Christmas Post: For a Saturday

A bit going on ...




Justin promises to be, like, grown-up and stuff:

Justin Trudeau says he’s taking a lower-profile, more businesslike approach to being prime minister, having concluded that the focus on him and his lofty talk of values during his first mandate obscured his government’s concrete achievements on bread-and-butter issues.

Sure, Justin. Sure:

The PM jetted off to Costa Rica on Friday to start his Christmas vacation.

Well, given that his public calendar says “personal,” we have to hope that it means it’s a vacation and that we won’t see Trudeau and his family parading around the country in traditional Costa Rican garb. I can see it now, the PM wandering the streets with a white linen shirt open almost to his belly button, a red handkerchief tied around his neck. ...

Yet even Trudeau vacations can lead to bad headlines, embarrassing stories and investigations. We all remember the trip the PM took to Bell Island, the private retreat of his “friend” the Aga Khan.

That trip continues to make headlines with it being revealed in the last week by CBC that the RCMP owes the firm that manages the island more than $56,000 but won’t pay their bill. Of course that is the trip that resulted in Trudeau being investigated by then ethics commissioner Mary Dawson for taking a trip from a man who lobbies for and receives millions of dollars annually from the government of Canada.

Trudeau tried to claim his “free” vacation to the island paradise came about because the Aga Khan was a long-standing friend. That’s something Dawson looked into and found to be false, but she did find that Trudeau sees his job as mostly “ceremonial in nature.”

Maybe that’s why he can take off early to Costa Rica this year — he’s dumped off most of his duties on Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland. ...

He regularly jets off to Tofino in British Columbia to go surfing, or to Whistler for some skiing or snowboarding. He’s also been known to vacation at Fogo Island, one of the most expensive places to get to and stay at in Canada.

While the rest of us scrimp and save this time of year to make ends meet and squeeze in a visit to family, Trudeau will be on a beach, surrounded by staff and luxury, spending your hard-earned tax dollars so that he can relax.

Justin will hope that people will have resolved the things he is supposed to take care of while he is away on yet another taxpayer-funded vacation:

China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that an investigation into two Canadians detained on state security charges since December last year had ended, and the case had been turned over to prosecutors.  

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China says Trudeau is “doomed to fail.”

“Linking a deal to ease escalating tariffs between the world’s two largest economies with other issues is “totally in vain,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Friday.”

 “He then employed a Chinese idiom describing an action that is dangerous or perhaps desperate: 

“Those who pull other people’s chestnuts out of the fire will only end up burning themselves.”

Canada, he said, must be “too heartbroken for tears” if it is taking such a step.”

‘“Whoever is most desperate will know that best,” he said.”

According to the report, Trudeau was met with “derision” in China:

“Frankly speaking, what Trudeau is saying is nonsense,” said Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, who is also an adviser to the State Council of China, the country’s cabinet.

“Everyone knows that a trade deal will benefit both the U.S. and China,” he said, “and Trump will undoubtedly prioritize benefits for his country.”

Shen Dingli, a Fudan University professor and one of China’s top scholars in international relations, said “Trudeau’s words won’t make any difference.

“What matters most to Trump is winning re-election. How can Trudeau’s request matter to him? 

Trump must take action, especially on trade matters, before next November. If he wants to make gains with voters, he knows what his priority needs to be.”

But ... but ... Justin's all, like, grown-up and stuff! 

(Sidebar: the US, which refused a meeting on human rights abuses in North Korea, is now being warned by China's Asian vassal state not to bring up the issue at all or "it will pay dearly". One needn't comment on Colin Kaepernick's "principled" kneeling and where his shoes are made. The Hong Kong police are in riot gear just in time for the holidays.)

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It’s also fair to ask why the Liberals were so inclined to go to the mat for SNC-Lavalin, both in terms of introducing the option of a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) and then taking the political risk of inappropriately leaning on the attorney general to ensure the DPA was utilized; all the while, of course, selling us on the terrible fate that might befall the company — and its thousands of employees — if it didn’t get its way.

And after all that, what do we have? A plea deal — not a DPA, it should be noted — for the company that will see it pay a $280-million fine … and that’s about it. It does not appear as though thousands of jobs will be lost and the company’s status as a Canadian-based company remains secure. The lucrative future government contracts the company had so badly feared losing out on will still be there.

For his part, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that had he known how this was all going to play out, in the end, he probably would have done some things differently. This is an interesting admission since it implies that the company’s interests have been front and centre all along.

There will be no pipeline built while Justin is in office:

A report that the RCMP were prepared to use lethal force and employed snipers during their enforcement of an injunction at an Indigenous anti-pipeline camp in northern B.C. this year is sparking widespread criticism from the camp and on social media.

Let one understand this correctly - if one does the decent and legal thing, one will still pay for it:

A B.C. family got a harsh lesson in designated driving after police impounded their vehicle and issued a roadside prohibition — even though the driver was sober and his impaired passenger was the one penalized.

The passenger, who lives in Nelson and whose name was not provided, was at a Christmas party with her husband the night of Dec. 13 when they called their 22-year-old son to pick them up, as both had been drinking.

The mother was sitting in the front passenger seat while her son drove his parents home when they went though a holiday Counter Attack road check. When police asked if anyone had consumed any alcohol, the woman admitted she had.

“[The officer] then asked her to exit the vehicle and she was given a roadside test,” the woman’s lawyer Sarah Leamon said.

“She failed that, and she was given a 90-day [Immediate Roadside Prohibition] and the family vehicle was impounded for 30 days.”

According to the ticket issued by police, the son had a learner’s licence.

Under the Motor Vehicle Act, drivers with “L” licences “must be accompanied by a qualified supervisor who is at least 25 years of age.” Police considered the driver’s mother to be that supervisor, as she was in the front passenger seat.

Apparently, the driver in question had an N and not an L license.




This is the new normal, guys:

Berlin police gave the all-clear on Saturday after earlier evacuating a Christmas market that was the scene of a fatal attack three years ago to investigate a possible suspicious object, which they did not find.

 




Christmas is a time for miracles and puppies:

Police west of Toronto say they’ve arrested a 20-year-old man after he allegedly tried to steal a puppy and then accidentally shot himself in the leg.