The disintegration of Canada didn't happen from nothing:
It’s easy to pass off the series of high-profile murders and random attacks that have been witnessed recently as anecdotal evidence. Like the two notable videos of men bleeding out in the wake of knife attacks — one in Vancouver and another in Toronto. The former shows a father dying in front of a coffee shop; the latter shows a bleeding man running away from his attacker in a subway car, screaming, only to be cornered (fortunately, he survived).
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Rates for some types of violent crime (serious sexual assaults, for example) and property crime remained stable, but overall, the evidence shows that Canada is a more violent place than it was a decade ago. And in many cities, the situation is becoming untenable.Toronto’s sharp rise in crime has residents on edge: a survey released earlier this year by Abacus Data showed that crime was one of Torontonians’ top concerns. The city’s transit system has experienced a dramatic spike in crime that includes stabbings, swarmings, arsons and firework detonations.In Vancouver, persistent theft and violence has some businesses giving up entirely. In Edmonton, stabbings are now a periodic occurrence at transit stops; homeless encampments, meanwhile, are popping up so fast, the city can’t even keep up on its risk assessments. Reports from Newfoundland — which experienced one of the steepest rises in crime last year — reveal a growing sense of fear and abandonment among those living in St. John’s downtown core.The key event that occurred around the time that violent crime began to rise was the election of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who promised a soft-on-crime approach and leniency toward offenders. Instead of locking criminals in cages, he intended to use a free-range approach.Article content
Trudeau entered office with a warm reception from the experts on call at the CBC, who referred to the tough-on-crime approach of his Conservative predecessors as “incoherent,” and drawing from an “ideological grab bag of repression and meanness.”Under former prime minister Stephen Harper, laws were introduced to create mandatory minimum sentences for specific offences, creating democratically set floors on criminal punishment, and to make it harder for judges to sentence certain offenders to house arrest.The Parole Board of Canada was given more latitude to consider the severity of a criminal’s actions when deciding whether to grant a release. The ability to pardon serious offenders was eliminated. Harper also made it easier for officers to arrest offenders who seemed to be breaching their release conditions, and it was made more difficult for those who had committed multiple murders to be paroled.The general aim was to keep violent and repeat offenders off the streets and behind bars. The necessity of such measures is now clear for all to see, as municipalities across the country witness large numbers of crimes committed by a small number of chronic offenders, while murders and other violence offences are committed by criminals who are out on bail or statutory release.Article content
Although many of the Harper-era criminal justice reforms were eventually struck down by the courts, the Trudeau Liberals have consistently gone a step further: introducing laws to repeal a host of mandatory minimum sentences; instructing police and courts to favour release over detention; mandating that Correctional Services of Canada place inmates in “the least restrictive environment”; and repealing other Conservative reforms that the courts had not taken exception to.Instead of pushing back against the courts’ loose approach toward granting bail, the Liberals codified it into law. Instead of ensuring drug addicts get the treatment they need while preventing them from harming others, they’ve permitted the decriminalization of illicit drugs — and even hand them out for free, which has fuelled the black market.Justice Minister Arif Virani believes that rising crime is just an illusion — but for anyone with a view of their city’s streets, it’s all too real. Until our leaders recognize the increase in crime that has become painfully obvious to the vast majority of Canadians, our cities will continue to descend into lawlessness. We may have a new justice minister, but Canadians should not expect more justice.
In addition to contending with the dual challenges of escalating expenses and diminishing product sizes – commonly known as “shrinkflation” – consumers have also found themselves grappling with the concept of “shelflation.” This pertains to the reduction in the shelf life of grocery products due to disruptions in the supply chain, particularly affecting perishables like produce.
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Ratepayers in four provinces face steeper hydro bills, as much as 15 percent more, under draft Clean Electricity Regulations released yesterday. “It’s time to roll up our sleeves,” said Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault: “Higher incremental rate increases are expected.”
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Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s newly announced plan to largely phase out the use of fossil fuels to generate power in Canada over the next 12 years is being criticized as costly and unrealistic, despite his claims that higher electricity costs would be offset by savings on oil and gas.
On Thursday, Guilbeault introduced details of the Liberal government’s draft regulations for how it plans to achieve its goal of a “net zero” electricity grid by 2035, and will begin a consultation on those plans later this month for 75 days, with a final version expected to be published in January 2025.
Don't forget that winter is coming.
This is how the Liberals get into power.
The financial acumen of the twits in the House of Commons resembles an electorate that would starve itself, not pay rent, not make economies, or simply go without rather than delay gratification.
Normally, saving up for a trip would be a smaller matter. Now, it is a matter of great cost:
The survey, which interviewed 2,000 Canadians, found that nearly half (about 48 per cent) have made cuts to their budget in order to afford a trip.
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“Even amidst challenging economic times, the desire to explore and connect with the world remains a fundamental aspect of the human spirit,” FlightHub chief executive Chris Dave said in a press release.
Among those who have travelled by plane within the last two years, 57 per cent have reduced non-essential expenses to be able to pay for a trip this year. That number jumps to 77 per cent in New Brunswick, the highest among the Canadian provinces.
Many of those who have cut spending to afford a trip have even reduced essential expenses and 41 per cent have decreased daily grocery expenses.
Those who still can’t afford to travel are looking to other financing methods, with over a quarter (28 per cent) resorting to using credit cards to finance trips.
“Travel is an investment in oneself,” Dave said. “Travel has the remarkable ability to transcend financial concerns, providing a unique and enriching experience.”
Younger Canadians are also compromising and making concessions to make their travel dreams come true. Among millennials, 57 per cent have reduced outings to restaurants, theatres and concerts. Meanwhile, 69 per cent of generation Z said they are willing to work extra hours for the sake of travel.
Also - don't ask the idiot government to help you. It won't:
Droughts in the West have so far prompted at least 13 districts in Alberta to declare agricultural disasters, but appeals to the federal Liberal government for assistance to the province’s farmers, livestock producers and ranchers are being ignored say local leaders.
The Liberals hate western Canada with the heat of a thousand fires.
It's just money:
Construction on the Trans Mountain pipeline in 2022 cost almost $9 billion, almost double the estimate of $5.3 billion, a Global News analysis has discovered.
The expenditure for the Crown corporation expansion, found through a detailed reading of filings that included corporate plan summaries and projections, is one of several line items that reveal how a project purchased by Ottawa exceeded its original cost estimate by a factor of six, from $5.4 billion to $30.9 billion.
The most telling details pertain to “uncapped” costs, a catch-all term pipeline companies use to describe expenditures that are more difficult to plan for in advance or that are subject to price swings. Accommodations with Indigenous groups and the cost of steel are two examples.
Another is the construction through B.C.’s treacherous mountains and down to the coast. The ‘uncapped’ costs for this stretch ballooned from an initial estimate of $315 million in 2017 to $7.4 billion upon project completion, a 23-fold increase.
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Ontario lobbyists padded out the guest list at @JustinTrudeau Calgary Stampede fundraiser, records show; half of $1700/plate @liberal_party donors were out-of-towners. https://t.co/odfmbaH5KT #cdnpoli #abpoli pic.twitter.com/D9c4HIU8B6
— Blacklock's Reporter (@mindingottawa) August 10, 2023
But according to the new immigration minister, this isn't even a problem:
The Canadian construction industry shed 45,000 jobs in July according to Statistics Canada’s latest Labour Force Survey, released Friday. This marked a month-over-month decrease of 2.8% and followed a lesser decline of 0.8% observed in June.
“Since January 2023, employment in construction decreased by 71,000, offsetting cumulative increases of 65,000 from September 2022 to January 2023,” says StatCan. The government agency also notes that job shed was most “concentrated” in British Columbia, Quebec, and Ontario, where construction jobs slid by 8.9%, 3.5%, and 1.4% (or roughly 21,000, 11,000, and 9,000 jobs), respectively, between June and July 2023.
Zooming out to a national vantage point once again, it’s worth noting that Canada’s construction sector lost more jobs than any other industry included in StatCan’s survey. Employment also fell in three other industries, albeit by a lesser amount, including public administration (-1.4%), information, culture and recreation (-1.8%), and transportation and warehousing (-1.3%).
Gains in four other industries — health care and social assistance (+0.9%), educational services (+1.3%), finance, insurance, real estate, rental, and leasing (+1.1%) and agriculture (+4.6%) — served to keep the job market steady last month, with unemployment inching up only marginally to 5.5%.
Canadian housing is getting more affordable, but it’s still way out of reach for most. National Bank of Canada (NBF) released its Q2 2023 Housing Affordability Monitor (HAM) showing improvements in most markets. Despite rising financing costs, home prices fell enough to improve affordability. It was the third quarter to show affordability improvements, but it’s a long way from correcting 8 years of sharp erosion. Most of Canada’s households aren’t even close to being able to purchase a home at today’s prices.
Speaking after meeting with constituents in Toronto who want to buy a home, Freeland said the First Home Savings Account won’t solve housing affordability but is a tool to help people get into the market.
Uh, no.
Former Prince Edward Island premier Wade MacLauchlan will for the second time chair the advisory body looking for Canada’s next Supreme Court of Canada Justice.
An eight-month investigation by National Post and the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) of 1,308 judicial and tribunal appointments by the Liberal government since 2016 shows an overwhelming majority — 76.3 per cent — of appointees who had previously made political donations had given to the Liberal Party of Canada.
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