For A Friday

Quickly now ...


Believing that the Paris Agreement would cost, American jobs, American President Donald Trump withdrew.

The Great Frowning began:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken with Donald Trump and expressed his disappointment with the U.S. president's decision to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement.

According to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office, the two leaders spoke after Trump made his announcement about withdrawing from the deal earlier Thursday. They also discussed trade relations between the two countries, according to the statement. 

The Prime Minister's Office released a statement from Trudeau reacting to the U.S. decision to abandon the global climate deal. 

"We are deeply disappointed that the United States federal government has decided to withdraw from the Paris agreement," Trudeau said in the statement. "Canada is unwavering in our commitment to fight climate change and support clean economic growth. Canadians know we need to take decisive and collective action to tackle the many harsh realities of our changing climate."

Trudeau said that the U.S. decision is disappointing, but there was "growing momentum" around the world to stay in the fight and transition to a clean growth economy. 

"This is about an ambitious and unshakable desire to leave a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable planet for our kids and for generations to come," Trudeau said.

If one were Trump (or anyone else, really), would one care what a talking wig had to say?

To wit (or witless):

Justin Trudeau Gets His Ass Handed To Him By UWO Student!

Trudeau gets ripped a new one on his fiscal irresponsibility. London, Ontario, Canada at UWO’s Alumni Hall.

Also:

Let’s be clear: the Paris Agreement was never about the environment.

Watching world leaders and Hollywood celebrities fly in and out of Paris on private jets, seeing idling motorcades and gas-guzzling SUVs fill the vast parking lots at global climate conferences, average people could be forgiven for dismissing this initiative as farce.

The Paris scheme was primarily focused on creating a political consensus around so-called climate action, not on innovation, scientific measurements or even an absolute reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.

The non-binding global accord, written by European bureaucrats behind closed doors and away from the people and industries affected, sought a top-down approach and the selective reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Each of the 148 countries that have ratified the agreement were free to determine their own goals, and there is no mechanism to enforce these targets. It’s worth noting that the United States did not ratify the agreement – it was never passed by Congress – so much of the hand-wringing over Trump’s decision is largely much ado about nothing.

The framework for Paris is based on an alarmist interpretation of climate data, and focuses not on the largest emitters of carbon dioxide but instead on the richest emitters – Europe and North America.
The entire scheme is based on an invented concept – carbon intensity – meaning carbon emissions as a percentage of GDP.

It therefore disproportionately punishes wealthy emitters, like Canada and the United States, while allowing China and India to continue emitting more carbon dioxide each year until at least 2030 – the year they chose for their commitment to kick in.

The Paris Agreement is nothing but a lofty and symbolic United Nations initiative – one that facilitates smug liberal virtue-signaling, big government intervention in the economy and socialist redistribution of wealth.

Convicted girl-murderer Karla Homolka can no longer volunteer at an elementary school:

A private Montreal elementary school is moving to quell public fears following media reports about Karla Homolka doing some volunteer work there.

The school, which is operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, says it won't allow anyone with a criminal record to volunteer in any capacity on school grounds.

The church issued a brief statement Thursday that didn't mention Homolka by name, but said it has "heard and listened to the concerns of parents and members of the community uncomfortable with recent reports in the media."

That she was even permitted to is just mind-boggling.


Also:

Federal officials have advised Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to put the brakes on setting up a publicly accessible database of high-risk child sex offenders.

The previous Conservative government ushered in legislation that opened the door to allowing the RCMP to create such a database as part of measures to crack down on child predators.

An internal memo to Goodale from Public Safety officials says “a number of concerns have been raised” — from resource pressures to fears of vigilante-style attacks — that would support dropping the database idea.

The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to recently obtain the March 2016 memo and other internal notes on the legislative measures.

The proposed database would provide the public with a national inventory of high-risk child sex offenders in their communities and allow them to take appropriate precautions, the notes say.

They indicate that officials recommended proceeding with elements of the legislation that impose new reporting requirements on registered sex offenders and allow for better information sharing between federal agencies.

But officials suggested the department and RCMP would undertake a review and consult interested parties “for a fully informed assessment of the proposed new database and develop options for your consideration in moving forward.”

If you give a Quebecois mouse a cookie ... :

Justin Trudeau moved quickly Thursday to slam the lid on a constitutional can of worms opened by Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, who unveiled a plan to eventually secure recognition of his province's distinctiveness in the Constitution.

"You know my opinion on the Constitution," the prime minister said as he arrived on Parliament Hill for a cabinet meeting.

"We're not reopening the Constitution."

That blunt, unequivocal response came even before Couillard formally launched an initiative aimed at encouraging dialogue about Quebec's role in the federation, with the eventual goal of reopening the Constitution to meet the province's long-standing conditions for formally signing on to the highest law of the land.

The potential for such a move to mushroom into constitutional squabbling over a host of thorny issues that could threaten national unity was on display almost immediately.

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall issued a statement saying "there are certainly other constitutional issues" his province would like to discuss — a list topped by the "terribly flawed" equalization formula, which Wall said penalizes oil and gas producing provinces while benefiting hydro-producing provinces like Quebec.

Equalization takes $500 million a year out of his province while providing $11 billion annually to Quebec, Wall asserted.

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said Couillard's move provides an opportunity to revisit Senate abolition, which would require a constitutional amendment approved unanimously by all provinces. Couillard has in the past argued vehemently that doing away with the Senate is not in Quebec's interests.

And Couillard himself allowed Thursday that discussion of Quebec's constitutional demands could evolve to include the demands of First Nations for constitutional recognition of their nationhood.

This train wreck has only been delayed.