SHE DIED FROM "NATURAL CAUSES"

   A Saskatchewan woman has been left devastated after her mother died suddenly in a local Shoppers Drug Mart minutes after allegedly receiving her Covid-19 booster dose on Sept. 14.
   One witness to the incident told the outlet SaskToday that people were saying that Pearce had died within “seven minutes” of receiving her shot.
   Saskatchewan Health is now claiming that the death was from “natural causes” after an investigation by the province’s coroner.

WATSON IGNORED PARLIAMENTARY PROTECTIVE SERVICE DURING CONVOY

   Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson’s office would not return a call from the Parliamentary Protective Service during the height of the Freedom Convoy, its acting director told a committee Thursday evening.
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   Larry Brookson, the acting director of the service, told members of Parliament and senators during a joint committee hearing that he attempted to reach out to Watson and Ottawa’s city manager during the protests that occupied downtown Ottawa for three weeks in February.
   Despite his concerns, he said that the city and Ottawa police granted protesters permission to drive and park on the street, which faces Parliament but is not governed by parliamentary security.
   “The streets would’ve been blocked” if he had been in charge, he said. “There would’ve been no vehicles permitted to come onto Wellington Street.”

IT'S A TOUGH JOB SPENDING TAXPAYERS' MONEY

   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s former finance minister defended the Liberal government’s response in the early days of the pandemic, arguing policymakers got the big things right even if there are questions over the cost.
   Bill Morneau, in one of his first media interviews since leaving politics in August 2020, downplayed differences he had with Trudeau at the time of his departure, saying the prime minister deserves credit for recognizing the scale of the crisis and the magnitude of stimulus required.
  The former Bay Street executive resigned two years ago after a rift with Trudeau erupted into public view, in part over Covid-19 policy.

JUDGE UPHOLDS EMPLOYER'S MANDATORY COVID-JABS

   A B.C. judge has upheld an employer’s right to place an employee on an unpaid leave of absence for failing to comply with a mandatory COVID vaccination policy.
   In her lawsuit, Deepak Parmar alleged that she had been constructively dismissed from her employment with Tribe Management, claiming that the company had breached its contractual obligations by imposing the mandatory policy.
   Parmar, an accounting professional who is not an anti-vaxxer, according to the judge, was concerned that the vaccines were prepared and distributed hastily and that there was limited data about their long-term efficacy and potential negative health implications.

UK POLICE FORCE LOST THE PLOT

   A police department in the UK has come under fire after it appeared to defend a convicted pedophile, asserting that anyone ‘misgendering’ the individual would not be tolerated.
   Sussex Police responded to posts from women’s rights campaigners who expressed concerns that the 58-year-old transgender pedophile, going by the name of Sally Ann Dixon, could be incarcerated in a women’s prison.
   The individual, a biological male previously known as John Stephen Dixon until 2004, was sentenced to prison after being found guilty of 30 indecent assaults against children dating from 1989 to 1996.

HIDING IN THE WEEDS IN NOVA SCOTIA

    Nova Scotia’s Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang turned down an invitation to an upcoming medical conference on free speech claiming that nobody at the public health unit was available to present.
   True North was shown emails by Free Speech in Medicine conference organizer Dr. Chris Milburn in which Dr. Strang rejected an invitation to appear.
   “We would like to invite you personally, or someone you feel could represent public health in your stead, to speak on the issue of how the difficult balance between allaying public fear and maintaining science-based policy was maintained during COVID,” wrote Milburn.

NATURAL GAS PRICES CONTINUE TO SOAR

 Gas home heating costs are set to rise as furnaces come on for the cool fall weather.

Interim Ontario NDP leader Peter Tabuns has called on the Doug Ford government to help families struggling with higher bills.

Average natural gas prices are set to rise Oct. 1 by $64.80 annually to $163.83 a year for a typical residential user depending on the provider, the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) says.

STILL WELCOMING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AT ROXHAM ROAD

The number of asylum claimants entering Canada illegally at border crossings like Roxham Road reached a six-year high in 2022.

From January to August, RCMP figures showed that 23,358 migrants were encountered at illegal border crossings, 13% higher than in 2017 after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted that refugees were welcome in Canada and when the federal government first started reporting the data.

REINING IN POWERS OF CBSA

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) searched the phones and electronic devices of over 33,000 travelers before a court case struck down the border agency’s ability to conduct random searches.

After legal challenges were filed against the CBSA for treating electronic devices like ordinary goods in 2020, the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled that the practice breached Canadians’ constitutional rights.

“Devices now contain vast amounts of data touching on financial and medical details, the personal likes and propensities of users and their geographic movements over time,” explained the court.

CROWN DROPS CHARGES AGAINST THOSE WHO QUESTIONED COVID RESTRICTIONS

   NORFOLK, ONTARIO: The Justice Centre is pleased to announce that the Crown has dropped charges against former MPP Randy Hiller, former MP Derek Sloan, Pastor Heinrich Hildebrandt, and private citizen, Dan Stasko. The four men were allegedly involved in peaceful rallies against Covid measures in June 2021 and were charged with violating public health orders under the Reopening Ontario Act.
    After negotiations with Bally Hundal, a lawyer retained by the Justice Centre, the Crown dropped all charges, stating that prosecution was no longer in the public interest.
     Mr. Hillier, Mr. Sloan, Pastor Hildebrandt and Mr. Stasko were concerned with the Covid restrictions – health orders which significantly curtailed the right to peaceful protest. For exercising their Charter rights to assemble peacefully and protest the government measures, they were charged with offences carrying potential fines of $100,000 to each individual as well as up to one year in prison.

PAROLE SYSTEM MAKES US SITTING DUCKS

 Myles Sanderson was in breach of parole, after 59 convictions, when he butchered 10 innocent people in Saskatchewan. A police officer and a Toronto man were murdered by a former gangster with an “extensive” record, who was flagged as high risk to re-offend. Dangerous people walking the streets is not an “aberration,” defence lawyer Ari Goldkind tells Anthony Furey this week. Activism about systemic racism and anti-policing permeate Canada’s justice system so high-risk convicts get too many breaks. But, Goldkind says, because they’re released into the communities they came from — not where activists and legislators live — people in power don’t seem to care.

REALITY BITES: UK REVIEWS ITS NET ZERO EMISSIONS TARGET

   The UK government on Monday launched a review of the steps the country has laid out to take in reaching its legally binding 2050 net-zero emissions target while increasing energy security and affordability at the same time.
   The independent review, to be chaired by former energy minister Chris Skidmore, aims to ensure that the delivery of the legally binding climate goal - which, the government stressed, remains in place - is “pro-growth and pro-business,” the new government headed by Liz Truss said today.
   Considering the soaring energy prices burdening UK households and businesses, the government now looks to review the approach to net-zero emissions “to better understand the impact of the different ways to deliver its net zero pathway on the UK public and economy and maximize economic opportunities of the transition.”

LIBERALS LIFT BORDER COVID-JAB REQUIREMENTS

   The final vestiges of COVID-19 restrictions at Canada's borders will be lifted on Saturday, as federal ministers announced Monday the end of mandatory vaccination, random tests, quarantine, use of the ArriveCan app and masks on planes and trains.
   The changes mean foreign nationals will no longer require an approved series of vaccinations to enter the country.
   Canada-bound travelers will also no longer be subject to random COVID-19 tests, and unvaccinated Canadians will not need to isolate when they return to the country.

AMERICANS NOT STANDING IN LINE FOR LATEST COVID JAB

Our so-called “health experts” have clearly lost the faith of the American people because, despite their endless pushing of COVID-19 vaccines and regular boosters, few Americans who are eligible to receive the updated COVID booster shot have actually gotten it.

Earlier this month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) authorized the distribution of updated Moderna and Pfizer boosters.

However, the pandemic shed light on some unsightly facts about the government officials in charge of our response to health crises. They are not only inept but also susceptible to political pressure in the same way that politicians are. As such, Americans are neither concerned about the latest variant nor convinced the booster would do anything about it, as evidenced by the fact that only 1.5% of eligible U.S. citizens have gotten the new and improved COVID booster, according to the CDC’s own data.

SEVERE SHORTAGE OF RECRUITS FOR CANADA'S MILITARY

 The Canadian Armed Forces is sounding the alarm over a severe shortage of recruits to fill thousands of vacant positions, with the shortfall so bad that senior officers are now calling it a crisis.

Canada’s military is supposed to be in a period of growth as new demands increase the need for trained soldiers, sailors and aviators. The Liberal government in 2017 laid out a plan to add thousands of full and part-time positions.

Recruitment cratered during the first year of COVID-19 as the military shuttered recruiting and training centres. The result: only 2,000 people were enrolled in 2020-21 — less than half of what was needed.

ARRIVECAN APP DELAYS NS-BOUND EMERGENCY CREWS

The province of Nova Scotia and the state of Maine have a memorandum of understanding that allows them to provide mutual assistance in managing an emergency or natural disaster. However, the Nova Scotia premier’s office told Global News earlier Sunday that the arrival of the U.S. power crews was delayed due to the ArriveCAN app.

“I do know that there was a situation where some crews from Maine were having an issue at the border,” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told reporters during a Sunday morning press conference.

“We became aware of that, we alerted the federal government. My understanding is that that was dealt with pretty quickly. But … there was an issue to begin with.”

JUDGE REJECTS WESTERN U STUDENTS' COVID JAB CHALLENGE

 A challenge of Western University’s COVID-19 booster dose mandate by five students has been dismissed in court.

The written decision, delivered by Ontario Superior Court Justice Kelly Tranquilli, found Western officials are within their power to enact the COVID-19 booster mandate and collecting personal health data from students and staff is necessary to administer the policy.

A plain reading of the provincial legislation governing Western shows the university is “expressly and broadly empowered to manage its affairs,” and “may do such things as it considers to be for the good of the university and consistent with the public interest,” the court decision said.

NOVA SCOTIA IN THE WAKE OF HURRICANE FIONA'S DEVASTATION

   More than 440,000 Nova Scotia Power customers lost power, trees blew down and roads were washed out as Nova Scotians woke up to the damage of hurricane Fiona on Saturday morning, even as it continued to batter parts of Nova Scotia.Phone and internet service in some parts of the province was also affected, leaving some people without the ability to communicate with others.
   Wind gusts ranging from 100 to 140 km/h were reported, with coastal gusts up to 160 km/h. Rainfall exceeded 100 millimetres in some locations, and nearly 150 millimetres fell in the Truro area.
   Cape Breton took the brunt of the storm and suffered the most extensive damage. Robichaud said there were also reports of coastal flooding.

CATASTROPHIC FAILURE OF RCMP RESPONSE IN NS MASS SHOOTING

    “By contrast, the RCMP’s first instinct was to take steps to avoid public accountability. Within a matter days, the RCMP were aware of a number of relevant facts – that the perpetrator was known to them, that there had been multiple complaints received by the RCMP about the perpetrator’s violence, that these complaints were shared with different officers and not properly investigated, that one of the officers who failed to investigate had befriended the perpetrator and spent considerable time with him, that an internal police safety bulletin had been created in 2011 warning that the perpetrator wanted to kill a cop and had several rifles and a handgun in his home, and that a timely public safety alert and the use of the Alert Ready system would have saved lives.”
    Perryman said the RCMP’s response was not to come to the public and say it had made mistakes and the mistakes would be fixed and learned from but instead it changed narratives and told half-truths to sidestep the mistakes.
   “The RCMP’s approach to disclosure throughout this proceeding has been lethargic and troubling, documents have been held back without notice to the commission, critical documents have been released at the 11th hour, counsel for the attorney general of Canada has even advised senior RCMP officers to withhold material information unless they are asked,” he said.

IRVING SHIPBUILDING RECRUITING FOREIGN WORKERS

 Irving Shipbuilding is involved in a recruiting campaign to bring in workers from the Philippines as it gets ready to construct the first of 15 Canadian Surface Combatants.

That warship program has been touted by federal government representatives, defence analysts and Irving officials as a catalyst to create top paying jobs for Canadians.

But Irving employees told this newspaper that the firm is losing skilled Canadian shipbuilders because the firm is not paying enough and benefits are lacking.

GOVERNMENT COVETS BANK & INSURANCE COMPANY PROFITS

  Proposed new federal taxes on some financial institutions could generate $5.3 billion over the next five years, the parliamentary budget officer estimated in two new reports issued Thursday.

The documents calculated the expected revenues from the Canada Recovery Dividend and a proposed permanent increase to corporate taxes on banks and life insurance groups.

The PBO said the dividend — a one-time 15 per cent windfall tax on banks and life insurers profits made during the pandemic — will generate $3 billion.

GOVERNMENT PLANS FOR OIL & GAS CO PROFITS

 Oil and gas companies can show their commitment to climate action by investing some of their record profits to cut their emissions, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Friday.

Canadian oil companies are reaping the benefits of surging oil prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine with many companies posting record profits in the first half of 2022.

This week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on countries to impose windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies that are raking in cash while people are suffering from high inflation and "our planet burns."

EI, CPP PREMIUMS ON THE RISE

“It plans to raise both EI and CPP premiums, the paycheque tax, right at a time when we are facing 40-year highs in inflation; all-time highs and increased housing prices,” Poilievre said and then called on the government to cancel all of the increases.

As it stands, EI and CPP premiums will both increase on Jan. 1, 2023, taking a small dent out of Canadians’ paycheques.

 In April next year, the Liberals’ carbon tax will rise as well, adding $15 per tonne to a new total of $65 per tonne in the provinces where the federal program applies. Those increases are slated to continue until the tax reaches $130 per tonne in 2030.

CHINA OPERATING EXTRAJUDICIAL POLICE STATIONS

   The Chinese government has set up unofficial police “service stations” connected to the Fuzhou Public Security Bureau (PSB) throughout Canada.
   Through these extrajudicial entities located across the world, China claims they have been able to crack down on international crimes.
    Chinese government officials have used tactics like recruiting family relatives, denying children a right to an education and other unscrupulous tactics to have alleged criminals return to the country.

TORONTO'S JAB PUSHERS DO IT WRONG AGAIN

The controversy began with an advertisement of a girl looking out the window and hearing her peers playing outside.

“Mom, can I go outside and play with my friends?” she asks.

“No honey, there’s still something going around,” her mom responds.

Then came the tagline stating, “Kids should be out there, not in here,” and that in Toronto “COVID-19 Vaccines available for children six months to 12 years.”

CANADA HIKES TAXES WHILE OTHER COUNTRIES PROVIDE RELIEF

   With sky-high inflation, many Canadians are having a tough time affording gasoline and groceries. In fact, nearly 60 per cent of Canadians find it difficult to feed their families, according to a poll from the Angus Reid Institute from earlier this year. 

    The federal government could immediately make life a little more affordable for Canadians by reducing taxes. But instead of providing tax relief, the federal government has recently increased the carbon tax, alcohol taxes and payroll taxes. While the federal government increased the basic personal exemption to increase the tax-free portion of incomes, if you make more than $40,000, then your federal income tax bill is going up this year due to rising payroll taxes. 

JAMES TOPP SERVES GLOBAL NEWS WITH NOTICE OF LIBEL

Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) veteran James Topp has retained a lawyer and has served Global News as well as its parent company Corus Entertainment Inc. with a notice of libel for falsely painting him as a white supremacist.

Topp made headlines when he marched across Canada to protest Covid-19 mandates earlier this year. He is currently facing a court martial after refusing to comply with the CAF’s mandatory vaccination policy.

“The intended defendants knew that the defamatory words, and the innuendo arising from them, were false, yet expressed them in any event in order to generate headlines, expand the reach of the defamatory article and garner interest from as many members of the public as possible.”

INEPTITUDE IN VETERANS AFFAIRS CANADA

Earlier this summer, retired Canadian Forces member and Afghanistan veteran Aesop Zourdoumis got an email from Veterans Affairs Canada (VAC) saying that, due to an apparent underpayment of his veterans benefits, he should expect a one-time payment of $10,097.20.

The letter, reviewed by the National Post, said Zourdoumis should expect a payment of $7,103.37 within two weeks: the balanced owed, minus deductions by Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

But when the government realized its mistake and came looking for the money, Zourdoumis was told to repay the full sum of $10,097.20, and that recovering the nearly $3,000 already deducted by CRA was up to him.

TV HOST LEARNS A HISTORY LESSON

   Recently demoted CNN host Don Lemon was caught like a deer in the headlights Monday night when he asked British royal commentator Hillary Fordwich whether the British royal family should pay reparations, claiming that some in the United Kingdom “want to be paid back.”
   “Well, I think you’re right about reparations in terms of if people want it, though, what they need to do is you always need to go back to the beginning of a supply chain,” Fordwich replied. “Where was the beginning of the supply chain? That was in Africa, and when it crossed the entire world, when slavery was taking place, which was the first nation in the world that abolished slavery? The first nation world to abolish it, it was started by William Wilberforce, was the British. In Great Britain, they abolished slavery.”
   She continued, “Two thousand naval men died on the high seas trying to stop slavery. Why? Because the African kings were rounding up their own people, they had them on cages waiting in the beaches. No one was running into Africa to get them. And I think you’re totally right.”

CANADIANS FACING FOOD CRISIS AS COSTS INCREASE

   This isn’t the news we want to read, especially as we head into the Thanksgiving season: Statistics Canada is reporting grocery prices have risen at their fastest rate since 1981, with prices up 10.8% compared with the year before.
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   The reality is, if there’s one area really hitting Canadians in the wallet, it’s the price of food.
   You see it everywhere — from buying a litre of milk to a loaf of bread, Canadians are digging deeper than ever before as food items go through the roof.

LEGACY MEDIA DEFENDING PM AGAIN

    While media outlets in the United Kingdom and the United States blasted Justin Trudeau for his “drunk” rendition of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ while in London for the Queen’s state funeral, legacy media journalists in Canada rushed to defend the prime minister’s actions.
    The UK’s highest-circulated daily newspaper The Daily Mail reported on the incident with the headline: “’Drunk’ Canadian PM Trudeau is slammed as a ‘tone deaf embarrassment’ for singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody at London hotel before Elizabeth II’s state funeral.”
   A number of journalists at the CBC, Global News, CTV News and the Toronto Star were quick to downplay Trudeau’s latest international blunder.

GOVERNMENT POLICIES DESTROYING CANADA'S AGRICULTURAL SECTOR

Justin Trudeau has ruined the oil and gas industry in Canada. Now he is working to destroy the Agricultural sector. Most of the decision makers come from Urban centers - and their policies are having an impact on the people who grow our food. Ian Cumming was a successful farmer, is a journalist with Ontario Farmer - and he joins Stephen LeDrew to discuss this for Three Minutes.

NATO NEEDS TO PLAY A LARGER ROLE IN THE ARCTIC

   NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a visit to Canada last month in what must be seen as an effort to prod us into taking our Arctic security more seriously. What has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, and how should Canada respond?
   Canada has long been reluctant to see NATO play a larger role in the Arctic region. Part of this was apprehension that more international activity would erode Canada’s de jure and de facto sovereignty in the area. But mostly it was a rational calculation that bolstering NATO’s presence in the Arctic would needlessly provoke Russia and upset the delicate but mutually beneficial balance that kept the region stable.
   For many years, that meant keeping a low profile for NATO in the region. But Russia has taken steps which make that posture untenable. The focus must now shift to deterrence, and allies must determine how NATO can play a role in Arctic security. For Canada, that means bolstering our presence, investment and leadership in NATO’s northern flank, and taking a more proactive role in protecting our national security.

LUCRATIVE SEARCH FOR BODILESS BURIAL SITES

   This macabre fascination with unmarked graves and missing students quickly accelerated after the Trudeau government’s Aug. 10, 2021 announcement of $320 million “in additional [to the millions already promised] support for Indigenous-led, Survivor-centric and culturally sensitive initiatives and investments to help Indigenous communities respond to and heal from the ongoing impacts of residential schools,” including “… to research and locate burial sites as well as to commemorate and memorialize the children who died at residential schools.”

Including the Kamloops site, 34 reputedly unmarked grave sites and potential burial locales have been identified since May 2021. Nevertheless, not a single body associated with any residential school has been recovered, let alone forensically examined. Although five of the six pre-Kamloops searches found human remains, none represented missing Indian Residential School [IRS] students or other missing persons.

SLAPPING BACK AGAINST COVID JAB MANDATE

Toronto delivery driver Tim Conlon has had his Employment Insurance (EI) benefits reinstated by a federal tribunal after being fired for declining to show proof of vaccination, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

According to Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) lawyer Marty Moore, the Social Security Tribunal’s judgment was the first successful appeal by a Canadian who was denied unemployment benefits because of their medical status.

“People lose their jobs all the time,” said Moore. “People don’t expect to be denied Employment Insurance benefits they paid into for years.”

CANNING ARRIVECAN & OTHER TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

 The ArriveCan app may no longer be mandatory and other remaining travel requirements and restrictions for air travel in Canada could soon be removed. If all goes well, masking could even be made optional within the next few weeks.

The Trudeau government has been under heavy criticism from border communities, tourism groups, the union representing border guards and the opposition Conservatives over the remaining restrictions. They’re also facing lawsuits over vaccine mandates to fly and the ArriveCan app.

NO CONVINCING EVIDENCE OF CHEMICAL IMBALANCE CAUSING DEPRESSION

   “You want to know why it took so long for the truth to come out,” Paris, a professor of psychiatry at McGill University, wrote in an email. “I am afraid this has something to do with the toxic relationship between industry and academia.” Drug companies encourage doctors to prescribe often, and heavily, he said, and have “paid many academic psychiatrists to promote their products.”

Two months after a major review found no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations, no convincing evidence of a “chemical imbalance,” the paper is still stirring controversy. Its authors say they have been ridiculed and attacked and accused of dog whistling to far-right commentators who have groundlessly linked antidepressants to mass shootings. Responses from psychiatrists have been oddly contradictory, ranging from “nothing new here, of course we knew it was never serotonin, it was never that simple” to criticisms that it’s premature to toss out the serotonin theory outright and that the authors missed some studies and interpreted others incorrectly.

OTTAWA POLICE PROSECUTING ITS OWN FOR CONVOY DONATION

   The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) is charging their own Constable Kristina Neilson with discreditable conduct for donating to the Freedom Convoy’s GiveSendGo fundraising campaign in February.
   At the time of Neilson’s donation, the Freedom Convoy was entering the second week of rolling protests at Parliament Hill, with convoy organizers co-operating with an Ontario Provincial Police liaison on a daily basis.
   Neilson’s donation was made before an Ontario judge placed a nationwide ban on Freedom Convoy funds from GiveSendGo and ​​before the Trudeau government invoked the Emergencies Act to stop the truckers.

NEW TOOLS IN THE SHOP CLASS

  Pre-transitioning the teacher was known to students and faculty as a male and went by a man’s name. But the teacher now identifies as a woman and is referenced with a female name.
   The school board says it sees her simply as a good teacher.
   “This teacher (who teaches shop) is an extremely effective teacher,” said Shuttleworth. “All the kids really love being in the class.”
    But videos posted to social media showing the Oakville industrial arts teacher, who began identifying as female last year, appearing in class with large prosthetic breasts while operating a circular saw has created much commentary.

THE TRUDEAU FACTOR IN POILIEVRE'S BIG WIN

  Rex Murphy:  Could it be that after nearly seven years, the very “style” and “brand” of the Trudeau Liberals, which were the means of its early success, and were very much the singular property of its leader, have increasingly decayed, that the surface glow and easy flash which at least entertained in its early years, have greatly dimmed? That Poilievre offered a necessary, and by now yearned for, contrast? A seriousness in place of a show?

Can it be that it has become a toil to the everyday ear to be always inundated with self-lauding, ultra-progressive messaging, solemn declarations of “post-feminism,” cloyingly rapturous hymns to the new sacred trinity of diversity, inclusion and equity? The forced rush to embrace every new Twitter faddishness from the bottomless vaults of the social justice warriors? And could it be that the Poilievre campaign offered an outlet — not just to Conservatives — but to those simply tired of endless poses and posturings?

MORE EVIDENCE OF LIBERALS' CONVOY PARANOIA

   Official estimates were that the convoy scared away between $44 million and $200 million from retailers, restaurants and services in Ottawa’s core.
   But to see just what an overreaction that was, consider that this week Blacklock’s Reporter, through an access to inform request, learned the federal government couldn’t even give away nearly half of the $20 million it set aside to compensate Ottawa businesses “devastated” by the presence of the convoyers.
    So desperate, though, were federal officials to feed their concocted narrative about the great harm done to local small businesses, that the access request shows them agreeing to extend the deadline for relief applications and finally sending staff door-to-door in central Ottawa cajoling business owners to please, please, please ask for money.

PM BELIEVES NEW SPENDING WON'T DRIVE INFLATION

   Trudeau’s assurance that new spending wouldn’t drive inflation prompted Scotiabank to argue against the prime minister’s claims.
   “It seems sensible to assume that this will add to pressures on measures of core inflation,” economist Derek Holt told investors.
  “Any belief that it will ease inflationary pressures must have studied different economics textbooks.”

JUSTICE SYSTEM FAILURES WITH DEADLY CONSEQUENCES

  Brian Lilley: Myles Sanderson, Sean Petrie and Nikolas Ibey, three men whose names I wish I had never heard — three men who brought death and carnage.
   They are also three men with past violent convictions, which is now raising questions about how our justice system works, or in these cases, didn’t.
   Sanderson, along with his brother, stabbed and killed 10 people and injured many more on the James Smith Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan. He had recently been granted statutory release after conviction on a number of assault and robbery charges

DEEMED INADMISSIBLE TO CANADA; STILL HERE 17 YEARS LATER

   It once seemed inevitable that Issam Al Yamani would be sent packing. He was ordered deported from Canada 17 years ago for being an important member an outlawed Palestinian terrorist group; Ottawa said the country could neither be a retirement home for former terrorists or allow sleeper cells to fester.
   Court challenge after court challenge — most ending in his favour — have kept him here. His latest win came this week with the Federal Court saying Ottawa must reconsider refusing Al Yamani an exemption to stay.
   Nobody, not even Al Yamani, denies he was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). His father was one of its founders, he said, and he joined when he turned 18.
   The PFLP is a hardline revolutionary group notorious for plane hijackings in the 1960s and 70s — including hijacking three passenger jets in one day. In the 2000s, it turned to suicide bombings and assassinated the first Israeli cabinet minister. In 2014, it claimed responsibility for an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue that killed six.

WHEN SCIENCE GOES WOKE

    Health researchers in Canada, and elsewhere, are facing more and more pressure to be politically correct. Those who care about science — and depend on it to inform our health-care system — should be concerned.
   The pressure to infuse progressive politics into scientific research is coming from science journals and funding agencies. They are exerting influence by changing publishing guidelines and adjusting research funding policies to favour progressive views. Such measures are inappropriate because they violate academic freedom and are fundamentally unscientific.
   A recent example of the pivot from science to social justice comes from the journal Nature and its sister publications. Last month, it announced changes to its ethics guidelines that allow censorship of research deemed politically incorrect.

NEWS REPORTER CLAIMS HE'S NOT A STENOGRAPHER

  It shows newly minted Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre being heckled at his debut news conference by Global News chief political correspondent David Akin.
  Before the news conference started, reporters had been told there would be no questions, but Akin asked questions anyway, shouting them out from the floor, drowning out Poilievre’s statement.

   No doubt Akin was being rude. He was hounded by viewers and later put out a statement on Twitter: “Lots of readers/viewers called me about today’s Parliament Hill presser. Many said I was rude and disrespectful to @PierrePoilievre. I agree. I’m sorry for that. We all want politicians to answer questions — but there are better ways of making that point.”

IN THE CLIMATE CHANGE CHURCH, THE WOKE PLAY POPE

The cult of global warming wants all your money. The more enthusiastically you pay for skyrocketing food and fuel costs — part and parcel of the World Economic Forum's dreams for a centrally controlled economy — the more piously you can demonstrate that the good "green" spirit has filled you to the brim with virtue. Are you worthy of Mother Earth's blessings? That depends! Do you drive an electric vehicle? Are you committed to the eternal gospel that all hydrocarbon molecules are evil and that free market economies cause inclement weather? Do you regularly condemn "climate skeptics" as charlatans deserving of censorship, persecution, and even death for their lies? You don't doubt the prophecies of Klaus Schwab, Barack Obama, George Soros, Al Gore, or any of the other church elders, do you? To question the climate change prophets is to blaspheme! To question man-made global warming is to sin! To question that the "science is settled" is to invite an apocalyptic hell dooming the planet! Disciples, commit yourself to the climate change church, do what you're told, preach the green dogma to wayward doubters, and without exception, always...penitently...obey!

VETERANS AFFAIRS SPENDING ON MARIJUANA OUT OF CONTROL

  An internal audit by Veterans Affairs Canada suggests Ottawa has all but lost control as it shells out hundreds of millions of dollars for veterans' medical marijuana each year without proper oversight, direction or evidence of health benefits.

Quietly published this week, the audit’s results come amid an explosion in the number of veterans seeking reimbursement for their medical pot, from around 100 in 2014 to more than 18,000 last year — with no end to the surge in sight.

The result: Veterans Affairs spent more than $150 million on medical marijuana last year — more than on all other prescription drugs combined. And that number is expected to grow to $200 million this year and $300 million by 2025-26.

BURSTING PUTIN'S BUBBLE

    Ukraine's ongoing counteroffensive has produced major territorial gains and forced Russian troops to retreat — leading to some discontent within Russia itself that threatens the propaganda bubble Vladimir Putin has created.
   Despite a crackdown on dissent against the war, criticism of Putin's "special military operation" has emerged on Russian state television and in public, which experts say has put the Russian leader in a tough position as he tries to figure out his next moves.
   "The bubble is bursting," said Balkan Devlen, a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and an adjunct research professor of international affairs at Carlton University.

POS KILLED WHILE TRYING TO ESCAPE POLICE

Until this week, when he shot and killed Toronto Police Const. Andrew Hong, it seemed the only thing Sean Petrie hadn’t been charged with was murder.

Possession of a firearm, robbery, sexual assault, child pornography, prostitution procuring, trafficking, impaired driving and breaching bail conditions. The rap sheet of criminal charges before the courts against Petrie was so vast and varied that he had documents on the computer in four different Ontario courthouses.

Now authorities could add two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder to his disturbing arrest record. Or, at least, they could if the 40-year-old wasn’t shot and killed in Hamilton while trying to escape from the murderous mayhem he left behind in Mississauga and Milton.

LAX REQUIREMENTS FOR VISA TO CANADA

But the son of one of the Iranian regime’s top officials — a woman closely connected to her nation’s ruling clerics — has been living quietly in B.C., developing virtual private network (VPN) software that’s popular in his home country, though criticized for its security flaws.

 Some Iranian-Canadians and other opponents of the regime argue Hamid Rezazadeh definitely shouldn’t have gotten in, especially when Ottawa has denied visas to other Iranians with no link to the government .

And they note that he’s not unique. Tehran’s former police chief — accused of various human rights abuses — was spotted in the Toronto area earlier this year, while a great-granddaughter of Ayatollah Khomeini, late founder of the Islamic Republic, went to university in Ontario.

TRUDEAU'S LACK OF RATIONALE FOR MANDATES & RESTRICTIONS

    In recent remarks, Trudeau made a thinly veiled threat that his beleaguered populace may face fresh restrictions and mandates later this autumn or winter, unless 80 – 90%of people are “up-to-date” with their vaccinations. Canadian health officials define being “up-to-date” as having had the last dose within the last three months. In other words, Canadians are being threatened with being on an endless carousel of boosters into the indefinite future.
   The latest assessment contained in the recently released documents dates from June 16, 2022. In one of the tables in that document, for risk assessment, for the indicator, “Vaccine Effectiveness”, the risk is assessed as “Cannot be assessed”. The rationale given is that: “At present, there are no data available on vaccine effectiveness against BA.4 and BA.5 for any clinical endpoints.”
   In other words, there simply isn’t enough data to assess the effectiveness of the existing vaccines against these new subvariants.

DANGERS OF LIFE FOR USA BORDER RANCHERS

Ranchers along the south Texas border are having their livelihoods crushed by the volume of illegal aliens trampling through their properties, assaulting and threatening them, beating their dogs, cutting fences, destroying water lines, and breaking into their homes.

EU STRUGGLING TO MANAGE ENERGY CRISIS

Last Friday, the energy ministers of the 27 EU members met for an emergency discussion of the energy supply situation in the bloc. The one thing they agreed on was implementing a ceiling on the revenues of power utilities that do not use gas to generate power.

What they did not agree on was everything else the Commission suggested last week, including a price cap on Russian gas, a cap on final energy prices, and a direct intervention in EU electricity markets. It's hard to get 27 countries to agree on so many things without any compromise. This is why the EU's survival plans for the winter may never work as intended.

CALEDONIA DEVELOPER & NATIVES RETURN TO COURT

   The legal saga around a two-year occupation of a proposed development site by a group of Indigenous people returned to an Ontario court on Monday with another attempt to remove the protesters.
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   The company behind the planned housing development near Caledonia, Ont., and Six Nations of the Grand River is again asking a Haldimand County judge to order the demonstrators permanently off the land.
   The group that has occupied the site since the summer of 2020 has maintained that the land in question is on unceded Haudenosaunee territory.

RUSSIAN ENERGY EXECUTIVES DYING IN DROVES

 Russian energy executives may be feeling that way. As President Vladimir Putin’s unpopular, costly and deadly war on Ukraine drags on, these industrial oligarchs have been dying in droves.

Some of the explanations have the ludicrous feel of a Red Guards rally or a university teach-in.

RUSSIAN TROOPS RETREAT FROM UKRANIAN OFFENSIVE

   Thousands of Russian troops retreated in the face of a lightning Ukrainian offensive in the Kharkiv region that threatens to derail the Kremlin’s bid to cement control of Ukraine’s east.
   Russia’s defense ministry confirmed the pullout, saying it was bolstering its forces in the eastern Donetsk region.
    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the nation’s army has recaptured “more than 30 settlements” in the Kharkiv region, with units of the National Police moving in as Russian forces are expelled. The Institute for the Study of War estimates Ukraine has recaptured some 2,500 square kilometers (965 square miles) of territory around Kharkiv. Kyiv’s forces may have liberated Kupyansk and Izyum on Saturday.

REFUGEES VACATION IN THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

    A survey published this week has shown that the vast majority of “refugees” living in Sweden have vacationed in the country they fled from — though hardly any wish to ever return permanently.
      The survey, which was conducted by the polling firm Novus, claims that, around 85 per cent of people living in Sweden born overseas have gone on vacation to their home country — and that among people who are supposed to be refugees the number is around 79 per cent, despite the fact they are in Sweden in the first place because they were supposedly forced to flee said home country.

TECH EXECUTIVES URGE SENATE TO SLOW DISASTROUS BILL C-11

    Executives from YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify are urging the Senate to slow the passage of the Trudeau government’s censorship law Bill C-11 in a letter obtained by Blacklock’s Reporter to the Senate transport and communications committee.
   “We urge this committee to pause,” read the submission by the Digital Media Association. The group argues that Bill C-11 “will have a significant impact on music streaming services.”
    “Together these services connect millions of fans across Canada and around the world with tens of millions of songs and podcasts providing unique listening experiences,” wrote the association. “Bill C-11 attempts to impose a system of regulation that is designed for traditional broadcasters onto streaming services.”

GREEN PARTY DRAMA WHILE THE PLANET BURNS

 OTTAWA — The president of the Green Party of Canada has resigned, telling members in a letter that her "optimism has died" amid ongoing party turmoil.

The Canadian Press has obtained a letter from Lorraine Rekmans, who wrote that she can no longer serve because "there is no vision for a better future, but only an effort to look back and settle old scores, while the planet burns."

"I leave this party on my own terms," Rekmans wrote. "I have resigned for principle. I had no confidence in the leadership contestants, and they had no confidence in me, and I lost confidence in federal council."

PIERRE POILIEVRE ELECTED CONSERVATIVE LEADER

 OTTAWA — Pierre Poilievre, one of the first members of Parliament elected under the Conservative party's banner, is now its leader after a resounding first-ballot victory announced Saturday night in Ottawa.

Many in the room full of Conservative faithful at a downtown Ottawa convention centre erupted into cheers and applause at the news that the party veteran and former cabinet minister had so quickly and firmly secured the top job with 68 per cent of support.

As he took the stage, some chanted 'freedom,' which was the central rallying cry of his campaign. 

CANADIANS BEAR THE BRUNT OF BANK OF CANADA's MISTAKES

   Gunter:  They mess up, you pay.
   Back last month, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem told the Canadian Federation of Independent Business that high inflation was going to be a problem for a while – a few months at least – but the country’s small businesses could do their part to bring inflation down by not negotiating wage hikes into contracts for their employees.
   Nice theory, I suppose, but it was Macklem’s and the bank’s theories that got Canada into an upward inflation spiral in the first place. So, I’m not sure I want to hear any of Macklem’s theories about how to break inflation’s back.

NEVER FORGET THE COVID FASCISTS

   On fascism, the Father of Fascism, Benito Mussolini, wrote: “The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State.”
   If ever the American government viewed its authority as “absolute,” if even individual Americans were under the notion that they were “only to be conceived of in their relation to the State,” it was shortly after COVID-19 entered the U.S.
   I submit to you that the COVID policies—shutdowns and lockdowns; “stay home, stay safe;” mandatory masking, social distancing, testing, and vaccines; and so on—perpetuated by the American left and those like-minded were the greatest demonstration of fascism the United States has ever known. In the nearly 250-year history of the U.S., never before has the American government exercised such power over its citizenry as it did in the name of “slowing the spread,” “following the science,” and the like. And never before in the history of the U.S. has the exercise of government power been so misinformed and misguided, with such disastrous results.

86% OF NEW JOBS DURING PANDEMIC IN PUBLIC SECTOR

Canada’s public sector ballooned during the pandemic at the expense of private industry new data by the Fraser Institute shows.

86.7% of all of the new jobs created between Feb. 2020 and Jul. 2022 were government jobs. During that period, the public sector grew by 9.4% while the private sector eked out only 0.4% growth.

“Many of the headline statistics surrounding the Canadian labour market appear encouraging at a glance, but the reality is more complicated,” said Fraser Institute senior fellow Ben Eisen.

A "BRILLIANT" PARTI QUEBECOIS CANDIDATE

 MONTREAL — Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon says he fully supports a PQ candidate who appeared in an explicit video.

St-Pierre Plamondon described Andreanne Fiola as “committed” and “brilliant” in a post on Twitter, adding that she has raised awareness of issues related to the environment and Quebec independence.

Fiola, who wore a mask in the video to preserve her anonymity, was identified by a local newspaper because of her tattoo.

TUNING OUT PUBLIC HEALTH FEAR-MONGERS

   Ottawa family physician Nili Kaplan-Myrth started her Twitter day Wednesday by commenting about how angry she was with people who “foment hate and spread disinformation” and along with that, “pathetic misogynists who tone-police and insult” women and their education.
   This was the morning after the night which this radical leftist doctor, self-described feminist and avid masker came on a TVO interview and fomented hate, spread disinformation, and rabidly insulted Dr. Matt Strauss, a critical care doctor who is acting medical officer of health of the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit.
   Kaplan-Myrth is running for Ottawa school trustee in Zone 9, which is in central Ottawa. The ward is currently held by rabid masker and the first trans trustee in Canada Lyra Evans, who has opted to run in another Ottawa ward.
  About her run for trustee, Kaplan-Myrth said in a recent media interview that she wants to advocate on behalf of her vulnerable patients who have children in school, in addition to lobbying against all the “blatant anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers” (people she calls “abhorrent”).

CANADA'S MEDIA STENOGRAPHERS USED BY BEIJING AGAIN

Last week, it was widely reported in the Canadian media that dozens of Chinese-Canadian organizations had come together to condemn an upcoming parliamentary trade mission to Taiwan. However, what was missed at the time was that the organizations in question were actually members of China’s “United Front” network, which is tasked with influencing foreign societies to Beijing’s benefit.

The fact that Canadian media accidentally amplified a China-led influence campaign is troubling. Journalists, as well as everyday Canadian citizens, need to learn how to better identify and call out Beijing’s propaganda.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II PASSES AWAY

 The Second Elizabethan Age is over. The first was marked by the grandeur of the Elizabethan court, the second shall be remembered for a queen whose dedication to duty and service was a hallmark of her reign.

As we mourn the Queen’s death, we should be comforted with the thought that for more than 70 years, she repeatedly made a promise to her people: to serve them and carry out her duties as best she could. It was a promise she never failed to keep.

DEBUNKING GOVERNMENT'S TOP 5 MYTHS RE INFLATION

   As historically high inflation rates continue to cause the cost of everything in Canada to rise, politicians are scrambling to throw the blame anywhere they can — except themselves.
   It’s a global phenomenon apparently. No wait, it’s Russia’s fault. No no, Canada is actually doing better than other countries.
   On this week’s episode of Reality Check with Jasmine Moulton, Jasmine debunks the government’s top five myths about inflation and uncovers who’s really to blame for the cost of everything increasing.

CANADA'S ELUSIVE COMMISSIONER OF OFFICIAL LANGUAGES

 If you’re a Quebec Anglo, the name Raymond Théberge may not mean much to you.

He’s Canada’s Commissioner of Official Languages. His job is to defend Canada’s Official Languages Act. His mandate, and that of his Office, includes ensuring equality of English and French in federal government agencies and society at large, including at the provincial level.

Quebec Anglos likely don’t know much about Mr. Théberge since there’s largely been crickets from his office while their minority language rights have been trampled on.

BANK OF CANADA RAISES INTEREST RATES TO 3.25%

OTTAWA - The Bank of Canada raised its overnight rate by 75 basis points, moving its policy rate to 3.25 per cent from 2.5 per cent. Since March, the bank has increased its policy rate by 300 basis points -- the fastest pace since the mid-1990s -- in an attempt to bring inflation back to its mandated two per cent target.

The bank attributes the war in Ukraine, ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns in China and volatile commodity prices as the main drivers of elevated global inflation.

TRUDEAU'S CARBON TAX FORCED ON ONTARIO INDUSTRY

A year after losing its court battle over the federal carbon tax at Canada’s supreme court, the Ford government appears to have capitulated and is raising the price of carbon for industrial polluters under its own emissions program.

A regulatory proposal amending Ontario’s emissions performance standards (EPS) shows the price per tonne of carbon from industrial emitters will balloon from the current $40 per tonne to $65 in 2024 and spiking at $170 in 2031.

The changes will mean Ontario will apply the same carbon pricing that Premier Doug Ford spent years lamenting, ensuring that the province is in line with federal regulations while maintaining some control over carbon pricing in the industrial sector.

MURDER SUSPECT DIES AFTER ARREST

Saskatchewan RCMP confirmed Wednesday the capture of Myles Sanderson, a suspect in one of the worst mass killings in Canadian history, after an intense four-day search that held national and international attention.

Police later confirmed that Sanderson was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after being taken into custody. Global News first reported Sanderson’s death citing multiple law enforcement sources, who believed he died from self-inflicted injuries, which RCMP did not confirm.

RELEASED BY PAROLE BOARD DESPITE HIGH RISK OF VIOLENCE

When he was released from custody in February, the fugitive alleged spree killer Myles Brandon Sanderson had been assessed at high risk of spousal violence and high risk to reoffend with violence. But he was released all the same, as a risk that could be managed.

He had told the parole board that his use of drugs and alcohol makes him “lose my mind,” and has been a key factor in his criminal violence.

Sanderson, 31, has a total of 59 criminal convictions for drunk driving and related offences, drug possession, assault and robbery, and was still bound by a federal sentence of more than four years for a suite of charges involving domestic violence, according to records of the Parole Board of Canada.
  

EMBALMERS SPEAK UP ABOUT BLOOD CLOTS

Embalmers from across the U.S. are starting to speak out about clotting, though many are choosing to remain anonymous. A licensed funeral director, who chose not to release her name, told The Epoch Times, “During May of 2021, the embalming process became more difficult. The normal draining of the blood was almost halted by thick, jelly-like blood. Instead of the blood flowing normally down the table, it was very viscous. So thick, that it would not wash down the table without assistance.”

Another embalmer who chose not to reveal his name added, “I can tell you with certainty that the clots Richard [Hirschman] has shown online are a phenomenon that I have not witnessed until probably the middle of last year. That is pretty much all I have to say about it. I have no knowledge as to what is causing the clots, but they did seemingly start showing up around the middle of 2021.”

ENOUGH WITH THE COVID THEATRICS

But as students head back to class this week, it seems some Ontario teachers and parents are not prepared to let it go.

In recent days the Twitter-sphere has run rampant with tweets from teachers and parents freakishly obsessed with mask mandates when their little (and big) ones return to school.

I have no problem if someone wants to continue to wear a mask, wherever they might be, although I find it particularly silly (and sad) that there are still those wearing them outside or inside their vehicles.

TRUDEAU STILL STUCK ON COVID BOOSTER JABS

Even as countries around the world have moved on from Covid and have learned to live with the virus, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is threatening Canadians with more restrictions and mandates if 80-90% of eligible Canadians are not “up-to-date” with their Covid vaccines.

65 MILLION IN COVID LOCKDOWN IN CHINA

 BEIJING — China has locked down 65 million of its citizens under tough COVID-19 restrictions and is discouraging domestic travel during upcoming national holidays.

Across the country, 33 cities including seven provincial capitals are under full or partial lockdown covering more than 65 million people, according to a tally published late Sunday by the Chinese business magazine Caixin.

It said that outbreaks have been reported in 103 cities, the highest since the early days of the pandemic in early 2020.

SUSPECT FOUND DEAD

 WELDON, SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA — One of two brothers sought after a stabbing rampage in Saskatchewan was found dead Monday in a grassy field not far from where 10 others lost their lives and many more were injured on the weekend.

Meanwhile, police said the other brother, who has a violent criminal record and is considered dangerous, remained on the loose, but he may be injured. 

Police said the body of Damien Sanderson, 31, was found Monday morning on the James Smith Cree Nation.

THE ANTI-WOMEN TRANS ACTIVISM MOVEMENT

   Vancouver registered nurse Amy Hamm faces a disciplinary hearing later this month for speaking out – while off duty – about radical gender theory and women’s sex-based rights.
    She could lose her nursing license for the alleged crime of defending the biological differences between women and men, and standing up against the threats to women’s sex-based rights based on those differences.
   She could not ignore either the potential harms this radical trans ideology can inflict on children indoctrinated to transition at a young age.
    In 2020, the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives informed her they were investigating her for her ongoing fight against a pervasive ideology that men who simply identify as women – but do not medically transition – have equal rights to women’s bathrooms, prisons, rape crisis centres and women’s sports.

A MONUMENTAL TASK AHEAD

  Conrad Black:  The federal Conservative party is about to announce the election of a new leader, and while the shabby agreement between the Liberals and NDP seems to assure that those parties will be riveted on our backs for another three years, imposing their delusional socialist nonsense upon us, “The land is strong,” as Pierre Trudeau famously said in his not overly successful 1972 re-election campaign, and we will certainly endure three more years of misgovernment. At that time, surely either Pierre Poilievre or Jean Charest will be called upon to pick up the pieces. An immense challenge and a great opportunity, which the incumbent regime has entirely failed even to recognize, will await the returning Conservatives. As I have had occasion to remark in this space often before, all we have to show for seven years of the present federal government is national self-prostration in morbidly exaggerated guilt and shame over the sorry and at times tragic history of the Crown’s relations with Canada’s First Nations, rather than a plan of action to help them; a green terror conducted against our oil and gas industry in the name of combating the under-comprehended issue of climate change; and an absurd waste of public attention on gender issues, which should have been easily resolved by adherence to the policy that there are two equal sexes and everyone is free to work out their sexuality for themselves, as long as they avoid public indecency.

SASKATCHEWAN STABBING SPREE LEAVES 10 DEAD

 MELFORT, JAMES SMITH CREE NATION AND REGINA — A stabbing rampage on and near a Saskatchewan First Nation on Sunday left 10 people dead and at least 15 injured, while a province-wide manhunt continued into the night for two suspects.

According to Rhonda Blackmore, assistant commissioner in charge of Saskatchewan RCMP, police were investigating 13 crime scenes on the James Smith Cree Nation and the nearby village of Weldon, both of which are located northeast of Saskatoon. The stabbings were thought to be both targeted and random, she said. Blackmore asked that anyone else who was injured and who may have taken themselves to hospital come forward and speak with police.

OPEC+ CUT OIL SUPPLIES

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — OPEC and allied oil-producing countries, including Russia, cut their supplies to the global economy by 100,000 barrels per day, underlining their unhappiness with crude prices that have sagged because of recession fears.

The decision Monday by energy ministers means the cut for October rolls back the mostly symbolic increase of the same amount in September. The move follows a statement last month from Saudi Arabia’s energy minister that the group could reduce output at any time.

THE LIBERALS AND AN INCOMPARABLE TRAVESTY OF HATE

   Rex Murphy:  The Laith Marouf scandal, for that is emphatically what it is, of a fully public (it was all on Twitter, some on tape and film) antisemite receiving more than half a million taxpayers’ dollars from the government of Canada, caught even the laziest eye. I have observed it was a singular instance of “paying” the fox to raid the chicken house.
   However, by the strange twist of things, or Liberals’ communication management (same thing), it had by the end of this week become entwined with a lone protester letting loose the F-word at Chrystia Freeland at an event in Grande Prairie, Alta.
   These two are not synonymous. But should anyone try to make a comparison between the two episodes — the first, long-running, dubious beyond thought, financed by the always alert “anti-hate, diversity-wedded” Liberal government, the second perhaps the excited palpitation of the moment — then that anyone is severely lacking in scale and measurement.

CEDING CONTROL OF YOUR THERMOSTAT

Thousands of Coloradans were unable to adjust the temperature in their homes for hours on Tuesday after Xcel Energy locked their smart thermostats due to an “energy emergency.”

Temperatures reached into the 90s in some areas of Colorado on Tuesday, KMGH-TV reported.

The approximately 22,000 customers who were affected had signed up for the AC Rewards program, which gives users rebates in exchange for allowing Xcel Energy to control their thermostats on the hottest days of the year to mitigate strain on the electrical grid, according to 9News.

INTERVIEW WITH A CSIS SECRET SQUIRREL

It’s not like the movies or even some foreign intelligence services with which Canadians might be familiar, but Canada has a domestic intelligence agency called the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

In this edition of The Andrew Lawton Show, True North’s Andrew Lawton has a wide-ranging conversation with former CSIS intelligence officer Andrew Kirsch, who has written the first-ever insider’s account of working at CSIS, “I Was Never Here: My True Canadian Spy Story of Coffees, Code Names and Covert Operations in the Age of Terrorism.” Kirsch’s time at CSIS included undercover special operations, some of which he details in the book and in this interview.

ANOTHER TRUDEAU FAIRY TALE

   Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accusing Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson and other premiers of being dishonest with Canadians about the impact of his carbon tax on the cost of living was pretty astounding in its hypocrisy.
    “What the premier and others across the country don’t seem to be honest about with Canadians is in the places like Manitoba, where the federal price on pollution applies, average families get more money back from the price on pollution than the extra price on pollution costs them,” Trudeau said Thursday, before a meeting with Stefanson.
   Trudeau’s claim “average families” in these provinces get more back in carbon tax rebates than they pay in carbon taxes is based on his government’s claim 80% of households end up better off financially.
   But in March, independent, non-partisan Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said when the negative financial impact of Trudeau’s carbon tax on the economy is considered — including reduced annual GDP, labour income and business investment — 60% of households in the four provinces end up worse off financially.

"THEY CAME TO OVERTHROW THE GOVERNMENT"

    The RCMP feared that serving Mounties sympathetic to the convoy protest against pandemic measures in Ottawa earlier this year might leak operational plans to protesters, says an internal threat advisory obtained by CBC News.
   "The potential exists for serious insider threats," says the Feb. 10 advisory from the RCMP's ideologically motivated criminal intelligence team.
   "Those who have not lost their jobs but are sympathetic to the movement and their former colleagues may be in a position to share law enforcement or military information to the convoy protests."
   The document, obtained by CBC News through an access to information request, shows the RCMP worried that some of their own might co-operate with the protesters who barricaded streets in downtown Ottawa for weeks.

PROF FIGHTS SANCTIONS OVER A PRONOUN MISTAKE

   Richard Bugg has been a theater professor at Southern Utah University for 30 years. According to the Deseret News, he’s also suing his employer for infringing on his free speech rights. At issue? Bugg’s refusal to cave to the pronoun protocol.
   The origin of the suit began on the first day of classes in the fall semester of 2021. A student reportedly told Bugg to use they/them pronouns. Bugg declined because of his personal beliefs but an agreement was reached with the student in which Bugg would perform the verbal gymnastics necessary to refer to the student by name only. Unfortunately, he slipped two or three times and used a female pronoun. Although he had tried to find a compromise, he accidentally committed the sin of using the wrong pronoun a few times.

ALBERTA GOVERNMENT TALKS OF REPLACING RCMP

 EDMONTON — The Alberta government says it will increase the number of officers serving rural communities if the province moves ahead with a plan to replace RCMP policing services with a new provincial police force.

On Tuesday, the United Conservative government released a prospective “deployment” plan that shows how such a force would be distributed around the province and how it would differ from the way the RCMP currently operates.

Tyler Shandro, the provincial justice minister, said the deployment model “shows how an Alberta police service” could make the province safer and bring officers closer to communities.

POLAND SEEKS WAR REPARATIONS FROM GERMANY

   Poland on Thursday estimated the financial cost of World War II losses to be 1.3 trillion euros (dollars) and said it would "ask Germany to negotiate these reparations".
   "It is a major sum of 6.2 trillion" Polish zloty, said Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the ruling Law and Justice party and widely considered to be Poland's de facto leader.
   Most of this sum "is compensation for the deaths of more than 5.2 million Polish citizens," he stressed.

FEDS EXPLORE NEXT-GEN COVID-ALERT APP

Ottawa retired the Covid Alert application, the $20 million contact tracing program on Jun. 17, 2022 after Canadians refused to use the application. Despite receiving 6.89 million downloads, Canadians only activated 57,704 user keys – representing only 0.001% of the population.

As a result of Covid Alert, only 2,446 confirmed cases of the virus were identified.

Despite the abhorrent usage statistics, the federal government wants to ramp up data collection for public health purposes while maintaining that privacy rights will be respected.

TRUDEAUS GROWING ISOLATION ON FOSSIL FUELS

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should be feeling isolated in his campaign against fossil fuels, especially Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), as leaders around the world reduce their countries’ reliance on inadequate renewable energy and tone down their own rhetoric about lowering GHG emissions. But for political and ideological reasons his government cannot admit to the terribly damaging consequences of its green policies and the urgent need to fundamentally change course. To the contrary, it keeps doubling down on its climate obsession.

Witness the latest pronouncement from Steven Guilbeault, minister of environment and climate change, that the government will block new pipelines from Alberta that could deliver LNG to the Maritimes for export to Europe and India. Lest there be any lingering doubt, Trudeau declared there was no business case for them — having previously trammelled potential projects with regulations designed precisely to make them uneconomic.