Mid-Week Post

On this eve of Saint Valentine's Day ...



Quelle surprise:

The Canadian parliament's justice committee on Wednesday rejected an opposition bid to question senior officials about allegations of political interference that are becoming a problem for Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Former Veterans Affairs Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould quit unexpectedly on Tuesday amid allegations she had been pressured by Trudeau's team to go easy on SNC-Lavalin Group Inc last year when she was justice minister and attorney general.

The committee, dominated by Liberal legislators, defeated an opposition proposal to question Wilson-Raybould as well as two top aides in the prime minister's office.

"It's a cover-up and it's becoming clearer by the day," Conservative lawmaker Michael Cooper told the committee after the vote.

Liberals on the committee, who said it was not clear there had been any wrongdoing, said they wanted to discuss the matter further behind closed doors next week.

Oh, I'll bet the most "transparent" government in the country's history will.

Justin's chief advisor, Gerald Butts, and his chief of staff, Katie Telford, will not testify. Only the justice minister, David Lametti (who assured everyone that a probe was not needed), and Michael Wernick will deliver their rehearsed lines behind closed doors.

As long as Justin can muddle along, this business will be behind everyone:

At one point during his appearance a reporter asked him what reasons Wilson-Raybould gave him as to why she resigned from cabinet.

“Do you want me to answer that question in English?” asked the Prime Minister.

“Um, uh. I’m just trying to remember,” said Justin Trudeau, before proceeding to talk about something off topic.

Further:

The opinion pages and panels of talking heads in English-Canadian media have largely focused on the question of whether a refusal to bow to undue “pressure” from Trudeau’s office led to Wilson-Raybould’s demotion to the veterans affairs file last month and ultimately her resignation on Tuesday.

In Quebec, par contre, the commentariat is more critical of Wilson-Raybould. They are more concerned about why the then-justice minister wouldn’t push the Director of Public Prosecutions to allow SNC-Lavalin a deferred prosecution agreement — a way for the firm to make amends for corruption charges incurred doing business in Libya without risking a long-term freeze on its ability to take public contracts. Liberals had inserted provisions for that kind of arrangement in the 2018 federal budget. Why then wouldn’t the provision be used, Quebec columnists wonder?

A province known for its rampant corruption knows which side its pain is buttered. I'm sure its inhabitants are wondering what the furor is over allegations against SNC-Lavalin or why remediation legislation hasn't already been passed to avoid this beastly annoyance with corporate corruption.



Well, prove him wrong:

Premier Doug Ford accused student unions of getting up to “crazy Marxist nonsense” as he appealed for donations to his Progressive Conservative party in a fundraising email sent Monday.

Ford’s claim was made as he highlighted his government’s move to make some fees paid by Ontario college and university students optional instead of mandatory.

“Students were forced into unions and forced to pay for those unions,” Ford said in the email sent by the Progressive Conservatives. “I think we all know what kind of crazy Marxist nonsense student unions get up to.”

These are the same universities who feel that they are entitled to their entitlements, whether its fees for things no one uses or free expression it must quash. Anything else is subject to a vote at the next indignation meeting.


Also:

The Ontario deficit is projected to be $1-billion lower than forecast — $13.5 billion in 2018-19 — as the economy outperforms expectations, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli says.

The province of Saskatchewan presents its case against the enforced carbon tax:

Saskatchewan's legal counsel opened a two-day Appeal Court hearing by arguing that the province's constitutional challenge of a federal carbon levy is not about climate change, but the divisions of power.

"This is not a case about whether climate change is real or not," Mitch McAdam said. "The government of Saskatchewan is not made up of a bunch of climate change deniers."

He said the question is whether provinces are "sovereign and autonomous within the areas of their jurisdiction" under the Constitution Act.

"Or under our Constitution can the federal government step in whenever it thinks provinces aren't ... exercising their jurisdiction appropriately and act for them?

"That's really what this case is about."

Had she been Canadian, she would get a cheque for $10.5 million:

A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday.

ISIS claims it killed forty-two people in an attack against a Nigerian governor's convoy:

Islamic State claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an attack on the convoy of a state governor who was headed to a rally in northeastern Nigeria ahead of Saturday’s presidential election.

The group said in a statement on its Aamaq news agency that 42 people were killed in Tuesday’s attack on Borno state’s governor. Official sources told Reuters earlier on Wednesday between three and 10 people were killed, and that some of them may have been beheaded.

Boko Haram has waged a decade-long insurgency in Nigeria’s northeast which has killed around 30,000 people and forced about 2 million to leave their homes. Islamic State West Africa Province, which split from Boko Haram in 2016, has carried out a series of attack on military targets in the last few months.

The mermaid of Warsaw is way cooler than the mermaid of Copenhagen:

The legend of the Warsaw mermaid, or “syrenka” in Polish, is a relatively simple one. She originated from the Baltic Sea, where (according to some versions of the story) she had a twin sister, the famous Little Mermaid of Copenhagen. The syrenka swam up the Vistula River until she was at what is now Warsaw’s old town. There, she saw some fishermen catching fish and decided to meddle with their nets and free the catch. 

The fishermen were angry at the meddlesome creature and tried to catch it, but once they saw the mermaid and heard her siren song they could not harbor any hate for her any longer. Later, the mermaid was captured by a rich merchant who wanted to haul her off as some kind of prize. But the fishermen would not have it and freed her from the greedy man’s clutches. The mermaid was thankful and promised to protect the fishermen and their homes from then on. From that moment, she became the city’s guardian and protector in times of need.