Friday Post

For the last day of August ...

(sigh)

It's just money:

Talks between the United States and Canada aimed at reaching a deal to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement ended on Friday with no agreement, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources.

Yes, the deal that should have ended up with trans-gendered protections of Chinese steel and a bloated and outdated dairy management board has completely collapsed with no deal in sight.


But Chrystia Freeland will never admit defeat. Oh no!:

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Friday expressed confidence that Canada could reach agreement with the United States on a renegotiated NAFTA trade pact if there was "good will and flexibility on all sides."

How, Chrystia? The US and Mexico will sign a deal in ninety days and Canada has nothing.


Oh, it gets better for the Liberals:

The pessimists have it right, again. The Trans Mountain expansion was more meticulously threaded through all of Canada’s innumerable regulatory hoops than any project before. Kinder Morgan’s Canadian president, Ian Anderson, had taken to heart the vital importance of going over and above every minimum threshold, making it his personal mission to meet with First Nations groups all over B.C. and Alberta and listen to their concerns. Regulators under both Conservative and Liberal governments had worked to get Trans Mountain approved, and yet still failed to meet standards that judges can and do change any time they wish.

This way, Justin can pretend that such a decision was in the hands of the unelected judicial activists in the Supreme Court and no matter how much he wished it or how much American money was thrown at anti-oil activists to whom he gave funding, it was a fight he couldn't win. He'll shrug his shoulders and shuffle off to the next gay parade.


More:

The ruling wasn’t a “next step,” it was a brick wall put up in front of any further steps on the pipeline, and to say otherwise shows an intense disconnect from reality and an immense amount of dishonesty.

Another set-back for Justin:

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley says a court decision striking down the approval of the contentious Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is a national crisis — and she's pulling her province out of the federal climate plan until Ottawa fixes it.

Moving on ...



Don't threaten to remove funding. Do it:

Ontario colleges and universities must come up with free speech policies or face funding cuts, the Progressive Conservative government said Thursday, delivering on a promise Premier Doug Ford made during the spring election.

The schools have until Jan. 1, 2019 to develop, implement and comply with the policies, which experts said were aimed at pleasing a segment of the Tory base that was outraged when some speakers and professors came under fire for their conservative views.

 
 Court cases cost money, John:

Lawyers for arguably the greatest political rivals in Ontario right now — Premier Doug Ford and Toronto council – face each other down in court Friday over Queen’s Park’s effort to reduce the number of municipal politicians in Canada’s largest city.

Bill 5, being challenged by the City of Toronto and others, would halve the size of council to 25 members — from a planned 47 — in time for the Oct. 22 election.

According to legal documents filed on behalf of the province, the Progressive Conservative government has “pressing and substantial objectives” to ensure voter parity sooner and to improve council efficiency and effectiveness.

“No purpose would be served by directing the city to revert to a 47-ward model to vindicate any alleged legal requirement, constitutional right or principal,” the province’s legal position states. 

“Judicial restraint is appropriate in an ongoing electoral process. Where electoral arrangements are concerned ‘Parliament prefers, the courts defer.’”

Why would the police not release any reports on a man who gunned down fifteen people?:

Media lawyers will be attempt on Friday to convince a Superior Court judge to unseal police information on the investigation into Greektown rampage shooter Faisal Hussain.

Hussain killed two young women and wounded 13 other people along Danforth Ave. on July 22, a horrific event that shook Torontonians and garnered international media attention.

Hussain’s identity was widely reported after he killed himself. Toronto Police had wounded him after he opened fire on innocent people in one of the city’s popular communities along Danforth Ave.

The Information To Obtain documents — which is the justification upon which judges grant search warrants and wiretaps — have been sealed indefinitely, a media lawyer factum states. The media wants these unsealed to reveal details to the public.

I'm sure this is not that important:

Two people were stabbed at Amsterdam’s busy Central Station on Friday before the alleged attacker was shot and wounded, Dutch police said.

Japan should be building up its own defenses. An emboldened China and North Korea won't keep themselves in check forever:

The Self-Defense Force wants record spending power next year to help pay for major upgrades to the nation’s defenses, as Tokyo continues to perceive a missile threat from North Korea despite Pyongyang’s promise to abandon nuclear weapons.

The Defense Ministry budget proposal released Friday calls for defense spending to rise 2.1 percent to ¥5.3 trillion ($48 billion) for the year starting April 1.

If approved it will be the seventh straight annual increase, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reinforces the Self-Defense Forces to respond to any North Korea missile strike and counter China’s growing air and sea power in the waters around Japan.

Why, that sounds sensible:

The Justice Ministry said Friday that applications for refugee status plunged 35 percent in the first half of 2018, compared with the same period last year, after a stricter screening system was introduced in January to eliminate applicants believed to be job-seekers.

In the January-June period 5,586 people applied for refugee status, down 2,975 from the same period last year.

The new screening system also seems to be helping to identify those who are genuinely in need of protection, and discouraging those who don’t from applying. The number of people who withdrew their applications stood at 1,451 in the first half, compared with 1,612 through the whole of last year.