Juno News - May 12, 2025


Another riding flips Liberal

Hosted by
Isaac Lamoureux Noah Jarvis
Mentioned
Without Borders Mark Carney Bill C-63 Nathalie Sinclair-des-Gagnins Daniel Turok Justin Trudeau Elizabeth May Caucus Chairs True North Trinney Whips
First Nations can’t veto Alberta separation vote Liberals inch closer to a MAJORITY ｜ Keean and Candice DISAGREE about Alberta’s future

Episode Stats


Length

15 minutes

Words per minute

155.1

Word count

2,341

Sentence count

92


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

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

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Another riding has flipped to the Liberals nearly two weeks after the election.
00:00:08.980 The federal NDP are attempting to have Prime Minister Mark Carney bypass parliament rules
00:00:13.360 and grant them official party status, even though they don't have the required number of seats.
00:00:17.840 Reporters Without Borders released its Global Press Freedom Index,
00:00:21.560 and Canada has fallen several places, now ranking 21st.
00:00:25.080 Hello Canada, it's Monday, May 12th, and this is the True North Daily Brief.
00:00:28.960 I'm Isaac Lamoureux.
00:00:30.260 And I'm Noah Jarvis.
00:00:31.480 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know.
00:00:34.360 Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.
00:00:43.140 A judicial recount of federal election results has landed the federal Liberals another seat,
00:00:48.820 won by a single vote nearly two weeks after the federal election.
00:00:52.640 The Quebec riding of Terrebonne has reportedly flipped back to the Liberals,
00:00:57.420 with candidate Tatiana Auguste winning by only one vote.
00:01:00.740 This brings the Liberal tally to 170 seats, just too short of the 172 required for a majority government.
00:01:08.200 The riding was originally called for the Liberal candidate Tatiana Auguste.
00:01:11.700 However, a validation process later shifted the result in favor of the Bloc Québécois incumbent candidate,
00:01:17.920 Nathalie Sinclair-Degagné, by just 44 votes.
00:01:22.800 After the recount, Auguste received 23,352 votes, while Sinclair-Degagné had 23,351.
00:01:32.100 The validation process, which found the discrepancy originally,
00:01:36.240 is a routine verification of numbers reported on election night.
00:01:39.880 Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault,
00:01:43.160 announced Wednesday that due to the short 44 difference margin of votes,
00:01:47.180 a judicial recount would take place.
00:01:49.560 According to the announcement,
00:01:51.380 a judicial recount is automatically triggered if there is a 0.1% difference
00:01:55.880 between the two top candidates in a riding.
00:01:57.940 The recount was carried out on Thursday by Justice Daniel Turcotte
00:02:01.840 of the Superior Court of Quebec in the riding.
00:02:05.200 Recounts are still taking place in three federal ridings,
00:02:08.340 which ended in extremely close toss-ups between the Conservatives and the Liberals.
00:02:13.100 So, Noah, what other ridings are currently undergoing vote verification or judicial recounts,
00:02:17.900 and could we see a Liberal-majority government following these?
00:02:21.540 So, yes, there are other ridings that are undergoing judicial recounts.
00:02:25.340 For example, Elections Canada announced that the riding of Milton East Halton Hills South
00:02:30.360 would be undergoing a judicial recount after the validation process that is currently taking place.
00:02:36.660 Right now, Milton East Halton Hills South was won by the Liberal candidate,
00:02:41.420 and the Conservative candidate only trailed the Liberal by 29 votes.
00:02:47.020 So, it is definitely possible that the Conservatives could take that riding,
00:02:52.760 as we saw in the Terrebonne riding, that the Bloc Québécois,
00:02:57.060 they were up ahead of the Liberals by 43 votes,
00:03:00.860 and the Liberals managed to flip that riding back over to them.
00:03:05.160 There's also a recount that is currently taking place in Terra Nova, the Peninsulas,
00:03:10.560 a riding in Newfoundland and Labrador,
00:03:12.880 where the Liberal candidate just beat out the Conservative candidate by only 12 votes,
00:03:17.900 so even less than in the riding of Milton East Halton Hills South.
00:03:21.700 And on Friday, another judge ordered a recount for the riding of Windsor Tecumseh Lakeshore,
00:03:28.460 where the Conservatives stunningly beat the NDP and the Liberal candidates by a margin of 77 votes.
00:03:35.780 So, the outcome of these recounts definitely are very, very important.
00:03:41.240 It can mean the difference between a strong minority government by the Liberals
00:03:45.440 or a weak majority government by the Liberals,
00:03:47.860 which would change the dynamics in Parliament.
00:03:49.880 If the Liberals still are able to hold on to their strong minority
00:03:55.180 without being able to get over the 172 MP threshold of reaching a majority,
00:04:01.140 then they will have to rely on support from other parties,
00:04:04.960 whether that's just the NDP or the Bloc Québécois,
00:04:08.740 or even the Conservatives on certain measures.
00:04:11.760 Whereas, if they got up to 172 MPs in Parliament,
00:04:16.460 they would have a majority government,
00:04:18.680 and would not have to consult with any other parties in Parliament
00:04:22.020 in order to pass bills and other forms of motions and stuff like that.
00:04:28.120 And who will become the Speaker of the House of Commons also matters a lot.
00:04:32.440 The Green Party leader, Elizabeth May,
00:04:34.700 had offered herself up to become the Speaker of the House,
00:04:38.160 which would take away one vote from the left-wing alliance in Parliament.
00:04:43.940 But it would also mean that the Liberals are able to retain all of their MPs,
00:04:48.740 as the Speaker of the House of Commons is not able to vote on matters before the House
00:04:53.560 unless there is a tie.
00:04:55.080 And if, in the event that the Liberals are able to get one more riding from these recounts,
00:05:01.800 171 MPs, and then they manage to appoint an opposition MP to the Speakership,
00:05:09.640 whether they're from the NDP or the Conservatives,
00:05:12.800 I know that two Conservative MPs have already offered themselves up for the Speaker position.
00:05:18.720 If they manage to get one of those MPs to be the Speaker,
00:05:22.720 they would manage to put themselves in a much stronger position in Parliament.
00:05:27.760 So it remains to be seen whether or not the Liberals will still be held to a minority government
00:05:34.500 or whether they're able to grasp a majority of government,
00:05:37.300 either through these recounts or by convincing another MP to cross the aisle.
00:05:41.440 But it surely will matter a lot to how this country is governed in the next four-plus years.
00:05:48.300 The NDP interim leader, Don Davies, is appealing to Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney
00:05:57.200 to skirt Parliament rules and grant the NDP official party status
00:06:00.820 after the party suffered a devastating loss in the recent election.
00:06:04.400 According to the Canadian press, Davies is engaged in very early discussions
00:06:08.340 with Prime Minister Mark Carney, asking the party for official party status,
00:06:12.600 despite rules clearly stating that the party does not qualify.
00:06:15.460 To hold official party status in the House of Commons,
00:06:18.600 a registered party must have elected at least 12 members of Parliament.
00:06:22.520 The NDP lost 17 seats and ended up with just seven MPs,
00:06:27.220 meaning it lost its official status for the first time since 1993.
00:06:31.640 This loss came after Singh admitted that he had not triggered an election
00:06:35.380 while partnered with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
00:06:38.220 to prevent the Conservatives from making significant gains.
00:06:41.740 Conservatives still posit that quote-unquote sell-out Singh,
00:06:44.820 delayed the election to secure his potentially $2 million pension.
00:06:49.340 Neither Davies nor the Prime Minister's office responded to Trude North's request for comment.
00:06:54.060 Davies said, quote,
00:06:54.840 I think one of my primary objectives is to make sure that our caucus has the resources we need
00:07:00.140 to discharge our functions in Parliament,
00:07:02.640 but more importantly, to advocate effectively for the 1.2 million Canadians who voted for us.
00:07:07.980 So we are actively working to try to make sure we get those resources for our caucus.
00:07:12.460 Davies argues that on the provincial level,
00:07:14.820 parties have been granted official party status despite failing to meet the threshold.
00:07:19.480 The report states that Davies is worried his party will have to, quote,
00:07:23.060 engage civil society to help with funding as the loss and lead up to the NDP collapse
00:07:28.420 have devastated the party's coffers.
00:07:30.540 So, Isaac, it makes sense that the NDP, or any party for that matter,
00:07:34.920 would be lobbying hard to ensure that they have the maximum amount of resources available to them.
00:07:40.700 But what sort of resources and benefits are parties afforded when they have official party status in the House of Commons?
00:07:46.000 Yeah, Noah, so by not having official party status, the NDP and any other parties in this category
00:07:52.520 would not have access to a lot of party funding for research,
00:07:56.500 specifically a research party office, along with other staff support for the party.
00:08:01.780 So the House of Commons has a members' allowances and services manual.
00:08:05.920 While the document is 343 pages long,
00:08:08.680 there is a budget formula following a general election section
00:08:12.120 showing that opposition party leaders' office budgets for parties with more than 12 members
00:08:17.340 get over $1.1 million, with no value for any party beneath that 12-member threshold.
00:08:24.280 They also get House leaders' office budgets,
00:08:27.240 Chief Whips' office budgets, and Caucus Chairs' office budgets.
00:08:30.720 The manual also lists an information technology budget allocation of $73,280,
00:08:36.820 a translation services budget allocation of $177,880,
00:08:43.200 a National Caucus meetings budget allocation of $65,470,
00:08:47.940 and a National Caucus research office budget of $744,630,000.
00:08:53.980 So these items alone add up to just over $2.5 million,
00:08:57.860 and they're smaller items as well,
00:09:00.440 like a smartphone and two Apple iPads per member,
00:09:03.580 which could cost up to like $2,500 each.
00:09:06.000 And we already know that the NDP was not flush with cash,
00:09:09.940 remembering the story of Jagmeet Singh having to bus around instead of fly on his campaign.
00:09:15.300 And then aside from funding,
00:09:17.180 official party status gives a party guaranteed time and question period debates
00:09:21.460 and statements by members.
00:09:23.700 It also gives the ability to sponsor opposition day motions
00:09:26.820 and participate more fully in parliamentary committees.
00:09:29.820 Canada's press freedom has reached a new low
00:09:35.560 after falling another seven spots in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index to 21st place globally.
00:09:42.540 Reporters Without Borders released its latest World Press Freedom Index,
00:09:46.680 an annual ranking of countries that evaluates press freedom in countries around the world,
00:09:51.440 taking into account journalists' ability to report freely,
00:09:54.400 accessibility of news and unrestricted internet access.
00:09:58.280 It also reviews government measures to protect the freedom of the press.
00:10:02.460 Canada fell by seven places this year compared to 2024
00:10:05.480 and currently holds a satisfactory rating.
00:10:08.540 Canada currently ranks two places behind Trinidad and Tobago.
00:10:12.640 As state control over media has increased,
00:10:15.360 Canada has dropped by 13 places since 2015.
00:10:19.180 Reporters Without Borders wrote,
00:10:21.420 media concentration is cause for concern in countries like Canada.
00:10:25.680 The organization said,
00:10:27.320 this growing concentration restricts editorial diversity,
00:10:31.380 increases the risk of self-censorship,
00:10:33.920 and raises serious concerns about newsrooms' independence
00:10:37.180 from the economic and political interests of their shareholders.
00:10:40.220 The Independent Press Gallery of Canada responded to the ranking
00:10:43.700 by criticizing the Liberal government's
00:10:45.740 expanded censorship through Bill C-11,
00:10:48.720 granting the CRTC power over online content,
00:10:52.200 Bill C-18,
00:10:53.160 which disrupted news access by forcing tech platforms
00:10:56.280 to pay government-approved media.
00:10:58.760 So Noah, are there any other recent measures
00:11:00.720 that have led to more censorship of the press
00:11:03.000 and less press freedom in Canada?
00:11:05.380 Well, you mentioned a few of those there.
00:11:07.260 I think the big one is Bill C-18,
00:11:09.920 the Online News Act,
00:11:11.560 which forces certain big media platforms,
00:11:15.300 whether it be Google or Meta platforms,
00:11:17.780 to pay media companies for the right
00:11:20.700 to post links on their platform.
00:11:22.900 It's really a sort of backwards measure
00:11:24.920 that has been criticized by a lot of people
00:11:27.480 working in the media space.
00:11:29.280 But that measure resulted in a backlash by Meta,
00:11:33.360 whereby Meta blocked all news content in Canada,
00:11:37.460 meaning that if you post a link to a news story
00:11:40.100 or you try to go on a news page in Canada,
00:11:44.500 whether that be Juno News
00:11:46.260 or you try to go even on like the CBC,
00:11:49.240 your access will be blocked.
00:11:50.840 It will show you an error message
00:11:53.100 and basically tell you that,
00:11:54.660 hey, you live in Canada,
00:11:55.780 therefore you cannot access news on Facebook,
00:11:59.300 which is patently insane.
00:12:01.240 A lot of Canadians are deeply upset with that.
00:12:03.940 And it limits media companies
00:12:06.000 the ability to market their products,
00:12:09.260 market their articles,
00:12:10.380 market their stories.
00:12:11.680 It limits their reach.
00:12:13.480 And ultimately,
00:12:14.620 it does a lot of harm to the media ecosystem
00:12:17.800 and the media companies
00:12:19.520 that the Liberal government
00:12:20.760 says that they're trying to champion
00:12:22.840 and says that they're trying to strengthen and help.
00:12:25.440 And also the Liberal government
00:12:27.200 has passed the Bill C-11,
00:12:29.940 which grants the CRTC power over online content
00:12:33.720 and allows them to basically rejig the algorithms
00:12:37.180 of platforms like YouTube, Netflix, or whatever
00:12:40.400 to push content that the government approves
00:12:43.420 that is quote-unquote Canadian enough for the government.
00:12:47.700 The other measures that the Liberal government
00:12:50.200 has put in to restrict press freedom
00:12:51.980 are in regards to subsidies to media.
00:12:54.040 The Liberal government has put out a number of programs
00:12:57.900 to help out legacy media companies
00:13:01.040 with large subsidies,
00:13:03.300 whereby the amount of quote-unquote reporters
00:13:06.860 that these legacy media outlets have
00:13:09.680 correlates to the amount of dollars that they receive.
00:13:12.480 And these legacy media companies
00:13:14.260 have bloated newsrooms.
00:13:16.420 They have a lot more people than, say, True North has.
00:13:19.620 And they are able to receive millions upon millions
00:13:22.920 of government dollars as a result
00:13:25.240 for having a bloated business model
00:13:28.380 whereby they are not really producing
00:13:31.300 as much content that Canadians want from them,
00:13:36.100 hence why their revenue has been going down
00:13:39.060 over the past decade.
00:13:41.220 Now, at the end of the day,
00:13:42.820 Canada is still a free country,
00:13:44.740 but when we are behind countries like Trinidad and Tobago
00:13:48.840 in world press freedom rankings,
00:13:51.280 I think that should be a little embarrassing for Canadians.
00:13:54.160 I know a lot of Trinney people are really great,
00:13:57.520 but no offense to the Trinidadians listening out there,
00:14:01.180 but Canada should be ranking above Trinidad and Tobago
00:14:03.980 on world press freedom metrics and rankings.
00:14:07.780 It is unacceptable,
00:14:09.160 and I believe that the concentration of the media
00:14:13.460 by the Liberal government
00:14:15.740 into a position where they require government subsidies
00:14:20.800 to operate and to be able to function
00:14:23.120 and they exclude certain media companies
00:14:26.000 that they do not like
00:14:27.340 based on their ideological positions from these subsidies,
00:14:30.960 I think it has a deleterious effect on media freedom.
00:14:34.440 And at the end of the day,
00:14:36.480 if Canada continues to go down this path,
00:14:39.120 we're going to see our rankings drop further and further,
00:14:42.320 and we're going to be compared
00:14:43.860 to some very unsavory countries
00:14:45.640 that we don't want to be mentioned in the same sentence as.
00:14:53.040 That's it for today, folks.
00:14:54.740 Thanks for tuning in.
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