Poilievre Frustrated by Long Ballot in By-Election

Poilievre is running in a by-election next month to win a seat

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre is gearing up for the upcoming by-election in Battle River-Crowfoot Alberta on August 18, hoping to win the seat to get back into the House of Commons after losing his seat in Carleton, Ontario in the April federal election.

Even though the riding is expected to be a solidly Conservative one, Poilievre may not have it so easy.

An electoral reform advocacy group called the Longest Ballot Committee, has plans to run a whopping 200 candidates in Battle River-Crowfoot -- more than double the 91 who ran in Carleton. It's known as a long ballot protest that causes delays in voting and confounds voters.

There might be some 200 names on the ballot

Poilievre doesn't want these long ballots in the upcoming by-election.

"We have to take action because this is a scam. It is unfair, it is unjust and it must stop," he said recently at a town hall in the riding where he is running.

He suggested that nominees require 1,000 signatures to run to prevent such protests. 

"That would make it impossible for 200 people to go out and have their names piled onto the [candidate] list," Poilievre told the town hall.

"There are a number of other things that you could do that would make it so that only real candidates who are truly running to put their name forward in our democracy that are on that list."

Currently candidates only need 100 signatures to secure a nomination and electors are not prevented from signing multiple forms.

Race for Battle River-Crowfoot got interesting!

The Longest Ballot Committee rejected Poilievre's suggestions, saying needing such a large number of signatures would have a "negative impact on Canadian democracy."

"This ill-conceived and self-serving electoral reform proposal by [Poilievre] is downright dangerous, and reinforces our conviction that politicians are not well-suited to decide the rules of their own elections," the group said in a statement.

It added it would continue to use the long ballot as a form of protest as "long as we are legally permitted to do so."

So the by-election on August 18 has become much more interesting! We can't wait to see the names of the candidates on the ballot!

Carney Wins the Two-Horse Race

Carney will lead the Liberals to a fourth term in government

The results of the 2025 federal election in Canada are still coming in and it's a nail-biter down to the end.

While the Liberals have won the mandate to form the next government, it is not the landslide pundits had predicted. Currently the Liberals are projected to have 167 seats, Conservatives 145 in this mostly two-horse race.

As expected the New Democrats were decimated, and leader Jagmeet Singh graciously conceded defeat and is stepping down.

Poilievre still trying to hang onto his seat

Meanwhile Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre may lose his seat, but in a speech to his supporters, he did not say anything about giving up yet.

The NDP currently only have five seats, and the Green Party only has one seat -- Elizabeth May winning again.

Those who voted for Liberals were worried about US President Donald Trump and his tariffs, while those who marked the Conservatives on their ballots chose change. 

Prime Minister Mark Carney has done exceptionally well and has already reached out to May to see how he can work with her because he needs as much support as he can get to realise his platform.

Halfway around the world there is good news in Hong Kong, with four pro-democracy leaders who were known as the "47 democrats" were finally released Tuesday morning after more than four years in prison.

Claudia Mo Man-ching, Jeremy Tan Man-ho, Kwok Ka-ki, and Gary Fan Kwok-wai were the first of the convicted activists who reunited with family and friends. 

Four lawmakers released from prison today

There was a lot of concern about Mo's health, and it's a relief to see she is finally out and reunited with her husband, Philip Bowring. He told the media they hope to go to England to see their grandchildren.

However, there are concerns as to how free these four former lawmakers will be...

They were part of the group of 45 pro-democracy activists who had organised a primary election in 2020 and resulted in a turnout of 610,000 voters who chose candidates who were supposed to stand in the Legislative Council elections.

In their verdict, the judges said the activists' plan could have undermined the government's authority and created a constitutional crisis.

For the time being, it will take some time for these newly released politicians to get used to being back home and with loved ones, but for sure they will relish every moment.

Conservatives a No-Show at All Candidates Debate

Candidates Digby, Fakirini, Grant, and Ede at the debate

With five more days to go until the federal election, the Dunbar Residents Association organised an all candidates' debate, featuring the people -- all men -- who are running to represent Vancouver Quadra.

It was held at Immaculate Conception Parish Gymnasium, a much newer facility compared to the one that is usually used across the street at St Philips Anglican Church.

The bigger venue however made it look like residents in the area didn't bother to show up, as attendance was on the low side; perhaps it was because they had already voted and didn't see the point in going to the debate.

Others didn't come because the Conservative candidate, Ken Charko -- who owns Dunbar Theatre -- did not reply to the invitation. This is not surprising since it has been reported across the country that Conservative candidates have not attended debates in their ridings throughout the campaign. Some residents were keen to challenge Charko tonight, but he was a no-show.

Even though we had cast our ballots, we wanted to check out the candidates anyway.

Tom Digby is running for the Green Party, and reminded people that he is currently on the Vancouver Park Board where he is keen on preserving Stanley Park. He has a masters degree in molecular biology and is an intellectual property lawyer. So he embodies the spirit of the Green Party and brought up climate change a few times.

Alim Fakirani represents the NDP. He is a teacher and looking to pivot into politics and was an eloquent speaker. He reminded the crowd of how the NDP is working hard to bring benefits to ordinary Canadians like dental care and healthcare. However, he may have soured some people in the audience when he reiterated the rich need to be taxed more...

Wade Grant is with the Liberals, and got the most applause from the audience espousing his party's views and throwing in Mark Carney's name a few times. The 46-year-old introduced himself as someone who has grown up in Vancouver Quadra and is concerned about the salmon population, and also concerned about young families struggling to survive.

John Odan Ede is the People's Party of Canada's candidate. The chemical engineer immigrated here in 2017 with his family and a masters in public policy and global affairs at the University of British Columbia. He is very passionate about democracy. The People's Party of Canada was formed in 2018 by Maxime Bernier, a former Conservative MP and cabinet minister in Stephen Harper's government.

We only stayed for the first half, with some interesting questions like would you porogue parliament, what do you agree about your opponents' platforms, and their opinion of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Most of the questions were not what most people would be concerned about, but we didn't stay long enough to hear the others asked by the moderator. Nevertheless it was good to see how passionate the candidates are and how disappointed they were that the Conservatives' Charko did not show up!

We were too.

 

Liberal Candidate Stands Down after Controversy

Chiang has stepped down running for the Liberals

The Canadian federal election has put Hong Kong on the spotlight after Liberal candidate Paul Chiang made controversial comments suggesting people turn in Conservative candidate Joe Tay because the Hong Kong government has a HK$1 million (US$128,500) bounty on his head.

Chiang made the suggestion during a Chinese-language press conference, saying: "To everyone here, you can claim the one-million-dollar bounty if you bring him to Toronto's Chinese consulate," he said, according to the Toronto Association for Democracy in China (TADC).

The activist group later released the translated comments to English media which quickly led to the embattled Chiang to apologise to Tay, who did not accept it, and then resulted in Chiang stepping down as a candidate despite Liberal leader Mark Carney's support for him.

HK government has HK$1M bounty on Tay

"As the prime minister and Team Canada work to stand up to President [Donald] Trump and protect our economy, I do not want there to be distractions in this critical moment," Chiang wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter just before 9pm Pacific Standard Time.

"That's why I'm standing aside as our 2025 candidate in our community of Markham-Unionville."

It's quite bizarre for Chiang to suggest turning in Tay because the Liberals have denounced the bounties.

At the time, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said. in a statement in December: "This attempt by Hong Kong authorities to conduct transnational repression abroad, including by issuing threats, intimidation or coercion against Canadians or those in Canada, will not be tolerated." 

As a result, Cheuk Kwan, co-chair of the TADC called Chiang's comments "shocking."

"Mr Chiang openly encouraged people to assist in China interference and transnational repression," Kwan said in a statement. "Rather than protecting Canadians, he betrayed them and jeopardised their safety."

Kwan raised the alarm of Chiang to English media

Chiang regrets what he said, calling it "deplorable", but this just shows how desperate he was to play up to the local Chinese media outlets, all of them practically pro-China. It's outrageous of him to even suggest something like this, even though he is a former police officer. 

Needless to say it is extremely disappointing to have this coming from a Liberal candidate. Every vote counts and now there is no Liberal running in a big Chinese riding... did no one warn Chiang about the consequences of what he said?

In the meantime Tay, who is a former TVB actor, was originally running in Chiang's riding but is now hoping to represent Don Valley North. 

Tay probably caught the Hong Kong government's attention for his YouTube channel that promotes democracy and free speech. He is also the co-founder of Canada-based NGO HongKonger Station.

Conservative leader Pierre Polieve has totally taken advantage of the fiasco, and rightly added Tay is "afraid for his life."

Tay has also said online that he has not accepted Chiang's apology and has been in contact with the RCMP about personal protection.

In any event this raises the attention of Hong Kong's transnational repression of activists abroad yet again, and with Trump threatening to take over Canada to be the 51st state, Canadians need to be aware of how precious our democracy and rights are in these dangerous times. 

AG Finds ArriveCan App a Waste of Money

Hogan could not find out the true cost of the ArriveCan app

Remember during the Covid-19 pandemic when some governments developed apps for displaying your vaccination status and for travel?

It turns out the ArriveCan app was not only full of holes in terms of being easily hacked into, but also its true cost is not clear because of the Canadian government's poor record keeping.

In a scathing report out today, Auditor General Karen Hogan found the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and Public Services and Procurement Canada "repeatedly failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development and implementation of the ArriveCan application."

All travellers to Canada had to use the app

"This is probably the first example that I've seen such a glaring disregard for some of the most basic and fundamental policies and rules," Hogan told the House public accounts committee today.

She said there were many omissions in record keeping and said she was "deeply concerned".

"We didn't find records to accurately show how much was spent on what, who did the work, or how and why contracting decisions were made -- and that paper trail should have existed," Hogan said.

While CBSA said developing the app cost around C$54 million, the auditor general estimates it was possibly higher at C$59.5 million -- based on the information she was given.

"We found that financial records were not well-maintained by the Canadian Border Services Agency. We were unable to determine a precise cost for the ArriveCan application because of [the agency's] poor documentation and weak controls," the report said.

In addition, C$12.2 million of the estimated C$54 million could have been spent on something other than the app, so the actual cost of developing the app could be lower.

Poilievre blasted the Trudeau government

Part of the reason for the ballooned costs is that CBSA relied on third-party contractors, and the auditor general's report says if there was less reliance on them then the app would have cost much less. 

However, the agency defended its move, saying the app needed to be rolled out as soon as possible during the pandemic.

"The CBSA was working as quickly as possible to replace a paper process that was not meeting public health needs and was also impacting the border with significant wait times that disrupted the essential flow of people and goods," the statement said.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticised the government over the app's cost and blamed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of "wasting [taxpayers'] money." He promised to cut back on third-party outsourcing if his party formed the next government after the next election.

"Public servants do the work more accountably and they do it more affordably," Poilievre told the media outside the House of Commons on Monday.

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said ArriveCan's "contracting process was unacceptable" and said the government had already taken corrective measures.

"The Trudeau government accepts that taxpayers' money needs to be treated with the utmost respect. in no way are we going to defend this particular contracting process," he said. 

Another white elephant that was a waste of money that the government won't get back... I used the app when I moved back in April 2022 and then it was unnecessary to use it again the next time I traveled the month after!

Claims of Chinese Intimidation of MPs

Chong claims he did not know he and his family were targets

There was a very strong exchange of words between Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Conservative Member of Parliament Michael Chong today over the government continuing to allow a Chinese diplomat to continue to operate in the country when he allegedly targeted Chong and his family overseas.

The diplomat in question is Zhao Wei, who was accused of "intimidation operations" in 2021 against Chong and his family in Hong Kong, which was first reported by the Globe and Mail on Monday.

Joly concerned about fallout from China

When pressed to summon the Chinese ambassador about this alleged intimidation campaign, Joly said considerations had to be made on how this would impact Sino-Canadian relations with regards to trade and politics.

The newspaper reported Zhao was looking into Chong's relatives who live in China, for possible sanctions by China. The report cites a leaked Canadian intelligence document from July 2021.

Chong said he was received the briefing in 2021 but claimed he had no idea he and his family were targets -- until this week.

The Toronto MP Chong has taken a strong stance against the Chinese government, including sponsoring a motion in parliament declaring that Beijing's treatment of Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities amounts to genocide.

Cong was summoned by Joly this morning

However, while Joly did summon Chinese ambassador Cong Peiwu, she seemed very cautious, worried about the possible political and economic consequences following the experience with the two Michaels, Spavor and Kovrig who were detained for nearly three years.

"It's about you, but it's about also the interests of the country," Joly said to Chong.

"So as we are assessing the interests -- and I know that we are under pressure to go fast -- we need to make sure as well that we protect our democracy and this is why we will take action in light of the facts that are being presented regarding your case."

But Chong pushed for action to immediately expel Zhao.

"I can't think of an interest more important to the Canadian state than the protection and the safety and the security of its own citizens," he said.

The two Michaels were detained for 3 yrs

"I think that that is the only course of action here, because if we do not take that course of action, Minister, we are basically putting up a giant billboard for all authoritarian states around the world that says we are open for foreign interference."

In a statement in Chinese, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa expressed "strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition" to the claims it targeted Chong's family, saying the reports were false and hyped up by some Canadian politicians and the media.

"China has never interfered in Canada's internal affairs, nor does it have any interest in doing so, let alone threatening Canadian MPs," the statement said. It added sanctions it had applied directly to Chong in 2021 were "entirely self-inflected."

This incident is keeping the Liberals in the hot seat despite its best efforts to try to deflect it away; China is souring on Canadians and this latest development adds a lot more heat.