The Conservative Party of Quebec (PCQ) unveiled a freedom-themed slogan ahead of the provincial election campaign, which is set to take place on October 3, 2022.
PCQ leader Eric Duhaime revealed Tuesday that the party will run on the slogan “Libres chez-nous”, which translates to “Free in our own home.”
« Libres chez nous ! »
Le slogan du Parti conservateur du Québec de 2022 se veut un clin d’œil au slogan qui a possiblement le plus marqué l’imaginaire québécois, soit celui de Jean Lesage, « Maîtres chez nous ». pic.twitter.com/m0dzwUaAHB
The slogan is a spin on the famous “Maîtres chez-nous” (Masters in our own home) phrase, used in the 1960s during the quiet revolution – a period where Quebec saw major socio-political and socio-cultural reforms.
According to Duhaime, Quebecers are looking for more personal autonomy, and the PCQ is proposing to “give more freedom to all Quebecers.”
“‘Free in our own home’ is about respecting the freedom of choice of each individual, rather than big government imposing its choices,” said Duhaime.
The PCQ leader also touched on some of his party’s proposals, which include tax cuts, reforms to healthcare, more parental autonomy, energy independence and making public transit in Quebec City free rather than building a controversial light rail project which he believes is too expensive.
Duhaime and PCQ have been outspoken opponents of Quebec Premier Francois Legault’s Covid-19 restrictions – which have included lockdowns, curfews and vaccine mandates that limited access to groceries.
The PCQ placed sixth in the last provincial election with 1.46% of the vote; however the party now has over 50,000 members and has made significant gains in both the polls and a recent by-election.
The PCQ is polling in second place in some of the polls published to 338Canada. One Mainstreet poll gave the party 24% support.
According to the Montreal Gazette Editorial Board, the PCQ’s rising popularity makes it difficult for the Legault Government to reimpose Covid restrictions before the election.
“Looking over its shoulder at the rise of the Quebec Conservative Party, a champion of those who oppose mandatory measures, the CAQ (Coalition Avenir Quebec) government will be especially loath to act,” wrote the Editorial Board in a piece calling for the return of mask mandates amid a potential seventh wave.
Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich will remain in jail until at least Friday afternoon as the Justice of the Peace overseeing her bail hearing makes his decision.
BREAKING: Tamara Lich to remain in jail until at least Friday at 1:30pm while judge reviews his notes from today's bail hearing and makes a decision.
At a day-long hearing Tuesday, Crown prosecutors argued that Lich breached her conditions after being photographed alongside fellow organizer Tom Marazzo at a Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms George Jonas Award ceremony in June.
Lich’s bail conditions prohibit communication with a number of people, including Marazzo, unless in the presence of counsel.
Lich’s lawyers argued that counsel was present at the event.
Karimjee and other Crown prosecutors are seeking to have Lich’s bail revoked and to have her detained for her mischief, obstructing police, counselling others to commit mischief and intimidation charges related to the Convoy protests.
According to Ottawa Police Service Det. Chris Benson, he believed appearing in the photograph was a violation of that condition due to the closeness between Marazzo and Lich.
The lawyer representing Lich, Lawrence Greenspon is disputing the Crown’s claims and is arguing that she should be released once again with conditions.
Crown lawyers attempted to have Lich returned to jail in May prior to the awards ceremony.
At the time a judge found that accepting the award was not enough to constitute a violation of the bail conditions placed on her.
“I don’t feel that this is a breach. I don’t feel that that’s what the recognition is for. … I feel that the recognition is for inspiring Canadians to hold the government to account to the rule of law and to uphold their Charter rights,” said Lich at the time.
Judge Kevin Phillips decided that her prior release “remain(ed) appropriate” and that she had already received “a taste of jail” from her prior imprisonment.
The Trudeau government will be disposing of over 50% of the national supply of Covid-19 AstraZeneca shots as doses reach their expiry date.
Efforts to ship AstraZeneca vaccines to other countries or even healthcare providers within Canada were unsuccessful as the federal government couldn’t find any takers.
A total of 13.6 million doses have reached their expiry date and will be tossed into the garbage.
Despite promising that it would distribute 18 million doses to developing nations, Canada has only sent out 9 million to 21 countries.
Health Canada has cited low demand for the product. Currently in Canada, the Pfizer vaccine is the preferred shot used to prevent Covid-19 infection.
Although AstraZeneca has been authorized for use, only 2,812,562 doses have been administered to Canadians. In comparison 55,087,934 doses of the Pfizer shot have made their way into people’s arms.
The rollout of AstraZeneca faced several hurdles including an initial warning from the National Advisory Committee on Immunizations (NACI) advising against the shot’s use for those aged 65-years-old or older. In their ruling, NACI cited limited information on the efficacy of the vaccine, however the warning was later revised and the vaccine found safe for that age group.
As exclusively reported by True North last year, multiple legacy media outlets refused to disclose the AstraZeneca funding of a University of Toronto professor despite citing him as an expert source promoting Covid-19 vaccination.
AstraZeneca Professor of Organic Chemistry Mark Lautens had his op-eds published in the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail without disclosing his association with the vaccine manufacturer.
“The return to vaccine shopping, linked to the arrival of millions of doses of Moderna and ever-changing advice from the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) on AstraZeneca, sheds light on what happens when confused citizens start treating vaccines like shopping for your favourite luxury brand at Holt Renfrew,” Lautens wrote in a June 2021 op-ed.
“I would encourage shopping to help support businesses, not for vaccines. Please. For your sake. For the sake of others.”
As the final leg of the Conservative leadership race begins and campaigns are given access to the party’s preliminary voters list, leadership candidates feel confident about their winning prospects.
Last week, the Conservative Party revealed that 675,000 Conservative Party members would be eligible to vote for the new leader in September – more than twice the number of voters in the last leadership election in 2020.
The party shared the preliminary list of members with the campaigns, which affords candidates the opportunity to reach out to members and try to win their support or change their vote.
True North reached out to all the campaigns to ask if the candidates see a path to victory and how they think they’ll be able to pull off the win.
Leslyn Lewis’ campaign feels she is being underrated, as she was able to surprise many people in the 2020 Conservative leadership race and can surprise people again in this race.
“We definitely believe there is a path to victory for Dr. Lewis, and we will continue to work towards that end until every ballot has been cast,” said Lewis’ campaign manager Steve Outhouse.
While the campaign refused to comment on the campaign’s strategy for victory, the Haldimand-Norfolk MP has been touring the country and drawing modest audiences that are excited about her prospects of winning.
Meanwhile, the Jean Charest campaign is confident that the Conservative Party’s election points system works to their advantage.
“We’ve said all along this race comes down to vote efficiency and points. The winning point tally is 16,901, our data confirms Jean Charest is well positioned to achieve that,” said director of communications Michelle Coates Mather.
The Charest campaign claims that the vast majority of memberships sold are within less than 100 ridings – making the vote extremely concentrated.
According to the Charest campaign, the Conservatives sold 56,000 memberships in Quebec, with Charest being confident he’ll win 80% of Quebec’s support distributed across all 78 ridings.
As long as a riding has a minimum of 100 votes cast, all ridings are worth the same amount of points, and the Charest campaign believes that while they may not win the absolute most votes, they’ll win the most points.
Charest’s campaign also claimed that if he wins the leadership race, leadership contender Pierre Poilievre would have a place in the party and a role to play.
“We know conservatives win when we are united. We all agree it’s time for Trudeau and his far-left NDP-Liberal coalition to go,” said Mather.
The Scott Aitchison campaign believes that with the launch of their upcoming ‘Hope and Respect’ tour across Canada, the campaign will be able to pick up support from the 675,000 party members.
The Aitchison campaign has run a policy-focused campaign, proposing Canada formally recognize Taiwan’s independence, advocating for an end to Canada’s supply management regime and promoting YIMBYism to lower housing prices.
The Roman Baber campaign views the makeup of the Conservative membership optimistically, believing that Baber’s message of democracy resonated with party members.
“There is no question that our message of democracy had a material effect on all campaigns and the race as a whole,” said press secretary Celine Boumitry.
The former Ontario MPP has promoted his vision of a democratic conservatism and has fought to end pandemic measures, even proposing that chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam be fired.
Meanwhile, Patrick Brown’s campaign is confident of their prospects for victory as they believe they’ll win the necessary urban ridings to win and have good down-ballot support.
“Absolutely [Brown] sees a path to victory. Patrick sold 150,000 memberships, by far the most by any candidate in any previous Conservative leadership,” said spokesperson Chisholm Pothier.
While the Brown campaign remains confident, recent developments suggest the Brampton Mayor’s campaign is losing momentum.
In recent weeks, Brown lost his campaign co-chair Michelle Rempel Garner and his campaign manager, Sean Schnell. Further, two of the four Conservative MPs who endorsed Brown switched their support to Poilievre’s campaign.
Brown recently told CBC News that he would consider running for re-election in Brampton if it looks like he will lose to Poilievre in September.
Of all the campaigns, the Pierre Poilevre campaign refused to comment.
Should Canadians be optimistic about the future of Canada?
Is Canada more divided than ever?
What do people think of the Freedom Convoy?
On today’s special episode of the Rupa Subramanya Show, Rupa took to the streets of Ottawa as Canadians from all walks of life and backgrounds gathered in celebration of Canada Day. Rupa asked people for their thoughts on Canada and what needs to be done to repair and unite the country.
For a mother and a daughter from Ottawa, they blame the divisiveness in the country on the policies of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Meanwhile, an immigrant from Guatemala who fled her home 36 years ago says the Freedom Convoy and the government’s response inspired her and her daughter to pray for Canada and for our leaders. She notes how the Canada she came to 36 years ago is not the same Canada that she lives in today.
Listen to their stories and their thoughts on the latest episode of The Rupa Subramanya Show. Tune in now!
Over a dozen unvaccinated healthcare workers who lost their jobs due to the Manitoba government’s vaccine mandate are taking the government and top provincial public health officials to court.
On Jun. 23, the group of sixteen workers placed on unpaid leave filed a statement of claim alleging that their Charter rights were violated.
Those named in the lawsuit include both the federal and provincial attorneys general David Lametti and Kelvin Goertzen, Manitoba’s chief public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin and other regional health authority heads.
“They are left to contemplate whether or not they will have the funds available to meet their basic needs, including the purchase of food, clothing and shelter for themselves and their families,” lawyers wrote.
The lawyer representing the healthcare workers Leighton Grey is asking for $1.5 million in damages for her clients, who were among the 176 unvaccinated healthcare providers fired by Manitoba.
Complainants are also claiming that due to being placed on unpaid leave, they were unable to collect unemployment benefits and were faced with mental anguish as a result of their circumstances.
Additionally, the claim alleges that the mandatory vaccination policy violated their right to liberty and personal autonomy over their physical health.
There has been a recent push to rehire unvaccinated healthcare workers after thousands of them were placed on unpaid leave across Canada for refusing the Covid shot. Meanwhile, emergency rooms across Canada are shutting down as a result of a shortage of healthcare workers.
In May, a group of BC healthcare professionals urged the provincial government to reinstate the former employees as the province’s healthcare system struggles to recover from the pandemic.
“Our healthcare system in B.C. is crumbling,” said BC Healthcare Workers United (BCHWU) spokesperson Laura Milaire.
“Wait times are getting longer and longer, clinic after clinic is closing, and 900,000 B.C. residents are currently without a family doctor. Yet our government officials will not bend.”
“We have perfectly healthy, naturally immune, experienced, talented and passionate healthcare workers, wasting their talent doing unrelated jobs just to make ends meet.”
Despite reassurances from the Trudeau government that the Canadian economy is on the road to recovery, economists are warning that a recession is coming to Canada.
A culmination of rising interest rates, rising inflation, Covid lockdowns in China, sanctions on Russian energy and a contracting US economy is all leading to a Canadian economy that is on the brink of recession.
Despite the best efforts from the Bank of Canada (BoC) to combat inflation by hiking up interest rates to bring down consumer demand, inflation has consistently risen, reaching 7.7% in June 2022.
As the BoC continues to hike rates, the sale of homes in May 2022 fell by 9%, contributing to a 0.1% contraction of GDP.
The effect of a slowing housing market is likely to take a bigger toll on the Canadian economy than on the American economy, as Canada is more than twice as much reliant on the housing market for economic growth compared to the US.
Macquarie Group economist David Doyle says that “When [Canada] has recessions, the lion’s share of the weakness in gross domestic product tends to come from residential investment.”
The housing market dragging Canada’s GDP down could lead to a much more severe recession, causing unemployment to rise higher and the recession to drag on longer.
If a recession does not occur, a period of ‘stagflation’ could take hold.
Stagflation – characterized by a period of stagnant economic growth with high inflation – can take hold if the BoC fails to bring down inflation despite the interest rate hikes.
If the BoC succeeds in its effort to flatline economic growth but fails to bring down inflation, this would be characteristic of a period of stagflation.
China’s policy of eliminating Covid-19 completely has driven the country into mass lockdowns, which is contributing to not only a Chinese economic contraction but is also stunting economic growth worldwide.
China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, and therefore supply chain issues occurring in China have ripple effects, especially concerning Canadian imports.
Chinese economist Si Ling said, “Major exporters to China could be impacted, which will slow the flow of global supply chains through China and drag down global economic growth.”
The cost of living is not likely to improve for Canadians anytime soon.
The BoC will more than likely increase the interest rate by 75 points the next time the board meets, mirroring the US’ FED interest rate increase.
Despite reassurances from Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland that the government is focused on “fiscal restraint,” the Trudeau government continues to spend at an astronomical rate, causing the economy to overheat.
In June, a Scotiabank investors report decried the Trudeau government’s lack of action in reducing government spending, forcing the BoC to hike interest rates. Scotiabank economists argue that the burden of lowering inflation is falling on the private sector as the federal government continues to spend at high levels.
Garnett Genuis is the Conservative MP for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan. In his time as MP, Genuis has raised awareness about international human rights violations and promoted a return to Canada’s principle-based foreign policy. He is currently the Conservative critic for International Development. Learn more about Genuis at www.facebook.com/MPGenuis.
Canadian democracy is in decline.
To even suggest that a few short years ago would have been shocking, but the signs of weakening institutions and fraying checks and balances are now unmistakable.
Critics of the “democratic decline” thesis are quick to point out that Canada is not Russia, Yemen, or China. This is obviously true but these critics are also missing a key point – democracy is not an all-or-nothing proposition.
The state of democracy is measured by the relative performance of a political system on a range of variables over time. There is a lot of space between “perfect democracy” and “complete autocracy.”
Canada has not ceased to be relatively more democratic than many countries, but Canada is also declining away from the attributes of a strong democracy. Rather than congratulating ourselves on the fact that we are doing better than some, Canadians should seize this moment to hold our government accountable and to reverse this trajectory of democratic decline.
The Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) is a global authority ranking the democratic performance of various countries. Their index focuses on five main composite variables – representative government, fundamental rights, checks on government, impartial administration, and participatory engagement. Their data for Canada is cause for concern.
IDEA has repeatedly highlighted the concern of democratic decline happening in certain parts of the world. For Canada, we are seeing the sharpest decline when it comes to the variable “checks on government,” a measure of the limits to executive power. In a well-functioning democracy, the executive arm of government is constrained in their ability to exercise arbitrary power. For IDEA, this attribute combines data related to parliamentary effectiveness, media integrity, and judicial independence, since parliament, media, and the courts are key checks on executive power.
Our overall “checks on government” score has dropped from 0.77 to 0.68 since 2015, moving us from “high performance” to “mid-range performance”. In this attribute, we now rank behind the United States and behind every single country in Western Europe.
Checks on government is a particularly important metric because other metrics depend on it. Fundamental rights, impartial administration, and democratic participation can all start to decline when there are not effective checks on executive power. This drop is quite significant considering that Canada’s performance on this metric did not vary outside the 0.76-0.78 range from 1975-2015. This makes Justin Trudeau the worst performing Canadian Prime Minister in this regard since IDEA started collecting data.
For those who follow the day-to-day of Canadian politics, it’s especially clear now why our performance on democratic accountability has dropped since Trudeau took office.
We are currently dealing with the failure of the government to hand over documents ordered by Parliament, the arbitrary use of the Emergencies Act and failure to hand over cabinet documents to the inquiry charged with looking into that action, the imposition of a draconian “Motion 11,” that gives the executive unprecedented powers to control the Parliamentary agenda, and alleged interference by the government in an RCMP investigation. These are just the key elements of democratic decline that we have seen in the last few months.
All of these actions actually came after IDEA’s most recent numbers came out though, so our score was already dropping under Trudeau well before all of these latest moves.
What has the record of the Trudeau government been on democracy in general? Since taking office Trudeau has dramatically expanded the state broadcaster and started a system of public funding to private media. This has significantly weakened trust in the independence of Canadian media. Trudeau has curtailed the functioning of Parliament and civil liberties, using the pandemic as an excuse to pass many large spending bills without even a modicum of committee scrutiny. He has also broken ethics laws while avoiding serious consequences.
If some nominally “conservative” and/or “populist” leader in central or eastern Europe had the same record as Justin Trudeau on media, on respect for Parliament, on treatment of protestors, and on adherence to law, it’s hard to imagine that they would not find themselves roundly and repeatedly criticized.
Canada is a great country and our greatness has always rested on a strong democratic foundation. That foundation is not about to disappear completely, but it is eroding. There is no sense in waiting for things to get worse before speaking out.
Canadians should prepare to get a Covid shot every nine months in order to be considered “up to date” on their vaccinations by the government, according to health minister Jean-Yves Duclos.
"We will never be fully vaccinated against Covid-19."
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says Canadians need to be "up-to-date" on their vaccines, which he describes as getting the Covid vaccine every nine months. #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/pjuPGbORQa
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Duclos told reporters on Thursday that the previous definition of “fully vaccinated” is no longer effective in protecting Canadians against Covid-19 and that Canadians will “never be fully vaccinated against Covid-19.”
Because of the evolving nature of the virus, the minister believes Canadians should get a Covid shot every nine months to ensure their vaccinations are “up to date.”
“Nine months is very clear and will help people understand why ‘up to date’ is the right way to think about vaccination now,” said Duclos.
“‘Fully vaccinated’ makes no sense now. It’s about ‘up to date.’ So am I up to date in my vaccination? Have I received a vaccination in the last nine months?”
When asked if the minister was setting the stage for a return of vaccine mandates in the fall, Duclos said the government “must continue to fight against Covid.”
Duclos is not the only Canadian government figure warning Canadians about the potential return of restrictions and mandates.
In June, Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam warned of a potential seventh Covid wave and called on Canadians to “prepare” for a fall and winter spike.
“I think the pandemic is not over,” said Tam. “It is very likely that we will get some more viral activity in the future, and we can’t predict exactly how big the next wave is.”
“I think we need to prepare, we need to prepare for the fall and winter season.”
According to the National Advisory Committee on Immunization, 86% of Canadians over the age of 5 have had two Covid shots. In a recent report, the committee said it would “continue to monitor the evidence” on whether third and fourth booster shots were recommended for Canadians.
Roughly 100 Sikh security guards were let go due to the City of Toronto’s mask mandate, which requires them to be clean-shaven. The World Sikh Organization (WSO) is now demanding the city change what it calls a “discriminatory” rule.
According to CBC News, the city has been mandating that security guards wear N95 masks while on the job at settings such as homeless shelters since January. The city confirmed that employees working within the Shelter, Support, and Housing Administration (SSHA) department must wear N95 masks at all times and be clean-shaven so that the masks provide effective protection against Covid-19.
For devout Sikhs, leaving their hair uncut is an important part of their faith. In a practice called Kesh, Sikhs allow one’s hair to grow out naturally out of respect for the perfection of God’s creation.
The WSO wants to see the city compensate and rehire the Sikh guards.
“I feel very humiliated,” said Birkawal Singh Anand, who works for ASP Security.
“If you ask me to clean shave my beard, it’s like peeling off my skin.”
When notified of the requirement last month, Anand said that he applied for a religious exemption but was told that would mean he would be demoted to a lower position with lower pay.
Many of the guards, who are working towards permanent residency, have had to choose between new jobs that didn’t offer permanent residency, finding a different job, getting laid off or shaving their beards.
When CBC News reached out for comment from GardaWorld, a security contractor, they said all employees who are unable to meet the health and safety requirement set out by the city were offered “other and equivalent opportunities within the organization” until the restriction is lifted.
Balpreet Singh, a lawyer with the WSO, said Toronto’s rule feels particularly discriminatory because the policy has remained while nearly all other pandemic restrictions in Ontario have dropped.
“These security guards served at the height of the pandemic without these rules, when things were at their worst,” Singh said.
“But now when, you know, vaccines are very common and things are opening up, they’re being told: ‘No, you can’t serve here because you’ve got a beard.’”
Conservative Leadership Candidate Pierre Poilievre weighed in and called the city’s mask mandate “ridiculous,” adding that the “gatekeepers who made this dumb decision should be held accountable.”
“Having a beard doesn’t prevent someone from safely doing a job as a security guard,” tweeted Poilievre.
“Anyone who lost their job (including Sikh security guards) should be reinstated & compensated for lost pay.”
This is ridiculous. Having a beard doesn’t prevent someone from safely doing a job as security guard.
Anyone who lost their job (including Sikh security guards) should be reinstated & compensated for lost pay.
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) July 4, 2022
The City of Toronto said in an email statement that it’s aware of the WSO’s complaint and said all of the workers affected are employed by contractors and not its own corporate security division.
The city says SSHA policy allows for accommodation for employees, but employees of contractors seeking accommodations should have their requests assessed “in accordance with the contractor’s own human rights policies.”
The WSO says it will consider legal action if the city does not change its rules.
