Jump while you still can, little buddy 🐀 !
"A senior government official told The Globe ahead of the Wednesday caucus meeting that the Prime Minister’s message to his MPs is expected to be that he will remain leader and they can choose whether they want to get behind him or leave." https://t.co/EJWJuHkYIo
— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) October 23, 2024
Since losing a byelection in the Toronto—St. Paul’s riding, a longtime Liberal stronghold, Trudeau has faced simmering discontent in his caucus, although it hasn’t quite erupted into public view. Some Liberal MPs have been organizing behind-the-scenes to confront Trudeau and urge him to resign, targeting Wednesday’s caucus meeting as the best opportunity to do so.
Chris Selley – How to fire a party leader who won’t leave
Assuming he is actually reading these reports now.
Blacklocks- PM Promises To Do His Work
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a sworn statement to the Commission on Foreign Interference says he now starts his work week by reading 45 minutes’ worth of security memos every Monday morning. The statement follows criticism Trudeau ignored explicit warnings Chinese Communist Party agents posed an “existential threat to Canadian democracy.”
HAPPENING NOW: Chrystia Freeland deflects questions about the ongoing Trudeau Liberals caucus revolt by talking about bannock and jam. pic.twitter.com/wgL1dTDIg2
— Alex Zoltan (@AmazingZoltan) October 18, 2024
Desperate times call for desperate accusations.
In a dramatic turn at Canada’s foreign interference inquiry today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that he possesses a list naming a number of past and present Conservative parliamentarians whom he claims are engaged in foreign interference.
Trudeau took aim at Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s decision not to seek top-level security clearance, suggesting that this amounted to a “willful” disregard of compromise threats within Poilievre’s party, which is poised to defeat Trudeau in an upcoming election, according to recent polls.
In an explosive cross-examination this afternoon, Conservative lawyer Nando De Luca pushed back, accusing Trudeau of irresponsible grandstanding.
The stunning testimony saw Trudeau assert earlier in the day:
“I have the names of a number of parliamentarians, former parliamentarians, and or candidates in the Conservative Party of Canada who are engaged, or at high risk of, or for whom there is clear intelligence around foreign interference.”
Trudeau added that he has “directed CSIS and others to try and inform the Conservative Party leader, to be warned, to be able to make decisions that protect the integrity of that party, of its members, from activities around foreign interference.”
Conservative Party lawyer Nando De Luca hit back, questioning Trudeau about whether he was aware of any Liberal politicians implicated in the same way.
Trudeau responded bluntly, “Yes,” and later pointed to “Don Valley North.”
“In your testimony earlier today, you mentioned knowing the names of past and present Conservative parliamentarians who are at risk of being compromised by foreign interference. Are you aware of any Liberal parliamentarians at risk?”
“Yes, and for other parties as well, because I have access to large amounts of information.”
Poilievre responds: “Release the names of all MPs that have collaborated with foreign interference.”
For the first time, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has testified on his view of two explosive Canadian intelligence reports, including the “Targeting Paper,” which described how Chinese diplomats assessed Canadian MPs based on how helpful or hurtful they could be to Beijing. Trudeau confirmed that this report was not shared with him by his key security advisor, Jody Thomas.
Additionally, Trudeau addressed three memos starting in 2019 that intended to brief him on foreign interference threats, all of which he claimed never reached his desk, with the intended briefings for Parliamentarians, which he was requested to authorize, only occurring in June 2024.
The inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s elections has uncovered deep, ongoing divisions between Trudeau’s top aides and Canada’s intelligence community, with particular focus on two pivotal reports: the CSIS Targeting Paper and the PCO January 2022 Special Report. These documents, which detail how Beijing has sought to influence Canadian politics, have become central to understanding how the government responded—or failed to respond—to the growing threat of interference. […]
However, Trudeau acknowledged that despite some “interesting tidbits” in the report, his National Security Intelligence Advisor (NSIA) had decided not to pass it on to him in 2021, deeming it not significantly relevant to his understanding of China’s behavior. “I have faith, having looked at the paper, that it was indeed the right decision by the National Security Intelligence Advisor—that it wasn’t a document that significantly added in a relevant way to my understanding of the situation.”
The actual contents of this paper are unknown, and blocked from the Commission by Trudeau’s Attorney General.
WATCH: Katie Telford and Brian Clow from Trudeau's PMO were testifying before the Foreign Interference Inquiry.
It's a long clip but worth it.
Lawyer Nando de Luca is asking about the 54 day delay in approving the warrant. They are arrogant, dismissive and disdainful. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/YhGH1YMoad— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) October 16, 2024
From @SheilaGunnReid: Trudeau blames CSIS for THREE memos advising unclassified briefings for parliamentarians on foreign interference languishing without action in HIS office FOR 5 YEARS.
Defence Minister Bill Blair says he cannot explain why his office waited nearly two months to approve a security warrant placing Liberal Party organizers under surveillance over suspicious contacts with members of the Chinese Communist Party. “I agree I was at all times responsible,” Blair testified at the Commission on Foreign Interference: “Was this a politically sensitive warrant?”
Oh look! Over there!!!
And an official statement from the Honourable Member For Air India.
Challenging times for amicable relations between India and Canada:
India has strongly rejected Canada’s allegations linking top Indian diplomats to an investigation in their country, calling it a “political agenda of the Trudeau government”. India-Canada ties have been strained since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed last year that “Indian agents” were involved in terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s killing. India has rejected the claim multiple times in the past. In a statement today, the central government said Canada has not shared a “shred of evidence” with India and that the charges were centered around the Trudeau government’s “vote bank politics”.
HAPPENING NOW: As Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc watch on with horrified expressions, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau alleges the Indian gov't of being a "threat to public safety" in what appears like a bizarre exercise in misdirection. pic.twitter.com/7GzXw5CtqC
— Alex Zoltan (@AmazingZoltan) October 14, 2024
“Mr Trudeau, the caucus is revolting.”
Many Liberal MPs who once thought they might survive on their own popularity are now facing the reality that they will lose their jobs because of the unpopularity of the same leader who helped them win back in 2015.
Liberal MPs were told at that 2022 caucus that there was a plan to turn things around. They were told the same thing when they met last month in Nanaimo, B.C., for this year’s summer caucus retreat. Indeed, applause could be heard from the closed-door meeting in the room at the conference centre in downtown Nanaimo when Trudeau’s director of strategic communications, Max Valiquette, presented his marketing plan for the months ahead.
Now many of those MPs complain that nothing was done after the St. Andrews meetings. And nothing has been done since Nanaimo.
The complainers say there has been no promised communications campaign, no change in policies, and no change in the way the PM and his senior aides interact with caucus. […]
Last Wednesday, while Trudeau was out of the country, the chair of the Atlantic caucus, Nova Scotia’s Kody Blois, startled the weekly national caucus meeting by declaring that Atlantic MPs had just come from a “a difficult but frank discussion about the future of the party” and then he simply walked out of the closed-door national caucus meeting.
New York Times- One of the World’s Most Immigrant-Friendly Countries Is Changing Course
Gurpartap Singh Toor, a local councilor for Brampton and the broader region of Peel, arrived in Canada in 2011 as a migrant. He said the large numbers of newcomers had stretched resources. The health infrastructure in Brampton — one hospital and a smaller medical center — is insufficient for the population of around 700,000, Mr. Toor said. Housing availability and costs, he said, have been worsening, partly because unscrupulous landlords rent out small properties to multiple students, charging them hundreds of dollars each and pricing out local families.
The Times- Where did it all go wrong for Justin Trudeau?
After nine years in office, the Canadian prime minister’s approval rate has plummeted and voters are calling for his resignation
… an administrative assistant at everyone’s favourite company, 9229477 Canada Inc.
Blacklock’s- Not Inflation
Cabinet proposed renaming inflation as “heat-flation” to persuade Canadians to associate the rising cost of living with climate change, documents show. The idea polled badly.
The survey was commissioned under an $814,741 contract with The Strategic Counsel, a Toronto pollster.
Blacklock’s- Gov’t Buys “Social Cohesion”
“The crisis in local journalism is a threat to social cohesion,” said the report. It praised the Local Journalism Initiative, a fund offering 100 percent rebates for the hiring of reporters at a $19.6 million annual cost. The subsidy is separate from a $595 million bailout that pays a maximum $29,750 yearly rebate per employees of government-approved newsrooms.
“What are they going to do?” asked Jolly, a Toronto freelancer. “Are they going to work at Home Hardware? I don’t think that is really befitting of treating people with professionalism.”
Globe and Mail- Ottawa heads to court to fight class-action lawsuit over unsafe drinking water on First Nations
Three years after Ottawa settled two class-action lawsuits over unsafe drinking water on First Nations for $8-billion, government lawyers will appear in Federal Court this week to fight a third class action that could add another $1-billion to the government’s ballooning First Nations water bill.
Gateway Pundit- Controversial Support for Children’s Sex Education by Trudeau: How Far Can Indoctrination Go?
The book is aimed at children aged 8 to 10 and addresses highly explicit topics such as masturbation, oral sex, genital size, and various gender identities.
National Post- Liberals have turned Canada into a country that rewards terrorism
In the year since October 7, anti-Israel protests continue to flood streets, and the Liberals are angling to recognize Palestinian statehood
Blacklock’s- Gov’t Was Warned 163 Times
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other federal officials were warned 163 separate times of foreign interference over a six-year period, China inquiry records show. Trudeau as late as 2023 denied he was ever told of illegal activity by foreign agents.
The 163 meetings covered the period from August 1, 2018 to March 15, 2024. “This list does not include additional ad hoc meetings that may have occurred,” said the document. “These are planned formal briefings.”
No one cares when they can barely speak English;
… it’s really quite strange that [Governor General] Simon headed to the Quebec City area last week for some public events, despite her French having apparently improved not much at all in three years — or at least, not to an extent she is willing to use it in public. (In December last year, Simon told Radio-Canada she had received 184 hours of French lessons. Over the weekend she told CTV News that she can, in fact, carry on a brief conversation in French.)
It was weirder still that Simon cancelled the remainder of her Quebec City itinerary after journalists noticed she wasn’t speaking French.