GUEST OP-ED: Supply Management is driving grocery bill inflation

Scott Aitchison
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GUEST OP-ED: Supply Management is driving grocery bill inflation

Scott Aitchison is a candidate for the Conservative Party leadership and Member of Parliament for Parry Sound – Muskoka.

Grocery bills are skyrocketing, inflation is out of control, and Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is making things worse. While our Conservative caucus is leading the charge to stop the carbon tax, it is not enough. Canada needs to scrap another bad policy making life unaffordable: supply management.

The Canadian Dairy Commission used its price fixing powers to hike prices 8.4% to start the year, the biggest in the Commission’s history. It is going to get worse, as the Commission is reportedly pushing its first-ever mid-year price hike. While the amount is unclear, new heights for surging inflation are certain.

Supply management inflates grocery bills, stifles competition, and stops Canadian farmers from selling to the world. Here’s how it works: The government fixes the price of dairy, egg, and chicken products — illegal in any other industry. They tell producers how much they can sell — and if they produce too much, it must be thrown out.

The system blocks trade with other countries through punishing tariffs and prevents domestic competition in the industry by requiring new producers to pay millions for a permission slip — “quota” — for the right to farm. It’s the complete opposite of a free market and the type of system only Pierre Trudeau could dream up in the 1970s. 

Supply management has caused problems in the recent USMCA, CETA, and CPTPP negotiations. It is once again causing problems in the ongoing Canada-UK free trade talks. Our allies are understandably frustrated. Even when Canada does agree to a sliver more of market access, the government in practice continues to block imports while further fencing the Canadian industry in. 

New Zealand has launched a trade dispute on the matter under the CPTPP, as have the Americans under USMCA. The origin of all these disputes is supply management, forcing Canadians to needlessly pay more for dairy and restricting opportunity for would-be market entrants. 

While originally billed as a way to protect the family farm in 1970. Supply management has completely and utterly failed. There were over 100,000 dairy farms then, and today there are fewer than 11,000.

Powerful Ottawa lobbyists have been telling politicians to leave supply management alone — or else. Lobbyists and special interests tell Conservative MPs and candidates election after election they cannot oppose supply management because it will cost our Party seats in Quebec and Ontario. 

No one is surprised to see the Prime Minister defend the status quo and continue to support harmful big-government policies. It is however surprising to hear so many Conservatives take up Justin Trudeau’s position which adds to Canada’s inflation problem. 

My fellow candidates in the Conservative Party leadership race; Pierre Poilievre, Leslyn Lewis, and Jean Charest are all parroting variations of dairy lobbyists talking points to defend a program that inflates the cost of groceries for Canadians, while stunting the growth of Canada’s agricultural sector and limiting the number of farmers in it.

While Pierre talks about firing gatekeepers, those at the Canadian Dairy Commission apparently fall outside the scope of applicability for Pierre’s slogan. Instead of addressing the problem, he echos dairy lobbyist talking points about the cost of winding down the system and gives up before even trying. 

That may make for easier politics, but it is not leadership. The cost our leaders should be focused on is the inflated grocery bills Canadians are forced to pay. It needs to stop. Supply management cannot be phased out overnight, but this 50-year program can be wound down in a few short years. Recent trade deals show that Canada can also open up more economic opportunities if supply management was sunsetted.

Farmers forced to pay for quota will need to receive some form of compensation, but it cannot stop Conservative determination to lower the cost of living for Canadian families, made even worse by today’s inflation. We must stand up to the special interests in Ottawa who want to keep forcing Canadians to pay more.

Under my leadership, our Party will take a common sense and collaborative approach to get this right. Let’s end supply management, lower grocery bills, and sell Canadian dairy to the world. All sides need to come to the table to make it happen and with real leadership it will. Let’s do the hard work to deliver this benefit for all Canadians. That’s the right approach.

Scott Aitchison is a candidate for the Conservative Party leadership and Member of Parliament for Parry Sound – Muskoka.

No free speech on campus? No federal funding, Poilievre pledges

Andrew Lawton
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Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre says as prime minister he would appoint a “free speech guardian” to protect Charter rights on campus and revoke federal funding from postsecondary institutions that don’t uphold free speech.

“Universities are supposed to be places where ideas are openly discussed and challenged, but they have become places where gatekeepers and a loud minority silence students and faculty,” a statement from Poilievre’s campaign says.

“The Trudeau Liberals have done nothing to protect the rights of students and faculty to speak freely. Their obsession with woke culture has allowed campus to change from a place where people learn through discussion and debate, to a place where popular professors, like Dr. Jordan Peterson, must resign and student groups must cancel events or even lose resources, just because of their different viewpoint.”

Poilievre’s plan would make upholding section 2 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which enumerates fundamental freedoms to association, peaceful assembly, expression and conscience, among others, a “condition of receiving direct federal research and other grants.”

“To get federal grants, universities will be required to not only promote section 2 Charter freedoms on campus, but also defend them when they are attacked, including by other students and faculty,” the campaign’s statement says.

The idea of tying support for free speech with federal funding is not new. Former Conservative leaders Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole proposed similar approaches, though O’Toole walked his back during the general election.

Poilievre’s plan goes further than previous Conservative campaign platforms by promising to appoint a “free speech guardian – a former judge who will report on compliance by universities and will investigate claims of academic censorship.”

The proposed guardian will report back to the federal government on breaches of Charter rights on campus and recommend corresponding reductions in federal grants.

The policy will not affect federal transfers to provincial governments, who provide public universities and colleges with most of their funding.

Despite their public status, whether the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies on university and college campuses depends heavily on specific cases.

In January 2020, the Court of Appeal for Alberta ruled that a pro-life group at University of Alberta did have a Charter right to protest against abortion on campus, though this decision is not binding in other provinces.

Conservative Leadership Series: Jean Charest

Andrew Lawton
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Former PC Party of Canada leader and Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest is pitching what he sees as his national electability as he seeks the Conservative Party of Canada’s leadership. In this wide-ranging sit-down with True North’s Andrew Lawton, Charest addresses whether electability means compromising conservative values, what he wants to do about equalization and western alienation, whether his views on the Freedom Convoy are compatible with the Conservative base, energy policy, and more.

Conservative Party of Canada members are set to elect their party’s next leader in September. True North’s Andrew Lawton is sitting down with all of the candidates to talk about their visions for the party and the country.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ANDREW LAWTON SHOW

FUREY: Trudeau’s passion for carbon taxes

Anthony Furey
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Canadians are struggling to make ends meet as the price of almost everything is getting more expensive as a result of historically-high inflation rates. Unfortunately, the Trudeau government is refusing to give Canadians a break.

Last April, Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax increased and now his second carbon tax – the Clean Fuel Standard – is set to increase as well – causing the cost of goods to increase even more.

Will Trudeau have a change of heart and drop his ideological carbon tax in light of the economic situation Canadians are facing? Anthony Furey discusses in his latest video.

F1 driver Sebastian Vettel accused of climate hypocrisy after opposing Alberta oilsands

Elie Cantin-Nantel
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F1 driver Sebastian Vettel accused of climate hypocrisy after opposing Alberta oilsands

German Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel – who races in an Aston Martin and is sponsored by a large Saudi oil producer – has been accused of climate hypocrisy after publicly opposing Alberta’s oilsands at the Montreal Grand Prix. 

Vettel appeared at the Canadian Grand Prix wearing a t-shirt that read “Stop Mining Tar Sands. Canada’s Climate Crime.”

Vettel’s racing helmet for the Grand Prix also contains an anti-oilsands message.

Defenders of Canadian oil and gas immediately called out Vettel’s theatrics.

Alberta’s energy minister Sonya Savage pointed out that Vettel is sponsored by Saudi Aramco – the world’s biggest oil producer and corporate greenhouse gas emitter. Aramco is set to be responsible for the emission of 27 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide between the years 2018 and 2030.

“Rather than demonizing the oilsands, which is on a path to net-zero, people could look to lowering their own personal carbon footprint,” said Savage.

“Perhaps a pedal-car for Formula 1?”

Conservative MP and leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre also criticized Vettel, and called for him to go home.

Meanwhile, True North’s Andrew Lawton questioned if Vettel’s Saudi oil sponsorship has anything to do with his opposition to Alberta’s oilsands.

When asked about the controversial t-shirt at a Friday press conference, Vettel doubled down on his opposition to Alberta’s oil industry.

“I think what happens in Alberta is a crime because you chop down a lot of trees and you basically destroy the place just to extract oil, and the manner of doing it with the tarsands, oilsands mining, is horrible for nature,” said Vettel.

“There’s so much science around the topic that fossil fuels are going to end, and living in a time that we do now, these things shouldn’t be allowed anymore, and they shouldn’t happen,” he added.

However, Vettel did also admit to being a hypocrite while responding to criticism.

“Yes, I am a hypocrite doing what I do for a living or doing what I love. We all have different passions, this is the way I sort of paint my canvas.”

Vettel was eliminated on Saturday from the Canadian Grand Prix.

This is not the F1 driver’s first climate stunt. Vettel also wore a t-shirt to the Miami Grand Prix that suggested climate change would cause the Florida city to be submerged underwater.

“Miami 2060 – 1st Grand Prix Underwater – Act Now or Swim Later,” read that t-shirt.

Vettel is not the first anti-oilsands celebrity accused of climate hypocrisy. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and singer Neil Young have been outspoken opponents of Alberta’s oilsands, while also traveling on private jets.

Ottawa spent $39 million to black out access to information documents

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Ottawa spent $39 million to black out access to information documents

The Liberal government billed taxpayers $39 million for private contractors to black out access to information documents requested by the public. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, several companies received millions for the censorship work. 

An Inquiry of Ministry requested by Conservative MP Kelly McCauley shows “contracts provided to consultants related to the processing of requests made under the Access To Information Act since January 1, 2020.”

The contracts ranged from $15,000 to nearly $200,000 in paid work. 

“Each file is different based on the complexity and the volume of pages,” wrote staff. 

“Some consultants have other functions including file review and providing technical advice.”

One contractor received $199,078 to review 96,971 pages of Department of Justice documents. 

Altis Human Resources Inc. received $15.8 million from the federal government for their work, while Maxsys Staffing & Consulting received $3 million. 

Other contractors included Excel Human Resources which was awarded with a $2.2 million contract and Michael Wager Consutling Inc. which benefitted from a $1 million deal. 

The federal government justified relying on private contractors in order to “reduce the current backlog of Access To Information requests which have accumulated over several years.” 

Over the past few years, Prime Minsiter Justin Trudeau has been criticized for censoring document disclosures and citing cabinet confidence to hide information from the public. 

At the height of the WE Charity scandal, Conservative leadership candidate and then-finance critic Pierre Poilievre blasted the Trudeau government after it blacked out entire pages in a document dump pertaining to the government’s dealings with the organization. 

“This is a cover-up. The prime minister personally intervened to give half a billion-dollar grant to a group that had paid his family half a million dollars. He is covering it up by blacking it out, and shutting down our investigations,” said Poilievre while holding up censored pages.

Hunter gets guns back from OPP after representing himself in court

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Hunter gets guns back from OPP after representing himself in court

A veteran hunter from Ottawa Valley took the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) to court and won after they seized his firearms. 

Ontario Court Justice J. R. Richardson ordered that the OPP return 68-year-old Stephen Clouthier’s long rifles.

Richardson cited Clouthier’s past good behaviour and responsible use of guns. 

During the pandemic, the OPP acted on an anonymous tip that Clouthier wasn’t taking his psychosis medication after a brief mental health break in November 2020.

At the time, Clouthier was struggling to deal with the death of his wife and sibling and his mother’s deteriorating health. 

After being hospitalized at Queensway Carleton Hospital, his doctor noted that Clouthier’s psychosis “was not severe enough to him being forced to take medication against his will.” Clouthier never expressed an intent to harm himself or others. 

“There is no evidence that the psychosis that Mr. Clouthier was experiencing in November 2020 has recurred since his discharge from hospital,” said Richardson in his judgement. 

“While I agree that there would have been concrete reasons and legitimate concerns about Mr. Clouthier’s gun ownership and possession at the time that this matter arose, those concerns have now evaporated. I note as well that Mr. Clouthier’s mother passed away — something that surely would have been a stressful or triggering event for him — after his release from Queensway Carleton and there was no reported relapse in his condition.”

Crown prosecutors attempted to argue that Clouthier should not have his guns returned to him because they claimed he wasn’t a responsible gun owner, citing the need for continued mental health care. However, Richardson disagreed.

“Mr. Clouthier’s firearms are long guns which he uses for hunting. He has hunted all his life. It is a family activity he engages in,” said Richardson. 

Throughout the trial, Clouthier was not represented by a lawyer and stood to testify on his own behalf. 

During his ruling Richardson also cited the negative impact that lockdowns had on Clouthier’s mental health which played a contributing factor in his mental health decline.

“The evidence establishes that Mr. Clouthier was suffering from some sort of transitory psychosis, which appears to have been a stress reaction to a number of circumstances, including the recent death of his wife and one of his siblings, the decline in the health of his mother, the grief associated with his daughter and her family’s relocation two and a half hours away from where he lives, and the general sense of isolation that he was experiencing as a result of various Covid-19 lockdowns,” said Richardson.

McMaster University holds segregated graduation ceremony for black students

Elie Cantin-Nantel
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McMaster University holds segregated graduation ceremony for black students

Hamilton’s McMaster University held its first segregated graduation ceremony for “Black identifying students” on Monday.

The ceremony was separate from McMaster’s convocation ceremonies, and those who registered were able to attend. Black students were not obligated to attend.  

According to the university, the segregated ceremony brought together “students, family, friends, faculty and community partners” to celebrate black students who are part of the class of 2022.

In addition to giving a special graduation garment that represents African American pride to the first 100 students who registered for the ceremony – McMaster also gave out a number of awards dedicated to “Black identifying students.”

The graduation ceremony was organized by the university’s Black Student Success Centre manager, Faith Ogunkoya.

Ogunkoya told CBC the ceremony was “very much about mitigating that social isolation that happens when you feel — in a predominately white institution — you’re outnumbered.”

She added, “what was important was to make sure I brought together Black faculty members, Black staff members and the students themselves.”

“The whole day was about celebrating and centering Blackness.”

The ceremony featured the singing of “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, a hymn that has been dubbed as the “Black National Anthem”.

Dr. Gary Warner, who was McMaster’s only black professor when he started teaching in 1967, also gave remarks. 

He highlighted the 2020 George Floyd protests, which he claims “heightened consciousness.”

He also praised the university’s decision to hire a “associate vice-president of equity” as well as 20 new black professors. 

McMaster University is not the first Canadian postsecondary institution to hold a segregated graduation ceremony for black students. A special graduation ceremony dedicated to black students also took place at The University of Toronto in 2017.

LEVY: Toronto’s hotel shelter policy is wreaking havoc on residents

Sue-Ann Levy
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LEVY: Toronto’s hotel shelter policy is wreaking havoc on residents

It happened in Manhattan under former leftist mayor Bill DiBiaso and continues to occur in Toronto under the current mayor John Tory.

I’m referring to a short-sighted and disastrous policy of putting homeless with addictions and mental issues in tiny hotels left empty during Covid.

In Toronto, the hotel shelter policy was only supposed to be a stopgap measure to provide accommodation to the homeless occupying downtown parks.

But many leases with hoteliers – happy to make a quick and steady buck – have been extended two and three times.

One of the most disastrous has been the Novotel hotel, owned by the Vancouver-based Silver Hotel Group, a shelter which opened in February 2021 under secretive circumstances and which has wreaked havoc on the Esplanade neighbourhood.

Residents of neighbouring condos in this tourist district are more than fed up with the lawlessness, vandalism, aggressive behaviour of some of the shelter’s nearly 200 residents (many of them addicted to hard drugs) the screaming and, the presence of EMS vehicles day and night and the appearance of drug dealers who prey on the shelter’s residents.

They say the whole tone of a once wonderful neighbourhood has changed and many are wary of venturing out at night.

Recently one of Toronto police’s largest drug busts involving $28.5 million worth of crystal meth and coke occurred in a condo directly beside the Novotel hotel.

But their concerns have fallen on deaf ears. Tory and his council do not seem to care.

To add insult to injury, this month the city’s Auditor-General released a scathing audit of the hotel shelter program, indicating negligent city officials paid out some $15-million extra for charges not covered by the hotel leases, vacant rooms and various other “facility surcharges” on meals.

Audit chairman Stephen Holyday recently told True North he can’t believe whoever signed off on these payments didn’t understand the terms of the contract.

“Fifteen million dollars buys a lot of shelter for people,” he says. “That amounts to a ½% tax increase.”

It is yet to be determined whether the city will ever recoup this horrendous abuse of tax dollars.

GUEST OP-ED: Trudeau’s Sad Energy Legacy

Gregory Tobin
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GUEST OP-ED: Trudeau’s Sad Energy Legacy

Greg Tobin is the Digital Strategy Director for the Canada Strong & Proud Network. 

Despite bold policy claims and announcements, Prime Minister Trudeau’s plans won’t have lasting impacts on the environment, but will leave long-term, negative impacts on Canada’s natural resources sector, and the thousands of workers it employs.   

Through empty promises and optimistic statements, Trudeau has done everything to look like he cares – except tangible action. Liberal cabinet ministers change their positions on the energy sector rapidly, adjusting to the most popular international issues of the day. At the recent G7 summit, for example, Trudeau’s ministers refused to sacrifice their climate goals to help our allies in Europe facing supply shortages due to sanctions against Russian oil. Yet Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said, “in the short term,” Canada may be able to supply Europe with liquified natural gas (LNG) from Atlantic Canada. 

That endeavour, however, is expected to take at least five years – which falls well short of Europe’s urgent needs. Thus, the Trudeau government gives the appearance of stepping up to help our allies’ energy crisis while still appealing to their voter constituencies by standing firm on the Liberal government’s climate commitments. But their “help” is just an empty promise. 

Meanwhile at home in Canada, the government has highlighted future projects in the East Coast as critical investments into clean energy, while willfully attacking similar projects in Western Canada in their appeals to Central Canadian voters. Through their politicized messaging, Trudeau’s cabinet has introduced new uncertainty to the energy sector – reducing the chances of new investments into clean energy. However, the Trudeau government’s plan calls for just those kinds of investments. 

Instead of a sin tax on carbon, using innovations like carbon tech would be a modern approach to reducing carbon emissions. Carbon tech traps carbon dioxide from their industrial source – such as steel, oil and gas, cement, or fertilizer – then permanently stores it by inserting them into underground rock formations or by repurposing them to create new products like cement or soap.

Detractors say it’s unproven, pricey, and dangerous, yet Canadian innovators show that carbon tech works. CO2MENT in B.C. uses carbon tech to pipe the airborne pollution through filters which screen out the carbon particles in the air and reuse them for CO2-cured concrete – storing the carbon indefinitely. 

Canada has the resources, innovation, and skilled workforce needed to become a global supplier of clean and responsible energy. We have what it takes to replace energy from autocratic states. And, to their credit, the Trudeau government has signaled they recognize carbon tech and other clean energy innovations as a core part of their climate plan. Ministers Guilbeault and Wilkinson even penned an op-ed to that effect noting the need for carbon tech as part of the solution.

However, the industry needs tangible, consistent financial support to achieve a pathway to net-zero emissions, not promises. Trudeau’s oil patch tax credit is a weak olive branch. The government cannot claim they want to invest in the industry’s green energy transformation at the same time they vilify the sector, hindering the very profits they are asking the industry to reinvest. The sector needs a supportive and consistent government – and a clear path forward. And in this unpredictable economy, it’s what Canadians deserve instead of lip service to ineffective environmental policy.

Every day, it seems like Canadians are paying more at the pumps for the fuel they need to get to work, school, and home. According to Trudeau, the surge in gas prices is the result of everything but their tax increases. By trying to build a legacy as an environmentalist, Trudeau is more likely to be remembered for making life unaffordable for Canadian families, or “painful” to quote Liberal MP Ryan Turnbull’s recent comments. Amidst a global conflict and affordability crisis, Trudeau jacked up the carbon tax, without a thought for family budgets. 

For decades, the energy sector has supported Canada’s economy and development – and created the jobs we need to thrive. We have an opportunity to provide an ethical solution to Europe’s energy crisis, but we need a government that won’t hold us back. We’re leaders in clean, ethical energy – and we can supply affordable and responsible products to the world.   

Canada can have both environmental reform and a stable energy sector, however, the vilification of Canada’s natural resources industry, accompanied by short-sighted “lip service” to environmental policy, will lead to its failure. Canadians can’t afford to wait and see on this issue – and they can’t afford to have unreliable energy. They need a better plan than what Trudeau has offered. 

Greg Tobin is the Digital Strategy Director for the Canada Strong & Proud Network. 

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