Coutts blockaders collected firearms to use against police, RCMP documents allege

A faction that blockaded the Canada-U.S. border in Alberta last winter to protest COVID-19 health measures was stockpiling weapons to use against police, according to allegations unsealed on Wednesday.

The RCMP alleged in search warrant applications filed in court that anti-vaccine mandate demonstrators who six months gathered in Coutts, Alta., were “arming themselves for a standoff against police.”

The allegations were based partly on information collected by police through wiretaps and undercover officers who infiltrated a hangout where a group of protesters met in a basement.

Is that a whiff of Whitmer?

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Freeland says she is focused on her ‘really big job,’ but does not deny rumour she’s eyeing top NATO role

OTTAWA — Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says she “already” has a “really big job” but did not deny rumours that she could be in the running to become the next secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.


Does this mean her rumoured PM ambitions are no more? Maybe, but this may also suggest they are only on hold & that she figures Junior’s successor faces a Kim Campbell style crash and burn no matter who takes the reins.

Waiting out the storm in a cushy sinecure like NATO Chieftain suits her oversized ego and lets her return to domestic politics if and when things are looking up for the LPC.

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What does Liz Truss see in Canada? … Her political inspiration is a failed utopia

Faced with soaring costs of living, increased collateral damage from the war in Ukraine, and widening national inequality, Liz Truss seemed curiously optimistic in her first speech as Prime Minister. What could possibly be driving such bullishness? Absent any sign of a coherent plan of action, we might find her motivation in an Instagram post from 2018, where Truss cited the time she spent in Canada as a teenager as “the year that changed my outlook on life…..#pioneercounty #optimism #maplespirit”.

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The risk of political violence in Canada has never been higher

Some time in the not too distant future, when the first Canadian politician has been assassinated since Pierre Laporte, we will all look back and wonder what we could have done to prevent it.

The probable answer is: Not much, in the sense of that particular attack. It is always easy to discover, after the fact, warning signs that were missed, gaps in security that should have been plugged. It is a much harder thing to identify these in advance.

This is really just an anti-Poilievre piece.

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CSIS’s cover-up of Islamic State trafficking backfired, says author

The author of a new book alleging a contractor for Canada’s top spy agency once trafficked three British teens to Islamic State militants said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service delayed alerting U.K. authorities until it became clear the matter would be made public.

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Canada Pro-Israel orgs blast NDP for anti-Israel boycott, lawfare policies

The NDP demanded the Canadian government end all trade and economic relations with Israeli settlements and suspend all arms trade with Israel.

New policies to pressure Israel and accuse it of human rights abuses published by the Canadian New Democratic Party’s (NDP) led to outrage among Canadian pro-Israel groups on Friday.

The NDP emailed out 13 policy demands for Canada’s ruling Liberal party on August 26, which would recognize the “asymmetric nature” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and ostensibly end hostilities by pressuring and ostracising the State of Israel.

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Inflation, summer travel woes set to remain hot political issues this fall

The Liberals and Conservatives are headed for a showdown in Ottawa this fall over the hottest political files of the summer, with both parties making plans to prioritize issues like inflation and travel woes.

After a summer of scrutiny over chaos at airports and passport offices, as well as continued economic pressure being felt by families due to the rising cost of living and inflation, Nanos Research Founder Nik Nanos says he’s anticipating an “ugly and edgy House of Commons this fall.”

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Seven in 10 Canadians polled say access to health care has worsened since the pandemic started

“The survey shows that average Canadians believe that there is a massive problem with our health care system,” said Mr. Nanos, who is also the company’s chief data scientist. “Canadians give our health care system a failing mark – a 3.8 out of 10. A score like that means you should be going back to the drawing board and rethinking everything.”

The survey included a question that asked respondents to rank the state of Canada’s health care on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being an absolute crisis and 10 is working very well. The results found 45 per cent provided a score of between 0 and 3, while 41 per cent ranked the system between 4 and 6. Only 14 per cent gave marks of 7 and above. The average score was 3.8.

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Trudeau is leading Canada towards a diplomatic breakup with India

First the US and the UK, and now India. Relatively smooth relations between India and Canada are about to rock due to an ongoing controversy.

In the last few decades, Canada has become the destination of choice for Khalistani terrorists and their sympathizers. Successive governments in Canada, either out of unawareness or perhaps deferring to the influential Sikh vote bank chose to turn a blind eye to Khalistani extremism. And see, where it led Canada now.

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Elizabeth May’s leadership is the paper straw of Canadian politics

Last October, following a disappointing federal election result and the resignation of Green Party leader Annamie Paul, Elizabeth May ruled out a future bid for the top job.

“We have a lot of very talented people in the Green Party,” she told CBC News at the time. “If people turn to me, it’ll look like, ‘Oh, they had nobody but that poor old lady. And there she goes again.’ So I think I want to focus where my energies feel most beneficial.”

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Shamima Begum: Canada would back Islamic State ‘trafficking’ inquiry … and then sweep findings under rug

Senior Canadian intelligence officials would support an inquiry into their organisation’s deeply contentious role in the smuggling of British schoolgirl Shamima Begum into Syria, the Observer has been told.

Sources have told Tasnime Akunjee, the lawyer representing Begum’s family, that there is significant concern within its ranks that a people smuggler working for Canadian intelligence helped Begum and two friends from Bethnal Green, east London, to join Islamic State in Syria. Until now, sources within the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) have kept their counsel over the scandal since it was revealed last week that the Metropolitan police in London allegedly knew that a people smuggler linked to western security services trafficked the then 15-year-old.

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Shitty-assed cretins to protest Canadian International Air Show because it ‘promotes the culture of war’

The Canadian International Air Show has become an annual summer tradition — 73 years and counting — and so have calls to abolish it for its potential trauma-triggering effect on people with lived experience in war zones, as well as environmental damage it can instigate.

The show, which sees a number of fighter jets fly over Toronto for the last three days of the Canadian National Exhibition, purports to display the country’s military history while recognizing its military personnel and veterans, and inspiring the next generation of pilots. But detractors say the show does more harm than good, both for the environment and for the downtown population — some of whom are recent immigrants from countries with war history and fresh memories of air bombings.

Pity no strafing demos are scheduled.

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