Mid-Week Post

Your mid-week candy break ...




The scandal that just won't die:

A Quebec judge has ruled there is enough evidence to send SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. to trial on charges of fraud and corruption, surprising few and prompting a further tumble in the beleaguered firm's share price.

"Given the threshold to be met by the prosecution at the stage of the preliminary inquiry, this outcome was expected," said SNC-Lavalin chief executive Neil Bruce in a statement.

The company has previously pleaded not guilty and Bruce said that "we will vigorously defend ourselves to get the right outcome and be acquitted."

The Montreal-based engineering and construction giant is accused of paying $47.7 million in bribes to public officials in Libya between 2001 and 2011. The company, its construction division and a subsidiary also face one charge each of fraud and corruption for allegedly defrauding various Libyan organizations of $129.8 million.

The decision is the latest step in criminal proceedings that began last fall after SNC-Lavalin failed to secure a deferred prosecution agreement, a kind of plea deal that would have seen the firm agree to pay a fine rather than face prosecution.

Over the past four months, SNC-Lavalin has been at the centre of a political controversy following accusations from former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould that top government officials pressured her to overrule federal prosecutors, who had opted not to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement with the company.

"The director of public prosecution has made a decision in that regard," said prosecutor Richard Roy, asked by reporters whether SNC-Lavalin could still secure an agreement and sidestep a trial.

Despite the high profile afforded to the case, "SNC-Lavalin will have a fair trial," he added.

 
How curious that an unelected judge from Quebec is seeming to throw the book at the company Justin himself defended vociferously and in an election year, too.

Which underling will end up in prison?




Two men who ensured that Vice-Admiral Mark Norman was positioned under the wheels of a bus testify along side him:

The Senate’s national security and defence voted Tuesday to call Vice Adm. Mark Norman and Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan to testify about the legal case against the senior naval officer.

Senators voted 7 to 5 in favour of the motion by Conservative Senator Jean-Guy Dagenais.

Dagenais’s motion called for the committee to “examine and report on the circumstances that led the RCMP to lay” the criminal charge against Norman.

Norman had been charged with one count of breach of trust after the RCMP alleged he had promoted a plan by Davie Shipbuilding in Quebec to convert a commercial ship, the Asterix, into a naval refuelling and supply vessel. The federal police force also alleged that Norman tipped off Davie in the fall of 2015 that the Liberal government was considering delaying the project which had been set in motion by the previous Conservative government.

The case against Norman collapsed May 8 because of new evidence. The naval officer, who entered a plea of not guilty, always maintained he had done nothing wrong.

The motion Tuesday noted that the committee would be authorized to call defence minister Sajjan as well as the Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jon Vance and other witnesses. The witness list has yet to be finalized. It is unclear what other witnesses could be requested to testify. The committee would submit its report by no later than June 20, 2019.

Committee members acknowledged that Norman may decline to testify. Sources say Norman’s legal team is examining a lawsuit against the federal government.

**

Sajjan sidestepped questions over whether the Trudeau government has an opinion on Norman’s desire to return to duty after the breach-of-trust case against him was dropped earlier this month.

“We respect the chief of defence staff’s space to be able to manage the people,” the minister told reporters following a morning speech at the annual Cansec arms-trade show. “When it comes to the management of the people, it’s the chief of defence staff’s space.”

Coward.




Are people tiring of Justin's stellar leadership already?:

A group of Liberal Party insiders has discussed the possibility that Bank of England Governor Mark Carney could replace Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as leader of their party, the Toronto Star reported.

Carney’s name came up in a conference call of “backroom players” discussing Trudeau’s waning fortunes ahead of an October general election, according to the newspaper, which cited an unidentified participant on the call. A poor showing for Trudeau could open the door for Carney to succeed Trudeau, the Star said.

He is less likely to hoist himself by his own petard.




Let's try no:

New Canadians will soon swear to honour the rights of Indigenous Peoples if a proposed legislative change is adopted.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen has introduced a bill that contains new language for the oath of citizenship that includes a pledge for new citizens to faithfully observe the laws of Canada, including the Constitution, which “recognizes and affirms the Aboriginal and treaty rights of First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.”

(Sidebar: the same "unCanadian" Ahmed Hussen has absolutely no problem with FGM.)




Does this apply to people why buy guns illegally?:

The Senate has passed a Liberal government bill expanding the scope of background checks on those who want to acquire guns.

Question about an applicant’s history will cover their entire lifetime, instead of just the five years immediately preceding the licence application.

Oh, just put up a firewall the way the Chinese do. Isn't that the "basic dictatorship" people love?:

"Regulation is around the corner" if tech companies don't comply with Canada's declaration on electoral integrity online during the next election says Minister Gould #ctvpp #cdnpoli

More at https://t.co/uCQmGSpNgb pic.twitter.com/yKFiY58AD4

— CTV Power Play (@CTV_PowerPlay) May 28, 2019

A new hotline to support victims of human trafficking doesn't address that there are cultures that have no problem mistreating those victims:

A national hotline to help victims and survivors of human trafficking is now taking calls, with the organization behind the service saying it hoped the new resource would also fill crucial gaps in public knowledge about the issue.

The multilingual, accessible hotline, an initiative of the Canadian Centre to End Human Trafficking, launched at 7 a.m. ET on Wednesday.

The centre’s chief executive officer said the line is meant to serve as a one-stop shop for everyone from victims seeking help, to tipsters wanting to flag a potential case, to members of the public wanting to learn more about the subject.

The Liberals are frightened of the Andy:

Instead, a motley collection of unions and leftists, Engage Canada, is launching a new front – an attack ad claiming “weak” Andrew Scheer will cut taxes for “his wealthy friends”, cancel child benefits and privatize Canada’s health care system.

This is the same group that warned if Stephen Harper was re-elected in 2015, it would be the end of history.

Thankfully, reforms to the elections advertising rules mean Engage Canada will have nowhere near the firepower it had four years ago when unions like Unifor and the United Steelworkers contributed more than $400,000 each. The new rules limit third parties to a cap of $1 million in the pre-campaign period, from June 30 until the writ drops.

Despite the curb on its ability to sow alarm and apprehension, Engage Canada is intent on undermining Scheer while he remains an unknown commodity to many Canadians.

**

If elected prime minister, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says he would put an end to "illegal" border crossings in Canada.

I'll believe it when I see it.




Quelle surprise:

A former imam who gained international attention for speaking at a funeral for victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting has won the Liberal nomination in the Montreal riding of Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, the first time the party has nominated a non-Italian in the Liberal stronghold.

Hassan Guillet said the Liberals were reluctant to have him run in Saint-Léonard, afraid of antagonizing the large Italian community. But he pushed ahead, and insists that he represents the community “better than everybody else,” pointing out that the riding is increasingly diverse and is now home to sizeable North African and Haitian populations as well.

Arrivaderci, Italians.




It's time Canada started to mine its own rare metals:

While China accounted for about 80% of US rare-earth imports, such a move by China could backfire in the long-term.

There are ample supplies of rare earth elements in the United States, Australia, and other friendly nations. Production would be ramped-up, reducing China’s control over the market and cutting their leverage.


This is also an opportunity for Canada.

So far, Canada has not made much of our rare-earth resources, but as noted in a past article by Tina Kremmidas – Chief Economist for the Canadian Chamber of Commerce – our rare-earth resources are abundant:

“Canada has significant quantities of rare earths locked in black shale deposits (the Alberta Black Shale Project) that were previously not recoverable unless large amounts of cyanide and arsenic are used to liquefy the ores — a process that is considered dangerous and illegal in many parts of the world. Now, a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly new technology that uses water, air and microbes (a technique known as bioheap leaching) can be used to release the rare earth from the black shale deposits. The new technology has a limited track record — only one mine (operated by Finland’s Talvivaara Mining Company Plc.) is producing metals with bioheap leaching technology. Toronto-based DNI Metals, a junior mining company, has said it needs $1 billion to get the project going.

Several other Canadian mines show great potential.

Avalon Rare Metals Inc.’s Nechalacho Rare Earth Element Project located at Thor Lake in the Mackenzie Mining District of the Northwest Territories, has exceptional wealth of heavy rare earth elements. Avalon estimates a 2015 possible start date for full capacity production.

Great Western Minerals Group Ltd.’s Hoidas Lake Project (located in northern Saskatchewan) has one of the highest proportions of neodymium present in any known rare earth deposit. The company is working on designing an optimal concentration/leaching process with the goal of starting production in 2015-16.

This China:

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland says she wants to talk to China’s foreign minister about the two detained Canadians China has accused of undermining its national security.

That discussion hasn’t happened yet, Freeland told the House of Commons foreign-affairs committee Tuesday.

Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor have been in Chinese custody since December, held in apparent retaliation for Canada’s arrest of high-tech executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on an extradition warrant from the United States.

“When it comes to my contacts with my Chinese counterparts, I have spoken on a few occasions directly with the Chinese ambassador to Canada,” Freeland said.

“I would be happy at any time to have a direct conversation with Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister. We have been clear with the Chinese authorities that we are prepared for that conversation at any time.”

But ... but ... pipelines in Canada are bad!: 

Back in April, unusually high levels of the chemicals known as organic chlorides were discovered in Russian crude flowing through the giant Druzhba pipeline, built in the 1960s to carry crude from the U.S.S.R. to allied countries in Eastern Europe. The chlorides can severely damage oil refineries and on April 24 Russia’s state pipeline operator, Transneft PJSC, halted shipments. Moscow pledged to resolve the issue right away; four weeks later, the flow of Russian oil into Europe is little more than a trickle.

The length and scope of the crisis has given it a political dimension. On Thursday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki decided to get personally involved in finding a solution, but said talks were “very difficult, very tough.”

Druzhba usually supplies as much as 1.5 million barrels a day of Russia’s benchmark Urals blend to central Europe — more than the total production of OPEC member Libya. The crude goes directly to refineries through two separate pipeline spurs and via tankers from the Ust-Luga export terminal in the Baltic.

Despite repeated pledges from Russian authorities to resume shipments in days, the crisis is proving bigger, longer and costlier than almost anyone expected and a solution could still be weeks away.

Canada makes a claim for the North Pole and no one cares:

After years of delay and political debate, Canada has submitted its scientific argument for control of a vast portion of the Arctic seabed, including the North Pole, to the UN body that will evaluate it.

Denmark and Russia have already released their own evidence that the Pole and good bits of the sea floor around it — including any resources they hold — should belong to them.

“All of the countries involved recognize that there will have to be boundary negotiations at some future point,” said Michael Byers, professor of international law at the University of British Columbia.

Last Thursday, Canada submitted 1,200 pages of scientific evidence to prove that the continental shelf from the High Arctic islands extends past 200 nautical miles from shore. It includes a contested section of sea floor that stretches from the top of Ellesmere Island along an undersea ridge to the Pole and more than 200 kilometres past it.

Who would give this idiot money?:

The Australian teenager who cracked an egg on the head of a politician for his remarks about the New Zealand mosque massacre has donated over CAD$90,000 to people affected by the killings.

Will Connolly, 17, became known worldwide as “Egg Boy” for assaulting right-wing federal Sen. Fraser Anning, who had drawn scorn for saying Muslim immigration was to blame for the March massacre, in which 51 people were killed.

As police investigated the incident, supporters of Connolly raised 99,922 Australian dollars (CAD$93,382) through two crowdfunding accounts to pay for his envisaged legal fees.

What the hell have people done with the peace and security you fought for?

They ruined the place:

Six days before D-Day, Max Meisels and his fellow Jewish soldiers got an order from their commanding officer.

(Sidebar: this D-Day.)

"If the Germans catch you, you're dead," the officer told them. "You have 10 minutes. Go to the telephone book and get a new name."

Meisels emerged from that meeting as Martin Maxwell, the name he carried throughout his time in the British army and bears to this day.

Maxwell went on to play a key role in the early hours of D-Day, the opening salvo of the bloody Allied invasion that ultimately led to the defeat of the German army.

At the time, Maxwell felt he had helped strike a decisive blow against the rabid anti-Semitism that fuelled Adolf Hitler's rise and led to the killings of millions of Jews, including his own relatives.

But today, as hate crimes against Jews surge dramatically in Canada and around the world, the longtime Toronto resident and decorated veteran isn't so sure.

"I feel like I'm reliving the 1930s," Maxwell, 95, said in an interview. "The rise of anti-Semitism is something unbelievable."

For a Monday

For your late spring needs ...




In a move that is not really surprising, ousted Liberal cabinet members, Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott announced that they will run as independents in the upcoming election:

Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott plan to run in the upcoming federal election.

The two former Liberal cabinet ministers, who resigned on principle because of Justin Trudeau’s actions in the SNC-Lavalin PMO Scandal, and were then booted from the Liberal Party by Trudeau, announced their decision in nearly-simulataneous events.

Both Wilson-Raybould and Philpott talked about ‘doing politics differently,’ working across party lines, and reducing partisanship.

They also both noted that they were courted by the Green Party, and offered praise for Elizabeth May, while declining to join her party.

Also - whoa! That is way too much transparency from the country's most "transparent" government:

In an odd video in which she’s yelling in a bar for some reason, McKenna explained how she spreads her lies:

If you repeat it, if you say it louder, if that’s your talking point, people will totally believe it!”

(Sidebar: I'm sure they will, Climate Change Barbie.)


And:

The Liberal government will consider amendments to two contentious environmental bills working their way through the Senate.

But they will only do so if those amendments don’t seek to defeat the purpose of the bills, and one Liberal says senators considering whether to kill the legislation should keep in mind that they are not elected.

Wait - what?:

Green party Leader Elizabeth May says saving the world from climate change requires Canada to get off oil before the middle of the century.

In the meantime, she wants Canada off foreign oil as soon as possible.



The promise to make Canada energy independent is – perhaps unexpectedly – in line with the economic and climate strategy of Conservative leader Andrew Scheer.

Scheer’s plan calls for Canada to import no foreign oil by 2030, partly by planning an energy corridor across Canada that could simplify the construction of pipelines able to move Alberta oil to any coast. 

He sees it as a way to find additional domestic markets for Canada’s oilsands, in a bid to increase their production.

May’s plan, to “turn off the taps to oil imports” is only a stop-gap measure to keep foreign oil out until Canada can break its oil habit altogether.

I confess that I did not see that coming.


Also - who is it again who would impoverish aboriginals who see oil as a way to advance themselves while ignoring the activists who take American money to sink the Canadian oil industry?:

In March, Liberal Minister of Natural Resources, Amarjeet Sohi claimed that Canadians who want to develop pipelines have no regard for the environment or indigenous communities while speaking at a conference on energy.

Sohi spoke at CERAWeek, a conference hosted by the Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Huston, Texas. In attendance were counterparts from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, among others. 

“I would say building pipelines is very challenging,” said Sohi pointing to the polarization around the issue on natural resource development. 

“You have the other sector of the population who wants resource development without any regard for the environment and any regard for the indigenous communities’ involvement.”

The new NAFTA deal didn't only cause Justin to make a choice between angering the Americans or the Chinese (he angered the latter), it also isn't the complete victory he is making it out to be:

Until the United States and Mexico also ratify the new NAFTA agreement, the existing terms remain in effect for businesses.

These terms:

The agreement is what trade watchers call a "snap back" deal. Yes, the tariffs were removed. But the U.S. reserved the right to slap them back on — specifically, "in the event that imports of aluminum or steel products surge meaningfully beyond historic volumes of trade over a period of time."

Then there is the Chinese:

As Lu sees it, “Western countries’ psychological imbalance towards China’s economic and technological development comes down to the West-egotism.” We’re all a bunch of self-important ego-maniacs, too ignorant to understand the greatness of China’s past. On Friday he professed that Westerners “always believe that they are superior to any other nations.” Sure, the West has had a few good centuries, but lately it’s in over its head. The end of the Cold War, he charged, ushered in a period in which democracy-lovers “arrogantly believed that the Western system reached the peak of perfection and it was the best system in the world.”

What Lu would like would be for Canada and some of its fellow travellers to wise up and see things from China’s enlightened viewpoint.

“Chinese people are in the best position to judge China’s development,” he lectured. “We are confident about our own path, theory, system and culture. We will never change our own development path because of the different viewpoints of Western countries and several discredited articles in the West. We will stick to the path that we choose. For Western countries, the problem is how to get along with China.”

Well, Mr. Lu, perhaps it is you who doesn't understand how Western civilisation works and how even your own people would rather live in it than in a country where students get gunned down for demanding democracy.

Is that being too "superior"?




What is something he said?:

“Tout le Monde en Parle” the French-language CBC program which hosted convicted-terrorist Omar Khadr on their Easter Sunday program this year has been suspended from Twitter.

According to the official Radio-Canada website a disgruntled user took credit for the account suspension claiming the program was “glorifying terrorism” and that it was a “terror apologist”.

Khadr, who was convicted of being responsible for the death of U.S. Army Sergeant Christopher Speer, entered the program’s studio to general applause before being interviewed by the TV show’s host Guy A. Lepage. 

The segment which was called “Omar Khadr: dreaming of an ordinary life”, included an interview discussing his relationship with his father, the former Al-Qaeda financier Ahmed Khadr.

“No, I don’t resent him. I don’t think my dad knew the extent of what I was doing,” claimed Khadr regarding the period he worked as a translator and Al-Qaeda member.

He who lives by the tweet shall die by the tweet.




The Ontario government is planning on ending the ten year contract it has with the Beer Store:

The Progressive Conservative government has tabled legislation that would terminate a contract with The Beer Store.

The previous Liberal government signed a 10-year deal with the brewers that permitted an expansion of beer and wine sales to hundreds of grocery stores.

Premier Doug Ford has indicated he plans to put beer and wine in corner stores, but he has to break that agreement to do so and the industry has warned that could trigger steep financial penalties.

While tabling today's bill, Finance Minister Vic Fedeli said the current system is a monopoly that is a bad deal for consumers and businesses.

The legislation comes after the province's special adviser on alcohol delivered a report Friday to Fedeli on ways to improve consumer choice and convenience.

Also - not only can people not agree on what makes a culture vibrant and worthwhile, a culture should be self-sustaining. That is why funding any culture is a waste:

Ontario has eliminated a fund supporting Indigenous culture as the government cuts tens of millions of dollars in arts funding — a decision that is being slammed as short-sighted.

The Progressive Conservatives are attempting to trim an $11.7-billion deficit and are cutting spending in a number of areas. That includes lower spending on tourism, arts and culture, according to recently released expenditure estimates for this fiscal year.

Culture programs are budgeted at $235 million this year, down from nearly $295 million last year, including cutting “arts sector support” from $18.5 million to $6.5 million.

Additionally, the Ontario Arts Council, which awards grants, is receiving $10 million less from the government this year — with $5 million of that cut the result of axing the Indigenous Culture Fund that was only established last year.

The Aboriginal Arts Collective of Canada received $25,000 from the fund and president Dawn Setford said she used the money to hold a long-planned conference to teach about 200 Indigenous women various artistic and cultural practices such as porcupine quilling and basketry.

A suspect is arrested in connection with the Lyons bombings:

French police have arrested a 24-year old man suspected of being behind last week’s bomb blast in the central city of Lyon that injured 13 people.

No name.

Hhmmm ... 




Trump is all over the map when it comes to the North Korean crisis. He cannot promise to help in any way he can to return Japanese abductees while ignoring Kim Jong-Un's belligerence and deception: 

In an apparent contradiction of his national security adviser, President Donald Trump on Sunday downplayed recent North Korean missile tests, tweeting from Tokyo that they’re not a concern for him — even though they are for Japan.

He may convince some of the American people but not the Japanese people.  




The efforts to get Normandy beach made into a heritage site: 

Serge Durflinger is one of those who firmly believes the D-Day invasion beaches are “incontestably important” to the world and meet the very high standards for the UN designation.

The University of Ottawa history professor was part of a team of international experts that included archeologists, geologists and all manner of other specialists who were brought together by the French government to help with the D-Day application.

“The Normandy campaign and the D-Day invasion involved people from dozens of countries, all engaged in a united purpose, all brought to this small coastal region in France for the beginning of what would become the end of Nazi Germany,” Durflinger said.

“And they’re all combining efforts on a global scale in this titanic effort, which was also one of the single greatest, momentous military operations ever mounted that we know about. And that it has scientific achievement, and its remnants are very real.”

 

Saturday Post

 French police are still hunting for the culprit whose home-made bomb injured thirteen people:

French police were on Saturday hunting a suspect believed to have deposited a paper bag containing an explosive device that went off, wounding 13 people in a busy pedestrian street in the city of Lyon the previous day.

France's counter-terrorism prosecutor, Remy Heitz, said an investigation has been opened for "attempted murderer in relation with a terrorist undertaking" and "criminal terrorist association."

He said no group has claimed responsibility for the explosion yet.

Regional authorities said 13 people suffered mostly minor injuries, including 11 who were still in the hospital on Saturday morning. ...

The man was seen arriving on foot, pushing his bike, in the pedestrian Victor Hugo street. He was seen leaving a paper bag on a concrete block in the middle of the street near a bakery, Heitz said.

The suspect immediately returned to his bike and left by the same path. One minute later, the explosion shattered the glass of a cooler in the bakery, Heitz said.

Investigators on the scene have found screws, metallic balls, a triggering device that can be used remotely and plastic pieces that may come from the explosive device.

 China warns its North American vassal state that things have hit "rock-bottom":

China’s ambassador to Canada says the bilateral relationship is now at “rock bottom” compared to any time since diplomatic ties were first established decades ago.

In prepared text for a speech Thursday, Lu Shaye said he’s saddened Canada-China relations are at what he called a “freezing point.” ...

“For clear reasons, the current China-Canada relations are facing serious difficulties and are situated at the rock bottom since the two countries have established diplomatic relations,” said a copy of Lu’s speech, which was posted on the Chinese Embassy’s website.

“It saddens us that the current China-Canada relations are ‘at a freezing point’ and face huge difficulties. The knots shall be untied by those who got them tied.”

He continued by urging Canada to view China’s development in a “fair and objective” manner and to respect its concerns. Lu also warned Canada to “stop the moves that undermine the interests of China.”

Yeah, Justin! Do as you're told!




Who could have foreseen this?:

Hundreds of criminals connected to the illegal drug trade are freely plying their trades as importers, go-betweens and hitmen in Canada — according to Quebec news outlet TVA Nouvelles — largely because Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government dropped the visa requirement for Mexican travelers.

TVA investigative journalist Felix Seguin spoke to several in-the-know sources who revealed there are 400 criminals who have recently entered Canada to traffic drugs — half of them living in Quebec while the other half are presumed to be mainly operating in the Toronto area.

At least several of the estimated 400 who recently infiltrated the Canadian border are believed to have used fake Mexican passports.

Mexican asylum claims skyrocketed once Trudeau waived the visa, going up from 260 in 2016 to over 3,300 in 2018. The visa requirement was originally put in place by the Harper government in 2009 to curb a spike of asylum claims from Mexico. The policy largely worked, with claims dropping down to double digits in 2013.

General Jonathan Vance does what he is told and then some:

Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. Jonathan Vance issued a long, written apology on Friday and accepted full responsibility for the decision to exclude relatives of soldiers killed in Afghanistan from a closed-door dedication ceremony for the cenotaph.

**

Vice Adm. Mark Norman has met with defence chief Gen. Jon Vance for what is being described by the Defence department as a “cordial discussion” between the two officers.

Norman has yet to return to National Defence headquarters in Ottawa and has declined to go into details about what his future plans are.

Vance has stabbed in the back people he served with and people who served under him.

If the Canadian military uniform meant anything (and it doesn't according the government and the people who voted for it), Vance would be a disgrace to it.




Ousted Liberal cabinet members Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott are planning on joining forces with anyone but the Liberals.

More to come.




Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister has called an election for September:

Manitobans are set to trudge to the polls twice this fall, as Premier Brian Pallister dropped the heaviest hint yet that he will call an election in September.

Elected in spring 2016 with a record majority, Pallister’s Progressive Conservatives still enjoy a healthy lead in the polls, spurring the former federal MP to go early. Manitoba has fixed election date rules — the vote is scheduled for Oct. 6, 2020. But Pallister has said he wants to avoid clashing with Manitoba’s 150th birthday celebrations next year.

In an interview in his spacious office in the Manitoba legislature, Pallister said he has been frank that the election should be held this year.

“I recognize our political opponents probably want it deferred and delayed because they may not be ready. But I absolutely don’t fear going to the people of Manitoba and asking them because we are going to be well over 90 per cent done on our mandate,” he said.

The last time Scheer was appalled by child abuse, Justin called him "ambulance-chasing":

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer pledged Thursday to get tough on crime with mandatory minimum sentences of five years for anyone convicted of abusing children.

Scheer, who made an announcement in the Montreal suburb of Delson, Que., said he will ensure sentences for sexual crimes against children take into account the length and severity of abuse.

Wounds from sexual abuse last a lifetime, Scheer said, adding the penalty should "fit the crime" and that survivors need to be assured the federal government will ensure offenders are appropriately punished.

"Under my leadership, a Conservative government will always put the rights of victims ahead of the rights of criminals," Scheer said in a statement. "We will ensure that anyone who harms or sexually exploits a child will be behind bars, where they belong, for a very long time."

The Conservatives say that additional federal action is required because sentences for horrific crimes involving children are "woefully inadequate."

The Criminal Code has provisions on sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual exploitation that carry maximum and minimum penalties, depending on whether a charge is pursued as an indictable offence or a summary conviction. Those can range from 90 days to 14 years behind bars.

It turns out that British Columbia can't just regulate a pipeline flow:

A British Columbia court ruled on Friday that the provincial government cannot regulate increased flows of heavy crude through the proposed Trans Mountain pipeline, removing a potential hurdle to the long-delayed project.

It's just money: 

Starting in August, Nova Scotia undergraduate students who are staying to study in the province will not have to pay back provincial student loans, according to the Coast. And while some acknowledge it as a “step in the right direction,” they’ve been clear that it won’t help the out-of-province students who make up nearly half of Nova Scotia’s student population.

Schools are puppy mills and baby-minding centres that do not reward excellence nor do they rebuff failure or mediocrity. Anyone can pass and move onto post-secondary education even if they do not have the skills to be there.

So there's that. 

Secondly, students often go for degrees that do not help them in the workplace.

Thirdly, there is a sense of entitlement and little understand of how the economy shifts and changes and may ultimately not have a place for someone with a gender studies degree.

Forgiving student loans is encouraging irresponsibility and a sense of apathy for those whose tax dollars are wasted. 


Also: 

Indigenous courses will not be a mandatory part of the high school curriculum in Ontario — a decision that has angered First Nations members.

The Progressive Conservative government's decision reverses a commitment from the former Liberals to make the courses mandatory, stemming from a recommendation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, said Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler.

He is disappointed the courses will only be offered as electives.

"Learning about the colonial history of this country should not be optional," Fiddler said. "As long as we make these courses as electives, I think the system will continue to fail our students...Imagine training the next generation of leaders, whether they're in politics or judges or lawyers or teachers, without this critical piece. It's very troublesome."

We could talk about how the Iroquois nearly wiped out the Huron.

That is a subject rich in depth and nuance. 

Remember - "climate change" is based on "science":

So, what happened was that I noticed a tweet in the endless stream from one of the sharpest minds I’ve encountered on the web, a fearless jouster known as DawnTJ90. She (I assume, who knows) posted a link to a story about how climate change is making sharks right handed. I marvelled in a quick comment that these parody sites are getting very creative and funny. Then I followed the link, read the story, and realized that it was serious – yet another group of grant-harvesters was “studying” this climate-change consequence and had actually published research on it, with a straight face. I therefore hastily deleted my tweet; can you imagine being such a social media loser as to be unable to tell the difference between a parody site and the real thing? I have no interest in following Howard Dean’s career down the toilet, and luckily there were no further humiliating consequences.

Shortly after, much wiser now, I stumbled across another article entitled “Situation Worsens In Venezuela, Bolivia, U.S., Japan, Mexico, Iraq, Spain” which inflicted some eye-rolling at yet another “countries that are warming faster than others” climate-change catalog of horrors. Even the most sober and solemn new sites are full of such goose-stepping analyses nowadays. I read through it to see what the catastrophe was this time.

But damn it I got it wrong again. That headline, as it turns out, emanated from The Onion, self-billed (with tongue firmly in cheek) as “America’s Finest New Source”.  You can judge that for yourself (I tend to agree) by pondering a few of their other recent headlines: “New MLB Rules Limit Number of Mound Conjugal Visits”; “Panicked Man completely out of things to talk about 5 minutes into marriage“; “Proud Business Owner tapes first Customer to Wall“; “Doctor Alarmed by How Little Time Family Needed to Decide to Pull Plug on Grandfather” and so on and so forth. The article I read was cut from similar cloth, listing unnamed ailments from virtually every country on earth as some sort of pointed commentary on how dumb those types of articles have become.

So, where does this leave us? Well, the movement to save the world has extrapolated from a simple “a warming planet may imply gradually shifting local climate characteristics”, which is reasonable and science-y enough, to teeth-rattling bombast about how any theoretical scenario imaginable that is bad is coming straight down the pipe. It’s true that we don’t really know if right-handed sharks are going to create problems, other than that they may be more analytical and less artistic, but through the lens of climate change, all that matters is that this is bad.

(Merci)

 



  
Let's hear it for the Holy spirit!:

In a press release Wednesday, the monks announced that they have received a permit to construct a microbrewery within the abbey, in which they will brew their iconic beer from recipes dating back to the 12th century.

During a launch event on Tuesday, Father Karel Stautemas, the abbey subprior, explained that the initiative is the product of four years of research into medieval books shelved in the abbey’s library, which contain information on how the monks brewed beer in the past.

“We had the books with the old recipes, but nobody could read them,” Stautemas told the National Post in a telephone interview Wednesday. “It was all in old Latin and old Dutch.

“So we brought in volunteers. We’ve spent hours leafing through the books and have discovered ingredient lists for beers brewed in previous centuries, the hops used, the types of barrels and bottles, and even a list of the actual beers produced centuries ago.”

The medieval troves were thought to be lost after the monastery near Brussels was ransacked and burned during the French Revolution in 1789.

However, a group of abbey monks are said to have saved close to 300 books from an otherwise guaranteed destruction by secretly knocking a hole in the library wall and removing them to safety.

“Beer has always been part of our life in the abbey,” said Stautemas in a release.

 

Thursday Post

A controlled burn has kept a wildfire back in northern Alberta:

The fire-threatened town of High Level in northwestern Alberta says a successful controlled burn has been carried out to help keep a raging nearby wildfire at bay.

A statement on High Level’s website said the burn — to eliminate fuel the blaze could feed on — was done Wednesday afternoon south and west of the community as part of efforts to contain the out-of-control fire.

How could this possibly go wrong?:

It is difficult to know where to begin to deplore the process by which the federal government will decide which media organizations to subsidize and which not to. So let’s start with Unifor’s involvement.

“Unifor?” you may ask. “The flamboyantly anti-Conservative labour union?”

Indeed. The mega-union representing 315,000 workers across the country, including a large percentage of anglophone Canadian journalists at legacy media outlets — and also autoworkers, because that totally makes sense ...

— will nominate one of eight people to an “independent panel of experts.” The panel will decide the criteria for divvying up tax breaks adding up to some $600 million in public funding. ...

But Unifor is the union that turned nakedly partisan during the 2015 election campaign, fundinglie-filled attack ads against Stephen Harper’s Conservatives and mortifying many journalist members whose credibility depends on their perceived political independence. More recently, Unifor’s executives have collectively styled themselves “Andrew Scheer’s worst nightmare,” eliciting more futile pleas from journalists to shut up.

Also - "transparency" is transparency:

The entire text – and there’s a lot of it – is made up of sentence after sentence of borderline meaningless bureaucratic jargon. Like this: “This plan reflects our commitment to a partnership-driven approach to build innovation ecosystems in Canada and deliver simpler, more efficient and more coordinated supports to firms at all stages of growth and Canadians at every stage of their lives.”

It goes on and on like this. You’ve got to bring out a magnifying glass and play detective to find the few sentences that contain actual content.

Liberal events always seem to be rife with violence and shouting:

A 74-year-old woman was knocked to the ground by a police officer during an anti-pipeline protest on Wednesday.

The dramatic incident, which was captured on camera by CTV Vancouver, happened outside a lunchtime Liberal fundraiser attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

In the video, the woman is seen approaching a uniformed police officer and another man dressed in a suit. The woman appears to shove one of the men, and is then forcefully pushed backwards, falling to the ground.

**

Inside, the prime minister found himself in a terse several minute long exchange with a Tsleil-Waututh Nation member, Will George, who accused him of being a “liar and a weak leader.”

“How dare you bring that through our waters, those are our spiritual highways. You have no right to do that to us,” George said.

Trudeau responded by arguing that not all First Nations are opposed to the project.

One might be tempted to not pick sides in debates like this and simply let them eat each other but this must be pointed out: if Justin really gave a sh-- about pipelines, he would have built one. As that is not going to happen, his off-script remark is as hollow as his skull.

One will simply watch his precious carbon tax get repealed in Alberta, the province he hates so much that he can taste it.


Vaguely related: Justin apologises to a dead chief but not to the veterans he has made a career of screwing over.




Is Australia's election of a much-derided political party a harbinger for Canada's Liberals?:

Australians have enjoyed 27 consecutive years of economic growth. Despite climate concern, voters feared Labor’s policies would jeopardize that streak and chose the alternative. Is it likely that Canadian voters put less weight on jobs and prosperity than those in Australia?

I believe if anything will turn the tide against Justin it won't be because he is morally and practically incapable of leading the country but because taxes will make the cost of living too high for even Canadians to tolerate. Canadians vote with their stomachs and I don't think that trend will change in the near-future.




The biggest concern of an aging population:

Canadians are increasingly concerned about how to pay for the care of aging baby boomers — and fearful that seniors will have to pay out of their own pockets, according to a survey commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association.

Not to fear. The swamped medical bureaucracy has a solution:

Three years after assisted death became legal in Canada, the medical community is debating a provocative question: should organs be removed from consenting euthanasia patients while they’re still alive?

Some say changing the rules would allow people choosing an assisted death to donate as many organs as possible — in the most optimal condition possible — because blood and oxygen would continue to flow through vital organs until the moment of retrieval.

Under this scenario, people granted an assisted death would, with their full knowledge and consent, be transported to an operating room, put to sleep under general anaesthesia and their organs removed, including the heart and lungs. Death would follow removal of the beating heart. Under so-called “euthanasia by organ donation,” the act of organ donation itself — not a lethal injection or a doctor-prescribed, life-ending dose of barbiturates — would be the mode of death.

Organ donation after euthanasia is already occurring, legally, in Canada. About 30 people who have died by “medical assistance in dying,” or MAID, since the law decriminalizing the act was passed in 2016 have consented to donate kidneys or other organs. In Ontario, 168 more have donated tissues such as corneas, skin, veins, tendons and ligaments — tissues that don’t require the same conditions as organs to survive and can be taken up to 24 hours after death.

However, under the long-standing “dead donor rule,” organs can’t be procured until donors are declared dead  — typically, five minutes after the heart has stopped beating — and the organ retrieval itself can’t lead to the death of the donor.

Does anyone remember when people warned that euthanasia would be a slippery slope and they were laughed at?




It is said that the greatest trick the Devil can play on people is convince them that he does not exist.

Case in point:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is at long last talking tough with China, we’re told. Not only that, but there’s a senior Canadian parliamentarian in China, right now, talking tough about the arbitrary imprisonment of diplomat-on-leave Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor and about Beijing’s sudden embargo on billions of dollars’ worth of Canadian canola exports.

The evidence for the amusing claims about Trudeau’s tough talk is a single milquetoast discombobulation the prime minister offered to reporters on Tuesday after touring an aluminum plant in Sept-Iles, Que. “China is playing stronger, making stronger moves than it has before to try and get its own way on the world stage and Western countries and democracies around the world are pulling together to point out that this is not something that we need to continue to allow.”

Indeed:

And now, it’s so pathetic that a former Canadian Ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques says China wouldn’t even pick up the phone if Justin Trudeau called:

“Nobody in the Chinese government wants to meet with a Canadian minister or special envoy — even if the prime minister were to phone [Chinese] President Xi Jinping, he would not take the call,” Saint-Jacques said.”

This China:

In its reliance on mass detention, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has followed the Soviet Union’s example. But, China’s concentration camps and detention centres are far larger and more technologically advanced than their Soviet precursors, and their purpose is to indoctrinate not just political dissidents, but an entire community of faith.

**

Escaping North Korea’s authoritarian regime comes at a high price. The perilous journey through China is especially punishing for many women and girls, who are forced to sell their bodies in their attempt to reach freedom. Some 60% of female North Korean defectors in China are trafficked into the sex trade, according to a new report from the U.K.-based Korea Future Initiative, with about half of those forced into prostitution and others sold into marriages or forced to perform cybersex acts for online viewers.

**

A chemical banned around the globe for the last 30 years has made an unfortunate resurgence. And all signs, in a new study, point to China as the culprit.

In the 1980s, countries came together to sign The Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer, a landmark treaty designed to halt and reduce the production of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), chemicals used in fridges and foams that had the side effect of tearing through the Earth’s ozone layer.

The Montreal Protocol has been signed by 197 countries around the world, including Canada, the U.S., and China. As the ozone layer in our upper atmosphere slowly depleted — letting in an increasing amount of the sun’s ultraviolet rays — the protocol contributed to a significant reduction in harmful CFCs, which then allowed for a slow healing of the damaged ozone layer.

That is until last year, when scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association found that global emissions of Trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) have actually been increasing since 2013.

The increase implied that someone was secretly violating the Montreal Protocol. But the limitations of measuring devices meant the location of the polluter could only be traced to somewhere in east Asia.

Now, in a new study published in Nature on May 22, scientists from the University of Bristol, Kyungpook National University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that between 40 and 60 per cent of total global CFC-11 emissions originate from eastern China.

People are shocked that a communist regime that starved its people, helped create a dictatorial vassal state south of it, massacred students in Tienanmen Square, has suppressed all political opinion and harvested the organs of religious believers (or does that only matter when they are Uighurs? Never mind.) is totalitarian?

Really?




(Merci and kamsahamnida)

Mid-Week Post

Your median point of clarity ...




From the most "transparent" government in the country's history:

The federal minister in charge of Canada's fight against money laundering supports British Columbia's public inquiry into dirty money but says a national examination is not necessary.

Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair said Tuesday money laundering is occurring across Canada and internationally, but the federal government has already started implementing measures to combat illegal money.

"From my perspective, we've already identified some very significant things that need to be done," he said. "It's been ongoing work. These types of measures, I think, will send a very clear message that Canada is cracking down."

A reminder:

As reported by the Ottawa Citizen, “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has recommended a wage increase for Chief of the Defence Staff Gen. John Vance, boosting his salary’s upper limit to $306,500. The raise is retroactive to April 1, 2018. The raise has been approved and the salary range is $260,600 to $306,500. 

“Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Prime Minister, fixes the remuneration and certain conditions of employment of General Jonathan H. Vance, Chief of the Defence Staff, as set out in the annexed schedule, which salary is within the range ($260,600 – $306,500), effective April 1, 2018,” according to the May 9 orders in council notice.” 

And for a supposedly ‘transparent government,’ the report also notes “The actual salary Vance receives is protected by the privacy act.”

Of course, we will be told that Vance helping Trudeau and Trudeau giving him a raise ‘have nothing to do with each other,’ that it’s ‘totally unrelated,’ and that it’s just a ‘coincidence.’

I'm sure that this is a coincidence, as well:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to announce Wednesday that the federal government is buying two more Arctic patrol ships on top of the six it has already ordered from Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding.

Yep. Nothing to see here:

In October, 2016, a public relations specialist employed by an Ottawa firm handling communications for Irving was informed of questions Postmedia was asking PSPC about the $60-billion Canadian Surface Combatant project. The largest procurement project in Canadian history, it will see Irving build 15 new warships to replace the navy’s existing fleet of frigates. The PR specialist declined to say who at PSPC had provided the information. At the time Postmedia complained verbally about the incident to a PSPC media relations staffer.

**

Vance was slated to testify Tuesday, but his appearance was pushed back a day as former federal cabinet minister Scott Brison's lawyers were granted standing in the case.

Norman's lawyers have accused Brison of political interference in the shipbuilding deal at the centre of the case.

They claim, in a court filing, he tried to kill the $668 million plan to lease a naval supply ship from the Davie shipyard, in Lévis, Que. on behalf of a rival, Irving Shipyard.

His lawyers deny any meddling.

**

The federal government and Halifax-based Irving Shipbuilding are asking a trade tribunal to throw out a challenge to their handling of a high-stakes competition to design the navy’s new $60-billion fleet of warships.

** 

Central to Henein’s allegations was the claim that Brison, a Nova Scotia MP, was close to Atlantic Canada’s powerful Irving family, whose shipbuilding firm had submitted its own proposal to provide a supply ship. Norman’s lawyers alleged that Brison intervened to scuttle the Asterix project on the Irving’s behalf.

And:

As the Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jon Vance, said on Facebook, the importance of the new Afghanistan Memorial Hall, particularly for the families of the fallen, “cannot be understated.”

And then of course he and the Department of National Defence (DND) went and massively understated it.

As my Ottawa Citizen colleague David Pugliese reported last week, the hall was in fact opened on May 13 in near-secrecy.

No media were invited, the military having forgotten, perhaps, that among the 190 plaques on the battlefield memorial is that of Michelle Lang, the Calgary Herald reporter who was killed Dec. 30, 2009 with four soldiers — sergeants Kirk Taylor and George Miok, Pte. Garrett Chidley and Cpl. Zachery McCormack — in an improvised explosive attack, or that hundreds of Canadian reporters were in and out of Kandahar, most as military embeds, a few as independents.

No press release was sent out.

No family members of the 159 Canadian soldiers who lost their lives in that country were invited, or any of the 1,800 who were wounded.

The Canadian Forces didn’t even announce that the memorial hall, the soldier-built memorial as its centrepiece, had been opened until three days after the ceremony, on May 16.

This was done via “the Canadian Armed Forces Operations” official Facebook page.

The post noted that the event “was attended by senior Canadian military leadership and department management.”

Widows and families were only notified by couriered letters, curiously dated May 10, that the hall “was officially opened on May 13,” though of course by then, at least for some of the recipients, it hadn’t actually happened.

Canada is back, so back that it hurts!:

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says the Canadian trash that has been rotting in the Philippines for nearly six years will be back on Canadian soil before the end of June.

McKenna says the government has awarded a contract to a shipping company, Bollore Logistics Canada, that will return 69 containers filled with household waste and electronic garbage.

The containers are what is left of 103 containers shipped by a private Canadian company to the Philippines in 2013 and 2014 and labelled improperly as plastics for recycling.

No one saw fit to dispose of the garbage Canada outsourced to a Third-World country.

Oh, boy ... 

This humiliation seems like a fitting reward for Justin and his complete inability to lead. 

It's just money:

Canadian household debt reached a record high at the end of last year even as mortgage activity slowed, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said in a report out Wednesday.

The debt to income ratio of Canadians hit a record high of 178.5 per cent in the fourth quarter last year as mortgage holders continued to take on non-mortgage debt.

The ratio increased as average monthly required payments rose 4.5 per cent compared with a year earlier, while disposable income rose only 2.5 per cent, the agency said.

Debt levels rose as average balances for credit cards and lines of credit grew at a faster pace than in 2017, especially in Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto, it said.

** 

The Doug Ford government has created a “realistic” path to balance the books but needs to find another $6 billion in spending cuts to achieve its goal, the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) projects.

The government’s budget numbers also suggest it is choosing to cut deeper and delay balancing the budget by one year in order to pay for “unannounced measures,” likely to be promised tax cuts to be delivered before the next provincial election in 2022, the FAO says.

“If the government is able to maintain its spending plan, restraining spending growth to 1%, I think it’s got a very realistic chance of achieving its plan,” Financial Accountability Officer Peter Weltman said Wednesday. “The last time that’s been done in Ontario was in the 1990s.”

(Sidebar: having Liberals run one's government is like handing one's credit and debit cards to a junkie and then wondering when one ordered forty kilos of heroin and a giraffe when one's monthly financial statement comes in.)

**

A carbon tax is a living tax but I repeat myself:

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is set to meet with his New Brunswick counterpart today to discuss a number of issues, including their shared opposition to the federal carbon tax.

Ford and Blaine Higgs have both been vocal in their opposition to the tax, which the federal government imposed earlier this year on provinces that didn’t have their own price on carbon.

Ontario’s government is waiting for a decision after fighting the tax in court.

Saskatchewan’s top court ruled in favour of the federal government in a separate legal battle against the carbon price, but that province has said it plans to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Higgs has said New Brunswick will join in that fight.

Human achievement and longer life expectancy should be self-explanatory and should not be subjected to Chicken Little scams that do not stand to scrutiny and ultimately hurt the poorest and most marginalised:

No, this girl very likely won't die from climate change
She is likely to live longer than any other cohort has done before, because she's richer, better educated and live in a technologically advanced society https://t.co/hfgnyNIhhW

— Bjorn Lomborg (@BjornLomborg) May 21, 2019

Canadian arrogance and snobbery are ineffective shields from reality.

Cases in point:

American Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may be the most unpopular U.S. diplomat in Canada in many a generation, and his diplomatic language more suitable for the alley than for high-level matters of state, but he is surely correct in reminding Canada that the so-called Northwest Passage (there are actually two routes through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago) is an international waterway. And Canada, as a trading and maritime nation, ought to recognize that, and work with the United States to establish a long-term solution for how the passage is to be used.

(Sidebar: yet no one seemed to mind that these waters were treated as Canadian territory. Hhmmm ...)

**

Did we forget that in 2007 at the Vancouver airport, Robert Dziekanski, a disoriented man, was shocked with a Taser five times by RCMP officers within minutes of their arrival on the scene, killing him? A subsequent judicial inquiry found that officers on the scene did not tell the truth about what happened; perjury convictions followed. ...

Have we forgotten entirely about the 20 years during which an ideological and incompetent coroner, Dr. Charles Smith, provided false and misleading evidence in the case of infant deaths? In 13 trials, parents were falsely convicted of raping and killing their own children. Dr. Smith was not an unknown, rogue quantity. In the 1990s he did more forensic child autopsies than any other doctor in the country. The leading child coroner in Canada falsified evidence to convict innocent parents of killing their own children. Think about that. Already at retirement age, he was stripped of his licence to practise medicine. No one else faced any consequences.

And now we have the case of Vice-Admiral Mark Norman. Whether the prime minister directly ordered the RCMP to investigate Norman is a distraction. He had no need for such improper pressure; he made his views about that known publicly, expressing his expectation that Norman would be charged nearly a year before he was. The RCMP reads the newspapers.

Not wanting to talk about it does not mean "settled":

If not, I want to know what else you call “settled.” Which of your core beliefs might a sensible, well-meaning person not share? If the answer is none, I’ll again quote Bill Buckley’s jibe that “Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.”

Political multiculturalism means never having to understand that Asians list their family names first and given names last or, conversely, that most other cultures list their given names first and are just used to doing that everywhere they go:

Ahead of a series of important international events in Japan, including a visit from U.S. President Donald Trump this weekend, Japan’s foreign minister has issued a request to the English-speaking world: Call our prime minister Abe Shinzo, not Shinzo Abe.

“The new Reiwa era was ushered in and we are hosting the Group of 20 summit. As many news organizations write Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, it is desirable for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s name to be written in a similar manner,” said foreign minister Taro Kono at a news conference Tuesday, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.

 
It's all about seeming, not doing.