Toronto District School Board education director Colleen Russell-Rawlins — a black activist — seems to have quite a different interpretation of “back to basics” compared to education minister Stephen Lecce. While Lecce has told school boards to return to focusing on teaching the basics — math, literacy, reading and history from a traditional bent — Russell-Rawlins is back at it yet again this school year pushing the basics of her ideology, one which celebrates “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” and panders to black and Indigenous students. One has to look no further than the special opportunit ..read more

NDP MPPs walked out in solidarity with Independent MPP Sarah Jama on Monday as they defied the ban on a Palestinian headscarf in the Ontario legislative chamber. Plus, newly built schools in Quebec will be required to have gender-specific bathrooms and change rooms. And the Ontario Provincial Police will force all GTA drivers to take a breathalyzer test. Tune into The Daily Brief with Cosmin Dzurdzsa and Noah Jarvis! SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY BRIEF ..read more

Quesnel, Quesnel, Quesnel! My goodness, what in the world are your city councillors smoking? Whatever it is, we fully encourage them to continue doing so because their ongoing grotesque displays of illiberalism, sexism, racism, genuflection to hurt indigenous feelings, and general undemocratic buffoonery masquerading as reconciliation are attracting a ton of attention to the wildly successful best-selling book, Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth About Residential Schools), to which we are both contributors. The latest developments in the Quesnel, B.C. debacle are based on acc ..read more

Quesnel, Quesnel, Quesnel! My goodness, what in the world are your city councillors smoking? Whatever it is, we fully encourage them to continue doing so because their ongoing grotesque displays of illiberalism, sexism, racism, genuflection to hurt indigenous feelings, and general undemocratic buffoonery masquerading as reconciliation are attracting a ton of attention to the wildly successful best-selling book, Grave Error: How the Media Misled Us (and the Truth About Residential Schools), to which we are both contributors. The latest developments in the Quesnel, B.C. debacle are based on acc ..read more

A 24-year-old Jewish man was attacked for waving an Israeli flag outside of the University of Toronto’s pro-Palestine protest encampment Saturday evening. After seeing a rise of anti-Israel hate in Canada and the US on university campuses, Ukrainian-Israeli immigrant Moshe Zelig decided to stand up for Israel and Jewish students on campus outside of the protest. In an interview with True North, Zelig shared his experience of what it was like as a supporter of Israel in what he says was a hostile protest. Zelig said he has female friends at the campus who have told him they would like to take ..read more

The head of one of Ontario’s largest farming groups said that a recent Auditor General report proves that Ottawa is asking farmers to do the impossible when it comes to emission reduction targets.  Jeff Harrison, the chairman of Grain Farmers of Ontario, minced no words in his critique, stating that Ottawa’ is unfair targeting farmers. Harrison vehemently criticized the government’s approach, labelling it a “vilification strategy” aimed at blaming farmers for climate-related challenges. He emphasized that farmers are being unfairly burdened with the responsibility of solving a problem th ..read more

Unknown individuals trespassed Northvolt’s construction site at their future battery plant in Quebec, placing Molotov cocktails under some of the construction equipment.  “Fortunately, the devices didn’t go off. There is no damage,” said Northvolt CEO Paolo Cerruti.  The Swedish battery manufacturing giant previously began clearing land and destroying wetlands to build its new EV battery plant, sparking public outcry and raising questions about the environmental cost of green technologies.  “What these people want to achieve is to scare us, is to dissuade us from going forward ..read more

A Chinese oil and gas company is seeking a stake in a major Canadian LNG project.  Sinopec, a major player in China’s energy landscape and one of the largest exporters in Asia, is reportedly in talks with Pembina Pipeline Corp regarding a potential deal that could see it gain equity in the Cedar LNG project. Sinopec was incorporated by the Chinese government in 1998 and is a state-owned enterprise. The motivations behind Sinopec’s interest appear to be multifaceted. On one hand, the company is facing internal pressures from Beijing to optimize its assets and enhance profitability. This p ..read more

The Canadian Security and Intelligence Service issued a warning to the federal Public Safety Department addressing what the agency called a spike in “violent rhetoric” from “extremist actors” since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. Agency officials expressed fears that the rhetoric could escalate to violence.  The spy agency first consulted with the federal Public Safety Department and Muslim and Jewish leaders last fall about the rise in reported hate crimes which have been fueled by the conflict. “While the long-term impacts of the current crisis cannot be easily predicted, it is clea ..read more

Nanos Research has been monitoring Canadians’ confidence in their finances since 2008 and it’s at an all-time low.  Only 10% of Canadians reported that their finances are better than a year ago, the lowest reported score since the company began keeping track. Conversely, over 50% of Canadians say their personal finances are worse off than the prior year, according to Nanos.  Regarding the upcoming year, 14.2% of Canadians think the economy will become stronger. 45.2% of Canadians feel it will weaken, while 32.8% said there will be no change.  Despite most Canadians admitti ..read more