Mid-Week Post

The mid-week fondant enrobed in weekly dark chocolate  ...




From the most "transparent" government in the country's history:

An all-party committee of elected MPs planned a closed-door meeting with a delegation of Chinese politicians and diplomats this week, but abruptly cancelled it on Wednesday.

A former Canadian ambassador to China said the meeting was a bad idea in the first place because holding it in-camera meant a lost opportunity for Canada to show Beijing how a democracy really works.

(Sidebar: yeah, that's what you were trying to do.)

The meeting was cancelled one day after Canada’s new top spy told a business audience that interference by hostile states has now become a greater threat to Canadian national security than terrorism.

Like this kind of "business":

Canadian authorities have arrested the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies in Vancouver, B.C.

Wanzhou Meng, who also goes by Sabrina Meng, was arrested in Vancouver on Saturday, Dec. 1, Department of Justice Canada spokesperson Ian McLeod told Global News.

He said Meng faces extradition to the U.S., and that a bail hearing has been set for Friday.

"As there is a publication ban in effect, we cannot provide any further detail at this time," McLeod said. He added that the publication ban was sought by Meng.

(Sidebar: oh, I'll bet it was.)




There are no pairs of socks that can calm these frazzled provincial nerves:

Senior officials from multiple provinces are predicting a tense and difficult first ministers meeting when premiers gather to discuss the economy and trade with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal on Friday.

"You can expect a little dustup. There's no doubt about that," said one provincial source who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named.

The tensions became obvious during a conference call between the premiers on Tuesday afternoon. 

According to sources with knowledge of the call, several premiers voiced frustration with the draft federal agenda, which sets aside a significant amount of time to talk about issues important to the federal government and leaves only an hour for the provinces to raise their own priority issues.

Should anyone expect anything different from PM Frat-Boy's arrogance and elitism? 

It's just money:

Ontario’s social assistance costs ballooned under the previous Liberal government but the system failed to help recipients become self-reliant, the province’s auditor general said Wednesday.

In her annual report, Bonnie Lysyk said the number of Ontario Works cases has increased by almost 25 per cent since 2009, hiking costs up more than 55 per cent to nearly $3 billion.

At the same time, the program only helped 10 to 13 per cent of recipients find work in the last five years, Lysyk said.

“A central finding in almost all of the audits this year was that spending of public monies did not consistently result in the cost-effective achievement of anticipated program benefits, or the proactive addressing of program risks,” she said.

“We also found that, contrary to what people would expect, the government did not always take all steps necessary to ensure that programs are providing financial assistance only to eligible people.”

**

The Bank of Canada kept interest rates on hold on Wednesday as expected and suggested the pace of future hikes could be more gradual, pushing the Canadian dollar down to an 18-month low and slashing market expectations of another increase next month.

When the Liberals are done being contrary, perhaps they can tell the rest of us who are footing the bill for these illegal migrants how many of these law-breakers are the engineers and doctors who were promised and how they will be fed, housed, employed and ultimately assimilated into the larger culture:

As Canada prepares to sign on to a United Nations agreement on migration, Conservative politicians are pushing back, saying signing it would be tantamount to erasing Canada's borders.

But the Liberals say Conservatives are simply trying to court voters being fed conspiracy theories about the UN agreement fuelled by the controversial online news outlet Rebel Media. 

The Global Compact on Migration is set to become the first, inter-governmentally negotiated agreement under the UN to cover all dimensions of international migration. It is aimed at improving co-operation between countries and will be signed by multiple countries next week in Morocco. 

Canada's Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen is to sign on Canada's behalf.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer strongly opposes the agreement, arguing it would give foreign entities influence over Canada's immigration system and would influence media coverage of immigration issues.

"Canadians and Canadians alone should make decisions on who comes into our country and under what circumstances," Scheer said Tuesday.

"Instead of signing international agreements that erode our sovereign right to manage our borders, the prime minister should focus on restoring order at home."

By merely opening his mouth, Justin has given Rebel Media a shot in the arm.

Thanks, PM Stupid. 

It's just people's personal data:

With Stats Canada announcing that they are temporarily backing down on their outrage-provoking plan to take the private banking data of Canadians, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is taking credit.

The Conservatives made the data-theft plan into a national issue, and relentlessly ripped into the Trudeau Liberals.

While Trudeau originally defended the scheme, he and Stats Canada eventually backed down in the face of mounting public outrage.

As Scheer points out, it’s a repeated pattern with Justin Trudeau and the Liberals, who have to be “humiliated” and “embarrassed” into doing the right thing.

Just like with the Yazidis.



Canada joins the other countries that have given North Korea an after-thought:

Canadian officials have been quietly preparing for the fallout from an atmospheric nuclear-weapons test by North Korea, including the spread of radioactive debris across the ocean and the significant public concerns that would arise, internal government memos show.

Whatever.