Canada Day Performance Lineup and Activities Unveiled

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/canada-day-performance-lineup-and-activities-unveiled-5865906?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_cnt=b&ea_med=canada-day-performance-lineup-and-activities-unveiled-0

Various festivities will be held in 4 locations around the Capital Region.

Ottawa’s LeBreton Flats Park will host the July 1 Canada Day festival with a lineup of musical performances and family entertainment. Various festivities will also be held in three other locations around the Capital Region.

The 2025 celebrations mark the 158th anniversary of Confederation.

At LeBreton Flats Park, the day will begin with a ceremony at noon that features performances by Amanda Marshall, Garou, Thompson Egbo-Egbo, Rafaëlle Roy, and Alli Walker.

An evening concert starts at 8 p.m. with performances by Sarah MacLaughlin, Tom Cochrane, and Randy Bachman.

Amanda Marshall, Roch Voisine, Muzion, Coeur de Pirate, Billie du Page, Josh Ross, Morgan Grace, Mitsou, Édith Butler, TALK, Fredz and Aasiva will also take the stage.

Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Steven Guilbeault unveiled the official program for Canada Day on May 29. He encouraged all Canadians to join in the festivities and “show the world what it means to be proudly Canadian.” Continue…

‘I Want Politics Out of Schools’: Ontario Bill to Give Education Minister More Control Over School Boards

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/i-want-politics-out-of-schools-ontario-bill-to-give-education-minister-more-control-over-school-boards-5865817?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_cnt=b&ea_med=medium-3

Ontario Education Minister Paul Calandra has introduced legislation expanding the minister’s authority over school boards, citing concerns about boards misusing public funds, shifting focus away from student achievement, and turning schools into “a political battle zone.”

Bill 33, called the “Supporting Children and Students Act, 2025,” would allow the minister to step in more quickly when there are concerns over a school board’s practices. Measures include directing an investigation or putting a school board under supervision, Calandra said at a May 29 press conference.

The minister said the province has seen school boards “wasting” resources on issues that divert focus from academic achievement, including what he described as “endless discussions” about changing school names. He cited one school board that spent more than $100,000 renaming three schools while dealing with potential teacher layoffs.

“I want politics out of the schools first and foremost,” Calandra said. “I don’t need trustees to develop curriculum, I don’t need them to give me advice on global affairs. What I need them to do is put money into classrooms and into our teachers so our students can succeed.”

Currently, the minister’s ability to assume responsibility over a school board can depend on a months-long process involving a third-party’s investigation and recommendation for the minister to intervene.

The proposed legislation would give the minister “authority to step in much sooner, and does not require a third party telling us to do the job that we are meant to do,” he said. Continue…

Ottawa Posted $43.2 Billion Deficit in 2024 Fiscal Year: Finance Department

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/ottawa-posted-43-2-billion-deficit-in-2024-fiscal-year-finance-department-5865769?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_cnt=b&ea_med=medium-2

The federal government ran a budgetary deficit of $43.2 billion in the 2024–25 fiscal year, which was $7.7 billion lower than the previous year.

Compared to the period of April 2023 to March 2024, when the budgetary deficit was at $50.9 billion, the 2024 fiscal year saw higher program expenses and increased public debt charges, but these were offset by higher revenues and lower actuarial losses.

The Department of Finance’s monthly fiscal monitor said revenues increased by 11.3 percent in 2024, rising by $50 billion compared to the previous year. Revenues were at $494.8 billion in 2024, compared to $444.8 billion in 2023.

In 2024, the federal government’s tax revenues increased by $36.6 billion, or 9.9 percent, largely due to higher corporate and personal income tax revenue. The carbon tax proceeds also rose by $2.4 billion, or 23.3 percent, because of higher carbon pricing that year.

Other revenues increased by $9.5 billion in 2024, or around 25.8 percent, due to higher profits from Crown corporations, higher interest and penalty revenues, and higher net foreign exchange revenues.

The government’s expenses in the 2024 fiscal year were $480.3 billion, up $39.6 billion from the previous year. Major transfers to Canadians rose by $11.7 billion, Employment Insurance benefits increased by $2.1 billion due to higher unemployment, and children’s benefits rose by $2.2 billion due to higher consumer prices and more eligible children. Continue…

Majority of Canadians Prefer Focus on Illegal Firearms Over Ownership Ban: Poll

https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/most-canadians-say-ottawa-should-focus-on-illegal-firearm-smuggling-instead-of-buyback-program-poll-5865689?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_cnt=b&ea_med=medium-0

The majority of Canadians believe Ottawa should focus on stopping illegal firearm smuggling rather than pursuing its ownership ban and buyback program, a recent poll from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation suggests.

The May 22 Leger survey commissioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation indicates that 55 percent of Canadians believe the most effective way to reduce gun crime is to stop illegal firearm smuggling from the United States into Canada.

Meanwhile, 26 percent believe that banning the sale and ownership of many firearms and using the government’s buyback program is the most effective strategy, the poll says. Eight percent of Canadians feel that neither method is effective, and 11 percent are unsure of the best response.

“The poll shows that Canadians know the real problem is illegal gun smuggling, not firearms owned by licenced Canadian gun owners,” Gage Haubrich, Canadian Taxpayers Federation prairie director, said in a May 29 statement, adding that that it would be a “waste of money” to spend potentially billions of dollars on a program Canadians feel is ineffective.

“Law-enforcement experts are telling Ottawa to focus on smugglers instead of licenced gun owners and this poll shows Canadians agree with that commonsense reality,” Haubrich said.

The Liberal government has said that banning certain types of guns is important to ensure public safety. Continue…

Dutch Defense Minister Warns of Escalating Chinese Spy Operations

https://www.theepochtimes.com/china/dutch-defense-minister-warns-of-escalating-chinese-spy-operations-5865992?ea_src=ca-frontpage&ea_cnt=b&ea_med=lead-story-0

The semiconductor industry is a key espionage target for China, according to Ruben Brekelmans.

Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans warned Saturday that Chinese cyber espionage targeting the Netherlands is intensifying, with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) particularly focused on stealing advanced semiconductor technology.

“The semiconductor industry, which we are technologically leading—or technology advanced, of course—to get that intellectual property, that’s interesting to China,” Brekelmans told Reuters on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore on May 30.

Chinese spies have set their sights on Dutch semiconductor, aerospace, and maritime industries in an effort to advance China’s military power, according to the Dutch military intelligence agency’s latest annual report, released on April 22. It highlights a “whole-of-society” approach by the CCP that blurs the lines between legitimate academic exchange and covert technology transfer.

“In the Netherlands, we have seen Chinese activities in the area of unwanted knowledge transfer of high-quality Dutch technology such as semiconductors,” the report states. These transfers occur through both legal channels—like investments and research partnerships—and illegal ones, including cyber espionage and export control evasion.

Brekelmans said that the threat has not abated.

“It’s continuing. In our newest intelligence reports, our intelligence agency said that the biggest cyber threat is coming from China, and that we do see most cyber activity when it comes to us being as from China. That was the case last year, but that’s still the case. So we only see this intensifying.” Continue…

U.S. poised to reap the benefits of B.C. ostrich research

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvHb4B0iKvs

On Friday's Rebel Roundup livestream, Drea Humphrey and Sheila Gunn Reid discussed what might come next for the ostriches, and what role America will play in saving—and benefiting from—the possibly avian flu-immune birds.

Visit Rebel News to read this story ► http://rebelne.ws/43v5b0w

Senator Lindsey Graham Issues a Threat to China and Russian Leader Vladimir Putin After Meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine (VIDEO)

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/senator-lindsey-graham-issues-threat-china-russian-leader/

While President Trump is striving to bring about peace to one of the bloodiest wars on the planet, one of the Senate’s most notorious war hawks is rattling his sabers, angling for more turmoil.

Senators Lindsey Graham (RINO-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) arrived in Kyiv to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday. Per a press release from Zelenskyy’s office, the three discussed U.S. legislation that would strengthen sanctions against Russia, coordinating diplomatic efforts to achieve “a just and lasting peace,” and developing bilateral relations between Ukraine and the United States.

Look at how warmly Zelenskyy and Graham greet each other. Continue…

Joe Rogan Expertly Schools Bono After Far-Left Singer Makes Up an Outrageous Lie Regarding Elon Musk and DOGE – Musk Responds with Fire (VIDEO)

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/joe-rogan-expertly-schools-bono-after-far-left/

One of the globalist left’s most beloved figures was caught spreading a despicable lie on the nation’s most popular podcast about Elon Musk and his work with DOGE, and got promptly schooled in the process.

Irish singer Bono appeared as a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience to discuss his new book and his passion for shaking down wealthy foreign governments to give valuable taxpayer dollars to poorer nations. During their discussion, Bono uttered this whopper about what DOGE did in slashing one of the worst government agencies of all: USAID. Continue…

Kiev Mayor Klitschko SLAMS Zelensky in Interview With Foreign Press – Former Champion Heavyweight Boxer Says Ukraine Now ‘STINKS of Authoritarianism’

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/05/kiev-mayor-klitschko-slams-zelensky-interview-foreign-press/

Former world heavyweight champion boxer, currently mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko went out publicly and torched Volodymyr Zelensky’s presidential office.

Yesterday (30), Klitschko gave an interview to the UK Times (behind a paywall) and said that the work of the Kiev City Council is paralyzed by ‘raids, interrogations and threats of fabricated criminal proceedings’.

Berliner Zeitung reported (translated from the German)

“’This is a purge of democratic principles and institutions under the guise of war’, he said. ‘I once said that it smells of authoritarianism in our country. Now it stinks of it’.

The British daily newspaper describes the open power conflict between Zelensky and Klitschko as a ‘de facto state of war’ between the two politicians.” Continue…

RUNNING COUP: TO DATE OVER 180 RULINGS BY ACTIVIST JUDGES AGAINST PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AGENDA AND “DERANGED” NORM EISEN IS BEHIND MOST

https://joehoft.com/running-coup-to-date-over-180-rulings-by-activist-judges-against-president-trumps-agenda-and-deranged-norm-eisen-is-behind-most/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=running-coup-to-date-over-180-rulings-by-activist-judges-against-president-trumps-agenda-and-deranged-norm-eisen-is-behind-most

Activist Judges halt President Trump’s Agenda in garbage cases filed by “deranged” Norm Eisen. The running coup of the Trump Agenda continues.

Activists Judges have halted President Trump’s agenda at least 181+ times in just a 4 month span.

”That is a huge number. To give you that in percentage terms, in over 50% of Trump administration agenda has been halted at least temporarily.”

Judicial lawfare in this country is out of control. Continue…

Alberta Wildfires Threaten Oil Sands Output; Energy Experts Closely Monitoring Inferno

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/alberta-wildfires-threaten-oil-sands-output-energy-experts-closely-monitoring-inferno

Goldman energy analysts, led by Adam Wijaya, are closely tracking wildfires in Alberta, where over half a million barrels per day of crude production are at risk.

"Good morning and happy Friday! Coming in this morning to see Brent at $64/b and WTI at $61/b… quiet on the macro front this morning for the most part, with most of the focus on (a) monitoring progression of Alberta Wildfires (number is now above 50… 28 considered out of control from 24 prior, with 19 under control)," Wijaya told clients.

The latest data from Bloomberg shows that 29 out-of-control fires are raging 12 miles from massive oil sands well sites that produce 459,000 barrels of oil daily. Continue…