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.
Saskatchewan has become the first province to announce it will be dropping all COVID-19 restrictions, including proof of vaccination requirements.
Premier Scott Moe made the announcement during a press conference Monday evening, stating restrictions would end on Feb. 28 and recognizing Canadians’ desire “for a return to normal.”
“Our caucus MLAs are hearing this from the people that they are talking to across the province and the people that they ultimately represent, and people are asking their government for a return to normal – a removal of public health restrictions – and we most certainly are looking at how we can do that in the weeks ahead here in Saskatchewan,” said Moe.
The announcement comes after a significant shift in public opinion among Canadians against pandemic restrictions.
A new poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that 54% of Canadians agreed or strongly agreed that restrictions should be ended and for people who are at risk to self-isolate. All regions except for Atlantic Canada reported majority support.
Both Alberta and Ontario have also hinted at some signs of further opening up.
Most recently, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney stated that he hopes to see an end to the proof of vaccination program by March.
“I did say when we brought in the proof of vaccination program back in early September that I did not foresee it going past the first quarter of 2022. That would be the end of March,” Kenney said last week.
Ontario’s top doctor Kieran Moore also said last week that it was time for people to “learn to live with COVID-19,” anticipating that the threat of the virus will die down in the near future.
“I think we have to start to understand we have to learn to live with this virus,” Moore said.
As for Quebec, Premier Francois Legault has now walked back his plan to tax the province’s unvaccinated after facing wide public pushback.
“I understand that this divides Quebecers, and right now we have to build bridges,” said Legault on Tuesday “My role is to try to bring Quebecers together to stay united as a people.”
Elections Canada has admitted that 205,000 mail-in ballots sent out during the 2021 federal election were not counted.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the votes were discounted after being submitted late, canceled or lost in the mail.
“We are deeply sorry for any elector who was unable to vote on election day,” said Elections Canada’s executive policy director Susan Torosian regarding accessibility in First Nations communities.
The findings were filed to parliament in a document titled Report On The 44th General Election.
Mail-in ballots were encouraged by the federal government during the pandemic, and a total of 1,274,447 “kits” were sent out to voters. Only 1,068,543 of those were actually received back by election officials and counted.
When breaking down the votes that were discredited, 90,000 were returned late while a majority – 114,583 – were never returned by voters at all.
“In fact, 90,274 mail-in ballots (local and out-of-riding) were received after the deadlines described in the Canada Elections Act (either by close of polls locally, or 6 PM ET for international/national mail-in ballots returned to Ottawa),” Elections Canada told True North. “114,583 ballot kits were either never returned to us, or they were cancelled (for example, electors who returned their ballot kit unused because they voted in person instead). Those two numbers represent different things.”
“It’s important to note that the number of late, unreturned or cancelled ballots is spread out across 338 electoral districts.”
Other ballot incidents in the 2021 federal election – which saw Prime Minister Justin Trudeau return to parliament with a Liberal minority government – included 1,589 special ballots that were left in a commercial mail room.
“On September 21 Elections Canada was advised of one electoral district, Mississauga-Streetsville, Ont., where 1589 special ballots from electors voting from within the electoral district had accumulated in a commercial mail room outside the control of the returning officer,” wrote Elections Canada.
“Because these ballots were received after the September 20 deadline they were not counted.”
Following the 2021 vote, the federal department received nearly 10,000 complaints from Canadians regarding the election process.
“As of December 14 Elections Canada had received 9410 complaints,” the report noted. “The majority of them were related to accessibility, voter experience, long lines and interactions with poll workers and voting by special ballot.”
Most recently, Liberal MP George Chahal was fined by the Elections Commissioner for “preventing or impairing the transmission of election advertising” after videos surfaced showing Chahal removing a Conservative opponent’s election pamphlet from the front door of a constituent.
Quebec Premier François Legault is abandoning his government’s controversial plan to tax Quebecers who have chosen not to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Legault made the announcement at a press conference on Tuesday. It included a further relaxing of restrictions, including the long-awaited reopening of gyms.
On fait le point sur l'évolution de la COVID-19 au Québec.
Legault had announced his intention to tax the unvaccinated on Jan. 11, making Quebec only the second jurisdiction in the Western world to impose financial penalties on unvaccinated people 14 years old and older. Legault’s announcement was met with fierce blowback from civil liberties groups and opposition parties.
According to sources, the charge would have been between $100 and $800.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms said it was going to take legal action against the proposed tax, with president John Carpay saying the tax was “an egregious violation of the Charter rights of Quebecers and an affront to equality which Canada was, in times past, known for.”
Quebec’s opposition parties also opposed the tax for the unvaccinated, including the Conservative Party of Quebec, whose leader Eric Duhaime called Legault’s plan divisive.
« Une contribution santé sera chargée à tous les non-vaccinés. » « Un montant significatif. » -François Legault
Ce premier ministre continue de trouver des outils et même une nouvelle taxe pour diviser les Québécois.
Duhaime also commented on the news that Legault would drop his controversial tax, saying in a French tweet, “The CAQ’s amateurism at its best. I hate to say ‘I told you so’, but I told you so…”
Quebec’s top doctor Luc Boileau also refused to provide comment on the tax, stating, “this is an economic measure, and I prefer not to comment on economic measures. That is not the expertise of Public Health.”
The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) also welcomed the news that Legault was backing off on the health tax.
“This is good news but all Canadians need to continue uniting against the vax tax to make sure it doesn’t pop up in other provinces,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano. “Today some politicians will want the unvaccinated to pay more, but who will they go after next? This new tax would open up the floodgates to a raft of new taxes and that’s why all Canadians need to keep up the pressure and push back against the vax tax.”
However, even with the tax being dropped, Quebec’s unvaccinated population will still be subject to some of the harshest restrictions in the world.
Last week, the Quebec government banned unvaccinated people from large stores like Walmart and Costco, despite these stores selling groceries. The unvaccinated are also banned from government-run liquor and cannabis stores.
The harsh restrictions might explain why this weekend’s Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa had a large number of Quebecers present, with some telling True North they think Quebec’s restrictions are tyrannical.
The news that Legault is dropping his tax for the unvaccinated could signal a shift in Canada’s response to COVID-19, amid mass nationwide protests and a new Angus Reid poll showing the majority of Canadians now want to see all COVID-19 restrictions to end.
Conservative MP Pierre Poilievre is defending himself against former Liberal cabinet minister Catherine McKenna, who on Monday accused him of standing with “folks with swastikas & confederate flags who beat up homeless (and) denigrated memorials.”
McKenna, who served as a cabinet minister in two different roles under Trudeau before retiring before the 2021 election, made the comments while retweeting a video from Saturday of Poilievre speaking with Freedom Convoy supporters on an overpass.
Conservative politicians egging on the convoy have a lot to answer for. None more than Pierre Poilievre who represents the Ottawa region.
Instead of standing w/ Ottawans, he stood w/ folks with swastikas & confederate flags who beat up homeless, denigrated memorials, closed biz. https://t.co/6rdNTExc8B
Poilievre has shown heavy support for the convoy in the last week, even telling legacy media reporters on Thursday that truckers “have kept all of you alive for the past two years.”
Poilievre repudiated McKenna’s accusations with similarly blunt language, saying “(y)ou are a liar Ms. McKenna. I stood with no such flags.”
Poilievre also accused McKenna of hypocrisy for supporting Trudeau – “a man who dressed up in racist costumes so often he lost count and targeted & expelled racial minorities in his own caucus because they would not fall in line.”
“Confront your leader’s racist conduct.”
You are a liar Ms. McKenna. I stood with no such flags.
You support a man who dressed up in racist costumes so often he lost count and targeted & expelled racial minorities in his own caucus because they would not fall in line.
McKenna’s comments reflect a continuing campaign by left-wing politicians and legacy media to disparage the Freedom Convoy as a violent extremists despite the peacefulness of the protest and the unknown identities of a few bad actors.
The video that McKenna retweeted did not show Poilievre with any of the flags or people mentioned in her tweet, nor has any evidence emerged to corroborate her claims.
Poilievre went on to tweet a condemnation of those flying nazi flags, confederate flags, and defacing monuments, while making the point that these outliers “do not represent the thousands of lawful truckers who are actually part of the protest and are peacefully championing their livelihoods & freedoms.”
People flying evil confederate or Nazi flags or disrespecting monuments are individually responsible for reprehensible acts.
They do not represent the thousands of lawful truckers who are actually part of the protest and are peacefully championing their livelihoods & freedoms. https://t.co/Km0bQwvg8a
During Question Period on Monday, Poilievre continued to call out the Liberals for their hypocrisy regarding the use of hateful flags being flown at demonstrations, bringing up Justin Trudeau’s history of wearing blackface, as well as his once telling a man flying a swastika at a rally, “thank you for coming, sir.”
Poilievre said that not all Liberals are considered racists because of Trudeau’s actions, and capped his speech off by saying, “we on this side condemn evil symbols whenever they are used.”
Since posting her tweet, McKenna has faced immense criticism. One Twitter user disputed its claims and explained the importance of MPs listening to their constituents.
I only see Canada flags in this picture. As an MP his job is to listen to ALL voices not just the ones the liberals agree with
Former Ajax mayor Steve Parish has been removed as the Ontario NDP candidate for Ajax, said NDP leader Andrea Horwath in a statement on Monday.
“The NDP’s vetting process gave us confidence that Mr. Parish does not hold antisemitic views,” said Horwath. “However, our party is committed to naming and correcting injustice, and vowing to do better — and as a candidate he has not met the mark.”
Horwath said Parish’s failure to denounce a decision to name a street in Ajax “after a high-ranking German officer in the Second World War” showed a failure to understand the harmfulness of the decision.
Horwath thanked NDP members, community members and Jewish leaders who met with her to discuss this issue. The NDP, she said, is committed to taking action to fight antisemitism.
“Our candidate team must be one that Ontario trusts to be leaders in the fight against antisemitism, and hate in all its forms — whether that’s in a synagogue in Texas or on the streets of Ottawa,” she said. “Today, that means acknowledging and apologizing for our own mistakes, committing to do better and moving forward.”
Jewish human rights organization B’nai Brith Canada thanked Horwath for removing Parish.
“Leader of @OntarioNDP @AndreaHorwath made the right decision to reject Steve Parish as a candidate for the party over his support for a naming a street in Ajax for a Nazi battleship captain,” said B’nai Brith Canada.
Parish defended keeping the name of Langsdorff Drive at an Ajax town council meeting in 2020 despite it being named after Nazi naval officer Hans Langsdorff.
Parish served as Ajax mayor from 1995 to 2018 and was in office when Langsdorff Drive was named.
He said at the 2020 meeting that “Hans Langsdorff was an officer of the German Navy and not a Nazi.”
Despite Parish’s claim, records show that Langsdorff deeply admired the Third Reich, writing in letters to his family, “I can now only prove by my death that the fighting services of the Third Reich are ready to die for the honour of the flag.” This officer said to a captured British soldier that former German chancellor Adolf Hitler was a “prophet, not a politician.”
It would not be a radical idea if Canada ended all COVID-19 restrictions right now.
Tens of thousands of people took part in the Truckers for Freedom protest in Ottawa, demanding an end to heavy-handed government public health restrictions.
Meanwhile, countries around the world are dropping their mask mandates, vaccine passports and other measures. Further, more public health officials in Canada are stressing the importance of “learning to live with COVID-19.”
News of a letter signed by 35 Conservative MPs sparking a review of Erin O’Toole’s leadership broke late Monday night.
The messages coming from O’Toole and his office in response are incorrect, divisive and reinforce the reason why so many Conservatives want a new leader, senior Conservative sources tell True North.
“O’Toole and his team want to paint this as a Red vs. Blue civil war. It isn’t. There is a broad spectrum of opinions and perspectives in (the Conservative) caucus who signed that letter,” one Conservative MP told True North.
“There are MPs who agree with O’Toole on principle that the party needs to moderate – Red Tories – who signed the letter.”
The MP told True North that O’Toole is finally facing his day of reckoning because of “his lies and his attacks on caucus and his attacks against our party.”
“This is not an Andrew Scheer-led movement, it isn’t a so-con movement. The movement to remove Erin O’Toole as leader is as diverse as the Conservative Party itself,” another Conservative MP told True North.
True North has spoken to nine senior Conservative sources – including three sitting MPs – for this story. We have decided to protect the identities of these sources so they would speak more freely.
“We are trying to get things done, and my name getting out there could derail this,” said one of the MPs who spearheaded the initiative to remove O’Toole as leader.
This MP, who described himself as enemy number one for O’Toole and his office, said that O’Toole’s office is pressuring MPs to sign loyalty pledges. “MPs are feeling intimidated to sign the letter,” he said, noting that some are signing it even though they plan to vote against O’Toole on Wednesday.
“The witch hunt has begun,” he said.
“He’s unpopular and losing”
True North asked the MPs and senior sources why O’Toole is facing this challenge now.
“We need someone who can unite the party, engage Canadians and win,” said an MP. “What O’Toole is doing is not working, his popularity is plummeting and his 4th quarter 2021 fundraising are the worst numbers in our party’s history.”
“$26.5 million in an election year is significantly worse than both 2019 ($30.9m) and 2015 ($29.1m),” said a senior source who used to work in Stephen Harper’s PMO.
“This is very bad. It’s the worst Q4 since the Conservative Party of Canada was founded. With inflation, it’s the worst quarter ever.”
“O’Toole is unpopular and losing, and trying to counteract his own freefall by blaming everyone around him,” said an MP.
Today, I am calling for a caucus review of Erin O’Toole’s leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. See my full statement below. #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/U8ssOMLfl8
“This isn’t about policy. It isn’t even about him moving the party in the wrong direction. This is about trust and integrity. O’Toole has lost those things,” said a long-time MP who supported O’Toole in the 2020 party leadership race.
He told True North that the initiative to remove O’Toole came together “very quickly” over the course of this past weekend, and that it was in response to an indication that O’Toole was planning to demand a public showing of loyalty and that his leadership style was dividing the party.
The MP believes the fact that they were able to find 35 MPs to sign the letter – more than 30% of caucus – in just one weekend shows the demand for change.
A third MP, who is a public supporter of O’Toole and backed him up until very recently, echoed these concerns, saying that the recent caucus retreat was “demoralizing” as well as “heated and ugly.”
“He is charming, I like him, but his messaging and his style and his mistakes this month (January) did him in… he’s going to get shellacked on Wednesday.”
The straw that broke the camel’s back
Several sources pointed to O’Toole’s recent treatment of dissenting voices as a reason for this leadership review. Two MPs specifically mentioned the “targeting” of MP Shannon Stubbs.
Stubbs expressed mild criticism over O’Toole performance in the 2021 election and said she supported a leadership review. In response, which MPs say was retribution for her lack of loyalty, O’Toole asked the House of Commons to investigate Stubbs for allegedly creating a toxic work environment for her staff.
“That was petty and disappointing,” a source told True North.
After news broke on Monday about the letter, O’Toole’s office began leaking statements to left-wing legacy media sources.
Both CBC and Global News quoted a “senior source” in O’Toole’s office saying the 35 MPs represent the “far right of the party,” referring to them as “the Conversion Crew.”
CBC reported that MP Garnett Genuis is “spearheading the coup.”
This is not true, according to the three MPs True North spoke to. “Garnett didn’t initiate this.”
Genuis released his own statement defending himself and calling Erin O’Toole a liar.
It’s hard to see O’Toole overcome this kind of public infighting in his caucus, a source said about the spat.
Mixed messaging on the Trucker Convoy
Given the timing of this letter, True North asked the MPs and sources if O’Toole’s lack of support towards the truckers contributed to the letter.
“These concerns were well established before,” said the MP who is helping lead the charge on this. “But his lack of convictions and inability to connect publicly manifested with the truckers.”
“We saw his own deputy leader (Candice Bergen) taking a stronger, clearer stance than O’Toole,” said a source. “That’s not good for a party leader, especially one who wanted to grow the conservative support base and connect with traditional NDP/labour voters.”
He needs to accept this and move on
After news broke on Monday evening of the 35 caucus members supporting a leadership vote, O’Toole put out a statement pledging to fight for his job.
There are two roads open to the Conservative Party of Canada. One is the road of Randy Hillier and Derek Sloan. It is angry, negative, and extreme. It is a dead-end; one that would see the party of Confederation become the NDP of the right. 1/5
“I’m not going anywhere and I’m not turning back,” he wrote.
“It’s time for a reckoning. To settle this in caucus. Right here. Right now. Once and for all. Anger vs. Optimism. That is the choice in simple terms.”
The MPs who spoke to True North were not happy about his response.
“He sounds like Justin Trudeau, trying to divide Canadians and telling us that the views he disagrees with are angry, negative and extreme. He believes that if you disagree with him, you are unacceptable,” said one MP.
“After last night, after that statement he released, there are probably more than 63 MPs who are going to vote against him,” said another MP. “We need to remove him to save our party and our movement.”
“Canadians are desperate for some leadership, we need a leader who can pull our country together and show a different path,” said the MP who helped organize the letter.
“We so desperately want a leader. O’Toole is a follower, he has no deep convictions other than whatever the polls say. We’re not going to win with him.”
On Day 9 of the Truckers For Freedom Convoy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emerged from hiding to demonize peaceful Canadian protestors, truckers in Alberta blockaded the US border and a Conservative caucus revolt threatened to turf Erin O’Toole as leader.
MPs returned to Parliament today after a weekend of monumental protests. The Freedom Convoy that inspired the world and united the country came together with one message – that vaccine mandates and COVID restrictions must come to an end.
The trucks that arrived in Ottawa on Friday and Saturday hadn’t moved an inch on Monday morning despite calls from city officials and Liberal MPs.
Trudeau emerged from hiding this morning to vilify the protesters, claiming that Canadians were “shocked and disgusted” by the scenes of national unity and patriotism on display over the weekend.
“Canadians were shocked and disgusted by some people protesting in our nation’s capital,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says. pic.twitter.com/cxt2P2krg4
When asked by the CBC if he was being fair to paint the entire convoy with the same brush when a tiny handful of people had caused some problems, Trudeau doubled down, saying, “(a)nyone who is part of this group who is disgusted by what the folks protesting alongside are doing needs to step up and take responsibility, condemn these actions and look for other ways to express their displeasure.”
PM Trudeau gets asked if it’s fair to paint all #TruckersForFreedom protesters in the same brush. Trudeau says Canadians do not have the right to “incite violence” or “spew hatred.” pic.twitter.com/ItIL47ncjQ
Trudeau then lashed out at Conservative politicians who had spoken with the peaceful protesters over the weekend – some, their own constituents – to better understand their frustrations. Trudeau told them to “think long and hard” about their decision to “exploit people’s fears.”
Before going back into hiding, Trudeau took one last opportunity to insult his fellow Canadians, calling those who claimed to have been injured by COVID vaccines “tin-foil hat” -wearing conspiracy theorists.
Ponesse went on to remind the politicians sitting in Parliament that the people are not their subjects.
Meanwhile in Alberta, another massive convoy formed a blockade of the US border crossing to Montana and are now in a standoff with Canadian border authorities and the RCMP.
This is what it looked like in Coutts, Alberta this morning.
Early mornin' here in Coutts, Alberta.
Hundreds of truckers are blocking entry to the country and aren't moving until the mandates are dropped.
They tell me they have enough coffee and donuts to last them till may.
Back in Ottawa, Conservative Party deputy leader Candice Bergan and finance critic Pierre Poilievre faced off with the Liberal government in Question Period today.
Poilievre passionately defended Canadians fed up with lockdowns and restrictions, condemning Trudeau’s “inflammatory rhetoric.”
“This country right now is like a raw nerve, and the prime minister is jumping up and down on it with his inflammatory rhetoric. We’re talking about 14-year-olds that are suicidal after two years of lockdowns. I just spoke to a waitress whose business was wiped out by lockdowns. I’m talking to truckers who have been serving food on our plates. These are the very people – honest, hard-working, shirt-off-your-back-type people – that this prime minister keeps attacking!”
Bergen told the Liberals across the aisle that the Conservatives condemned all hateful acts – including beheading statues, wearing blackface and burning churches.
The Conservative Party was then rocked late Monday night when The Globe and Mail published a story that confirmed 35 MPs had signed a letter forcing Erin O’Toole to face a caucus review.
The report claims that on top of the 35 that have already signed the letter, a majority of the 119 sitting Conservative MPs have committed to ousting O’Toole.
Alberta MP Bob Benzen was one of the first MPs to go public, declaring in a statement that O’Toole had failed “to clearly stand up for the Charter rights of Canadians during the pandemic.”
Today, I am calling for a caucus review of Erin O’Toole’s leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada. See my full statement below. #cdnpolipic.twitter.com/U8ssOMLfl8
