Your middle-of-the-week reflection ...
Where are the orange shirts on this?:
For three years, Canadian officials used Inuit children as guinea pigs for an experimental RSV Palivizumab vaccine* injections program – without parental consent and without the knowledge or involvement of the Inuit population. This shocking revelation, buried in newly uncovered Freedom of Information (FOI) emails, is completely unrelated to COVID-19 – yet it raises damning questions about the government’s approach to public health experiments on Indigenous communities and all Canadians.
Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, knew about the ethical concerns. So did other top public health officials. In a December 16, 2019, email to Tam and others, Dr. Tom Wong, Director General of the Office of Population & Public Health at Indigenous Services Canada, explicitly warned them that health care workers had raised serious red flags.
“Some ethical concerns were raised by health care workers regarding the guarantee of a free and informed consent from parents or caregivers, as well as the absence of involvement of Inuit population in the decision and implementation process.” — Dr. Tom Wong to Dr. Theresa Tam and others, December 16, 2019
Yet rather than halt the program, the government pressed forward. Parents were kept in the dark, as were Inuit leaders and the broader community. Worse, the experiment had already failed – the RSV Palivizumab vaccine* injections didn’t work as intended. But officials concealed this and continued using an Indigenous population as unknowing test subjects.
I would ask why this isn't on the CBC but, you know ...
Also:
The Federal Court has thrown out a class action lawsuit claiming negligence by the Public Health Agency in failing to maintain its emergency stockpile of pandemic medical supplies. The Court was no substitute for a inquiry, ruled the judge: “The plaintiffs are asking the Court to embark on an exercise akin to a public inquiry.”
The Liberals are coasting on a wave of anti-Americanism, not patriotism (as, apparently, Canadian identity can be defined what it is decidedly not). It is what will give them a foothold that they do not deserve:
Not long ago, our lame duck prime minister, his would-be successors and much of the mainstream media seemed to be strong believers that our next prime minister should be a “progressive” who’s committed to climate change mitigation, carbon taxes, pipeline prohibitions and a woke social agenda. Then, suddenly, not in response to Canadians but in response to U.S. President Donald Trump, all seem to have made a 180-degree turn. Now they boldly proclaim that Canada’s next leader must be a reactionary — reacting to Trump’s tariff agenda with a hastily concocted package of counter-tariffs and fanning the flames of anti-Americanism to return a heretofore discredited Liberal party to office.
At the moment, Liberal leadership front-runner Mark Carney is of course being hailed by the unthinking as the reactionary of choice.
But not all the cards are on the table: not the yet-to-be-announced negotiating team and long-term strategy of the official Opposition to address the tariff challenge; not the internal pressures on Trump and the U.S. Congress when Trump’s populist constituents, who were promised actions to decrease their cost of living, suddenly discover it increasing as a result of tariffs; and not the election campaign, which will test the sincerity of the deathbed conversion of the Liberal party to policies they’ve denounced for the past decade.
Apparently, the last nine years did not happen.
We don't have a DOGE program in Canada and it vexes me:
Canada’s Liberal government could save $10.7 billion this fiscal year alone by eliminating eight ineffective federal spending programs, says a new report by the fiscally conservative Fraser Institute.
The study, “Identifying Potential Savings from Specific Reductions to Federal Government Spending” by Jake Fuss and Grady Munro, cites eight federal programs where it says “government spending does not appear to be accomplishing its stated goals, or where government spending is unnecessary.”
“Canada’s federal finances have deteriorated markedly over the last decade largely due to a rapid run up in spending, deficits and debt,” said Fuss.
“A comprehensive line-by-line review of Ottawa’s spending is required to identify those programs or initiatives that are not fulfilling their purpose, or are not providing good value for tax dollars.”
The eight programs with their current annual budgets identified by the Fraser Institute as failing to do what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals claimed they would, totalling $10.7 billion in the 2024-2025 fiscal year are: Regional Development Agencies ($1.5 billion); federal Two Billion Trees program ($340 million); federal support for electric vehicle production and purchases ($586.7 million); Canada Infrastructure Bank ($3.5 billion); Strategic Innovation Fund (S2.4 billion); Green Municipal Fund ($530 million); federal support for journalism ($1.7 billion); Global Innovation Clusters ($202.3 million).
Among other criticisms of these programs, the Fraser Institute study notes that, “despite research suggesting business subsidies do little to promote widespread economic growth, the seven regional development agencies (with 1,977 full-time staff) report vague objectives and results that make it difficult for government officials or Parliamentarians to assess the efficacy of the spending.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston has followed through on his promise to introduce a bill aimed at reducing interprovincial trade barriers, in an effort to boost the economy amid tariff threats by the U.S. president.
However, he said Tuesday, provisions in the bill would only be extended to provinces or territories that adopt similar legislation.
“It’s a common sense change that I think Canadians are expecting,” Houston told reporters after tabling the bill. “We are comfortable being the leader on this, but of course we need other provinces to follow and to co-operate.”
Good luck with that (cough-Quebec-cough).
One must ask with all of these Liberals no longer running - what is coming down the pipe?:
Furey announced his resignation during a Feb. 25 press conference in St. John’s, less than one week after Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King announced his retirement from politics.
Furey said he would continue to serve as premier until a successor is appointed, adding that his resolve to avoid becoming a “career politician” path has never changed.
He said the time has come to focus on his family and return to his role as an orthopedic surgeon.
“This job has been like one five-year-long shift. You go to bed with it on your mind and it’s your wake-up call every single morning,” he said.
“It is with a heart full of pride and hard-earned confidence in the future of Newfoundland and Labrador, that I must now move on.”
Yes, but Justin et al DON'T want the pipeline:
Republican U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he wanted the Keystone XL Pipeline built and pledged easy regulatory approvals for the crude oil project, which was opposed for years by environmentalists before its permit was revoked by the Biden administration.The $9 billion pipeline was first proposed in 2008 to bring 830,000 barrels per day of oil from Canada's Western tar sands to U.S. refiners and was halted in 2021 by then-owner TC Energy (TRP.TO)after former Democratic President Joe Biden revoked a key permit needed for a U.S. stretch of the project.In a social media post on Monday, Trump urged the company that was building the pipeline to "come back to America," saying his administration would offer easy approvals and an almost immediate start, though the company said on Tuesday that it had moved on from the project.
"The Trump Administration is very different (from the Biden administration) - Easy approvals, almost immediate start! If not them, perhaps another Pipeline Company. We want the Keystone XL Pipeline built," Trump said in the post.
Charge this cow with terrorism.
I mean -really!:
Three Canadian Forces personnel were injured last year after being targeted by a high-powered laser during a military exercise in Alaska.
A woman from the Alaskan city of Delta Junction has been sentenced to three years’ probation for the incident involving a laser repeatedly being pointed at a Royal Canadian Air Force helicopter, according to a Feb. 20, 2025 news release from the U.S. Justice Department.
No one had a problem with Chinese interference:
A south Edmonton split-level with a brick facade and a spruce out front is the unlikely Canadian headquarters of the Indian conglomerate the Srivastava Group.Run by a New Delhi family, the company claims to have offices in Belgium, Switzerland and Canada, where it owns newspaper and oil and gas businesses.
But Canadian national security officials have alleged the Srivastava Group and its senior executive have also been involved in more secretive activities.
According to public records released to Global News, in 2009 India’s intelligence agencies “tasked” the Srivastava Group’s vice chair to influence Canadian politicians.
Indian intelligence wanted Ankit Srivastava to identify “random Caucasian politicians and attempt to direct them into supporting issues that impacted India,” the Canadian Security Intelligence Service wrote.
Srivastava was told “to provide financial assistance and propaganda material to the politicians in order to exert influence over them,” CSIS added in the 2015 report.
In a subsequent report in 2021, CSIS wrote that Srivastava’s company had been accused of registering fake websites that presented themselves as news outlets, some of them Canadian.
“The objective of these fake media publications is to push a pro-India rhetoric and publish content that is critical of Pakistan,” added the CSIS report, which was classified secret.
Removing Canada from Five Eyes would be removing China from it:
A top White House official has proposed expelling Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network as Donald Trump increases pressure on the country he talks about turning into the 51st US state.Peter Navarro, one of the US president’s closest advisers, is pushing for the US to remove Canada from the Five Eyes — which also includes the UK, Australia and New Zealand — according to people familiar with his efforts inside the administration.
Once a beacon of cheap labour and shady goings-on, foreign companies are now withdrawing from China:
Law firms and real-estate developers appear to be at the forefront of the exodus from China, but other industries are also considering their options as overall profits slipped by almost 18 percent over the past three years. Some foreign firms are evidently concerned that they cannot lower their prices enough to contend with domestic competitors, a concern made worse by the Chinese government’s tendency to bend the rules in favor of domestic companies.
The SCMP found it easy to measure the size of the foreign exodus by looking at how much office space has suddenly become available in Beijing at cut-rate prices. Foreign companies make up about 20 percent of the market for office space in China’s capital city, and at the end of 2024, over 20 percent of that space had become vacant.
Also:
China’s recent deployment of three warships to waters east of Australia was "designed to be provocative,” a top Australian intelligence official has said, as Beijing looks to normalize this type of military presence in the region — a move that also has implications for Japan.
“This is the furthest south a PLAN task group has operated, and at least some of its activities seem designed to be provocative,” Andrew Shearer, Australia’s director-general of national intelligence, said in reference to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy vessels.
Last week, the Chinese naval flotilla conducted an unusual series of live-fire exercises in the seas between Australia and New Zealand, forcing civilian flights to divert on short notice and prompting officials in the two countries to say that more advance warning should have been given.
Shearer, speaking to a parliamentary committee earlier this week, also said Canberra had surmised that the Chinese military’s moves were not limited to targeting just Australia, and were intended to “shape the responses of those in the region and observe and learn from our reactions.”
“The deployment demonstrates China's growing capability to project military power into our immediate region, now matched by an increasing intent to do so,” he added.
The Chinese military has been increasingly active near Japan — sometimes even entering territorial waters and airspace — in recent years. Last year, a Chinese military plane entered Japanese airspace for the first time, while one of the Asian powerhouse’s navy survey ships entered Japanese territorial waters just days later.
Appearances of Chinese warships, in particular, have surged, including dispatches through waters surrounding its Nansei Islands. Last year, Chinese naval vessels were spotted 68 times while sailing between the East China Sea and Pacific Ocean — a figure more than three times higher than that recorded in 2021, according to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo. The number has risen steadily in the past few years, from 21 in 2021 to 46 in 2022 and 53 in 2023.
The people of Argentina either failed to hear or declined to heed the warning.
On Nov. 19, voters elected as their next president the wild-haired Milei, who defeated his Peronist opponent by a 10-point margin. Milei was inaugurated on Dec. 10 and wasted little time implementing his laissez-faire agenda, which included an immediate 5 percent (chainsaw) slash in government spending.
More reforms followed.
Public work programs were put on hold, welfare programs were slashed, and subsidies were eliminated. State-owned companies were privatized and hundreds of regulations were cut. Tax codes were simplified and levies on exports were lifted or reduced. Labor laws were relaxed. The number of government ministries was reduced from 18 to nine (¡afuera!), and a job freeze was implemented on federal positions. Tens of thousands of public employees were given pink slips.
On the monetary side, the currency was sharply devalued and the central bank was ordered to halt its money printing.
These actions were not painless. Indeed, Milei himself had described them as a kind of “shock” therapy that was necessary for economic healing. Argentina was battling triple-digit inflation, economic sclerosis, and mass poverty.
“I will make a shock adjustment and I will put the economy in a fiscal balance,” Milei said following his win. “As I pledged not to raise taxes, this means I will do so by cutting spending.”
Milei recently completed his first year as president, and the results are not what Piketty and company predicted. Duke University economist Michael Munger, a contributor to these pages, recently pointed out that Argentina’s economy outperformed any reasonable expectation under Milei. He’s right.
Inflation, which had peaked at an annualized rate of 300 percent in April 2024, nosedived, reaching a four-year low in November 2024. In his first month in office, the Associated Foreign Press reported, Milei oversaw a record 25.5 percent inflation rate. By November 2024, inflation had fallen to 2.4 percent.
“In just 12 months we pulverized inflation,” the Economy Ministry wrote on X.
GDP grew by nearly 4 percent in the July-to-September quarter of 2024 after a sluggish first half, and the International Monetary Fund forecasts growth of 5 percent in 2025 and 2026. Meanwhile, Munger noted, there is a strong likelihood of foreign investment, as evidenced by the JP Morgan “country risk index.”
Leftists attempt to make fiscal conservatism sound ruinous when it is not.
No country for anyone:
The surviving member of the Bibas family, Yarden, shared a poignant eulogy at Kibbutz Nir Oz on Wednesday for the burial of his wife, Shiri, and their two children, Ariel and Kfir who were murdered by the hands of Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Yarden recalled his deep love for Shiri, remembering their first moments together and their bond as best friends, a wife, and a mother. He expressed deep sorrow and regret for not being able to protect them, especially during the tragic events on Oct. 7 when Gazans snatched them from their home.
**
“Lived a hero and died a hero,” York University student Somar Abuaziza wrote on Instagram following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last October.
(Sidebar: no, he died like a punk. Nice cope there.)
Last Tuesday, Abuaziza became president of the York Federation of Students (YFS), representing nearly 50,000 undergraduates and boasting an almost $2 million annual budget, raising concerns from students and others who question the leadership of a student leader with views they see as toxic.
Stunning and brave but not crazy, so I'm told:
A Grande Prairie resident allegedly stabbed their two young children on February 19, leaving one with severe throat injuries that will require months of tube feeding.
Michael Attwood, who also goes by Alice Attwood, allegedly attacked both children with a knife.
One child remains at Alberta Children's Hospital in Calgary with a severed esophagus, while the grandmother of the children has been granted temporary custody of the child who has been released from the hospital.
Attwood, who is described as being approximately 6-ft., 7 ins., and 250 pounds, was initially held under medical supervision in a psychiatric ward but was released within 26 hours of being admitted.
While in the hospital, Attwood took a photo of themselves smiling and wrote “I’m pretty sure I met a queen in emergency tonight. She was so beautiful. And I just had these ratty old clothes on.”
Probably the last thing a fish sees:
Divers hanging out with a school of tiger sharks in the Bahamas had a wild run-in with one particularly curious specimen.
A video shared by diver Andrea Ramos Nascimento on Instagram shows a shark gobbling up an Insta360 underwater camera, leading to incredible views from inside the sea creature's cavernous mouth — before it spits it back up as it reconsiders its choice of prey.
Amazingly, the shark even manages to capture a glimpse of three nearby divers, framed by the inside of its maw. While it seems like the shark had an enviable flair for cinematography, the framing was likely the result of some clever video editing; the Insta360 takes 360-degree videos, allowing editors to reframe the footage as they please after the fact.
