CBC retracts 2nd false story on Freedom Convoy

CBC deletes story falsely claiming foreign money behind Freedom Convoy | Post Millennial - Angelo Isidoru:

Image: Post-Millennial, 2022

March 11, 2022 - "CBC has pulled a second false story about the Freedom Convoy, according to Blacklock's Reporter. The story in question claimed foreigners played a role in the protest....

"[T]he claim was made on a radio broadcast of The World This Hour, self-described as 'Canada's most trusted audio newscast.' According to the Western Standard, the network released a statement on the matter. 'On February 10 in a report about the protest convoy CBC Radio's The World This Hour incorrectly said GoFundMe ended a fundraiser for the protesters over questionable donations to the group.' No explanation was given in CBC's statement.

"The network claimed to have completed an analysis of Freedom Convoy donations and concluded there were suspicious donations from foreigners. CBC then ran multiple headlines of this false story. 'Convoy Protest Received Hundreds Of Donations That Appeared To Be From Abroad,' a February headline read. 'In recent days, questions have emerged about how the protesters raised so much money so quickly and where it came from' ... the article read. 'An analysis of GoFundMe donations by CBC News has revealed at least one-third of them had been made by donors who chose to remain anonymous or who listed names that were obviously fictitious or political commentary.'

"Both false stories were by Elizabeth Thompson, a CBC reporter who has a history of speaking against the truckers. This was the case at a Parliamentary Press Gallery event on February 15. 'Personally I felt a little uncomfortable because there were all these guys roaming around the street,' said Thompson.

"GoFundMe executives testified at the Commons public safety committee on March 3 and confirmed only a small minority of donations were from outside Canada. 'Our records show 88% of donated funds originated in Canada,' said Juan Benitez, president of GoFundMe. 

"Furthermore, Canada's top anti-terror financing regulator said the convoy donations were entirely innocuous. 'There were people around the world who were fed up with COVID and were upset and saw the demonstrations,' Barry McKillop, deputy director of the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre [FINTRAC], testified on February 24 at the Commons finance committee. 'I believe they just wanted to support the cause.'

"This is the second time CBC has been forced to pull a false story. On February 3, the network corrected an earlier television story suggesting Russians were behind the Freedom Convoy. The claim of Russian involvement came from Power And Politics host Nil Koksal, who claimed: 'there is concern that Russian actors could be continuing to fuel things as this protest grows or perhaps even instigating it from the outside.' The claim was entirely false and the network was forced to correct itself."

Read more: https://thepostmillennial.com/cbc-deletes-story-falsely-claiming-foreign-money-behind-freedom-convoy

PPC scraps liberty for pragmatism, says Moen

The tragedy of Mad Max - The Post Millennial - Tim Moen:

June 14, 2019 - "When Stephen Harper resigned, I, and many of my libertarian colleagues, saw an opportunity for a Canadian Ron Paul to emerge. We wanted a mainstream libertarian conservative who was against foreign interventionism, central banking, corporate bailouts, government-issued marriage permits, the income tax and the war on drugs ... who supported property rights, free trade, freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, sound money, laissez-faire, and a strictly limited government.

"We immediately thought of Maxime Bernier. He had written prolifically about free market economics and criticized the central banking cartel from an Austrian economics perspective. He regularly quoted Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard who are highly regarded in libertarian circles. We reached out to Max and invited him to Calgary to introduce him to a number of individuals and groups and show him that he’d have western support if he threw his name in the ring to run as Leader of the CPC....

"The fact that Max nearly won the CPC leadership on a fairly economically libertarian platform was a testament to the work libertarians have done to popularize liberty. Turns out there are many people that think these ideas matter and Max promised to be their champion, but he lost....

"Immediately after his loss I reached out to him to thank him for running. I also publicly invited him to make history and take my spot as Leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada.... This was an opportunity to take his place in the pantheon of libertarian icons like Ron Paul and take Canada’s liberty movement to the next level....

"Now I’m not so sure.... Pragmatism informs much of Max’s policy. His policy completely avoids drug legalization even though criminality and the opiate crisis is clearly driven by prohibition. There is nothing on monetary and banking reform even though central banking robs us and drives a harmful business cycle. His foreign policy position entails sending troops to the middle east to fight terrorism even though this policy has done nothing but nurture terrorism, open slave markets, a migrant crisis and made the world more dangerous for Canadians. He continually says he respects our constitution which codifies equalization payments, has weak free speech protection, enumerates no right to bear arms, and doesn’t codify property rights. These are all issues that principled libertarians care deeply about that he either gets wrong or avoids....

"This is one of the problems with pragmatism. It paints you into a corner. Now that Max has secured support from populists who see immigration, cheap labour and automation as existential threats, how is he going to be able to speak like the economically literate leader Canada needs?

"Populists tend to be economic protectionists. He is going to have to tone down talk on free trade and appease collective economic ignorance. If he achieves conventional success, eventually his policies will look no different [from] the CPC running polls to figure out what they believe."

Read more: https://www.thepostmillennial.com/the-tragedy-of-mad-max/
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The ethics of climate action

MOEN: Is climate action ethical? - The Post Millennial - Tim Moen, leader, Libertarian Party of Canada:

January 4, 2019 - "If we’re going to have a discussion about the ethics of climate action we need to ensure we have the same underlying values.... If you agree with me that human life is our highest value then we want to look at human activity as it pertains to human life..... So if we want to determine whether human activity is dangerous we need to look at metrics of human flourishing.

"Over the past 90 years while CO2 emissions have escalated we have seen climate related mortality drop by 98%. This is because Earths climate is full of unpredictable extremes; drought, flooding, heat waves, cold snaps, hurricanes, weather extremes. To protect against an adverse climate humans need a civilization powered by energy and thanks to fossil fuels we now have abundant energy.

"At the same time climate deaths have plummeted, we have seen dramatically improved food production, distribution and access worldwide. We’ve seen dramatic improvements in sanitation, clean drinking water, medicine, poverty, morbidity and mortality rates. As our physiological needs have dramatically improved the need for violent conflict and struggle has diminished and we have seen liberal democracy spread worldwide.

"So if you are a catastrophist, you ... should consider the catastrophe that would happen if fossil fuel use was cut by 45% over the next 12 years and completely eliminated by 2050 (IPCC goals). If this were to happen right now we would kill millions if not far more....

"The National Climate Assessment speculates that the worst-case economic cost of climate change will be 10% of US GDP by 2100... Noticeably absent is any mention of the cost of climate action.... What would raising the cost of everything that relies on energy have do to the economy? Crickets. What affect would these costs have on people living on the margins? Crickets....

"All of the solutions to mitigating the harm of climate change are focused on global collective consequences and none recognize the individual. We wouldn’t say that if my pollution has adversely affected a nameable individual then I ought to pay a tax to government. This does nothing to protect the individual, but rather sets up a system of payment to governments for the right to harm individuals and funds more government jobs and power in perpetuity. We wouldn’t say that I should pay money to a company working on green energy either. Again, this does nothing to repair the harm I’ve done or bring justice to the individual....

"Tort is a far better solution to mitigating climate harm than a tax or subsidy. Tort helps us derive the actual cost of CO2 emissions rather than having government funded institutes guess at the cost of carbon dioxide emissions while failing to take into account the unseen costs of climate action.

"It is estimated that 80% of CO2 emissions come from 122 corporations. A few high profile class action lawsuits brought by individuals who have been harmed by CO2 emissions could dramatically change the game.

"A focus on promoting property rights and installing legal institutions to defend those property rights seems like a superior approach on all levels of analysis. It gets individuals who have had their property flooded by the ocean or their arable land made barren by climate change access to restoration. It passes the cost on to corporations and the consumers of their products and sends a price signal that allows them to weigh the actual cost versus benefit of their activity. It incentivizes innovation towards lower CO2 emitting energy alternatives.

"It avoids the growth of government. It gives scientists their day in court and clarifies and communicates the actual state of climate science free of ideological spin. It focuses science on measuring metrics of human flourishing rather than metrics that get them government funding....

"Recognizing the individual and protecting property rights (aka liberty) seems like the best path forward to a future that both liberals and conservatives can endorse."

Read more: https://www.thepostmillennial.com/moen-is-climate-action-ethical/
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LPC deputy leader, executive director join Bernier

Why I left the Libertarian Party and am now calling on others to follow suit - The Post Millennial - Trevor Schmidt:

October 5, 2018 - "This week I resigned from my position as Executive Director of the Libertarian Party of Canada (LPoC) in order to join the People’s Party of Canada (PPC). Now I am calling on all federal political party members who know a desperate change is needed in Ottawa to do the same.

"When I left the CPC to join the Libertarians in 2014 I did so because I saw in that small party the reflection of what I felt, and what I believed others felt, was a burning desire for a return to principled politics. Canadians desire this not for the sake of romance and not just for the sake of transparency, but because they’ve become acutely aware that it takes principled politicians to stand firm against all the lobbyists and special interests in Ottawa that will lead them astray from those that elected them.

"The strong showing by Maxime Bernier in the CPC leadership contest and the rise of the PPC have shown me that my belief likely had some merit.

"The difference between the PPC and the Libertarians is that Max enjoys popular support and the desire to build a broad coalition of voters that could actually see the party become a force for change on Parliament Hill. There are good ideas shared by good people across the political spectrum that have so much in common if only united by the understanding that the job of the public servant is not to get re-elected, but to, well, serve the public....

"Those paying attention know that Bernier has an avenue to success. Already, in only a few short weeks, PPC Electoral District Associations – the main bodies responsible for the recruitment, nomination process and fielding of local riding candidates – are being organized all across the country....

"[N]o movement against an entrenched established interest can be successful without people behind it. This is why I have, along with Deputy Leader Darcy Gerow* and other regional Libertarian leadership members, resigned from the Libertarian Party in order to unite with others who understand the urgency of returning principled leadership to Ottawa.

"This is also why I’m calling on Conservatives, Libertarians, and all Canadian party members who believe in principled politics to shed their previous party affiliations and help build the People’s Party of Canada into an effective federal option that leads with its ideas and seeks to govern for all Canadians, not just special interests."

Read more: https://www.thepostmillennial.com/schmidt-why-i-left-the-libertarian-party-and-am-now-calling-on-others-to-follow-suit/
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LPC leader Moen rules out joining Bernier's party

Libertarian leader responds to calls for Bernier alliance - The Post Millennial - Dean Tea:

August 25, 2018 - "In a video posted to his personal Facebook page late Thursday night, Libertarian Party [of Canada] leader Tim Moen addressed queries as to whether he would consider joining and running for Maxime Bernier’s newly announced political party, or whether a merger of the Libertarian Party and that of Maxime Bernier's is possible....

"Earlier this year, following Bernier’s narrow loss to Andrew Scheer in the Conservative leadership race, Moen and the Libertarians ... adopt[ed] Mad Max’s leadership platform wholesale, and Moen promis[ed] to step aside and hand the reins to Bernier if he would join the Libertarian Party. According to Moen, the two had a handful of polite conversations, but Bernier remained noncommittal.

"In his video statement, Moen expressed his misgivings regarding the possibility of a Conservative party offshoot achieving lasting reform and adopting libertarian values in a meaningful way.... 'Conservatives tend to be rudderless. They’re driven by panic and fear of the Liberals...They abandon principles for votes ... [to] avoid the Liberals getting power, and in doing so become the very thing they fear the most.'

"In a clear reference to the Reform and Alliance experiments ... he predicted that another political experiment of the sort is likely to end the same way.... 'They break down and split into competing factions, only to have fear of the Liberals reunite them again under some banner of reform so they can go ahead and lose their soul again.'

"Moen doesn’t seem to think that anything will be different for the new party of Maxime Bernier, who unabashedly spouts libertarian talking points, regularly quoting revered libertarian theorists like Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman .'I suspect it would be a watered-down version of our party principles and platform..... Are we going to see any discussion on meaningful restrictions on government? An end to Health Canada, a restriction on military interventionism?... Is he going to get on stage like Ron Paul and say, "End the Bank of Canada, end the income tax, legalize all the drugs."? I have my doubts.'

"Furthermore, he questions the staying power of a new party beyond the personal popularity of Bernier himself.... 'My guess is that this party is going to be a flash in the pan and fizzle as soon as Max looses his seat or retires.... I’m not going to merge the Libertarian Party with Max’s new party. Max’s party is likely to burn bright and then flame out and I’m not going to let our party die by hitching it to his.'

"He emphasized his party’s long track record of sticking to principled libertarian messaging, in an effort to steer conservative and other mainstream parties in their direction.

"'Western civilization is built on ideas; primarily the idea of individual liberty. Our party has been standing on those principles ... for over 45 years. We have been unflinching.... As far as I can tell, we’re making a difference. Libertarianism is on the rise. I don’t think [Mad Max] would have got 49% in the leadership election had it not been for the work our party has been doing for the last 45 years.'"

Read more: https://www.thepostmillennial.com/libertarian-leader-responds-to-calls-for-bernier-alliance/
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Ontario Libertarians run in all but 7 ridings

Ontario Election Party Profile: Libertarian Party - The Post Millennial - Mika Ryu:

May 26, 2018 - "The Ontario Libertarian Party, founded in 1975, are aiming to win their first ever seat in Queen’s Park. They are running far more candidates than in any previous Ontario general election. There are only 7 provincial ridings without a Libertarian candidate.

"Allen Small is fighting his second election as the leader of a party that has seen remarkable growth under his leadership. The party’s best showing in the last provincial election was 4th in Etobicoke North, getting more votes than the Greens in that riding.

"Government Spending - The Libertarian Party promises to balance the budget, and repay the provincial debt in 30 years. They want to do this by cutting grants and subsidies, including the dissolution of the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

"Previously, their platform stated they would sell all crown corporations, which would have included Hydro One. This year, their platform is markedly moderate, at least in tone and emphasis.

"Taxes - The Libertarian Party would scrap carbon pricing and any other government programs related to climate change. They would also eliminate the corporate tax and mandatory WSIB insurance. The Land Transfer Tax would be replaced with a flat fee (of $275).

"Environment & Hydro - The Libertarian Party claims that it will cut hydro rates 'in half'. They promise the repealing of the Green Energy Act, removal of subsidized power from the grid, termination of existing contracts for subsidized power generation, firing of all Liberal public appointees, and general deregulation measures.

"Healthcare - The Libertarian Party would allow non-government health insurance options, including for services already provided by OHIP. They would also allow healthcare professionals to practice for non-government healthcare providers."

Read more: https://www.thepostmillennial.com/ontario-election-party-profile-libertarian-party/
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