Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Mid-Week Post

Your middle-of-the-week dash of reason ...

 

President Trump made some rather sensible requests about border control and drugs that would be beneficial for both Americans and Canadians.

Not willing to be told, Justin refused to listen (as he did with the truckers) and even denied that such things were problems.

Now, about that:

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Canada is not a main supplier of fentanyl to America, but it is a fact that significant amounts of the drug flow south by means of the “de minimus” exemption, which allows exporters to ship small packages valued at less than $800 directly to customers, with minimal border inspection required. This loophole is being used by Chinese exporters to ship fentanyl precursors into Canada, where they either go to Mexico for processing into pills or are processed in Canada under the supervision of Mexican drug cartels. The Trump administration has now pressed Canada to close this loophole. The fact that this has been going on in Canada for years, almost unnoticed, should shock us to the core.

And the problem of fentanyl production in Canada should not be minimized. Recently, RCMP has reported that fentanyl labs have been popping up in various parts of B.C. It is common to produce fentanyl and meth in the same small labs. These drugs are sold both domestically and internationally. The problem is real.

(Sidebar: please see here.)

Exactly how many Canadians have died, directly or indirectly, from fentanyl overdoses is unclear, but it is fair to assume that with roughly one-ninth of the U.S. population, Canadian deaths would be roughly one-ninth of U.S. numbers. ...

The new Trump administration has promised to do something about this carnage. “This is a drug war,” Peter Navarro, assistant to the president and director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, recently told reporters. “What has happened with Canada is the Mexican cartels have expanded up to Canada. They’re making fentanyl there and sending it down to the U.S. from there. The Chinese are using Canada to send in small parcels below the radar. ... It’s important that Canada, Canadian citizens themselves, can understand that what we’re trying to do here is stop killing of Americans by these deadly drugs.”

The Trump administration must also view what it sees as Canada’s lax drug laws and casual attitude to the buying and selling of even the most addictive and dangerous drugs as an exacerbating factor. However, on the fentanyl issue, it is clear that Trump is determined to do something about a very real problem that has largely been ignored in Canada. He should be commended for this, and Canada should start cleaning up its own mess.

But U.S. concerns about fentanyl smuggling from Canada is also part of a larger issue. Communist China’s infiltration of Canadian institutions is a major concern. The importation of fentanyl precursors from China, with the participation of Mexican drug cartels, has made Vancouver a virtual money laundering factory for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Investigative reporters like Sam Cooper and Terry Glavin have revealed how deep this corruption goes, the Hogue Commission whitewash notwithstanding.

It is to be hoped that the border fixes and the “fentanyl czar” Trudeau has promised to appoint will shine a light not only on fentanyl and border security but on how seriously Canada is being compromised at all levels by a hostile CCP that means us no good.

 

This fentanyl czar:

 

There is more:

Behind a veil of secrecy, an Ontario man named as the boss of a network of truck drivers smuggling large loads of cocaine and meth from California into Canada has given up his fight against extradition and surrendered to U.S. authorities.

Guramrit Sidhu, 61, of Brampton, west of Toronto, allegedly also known as “King,” was arrested a year ago in Ontario at the request of the United States, where he is accused of orchestrating a large-volume drug trafficking network. On Halloween, U.S. Marshalls brought Sidhu into a Los Angeles courtroom for the first time.

In between those milestones, Sidhu’s case in Ontario was deemed so sensitive his entire file was sealed by a court order.

Nevertheless, here’s what happened.

When Operation Dead Hand was announced in Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2024, Sidhu and some of the other Canadians swept up in the drama were overshadowed by big allegations and better-known names.

In the United States, there were wanted fugitives linked to Mexican drug cartels and distracting mountains of cocaine surrounding the podium at the press conference; in Canada, there was a man with a notorious last name: Roberto Scoppa, brother of two leaders in a faction of the Montreal Mafia who were killed in 2019 during a mob war.

“This conspiracy spanned three countries and involved drug suppliers connected to cartels in Mexico, drug distributors and brokers in Los Angeles, Canadian truck drivers and a network that exported drugs into Canada, and even an associate of the Italian Mafia in Montreal,” U.S. attorney Martin Estrada told a packed news conference.

The FBI’s drug case is built around a snitch who, for two years, secretly worked with two networks that prosecutors say were aggressively hauling cocaine and methamphetamine along the dominant drug route — from Mexico, into the United States, and then further north, into Canada.

 

It is apparent that there is no shame in this country.

It is more acceptable to deny or scoff at these problems than it is to own them and finally get around to doing something about them.

 

 

Is Stephen Harper trolling everyone?

Does he want Justin to finally drive the nail into Canada's economy and, in so doing, having to finally reject the Liberal-NDP menace and rebuild?:

Stephen Harper told a crowd in Ottawa Tuesday that if he were still prime minister, he would accept “any level of damage” to Canada, rather than see it join the United States as the 51st state.

“I would be prepared to impoverish the country and not be annexed, if that was the option we’re facing,” Harper said.

The former prime minister was speaking before an invitation-only crowd to promote his new book, Flags of Canada, about the history of the Canadian flag. But, given the drama of Donald Trump’s tariff threats against Canada and his now-repeated musings about Canada becoming the 51st state, Harper couldn’t avoid touching on current affairs, according to a report in the Toronto Star.

Story continues below

 

Justin is prepared to rule over the ashes. 

Is anyone else?

 

Remember - for the past nine years, a frat-boy and his league of morons have been driving Canada into the ground.

Not Trump, not Putin, not "climate change".

Justin and his merry band of inept robber-barons.

No tough talk can save us from the debris:

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Trump is arguing from a position of strength while Canada (and China) are not:

For all the great Canadian national pride we have been expressing recently, we should be ashamed of our failure to secure the North. Rather than whining about Trump we should thank him and undertake some of the massive infrastructure investments that will be required to support extraction and export of our northern natural resources. At the same time enhancing our military, particularly an Arctic capable  navy, would surely appease Trump’s requirement for NATO spending. Steve Bannon sums it up brilliantly in three minutes.  Trump is inviting us into to something that will define the world for the next hundred years. If Quebec wants high butter prices then let them have them. What Canadians needs is to become a pivotal player in a secure North.

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Not that this matters to Justin:

Canada's carbon tax is scheduled to increase on April 1 by 20%. The price per tonne of CO2 equivalent will rise to $95 from the current rate of $80.

Meanwhile, Canada's resigned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is jet-setting in Europe on taxpayer dime — flying around 14,000 km to attend the Aga Khan's funeral in Lisbon, an AI summit in Paris and trade / NATO meetings in Brussels.

During the AI summit, Trudeau spoke about climate change and sensible power supply.

Trudeau's jet fuel consumption is around 18,000 litres for the round trip. The cost to operate government aircraft, including fuel, is quite high — around $17,000 per hour for the Challenger 601, although Trudeau's A330 jet would be more.

 

Also:

Tokyo has asked the U.S. government to exempt Japanese firms from U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly announced 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum.

“We have requested the U.S. government to exclude Japan from the scope of these measures,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said during a news conference Wednesday, adding that the request was made by the Japanese Embassy in Washington via diplomatic channels.

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told a session of parliament the same day that the new measures weren't discussed during his meeting with Trump over the weekend.

“We will take necessary actions, such as carefully examining the details of the moves and their impact on our country, while urging an exemption from the scope of the measures,” Ishiba added.

The tariffs are a result of an executive order signed by Trump on Monday and are set to take effect on March 12.

 

In other news ...

 

A 60-day GST holiday passed by Parliament at a $2.7 billion cost was not worth the trouble, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said yesterday. A majority of storekeepers impacted by the tax break said it had no real impact on sales: “The government’s GST holiday was a flop.”

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Cabinet aides conducted 2024 focus group research over a proposal by then-Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland to ban corporate ownership of single family residences, records show. Canadians partially blamed speculators for high housing prices, said the Privy Council report: “A number were of the opinion that investor speculation in residential real estate had been a major contributing factor.”


Ethics? From him?:

Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc yesterday in an ethics filing promised to avoid all discussions benefiting J.D. Irving Ltd., one of the largest private employers in his home province and operator of the biggest oil refinery in the country. Federal judges have ruled so-called “conflict of interest screens” are legal: “The Ethics Commissioner and I have agreed.”

 

 Could Trump end this ethnic conflict?

Trump said he will follow up his call with the Russian leader by reaching out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“I just had a lengthy and highly productive phone call with President Vladimir Putin of Russia,” Trump announced in a Feb. 12 post on his Truth Social media account. The call marks Trump’s first known conversation with Putin since taking office.

 

 

Whenever someone claims that wind turbines are useful, point this out:

Evidence continues to grow that onshore wind turbines are causing heavy ecological carnage, with increasing concern focused on the removal of a vast tonnage of insect life. For obvious political, Net Zero reasons, insect decimation is not a well-funded research area, but work in Germany in 2016 put the loss across the country at 1,200 tonnes a year. Recently, the Heartland Institute extrapolated the individual annual insect loss worldwide at 13,640,000,000,000 (13.64 quadrillion) insects, and of course it can be noted that the figures are nearly a decade out of date. Other scientific work has reported that flying insects destroyed include bees, flying beetles and butterflies. Curiously, the many institutions apparently concerned with wildlife stay silent on the slaughter. For its part, the UK Natural History Museum (NHM) offers a Build Your Own Wind Turbine kit. Fun for all the family and if the kiddies are lucky they might get to whack a passing fly or a couple of moths.

The German work estimated insect losses at 40 million per turbine during the plant-growing season. Commenting on the findings, the mathematician and evolutionary ecologist Professor Christian Voigt felt it was necessary to evaluate if these fatalities added to the decline of insect populations, “and potentially the extinction of species”. In a 2022 paper, Voigt reported that turbines can change the nearby microclimate, while vibrational noise may reduce earthworm abundance with likely cascading effects on soil quality and vegetation. In addition, he noted findings that wind turbine facilities led to displacement of nesting and wintering birds.

Recent work from researchers at the University of Wyoming suggests that moths, butterflies, beetles, flies and true bugs may be the most vulnerable to the giant revolving blades. Wind turbines create vortices, sucking in wildlife and causing problems for both bats and large birds such as eagles. “The vast amount of avian and insect deaths at the hands of wind turbines is disastrous in and of itself, from a conservation and ecological standpoint,” states Heartland.

 

 

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