The Conservatives are calling on several key Liberal ministers to suspend their campaigns to deal with the growing military and humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. Conservative candidate Alex Ruff, who is also an Afghanistan veteran, said the Liberals have not been transparent about what they’re doing to rescue Afghan interpreters and contractors from the Taliban, or to repatriate Canadians in Afghanistan. He joined True North’s The Andrew Lawton Show to discuss.
BC’s Office of the Human Rights Commissioner (BCOHRC) is launching a public inquiry into the “rise of hate during the pandemic” that will cost taxpayers over $200,000.
According to the BCOHRC, the public inquiry will span two fiscal years, with approximately $200,000 allocated for the first year. No cost estimate was provided for the second year, and costs could rise when pandemic measures lift and in-person consultations can occur.
The BCOHRC website notes “A public inquiry is an official review of major events or issues to establish facts and make recommendations for change… An inquiry is not a court of law and cannot make legal findings of guilt or liability or compel governments to accept inquiry recommendations.”
The public inquiry is being launched based on the assertion that “white supremacy” and “hate” have been significantly on the rise in BC since early 2020.
According to the Vancouver Police Department, hate crime incidents increased 97% from 142 incidents in 2019 to 280 in 2020. They note that in 2019 there were 12 reported anti-Asian hate crime incidents and in 2020 there were 98.
The BCHRO is also relying on data from a report released by the Chinese Canadian National Council, Toronto Chapter. According to the report, 1150 anti-Asian hate incidents occurred across Canada between March 10, 2020 and February 28, 2021, and 506 of those incidents occurred in BC.
Among the hate incidents included in the report are a situation where an Asian woman’s colleague asked her if she was eating a bat, and an encounter where two panhandlers asked an Asian man for money and then lunged at him and told him Chinese people brought over COVID-19 when he didn’t give them any cash.
Late last year, the BCHRO ran a $70,000 “Am I racist?” bus stop ad campaign that featured phrases such as “If I say I don’t see skin colour, am I racist?” and “If I want to forget our province’s history, am I racist?”
The Office has an annual approved operating budget of $5.5 million, with Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender receiving a $300,000 salary.
The Conservatives will introduce “the toughest accountability and transparency laws in Canadian history” if they’re elected on September 20th.
Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole unveiled the party’s Anti-Corruption Act on Wednesday, saying the act is designed to tackle ethics, lobbying and transparency.
“Canada’s Conservatives will pass the Anti-Corruption Act to secure accountability for ethical misconduct, including by the Prime Minister,” said O’Toole.
The Conservatives will strengthen the Conflict of Interest Act by “increasing the monetary penalties in the Conflict of Interest Act from a maximum of $500 to a maximum of $50,000.” The fine will consider the severity of the offence as well as the history and net worth of the offender.
“Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau both violated Canada’s ethics laws several times but received no penalty or one that was too far low to deter unethical behaviour,” said O’Toole.
“Canada’s Recovery Plan will punish ethical violations by politicians and clean up the mess in Ottawa,” said O’Toole.
The Code of Conduct for MPs will also be amended, as elected officials will not be able to collect speaking fees.
Under the Conservative plan, organizations such as corporations will now have to register and report their meetings while lobbying. The Conservatives also intend to ban lobbying only on a matter that is the subject of a criminal proceeding.
These changes are in response to the many scandals by the Liberal government such as the Aga Khan Affair, SNC Lavalin and WE Charity scandal.
This is not the first time the Conservative Party has entered an election offering the Canadian public more accountability and transparency. In 2006 the Harper government put forth the Federal Accountability Act in response to the Liberals then Sponsorship scandal of 2006.
Internal emails show that staffers in the Trudeau government wanted to bury the fact that Canada was receiving sub-par personal protective equipment donations from China and elsewhere.
According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the messages were in response to inquiries by Liberal MP Han Dong who was wondering why Canada wasn’t singing China’s praises for the donation.
“Han Dong is looking for background on what they donated and why we aren’t touting their donation. To be fair, we aren’t touting any donations,” wrote a staffer.
Staffers also voice concerns about the negative attention the European Union received for accepting mask donations from Huawei, the China-linked company at the centre of the global 5G debate.
“The European Union was asked about Huawei’s personal protective equipment donations to Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Greece and Switzerland and whether they constitute ‘mask diplomacy.’ Their response was simply ‘that’s now how things work.’ Just FYI as we may soon get asked to confirm whether Canada is also in receipt of donations from Huawei,” one email claimed.
Huawei was not the only company that gave Canada health equipment donations, Home Depot and Suncor also donated a substantial amount of masks.
“Appreciate if we can avoid referring to the quality or grade of masks to the extent possible, but given that it’s a donation I suppose we can’t redirect them to where they are sorely needed (hospitals),” said Travis Gordon a senior policy adviser to the Liberal health minister.
“We will try to avoid this spinning into a story about how some vets in some long term care homes will get N95s while doctors in hospitals are limited to one per day.”
Other cabinet staff said that they wanted to avoid “unnecessary controversy” that the donations might cause. One also stated that they worried “about the optics” or that “it might be awkward” to deal with.
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government ran into several issues with faulty and shoddy personal protective equipment from China. In May, Health Canada issued a distribution warning for KN95 masks produced in China which they noted “pose a health and safety risk to end users.”
A month prior to the warning, the Liberal government revealed that one million masks purchased from China were found to be largely unusable and faulty.
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole says he’s pro-choice, but because he says he also supports conscience rights for healthcare practitioners, the Liberals have unleashed a wave of attacks accusing him of being a pro-lifer in disguise. True North’s Andrew Lawton says Justin Trudeau’s “evil, scary social conservative” attacks against O’Toole, who agrees with the Liberals on social issues, reeks of desperation. Also, Conservative candidate and Afghanistan veteran Alex Ruff joins the show to discuss Canada’s hands-off approach to the Afghanistan crisis.
It’s Fake News Friday on The Candice Malcolm Show!
This week, Facebook tapped the CBC to “fact-check” competing media outlets during the 2021 election despite the fact that the state broadcaster is notorious for reporting inaccurate information. This news comes just days after the CBC spread fake news about Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole’s position on mandatory vaccines for the public service, failing to acknowledge that it’s the same plan as Justin Trudeau’s.
Also, Candice Malcolm calls out the Associated Press and the CBC for defending the Taliban and parroting terrorist talking points.
Reports are emerging since the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban that the terrorist group is now torturing women.
According to eyewitnesses, Newsweek reports that women are being beaten or tortured under the strict regime. Other reports also indicate that the Taliban are executing opponents to their regime.
A source who wished to remain anonymous told the outlet that the Taliban would “never respect or give value to women’s rights.”
“We’re scared of wearing some clothes and walking on the street because we fear the Taliban might look at us and torture us because we’re wearing something different,” said the source.
“We have to wear the burqa. The streets are empty and there are no women and girls in Kabul. I want the UN and the rest of the world to help us in this moment.”
Despite these horrific accounts of the treatment of women at the hands of the Taliban, CBC News ran a story on how the “Taliban vow to honour women’s rights within Islamic law in Afghanistan.”
On August 14th, the Taliban entered Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul and asserted control over the area.
The move comes as the US finalized its withdrawal from the country, leaving many Afghans who aided the US and its allies stranded during the hostile takeover.
To date, the Taliban have asserted control over most of the country as the US, Canada, the UK and others attempt to evacuate their personnelle.
Mayam Sahar, who is a former Afghan interpreter for the Canadian Armed Forces said that Justin Trudeau would be responsible should the families of interpreters be executed.
“If my family get executed or any other family get executed, know that you have their blood on your hands,” Sahar told CTV News’ Power Play on Thursday.
“The only person who is going to be responsible for the murder, merciless murder of the interpreters in Afghanistan, that will be only – and only – the leader of this country and that’s going to be Justin Trudeau.”
Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau’s comment stating that he doesn’t spend much time thinking about money policy went largely ignored by Canadian legacy media outlets.
As reported on Wednesday, Trudeau shrugged off a question about rising inflation rates by giving a nonsensical answer that avoided answering the question directly.
“Do you have a position on the mandate? Would you support a slightly higher tolerance for inflation?” inquired a reporter at a campaign stop in BC.
“I don’t know. When I think about the biggest, most important economic policy this government, if re-elected, would move forward. You’ll forgive me if I don’t think about monetary policy,” said Trudeau.
“You will understand that I think about families and when we first got elected in 2015 the very first thing we did was raise taxes on the wealthiest 1% so we could lower them for the middle class. Similarly, a re-elected Liberal government will continue to invest in supports for families, for students, for seniors…”
Although Trudeau’s comments were picked up by independent outlets like True North, legacy media outlets including CBC News, the Toronto Star and CTV News largely ignored the gaffe.
In a report on rising inflation rates, CBC News omitted any mention of Trudeau’s comments which took place on the same day.
“Speaking to reporters in Vancouver, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau defended his government’s handling of the economy during the pandemic,” wrote CBC News before quoting a more coherent statement given by Trudeau.
In comparison, the Conservative Party’s latest campaign advertisement featuring an edited clip of the popular classic film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was ridiculed widely by Canadian legacy media outlets.
Beyond that, some of the only legacy media outlets to highlight Trudeau’s gaffe was BNN Bloomberg and the Toronto Sun.
“I think he should take it back. Neither Trudeau I nor Trudeau II have been terribly interested in monetary policy, very unfortunately. In any event, he’s wrong. The new government has a very important set of decisions to make coming up on monetary policy and in terms of the renewal of the agreement with the Bank of Canada,” former Bank of Canada governor David Doge told BNN Bloomberg.
An Alberta People’s Party of Canada candidate is telling Derek Sloan to go home to Ontario as he announces his independent campaign.
“Derek Sloan is an opportunistic Ottawa politician that sees Albertans as nothing more than a ticket, an opportunity for him to advance his own career,” Banff—Airdrie PPC candidate Nadine Wellwood said Thursday.
Wellwood’s statement was released in response to Sloan’s announcement of his decision to run as an independent in the Sept. 20 federal election. Wellwood accused the MP for Hastings—Lennox and Addington of leaving Ontario and coming to her riding of Banff—Airdrie to “steal” a seat from an Albertan.
Sloan is campaigning under the “make Alberta great again” slogan, but Wellwood says, “Albertans do not want or need another Ottawa politician to ‘save us.’ Albertans want and deserve an actual Albertan to be their voice, their representative in Ottawa.”
Before deciding to run as an independent, Sloan stated he was forming his own federal party in July. At the time, PPC Spokesperson Martin Masse told True North he didn’t think it was necessary for Sloan to run on his own since he seems to agree with most of the PPC platform. PPC leader Maxime Bernier even made several overtures to Sloan to join the PPC and was disappointed that he declined.
“If Derek Sloan wanted to help Alberta, he would have thrown his support behind an Alberta candidate and shown some real leadership,” said Wellwood. “Instead, he has chosen to be selfish and in doing so displayed his own weakness as a leader.”
The Banff—Airdrie riding is currently held by Conservative whip Blake Richards, who is seeking his fifth term. At a campaign event in Cochrane on Thursday, Sloan briefly discussed his decision not to join the PPC or Western separatist Maverick Party:
“God bless both of those parties. But let us have this slice of the pie because we’ve done our homework,” Sloan said. “It’s going to be Blake or me. The NDP or Liberals cannot win. There’s no way. There’s no way.”
Sloan is right about one thing — “there’s no way” the Liberals will win. Blake won 71% of the vote in 2019, with the Liberal runner-up candidate receiving a mere 10.8% of the vote. The Conservatives are projected to gain 52.8% of the vote in this election with the Liberals projected to garner 13.8%.
Although Sloan’s campaign events have drawn plenty of supporters, it seems very optimistic for Sloan to assume that as a newcomer to Alberta, he would instantly out-perform the Maverick, PPC and Liberals and go head-to-head with Blake.
Sloan rose to prominence during the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership race. In January 2021, the Conservative caucus voted to remove him, citing a “pattern of destructive behaviour.”
Conservative leader Erin O’Toole said he would not permit Sloan to run again after it was revealed that Sloan’s leadership campaign received a $131 donation from notorious Canadian white supremacist Paul Fromm.
Sloan has a difficult task ahead of him. Since 1974, only five independent MPs have been re-elected after exiting our being ousted from party caucuses.
True North reached out to Sloan for comment but did not hear back by the time this article was published.
“Derek Sloan should return to Ontario and leave Albertans to defend Alberta,” Wellwood said.
On Wednesday, Facebook Canada picked CBC as a 2021 election fact-checker tasked with monitoring other media outlets for inaccurate claims.
Blacklock’s Reporter writes that CBC’s french-language division Radio Canada will be in charge of the initiative.
The fact-checks will link to CBC articles allegedly “disproving” the false claims.
“When a fact checker rates a piece of content as false we significantly reduce its distribution so that fewer people can see it,” wrote Facebook on its 2021 Canadian election page.
“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.”
The decision to pick CBC was made despite the fact that the state broadcaster has been responsible for several instances where Canadians were misinformed due to their reporting.
In March, CBC News was forced to issue a correction to a report they published which included alleged quotes by former US president Donald Trump to the governor of Georgia following last year’s election. The quotes were later found out to be falsified.
More recently, CBC News spread misinformation regarding Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole’s comment around mandatory vaccination without revealing that his position was exactly the same as the Liberals.
Alongside the network’s loose relationship with the truth, concerns remain regarding the fact that the Liberal government has promised CBC further funding if elected.
In 2020, the network received a 9.8% increase to its funding and an additional $33.7 million COVID-19 grant from the Liberals, raising the network’s total taxpayer funding to $1.3 billion annually.
