May the Fourth

 

Only two judges dissented from their fellow jurists in yesterday's decision to impose a carbon tax on Saskatchewan:

The broad, sweeping and potentially abusive powers under the federal government’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Act was one major reason for a dissenting opinion from two Saskatchewan Court of Appeal judges.

Judges Ralph Ottenbreit and Neal Caldwell said the act was unconstitutional because it would allow the federal government the power to change the act any way it wanted.

The judges noted that the act contained 430 references to the word “prescribed” — the definition of which was so broad and open-ended that it allowed the federal government enormous scope. ...

Vague wording for a living tax based on fraud.

Further:

They said, “Part 1 grants sweeping legislative law-making power to the executive branch of the federal government to adapt or modify the statute itself, including the power to adapt and modify any provision of Part 1 and to redefine words and expressions already defined in the statute.”

Such power usurped the role of parliament, they said.

“These provisions not only usurp the legislative role of Parliament but create the disturbing potential for an off-the-books widening of the practical and legal scope of the Act and of its effects as and whenever the policies or objectives of the executive branch of the federal government change. The impact on the Provinces of any such future widening is potentially unlimited and is certainly unqualifiable and unquantifiable at this point.”

The judges said the act was not in accordance with the Constitution Act of 1869.

“This is both the heart and the lifeblood of Confederation. The balance of power struck under the Constitution Act, 1867 was critical to the formation of Canada and remains critical to our continued confederation.”

They then referred to a judgment from the Supreme Court of Canada that said, “It is a fundamental principle of federalism that both federal and provincial powers must be respected, and one power may not be used in a manner that effectively eviscerates another. Rather, federalism demands that a balance be struck, a balance that allows both the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures to act effectively in their respective spheres.” ...

Note how far back the judges went to defend provincial rights and the balance between the provinces and the federal government. As far back as Confederation, the broader implication being that the Charter deliberately veered so far away from the design of Confederation so as to craft Canada in a more tin-pot modern image.

Also:

But the federal government had argued that “national benchmarks” were needed to ensure “optimal policy.”

IE - if all of the provinces don't fall in line, the carbon tax slush fund won't work.


Also:

What the capital-starvation strategy will do is make it more difficult for petroleum producers to produce, if they are located in jurisdictions with open markets. There will be two consequences to this state of affairs. First, there will be global shortages of petroleum since consumers keep consuming, which will drive up the price of petroleum, and will encourage capital inflows (since capital loves strong and growing returns).

The second consequence is that the capital will come from jurisdictions that are not being strangled by orchestrated enviro-campaigns. That is, North America and western Europe may see petroleum-destined capital disappear, but Asia will not, nor will Africa, nor South America. In other words, capital (and production) will come from jurisdictions with lower environmental ambitions than western Europe or Canada or the US.

Will this in any way be good for the environment? Of course not, and it will be bad in multiple ways. The petroleum will continue to be consumed, and it will come from places that are not as environmentally scrutinized as North America or Europe.

China is making moves on the Canadian Arctic:

China's growing involvement and interest in the Arctic could pave the way for a strengthened military presence in the region, including the deployment of submarines to act as deterrents against nuclear attack, the Pentagon said in a report released on Thursday.

The one-page assessment of the potential Chinese threat in the Arctic is included in the Pentagon's annual report to Congress on China's armed forces and comes amid growing interest within the U.S. military to beef up its own operations in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the world.

 
The Arctic, like the budget, will not protect itself.





So I guess summits don't fix this sort of thing:

North Korea fired several unidentified short-range projectiles into the sea off its eastern coast on Saturday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, a likely sign of Pyongyang's growing frustration at stalled diplomatic talks with Washington meant to provide coveted sanctions relief in return for nuclear disarmament.

South Korea's military has bolstered its surveillance in case there are additional weapons launches, and South Korean and U.S. authorities are analyzing the details.

If it's confirmed that the North fired banned ballistic missiles, it would be the first such launch since the North's November 2017 test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. That year saw a string of increasingly powerful weapons tests from the North and a belligerent response from President Donald Trump that had many in the region fearing war.

What it means is that Big Aboriginal will take huge swaths of profitable and now occupied land that they have no direct claim to and then will bugger it up:

Four hundred years later, this encounter will take on new relevance in a landmark court case in which two First Nations from Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula, known collectively as the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, are claiming title to a large swath of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. That meeting with Champlain, they will argue, is one piece of evidence that their ancestors controlled access to their territory — including the open water — and that Europeans and other Indigenous peoples could only pass through with their permission.

The Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s claim to Aboriginal title is one of several across the country that include large areas of water, either lakes or ocean coastline. Whether they can be successful is an open question; to date, no Canadian court has ruled on whether Aboriginal title can exist to lands beneath water. The Crown will argue that it cannot, and that navigable waters are open highways for anyone to use.

But the courts may disagree. What it would mean for a First Nation to gain title to a body of water as heavily frequented as Lake Huron is, likewise, not entirely clear. Indigenous leaders are quick to dismiss fears about large swaths of open water suddenly being rendered off-limits to the public, but they do say they want greater control of fisheries and other industries operating in the waters they claim.

Scratch a leftist, find a detestable racist creature every time:

An individual who goes by "Bigalow Black" on Twitter proudly posted a short video clip on April 30 showing several street thugs harassing a group of what looked like Asian tourists.

"Not Around Here Pimp...Ain’t None Of That Make America Great Again Sh*t," wrote Black, who hails from Washington D.C., and Miami, according to his Twitter profile.

The video shows a group of black men surrounding the Asians, grabbing the MAGA hats off their heads, and throwing one of them in the air before stomping on it. ...

"The Asians wearing MAGA hats were not just tourists," Wendy Wright, president of Christian Freedom International, told PJ Media. "They are North Korean defectors and South Koreans who get rice, medicine, and Bibles into North Korea and North Korean defectors out."

If these cap-stomping cretins had any shame, they would feel badly about this and apologise.

But I doubt it.




(Merci)