Carney denies meeting with pro-CCP lobby group

Mark Carney has denounced reporting that alleges he met with a pro-Chinese-government lobbying group, claiming that he has "never heard of this group." 

Carney snaps at reporter over questions about China | Yahoo News | Brian Lilley:

April 10, 2025 - "China is an issue that won’t leave Liberal Leader Mark Carney alone and it’s clearly getting to him. On Thursday, he snapped at a reporter and disparaged a major daily newspaper for their coverage of his campaign and connections with China. 'Well, I’m sorry, but you can’t believe everything you read in The Globe and Mail,' Carney said. His remarks were nasty in tone, he was snarky.... 

"On Thursday, The Globe and Mail reported that Carney had met with executives from the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada [JCCC]. The JCCC is a Toronto-based group founded more than twenty years ago to ostensibly foster ties between China and Canada, but it is widely viewed as a front group for China’s United Front Work Department. The UFWD works on behalf of the Chinese government in Beijing to, among other things, spy on and exert influence over the Chinese diaspora in places like Canada....

“'I’ve never heard of this group, okay? Never heard of this group. Certainly didn’t have a setup meeting with this group, full stop. So check your sources before you write things like that,' Carney said. Moments later, Steven Chase, one of the Globe reporters who wrote the original story, posted photos of Carney smiling and shaking hands with two different executives from the JCCC....

"For the past two weeks, Carney and the Liberals have been dogged with bad stories relating to China and being too close to Beijing. Last week it was his candidate Paul Chiang encouraging people to kidnap Conservative candidate Joe Tay and hand him over to the Chinese Consulate in Toronto in exchange for a bounty. It took Carney four days to drop Chiang and replace him with Peter Yuen, who is now being accused of being associated with the JCCC and other pro-Beijing Chinese groups in Toronto.

"And ... this week the federal government’s Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force, revealed a coordinated effort by the Chinese government to boost Mark Carney’s appeal to Chinese Canadian voters. This included what was described as 'large spikes of coordinated inauthentic behaviour' where articles positive about Carney from Beijing-aligned media outlets were boosted on the WeChat social media platform by accounts and influencers with ties to the Chinese government. The goal, to boost Mark Carney in the eyes of Chinese Canadian voters. Basically, China is trying to persuade Chinese Canadians to vote Liberal.

"This came after the same tactics were used during the Liberal leadership campaign to attack and disparage Carney’s main rival, Chrystia Freeland. Beijing is clearly still interfering in Canada’s elections and Beijing clearly favours Mark Carney and the Liberals."
Read more: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/lilley-carney-snaps-reporter-over-184820491.html

Carney not meeting with JCCC members, from the JCCC website (now deleted). Courtesy X.

UPDATED: Pro-Beijing group deletes post claiming it had 'in-depth meeting' with Carney | Western Standard | Jarryd Jäger:

April 10, 2025 - "Mark Carney has refuted claims that he met with the Jiangsu Commerce Council of Canada. The pro-Beijing group has since, at the behest of the Liberal Party, deleted its post claiming high-ranking representatives had an 'in-depth meeting' with him....

"'The web post referenced in the Globe and Mail article is inaccurate, as is the suggestion that Mr. Carney had any such in-depth discussion,' a Liberal Party spokesperson said in a statement after the story went viral. 'We have reached out to the organization correcting the record and asked that they remove such claims immediately.' As of Thursday evening, the URL that had led to the story instead resulted in a 404 error."
Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/carney-says-he-never-heard-of-pro-beijing-group-that-claimed-they-had-in-depth-meeting/63938

Carney shows 'arrogance' in response to allegations of Chinese influence | Rebel News | April 11, 2025:

Trump Tariffs: Liberation or Obliteration?

 President Trump called the day he announced his tariff plan 'Liberation Day.' Renaissance Macro Research head of US economic research Neil Dutta more appropriately labeled it 'Obliteration Day.'"

Liberation or Obliteration? | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

April 7, 2025 - "President Trump was elected in part because he promised to reduce prices and not drag the country into foreign wars. Sadly, President Trump has adopted a tariff policy that will raise prices and abandoned his 'America First' foreign policy in favor of a return to Bush-era neoconservatism.

Ron Paul, 2007, Photo: R.D. Young. CC BY 2.0 Wikimedia Commons.

"Despite criticizing President Biden for bombing Yemen, President Trump has authorized bombing that country under the false pretense that Yemen’s Houthis are threatening international shipping. President Trump has also threatened to bomb Iran. A false justification for this threat is that Iran is controlling the Houthis. If President Trump follows through on this threat against Iran, it could lead to another 'forever war.' He has also continued US support for Israel and Ukraine’s wars.

"President Trump started a trade war by imposing a ten percent universal tariff on imported products and other tariff expansions. Chinese imports will face a tariff of 54 percent, while goods imported from the European Union will 'only' be assessed a 20 percent tariff. 

"The day following President Trump’s tariffs announcement, US stocks lost 3.1 trillion dollars in value, while the dollar fell to its weakest level since October.

"China responded to the tariffs by imposing a 34 percent tariff on US imports along with other measures increasing the costs of US products in China. Canada imposed a 25 percent tariff on cars imported from the US. France['s] President Emmanuel Macron called on European businesses to refrain from investing in American businesses.... 

"President Trump’s actions are setting off a global trade war that means US consumers will suffer from increased prices for many products both foreign and domestic. Manufacturing and other American businesses that rely on imported raw materials and other inputs from abroad will have to pay more for these inputs, assuming they are able to get them at all. US exporters will suffer from decreased demand for US products in overseas markets.

"According to estimates by the Budget Lab at Yale University, President Trump’s tariffs will cost the average American household a 3,800 dollars loss of purchasing power. The Tax Foundation estimates the tariffs will reduce US GDP by at least 0.7 percent and decrease the average American’s after-tax income by about two percent. Middle- and lower-income Americans will obviously be hardest hit. The decrease in income, combined with the increase in prices and increase in the unemployment rate, will raise demand for government welfare programs and thus put pressure on Congress to reject attempts to cut spending.

"Thus far, Trump’s response to the economic chaos he has unleashed is to say everything will work out as other countries will negotiate 'beautiful' trade deals with the US. President Trump, on the same day he announced the new tariffs, called on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, saying it was a 'perfect time' to do so. The interest rate cut, though, would only further degrade the dollar.... 

"President Trump called the day he announced his tariff plan 'Liberation Day.' This may be the most misleading name since the Affordable Care Act. Renaissance Macro Research head of US economic research Neil Dutta more appropriately labeled it 'Obliteration Day.' President Trump’s tariffs, along with his support for war, could obliterate what is left of America’s peace and prosperity."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

Read more: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/liberation-or-obliteration/

Sabine runs against Canada's authoritarian shift

David Sabine is running for the Libertarian Party of Canada in the Calgary riding of Airdrie-Cochrane. 

Libertarian running to combat Canada’s 'authoritarian shift' | Cochrane Eagle | Ryan Uytdewilligen:

Apr 2, 2025 - "David Sabine is Airdrie-Cochrane's Libertarian Party candidate in the 2025 Federal Election.

QUESTION: What is your political experience and why have you chosen to run in this election cycle with the Libertarian Party?

David Sabine. Cochrane Eagle.

 ANSWER: I ran for school trustee with TVDSB before returning west, my sister serves as a councillor in Alberta, my father pursued an NDP candidacy in Saskatchewan in the 1970s, and my grandparents supported Tommy Douglas as volunteers. While politics hasn’t been my career focus, my lifelong exposure equips me to run as a candidate, amplifying the voices of Libertarians in Airdrie-Cochrane. 

"Canada’s authoritarian shift over the past nine years — marked by excessive taxation, market intervention, an overreaching administrative state, censorship, and erosion of property and civil rights — concerns me deeply. Libertarian principles can influence the political dialogue for the better....

 Q: What will you and your party do to stand up to President Trump’s tariffs and 51st state rhetoric?

 A: President Trump’s tariffs and rhetoric are disruptive, but they only gain traction because of Canada’s deep economic vulnerabilities and societal fracture. The economic hardship expected from President Trump’s tariffs is a small fraction of the damage done by the Liberal party these past nine years. And decades of mismanagement and corruption by previous Canadian governments have left our economy fragile and Canadians divided. The calls for separation in Quebec and Alberta grow by the day. Canadians are burdened by trillions in debt and unfunded liabilities, over-regulation, excessive taxation, and policies that stifle economic growth. The chaos south of the border is not the root problem; it’s a symptom of our governments' own failures, amplifying the urgency for a bold shift in how we govern ourselves and engage with the world.

 Canada’s unique advantage of bordering the world’s largest economy is not a liability — it is our greatest opportunity. Treating the U.S. as an adversary is shortsighted and the divisive rhetoric from Canada’s mainstream parties is eroding a historically vital relationship beyond repair.

 A Libertarian Party approach would prioritize diplomacy and principled negotiation with the US President and state governors to secure genuine free trade with them. This isn’t just about lowering U.S. tariffs — it’s about dismantling Canada’s own self-inflicted barriers. We’d eliminate interprovincial trade restrictions that choke domestic commerce, scrap pipeline bans that kill investments in our energy sector, and end the equalization mandate that punishes productive regions. Supply management, which drives up costs for staples like dairy, cheese, eggs, butter, chicken, and turkey, would be abolished. Canadians have been sold a myth of free trade with the U.S., but our own massive tariffs and quotas on these essentials prove otherwise — keeping prices artificially high and Canadian consumers trapped.

 Q: What is the biggest issue facing Canadians that you wish to tackle?

 A: Libertarians fundamentally reject central economic planning, whether it’s Trump’s heavy-handed edicts or the suffocating policies of Canada’s recent governments. Both represent the same flaw: a belief that bureaucrats and politicians can micromanage the prosperity of citizens. Ottawa’s market distortions, bloated administration, and disregard for individual liberty, mirrors the authoritarian tendencies we criticize abroad. By slashing these domestic barriers, we’d not only counter U.S. pressure but rebuild an economy resilient enough to thrive, regardless of who occupies the White House.

 The Libertarian Party is also deeply concerned about the plight of our country's elderly. Taxpaying Canadians are strained under a shrinking GDP per capita, with socialism’s economic fallout driving taxes up, costs up, and doctors out. Health professionals, lured by far higher salaries and greater freedom elsewhere, are fleeing Canada’s punitive taxes and red tape in droves. Though healthcare is provincial jurisdiction, the next federal government must act with urgency — bolstering our currency, freeing markets to boost productivity, and refining immigration and foreign policy to let hardworking citizens prosper. Canada is facing an unprecedented crisis, driving the nation toward bankruptcy and saddling future generations with an unpayable tax burden.

 Q: Anything else you would like to add?

 A: The mission of the Libertarian Party of Canada is to reduce the responsibilities and expense of government. This, so that we may each manage our lives to mutually fulfill our needs by the free and voluntary exchange of our efforts and property for the value that best realizes happiness for ourselves, our families, and our communities."

Read more: https://www.cochraneeagle.ca/local-news/libertarian-running-to-combat-canadas-authoritarian-shift-10461732

The high, hidden cost of green electricity

Adding more solar and wind to the energy supply pushes up the price of electricity for consumers and businesses.

Solar and Wind Power Are Expensive | Fraser Institute | Bjørn Lomborg:

March 25, 2025 - "Global evidence is clear: Adding more solar and wind to the energy supply pushes up the price of electricity for consumers and businesses....  

"[F]rom 2005, the Ontario government began phasing out coal energy and dived headlong into subsidizing wind and solar generation.... From 2005 to 2020 the average, inflation-adjusted cost of electricity doubled from 7.7 cents to 15.3 cents. Since 2019 the Ontario government has subsidized these high costs through a slew of programs like the 'Renewable Cost Shift', lowering the direct pain to ratepayers but simply moving the increasing costs onto the government coffers. Today, this policy costs Ontario more than $6 billion annually...

"A relatively small amount of wind energy costs Ontarians over a billion dollars each year. One peer-reviewed study finds that the economic costs of wind are at least three times their benefits. Only the owners of wind power make any money, whereas the 'losers are primarily the electricity consumers followed by the governments.' Yet, politicians — supported by powerful green energy interests and credulous journalists — keep gaslighting voters claiming green energy is cheaper than fossil fuels....

"At best, this is only true when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing. At all other times, their cost is significantly higher. Modern societies need around-the-clock power. The intermittency of solar and wind energy means backup is required, often delivered by fossil fuels. That means citizens end up paying for two power systems: renewables and their backup.... This intermittency can be huge, as when solar power in the Yukon delivered a massive 150 times more electricity to the grid in May 2022 than it did in December 2022. It is also the reason that the real energy costs of solar and wind are far higher than green campaigners claim....

"One study shows that in China, when including the cost of backup power, the real cost of solar power becomes twice as high as that of coal. Similarly, a peer-reviewed study of Germany and Texas shows that the real costs of solar and wind are many times more expensive than fossil fuels. Germany, the U.K., Spain, and Denmark, all of which increasingly rely on solar and wind power, have some of the world’s most expensive electricity.... The International Energy Agency’s latest data from nearly 70 countries from 2022 shows a clear correlation between more solar and wind and higher average household and business energy prices. In a country with little or no solar and wind, the average electricity cost is about 16 cents per kilowatt-hour. For every 10 per cent increase in solar and wind share, the electricity cost increases by nearly 8 cents per kWh.... 

"In Germany, electricity costs 43 cents per kWh — much more than twice the Canadian cost, and more than three-times the Chinese price. Germany has installed so much solar and wind that on sunny and windy days, renewable energy satisfies close to 70 per cent of Germany’s needs — a fact the press eagerly reports. But the press hardly mentions dark and still days, when these renewables deliver almost nothing. Twice in the past couple of months, when it was cloudy and nearly windless, solar and wind delivered less than 4 per cent of the daily power Germany needed.... Last month, with cloudy skies and nearly no wind, Germany faced the costliest power prices since the energy crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with wholesale prices reaching a staggering $1.40 per kWh.

"Canada is blessed with plentiful hydro, powering 58 per cent of its electricity. This means that there has been less drive to develop wind and solar, which deliver just 7 per cent. But the urge to virtue signal remains. Indeed, the federal government’s 2023 vision for the electricity system declares that shifting away from fossil fuels is a “scientific and moral imperative” and “the greatest economic opportunity of our lifetime”.

"Yet the biggest take-away from the global evidence is that among all the nations in the world ... there is not one that gets much of its power from solar and wind and has low electricity costs.... Instead, there are plenty of nations with lots of green energy and exorbitantly high costs."

Read more: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/commentary/solar-and-wind-power-are-expensive

Scientist Destroys Green Energy Narrative w/ Facts in Minutes | Bjørn Lomborg | The Rubin Report | March 4, 2025:

Freedom Convoy organizers convicted of mischief

After a trial lasting more than a year, Freedom Convoy organizers Tamara Lich and Chris Barber have been convicted of mischief (but acquitted of most charges) for their role in the 2022 Ottawa protest.

Chris Barber, Tamara Lich not guilty on most charges for roles in 2022 convoy protests | CBC News | David Fraser: 

April 3, 2025 - "Chris Barber and Tamara Lich have been found not guilty of most charges against them for their roles in the 2022 truck convoy protest in Ottawa. Barber and Lich each faced six charges including mischief, intimidation, obstructing police and counselling others to do the same. 

"On Thursday at the Ottawa courthouse, Ontario Court Justice Heather Perkins-McVey found the pair not guilty of four charges apiece relating to intimidation and obstructing police. They were both found guilty of committing mischief. Perkins-McVey also found them both guilty of counselling to commit mischief themselves, but that finding was stayed at the request of Crown lawyers. Barber alone was found guilty of counselling others to disobey a court order. Lich was not charged with this. All told, Barber was found guilty of two charges, not guilty of four and had a seventh stayed. Lich was found guilty of one, not guilty of four and had a sixth stayed."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-chris-barber-freedom-convoy-trial-decision-1.7500015

'Freedom Convoy' organizers Lich, Barber found guilty of mischief | CBC News: The National | April 3, 2025:

Court finds Chris Barber guilty of mischief | Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (news release):

April 3, 2025 - "The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms is disappointed that the Ontario Court of Justice has found Chris Barber, a trucker and trucking company owner from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, guilty of mischief for his involvement in the peaceful Freedom Convoy protest.... Justice Heather Perkins-McVey delivered the decision this morning in the Ontario Court of Justice at the Ottawa Courthouse.

"In January and February 2022, thousands of Canadians travelled to the nation’s capital to protest mandatory Covid vaccination policies. Vaccine mandates [had] turned the millions of Canadians who chose not to receive a Covid vaccine into second-class citizens, denied them the right to travel, participate in sports, watch their children play sports, and visit ailing parents and grandparents in nursing homes. Mr. Barber, who himself had received the mandatory injection, travelled to Ottawa to protest the mandates he believed were harming not only the trucking industry but also all Canadians.

"The federal government illegally invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14, 2022, to use violence to suppress the Freedom Convoy protests. On February 17, police arrested Mr. Barber on charges of mischief, intimidation, obstructing a highway, and counselling others to commit the same offences. Mr. Barber pleaded “not guilty” to all charges on April 23, 2023, having done nothing other than peacefully exercise his freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly – protected by section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"The criminal trial of Chris Barber and Tamara Lich, originally scheduled for 16 days, consumed massive resources of Crown prosecutors, taking place over a period of 45 days from September 5, 2023, to September 14, 2024....

"Justice Centre President John Carpay, referencing the fact that 86 sexual assault cases have been tossed out in Ontario since 2016 due to court delays and insufficient court resources, stated, 'Crown prosecutors in Ontario claim that they do not have enough resources to prosecute people accused of sexual assault and other serious crimes. People accused of serious crimes are walking away without facing trial because of extreme delays, supposedly caused by the Crown lacking adequate resources. Yet the Crown has devoted massive amounts of its limited time and energy to prosecuting peaceful protesters who exercised their fundamental Charter freedoms.'

"'There seems to be a glaring double standard in prosecutions in Canada,' continued Mr. Carpay, 'and it appears that the charges against Chris Barber and Tamara Lich were laid for political reasons. In July 2021, Winnipeg police stood by and watched as vandals tore down and damaged a statue of Queen Victoria on the legislature grounds, in broad daylight, which was criminal behaviour. But no charges were laid against individuals who wilfully destroyed property because they were protesting against residential schools.... The Manitoba Crown, while possessing abundant video evidence of this blatantly criminal conduct, announced that nobody would be charged or prosecuted. Yet when Tamara Lich and Chris Barber played an active role in the entirely peaceful 2022 Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa, the Crown devoted its resources to an extensive, full-scale prosecution that dragged on for 31 months.'

"In Regina, the Chief of Police attended and spoke at a rally for Black Lives Matter on June 5, 2020, in violation of Saskatchewan’s Covid restrictions. Yet police issued tickets to citizens who protested against lockdowns, and prosecutors were relentless in seeking convictions of those charged. 'If Tamara Lich and Chris Barber had played a leadership role in organizing protests against racism, transphobia or climate change, they would not have faced 45 days of trial over a period of 31 months,' concluded Mr. Carpay.

"Counsel will carefully review the decision and confer with the client to determine any next steps."

Read more: https://www.jccf.ca/court-finds-chris-barber-guilty-of-mischief/

Ron Paul: Free speech is worth fighting for

Free Speech is Worth Fighting For | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

March 31, 2025 - "Our Founders, particularly James Madison who drafted the Bill of Rights, understood that our rights are not privileges granted to us by government. No, it was understood at the founding that these basic natural rights outlined by Madison were granted by our Creator and thus no mere mortal could take them away. And first among these is the First Amendment which recognizes that most basic of our natural rights: the right to express ourselves in any way we wish.

Ron Paul in 2012. Photo: David Carlyon.

CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.

"Unfortunately the US government has not always been in accord with this sentiment and has many times in our history been at war with our freedom of speech. From the alien and sedition acts at the beginning of our republic to Abraham Lincoln’s war on speech to the jailing of antiwar activists during both World Wars to Kent State, the political class is all for free speech unless it is threatening to the political class.

"Recently a new front has been opened in the war on free speech ... one that Americans must take seriously. On university campuses across the country students – both American and foreign guests – have taken to protesting US support for Israel’s actions in Gaza, where tens of thousands of innocent civilians have been killed. The political class in the United States is determined to defend Israel from its critics and has responded to these protests by threatening and blackmailing the universities if they do not crack down on speech the powers-that-be do not like. 

"Both Presidents Biden and Trump have used the power of US government funding to demand a crackdown on speech they don’t like, with President Trump recently pulling 400 million dollars in federal funding for Columbia University if they don’t silence the protesters. The real scandal is that nearly every US university – both public and “private” – is government funded in the first place. But for politicians to use the power of the purse to deny students the right to express themselves – as long as peaceful – just adds insult to injury.

"Last week a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University was arrested on the street by plainclothes government agents for reportedly simply writing an editorial in her university newspaper expressing her views on the Israel/Palestine conflict. She faces deportation from the country. And she is not alone. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has openly bragged about sending hundreds of students home because they express a political position he disagrees with. Others – including American citizens – have been expelled from their schools and have even had their degrees rescinded. For peacefully expressing a political position that powerful people in Washington disagree with.

"You may also [disagree] with the political position of these students. But to cheer their punishment by the US government is to turn your back on the founding principles of this country. Freedom of speech is a natural right not reserved for American citizens but for all of humanity. And it has been a natural right worth defending for nearly 250 years.

"First they came for foreign students expressing controversial positions and many Americans cheered because they were not foreign and did not like the opinions. But make no mistake: this war on speech will not end with only foreigners being punished. It never does."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

Read more: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/free-speech-is-worth-fighting-for/ 

Canadian who stole Freedom Convoy donor info arrested over 2021 Texas GOP hack

Aubrey Cottle, the Oshawa website administrator who claimed responsibility for the 2022 computer hack of GiveSendGo's Freedom Convoy donor information, has been charged with a similar hack of the Texas GOP in 2021. 

Canadian Freedom Convoy donations hacker arrested for U.S. cyberattack on GOP | The Counter Signal | TCS Wire:

March 31, 2025 -"The Canadian hacker who claimed responsibility for leaking Freedom Convoy donor data in 2022 has been arrested following charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 

Aubrey Cottle. X screenshot.

"On Friday, March 28th, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas announced the charges against Canadian left-wing hacktivist and self-proclaimed founder of 'Anonymous', Aubrey Cottle, 37 of Oshawa, Ontario.... He was arrested Wednesday by Canadian authorities and faces criminal charges both in Canada and the U.S. 

"The unsealed complaint in the Western District of Texas accuses Cottle of using illegal means to access a backup of the Texas GOP server containing sensitive personal information. The stolen data was exposed online, where prosecutors alleged Cottle also took credit openly via social media.

"Cottle also claimed responsibility for hacking the Christian donor site GiveSendGo in February of 2022. The hack, similar to his Texas GOP stunt, was intended to leak donor information, including names, addresses and donations amounts, leading to widespread harassment of donors. Cottle admitted to the hack on an unhinged TikTok livestream, resurfacing on X since his arrest broke to the public....  

"[I]n 2021 during an interview with Vice News, Cottle admitted to being involved in the 2008 Anonymous attack on the Epilepsy Foundation’s website where the hacker created flashing animations used to target users with photosensitive epilepsy....

"Cottle has been charged with unlawfully transferring, possessing, or using a means of identification to commit or aid unlawful activity. If convicted, he could face a sentence of up to five years in prison."
Read more: https://thecountersignal.com/canadian-freedom-convoy-donations-hacker-arrested-for-u-s-cyberattack-on-gop/

OPP charge Oshawa suspect in cyber crimes investigation | Durham Radio News:

March 31, 2025 - "OPP [Ontario Provincial Police] aren’t saying much about a cyber crimes investigation that led to charges against an Oshawa resident. The case is under a publication ban.... Aubrey Cottle, 37, is charged with mischief to computer data, unauthorized use of a computer and possession of a device to obtain unauthorized use of a computer. The accused remains in custody and is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Oshawa on March 31, 2025."
Read more: https://www.durhamradionews.com/archives/195774

Oshawa man linked to Anonymous facing charges in Canada and U.S. after internet hack targeting Texas Republican Party | Toronto Star | Calvi Leon:

April 1, 2025 - "A GTA man known for his alleged ties to the notorious hacktivist collective Anonymous is facing charges in Canada and the United States stemming from a 2021 data breach targeting the Texas Republican Party. Aubrey Cottle ... who goes by the online alias 'Kirtaner' ... appeared in court in Oshawa on Tuesday morning. None of the allegations have been tested in court.

"Cottle, who describes himself on social media as the founder of Anonymous, was reportedly involved in the data breach targeting the Christian crowdfunding site that raised money for the so-called 'Freedom Convoy' in early 2022.... During the protests, the names and personal details of donors to the GiveSendGo convoy crowdfunding campaign were breached and shared across the internet. According to Vice, Cottle admitted on the social media platform TikTok that he was responsible for the attack.

"'Yes, I doxxed the truckers, I did it, it was me, I hacked GiveSendGo baby, and I’d do it again,' Cottle yelled in a TikTok livestream on his account. 'I’d do it a hundred times. I did it. I did it. Come at me. What are you going to do, what are you going to do to me, ha?'...

"When OPP executed a search warrant at Cottle’s home, they seized more than 20 terabytes of data, including correspondence from his email address in February 2021 that claimed he had access to Epik’s networks, customer virtual machines, web domains and customer data. The email told the unknown recipient to “delete this message after reading'.... Court documents do not specify when OPP searched Cottle’s home. In 2022, he told CyberScoop that OPP had raided his home and took 'all my equipment' on Aug. 30 of that year. Cottle said a police detective told him the FBI was involved."
Read more: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/oshawa-man-linked-to-anonymous-facing-charges-in-canada-and-u-s-after-internet-hack/article_5aa7503d-3c57-48b2-90f9-a8d9358a8408.html