Monday Post

Quickly now ...




And it's Doug Ford for the win! :

Doug Ford is now the undisputed leader of Ontario's Progressive Conservative party, after the rival he defeated by a razor-thin margin agreed not to challenge his victory in court.

Christine Elliott congratulated Mr. Ford publicly after meeting with him on Sunday evening, saying in a statement that she was "confident in the results" of the leadership contest – despite vowing fewer than 24 hours earlier to get to the bottom of what her team called "serious irregularities" with the party's online-voting process.

"Christine Elliott has been a long-time Conservative. She is a class act," said Michael Harris, a Tory MPP and her campaign co-chair. "Although it was a tough few weeks, she has put the party first."

It would be very Hillary Clinton of her to hold on to a lost cause.

It remains to be seen if Doug Ford can pull off a victory in June. Kathleen Wynne always manages to find money for the unions just before election day. 

Climate Barbie threatens Saskatchewan:

Canada's environment minister says Saskatchewan will be subject to a federal carbon tax if it doesn't sign on to a national climate change plan by the fall.

Catherine McKenna says in a letter to her Saskatchewan counterpart, Dustin Duncan, that the province is best positioned to design a carbon-pricing approach that works for its situation.

"The other nine provinces have taken us up on that approach," she wrote. "It's unfortunate that your government has not yet chosen to do the same.

"I remain hopeful that you will change course ahead of the Sept. 1 deadline for all provinces and territories to submit their carbon-pricing plans."

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the province has not changed its mind about being the lone holdout on Ottawa's pan-Canadian climate-change framework.

"We stand in exactly the same situation for quite some time now," Moe said in Regina on Monday.

Today in "it's just money" news:

Canadians’ collective household debt has climbed to $1.8 trillion as an international financial group sounds an early warning that the country’s banking system is at risk from rising debt levels.

Equifax Canada says consumers now owe $1.821 trillion including mortgages as of the fourth-quarter of 2017, marking a six per cent increase from a year earlier.

Although nearly half of Canadians reduced their personal liabilities, roughly 37 per cent added to their debt to push the average amount up 3.3 per cent to $22,837 per person, not including mortgages.

No wonder people vote for idiots like Justin. Their spending habits are similar.

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China, Canada and Hong Kong are among the economies most at risk of a banking crisis, according to early-warning indicators compiled by the Bank for International Settlements.

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Justin Trudeau famously came from away to see a Broadway musical about Newfoundland hospitality — but not all those he invited were as eager to attend.

According to an access-to-information response obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the Canadian government bought 502 tickets to a performance of Come From Away in New York City last summer.

Even though more than 700 VIPs were invited, only 276 said yes. A larger contingent either sent their regrets (197 people) or didn’t bother to respond (227).

**

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind is about to celebrate its 100th birthday, and so it was with great anticipation that Diane Bergeron, the organization’s blind vice president, made her way into the federal budget lockup to see if the Trudeau Liberals had come through with the goods.

From a budget in the billions, the CNIB was seeking a comparative paltry $2.5 million to support accessible book production for blind and vision-impaired readers, and naturally thought such a small request would be a slam dunk since the Trudeau Liberals’ progressiveness is all about compassion.

After all, who stiffs the blind? ...

(Sidebar: Justin does, apparently.)

The worst of it was that the Trudeau Liberals had actually stiffed the blind, and did not allocate the $2.5 million requested by the CNIB for the production of books accessible for the blind and the vision impaired.

In fact, it allocated not a penny.

While Opposition leader Andrew Scheer is considering an ombudsman for legal gun-owners and wants to prevent the RCMP from re-classifying firearms, Justin is being his usual pi$$y self, displaying his sociopathic inability to deal with not getting his way:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s angry response to a rural MP’s concerns raised at a recent national caucus meeting on the Hill over the government’s upcoming gun legislation did not go over well with some Liberal MPs who say it will have a “chilling” effect on their ability to speak candidly at the closed-door meetings.

According to Liberal MPs and insiders, Mr. Trudeau (Papineau, Que.) verbally “attacked” rookie Liberal MP T.J. Harvey (Tobique-Mactaquac, N.B.), chair of the Liberal rural caucus, during the Feb. 28 national caucus meeting on Parliament Hill. Mr. Harvey stood up to say that there was a “lack” of meaningful consultation with the caucus over the government’s upcoming gun control legislation.

“Justin was much too vitriolic and attacked him,” one Liberal MP, referring to Mr. Harvey, told The Hill Times, who spoke on condition of anonymity since the closed-door caucus meetings are confidential. “We’re also supposed to have the right to voice our opinion.”

This MP said the soon to be tabled gun legislation is “scaring the hell out of the Liberal caucus,” especially the ones representing rural ridings.

If Liberals MPs - east or west of Ottawa - had any instinct for political survival, they would take this as a strong hint to turf this douchebag before 2019.




Oh, dear:

A letter of support from Ontario’s labour minister appears in the latest edition of a book on Islam which condones men physically punishing their wives.

The letter from Yasir Naqvi appears in the reviews section of Islam: Balancing Life and Beyond. The book says it is within the tenets of Islam to “lightly” strike your spouse if she exhibits “serious moral misconduct.”

Naqvi congratulates the author, Suhail Kapoor, on the release of the new edition.

Why, Iqra Khalid did something similar.







Can't anyone in Justin's government do anything right? :

A flag mix-up caused Canada a bit of embarrassment today — day one of a state visit by the king and queen of Belgium, the first such visit in over 40 years.

Belgian journalist Wim Dehandschutter was the one who first pointed out that the flag marking a tree Belgium's Queen Fabiola planted on the grounds of Rideau Hall back in 1977 was actually Germany's flag.

And who ties flags (incorrect as they are) to trees? Is Canada a Dollar Store operation now?


Also:

This week, French president Emmanuel Macron became the first Western leader to visit India since the departure of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Where Trudeau’s visit was a textbook disaster in international relations, Macron has apparently been bathing in diplomatic triumph.

Mais oui.




British Prime Minister Theresa May says what everyone already knows:

British Prime Minister Theresa May has opened a new front in the West’s growing conflict with Russia, accusing the country of being behind the poisoning of a former Russian double agent and vowing to take “extensive measures” in retaliation.

On Monday, Ms. May made it clear she’s preparing to rally NATO allies and the United Nations to combat what she called Russia’s disregard for the international “rules-based order.” And she indicated Britain is considering a host of actions against Russia that could include additional sanctions and seizing the assets of Russian oligarchs in London.

If one wants the end of a nuclear Kim regime, one has to put an end to Kim:

After years of failed attempts by the United States and others, is U.S. President Donald Trump the man who can strip North Korea of its nuclear weapons and bring lasting peace to the Korean Peninsula?

Trump remains ever confident that he is the right man for the job, but experts say North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is not about to part with his “treasured nuclear sword” — at least not any time soon.

“Kim Jong Un would no doubt take a huge hit inside the regime if he gave up the nuclear program,” said Ken Gause, a North Korean expert and director of the International Affairs Group at the Center for Strategic Studies, a division of the Center for Naval Analyses in Washington.

“For that reason, I don’t think he would do it immediately,” Gause said. “Denuclearization would be a long process that would take years and be tied to significant guarantees, such as a peace treaty. How fast this process goes would depend on what the U.S. and South Korea would be willing to put on the table and how comfortable North Korea feels on its security.”

A grisly find on the Chinese border:

A Russian fisherman walking along a river on March 8 found a bag containing 54 severed human hands.

The hands — each of which was cut off at the wrist — are not of “criminal origin” according to the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.

And now, dogs prove once again their heroism and spirit of compassion:

Two canine heroes, Kanak and Bouffon, were honoured by a Quebec veterinarian association for their service, Sunday.

Kanak, a three-year-old Labrador Retriever, is Quebec's very first police service dog, providing emotional support for victims of crimes through the Sherbrooke, Que., police department.

Bouffon, a two-year-old Labrador-Mountain Bernese mix, is a service dog who saved his owner from a fire last Thanksgiving.

The two were inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Quebec small animal veterinarian association in Laval.

 

(Merci)