Tag: canada

Ottawa spent more than $1 million on Yukon ‘Indigenous food systems’ project

A federal agency handed more than $1 million to a small Yukon school board to promote “Indigenous food systems,” according to records tabled before the Senate agriculture committee.

According to a story broken by Blacklock’s, the funding came through the federal government’s Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund, a program that costs taxpayers roughly $6 million annually and is set to run until 2027.

According to the records, the Yukon First Nation Education Directorate received a total of $1,015,646 from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.

The largest portion of the funding, $845,000, went toward planning a “traditional processing kitchen” in Whitehorse.

“This one-year project focused on completing architectural and detailed design plans for a centralized traditional and local foods commercial kitchen,” the agency told senators.

According to the agency, the proposed facility would support the processing and storage of wild game in an urban setting and help promote traditional food-processing knowledge in First Nations curriculum.

Another $170,646 was spent on the Directorate’s urban nutrition program, including the purchase of a temperature-controlled delivery van.

Federal officials defended the spending as part of Ottawa’s broader push to address food security in remote northern communities.

“The fund plays a targeted role in advancing food initiatives that build local capacity,” agency managers wrote.

The Northern Isolated Community Initiatives Fund was launched in 2019 and bankrolls projects ranging from greenhouse operations and farming initiatives to traditional harvesting, food distribution systems and “food innovation” programs.

Records show taxpayers also funded:

  • $800,000 for an egg farmer in Hay River;
  • $600,000 for a grocery store in Wekweeti, Northwest Territories, population roughly 130;
  • $250,000 for a grocer in Arctic Bay;
  • $710,000 for fish freezers in Cumberland Sound.

“These examples show how the Agency supports food security, infrastructure and economic growth across the North in line with community needs and regional priorities,” managers wrote.

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Fact check: An independence party is NOT required for Alberta’s sovereignty movement

Liberal Member of Parliament Corey Hogan implied the Alberta independence movement has no legitimate mandate unless it takes a partisan approach, as Quebec does.

The statements came when Hogan was speaking at an event held at the University of Calgary alongside former Premier Jason Kenney. Hogan stated, “This is separatism by subterfuge,” because no independence party is running competitively in a general election.

Hogan reiterated the sentiment during an interview on CBC’s Power and Politics, saying, “There’s not an electoral mandate, say what you will about Quebec’s separatism, but there are people that elect governments to be separatists to have questions like that. No such thing in Alberta.”

There are no requirements for partisan involvement in an independence referendum under the Clarity Act nor within the 1998 Supreme Court reference case that laid out the process for a province to seek independence from the federation.

Both Alberta and Quebec have strong sovereigntist movements, but they have taken different paths in pursuing independence. Quebec has established federal and provincial parties with independence mandates, while Alberta’s independence movement has revolved around non-partisan advocacy groups.

Neither approach is more or less valid than the other. The Clarity Act doesn’t demand that a referendum must be invoked by a party or a citizens’ initiative. It only states that the referendum must have a clear question.

If a clear majority of citizens choose independence in a referendum, it represents a clear mandate based on the will of the people, whether a party promoting independence was elected in a general election or not.

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FACT CHECK: Sorry, Randy, no public evidence has linked Alberta’s referendum petition to foreign interference

Former Liberal cabinet minister Randy Boissonnault claimed during a CTV panel discussion that Alberta separatism is being fueled by “forces outside our country” and misinformation.

However, no public evidence has been presented showing foreign governments or foreign actors directed or controlled Alberta’s citizen initiative referendum petition campaign.

The RCMP has publicly stated it found no evidence of foreign interference connected to Alberta’s separatist movement.

At the same time, Elections Alberta has not yet verified the signatures collected for the proposed referendum petition.

That means claims about widespread fraud, manipulation, or foreign-directed activity tied to the petition itself have not been publicly established.

The ongoing debate surrounding Alberta independence has included accusations involving misinformation, foreign influence, and improper conduct. 

But many of those claims remain political assertions from federalists, rather than verified findings from law enforcement or Elections Alberta.

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CBC spends $59,000 fighting to keep Gem subscriber numbers secret

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has spent nearly $60,000 in legal fees fighting an order to disclose how many people actually subscribe to its Gem streaming service, according to access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

The legal battle stems from an access-to-information request filed by transparency advocate Matt Malone, founder of Open By Default, seeking subscriber data for the CBC’s streaming platform, CBC Gem.

According to the records, the CBC has already spent $59,000 on lawyers in an effort to block the release of the numbers.

“The CBC bragged about its Gem subscription service and pointed to Gem as proof it’s providing value, so why is the CBC trying so hard to keep these numbers hidden?” said Franco Terrazzano.

The dispute escalated after Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard ordered the CBC to release the records. The state broadcaster instead took the matter to Federal Court, arguing the information should remain confidential because it constitutes “sensitive commercial information.”

CBC CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard defended the secrecy, saying subscriber totals are kept private for “competitive reasons.”

Major streaming competitors such as Netflix, Amazon and YouTube routinely disclose subscriber metrics or revenue figures in public financial filings.

Maynard rejected CBC’s argument, ruling the broadcaster failed to show any realistic competitive harm from releasing the numbers.

“[While the] CBC did identify possible harms to its competitive position or to ongoing negotiations, it did not demonstrate that there was a reasonable expectation that these harms could occur, well beyond a mere possibility,” Maynard wrote in her decision.

Former CBC president Catherine Tait repeatedly claimed before parliamentary committees that “millions” of Canadians were using Gem, including testimony in January and October 2024.

Terrazzano argued taxpayers deserve transparency from a publicly funded broadcaster that receives more than $1 billion annually from the federal government.

“The CBC should be more transparent than Netflix or Amazon,” he said. “If the CBC doesn’t want to release the information and be transparent with taxpayers, then it shouldn’t get one cent from taxpayers.”

The current court fight is not the first transparency dispute involving the CBC. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation previously launched legal action after the broadcaster resisted releasing details about executive bonus compensation. Records later showed seven senior executives collectively received nearly $3.8 million in compensation.

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Fact check: Canadian law does allow provinces to hold sovereignty referendums

Commentary circulating online following the Alberta referendum court ruling is incorrectly claiming that provinces cannot legally hold referendums on separation or sovereignty.

That is not what Canadian constitutional law says.

Columnist Andrew Coyne claimed Canadians “can’t lawfully hold a referendum” on “the sovereign territory of Canada.”

But Canada has already held two provincial sovereignty referendums in Quebec, in 1980 and 1995.

Neither referendum was declared illegal.

In fact, the federal government responded to the 1995 referendum by asking the Supreme Court of Canada to clarify the legal framework surrounding secession in the 1998 Secession Reference decision.

The court concluded that a province cannot unilaterally separate from Canada under existing constitutional law. However, it also held that a clear vote on a clear question in favour of secession would create a constitutional obligation for governments to negotiate.

That framework later formed the basis of the Clarity Act.

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Did Doug Ford just sell his private jet for a massive taxpayer loss?

Well, we finally have an answer in terms of how much Air Ford One cost Ontario taxpayers: almost $200,000.

That’s what Ontario taxpayers are on the hook for after Doug Ford experienced buyer’s remorse, big time, and returned his infamous $28.9 million “Gravy Plane” to Bombardier.

That’s a steep fee for a plane that apparently never got off the runway in the brief 13-day time span that the province owned that swank Challenger 650.

In other words, Ford’s would-be flight of fancy cost the Ontario taxpayer about $15,585 per day just to sit in a hangar collecting dust.

Little wonder people across the political spectrum screamed blue murder about the province’s chief cherry cheesecake enthusiast purchasing a private jet.

And really, how tone-deaf was Doug Ford to purchase something like this during a time of soaring unemployment, inflation, homelessness, and food bank usage?

Talk about not reading the room.

However, despite attempts at damage control, within 48 hours Team Ford flip-flopped on the Challenger. They said they learned their lesson and that the government would seek a refund.

But apparently, it’s a buyer’s market these days when it comes to luxury jets. That’s because Bombardier only agreed to buy back the Challenger after the government agreed to a surcharge of almost $200,000.

That includes almost $18,000 for “acquisition support” – whatever that means. The taxpayer was also dinged for almost $34,000 for outside legal advice. But the lion’s share of charges was in the form of nearly $140,000 for maintenance, storage, training, and preparation.

Perhaps we need to contact the fine folks at the Guinness Book of World Records? Could this $200,000 haircut work out to be the largest fee for a flight that was never taken?

Looks that way to us.

Hard to believe that Doug Ford used to run on the slogan, “Respect for Taxpayers.” Hard to believe this guy was all about derailing the gravy train before falling in lust for a gravy plane.

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Smith pledges to appeal judge’s “anti-democratic” decision to quash independence petition

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her government will appeal a court ruling that blocked a citizen-led effort to force an Alberta independence referendum, calling the decision “incorrect in law and anti-democratic.”

The ruling, issued Tuesday by Liberal-appointed Alberta Court of King’s Bench Justice S. Leonard, quashed the approval of a proposed referendum question asking Albertans whether the province should become independent.

In the decision, the judge claimed Alberta failed to fulfil its duty to consult affected First Nations before allowing the citizen initiative process to move forward.

Justice Leonard also ruled the referendum proposal could not legally proceed under transitional provisions added to Alberta’s Citizen Initiative Act.

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Vancouver spends $182K on ‘gender safety’ bureaucracy for FIFA World Cup

The City of Vancouver is preparing to spend more than $182,000 on so-called “gender safety” and “vulnerable resident initiatives” tied to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, according to a newly posted contracting notice.

Under a Notice of Intent to Contract posted to the procurement site MERX, the city says it plans to award multiple vendors funding for “additional community organizations event time capacity” connected to the city’s “Host City Human Rights Action Plan.”

The contract runs from May 26 to July 19, 2026, with a listed value of $182,184.

According to the notice, the money is specifically earmarked to “implement gender safety, accessibility and vulnerable resident initiatives” during the World Cup festivities.

The timing is raising eyebrows, especially in a city that has spent years aggressively promoting gender ideology policies while downplaying public concerns about women’s spaces, public disorder, and safety issues tied to addiction and homelessness.

Now, with the eyes of the world arriving for the FIFA tournament, city hall suddenly appears eager to showcase its commitment to “gender safety” — and is paying outside organizations to help manage the optics.

The procurement notice does not clearly define what “gender safety” initiatives will involve, which organizations are expected to receive funding, or how success will be measured.

Nor does it explain why existing city staff and public safety infrastructure are insufficient to handle these responsibilities during a six-week international sporting event.

The spending falls under Vancouver’s broader Human Rights Action Plan tied to its role as a FIFA host city, a framework that has increasingly blended public event management with activist-driven social programming.

Why does a soccer tournament now require taxpayer-funded “gender safety” consultants and advocacy programming, particularly at a time when Vancouver residents continue to grapple with rising living costs, public safety concerns, drug crises, and strained city services.

The original procurement notice can be viewed on MERX procurement listing.

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Canadian Liberal Who Championed Mass Migration Questions Election Results After Losing Race to Immigrant

Nate Erskine-Smith, a former Canadian Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities who served under both Prime Ministers Justin Trudeau and Mark Carney, was supposed to be a shoo-in for the nomination for a by-election in Ontario for the left-wing Liberal Party.

Instead, the open-borders advocate got beaten by a Bangladeshi immigrant pizza shop owner — and he’s complaining about ID issues while voting. Whoa, pal, getting into a bit of denialism there, aren’t you?

Erskine-Smith, who had been a member of Parliament for a neighboring seat — or “riding,” as they’re known in Canada’s idiot nomenclature — had meant the nomination in the Scarborough Southwest riding to be “a first checkpoint en route to the party’s leadership,” according to the Oakville, Ontario, News.

One hopes he has an alternative checkpoint to start off his journey there, because he got beaten by Ahsanul Hafiz.

“After a full day of ranked ballot voting to select the riding’s Liberal candidate in the upcoming provincial byelection, Hafiz emerged victorious with 718 votes, followed by Beaches-East York Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith with 699 votes by the third ballot of the ranked count. Other candidates seeking nomination were Qadira Jackson and Mahmuda Nasrin,” Beach Metro reported Saturday.

“I’m honored to have the support of Scarborough Southwest Liberals and I’m ready to get to work,” Hafiz said after the win.

“This community deserves a strong voice at Queen’s Park that understands the challenges people are facing and is focused on delivering real results for local families.”

Hafiz came to Canada roughly 25 years ago on a student visa and is now “a businessman owning about 30 Domino’s Pizza shops across the province,” Oakville News reported. This might have actually been a good outcome otherwise, since, you know, he works for a living, as opposed to having spent most of his 40-odd years on this planet Earth just mindlessly climbing the rungs of the Liberal Party hierarchy.

However, this whole thing is rich on a number of levels, beginning with Hafiz telling his supporters that certain opportunities “do not exist” for immigrants to Canada. What, they might only have to settle for 15 Domino’s franchises?

“Like many of you, I came here as an immigrant,” he said before the voting. “Ontario is not moving forward. I want to help build the same opportunities that were available to me.”

However, Erskine-Smith is crying foul. According to the CBC, Hafiz and fellow candidate Qadira Jackson apparently struck a deal to play the ranked-choice system, urging their supporters to put the other candidate as No. 2 so that the guy who used to be in the Trudeau and Carney governments wasn’t back there.

He wasn’t leftist enough for the Liberals. Let that one sink in.

And then there’s Erskine-Smith, who said he would need to “debrief” with his team about possible fraud after the loss.

“At one table, it was 50 per cent of the people that had ID issues, saying they lost driver’s licenses and that they lived in the area, so I don’t know,” Erskine-Smith said. “It’s unfair for me to specifically speculate.”

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Canada Fast-Tracks Permanent Residency for 33,000 Rural Workers

Canada’s immigration department will accelerate permanent residence for up to 33,000 temporary foreign workers in smaller and rural communities, fast-tracking applications through a one-time initiative first flagged in last year’s federal budget.

Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab announced progress on the In-Canada Workers Initiative, which draws from existing application inventories rather than opening new intake. Eligible workers must have lived outside Canada’s major urban centres for at least two years and have applied for permanent residence through the Provincial Nominee Program, the Atlantic Immigration Program, community immigration pilots, caregiver pilots, or the AgriFood Pilot.

IRCC is targeting at least 20,000 approvals in 2026 and the remaining 13,000 in 2027. It says it is on track: 3,600 workers received permanent residence between January and February — 18% of the 2026 target — before the program was formally announced.

The initiative is part of Ottawa’s push to cut the temporary resident share to less than 5% of the total population by end of 2027, down from 6.8% in December 2025. The 33,000 target sits on top of IRCC’s existing annual PR admissions target — but with 1.49 million temporary workers in Canada as of February 2026, it covers roughly 1.3% of that population.

The Carney government inherited a system under significant strain. Under the Trudeau administration, temporary residents peaked at over 3 million by early 2025 — nearly 7% of the population — as immigration accounted for 98% of Canada’s total population growth in 2023. 

Housing prices, infrastructure pressure, and rising unemployment among young people and recent immigrants fuelled a public backlash. Trudeau himself acknowledged in October 2024 that the government “didn’t get the balance quite right,” announcing a 21% cut to permanent resident targets and, for the first time, controlled caps on temporary residents.

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