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Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Feds stand by Mexican visa lift as cartels take over fentanyl trade

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The Trudeau government is standing by its decision to no longer require a visa for Mexican citizens even as major cartels have come to dominate trafficking fentanyl and other deadly opioids, True North has learned.

An Aug. 30 investigation by Wall Street Journal details how Mexico’s Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels have overtaken traditional fentanyl suppliers like China in smuggling fentanyl across North America. 

As it stands, Canada no longer requires people travelling from Mexico to acquire a traditional visa to enter the country. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lifted the requirements on Dec. 1, 2016, allowing Mexican citizens to only file a $7 Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) which only takes minutes to complete to be granted entry into Canada. 

When confronted with the cartel’s growing influence on peddling toxic drugs throughout North America, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) told True North that while fighting organized crime was a top priority, the eTA requirement will remain in place. 

“The visa lift underscores the importance Canada places on its friendship with Mexico and the closer ties stemming from the removal of the visa requirement,” said IRCC spokesperson Jeffrey MacDonald in an emailed statement. 

“As part of the process leading to the lifting of the visa requirement, Canada worked closely with its Mexican partners to put in place measures to protect Canada against the risks posed by the arrival of bad faith travellers from Mexico. The Government of Canada carefully monitors any behavior that threatens the security of the country and takes appropriate measures to remedy the situation.” 

Fentanyl and its derivatives have been a leading cause in drug toxicity deaths across Canada. Last year, opioid-related deaths reached 21 per day according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. As of Dec. 2021, an estimated 30,000 people have died as a result of opioid drug toxicity. 

Soon after the visa lift, asylum claims made in Canada by Mexican citizens spiked dramatically. By 2018, immigration offices saw an 840% increase in claimants when compared to the year prior to the lift. 

Cartel involvement in the opioid trade has prompted the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to respond. 

“Those cartels are acting with calculated, deliberate treachery to get fentanyl to the United States and to get people to buy it through fake pills, by hiding it in other drugs, any means that they can take in order to drive addiction and to make money,” said DEA Administrator Anne Milgran in Aug. 

True North reached out to the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to ask what border officials are doing to stem the tide of fentanyl trafficking and whether they are working with their Mexican and US counterparts to address the issue. 

“The CBSA does not comment or speculate on trends. Several elements can have an impact on the number of seizures from year to year. Several factors can impact statistics, such as traveller volumes and/or size/volume of a seizure, as well as ongoing investigations,” CBSA spokesperson Rebecca Purdy told True North. 

“The (CBSA) also works regularly and closely with our domestic and international law enforcement partners in a joint effort to ensure border security, including intelligence and enforcement,” she continued. 

“By means of numerous agreements (both national and international), the CBSA engages and shares information with partners to ensure that illegal goods and nefarious individuals do not enter the country.”

In 2019, it was reported that Canadian authorities lost track of an estimated 400 suspected Mexican cartel members including known hitman Romualdo Lopez-Herrera. Additionally, the CBSA saw an 80% increase in the number of drugs seized along the Canada-US border as well as cases of inadmissibility rising by 500%. 

Toronto cop killer’s criminal record goes back two decades

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The 40-year-old man responsible for a shooting which left two dead, including one Toronto police officer, had a criminal record dating back two decades, records reveal. 

According to the Toronto Star, Sean Petrie has been named as the suspect who killed Const. Andrew Hong in a Mississauga Tim Hortons on Monday. 

“This is devastating news for his family and for all members of the Toronto Police Service and our entire policing community,” said Toronto police chief James Ramer yesterday.

“I committed to his family that they will have the full support of the Toronto Police Service every day going forward.”

Petrie was killed by police following the rampage, which also claimed the life of Shakeel Ashraf and injured three others. 

The suspect’s criminal record included arrests dating back to 2002 over weapons, drugs, robbery, assault and other gang-related charges. 

Petrie was familiar to law enforcement by his early 20s but did not have any arrests in the last six years. 

In Feb. 2002, Petrie was convicted for assault charges and failing to comply with release conditions. 

Parole Board of Canada records also show that he was released from prison in 2010 and was ordered to cut contacts with a gang. 

“Your involvement with these associates has led to your convictions for property crimes, robbery, drug trafficking, and weapon possession,” the board wrote. 

Petrie went on to face charges for child pornography in 2015 and robbery in 2016 but the charges were dropped. 

Similarly, authorities were also aware of Myles Sanderson who was arrested earlier this month after going on a mass stabbing spree in Saskatchewan. Despite having 59 different convictions, the Parole Board of Canada declared in February that Sanderson was a “law-abiding citizen” who did not pose a threat to public safety. 

The latest Toronto shooting prompted comments from Toronto Mayor John Tory and Ontario Premier Doug Ford. 

“This is a tragedy. It’s a senseless tragedy and we just want to send the message to his family but also the larger police family that we will always have their backs,” said Ford. 

“I don’t think there’s a person in Ontario that is out there that’s not feeling a loss. It’s a senseless tragedy. A police officer gets shot because he’s wearing a police uniform.”

Reality Check | The left thinks patriotism is “hateful”

By
Jasmine Moulton
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What do the The Queen, Sir John A MacDonald and the Canadian flag have in common? They’re all symbols of one of the greatest countries in the world that represent equality, individual freedoms and unity… Canada!

But the left sees them as symbols of an empire that espouses hate, colonialism and genocide. This could not be further from the truth. It’s time for a Reality Check.

On this week’s episode, Jasmine Moulton debunks the hateful rhetoric that the left uses to attack Canadian values and nationalism. From the monarchy to the Freedom Convoy, Jasmine shows us why we should celebrate what makes Canada unique and united under our Maple Leaf.

Tune in to Reality Check on True North!

SUBSCRIBE TO REALITY CHECK WITH JASMINE MOULTON

NDP blamed UCP for vaccine portal crash after NDP MLA hacked the system

By
Rachel Parker
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Unsealed court records reveal that Rachel Notley’s NDP knew one of its MLAs hacked Alberta’s vaccine portal causing the system to buckle — and then blamed the UCP government for the system’s failure. 

In September 2021, MLA Thomas Dang allegedly hacked Alberta’s vaccine records system by sending 1.78 million queries to test for a security fault. Meanwhile, Albertans attempting to access their vaccine records through the portal were forced to wait for hours behind a queue of up to 50,o00 users.

Chief Government Whip Brad Rutherford said the NDP crashed Alberta’s vaccine system “yet they chose to play dumb and attack the government anyway.”

“This is probably the most shameless stunt we’ve seen from the Notley NDP so far,” Rutherford said in a statement to True North.

“But this is how the NDP operated throughout the entire pandemic. They only worked to sow chaos and confusion at a time when Opposition parties across Canada were working with government to make people’s lives better.”

In September, a constituent contacted Dang with concerns about potential vulnerabilities on the vaccine portal. Dang used Premier Jason Kenney’s birth date and vaccination dates, which are publicly available, to crack the site’s privacy safeguards.

Between Sept. 19 and 23, Dang’s computer program blasted the system with requests using Kenney’s personal information. Dang admitted to the RCMP that the queries were randomly generated guesses aimed at revealing the Premier’s health care number.

Court documents refer to Dang’s operation as a “brute force attack.”

Court records state: “During this time there were 3.5 million requests using the date of birth of Premier Jason Kenney and a further 1 million requests using the date of birth of Thomas Dang, an MLA from the NDP. This flood of traffic resulted in regular users being unable to access the site to download their own records.”

Records clarify that the 3.5 million figure is both requests to and responses from the website server, meaning Dang made approximately 1.78 million attempts to access the site himself.

Dang has claimed he accessed the site to test vulnerabilities on the newly launched Alberta Health vaccine portal, and upon finding one — and uncovering a woman’s healthcare number in the process — he informed NDP chief of staff Jeremy Nolais and NDP director of communications Benjamin Alldritt, court documents show. 

As the portal froze from the weight of requests, NDP MLAs began attacking the UCP government on Twitter. 

UCP MLA and Energy critic Kathleen Ganley wrote, “If only those who spent hours waiting in cues to get a my AB health account had been told not to bother, sigh.”

“Guess that would have required a government that cared.”

Alldritt retweeted a tweet saying the UCP cancelled dozens of IT contracts when it formed government and probably didn’t think about replacing them “or think about how a vaccine passport might be delivered in the past 18 months.”

Frustrations from regular Albertans also began to pile up as the wait time to enter the portal grew to 14 hours, with one user suggesting it’s time to “fire” the UCP.

Another user said he was lucky to get his records late the night before and said he “hoped the servers hold” for those still trying to access their records. 

Some Albertans began posting screenshots of the number of users ahead of them in line, which showed a queue of 20,000 to 50,000.

In November, Notley said the UCP government is reporting a “possible privacy breach related to vaccine passports.”

“Sharing for awareness,” she wrote.

Notley refrained from attacking the government for the breach. At this time, staff in her personal circle knew Dang had breached the portal in September. 

In response to past media inquiries, the Alberta NDP has said it doesn’t “have dealings” with True North. The party confirmed this is still its policy on Wednesday. 

The RCMP was initially pursuing criminal charges against Dang. In June, he was charged under the province’s Health Information Act for illegally attempting to access private information contained in the Alberta Health vaccine portal in September 2021. He faces a fine of $200,000 if convicted.

Even while party officials were aware of his actions, Dang was promoted to the critic portfolio one month later, in October. He left the party to sit as an Independent MLA once the RCMP began investigating his actions in December.

Rutherford also said the “scandal” extends beyond Dang. 

“But now that Dang has been charged and is facing the courts, we hope to learn more about the role Rachel Notley and her senior staff played in this hacking scandal.”

Federal tourism executives took $32K in bonuses while industry crashed

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Federal executives working for the Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) awarded themselves over a million dollars in bonuses during the pandemic while lockdowns forced the industry to shut down.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) reports that the average bonus for an executive was $32,652. A total of 87% of executives employed by the CTC were granted a bonus.

“Crown corporations should be sharing in the tough times,” said CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano. 

“They should not be handing out bonuses and pay raises while their neighbours outside government take cuts and lose their jobs.”

As executives were taking cushy bonuses, the tourism industry was bleeding jobs. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, a total of 197,000 jobs disappeared, and the sector took a 45% reduction in revenues. 

“We are facing the spectre of an industry in deep crisis with many parts of it on the brink of collapse,” wrote CTC CEO Marsha Walden in the 2021-2025 Corporate Plan Summary. 

“Recovery is expected to take until 2025 at the earliest. The long term impacts are troubling.”

In August, executives working for federal departments complained that they were being overworked. A total of 76% of managers claimed that their working conditions were poor. 

“Executives indicate they are not being recognized for the level of effort and contribution they are putting forward. It should be underscored reward is not limited to compensation,” an internal survey read. 

The number of executives working in top government positions also ballooned by over 21%. 

A record 7,900 new executive positions were added to the public sector, according to the Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX.) 

“Levels of frustration, beyond what has ever been seen before in the executive community, are being measured,” APEX CEO Carl Trottier wrote in April.

“A record number of executives are asking APEX how to be demoted out of the executive cadre stating pay inversion and disrespect by the employer as the main causes.”

LEVY: Woke teacher defames trustee candidates in Waterloo

By
Sue-Ann Levy
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Woke Waterloo music teacher Niki Kazemzadeh took to Twitter just before school started this fall to name her picks for school trustee in October’s election.

In true teacher style, those she thought worthy of being elected got an official green checkmark and those with whom she had concerns got a red stop sign.

She told her followers her opinion is “informed” based on her experiences as a parent, educator and someone who spent the last school year watching every Waterloo region district school board (WRDSB) meeting and live tweeting about each one of them.

She claimed that while she felt the WRDSB had an “enormous amount of work” to continue to do to make schools “truly safe” for all students and staff, it is her opinion as a “white CIS-gender woman” that the important work has started.

She noted that she “firmly and unequivocally” supports gender-affirming language, anti-racist policies, non-carceral policies and approaching curriculum through an equity lens.

Non-carceral means no prison, or perhaps even consequences, for those who engage in violence within WRDSB schools. 

No surprises so far.

Kazemzadeh, who blocked me on Twitter ages ago, regularly retweets attacks from other woke educators about those candidates who want to bring some common sense back to education.

She has also been on a kind of crusade to “Indigenize” music education in her elementary school classrooms.

It should come as no surprise that she has endorsed board chairman Scott Piatkowski, Jayne Herring and the other NDP incumbents who silenced Carolyn Burjoski and Mike Ramsay.

But here’s where she gets herself on shaky ground.

She said she’s concerned (and has raised concerns) about the number of candidates running for trustee who share “transphobic, homophobic and racist views.”

She claims that organizations like the FAIR Education Alliance, Blueprint for Canada and Parents as First Educators have endorsed them as ones who hold “racist, transphobic and homophobic views.”

She adds that these candidates “do NOT align” with board policies of making students feel “safe and seen” in board schools.

There’s that word “safe” again – one that suggests that these trustee candidates, simply for having a differing point of view, will cause students to be harmed, bullied, even treated with violence.

The progressives, sensing that many parents are on to them, are now manipulating public sentiment by trying to suggest an alternate point of view can cause safety issues.

Never mind that this teacher’s whole effort comes across as cyber-bullying. That’s quite fine.

Kazemzadeh not only indicates she won’t endorse them but proceeds to foolishly name the candidates she defames.

She names and shames black trustee Mike Ramsay, who became the target of a vexatious and secretive Code of Conduct complaint for merely disagreeing with the woke policies of WRDSB chairman Piatkowski and his NDP cabal on the board.

She names Cindy Watson, an incumbent, who has been aligned with Ramsay.

Kazamzedah also takes aim at candidate Ahmed Kassad, who emigrated from Egypt and whose platform focuses on academic excellence (and not woke politics.) This is yet more proof that as the white trustees on the WRDSB did with Mike Ramsay, the CIS-gendered woke types will easily target visible minorities if they don’t agree with their foolish policies.

A teacher should not even be posting her choices publicly on social media but they know their social justice unions will protect them.

The same WRDSB Code of Conduct that was used to silence Ramsay should apply to Kazemzadeh and her series of tweets.

It would appear that the woke teacher violated several items under Section 3 of the COC including 3.1.3 which says all members of the school community must “respect differences in people, their ideas and opinions” and 3.1.4 which says school staff must “treat one another with dignity and respect at all times and especially when there is disagreement.”

She also appears to have violated Section 3.1.6 which says all members of the school community should “respect the rights of others.”

But let’s be frank here.

Kazemzadeh will never be subjected to any discipline let alone the vicious witch hunt with which Piatkowski and his NDP cabal on the board targeted Ramsay.

In fact, she will likely be celebrated for her behaviour.

That is how steeped in woke politics the WRDSB has become.

Global News reporter apologizes for heckling Poilievre

By
Andrew Kozak
-

Global News reporter David Akin apologized Tuesday after heckling Pierre Poilievre at his first press conference as Conservative leader.

“Lots of viewers called me about today’s Parliament Hill presser,” Akin wrote in a Tweet. “Many said I was rude and disrespectful to Pierre Poilievre. I agree. I’m sorry for that.”

“We all want politicians to answer questions — but there are better ways of making that point,” wrote Akin.

Poilievre was interrupted several times during a press conference where he was criticizing Trudeau for mismanaging the inflation crisis.

As Poilievre began his presser, Akin can be heard yelling at the Conservative leader and demanding to ask questions. 

“We have a Liberal heckler who snuck in here today.” said Poilievre. “Are you going to let me make my statement? I’ve actually never seen you heckling the Prime Minister.” 

Poilievre eventually told Akin that he’ll answer two questions at the end of the press conference. “Hopefully this time without interruption from the Liberal heckling gathering here.”

In a fundraising email later that day, Poilievre went after Akin writing, “Today, I was delivering a statement about how Trudeau’s inflation is hurting everyday Canadians when someone started shouting.”

“That’s right. David Akin from Global News was swearing, shouting and heckling,” he wrote. “He wasn’t interested in hearing what I had to say, and he certainly wasn’t interested in reporting it in an unbiased way.”

Poilievre used the opportunity to call out the legacy media and repeat his plan to defund the CBC. 

“We can’t count on the media to communicate our messages to Canadians,” he wrote. “We have to go around them and their biased coverage.”

Danielle Smith leadership campaign raises over $1 million

By
Rachel Parker
-

United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership contender Danielle Smith has raised over $1 million for her bid to become Alberta’s next premier — more than the party raised in the first two financial quarters combined. 

On Monday, the Smith campaign announced it had raised $1,040,000 from 5,442 donations, with an average donation of $191.

This surpasses registered donations for the UCP in the first two quarters, but fell short of donations to the Alberta NDP.

“I am incredibly grateful to have the support of so many, and if I am privileged to become leader of the UCP on October 6, I look forward to serving all Albertans as premier,” Smith said in a statement. 

As previously reported by True North, former premier Rachel Notley’s NDP fundraised $1,430,164 in the second quarter, an increase of $393,012 from the first quarter.  Donations to the NDP in the first two quarters total $1,823,176.

The UCP came second with $521,175, a decrease of $366,799, totalling $887,974 for the first two financial quarters. 

The third financial quarter ends at the end of September and the results are typically released a month later. 

In spring 2023, the new UCP leader will face off with the NDP in a general election.

The drop in fundraising for the Conservatives can partly be attributed to the costly leadership race. The seven leadership candidates each raised $175,000 to run. The first $150,000 covers the cost of the leadership race, while the remaining $25,000 is a refundable deposit for compliance with the contest rules. 

In a statement accompanying the fundraising results, the campaign said Smith has focused on standing up for regular Albertans.

“Without question, (Smith) has felt you standing beside her every step of the way. We thank you and are sincerely humbled by your generosity, especially at a time when many people are feeling the pinch from increased living costs.”

UCP members have begun receiving their mail-in ballots. They must be returned by October 4 to be counted. 

There’s also the option to vote in-person on October 6 — the same day the leader will be announced. 

A Mainstreet Research survey conducted earlier this month found that Smith looks poised to win the Premiership with 44% support of party backers. 

Another 20% said they backed Brian Jean in the leadership race, followed by former finance minister Travis Toews with 19%, and 7% for Todd Loewen. Rebecca Schulz received 6%, Leela Aheer had 3% and Rajan Sawhney had 1%.

A rising conservative movement in Quebec (Ft. Eric Duhaime)

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
-

Quebec is currently in the middle of its provincial election campaign. The 2022 campaign has been different from previous ones due to the rise of the Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) and its leader Eric Duhaime.

Under Duhaime’s leadership, the PCQ has gone from 500 to 60,000 members and has polled as high as 24% – despite only receiving 1.46% of the votes in the province’s last provincial election. 

True North’s Elie Cantin-Nantel spoke with Duhaime while he was travelling on his campaign bus. They discussed his platform as well as other issues facing Quebec and its residents.

SAVAGE: Sovereignty Act could be as harmful as the Trudeau government

By
Sonya Savage
-

The Hon. Sonya Savage is Alberta’s Minister of Energy and the MLA for Calgary-North West. Savage is endorsing Travis Toews for leader of the United Conservative Party and Premier of Alberta. 

I just returned from Norway where I attended ONS, the largest energy show in Europe. Over 61,000 people from the energy industry gathered in Stavanger, Norway, to celebrate the energy sector and look to its future.

We are in the midst of a global energy crisis at the same time as geopolitical uncertainty with the weaponization of energy by Russia, but the conference was filled with optimism about how those challenges can be met.

Alberta is positioned to be at the centre of the future of energy, and there is huge interest and confidence in our abilities. It’s not only in our oil and gas production as the world’s third-largest oil reserve, or our natural gas production, there are also new opportunities in hydrogen, carbon capture technologies, critical minerals, helium, geothermal, and small modular reactors.

We are leaders in the energy sector and that is finally, after years of hard work, being recognized globally.

But all of that is at risk if we continue down the path of Danielle Smith’s proposed Sovereignty Act.

We all have a right to be angry about the Trudeau government’s treatment of Alberta’s energy sector. We know the story well: killing the Northern Gateway and Energy East pipelines, destroying prospects to get natural gas to market. And now, at a time when Europe desperately needs more natural gas, it’s tragic that we don’t have the infrastructure to respond. And that failure falls at the feet of Ottawa’s Liberal government.

But I can tell you, for certain, that the Sovereignty Act is NOT the solution. Implementing the Sovereignty Act would create instability and chaos.

It is already doing that. I had international investors concerned about their assets in Alberta asking about what was going on with the Sovereignty Act. 

The Act could rob us of much of the future prosperity that Alberta is on the cusp of achieving. Just as Ottawa robbed us in the past, the Sovereignty Act could squander future opportunities. That’s because it could spook investors who will then look to invest in more stable jurisdictions instead.

In fact, the Sovereignty Act might be just as harmful to Alberta’s future as the Trudeau Liberals have been to our past.

Investors want certainty and predictability. They want to know that places where they build and invest are stable and abide by the rule of law. They want to know that governments follow the law, don’t rip up contracts, and don’t interfere with the courts and law enforcement. They want to know that they are investing in a democracy, not a place where politicians can ignore the laws and the courts. 

And that is the proposed Sovereignty Act in a nutshell. Literally.

The potential tragedy unfolding here is that while the energy sector all over the world is looking toward a bright future, here we are in Alberta creating constitutional chaos. We need to alter course and park the unconstitutional Sovereignty Act. 

Alberta is poised to be central to global energy security. The Sovereignty Act has the potential to be as harmful to Alberta’s future as Ottawa Liberals have been to our past.

We have the opportunity now to be part of a bright energy future and the next leader of our party and Premier of Alberta will make all the difference.

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