Foreign Snooping
Where news meets rational thinking
Good morning, It’s Monday, July 28th. In today’s news, Bill C-2 opens the door to foreign snooping on Canadian citizens, America puts forward an AI action plan that could reshape the global order, Montreal fines a church for hosting a christian MAGA singer without a permit, China targets Canadian activists with international arrest warrants, and much more.
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Bill C-2 Opens the Door to Foreign Snooping on Canadian Citizens
On June 3, 2025, the federal government introduced Bill C-2, calling it a measure to strengthen border security. But buried in this massive piece of legislation are changes that could drastically weaken your privacy rights—and quietly open the door for U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to access your personal information.
The government hasn’t been upfront about what’s really in this bill. What it hasn’t said publicly is that Bill C-2 lays the groundwork for Canada to sign onto two major international data-sharing agreements—one of them with the United States.
The first is something called the Second Additional Protocol (2AP) to the Budapest Convention. This treaty would make it easier for foreign governments, including the U.S., to directly request personal data from Canadian companies—without going through Canadian courts. That means your texts, emails, and online activity could be handed over without a judge ever reviewing the request.
Canada’s own Privacy Commissioner has warned that our current laws aren’t strong enough to protect Canadians if this treaty is signed. Once your data leaves the country, there’s no guarantee it won’t be misused—or fall into the wrong hands.
The second agreement on the table is with the United States under the CLOUD Act. This U.S. law allows American authorities to demand access to data stored in other countries—even if it’s protected by local laws. If Canada signs on, U.S. agencies could pressure Canadian tech companies to hand over your private information, including location data, call logs, or anything stored in apps.
To make things worse, Bill C-2 gives Canadian police and government agencies even more power to collect and share data—sometimes without a warrant. One section would allow companies to “voluntarily” share your info with authorities, including foreign ones. Another could force businesses to confirm whether someone accessed certain services—raising fears that U.S. states could target Canadians or Americans who sought abortions in Canada.
And yet, the federal government hasn’t told Canadians that this bill is about any of this.
If passed, Bill C-2 would give both Canadian and U.S. authorities more access to your personal information than ever before. And it’s all happening without a real public conversation. Canadians deserve to know what’s being signed away in their name—before it’s too late. Source.
America’s AI Action Plan: A 90-Point Blueprint That Could Reshape the World Order
President Donald Trump has launched an aggressive, 90-point AI Action Plan that doesn't just promise to supercharge American innovation—it declares open war on China’s tech dominance and the ideological grip of “woke” AI systems in the West. The plan, hailed by Trump as a “moonshot for freedom,” aims to cement the US as the world’s unchallenged AI superpower by slashing red tape, building billion-dollar infrastructure, and cutting off federal funding for any tech deemed politically biased.
Key pillars of the plan include:
Revoking past regulations seen as obstacles to rapid AI deployment
Eliminating “woke” AI from all government procurement pipelines
Fast-tracking permits for data centers, chip fabs, and energy-intensive AI infrastructure
Launching the $500 billion ‘Stargate Project’ with private-sector partners to build the backbone of U.S. AI supremacy
Creating export pipelines to flood allied countries with American-made AI systems
Deploying workforce training programs to fill the skilled trades gap for the national AI rollout
Centralizing federal authority to prevent blue states from imposing restrictive AI laws
How It Impacts the World
The Trump administration’s plan represents a clear escalation in the US–China tech war. By directly linking AI development with national security and global influence, the White House is effectively weaponizing innovation in a bid to undermine China’s growing digital authoritarianism.
China’s state-backed tech giants, such as Baidu and Huawei, are already heavily invested in AI for surveillance, military, and industrial control. Trump’s AI Action Plan calls them out implicitly—and aims to outcompete them on speed, scale, and ideology. The message is clear: American AI will stand for freedom, transparency, and strength, while Beijing’s model represents control, censorship, and coercion.
If this all plays out as planned, expect some serious global ramifications:
Allied nations may be pressured to ban or replace Chinese AI products in favor of US-approved systems.
Global standards bodies will become battlegrounds for defining “ethical AI,” with the US pushing neutrality and China pushing state control.
Developing countries may find themselves caught in a digital Cold War—forced to choose between the US-AI sphere and the China-led alternative.
International tech alliances may be redrawn around shared values and access to US infrastructure grants or export deals.
Meanwhile, Big Tech is on notice. Federal dollars will be tied to ideological neutrality, which could upend the practices of firms like Google and Microsoft, often accused of embedding progressive values into AI systems. Trump’s plan explicitly targets this, aiming to strip out what he calls "embedded bias" and replace it with “fact-based objectivity.”
The Bigger Picture
This plan isn’t just about computers and code—it’s about reasserting America’s global dominance in the post-industrial world. Trump has framed AI as the new oil, the new arms race, and the new frontier—all in one.
Whether you see it as visionary or polarizing, one thing is certain: the AI war is here—and Trump just fired his first shot. Source
Montreal Fines Church $2,500 for Hosting Christian Singer Without Permit
The City of Montreal has fined a local evangelical church $2,500 after it hosted a concert by American Christian musician Sean Feucht without a permit.
Ministerios Restauracion Church, located in the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, went ahead with the event despite being informed by city officials that it was not authorized.
The concert, which took place Friday evening, was added to Feucht’s tour on short notice after several of his Canadian performances were cancelled. According to a spokesperson for Mayor Valérie Plante, the church was informed that a permit was required and that the event could not proceed.
“The organization violated the regulations by going ahead with the show,” said city spokesperson Philippe Masse. He added that the concert went against the city’s values of “inclusion, solidarity, and respect.”
Feucht is a U.S.-based musician known for his conservative political views, including opposition to abortion, gender ideology, and the LGBTQ+ movement. He has been described by The Atlantic as a “Christian nationalist” and a prominent figure in the MAGA political sphere.
Protesters gathered outside the church during the performance. Montreal police say a 38-year-old man was arrested for obstruction, and a smoke bomb was set off inside the venue. Feucht later claimed on social media that two smoke bombs were thrown toward him during the concert.
Feucht’s “Revive in 25” tour has faced multiple cancellations in recent days. Six scheduled concerts in Eastern Canada—including stops in Halifax, Charlottetown, Quebec City, and Gatineau—were cancelled following public complaints and security concerns. Parks Canada also revoked a permit for a performance at a national historic site in Halifax.
Feucht has accused Canadian authorities of censorship and “Christian persecution,” stating that his views are the reason his events have been shut down.
The City of Montreal maintains that the fine was due to a permit violation. The church has not responded to media requests for comment. Feucht’s tour is scheduled to continue in Western Canada in August. Source.
China Targets Canadian Activists with International Arrest Warrants
Hong Kong authorities—under the direction of Beijing—have issued arrest warrants and bounties for 19 overseas-based pro-democracy activists, including several Canadians, in what Ottawa is calling an aggressive act of transnational repression.
The warrants target members of the "Hong Kong Parliament," a symbolic pro-democracy group founded in Toronto in 2022. Police allege the group seeks to "overthrow China's fundamental system" and have offered bounties of up to 1 million Hong Kong dollars (about $175,000 CAD) for four of the activists, including Canadian citizens Victor Ho and Elmer Yuen. Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism has identified coordinated online campaigns amplifying these bounties within Chinese-speaking communities.
This marks the third instance of international arrest warrants issued by Hong Kong since 2023, targeting pro-democracy activists living overseas, including previous cases involving Canadian residents. More
US Strikes Trade Deal With European Union
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