Business
Australian senator compares Trudeau’s treatment of Freedom Convoy protesters to Communist China
From LifeSiteNews
‘This push towards a digital ID future is another step toward a Chinese Communist Party-style social credit system, which will force you to support the current thing at the risk of total cancellation,’ Senator Alex Antic said
An Australian senator compared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handling of the Freedom Convoy with Communist China.
During a November 13 meeting in the Australian Senate, Senator Alex Antic used the freezing of Canadians’ bank accounts during the 2022 Freedom Convoy as an example of the dangers of digital currency, comparing Trudeau’s actions with China’s social credit system.
“I’ve been warning about digital ID for some time, and it wasn’t so long ago that, like many of these issues which turn out to be correct, it was considered to be nothing but a conspiracy theory,” he said.
“We saw how that worked a couple of years ago with the financial cancellation of the Canadian truckers when they were protesting COVID lockdowns and restrictions,” Antic appealed. “The advancement of technology is inevitable, but this push towards a digital ID future is another step towards a Chinese Communist Party-style social credit system, which will force you to support the current thing at the risk of total cancellation.”
The Trudeau government’s similarities to China’s Communist government have become increasingly evident to both Canadians and other countries. Indeed, Trudeau himself admitted that he has a “level of admiration” for China’s “basic dictatorship.”
His imitation of China’s credit score system was revealed during the 2022 Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa with thousands of Canadians calling for an end to COVID mandates by camping outside Parliament.
In response, Trudeau’s government enacted the EA on February 14, 2022, to shut down the popular movement. Trudeau revoked the EA on February 23 after the protesters had been cleared out. At the time, seven of Canada’s 10 provinces opposed the use of the EA by Trudeau.
Under the EA, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland froze the bank accounts of Canadians who donated to the 2022 Freedom Convoy, which protested vaccine mandates and COVID regulations.
As articulated by LifeSiteNews correspondent David James, this type of financial crackdown is precisely why many fear the move toward an entirely digital, cashless society.
“What Freeland has outlined is an unprecedented incursion into financial activity that is designed to lock the people whom the government deems to be undesirable out of the system entirely,” James wrote in an op-ed.
“It confirms what many have been warning about for some time: that one of the core elements of the so-called Great Reset is to enslave populations by surveilling and controlling their transactions,” he continued. “China has already implemented its version of digital tyranny with its Social Credit System, which it will combine with its Central Bank Digital Currency [CBDC]. Now Trudeau and Freeland have drawn back the curtain in Canada to reveal their version of digital despotism.”
Antic’s use of Canada as an example comes as governments around the world are pushing digital currency despite warnings that it will lead to a social credit system.
“Last week, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a final agreement on a law to create the European Digital Identity, or eID, the EU’s first fully digital identification system,” Antic announced.
“This law will provide Europeans with a digital wallet containing digital versions of their ID cards — their drivers licences, their academic certificates, their medical records, their bank account information and so on,” he explained. “The next major step in the EU will be to create a digital euro and a central bank digital currency, which is currently being developed by the European Central Bank.”
“I’ve been warning about digital ID for some time, and it wasn’t so long ago that, like many of these issues which turn out to be correct, it was considered to be nothing but a conspiracy theory,” he added.
Currently, Australia is moving toward introducing digital currency with consultation on the bill having recently closed.
“You can see how it’s going to happen: We’ll get a digital currency and, once those steps are in place, a digital snare trap will have been created,” Antic warned. “We must reject a digital ID future, and time is running out for people in this place to understand that they are playing with fire.”
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
By Ryan Thorpe
Like all areas of Ottawa’s ballooning bureaucracy, the cost and size of the Prime Minister’s Office has increased under the Trudeau government.
The inflation-adjusted cost of staffing the PMO has risen by 16 per cent under the watch of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to access-to-information records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Salary costs for the 103 staffers in the PMO came to $10.5 million in 2022-23. That figure does not represent overall compensation for PMO staff (including benefits), but rather base salary, according to the records.
Taxpayers are now on the hook for an additional $3.2 million in annual PMO salary costs over 2014-15, the last full year former prime minister Stephen Harper was in office.
“The cost of running the PMO has increased under Trudeau, but it’s a good bet most Canadians don’t think they’re getting any better performance from the prime minister,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “If Trudeau can’t find savings right under his nose, how can taxpayers trust him to cut the fat across government?”
The growth in PMO staff comes at a time when the Trudeau government has been ballooning the federal bureaucracy across the board.
Both the number and cost of the federal bureaucracy has exploded under Trudeau’s watch, according to other government records obtained by the CTF.
The number of federal bureaucrats increased by 42 per cent under Trudeau, with more than 108,000 new bureaucrats added to the government payroll.
Spending on federal bureaucrats hit a record high $67.4 billion in 2022-23, representing a 68 per cent increase since 2016.
The size of the federal c-suite has also expanded, with the number of executives increasing by 42 per cent under Trudeau.
The Trudeau government has handed out more than $1 billion in bonuses since 2015 and more than one million pay raises in the last four years.
Meanwhile, spending on consultants also reached a record high, with planned expenditures for 2023-24 sitting at $21.6 billion.
“Everywhere you look – the PMO, the federal c-suite, the bureaucracy – the cost and size of government is out of control,” Terrazzano said. “Trudeau must take air out of Ottawa’s ballooning bureaucracy and the place to start is his own office.”
PMO staff costs, government records obtained by the CTF
|
Fiscal year |
Number of PMO staff |
PMO salary costs |
|
2014-15 |
94 |
$7,258,436 |
|
2015-16 |
74 |
$6,353,188 |
|
2016-17 |
84 |
$7,462,686 |
|
2017-18 |
99 |
$8,155,068 |
|
2018-19 |
100 |
$8,479,353 |
|
2019-20 |
90 |
$8,536,672 |
|
2020-21 |
99 |
$9,840,834 |
|
2021-22 |
94 |
$9,383,328 |
|
2022-23 |
103 |
$10,536,649 |
|
Total |
|
$76,006,214 |
From the Canadian Taxpayers Federation
By Carson Binda
Taxpayers are glad to see Parks Canada backing away from a $12-million deer cull on Sidney Island.
“Parks Canada’s plan to blow $12-million on a deer cull was ridiculous from day one,” said Carson Binda, B.C. Director for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Parks Canada is right to cancel the project, but it’s worrying that it took them this much wasted money to figure it out.”
Parks Canada used so-called sharpshooters in helicopters, firing down on invasive fallow deer from above, during phase one of the cull which occurred last December. The so-called sharpshooters killed 84 deer, but only 63 were the correct species. The cost for phase one came in at $834,000, roughly $10,000 per deer.
Subsequently, Parks Canada erected fencing made of fish nets around the 12-square-kilometer Island to trap the deer, in anticipation for a second round of culls which were scheduled for Nov. 15.
Several animals became entangled in the netting, painfully thrashing themselves to death.
“Seeing deer thrashing to death because of bureaucratic incompetence is heartbreaking,” Binda said. “Parks Canada needs to explain how this happened and how much taxpayer cash was wasted on this project before the cancellation.”
Residents of Sidney Island and local hunters have been culling deer on the island for years, for free. Last fall 54 deer were culled by local hunters at no cost to the taxpayer.
“Local hunters filling their freezers at no cost to the taxpayer is obviously better than Parks Canada blowing millions of dollars to shoot the wrong deer from helicopters and leaving others to suffer in a net,” Binda said. “Hopefully the bureaucrats learn from their mistakes with this boondoggle.”
Hat Trick: Nick Bosa’s Photo Bomb Re-Ignites The Colin Kaepernick Fury
CBS News insider says the network knew the Hunter Biden Laptop was verified
Alberta calling for federal election! Premier Smith demands feds scrap dangerous oil and gas production caps
Breaking: CSIS warned Health Canada of “insider threat” from Wuhan Institute-tied scientist Dr. Qiu Seven Months Before Lethal Ebola Shipped to China
-
Agriculture2 days ago2024 harvest wrap-up: Minister Sigurdson
-
Health2 days agoHow the Trump-RFK Jr. coalition could realign US politics against Big Pharma and Big Food
-
Business2 days agoCanada’s struggle against transnational crime & money laundering
-
Alberta2 days ago39 percent increase in funding for RCMP instigates discussion about future policing for rural Alberta
-
Red Deer2 days agoChamber urges city council to look harder at cutting costs
-
Addictions2 days agoAlberta closing Red Deer’s only overdose prevention site in favor of recovery model
-
espionage2 days agoScathing Report Reveals How Deadly Pathogens and Sensitive Research Walked Out the Door Under Justin Trudeau’s Watch
-
Alberta1 day agoFor second year in a row, Alberta oil and gas companies spend more than required on cleanup