Your Rancid Government and You

Just because Justin threw hissy fit and is holding the country hostage, it doesn't mean that the country has come to a complete stand-still:

Mosley’s decision means that the government’s actions — freezing bank accounts, deploying heavy-handed police forces, and seizing assets without judicial review — were a violation of basic civil liberties, including the right to peaceful assembly.

Despite this ruling, the Trudeau government is spending taxpayer dollars to appeal the decision, arguing that the protests were a national security threat. The defence, however, maintains that the government’s justification was based more on speculation than on solid evidence. The protests, which centred on opposition to vaccine mandates and government overreach throughout the COVID-19 response, were portrayed as a growing security threat by the state, and the Liberals were embarrassed as the U.S. expressed concerns over trade disruptions at major ports of entry.

The most controversial aspect of the government’s response was the freezing of protesters’ bank accounts. This measure prevented people from accessing their own funds, leaving them stranded and vulnerable. Defenders of the original court decision argue that freezing accounts without clear evidence of criminal activity violated fundamental rights under Section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure.

The case is not just about the government’s actions in 2022. It’s about setting a dangerous precedent – should the government have the unchecked power to suppress its citizens' political dissent by invoking emergency powers under vague national security concerns?

 

Why not now?:

The terms of reference for appointing Canada’s first fentanyl czar will be finalized by the end of the week, Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said Thursday, who also committed the government to “absolutely” filling the role by the time the country reaches the end of its 30-day reprieve period from U.S. tariffs.

 

Did they erupt into flame?:

On Thursday morning, their faces basking in the bright blue lights of the Hilton International Ballroom in Washington D.C., House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus, Green Party leader Elizabeth May, three Alberta ministers and a handful of other Canadian envoys will bow their heads in prayer.

 

This country has turned its back on God.

Don't think that He has forgotten. 

 

Good riddance:

Justice Minister Arif Virani and International Trade Minister Mary Ng will not be running in the next federal election, they announced in separate statements on Monday.

They are the fifth and sixth ministers in Justin Trudeau's cabinet to announce they're not running for re-election since the prime minister shuffled his cabinet in December. That number is seven if you include Trudeau himself.

 

They have their pensions.

What do they care?

 

 

Does this also go for the people here illegally?:

Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s department in confidential surveys is asking people if they’d accept the first-ever introduction of mandatory identification papers such as a passport for use within Canada. MPs have repeatedly opposed any national ID system as intrusive and costly: “Identification cards allow us to be identified when we have every right to remain anonymous.”

Speaking of people who shouldn't be here:

International students who graduated from Canadian schools are more likely to be underemployed than their Canadian peers and many are living with lower incomes as a result.

Statistics Canada’s national graduates survey looked at the employment rate of more than 83,000 international students who graduated in 2020, remained in Canada and did not pursue further education.

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"Canadian immigration officials were unreasonable to refuse services for five years to Aiman Hatoum, a Syrian-Canadian man who let his relative use his passport to enter Canada, according to a new Federal Court ruling out of Toronto." --

-- "The relation who used Hatoum’s passport to enter Canada submitted a refugee claim here Nov. 23, 2021." --

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The RCMP say three men in Quebec have been charged for helping to smuggle people into Canada from the United States.

During two separate events last year, the three men were intercepted in vehicles near the U.S. border in the Monteregie region southwest of Montreal, allegedly waiting to pick up people who had crossed into Canada illegally.

Muhammet Akca, 41, is charged with conspiring to facilitate the illegal crossing of several people in 2024 and is scheduled to appear in court in Valleyfield, Que., on March 3. Adrian Jose Herrera Tabares, 34, and Frangeli Coromoto Guzman Espinoza, 28, are facing charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and are scheduled to appear in court on April 25.

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Nearly 20,000 Indian students have failed to enrol at their designated colleges and universities after arriving in Canada. This has raised significant concerns about immigration fraud and the misuse of the student visa system.

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The federal government is facing calls to suspend a long-standing agreement with the U.S. to return asylum seekers at the border, with immigration experts saying the United States should no longer be considered a safe place for people fleeing persecution.

They say U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive orders that make it easier to deport or detain migrants – including plans to hold 30,000 migrants accused of criminality in Guantanamo Bay – undermine their rights to such an extent that Canada should halt returning asylum seekers to the U.S.

Under the Safe Third Country Agreement, which came into effect in 2004, asylum seekers must make a claim at the first country in which they arrive. The agreement means that most asylum seekers arriving at the Canadian border are automatically returned to the U.S., with some exceptions such as people facing the death penalty.

Immigration lawyers and refugee advocates say Mr. Trump’s policies that make it easier to deport asylum seekers without a court hearing and increase detention may breach international law and should prompt Canada to rethink or suspend the agreement.

“The executive actions in the U.S. will materially impede access to asylum, and result in the routine imprisonment of refugees, contrary to UN standards,” says Erin Simpson, a partner at immigration law firm Landings LLP in Toronto.

“When Canada returns refugees to the U.S. under the Safe Third Country Agreement, they risk deportation to persecution and torture, and prison. Canada has the authority to suspend the agreement, and should exercise that authority until it is satisfied the agreement is not harming refugees.”

Canada has been scrambling for weeks to avert steep tariffs threatened by Mr. Trump on all imports from this country, and although the President paused them for 30 days on Monday, Canada has been careful not to provoke the Trump administration with policy demands.

Mr. Trump came to power on promises of a sweeping immigration crackdown, including mass deportations of migrants. His first moves on the issue have included expanding “expedited removals,” which were previously limited to areas within 160 kilometres of the U.S. border and applied to people who did not request asylum or who had failed to demonstrate a legitimate claim.

Now, people who have been in the U.S. for less than two years can be arrested and swiftly deported without prolonged court hearings under an executive order entitled Protecting the American People Against Invasion. Officers enforcing immigration laws can also now arrest undocumented migrants at schools and places of worship, after the Trump administration dropped policies limiting where such arrests could happen.

 

It's just money:

A federal agency is paying a Washington lobbyist US$85,000 a month to manage “outreach to government officials,” records show. The confidential contract signed last Wednesday followed Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly’s claim she had deep influence with the White House: ‘All discussions will be kept confidential.’ 

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Small businesses across Canada are still being taxed on their carbon tax rebates despite a commitment from the former finance minister that they would be tax-free, says the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

The business group says it has been informed by the Canada Revenue Agency that the rebate is considered government assistance to taxpayers and that it’s subject to income tax.

The federation says the CRA also told it that former finance minister Chrystia Freeland’s announcement last year that the rebate will be tax free, and the fall economic statement that made a similar commitment, “were not accompanied by proposed legislative amendments.”

The prorogation of Parliament is not making the situation any easier, says CFIB president and CEO Dan Kelly, as only new legislation presented in Parliament can override this decision.

“It’s just the most unhelpful time to provide even more tax uncertainty at a time when businesses are scrambling to deal with the potential tariff issue, and so that makes this doubly bad,” Kelly said.

 

 

Quebec is special: 

Just about 24 hours after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that U.S. President Donald Trump would be delaying his 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports by at least 30 days, and right after Trudeau proclaimed Canadians are “more united than ever,” Quebec Premier Francois Legault insisted there was no way his province would accept a pipeline being built across its land.

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Worm:

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party will not support the proposed GNL Quebec natural gas pipeline, pointing to strong opposition from Quebec. 

Singh insists that any energy project must have social acceptability, align with environmental goals, and respect the will of Quebecers.

Speaking of worms:

A former Muslim Students Association organizer yesterday said he was personally scouted by the Department of Justice to apply for Liberal appointment as Canada’s $394,000-a year Human Rights Commissioner. The federal government “sought me out,” said Birju Dattani, whose appointment was suspended last August 8 amid protests over his past comments on Israel and terrorism: ‘They sought me out.’

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Birju Dattani, former appointee as Canadian Human Rights Commissioner, claims more than $2 million in damages in multiple libel lawsuits stemming from his abrupt suspension last August 8 over comments on Israel and terrorism. Lawyers in Ontario Superior Court claimed Dattani suffered “irreparable harm to his professional reputation.”

 

One would think his fellow anti-semites would step up to the plate for him.

I guess not.

 

 

Why not own the Northwest Passage?

I think it's time:

Any future Conservative cabinet will build an army, navy and air base in Nunavut complete with icebreakers and fighter jets, Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said yesterday. Canada must “stand on our own two feet,” he said: “Canadians will decide.” 

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Poilievre said the proposed military facility in Iqaluit would be an air force wing to accommodate F-35 fighter jets and Poseidon P-8 surveillance aircrafts. Iqaluit currently has an airport that can accommodate Canadian military and NORAD operations.