Category: Voting Process

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CPC Vice President, Valerie Assouline, Also A City Councillor in Dollard-des-Ormeaux (Island of Montreal)

Does anyone see it as a conflict of interest when a city councillor (regardless of which city) takes a prominent position with a national party? Who does this person represent? How would any potential dual loyalty be resolved?

Valerie Assouline is a lawyer, businesswoman, and mother of four. A dedicated volunteer in her community, she has been recently elected as City councillor in Dollard-des-Ormeaux (Island of Montreal), and as member of the Board of the Montreal Bar. Her political experience also includes being a candidate in both provincial (2014) and federal (2015) elections, as well as winning her campaign to be elected on the Conservative Party of Canada’s National Council (VP – Quebec).

Following her Bachelor’s degree in science (sociology), she graduated with a law degree from Université de Montréal, and she has been a member of the Quebec Bar Association since 1998. While studying for her Bar Exam, she had also founded a dynamic direct marketing company that employed around thirty people coast- to-coast. After a run across Canada to develop her company, she decided to focus entirely on her legal career and founded her own Montreal-based firm, SOS-LAWYERS. Her firm specializes in family law, divorce, youth protection, and civil law. In 2014, she joined the ranks of the Conservative Party of Canada, and represented them as a candidate in the Pierrefonds-Dollard riding during the 2015 General Elections. Her grassroots, on-the-ground campaign, helped by her popular Conservative-themed camping trailer, was much talked-about during and since the elections across the province of Quebec, allowing her to be elected as National Councillor to represent CPC members.

Will such a person use their position within the national party to secure more money and influence for their city? Would that person zealously stand up for the interests of the city district? What happens when these promises collide?

And it isn’t just her. The CPC National Secretary, Amber Ruddy, is a current pharma lobbyist. Robert Batherson, the CPC President, started up his own lobbying firm. CPC Leader, Erin O’Toole, is a former Facebook lobbyist. Thornhill Candidate, Melissa Lantsman, is a former pharma lobbyist.

(1) https://www.conservative.ca/
(2) https://www.conservative.ca/team-member/valerie-assouline/
(3) https://sosavocats.ca/en/about/
(4) https://www.westislandblog.com/dollard-lawyer-valerie-assouline-takes-death-of-7-year-old-granby-girl-case/

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Lobbyist For GlaxoSmithKline & AstraZeneca Maker Sits On Conservative Party’s National Council

Just who is this Amber Ruddy? She just recently ascended to her position in a major political party, but what’s her backstory?

Amber Ruddy is a Conservative volunteer who has spent her career fighting for small-c conservative ideas and values. She has knocked on thousands of doors, served on electoral district associations, and helped get Conservatives elected.
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Amber has worked for a federal Conservative cabinet minister, a provincial politician, and in non-partisan advocacy positions at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business and the Canadian Taxpayers’ Federation.
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She currently works as Associate VP Western Canada with Counsel Public Affairs and has a decade of experience in business advocacy at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels.

Amber holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Western University and an executive MBA from Queen’s University with a specialization in marketing strategy.

Amber Ruddy is quite open about being with Counsel Public Affairs, a lobbying firm in Canada. Did no one bother to check out (or even ask) what kinds of lobbying she was involved with? Or did the Conservative Party know about this and simply not care?

Amber was elected in March 2021 to the National Council of the CPC. Why is this important? Because only a month ago, she lobbied Manitoba on behalf of Emergent BioSolutions, the maker of AstraZeneca. She got directly to Manitoba Premier, Brian Pallister.

While this may be legal, how does it look? How does Ruddy go from being a pharma lobbyist to one of the people running the Conservative Part of Canada in just a month? Also, it’s not like she cut ties with Counsel Public Affairs. She’s still employed by them.

Her lobbying firm, Counsel Public Affairs, has been pushing other Provinces to accept AstraZeneca, despite its known health problems.

Ruddy has also lobbied Manitoba for on behalf of Atria Management Canada, ULC, asking “Seeking clarification for COVID-19 vaccination rollout plan, specifically where seniors in non LTC settings, such as community retirement settings, fit into provincial plan. Advocating for on-site clinics in retirement communities”. Yes, she actually wanted on site vaccination for seniors.

Now the obvious question has to be asked: when Ruddy performs her duties as Secretary of the CPC National Council, will she also be acting as a member of Council Public Affairs, which is STILL advocating on behalf of Emergent BioSolutions?

Bit of a side note: Dan Kelly, the President and CEO of the CFIB, Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses was bragging about vaccinating his children. Ruddy used to run the Alberta branch.

Ruddy also lobbied Saskatchewan on behalf of the AstraZeneca manufacturer. This included Premier Scott Moe, and Health Minister Paul Merriman.

Amber Ruddy Emergent BioSciences Lobbying Alberta

She’s also been working in Alberta lately, lobbying the Government of Jason Kenney. While Ruddy isn’t personally named in the Ontario Registry, several of her colleagues at C.P.A. are.

It seems pretty convoluted for Derek Sloan to be threatened over a $131 cheque he never actually saw, but then allow something like this.

Brian Pallister has also been lobbied on behalf of Emergent BioSciences by Tina Beaudry-Mellor, another member of Counsel Public Affairs. But what makes her case interesting is that she worked in Scott Moe’s Government in Saskatchewan until September 2020. After she was voted out, she began lobbying. Interesting way to avoid the rules: just hop Provinces, and then you’re good to go.

This also raises the question why people like Brian Pallister are always trying to give the hard sell on vaccines. Is this what they really believe, or have they been corrupted by some outside interest? Something always seemed off about that man.

At the time of writing this, Ruddy is an ACTIVE registered lobbyist on behalf of Emergent BioSolutions, at the Federal level. Until February, she was also a lobbyist for drug maker GlaxoSmithKline.

Even with that set aside, her firm is still lobbying both Federally and Provincially on behalf of drug companies. They are quite active. She will now have considerable power on the CPC National Council.

Members of the public, and especially those in the CPC should be outraged. It raises legitimate questions as to whether Rempel and O’Toole are simply puppets doing the will of big pharma. Their actions and words would suggest so.

The plot only thickens. Michelle Rempel-Garner, the CPC Health Critic, has recently been lobbied by both GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca (among others) looking to sell vaccines. Considering Ruddy is on the National Council, would that actually make her Rempel’s boss? Of course, ask such a question on Twitter and expect a quick blocking. And it gets worse….

And just when you think you’ve seen it all, the CPC has decided to add masks to their line of merchandise for sale. Perhaps the “pandemic” won’t end as long as there is inventory to be sold. There’s free enterprise, and then there’s this…..

This sort of thing is hardly an isolated incident. Some more of the corruption that lobbying is:

If you want to know what is really going on, stop focusing on the puppets. Instead, look to the puppet masters and their proxies.

(1) https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberruddy/
(2) https://archive.is/mJpyH
(3) https://www.conservative.ca/team-member/amber-ruddy/
(4) https://www.conservative.ca/team/national-council/
(5) https://counselpa.com/
(6) https://counselpa.com/team/amber-ruddy/
(7) https://registry.lobbyistregistrar.mb.ca/lra/reporting/public/registrar/view.do?method=get&registrationId=14775394
(8) https://registry.lobbyistregistrar.mb.ca/lra/reporting/public/registrar/view.do?method=get&registrationId=416797
(9) https://nationalpost.com/opinion/derek-filderbrandt-derek-sloans-exile-over-131-from-white-supremacist-doesnt-add-up
(10) https://registry.lobbyistregistrar.mb.ca/lra/reporting/public/registrar/view.do?method=get&registrationId=413352
(11) https://counselpa.com/team/tina-beaudry-mellor/
(12) https://www.linkedin.com/in/tina-at-thynk/
(13) https://archive.is/mf5FL
(14) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tina_Beaudry-Mellor
(15) https://www.sasklobbyistregistry.ca/
(16) https://www.sasklobbyistregistry.ca/search
(17) https://www.albertalobbyistregistry.ca/
(18) https://www.albertalobbyistregistry.ca/apex/f?p=171:DOC:0:IDOC_XSL_CACHE:::IDOC_TBL_GRP_ID,IDOC_CNTRL_CD:722007,CNSLT_REG_FRM&cs=30C0FDBAAAAD8B1BBD09725B9A23D7F51
(19) http://lobbyist.oico.on.ca/Pages/Public/PublicSearch/
(20) https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/advSrch
(21) https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/vwRg?cno=367533&regId=905977
(22) https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/vwRg?cno=367534&regId=908352
(23) https://cpcstore.ca/collections/masks

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The B.C. Liberals Are Nothing But Controlled Opposition (With Audio)

In politics, lobbying and money make the world go round. Consider a recent talk with a B.C. Liberal MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly), Peter Milobar. You would think that there’d be some real opposition to John Horgan, Adrian Dix, Mike Farnworth and Bonnie Henry. But no, this isn’t the case. In fact, even referring to it as “controlled opposition” is a bit of a stretch.

In case this may just come off as having a bad day, consider what the candidates said in the October 2020 B.C. election. All parties agreed to abdicate responsibility to unelected bureaucrats. That said, trolling one of them afterwards was fun.

Milobar claims to have taken the AstraZeneca vaccine, which has now been pulled off the market. Let’s see if he actually believes what he’s saying. He also doesn’t really object to anything.

BC Liberal Party 2020 Platform Restore Confidence Rebuild BC

B.C. held a Provincial election in October 2020. One would think that with Horgan, Henry and their cronies destroying the place, the “opposition” party would jump at the chance to fix things. Instead, their election platform goes out of its way to avoid addressing the elephant in the room. Milobar isn’t alone in doing nothing for constituents. It’s everyone.

It this problem deeper than what it seems?

A recent piece covered Wellington Advocacy. This is a lobbying firm that has pushed Jason Kenney and Doug Ford into keeping defective PCR rapid test kits made by Spartan Biosciences. It’s worth noting that the same firm also has people connected to ex-Liberal Leader Christy Clark, and now outgoing leader Andrew Wilkinson.

According to Katy Merrifield’s profile:

As a BC native, and having served as Executive Director of the BC Liberal Party and Director of Communications to British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, Katy has a unique understanding of the province’s political, public and private sector landscapes. A seasoned expert in communications, corporate planning, campaign management and stakeholder advocacy, Katy is adept at delivering solutions with meaningful and measurable impact on public opinion. Katy has spent over a decade advising senior cabinet members and elected officials including as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Jobs, Tourism, Skills Training and Labour in British Columbia.

According to Nick Koolsbergen’s profile:

Nick spent the last two years serving as Alberta Premier Jason Kenney’s Chief of Staff and Campaign Director. Prior to that Nick, served as former BC Premier Christy Clark’s Chief of Staff, as Director of Issues Management to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and as a senior advisor to numerous federal Cabinet Ministers.

According to Peter Csillag’s profile:

Peter joins after nearly ten years advising elected officials and candidates at the provincial and federal levels, and advising companies and non-profits in the private sector. He served as a senior advisor to Jason Kenney and Alberta’s United Conservative caucus and to former BC Premier Christy Clark and caucus. In Ottawa, he worked for then-Minister Jason Kenney in three major federal departments. Most recently, he worked as a director for a national strategic communications firm.

At least 3 members of Wellington Advocacy (which is lobbying for Spartan rapid test kits) were part of the Government of then B.C. Premier, Christy Clark. True, Clark lost power — and her own seat — in July 2017, but she held tremendous influence over the party. And Wilkinson just resigned as leader. This is, of course, just one group that lobbies for money and influence.

On a related note: Ray Novak is also part of the firm. He was involved with Harper’s Government, is employed with the firm Harper & Associates, and is a Member of the International Democratic Union, which Harper chairs.



K-12 restart planning relative to COVID (restart plan, Personal protection equipment, privacy and the use of digital platforms, Foundational Skills Assessments (FSAs), social distancing and class size, ministry guidelines, remote learning options, health and safety standards/guidelines, consistent reporting

The B.C. Teachers Federation has been lobbying the “opposition” Liberals for a number of things, including shutting down schools in favour of remote learning, and forcing masks on very young students. And by young, many want them imposed on kindergarten students.

The B.C. Labour Federation is also pushing the Liberals for a number of things, such as more handouts. They also demand more protections for illegal aliens (who they disingenuously call “undocumented workers”), more green jobs, and pay equity, which sounds sort of communist.

The BC Government and Service Employees’ Union (BCGEU), has also been pushing all parties for a number of benefits, or “pandemic bucks”, but has also demanded that masks be made mandatory in all Government buildings. Public unions are very powerful, so it would be difficult to say no.

Drug companies like GlaoSmithKline, Innovative Medicines Canada, Merck and Pfizer have all been lobbying B.C. in recent months. Of course, they would never unduly influence politicians. Except for cases like Jean-Marc Prevost.

The above groups aren’t the only ones trying to influence the B.C. Liberals. These are just a few for which there are actual records. It would be interesting to find out what isn’t documented.

It isn’t just one useless MLA like Milobar refusing to do anything. The entire Liberal Party has no real interest in stopping the medical tyranny imposed by Bonnie Henry, and the Horgan Government. They don’t even pretend to be against it, but avoid the subject altogether.

Nor is their interest in Henry’s flip-flop from when she was an expert witness in the Sault Area Hospital arbitration. She testified that neither masks nor vaccines do much against influenza. Considering Henry was picked by a Liberal Government, they seem particularly indifferent about challenging her.

Press Progress also put out an interesting piece on lobbying in Alberta. It’s well worth a read.

(1) https://canucklaw.ca/cv-28-the-b-c-election-just-an-illusion-of-choice-all-parties-compromised/
(2) https://canucklaw.ca/handlers-for-lpc-ford-kenney-push-and-fail-to-continue-faulty-rapid-test-device/
(3) https://www.bcliberals.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BC-Liberal-Party-2020-Platform-Restore-Confidence-Rebuild-BC.pdf
(4) https://www.wellingtonadvocacy.com/who-we-are
(5) https://www.linkedin.com/in/katy-merrifield-1a741055/
(6) https://archive.is/2C2Xr
(7) https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickkoolsbergen/
(8) https://archive.is/NRcE8
(9) https://www.linkedin.com/in/petercsillag/
(10) https://archive.is/iY8A5
(11) https://www.linkedin.com/in/ray-novak-289496128/
(12) https://archive.is/bVl6x
(13) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christy_Clark
(14) https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/app/secure/orl/lrs/do/guest
(15) https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/app/secure/orl/lrs/do/cmmLgPblcVw?comlogId=9288
(16) https://archive.is/mLLad
(17) https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/app/secure/orl/lrs/do/cmmLgPblcVw?comlogId=5434
(18) https://bctf.ca/NewsReleases.aspx?id=60409
(19) https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/app/secure/orl/lrs/do/cmmLgPblcVw?comlogId=6888
(20) https://www.lobbyistsregistrar.bc.ca/app/secure/orl/lrs/do/vwRg?cno=463&regId=56555680
(21) https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onla/doc/2015/2015canlii62106/2015canlii62106.html
(22) https://pressprogress.ca/lobbyists-with-ties-to-jason-kenneys-ucp-are-helping-private-health-companies-lobby-albertas-ministry-of-health/

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Journalism Trust Initiative; Trusted News Initiative; Project Origin; The Trust Project

Having an open, independent and free media is essential to any functioning society. However, that is not the case here. Groups like the “Journalism Trust Initiative” sounds like something that might have been concocted in the Soviet Union. But no, it’s operational within the free world.

1. Important Links

(1) https://jti-rsf.org/en/
(2) https://jti-rsf.org/en/about
(3) RSF Sues Facebook, Claims Too LITTLE Censorship
(4) https://archive.is/A6847
(5) https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/2020/trusted-news-initiative-vaccine-disinformation
(6) https://www.originproject.info/
(7) https://id2020.org/
(8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdTTl-C4PTM
(9) https://firstdraftnews.org/latest/fake‐news‐complicated
(10) https://contentauthenticity.org
(11) https://www.partnershiponai.org
(12) https://www.partnershiponai.org/ai‐and‐media‐integrity‐steering‐committee
(13) https://www.wired.com/story/deepfakes‐getting‐better‐theyre‐easy‐spot
(14) https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.07886
(15) https://thetrustproject.org/
(16) https://thetrustproject.org/#indicators
(17) https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2015/today-in-media-history-in-1947-the-press-reported-on-the-hutchins-commission-report/
(18) https://www.cbc.ca/news/editorsblog/editor-blog-trust-1.5936535
(19) https://cbc.radio-canada.ca/en/impact-and-accountability/local-news-directory

2. “News Trust” Groups To Investigate

There is something Orwellian or dystopian about organizations that have to stress so frequently that they are trustworthy sources. These are groups which are supposed to be doing this in journalism.

  • Journalism Trust Initiative
    1. Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
    2. European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
    3. Agence France Presse (AFP)
  • Trusted News Initiative
  • Project Origin
    1. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
    2. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
    3. Radio-Canada
    4. Microsoft
    5. New York Times
  • The Trust Project
    1. Sally Lehrman
    2. Microsoft Defending Democracy Program
    3. The Peg and Rick Young Foundation
    4. the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
    5. Trustworthy Journalism Initiative of Craig Newmark Philanthropies
    6. Bing
    7. Facebook
    8. Google

Who can forget the Q-Anon saying to “trust the plan”? After all, there was supposed to be some secret army ready to take out the Deep State, and put all of the pedophiles in jail. Also, “Operation Trust” was a scheme in the 1920s to keep the Communists in power in the Soviet Union, by letting people think there was a plot already underway.

This may seem crazy, but perhaps these “trust” groups operate in much the same way, and to achieve essentially the same purpose of deflating resistance to the current power structure.

There is another thread that runs through these NGOs. They all oppose what they call “misinformation” surrounding legitimate questions of this “pandemic”. Each one supports the official narrative.

3. Who’s Behind Journalism Trust Initiative

  • Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in partnership with:
  • European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
  • Agence France Presse (AFP)

Reporters Without Borders, the European Broadcasting Union, and Agence France Presse are the 3 main groups behind the Journalism Trust Initiative. That being said, their organization has grown considerably since the founding in 1985.

Here is a list of selected participants in the development stage of the JTI Standard included, in alphabetical order. Note: these names came directly from their website.

  • All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK, Russia)
  • Associated Press (USA)
  • Association of Taiwanese Journalists (Taiwan)
  • Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM, Italy)
  • BBC (UK)
  • City University of New York (CUNY, USA)
  • Civil (USA)
  • Deutsche Presse Agentur (dpa, Germany)
  • Ethical Journalism Network (EJN)
  • European Association for the Co-ordination of Consumer Representation in Standardisation (ANEC)
  • Facebook (USA)
  • Fondation Hirondelle (Switzerland)
  • Free Press Unlimited (FPU, the Netherlands)
  • Gazeta Wyborcza (Poland)
  • Global Disinformation Index (GDI)
  • Google (USA)
  • The Independent Monitor for the Press (IMPRESS, UK)
  • Internews (UK)
  • Journalists Association of South Korea (JAK, South Korea)
  • NewsGuard (USA)
  • Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK, Norway)
  • RTL Group (Luxembourg)
  • Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ, USA)
  • Swiss Press Council (Switzerland)
  • Tagesspiegel (Germany)
  • Tamedia (Switzerland)
  • Thomson Foundation (UK)
  • TT Nyhetsbyrån (Sweden)
  • World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
  • United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Some of these names should immediately stand out, such as Facebook, Google and UNESCO. Yes, 3 of the most powerful organizations are involved in this. As for the 3 behind JTI:

(a) Founded in 1985, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) became one of the world’s leading NGOs in the defence and promotion of freedom of information. RSF is registered in France as a non- profit organization based in Paris, with consultative status at the United Nations, UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF). Our foreign sections, bureaux in ten cities, and a network of correspondents in 130 countries….

(b) The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is the world’s foremost alliance of public service media (PSM). Our mission is to make PSM indispensable. We represent 117 media organizations in 56 countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and have an additional 34 Associates in Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas. Our Members operate nearly 2,000 television and radio channels alongside numerous online platforms….

(c) Founded in 1835, Agence France-Presse (AFP) is the third largest international news agency in the world delivering fast, accurate, in-depth coverage of the events shaping our world, from conflicts to politics, economics, sports, entertainment and the latest breakthroughs in health, science and technology.

That is how they describe themselves. While there is nothing wrong with people in the industry collaborating, the concern comes when viewpoint diversity is stifled. Legitimate debate and contrary points of view can simply be disregarded.

We live in an era of the grand de-enlightenment.
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On the Internet, algorithms tend to amplify the extremes – sensationalism, rumours, hate and falsehoods. Opinion and beliefs trump facts. The rule-makers in big-tech are not accountable to anyone. The rules of the game are in- transparent and change all the time.
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On this rocky, tilting and ever turning playing field, journalism is unfairly disadvantaged, losing reputation, reach and revenues – which renders it even less competitive.
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That logic needs to be reversed. Democracy dies without a fact-based discourse.

Everything in this section sounds entirely reasonable, and valid. The internet does tend to promote fake news and sensationalized nonsense over real journalism. And true, democracy is dead without a fact based discourse. However, what this group finds acceptable does not match with many others.

4. RSF Sues Facebook, Too LITTLE Censoring

This Complaint, filed in France, should terrify people. Reporters Without Borders is upset that Facebook isn’t doing enough to censor so-called misinformation on its platform. To repeat: the allegation is that Facebook SHOULD DO MORE to censor people spreading different views on the so-called pandemic.

Facebook has been notorious for its revised Terms of Service, and deplatforming, but that apparently wasn’t enough. RSF is taking action against a member of its own group.

Note: the Complaint itself doesn’t seem to be posted. RSF has been contacted for a copy of it.

For an example of how extensively Facebook already censors, consider this: Kevin Chan of Facebook Canada bragged to Canadian politicians that over 16 million pieces of “misinformation” had already been removed. But that apparently isn’t good enough.

5. Trusted News Initiative (TNI)

The Trusted News Initiative (TNI) was set up last year to protect audiences and users from disinformation, particularly around moments of jeopardy, such as elections. The TNI complements existing programmes partners have in place.
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The partners currently within the TNI are: AP, AFP; BBC, CBC/Radio-Canada, European Broadcasting Union (EBU), Facebook, Financial Times, First Draft, Google/YouTube, The Hindu, Microsoft , Reuters, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Twitter, The Washington Post.
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The TNI cooperative framework has been jointly developed amongst partners, and relates to only the most serious disinformation, which threatens life or the integrity of the electoral process. This is entirely separate from and does not in any way affect the editorial stance of any partner organisation.

At least we’re getting some honesty here. The Trusted News Initiative was set up primarily to counter “misinformation” of a serious nature. It specifically cites elections and this “pandemic”.

Although not explicitly stated, having these groups band together in such a way would be quite effective at censoring legitimate information. Of course, it would always be passed of as an emergency.

A cynic might wonder if Trump intentionally went on about election conspiracy theories in order to help justify the collusion of these “independent” media outlets. Perhaps this is reaching, but it would explain a lot.

Interestingly, although not surprisingly, Facebook and Google are both part of the Trusted News Initiative.

6. Project Origin — Microsoft A Partner

Project Origin was established to provide a platform for collaboration and discussion among a set of partners on the creation and adoption of a new media provenance tracking process, aimed initially at news and information content. At scale, this process could encompass traditional publishing (electronic and print), information technology, social media and consumer software. We are planning for a multiparty stakeholder, cross-organisational collaboration around combating disinformation.

Positive authentication of the provenance of legitimate news stories will help by making it easier to identify manipulated and synthetic audiovisual content. The Origin process is conceptually designed to work with text, video, images and audio content.

The Origin collaborators have agreed to develop a framework for an engineering approach, initially focusing on video, images, and audio. We hope this work could be helpful in developing a global standard for establishing content integrity.

CBC/Radio-Canada, the British Broadcasting Corporation and Microsoft are working together with what is called “Project Origin“. The stated goal is to be able to find the origin and background of news that is making its way onto public domains.

Never mind that Microsoft is heavily involved in ID2020, or that the BBC receives regular financing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Forget about Gates’ ties to the pharmaceutical industry. Surely, this organization is about promoting truth and accuracy in media.

Project Origin offers a more technical way of finding the sources, such as tracing the image, or similar word patterns, or seeing where else it has been published. Consider it a form of cyber-sleuthing for content flagged as “misinformation”.

Media Provenance Countering Synthetic Media

SOURCES:
1. C. Wardle, “Fake news. It’s complicated”, First Draft, Feb. 2017. Available at:
https://firstdraftnews.org/latest/fake‐news‐complicated.
2. “Setting the industry standard for digital content attribution”, The Content Authenticity Initiative, 2019.
Available at: https://contentauthenticity.org.
3. The Partnership on AI. Available at: https://www.partnershiponai.org.
4. “AI and Media Integrity Steering Committee”, The Partnership on AI, 2019. Available at:
https://www.partnershiponai.org/ai‐and‐media‐integrity‐steering‐committee.
5. G. Barber, “Deepfakes Are Getting Better”, WIRED Magazine, May 2019. Available at
https://www.wired.com/story/deepfakes‐getting‐better‐theyre‐easy‐spot.
6. “News Provenance Project”, New York Times, 2018. Available at:
https://www.newsprovenanceproject.com/resources.
7. P. England et. al., “AMP: Authentication of Media via Provenance”, arXiv:2001.07886, Jan. 2020.
Available at https://arxiv.org/abs/2001.07886.
8. M Russinovich e.t al., “CCF: A Framework for Building Confidential Verifiable Replicated Services”,
Microsoft Research Technical Report MSR‐TR‐2019‐16, Apr. 2019. Available at
https://www.microsoft.com/en‐us/research/publication/ccf‐a‐framework‐for‐building‐confidential‐verifiable‐replicated‐services.

Project Origin does post a research paper going into extensive detail about how such a system may be organized. It would incorporate AI into it, flagging content deemed suspicious. How the metadata is actually used is explained in considerable deta in video as well.

7. The Trust Project, Social Media Grouping

The Trust Project is an organization of some 200 media outlets which conform to certain preset standards of journalism. The propagation and promotion of the their work across social media in influenced by Bing, Facebook and Google. Among the Canadian members are:

  • CBC
  • CTV
  • Globe & Mail
  • The Canadian Press
  • Toronto Star

The Trust Project does have its 8 Trust Indicators listings, and they are quite good. The problem is that these organizations don’t practice what they preach in terms of differing views. Specifically, contradictory information on this “pandemic” narrative are censored, and otherwise smeared as conspiracy theories.

At least on paper, there is nothing objectionable about this NGO. The issues arise when their behaviour in practice is considered.

The Trust Project references the 1947 Hitchens Commission to base this on. The report claims that democracy is in danger if there isn’t a free media, and that control in the hands of too few people is a danger. Instead of reading this as a warning, it appears to have become a roadmap, given how much media collusion we now have.

These trust groups function like a modern day Mockingbird Media. It really is one group that controls nearly everything.

8. CBC’s Efforts To “Rebuild Trust”

About a month ago, CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, published an article that stated trust in it was waning. It emphasized that efforts were being undertaken to rebuild that trust, and went into significant detail.

  • CBC News is a member of the Journalism Trust Initiative (JTI), an effort to establish globally recognized standards of trustworthiness in news, led by Journalists without Borders, the European Broadcasting Union and Agence France-Presse. As part of a recent pilot, we submitted a 70-page questionnaire on our practices for an independent review and hope to share the results in the near future.
  • CBC/Radio-Canada has been a member of the Trusted News Initiative (TNI) since its inception in 2019. The TNI brings together global news organizations and tech platforms to combat disinformation. It created a real-time, early warning system to flag serious disinformation that may pose a threat to life or the integrity of the electoral process. It has been activated for the general elections in the U.K., Taiwan, Myanmar and the U.S., as well as the COVID-19 pandemic. The TNI will host a Trust in News conference later this month.
  • CBC/Radio-Canada has joined with the BBC, the New York Times and Microsoft in support of an effort to develop Project Origin, an open standard for confirming the authenticity of content from trusted sources to fight “deep fake” video news generated by artificial intelligence. This is a new application of established technology to digitally verify the authenticity of our news content when it appears on other online platforms.
  • CBC News is part of the Trust Project, an international partnership with tech and media companies to increase transparency and accuracy in online news. CBC policies on transparent labels, corrections, bylines and links to our JSP on our digital pages have become a model for other partners in the project.

While there are some legitimate steps in the article that CBC can take, it seems strange to partner up with so many other groups, such as the ones listed above. It takes away from the independence (or even the illusion of independence), to be so tightly interwoven with these “trust” groups.

CBC does have its own “directory” of trusted news groups, which seems Orwellian. Part of Canadians’ tax dollars are going towards creating a database of outlets that will not stray from permitted narratives.

9. Media, Social Media, Influence And Subsidies

CBC claims it wants to improve the trust it has among Canadians. However, it doesn’t raise any eyebrows when something like this happens: Dominic LeBlanc openly suggesting passing laws to combat “misinformation”. Since there is ideological alignment, this chilling statement goes largely unchallenged.

It seems that outlets like CBC wish to “appear” to be trustworthy, but have no interest in conducting themselves in ways that genuinely foster trust. How bad is the media bias?

(1) Unifor, Media, In Bed With Gov’t, $595M
(2) True North Canada A Fake Charity, Subsidized By Public
(3) Government Subsidizes Postmedia To Ensure Positive Coverage
(4) Aberdeen Publishing Takes Handouts, Ignores Real Issues
(5) More Periodicals Taking Grants, Parroting Gov’t Narrative
(6) Subsidized Fact-Check Outlets Run By Political Operatives
(7) Groups Funded By Tax Dollars To Combat “Misinformation”
(8) Even More Subsidies Canadian Outlets Are Dependent On
(9) DisinfoWatch Has Ties To Atlas Network/Koch, Liberal Party
(10) Media, Banks, CU, Getting CDA Emergency Wage Subsidies
(11) Advertising And Marketing In Promoting “Pandemic” Narrative
(12) NSERC/SSHRC/CIHR Grants In “Confidence”; Mandatory Vaxx
(13) Bill C-10; Open Collusion Between Ottawa, Social Media
(14) Facebook; Kevin Chan; Peter Donolo; Rachel Curran; Erin O’Toole

The unfortunate reality is that there are many legitimate reasons to not trust the media in Canada, and elsewhere. Coming together in these groups does little to conceal the lack of genuine interest in journalism. While it’s true that professionals so have to sell to make a living, it shouldn’t come at the expense of their integrity.

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Elections Canada: Fundraising Isn’t Okay When EDAs Shut Down For No Financials

Recently, members of the PPC were spouting out the talking points that dozens of their EDAs (or electoral district association), were shut down to consolidate into fewer organizations. But that isn’t true. They were shut down for not filing financial disclosures, as required by Elections Canada.

1. Important Links

Canada Gazette, Volume 155, Number 13
Canada Elections Act: Sections 465, 466, 468(4)
https://twitter.com/JackNationalist/status/1376313830951690242
https://twitter.com/JackNationalist/status/1376582052988944387
https://twitter.com/MarkFriesen08/status/1376444449748779010

2. Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 155, Number 13

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
CANADA ELECTIONS ACT
Deregistration of registered electoral district associations
In accordance with sections 465 and 466 and subsection 468(4) of the Canada Elections Act, the following associations are deregistered, effective on March 31, 2021:

  • Algoma – Manitoulin – Kapuskasing – PPC Association
  • Association de PPC de Argenteuil – La Petite-Nation
  • Association du PPC de Joliette
  • Association PPC d’Abitibi – Baie-James – Nunavik – Eeyou
  • Association PPC de Beauport – Limoilou
  • Association PPC de Brome-Missisquoi
  • Association PPC de Charlesbourg – Haute-Saint-Charles
  • Association PPC de Chicoutimi – Le Fjord
  • Association PPC de Jonquière
  • Association PPC de LaSalle –Émard – Verdun
  • Association PPC de Laval – Les Îles
  • Association PPC de Longueuil – Charles-LeMoyne
  • Association PPC de Manicouagan
  • Association PPC de Marc-Aurèle-Fortin
  • Association PPC de Montarville
  • Association PPC de Salaberry – Suroît
  • Association PPC de Sherbrooke
  • Battle River – Crowfoot – PPC Association
  • Bay of Quinte-PPC Association
  • Brampton East – PPC Association
  • Brampton South-PPC Association
  • Burlington – PPC Association
  • Calgary Centre – PPC Association
  • Calgary Nose Hill – PPC Association
  • Central Nova – PPC Association
  • Compton – Stanstead Green Party Association
  • Courtenay – Alberni – PPC Association
  • Fredericton – PPC Association
  • Hamilton Centre – PPC Association
  • Hamilton East – Stoney Creek – PPC Association
  • Humber River – Black Creek – PPC Association
  • Kingston and the Islands – PPC Association
  • Kitchener South – Hespeler – PPC Association
  • Malpeque – PPC Association
  • Mississauga East – Cooksville – PPC Association
  • Mississauga – Malton – PPC Association
  • Moncton – Riverview – Dieppe – Peoples Party of Canada
  • New Westminster – Burnaby – PPC Association
  • Northwest Territories – PPC Association
  • Pontiac PPC Association
  • Provencher – PPC Association
  • Scarborough – Guildwood – PPC Association
  • Thunder Bay – Superior North – PPC Association
  • York Centre – PPC Association

March 12, 2021

Anne Lawson
Deputy Chief Electoral Officer
Regulatory Affairs

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER
CANADA ELECTIONS ACT
Deregistration of registered electoral district associations
In accordance with section 465 and subsection 468(4) of the Canada Elections Act, the following associations are deregistered, effective March 31, 2021:

  • Association PPC de Châteauguay – Lacolle
  • Association PPC de Honoré-Mercier
  • Association PPC de La Prairie
  • Association PPC de Montmagny – L’Islet – Kamouraska – Rivière-du-Loup
  • Association PPC de Pierre-Boucher – Les Patriotes – Verchères
  • Egmont – PPC Association
  • Montmagny – L’Islet – Kamouraska – Rivière-du-Loup Electoral District Association for the Green Party
  • Souris – Moose Mountain – PPC Association
  • Steveston – Richmond East – PPC Association
  • Thunder Bay – Rainy River – PPC Association

March 12, 2021

Anne Lawson
Deputy Chief Electoral Officer
Regulatory Affairs

To a casual observer, it looks like these EDAs, (Electoral District Associations), were shut down forcibly. Information is freely available in the Canada Gazette. Now, let’s look at the Canada Elections Act to see what these sections mean.

3. From Canada Elections Act: 465, 466, 468(4)

Deregistration of Registered Associations
Marginal note: Deregistration — failure to provide documents
.
465 The Chief Electoral Officer may deregister a registered association if the association fails to provide
(a) any of the documents referred to in section 451;
(b) a report under subsection 456(2) concerning the appointment of an electoral district agent;
(c) any of the documents referred to in subsection 463(1) or (2) with respect to a replacement of its financial agent or auditor;
(d) a report under subsection 463(1) concerning a change in any other registered information;
(e) confirmation under section 464 of the validity of the registered information; or
(f) a report that is required to be filed under subsection 476.1(1) by the registered association.

Deregistration — failure to file return
.
466 The Chief Electoral Officer may deregister a registered association if its financial agent fails to provide him or her with a document for a fiscal period in accordance with subsection 475.4(1).

Procedure for non-voluntary deregistration
.
468 (1) If the Chief Electoral Officer believes on reasonable grounds that a registered association or its financial agent has omitted to perform any obligation referred to in section 465 or 466, the Chief Electoral Officer shall, in writing, notify the association’s chief executive officer and its financial agent that the association or financial agent must
.
(a) rectify the omission by the discharge of that obligation within 30 days after receipt of the notice; or
(b) satisfy the Chief Electoral Officer that the omission was not the result of negligence or a lack of good faith.
.
Marginal note: Extension or exemption
.
(2) If paragraph (1)(b) applies, the Chief Electoral Officer may amend the notice by
(a) exempting, in whole or in part, the recipients of the notice from complying with the obligations referred to in section 465 or 466; or
(b) specifying a period for compliance with the obligations referred to in paragraph (1)(a).
.
Marginal note: Copy of notice
.
(3) A copy of any notice or amendment under subsection (1) or (2) shall be sent to the leader and the chief agent of the registered party with which the registered association is affiliated.
.
Marginal note: Deregistration
.
(4) The Chief Electoral Officer may deregister a registered association if the association or its financial agent fails to comply with a notice referred to in subsection (1) or with a notice amended under subsection (2).

Looking at Sections 465, 466, and 468(4) of Canada Elections Act, it would appear that these dozens of EDAs were shut down by Elections Canada for not filing mandatory documents. Specifically, it looks like their financials weren’t filed.

Note: there is a provision for VOLUNTARY deregistration, under Section 467, but nowhere is it mentioned as a reason to close these EDAs.

Also, Section 451 of the Elections Act refers to the requirement that a statement of financial assets and liabilities be submitted within 6 months of the EDA being formed.

3. PPC Spinning These Forced Shutdowns?

The last image was from a Telegram posting from Shane Marshall of Elgin-Middlesex-London Regional PPC Association.

If the words of the party insiders are to be believed, shutting down these EDAs was part of some deliberate cost cutting measure done to save money. While that may sound reasonable on the surface, Elections Canada spells out exactly why they were closed. It was for not filing their mandatory documents. But a nice spin.

Also, the EDAs are run by volunteers, so how much money would be saved by getting rid of them?

Even if firing these volunteers saved money — such as filing fees — isn’t that pretty cold to toss aside people volunteering their labour to get the party going?

While it’s true that the same group of people can run multiple EDAs at one time, they still need to be there. The Canada Elections Act, starting at Section 447, goes into great detail about EDAs, but there is no mention of a regional EDA. Sure, there are regional directors of parties, but that is not the same thing.

A look on the PPC website shows that the EDA listings have been removed entirely, and only Provincial Coordinators are listed.

Furthermore, given that this is a MINORITY Parliament, an election could be called, or a non-confidence vote could happen at any time. This makes no sense. The EDAs would have to be reestablished within days in order to be functional again.

True, members of the public can donate directly to the headquarters in Gatineau, Quebec. However, there is no guarantee whatsoever that money would come back to the local candidate. Last election, it was known the candidates were left to fundraise on their own, with shoestring budgets.

A more plausible explanation is that the high level of turnover has made running many EDAs impossible. Without locals to do these jobs, nothing happens. When a party appoints its leader, doesn’t hold policy votes, and doesn’t have the protection of a constitution, it can be a turnoff. As such, Maxime Bernier would have had advance notice that dozens of EDAs were about to be closed down for not filing their financials. It is then twisted into a deliberate decision to save money.

Canadian Mama, Grizzly and Marshall go into spin mode to defend this as some bizarre economic measure.

Side note: interesting that they take potshots at Maverick (formerly WExit). Both are fake organizations that grift under the cover of being political entities. Neither “party” has a constitution, or other governing documents. Additionally, they act as honeypots to channel legitimate outrage into movements that are designed to go nowhere.

It’s also strange that none of the “conservative” media outlets call this out. True North, Post Millennial, Rebel & Postmedia all play along.

4. What Does Elections Canada Have To Say?

A phone call with Elections Canada revealed 3 pieces of information. First, EDAs that are deregistered CANNOT fundraise for a candidate in the riding. Second, that the employee had never heard of a “regional EDA”. He knew absolutely nothing about the idea. He knew of nowhere in the Elections Canada Act where that existed. Third, money can still be sent to the party headquarters, but cannot be done locally.

Final thought: The PPC is lying about why the EDAs were closed in the first place. As such, they are likely lying about these “regional EDAs” that are taking place. After all, it is a fake party.

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CV #62(F): International — Or Global — Treaty For Pandemic Preparedness And Response Proposed

About 2 dozen world leaders have agreed, at least in principle, of setting up an international treaty to “deal with future pandemics”. Presumably, this would ultimately result in a World Government of sorts that could act in sweeping ways. But of course, it would all be done in the name of public health.

1. Important Links

https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/op-ed—covid-19-shows-why-united-action-is-needed-for-more-robust-international-health-architecture
https://archive.is/pMWzw

(62.1) WHO International Health Regulations Legally Binding
(62.2) A Look At International Health Regulation Statements
(62.3) Quarantine Act Actually Written By WHO, IHR Changes
(62.4) Prov. Health Acts, Domestic Implementation Of WHO-IHR
(62.5) Prov. Health Acts, Domestic Implementation Of WHO-IHR, Part II

2. Text Of Letter Agreed By National Leaders

The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge to the global community since the 1940s. At that time, following the devastation of two world wars, political leaders came together to forge the multilateral system. The aims were clear: to bring countries together, to dispel the temptations of isolationism and nationalism, and to address the challenges that could only be achieved together in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation, namely peace, prosperity, health and security.

Today, we hold the same hope that as we fight to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic together, we can build a more robust international health architecture that will protect future generations. There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No single government or multilateral agency can address this threat alone. The question is not if, but when. Together, we must be better prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and effectively respond to pandemics in a highly coordinated fashion. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a stark and painful reminder that nobody is safe until everyone is safe.

We are, therefore, committed to ensuring universal and equitable access to safe, efficacious and affordable vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for this and future pandemics. Immunization is a global public good and we will need to be able to develop, manufacture and deploy vaccines as quickly as possible.

This is why the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) was set up in order to promote equal access to tests, treatments and vaccines and support health systems across the globe. ACT-A has delivered on many aspects but equitable access is not achieved yet. There is more we can do to promote global access.

To that end, we believe that nations should work together towards a new international treaty for pandemic preparedness and response.

Such a renewed collective commitment would be a milestone in stepping up pandemic preparedness at the highest political level. It would be rooted in the constitution of the World Health Organization, drawing in other relevant organizations key to this endeavour, in support of the principle of health for all. Existing global health instruments, especially the International Health Regulations, would underpin such a treaty, ensuring a firm and tested foundation on which we can build and improve.

The main goal of this treaty would be to foster an all-of-government and all-of-society approach, strengthening national, regional and global capacities and resilience to future pandemics. This includes greatly enhancing international cooperation to improve, for example, alert systems, data-sharing, research, and local, regional and global production and distribution of medical and public health counter measures, such as vaccines, medicines, diagnostics and personal protective equipment.

It would also include recognition of a “One Health” approach that connects the health of humans, animals and our planet. And such a treaty should lead to more mutual accountability and shared responsibility, transparency and cooperation within the international system and with its rules and norms.

To achieve this, we will work with Heads of State and governments globally and all stakeholders, including civil society and the private sector. We are convinced that it is our responsibility, as leaders of nations and international institutions, to ensure that the world learns the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At a time when COVID-19 has exploited our weaknesses and divisions, we must seize this opportunity and come together as a global community for peaceful cooperation that extends beyond this crisis. Building our capacities and systems to do this will take time and require a sustained political, financial and societal commitment over many years.

Our solidarity in ensuring that the world is better prepared will be our legacy that protects our children and grandchildren and minimizes the impact of future pandemics on our economies and our societies.

Pandemic preparedness needs global leadership for a global health system fit for this millennium. To make this commitment a reality, we must be guided by solidarity, fairness, transparency, inclusiveness and equity.

Still think those “International Health Regulations” aren’t legally binding? Wrong, they will be used as the basis for asserting even more control. And it’s already largely done.

From the way things are going, it seems extremely unlikely that there will be any sort of referendum or democratic mandate to legitimize such a thing nationally.

When they say “coming together globally”, what does that really mean? Will there be a supra-national group to decide what sectors of the economy should be shut down? Will there be misinformation laws to punish or charge people for contradicting the narrative? Will they decide on mandatory vaccinations, or masks? What accountability, if any, will be in place?

3. Who Has Approved, At Least In Principle

  • Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania;
  • Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile;
  • Carlos Alvarado Quesada, President of Costa Rica;
  • J. V. Bainimarama, Prime Minister of Fiji;
  • Emmanuel Macron, President of France;
  • Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany;
  • Charles Michel, President of the European Council;
  • Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece;
  • Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia;
  • Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya;
  • Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea;
  • Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands;
  • Erna Solberg, Prime Miniser of Norway;
  • António Luís Santos da Costa, Prime Minister of Portugal;
  • Klaus Iohannis, President of Romania;
  • Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda;
  • Macky Sall, President of Senegal;
  • Aleksandar Vučić, President of Serbia;
  • Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa;
  • Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister of Spain;
  • Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand;
  • Keith Rowley, Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago;
  • Kais Saied, President of Tunisia;
  • Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine;
  • Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom;
  • Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization.

Sure, Canada isn’t on that list — yet. However, there is certainly nothing to indicate that we won’t be forced to go along at some point. The people running this country aren’t exactly huge supporters of free speech.