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

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. 0.94

00:02:54.440 And during her time, she made a number of just controversial and, quite frankly, asinine statements. 0.70

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. 1.00

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, 0.99

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 0.73

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, 0.97

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 1.00

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.

00:18:23.520 Thanks for tuning in.

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Juno News - June 17, 2025

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

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