Your Idiot Government and You

Justin may be on yet another taxpayer-funded vacation but the rest of the government is hard at work screwing up:

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s department yesterday gave grocers until month’s end to comment on proposed curbs on single-use plastics like meat wrapping and fruit bags. A current ban on plastic six-pack rings and other goods will cost consumers $205 million, by official estimate: “There is a need to do business differently.”

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“On one hand,” she observes, “they (the federal government) plan to ban the sale of internal combustion engines and allow only non-emitting and electrical vehicles in Canada eleven years from now, yet they themselves stand in the way of development of the resources right under our feet that can create the components for electric vehicles and battery storage systems, and enable our own self-sufficiency and security.”

Indeed, there’s a profound disconnect between the government’s timeline for the phase-in of EVs and the lengthy timelines needed to produce the metals and minerals to build them. The Trudeau government’s plan mandates 100% new light-duty zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035, with interim targets of 20% by 2026 and 60% by 2030. And 100% of new medium- and heavy-duty vehicle sales must be zero-emission by 2040.

But what are the mining timelines for EV metals? According to the Energy Information Agency, the time spent (globally) from getting into production (“lead time”) to initial production for a Lithium mine is from about six to 19 years, with nickel lead times of about three to 18 years. The Ring of Fire was identified as a potential resource area in 2010 — that’s 13 years of the EIA timeline gone.

Yet, once again, nothing is happening. Talks with First Nations have stalled, says federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault. “For any development to happen in the Ring of Fire, Indigenous nations will need to be part of the discussion in decision-making process,” he said. “That hasn’t happened, which is why I think we are not seeing any development.”

In case one forgot where the Liberals' interests truly lie:

China represents a last chance for the commercial viability of the Atlantic seal hunt, says a federal memo. China banned sales of Canadian seal oil and other products in 2011: “Industry views access to China as one of its last opportunities for their industry to again become commercially viable.”

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The Liberals have tailor-made Canada for China and restricted it to the point where the only options are China or the US:

In 2022, China was Canada’s second-largest trading partner, after the United States. Imports from China ($73.9 billion) made up 7.9 percent of total imports, and 3.9 percent ($36.9 billion) of exports went to China, according to Statistics Canada. 

From 2016 to 2018, Canada imported over $40 billion more than it exported to China. This figure rose to over $50 billion from 2019 to 2021, and in 2022, that trade deficit topped $70 billion.

China also made more direct investments in Canada in 2022 than vice versa.

Mr. Miller says decoupling will become a natural phenomenon as companies get increasingly concerned about Beijing’s state-led economic policies and as Chinese growth slows, and with any trade relating to advanced technologies remaining restricted.

Canadian investors, despite having fewer international investments than many other wealthy countries, in general own more assets in China compared to investors in other countries, says a July 23 analysis by The Globe and Mail about major Canadian pension funds pivoting away from China.

Chinese bonds and equities as a share of Canada’s foreign asset position roughly doubled in the past decade, far outpacing other G7 countries such as Japan, France or Germany, the Globe reported.

Oh, I am sure they have put their top man on it:

Ottawa says law enforcement is "engaged" after a video circulating online appeared to threaten Indian diplomats in Canada.

Public Safety Canada said in a Tuesday tweet that Ottawa will ensure the safety of all diplomats in Canada, but the department would not provide details.

It referred queries to the RCMP, which refused to confirm whether it had opened a criminal probe or say which particular video was involved.

Some Canadian Sikhs who advocate for the secession of a region in India have claimed that New Delhi was involved in the June death of a preacher near Vancouver, though police say they have no evidence of such a link.

Because, you know, special:

You will pay reparations, one way or another. It doesn’t matter that no one voted for it, or that politicians are unable to win the political argument in favour of perpetual historical guilt. When it comes to the era of activist politics, these battles for cash are fought and won in the shadows of ESG where corporate entities shake hands with the government.

Australia’s vocal but tiny ‘Blak activist’ collective is attempting to sneak new race taxes into the Constitution (Pay the Rent) stuffed into the stomach of the Voice’s Trojan horse – but Canada is a lot further down the path of this madness. Fortunes in reparations have been handed out under many different headings with the largest totalling over $43 billion without, many claim, sufficient consultation with Canadian taxpayers.