‘There’s an opportunity to divorce themselves’: Strategists weigh in on future of Liberal-NDP deal

With NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh putting the Liberals “on notice” that it could be a deal breaker if they don’t deliver on a pharmacare framework by March 1, the weekly panel of political strategists on CTV’s Question Period weigh in on the future of the parties’ confidence-and-supply agreement.

The deal — inked in the spring of 2022 — sees the NDP prop up the Liberals until 2025 in exchange for progress on key policy issues, such as pharmacare.

The parties had initially set the deadline for tabling pharmacare framework legislation for the end of last year, but in December, they pushed back that cut-off date to March 1.

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Does Canada Exist?

“An evil man will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.” —Sun Tsu

Major Russ Cooper, CEO of Canadian Citizens for Charter Rights and Freedoms, puts the question succinctly. “How could it be that the country that once called itself ‘strong and free’ could have fallen so far from grace? The fact that it has done so is evidenced by a plethora of instances that have put a new national coarseness and vacuity on display.”

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Feds Gave Over $144 Million to International Organizations for Climate Change Programs

The federal government has given over $144 million to international organizations, including the United Nations, for the “purpose of fighting climate change” since 2017.

“Canada’s International Climate Finance Program aims to support low and middle-income countries already affected by climate change in their transition to sustainable, low-carbon, climate-resilient, nature-positive and inclusive development,” states part of Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) Jan. 29 response to Conservative MP Cheryl Gallant’s Inquiry of Ministry.

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19 point Conservative lead over Liberals in Abacus poll says Justin Trudeau’s attacks on Pierre Poilievre not working

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals keep taking punches at Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, but a new poll suggests they aren’t landing.

The Abacus Data survey, provided exclusively to the Star, suggests a 19-point lead for the Conservatives over the governing Liberals, with the support of 43 per cent of those polled compared to 24 per cent.

The three-point jump for the Tories since the last time Abacus surveyed comes as its latest poll shows the government’s approval rating is down by four percentage points, with 59 per cent of respondents saying they disapprove of the job Trudeau’s government is doing.

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Another ‘beer tax’ increase is coming on April 1, amid calls to cancel it

It is no April Fools’ joke. On April 1, a federal tax increase on alcohol sometimes known as the “beer tax” is scheduled to come into effect, meaning Canadians could soon pay more for their alcoholic beverage of choice.

A Conservative MP is calling on the Canadian government to stop the raise.

The alcohol excise tax is set to go up by 4.7 per cent, which Kelowna-Lake Country MP Tracy Gray says will cost Canadians about $100 million extra in 2024-25.

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On immigration, the sum of Canada’s special interests is not the national interest

… Ottawa fostered a parallel immigration system that is now far larger than the traditional, permanent immigration system. And unlike the regular immigration system’s economic-immigration stream, the focus is on low-wage labour. The impact is seen in falling gross domestic product per capita and rental housing prices rising much faster than the rate of inflation. Both have the effect of lowering living standards, particularly for low- and middle-income Canadians.

No other developed country is pursuing a policy anything like this.

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Jack Mintz: Canada has lost $225 billion in foreign investment since 2016

According to the OECD, Canada was the third largest recipient of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in the first three quarters of 2023 (at US$42 billion), behind only the United States and Brazil. Does that mean Canada is doing well attracting capital, as the federal government has argued? Not really. Not if you consider outflows, too.

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Trudeau says he’s furious over Bell Media layoffs, calling it a ‘garbage decision’

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is trash-talking BCE Inc.’s widespread layoffs, calling the cuts a “garbage decision.”

Trudeau says he’s furious over Bell Media’s decision to end multiple television newscasts and that the corporation should know better.

The outlet made program cuts Thursday after its parent company announced job reductions and the sale of 45 of its 103 regional radio stations.

I’m sure Bell will maintain their current high standard of sycophantic coverage.

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Is a waning Canadian dream fuelling reverse migration in Punjab?

Canada has long been a draw for people from India’s Punjab province seeking new opportunities elsewhere. But has the Canadian dream soured?

It’s hard to miss the ardour of Punjab’s migrant ambitions when driving through its fertile rural plains.

Billboards promising easy immigration to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK jut out through ample mustard fields.

Off the highways, consultancies offer English language coaching to eager youth.

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Liberal, Bloc, NDP MPs suspend ArriveCan hearings after reading ‘scary’ secret report

Liberal, Bloc Québécois and NDP MPs suddenly suspended parliamentary hearings related to ArriveCan and contracting misconduct allegations Wednesday after reading what one Liberal described as a “scary” secret preliminary report by a federal investigator.

They say any further hearings could put at risk investigations by the Canada Border Services Agency, which produced the report, and the RCMP.

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On ArriveCan, Conservatives switch from prosecution to defence

In the long, strange series of hearings into the ArriveCan app, one of the most peculiar twists is that Conservative MPs have switched sides from prosecution to defence.

In November, when senior civil servant Cameron MacDonald appeared at hearings, Conservative MPs pounced. Now they are his defenders – and attacking investigators for treating him unfairly.

Mr. MacDonald had been a director-general of IT innovation at the Canada Border Services Agency when the ArriveCan project started in 2020.

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Trudeau Foundation probe can’t rule out possibility Chinese donations part of ‘influence scheme’ targeting Ottawa

A law firm hired by the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation to investigate donations tied to two wealthy Chinese businessmen said it couldn’t rule out the possibility cash sent to the Montreal charity may have been part of a “influence scheme” targeting the Trudeau government.

The probe concluded the foundation’s handling of tax receipts related to the Chinese donations violated the Income Tax Act, and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s brother, Alexandre, broke internal rules and policies by the accepting the $200,000 donation pledge, which he was not authorized to do.

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No Canadian Is Free. Justin Trudeau’s Political Prisoners Are the Proof

Two of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s political prisoners were released yesterday after two years in custody. In what is the biggest judicial scandal in recent Canadian history, the Trudeau government arrested four men from Coutts, Alberta, known as the Coutts Four, for participating in the Truckers Freedom Convoy. The men were held without bail on trumped up charges of “conspiracy to murder police officers.” Two of those men, Jerry Morin and Chris Lysak, now walk free, having plead guilty to lesser gun charges. The other two, Chris Carbert, Anthony Olienick, will resume pre-trial hearings on Feb. 20.

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Canada Must End Reliance on Cheap Foreign Labor, Minister Says

Canada’s immigration minister is taking steps to curb the country’s dependence on temporary foreign labor and international students, prompting pushback from business groups that say there aren’t enough domestic workers available to sustain parts of the economy.

Marc Miller introduced a limit on foreign student visas last month, cutting them by 35% for this year. He will announce further changes soon to restrict students’ off-campus work hours and he’s also reviewing the country’s temporary foreign worker program, he told Bloomberg News in an interview.


They said the same thing when the Temporary Foreign Worker program was exposed under Harpe.

It’s even worse under Trudeau. They’ll announce a short term lowering of the numbers and call it problem solved.

It’s all BULLSHIT. The foreign student and temp worker programs along with asylum seekers and family reunification intake are sideshows.

Until they lower the immigration intake of 500K a year it will only get worse.

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Tory MP Says Canada Border Agency Asked RCMP to Investigate ArriveCan Development for Fraud, Bribery

The Canada Border Services Agency asked the RCMP to investigate criminal charges for fraud and bribery related to the ArriveCan application, according to a confidential federal report obtained by a Conservative MP.

Conservative MP Larry Brock read portions of the confidential document compiled by Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) management into the record of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates (OGGO) on Feb. 5. The Epoch Times has not independently verified the information.

I wonder what Justin’s cut was?

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