 |
| A merry Cinco de Mayo to all y'all. |
You voted for it, Canada!:
In essence, Section 33 allows Parliament and the provincial legislatures to declare that a law shall operate in spite of any guarantee contained in Section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of the charter, subject only to legislative renewal every five years.
The notwithstanding clause thus empowers Canadian legislatures to judicially circumvent many of the charter’s most important guarantees, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, the right to equality before and under the law, as well as the right to life, liberty and security of the person.
The dominant narrative holds that the notwithstanding clause was a necessary compromise leading up to the enactment of the charter in 1982: fearing that courts would use this new instrument to strike down duly enacted laws, the provincial premiers insisted on a provision that would uphold parliamentary sovereignty in the face of judicial activism.
Also:
Legault had said that every time the government accepts an immigrant to the province making less than $56,000, it makes it harder to achieve his goal of increasing the average salary of Quebecers.
... says the premier of a province artificially propped up by the government.
**
Canada is working with international partners to develop a standardized vaccine certification for travel and will position itself as a safe destination once the country has reached COVID-19 herd immunity, the tourism minister said on Tuesday.
If this was about safety, then why are vaccination records not required for most travel?
It's damn near impossible for Canada to reach herd immunity because the federal government has ensured that the country is crawling with foreign infections and a permanent house arrest across the country.
**
Legislation aimed at ensuring a federal election could be safely held during the COVID-19 pandemic is stalled in the House of Commons, even as Justin Trudeau’s Liberals are fast-approaching the average expiry date for minority governments in Canada. ...
In response, the government introduced C-19 in December. Among other things, it would allow for a three-day voting period, rather than the usual one day, and make it easier for voters to obtain and cast mail-in ballots. It would also allow Elections Canada more flexibility to conduct mobile polls in long-term care facilities.
Cheating the way the Americans did is simply not original, Justin.
**
Get used to higher prices for everything:
The Commons yesterday by a 210-122 vote gave Second Reading to a bill mandating climate change targets leading to net zero emissions within a generation. There are no penalties for non-compliance: “Fascinating.”
**
Film studios often choose to shoot in Canada because production costs are lower; and Canadians are increasingly turning to streaming services because they offer the type of content people want to watch. It’s a system that’s working well in the absence of government regulation, and one that will only be made worse if companies are forced to comply with the CRTC’s draconian and outdated rules.
**
The un-elected cultural elites are only part of the problem. Goebbels is the larger part:
And yet today many wonderful people in the nation’s cultural community stand hand-in-hand with Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault, architect of Bill C-10 which will place the internet under the control of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Its nine unelected, unaccountable commissioners will decide if your Facebook post or Youtube video is appropriate internet content. Coming up, Gulbeault has promised more legislation to establish another regulatory panel to oversee what sort of things people may say on social media. All of this constitutes an outrageous abuse of government authority and if not a boot on the neck at least a firm hand on the larynx of Canadians’ right to legal speech and expression.
**
In fact, one of the reasons that the government finds itself committed to a dubious policy is that it did not conduct a public consultation. Guilbeault has admitted the public has not been consulted, which he has tried to justify by claiming that it can participate in the committee review or in the development of implementation guidelines once the bill becomes law. This alone should be disqualifying as no government should introduce censorship legislation that mandates website blocking, eradicates net neutrality, harms freedom of expression, and dispenses with due process without having ever consulted Canadians on the issue.
Further down the road lies part three of Guilbeault’s plan, namely making social media companies pay for news. Guilbeault has called linking to news articles without payment “immoral” even as he has bought advertising on Facebook and regularly links to news articles on his own feed. There is room for debate on whether payments are appropriate – media companies post articles themselves on the sites and benefit from referrals, while Facebook only posts brief excerpts rather than entire articles – but there is no doubt that the government intervention has stalled the possibility of negotiated solutions. Moreover, Guilbeault’s close alignment with the media sector has made some reluctant to criticize the minister, providing a paradigm example of the free speech risks that can come from government intervention in an independent press.
**
Canadian Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is simply unable to respond coherently to basic questions about his own legislation and flailing for talking points that seek to blame tech companies or opposition parties for the fact that he introduced legislation that exempted user generated content, removed the exception, and has no answer for why.
(Sidebar: he also hates it when female MPs corner him. He's a lot like Justin that way. No wonder the Liberals shut down the sexual harassment inquiry.)
**
A federally-funded advocate of a home equity tax yesterday told the Commons finance committee homeowners got rich “while sleeping and watching TV.” Professor Paul Kershaw of the University of British Columbia proposed a yearly tax on property assessments for principal residences: “Think about how do you calculate the additional minor tax we’re asking people to contribute over the years that they’re living in their home.”
The Ontario government believes 4,900 jobs in Sarnia, a city of 71,500, are in jeopardy if the line is shut down next week, but Bradley said there’s a broader economic impact in his city.
“Anytime there’s uncertainty about the source of what drives a particular economy, it does have an impact when you’re trying to recruit companies and industries into the area,” he said. “When you’re in the economic development game, you’re always trying to eliminate anything that could be an impediment and the longer this goes on, the more of that anxiety is there.”
Let's all get heart inflammation:
Health Canada is authorizing the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 15, meaning that the jab is now approved for anyone over the age of 12 in Canada.
Until now, the shot had only been approved for Canadians over the age of 16.
Also:
WHO experts have voiced “very low confidence” in data provided by Chinese state-owned drugmaker Sinopharm on its COVID-19 vaccine regarding the risk of serious side-effects in some patients, but overall confidence in its ability to prevent the disease, a document seen by Reuters shows.**
When I think of all the cancer treatments and surgeries that people missed, I think that we can all breathe a sigh of relief that people were given access to federally-funded offspring-killing:
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on almost all facets of health care, and abortion access isn’t an exception.
Read the rest of this fluff piece if you want but it's rather trite and predictable: a land-whale whose only purpose in life is eliminate people's kids talks about how hard it is to fly around for blood-shakes when everyone else is prevented from getting life-saving care.
Poor baby.
We don't have to trade with China:
During a Parliamentary Committee hearing on Canada-China relations, Conservative MP Garnett Genius questioned Justin Li, the head of the Confucius Institute at Carleton University after Li claimed to have no affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party.
In the clip, Li claims not to have the "expertise knowledge" to say whether or not the Chinese government killed as many as 2,500 student protestors in Tiananmen Square in 1989 after troops were ordered to open fire on protestors. When asked, Li refused to answer whether it was wrong for the Chinese government to kill the protestors but concluded that it was an "unfortunate event".
**
The pullback from Pangong Tso has not been followed by additional pullbacks in other contested areas, as was originally hoped. Recent reporting suggests some Indian officials may regret pulling back from a strategically important area with little to show for it.
Despite the difficult conditions in a region known as the "roof of the world," flare ups along the border are still a real possibility.
With so much heavy hardware present, future fighting in the area could be much deadlier than before.
What? People find this attention-getting, pointless exercise tiresome?:
“One thing that has helped many of us cope with the stress of the pandemic is getting some fresh air and doing some YOGA! So, in this spirit, Madame Sophie Grégoire Trudeau (a.k.a. Sophie) would like to invite you to participate in a virtual yoga class,” continues the invitation sent to hundreds of staff.
Liberal staffers who are concerned they may be too inexperienced to join the course or fear they’ll be judged needn’t worry either.
“All levels of experience are welcome and there is no judgement!,” the email adds, noting that the class will be led “entirely by Sophie,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s wife.
“As you may know, the week of May 3 is also Canadian Mental Health Week. Taking care of yourselves is important every day so please remember to do so!” the message concludes.
Though they appreciate the intent behind the event, many Liberal staffers contacted by National Post rolled their eyes at the invitation. They were all granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
“This is so silly,” one staffer said about the event.
“Yeah, that’s going to be a hard pass for me,” said another.
“I saw the email subject and deleted it immediately,” responded another.
Do the same thing to her ex-husband!
No comments:
Post a Comment