Saturday Post

 

As of this writing, there have been 7,073 coronavirus deaths in Canada.




Answer for? HA! What country are you living in?:

For 15 years, we were told SARS had transformed Ontario and Canada as a whole into the most pandemic-ready society on earth. Then, suddenly, with elderly relatives dropping dead in their thousands of a virus transmitted via droplets landing in our face-holes, scientists were telling us that covering our mouths and noses was worse than useless. Not only did our public health officials fail to learn the headline lesson from the SARS report, many of them sounded borderline deranged.

What is truly deranged is that people still listen to these official lunatics and screw-ups.




Good:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said he is terminating the U.S. relationship with the World Health Organization over its handling of the coronavirus, saying the WHO had essentially become a puppet organization of China.

There is a "Twelve Monkeys" joke in here somewhere and I'm struggling to find it:

India is grappling with an incident straight out of a movie after several monkeys escaped from a laboratory with COVID-19-tainted blood samples in hand.

The incident happened at a medical college in Meerut, a city in the Uttar Pradesh area of northern India on Tuesday, according to officials.

“Monkeys grabbed and fled with the blood samples of four COVID-19 patients who are undergoing treatment,” Dr. S. K. Garg, a top official at the college, told Reuters. He added that it’s unclear whether the tubes of blood had been spilled.

Yes, one is aware that this is the least ethical and transparent government in the country's history, right?:

The Trudeau government plunged Canada $371.5 billion further into debt in a matter of days.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Commons finance committee was told that the government borrowed over a third of a trillion dollars between March 1 and March 26 to finance their coronavirus programs. 

“In total between March 1 and March 26 we’ve issued $371.5 billion in debt,” said associate assistant deputy finance minister Soren Halverson. 

**

When news broke that four federal political parties had applied for taxpayer support from the emergency wage subsidy program, which was intended to support struggling businesses, it fell to the leader of the Bloc Québécois, of all people, to say the obvious.

“I find it absolutely unacceptable,” said Yves-Francois Blanchet, whose party was the only one not to apply for the subsidy, noting that the Liberals and Conservatives in particular had already raised millions of dollars in donations before the COVID-19 crisis ever hit.

You're just angry that you didn't get anything out of it.




Justin campaigned for this seat good and hard, even at the expense of Canada, so it would be quite something else if he didn't get it :

The United Nations has confirmed that the election for non-permanent seats on the Security Council — which pits Canada against Norway and Ireland — will take place in June under unprecedented new rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The 193 ambassadors will cast their votes on behalf of their countries in a secret ballot with the three candidates vying for two available temporary seats on the UN’s most powerful body. ...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been courting the support of large voting blocs in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean because European countries are expected to rally around Norway and Ireland. This past week, Trudeau co-hosted a major UN meeting on rebuilding the global economy after the pandemic.

Canada is running on a platform of trying to help rebuild the post-pandemic world. In a joint press video press conference with Trudeau, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tacitly endorsed Canada’s ability to convene larger groups of countries to serve the greater international good — a key plank in Canada’s platform for the council.

Blanchard wouldn’t say how much support Canada has been able to garner, but the secret balloting process in the UN has been notorious for deception that has seen countries promise support but take it away when an ambassador casts his or her secret vote.

Also - shut your woman-hating word-hole, PM Blackface. Why would largely white, organised and leftist American rioters care what a blackface-wearing nobody like you think, anyway?:

Sorry, but after #TrudeauBlackface, we’re not interested in hearing from him on this. #cdnpoli https://t.co/YxHT9m0V2A

— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) May 30, 2020

Justin conveniently forgot that he did this THREE times just as his loyal followers forgot to care. Scratch a Liberal, you will ALWAYS find a racist.

And - one could watch this idiot get knocked out cold all day. What a dip:

YIKES:

pic.twitter.com/Z2UGj1A9Gc

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 30, 2020

 

North Korea has been bucking sanctions, smuggling meth and trying to build its nuclear program. Indictments to stop all of this should have been done ages ago:

The U.S. government has charged 28 North Korean and five Chinese individuals with facilitating more than $2.5 billion in illegal payments for Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile program in what court papers describe as a clandestine global network operating from countries including China, Russia, Libya and Thailand.

Also:

Britain has shuttered its embassy in North Korea and all its diplomats have left the country, its ambassador said Thursday as Pyongyang maintains strict entry controls to try to prevent a coronavirus outbreak.

The North has closed its borders and insists it has not had a single case of the virus that emerged in neighboring China late last year and has since swept the world.

The closure was a temporary move and came because Pyongyang’s “restrictions on entry to the country have made it impossible to rotate our staff and sustain the operation of the embassy”, a Foreign Office spokesperson said.

Ambassador Colin Crooks tweeted: “The #BritishEmbassy in #Pyongyang closed temporarily on 27 May 2020 and all diplomatic staff have left the #DPRK for the time being.”

Japan, I would re-consider visiting China forever:

Ruling party lawmakers, citing concerns over Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong, are urging the government to consider withdrawing its invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping for a state visit to Japan.

Two groups from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party submitted a resolution to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Friday, expressing “serious concern” over the situation in the semiautonomous former British colony.

The resolution called on the government to “carefully consider” whether the visit should still go ahead, underscoring the views of conservative LDP members, who have been critical of China’s poor human rights record and continued assertiveness in waters surrounding the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands. The uninhabited islets are also claimed by China, where they are known as the Diaoyu.

And now, some snappy music for a Saturday afternoon:

And the Rest of It

This wouldn't be necessary if the cops did what we paid them to do in the first place:

The controversial Critical Infrastructure Defence Act, Premier Jason Kenney's signature legislation to start the current session, passed third reading in the legislature on Thursday.

Government house leader Jason Nixon hopes it will receive the lieutenant-governor's royal assent Friday, immediately making it law.

Introduced in February, the bill allows hefty penalties against any person or company found to have blocked, damaged or entered without reason any "essential infrastructure."

The list of possible sites is lengthy and includes pipelines, rail lines, highways, oil sites, telecommunications equipment, radio towers, electrical lines, dams, farms and more, on public or private land.

Violators can be fined up to $25,000, sentenced to six months in jail, or both. Corporations that break the law can be fined up to $200,000. Each day they block or damage a site is considered a new offence.

Kenney introduced the legislation against the backdrop of protests across Canada, in which groups blockaded rail lines, commuter train routes and roadways in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs opposed to the construction of the Coastal Gas Link pipeline through their territory in northern B.C.

These cops:

A full month has passed since the RCMP stood in front of a podium to take questions about the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history, prompting new allegations that the force is not meeting minimum standards of transparency.

Indeed:

Police agencies throughout Nova Scotia received a warning in May 2011 that a man named Gabriel Wortman had a collection of guns and planned “to kill a cop,” reports CBC News.

Nova Scotia RCMP are not able to say what happened with the tip about the denturist who killed 22 people in the province—including an RCMP officer—in April.

The warning was received after Truro Police Cpl. Greg Densmore was approached by an unknown source who shared specific information about the location of Wortman’s guns and that he was possibly bringing a handgun when traveling between his Portapique, N.S. cottage and his Dartmouth home.

What? Iran refuses to treat Canada's request for the return of flight recorders seriously? Can't Canada's gender equality bleatings buy respect in a country where women are stoned to death?:

The flight recorders from the Iran plane crash that left dozens of Canadians dead have still not been received, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Thursday.

“The boxes are still in Iran,” he said at a government briefing via video link. “And we continue to exert pressure.”

Do mosques have parish halls?:

A parish hall that refused to accommodate a Pride Week fundraiser must face a human rights hearing, a British Columbia adjudicator has ruled. The Catholic Church complained the banquet would have featured drag queens and same-sex dancing: “There are significant facts and issues in dispute.”

Oh, dear. This must be embarrassing for the industry:

New footage released by the Center for Medical Progress and it’s founder David Daleiden reveals Planned Parenthood officials admitting under oath their involvement in business transactions selling fetal tissue from aborted babies, calling into question whether the nation’s largest abortion provider violated federal law. 

Invoices unsealed in April 2020 from Planned Parenthood Mar Monte showed the clinic received $55 per “useable” organ delivered to tissue procurement organization Stem Express, contradicting previous claims by Planned Parenthood officials that the payment was only to cover transportation fees.

And now for something completely different:

The only thing better than soaring above the clouds is doing it with your best friend.

That’s according to Simon Hergott, a Kamloops, B.C. freelance videographer with a passion for paragliding.

“It’s amazing being able to climb rising air currents and travel places,” Hergott told Global News.

“You can hike up a little hill in your back yard and fly off into the sunset.”

Last fall, Hergott decided his hobby would be better if he could do it with a companion. That’s when he adopted Aeris, a mini Red Heeler who no accompanies him on his sky-high adventures.

We Totally Have This Coronavirus Under Control

Disgraced chief medical officer attempts to salvage her reputation after a small spike in coronavirus cases in New Brunswick:

New Brunswick's provincial legislature abruptly adjourned, a day after officials confirmed a health-care worker who had travelled outside New Brunswick was at the origin of a cluster that has grown to at least six cases in the Campbellton area.

Premier Blaine Higgs has said the health-care worker was in contact with "multiple patients" over a two-week period after returning to the province without self-isolating. The area, near the border with Quebec, will now have to return to tighter restrictions on physical distancing.

Tam said the response shows public health officials across the country are taking a cautious approach to reopening.

"I think there has always been the message in different jurisdictions that there's a flexibility in the public health system to reinstate or pull back on some of the measures as they see fit, based on their own epidemiological context," she said.

Gloating over these preventable cases would be beneath a person with any sort of scruples, but not Theresa Tam.


Also - Saskatchewan, it seems, does not feel that families should fined for being normal:

Officials in Saskatchewan say no fines have been levied against those who took part in two large family gatherings that triggered an outbreak of COVID-19 in Saskatoon.

Dr. Saqib Shahab, the province's chief medical health officer, said up to four cases of infection have so far been tied to the 60 or so people who attended the events on different dates earlier this month.

He did not disclose details of the gatherings, but health officials say close contacts are self-isolating.

A public health order restricts crowd sizes to no more than 10 people, but that is to increase next month to 15 people indoors and 30 when outside.

Although Shahab said those who violate the gathering order could face fines, officials decided in this case the best course of action was education.

"Obviously there's the possibility of issuing a ticket and fines but progressive enforcement has worked well for us in the past," Shahab said Thursday.

"In this case my understanding is there's an attempt to understand why some of those considerations were not thought of when the event was planned."

This is the same country that needs the government's permission to be proactive:

The federal government has ordered the manufacture of 10,000 additional ventilators to bolster the national supply in case a resurgence of COVID-19 sends thousands of critically ill patients into intensive care later this year. But the real need may be in the Southern Hemisphere, where new cases of the disease are on the rise and strategies for cheaply making or adapting the critical-care devices could come into play in a way that has so far not been required in Canada.

Like Venezuela?:

The Trudeau government committed $27 million in taxpayer funds to be put towards South American countries dealing with the Venezuelan refugee crisis. 

According to the Canadian Press, the Liberals made the announcement during a conference hosted by the EU and Spain. 

The new pledge ups Canada’s commitment to refugees in the Americas to the tune of $80 million.

Cash like that can buy many UN seats!




Oh, burn!:

Canadians hoping to summer in Greece may have to wait longer after Greece exempted Canada from a recently released list of low COVID-19 countries from which holidaymakers can come to visit.

Last week, the country’s ministry of tourism released a ‘white list’ of 20 countries where its scientists judge the coronavirus infection rates to have fallen enough for tourists to be allowed into the Aegean holiday favourite, starting June 15.

The list, according to the Greek Reporter,  includes China, Japan, Australia, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Germany, Cyprus, Israel, Denmark, Austria, Bulgaria,Romania, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia.

Britain, Italy, Spain, Canada and the United States are not on the list, according to the Greek newspaper.

However, despite leaks, Greek tourism minister Haris Theoharis has not made any comments and said that the final list, which will be drawn up by Greece’s public health officials will be released by the end of May.

Blaming Premier Doug Ford for everything is just easier and avoids shining a light and true incompetence and corruption:

In the parliamentary system, ministers resign or are fired. But if Ford gave the NDP the firing of Fullerton they want, what would that change?

We have the permanent government, the bureaucracy that never changes, and the same people would brief the next minister, even the next government.

**

As Ontario struggles with its up-and-down testing numbers, people are demanding to know why Premier Doug Ford and his government can’t do better. Ford seems a bit more ineffectual every time he urges public health units to “pull up their socks” and then they don’t follow through. It’s almost like there’s no one in charge.

Well, here’s the bad news. There are 34 people in charge but Ford isn’t one of them. When the premier blames public health units for low test numbers, it sounds like he’s passing the buck, but he’s not. Testing is the responsibility of the province’s public health units, many of them remarkably small. And it’s not just testing that these little health fiefdoms control. They also decide what gets to open and which businesses and services have to stay closed.

These 34 local public health czars don’t answer to Ford, or even to Ontario’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. David Williams, although the provincial government pays 75 per cent of public health costs. Municipalities pay the rest.

Mr. Murphy, you act as though we the people are pulling the strings of the government and not the other way around:

Mr. Trudeau has been indoors in a cottage for 50 plus days. His morning standups under the Tent of Commons have passed the tedious stage, passed dreary, passed repetitive, clichéd and annoying. They are as useless as they are arrogant. And that’s a high bar on both. One person, even a PM, is not a government.

Trudeau is either scared of the House of Commons, or he has no regard for it. Perhaps it’s both.

The prime minister is not acting as a prime minister should, or should be allowed to. He has not the right to end the deliberative and accountability functions of Parliament.

So it has come to pass that this most pathetic scandal will not be debated on Thursday or Friday or next week, just as over the past 50 plus days Canada has not had a real government during the biggest health and financial crisis in modern times. That’s scandal on top of scandal. Utterly reprehensible and contemptible.

Jagmeet Singh, who deserves some sort of medal for inconspicuousness, being a no-show during most of this time, should be fully ashamed of himself, that for a paltry political boost for his party (the sick-leave handouts) he gave Trudeau immunity from Parliament, from question period, from due democratic process. It would be a real service were someone to explain to him what the phrase “opposition party” implies. It surely does not mean “subdivision of the minority administration.”

The NDP, long long ago, used to wear the brand of “the conscience of Parliament.” Singh should put a “stop order” on any T-shirts daring to wear that slogan again. In the old days, half the NDP would be right now talking to relatives of those caught in the LTC outrage, and the other half would be nailing whoever was prime minister for being “out of service.”

As of this writing, there have been 6,918 coronavirus deaths in this country.

I'm Sure It's All Nothing to Be Concerned With

This will all right itself as surely as budgets balance themselves:

Canadian governments are lot more indebted than we think. And I don’t just mean the vast add-ons now taking place and for coming years. No, what I mean is that the official public debt figures mask the true debt position of our governments. This can send the wrong signal to taxpayers that we are OK when we are not. ...

First, national accounting (unlike the public accounting used in federal and provincial budgets) does not include government employee pension plan liabilities — the money we will all owe to retired civil servants that isn’t covered by a corresponding asset. Add at least another 15 per cent of GDP for this item to the 2019 debt load. Government pension liabilities will easily surpass that in 2020 as asset returns tank and discounted liabilities rise sharply because of low interest rates. (With lower interest rates it takes more money to cover a given future pension obligation.)

Second, to get to net debt we subtract Canada and Quebec Pension Plan assets from our overall debt. But we ignore any liabilities these plans will pay out beyond one year. Unless governments renege on future CPP and QPP pension benefits, adding in these future obligations raises our 2019 net debt by another 14 per cent of GDP.

Third, both financial and non-financial assets, like roads, bridges and other public capital, are carried at book value. But the 2020 market downturn means a government wishing to sell financial assets to avoid rolling over debt will have less money on its hands. Financial values generally do come back over time. But non-financial assets, of which over 90 per cent are held by provincial and local government, are a different, more troubling matter. They typically earn little financial return and are highly illiquid. If governments need money to cover debt repayments, their non-financial assets will have few buyers unless they are privatized at low prices. If we don’t follow the usual practice of subtracting non-financial assets from liabilities, the net debt burden would be higher by another 53 per cent.

And we’re not finished yet. Governments also have major unfunded liabilities such as Old Age Security, Guaranteed Income Supplements, age-related tax credits, seniors’ drug plans, long-term care facilities and health care benefits. The IMF estimates that on its own unfunded health-care spending for the next 30 years adds up to another 42 per cent of GDP.

(Sidebar: it's probably because those old people were asking for too much than the government was prepared to give.)

Add it all up and Canada’s debt burden is $3.2 trillion. That’s 166 per cent of GDP — fully four times the IMF forecast for 2020.

See, it's not as bad as all that.

**

Statistics Canada says the economy in the first quarter had its worst showing since 2009 as steps taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 forced businesses across the country to close their doors and lay off workers.

Statistics Canada says gross domestic product fell at an annualized rate of 8.2 per cent in the first three months of 2020. The collapse came as gross domestic product for March fell 7.2 per cent as restrictions by public health officials began rolling out during the month, including school closures, border shutdowns and travel restrictions.

 
**

Cabinet borrowed more than a third of a trillion dollars in 27 days, the Commons finance committee was told last night. The unprecedented borrowing was to finance pandemic relief programs: “Brace for the coming storm.”

Borrowed money has to be repaid but whatever ...

**

Because transparency:

Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna yesterday would not tell Parliament how much was paid in six-figure bonuses to a former CEO of the Canada Infrastructure Bank. The executive abruptly resigned April 3: ‘Is this a good way to spend taxpayers’ money?”

**

Did the subsidies work?

Some say not:
 

Amid Depression-level unemployment, some employers in low-wage industries are actually struggling to fill jobs, business groups say.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) says a third of its members report having trouble staffing up, as potential employees fear returning to work amid the ongoing pandemic, while still able to rely on federal emergency benefits.

Who could have seen that coming?

**

How could this go wrong?:

A multi-billion dollar pandemic relief program intended for post-secondary students will pay jobless teenagers whether or not they are studying. High school graduates need only mail a student application to a college or university to qualify for federal cheques, according to regulations detailed yesterday: “I admit this is not a perfect system.”

See! Nothing to worry about!

Because Priorities

While people have been under house arrest because of what China did, Justin has been busy ... buying a seat on the UN security council:

(Sidebar: Canada has no military to speak of and no one listens to it anymore, but whatever ...)

Canada has just 35 personnel involved in UN peacekeeping, a number that compares unfavourably with Ireland and Norway, the two countries with which we are competing for the two spots to represent the Western Europe and Others group. Ireland has around 474 personnel involved in UN missions, while Norway has 65.

The irony is that when Trudeau announced the Security Council bid in February 2016, alongside then UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon, he committed Canada to a peacekeeping mission. Two years later, Ban was still waiting  for Canada, as the Trudeau government fretted about the prospect of casualties in hot spots like the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It wasn’t until summer 2018 that Canada deployed 250 personnel and eight helicopters to northern Mali. Within 12 months, the Canadians were gone — departing even before their Romanian replacements had arrived in theatre.

When UN ambassadors vote for the two Western Europe and Others spots on June 17, they will be reminded of Canada’s tendency to over-promise and under-deliver.

But it hasn't always gone smoothly:

With Justin Trudeau’s main foreign policy move – get Canada closer to China – now a total and unmitigated failure and disastrous wreck, the PM is seeking another way to get his fix of international attention.

As Trudeau continues to push for a meaningless UN security council seat, he is taking every chance he can get to speak to the UN.

The latest was a conference about financing development in the ‘Era of COVID-19 and beyond.’

It didn’t go well.

As Trudeau started speaking, the audio played but no video showed up.

Then, technicians were heard talking as the PM was talking.

“.@UN having technical trouble. @JustinTrudeau speaking but there’s no video of him. Meanwhile, you can hear voices of technicians trying to sort things out. – sigh -“

https://twitter.com/davidakin/status/1265980909909692416

The video did end up working, with Trudeau uttering a bunch of the usual empty platitudes that no country really cares to hear.

It's like the video was a culminated visual of the broken status of Canada, its empty promises and even emptier-headed puppet leader.

Karma.

RE: Chinese Overlords

An idea of how pervasive the Chinese communist ideology is:

The Canadian Red Cross yesterday defended a federal shipment of pandemic supplies to China, saying Chinese donors have since given three times as much equipment back to Canada. “Everything is of quality,” the Commons health committee was told.

**

Australia, of course, has been leading the world in criticizing China over its handling of COVID-19 and doesn’t shy away from calling out Beijing’s leaders despite having closer ties and a deeper trade relationship with China than Canada does.

We all know that Justin Trudeau, who admires China’s basic dictatorship as he famously told us, will not criticize Beijing’s rulers in any meaningful way.

He’s refused to take on China over their handling of COVID-19, has been near silent on the kidnapping of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor and has turned a blind eye to a series of Chinese human rights abuses from the harassment of Christian churches to the horror of putting Uighur Muslims into reeducation camps.

Pressed in the Commons earlier this week on his refusal to condemn Beijing over the latest moves, Trudeau said he was looking out for Canada.

“My job as Prime Minister is to stand up for Canadians,” Trudeau said. “It is to be there to defend the rights of Canadians and to protect Canadians, both at home and abroad. That is why we have been unequivocal in our defence of the two Michaels arbitrarily detained in China; we have continued to work to resolve that situation.”

Conservative leader Andrew Scheer rightly called Trudeau out for invoking the two Michaels in his defence.

“What did he do after two Canadians were held illegally by the PRC? He still wrote that cheque to the Asian infrastructure bank and still gave that institution Canadian taxpayers’ money to help further the advancements of the foreign policy of China,” Scheer said.

Scheer is right, in the face of two Canadians arbitrarily detained, Trudeau gave $256 million to the Beijing controlled bank.

Justin repeats stock phrases while defending his financiers.

One expects that of him.

Where are the calls to boycott Chinese goods? Are hospitals en masse refusing faulty Chinese medical equipment and garb? Are universities refusing students who have ties to the Chinese military?

Of course not. This is Canada and it knows its place under the Chinese boot.

Once More: Justin Loves China's "Basic Dictatorship"

He said it:

"You know, there’s a level of of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say ‘we need to go green fastest . . . we need to start investing in solar.’ I mean there is a flexibility that I know Stephen Harper must dream about of having a dictatorship that he can do everything he wanted that I find quite interesting."

Everyone heard him say it.

Why expect him to be appalled at China's communist dictatorship now?:

That came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last week that Canada is concerned about the situation in Hong Kong and called for de-escalation and for China to engage in “constructive talks” with Hong Kong on the matter.

But Canada hasn’t gone as far as to say it will act in any way if the new security bill is imposed. When asked whether Canada would take further action, a spokesperson for Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne directed Global News to the joint statement issued by the four allies.

Because he admires China's methods of controlling the public and grabbing power.

Several cases in point:

By stealth and under the cover of the COVID-19 pandemic, Justin Trudeau is shutting down Parliament, neutering opposition and slapping democracy in the face.

With the support of Jagmeet Singh and the NDP, on Tuesday the Prime Minister pushed through his plan to suspend parliamentary sittings until September.

**

Scrutiny by politicians of the Liberal government’s $150 billion in emergency funding will be limited to just four hours following a deal to suspend Parliament until September  — a move branded undemocratic on Thursday.

Canada’s budget watchdog as well as democracy advocates said Justin Trudeau had undermined parliamentary accountability by the suspension and contradicted his 2015 campaign promise for open and honest government.

“There’s been no justification from the very beginning for shutting down Parliament completely,” said Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch.

The Trudeau government on Wednesday passed a motion with the support of the New Democratic Party to suspend Parliament until September 21. Many observers blasted the deal, saying it was an attempt by the Liberal Party to sidestep scrutiny of the emergency spending it has announced in response to COVID-19.

**

Rebel News reporter Keean Bexte was let into a Trudeau press conference by security. And, considering a judge had ruled that The Rebel had the right to report on the news just like anyone else, it is of course the democratic right of Canadians to ask questions and report on the PM.

Yet, when PMO stooges saw Bexte at the press conference, the Trudeau RCMP dragged Bexte away, pushing some China-style ‘media management.’

**

(Sidebar: the silence of the bribed press on this is deafening.)


Who cares about a gentle finger-wagging? Fellow-travellers watch each other's backs.

Kicking the Can Down the Road

I must say that I did not see this coming:

China tech giant Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou will continue to face extradition to the U.S. from Canada on fraud charges, the B.C. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes rejected Meng’s argument the process should be stopped because the accusations are political at heart and do not constitute a crime in Canada — an essential element under the extradition treaty.

“I conclude that, as a matter of law, the ‘double criminality’ requirement for extradition is capable of being met in this case,” Holmes wrote in the 23-page decision. “The effects of the U.S. sanctions may properly play a role in the double-criminality analysis as part of the background or context against which the alleged conduct is examined.”

Holmes added that she was making no determination about the larger question of whether there is admissible evidence that would justify Meng’s committal for trial in Canada.

“This question will be determined at a later stage in the proceedings,” she said.

Arrested at Vancouver International Airport in December 2018, Meng is wanted in the United States for conduct Washington considers a violation of U.S.-imposed sanctions against Iran.

American prosecutors alleged the veritable princess of the communist regime lied to bank officials inquiring into links between Huawei and a former subsidiary doing business in Iran.

Meng’s lawyers asked Holmes to halt the extradition process because her conduct would not amount to fraud if committed in Canada — failing to meet the so-called “double-criminality” requirement — because the country had no sanctions against Iran.

“It is important to note that these allegations are unproven, but must be taken as true for the purpose of this application,” Holmes emphasized in dismissing that argument.

 
Now, before everyone counts the days before Meng Wanzhou is spilling her guts to the Americans, this ruling does not mean that she will be extradited but that she could be extradited.

The allegedly impartial and independent judicial system may very well send Mrs. Meng on her merry way, thus doing the Vichy Trudeau government's bidding:

Ultimately, she said, it is up to Justice Minister David Lametti to decide whether “prosecution according to the foreign laws could lead to an unjust or oppressive result according to Canadian values.” The minister decides, if a judge endorses the case for extradition, whether the individual should be extradited. And the courts can review that decision, giving further protection, the judge said, against an unjust result flowing from the context.

This Lametti.



In the mean time, China no like:

 

Chinese embassy on court decision today:
"The purpose of the United States is to bring down Huawei and other Chinese high-tech companies, and Canada has been acting in the process as an accomplice of the United States. The whole case is entirely a grave political incident."

— Vassy Kapelos (@VassyKapelos) May 27, 2020

I suppose China will have to live with some discomfort for a while.

An Open Letter to China

Dear China,

F--- off.

Sincerely, Everybody

Mid-Week Post

 

Your middle-of-the-week time to stop and smell the flowers ...




Even though the majority of coronavirus cases are in the Toronto area, the emergency order for the province has been extended to June 9th:

Ontarians will not be allowed to dine in bars and restaurants, gather in groups larger than five or use playground equipment until at least mid-June.

The provincial government says it is extending its COVID-19 emergency orders until June 9.

They were last extended on May 19 and were set to expire May 29.

The orders include the closure of child care centres, libraries except for pick-up and delivery, theatres, and bars and restaurants except to provide take-out or delivery.

It also means that Ontarians looking to beat the heat at public pools and splash pads are out of luck until at least June 9.

Ontario has been in a state of emergency since March 17, and it was last extended until June 2.

As of this writing, there have been 6,671 deaths due to the coronavirus.




Though South Korean schools are re-opened, the country and India have seen a spike in new cases:

South Korea reported its highest number of new coronavirus infections in weeks on Wednesday and India saw another record single-day jump of more than 6,000 cases, as the pandemic expanded its grip across much of the globe. ...

In New Zealand, which is still banning foreign arrivals, the Ministry of Health said there were no COVID-19 patients under treatment in the country’s hospitals. The nation took aggressive and early action to stop transmissions and has reported only 21 deaths. It has 21 active cases out of 1,504 confirmed and probable ones. ...

India saw another record single-day jump, reporting 6,387 new cases on Wednesday, as the government prepared new guidelines for the next phase of a 2-month-old national lockdown that is due to end on Sunday.

Also - but I thought that socialism fixed everything!:

“If things were worse than they are now, we would have seen a lot coming out from social media — people talking about the increase of cases, hospitals being overrun,” said Dr. Gerardo de Cosío, the Caracas-based head of the Venezuela office of the Pan American Health Organization and the World Health Organization.

Neighboring Brazil has seen more than 270,000 cases and nearly 20,000 deaths so far, while Peru, Chile and Ecuador have each had tens of thousands of cases. There have been thousands of deaths in Peru and Ecuador and hundreds in Chile.

In Venezuela, officials had been reporting under a dozen new illnesses daily. But that’s started creeping upward, and new illnesses now exceed 100 some days.

Patty Hajdu is an awful b!#ch:

Liberal Health Minister Patty Hajdu is blaming former prime minister Stephen Harper for her government’s failure to properly manage Canada’s national emergency stockpile. 

When Hajdu was asked by NDP MP Matthew Green if she had ever been briefed on the poor state of Canada’s National Emergency Strategic Stockpile, she answered that Canada’s lack of preparedness can be blamed on the Harper government’s actions half a decade ago. 

Yes, about that, you Chinese stoolie b!#ch:

Just finished a great telephone briefing from former Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who led Canada’s response to H1N1. Canada should have medical stockpiles, she says. Where did they go?

— pierrepoilievre (@PierrePoilievre) April 3, 2020

**

To support China’s ongoing response to the outbreak, Canada has deployed approximately 16 tonnes of personal protective equipment, such as clothing, face shields, masks, goggles and gloves to the country since February 4, 2020. 

**

2/ @HoCCommitee on Health:
* MP Jansen: “I’m assuming you keep it in the stockpile because you need it?”
* Thornton: “We keep a minimum level…”
* MP Jansen: “What’s your minimum level of stock on masks?...”
* Thornton: “I couldn’t tell you.”

3/ Thornton: “We were not that familiar with what provinces had in their respective stockpiles”. Could not recall when @GovCanHealth began keeping electronic inventory. Thornton confirmed 3 warehouses closed incl. Regina depot that landfilled 2M N95 masks and 440K gloves. #skpoli

4/ “Can you undertake to provide this committee with the amount of funding the fed gov’t has provided for the nat’l emergency stockpile for each of the last 10 years?” asked MP @DonDavies. Thornton: “I will do our very best; some of that is not publicly available for disclosure.”

5/ * MP Jeneroux: “Would you agree we failed to keep an adequate stockpile due to lack of intention and poor inventory?...”
* Thornton: “No, the stockpile was actually doing well, what it was actually mandated and funded to do.”

6/
* MP Jeneroux: “Minister @PattyHajdu mentioned we didn’t have adequate stockpiles. You say it’s not due to lack of intention or poor inventory. So then what’s it due to?”
* Thornton: “I think it was actually delivering on what it had been mandated and funded to do.”

Sorry, whose fault is it again, Patty? Is it Stephen Harper's who has not been in office since 2016? Was the stockpile, the numbers of which were not disclosed by Miss Thornton, so well-stocked that your China-loving boss could hand out sixteen tonnes of it to China?




Justin, with the NDP's help, extends his vacation:

Parliament has been suspended.

It won’t fully open up again until September.

As a result, the Liberal government will now be administering massive government intervention without oversight, allowing them basically free reign to do whatever they want.

This happened because the NDP was bought off with Trudeau’s ‘promise’ to ‘push’ the provinces on the issue of expanded paid medical leave.


The Liberals, NDP, and Greens all colluded to bypass Parliament, while the Conservatives and the Bloc voted to keep Parliament going.

Between now and September, Parliament will meet just four times, giving MPs just hours to discuss the unprecedented crisis our country faces.

The Romanovs saw the inside of a mine shaft for much less, believe it or not.




As much as people want to blame this terrible mess on Ontario Premier Doug Ford and still expect the current federal government (that hasn't met a crisis it doesn't mean to screw up) to fix everything, the plain truth is that society at large abdicated it moral and practical responsibilities to the elderly a long time ago:

A Canadian military report released on Tuesday chronicles horrific conditions at five long-term care homes in Ontario, ranging from poor infection control practices to the neglect and abuse of residents.

The Ontario government said Tuesday it would send inspectors from the Ministry of Long-Term Care into the seniors’ residences to investigate the military’s allegations. But critics said members of Premier Doug Ford’s government should have been aware of long-standing problems at the homes well before the military stepped in.

(Sidebar:  ... say the people who had an inkling but waited until now to say something about it.)

**

A 60-page report from the military on the condition of Quebec’s long-term care homes released by the government on Wednesday points to three major challenges in the facilities: staffing shortages, management of personal protective equipment and how hot zones related to the novel coronavirus are handled.

Also - why? What will people see if they look through the windows?:

A long-term care facility owned and operated by the city of Timmins has banned window visits by family members of residents.

True North has obtained an email sent out by Golden Manor’s Quality, Risk and Resident Experience Coordinator Amy Beaven telling family members that their visits could be “confusing to residents.”

I'm sure that this is nothing to be concerned about:

Deficit spending is unsustainable, Parliamentary Budget Office Yves Giroux yesterday told the Senate national finance committee. Giroux said this year’s budget shortfall is now an unprecedented $260 billion and counting, five times the previous record of $55.6 billion set a decade ago: “We’d be looking at a level of taxation that’s not been seen for generations.”

It's just money:

The taxpayer-financed Canada Infrastructure Bank endorsed a scale of million-dollar bonuses for its CEO, according to records. The Bank had withheld the disclosure under Access To Information: “It’s a little hard to ask questions about the Bank because nothing is really public at all about it.”

**

The Department of Justice loses almost a third of lawsuits at a taxpayers’ cost in legal fees averaging more than $200 million a year, says a newly-released audit. Of cases settled out of court, 44 percent were paid out just before trial: “Some improvement is needed.”

**

Two of Canada’s biggest banks said Wednesday that their second-quarter profit was essentially cut in half, as the shock of COVID-19 forced both the Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal to set aside massive piles of cash for possible loan losses.

**

Thousands of people in Canada can expect a letter shortly from the U.S. Treasury Department.

However, you’re (probably) not in trouble. In fact, you’re most likely receiving a US$1,200 cheque thanks to America’s stimulus package.

Justice Heather Holmes is set to release Meng Wanzhou today:

A former ambassador to China says Wednesday’s decision in the extradition case of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou could also determine the fate of two Canadians detained in China.

David Mulroney, who served as Canada’s ambassador to the People’s Republic of China between 2009 and 2012, said Tuesday if Meng is released then he expects China will eventually follow suit and release Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor.

The detention of Kovrig and Spavor has widely been seen as arbitrary retaliation against Canada for the arrest of Meng, who is wanted on fraud charges in the United States.

If Meng’s case instead proceeds to the next stage, Mulroney said he worries that China may choose to more actively prosecute the two Canadians on the national security charges they face.

While Meng’s arrest in December 2018 was a lightning rod for the collapse of Canada-China relations, Mulroney said he believes China’s behaviour over the past year has had the effect of “decoupling” the case from its initial influence on bilateral relations.

China’s interference in Hong Kong and other events have caused Canadians to become disenchanted with the idea or goal of returning to some kind of “golden status quo” with the Asian superpower, he said.

“I think if Ms. Meng were to go back to China, it would probably mean good news on the part of the two Michaels but I don’t think it would or should change Canada-China relations,” said Mulroney, who is also a distinguished fellow with the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.

This Hong Kong:

Hong Kong police fired pepper pellets to disperse protesters in the heart of the global financial centre on Wednesday and arrested about 240 people as national security legislation proposed by Beijing revived anti-government demonstrations.

As tensions soared, riot police were deployed around Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, deterring protesters who had planned to gather there as a bill was due to be debated that would criminalize disrespect of the Chinese national anthem.

Also:

Facing a brutal totalitarian state that puts the population under total surveillance, executes people without any semblance of a legal process, disappears people, kidnaps journalists and activists, and seeks to stamp out freedom, the people of Hong Kong have shown incredible bravery in standing up for democracy and liberty.


Indeed, as our own pathetic Liberal government acted like a disgusting coward towards China, the People of Hong Kong braved immense danger, and continue to brave that danger.

The reality is that the freedom fighters of Hong Kong have shown a stronger allegiance to Canadian Values than our own government has.


Of course, we cannot accept everyone, nor should we, since the needs of Canadian Citizens must come first.

That said, we can welcome many thousands of refugees from Hong Kong, as their commitment to freedom and the values we share in common will strengthen Canada and send a clear message that we are a haven for those fleeing the brutal oppression of the Chinese Communist Party.

Why? This country is China now.

And the Rest of It

It's not like people weren't told:

The government will eventually make the “unavoidable” decision to seek new sources of revenues through tax hikes, as policymakers look to offset a raft of recent Liberal spending measures, the federal budget watchdog says.

In testimony before the Senate Finance committee on Tuesday, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux said Ottawa will have to make a “sharp turn” in its fiscal approach in coming months. The Liberal government has introduced around $146 billion in financial aid programs since early March, aimed at shielding businesses and Canadians against the economic fallout from COVID-19.

But those programs will soon need to taper off as the Canadian economy gradually returns to health, Giroux said.

“It’s not sustainable for more than a few years,” he said.

Be honest. It's not sustainable for the end of the year.




I've said that before:

I got tested on the advice of Telehealth Ontario, and because I wanted peace of mind. I live alone in an apartment building, which means I can’t leave the building without touching multiple public surfaces. I didn’t want to hunker down in a small bachelor apartment for 14 days on a “maybe” and I figured that my test would be a useful data point for public health officials tracking the spread of the virus.

The clinic itself was quick and easy. I was in and out in less than an hour, including paying for parking. The swab was extremely uncomfortable — both nostrils! — but it was fairly quick. The doctor wearing full PPE said I’d get a call with test results in 48 hours, maybe sooner if I checked the MyChart website where Sunnybrook uploads test results.

When I got home, I posted a couple of messages to social media describing how quick and easy the test had been. I encouraged other people to consider getting tested, if they had any symptoms.

On Thursday, I very carefully entered my information to register with MyChart, and after the third attempt with an error message, I was told that I’d been locked out. I called the tech support number, and the voicemail message said I’d get a call back within two business days. That’s not especially helpful, since I was expecting a call back with my test results within 48 hours anyway, but so it goes.

Friday 1 p.m. came and went with no phone call. Around 6 p.m. I got tired of waiting, and called Toronto Public Health. After wrestling with their phone tree for a bit, I managed to get a public health nurse on the line. She offered to set up a profile for me, and check if my results had been uploaded to their system.

This was a frustrating conversation. I’d been expecting a result within two days, because that’s what the doctor told me. But apparently Toronto Public Health says test results can take “up to four days.” I was also told that even with a negative test, I was obligated to self-isolate for 14 days, because false negatives are a possibility. So much for peace of mind.

The nurse said she was seeing some sort of error message when she checked my test results, which probably meant they hadn’t been uploaded yet. As we were talking, the Toronto Public Health phone line was garbled, and our conversation was cut off. The nurse called me back about half an hour later and told me she’d been talking for several minutes before she realized we were disconnected. Then a short while later we were disconnected again. She called back about an hour later. The end result of the conversation was that I just needed to sit tight and call back in the morning.

She gave me a phone number for the COVID-19 clinic at Sunnybrook, and suggested I pursue the issue with them directly. I called multiple times, but it always went straight to voicemail. I left three messages at that line over three days. ...

This whole experience has demolished my confidence in the province’s ability to fight this pandemic. I am only one case, but my impression is that after two and a half months of lockdown, the testing system is a disorganized mess. I was already carrying a lot of stress from social isolation and confinement, because I live alone in a small apartment. I also have the same baseline anxiety as everyone else from the pandemic and economic catastrophe we’re living through. The testing ordeal was not good for my mental health, and I’ll spare you the details.

The Chinese-run WHO drops  hydroxychloroquine from its coronavirus study (I think one can imagine why):

The World Health Organization announced Monday a "temporary pause" on the inclusion of an anti-malarial drug, which President Donald Trump said he used to help stave off coronavirus, in a global study on potential treatments for the disease. 

Just like not mentioning that the coronavirus came from China, right?:

Canadians should avoid using the word “aboriginal”, says a federal language guide. The term may give offence and has no legal meaning, wrote researchers: “Using appropriate language is fundamental.”

Like calling the government a pack of money-grubbing liars?

Language is important.

Canada, For One, Welcomes Its New Chinese Overlords

But don't take my word for it:

China is warning Canada to release Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou to avoid “any continuous harm” to relations between the two countries one day before the British Columbia Supreme Court is set to issue a key decision in her extradition case.

She will be released tomorrow.




I don't recall the Americans massacring people in Tienanmen Square:

Canadian Senator Leo Housakos – one of the strongest voices in Canada against the Chinese Communist Party – ripped foolish Toronto Star columnist Regg Cohn for an awful column in which Cohn implied a moral equivalence between the democratically-elected US government, and the Chinese Communist Party.

That's the Red Star for you.

Americans bad. Communist Party of China good.


To wit:

In Canada, hostage diplomacy works. It’s exceedingly difficult to reach any other conclusion, with the evidence for that proposition piling up every day. As of May 13, 520 days have passed since Beijing abducted and imprisoned Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. Well done, China. You’ve bested us. You win.

I cannot believe that China would deceive anyone or exert force over anyone. That simply can't be true!

Oh, wait:

The Jilin provincial government in northeastern China is underreporting the number of CCP virus-diagnosed patients, leaked internal documents recently obtained by The Epoch Times reveal.

And on one recent occasion, the National Health Commission diluted the figures further.

**

While the rest of the world has been paralyzed by COVID-19, a virus the Communist Party’s cover-up helped to spread, China has been busy.

The draft decision to usurp Hong Kong’s freedom is merely the latest power play that takes advantage of the distraction caused by the pandemic.

Beijing has also increased its efforts to dominate the South China Seas, through which 30 per cent of the world’s shipping trade travels, by creating two new administrative districts to govern islands in the Spratly and Paracel chains that are also claimed by Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. The neighbourhood bully has made it known that any resistance will be crushed – a People’s Liberation Army ship aimed its gun control director at a Filipino anti-submarine corvette earlier this year.

**

“If we want to prevent human beings from suffering from the next infectious-disease outbreak, we must go in advance to learn of these unknown viruses carried by wild animals in nature and give early warnings,” Shi Zhengli, a top Chinese scientist specializing in viral transmissions from bats, told CGTN in an interview that aired Monday.

“If we don’t study [the viruses], there will possibly be another outbreak,” warned Shi, who was dubbed “bat woman” by the press because of her research involving the mammals.

That sounds like a veiled warning to me.

Because Priorities

As of this writing, the death toll in Canada due to the coronavirus is 6,638.

Before Justin trots off for another bid to get a UN seat, he has given the peons permission to make masks:

General Motors is working to produce 10 million face masks for Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.

In an update on personal protective equipment, Trudeau says workers in Oshawa are already at work on the masks.

Trudeau also says a partnership with Vexos will produce 10,000 made-in-Canada ventilators. Deliveries should begin this summer.

Not in February or March when all of this could have been used.

Ahem:

Canada needs about three billion pandemic masks as the economy opens up, says a federal contractor. The Public Health Agency had just 100,000 high-grade N95 masks in a national stockpile before the Covid-19 outbreak: “We’re going to need a lot more.”

It's Just An Economy

Yep:

According to the Fraser report, Prime Ministers and Government Spending, Updated 2020 edition, estimated federal spending this year at $13,226 per Canadian, adjusted for inflation, will be 50.7% higher than in the last global recession in 2009, and 74.5% higher than at the peak of the Second World War.

Jason Clemens, executive vice-president of the Fraser Institute, said it’s also a 42% hike over the previous record high of $9,306 per person Trudeau intended to spend this year, prior to the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, and 46% higher than the then-record $9,041 per person his government spent in 2019.

n a second Fraser Institute report, also released Tuesday, Deferring Federal Taxes: Illustrating the Deficit Using the GST, the fiscally-conservative think tank said Trudeau would have had to raise the GST to 9% from its current 5% to balance the federal government’s books this year, even before the COVID-19 recession hit.

“Because of the federal government’s lack of fiscal prudence recently, Ottawa’s finances were much worse than they should have been going into this recession,” Clemens said.

“The additional spending the government has announced in response to the recession and COVID will exacerbate that problem and means that Canadian taxpayers will be on the hook for today’s spending for decades to come.”

The Fraser reports’ numbers are consistent with previous findings by Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux.

** 

More worryingly, three-quarters of businesses expect the global recession to last longer than Oxford’s own baseline view of two quarters.

“A global recession lasting three quarters remains the most common expectation. But an increasing number of businesses expect a lengthier recession, with almost a quarter (23 per cent) expecting the recession to last longer than four quarters and into 2021 (compared to 15 per cent who felt that way in April),” the survey noted.

**

A new report by the C.D. Howe Institute warns the Liberal government against “turning one-off deficits into structural deficits” as Canada comes out of the first COVID-19 wave, and urges Ottawa to “restore fiscal maneuvering room” as soon as possible.

Ottawa must look to rein in spending to address its ballooning deficit in coming months and create new revenue sources such as possibly taxing international tech giants like Google, Facebook and Netflix.

(Sidebar: like those companies will let you do that.)

**

Armchair economists have been pushing for this for ages but don't realise that they will either have to lower wages and raise taxes to make it happen:

Chris Higgins, professor emeritus at Western University’s Ivey Business School, said a compressed four-day work week could be suitable for white-collar employees.

“It’s perfect for white collar,” Prof. Higgins said. “Everybody will love it.”

However, for blue-collar workers the idea of four 10-hour work days a week is more problematic, he said, noting some of them could get more fatigued, leading to more accidents and sick leave.

Still, he estimates that for about 30 or 40 per cent of the population four-day work weeks could be doable and beneficial.

Don't apologise. Quebec needs your oil for its welfare:

Alberta's energy minister isn't backing away from her comments that COVID-19's public health rules and economic fears favour pipeline construction.

"I don't think anybody should be surprised that Alberta is pro-pipeline," Sonya Savage said Tuesday in an interview.

On Friday, Savage spoke on a podcast held by an industry group.

"Now is a great time to be building a pipeline, because you can't have protests of more than 15 people," the energy minister said. "Let's get it built."

What Would Give Them That Idea?

Indeed:

The most recent survey from Leger and the Association for Canadian Studies found 50 per cent of respondents felt governments were deliberately withholding information about the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, which has killed thousands and ground the economy to a halt.

I simply can't imagine why people would think that way.

Oh, wait:

A federal hunt for pandemic masks is so haphazard the Department of Public Works prepaid millions to Chinese suppliers of shoddy goods while dismissing offers from Western contractors, MPs were told. The department refused to name its contractors in China: “I think Canadians need to know.”

**

Members of the Commons health committee yesterday expressed outrage after a Canadian scientist claimed reprisal for publicly criticizing the Public Health Agency and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The expert witness said he was blacklisted from a grant application by the Agency: “We’re talking about science.”

**

Canadian Health Minister Patty Hadju says the federal government has no reason to believe the Chinese government is hiding the full extent of novel coronavirus infections and deaths in that country.

She also accused a journalist who asked her about the matter of fuelling conspiracy theories.

**

The Liberal government’s plan to extend the suspension of regular Parliamentary sittings until September due to COVID-19 went ahead Tuesday with the support of the NDP.
 

Oh, Do You Think That This Could Be A Problem?

Others have commented and reported on this long before the bribed press did:

While U.S. and other international flights coming into Canada have been significantly curtailed since the outbreak of COVID-19, thousands of passengers are still arriving each week at the country's airports.

It's an issue that at least one infection control epidemiologist believes is cause for concern.

"The fact of the matter is this pandemic arrived everywhere in the world through travel," said Colin Furness, who is also an assistant professor with the University of Toronto's Faculty of Information.

"We should be closing our borders as much as we can. We can't bring [the number of entrants] down to zero but we should get as close as we can."

According to the Canada Border Services Agency, 356,673 air travellers came into Canada from the U.S. last year during the week of May 11-17. In the same time period this year, there was a nearly 99 per cent drop.

Yet 3,691 people still entered Canada that week.

As well, other international travel in that time period saw a 97 per cent decrease from last year's total of 374,775. This year, during that same week, 10,845 people arrived at one of the four Canadian airports that accept international flights — Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

In total, since March 23, 76,072 passengers from the U.S. and 193,438 other international travellers have arrived in Canada.

As seriously problematic as this is, why didn't the CBC do the g-d- job it supposed to do instead of fawning over Trudeau which it is bribed to do?


(Sidebar: if you have to accept a bribe to flatter Pierre's useless son, you are worse than he is. You can damn well see that he is useless. What does that make you when you claim that he isn't?)