For a Monday

Starting the work-week off right ...



It's on! :

Doug Ford has announced he’ll be running for leader of Ontario’s PC party. ...

Ford said he was throwing his hat in the ring to save the party from what he called political “elites.”

“The elites of this party, the ones who shut out the grassroots, do not want me in this race,” he said.

“I’m here to give a voice … to the hardworking taxpayers of this province, people who have been ignored for far too long. This is truly a critical moment for our party, for our people and for the future of our province.”

Don't feel badly about things, children with cerebral palsy. Kathleen Wynne doesn't like children with autism, either:

Everybody is doing their bit so Cruz Dillon, 3, and Cameron Imrie, 9, can walk.

Friends, family, schoolmates, strangers, even the Ultimate Leafs Fan, have raised thousands of dollars toward surgery costs. They’ve held hockey and golf tourneys, dinners, coin drives, yard sales, pub nights, raffles, GoFundMe pages and a cupcake crusade.

“We’ve even looked at selling our house,” says Cameron’s mom, Melanie, a Toronto marine unit constable.

“You do anything and everything to make your kid’s life better.”

Wee Madison “Madi” Ambos, 4, a poster child for cerebral palsy, set up a table at her family’s last yard sale – and raised $300 hawking toys, stickers and knickknacks for Cruz.

Yes, everyone is happily chipping in for life-changing surgery for Cam and Cruz.

Except the Wynne government. ...

You may remember Madi. OHIP denied her coverage for a procedure called selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) at a St. Louis hospital.

At least it did so until Madi smiled from the front page of the Toronto Sun and someone in Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government said, “Hey, this makes us look bad.”

So Madi got OHIP — and a new life.

“She’s a totally different kid,” her mom, Katherine, tells me. I wrote before Christmas about how Madi took her first unaided steps. The pain shadows are gone from her eyes.


SDR, pioneered by Missouri neurosurgeon Dr. T.S. Park, rewires nerves in the spine to relieve the relentless, crippling spasticity of cerebral palsy. With physio, kids can kiss their walkers and wheelchairs goodbye. ...

Seems a no-brainer for OHIP coverage, right?

Not in Kathleen Wynne’s Ontario. A few kids did get some coverage for the St. Louis procedure after Madi, but then the the door slammed shut.

Why? Because in the wake of the Madi Moment, Premier Wynne’s health ministry announced last month it will offer a version of Park’s procedure at Sick Kids this year.

Sounds great, eh? But wait.

The program will help just 10 kids a year, while hundreds wait. One in 500 children in Ontario has cerebral palsy. Dr. Park’s clinic, meanwhile, has performed 4,000 SDR surgeries.

Worse, only kids ages four to eight need apply to the Sick Kids program — so Cam (too old) and Cruz (too young) and countless others are barred.

Who doesn't want to legalise crystal meth?

The war on drugs may move to a new battlefield in Canada, if Liberal MPs get their way: the 2019 federal election campaign.

They’re pushing the Trudeau government to go much further than legalizing recreational marijuana. In a priority resolution they hope will be adopted at the Liberals’ policy convention in April for inclusion in the next election platform, the national caucus is calling on the government to eliminate criminal penalties for simple possession and consumption of all illicit drugs.

How could this go wrong?


Also - God help us all:

Liberals have said they expect a recreational marijuana market to be operational by Canada Day this year, but whether that date is realistic depends on the upper chamber. The Senate resumes sitting this Tuesday with the framework for legal weed having just begun second-reading debate. A bill amending impaired driving laws is being studied in committee, with two Liberal ministers appearing as witnesses this week. Even as provinces scramble to legislate ahead of July and draft regulations are reviewed, not all senators will be wed to the government’s ideal timeline — many have already said that they won’t be pressured into rushing the process.

If Trump cancels NAFTA, it should send a clear signal to each province and territory that it can't rely on Ottawa:

U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade chief on Monday dismissed Canadian proposals for unblocking NAFTA modernization talks but pledged to stay at the table, easing concerns about a potentially imminent U.S. withdrawal from the trilateral pact.  ...

Heading into Montreal last week, some officials had feared the United States might be prepared to pull the plug on the pact amid frustration over slow progress. 

The mood lightened after Canada presented a series of suggested compromises to address U.S. demands for reform. 

But Lighthizer criticized Canadian proposals to meet U.S. demands for higher North American content in autos, saying it would in fact reduce regional autos jobs and allow more Chinese-made parts into vehicles made in the region. 

He also dismissed a suggestion on settling disputes between investors and member states as “unacceptable” and “a poison pill” and said a recent Canadian challenge against U.S. trade practices at the World Trade organization “constitutes a massive attack on all of our trade laws.”

Budgets don't balance themselves and one-sided trade agreements that benefit China more than Canada don't sway the Americans.



Speaking of the Chinese:

After it was revealed to be false, he refused to apologize, particularly to the many Canadians from an Asian background who are outraged at what took place.

As a result of this growing anger, there are protests taking place across Canada yesterday, today, and tomorrow in Montreal, Toronto, London, Regina, and Edmonton.

The lack of media coverage has been notable, and shows the complicity of much of the corrupt establishment elites in covering up for Justin Trudeau and refusing to share the truth with Canadians – leading many people to wonder what else is being hidden from the people of our nation.

What do they have to do to get some respect around here, Justin? Contribute to your dad's foundation?

Also - Canada's back ... and it's for sale! :

BNN cited billionaire investor Mr Stephen Jarislowsky as saying that he doesn't support the sale of Canadian construction company Aecon Group to a Chinese state-owned firm, warning that the takeover could lead to issues since China "is without the rule of law." Mr Jarislowsky, the founder of Montreal-based investment firm Jarislowsky Fraser, told BNN in an interview on Monday that China shouldn’t be managing Canadian assets due to its international track record.

Mr Jarislowsky said that “I would be against [the Aecon takeover] for political reasons as much as other reasons, because I do believe that China is without rule of law. I do not believe that I would want our assets to be managed by companies without rule of law. But that’s probably not a consideration.”

Aecon shareholders voted more than 99 per cent in-favour of the proposed USD 1.5 billion takeover from Chinese state-owned CCCC International Holding on Dec. 19, setting the stage for a final review under the Investment Canada Act.

The sale of Aecon – which was responsible for building Canadian landmarks including the CN Tower and Vancouver’s SkyTrain – must now get government approval on whether the deal is in Canada’s best interests.

Prime Minister Mr Justin Trudeau told reporters in Burlington, Ont. in October that the deal “will be examined very carefully by the Investment Canada Act to ensure that safety and security is not being compromised and ensure that it is in the net benefit of Canadians.”

Ahem:

Ok, then. Which country’s government does the “future prime minister” most admire?

Answer: “You know, there’s a level of of admiration I actually have for China ….

Wait a minute. China? He was not asked which country he liked a bit, or was doing a decent job — but “which nation’s administration he most admired.”

So here’s the whole answer:

” You know,  there’s a level of of admiration I actually have for China because their basic dictatorship is allowing them to actually turn their economy around on a dime and say ‘we need to go green  fastest…we need to start investing in solar.’ I mean there is a flexibility that I know Stephen Harper must dream about of having a dictatorship that he can do everything he wanted that I find quite interesting.

And:

After winning the Saskatchewan Party leadership race, Scott Moe pledged to stand up for his province and oppose the Trudeau carbon tax as Premier.

Moe said he would oppose “a federal carbon tax that threatens the livelihood of every farmer, every miner, every worker in the energy sector.”

He added, “I will fight for this province, I will fight for our economy to ensure that we do not have a carbon tax.”

Then, he directly addressed Trudeau:

“And Justin Trudeau, if you were wondering how far I would go, just watch me.”

Some people just don't take criticism well:

North Korea has canceled a joint cultural performance with South Korea scheduled for Feb. 4 blaming South Korean media for encouraging “insulting” public sentiment regarding the North, South Korea’s unification ministry said on Monday.  

The North said it had no choice but to call off the performance, which was to be held in the North Korean territory of Mount Kumgang, as South Korean media continued to insult what Pyongyang called “sincere” measures regarding the Winter Olympics Seoul will host next month, the ministry said.

Well, you did invade the south in 1950 and all that other stuff, so ...