December 30 2023 - "Records show the cabinet budgeted $37.4 million for Trudeau’s gun grab program but spent a quarter of that amount without actually buying any firearms. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, newly revealed figures in an internal report from the Department of Public Safety cautioned the gun grab was susceptible to 'wasted time, energy and funds.'
"In an Inquiry of Ministry document presented in the Commons, the cabinet disclosed that it had allocated $37.4 million to purchase prohibited firearms. Out of the total budget, $8,964,109 was spent by the Public Safety Department and the RCMP before the program was postponed on October 12. The spending was disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant (Renfrew-Nipissing, ON) who asked 'With regard to the department of public safety’s firearms buyback program for recently prohibited firearms, what are the details of all contracts?'
Spending included $1.9 million “to develop the information technology required to administer the program,” said the Inquiry.
The $8.9 million also included payments to contractors for 'strategic advice,' 'project management,' 'management consulting,' 'design options,' development of an 'online survey solution,' and 'communications research.'
One contractor, Samson & Associates of Gatineau, QC, was paid $782,934 for 'nimble assurance of a major transformation initiative.'
The Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association was paid $707,363 to contact manufacturers and gun stores 'to gather detailed information on their individual inventory of firearms and restricted components, including demonstrable costs.'
"A 2021 internal Comprehensive Program Design Options Final Report earlier obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation warned the gun grab program was costly and complicated. 'A country with the geographic scale of Canada with firearms dispersed over so wide an area has never attempted a firearms buyback program,' it said....
"The budget of $37.4 million, as identified in the Inquiry of Ministry, did not account for the actual costs associated with purchasing back prohibited firearms. The estimates for buybacks by the cabinet suggested a range 'between $300 million and $400 million,' while the Budget Office forecast[] a higher amount of $756 million.
"On October 11, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced the postponement of the entire gun grab program until 2025, after the next general election. 'We specifically extended the gun amnesty so as not to criminalize people,' LeBlanc testified on October 23 at the Senate National Security committee. 'People I know go hunting.'"
"You can be sure that corporate media reports on climate change will be slanted," says John Birch Society CEO Bill Hahn; which is why the Society sent its own accredited journalists to COP28. This is from their reports.
December 22, 2023 "So we’re told that a monumental deal was struck at the latest Climate Change conference that will phase out fossil fuels. But is it true? You can be sure that corporate media reports on climate change will be slanted.... This is why it’s important for us to attend these conferences and get a first person look at what goes on..... The New American, a media outlet of The John Birch Society, sent a team of three investigative journalists to COP28, the United Nations climate change conference that was held in Dubai, an Arab police state that does not allow dissent within its country. The New American had covered many of these UN conferences in the past and was once again granted official access to the event....
"A senior editor of The New American, Alex Newman, who has attended these conferences since 2009, reported online that 'Governments at the United Nations COP28 "climate" summit agreed to "transition" away from "fossil fuels" today. But don’t believe the hype from the media about a "phaseout" or "phase down’ of hydrocarbon energy at the UN summit. What is really happening is a planned phaseout of the Western world — what used to be known as Christendom or the 'Free World' — as the UN and Western leaders work to usher in a new "multipolar" world order'....
"Advocates of the globalist agenda have been quite open about this since at least the early 1970s regarding building a New World Order or NWO. Over the last few years, the Council on Foreign Relations [CFR] has offered a new course of direction for the NWO. It focuses on moving away from the leadership of the U.S. and other Western countries to also include other countries like [the] autocracies of China, Russia, and other participants of BRICS. Richard Haass, the longtime President of the [CFR] wrote in the March 23, 2021 Foreign Affairs magazine, 'The international system is at a historical inflection point.… the Western-led liberal order that emerged after World War II cannot anchor global stability in the twenty-first century.… The best vehicle for promoting stability in the twenty-first century is a global concert of major powers'....
"What he is describing is also known as a multipolar New World Order.... [T]he U.S. was used as the main leader for the post-WWII era. It unconstitutionally used its vast resources to help build up Communist countries, as well as those that would belong to the European Union, while at the same time building up world government bodies like the United Nations and its many affiliates. In a multipolar world order, the U.S. and its Western allies would continue to utilize its resources by transferring large amounts of wealth to poorer countries. Doing so will bring down the standard of living for the average American while raising up those in developing countries as well as countries like China and Russia who give lip service to the agenda of the United Nations, but work to build themselves into the leading superpowers.
"Mr. Newman reported, 'Throughout the COP28 ‘climate’ summit, the Biden administration and Western governments pledged ever-more suicidal energy policies and draconian wealth redistribution from the middle class under the guise of saving the planet. According to an analysis by the Heritage Foundation’s Stephen Moore, just the U.S. government’s latest methane promises — a de facto ban on natural-gas power plants — will take out upwards of 60 percent of American electric power generation. But that pain will not be shared around the world. In fact, officials from the United Arab Emirates and Communist China, among others, were exposed planning to make oil and gas deals at the summit.... The news was spun by the establishment press to portray the UAE government hosting the climate talks in a negative light. But the real significance of the scandal was lost: It highlights the fact that the anti-energy hysteria and silly "solutions" such as solar panels and windmills being peddled to Western populations by the UN and the media are primarily undermining the economies of Western nations, including Europe and the United States — not China or other autocracies, whose emissions are all soaring with no end in sight.'
"Leave it up to the suckers in the U.S. and the EU to follow the 'rules,' but Communist countries are in no way participating in their own economic destruction by dismantling their industries or turning off a major flow of revenue through resource or product sales. The value they place on human life disqualifies them from actually carrying out this agenda based on a democratic or just way of living. Ironically, the Kremlin posted this statement when Xi Jinping visited Russia earlier in 2023: 'We jointly work to create a more just and democratic multipolar world order, which should be based on the central role of the UN, its Security Council, international law, and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.' If that’s what they are working toward, then the free world should want nothing to do with it given the Communist’s idea of justice and democracy....
As Mr. Newman ... wrote, 'The president of the COP28 conference, ADNOC [Abu Dhabi National Oil Company] chief Sultan Al Jaber, outraged climate alarmists worldwide when he ridiculed their pseudo-scientific pronouncements. [see video]. "I’m not in any way signing up to any discussion that is alarmist," he told former Irish President Mary Robinson.... Other oil-producing Arab governments also injected a major dose of reality into the summit while undermining the UN-backed Western media narrative. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman ridiculed the idea that the world would "phase out” hydrocarbon energy. “And I assure you not a single person — I’m talking about governments — believes in that,” he was quoted as saying in the press.'
"This is the heart of the matter: Climate action is nothing more than a front to usher in totalitarian world government — a New World Order that proponents in globalist and communist circles have been discussing for more than 100 years. Those elected officials and other so-called dignitaries in the climate change movement do not honestly believe in their cause, or their actions would have reflected their convictions.... [B]ills to get the U.S. out of the UN have been recently introduced in the House and the Senate, the first time in a long time. Let’s generate some pressure in Congress to get these voted on."
Just before Christmas, the Trudeau government announced regulations that would phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered automobiles in Canada, and ban their sale completely by 2035.
December 20, 2023 - "The Trudeau government [has] unveiled regulations meant to phaseout the sale of new internal combustion vehicles and compel Canadians to buy zero-emission vehicles..... [A]ccording to the Trudeau government’s new regulations, all new passenger vehicles and light trucks sold in Canada must be electric zero-emission vehicles [EVs] by 2035, with interim targets of 20 per cent by 2026 and 60 per cent by 2030....
"And yet, despite multibillion-dollar subsidies and governmental efforts to promote EV adoption, consumers are not embracing them. In Canada, only 6.5 per cent (98,589) of the 1.5 million new vehicles sold in 2022 were electric, according to Statistics Canada. Achieving the Trudeau government’s 2026 target would require a rapid increase in EV sales to more than 300,000 in coming years and more than 900,000 in 2030 (assuming no change in total vehicle sales). Such rapid growth in a short timeframe is at best questionable....
"But even in the unlikely scenario of sudden shift in consumer preferences, production-side barriers loom large.... According to a recent study, to meet international EV adoption mandates (including mandates in Canada and the U.S.) by 2030 the world would need 50 new lithium mines, 60 new nickel mines, 17 new cobalt mines, 50 new mines for cathode production, 40 new mines for anode materials, 90 new mines for battery cells, and 81 new mines for EV bodies and motors, for a total of 388 new mines worldwide. For context, in 2021 there were only 340 metal mines operating in Canada and the U.S.
"And historically, the development of mining and refining facilities has been slow. Production timelines range from six to nine years for lithium and 13 to 18 years for nickel—two elements critical for EV batteries. The aggressive government timelines for EV adoption clash with historically sluggish metal and mineral production, raising the risk of EV manufacturers falling short of needed minerals.... Simply put, it’s not at all clear that sufficient capacities will be available to produce enough EVs to achieve the mandates being imposed on Canadians and Americans, nor is it clear consumers in either country are willing to spend their own money to purchase them."
December 18, 2023 - "It’s now official. We have, as a nation, joined those other countries banning the sale of internal-combustion-engine-powered light-duty vehicles past the year 2035.... Discussion is over, the plans now firm, and the political party in charge, more desperate for wins that any time in their eight-year reign, are firmly committed to its implementation. In other words, automakers’ sales targets for battery-powered vehicles — some 20 per cent of all new cars sold in 2026, 60 per cent by 2030, and the full 100 per cent in 2035 — have been mandated, and now all that’s left to do is deal with the consequences....
"A lot of things have to go right for Canada to achieve 100-per-cent ZEV sales nationwide by 2035. Pierre Poilievre can't get elected. Battery prices need to decrease. The roll-out of charging stations needs to be ramped up. The federal government will have to maintain its subsidies much longer than originally proposed. Failure of any of the above could render these best of intentions wasted. Throw in the fact that it takes as much as five to 10 years for a mine to come on-stream in Canada, and the precipitous drop in pricing EV proponents have been promising seems remote indeed.... In fact, the idea that a fully functional EV — as in, one with sufficient range to serve as a middle-class family’s only mode of transportation — will be anywhere near CDN$30,000 without subsidies in the next five years seems laughable. A ... 400-km-plus-(real-)highway-range four-door five-passenger EV for 30 large? With no government cash in the trunk? No one in North America — or Europe — can build that car.
"But the Chinese can. In fact, they’re already doing it, and, thanks to a cost-of-manufacturing advantage that some corporate European CEOs put at as much as 15,000 euros, they are ravaging the E.U. market as we speak. Many other markets as well.... [W]ith the mandate’s rapid progression — that 60-per-cent-of-new-cars-be-EVs-by-2030 rule – it might become viable for BYD, NIO, and the like to establish a beachhead here..., And when — okay, if — they come, there’s precious little chance our native auto industry can counterattack....
"By [2030], 60 per cent of all cars an automaker sells throughout our entire country will have to be BEVs. That would mean that if you sell, say, 60,000 electrics nationwide, you’d be allowed to sell 40,000 non-ZEV ICEs. For many of the larger automakers in Canada, that would be a bad year....[O]ur American cousins ... could flood our market with new (actually slightly used) ICEs to make up for the shortfall. Back in 2009, when our dollar was at par ... five per cent of the new cars sold in Canada came from south of the border. With even more money to be made and a captive audience facing a shortage of cars they’re no longer allowed to buy through Canadian dealers, it could be many more."
Justin Trudeau's climate change minister, Steven Guilbeault, celebrated food and agricultue day at the COP28 summit on climate change by unveiling the Canadian government's plan to reduce the environmental threat posed by cow burps.
December 11, 2023 - "First it was the oil and gas industry. Now Envrionment Minister Steven Guilbeault is taking aim at another major sector of Alberta’ economy by targeting flatulent cattle.... [A]at the COP28 summit in Dubai ... Guilbeault announced the proposed ‘Reducing Enteric Methane Emissions from Beef Cattle’ (REME) protocol to 'incentivize” farmers to implement changes that would be eligible for methane offset credits that can be bought or sold'....
"It’s the fourth such schedule to be included in Canada’s greenhouse gas offset system and the third policy measure announced by Guilbeault’s office at the COP28 summit including limits on industrial methane and a cap on oil and gas.... Environment and Climate Change Canada said the draft REME protocol was 'informed' by Alberta’s offset protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from fed cattle. At this point it only covers burping emissions from beef cattle — more than half of which are found in Alberta — and not dairy cows that are concentrated in the Lower Mainland and Quebec.
"According to Environment Canada, agriculture was responsible for 31% of Canada’s total methane emissions in 2021, the majority of which are produced by beef and dairy cattle. Methane is generated during the natural digestive process of cows and is released into the air when cows burp.
"The offset credit system is among several measures Canada is taking to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions by 40% to 45% below 2005 levels under the Liberals’ 2030 Emissions Reduction Plan."
December 12, 2023 - ""Methane eructated and flatulated by cattle is a secondary but substantial cause of climate change. So, too, is gas from moose, elk, deer and many other creatures less susceptible to regulation. But the worst offenders by far are humans, each and every one of us expert at using our built-in emission technologies. As a species we are so gaseous and numerous that our methane production far exceeds those of any cud-chewing creatures. Much is written on all this, although one has to wonder about the accuracy of facts and figures. Who can measure the totality of human flatulence? And how? Regardless, Ottawa is on the case....
"As usual, Ottawa presents a climate measure as advantageous both scientifically and economically. 'Each credit represents one tonne of emission reductions. Credits can be sold to facilities that will use them to meet emissions reduction obligations, or to other businesses to meet their low-carbon economy commitments. This means fewer methane emissions, and more financial opportunities for Canadian farmers'....
"There are ways to reduce methane emissions from cattle — feeding them a certain kind of seaweed, for instance. This is apparently very effective, although not so practical on the Prairies. Cattle can also be bred with low-emission genetic traits. If the entire dairy herd were bred this way, according to one company, emissions in the national dairy herd could drop 20 to 30 per cent by 2050.
"Kyle Larkin, executive director of the Grain Growers of Canada, says farmers and ranchers already face pressure from federal demands to cut fertilizer emissions. 'It’s fine to put targets out there,' he says, 'but we need a plan to be able to get to those targets, and if the government was serious about reaching the 30 per cent fertilizer emissions reduction target, or the methane reduction target, there need to be dollars put into best management practices and helping farmers to adapt.' But Ottawa continues to drop measures on one sector after another. The Liberals are so zealous, in fact, that they might even announce low-emission targets for humans."
December 18, 2023 - "[A] French court ... has ordered the wholesale demolition of a wind farm in the southern Languedoc region of the country after it was implicated in the deaths of thousands of birds and bats, including endangered Golden eagles. Moreover, it ordered the German-based operator to restore the land to its original state within 15 months or face stiff penalties of €3,000 — CAD$4,400 — for every day of non-compliance.
"The onshore facility was commissioned in 2016 and is located near the southern town of Lunas. It has been the subject of a series of legal proceedings brought by residents and conservation groups alike, with the latter arguing it was directly harmful to wildlife in the area, including Golden eagles. The developer was originally ordered to dismantle the wind farm by a court in Montpellier in 2021 but won on appeal. It had been previously rejected — and overturned — in 2006 and again [in] 2017.
"Those challenges became more urgent after French media reported that the body of a golden eagle deemed to have been killed by a wind turbine blade was found at the foot of a turbine in January of this year. A subsequent study had found the wind farm had led to the deaths of more than 1,000 birds and bats.
"In its latest ruling the court found an environmental impact assessment submitted in 2013 during the approval process was 'insufficient' because it allowed construction in an area where golden eagles were nesting. In 2019, more than 1,099 dead birds were found; it is a real cemetery at the foot of wind turbines,' said Nicolas Gallon, a lawyer for the environment groups....
"The German operator, EnBW said its French subsidiary — Energies Renouvelables du Languedoc-Valeco — would be appealing the decision with France's Supreme Court."
A new book challenges the prevailing media and government narrative that Canada's residential schools were death camps where tens of thousands of indigenous children were abused, murdered, and secretly buried in unmarked graves.
December 7, 2023 - "The new book Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools) constitutes a response to the moral panic unleashed in Canada on May 27, 2021, when the Chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc (aka, the Kamloops Indian Band) announced that ground-penetrating radar (GPR) had located the remains of 215 'missing children' in an apple orchard on the grounds of the local residential school. Politicians and media seized on this initial announcement.... The storyline of “mass unmarked graves” and “burials of missing children” quickly ricocheted around Canada and much of the world.... Prime Minister Justin Trudeau set the tone for the federal government’s response on May 30 when he ordered Canadian flags to be flown at half-mast on all federal buildings to honour the '215 children whose lives were taken at the Kamloops residential school.' By this act, possible burial sites were elevated to the status of confirmed victims of foul play....
"Over time, a more fully-developed and persistent narrative has grown out of that initial announcement from Kamloops ... to create a storyline about the inherently genocidal nature of Indian Residential ools that has since been widely accepted and largely unchallenged. But regardless of how many times it is repeated by Indigenous leaders, political activists, academics and media commentators, the entire narrative is largely if not completely false....
"Slowly at first, but now with gathering confidence, substantial pushback to this narrative has appeared, driven by a small group of professionals, including judges, lawyers, professors, journalists and researchers.... Grave Error is a collection of some of the best pushback essays published by these brave researchers in response to the Kamloops mythology. They analyze and critique the false narrative of unmarked graves, missing children, forced attendance and genocidal conditions at Indian Residential Schools. The book’s title summarizes the authors’ view of the Kamloops narrative. It is wrong. And not just wrong, but egregiously wrong. Because of this, it fully deserves our sardonic title, which normally might have more in common with a tabloid newspaper headline. Our book shows in detail just why and where the narrative is wrong....
"The editors of Grave Error are C.P. Champion and myself. In addition to an introduction and conclusion, it contains 18 chapters plus a foreword by Conrad Black and cover endorsement by columnist Barbara Kay. The first contribution is 'In Kamloops, Not One Body Has Been Found,' by Montreal historian Jacques Rouillard. This essay, originally posted on The Dorchester Review website, is now closing in on 300,000 views. It has done more than any other single publication to punch holes in the false narrative of unmarked graves and missing children. The author has updated his version in Grave Error to cover other false claims related to GPR since Kamloops. Other contributors include retired professors [Rodney] Clifton and Ian Gentles, retired judge Brian Giesbrecht, well-known author and editor Jonathan Kay and inimitable academic provocateur Frances Widdowson....
"Their contributions to this volume confront all the main fallacies head-on. Widdowson shows how the legend of murdered children and unmarked graves was spread by defrocked United Church minister Kevin Annett before it popped up again at Kamloops. [Hymie] Rubenstein and collaborators examine the evidence proffered in support of unmarked graves, such as the results of GPR, and find there is nothing – repeat nothing – there. One author, who published anonymously because of his fear of retaliation, shows how the GPR results at Kamloops probably are radar reflections of buried tile that was part of the school’s sewage disposal system....
"Other contributors include Kay, who explains how the media got the story so completely wrong, generating the worst fake news in Canadian history. Gentles examines health conditions in the schools and shows that children were better off there than at home on reserves. Former Manitoba judge Giesbrecht demonstrates that attendance in residential schools was not compelled in any meaningful sense of the term. My contribution criticizes the prolific but weak body of research purporting to show that attendance at residential schools created a historical trauma that is responsible for the subsequent social pathologies to which native people are subject. And Clifton shows from personal experience how benign and positive conditions in the schools could be. In full, our book demonstrates that all the major elements of the Kamloops narrative are either false or highly exaggerated. No unmarked graves have been discovered at Kamloops or elsewhere – not one....
"Perhaps sensing the weakness of their evidence-free position, purveyors of the Indian Residential Schools-as-genocide narrative have begun to double-down on their own claims, demanding that any criticism of their ideology be made illegal.... Winnipeg NDP MP Leah Gazan ... introduced the original House of Commons resolution declaring Indian Residential Schools to be genocidal. Then federal government ministers got involved. Marc Miller, then Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations, took specific offence at Rouillard’s initial, ground-breaking essay, claiming on Twitter (now X) that it is 'part of a pattern of denialism and distortion' about residential schools in Canada. David Lametti, then the Minister of Justice, followed suit with a vague threat that Ottawa might consider “outlawing” residential school denialism. Denialism is generally defined as any debate that contradicts the official narrative as outlined at the beginning of this article.
"So here we are. A false narrative about genocide in residential schools has become firmly established in the public domain without any requirement for actual proof or due diligence. Media and government have eagerly collaborated in perpetuating this falsehood. And anyone who questions any part of the story is labelled a “denialist,” and possibly threatened with criminal prosecution. To such a world, Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth about Residential Schools) offers exactly what we have been missing so far – clarity, rigour and evidence."
December 20, 2023 - "The Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to try to kick Trump off the [state] ballot on Tuesday was the decadent, spurious, irresponsible, inevitable, and logical conclusion to the longstanding practices of the Resistance, which for six years has been the former president’s greatest asset.
You could never admit that, despite the divisive, overheated rhetoric, Trump was smart to address the crisis at America’s southern border. Instead, his successor quickly shelved the effective policy measures that were implemented, deepening the crisis.
There was no time to investigate the role the Chinese Communist Party played in starting the Covid-19 pandemic because Trump had uttered the words 'China Virus.'
The Trump administration’s prodigious and ultimately successful effort to develop vaccines to beat back that pandemic couldn’t have been acknowledged as a triumph until Election Day, so the vaccines had to be smeared as dangerous, experimental drugs.
How many man-hours were devoted to searching for the pee tape?
What were the cable news splits on coverage of the substantive issues at the border versus Trump’s comments about it?
Were Jonathan Chait or Kamala Harris ever held responsible for their reckless conspiracy theorizing?...
"Trump was no lock to reprise his role as the Republican standard-bearer as recently as March of this year. Voters seemed to have tired of the former president, and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis had closed the national polling gap between them to 15 without even declaring his candidacy. He was even besting Trump in some statewide polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Michigan.
"Enter Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who dropped in a flimsy criminal indictment against Trump in the spring that just about everyone intuitively understood would not have been brought against any other defendant. Within a month, Trump’s lead had doubled. The more substantive indictments that followed had the same effect despite the fact that they were much more meritorious. Four separate criminal indictments in such a short period of time in the lead up to an election were ... seen as a political effort to keep Trump off the ballot.
"Not only did the indictments cause Republicans to rally around the leader, it gave him the confidence to skip out on the primary debates that would have given DeSantis, or potentially Nikki Haley the opportunity to expose and supplant Trump.... Now Trump leads both of them by 50 points, and if there was ever a chance of an alternative pulling off a miracle upset, it was dashed by the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to try to remove the nearly presumptive GOP presidential nominee from the ballot....
"Trump already leads Biden by three points in polls, and he doesn’t need to perform nearly that well to win the election. In 2020, Biden won the popular vote by 4.5% and the Electoral College by more than 70 votes. But really the election was only decided by his razor-thin margins of victory in states like Georgia (.23%), Arizona (.30%), Wisconsin (.63%), and Pennsylvania (1.17%). Trump, by the way, is presently positioned to win all of those and more."
December 15, 2023 - "Today, much of the Canadian journalism industry has burned to the ground. Last week, even the CBC, which received $1.3 billion from the federal government in 2022, announced it would be eliminating 800 positions. According to Statistics Canada, in 2011 there were 13,280 journalists working in this country. Today there could be as few as 8,000, most of whom have watched in horror as almost $5 billion in revenue has disappeared in about a dozen years.
"Journalists today face a public that is far less interested in what we have to say. Reuters and the University of Oxford now report that the number of Canadians who say they are 'very or extremely interested in the news' has dropped by more than 20 percent in just six years, now sitting at 43 percent.... Eight percent fewer Canadians are using the internet to follow the news compared to last year. Nine percent less are turning on their TVs to watch us.
:When they do tune in, fewer and fewer trust what they are hearing. In 2018, 58 percent of Canadians said they 'trust the news most of the time'. Today, that number is 40 percent.... According to Statistics Canada, only 31 percent of Canadians, have 'a good or great deal of confidence in Canadian media\. This falls to 14 percent for off-reserve Indigenous people and 23 percent among 25 to 34-year-olds. I say this as an astonished 32-year-old.
"Many journalists will have you believe the blame should be placed at the feet of our readers, viewers, and listeners.... In fact, we may be the only industry that consistently blames the consumer for its ills.... We continue to act like we are holier than thou, that we know best..... We often write with a paternalistic and preachy tone. We nudge people towards thinking a certain way about an issue or have them believe a debate is settled when it is not. We refuse to let audiences draw their own conclusions. We turn news into stories and then into morality tales. We refuse to check our biases before picking up our notepads. We claim the very idea of objectivity is 'flawed'.... Beyond our cash flow problem, we have an attitude problem that is contributing to our demise.
"Part of the problem is that we — the Canadian mainstream media — have lost touch with a great many Canadians who do not see their lives reflected in our work. Many of us journalists had affluent upbringings, are white, university-educated, aren’t religious, and live in large cities (myself included). Many of us work in television newsrooms where the only people who probably voted Conservative in the last decade are those behind the cameras, and perhaps the janitorial staff who clean up after us. We use academic language that is a barrier to entry before readers have even reached a paywall.
"Our editors bury pitches about controversial debates — but debates that Canadians are already eagerly having around the dinner table. How can we say we have an open dialogue with the Canadian public when major mainstream outlets are disabling comment sections on their content? Even after three decades of the internet, journalism has become a one-way street. How have some viewers responded? They’ve switched us off."
A mob of anti-Israel protesters descended onto a Christmas display at Bayshore Mall in Ottawa Sunday, chanting and making loud banging sounds as children waiting for Santa ran away screaming in terror.
December 18, 2023 - "A mob of anti-Israel protesters descended onto a Christmas display at Bayshore Mall in Ottawa Sunday, chanting and making loud banging sounds as children waiting for Santa ran away screaming in terror.
"The demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and shouted, 'Gaza, Gaza' repeatedly, followed by shouts of 'While you’re shopping bombs are dropping.' They held signs with slogans about 'genocide.'
"The mall was crowded with Christmas shoppers, many with small children waiting in line to visit Santa. Footage shows parents placing their children on Santa’s lap as the chanting and banging gets louder and more chaotic. Children can be heard screaming and Santa sat in his chair clearly uncomfortable as protestors aggressively swarmed the staging area.
"Toward the end of the video, the protestors chant, 'Jesus was Palestinian.'"
December 14, 2023 - "After years of battles over Bills C-11and C-18, few Canadians will have the appetite for yet another troubling Internet bill. But given a bill that envisions government-backed censorship, mandates age verification to use search engines or social media sites, and creates a framework for court-ordered website blocking, there is a need to pay attention. Bill S-210, or the Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act, was passed by the Senate in April after Senators were reluctant to reject a bill framed as protecting children from online harm. The same scenario appears to be playing out in the House of Commons, where yesterday a majority of the House voted for the bill at second reading, sending it to the Public Safety committee for review.
"The bill, which is the brainchild of Senator Julie Miville-Duchêne, is not a government bill. In fact, government ministers voted against it. Instead, the bill is backed by the Conservatives, Bloc and NDP with a smattering of votes from backbench Liberal MPs. Canadians can be forgiven for being confused that after months of championing Internet freedoms, raising fears of censorship, and expressing concern about CRTC overregulation of the Internet, Conservative MPs were quick to call out those who opposed the bill (the House sponsor is Conservative MP Karen Vecchio)....
"I should preface criticism of the bill by making it clear that underage access to inappropriate content is indeed a legitimate concern.... However, Bill S-210 goes well beyond personal choices to limit underage access to sexually explicit material on Canadian sites. Instead, it envisions government-enforced global website liability for failure to block underage access, backed by website blocking and mandated age verification systems that are likely to include face recognition technologies. The government establishes this regulatory framework and is likely to task the CRTC with providing the necessary administration. While there are surely good intentions with the bill, the risks and potential harms it poses are significant....
"Bill S-210 ... creates an offence for any organization making available sexually explicit material to anyone under the age of 18 for commercial purposes. The penalty for doing so is $250,000 for the first offence and up to $500,000 for any subsequent offences.... The enforcement of the bill is left to the designated regulatory agency, which can issue notifications of violations to websites and ... the steps the agency wants followed to bring the site into compliance. This literally means the government via its regulatory agency will dictate to sites how they must interact with users.... If the site fails to act as instructed within 20 days, the regulator can apply for a court order mandating that Canadian ISPs block the site from their subscribers. The regulator would be required to identify which ISPs are subject to the blocking order. The website blocking provisions are focused on limiting user access and can therefore be applied to websites anywhere in the world with Canadian ISPs required to ensure that the sites are rendered inaccessible....
"The bill not only envisions the possibility of blocking lawful content or limiting access to those over 18, it expressly permits it. Section 9(5) states that if the court determines that an order is needed, it may have the effect of preventing access to 'material other than sexually explicit material made available by the organization' or limiting access to anyone, not just young people. This raises the prospect of full censorship of lawful content under court order based on notices from a government agency.
"If that isn’t bad enough, there are two additional serious concerns. First, the bill is not limited to pornography sites. Rather, it applies to any site or service that makes sexually explicit materials available. This would presumably include search engines, social media sites such as Twitter, or chat forums such as Reddit, where access to explicit material is not hard to find. If the bill was limited solely to sites whose primary purpose is the commercial distribution of sexually explicit material, it might be more defensible. As it stands now, the overbroad approach leaves this bill vulnerable to constitutional challenge.
"Second, consider the way sites are supposed to comply with the law, by establishing age verification systems. This effectively means that sites will require their users to register with commercial age verification systems in order to run a search or access some tweets. And the age verification systems raise real privacy concerns, including mandated face recognition as part of the verification process."
"Senate private members bills rarely become law, but this bill is suddenly on the radar screen in a big way. The bill should not have come this far and should not be supported. Creating safeguards for underage access to inappropriate content is a laudable goal, but not at the cost of government-backed censorship, mandated face recognition, and age-approval requirements to use some of the most popular sites and services in the world."
During the Covid pandemic, Health Canada paid out more than $680,000 to social media influencers on Twitter (now X) to ''build the department’s credibility'
December 14, 2023 - "Records show the department of health has given over $680,000 to Twitter 'influencers' since 2021. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, tweeters received payment to show support for government programs without revealing that they were paid for their posts.... The figures were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Michelle Ferreri (Peterborough-Kawartha, ON), who asked 'What are the details of all expenditures on social media influencers?' Payments over two years totalled $682,166. Talent fees paid to individual influencers were not detailed.
"The Inquiry said paid influencers used the Twitter handles AlanisDesilets, ArcticMakeup, BreCarpeRuns, CaleonTwins, CassandraBouchard, CharlotteB123, ChelazonLeroux, ChKairyn, ChristineKissickHome, DanielleIsAnxious, DashingDad_YYC, DoTheDaniel, EveMartel, FleurMaison, IAmSukhManGill, Indigenous_Baddie, ItsChrisRobins, JahJahBanks, JemmyEchd and JoselyneEffa. Other paid influencers were Life_With_Benjamin, MomRdy2Go, OhKairyn, PascaleDeblois, PlayingWithApparelMen, RafaelLeroy, Riddjyy, ShaneWhalley, ShoshanaRose, SidAfz, ThatWarriorPrincess, TheDadCode, TheDiyMommy, TheLoistGirlsGuide, TheTinaSingh, ThreeLittleSeedlings, TresDuchelle, TychonCarter, UrduMom, VahineLefebvre, VardaEtienne and YoutheCEO.
"The health department disclosed its Influencer Marketing Program in a March 24, 2021, notice to contractors without detailing the cost. Twitter stars were paid to 'build the department’s credibility' and told they must not 'tarnish Health Canada’s or the Government of Canada’s reputation'.... Cabinet defended the practice at the time. 'The Government of Canada and the scientific committees that advise it and Health Canada are providing information to Canadians to the best of their ability and in real-time,' said Senator Marc Gold (QC), Government Representative in the Senate.
"Critics described it as a propaganda effort. 'Health Canada has hired social media influencers and minor celebrities to tout the great work it’s doing on Canada’s response to the pandemic,' then-Senator Linda Frum (ON) said at the time. 'These government-paid influencers are not required to reveal they are government-paid influencers because that, of course, would be very embarrassing,' said Senator Frum, who described the campaign as a tax-funded attempt to 'spread disinformation about Health Canada’s response to the pandemic.'"
Canada's House of Commons ethics committee is investigating allegations of and mismanagement, miscoduct, and cover-ups in the federal government's main green tech funding agency, whose CEO and board president have already resigned.
December 12, 2023 - "In bombshell testimony at a House of Commons committee, a whistleblower accused the federal government of an 'egregious cover-up' over allegations of mismanagement and misconduct conducted by the board of Canada’s main funding agency for green tech. The whistleblower, a former employee who worked at Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) from 2020 to 2022, showed his face during his testimony at the committee on industry Monday night, but on the condition that his name would not be used....
"During his time at SDTC, the whistleblower conducted financial due diligence and compliance of projects. He said he is the only one who could openly speak about the problems at the agency, since he had not signed a non-disclosure agreement, unlike many of his former colleagues. He alleged that $150 million of taxpayer money was granted improperly, including to companies directly connected to SDTC’s own board members....
"Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne had previously said that his department was made aware of allegations concerning SDTC earlier this year, and had asked an independent third party, the accounting firm Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, to conduct a 'fact-finding exercise.' Champagne said ... The findings, as reported by the Globe and Mail, showed evidence of inappropriate funding, conflict-of-interest breaches, high turnover rates and stress-related leaves of absence. As a result, Champagne demanded that SDTC take corrective measures, including creating an action plan that he expects will be implemented by the end of this year and suspending government funding for all new projects until the corrective measures are in place....
"This testimony is the latest in a series of developments concerning the fate of SDTC, which has put more than $1.5 billion into clean technology companies since 2001. The Conservatives have already said they would shut down the fund if they form government. The president of the board of directors, Annette Verschuren, recently resigned after being the subject of an investigation by the ethics commissioner. She admitted to having approved more than $200,000 in subsidies to the company NRStor, which she runs [see video]. The president and CEO of SDTC, Leah Lawrence, also resigned. In a letter to the board of directors, she cited a 'sustained and malicious campaign to undermine' her leadership."
December 13, 2023 - "A cabinet appointee under an ethics investigation for alleged insider dealings abruptly left a Commons Industry committee hearing on Tuesday evening while being questioned. According to Blacklock’s Reporter, whistleblowers accused Annette Verschuren, a Liberal Party donor, of directing federal employees to search for grants on behalf of her non-profit Verschuren Centre.... On November 20, Verschuren resigned as chair of the federal foundation Sustainable Development Technology Canada [SDTC] ... after she admitted to having voted to allocate $217,000 to her money-losing company.... Verschuren is being investigated by the Ethics Commissioner for a suspected breach of the Conflict of Interest Act.
"During her testimony via videoconference, Verschuren informed the committee that she had expertise in business matters. 'I understand business,' she said. 'I have been on boards for almost 30 years..... 'I am chair of a governance committee of a major company in Canada. I understand —.” Following this exchange, Verschuren suddenly stood up, turned off her headphones, and disconnected from the videoconference. The committee adjourned after the incident.
"This followed a whistleblower's testimony claiming that the Verschuren Centre relied on taxpayer subsidies. Witness Number One, a former financial compliance officer at [SDTC] , alleged that in 2021 as chair Verschuren sought millions in grants for her Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy, located on the campus of Cape Breton University, where Verschuren also serves as the chancellor.... A foundation review committee 'rejected it based on the conflict of interest,' said Witness Number One. However, foundation employees were ordered to “help the Verschuren Centre and move that application into other sources of funding'....
"Records show the Verschuren Centre in 2022 received $3 million from the federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. It also received $1.4 million from the department of fisheries in 2022, another $70,000 from the National Research Council this past April 1, an additional $1 million from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency on September 5 and $1.18 million from the federally subsidized Canadian Food Innovation Network on September 19."
November 30, 2023 - "Canada and Google have reached a deal to keep links to news stories in search results and for the tech giant to pay $73.6m annually, or C$100m, to news publishers in the country. The deal resolves Alphabet-owned Google’s concerns over Canada’s Online News Act, which seeks to make large internet companies share advertising revenue with news publishers in the country.... The Online News Act, part of a global trend to make internet giants pay for news, passed in June and the government is finalizing rules that are expected to be released by a 19 December deadline.....
"As part of the agreement with Canada, Google will annually contribute C$100m, indexed to inflation, to news businesses, and the company will have the option to work with a single collective to distribute the funds. Google had previously threatened to block news on its search engine, a major source of traffic for nearly all websites on the internet.... The company said it was concerned it would be exposed to potentially uncapped liability....
"The legislation came after complaints from Canada’s media industry, which wants tighter regulation of tech companies to prevent them from elbowing news businesses out of the online advertising market. Paul Deegan, the chief executive officer of industry body News Media Canada, welcomed the agreement and thanked the government for ensuring cash compensation for publishers. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp broke the news of the deal earlier. 'We commend Google for their good faith, socially responsible approach,' Deegan added in a statement."
November 30, 2023 - "Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, as expected, termed the deal “historic” and insisted there were “absolutely no concessions” on the government’s part. How her nose did not grow at least two feet longer while saying this is quite beyond me. Because the facts of the matter are that for the past two months, the government and the news industry lobbyists who promoted the act (Bill C-18) have been desperately trying to placate Google in order to prevent it from doing what Meta had already done — block news links in Canada.... Google had indicated it would ... unless the government manipulated the regulations supporting Bill C-18 to address its concerns. It ... needed a cap on its financial liability and ... couldn’t possibly comply with the expectation that it engage in what would have been multiple negotiations and arbitrations....
"But ... the bureaucrats at Canadian Heritage were able to get the regulations to say what Google needed them to say to agree to disarm and pay the amount of money it was always willing to pay — $100 million. What that means is that the news industry will now form itself into a single collective consisting of broadcasters, legacy print media, digital startups, and assorted others. Who will determine membership and how remains unclear.... The next step for the collective will be defining what roles qualify as 'journalism\ jobs.... That will be necessary because when it comes to dividing up the $100 million, it will be done purely on a per journalism employee basis. (I am assuming this because that is the sort of arrangement Google was looking for and it is relatively non-contentious.)...
"But here’s the rub. Prior to the introduction of the Online News Act, Google already had deals in place with publishers such as the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, Postmedia, and others, including broadcasters. It is extremely likely that the amount of money that once was flowing from Google through those agreements (they are private so we don’t know their value) will now be diverted to the $100 million 'collective' pot. That means the net benefit of St-Onge’s 'historic' deal is probably considerably less than $100 million....
"It gets worse. The Online News Act was originally promoted by legacy newspaper publishers — the group hardest hit by the invention of the internet and its plethora of alternative advertising and information platforms. Then the broadcasters, including CBC, muscled their way into the conversation. So now, with the $100 million being divided up on a per-journo basis, guess who has the most journalists? The CBC/Societé Radio Canada of course. Next up is Bellmedia with its TV, radio, and online reporters, probably followed by Rogers. In fact, preliminary estimates were that 75 percent of the cash produced by Bill C-18 would go to broadcasters. That leaves $25 million for the far more financially desperate legacy print publishers who, as noted, already had deals with Google.
"Don’t get me wrong. It is a good thing the government found a way to surrender to Google and avoid the nuclear option of it de-indexing news from its search engine. That would have been catastrophic. But there is no amount of lipstick that can pretty up the Bill C-18 pig."
Over 17,000 patients died while waiting for surgery or diagnostic scans in 2022-23. Data shows a 64% increase in annual waitlist deaths since 2018. Since multiple health bodies provided incomplete data, the Canada-wide total is estimated at over 31,000.
December 6, 2023 - "The number of Canadians dying on health care waiting lists for surgery or diagnostic scans is at a five-year high, according to new research released today by think tank SecondStreet.org. Government data shows at least 17,032 patients died on a wait list in 2022-23. The data consists of cases where patients died waiting for procedures that could have potentially saved their lives (e.g. a heart operation) and procedures that could have improved their quality of life (e.g. hip operation). Patients died after waiting anywhere from less than a week to nearly 11 years.
"'We’re seeing governments leave patients for dead. It’s deplorable,' said SecondStreet.org president Colin Craig. 'More money won’t solve the problem. Governments have tried that for 30 years. Only meaningful health reform will reduce patient suffering'....
"Several provinces provided partial data. If we extrapolate from the data provided and apply it across health regions that did not provide data, an estimated 31,397 patients died last year.
"101 patients died while waiting for heart surgery in Ontario. Of those, 36 died after waiting longer than the maximum recommended wait time....
"Data from health care bodies that provided figures for each of the past five years shows there has been an increase in annual surgical waiting list deaths of 64%. Over the past year, surgical waiting list deaths are up 30% from those same health bodies.
"More money won’t solve the problem. Per capita government spending on health care has increased from $1,714 to $5,607 since 1992, nearly double the inflation rate.
“'Ontario, Alberta, and other provinces are hiring private clinics to help provide surgery to patients in the public system. This is a good first step,' added Craig. 'Sweden and other European countries have shown this can help. However, more needs to be done. At the very least, governments need to do a better job of tracking this problem and assessing just how many patients died because they had to wait too long for surgery.'"
"To read Policy Brief: Died on a Waiting List 2023 – click here."
November 8, 2023 - "Alberta Premier Danielle Smith confirmed her government has followed through on passing the Taxpayer Protection Amendment Act. '
"Promise kept,' tweeted Smith on Wednesday [November 8]. 'Bill 1 has passed in the legislature, ensuring families and business are protected from future tax hikes without a referendum'.... Smith signed the No Tax Hike Guarantee in April, promising not to increase personal or business taxes if re-elected [see video].
“'The current Taxpayer Protection Act already provides protection against the introduction of a provincial sales tax,' she said. 'But under a UCP (United Conservative Party) government, we will expand the act to include personal and corporate income taxes so no government can increase them without approval from Albertans through a referendum.' The Alberta government introduced [the] legislation ... on October 30....
"Alberta Treasury Board President and Finance Minister Nate Horner said he was happy to share the Taxpayer Protection Amendment Act passed..... With the Taxpayer Protection Amendment Act, Horner said Alberta’s tax advantage has been kept.
"The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) applauded the Alberta government for strengthening the Taxpayer Protection Act. 'The Taxpayer Protection Act is one of the strongest laws protecting taxpayers in North America, and it’s the reason we don’t have a PST,' said CTF Alberta Director Kris Sims.... [S]he said it will set the province apart when it comes to respecting taxpayers’ money."
The main takeaway from Canada's National Citizens' Inquiry on Covid report, says Inquiry administrator Ches Crosbie, is that the approved vaccines "are neither safe nor effective and must be withdrawn."
Dec 7, 2023 - "Throughout the COVID crisis, Canadians watched as the very institutions they believed were there to protect their freedoms and prosperity instead perpetrated hysterical fear, political repression and economic destruction. Reckless disregard, dishonesty, and abuse by authorities have destroyed public trust. Following previous, less significant crises, public hearings would typically have been mandated across Canada to glean insights, uncover the truth, and derive valuable lessons. However, [most] Canadian governments opted not to initiate public inquiries....
"[A] courageous group of dedicated Canadians volunteered to step in and address the leadership void despite resistance from the government and legacy media.... The National Citizens Inquiry is funded and staffed by volunteers who believe in a better Canada. Many Canadians, often at personal cost, have come forward to share their stories and experiences with the commissioners. The reluctance of officials to testify leaves many questioning what these individuals in positions of authority within the national health system and their political masters may be concealing.... Regrettably, individuals in positions of authority within health authorities and political leadership continue to evade responsibility. Nonetheless, a discernible shift in public opinion is currently taking place.
"I have a background as a lawyer with many years of experience and have served as the leader of the opposition in my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Politics has taught me the importance of concise messaging. If you find yourself in an elevator, and someone asks you, 'What did the National Citizens Inquiry say?' you have only a brief moment between when the doors close and when they open to deliver your message. Therefore, in my role as the administrator of the National Citizens Inquiry, here is my elevator speech.
"Three indisputable facts about the COVID-19 vaccines stand out. These facts are beyond dispute because even authorities like Health Canada acknowledge them:
The first fact beyond dispute is that Health Canada did not explicitly declare the vaccines safe and effective during the approval process. This specific terminology is absent from the approval documentation and regulations. Instead, it can be found on the Health Canada website, where the vaccines are misleadingly described as “proven safe and effective and of good quality.” In reality, the phrase “safe and effective” is nothing more than a marketing slogan and a deceptive one at that.
The second fact beyond dispute is that the process by which the vaccines were made for approval, was a different process from the process by which they were made for mass production. In this domain of health regulation, the process is the product, and there has been a bait-and-switch perpetrated on the public, by which the public received a different product from the product which was approved.
The third fact beyond dispute is that the vaccines are adulterated by the presence of foreign DNA fragments and a sequence from a monkey virus called sv40, suspected of causing cancer. Health Canada does not deny these shocking facts....
"The commissioners have no doubts about the necessary course of action. The vaccines should be pulled from the market immediately. Unfortunately, many doctors, scientists, and politicians have staked their careers and credibility on the notion of safe and effective vaccines, so a swift withdrawal is unlikely. Nevertheless, these vaccines are neither safe nor effective and must be withdrawn.
"The complicity of the legacy media played a crucial role in allowing deceptive vaccine marketing to persist. The commissioners concluded that the CBC betrayed the public trust and must undergo substantial reconstruction. Federal Liberal government subsidies to the press, which encourage loyalty to the regime, must be terminated....
"Furthermore, the commissioners recommend pursuing criminal prosecutions. More lawsuits, both civil and criminal, can lead to greater accountability and offer a chance for reconciliation over the cruelties, abuses, and deaths resulting from the government’s response to the COVID crisis. However, accountability must come first."
After 24 days of hearing from more than 300 witnesses in eight cities across Canada, the National Citizens' Inquiry on COVID-19 has issued its final report.
November 28, 2023 - "The Final Report of the National Citizens Inquiry into Canada’s response to COVID-19 was released during a virtual hearing on Tuesday. The report contains hundreds of recommendations impacting all segments of Canadian society. It was based on the testimony of more than 300 members of the public and expert witnesses during 24 days of hearings in eight cities and additional virtual hearings ... with no funding from government and no large corporate funding.... [A]lthough subpoenas were issued to 63 members of government, regulators and authorities urging them to testify, none appeared....
"The primary recommendations of the report concerned COVID-19 'genetic vaccines.' The report said their use 'should be stopped immediately.' In addition, 'A full judicial investigation of the process under which the COVID-19 vaccinations were authorized in Canada must be carried out. Criminal liability, if discovered, may be dealt with under existing Canadian law.'
"A press release from the NCI summarized a broad list of recommendations.
Conduct a thorough review of the Canadian courts’ handling of pandemic-related cases and their impact on the rule of law. Rebuild public confidence in the justice system by addressing concerns raised during the pandemic.
Examine and reform the extent of executive authority during emergencies, ensuring proper checks and balances to prevent unelected officials from making far-reaching decisions without accountability or oversight.
Establish a clear framework for the oversight of public health authorities’ decision-making processes during emergencies to balance public health needs with individual rights and freedoms.
Enact legislation that requires administrative bodies to demonstrate their expertise and rationale for decisions, particularly when those decisions infringe on individual and human rights.
Establish a clear framework for the oversight of public health authorities’ decision-making processes during emergencies to balance public health needs with individual rights and freedoms.
Conduct an independent, multidisciplinary inquiry into the governance of professional colleges, especially those governing medical professionals, to ensure transparency, independence and accountability in their decision-making and that activities of the colleges adhere to Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Safeguard healthcare professionals’ freedom of expression while ensuring they provide accurate and evidence-based information to the public.
Review the ability of regulators to interfere in the patient–practitioner relationship, ensuring that professional judgment remains independent and guided by the best interests of the patient, including privacy protection of patient medical information....
[R]eview labour laws to ensure they provide adequate protection to both unionized and non-unionized employees during health emergencies such as the pandemic. This should include mechanisms for addressing workplace issues related to mandates and safety concerns.
Ensure that in-person learning remains the primary mode of education, even during public health crises. Remote learning should only be used as a last resort and for a limited duration and in conjunction with parental consultation.
Develop strategies to support vulnerable populations, such as the homeless, those struggling with addiction and victims of domestic abuse, during crises. Ensure access to essential services is maintained....
[R]einforce the importance of Informed Consent, especially in the context of medical treatments such as vaccines. It should ensure individuals have access to comprehensive information about medical treatments, including potential risks and benefits and have the right to refuse treatment without coercion.
Immediate[ly] develop[] ... a Judicial Panel, overseen by citizens, with the responsibility to investigate the human rights violations that were committed by both government and private corporations during the pandemic.
Carry out immediate judicial reviews of all pandemic-related court cases that were denied on the basis of mootness or judicial notice.....
[R]ecognize that all religions ... must be afforded all protections and shields guaranteed under the Criminal Code, the Canada Constitution, 1867, the Bill of Rights, and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Commission a study to determine the validity of setting up a National Crisis Oversight Council to safeguard democratic principles, protect individual rights and maintain public trust during future emergencies, such as pandemics.
"The NCI also recommends that 'Canada register immediate reservation against the Pandemic Convention and the amendments to the International Health Regulations once they are put forth by the WHO to allow time for proper consideration of the initiatives and their potential impact on Canada. At the same time, Canada should conduct a public inquiry and consultation into the benefits and risks of both its current obligations under the WHO, and the proposed Pandemic Convention and proposed amendments to the International Health Regulations.'
December 1, 2023 - "A month after the federal government exempted home heating oil from its punitive carbon tax, another group is demanding a carve-out — and putting the government in a thorny position. The Chiefs of Ontario and Attawapiskat First Nation have filed a lawsuit against the federal government over what they allege is 'discriminatory and anti-reconciliatory application of the Greenhouse Gas and Pollution Pricing Act (GGPPA)' to First Nations.
"Their main arguments resemble those advanced by rural communities, notably a lack of options when it comes to fuel for things like transportation or industry. The twist is that while non-indigenous taxpayers get 90 per cent of charges refunded through tax rebates, this is not the case for First Nations members, because property and income on reserve are tax exempt, and most Indigenous people do not use the income tax system. Faced with this discrepancy, Ottawa promised to return 0.7 per cent of the total charges collected in Ontario to that province’s First Nations, but the chiefs say this number is arbitrary and inadequate....
"The chiefs are now demanding a judicial review of this policy — something they say would have been unnecessary if federal officials had bothered to engage with them.The chiefs’ claim is accompanied by an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in which they characterize the fuel charge cost to First Nations citizens as .'another cash grab for Canada, removing several million dollars a year from those least responsible for the climate crisis'....
"Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault is now in the embarrassing position of defending a tax that hurts Indigenous people, while having given non-indigenous Canadians a break on their heating oil — all for political reasons. It also puts the minister in a no-win situation because of his pledge that, 'As long as I’m the environment minister, there will be no more exemptions to carbon pricing.' In other words: If the government doesn’t give First Nations a break, it’s breaking its promise on reconciliation. But if it does give them an exemption, the minister is breaking his promise not to allow additional carve-outs and should resign."
The chiefs’ lawsuit is just the latest assault on the government’s green energy policies. Last week, the government of Saskatchewan brought in Bill 151, which exempts SaskEnergy officials from federal punishment for defying federal law and gives the energy minister the power not to pay carbon tax. Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe has vowed that on Jan. 1, 2024 the Crown corporation will not remit carbon tax on home heating fuel to Ottawa....
And then there’s Alberta. On Monday, Premier Danielle Smith’s government introduced a resolution that instructs governments and provincial utilities entities to ignore the federal government’s proposed Clean Electricity Regulations when they come into force “to the extent legally permissible.” The regulations would require Canada’s electricity grid to generate net zero emissions by 2035 — something Smith says is both impossible and undesirable in her oil-producing jurisdiction.
"With the carbon tax bleeding from a thousand cuts, and Canadians increasingly opposed to it, you would think the government would do the sensible thing, and put it on the scrapheap where it belongs. Then again, voters might just do that for them."
November 24, 2023 - "A senior Canadian politician running to lead a provincial political party clandestinely met officials inside a Chinese Consulate in 2022, subsequently becoming China’s preferred candidate, and winning campaign support from Consulate proxies.... Details of the Consulate meeting are contained in a sweeping CSIS 'Intelligence Assessment' dated October 31, 2022..... But ramifications of the CSIS Intelligence Assessment are much broader....
"The document strongly suggests that People’s Republic proxies financially infiltrated the federal Conservative’s 2022 leadership contest, shortly after leader Erin O’Toole was attacked with Chinese disinformation, during the fall 2021 federal election. The Intelligence Assessment says proxies attempted to elect a federal party’s new leader, purchasing party memberships to support an unidentified candidate, with the objective of tempering the federal party’s perceived 'anti-China' stance.
"This document also refers to a 'CA1' — believed to mean Candidate 1 — and points to a 'meeting and the Consulate’s endorsement.' 'CA1 said they were unconcerned, as CA1 knows "how the underground works" and that "they" (the PRC Consulate) had supported CA1 in various past elections,' the CSIS document reviewed by The Bureau says. It doesn’t explain who Candidate 1 is.
"The October 2022 CSIS document also ,,, cites successive elections in a particular Canadian city, where a Chinese Consulate mobilized three 'co-opted' community groups to clandestinely channel funds and 'material support' to an unidentified mayoral candidate in 2018 and 2022.... Details appear to align with allegations in another Top Secret CSIS report reviewed by The Bureau.
"This previous, January 2022 document, says China’s Consul General in Vancouver 'stated that they needed' to rally Chinese diaspora voters in Vancouver’s 2022 mayoral election 'to come out and elect a specific Chinese-Canadian candidate because 'the candidate will rely on those votes.' The Globe and Mail previously reported some of the details from this January 2022 document, which names Vancouver’s Consul General, Tong Xiaoling. What The Globe didn’t report, is the CSIS record’s summary conclusion, which says: 'This report demonstrates CG Tong’s continued interest in involving herself in Canadian electoral processes to benefit the PRC'....
"The Bureau’s investigation of these new CSIS allegations, illuminates deeper concerns in the Chinese interference story that shocked Canadians over the past year, exposing gaps in Ottawa’s current foreign interference inquiry, which only mandates Justice Marie-Josée Hogue to examine [only] the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. This is shortsighted, according to political experts and the October 2022 Intelligence Assessment, which says 'interference actors and activities can span various levels of government'.... '[I]t's like they are examining their front doors, but they don’t realize the whole back wall of the house is missing,” said former Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart.
"Stewart — a political scientist and former NDP Parliamentarian — defeated [Ken] Sim by 957 votes in Vancouver’s 2018 election, and lost to Sim by over 36,000 votes in 2022. 'I don’t know if this interference, which I am now almost certain occurred, was enough to tip the balance in 2022,' Stewart said. 'But it looks like it almost worked in 2018 too, which is shocking'.... Sim’s office has not responded to questions from The Bureau for this story. In March 2023 Sim reacted furiously to The Globe’s controversial report, saying 'insinuations' that his campaign benefited from Chinese Consulate interference wouldn’t occur 'if I was a Caucasian.'
"In a lengthy interview, commenting on cases from the October 2022 Intelligence Assessment, Kennedy Stewart added: 'I can’t help but think, in any other G7 country, this would be a red-alert that your systems are being compromised, and there would be an immediate cross-party effort to get to the bottom of it. But here,' he said, 'in fact, there’s been cross-party collusion to limit this inquiry, to just the federal level.'”
Deja vu all over again: the Chinese government is accused of trying to cover up an epidemic of unknown pneumonia that is reportedly overwhelming hospitals and closing schools.
December 5, 2023 - "The sense of helplessness that has gripped the Chinese people on and off since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic three years ago is again returning as the country grapples with an unidentified pneumonia outbreak that's infecting children and overwhelming hospitals.... [S]ick children have been filling hospital waiting rooms and hallways and spilling outside the main gates..... From north to south, the spike in children’s respiratory hospitalizations is shutting classrooms and pushing health authorities to issue a flurry of announcements telling teachers and students who feel unwell to stay home....
"Just like three years ago, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) appears dismissive of the disease’s risk, telling a concerned World Health Organization that there are no 'unusual or new pathogens' or clinical symptoms. The regime partially attributed the uptick to a mid-October upgrade in a respiratory surveillance mechanism.... Beijing’s explanation, which the international health agency as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have quoted verbatim, has convinced few in China or abroad....
"Sean Lin, microbiologist and former lab director at the viral diseases branch of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, expressed frustration over the WHO’s reliance on China’s regime for information.... After whistleblower doctors sounded the alarm on the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan during the final days of 2019, it took nearly three weeks before the Chinese regime acknowledged that the virus can spread from human to human. During that time and afterward, authorities reprimanded the medics who spoke out, arrested citizen journalists, and muzzled reporters while orchestrating an internet cleanup on any mention of the outbreak deemed undesirable to its image. Many lawmakers in Washington, especially Republicans, see the same thing happening in China now....
"Even by the numbers from Chinese authorities, who have a persistent record of playing down unflattering data, the image is dire: Beijing alone reported more than 72,000 infections in the week that ended on Nov. 26.... The statistics released by the Beijing Municipal Health Commission are so far the only data point to gauge the severity of the current outbreak.... Chinese state media have spent the past month attempting to reassure the public that the outbreak is just a routine winter spike of common respiratory pathogens and that there’s little need to panic. The Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, People’s Daily, carried an article saying that mycoplasma pneumonia is 'preventable and controllable,' phrases that the regime used in January 2020 when the COVID-19 outbreak in China began to draw international anxiety.
"But the focus on mycoplasma might be a deliberate step to mislead and detract, according to Mr. Lin.... Unlike COVID-19, mycoplasma doesn’t lead to the 'white lung syndrome' — characterized by lung areas' showing up white on chest X-rays because of fluid buildup — that has been plaguing Chinese children recently, according to Dong Yuhong, an infectious disease analyst with 12 years of experience at Swiss multinational pharmaceutical Novartis. Nor has any past respiratory disease season reached the scale China is now grappling with.... Conventional treatment methods for mycoplasma pneumonia haven’t worked either....
"COVID-19 is probably still the driving force behind the current wave, according to Mr. Lin, the microbiologist.... '[Most likely,] some of the other respiratory pathogens destroyed their upper respiratory defense mechanism, so now COVID just goes straight in,' he said. Children may be the first group to take the hit, Mr. Lin said, but infections have also spread to adults.... As Xi Jinping prepared for his recent visit to San Francisco to sell China as a friendly market for foreign investors, he personally ordered officials to gloss over the gravity of the outbreak and make the case that a COVID-19 mutation isn’t the cause so that international visitors wouldn’t be scared away, a whistleblower close to the central Party leadership in Beijing’s Zhongnanhai and the Chinese military told The Epoch Times....
"In the northeastern province of Jilin, a woman whose son displayed white lung symptoms and was diagnosed with mycoplasma pneumonia said a doctor she was acquainted with told her that COVID-19 was the main cause..... Ms. Jin, of central China’s Xi’an City, heard the same from her hospitalized nephew: The doctor told him that he had COVID-19. 'They just called it by a different name,' she told The Epoch Times, relaying the doctor’s words. It’s the same playbook that the regime followed a year ago at the height of the devastating COVID-19 wave in December 2022. Beijing tweaked the criteria for classifying COVID-19 deaths, ... excluding anyone with underlying conditions. People involved in issuing death certificates, including multiple doctors, told The Epoch Times that they were ordered to not mention COVID-19.
"In some areas, even a public mention of sickness is taboo. At least two parents from Beijing and Tianjin told The Epoch Times that teachers have instructed parents to not mention their children’s sickness in the school chat groups for fear of 'negatively impacting others.' 'Everything is a national secret,' Mr. Wei, from Beijing, told The Epoch Times.
