“Social media companies need to do more to prevent propaganda, and to counter any form of disinformation,” Joly said at an event at the University of Toronto’s Munk School two weeks ago. The problem is “not only happening in Russia, it’s happening on new virtual battlegrounds, which are our social media companies,” she added.
Australian Liberal Senator Alex Antic has blasted the World Economic Forum (WEF) for influencing world governments, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet.
Antic, who is a member of the conservative faction of the Liberal Party, accused the WEF and founder Klaus Schwab of being “steeped in authoritarianism and Marxist ideology.”
To advise the Heritage Minister on regulating Canada’s internet, a panel of experts, most of them academics, has been appointed. One of the government’s internet regulation plans, alongside the online censorship bill, is to create a federal internet censorship agency.
In 2021 the Canadian government turned to social media influencers to promote federal initiatives on multiple occasions, from the COVID-19 vaccine rollout to Winterlude ‘staycations,’ spending more than $600,000 in the process, according to a CTV News analysis.
Seeking out influencers—social media users often with large followings who often use their platforms to make money by promoting products or events—to amplify government messages is a relatively new strategy being deployed by administrations across the world, and Canada is no exception.
The latest official data from the Government of Canada paints an extremely concerning picture for those who have decided to succumb to three doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.
The triple vaccinated now account for the majority of Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations, and deaths. With the vaccinated population as a whole now accounting for 4 in every 5 Covid-19 deaths, all of which are among the triple and double jabbed.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez shared the news on Wednesday as he announced a newly formed panel of experts who will advise his office as it drafts the new bill.
This week, the Trudeau government unveiled a new set of unrealistic emissions reduction targets, which includes a plan to cut emissions by 40% by the year 2030 and measures targeting Canada’s oil and gas sector. Despite the fact that their climate schemes have failed time and time again, the government is doubling down and making life more expensive for all Canadians.
On Monday, Lethbridge MP Rachael Thomas was asked to weigh in after a Saskatchewan MP referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a dictator.
“According to the Oxford dictionary, a dictator is a ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained control by force,” Thomas said. “There are many Canadians that would believe, that would hold the view, that this does apply to Mr. Trudeau.”
I’ve called him far worse and will continue to do so.
Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act that serves as the government’s follow-up to Bill C-10, was the subject of debate in the House of Commons yesterday as the legislation slowly makes it way through the legislative process. There are still committee hearings to come, but it is readily apparent that many of the concerns that hamstrung Bill C-10 have returned: virtually limitless jurisdictional, overbroad scope, and harmful discoverability provisions. Further, this bill has attracted mounting criticism from Canadian digital-first creators, who note that one of Canada’s biggest cultural exports could be hurt by the bill leading to millions in lost revenues.
Especially troubling:
“The policy direction has two primary goals. First, it will focus on the importance of consultation and special consideration of the needs of equity-seeking groups. Second, the direction will make clear areas where regulation is needed, as well as areas where flexibility should be exercised.”
Canada is joining the ranks of countries and states planning to ban sales of combustion engine cars. Canada has outlined an Emissions Reduction Plan that will require all new passenger car sales to be zero-emissions models by 2035. The government will gradually ramp up pressure on automakers, requiring “at least” 20 percent zero-emissions sales by 2026 and 60 percent by 2030.
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against the largest beef suppliers in Canada for allegedly conspiring to restrict competition and raise prices on beef sold in Quebec.
The lawsuit was filed by the Belleau Lapointe law firm on March 24 in Quebec Superior Court.
It alleges that various companies related to Cargill Inc., JBS Canada ULC, Tyson Food Inc. and National Beef Packing Co LLC acted in concert to “unduly restrict competition related to the production, supply or sale of beef” in the province since Jan. 1, 2015.
The heads of major Quebec newsrooms penned an open letter Wednesday denouncing a criminal trial involving a police informant held entirely in secret and kept off the official court docket.
The existence of the trial only became public because the police informant accused in the case appealed his or her conviction, and the appeals court issued a heavily redacted ruling in late February critical of the lower court proceedings.
A letter signed by the newsroom leaders of the province’s major media outlets, including The Canadian Press, stated their indignation and deep concern over the “shadow trial” revealed in a judgment rendered by the Quebec Court of Appeal, which was first published by La Presse.
Liberal party members seem well pleased with the deal struck with the New Democrats, as well they might. The agreement solves several problems, in particular their ongoing difficulty attracting popular support in the usual manner.
Gen. Jonathan Vance, the country’s former chief of the defence staff, pleaded guilty on Wednesday morning to one count of obstruction of justice laid against him following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate behaviour first published by Global News last year.
Appearing virtually before an Ottawa courtroom, Vance entered the unprecedented plea following a year that saw the Canadian Forces embroiled in what experts have called an existential crisis over multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against senior leaders.
