Juno News - Carney's throne speech emphasizes climate change, protecting the CBC

00:00:00.000 In the Canadian Senate, King Charles III presented the Kearney government's speech

00:00:09.220 from the throne, emphasizing support for the CBC and action on climate change, among other

00:00:15.840 priorities. A tweet from Governor General Mary Simon's account referred to King Charles III's

00:00:21.040 Ottawa visit as deepening the bond between our nations, implying he was a foreign monarch rather

00:00:26.540 than Canada's sovereign. A report by Canada's RCMP urgently seeks federal funding due to a nearly

00:00:33.660 five-fold increase in terrorism threats in the past year. Hello Canada, it's Wednesday, May 28th,

00:00:40.340 and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia. And I'm Noah Jarvis. We've got you covered

00:00:46.100 with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North

00:00:51.820 exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.

00:00:58.940 His Majesty King Charles III delivered the speech from the throne in the Senate of Canada, pledging

00:01:05.340 that the Kearney government would uphold the CBC and tackle climate change, among other priorities.

00:01:11.340 The speech began with a land acknowledgement to the Algonquin and Aishinaabeg people and expressed

00:01:18.220 the need to work towards truth and reconciliation.

00:01:20.460 I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the unceded territory of the Algonquin and Aishinaabeg

00:01:29.820 people. This land acknowledgement is a recognition of shared history as a nation. While continuing to

00:01:40.140 deepen my own understanding, it is my great hope that in each of your communities and collectively as a

00:01:47.900 country, a path is found toward truth and reconciliation in both word and deed.

00:01:56.460 The speech represented the third time in all of Canadian history and the first time since 1977

00:02:04.140 that Canada's sovereign delivered the throne speech. The speech, written by Kearney's advisors,

00:02:09.580 presented a sweeping overview of global instability, climate policy and multiculturalism. Additionally,

00:02:16.780 the King highlighted multiculturalism and how Canada has accepted refugees, quote, from some of the most

00:02:23.340 tragic global conflict zones. On the CBC, King Charles stated that the Kearney government was, quote,

00:02:29.340 determined to protect the institutions that bring these cultures and this identity to the world,

00:02:35.340 like CBC and Radio Canada. The King talked about a changing world with threats to global stability and

00:02:41.900 the need to create a new Canadian economy and strengthen partnerships with like-minded countries,

00:02:47.660 as Kearney had repeated on the campaign trail. The King also touted the Kearney government's promise to

00:02:53.500 cut the income tax for the lowest quintile by one percent, eliminate the GSD for first-time home

00:02:59.420 buyers for homes under one million dollars, and eliminate all federal interprovincial trade barriers

00:03:04.700 before Canada Day. The speech also claimed that the Kearney government would establish a new federal

00:03:09.660 department dedicated to achieving the goal of, quote, one project, one review, and reducing the average

00:03:15.980 time to approve major infrastructure projects from five years to two. The King repeated Kearney's

00:03:21.260 promise to double the rate of home construction, driving this acceleration through a new government

00:03:26.220 department called Build Canada Homes. Notably, the King did not mention US President Donald Trump's

00:03:32.220 51st state comments, tariffs from the United States, or the need to decouple Canadian economic and

00:03:38.060 defense policy from America. However, the speech did include a promise to introduce legislation to

00:03:43.660 strengthen security at Canada's southern border. So Noah, before I pass it off to you, there were a

00:03:49.260 couple things that stood out to me, particularly the land acknowledgement stuff, the focus on what you

00:03:56.860 could call diversity, equity, inclusion topics, you know, the mention of climate change, which seems to

00:04:03.980 still be a priority for the Liberals despite Mark Carney's posturing about lowering the consumer

00:04:10.380 carbon tax to zero dollars. To me, this entire thing sort of seemed like a convenient rehashing or

00:04:19.980 parade of Canada's historical ties to the monarchy, to the United Kingdom, our historical parent nation,

00:04:29.900 and not a real expression of Canadian patriotism and national identity. Because throughout the speech,

00:04:39.660 there's very little discussion about what actually makes a Canadian. Now, of course, the King mentioned

00:04:47.260 Canada's Francophone identity, which is one part of that equation. But Canadian identity came across to me

00:04:54.700 in this speech as simply support for the CBC, vague notions of diversity and kindness, the sort of

00:05:03.580 deference to government that the Liberals expect from everybody else. Noah, what was your take? How do you think

00:05:11.740 Canadians at large responded to the throne speech? And were there elements of politicization

00:05:19.500 by Carney's team to use this speech to go after Trump?

00:05:24.540 Well, I think it's pretty clear that Mark Carney and his advisers had advised the King to come and deliver the throne

00:05:30.940 speech to sort of shield their government's policy agenda from any serious criticism and scrutiny. I think Mark Carney

00:05:39.580 is aware that conservatives generally are supportive of the monarchy. They're generally more supportive than

00:05:45.740 liberal supporters of the monarchy. And to this extent, they are probably under the assumption that

00:05:52.940 conservatives are not going to criticize the throne speech with nearly as much aggression as they would

00:05:59.020 if, say, Governor General Mary Simon was delivering the throne speech, who was appointed by

00:06:04.940 Justin Trudeau after his other failed appointment. Julie Payette revealed herself to be

00:06:11.660 quite a demanding and even abusive person. However, this throne speech really contains some content that

00:06:19.420 conservatives might appreciate. However, I think a lot of conservatives are in a bit of a sit and wait

00:06:27.020 sort of mood. They got to see whether or not the Carney government is actually serious in bringing down

00:06:33.180 home prices. We had some conflicting comments that the housing minister, Gregor Robertson, had made where

00:06:40.300 he said that his goal is to not bring down home prices, but instead to build more affordable homes,

00:06:47.420 basically government built and government subsidized homes. And we've heard Mark Carney say other things on

00:06:53.340 the housing file. We've heard Mark Carney say that he is going to dedicate more funding toward the

00:06:59.500 Canadian Armed Forces in reaching the 2% of GDP target that NATO had set out in generally trying

00:07:07.420 to rebuild our decimated Armed Forces after years upon years of neglect. But it remains to be seen

00:07:14.380 whether or not he's serious on this type of issues. I know that Canadian Taxpayers Federation President

00:07:21.420 Franco Terrazano had said that he is happy to see the Liberal government try to cut the income tax for the

00:07:28.220 lowest quintile by 1% and to eliminate the GST for first time home buyers for homes under 1 million.

00:07:35.180 But, you know, Canadians need further tax relief and whether or not this Liberal government would be

00:07:41.500 dedicated to providing that sort of tax relief to Canadians and to make Canada a tax competitive country

00:07:48.380 remains to be seen. So I think a lot of Liberals who voted for Mark Carney, they got what they wanted.

00:07:55.020 A lot of Conservatives, they have to see whether or not Carney is serious in addressing the major issues

00:08:02.060 of this country. And to a large extent, this is just an extension of what Mark Carney had been campaigning

00:08:08.460 on platitudes and ripping certain policies from the Conservatives in order to build a coalition

00:08:16.060 of Liberal supporters that even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had not been able to achieve. So I think

00:08:22.940 it's very much a remain and see type of time. However, Canadians should not be blinded to what the

00:08:32.220 Carney government is pursuing by the pageantry of King Charles III being here.

00:08:36.860 It's the kind of thing most Canadians learn in elementary school civics classes. The King isn't

00:08:45.340 just a royal guest, he's our head of state. But someone at Rideau Hall may have missed that lesson.

00:08:50.540 A tweet from Governor General Mary Simon's official account on Monday referred to King Charles III's

00:08:55.820 visit to Ottawa as a deepening of the bond between our nations, implying that the King was visiting as a

00:09:01.980 foreign monarch from the United Kingdom rather than as the sovereign of Canada. The tweet read quote,

00:09:07.980 Simon was honored to have an audience with his majesty King Charles III at Rideau Hall as part of

00:09:14.140 their majesty's royal visit to Canada. These ongoing conversations reflect the meaningful bond between

00:09:19.980 our nations, followed by a Canadian and British emoji side by side. Although King Charles III wears many

00:09:25.820 crowns as monarch of multiple Commonwealth realms, each title is legally distinct. In Canadian law,

00:09:31.900 he is King of Canada, a position enshrined in Canada's constitution act. He serves as Canada's

00:09:38.380 sovereign independently of his UK role. The Governor General acts on the King's behalf within Canada,

00:09:44.700 but the King himself remains the country's constitutional head of state. That means this

00:09:49.500 isn't a meeting between two nations, it's the monarch visiting his own. How did the people working at

00:09:54.460 Rideau Hall make such an erroneous mistake? Did the Governor General eventually apologize for the error?

00:09:59.900 Yeah, no, it's a good question. You would assume people at Rideau Hall are educated in Canada's

00:10:06.940 constitutional monarchy and the way our government is set up and who in fact is the head of state,

00:10:13.740 that being the King. But no, they didn't apologize. They simply just scrubbed the tweet off of their

00:10:21.420 ex account and essentially issued a new one that didn't have the mistake. It was a little bit shorter,

00:10:28.220 I'll read it right now. And it says, Governor General Simon was honored to have an audience with his

00:10:33.660 Majesty King Charles III at Rideau Hall as part of their majesty's royal visit to Canada. So a lot of

00:10:42.060 people took issue with this tweet, not only because of the misunderstanding of Governor General Mary Simon's

00:10:49.740 role and what part the monarchy plays in Canada's civic structure, but also sort of equating the

00:10:59.740 Governor General to the stature of the king almost as if they are equal by the Governor General inviting

00:11:07.340 him as a guest essentially the way the tweet was portrayed into Canada when in reality, based on our

00:11:13.900 constitution, Canada is already the king's dominion. So it just shows and betrays a lack of basic education

00:11:21.660 in civics. Whether it was just a flippant mistake or not, you would expect that people whose literal job

00:11:29.420 is to represent the king and the royal crown would know better.

00:11:34.540 Canada's RCMP urgently requests federal funding citing a nearly five-fold increase in terrorism

00:11:44.300 threats in the past year. They warn of insufficient resources to combat the growing danger, especially

00:11:51.340 youth radicalization fueled by, quote, online extremism. In a newly released ministerial briefing

00:11:58.460 binder, the RCMP revealed that between April 1st, 2023 and March 31st, 2024, 25 suspects were charged

00:12:07.580 with 83 terrorism-related offenses, marking a 488% increase over the previous year. The force said three

00:12:16.540 minors and six young adults were among those charged and another eight youths were subject to terrorism

00:12:23.420 peace bonds. The document, prepared in December 2024 for former Public Safety Minister David McGinty,

00:12:30.620 now in the hands of Prime Minister Mark Carney's newly appointed Minister Gary Ananda-Sandri,

00:12:36.300 outlined severe gaps in national security readiness. It notes that six terrorist plots were foiled over

00:12:42.780 the past year with arrests in Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto. The spike in charges comes amid increasing

00:12:48.620 concern from the United States about the flow of fentanyl and suspected terrorists coming across the

00:12:54.380 northern border into the U.S. FBI Director Kash Patel recently said, quote, Canada is our partner in

00:13:01.180 the north who has to get stepping. Patel claimed 85% of suspected terrorists are now entering the U.S.

00:13:08.300 through the Canadian border. Between 2022 and 2024, 1,199 individuals on the terrorist watch list

00:13:17.820 were intercepted at the northern border compared to just 205 at the southern border of the U.S.

00:13:24.300 In 2024, 741 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the northern border, enough to kill over 168 million

00:13:33.100 people. The RCMP report identifies foreign interference, border integrity, hate crimes,

00:13:39.660 and opioids as additional hot issues, but warns that the ongoing budget constraints are forcing

00:13:45.500 it to shift resources reactively, often at the cost of broader preparedness. Obviously, there are several

00:13:52.620 elements to this problem because the issue of terrorism has wide sweeping effects, not only on our

00:14:01.500 relationship with our major partner in the United States, border security, public safety, but also it

00:14:09.820 interplays with some of the global conflicts we're seeing play out. And those conflicts are arriving here

00:14:17.980 on Canadian streets. And people who are beholden to extremist views or particular factions in these global

00:14:25.660 conflicts come to this country and bring those conflicts on the streets and even express, even go so

00:14:33.980 far as expressing support for listed terrorist entities. Noah, have we seen this play out in the last year or so,

00:14:42.940 in particular with the conflict in the Middle East on Canadian streets?

00:14:47.020 Absolutely. It seemed as if since the October 7th, 2023 terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel,

00:14:54.220 Israel where 1,200 civilians were murdered. It seems as if the Islamist world has been very agitated and 0.69

00:15:02.700 been ready to commit certain terrorist attacks against civilians. We've seen recently with the terrorist

00:15:08.860 attack in Washington where two Israeli staffers were gunned down in cold blood by a Hamas-supporting

00:15:17.740 lunatic who committed these murders based on political motives. It is a terrorist act. And we've 0.63

00:15:24.300 seen other countries in Europe and are just around the world who have been reeling from an increase in

00:15:32.460 terrorist activity. And Canada is no different. We've had the police arrest multiple wannabe terrorists who

00:15:40.540 were about to commit a terrorist offense in Toronto or in other big cities. And they were arrested at the

00:15:47.740 last minute. Thank God that these perpetrators weren't able to commit their heinous acts. But at the end of

00:15:54.860 the day, this is still a challenge that the RCMP is facing, hence why they're asking for increased funding. And we have to really reflect on what sort of incentives Canada has been giving to terrorists to the point where terrorists who are

00:15:59.020 entering the United States are coming in through the northern border rather than the southern border, the poorest southern border that drug cartels use to traffic drugs and other humans or who's illegal immigrants just

00:16:11.660 trying to get over. It is the northern border that are actually crossing. And that is likely because Canada has a very tolerant and liberal system when it comes to people who are entering our country and who are even trying to immigrate here.

00:16:26.300 We recently had the case of a person who was trying to go and join a Yemeni terrorist organization, an undisclosed Yemeni terrorist organization, but I think we can assume it was the Houthis. This person, this person was weeks away from

00:16:44.300 gaining Canadian citizenship, had been in this country for several years, had been in this country for several years, had attended several pro-Palestine, you know, even pro-Hamas rallies where he was photographed wearing the Yemeni flag.

00:17:08.300 It is not as if this person wasn't giving off the signs that this person wanted to be a part of a terrorist organization and yet we were unable to deal with this person until they were weeks away from gaining citizenship and they were really on the cusp of going to Yemen to join the Houthis, our immigration system and just the vetting

00:17:32.300 the vetting of the people that we do for the people that we do for the people that are coming into this country is very lax. It is not to the standards that it ought to be in. 0.99

00:17:40.300 And God forbid that we get to the situation where we are actually dealing with a terrorist attack from an Islamist who is frustrated about what is going on in Israel and Gaza. 0.79

00:17:51.300 And we have an atrocity similar to the one to the one that happened in Washington. And this is not only a threat coming from Islamist terrorists, but also comes from people who sympathize with the 0.82

00:18:04.300 the Calistan cause of the Punjab region of India separating away from Canada. That conflict has nothing to do with Canada whatsoever. But Canada has been importing a bunch of people from India, specifically the Punjab region, who are sympathetic to the

00:18:19.300 Calistani cause, far more sympathetic than the people who are actually living in the Punjab region of that area, just separating away from India, and they would be willing to use violent methods in order to see their goal achieved. 0.90

00:18:35.300 They would be willing to, you know, commit to terrorist violence, we've seen the 1985 Air India bombing, and we don't want a repeat of that sort of bombing, or any other terrorist attack on Canadian soil because of a

00:18:49.300 Calistani extremist. So, Canada definitely has a lot of hard work to do in order to make our country next to terrorist free. And I hope that this 0.99

00:19:01.300 Karni government takes the opportunity to engage in this sort of work because the Trudeau government was totally uninterested in

00:19:08.300 dealing with this problem because of their ideological and obscene commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to including

00:19:18.300 minorities, no matter where they come from, and no matter what their ideological background is into the fabric of Canadian society.

00:19:26.300 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by subscribing to The Daily Brief on

00:19:36.300 iTunes and Spotify. Also, while you're at it, make sure to hit us with a five-star rating and please leave a review.

Juno News - May 28, 2025

Carney's throne speech emphasizes climate change, protecting the CBC

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