Mid-Week Post

 Your mid-week interlude ...




The scandal that just won't die:

Jody Wilson-Raybould has submitted a written statement, emails and text messages related to the SNC-Lavalin matter to the Commons justice committee, but the material is not expected to be made public until late Friday.

The documents must be translated and scrubbed of personal information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, before they can be released.

The former justice minister and attorney general testified before the committee for nearly four hours on Feb. 27 about her allegation that senior government figures inappropriately pressured her to intervene in SNC-Lavalin's bribery case. Last week, the Liberal MPs who hold the majority on the committee voted to close down the inquiry without recalling Wilson-Raybould to testify a second time in response to other witnesses.

In a letter to the justice committee chair, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, Wilson-Raybould said she would offer the committee "relevant facts and evidence in my possession that further clarify statements I made and elucidate the accuracy and nature of statements by witnesses in testimony that came after my committee appearance."

Meanwhile, Conservative Deputy Leader Lisa Raitt asked the federal judicial affairs commissioner today to investigate leaks of information about the most recent Supreme Court appointment. Media reports this week said tensions between Wilson-Raybould and Trudeau began to flare when the two were at odds over the appointment.

This appointment: 

Former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould is condemning leaks to media outlets this week about deliberations in 2017 to appoint a new Supreme Court of Canada justice, and she says the government should consider an investigation into who leaked the information.

“I strongly condemn anyone who would speak about or provide information on such sensitive matters,” she said. “This has to stop and given the seriousness of this matter I feel that there should be consideration of having some sort of investigation as to the source of this information.”

Justin is hoping that Canadians' irrational fear of social conservatism (oh no! personal responsibility!) will be an adequate deflection from the SNC-Lavalin scandal from which he cannot escape.

How did confidential documents magically become fodder in the public domain?




The Canadian lawyer system is using Trump's comments on Huawei as a part of its deliberations on whether to extradite Meng Wanzhou or not:

U.S. President Donald Trump's comment about his willingness to intervene in the court case against a Huawei executive was part of the Canadian Justice Department's legal analysis of the extradition case against Meng Wanzhou. 

The analysis, under the heading 'President Trump's statement to Reuters that he may intervene in the extradition,' is part of a legal synopsis for the Department of Justice obtained by CBC News through an access to information request.

If the lawyer system does not extradite Meng to the US, it will mean retaliation from the Americans (and who needs that now?). China has made it abundantly clear that it believes that it owns Canada and has certain expectations.

It is time to cut off trade with China:

China continues to attack Canada’s Canola sector, in what is an obviously transparent move based on the Meng Wanzhou detainment.

The latest attack from China has been cancelling Glencore’s canola export permit.

And this is why Canada must start to decouple ourselves economically from China, and shift towards other countries, along with strengthening inter-provincial trade.

Trade with China is still a small part of our overall global trade, so we can decouple from them without doing significant economic damage.



It could also be done slowly, by ramping up tariffs on products from China, while seeking trade deals with nations that are more aligned with our values, such as India, where a young population, large democracy, and strong long-term growth prospects creates tremendous opportunity.

Also:

The former head of Interpol, a Chinese bureaucrat at the missing persons’ bureau who himself went missing in China, has been stripped of all his positions and expelled from the Communist Party, the party watchdog said Wednesday.

Meng Hongwei, who is 65, had committed serious violations of law and discipline, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said, accusing him of taking bribes and abusing his power to “willfully squander national assets to give his family a luxurious life.”

He had “disregarded the principles of being a party member” and had “seriously tarnished the image of the party and seriously harmed the interests of the state,” the commission continued. It said it had referred Meng’s case for prosecution.

Meng was a member of the party’s powerful central committee and a vice-minister for public security who had become the first Chinese president of Interpol in 2016, part of Beijing’s efforts to garner greater influence in international bodies.

But when he returned to China on a visit in September last year, he vanished. He apparently anticipated trouble, sending his wife a message to “wait for my call,” accompanied by a knife emoji.

I'm surprised he hasn't been taken out back and shot.





This case gets curiouser and curiouser:

A revolutionary group that infiltrated North Korea’s Embassy in Madrid last month, tied up staffers and escaped with computers and other items claimed responsibility for the raid Tuesday in a statement on its website.

The group, Free Joseon, which calls for the overthrow of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said it shared information it obtained with the FBI and characterized it as having “enormous potential value.”

“This information was shared voluntarily and on their request, not our own,” said the group, referring to its meeting with the FBI.

**

A Spanish judge has issued international arrest warrants for two of the intruders accused of forcing their way into North Korea’s embassy in Madrid last month and are currently believed to be in the United States, a judicial source said on Wednesday. 

Also:

North Korea's embassy in the UK was alleged to have stolen a computer with a key cryptographic program when North Korea was an invasion of the consulate in Spain last month. In recent years, North Korea has analyzed that it was not possible to direct a secret telegram by the ㆍ of its domestic ambassador, such as Russia. 

(Kamsahamnida)





Joshua Boyle is batsh-- crazy.

But don't take my word for it:

Coleman described a tumultuous relationship marked by fights and reconciliations before the couple went on a trip to Central Asia. About a week after they entered Afghanistan, they were captured by a Taliban-linked network and held for five years.

Coleman testified Wednesday that Boyle beat, choked and threatened to kill her in the later years of their captivity. The couple had three children before they were freed and returned to Canada.

Coleman testified that Boyle started “treating me better” when they returned to Canada, but that changed after they left his parents’ place in Smiths Falls, Ont.  She described an incident in November 2017 where Boyle allegedly forced her to take sleeping pills. 

On Tuesday, court heard a recording of a 911 call Boyle made in December 2017 to say that his wife was threatening to kill herself.

Ottawa police Sgt. Shane Henderson, who responded to the 911 call, testified about his interactions with the couple on that night. When he eventually found Coleman at a hotel where her mother was staying, she told him she was not suicidal, he told the court on Tuesday.

**

It led to a meeting in August 2009 in Toronto with Boyle and his new wife. After that lunch, Boyle walked with her back to her hotel, Coleman said, and spilled out his feelings.

He said his marriage to Khadr was a sham: that it had been staged for the media, Coleman said, to improve the family’s image.

“Essentially, he wanted to marry me. I was the love of his life. He wasn’t going to have a family with Zaynab.”

(Sidebar: it always goes back to those guys.)






It's just money that is not going to tax-paying citizens or those damn greedy veterans:

Canada's refugee health program is getting a $283 million boost over the next two years.

Immigration officials say the funding increase — contained in last week's federal budget —  is needed because more people are making refugee claims.

"Ensuring that the most vulnerable people in our society have access to basic health care is part of Canada's valued humanitarian tradition, and helps protect public health for all Canadians," Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen said in a statement.

(Sidebar: Ahmed Hussen is a sack of sh-- who has zero problems with FGM.)

**

Donald Trump had repeatedly cited Canada as one of the deadbeat members of NATO that refuses to fund its military at two per cent of its GDP — despite having promised to do so and notwithstanding that we have done so in the past. With Budget 2019, Canada is no closer to meeting that pledge, spending 1.23 per cent of its GDP on national defence.

Because f--- you. No one should be this:

City councillors in Richmond Hill, Ont., rejected a motion to begin their meetings with an acknowledgment of the area's Indigenous community and history.

The decision was made after a lengthy Monday night council meeting that featured dozens of impassioned speeches and letters from citizens in favour of the proposal.

"It was a blatant, strategic, political quashing of a legitimate motion," said resident Joel Clements, who spoke at the meeting.

Following the decision, some attendees shouted "shame" at councillors who did not support the proposal.

Marj Andre, who implored council to adopt the land acknowledgement, said she left the meeting in anger and disbelief.

"Richmond Hill has been shamed," she told CBC News. "The message it sends to the community — I'm embarrassed."

The message it sends is that grovelling is a total pantload and a waste of time.

Deal with your white liberal shame in your own way. 




This is why people home-school:

Grade 8 students in classrooms across Nova Scotia are being taught about transgender issues using a school book that is littered with unscientific propaganda.

Listening to Quebec Premier Francois Legault argue for a dying province against sectarian balkanisation is like watching a man argue with a crocodile. He believes he can win without any means to defend himself:

Premier Francois Legault invoked Quebecers' values, language and distinctiveness Tuesday to justify shielding from court challenge upcoming legislation that will restrict the wearing of religious symbols .

Legault said the notwithstanding clause — Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — has been used "dozens of times by many Quebec premiers" with the purpose of protecting collective rights against individual freedoms.

It is "important," he said, to use Section 33 "when we are talking about protecting our values, our language, protecting what makes us different here in Quebec."

And now, the Saskatchewanus Rex:

No big deal or anything, but Canada, the world’s largest T. rex was discovered in Saskatchewan. Yep, you read that right: Saskatchewan!

The behemoth weighed a whopping 19,500 pounds, according to National Geographic, and was found near Eastend, about 380 km southwest from Regina.

Nicknamed “Scotty,” the dinosaur is much bigger and older than what paleontologists previously believed the species could grow. Of all recovered T. rex skeletons, Scotty is the most mature.

Until Scotty’s discovery, Sue was the largest T. rex. Researchers estimated Sue weighed about 800 pounds less than Scotty.

Sue still is the most complete fossil, with around 90 per cent of her bones unearthed in 1990 in South Dakota. Researchers could only recover about 65 per cent of Scotty’s skeleton, but that’s still a substantial amount, the study’s lead researcher said.