Monday, September 11, 2017

Monday Post




Even though it has been downgraded to a tropical storm, Hurricane Irma has packed a wallop:

Displaced Florida residents started heading back to their homes on Monday as a weakened Hurricane Irma advanced inland, flooding several cities in the northeast of the state while millions of people remained without power. 

Downgraded to a tropical storm early on Monday, Irma had ranked as one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes recorded. It cut power to millions of people and ripped roofs off homes as it hit a wide swath of Florida on Sunday and Monday. 

Authorities said the storm had killed 38 people in the Caribbean and one in Florida, a man found dead in a pickup truck that had crashed into a tree in high winds on the Florida Keys over the weekend. 

With sustained winds of up to 60 mph (100 kph), Irma had crossed into Georgia and was situated about 47 miles (76 km)northeast of the Florida state capital Tallahassee, the National Hurricane Center said at 11 a.m. ET. 

High winds snapped power lines and left almost 6.5 million homes and businesses without power in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, state officials and utilities said. They said it could take weeks to complete repairs.



A verdict for the cancelled gas plants is expected soon:

On Monday, the criminal trial of David Livingston and Laura Miller, who served former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty as chief of staff and deputy chief of staff respectively, convenes in Toronto. They face charges of breach of trust and mischief in relation to the alleged destruction of government files dealing with power plants originally contracted for the Greater Toronto Area. ...

The Livingston/Miller trial is likely to lay bare some inner workings behind the politicized management of Ontario’s power system over the last 10 years. The contracted plants, one each for Mississauga and Oakville, became political liabilities for the McGuinty team in the run-up to the 2011 election. Kathleen Wynne was campaign co-chair when, responding to local opposition, the Liberals nixed the Mississauga development. Wynne also signed a cabinet document cancelling the Oakville development. McGuinty said it “wasn’t right” to build the plants in those spots, too near people’s homes, schools and a hospital, “and we needed to fix it.” That decision appeared to pay off politically: McGuinty was ultimately successful in preserving key seats in the western GTA and eking out a minority government.

But scandal ensued. When the government faced contempt charges after refusing to respond to a motion from PC MPP Rob Leone for disclosure over the gas-plant cancellations, the Speaker of the legislature referred the matter to the justice policy committee, setting off public inquiries.
Both Livingstone and Miller deny the allegations that they participated in a plan to destroy sensitive computer files relating to Ontario’s gas-plant scandal. Miller has claimed investigators acted improperly; Livingston’s lawyers have said he was “consistently open about his actions in the premier’s office” and “believed that those actions were proper and in accordance with normal practices.”

At this point, the patsies should simply roll over on both McGuinty and Wynne. They should break their fall.

I refuse to believe that McGuinty and Wynne knew and did nothing wrong.




Remember - Justin is not taxed the way the working-class "big fish" are:

The Liberals are attempting to frame their latest tax increases on small businesses as directed at big shot, rich, elites cheating the system and hurting the working class. The Liberals want you to roll your eyes and dismiss the whining of the guy who drives a car worth more than your house to the private jet getaway to some exotic destination.

That’s why Justin Trudeau has mentioned the "wealthiest 1%" more than 65 times in the House of Commons and in all his stump speeches. But Canadians aren’t buying this Liberal narrative.

The tax changes the Liberals are proposing are not an attack on the “wealthiest 1%.” And they certainly are not going to help “the middle class and those working hard to join it.” These tax changes will significantly impact the small manufacturing shops, the farmers selling the local produce you love, the greasy spoon where you eat guilty weekend breakfasts, and your physiotherapist who is trying to grow her practice while juggling the demands of being a parent.

The very fabric of our communities is woven together by local business owners. They help drive our local economies, they feed us and keep us well. They employ our neighbours and they give to good causes. And they always ensure that they pay their employees before they pay themselves. Yet Trudeau says they are not paying their fair share.

It’s the hairdresser who decided to set up shop in her home, the family-owned corner store you have relied on for more than one forgotten Thanksgiving ingredient, the family that makes the apple cider you couldn’t get through autumn without, and the fry truck your kids beg you to stop at on weekends. 

It’s the family who came to Canada as immigrants and scraped together everything they had to build a successful business that is now employing others in their community. The very people we should be championing for their incredible hard work and perseverance, Trudeau wants to hit with a massive tax hike.

Trudeau has suggested that most small businesses are just vehicles used by wealthy Canadians to avoid paying taxes. Trudeau claims he is helping the "middle class" by taxing businesses, but he forgets that local businesses help build the middle class and employ two thirds of Canadians.

The vast majority of small business owners are the middle class and they don't have pensions or government bailouts to fall back on. Now Trudeau is sowing the seeds of division across the country by pitting Canadians against each other.


To recap:

At the time, Trudeau was also listed as a director of two other corporations:

– 90562 Canada Inc., the federal corporation that held a portfolio of securities that were part of Trudeau’s inheritance from his father, Pierre Trudeau, that he shared with his brother, Alexandre. The securities were managed by Montreal investment firm Jarislowsky Fraser. The corporation was dissolved in December 2013.

– 7664699 Canada Inc., Trudeau’s personal holding company, which was used when the inheritance was split up. In 2013, the company listed $958,000 in short-term investments and $255,000 in cash.
Because he had incorporated, Trudeau could have lowered his personal tax burden by having any speaking-related expenses paid through JPJT Canada Inc.

He reported receiving income from the company in his MP ethics disclosure – money that would then be taxed at his marginal personal income tax rate.

**

The average total income of the top 1% of Canadian taxfilers rose just under 0.4% from 2013 to $466,700 in 2014.

In recent years, the average total income of the top 1% has remained roughly stable, growing 0.4% from 2009 to 2014, while the average total income of all taxfilers grew 4.2%. 

The share of the country's total income held by the top 1% did not change from 2013 at 10.3%, almost two percentage points below the peak of 12.1% in 2006. The most recent year that the top 1% had a smaller share was 1998 at 10.2%.

Canada's top 1% taxfilers paid, on average, $159,500 in income taxes to the federal and provincial or territorial governments in 2014, up $4,200 or 2.7% over the previous year.

As a result, the share of income taxes paid by the top 1% rose slightly from 20.3% in 2013 to 20.5% in 2014. That was down from a peak of 23.3% in 2007.

To be in the top 1 percent in 2014, a taxfiler must have earned a total income of at least $227,100. Over 268,500 Canadians were in this high-income group. 

**

The truth of the matter is that each of these so-called “loopholes” has an important place in our tax system and small business environment today. Without them, small businesses will pay more taxes, and have access to less financing from investors. In some cases, they might be able to change their practices, and have more aggressive tax planning, with associated higher administrative costs. In all of these cases, however, the rate of economic growth will be negatively affected for all Canadians.

One of the unintended consequence of this reform might be to make it more rewarding for business owners to sell their companies rather than pass them down to the next generation.



The welcome mat is open for some:

Canada has deported hundreds of people to countries designated too dangerous for civilians, with more than half of those people being sent back to Iraq, according to government data obtained by Reuters.

The spike in deportations comes as Canada faces a record number of migrants and is on track to have the most refugee claims in more than a decade. That has left the country scrambling to cope with the influx of asylum seekers, many crossing the U.S. border illegally.

** 

The Toronto International Film festival says the talent of two Iranian actresses denied entry to Canada is shining nonetheless as their film screens for audiences this weekend.

Tehran-born, Montreal-based director Sadaf Foroughi says the Canadian embassy in Turkey prevented the teens from attending Friday's TIFF premiere of "Ava."

But Foroughi says "the girls and I are looking forward to our future screenings and lots of other good things which I'm sure will come" for the film, a Canadian co-production with Iran and Qatar.

The film's publicist notes that Mahour Jabbari, 17, and Shayesteh Sajadi, 18, received near-identical letters doubting their stated purpose of visiting Canada.

Sajadi's letter specifically questions whether she has "sufficient funds, including income or assets" to support herself in Canada and ensure she returns to Iran.

I guess the Liberals have met their 2019 election surprise voters block quota.




The town of Kentville covers a sign that bears the name of Cornwallis rather than stand up to thugs and crybabies:

A debate sweeping the country over the naming of monuments and places after contentious historical figures has found a new flashpoint in rural Nova Scotia.

Petitions have been launched to change the name of the Cornwallis River, a roughly 50-kilometre tidal waterway that meanders through the Annapolis Valley, as well as the name of a bridge that crosses the river.

Upon learning of the petitions, the Town of Kentville covered up the name Cornwallis on a poster of a new bridge set to be built next year, noting that it never intended to name the new crossing after the former governor of Nova Scotia who issued a bounty on Mi’kmaq scalps.

Instead, chief administrative officer Mark Phillips says Cornwallis Bridge was a working name and that council passed a motion two years ago to name the new span after Kentville’s longest-serving mayor, Wendell Phinney.

Oh, I'm sure.




When will they find a cure for this damn thing?!

Nick dismissed critics who questioned the couple’s decision to put their faith first, saying keeping their child showed his wife’s selflessness.

“She gave up her life for the baby,” he said, adding later: “I just want people to know that my wife loved the Lord. She loved her kids. She put anybody in front of her needs. . . . She put my daughter above herself.”

Selflessness must really fry people.




Global warming fanatics must not be amused by this:

Deep within Antarctica’s ice caves, a group of scientists may have discovered a secret ecosystem of plants and animals being supported by the warmth of an active volcano. 

Although average year-long temperatures on Ross Island hover around -17C, including six months between April and September where they don’t rise above -20C, the temperature in cave systems beneath the glaciers can reach 25C. 

“You could wear a T-shirt in there and be pretty comfortable,” lead researcher Ceridwen Fraser said. “There’s light near the cave mouths, and light filters deeper into some caves where the overlying ice is thin.”

Located around and beneath Mount Erebus, an active volcano, the caves have been hollowed out after years of steam travelling through their passages. The study of the caves, led by the Australian National University, evolved into an analysis of the soil within. Fraser revealed that it contained traces of DNA from algae, mosses and even small animals that could be living in the underground oasis.



(Merci)


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