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Saturday, August 2, 2025

Ontario NDP accuses Ford of supporting anti-vaxxers by ending vaccine passports 

By
Jonathan Bradley
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Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has said that Premier Doug Ford is caving to anti-vaxxers by announcing he is dropping vaccine passports. 

Horwath claimed that vaccine passports are helping to keep Ontario open and are protecting people. 

“Ending vaccine certificates is risky, and scary — for seniors, parents whose little ones are too young to get the shot and everyday folks who want to know that the person on the treadmill next to them at the gym or eating across from them at the diner are vaccinated,” said Horwath in a press release on Monday. 

She said that ending vaccine passports is “taking away an important incentive that encourages people to get vaccinated.” Vaccine passports, she said, are “not a restriction — unless you’re not vaccinated.”

“The request to scrap vaccine certificates isn’t coming from small businesses, health care experts or working people,” she said. “This is Doug Ford caving to anti-vax politics.” 

The Ontario government announced on Monday that they would be easing public health measures sooner than expected. 

“This is great news and a sign of just how far we’ve come together in our fight against the virus,” said Ford. “While we aren’t out of the woods just yet, we are moving in the right direction.”

The press release said that effective Thursday, social gathering limits would increase to 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors while capacity limits would be dropped in places such as restaurants, bars, and gyms. Sports and concert venues would be permitted to operate at 50%. 

Ontario will be removing vaccine passports on March 1, according to the press release. It said that businesses can choose to keep vaccine passports if they wish.

The government also announced, however, that mandatory mask policies would remain in place for now, with a date for them to be lifted to be communicated down the road. 

The percentage of Canadians who believe COVID-19 restrictions should come to an end has leapt from 40% to 54% in less than one month, according to polls 

The latest poll, which was conducted by Angus Reid in January, suggested that more than half (54%) of Canadians strongly agree or agree it is time to end restrictions and “let people self-isolate if they are at risk.” 

“The public sentiment appears to be moving in the direction of opening up communities,” said Angus Reid. “Indeed, in the past two weeks the number of Canadians saying they would like to see restrictions ended has risen by 15 percentage points, to a majority (54%).” 

Trudeau wants to invoke the Emergencies Act – here’s how it works

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is likely to become the first Canadian leader to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Recent reports have indicated that the federal government is planning to invoke the Act in order to deal with the ongoing trucker convoy protests sweeping Canada. 

Trudeau met with caucus on Monday morning and will inform Canada’s premiers of his plan later in the day. He does not need their approval, only to consult with them.

The Emergencies Act was passed in 1988 after former prime minister Brian Mulroney repealed its precursor, the War Measures Act.

Mulroney had officially apologized to Japanese Canadians for abuse suffered at the hands of the federal government during the Second World War. The government at the time had used the War Measures Act to force them into internment camps. 

The Emergencies Act introduced by Mulroney differed on several grounds from the War Measures Act. It outlined more limited and specific powers to handle emergencies. 

For one, all cabinet orders are subject to review by Parliament – meaning that the federal government can’t act on its own without oversight. 

Decisions adopted under the Act are required to abide by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Canadian Bill of Rights. The Act forbids the government from imprisoning anybody based on protected categories such as race, nationality or religion.

The Emergencies Act also requires the federal government to compensate individuals or groups whose rights are violated by its actions.

There are several types of emergencies that can be declared.

 A “national emergency” is “an urgent and critical situation” that “seriously endangers the lives, health or safety of Canadians” and is unable to be handled by the provinces. It is also a situation which “seriously threatens the ability of the Government of Canada to preserve the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Canada.”

A “public welfare emergency” applies to natural disasters, disease or accidents. In addition, “a public order emergency arises from threats to the security of Canada and that is so serious as to be a national emergency.” 

Other types of emergencies under the Act include international emergencies and war emergencies. 

Under the Act, the government would have the power to do such things as ban public gatherings in certain places, requisition public services and issue fines and jail time for those who breach public orders.

The Emergencies Act is not necessary for the government to deploy the military. For example, the military was deployed during the 1990 Oka Crisis even though the Emergencies Act was not invoked. 

Once an emergency is declared, the federal government has seven days to present Parliament with a “motion for confirmation of a declaration of emergency,” with an explanation explaining why the declaration took place. These reasons must be documented, and they must be presented before the House of Commons and the Senate. 

Debate over the declaration would then ensue. If Parliament approves the measures, they would go into effect for 30 days unless further extended. 

To ensure that proper laws are followed, a Parliamentary Review Committee would also be formed, which includes one member from each party. 

Following the end of the emergency, the government would have 60 days to hold an inquiry into the measures they took.

Trudeau first considered invoking the Emergencies Act at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic but reportedly backed off after vehement opposition from some premiers.

Trudeau is set to deliver remarks and hold a media availability today at 4:30pm ET. 

True North is following this developing story.

Ontario scrapping vaccine passports March 1, no end date for mask mandate

By
Andrew Lawton
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Ontario’s vaccine passport program will be gone in just over two weeks.

Premier Doug Ford announced he’d be scrapping Ontario’s requirement that customers provide proof of vaccination to access many types of businesses, including restaurants and theatres.

“Given how well Ontario has done in the Omicron wave we are able to fast track our reopening plan,” Ford said.

Ontario follows Alberta, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and Manitoba in putting forward a concrete date to get rid of vaccine passports since the freedom convoy began.

Ford did not indicate when Ontario’s mask mandate would be lifted, telling people they’d have to wait “just a little bit longer.”

Ford insisted the move was not a response to the trucker convoy, which has been calling for an end to all vaccine mandates and vaccine passports at the federal and provincial levels.

In his remarks, Ford defended the vaccine program but conceded it had been “divisive.”

“I know that this period has been one of the most divisive times in our history,” Ford said. “One of the hardest things about this pandemic is the way it’s fractured us as a society. Differing views about government policies, the limits of personal freedoms, different views about vaccines, public health measures, and what steps are necessary. All of it has polarized us in a way that we could have never imagined.”

Before implementing Ontario’s vaccine passport regime, Ford claimed to be against the policy, which he said would create a “split society.”

Nobody was fired for national emergency stockpile mishandling

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

Parliamentarians heard on Thursday that nobody was fired or held responsible for the federal government’s mishandling of the national emergency stockpile.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) sent masks to the landfill, shuttered several warehouses and reduced its operations, severely impacting the nation’s COVID-19 response. 

PHAC shuttered three out of nine warehouses containing medical equipment meant to deal with emergency situations including a pandemic. In total, 8,839,942 masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE) were tossed aside a year prior to the COVID-19 outbreak.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, PHAC officials were grilled by MPs Thursday during a Commons public accounts committee meeting. 

“There were serious issues. I believe in accountability,” said Conservative MP Philip Lawrence. “How many individuals have been held accountable? Has any individual at Public Health realized any repercussions due to this tremendous failure?”

PHAC president Dr. Harpreet Kochhar evaded questions by Lawrence, claiming accountability lay with the entire department. 

“The accountability as such rests with the Public Health Agency in a cumulative way as well as with provinces and territories,” said Kochar. 

“So to be clear no one has been held to account even though there were significant lapses that put our front line workers at risk?” Lawrence asked again.

“I reiterate the point that we are working very closely with our partners,” said Kochar. 

“I’ll take that as absolutely no one in your department was held accountable for putting our front line workers at risk, which I find absolutely abysmal,” replied Lawrence. 

In 2020, PHAC vice-president Sally Thornton – who was in charge of the stockpile – went into retirement. During testimony at the Commons health committee, Thornton admitted she had no idea how many supplies PHAC had to deal with the outbreak. 

Even after COVID-19 began to spread, the Liberals did not act to restock even though the government received warnings in Feb. 2020 that it was low on PPE. 

It wasn’t until the following month that the Liberals moved to buy more protective equipment, which by then was being sold on global markets at incredibly inflated prices. 

Recap of Day 22 of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy

By
Harrison Faulkner
-

On Day 22 of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy, crowds formed at border crossings across the country despite the federal government’s warnings, the GiveSendGo fundraiser was hacked and police cleared out the Ambassador Bridge blockade. 

Crowds at the Ambassador Bridge had largely cleared out on Sunday. Reports emerged that police had made dozens of arrests, and trucks and cars were seen being hauled away. 

This footage shows the measures the government was putting in place on Sunday to clear protesters. Armored personnel carriers and police in tactical gear moved in on the demonstrators.

This photograph of a police officer in camo tactical gear holding a rifle shows the heavy-handed response taken by law enforcement over the weekend. 

Trucks can be seen leaving the blockade at the border crossing. 

After most of the protesters were removed from the blockade, police officers were seen clearing out media and observers several kilometres away from the site. 

In Coutts, Alberta, an increased RCMP presence over the weekend didn’t deter crowds from gathering at the blockade and showing their opposition to COVID mandates and restrictions.

Videos of RCMP officers wearing tactical gear and carrying guns were posted to social media. 

This report from Rebel News confirms that RCMP made one arrest at the border blockade on Sunday night. 

In another showing of national pride at the Coutts border blockade, protesters were heard singing O Canada.

In Surrey BC at the Pacific Highway border crossing, crowds continued to gather on Sunday. 

This series of photos from the protests yesterday document the atmosphere on the ground between law enforcement and those demanding the return of their freedoms. 

On Saturday, demonstrators on horseback arrived at the protest to show their support for the blockade. 

A legacy media report confirmed that the RCMP arrested 4 people yesterday at the Surrey border crossing.

Furthermore, the Canadian Border Services Agency is now telling travelers to avoid the Pacific Highways border crossing due to ongoing protests. 

Back in Ottawa, large crowds gathered again on Sunday to listen to speeches and hear live music outside the Parliament Buildings. 

Former Newfoundland Premier Brian Peckford, the last living signatory of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, delivered a powerful speech on Sunday, encouraging demonstrators to maintain their fight for freedom. 

“After two thousand, three thousand years of people getting their rights, we’re now forced to try and keep our rights. How ironic history is,” the former Premier remarked. 

Peckford reminded the demonstrators how the first two lines of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms read.

“We as a country have two principles – the supremacy of God and the rule of law,” Peckford said. “Section 1 was to be only used in war, insurrection or the threat of peril of the state. It wasn’t to be used to try and combat a virus that 99% of people recover from and with less than a one percent fatality rate.”

Peckford went on to demand the government establish an independent inquiry to determine how freedoms and rights were compromised during the pandemic.

Later on Sunday, GiveSendGo was hacked and visitors to the site looking to donate to the trucker convoy fundraiser were temporarily redirected to a clip from the Disney movie Frozen. 

Overlaid text outlined the intentions of the hackers to shut down Givesendgo on “behalf of sane people worldwide.” 

Detailed information of every person that donated to the convoy fundraiser was also leaked to hackers. Names are now being published on social media by far-left activists. 
The Givesendgo set up by the Truckers for Freedom Convoy organizers is currently not active.

FUREY: The freedom convoy is a social movement

By
Anthony Furey
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Politicians have referred to the freedom convoy as a “political message,” believing the protest consists of only conservatives but this is simply not the case.

This massive protest has united Canadians of all political stripes, ethnicities and religions. As Anthony Furey explains, the freedom convoy is a social movement in opposition to pandemic restrictions.

VIA Rail wants more bailout money after firing 1000 workers over mandates

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
-

After laying off a third of its workforce over vaccine mandates and receiving $187.5 million in pandemic bailouts, VIA Rail is now asking the federal government for more taxpayers’ money,

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, management at the Crown corporation asked for millions more in funds to avoid having to make “drastic cuts” in the Summary Of The 2021-2025 Corporate Plan presented in the House of Commons.  

“Without sufficient and timely funding VIA Rail would be obliged to make drastic cuts which is a significant business and reputational risk exacerbated by layoffs, significant restructuring costs including employment security and severance payments and start-up costs when the service resumes,” claimed company staff.

“It may take until 2024 to return to the level of demand seen in 2019. Under such conditions VIA Rail, while continuing to prudently provide needed transportation services to Canadians as it has done in 2020, would be forced to seek additional funding through 2022, 2023 and 2024.”

Last year, the Liberals gave the company $187.5 million in COVID-19 relief as well as for a plan to cover VIA Rail’s deficits. Despite the bailout, the company laid off a third of its workers – totalling 1,016 employees – after the Trudeau government announced a vaccine mandate for federally regulated industries. 

The same vaccine mandate applied to unvaccinated travellers, who are now prohibited from boarding domestic or international trains and flights. 

VIA Rail’s revenues plunged 98% at the height of the pandemic while ridership on trains has fallen from 5.5 million to 1.1 million. 

“As a result of the present operating environment VIA Rail had to manage an unprecedented revenue shortfall as it continued to provide much needed transportation services to Canadians,” management wrote. 

At one point in 2020, the company was losing one-third of a million dollars per day. 

The Department of Transport had said that it would work closely with the Crown corporation to help them find the “right amount of” taxpayers dollars it would take for them to recover from the fallout. 

“We are working closely with VIA Rail and the Department of Finance to ensure their variables, the revenue projections, are well understood by us, by them, so they have the right amount of money to deliver this essential service to Canada,” said the department’s chief financial officer Ryan Pilgrim in May 2021. 

Recap of Day 21 of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy

By
Harrison Faulkner
-

On day 21 of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy, the standoff at the Ambassador Bridge deepened, large crowds returned to Ottawa, thousands gathered at a border crossing in Surrey and protesters in Toronto told True North what they thought of Premier Doug Ford declaring a State of Emergency.

In Windsor, the ongoing standoff intensified after a judge granted Ford’s court order to remove the blockades yesterday. Reports from legacy media outlets confirmed that the crowd at the bridge had grown. 

Saturday morning, RCMP armoured personnel carriers arrived at the scene. 

This aerial footage from the standoff was recorded earlier.

Plainclothes police officers spoke with demonstrators, warning them they would be arrested if they did not move.

“Right now we’re asking everyone here to leave,” the officer can be heard saying. “The police are asking everyone to leave. If not, you could be arrested for mischief.”

Despite the increased police presence and threat of massive fines and jail time, demonstrators continued to gather throughout the day.

A crowd near the bridge blockade can be heard singing O Canada. 

Later in the day, police began setting up concrete barricades – apparently trying to replace one blockade with another.

As evening settled in, a large crowd of protesters could be seen standing off against police.

Back in Ottawa – at what legacy media still refer to as the “occupation” – a huge crowd of peaceful protesters gathered outside Parliament for the third weekend in a row, demanding the return of their freedoms. 

After dismantling a fence that had been set up around the National War Memorial, Canadian veterans gathered at the foot of the Cenotaph to say the Lord’s Prayer and sing O Canada. 

It was a powerful moment.

Later on, and in keeping with tradition, the protests turned into a party outside the Parliament Buildings.

Crowds demanded the return of their freedoms. 

In Queen’s Park in Toronto, crowds reconvened to continue their protest against COVID restrictions.

True North asked demonstrators in Toronto what they thought about Premier Doug Ford’s decision to declare a State of Emergency on Friday. 

Here’s what they had to say. 

 Meanwhile, four thousand kilometres to the west in British Columbia, another convoy headed from Chilliwack to Surrey to set up a protest at the Pacific Highway Border Crossing. 

This was the scene. 

The Givesendgo set up by the Truckers for Freedom Convoy organizers had reached USD $9,215,624 by the time this article was published.

Here’s what Ontarians have to say about Ford’s state of emergency

By
Harrison Faulkner
-

After Premier Doug Ford declared a state of emergency, hundreds of Ontarians took part in the freedom convoy protest in Toronto this weekend.

True North’s Harrison Faulkner attended the protest to get their thoughts on the Ontario government’s decision.

Doctors demand removal of COVID border testing for vaxxed travellers

By
Jonathan Bradley
-

A group of Canadian doctors has joined with the Canadian Travel and Tourism Roundtable (CTTR) to call on the federal government to end “unnecessary and non-science-based obstacles to international travel, such as the pre-departure and on-arrival PCR tests for fully vaccinated travellers.”

The collective has said Canada’s current COVID-19 restrictions are “obsolete and out of step with other countries worldwide” and that the vast majority of travellers and workers in the travel and tourism industry are fully vaccinated. 

McMaster University medicine professor Zain Chagla said that COVID-19 testing at the border does not make sense anymore. 

“When first put in place, Canada’s travel rules were designed to keep COVID-19 out of the country,” said Chagla in a press release on Thursday. “Now that the virus is here and community spread is responsible for approximately 99 per cent of all infections, the rules governing travel are obsolete.”

McMaster University infectious disease division director Dominik Mertz said that PCR tests should be eliminated for international travel because they can deliver positive results months after a diagnosis. 

“These Canadians may be facing a first positive test in the pre-departure testing abroad and as such may be unable to return – while no longer infectious and in fact, being the best protected travellers,” said Mertz. “This policy is unnecessarily stranding Canadians abroad, leading to travel delays, financial penalties and potentially hazardous quarantine locations.”

The CTTR called on the Canadian government to provide a reopening timeline for the travel and tourism sector as it had done with other industries across Canada. The available science, said the CTTR, has evolved –  “so too should the response and measures to keep Canadians safe while allowing the travel and tourism industry to reopen.”

Sources told CBC News that the Canadian government is close to removing mandatory PCR testing for fully vaccinated people who travel abroad. 

Currently, any person who travels outside of the country must provide a negative PCR test prior to returning home. The test must be taken within 72 hours of scheduled departure on a flight or arriving at a land border. 

“Our government is actively reviewing the measures in place at our borders, and we should be able to communicate changes on this next week,” said Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos at a press conference on Friday. 

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