Politics

Anger Erupts Over Trudeau’s’ Open Door Immigration Policies

Published

2 months ago

2024-08-02

Provincial Premiers have had it with Trudeau and Mass Immigration - Image Post Media

Trudeau's open door policy crippling Canada - File Image

The premiers of British Columbia and Quebec, as well as the general people, are desperately trying to convince Justin Trudeau and the Liberals to abandon their open-door immigration policy.

Hard core reality is teaching Prime Minister Justin Trudeau some valuable lessons about flirting with the fantasy of virtually free borders. The same is true for Canada’s premiers and the general people. Especially in relation to asylum seekers.

For months, British Columbia Premier David Eby and Quebec Premier François Legault have been working tirelessly to convince Justin Trudeau and his childhood buddy, Immigration Minister Marc Miller, to abandon their open border policy.

Provincial premiers have attempted to educate Justin Trudeau about the financial costs of such grandstanding on asylum seekers. According to Statistics Canada, there are now 363,000 asylum claimants in the country, which is more than double the number two years ago.

Most claimants were strolling across the US border into Eastern Canada a few years ago, which US President Joe Biden helped tighten last year.

Claimants arrive at airports in Toronto, Montreal, and, to a lesser extent, Calgary and Vancouver, primarily from Asia. They enter legitimately on study or travel visas and then make their claims after leaving the airport, claiming they are fleeing various sorts of persecution.

Trudeau Governments Failure of Vetting

According to Anne Michèle Meggs, a former Quebec immigration official who now writes independently on the subject, the refugee board typically takes around two years to study backgrounds and rule on a case, and often more if there is an appeal.

According to Meggs, the average number of asylum claims lodged per month in British Columbia this year has risen to 640, up 37% from previous year. B.C. has the third highest influx of asylum seekers in the country. Most still go to Ontario, where average monthly claims have increased by 53%, or Quebec, where they are up 20%.

Canada’s premiers have been telling Trudeau for months that, regardless of the legitimacy of their claims, asylum seekers cost taxpayers a lot of money.

Most arrive with no money. While they wait for their cases to be reviewed to determine whether they will be granted coveted permanent resident status, federal and provincial organisations frequently provide social services such as shelter, food, clothes, health care, children’s education, and (in Quebec) creche.

Stories about an out-of-control refugee system are likely contributing to rapidly changing opinion survey results. Last week, Leger discovered that 60 percent of Canadians believe there are “too many” newcomers. This represents a significant increase from 35 percent in 2019.

It is the highest level of unhappiness in decades, owing in part to demand pressure on housing and infrastructure expenses. The negative polling results are constant among white and non-white Canadians.

Provinces Overloaded Under Funded

In response to protests from Quebec, Trudeau provided an additional $750 million this year to support refugee claims who came in recent years, primarily at the land border. Last year, Quebec handled 65,000 claims, while Ontario handled 63,000, with the greatest groups coming from Mexico and India.

But, as Eby tells anyone who will listen, B.C. has received no funding from Ottawa. The premier expressed how “frustrating” it is for B.C. to “scrabble around” for cash in the province, where housing is among the most expensive in the world, while Quebec receives more.

“Our most recent total for last year was 180,000 new British Columbians,” Eby said last month, including asylum seekers and all other international migrants to the province. “And that’s great and that’s exciting and it’s necessary, and it’s completely overwhelming.”

Eby made no public mention of the increasingly strange anomaly based on the three-decade-old Quebec Accord, which results in Quebec receiving ten times more funds than British Columbia and Ontario to settle newcomers each year.

According to Postmedia News, Metro Vancouver’s shelters are being overcrowded as the number of asylum applicants in British Columbia has nearly doubled in the last year.

Canada’s Immigration out of control

The Salvation Army, which operates 100 beds in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, reported that since last summer, the proportion of refugee claimants requesting shelter has increased to roughly 80%. Meanwhile, refugee claimants filled over 60% of the beds at the Catholic Charities Men’s Shelter in Vancouver. Taxpayers provide the majority of the funding for shelters.

According to Meggs, government figures reveal that British Columbia now has 16,837 asylum claimants. This excludes the 5,300 refugees who arrived in the province in a more organised manner last year, thanks to government assistance.

Meggs claims her “jaw dropped” when Trudeau stated in April that the number of temporary immigrants, including asylum seekers, was “out of control” and “growing at a rate far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb.”

The cognitive dissonance, she noted, stems from Trudeau’s government’s complete responsibility for the system’s spiralling out of control since 2015, not just in terms of numbers, but also in selection criteria, or lack thereof.

Trudeau has confessed that pandemonium characterises the situation with international students, whose numbers have risen under his leadership to 1.1 million. Many people are now demanding asylum. B.C. has 217,000 international students in post-secondary institutions and 49,000 in kindergarten-to-Grade-12 programs.

Vancouver immigration lawyer Richard Kurland is among many who believe it would be preferable if Canada processed roughly 50,000 refugee claims every year, as it lacks the absorptive capacity for more — such as the 144,000 who applied last year.

One major issue, according to Kurland, is that the government knows very little about many asylum seekers. The immigration department’s ignorance stems in part from the fact that many people file claims online. Officials don’t even know where tens of thousands of people reside. Source: The Sun

Justin Trudeau Needs to Read the Writing on the Wall

Justin Trudeau Needs to Read the Writing on the Wall

Politics

Trump Media Stock Jumps After Former President Says He Won’t Sell Shares When Lockup Expires

Published

19 hours ago

2024-09-16

Kiara Grace

NEW YORK — Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. shares rose on Friday after former President Donald Trump said he would not sell his ownership in the social media company.

“I don’t want to sell my stock. “I don’t need money,” Donald told reporters at his golf club in Los Angeles.

Donald owns over 115 million shares in the corporation, according to a recent SEC filing. According to Thursday’s closing price of $16.08, Donald’s stock is worth nearly $1.85 billion.

Trump Media Stock Jumps After Former President Says He Won’t Sell Shares When Lockup Expires

If the former president desires, he can begin selling shares of Trump Media, the parent company of Truth Social, on September 19, when a lockup provision expires. The lockup agreement banned corporate insiders from selling newly issued shares for six months after the company went public in March.

Even though Donald would earn a sizable payoff if he sold, Trump Media’s stock is now significantly less valuable than it was six months ago. When the company debuted on the Nasdaq in March, it reached a high of $79.38.

Donald founded Truth Social after being barred from Twitter and Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol brawl. Trump Media, headquartered in Sarasota, Florida, has been losing money and failing to generate revenue. According to regulatory documents, it lost approximately $58.2 million last year and generated only $4.1 million in revenue.

Trump Media Stock Jumps After Former President Says He Won’t Sell Shares When Lockup Expires

“I use it as a method of getting out my word,” Donald remarked on Friday about Truth Social. “For me, it is a great voice.”

Following Donald’s debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, the stock fell by more than 10% on Wednesday. On Friday, shares rose as much as 29% and closed up 11.8%.

SOURCE | AP

Politics

Liberal Defence Departments Spends $34 Million on Sleeping Bags Unsuitable for Canadian Winters

Published

3 days ago

2024-09-13

Geoff Thomas

Sleeping Bags Unsuitable for Canadian Winters

Canadian soldiers travelling to an Alaskan military drill were given 1960s military sleeping bags after complaining that the new ones were poor quality and unsuitable for sub-zero weather.

Despite the Liberal government spending more than $34.8 million on new sleeping bags, the Canadian Army requested late last year that hundreds of soldiers attending a joint northern exercise in Alaska with the Americans be provided antiquated, 1960s-vintage sleeping bags.

In late November last year, about 350 men from the 3rd battalion of the Canadian Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry went to Ram Falls Provincial Park, west of Red Deer, Alta., to train for northern operations.

During the training exercise last autumn, soldiers stated that despite using both the inner and outer shells and sleeping in stove-heated tents, they remained cold.

The temperatures during the exercise ranged from -5°C during the day to -20°C at night. According to an internal DND report dated December 5, 2023, the soldiers noticed “critical issues” with the new GPSBS sleeping bags, including a lack of warmth.

GPSB sleeping bags cost taxpayers $34.8 million, were not suitable for for typical Canadian winter conditions – CBC Image

The inadequacy of the new GPSB sleeping bags caused the Department of National Defence (DND) to begin seeking for extra sleeping bags to keep soldiers warm and usable in the Far North.

The briefing memo proposed that soldiers participating in the drill with the US be “loaned” 500 of the army’s old Arctic sleeping bags, which the new system was intended to replace.

The Trudeau administration has emphasised the importance of protecting Canada’s Arctic in recent defence policy updates, and has committed a series of new equipment acquisitions for cold weather operations.

Specifically, the policy promised to purchase “new vehicles adapted to ice, snow, and tundra.”

However, some soldiers who contacted CBC News with complaints about the sleeping bags expressed scepticism about such claims, citing DND’s failure to deliver on something as fundamental as a sleeping bag fit for the Canadian winter.

The DND stated that the 3rd battalion was the second unit to complain about the new sleeping bags. During a separate drill, troops from the 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment, discovered flaws in the new sleeping bags.

Nonetheless, the government stated that it will not abandon the new sleeping bags and has begun a separate procurement of sleeping bags fit for a Canadian winter at an undisclosed cost to taxpayers.

In its statement to the CBC, the DND stated that it solicited comments from soldiers, but they did not respond immediately when asked what type of cold weather testing was conducted before purchasing the sleeping bags.

The GPSBS sleeping bags were chosen through a rigorous competition process, with technical requirements such as insulation value, bag weight, and packing volume, according to the DND.

NATO Secretary-General Urges Trudeau to Honour Canada’s Spending Target

NATO Secretary-General Urges Trudeau to Honour Canada’s Spending Target

Politics

Trudeau’s Grapples With a Mass Exodus of Senior Staff

Published

5 days ago

2024-09-11

Geoff Thomas

Five chiefs of staff for Liberal ministers have quit - Image Counter Signal

The minority Liberals are returning to a precarious position in the House of Commons, having lost the automatic support of the New Democratic Party, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is currently grappling with an exodus of senior staff.

According to six Liberal sources who each confirmed some of the names of those leaving, five of his 38 ministers are losing their chiefs of staff in quick succession, with several already gone. These chiefs of staff include the top advisers at Global Affairs, Heritage, Environment, National Revenue, and Mental Health and Addictions.

According to the sources, a number of employees had been contemplating their departures for months, while others had been entertaining the idea for an extended period before ultimately making the decision. Some of the sources stated that five out of 38 is a significant decrease, despite the fact that the Liberals have frequently encountered turnover among their ministerial staff since assuming office in 2015.

The Globe and Mail is refraining from disclosing the sources due to their inability to disclose an internal staffing change.

A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office downplayed the importance of the departures. Hundreds of political personnel are responsible for providing support to our government, cabinet ministers, and members of Parliament. Turnover is a typical aspect of the employment process for the personnel who perform this critical function, according to Mohammad Hussain, the press secretary for the PMO.

Trudeau’s loss of its top executive

Peter Wilkinson, the director of staff to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, is departing the office less than two years after his appointment. Senior staff member Jamie Kippen, who has served as the chief of staff to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault for an extended period, has already completed his final day. Jude Welch, the director of staff for Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge, has already departed.

Sarah Welch, the chief for Ya’ara Saks, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, and Frédérique Tsai-Klassen, the chief to Minister of National Revenue Marie-Claude Bibeau, are also departing. According to the sources, the majority of the senior staff who are departing do not currently have a position lined up. However, they are eligible for severance payments that are calculated based on their years of service.

The party’s loss of its top executive, national campaign director Jeremy Broadhurst, a prominent senior Liberal for the past two decades, coincides with the exodus of top staff in ministerial offices. He was previously the national campaign director in 2019 and a senior adviser in the PMO before returning to the party last year.

Mr. Broadhurst tendered his resignation on Thursday, mere days prior to Mr. Trudeau’s scheduled meeting with his caucus in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Three Members of Parliament informed The Globe that they are anticipating the Prime Minister’s presentation of a credible strategy to regain the support of Canadian electors.

Senior staff members have resigned

According to two senior officials, it is unlikely that Mr. Trudeau will designate a replacement for Mr. Broadhurst at the caucus meeting. Nevertheless, an official in the PMO stated that the caucus will be provided with a comprehensive roadmap for the upcoming election. The two officials who were prohibited from disclosing the internal planning are not being identified by The Globe and Mail.

In addition to the anticipated resignation of Transportation Minister Pablo Rodriguez and the departure of Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan in July, all of the senior staff members have resigned.

Mr. O’Regan was a significant political ally of Mr. Trudeau. Mr. Rodriguez is anticipated to declare his departure from the federal Liberals in order to participate in the provincial party’s leadership race, as he currently occupies the most significant political position in Quebec for the government.

“I believe it is a sign of the end of government,” Lori Turnbull, chair of the public and international affairs department at Dalhousie University told the Globe and Mail. She said senior staff members are aware that their departures will only exacerbate the perception and reality of the current state of Trudeau and the government.”

“There is a perception that the Trudeau government has reached its conclusion and that the upcoming election will result in a loss.” The departure of senior staff indicates that even those who are committed to Team Trudeau can perceive the impending doom.

“It raises the question of whether we would witness the same departures in the event that a new leader were selected,” she continued.

The second-in-commands for each office have already been appointed to numerous top-level positions; however, the most critical position at Global Affairs has yet to be permanently replaced.

As of Sunday, Alexandre Boulé has assumed the role of interim chief for Ms. Joly, according to her office. In the interim, deputy chief of staff Joanna Dafoe will succeed Mr Kippen at Environment, and deputy Michael Lartigau will succeed Mr Welch at Heritage.

Marianne Dandurand has succeeded Ms. Tsai-Klassen as the superintendent of National Revenue.

The office announced on Sunday that the position of chief to the Mental Health and Addictions minister is still vacant.