Canada’s secret service is fighting a hidden civil war

The smart money is on the spooks. They have the public on their side

The Canada of our allies’ imagination is a peaceable land of winter, hockey and exquisite politeness. The winter and the hockey haven’t changed. But peaceable and polite? Not since the civil war broke out.

This civil war doesn’t pit Quebec nationalists against English Canada, but centres instead on China. The two sides are a political elite that yearns for the days when China was an economic opportunity, and a national security community aware of Beijing’s ambition to deindustrialize the West economically and neuter it geostrategically.

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Colby Cosh: CBC’s damning retraction of an unsubstantiated non-scandal in Alberta

CBC News cried “uncle” yesterday in its long-running quarrel with Alberta premier Danielle Smith, as you may have read in your National Post . In January, a story from the network claimed that some member of the new premier’s staff had sent emails directly to Crown prosecutors ordering them to let up on COVID rulebreakers. This created a nasty suspicion that the premier’s office was interfering directly in individual criminal prosecutions, and it rightly led to an investigation by the province’s ethics commissioner, Marguerite Trussler. In the meantime, the CBC stood stubbornly behind its story.

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‘Massively expensive’: Canadian Taxpayers Federation takes aim at $15B deal for Windsor battery plant

The $15-billion agreement to keep an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in Windsor, Ont., is “massively expensive for taxpayers,” says the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“These big corporations are getting buckets of cash courtesy of cost to taxpayers while the rest of us get tax hikes,” said Franco Terrazzano, federal director for the Ottawa-based federation.

“We have governments that are choosing to help multinational corporations over taxpayers.”

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Gwyn Morgan: Trudeau Liberals are gutting Canada’s economic well-being

Wildfires in Canada and unseasonably high temperatures in Europe are being blamed on climate change, escalating the perceived urgency to “do something” about carbon emissions. In Canada, it seems no volume of emissions is too small to worry about. B.C. taxpayers will soon be paying some $28 million to connect cruise ships docking in Victoria to electric shore power so diesel generators can be shut down. This must set a world record in terms of the cost per unit of avoided emissions.

We’re also on track to establish a coast-to-coast cost record on emissions reductions through ever-rising carbon taxes on motor fuel plus deliberate debilitation of the oil and gas industry — though it contributes the largest share of both GDP and export revenue of any industry.

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‘It’s meaningless basically’: One-time grocery rebate gets underwhelming reception

The federal government’s grocery rebate kicks in this week, but the one-time payment is being criticized by some who feel it’s too little too late for those who’ve been pummeled by perpetually rising food prices.

“It’s just a one-time payment?” one person CityNews spoke to on Tuesday in Ottawa asked. “It’ll help me with groceries for one month. And then it’s back to … as if we didn’t have it.”

Canadians who earned less than $32,000 a year, and households that earned less than $38,000 on their 2021 tax return would qualify for the one-time payment.

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Trudeau To Give Up To $15-billion Of Your Dollars To Corporate Welfare Cases Stellantis & LG In Dubious Battery Deal

Stellantis, LG reach new EV battery plant deal for up to $15-billion in subsidies from Ottawa, Ontario

Stellantis NV and LG Energy Solution have reached a new deal with the federal and Ontario governments for up to $15-billion in subsidies for their electric-vehicle battery factory in Windsor, bringing to an end a months-long saga in which the companies halted construction on the project while they pushed for greater subsidies.

The agreement was announced by Stellantis late on Wednesday through a press release, the timing of which appeared to catch the governments off guard. It was subsequently confirmed by Ottawa in a statement issued by Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.

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Hara-Kiri Trudeau Style

Wildfires in Canada and unseasonably high temperatures in parts of Europe are being blamed on climate change, further escalating the frenzied sense of urgency propounded by governments, activist groups and the mainstream media to “do something” about carbon emissions. In Canada, it seems no volume of emissions is too small to worry about. B.C. taxpayers, for example, will be paying an estimated $25 million to connect cruise ships docking in Victoria to electric shore power so the ships’ diesel generators can be shut down. This is surely establishing a world record in the cost per unit of avoided emissions.

Speaking of world records, our country is on also on-track to establish a much larger cost record on emissions reductions – spanning the entire nation – through a combination of ever-rising carbon taxes on motor fuel and deliberate debilitation of the oil and natural gas industry, which contributes Canada’s largest share of both GDP and export revenue.

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Quebec gets special deal on carbon tax

OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is highlighting a fundamental unfairness in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax policy: Quebec is paying a lower carbon tax than the rest of Canada.

“The math is simple: Trudeau is forcing drivers in every other province and territory to pay 14 cents per litre of gas in carbon taxes, while Quebecers pay 10 cents per litre,” Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director, said. “The solution is also simple: Trudeau should scrap his carbon taxes and make life more affordable for all Canadians.”

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Corrections head questioned how Mendicino was kept in dark over Bernardo transfer

OTTAWA – Days after Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino shared his outrage on social media over the transfer of notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison, the head of Canada’s federal prison system asked the department whether the politician had been told of the move.

Anne Kelly, the commissioner of the Correctional Service of Canada, also reached out to Mendicino directly to let him know that she had seen the tweet in which he voiced his concern over the move and offered to arrange a meeting.

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Ottawa Protest Organizer Previously Met With United Front Official in China

One of the directors of an organization that recently held a protest in Ottawa previously met with an official of China’s lead agency in charge of foreign influence, the United Front Work Department (UFWD). Key organizers of the protest have rallied some people in local Chinese Canadian communities to oppose the proposed creation of a foreign agent registry in Canada.

The group behind the June 24 protest on Parliament Hill, the Commission of Marking the 100th Anniversary of Chinese Exclusion Act, is a federally incorporated not-for-profit created on May 1.

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Canada is paying ‘an enormous price’ for the Volkswagen battery plant. Is it worth it?

Auto industry analysts say Canada paid a big price to bring Volkswagen’s first North American electric vehicle (EV) battery plant to St Thomas, Ont., but whether that money will deliver lasting benefit to the economy is a matter of debate.

On Wednesday, parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux released a report detailing his calculations.

Giroux said it would cost the public at least $16.3 billion to build the plant, $2.8 billion more than the federal government first announced in April because of the differences in U.S. and Canadian corporate tax rules. It’s expected production at the plant will start in 2027.

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Alberta, Saskatchewan, Atlantic Provinces Join Forces Against Ottawa’s New Fuel Regulation

Ottawa’s new fuel regulation doesn’t sit well with six provinces, as Alberta becomes the latest member to join forces with Saskatchewan and Atlantic Canada to oppose the new measure that came into force on July 1.

Two days before the Clean Fuel Regulation (CFR) was enforced, Alberta’s Minister of Environment and Protected Areas Rebecca Schulz wrote to federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, calling on his government to “immediately halt” the implementation of the new policy.

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America’s far right is operating in Canada. Why don’t we consider that foreign interference?

Canada is almost certainly headed toward some kind of inquiry into foreign interference in its democracy.

But if its focus is solely on China or Russia and other state actors, it won’t be tackling the potentially far more troubling forces that proved so disruptive to Canada during last year’s convoy protest.

Is the country ready to take that dark dive into foreign interference — the non-China variety?


Briefing Shows CSIS Saw No Foreign Involvement in Freedom Convoy Protest

CSIS found no foreign actors funding the convoy protests, according to public inquiry evidence

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