If you listen to the legacy media, you could be forgiven for thinking that Premier Jason Kenney’s days in office are numbered. But is that really true?
On today’s episode of the Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by former United Conservative Party (UCP) executive director and longtime conservative activist in Alberta Brad Tennant.
They discuss Kenney’s leadership review, why the vote was changed from in person to a mail-in ballot, why so many Albertans were so opposed to the province’s covid measures, infighting in the UCP and Kenney’s pathway to survival.
Get the inside scoop on what is really going on in Alberta!
A family-values-based think tank has slammed the joint federal-provincial child care agreement announced in Ontario this week, saying it only applies to the small segment of children who attend government-licensed care facilities.
According to Cardus Family Program Director Peter Jon Mitchell, only a third of children under the age of six will benefit from the plan. Instead, Mitchell argues, funding should be provided directly to parents.
On Monday, Ontario premier Doug Ford and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the $10.2 billion child-care deal. For those eligible, the funding will help bring down daycare fees to an average $10 a day by the end of 2025.
“Child care is the care of a child regardless of who provides the care,” said Mitchell. “Yet, just as we’ve seen in other provinces, the federal child-care plan’s fee reductions apply only to the families using licensed care. In Ontario, about a third of children under age six use that kind of care.”
“So, most families won’t benefit from today’s announcement. The best and fairest solution is to fund families directly—and to target the most funding to the lowest-income families. Making life more affordable for Ontario families is the right instinct, but today’s announcement is the wrong policy.”
The details of the deal indicate that only “participating licensed child care centres” will see the fees reduced by up to 25%. Private daycares that are not government licensed or in-home child care operators – which make up a majority of child care arrangements in the province – are excluded from the plan.
Payments will be sent out in the form of automatic rebates beginning in May.
Cardus has advocated for more parent-focused child care policies instead of the government’s universal view.
“That’s what we’ve seen pushed for certainly in federal policy discussions,” said Mitchell in a 2019 interview. “Going back 10, 20 years ago, there was a push for universal system. What we’re suggesting is there’s an alternative vision for child care in Canada that is more equitable for all families than a one-size-fits-all policy.”
“Those universal systems hold up Quebec as the model to which they want to generally emulate. That model is not without its issues and without its concerns. Certainly outcomes for children have not been fantastic. Studies looking at academic outcomes have found that there’s not really anything to suggest it’s been overly beneficial.” In his “supply and confidence” agreement with the NDP last week, Trudeau pledged to pass a child care act allowing agreements to be struck with provincial governments to reduce the cost of daycare nationwide.
Canadians may think it is some sick April Fool’s Day prank, but taxpayers can expect to pay more at the gas pumps and for alcohol on Friday, while politicians in Ottawa give themselves a hefty pay raise.
Even with fuel prices breaking records across the country, the Trudeau government’s carbon tax will increase to approximately 11 cents per litre of gasoline, 13 cents per litre of diesel and 10 cents per cubic metre of natural gas.
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), the carbon tax increase will cost families an additional $8.40 to fuel up a minivan.
Canadians can also expect to pay more for beer, wine and spirits when the “alcohol escalator tax” increases federal excise taxes on alcohol on Apr. 1.
Historically high inflation rates and crippling taxes have increased the cost of goods and services for consumers. But as Canadians look for ways to reduce spending, politicians in Ottawa won’t have to worry about making ends meet.
On Apr. 1, MPs are giving themselves a raise – in addition to their six-figure salaries.
The CTF estimates the generous pay raise will result in an extra $7,400 for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and an additional $3,700 for every backbench MP.
Currently, Trudeau’s base salary is $371,600, and each cabinet minister will be paid $274,000 annually. The numbers do not include all of the other additional benefits cabinet members and the prime minister receive.
CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano is calling on the Trudeau government to cancel the upcoming tax hikes.
“The joke is on taxpayers and it isn’t funny as our members of Parliament pocket a pay raise while emptying our wallets with higher carbon and booze taxes,” said Terrazzano.
“Canadians are struggling with higher prices on everything and the least our MPs could do is cancel the cruel April Fools’ Day joke and end the tax hikes.”
Leaders in Canada’s critical mineral industry have blasted the Trudeau government for “changing goal posts” with emission standards and carbon reduction regulations placed on private companies.
Glencore Canada’s Vice President of Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations Peter Xavier told the Commons industry committee on Mar. 22 that a lack of predictability has stood in the way of attracting investment and making Canada a leader in clean tech.
Critical minerals including nickel and lithium are essential in the development of green technologies such as electric batteries.
“The key to attracting such major investments is predictability, whether in energy pricing, emissions standards, permitting, closure requirements or carbon strategies. Changing goalposts during investment risks deterring investment in Canada,” Xavier told parliamentarians. “Governments need to develop a coordinated approach across ministries as companies often are forced to deal with government in silos.”
President and CEO of the Quebec Mining Association Josee Methot had a similar message for the committee. Although Canada has the capability to become a world leader in critical mineral development, outcompeting even behemoths like Russia and China, it desperately needs greater predictability when it comes to government regulations.
“Canada must carve out its place. It has the resources and expertise. The industry needs clear policies to accelerate (critical and strategic mineral) exploration, reduce project approval times, streamline the process and introduce greater predictability, and reduce the risks to investors who choose to do business in Canada,” said Methot.
The criticisms came a week ago, before Ottawa unveiled its 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan on Tuesday which demanded a 42% emission cut by the oil and gas sector by 2030.
Earlier in March, Ontario premier Doug Ford and a delegation of provincial cabinet members travelled to Washington DC to discuss economic development with US counterparts including cooperation on critical mineral development.
Prior to the trip, Ford unveiled the federal government’s critical minerals strategy hoping to position the province as a leading global supplier of critical minerals within five years.
“There’s a stranglehold by the current leaders, China and Chinese companies, as well as Russia, especially when it comes to nickel and a couple of other critical minerals that they could cut off at any point in time,” Ontario’s Minister of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry Greg Rickford testified. “The United States is scurrying around looking for the future of this. I think it’s right at their doorstep, frankly. It’s called Quebec. It’s called Ontario. It’s called British Columbia. It’s called Manitoba. It’s called Canada.”
In 2020, Canada and the US finalized the Joint Action Plan on Critical Minerals Collaboration which would secure supply chains for critical minerals needed in sectors such as communications, manufacturing, aerospace, green technology and defence.
The strain and lack of investment aren’t the only factors impacting large scale mining operations. They are also driving Canadian startups such as the company Summit Nanotech to look to international investors instead of domestic ones. According to the company’s founder and CEO Amanda Hall, that has led to pressure to set up shop outside of Canada.
“We have a lot of international investors—not my choice. I would have preferred Canadian investors, but Canadian investors are a little bit more gun-shy than international investors,” said Hall.
“Even the BDC, the Business Development Bank of Canada, sat out on my last financing round just to wait and see what would happen. Then, of course, the international investors swooped in. They want us to leave Canada and set up shop somewhere else, but I’ve been fighting to stay in Canada and continue our progress here.”
British Columbia’s human rights commissioner has called on B.C.’s government doctor to require everyone to wear masks again, less than a week after the holdout province lifted the mandate.
Commissioner Kasari Govender published a letter this week that she had sent to B.C. health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on Mar. 16, only five days after the province had lifted its mask mandate for most settings.
Citing disproportionate effects of the province’s decision on marginalized people, Govender also admits in the document that she has no access to the relevant statistics.
In her two-page letter, Govender expresses her concern for “inequitable impacts of ending the mask mandate,” writing that “some of us are more vulnerable than others to the virus, and public health policy must consider these disproportionate impacts.”
According to Govender, vulnerable groups include “immuno-compromised people, older people, indigenous and racialized people, people with disabilities, and low-income communities.”
A footnote to the claim sees Govender admit, “(w)hile I do not have access to the data in B.C., I make these assertions based on the race-based data available in other jurisdictions…”
She also emphasizes the fact that children under five years old cannot be vaccinated but will be “attending school without masks.”
“Lifting the mask mandate will do disproportionate harm to those who are already marginalized, forcing many to withdraw from activities of daily life in an attempt to protect their health, and reducing the capacity to enjoy their human rights to their full extent. Parents who are medically vulnerable face the difficult decision to send their children into schools with increased risk of transmission or to keep their children from their educations.”
The lifting of mask mandates in B.C. schools, which coincides with the end of spring break, varies among districts. Although some B.C. children returned to school this week, many are still on holidays until next Monday.
Restrictions adopted by the province’s schools over the Omicron variant saw class groups segregated, all movements monitored, children masked at all times except for eating and children forbidden from playing with friends from other classrooms even on playgrounds.
Despite the many experts and organizations that have warned of serious developmental impacts of masking on kids, at least one B.C. advocacy group is calling the dropping of forced masking in schools a potential “human rights violation.”
Govender, who receives a $300,000 annual salary from taxpayers, goes on to write that the requirement to wear masks is “minimally invasive,” however tired people may be of wearing them.
“The requirement to wear a mask in indoor public spaces is a comparatively minor infringement on an individual’s autonomy and an inconvenience in exercising one’s rights,” she wrote.
“At this late stage in the pandemic, we must not turn our backs on our mutual responsibility to keep each other safe.”
The B.C. Human Rights Commission, which is different from the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal, also launched an inquiry in 2020 into incidents of hatred during the pandemic.
As with the Tribunal, which does not recognize personal choice or political beliefs as protected grounds against COVID mandates, the Commission makes no mention of issues surrounding vaccination or masking in its definition of hate incidents.
B.C. health minister Adrian Dix responded to Govender’s letter at a press conference on Tuesday.
“Those who are clinically vulnerable have been more the focus of our efforts as a government and of the provincial health officer’s efforts than anywhere else in Canada,” Dix said.
“No one has focused, in terms of vaccination, on the clinically vulnerable and as effectively and as substantively as we have. We will continue to do that.”
B.C. was the last province to declare a timeline for dropping its COVID restrictions and remains the only one to still have a vaccine passport. The lifting of the vax pass is currently scheduled for Apr. 8 – “assuming that our conditions continue to improve,” Henry said on Mar 10.
Even before then, however, Henry had assured businesses who still wanted to enforce masking and vax passes that the government would support those practices. Henry has also signalled repeatedly that she is willing to bring pandemic restrictions back if she thinks them necessary.
As of Tuesday, the province reported that 90.8% of those five and older had received one COVID shot, with 87.3% having a second dose.
This week, the Trudeau government unveiled a new set of unrealistic emissions reduction targets, which includes a plan to cut emissions by 40% by the year 2030 and measures targeting Canada’s oil and gas sector. Despite the fact that their climate schemes have failed time and time again, the government is doubling down and making life more expensive for all Canadians.
Is there an alternative to Trudeau’s radical approach? Can Canada create a realistic climate plan that prioritizes our economy while protecting our natural environment?
On this episode of The Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by economics professor Dr. Ross McKitrick from the University of Guelph. Candice and Dr. McKitrick discuss Trudeau’s failed climate schemes, the myths of the climate movement and the alternative approaches that Canada should consider.
Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Parks Jason Nixon has used some blunt language to describe the Trudeau government’s plan to cut emissions in the oil and gas sector by almost half.
The 42% target was revealed in the federal government’s 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan released yesterday.
“Bringing forward a climate plan of this nature is insane — that’s the only word for it. This will result in devastating economic consequences all across the country, for our largest industry, at the same time with no environmental impact of any significance,” said Nixon in response to the report.
The sentiments were echoed by Alberta NDP leader Rachel Notley, who called the projected targets “a fantasy.”
“It’s a fantasy. We’re not going to get there. There are practical physical limits on how quickly facilities can be constructed or upgraded or projects even approved,” said Notley.
Much of the plan targetted the oil and gas sector, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claiming that the industry has seen record profits.
“With record profits, this is the moment for the oil and gas sector to invest in the sustainable future that will be good for business, good for communities, and good for our future,” Trudeau said.
According to Nixon, the modelling the report was based on could lead to a fall of 10.6% in oilsands production by 2030.
“That could cost at least around 13,000 jobs in the oil and gas industry in this province alone. We need to work together on emissions reductions, but we can’t do it in such a way that is catastrophic to both the provincial and the Canadian economy,” said Nixon.
The federal plan also includes $9 billion in new spending on climate grant and loan programs with an additional $1.7 billion in electric vehicle rebates.
The Trudeau government’s report and reduction targets also come amidst increased calls to ramp up Canadian oil and gas production, with the war between Russia and Ukraine causing shortages and record fuel prices at the pumps.
Conservative MP and leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre also promised last week to end imports of oil from overseas within five years of being elected Prime Minister.
“Justin Trudeau supports oil – as long as it is foreign oil,” Poilievre said. “Every time he kills a Canadian energy project, foreign dictators like Putin do a victory dance, because they get to dominate the world market.”
Poilievre’s plan would double Newfoundland’s oil production and support projects that get western oil to eastern Canadian markets whether by pipeline or rail.
The former cabinet minister who wrote the Emergencies Act in 1988 has questioned whether the requirements for its invocation were met after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau used the extraordinary measure to quash Freedom Convoy protests in February.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, former cabinet minister Perrin Beatty made the comments on Tuesday while testifying before a joint parliamentary committee investigating the use of the act.
“Emergencies legislation is designed to be legislation of last resort. “It’s explicit on that. It is designed to be used when there is no other legal authority available,” said Beatty. “Ask how we got to this point. The police were called upon to deal with a breakdown in our political system. We can criticize how they did their job but it should have never been necessary for them to fill the breach in the first place.”
Beatty added that since the law was triggered by Trudeau it could now become easy to invoke once again to curtail civil liberties even further.
“Now that it has been used it becomes easier to invoke. You must not define down the threshold at which extraordinary powers are used to curtail civil liberties,” said Beatty. “That it made law enforcement easier is clear. However the issue is whether the deliberately high threshold was met, not whether the powers given were useful.”
“I hoped there would never be a need. I did not expect to have it invoked in my lifetime,” he continued.
Several earlier testimonies from prominent government and private industry figures have poked holes in the Liberal government’s narrative around the Freedom Convoy.
Most recently, Ottawa Police interim chief Steve Bell told the Commons public safety committee that no illegal firearms were discovered among convoy participants despite claims by the media and government officials that loaded weapons were on the scene.
Other key testimonies have disputed claims that the convoy received terrorist or foreign financing and that foreign extremists were involved in organizing the protest.
After invoking the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, the Trudeau government enabled banks to seize nearly $8 million in funds from protest participants and organizers by applying terrorist and money laundering financing powers.
It’s been more than a month since the Freedom Convoy packed up and left Ottawa. Even so, the convoy and its organizers are still facing attacks by the media. Last week, CBC and CTV ran stories about a man who said he lost his life savings because of the convoy. The stories featured Martin Joseph Anglehart, who said he spent $13,000 on fuel and e-transfers for truckers in Ottawa. In the days since the stories were published, Anglehart has said he was taken out of context, and other convoy attendees have disputed aspects of Anglehart’s account. He joins The Andrew Lawton Show to tell his side of the story and respond to the accusations.
Some anonymous Liberal MPs are expressing disapproval over the recent “confidence and supply agreement” between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh that will see the NDP prop up Trudeau’s Liberals until 2025.
According to the Hill Times, Trudeau and his cabinet did not consult the Liberal caucus in the decision-making process surrounding the deal with the NDP announced Mar. 22. Sources say that the only forewarning about the agreement was an abnormally scheduled caucus meeting.
In an apparent effort to stifle debate within the Liberal caucus, Liberal national caucus chair Brenda Shanahan reportedly scheduled the meeting two hours before it occurred while packing the caucus meeting agenda so that discussion on the agreement could be limited.
While Jagmeet Singh allowed his NDP caucus to vote on the agreement, Trudeau apparently did not.
“There’s the irony that this was kept from members of caucus until it actually was a fait accompli,” one disgruntled Liberal MP said “And the irony here is, even though if the details of that nature were kept from our caucus, NDP MPs actually got to have a say on it. So that juxtaposition, in my opinion, is very, very troubling.
“But that’s how our government has been behaving since 2015.”
Since that year – the only Liberal majority under Trudeau – the Liberal Party has earned a smaller share of the popular vote with each subsequent election. Some Liberal MPs are reportedly worried that abandoning the centre of the political spectrum and cooperating with the far-left NDP party could lead the Conservative Party to victory.
One Liberal MP commenting on the Liberal Party’s drift to the left said, “(a)lready the Liberal Party has been too far left. Now, it’s official, we have joined this ultra-left.”
As Trudeau’s party continues to move in a more left-wing direction, MPs are concerned that ‘blue liberals’ will find a home with the Conservative Party even if a right-wing candidate becomes the CPC leader.
“The more you move to the left, the more you start to lose some blue Liberals,” one Liberal MP said. “That’s been a big problem for Liberals since 2015.”
While Canadians are trying to figure out the implications of the “confidence and supply agreement,” Liberal MPs are apparently unsure just to what extent the Liberals and NDP are to cooperate in committee work, drafting bills and more.
The agreement ensures that the NDP supports the Liberal Party as long as the Liberals commit to implementing national dental care and pharma care programs. According to the sources who spoke to the Hill Times, Liberal MPs are also raising concerns about adding to the already growing budgets and deficits exacerbated by pandemic spending programs.
The agreement between the Liberals and NDP pledges to increase spending on social programs, with no plan on how the government will pay for them.
With inflation climbing to 5.7% – the highest in more than thirty years – and with government debts and deficits breaking records, there is real concern that increased spending will add to inflationary pressures.
