On this week’s episode of Ratio’d with Harrison Faulkner, Harrison takes a look on TikTok for some of the cringiest examples of woke activists calling on Canadians to #CancelCanadaDay. Even when a lot of the claims surrounding the unmarked graves have been debunked in recent weeks, the activists won’t stop calling Canada a “genocidal state.” Harrison says Canadians should ignore the woke mob and celebrate Canada Day!
Plus, as Canadians head to the nation’s capital to celebrate Canada Day, Ottawa Police have beefed up security and are on the prowl for “racist, homophobic, misogynist signs and speech.” We’re not really sure what counts as a “misogynist sign” but we hope everybody has a fun time this weekend.
And the winner of the Ratio of the Week Award goes to…Toronto Star columnist Althia Raj! This week, in the wake of the reversal of Roe v Wade in the US, Raj demanded Canadian Conservative leadership candidates shame the US Supreme Court. Go get em, Althia!
Canadian airports are facing excessively long line-ups and flight cancellations despite the Trudeau government creating a task force of cabinet ministers to solve the problem.
As a result of the chaos at airports, Air Canada will be cutting hundreds of flights from their schedule in hopes they’ll be able to better accommodate travellers.
The airline will have to reduce its normal schedule of around 1,000 flights per day by an average of 154 flights per day for July and August in hopes fewer travellers will have their flights delayed or cancelled because of airport conditions.
Air Canada CEO said Michael Rousseau said “Regrettably, things are not business as usual in our industry globally, and this is affecting our operations and our ability to serve you with our normal standards of care.”
“The Covid-19 pandemic brought the world air transport system to a halt in early 2020. Now, after more than two years, global travel is resurgent, and people are returning to flying at a rate never seen in our industry.”
The terrible airport conditions have pressured the Trudeau government to act, as they paused the domestic vaccine mandate for domestic travel and created a committee of cabinet members to discuss the problem of delayed government services including airport delays.
Despite the creation of this cabinet committee, travelers are still facing long lines and flights being cancelled or delayed as flyers wait for their planes.
According to Datawazo, between Jun 23-29, 50% of domestic and international flight have either been delayed or cancelled.
Some of Canada’s most popular airports have been hit the worse – Ottawa international Airport is seeing 53% of flights cancelled or delayed, Calgary at 50%, Pearson International Airport at 63% and Montreal Trudeau international at 58%.
Travellers have expressed their anger with the state of Canada’s airports, taking their voices to social media.
Former NHL player Ryan Whitney blasted Pearson airport after having flights cancelled and waiting in multi-hour lines to fly from Toronto to Boston.
It is not only airports that are seeing major delays, Canadians have reported long lines and delays at passport offices and immigration processing offices.
Despite the committee of ten cabinet members being formed earlier this month, it is not clear that the committee has taken any measures to address the problems.
Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich will have to wait behind bars until July 5 to have a full-day hearing after being arrested for allegedly violating prior bail conditions.
Lich was apprehended by law enforcement in her hometown of Medicine Hat on Monday after the Ottawa Police Service issued a Canada-wide warrant for her arrest.
BREAKING: Tamara Lich will remain behind bars in Ottawa until July 5, when she will have a full-day bail hearing.
In an interview with True North fellow Andrew Lawton, Freedom Convoy lawyer Keith Wilson stated that Lich’s breaches are in relation to prohibitions surrounding criticizing Covid-19 restrictions and supporting the Freedom Convoy.
“We now know that the alleged breach is about one of her conditions in addition to her not being allowed to talk about criticizing the government for Covid-19 restrictions or support in favour of the Freedom Convoy, whatever that means,” said Wilson.
“That should be troubling in its own right to anybody listening. She was not allowed to have communications with certain individuals, one of them being Tom Marazzo but there was a big exception which was in except in the presence of legal counsel because they’ve all been sued together.”
According to Wilson, Lich and other “key players” from the Ottawa protests took a picture together at the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms 2022 George Jonas Freedom Award ceremony.
The arrest comes about a month after Crown prosecutors attempted to have her re-admitted into prison for accepting the award.
“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 during her last bail hearing.
At the time, federal judge Kevin Phillips asserted that her bail release “(remained) appropriate” but maintained several bail conditions, including a ban on social media use.
Lich was first released from prison in March 2022 on bail conditions after being first arrested in February during the police crackdown on the Freedom Convoy.
A booklet made for school children that calls the Red Ensign flag a hate symbol and identifies the Conservative Party as a target of “infiltration” by racists was approved by Cabinet yesterday as a taxpayer-funded project.
“This new resource will be delivered through workshops in schools across the country and it will help raise awareness with students,” Diversity Minister Ahmed Hussen told reporters. The booklet would help “teach core values to our kids,” he said.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Hussen approved a $268,400 grant to fund the guide Confronting and Preventing Hate in Canadian Schools. The guide, written by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN), also warns students to be wary of classmates who speak fondly of Donald Trump.
CAHN is a federally-subsidized group that earlier received an identical $268,400 grant to operate its website. Hussen says it is “an organization that I respect very much.”
In a chapter on “hate promoting symbols,” the booklet names the Red Ensign flag as offensive even though it was used as Canada’s national symbol until 1965.
“Its usage denotes a desire to return to Canada’s demographics before 1967 when it was predominantly white,” the booklet says.
The booklet refers to the Conservative Party twice as a group whose members include bigots and “groypers” defined as a “loose collection of young white nationalists.” Without elaborating, the guide writes that “they sometimes attempt to infiltrate mainstream Conservative political parties.”
“In 2020 McMaster University Conservatives were scrutinized by allowing members with overly bigoted beliefs and ties,” wrote CAHN. They also cited their own website as a source. Common “conservative campus groups” were also named.
No other political parties were named in the guide.
The guide also asks children to challenge other students who speak in favour of “problematic” public office holders. “Sometimes educators and students will find themselves in the position of requiring an immediate response to a student in class who invokes a bigoted ideology,” it says.
“While these situations should be treated carefully they need to be addressed as they happen,” the guide writes. “These incidents can range from mild to severe and each will require its own approach depending on the situation. Examples: A student argues in favour of a problematic politician or policy, e.g. Trump’s wall, in a classroom discussion.”
In addition, children should be aware of classmates who invoke “a free speech issue” in political conversations. Citing free speech was among “common defenses of hate propaganda,” said the guide.
Bernie Farber, chair of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network said the booklet would lead a whole campaign to educate young people and “fight and win against hate.”
“The point of this free toolkit is to help parents, educators and the community identify and intervene when a young person is being groomed and recruited by a white supremacist movement before it is too late,” said Farber. “It’s not just a free toolkit. The Canadian Anti-Hate Network is launching a whole education program.”
Canada’s federal radio watchdog cited a CBC program in French for being “clearly offensive” after hosts used the n-word at least four times to describe the title of a book.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Broadcasting Decision 2022-175 found that the CBC segment broke the rules of the Broadcasting Act.
“It is clearly offensive. This does not meet the high programming standard set out in the Act,” commissioners ruled.
“During the discussion the host and the commentator used the n-word four times, three times in French and one in English, in a segment of six minutes and 27 seconds.”
The segment in question was broadcasted in 2020 on the Le 15-18 program and featured students from Concordia University discussing the book Negres Blances d’Amerique.
Written in 1968 by Front de libération du Québec extremist Pierre Vallieres, the book was republished in English with the title White N–s of North America.
“The Commission considers that by repeatedly mentioning the term Radio-Canada did not show sufficient respect and sensitivity to the communities affected by the term,” the ruling stated.
The CRTC went on to cite the influence of the Black Lives Matter movement in its decision which ordered the CBC to formally apologize and change its policy.
“The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the wave of global protests following the death of George Floyd in May 2020 represent an axis of societal change that propelled public reflection on issues related to racism and systemic racism,” commissioners wrote.
“Consequently following these events the use of the term has evolved in both French and English-language contexts and the Commission must take this into account in its analysis of the complaint. In light of these social changes the Commission considers that the social responsibilities of broadcasters surrounding the use of the n-word have increased. Broadcasters need to take a more sensitive look at the use of language.”
The controversial book title got former CBC host Wendy Mesley suspended from her program in 2020 after saying the title during a private interaction with coworkers.
Last year, Mesley addressed her departure saying that her former employer offered no support during the public backlash.
“The CBC did not offer me any public support. And I did not defend myself because I just wanted to return to work. In the midst of last year’s racial reckoning, I also felt it would have been wrong for me to play the victim card,” said Mesley.
Canadian Armed Forces Veteran James Topp has been marching towards Ottawa from Vancouver since February in protest of heavy-handed government Covid restrictions.
Since Topp began his journey, the legacy media has either ignored him or inaccurately covered his story. Unlike the legacy media, True North has been covering Topp’s march since the start.
True North’s Elie Cantin-Nantel caught up with Topp as he marched into the outskirts of Ottawa.
The RCMP has admitted to using spyware and other questionable methods to hack into phones and other electronic devices.
Malware and other hacking methods were only used in extreme circumstances when other options proved ineffective, the national policing force affirms.
According to the RCMP, it used these methods in 10 investigations between 2018 and 2020.
“This is a kind of capability that they have done everything possible to keep incredibly quiet,” senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab Christopher Parsons told Politico.
“This is a remarkable finding and, for the first time, publicly reveals that the RCMP is using spyware to infiltrate mobile devices, as well as the broad capabilities of their spyware.”
The federal force cited the proliferation of encrypted communication methods as a reason for employing the tactics.
Revelations about the RCMP’s secretive methods came in a recent House of Commons filing, which detailed how “on-device investigative tools” helped the RCMP in investigations.
Among those are viruses “installed on a targeted computing device that enables the collection of electronic evidence.”
Malware capabilities include sweeping text message data, emails, photos, videos and other files as well as financial information.
The RCMP could also tap into “audio recordings of private communications and other sounds within range of the targeted device.” The malware also gave the federal police access to “photographic images of persons, places and activities viewable by the camera(s) built into the targeted device.”
“In less than a generation, a high number of Canadians migrated their daily communications from a small number of large telecommunication service providers, all of which provided limited and centrally controlled services to customers, to countless organizations in Canada and elsewhere that provide a myriad of digital services to customers,” wrote the disclosure.
“That decentralization, combined with the widespread use of end-to-end encrypted voice and text-based messaging services, make it exponentially more difficult for the RCMP to conduct court-authorized electronic surveillance.”
The RCMP also admitted that the federal privacy commissioner was not notified before the program was initiated in 2016.
Greg Tobin is the Digital Strategy Director for the Canada Strong & Proud Network.
Are you proud to be a Canadian?
It may seem trite to ask, but it has become an important question in recent years.
Arguments about politicians in Ottawa aside – we’re the best country in the world. We have the highest standards for nearly everything. We are wealthy, we have a landscape covered in the most beautiful, pristine nature imaginable. We’re a nation of powerful rivers and lakes, of silent and strong forests, rich mines, a wealth of resources, and huge potential.
We have a heritage of Constitutional Monarchy that is built on one of the strongest political systems in the world. And we have a reputation as a peaceful, and prosperous nation that millions of people around the world would give anything to come to. Canadians are hard-working, strong, smart, and capable people. We have a lot to be proud of.
But for a lot of radical activists within Canada, the answer to this important question is a very loud “no”.
So how could one live in this country, see what it has to offer, and turn up your nose at it?
Because, primarily, of a lack of perspective about history. And not just our history but most of the history of western democracy. Every single nation, every single institution, every single person who has ever lived has been seriously flawed – up to and including all of us today. And we shouldn’t tear that history down because we find parts of it unsavoury, or frustrating. That history stands as a lesson to learn, and a reminder of how far we’ve come.
To do otherwise would be to fall prey to cynicism. To look at the miracle of our modern civilization and only see the flaws, and ask why it isn’t perfect yet, is a recipe for deep bitterness. It seeks to find someone to blame and creates division. And lately, we’ve seen way too many politicians use this as a tool for political gain – but it’s now spilling over into our culture, and leading many people to simply want to tear it all down.
Does Canada have work to do? You bet. Have we made mistakes? Who hasn’t?
And we must account for them. But it is the very fact that we as a nation wish to do so, that is the very reason we rightly celebrate our nation’s birthday.
Every country has parts of their history textbooks that are filled with awful moments or individuals.
But what really separates Canada from most other nations in the world, is the fact that we have a serious desire to try and face up to them.
Do we always do it well? Nope.
Do we have more work to do? Absolutely.
It is okay to be upset and disappointed when we fall short as a nation. We’re made up of flawed people who have a fallen nature – so we shouldn’t be surprised when we stumble.
What we should be proud of though, is our desire to get back up and try again.
You don’t judge your wife, your children, or your friends by their worst moments. We don’t cancel our birthdays because we did something really stupid when we were younger. We don’t shut down anniversaries because of past mistakes of the involved parties. And so we should not cancel Canada day for the same reason.
Canada Day is a celebration about the best of us. Our best people, our best triumphs, our greatest sacrifices.
Canada Day is about the men who took Vimy Ridge when nobody else could. About the boys who stormed Juno Beach. About Frederick Banting, Terry Fox, and Corporal Nathan Cirillo. It’s about Wayne Gretzky, and Sir John A Macdonald, and Tommy Douglas, and George Etienne Cartier, and Billy Bishop, and John Candy, and Pierre Berton, Tommy Prince, the Group of Seven. The Tragically Hip, Rush, Leonard Cohen and Avirl Lavigne.
It’s about the Golden Goal, the Bill of Rights, the peaceful founding of our Confederation. It’s about our peacekeeping missions, the summit series, the railway from sea to shining sea. It’s about the Canadarm, the Stanley Cup, The Northwest passage, NATO, NORAD, medicare. And a list that would take 100 news articles to fill up just one small portion of what makes us the best place to live on Earth.
It is a day where we point the next generation to our greatest achievements and say “aim at that”.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of radical activists in modern day Canada who can’t get past their anger brought on by that lack of perspective, and forget these great achievements. They forget the sacrifices of those who aimed for our highest ideals and left Canada a better nation than when they first encountered it.
But just because they have lost that perspective, does not mean we now have to justify celebrating Canada Day to them or anyone. History cannot be cancelled, so long as there are those living who remember it, and pass it on to the next generation. It is up to all of us, all people who are proud to be Canadian, to be those individuals who carry the torch from those who came before us. To ensure there are those after us who will continue the great mission of Canada to be a force for incredible good in this world.
We turn our nose up at what we have here in Canada at our own peril. The last 155 years of innovations in human rights, technology, and governance that we have here, have placed us at the top of the list of best countries in the world.
This Canada Day, fly your flag proudly. Sing the anthem loudly.
And tell those who wish to cancel Canada Day to politely, but firmly, pound sand.
Amid growing international hostility, Canada continues to slip further away from its NATO commitment to spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on the nation’s defence.
NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made the message clear that all NATO allies are expected to meet the 2% target as a minimum and that Canada needs to step up.
“I expect all allies to meet the guidelines that we have set,” he said. “So of course, this is a message to all allies, including Canada.”
His comments came as NATO leaders arrived in Munich on Tuesday to take part in a major NATO summit.
Prime minister Justin Trudeau defended his government’s defence spending at a press conference on Tuesday at this year’s G7 summit.
“We, like others, are developing plans to be able to scale up rapidly and those are conversations I very much look forward to having over the next couple of days.”
Despite the commitment made in 2014 to increase Canada’s defence spending to 2%, the Trudeau government has not outlined how they will reach this goal, instead choosing to remain vague.
According to a NATO press release, Canada’s defence spending as a share of GDP has dropped from 1.42% in 2020 and 1.32% in 2021 to 1.27% in 2022.
While the Trudeau government has committed to increasing Canada’s military spending in the latest federal budget, the increase from $41.5 billion to $51.1 billion by 2026-27 will only increase Canada’s defence spending rate to an estimated 1.6%.
The parliamentary budget office estimates it would take $75 billion over the next five years to reach the target.
Currently, Canada falls behind the NATO guidelines and the NATO average as Canada places 24 out of the 29 NATO member nations in defence spending as a share of GDP.
In the report, Stoltenberg identified three groups of NATO members; 9 countries that are currently meeting the NATO defence spending recommendation, 19 that have a clear path to meeting the target by 2024, and 5 that are further behind. Canada is currently in the latter category.
Countries like Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Croatia did not meet the NATO recommendation in 2014 but were able to cross the threshold with significant increases in defence funding.
On Wednesday, Trudeau met with Stoltenberg while at the NATO summit. According to the prime minister’s press release, “Trudeau affirmed Canada’s commitment to strengthening [NATO’s] shared security commitments, including through substantial investments in continental and northern defence.”
Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest has said if he is elected prime minister, he will ensure that Canada meets the 2% defence spending mark and expand the Canadian Armed Forces to 100,000 regular personnel.
Former public safety minister Bill Blair says he will “of course” remain in cabinet as he continues to deny allegations he pressured RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki into interfering in the Nova Scotia mass shooting investigation.
In a Wednesday press conference, Blair claims he didn’t pressure Lucki or the RCMP into anything, but simply provided general oversight and received briefings.
“I know very clearly the line between government responsibility for governance and oversight of the RCMP and giving direction,” he said. “At no time did I cross that line or any member of my government cross that line, giving direction to the commissioner of the RCMP.”
Blair’s denial comes just after the Mass Casualty Commission released an email from the former head of communications for the Nova Scotia RCMP Lia Scanlan, in which she blasted commissioner Lucki for adhering to political pressure from Blair, calling her behaviour “appalling.”
Scanlan claimed that in a conference call between RCMP officers, Lucki demanded that the RCMP release the details of the firearm used in the shootings because of “the pressures and conversation with minister Blair.”
“I remember a feeling of disgust as I realized this was the catalyst for the conversation,” wrote Scanlan.
“I could not believe what you, the leader of our organization, was saying and I was embarrassed to be privy to what was unfolding. It was appalling, unprofessional and extremely belittling.”
A few days after the meeting where Lucki demanded the release of details related to the firearms used in the Nova Scotia killing, the Trudeau government announced a ban of over 1,500 makes and models of what it called “assault-style firearms.”
Scanlan’s email supported notes RCMP Nova Scotia superintendent Darren Campbell took during the meeting, in which he wrote Lucki promised Blair and the prime minister’s office that they would release details of the firearm used in the massacre to advance the Liberal legislative agenda.
