Latest news with #BrianLilley
Toronto Sun
a day ago
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY: Activist judge says bike lanes are a Charter right
Justice Paul Schabas claims there is a Charter right to bike lanes based entirely off his own political view. Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox A bike lane looking northbound on University Ave. to Queen's Park in Toronto on Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk / Toronto Sun When Pierre Trudeau was sitting down with the premiers to draft the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, they weren't talking about the Charter right to bike lanes. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account But that didn't stop activist lawyer turned activist judge Paul Schabas from deciding that there is a Charter right to bike lanes. 'Justice' Paul Schabas of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice said that the Ford government, which passed legislation to remove certain bike lanes and which won an election on this issue, cannot move forward. Let's just fold tents and let people like 'Justice' Schabas run our lives and give up on elections – it seems to be what he wants. In his decision, Justice Schabas relies heavily on the idea of positive rights, which is the idea that the government must take action to provide you with certain rights. This isn't part of the longstanding Canadian tradition that takes a negative rights view, which means that the government cannot take steps against you such as restricting your freedom of expression, your freedom or religion or assembly and so on. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The idea of positive rights, that the government must take actions on your behalf, is a relatively new idea by comparison and one upheld by the far-left activists that Justice Schabas has long been associated with. He cites myriad of cases, some of which he would disagree with if taken to their logical conclusion, like Chaoulli, but uses them to push his point. He even cites American case law to try and make his ridiculous claim there is a 'positive right' that obliges the government to provide bike lanes. Read More This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Ford government's move to pull bike lanes from certain roads was not a blanket ban on bike lanes. In fact, Ford said that he would prefer bike lanes be put on secondary roads. 'Believe it or not, my brother Rob actually put more bike lanes in than David Miller, but he didn't do it down the middle of University or Bloor or any of those streets,' Ford said about his late brother mayor Rob Ford when announcing his bike lane changes last fall. None of this matters to activist Paul Schabas, a man who should never have been appointed to the bench. Schabas acknowledged that those arguing against the bike lane removal never even raised the constitutional elements, but he made a decision on that front anyway. 'The constitutionality of the current provision was not, technically, challenged in this application, as it was enacted after the case was argued. However, the findings in these Reasons have application to the continuing controversy between the parties and the government's proposed action,' Schabas said. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Here again is a judge deciding an issue, a case before them, that doesn't actually deal with the case that is in front of the judge. Justice Schabas is the epitome of judge made law. It should be noted that Justice Schabas was the activist judge who couldn't find the Charter right to freedom of expression when he was ruling in the case of Jordan Peterson. Peterson had challenged the idea that the College of Psychologists of Ontario should be able to discipline him based off of his social media statements. Schabas took a totally hands-off approach to freedom of expression simply because he disagreed with Peterson politically. Now, he takes a hands-on and positive rights view for bike lanes because he politically opposes Doug Ford and supports the idea of bike lanes. Justice Paul Schabas, an activist lawyer appointed to the bench by former justice minister David Lametti under the Justin Trudeau government, is the worst example of judicial activism. We deserve better in Canada. If we don't get better, then expect Conservatives to be as egregious in appointing activist judges as Liberals have been in appointing people like Paul Schabas to the bench. blilley@ MLB Celebrity Wrestling Canada Toronto & GTA
Toronto Sun
a day ago
- Business
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY: Don't expect a trade deal with Trump as deadline looms
Canadian officials are in Washington, but optimism isn't high as August 1 deadline nears. Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox Canada's top officials were in Washington on Wednesday, but don't expect a deal to stop new tariffs by Friday. It hasn't been a good few days for Canada on the trade negotiation front. Donald Trump was in Scotland over the past few days brokering deals with the European Union and solidifying his agreement with Britain. His top trade advisor, Jamieson Greer, spent the last few days in Sweden negotiating with Chinese officials. Meanwhile, Mark Carney was in New Brunswick celebrating Acadian heritage and then in Prince Edward Island announcing that the toll to take the bridge to the island would drop from $50 to $20. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account It's not quite the same as setting up an international trade deal, is it? Donald Trump has said that if he doesn't have a new trade deal with Canada by Aug. 1, then we will face a new 35% tariff. What that means and how it will be applied given the existing CUSMA trade deal remains to be seen, but it won't be good for Canada's economy. We should be doing everything we can to avoid new tariffs. We already have the 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum; we have the increased softwood lumber tariffs of 20.56% — up from 14.54% just a few months ago. To try and stop this onslaught of new tariffs, Dominic LeBlanc, the minister in charge of the Canada-U.S. trade file was in Washington on Wednesday, as was Prime Minister Mark Carney's chief of staff, Marc-Andre Blanchard. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Unfortunately, they were not meeting with top officials in the Trump administration because those officials, like Greer, were busy meeting with officials from other countries. Recommended video There is an attempt to downplay the idea that Canada will get a deal before Aug. 1 and if we do get a deal, that it won't include some kind of baseline tariff, such as 10% or less. 'It's an uphill push and having to deal with inconsistent asks from the other side,' is how one Canadian official described the ongoing talks. While the Americans are seen as changing targets and what they are asking for, the American side says that Canada isn't negotiating in good faith. From the outside, it's difficult to know what is truly happening. Each side has their own trade irritants with the other and neither side appears to be willing to come to a deal. Meanwhile, Mexico is close to a deal with Trump. Unlike Canada, Mexico has never raised a retaliatory tariff; they threatened, but didn't execute. Now, just as in 2017, Mexico may get a deal with Trump while Canada is frozen out. Goldy Hyder, the President and CEO of the Business Council of Canada, landed in Washington for meetings midday on Wednesday. As he headed to have discussions with top American officials, he said that Canada may not be able to escape a deal that doesn't involve tariffs on some level. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Trump posted on Truth Social this morning to say there won't be an extension of the August 1 deadline. Where is Carney? He's holding a cabinet meeting today. — Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) July 30, 2025 'It's a game of relativity, we just have to better relative to others,' Hyder said. He noted Britain having a deal with 10% tariffs, saying that was better than the 15% that the European Union had agreed to — and hoped Canada could do even better. Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested just over a week ago that a trade deal with Canada might involve no tariffs, if we opened our markets to the Americans. What that meant and what the price would be has never been disclosed by the American or Canadian side. Bottom line, Canadian workers and Canadian employers are going to be sitting and wondering how things will go over the next few days and whether what is decided between Ottawa and Washington results in job losses. Uncertainty is the worst for the business sector; right now, that is all we have. MLB Celebrity Wrestling Toronto & GTA Ontario
Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY UNLEASHED: The CBC clearly doesn't believe in freedom of expression in Canada
WATCH BELOW as the Sun's political columnist Brian Lilley says the CBC is trying to stop Christian singer Shawn Feucht from performing in Canada. What do YOU think? Tweet and Facebook us! And don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account MLB Toronto Blue Jays Toronto & GTA Canada Canada
Toronto Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY: Canada's left shows they don't support free speech
Canada's "progressives" try to shut down singer they disagree with politically. Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox Pro-Trump and Christian singer Sean Feucht gets ready for his performance at Ministerios Restauración in Montreal on July 25, 2025. Allen McInnis/Montreal Gazette Sean Feucht was supposed to do a short six date tour through Canada. Now, after CBC launched a holy war against him, alongside the Liberal Party of Canada, the Christian singer and pastor has added more dates to his Canadian tour. He was shut down from playing in several public venues and the church that he performed his worship songs in while visiting Montreal was threatened with a $2,500 fine for allowing him to sing Christian songs. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account CBC sought to cancel American Christian singer and pastor Sean Feucht. Instead, they gave him a much bigger audience. Canada's state broadcaster also showed they have a limited view of freedom of — Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) July 28, 2025 'The place where I got the biggest persecution and resistance was in Canada. That's wild. Not Iraq or Turkey, but Canada,' Feucht said, while leading the crowd in worship Sunday night in Toronto. Feucht has toured Canada in the past without issue; he's toured the world without issue, including in majority Muslim countries like Iraq and Turkey. But in Canada, there was an attempt to shut him down. CBC led the charge to say that this singer who has supported Donald Trump and who spoke out against COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020 shouldn't be allowed to perform in Canada. The rest of the lemmings in Canada's mainstream media decided to follow suit. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms, part of Canada's constitution, states that 'Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:' Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. freedom of conscience and religion; freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication; freedom of peaceful assembly; and Canada's Supreme Court has determined that those rights and freedoms apply to non-citizens as well, and yet public venue after public venue shut down Feucht from performing. The reasoning was suspect at best but came down to they didn't like what he had said in the past. Recommended video Apparently, this Christian pastor is pro-life and not a fan of abortion, which according to CBC and most lazy media outlets, makes him anti-women. Do they not realize that millions of Canadian women are also pro-life and are opposed to abortion? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. There is a claim that Feucht is also against the 2SLGBTQ+ community because he believes in the traditional definition of marriage. So do most Catholic priests and bishops in Canada, most Orthodox Rabbis and most Muslim Imams. You can accept and love someone, which Christianity tells you to do, without fully embracing how they live their life. That is a sin, according to the secular world that we live in, and anything short of embracing and participating in this worldview is the gravest sin. When I was young, it was the left who said live and let live. Now the left says accept whatever we declare to be valid, or we will call you a bigot, a racist, and a homophobe. Thankfully, fewer people are willing to accept this bullying tactic, it simply isn't true. We can, and should have, a variety of political and religious views and not be subject to a homogeneous world view. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. I may be a Christian, but my Catholic viewpoint is different than what Sean Feucht puts forward. His view on the Gospel, on Christ, on so many issues is different than mine and our politics are different, as well. None of that takes away from the fact that even as an American, as a visitor to this country, that he should have the ability to speak, sing and perform freely. If you believe he should be shut down because he has supported Trump in the past, maybe you should fold your tent and move south because you are embracing what you claim to hate. MLB Toronto & GTA Golf World Celebrity
Toronto Sun
5 days ago
- General
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY: Canadian Corps of Commissionaires marks 100 years of service
The organization, founded to give meaningful employment to First World War vets, is Canada's largest private sector employer of veterans Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox The Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, originally founded to give meaningful employment to First World War vets, has been assisting veterans and serving communities for 100 years. Photo by Canadian Corps of Commissionaires / Linkedin An organization founded to help give meaningful employment to veterans of the First World War turned 100 this past week. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The Canadian Corps of Commissionaires, originally set up in Montreal in 1925, continues to operate and remains the largest private sector employer of veterans from coast to coast. The organization celebrated with Capt. Geoff Hamilton, president and CEO of Commissionaires Great Lakes, ringing the bell to open the TSX stock exchange Friday morning. And as night fell, the CN Tower was lit up in blue, orange and white – the organization's colours – to mark the centenary. Tonight the #CNTower will be lit blue, orange and white for the 100th Anniversary of the Canadian Corp of Commissionaires / Ce soir, la #TourCN sera illuminée en bleu, orange et blanc pour le Centenaire du Corps canadien des commissionnaires — CN Tower / Tour CN (@TourCNTower) July 25, 2025 Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Our centennial is a great opportunity for Commissionaires to celebrate a century of quiet service to Canada and its veteran community,' Hamilton said of the 100th. Regardless of where you live in Canada, there is a good chance you've encountered Commissionaires as they provide security and concierge services at government buildings and establishments. My earliest memory was having to check in with the vet who was the Commissionaire at the front desk of the James Street Armoury in Hamilton when I was a young cadet. Geoffrey Hamilton, President & CEO, @Commissionaires Great Lakes, joined us to open the market to honour the centennial of the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires. One hundred years ago, on July 25th 1925, the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires was founded to provide meaningful… — Canada's Markets (@tsx_tsxv) July 25, 2025 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Hamilton is a veteran himself having spent more than 25 years in the Royal Canadian Navy serving at various times in a full-time or part-time reserve capacity. Seven years ago, he made the transition to working with the Commissionaires and carrying on the legacy of helping veterans. 'The profile has changed,' Hamilton says while sitting across the table at Toronto's Royal Canadian Military Institute. He's talking about the profile of the veterans served. This was an organization started to help soldiers who had returned from the Great War, now it's often about helping career soldiers transition into retirement from active military service, but not from an active life. Read More This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Hamilton says sometimes it's assisting Afghan vets who are transitioning from full-time regular forces service to reserve status. 'We're a uniquely Canadian institution – no other country has a not-for-profit as its largest security guarding company,' Hamilton boasts. It is unique, and shocking considering that the idea for Canada's Commissionaires came from The Corps of Commissionaires in England, which started in 1859 to help veterans of the Crimean War. Capt. Edward Walter was able to convince business owners that the veterans he represented had 'exemplary discipline, loyalty and dedication' to provide security services. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The British group is still going and has about 5,000 employees. The Canadian organization now employs more than 20,000 with about 4,500 being veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces or the RCMP. 'Looking forward, we remain committed to employing veterans, raising the bar for other operators in an ethically tenuous industry and providing safety to Canadian communities,' Hamilton said. 'Our centennial year is not just a celebration of the past, but an invitation to all Canadians to join us in honouring those who dedicate themselves to the safety and security of our nation.' In a country that far too often hasn't done enough to help our veterans, a country that far too often turns its back on its past and heritage, the Commissionaires are there. They have been a stable force assisting vets and serving communities for 100 years now. That's worth celebrating and cheering on 100 more. blilley@ Columnists Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls Toronto & GTA Columnists
