Tag: canada

Doctor who approved assisted suicide for man in Tim Hortons’ parking lot gets 6 months’ probation

A Canadian doctor has been given only a minor reprimand after assessing a man for euthanasia outside of a Tim Hortons and then driving the man to the place where his state-sanctioned death with fatal injections took place.

Ontario doctor James MacLean was given six months’ probation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) for two infractions related to assisted suicide or so-called “MAiD” (Medical Assistance in Dying), as it’s known. MacLean had to appear before the committee to get a verbal “caution” of his conduct.

In one case, MacLean did not give the drug that paralyzes a person’s body muscles during an assisted suicide procedure. The person started to breathe after the doctor left the person’s residence, despite MacLean declaring the person dead.

The other case involved a man, Thomas Dillon, outside Tim Hortons. Dillon suffered from Crohn’s disease, and his death was flagged by the Ontario coroner’s “MAiD” death review, according to reports.

The CPSO said that a nurse practitioner first assessed the man after he asked for assisted suicide and was then seen by MacLean outside of a Tim Hortons parking lot. Dillon was approved for assisted suicide under Track 2, or when a death is not reasonably foreseeable but the person suffers from an allegedly “grievous and irremediable” medical condition.

The CPSO found that MacLean’s coffee shop meeting with this man was “concerning” and that “sensitive MAiD-related matters” should have been discussed in a professional setting instead.

“Based on the Respondent’s own account, other locations were not meaningfully explored at the time,” noted the panel.

“In the Committee’s view, this reflected a lack of the level of formality and care expected when assessing requests for MAiD.”

Additionally, the CPSO was concerned with the “quantity and nature” of the text messages between MacLean and Dillon, which showed remarks about the man’s family not approving of assisted suicide.

Both complaints were made against MacLean in 2024, with the CPSO concluding that MacLean “did not meet the standard of practice of the profession” and that he “displayed a lack of judgment.”

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Canada’s government debt projected to hit $2.44 trillion, nearly double since 2007: Fraser Institute

Canada’s combined federal and provincial government debt is projected to nearly double from pre-2008 financial crisis levels, reaching an estimated $2.44 trillion, according to a new report from the Fraser Institute.

The report, titled The Growing Debt Burden for Canadians: 2025 Edition, says combined government net debt has ballooned from roughly $1.21 trillion in 2007/08 to more than $2.3 trillion today, with debt continuing to climb. 

Researchers warn that the debt load is growing faster than the economy itself. The combined federal-provincial debt-to-GDP ratio has risen from 53.2 percent in 2007/08 to nearly 75 percent.

“Government debt — federally and in most provinces — has grown substantially over the past 17 years,” said Fraser Institute fiscal studies director Jake Fuss, co-author of the report. 

The report measures “net debt,” meaning total government liabilities minus financial assets held by governments. The study argues that persistent deficits today will translate into higher taxes and higher debt servicing costs in the future. 

Debt interest payments are already becoming a major expense. Another Fraser Institute study estimates federal and provincial governments will spend a combined $92.5 billion on debt interest payments in 2024/25 alone. 

On a per-person basis, the combined debt burden varies widely across the country. Alberta has the lowest combined debt per person at roughly $40,939, while Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest at nearly $68,861 per resident. Quebec and Ontario also rank among the most indebted provinces per capita.

The Fraser Institute describes itself as an independent, non-partisan public policy think tank.

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75% of Blairmore residents want a coal mine — so why are outside activists allowed to block it?

The people of Blairmore already had their say. They want the coal mine.

While celebrity activists from outside the region push for a province-wide referendum to stop a proposed coal mine in Alberta’s Crowsnest Pass, locals in Blairmore voted nearly 75 percent in favour of the project. But apparently, that democratic result only counts if the “right” people vote the “right” way.

On tonight’s episode of The Gunn Show, longtime energy advocate and Oil Sands Strong founder Robbie Picard talks about his work amplifying the voices of the people who actually live in the region and stand to benefit from the jobs, investment and economic activity tied to the proposed mine.

Instead, the debate has been hijacked by celebrity opposition campaigns led by musicians like Corb Lund and George Canyon, whose province-wide citizen initiative petition seeks to override the wishes of the local community through a referendum driven largely by outside activists.

Picard argues this fight is about more than coal. It’s about whether rural Albertans still have the right to shape their own economic future without being steamrolled by urban activists, celebrities and political pressure groups who parachute in for the headlines and leave locals to deal with the consequences.

If “local voices matter” is more than just a slogan, why are the people of Blairmore being ignored after already voting overwhelmingly in favour of the project?

And why is Alberta’s resource economy subjected to veto campaigns, while the communities that depend on these projects are treated like their opinions don’t count?

Robbie Picard joins me to discuss the growing backlash from rural Albertans who are tired of being talked down to by people who don’t live there, don’t work there and won’t suffer the economic fallout if these projects are killed.

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Carney says majority will not be enough for Alberta to secede, citing the Clarity Act

Bloc Québécois MPs are calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney to drop the Clarity Act, arguing it complicates secession referendums by adding conditions beyond a simple majority vote. Carney, however, said the Clarity Act does not apply to the current Alberta independence question and defended the Act’s requirements.

During Question Period in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Carney said the 50 per cent “plus one” threshold, a standard measure of majority support, does not automatically apply to questions of provincial independence, as set out in the Clarity Act.

The Act, passed in response to a 1998 Supreme Court ruling on Quebec secession, states that even if a majority votes to leave the federation, Parliament must determine whether the result reflects a “clear majority,” taking into account factors such as voter turnout and the size of the margin.

Bloc MP Christine Normandin pressured Carney in the House of Commons on Tuesday after he declared that he would use the Clarity Act to interfere in an Alberta referendum to separate from Canada.

“Any province or Quebec has the right to ask its citizens the question of its choice in a referendum. Citizens have the right to answer freely, and the majority wins with 50% of the votes plus one,” Normandin said in French. “ This concerns only two groups, the government that asked the question and the citizens who answered it. That is democracy. It’s that simple.”

Carney stated that the current question before the Alberta government is a “question on the question” and the Clarity Act wouldn’t apply, but that a “clear majority” on a secession question would need to be recognized by parliament for a province to leave confederation.

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The Democracy Fund to testify before Senate: Bill C-9 threatens free speech & religious liberty

TDF will appear before the Senate of Canada to warn that Bill C-9 threatens freedom of expression, removes protections for religious speech, and creates sweeping new hate-related offences despite existing laws already addressing such conduct.

OTTAWA: Tomorrow, on Thursday, May 28, 2026, Mark Joseph, Executive Director of The Democracy Fund, will testify before the Senate of Canada on Bill C-9, the “Combatting Hate Act.”

TDF argues that Bill C-9 is unnecessary and dangerously overbroad. The legislation would:

  • Criminalize the display of additional symbols under s. 319, even though existing Criminal Code provisions already address such conduct
  • Eliminate the religious defence under s. 319(3)(b) and (3.1), potentially exposing religious teachings on marriage, sexuality, morality, and scripture to criminal prosecution
  • Create a sweeping new stand-alone “hate-motivated offence” that turns any violation of the Criminal Code or any other Act of Parliament into a serious crime if “motivated by hatred.”
  • Add redundant intimidation and obstruction offences already covered by existing mischief, disturbance, and intimidation laws.

“Bill C-9 represents a major expansion of state power over speech and conduct,” said Mark Joseph, Executive Director of The Democracy Fund. “By removing the religious defence, it will criminalize the public expression of sincerely held religious views believed by millions of Canadians. The new hate-motivated offence will criminalize minor conduct and invite prosecutorial overreach despite existing laws already punishing such crimes. This Bill will not reduce social conflict; it will chill debate, strain judicial resources, and undermine Charter Rights.”

You can read TDF’s brief by clicking here.

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Police escort pro-Hamas marchers into Tim Hortons while Jewish protesters shut out

Rebel News reporter Scarlett Grace reports from the intersection of Bathurst and Sheppard, where the Jewish community in Toronto continues week after week to face harassment by a crowd that openly supports terrorism — a violation of Canada’s criminal code. 

The pro-Hamas demonstrators have gathered in larger numbers this week, largely at the behest of activist Firas Al-Najim — an open supporter of the IRGC. 

Over the weekend, Liberal MP Salma Zahid faced backlash after taking a photo with Firas Al-Najim, who was sporting a shirt featuring the faces of the supreme leaders of the Islamic Republic. 

Zahid issued an apology after the photo went viral, claiming she had not noticed the shirt and saying she “would never have agreed to such a photo if [she] had.” Najim fired back that she had noticed the shirt, that they had discussed it and Israel’s actions, and that she had nodded in agreement with him, implying that her apology was disingenuous. 

Najim asked people to come this week in honour of Daniela Bonamico, a local pro-Hamas activist who was detained and deported by Israel after trying to enter Gaza via a flotilla that departed from Italy. 

Channel 12 in Israel reported that two of the organizers of the flotilla were identified as Hamas operatives, making everyone on board collaborators with a terrorist organization. 

Several of the pro-Hamas crowd, along with a police escort, marched down the street to a local Tim Hortons. Pro-Israel and Jewish demonstrators were barred from the building as long as they were inside. 

Present among the pro-Hamas demonstrators present to welcome Bonamico back was Vancouver-based activist Farhood Moayed, known for outrageous antisemitic postings on X under the name “Kritical Kanadian.”

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“No sex changes for kids, period”: Poilievre clarifies position on gender ideology

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was recently asked whether his party would oppose medical transitioning for minors. He replied: “There should be no irreversible sex changes for kids, period.”

A North Vancouver town hall erupted as parents rights activist, Chris Elston, who goes by Billboard Chris, took to questioning Poilievre on “gender-affirming care” for minors.

“Gender-affirming care” refers to publicly funded medical and non-medical interventions—such as puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries—used to support an individual’s gender identity.

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Carney Calls Alberta Referendum a ‘Dangerous Bluff’, as Oil-Rich Province Set To Vote on Leaving Woke Canada

Alberta separatism is a reality, despite establishment figures such as Carney trying to deny the facts.

As the oil-rich province of Alberta gears up for the October referendum on separating from globalist Canada, the pushback from defenders of the status quo is relentless.

Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney is one of them.

After branding Alberta essential to Canada, Carney has criticized its upcoming referendum as a ‘dangerous bluff’, comparing it to the Brexit process of the UK leaving the European Union.

BBC reported:

“Carney, who led the Bank of England during Brexit, said that 10 years on from the referendum the UK was ‘trying to undo what people didn’t think they were voting for, but what they ended up having’.

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Ontario man dies of MAID after being assessed outside Tim Hortons

A London, Ont., doctor who assessed a patient with inflammatory bowel disease and a history of mental health issues for MAID outside a Tim Hortons location and later personally drove the man to the place his life was ended has agreed to a minimum six months’ supervision.

In another case, Dr. James MacLean failed to administer one of three drugs used in assisted deaths — one that paralyzes the body’s muscles, including the muscles involved in breathing. The patient resumed spontaneously breathing again after initially being pronounced dead, and after MacLean had already left the home.

As first reported Monday by the The Globe and Mail, the doctor’s case is raising new concerns about MAID’s oversight and accountability.

“What is striking is not only the seriousness of the concerns identified in these cases, but the limited regulatory response,” said Dr. Ramona Coelho, a family physician and former member of the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario’s MAID death review committee.

As part of an investigation by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) into two public complaints made against MacLean, an independent assessor appointed to review a number of MacLean’s charts concluded that he “did not meet the standard of practice of the profession, displayed a lack of judgment and that his conduct exposes or is likely to expose patients to harm or injury in five out of twenty charts reviewed,” according to a summary decision of the college’s inquiries, complaints and reports committee.

MacLean was called before the committee to be verbally “cautioned” with respect to the MAID complaints.

In addition to agreeing to mandatory clinical supervision for at least six months as part of an “undertaking” with the college, MacLean will undergo ongoing review of his MAID patient charts and mandatory professional education related to MAID, consent, documentation, professional boundaries and professional behaviour.

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Fact check: Advocating for independence is not treason

On May 5, Forever Canada leader Thomas Lukasuk said the movement to secede from Canada is “a form of treason” and something “most of us Albertans and Canadians don’t stand for.”

This follows British Columbia Premier David Eby saying it was treason when members of the Alberta Prosperity Project went to the United States to discuss Alberta’s independence movement with American officials.

Canada has a legal framework in place for any province to pursue independence from Confederation through a democratic referendum as per the Clarity Act. It is irresponsible and incorrect to accuse anybody of treason for acting within those parameters.

To commit treason in Canada would involve using force or violence to overthrow the government, or (without lawful authority) sharing military/scientific secrets with a foreign state that could harm Canada’s defence.

Peaceful petitioning, public rallies, citizen initiatives under Alberta law, referendum advocacy, and even political meetings/lobbying with foreign officials (like U.S. representatives) involve none of these.

Premier Eby and Thomas Lukaszuk are chilling free speech and legal political advocacy by falsely accusing law-abiding advocates of committing a serious crime.

Their inflammatory use of terms like treason misleads the public and escalates tensions between Alberta citizens.

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