Juno News - June 17, 2025


Theresa Tam to step down as Canada's chief public health officer


Episode Stats

Length

18 minutes

Words per Minute

161.0355

Word Count

2,990

Sentence Count

107

Misogynist Sentences

4

Hate Speech Sentences

1


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Chief Public Health Officer Teresa Tam has announced she will be stepping down on June 20th
00:00:08.840 after a controversial tenure in the role.
00:00:11.180 Liberal Public Safety Minister Gary Anandesangri says that he will recuse himself from any conversation
00:00:16.960 involving the Sri Lankan terrorist group the Tamil Tigers, citing a potential conflict of interest.
00:00:22.240 British Columbia has a new centre-right party with official party status in the B.C. legislature called 1B.C.
00:00:29.000 Hello Canada, it's Monday, June 16th and this is the True North Daily Brief.
00:00:33.040 I'm Isaac Lamoureux.
00:00:34.060 And I'm Noah Jarvis.
00:00:35.180 We've got you covered with all the news you need to know.
00:00:37.680 Let's discuss the top stories of the day and the True North exclusives you won't hear anywhere else.
00:00:45.240 Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Teresa Tam, will be stepping down from her role
00:00:49.640 after eight years of service and controversial oversight of federal COVID-19 pandemic policies.
00:00:54.940 Tam became a household name and a controversial figure during the pandemic,
00:00:59.000 where she featured in dozens of public news conferences to update the public on the pandemic on a regular basis.
00:01:04.420 Tam was at the forefront of the federal government's messaging during the pandemic
00:01:08.100 and was a central authority figure in making policy recommendations to the government
00:01:12.140 to mitigate the pandemic's effects.
00:01:14.020 During the pandemic, Tam made a number of controversial public statements
00:01:17.460 and recommended that the government take a top-down, domineering approach
00:01:21.000 to controlling the pandemic with social distancing requirements, mask mandates, and vaccine passports.
00:01:26.760 At the beginning of Canada's response to the COVID-19 pandemic,
00:01:30.760 Tam advised Canadians that wearing a mask in public was not necessary for healthy individuals,
00:01:36.100 even warning the masks could lead to a further spreading of the virus.
00:01:40.060 However, masks would become a central component to the government's response to the pandemic,
00:01:44.460 mandating the use of masks in every part of the country.
00:01:47.740 So much so that in September 2020, Tam advised Canadians to wear masks while having sex
00:01:52.940 and for couples to avoid kissing.
00:01:54.900 Tam was a leading voice behind the government's restrictions on international travel,
00:01:59.060 enforcing mandatory testing and aggressive quarantine requirements.
00:02:02.460 The requirements resulted in dozens of travelers being hit with fines over $1,000.
00:02:07.500 Tam was also a champion of recommending and encouraging compliance with the government's
00:02:11.440 vaccine passport system, despite acknowledging that there was no evidence that vaccine passports
00:02:16.320 would work in mitigating the spread of COVID-19.
00:02:18.640 During her time as Chief Public Health Officer, Tam frequently referred to pregnant women or mothers
00:02:24.200 as pregnant people or breastfeeding people in an attempt to use progressive and gender-neutral language.
00:02:30.440 Tam leaves the role as Canada's top health official on June 20th,
00:02:33.880 having presided over a marked decline in public trust in health institutions.
00:02:38.300 So Noah, how will Canadians remember Teresa Tam and her management of the COVID-19 pandemic?
00:02:43.740 Well, they'll probably not remember it very fondly.
00:02:46.360 Teresa Tam, as you mentioned, became the public face of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic
00:02:52.340 at the federal level, at least.
00:02:54.440 And during her time, she made a number of just controversial and, quite frankly, asinine statements.
00:03:01.080 For example, her flip-flopping on the mask issue really confused Canadians
00:03:06.540 and really led to the beginning of a lot of the distrust that we saw in public health officials,
00:03:13.140 justifiably so, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, where they advised that you should not be wearing a mask
00:03:19.740 in order to save PPE for our health care officials and instead to carry on your daily tasks and not to panic
00:03:27.960 and then switching on a dime and basically saying that if you leave your house without a mask,
00:03:34.400 you could face fines.
00:03:36.580 And, you know, if you don't pay those fines, you could be arrested.
00:03:39.340 So masks became a central component to the pandemic response,
00:03:43.760 whereas in the beginning it was something to be avoided.
00:03:47.420 Similarly, Tam and many public health experts reassured Canadians
00:03:53.120 that the government would not be taking such an authoritarian, top-down approach
00:03:58.480 to mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
00:04:02.640 However, this was the opposite of what had developed in the next coming years
00:04:07.480 with vaccine mandates, with mask mandates, with international travel restrictions,
00:04:13.920 so much so that it generated a lot of anger and created the Freedom Convoy,
00:04:20.040 which was largely a protest against public health officials like Theresa Tam.
00:04:25.480 And the Freedom Convoy, while, you know, it being a bit of a divisive issue for many Canadians,
00:04:31.040 at least half of the Canadian public was sympathetic with the cause,
00:04:34.640 if not outright supporting the Freedom Convoy,
00:04:37.420 basically doubling down on the fact that Theresa Tam had lost the confidence of the public.
00:04:44.420 As a public health official, as the chief public health officer,
00:04:47.780 your goal is to ensure that the public remains confident in the government
00:04:53.600 and their response to the pandemic.
00:04:56.420 However, that was the opposite of what happened.
00:04:58.180 We saw a marked decline in public trust in health institutions over these past years,
00:05:03.980 and that damage has not been restored in these recent years for good reason.
00:05:10.300 I mean, after several years of public health officials giving false promises to the Canadian public,
00:05:16.300 saying, oh, we just need to reach a vaccination rate of 75%,
00:05:20.120 and then all the pandemic restrictions can go away,
00:05:23.060 and then Canada reaching an 80%, 81% vaccination rate,
00:05:26.980 and the mask mandates, and the lockdowns, and the vaccine mandates, they all remained.
00:05:34.540 Meanwhile, the people who were unvaccinated, who decided not to take a vaccine for legitimate reasons
00:05:41.120 or just reasons that concern their own health, they were demonized,
00:05:45.860 and they were made into sort of electoral fodder for the Liberal Party to win a re-election in 2021.
00:05:53.860 And a lot of that was narratives that were pursued by Chief Health Officer Theresa Tam.
00:06:01.460 So I don't really think Theresa Tam will be remembered fondly, at least by half the Canadian public.
00:06:06.940 Sure, maybe the half of the Canadian public that was really enthusiastic about lockdowns
00:06:11.700 and the government's response might remember her fondly.
00:06:14.160 But for a whole other half of the Canadian public, she is a representation of much of the pain and hardship
00:06:22.340 that Canadians had to go through during the pandemic that they potentially did not have to go through
00:06:27.540 had the government not taken such a domineering authoritarian approach to responding to the pandemic.
00:06:33.580 Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasanguri said that he would recuse himself from any conversation
00:06:41.900 regarding two designated terrorist groups based in Sri Lanka.
00:06:45.600 Anandasanguri cited a potential conflict of interest tied to his personal background and community ties
00:06:51.040 as a Sri Lankan native of Tamil origin who immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka in 1983.
00:06:56.400 The two groups in question are the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam and the World Tamil Movement.
00:07:02.700 In a published statement sent to Global News on Tuesday, Anandasanguri's office said he had
00:07:07.760 stepped away from, quote, any matter related to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam, Tamil Tigers
00:07:13.640 or the World Tamil Movement, out of an abundance of caution.
00:07:17.600 The statement came in response to questions about the conflict of interest disclosure.
00:07:21.560 His office had earlier stated that the minister had asked officials, quote,
00:07:26.280 to implement a screen on any national security issues relating to the Tamil community
00:07:31.020 due to his roots in Sri Lanka and his history of involvement with Tamil diaspora issues.
00:07:37.080 Public Safety Canada maintains a federal list of terrorist entities which lists both groups.
00:07:43.100 The Tamil Tigers, responsible for a protracted civil war in Sri Lanka,
00:07:46.900 were designated as a terrorist organization by Canada in 2006.
00:07:51.560 The World Tamil Movement was added in 2008, with RCMP investigations linking it to fundraising
00:07:57.480 activities in support of the Tamil Tigers.
00:08:00.420 The Tamil Tigers are designated as a terrorist group by the United States,
00:08:03.960 the United Kingdom, the European Union, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and India.
00:08:07.880 India was the first country to apply the terrorism designation in 1992
00:08:11.500 in response to the 1991 assassination of Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
00:08:16.680 by a Tamil Tigers suicide bomber.
00:08:19.140 Chinorth reached out to the Sri Lankan and Indian embassies but did not receive or apply in time.
00:08:24.560 So, Isaac, I think it would concern a lot of Canadians to know that the chief politician
00:08:29.600 responsible for Canada's public safety is unable to decide on matters that concern certain terrorist organizations.
00:08:38.500 So, Isaac, how can Minister Anandasangri carry out his task as the public safety minister
00:08:44.420 if he cannot be involved in discussions concerning terrorist organizations like the Tamil Tigers?
00:08:49.600 Yeah, Noah.
00:08:50.160 So, obviously, Minister Anandasangri's decision to recuse himself from matters involving the Tamil Tigers
00:08:56.040 and the World Tamil movement raises serious concerns about his ability to fully execute his role
00:09:02.200 as public safety minister, especially since, as you said, both groups are designated terrorist entities
00:09:08.000 on Canada's official list, along with 77 other for a total of 79 entities.
00:09:13.680 So, as the minister responsible for national security, counter-terrorism, and the oversight of intelligence agencies,
00:09:19.900 his portfolio includes serious responsibilities related to the listing, delisting, and monitoring of terrorist organizations.
00:09:28.040 And by stepping away from any involvement in issues related to the two entities due to his personal conflict
00:09:33.460 stemming from his Tamil heritage and past advocacy,
00:09:36.780 it potentially limits his ability to provide oversight or input on matters within his jurisdiction.
00:09:42.000 And while his office states that the move was made out of an abundance of caution,
00:09:47.600 it raises the question of whether such a recusal creates a precedent where personal background can compromise engagement
00:09:53.980 with sensitive national security files, and it also puts additional pressure on deputy ministers
00:09:59.500 or other cabinet members to fill the resulting policy gap.
00:10:03.420 Ultimately, if a minister cannot engage with designated terrorist groups due to personal affiliations,
00:10:07.820 it could be argued that it calls into question whether that individual can serve impartially and fully
00:10:13.420 in a role that demands comprehensive oversight over all national security threats, regardless of origin.
00:10:19.260 And listeners may remember Ananda Sangri from Conservative MP Andrew Lawton's basic line of questioning to him,
00:10:24.840 where he failed to answer basic questions surrounding Canada's gun laws.
00:10:28.600 And this has become a recurring theme for Lawton, exposing Liberal ministers for not knowing basic questions about their files.
00:10:34.820 Because, of course, shortly after, Lawton later revealed the Treasury Board President Shafkat Ali,
00:10:40.060 who similarly couldn't answer basic questions about Canada's ballooning federal service.
00:10:44.940 Two former BC Conservative MLAs have launched a new centre-right party named 1BC.
00:10:53.620 Led in the interim by Vancouver Kilchenna MLA Dallas Brody,
00:10:57.680 and joined by Kelowna Lake Country Coldstream MLA Tara Armstrong,
00:11:01.400 1BC notably did not have the support of former BC Conservative MLA Jordan Keeley,
00:11:06.840 who had departed from the party in solidarity with Brody's expulsion.
00:11:10.320 Brody claims that the BC Conservatives and NDP have made a mockery of British Columbian democracy
00:11:15.380 and promised to bring democratic, economic, and social reform to the province to reverse socialist policies.
00:11:21.020 Brody said, quote,
00:11:22.120 After nearly a decade of socialist policies, our province is falling apart.
00:11:26.020 And when I realized that none of the other parties had the integrity or courage to make the bold changes we need to survive,
00:11:31.740 I knew it was time to build something new.
00:11:33.820 The party made several bold policy proposals,
00:11:36.100 namely a promise to cut the income tax by 50% for those making $100,000 and under,
00:11:41.920 and a 25% tax cut for everyone else, including on corporate income.
00:11:46.160 On culture, 1BC is promising to confront the issue of declining birth rates and marriage rates,
00:11:51.700 dismantle what it calls the reconciliation industry,
00:11:54.760 forbid teachers' unions from striking by legislating education as an essential service,
00:12:00.000 and put an end to the flow of fentanyl from China.
00:12:02.540 1BC also promises to allow British Columbians to choose private health care options
00:12:07.360 and purchase private insurance for this care.
00:12:09.860 On democratic reform,
00:12:11.440 1BC is promising to end the practice of multi-day voting
00:12:14.380 and conduct same-day, in-person voting using paper ballots with the results being counted by hand.
00:12:19.660 The party is also proposing to allow for referendums on major issues
00:12:23.140 and lowering the threshold to recall an MLA.
00:12:25.700 Since the NDP lowered the threshold to achieving official party status within the legislature,
00:12:30.040 1BC will be able to obtain such status, granting them a host of privileges,
00:12:34.960 including receiving taxpayer funding, office space, and time during question period.
00:12:39.740 In a comment to True North, a spokesperson from the 1BC leaders' office
00:12:43.720 alleged the party is expecting a number of MLAs to join in the coming months
00:12:47.580 and encouraged independent MLA Jordan Keeley to join the party.
00:12:50.660 The spokesperson said,
00:12:52.580 Jordan Keeley is welcome to join 1BC,
00:12:55.620 as is any other MLA who is prepared to fight for this province with courage and integrity.
00:13:00.640 In the coming weeks and months, we expect a number of MLAs to join us.
00:13:04.080 However, Keeley issued a statement saying he will not be joining the party,
00:13:07.320 instead deciding to focus on issues that matter to his constituents.
00:13:11.260 1BC tells True North that they endeavor to do something similar in the next election,
00:13:15.260 seeking to form government as a legitimate goal.
00:13:17.220 So, Noah, will 1BC become a major party in BC fighting to form government,
00:13:21.440 or will they become a provincial version of the NDP,
00:13:24.260 as the BC Conservatives are beginning to suggest?
00:13:26.780 It remains to be seen.
00:13:28.160 I don't think that the BC Conservatives are dead in the water
00:13:31.460 by the announcement of the formation of 1BC.
00:13:34.740 Quite the contrary, I think that the BC Conservatives
00:13:37.660 had really displaced BC United, the formal BC Liberal Party,
00:13:42.400 because there was a gap within British Columbian politics
00:13:47.060 and what the people wanted, and the BC Conservatives had filled that gap.
00:13:51.040 But if they do not continue to fill that political demand,
00:13:56.280 to fill the demand for educational reform,
00:13:59.660 to fulfill the demand for taxation and regulatory reform,
00:14:03.560 to fulfill the demand to reform British Columbia's healthcare sector,
00:14:09.100 I think that 1BC will rise in that environment.
00:14:14.420 You know, as Dallas Brody had pointed out,
00:14:17.420 the BC Conservatives have moved left on a number of issues.
00:14:21.220 For example, the BC Conservatives were ardent
00:14:24.700 in calling out SOGI-123 in British Columbia's education system,
00:14:30.000 especially in the last parliament,
00:14:32.740 when they were still trying to make a name for themselves
00:14:35.700 and trying to contrast themselves against BC United.
00:14:39.500 However, they have started to abandon their focus
00:14:43.700 on talking about SOGI-123,
00:14:46.500 and this is in correspondence with MLAs like Eleanor Sterko
00:14:51.600 gaining influence in the party's leadership
00:14:54.320 and really taking on the leadership role
00:14:57.400 and whipping other MLAs into shape
00:15:00.780 and basically telling them
00:15:02.100 that they cannot speak too ardently on these issues.
00:15:04.900 You also have someone like Aaliyah Warbus,
00:15:07.320 who is now a very influential figure
00:15:10.600 in the party's leadership,
00:15:12.140 helping to determine their approach on Indigenous issues,
00:15:15.860 and she is one of the catalysts
00:15:18.020 for Dallas Brody being expelled from the party.
00:15:21.600 Aaliyah Warbus was very much against
00:15:23.140 how Dallas Brody was talking
00:15:25.040 about the Indigenous Residential Schools,
00:15:27.640 specifically Dallas Brody's factual claim
00:15:30.940 that there were no bodies found
00:15:33.780 at the former Kamloops Indigenous Residential School,
00:15:37.700 which, you know, as the CBC reported,
00:15:40.660 there were apparently 215 bodies,
00:15:43.340 but no body has been discovered.
00:15:45.600 No body has been excavated.
00:15:47.680 All that has been discovered were soil disruptions,
00:15:50.040 and yet this offended Aaliyah Warbus,
00:15:53.360 leading to Dallas Brody's expulsion
00:15:55.220 and Tara Armstrong and Keeley leaving the party in solidarity.
00:15:59.660 However, 1BC could fall into certain pitfalls
00:16:02.400 in that Jordan Keeley decided not to join the party.
00:16:06.920 This might be a worrying sign for the party
00:16:09.240 that one of the independent MLAs
00:16:11.280 who left the caucus with Brody
00:16:13.940 decided not to join 1BC.
00:16:15.840 Perhaps he does not agree with the goals of the party
00:16:19.500 or with the leadership of the party.
00:16:21.840 And quite frankly,
00:16:23.000 the BC Conservatives just formed the official opposition.
00:16:26.400 I think many British Columbians
00:16:27.980 might be wanting to give them a second chance,
00:16:30.540 giving them a bit more time
00:16:32.280 to refine their message.
00:16:33.960 At the end of the day,
00:16:34.940 even though the BC Conservatives on paper
00:16:36.960 are a party that's existed for over 100 years,
00:16:40.080 in actuality, this is a party
00:16:41.700 that has only really been around
00:16:43.400 for a couple years now.
00:16:45.360 And there's going to be growing pains
00:16:47.040 with a party that has not really been around,
00:16:50.340 especially in the mainstream
00:16:51.780 of British Columbian politics,
00:16:53.600 for many, many years.
00:16:55.720 There is going to be growing pains
00:16:57.040 and the BC Conservatives,
00:16:58.520 they haven't even had to reconcile
00:17:01.120 the fact that they have a leader,
00:17:03.600 John Rustad,
00:17:04.480 who sure, I think is well-liked
00:17:07.200 amongst the party in general, personally.
00:17:10.000 However, he might not be the most savvy political operator,
00:17:14.800 and you could replace the BC Conservative leader
00:17:17.960 with someone who's a bit more charismatic,
00:17:20.980 who can talk a bit more passionately on issues
00:17:24.840 and especially relate to younger British Columbians
00:17:28.380 on many of the issues,
00:17:29.920 like someone, say, Pierre Poliev,
00:17:32.200 or someone like Daniel Smith,
00:17:34.320 someone like even Doug Ford,
00:17:36.440 who can generate some sort of folksy charm
00:17:39.960 and really relate to people in that way.
00:17:44.220 I think John Rustad,
00:17:45.600 out of those leaders that I just mentioned,
00:17:47.600 is definitely the weakest amongst them.
00:17:50.600 So if the BC Conservatives
00:17:52.360 decide to change up their leadership,
00:17:54.260 decide to go harder
00:17:56.060 on certain issues that matter to Conservatives,
00:17:58.720 they could suck up the oxygen
00:18:00.520 from 1BC
00:18:02.000 and really limit their growth.
00:18:04.200 However,
00:18:04.860 if they decide not to do this
00:18:06.180 and they decide
00:18:06.940 to drift away
00:18:08.400 from the values
00:18:09.480 that made them popular
00:18:10.520 in the first place,
00:18:11.980 I think that 1BC
00:18:12.860 has a very good shot
00:18:14.380 of displacing them
00:18:15.580 in the way that
00:18:16.400 the BC Conservatives
00:18:17.560 had just displaced BC United.
00:18:19.160 That's it for today, folks.
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