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Trudeau’s Senate Power Grab – How Every Province is Now Under Ottawa’s Thumb

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The Opposition with Dan Knight
Good morning my fellow Canadians. We’ve got a major story that goes right to the heart of the political swamp in Ottawa. Justin Trudeau has just appointed two new senators from Alberta, and, as usual, he’s trying to sell them to us as “independent.”

First, let’s talk about who these new senators are. Dr. Kristopher Wells is one of them. Wells is a well-known activist in the 2SLGBTQ+ community, a vocal advocate for every liberal cause under the sun. He’s been busy pushing for policies that promote radical gender ideology in schools, criticizing Alberta’s conservative stance at every turn. Now, Trudeau wants us to believe that Wells, who has made a career out of progressive activism, will somehow be an “independent” voice in the Senate? Give me a break.

Let’s be absolutely clear here, folks: Daryl Fridhandler is no impartial figure. He’s a corporate lawyer who’s spent years involved in organizations pushing left-wing agendas under the guise of community service. And what does that really mean? He’s a leftist activist, plain and simple.

And now, Trudeau wants us to believe Fridhandler’s Senate appointment is “independent”? Give me a break. This guy has funneled nearly $80,000 into the Liberal Party—($79,968.77, to be exact). The Senate shouldn’t be for sale to the highest bidder or most loyal crony. This is a classic Trudeau move, stacking the Senate with his cronies and turning it into a rubber stamp for his radical agenda. It’s not just political maneuvering; it’s an outright attack on our democratic institutions.

The Senate is supposed to serve as a check on power, a place for sober second thought, not a Liberal lapdog doing Trudeau’s bidding. This is the kind of corrupt backroom dealing that erodes public trust and undermines the very fabric of our democracy.

Now, let’s turn to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. She’s not happy, and frankly, who can blame her? She called out these appointments for what they are—another shameless attempt by Trudeau to undercut the democratic will of Albertans. Smith points out that Alberta has a system for electing senators-in-waiting, who are meant to represent the interests of Albertans in Ottawa. Yet, Trudeau has completely ignored these elected representatives. Instead, he has handpicked his own cronies. And make no mistake, these so-called “independent” senators are Justin Trudeaus cronies and will vote whichever way he tells them too.

Smith’s objection isn’t just about these specific appointees. It’s about the broader pattern we’ve seen from this government— a total disregard for Alberta’s democratic choices. Remember, folks, Alberta has repeatedly elected conservative senators-in-waiting, people who actually represent the interests of their province. But Trudeau doesn’t care about that. No, he’d rather install people who are loyal to him, not to the people of Alberta.

This brings us to the so-called Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments. Trudeau loves to talk about how this board is “independent,” how it’s all about merit-based criteria, blah, blah, blah. But let’s get real for a second. This board isn’t independent at all. The members are nominated by Trudeau. They report to Trudeau. They recommend candidates to Trudeau. And then Trudeau appoints his picks, all while pretending there’s some kind of impartial process at play. It’s a total sham!

Let’s break it down even further. The whole process is designed to look like it’s fair and transparent, but in reality, it’s just another way for Trudeau to exert control. The so-called independent senators are anything but. They might not wear Liberal Party badges, but make no mistake—they’re marching to the beat of Trudeau’s drum. This isn’t about finding the best people to serve Canadians. It’s about finding the best people to serve Justin Trudeau and his agenda.

This isn’t just my opinion—look at the facts. Since 2016, Trudeau has made 86 appointments to the Senate, all under this “independent” system. And surprise, surprise, the Senate has drifted further and further left, rubber-stamping Trudeau’s policies with little resistance. The whole thing is a farce, and Trudeau’s latest picks just prove it.

And here’s the proof that the Senate isn’t independent: Bill C-18. This so-called “Online News Act” is Trudeau’s failed attempt at news censorship. The bill mandates that tech giants like Google and Meta (formerly Facebook) pay Canadian news publishers for content shared on their platforms. It sounds nice on paper, but what’s the result? Meta decided to ban all news content in Canada. That’s right. Canadian independent media lost its voice because they’re no longer being shared on the platforms where people actually get their news.

Ask yourself: if the Senate was truly independent, truly balanced with some business-savvy, right-leaning representatives, do you really think a bill like C-18 would have passed? No chance. Any senator with a shred of common sense would recognize that forcing tech companies into these kinds of deals doesn’t solve the problem; it just pushes these companies to cut ties with Canadian news entirely. But this Senate, filled with Trudeau’s picks, rubber-stamped it without a second thought.

The Senate was designed to be a place of independent judgment, a check on whoever’s in power—be it Liberal, Conservative, or otherwise. It’s supposed to ensure that no single party can bulldoze their agenda without scrutiny. But what happens when Trudeau stacks the Senate with his cronies? The whole system collapses! Even if the Conservatives take power tomorrow, Trudeau’s liberal foot soldiers will be there, blocking, stalling, and pushing his leftist agenda from the shadows of the Senate.

So, where does this leave Canada? It leaves us with a Senate that is increasingly a tool of the Prime Minister’s Office, rather than a chamber for balanced debate and regional representation. Every province, not just Alberta, is now at the whims of Ottawa, Justin Trudeau, and his handpicked cronies. The Senate no longer reflects the diverse interests of Canadians; instead, it mirrors the ideological leanings of one man. Provinces across the country are left sidelined, their democratic choices ignored, and their voices muted under Trudeau’s centralized control.

Danielle Smith is right to be furious. Albertans are right to be furious. And every Canadian who cares about democracy and fairness should be furious too. The Senate is supposed to be an independent body, a check on the power of the Prime Minister, not a rubber stamp for his agenda. But as long as Trudeau is in charge, it looks like that’s exactly what it’s going to be. And that’s not just a shame—it’s a scandal.

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Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis calls out Liberals for not supporting anti-church burning bill

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Speaking about the ‘hundreds of churches’ that have been ‘set on fire across Canada’ in the last number of years, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis questioned why the Liberals seem completely unconcerned.

One of Canada’s most prominent pro-life MPs has called out the Trudeau government for its apparent lack of support for an anti-arson bill which aims to curb the rash of church burnings plaguing Christians in the country.

In an X post Monday, Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis pointed out that under the Liberal government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, church burnings have shot up “100 percent,” and that the government does not seem to have expressed any “concern” at all.

“In the last several years, hundreds of churches and other places of worship have been set on fire across Canada. Under this Liberal government, these crimes have increased by over 100%,” wrote Lewis on X.  

“Where is the concern or action from the Liberals regarding these attacks on Christian churches?” 

Lewis’s post included a link to another X post from Conservative MP Marc Dalton, who posted a video on October 31 highlighting the recent rash of church burnings and how his bill, C-411, aims to stop this.  

“Thank you @MarcDalton for bringing forward Bill C-411, the Anti-Arson Act, an important bill to protect places of worship and increase penalties on those who would target them,” wrote Lewis. 

Bill C-411, or, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (arson — wildfires and places of worship),  was introduced by Dalton in June. 

The law, if passed, would create specific criminal offenses for setting fires to churches and for starting wildfires.

Dalton said in his video that there is a “serious problem in Canada that must be addressed” concerning Catholic and Christian churches being the target of arson. 

He highlighted how since 2010, 592 churches have been the target of arson in Canada, with a large portion of these being concentrated to the last few years.  

Dalton noted how Canada’s Criminal Code, as it stands, does not include specific protections against arson directed at religious institutions. C-411 aims to “change that,” said Dalton, noting that the bill would implement a minimum sentence of five years in jail for a first offense of this kind, and seven years for a repeat offense.

“This bill strengthens our criminal code and punishes these hateful arson attacks,” he said. 

“Commonsense Conservatives stand for strict punishments against criminals who target places of worship.” 

Since the spring of 2021, 112 churches, most of them Catholic, have beenburned to the ground, vandalized or defiled in Canada. 

The church burnings started in earnest after the mainstream media and the federal government ran with inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran some of the now-closed residential schools in Canada, particularly a school in Kamloops, British Columbia.

The anti-Catholic narrative that developed following these claims continues to this day, despite the fact that no bodies have actually been discovered.

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Breaking: CSIS warned Health Canada of “insider threat” from Wuhan Institute-tied scientist Dr. Qiu Seven Months Before Lethal Ebola Shipped to China

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Sam Cooper 

@samthebureau

In an explosive admission, Parliament’s Canada-China Committee has confirmed that Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, issued a direct and unheeded warning to senior health officials in August 2018, raising concerns about “insider threat activities” linked to Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng.

This alert, delivered seven months before the couple’s network—with connections to the highest levels of Chinese biological weapons research—coordinated the shipment of live Ebola and Henipah virus samples from Canada’s high-security National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), highlighted risks posed by their continued access to sensitive materials.

“CSIS held a briefing for personnel responsible for security at [Public Health Canada],” in August 2018 that “focused on foreign interference and included possible indicators of insider threat activities, as well as other security risks,” according to CSIS’s submission to the Committee. In CSIS’s presentation, “student programs were identified as being one of these possible threat vectors,” prompting “[Public Health Canada] to flag two scientists to CSIS, Dr. Cheng and Dr. Qiu,” the Committee report, released Tuesday, states.

Despite these explicit warnings, no immediate restrictions were placed on Qiu, Cheng, or their Chinese students’ access to Canada’s sensitive research materials. In December 2018, Public Health Canada authorized a fact-finding investigation into the concerns, but the delayed response effectively allowed them to continue their operations, further endangering Canada’s security.

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The Committee report also finds—like the ongoing Hogue Commission—that Justin Trudeau’s government, including senior bureaucrats and ministers, showed a reluctance to act on or even acknowledge urgent alerts from CSIS, exposing a stark divide between CSIS’s view of Chinese threats and Trudeau’s.

Dr. Qiu’s associations with China’s military and scientific programs had deep roots. She began her work at the Winnipeg NML in 2003, followed by her husband’s employment there in 2006.

As early as 2013, Keding Cheng filled out an application for the PRC’s “Science and Technology Innovation Talent Program of Henan Province,” requiring applicants to “passionately love the socialist motherland [PRC]” and maintain Chinese citizenship.

By 2016, Dr. Qiu was nominated for an award by a senior military official from the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, recognizing her collaborations with Major-General Chen Wei, a leading figure in China’s biological weapons research. CSIS investigations revealed that Dr. Qiu and Major-General Chen collaborated on multiple research projects dating back to 2012.

Dr. Qiu’s use of Canada’s facilities to benefit China was well recognized in Beijing. An award nomination for Dr. Qiu noted that she “used Canada’s Level 4 Biosecurity Laboratory as a base to assist China to improve its capability to fight highly pathogenic pathogens … and achieved brilliant results.”

In October 2016, Dr. Qiu co-authored a paper with Major-General Chen and other scientists affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Military Medical Sciences, further deepening her connection to Chinese military research. By this time, Qiu had also been recruited into China’s Thousand Talents Program—a PRC initiative aimed at harnessing international scientific expertise—and these affiliations, conspicuously absent from her Canadian curriculum vitae, made her a person of interest to CSIS, especially as her work increasingly intersected with China’s biosecurity research.

Concerns over Qiu and Cheng’s activities continued to mount at the NML. In October 2018, Cheng, accompanied by a restricted visitor, attempted to exit the lab with two Styrofoam containers, claiming they were empty. By January 2019, Cheng breached security again by using another employee’s passcode to enter the NML.

On March 23, 2019, Public Health Canada received its fact-finding report, which advised administrative investigations into Qiu and Cheng. Yet, only days later, on March 31, live samples of Ebola and Henipah viruses were shipped from the NML to the WIV, highlighting critical lapses in Canada’s security protocols.

In response to these revelations, the Committee’s report outlines recommendations to safeguard Canada’s scientific resources from similar threats in the future. Chief among these is a call for the Government of Canada to immediately terminate all research collaboration with PRC-affiliated entities in sensitive fields, such as artificial intelligence, aerospace, and advanced digital infrastructure.

A key recommendation is to designate the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the Thousand Talents Program as Named Research Organizations under Public Safety Canada, subjecting them to enhanced scrutiny and restricted partnerships due to their potential security risks. Furthermore, the Committee suggests that Canada explore constitutionally compliant legal measures to prevent individuals under national security investigation from leaving the country. Despite RCMP investigations, the couple was able to leave Canada.

As investigations mounted, irregularities in the WIV shipment were noticed, and it was only in January 2021 that Public Health Canada terminated the couple’s employment. Nathalie Drouin, Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council, acknowledged with evident understatement, “it is a timeline that needs to be looked at.” However, Richard Fadden, the director of CSIS from 2009 to 2013, testified that the timeline “was too long” and the viral shipment to WIV “should not have happened.”

In his opinion, the incident at the Winnipeg NML revealed a deep cultural issue long present in Canada’s federal administration. “I don’t think the culture in this particular lab and in large parts of the public service had caught up with the change in facts as we understand China,” Fadden said. His comments emphasize a notable gap between CSIS’s understanding of the Chinese threat and that of Trudeau’s administration.

“This gap in the understanding of risk between national security and science sectors at the federal level, particularly with regard to the threat to Canadian interests posed by actions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was illustrated in testimony before the Special Committee,” the report says.

On one hand, Minister of Health Mark Holland noted that “countries such as China are implicating themselves in our domestic processes in a way that would have been unimaginable just five years ago” and are “potentially willing, in this instance, to use pathogens that threaten humanity in order to advance their geopolitical agenda.” But Fadden pointed out that “CSIS was already aware of concerns about the PRC’s actions,” noting that since Xi Jinping’s rise to power in 2013, the institutionalization of espionage and interference techniques by the CCP has intensified.

Adding to these concerns is the Trudeau government’s controversial denial of access to related records, noted by the report, raising questions of transparency and whether there may have been a cover-up of key details surrounding the case.

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