It’s been less than a week since the trucker convoy showed up on Parliament Hill, and the Liberals and mainstream media have continued to ramp up their rhetoric. Convoy spokesperson Benjamin Dichter joined The Andrew Lawton Show to discuss the convoy, the media’s coverage of it, and what comes next.
Government using millions of taxpayer dollars to fund election debates
The Canadian government is billing taxpayers more than $9 million to produce the Canadian election debates that private media used to pay for, according to records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF).
“Why do taxpayers have to pay for debates that every news outlet in the country will cover anyway?” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano on Wednesday. “Politicians will figure out a way to get their mugs in front of a camera, so taxpayers don’t need to be paying for it.”
The Canadian government formed the Leaders’ Debate Commission in 2018 to run election debates with federal funding. The private sector used to manage the debates through a consortium of television networks at no cost to taxpayers.
The commission, the CTF said, has spent more than $4.3 million of taxpayer money from 2018-2021 and plans to spend more than $4.4 million from 2021-2022.
The records show that the Leaders’ Debate Commission gave $1.7 million to CBC to produce the 2019 debates and another $2 million “committed” for 2021-2022. According to the records, the commission has directed $300,000 to lawyers while losing two lawsuits and has earmarked another $400,000 for lawyers in 2021-2022.
Conservative MP Corey Tochor has questioned the value of the commission and whether it should exist.
“People will remember the one disastrous debate [in 2021] where they had nine different MCs or commissioners on the stage,” said Tochor. “It was a gong show.”
Tochor said that he would prefer debates be run by the private sector like they used to be in the past.
The commission also admitted it paid millions of dollars to the CBC for providing the production contract to 10 news organizations, with the state broadcaster acting on behalf of the group.
CBC received $1.4 billion in federal funding last year.
“Taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for this when it’s clear businesses are capable of broadcasting the debates,” said Terrazzano. “The feds are already more than $1 trillion in debt, and ending the government’s debate commission is a prime place for savings.”
While the commission was created to “improve access to debates,” its commitment to journalistic freedom was also challenged in court after it blocked True North journalist Andrew Lawton and Rebel News reporters David Menzies and Keean Bexte from attending the federal election debates in 2019.
True North and Rebel took the commission to court and were granted injunctions allowing their journalists to attend hours before the first debate started.
The judge found the commission’s decisions “lacking in discernible rationality and logic, and thus…neither justified nor intelligible.”
The Ontario Government doesn’t seem very “conservative” (Ft. Roman Baber)
The province of Ontario under Doug Ford’s premiership is hardly conservative and it is definitely not “for the people.”
On today’s episode of the Candice Malcolm Show, Candice is joined by MPP Roman Baber. He has gone from being one of Doug Ford’s loudest supporters to one his most ardent critics. Baber was ejected from caucus in early 2021 after calling on the premier to put an end to destructive lockdowns.
They discuss the draconian lockdown measures, how science contradicts our current health measures and the need for fundamental change in Canadian politics.
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Conservatives vote to remove Erin O’Toole as leader
The Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) has voted to remove Erin O’Toole from the party’s helm following months of brewing discontent regarding his leadership.
The CPC Caucus met on Wednesday morning to decide the fate of the embattled former leader and the future direction of the official opposition.
Members voted by a margin of 28 to have O’Toole step down during a virtual meeting. The final tally was 73 – 45.
O’Toole’s troubles began with his 2021 election performance which saw the party gain no seats in the House of Commons and fail to defeat Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Yesterday, reports indicated that O’Toole was hurrying to curry favour with the caucus and securing votes among MPs by promising a leadership review earlier than the scheduled date of Aug. 2023.
He also claimed that with himself gone from the party’s top post, the CPC would veer towards the “angry, negative, and extreme” and that it would become the “NDP of the right.”
Initial rumblings were levelled at O’Toole for steering the party towards the centre and breaking several key election promises involving firearms rights, carbon taxes and free votes in Parliament.
O’Toole had also sharply rebuffed early attempts by several key Conservatives to hold an early leadership review.
When Senator Denise Batters launched a campaign and petition in Nov. 2021 calling for a review within six months, O’Toole had her removed from caucus. An earlier petition for a review by former Conservative National Council member Bert Chen led to an investigation into Chen followed by a suspension.
On Jan. 31 2022, 35 Conservative MPs signed onto a letter demanding O’Toole face a caucus review. Garnett Genuis was among the signatories and one of the first CPC MPs to publicly question O’Toole’s leadership.
On Twitter, Genuis accused the former leader of launching “false personal attacks against members of his own team.”
“This is the kind of division that is tearing at our party and it must come to an end. We need leadership that unites instead of divides,” wrote Genuis.
With O’Toole gone, the party is set to elect an interim leader to steer the party as it prepares for a leadership race.
Conservative Caucus Leadership Vote Live Show
Many Conservative MPs have lost confidence in Erin O’Toole, and have pushed to remove him as leader of the party. The Conservative caucus will vote today to decide O’Toole’s fate. Will O’Toole survive today’s vote? If he does survive, how will he lead the party when caucus is so divided? Who can take his place if he’s ousted?
We’ll be discussing these questions and more! True North’s Candice Malcolm, Andrew Lawton and Harley Sims will be going live today at 1pm ET / 10am PT to discuss the Conservative Caucus Leadership Vote.
Recap of Day 10 of Truckers for Freedom Convoy across Canada
On Day 10 of the Truckers for Freedom Convoy, coverage swung westward again as negotiations between the RCMP and the truckers blockading the Canada-US border in Coutts, Alberta broke down. Police retreated, farmers joined in to strengthen the blockade and Jason Kenney spoke out against the truckers.
Negotiations in Coutts between the truckers and law enforcement collapsed today as the protestors were given a grace period either to leave peacefully or be arrested.
Last night, reports emerged from those on the scene that the RCMP were not allowing food and other resources to reach the truckers blockading the border.
Furthermore, a special operations unit was dispatched to the border yesterday to back up the RCMP.
This video was recorded yesterday from inside the blockade in Coutts.
One eye-witness who spoke with the RCMP in Milk River, Alberta can be heard saying that the RCMP weren’t allowing “anyone through, not even for food.”
This was the scene as the RCMP arrived at the blockade yesterday.
The RCMP tried to establish a barricade to keep other truckers and protesters from joining the ongoing protest in Coutts. That didn’t stop supporters from around the province who made their way to Coutts by rolling right through the RCMP barricades to join their fellow countrymen and provide more support to their ongoing protest for freedom.
Here, farmers in tractors and pickups can be seen breaking through the police barricades.
In defiance of multiple requests from the RCMP and the Alberta government to back down, truckers at the border bravely held the line today.
In this video, truckers chanted, “freedom.”
The same truckers linked arms to hold the line.
https://twitter.com/kiansimone44/status/1488625239122530307
After days of defensive maneuvering to maintain their ongoing protest, the truckers began to push back peacefully against the Mounties who had been sent in to remove them.
Here truckers can be seen walking toward the RCMP line and forcing the Mounties to retreat from their position.
Speaking to True North’s Andrew Lawton at a press conference today, Premier Jason Kenney told the protestors to “channel their frustrations into peaceful and lawful protest” after describing their blockade as “unlawful.”
Kenney reminded those that disagree with the vaccine mandate for cross-border truckers that he hears them and that he agrees with them.
He went on to say that it was unfortunate to see a small number of people in the protest embrace “extreme views” and “hateful symbols.”
In response to Kenney, organizers of the Coutts blockade said that they condemn violence and threats of intimidation against the police. One organizer reminded the Premier and the rest of the country that they were there for all Canadians and that they were there to fight for freedom.
“We’re here fighting for the freedoms of not us, but for our kids, our grandkids and the future of this country.”
Things were relatively quiet in Ottawa, as trucks and protesters continued to stand their ground.
Truckers provided meals to the homeless and even had pop-up pizza ovens to provide pizzas for everyone.
And it wouldn’t be a Canadian protest without hockey – truckers took part in a friendly game of road hockey in downtown Ottawa.
True North will continue to bring you daily coverage of the ongoing protests across Canada.
The GoFundMe in support of the truckers at the time this article was published had reached $9,915,830.
Erin O’Toole’s time as CPC leader is coming to an end
Erin O’Toole just missed the political opportunity of his lifetime. He had tens of thousands of disaffected, freedom-loving blue-collar Canadians show up on his doorstep, and he let them down.
He wavered, flip-flopped and disrespected the truckers, meanwhile, many of his fellow Conservative MPs attended the rally and passionately defended these truckers and their freedom convoy.
The writing was on the wall, and a group of MPs are finally trying to remove him as leader.
Will he survive? Does he deserve to lead this party? On today’s episode of The Candice Malcolm Show, Candice breaks down everything you need to know about the battle to remove O’Toole as leader of the Conservative Party.
Read Candice’s exclusive report.
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LEVY: Durham school board trustee chased out for defending free speech
A Durham District school board (DDSB) trustee began Monday night’s meeting by stepping down as chair of the governance committee, claiming her colleagues had tried to cancel her for passionately defending free speech at the prior meeting.
“My voice is no longer welcome or wanted, and I no longer feel safe on this committee,” Linda Stone said. “I will be stepping down and leaving the meeting and I hope the irony of this is not lost on people.”
Stone intimated that she’d received pushback after questioning some elements of the board’s proposed new human rights policy at a meeting on Jan. 24. She had cautioned that the policy should not be used to silence critics as the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) had done over the last few weeks.
“When anyone has a differing opinion … or merely would like certain terms defined, will they, as I was, be told that their questions and comments are offensive and harmful,” she had said.
“If our students and staff and anyone listening are not strong enough, resilient enough and are hurt and offended when someone might not agree with them, then we have a very big problem.”
The 18-page policy – which has been the focus of two DDSB committee meetings so far – contains the usual woke buzzwords and the same anti-white bias seen at the Toronto District School Board and the Peel District School Board.
It contains an eight-page glossary of terms.
In addition to fostering the use of preferred pronouns, it recommends teaching students narratives that discuss the impacts of colonialism, oppression and systemic discrimination.
Perhaps the most contentious is the policy’s definition of “white supremacy.” The definition seems to come right out of the Critical Race Theory playbook, and does not strictly refer to people who use white skin colour as a basis for hatred.
According to the policy, white supremacy is “a racist ideology based on the belief that white identity is the norm, standard and ideal. It does not refer to extreme hate groups or far right extremists … it is about the accumulation of social, cultural and institutional power that has and continues to advantage a group of people. It refers to the pervasiveness, magnitude and normalcy of white privilege, dominance and assumed superiority in society.”
Stone had said that students and staff might want to consider engaging in dialogue with those who disagree with them instead of saying they’re offended or hurt.
“Try seeing things from another point of view,” she said. “Are we teaching our students to be intolerant of other points of view?”
“The attack on free speech is a universal tactic of intolerant groups who wish to only have their beliefs heard,” she said. “Fall in line with the orthodox way of thinking or you will be cancelled, chastised … fired and have ad hominems thrown at you.”
Stone said they need to look no further than what happened at the WRDSB who silenced a teacher of 20+ years for voicing her concerns around books she thought were too sexually explict for young students.
At that point Stone was interrupted by the board’s vice-chair Patricia Barnes, the only non-white trustee on the board. Another trustee, Darlene Forbes, twisted her scarf angrily as she tried to stop Stone.
“Is this where we want to go?” Forbes said, waving her hands. “I’m quite concerned about the direction this is going.”
It was clear that all of this common sense was just far too much for the majority of the 11 trustees, who’d swallowed the Woke Party Line and were determined to stick to it.
Satisfied they had purged the lone dissenter, the DDSB quickly elected a new chair, Michael Barrett, who – judging by his tweets – marches to the same woke drum beat as they do.
Another trustee, Paul Crawford, who’d spoken out against the white supremacy definition at the Jan. 24 meeting, was nowhere to be seen at Monday night’s meeting.
Liberals re-introduce controversial internet regulation bill
The Liberal government is once again attempting to ram through legislation to regulate the internet after Bill C-10 failed to make it through the Senate last year.
C-10’s latest iteration – titled An Act to amend the Broadcasting Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts – was introduced to the House of Commons on Tuesday by Liberal Minister of Canadian Heritage Pablo Rodriguez.
Reports say the Liberals intend to rush forward the legislation through Parliament with as little obstruction from the Conservative opposition as possible, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau having approached the Bloc Quebecois and the NDP for help earlier this year.
The entirety of the bill’s contents has yet to be presented.
In its original form, C-10 would have expanded the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) regulatory reach to include streaming services and online content providers such as Netflix, Crave and Spotify
The Liberals have also sought to force major web services to pay for government-picked Canadian media content and even to alter their algorithms to promote that content.
Although touted by the Liberals as an attempt to update the Broadcasting Act to today’s digital standards, C-10 received fierce criticism from civil liberties advocates and even former CRTC members.
Both CRTC ex-chair Konrad von Finckenstein and former CRTC commissioner Timothy Denton signed onto a petition blasting the bill as a step towards authoritarianism.
“It appears Canada is not immune to the growing trend of government intervention to curtail freedom and seek to control parts of the internet’s infrastructure in ways reminiscent of actions taken by authoritarian governments,” the petition read.
In the formulation of the bill, the Liberals also sought to strip amendments in the legislation that would protect the content posted online by Canadians from government oversight.
Critics warned that, under the watch of the CRTC, content posted by individuals or small media projects could be removed at the government’s whim and even prevented from being viewed at all.
Additionally, preference could be given to large legacy outlets that lobbied in favour of the bill.
Jordan Peterson calls for Conservative politicians to end COVID-19 restrictions
Prominent Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan B. Peterson has released a video demanding various Conservative politicians stop supporting COVID-19 restrictions.
“It’s your moment,” said Peterson in a YouTube video on Monday. “You’ve got a huge number of Canadians occupying Ottawa expressing their dismay with the suspension of our Charter rights in the face of this so-called emergency.”
Peterson said his message was being directed to Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Conservative leader Erin O’Toole.
O’Toole – currently facing a caucus revolt over his “failure to clearly stand up for the Charter rights of Canadians during the pandemic” – may not be leader after Wednesday.
On Monday, Saskatchewan became the first province to announce it will be dropping all COVID-19 restrictions, including proof of vaccination requirements.
Peterson said that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has left Ottawa for security concerns because “he believes his own propaganda about the nature of the people who are sitting in Ottawa.” According to him, Trudeau is lying about not being in Ottawa for a COVID-19 exposure.
Peterson said this moment is a perfect time for Conservative politicians to “say to the people who are desperate to hear this that we can have our lives return to normal.” He added that although there is some danger with COVID-19, these politicians should say “we got this with competent leadership and care.”
Peterson also said that Conservative leaders should be advocating for Canada to return to what it should be and have a normal future. The politicians he is addressing, he said, are “good men” who need to act now.
“Remove these mandates that are crippling our businesses and interfering with our private lives and stopping us from being able to travel,” he said. “Seize the day.”
Saying the government is in disarray, Peterson also condemned NDP leader Jagmeet Singh for calling the truck drivers protesting in Ottawa white supremacists.
Peterson has been speaking out against government COVID-19 restrictions over the past several months.
In January, he called Quebec health minister Christian Dube a “scumrat” for telling Quebecers that three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine would soon be required for vaccine passports.
“When will this stop?” asked Peterson rhetorically. “When we stop it.”
