Good morning, it’s Tuesday, December 9th. In today’s news, the Liberals are quietly pushing for a national digital ID, massive doctor retirements threaten healthcare collapse, Ottawa’s hate speech reforms target religious texts, Trump plans to remove state power over AI regulation, and much more.
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Liberal’s Quiet Push for a National Digital ID
For years, parliament has rejected a national Digital ID system as costly, intrusive, and out of step with a free society. Yet while Canadians were focused on housing costs, grocery bills, and the daily grind, Ottawa quietly opened the back door. Newly released Access to Information records show the Department of Immigration commissioned research into enforcing a digital passport-based ID system—without debate, without consultation, and without the public’s consent.
Blacklock’s Reporter uncovered internal documents revealing that federal officials were exploring how to turn the Canadian passport into a domestic identification tool. A senior departmental analyst even warned that Canadian Digital Services appeared to assume this shift was already underway. “This warrants a policy discussion,” they wrote. None happened.
Instead, managers slipped a new question into the 2024 Passport Client Experience Survey—an annual customer-service questionnaire that has existed for a decade. It was never meant to test whether Canadians would tolerate a national digital ID. Yet this year, it asked how “comfortable” people would be sharing a “secure digital version of the passport” inside Canada as ID. MPs weren’t informed. Senators weren’t informed. The Privacy Commissioner wasn’t consulted. And the Minister’s office declined to comment once journalists noticed.
The results were predictable. Only one in five Canadians uses a passport regularly as ID, and nearly half never use it for anything but travel. But when framed as convenient and modern, 64 percent expressed interest in a digital version. Bureaucrats understood exactly what they were testing: not behaviour, but boundaries.
National ID proposals have been debated for decades and rejected for good reason. In 2003, the Commons immigration committee warned it could cost up to $5 billion and grant police the power to stop citizens and demand identification. Former Privacy Commissioner Robert Marleau cautioned that such a program would damage privacy, erode anonymity, and allow governments to assemble detailed profiles of individuals.
Two decades later, those same concerns remain unanswered. Yet rather than face them openly, officials are quietly gauging tolerance behind closed doors. That is not how democratic societies make decisions of this scale.
Canadians deserve an honest debate—not a slow slide into a digital identification regime built through surveys, assumptions, and silence. The question is no longer whether Ottawa is exploring a national digital ID. It’s whether the public will notice before it’s already here. Source.
Canadian Healthcare Crisis: Massive Doctor Retirements Threaten System-Wide Collapse
A new survey from the Ontario Medical Association shows more than 50% of Ontario’s doctors plan to retire within the next five years. That includes 51% of specialists and an alarming 52% of family doctors—the physicians who anchor the entire health-care system. To make matters worse, Ontario already has 2.5 million residents without a family doctor.
The province is trying to fix the shortfall by expanding primary care teams and opening 305 new clinics, backed with $2.1 billion in funding. But the math doesn’t work. Even last year, when retirements were lower, Ontario estimated it needed 3,500 new family doctors to close the gap—and the gap has only grown.
Meanwhile, the pipeline is drying up. A survey of Ontario medical students shows:
Only 22% are “very likely” to choose family medicine.
39% say the pay is too low.
31% say the administrative burden is too high.
Nearly 40% view family medicine as a backup specialty rather than a respected, long-term career.
Training capacity is also lagging. The province overestimated how many Ontarians have primary care and then failed to create enough family medicine teaching sites. As a result, Ontario is delivering 44% fewer family medicine residency positions than promised.
What This Means for Canadians—Especially Right Now
This isn’t some distant policy problem. It’s the beginning of a structural collapse.
1. Access to a family doctor is about to get dramatically worse.
Emergency rooms are already overloaded. Without primary care, minor issues become severe issues. ERs become the front door of the system. That’s the most expensive, least efficient form of care.
2. Immigration pressures will accelerate the breakdown.
Canada is adding hundreds of thousands of new residents every year—far more than the system can absorb. When more than half the province’s doctors are about to retire, expanding population without expanding capacity pushes everything to the brink.
3. Wait times for surgeries, specialists, diagnostics—everything—will get longer.
If family doctors disappear, referrals bottleneck. Delays cascade through every part of the system. People get sicker. Conditions worsen. Costs explode.
4. The promised 2029 goal of “a family doctor for every Ontarian” is a fantasy.
Ontario will lose more doctors in the next five years than it can possibly replace. Even if every new clinic opens on time, and they won’t, there simply aren’t enough physicians entering the system to keep up.
The Bottom Line
Ontario’s health care system is already fraying. This wave of retirements, combined with low interest in family medicine and population growth driven by immigration, is going to push it into full crisis.
For millions of Canadians, the question is no longer when it will collapse, but how much worse it will get before governments admit the system is unsustainable.
Scripture on Trial: Ottawa’s Hate Speech Reforms Target Religious Texts
The Carney government is quietly moving Canada into territory that even the most pessimistic critics of our justice system wouldn’t have predicted: treating parts of the Bible as potential criminal hate speech. Bill C-9, the government’s first major justice bill, removes the long-standing exemption that protects “good faith” expressions rooted in religious texts. And with that one change, scripture — the foundation for millions of Canadians’ moral lives — becomes something prosecutors can criminalize at their discretion.
The move is being framed as a fix for a Quebec controversy. In 2023, radical Montreal imam Adil Charkaoui prayed publicly for “Zionist aggressors” to be killed. Quebec politicians demanded prosecution. Charkaoui countered that he was simply quoting scripture — a prayer, not hate speech. The Bloc Québécois has pushed ever since to strip out the religious exemption so prosecutors can go after extremist rhetoric like his.
But Ottawa’s solution is over the top. Instead of narrowly targeting incitement to violence, Bill C-9 opens the door to treating Christian, Jewish, and other sacred texts as criminal when read aloud in public. Even the government admits this. Marc Miller, the new minister of Canadian identity and culture, told a committee that the Bible contains “clear hatred,” particularly toward homosexuals, and that prosecutors should be free to lay charges.
Which passages? Miller himself has pointed to Deuteronomy 22:22 — the command that adulterers should be put to death — and Leviticus 20:13, the ancient Israelite law prescribing the same for homosexual acts. He also referenced the Book of Romans. These texts are thousands of years old, interpreted today as moral, symbolic, or historical — not literal blueprints for violence. Yet under Bill C-9, their public recitation could be reframed as “wilful promotion of hatred,” a crime carrying up to two years in prison.
The irony is staggering. Canada has no movement calling for the stoning of adulterers. Churches preach forgiveness, not execution. Yet the state is now positioning itself to criminalize the airing of scripture while turning a blind eye to open hostility toward Christians — including church burnings.
This is not about safety. It is about power. A free society does not let the government decide which parts of its founding religious texts become prosecutable speech. And once the state claims that authority, every belief — every dissent — becomes conditional on political approval.
Bill C-9 is one of many steps too far. Canada is drifting into a place where the wrong passage, quoted in the wrong context, could make you a criminal. Source.
Trump Plans Executive Order to Curb State Power Over AI Regulation
President Trump announced plans to sign an executive order establishing a single federal rulebook for artificial intelligence, limiting states’ authority to regulate AI. He argued that uniform rules are essential to maintain US leadership in the global AI race and prevent states from creating burdensome regulations that could stifle innovation. The move follows the administration’s broader AI initiatives, including the “Genesis Mission,” a program mobilizing federal scientific data and supercomputing resources to accelerate AI development, bolster national security, ensure US energy dominance, and improve returns on federal research investments. The announcement has prompted pushback from state officials and safety advocates who warn that federal preemption could undermine consumer protections and AI oversight. More
Conservatives Warn Bill C-15 Gives Ministers Sweeping Powers to Bypass Federal Laws
Conservatives are raising alarms over Bill C-15, the Liberal government’s budget bill, which would give ministers broad powers to exempt individuals or companies from federal laws (except the Criminal Code) for up to six years. The bill cites innovation and economic growth as goals, but critics warn it could bypass parliamentary safeguards and ethical oversight. Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein said ministers must still comply with conflict-of-interest rules, but opposition MPs say exemptions could be made without full public disclosure, raising concerns about transparency, accountability, ‘playing favourites,’ and corruption. More
Trump Plans Executive Order to Curb State Power Over AI Regulation - The president said only a single federal standard can keep the United States ahead in the global AI race, while some states push their own safeguards. More
Carney Announces $400 Million Joint Fund with City of Ottawa for Affordable Housing - Under this program, Build Canada Homes, the new federal agency, will finance 2,000 units on federally owned land and 1,000 non‑market housing units in Ottawa’s portfolio.
UN Aid Coordination Agency Cuts Appeal for 2026 to $33B after Lowest Annual Support in a Decade - More
Thailand Launches Airstrikes Against Cambodia After Deadly Border Clashes - Thailand said it used aircraft to ‘suppress Cambodian supporting fire attacks,’ after the two countries had exchanged blame for violating a cease-fire. More
ICE Updates:
Illinois Releases Nearly 1,800 Criminal Illegals, Ignores ICE Detainers - Gov. Pritzker’s administration has instructed correctional facilities not to honour federal requests to hand over custody of illegal immigrant criminals. More
House Panel Urges Apple, Google to Remove Apps That Track ICE Agents - A gunman used an app to track the movements of federal agents before opening fire on an ICE facility in Dallas on Sept. 24. More
Powerful 7.5-Magnitude Quake Triggers a Tsunami on Japan’s Northern Coast - More
US Threatens Military Attack on Nigeria in Response to Alleged Persecution of Christians - More
Paramount Launches $108.4 Billion Hostile Bid to Steal Warner Bros. Away From Netflix
Paramount, led by David Ellison, has launched a $108 billion all-cash hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, challenging Netflix’s earlier $83 billion deal. The offer is backed by Larry Ellison, Gulf sovereign wealth funds, and Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, who provide nonvoting financing to avoid US regulatory scrutiny. Unlike Netflix, Paramount’s bid includes Warner’s cable networks, such as CNN, TNT, and TBS.
President Trump has publicly weighed in on the Netflix deal, citing antitrust concerns and signaling potential regulatory scrutiny. His involvement adds a political dimension, potentially favoring Paramount given its ties to Kushner and Ellison, but formal approval still rests with the DOJ, FTC, and CFIUS.
Potential outcome: The bidding war is likely to intensify, with Paramount and Netflix both increasing offers. Regulatory reviews, political pressure, and public commentary from Trump could delay or complicate the process, possibly giving Paramount more leverage. While Trump’s support may influence perception, the ultimate decision will depend on shareholder votes and regulatory approval, making a drawn-out, high-stakes battle for Warner Bros. Discovery the most likely scenario. More
Mars Wins Final Approval to Acquire Kellanova in $36 Billion Deal - Mars Inc., known worldwide for its confectionery products such as Snickers, M&M’s, and Twix, among others, has received approval from the European Commission to acquire Kellanova, known for its Kellogg’s brand cereals and snacks such as Pringles potato chips. More
Berkshire Hathaway’s Todd Combs, Investment Lieutenant to Buffett and Geico CEO, is Leaving for JPMorgan - More
Air Transat, Pilots’ Union Say ‘Progress’ Being Made in Talks as Strike Deadline Looms - More
Scientists Discover How Real-Life ‘Hobbits’ Went Extinct 50,000 Years Ago
A new study suggests that Homo floresiensis, the tiny “hobbit” hominids of Flores Island, went extinct around 50,000 years ago due to a combination of severe drought, volcanic activity, and competition with modern humans. Researchers found rainfall in the region dropped drastically over tens of thousands of years, shrinking populations of the hobbits’ main prey, the Stegodon, and forcing the small hominids into coastal areas where they likely encountered Homo sapiens. The findings highlight how evolving climates and environmental change shaped human evolution and extinction. More
New Paper-Thin Brain Implant Could Transform How Humans Connect With AI - A new ultra-thin, wireless brain implant called BISC is revolutionizing human–computer interaction. Featuring over 65,000 electrodes and high-bandwidth connectivity, it allows advanced AI to decode thoughts, intentions, and sensory experiences with minimal invasiveness. More
Reynolds and McElhenney Welcome US Investors to Boost Wrexham’s Premier League Ambitions
Wrexham owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have welcomed US-based Apollo Sports Capital as new minority investors, boosting the Championship club’s bid for Premier League promotion. Reynolds and McElhenney remain majority owners, with Apollo funding redevelopment of the Racecourse Ground, including the new Kop stand, as part of the wider Wrexham Gateway Project to regenerate the surrounding area. The partnership aims to secure a sustainable future for the club while supporting the city’s long-term economic growth. More
Golden Globes Exclude Megyn Kelly, Ben Shapiro, and Joe Rogan from Best Podcast Category - More
FIFA World Cup Schedule Shows Canada is More Handling the Overflow than Hosting - More
Thieves Snatch Eight Matisse Artworks and at Least Another Five by Brazilian Painter Cândido Portinari, From A Library Exhibit in Brazil
Health Canada Recalls Over 16,000 Earbuds After Risk of Catching Fire and Burning Identified
A Pair of “Advanced Humanoid Robots” Showcased at Iran’s Kish Inox Tech Expo Were Exposed as Actual Humans Posing as Robots