Another Day ...

Another post ...

 

Not covered in the debate for next premier - where will all this wonderful money come from? :

The three leaders squared off at the CityNews debate Monday, and took questions from audience members on issues like safe injection sites, transit and policing.

Ford announced the only news of the evening, saying he would invest an additional $5 billion in GTA transit which would include the downtown relief line, two-way GO Transit to Niagara and continue the subway loop around Scarborough.

“And actually deliver proper transit for once in their lifetime for the people of Scarborough,” Ford said, following the debate.

Wynne said her government has been building schools and hospitals, and delivering transit – something Ford won’t be able to do with his plan to cut $6 billion in government spending.

(Sidebar: or someone could consider privatising transit lines as they do in Japan but that would just make sense.)




Well, this must be embarrassing:

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford told reporters he's looking into why actors were paid $75 to be part of the crowd at the Ontario leaders' debate Monday night.

Ford was asked about the move during a Tuesday morning news conference after actors told local media about the casting call. One actor forwarded CBC Toronto a copy of the casting call, which offered 20 actors the chance to be paid $75 "to play real people at a Ford nation rally" from 2 to 8 p.m. ET.

Dozens of noisy Ford supporters rallied in front of the Citytv studios ahead of the debate, waving signs and shouting support for the PC leader and Meredith Cartwright, the PC candidate for Toronto Centre.

The emailed casting call states actors would be wearing "T-shirts of the PC candidates [Ford and Cartwright]."

Ford did not confirm that some people in the crowd were actors, telling reporters the question was the first he had heard of it.

However, his spokesperson, Melissa Lantsman, said in an email that a local candidate hired actors from a casting agency. Lantsman called the decision "unnecessary and a mistake," and said "it will not happen again."

 
Perhaps no more embarrassing than canning someone who stood by you, Doug, but close enough.


In order to remove the curse of Granic Allen's untimely removal from the Tory rolls, Ford has promised to scrap Ben Levin's controversial grooming sexual education program:

The Ontario sex-ed curriculum would be revoked and replaced with a more “age appropriate” document if the PCs are elected to govern, Leader Doug Ford says.

Tories would also scrap “discovery” math, and tie university funding to support for free speech, Ford said Tuesday.

“Like most parents, I want an education system that respects parents,” Ford said. “I want schools that are focused on teaching kids the skills that matter. That’s reading, writing and math.

“We’re going to fix the education in Ontario by getting back to the basics.”

Or one could just remove any form of sex ed from schools and focus on math, particularly the math that would allow students to calculate their share of the debt Wynne has left them.


Also - #Buswatch:

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is standing by a candidate who is distancing himself from past comments that are being described as misogynistic, racist and homophobic.

The candidate, Andrew Lawton, says years of struggling with mental illness were to blame for what he described as past “failings.”

The controversy comes just days after Ford dropped Tanya Granic Allen as a candidate, after homophobic statements were brought to light by the governing Liberals.

But Ford says he accepts that Lawton has acknowledged some of the comments were not appropriate.

I like it when people are unapologetic. False apologies are not apologies and apologising for legitimate criticism is weakness.

 

 HA! :

Quebec’s Opposition is calling on the prime minister to send out a tweet telling would-be asylum seekers around the world they will not get a free pass into Canada.

Members of the Parti Quebecois have for months accused Justin Trudeau of helping to spark the current refugee crisis with a January 2017 tweet welcoming newcomers.

The prime minister wrote on Twitter at the time, “To those fleeing persecution, terror and war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength. 
#WelcomeToCanada.”

The PQ’s Catherine Fournier and Carole Poirier say the message gave false hope to people around the world who assumed Canada would welcome them regardless of whether they fit the legal definition of a refugee.

Not bloody likely, mate.


Also:

As reported by Althia Raj of the Huffington Post, when trying to discuss those crossing illegally in an attempt to avoid deportation from the US to Nigeria, Marc Garneau said that “we estimate that more than 90 per cent of irregular migrants don’t respond to our criteria and will have to leave, including 200 in the coming weeks.”

Yet, it turns out that 45% of Nigerians making asylum claims were accepted in 2017. And keep in mind, even those who are rejected aren’t necessarily removed from the country, as there are appeals and legal hurdles. ...

After being exposed by Raj, the government was forced to backtrack, with a Goodale spokesman saying the numbers mentioned were “retrospective and looking primarily at Haitians,” adding, “It should have been a bit more clear that it is retrospective.” 

Whatever, you lying sacks of sh--.



One can't expect Justin to live on a mere $1.8 million a day! :

In Question Period, Conservative Finance Critic Pierre Poilievre ripped Trudeau for living in luxury at the expense of Canadian taxpayers, while telling us taxpayers that buying gas is a “choice,” even though it’s a necessity for millions of us.

In response to Poilievre, Trudeau tried talking about BC’s carbon tax as if it’s a good thing, failing to take into account the record high gas prices crushing consumers wallets and the role the carbon tax plays in making those prices even higher.

 
And chefs just don't fly themselves to India.

GOD! Pierre just doesn't get it!



Because this thug killed four people while a young offender and its now sentenced as an adult, the public cannot know his identity until he is released on parole in the next few years:

A judge has sentenced a Canadian man to life in prison for killing four people, two of them in a school, and injuring seven more in a rare mass shooting in Canada ...

(Sidebar: Gamil Gharbi. Carry on.)

The man’s identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban because he was a minor during the January 2016 killings in the isolated and impoverished town of La Loche in northern Saskatchewan.

He was sentenced after pleading guilty last year to killing a teacher and teaching assistant in a local school and two teenage brothers in their home in La Loche, 850 kilometers (528 miles) northwest of Saskatchewan’s capital, Regina. 

Judge Janet McIvor sentenced the man as an adult even though he was 17 at the time of the shooting. She ruled earlier this year that a lighter youth sentence was inappropriate. 

Not that the sentence matters because he will be released sooner than scheduled.



Trump dismantles Obama's legacy regarding Iran:

President Donald Trump on Tuesday pulled the United States out of an international nuclear deal with Iran, raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East, upsetting European allies and casting uncertainty over global oil supplies. 

To wit:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz wasted no time going after White House National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes Tuesday during a hearing examining the Obama administration's narratives on the Iran nuclear deal. 

Rhodes, who told New York Times Magazine nearly two weeks ago that he manipulated an ignorant media to essentially lie to the American people about the Iran deal, was called to testify in front of the Committee and refused, citing executive privilege.

Obama does not like this one bit:

A long lecture has been posted on Obama's Facebook page, where he admits Iran regularly engages in bad behavior (aka terrorism). 

"The JCPOA was never intended to solve all of our problems with Iran. We were clear-eyed that Iran engages in destabilizing behavior – including support for terrorism, and threats toward Israel and its neighbors," Obama said. "I believe that the decision to put the JCPOA at risk without any Iranian violation of the deal is a serious mistake. Without the JCPOA, the United States could eventually be left with a losing choice between a nuclear-armed Iran or another war in the Middle East."

1) Iran violated the agreement by lying their way into it. Specifically, lying about their secret nuclear bomb program. 
2) War has been raging in Syria since the Iran deal was signed, in large part because of Iranian aggression. 
3) Iran's bad behavior has been emboldened, not deterred, since the deal was signed.

Perhaps Trump did not relish being the president who swept up after another's mess, the way Reagan had to clean up after Carter.



China rewards its vassal state:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited China and met President Xi Jinping, state media of both countries said on Tuesday, their second encounter in two months in a flurry of diplomatic engagement that has eased tensions on the Korean peninsula.  ...

Xi hosted a banquet and told Kim of his backing of North Korea’s “strategic shift towards economic development”, Xinhua added. 

“China supports North Korea’s upholding of denuclearization on the peninsula, and supports North Korea and the United States resolving the peninsula issue through dialogue and consultation,” Xi said. 

North Korean state media said Kim was “very pleased” that the relationship with China was reaching a high point, and North Korea would cooperate with China more actively as the situation on the Korean peninsula changed.

 All is going according to plan.