Luke LeBrun
@_llebrun
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When you’re ready to abandon Elon’s sinking ship, you can find me here:
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The collapse of Twitter for (basically) self-inflicted reasons makes a strong case for building online infrastructure structured as a non-profit or public utility. People rely on these platforms for public info, use them for democratic debate and many invest livelihoods in them.
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Hundreds of accounts claiming to be located in the United States, France, England, Russia, etc. say they are “still buzzing” after attending Pierre Poilievre’s recent rally in Kirkland Lake, Ontario:
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The anti-LGBTQ+ “One Million March for Children” on Parliament Hill missed its target by between 999,975 or 999,950 people or so
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Maxime Bernier has been defeated, the People’s Party took 1% of the vote. Kellie Leitch came 7th in the CPC leadership. Faith Goldy got 3% of when she ran for TO mayor. The media needs to stop enabling idea there’s real support for far-right, anti-immigrant politics in Canada.
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People from the far-right group that disrupted the Terry Fox ceremony this morning just got into an altercation with Jagmeet Singh. One guy calls Singh a “corrupted bastard.” Singh asks him to say it to his face. The guy lies and denies saying it, despite video showing he said it
Update: The convoy spinoff group that Conservative MP Michael Cooper hung out with last night just disrupted a ceremony commemorating Terry Fox. Members of the group shouted down a speaker, yelling “traitors,” “liars,” “corruption,” “f--k Trudeau,” etc.
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Trump tells Fox News that America is being threatened by an “invasion” from Canada:. “It’s an invasion of our country taking place at our border, our southern border. It’s a total invasion. And now it’s starting at our northern border also, through Canada”
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Livestreamers from the anti-LGBTQ+ “million man march” say they’ve been encircled by counterprotesters and are trapped on Parliament Hill. They are blaming police.
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Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith notes the far-right often labels others as “traitors”. NES: “What would you call someone who accepts $10M from a foreign adversary to run a covert propaganda operation?”. Chen: “I have no comment”. NES: “You would call that person a traitor”
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NEW: @pressprogress has obtained a trove of emails between Russian government officials and Ontario PC insiders with links to wealthy Ontario developers. The communications reveal efforts to flow Russian money into Ontario and involved entities under US sanctions at the time.
EXCLUSIVE: Leaked emails between Russian officials and Ontario PC insiders reveal efforts to flow Russian money into Ontario amid US sanctions. Frank Klees, a top adviser to Doug Ford, admits relaying a backchannel message to the Premier’s Office. #onpoli.
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The candidate Jordan Peterson publicly endorsed for Mayor of Toronto got less than 5% of the vote.
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Far-right influencer Lauren Chen has been summoned by Parliament – she’s set to testify for 2 hrs but says she will refuse to answer questions. This is Chen’s first first appearance since the US Dept. of Justice indictment linking Tenet Media to Russia:.
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This is insane:. Edmonton Police authorized a *7 month* surveillance operation targeting a journalist critical of police and followed his family doing mundane things. This covert operation was supposedly necessary to determine who vandalized a statue honouring a literal WW2 Nazi.
so what does 181 man hours of surveillance of you and your family spread out over 7 months look like? one thing the EPS were doing was hanging outside my house taking pictures of my partner and small child. (thread)
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Seeing some people almost giddy about an imminent police operation in Ottawa. I think some are not understanding the very real potential for violence or the traumatizing images that could come out of something this.
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Ex-CSIS director on Poilievre’s talking point that he doesn’t need classified briefings because his Chief of Staff gets them:. “Poilievre doesn’t have a clearance so the CoS can’t tell him the information and the CoS has no power . there’s really no point to briefing the CoS”
“Furthermore, my Chief of Staff has received classified briefings from the government. At no time has the government told me or my Chief of Staff of any current or former Conservative parliamentarian or candidate knowingly participating in foreign interference.”. #cdnpoli
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In case there remains any lingering doubts about who these occupiers are. There is a flag belonging to a white nationalist / far-right extremist group right now at a police line next to Parliament Hill.
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How does a Conservative delegation sit down for a VIP dinner with a racist German far-right politician and claim they were “not aware” of who they are and what they’re all about?
Statement from Conservative Leader @PierrePoilievre on the three Conservative MPs who met with European MEP Christine Anderson earlier this week.
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Pierre Poilievre in 2022: “Diagolon” are “losers” and I personally reported them to the RCMP for threatening my wife. Pierre Poilievre in 2024: I don’t know what “Diagolon” is and the Liberals and NDP are gaslighting people into believing they are extremists
PM ‘an extremist,’ according to Pierre Poilievre
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If there’s any doubt about who Pierre Poilievre’s biggest supporters are, his biggest applause line came after declaring he will end COVID restrictions. Poilievre’s supporters began chanting “freedom.”.
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This video is from a residential neighbourhood in Ottawa, Canada. Imagine living on this street.
This video is from a residential neighbourhood in Brampton, Canada. Imagine living on this street.
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Loblaw’s chairman Galen Weston got a $3.55 million bonus last year. Metro CEO Eric La Flèche has received $2.72 million in bonuses over the last two years. Loblaw’s and Metro both cancelled $2 “hero pay” for workers in June 2020.
Grocery execs get big bonuses after boost from pandemic sales
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Public officials at all levels are facing unprecedented harassment, doxxing, threats at their homes, etc. In today’s @TorontoStar, I explain this is not a “decline in decorum and civility,” this is the far-right targeting Canada’s democratic institutions:.
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Pierre Poilievre has claimed on four separate occasions that electricians are capturing “lightning from the sky” and running it through a copper wire to power lightbulbs.
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Pierre Poilievre held an event at this exact same “swanky” and “lavish” Holiday Inn on January 13, 2024:.
Tories blast Trudeau for ‘lavish’ retreat at Sudbury Holiday Inn
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CBC has two former police chiefs on doing colour commentary for their live coverage in Ottawa. No doubt they have relevant insights, but it’s weird CBC is letting institutional policing figures frame coverage of a story in which police have been a focus of significant criticism.
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CUPE press conference is beginning, they’re on stage with dozens of leaders from what looks like nearly every major public and private sector union in Canada.
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Every Labour Day, the Ghost of Labour Day Past visits Pierre Poilievre at his Stornoway mansion and reminds him of his long and well-documented history attacking the rights of Canadian workers and pushing unconstitutional, American-style anti-union laws:.
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👎 Defund CBC executives.👍 Refund CBC local newsrooms.
Scoop: CBC gave $18.4 million in bonuses this year after hundreds of jobs at the public broadcaster were eliminated. 45 executives got $3.3M, an average of $73,000 each, which is more than the median Canadian family made in 2022 after taxes.
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His leadership team had two days to draft a statement and the best they could do was: “What about me?”.
I asked @PierrePoilievre for his response to @cafreeland being verbally accosted and threatened in Grande Prairie. More tonight from his visit to Vancouver Island on @CHEK_News
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For those keeping track, every single union that endorsed Doug Ford in last spring’s provincial election have now condemned his attack on workers’ constitutional rights.
Five more unions that endorsed Doug Ford are now condemning Ford’s attack on workers’ rights:. “We are deeply concerned about the potential removal of collective bargaining rights impacting educational workers.”. #onpoli #canlab #ontedsolidarity.
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h/t @The280Times who documented hundreds of weird tweets allegedly from around the world with identical text claiming to have attended a rally in a remote mining town in northern Ontario.
It seems #CdnPoli, Northern #Ontario (every person) converged on Kirkland Lake to see Pierre Poilievre and ALL had the EXACT same opinions & wrote their tweets the exact same ways too. (There's more variations but I'm bored).Fix the #CanadaDisabilityBenefit NOW @JustinTrudeau
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Not sure convoy supporters celebrating this ruling have read it closely, the judge notes that if he was the government, he probably would have invoked it too. He says the Freedom Convoy “went beyond legitimate protest and reflected an unacceptable breakdown of public order.”
We were successful on behalf of the CCLA. The Federal Court found that the decision to declare the Emergencies Act was ultra vires and unreasonable and that the measures violated the Charter.
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BC’s Supreme Court did not sound impressed with the Fraser Institute’s health care expert in today’s ruling upholding public health care. The judge said the expert had “no academic affiliation, no peer reviewed publications and no training or experience in medical issues.”
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This far-right website appears to match the DoJ’s description of a company covertly funded by Russia. Canadian convoy influencer and “Counter Signal” contributor “Kat Kanada” was on chatting with Lauren Southern a month ago comparing Canada to her childhood in the USSR.
A new DoJ indictment alleges that RT employees "covertly fund[ed] and direct[ed]" a US company with $10m in order to push pro-Russia content. The company is based in Tennessee. There is one media company based in Tennessee with the same phrase listed in the indictment.
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Update: The convoy spinoff group that Conservative MP Michael Cooper hung out with last night just disrupted a ceremony commemorating Terry Fox. Members of the group shouted down a speaker, yelling “traitors,” “liars,” “corruption,” “f--k Trudeau,” etc.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper was partying with a group of far-right influencers / livestreamers tonight. The “Wellington Street Regulars” are a convoy adjacent group that has been loitering outside Parliament and the PMO every single day for the last two years
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Here’s another Canadian connection to that far-right media outlet covertly funded by Russia. In July, the Russian-funded outlet released xenophobic video featuring True North’s Harrison Faulkner agitating about international students in PEI to Lauren Southern:
Two RT Employees Indicted for Covertly Funding and Directing U.S. Company that Published Thousands of Videos in Furtherance of Russian Interests. 🔗:
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This is absolute madness. The far-right mob is not even at a school anymore, they’re just standing in the middle of a residential street in Westboro chanting nonsense in the direction of random homeowners to “leave our kids alone.”
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These platforms are too important to public safety, peoples’ livelihoods and democracy to leave in the hands of eccentric billionaires or the whims of stock markets.
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Jagmeet Singh was followed down Wellington Street today by that guy who tried to do a "citizen's arrest" on a Radio-Canada journalist. "Want me to arrest you?" he asks the NDP leader. The video ends with him telling Singh: "Next time I see you, we're gonna have a dance."
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1. General Hillier is misinforming the public – it’s not a 66% tax rate, it means 66% of profits over $250K are subject to tax (ie millionaires get 33% of capital gains tax free). 2. If he wants to run a partisan shitposting account, Hillier should remove “General” from his name.
Robbery.
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I managed to document most of Tenet Media’s Canadian content on its YouTube channel before YouTube took it down. At least 51 videos mentioning Canada or Canadian topics viewed 434,500 times, most in the last several months.
NEW: The far-right media outlet linked in US federal indictment to a secret Russian influence campaign produced 50+ videos focused on Canada. We reviewed the videos before they were taken down and found they were viewed half-a-million times. #cdnpoli.
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Here’s Conservative MP Michael Cooper hanging out at a party last night with the convoy spinoff group that has been mobbing MPs and disrupting Terry Fox ceremonies. The two guys in the altercation with Jagmeet Singh below were at this same party.
People from the far-right group that disrupted the Terry Fox ceremony this morning just got into an altercation with Jagmeet Singh. One guy calls Singh a “corrupted bastard.” Singh asks him to say it to his face. The guy lies and denies saying it, despite video showing he said it
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It actually says a lot that Pierre Poilievre’s vision for Canada is just a pastiche of random irrelevant stock video clips.
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The @TorontoStar asked me for my thoughts on Russia covertly funding far-right media influencers, including Canadians. Foreign-funding or not, Canada is one of the world’s biggest exporters of far-right media – that problem is ultimately on us, not Russia.
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Maybe someone can clarify where the law stands on guys walking around with cameras making video recordings in public washrooms?.
While taking a leak at the Ottawa Int. Airport, I found tampons and maxi pads in the men’s room. This shit isn’t real. I still don’t believe it. I’m in the Matrix.
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After conducting an extensive handwriting analysis, I can confirm the signature of the “National President” of the Hells Angels on the letter below is identical to the signature that appears on the Wikipedia entry of the lead singer of the German pop band “Tokio Hotel”
Romana Didulo posts a letter from the Hells Angels saying they are ready to serve as security
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An angry mob of commercial fishermen is terrorizing random people in Nova Scotia on suspicions they are buying lobsters from a local Indigenous community.
New strategy from the commercial fishermen in south west Nova Scotia today: they’re turning their attention to those who they believe are buying Mi’kmaw-harvested lobster. Big crowd gathered outside the house of an alleged buyer this morning.
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Anti-LGBTQ+ activist who ambushed Justin Trudeau during family ski trip was subject to peace bond, banned from entering a local school. Emily Duggan, who filmed video telling Trudeau to “get the f—k out of BC,” is a twice failed school trustee candidate.
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A day ago, Pierre Poilievre denounced CBC as “government-funded media” and “Trudeau propaganda.”. Today in the House of Commons, Poilievre cites a CBC News scoop investigating Trudeau’s Caribbean vacation with wealthy donors. Can’t make this stuff up.
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Current population of Canada: 41 million. People impacted by capital gains tax changes: 40,000 people with average incomes of $1.4 million. Genuinely curious if @ThomasMulcair has even read the Budget 2024 document?.
“The people who will be hurt most by the new the capital gains tax are not the ultra rich. It’s good hard working people”. …. who have worked hard, played by the rules, squirrelled money away and bought a triplex - that is their retirement plan- with no warning, @ThomasMulcair.
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April 1 must be a confusing and emotional day for Dr. Peterson.
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During one of the bizarro convoy press conferences on Parliament Hill today, their spokesperson issued a warning to MPs vaguely alluding to political violence. I can’t believe anyone let these people book the National Press Theatre or broadcast this on CPAC.
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NEW from me:. The Mexican Embassy contacted me late last night to say they are pulling out of a festival featuring Maxime Bernier, Randy Hillier, Tom Quiggin and True North’s Andrew Lawton. Multiple organizations listed as corporate sponsors say they never sponsored the event.
NEW: An Ottawa book festival platforming far-right speakers is using fake employees and misleading sponsors. The Embassy of Mexico has pulled out of the event and organizations listed as sponsors want their logos taken off the festival’s website. #ottnews.
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CBC’s Power and Politics asked Pierre Poilievre to clarify what he meant when he said Justin Trudeau is imposing “radical gender ideology” on children. Poilievre’s office provided *no response*.
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Satellite imagery shows the “serial killer hockey rink” was present at this same prison in 2014 when Stephen Harper’s Conservatives were in power. Correctional Services Canada just confirmed to me the object on the bottom right is of a hockey rink in 2014.
Here is the hockey rink for serial killers that the Trudeau government says doesn’t exist.
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This is very dangerous rhetoric:. While standing on the steps of Parliament Hill, former Ontario PC MPP Randy Hillier compares their struggle to Canadian soldiers fighting the Battle of Vimy Ridge then tells a crowd of supporters: “This is the hill we die on.”. #ottnews
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Conservative MP Michael Cooper was partying with a group of far-right influencers / livestreamers tonight. The “Wellington Street Regulars” are a convoy adjacent group that has been loitering outside Parliament and the PMO every single day for the last two years
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“In an interview, PressProgress’ LeBrun said the Conservative leader’s ‘pattern is to get into antagonistic debates with journalists’ and share clips from those encounters on social media. ‘Poilievre is getting a reputation as being a bit of a jackass’.”.
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New from me:. One of Canada’s top “anti-mask” organizers was quietly paid thousands of dollars by a Conservative leadership campaign to sell party memberships. The anti-mask activist didn’t disclose any financial relationship whilst selling memberships:.
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I don’t know what is going on inside the National Post, but it’s not your imagination – it keeps getting worse and worse and worse:
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Ottawa Police released a truck that was in the process of being towed because the driver threw a temper tantrum. #ottnews.
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Poilievre’s comments have now been denounced / disavowed by:. ✔️ 2SLGBTQ+ groups.✔️ Conservative candidates.✔️ Dude who was literally standing next to him on the stage. This is a pretty significant news story and yet it’s inexplicably being ignored by Canada’s big media outlets.
🚨NEW: the first openly trans Conservative candidate is speaking out against Pierre Poilievre’s anti-trans rhetoric. “What the CPC is doing is hateful and it is evil,” @HannahHodson28 told me. She had more to say. Watch:
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A number of far-right Canadian influencers plus Russian state media are suggesting something nefarious led to a fire at a church in Trois-Rivières, Québec. They fail to mention the church was under construction and being converted into housing units.
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I have no personal beef with Shachi Kurl and don’t hold her responsible for her employer’s views, but I don’t understand why she keeps moderating debates. Kurl isn’t a journalist and Angus Reid has clients / partners with stakes in the election. Why isn’t a journalist moderating?.
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“The Conservative leader’s ‘pattern is to get into antagonistic debates with journalists’ and share clips from those encounters on social media. ‘Poilievre is getting a reputation as being a bit of a jackass’.”.
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Justin Trudeau did not “deploy” me to do a fact-check, nor did he have any involvement in the production of my fact-check. In fact, I’ve never spoken to Justin Trudeau in my life. I welcome @TrueNorthCentre to make public any evidence they have backing up this conspiracy theory.
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Loving all these blue check accounts with fake names trying to convince people they make $250,000+/yr in capital gains income and threatening to leave the country.
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A lot of these accounts are also tweeting about climate change and pleading with people to reduce their carbon footprint, which makes me wonder why they would fly across the world to attend one of Poilievre’s anti-carbon tax rallies?
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Anthony Furey receives public shows of support from:. • Brian Lilley.• Joe Warmington.• Kevin Vuong.• Stephen Lecce. Anthony Furey loses Don Valley West city council vote by 24 pts
Anthony Furey has been defeated in the Don Valley West councillor election. Rachel Chernos Lin wins with roughly 54.7%
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NEW: Statement from the Royal Canadian Legion re: Danielle Smith’s comments on boycotting poppies over public health rules:. “The Poppy is a symbol of remembrance of those who have served Canada and made the supreme sacrifice in the name of democracy. It has no role in politics”
UCP leader Danielle Smith boycotted Remembrance Day poppies and railed against ‘mainstream’ medicine on a resurfaced podcast. Smith pushed COVID-19 misinformation and suggested the military, not doctors, should be in charge of future pandemics. #ableg.
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Two laws of nature:. 1. For every action, there is an equal reaction. 2. When Canadian Conservatives and their surrogates start attacking the media and insist something is not a story, it means they know the story is actually pretty damaging.
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It looks like the Toronto Sun made extensive revisions to a Joe Warmington column about Justin Trudeau getting ambushed at a ski hill. New version adds quotes from Emily Duggan rationalizing her actions, cuts 344 words criticizing her for swearing at Trudeau in front of his kids
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Awkward moment: BC Conservative leader John Rustad uses paternalistic rhetoric to explain his plan to replace Indigenous rights law with “economic reconciliation” . “I don’t know if I would compare our relationship with First Nations to parent and child,” Eby replies.
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Once again, the anti-LGBTQ+ groups were outnumbered by counterprotesters:
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Ottawa residents are launching a People’s Commission to hold public hearings on the impacts of the convoy occupation. They say they’re collecting testimony themselves because municipal / federal governments are failing to document harms done to their local community. #ottnews
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Facing a heavy snowfall on Parliament Hill, Freedom Convoy Reunion organizers are building themselves makeshift shelters out of Saran wrap:
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Surprised Andrew Scheer never complained when the Liberal media colluded with one another to run the same headline quoting his talking points.
No wonder Trudeau wants to censor all but four or five Liberals news sources: they all coordinate in attacking Poilievre with the same false headline. Collusion?
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Anti-LGBTQ+ Million Man March “cornered” on Parliament Hill:
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Canadian conservatives’ coordinated attack on gender rights is ripped from the playbook of the far-right in the US, Europe and South America. Their goal is to create scapegoats, sow division and erode trust in the education system and public institutions.
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It’s one thing to criticize CBC’s budget or be politically opposed to the idea of public broadcasting. But suggesting Justin Trudeau is a puppet master who somehow personally directs or micromanages CBC’s news coverage is literally the definition of a ‘conspiracy theory’.
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So you can send a random PDF from a dodgy polling firm with no names attached to @CTVCalgary and they might publish it:. “NPRC says the polling was not commissioned. The company has no website and said it is a subsidiary of a voter contact firm, which it won’t name.”
Majority of Albertans support parental consent and/or notification for minor to get abortion: Survey
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In less than 24 hours, Canada Proud has pivoted from claiming CBC is not “independent” from Justin Trudeau to amplifying a CBC News story that is critical of Justin Trudeau.
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And Justin Trudeau is the son of Pierre Trudeau, who one time dated Barbara Streisand, Barbara Streisand was in “I Love Liberty” with Walter Matthau, Walter Matthau was in “JFK” with Kevin Bacon. Therefore a vote for Rachel Notley is, in fact, a vote for Kevin Bacon.
Rachel Notley works for Jagmeet Singh. Jagmeet Singh works for Justin Trudeau. A vote for Rachel Notley is a vote for Justin Trudeau.
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Ottawa Police are arresting local residents defending a high school from a far-right mob from out-of-town.
First arrest seems to be from the counterprotestor’s side. Person was wearing a rainbow mask and carrying a Trans flag.
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David Menzies was also arrested at a Conservative event in 2021. Melissa Lantsman said Menzies was homophobic towards her and said he made her feel “unsafe.”. Pierre Poilievre did not tweet about the “state of freedom of the press” or speak out to defend Menzies at that time.
This is the state of freedom of the press. In Canada. In 2024. After 8 years of Trudeau.
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Conservative MP alleges teenagers in small villages in Newfoundland are being lured into “crack houses” and sold to sex trafficking rings. RCMP says it’s never received reports of such crimes. from @berrygrounds at @IndependentNL.
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The NDP is moving a motion to hold Lauren Chen in contempt of Parliament:. “Being in contempt of Parliament means that she is wilfully obstructing our work into a very serious matter, we've given her multiple opportunities to do so, she was warned of the consequences”
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One day after filming themselves outside the CBC building chanting that the media is ignoring them, the “Save the Children Convoy” is now angry that CBC is outside their base camp filming them.
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Former National Post columnist Mark Steyn is out one million dollars after self-representing himself in court and losing a defamation lawsuit brought forward by climate scientist Michael Mann.
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