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We’re an independent, online news magazine from B.C. founded in 2003. We’re devoted to fact-driven stories, reporting that informs and enlivens our democratic conversation. This feed features our stories, read by AI narration. Our reporting has changed laws, started movements and garnered numerous awards.

  1. 11h ago

    Please Advise! Did the BC Conservatives Get It Right with Findlay?

    Extremely right, says Dr. Steve. The NDP are likely still partying. … Article written by Steve Burgess. Dear Dr. Steve, B.C. Conservatives held their leadership vote on the weekend. The new leader is former Stephen Harper cabinet minister Kerry-Lynne Findlay. Did the party choose well? Signed, Connor Dear Connor, As the final ballot result was announced on Saturday evening, you could surely hear the sound of champagne corks popping. But enough about the headquarters of the BC NDP. Findlay's team must have been happy too. It was a lively gathering of B.C. Conservatives at the Rocky Mountaineer Station. The event began with a solemn land acknowledgment of the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. Ha ha, Dr. Steve makes a little joke there. They'd be just as likely to kick things off with a dozen kazoos playing "Solidarity Forever." Land acknowledgments were a big topic in this campaign. By some algorithmic fluke, Dr. Steve's Facebook page was regularly blessed with campaign videos from candidate Caroline Elliott. Every clip showed Elliott pouring scorn on land acknowledgments and those who give them. And Elliott was supposed to be one of the moderates. Now, Dr. Steve is well aware that land acknowledgments can draw eye rolls from people in all parts of the political spectrum, albeit for different reasons. But the prominent focus on them certainly suggested that the Conservative leadership race was coalescing around a common theme, and it wasn't overpriced tomatoes. Five candidates were on the first ballot as the Conservatives began the essential process of winnowing. One of the candidates was relatively moderate and, unlike the others, had a seat in the legislature. Right, then — out goes the trash. MLA Peter Milobar was bounced on the first ballot like a mongrel at the Westminster Kennel Club. Three quick ballots later, the winner was Findlay, former federal cabinet minister in the Harper government and wife of Surrey South MLA and rhetorical arsonist Brent Chapman. The margin of victory over runner-up Elliott was 51 per cent to 49 per cent, which is probably nothing to worry about. Everything will be fine. "I will take the fight to grassroots British Columbians who've had enough of being pushed around," the 71-year-old Findlay told the crowd in her victory speech. "I am leading to take this province back." Sort of an anti-land acknowledgment, then. Under a Conservative Party of BC government every event could start with the singing of "This Land Is My Land," an edited Conservative version that goes: "This land is my land, your land is my land, their land is my land..." etc. Maybe they can book Kid Rock for the gigs. Findlay, the former parliamentarian, closed her speech by shouting "Allons-y!" — perhaps forgetting where she was for a moment. Findlay should quickly explain that she was just saying "Hi" to her old friend Allan Zee. You don't want these people thinking you're bilingual — they'll suspect you are talking in globalist code. It's interesting that Findlay was the clear choice of the party's right wing, despite the fact that even Elliott was jumping on the First Nations-bashing bandwagon. It seems the voters knew the difference between a real extremist and a wannabe. Part of that may be Findlay's now infamous debate moment in which she claimed Milobar had a conflict of interest because he was married to an Indigenous woman. It may also be because Findlay supporters thought they were voting for a package deal — sort of All in the Family, if Archie Bunker had married Margaret Thatcher. Her better half Chapman famously described Palestinians as "little inbred, walking, talking, breathing time bombs... figuratively and literally" and suggested coexistence with Muslims is impossible. After the final ballot results were announced, Tyee reporter Jen St. Denis asked Findlay if she'd reached out to the Muslim community. Findlay said she and her husband had some thoroughly wonderful meetings ...

    6 min

  2. 11h ago

    Newcomers Often Struggle to Find Good Jobs. This Job Fair Helps

    New research underscores the importance of spaces that break down barriers in the employment market for newcomers. … Article written by Isaac Phan Nay. May 12 is a clear-skied Tuesday in New Westminster's downtown core, where a line outside the Anvil Centre wraps around the block. Despite the mid-spring heat, many of those in the queue are dressed to impress in suits, blazers and other office wear. Some hold up their hands like visors to block out the sun. Others fan themselves with brightly coloured vinyl folders protecting thin stacks of freshly printed resumés. Inside, hundreds of job seekers mill around roughly four dozen booths, which sport the names and logos of Metro Vancouver organizations including Canuck Place, Parq Casino and Arc'teryx. People shake hands, scan QR codes and exchange business cards. The attendees have a few things in common. Many are relatively new to Canada. They're all looking for work. And some are hoping to find it at this annual job fair put on by MOSAIC, a local immigrant services agency. Today, about 50 employers expect to meet more than 3,000 job seekers registered for the fair. People like Candida Rajan, a human resources professional who moved to Canada four years ago. Like many at the fair, Rajan earned her credentials and built her career abroad. She worked as a human resources manager for 15 years in the United Arab Emirates before moving to Canada, where she's been on the job hunt for about six months. "It's been a little demotivating, to be honest," she said. "Everyone has a lot of candidates applying, so I'm hoping that this job fair helps." Rajan said she came to the job fair to meet other hiring managers and better understand what kinds of skills they're looking for. Despite her extensive experience, Rajan said she's been trying different things on her resumé to get recognized. She started saying she previously worked in the UAE instead of Dubai, to see if hiring managers would recognize the country better than her previous city. She started applying for jobs she was overqualified for, and started getting more responses. David Lee, MOSAIC's director of employment, said Rajan's experience is a common one. Despite often being experienced, well educated and overqualified, people who immigrate are often challenged to find jobs in their new countries — which can affect their income, career progression and general well-being. A review study published February in the Journal of Applied Psychology identified several hurdles immigrants face in the job market — including getting employers to recognize their experience and education and adjusting to employment norms. "It's a really dire situation," said human capital researcher Sima Sajjadiani, a co-author on the study. "We bring people and leave them on their own, instead of using this huge talent and capacity that we are bringing to the country." Higher unemployment and underemployment rates In Canada, recently landed immigrants face disproportionately high unemployment rates. For example, Statistics Canada data shows that last year, immigrants who had been in Canada for five years or less faced an unemployment rate of 10.6 per cent. That's much higher than the unemployment rate of Canada's total population, 6.8 per cent, and higher than the unemployment rate for immigrants who had come to Canada more than 10 years earlier, at 6.2 per cent. Sajjadiani, an assistant professor of business at the University of British Columbia, said immigrants are also more likely to be underemployed — meaning that they are underpaid, are given fewer hours or are overqualified for their jobs. Statistics Canada data shows that in 2021, about 26.7 per cent of immigrants who had arrived in Canada more than 10 years prior were overeducated for their work, compared with 17.1 per cent of Canadian-born workers aged 25 to 34. "The question that was really bugging us was 'Why?'" Sajjadiani said. "Why are we consistently seeing underemployment among immigrants, no mat...

    9 min

  3. 11h ago

    Will Canada Issue an Emergency Order to Protect Caribou?

    If it doesn't happen, they're 'doomed,' says Okanagan Indian Band Chief Dan Wilson. … Article written by Sarah Cox. The Syilx Okanagan Nation is calling on Ottawa to take emergency action to protect the last three caribou herds in its territory, which are struggling to survive as old-growth logging destroys their critical habitat. On Monday, the nation announced it has formally petitioned the federal government to step in with a rarely used emergency order under Canada's Species at Risk Act. The order would give Ottawa the power to make decisions that normally fall to the province, such as whether to issue logging permits in core caribou habitat in southeast B.C. "We expect the federal government to issue an emergency order, and if they don't, I'm sad to say that those herds are doomed," Okanagan Indian Band Chief Dan Wilson told The Tyee. Okanagan Indian Band is one of the seven bands and communities that make up the larger Syilx Okanagan Nation. Wilson said the B.C. government continues to sanction logging in critical habitat for the southern mountain caribou herds, which rely on the rare and disappearing inland temperate rainforest for food and shelter. "Caribou are dependent on old-growth forests for habitat, and the old growth is continuing to be harvested at an alarming rate," he said. "There's a lot more that could be done." The three populations in question — the Frisby-Boulder, Central Selkirk and Columbia North herds — are known as deep-snow caribou because they use their snowshoe-like hoofs to balance on snow so they can reach hair lichens, their main source of winter food. Hair lichens grow in profusion only on old trees. Deep-snow caribou are found nowhere else in the world but in B.C. In 2005, B.C. had 18 deep-snow caribou herds. Eight herds are now locally extinct, while the others are hanging on by a hoof. Wilson said only eight animals remain in the Frisby-Boulder herd, near Revelstoke, B.C., which is now functionally extirpated. The dwindling Central Selkirk herd has 27 animals, while about 185 animals remain in the Columbia North herd. In a press release, the Syilx Okanagan Nation said that while the Columbia North population has increased, the growth "remains fragile" and is largely unrelated to habitat recovery. The herds are the focus of elaborate recovery measures led or supported by the B.C. government. Those efforts include shooting wolves and other predators that gain easy access to caribou through logging roads and other human disturbances, and flying pregnant caribou to a pen to give birth, so their calves will be strong enough to stand a better chance of surviving in the fractured landscape when they are released. Wilson called the B.C. government's recovery measures "ad hoc, fragmented and inefficient to reverse the long-term habitat degradation and population decline." B.C.'s Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship did not respond to The Tyee's questions before press time. Waiting to hear from Canada's environment minister The Species at Risk Act gives Ottawa the authority to intervene when a species faces imminent threats to its survival or recovery. But the federal government has issued emergency orders only twice since the act was passed in 2002 — once to protect the western chorus frog in Quebec and once to protect the greater sage-grouse in Alberta and Saskatchewan. It's now up to Julie Dabrusin, the federal minister of the environment, climate change and nature, to determine if the three caribou herds are facing imminent threats to their survival and recovery. If so, Dabrusin must recommend emergency actions to the federal cabinet. In 2024, a federal court ruled that former environment and climate change minister Steven Guilbeault broke the law when he delayed recommending that cabinet issue an emergency order to protect critically endangered spotted owls in B.C. The court found Guilbeault's eight-month delay was unreasonable. The final decision about whether to issue an emergen...

    7 min

  4. 11h ago

    The 'Reckoning' Coming for BC Logging Licences The 'Reckoning' Coming for BC Logging Licences The 'Reckoning' Coming for BC Logging Licences

    Today TodayThe Tyee The 'Reckoning' Coming for BC Logging Licences Analysis Environment Analysis Corporations have logged less than they're entitled to for years. Here's why. And what it means for the future of forestry. Analysis Labour + Industry Environment 2 2 Comments / 2 New Read more: Analysis Labour + Industry Environment Corporations have logged less than they're entitled to for years. Here's why. And what it means for the future of forestry. Ben Parfitt 2 Jun 2026 Ben Parfitt is a reporter at The Tyee covering forestry and related issues. Our journalism is supported by readers like you. Click here to support The Tyee. URL copied to clipboard! SHARE: 68 SHARES Corporations have logged less than they're entitled to for years. Here's why. And what it means for the future of forestry. … Article written by Ben Parfitt. In September 2024, the Tsay Keh Dene Nation and McLeod Lake Indian Band bought a logging licence near the town of Mackenzie from Canfor for $69 million. It was a hefty price, with one of the happiest sellers being Canfor's majority owner and British Columbia's wealthiest man, Jimmy Pattison. And it brought to an end a sorry chapter in the life of the town. Nearly five years earlier, 187 workers in Mackenzie had lost their jobs when Canfor closed a sawmill in town. But because it had retained the logging licence granted by the provincial government, Canfor had continued to log the forests near Mackenzie and send those logs down the highway for processing in Prince George. The move angered Mayor Joan Atkinson and many of the town's residents. The news the company had sold the licence brought relief. "It's just a huge step to have some local Indigenous nations who are vested in our community step forward, as opposed to Canfor, who have shown no loyalty to us with the number of jobs that have been lost," Atkinson said upon the completion of the sale. The sale, which also included the transfer of Canfor's idled sawmill assets, came at a pivotal time. Canfor and other companies had closed sawmills and pulp mills across B.C., while investing billions of dollars in mills in the United States. Yet Canfor has continued to hold numerous logging licences. On paper, those licences give the company and others like it an "allowable annual cut" that entitles them to log vast swaths of publicly owned forests each year. The higher those allowable cuts are, the more valuable those licences are to the companies that hold them. But what if Canfor and others aren't logging at rates close to what their licences say they can? If they sell such licences, what should those licences be valued at? And what role should the B.C. government play as the party that issues those licences and must approve any future sales? Timber monopolies Atkinson is not alone in feeling burned by Canfor. In recent years, the company has delivered economic gut punches to Houston, Vanderhoof, Prince George, Chetwynd, Fort St. John, Taylor and Fort Nelson as it closed sawmills, panel mills and pulp mills in those communities and others. Canfor is now a shadow of its former self. Yet it remains a major player in one significant regard: it holds more government-granted logging licences than any other company — and those licences have value. Just ask Jimmy Pattison. All but one of Canfor's 19 government-granted licences are renewable and have allowable annual cuts associated with them. Those allowable cuts, which are determined by the Forests Ministry, set out how many trees Canfor and other companies may log each year. In Canfor's case, the licences allow it to log up to 6.4 million cubic metres of timber per year. Only two other B.C. forest companies come remotely close to holding as many logging rights in the province's publicly owned forests. West Fraser Mills is second, with combined licences that allow it to log 5.1 million cubic metres of timber per year, while Western Forest Products is firmly in third place with more than 4.7 million cubic metres und...

    15 min

  5. 23h ago

    The Angry Backlash Against Vancouver's Council Was Avoidable

    City hall ignored 50 years of successful neighbourhood planning. Now it's feeling the heat. … Article written by Patrick Condon. On May 21, Vancouver city council responded to public discomfort over their July 2023 city wide zoning change, which granted broad new "entitlements" to city landowners over what can be built on their properties. The changes allowed owners to construct six units on any parcel in the city, no neighbourhood hearing required. The first examples built in various parts of the city came as unwelcome surprises to many residents. Petitions were launched. Council reacted to this widespread complaint by voting to ask staff to pause the plan for six-plexes — a plan this same council approved two years before. Council also asked staff to explore what other North American cities are doing "to better balance housing delivery with neighbourhood impacts." The passed motion is titled Review and Refinement of Multiplex Housing Policies Based on Early Implementation Experience. Scores of speakers voiced their complaints at this meeting. One was Sean R. McEwen, a noted architect whose practice focussed on the disadvantaged, including the Mole Hill housing project in the West End. McEwen wrote a letter to council that cut straight to the heart of the current mess. "Unfortunately, in my opinion, this council jettisoned years of successful community planning experience, when it cancelled neighbourhood plans created by staff and citizens, at considerable taxpayer expense and significant dedication of volunteer time by residents," McEwen wrote. Anyone who had the pulse of the neighbourhoods would have known this would be a problem. For 50 years, Vancouver had a world-famous tradition of working with, not against, neighbourhoods. That collaborative model delivered real results — a tripling of housing units city wide — all with the consent and active participation of city residents. Step by step over the recent years, council has thrown that hard-won tradition overboard. The new way of doing things is codified in Vancouver's Official Community Plan, formally adopted two months ago. Scapegoating 'NIMBYs' This was all sold on the false notion that neighbourhood "NIMBYs" were the main reason housing costs too much. All that stood in the way of affordability, supposedly, was an over-regulated housing market and a council too responsive to local concerns. The solution, we were told, was to largely bypass the tradition of neighbourhood planning, a tradition that brought fame to the city, and impose a generic one size fits all development plan, ending resident comment on most new development. But wait! If simply adding new housing units within existing neighbourhoods were by itself enough to lower housing prices, Vancouver, after tripling housing units city-wide should have the lowest home prices in North America. Instead, it has among the very highest. What gives? As a professor of urban design, I myself have argued for making it easier to replace single family residences with multi-unit complexes — particularly when tied to requirements that a percentage be rented at below market rates. However, I would gladly subject these designs to the local democratic process of discussion and review by neighbours and other city residents. And, after a thorough exchange, abide by the democratic will expressed. By contrast, while passing the new city-wide plan, this council simultaneously repealed scores of carefully crafted neighbourhood plans approved by previous councils. Those plans showed exactly how to add new homes to existing neighbourhoods in ways that were explicitly suitable. They reflected years of dedicated work by staff and citizens alike. They were discarded in favour of a rigid, one-size-fits-all vision that treated local knowledge as an obstacle rather than an asset. In doing so, council was lured by the siren song emanating from the pro real estate industry interests that spent years blaming neighbourhood residents for high ...

    7 min

  6. 1d ago

    BC's Right-Wing Populists Have a New Queen. How Will Findlay Rule?

    She became leader of the BC Conservatives by inflaming party divisions she now must unify. … Article written by Mo Amir. Kerry-Lynne Findlay won the hard-fought battle to become the next leader of the Conservative Party of BC, but before she can advance on the premier's office, she must first secure the peace within her own party. The former federal Conservative cabinet minister emerged as the leadership race's unlikely insurgent. A political pugilist, Findlay cast herself as the grassroots outsider taking on the "insiders" with a "hidden liberal agenda" and "mainstream media gatekeepers." Accusations of racism and corruption against Findlay — the latter prompting the Conservatives' Leadership Election Organizing Committee to consider disqualifying her — only reinforced her anti-establishment narrative. Findlay's biggest foil was political commentator and former BC Liberal Party executive Caroline Elliott, the leadership race's enduring front-runner who was carefully crafted by a well-oiled political machine. Her campaign boasted the strongest fundraising operation, veteran out-of-province campaigners and endorsements from former B.C. premier Gordon Campbell, former Alberta premier Jason Kenney and the National Post. Meanwhile, Kamloops Centre MLA Peter Milobar, who placed last in the leadership race, expressed uncertainty about whether he would remain in the party if Findlay won. Another leadership candidate, former BC Liberal cabinet minister Iain Black, accused Findlay of "dividing people based on race" and described it as a "clear pattern of behaviour." Yet when (verified) B.C. Conservative members cast their ballots, Findlay prevailed. Leadership races rarely unite political parties. More often, they deepen divisions, some of which predate the candidates themselves and extend to organizers and long-standing factions. So as Findlay's focus shifts to defeating Premier David Eby and the BC NDP, her most immediate mission remains an internal one: uniting a diverse Conservative Party of BC bruised from an acrimonious leadership contest. It is a difficult mission, one made even more difficult from outside of the B.C. legislature. "I want to be in the arena." In a media scrum following her leadership victory, Findlay insisted that she intends to run for a seat in the B.C. legislature "as soon as possible." The difficulty for Findlay is finding an MLA willing to surrender their seat. With 31 of the Conservatives' 38 MLAs serving their first term, there is likely little appetite among the rookie legislators to step aside so soon after being first elected to the B.C. legislature. Meanwhile, the remaining seven Conservative MLAs provide much-needed caucus experience that Findlay cannot afford to lose. An obvious solution is Surrey South MLA Brent Chapman, Findlay's husband. Having Chapman step aside would spare Findlay from asking another caucus member to make that sacrifice, eliminate any potential concerns around a spousal conflict of interest, and avoid forcing a potentially divisive decision on the caucus she is trying to keep united. It would also signal that Findlay is prepared to cede her own family's interest before asking others to do the same. Chapman did not rule out the possibility. He told Sitka Media that it would be a "big decision" but that he remained committed to running in the next general election regardless, whether in Surrey South or another riding. Without a seat, Findlay cannot participate in question period, directly confront Premier Eby or exercise the day-to-day authority of leading a caucus inside the chamber. That challenge is compounded by the fact that the B.C. Conservatives remain a relatively new and, at times, unruly team. For Findlay, finding a path into the legislature is a necessary, early test of her ability to manage personalities, maintain caucus unity and demonstrate the political judgment — and image — expected of a premier-in-waiting. Fortunately for Findlay, she inherits a caucus from i...

    11 min

  7. 2d ago

    BC's Family Doctor Crisis Gets Even Worse

    Despite measures, almost one in four people lack access to primary care. … Article written by Andrew MacLeod. The number of British Columbians without a regular family doctor or other primary care provider has grown to nearly 1.3 million people. That's a 45 per cent increase since 2017 when the NDP formed government. Health Minister Josie Osborne says that despite the increase, the government's efforts to connect patients to primary care providers are showing progress. But Conservative Party of BC health critic Brennan Day says the problem continues to get worse. "There's a lot of rallying around headlines that don't really line up to people's reality," Day said, referring to recent government announcements that have highlighted the number of medical professionals who have been attracted to the province and the number of people who have been attached to care. The announcements distract from the growing list of patients who remain unattached to primary care providers, he said. "The reality people are feeling on the ground — especially here in Victoria the numbers are massive — is not really reflected." In response to questioning from Day during debate on the Health Ministry's $36-billion budget, Osborne said the most up-to-date information as of the end of April showed that 1,259,425 people in the province were not attached to a primary care provider. That works out to about 23 per cent of B.C.'s current population of 5.7 million. It's a significant increase from when the BC NDP formed government. At that time the Canadian Community Health Survey found that 897,000 people, or 18.2 per cent of the population, were unattached. That too was part of a long-term trend. About twice as many people were unattached to primary care in 2017 as had been in 2003. Family doctors act as gatekeepers to the health-care system, referring patients to other specialists, but they also get to know the people they serve over time, allowing them to deliver higher-quality care than a walk-in clinic or other episodic care. In recent years the province has added training spaces for doctors and nurse practitioners and created primary care networks where doctors and nurses work as part of teams with other health professionals. It has also introduced a new pay model that moves away from the fee-for-service system where physicians bill for each patient they see and towards paying them to look after a population of patients. And yet the number of people who are unattached to a primary care provider continues to grow. Minister points to population growth During debate, Osborne said more than 4,000 attachments were being made every week through the Health Connect Registry and as of March 345,000 people were still on the registry waiting to be connected to primary care. She declined to provide maximum wait times but did share the median number of days a patient waited to be attached in each health authority: 198 days in Northern Health, 171 days in Vancouver Coastal Health, 241 days in Fraser Health, 388 days in Island Health and 477 days in Interior Health. Provincewide, the median time it is taking to attach a patient to primary care is 295 days. "Big picture, I think there is real progress that is being made attaching British Columbians to family doctors and nurse practitioners, but there's clearly still a lot of work to do," Osborne told The Tyee. "We want to make sure that everybody who wants that longitudinal relationship with a primary care provider has it." The problem has been growing for at least 20 years, she said, but there are indications it is changing direction. "We are seeing really good signs of progress in terms of outpacing population growth when it comes to attachment and outpacing population growth when it comes to adding more family physicians and nurse practitioners and other primary care team members to the system," she said. The government has had some success, she said, with its primary care strategy that includes investing in traini...

    8 min

  8. 2d ago

    Trump, Hoekstra and the Cabal Pushing Alberta Separatism

    Signs of deepening American collusion point to the US ambassador among others. Will Ottawa investigate? … Article written by Michael Harris. It is high time that Canadians, including the Mark Carney government, started to seriously worry about Alberta's separatist movement and its U.S. connection. Consider a recent headline for a piece by political commentator Dean Blundell on his Substack post: "Trump's ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, at the centre of the doxxing of three million Canadians and their voter data." Blundell's thesis? Hoekstra appears to be connected to the biggest voter data leak in Canadian history and the attempt to rig the upcoming referendum vote on Alberta separation. Blundell elaborates by pointing out that a cabal of right-wing Christian nationalists, "Freedom Convoy" veterans and political fixers is being protected by Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party. A Canadian clone of a U.S. voter-targeting app is being used by an Alberta separatist group. The group's leader, David Parker, says the app was built by U.S. Republican operatives. Parker also claims that the app helped deliver the crucial state of Michigan to Donald Trump in his run for president. Interestingly, Parker left for Texas after the voter data leak in Alberta became public. Also of note, he is not co-operating with the Elections Alberta investigation into the massive leak. He is no stranger to elections violations. Parker and Take Back Alberta were fined $120,000 for violations of election finance law in 2023. Ambassador Hoekstra has promoted the U.S. voter app, 10xVotes, at Trump rallies in Michigan. He has also landed in trouble for political interference before the Alberta controversy. That stemmed from his support of a Dutch far-right political party at the U.S. Embassy when he was ambassador to the Netherlands. He also denied saying earlier that there were Muslim-ruled "no-go zones" in the Netherlands, or at least he did until his comments were confirmed by a videotape record of his words. Hoekstra now claims he was unaware that the U.S. voter app he promoted was used to help the Alberta separatist group. Not everyone is convinced. Blundell says the RCMP needs to interview Hoekstra. He also thinks Elections Alberta should find out if Alberta voter data was stored on U.S. servers. Canada's civilian spy agency, CSIS, he adds, should conduct a foreign interference investigation into Hoekstra's activities. Hoekstra and the MAGA network Some history here is useful. Hoekstra was formerly chair of the Michigan Republican Party. He was scheduled to speak at the Canada Strong and Free Network conference in Ottawa on May 8. Pierre Poilievre, the politician who brought doughnuts to the truckers who blockaded Ottawa, delivered the keynote speech. Danielle Smith participated in a fireside chat at the conference. And President Trump's former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, warmed up the room by urging Canadians to "move past the irritation" of Trump repeatedly saying he wants to annex Canada. Hoekstra was called to Washington for urgent meetings at the White House as the doxing story was breaking and sent his regrets at the last minute. It is up for debate how serious U.S. support is for Alberta separatists. But there's no denying that it's a factor. Here's how Blundell described the Alberta separatist movement and its U.S. connection: "It's a MAGA-funded, foreign attempt to break Canada in half, supported by a small group of compromised White Christian nationalists who are getting paid by 'MAGA interests' to do it." A little over the top but not without evidence. Besides the overt support for an independent Alberta voiced by Trump administration officials, researchers have identified a network of MAGA movement-funded online influencers bending truths as they hype Alberta separation. Separatists' sway in Smith's party Polls have shown that about 57 per cent of UCP members favour separation. The president of the UCP, Rob Smith, claims t...

    11 min
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We’re an independent, online news magazine from B.C. founded in 2003. We’re devoted to fact-driven stories, reporting that informs and enlivens our democratic conversation. This feed features our stories, read by AI narration. Our reporting has changed laws, started movements and garnered numerous awards.

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