This week on the Alberta Roundup with Rachel Emmanuel, Rachel discusses the arrest and release of freedom activist Alex Van Herk. Van Herk, who took part in the Coutts border blockade and the protest for GraceLife Pastor James Coates, was arrested on Thursday by the Alberta RCMP. However, Van Herk was released shortly after when 200 people showed up to an RCMP detachment to protest his detainment.
Plus, United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership candidates sparred on taxes, Alberta’s Covid-19 response and trans athletes at the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) and Rebel News leadership forum and fundraiser in Edmonton.
And UCP leadership candidate Leela Aheer made multiple headlines this week. First, she accused the APP and Rebel News forum of being responsible for “white supremacy, homophobia and racism.” Then her Facebook account was allegedly hacked.
These stories and more on The Alberta Roundup with Rachel Emmanuel!
A large tech trade group in the U.S. is calling for the Trudeau government’s controversial internet regulation bill, Bill C-11, to be rewritten, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“Governments should be modest about imposing obligations on the technological future,” The Consumer Technology Association of Arlington, Virginia (CTA) wrote in a submission to the Senate transport and communications committee on Thursday.
“Specifically, Canada should be cautious and precise about attempting to influence or define the information that is available to users.”
The CTA argues that C-11 fails to define what “commercial” internet programmers are and the bill does not “explicitly exempt videos uploaded on YouTube by everyday users.”
“Individuals and companies communicating on the internet were not like radio and TV broadcasters and should not be regulated under the Broadcasting Act,” said the CTA.
“Ability to share should not be assumed to turn users into broadcasters,” said the CTA. “Nor should it subject users even to remotely comparable obligations and regulations.”
Directors of the CTA include executives with Amazon, Best Buy, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Samsung and Sony.
The CTA are not the only Americans concerned about the government’s internet regulation bill. In July, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai expressed concern about Bill C-11 after meeting with Minister of International Trade Mary Ng.
Despite previous claims made by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez that Bill C-11 would not impact online creators, the Expert Advisory Group on Online Safety said that “misleading political communications” should be federally regulated. Rodriguez’s claims have also been contradicted by the CRTC.
Bill C-11 passed in the House of Commons on June 21 but has faced hurdles in Senate committees. The bill, which aims to amend The Broadcasting Act, would see the CRTC regulate commercial internet programmers like Netflix, YouTube and Facebook.
Hong Kong dissident and journalist Victor Ho says he will not back down on holding elections for a “parliament in exile” in the face of threats from Beijing.
Ho faces arrest by the Hong Kong Security Bureau for his activism. According to him, a team of dissidents are working “full gear” to hold an election for their proposed parliament by 2024.
“Instead, I feel it is ridiculous that a government which never represents its own people now wants to bring me and other activists to justice,” said Ho.
In July, Ho and other Hong Kong activists announced their intention to hold elections triggering a fierce response from authorities beholden to China since the city implemented the Hong Kong National Security Law.
Authorities with the Security Bureau called on people to “dissociate themselves from individuals contravening the Hong Kong National Security Law, and the illegal activities those individuals organized, so as to avoid bearing any unnecessary legal risks.”
The Security Bureau went on to “severely condemn” Ho and others saying they would “spare no efforts in pursuing the cases in accordance with the law in order to bring the offenders to justice.”
Their statement named Ho and the other activists involved in the project.
“No matter where you are located, inside or outside of Hong Kong, you can participate in the voting process,” said Ho.
According to the group, the parliament in exile was founded on “the principle of universal suffrage and will truly represent the voices and interests of Hong Kongers around the world.”
“If you bring democracy back to Hong Kongers, they know how to make the best out of it,” he continued.
Earlier this month, agents with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) met with Ho after he was placed on the blacklist.
According to Ho, the meeting was “friendly and courteous” and the two agents were there to check on his wellbeing.
The Chinese government said it was willing to resort to “forceful measures” should Canada interfere in Taiwan.
China’s warning comes at a time when the federal government mulls sending a delegation of officials to the island nation.
“We urge the Canadian side to abide by the one-China principle and respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” wrote the Chinese embassy in Canada.
“China will take resolute and forceful measures against any country that attempts to interfere with or infringe upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
A trade diplomatic visit has been planned by Ottawa for October. According to Liberal MP Judy Sgro, Canada has no intention to further disrupt relations with China.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged MPs to consider all possible consequences of a possible trip to Taiwan.
“There are significant reflections going on right now,” Trudeau said earlier this month.
“Canada has a long-standing position around China and Taiwan that we will ensure to respect. China’s belligerence around this and their position is, of course, as it has been for a while, troubling,” he added.
“We will ensure that the parliamentarians making the decision to travel or not will be done with all the reflections of the consequences and the impacts of it.”
Tensions with Beijing have been heightened ever since US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan early in August.
“Pelosi’s visit was a political farce and a dangerous, malicious provocation. Pelosi made this provocative visit in disregard of China’s warning,” wrote the Chinese embassy in Canada.
“The visit seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity; violated the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-US joint communiqués; affected the political foundation of China-US relations; and gravely undermined peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
In response to the visit, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) staged advanced military drills in the area surrounding Taiwan.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army continues to train and prepare for war, resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and resolutely crush any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatism and foreign interference attempts,” said PLA spokesperson Wu Qian.
This is not the first time China has threatened Canada with retaliation over its relations with Taiwan.
In June, the Canadian Armed Forces reported that Chinese fighter jets buzzed Canadian aircraft on a routine mission near North Korea.
Unearthed tweets reveal that the Department of Canadian Heritage was warned back in April that it had hired an antisemitic “anti-racism” consultant.
Founder of the Canadian Telecom Summit Mark Goldberg flagged Laith Marouf’s hateful rhetoric in a tweet on April 20, 2022, tagging the official Canadian Heritage Twitter account directly along with Minister Pablo Rodriguez.
“I was surprised to see that the Anti-Racism Action Program was apparently funding a series of programs across the country organized in part by CMAC consultant Laith Marouf, whose @LaithMarouf account was suspended by Twitter for violating its rules against hateful conduct,” wrote Goldberg in a subsequent blog post on the same day.
“Although his notice from Twitter explicitly forbade evasion of the suspension by creating new accounts, he has been spreading his venomous messages under a new Twitter account, @Laith_Marouf.”
The Trudeau government is facing backlash over its decision to employ Marouf to the tune of a $130,800 grant from Canadian taxpayers.
In his tweets, Marouf referred to Jewish people as “loud mouthed bags of human feces” and called for “a bullet to the head” of “Jewish White Supremacists”.
The tweets prompted Minister of Housing and Diversity Ahmed Hussen to cut funding to Marouf’s project, however, critics have called on more accountability from the government for hiring Marouf in the first place.
That PM Trudeau is still silent on this speaks volumes. What an embarrassing lack of leadership from the PM and PMO when only one single Liberal MP is prepared to rightfully call this Minister out. https://t.co/eP71kA78bv
According to Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, he had warned Hussen of Marouf’s antisemitic views well ahead of the story breaking in the news this month.
“I said the contract had to be cancelled. I alerted him and I persistently communicated with the minister in his office, from the day I learned about it, until today, and aggressively demanded that action be taken. Action could have been taken more quickly,” said Housefather in an interview with the National Post.
On this week’s episode of Fake News Friday, Harrison Faulkner and Rupa Subramanya look at Global News’ deep-dive into the alleged threat of the “far right” in Canada. Their journalisming revealed that everybody is “far right” apparently.
From a single photograph between Pierre Poilievre and a controversial podcaster, Global News has concluded that Poilievre is actually a far-right politician in disguise.
Not only that, but Global News claims that podcasters are “dangerous sources of misinformation” and are apparently a threat to democracy.
On a sillier note, Wendy’s is siding with Lisa LaFlamme. That’s right, the fast-food chain changed their logo to a girl with grey hair in solidarity with the fired CTV host. ….Alrighty then.
The Trudeau government says it will exceed its goal of 430,000 new permanent residents for this year.
According to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, Canada saw over 275,000 permanent residents by the end of July.
“This puts us well on track to exceed our goal of 431,000 permanent residents over the course of this year,” Fraser said.
“What we’re seeing right now is a record number of cases come in for applications and record productivity. But still the demand is exceeding our processing capacity for the time being.”
To deal with the surge in new immigrants, the federal government wants to hire 1,250 new immigration officers.
A recent report by Statistics Canada shows that a population increase due to immigration could have severe implications for housing and health care in Canada.
Researchers predict the Canadian population will reach 57 million by 2068 which will inevitably have an impact on the availability of housing, experts say.
“I certainly think we should be able to plan for this level of growth that we know is coming. It absolutely will be a challenge to house this many people,” said Western University Ivey Business School professor Mike Moffatt.
“We need to make sure that we build homes at all price points in order to accommodate a growing population.”
Concerns about Canada’s aging population also loom as the government works to tackle low fertility rates.
“I think most provinces shouldn’t have too much of a problem accommodating for this (population growth). It’s mostly just Ontario and B.C. that I’d be worried about.” Moffatt said.
“Alberta has done a reasonably good job of building enough housing for a growing population. Alberta has been growing quite rapidly over the last few decades and they’ve been able to keep the housing supply up. There’s been issues around land use and environmental issues, but just from a sheer numbers point of view, they’ve been able to do that.”
United Conservative Party (UCP) leadership candidates sparred on taxes, Alberta’s Covid-19 response, and trans athletes on Thursday night.
Independent MLA Todd Loewen, UCP MLA Brian Jean and Danielle Smith attended the Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) and Rebel News leadership forum and fundraiser in Edmonton. Former finance minister Travis Toews and former Children’s Services Minister Rebecca Schulz dropped out late last week, blaming the fundraising efforts for APP which supports an independent Alberta.
Danielle Smith was the only candidate in attendance who said biological men should be allowed to participate in women’s sports in some instances.
Smith suggested testing testosterone levels to determine if a biological male who’s transitioned should be allowed to participate in women’s sports. Some women have very high testosterone levels and there could be another category altogether, Smith continued.
The frontrunner also said she has a non-binary family member.
“We shouldn’t be making any child feel (that) issues they’re struggling with are political football,” Smith said.
Asked about gender transitioning and men performing in women’s sports, Loewen and Jean said there should be two categories — one for biological men and one for biological women.
Loewen said it’s “pretty simple.” Men competing against men and women competing against women is “fair” and how “it’s been done for thousands of years,” he said.
The debate was moderated by APP President Dennis Modry and Rebel News founder Ezra Levant.
Levant said candidates that dropped out “panicked” when CBC News called them with a “gotcha” story. Candidates running to be Premier must show a willingness to engage with people with different views, he said.
Just now at the Alberta Prosperity Project and Rebel News UCP leadership panel in Edmonton, Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich received a standing ovation after @ezralevant said she’s the bravest woman in Canada. Watch below 👇 pic.twitter.com/QStNaxA9Nr
During the event, all candidates agreed the federal government superseded its authority when it used Section 1 of the Canadian Charter to mandate Covid-19 vaccines.
Section 1 was misused, people lost their jobs over the vaccine mandate and the government created needless division, Loewen said.
“The government has taken advantage of that situation,” he said. “And we need to close that door to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Jean said the pandemic has shown Albertans their rights and freedoms are “an illusion” which exist only if the government doesn’t supersede those rights. He promised to amend the Alberta Health Act so it can’t overrule Albertans’ rights again, saying “we can get that done.”
Smith said “everyone let us down” during Covid — the House of Commons, the Senate, the media and health officials. The Alberta government must be the last defense against Ottawa, she said.
“Governments don’t grant rights,” she said. “You are granted those rights by virtue of being human.”
The Former Opposition Wildrose leader received a standing ovation for promising to fire the board of Alberta Health Services (AHS), if elected.
Jean disagreed, saying AHS tried and got it wrong. As the crowd began to boo, Jean pointed out that Smith recently received an endorsement from Immigration Minister Kaycee Madu who was the Justice Minister when pastors were being jailed in Alberta.
“Is (Smith) going to fire (Madu) too?” Jean questioned. “Talk is cheap.”
Loewen took a shot at Smith during a discussion on taxes. He said a provincial sales tax is unnecessary — and that he’s never even “thought” about implementing one. Smith came under fire earlier in the campaign for a September 2020 op-ed in which she advocated for $5 billion in new taxes through a provincial sales tax.
Just now in the Alberta Prosperity Project and Rebel News UCP leadership forum, candidate Todd Loewen says Albertans thought Premier Jason Kenney’s government would be a “bull dog” facing Ottawa but “instead they got a lap dog.” #abpoli
Smith has been targeted by her opponents in all leadership debates, with recent polls placing her ahead of the pack.
The forum was also shrouded by attacks from candidate Leela Aheer, who accused participants of being responsible for “white supremacy, homophobia and racism.”
The APP clapped back in a statement, saying she’s following in the footsteps of Premier Jason Kenney — and that she’s likely to lose her seat in the next election.
“Both Ms. Aheer and Mr. Kenney have failed to understand that their poor performance, lack of integrity, lying, and spineless failure to stand up for Albertans have been at the root of the APP movement,” Modry wrote.
The next official leaders’ debate will be held on August 30 in Edmonton. UCP members will elect a new leader and Premier on October 6.
Coutts border protester Alex Van Herk says the Alberta RCMP dropped a condition which would force him to end contact with his best friend and fellow protester after 200 people showed up to an RCMP detachment to protest his detainment.
On Thursday evening, True North reported that around 30-40 protesters gathered outside the RCMP detachment in Fort MacLeod, Alberta to demand Van Herk’s release. As the night went on, that crowd swelled to 200 people who protested until Van Herk was released.
“If we stand up against tyranny, we have the ability,” Van Herk told True North on Friday morning. “The power is in the people, but the people have to be there to do it.”
As True North previously reported, the RCMP told Van Herk he was being detained for obstruction of a peace officer during demonstrations at GraceLife church. The RCMP told Van Herk’s family he would be released within a matter of hours, but complications began after Van Herk turned himself in.
Van Herk said the RCMP added an additional charge of mischief over $5,000 stemming from the Coutts border blockade. He said he knew the charge was coming and was still willing to sign the documents — until he saw a condition demanding he cease all contact with Marco Van Huigenbos, his best friend of 13 years who was also at Coutts.
“I refused to sign the condition,” Van Herk said.
Supporters were aware Van Herk was supposed to be released by dinner and began to arrive as his detainment continued into the night.
Inside the detachment, Van Herk told the RCMP the crowd will grow “and double every hour.”
“‘If you guys don’t want things to escalate, I suggest you remove that condition,’” Van Herk said he told the RCMP.
The RCMP eventually removed the condition and Van Herk was released around 9 p.m., he said.
At this point, 200 people had arrived to “just surround (the detachment) with support for Alex,” one source told True North. The demonstration included a dozen pieces of farm equipment like combines, tractors, and balers. The police detachment was not barricaded and officers were able to come and go, the source said.
An RCMP media relations officer confirmed that an arrest was made in relation to the Coutts border protest on Thursday and that a peaceful protest ensued outside the Fort Macleod detachment. The RCMP can’t release any names or details until court documents have been sworn, the officer told True North on Friday.
After GraceLife Pastor James Coates was arrested for continuing to preach in breach of Covid-19 restrictions, Van Herk travelled to the church outside Edmonton. A photo of him grabbing a police barricade — which was erected to keep churchgoers from entering their building — went viral. In the photo, Van Herk is seen grabbing one end of the barricade while police are grabbing the other.
Van Herk’s next court date is on October 4 in Lethbridge regarding mischief from Coutts border. He will also appear in court on October 19 in Stony Plain regarding his charges from the GraceLife protest.
Van Herk said not everyone has the support and community he has, but encouraged those people to get involved with freedom groups cropping up across Canada.
“That is my recommendation,” he said. “Let’s try to unify all these groups and work together as a big voice.”
Around 30-40 protesters have gathered outside the RCMP detachment in Fort MacLeod to demand the release of freedom activist Alex Van Herk.
Van Herk was involved in the Coutts border blockade and in the GraceLife church protests.
According to Van Herk’s life-long friend Marco Van Huigenbos, Van Herk is refusing to sign a condition to end contact with Van Huigenbos who was also involved with the Coutts blockade.
Van Herk turned himself into the RCMP on Thursday afternoon.
The RCMP told True North an individual is in custody in Fort MacLeod, but said they can’t release specifics, including names, until charges are laid.
According to sources on the ground, the RCMP told Van Herk he was being detained because of charges from the GraceLife church. But, the RCMP has since added an additional charge of mischief over $5,000 stemming from Coutts.
“He’s not getting released today,” Van Huigenbos said. “At the earliest, bail will be tomorrow.”
The RCMP told Van Herk’s family he would be released within a matter of hours, but the delay appears to be caused by the condition to end contact with his friend which Van Herk has so far refused to sign, Van Huigenbos said.
Van Huigenbos said the condition is “unacceptable.” Van Huigenbos is an elected official — a Fort MacLeod town councillor — and has not been charged with anything.
“We see each other weekly, talk to each other daily,” Van Huigenbos told True North on Thursday evening.
“The (RCMP) are up to something.”
Van Herk protested the arrest of GraceLife Pastor James Coates. The Record.
Protesters are now gathered outside the RCMP detachment demanding Van Herk’s release.
After GraceLife Pastor James Coates was arrested for continuing to preach in breach of Covid-19 restrictions, Van Herk travelled to the church. A photo of him grabbing a police barricade — which was erected to keep churchgoers from entering their building — went viral. In the photo, Van Herk is seen grabbing one end of the barricade while police are grabbing the other.
A source on the ground said the RCMP Serious Crime Division is overseeing the case.
