Alberta United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership candidate Danielle Smith is pledging to ban the province’s post-secondary schools from imposing vaccine mandates on students.
It was wrong for Alberta to deny access and sanction post-secondary students for choosing not to be vaccinated.
In a social media post, Smith said, “it was wrong for Alberta to deny access and sanction post-secondary students for choosing not to be vaccinated.”
“This decision damaged the education and mental health of thousands of Alberta’s best and brightest,” she added. “It can’t happen again.”
Colleges and universities in Alberta imposed strict vaccine mandates last year – taking away a negative test alternative that was previously offered.
Smith says that if elected, she will make it illegal for post-secondary institutions to deny access or place sanctions on students over their vaccination status.
In addition, Smith said she will not allow for more campus shutdowns.
“The protection of our students’ rights to pursue their education and respect for their bodily autonomy is non-negotiable.”
True North reached out to Smith’s campaign to ask if she would also ban post-secondary institutions from imposing their own mask mandates, but they did not respond in time for publication.
Smith’s promise comes amid outrage over the University of Western Ontario’s decision to require students, staff and visitors to have a booster shot and wear medical-grade masks in instructional spaces.
Students behind a campaign opposing the mandates called Enough is Enough Western organized an in-person protest against the policy last Saturday, which was attended by over 400 people.
Large group protesting Western University’s decision to mandate COVID-19 booster doses. Spoke with some very confused and disappointed students today.
Some have since called on Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government to ban university mandates – something they have yet to do. They are however asking post-secondary institutions to follow the guidelines of the province’s chief medical officer – who ended vaccination requirements and mask mandates in March.
As for Alberta’s major post secondary institutions: The University of Calgary, Mount Royal University, The University of Alberta, MacEwan University and the University of Lethbridge are all currently not mandating Covid-19 vaccines or masks for the fall semester.
Western University’s requirement for students and staff to disclose vaccination status to return to campus next year contravenes provincial information and privacy laws, according to a demand letter sent to the university by a civil liberties lawyer on behalf of several Western students.
The letter was sent by Lisa Bildy of Libertas Law, who writes that she represents “a group of students who are registered to attend Western University’s upcoming fall semester, and their parents.”
Bildy’s letter says there are “numerous causes of action” her clients might pursue in the future, but she focuses specifically on the privacy laws which limit how institutions can collect and store personal data, in particular health information.
“Western does not have authorization under either the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (“FIPPA”) or under the Personal Health Information Protection Act (“PHIPA”) to collect the personal information of its staff and students,” the letter says.
In its Covid vaccination policy, Western says its vaccination records and requests for accommodation will comply with FIPPA and PHIPA, but Bildy says this is difficult to square with what those acts actually say.
PHIPA does not include universities as “health information custodians” except in circumstances where they are operating hospitals or health care clinics.
“(PHIPA) does not empower institutions to demand medical information that FIPPA prohibits them from collecting,” Bildy writes.
Western’s vaccine policy, announced last week, requires all students, staff and visitors to have at least three doses of a Covid vaccine and to provide proof of vaccination status to the university by October 1 to be allowed on campus. The policy was announced two weeks before the start of the school year.
“You are inexplicably mandating a blanket medical treatment without any consideration of individual risk factors, natural immunity, or the ethics (or lack thereof) of coercing injections to receive education service,” Bildy writes. “This is unconscionable.”
Bildy notes that universities may have found legal justification for their proof of vaccination requirements last year under the Reopening Ontario Act, but that act has effectively been revoked with no state of emergency in effect in Ontario.
“Therefore, the university has no legal authority to require students, employees or visitors to disclose whether they have taken an injection (whether one, two, three or ten),” Bildy writes. “To be clear, my clients will not be disclosing their private medical information to Western. It is simply none of your business.”
The letter leaves the door open to litigation, but says Western can avoid this simply by “amending the Policy to merely recommend the booster shot and leaving the ultimate decision for individual consideration, as most of the world is now doing.”
As governments across Canada continue to tout the importance of combatting climate change, internal government research finds the primary concern for Canadians is the rising costs of goods and services caused by inflation.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, inflation is a more significant concern for Canadians than crime, terrorism or climate change, finds the department of finance report titled ‘Research On The State Of The Economy.’
“The main economic issue of concern was clearly inflation and prices,” reads the report.
“Participants consistently referred to rising grocery and gasoline prices and in many cases also mentioned housing and utility bills. It was noted wages have not kept up.”
The report’s findings are supported by a Pollara Strategic Insights rage index survey that found that 83% of Canadians are angry about inflation and 79% are angry about gas prices.
Canada’s annual inflation rate reached its highest level in June at 8.1% and has recently levelled off at7.6%, leading to millions of Canadians having to tack on debt and take out loans to cover their general expenses.
The department of finance report found Canadians “expressed pessimism and concern about the Canadian economy.”
“When asked to provide one word to describe the state of the Canadian economy, the words used tended to convoy sentiments of uncertainty and pessimism and included ‘poor,’ ‘unstable,’ ‘volatile,’ ‘inflation,’ ‘challenging,’ ‘struggling’ and ‘high prices.’”
While the report found that many Canadians couldn’t point to the cause of the inflation, most pointed to economic concerns that inflationary pressures have exacerbated.
73% of Canadians rated the cost of living as a significant concern, with 62% saying that their generation is worse off than their parent’s generation when it comes to housing.
In recent months, the Trudeau government has deflected responsibility for Canada’s high inflation, blaming the Russia-Ukraine war and supply chain issues.
In July, the finance minister and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland dismissed the effect of high gas prices on Canadians, instead emphasizing that higher gas prices help forward the government’s green agenda.
“From my perspective, this price increase in fuel costs is a reminder of why climate action is so important and why as a country, we have to work even harder and move even faster towards a green economy. It’s an insurance policy against higher energy prices,” said Freeland at a July press conference.
Conservative Party of Canada leadership frontrunner Pierre Poilievre has centred his campaign around the message of “Justinflation,” the idea that the Trudeau administration is mainly responsible for the high level of inflation Canada currently faces.
“The more Trudeau spends, the more things cost. It is JustinFlation,” reads a Poilievre campaign press release.
In June, Freeland unveiled an $8.9 billion plan to help quash inflation. However, the Trudeau government had already announced the touted funds in the 2022 budget months ago.
Despite the Trudeau government’s attempts to ease the concerns of Canadians, the finance department’s report finds that most Canadians “were pessimistic about the coming year” and that “they expected prices to keep rising.”
In a Health Canada audit of the Trudeau government’s failed Covid Alert application, federal officials mulled how to “ensure the successful development” of a next-gen contact tracing application for the future.
The audit titled Evaluation of the National COVID-19 Exposure Notification App was completed by the Office of Audit and Evaluation at Health Canada (PHAC) and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
“The evaluation reviewed a number of lines of evidence, including document and public opinion research (POR) reviews, and interviews with internal and external key informants,” wrote government auditors.
“As a result, a few lessons learned emerged and should be considered to ensure the successful development and launch of a similar app by the Government of Canada in the future.”
Ottawa retired the $20 million contact tracing program on Jun. 17, 2022 after Canadians refused to use the application. Despite receiving 6.89 million downloads, Canadians only activated 57,704 user keys – representing only 0.001% of the population.
As a result of Covid Alert, only 2,446 confirmed cases of the virus were identified.
Despite the abhorrent usage statistics, the federal government wants to ramp up data collection for public health purposes while maintaining that privacy rights will be respected.
“While keeping privacy at the core of app design, explore options to increase the ability to collect data, including personal information, to aid public health measures,” auditors explained.
“Any discussion about the collection of personal information would benefit from early engagement of internal privacy experts and (the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.)”
The audit notes that privacy was the primary concern for Canadians who refused to use the application.
“Trust in government is also clearly an issue. When asked if they believe the government does not collect their personal information and that it does not allow the (Government of Canada) to determine their location, more than one-half (52%) of survey respondents did not believe the government,” the audit read.
Earlier this year PHAC, was forced to suspend a mass data collection program after it was revealed that the agency was spying on 33 million mobile devices of Canadians without their knowledge.
Travis Toews is running to become the next leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) and the Premier of Alberta. Toews served as Alberta’s Minister of Finance for three years prior to running for the leadership. Toews represents the riding of Grande Prairie-Wapiti.
The Chancellor of Germany just made a rare visit to Canada looking for help breaking his country’s reliance on Russia for their basic energy needs – especially their supply of natural gas.
Given that Canada is the fifth largest producer of natural gas, and a close ally to all of Europe, it should be no surprise that he and his neighbours would look to us to export our valuable resource. With only two other free nations in thetop 15 provenreservesaround the world, it should be a no-brainer that they would want our resources and that we would be eager to sell them.
Instead, Prime Minister Trudeau declared there “is no business case” for getting our natural gas to Europe.
Despite scores of analysts signalling a shortage of liquified natural gas (LNG) since Trudeau took office in 2015, he has made it clear his government does not support Canada getting the infrastructure in place to be the provider of choice to Europe and Asia.
The federal government’s obsession with emissions reductions at the expense of everything else over the last seven years has left Canada unable — and even unwilling — to come to the aid of our geopolitical allies as Russia invades Ukraine, and openly threatens the security of Europe more broadly.
When you consider that our LNG would displace coal plants in Europe, and the dozens under construction in Asia, we are also undermining the supposed purpose of these anti-development policies – lowering global emissions.
The Chancellor’s visit has laid bare Trudeau’s utter lack of leadership when it comes to Canada’s resources.
The U.S. recognized the huge demand for LNG in 2015 and went from exporting none to taking the top spot amongst exporters earlier this year. In that same period, 18 different LNG projects have been proposed in Canada, with only one actually underway – Coastal Gaslink, which is constantly under siege by environmental activists.
With global demand expected to rise over the next 30 years, it is not too late for Canada to play its part in providing good jobs for Canadians, while providing the lowest-carbon natural gas in the world to Europe and Asia.
It will not happen, however, so long as the federal government is pursuing its so-called “Just Transition” aimed at phasing out the highly profitable production of oil and gas in Canada. All that does is force allies like Germany to send billions of dollars to strengthen dictatorships like Russia and in the Middle East.
Alberta can and must lead a strong shift in attitudes and policies in Canada in favour of responsible production of energy. There’s not just an economic imperative to do this, but it is increasingly clear that it is a moral one.
We’ve already begun this work by bypassing Ottawa and directly engaging foreign governments, particularly in Washington. Influential Senator Joe Manchin responded by making a trip to Alberta to meet with our energy community and affirm Canada’s status as their supplier of choice.
I also strongly support fighting against egregious federal legislation like Bill C-69. Our challenge to it is making its way to the Supreme Court with the support of every province.
Much more, however, clearly needs to be done if we are going to come anywhere close to Canada reaching its potential as an economic and geo-political power.
There’s some basic facts that many Canadians (and apparently our federal Cabinet Ministers) are clearly unaware of. Canada’s energy sector is a world leader in reducing emissions per unit of production. Our natural gas in particular would be the lowest-emission LNG in the world. Europe has classified natural gas as a green fuel because it is so effective at displacing coal.
In addition to the clear environmental benefits, our energy sector has made incredible gains by partnering with Indigenous communities. Coastal Gaslink has agreements with every nation along the route ensuring Indigenous Canadians can be partners in prosperity. Alberta’s Indigenous Opportunities Corporation is a giant step forward in facilitating these partnerships and should be replicated in other provinces.
By any reasonable environmental, social, and governance metric (ESG), Canada is clearly the major producer that global investors and customers should be looking to for LNG. The ‘transition’ Canada needs now is for our federal government to embrace that role and put urgency and common-sense back into our regulatory system.
By Dec. 2021, Canada saw twice as many public sector employees working from home than the United States did, according to a new Statistics Canada report.
The Aug. 24 report by analysts Sean Clarke and Vincent Hardy titled Working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic: How rates in Canada and the United States compare found that US civil servants returned to their workplace much faster than their Canadian counterparts.
“Generally, industries with the highest rates of work from home tend to be professional services, such as educational services; professional and technical services; financial activities; information, culture and recreation; and public administration,” wrote Clarke and Hardy.
In Dec. 2021, 50.4% of Canada’s public administration sector was working from home, while in the US only 20.7% of their civil servants were doing the same. At the time, both countries were coming out of an Omicron wave.
“We know what to do, we know how to wear masks, we know how to keep our distances, we know how to reduce our contact numbers, and if we do that well, over the next couple of weeks we’re going to see a better winter, and especially a better spring than otherwise,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the time.
Remote working rates between the two neighbouring countries were much more aligned the year prior. According to Statistics Canada, in May 2020, 59.6% of Canadian public administrators were working from home while in the US, 45.5% were doing the same.
“Throughout the course of the pandemic, the percentage of those working from home declined across all industries. The decreases were generally faster in the United States than in Canada, and there was significant variation from industry to industry,” wrote Clarke and Hardy.
Analysts found that Canada’s strict Covid-19 restrictions could account for why Canadian workers refused to return to their workplaces while American ones did not.
“Measures began to become more stringent again in the fall of 2020 at more or less the same rate between the two countries,” wrote Clarke and Hardy.
“However, into and throughout 2021, Canada’s stringency level was significantly higher than that in the United States, suggesting that COVID-19 measures in the United States tended to be less restrictive than those in Canada during this period.”
Critics have accused the Liberals of being beholden to unnecessary Covid-19 restrictions such as the remaining ArriveCAN app as the rest of the world moves beyond the pandemic.
Another Statistics Canada report recently revealed that restrictions had “more of an impact” on Canada’s air industry than other factors.
Canadian public servants have also been reluctant to return to work. Unions representing government employees are pushing back against federal calls to return to the workplace.
Ontario’s first community opportunities advocate Jamil Jivani called education minister Stephen Lecce “incompetent” after resigning from the position following the 2022 Ontario general election.
Jivani was made Ontario’s advocate for community opportunities in December 2019 to elevate the voices of Ontario’s communities and influence the public policy decisions made by the provincial government.
In Jivani’s June resignation letter, he cites “challenging government decisions” that he disapproved of and felt compelled to speak out against.
Specifically, Jivani objected to the Ford government’s decision to shut down schools as a pandemic measure because of the policy’s harmful impact on students.
“Ontario’s Education Minister Stephen Lecce closed schools for longer than any other education minister in Canada. Despite warnings about the impact of school closures, Ontario students began the 2021-2022 academic year without meaningful supports for learning recovery,” says Jivani in his resignation letter.
Jivani also objected to the Ford government’s imposition of vaccine mandates and passports, measures that he says disproportionately affect black Canadians and other marginalized minorities.
In a June tweet, Jivani comments on the importance of education as a provincial responsibility to highlight that minister Lecce should not be responsible for the province’s education.
“Education is one of the most important government offices in Ontario. Yet, it continues to be led by an incompetent minister, Stephen Lecce, who refuses to adequately acknowledge the harmful impact of his decisions on the most vulnerable children.”
Jivani has been vocally critical of Lecce throughout the pandemic, calling for Premier Doug Ford to dump Lecce from the education file in a 2021 op-ed.
“Education Minister Stephen Lecce is a woke liberal in conservative clothing who has turned his back on parents,” said Jivani.
“Lecce offers the kind of virtue signalling that Ontarians came to expect from the previous Liberal government, and very little in terms of real solutions that would benefit children.”
Jivani has continued to be highly critical of the Ontario government’s handling of reintegrating students into the school system after the dropping of most pandemic measures.
In one tweet, Jivani responded to the Ontario ministry of education’s assurance that they are doing everything they can to overcome the challenges of the pandemic, calling it “nuts.”
“Ontario Ministry of Education claims they’re doing enough to help vulnerable kids because they’re pushing kids through the system to graduate on time. Students, teachers, parents deserve so much better,” reads Jivani’s tweet.
In February, Jivani was fired by Bell Media and iHeartRadio under dubious circumstances, as Jivani argues he was terminated because of his conservative views.
As president of the Canada Strong and Free Network president, Jivani co-moderated an unofficial Conservative Party of Canada leadership debate with True North’s Candice Malcolm in May.
It’s been one week since Western University announced its booster mandate for the upcoming year, a policy that’s been criticized by lawyers, doctors, professors and Western students alike. Over the weekend, hundreds of people protested the policy on Western’s campus. In this special edition of The Andrew Lawton Show, Andrew discussed the mandate with infectious diseases specialist Dr. Martha Fulford, law professor Bruce Pardy, ethics scholar Prof. Julie Ponesse, and student activist Kendra Hancock.
United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership candidate Danielle Smith says she will not engage in cancel culture after a member of her campaign staff was harassed following reports he used to be a Liberal and NDP candidate.
The National Telegraph on Sunday reported that Smith’s campaign manager for northern Alberta, Mike Butler, is a former provincial and federal NDP and Liberal Party candidate. The article includes a photo of Butler’s business card, which includes his name, title and phone number.
Smith said some leadership campaigns are targeting her campaign staff and volunteers with online abuse for political purposes.
“We will not engage or participate in this kind of cancel culture tactic,” she said in a statement to True North. “Albertans from all walks of life and backgrounds have volunteered their time and efforts to this movement and we welcome them.”
The Telegraph also reported on Butler’s comments from February 2021, in which he praised the performance of the British Columbia NDP while stating that he is still a “strong federal Liberal.”
“I want to thank the BC NDP for handling this pandemic responsibility with positive effects for everyday people,” Butler said at the time. “I am obviously a strong federal Liberal and proud of the hard work our Prime Minister and government [that] has really been there for our family.”
Ralph Ambrose, who makes videos commenting on political discourse in Alberta and Canada, posted a video about trusting politicians. He recapped Butler’s role in politics and the Smith campaign and included a photo of Butler’s business card.
“Can we trust Danielle Smith to run the United Conservative Party — Conservative Party — if this is the sort of person she has on payroll,” Ambrose questioned.
The video was posted Sunday morning and had been viewed 26,000 times by publication deadline on Monday.
Ambrose regularly makes posts against Smith and in support of Brian Jean. The Jean campaign said Ambrose has supported Jean over the years, but has no formal role in the campaign.
Ambrose also said Smith chose to put Butler on her campaign payroll.
“Your fundraising money is being spent on NDP supporters,” he said to viewers.
Smith told the National Telegraph on Saturday that her campaign manager Matthew Altheim does all the hiring and said “we are trying to build a big tent here.”
Butler is a government relations director at the Optimus Group. The company’s website includes photos of him with various political leaders, including Smith, Premier Jason Kenney, former NDP leader Jack Layton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Ontario Liberal Party leader Kathleen Wynne.
In an op-ed published in the Western Standard on Monday, Butler explained he used to support Trudeau, but his political views changed during the pandemic. He said he realized civil freedoms are of the utmost importance to a healthy democracy and that liberty matters to him.
He also said he felt “isolated and locked down” after refusing the Covid-19 vaccine.
“Because I am supporting Danielle Smith, people supporting other campaigns have been trying to cancel me in the last couple of days,” he wrote. “In fact, some have plastered my cell phone number all over social media in an effort to dox me. I feel this goes beyond what is reasonable to do.”
Smith said her campaign will not be commenting further on internal campaign volunteers and staff going forward.
“We are focused on the issues members and Albertans care about rather than political hatchet jobs on volunteers and staff.”
Recent polls have placed Smith ahead of her six opponents. UCP members will elect a new leader and Premier on October 6.
United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership candidate Danielle Smith says she wouldn’t permit federal “climate cops” to operate in Alberta, if elected Premier.
She made the comments in response to an Environment and Climate Change Canada job posting for an “Enforcement Officer.”
Should the federal government send ECCC enforcement officers, Smith said her Alberta Sovereignty Act would bar them from the province.
“Is (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau seriously hiring Climate Change Enforcement Officers? As Premier, we will not permit any Federal climate cops to operate in Alberta by virtue of the Alberta Sovereignty Act,” Smith wrote in a fundraising email.
“Alberta needs its own provincial police force for reasons just like this and we need the Alberta Sovereignty Act to stand up to Trudeau for what ever wild idea he has next!”
The Alberta Sovereignty Act proposes to refuse to enforce federal legislation that interferes with provincial jurisdiction or that constitutes an attack on the interests of Alberta.
According to a job posting on LinkedIn, the “Enforcement Officer” would be categorized under “Environmental (Pollution) Enforcement” and would conduct inspections to ensure compliance with federal environmental laws.
The officer would investigate alleged violations of federal environmental laws “including taking statements from witnesses or accused persons, preparing and executing search warrants, reviewing and assessing evidence, and preparing court briefs.” The officer would also work with partner law enforcement, regulatory enforcement agencies and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
“Environmental Enforcement Officers are required to wear uniforms and carry officer safety equipment (such as: duty belt, body armour, hand cuffs, baton and prohibited weapons such as OC spray),” the posting reads.
Smith wondered why the enforcement officers would need body armour, batons and other weapons.
“I am sure you have the same questions as me,” she wrote to supporters.
On Tuesday, The Counter Signal reported that ECCC is building a new facility in Winnipeg that will include a firearms armoury and “controlled quiet rooms.” The publication obtained documents showing draft plans for the new facility.
Environment Canada did not respond to a request for comment from True North about the plans on Monday. True North has not independently authenticated the leaked document.
The announcement follows ECCC staff trespassing on Saskatchewan farmland to test the water.
The federal government has said it’s investigating the incidents. The agency confirmed that water scientists were approached by one landowner who notified them they were on private land as they took samples near a highway in Pense, Sask. on August 11. The Saskatchewan government alleges there were multiple trespassing offences.
Smith has pitched the Sovereignty Act as a means to deal with almost all federal interference in Alberta. But all her leadership opponents but one — Todd Loewen — say it won’t work because it calls for a breaking of the rule of law and would ruin investment in Alberta.
Earlier this month on his radio show, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said Smith’s Sovereignty Act is “nuts” and would make Alberta a “laughingstock.” In response, Smith urged Kenney not to interfere in the ongoing race to replace him.
UCP members will elect a new leader and Premier on October 6.
