For a Monday

A lot going on ...



The story so far:

Distilled to their bare bones, the allegations swirling around Ottawa are as follows: Quebec company SNC-Lavalin was under investigation by the RCMP for possibly paying bribes to win construction contracts in Libya. SNC-Lavalin’s lobbyists had been making regular visits to senior members of the PMO.

The PMO had allegedly pressured Wilson-Raybould — then attorney general —  to enter into a “remediation agreement” with SNC-Lavalin; essentially encouraging the AG to cut a deal. Wilson-Raybould is said to have refused, citing the obvious impropriety of an Attorney General, at the direction of the Prime Minister’s Office, interceding in the normal course of a prosecution being handled by the Public Prosecution Service. Then Wilson-Raybould got fired as AG.

Connect the dots. ...

“The role of the Attorney General of Canada carries with it unique responsibilities to uphold the rule of law and the administration of justice, and as such demands a measure of principled independence.”

Principled independence? Sure. But from whom? ...

“As such, it has always been my view that the Attorney General of Canada must be non-partisan, more transparent in the principles that are the basis of decisions, and, in this respect, always willing to speak truth to power.”

Non-partisan? You don’t move to Ottawa to be non-partisan. Speak truth to power? You’re the Attorney General of Canada. You ARE the power. Unless you’re speaking to the Prime Minister or his designate…

Jody Hyphenated Name refused to comment on her role and what she did or did not do or say, citing privilege.


Justin has been avoiding answering any questions pertaining to SNC-Lavalin, a CEO for which gave money to his dad's foundation.


People are not happy:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was heckled and protested during a campaign stop in Burnaby South ahead of the February 25 byelection.

Trudeau, who was campaigning for Liberal candidate Richard Lee, was called criminal by some protesters in the wake of the recent SNC-Lavalin fiasco.

One of the 200 in attendance was anti-pipeline activist Uni Urchin.

“You have broken the law. You’re a criminal. Shame on you,” Urchin was caught on camera yelling. 

**

The allegations levelled last week against Justin Trudeau and his office are grievous and strike at the very heart of our rule of law.

For the last three years, SNC-Lavalin has aggressively lobbied key government officials for a special deal that would see it avoid criminal prosecution on bribery charges.

The government responded last year, when it wedged into the budget bill a new legal provision that would give SNC-Lavalin exactly what it wanted.

The use of that provision is at the discretion of the Director of Public Prosecutions and last October, that office informed SNC-Lavalin no special deal was coming.

That should have been the end of it. It was only the beginning.

Unhappy with that result, the Prime Minister’s Office allegedly pressured the Attorney General to overrule due legal process by granting this Liberal-friendly corporate giant the special deal it had long sought after and then firing her when she courageously refused to do so. ...

(Sidebar: I'm not buying that she "courageously" did anything of the sort. She probably didn't know which direction she should bend. She paid the price for it, nonetheless, and this Liberal lackey is getting what has been dished out to others before her.)

However, given the stonewall treatment we’ve encountered thus far, his blithe contempt for past pledges of transparency, and the willingness of his new Attorney General to protect him, I’m not optimistic he will do so.

Which naturally begs the question of what Trudeau is trying to hide.

**

Vice-Admiral Mark Norman’s legal team has raised questions about the independence of federal prosecutors after the Crown and lawyers from the department that supports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke several times last year about “trial strategy.”

Partially censored copies of notes taken by the Crown during those talks with lawyers from the Privy Council Office were submitted in court Monday, as Norman’s lawyers resumed their fight for access to thousands of government documents.

Lead prosecutor Barbara Mercier explained to Norman’s lawyer Christine Mainville in an email also filed in court that the handwritten notes were redacted because they dealt with “trial strategy.”

Mainville told the court on Monday that prosecutors should not be talking strategy with the Privy Council Office, which she called the “right arm” to the Prime Minister’s Office and first launched the investigation that led to Norman being charged.

“The PCO supports the prime minister. They implement what the Prime Minister’s Office wants. They execute on behalf of the Prime Minister’s Office,” Mainville said.

“So it seems what we are being told is the prosecution service is devising their trial strategy with … the body that reports to and executes the directions of the Prime Minister’s Office.”

(Sidebar: they're not the only ones ...)

Enough with the games, it is time to call in the police to investigate the allegations of interference and obstruction of justice facing the Prime Minister’s Office.

(Sidebar: the cops who answer to Justin? Those cops?)


Now, to shut everybody up, the ethics commissioner, who also answers to Justin, will launch an inquiry into this matter:

Federal Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion will investigate allegations that the Prime Minister's Office pressured former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to help Quebec engineering firm SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution.

Because Canadians have been happy to never have any sort of checks or balances or accountability for their highly-paid elected officials, this matter can be resolved only by letting Justin get away with this or a massive coup.

The latter is not likely.




Convoy!:

Protesters from duelling convoys to Ottawa that split only weeks ago have once again joined forces, days ahead of a cross-Canada trip to the nation’s capital to air political grievances with the federal government.

How could this go wrong?:

Richard Lee – the Federal Liberal candidate in the Burnaby South by-election – has called for the United Nations to have control over the internet through a global regulatory body.

Also:

A year and a half after it accused one of its MPs of leaking a list of Conservative Party members to a firearms rights group, the party has changed course and now says Brad Trost had nothing to do with the leak.

Be careful! The last time a Tory MP pressed for a motion to send a convicted murderess back to prison, Justin called them "ambulance-chasers" and the Liberals voted against the motion:

A Conservative MP is hoping to increase the amount of time convicted killers must spend behind bars before they can apply for parole, just as serial killer Bruce McArthur awaits his sentence.

James Bezan’s private member’s bill would give judges and juries the ability to increase parole ineligibility for certain convicted killers to 40 years, up from the current 25 years, if their crimes involved kidnapping, sexually assaulting and murdering a person in Canada.

Also:

An Ontario court has dismissed an appeal from a man convicted of trying to join a Somali-based terrorist organization, saying stiff penalties are necessary in such cases to deter similar would-be criminals.

Former Toronto security guard Mohamed Hersi was convicted in 2014 of attempting to participate in the activities of a terrorist group and providing counsel to a person to participate in terrorist activity.

Court heard he was en route to Somalia to join Islamic terrorist group al-Shabab when he was arrested, and a Superior Court judge sentenced him to consecutive five-year prison terms for the two charges he was convicted on.

Hersi appealed both the conviction and the sentence, which lawyers said was the maximum possible and described as excessive.

A panel of three judges at the Ontario Court of Appeal upheld both the conviction and sentence in a decision released Monday.

I'll just leave this here:

Levin, who was a world-renowned educator before his shocking fall from grace, was jailed in May 2015 for creating and possessing child pornography and counselling others to commit a sexual assault. ...

In one case, Levin sent photographs to a New Zealand police officer, one showing a “close-up of the face of a crying child, her face smeared with black makeup.” Levin suggested to her the image was “hot,” according to parole board documents. Another photo he sent showed a young female bound and leashed, with a gag in her mouth and Levin commented, “Mmm, so hot to imagine a mother doing that to her girl to please her lover.”

This is the same Ben Levin who created this:

Ontario government lawyers say the repeal of a modernized sex-ed curriculum does not discriminate against an 11-year-old transgender girl challenging the move, arguing teachers can still address topics like gender identity even though such issues are no longer a mandatory part of the lesson plan.

Government lawyers said in closing arguments Friday that the case before Ontario’s human rights tribunal does not prove the province is discriminating against certain students.

If teaching kids this un-scientific nonsense is more important than teaching them math, these "educators" aren't just incompetent; they are evil.


Also -  if universities were really committed to free speech, they would let Jordan Peterson speak just to prove it:

Note that freedom of expression comes last, and is so hedged in by diversity, equity, inclusion, awareness and consideration as to render it nugatory. At Ryerson and Laurier, you are free to say anything so long as it is seen not to impair these higher, social goals. Nevertheless, both universities decline (again in identical words) to censor — not for the sake of free expression, mind you, but for fear of setting a precedent ...

These caveats are specially couched to appear to be open to free expression but, in truth, hinder and emotionally blackmail the weak-willed to agree to it all.




You know it's bad when even the usual anti-Semites in the Democratic Party are cringing at you:

Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., apologized Monday afternoon for what many saw as anti-Semitic comments perpetuating the tired stereotype that Jews control politics with money.

Omar’s mea culpa came shortly after House Democratic leaders called the first-term representative’s comments “deeply offensive” and urged her to apologize.

In a tweet, the Minnesota congresswoman said “anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on this painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.”

In a statement issued Monday, the Democratic leadership said that legitimate criticism of Israel’s policies and its treatment of Palestinians is protected by free speech, but Omar’s use of “anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel’s supporters is deeply offensive.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and that they’ve agreed “to move forward as we reject anti-Semitism in all forms.”

During the 2015 election, Justin promised to look Russian president Vladimir Putin right in the face and tell him off:

Recent Russian moves in the Arctic have renewed debate over that country’s intentions and Canada’s own status at the top of the world.

The newspaper Izvestia reported late last month that Russia’s military will resume fighter patrols to the North Pole for the first time in 30 years. The patrols will be in addition to regular bomber flights up to the edge of U.S. and Canadian airspace.

“It’s clearly sending strategic messaging,” said Whitney Lackenbauer, an Arctic expert and history professor at the University of Waterloo. “This is the next step.”

When Justin is done running away from the nearly-thwarted SNC-Lavalin inquiry, he might possibly consider thinking about maybe getting his underlings to write an obliquely worded letter to someone who knows Putin and could possibly pass it on if he's got a moment.




Curse your evil hide, global warming!:

An extremely powerful winter storm is pulling away from Hawaii after unleashing damaging winds, massive waves, coastal flooding, and snow in unusual places.

(source)

Also - the polar bears are going extinct ... or something:

Officials in the Arkhangelsk region, where the archipelago lies, on Saturday declared a state of emergency because of the marauding mammals. Polar bears are typically born on land but live mostly on sea ice, where they hunt and feed on seals. But as arctic ice thins, which is linked to the acceleration of climate change, the animals move ashore, ravenous. They scavenge, sometimes coming into contact with human populations.

At least 52 bears were massed near Belushya Guba, the main settlement on the island territory, which is still used as a military garrison, with restricted access to the public. The town had a population of about 2,000 as of the 2010 Census.

(source)

 
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Albert Finney.



(Merci beaucoup)