Twenty-four hours before backing the 2022 Liberal budget on Thursday and averting a confidence vote on the Trudeau government, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh blasted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on social media, saying he has not been a “real leader.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Singh went after Trudeau for alleged inaction on “climate disaster,” investing in pipelines and subsidizing energy projects.
In 7 years, Justin Trudeau has not been a climate leader.
A day later, after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presented the budget to the House of Commons on Thursday, Singh pledged the NDP’s support for the spending program.
“The budget reflects the priorities that we laid out and the agreement that we have,” Singh told reporters. “It has really important things that are going to make a big difference in people’s lives. The expansion of our public healthcare system with a dental care program is going to be life changing for a lot of Canadians.”
Contrary to his earlier rant, Singh also stated that the environmental measures included in the budget were “sufficient” for him to continue to prop up the Liberals.
“We still have critiques that we will continue to pose on the approach to the environment but it is sufficient for our support to continue,” said Singh.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the budget lines up with the deal the NDP and Liberals have and "it is sufficient for (NDP) support to continue"
Last month, the Liberals and the NDP reached a “confidence and supply agreement” that could see Trudeau remain in power until 2025 despite his minority government.
In 2021, the idea that a Liberal-NDP agreement was in the works was ridiculed by the legacy media after the possibility was floated by former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole.
“First, there is no Liberal-NDP coalition. O’Toole may wish for one, but there is no evidence a formal arrangement — such as what we saw in 2008 — is being contemplated,” wrote Toronto Star columnist Althia Raj.
“So while both parties are willing to talk, what those talks lead to will be very different than the coalition bogeyman O’Toole is painting for Canadians.”
The budget introduced on Thursday introduced $56 billion in new spending, including a dental plan for children from low-income families that was a condition of the NDP’s support.
The Trudeau government is set to continue its massive spending spree, with the federal budget revealing $56 billion in new costs and programs.
Liberal Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the additional spending on Thursday when tabling the document in the House of Commons.
The new spending includes $8 billion on defence, $10 billion towards an affordable housing plan and further taxes on financial institutions. The Liberals have also raised a surtax on earning over $1 billion by1.5%, bringing it to 16.5%.
The Liberals plan on boosting defence spending over a five-year period. Much of the new money will go towards upgrading the North American Aerospace Defence Command and buying more weapons to supply Ukraine to fend off the Russian invasion.
Although a significant investment, the funds will not be enough to meet the NATO threshold of 2% of GDP.
Despite housing being a provincial jurisdiction, the federal Liberals also announced they would be spending $4 billion to build 100,000 new homes in urban areas by 2025, while dishing out $2.7 billion for low-cost and co-op housing.
Federal deficit forecasts projected a whopping $113.8 billion for 2021-2022. However, the Liberals claim that by next year they will be able to cut the deficit by over half and bring it to $52.8 billion with the eventual goal of an $8.4 billion deficit by 2027.
“We are absolutely determined that our debt to GDP ratio must continue to decline,” said Freeland. “The extraordinary debts we incurred to keep Canadians safe and solvent must be paid down.”
In a rare moment of transparency, Freeland acknowledged that Canada was lagging behind other developed countries in terms of economic productivity.
“So now is the time to focus – with smart investments and a clarity of purpose on growing our economy,” said Freeland.
MPs laugh as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland claims the Trudeau government is ensuring the nation’s finances are sustainable. #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/kqsOypgeW6
Canadians will also see a new tax-free savings account allowing first-time home buyers to save up to $40,000 as well as a rent-to-own program.
Before the budget was unveiled, Conservative leader Candice Bergen blasted the new spending as irresponsible.
“Canada’s debt has reached over $1.11 trillion dollars. The NDP-Liberal budget means more irresponsible spending and more taxes for all Canadians,” tweeted Bergen.
Other critics including the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) slammed Freeland for failing to rein in spending.
“Freeland is giving taxpayers another credit card budget with no plan to pay the bills on time and chip away at the $1-trillion debt,” said CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano.
“Freeland is taking the wait-and-see approach to the government’s credit card bills and hoping the economy can grow faster than its borrowing, but that’s not a good bet with its track record of runaway spending.”
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the fed's child care agreement with the provinces is "women's liberation" and an example of "feminist economic policy in action" #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/9fcFfk7wgW
Trudeau also plans to give more money to green energy companies, and to attempt to boost economic growth through a small-business tax cut. In order to cut down carbon emissions, a new tax incentive program was revealed for oil and gas companies to invest in carbon capture technology.
Ottawa will implement a $15-billion Canada Growth Fund to lure more investment from home and abroad into the green industry. Additionally, the Liberals will devote $3.8 billion to develop a national critical mineral strategy.
Incentives were also revealed for Canadians and businesses to adopt electric vehicles.
In line with their recent deal with the NDP, the Liberals unveiled a new dental plan for low-income Canadians. Beginning this year, children under the age of 12 whose families earn under $70,000 a year will have full coverage, while those whose families earn under $90,000 will have partial coverage.
Next year, the program will also include seniors and people with disabilities.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland calls Vladimir Putin a "tyrant" and a "war criminal" and says that democracy can be safe only once Putin and his forces have been "vanquished." #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/lHASxX04KE
A record number of public sector executives making six-figure taxpayer-funded salaries have complained they are not being paid enough for having worked through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the pandemic began, the number of executives working for the government has grown by over 21%. Today, there are a record 7,900 executives employed in the public sector.
The Association of Professional Executives of the Public Service of Canada (APEX) says it has been working behind the scenes to lobby Liberal Treasury Board President Mona Fortier to boost their salaries and improve working conditions.
Some are even upset that employees under them are being paid more, calling it a sign of “disrespect by the employer.”
“Levels of frustration, beyond what has ever been seen before in the executive community, are being measured,” APEX CEO Carl Trottier wrote to Fortier.
“A record number of executives are asking APEX how to be demoted out of the executive cadre stating pay inversion and disrespect by the employer as the main causes.”
Pay inversion is when subordinates who can earn overtime make more than their employer. APEX has called the issue “demoralizing” and noted that many executives have worked hard while dealing with the threat of COVID-19.
“Taxpayers have struggled through two years of revolving government lockdowns, pay cuts, job and business losses and we can’t afford higher taxes to pay for raises for bureaucrats that already receive big six-figure salaries,” Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) told True North. “We don’t need more bureaucrats with bigger salaries, taxpayers need our government employees to be willing to share in the tough times and take a pay cut.”
Taxpayer-funded executives have complained of a $7,000 pay difference among some employees. Entry-level executives can make up to $132,100 a year, while some higher level policy analysts get paid up to $140,571. However, according to 2018 figures, higher end executives were being paid up to $343,100 with a 39% performance bonus.
Currently, several public sector unions are involved in ongoing negotiations with the Liberal government for larger raises, citing the need to keep up with inflation.
According to the CTF, over half a million federal and provincial government workers benefited from pay raises during the COVID-19 pandemic at the expense of the taxpayer.
“We’re not all in this together,” said Terrazzano. “We’ve seen a tale of two pandemics: one full of private sector pain and the other full of financial gain for bureaucrats and politicians.”
On Apr. 1 senators and MPs also received a scheduled pay raise, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earning an additional $21,604 this year, raising his total salary to $379,404.
While the rest of the world is moving on and learning to live with Covid, one Canadian province doesn’t seem to have gotten that memo.
British Columbia feels months behind when it comes to adapting to everything we know about Covid. It still enforces its draconian vaccine mandate and the government continues to fire workers for not complying with its failed mandate system.
On today’s episode of the Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by True North Senior Editor and Civil Liberties Reporter Harley Sims, who lives in BC and reports on these issues daily.
They discuss the latest court actions and firings, why BC is so out of step, what it’s like for unvaccinated people out West and a few glimmers of hope in the fight to restore our freedoms: namely CAF veteran James Topp and his courage march across Canada.
A Toronto District School Board (TDSB) elementary school is hosting a series of workshops on affirming “sexuality diversity in children” and youth.
JK-Grade 8 Rawlinson Community School seminars titled “Affirmation of Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Children, Youth and Families” are being conducted by the organization 519 Space For Change.
According to a Rawlinson newsletter, parents and families are being invited to join the Apr. 12 Zoom event.
“Sessions will focus on Affirmation of Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Children, Youth and Families. We look forward to seeing many of our Rawlinson families at this workshop as we continue to deepen our perspectives and understanding of equity and inclusion,” school officials wrote.
The @tdsb's Rawlison Community School will be hosting an April 12th workshop on affirming "gender and sexuality diversity in children."
The first workshop of the series already took place on March 9. A tweet by the official Rawlinson Community School Twitter account showed several slides of a presentation which discussed additional concepts such as “colonialism” and “intersectionality.”
Thank you to all Rawlinson community members who attended the 1st session of @The519 three part series last night. The series focusses on the “Affirmation of Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Children, Youth and Families.” See you on April 12th @ 7-9 pm for the next session! 🌈 pic.twitter.com/yz2ecoB2ty
519 Space for Change is an LGBTQ City of Toronto agency that has been operating since the 1970s. It has repeatedly partnered with local schools to offer educational and social programs.
The agency’s website also contains guides full of explicit sexualized language on oral sex, masturbation and prostitution.
This is not the first time that the TDSB has hosted events focused on indoctrinating kids with LGBTQ activism.
As reported by True North fellow Sue-Ann Levy last week, kids as young as 11 were invited to a virtual TDSB LGBTQ conference featuring a performance by the dance group Toronto Kiki Ballroom Alliance, which hosts photos and videos of highly sexualized dances on its social media.
Levy also reported on Wednesday that a TDSB high school had hosted a talk where presenters told officials that students should be able to use whichever bathroom they wanted based on whichever gender they identified with.Educators were also told not to inform parents of students’ gender identity without the student’s consent.
“A student’s self identification is the sole measure of the student’s gender,” documents stated.
The presentation came in the wake of a Halton District School Board directive a few months earlier that stated that students should also be able to use whichever change room they feltl was “most gender affirming,” and that female students who were uncomfortable with the arrangement should be asked to change elsewhere.
A 36-year-old man from Ottawa was arrested during a routine traffic stop on Sunday in Rochester, New York after he was found carrying an arsenal of illegal guns.
According to reports, police pulled over Badri Ahmed-Mohamed in a quiet neighbourhood for speeding.
“I was patrolling the Village and had a vehicle pass me at a high rate of speed,” said Officer Kyle Regal.
Soon after interacting with Ahmed-Mohamed – whom officers described as agitated and suspicious – police asked him if he had anything illegal in the car.
“As I went up to the vehicle, the driver seemed very suspicious and starting shaking,” Regal added. “I asked him if there was anything illegal in the vehicle, which he answered with ‘yes.’
“I had the gentleman exit the vehicle. He gave me consent to search the vehicle, and then that’s when I found the weapons in the trunk of the vehicle.”
Police discovered 58 handguns with several high-capacity magazines in a duffle bag.
According to local authorities, Ahmed-Mohamed was allegedly engaged in trafficking firearms from the US into Canada.
In 2020, the Liberal government banned over 1,500 different guns from being owned by law-abiding Canadians. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau justified the decision by claiming that the weapons were used to target humans specifically by criminals.
“These weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only — only to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time,” Trudeau said. “You don’t need an AR-15 to bring down a deer.”
The ban meant that Canadians could no longer buy, sell, import or transport these guns rendering them essentially useless.
Critics of the ban including Canadian Coalition of Firearm Rights CEO and Executive Director Rod Giltaca have said that the ban does very little to combat violent crime and illegal guns entering Canada.
“Of course, the government’s ban has had no effect on this kind of criminal activity. No serious person would claim it would. Criminals like this aren’t even aware of the government’s ban. In fact, this is the same government that provided reduced sentencing options including repealing mandatory minimums for these types of crimes in bill C22. Fortunately, this bill was not passed because of the 2021 election.”
Giltaca added that if governments were serious about combatting gun crime, they would not obsessively focus on targeting law-abiding citizens.
“The government’s obsessive focus on licensed gun owners has made Canada a more accommodating environment for this kind of criminal activity and Canadians are less safe as a result,” he said.
“If you’re concerned with public safety, none of this makes any sense. Licensed, law-abiding Canadians are sick and tired of this,” said Giltaca. “The Liberals and law enforcement know who’s committing these crimes. They just need to get serious about addressing them.”
Despite initial claims that their gun ban didn’t apply to hunting and sporting rifles, the Liberals have recently admitted that it does.
A government notice read that “(s)takeholders raised concerns the Amnesty Order did not allow for the transportation of firearms that were previously non-restricted and used for sustenance hunting or to exercise a right under section 35 of the Constitution Act for maintenance purposes, for example for repair or sighting in preparation for hunting.”
The head of Canada’s unelected broadcasting and telecommunications regulator has said that Canadians can trust the group to regulate the internet once the Liberal government’s Bill C-11 gives it that power.
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Chairman Ian Scott was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the position in 2021.
“Users of online and social media services expect freedom of expression, and they will continue to enjoy this under the new Broadcasting Act,” Scott claimed in a recent speech.
“Put another way, the CRTC issues about 250 broadcasting decisions annually. Not a single one has ever been successfully challenged on the basis that it somehow infringed Canadians’ freedom of expression.”
C-11 will revise Canada’s Broadcasting Act and expand the CRTC’s powers to include the digital realm. It is an updated version of Bill C-10, which failed to pass into law prior to the 2021 election.
Critics have blasted the bill as an affront to freedom of expression, allowing the government to regulate what Canadian users can post online or how said content will be promoted.
According to University of Ottawa Internet and E-Commerce Law Research Chair Michael Geist, the Liberals have misled Canadians on the scope of the bill. Concerns with the law include “virtually limitless jurisdictional, overbroad scope, and harmful discoverability provisions,” said Geist.
“Bill C-11 treats all audio-visual content as programs subject to potential regulation. With exceptions that could easily capture TikTok or YouTube videos, the bill is about far more than just large companies,” he added.
Meanwhile, Scott has stated that the bill needed to be open-ended so that the CRTC could have room to maneuver.
“As we have seen, it can take several decades before Parliament has an opportunity to review legislation, and in the meantime circumstances on the ground can shift significantly,” said Scott.
In addition to Bill C-11, the Trudeau government recently introduced Bill C-18.
The Liberals have claimed that the bill is a way to make big tech giants like Google and Meta pay for Canadian news and cultural content they host on their platforms.
However, critics including Geist have said that it’s a “government-backed shakedown that runs the risk of undermining press independence” and that the law will actually make it harder for Canadian content creators to succeed.
The legislation would exempt news corporations from the Competition Act and anti-trust laws, requiring social media platforms and search engines like Facebook and Google to pay news media from ad revenues generated by news content.
Even former CRTC officials have spoken up against the Trudeau government’s plan to regulate the internet, with two signing onto a petition which labeling Bill C-10 an “authoritarian” move.
Last week on the Candice Malcolm Show, the former Executive Director of the United Conservative Party (UCP) Brad Tennant joined Candice to give viewers an understanding of what was happening in Alberta and the UCP leadership review from a pro-Kenney point of view.
Today, we hear the other side of the story in Alberta.
On this episode of the Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by the former leader of the Wildrose Party and the former Leader of the Opposition in the Alberta Legislature Danielle Smith.
Smith announced her return to politics last week and will be seeking the UCP nomination for the riding of Livingstone-Macleod, and to seek the leadership of the UCP if Kenney loses his review.
A commander with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) has stated that Canada has no chance of matching Russia’s military capabilities in the Arctic.
According to Defence Chief Gen. Wayne Eyre, Canada cannot hope to maintain a permanent presence in the north, but instead will only deploy troops where necessary.
Eyre appeared before a Senate committee earlier this week as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Anita Anand met with premiers from Canada’s territories – Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
“We are continuing to stand strong in our sovereignty and our defence of the Arctic,” said Trudeau. “Of course, with Norad modernization on the table, with increased investments in defence, the Arctic is an area we’re going to look closely.”
Over the past few years, Russia has expanded its Arctic presence with bases littering the entire region. Satellite images show Russian expansion and strengthening of airfields along Russia’s Arctic coast.
“Russia is refurbishing Soviet-era airfields and radar installations, constructing new ports and search-and-rescue centers, and building up its fleet of nuclear- and conventionally-powered icebreakers,” Pentagon spokesman Thomas Campbell told CNN in 2021.
In March, it was also revealed that Russian forces had recently reoccupied more bases used by the former Soviet Union.
“One of the challenges, one of the expressions of sovereignty is being able to project force to the extremities of your country,” Eyre told a Defence Conference earlier this year.
Russian forces have also crossed into disputed territory as numerous nations vie to make claims on the Arctic. For example, in Jan. 2020, NORAD warned that two nuclear-capable Russian bombers had buzzed Canadian airspace. The jets crossed over the North Pole and approached Canada, although they remained in international airspace.
The UK’s Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Sir Nick Carter has said that his nation is “keen to cooperate” with Canadians on Arctic defence.
Conservative leadership candidate Jean Charest also recently proposed that Canada develop more military bases in the arctic. As part of his defence plan, Charest stated that if elected prime minister, he would “develop and properly support two military bases in the arctic, including a deepwater port.”
Additionally, Charest’s plan included having drones surveil the north and to procure two armed icebreakers.
According to documents obtained by True North, officials at a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) presentation on transphobia last week heard that students should be able to use whichever bathroom “best corresponds” to a student’s gender identity and that parents should not be informed of that identity without the student’s consent.
“A student’s self identification is the sole measure of the student’s gender,” documents from the high school state.
The presentation comes in the wake of a Halton District School Board directive a few months ago stating that students should be able to use whichever change room they feel is “most gender affirming,” and that female students who were uncomfortable with the arrangement should be asked to change elsewhere.
Details of the surreal presentation to the TDSB high school were provided to True North by staff extremely concerned with what they felt were “alarming developments” at the Toronto board. The name of the school is not being identified to protect sources.
The talk – led by 19 trans students and their allies – informed staff of TDSB guidelines, stating that a school should never disclose to a parent a student’s gender or preferred pronouns without that student’s consent.
They added that the policy must be followed “regardless of the age of the student.”
The trans students and their allies also insisted these guidelines make it perfectly acceptable for a boy to use a girl’s washroom if it “best corresponds” to the student’s gender identity.
It was noted that the school has a gender-neutral washroom already, but that some students may not feel comfortable using it. No reason was given as to why that would be the case.
Considerable time was spent introducing the trans panel and their pronouns.
One student claimed to go by two names “with no preference” – Kori and Elisha – as well as relatively new pronouns (or neo-pronouns), “aem/aemia” and “it/its.”
Another named Izzy uses “they/them,” while Avery uses “any pronouns.”
Kara said “her/their” pronouns are “she/they.”
Two woke teachers – who were certain to say they use “she/her” – interjected to say, “it’s not a big ask” to learn all these special names and pronouns because they already refer to students by their preferred names. The teachers failed to mention how the pronouns fit into that.
Another presenter, Tiana, noted that the word “queer” is no longer a slur but has been “reclaimed” by many LGBTQ+people. She said some of the group will take Queer Studies courses in university and listen to queercore punk.
“Still you don’t want to call someone ‘queer’ unless you know they’re cool with it,” she said.
Teachers were also given a fact sheet of questions and answers, telling them that if they “misgender a student,” they should apologize, “do better (use the correct pronoun next time) and move on quickly.”
Alarming as all this sounds, woke ideology is spreading like wildfire through Ontario school boards.
The Halton District School Board has also issued an administrative procedure echoing the discussions at the TDSB high school meeting. This includes receiving a student’s consent before advising a parent of that student’s gender identity as well as allowing students to use washrooms that are the “most gender affirming.”
But officials at this woke board go even further, declaring that students can use a change room for health and phys ed that is the “most gender affirming” or where they “feel the safest.”
They also say if a female, for example, feels uncomfortable with that, she will be asked to change at another time or use a nearby private area.
Students will also be able to attend a class of their choosing that is “most gender affirming” or meets their safety needs and – get this – participate on sports teams that are most “gender affirming” (reminiscent of the accommodation being made for American trans swimmer Lia Thomas).
If a trans student goes on an overnight trip or excursion, school staff must work “in collaboration” with the student to finalize room arrangements that are the “most gender affirming” – and cover any extra costs that may result (if said person gets his, her, their or its own room), the policy says.
The TDSB teachers who approached me are right. This is very disturbing for so many reasons.
Never mind that so much time is being spent on satisfying the gender-obsessed teachers to learn all these ridiculous pronouns instead of actually preparing students for life in the real world.
It quite simply has gone too far.
The idea that a school board can keep a student’s gender status from their parents if they are under the age of majority is a disturbing and appalling overreach.
If radical leftists at the TDSB or the Halton board want to groom would-be transgender kids, at least wait until they’re adults.
And if students want to use a washroom that is a “safe space,” let them use the gender-neutral washroom – don’t make it uncomfortable for the rest of the (female) student population to change, visit a washroom or even go on a school excursion to appease a fringe minority of cult-like woke teachers and students.
I’m afraid Ontario school officials have completely lost their way.
