entering Canada illegally at border crossings like Roxham Road reached a six-year high in 2022. 

From January to August, RCMP figures showed that 23,358 migrants were encountered at illegal border crossings, 13% higher than in 2017 after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that refugees were welcome in Canada and when the federal government first started reporting the data.

Throughout the duration of the pandemic, illegal border crossings fell to their lowest levels in over six years. 

As of Nov. 2021, Trudeau reopened Roxham Road to asylum claimants including those who were unvaccinated despite there being a border vaccine mandate in place at the time. 

The influx of asylum claimants into Quebec forced the provincial government to call for help from Ottawa. 

As a result of the request, the Liberals shipped nearly 2,000 migrants to Ontario. 

Taxpayers are also footing the bills to house the incoming asylum claimants while the government looks for more permanent solutions. 

During a House of Common immigration committee hearing in May, Immigration and Refugee Minister Sean Fraser was grilled by Bloc MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe for having RCMP officers chaperone migrants instead of tackling gun trafficking.

“We have been told that a quarter of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, officers deployed in Quebec are managing the Roxham Road instead of dealing with gun trafficking at the border,” said Brunelle-Duceppe. “Minister, when will you ensure that the safe third country agreement is suspended?”

“I can reassure people that we’re going to continue to work with our provincial counterparts on things like housing, healthcare and improving our asylum system while we continue to work towards modernizing the safe third country agreement,” said Fraser.

The Canadian government is currently preparing to go to court to defend the Safe Third Country Agreement which outlines obligations the US and Canada have when it comes to accepting refugees across the border. 

Calgary’s proposed plastics ban would fine businesses $250 for non-compliance

By
Rachel Parker
-

The City of Calgary’s proposed single-use plastics ban would fine businesses $250 for “offences” like providing unsolicited plastic cutlery or providing shopping bags without charging a fee. 

Calgary is the latest Canadian city to follow the Trudeau Liberals’ efforts to reduce plastics by placing the onus on businesses. 

The city’s proposed “Single-Use Items Bylaw” targets plastic cutlery and shopping bags with minimum fines for businesses beginning at $250 and doubling or tripling with repeated offences. 

A city report says single-use items are often unnecessary and provided only for convenience.

“Single-use items result in negative environmental impacts at all stages of their life cycle,” the report says. 

“The City of Calgary has developed a single-use items reduction strategy to prevent and reduce waste from single-use items regardless of material.”

Items being considered for the ban include, but are not limited to, spoons, forks, knives, chopsticks, utensils, straws, stir sticks, splash sticks, cocktail sticks, toothpicks, pre-packaged condiments and napkins. 

Under the bylaw, a business can only provide plastic cutlery if a customer asks for it. 

The proposal would also ban businesses from providing new shopping bags to customers unless the bag is paper made from at least 40% recycled material or a reusable shopping bag. 

The bylaw also lays out minimum costs businesses must charge for these bags. Beginning Jan. 16, 2024, a new paper bag must cost a minimum of 15 cents, or $1 for a reusable shopping bag. Those costs would increase one year later to 25 cents and $2 for paper bags and reusable bags, respectively. 

If the paper shopping bag doesn’t indicate that it’s made from 40% recycled material, a bylaw enforcement officer can request documentation to ensure the shopping bag meets the criteria. 

A 2011 research paper produced by the Northern Ireland Assembly found that it “takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.”

Offences punishable by $250 include providing a bag to a customer that is not reusable or paper, providing a bag to a customer who did not request one, failing to indicate the bag cost as a separate line item on a customer’s receipt, failing to produce documentation for bylaw enforcement officers, and providing any foodware accessory to a customer when the customer did not request one.

If a person is convicted of the same provision of the bylaw twice within a two year period the penalty would double. If a person is convicted of the same provision of this bylaw three or more times within a two-year period, the fine is tripled. 

The bylaw would come into force on January 16, 2024. 

In the city’s strategy plan, it says businesses will benefit from the bylaw because it will reduce the business’ operation costs. 

“Businesses would retain revenues from the mandatory minimum fee on single-use and new reusable shopping bags, offsetting costs they might incur for purchasing non-plastic alternatives.” 

Under the “social” implication category, the city says they would be “unintended consequences” of the bylaw on “equity-seeking groups.”

The City of Edmonton is also considering banning businesses from offering customers single-use plastic items like shopping bags and foam cups. That bylaw is proposed for June 2023. 

Citizens advocacy group Common Sense Edmonton has started a petition to stop the proposed ban, which it says will hurt consumers while providing no benefit to the environment.

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