Juno News - November 28, 2025Alberta strikes a pipeline deal with Ottawa
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Summary
An Ontario school board is attempting to scrub the record from its parent-led meeting minutes after one parent objected to the use of land acknowledgements. A national security analyst is urging Ottawa not to wait for the US to designate Muslim Brotherhood-aligned organizations, and warns that Canada is not prepared for the threat their ideology poses.
Transcript
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An Ontario school board is attempting to scrub the record from its parent-led meeting minutes
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after one parent objected to the use of land acknowledgements.
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Ottawa will scrap the emissions cap and strike down other laws
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which could prevent pipelines from getting to Tidewater.
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A national security analyst is urging Ottawa not to wait for the U.S. to designate Muslim Brotherhood-aligned organizations
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and warns that Canada is, quote, not prepared for the threat their ideology poses.
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Hello Canada, it's Friday, November 28th, and this is the True North Daily Brief.
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We've got you covered with all the news you need to know.
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Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.
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The Waterloo Region District School Board attempted to remove a parent's objection to land acknowledgements
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from its official Parent Involvement Committee meeting minutes.
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This is the second time that an Ontario school board interfered in parent-led governance
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to suppress disagreement with land acknowledgements from appearing on public records.
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In September, parent member Christina Beiros Fernandez raised a procedural objection
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to opening Parent Involvement Committee meetings with a land acknowledgement.
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Fernandez has previously been successful at removing land acknowledgements from parent council meetings.
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The Parent Involvement Committee's then-chair agreed to, quote,
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note the objection, but Director Scott Miller immediately intervenes, stating that, quote,
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as far as objections being noted in the minutes, we won't be recording that.
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I think we've been pretty clear as a district school board what we believe our commitment
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to truth and reconciliation call to action, and that's across the province.
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Miller was referring to the Ministry of Education's recent intervention
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at the Dufferin Peel Catholic District School Board, compelling the board to raise the, quote,
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survivor's flag for truth and reconciliation, even after the board adopted a, quote,
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At the November meeting, the committee ultimately voted to record the objections,
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but to exclude mention of the director's interference.
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So, Melanie, you've spoken to the parents and you've looked into this issue.
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How did parents react with regard to this interaction and how the board,
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Well, Cosmin, I was able to attend the Waterloo Board Parent Involvement Committee meeting this week,
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and from what I observed, most parents in the meeting didn't jump in at all when this happened.
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And the parents were at the center of this story.
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They were pretty clear in expressing their concerns that the committee would just so easily
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and deliberately exclude really important detail from the public record.
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So in this case, this, you know, the detail is that the board here is overstepping in their authority
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So both Christina Barros Fernandez and Jeff Horsman pushed back on the director's interference straight away
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and also pushed back on the committee's refusal to include that detail in the minutes.
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Now, there are obvious issues with the director of education interfering in parent-led governance,
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The central issue is why a parent involvement committee would agree to erase facts,
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Why would they want to remove that from the official record?
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So ultimately, board staff, and that includes the director of education,
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really have no business interfering in parent governance.
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So PIC or Parent Involvement Committee, they're supposed to be parent-run committees,
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and those committees give feedback to the school boards themselves.
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So when leadership steps in to dictate what can or can't be recorded,
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that really undermines the whole process of parents having governance at all.
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And this really isn't the first time that a school board has interfered in this way
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over parental objections to land acknowledgements.
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So in Hamilton, if you remember Catherine Kronos,
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she objected to a land acknowledgement at her school council, and that went viral online.
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In the video, you can hear her asking that her objection be recorded in the meeting minutes.
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And not long after that viral video, the school board intervened and suspended her
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And it really wasn't until the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedom stepped in
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I think things like this send a strong message that parents are being punished
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for disagreeing with political speech in a government setting.
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And now in Waterloo, this has escalated even further.
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And as of today, the JCCF has stepped in again, and this time with a legal challenge.
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Jeff Horstman, the parent I just mentioned, he filed a judicial review arguing that
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mandatory land acknowledgements, and basically banning all debate about them,
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exceeds the board's authority and violates his particular charter rights to freedom of conscience.
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I spoke to Jeff today, and he told me that he did try to go through all the proper channels,
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but that he only turned to the courts or to the legal system when it became clear
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that parents were not allowed to ask, they're not even allowed to ask any questions
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So the reaction from parents, I think, well, at least Christina and Jeff is quite firm.
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They're willing to defend their rights to express their views on political statements
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like land acknowledgements, even if the school board does try to sweep that under the carpet.
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It seems to me they're quite frustrated, they feel sidelined, that they're increasingly
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turning to legal avenues because the avenues designed to give them a voice are completely
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Alberta and the federal government have signed a sweeping energy agreement that includes building
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a new indigenous co-owned bitumen pipeline to Asian markets.
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The suspension of the federal clean electricity regulation and the commitment from Ottawa not
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Alberta and Ottawa have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on major energy
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infrastructure, carbon reduction projects and regulatory reforms.
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The memorandum of understanding states that Alberta, Ottawa, indigenous peoples and the
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industry must, quote, work together cooperatively to foster the conditions necessary for infrastructure,
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including pipelines that will unlock and grow natural resource production and transportation
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The provincial government called the agreement, quote, a critical step towards achieving Alberta
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and Canada's shared goal of turning our country into a world energy superpower.
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Central to the deal is a new privately financed pipeline to transfer more than one million
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barrels per day of low emission Alberta bitumen to a deep water port with access to Asian markets.
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The memorandum of understanding specifies that the project will be ready for submission
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to the major projects office by July 1st, 2026.
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This pipeline will be in addition to expanding Trans Mountain for an extra 300,000 to 400,000
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The federal government agreed to address the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act to facilitate construction
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if the pipeline is approved under the Building Canada Act.
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Alberta Premier Daniel Smith called the agreement a new starting point for nation building.
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Our opportunity to show the nation as well as the entire world that resource development
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and emissions reduction can not only co-exist but can actually complement one another
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for the benefit of billions of people around the world.
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Alberta is willing to take on and conquer the challenge as partners with the federal government.
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So Kazmin, can you tell me if there have been any further developments since this story
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Like for example, how have other key players responded?
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Yeah, there actually have been quite a few notable developments since the original story dropped.
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And the key one is Stephen Gilboa's reported resignation from cabinet.
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Now that happened immediately after the Alberta Ottawa energy agreement was announced.
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And according to a senior government source who spoke to CTV, the timing was no coincidence.
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It was linked and I guess Gilboa resigned in reaction to that.
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Now, as we're recording this, Gilboa has actually not spoken publicly on this,
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but that might have changed in the next little while.
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But essentially, the government source said that the MOU and Gilboa's exit were connected.
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And that makes sense considering Gilboa's background as a long time anti-pipeline activist.
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I mean, he was arrested for scaling the CN Tower, and it's no surprise that he couldn't stomach
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what seems to be an indication that Ottawa is willing to work with Alberta to some level,
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albeit I will add that there has been no crystallization of a pipeline plan.
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But this is at least a step in that direction and a political agreement to get something done, perhaps.
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So yeah, Gilboa's resignation is the major one.
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He said he's going to stay on as an MP under the Liberals, foreseeably for now.
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But politically, it is a big signal and a shift within Carney's cabinet,
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because Gilboa was one of the hardcore Trudeau loyalists and one of the holdovers from Trudeau's
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own cabinet. He was the environment minister under the former prime minister, and Carney had
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shifted him into his role as the culture minister. And he actually held that position before under
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Trudeau as well. But beyond Ottawa, there have been quite a few other reactions, especially from
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British Columbia Premier David Eby. And he's doubled down on opposition to a pipeline which will have
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to go through British Columbia and exit on British Columbia's northwest coast. He alleged that there
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were no proponents to the project, and even Trans Mountain Pipeline wasn't at capacity, which he said
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gives further reason not to build a pipeline. And the other thing was that a coastal First Nations
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group in BC that represents all the indigenous tribes and groups that live along the BC coast,
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do not support a bitumen pipeline to the northern coast. And Eby said, without that support,
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there is basically no deal, and it's dead on arrival. So quite a day, quite a reaction. But,
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you know, I think things are developing rapidly. And who knows where this is going to go ultimately,
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Canada is dangerously unprepared for the growing threat posed by the Muslim Brotherhood,
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according to a national security analyst. The expert is demanding Ottawa launch its own probe
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into groups tied to the Islamist ideology, warning that the danger to Western society is being ignored
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as the US moves to label some Muslim Brotherhood entities as terrorist organizations. Joe Adam George,
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a national security analyst with the MacDonald Laurier Institute and research lead on Islamist
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threats at the Middle East Forum, told True North that Canada must ban organizations linked to the
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Muslim Brotherhood and ensure those groups members cannot rebrand. George said Canada should start its
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own process of listing Muslim Brotherhood linked groups as terrorist entities. U.S. President Donald
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Trump has signaled the start of a, quote, comprehensive U.S. campaign against the global Brotherhood network
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through an executive order, but Canada's laws differ from those of the U.S. George said, quote,
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you can't have a blanket ban on an organization like the Muslim Brotherhood. Recognize that the Muslim Brotherhood
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is far more of an ideology than an organization. It's a disparate group of entities. You're not a card-carrying
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member of the Muslim Brotherhood. You merely need to be aligned with its ideology. George said Muslim
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Brotherhood ideology believes in conducting, quote, covert or stealth jihad with the goal of fulfilling Allah's
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wish to make the world Islamic. He said, quote, these are people who are extremely strongly ideologically
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bound to this statute and they hold it dear because this isn't an ideology about guns and bombs. The
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people we're talking about, a lot of them are white collar people. They could be your school teachers,
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lawyers, nonprofit professionals working in the nonprofit sector and so on, people of influence.
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He said the Muslim Brotherhood engages in, quote, institutional capture. Its groups are not
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involved in, quote, carrying bombs and guns, but in creating a, quote, permissive environment and
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running propaganda campaigns, which ultimately radicalize young individuals to act on Islamist rhetoric.
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Melanie, you're familiar with Joe Adam George and his work. You've spoken to him before. What are some
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recommendations for the Canadian government that he's made to tackle the ideological threat posed by
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the Muslim Brotherhood and affiliated organizations?
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Yeah, Cosmin, I have spoken with Joe Adam George and his message to Canada is pretty consistent in the times
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that I have spoken to him. He thinks that Canada's problem really is one of enforcement. So this is not a question of
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ignorance. Canada knows what's going on. And he recommends moving away from monitoring the situation
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into actual criminal consequences where evidence supports action of that kind.
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If individuals here in Canada are tied into extremist terrorist networks abroad, he wants Otto to be
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willing to charge them under existing terrorism and anti-terror financing laws that we have in place
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already. The second big piece here is definitely the charities. If a charity or non-profit is found to be
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part of a Muslim Brotherhood ecosystem, and we know some are, he says that Canada should not only pull
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their status permanently, but ban the key figures, the individuals from running charities under a
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different name. So my understanding is for George that the rebranding game that we're seeing here is part of
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a bigger long-term strategy. And like he says, Canada has a white collar Islamist problem. So he really
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means that many of the people behind the Brotherhood are often doctors and lawyers, like he says. They're not
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the violent street thugs that people might imagine. And I spoke to Joe recently about his meeting in
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Washington, where he came away with a really strong sense that the world was waking up to the Muslim Brotherhood.
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And we're certainly seeing that in America right now. But Canada is starting to look like a weak link.
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A senior figure in the Trump administration told him that they see Canada's as, they see that Canada has an
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Islamist extremism problem. And that's become, as he called it, a semi-domestic issue, right? So that's
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because the problem here spills across the border. And whether that's terrorism financing or money
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laundering or ideological networks, it sort of ends up in the same soup here. So the solution, I think,
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is simple. Even if it is politically difficult, that Canada should use the tools that we already have,
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things like investigating seriously or enforcing consistently and shutting down front groups to
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stop pretending that Canada can sit this one out while our allies deal with the threat.
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That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday
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