National
Poilievre can pack a Rally—but can he take on the establishment, China’s influence, and the globalist elite?
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Thousands braved the cold to pack Poilievre’s rally, chanting ‘We need you!’
Pierre Poilievre didn’t just hold a rally. He delivered a political earthquake. Thousands of Canadians braved the cold—minus eleven degrees, snow falling, streets covered in ice—to stand shoulder to shoulder, packed into an overflowing venue, with even more watching from spillover rooms.
And it wasn’t just a polite gathering of voters looking for a fresh face to replace Trudeau’s tired, corrupt regime. No, this was something else entirely. It was a moment where you could feel the momentum shifting. It was the kind of rally that terrifies political elites because it tells them one thing—this isn’t just a campaign anymore. It’s a movement.
Now, we’ve seen this before. Obama in 2008, Trump in 2016. The political class and their media lapdogs always pretend these moments don’t exist—right up until the moment they steamroll the establishment and change the country forever. That’s the kind of energy we saw in Ottawa. That’s the kind of political force Poilievre is sitting on.
And the real question is: does he understand just how big this is? Because right now, he is either going to ride this wave to an unstoppable victory, or he is going to let the media, the bureaucrats, and the Liberal swamp talk him into playing it safe and blowing the biggest opportunity of his life.
Let’s talk about what he got right—because he got a lot right.
First, Mark Carney got absolutely eviscerated. And not a moment too soon. For months, the Liberal establishment and their media servants have been parading this unelected banker around like some kind of messiah—as if Canadians have been crying out for a smug, carbon-tax-obsessed globalist to come and save us from ourselves.
Well, Poilievre wasn’t having it. He torched Carney’s entire phony image in a single speech.
This is a guy—let’s be very clear about who he is—who has spent his entire career making life more expensive for you while getting richer off it. A man who cheered for the carbon tax in Canada while personally investing in American coal. A man who killed pipelines here while his own company bought them in the Middle East. A man who spent years whispering in Trudeau’s ear, pushing policies that have already driven over $500 billion in investment out of this country—and now, somehow, wants you to believe he’s the guy to fix it.
It was devastating, brutal, and completely deserved. And the best part? Poilievre made it clear that if Carney wins, Canada loses.
But that wasn’t even the most important part of the speech.
The most important moment came when Poilievre didn’t just talk about the economy—he talked about Canada’s survival.
Because that’s what this is about.
And this is where Poilievre really flipped the script on the media’s latest nonsense.
For weeks now, Canada’s press has been running around like a bunch of headless chickens, shrieking that Trump’s tariffs are going to destroy us—as if the biggest economic threat to this country isn’t the people running it into the ground from within.
And instead of taking the bait, instead of playing defense, Poilievre turned the entire argument on its head.
The real problem isn’t Trump. The real problem is that Canada can’t even trade with itself.
Think about that. Canada’s biggest economic problem isn’t some tariff threat from Washington—it’s that we have more trade barriers between our own provinces than we do with the United States. That is insane. That is deliberate economic sabotage. That is the kind of bureaucratic lunacy that only a Liberal government could create.
So instead of cowering in fear about what Trump might do, Poilievre did what no Canadian politician has done in decades—he promised to tear down interprovincial trade barriers in his first 30 days in office.
And suddenly, the entire media narrative collapsed.
Why? Because if Canada is so fragile that one American president can destroy our economy with a tariff, then maybe the real problem isn’t Trump. Maybe the real problem is that Liberal policies have left us so pathetically weak that we can’t even function as a country without America’s permission.
Now that’s leadership. That’s the kind of offensive strategy Canada needs.
And then, Poilievre did it again.
He unleashed his strongest energy vision yet.
He vowed to repeal C-69, the anti-pipeline law, within 60 days. He promised to fast-track LNG projects, restart the Ring of Fire mining industry, and put an end to the foreign-funded radical environmentalists who have spent decades deliberately crippling Canada’s energy sector while collecting cash from foreign oil interests.
The crowd exploded. Because Canadians know what’s been done to them.
This country should be an energy powerhouse. Instead, under Liberal rule, we have entire provinces collapsing under green energy scams while we import oil from countries that hate us.
Poilievre knows it. Canadians know it.
And yet, for all the things he got right, there was one glaring failure.
China.
Yes, Poilievre called China a hostile power. Yes, he promised to strengthen Arctic defenses and build a new military base in Iqaluit. That’s good. That’s necessary.
But that’s not enough.
Because Trudeau didn’t just let China threaten Canada from the outside—he let them infiltrate our democracy from the inside.
And that’s where Poilievre should have gone further.
He should have hammered the Houge Inquiry—the investigation into Chinese election interference that was so damaging that Trudeau shut down Parliament to bury it.
He should have exposed how CSIS warned the Liberals about Chinese interference—and they did nothing.
He should have pledged to ban CCP-linked companies from buying Canadian land, businesses, and resources.
He should have said, plainly and directly, that Trudeau’s government was complicit in allowing a foreign dictatorship to interfere in Canada’s democracy.
But he didn’t. And that was a mistake.
Because when you are standing in front of a roaring crowd, a movement waiting for a leader to take the gloves off, that is the moment you go all in.
Poilievre is so close. He has the passion. He has the policies. He has the momentum.
But now, he has to finish the job.
That means stop holding back on China. That means stop treating this like a normal election. That means expose the entire corrupt system—not just Trudeau, but the elites who profit off Canada’s decline.
Because the crowd is ready. The movement is here. The moment is now.
The only question is: is Poilievre ready to go all the way?
Watch the entire rally here: (Pierre begins to speak at 29:00)
Addictions
BC overhauls safer supply program in response to widespread pharmacy scam
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A B.C. pharmacy scam investigation has led the provincial government to return to a witnessed consumption model for safer supply
More than 60 pharmacies across B.C. are alleged to have participated in a kickback scheme linked to safer supply drugs, according to a provincial report released Feb. 19.
On Feb. 5, the BC Conservatives leaked a report that showed the findings of an internal investigation by the B.C. Ministry of Health. That investigation showed dozens of pharmacies were filling prescriptions patients did not require in order to overbill the government. These safer supply drugs were then diverted onto the black market.
After the report was leaked, the province committed to ending take-home safer supply models, which allow users to take hydromorphone pills home in bottles. Instead, it will require drug users to consume prescribed opioids in a witnessed program, under the oversight of a medical professional.
Gregory Sword, whose 14-year-old daughter Kamilah died in August 2022 after taking a hydromorphone pill that had been diverted from B.C.’s safer supply program, expressed outrage over the report’s findings.
“This is so frustrating to hear that [pharmacies] were making money off this program and causing more drugs [to flood] the street,” Sword told Canadian Affairs on Feb. 20.
The investigation found that pharmacies exploited B.C.’s Frequency of Dispensing policy to maximize billings. To take advantage of dispensing fees, pharmacies incentivized clients to fill prescriptions they did not require by offering them cash or rewards. Some of those clients then sold the drugs on the black market. Pharmacies earned up to $11,000 per patient a year.
“I’m positive that [the B.C. government has] known this for a long time and only made this decision when the public became aware and the scrutiny was high,” said Elenore Sturko, Conservative MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale, who released the leaked report in a statement on Feb. 5.
“As much as I am really disappointed in how long it’s taken for this decision to be made, I am also happy that this has happened,” she said.
The health ministry said it is investigating the implicated pharmacies. Those that are confirmed to have been involved could have their licenses suspended, be referred to law enforcement or become ineligible to participate in PharmaCare, the provincial program that helps residents cover the costs of prescription drugs.
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Witnessed dosing
The leaked report says that “a significant portion of the opioids being freely prescribed by doctors and pharmacists are not being consumed by their intended recipients.” It also says “prescribed alternatives are trafficked provincially, nationally and internationally.”
Critics of the safer supply program say it enables addiction, while supporters say it reduces overdoses.
Sword, Kamilah’s father, is suing the provincial and federal governments, arguing B.C.’s safer supply program made it possible for youth such as his daughter to access drugs.
Madison, Kamilah’s best friend, also became addicted to opioids dispensed through safer supply programs. Madison was just 15 when she first encountered “dillies” — hydromorphone pills dispensed through safer supply, but widely available on the streets. She developed a tolerance that led her to fentanyl.
“I do know for sure that some pharmacies and doctors were aware of the diversion,” Madison’s mother Beth told Canadian Affairs on Feb. 20.
“When I first realized what my daughter was taking and how she was getting it, I phoned the pharmacy and the doctor on the label of the pill bottle to inform them that the patient was selling their hydromorphone,” Beth said.
Masha Krupp, an Ottawa mother who has a son enrolled in a safer supply program, has said the safer supply program in her city is similarly flawed. Canadian Affairs previously reported on this program, which is run by Recovery Care’s Ottawa-based harm reduction clinics.
“I read about the B.C. pharmacy scheme and wasn’t surprised,” Krupp told Canadian Affairs on Feb. 20. Krupp lost a daughter to methadone toxicity while she was in an addiction treatment program at Recovery Care.
“Three years [after starting safer supply], my son is still using fentanyl, crack cocaine and methadone, despite being with Dr. [Charles] Breau and with Recovery Care for over three years,” Krupp testified before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health on Oct. 22, 2024.
Krupp has been vocal about the dangers of dispensing large quantities of opioids without proper oversight, arguing many patients sell their prescriptions to buy stronger street drugs.
“You can’t give addicts 28 pills and say, ‘Oh here you go,’” she said in her testimony. “They sell for three dollars a pop on the street.”
Krupp has also advocated for witnessed consumption of safer supply medications, arguing supervised dosing would prevent diversion and ensure proper oversight of pharmacies.
“I had talked about witnessed dosing for safe supply when I appeared before the parliamentary health committee last October,” she told Canadian Affairs this week.
“I’m grateful that finally … this decision has been made to return to a witness program,” said Sturko, the B.C. MLA.
In 2020, B.C. implemented a witnessed consumption model to ensure safer supply opioids were consumed as prescribed and to reduce diversion. In 2021, the province switched to take-home models. Its stated aim was to expand access, save lives and ease pressure on health-care facilities during the pandemic.
“You’re really fighting against a group of people … working within the bureaucracy of [the B.C. NDP] government … who have been making efforts to work towards the legalization of drugs and, in doing that, have looked only for opportunities to bolster their arguments for their position, instead of examining their approach in a balanced way,” said Sturko.
“These are foreseeable outcomes when you do not put proper safeguards in place and when you completely ignore all indications of negative impacts.”
Sword also believes some drug policies fail to prioritize the safety of vulnerable individuals.
“Greed is the ultimate evil in society and this just proves it,” he said. “We don’t care about these drugs getting into the wrong hands as long as I get my money.”
This article was produced through the Breaking Needles Fellowship Program, which provided a grant to Canadian Affairs, a digital media outlet, to fund journalism exploring addiction and crime in Canada. Articles produced through the Fellowship are co-published by Break The Needle and Canadian Affairs.
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Alberta
Open letter to Ottawa from Alberta strongly urging National Economic Corridor
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Canada’s wealth is based on its success as a trading nation. Canada is blessed with immense resources spread across a vast country. It has succeeded as a small, open economy with an enviable standard of living that has been able to provide what the world needs.
Canada has been stuck in a situation where it cannot complete nation‑building projects like the Canadian Pacific Railway that was completed in 1885, or the Trans Canada Highway that was completed in the 1960s. With the uncertainty of U.S. tariffs looming over our country and province, Canada needs to take bold action to revitalize the productivity and competitiveness of its economy – going east to west and not always relying on north-south trade. There’s no better time than right now to politically de-risk these projects.
A lack of leadership from the federal government has led to the following:
- Inadequate federal funding for trade infrastructure.
- A lack of investment is stifling the infrastructure capacity we need to diversify our exports. This is despite federally commissioned reports like the 2022 report by the National Supply Chain Task Force indicating the investment need will be trillions over the next 50 years.
- Federal red tape, like the Impact Assessment Act.
- Burdensome regulation has added major costs and significant delays to projects, like the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, a proposed container facility at Vancouver, which spent more than a decade under federal review.
- Opaque funding programs, like the National Trade Corridors Fund (NTCF).
- Which offers a pattern of unclear criteria for decisions and lack of response. This program has not funded any provincial highway projects in Alberta, despite the many applications put forward by the Government of Alberta. In fact, we’ve gone nearly 3 years without decisions on some project applications.
- Ineffective policies that limit economic activity.
- Measures that pit environmental and economic objectives in stark opposition to one another instead of seeking innovative win-win solutions hinder Canada’s overall productivity and investment climate. One example is the moratorium on shipping crude through northern B.C. waters, which effectively ended Enbridge’s Northern Gateway proposal and has limited Alberta’s ability to ship its oil to Asian markets.
In a federal leadership vacuum, Alberta has worked to advance economic corridors across Canada. In April 2023, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba signed an agreement to collaborate on joint infrastructure networks meant to boost trade and economic growth across the Prairies. Alberta also signed a similar economic corridor agreement with the Northwest Territories in July 2024. Additionally, Alberta would like to see an agreement among all 7 western provinces and territories, and eventually the entire country, to collaborate on economic corridors.
Through our collaboration with neighbouring jurisdictions, we will spur the development of economic corridors by reducing regulatory delays and attracting investment. We recognize the importance of working with Indigenous communities on the development of major infrastructure projects, which will be key to our success in these endeavours.
However, provinces and territories cannot do this alone. The federal government must play its part to advance our country’s economic corridors that we need from coast to coast to coast to support our economic future. It is time for immediate action.
Alberta recommends the federal government take the following steps to strengthen Canada’s economic corridors and supply chains by:
- Creating an Economic Corridor Agency to identify and maintain economic corridors across provincial boundaries, with meaningful consultation with both Indigenous groups and industry.
- Increasing federal funding for trade-enabling infrastructure, such as roads, rail, ports, in-land ports, airports and more.
- Streamlining regulations regarding trade-related infrastructure and interprovincial trade, especially within economic corridors. This would include repealing or amending the Impact Assessment Act and other legislation to remove the uncertainty and ensure regulatory provisions are proportionate to the specific risk of the project.
- Adjusting the policy levers that that support productivity and competitiveness. This would include revisiting how the federal government supports airports, especially in the less-populated regions of Canada.
To move forward expeditiously on the items above, I propose the establishment of a federal/provincial/territorial working group. This working group would be tasked with creating a common position on addressing the economic threats facing Canada, and the need for mitigating trade and trade-enabling infrastructure. The group should identify appropriate governance to ensure these items are presented in a timely fashion by relative priority and urgency.
Alberta will continue to be proactive and tackle trade issues within its own jurisdiction. From collaborative memorandums of understanding with the Prairies and the North, to reducing interprovincial trade barriers, to fostering innovative partnerships with Indigenous groups, Alberta is working within its jurisdiction, much like its provincial and territorial colleagues.
We ask the federal government to join us in a new approach to infrastructure development that ensures Canada is productive and competitive for generations to come and generates the wealth that ensures our quality of life is second to none.
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Devin Dreeshen
Devin Dreeshen was sworn in as Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors on October 24, 2022.
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