For a Thursday

Damn you, global warming!

From the scandal that will die eventually:

In a statement before votes in the House of Commons, Jody Wilson-Raybould spoke.

Here’s what she said:

“I understand fully that Cdns want to know the truth & want transparency. Privilege & confidentiality are not mine to waive & I hope that I have the opportunity to speak my truth.”

Justin ignores this subtle bit of extortion at his peril:

If there was anyone left in Canada who doubted whether the Trudeau government was engaged in a total cover-up in the SNC-Lavalin PMO Scandal, those doubts are now GONE.

The Liberals just voted against waiving ‘solicitor-client privilege’ and allowing Jody Wilson-Raybould to speak freely.

It failed by a 160 – 133 margin.

And yet this is not going away:

According to a source with knowledge of the cabinet discussions, Ms. Wilson-Raybould said the director of the prosecution service rejected a negotiated settlement with SNC-Lavalin based on how the law applies to the company’s case. The Liberal government had changed the Criminal Code to allow for deferred prosecutions in which a company admits wrongdoing and pays a fine, but avoids a trial. Under Canada’s new deferred-prosecution agreement law, prosecutors are not allowed to consider national economic interests when deciding whether to settle with a company.

Mr. Trudeau has acknowledged he raised concerns about the economic impact that a conviction could have on SNC-Lavalin when he met privately with the then-justice minister and attorney-general on Sept. 17, two weeks after the director of public prosecutions decided to move toward a trial.

The fact that prosecutors had already informed the Quebec company of its decision before the meeting between Mr. Trudeau and Ms. Wilson-Raybould meant the only remaining question was whether the attorney-general would override federal prosecutors and publicly instruct them to cut a deal. ...

Gerald Butts also spoke to Jody Wilson-Raybould about a deferred prosecution for SNC-Lavalin on December 5. That meeting took place at the Chateau Laurier hotel, according to the reporting.

A key issue appears to be that the Trudeau government kept bringing the issue up again and again and again, even after the independent prosecutor had decided not to give SNC-Lavalin the deferred prosecution deal:

“Once prosecutors decided in early September to move to trial, Ms. Wilson-Raybould told cabinet she felt it was wrong for anyone – including the Prime Minister, members of his staff and other government officials – to raise the issue with her, the source said. Another source added that Ms. Wilson-Raybould would not budge from her position at the cabinet meeting.”

This totally contradicts Trudeau’s talking points.

He’s said there was no ‘pressure’ on Jody Wilson-Raybould. Yet, if a decision was already made, and the only question left was whether Jody Wilson-Raybould would overturn that decision, then any time the PM or the PMO staff spoke to her about it was obviously about pressuring her.

Cue the denials:

Canada's top civil servant has refuted a bombshell media report that alleged political interference in the criminal prosecution of SNC-Lavalin, claiming it included "errors" and "unfounded speculation" and was "defamatory."

Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Wernick, testifying at the justice committee today, was referring to a Feb. 7 Globe and Mail report that touched off a political scandal and triggered the resignation of cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's principal secretary, Gerry Butts.

"I'm here to say to you that the Globe and Mail article contains errors, unfounded speculation and, in some cases, is simply defamatory," he said.

This could be cleared up if Jody was allowed to speak.

Or she could forget about it if offered a new job.

Whatever.


This is another instance of Liberals being Liberals.


What is more sickening is how Canadians little understand what is going and how completely they are willing to put up with it.

Cases in point:

According to a Leger poll, 41% of Canadians believe Trudeau has ‘done something wrong.’

12% say he hasn’t done something wrong.

And 41% say they aren’t sure.

So,  53% of Canadians are so stunted in their thinking that they probably couldn't guess their own names even if prompted?

Oh, but don't take my word for it!:

A new survey conducted by Leger for The Canadian Press suggests the Trudeau Liberals will have to work harder to convince Canadians the country is doing better under their stewardship.

In all 46 per cent of respondents say Canada is doing worse since Justin Trudeau's Liberal government was elected in 2015, while only 22 per cent believe the country is doing better and 27 per cent say things are the same.

The poll also suggests the most important issues to Canadians are economic growth and jobs, followed by taxes and finances.

**

A survey by Leger shows a huge drop in the number of Canadians who pick Justin Trudeau as the best choice for PM.

In November 2018, 33% of Canadians picked Trudeau as best choice for PM.

Now, just 26% pick him, a drop of 7 points.

**

The Angus Reid Institute online survey found that 29 per cent of those polled are of the opinion that the science on vaccinations against deadly childhood infections isn’t “quite clear.” And the skepticism rises with age, with 36 per cent of Canadians over 55 believing the science isn’t entirely convincing.

A further one-quarter — 26 per cent — believe there is a “real risk of serious side effects” from vaccinations, even though such bodies as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention note that side effects from childhood vaccines, for the most part, are minor (such as a sore arm, slight fever or fussiness) and serious reactions rare (occurring in less than one out of a million doses with the diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccine, for example.)

The fact that every time Justin opens his mouth he says something stupid, that a major industry has been all but shut down, that the current government is rocked with scandal after scandal and that life expectancy has soared since the advent of childhood vaccines hasn't caught the average Canadian's attention?

The next time someone claims that Canadians are immensely more erudite than the average American, hit that person.




Selfless, my @$$:

Butts’ statement was full of baloney — or at the very least hypocrisy — in a broader sense, too, if one thinks about his team’s record.

If “Canadians are rightly proud of their public institutions,” as Butts claimed, how does he imagine Canadians have felt watching the Liberal government trying to politicize those institutions right from day one?

The appointment of partisan political Liberals in senior positions in the senior public service (including putting a person who helped write the Liberal election platform in a No. 2 position in the Privy Council Office) was the beginning. Then things proceeded apace with highlights including the brilliant idea to require employer-applicants for the Canada Summer Jobs program to pass a values test and attest to respecting abortion rights before benefitting from the federal funding. The Liberals walked that one back after an outcry — removing the requirement that employers specifically profess their faith in Charter rights.

But there’s so far been no rescue from the terrifying policy of the government distributing $600 million in aid to news organizations of its choice — er, sorry, the choice of an “independent panel” of journalists — thereby politicizing the country’s free press (or the part of it that wasn’t already working for the government). Not even our private institutions are safe.

As far as Butts’ contention that at “all times, I and those around me acted with integrity and a singular focus on the best interests of all Canadians,” I have but two words of rebuttal: supply management.

Butts has now removed himself from the picture … or, I guess, disembowelled himself with his own sword in a ritual suicide to restore the honour of the nation, to keep the metaphor more in keeping with his sense of self-importance.

With the loss of seven future Liberal voters, Justin aims to make things right by bringing in the rest of her family:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the federal government is looking into reuniting a mother who lost her seven children in a Halifax house fire this week with Syrian family members who are not in Canada.

Trudeau says Halifax MP Andy Filmore has already been in touch with Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen and immigration officials who are looking at the case involving Kawthar Barho’s family.

 
It's an election year!


Also:

The Quebec government is being taken to court over its decision to cancel a backlog of more than 18,000 immigration applications as it overhauls its system for selecting newcomers.

An association representing Quebec immigration lawyers filed an injunction request Wednesday seeking a halt to the policy. It wants the Immigration Department to be ordered to resume processing the applications.

The request, made in the name of a Korean woman living in Montreal, Seeun Park, states that potential immigrants whose applications have been scrapped feel "humiliated, betrayed and abandoned" by the provincial government.

Madame Park, you clearly not Muslim nor welfare-seeking enough to remain in Canada. You should have just walked over the border and claimed you had no papers. Filling out applications is for law-abiding suckers.

Too late for that:

Any “malicious interference” in Canadian affairs by foreign representatives here would be inappropriate, a federal official warned Wednesday in the wake of incidents that saw students from China angrily attack Tibetan and Uyghur activists at two Ontario universities.

But the spokeswoman for Kirsty Duncan, minister responsible for universities, sidestepped a call for Ottawa to investigate whether Chinese diplomats are using such students to meddle in Canadian post-secondary institutions.

Of course she did.


Further:

Chinese students at McMaster University were issued instructions by the Chinese consulate in Toronto on how to respond to a human rights event on campus involving China organized by two student clubs, screenshots of social media discussions among a group of Chinese students show.

The incident is part of a growing trend of reports of Chinese consulates and embassies exerting influence and interference in their host countries.

Nothing to see here, I guess.