Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has proposed new legislation that will prohibit gender reassignment surgeries for minors under 18, and will place restrictions on hormone therapy and puberty blockers for youth under 16. Smith also says the proposed legislation will require parental notification for a teacher or staff member to change a child’s name or pronoun.

Teacher fired for refusing to use student’s preferred pronouns gets $575K settlement. The teacher, Peter Vlaming, argued his termination was a violation of his religious beliefs.

Mainstream news is dying: CTV News Vice-President Richard Gray admitted during a parliamentary committee that the broadcaster is losing $40 million a year and that viewership is declining year over year.

Canadians’ trust in news media continues to wane, with only 32% believing that news outlets present “accurate and impartial” information, according to research by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Less than one-third of respondents expressed satisfaction with the quality of information and analysis provided by Canadian media.

Toyota Motor Corporation has announced significant changes to its “DEI initiatives” (proactive and deliberate actions organizations take to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion).  In a memo sent to its US employees and dealers, Toyota said it would no longer support “diversity, equity, and inclusion” events such as LGBTQ events and Pride parades. The changes followed a wave of similar corporate rollbacks across North America.

Six California transit workers terminated for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine due to religious reasons have been awarded $7.8 million by a federal jury. The six former San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) employees will each receive more than $1 million in compensation because BART unlawfully denied their religious accommodation requests, forcing them to choose between their faith and their jobs.

An Ontario man found guilty of criminal “common nuisance” for protesting COVID restrictions has his charge dismissed on appeal. Cullen McDonald, 34, has won a significant legal victory after a Superior Court judge overturned his criminal conviction related to an anti-lockdown protest in St. Catharines. The ruling concluded a three-year legal battle over McDonald’s participation in protests against COVID-19 restrictions in Ontario and has attracted national attention for its potential implications, particularly regarding the imposition of criminal charges for provincial public health violations. After the hearing, an emotional McDonald addressed the large crowd, “Don’t give up hope, no matter what they (expletive) throw at you.”

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has introduced legislation to remove toxins from school lunches and increase support for regenerative agriculture. His bill “Safe School Meals Act”, addresses heavy metals, pesticides, harmful additives, and chemicals in food and also packaging. The bill was inspired by a Moms Across America study, which revealed that, out of all 43 lunches tested, all of them contained heavy metals, most contained glyphosate, the majority contained other harmful pesticides, and all of them were extremely low in nutritional value. Approximately 30 million school meals are served daily in the US.

Thirty U.S. lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors of House Bill 9828, known as the End the Vaccine Carveout Act. This proposed legislation aims to eliminate the broad liability protections currently granted to vaccine manufacturers for injuries related to vaccines included on the CDC’s Childhood Immunization Schedule.

Texas passed a new law prohibiting healthcare workers from prescribing puberty blockers and hormone therapies to children for so-called “gender-affirming care.”

Charges against former West Lincoln, Ontario, mayor Dave Bylsma, related to pandemic-era social gathering restrictions have been withdrawn. Lawyers from the Democracy Fund successfully argued that the charges reflected overly stringent public health measures and that continuing the case was not in the public’s best interest.

A Dutch court has ruled that billionaire Bill Gates will face trial in the Netherlands over alleged public misinformation about COVID-19 vaccine safety. The case, brought by seven plaintiffs claiming vaccine injuries, names Gates, former Dutch Prime Minister and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, members of the Dutch COVID-19 Outbreak Management Team, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, and the Dutch state. Plaintiffs allege the defendants promoted vaccines they knew were unsafe.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) Educational Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden Administration and board-certifying organizations that threatened to, and sometimes have, revoked board certifications of physicians for their outspokenness on matters of public policy. “This new form of censorship is more dangerous than prior infringements on freedom of speech,” AAPS’s attorney Andrew Schlafly observed, “when physicians are silenced by threats to revoke their board certification, that infringes on the constitutional right to hear what they have to say.”

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has filed a lawsuit, seeking to block the upcoming requirement that tens of millions of Americans provide their personal information to federal agencies beginning Jan 1, 2025. The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) imposes this new reporting requirement on more than 30 million entities, such as small businesses, sports clubs, civic groups, and political organizations.

Win for the fight against hidden fees: Cineplex was fined $38.9 million for adding a hidden $1.50 fee at checkout when non-loyalty program customers purchased tickets online.

Another rural Southwestern Ontario community says no to wind turbines. The Zorra Township Council voted unanimously against a potential wind turbine project or any such future development in the community. The council also insisted that it won’t back any new wind turbine projects on its turf until the province revises its policy and gives municipalities more information about their impacts.