Opinion
Trudeau’s Winnipeg Whitewash – A Masterclass in Diversion and Disconnection
From The Opposition with Dan Knight
As Canada grapples with soaring housing costs and a quality of life crisis, the Prime Minister’s narrative on immigration & multicultural success stories clashes with the lived realities of Canadians
As some of you enjoyed the comfort of Family Day, perhaps some of you noticed Justin Trudeau making the rounds in Winnipeg – (Justin Trudeau Fireside Chat at Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce – February 16, 2024), where he found quite the fan in Loren Remillard of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. It seems Remillard was all too eager to extend a metaphorical hand, fishing for tax dollars to prop up their projects.
Oh, let’s dissect the masterful art of political deflection and diversion, shall we? Justin Trudeau, spun a narrative so disconnected from the reality Canadians live in, it’s almost an art form. He lauds Toronto and Vancouver as paragons of multicultural success, cities thriving under the weight of their diversity. But here’s the catch folks—the reality on the ground, as reported by Stats Canada, tells a story that’s anything but rosy for the residents of these supposed utopias.
When we turn our gaze to the real impact of his government’s immigration policies on the ground, the picture is starkly different. Toronto and Vancouver, the benchmarks of Trudeau’s immigration success story, are in fact cities where residents report a lower quality of life than their provincial counterparts. Why? Because amidst the fanfare of diversity and inclusion, the basic needs of the citizens—like feeling a sense of belonging, life satisfaction, and mental health—are being sidelined.
Let’s not forget the elephant in the room Trudeau casually mentioned—2 million temporary residents flooding into Canada. This isn’t just a number; it’s a tsunami of demand in addition to the Liberal 500k target per year of permanent resident hitting a housing market already gasping for air, driving rents and shelter costs to astronomical heights. And Trudeau’s response? A shrug of the shoulders and a diversion to talk about measures with Mexico or the plight of international students. While these issues merit attention, they dance around the core issue: a government more obsessed with its global image than the welfare of its citizens.
The audacity to claim that Toronto and Vancouver are thriving under his policies, while Stats Canada directly contradicts this with evidence of declining quality of life, is nothing short of political theater. It’s a sleight of hand designed to distract from the harsh reality—that his government’s approach to immigration and temporary residents is contributing to a crisis of affordability and well-being in our major cities.
But amidst the spectacle, Trudeau touched on a subject that should raise eyebrows across the nation: On how his government is using immigration as a tool to “grow the economy.” Now, let’s pause for a moment to digest that, shall we?
Diving deeper, a fascinating exchange caught my ear during a Finance Committee meeting FINA-124 -February 1, 2024, where Tiff Macklem of the Bank of Canada offered some candid insights. When prodded by Mr. Jasraj Singh Hallan, Macklem conceded that the government’s spending spree and the Bank’s efforts to stabilize our economy were essentially at loggerheads. Here we have the Trudeau administration, pushing fiscal policies that seem to sprint in the opposite direction of monetary sanity.
Macklem went on, outlining that yes, government spending is contributing to growth, but let’s be clear about the kind of growth we’re talking about here. It’s one that barely keeps pace with population increases, teetering on the edge of potential. And with government spending poised to climb even higher, we’re flirting dangerously close to exacerbating inflation, rather than reining it in.
Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers chimed in with a stark reminder of the housing market’s woes. Despite interest rate hikes, which traditionally cool down housing prices, Canada’s chronic housing shortage keeps prices stubbornly high. The result? A housing affordability crisis that’s squeezing Canadians tighter than ever, exacerbated by an immigration policy that is throwing fuel on the fire of demand without addressing the urgent need for supply.
This is the picture Trudeau’s policies paint for Canada: a nation where the cost of living climbs ever higher, where the dream of homeownership slips further away for the average citizen, and where economic growth strategies seem disconnected from the realities on the ground. It’s high time for a reality check, a moment to ask ourselves whether these policies truly serve the best interest of Canadians or merely the political agenda of those in power.
Indeed, the root of the issue is staring us right in the face—supply problems are driving costs through the roof. Yet, it seems as though there’s a conspiracy of silence in the House of Commons; no one dares to utter the truth that unchecked immigration is exacerbating these supply woes, sending shelter costs soaring. Let’s dive into the latest from Stats Canada to unravel the narrative everyone is thriving under Justin Trudeau.
First off, let’s talk about renters. According to this report, if you’re renting, your quality of life isn’t just on the lower rung; it’s plummeting. Renters are staggering under the weight of financial pressures unheard of for homeowners, feeling the pinch of record-low vacancy rates and rent hikes that would make your head spin. Over 15 percentage points more likely to struggle financially and over 11 points less likely to experience life satisfaction.
But the plot thickens when we look at the younger Canadians, those aged 15 to 54. They’re caught in a vise, with life satisfaction and mental health scores that trail behind their older counterparts. The dream of home ownership? A mirage for many, as they navigate a landscape where the very idea of paying off a mortgage seems like a relic of a bygone era. And let’s not even get started on the economic tightrope walked by residents of Toronto and Vancouver, cities where the cost of living soars as high as the skyscrapers dotting their skylines.
Now, Trudeau’s government might have you believe that policies are in place to bridge these divides, to bolster the quality of life for all Canadians. But let’s be real—the evidence suggests otherwise. With renters and younger generations buckling under financial strains and cities like Toronto and Vancouver becoming enclaves of the unaffordable, the narrative being spun by the current administration seems more fiction than fact.
Consider the financial strain laid bare by these statistics: a significant portion of Canadians are finding it increasingly difficult to meet their financial needs, with shelter costs consuming a lion’s share of their income.
In a landscape marked by disparities in quality of life we’re left with a pressing question: where does the path forward lie?
 |
Let’s cut to the chase, folks. The latest 338 polling data isn’t just a blip on the political radar; it’s a resounding bell tolling for the end of the Liberals’ reign, inching closer to losing their official party status. Why, you might ask? It’s simple: Justin Trudeau’s legacy is one of profound ineptitude, a legacy that has systematically failed Canadians at every turn. When Trudeau touts his housing policies, claiming to increase rentals, remember the cold, hard facts from Stats Canada—he’s not building homes; he’s crafting a nation with a diminished quality of life. That’s the Trudeau vision for Canada.
And let’s not overlook the audacity of his actions—jetting off to Jamaica with a hefty $162,000 bill footed by you, the taxpayer. It seems Trudeau’s concern for your quality of life evaporates faster than a Liberal MP can devour lobster in Malaysia. Meanwhile, ordinary Canadians are left to scrounge at food banks. But hey, as long as the political elite get their fill, right?
SNC-Lavalin was just the beginning, the canary in the coal mine signaling the avalanche of corruption set to spill out from Trudeau’s government. WE Charity, the Trudeau Foundation, Chinese interference, ArriveScam… the list of scandals under Trudeau’s watch is as long as it is disgraceful. These aren’t mere footnotes in history; they’re the defining features of his tenure.
Remember the uproar over a $16 orange juice under Harper? That was considered the height of scandal, a benchmark of accountability. Fast forward to today, and this government can’t even spell ‘ethics,’ let alone practice it.
So, my fellow Canadians, as we look ahead to the next election, we’re presented with a golden opportunity—a chance to reset the narrative and send a clear message to the liberal elites that we’ve had enough of their disdain for the average citizen. I, for one, will be cheering on the red wedding of Canadian politics because the liberal standard is not just detrimental to your well-being; it’s an affront to all of Canada. It’s time to say enough is enough and reclaim the Canada we know and love—a Canada of integrity, accountability, and true north strong and free.
From the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
By Lee Harding
Alarming claims out of P.E.I. point to deep foreign interference, and the federal government keeps stalling. Why?
Explosive new allegations of Chinese interference in Prince Edward Island show Canada’s institutions may already be compromised and Ottawa has been slow to respond.
The revelations came out in August in a book entitled “Canada Under Siege: How PEI Became a Forward Operating Base for the Chinese Communist Party.” It was co-authored by former national director of the RCMP’s proceeds of crime program Garry Clement, who conducted an investigation with CSIS intelligence officer Michel Juneau-Katsuya.
In a press conference in Ottawa on Oct. 8, Clement referred to millions of dollars in cash transactions, suspicious land transfers and a network of corporations that resembled organized crime structures. Taken together, these details point to a vulnerability in Canada’s immigration and financial systems that appears far deeper than most Canadians have been told.
P.E.I.’s Provincial Nominee Program allows provinces to recommend immigrants for permanent residence based on local economic needs. It seems the program was exploited by wealthy applicants linked to Beijing to gain permanent residence in exchange for investments that often never materialized. It was all part of “money laundering, corruption, and elite capture at the highest levels.”
Hundreds of thousands of dollars came in crisp hundred-dollar bills on given weekends, amounting to millions over time. A monastery called Blessed Wisdom had set up a network of “corporations, land transfers, land flips, and citizens being paid under the table, cash for residences and property,” as was often done by organized crime.
Clement even called the Chinese government “the largest transnational organized crime group in the history of the world.” If true, the allegation raises an obvious question: how much of this activity has gone unnoticed or unchallenged by Canadian authorities, and why?
Dean Baxendale, CEO of the China Democracy Fund and Optimum Publishing International, published the book after five years of investigations.
“We followed the money, we followed the networks, and we followed the silence,” Baxendale said. “What we found were clear signs of elite capture, failed oversight and infiltration of Canadian institutions and political parties at the municipal, provincial and federal levels by actors aligned with the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, the Ministry of State Security. In some cases, political donations have come from members of organized crime groups in our country and have certainly influenced political decision making over the years.”
For readers unfamiliar with them, the United Front Work Department is a Chinese Communist Party organization responsible for influence operations abroad, while the Ministry of State Security is China’s main civilian intelligence agency. Their involvement underscores the gravity of the allegations.
It is a troubling picture. Perhaps the reason Canada seems less and less like a democracy is that it has been compromised by foreign actors. And that same compromise appears to be hindering concrete actions in response.
One example Baxendale highlighted involved a PEI hotel. “We explore how a PEI hotel housed over 500 Chinese nationals, all allegedly trying to reclaim their $25,000 residency deposits, but who used a single hotel as their home address. The owner was charged by the CBSA, only to have the trial shut down by the federal government itself,” he said. The case became a key test of whether Canadian authorities were willing to pursue foreign interference through the courts.
The press conference came 476 days after Bill C-70 was passed to address foreign interference. The bill included the creation of Canada’s first foreign agent registry. Former MP Kevin Vuong rightly asked why the registry had not been authorized by cabinet. The delay raises doubts about Ottawa’s willingness to confront the problem directly.
“Why? What’s the reason for the delay?” Vuong asked.
Macdonald-Laurier Institute foreign policy director Christopher Coates called the revelations “beyond concerning” and warned, “The failures to adequately address our national security challenges threaten Canada’s relations with allies, impacting economic security and national prosperity.”
Former solicitor general of Canada and Prince Edward Island MP Wayne Easter called for a national inquiry into Beijing’s interference operations.
“There’s only one real way to get to the bottom of what is happening, and that would be a federal public inquiry,” Easter said. “We need a federal public inquiry that can subpoena witnesses, can trace bank accounts, can bring in people internationally, to get to the bottom of this issue.”
Baxendale called for “transparency, national scrutiny, and most of all for Canadians to wake up to the subtle siege under way.” This includes implementing a foreign influence transparency commissioner and a federal registry of beneficial owners.
If corruption runs as deeply as alleged, who will have the political will to properly respond? It will take more whistleblowers, changes in government and an insistent public to bring accountability. Without sustained pressure, the system that allowed these failures may also prevent their correction.
Lee Harding is a research fellow for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
There’s an observation that only two things bind modern Canada. The federal equalization scheme and hockey, The past year illustrated that equalization is on tenuous ground with talk of separation in Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Hockey, conversely, drew the nation closer at the moment that Donald Trump read the riot act to Canada’s elites. After the mens junior squad bombed out of the Junior Hockey championships for a second straight year, a new crisis emerged. To cover their purging of Justin Trudeau and insertion of Mark Carney as PM. the notorious Mike Myers’ Elbows Up homage to Gordie Howe’s elbows was appropriated by the Liberals (In true Woke wonk fashion, Howe never carried his elbows in Carney’s crash position. He kept them by his sides for greater power.)
In February’s Four Nations Cup, played at the height of tension between the two nations, Americans launched a Shoresy brawl in the first game, won easily by Team USA 3-1. As we wrote at the time, “Despite public calls for mutual respect, the sustained booing of the American national anthem and the Team Canada invocation by MMA legend Georges St. Pierre was answered by the Tkachuck brothers, Matthew and Brady, with a series of fights in the first nine seconds of the game.
Three fights to be exact when former Canuck J.T. Miller squared up with Brandon Hagel. (All three U.S. players have either played on or now play for Canadian NHL teams.) Premeditated and nasty. To say nothing of the vicious mugging of Canada’s legend Sidney Crosby behind the U.S. net moments later by Charlie McEvoy.”
Perhaps the least-appreciated aspect of the tension was the booing of the Star Spangled Banner by Canadians who have many Americans playing in their nation’s NHL squads. Leftist Toronto Star scribbler Bruce Arthur, bristled, “You’re damn right Canadians should boo the anthem.”
But in the rematch for the tournament title Canada reversed the tables, winning 3-2 in OT. The rush of nationalistic pride— from people who just weeks before were at each other’s throats over Indigenous claims and pipelines—fed a demographic topsy-turvy that swung Liberals 20 points in the polls, defeating the stunned Conservatives and coming within a few seats of a majority under Carney. Such was the hockey-fed insanity that NDP voters abandoned their far-left mantras to vote for a man who’d only weeks prior was a director of international giant Brookfield Investments.
One other byproduct of the Four Nations was the defrocking of Canadian legend Wayne Gretzky, who’d made a public show of his support for Trumping the 2024 presidential election. He was coldly rebuffed as he shook hands with the Canadian players before the Final game. It was not the finish for Gretz. He was reviled for golfing with The Donald in November, and then mocked for his faceplant appearance at the FIFA 2026 World Cup men’s draw. We wrote, “Gretzy apparently thinks there are countries called “North Mack-a-donia” and “Cur-ack-ow.” Other stabs at geography were almost as tortured.
Bitter Canadians could put up with him sucking up to Trump (he was mentioned as being in the crowd at the DC Xmas tree lighting) but failing geography is unforgivable. The week that started with Gretzky in a photo golfing at POTUS’s Jupiter, Florida, golf course was ending with him pummelled for his abuse of nations with different-sounding names. The Wayne Gretzky Center For Kids Who Want To Talk Good. “
In between the Gretzky episodes, two men who’d shaped modern hockey passed away. In September, on the anniversary of his participation in the 1972 Canada/ USSR series, Ken Dryden died at age 78. “For a generation that watched him develop he was likely the quintessential modern Canadian. Son of a charitable community figure. Educated in the Ivy League. Obtained his law degree. Served as a federal cabinet minister. Author of several definitive hockey books (The Game is perhaps the best sports non-fiction in the English language). Executive of the Toronto Maple Leafs. And more.
“He was on the American telecast of the 1980 U.S. Miracle On Ice at Lake Placid. And the radio broadcast of the 1976 Canada Cup. Ubiquitous media source. Loyal to Canada. And crucially, a son, husband, father and grandfather. If you’d created a model for the citizen of Canada of his times it was Ken.”
A less-loved figure in hockey— but no less significant— died the week after Dryden with the passing of former NHL Players Association director Bob Goodenow, who led the union through three momentous labour fights. Our take: “Tenacious, fearless and bold describes his style. Cuddly and sentimental he was not. The former lawyer and player agent for Brett Hull was not impressed by NHL self-dealing, and he said so. The Harvard product made a bad enemy after he succeeded Alan Eagleson in 1992.
“Today’s players owe him so much for finally giving them self respect. While players in other leagues ate steak, NHL players ate KD. Our book on the topic Money Players is an exhaustive catalogue of dirty dealing and deceit.
“Goodenow convinced hockey players that to earn their worth in the market they had to stick together in negotiations. It would be trying as fans and the media took the owners’ line under new commissioner Gary Bettman when they locked out players in 1994. He didn’t suffer reporters who were NHL echo chambers or old-timers who pined for their good old days of making $1000 a year.
CBA negotiations have never been the same. Player salaries have never been the same. Media covering hockey has never been the same. Eagleson was criminally convicted in the U.S. and Canada for the self dealing revealed by Conway and us. That’s an impressive legacy. RIP the man who reformed pro hockey from within.”
In a hangover story stretching back seven years, the sexual assault trial of the World Junior Hockey gold medalists of 2018 was a field day for narratives in the media and the courtroom. The facts, meanwhile, were stowed away beneath the surface of social media. As we reported in our June 28 column: “Outside diligent reporters such as Katie Strang of The Athletic and Rick Westhead of TSN, the media universe simply assumed guilt in the five players, because. hockey… Social media liberally smeared them as rapists, symbols of women’s degradation.
The five players on trial had been unfairly branded as criminals by Hockey Canada which rushed to condemn them in a quick civil settlement of EM’s charges. HC never consulted them about their side of the story before surrendering the cash. In the end, Ontario Justice Maria Carroccia found EM not “credible or reliable” enough to send the players to jail. While scolding their behaviour she declared the young men not guilty. It was a courageous decision, knowing it would prompt backlash. The Globe&Mail led the charge, declaring “After the Hockey Canada verdict Advocates fear survivors will fall silent”.
As 2026 dawns the outlook for Canadian NHL teams looks bleak. Just two teams would make the postseason today— Edmonton and Montreal— while Toronto, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver wallow below the cut line. Which leaves the Elbows Up crowd pining for a replay of the Four Nations as Canada heads to the Olympic tournament. Don’t expect Wayne Gretzky to ride to their rescue.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada’s top television sports broadcaster, his 2025 book Deal With It: The Trades That Stunned The NHL And Changed Hockey is now available on Amazon. Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History, his previous book with his son Evan, was voted the seventh-best professional hockey book of all time by bookauthority.org . His new poetry collection In Other Words is available via brucedowbigginbooks.ca and on Kindle books at https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1069802700
Largest fraud in US history? Independent Journalist visits numerous daycare centres with no children, revealing massive scam
Be Careful What You Wish For In 2026: Mark Carney With A Majority
Why Japan wants Western Canadian LNG
“Magnitude cannot be overstated”: Minnesota aid scam may reach $9 billion
-
Energy2 days ago
Why Japan wants Western Canadian LNG
-
Business1 day agoMainstream media missing in action as YouTuber blows lid off massive taxpayer fraud
-
Business2 days agoLand use will be British Columbia’s biggest issue in 2026
-
International1 day agoChina Stages Massive Live-Fire Encirclement Drill Around Taiwan as Washington and Japan Fortify
-
Digital ID1 day agoThe Global Push for Government Mandated Digital IDs And Why You Should Worry
-
Energy1 day agoRulings could affect energy prices everywhere: Climate activists v. the energy industry in 2026
-
Business11 hours agoCanada needs serious tax cuts in 2026
-
Business1 day agoStripped and shipped: Patel pushes denaturalization, deportation in Minnesota fraud