Wednesday, June 07, 2023

Mid-Week Post

Your middle-of-the-week lawn-mowing ...


What we need to get:


Who put him in charge?

This moron:



Uncle David's job wasn't to be thorough. It was to protect his ersatz nephew:

The federal government’s special rapporteur on foreign interference did not interview a former Liberal MP who allegedly was supported by the Chinese government in the 2019 election.

David Johnston, a former governor general appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to review allegations of foreign meddling, told a House of Commons’ committee Tuesday that he did not interview Don Valley North MP Han Dong during his two-month probe.

That’s despite finding that “there clearly were strange practices, unusual practices going on” during Dong’s 2019 nomination contest in the safe Liberal riding. Johnston said his team did not conclude that those “strange practices” could be attributed to the People’s Republic of China, though his report noted suspicions that they could be.

“Irregularities were observed with Mr. Dong’s nomination in 2019, and there is well-grounded suspicion that the irregularities were tied to the PRC Consulate in Toronto, with whom Mr. Dong maintains relationships,” Johnston wrote in his report last month.

Johnston, who had access to classified intelligence and senior national security officials for his probe, said he could not reveal the top-secret information that led him to his conclusions.

“In reviewing the intelligence, I did not find evidence that Mr. Dong was aware of the irregularities or the PRC Consulate’s potential involvement in his nomination.”

Pressed by Conservative MP Michael Cooper on whether Dong was aware of irregularities during his nomination campaign, Johnston said in committee “there clearly was discussion between Mr. Dong and the consulate in Toronto” generally, “but that’s the extent to my understanding.”


And that didn't strike you as problematic?


More:

David Johnston, 81, yesterday testified he did not see “every bit of information we would like to” before absolving cabinet of any wrongdoing in its handling of suspected election fraud involving Chinese agents. Members of the House affairs committee expressed astonishment that Johnston never bothered to talk to Elections Canada: “Are you saying you didn’t have all the material evidence?”


You could have defended your nephew on much less? Really?


This is what he allegedly did not know:

There were “clearly strange practices” in the nomination of MP Han Dong (Don Valley North, Ont.) as a Liberal candidate in 2019, David Johnston yesterday told the House affairs committee. Johnston admitted he never questioned Dong about his dealings with Chinese officials: “There clearly were strange practices, unusual practices going on,”




Remember who is prime minister when this all goes down:

Kathryn Marshall, with the Toronto-based law firm Levitt Sheikh, argued in Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court today that the case should be heard in that province, because that is where the alleged misconduct took place.
She says her client, Cherry Smiley, would have to bear the cost and emotional strife of starting over with a search for a new lawyer who can speak both French and English in a case that has already been difficult and slow.
Smiley’s statement of claim alleges she was sexually harassed in June 2018 in St. John’s, N.L., by Stephen Kakfwi, who was her appointed mentor through a scholarship program offered through the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
The statement of claim was filed with the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in March 2022, and names Kakfwi and the Trudeau Foundation as defendants.
Lawyer Colm St. Roch Seviour, who represents the Montreal-based foundation, says the case should be heard in Quebec because it involves an alleged breach of a contract whose terms are governed by Quebec law.
In a statement of defence, Kakfwi has denied any contact with Smiley that “could be construed as being sexual in nature.”
**
Last week, after decades in solitary confinement, the notorious Canadian serial killer Paul Bernardo was quietly transferred to a lower-security “open campus” prison in Quebec.
The public backlash was so immediate that it prompted the Correctional Service of Canada to explain that Bernardo’s transfer is not necessarily a sign that he is being slow-walked towards an eventual release.
“It is important to note that some inmates never make it to minimum security nor do they return to our communities,” they wrote.
But there’s no actual mechanism in Canadian law to indeterminately keep Bernardo behind bars. Although he has been punished to the absolute limit of Canadian criminal law, Bernardo is perpetually only a sympathetic parole board decision away from regaining his freedom.
As the record shows, the Canadian justice system has had no qualms about freeing other serial killers and child murderers — even when those offenders have exactly the same level of criminal sanction as Bernardo does.
It’s often reported that Bernardo received a “life” sentence for his litany of criminal convictions in 1995, including two counts of first-degree murder.
But the “life” portion only refers to Bernardo’s period of judicial supervision; he can still get out of prison, but he would always technically be on parole. And Canadian offenders serving “life” sentences are released from jail with regularity.
Even for those convicted of first-degree murder — the most serious offence in the Criminal Code — they’re only going to spend an average of 22.4 years in prison before obtaining parole, according to a review performed by the Correctional Service of Canada in 2002.



But Canadians love being taxed:

Poilievre is threatening to delay passage of the federal budget unless the government presents a plan to bring it to balance “in order to bring down inflation and interest rates” and cancels any future increases to the carbon tax. Both those things are not going to happen — but Poilievre figures that the underlying issues — overspending and overtaxing — will tip Canadians’ anger over the edge. 

And that’s because he has numbers on his side. Two weeks ago, Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux released a report showing that by 2030, fuel taxes imposed by the government’s Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) will cost Canadian families between $231 and $1,008 per year, depending on household income.  Giroux further states that lower income households will suffer more as the tax represents a larger share of their disposable income and called the CFR “broadly regressive.” 

The government hit back at the PBO, with Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault attacking the findings as “unbalanced” because its modelling does not account for the cost of climate change. But the PBO based its calculations on numbers from Guilbeault’s own department, whose estimates show that the new regulations will increase the price of gasoline and diesel in 2030 by up to 17 cents and 16 cents per litre, respectively, and decrease real GDP in Canada by up to 0.3 per cent, or $9 billion, in 2030. 

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

This builds on the PBO’s previous report in April that Canadians would be worse off due to the federal carbon tax, because it would depress wages and increase the cost of goods and services. This contradicted government promises that the cost of the tax to families would be offset by rebates.  


I'll just leave this right here:

The number of Canadians missing monthly payments on non-mortgage bills is on the rise, according to an Equifax report, as consumers continue to sink further into debt.

Credit monitoring agency Equifax said in a report released Tuesday that in the first quarter of the year 175,000 more Canadian consumers missed payments on at least one non-mortgage product, including credit cards, vehicle loans, unsecured lines of credit and home equity lines of credit. That’s up 19 per cent compared to the same period last year, and brings the total of Canadians who missed payments on non-mortgage products to 1.1 million.

In the previous quarter, most of the missed payments were among lower income and younger consumers who didn’t have mortgages. But Rebecca Oakes, vice president of advanced analytics at Equifax Canada, said this quarter’s increase marks a shift where more of the consumers missing monthly debt payments are homeowners.

“We’re starting to see more missed payments come through for consumers that have a mortgage," Oakes said in an interview with Yahoo Finance Canada. "We think this really is linked a lot more to rising interest rates and the impact on consumers as they’re coming up to the end of their fixed term period of the mortgage and are starting to look at renewals.”

“When consumers with a mortgage begin to see a bit of a challenge in their finances, they tend to miss payments on things like loans and credit cards before their mortgage payments, and that’s what we’re seeing come through.”

According to the Bank of Canada, one-third of mortgage holders have already seen payments increase compared to February 2022, before the central bank started aggressively hiking its benchmark interest rate. The central bank has estimated that the median monthly payment increase for homeowners facing mortgage renewals will be about 20 per cent, putting a strain on some household finances.

At the same time, Canadians' credit card debt continues to soar, with balances jumping 14.5 per cent compared to last year, Equifax said. The average monthly spend per credit hard holder has topped $2,200 in the quarter. Oakes said that increase brings Canadians’ total credit card debt to more than $101 billion. The $100 billion threshold was passed for the first time in the last quarter of 2022.


Also:

The Bank of Canada hiked its key interest rate 25 basis points on Wednesday, ending its three-month pause on increases, as the Canadian economy runs hotter than expected.

The increase brings the central bank's target for the overnight rate to 4.75 per cent, the highest level since May 2001, and restarts its tightening campaign as policymakers continues to try to tame inflation.

The central bank came off the sidelines on Wednesday after several indicators showed unexpected resilience in the Canadian economy in recent weeks.

"Overall, excess demand in the economy looks to be more persistent than anticipated," the central bank said in a statement alongside its interest rate decision.

"Based on the accumulation of evidence, Governing Council decided to increase the policy interest rate, reflecting our view that monetary policy was not sufficiently restrictive to bring supply and demand back into balance and return inflation sustainably to the two per cent target."

While Wednesday's decision came as a surprise to many economists, it quickly opened the door to further hikes. Money markets now see a more than 60 per cent chance of another rate hike coming in July, according to Reuters, with further tightening in September fully priced in.

"Bet you can't just have one," TD senior economist James Orlando wrote in a note on Wednesday, adding that the central bank "is back in hiking mode."

"Economic data are pointing to more strength and the Bank has yet to see any sign from the labour market that the economy is turning," Orlando wrote.




Being a Liberal means never having to return any money:

Cabinet has awarded millions more to Baylis Medical Technologies Incorporated on a sole sourced service contract, records show. The firm previously run by ex-Liberal MP Frank Baylis (Pierrefonds-Dollard, Que.) in 2020 was a subcontractor on a $237 million deal for Covid ventilators: “When the crisis hit my partner and I, we took a decision.”




A select group decided to speak for all Canadians:

Canadians want “stronger legislation” to regulate legal internet content, says a report by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez’s department. Findings were based on comments from groups handpicked to attend Department of Heritage meetings on censorship: “There was support among participants for creating an online safety regulator.”



But ... Ramadan and Pride Week!:

In the video, a male, his face covered by what appears to be his hoodie, reaches up and tears down the flag, then kicks it as about a half-dozen others cheer and whistle and shout.
One can be heard shouting: “Take it off! Take it off!”
It later sounds as if he is shouting, “Put it in the garbage! Put it in the garbage!” as another teen picks the flag up off the ground. It appears that person puts the flag in a garbage can.
**



This:

In the recording, shared on Twitter by the London (U.K.)-based 5Pillars news, the teacher could be heard berating a student for allegedly skipping class to avoid ‘Pride Month’ activities:

“You are out to lunch if you think it’s acceptable to not show up because (of) Pride activities going on at school,” the speaker admonished. “But meanwhile, (your LGBT+ classmates), they’re here when we did Ramadan… and they’re showing respect for in the class for your religion…”

“It goes two ways! If you want to be respected for you are… then you better give it back to people who are different from you.”

The speaker then references new anti-gay legislation in Uganda, a country where over eight-in-10 citizens identify as Christian: “In Uganda, literally, if they think you’re gay, they will execute you.” (Uganda’s just-passed Anti-Homosexuality Bill imposes the death penalty for so-called “aggravated” homosexual acts, such as gay sex with an underage partner or infecting a partner with HIV).

“If you believe that kind of thing, then you don’t belong (in Canada)!”

She went on to suggest that those who don’t agree with certain laws in Canada don’t belong in this country.

“We believe that people can marry whomever they want. That is in law. And if you don’t think that should be the law, you can’t be Canadian. You don’t belong here.”

(As of Wednesday morning, the recording had garnered over 100,000 views on Twitter).

5Pillars also shared a letter, dated (Saturday,) June 3, 2023, purportedly written by the school’s principal Ed Charpentier: “Many of you may have heard an audio recording of a teacher at Londonderry School circulating on social media channels,” reads the letter. “I want to emphasize that the views expressed by the teacher do not reflect the values of acceptance, inclusion and belonging that are so strong at Londonderry School.” (a phone number given at the bottom of the letter leads to the school’s central directory). The letter’s date suggests that the incident took place sometime last week.

Edmonton Public Schools added the following on Tuesday in an email to members of the media: “(We are) aware of the audio recording of a teacher at Londonderry School circulating on social media channels. The school and Division are taking steps to address the situation. Due to the Division’s legislated privacy obligations, we are not able to provide any further information.”

While the teacher was clearly out of line, the recording nevertheless reflects a religious tension that’s playing out across Canada over increasingly elaborate in-school Pride celebrations. Evidence is starting to mount that Muslim students are “opting-out” en masse from Pride-related activities — going so far as to skip school on designated Pride days.


If there is anyone who knows what being a Canadian, it's a fat unionised schlub who thinks the anti-Big Gay Islamist crowd cares what she thinks.

This is typical of the emotionally retarded leftist who ascends to a position where she can be a bully.

She certainly is that.



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