Your mid-week quick read ...
When we accept that the government is here only to screw us, what they do is easier to understand:
Few green energy projects are viable without subsidies, says an internal report at the Department of Natural Resources. Auditors called it a market failure: “Analysis of the financial information was revealing.”
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Cabinet yesterday defended attempts by the Department of Health to promote its pandemic image through paid tweets. The department was doing the best it can, said Senator Marc Gold (Que.), Government Representative in the Senate: ‘They are providing information to Canadians to the best of their ability.’
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COVID won’t be Canada’s problem; we are officially in a pandemic. There is no evidence of asymptomatic spread; asymptomatic spread is real. Masks are not helpful; everybody wear masks please. Canada will have adequate vaccines; dear U.S. President Joe Biden, please send us vaccines. Vaccines shouldn’t be spaced more than three weeks apart; vaccines can be spaced four months apart. The AstraZeneca vaccine is not safe for seniors; the AstraZeneca vaccine shouldn’t be given to people under 55.
And so on. It’s enough to make you sick — literally.
It’s true that COVID-19 is a new disease and the science is continually evolving. But as Auditor General Karen Hogan chronicled in a scathing report released last week, Canada’s public health officials still made a shocking number of mistakes, the top of the list being the failure of our early warning system coupled with inaccurate risk assessments.
The result was the needless deaths of thousands of seniors in care homes and congregate living centres. Shamefully, Canada has the worst record for COVID-19 deaths in long-term care homes among wealthy countries. ...
(Sidebar: I'll just leave this right here.)
Through all this, the federal government has relied on advice from its health experts. The most famous face is that of Chief Public Health Officer Dr. Theresa Tam.
Her most egregious flip-flop was declaring that, “Putting a mask on an asymptomatic person is not beneficial, obviously, if you’re not infected.” Two months passed before she took back those words. In the wake of the auditor general report, some are calling for her to resign or be fired. ...
I'll just leave this right here:
According to Dr. David Naylor, co-chair of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, “NACI’s committees are basically made up of volunteers, many with heavy daily responsibilities during the pandemic.” Its recommendations on spacing out vaccine doses are the longest in the world and have come under fire from other scientists at home and abroad.
But the responsibility for these actions sits higher, with the federal government, the cabinet and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself. His government failed to heed the warnings from other countries. He failed to put in border controls that could have slowed the import of the virus.
He failed to procure enough vaccines in time to prevent the third wave from taking hold, betting on a (now collapsed) partnership with China when our country had already been on the outs with Beijing for almost a year over the detention of Meng Wanzhou and the two Michaels. He has kept Tam in place despite her bungling. And he continues to rely on NACI, a group that may not be up to the challenge, when dealing with a once-in-a-century event.
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A new study from researchers in B.C. estimates that Canada will lose $11.9 billion because of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project.
The paper from a team at Simon Fraser University's School of Resource and Environmental Management argues there is no likely scenario in which the project would lead to a net benefit.
"The $11.9 billion loss to Canada is primarily due to a more than doubling of the Trans Mountain construction costs from the original $5.4 billion to $12.6 billion, combined with new climate policies just confirmed by the Supreme Court that will reduce the demand for oil," lead author and SFU professor Thomas Gunton said in a press release.
The researchers suggest the government would be better off shelving the project entirely and using the funds to invest in alternative energy projects.
Trans Mountain says that to date, the project and its contractors have hired more than 6,590 people, more than 600 of whom are Indigenous.
As of July 31, 2020, there were approximately 5,600 people working on the project. Approximately 440 direct jobs are expected to support operations each year over the first 20 years.
Including direct, indirect and induced jobs, Trans Mountain expects that during construction the total workforce will reach the equivalent of 15,000 jobs per year, followed by the equivalent of a further 37,000 jobs per year of operations. ...
By expanding the capacity to export Canadian crude from the West Coast, the key benefit provided by TMX is more customer options for Canadian oil producers. The CER found this will help shippers manage risk and will likely reduce the discount that Canadian crude prices receive relative to similar heavy crudes that are globally traded — effectively, ensuring producers and governments obtain the highest value for their petroleum resources.
According to the CER report, the primary markets for crude oil shipped on the expanded Trans Mountain Pipeline are the Burnaby/Puget Sound area in B.C./Washington State and Northeast Asia, with secondary markets in California and Hawaii.
The existing Trans Mountain system has been overbooked on a regular basis for the last decade. The expansion project has binding 15 to 20 year commercial agreements in place with shippers that remain committed to utilizing the space.
So, the jobs this pipeline expansion created and could create, the markets that could be opened and the lower costs of fuel are a negative sum game?
Right ...
Self-defense is a wicked, heathenish and American concept and you proles had better learn that:
Appearing on Zoom from inside one of his two lawyers’ Toronto homes, Cameron Gardiner listened closely as Madam Justice Michelle Fuerst told the 59-year-old Collingwood man that after re-assessing the case against Gardiner and the reasonable prospect of conviction, both charges on the indictment were being withdrawn at the request of the Crown.
A minute later, the father of two emerged from the house and declared his freedom, wiping away tears and hugging his lawyers.
“I have the greatest lawyers. They worked hard for me and the outcome is, I’m free. I’m relieved. It was a long road,” said Gardiner. ...
Fuerst told the court, “The two men who lost their lives were both sons and fathers themselves. Their tragic deaths are devastating to those who loved them. Nevertheless, there is no reasonable prospect for conviction. Both charges are withdrawn at the request of the Crown.” ...
Gardiner, who spent six months in jail awaiting bail, said he’s telling his story so that he can start living life again in the town of Collingwood where everyone had already made up their mind about what happened that night
The process is the punishment.
Getting the lowered standard of living Canadians gladly voted for:
“The Suez Canal issue is just a small part of the bigger story,” says Diane Brisebois, CEO of the Retail Council of Canada.
In North America, COVID-19 protocols are slowing down the process of offloading ships, while consumer demand for goods has soared, says Shawn DuBravac, chief economist at IPC, an electronics manufacturing trade association. While consumers stuck at home have been dialing down spending on services like restaurants and entertainment, they’ve increased their spending on products like items for the home, he adds.
“Demand for goods is actually higher now than it was prior to the pandemic,” DuBravac says.
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Kimberly-Clark Corp said on Wednesday it would raise prices on many of its products including Scott toilet paper, tissues and diapers in the United States and Canada to offset rising commodity costs.
Apparently, Canada doesn't have the natural resources to provide for a twenty-first century lifestyle.
No trees or oil or metals ...
Oh, wait!
I do believe that after the riots for supposedly dwindling supplies of toilet paper, there will be riots over beer.
Because priorities.
An Ontario woman facing terror-related charges with her husband after they allegedly tried to cross the Turkish border to Syria two years ago has been granted bail.
Haleema Mustafa, 23, appeared Wednesday morning via Zoom in Ontario Superior Court in Brampton from the Maplehurst Correctional Centre in Milton.
Her bail hearing was held last Friday, but the details are protected by a publication ban.
The Markham, Ont., woman and her husband, Ikar Mao, are charged with leaving Canada to participate in the activities of a terrorist group and participating in the activities of a terrorist group.
Maybe schools will be forced to close for in-person learning under the weight of the third wave regardless, but if there is even a possibility that cancelling spring break could allow schools to stay open, this should be the priority. Especially since previous closures lasted much longer than originally planned, adding a whole new set of uncertainties for families.
But this doesn’t seem to enter into the teachers unions’ calculations. “Any suggestion of postponing the much-needed break for students, teachers, education workers and families is an offence to all those who are working hard to keep the education system going,” said Liz Stuart, president of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association.
But it’s hard to feel sorry for people who get three months a year off work, while the rest of us have to make due with a meagre two or three weeks. And the provincial government’s recently released 2020 sunshine list should put an end to the myth that teachers are underpaid.
We don't have to trade with China:
Employees at the Canada Royal Milk plant in Kingston, Ont., say management treated them like "minions" by denying them safety gear that fit, harassing employees by accusing them of being "overpaid" and less industrious than workers in China and — in one instance — making physical contact with a worker during a heated dispute.
Efforts to organize and certify a union with the United Food and Commercial Workers have been tied up in arbitration for the past year, while employee turnover at the plant in its early months of operations was constant.
"What I would see every day? The production guys being treated like dirt, especially by the one manager, every day," said one person employed in a different role in the plant. He said he felt compelled to speak out on behalf of more vulnerable workers.
(Sidebar: keep in mind that Canadians expect all kinds of perks while still trading with a country where simply being paid a slave labour wage is a perk, so ...)
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British Broadcasting Corp.’s China correspondent John Sudworth has left Beijing after intense criticism from the Chinese government and citizens of the outlet’s recent coverage.
“John’s work has exposed truths the Chinese authorities did not want the world to know,” according to a statement on Twitter by the BBC News Press Team. “The BBC is proud of John’s award-winning reporting during his time in Beijing and he remains our China correspondent.” ...
"Sudworth left after months of personal attacks and disinformation targeting him and his BBC colleagues, disseminated by both Chinese state media and Chinese government officials,” the statement said. “Abuse of Sudworth and his colleagues at the BBC form part of a larger pattern of harassment and intimidation that obstructs the work of foreign correspondents in China and exposes their Chinese news assistants to growing pressure.”
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This moral posturing could have been done in, say, 1949 or after the Tienanmen Square massacre or when it was revealed that organs from executed political dissidents were being trafficked or ...
The Senate last night gave Second Reading to a bill threatening $250,000 fines and directors’ liability for companies that import slave-made goods. The bill would require annual reporting by large importers: “Ethics cost money.”
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Hundreds of Chinese vessels believed to be manned by militias in the South China Sea have spread to a wider area, the Philippines said on Wednesday, defying its demand for the flotilla to be withdrawn immediately.
The Philippines has described the presence of the boats inside its 200-mile exclusive economic zone at Whitsun Reef as "swarming and threatening", while Canada, Australia, the United States, Japan and others have voiced concern about China's intentions, prompting rebukes by Beijing.
Chinese diplomats have said the boats were sheltering from rough seas and no militia were aboard.
Oh, I'm sure.
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Taiwan has decided to buy an upgraded version of Lockheed Martin Corp's Patriot surface-to-air missile, the air force said on Wednesday, as the island bolsters its forces to guard against a rising threat from China.
Chinese-claimed Taiwan has complained of repeated incursions by China's air force in recent months into the island's air defence identification zone, as Beijing seeks to pressure Taipei into accepting its sovereignty.
Taiwan's Air Force told Reuters it had decided to buy the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missiles, with deliveries to start in 2025 and deployment the following year.
The Air Force did not disclose how many missiles Taiwan was planning to buy, citing the sensitivity of the matter.
President Joe Biden will unveil a $2.25 trillion U.S. infrastructure plan Wednesday — paid for by steep tax hikes on businesses– that his administration said will prove the most sweeping since investments in the 1960s space program.
