Mid-Week Post

 

 
Your middle-of-the-week camino ...




The prick everyone feels sorry for killed himself instead of shooting it out with the cops:

During the attack, police located Faisal Hussain, 29, near Danforth and Bowden avenues. It's there that Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), says the exchange took place.

Hussain was found dead some 100 metres away, on Danforth Avenue. 

The revelation comes one day after a post-mortem examination on Hussain. The SIU declined to comment on the results of the exam, citing the ongoing investigation.

The source also said police located a high-capacity magazine, and a large quantity of ammunition, for an assault-style rifle while searching   at the Hussain's apartment in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood.

Well, that didn't end well:
 

Jesse Mooney, the man arrested on Parliament Hill after a “security incident” during the Changing of the Guard ceremony, made an appearance in court.

It didn’t go well.

According to reports, Mooney yelled at the judge, and “demanded his lawyer be fired.”

Mooney was in court for an alleged incident that took place the day before the Parliament Hill incident.

As for what happened on Parliament Hill, witnesses said Mooney ran across a safety barrier during the ceremony. Police arrested him. Nobody was hurt.

A small pocket-knife was later found close to where Mooney had been arrested.

He faces charges of assault and breaching his probation.

The wife of Justin's friend, Joshua Boyle, took the opportunity to flee back to the US:

Former Taliban hostage Caitlan Coleman returned to the United States with her three children on Monday, almost six years after she was abducted while backpacking across Afghanistan with her husband, ABC News has learned. 

Coleman is petitioning an Ottawa family court to grant her full legal custody of the children she shares with Joshua Boyle, who is facing multiple allegations of physical and sexual assault stemming from incidents since his return to Canada. 

On Monday, a judge ruled that Coleman, a U.S. citizen, could relocate pending a resolution of her case, so she decided to leave both Canada and Boyle behind, crossing the U.S.-Canada border with her three children that same night.

Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Tammy Wynette:

Meanwhile, the useless clod, Ralph Goodale, tells another bald-faced lie to the public:

The Liberal government has made it clear that simply entering Canada is not a “free ticket” for newcomers to stay in the country, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told MPs studying the ongoing influx of asylum seekers from the United States.

(Sidebar: because there is no crisis, right, Ralph?)

But no matter how a person arrives in Canada, the individual must be given a fair hearing to determine whether they require protection, Goodale said during a House of Commons immigration committee meeting Tuesday.

Yes, about that, Ralph:

Given the grand gestures, you would be forgiven for believing the federal Liberals and the department responsible for refugees would be tracking the fate of the tens of the thousands of struggling Syrians that Canada has recently taken in.

But, after more than two weeks of inquiries by Postmedia, a media relations officer acknowledged the department has not produced any report in almost two years on the about 50,000 Syrian refugees now in Canada.

Canada’s auditor general is among the unamused. The Liberals had a plan to monitor whether the mostly Arabic-speaking refugees were learning English or French, working, receiving social assistance and going to school, but the government has failed to follow through, said auditor general Michael Ferguson. It is Ottawa’s responsibility, he said, to make sure Syrians refugees “integrate into Canadian society.”

**

If an asylum seeker’s refugee claim is rejected, there’s a possibility they could still stay in Canada temporarily.

** 

Migrants know that even if their claims are found to be bogus, they still get a few years in Canada — enough time to take advantage of free healthcare, education and welfare payments to make it all worthwhile.

Also:

The Trudeau government’s new “Border Security Minister” appears to be a fake job.

It seems that nobody reports to the “border security minister” Bill Blair, and he has no authority over any part of the government.

The responsibilities of Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale remain the same.

And remember, the Trudeau government spent weeks trying to demonize any Canadian who said there was a problem with illegal border crossers at the border, before creating the new ministerial position.

And: 

Lisa MacLeod, Ontario's minister responsible for immigration, says the province is asking the federal government for $200 million to cover the cost of asylum seekers from the United States.

Speaking to reporters after testifying at a House of Commons immigration committee meeting Tuesday, MacLeod said while the Liberal government has committed $11 million to Ontario, that money has "yet to flow."

MacLeod said her department is monitoring the costs of dealing with border crossers and predicts they will escalate. She expected to make a formal request for the $200 million later Tuesday. ...

MacLeod said the $200 million figure breaks down as follows: $74 million for shelter costs for the City of Toronto, $12 million for shelter costs for the City of Ottawa, $90 million for social assistance costs her ministry is footing and $20 million for education.

There are also expenses associated with legal aid and that Ontario has invested $3 million in the Red Cross, she said.

Just shoot her in the knee cap:

When Elin Ersson learned that an Afghan man was scheduled to be deported from Sweden on Monday, she bought a ticket for the same flight. Once she boarded the plane at Gothenburg airport, Ersson refused to take her seat, standing in the aisle, until the 52-year-old deportee was released.

Her dramatic act of civil disobedience, which she live-streamed on Facebook in English, forced the flight to be delayed by two hours, according to Swedavia, the company that operates the airport. 

Ultimately, her efforts succeeded – at least for the time being. The Afghan deportee was escorted off the plane before it took off.

All her stupid stunt accomplished (aside from making other passengers late, setting a bad precedent for removing unruly trespassers and merely delaying the inevitable deportation of a thug who would otherwise rape her) was making everyone hate her.

Bravo, idiot.




Legislation for the end of cap-and-trade in Ontario has finally been tabled:

Ontario's new Progressive Conservative government expects to spend up to $5 million to compensate companies that bought into the province's cap-and-trade system, the provincial environment minister said Wednesday before moving to repeal the carbon pricing program.

Rod Phillips introduced a bill that, if passed, will lay out the legal framework to wind down cap and trade, as well as the criteria for companies seeking to be reimbursed for costs incurred through the program.

While the program's 272 participants bought close to $3 billion in allowances, Phillips said only those that purchased more than they used while the program was still active, and were not able to recover those costs from consumers, will be eligible for compensation.

The proposed legislation would also protect the province from any potential litigation over the decision, the government said.

Not dealt with - the free drugs for junkies: 

The fate of Ontario's safe injection and overdose prevention sites is in limbo as the province's new Progressive Conservative government weighs whether to continue funding the facilities authorized by its Liberal predecessors.

Health Minister Christine Elliott said Tuesday the government is reviewing evidence on the sites to see if they "have merit" and are worth continuing.

"We need to take a look at the evidence and understand what the experts are saying, so I want to hear that. The premier wants to hear that. He wants to know that continuing with the sites is going to be of benefit to the people of Ontario," she said.

As long as Justin remains the chief puppet of external interests, no pipeline will be built or expanded:

Energy East is shovel-ready. Much of the route exists and it would quickly create thousands of jobs. (Don’t we have an infrastructure bank looking for big projects like this one?) It could safely move 1.1 million barrels of crude oil from Alberta and Saskatchewan to Saint John, N.B., every day, where raw product can be refined by Irving oil in their facility adding value and more jobs. Removing more volatile material from the rail lines reduces the chance of another Lac-Mégantic disaster. It would boost our energy independence and allow us to export to new markets, and at the same time use our own energy, instead of shipping it in from Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Venezuela (while complaining and hectoring our suppliers about human-rights abuses).

Justin cares not for people who get up in his grill:

A protester who angrily confronted the prime minister in Montreal during Quebec's Fete nationale holiday weekend appeared in court Monday and pleaded not guilty to one count of obstructing a peace officer in the execution of his duty.

The Crown refused to remove a bail condition forbidding Matthieu Brien, 31, from engaging in political activity or being in the presence of a politician, said his lawyer Marc Michaud.

Michaud said if the case isn't settled by the Oct. 1 provincial election, Brien — who is a member of a political party — won't be able to vote.

"It takes a way all the political rights of my client," Michaud said in an interview.

Brien confronted Justin Trudeau on June 23 as the prime minister was greeting citizens in a park located in his riding and said the Canadian leader "came to bother us at home."

"You came to speak English to us?" Brien asked Trudeau in French. "Isn't your party next week?" he said, referring to Canada Day.

Trudeau replied: "I am home."

Michaud said the charge of obstruction is tied to what happened after Brien made the remarks, but wouldn't go into details.

Michaud said he will file a motion in Superior Court this week seeking to annul the bail condition preventing his client from participating in political activity.

Brien is a member of a sovereigntist political party, Michaud said, but wouldn't say which one.

While Justin stymies everyone else who puts him on the spot, former prime minister Stephen Harper engages a perhaps more willing electorate:

Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper will be doorknocking for the upcoming Alberta election in the Calgary constituency held by a bitter foe of United Conservative Leader Jason Kenney.

"I live in (NDP cabinet minister) Sandra Jansen's riding," Harper's wife, Laureen, said Tuesday night in a speech at the launch of SheLeads, a non-profit group aimed at encouraging and mentoring women to run for conservative parties.

Harper said she and her husband are not getting involved in the United Conservative candidate nomination race in their Calgary-West constituency but, to cheers and applause, added "My husband said 'I'm doorknocking for the winner. I'm doorknocking.'"

Trump seeks a tariff-free Europe:

President Donald Trump says he'll propose to European officials on Wednesday that both sides drop all tariffs, barriers and subsidies.

Trump has floated the idea in the past, but he tweeted Tuesday night that he doubts the Europeans will go for the idea.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is reluctant to give a timeline on North Korean denuclearisation:

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says a great deal of work remains ahead of the complete denuclearization of North Korea, but he's dodging requests to identify a specific denuclearization timeline.

Pompeo told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday "there is an awful long way to go" in North Korea's denuclearization, but he pledged negotiations would not "drag out to no end."

More than a month after President Donald Trump's historic summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the two sides appear to still be at odds on what exactly denuclearization means and how it might be verified.

After Pompeo's most recent trip to the North Korean capital earlier this month, he described his discussions as productive, but Kim accused the envoy of making "gangster-like" demands.

 
In all fairness, Kim didn't give a timeline, either, but he has a habit of that sort of thing.




China is once again helping North Korea to skirt around sanctions:

Gasoline prices in North Korea have nearly halved since late March, market data analyzed by Reuters shows, adding weight to suspicions that fuel is finding its way into the isolated economy from China and elsewhere despite U.N. sanctions.

The United Nations Security Council passed a resolution in December to ban nearly 90 percent of refined petroleum exports to North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs.

But as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has moved to improve relations with the United States, China and South Korea, concerns have grown that the policy of "maximum pressure" through sanctions and isolation, is losing steam.

This South Korea: 

The South Korean government failed to take appropriate action for four months against illegal shipments of North Korean coal that arrived here disguised as Russian product. 

The government was warned that two ships from a third country had unloaded 9,156 tons of North Korean coal in the South, the Foreign Ministry admitted, telling Bareun Future Party lawmaker Choung Byoung-gug, that the suspicions were "reported swiftly" to the government.

The Panamanian cargo ship Sky Angel arrived at Incheon port with 4,156 tons of coal and the Sierra Leone-registered Rich Glory at Pohang with 5,000 tons after carrying them from the Russian port of Kholmsk in October last year.

The coal was marked as Russian in origin and was imported by a South Korean company, but the ministry suspected that the cargo originated from North Korea and reported it to Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha. 

The ships entered South Korean ports some 30 times since unloading the suspicious cargo, but the government did not search them until February this year. 

The U.S. and the international community have criticized South Korea for being too lax in enforcing sanctions against the North amid a sudden thaw. The U.S. State Department warned that South Korea was potentially violating international regulations. 

 

 

 

So if Trump found Otto Warmbier's condition to be so pitiable that he would fetch him almost immediately, why did he not mention human rights in Singapore?:

Upon learning that Otto was apparently unconscious, President Trump had directed an American team to fly into North Korea, and now progress of the mission was being monitored at the highest level of the government. No assurances had been made that the young man would actually be released, and so the officials were on tenterhooks as well. According to an official, at 8:35 A.M., Secretary of State Rex Tillerson telephoned the president to announce that Otto was airborne. The president reportedly signed off by saying, “Take care of Otto.” Then Rob Portman, the Ohio senator who helped oversee efforts to repatriate Otto, called to inform the Warmbiers that the air ambulance had just entered Japanese airspace: Otto would be home that night.

 

 

The Usual Suspects

The police released the age of Faisal Hussain before they released his name. This allowed for ample time to spin the perpetrator of the ugly turkey shoot along the Danforth (and not the last - let one be candid) from an unknown culprit to a weak figure of pity.


To wit:

The quiet sibling from a family often visited by tragedy. A shy young man with few close friends. A mass shooter who does not appear to have been on the radar of either federal national security agencies or provincial law enforcement.

Faisal Hussain, the 29-year-old gunman in Sunday’s fatal rampage on the Danforth, had a complicated past replete with family misfortune — including his older brother’s drug overdose, which put him in a vegetative state — and mental health challenges including psychosis, his family said. 

Yes, about all of that ...


Hussain was known to the authorities and had been watched since 2010:

The 29-year-old man who gunned down 15 people on the Danforth Sunday night had previously been investigated by Toronto police under the Mental Health Act, CP24 has learned.

**

The man behind a deadly shooting spree in the heart of Toronto's Greektown came from a supportive family beleaguered with troubles and showed no outward signs of the mental illness believed to have plagued him for years, neighbours said Tuesday.

**

Sources say police in Toronto and CSIS officials in Ottawa, as well as the RCMP, are looking into his past, which sources say include his residence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Hussain apparently had been spoken to by authorities about his online activities. Sources say Toronto Police, the OPP and the RCMP have all had an interest in the now-deceased shooter.

What law enforcement is saying is that the attack was planned, and Hussain was “well known to Toronto Police” for investigations into past crimes “involving weapons and violence.”

**

"At this stage, based on the state of the investigation, which is led by the Toronto police service, there is no connection between that individual and national security," Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said.

But a law enforcement source told CBS News that Faisal Hussain visited Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) websites and may have expressed support for the terrorist group. They were looking into whether Hussain may have lived at one time in Afghanistan and possibly Pakistan, the source said.

So, how is it that an allegedly mentally ill man who expressed support for one of the many Islamist terrorist groups in operation today and was known to authorities was not only able to calmly shoot mostly women in a country where openly carrying weapons is virtually illegal but to be covered and then excused?


A co-ordinated effort on the part of the authorities, the popular press and a gullible public would complete the ring of this ghastly circus.


Faisal Hussain was not named initially by the police, who knew about him, or the press, particularly in Canada. A professional activist quickly delivered a prepared statement excusing Hussain of his actions:

The man who has presented himself as the point of contact for the family of Faisal Hussain is a professional activist who has reportedly committed himself to “framing a new narrative of Muslims in Canada” and creating a “national political movement.”

Shortly after the Ontario Special Investigations Unit revealed the identity of the Danforth shooter as 29-year-old Faisal Hussain, a news release was sent out to select media attributed to the “Hussain Family”.

The polished statement began with the family’s “deepest condolences to the families who are now suffering on account of our son’s horrific actions.” It then went on to explain that “our son had severe mental health challenges, struggling with psychosis and depression his entire life.”

It was provided by Mohammed Hashim, a full-time organizer for the Toronto & York Region Labour Council. Social media accounts belonging to Hashim show him heavily involved in supporting NDP candidates both federally and provincially in Ontario. He’s also described as a driving force behind the National Council of Canadian Muslims.

“His groundbreaking political advocacy, public relations and media work has been widely credited by insiders as framing a new narrative for Muslims in Canada,” says a bio of Hashim connected to an appearance he made at CanRoots 2016, a left-wing activist conference.

The bio continues: “His workshop ‘Progressive organizing in the Muslim communities’ will demonstrate how the GTA Muslim community mobilized in the previous federal election, and laid the groundwork to start building a national political movement.”

That's quite some instant political fire power from a poor, beleaguered family.


The second act comes in the form of more gun control in a city where gangs have operated with illegal guns for years.

An unarmed citizenry is no match for gangs or even Islamist shooters but why let facts get in the way?:

There is a talking point in heavy use by the Trudeau government, police forces and gun control activists. It claims that 50% of guns used in crime in Canada are stolen from law abiding Canadian gun owners.

This false factoid has shown up in media reports for quite some time now and showed  up again this week in the wake of the Danforth shooting.

Toronto Mayor John Tory even made the claim in an op-ed for the Toronto Sun back in March.

What is the source of this fact that gets repeated over and over again?

Dennis Young, the veteran researcher and former Parliament Hill staffer says there is no source, well other than a highly taken out of context footnote from an RCMP document dating back to 2016.

The final act is the city itself. Emotionally retarded responses of teddy bears, candles and defiant yet grammatically incorrect scribbles on walls do not prevent future occurrences of tragedy. Hussain would not have fired at people had he known that someone would have shot back in defense or that well-crafted pleas of mental illness would have been disbelieved or that scrutiny of Islam or allegiance to Islamist groups (irrelevant given that "inspiration" to the cause is sufficient enough to carry out centuries'-old mandates) would have been steady and furious and inescapable. He may have made no effort at all or would have been stopped before he could hurt more people.


So there are the usual suspects working in concert to create another blood-soaked tragedy. Until people are tired of lies, deliberate inaction or aversion to sensible indignation, this will be the new normal.

Monday Post

Faisal Hussein has been identified (finally) as the man who allegedly shot fifteen people, killing two along the Danforth in Toronto.


Predictably, the excuses for his vile actions are circulating:

“Our son had severe mental health challenges, struggling with psychosis and depression his entire life,” the statement reads.

“The interventions of professionals were unsuccessful. Medications and therapy were unable to treat him.”

The family claims they worked hard to get Hussain treatment, but never imagined “that this would be his devastating and destructive end.”

(Sidebar: when one says predictable, one is not being sarcastic or melodramatic - An Ontario judge has ordered a mental health assessment for a Toronto-area woman facing terror charges in an alleged attack at a Canadian Tire store. ; Is “mental illness” the new cover for jihadist attacks on the West?

It certainly seems that way, says a noted expert on jihad. ;  Mental illness has become a convenient scapegoat for terrorism) 

However convenient that oft-used excuse is, it crumbles in the light of some actual investigation:

Files being reviewed by police include concern Hussain expressed “support” for a web site that was seen as “pro-ISIL,” says a law enforcement source.

Sources say police in Toronto and CSIS officials in Ottawa, as well as the RCMP, are looking into his past which sources say include his residence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Hussain apparently had been spoken-to by authorities about his online activities. Sources say Toronto Police, the OPP and the RCMP have all had an interest in the now-deceased alleged shooter.

What law enforcement is saying is that the attack was planned, and Hussain was “well known to Toronto Police” for investigations into past crimes “involving weapons and violence.”

Well, that crushes the Narrative.


 
There is not a moment to lose here. It may not be maligning an acquitted Saskatchewan farmer but promising swift but impractical action against gun violence (and what a sore point that is!) is just what is needed to score some much needed political points:

The new federal minister responsible for tackling gun violence, former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, was scheduled to meet Tory Monday afternoon after earlier tweeting that Ottawa was looking at ways to support the city's efforts "to end the violence."

The federal government proposed legislation in March to tighten the sale and tracking of firearms, and has set aside $327 million over the next five years to fund programs designed to address criminal gun and gang activities.

But Toronto Mayor John Tory, who has previously criticized what he believes are holes within Canada's gun laws, went even farther on Monday as he asked why anyone in Toronto would even need a gun.

(Sidebar: to shoot people with, stupid.) 

Also - quite a busy day for the "mentally unstable":

Ottawa police are investigating and a 24-year-old is in custody after an incident involving the Ceremonial Guard on Parliament Hill on Monday.

However, the Parliamentary Protective Service now says the man was not carrying a knife as initially reported.

“Reports of an individual carrying a knife during the incident are inaccurate,” the service Tweeted on Monday. “A small pocket knife was discovered in proximity to the subject following the arrest. The Ottawa Police Service is investigating.”

(Sidebar: or, rather, he did have a knife. If one could not take it on the plane, why should one be able to stab a guard with it?)

And: 

A report released Monday called on countries to bring back and rehabilitate children from the so-called Islamic State, warning that otherwise, they could pose a significant future threat.

They can't be rehabilitated. Don't bring them back. 

In other news ...

It's just money:

The nanny caring for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s kids has been given a full-time salary and a slight pay increase compared with the reported hourly rate she was paid shortly after Trudeau took office in 2015.

An order in council issued earlier this week indicates Marian Pueyo’s annual pay has been set in a range that starts just below $40,000 and caps off at slightly more than $45,000.

It’s also retroactive to the beginning of April this year.

At its top range, the order works out to a rate of $21.79 per hour, assuming a 40-hour work week.

(Sidebar: it's nice that Justin is treating his foreign nanny as real people.)

**

Rising provincial minimum wages have cut into the reach of the Liberal government’s oft-touted increase to summer jobs spending by reducing the number of weekly hours being funded this year.

The Liberals have doubled spending on the politically popular program to approximately $220 million in order to boost the number of available jobs to 70,000 from about 35,000.

Newly released documents show the government was aware in late winter that there would be a drop in the number of hours funded through the program to meet the Liberal government’s summer jobs target.

**

The federal government is set to become the official owner of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion after failing to quickly flip the project to another private-sector buyer.

Pipeline owner Kinder Morgan had been working with the government to identify another buyer before July 22.

But with that date set to pass without a deal, it was expected the pipeline company will now take Ottawa's $4.5-billion offer to purchase the project to its shareholders.

Pending their approval, the sale, which includes the existing pipeline, the pumping stations and rights of way, and the Westridge marine terminal in Burnaby, B.C., will be approved sometime in August or September.

The $4.5-billion purchase price does not cover the construction costs of building the new pipeline, which previous estimates have pegged at around $7.4 billion.

Finding another buyer for the project before Sunday's deadline was widely considered a long shot because of the project's risks.

**

One of two audits ordered by Premier Doug Ford’s ministers this week is supposed to settle a long-standing dispute as to the true state of Ontario’s finances.

A second line-by-line budget audit is expected to come with a path back to balanced books by offering up savings or cuts, depending on one’s point of view.

Peter Bethlenfalvy, president of the Treasury Board, said the line-by-line audit will provide an “open, thorough and transparent” look at all the ways the government spends money.

“All provincial programs, including provincial agencies and transfer payment programs are within the scope of the review,” Bethlenfalvy said. “The results of the line-by-line review will be used to develop a responsible plan to achieve efficiencies and deliver results for taxpayers.”

If one is a fat-@$$ who smokes and drinks too much then it is a fairly valid opinion that one's choice of lifestyle is the reason why one is unwell and a burden to taxpayers who at least try to get a walk in every now and then:

A Nova Scotia MLA is apologizing for a social media post that appeared to blame rising health care costs on the “lifestyle choices” of the province’s residents.

Hugh MacKay, who represents Chester-St. Margaret’s for the governing Liberals, said in a Facebook post Sunday that Nova Scotia is plagued by chronic diseases that are “often linked to lifestyle choices.”

“Smoking, over-consumption of alcohol, poor diet, and inactivity all greatly increase the risk of developing heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancer,” he said in the post, which has since been deleted.

“The treatment costs for these oft-preventable diseases is immense and is a source of great frustration for our health care professionals and for your government.”

MacKay urged people to “think about the immense wasted costs in treating the results of our lifestyle choices” before questioning why there isn’t more money for other services.

Don't think about it. Do it:

President Donald Trump is considering revoking the security clearances of six former top national security officials who have been critical of his administration, a move that opponents and experts say would be an unprecedented politicization of the clearance process.

(Paws up)

For A Friday

Dun-dun-dun-dun ...

Every premier meeting in New Brunswick should join Ontario and Saskatchewan in opposition against the centralised push for a carbon tax:

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe are expected to push their opposition to Ottawa’s carbon pricing policy as Canada’s First Ministers officially open two days of meetings in New Brunswick today. ...

They are expected to issue a joint statement on carbon pricing just prior to the opening of two days of formal meetings by the Council of the Federation — an alliance of premiers that sets the agenda for the provinces in Ottawa.

Ford’s newly-elected government is scrapping the province’s cap-and-trade program, while Saskatchewan has mounted a legal challenge against the federal carbon price.

A federally imposed carbon price would start at $20 per tonne and increase to a level of $50 a tonne by 2022.

Also on the agenda,  removing limits on inter-provincial transportation of alcohol for personal use:

Meanwhile, New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant issued a written response to all premiers in support of a letter issued last week by Manitoba’s Brian Pallister which called for provinces to remove limits on the interprovincial transportation of alcohol for personal use.

“Canadians will expect movement on this issue and I can say unequivocally that New Brunswick is prepared to take significant action to move us in that direction,” Gallant wrote.

The stance is an apparent about face for New Brunswick, which won a court battle in April against Gerald Comeau, who had fought to transport alcohol across the provincial border with Quebec.

Indeed, why would Premier Gallant now support Premier Pallister's motion?

Election?

This:

AIMS' polling on the Comeau case shows that Atlantic Canadians are dissatisfied with the status quo and are tired of the costly pricing imposed by provincial liquor monopolies.

There is Gallant's motivation.




Former prime minister Stephen Harper posits that Justin instigated the trade war between Canada and the US for personal gain. It is more likely, however, that Justin simply screwed up (as he always does) and is using the fallout for a political advantage:

Earlier this month, former prime minister Stephen Harper made a damning allegation about the Trudeau government’s NAFTA negotiations: They are resisting making a deal to score partisan advantage by standing up to an unpopular U.S. president.

"The reality is that the Government of Canada believes today that it is doing very well, the fight with Trump is good for it politically, it is winning," Harper says in an audio recording obtained by CTV News.

"So if it can take that fight and continue it, and more importantly paint conservatives as linked to Donald Trump, this is great for them. And so right now that is the strategy they are on," Harper said in the recording of his remarks at a private luncheon hosted by the Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum in Montreal on July 11.

Justin responds:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is rebutting claims made by former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper that the Liberal government is dragging out the NAFTA negotiations for political gains.

"I think I've been very clear for a long time now that the issue of trade with the United States and our relationship with the United States is far too important to play partisan politics with," the Liberal Party leader said during a stop in Markham, Ont., Friday.

Well, Justin, about that: 

In Trump’s mind, the decision to waive the sunset clause had been a generous act of reconciliation. Yet Trudeau publicly denigrated him just to score political points with Canadians.

Trump was livid. He found it duplicitous and humiliating. Indeed, Kudlow claims Trump was even fretting that it made him look weak just as he was going to negotiate with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.

So, Trump’s team is not arguing that Trudeau said something new or different at the press conference. Their claim is that at the bilateral meeting everyone agreed to move on, but that Trudeau then cheated on the agreement. This was the trigger for Trump’s tweets.

And then there is this:

Pollster Mike Colledge, president of Ipsos Canada public affairs, explained the uptick in approval has to do with the timing — Canadians are rallying around Trudeau after public disagreements with U.S. President Donald Trump.

There is nothing like knee-jerk anti-Americanism to distract the ovine masses from total stupidity and sexual harassment, eh, Justin?

Who is being divisive and partisan now, Groper?




Why? No ruddy idea:

It may not be the most pressing issue to come out of the cabinet shuffle but honestly, why does Melanie Joly still have a job?

Joly was a disaster as Minister of Canadian Heritage. Canada 150 on the Hill, her fault. Spending $8 million on a skating rink, her fault. She was a disaster on every file she touched.

Trudeau knew this but he has to keep a gender balanced cabinet and was adding more men so he invented a job for her. He also needs Quebec cabinet members but surely there are women and men that could do a better job?

With the demotion, Joly goes from running a major ministry to being the minister in charge of tourism, official languages and La Francophonie.

How could this go wrong?

Canada's border agency is set to announce changes aimed at releasing more refugee claimants and other foreign nationals safely into the community while their immigration status is being resolved.

An expanded framework for alternatives to detention will provide "risk-based, nationally consistent programming" for individuals deemed suitable for release, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). ...

According to CBSA spokesman Barre Campell, in addition to release on reporting conditions, a cash deposit or a bondsperson, the expanded framework will include:

• A community case management and supervision program that will align in-community support services with individuals' needs to mitigate any risk factors.
• A voice reporting system available across the country that will allow people to comply with reporting conditions by using voice biometrics to report to the CBSA at a designated time.
• Expanded electronic supervision tools such as the use of GPS electronic monitoring on a pilot basis.

And:

A CBSA spokesperson said it provides sandwiches, juice boxes, granola bars and frozen meals when the time to process an asylum seeker is "extensive." The agency has a number of options on the menu, including vegetarian selections.

The Canada Border Services Agency has been making sure religious dietary concerns are respected and has been keeping frozen dinners stocked up, according to documents CBC News obtained under the Access to Information Act.

Those meals have come at a high cost. In the 2017-18 fiscal year, approximately $770,500 was spent on food and drinks given to asylum seekers who walked into Canada.

Most recent numbers from the federal government show 10,744 asylum seekers have been apprehended by the RCMP for crossing between points of entry in the first six months of this year.

And they are still illegal:

Interestingly, in the joint statement by Ford, Couillard, and Pallister, the reference is made to “non-point of entry border crossers.”

Meanwhile, in a statement made by Premier Ford only, there is a reference to “illegal border crossers.”

The contrast between Ford’s tweet/statement, and the joint statement with Pallister and Couillard shows that behind the scenes, the Quebec Premier and the Manitoba Premier’s PR people didn’t want to say “illegal border crossers.”

This leaves Ford as one of the only politicians in Canada – along with many Conservative MPs – willing to actually call the crossings what they are: Illegal.

It's called grooming:

“I know that if a student shows up in class some day with a particularly troubling story about something and it’s an opportunity for a teacher to talk about consent, that teacher is not going to say ‘I would talk to you about this but it’s not in the 1998 curriculum,”‘ she said. “Teachers are going to take care of their kids while still recognizing that that’s not in the curriculum. That is a significant challenge.”

You can't form a majority by being a nagging, lying b!#ch, Andrea:

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is demanding a Doug Ford cabinet minister apologize for the “racist” comment that he wore a bulletproof vest on a ride along with police in the Jane-Finch community.

“He used awful stereotypes to describe that community, and he made comments that were deeply offensive to many people,” Horwath said in the Ontario legislature Thursday. “You don’t build trust with racist slurs.”

Horwath later walked back her “racist slur” statement but still maintained that Community Safety Minister Michael Tibollo’s comment had been inappropriate.

“Will the minister apologize to racialized Ontarians for his racist remarks?” she said. ...

A Toronto Police spokesman said officers do a safety evaluation when bringing a civilian along, and usually err on the side of caution when determining whether a bulletproof vest should be offered.

Tibollo said the police made it a condition of his ride along.

“I put it on because I wouldn’t be able to go if I didn’t have it on. I put it on, I signed the waiver, and we went out,” Tibollo said. “Now, if it had been earlier in the evening, perhaps it would have been a different situation, but I was out until past 1 a.m., and I specifically asked to go into crack houses.”

I'll say. The b@$#@rd looked at his watch while waiting for his crippled daughter, who couldn't fight back or escape as she was being gassed to death, to die:

News came out last week that Latimer, the Saskatchewan farmer convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his daughter Tracy, is asking for a pardon.

Latimer’s request reopens the wounds of that fall morning in 1993. While the rest of the family was at church, Latimer placed Tracy in his truck and hooked up a gas line to end her life, and then carried her back to her bed.

It puts the lives of thousands of people with disabilities in jeopardy, and sadly asks the blunt question: are we considered equal citizens?

You might notice I wrote the word ‘we.’ That’s because I live with cerebral palsy, the same disability Tracy had. There are different degrees of cerebral palsy, which is typically caused due to lack of oxygen at birth. In Tracy’s case, the heart monitor was broken when she was born, Nov. 23. 1980, which didn’t alert doctors to the fact her oxygen supply was cut off.

But, she lived. And even if she had mobility issues, Tracy was first and foremost a daughter who deserved unconditional love. She also deserved to reach her full potential — and whatever that was needed to be celebrated. Tracy would have been 37 today and we will never, sadly, know what accomplishments she could have achieved.

So, now we have a man, convicted of second-degree murder and who has served subsequent jail time, asking for a pardon for what he did.

If our courts grant him this most unreasonable request, it will put every Canadian with a disability in grave danger — not from Latimer, but from the profoundly disturbing precedent it will set.

 
No one was pardoned at Nuremburg for killing the disabled, Bob.





No one will know his motivation ... or so I am told:

A man armed with a kitchen knife attacked passengers Friday on a crowded city bus in northern Germany before being overpowered and arrested, authorities said. Ten people were injured, three of them seriously.

Authorities had no immediate information on the assailant’s motive for the afternoon attack on a city bus in Luebeck, near the Baltic coast northeast of Hamburg, but said they had no indication that he was politically radicalized or had any terrorist background.

Investigators found a flammable substance in a backpack aboard the bus, but no explosives.

This is how you punish China and North Korea:

A key House Republican is planning legislation imposing new sanctions on major Chinese banks and other entities that help North Korea circumvent international sanctions.

“How do you hold Russia and China accountable?” Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., who chairs the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee for the Asia-Pacific, told the Washington Examiner. “That's really where the fight is going to be on bringing North Korea to the table.”

The Florida Republican met Friday with State Department officials, after an initial move Thursday to coordinate his effort with the House Financial Services Committee. It’s an effort to stiffen the implementation of sanctions in one area where some North Korea hawks believe the administration’s pressure campaign has been soft.

“We're either serious about bringing this to an end or we're going to repeat the mistakes of the last three administrations,” Yoho said.

North Korea, often with China's or others' aid, avoids sanctions:

A Singaporean company director was charged in court on Thursday (July 19) with supplying luxury goods worth about $6 million to North Korea and cheating banks of more than US$95million (about S$130million).

Ng Kheng Wah, 55, the director of two Singapore-registered general wholesale trade companies - T Specialist International and OCN (Singapore) - is accused of 80 counts of offences under the United Nations Act and 81 cheating charges.

T Specialist International also faces 80 charges under the United Nations Act. In addition, it is accused of eight counts of dealing with the benefits of criminal activities.

The United Nations has placed sanctions on North Korea since 2006, making it illegal to sell, among other things, luxury items to the country.

Singapore has also banned the sale of these items to North Korea for several years.

**

North Korea is the global capital of modern-day slavery, according to a new study. Home to some 2.6 million forced laborers, the secretive nation has the highest prevalence of slavery in any nation.

The 2018 Global Slavery Index said there are around 40.3 million adult and child slaves across the globe, while over the past five years an estimated 89 million people have experienced some form of slavery ranging from a few days to many years. Of those currently enslaved, around 70 percent are women.

The report, published by the Walk Free Foundation, interviewed 71,000 people from 48 countries in the course of its research. It found North Korea to be the worst per capita offender, with one in every 10 citizens in modern slavery. The findings were so shocking that the organization created a dedicated project analyzing forced labor in the hermit state.

Not mentioned by Trump in Singapore.




(Paws up and kamsahamnida)