Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino invoked the debunked lie that the Freedom Convoy was responsible for an attempted apartment arson in Ottawa, and refused to retract it when called out by a Conservative MP. As the Liberals try to defend their invocation of the Emergencies Act, they still aren’t committing to disclosing cabinet documents, prompting the question of what they’re hiding. Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho joins True North’s Andrew Lawton to discuss. Plus, a look at Alberta politics and the push for the west to say “Adios Ottawa,” with Maverick leadership candidate Tariq Elnaga.
Canada’s healthcare system didn’t have the capacity, the flexibility, the innovation or the robustness to handle a novel virus that disproportionately impacted the very old, the very weak and the very sick. Meanwhile, Canadians witnessed a colossal failure in leadership across the board – politics, government, media, business and even academia.
Dr. Julie Ponesse joins The Candice Malcolm Show to discuss Canada’s totalitarian approach to the pandemic. Dr. Ponesse recently walked away from her academic career after refusing to comply with Western University’s vaccine mandate. She says we are “living through a pandemic of coercion and compliance.”
In this interview, Candice and Dr. Ponesse touch on a range of topics, including Dr. Ponesse’s departure from academia, her book “My Choice on the ethics of forced vaccination,” Canada’s failures during the pandemic and much more.
Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre has been attracting large crowds at his campaign events across the country. On Tuesday, the Carleton MP was in Gatineau, Quebec and invited Quebecers to meet him and hear his ideas.
True North’s Elie Cantin-Nantel was at the Gatineau rally and caught up with Quebecers who attended Poilievre’s rally.
Elie asks attendees what they thought of Poilievre’s promise to defund the CBC and what they thought of former Quebec premier Jean Charest running in the leadership race.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino repeated disproven claims about the Freedom Convoy to justify the Trudeau government’s use of the Emergencies Act to crack down on the peaceful protest in Ottawa.
Mendicino and Attorney General David Lametti appeared before the Special Joint Committee on the Declaration of Emergency on Tuesday to defend the government’s use of the never-before-used act.
While answering a question about why the government decided to resort to such extreme measures, Mendicino falsely claimed convoy protesters posed a threat to Ottawa residents and were connected to the highly-publicized arson attempt in a downtown apartment building.
“People who live in apartment buildings find that their front doors are locked and that fires are set in the hallways and corridors,” Mendicino said before Conservative MP Glen Motz interrupted on a point of order and corrected the Liberal minister.
Yesterday at the Committee on the Declaration of Emergency, to justify the government's use of the Emergencies Act, Public Safety minister Marco Mendicino repeated the false claim that the convoy was connected to the arson attempt in Ottawa. pic.twitter.com/jDrWHUalZu
Ottawa Police Service (OPS) has cleared the Freedom Convoy of any involvement in the arson attempt, arresting one suspect in March and another in April.
According to a Mar. 21 OPS press release, a 21-year-old man named Connor Russell McDonald was first charged for his involvement.
“A man has been charged in relation to a deliberately set fire in an apartment building on Lisgar Street on February 6, 2022. A second man is still wanted by police,” OPS wrote. “There is no information indicating MCDONALD was involved in any way with the Convoy protest which was going on when this arson took place.”
On Apr. 6, the OPS issued a statement on a second man arrested for the arson attempt, revealing that 41-year-old Bartosz Wernick had nothing to do with the Freedom Convoy protests either.
Mendicino also repeated the false claim that the border blockades in Alberta and Ontario had had a “devastating” economic impact on international trade.
“The impacts were devastating. The daily cost to the economy at each of these ports of entry were astronomical,” the minister said in committee.
To justify the use of the Emergencies Act, Marco Mendicino said the border blockades had a “devastating” impact on the trade.
Statistics Canada revealed that trade at Ontario and Alberta borders with the US were actually up in February compared to the same time last year. pic.twitter.com/UXHS983Gx7
However, according to Statistics Canada, data shows that border blockades that happened while convoy protests took place in Ottawa had little effect on cross-border trade.
The government’s data revealed that international trade at Ontario and Alberta borders with the US were actually up in February compared to the same time last year.
During the committee, Lametti confirmed that the government referred to false reports from the state broadcaster to justify freezing the bank accounts of protesters.
“There were reports. CBC reported … that there was foreign funding through a variety of different sites. The various pieces of information that we had explain the various measures that we took,” Lametti said in response to a question from Senator Gwen Boniface.
Attorney General David Lametti confirms that the government referred to CBC articles to justify its use of the Emergencies Act.
The CBC publicly retracted a news story about the convoy that erroneously claimed that support for the protests had largely come from foreigners. pic.twitter.com/xPDge6i2B0
CBC has parrotted the idea that extremists and foreign sources were behind the trucker protests despite evidence showing otherwise.
In March, the CBC publicly retracted a news story about the convoy that erroneously claimed that support for the protests had largely come from foreigners.
However, according to GoFundMe executives who testified before a March 3 Commons public safety committee, foreigners made up a very small portion of the donors.
“Our records show 88% of donated funds originated in Canada and 86% of donors were from Canada,” said GoFundMe president Juan Benitez.
Throughout the protests, the Liberals and legacy media made a number of claims about the convoy ranging from extremist involvement, foreign funding and millionaires bankrolling the movement. To date, all of these claims have been called into question by law enforcement officials and fundraising executives.
Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership candidate Jean Charest has released his platform for climate change and the environment, promising to “decarbonize our economy while creating tens of thousands of jobs.”
The former Liberal premier of Quebec touted his environmental platform as a “serious plan to deal with climate change and the environment” in an effort to bring Canada’s carbon emissions to net-zero.
The platform promises to repeal the Trudeau carbon tax and replace it with a Charest carbon tax that focuses on industrial emissions rather than a general price on carbon that Charest said “(p)uts an unfair burden on … people, especially in rural Canada.”
While the current Liberal carbon tax has generated controversy over the federal government’s authority to impose such a tax, Charest has said that he would sit down with the premiers to implement plans that respect provincial jurisdiction.
Charest has announced his plan would grant tax credits and significant investments to make Canada a leader in Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) intended to reduce emissions. A Charest government would also provide tax credits to Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR) facilities that match or exceed equivalent facilities in the United States.
Saying that the “Trudeau government has made it almost impossible to build any major projects in Canada,” Charest said he would fast-track projects – including approvals of projects – that would result in emissions reductions. Charest’s plan also encourages increasing the production of liquified natural gas and building pipelines to alleviate energy concerns in Europe and Asia, and reduce reliance on Russian energy.
In an effort to influence energy policy beyond Canadian borders, the Charest plan touts a ‘carbon tariff’ that would impose economic levies on big polluters like China.
Charest also announced his government would negotiate with the United States to standardize North American environmental and emission regulations while simultaneously attempting to prevent an outflow of energy production and jobs in “trade-exposed industries” to countries with lower standards like China.
‘Right to Repair’ legislation would also be introduced, giving Canadians the right to repair their “(a)ppliances, vehicles, farm equipment, electronic devices, and other household items that otherwise end up as waste.”
Charest also said he would waive the harmonized sales tax (HST) on goods and services on products the government deems to help reduce emissions, including electric vehicles, high-efficiency windows and Energy-Star appliances.
Charest has portrayed himself as a conservative with the ability to win parliamentary seats in crucial areas like the Greater Toronto Area, Quebec and other regions traditionally dominated by the Liberal Party.
“Having a credible plan on the environment is the table stakes for any national 2022 Conservative leadership candidate who wants our party to win the next federal election,” said Jean Charest.
“Conservatives have a proud environmental record.”
A Calgary doctor who has been an outspoken supporter of government-imposed COVID-19 restrictions appears to have contracted COVID and live-streamed himself breaking isolation rules this week.
Joe Vipond, an emergency room physician and climate change activist, posted a long Twitter thread on Apr. 23, beginning with a “grumpy acknowledgement” that he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Vipond, who said he was in Ottawa and travelling to a conference, obsesses over having contracted the virus despite his three doses of COVID-19 vaccine and his dogmatic use of a respirator mask and goggles while indoors.
“I was super careful. on the airplane, goggles and respirator mask. in taxis, respirator mask with window cracked. Daily RATs. Ensured others around me masked indoors. Never took off respirator mask indoors. Air purifier in each room I slept in.”
So, it happened. a grumpy acknowledgement that I've positive. A thread on how this happened. 1/ pic.twitter.com/GbUG3bKAtQ
Despite confirming with three rapid antigen tests that he had contracted the virus, Vipond appears to have posted a now-deleted livestream of himself on Parliament Hill on Apr. 26 – only three days after testing positive on Apr. 23.
This activist was lighting his hair on fire on #ableg for lockdowns during #covid19AB
He says he tested + 1st on Apr 23
ON/AB law – min 5 days isolation for + cases. Here is the hypocrite illegally in public Apr 26, posing more “danger” to Canada’s Parliament than the truckers. pic.twitter.com/h6J4rv7ocV
The province of Ontario recommends self-isolating for five days after testing positive for COVID, or ten days if the subject is immunocompromised. Vipond’s Twitter thread where he announced his COVID infection proclaims he has deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, which would suggest he is indeed immunocompromised.
“I’ve mentioned before I have a pre-existing condition,” he said. “This past summer I was diagnosed with DVT/PE, suspect from a hereditary problem, and am currently on blood thinners.”
When questioned on Twitter about apparently breaking provincial COVID restrictions by being out and about, Vipond replied that he had “consulted with Ontario Health” and that he would be “self-isolating” en route as he travels by car back to his home province of Alberta.
Confused: if you test + on Apr 23 & you have to quarantine at least 5 days & day 1 is day after test: that means don’t go anywhere (incl driving) until Apr 28, no?
Other people’s medical care is not really my business, but @jvipondmd is v. visible advocate, so optics matter.
Although Vipond appears not to have followed the provincial guidelines, he frequently documents his hyper-cautious behaviour on Twitter, calling himself a “super paranoid dude” who wears a respirator mask at all times when he is indoors and avoids “any high-risk situations.”
In the aforementioned Twitter thread, he theorizes what led to him contracting COVID, concluding that he caught the virus on a train from Ottawa to Toronto. Although he said nobody was sitting beside him, he said he believes he caught the virus when he wasn’t wearing his goggles and had taken off his mask to eat orange slices.
Vipond has been a vocal critic of the Alberta government’s response to the pandemic, arguing the province has not gone far enough to impose restrictions.
“Our government (Alberta) may no longer care about us, but we can care about each other,” Vipond wrote in a January article in the Edmonton Journal, while the province was still enforcing its mask mandate and vaccine passports.
Vipond recommended masking children in schools, vaccinating school-age children, and declaring that “(u)ntil the entire world has access to COVID vaccinations, this pandemic will not end. None of us is safe from COVID until we are all safe from COVID.”
While Alberta did impose mask mandates and instituted a vaccine passport program last fall, the province’s response was considered more lenient than most. In a recent ranking by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms on the worst rights offenders during COVID, Alberta came in second only to Saskatchewan as the “least worst” province.
True North reached out to Vipond for comment but received no response by time of publication.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms is 40-years-old this year. What was the Charter intended to do? What was the vision of the original signatories?
On today’s episode of The Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by one of the signers of the original Charter, the Honourable Brian Peckford. Peckford served as the Progressive Conservative Premier of Newfoundland from 1979 to 1989. He is the last living signatory of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Over the past year, the former premier has become a symbol of Canadians’ opposition to government overreach and the government’s response to COVID.
Candice and Mr. Peckford discuss how the Charter has changed Canada since its signing, if the Charter protected our rights and freedoms during COVID, the government’s handling of the freedom convoy and much more.
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis rebuked Dzerowicz for the remarks.
“She did actually use the term ‘crimes against humanity’ to refer to a policy of the Ford government,” he said. “That is quite a serious accusation to be making, and I just want to invite the member, encourage the member, especially in light of actual crimes against humanity we’re seeing in Europe right now, that she would take the opportunity to apologize and withdraw the comment.”
Dzerowicz replied that, to her, “it is unconscionable that there is a province, a territory, a municipality in this country that is not going to do its part to reduce its emissions. It is absolutely unconscionable, it is irresponsible and to me it will be seen as a crime against humanity.”
According to the United Nations, a crime against humanity is defined as any act “committed as a part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population,” including murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, torture, imprisonment, sexual violence and others.
The charge of “crimes against humanity” has also frequently been flung at the Trudeau government on social media for its restrictions on Canada’s unvaccinated population and other COVID-19 pandemic measures.
In March, Liberal politicians were in an uproar after Conservative MP Rachael Thomas announced in the House of Commons that “many Canadians” view Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a dictator.
Immediately after the comment, Liberal MPs called the language unparliamentary and an affront to democracy.
“We have free and fair elections in Canada. All 338 MPs are elected in the same way. To use the word “dictator” demeans our electoral system and MPs need to stay away from this rhetoric,” said Liberal MP Anthony Housefather.
Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) veteran James Topp has crossed from Saskatchewan into Manitoba, reaching the second-to-last province of his protest march to Ottawa and facing the nastiest weather his team has seen yet.
Topp gave an update just outside of the village of Kirkella before calling it a day on Tuesday evening.
“Well, it’s been another amazing day, and met some great people,” he said. “And we say goodbye to Saskatchewan and hello to Manitoba for the next – foreseeable – future.”
“Thanks everybody in Saskatchewan. It was a hell of a ride. And like I said in my other video, time for another province to abuse me with weird weather.”
Topp entered Saskatchewan on Apr. 9 and soon ran into a massive blizzard that blanketed some areas of the province with as much as 50cm of snow. The bad weather only continued during his two-week trek toward Manitoba, requiring him on days to call an early stop to his march in order to hunker down.
“This isn’t a suicide mission,” Topp said on Saturday amidst fierce winds. “It’s about us getting to Ottawa.”
Topp – a 28-year veteran of the CAF – is marching to the nation’s capital to protest government mandates during COVID. He began his trek from Vancouver’s B.C. Place on Feb. 20, the same day a joint force of national, provincial and municipal police ended the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa.
Having been forced from his job due to vaccine mandates, Topp told True North before he began that the truckers’ show of courage had brought him back from the brink of despair, and showed him what he owes to the working people who built this country.
His protest he has dedicated to all those who have suffered under vaccine mandates – whether those who lost their jobs, those who were coerced into getting the shots, or those who saw their relationships damaged due to their vaccination status.
His goals – and progress – can be found on his website, CanadaMarches.ca.
Topp also spoke to True North’s Andrew Lawton from the road on Apr. 21.
Topp intends to reach the National War Memorial in Ottawa some time in June, where he hopes politicians will meet with him and discuss with him the reasons behind his march.
Conservative MP Dane Lloyd grilled an activist from the far-left Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) before a parliamentary committee this week, accusing the group of bias and for spreading misinformation during the Freedom Convoy.
CAHN executive director Evan Balgord admitted to the Commons public safety committee on Tuesday that his so-called research organization did not in fact verify a photo of an anti-Semitic flyer allegedly found at the site of the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa before CAHN chair Bernei Farber pinned it on convoy protesters.
Conservative MP Dane Lloyd grilled the Canadian Anti-Hate Network today for falsely claiming that an anti-semitic flyer from Miami, Florida was at the Freedom Convoy protest.
Executive Director admits they didn't verify the photo and relied on hearsay. (Clip sped up for time.) pic.twitter.com/txywc9pD7s
The admission came during Lloyd’s questioning of Balgord.
“During the convoy protests your (chair) Bernie Farber posted a tweet with a photo of a vile antisemitic flyer and claimed that this was a picture of a flyer being circulated in Ottawa among the trucker protesters, but upon further examination it was proven that this exact same photo was taken in Miami, Florida weeks before the protest ever began,” said Lloyd.
“Can you explain why the (chair) of your organization was claiming that this photo was being circulated at the protest when in fact it was a photo from a completely different country weeks before the protest?”
Balgord explained that “(w)hat had occurred was that somebody had reached out to us in Ottawa who said that they saw that flyer there, and they provided the photo at that moment.
“Bernie was not aware that the photo itself was taken from an American source,” he continued. “What the person was trying to communicate to our organization was that they saw the same flyer but they had attached the photo from the states so it was our error in not communicating that more clearly.”
“So you have no evidence other than hearsay that that flyer was actually being distributed in Ottawa? Correct?” asked Lloyd.
“That is correct. We took the report from somebody on the ground, and our chair put the information out there,” replied Balgord.
Quillette editor Jonathan Kay was the first to debunk Farber’s Feb. 6 tweet that claimed that the photo of the flyer was “taken by a friend in Ottawa at the Occupation. Apparently in plain sight.”
Farber eventually deleted the tweet after its true source was discovered.
Wow Bernie, isn't it incredible that the picture your "friend in Ottawa at the Occupation" sent you is identical to the photo posted on Twitter two weeks ago by someone in Miami, right down to the ceramic design in the background? https://t.co/s4Xf3IbFrIpic.twitter.com/OJGEgrariZ
During his testimony, Balgord also admitted that CAHN was biased, describing it as an “anti-fascist” group.
“We wear our biases on our sleeves,” he said. “We are very proudly anti-fascist and we focus on the far right.”
Responding to the remark, Lloyd referred to the rash of church burnings last summer about which CAHN has remained silent.
“You know, I come from an area where last summer where we had a 100 year old church burnt to the ground and dozens of people had to be evacuated from an apartment building close by which nearly went up in flames and killed dozens of people, but you just don’t hear it talked about in this country, and I understand that it’s not your organization’s mandate to talk about these things,” he said.
The anti-Semitic flyer is among numerous false claims by the legacy media and politicians which were floated to paint convoy demonstrators as extremists and even domestic terrorists.
Now that Ottawa Police has come out and said there's no evidence that the Feb. 6 residential building arson attempt was connected to the #FreedomConvoy2022 protest I have compiled every time a Liberal/NDP MP falsely smeared protestors as arsonists in the House of Commons #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/rvpPTM7nGr
At the height of the demonstrations in Ottawa, numerous Liberal and NDP politicians including NDP leader Jagmeet Singh claimed that the protesters were responsible for an attempted arson on a residential building. The Ottawa Police Service have since debunked those assertions after arresting two suspects whom they said had no connection to the convoy protest.
CAHN has to date received a quarter-million dollars from the Trudeau government for “anti-racist” research activities under the Anti-Racism Action Program.
