Juno News - Liberal candidate facing backlash over anti-elderly posts

00:00:00.000 Vancouver police have revealed that the man in custody, after allegedly driving into a crowd at

00:00:09.120 a Filipino street festival, subsequently killing 11, had a long history of police and mental

00:00:14.480 health interactions. Liberal candidate Nell Thomas is facing mounting backlash just days

00:00:19.120 before the election after past social media posts about the elderly and China resurfaced,

00:00:24.000 prompting her to claim the comments were taken out of context. The Conservatives are vowing to

00:00:28.480 restore access to nicotine pouches at convenience stores, pledging to reverse Trudeau era restrictions

00:00:33.840 that critics say unfairly punished adults trying to quit smoking. Hello Canada, it's Monday, April 28,

00:00:39.680 and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Isaac Lamoureux. And I'm Noah Jarvis. We've got you

00:00:44.720 covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True

00:00:49.280 North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else. The Vancouver Police Department has confirmed

00:00:58.080 11 fatalities and numerous injuries after a driver, well known to police, killed multiple

00:01:03.600 people after driving his car into a crowd at a Filipino-themed street festival on Friday evening.

00:01:09.040 The tragic incident occurred shortly after 8 pm at the Lapu Lapu Day Festival in South Vancouver,

00:01:15.280 an event celebrating Filipino heritage and culture. Interim Police Chief Steve Rye reported Saturday

00:01:21.440 morning that 11 people were killed with many more injured. The VPD reported on Saturday evening,

00:01:26.720 quote, a number of people have been killed and multiple others are injured after a driver drove

00:01:31.520 into a crowd at a street festival at East 41st Avenue and Fraser shortly after 8 pm tonight. The

00:01:38.240 driver is in custody. Authorities later confirmed in a press conference on Sunday that the suspect,

00:01:43.440 a 30-year-old Vancouver man, has an extensive history of interactions with both police and mental

00:01:48.320 health services in the city. Rye said, quote, I can tell you that the person we have in custody does

00:01:53.520 have a significant history of interactions with police and healthcare professionals related to

00:01:57.600 mental health. We have some knowledge of interactions. It would be unfair and inappropriate

00:02:01.600 to the investigation and to a proper conclusion for the investigation if I taint it with any details

00:02:07.200 right now. Police have not yet publicly named the suspect who remains in custody as the investigation

00:02:12.160 continues. No charges have been laid at this time. Videos circulating on social media captured the

00:02:17.600 chaotic aftermath showing victims and debris scattered across the road while first responders frantically

00:02:23.840 worked to assist the injured. Authorities are urging anyone with footage or information about

00:02:28.320 the incident to come forward as they continue piecing together the tragic events. So Noah,

00:02:33.040 we just heard some terrible news there. Is this a wake-up call for policing and public safety in Canada?

00:02:38.720 Absolutely. And if this is not a wake-up call for public safety, I don't know what could be. This is a

00:02:43.840 terribly, terribly tragic incident. On social media, there is a video circulating of the aftermath of

00:02:50.880 what had happened at this festival. And it is absolutely awful. Some of the most horrifying

00:02:56.880 footage I have ever seen. It's really the most horrifying, tragic footage I've ever seen since

00:03:02.560 some of the footage from October 7th released. And it was almost eerily similar. This is not

00:03:08.160 a terrorist attack from what we know so far. But at the end of the day, you couldn't really tell

00:03:13.040 the difference from the images that you've seen from the scene. 11 people dying and far more people

00:03:18.880 being injured is absolutely tragic. And my hearts, and I'm pretty sure everyone at True North Hearts,

00:03:24.960 goes out to the victims of this crime. It really just goes to show that the public safety and public

00:03:31.840 health system that Canada has been, you know, just okay with over the past 10 years needs to change.

00:03:38.800 If these offenders could have been arrested or given the proper treatment that they required

00:03:44.800 in order to avoid these events, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. If this person

00:03:49.760 was put behind bars, if this person was known by the police, put behind bars for crimes that they

00:03:55.520 hear as may or may not have committed, or just put in a certain institution, a mental health institution,

00:04:03.040 where they can receive the treatment that they need without being a risk to the public safety,

00:04:08.640 that would have helped to avoid such an incident. Now, I'm not saying that all mass casualty incidents

00:04:14.800 can be avoided. It's unrealistic to try to eliminate all of these. But when they are avoidable,

00:04:22.320 we have to take action. And when they do happen, we have to see how we can avoid future incidents like

00:04:27.760 this. It's an absolutely tragic incident. My heart goes out, as I said, to the people of Vancouver

00:04:33.520 and the victims and the families. Absolutely awful. And I hope that our Canada's political class does

00:04:40.880 not try to politicize such an event. I know that Liberal leader Mark Carney had cancelled a campaign

00:04:48.640 event that he was supposed to take earlier today. And he had instead done a press conference to talk about

00:04:56.560 the mass casualty incident. I think that, you know, cancelling your political events to talk about

00:05:03.120 it, or at the very least, not trying to politicize the event and say that, you know, your opposing

00:05:09.280 political party is directly responsible for such an incident, I think is healthy for the political

00:05:14.320 culture. But at the same time, there needs to be a culture of accountability, accountability for

00:05:18.240 governments that have failed to implement policies that would put criminals behind bars. And, you know,

00:05:25.440 regardless of what had gone on in this man's life, prior to this person needs to be put behind bars

00:05:30.880 for the rest of their lives. And if that is not the case, if this person does not go

00:05:36.560 to prison behind bars for the rest of their life, as we have seen with multiple repeat offenders

00:05:41.840 who have been granted release by lenient courts, if this has not happened, it should create mass public

00:05:48.320 outrage because it would be absolutely ridiculous for this person to see the light of day and freedom

00:05:55.120 after doing such a heinous, heinous act.

00:06:01.600 With the federal election just two days away, liberal candidate for Halliburton-Kawartha-Lakes,

00:06:06.080 Nell Thomas, is under growing scrutiny after a series of controversial social media posts, including calling

00:06:11.440 to stop, quote, keeping ancients alive so long in terms of the elderly demographic and how, quote,

00:06:17.600 the Chinese will rule. Thomas, a physician and former clinical speech pathologist, issued a statement

00:06:23.440 on Facebook today claiming the posts were, quote, taken out of context. However, the remarks,

00:06:28.800 some dating back as recently as this month, have provoked widespread backlash, particularly among

00:06:34.080 older voters. On May 11, 2024, she tweeted about elderly healthcare, writing, quote,

00:06:40.400 I wonder if their elderly demographic is similar to ours. Canada's solution must include stop keeping 1.00

00:06:46.320 ancients alive so long, reduce expectations of patients to address every tiny complaint,

00:06:51.680 and insert government-paid human office scribes into family practice. In a controversial reply

00:06:57.440 from April 12, 2023, Thomas posted, quote, imagine my thoughts when assessing a pregnant patient.

00:07:03.600 I telepathically advise the fetus to sue the owner of the uterus while exiting it to this world. 1.00

00:07:09.120 Of necessity, a mother must be a climate change denier. Finally, on May 4, 2025, Thomas shared her

00:07:15.360 views on global competition, writing, quote, China is ahead of us on this. Chinese will rule. We are 1.00

00:07:21.600 silly twits in North America. All civilizations come to an end by outstripping resources, ugly and 1.00

00:07:27.040 inevitable. Following the backlash, Thomas issued an apology on April 26, 2025, writing, quote,

00:07:33.760 Some of my words may have hurt people, and for that I am truly sorry. She maintained that

00:07:38.320 her values are rooted in respect and understanding and justice, although critics question whether

00:07:43.120 her previous statements align with those claims. So Isaac, as we've previously reported, Nell Thomas

00:07:49.840 had also been an outspoken anti-oil and gas advocate advocating for the banning of the building of

00:07:58.320 pipelines and also said that Elon Musk should go to jail. So this is on top of several other comments

00:08:06.240 that she has made in which Canadians see her as, you know, outside of the mainstream of acceptable

00:08:13.120 views that political candidates running for parliament should be able to hold. So, Isaac,

00:08:18.880 has the Liberal Party responded to this and have any other Liberal candidates apologize for their

00:08:24.480 past comments? Well, no, I haven't seen the Liberal Party respond, and we shouldn't be surprised

00:08:29.680 because they've had other candidates with similar and even worse controversies but have not responded

00:08:34.000 to them. However, like you said, Thomas actually apologized herself, which is better than some

00:08:39.440 others. For example, we also saw Liberal leader Mark Carney defend Liberal candidate Paul Chang after

00:08:46.480 he called for a political rival to be handed over to the Communist Party of China, although Chang apologized

00:08:52.720 too, which is one of the reasons why Carney said he pardoned him, calling it a, quote,

00:08:57.680 teachable moment. Now, this is more a vetting controversy than anything. The Liberals replaced

00:09:03.600 Paul Chang after he resigned himself following his controversy, and the new candidate they replaced

00:09:08.720 him with, Peter Yen, had past affiliations with pro-China organizations as well. In fact,

00:09:14.800 there were many past affiliations, one of which was Yen singing a patriotic Chinese communist anthem

00:09:20.320 and also being a board member of a private school flagged in Canada's recent foreign interference inquiry.

00:09:26.320 So it is concerning that the Liberals couldn't find a candidate without deep Chinese ties. We

00:09:31.760 remember that Conservative leader Pierre Prolevre previously said that China was, quote,

00:09:36.640 actively interfering in Carney's leadership campaign and helping him in the general election.

00:09:42.000 Carney also previously called the Beijing regime, quote, ambitious with many strengths. The

00:09:48.240 controversy surrounding Carney and his ties to China follows a similar scandal with former Prime Minister

00:09:53.840 Justin Trudeau. Carney also recently came under fire for securing a $250 million loan from a Chinese

00:09:59.360 state-owned bank. The controversy surrounding Carney and his ties to China follows a similar scandal with

00:10:04.000 former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And Prolevre said that Trudeau meant what he said when he claimed to

00:10:09.760 admire the Chinese communist dictatorship, proven by him violating the charter, breaking the law,

00:10:14.560 seizing bank accounts, and censoring the internet. You guys might remember that Trudeau said, quote,

00:10:19.120 there's a level of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing

00:10:23.680 them to actually turn their economy around on a dime. Polyaphro similarly said that Carney cannot

00:10:28.720 stand up for Canada when he is so compromised by China. Also unrelated to China, Juno News posted an

00:10:34.640 exclusive on another Liberal candidate, that being Ryan Turnbull, who used such shocking homophobic slurs that

00:10:41.680 I won't repeat them here. Despite this unbelievable story, he remains a candidate.

00:10:49.440 Conservatives are promising to give adults back the freedoms to make their own choices when it comes

00:10:53.920 to quitting smoking. According to the Western Standard, the Conservatives pledged that if elected, Canadians

00:10:59.360 would soon be able to buy nicotine pouches once again, an effective smoking cessation tool, at convenience

00:11:05.040 stores and gas stations, reversing the Trudeau government's restrictive policies. In August 2024, the Liberal

00:11:11.520 government enforced a new rule. Nicotine pouches like Zonic and Zin could only be sold behind pharmacy

00:11:18.160 counters. The justification was to limit youth access to nicotine pouches, but critics say the policy ended

00:11:23.840 up hurting adult smokers who were simply looking for safer alternatives. Health Canada has approved Zonic

00:11:29.520 specifically as a smoking cessation aid, recognizing that it delivers nicotine without smoke, vapor, or

00:11:35.600 combustion. Yet under the Liberals' heavy-handed regulations, Canadians are required to line up at a

00:11:41.200 pharmacy counter, an extra hurdle that discourages many from switching away from cigarettes.

00:11:45.840 Concerns have been raised this election about the illegal tobacco market, with some contraband

00:11:49.840 crime prevention experts asking federal leaders to intervene on the issue. The Conservative Party argues

00:11:55.280 that the government is applying a hypocritical standard. Ottawa spends taxpayer dollars providing

00:12:00.320 opioids through safe supply programs, yet restricts access to a legal product designed to help people quit

00:12:06.160 deadly smoking habits. It's a double standard that they say prioritizes government control

00:12:11.040 over personal responsibility. The CPC told the Western Standard, quote,

00:12:15.520 Conservatives believe adult Canadians should have the freedom of choice when it comes to what legal

00:12:20.320 products they use, including vapes and nicotine pouches. There's strong evidence to support broader

00:12:25.520 availability. Studies show that nicotine pouches are more effective at helping smokers quit than

00:12:30.320 traditional methods like patches or gum. Internationally, Sweden offers a powerful case study.

00:12:36.080 By embracing nicotine pouches, Sweden has driven its national smoking rate below five percent,

00:12:41.600 a public health milestone that few countries have achieved. A spokesperson for the party said, quote,

00:12:47.200 It is the height of hypocrisy that this radical liberal government is handing out deadly taxpayer-funded

00:12:52.640 opioids to those suffering from addiction while fueling black market sales on legal products

00:12:57.680 and cracking down on Canadian adults who want to access and use smoking cessation products.

00:13:02.880 So, Noah, how does restricting legal nicotine and tobacco options contribute to the black market

00:13:07.840 and organized crime? Well, the federal government is treating these nicotine pouches as if they were

00:13:13.360 other hard drugs, other hard drugs that the government has attempted to decriminalize, might I add. But

00:13:19.600 these nicotine pouches are not something that are super, super dangerous compared to say like crack cocaine or

00:13:27.680 heroin. And when you outlaw certain products like this, whether it be, you know, harder drugs or nicotine

00:13:34.720 pouches or marijuana or whatever it is, if you outlaw these items and there's still a significant amount of

00:13:41.600 demand for these items, then you're going to create a black market. You're going to have people who are

00:13:47.440 importing these products illegally from other countries and they're going to bring it and sell 0.84

00:13:53.360 it to Canadians. And this is not a good thing for a couple of reasons. First of all, it is driving away

00:13:59.360 certain business that could have been going towards Canadian businesses and Canadian workers and it is

00:14:05.040 still instead driving it away to the United States. Second of all, it is making it so that the black market 0.93

00:14:11.040 nicotine pouches are the go-to for people who want to enjoy these products. And this allows

00:14:17.840 certain dealers to sell counterfeit nicotine pouches, which is a concern that many have not

00:14:24.560 just with nicotine pouches, but other outlawed drugs like when you have heroin that is laced with fentanyl.

00:14:31.040 Now, heroin and nicotine are obviously not comparable. And the reason why we outlaw

00:14:35.920 heroin is not just because it is very dangerous for people, but also because it offends public

00:14:41.360 morality, which is one of the valid reasons for criminal laws. Now, if you are outlawing nicotine,

00:14:48.960 which does not have a very strong stigma against it, then it is possibly a violation of the federal

00:14:56.720 government's abilities to regulate criminal law. It is possibly unconstitutional. However, courts have

00:15:03.120 instead deemed that certain mandatory minimum sentences of as low as three years are unconstitutional

00:15:10.560 and they constitute a cruel and unusual punishment under Section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

00:15:17.200 So the federal government has really applied an inconsistent standard and this issue has not been

00:15:22.720 challenged by the courts. But the Conservative Party offering an alternative for people who want to

00:15:28.800 consume nicotine pouches really helps to open up the conversation because smokers are one of the

00:15:35.520 demographics of people that have been stigmatized in in recent decades because of the negative health

00:15:42.480 effects of smoking. But if you want to get people off of smoking because and if they are nicotine

00:15:48.080 addicted, you would want them to take alternatives like perhaps vaping and perhaps nicotine pouches.

00:15:54.160 We know that vaping does have some negative health effects, but it's not nearly as harmful as say

00:16:01.040 smoking a pack of cigarettes a day and nor are nicotine pouches. And if you are not able to do

00:16:06.720 a significant research on the effects of nicotine pouches, you won't be able to prescribe to people

00:16:11.760 nicotine pouches in lieu of cigarettes and you won't be able to accurately advise people of the negative

00:16:19.120 health effects of nicotine pouches for those who are non-nicotine users looking to consume nicotine

00:16:25.120 products. So I think the federal government's approach is flawed and the Conservative Party

00:16:30.880 really is trying to offer an alternative for nicotine users. And the way that the federal government

00:16:38.960 has gone about dealing with addictions when it comes to especially crack cocaine, heroin, other hard

00:16:45.520 drugs has been the opposite with how they've been dealing with nicotine. So for those who do enjoy

00:16:52.080 nicotine pouches, there is a party that is advocating for those products to be legalized.

00:16:57.920 It remains to be seen whether or not a Kearney government will follow through with many of the

00:17:03.120 restrictions that the Trudeau government and Health Minister Mark Holland had put into place.

00:17:08.320 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by

00:17:16.960 subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify. Also, while you're at it, make sure to hit us with

00:17:22.320 a five-star rating and please leave a review.

Juno News - April 28, 2025

Liberal candidate facing backlash over anti-elderly posts

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