Mid-Week Post

The countdown to Easter begins ...




From the most morally and politically corrupt government ever re-elected:

The Liberal government has been forced to apologize after coming clean about concealing nearly $200,000 in contracts awarded to an environmental group.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan said he was “deeply sorry” after the omission was discovered by a Conservative MP from Alberta.

In an Inquiry of Ministry, MP Earl Dreeshen (Red Deer-Mountain View, Alta.) asked for details of contracts awarded to the Calgary-based Pembina Institute from 2017 to 2019. The amount was recorded as “nil” in a statement signed by O’Regan and his department suggested it had “not granted any contracts to the Pembina Institute.”

But the government had, in fact, paid Pembina $182,958 for contracts, in addition to $1.7 million in federal grants.

This explains the blockades and the tanking of our oil industry.

 

To wit:

As of September 19th, 2018 the Criminal Code of Canada was quietly altered to allow for what’s called a ‘Deferred Prosecution Agreement’ (DPA), essentially a special plea deal for the well-connected.

Don’t remember hearing of this? That’s because the Liberals did their best to keep it quiet by burying a clause allowing DPA’s in a last-minute addition to their 582-page Omnibus Budget Bill.

The Liberals were so successful keeping the DPA clause a secret, that even Liberal MP’s on the House of Commons justice committee studying the Omnibus Budget Bill were surprised.

Liberal MP Greg Fergus said at the time he was worried the change appeared to be designed to give those implicated in white-collar crimes “a little slap on the wrist”

“It seems we’re letting those with the means have an easier time of it than those who don’t have the means,” the Liberal MP opined.

The last minute addition of DPA’s into the omnibus budget bill came to be known as the ‘SNC-Lavalin’ clause, because it was added only after intense lobbying efforts from the Montreal-based construction giant.

 

Bitter and unwilling to accept that provinces have rights, Justin pouts his way to the Supreme Court where there he may get the judgment he doesn't deserve:

After playing out in provincial appellate courts, the carbon tax fight will be heading next to the Supreme Court of Canada.

“The government looks forward to the Supreme Court of Canada’s deliberations and is confident that the price on pollution is within federal jurisdiction,” Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said on Monday.

You can feel the smug from here.

 


What a vain little sh-- he is:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken Canada’s campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council directly to African diplomats with a speech that tried to emphasize his boyhood connection to the continent.

Trudeau fondly recalled accompanying his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, on trips to Africa as a child and later as a young adult backpacker.

Canada is falling apart and all he cares about is his post-Canada ruining career.

 

 

Like so: 

The Canadian Federation of Agriculture called for “decisive action” from the federal government Tuesday as it warned that rail blockades across the country were causing critical supply shortages for farmers and hurting their ability to get products to market.

Canadian farmers are being “severely and harshly impacted” by the blockades despite having nothing to do with the dispute over a B.C. pipeline project, federation president Mary Robinson said during a news conference attended by dozens of representatives from the agricultural industry.

 

 

Not that the government - or Canadians - care. The government insists on dragging its feet:

 

Liberal MPs temporarily thwarted an attempt by a Bloc Quebecois MP to immediately debate the "Indigenous crisis" involving rail and road blockades across the country at a Commons committee Tuesday as the political fallout of the disruptions continues to dominate Parliament Hill.

 

 

 

It's called terrorism: 

Ontario Provincial Police say fires at a second protest encampment in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory temporarily brought freight train traffic to a halt.

Police spokesman Bill Dickson says demonstrators lit a fire next to the railway tracks immediately after a train moved through the area near Belleville, Ont., this morning.

He says demonstrators then threw a few tires on the tracks and lit them.

 

Also: 

We’ve spent years declaring that Canada is garbage, hoping that an attitude of self-abasement would somehow lead us to “reconciliation.” We forgot that when garbage talks, no one listens.

Justin is not without lap dogs of his own:

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister hinted at a potential breakthrough with the federal government on a carbon tax Tuesday, and did not rule out introducing a tax in the upcoming provincial budget.

Roll over! Play dead!

 

Why, Mr. Kenney, it seems that you have no fight in you:

The speech ended with one of the major themes of Kenney’s premiership:  a “fair deal” for Alberta within the Canadian federation, including allowing for citizen-initiated referenda — on any subject — and the replacement of the federal parole board with a provincial one.

You will have no fair deal in Canada, not unless you make Quebec pay through the nose.

 

 

Also - other provinces had better pay attention. If Alberta gets clipped, it would mean that Ottawa can rule unilaterally and against provincial and territorial interests: 

The Alberta government is demanding that the federal carbon tax no longer apply to the province after the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled the tax unconstitutional because it infringes on provincial jurisdiction.

Alberta Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer is also asking the federal government to “work out a process for the reimbursement to Albertans of taxes paid,” in a letter sent Wednesday morning to federal Justice Minister David Lametti.

Pay through the nose, Ottawa.

 

 

In the end, she loved Big Brother:

Sen. Lynn Beyak sought to stave off suspension from the upper chamber Tuesday, pledging to do more to make amends for the harm she caused by posting offensive letters online.

Had this been Canada, he would have been re-elected already:

As of Wednesday morning, over 400,000 South Koreans have signed an online petition calling for the impeachment of President Moon Jae-in over the government’s missteps in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak.

Koreans punish ignorance and inaction. We reward it.

That said, had Moon acted earlier, coronavirus cases in South Korea would not be topping 1,000.




It's about time:

The health ministry on Tuesday rolled out a basic set of policies on handling COVID-19 infections as the government tries desperately to curb the spread of the disease within the limited window available.

The move came amid apprehension over the growing spike in domestic cases and their deepening severity, with reports emerging Tuesday of the fourth fatality among those previously aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship.

The nation’s total tally of infected people has risen day by day, widening as of Tuesday to 17 prefectures.

By the evening, a host of cities had reported cases, including five in Hokkaido, three in Nagoya and one each in Kumamoto, Sapporo and Nagano — the first in Nagano Prefecture.

 
Had there been flight restrictions, I'm sure this wouldn't be happening right now:

A woman who recently travelled to Iran has been diagnosed as Ontario's fifth novel coronavirus patient, Ontario's top public health official announced Wednesday.

Dr. David Williams offered few details about the Toronto-based case, which involved a woman in her 60s. But the province's chief medical officer of health said the case came to light on Monday when she arrived at a local hospital emergency department.

While most previous patients diagnosed with the virus known as COVID-19 had recently spent time in China, the epicentre of the global outbreak that's infected an estimated 80,000 people so far, Williams said the Toronto woman's recent travel history centred on Iran where a rash of new cases have recently emerged.

"The patient was cared for at the hospital using all appropriate precautions, including being isolated as she was tested for COVID-19," Williams said in a statement.

He said the woman was ultimately released and sent home to go into self-isolation. Health officials are monitoring the situation and following up with the woman's close contacts, he added.

Because that will totally work. 

This is the same government that learned nothing from SARS but knows its priorities:

The federal health minister says charging residents for abortions is a breach of the Health Act, and is threatening penalties if New Brunswick doesn't fall in line.

This comes after New Brunswick's only private abortion clinic, Clinic 554 in Fredericton, said it can't keep operating without provincial funding.

New Brunswick does not fund out-of-hospital abortions, something Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to fix during the last election.

New Brunswick doesn't think it's acting out of place.

Hey - what about those drug shortages?  Is that a priority, Patty?