Juno News - December 18, 2025


Protests grow in front of floor crossing MPs office

Topics
Michael Ma defection and protests Navinder Singh deportation case
Mentioned
X. Aman Rayan Michael Ma Markham Unionville Navinder Singh Blake Richards Mark Carney Paul Chang Sebastian Gramond Jamie Sarkonic Peter Yan Trends Yeg
Why Carney’s “tax cut” still hurts Canadians Doug Ford’s Ontario Is All Stunts, No Results

Episode Stats


Length

11 minutes

Words per minute

149.35

Word count

1,712

Sentence count

71

Harmful content

Hate speech

2

sentences flagged


Summary

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

A federal court has protected an Indian immigrant from deportation despite his conviction for possessing child pornography. Mounting protests are taking place outside the office of former Conservative MP Michael Ma who crossed the floor to the Liberals, bringing the governing party one seat closer to a majority government. An Edmonton business owner is being singled out for his posts online praising terror groups and warning Canadians that a Bondi Beach style terrorist attack is now coming to your front doors.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Mounting protests are taking place outside the office of former Conservative MP Michael Ma who
00:00:10.040 crossed the floor to the Liberals bringing the governing party one seat closer to a majority
00:00:16.080 government. An Edmonton business owner is being singled out for his posts online praising terror
00:00:20.680 groups and warning Canadians that a Bondi Beach style terrorist attack is quote now coming to
00:00:26.500 your front doors. A federal court has protected an Indian immigrant from deportation despite his
00:00:32.680 conviction for possessing child pornography. The conviction occurred after he attempted to flagpole
00:00:38.100 across the border to speed up his application for permanent resident status. Hello Canada it's
00:00:43.420 Thursday December 18th and this is the True North Daily Brief. I'm Cosmin Georgia and I'm Jeff Knight.
00:00:49.580 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know. Let's discuss the top stories of the day
00:00:54.700 and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.
00:01:00.580 Voters are in revolt outside the office of MP Michael Ma after the Markham Unionville representative
00:01:07.420 defected from the Conservatives last week abandoning his caucus to join Mark Carney's Liberals.
00:01:14.020 Demonstrators accuse Ma of a major betrayal while also raising red flags about foreign interference
00:01:20.080 and data access. Dozens of protesters have gathered outside Ma's office in recent days holding signs
00:01:26.520 and chanting slogans critical of the floor crossing. The move brought the liberal minority government
00:01:32.180 within one seat of a majority in the House of Commons. Let's just use the clip. I'm not gonna.
00:01:37.760 Ma announced his decision on December 11th stating he crossed the floor after hearing from constituents
00:01:43.660 and citing confidence in Carney's leadership. He was elected as a Conservative in the 2025 federal
00:01:49.740 election and did not seek a by-election following his floor crossing which is not required under
00:01:55.860 parliamentary rules. Some protesters said their anger extends beyond the floor crossing to broader
00:02:01.520 concerns about democratic accountability and trust. One Markham Unionville resident said she became
00:02:07.680 alarmed after receiving an invitation from Ma's office to a meet and greet event that was later
00:02:12.840 postponed following his defection. Jeff this is a very contentious writing for a few reasons. The last
00:02:22.980 MP to sit here was Liberal MP Paul Chang who faced allegations of Chinese interference and it is a very
00:02:32.120 Chinese diaspora heavy writing Markham Unionville that is. So what are some other concerns about Ma's
00:02:38.700 defection as said by critics of the move? Yeah Cosman critics of Michael Ma's defection from the
00:02:45.000 Conservatives have raised a lot of coin particularly in the writing of Markham Unionville or as Mark
00:02:51.100 Carney calls it Union Markhamville. One major issue is the potential for foreign interference with some
00:02:56.400 accusing Ma of being a Chinese agent due to broader worries about links to Chinese influence in
00:03:01.420 Canadian politics as highlighted by references to past incidents involving Liberal candidates like Paul
00:03:06.740 Chang and Peter Yuen. Another key concern is data across and is data access and privacy with residents
00:03:13.400 alarmed that Ma retains constituent information such as emails and phone numbers which have been collected
00:03:19.200 under the Conservative banner now potentially being used for Liberal purposes. A local resident expressed this
00:03:25.160 frustration stating my concern is he has my email he has my name he has all my information and now he's
00:03:31.720 not a Conservative he's a Liberal it's unethical he should return all his names and numbers and send
00:03:36.920 it back to the party and he should resign. These issues have fueled calls for Ma's resignation and
00:03:41.960 heightened scrutiny over democratic accountability in the writing. We'll be going to cover the protests
00:03:46.560 happening in Markham on Saturday so be sure to stay tuned in with True North to follow the action.
00:03:51.040 An Edmonton business owner is accused of displaying terrorist imagery praising terror groups and
00:04:00.800 distributing message of mass violence which has sparked major public safety fears and demands for
00:04:06.000 a police investigation. A popular pro-Jewish ex-commentator revealed the identity of the business owner
00:04:11.840 on X. Aman Rayan owner of Car Trends a custom wheel and tire shop in Edmonton has repeatedly posted
00:04:19.360 videos and images displaying slogans and figures linked to Hamas and the popular front for the
00:04:24.320 liberation of Palestine. Both of these are designated terrorist organizations in Canada.
00:04:28.800 The imagery has appeared not only online but also on a customized vehicle driven in public spaces in
00:04:34.480 Edmonton. Rayan has also posted recorded statements praising Hamas and celebrating the October 7th attacks in
00:04:40.960 Israel. In videos filmed in Edmonton he has been seen directing anti-semitic slurs and derogatory
00:04:47.120 language towards Jewish people. Some of his videos used an AI face changer to increase his nose size
00:04:53.840 and showed him tormenting Israeli hostages and joking about murdering babies. The most recent concern
00:04:59.920 was triggered by an Instagram story posted to Rayan's business account, Car Trends Yeg, referencing the
00:05:06.000 recent terrorist attack against Jewish people in Australia. In the post he said, quote, because of
00:05:11.680 the people who stayed silent and did not stand for Palestine, the Israeli threat is now coming to your 0.96
00:05:17.520 front doors. Australia being the example. Don't say we didn't warn you. So Cosmin, this is obviously
00:05:24.400 pretty concerning and people's emotions are still very fresh over the Australian attack. How has the
00:05:30.560 Edmonton police intervened or looked into this individual? Well, Jeff, as of now it doesn't look
00:05:35.920 like the Edmonton police have taken any action against this and that's really a sign of the broader
00:05:43.120 trend and pattern we're seeing. You have people openly displaying lesions to terrorist groups,
00:05:50.880 terrorist imagery, praising groups like Hamas and the PFLP, posting threatening messages online,
00:05:58.000 even taking it out into the streets. And yet there's virtually no consequences. There's no
00:06:04.000 charges, no real accountability. Meanwhile, this kind of rhetoric gets emboldened. It continues to grow,
00:06:12.560 especially from the pro Hamas Palestine side. But at the same time, taxpayers are paying the price,
00:06:19.520 right? Because they're footing the bill for an immense amount of policing resources that get deployed
00:06:25.680 to actually cater to these rallies, to escort them through the streets, to block traffic and disturb
00:06:33.360 people's days, disturb workplaces, etc. Even in cities like Victoria, BC, where I live, for example,
00:06:41.600 Palestine supporting demonstrations still happen every single weekend with officers essentially tasked
00:06:48.480 with monitoring and babysitting them rather than addressing real threats in the city. So you've got a
00:06:55.360 situation where the police are already stretched thin, and they have to babysit these protesters who
00:07:03.040 are behaving badly and sanctioning these protests, while also there's people out there making direct
00:07:10.960 threats or glorifying terrorists and, you know, posting messages that could be interpreted as threatening
00:07:18.480 following a terrorist attacks. And apparently they're just allowed to keep doing whatever they want,
00:07:24.240 with no pushback. And it raises serious questions about priorities, public safety, but also the role
00:07:32.480 politicians have played in allowing this behavior to continue and manifest to such a degree.
00:07:39.840 A 2024 federal court decision granting an Indian immigrant convicted of possessing child pornography
00:07:50.640 the right to appeal his deportation has resurfaced following a National Post column that highlights ongoing
00:07:57.360 concerns about leniency in Canada's immigration and criminal justice systems. In the case of Navinder Singh
00:08:05.040 versus Canada, Justice Sebastian Gramond ruled that the immigration appeal division had unreasonably
00:08:12.480 denied Singh's appeal rights, saying a former temporary foreign worker was arrested in March 2018 at the
00:08:19.440 Canada-US border while attempting to quote flagpole exiting and reentering Canada to activate his permanent
00:08:27.120 resident status. During this attempt, border officers discovered 19 videos of child sexual abuse involving
00:08:34.480 infants and young children on his phone. According to federal court documents, Singh was quote,
00:08:40.000 referred to secondary examination because child pornography was found on his cell phone. He was eventually
00:08:45.920 convicted and on March 23rd 2021, he was sentenced to six months less a day in jail and three years probation.
00:08:53.200 The sentence was deliberately set below six months to avoid triggering automatic deportation under the
00:08:59.120 immigration and refugee protection act for quote serious criminality, which applies to sentences of six months or more.
00:09:06.640 Despite this, the immigration division issued a removal order finding him inadmissible.
00:09:12.720 The IAD dismissed his appeal, but the federal court in January 2024 found the IAD's reasoning on visa validity
00:09:21.040 flawed, allowing the judicial review and remanding the case.
00:09:25.840 Jeff, surely there must be some backlash to this court decision. Anybody with common sense, decency,
00:09:32.800 and humanity recognizes that this individual should not be in Canada, should be deported back to wherever
00:09:41.040 he came from. How are some people pushing back against this? Yeah, Cosmin, critics of the 2024 federal
00:09:47.200 court decision in Navinder Singh versus Canada, and there are a lot of critics, have expressed some pretty
00:09:53.040 strong outrage, viewing it as emblematic of leniency in Canada's immigration and justice system. Of course,
00:09:58.800 such leniency extends to many other cases where, you know, criminals are kind of being let off with
00:10:03.840 a slap on the wrist. In a National Post column published on December 17th, Jamie Sarkunak describes
00:10:09.840 seeing as incompatible with our society, arguing that the system has fought hard to keep him in Canada
00:10:15.680 eight years after his arrest, where he possessed videos involving infants and young children,
00:10:21.040 and told police he found it funny, and that it's different in India. Sarkunak highlighted the
00:10:25.920 immigration discount, a sentence below six months to avoid automatic deportation,
00:10:31.440 as a loophole that prioritizes non-citizens over public safety. Conservative MP Blake Richards,
00:10:37.040 in a December 17th, 2025 ex-post, called it the immigration discount, noting that conservatives
00:10:43.840 tried to close this loophole, but liberals opposed it as far-right, and Richards says it's time to start
00:10:49.040 putting victims first. Other reactions on X and in commentary echo this, accusing the ruling of
00:10:54.720 creating a two-tiered justice system where foreign nationals receive preferential treatment to 0.85
00:11:00.080 Canadians, with some labeling it as a failure to protect Canadian children from serious offenders.
00:11:05.680 The backlash has renewed calls for legislative changes to prevent immigration status from influencing
00:11:11.440 criminal sentencing. That's it for today, folks. Thanks for tuning in. You can stay on top of new
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