Your first of the new year ...
It's just an economy:
Each Canadians’ share of the net federal debt last year topped $24,000 for the first time in history, Statistics Canada said yesterday. The figure represented a 43 percent increase from pre-pandemic levels: “We are at the brink.”
Make environmentalists walk in January:
Canadians driving gas and diesel cars should be taxed to finance green rebates, says an electric auto trade group. Environmentalists have also petitioned the Commons finance committee to impose a $4,000 SUV tax: “Make polluting passenger vehicles pay.”
It might have something to do with the fact that an already decrepit system was holding back cancer treatments:
More than a third of doctors are routinely bullied or threatened by patients, says the president of the Canadian Medical Association. A majority, 75 percent, have been harassed at some point since the outbreak of the pandemic, Dr. Katharine Smart said in a letter to senators: “We are witnessing an escalation.”
Also:
We can’t stop the Omicron wave from infecting a large percentage of our population since it is so contagious. We can blunt its effects to some degree but the cure shouldn’t be worse than the disease.
It makes no sense to close in person restaurant dining. All diners and staff must already be fully vaccinated. Even during earlier, more dangerous waves of the pandemic, dining with masks had a very low associated risk.
Closing schools leads to mental health issues for children, inequalities in education, unreasonable strain on parents and challenging workforce reductions. It is safer for children to be in school rather than at home.
Similarly, fitness centres provide an essential way for promoting health and wellness far beyond any small risk.
The lockdowns and the flu shots don't work but thanks for playing.
Quebec is looking at mandating vaccine passports in province-run alcohol and cannabis stores, according to le Journal de Montreal.
Based on information obtained by the news outlet, the decision is being looked into, and details should be announced at a press conference later this week.
Kill their old people, if you must, but lay off the dope, man!
Also:
But where is the CBC’s assertion that other Canadians won’t move to Quebec because of its government’s bigoted policies towards Muslim, Jewish and Christian public servants? Or Quebec’s condescending attitude towards other provinces? Or its gimme, gimme, gimme behaviour when it comes to equalization?
It’s just as likely the CBC would look at the results of this nationwide survey and conclude, “Rest of Canada fails to recognize superiority of province that gave country two Trudeau prime ministers.”
And:
Prominent Canadian psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson lambasted Quebec premier François Legault and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trampling freedoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peterson said in a tweet on Sunday that Legault should be ashamed for implementing the new curfew in Quebec. He compared the situation to one in the Netherlands where police recently attacked protestors with clubs and set dogs on them.
“What you are doing is appalling and wrong,” said Peterson. “Have you seen what is happening in Amsterdam?”
Peterson went on to chastise Trudeau for demonizing unvaccinated people in a recent interview.
“And you, @JustinTrudeau, accusing your own citizens of misogyny and racism just because they object to your moralistic coercion,” said Peterson.
But these guys don't have to be tested, because, well, voters blocks.
"We don't have to trade with China but everyone else does," rules the House of Commons:
Commons Speaker Anthony Rota yesterday said China-made pandemic masks will be banned from Parliament Hill by month’s end. MPs earlier passed a motion invoking a similar boycott at federal offices nationwide: ‘We have notified our supplier of our requirement.’
What? Investing in Africa wasn't a good idea?:
China's foreign minister began a visit to Kenya on Wednesday, where the government has relied on Chinese loans to develop infrastructure but faces criticism over the resulting debt burden.
The Kenyan foreign ministry described the visit by Wang Yi, who is also state councillor, as "historic". It said security, health, climate change and green technology transfer would be discussed and new bilateral agreements would be signed.
Kenya is the second of three stops on Wang's African tour, after Eritrea and before Comoros. Eritrea joined Chinese President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a long-term plan to fund and build infrastructure linking China to the rest of the world, in November.
China has lent African countries billions of dollars as part of the BRI, including $5 billion for the construction of a modern railway from the Kenyan port of Mombasa.
That model has been evolving, partly under the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout and partly because of a backlash from African critics against rising debt levels. China is shifting from hard infrastructure loans to efforts to boost trade.
Also:
Reports have emerged that China seeks to establish a military base in Equatorial Guinea.
— CSIS (@CSIS) January 3, 2022
If plans move ahead, the Port of Bata is the most suitable for the Chinese navy and it would help China project military power into the Atlantic Ocean. https://t.co/7wmmVmfQD1 pic.twitter.com/1juioswtSL
Taiwan and Lithuania are good friends:
Taiwan is creating an investment fund and planning other measures to help Lithuania as it faces major economic pressure from China for allowing the island to open a representative office in the European Union country, Taiwanese officials said Wednesday.
“The $200 million fund will be used for investments into the Lithuanian economy and help its business, primarily into semiconductors, laser technology, biotech and other key industries," Eric Huang, representative of the Taiwanese mission to Lithuania, told reporters in the Baltic nation's capital of Vilnius.
Lithuania broke with diplomatic custom by agreeing that the Taiwanese office in Vilnius would bear the name Taiwan instead of Chinese Taipei, a term used by other countries to avoid offending Beijing. China considers Taiwan part of its territory with no right to diplomatic recognition.
The office, a de facto embassy, opened in November, and Lithuania is planning to open its own trade office in Taiwan later this year. It has infuriated China, which withdrew its ambassador to Vilnius and expelled the Lithuanian ambassador to Beijing. Lithuania, a member of the EU and NATO, has closed its embassy in Beijing over the dispute.
Taiwan said it is ready to help Lithuania in resupplying trade, with the island saying goods are stopped from entering China.
“There are more than 120 sea containers — at least 1.5 million-euro worth — blocked by Beijing. We’re ready to take all of those and help Lithuanian companies,” Huang said.
Also - Lithuanian rum is apparently a thing:
Taiwan stepped in to buy more than 20,000 bottles of Lithuanian rum that Beijing blocked from entering China, the South China Morning Post reported.
For months China has blocked trade with Lithuania following Vilnius' decision to allow Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in November. China claims Taiwan is part of China, while Taiwan maintains its independence.
China, which often applies pressure on nations to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of China, said in December that Lithuania would end up in "the garbage bin of history" unless it changed its mind.
Upon learning that that China was about to block an import of 20,400 bottles of dark rum made by Lithuania's MV Group Production, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor company — which is owned by the country's finance ministry — purchased the entire shipment on December 18, the Post reported.
"TTL stood up at the right time, purchased the rum and brought it to Taiwan," the company said, the Post reported. "Lithuania supports us and we support Lithuania – TTL calls for a toast to that."
Why, it's like North Korea is emboldened by a weak America:
North Korea fired a suspected ballistic missile into the sea on Wednesday, the South Korean and Japanese militaries said, its first public weapons launch in about two months and a signal that Pyongyang isn’t interested in rejoining denuclearization talks anytime soon and would rather focus on boosting its weapons arsenal.
The latest launch came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to further boost his military capability — without disclosing any new policies toward the United States or South Korea — at a high-profile ruling party conference last week.
There are plenty of volcanoes to shove this guy in:
Indonesian prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a life sentence for a top terror suspect who eluded capture for 18 years and accused him of masterminding a series of deadly attacks in the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Aris Sumarsono, 58, whose real name is Arif Sunarso but is better known as Zulkarnaen, sat impassively as the prosecution announced the sentencing demand before a panel of three judges in East Jakarta District Court in a session that was held remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Police and prosecutors say Zulkarnaen is the former military commander of Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian militant group with ties to al-Qaida. The group is widely blamed for attacks including the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, as well as attacks in the Philippines.
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