The Andrew Lawton Show

Conservative candidate Jamil Jivani won the Durham byelection yesterday, meaning he’ll be headed to Parliament in the seat previously held by Erin O’Toole. While the Conservative win is not surprising, the margin of victory was decisive and spells bad news for the Liberals heading into the 2025 election, True North’s Andrew Lawton says. Also, the Liberals have extended one of their media bailout p...

Justin Trudeau’s long-promised Online Harms Act, Bill C-63, has been tabled. The bill reintroduces a section of the Canadian Human Rights Act prohibiting online “hate speech,” which the bill defines as speech “likely to foment detestation or vilification of an individual or group of individuals on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination.” Trudeau and his justice minister claim the bill...

Spadina—Fort York member of Parliament Kevin Vuong was elected as a Liberal but never joined the party’s caucus as he had been booted during the campaign for failing to disclose a withdrawn sexual assault charge. Since 2021, he has continued to represent his constituents as an independent MP, and has increasingly been supportive of positions the Conservatives are taking up – from condemning antise...

The Liberals’ long-promised ban on “online harms” is expected in the coming weeks. Among other things, the bill will take aim at so-called “hate speech,” which past attempts at legislating suggest the Liberals will define at a lower threshold than what exists in criminal law at present. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said this morning that Justin Trudeau is a “woke authoritarian” cannot be t...

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training has become the norm in corporations, the public sector, and academia in an attempt to cleanse institutions of systemic racism and purge people’s biases. While the goal may be noble at its core, there is no proof these programs work. In fact, they actually make things worse, according to a new research report from Prof. David Millard Haskell of the Ar...

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault says the federal government will no longer fund municipal road projects, because building roads encourages people to use cars. He said the money should instead be spent on fighting climate change. The announcement was condemned by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said he was “gobsmacked” by it. True North’s Andrew Lawton weighs in. Also, it’s the two year anniv...

New data from Statistics Canada show that just 37 per cent of Canadians trust the media. While it’s more than the number that trust federal politicians (28 per cent), journalists have a lower trust score than the school system, the justice system, and police. An exchange yesterday between Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and a Canadian Press reporter may reveal why this is, True North’s Andrew...

Auditor General Karen Hogan has taken aim at the government's multimillion-dollar boondoggle that is the ArriveCan app. Hogan's report found that Canada's paid too much, the public service didn't ensure value for money, and the whole thing lacked even basic management and due diligence. True North's Andrew Lawton asks whether anyone is surprised. Aaron Wudrick of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute jo...

New Democrat member of Parliament Charlie Angus has tabled a bill that could throw people who promote oil and gas in Canada into jail for up to two years. He said advertising from the energy sector should be treated like tobacco advertising because of the climate crisis. True North’s Andrew Lawton weighs in and discusses with Michael Binnion of the Modern Miracle Network. Also, Justin Trudeau says...

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is standing by her proposed ban on gender reassignment treatments and hormone therapies for minors despite criticism from the left. Smith’s events in Ottawa and Toronto were met with protests by trans rights activists. True North’s Andrew Lawton discussed the policies and response to them in a sit-down interview with Smith, as well as the general tenor of Alberta’s r...

After throwing former House of Commons speaker Anthony Rota under the bus for his decision to honour Ukrainian SS veteran Yaroslav Hunka in the House of Commons last September, news has emerged that Justin Trudeau invited Hunka to a Toronto reception that same week. True North’s Andrew Lawton says Trudeau scapegoated Rota when he was just as culpable. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has taken a...

The left has been harshly critical of Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s planned ban on cross-sex hormones and gender reassignment for minors, as well as her requirement of parental consent for gender changes at schools. But polling shows parents, even non-conservatives, across Canada are overwhelmingly in favour of such policies. Will common sense win out? Also, True North’s Andrew Lawton checks in...

The Liberal government has tabled legislation delaying the implementation of assisted suicide for people suffering from mental illnesses to 2027. The Liberals say they aren’t ready to make the change now, but are still committed to doing so down the road. True North’s Andrew Lawton, a survivor of suicide and mental illness, says this is a disastrous move reflective of a culture of death in Canada....

Justin Trudeau’s national security and intelligence adviser, Jody Thomas, did an interview on her way out of the role defending the government’s invocation of the Emergencies Act by claiming that the Freedom Convoy was increasingly violent with talk of weapons and death threats – although she provided no evidence for the claims. True North’s Andrew Lawton says if this is the national security advi...

The United Nations refugee agency operating in the Palestinian terroritories, UNRWA, is facing bombshell allegations from Israel that a dozen of its staff were involved in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, with one of them actively involved in a kidnapping. Canada has paused funding of UNRWA but an NDP MP’s response was to donate money to the agency. True North’s Andrew Lawton says UNRWA’s associati...

Canadian commentator and author Mark Steyn is on trial for allegedly defaming Michael Mann, a former Penn State climate professor and the creator of the infamous “hockey stick graph” showing a surge in global warming in the 20th century. In a 270-word blog post in 2012, Steyn called the graph “fraudulent.” Twelve years later, the case is finally on trial in Washington, D.C. True North’s Andrew Law...

For a brief moment this week, it looked like Justin Trudeau was facing criticism from inside his own house when Avalon member of Parliament Ken McDonald indicated support for a leadership review. However, soon after McDonald backtracked and praised Trudeau’s abilities as a campaigner while assuring people he wasn’t seeking a review. While it isn’t all that believable, it shows that Trudeau still h...

It’s now a matter of fact and law that Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act was illegal. The government violated the constitution by freezing bank accounts and cracking down on civil liberties. And even invoking the Emergencies Act in the first place was done without compliance with the act itself. Even though the federal government is vowing to appeal, yesterday’s Federal Court ruling is a...

It’s the two-year anniversary of the first leg of the Freedom Convoy setting out for Ottawa from Delta, British Columbia. Today, the Federal Court ruled that Justin Trudeau’s use of the Emergencies Act was unreasonable and outside the parameters of the act. True North’s Andrew Lawton discusses what this means for Canada. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Liberal government has announced a two-year cap on international student visas amid mounting frustrations with Canada’s immigration system and rampant fraud within the international student visa program. The cap will reduce by 35% the number of student visas issued, but is this enough to deal with the problems? True North’s Andrew Lawton says it’s unlikely. Also, the salaries for members of Pa...

One of the many ideas discussed at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos this year was freedom of expression. Global elites often aren’t fond of freedom of expression, from tech companies that restrict their users’ speech to leaders of international organizations calling for regulation of what they call “misinformation.” True North’s Andrew Lawton takes a look at what some of them are...

Javier Milei made his first appearance at the World Economic Forum since becoming president of Argentina. He didn’t mince words about the dangers of socialism and the “parasites” who leech off government instead of creating. True North’s Andrew Lawton says it’s what world leaders need to do rather than kissing Klaus Schwab’s ring and going along with the WEF’s grand vision. True North is on the gr...

There’s a different feeling this year in Davos than in the last couple of years. The rich and powerful used to roam the streets freely without anyone paying them attention. Now, the number of independent journalists paying attention to the World Economic Forum has grown, and the attendees are far more skittish. The ones that do appear are trying to gaslight people about their records, from John Ke...

The World Economic Forum’s 2024 annual meeting is underway and True North is on the ground all week bringing you the coverage that only independent media will. The Andrew Lawton Show is live from Austria – the nearest affordable place to stay while reporting on the conference. In this episode, Andrew talks about the conference agenda and Klaus Schwab’s belief that people are the problem when it co...

The World Health Organization’s is forging ahead with its planned pandemic treaty, which is likely to include a range of measures that should concern Canadians. The draft agreement puts the WHO at the helm of public health emergencies, getting countries to commit to “follow WHO’s recommendations.” It also asks states to commit to restricting “false, misleading, misinformation or disinformation.” L...