ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Politics

    • Tom Mulcair: When you're cornered and need to stall, you name a committee. Trudeau is following that rule.

    Share

    It appears that Justin Trudeau’s coverup of Chinese government interference in Canadian elections is going to drag on, at least for a while. 

    In government (any government) there’s a golden rule: when you’re cornered and need to stall, you name a committee.

    Justin Trudeau is following that rule in naming a "special rapporteur." A high sounding but empty announcement that will not allow Canadians to get to the bottom of exactly what the Chinese Communist Party may have orchestrated to influence our elections. 

    Having thus far refused to take any serious action to investigate Beijing’s interference in our fundamental democratic institutions, Trudeau is now trying to get the heat off himself, by delegating what should be his own job as head of government, to someone else. 

    Trudeau says that it’s the special rapporteur who’ll decide whether or not there should be a full inquiry into Chinese government meddling in our democracy. What an unprecedented abandonment of responsibility by Trudeau! 

    In answer to a French question, Trudeau let the cat out of the bag when he said that maybe the special rapporteur will decide that the best way to look at foreign interference in our elections is NOT to have an inquiry!

    The whole thing appears to be an exercise in sleight of hand that nobody, except other members of his Liberal government, is buying. 

    During his announcement, Pablo Rodriguez, Melanie Joly and Dominic LeBlanc stood beside Trudeau like potted plants and didn’t  say a single word.

    Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Monday, March 6, 2023. Trudeau is calling on the committee of parliamentarians that reviews matters of national security and the national intelligence watchdog to independently investigate concerns about foreign interference in Canada. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

    Probably better for them and their future careers. Marco Mendicino got, literally, a big pat on the back from JustinTrudeau for helping to run interference during the news conference. 

    While 70 per cent of Canadians are  troubled by the CSIS reports about Chinese interference in our elections, Trudeau has used one of his own favourite tactics: double down. 

    Everyone is saying the same thing? Trudeau tells them they’re all wrong in his patented teacher-talking-to-a-child tone. 

    Where Trudeau really pushes his luck and undermines his own announcement is when he says that the members of the panel that looked at the last election were independent. They were his employees! 

    If his special rapporteur is as independent as them, Trudeau is wasting everyone’s time. 

    Of course the worst part was when he tried to say that Morris Rosenberg, who wrote the recent review of the panel’s work, was also independent.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had occasion to work with Rosenberg at l'Universite de Montreal and he’s outstanding. But Rosenberg also headed-up the Pierre Trudeau Foundation for years, not exactly a reassuring sign of independence from this Trudeau. 

    One of the lead journalists of the series of articles on the CSIS reports of Chinese government interference, Robert Fife, was asked by last week why he thought Trudeau was trying so hard to block a full inquiry. Fife’s answer was unambiguous: because a full inquiry could hurt Trudeau and the Liberals. 

    But if the Conservatives think that there’s no downside to going after Trudeau, then they missed one important detail in Trudeau’s meandering press conference.  

    When Trudeau intones about the grave dangers of “xenophobia and fear mongering,†he knows exactly what he’s doing. It’s a game invented by the Liberals and like the proverbial fly, Poilievre should avoid this particular invitation to enter the spider’s parlour. 

    The Liberals know how to handle every fold and angle they’ve woven into the Canadian multiculturalism web without getting trapped. Critics railed when Trudeau proclaimed that Canada is now a post-national country. He was stating an emerging demographic and sociological fact that is insufficiently understood. 

    The realities of diaspora politics, from radio stations and social media targeting cultural communities in their home language, to well-oiled schemes to influence and cajole during elections and leadership races, are now part and parcel of Canadian institutional life. 

    The role of diasporas in bringing about change is now an area of serious study. Canadian academic Dr. Matthew H. Godwin is a program lead at the and his recently published shows the importance  of understanding the phenomenon. 

    The Conservatives are a very blunt instrument trying to till this fertile electoral soil. Since Jason Kenney left Ottawa, there has been no one in the blue ranks who knows the contours and the far reaches of our country’s numerous ethnocultural landscape. 

    Trudeau is virtue signaling to the nearly two million Canadians of Chinese origin that he’s on their side. Everytime someone says “Chinese†and not “Chinese government†he knows what to do: defend those individual Canadians who may indeed feel targeted. 

    It’s been that way with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Canadians. Most already distrust Poilievre because of the horrible statements he made on the very day of the residential schools apology in Parliament. He has since apologized for those, but his recent visit to the , with its own history of downplaying the genocide of the residential school system, has left most of their 1.5 million votes on the Liberal side of the ledger. 

    So, too, for many Muslim Canadians.The debacle surrounding the appointment of Amira Elghawaby may have hurt Trudeau in Quebec, in the Muslim community many see him as having stood up for them. Poilievre’s strident tone may well have been taken personally. The Muslim community also represents nearly two million votes. 

    Three Conservative MPs have lunch with a German Euro-MP and Holocaust denier and Poilievre throws them under the bus, only to be reprimanded by members of the hard right media who usually idolize him.

    , the respected  lobby of Canada’s Jewish community, blew the whistle on the meeting which is really bad news for Poilievre, who’d worked assiduously to maintain Harper’s excellent rapport with that community. 

    Trudeau is just waiting patiently as the Conservatives keep helping the Bloc Quebecois stall . Despite its flaws, that law is largely seen by the one million Francophones outside Quebec as an important and helpful updating of The Official languages Act. Polievre could wind up losing any hope of getting their support as well. 

    You can’t throw millions of votes in the wastebasket and hope to win an election. The math just doesn’t hold. Poilievre may revile the mainstream media, but he’s losing the votes of mainstream Canadians. 

    Trudeau’s press conference announcing his special rapporteur turned rapidly partisan with potshots at both Harper (didn’t he leave politics?) and, of course, Poilievre himself. 

    That, indeed, is what this is all about: partisan politics. 

    Trudeau is trying to remove debris from the runway so he can launch an election sooner, rather than later. This is a big piece of debris. 

    Earlier during the day on Monday, Poilievre held his own news conference to introduce private a member’s bill to ban medical assistance in dying in cases of mental illness. 

    The Liberals had already punted that one forward, but Poilievre wasn’t going to let that stop him. He knows it’s a live-wire issue for many voters and he will do whatever he can to keep it active, the better to be seen fighting it. 

    Everyone is positioning right now. 

    Trudeau’s window for calling an election has been narrowing. He’s well into his eighth year in power. 

    A revised electoral map will soon be adopted and it provides for the creation of new ridings, including several in Alberta. Those are expected to go to the Conservatives. However, if Trudeau calls the election less than seven months after the adoption of the new map, it’s the old electoral map that will still apply in the next election. That math is tempting for the Big Red Machine. 

    Lost in all of these partisan calculations, of course, is the fact that there is already sufficient information that there were indeed Chinese government activities that sought to influence the outcome in numerous ridings.

    The issue of Chinese government interference is, in many ways, a useful distraction to help keep voters’ minds off the 28 per cent increase in the civil service and $20 billion a year in outsourcing since Trudeau became prime minister. Who knew that competence could be an electoral issue? 

    But Canadians don’t want to be distracted, they want Trudeau to defend our democracy. That begins with a full inquiry into exactly what happened during the last election so it can never happen again by any country and with any diaspora community. 

    Anything less than a full inquiry is an abdication of responsibility by Trudeau.

    Tom Mulcair was the leader of the federal New Democratic Party of Canada between 2012 and 2017

    IN DEPTH

    Opinion

    opinion

    opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster

    A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?

    opinion

    opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

    When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

    CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

    The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

    An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

    Canada

    • In the middle of the small crowd — near the tents, the lineup of kids awaiting face painting, the snack table — stood a jubilant Chiara Padovani. 'When I say 'tenant, you say 'power,'' she commanded to several dozen tenants, who chanted back with gusto. What looked like a summer block party in front of two north-end Toronto apartment buildings last month was a celebration of what renters who withheld payments for months called a 'huge victory.'

    • The University of Ottawa's special advisor on antisemitism says he has resigned following posts he made on social media celebrating the pager explosions in Lebanon this week.

    • B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

    • Friends and strangers have set up a makeshift memorial outside the home of a five-year-old boy who was found dead yesterday in Coteau-du-lac.

    • The lawyer for a B.C. RCMP officer convicted of obstruction for telling a witness to delete cellphone video following the violent 2017 arrest of Dale Culver has requested a stay of proceedings.

    World

    Politics

    Health

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

    • Lawyers representing the producers of 'Russians at War' say they may pursue legal action against Ontario's public broadcaster for pulling support for the controversial documentary amid outcry from the Ukrainian community and some Canadian politicians.

    • Viewers of Jeopardy got a chance to test their knowledge of trivia about B.C.'s biggest city Wednesday night.

    Business

    Lifestyle

    • They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

    Sports

    • Vancouver Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko says he's been working his way back from a rare lower-body muscle injury since being sidelined in last season's playoffs.

    • Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette returned to the 10-day injured list Thursday due to a right middle finger fracture.

    Autos

    • An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

    • Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.

    • The plant was expected to produce batteries for a million electric vehicles a year. Once up and running, it was supposed to create hundreds of permanent jobs in a small southeastern Ontario municipality. But two years later, spending on the construction of the Umicore plant has been delayed in what the company calls a "significant worsening of the EV market context."

    Local Spotlight

    They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

    Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

    The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

    The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

    It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

    A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

    David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

    Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

    A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.

    • B.C.'s police watchdog is investigating the death of a woman who was shot by the RCMP after allegedly barricading herself in a room with a toddler early Thursday morning.

    • Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.

    • The 'Namgis First Nation says a fish farm it owns near Port McNeill shows the potential of land-based aquaculture in B.C.

    • For the last seven-and-half months, Toronto resident Heather McArthur has been living out what she describes as her “worst nightmare.â€

    • An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

    • Toronto police say a driver who crashed into a house in the city’s west end early Friday morning has been arrested on suspicion of impaired driving.

    • Defence counsel for accused murderer John-Christopher Arrizza argues he was in an “altered state of mind†due to days of drug and alcohol use, sleep deprivation and not eating, when he fatally stabbed a man at a Banff nightclub in 2022.

    • The Parole Board of Canada says a man who assaulted a young pregnant woman and left her for dead remains too dangerous to be released into the community.

    • Five bison are dead at Elk Island National Park east of Edmonton following an early Thursday morning collision.

    • BREAKING NEWS

      BREAKING NEWS

      A man has been taken to hospital in life-threatening condition following a stabbing incident that happened on Baseline Road in the early hours of Friday morning, according to the Ottawa Paramedic Service.

    • Police say a man who was taken to hospital in critical condition after being shot Thursday night has died.

    • Higher than average temperatures are in the forecast for Ottawa this Friday.

    • The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.

    • Premier François Legault's approval rating continued to rise this summer, according to the Angus Reid Institute. After reaching a low at the end of 2023, his support rose by three percentage points over the summer to 39 per cent.

    • A harrowing video has been presented to a jury at the trial of three men facing first-degree murder charges.

    • Five bison are dead at Elk Island National Park east of Edmonton following an early Thursday morning collision.

    • An Edmonton man who is charged with sexually assaulting a teen boy is a member of the Alberta sheriffs, CTV News Edmonton has confirmed.

    • The mayor of Fort Saskatchewan apologized on Thursday for comments she made earlier this week about killing feral cats.

    • Gas prices increased in all three Maritime provinces for the first time in more than a month.

    • A section of Herring Cove Road in the Spryfield area of Halifax is closed to traffic in both directions following a single-vehicle collision Friday morning.

    • Police are asking people to avoid the Dartmouth Commons area in Dartmouth, N.S., as they assist with a wildlife call for a bear.

    • Manitobans are continuing to mop up after a deluge of rain hit southern Manitoba earlier in the week.

    • Shamattawa RCMP are searching for a missing six-year-old boy who hasn’t been seen since Wednesday morning.

    • A Winnipeg pet rescue is putting out a warning to dog owners across the city about a possible parvovirus in the province.

    • A social media post of purple apples “growing†in Saskatchewan has sparked a lot of attention. However, garden experts say there's no such thing.

    • A case involving stolen funds from a Saskatchewan business being used to purchase cryptocurrency will be heading back to the courts, thanks to a new decision by Saskatchewan's Court of Appeal.

    • Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) has confirmed a tornado touched down Wednesday evening near Langbank, Sask.

    • Amber and Adam Brueckner have a pool-shaped hole in their backyard – and their wallets.

    • New details have been shared about a missing family that was last seen on Sept. 1 in Kitchener, Ont.

    • Police are trying to identify a man who approached a woman and child in Wellesley.

    • A gym teacher at a private Christian school in Saskatoon has been charged. Terra MacEwan, 44, is charged with assault with a weapon. A Saskatoon mother who spoke with CTV News says her autistic son was MacEwan's victim.

    • Thomas Hamp says he believed secret police were out to kidnap, torture, and kill him when he fatally stabbed his girlfriend Emily Sanche in February of 2022.

    • A social media post of purple apples “growing†in Saskatchewan has sparked a lot of attention. However, garden experts say there's no such thing.

    • James Bay Ontario Provincial Police have charged four commercial vehicle drivers with impaired, including one who was hauling 36,000 kilograms of ammonia hydrate.

    • As northern Ontario gets ready to welcome autumn this weekend, it’s still feeling a lot like summer as provincial forest fire crews continue to battle blazes.

    • An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.

    • Police say just before 7:00 p.m. four teens entered a business in the 1000 block of Adelaide Street North.

    • Police were focusing their attention on the northeast corner of Richmond and Horton, with members of the emergency response unit taking up positions at the scene.

    • Shedden, southwest of London, hasn’t changed much in decades – but word is spreading that hundreds of new residents could soon be calling the town home.

    • Two men from Barrie have been charged after a deadly shooting at a park in Keswick on Wednesday.

    • A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

    • Ontario Provincial Police executed a search warrant in Walkerton.

    • Standing up, speaking out, and showing solidarity — survivors and supporters gathered in the core to take back the night in Windsor. The city is just one of a growing list of communities that have declared intimate partner violence (IPV) an epidemic.

    • The Windsor Police Service (WPS) has seized over $56,000 in drugs and have arrested one suspect.

    • SERVEONE Canada, a global procurement solution company, has begun Canadian operations in Tecumseh.

    • In a rare move, the Greater Victoria School District Board of Education has been slapped with a ministerial order from the province requiring it to update a student safety plan – drawing concern around political posturing leading up to an election.

    • The Union of B.C. Municipalities is asking the provincial government to make transit free for teenagers.

    • To appreciate why Mimi Vandermolen is so pleased to notice one particular vehicle she’s walking past, you need to know that seeing this many cars in one place would have been unimaginable when she was growing-up in the post-war Netherlands.

    • A pair of runaway pigs are in the custody of an animal sanctuary in the Okanagan after evading police and volunteers for hours earlier this week.

    • The Red Bridge, a historic landmark in Kamloops, B.C., was completely destroyed by fire early Thursday morning.

    • Animal protection officers in British Columbia have rescued three pit bulls – including one that gave birth to 10 puppies – from a rat-infested home in Kelowna.

    • A Vulcan, Alta., man has been charged with a Lethbridge woman's murder after her body was found in the Oyen area.

    • A Lethbridge couple got a good reminder as to why you should keep your vehicle doors locked at all times.

    • Lethbridge residents who live near the police range can expect to hear plenty of shots fired Wednesday and Thursday.

    • A new community health profile in the Algoma District shows the area is significantly below provincial averages in a number of health metrics.

    • North Bay Police Service says one person has died following an industrial accident at the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission Rail Yard on Tuesday.

    • Three northern Ontario residents are charged with drug trafficking after the vehicle they were in got stuck along a bush road off Highway 17 on Monday.

    N.L.

    Stay Connected
    Follow CTV News