And the Rest of It

So much happening ...




It's an election year!:

Pam Damoff, the parliamentary secretary to the health minister, will make an announcement in Oakville described as new support for “Canadians living with Autism Spectrum Disorder and those who care for them.”

It’s an odd timing: With the election is just 64 days away, the Trudeau Liberals have been asked to make autism a federal issue for the last four years and they have done nothing. So why are they acting now?

It’s simply part of their strategy to campaign in Ontario against the Ford government.

They did it last week when Trudeau himself announced new federal funding for legal aid. The PM tried to make that announcement out to be him stepping up to save vulnerable people from harsh cuts by Ford.

In reality, it was Trudeau finally paying the federal part of legal aid funding that they are responsible for under immigration and refugee cases.

At every turn Trudeau has sought to make the federal vote in Ontario all about Ford rather than Scheer.

Now he is doing it again with a highly-controversial and emotional topic, one that has been at the forefront of Ontario politics over the last several months.

Of course, no one has forgotten how Kathleen Wynne treated students with autism.




Because it's an election year and no one wants a of the repeat the Omar Khadr fiasco, Justin now has to pretend that he really doesn't want the terrorist known as Jihadi Jack:

“Canada is disappointed that the United Kingdom has taken this unilateral action to off-load their responsibilities,” the statement said. “Terrorism knows no borders, so countries need to work together to keep each other safe.”

Oh, you're full of sh--.

If only C-6 hadn't been repealed or Jihadi Jack caught a bullet.

But no.




But where was Justin?:

Under overcast skies, the families and former comrades of the fallen listened as Gov.-Gen. Julie Payette, Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, defence chief Gen. Jonathan Vance and others spoke of the enduring legacy left behind by those who fought and died during Canada’s 13-year war in Afghanistan.

One-hundred-fifty-eight Canadian soldiers died during the mission, which started shortly after the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry, journalist Michelle Lang and two civilian contractors were also killed during the war.

This is what happens when one does not elect one's judges:

There have been some strange events lately at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. One judge ruled on a case he never heard, about a complicated real estate deal gone bad. Odd though this was all by itself, it might have seemed especially so to another judge who heard arguments in that case, but never took part in the decision.

**

Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion’s report on the SNC-Lavalin affair didn’t just shed light on how political staff operated behind the scenes. It also revealed the involvement of former Supreme Court of Canada justices in the explosive political dispute.

Two retired judges, Frank Iacobucci and John Major, wrote legal opinions for SNC-Lavalin that the Montreal company used in its legal battle with the federal prosecution service, which had decided to force the company to stand trial on fraud and bribery charges instead of negotiating a deferred prosecution.

Former chief justice Beverley McLachlin, meanwhile, had been approached by both SNC-Lavalin and the Prime Minister’s Office about providing then Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould with advice. The company and PMO staffers also considered having McLachlin oversee some kind of settlement discussion with prosecutors. This was all done without the knowledge of Wilson-Raybould, who backed the top prosecutor’s decision.

It is not clear exactly how open McLachlin was to the request; the report says she expressed reservations at one point. McLachlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A fourth former Supreme Court justice, Thomas Cromwell, was retained by Wilson-Raybould after she resigned from cabinet, though his role is not mentioned in the report.

The revelations have once again raised the issue of whether judges — especially from Canada’s top court — should be subject to stricter rules or at least guidelines on what activities they can engage in after retiring from the bench.

But I thought that the Indian Act already assured equality, even in communities that were allegedly egalitarian or even matriarchal to begin with:

First Nations women will finally be treated the same as men under the Indian Act, enabling them to obtain the same status and category of membership as their male counterparts and their descendants, Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett said Friday.

I'm sure this is nothing to worry about:

Several major governments and more than 1,000 big companies in Europe are now able to effectively borrow from global financial markets at a negative interest rate. For Jyske Bank, that means it can then turn around and lend money at a subzero interest rate, too.

The amount of this type of debt, issued as government or corporate bonds, has doubled since December and now totals US$15 trillion.

The sudden increase suggests that a fast-rising share of investors are so nervous about the future they’re willing to actually lose a little money by lending it to a borrower that is almost certain to pay it back, rather than risk betting on something that could go bust. In a healthy economy, investors would put their money to work in profit-making ventures such as factories or office buildings.

But ... but ... there's no compulsion!:

In the largest IDP camp, called al-Hol, ISIL now exerts more influence and control than the few dozen SDF guards stationed there, according to U.S. officials, lawmakers and experts. ISIL women have created a morality police corps inside the camp, enforcing sharia law and even conducting brutal executions, officials said. ISIL is recruiting from the camp, smuggling fighters in and out and using it to plan attacks in other parts of Syria, officials told me. If it’s not already effectively Caliphate 2.0, it soon will be.