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.
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.
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.
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.
BREAKING: Negotiations are over and police are ready to move in.
RCMP is opening the highway regardless.
Truckers now have a grace period to leave or be arrested and held.
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.
UPDATE: This was sent to me earlier
RCMP and tactical units headed to Coutts, Alberta.
The hundreds of truckers aren't budging, as they demonstrate by parking at the border of Montana.
This video was recorded yesterday from inside the blockade in Coutts.
BREAKING: After promises from RCMP of allowing food and supplies to the blockage of truckers, the checkpoints still aren't allowing them through. They are making them WALK in the freezing weather into Coutts from Milk River, Alberta. pic.twitter.com/Vkf0EXeUWu
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.
Historical moments!💥💥 FARMERS BREAKTHROUGH RCMP BARRICADES SETUP NEAR COUTTS, ALBERTA TO HELP SUPPORT THE BORDER BLOCKADE. HAVE FUN FINDING A TOW TRUCK!😂#FreedomConvoy2022pic.twitter.com/NYjOKj71Jp
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.”
I asked Alberta Premier Jason Kenney if he sees the freedom convoy in Ottawa as a peaceful protest.
"I'm not on the ground; hard for me to make that call," Kenney says, turning his attention to the "unlawful" Coutts border crossing blockade. pic.twitter.com/J7zQb4IMpR
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.”
Jason Kenney says “it’s unfortunate to see a small number of people who engage in protests in the last few days express extreme views, and embrace hateful symbols.” in regards to convoy protests.
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.”
BREAKING: Truckers release a statement in response to Jason Kenney.
They want communication, they want dialogue and they want all mandates lifted.
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.
NEW: Truckers are providing meals for the homeless in downtown Ottawa. Zero mainstream media coverage. Organizers also have pop-up pizza ovens cooking food for everyone all over. This is who Trudeau is calling "unacceptable." pic.twitter.com/0uySAyA4iJ
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Conservative MP Bob Benzen has called for a caucus review of Conservative leader Erin O’Toole, with one of his reasons being O’Toole’s flip-flop on carbon taxes during the 2021 federal election.
One of the promises that O’Toole broke, said Benzen, is in his adoption of a “de-facto carbon tax” despite party members opposing it and O’Toole campaigning against it during the 2020 Conservative leadership race.
Benzen said O’Toole campaigned in the leadership contest as a “principled conservative voice that would unite the party.” However, he said since becoming leader, O’Toole has backtracked on some of his promises.
“As one of only seven sitting members to endorse O’Toole in both the 2017 and 2020 leadership contests, this decision did not come lightly,” said Benzen in a statement on Monday. “I believe leaders should be judged by their own actions and their performance measured against their own standards.”
Benzen said that he feels O’Toole has been given multiple chances to course correct.
“In consideration of Mr. O’Toole’s record as leader, I believe a caucus leadership review is the only way to avoid a dangerous split in the Conservative Party that may not be repairable,” he said.
O’Toole is expected to face a leadership review on Wednesday.
This news comes as a Saskatchewan Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) riding association has launched an online petition demanding O’Toole abandon any sort of carbon tax, including the “personal low carbon savings account” he introduced during the 2021 election.
The petition, which is open to CPC members, is found at EndtheCarbonTax.ca.
“Canada’s Conservatives have been fighting tooth and nail against harmful carbon taxes for years,” said Battlefords-Lloydminster CPC Electoral District Association (EDA) on the petition website. “These taxes increase the prices on all goods and services, when inflation is already out of control and do nothing to help the environment.”
Battlefords-Lloydminster CPC EDA said that, in the last election, O’Toole chose to “ignore the will of our membership by proposing a ‘personal low carbon savings account’” and that this policy is “a carbon tax by another name.”
Battlefords-Lloydminster CPC EDA said they have started a formal petition to the CPC national council to hold a referendum on their proposal. For this petition to be accepted, the EDA said they need 5% of Conservative members in five provinces to sign it within 90 days.
“You have a choice – will you stand by the majority of members who voted against a carbon tax, or will you stand with Justin Trudeau and Erin O’Toole’s carbon taxes?” they said.
Thousands of people from all over the country descended on Ottawa this past weekend as part of the Truckers for Freedom convoy – and organizers say they aren’t leaving until all Covid restrictions and vaccine mandates are gone. True North’s Andrew Lawton reported live from Parliament Hill on the weekend, and in this episode talks about what it was like on the ground, the mainstream media spears, and Justin Trudeau’s dishonest characterization of the peaceful demonstrators.
He also shares interviews with Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis, People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier, and some of the many Indigenous convoy supporters. Also, convoy spokesperson Benjamin Dichter joins to talk about what’s next.
