Justin Trudeau’s point man says he’s ‘not naive’ as he tackles Canada’s surging immigration numbers

Marc Miller is doing what no other immigration minister has done in recent history.

He’s letting fewer temporary residents come to Canada in the short term. While planning for more immigrants in future.

Barely a year after taking over the immigration and refugee portfolio, Miller is steering a controversial course correction to avert an unplanned and unmanageable surge in temporary residents. By capping overseas student visas, and dialing down foreign work permits, he is reasserting control over uncontrolled trend lines.

Turd polish via the Star.

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Peter Menzies: The Lamentable Decline of Canada’s Reputation as a Dependable and Globally Respected Nation

It’s been a few years now since Canada was the moderate, sensible, dependable, and globally respected nation that it grew into during the 20th century.

What we have become instead is a country with the world’s most radical collection of social policies, that is mocked mercilessly by international media for its foolish extremism, is taunted for its unwillingness to defend itself, and no longer has any influence to speak of on the international stage. While we once had a voice that was respected, we now have one that solicits, if anything at all, condescending grins of amusement.

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Ethics Commissioner’s Clearing of Trudeau in WE Charity Scandal Challenged in Appeals Court

A democratic non-profit advocacy group is appealing a court ruling that found Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not breach conflict of interest rules for his alleged role in the WE Charity scandal.

Democracy Watch is challenging the 2021 ruling by former Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion before the Federal Court of Appeal.

In a press release, Democracy Watch said it is arguing that Mr. Trudeau was guilty of violating federal ethics laws and that he directly participated in grant approval for the charity, according to a press release. The group said Mr. Trudeau was friends with the two Kielburger brothers who ran the charity and noted the family of the prime minister also had close ties with the group.

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Ottawa has already spent $42M on a Liberal gun ‘buyback’ that still doesn’t exist

OTTAWA — Four years after the Trudeau Liberals announced sweeping changes to Canada’s gun laws, the government has so far spent $42 million on a federal firearms confiscation program that doesn’t yet exist.

In a response to an order paper question filed by Sen. Don Plett in September, Public Safety Canada revealed that $41,904,556 has been spent so far on the government’s “firearms buyback program,” and that 60 department employees are working on the project.

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John Ivison: The Liberals’ shameful arms ban against Israel will come back to haunt us

During the debate on the NDP’s proposal to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state last week, Global Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said the government could not change foreign policy based on an opposition motion.

At the 11th hour, the Liberals reached a deal with the NDP to water down the proposal on Palestinian statehood to avoid a divisive public schism in their own ranks. A number of Liberal MPs had spoken in favour of the NDP motion and indicated they would vote for it.

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Trudeau pledges $8.4 million to study ‘democratic decline’

As part of a surprise outlay of cash announced at a summit in South Korea, the Prime Minister’s Office has approved $8.4 million to study how autocracy thrives in warming temperatures.

“Today I’m announcing that Canada is investing $8.4 million on research across the global south to better understand how climate change interacts with democratic decline,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a video address to the third annual Summit on Democracy, a gathering orchestrated by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.

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Winnipeg man was member of Chinese military branch behind cyber attacks on Canada, officials allege

A military veteran who spent 20 years in uniform, Lieutenant Colonel Huajie Xu now lives on a quiet street in Winnipeg.

But he did not serve in Canada’s armed forces.

Instead, he was a member of China’s People’s Liberation Army, according to records obtained by Global News.

Before arriving in Canada in 2021, Xu worked at the military academy of the Chinese cyber warfare department that hacks Canadians and steals their secrets.

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Justin Trudeau’s grip on power is precarious — and we witnessed that not once, but twice this week

Canada’s Parliament did not fall this week, which means the country was spared a spring election.

Now normally, one wouldn’t dwell too long on what didn’t happen in politics, or even what almost happened. But on two occasions this past week, two opposition parties seemed determined to use votes in the Commons to show Justin Trudeau’s Liberals how precariously they remain in power.

It’s even more remarkable when you consider this was the only week this month that the Commons would be sitting. Of all the things MPs were determined to cram into it, we ended up with not one but two brushes with Liberal defeat.

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Intelligence watchdog completes report on Chinese interference allegations, sends it to PM

One of Canada’s intelligence watchdogs has finished its investigation into allegations of foreign electoral interference and has sent its findings to the prime minister and members of his cabinet.

It will still be a while before the public can read it, however — and it remains to be seen how much of the report will be redacted.

Just over a year ago, when the Liberal government was under constant fire over claims that China meddled in the 2019 and 2021 elections, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asked the country’s two intelligence review bodies — the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) and the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) — to investigate the issue.

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Anti-authority narratives could tear ‘fabric of society,’ intelligence report warns

OTTAWA — Threats against politicians have become “increasingly normalized” due to extremist narratives prompted by personal grievances and fuelled by misinformation or deliberate lies, warns a newly released intelligence report.

The report, prepared by a federal task force that aims to safeguard elections, says the Canadian violent extremist landscape has seen the proliferation of conspiracy theories, a growing lack of trust in the integrity of the state and more political polarization.

Baseless theories, disinformation and misinformation have spread to larger audiences, exposing online users to a vast network of narratives that undermine science, systems of government and traditional figures of authority, the report says.

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Cory Morgan: RCMP Report Warning of Growing Civil Unrest Due to Declining Living Standards Must Be Heeded

A redacted version of a report crafted by Canada’s RCMP titled “Whole-of-Government Five-Year Trends for Canada” has been released and it warns Canada could soon descend into civil unrest due to several factors, including a bleak economic outlook.

Canada was once known as one of the most easygoing nations on earth. Canadians were quick to apologize and polite to a fault. It was never imagined this population of passive, laid-back people could experience large-scale civil disorder and pushback against authorities. Recent events have exposed a nation frustrated with the actions of its government to the point of bringing citizens to the streets in protest, and the RCMP expects this trend to become more acute.

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Colby Cosh: Justin Trudeau’s unlikely reputational recovery

Says his kids punched him out

This week, colleague Ivison presented an argument that Canadian prime ministers often become more popular over time once they’re out of our hair, and that this may prove true even of Justin Trudeau despite his apparently inevitable electoral destruction. No doubt it’s possible. It takes some imagination to make such an argument, and imagination is a singular weakness of mine. 

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Trudeau to lie before foreign interference inquiry

Justin is so full of shit he’s about to explode.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be one of 40 witnesses to testify before the commission probing allegations of foreign electoral interference over the next few weeks, as Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue and her team sort through what the government knew, or didn’t, about claims that China meddled in the past two federal campaigns.

The Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions (PIFI) resumes next Wednesday and will run until April 10. The inquiry was triggered by media reports last year which, citing unnamed security sources and classified documents, accused China of interfering in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

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