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Sunday, July 20, 2025

“Dictatorship of the worst kind” – Trudeau lambasted by European parliamentarian

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Croatian Member of European (MEP) Parliament and former judge Mislav Kolakusic called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau out to his face in Brussels on Tuesday, savaging Trudeau over “civil rights violations” against Freedom Convoy protesters.

Speaking before the European Parliament, Kolakusic accused the prime minister of engaging in a “dictatorship of the worst kind” by using the Emergencies Act to crush peaceful demonstrations. 

Kolakusic’s speech followed Trudeau’s own address to the parliament, where the prime minister had sounded off on purported threats to democracy posed by freedom protesters. 

Kolakusic responded to Trudeau’s claims through a Croatian translator.

“To defend our rights and the rights of our children, which we have acquired over the centuries, many of us – including myself – are willing to risk our own freedom and our own lives,” he said. “Unfortunately, today there are those among us who trample on these fundamental values

Kolakusic then turned to face Trudeau.

“Canada, once a symbol of the modern world, has become a symbol of civil rights violations under your quasi-liberal boot in recent months,” he said.

Kolakusic went on to blast Trudeau for the militarized crackdown on Ottawa protesters where one woman using a walker had been trampled by a police-mounted riot horse. He also referred to how Trudeau had used the Emergencies Act to freeze the bank accounts of convoy protesters and donors. 

“We watched how you trample women with horses, how you block the bank accounts of single parents so that they can’t even pay their children’s education and medicine, that they can’t pay utilities, mortgages for their homes. To you, these may be liberal methods, for many citizens of the world, it is a dictatorship of the worst kind. Rest assured that the citizens of the world, united, can stop any regime that wants to destroy,” said Kolakusic. 

This is far from the first high-profile instance where Trudeau has been condemned by an EU politician, although it is the first time one has criticized him in person. 

As exclusively reported by True North, Finnish MEP Laura Huhtasaari wrote to European officials earlier this month, demanding the EU respond to Trudeau’s crackdown. 

“On several occasions the EU has condemned human rights violations in various countries,” Huhtasaari wrote. “Does the Commission or the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy intend to condemn the measures used by Canada against peaceful protest in the Canadian convoy demonstration, and what is the EU’s position on the Canadian Government’s actions against peaceful protest?”

In February, Romanian MEP Cristian Terhes also accused the prime minister of being a “tyrant” and a “dictator” during a fiery speech in Brussels. 

Are massive tax hikes coming? (Ft. Pierre Poilievre)

By
Candice Malcolm
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Did Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh form their coalition pact to avoid a fiscal collapse? 

Today on the Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre. 

Back in September 2020, Pierre predicted on this show that Canada’s fiscal situation was mathematically impossible and heading towards a collapse. He said that Trudeau desperately needed a majority government to hide his scandal and to raise taxes to afford his COVID spending binge. 

Candice and Pierre revisit that prediction, talk about what this Liberal-NDP pact means for Canadians – especially working class Canadians – and why Canada has become so expensive.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CANDICE MALCOLM SHOW

Sun Life imposing vaccine mandate on all in-person staff

By
Andrew Lawton
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One of Canada’s largest financial services companies is abandoning its rapid testing program and making Covid vaccination mandatory for all in-office staff.

Sun Life Financial is requiring all employees at its financial centres to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 as of May 1, according to an internal memo obtained by True North.

“All FC Field Leaders and FC Staff must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as they are required to work on-site at a Sun Life location,” the memo says.

The current mandate, which the Toronto-based company adopted in August, allows unvaccinated employees to take part in a rapid screening program. That program will no longer be available for office-based employees.

Employees have until April 15 to confirm they’re vaccinated, or they “may be placed on unpaid leave,” the memo warns.

Advisors who don’t regularly work out of a Sun Life facility will be required to be vaccinated or take part in Sun Life’s rapid screening program in order to visit a financial centre or a Sun Life corporate office.

Sun Life did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

An unvaccinated Sun Life employee told True North they expect to be fired when the new policy kicks in on May 1.

“I’m deeply hurt and disappointed by Sun Life’s mandatory injection policy,” said the employee, who has asked not to be named for fear of retribution. “Starting May 1, they can fire me for making a private medical decision to not take the Covid vaccine.”

The employee said they’ve spoken to unvaccinated colleagues who are “worried and frightened for their livelihoods” because of the policy.

“It’s so stressful,” they said.

The employee added that Sun Life’s vaccine mandate flies in the face of the company’s claims of supporting an inclusive work environment.

“This new policy of ‘the jab or your job’ is the epitome of exclusion,” they said. “It’s a form of medical discrimination which should be illegal.”

Many provinces have imposed vaccine mandates on healthcare workers and public employees, though no such mandates exist for the broader private sector. Ontario is lifting its public employee vaccine mandate on April 4.

However, governments have said private businesses retain the choice to set their own policies for requiring proof of vaccination from staff or customers.

The federal government also maintains a sweeping vaccine mandate for federal public servants.

The Sun Life employee said they’ve had positive experiences working for the company, but this policy crosses a line.

“Sun Life’s misguided vaccine mandate is cruel,” they said. “It is unloving and not how we should treat each other. It divides us and our communities. It’s creating a horrible and oppressive energy, ruining the great culture we have at Sun Life.”

Convicted Toronto 18 terrorist allowed to practice law in Ontario

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The Law Society of Ontario will allow convicted Toronto 18 terrorist Saad Gaya to become a licensed lawyer after its tribunal found him to be “presently of good character.” 

In 2006, Gaya and over a dozen other radical Islamists plotted to detonate bombs throughout Toronto. The plot was foiled following a national security operation, and Gaya was arrested while unloading what he thought was ammonium nitrate in order to make truck bombs. 

Among the targets of the al-Qaeda-inspired plot were the Parliament of Canada and the Toronto Stock Exchange. Plotters also planned to take political hostages and behead the Prime Minister and other Canadian leaders. 

Gaya pleaded guilty in 2009 to the commission of an offence for a terrorist group and was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison. After serving 10 years, Gaya was released on parole and finally finished his sentence in 2020. 

He began his legal career soon after and recently graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. He is currently listed as an articling student with the firm St. Lawrence Barristers LLP. Gaya’s biography on the firm’s website makes no mention of his terrorist past. 

The Law Society Tribunal ruled Gaya eligible to become a lawyer based on its assessment of his remorse and conduct since his offence. 

“We have no doubt about Mr. Gaya’s good character today. His insight, remorse and acceptance of responsibility are clear from his testimony and from his actions, from what he has overcome and accomplished, and in the respect and support he has earned from those many people who he encountered in his lengthy and challenging path to rehabilitation,” the tribunal wrote. 

It based its decision on five criteria including how long ago Gaya’s crime took place, his conduct since being convicted, rehabilitation, remorse and the nature and duration of the crime.

In response to the decision, Gaya said he hopes to well serve the justice system as a lawyer. 

“It is tremendously meaningful for me to have the Law Society Tribunal review the extensive information available from the last 16 years and conclude that at the end of this lengthy journey, my ‘insight, dedication and resilience’ will well serve the administration of justice,” said Gaya.

According to the tribunal, “clients, and our society as a whole,” will benefit from Gaya’s career as a lawyer. 

UCP scrapping in-person leadership review convention, moving vote to mail

By
Andrew Lawton
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Alberta’s United Conservative Party (UCP) is axing its long-planned April leadership review convention and moving to mail-in voting.

A memo sent to UCP members Wednesday morning said the switch to mail-in ballots is to “ensure that every single member of our party has an opportunity to vote in the leadership review.”

Members were set to vote at an in-person convention in Red Deer April 8 on whether Premier Jason Kenney should be allowed to remain leader of the UCP.

The memo from the UCP said a national auditing firm will be retained to oversee the mail-in vote, with details to be “released in the days ahead.”

More than 15,000 people registered to attend the Special General Meeting in Red Deer, seven-and-a-half times what the venue can accommodate.

UCP members had to pay $150 to attend. With the move to mail-in voting, all members will be permitted to vote.

“We have responded to the thousands of you who have asked us to make it easy for our grassroots members to participate, by eliminating the registration fee and the need for travel,” the UCP memo says.

Kenney has faced mounting opposition from within his own party over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. One of his most vocal critics, Brian Jean, was elected as a UCP MLA in a by-election last week.

Kenney critics have theorized that the UCP is changing the rules out of concern anti-Kenney forces were behind the high sales for the Red Deer leadership review.

The April 9 meeting will proceed online as an election readiness training event.

“This extraordinary interest in the democratic process shows the strength of our Party. We thank you for being part of it,” the UCP says in the memo.

Majority of Canadians support defunding the CBC: poll

By
Jonathan Bradley
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Most Canadians would be open to supporting the Conservatives if they fully defunded the CBC, according to a new poll. 

The results of a survey released by the Angus Reid Institute last week suggested that 64% of Canadians would consider voting Conservative if they promised to defund the state broadcaster. 

The position put to respondents was, “the Conservatives would still maintain my support/interest if they adopted: Defunding the CBC completely.”

The poll revealed that the most support for defunding the CBC came from People’s Party voters, with 98% in favour of the policy. In comparison, 84% of Conservative voters supported fully defunding the state broadcaster. 

Results also showed that 71% of “others” supported the policy, followed by 50% of Bloc Quebecois voters, 37% of Greens, 34% of Liberals and 31% of New Democrats. 

Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leadership candidates Pierre Poilievre and Roman Baber have promised to defund the CBC if they are elected as prime minister. None of the other candidates has spoken out against the position.

The CBC received about $1.4 billion in funding from the Canadian government in 2021, which accounted for 70% of its revenue. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also promised during the 2021 election to increase the state broadcaster’s funding by $400 million over the next four years to make it less reliant on advertising. 

“CBC/Radio-Canada is a fundamental Canadian institution,” said the 2021 Liberal platform. “Decreasing advertising revenues for all broadcasters are putting Canada’s public broadcaster under increasing pressure.”

Support for defunding the CBC comes on the heels of another poll last month showing that Canadians are losing trust in legacy media. The Proof Strategies CanTrust Index poll showed that 35% of Canadians said that they trusted legacy media, compared to 38% last year. CBC was one of several outlets to score below 50% when it comes to trust. 

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) launched a petition in February calling on Trudeau to end the $1 billion in funding per year for the CBC and to scrap the $600 million media bailout. 

“We launched this petition because Canadians should decide which news outlets they prefer and to support them financially if they choose to do so,” said CTF B.C. director Kris Sims. “They should not be forced to pay for it through the government.”

Sims said she has worked in newsrooms throughout her life and that if the government is padding journalists’ paycheques, it “gives the perception of bias.” She added that media subsidies are “not fair to the taxpayer and it’s not good for the journalist.”

The petition received 52,000 signatures one week after launching. 

“To me, that really shows a strong signal that there’s many Canadian taxpayers that are deeply concerned about the amount of money that the government is sending to the CBC every year,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano on “The Andrew Lawton Show” on True North. 

The Angus Reid poll was conducted with a sample size of 3,086 Canadians online. 

First year of pandemic created 20,000 new federal jobs

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

New data released by the Treasury Board reveals that nearly 20,000 new federal government jobs were created in 2020, the first year government pandemic measures began devastating the private industry.

As the federal government underwent a spending frenzy, federal employment jumped by over 6%. By the first three months of 2020, there were 319,600 government workers across all departments.

In the fiscal year 2021, Canadian taxpayers were paying $60 billion to cover the salaries of federal employees, up $4.4 billion from the last year. This was on top of the $19.2 billion in benefits for employees the government added last year. 

Three departments accounted for half of the job gains with the Public Health Agency of Canada, with the Employment and Social Development Department and the Canada Revenue Agency seeing the most growth in their workforces.

While the public sector ballooned during the COVID-19 pandemic, some private sector industries shrank and lost workers. 

According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF), 312,825 federal government workers and MPs also received pay raises between 2020 and 2021. 

“Canadians have experienced a tale of two pandemics: one full of private sector pain, the other full of bureaucrat pay increases,” CTF Federal Director Franco Terrazzano said. 

“We need politicians and bureaucrats to help shoulder the burden because it can’t just be struggling families and businesses forced to pay back the $1-trillion federal debt.”

Statistics Canada data shows that since the beginning of the pandemic 257,400 jobs were added to the economy, 107,000 of which were “public administration” jobs.

Meanwhile, the private sector and those who were self-employed saw a loss of 256,500 jobs since 2019. 

“Not only do taxpayers have to pay for more bureaucrats, we’re also on the hook for government pay raises during the pandemic and that’s not fair,” said Terrazzano.

Liberals rethinking decriminalization of hard drugs

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

The Liberals appear to be having second thoughts about decriminalizing heroin, crack cocaine and other hard drugs as a way of dealing with the country’s ongoing addiction crisis. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Addictions Minister Carolyn Bennett told the Commons health committee on Monday that one of the lessons learned from legalizing marijuana is that people are still accessing the black market to buy their drugs. 

“As in the journey with cannabis, decriminalization still means people go to the street to get their drugs and they are still dying,” said Bennett. “I am focused on getting safer supplies to the people using drugs.”

The so-called “safe supply” model could still mean that the federal government enables provinces to get into the business of dealing hard drugs to vulnerable addicts. 

“We are looking at all the international models to be able to figure out what is the best way forward as we want to end this national public health crisis,” said Bennett. 

“The other piece we are hearing a lot about is at the moment our safer supply programs are prescribed by physicians and there is a real movement to be able to look at other ways of getting safer supply, maybe using compassion clubs, pharmacists and other ways of doing this. That is what we’re hearing as the priority of people using drugs.”

Municipalities such as Vancouver and Toronto have called on the federal government to allow them to decriminalize possession of heroin and other hard drugs. 

In 2021, two Victoria city councillors joined in on the calls to decriminalize hard drugs. In a motion, Victoria councillors Marianne Alto and Sarah Potts called on mayor Lisa Helps to write to the federal minister of health and call on the government to allow for the legal regulation of illicit narcotics. 

The motion asked for a “pan-Canadian overdose action plan” that could potentially include “legal regulation of illicit drugs to ensure safe supply of pharmaceutical alternatives to toxic street drugs, and decriminalization for personal use.”

In 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau approved a plan by Vancouver to give addicts in the city’s notorious Downtown Eastside a government supply of hard drugs during the coronavirus pandemic. 

“The federal government has taken all measures required for this to be operational. Now we’re just waiting for the provincial guidelines,” said Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart at the time.

B.C. saw a record-breaking 2,224 people die of illicit drug overdoses in 2021, or 6.1 deaths per day. The province is now in the sixth year of a public health emergency that was declared in 2016, when overdose from illicit drugs including cocaine, heroin and fentanyl became B.C.’s leading cause of unnatural deaths.

The Liberal-NDP coalition wasn’t a conspiracy theory

By
Andrew Lawton
-

Despite media naysaying when Conservatives predicted an alliance between the Liberals and the NDP, the two left-wing parties have now entered into a formal agreement that will see the NDP prop up the Liberals until 2025 in exchange for some big spending programs on things like pharmacare and dental plans. True North’s Andrew Lawton talks about what this means for Canadian taxpayers. Also, another mainstream media myth about the convoy has crumbled. 

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Plenty of Twitter “experts” unhappy with end of mask mandates

By
Elie Cantin-Nantel
-

Following the Ontario government lifting the province’s mask mandate on Monday, a number of “experts” on Twitter have decided to share their frustrations with being forced to “breathe contaminated air.”

As of Mar. 21, masks are no longer required in Ontario’s indoor public settings, except for public transit, healthcare facilities, long-term care and retirement homes and homeless shelters.

The Ford government opted to drop the measure after it was recommended by the province’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore. 

While the news came as a relief to many Ontarians who had been living under the mask mandate since Jul. 2020, some “experts” on Twitter were keen to share their disagreement with the move.

Dr. Nili Kaplan-Myrth, an Ottawa-based doctor, feminist and strong supporter of mandates and restrictions, criticized the move to give Ontario residents and students the choice to wear a mask, calling the decision political.

“The end of mask mandates was driven by politics, disinformation, and ideology, not by sound health policy or science,” she tweeted.  

Kaplan-Myrth also blasted Ontario premier Doug Ford, calling him out for asking people to be compassionate to those who chose not to wear a mask.

Dr. Amir Arya, a Toronto-based physician, also criticized the move. He compared not wearing a mask to impared driving.

Arya also made an analogy between breathing air and drinking water contaminated with feces.

“During cholera, people weren’t told to ‘live with cholera’ & just drink fecally contaminated water,” adding “why do our governments say we must ‘live with COVID’ & just breathe in contaminated air?”

Dr. Naheed Dosani, another Toronto-based physician, was also opposed to Ontario lifting the mask mandate. 

In addition to his concerns about COVID, Dosani had the phrase “RACISM IS A PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY” written seven times as a pinned tweet.

Dr. Michael Warner, a physician at Toronto’s Michael Garron Hospital who previously criticized Saskatchewan for not re-imposing gathering restrictions and allowing a negative test in lieu of proof of vaccination, is also against the lifting of mask mandates.

Warner hinted that a sixth wave is coming and that Ontario’s hospitals are yet to recover from the fifth wave. 

“Masking is a reasonable protective measure to help blunt transmission so we can maintain capacity to provide timely healthcare for all,” he added.

Dr. Samantha Yammine, a “science communicator” from Toronto, announced that she would still be wearing a mask when going to stores “because it’s a chill & easy way for me to make that space safer for others.”

She also shared a TikTok from Raven Baxter saying the pandemic isn’t over and that people should keep wearing masks.

While these “experts” seem less than pleased with the Ontario government letting people make their own choices, other doctors have said the timing is right for lifting the mandate.

Dr. David Jacobs, president of the Ontario Association of Radiologists, said he believes that Ontario is ready to lift mask requirements based on lowering hospitalization numbers. 

Dr. Matt Straus, Haldimand-Norfolk’s acting Medical Officer of Health, also agreed with the ending of the mandate, writing a column in the National Post titled, “I’m a doctor. Here’s why I’m done with masking”

“Many self-styled ‘experts’ are demanding mask mandates be reinstituted in Ontario,” wrote Straus. “We need to be very careful. In modern medicine, our knowledge base is founded on RCTs (randomized controlled trials).”

He added that “(t)he best evidence we have suggests that cloth masks are of almost no value and community masking is of little value to individuals under 50.”

“Anyone who promotes a return to cloth masking or masking for the sake of children would appear to be out of touch with this knowledge base and therefore, definitionally, not an expert.”

Updated guidance from the US Center for Disease Control has stated that cloth masks, which are common, are the least effective at preventing the spread of COVID-19. 

As of Tuesday, all Canadian provinces except Quebec have either lifted or announced an end date for their mask mandates.

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