For A Monday

Beginning the week anew...


It's beginning to look a lot like the time before Christmas:

Areas around Toronto will see daytime temps around the freezing mark drop to -6C Monday evening, feeling like -15 with the windchill.

Windchill values could make it feel like -17 in Hamilton during the overnight hours.

That trend is expected to continue into the following day.

"It will feel like January on Tuesday," says Weather Network meteorologist Dr. Doug Gillham.

Snow squall warnings and special weather statements are in effect in southern Ontario.

Damn you, global warming!


Calling Peter Kassig 'Abdul Rahman-Kassig' does what exactly?

Even while the media is describing Peter Kassig, the ISIS hostage who apparently converted to Islam in captivity and was beheaded, by his American name, the Obama statement calls him by his Muslim name.

“Today we offer our prayers and condolences to the parents and family of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, also known to us as Peter,” Obama’s statement reads.

“While ISIL revels in the slaughter of innocents, including Muslims, and is bent only on sowing death and destruction… ISIL’s actions represent no faith, least of all the Muslim faith which Abdul-Rahman adopted as his own.”

Most of the hostages had in fact converted to Islam, with a exceptions like Steven Satloff. It’s understandable that his family would have wanted to push the “He’s a Muslim” line in the hopes of saving his life (a futile effort) but it’s truly despicable for Obama to exploit the murder of an American in order to do public relations for Islam.

The interesting media phenomenon is that Westerners who convert to Islam and become terrorists are almost never referred to by their Muslim names. Meanwhile Kassig who was killed by Muslims is.

Peter Kassig was killed by the very people who embodied Islamism and Obama knows it.

He does not want ISIS defeated.



Strong-arm tactics the Liberal party uses:

After challenging Justin Trudeau for the Liberal leadership in 2013, David Bertschi is now being blocked from running as one of Trudeau's general election candidates in a move he says is "a purely political decision that came directly from the top."

Bertschi was running for nomination in the Ottawa area riding of Ottawa-Orleans. Several Liberals active in the riding said he was poised to beat the only other challenger, retired general Andrew Leslie.

Leslie would be one of Trudeau's star candidates should he run. He currently serves as co-chair of an international affairs council set up to advise Trudeau on foreign policy and defence issues.

Trudeau is attempting to staff his party with star candidates. Would Andrew Leslie advise Trudeau to stand up to Putin?

Wouldn't count on it.


Normally, Vladimir Putin would face down any international criticism but he did leave the G20 summit early. Being a pariah to the West would only serve him well in Russia but the declining economy is too much even for the former KGB agent.


Australians still find something funny in almost anything:

The Queensland Police Service posted a photograph of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s G20 motorcade to Facebook over the weekend, taking the opportunity to tease Canada about some of our greatest hits.

"They have given the world Celine, Bieber and Nickelback but we’ll still help with the Canadian PM’s #G20 motorcade," reads the post, accompanied by the hashtag #nohardfeelings.

A poorly implemented program that costs money with no positive results can only be the result of a big, bloated government that can't even manage its own books:

A crisis is brewing in childcare as full-day kindergarten pushes daycares out of business.

Daycare operators blame the Liberals' roll-out of their controversial full-day kindergarten (FDK) programs for forcing them to shut down.

Herb Goldsmith has been in the childcare business since 1979. His company, Edukids, owns or operates 21 centres throughout the GTA.

He says the FDK program was poorly implemented, with the government insisting on rolling it out for both junior and senior kindergarten children.

"If they'd taken the time to figure out what the ramifications would be and implemented it slowly, with senior kindergarten first, all these centres wouldn't be closing," he said.

It's left parents with younger kids scrambling for care.

With the focus now on infants and toddlers, many daycares require major retrofits, which some can't afford. Goldsmith says his company is large enough to move resources around, but smaller operators are going broke.

"The province should never have taken both groups at the same time out of the childcare field. If they had just taken five year olds, there's a good chance some of these centres could have survived," he said.

While the government provided funding to the non-profit sector for retrofits, the commercial sector was left out.

Goldsmith knows of nine centres in Durham Region alone that have had to close. A centre in Whitby will close at the end of the month.

Compounding the problem, the province is now insisting schools provide after-school programs.
Independent home-based childcare providers are also feeling the squeeze.

Heidi Higgins of the Independent Childcare Providers of Ontario says changes proposed in a new Bill 10 will make it even more difficult for independent operators to continue.

They're already regulated by the Day Nurseries Act and are unlicensed only because legislation doesn't allow them to be licensed.

Current regulations allow her to care for five children under the age of 10, not including her own children, with no restrictions on age.

New regulations would permit five children under the age of 13. That includes her own children - and no more than two children under the age of 2.

"This is going to reduce availability," the Ottawa mom said in an interview.

"From a common sense standpoint, at the age of 12, a child can go to St. John's ambulance and get a babysitting certificate. That child is gone most of the day - but has to be counted in the numbers," she said.

I see no reason to bolster a reformed myth because the UN thinks it's a good idea:

Stephen Harper said Sunday that Canada is preparing to make a contribution to a UN fund that helps poor countries cope with the impact of climate change, a move that follows a $3-billion donation from the United States. He did not specify an amount.

The prime minister, speaking at the end of Group of 20 leaders' summit in Australia, again lauded the recent deal between China and the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions but gave no indication he would commit to bigger reductions on behalf of Canada.

And now, humourous signs in the London Underground.