fbpx
Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Freezing convoy bank accounts a “chilling” abuse of power: Irish senator

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Independent Irish Senator Sharon Keogan pointed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act to freeze the assets of Freedom Convoy protestors and their supporters as a stark abuse of government power. 

During a May 10 debate about Covid-19 support programs, Keogan brought up the Canadian case as an example of the dangerous of excessive government control of people’s finances, specifically with regard to central bank digital currencies.

“Recent global events have given rise to concern over State control of private finances, however,” said Keogan. “The extrajudicial freezing of assets and transactions by the Canadian government of individuals deemed associated with anti-government protests provides a chilling case study in the abuse of centralized power.”

The senator went on to ask what steps the Ireland’s finance minister would take to protect the privacy of Irish citizens. 

In February, Trudeau took the unprecedented step to invoke the Emergencies Act, empowering financial institutions to freeze the accounts of anything they suspected was involved with the convoy and stop “providing any financial or related services” to the protest. 

At the direction of law enforcement, banks across Canada froze nearly $8 million held within 206 accounts. 

Trudeau employed terrorist and money laundering financing laws to initiate the freezes, however, official testimony by the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada and the RCMP have indicated that there was no criminal or extremist groups funding the demonstrations. 

Scotiabank’s CEO has since apologized to convoy organizer Benjamin Dichter for the effect freezing his accounts at the behest of the federal government had on him.

“Please accept our sincere apologies for the frustration and inconvenience this situation may have caused and thank you for your patience while we prepared our response,” wrote Scotiabank president and CEO Brian Porter in an email. 

This was not the first time that Keogan has spoken out against Canada’s crackdown of the freedom convoy. On March 29, Keogan blasted Trudeau’s “so-called liberal democracy” for showing authoritarian leanings by banning unvaccinated Canadians from travel. 

“These are our citizens who are locked up in another country and who cannot travel back to their own native homes. This requires immediate intervention by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney,” said Keogan. 

CPC politicians want Trudeau to ban imports made with forced labour from Xinjiang region

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
-

Conservative politicians are calling on the Trudeau government to ban the import of goods from China’s Xinjiang region made with forced labour.

Xinjiang is home to the Uyghur Muslim population, which is subjected to acts of genocide, torture and abuse at the hands of the China’s communist government.

In addition to clear evidence of genocide, it has been reported that an estimated 100,000 Uyghurs and other minority groups may be subjected to forced labour and these products are being exported to western nations.

A Mar. 2020 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute found that over 83 companies had allegedly directly or indirectly benefited from the labour of Uyghur workers outside of Xinjiang.

These companies include Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, Amazon, Apple, BMW, Fila, Gap, H&M, Nike, North Face, Puma, Samsung and Uniqlo.

Conservative politicians held a press conference on Monday urging the government to take action on the matter. Conservative Senator Leo Housakos, MP Garnett Genuis, NBA free agent Enes Kanter Freedom and international human rights lawyer Sarah Teich were in attendance.

Housakos, who recently introduced a private member’s bill which would outlaw the importation of goods manufactured in Xinjiang, said the government’s lack of action means Canada is complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Uyghur population.

“We are complicit in one of the greatest human rights abuses of our time,” said Housakos.

Genuis echoed Housakos’ sentiment, saying “the government has lagged behind in terms of taking the actions that are required at a government level.”

NBA free agent Enes Kanter Freedom said that China’s treatment of the Uyghurs must be labelled genocide. “We have to call it like it is, and we have to do whatever we can to help those innocent people over there.”

“Sometimes the things that you talk about can cost a lot. You have to make some sacrifices.”  

Kanter Freedom also called out Nike, one of the NBA’s biggest sponsors, for its silence on the Uyghur issue while promoting other social justice causes.

“Nike, they stand up for, you know, the Latino community, LGBTQ community. They stand up for Black Lives Matter, no Asian hate, but unfortunately when it comes to, you know, China, they remain silent.”

Despite countless human rights violations and its complete disregard for international laws, China has remained mainly unchecked and unsanctioned by Canada.

In response to a question by True North on why sanctions similar to ones placed on Russians following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine have not been placed on Chinese officials, Genius said that some world leaders may see the situation as different. 

“I think for some world leaders, perhaps, they see the invasion of Ukraine as being kind of different from what China is doing because it involves the transgression of an international boundary”, said Genuis.

Meanwhile, Housakos said he believes the interests of large powerful corporations are at play.

“I think the bottom line is we have some large, powerful corporations in the Western democratic world that are making a lot of money in China. And those corporations have an extraordinary amount of influence on our governments, right across the G7”, said Huskasos.

He described the situation as a “sad reality” and said more people living in the west need to be sensitized.

There is currently no ban on the importation of products made from the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, despite obligations by the United States-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement to ban imports made with forced labour.

In fact, the only shipment that had been stopped by CBSA was later released after the importer challenged its seizure. A federal court also rejected a bid from human rights activists to ban imports from the regions.

Meanwhile, other nations have acted to limit the importation of goods from Xinjiang, including the United States, which banned imports from the region. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been accused of not taking the Uyghur file seriously. Trudeau, who once said in 2013 that he admired China’s “basic dictatorship”, abstained from voting on a motion declaring the Uyghur treatment in China a genocide. 

The motion did eventually pass with unanimous support – despite the abstention of Trudeau and his cabinet.

LEVY: Waterloo school board cancels trustee for pushing back against woke ideology

By
Sue-Ann Levy
-

The petty wokesters have cancelled another one.

In a mere 30 minutes, Waterloo Regional District School board (WRDSB) trustees voted 6-3 Monday to sanction the board’s only black trustee Mike Ramsay over a Code of Conduct complaint that has apparently been in the works since February.

Some six of the board’s trustees – all of them left-leaning – appeared gleeful as they voted to apply the maximum number of sanctions available to them.

These include barring Ramsay from all committees of the whole and in-camera meetings until September 30, essentially the end of the current term. 

They also barred him from the next board meeting.

Ramsay, a six-term trustee and regular thorn in the side of the woke trustees for his common-sense approach, was not permitted to speak in his defense.

Sources say he was chastised very publicly for merely retweeting some of my True North stories on the WRDSB and those of other conservative writers. The complainant has alleged, apparently, that it was “disgraceful” to promote “alt-right” media.

Kitchener trustee Laurie Tremble did not vote, suggesting she was the complainant.

The complaint and the report from the integrity commissioner were kept secret. 

In fact, board chairman Scott Piatkowksi would only say that there was a complaint but provided no details as to what it was about.

Piatkowski is the subject of a $1.7-M defamation suit filed by 20-year teacher Carolyn Burjoski, who was shut down four minutes into her presentation to the board in January when she discussed two highly sexualized books in the board’s elementary school libraries.

She was called “transphobic,” removed from the classroom and subjected to an investigation. She has since retired from teaching. 

Piatkowski has made no move to step down from his position, even as chairman, since the lawsuit was filed a month ago.

Eric Roher, the national education lead with the pricey law firm Borden Ladner Gervais was present at the Monday night meeting to answer any questions. The firm was apparently hired to investigate the integrity complaint – an obscene waste of taxpayer money.

Immediately after the meeting, Ramsay issued a statement on Twitter indicating that the lawyers hired by the board have been paid thousands of dollars on a “frivolous complaint” which could have been directed for classroom use.

He intimated that the trustee who complained was upset that Ramsay had shared stories from journalists which the complainant (Tremble) found “demeaning and disparaging.”

He also called the complaint a “political vendetta.” 

Reached after the meeting, Ramsay said he believed the whole complaint and the sanctions were “retribution” because he’d written to the province in February stating concerns about some of the board decisions made in camera.

“They were out for blood,” he said. “They don’t care what’s fair and just.”

Ontario’s New Blue Party pleased with election performance, dismisses leadership review

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
-

The New Blue Party of Ontario says that it is pleased with the results of the 2022 Ontario general election and its leader Jim Karahalios’ performance, despite not being able to obtain a seat.

The Ontario PC Party led by Premier Doug Ford won a second majority government in the provincial election with over 40% of the vote, while the New Blue Party placed fifth with 2.7% or 127,180 votes. 

In a statement to True North, New Blue spokesperson Jackie Sallas said the overall results of the election “showed Ontario voters are not inspired by the establishment parties.”

According to Sallas, the New Blue party does not intend to undergo a leadership review.

“We will keep moving forward with Jim Karahalios as leader because he did an incredible job accomplishing more (in our first election campaign) than what any other leader of a ‘new’ party in recent Ontario history was able to accomplish,” said Sallas.

She added that Karahalios was capable of bouncing back following an osteosarcoma diagnosis, repeated political attacks from the Ontario PC Party and what she describes as an “orchestrated and constant undermining of his leadership by those who were under the influence of PC operatives.”

As for what Ontarians can expect in Ford’s second term, Sallas says New Blue sees “another four years like the previous four.”

“That means four more years of the Doug Ford PC Party continuing the legacy of the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals and continuing to govern as the Ontario provincial wing of the Justin Trudeau Liberal Party of Canada.”

The New Blue Party was founded by Jim Karahalios and his wife Belinda in Oct. 2020 amid the Ford government’s draconian lockdown measures.

Belinda Karahalios had been elected as the PC MPP for the riding of Cambridge in the 2018 Ontario election, but was removed from caucus in Jul. 2020 after she voted against the PC government’s controversial Bill 195, which gave Ford emergency powers without the imposition of a state of emergency.

After her expulsion, Belinda Karahalios fought the Ford government’s lockdown policies along with other former PC MPPs including Roman Baber and Randy Hillier. Belinda also fought against Bill 67, an NDP private members bill which experts warned could lead to the entrenchment of Critical Race Theory in Ontario Schools. 

In the 2022 election, the New Blue Party promised to end Covid-19 mandates, renew political accountability, ​​defund the legacy media, grow Ontario’s economy, cut taxes, reform education and restore the dignity and transparency in Ontario’s healthcare.

New Blue did however also face controversy after Jim Karahalios accused other right of centre politicians of having “secret deals” with Ford’s PCs.

Neither Jim nor Belinda Karahalios were successful in winning their respective races, with Jim placing fifth in Kitchener-Conestoga with 5.9% of the vote and Belinda placing fourth in Cambridge with 11.1% of the vote.

After the 2021 federal election, the People’s Party of Canada conducted a leadership review and reconfirmed Maxime Bernier, with Bernier winning 95.6% of the vote.

China blames Canada for increase in hostility after Chinese jets harass Canadian aircrafts

By
Noah Jarvis
-
Source: PIxaby

After the Canadian Armed Forces reported Chinese fighter jets coming into dangerously close range of Canadian aircrafts, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is blaming the Canadian government for an increase in hostility and threatened Canada with “serious consequences.”

According to Global News, Chinese planes were reported buzzing Canadian pilots taking part in a United Nations mission to monitor North Korea. Reports have emerged of Chinese jets flying as close as 20 feet from Canadian military aircraft.

China’s defence ministry’s spokesperson Wu Qian addressed the incident and alleged that Canada has threatened China’s national security by participating in an UN-backed mission enforcing sanctions on North Korea.

“Recently, the Canadian air forces aircraft have stepped up intelligence activities and provocations against China under the pretext of implementing UNSC (United Nations Security Council) resolutions, which poses a threat to China’s national security and also endangers the personnel of both sides,” said Wu. 

The Chinese defence ministry did not provide evidence that Canada provoked or has been spying on China. In addition, Beijing has not made it clear whether or not the PRC opposes Canada’s enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. 

China has been a long-time supporter of the North Korean regime, as the PRC has a strategic interest in maintaining the totalitarian country’s sovereignty. 

Wu added to his comments by saying, “China urges the Canadian side to face up to the seriousness of the situation, strictly restrain the frontline troops and refrain from any risky and provocative acts, otherwise all serious consequences arising from this will be borne by the Canadian side.”

A statement from the Department of National Defence (DND) blasts the PLA for failing to “adhere to international air safety norms” and compromising the safety of not only Canadian servicemen, but also Chinese pilots.

“In some instances, the (Canadian) aircrew felt sufficiently at risk that they had to quickly modify their own flight path in order to increase separation and avoid a potential collision with the intercepting aircraft,” said a DND spokesperson.

China’s People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) warplanes have been harassing the Royal Canadian Air Force’s aircraft over international waters for at least a month now. Between April 26 and May 26, Chinese aircraft buzzed the Canadian plane at least 60 times, according to the Department of National Defence. 

The CP-140 Aurora, a patrol aircraft, is being used to conduct Operation NEON – a United Nations-led effort to enforce sanctions imposed against North Korea. 

The mission involving the CP-140 Aurora commenced on April 26, the same day the Chinese government began harassing operators executing the Canadian component of Operation NEON.

This latest incident marks a significant increase in tensions between the PRC and the Trudeau government since the detention of Micheal Kovrig and Michael Spavor in 2018 – Canadians detained on bogus espionage charges in China in retaliation for Canada’s arrest of Meng Wanzhou. The two Michaels were eventually freed and returned to Canada in 2021.  

FUREY: What can conservatives expect from Doug Ford in the next 4 years?

By
Anthony Furey
-

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford won a historic majority last week and will likely govern the province for the next 4 years.

While Ford has governed with more of a centrist approach in his first mandate, that hasn’t stopped his critics from warning Ontarians about Ford’s so-called conservative agenda. Meanwhile, many conservatives are hoping the PC leader governs more like a conservative in his second term as premier.

What do you think? Which Doug Ford will Ontario see in the coming years?

Anthony Furey discusses.

Rob Anders says “overly zealous” CRA attacks political voices after charges dropped

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The Crown dropped all charges against former Conservative MP Rob Anders on the first day of what was supposed to be a two-week tax evasion trial.

In a statement emailed to True North, Anders thanked his lawyer and those who stuck with him through the ordeal. 

“Thank God, those who pray and my lawyer Paul Brunnen. I know numerous political voices that have been silenced due to overly zealous CRA attacks,” wrote Anders. “There are companies that have been obliterated under the relentless pressure that the CRA should never have brought.”

At the beginning of Monday’s hearing, prosecutor Tyler Lord told provincial court Justice Heather Lamoureaux that all charges were to be stayed, citing unspecified “new information.”

“Last week, new information came to my attention, the consideration of which led me to believe that I no longer had a reasonable prospect of conviction,” Lord told CBC News. 

After the charges were dropped, Anders’ lawyer Paul Brunnen said the former MP was “very relieved” about the decision.

“I would also like to thank David Elderfield of Wayfare Identifiers for his inspiring knowledge of CRA protocols, the Taxpayers’ Ombudsperson and the Taxpayer Bill Of Rights,” said Anders. “Mr. Elderfield’s saga with the CRA has been longer than mine.Had David’s technology been implemented the vast majority of sea containers coming into BC would now be inspected for opiates and human cargo instead of less than 5% as it is currently.”

Anders was previously charged with several Income Tax Act violations, for allegedly making false or deceptive statements, obtaining unentitled refunds and evasion. 

Court documents alleged $750,000 in unreported income or capital gains as well as fraudulent expenses and hidden deposits. 

Anders is a veteran Conservative who helped found the party. He held the Calgary West seat from 1997 to 2015, initially under the Reform Party banner. 

He was also a long time advocate of lowering taxes including supporting Stephen Harper’s tax cuts while in power. Additionally, Anders called for the federal government to drop the GST. 

Canadian airports “biggest disgrace known to man”, former NHLer says in viral video

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Former Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Ryan Whitney has trashed the chaos at the Toronto Pearson International Airport after being left stranded by Air Canada while awaiting a flight to Buffalo. 

In a viral video posted to Twitter, Whitney describes six hour-long line ups with 400 other people. The video has since been viewed by over one million users. 


“I (flew from) Edmonton to Toronto yesterday – I landed around 3:00. I then had Toronto to Boston at 8:30. Customs was about three hours. Got through – flight cancelled from Toronto to Boston. At this point now, I go and I see there is a 400 person line with two Air Canada workers. There’s a million cancelled flights,” said Whitney. 

“Everyone’s just panicking so I wait in that line about six hours. Near the end of the line they close them. They just said ‘you have to go somewhere else.’ We had to re-enter Canada, we had to go to Canadian customs so by the time I finally see somebody from Air Canada it’s 1:00 AM.”

Whitney then attempted to leave after arranging a ride across the border but was told that his bags could not be retrieved and that he had to wait for a flight the next day.

“I said, ‘Can I just get my bags?’ I had a ride to Buffalo all set up and I had a jet flight from Buffalo. I need to get out of this country, out of this airport. This is the worst airport on Earth. I’m telling you, there’s no other airport like this,” said Whitney. “I’m so shocked at this place, it is the biggest disgrace known to man.” 

In a subsequent video, Whitney filmed himself arriving at Boston Logan International Airport which he called “the opposite of Pearson International Airport.” 

Whitney played for the Pittsburgh Penguins for three-and-a-half seasons. During his time as a defenceman, the team won the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals. He then played for the Edmonton Oilers and the Anaheim Ducks before retiring from the sport. Whitney is now part of the Barstool Sports network where he hosts a hockey podcast called Spittin’ Chiclets. 

Various travel industry groups and leaders have called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to end pandemic-related travel mandates, which they blame for the mess at Canada’s airports. 

Recently, the CEO of Westjet and the Canadian Travel & Tourism Roundtable demanded that the government put an end to travel-related mandates.

“Vaccine mandate for air travellers and employees needs to be dropped,” tweeted WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech last week. 

The Liberal government has refused to listen to the airline industry and abandon its extreme COVID-19 travel restrictions.

LEVY: Billboard Chris’ lone campaign against the epidemic of gender ideology in North America’s schools

By
Sue-Ann Levy
-

When I spoke with British Columbia’s Chris Elston a few days ago, he was just about to leave on his unofficial Pride Month tour.

First stops after an all-night drive from South Surrey would be San Francisco, Monterey Bay and San Jose where he said he’ll meet up with a woman who, like him, campaigns against the epidemic of gender ideology and the pressure put on young kids to transition medically.

This weekend he’ll be in Kelowna for their Pride parade and on June 25, he said he’ll meet up with some gay men attending Pride weekend in New York City.

The Surrey dad of two girls – known on Twitter as @BillboardChris – said he’ll go wherever it is busy with his favourite sign: “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers.”

He’s targeting Pride events because he says the annual celebration is not about gay rights anymore. Instead, Elston believes gay rights organizations are now fixated on trans rights.

Elston says, and I agree, that gay activists, having achieved their goals, had to find something else to keep the millions of dollars flowing.

“They’ve gone into schools and are indoctrinating kids,” he said. “It (gender ideology) has gone totally insane.”

Egale, once a respected organization advocating for gay and lesbian rights, is a perfect example.

Members of Egale now spend much of their time providing Trans 101 and other gender ideology workshops to kids as young as Grade 3. Recently some parents were shocked to learn that such a workshop was to be given to eight-year-old kids at Toronto’s Forest Hill elementary School, presumably led by their trans vice-principal.

Sources recently told me the Trans 101 workshop was restructured and given to Grade 5 students and up after parents protested the course – which in my view is still too young.

Elston is adamant that gender ideology does not belong in schools at all and he believes children are “never born in the wrong body.”

Elston earned his Twitter nickname in September of 2020 when he put up a giant billboard supporting author JK Rowling, who was bullied incessantly by the Twitter mob and called transphobic and a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) simply for challenging trans activism.

A Vancouver councillor, Sarah Kirby-Yung, had the billboard removed a day later, calling it “hate speech.”

The more Elston learned, the more he realized he couldn’t keep quiet. He was “compelled to do something,” he said, noting he now scrapes by on donations.

“I see it like a cult which has permeated throughout society,” he said. “It’s child abuse.”

Since he first started on his mission, he says he’s had some 6,000 conversations on the streets of the various U.S. and Canadian cities he visits.

“I’m working 100 hours a week on this,” he says.

He feels the activists and gender doctors are taking advantage of kids who are depressed, don’t fit in, suffer from autism or ADHD.

“They’re told they’re not going to find happiness unless they transition and could become suicidal if they don’t.

Elston has reviewed many studies, and concludes that when gender dysphoria starts at a young age, 86% of the kids grew out of it (without transitioning) and 64% grow up to be gay.

While those experiencing gender dysphoria were once mostly boys, the percentage of girls has just exploded in recent years, he adds.

“Kids are getting indoctrinated online and in some schools,” he says.

While he insists transitioning is not a left vs.right issue, it has now, sadly, become “cool, celebrated” to transition.

“This is a social contagion,” says Elston. “The whole thing has gone totally insane.”

Canada’s Covid rules “stringent and invasive”: EU report

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

A healthcare law review submitted to the European Parliament in May took aim at the Canadian government for having some of the strictest Covid-19 restrictions in the world.

The report, Right to health, a comparative law perspective: Canada, published by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) and authored by McGill University law professor Dr Derek Jones, was a survey of the country’s legal system as it pertains to healthcare rights. The EU has published similar reports about other countries.

“Many stringent and invasive public health measures for the Covid pandemic – curfews, capacity-restrictions in restaurants, the closure of bars and nightclubs for months, locking of office buildings, stoppage and restrictions on international travel – have severely curtailed or arrested commercial trade in vital sections of Canada’s economy,” the report said.

The report notes that Canada’s Quarantine Act also empowered the Liberal government to impose “unprecedented travel and isolation” requirements on Canadians. 

“(The Act has) served as the legal source of some of Canada’s unprecedented travel and isolation restrictions to combat the spread of Covid in this 21st century,” the report noted.  “It has also been the legal authority for stealing Canadian borders or restricting non-essential travel during the pandemic, for vaccination requirements for entry and egress, and for the summer 2021-winter 2022 requirement that Canadians returning by air submit to a Covid test and isolate for up to 72 hours at border quarantine hotels, at the travellers’ expense, while awaiting negative results.”

Several portions of the study also discussed challenges to pandemic mandates.

“By the Winter of 2022, significantly more cases were flowing into the courts. Still, Canada’s relative ‘paucity’ of high court cases contrasts significantly with nations like France, India and the United States, even though some of Canada’s provincial and federal Covid public health measures have been amongst the strictest in North America,” the EPRS report said. 

The report detailed how one Newfoundland family successfully challenged their provincial government’s travel restrictions. Taylor v Newfoundland resulted in the provincial supreme court siding with the family who was attempting to attend their father’s funeral on the grounds of mobility rights. 

A disclaimer to the report notes that it was “prepared for, and addressed to” members and staff of the European Parliament to “assist them in their parliamentary work” but it does not “necessarily represent” the parliament’s official position.

Canada’s strict Covid-19 measures are being met with increasing international scrutiny. Multiple US senators have demanded that Canada be added to a Special Watch List for countries that violate religious freedom rights. 

Additionally, the International Air Transport Association has also demanded that the Liberals immediately drop all Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions.

1...810811812...1,460Page 811 of 1,460

Related stories

© 2025 True North | Privacy Policy