Tuesday, May 31, 2022

ARBOUR'S REPORT ON SEXUAL MISCONDUCT IN OUR MILITARY

 Former supreme court justice Louise Arbour’s long-awaited report on sexual misconduct in the Canadian military is as thorough, serious and wide-reaching as anyone could’ve hoped for. It’s 700 pages long, with 48 substantial recommendations that, if implemented, will upturn the Canadian Armed Forces’ (CAF) justice system, military colleges and hermetic culture.

If Arbour herself had the power to implement the report’s 48 recommendations, most notably removing all sexual assault investigations from the military justice system, I’d be willing to bet on the side of real change. Unfortunately, she doesn’t.

Yet the PMO’s track record on the military sexual misconduct file is troubling, to say the least. The debacle with ex-defence chief Jonathan Vance, who was convicted of obstruction of justice in connection to a relationship he had with a subordinate, revealed a PMO only concerned with women’s rights up until the point that protecting them may result in bad publicity.

EPIDEMIC OF COVID-JAB INJURIES

The charts are based on an insurance industry expert analysis of the CDC’s aggregate data. All age groups experienced excess mortality, especially millennials, Dowd explained during an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room, back in March.

“What we found is pretty shocking,” he told Bannon. “The millennial age group—25 to 44—experienced an 84 percent increase in excess mortality in the fall,” Dowd said, calling it “the worst excess mortality” numbers in history.

Dowd pointed out that deaths accelerated after the mandates and boosters came out.

“Starting in the summer into the fall, with the mandates and the boosters, there were 61,000 excess millennial deaths,” Dowd said. “Basically, millennials experienced a Vietnam War in the second half of 2021.”

PARLIAMENT VOTES TO KEEP BAN ON UN-JABBED CANADIAN TRAVELERS

The Canadian Parliament voted 202 to 117 on Monday to uphold Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s COVID vaccine mandate for air, train, and sea travelers across the country.

The now-defeated motion “to immediately revert to pre-pandemic rules and service levels for travel” was introduced by Conservative Member of Parliament Melissa Lantsman. Besides one independent MP voting alongside Lantsman, all the other 115 “Yea” votes came from her fellow Conservative Party members.

All 202 “Nay” votes came from the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party, and the Bloc Quebecois, indicating that NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is fulfilling his promise to Trudeau that his party will back the Liberals until the next election in 2025.

Monday, May 30, 2022

THE FINGER POINTING & CYA BEGINS OVER FROZEN BANK ACCOUNTS

  Scotiabank is the first of the ‘big five’ banks to issue an apology over the freezing of bank accounts belonging to a trucker convoy protester.
  In an email from the office of the CEO of Scotiabank (Brian J. Porter) asked protest spokesperson Benjamin Dichter to, “Please accept our sincere apologies for the frustration and inconvenience this situation may have caused and thank you for your patience while we prepared our response.”
   “I don’t believe the banks went out of their way to target clients. I believe It came from somewhere else. They didn’t do it on their own accord.” Dichter Said.
   In the email dated March 3rd, Scotiabank alludes to an RCMP “notification” as the impetus for what happened to Dichter and hundreds of others.

9900 HYDRO OTTAWA CUSTOMERS STILL WITHOUT POWER

Update: as of 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Hydro Ottawa says 9,900 customers are still without power although it has restored power to 94 per cent of those affected by last weekend’s storm.

Even so, some councillors were dealing with anger and frustrations from residents who were still in the dark, more than eight days after the storm.

“There is a lack of information at the local level. People want to know if they should buy a generator or go stay with relatives,” said River Ward Coun. Riley Brockington. “For those who live in the small pockets, it’s frustrating. They have no timelines. They feel abandoned and ignored.”

UKRAINE DESTROYS RUSSIAN SUPPLY BASE

A devastating artillery ambush from Ukrainian forces this week destroyed huge swathes of Russian supply vehicles, in a huge blow to Vladimir Putin's invading forces.

Ukraine's 45th Artillery Brigade launched a devastating barrage of artillery strikes on Russian positions in southeast Ukraine this week. The brutal ambush was captured on film, as the massive strikes took Russian positions in Huliaipole, Zaporizhzhia Oblast. This comes as fighting in the east of the country intensifies with Russia pouring forces into taking the Donbas region.

RUNAWAY LIBERAL SPENDING

 Middle-class Canadian taxpayers are in for a world of hurt as a result of runaway Liberal spending.

Since the Trudeau government came to power in 2015, federal spending has increased by 82 per cent from $248.7 billion under Stephen Harper to $452.3 billion in the current fiscal year.

During that period, inflation has been just 18.7 per cent. Population growth has been 6.5 per cent, meaning federal spending under Trudeau has far outstripped both the rising cost of living and the increase in population.

Sunday, May 29, 2022

RCMP DID NOT CONSIDER ISSUING A WARNING OF NS SHOOTER

   The national Alert Ready public warning system was introduced to Nova Scotia in 2011 to broadcast warnings over television and radio but cellphone warnings were added to the system in 2018.
   Issuing alerts initially fell to the province’s Emergency Management Office but EMO executive director Paul Mason told the inquiry that the office had offered in 2016 for the RCMP and the two largest municipal police forces in the province to become system trusted users that could independently send out alerts without going through EMO.
   None of the three accepted the offer.
   Mason testified that his office reached out to the RCMP on the morning of April 19, 2020, about issuing an alert and he was shocked that the Mounties hadn’t considered sending out a warning. No alert was ever issued.

FAIRY TALES FROM LEGACY MEDIA

   The Trudeau Liberals invented a news story that “racist slurs” were being hurled at attendees of a Trudeau fundraiser in Surrey, BC. Unsurprisingly, the legacy media immediately ran the story. There was only one problem – it was never true. Countless legacy media outlets had to backtrack and change their news stories after being called out for fake news.
   Plus, it’s been one year since the apparent discovery of unmarked graves found near residential schools and the story still hasn’t been verified. But that hasn’t stopped leftist activists and politicians from continuing to falsely accuse Canada of committing “genocide.”

NORTH AMERICA NEEDS AN ENERGY REVOLUTION

 This fall, Quebec’s proposal to build a $1-billion transmission line to carry additional hydro-electric power to markets in New England was rejected. Ironically, many of the anti-development organizations that opposed the transmission line also opposed the XL oil pipeline from Alberta to southern refineries and others through British Columbia.

Hydro-Québec’s rejection is another major trade setback that threatens Canada’s natural resource and energy industries, and is why the Canadian and American federal governments should embark on creating a North American energy grid to ensure energy self-sufficiency, transition to alternatives, and keep costs down for consumers. Internally, Canada should resurrect the Energy East pipeline scheme.

Saturday, May 28, 2022

DISTURBING POST-COVID JAB DEATH STATISTICS

 For months, a key piece of data had eluded Steve Kirsch, executive director of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation. “I’ve been asking everyone: Show me the all-cause mortality data proving the vaccines are safe.” On May 5, he wrote on Substack that he finally had the data. But, like pretty much every other government intervention on COVID-19, Kirsh found the younger the vaccinated were, the more likely they were to die than if they had refused the jab.

CHANGING RATIO OF WORKERS TO SENIORS

 1966 there were 7.7 working-age individuals for every senior. This ratio has dropped quickly since then and stands at 3.4 in 2022. Statistics Canada projects this trend will continue in the decades ahead. There will be just 3.0 working-age people for each senior by 2027, after which the ratio will slowly fall further to reach 2.3 by 2068.

he shrinking ratio of working-age Canadians to seniors will put pressure on public finances in the years ahead as there will be fewer working taxpayers to help fund cash transfers to seniors and the increasing health care costs that will result from an aging population.

RADICAL PROPOSALS FROM WEF 2022

As the World Economic Forum (WEF) comes to a wrap, True North has been reporting on some of the most radical proposals the elites in attendance have championed.

WEF panels on a range of topics from climate change to the metaverse have revealed some startling and controversial projects, including an individual carbon tracker and global surveillance for viral outbreaks.

“The problem with the World Economic Forum isn’t that it’s some shadowy cabal secretly pulling the strings of world leaders,” True North senior journalist Andrew Lawton said from Davos, where he’s covering the WEF’s annual meeting. “The organization is quite open about its agenda to phase out oil and gas, ‘recalibrate’ free speech, and push for social credit-style carbon emissions tracking.”

DOCTOR CLAIMS HE PROTECTED CHILDREN

   A Toronto doctor is facing no professional discipline after admitting to giving the Covid-19 vaccine to at least 500 kids as young as six months old, despite the shot not being approved for children under the age of five.
   According to the Toronto Star, Dr. Christopher Sun from Weston-Mount Dennis stands by his decision and claims he did it “to protect children.”
   “I put my neck on the line and did what I wanted to get done, which was to protect children,” Sun told the outlet. “These are worried parents in time of a health crisis and I think it’s wrong to turn away people who know what they are getting into.”

KAMLOOPS MASS GRAVE DEBUNKED AS FAKE NEWS

One year ago today, the leaders of the British Columbia First Nation Band Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc announced the discovery of a mass grave of more than 200 Indigenous children detected at a residential school in British Columbia.

“We had a knowing in our community that we were able to verify. To our knowledge, these missing children are undocumented deaths,” Rosanne Casimir, chief of the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, said in a statement on May 27, 2021.

Since last year’s announcement, there have been no excavations at Kamloops nor any dates set for any such work to commence. Nothing has been taken out of the ground so far, according to a Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc spokesman.

RUSSIA COVETS UKRAINE"S NATURAL GAS & RARE EARTH MINERALS

  Ukraine has the potential to become a "critical mineral superpower," according to a recent evaluation by SecDev, an Ottawa-based research and analysis think-tank.
   The country ranks fourth globally in terms of total assessed value of natural resources, with roughly $15 billion in annual output and a potential "assessed value [that] could be as high as $7.5 trillion," according to the report.
   Beyond that, Ukraine is thought to have the largest supply of recoverable rare earth resources in Europe, although much of it is undeveloped. Rare earth minerals (cerium, yttrium, lanthanum and neodymium) and alloys are used in many devices people use every day, such as computer memory, rechargeable batteries, cellphones and much more.

ILL-INFORMED & UNPRODUCTIVE COMMENTS FROM USA AMBASSADOR

 In an interview with the National Post on Wednesday, the American ambassador David Cohen was asked if the U.S. is interested in increasing energy links with Canada.

“Yes, there may be interest in expanding the relationship. But, given climate change imperatives, the United States is not really in the market for expanding its dependence on fossil fuels,” he said. “We’d have a lot more interest in expanding our hydro-power relationship with Canada and expanding our access to cleaner energies.”

Sonya Savage, Alberta’s energy minister, took exception to the implications of the ambassador’s comments.

Friday, May 27, 2022

GOLDEN PIG AWARDS FOR WORST GOV'T WASTE

The Trudeau government’s infamous climate delegations were the big winners at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF)’s 24th annual Teddy Waste Awards in Calgary on Wednesday, taking home the 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award for wasting taxpayers’ money.

CTF Alberta director Kris Sims and federal director Franco Terrazzano announced the nominees and winners at a gala-themed presentation that was live streamed by the Western Standard, honouring “the best of the worst of government waste.”

SUING GM OVER FALSE CLAIMS OF "GREEN CAR OF THE YEAR"

A class action lawsuit is being brought before a Quebec court alleging that the battery performance of the Chevrolet Bolt – 2017’s “Green Car of the Year” – isn’t as advertised.

As reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, General Motors boasted that the 2017 Chevrolet Bolt was able to drive up to 383 kilometers before needing to be charged. However, plaintiffs in the lawsuit are alleging that the vehicle’s range during winter before requiring a charge is a lot lower than advertised.

“The range of the Bolt electric vehicle does not even reach 300 kilometres,” they claim. They also say that colder weather drastically increases the battery’s charging time and that General Motors was “(a)ware of this situation as early as 2017 but knowingly omitted to mention it to the plaintiff and other members of the class.”

HYSTERICAL MEDIA COVERAGE OF POILIEVRE

There’s a general consensus that Pierre Poilievre is the front-runner in the Conservative party leadership race. Whether you’re a Conservative (or conservative) or not, and whether you support Poilievre or not, everything from the size of the crowds at his events, to the traction of his social media messages to opinion polling suggest he’s the man to beat.
   Of course, those who don’t support Poilievre are naturally concerned about his apparent momentum. Well, more like upset. Actually, make that hysterical.
   Poilievre is running a “hard-right, populist and ideological campaign” wrote Global BC’s Keith Baldrey. “Trump playbook, continued” warned Ottawa lobbyist Rick Anderson on Twitter. Gary Mason at the Globe and Mail may have needed a lie-down after penning an apoplectic piece blaming Poilievre for future travesties by “running one of the most dishonest, contemptible campaigns ever seen in Canada.”

MONKEYPOX IS AN INSIGNIFICANT BIOTHREAT

   The threat posed by monkeypox is real, very real. Or is it?
   According to Dr. Robert Malone, not really. But you could be forgiven for thinking otherwise. The way in which the virus is being covered, Malone recently noted, “provides a classical example of public health fearporn.”
  CNN, one of the many outlets breathlessly covering the virus, “should be reprimanded for broadcasting irresponsible propaganda—misinformation and disinformation—under the guise of journalism,” wrote Malone. In his opinion, this virus and disease, “which is endemic in Africa,” is “readily controlled by classical public health measures.”
   More importantly, it “does not [emphasis mine] have a high mortality rate.” This insignificant biothreat “has never been considered a high threat pathogen in the past.”

NOVA SCOTIA INQUIRY LOSING PUBLIC CONFIDENCE

   Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission was formed to obsessively probe the details of Canada’s worst mass shooting and ensure that such a thing could never happen again. Instead, according to the families of those killed, it has devolved into a “restricted” process that has “further traumatized” the very people it was supposed to serve.
  This week, a law firm representing 14 of the 22 victims killed in the April, 2020 tragedy announced they would be boycotting hearings after commissioners allowed two “critical” RCMP witnesses to evade cross-examination.
  “Our clients are disheartened and further traumatized by the Commissioners’ decision to not allow their own lawyers to … participate in the questioning of whom they view to be amongst the most crucial RCMP ‘in command’ members,” reads a Wednesday statement by Patterson Law.

RETRAINING CHINA'S AMBASSADOR TO CANADA

   Beijing’s ambassador to Canada, Cong Peiwu, has been away from his Ottawa post since the end of January – attending to what the Chinese embassy described as official business in China.
   Guy Saint-Jacques, who served as Canada’s ambassador to China from 2012 to 2016, said Mr. Cong’s absence “is not normal.” One would expect a foreign envoy to remain in their post except for a periodic visit to headquarters or annual vacation, he said.
   Mr. Saint-Jacques speculated that Mr. Cong has been called back to undergo training in “Xi Jinping Thought,” which would be required schooling for rising Chinese government officials. The political ideology of Mr. Xi, China’s President and the General-Secretary of the Communist Party of China, is required learning for party cadres. It’s been recognized in China’s constitution and this year Beijing’s Ministry of Education announced Xi Jinping Thought would be taught to Chinese students starting at the primary school level.

Thursday, May 26, 2022

"SEXUAL MISCONDUCT A PUBLIC RELATIONS PROBLEM IN THE MILITARY"

 The military sees sexual misconduct as a public relations problem that needs to be managed to avoid negative media coverage rather than a serious issue to actually be dealt with, some Canadian Forces members have told a former Supreme Court Justice, Louise Arbour, examining such wrongdoing.

One senior retired officer told Arbour’s team that National Defence and the Canadian Forces typically respond to sexual misconduct allegations by trying to undercut victims and protect the senior leadership. Sexual misconduct is seen as a public-relations problem, the officer added.

“The institution minimizes the problem, attacks accusers and places a desire to protect senior leaders with positive/neutral (media) coverage ahead of any concern for the well-being of victims and other members of the Defence Team,” the officer noted in the presentation to Arbour.

ILLOGICAL GOVERNMENT COVID POLICIES

As government Covid policies continue to take their toll on Canadian lives, a B.C. nurse is speaking up about how vaccine mandates have upended her young family, taken away her career and even prevented her from deploying again to disaster zones overseas.

“In 2021, my workplace awarded me with the employee that fulfilled their ‘Good Samaritan’ values and missions award,” she said. “Not long after that, I was fired by the same company due to not getting the covid vaccine. There was no consideration for religious exemptions or any other exemptions.”

“My previous workplace (Hillside Village LTC/Complex Care Facility) has continued to have covid outbreaks when all the staff, residents and visitors are all double vaccinated. So how does it make sense that we can no longer work?”

GAME WARDEN & HIS DOG TO THE RESCUE

A game warden in Maine and his dog Koda are proud to have had a very good week after locating two missing people in only three days.

Warden Jake Voter and Koda rescued an 11-year-old from St. Albans on Friday, just hours after she was reported missing by tracking her scent.

The duo then came to the rescue of a 77-year-old woman in Bremen on Monday morning, who has been missing since at least Saturday, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

USA AMBASSADOR: CANADA'S DEFENSE SPENDING NEEDS TO INCREASE

   OTTAWA – The Liberals talked a bigger game than they delivered in the spring budget, America’s Ambassador David Cohen said Wednesday, arguing Canada still needs to increase military spending to reflect current global realities.
   In an exclusive interview with the National Post , Cohen said while the $8-billion increase the Liberal government pledged in the budget is significant, it won’t get Canada to where it should be.
   “In the public discourse leading up to the release of the budget, the rhetoric from senior Canadian government officials implied that there would be a significant increase in defence spending,” he said. “It’s fair to say that although $8 billion is more money, it was a little disappointing as matched against the rhetoric that we heard leading into the release of the budget.”

NOVA SCOTIA COVER-UP CONTINUES

TRURO, N.S. — The inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia is expected to hear today from a retired senior Mountie who has been granted special accommodations to ensure he is not re-traumatized by having to relive the tragic, 13-hour event.

Staff Sgt. Al Carroll will not have to testify in person today. Instead, he is expected to answer questions via a Zoom call. And the commission of inquiry has also agreed to allow him to take as many breaks as he needs.

The inquiry's three commissioners agreed Tuesday to grant accommodations for two other senior Mounties, who were told they will not have to face cross-examination from lawyers who represent relatives of the 22 victims.

That move prompted several lawyers to boycott the hearings Wednesday, and the protest was expected to continue today and into next week.

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

TAMARA LICH STAYS FREE ON BAIL

 Ontario Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips said he made his decision because she has followed her bail conditions, her surety has supervised her well and she’s already had a “taste of jail,” which he said lowered her risk to reoffend.

The judge said he does not accept that Lich breached her release conditions by agreeing to receive an award, and added Lich can be trusted to respect the conditions of her release.

“The courts are not a thought police. We seek only to control conduct to the extent that certain behaviour will violate or likely lead to violation of the law,” he said.

HIGH GAS PRICES? RIDE A BIKE TO WORK

 The Ontario Liberal candidate in Durham said the quiet part about high gas prices out loud: they are a blessing in disguise.

At an all candidates debate two weeks ago, Granville Anderson said high gas prices might help get people out of their cars.

“Maybe that’s a silver lining and that may allow people to think outside the box and say maybe I better look at seeing if I can ride a bike to work or buy an electric car,” Anderson said on the issue of higher gas prices.

DISRESPECT INTENDED

Some attendees at the residential school graves memorial in Kamloops, B.C. on Monday were unhappy with the presence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“You’re a criminal,” one protester shouted from the crowd.

“We’re here to honour the missing,” Trudeau tried to continue.

Shut up,” yelled another protester.

WEF WANTS MORE CONTROL

   World leaders, CEO’s and the global elite are in Davos, Switzerland to lecture others on how to live their lives. Panelists at the World Economic Forum (WEF) are discussing a wide-range of issues, including how to fight climate change, promoting equity and other leftist causes.
  There have been a lot of discussion about the WEF in recent weeks, including its impact on Canada. But rather than take the concerns of Canadians seriously, the legacy media has characterized any criticism of the WEF as a conspiracy theory – including Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre. Over the weekend, Poilievre told his supporters that he would ban cabinet ministers from attending the WEF. Journalists in the legacy media immediately descended on Poilievre and accused him of pushing conspiracy theories.
  What’s really going on at the WEF? What are the conspiracy theories and what are the facts?

RUSSIA SCRAMBLES FOR MORE SOLDIERS

   Several mobile military enlistment offices could be seen Saturday on the sidelines of an annual half-marathon race in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.
   “Mobile selection point for contract service,” read the blue lettering on the side of one of the large trucks, which was suspended over an image of an aircraft carrier and a fighter jet. Another photograph from the event showed recruitment officers mingling with runners.
   Such recruitment points appear to be an increasingly common sight in Russian cities as the Kremlin struggles to redress the army’s manpower shortage in Ukraine without formally declaring war and announcing a full, or partial, mobilization.
   Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has been fought on multiple fronts in the face of a spirited Ukrainian defense, has severely depleted Moscow’s infantry reserves, analysts say, and military officials are rushing to plug the hole.

AUTHORIZING AN INVASIVE SEARCH

   What is a reasonable general concern?
   That’s not a rhetorical question. I really don’t know the answer. I’m not sure anyone else does, either.
   And that’s exactly the problem with Bill S-7, a new piece of government legislation, which amends both the Customs Act and the Preclearance Act.
   Bill S-7 set a new standard to allow border services officers to search through our cellphones, laptops, tablets, Apple Watches and other personal computers. If the bill passes, it will allow officers who feel a “reasonable general concern” to search through the emails, documents, texts, instant messages, photos or videos stored on our digital devises, to look for evidence that we may have violated customs regulations.

QUEBEC ADOPTS NEW LANGUAGE LAW

 Quebec Premier François Legault sought to reassure anglophones that his government's language law reform, adopted on Tuesday, won't prevent people from accessing health care in English.

The law, known as Bill 96, passed by a vote of 78-29, with the Opposition Liberals opposing it on the grounds that it goes too far and the Parti Québécois opposing it on the grounds that it is too timid.

Legault said he believes most Quebecers support the law, and that while "a few people" want the province to become bilingual, the majority of anglophones accept that French is Quebec's common language.

Tuesday, May 24, 2022

NO CROSS-EXAMINATION FOR SENIOR RCMP IN NS COVER-UP

HALIFAX — Two lawyers are criticizing a decision Tuesday to allow senior RCMP witnesses to avoid cross-examination before the inquiry investigating the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia.

The federal-provincial commission of inquiry has agreed to provide special accommodations for three senior Mounties when they testify about command decisions they made as the tragedy unfolded.

Two of the Mounties, Staff Sgt. Brian Rehill and Sgt. Andy O’Brien, will face questions from commission counsel via Zoom calls that will be recorded and broadcast at a later date. Participants and lawyers who wish to observe their testimony must remain off screen with their microphones muted while each Mountie is speaking.

TRUCKER FREEDOM CONVOY EXPOSES THE COLLAPSE OF LIBERALISM

What is the future of civil disobedience, of protest, of liberty in Canada? The Freedom Convoy has been framed as sedition, insurrection, a cause for the Emergency Act. What excuse will future governments cook up? The convoy protests of 2022 has revealed, especially for the working class, not so much the fact of liberal democracy but the myth of liberal democracy. The mainstream narrative about the protest is a case study of how, through the clever and careful use of language, politicians and the media can manipulate the emotions of citizens, influencing their perceptions and actions. The truckers for two years were lauded as heroes, but media spin and political ridicule turned them into enemies, “mercenaries.” The story we’ve been told about the truckers must not stand. In May 2022, 5 to 6 million Canadians are unvaccinated. Accepting the media spin about the trucker convoy as history ensures another group of people will be shown the door as Canada morphs into a society, based on who is “in” and who is “out.”
 Grab a coffee.  And a snack.

ORGANIC FARMING IN SRI LANKA TRIGGERS ITS DEVASTATION

 From the ethically sourced produce shops of Islington to the chemical-free acres of the Prince of Wales's Highgrove farm, you could almost hear the cheering three years ago when Sri Lanka's future president pledged a revolution.

It wouldn't be on the streets but in the fields — as Gotabaya Rajapaksa vowed in his successful 2019 election campaign to transform the country into the world's first fully organic farming nation.

The consequences have been nothing short of catastrophic. Going organic — the bold, modern vision of the UK's green lobby — has triggered the devastation of Sri Lanka's economy, plunging much of its 22 million-strong population into desperate straits.

TRUDEAU'S INTERNET LAWS WILL MUZZLE HIS CRITICS

Imagine you woke up one morning to find out your Facebook account had been locked out.

At first you think maybe you got hacked, but when you check your email, you see something from Facebook informing you that, unfortunately, according to the new censorship laws, the status update you posted that contained a criticism of the government was labelled as “hate speech” and “disinformation,” so they were forced to shut your account down.

That may seem like a bit of a wild example, but that possible future is closer than you think.

Right now the federal government has three bills they want to pass through Parliament – two of which are being voted on right now – which would allow the government to take direct regulatory control of what you see, say and read online.

FOX NEWS SEEN AS SECURITY THREAT TO CANADA

 Canada's intelligence community will have to grapple with the growing influence of anti-democratic forces in the United States — including the threat posed by conservative media outlets like Fox News — says a new report from a task force of intelligence experts.

"The United States is and will remain our closest ally, but it could also become a source of threat and instability," says a newly published report written by a task force of former national security advisers, former Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) directors, ex-deputy ministers, former ambassadors and academics.

During the convoy protest, Fox host Tucker Carlson — whose show draws in millions of viewers every night — called Trudeau a "Stalinist dictator" on air and accused him of having "suspended democracy and declared Canada a dictatorship."


Monday, May 23, 2022

HSBC SUSPENDS GLOBAL HEAD OF RESPONSIBLE INVESTING

The move comes following a speech he gave at an FT Moral Money event on 19 May, in which Kirk bemoaned that throughout his financial career there has always been "some nutjob telling me about the end of the world".

"What bothers me about this one is the amount of work these people make me do," he said.

Kirk also asked: "Who cares if Miami is six metres under water in 100 years?

"Amsterdam has been six metres underwater for ages and that is a really nice place. We will cope with it."

A BIT LATE TO THE GAME, TO SAY THE LEAST

As legal action continues across Canada over the constitutionality of pandemic measures, three federal public sector unions have said they will now defend their members against the Trudeau government’s ongoing vaccine mandates.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada (PIPSC), the Canadian Association of Professional Employees (CAPE) and the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) have all filed grievances against the federal government on behalf of their members, as reported by the National Post.

Altogether, the three unions represent over 300,000 public servants. According to the Treasury Board, 1,828 of them had been forced onto leave without pay by the end of March.

THE STRANGE PHONINESS OF DAVOS

  Andrew Lawton:  The World Economic Forum’s first in-person annual meeting in more than two years kicked off today in Davos, Switzerland.

It’s been eye-opening to see just how inauthentic much of it is.

These glitzy fa̤ades adorn temporary outposts used by companies Рand even countries Рto promote themselves to the thousands of elites descending on Davos for the weeklong summit.

The real estate, the temporary face-lifts, and the hospitality tabs, not to mention the costs to attend the WEF meeting itself, total in the millions. In these spaces, companies woo investors and politicians. Countries try to attract to find capital.

CANADA NOW A DISSENT-STIFLING AUTHORITARIAN STATE

 Two decades ago, when I was 4 years old, my parents immigrated to Canada from India in search of greater freedoms, autonomy and economic opportunities. They’re core Canadian values — enshrined in our national anthem, which gloriously heralds “The True North strong and free.”

However, the past two years have seen a near complete erosion of the foundational liberal values that have attracted millions of immigrants like myself to this country.

Under the once-righteous guise of COVID safety and online protections, the Canadian government has taken its power to extreme levels once only imaginable — let alone permissible — in a dissent-stifling authoritarian state.

RUSSIA'S CYBERWARRIORS STRUGGLING IN UKRAINE

  One day after Russian tanks broke through Ukrainian border posts on February 24, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a rare "Shields Up" alert warning that "every organization — large and small — must be prepared to respond to disruptive cyber activity."
   The expectation was that Russia would attack not only Ukraine but also Ukraine's western allies.
  For some reason, that hasn't really happened in a big way.
   Instead, Russia has found itself being hacked — in one instance with embarrassing results that surely must have marred President Vladimir Putin's Victory Day extravaganza.

RARE EARTH MINE IN NWT STARTS SHIPPING

 Canada has begun supplying the world with minerals critical to a greener economy with the country’s first rare earth mine delivering concentrated ore.

“Canada and its allies are gaining independence from the rare earth supply chain from China,” said David Connelly of Cheetah Resources, which owns the Nechalacho Mine southwest of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories.

Rare earths are a series of exotically named elements such as ytterbium, lanthanum and gadolinium. They are crucial to computers, LED displays, wind turbines, electric cars and many other products essential to a low-carbon world.

Sunday, May 22, 2022

BLM SUPPORTERS GOT WHAT THEY PAID FOR

More details recently emerged about epic payouts to, and property purchases by, the leaders and family members of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, one of the main organisations formed under the banner of Black Lives Matter to raise awareness about police brutality against black Americans. In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, BLMGNF raised $90million, $12million of which has been spent on property. One of the leaders of BLMGNF, Patrisse Cullors, came under fire for purchasing four high-end homes herself, and BLMGNF also paid nearly $1million to a company owned by the father of Cullors’ child, while her brother received $840,000 for ‘security services’, according to tax filings.

CANADA'S BABY FORMULA SHORTAGE

A factory in Kingston, Ontario given $225 million in taxpayer money is sending all of the baby formula it produces to China while Canadian parents struggle to find it.

Built in 2019, the Canada Royal Milk Plant uses Canadian-based dairy – including cow and goat milk – to make baby formula.

Canada Royal Milk is owned by the Chinese company Feihe International Inc. but has received Canadian government funding to the tune of $225 million.

VIOLENT STORM POUNDS ONTARIO & QUEBEC

   The first long weekend of the summer season began in tragic fashion in Ontario on Saturday after a powerful storm killed at least two people in its swift but intense path across the southern part of the province.
   Tens of thousands of residents also found themselves without power, according to utility Hydro One, whose outage map showed roughly 1,936 outages leaving more than 343,000 people in the dark as of Saturday evening.
   Ontario Premier Doug Ford extended his condolences to the loved ones of those killed when the storm, with winds Environment Canada logged at up to 132 km/h at times, downed trees and power lines in a swath of the province stretching from Sarnia to Ottawa.
  Environment Canada issued tornado warnings for several regions of Quebec on Saturday as violent storms knocked out power for more 500,000 Quebec customers.

"THERE IS NO CONVOY TO SUPPORT"

A judge will decide on Wednesday whether Tamara Lich should be returned to jail over alleged violations of her bail conditions or whether those conditions should be relaxed to reinstate Lich’s access to her social media accounts.

Superior Court Justice Kevin Phillips will consider exhaustive arguments on both opposing proposals heard over a two-day, two-pronged bail review, with Assistant Crown Attorney Moiz Karimjee arguing Lich’s bail should be revoked over her acceptance of a “freedom award” from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, among other alleged violations.

This week’s much-anticipated bail review of one of the most prominent “Freedom Convoy” leaders had initially been scheduled for Lich’s lawyer, Lawrence Greenspon, to challenge the bail condition restricting her from using any social media accounts.

HUAWEI BAN IS NOT THE END OF CHINA SPYING ON CANADA

 OTTAWA — Banning the use of equipment from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE in Canada’s 4G and 5G infrastructure will help make the country somewhat safer — but in no way solve the problem of potential espionage, security experts say.

The fact is that all telecommunications equipment has security vulnerabilities, says Stephanie Carvin, an associate professor of international relations at Carleton University.

“And just a simple ban on Huawei isn’t going to fix that. China doesn’t need Huawei to spy on us.”

But, she cautioned, Canada is going to have to act much more quickly in the future, instead of taking years to issue a decision like it did with Huawei.

Saturday, May 21, 2022

"RECUSE YOURSELF" CROWN PROSECUTOR TELLS JUDGE

   Thursday’s bail review for Freedom Convoy leader Tamara Lich featured some unexpectedly heated exchanges between the judge and prosecutor that threatened to derail a hearing where the Crown is seeking to revoke Lich’s bail and return her to custody for allegedly breaching her release conditions.
  Frustrations boiled over in the afternoon session after the judge made critical comments about Karimjee’s “demeanour.” 
   “I’m doing my job,” Karimjee shot back. “And it’s my duty when (defence) counsel objects to a question before I’ve completed it, when an email is not being filed … when I am permitted to introduce this as evidence. And Your Honour has made some comments during the proceeding…”
  The verbal sparring match continued, however, as Karimjee then raised the prospect of filing a “mistrial application” and referenced several clashes between the prosecutor and judge through the day.
 

YES, DEFICITS & DEBT DO MATTER

Ontario is awash in red ink and politicians are rushing to dive headfirst into deficit river.

 In this spring’s provincial election campaign, leaders have been crisscrossing the province trying to sell their spend-happy plans to voters. Every major party is pledging to run a deficit at or above $19.9 billion, a record-high in the entire history of the province.

Our politicians would have Ontarians believe that of all of this government debt won’t impact today’s taxpayers. They squirm when taxpayers rightly ask what deficits will mean for future generations, but most politicians continuously claim that deficits are necessary and won’t impact taxpayers in the short-term.

CRA THREW AWAY $MILLIONS OF TAXPAYERS' MONEY

The Canada Revenue Agency gave millions in taxpayer funding in the form of the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) to hundreds of companies that owed the government taxes and eventually went bankrupt.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, an Inquiry of Ministry requested by Conservative MP Anna Roberts shows that 750 firms that became insolvent received $145.9 million in emergency funds.

“(Of those companies) 352 owed back taxes to the Canada Revenue Agency when they were sent the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy payments,” government staffers wrote.

POILIEVRE DERANGEMENT SYNDROME HAS BEGUN

“Poilievre derangement syndrome” has taken hold of legacy media reporters this week, as they attempted to tie Poilievre’s support of the Freedom Convoy to the horrific Buffalo shooting. Poilievre’s rivals, Patrick Brown and Jean Charest, couldn’t help but pile on. The Brown campaign even went as far as to alert all Conservative members that a “high-profile” Poilievre supporter used “alarming language” that closely resembles the idiotic “white replacement theory.”

But it doesn’t stop there. The legacy media also attacked Poilievre over holding and publicly disclosing his cryptocurrency assets while promoting the benefits of decentralized currency during his campaign. The problem for the legacy media is that not only was it not a secret that Poilievre held crypto assets, it is entirely legal and there are actually more Liberal MPs that disclosed crypto assets than Conservatives.

THE BANK OF CANADA HAS FAILED TO CONTROL INFLATION

   The Bank of Canada’s misjudgment of the economy has resulted in serious overshooting of its inflation target of two per cent, plus or minus one per cent. Not only did overall inflation, as conservatively measured by the CPI, rise 6.8 per cent in April, but 70 per cent of its components were above the Bank’s upper limit of three per cent. Inflation is trending higher every month, as prices rose in March and April at a 10.2 per cent rate. May will be worse when Statcan finally incorporates used car prices in the CPI and gas prices continue above $2 a litre.
   Headlines say inflation is the highest in three decades, but the 6.9 per cent rate in January 1991 was actually a one-month spike due to the introduction of the GST. In reality, inflation in Canada is undergoing its sharpest and most prolonged resurgence since 1983, almost 40 years ago.
   Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem lamely defends his institution, saying “we got more things right than we got wrong.” Nonsense. What the bank got wrong was the only thing that should matter to a central bank: controlling inflation.

EXPECT AN EXTENDED BOUT OF INFLATION

  Ross McKitrick:   Canada will not escape. Aside from cross-border transmission of price shocks, our monetary expansion was dramatic as well, with Bank of Canada asset holdings jumping from C$105 billion in March 2020 to C$450 billion in December 2021, most of which consisted of purchases of Canadian government bonds. And we have experienced similar negative supply shocks, including policy-driven restrictions on energy production, expansion of the regulatory burden and food-sector contraction due to war-induced price changes. The Bank of Canada has begun to shed assets (C$20 billion since December 2021) but to get control of the situation it will need to take sustained aggressive action.

Friday, May 20, 2022

NS FAMILY COURT RULES IT CAN NOT INTERVENE IN CASE

 A Nova Scotia court ruled it cannot intervene in the child protection case of a teenage Syrian refugee whose father allegedly beat her, breaking her nose, when he learned she had been texting a boy.

The family came to Canada in 2016 under a refugee resettlement program.

Last November, police were called after the father allegedly punched his daughter five times and hit her with a belt between 30 and 50 times.

STILL WAITING FOR PROOF

   May 27, 2022 will mark the one year anniversary of a shocking event that changed the course of Canadian history. Last year on May 27th, Chief Rosanne Casimir announced that ground penetrating radar (GPR) had detected the remains of 215 children who had died at the Kamloops Indian Residential School (KIRS) under sinister circumstances. More shocking still, Chief Casimir claimed that children as young as six had been awakened in the middle of the night to secretly bury these children in the apple orchard.
    The nation was thrown into a frenzy of self-flagellation. The Prime Minister had the flag lowered – where it stayed for six months – politicians openly wept, orange shirts were worn, monuments of small shoes appeared spontaneously all across Canada, churches were burned and vandalized, condemnations were issued by the Pope and world leaders, and lawyers immediately filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court at the Hague.
   Yet strangely, to date no actual proof of human remains has been found anywhere.

LEFTY MEDIA HAS THE VAPOURS OVER TERM, ANGLO SAXON

   Brian Lilley:  Have you heard the latest from the chattering classes about Pierre Poilievre?
   They have proof that he’s a racist and a white supremacist because he used the term Anglo Saxon.
   I wish I was making this up but there are actual stories out there making this claim by supposedly serious journalists.

FURY OVER WESTERN UNIVERSITY LGBTQ POSTER

Local Muslim leaders say their goal is “understanding and harmony” amid pushback against the depiction of two women in hijabs about to kiss on a Western University poster promoting gay rights.

The Muslim leaders’ frustration over the image – a reaction that itself sparked blowback across London and beyond – forced the university to delete the illustration from its social media page hours after it was published earlier this week.

Thursday, the London Council of Imams issued a statement looking to calm any conflict, saying they are “saddened” by the “increasing polarization in our society.”

CHINA ENDS BAN ON CANADIAN CANOLA

 China ended a three-year ban on Canadian canola, suggesting extreme shortages for cooking oils are forcing Xi Jinping’s government to reconsider some of its geopolitical grudges.

Trade Minister Mary Ng and Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau issued a short statement around 5 p.m. Ottawa time on May 18 that said two major players in Canada’s canola industry had been given permission to resume exporting to the world’s second-biggest economy.

Thursday, May 19, 2022

CANADA FINALLY BANS HUAWEI FROM 5G NETWORK

  The Canadian government will ban equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its 5G network, according to two government sources.

With the move, Canada falls in line with its allies in the Five Eyes intelligence network — the U.S., Australia, New Zealand and the U.K. — who have all already banned or restricted Huawei equipment.

TRUCKING FOR FREEDOM

 For thirty-three days, the world watched. Crossing ten provinces and three territories, thousands of trucks traversed the highways and by-ways of Canada’s northern climes in this exclusive docuseries offering an immersive look into an extraordinary moment in Canadian history. The Chronicle Brothers embedded themselves within the Canadian Trucker Convoy, capturing the unifying pulse of everyday people. (part 1)

FEDERAL LAWYERS WANT TAMARA LICH BACK IN JAIL

Crown lawyers want to see Freedom Convoy organizer Tamara Lich sent back to jail for accepting an award from the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF).

Lich is scheduled to receive the organization’s George Jonas Freedom Award on Jun. 16, but Ottawa prosecutors are arguing that doing so is a breach of her bail conditions.

IT'S TIME TO KILL THE CARBON TAX

  Rex Murphy:  However, the horrendous rise in gasoline prices is not all bad news. Or perhaps I should say, it is bad news for almost everyone, except for two classes of people. (a) Those happy folks well-insulated from the grim pinch of inflation by high incomes, and (b) those in elected office who are pushing the mad dash to killing the oil and gas industry. This latter involves all those politicians and green clerics who are determined to make gas and other fuels so expensive that poor people will be unable to afford them at all. High gas prices are what they have been dreaming of. For high gas prices will force the peasants to “go green” whether they like it or not.

Cannot someone ask the extremely obvious question: Why is there a carbon tax on gasoline in a time when inflation is driving gasoline prices out of the range of most household budgets?

NATION IMPERILED FOR WANT OF A TOW TRUCK

 The want of a horse cost Richard III his crown and life, but was Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the nation’s security actually imperiled by the “Freedom Convoy” because of a lack of available tow trucks?

Members of the joint parliamentary committee scrutinizing the first-ever invocation of the decades-old Emergencies Act were flabbergasted, and questioned the competency of RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s justification.

“I’m actually a trained public order commander,” Lucki defensively assured during testimony earlier this week. “But this is the first time I’ve ever seen a protest such as this.”

WE MADE A BIG MISTAKE. WE'RE INOCULATING A POISON

This is what Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of the mRNA technology warned about. The spike proteins are not staying at the injection site and they are dangerous. Protein in the blood can be very dangerous.

A Canadian cancer vaccine researcher said last week, “We made a big mistake. We didn’t realize it until now,” said Byram Bridle, a viral immunologist and associate professor at University of Guelph, Ontario. “We thought the spike protein was a great target antigen, we never knew the spike protein itself was a toxin and was a pathogenic protein. So by vaccinating people we are inadvertently inoculating them with a toxin,” the Defender reports.

Dr. Bridle:  "There was a peer-reviewed study…the spike protein that the vaccine causes our body to manufacture…gets distributed throughout the blood system, but probably even greater concern for is this evidence that the vaccine itself — that carries the little blueprint for the spike protein coronavirus — goes throughout the body and seeds all kinds of tissues including at quite high concentrations…un, the ovaries…"

KENNEY IS OUT OF THE UCP

  He never listened.
  Never.
  He was right. We all were wrong. Until we were right.
  Then on a night when those around him figured Premier Jason Kenney would win in a walk, almost half the UCP members voting didn’t support him.

RUSSIA SHUTS CBC MOSCOW BUREAU;THE WORLD KEEPS TURNING

 Russia's Foreign Ministry says it is shutting down CBC/Radio-Canada's Moscow bureau and revoking the accreditations and visas of its journalists.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Wednesday that the move is in retaliation for Ottawa's ban on Kremlin-backed RT, formerly known as Russia Today, and RT France from being broadcast in Canada.

CBC News Editor-in-Chief Brodie Fenlon said CBC/Radio-Canada is deeply disappointed to learn of the news.

"Our journalism is completely independent of the Canadian government and we are saddened to see the Russian government conflate the two," he said on Twitter.

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

OTTAWA POLICE DID NOT ASK FOR EMERGENCY ACT

 With another police chief saying they didn’t ask for the federal government’s Emergencies Act, Liberal cabinet ministers are continuing to insist the move was necessary to clear the Freedom Convoy from Ottawa’s streets.

Speaking at a parliementary committee Tuesday, Conservative MP Andrew Scheer asked Ottawa Police chief Steve Bell if he had asked directly for the government to invoke the Emergencies Act.

Bell said they didn’t ask for the act.

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said police forces told them they needed powers to protect, powers contained within the act.

LEWIS WANTS LIBERALS TO BACK OUT OF WHO PANDEMIC TREATY

Conservative MP and leadership candidate Leslyn Lewis has launched a petition calling on the Trudeau government to decline signing the World Health Organization (WHO)’s pandemic treaty.

The International Treaty on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness, and Response was proposed by the WHO in 2021 as an “international pandemic instrument” to increase collaboration between governments at all levels.

Lewis warns that the treaty, which includes 190 countries, “would be legally binding.”

“It defines and classifies what is considered a pandemic and would give the W.H.O. legal power over Canada’s pandemic response, including the ability to force lockdowns and dictate which drugs or vaccines can be used,” her campaign website reads.

NO FINES FOR BC PASTORS WHO DEFIED LOCKDOWNS

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) has announced a legal win for three British Columbia pastors ticketed for defying lockdown orders during the pandemic.

A total of 24 tickets – adding up to $55,200 – against Pastors John Koopman of the Chilliwack Free Reformed Church, James Butler of the Free Grace Baptist Church and Timothy Champ of the Valley Heights Community Church, have been dropped by the B.C. Crown.

The pastors were fined following their non-compliance with provincial government restrictions imposed on Nov. 2020, which banned in-person religious services. The JCCF said their clients were ticketed by police despite their strict adherence to safety precautions.

WORKING BACK ASSWARDS ON UKRAINE PROMISES

It’s almost as though the Canadian federal government is working buttocks-backward when it comes to the Ukrainian refugee file. After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, helping Ukrainian refugees get to a safe place fast was the biggest concern. However, now, close to three months later, the bigger concern is how to help the refugees that are in Canada or making their way here.

“We are seeing an increasing amount of frustration within our community about the pace with which programs and announcements are being implemented,” says Orest Zakydalsky, senior policy analyst with the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC).

“For example, a month ago, the prime minister announced income support when he co-hosted the [StandWithUkraine] telethon with the European Council president, he announced there would be income support for people coming to Canada. A month later, they're not available.”

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

CANADA THE FREELOADER

 Canada, someone once observed, is a country that likes to be invited to all the fancy international events, but somehow always manages to be in the bathroom when the cheque comes around at the end of the evening. And while we normally enjoy getting the attention of the Americans, when they take the time to point out this particular failing, we aren’t quite as glad.

It happened again last week. Dan Sullivan, a Republican senator from Alaska, was taking part in congressional hearings on the United States’ support for Ukraine, when he criticized America’s allies for being freeloaders on national defense, and asked why the U.S. was doing so much of the heavy lifting for global security, including (but not limited to) Ukraine. The senator specifically mentioned Canada twice. He was wrong in one of his references — he said Canada’s defense spending won’t hit one per cent of GDP, which is untrue — but his other comment was accurate and fair.

DEFENSE MINISTER DENIES SURVEILLANCE PLANES FLEW OVER FREEDOM CONVOY

Soldiers flew on a King Air aircraft which was registered in the US on five different occasions – Jan. 28, Jan. 29, Feb. 3, Feb. 10 and Feb. 11.

According to Ottawa researcher Steffan Watkins, the plane took a flight path that could indicate that it was surveilling people on the ground.

Conservative MPs have accused the Liberal government of effectively and illegally spying on Canadians.

“We know a special forces surveillance flight took place,” said Conservative MP Kerry-Lynne Findlay. “We know the government even let the health agency spy on Canadians’ liquor habits during COVID.”

POILIEVRE WANTS CURTAILING OF EMERGENCIES ACT

 Conservative leadership hopeful Pierre Poilievre says he is consulting with legal experts to find a way to “curtail” the federal Emergencies Act to prevent it from being used for “political purposes” like during the Freedom Convoy protests in Ottawa.

“I’m consulting with legal scholars on how we can curtail the power and limit the use of the Emergencies Act in the future,” Poilievre said during an hour-and-a-half conversation with media personality and former University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson uploaded to social media Monday.

“But I do think we need to craft changes to the act that will prevent it from being abused for political purposes like this again,” he added.


SKEPTICISM OVER CRTC CHAIRMAN'S PROMISE

The CRTC has no interest in regulating user-generated content should the Liberal government’s Bill C-11 become law, CRTC chairman Ian Scott said Monday.

“It is not the focus of the CRTC. Regulating it will not be in the public interest and will not contribute to the system,” Scott said at industry conference IIC Canada. “We have lots of things to do. We don’t need to start looking at user-generated content.”

The Liberal government has maintained that its Online Streaming Act doesn’t target content posted by Canadians online. The legislation sets up the CRTC to regulate online platforms with the goal of ensuring the streaming services contribute to the “creation and availability of Canadian stories and music.”

Monday, May 16, 2022

LIBERALS REWARDING FAILURE

 OTTAWA – The federal government paid out over $171 million in bonuses to executives and public servants for 2019-2020, despite departments achieving less than half of their performance objectives overall that same year.

The latest numbers from the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) are contained in documents tabled in Parliament recently following a question from the Conservatives.

It’s pay for failure,” said Conservative MP Kelly McCauley.


NO LEADS ON AXE ATTACK ON COASTAL GASLINK WORKCAMP

 Nearly three months after masked, axe-wielding assailants attacked a B.C. work camp in the dead of night, a team of more than 40 RCMP investigators have yet to announce any leads into the identities, funding or methods of those responsible.

On Feb. 17, between 20 and 40 masked attackers carrying torches, flare guns and axes swarmed a Coastal GasLink work camp near Houston, B.C., doing several million dollars in damage.

In the wake of the attack, a statement by B.C. Premier John Horgan called it a “violent and criminal act” and promised a “thorough investigation to identify and apprehend those responsible.” Within hours, the B.C. RCMP announced they had earmarked 40 investigators for the case.

ARGUING UNIONS COLLUDED WITH GOV'T TO IMPOSE VAX MANDATES

A B.C. lawyer representing civil servants forced off of work due to vaccine mandates will now represent over 200 union members against the unions they say failed to defend them.

“It’s a pretty big labour board case,” Lawyer Umar Sheikh told the Times Colonist. “I’ve dealt with massive union issues and I understand where the unions, in my view, have fallen down here.”

The B.C. public service made two Covid shots a condition of employment in November, aided by an Order in Council passed by the province’s NDP government that made noncompliance with the policy grounds for termination with cause.

UNDERMINING FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY

   It should take but microseconds to arrive at an observation that media has burned into the psyche of Canadians. Whatever problems exist in contemporary Canada, the public is responsible. Not government decision-makers, media practitioners, nor socialist academics. Always and forever, the responsibility is found in the attitudes of the general public.
   On the campaign trail in 2021, Justin Trudeau was met by jeering crowds at stops across the country. Much attention was paid to an incident where a protester threw gravel at our prime minister. Trudeau had to cancel a planned rally in Bolton, Ont., due to concern for “crowd safety.”
   After cancelling the event, Trudeau said he’d never seen “the same intensity of anger displayed along the campaign trail.” Could this be because no prime minister in history has been disliked as much as Justin Trudeau? Can the reason reside in the idea that this PM has undermined freedom and democracy like no national leader?

MONITORING THE SAFETY OF FOREIGN-MADE PHARMACEUTICALS

In April 2022, just five months after granting approval for use of Covaxin, a COVID-19 vaccine developed and manufactured in India, the World Health Organization (WHO) publicly warned United Nations agencies against procuring the vaccine. An inspection of a Covaxin production facility revealed deficiencies in what are called good manufacturing practices (GMP) – standards that must be met to ensure medicines are produced in hygienic conditions (sterile where necessary) and consistently of high quality. The nature of the deficiencies wasn’t disclosed, but they must be important for public health for the WHO to broadcast this shaming.

Why should this be of concern to Canadians? After all, Covaxin is not approved for use in Canada and is unlikely to ever be.

The concern is that many raw pharmaceutical materials are imported from India to manufacture drugs for use in Canada and many medicines used here are made entirely in India. India is a major exporter of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Canada’s trade data show the total value of these imports in 2021 was more than $13 billion – 84 percent coming from just 10 countries. A third of this total came from the United States, our largest trading partner by far.

Sunday, May 15, 2022

A MASTURBATION HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT FOR KINDERGARTENERS

   A British Columbia First Nations school is investigating after parents reported that teachers gave 4-year-old kids a homework assignment on masturbation.
   The popular social media monitoring platform Libs of TikTok was the first to report the incident at T’lisa̱lagi’lakw School in Namgis First Nation in Alert Bay, B.C. based on a Facebook post. 
   A worksheet from the book Body Smart: Right From the Start asks kids to “draw a picture of the private places where you can touch your penis or vulva if you want to.”

THE LATEST BLATANT POWER GRAB BY THE W.H.O.

   Without much attention from the corporate media, the World Health Organization (WHO) will soon vote on a hair-raising proposal to give itself control over health surveillance, reporting, and management worldwide.
   The regulations, adopted by 194 member states in 2005, allow the WHO to declare a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” if it believes that an infectious disease outbreak has occurred in a member state—but only with the consent of said member state.
   Disconcertingly, the WHO under Article 9 would be able to rely on sources for information leading to a declaration of a public health emergency while “maintain[ing] the confidentiality of the source.”
   As the World Council for Health (WCH) points out, those sources “could include Big Pharma, WHO funders such as the Gates Foundation and the Gates-founded-and-funded GAVI Alliance, as well as others seeking to monopolize power.” To say nothing of China.

This pandemic treaty is the greatest power grab any of us has seen in our lifetime, says Neil Oliver.

CARBON TAX REBATE CHEQUES FALL SHORT

  The good news is that starting July 15 and four times annually after that, individuals and families living in these provinces are going to receive tax-free cheques, or direct deposit payments if they prefer, from the Trudeau government under its Climate Action Incentive Payment Plan.
Previously the rebates were a refundable tax credit, claimed on income tax returns.
   The bad news is that, according to Yves Giroux, Parliament’s independent, non-partisan budget officer, most people receiving these cheques (60%), will pay a lot more in annual carbon taxes than they get back in carbon tax payments, and will do so every year up to 2030, at least.
   In 2024, Giroux says, 80% of Ontario households will be paying more in carbon taxes than they receive in rebate cheques, with the same thing happening in Alberta in 2028.

INQUIRIES NEEDED INTO COVID RESPONSE

  We can’t forget that there were some truly crazy things that went down. Like how public health officials told parents that if their small children were deemed close contacts of someone who later tested positive for the virus the kid needed to be kept in a separate room away from family for 14 days. Or how there were retirement home residents who opted for assisted suicide rather than endure more lockdowns. Absolute atrocities that should have never happened. The list goes on.
    And those are just the government edicts. There’s also the broader social effects. The pressure cooker mindset that, due to the frenzied news coverage and social media tone, engulfed so many people led to tragic splits within families and among friends when perspectives on COVID diverged. Hopefully time has begun to heal those wounds.
   Yes, the virus was and remains quite serious for some high-risk categories. But did we really need to have security remove the one guy who just didn’t want to wear a mask at the grocery store? Was there really a good reason to fire an employee — who was working from home anyway! — because, for whatever reason, the person didn’t want to receive a vaccine? Looking back on it now, surely many people have come around to see that a lot of what happened was overkill.

DEBUNKING MORE LIBERAL LIES SURROUNDING CONVOY

When members of the Trudeau government insist they relied on advice from police before they brought in the Emergencies Act in February to clear a truckers’ convoy from downtown Ottawa, they’re, um, not being exactly truthful.

A quick search of Postmedia’s archives shows that on at least six occasions during the state of emergency and since, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino has insisted it was only because police asked for special powers that the Liberals suspended Canadians’ civil liberties and seized the bank accounts and assets of hundreds of people connected with the Freedom Convoy.

But we now have proof Mendicino’s claims (and similar claims by Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair) were utter hogwash.

Saturday, May 14, 2022

TRUDEAU'S ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSING STILL OPEN

 Why is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau still inviting illegal immigration into Canada at Roxham Road? It needs to stop.

The Quebec-New York state entry point is not an official crossing. But what began as a dirt path that a few scofflaws used to sneak into the country morphed into a full blown operation under the Trudeau government.

It’s a sight to behold: RCMP officers on hand, vehicles and physical structures in place – all for an illegal border crossing. The federal cops aren’t there to turn people away. They’re there to play welcome wagon, as per Trudeau’s orders.

MOCKED BY WOKE COLLEAGUES

An Ottawa trustee was bullied, called “racist” and mocked by her woke colleagues at a Tuesday night board meeting for putting forward a proposal to have the board work more closely with police to better respond to schools and staff experiencing a surge in vandalism and attacks.

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) trustee Donna Blackburn told her colleagues that since the board eliminated the Student Resource Officer (SRO, or police in schools) program a year ago, school administrators, teachers and staff are left to call 9-1-1 or police directly if a concern or crisis arises – and wait sometimes for hours along with everyone else for police to respond.

She said the victims of violence in Ottawa schools are getting “less service” since they eliminated the program.

UK FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

 The British government has announced a new plan to fight illegal immigration by giving some migrants seeking asylum in the United Kingdom a one-way ticket to Rwanda to have their applications processed in the East African country.

The five-year pilot project, aimed at deterring migrants from crossing the English Channel, will initially focus on single males arriving illegally to the UK on boats or trucks.

The plan to outsource the processing of asylum applications overseas — if it survives legal challenges that are certain to come from human rights groups and the European Court of Human Rights — could become a model for other European countries seeking to crack down on illegal immigration.