Another riding flips Liberal
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Summary
Another riding has flipped to the Liberals nearly two weeks after the election. The federal NDP are attempting to have Prime Minister Mark Carney bypass parliament rules and grant them official party status even though they don t have the required number of seats. Reporters Without Borders releases its Global Press Freedom Index, and Canada has fallen several places, now ranking 21st.
Transcript
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Another riding has flipped to the Liberals nearly two weeks after the election.
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The federal NDP are attempting to have Prime Minister Mark Carney bypass parliament rules
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and grant them official party status, even though they don't have the required number of seats.
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Reporters Without Borders released its Global Press Freedom Index,
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and Canada has fallen several places, now ranking 21st.
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Hello Canada, it's Monday, May 12th, 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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A judicial recount of federal election results has landed the federal Liberals another seat,
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won by a single vote nearly two weeks after the federal election.
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The Quebec riding of Terrebonne has reportedly flipped back to the Liberals,
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with candidate Tatiana Auguste winning by only one vote.
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This brings the Liberal tally to 170 seats, just too short of the 172 required for a majority government.
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The riding was originally called for the Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste.
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However, a validation process later shifted the result in favor of the Bloc Québécois incumbent candidate,
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After the recount, Auguste received 23,352 votes, while Sinclair-Degagné had 23,351.
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The validation process, which found the discrepancy originally,
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is a routine verification of numbers reported on election night.
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Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault,
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announced Wednesday that due to the short 44 difference margin of votes,
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a judicial recount is automatically triggered if there is a 0.1% difference
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The recount was carried out on Thursday by Justice Daniel Turcotte
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Recounts are still taking place in three federal ridings,
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which ended in extremely close toss-ups between the Conservatives and the Liberals.
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So, Noah, what other ridings are currently undergoing vote verification or judicial recounts,
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and could we see a Liberal-majority government following these?
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So, yes, there are other ridings that are undergoing judicial recounts.
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For example, Elections Canada announced that the riding of Milton East Halton Hills South
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would be undergoing a judicial recount after the validation process that is currently taking place.
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Right now, Milton East Halton Hills South was won by the Liberal candidate,
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and the Conservative candidate only trailed the Liberal by 29 votes.
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So, it is definitely possible that the Conservatives could take that riding,
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as we saw in the Terrebonne riding, that the Bloc Québécois,
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they were up ahead of the Liberals by 43 votes,
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and the Liberals managed to flip that riding back over to them.
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There's also a recount that is currently taking place in Terra Nova, the Peninsulas,
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where the Liberal candidate just beat out the Conservative candidate by only 12 votes,
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so even less than in the riding of Milton East Halton Hills South.
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And on Friday, another judge ordered a recount for the riding of Windsor Tecumseh Lakeshore,
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where the Conservatives stunningly beat the NDP and the Liberal candidates by a margin of 77 votes.
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So, the outcome of these recounts definitely are very, very important.
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It can mean the difference between a strong minority government by the Liberals
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If the Liberals still are able to hold on to their strong minority
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without being able to get over the 172 MP threshold of reaching a majority,
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then they will have to rely on support from other parties,
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whether that's just the NDP or the Bloc Québécois,
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Whereas, if they got up to 172 MPs in Parliament,
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and would not have to consult with any other parties in Parliament
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in order to pass bills and other forms of motions and stuff like that.
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And who will become the Speaker of the House of Commons also matters a lot.
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had offered herself up to become the Speaker of the House,
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which would take away one vote from the left-wing alliance in Parliament.
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But it would also mean that the Liberals are able to retain all of their MPs,
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as the Speaker of the House of Commons is not able to vote on matters before the House
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And if, in the event that the Liberals are able to get one more riding from these recounts,
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171 MPs, and then they manage to appoint an opposition MP to the Speakership,
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whether they're from the NDP or the Conservatives,
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I know that two Conservative MPs have already offered themselves up for the Speaker position.
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If they manage to get one of those MPs to be the Speaker,
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they would manage to put themselves in a much stronger position in Parliament.
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So it remains to be seen whether or not the Liberals will still be held to a minority government
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or whether they're able to grasp a majority of government,
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either through these recounts or by convincing another MP to cross the aisle.
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But it surely will matter a lot to how this country is governed in the next four-plus years.
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The NDP interim leader, Don Davies, is appealing to Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney
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to skirt Parliament rules and grant the NDP official party status
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after the party suffered a devastating loss in the recent election.
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According to the Canadian press, Davies is engaged in very early discussions
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with Prime Minister Mark Carney, asking the party for official party status,
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despite rules clearly stating that the party does not qualify.
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To hold official party status in the House of Commons,
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a registered party must have elected at least 12 members of Parliament.
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The NDP lost 17 seats and ended up with just seven MPs,
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meaning it lost its official status for the first time since 1993.
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This loss came after Singh admitted that he had not triggered an election
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while partnered with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
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to prevent the Conservatives from making significant gains.
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Conservatives still posit that quote-unquote sell-out Singh,
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delayed the election to secure his potentially $2 million pension.
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Neither Davies nor the Prime Minister's office responded to Trude North's request for comment.
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I think one of my primary objectives is to make sure that our caucus has the resources we need
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but more importantly, to advocate effectively for the 1.2 million Canadians who voted for us.
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So we are actively working to try to make sure we get those resources for our caucus.
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parties have been granted official party status despite failing to meet the threshold.
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The report states that Davies is worried his party will have to, quote,
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engage civil society to help with funding as the loss and lead up to the NDP collapse
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So, Isaac, it makes sense that the NDP, or any party for that matter,
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would be lobbying hard to ensure that they have the maximum amount of resources available to them.
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But what sort of resources and benefits are parties afforded when they have official party status in the House of Commons?
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Yeah, Noah, so by not having official party status, the NDP and any other parties in this category
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would not have access to a lot of party funding for research,
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specifically a research party office, along with other staff support for the party.
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So the House of Commons has a members' allowances and services manual.
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there is a budget formula following a general election section
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showing that opposition party leaders' office budgets for parties with more than 12 members
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get over $1.1 million, with no value for any party beneath that 12-member threshold.
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Chief Whips' office budgets, and Caucus Chairs' office budgets.
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The manual also lists an information technology budget allocation of $73,280,
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a translation services budget allocation of $177,880,
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a National Caucus meetings budget allocation of $65,470,
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and a National Caucus research office budget of $744,630,000.
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So these items alone add up to just over $2.5 million,
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like a smartphone and two Apple iPads per member,
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And we already know that the NDP was not flush with cash,
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remembering the story of Jagmeet Singh having to bus around instead of fly on his campaign.
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official party status gives a party guaranteed time and question period debates
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It also gives the ability to sponsor opposition day motions
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and participate more fully in parliamentary committees.
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after falling another seven spots in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index to 21st place globally.
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Reporters Without Borders released its latest World Press Freedom Index,
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an annual ranking of countries that evaluates press freedom in countries around the world,
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taking into account journalists' ability to report freely,
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accessibility of news and unrestricted internet access.
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It also reviews government measures to protect the freedom of the press.
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Canada fell by seven places this year compared to 2024
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Canada currently ranks two places behind Trinidad and Tobago.
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media concentration is cause for concern in countries like Canada.
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this growing concentration restricts editorial diversity,
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and raises serious concerns about newsrooms' independence
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from the economic and political interests of their shareholders.
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The Independent Press Gallery of Canada responded to the ranking
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which disrupted news access by forcing tech platforms
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But that measure resulted in a backlash by Meta,
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whereby Meta blocked all news content in Canada,
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meaning that if you post a link to a news story
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and says that they're trying to strengthen and help.
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which grants the CRTC power over online content
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and allows them to basically rejig the algorithms
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of platforms like YouTube, Netflix, or whatever
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that is quote-unquote Canadian enough for the government.
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The Liberal government has put out a number of programs
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correlates to the amount of dollars that they receive.
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They have a lot more people than, say, True North has.
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And they are able to receive millions upon millions
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but when we are behind countries like Trinidad and Tobago
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I think that should be a little embarrassing for Canadians.
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I know a lot of Trinney people are really great,
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but no offense to the Trinidadians listening out there,
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but Canada should be ranking above Trinidad and Tobago
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and I believe that the concentration of the media
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into a position where they require government subsidies
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based on their ideological positions from these subsidies,
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I think it has a deleterious effect on media freedom.
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we're going to see our rankings drop further and further,
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that we don't want to be mentioned in the same sentence as.
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