fbpx
Thursday, August 14, 2025

“Factually incorrect” – CTV walks back 2018 Patrick Brown story

By
Andrew Lawton
-

CTV has expressed “regrets” about its reporting of a 2018 story that triggered Brampton mayor Patrick Brown’s resignation as leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives.

This concession comes as Brown is rumoured to be in the final stages of planning a federal Conservative leadership bid.

In a statement, the broadcaster said “details provided to CTV for the story were factually incorrect and required correction.”

“CTV National News regrets including those details in the story and any harm this may have caused to Mr. Brown,” the statement, first reported by the Toronto Star, says.

CTV’s apology is a victory against cancel culture, according to a source from Brown’s leadership campaign.

“This is about the truth. Now that this is done and behind him, he now has a clear runway to run for Prime Minister of Canada,” the source said. “Patrick could have rolled over and done nothing, but he fought back, and he won. He refused to fall victim to cancel culture because he is a fighter – and today he proved it again.”

The source said CTV’s apology wouldn’t have come “without Patrick’s drive and will to fight for what’s right.”

Brown filed an $8 million defamation lawsuit against CTV’s parent company over a Jan. 2018 story detailing two allegations of sexual misconduct, which Brown denied.

An edited version of the story remains online, with CTV’s recent statement at the top as an “Update on Patrick Brown.”

Brown, a former federal Conservative MP, was the leader of Ontario’s PC party from 2015 to 2018 until the CTV story pushed him to resign, just four months before Ontario’s 2018 election, which the PCs won.

In October of 2018, Brown was elected mayor of the Greater Toronto Area city of Brampton. His term ends in the fall.

In 2019, Brown published a memoir about his demise as PC leader, called Takedown: The Attempted Political Assassination of Patrick Brown.

Jewish faculty urge University of Toronto to face campus antisemitism

By
Jonathan Bradley
-

More than 300 Jewish staff members at the University of Toronto have signed a letter demanding the university recognize it has a problem with antisemitism. 

The letter, which was published last week and first reported by Toronto Sun columnist Lorrie Goldstein, wishes to “draw attention to the falsehoods, twisted logic and antisemitic rhetoric that are contained in the letter sent by other faculty members to the Temerty Faculty of Medicine in which they condemn Irwin Cotler’s presentation on ‘Contemporary Antisemitism’ that was held this past Jan. 26.” 

The Jewish faculty members are referring to a petition started by 45 other staff who condemned the university for having Cotler, a human rights activist, give a speech about antisemitism for Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

“This event, unfortunately, reinforced anti-Palestinian racism in a way that is consistent with a broader pattern of silencing and erasure of Palestinian voices,” the petition had claimed. 

The petition also said the event was supported by special interest group Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center. According to petition signatories, such groups have intimidated people of colour, which “has sent a chilling message to other faculty and students.” 

The Jewish faculty members’ letter said that the petition portrayed Cotler’s advocacy as anti-Palestinian racism, “perpetuating an antisemitic tradition of accusing Jews who defend themselves as erasing the voices and suppressing the lives of others.” 

The Jewish faculty members went on to say that by representing Cotler’s presentation as racist, the petition is “trivializing and demeaning the torment and industrialized murder of Jews in the Holocaust.” 

The faculty’s letter goes on to state that the petition’s reference to special interest groups depicts Jewish people as dominating and controlling, and adds that Jews have lived with this type of hostility for centuries.  

“Taken in its entirety, their letter is an example of the very antisemitism that Mr. Cotler dismantled in his presentation,” it said. “Naturally, the other faculty members don’t like being exposed.”

This news comes after the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus Student Union (SCSU) passed a motion pledging to order from kosher food suppliers that “do not normalize Israeli apartheid” in November. 

The motion called on the SCSU to reaffirm its commitment to the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement by supporting pro-Palestinian causes and refraining from engaging with organizations or holding events that support Israel.

Tamara Lich is out of jail, but she was still a political prisoner

By
Andrew Lawton
-
Tamara Lich trial

Freedom Convoy organizer and fundraiser Tamara Lich was released on bail yesterday more than two weeks after she was arrested in Ottawa and charged with counselling mischief. Despite her release, she still faces prosecution for her part in organizing a peaceful protest, and money donated to the convoy remains in limbo, True North’s Andrew Lawton reminds. Also, Conservative MP Garnett Genuis joins to talk about his efforts to prohibit “political discrimination,” plus Consumer Choice Center spokesperson David Clement joins to talk about cryptocurrency and government regulation. 

SUBSCRIBE TO THE ANDREW LAWTON SHOW

UK media trash Trudeau for using Putin tactics in convoy crackdown

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

One day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s visit to London to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UK media outlets continue to skewer Trudeau over his handling of the Freedom Convoy protesters in Ottawa.

One commentator on talkRADIO called Trudeau’s crackdowns on protesters akin to the tactics Russian president Vladimir Putin uses against dissenters in his own country. 

“This was the man that basically froze the bank accounts of truckers, decided that he was going to forcibly round them up. He took tactics directly out of the rulebook of Vladimir Putin to deal with his own people, and then he has the audacity and lack of self-awareness to stand at a podium and tell us that he wants to stand up for sovereignty and democracy?” said Cristo Foufas. 

“Does he have no self awareness of what he is doing? And now Putin is clamping down on protesters and treating them absolutely appallingly. Obviously, there’s no comparison between what Trudeau has done with his people and what Putin is doing in Ukraine, but the Canadian police were pretty rough, and he was clamping down on free speech and protest.” 

On Feb. 14, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act – for the first time in history – to quash peaceful protests against COVID-19 mandates in Ottawa. Among the powers assumed by the government was the ability to have banks and even cryptocurrency exchanges freeze the assets of protest participants and supporters.

Soon after the Act was invoked, a joint force of provincial, federal and municipal police moved into Ottawa with militarized equipment to arrest the remaining demonstrators, some of whom were struck with batons and trampled by riot horses. 

After visiting Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, Trudeau was faced with a crowd of protesters and hecklers outside of 10 Downing Street ahead of his meeting with UK prime minister Boris Johnson.

As reported by the UK news agency Daily Express, Trudeau was forced to use the back entrance in order to avoid the jeers and “f*ck Trudeau” chants. 

“Visiting leaders traditionally use the main Whitehall entrance when visiting Number 10, with politicians normally filmed walking up to the iconic front door using the right-side pavement,” Daily Express reported. 

“But in footage being shared online, Mr Trudeau can be seen approaching Boris Johnson from the left-side, suggesting he used a different entrance to get to Number 10.” 

Evidence shows one journalist’s complaint led to national archives purge

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

More evidence has emerged suggesting that the decision by Library and Archives Canada to purge “offensive” material from its online archives – including a webpage on Canada’s first prime minister John A. Macdonald – was the result of a single legacy media article that had criticized the department’s historical tone.  

In October 2021, a Toronto Star article on the first prime minister’s “racist past” complained about how Macdonald’s biography on Library and Archives Canada was too sympathetic. 

Several hours later, federal government employees had taken down the biography, as well as other material. 

“Within hours of the Star requesting comment from the agency on Friday, notes appeared at the top of the Macdonald and Laurier biographies saying the pages had been ‘archived on the web,’” the Toronto Star gloated. 

According to material obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter, chief archivist Leslie Weir notified staff hours after reading the Star article over the weekend that pages she deemed offensive should be “modified or taken down ASAP.” 

“Library and Archives Canada is sincerely sorry some users were offended by content on its website,” wrote Weir. 

“Library and Archives Canada acknowledges some of its online presence may be offensive and continues to work on correcting these issues. We recognize there will always be more work to do in this area.”

Numerous other articles were then purged, including biographies of five prime ministers. 

“Does Library and Archives Canada plan to modify the bio to include a more accurate depiction of his time as Prime Minister or does it intend to remove it entirely?” asked Toronto Star journalist Jacques Gallant in an email to the department.

“We have a web coder bringing down the pages now. We need the Confederation page modified or taken down ASAP, not later next week or later in the month,” Weird notified her staff.

By June 5, more of the so-called offensive pages were removed. 

“I see the Macdonald bio has been removed and replaced with an error message. That said, I see other pages remain online. The Laurier profile that mentions nothing about the Chinese head tax among other devastating policies is still accessible via Google,” Gallant wrote on June 7. 

Since then, over 7,000 of the department web pages have been flagged for scrubbing or removal. 

Unfrozen accounts of convoy donors permanently marked

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Hundreds of Freedom Convoy protesters who had their assets frozen under the Emergencies Act for donating to the movement’s fundraiser will have their bank accounts marked for life, a Commons finance committee has heard. 

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA) told parliamentarians at the committee that alongside the 257 names provided to them by the RCMP, banks relied on their own resources to flag additional individuals for freezing. 

“We primarily relied upon the names provided by the RCMP but there were obligations under the order separate that required banks to make their own determinations. We did not rely on external information,” said general counsel for the CBA Angelina Mason. 

When asked by Conservative MP Adam Chambers what would happen to their bank accounts once they were unfrozen, Mason said that a permanent fingerprint would remain indicating that a freeze took place. 

“Once an account is frozen and eventually unfrozen are there any permanent markers or indications on a client’s file that would indicate they have had their accounts previously frozen?” asked Chambers. 

“There would be something in the file indicating a freeze had taken place,” said Mason. 

Additionally, Mason said that no consideration was ever given to joint accounts including those that had to make child support or rental payments. 

“If in fact they illegitimately froze a bank account they would face zero legal consequences. It is clear from the legislation,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence. 

The freezings began on Feb. 14 after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act to quash protests calling for an end to COVID-19 measures in Ottawa and beyond.

Under the order, financial institutions were required to flag and temporarily seize the assets of those believed to be involved in the Ottawa freedom convoy. Estimates show that around $7.8 million in funds were frozen, affecting 206 individual accounts. 

The legislation also extended to fundraising platforms and 170 cryptocurrency wallets.

Despite claims by the Trudeau government that foreign extremists were funding the convoy, officials with the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada said that donations came from fed-up people, not terrorists. 

GoFundMe and GiveSendGo executives also confirmed last week that the overwhelming majority of donations came from Canadians inside Canada.

Jean Charest set to run for Conservative Party leadership

By
Noah Jarvis
-

Former Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest is set to launch his leadership campaign for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) on March 10 in Calgary. 

Charest had received support from CPC MPs from Quebec, Nova Scotia and Ontario, who called on him to run for the party’s leadership in a letter published on Feb 22. 

“Mr. Charest, Canada needs you. The leadership race for the Conservative Party of Canada boils down to one fundamental question: who is best positioned to unseat the federal Liberals and finally provide our country with a Prime Minister who will revive our economy and govern with confidence under the Conservative banner?” the letter read.

The letter was signed by CPC MPs from Quebec Alain Rayes and Dominique Vien, MP from Ontario John Nater, MP from Nova Scotia Rick Perkins and Senator Percy Mockler from New Brunswick.

National Post columnist Tasha Kheiriddin has also announced that she will not be pursuing the leadership, but will instead be supporting Charest. 

While Charest’s candidacy may have been supported by some Conservatives, others have strongly opposed the former Quebec Liberal premier entering the race. For example, sources close to former prime minister Stephen Harper have said that Harper would leverage his influence to ensure that Charest does not become the party’s next leader. 

While premier of Quebec, Charest was openly critical of the Harper government in several key areas including arts funding, the long-gun registry, taxes and the Kyoto accords.

As the leader of the now-defunct federal Progressive Conservative Party (PC), Charest ran against the Reform Party in 1997 where the party placed fifth in seat count. Prior to this, he was one of only two PC MPs to retain his seat in 1993, when the PCs suffered the worst defeat for a governing party at the federal level in Canadian history. 

Since leaving politics, Charest has acted as a consultant providing strategic advice for the Chinese corporation Huawei regarding the extradition case against Meng Wanzhou, as well as entering Canada’s 5G market. Charest has been a supporter of developing closer ties with the Chinese regime, and has said that “(o)ur policy toward China has been hijacked by Donald Trump.”

Charest has a record of being an avid environmentalist. He is on the advisory board for Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission and is a supporter of the 2015 Paris Agreement. 

Charest’s announcement comes as more candidates for the Conservative leadership are expected to announce their bid in the coming weeks before the April 19 deadline. 

Charest is expected to face off against frontrunner Pierre Poilievre, as well as Leslyn Lewis who announced her candidacy on March 8. Brampton mayor Patrick Brown is also expected to announce he is running later this week.

Protecting your political freedoms (ft. MP Garnett Genuis)

By
Candice Malcolm
-

So many Canadians were disheartened and dismayed by the doxxing and firing of donors who had financially supported the Trucker Convoy.

Today on the Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by a Conservative Member of Parliament trying to change that.

Alberta MP Garnett Genuis introduced a private members bill last week to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to protect Canadians from discrimination due to political beliefs or actions.

The bill would create federal protections for those fired or harassed by their employers or the government for engaging in a political protest or donating to a political cause.

They also discuss the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, and Garnett’s perspective as a member of Canada’s Parliamentary NATO Association. 

SUBSCRIBE TO THE CANDICE MALCOLM SHOW

Leslyn Lewis announces bid for Conservative leadership

By
Jonathan Bradley
-

Member of Parliament Leslyn Lewis is running to become the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada. 

“I’m running to lead our party and our country based on hope, unity and compassion,” said Lewis in a tweet on Tuesday. 

Lewis declared that people on all sides of a debate need compassion and understanding and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to take responsibility for his failed leadership. 

Defending Canada’s democracy, said Lewis, means people “need to have compassionate hearts and listening ears.” 

“It is about who gets to be a part of this conversation,” she said. “The only acceptable answer to that question is everybody, every Canadian.” 

Sources close to Lewis had said that she was preparing to enter the Conservative leadership race last week. 

“We’re in it to win,” said an anonymous source. 

This source said that she was waiting to enter the race until more details were revealed about the rules. 

Lewis ran in the last Conservative leadership race in 2020. She came in third place, despite winning the popular vote. 

The only other candidate competing against her at the moment is Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre, although former Quebec Liberal premier Jean Charest and Brampton mayor Patrick Brown are also expected to formally announce their campaigns this week. 

Poilievre first announced his candidacy in a Feb. 5 video. 

“I’m running for prime minister to give you back control of your life,” said Poilievre. 

The next Conservative leader will be announced on Sept. 10. 

GUEST OP-ED: Ford needs to take a lesson from Alberta and cut gas taxes now

By
Jay Goldberg
-

Jay Goldberg is Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Ontario premier Doug Ford is sitting on his hands while Alberta premier Jason Kenney is delivering relief for taxpayers.

Earlier this week, Kenney announced his government would cut provincial gas taxes by 13 cents per litre in the face of skyrocketing oil prices. For a family filling up their minivan, Kenney’s tax cut means nearly $10 of savings at the pumps on every fill-up. 

“Albertans told us they need relief from rising costs,” said Kenney in announcing his government’s new plan to cut gas taxes. “We’ve heard them loud and clear.”

Kenney hadn’t previously promised to lower gas taxes for Albertans, but his government recognized that taxpayers are hurting and need help in the wake of soaring living costs. 

Contrast Kenney’s action with Ford’s intransigence. 

Ford promised to lower gas taxes for Ontarians nearly four years ago. His pledge to lower the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre is less than half of the relief that Kenney is delivering to Alberta taxpayers.

Lowering the gas tax by 5.7 cents per litre would save the typical Ontario family $400 a year. 

A single mother filling up her minivan this week is paying, on average, 54 cents more per litre at the pumps than she paid exactly one year ago.

For a minivan, that’s an extra $40 on every fill-up.

These soaring prices aren’t sustainable for hardworking taxpayers, and governments can do something about it.

While Ford cannot control the price of oil, taxes make up over 48 cents of the price of every litre of gas in Ontario. There’s a lot of room for government to lower taxes so hardworking taxpayers can make ends meet. 

Ford campaigned for office in 2018 by promising to stand up for taxpayers. One of the central pledges of his campaign was to lower gas prices by 10 cents per litre. Ford delivered on part one of that promise, scrapping Ontario’s cap-and-trade carbon tax. But the second part of his promise, to lower the excise tax by 5.7 cents per litre, remains unfulfilled.

As recently as last November, Ford promised to deliver on his gas tax cut promise by the end of this month. 

But in the last few weeks, Ford has been less decisive. Earlier this month, Ford promised to “look into” keeping his tax cut commitment.

Ontario taxpayers deserve better. With gas prices soaring and living costs out of control, Ontarians need political leadership that keeps its word. With Kenney having just announced a tax cut for Albertans more than double what Ford promised, it’s time for the Ford government to deliver.

It’s not just Kenney who is recognizing that taxpayers need relief at the pumps. Governments around the world, from South Korea to Spain and India, are cutting gas taxes to help their constituents deal with soaring costs. 

Ford likes to pay lip service to tax cuts and affordability, but Ontario’s premier isn’t walking the walk. 

As recently as two weeks ago, Ford insisted that his government is “here to put money back into people’s pockets.” But Ontarians’ wallets are getting lighter and lighter, and the government is failing to act.  

Four years ago, Ford promised to lower income taxes, gas taxes, and corporate taxes. 

If ever there was a time for the Ford government to deliver on lower taxes, it’s now. With inflation at its highest levels in over 30 years, taxpayers are hurting. Alberta’s government is showing leadership by cutting gas taxes. Governments across the word have responded in a similar manner. It’s time for Ford to get keep his promises and cut taxes. 

1...863864865...1,460Page 864 of 1,460

Related stories

© 2025 True North | Privacy Policy