News
PM’s pre-election shuffle eyes border, trade and bruising provincial relations
OTTAWA — Justin Trudeau has unveiled his pre-election cabinet in a shuffle designed to showcase new faces and to address increasingly troublesome files — from border security, to trade promotion, to the potential for bare-knuckle scraps with the provinces.
In Wednesday’s shuffle, the prime minister gave new portfolios to six ministers and expanded his cabinet by promoting five other MPs to his front benches. The shakeup will boost the profiles of more members of Trudeau’s team, which has long relied on his personal brand, ahead of next year’s federal election.
The moves also look to reinforce possible weak spots.
In one key change, Trudeau confidant and long-time MP Dominic LeBlanc moved from fisheries to intergovernmental affairs, elevating him into a higher-profile role that’s destined to become particularly turbulent.
As a result, Canadians should expect to see a lot more of LeBlanc. At the helm of the unpredictable provincial relations file, the sometimes-pugnacious politician will have more bureaucratic powers at his fingertips with support from several departments.
The federal-provincial dynamic is set to become more confrontational for Trudeau’s Liberals following the recent election of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government led by Premier Doug Ford. Over the coming months, there’s potential for more conflicts if Quebec and Alberta elect right-leaning governments of their own.
The new cabinet lineup has also been crafted to handle Canada’s complicated relationship with the United States. Following the election of U.S. President Donald Trump, Ottawa has faced growing challenges related to irregular border crossers and big unknowns surrounding Canada-U.S. trade, including an escalating tariff dispute and the difficult renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“I think there’s no question that the international context is constantly changing,” Trudeau said Wednesday after announcing his new cabinet at Rideau Hall.
“There is certainly a level of clarity for Canadians, for businesses, for everyone across this country that we need to diversify our markets, we need to ensure that we are not as dependent on the United States.”
To expand Canada’s trade interests beyond the U.S., Trudeau moved natural resources minister Jim Carr into the international trade portfolio. Carr’s job will be to re-energize stalled efforts towards a trade deal with China, to promote the Canada-EU free trade agreement among European countries that have yet to ratify it and to continue to push for deeper economic integration into Latin America.
The shuffle will also raise the profiles of five Liberal MPs entering cabinet for the first time.
The newcomers include Bill Blair, who was named minister of the new portfolio of border security and organized crime reduction.
The former Toronto police chief will be responsible for the thorny political issues of border management and a surge of migrants at unofficial entry points, as well as gun violence and the complex process of cannabis legalization.
Other new ministers include Mary Ng, who oversees small business and export promotion. The Toronto-area MP was an adviser to Trudeau before her byelection win last year.
Filomena Tassi, a Hamilton MP and former high-school chaplain, assumes the new cabinet file dedicated to the needs of seniors.
Jonathan Wilkinson, a North Vancouver MP, is taking over from LeBlanc as minister of fisheries, oceans and the Coast Guard. The Rhodes Scholar served as parliamentary secretary to Environment Minister Catherine McKenna.
Mandate letters for the new ministers are expected later this summer.
In Quebec, veteran MP Pablo Rodriguez will succeed Melanie Joly, a fellow Montrealer, as heritage minister. The move will position Rodriguez as a key minister responsible for selling the Liberals to Quebec, a critical electoral battleground for the party.
Joly, who struggled at times in her role as heritage minister, was shunted to tourism, official languages and la Francophonie.
Trudeau put the controversial pipeline file in the hands of Amarjeet Sohi, who represents an Edmonton riding. Sohi, who will take over Carr’s natural resources portfolio, handed off his infrastructure file to Francois-Philippe Champagne, the former international trade minister.
The responsibilities of five existing ministers were also revamped. Many cabinet members with key roles stayed put, including McKenna, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan.
Conservative deputy leader Lisa Raitt said Trudeau’s shuffle highlights areas where the government has failed to deliver on its promises.
“They’re failing in trade, they’re failing in pipelines, they’re failing in infrastructure and as a result those ministers have been moved to other portfolios — this is desperate attempt to hit that reset button,” Raitt said.
“If Justin Trudeau had thought the last two-and-a-half years had gone well, he wouldn’t be making these kinds of changes.”
Raitt also said she’s concerned about Ottawa’s decision to have LeBlanc — whom she described as “extremely partisan” — and Blair deal with the provinces. Blair sparred with the Ford family during his time as police chief.
Ian Brodie, who served as chief of staff for former prime minister Stephen Harper, said in a tweet that Blair’s appointment shows the Liberals are worried Ontario’s Ford government can hurt them over border security and the migrant issues. Brodie believes Blair will make things personal for Ford and the Liberals will hope the premier “gets unhinged.”
Indeed, the Liberals will have to manage a progressively vexing provincial landscape.
Provincial ballots are coming in Quebec this fall and Alberta next spring, and Ottawa already has a difficult relationship with British Columbia’s NDP government over federal support for the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline.
At the moment, there’s also risk the Ottawa-Ontario relationship could be severely strained over key issues, including the federal carbon-pricing plan and management of the migrant influx.
— with files from Lee Berthiaume, Janice Dickson and Mike Blanchfield
Andy Blatchford, The Canadian Press
Internet
Gov’t memo admits Canadians are shifting to independent news due to distrust of media, not Russian ‘bots’
From LifeSiteNews
A memo from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs admits that the rise of ‘alternative’ news sources is not due to Russian interference, as some members of the Trudeau Cabinet have claimed, but likely reflects ‘decrease in trust among traditional outlets.’
The explosive growth of Canadians shifting to alternative non-legacy media to obtain their news is not due to Russian “bots,” as some in the government and left-wing media claim, but reflects people’s distrust of entrenched media outlets, at least one government agency admitted.
A memo titled Foreign Interference And Right Wing Politics: The Canadian Context from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs said that the growth of so-called “alternative and far right ‘news sources’” is not due to Russian bots but is likely due to Canadians’ suspicion of “traditional outlets.”
Analysts put to rest claims made by some far-left media outlets that bots are somehow to blame for the rise of independent news media sites in Canada popular today, which include the Post Millennial, Rebel News, True North, LifeSiteNews, as well as a host of others.
According to foreign interference monitors at the Rapid Response Mechanism office, or RRM Canada, run by the department, “they tried and failed to corroborate allegations that conservative media in Canada were stoked by offshore agents,” according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
“RRM Canada observed no indication of false amplification and assesses the increased popularity of these sources is very likely both organic and domestic in nature,” read the memo.
The memo stated that the while the nature of the content is “domestic, the move away from traditional news sources may indicate a decrease in trust among traditional outlets among right leaning Canadians.”
“No such increased popularity has been observed among alternative or far left media outlets,” noted the memo.
The memo noted that sites such as the Rebel News Network had a larger social media footprint than established outlets such as the National Post or the Globe & Mail.
When looking to find claims that foreign agents were behind the rise of alternative media, the RRM analysts found no evidence that this is the case.
“Articles in The National Observer and Press Progress have made claims that conservative political discussions on social media are driven by inauthentic automated accounts, i.e. bots,” read the memo.
“While these stories are not necessarily inaccurate, Rapid Response Mechanism Canada notes foreign interference and covert influence campaigns exploit narratives from across the political spectrum.”
The memo of note was filed with counsel for Canada’s ongoing Commission on Foreign Interference.
Overall, the memo contradicted claims made by the cabinet of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Russian agents were the ones increasing messaging critical of the government.
In 2020, Canada’s then-Public Safety Minister and now-Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc quipped to reporters that “Trolls and bots are dispatched to stoke anxiety and in some cases inflame debate around sensitive issues,” saying, “Their main goal is chaos.”
“We have seen how hostile state and non-state actors use information technologies to manufacture reality,” he claimed, adding, “Fake news not only masquerades as the truth, it masquerades as legitimate political debate.”
Canadian figures who are critical of the Trudeau government have been accused of being bankrolled by Russia. As reported by LifeSiteNews, Dr. Jordan Peterson recently demanded an apology from Trudeau after the Canadian prime minister accused him of being funded by Russian state media.
As reported by LifeSiteNews, Trudeau claimed U.S. media personality Tucker Carlson and Peterson are being funded by the state media outlet Russia Today. He also blamed Russia for “amplifying the chaos” surrounding the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests.
Trudeau made the claim last Wednesday under oath during testimony at the Foreign Interference Commission after he was asked about Russia’s alleged role in the Freedom Convoy.
The Foreign Interference Commission was convened to “examine and assess the interference by China, Russia, and other foreign states or non-state actors, including any potential impacts, to confirm the integrity of, and any impacts on, the 43rd and 44th general elections (2019 and 2021 elections) at the national and electoral district levels.”
International
Russiagate Remnants
Racket News
It would be a crime to abandon investigations into Russiagate, both because it’s ongoing and because of the cost to those of us who were victims of it
We Russia hoax Remnants feel differently about President Donald Trump’s recent landslide victory, and our expectations are diverse. But we all, to some degree, have similar stories and hopes — not for retribution, as delicious as that may be, but for accountability and reform.
And Kash Patel, President Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is the man we need. Like the President elect, he has seen this abuse up close. They are uniquely qualified.
Make no mistake, when we all chose politics as a profession, we knew it was bloodsport. But none of us expected the personal toll that impacted not just careers, but health and families — especially our children.
There are many families like my own, destroyed completely by the Democrats’ illegal zeal to Get Trump at any cost. During Russiagate and the subsequent hoaxes, I screamed at the top of my lungs on television several times each week as my wife and daughters lived in fear in our Buffalo-area home.
Most Remnants stayed silent. They were the smart ones.
Those subjects of the bogus Russian collusion investigations are quietly reassembling their lives today. Just six or seven years ago, some pulled their children from school, bullied by students and teachers alike. Both parents in at least one family were fired, and with no money for tuition their son was forced to drop out of the college he worked tirelessly to attend. I don’t think he ever returned.
These Remnant stories are commonplace. Many families lost their homes; most lost their life savings. I know of older targets living on meager pensions now that their bank accounts were drained by lawfare legal fees. Those still working are earning less than half the income of their peers.
One family left the country, disheartened by what America had become. Another man, once an international business success, was wrongly debased and finally diminished to serve in a bureaucracy.
Then there is the death and near deaths, the suicide attempts readers will never know, the illnesses brought on by stress. When I fell with head and neck cancer, another Remnant struck by the disease called me twice a week to share our battles. After several months, his calls stopped.
My colleague had finally succumbed to the Crossfire Hurricane plague, unfathomable stress that drives cancer. Readers don’t even know his name; his wife and two young children know he was a hero.
He did nothing wrong. He was a Remnant.
The mentally ill, weaponized by brazen Democrat lies, harassed nearly all of us. My frequent media appearances made me more recognizable than the smarter, quieter Remnants. That made my family a target of a local retired mailman who was arrested and prosecuted for harassment.
My youngest daughters, just five and seven years old at the time, were often harassed while playing in our front yard. A local elderly woman, an otherwise benign community museum volunteer, posted dozens of times on social media during her daily walks by our house, including photos showing our address. She screamed at my girls and mocked their safety.
The bitter old lady died recently and the nutty mailman is still creeping around. Our family prays for their souls because, like all the Remnants, we know the banality of evil. Unhinged activists, some neighbors, forced us to leave our beloved hometown forever. We miss it every day — especially after a big, beautiful Buffalo snowfall.
It’s worse for some, like Paul Manafort, Carter Page, and the inimitable Roger Stone. Last year Roger and I had a late lunch a few miles from his home. Out of nowhere, an Antifa activist showed up to threaten him in the empty restaurant. Clearly, these pongos are still tracking Roger closely. He did nothing wrong, yet I still fear for his safety.
I have talked to many of the Remnants since Election Day. Some have high hopes; these patriots still believe in our justice system. Others expect nothing at all after seeing enough corruption to believe justice is dead. Most are somewhere in between.
All of us agree the original Russiagate conspiracy continues even today. The Russia hoax was created by Hillary Clinton aide Jake Sullivan, who carries on with his lies today as President Joe Biden’s national security advisor. Christopher Steele, the British spy hired by Clinton to create the dodgy dossier, and his Fusion GPS co-conspirator Glenn Simpson are still doing the same work for similar clients. Andrew Weissmann, Peter Strzok, John Brennan, and more still peddle their lies. Elements of the original conspiracy were woven into Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 American election, then bogus Trump impeachments, January 6th prosecutions, anti-Trump lawfare, and Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Mar-a-lago raid.
FBI Director Patel can prove the original 2016 conspiracy continues today. Much of the evidence remains in federal and public databases. Preemptive pardons aside, that means Sullivan, Weissmann, Mary McCord, Steele, Simpson, Victoria Nuland, Alexander Vindman, Eric Ciaramella, Smith, and others may still be in the jackpot. We agree with attorney Mike Davis: these perpetrators potentially violated 18 U.S.C. § 241 and 242, federal civil rights statutes that prohibit conspiracies to violate the rights of others.
This is where many Remnants stand: please do not forget the families in the ash tray and simply move on. Investigate the perpetrators now, reach back to the beginning of their Russiagate criminal conspiracy and follow it to today. Prosecute them fully and legally; expose how they illegally crushed us.
But do this only in pursuit of true justice — not for retribution, but for accountability and reform.
Michael Caputo worked at the highest levels of global politics for 40 years. He served as HHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs during the COVID pandemic and as a senior advisor to the 2016 and 2024 Donald Trump for President campaigns. He is the Jeffrey Bell senior fellow at the American Principles Project.
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