For a Friday

 A Black Friday, in fact ...




A free and independent press does not take a bribe:

The government is pledging nearly $600 million over the next five years to help news organizations struggling to adapt to a digital age that has disrupted traditional business models.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the government wants to protect the “vital role that independent news media play in our democracy and in our communities.

Like the one that does not forget Liberal "generosity" and neglects to point out how the current government has tanked a once vital industry? That vital role?




Speaking of which:

Really a case of big hat, no cattle.

You’d find more substance in an old Seinfeld script than in the repeated tiresome talking points of Trudeau while he rolled out his shtick to Calgary at the boiling point.

In fact, the only thing of substance this day are the pro-pipeline protesters outside Calgary’s Hyatt Regency.

Them and all the cops and all the security guards inside the hotel, an impressive offensive line for the prime minister who was speaking to a business crowd in a ballroom up a couple floors.

They weren’t giving him the love.

We have the right to be angry.

Still no pipeline in the ground while we still pay a carbon tax. Selling our oil at bargain basement prices. High unemployment. One in four downtown offices empty. Investment drying up.

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(source)

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Canada's oil industry is facing record-low prices for its exports, a glaring lack of infrastructure to bring its product to market, and an uncertain long-term outlook.

But none of that is stopping the oil patch from increasing production. And as one pipeline project after another fails to launch, the industry is relying more heavily than ever to ship its oil by rail. 

According to Statistics Canada, the volume of oil on Canada's railroads has soared by 64.6 per cent in just the past year. And in the past seven years, the number of rail cars carrying oil across Canada has quadrupled.

When is that trade with China going to result in a sweet pay-off?:

Despite the federal government’s promise of access to lucrative infrastructure projects in Asia, so far not a single Canadian business or investor has actually benefitted from Canada’s involvement with a China-led development bank, the government says.

I guess not.


Also:

Exiled Chinese businessman Guo Wengui announced this week he is creating a $100 million fund to aid the victims of Chinese communist repression under current leader Xi Jinping.

Guo announced the creation of the fund, which will also be used to finance investigations into Chinese government financial activities and those of its supporters in the West, at press conference in New York City on Tuesday.

The former Chinese insider also revealed in a presentation for reporters details on the disappearance, imprisonment, or death of 56 prominent Chinese nationals, including the mysterious death in July of Wang Jian, one of China's wealthiest business leaders.

"A lot of people lost their freedom, a lot of people disappeared," Guo said through an interpreter. "What we see here is the tip of the iceberg."

Rule number one about resignation club is that you don't talk about resignation club:

The chief government whip is telling Liberal MPs not to publicly discuss outgoing MP Raj Grewal’s resignation.

“I would ask that you please refrain from speculating or commenting publicly about Raj’s announcement,” reads an internal memo sent by chief government whip Mark Holland. “You can also refer any media questions to my office.”

(Sidebar: this Raj Grewal.)

Apparently, it's a gambling problem, or so they say.


Also - I'll bet he won't screw up the way a certain snowboard instructor did:

Premier Scott Moe is gearing up for his first trip to India to promote Saskatchewan.

"Saskatchewan is a world-leading producer of sustainable food, fuel and fertilizer, which gives us the unique ability to work with India to enhance its food and energy security," Moe said.

"India's economy and population are booming and Saskatchewan has what India needs to support that growth."

Moe said the trip is being led by the Saskatchewan business community, who share interests here and in India. 

"The mark of success of this would be measured over time," Moe said, pointing to potential future gains in exports and investment in Saskatchewan products. 

Moe said potash, uranium and pulse tariffs are among the items on the agenda. Officials from Cameco will be attending some meetings, as will representatives from Saskatchewan Polytechnic and the University of Regina.

Earlier this year India slapped import tariffs on Canadian pulse crops including chickpeas, peas and lentils. In 2016, Saskatchewan accounted for 90 per cent of Canadian chickpea crop land.

I doubt that the government will destroy its voters blocks in its literal infancy:

It appears the federal government has been undercounting the number of ‘birth tourism’ births.

According to Statistics Canada, 313 non-residents gave birth in Canadian hospitals in 2016.

However, according to data researcher Andrew Griffith compiled from the Canadian Institute for Health Information, there were over 3,200 non-residents who gave birth in Canadian hospitals.

Unsurprisingly, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen only said the government would look into the issue more, the usual non-answer given when politicians don’t want to do something about it.

Also:

The federal government has paid nearly $2.3 million to house asylum seekers in Toronto hotels from August to the end of October, after the city complained earlier this year that its shelter system was overflowing from the influx of refugee claimants.

Ottawa will continue to rent some hotel rooms until Jan. 4 for asylum seekers for whom longer-term housing hasn’t yet been found, despite an initial plan to pay for accommodations only until the end of September. However, the number of refugee claimants on the federal government’s tab is far lower than it was in August, when Ottawa said it would rent rooms for about 450 irregular asylum seekers who had been staying in two college dormitories.

Is it "daunting and intimidating" to personally pay for baby-killing pills that may eventually result in gynecological problems or to get others to pay for them?:

Advocates say Nova Scotians’ access to the abortion pill remains a major issue, with one student saying she had to wait nearly three weeks because of barriers including finding a doctor to prescribe the drug, testing delays and billing issues.

The woman, from the Toronto area, says she was five weeks pregnant when she took a home pregnancy test.

But she was almost eight weeks by the time she obtained the abortion pill Mifegymiso — a wait she describes as excruciating, and advocates say fails to realize the potential of the two-drug combination used to terminate early pregnancy. ...

Meanwhile, the CBU student called the Halifax clinic as directed by the university health clinic, and she says she was then referred to a prescriber in Sydney.

But she faced further delays obtaining an ultrasound and blood work, and ran into billing issues as a student from out-of-province.

Although the abortion pill is publicly funded both in her home province of Ontario as well as in Nova Scotia, she found herself without any coverage for the abortion pill — which comes with a roughly $400 price tag.

Without money to pay for the drug, she scrambled to obtain private health insurance through the university and ended up still paying about $70 out-of-pocket. ...

Although still within the nine-week limit to take the drug, the student says by the time she took the abortion pill she was further along than she had hoped.

She says neither her doctor nor the pharmacist prepared her for the immense pain and nausea.

“My body went into shock, it was terrible,” she says. “They told me to have maxi pads and expect a lot of blood. But it was excruciating.”

The student says she was told that if she vomited, the medications wouldn’t work properly and she’d have to start the process again.

“I was alone and started to throw up and I had to keep swallowing it … I was curled up, my whole body was shaking for four hours.”

Also - oh, burn, trans-jargon-barkers:

A male Australian senator mockingly proclaimed himself to be a woman before parliament last week so that he, as a pro-life male, could speak against abortion.