An Apres-Cinco de Mayo Post

Too much celebrating ...




Oh, dear ... :

The plane that burst into flames while making an emergency landing at a Moscow airport, killing 41 of the 78 people on board, was without radio communications because of a lightning strike, Russian news media on Monday quoted the pilot as saying.

A flight attendant said there was a sharp flash soon after takeoff Sunday evening from Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport as the plane headed to Murmansk.

Some of the 37 survivors were seen on video carrying hand luggage as they plunged down an inflatable slide from the plane’s forward section, raising questions about whether grabbing their baggage might have impeded an evacuation in which every second could separate life from death.

Shell until there is nothing left or this will simply continue:

Gaza militants fired hundreds of rockets into southern Israel on Sunday, killing at least four Israelis and bringing life to a standstill across the region in the bloodiest fighting since a 2014 war. As Israel pounded Gaza with airstrikes, the Palestinian death toll rose to 23, including two pregnant women and two babies.

The bloodshed marked the first Israeli fatalities from rocket fire since the 2014 war. With Palestinian militants threatening to send rockets deeper into Israel and Israeli reinforcements massing near the Gaza frontier, the fighting showed no signs of slowing down.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent most of the day huddled with his Security Cabinet. 

Late Sunday, the Cabinet instructed the army to "continue its attacks and to stand by" for further orders. Israel also claimed to have killed a Hamas commander involved in transferring Iranian funds to the group.

If I were Trump, I believe my response would be - "Go to hell." :

Canada is leaning on the United States to help settle a dispute with China, which has started to block imports of vital Canadian commodities amid a dispute over a detained Huawei executive.

In a sign of increasing frustration at what it sees as a lackluster U.S. response, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is signaling it could withhold cooperation on major issues.

China has upped the pressure on Canada in recent weeks over the arrest of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, arrested last December on a U.S. warrant. It halted Canadian canola imports and last week suspended the permits of two major pork producers.

After Meng's Vancouver arrest, Chinese police also detained two Canadian citizens.

Beijing is refusing to allow a Canadian trade delegation to visit, forcing officials to use video conference calls as they try to negate a major threat to commodity exports.

With no cards to play against China without risking significant economic damage, Canada has launched a full-court press in Washington, which is negotiating its own trade deal with Beijing.

The results have been meager.

Quelle surprise.

Not only does Justin talk smack about Trump behind his back, he expects the Americans (not the Americans tanking our oil industry, among others) to come in and save Canada.

Way to show leadership there, Justin. Get the Americans to fight your favourite country for you.

What a weakling.

Also:

U.S. President Donald Trump dramatically increased pressure on China to reach a trade deal by announcing on Sunday he would hike U.S. tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods this week and target hundreds of billions more soon.

When all else fails, blame the guy who has been out of office for the past four years:

It turns out, Stephen Harper was more popular at this same point in his tenure as PM than Trudeau is.


As recorded by Angus Reid, Justin Trudeau’s approval rating is at 28%. Trudeau has been in office for about 42 months.

When Harper had been in power for 42 months, he had a 34% approval rating.


In fact, Trudeau’s numbers in the last 10 months have put him below where Harper was at that time.

So, Justin Trudeau is attacking someone who was more popular than he was.


Trudeau’s disapproval rating is also a stunning 67%, far above where Harper’s was at a similar time.

This raises serious doubts about Trudeau’s ‘attack Harper’ strategy, and the fact that all he has left is desperate attacks on his predecessor only goes to show how badly Trudeau has failed.

The scandal that just won't die:

... as University of British Columbia law professor Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, a former judge, told CPAC following Butts’ testimony to the justice committee, “Mr. Butts’ evidence was problematic in terms of the rule of law, because when an attorney general makes a decision, you do not push the attorney general to hire outside legal counsel to tell you how to administer the law … obviously they were pushing her to hire someone else because they didn’t like her opinion.”

Exactly. It’s hard to believe Trudeau and Butts don’t understand this.

Butts destroyed his own credibility.

If he truly believed and acted in the best interests of his friend, Justin, there would be no need to resign.

He was caught pushing Jody and thought that he would fall on his sword to preserve the perch he had been occupying in near secrecy.




The carbon tax is the Liberals' last attempt to line coffers where taxing the middle-class and marijuana failed:

While Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal has sided with Ottawa on the constitutionality of the carbon tax, Jason Kenney says Canadians will soon be weighing in with their ballots.


The fall federal election will be “an opportunity for Canadians to say that they don’t want busy-body politicians telling them how to live their lives and taking more money out of their pockets,” said Kenney, who was sworn in as Alberta’s premier on Tuesday.

**

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the province is going to continue challenging the federal carbon tax through the courts, and that ultimately, Canadians will be called to take a stand either way in the upcoming federal election.

“What we are doing and what we will continue to ensure that we do every day is use every tool in our tool box to actually block this Trudeau a carbon tax that is being imposed on us, because quite simply, it doesn’t work here in Saskatchewan. It doesn’t reduce emissions,” Moe told the Roy Green Show on Saturday.

Wait - people who are not depending on the taxpayers to survive are being kicked out?:

A family from Austria has been ordered out of Canada, and must leave this week, after running afoul of immigration rules.

They hope to be back, but it'll be at least a year before they can return to Cape Breton, where they've sunk their life savings into a home and farm.

Reinhard and Romana Fugger have invested nearly $500,000 after buying and improving a rural property in Grand River, Richmond County, in 2015.

They say a local man, Frank Eckhardt and his company F.E. Property Sales, facilitated the property purchase and promised easy immigration to Canada.

The Fuggers say that help never came.

"We find this property and we think we can do this in an easy way, because we have the information before that it is not hard, maybe easy, to immigrate here," said Reinhard Fugger.

Eckhardt's company website, hosted in Germany and aimed at Europeans, advertises property sales and "new settler consultation."

The Fuggers say they found out after they got here that they paid more than the property was worth.

They paid $160,000 to Eckhardt's lawyer for 4.5 hectares of land with a small summer cottage. The property value was assessed at $82,000 at the time.

Real estate records show that most properties in the area sell for 1.5 times the assessed value, but the Fuggers paid 1.95 times the value.

The couple say they assumed that was because Eckhardt and his lawyer were being paid to help them with immigration.

 
The immigration system is bullsh--.




Cultural Marxism has infiltrated nearly every aspect of Western society. It has has either ignored or attempted to diminish the devastating effects of communism, the failed economic system that forces its victims to embrace the thing that killed them.

That is why it gets a free pass:

This is a country that has gone from a standard of living higher than Canada’s to one that sees people starving due to government policy, opposition politicians arrested and those fighting for basic necessities shot in the streets.

Yet, defenders of communism will tell you that it just hasn’t been done properly yet.

Wrong, communism always ends this way.

From the former Soviet Union to China, Cuba, the East Bloc or today’s Venezuela, each and every time it leads to oppression and violence.

Communism is responsible for the deaths of an estimated 65 million people in China, 20 million in the former Soviet Union, 2 million in Vietnam, 2 million in Cambodia and the list goes on and on.

So last week, when communist flags showed up on the grounds of the Ontario legislature, why did it take me, writing about the flags and the accompanying guillotine to get any stories about it.

Yes, you read that right, people carrying communist flags — the old hammer and sickle variety — showed up at Queen’s Park with a guillotine and no one else reported on it until I did.

Communist thuggery is clearly more chic, I suppose.


Also:

After the Nazis retreated from her town in Soviet Ukraine in 1944, 21-year-old Yelena Markova was convicted of treason and sent to the infamous coal mines of Vorkuta above the Arctic circle. 

Although people were crushed almost every day beneath the one-tonne carts of coal her crew was hauling, Ms Markova survived and after Joseph Stalin's death was cleared of any wrongdoing. So was her father, who had been shot in the great purge of 1937-8. 

But the tragedy that she and 20 million other Gulag prisoners suffered is at risk of being forgotten. Nearly half of Russians aged 18 to 24 have never heard of these repressions, and 70 per cent of the population now views Stalin positively, according to recent polls. 

In response, the Gulag history museum in Moscow has turned the stories of Ms Markova and three other survivors into a graphic novel meant to fight young people's ignorance of this dark chapter of the country's history.

Although the initial print run funded by donations is only 1,000 copies, the museum is in discussions with library and bookstore chains to publish and distribute the Survivors book across Russia. 

A page from the graphic novel. (source)

And now, remembering the Battle of the Atlantic:

Canada's longest military engagement during the Second World War — was remembered at a ceremony in Halifax on Sunday morning.

Hundreds of people in uniform along with members of the public took part in the commemoration at Point Pleasant Park.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of HMCS Athabaskan — a vessel that was torpedoed in the English Channel resulting in the deaths of 128 people.

"It's a lot of memories, a lot of sad memories when you think of all those people who lost their lives, you know, the futility of war," said retired captain Earl Wagner.

Wagner, 95, served in Canada's Merchant Navy during the Second World War. He joined the battle in February, 1941.

(Paws up)

May the Fourth

 

Only two judges dissented from their fellow jurists in yesterday's decision to impose a carbon tax on Saskatchewan:

The broad, sweeping and potentially abusive powers under the federal government’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Act was one major reason for a dissenting opinion from two Saskatchewan Court of Appeal judges.

Judges Ralph Ottenbreit and Neal Caldwell said the act was unconstitutional because it would allow the federal government the power to change the act any way it wanted.

The judges noted that the act contained 430 references to the word “prescribed” — the definition of which was so broad and open-ended that it allowed the federal government enormous scope. ...

Vague wording for a living tax based on fraud.

Further:

They said, “Part 1 grants sweeping legislative law-making power to the executive branch of the federal government to adapt or modify the statute itself, including the power to adapt and modify any provision of Part 1 and to redefine words and expressions already defined in the statute.”

Such power usurped the role of parliament, they said.

“These provisions not only usurp the legislative role of Parliament but create the disturbing potential for an off-the-books widening of the practical and legal scope of the Act and of its effects as and whenever the policies or objectives of the executive branch of the federal government change. The impact on the Provinces of any such future widening is potentially unlimited and is certainly unqualifiable and unquantifiable at this point.”

The judges said the act was not in accordance with the Constitution Act of 1869.

“This is both the heart and the lifeblood of Confederation. The balance of power struck under the Constitution Act, 1867 was critical to the formation of Canada and remains critical to our continued confederation.”

They then referred to a judgment from the Supreme Court of Canada that said, “It is a fundamental principle of federalism that both federal and provincial powers must be respected, and one power may not be used in a manner that effectively eviscerates another. Rather, federalism demands that a balance be struck, a balance that allows both the federal Parliament and the provincial legislatures to act effectively in their respective spheres.” ...

Note how far back the judges went to defend provincial rights and the balance between the provinces and the federal government. As far back as Confederation, the broader implication being that the Charter deliberately veered so far away from the design of Confederation so as to craft Canada in a more tin-pot modern image.

Also:

But the federal government had argued that “national benchmarks” were needed to ensure “optimal policy.”

IE - if all of the provinces don't fall in line, the carbon tax slush fund won't work.


Also:

What the capital-starvation strategy will do is make it more difficult for petroleum producers to produce, if they are located in jurisdictions with open markets. There will be two consequences to this state of affairs. First, there will be global shortages of petroleum since consumers keep consuming, which will drive up the price of petroleum, and will encourage capital inflows (since capital loves strong and growing returns).

The second consequence is that the capital will come from jurisdictions that are not being strangled by orchestrated enviro-campaigns. That is, North America and western Europe may see petroleum-destined capital disappear, but Asia will not, nor will Africa, nor South America. In other words, capital (and production) will come from jurisdictions with lower environmental ambitions than western Europe or Canada or the US.

Will this in any way be good for the environment? Of course not, and it will be bad in multiple ways. The petroleum will continue to be consumed, and it will come from places that are not as environmentally scrutinized as North America or Europe.

China is making moves on the Canadian Arctic:

China's growing involvement and interest in the Arctic could pave the way for a strengthened military presence in the region, including the deployment of submarines to act as deterrents against nuclear attack, the Pentagon said in a report released on Thursday.

The one-page assessment of the potential Chinese threat in the Arctic is included in the Pentagon's annual report to Congress on China's armed forces and comes amid growing interest within the U.S. military to beef up its own operations in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the world.

 
The Arctic, like the budget, will not protect itself.





So I guess summits don't fix this sort of thing:

North Korea fired several unidentified short-range projectiles into the sea off its eastern coast on Saturday, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said, a likely sign of Pyongyang's growing frustration at stalled diplomatic talks with Washington meant to provide coveted sanctions relief in return for nuclear disarmament.

South Korea's military has bolstered its surveillance in case there are additional weapons launches, and South Korean and U.S. authorities are analyzing the details.

If it's confirmed that the North fired banned ballistic missiles, it would be the first such launch since the North's November 2017 test of an intercontinental ballistic missile. That year saw a string of increasingly powerful weapons tests from the North and a belligerent response from President Donald Trump that had many in the region fearing war.

What it means is that Big Aboriginal will take huge swaths of profitable and now occupied land that they have no direct claim to and then will bugger it up:

Four hundred years later, this encounter will take on new relevance in a landmark court case in which two First Nations from Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula, known collectively as the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, are claiming title to a large swath of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. That meeting with Champlain, they will argue, is one piece of evidence that their ancestors controlled access to their territory — including the open water — and that Europeans and other Indigenous peoples could only pass through with their permission.

The Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s claim to Aboriginal title is one of several across the country that include large areas of water, either lakes or ocean coastline. Whether they can be successful is an open question; to date, no Canadian court has ruled on whether Aboriginal title can exist to lands beneath water. The Crown will argue that it cannot, and that navigable waters are open highways for anyone to use.

But the courts may disagree. What it would mean for a First Nation to gain title to a body of water as heavily frequented as Lake Huron is, likewise, not entirely clear. Indigenous leaders are quick to dismiss fears about large swaths of open water suddenly being rendered off-limits to the public, but they do say they want greater control of fisheries and other industries operating in the waters they claim.

Scratch a leftist, find a detestable racist creature every time:

An individual who goes by "Bigalow Black" on Twitter proudly posted a short video clip on April 30 showing several street thugs harassing a group of what looked like Asian tourists.

"Not Around Here Pimp...Ain’t None Of That Make America Great Again Sh*t," wrote Black, who hails from Washington D.C., and Miami, according to his Twitter profile.

The video shows a group of black men surrounding the Asians, grabbing the MAGA hats off their heads, and throwing one of them in the air before stomping on it. ...

"The Asians wearing MAGA hats were not just tourists," Wendy Wright, president of Christian Freedom International, told PJ Media. "They are North Korean defectors and South Koreans who get rice, medicine, and Bibles into North Korea and North Korean defectors out."

If these cap-stomping cretins had any shame, they would feel badly about this and apologise.

But I doubt it.




(Merci)

For a Friday

 A lot happening ...




Unelected judges rule that a tax based on fraud is constitutional:

A split Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled the federal government does have the constitutional power to implement a carbon tax in provinces that don’t meet Ottawa’s minimum price.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said the province will appeal a decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

In a 3-2 decision, the court said the carbon tax falls within the legislative authority of Parliament.

Chief Justice Robert Richards wrote in the 155-page decision that establishing minimum national standards for a price on greenhouse gas emissions falls under federal jurisdiction.

He wrote Ottawa has the power to impose its carbon tax under a section of the Constitution that states Parliament can pass laws in the name of peace, order and good government.

Two of the five Appeal Court justices differed in their opinion and ruled the federal government’s actions are not a valid use of that section of the Constitution.

So a centralised government can enforce a tax that can bankrupt a province?

Good to know.

Now, will Saskatchewan separate?

It should.

Remaining in a plutocratic banana republic isn't worth it.


Also:

Conflicts of claim are more difficult because they involve disputes over “sharing the wealth” (as opposed to building wealth together). These arise when a smaller, richer region is called on to transfer wealth to larger, poorer regions within a federation. The obvious example is the way that Alberta and other resource-rich parts of the West have been made to subsidize the rest of Canada through equalization, tax and numerous other net contributions to the federal system.

And:

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney visited Ontario on his fourth day on the job to meet with Premier Doug Ford and discuss their mutual opposition to the federal carbon tax.

Oh, this could be bad:

Former star candidate and now outgoing Liberal MP Andrew Leslie is on the witness list to testify if called, against the government on behalf of suspended Vice-Admiral Mark Norman in the high-profile case about the alleged leak of cabinet documents, CTV News has learned.

Leslie, who represents the Ottawa riding of Orleans and was previously a lieutenant-general in Canadian military, would not comment. But sources tell CTV News that he informed the Prime Minister's Office more than a year ago that he would testify on behalf of Norman. Sources confirm that he is listed on the defence witness list.

He is not running and has to testify against the mafia government?

What could Leslie have to say in open court?




The scandal that will never die:

The Senate is still debating whether or not to invite former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to testify about the SNC-Lavalin affair and at least one senator wants former prime minister Stephen Harper to show up, too.

In a new twist to the weeks-long deliberations Thursday evening, one senator proposed expanding a committee study to discuss inappropriate interference by the Prime Minister’s Office in general, and inviting witnesses, including Harper and former aide Nigel Wright, to be questioned about the scandal around Sen. Mike Duffy, who still sits in the Senate.

Given that unelected judges make the law in this country and never fail to disappoint their friends, it is unlikely that this will happen or happen smoothly.


Also:

The watchdog who enforces Canada’s election laws says no one from the Prime Minister’s Office tried to help SNC-Lavalin avoid being charged with breaking campaign-financing rules.

In a rare written statement, elections commissioner Yves Cote said Thursday that no minister, political staffer or public servant attempted to “influence or interfere” in any of his decisions “that did not directly involve them as the subject of the investigation.”

Sure. Everyone believes that, too.




Today in "we're earning our bribe money" news:

For Trudeau, there's a risk of real trouble in this talk about national unity. Many voters outside Alberta might want Trudeau to be the prime minister who counterbalances a figure like Kenney. Other voters might worry that Trudeau's presence is the reason for the angst.

It's easy to hear Kenney's complaints and assume that he'd much rather be working with Prime Minister Andrew Scheer. But for as long as there is a Prime Minister Trudeau, Kenney has someone to blame, someone to fight. In politics, scapegoats can come in handy.

The pundit who wrote this defense of Justin did not include Justin's antipathy towards Alberta or that he is a f---ing moron.

For some reason, those facts did not make it into that opinion piece.

**

Vancouver-based lawyer Gary Botting has written several books on extradition and constitutional freedoms, including one focused on the law surrounding extradition to the United States.

He believes Meng has a strong case, in part because her treatment could be seen as "unjust or oppressive" given the nature of her job and the way in which she was apprehended.

"The vice-president of an international corporation doing business hither and yon has to know they're going to be safe from being arbitrarily arrested at an airport at the behest of a rival state," he said.

"It's just common sense that shouldn't be allowed to happen."

If Miss Meng is not hiding anything, then she should relish in defending herself in open court where her innocence is presumed and where she can appeal.

She can't do that in China.

(Sidebar: who will equip Big Brother?)

**

Barack Obama’s former envoy to Ottawa has pulled back the veil on how the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper froze him out over the controversial Keystone XL pipeline.

Bruce Heyman, who was the U.S. ambassador to Canada from 2014 to 2017, offers an on-the-record insider account of one of the worst-kept secrets in Ottawa diplomatic circles in a new book penned with his wife, Vicki.

Harper had staked a lot of his government’s reputation on getting U.S. approval for the Keystone XL pipeline, which he saw as critical to getting Alberta oilsands crude to foreign markets through the United States.

But Heyman made it clear there was little he could do push the project during his initial April 2014 meetings with John Baird, then the foreign-affairs minister, and Harper and his wife, Laureen, because of internal U.S. reviews.

Heyman writes that began an “ice age in relations” between his office and Conservative cabinet ministers until he, Harper and their spouses were able to build new bridges in a long delayed dinner in July 2015.

Let's remind the skittish electorate that "Harper bad man!" is an issue for this election.


I'll just leave these here:

According to the Globe & Mail, “The PMO initially refused to state whether Liberalist was also used for senators. On Thursday, however, the government confirmed the Liberalist database is used to conduct background checks for almost all appointments, including federal boards, tribunals and positions such as senators.”

**

The federal Conservatives want the RCMP to look into whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke the law by accepting family vacations on the Aga Khan’s private Caribbean island.

Fat, ugly, unpleasant b!#ch pleads guilty to assault but will not have a criminal record because we have unelected judges in this country:

A woman caught on video last fall attacking two pro-life advocates at Toronto’s Ryerson University pleaded guilty in court Monday to assault with a weapon.

Gabby Skwarko, 23, also apologized for her October 1 attack on Katie Somers and Blaise Alleyne of Toronto Against Abortion (TAA), saying she had let down her family. Her parents, her brother and uncle were in court, reported Global News.

The judge accepted a joint recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers that Skwarko be given a conditional discharge and 18 months’ probation, which means she will have no criminal record.

Also - they're called borders:

The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld an American Indigenous man’s right to hunt in Canada because his ancestors traditionally did so.

What bullsh--. 




A woman accused of murdering Kim Jong-Nam has been released:

A Vietnamese woman who spent more than two years in a Malaysian prison on suspicion of killing the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was freed on Friday, her lawyer said.

Doan Thi Huong, 30, was charged along with an Indonesian woman with poisoning Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with liquid VX, a banned chemical weapon, at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017.

Ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Peter Mayhew:
 
 

A Post

... for now.




The scandal that will never die:

According to the CBC, the list of fake donor names — 18 former SNC brass, directors and some spouses — was sent to the federal Liberals in a confidential letter from the Commissioner of Canada Elections on Aug. 5, 2016, just weeks before SNC CEO Neil Bruce and Elections Commissioner Yves Cote signed the compliance agreement.

Compare all that to the treatment accorded David Del Mastro and his electrical/energy company, Deltro Ltd.

David is the cousin of former Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, who was criminally charged in 2014 for circumventing election expense limits by using his own money to purchase voter canvassing and get-out-the-vote services, getting the supplier to send him a false invoice and participating with his official agent in filing a false election campaign return.

All of this was done during the 2008 election.

Basically, the former Peterborough, Ont., MP was convicted of improperly over-donating to his own campaign.

He was convicted of three offences, sentenced to a month in jail, four more in the community and 18 months probation. He also had to repay $10,000 to the Peterborough electoral district association.

He resigned in 2014.

David, on the other hand, was accused, also in 2014, of running an SNC-like scheme to help his cousin.

He was acquitted of all charges after the judge ruled prosecutors couldn’t use evidence improperly seized in a raid on Deltro’s offices.

But the allegations were so similar to those SNC admitted to doing.

This points to a larger problem, that being that the plutocracy can buy or influence its way out of a legal jam.

This is a hallmark of a banana republic.


Another hallmark of a banana republic:

A senior judge warned Loblaws and the federal government this morning that she would not look kindly on any further procedural delays in a $400-million battle the two sides are waging in Tax Court.

Loblaws and the government were in a Toronto courtroom in one of the biggest offshore corporate tax-avoidance cases in the country, with authorities alleging the grocery conglomerate set up a bogus foreign bank to avoid tax on hundreds of millions of dollars in investment income.

The case has been brewing since 2015 and is slated for a full trial in April — more than a year after the originally scheduled start date, due to a series of procedural squabbles.

"I do not want to have to adjourn this again," Associate Chief Justice Lucie Lamarre cautioned both sides on Wednesday. 

At stake for Loblaws is a huge potential tax bill: $404 million, including interest, penalties and provincial income tax, according to documents related to the case.

"These are all big numbers," said Peter Baek, a Toronto tax litigator and former senior CRA auditor experienced with offshore tax rules.  

Loblaws is facing scrutiny on other fronts as well, including its recent admission to a price-fixing scheme on the sale of bread in Canada, as well as revelations in the Paradise Papers exposing the company's use of offshore havens to shield profits.  

(Sidebar: this Loblaws.)




The plutocracy threatens to further cripple the Canadian economy if Alberta does not agree to Ottawa's carbon plans:

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna on Wednesday added steam-driven oilsands facilities to the list of projects that are subject to federal environmental reviews, but will exempt those same projects on the condition that Alberta keeps certain environmental policies in place.

The inclusion of so-called in-situ facilities on the project list under Bill C-69 was largely expected by industry and other observers after Ottawa released a consultation paper in June 2018 that openly considered the move. At the time, the federal government said in-situ projects could be exempt “where a jurisdiction has in place a hard cap on greenhouse gas emissions” — a condition widely seen as a way to force Alberta to keep its climate change policies intact.

Also:

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney is warning that if a federal bill overhauling environmental assessments passes in its current form, it will threaten Canadian unity and there will be “an immediate constitutional challenge.”

No one needs Quebec but they do need Alberta.




Once again, Justin doesn't stand up against his most admired dictatorship:

China has suspended pork imports from two Canadian companies, according to an interview with Canada’s agricultural minister and a Chinese customs document, marking the latest irritant in a widening diplomatic dispute.

A real leader would never alienate its closest and most trusted trading partner. A real leader would not publicly praise a communist dictatorship nor would he co-own a bank or rely strongly on that dictatorship for trade. A real leader would treat threats with the contempt they deserve and find other countries that would accept high-quality products.

Justin is not that leader.




Justin's government removes all references to Islamist extremism in a new report on terrorism:

The government has again revised a report that is supposed to update Canadians on the major terrorist threats they face, removing all references to Islamist extremism.

While the report, first released in December, had initially identified attackers “inspired by violent Sunni Islamist ideology” as the main terrorist threat to Canada, that line has now been cut.

All mentions of “Sunni” and “Shia” extremism were also taken out of the annual report, along with section headings on both types of terrorism.

The so-called Islamic State, Al Qaeda and their regional affiliates use terrorism to promote their versions of Sunni Islamist extremist ideology, while Hezbollah is a Shia extremist group.

But Scott Bardsley, Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale’s spokesperson, said the threat report had “unintentionally maligned certain communities” and the government wanted a “bias-free approach” to terminology.

“The impact of these terms may not be readily apparent to some who come from places of privilege, who seldom experience judgment based on skin colour or religion alone,” he said.

(Sidebar: we wouldn't want to hurt the feelings of people who kill children, would we?)

The government had already cut the term “Sikh extremism” from the report following complaints. A section heading on violence linked to the fight for an independent Sikh homeland is now gone.

Corpses recovered from Air India 182, now no longer allowed to be discussed.

Also - there was a Yazidi crisis that the Liberals did not care about:

A Senate motion will urge the Liberal government to meet Canada’s international treaty obligations by holding Myanmar accountable for its treatment of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

Yet veterans voted for them, anyway:

“Dear Prime Minister Trudeau. 

I find myself forced to write this letter to you, which I will also be providing copies of to the media. I am also enclosing a picture that was taken of us at our meeting while you were the leader of the opposition. You pledged to get support for service dogs for disabled veterans battling PTSD. So I think it is only fair that we discuss the results of your personal pledge to me. Since you were formally a teacher, I will make this very easy. Your grade? An “F”.  In fact if there was a grade worse then you and your regime would qualify. Not only have you failed to deliver, you and your various ministers have actually made things worse.

These men and women performed thankless tasks far away from their country for the benefit of others. Naively, they voted against the former prime minister (who should have offered them more) in favour of one who quite clearly does not and will never care about them.

I hope that the lesson is learned on their part.




(Cue little violin):

Quebec’s media elites are unfairly criticizing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s spoken French because they see him as an outsider pretending to be a real Quebecois, an American academic argues in new research.

Journalists will forgive Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s mangled pronunciations or former NDP leader Thomas Mulcair’s use of Anglicisms but Trudeau is held to an unrealistic standard, according to Prof. Yulia Bosworth of Binghamton University in New York.

Oh, the standard of having at least one francophone parent and representing an ostensibly francophone province and whose job it is to communicate? That standard? Didn't he substitute drama teach for this sort of thing?

Seventeen years is not long enough:

Sentenced to an automatic life sentence for the brutal murder of his pregnant wife, Nicholas Baig will serve 15 more years before he is eligible for parole.

But there will be no sentence, of course, for killing his unborn daughter Asaara — who’s due date was just 20 days away when her mother Arianna Goberdhan was stabbed 17 times on April 7, 2017.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Jocelyn Speyer sentenced Baig to 17 years of parole ineligibility.

In prison since his arrest two years ago, he can apply in 2034 when he’ll be just 42.

“I was really disappointed,” said Goberdhan’s mother Sherry.

“I was hoping that he would have to wait at least 20 years.”

I think that the Church of Scientology owes Leah Remini an apology:

Health officials on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia have quarantined a cruise ship after discovering a case of measles on board, the country’s top doctor said Tuesday.

Authorities confirmed the case on Tuesday morning, said Dr. Merlene Fredericks James, St. Lucia’s chief medical officer. The vessel was locked down later that day, an attempt to stymie any potential spread of the highly contagious disease that’s sickening people in the United States at a record pace, fueled by anti-vaccination misinformation. ...

Health officials did not identify the cruise ship, but a sergeant with the St. Lucia Coast Guard told NBC that the vessel is “Freewinds,” the 440-foot boat owned by the Church of Scientology.

Representatives of the Church of Scientology did not respond to requests for comment.

Mid-Week Post

It's the mid-weekiest!




The scandal that just won't die:

It was a little more than two months ago that Justin Trudeau’s point man in Washington, Ambassador David MacNaughton, said he was confident that tariffs on steel and aluminum would be lifted.

“I’m confident that we’re going to get there in the next few weeks,” MacNaughton said 10 weeks ago.

When he made those comments on Feb. 21, I doubt he was thinking of May.

Yet here we are and the tariffs have yet to be lifted, those close to the talks and the industry say there is no new movement on this file.

So was McNaughton crazy for saying a deal could be coming soon?

No.

Several sources have told me that around the time McNaughton made those comments, the Americans had made an offer to Canada.

So what happened?

Well quite frankly, one of the main things that happened was SNC-Lavalin.

Not only was this scandal absorbing all the government’s efforts, it took out the point man on this file.

Trudeau’s top political advisor Gerry Butts had developed a respectful working relationship with people in the Trump administration.

They liked Gerry and he was the government’s lead on the tariff file.

When Butts resigned over the SNC-Lavalin scandal, not only was PMO’s attention elsewhere as they tried to contain the scandal, there was no one left to pick up the pieces on the trade file with Washington.

In short, Canada dropped the ball.

 A refresher:

Drawing that link, the Conservatives’ deputy leader, Lisa Raitt, questioned whether the prime minister’s office had any contact with Elections Canada in 2016, when SNC-Lavalin signed a compliance agreement with the Commissioner of Canada Elections, Yves Côté, thereby saving them from a criminal prosecution over elections violations.

“We have seen this before,” Raitt said, alluding to Wilson-Raybould’s testimony.

Also:

One of the great fears stalking the corridors of the Prime Minister’s Office (looking for a spine to run up) is that the measures announced last Friday will lead to mass layoffs in the steel sector, or worse, plant closures.

Canada’s ambassador to Washington, David MacNaughton, was in Ottawa on Tuesday and the response to the removal of many of the safeguards, and the continued U.S. steel and aluminum levy, was top of the agenda.

The safeguards that expired last week were imposed by Ottawa last October on seven steel products, to protect against dumping in the Canadian market by steel displaced by Trump’s attempts to keep out imports from countries such as China.

But after a report in early April by the Canadian International Trade Tribunal found that tariffs were only warranted in two of the seven metals, the government was forced to remove most of the safeguards.

That would be less of a problem if there was any prospect of the dispute with Trump over steel coming to a swift conclusion. But as MacNaughton put it, there is an impasse, as the White House demands a cap on Canadian exports at little more than 2017 levels, while Ottawa responds that it can’t live with a cap that doesn’t allow for any growth. “I don’t describe that as a negotiation,” he said in an interview Wednesday.

The government is under intense pressure from a united front of steel manufacturers and union bosses, all intent on wringing more protectionist support.

**

The federal government is changing a payment program for canola farmers to help those affected by China’s decision to ban the Canadian product.

The maximum loan limit through the program will be boosted to $1 million from $400,000, and the portion that will be interest-free is rising to $500,000 from $100,000, Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said on Parliament Hill Wednesday morning.

“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Canada’s canola producers and farm families across the country and we will continue to listen to their needs,” she said.

“Canada has the best canola in the world as well as a very robust inspection system.”

Bullsh--.

There is nothing wrong with Canadian canola. There is something wrong with China, Canada's new overlord.

Printing off money isn't going to fix this.




As long as Justin wastes valuable time in the office his dad once occupied, there will never be a new pipeline:

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna on Wednesday added steam-driven oilsands facilities to the list of projects that are subject to federal environmental reviews, but will exempt those same projects on the condition that Alberta keeps certain environmental policies in place.

Also - let them fight:

Hours after being sworn in as the 18th premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney threatened a court battle against federal legislation to ban oil tanker traffic off the British Columbia coast, calling it an attack on Alberta.

“Albertans have elected a government that will protect their interests and fight for them when things get tough. And these are tough times,” Kenney told a Senate panel in Edmonton. “We do not agree with the bill period. We do not believe it can be remediated. We believe it must be scrapped.”

Cut the b@$#@rds off, Jason.

Let BC fight this in the dark and when the temperatures climb over forty degrees Celsius.

Yeah, you tried this before, Chrystia. Don't you remember?:

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland promoted tax hikes for the rich as a way of helping a "hollowed-out" middle class Tuesday, but sidestepped questions on whether the country's top one per cent will be asked to pay more in the Liberals' upcoming platform.

Also - now who doesn't have money to give veterans what they are asking for?:

The soon-to-be former air force officer — who last week lost a court challenge of the military's refusal to pay disability benefits for a 2006 traffic accident that claimed the life of her infant son — is now confirmed as the nominated federal Conservative candidate in the Toronto-area riding of Scarborough Southwest.

She said she's jumping into the political fray to help protect other Canadian Forces members from going through what she did.

"I went to Bill Blair three years ago to ask for his help and he turned me away," Fawcett told CBC News. Blair, the Trudeau government's border security minister, represents Scarborough Southwest.

"If he is not prepared to fight for someone like me or anyone else in our riding, then I am prepared to fight him for the job."

The display here has been set in motion in 1985. Canada is a balkanised country where extremists let everyone know which gang runs which area:

A unit of soldiers from Toronto-area reserve units of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) were photographed carrying weapons in “full fighting order,” their magazines in place — but unloaded — at a Khalsa Day Parade that took place in Toronto on Sunday.

The photo was posted to Twitter by controversial author and columnist Tarek Fatah, who has written extensively about extremism. ...

Soldiers with the 4 Canadian Division participate in a number of community and outreach events, “including parades such as the Khalsa Day Parade,” a CAF spokesman told Global News.

“Normally, weapons are not carried at such events,” he said.

Another moral and political failure for political multiculturalism.


Also - in order to judge whether or not Senator Beyak's posts are racist drivel or simply controversial statements, I'll post what is available here. This way people can determine if Senator Beyak's ousting is justified or not.


And - you can run to an unelected judge but you can't run away from the truth:

In a recent decision, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered the father to stop publicly discussing the case after finding some of his actions, including interviews with conservative media outlets, exposed his child to significant harm and constituted “family violence.”

But the father’s lawyers say the restraining order is “draconian” and they plan to file an appeal.

“We’ll make submissions on freedom of expression, freedom of thought and opinion, and freedom of conscience, in this matter,” said Herb Dunton, one of the father’s lawyers.

A publication ban imposed by the court restricts media from identifying the child or the father by name.

The case started last year as a clash between child autonomy and parental rights. After undergoing multiple evaluations from a psychologist and staff at B.C. Children’s Hospital, the boy, with the support of his mother and health professionals, wanted to proceed with hormone therapy to help transition from a female body to a male one.

However, his father, who shares joint custody with the boy’s mother, opposed the treatment.

In short, a girl, under the direction of child abusers, is attempting to mutilate her body while her father, who does not want to see his daughter have to sue these child abusers in the next decade over irreversible damages to the human body, refuses to go along with the delusion that an unelected judge is enforcing.





 This is what happens when a province runs out of money:

Ontario has ended a $50 million fund that helped child care centres cover increasing labour costs without passing them on to parents.

Voting Liberal has its consequences, consequences one will see even after a change of government.


Also - if parents don't care, if students don't care and if the puppy-mill system doesn't care, one should not be surprised that the results are overly sensitive twits who cannot write a decent sentence:

A new study, “Academic Skill Deficiencies in four Ontario universities,” offers solid, but troubling evidence that the secondary schools feeding universities are falling well short of expectations on the skills-building front. In fact, this study, conducted at four Ontario universities — York, Western, Waterloo and Toronto, which together enrol 41 per cent of Ontario undergrads — found that “only about 44 per cent of students felt they had the generic skills needed to do well in their academic studies, 41 per cent could be classified as at risk in academic settings because of limited levels of basic skills, and 16 per cent lacked almost all the skills needed for higher learning.”

Yeah, that would mean admitting some rather uncomfortable truths:

“We’re grieving for two. My child died with her baby and somebody has to tell me why he’s not accountable for that baby’s death as well.”

The leading cause of death for pregnant women isn’t any complication from the birth — it’s murder. 

A study from the Journal of the American Medical Association found the risk of dying from homicide is twice as great in pregnant women as it is for those who aren’t.

Yet a murdered mother’s unborn child isn’t considered a homicide victim under Canadian law: only if the infant dies “after becoming a human being” when it has “completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother.”

Goberdhan’s family wants to change that.

The era of Reiwa begins:

Japan’s new Emperor Naruhito will perform his first ritual Wednesday hours after succeeding his father on the Chrysanthemum Throne.

Naruhito will receive the Imperial regalia of sword and jewel as proof of succession at the ceremony and later will make his first address.

His wife, Empress Masako, a Harvard-educated former diplomat, and their daughter Princess Aiko, are barred from the first ceremony, where only adult male royals can participate.

Behold human achievement in all its glory:

The adaptation of a known drug for the treatment of multiple sclerosis could help epilepsy patients, a new study by researchers at Tel Aviv University has revealed.

The potential breakthrough, which may help patients with epilepsy and other brain disorders who do not respond to available treatments today, is based on the discovery of a new mechanism that regulates and ensures the stability of brain activity.

While most researchers have previously looked for malfunctions in the regulation mechanism that may be perceived as a “thermostat” of neural activity, restoring the neural network to its original set point after every event that increases or diminishes activity, Tel Aviv University researchers led by Prof. Inna Slutsky now argue that the set point itself deviates from the norm among epilepsy sufferers.