logo
Calgarian told to remove Canadian flags by condo board

Calgarian told to remove Canadian flags by condo board

Calgary Herald6 hours ago

Article content
A senior in Calgary's southeast is left wondering why his condo board is no longer allowing him to display Canadian flags on his property.
Article content
Jim McLeman, 78, is the retired owner of a 14th floor suite in The Lookout, located at 801 Second Ave. S.W.
Article content
Article content
Despite displaying Canadian flags outside of his property for around two decades, he was surprised to hear that his condo board had a bylaw that outlined a zero-tolerance policy for flags.
Article content
Article content
The flag flap comes as Canada Day, the celebration embracing the country's colours and flag, approaches.
Article content
McLeman originally bought the property back in 1998 and moved in after the building was constructed in 2000. Every summer, he would proudly display a few of his Canadian flags.
Article content
Originally, he had three flags on display. Now, he only has a single flag situated on the corner of his patio.
Article content
The three-by-five-foot Canadian flag is attached to a broom handle, which is secured to a post.
Article content
After receiving an email notifying him of the violation, he searched for answers as to why this was suddenly an issue.
Article content
'They haven't said what the penalty would be,' he said. 'They just said I was violating the Board of Condos' bylaws.'
Article content
It outlined that an anonymous individual brought this to the board's attention, and that their bylaws prohibit the display of flags since it can face challenges if it allows one but not another.
Article content
Article content
An annual general meeting for condo owners and tenants took place on June 19, but McLeman was unable to attend due to his wife suffering from end-stage Parkinson's.
Article content
Additionally, he would have been unable to address it at the meeting, since any unit-specific issues or disputes are addressed outside of the meeting.
Article content
'I thought that this could've been brought up with owners at the meeting, but I guess they feel it's not the time or place,' he said.
Article content
As an immigrant from the extreme northern end of Scotland, McLeman said he's proud to display the Canadian flag outside of his property.
Article content
'I came here back in '67, I was just a 20-year-old kid,' he said. 'I'm proud to be a Canadian. I'm told I cannot fly my country's flag, and I cannot believe it.'
Article content
'I'm not a troublemaker, nobody's said anything about it or told me I can't do that,' he said. 'But if there was a good reason, nobody has given me anything.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

From railways to minerals: seven takeaways from Canada's new NATO spending pledge
From railways to minerals: seven takeaways from Canada's new NATO spending pledge

Winnipeg Free Press

time2 hours ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

From railways to minerals: seven takeaways from Canada's new NATO spending pledge

THE HAGUE – Canada and its NATO allies agreed Wednesday to substantially hike their defence spending target to five per cent of annual GDP by 2035. Prime Minister Mark Carney endorsed the plan to invest 3.5 per cent of national GDP in core defence needs, plus another 1.5 per cent in related areas, such as infrastructure and cybersecurity. Here are some key aspects of this week's NATO leaders' summit. 1) A post-Trump review NATO members will review their spending pledge in 2029. The U.S. Constitution says President Donald Trump ends his term in the first few days of that year. Carney would not say whether that's why NATO members set the review for 2029. He instead suggested it was a reasonable amount of time, given the need to 'ensure that the commitments align with the global security landscape.' A senior Canadian government official who spoke to reporters on background on Wednesday said the review could examine the ratio between core defence spending and funding for related areas. 2) Trump calls the shots NATO leaders boosted defence spending in part due to the threat of conventional and cyber attacks by Russia. But they were also driven to act by Trump's repeated suggestion that the U.S. might not defend a NATO ally under attack if it hasn't met the spending target — a violation of the core NATO commitment to collective defence, known as Article 5. The president generated even more uncertainty Tuesday when he said his commitment to mutual defence 'depends on your definition' of the NATO treaty's guarantee. On Wednesday, however, after the agreement on five per cent was reached, Trump was asked to clarify his stance on Article 5. 'I stand with it. That's why I'm here,' Trump said. 'If I didn't stand with it, I wouldn't be here.' NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said he had no doubt about the U.S. commitment to NATO's collective defence. The Canadian official who briefed reporters on background said Trump said nothing to contradict the principle of collective defence during the leaders' meeting. 3) We don't know what counts Carney said he can't list at this point the weapons and other military equipment Canada will purchase to reach the 3.5 per cent benchmark by 2035. He said that's because technology keeps evolving and it's not clear how quantum tech will affect future cyber threats. Carney pointed to the huge role drones have played in Ukraine's defence — weapons that have become more sophisticated even as their costs have dropped. 'The world is changing quite rapidly — we all know that — in terms of the threats, the nature of warfare. And defence is also changing quite rapidly,' he said. 4) Build, baby, build When asked about the 1.5 per cent target for military-adjacent spending, the government official who briefed reporters said it could include projects that have dual commercial and military functions, such as roads. It could cover major projects such as the Arctic ports Carney wants to build using the fast-track powers in Bill C-5 — legislation that has come in for criticism over its wide scope and the speed at which it passed through the House of Commons. The official said Ottawa will try to make the case that projects like upgrades to rail infrastructure support national or economic security. Carney has said work to access critical minerals for allies could count toward the 1.5 per cent target — and so could a lot of other things on which Canada is already spending money. 'We're going to do a more proper accounting of that,' he said. 'We have to show that, and we have to be deliberate and strategic about it.' 5) Canada not the only laggard Canada isn't the only country under pressure to meet the new NATO spending target. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez claimed on Sunday that Spain had reached a deal with NATO excluding it from the updated spending target. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico suggested Tuesday that his country might be better off embracing neutrality, saying the new target would amount to an 'absolutely absurd' share of his government's spending. Yet both countries approved the new target, as did Italy, which also had expressed reservations about the new goal. France, the U.K., the Netherlands and Germany all had committed to the five per cent goal before the meeting, as had NATO members closer to Russia. Rutte warned Monday that no country can opt out of the target. He said progress made toward the new target will be reviewed in four years. 6) Sacrifices? Not yet Earlier this month, as he announced Canada would meet NATO's previous spending target of two per cent, Carney said hitting the target 'will require ambition, collaboration and yes, on occasion, sacrifice.' But he changed his message Wednesday. When asked what sacrifices Canada will make, Carney insisted that higher defence spending will spur economic growth. 'We're not at a trade-off, we're not at sacrifices in order to do those — these will be net-additive,' he said. 'Those trade-offs happen towards the end of the decade, into the next decade.' 7) Back to the future Canada's defence spending hasn't reached five per cent of GDP since the 1950s. It hasn't even been above two per cent since 1990, despite the fact that the two per cent target has been the NATO standard since 2014. NATO estimates that Canada spent $41 billion in 2024 on defence, or 1.37 per cent of GDP. In 2014, Canada spent $20.1 billion, or 1.01 per cent of GDP, on defence. Carney has said that five per cent of GDP would mean a $150 billion defence budget for Canada. Not everyone loves the focus on the spending target. 'The metric is stupid,' Canada's former ambassador to NATO Kerry Buck told a panel on June 4, calling it 'a club to bash you over the head.' She said the target 'carries a lot of political weight' but shouldn't distract from the need to invest in Canada's defence by spending on both the military and diplomacy. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 25, 2025.

Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar have established extensive network across Canada: report
Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar have established extensive network across Canada: report

Vancouver Sun

time3 hours ago

  • Vancouver Sun

Muslim Brotherhood and Qatar have established extensive network across Canada: report

The Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist organization that has declared 'jihad against the Jews,' has established a vast network of charities and fundraising across Canada, a new think-tank report finds. 'For decades, organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is also an adherent, have managed to embed themselves at all levels of Canadian society,' the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) argues. Its latest report, 'We Stand on Guard For Thee? The Growing Influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on Politics, Academia, and Civil Society in America,' was published Wednesday morning. The organization features Canada's former justice minister Irwin Cotler on its board of directors. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The Muslim Brotherhood is an Egyptian organization that believes in the establishment of an Islamic caliphate whose leaders have promoted antisemitic conspiracies. Hamas is a Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood. 'This report is a wake-up call for all Canadians,' ISGAP board advisor Charles Asher Small told National Post in a written statement. Small called on the federal government to 'designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization and 'immediately freeze public funding to suspect organizations.' 'Our report exposes how federal agencies have become complicit in sustaining and legitimizing networks that promote antisemitic and anti-Israel ideologies under the guise of charity and social welfare,' Small wrote. 'These entities are exploiting the very values of tolerance and pluralism that Canada holds dear, weaponizing public institutions against Jewish communities and undermining Canadian democracy itself.' The Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, a Florida-based research group, highlighted several Canadian charities that have extensive ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, alleging that they exploit Canadian laws to raise money for Muslim Brotherhood factions in the Middle East. Of particular concern to the think-tank is the Muslim Association of Canada, which describes itself as the 'largest Muslim grassroots Canadian charitable organization.' In 2021, an audit conducted by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) found 'the concept of the Muslim Brotherhood appeared' in the charity's 'governing documents.' The Muslim Association of Canada disputed the characterization of its work, alleging it reflected a 'systemic Islamophobia' bias and appealed the CRA audit. The CRA, in its original investigation, found enough grounds to revoke MAC's charitable status. (The MAC remains a registered charity, according to the federal government's database .) On Wednesday, it dismissed the ISGAP report. 'This report is nothing more than recycled Islamophobic tropes dressed up as 'research,' when in reality it's a biased, unsubstantiated hit piece that relies solely on discredited allegations — allegations that were questioned by the Ontario Superior Court for their apparent bias and ultimately abandoned by the CRA in concluding its audit and reaching a resolution with MAC,' the organization told National Post in a statement on Wednesday. The federal investigation also revealed that 'most prominent members, directors, and officials' of MAC were involved either with International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (IRFAN-Canada) 'or a network of charities that appear to have been used to propagate and fundraise for Hamas in Canada.' IRFAN-Canada was designated a terror entity in 2014 for transferring nearly $15 million to Hamas, the Palestinian terror group behind the October 7 attacks on Israel. The Canadian government outlined in its decision that IRFAN-Canada exploited its 'status as a charitable organization to fund Hamas.' A decade later, Canada's public safety ministry secured a deportation order against a former female employee of IRFAN-Canada, stating her presence in the country was 'inadmissible on security grounds.' Lorenzo Vidino, a terror finance researcher at George Washington University's Program on Extremism, has spent the last 25 years studying the Muslim Brotherhood. He co-published a report in January 2025, 'The Muslim Brotherhood in the West? Evidence from a Canadian Tax Authority Investigation,' exploring the Muslim Association of Canada and sees as a window into how the Islamist group operates in North America and across Europe. 'I think all Western countries have come to an understanding that the Brotherhood is a problematic group and I think the findings of all other countries apply also to Canada,' Vidino told National Post. 'There's a consensus across security services in general of the threats that the Brotherhood poses and the main one is an issue of social cohesion and integration. The Brotherhood has an ability to push within Muslim communities narratives that are highly divisive, that are polarizing,' he said. 'It promotes values that are antithetical to those of Western constitutions when it comes to democracy, white it comes to women's rights, when it comes to gay rights, when it comes to freedom of religion, when it comes to antisemitism.' Vidiono, author of the 2010 book 'The New Muslim Brotherhood in the West,' said that while it the Islamist group, itself, 'might not be directly engaged in terrorist activities, it promotes a narrative — it mainstreams a narrative — that lays the groundwork for jihadists groups to recruit. It creates this narrative of victimization: the narrative that Muslims are constantly under attack by the West with widespread Islamophobia.' The ISGAP report noted that the leading Canadian Muslim advocacy group, the National Council of Canadian Muslims, also has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The organization, which was originally known as the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada (CAIR-CAN), was an outgrowth of a similarly-named U.S. group which, the publication alleges, is 'a self-described Muslim Brotherhood front organization.' A 2003 affidavit from the former founder of the group, Sheema Khan, also acknowledged the relationship. 'This report does not serve Canadian interests. It amplifies foreign narratives designed to fuel Islamophobia and division within our society,' the Muslim Association of Canada added in its written statement. 'Canadians should be concerned about foreign influence, particularly the foreign-funded industry of anti-Muslim hate that fuels reports like this. These authors should be ashamed of themselves for trafficking in Islamophobic tropes that endanger Canadian Muslims and undermine social cohesion.' The report also explores efforts by Qatar, a small country in the Arabian Peninsula, to influence Canadian academia and fund local Islamic centres. Qatar offers safe passage and financing to Hamas leaders and has been a principal mediator between the Palestinian terror group and Israel to broker ceasefire talks. Concerns over the Emirati country's foreign influence have gained momentum in America amid reporting that suggests Qatar has been the largest foreign donor to American universities since 1986, contributing more than $6 billion, mostly to elite colleges. The ISGAP paper details how Qatar gave McGill University in Montreal a $1.25 million gift for its Islamic studies program in 2012, and created a collaboration between Qatar Airways and the school's Institute for Air and Space Law. Qatar's financial reach extends beyond academia and into the Canadian charitable realm. The CRA audit of the Muslim Association of Canada found that the organization received more than $1 million from Qatar Charity, which ISGAP describes as a 'state-owned organization,' in 2012. The foreign group gave nearly $2.5 million to help buy land and build the Islamic Community Centre of Ontario, the Canada Revenue Agency found during its investigation. The report argues that the financial power Qatar wields across Canada could influence how university administrators discipline antisemitism on campus and influence the message of religious figures in Muslim communities. The consequences of Canadian inaction, 'due in no small part to a lack of political will,' the report argues, 'has now become a major national security issue that requires serious scrutiny.' National Post sought comment from the Qatari embassy in Ottawa but did not hear back by press time. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .

Immigration, pensions, taxes: A look at Alberta Next panel survey questions
Immigration, pensions, taxes: A look at Alberta Next panel survey questions

Global News

time3 hours ago

  • Global News

Immigration, pensions, taxes: A look at Alberta Next panel survey questions

The Alberta Next panel, chaired by Premier Danielle Smith, is holding town halls this summer to get feedback on how the province should stand up to Ottawa while building a 'strong and sovereign Alberta within Canada.' Smith has promised a referendum next year on some of the ideas put forward to the panel. The premier is leading the 15-member panel, which includes three United Conservative Party legislature members: Brandon Lunty, Glenn van Dijken and the party's newest MLA, Tara Sawyer, who won a byelection Monday. Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz is on the panel along with two oil and gas executives and Business Council of Alberta president Adam Legge. Other members are retired judge Bruce McDonald, physician and emergency doctor Dr. Akin Osakuade and University of Calgary economist Trevor Tombe. 0:35 Danielle Smith launches Alberta Next panel tour to engage residents across province Following 10 town halls, scheduled to begin in July and end in late September, Smith said the panel would recommend ideas and policy proposals for a referendum. Story continues below advertisement The panel's website launched on Tuesday with surveys on six issues. Before taking each survey, participants must watch a short video. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Here are some of the questions: 'Should the provincial government refuse to provide provincial programs to non-citizens and non-permanent residents living in Alberta unless they have been granted an Alberta government-approved immigration permit?' 'Should Alberta take a lead role in working with other provinces to pressure the federal government to amend the Canadian constitution to empower and better protect provincial rights?' 'Do you agree that the current federal transfer and equalization system is unfair to Alberta?' 'Do you think Alberta should work with other provinces to transfer a larger share of overall taxes from Ottawa to the provinces?' 'What aspect do you like most about an Alberta Police Service?' 'What concerns you most about shifting from the RCMP to an Alberta Police Service?' Story continues below advertisement 'What potential benefit do you like most about Alberta opting to leave the CPP and create its own Pension Plan?' 'Which risk of opting out of CPP to start an Alberta Pension Plan are you most concerned about?' This survey had problems displaying questions on the website Tuesday afternoon, but a video beforehand asks Albertans if they would support creating a provincial revenue agency. It says doing so would require hiring 5,000 staff, cost Alberta at least $750 million per year, and require residents to file provincial and federal taxes separately — but it would also create jobs and give Alberta more of a say over its tax regime.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store