Saturday Post

A lot going on ...




The scandal that just won't die:

Long-time Liberal MP Judy Sgro is calling out fellow caucus members Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott, accusing them of targeting their anger and frustration directly at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the SNC-Lavalin scandal.

This Judy Sgro:

Embattled Immigration Minister Judy Sgro is fending off demands by opposition MPs to step aside while the ethics commissioner investigates allegations that her office helped a campaign volunteer get on the immigration fast track. 

The volunteer, an exotic dancer from Romania, was given a temporary resident permit three days before the June 28 election. 

The permit allows Alina Balaican, 25, to remain in Canada for another two years and apply for permanent resident status. ...

Sgro has cited "humanitarian factors" in approving the permit, but also says she can't remember Balaican.
 

Never mind that Jody still has more evidence to support her assertions and that Justin's claim of saving a handful of jobs (SEE: Alberta, oil sector, lost jobs, not Quebec) has since been debunked.


It's like the Liberals can't help themselves when they open their mouths about this subject.




Who was it again who was willing to work with you on the economy?:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau are out selling their pre-election budget to the country — but they're also using the opportunity to blast Ontario's Ford government as obstructionist and committed to faulty economic logic.

At a Thursday funding announcement in Mississauga, Ont., Trudeau directly called out the government of Premier Doug Ford for what he called its sluggish response to an offer of federal infrastructure funding.

"That's not fair. Here in Ontario it's been over a year since we signed an agreement with the fund, with the province, for more than $11 billion in federal funding and we still haven't received a single project for approval," the prime minister said.

"This province and a couple of others have been unwilling to move forward in partnership with the federal government on infrastructure investments."

The criticism comes after Ontario's Finance Minister Vic Fedeli blasted the federal budget released Tuesday as fiscally irresponsible.

"This certainly was an election budget ... with endless deficits," Fedeli said.

Ford's Progressive Conservatives are set to table their first budget on April 11, and early indications are that the provincial government will chart a path back to balanced books.

(Sidebar: this economy.)

When you can't blame Harper, blame the next best thing, eh, Justin?

A judge in British Columbia has ordered the RCMP to give accused Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, the content on all of her devices:

A judge has ordered the RCMP to provide copies of the content on seven electronic devices to an executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies after they were seized at Vancouver’s airport during her arrest.

Justice Heather Holmes of the British Columbia Supreme Court said in an order issued after a brief hearing Friday that the RCMP must make copies for Meng Wanzhou of data on an iPhone, an iPad, a Macbook Air, a Huawei phone, two SIM cards and a flash drive.

Holmes said a representative of the Mounties must forward the electronics to an examiner of the force’s technical crime unit within three days so content can be extracted onto devices provided by Meng.

She ordered the devices be unsealed under the supervision of one of Meng’s defence lawyers, who Holmes called a “referee” in her written order, adding the lawyer would supervise the examiner’s work and be provided with a copy of the information as well as a list of files for his client.

The examiner must then reseal the seized devices and seal two copies of the data transferred for the RCMP on devices it has provided, one as a backup, Holmes said.

She ordered the RCMP to keep the copies and a list of files in a secure exhibit locker until they are provided to the court, along with the seized electronics.

“The seized devices and the RCMP copy and the RCMP backup shall not otherwise be unsealed or accessed without a further order of this court,” Holmes said in her written order.

The truck driver who killed sixteen people in Saskatchewan has been sentenced to eight years in prison:

A truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos bus crash was sentenced Friday to eight years in prison by a judge who said she believed his remorse was sincere, but she had to consider the serious consequences for so many people.

Tears began to flow almost as soon as Judge Inez Cardinal began her decision and continued afterwards as families sombrely gathered outside court.

Jaskirat Singh Sidhu of Calgary had pleaded guilty in January to 29 counts of dangerous driving for killing 16 people and injuring 13 others on the junior hockey team's bus.

The 30-year-old stood quietly and looked at the judge as he was sentenced. His punishment includes a 10-year driving ban. He also faces deportation to his home country of India after he serves time.

Though not pursuing further sanctions against North Korea, Trump is putting sanctions on two Chinese companies that helped North Korea evade sanctions:

The Treasury action was the first taken since the second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un in Hanoi. A few hours after the Treasury announcement, North Korea withdrew from a joint liaison office with South Korea that was established in September.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Dalian Haibo International Freight Company Ltd. and Liaoning Danxing International Forwarding Company Ltd. for doing business with banned North Korean companies and employing “deceptive practices” that allowed Pyongyang to purchase goods in defiance of sanctions.

One of those deceptive practices involves covert ship-to-ship transfers, in which North Korean ships link up with foreign vessels at sea and trade banned coal and metal for prohibited goods. OFAC updated its shipping advisory on Thursday to list dozens of individual vessels believed to have engaged in illegal ship-to-ship transfers and provided a map showing the areas where these illicit transfers commonly take place.

OFAC also highlighted the ports often visited after cargo was illegally transferred at sea. Some of these ports are located in Taiwan, South Korea, and Russia.

Also:

North Korea abruptly withdrew its staff from a liaison office with South Korea on Friday, a development that is likely to put a damper on ties between the countries and further complicate global diplomacy on North Korea's nuclear program.

The North Korean action came a week after its vice foreign minister threatened to pull out of nuclear negotiations with the United States, citing a lack of U.S. steps to match disarmament measures it took last year. Her warning followed a U.S.-North Korea summit in February that collapsed due to disputes over U.S.-led sanctions on the North.

North Korea informed South Korean officials of its decision during a meeting Friday at the liaison office in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, Seoul's Unification Ministry said.

North Korea said it was withdrawing its staff under instructions from unspecified "higher-level authorities," according to a Unification Ministry statement. It didn't say whether the withdrawal would be temporary or permanent.