Canada Free Press

1. High-speed rail a costly boondoggle

   OTTAWA, ON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation is criticizing Prime Minister Mark Carney for borrowing billions more for high-speed rail between Toronto and Quebec City.

   “Canadians need help paying for basics, they don’t need another massive bill from the government for a project that only benefits one corner of the country,” said Franco Terrazzano, CTF Federal Director. “It’s a good a bet that high-speed rail between Toronto and Quebec City isn’t even among the top 1,000 priorities for most Canadians.
   

2. Number of publicly listed companies in Canada down 32.7% and initial public offerings down 94% since 2010, reflecting country’s economic stagnation

   VANCOUVER—Canadian equity markets are flashing red lights reflective of the larger stagnation, lack of productivity growth and lacklustre innovation of the country’s economy, with the number of publicly listed companies down 32.7 per cent and initial public offerings down 92.5 per cent since 2010, finds a new report published today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan Canadian public policy think-tank.

3. HHS Acts to Bar Hospitals from Performing Sex-Rejecting Procedures on Children

   WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2025 — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced a series of proposed regulatory actions to carry out President Trump’s Executive Order directing HHS to end the practice of sex-rejecting procedures on children that expose young people to irreversible harm. These procedures include pharmaceutical or surgical interventions of specified types that attempt to align a child’s physical appearance or body with an asserted identity different from their sex.

4. Liberty Counsel Replies to Seattle Denial of Christian Gathering

   SEATTLE, WA – Liberty Counselfiled a reply brief to the U.S. District Court in Western Washington in Russell Johnson et al. v. City of Seattle et al arguing for a preliminary injunction against the city’s unconstitutional event permit process. In May 2025, Seattle unlawfully denied the organizers of the grassroots revival event Mayday USA a permit to peacefully assemble at a traditional downtown location due to its religious message. Instead, it steered the May 24 event to Cal Anderson Park in a predominantly “LGBTQ+ community” where violent attacks from agitators ensued. Liberty Counsel contends that a government license to engage in protected speech is a classic prior restraint violation under the First Amendment.

5. Court to decide whether Chris Barber loses his truck on Friday

   

   OTTAWA, ON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that the Ontario Court of Justice will deliver its decision on Friday, December 19, 2025, regarding the Crown’s application to forfeit peaceful Freedom Convoy organizer Chris Barber’s truck, a 2004 Kenworth long-haul vehicle known as “Big Red.”