Juno News - Poilievre pledges to represent rural Alberta

00:00:00.000 Conservative leader Pierre Polyev faced off against nine other candidates during a panel discussion

00:00:09.940 in Camrose, Alberta, arguing that having a party leader represent the riding would more effectively

00:00:16.180 address residents' concerns. The Canadian National Exhibition was flooded with a record number of

00:00:22.400 desperate job seekers as youth and student unemployment soars in Toronto. Civil liberties

00:00:28.260 advocates are challenging protest-free bubble zones, calling the legislation unconstitutional.

00:00:34.580 Hello Canada, it's Thursday, July 31st, and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Jirja.

00:00:40.800 And I'm Jeff Knight.

00:00:41.840 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day

00:00:47.000 and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.

00:00:52.940 Conservative leader Pierre Polyev told voters in Battle River Crowfoot that sending

00:00:58.120 him to Parliament would give their local concerns a national voice as he faced off against nine

00:01:04.300 other candidates during a candidate forum in Camrose, Alberta on Wednesday night. Polyev and

00:01:10.080 nine other candidates made their case to Battle River Crowfoot residents on August 18, 2025 during

00:01:16.260 a live stream debate at the Camrose Chamber of Commerce. An organizer told True North that an estimated

00:01:22.060 500 people attended. The discussion was marred by the actions of an electoral reform protest group,

00:01:29.120 the longest ballot committee, which led to a record over 200 candidate roster. Electors will now have

00:01:36.820 to write their preferred candidate's name on the ballot as a result. Candidates from eight federal

00:01:41.820 parties and two independents answered questions on health care, education, the economy, immigration,

00:01:47.340 and electoral reform. Polyev, the favored candidate, argued that electing him would bring local Battle

00:01:53.700 River Crowfoot issues to the national stage for the party. Look, I'll be honest, having a leader of a

00:02:00.560 political party as your local member of parliament is a trade-off. On the one hand, the leader, in truth,

00:02:07.520 lives in hotel rooms and low-budget hotel rooms across the country. I can assure you, and they live in

00:02:15.220 in St. John's, Newfoundland one night, and in Sault Ste. Marie the next, and maybe Port Alberni after

00:02:21.760 that. At the other side, though, is that leader can bring a very powerful megaphone to the local

00:02:28.500 issues of the community. He added that issues such as building a pipeline from Prince Rupert to

00:02:34.560 Kitimat, protecting gun rights, scrapping electric vehicle mandates, lowering immigration, and cutting

00:02:40.260 taxes were, quote, local issues that require national leadership to achieve. So, Jeff, I mean,

00:02:46.760 Polyev has the leadership advantage. He's obviously favored to win the riding. But what were some of

00:02:54.460 his competitors arguing to make a case for why they might be a good choice to get elected? What

00:03:00.820 brought them to the event? Yeah, Cosman. Pierre's competitors presented a variety of arguments during the

00:03:07.540 Camrose Chamber of Commerce Forum. Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley argued against Pierre's

00:03:12.880 parachuting into the riding, advocating for a local representative and questioning his outsider

00:03:17.780 status, reflecting a desire to prioritize resident voices. Other candidates from eight federal parties

00:03:23.920 and two independents focused on health care, education, and the economy, with some likely challenging

00:03:29.460 Polyev's conservative policies, for example, opposing his immigration cuts or EV mandate stance.

00:03:35.100 The longest ballot committee's 200-plus candidate roster, forcing write-in ballots, brought many to

00:03:41.480 the event as part of their electoral reform protest, or at least that's what they're calling it,

00:03:46.540 aiming to disrupt the process and highlight flaws in first-past-the-post, though their specific

00:03:51.180 arguments during the forum are less clear. Some competitors, like Critchley, were drawn by genuine

00:03:56.480 local representation concerns, while others linked to the protest group attended to amplify their reform

00:04:02.740 agenda, motivated by the record candidate field they engineered.

00:04:09.240 The Canadian National Exhibition has been flooded with a record number of applications from desperate

00:04:14.560 job seekers for seasonal work as unemployment in Toronto continues to soar. The exhibition published

00:04:20.400 a press release Monday confirming it had received more than 55,000 applications for the 5,000 seasonal

00:04:26.760 positions it was offering, marking the highest number in its history. The release reads,

00:04:31.620 With youth unemployment rates at their highest levels in decades, especially in Ontario, the CNE is

00:04:38.560 expecting one of the largest turnouts for its 2025 hiring event. Some individuals have even applied to

00:04:44.620 more than 1,000 of the minimum wage positions available. The positions being offered are geared towards

00:04:50.100 youth and entry-level job seekers, a demographic that has been struggling significantly in Ontario's

00:04:55.640 current labour market. Positions included cashiers, retail associates, game attendants, food service

00:05:02.020 staff, midway operators, and informational guides. People as young as 14 were encouraged to apply for

00:05:07.880 the job fair, which is now closed. The City of Toronto is currently facing an unemployment rate of 8.8%,

00:05:13.580 with youth unemployment being particularly high, at 16% as of last month. According to Statistics Canada,

00:05:20.640 nearly one in four teenagers between 14 and 19 in Ontario are currently unemployed. So, Cosman,

00:05:27.260 why is unemployment rate so high in Toronto, especially among students and youth?

00:05:31.640 So, Jeff, I think a lot of young people are in a difficult position, especially those

00:05:36.240 trying to get careers started, trying to get their first job. Especially when you've got teens and

00:05:41.580 students desperate for even minimum wage jobs. And with the CNE getting 55,000 applications for just

00:05:50.200 5,000 positions, that counts to 10 applicants per job. So, the competition is wild and severe. But it's

00:05:58.620 all frustrating when you look at the bigger picture, because a big part of the reason young Canadians are 1.00

00:06:03.840 getting squeezed out of those first traditional jobs is because employers are increasingly turning to

00:06:10.780 temporary foreign workers instead. They'd rather hire somebody from outside Canada to do the jobs that 0.97

00:06:17.280 Canadians could take, especially our young Canadians. So, think about the jobs that used to be almost a

00:06:23.260 rite of passage for Canadian teens. You'd work at McDonald's, Tim Hortons, your local gas station,

00:06:28.680 or a retail store. A lot of those roles are now filled by people on work permits and not citizens

00:06:36.260 themselves. And the kicker is that in 2024 alone, the federal government issued 162,000 new permits

00:06:45.620 under the temporary foreign worker program. Now, I'm not sure exactly how many people are entering the

00:06:52.460 workforce every year, but I don't, I think that's a large number of people that they have to compete

00:06:58.600 against. And that's not even counting the broader immigration numbers. So, in Toronto alone, over 190,000

00:07:07.960 immigrants chose that city as their primary destination last year. That's more than the total 0.97

00:07:15.720 number of temporary foreign worker permits put out in 2024. So, there's 190,000 immigrants coming to Toronto

00:07:24.760 that year on top of the ones that already came previous years. So, that's a massive inflow and it

00:07:32.360 absolutely puts pressure on entry-level job markets. Even highly skilled immigrants, when they come to 1.00

00:07:39.240 Canada, whether they're doctors, have engineering degrees, or other specialized licensed professions,

00:07:46.360 usually start working in minimum wage jobs before they can find their way back into that field. So,

00:07:53.800 the bottleneck is huge. Now, employers aren't just doing this randomly. There's something that we

00:08:00.120 call a labor market impact assessment, or an LMIA, that they fill out to get to prove that they can't

00:08:08.440 find a Canadian to do the job before hiring a foreign worker. But let's be real, how strictly is that

00:08:15.560 enforced? How much does the government actually check if what they're saying is true? Because guaranteed,

00:08:22.600 for a lot of these jobs, you could find a willing Canadian teen or student to do the job instead

00:08:29.880 of importing foreign labor. And I would be curious to see how many of those CNE jobs are going to go

00:08:37.080 to temporary foreign workers instead of young Canadians who applied.

00:08:40.840 A new report by the McDonnell Laurier Institute lays out how bubble zone laws are being used to suppress

00:08:51.160 political dissent on contentious topics like gender identity, abortion, and the Israel-Palestine conflict

00:08:57.880 in the years following the Freedom Convoy. Municipal bylaws in the Greater Toronto Area and Calgary have

00:09:04.120 expanded what they call, quote, protest-free perimeters around schools, places of worship,

00:09:09.320 clinics, and libraries, often at the request of institutions seeking to prevent demonstrations

00:09:15.240 outside their buildings. The zones range from 20 to 100 meters. Protestors who engage in those zones

00:09:21.480 could face fines and jail time. Christine Van Gein, litigation director at the Canadian Constitution

00:09:28.360 Foundation says the trend represents a serious threat to freedom of expression protected under Section 2B of

00:09:35.160 the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Van Gein said, quote, these bubble zones are increasingly being used to

00:09:41.320 suppress lawful, peaceful protest on the basis of content that is unconstitutional. We do not have a

00:09:48.280 right to be free from discomfort or offense in a democracy. The CCF is currently challenging

00:09:54.040 Calgary's safe and inclusive access bylaw which prohibits protests near city facilities if they

00:09:59.560 express objection to protected identity groups such as race, religion, gender identity, or income level.

00:10:06.520 The city defines a, quote, specified protest as any written, verbal, or graphic disapproval of those

00:10:12.920 topics within 100 meters of facilities such as libraries, pools, or community centers. So what are some of

00:10:18.840 the arguments, Jeff, that civil liberties advocates like Van Gein have against these bubble zones?

00:10:25.800 Yeah, Cosman. Van Gein contends that these zones ranging from 20 to 100 meters around schools, places of worship,

00:10:32.360 clinics, and libraries are increasingly used to censor dissent on contentious issues like gender identity, abortion,

00:10:39.960 and the Israel-Palestine conflict based on content rather than conduct. She asserts that the laws lack

00:10:46.840 constitutional grounding as they infringe on the right to express disapproval, even when peaceful,

00:10:52.920 by imposing fines or jail time, as seen in Calgary's safe and inclusive access bylaw. The CCF's challenge

00:10:59.480 to Calgary's bylaw highlights that defining specified protests as any objection to protected identity groups,

00:11:06.040 for example, race, religion, or gender identity, within 100 meters of public facilities is overly broad,

00:11:12.440 stifling democratic debate. Van Gein emphasizes that citizens do not have a right to be free from

00:11:17.640 discomfort or offense in a democracy, arguing that bubble zones prioritize institutional comfort

00:11:23.640 over fundamental freedoms, a trend-accelerated post-freedom convoy.

00:11:27.800 That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new episodes every weekday by

00:11:36.680 subscribing to The Daily Brief on iTunes and Spotify. Also, while you're at it,

00:11:41.240 make sure to hit us with a five-star rating and please leave a review.

Juno News - July 31, 2025

Poilievre pledges to represent rural Alberta

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