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Sunday, July 27, 2025

“We posted the entire interview in its entirety,” Trudeau defends manipulated video

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau stood by a doctored and manipulated video posted by Chrystia Freeland on Monday, falsely claiming that she had published the edited clip of Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole “in its entirety.” 

“What’s really important here is that in the middle of a pandemic Erin O’Toole came out unequivocally in support of private, in terms of for-profit healthcare. We posted the entire interview in its entirety and I encourage all Canadians to take a look to see what Erin O’Toole has to say about what he sees in the future of healthcare,” Trudeau told reporters. 

Over the weekend, Twitter posted a “manipulated media” warning to one of Freeland’s posts. 

“You may not deceptively promote synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm. In addition, we may label Tweets containing synthetic and manipulated media to help people understand their authenticity and to provide additional context,” Twitter’s official policy on manipulated media reads. 

The clip is from an interview O’Toole gave during the 2020 Conservative leadership race in which he gives his views on Canada’s healthcare system. 

A doctored version of the interview was posted by Freeland’s Twitter account with the false claim that O’Toole would bring “private, “for-profit” healthcare to Canada.” 

“Canada’s public, universal health care system is one of our greatest strengths. It’s part of what makes us who we are as a country. Last year, as COVID-19 raged, Erin O’Toole was asked if he would bring private, “for-profit” healthcare to Canada. He responded unequivocally: yes,” Freeland’s tweet claimed. 

The video was deceptively edited to exclude a portion in which O’Toole explicitly states that he supports access to universal healthcare while also supporting private options for Canadians. 

“We need to ensure universal access remains paramount,” O’Toole says in the omitted portion of the interview.

Interview host, Kate Harrison, addressed the debacle online saying that she was “disappointed” with the excluded context of the interview. 

“As the person who asked the question, I’m disappointed to see the video was manipulated to exclude important context,” said Harrison before posting the interview in its entirety.

O’Toole responded to the doctored video on Monday by re-asserting his commitment to universal healthcare in Canada. 

“Let me be perfectly clear. I 100% support our public and universal health care system,” said O’Toole. 

“In fact, it’s been the backbone we’ve relied on through the pandemic and the frontline workers in it.”

The controversy also prompted a response from the Conservative Party who are calling for an immediate investigation into the matter. 

Facebook is getting the CBC to do its dirty work

By
Candice Malcolm
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Big tech and Canada’s state broadcaster are teaming up to censor what you can see and what you can share during this election.

Facebook Canada announced that it has entrusted the CBC to be its “fact checker” during the campaign. According to a 2021 election memo posted by Facebook Canada, CBC’s French language division Radio-Canada will be in charge of this initiative.

“When a fact checker rates a piece of content as false we significantly reduce its distribution so that fewer people can see it.”

“We notify people who try to share the content or previously shared it that the information is false, and we apply a warning label that links to the fact checkers’ article disproving the claim.”

Facebook plans to censor and hide material it doesn’t like, and it’s getting the CBC to do its dirty work. Make no mistake. This is an incredible amount of power to be given to the state-run broadcaster.

The CBC is already the recipient of $1.2 billion annually in taxpayer subsidies, giving it a significant leg up over its competition in the private sector. Now, it gets to regulate and potentially silence its competition too.

The CBC is not the arbiter of truth. In fact, they routinely get it wrong.

Just last week the CBC ran an article framing Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole as an anti-vaxxer over his stance on mandatory vaccines for the civil service. O’Toole supports vaccines and encourages all federal employees to get vaccinated, with the small caveat that he would make accommodations for those who fail to get the shot.

This is nearly identical to Trudeau’s position. A federal memo on vaccines similarly discusses alternatives and accommodations for those who do not get vaccinated.

And yet, CBC’s report read like a Liberal news release.

“O’Toole has come out against mandatory vaccinations for federal public servants,” read one headline.

“Trudeau pushed to make mandatory vaccination an election issue Friday calling the Conservative opposition to it ‘irresponsible’ and ‘dangerous,’” read another CBC headline.

But, as pointed out by Robyn Urback of The Globe and Mail, “there is no Conservative ‘opposition’ to mandatory vaccination. The Conservative plan is the same plan announced by the big banks today, which the CBC, elsewhere on its site, refers to as a ‘mandatory vaccination policy.’”

“This is a fake wedge that should be starved of all oxygen.”

That’s exactly right. But this kind of deceitful spin is what we’ve come to expect from the state broadcaster. CBC’s anti-Conservative bias is a well-established fact.

In case there is any doubt, recall that the CBC sued the Conservative Party of Canada during the last federal election.

The CBC even named its prominent political journalists — Rosemary Barton and John Paul Tasker — in the suit, which opposed the use of CBC material in Conservative election ads.

Using clips from political talk shows in election ads is common practice, and a judge ruled in favour of fair use. The CBC lost the lawsuit, and they lost any remaining veneer of being neutral.

And yet, Facebook has enabled them to not only push their own spin, but also to censor and silence posts and outlets they deem to be “false or misleading.”

Elections are supposed to be a time for fair debate so we can choose the future of our country. This is why we ban corporate and foreign donations in Canada. We don’t want powerful companies with big bank accounts deciding our future.

Facebook and the CBC are multi-billion dollar operations with their own agendas. They are exactly the type of companies our laws are designed to prevent from swaying our elections. And yet somehow, in the middle of this election, we’ve given the power to censor the truth to an American tech monopoly and its biased Canadian enablers.

This isn’t just absurd, it’s dangerous.

Pro-life group calls on O’Toole to clarify stance on conscience rights

By
Jonathan Bradley
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A pro-life advocacy group is calling on Conservative leader Erin O’Toole to say he will not require medical professionals to refer patients to procedures, such as abortion and assisted suicide, that go against their consciences. 

Co-founder and president of RightNow Scott Hayward said in a press release on Saturday that he hopes O’Toole upholds his leadership pledge to support conscience rights for medical professionals. 

“Erin O’Toole promised to pro-lifers…that he would protect conscience rights of medical professionals across Canada,” said Hayward. “Now it appears with his comments yesterday in Winnipeg that his policy would require that medical professionals would have to refer patients to colleagues for medically unnecessary procedures, such as physician-assisted suicide.”

The Conservative Party of Canada’s 2021 election platform, which was revealed last Monday, stated the party will protect the conscience rights of medical professionals if it forms government. The platform said conscience rights need to be protected to avoid “driving any of these professionals out of their profession.” 

After the Liberals accused O’Toole of having a secret social conservative agenda, he said at a press conference on Friday that he believes doctors should be required to refer patients to procedures they object to. 

“They will have to refer, because the rights to access those services exist across the country,” he said. 

Co-founder of RightNow Alissa Golob said that she is disappointed O’Toole appears to have changed his mind. 

“Erin O’Toole has flip-flopped on a key promise he made to pro-lifers during the Conservative leadership race last year,” said Golob. “The Conservative Party is united on this point, having passed a motion at the policy convention that specifically states that medical professionals would not have to provide effective referrals when it comes to assisted suicide, and other procedures such as abortion.”

O’Toole said in an interview with RightNow in 2020 that he supported conscience rights for medical professionals. 

“Not only do I think it is possible to do, but it must be done, because we must respect their religious and conscience rights, however they come to their position,” he said at the time. “That is a fundamental part of our democratic tradition and our rights-based history that helped form the Charter.” 

Hayward said this new position taken by O’Toole is insufficient. 

“I know that many pro-lifers were excited when this policy was announced on Monday as part of the party’s overall campaign platform,” said Hayward. “However, the conscience rights policy for medical professionals is essentially null and void if they must effectively refer for medically unnecessary procedures, such as physician-assisted suicide.” 

The Conservative Party did not return a request for comment prior to publication of this story. 

FUREY: A Liberal majority seems very unlikely

By
Anthony Furey
-

Many believed the Liberals would easily pick up a majority this election. However, after the first week of the campaign, a majority seems very unlikely for Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau’s gaffes and the evolving crisis in Afghanistan have proved costly for the Liberal leader.

Anthony Furey gives an overview of the first week of the election.

LEVY: What about Canadians who were vaccinated out-of-country?

By
Sue-Ann Levy
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On May 12 when my wife and I crossed into Canada from Florida, the border security guards didn’t want to hear that we were double vaccinated.

In fact, the detailed ArriveCAN app I filled out had no section asking if one had already been vaccinated.

I had received both doses of Moderna by April 5 in West Palm Beach, Florida; my wife the same by early May.

I had also written many stories about snowbirds being fully vaccinated in the United States, as well as travellers to Israel, who upon arriving in Toronto or other Canadian border cities were told they still had to quarantine for 14 days and take two COVID PCR tests.

This was in addition to the one they were asked to present at the border.

Those who flew into Toronto and refused to participate in the hotel quarantine – legitimately arguing that they were already fully vaccinated – were handed stiff fines of between $3,500 and $5,000 each.

It was absurd.

You would have thought the Trudeau government would be happy to know that with the initial limited supply of vaccine, some Canadians proactively took it upon themselves to get vaccinated elsewhere. After all, it took some of the load off scarce Canadian resources – which at that point had forced many to wait a risky four months in between doses.

But it was almost as if they wanted to punish those who dared leave the country – no matter the reason – even if they took the time and trouble to do what the government asked them to do, namely get vaccinated to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

I can only imagine the resources the Trudeau government wasted applying the PCR test twice, phoning us constantly and sending us emails to fill out daily while we were in a 14-day quarantine.

It was a laughable exercise.

Now less than three months later with an election upon us and the Liberals trying to force vaccines and vaccine passports on all of us – amid threats that the unvaccinated will not be permitted to fly or take the train within Canada – it would appear that those fully vaccinated outside of Canada have been ignored, or forgotten.

The out-of-country vaccinated number is in the tens of thousands judging just from the numbers who have reportedly inquired about how to register in the city of Toronto.

There has been no directive from the federal government to those of us who didn’t sign up for vaccines in this country.

When I asked officials at public health Canada this week, they said they are not able to track vaccinations obtained by Canadians outside the country.

Media officials told me that such vaccinations are captured by provincial immunization registries “only if vaccinated individuals voluntarily submit their proof of vaccination” to public health authorities in their province.

I don’t want to suggest that had there been a section in the ArriveCAN app asking about vaccination status, reporting would have been far more efficient and the numbers of vaccinated would have been far higher.

I was referred to the province to register, which was in fact wrong.

As I discovered after some research, it is the local public health unit that actually collects the data.

A recent release from Toronto public health says they’ve received more than 15,000 requests to document out-of-country vaccinations with COvaxON. 

It’s now 15,001 after I registered mine this week.

O’Toole government would make “amends for past injustices” to Indigenous community

By
Caitlin Rose Morgante
-

Erin O’Toole has committed a prospective Conservative government to a range of policies aimed to make “amends for past injustices” against Indigenous Canadians.

The Conservative platform says an O’Toole government would implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) calls to action 71-76 as well as finance investigations “at all former residential schools in Canada where unmarked graves may exist, including the sites where children have already been discovered.”

A Conservative government would also “build a national monument in Ottawa that honours residential school survivors and all the children who were lost.”

“Recent events have illustrated the scale of the obstacles that Indigenous peoples have faced throughout Canada’s history, and Canadians are more determined to move forward with reconciliation than ever before,” the party’s platform reads.

The TRC calls to action involve a demand for “the federal government to work with churches, Aboriginal communities, and former residential school students to establish and maintain an online registry of residential school cemeteries, including, where possible, plot maps showing the location of deceased residential school children.” 

The party promises to “ensure that proper resources are allocated for communities to reinter, commemorate, and honour any individuals discovered through the investigation, according to the wishes of their next of kin.”

The grave “discoveries were a heartbreaking reminder of the pain Indigenous children, their families, and their communities were subjected to,” the Conservative platform reads.  

Contrary to the mainstream narrative that the alleged unmarked grave sites house the bodies of Indigenous children, True North has previously reported that the reported grave at the Cowessess reserve in Saskatchewan was actually a community cemetery where people of different backgrounds were buried.

According to the 2015 TRC report, the number one cause of death for residential school students was tuberculosis.

Conservatives closing in on Liberals, latest poll indicates

By
Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
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The latest poll published by EKOS Politics shows the Conservatives closing in on the Liberals when it comes to federal vote intention. 

According to the survey, the Conservatives are edging behind the Liberals by nearly one percentage point in support.

Researchers found that a total of 32% of Canadians indicated that they intend to vote Conservative in the upcoming federal election, while 33.3% said they would vote Liberal. The NDP trails behind with 20.1% of the vote. 

EKOS is a Canadian public opinion research firm based out of Ottawa, Ontario. Their daily survey was conducted over the phone between August 15-18, 2021. A random sample of 1,281 eligible voters were surveyed. 

The poll has a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points, or 19 times out of 20.

Polls from earlier this week indicated a significant lead by the Liberals, despite the fact that Canadians have a desire for a change in the government. 

Earlier this week, a different poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that although Conservatives were behind in terms of voting intention, Canadians looked to the party as the best suited to manage Canada’s post-pandemic economy. 

Poll results indicate that 41% of voters think that Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole would be the best choice when it comes to handling Canada’s finances. 

“The Conservatives have been more concrete about their economic plans than the Liberals in the campaign’s early days. O’Toole’s party has promised to recover the one million jobs lost since the beginning of the pandemic within one year,” Angus Reid researchers wrote. 

When Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau was asked about the state of Canada’s economy including rising interest rates earlier this week, he told reporters that he doesn’t “think about monetary policy.” 

Protesters demand removal of biological male inmates from women’s prisons

By
Lindsay Shepherd
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A crowd of approximately 75 gathered outside the Fraser Valley Institution for Women in Abbotsford, BC on Saturday afternoon to demand the removal of biological male inmates from women’s prisons.

Among the attendees were women’s rights advocates, former inmates and other members of the public. “Males don’t belong here” and “gender self-ID hurts women” were some of the phrases written on the protesters’ signs.

According to Heather Mason, a prisoner’s rights advocate with Canadian Women’s Sex-Based Rights, there are five males claiming to be transgender housed at the Fraser Valley Institution for Women, out of a total 92 inmates. One such male inmate is 39-year old Tara Desousa (Adam Laboucan), who is incarcerated for raping a three-month old infant boy. The baby boy required serious reconstructive surgery, and now Desousa resides at a prison that runs a mother-child program.

Amy Eileen Hamm, Twitter @preta_6

In 2017, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) changed its gender identity policy to allow convicted male criminals to be transferred to women’s prisons if they self-identify as transgender. Prior to 2017, any male inmate requesting to be transferred to a women’s prison must have undergone gender reassignment surgery.

The protest organizers argue the new policy prioritizes gender self-identification theory over women’s Charter-based rights to safety.

According to Mason, the former CSC deputy commissioner for women said in 2019 that 50% of the males who request to be transferred to a female prison are sex offenders. Mason says that many correctional guards she has spoken to are not a fan of the transfer policy, but they are not allowed to speak out. At the Fraser Valley Institution for Women, there have purportedly been STD scares, pregnancy rumours and sexual harassment allegations because of the biological males in residence.

“[Corrections Canada] let men basically rule the prison … women are scared to speak up because they think their paroles are going to get denied,” former Fraser Valley Institution inmate Alia Pierini told the crowd. “I’m sick and tired of the men, the rapists getting support over the women.”

Similarly, women in homeless shelters and halfway houses fear speaking out against the presence of biological males because they don’t want to be banned from the services they rely on.

The protest – the fourth in a series of Canada-wide rallies organized by Heather Mason and other representatives from women’s rights groups – went on without a hitch, with passing vehicles continuously honking and waving in support.

FUREY: Will foreign affairs be an election issue?

By
Anthony Furey
-

While it’s understandable why the economy is the top priority for Canadians and political leaders this election, Canada’s position on the world stage is worth discussing as well.

From the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban to the growing threat of China, Canada’s foreign affairs deserves a serious discussion.

Anthony Furey discusses in his latest video.

Facebook bans PPC candidate Marc Emery after criticizing “evil COVID dictatorship”

By
Caitlin Rose Morgante
-

‘Prince of Pot’ Marc Emery was banned from Facebook on Friday. The 30-day ban coincides with the entire election cycle in which Emery is running as a candidate for the People’s Party of Canada in London North Centre.

Emery told True North the current ban is for five posts from September 2020 to August 2021.  In the first post, Emery purportedly violated Facebook’s “community standards on hate speech” by criticizing Canada’s “evil COVID dictatorship.” 

Emery posted a photo of a takeout bag from a Vancouver restaurant that suffered financially due to COVID lockdowns and had to close down. Emery lamented the loss of the business and criticized the “soft, weak, unprincipled” Canadians who “begged for this dictatorship because of hysteria, propaganda, lies and manipulation.”

The other four posts that got the libertarian cannabis activist banned included photos of legally purchased marijuana— hardly outliers in his social media history considering that Emery has “posted thousands of cannabis posts over the years.” 

In the final August 5 post, Emery was posing with cannabis samples a friend sent as a gift. Emery noted that Facebook’s ban was particularly puzzling given it gave him the opportunity of paying to promote the post as an ad, before subsequently banning him for it.

Emery described Facebook’s banning policy as “mercurial” and said that “there is absolutely no consistency in their interpretation of anything.” Emery wants to appeal the ban so it doesn’t impact his campaign, but he said he has “no idea how to contact Facebook to question the timing of this ban, or anything.”

Although frustrated, Emery said he is not surprised. He had been using Facebook to warn Canadians for months about the dangers of government “tyranny.” He said that if we continued to accept government encroachment into all aspects of our lives, Canadians were “all going to suffer.”

Emery is no stranger to social media censorship or the heavy hand of the state. He has been banned on social media 15 times since 2015 and has been jailed for his cannabis in every province.

“He spent most of his adult life fighting for more freedom and paid the price by spending many years in prison for a crime that doesn’t exist anymore,” PPC spokesperson Martin Masse told True North.

Emery began his cannabis legalization efforts 30 years ago and ran in the former London East as a Libertarian in 1980. He told True North that he feels he has come “full circle” with his latest candidacy in a July interview.

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