Opinion
Nova Scotia’s hiking ban sparks outrage, comparisons to COVID lockdowns
From LifeSiteNews
Canadians are challenging Nova Scotia’s forest access ban, arguing it infringes on constitutional rights and uses climate change as a pretext for excessive control.
Canadians are fighting back after Nova Scotia imposed a ban on walks in the forest in an alleged attempt to prevent forest fires.
On August 5, the government of Nova Scotia enacted a ban on hiking, camping, fishing, and the use of vehicles throughout provincial parks, prompting Canadians to challenge the order as an infringement on constitutional rights.
“The most indirect infringement of constitutional freedoms that is evident in the order is your right to liberty,” Marty Moore, senior litigator for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF), told LifeSiteNews during an exclusive interview.
“Banning people from the woods in this particular case is grossly disproportionate, arbitrary and over-broad infringement of Nova Scotia’s right to liberty protected under Section 7 of the Charter,” he continued.
The JCCF is representing Jeff Evely, a Canadian veteran who was fined for walking in the woods. The JCCF will challenge both Evely’s fine and the constitutionality of the ban.
Under the current restrictions, hiking, camping, fishing, and the use of vehicles in Nova Scotia forests is punishable by a $25,000 fine. Access to beaches and non-wooded parks and camping at official campgrounds, such as provincial parks and private campgrounds, is still permitted.
At the same time, “people can use a short trail from a parking lot to a beach but cannot take a long hike through the woods to get to beaches or lakes.” The announcement did not explain its seemingly arbitrary set of rules.
Moore told LifeSiteNews that the ban is especially concerning as it treats every citizen as a problem rather than focusing on those who carelessly leave fires unattended or purposefully commit arson.
Another concern raised by Moore is the order that “was adopted is clearly and expressly premised on the idea of fighting forest fires and, quote, ‘a changing climate.’”
“And so what we see here is a reliance on the climate change narrative to take away people’s freedom,” he continued. “And that is an issue that should be a great concern to all freedom-loving Canadians.
Moore compared the ban with COVID restrictions, which also curtailed Canadians’ mobility under the name of safety.
“I recall during COVID dealing with COVID lockdowns, for example, in the north of Saskatchewan, where they told people, ‘You’re not allowed to leave your community. You’re not allowed to leave the boundaries of your community,’” he explained.
“And to see this kind of order saying, ‘You’re not allowed to go in the woods because somehow you walking in the woods is a risk of a forest, it constitutes a risk of a forest fire,’ it’s the same kind of faulty logic, in my view,” he declared.
In addition to the upcoming JCCF challenge, the Canadian Constitutional Foundation (CCF) launched a petition to restore access to the forest. The group has also sent a warning letter to Liberal Premier Tim Houston.
“When safety becomes a weapon, everyone loses,” CCF litigation director Christine Van Geyn said. “Nova Scotia’s forest ban is overkill and it’s deja vu. It’s happening now because the government got away with it last time. This is a classic example of safetyism: a mentality where risk becomes an excuse for control, not communication. Once the government sees that overreach is workable, it’s replayed every few years.”
Regardless of backlash and constitutional concerns, Houston has refused to back down. In another similarity to COVID, Houston defended the ban by claiming it was recommended by “experts.”
“The experts came to me and said their recommendation is we should restrict travel and put some serious fines on there to keep people safe, to keep properties safe and to really just support our firefighters and first responders,” he said, according to CBC.
“So the experts gave the advice, I agreed with it. I’m happy to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to protect people, to protect property and try to just get through this fire season and really just pray for rain,” Houston continued.
Daily Caller
Working Class Ditching Dem Party In Droves As Some Say It’s ‘Fighting For Everybody Else’ Besides Americans
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
Many working-class Americans who previously voted Democratic are expressing skepticism about the party being able to regain their vote in future elections, the New York Times (NYT) reported Tuesday.
Several working-class interviewees told the NYT that they struggled with their decisions to vote for former President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. The report comes as Democrats attempt to persuade voters to embrace their ideas ahead of the upcoming midterms and 2028 White House election.
“I think I’m done with the Democrats,” Desmond Smith, a black man who voted for Biden in 2020, told the NYT. Smith told the outlet that he voted for President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
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When asked how the Democratic Party could win his vote back, Smith told the NYT that Democrats need to “fight for Americans instead of fighting for everybody else.”
“It seemed like they [Democrats] were more concerned with [diversity, equity and inclusion] DEI and LGBTQ issues and really just things that didn’t pertain to me or concern me at all,” Kendall Wood, a truck driver from Virginia, told the NYT. Wood told the NYT that he voted for Trump in 2024 after backing Biden in 2020.
“They weren’t concerned with, really, kitchen-table issues,” he added.
“Maybe talk about real-world problems,” Maya Garcia, a restaurant server from California, told the NYT. Garcia told the outlet she voted for Biden in the 2020 presidential election but did not vote in the 2024 presidential election.
Garcia said that Democrats talk “a lot about us emotionally, but what are we going to do financially?” She added, “I understand that you want, you know, equal rights and things like that. But I feel like we need to talk more about the economics.”
Kyle Bielski, of Arizona, told the NYT that he connected with Trump’s “America First” messaging in the 2024 election cycle. Still, Bielski told the outlet that he does not feel like the president is meeting expectations on his “America First” promises.
“We’re getting into more stuff abroad and not really focusing on economics here,” he told the NYT. “It doesn’t seem like he’s holding true to anything that he’s promised.”
Meanwhile, John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster, told the NYT that Democrats “are doing nothing to move their own numbers because they don’t have an economic message.”
“They [Democrats] think that this is about Trump’s numbers getting worse,” Anzalone added. “They need to worry about their numbers.”
Some Democrats have recently called for their party to stay away from left-wing messaging and return to more center-left politics following the GOP’s victories in 2024. Additionally, various polls have shown that the Democratic Party has lost popularity with voters in 2025.
Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Ken Martin said in February that Americans now see the GOP as the “party of the working class” while the Democratic Party is viewed as the “party of the elites.”
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
The Pentagon is reportedly creating a task force specializing in quelling riots and civil disturbances in American cities, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
The “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force” would reportedly consist of at least 600 National Guard troops who would begin deploying to cities in an hour’s notice of civil unrest, according to The Post. President Donald Trump has taken interest in establishing law and order in American cities, most recently deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., on Monday in order to tackle crime in the district.
During the Los Angeles riots in June, the Pentagon deployed 2,000 National Guardsmen to the city in response to violent anti-immigration enforcement riots.
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The task force would be split into two groups of 300 men each, with one group stationed in Arizona and the other stationed in Alabama, according to The Post. Each group would be assigned to respond to disturbances west and east of the Mississippi River respectively.
The program could only be funded as early as fiscal year 2027 through the traditional Pentagon budget process, according to The Post. Cost projections in the documents show the program may cost hundreds of millions of dollars if military aircraft are requisitioned for the project.
Trump has used the military to quell disorder and rioting in the past, previously deploying the National Guard to handle Black Lives Matter riots after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
“The Department of Defense is a planning organization and routinely reviews how the department would respond to a variety of contingencies across the globe. We will not discuss these plans through leaked documents, pre-decisional or otherwise,” a defense official told the Daily Caller News Foundation in a statement.
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