Sunday Post

 

Sad news - Michael Ferguson, the federal auditor-general who kept the government's feet to the fire, has passed on:

"Mr. Ferguson had been undergoing treatment for cancer since last November," the Office of the Auditor General of Canada said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the treatment was unsuccessful. He passed away surrounded by his family in Ottawa."

"Much appreciated by his staff and respected by parliamentarians and government officials alike, Mr. Ferguson will be remembered by all those who had the pleasure of knowing him as a humble, compassionate and thoughtful man," the statement continued. 

Ferguson had cancelled his media appearances for his 2018 fall reports due to health concerns. 

He was appointed as Auditor General of Canada in November 2011, and his term was set to end in 2021. 

Prior to his federal role, he served in various positions in the New Brunswick provincial government, including a stint as its auditor general.

It is unclear who will replace Mr. Ferguson (Raj Grewel? This Raj Grewel) and file reports on government waste and misdirection like this:

The sticker price Kinder Morgan put on the Trans Mountain pipeline when it entered negotiations with the federal government last year was $6.5 billion. Hence, finance minister Bill Morneau and his team thought they’d scored a bargain when they sealed the deal at $4.4 billion.

But it looks increasingly like he may bought a cat in a sack.

The Parliamentary Budget Officer released a detailed valuation of the pipeline on Thursday and it makes grim reading for the government.

The finance minister leapt on the headline finding that the purchase price was within the PBO’s $3.6 billion-to-$4.6 billion valuation.

But the PBO added the weighty caveat that the valuation range assumes the pipeline will be built on time and on budget.

And this:

Federal opposition parties have renewed their accusations that Liberals are weakening the House of Commons and its responsibility for overseeing government spending decisions by having MPs vote on $7-billion worth of budget measures all at once.

And this:

The Insurance Bureau of Canada’s decades-long campaign to raise alarms about the ravages of floods continued last week with an appearance by Blair Feltmate, a favourite star climate-change witness for the biggest insurers, at the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority’s annual meeting. Feltmate heads the industry-funded Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation at Waterloo University, which claims climate change has triggered a surge in flood events in recent years. As Feltmate put it during his comments at the meeting: “The elephant in the room, from a climate-change perspective, is… too much water in the wrong places.”

Not quite. The real elephant sharing the room with Feltmate turned out to be a detailed report from Guy Gendron, a CBC/Radio Canada International ombudsman, outlining how such distorted flood claims led the news network to publish stories last fall that contained “inaccurate and irrelevant” information.

At the time, last September, Feltmate was interviewed by the CBC’s English-language Radio Canada International arm, promoting the insurance industry’s sensational new report that claimed bad weather and flood events are soaring due to climate change. Weather that used to happen every 40 to 100 years is now occurring every six years, the industry has said, and the only way counter the threat is to introduce a national “green infrastructure” program.

Robert Muir, an Ontario municipal engineer and member of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers, complained to the CBC ombudsman, pointing to flaws in Feltmate’s and the insurance lobby group’s claims. He alleged that the CBC report was misrepresenting science and insurance risks.

In his review of Muir’s complaint, the ombudsman delivered a scathing critique of the CBC coverage on its Radio Canada International site, saying that the CBC report had “failed to comply with journalistic standards” in assessing and reporting on the industry’s claims.

On Wednesday, the CBC published corrections to its reports. “The ombudsman,” said the CBC correction, “has ruled in favour of the complainant. Certain statements relating to rainfall amounts and the so-called 100-year events deemed to be inaccurate or irrelevant to the story have been removed and/or replaced. Information from Environment Canada has been added to indicate their statistics show no increase in rainfall or extreme rain events beyond ‘normal’ variations … These changes to the original story have been made on Jan. 29, 2019 to comply with the ombudsman’s decision.”

And this:

There are parallels to be drawn between the growing influence and availability of Netflix programming around the world and the colonialism of the British and French empires, CBC president Catherine Tait said Thursday.

Whoever does succeed Mr. Ferguson might learn to play ball and never question things like this:

The establishment was never concerned with foreign interference or ‘fake news,’ until establishment politicians started losing and citizens started sharing their opinions on social media.

After all, real examples of foreign interference – like U.S. groups funded by billionaires interfering against the Conservatives in 2015 and against the Canadian energy industry – has still not been addressed by the government. The Trudeau Liberals seem just fine with it.

(Sidebar: this foreign interference.)

By contrast, the so-called ‘world-wide crisis’ of ‘fake news’ is being used as the perfect excuse for what the Trudeau Liberals and establishment elites always wanted to do: Suppress free speech, expand the power of government, and attempt to manipulate the Canadian people to only trust pro-Trudeau government sources.

Public money will be spent to silence the public that rightly points out what a jack@$$ Justin is.

Cases in point:

Trudeau said: “Many of you have worried that Canada has lost its compassionate and constructive voice in the world over the past 10 years. Well, I have a simple message: on behalf of 35 million Canadians, we’re back.”

So, let’s do a mini report card on what Trudeau’s achieved on the world stage.

We were to return to the Pearsonian era of peacekeeping and be a leader in world peace. We provided a very modest contribution of six helicopters and 250 support troops near the northern Mali city of Gao. They’ll be gone on July 31.

Peacekeeping? Fail. ...

After meeting U.S. President Donald Trump, Trudeau went on a charm offensive flattering Trump at every opportunity, even involving Trump’s daughter Ivanka in his push on ideological gender issues. Trump originally lapped it up.

The appearance of goodwill went south in June 2018 at the G7 meeting in Charlesvoix where Trudeau, once Trump left the summit, held a press conference to show how tough he was with Trump. He said: “Canadians are polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.” 

Ouch.

Trump’s volatility got the most of him. He pulled his support out of the joint communique and tweeted that Trudeau was “meek and mild” during the meeting but pretended to be tough once Trump was out of sight. Trump further tweeted “very dishonest and weak.” Bambi meet Godzilla.

U.S. – Canada relations? Fail.

Then there’s India. Trudeau made a fool out of himself appearing with his family in exaggerated Indian costumes. And it started on the wrong foot with a clear snub by Prime Minister Narendi Modi who normally not only greets foreign dignitaries at New Delhi’s airport but is known to give them warm public embraces.

India didn’t appreciate Trudeau participating in a Sikh event in Toronto in May pushing for the Sikh homeland of Khalistan.

India – Canada relations? Fail.

**

Pollsters asked respondents to rate Trudeau’s performance based on what they’ve seen, heard or read about the Canada-China relationship recently. The biggest contingent, 30 per cent, said they thought he’s doing a “very poor job.” Another 22 per cent said “poor,” 28 per cent “good,” only five per cent “very good.”

Overall, 44 per cent of respondents thought Trudeau’s government has not been “tough enough” and needs to take stronger action, versus 29 per cent who thought it was about right and 20 per cent who thought Canada “should ease up.” (McCallum’s high-profile firing came in the middle of Angus Reid’s polling period, Jan. 23 to 28.)

(Sidebar: I submit that those who were polled aren't not thinking this issue through enough and the remainder still use sippy-cups. Huawei has ties to the communist Chinese government and has been caught re-routing Internet data from Canada to China. Why would any government permit this to continue? Justin let his favourite country kidnap Canadian nationals and never once shut down embassies, recall diplomats, apply sanctions, freeze accounts or simply hand over over Meng and let the Americans - out biggest trading partner - deal with her. The aggressor isn't Canada's favourite whipping boy. People need to wake up to that fact.)


Canadians need help sifting through Justin's plethora of mistakes? Really?




It's just an economy:

Canada’s manufacturing sector expanded in January at the slowest pace in more than two years as global trade frictions dulled customer demand in export markets, data showed on Friday. 

The Markit Canada Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ index (PMI), a measure of manufacturing business conditions, fell to a seasonally adjusted 53.0 last month, its lowest since December 2016, from 53.6 in December. A reading above 50 shows growth in the sector. 

The measure of output also touched a 25-month low, dipping to 51.9 from 52.0 in December. 

“January data highlights that the manufacturing sector got off to a slow start in 2019, with the loss of momentum centered on the weakest increase in new business volumes for more than two years,” said Christian Buhagiar, president and CEO at Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA). 

**

In Canada, despite the booming U.S. economy next door, our unemployment rate remains mired at 5.6 per cent, almost 50-per-cent higher than America’s. With our industries burdened by Trudeau’s Obama-style interventions — those tied to gender-equality and climate among them — and failing to generate the good jobs seen south of the border, our labour force is shrinking as wages struggle to keep pace with inflation. Investors in Canadian firms are suffering, too — since Trump’s election, the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared more than six times that of the S&P/TSX Composite Index.

What was once America’s single biggest economic and geopolitical weakness — its energy dependence on often-unsavoury foreign suppliers — has vanished, with America’s energy ascent an American triumph. By unshackling energy development, Trump has made America the world’s largest oil and gas producer, not only self-sufficient and secure domestically but able to undercut enemies such as Russia and Iran by eroding their markets, diminishing their incomes and undermining their relevance.

What was once Canada’s single biggest economic and geopolitical strength — our energy industry — has also vanished, to become our single-biggest shame. By shackling pipelines and otherwise demonizing fossil fuels, Trudeau has neutered Canada’s largest export earners and most strategic industries, diminishing Canada’s economic clout and political relevance to the U.S. and thus inevitably to the international community.

It's an election year!:

Canada’s Liberal government will propose a limited expansion to the country’s universal healthcare system in the spring budget to cover part of the cost of prescription drugs, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Okay, where will that money come from?


Also - privatising healthcare (not that this is a very good example of it) will reduce wait times. It is not bad, wicked, American or heathenish. Do you think that Justin waits in emergency rooms like a sucker?:

“We are committed to our public health care system, that is what the people of Ontario expect, that is what we will deliver,” Elliott said.

Elliott called the document the NDP released an early draft and said nothing had been decided.

What Elliott wouldn’t rule out, and what the draft bill would allow for, is the private delivery of health care using public funds. Which of course, we already have in so many areas.

From your family doctor to the x-ray or blood clinic, even abortion clinics in Ontario, are private facilities that are paid from the public system for the health services they provide.

Yet asked several times if she would allow or consider allowing this for hospitals, Elliott wouldn’t answer. She fell back on talking points about supporting the public system.

Charge everyone who left to rape children in Syria with treason:

A 29-year-old Ontario man admitted Friday that he left Canada four years ago to try to join Islamic State militants in Syria after harbouring increasingly radical beliefs.

Pamir Hakimzadah, who is from Toronto, pleaded guilty to one count of leaving Canada to participate in a terrorist activity.

Hakimzadah left Toronto on Oct. 22, 2014 and flew to Istanbul where he tried to find a way into Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, said Crown lawyer Christopher Walsh, who was reading from an agreed statement of facts.

"The purpose of Pamir's trip was to enter Syria via Turkey," Walsh said. "There he intended to join a terrorist group known as ISIS or Daesh."

The trip took place as Hakimzadah "exhibited increasingly radical Islamic beliefs," Walsh said.

(Sidebar: there's that word again.)


Also:

The mayor of Gatineau, Que., said he plans to request that a city councillor be stripped of some of her duties after she reportedly said the word "Islamophobia" doesn't exist for her.

Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin said in a statement late Friday that he's distancing himself from Nathalie Lemieux and will ask city council to replace her as deputy mayor.

"The role of the city is to bring together communities to promote a better understanding of one another, (and) we won't succeed with words that polarize this much and that harm the city in its role in as discussion partner for all the communities," he wrote.

"Not only do I completely dissociate and denounce the councillor's words, but I also believe she can no longer speak in my name."

In an interview published Friday, Lemieux reportedly told Le Droit newspaper that Islamophobia is a problem invented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"Justin Trudeau thinks Islamophobia exists, but it's him who invented the problem," she was quoted as saying. "He's trying to provoke problems where there aren't any."

The trick is not to be the last government, Doug:

The year before the Liberals came to power, 2002-03, the education budget was around $14.8 billion. That figure has doubled. The 2018-2019 education budget is estimated at around $28 billion.

Meanwhile, there’s been an approximate 5% decline in enrolment in public schools and a sharp growth in the number of kids in private schools.

Unchecked, that kind of growth will bankrupt the province.

“There are a lot of areas that are broken…that need to be fixed,” Ford told reporters last week.

He got that right. For all that spending, there are autistic kids who can’t get the services they need. Kids are falling through the cracks. Bright children are struggling with a math curriculum that’s based on edu-babble.

Also - no one suggests that Adam Vaughn should be whacked because that is both illegal and juvenile. But liberals play by a different set of shifting rules:

Toronto MP Adam Vaughan has apologized for a tweet in which he seemed to suggest that people should inflict physical harm on Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Early on Saturday, Vaughan, who represents Spadina-Fort York, posted a tweet in which he made reference to the Ontario government's position on full-day kindergarten.

"So Frod's (sic) gang could get folks upset over hurting Kindergarten students instead of being angry over the damage he's done to university students," the tweet reads.

"Next he will go after young offenders & end "free school" in detention centres … instead of playing whack-a-mole; Let's just whack him," it continued.

Vaughan also posted pictures of children playing whack-a-mole with what appeared to be Ford's head.

Manly men built cities and defended the people in them. The Narrative can't erase that:

Let me translate this opening salvo into something approximating clear and blunt English. The authors are claiming that men who socialize their boys in a traditional manner destroy their mental health. To this needs to be added a second claim, which is distributed more subtly throughout the remainder of the document. We’ll begin with this quote: “Research suggests that socialization practices that teach boys from an early age to be self-reliant, strong, and to minimize and manage their problems on their own yield adult men who are less willing to seek mental health treatment,” in combination with this one: “Men are overrepresented in prisons, are more likely than women to commit violent crimes, and are at greatest risk of being a victim of violent crime (e.g., homicide, aggravated assault; Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2015).” So, it’s not only that men who encourage their boys to be “self-reliant, strong and manage their problems on their own” destroy the mental health of their children; they also produce adults who are a primary menace to their families and society.

This is all bad enough conceptually, rhetorically and politically. But it’s also a lie, scientifically. To indicate, as the writers have, that it is the socialization of boys and men by men that is producing both a decrement in the personal mental health of males and females and a threat to the social fabric is not only to get the facts wrong, but to get them wrong in a manner that is directly antithetical to the truth.

Read the whole thing.




Relatives mark another lonely Seollal in a sixty-six year stalemate:

The Lunar New Year’s holiday is here, and South Korea’s roads and expressways are clogged with traffic as hundreds of thousands crisscross the nation to gather with family.

But for people with family on the other side of the border -- in North Korea -- the national holiday is just another reminder of that separation.

Korea’s turbulent history has taken its toll on the people, and particularly on families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. At one time, government statistics show, 132,124 South Koreans were registered in a government database as having family members in the North. But only 56,990 registrants remained alive as of August, and nearly 80 percent were more than 70 years old.

And those numbers don’t include the families of South Koreans abducted to the North during the war or those detained there in its prisons. 

With the national holiday coming up, many of these families had high hopes. The government had led them to believe they might catch a glimpse of their loved ones in a video reunion. But as international sanctions prohibit the South from sending equipment to the North for the event, the plan appears to have failed to materialize.