In the coming days, Canada will see heightened activity in the nation’s ongoing gender identity politics debate. The “1 Million March 4 Children” protest against how gender identity is taught in schools, is set to occur on Wednesday, with synchronized events in more than 50 cities countrywide. Two days later, separate Toronto rally will spotlight two figures prominent in the gender-critical movement: Chris Elston, colloquially known as “Billboard Chris” for his distinctive method of protesting against childhood medical transition, and Josh Alexander, a Renfrew, Ontario student who was expelled earlier this year after objecting in class to his school’s transgender washroom policy.
Politics
Mountie who wrote that RCMP head interfered in N.S. investigation 'came to his own conclusions,' says Blair – CBC News
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair is casting doubt on the Nova Scotia Mountie who suggested Commissioner Brenda Lucki interfered in the investigation into the largest mass shooting in Canadian history.
The former public safety minister’s comments come as the political firestorm around the head of the national police force spills into a second day.
That explosive allegation was contained in handwritten notes from Nova Scotia RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell which were released Tuesday as part of the Mass Casualty Commission probe.
The commission is investigating the April 18-19, 2020, rampage that claimed the lives of 22 people — including a pregnant woman — and left several people injured and several homes destroyed. The commission released a report Tuesday on the way the RCMP and government communicated with the public about the incident.
WATCH | Bill Blair denies government intervened in N.S. shooting investigation:
Minister of Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair says the federal government was never involved in conversations between RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and her subordinates around the investigation into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting.
In those notes, Campbell wrote that RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki was upset that the RCMP in Nova Scotia were not revealing more information about the weapons used because she had promised the federal government — which was considering gun control legislation at the time — that they would raise it.
“The superintendent obviously came to his own conclusions and his notes reflect that,” Blair told reporters Wednesday.
“But I’m telling you, and I would tell the superintendent if I spoke to him, I made no effort to pressure the RCMP to interfere in any way with their investigation. I gave no direction as to what information they should communicate. Those are operational decisions of the RCMP and I respect that and I have respected that throughout.”
Lucki has also denied interfering in the investigation.
“As a police officer, and the RCMP commissioner, I would never take actions or decisions that could jeopardize an investigation,” Lucki wrote in a statement released Tuesday evening.
While the statement did not directly address the claim that she was pushing for the release of more information to help the Liberals’ plans for gun control, Lucki wrote that briefings with the public safety minister are necessary, particularly during a mass shooting.
“I take the principle of police independence extremely seriously, and it has been and will continue to be fully respected in all interactions,” she wrote.
Blair, who was the minister of public safety at the time of the shooting spree, said he has faith in the commissioner, who was appointed by the Liberal government in 2018.
The new public safety minister, Marco Mendicino, said he believes the “principle of operational independence” was upheld. That sets out that the RCMP commission is accountable to the minister, but operationally independent and should be free from direction or influence of elected officials when fulfilling its core law enforcement functions.
WATCH | Public safety minister on N.S. mass shooting investigation:
Marco Mendicino reacts to the Conservatives claiming that the federal Liberal government interfered with the Nova Scotia shooting investigation. Liberals deny the claims.
“Naturally, in the aftermath of this, there was a great anxiety, a great fear, a great sense of despair and anguish and loss, and Canadians had and continue to have a right to know as to what went on. So, in those moments, there will be an exchange of information,” said Mendicino Wednesday.
“There will be conversations had about what went on, and I think there is a responsibility on the part of both law enforcement and government to be upfront with Canadians which is why there needs to be exchanges of information contemporaneous to those events.”
Conservatives believe Campbell: Bergen
Conservatives are demanding an emergency debate immediately and a House of Commons committee investigation to get to the bottom of the allegations.
“This is disgusting to know that the prime minister and his office would use the death of Canadians for his own political gain,” said Interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen.
“Conservatives believe Supt. Darren Campell when he says that Brenda Lucki, the commissioner, pressured him, pressured the RCMP, and the reason she did it was because she had made a commitment or she had been pressured by the Prime Minister’s Office and/or the public safety minister.”
WATCH | Victims’ families lash out at N.S. shooting inquiry:
Family members of the N.S. shooting victims expressed their frustration about how the RCMP handled telling them about what happened to their loved ones. Meanwhile, a report questioned whether the RCMP’s top cop interfered with the release of some information because of promises to the Prime Minister’s Office.
According to Campbell’s notes, Lucki’s alleged comments came during a meeting about a week after the shootings.
During a news conference, Campbell told reporters the gunman had two semi-automatic handguns and two semi-automatic rifles.
He would not offer more details but said that some of the guns might have come from the United States and the Canada Border Services Agency was assisting with the investigation.
“The commissioner was obviously upset. She did not raise her voice but her choice of words was indicative of her overall dissatisfaction with our work,” Campbell wrote after meeting with Lucki on April 28.
“The Commissioner said she had promised the Minister of Public Safety and the Prime Minister’s Office that the RCMP (we) would release this information,” Campbell continued.
Releasing gun info might hurt case, RCMP Supt. wrote
“I tried to explain there was no intent to disrespect anyone, however we could not release this information at this time. The Commissioner then said that we didn’t understand, that this was tied to pending gun control legislation that would make officers and the public safer.”
Campbell wrote that he believed releasing information about the firearms might hamper the investigation.
“I said we couldn’t because to do so would jeopardize ongoing efforts to advance the U.S. side of the case as well as the Canadian components of the investigation,” he wrote.
Soon after that April 28 meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on some 1,500 firearm makes and models, including two of the guns used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting — a Colt Law Enforcement Carbine, a semi-automatic weapon, and a Ruger Mini-14.
WATCH | Did the government try to interfere in N.S. shooting investigation?
A report released by a public inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting suggests RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki had promised the government to release information regarding the firearms used in the tragedy. MPs Taleeb Noormohamed and Raquel Dancho weigh in.
At that time, police had still not released the specific makes and models used in the attacks. That information didn’t become public until the fall of 2020, when the National Post reported details of the weapons after obtaining a briefing note prepared for the prime minister after the shooting.
During an interview on CBC’s Power& Politics on May 1, 2020 to tout the gun ban, Blair said the RCMP would reveal more information about the weapons used in the shooting when they deemed it appropriate.
“I think most appropriately the RCMP will reveal the information of their investigation when they have concluded and at a time they deem appropriate. The RCMP, in the completion of their investigation, will at their own appropriate time reveal the details of that investigation and I’m not going to preempt them on that,” he said.
When asked if he was suggesting the weapons were legally obtained, Blair said the guns are relevant to the Liberal’s ban.
“Let me be very clear, the weapons used in this offence are very relevant to the work that we have done today,” he said. “And I believe Canadians will have a better understanding of that when that information becomes available.”
“The weapons used in this offense are very relevant to the work that we have done today.” <a href=”https://twitter.com/BillBlair?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@BillBlair</a> says Canadians will have a better understanding of how today’s gun control announcement connects to the Nova Scotia shooting when the RCMP concludes its investigation. <a href=”https://t.co/yGWZCr1aAy”>pic.twitter.com/yGWZCr1aAy</a>
—@PnPCBC
Investigators have said they believe the shooter, Gabriel Wortman, who didn’t have a firearms licence, obtained three of the guns used during the massacre in Maine and smuggled them into Canada.
Mounties ‘reduced to tears’ in meeting: Campbell
Of the meeting with Lucki, Campbell wrote that some in the room “were reduced to tears and emotional over this belittling reprimand.”
In her Tuesday statement, Lucki said she regrets her behaviour in that meeting, which she said was called to discuss several matters, including the flow of information to RCMP national headquarters and the public release of information.
“It was a tense discussion, and I regret the way I approached the meeting and the impact it had on those in attendance,” she said.
“My need for information should have been better weighed against the seriousness of the circumstances they were experiencing. I should have been more sensitive in my approach. Had I led the meeting differently, these employees would have felt more supported during what I know was an extremely difficult time.”
Lucki is expected to be called as a witness next month.
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The core issue at hand is preserving their agency and autonomy over the ideological content of their children’s education
As parents’ voices grow louder, there’s a perception in the progressive left that all of these emerging movements are rooted and inspired by “far-right” extremism. Many in leftist circles suggest that parental rights advocacy is a dog-whistle: a veiled attempt to advance anti-transgender policies. A recently leaked video from an Ontario Federation of Labour meeting offers a glimpse into how some of the province’s most influential union members perceive these protests. As one member notably stated during the meeting: “The fascists are organizing in the streets … . This is far more than a far-right transphobic protest. They’re fundamentally racist, they’re fundamentally anti-union, they are fundamentally transphobic, and it’s just a matter of time before they come for us.”
It’s a grave mistake to deride the parental collective pushing back against the status-quo as fascist sympathizers motivated by transgender hate. A glance past such alarmist rhetoric reveals that — while a fringe group of hate has always existed — the concerns many parents are championing are much more moderate than a “far-right” moniker suggests.
For many parents, the core issue at hand is preserving their agency and autonomy over the ideological content of their children’s education. They want transparency about what is being taught, the option to excuse their child from content they believe doesn’t align with their values, and the discretion to determine age-appropriateness for activities, such as certain reading material or events like drag queen performances at schools. Perhaps least surprisingly, parents want to be involved in the key decisions of their own child undergoing a social transition in the classroom.
The matter of social transition behind parents’ backs in particular is so condemning of their role in upbringing that it has thrust the entire gamut of gender identity matters into the national spotlight, revealing just how out of balance transgender accommodation has become. The manner in which the left has responded — by doubling down in their rhetoric and deriding parents as militant zealots, has played powerfully into the rapid growth of this grassroots movement.
Many parents, even amid those who will stand in protest, have little desire to limit other families’ decisions regarding gender teachings and expression for their children. They realize that their objective of ensuring their own parental autonomy is intertwined with safeguarding those same freedoms for other families as well.
So where do we go from here? What might a balanced approach to parental rights look like within the nuanced landscape of gender identity politics? Fortunately, we need not start from scratch; history offers us a model for the coexistence of diverse ideologies within our educational institutions. Look no further than religion.
Amid religious diversity, we teach acceptance. Students are taught to make space for varied faith expression among their peers, whether through clothing or other customs, and with a strong desire to maintain neutral, religious symbols are not adorned by the institution. The lesson for students is to embrace and include, even where personal beliefs diverge; Meanwhile, the guiding principle for the institution is to avoid actions that display favouritism toward any specific religious doctrine.
Such a solution could address a significant portion of the concerns fuelling the rising parental unrest. Moderate parents would applaud such an education system, and this would still be inclusive of transgender students. But in order for this to be realized, the two factions moving ever further apart will first need to come to the table and talk. Given the recent rhetoric from progressive quarters, the prospect of this dialogue anytime soon appears distant.
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A month after Global Affairs Canada told CBC News it was looking into claims that the Polish government asked one of its diplomats in Canada to gather information on a former Alberta cabinet minister, the dismissed consul general at the centre of the affair says he still hasn’t heard from the department on the matter.
Andrzej Mańkowski told CBC News the only official he has heard from is a B.C. bureaucrat who asked him to return his diplomatic licence plates and identification.
“[Officials with Global Affairs] haven’t tried talking to me,” he said.
Mańkowski showed CBC News a copy of a letter dated Aug. 31 he received from B.C.’s Chief of Protocol for Intergovernmental Relations Lucy Lobmeier asking him to turn in his identity card and to return his diplomatic plates “within 30 days of this letter.” She also thanked him for his service.
Mańkowski alleges he was dismissed from his post in late July after he refused to carry out orders from the Polish government to gather information about Thomas Lukaszuk, a former deputy premier of Alberta who often provides commentary to CBC News about the province’s politics.
“It’s clear that Polish diplomacy during Communist times, the main responsibility was to collect information, to gather information on some Polish representatives abroad,” Mańkowski said, adding he felt as if the request was a throwback to that time.
“The analogy’s extremely evident.”
Last month, Global Affairs Canada said it was taking the allegations seriously.
Spying allegations ‘out of this world’: ambassador
In August, Lukaszuk said he believed he had been targeted by Poland’s department of foreign affairs over his activism against a controversial Polish pastor, Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, who has private radio and television stations in Poland.
Rydzyk, who has ties to the Polish government, has been criticized for delivering sermons featuring homophobic and anti-Semitic views and for preaching against the European Union.
Lukaszuk also shared what he said were encrypted messages Polish government officials sent to Mańkowski asking him over the course of a year to prepare notes on the former Alberta politician.
CBC News has not independently verified these messages were official government communications. Mańkowski did not dispute their veracity in his interview.
“Asking for my opinion about Lukaszuk was just a kind of trap, was just a political test of my loyalty,” he said.
Poland’s Ambassador to Canada Witold Dzielski called the allegation “totally absurd.”
“The idea of Polish diplomacy spying on a former provincial politician … it’s really out of this world,” Dzielski said.
He said he has never met Lukaszuk and did not know of his previous career in politics before Lukaszuk emailed him about an unrelated consular matter long before the reports about Mańkowski came out.
Dzielski said that if the notes cited by Lukaszuk are real, they were leaked illegally because they would constitute private diplomatic communications.
The affair has captured attention in Polish media, where the story first broke.
In July, Polish opposition politicians cited the messages released by Lukaszuk when they asked Piotr Wawrzyk, a secretary of state in the government’s foreign affairs department, whether Mańkowski was dismissed because he refused to spy on Lukaszuk.
In reply, Wawrzyk said the government could recall a diplomat who refused to carry out an assignment.
Wawrzyk, who was also a deputy foreign minister, has since been fired himself over an unrelated matter both local media outlets and Reuters have linked to a clandestine scheme awarding migrants visas in exchange for cash.
On Saturday, The Associated Press noted he had been hospitalized following an apparent sucide attempt.
“The minister, Wawrzyk, was laid off because of a totally different subject,” Dzielski said.
He pointed out that those documents were cited by opposition politicians in the context of a heated election campaign.
Dzielski� also said it’s normal for diplomats to be asked to gather information on notable members of diaspora communities.
‘A very marginal conversation’
“We are working very closely with them,” he said. “It is obvious and natural, and it is an element of diplomatic workshops, that we provide and we build ourselves opinions about the quality of cooperation with particular actors.”
He said Global Affairs has spoken to him about the allegations. “We had a very marginal conversation on this which reflects the level of seriousness of this topic,” he said.
A NATO member, Poland has worked closely with Canada to help out its neighbour Ukraine ever since Russia launched its full-scale invasion last year.
Asked for comment, Global Affairs said in a media statement it “continues to work closely with security and intelligence community partners to assess the situation and identify next steps as appropriate.”
The department said last month it had contacted Lukaszuk and that it took the responsibility of protecting Canadians from “transnational repression” very seriously.
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The Current20:05Putting politics aside to tackle the housing crisis
Political leaders of all stripes must find a way to work together to solve the housing and climate crises impacting Canadians, says former Conservative MP Lisa Raitt.
“Toronto is the best example. NDP mayor, provincial premier who’s Conservative, federal Liberal who’s the prime minister,” said Raitt, co-lead of the new non-governmental Task Force for Housing and Climate, which launched Tuesday.
“And if they don’t figure this out, one voter is going to punish them all.”
The new task force is concerned with accelerating the construction of new homes, while ensuring that’s done in a sustainable way. In a press release, the group of former city mayors, planners, developers, economists and affordable housing advocates said it intends to convene until April 2024 to develop policy recommendations. The work is supported by the Clean Economy Fund, a charitable foundation.
Raitt held several senior cabinet posts under former prime minister Stephen Harper. But as co-lead of the task force, Raitt said she won’t engage in the political partisanship that she thinks “poisons the well” around these issues.
“Part of the reason why we’re coming together as the task force is to have a real pragmatic and practical conversation about these issues instead of weaponizing it into a political arena, and finger pointing back and forth,” she told The Current’s Matt Galloway.
Justin Trudeau announced funding to build more housing in London, Ont., as he and Liberal MPs kicked off their caucus retreat. The agreement comes as the government faces growing pressure to help make housing more affordable.
Canada needs to build an extra 3.5 million new units by the end of the decade, over and above what’s already in the works, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. A report this week showed rental costs have increased 9.6 per cent from Aug. 2022 to 2023, to an average now of $2,117 a month.
This week, the federal government announced it would cut the federal goods and services tax (GST) from the construction of new rental apartments, in an effort to spur new development. The Liberal government also pledged $74 million to build thousands of homes in London, Ont., — the first in what it hopes will be a series of agreements to accelerate housing construction.
Speaking in London on Wednesday, Housing Minister Sean Fraser called on municipalities to “legalize housing,” urging them to remove “sluggish permit-approval processes” and zoning obstacles if they expect federal investment in housing construction.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre took aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s housing plans Thursday, saying the Liberal government’s ‘inflationary deficits’ and ‘taxes and bureaucracy’ are holding back construction of new homes.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized the government’s plans as not going far enough, while pointing out it echoes some of his party’s proposals. He’s proposed measures that tie federal funding to the number of housing starts. Funding would be withheld from cities that fail to increase the number of homes built by 15 per cent, while cities that pass that threshold would receive bonuses.
Poilievre’s proposals also include a “NIMBY” fine on municipalities that block construction because of opposition from local residents, and the sale of 15 per cent of federally owned buildings so the land can be used to build affordable homes.
Don Iveson, former mayor of Edmonton and co-lead of the task force, said he understands why partisan politics can creep into the debate — but Canadians expect more.
He said the task force intends “to help all orders of government” understand what’s needed to tackle these problems from an economic, technical and planning perspective.
“We’re not going to be able to solve the housing crisis [by] building housing the way we built it for the last several generations,” said said Iveson, who was mayor of Edmonton from 2013 to 2021.
Your kids need a place to live: Raitt
Iveson said the challenge of scaling up housing construction will require some new ways of thinking.
That might mean a greater emphasis on automation and building houses from components prefabricated off-site, which he described as “essentially a more factory approach” that could also reduce construction costs.
Raitt said the task force will examine where houses are built, and in what kind of density, to ensure scaling up can “get the most bang for the buck.”
That might mean Canadians might need to have difficult conversations, including whether to build multi-storey buildings instead of single-family homes.
Raitt said older Canadians who already own their own homes might not like the idea of taller buildings going up around them, but they should speak to their kids about it.
CBC’s Sohrab Sandhu reports on an unorthodox strategy where some people are deciding to buy homes with strangers.
“They don’t care if it’s going to be four, six storeys in a residential neighbourhood. They just want a place that they know that they can purchase,” she said.
“Talk about whether or not our kids are going to have a place to live, let alone rent, let alone own, let alone a house in the communities where they were brought up, because right now it’s not looking so good.”
Counting the cost of climate change
When it comes to climate change and sustainability, the task force’s goals come down to a “very simple equation,” Raitt said.
“Whatever we’re building now is going to be here in 2050. So if it’s going to be part of the calculation of our net-zero aspirations, whatever they’re going to be,” she said.
She said the task force will work to formulate ways to build housing that take emissions into account, but don’t include prohibitive costs that slow down the rate of construction.
“It’s going to be a little bit more costly to build with climate indications built in … but you’ve got to make sure that there’s policies surrounding that to make sure it still makes it affordable,” she said.
Officials say the fire, which is burning out of control as of Monday morning, is expected to grow.
Iveson said wildfires, floods, heat domes and extreme weather events are already disrupting the economy, as well as posing huge financial burdens for the Canadians caught up in them.
“Climate change is already costing us a fortune,” he told Galloway.
Building without those climate considerations “maybe seems affordable in the short term, but it’s false economy when it comes to the real costs ahead of us,” he said.
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