Mid-Week Post

Your middle-of-the-week fun snack ...




Despite weak-as-dishwater plan the Tories have for immigration and the laissez-faire plan the Liberals already have, it seems that most Canadians are dissatisfied with how things are now:

Canadians have been dubious for decades about the merits of increasing levels of immigration, but a new report also suggests growing opposition to immigration over the past few years.

The report from the Angus Reid Institute analyzes polling data going back to 1975 to show that, throughout that period, a relatively constant number of Canadians — around one in four — have always said they think immigration levels should be decreased, while support for keeping levels the same has tended to be slightly higher. Only about 10 per cent of Canadians have supported increasing the levels during that time.

No word on whether or not Justin called them racist and then hid behind his mother's skirt, as is his wont.

As the immigration policies both major parties have does not address the fracturing of Canadian society, why we are not producing skilled workers or a replacement population, it also overlooks the fact that these immigrants are nothing more than voters blocks whose needs either cannot be met or won't be met and whose acclimatisation to Canadian society is irrelevant as long as they vote how they are told.

Huge swaths of the population aren't racist. They are fed up.




If people are truly convinced that a Quebecois grandmother is this racist ogre Justin wishes her to be, why didn't he dismantle her points one-by-one?:

If Trudeau and Co. intend to win another election based largely on a contrast in tone with the Conservatives, if not literally against the previous prime minister — “perhaps we can get the smiles of Andrew Scheer, but it remains the Conservative Party of Stephen Harper,” Trudeau said Sunday — they really need to have a serious look at their own obnoxious tendencies, and at the prime minister’s especially. He’s Justining all over us.

Hillary Clinton thought the American electorate was deplorable, too, and look where it got her.




Canada is WAAAAAAY back:

In a further deterioration of Canada’s trade relationship with the U.S., the Trump Administration plans to impose anti-dumping duties on pipes made in Canada.

According to the CP, the duties will apply to “large-diameter welded pipe from Canada and five other countries.”

“The other countries being hit with duties include China, Greece, India, Korea, and Turkey, with penalties ranging from 3.45 per cent for Turkey to over 132 per cent for China.”

**

The Trudeau government announced their ‘big’ ‘plan’ to combat poverty, but it’s looking like a total failure.

It announced no new money, and it put the responsibility on future governments.
As noted in a report, the plan is just a rehash of past announcements:

“The Liberal government lifted the veil on what it billed Tuesday as a bold plan to strike a blow against poverty across Canada by the end of the next decade — but the plan is absent any new spending or policy proposals that would help slash low-income rates by the year 2030. Instead, the 115-page plan provides a list of programs and policies the Liberals have enacted since coming to power in 2015, linking them to an ongoing federal effort to beat back poverty rates.”

The Liberal ‘plan’ also fails to record data for poverty in some of Canada’s most impoverished regions, including Indigenous communities and the far north.

What? Are they ashamed of him now?:

Two sources have confirmed to The Globe and Mail that Mr. Khadr and his wife, Muna Abougoush, were in the Parliament Buildings on June 19, the same day as an annual celebration of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr in the Sir John A. Macdonald building, a parliamentary reception hall. The annual event includes members of the public, and MPs and senators from all parties.

A senior Liberal insider told The Globe on Monday that the government was worried that Mr. Khadr might meet with Liberal MPs or attend the Eid al-Fitr celebration, where Mr. Trudeau was speaking. The government has been highly criticized over a $10.5-million settlement and formal apology to the former child soldier for abuses he suffered while detained in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Yes, terrorists can be political liabilities during a time of election.




He can't screw up any more than Justin did:

Six months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's foreign policy prowess was pummelled by a disorganized state visit to India, his chief opponent is heading to New Delhi to try to "repair and strengthen" Canada-India relations.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer will take his team to India for nine days in October. He has plans to meet with senior government officials, business leaders and civil society and faith leaders.

"Standing with a united India is Canada's gateway to unprecedented human and economic development, and an essential alliance for Canada to strengthen in the face of shared threats," Scheer said in a statement.

He also praised India for being the world's largest democracy and having one of the fastest-growing economies, saying the country "in recent years is transforming into a rising power in the vast Indo-Pacific region and beyond."

"A Conservative government will dramatically expand the strategic relationship between our countries and our peoples and advance our shared security, prosperity and values. Unfortunately, Justin Trudeau's disastrous trip to India damaged this key relationship and we must now work to repair it."

Liberals promise things they have no intention of delivering.

Case in point:

The Progressive Conservatives say the Liberals have not done enough to attract new jobs and stem the outflow of young people. The Liberals had promised during the last election to create 10,000 new jobs — later adding the promise was not for net new jobs. While the Liberals say they have created more than 15,000 new jobs, the actual size of the provincial workforce has declined. The cancellation of plans for the Energy East pipeline and the closure of Sears stores and two Sears call centres have seen many of the hoped-for jobs evaporate.
 

It's just money:

The Liberal government is reviving long-delayed plans to move into a new embassy building in Moscow, after more than 10 years and $26 million spent on the empty structure.

But the renewed effort comes at a troubled time in Canada-Russia relations, which may further complicate the move. Both sides expelled four of each other's diplomats earlier this year and there is continued acrimony over Russia's incursions in Ukraine.

The Conservative government signed a 20-year lease on a low-rise building at 4 Kursovoy Street in March of 2008, expecting to move staff in relatively soon after.

But Russian red tape, layers of city bureaucracy and sour relations with the Kremlin conspired to keep the brick building unoccupied, even as the bill for upkeep mounted.

Spreadsheets from Global Affairs Canada obtained through the Access to Information Act show the Kursovoy address has cost taxpayers $25,895,422 over 10 years, most of that in rent paid to the Russian government.

The total includes utility costs of $289,000 and a repair-and-maintenance bill of $300,000.

By comparison, the current embassy, at 23 Starokonyushenny Lane, has cost taxpayers about half that total ($13,223,983) over the same period, including rent, utilities, repairs and maintenance.

**

Toronto city council voted Monday to mount a legal challenge against Ontario's decision to slash the size of the city's council.

Legal challenges cost money, John.




Are the cops even paying attention to this?:

Six of the 15 people injured in a bombing west of Toronto in May are suing the restaurant where the incident took place, their lawyers said Tuesday, alleging the business’s owners and managers failed to take precautions to protect them.

Is this Al Capone's Chicago?




The truck driver accused of causing the crash that killed and injured members of a hickey has had his trial pushed back:

The case of a Calgary truck driver charged in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash has been adjourned until October.

Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, who is 29, is charged with 16 counts of dangerous driving causing death and 13 counts of dangerous driving causing bodily injury.

Sidhu did not appear in court in Melfort, Sask., and his lawyer was connected by phone.

Sidhu was released on $1,000 bail in July under conditions he not drive and surrender his passport.

Sixteen people, including 10 players, were killed and 13 players were injured when the junior hockey team's bus and a transport truck driven by Sidhu crashed at a rural Saskatchewan intersection on April 6.

The team was on its way to a playoff game.

Sidhu was not hurt in the crash.

Not at all shocked by this. Not at all:

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said it did not find any indication that North Korea had stopped its nuclear activities, adding to doubts about the country's willingness to abandon its arsenal.

"The continuation and further development of the DPRK's nuclear program and related statements by the DPRK are a cause for grave concern," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report published late on Monday.

The report, which refers to the country's official name Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is to be submitted to the IAEA's board meeting next month.

U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview with Reuters on Monday he believed North Korea had taken specific steps toward denuclearization and that he would "most likely" meet again with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

So more of nothing can be done?

Tsk-tsk ...

And now, for no reason, Siberian huskies.