LIBERALS DANCE AROUND THE TRUTH

Trudeau’s office has given shifting answers when Global News has asked repeatedly whether they knew of any allegations against Vance. Following the Global News report into the allegations against Vance on Feb. 2, the Prime Minister’s Office said no one there knew anything until the article came out.

However, that later changed, with officials saying no one in the office knew the details of any allegation against Vance until Global News reported on them.

The government has also faced criticism over insistences that it could not have launched any kind of investigation and that asking for either an update on the decision by Privy Council Office to abandon a probe or asking for a review of the matter by another body would be “political interference.”

The commander of the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service rebuked that claim last week, telling the House of Commons defense committee that asking for a probe would not be interference.

CONCLUSION: LIBERALS HIDING SOMETHING

OTTAWA — Opposition members shut down a parliamentary committee hearing Wednesday after the Liberal government once again refused to let a political aide appear to answer questions about the now-dead deal with WE Charity.

Members of the House of Commons’ ethics committee had asked Amitpal Singh, a senior adviser to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, to testify after a majority of MPs passed a Conservative-sponsored motion to that effect last week.

 The motion allowed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to appear before the committee in his place.

But the Liberal government, which has ordered political staff not to appear before committees, deployed Associate Finance Minister Mona Fortier to instead appear for Singh, who worked for Bill Morneau when he was finance minister.

CANADIANS' PATIENCE WEARING THIN

    Rex Murphy:  Surely we should, at least by this point, be asking rather angrily — do you guys have ANY plan for when this ends, for it CANNOT continue. Do you have an end date? When is it? Do you actually know what you are doing? Or are we all, the whole Canadian nation, on some playground slide that has no terminal. Is it all drop until you stop? Do you think these daily prayer sessions — because that’s really all they are — where the PM or premier or health adviser comes out to read numbers no one is listening to anymore, stand for leadership? Do the people ill-managing the crisis, and for the most part spared from its injuries, spared the loss of income or business, actually understand the pain of those not so well situated? Do you leaders know what’s going on in your own country or your own province?

At this stage I think the only point of this crisis seems to be to maintain the crisis. 

COMPLAINTS AGAINST MANAGEMENT IN CHINESE-OWNED PLANT

 Employees at the Canada Royal Milk plant in Kingston, Ont., say management treated them like "minions" by denying them safety gear that fit, harassing employees by accusing them of being "overpaid" and less industrious than workers in China and — in one instance — making physical contact with a worker during a heated dispute.

These workers said they are afraid someone will get killed at the plant. They've described malfunctioning plant equipment and a workplace culture they claim doesn't take industry standards and safety precautions seriously. They've also reported concerns about the way employees are treated by management.

The plant, a subsidiary of China Feihe International, is managed by a team of executives from both China and Canada. Its workforce is diverse.

LAWSUIT ALLEGES NEGLECT BY RCMP

Sylvie Corriveau has spent decades trying to sound the alarm over reports that some of the RCMP's designated doctors have sexually abused patients.

She said she felt a sense of "personal vindication" last week after a Federal Court judge certified a class-action lawsuit in which she is the lead plaintiff. The lawsuit alleges the RCMP's designated physicians sexually assaulted applicants during mandatory physical examinations.

"It's rewarding to be able to move this forward and know that some folks will get resolution," Corriveau said from her home in Fredericton, N.B., where she's living out her retirement.

Justice Ann Marie McDonald issued a written decision late last week certifying the class-action lawsuit, which makes allegations of systemic negligence and breach of duty-of-care against the RCMP. A copy of her decision was made public recently.

MPs GET PAY RAISES, VOTERS GET MORE TAXES

What a cruel joke to play on cash-strapped, pandemic-weary Canadians.

Effective April Fool’s Day, our elected officials in Ottawa are giving themselves fat-cat pay raises. Calculations by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation show Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who earns a whopping $365,200 a year, will get an extra $6,400. Backbenchers, earning $182,656, will get an extra $3,200, as do senators. And ministers get a $4,700 boost.

 Meanwhile, the average full-time salary in Canada is $54,630 a year, there are 834,000 fewer jobs than a year ago, and taxes on carbon, wine, spirits and beer are going up  April 1, with Trudeau now planning a second carbon tax. No joke.

EUROSKEPTICISM RIFE ACROSS THE CONTINENT

   It was an educated chance, but a chance nonetheless. Until Brexit had been completed and Britain had officially divorced itself from its abusive, ungrateful and dysfunctional partner, nobody would truly know whether the right decision had been made. But very few of those 17.4million gamblers could have honestly thought that their bet would pay off this quickly. The events of the last year have not only proven beyond any reasonable doubt that Brexit is best for Britain, they have also completely put to bed the notion that Britain should, or will, ever re-join the European Union. It is game, set and match.
   Make no mistake; the European Union is finished. It is over. It is now a lame duck, a geriatric dog ready to make one final trip to see the vet, a barely breathing dodo…
   The European Union’s handling of the vaccination rollout scheme, amongst other things, has not only nullified what was left of the case for Remain in the United Kingdom, it has simultaneously solidified the case for Leave across the continent.

SNOTTY LIBERALS SHOW THEIR CONTEMPT

If the Liberals are trying to bait the opposition parties into finding the government in contempt of Parliament and thereby sparking an election, they are doing a fine job.

It would be hard to conceive a more convincing display of disrespect toward open government than Pablo Rodriguez’s performance before the ethics committee on Monday, where the Government House Leader recited the Three Graces of rebuttal – “no”, “not that I know of” and “I don’t think so” – to every question put to him.

 Members of all three opposition parties expressed their frustration at a Liberal Party that is blatantly disregarding the will of Parliament (the House of Commons backed a Conservative motion requiring ministerial staff to appear at any committee – a motion the Liberals say they will ignore.)

HOSTAGES OF THE CULT

Mark Steyn:   Quoting Damon Young, "Whiteness is a public health crisis. It shortens life expectancies, it pollutes air, it constricts equilibrium, it devastates forests, it melts ice caps, it sparks (and funds) wars, it flattens dialects, it infests consciousnesses, and it kills people—white people and people who are not white, my mom included. There will be people who die, in 2050, because of white supremacy-induced decisions from 1850."
   I suppose it's possible Damon Young actually believes this stuff. Someone has to. And certainly Esquire and The New York Times were once sufficiently influential that positions taken by their writers were assumed to have some credibility. I'm not sure that's the case these days. Still, if persons of prominence in the public discourse are insisting that whiteness melts ice caps and nobody laughs at them, it might be prudent to fall into line. So, all over society, apparently sane "experts" are pretending to believe the same twaddle - and acting on their pretended beliefs.
    The dwindling number of sane people in the western world vaguely assume that the politically correct celebrate-diversity nonsense is confined to our increasingly worthless universities or NPR panel discussions. But not so. It's burrowed its way into everything, and is slowly but remorselessly moronizing even vital areas of life.

DEBUNKING THE COVID-19 PANIC

Canadian doctors speak out : top reasons why not to be afraid of covid.

VITAL CHANGES TO BC's FORESTRY SECTOR

 April 30 will mark one year since the B.C. government received the Old Growth Strategic Review (OGSR) panel’s report, its blueprint for a paradigm shift in B.C.’s forest sector. One that, if fully implemented, would protect remaining endangered old-growth forests, advance reconciliation with First Nations and chart the transition to a value-added, predominantly second-growth forest sector in B.C.

The new forests minister is adamant forestry workers and communities be supported while any changes in the sector take place. She’s right, and there’s still work to be done to understand and address the socio-economic impacts of the OGSR’s recommendations. But the minister must first acknowledge that continued reliance on B.C.’s dwindling old-growth resources is neither sustainable nor responsible and does no favours for forest-dependent communities that can and must diversify before the province’s old-growth stands are depleted.

TIME TO GROW A BACKBONE, CANADIANS

 Other than that, Canada appears as directionless as a rudderless boat on a windy sea. It’s far too late to expect governments at senior levels to make serious efforts to balance the books or eliminate deficits. We’re in too deep a hole. The cuts required at this point would be too onerous, and Canadians have shown themselves unwilling to accept even trifling reductions. When a pre-pandemic Ford sought to eliminate a program that provided modest health coverage to Ontarians facing emergencies outside the country, the Canadian Snowbird Association took the province to court and won, just in time for retirees to head to Florida for the winter. Presumably they could afford winter homes, but not their own health insurance.

FACEBOOK'S OVERREACHING GREED

 Liberal MP Julie Dabrusin questioned the Facebook's tactics in the Australian dispute, noting the change came during a crisis when reliable public information is essential.

“Do you think it’s an appropriate negotiation strategy with a government to cut access to the news, including public health news, during what is a pandemic?” she asked.

Kevin Chan, Facebook’s head of public policy in Canada said the company didn’t want to take such a step, but also didn’t rule out similar measures if Canada adopts similar laws.

“It is never going to be something that we would ever want to do, unless we really have no choice,” he said.

DETERMINED TO FORGET BOULDER SHOOTINGS

I guess the media and the Democrat politicians forgot about what went down in Boulder too.

It seems strange though because I recall it was really important at the time it happened.

It’s almost like there was some coordinated effort to never mention the event again. But that’s just a crazy conspiracy theory which is both crazed and conspiratorial, like election fraud, the plot to frame Donald Trump, and the Hollywood scheme to slow our population growth in order to remedy climate change by quelling America’s collective male libido through making Amy Schumer and Lena Dunham movie stars.

ONTARIO's DEBT-TO-GDP RATIO TO HIT 48.8%

 As expected, every budget in Canada this year has been covered in red ink. The pandemic has squeezed tax revenue while governments have boosted spending to combat the public health crisis and deep recession. But after a year of social distancing and the rollout of life saving vaccinations underway, governments should start planning for the recovery and developing plans to put their finances on the path to sustainability.

Ontario is one of the provinces facing the most severe fiscal pressures, with its debt-to-GDP ratio set to hit 48.8 per cent at the end of this year after having run deficits every year since 2008/09. But while the 2009 financial crisis and COVID-19 have dealt major setbacks to fiscal plans across the country, the level of debt accumulation in Ontario over the past decade has been the result of policy choices. To illustrate this choice, consider Quebec, which despite its long-standing debt issues has quietly turned around its government finances over the past decade relative to other provinces while Ontario’s fiscal situation has deteriorated.

TORIES DEMAND PM TESTIFY ON WE DEAL

The conditions for a brawl appear to be set after Government House Leader Pablo Rodriguez announced that he will testify at a parliamentary committee about the now-dead WE deal on Monday, rather than Prime Minister Justin Trudeau or members of his staff.

 "If Trudeau staffers can't testify, then he can," Poilievre said during a news conference on Parliament Hill.

"We ask him to testify for no less than four hours before the ethics committee in person. ...He can answer why his staff were engaged in a long string of correspondence with the WE brothers about setting up programs and grants of taxpayer money."

TIME TO GIVE DR. TAM THE BOOT

OTTAWA -- The unwritten conclusion of that scathing auditor general's report into how the Public Health Agency botched early pandemic detection is obvious: Replace Dr. Theresa Tam.

Under Tam’s leadership, the agency failed to update its emergency management plan in 2018 as scheduled or review its pandemic preparedness in 2019 as required.

It fell short of effective data sharing, didn’t upgrade surveillance standards, had challenges with quarantine tracking and lacked the right technology to do the job properly.

And, as mentioned earlier as the most egregious flaw, Tam neglected "forward looking assessments" of what it would mean if the pandemic took root in Canada, opting instead for daily snapshots using a pilot program not approved for pandemic detection and analysis.

GETTIN' HER DONE IN THE SUEZ CANAL

SUEZ, Egypt (AP) — Salvage teams on Monday freed a colossal container ship stuck for nearly a week in the Suez Canal, ending a crisis that had clogged one of the world’s most vital waterways and halted billions of dollars a day in maritime commerce.

Helped by high tide, a flotilla of tugboats wrenched the bulbous bow of the skyscraper-sized Ever Given from the canal’s sandy bank, where it had been firmly lodged since March 23.

THE SUPERIOR MINDS IN BALTIMORE

 The program has been in place for the last year and was designed to reduce the population in city jails during the pandemic. Yesterday, Mosby made the policy permanent.

“Today, America’s war on drug users is over in the city of Baltimore. We leave behind the era of tough-on-crime prosecution and zero tolerance policing and no longer default to the status quo to criminalize mostly people of color for addiction,” said Mosby in an official press release.

Mosby said her office will no longer prosecute drug and drug paraphernalia possession, prostitution, trespassing, minor traffic offense, open container violations, and urinating and defecating in public.

HEALTH CARE JOB VACANCIES SOARING

 Harrowing stories of overworked front-line workers and understaffed hospitals have dominated the news cycle throughout much of the COVID-19 pandemic.

But despite the growing need for health care professionals, job vacancies in the sector are on the rise, according to the latest data from Statistic Canada.

Job vacancies in health care and social assistance went up by 36,400, or 56.9 per cent, during the last quarter of 2020, bringing vacancies to a “record high” of 100,300, the data, published Tuesday, showed.

THE REPORT HAS BEEN FACT CHECKED!

 A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission of the virus from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely,” according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press.

The findings offer little new insight into how the virus began to spread around the globe and many questions remain unanswered, though that was as expected. But the report did provide more detail on the reasoning behind the researchers’ conclusions. The team proposed further research in every area except the lab leak hypothesis.

TO HELL WITH REFORMERS

 The dumbest conservative is one who tries to satisfy the Left, because he forgets that progress is a bottomless pit. If tomorrow we were to stop their climate change, the day after tomorrow they would be burning the streets claiming that stopping climate evolution is unnatural and fascist. That’s because the Left, when contemplating Humanity, has a certain ingenuity for finding an abundance of problems that do not actually exist, like when you invite a friend to your apartment and she discovers invisible dirt in unlikely places, no matter how much time you spent cleaning that morning.

WHY IS EVERYONE IN TEXAS NOT DYING?

 I’m sitting at a bar in Texas, surrounded by maskless people, looking at folks on the streets walking around like life is normal, talking with nice and friendly faces, feeling like things in the world are more-or-less normal. Cases and deaths attributed to Covid are, like everywhere else, falling dramatically. 

If you pay attention only to the media fear campaigns, you would find this confusing. More than two weeks ago, the governor of Texas completely reversed his devastating lockdown policies and repealed all his emergency powers, along with the egregious attacks on rights and liberties.

CHINA MUST BE SHAKING IN ITS BOOTS

  Goldstein:  An indication of the tougher line the Trudeau government is finally taking against China is found in Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau’s interview with the CBC’s The House on Saturday.

“I’ve known bullies in my life, and I know bullies can change, but bullies don’t change unless you send very clear messages to them” he said.

Bravo. But keep in mind that Trudeau’s government hasn’t declared China’s treatment of its Uighurs and other Muslim minorities a genocide, as has the U.S.

JUDICIAL ACTIVISM AT ITS WORST IN SCOC RULING

   Furey:  Here’s one: “It is a threat of the highest order to the country, and indeed to the world.” And here’s another: “The undisputed existence of a threat to the future of humanity cannot be ignored.”

 These theatrical flourishes were from the SCOC ruling itself. Right there in the text of the majority decision that ruled the federal government does indeed have the right to run roughshod over provincial jurisdiction and impose a carbon tax on provinces against their will.

Yet here we are seeing that language used by the highest court in the land in the text of a major ruling. And they’re not using this language as an aside. They’re using it as the crux of why they’re siding with the feds and doing what they acknowledge is the rare occurrence of rolling out the Peace, Order and Good Government clause as their legal justification.

"I'LL WEAR IT AS A BADGE OF HONOUR"

 Earlier on Saturday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China said in a news release it has banned Chong from entering the country and prohibited any Chinese citizen from doing business with him. The sanctions also targeted the federal subcommittee on which Chong sits, which is studying the situation of the Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in China's Xinjiang region.

Chong, the Tories' foreign affairs critic, said Saturday he has a duty to call out China's "genocide" of Uyghur Muslims. "We who live freely in democracies under the rule of law must speak for the voiceless," Chong said on Twitter. 

"If that means China sanctions me, I'll wear it as a badge of honour."

MACRON'S POLITICAL AMBITIONS

 Macron’s inability to institute a coherent coronavirus resistance program intensifies the sense of crisis. On top of the EU’s failure to procure sufficient vaccines and initiate a rollout, excessive red tape – for which France is notorious – is a factor here.

Macron is guilty of blatant politicking over vaccines, putting the health of millions at risk. So why has he done it? The answer is a mix of vanity, personal ambition – and hatred of Brexit which, he once told me, he regards as a ‘crime’.

In the ‘vaccine war’ he saw his chance to be a ‘general’. And his ultimate goal is clear. He views himself as the only candidate to succeed Germany’s Angela Merkel as de facto leader of the EU and the greater federal project.

UK success in going it alone in the vaccine race emphasizes the failings of the bloc, which he cannot stomach.

LIBERALS WILL NOT TOUCH QUEBEC'S HYDRO

  Corbella:  The Supreme Court of Canada is upholding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax.

 Ted Morton, a senior fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary and an expert on Canada’s Constitution as well as a former Alberta finance minister, says “if this were Quebec fighting federal intrusion into its hydro-electricity, Quebec would win.” Why?

“Because of fear of what would happen if Quebec lost. It would be such a negative reaction,” says Morton.

“Hydroelectricity is to Quebec what oil and gas is to Alberta. It’s their sacred cow. And if the Supreme Court sacrificed their sacred cow there would be hell to pay,” says Morton, who adds that Trudeau would have never done such a thing to Quebec to begin with.

$60M FINE TO COAL MINING CO. IN BC

 A Canadian coal-mining company faces the largest fine imposed under the Fisheries Act after pleading guilty to contaminating waterways in southeastern B.C.a.

Teck Coal, a subsidiary of Teck Resources, is to pay $60 million after a judge on Friday agreed to a joint submission from Environment Canada and the company.

Lars Sanders-Green of Wildsight, an environmental group that has been following the issue, pointed out that Teck Coal has taken billions of dollars out of the Elk Valley.

“What Teck and other mining companies have learned is not to worry about Environment Canada,” he said. “This is a problem that’s been known since 1995. Now it’s 2021 and the problem’s getting worse.”

$43.6BILLION LEAVES HONG KONG, TO CANADA

 As China imposed a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong last year after massive protests, residents of the city moved tens of billions of dollars across the globe to Canada, where thousands are hoping to forge a new future.

Capital flows out of Hong Kong banks reaching Canada rose to their highest levels on record last year, with about C$43.6 billion ($34.8 billion) in electronic funds transfers (EFT) recorded by FINTRAC, Canada’s anti-money laundering agency, which receives reports on transfers above C$10,000.

 The previously unreported outflows, the highest since 2012 when the earliest FINTRAC records are available, are the first evidence of a significant flight of capital overseas from the Asian financial hub following the security turmoil.

BIDEN'S ALARMING PRESS CONFERENCE

Biden wavered between detailed, scripted responses to questions nobody had asked; incoherent, rambling nonsequitors; and patently false or contradictory statements about his policies.
    At times, he appeared to grow cantankerous, raising his voice to shouting levels; and he seemed impatient at others, checking his watch and attempting to walk offstage mid-question at the hourlong event.
   While he sought to bash former president Donald Trump for many of his own administration’s recent failures, he also hinted vaguely at the possibility of returning to Trump’s hard-line diplomacy in dealing with China, Mexico, North Korea and Afghanistan.
   Biden even expressed a sort of wistfulness for the days of the prior administration. “My predecessor—oh God, I miss him,” he said at one point.

He suggested that he would rebuild the nation’s roadways three feet higher to adjust for the inevitable flooding due to climate change, and that he would employ jobless miners and oil workers capping methane wells.

    Mark Steyn and Tucker Carlson have their own take on Biden's presser.

ONTARIO'S LARGE HOSPITALS ARE FULL

The Civic is positively bursting at the seams. Patients are everywhere – in emergency reception, in hallways, in a tent out in the parking lot on Carling Avenue, in repurposed spaces, lying for days on stretchers instead of proper hospital beds.

Nursing scuttlebutt on Thursday night had it that the hospital had exceeded 200 percent capacity… again.

MOH has currently locked the Bed Census Summary website, so we don’t know.

Most of Ontario’s large community hospitals are effectively full, said Anthony Dale, CEO of the Ontario Hospital Association, “Hospitals are walking across a tightrope right now.”

AUDITOR GENERAL'S REPORT ON OTTAWA'S PANDEMIC RESPONSE

 The Public Health Agency was chastised for failing to issue an alert that warned about the seriousness of the virus, as it was obliged to do by its emergency response plan.

Hogan also looked at the Canada Emergency Response Plan and the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy without asking whether the payment levels were justified. Statistics Canada revealed this month that many Canadians gained thousands more dollars in COVID support payments than they lost in wages. Disposable income among lowest earners increased 36 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, the agency said.

But it is the chapter on pandemic preparedness that will be the focus for the opposition parties. It provides corroboration for the charge that Ottawa did not adequately protect its citizens – the primary responsibility of any national government.

LIBERALS CRY, "ABUSE OF POWER"

Federal Liberal cabinet ministers will instruct their staff not to appear if called to any parliamentary committees in an attempt to curb what they call an "abuse of power" by opposition parties.

Late Thursday, the House of Commons voted to back a Conservative move to summon political staff and civil servants to testify about the WE Charity affair and about how the government handled a sexual-misconduct allegation against the country's top soldier.

 The Conservatives' motion is aimed at getting three members of the prime minister's staff before the ethics committee to provide more information on the WE Charity affair.  They also want the former chief of staff to the defense minister, who now works for another minister, to appear at the defense committee to shed more light on sexual misconduct issues in the Canadian Armed Forces.

The motion included an out: if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appears in the aides' place, for at least three hours, that would do.

ONLY FRANCOPHONE JUDGES NEED APPLY

 The federal government has announced that it intends to promote the French language more aggressively throughout the country. A document entitled “English and French: Towards the substantive equality of official languages in Canada,” lays out 50 proposals to buttress the use of a French language that is said to be under threat.

One of the proposals is that all Supreme Court justices must be able to conduct all hearings in the French language without the use of interpreters. This would change the current exemption under the Official Languages Act that allows judges who are not fully bilingual to have access to interpreters.

PREMIER FORD CALLS HIMSELF A CONSERVATIVE

TORONTO -- The Ford government is continuing with increased healthcare spending and cash grants to businesses and parents as its pathway out of the pandemic will be paved with more than $100 billion in new debt and deficits that are not likely to end before 2029.

The deficit for 2021-2022 is projected at $33.1 billion, down from $38.5 billion last year, with deficits of $27.7 billion and $20.2 billion projected for 2022-23 and 2023-24.

The province will spend $186.1 billion this year, down from $190 billion last year, with net debt expected to hit $440 billion this year, and debt to GDP to exceed 50 per cent by 2023-24.

SCOC SAYS CARBON PRICE IS CONSTITUTIONAL

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada says the federal carbon price is entirely constitutional.

Chief Justice Richard Wagner says in the written ruling,  "The undisputed existence of a threat to the future of humanity cannot be ignored,” he wrote.

 Justice Suzanne Cote dissented in part, agreeing climate change is an issue of national concern but taking issue with the power the federal cabinet gave itself to adjust the law’s scope, including which fuels the price would apply to.

Justices Malcolm Rowe and Russell Brown dissented with the entire decision, arguing Canada had not shown that climate change reaches the level of national concern. They objected that the precedent the majority’s decision sets would allow Ottawa to set minimum national standards in all areas of provincial jurisdiction.

ONTARIO'S BUDGET: RED INK & TIRED IDEAS

Denley:  There is so much wrong with the budget Ontario’s PC government delivered Wednesday that it’s hard to know where to begin.

Let’s start with one small positive. If viewed from a very high level as a one-year plan, it sounds OK. Lots more money will be spent on COVID-related health costs and on help for beleaguered private sector workers and businesses. That was expected.

Get into the details and the longer-term economic plan, though, and you will find a government that passively accepts years and years of massive deficits and whose plan to kick start the economy relies on little more than the same ineffective ideas Ontario governments have been trying for years. PC supporters will be challenged to find even the slightest light blue tinge to this budget. There is little to distinguish it from the kind of nonsense delivered during the Liberals’ long deficit run.

LIBERAL TRACK RECORD OF BETTING ON CHINA

  Lilley:  There are too many instances where the Trudeau government has bet on China rather than Canada for me to be overly confident.

   Companies across the country were in the midst of retooling their assembly lines to produce whatever Canada needed to fight off COVID-19. Breweries and distilleries were churning out hand sanitizer, often looking for nothing more than to have their costs covered.
    Clothing manufacturers and even auto parts plants offered to produce the surgical and N-95 masks so desperately needed at the time.
   Yet rather than tap into this can-do spirit, the Liberals once again bet on China. Just as they would bet on China over Canadian firms a few months later when it came to looking for a partner for developing a vaccine.

8 FOREIGNERS EXPELLED FOR TERRORISM OR SPYING

“However, we can tell you that in 2020, the CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency] removed eight individuals deemed inadmissible on security grounds,” Public Safety spokesman Tim Warmington said in a statement. “Removal on security grounds may include persons who are found inadmissible for espionage, subversion, terrorism and/or for membership in groups involved in such activities

“One of the difficulties in dealing with espionage and foreign influence is these usually rate a lower priority than something like terrorism where the damage is immediate and visible.” Second, he said, it’s hard to prove people’s conduct amounts to espionage and foreign influence.

This past November, CSIS told The Globe that national security and the safety of Canadians are being jeopardized by undercover Chinese state-security officials and others who are trying to silence critics using tactics that include threats of retribution against their families in China.

LIBERALS KEPT SECURITY ADVISOR IN THE DARK

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s former national security advisor says he was never made aware of a 2018 sexual misconduct allegation against Gen. Jonathan Vance that his colleagues were asked to probe.

That comes after testimony from the former chief of staff to Stephen Harper on Monday in which the role of the national security advisor was cited as central to the previous government’s probe of related allegations in 2015, and to the decision to appoint him in the first place.

AU CONTRAIRE, MR. SAJJAN

Canada's former military ombudsman says Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan's claim that he wanted to avoid politicizing a potential sexual misconduct investigation of the country's top military commander is both "bizarre" and "weak."

In his testimony today, Sajjan said he told Walbourne to go to military police or the provost marshal to report his concerns. The former ombudsman today pushed back against that version of events.

"He could have at least spoken to me about the evidence I was holding," Walbourne told Kapelos. "But instead, he pushed away from the table, said no. And contrary to what he says, he never gave me any advice and he never spoke to me again."

The former ombudsman said he doesn't believe the federal government is willing to take the necessary steps to ensure the complaints process is truly independent.

LIBERALS PAYING ASIAN INVESTMENT BANK

OTTAWA -- The Conservatives are calling on the Liberal government to stop funding the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank given the ongoing detention and secret trials of two Canadians in China.

Global Affairs Canada and Finance Canada have not responded to several requests for information on whether the payment that's due this month has been made or whether Ottawa will withhold the payment to put pressure on China.

The government committed to contribute $256 million to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2017 and has made payments of nearly US$40 million in March in each of the last three years.

CANADA'S FEDERAL DEBT

 Ontario researcher helps capture important information.

More from the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation

HARD HIT BUSINESSES WANT GOV'T $ TO CONTINUE

Canadian businesses that have been hit the most by the pandemic are hoping that the federal government will provide them some relief when it unveils its first budget in two years on April 19.

Their two key demands are to extend and perhaps even enhance the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) at 75 per cent for hard-hit industries until the end of 2021, with a similar consideration for the Canada Emergence Rent Subsidy (CERS) program.

Without an extension of CEWS and CERS to the end of 2021, nearly 60 per cent of the businesses surveyed in the hardest hit coalition have said they will not survive, the group said in a letter addressed to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freehand and published this morning.

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG

Health Canada said today Canadians should not be concerned about the safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine — even as a U.S. regulatory body raises concerns about the company's clinical trial results.

Marc Berthiaume, the director of the bureau of medical science at Health Canada, said the issues flagged Monday by a U.S. federal health agency relate to the product's published efficacy rate, not to whether it's safe to use.

Berthiaume said Health Canada's decision to authorize the product was not based on any of the clinical trial information U.S. authorities are now probing. He said Canada based its approval largely on data that emerged from AstraZeneca trials in the United Kingdom and Brazil, and on studies published in countries where the shot has been in use for some time.

"I think it would be alarmist to suggest that the results of additional clinical testing could lead to a change in the approval status of AstraZeneca here in Canada," Berthiaume said.

SUEZ CANAL BLOCKED BY A SHIP

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES -- A skyscraper-sized container ship has become wedged across Egypt's Suez Canal and blocked all traffic in the vital waterway, officials said Wednesday, threatening to disrupt a global shipping system already strained by the coronavirus pandemic.

An Egyptian official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to brief journalists, similarly blamed a strong wind. Egyptian forecasters said high winds and a sandstorm plagued the area Tuesday, with winds gusting as much as 50 kph (30 mph).

However, it remained unclear how wind alone would have been able to push a fully laden vessel weighing some 220,000 tons. Typically, Egyptian pilots take over ships passing through the canal, but it wasn't immediately clear if that happened with the Ever Given.

ANOTHER TOOTHLESS WATCHDOG

 A veteran Liberal backbencher took a Liberal cabinet minister to task Tuesday for failing to give real teeth to a new watchdog who is supposed to investigate human rights abuses by Canadian companies operating abroad.

Toronto MP John McKay has for decades campaigned for just such a watchdog.

But he believes the recently created position of Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise falls short of what's needed because the watchdog has not been given the power to compel company executives to testify or to produce documents.

"But you'd have to agree that it's going to be a limited investigation because the key people, the key documents, the key executives cannot be compelled to come before the ombudsperson," McKay countered, questioning how she would be able to produce a "useful report" under those circumstances.

NAVY EXCUSES BAD BEHAVIOUR

 An internal probe into sexual misconduct allegations against senior naval officers has been closed before all witnesses or complainants were spoken to, Global News has learned, with investigators concluding no wrongdoing occurred.

Yet the investigation into alleged inappropriate comments — where the senior officers allegedly joked that a female member member wanted to show off her “red room” while on a Zoom call — did not look into the alleged comments that followed, which sources say involved BDSM and “kinky sex.”

MAINTAINING THE COVID PANIC

“Our rolling average of (daily COVID-19 cases) is now in the (Red-control zone),” Roumeliotis said during his Monday afternoon media briefing, after confirming 71 new cases added for the Eastern Ontario Health Unit over the weekend. “Obviously we’ll be put in the Red zone if this is a situation that continues (this week).”

 Back to some of the data, and the cumulative number of cases over the last year is now up to 3,134. There have been 69 deaths, and 2,838 cases are listed as resolved. The current number of hospitalized patients is 38, with six in ICU.

THE ALMIGHTY BILL GATES

Could dimming the sun help to cool the Earth? Bill Gates wants to spray millions of tonnes of CHALK into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight and slow global warming – but critics fear it could be disastrous
The project will see a test balloon launch this summer from the town of Kiruna
It will send 2kg of chalk into the stratosphere 12 miles above the Earth’s surface
Scientists will then monitor who the dust particles interact with the atmosphere
This will be fed into computer models to predict how a larger plume would work
The idea is to ‘block out’ some of the sun’s energy to cool down the Earth

THE COMPANY ONE KEEPS

Ajax fire crews eventually stumbled across a record 42 kilograms of carfentanil in the basement apartment, along with 33 vacuum-sealed firearms.

Ansari pleaded not guilty last week to more than 300 drug and weapons charges in connection with the discovery.

Ansari was a long-time friend of Danforth Ave. shooter Faisal Hussein and his brother Fahad — even serving as Fahad’s surety after a 2017 arrest.

EXPLAINING STRATEGY TO ERIN O'TOOLE

     Rex Murphy: So why does the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada hold its great convention and put a “faith-test” on climate change at its heart? Why did O’Toole drag out the ugly slander of “denier” for those who contest its supremacy over all other issues, its many dubious methodologies, questionable modelling and failed predictions? (Just because “denier” has become press-shorthand doesn’t cleanse it of its spiteful meanness and vicious attempt to associate asking questions about global warming with Holocaust denial.)
   Where was the speech ripping U.S. President Joe Biden for his fiat on Keystone XL? Where was the call for an east-west pipeline? Where was the volcanic anger over Alberta’s resources being land-locked, the various jihads against any pipelines, anywhere?
   There was so much wrong with the Conservative resolution on climate change, which was ultimately voted down by the members. Did it not enter the heads of those who advise the Conservative leader that the Liberal party of Justin Trudeau, Catherine McKenna and their one-time climate-warrior mentor, Gerald Butts, cannot be politically outbid on global warming? Did they not think that instead of lining up with the Liberals on this crusade of folly, the Conservatives should be challenging their opponents’ fanatical willingness to subordinate the Canadian economy to their obsession on the subject?

URGENCY FOR SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT

 Governments and stakeholders agree that we must urgently work together to build our net zero carbon future. The cost of inaction is simply far too great.  The sooner we act, the more effectively we can reduce the risks and protect the health and safety of Canadians.

It is therefore fitting that the UN is promoting this year’s International Day of Forests around the theme “Forest Restoration as a Path to Recovery and Well-Being”. In Canada and around the world, sustainable forest management, renewable forest products, and committed forest sector workers are uniquely suited to drive a climate smart economic recovery and a net zero future. I would go so far as to say that the quickest and most effective path to meeting Canada’s net zero targets will be one that recognizes the powerful potential of Canada’s forest sector — and the people working in it.

O'REGAN COVERS HIS IGNORANCE WITH HIS CLIMATE WARRIOR CAPE

Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan got into a heated exchange Monday at committee over the Line 5 oil pipeline and the reality of the climate crisis.

O’Regan clashed with Conservative MP Jeremy Patzer during a meeting of the House of Commons natural resources committee, after the Cypress Hills—Grasslands MP began demanding if the minister could recite to him how much oil the controversial pipeline through Michigan to Ontario carries per day.

In return, the minister demanded to know if Patzer believed in climate change.

THANK YOU, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS

 Foreign Affairs Minister Marc Garneau is warning countries around the world that doing business with China means facing the risk of seeing citizens detained arbitrarily.

"My advice to all other countries in the world is, if you are doing business with China and you have citizens of your country in China, and you have disagreements with them, there is the possibility that your citizens could be detained," Garneau told CBC News Networks' Power & Politics Monday.

Garneau said that likely will remain the case until China gives up the practice of arbitrary detention.

LIBERALS' HEAVY-HANDED LAW STRUCK DOWN

 The federal government won't appeal an Ontario Superior Court ruling that struck down part of the Elections Act, leaving Canada without a law specifically prohibiting the spreading of misinformation about candidates or party leaders during a federal election.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Breese Davies ruled that a section of the Canada Election Act which prohibited the act of circulating false information during an election was an unjustifiable restriction on Canadians' right to free speech.

The section was added to the election law in 2018 as part of Bill C-76. Section 91 (1) of that legislation makes it against the law to make a false statement during an election about whether a candidate, a prospective candidate, the leader of a political party or a public figure associated with a political party is under investigation or has committed an offence.

SOME WEIRDOS LOVE THE PANDEMIC

It might not occur to you, because you are not a bizarre weirdo, but a lot of people really love the pandemic. Not just the little fascist gnome who changes his #science advice more often than a Wellesley girl changes her preferences during her sophomore year experimental phase, and not just the fascist pols who get off on exploiting their emergency powers to boss people around, but even some regular people. The masks, the paranoia, the constant talk about vaccines – some people love this stuff.

LIBERALS GAVE VANCE A PAY RAISE

   The decision to boost Gen. Jon Vance’s salary to as much as $306,000 even when government officials knew about sexual misconduct allegations would have been based on information from public servants and ministers, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office.
   But Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan claims he was never involved in Vance’s 2019 pay increase.
   The Commons defence committee is expected to look into the issue of why Trudeau decided to give Vance a raise and keep him on as chief of the defence staff for years, even after being informed about sexual misconduct allegations against the general. Opposition MPs on the committee have asked for the government documentation used to support the salary increase Vance received in 2019.

MONTREAL DOCK WORKERS REJECT OFFER

    Unionized dockworkers at Canada's second-largest port on Sunday rejected an offer from management, a union representative said, raising industry fears of a new strike following crippling work stoppages in 2020.
    A spokeswoman for the Canadian Union of Public Employees in Quebec which represents the dockworkers said the workers want to return to the negotiating table. An overwhelming 99.71% of the union workers rejected the offer, the spokeswoman said.

     CUPE has been negotiating a contract with the Maritime Employers Association for 1,125 longshore workers at the Port of Montreal, after their agreement expired in 2018.

PHILIPPINES TELLS CHINESE VESSELS TO LEAVE

MANILA, PHILIPPINES -- The Philippine defence chief on Sunday demanded more than 200 Chinese vessels he said were manned by militias leave a South China Sea reef claimed by Manila, saying their presence was a "provocative action of militarizing the area."

"We call on the Chinese to stop this incursion and immediately recall these boats violating our maritime rights and encroaching into our sovereign territory," Lorenzana said in a statement, adding without elaborating that the Philippines would uphold its sovereign rights.

A government watchdog overseeing the disputed region said about 220 Chinese vessels were seen moored at Whitsun Reef, which Beijing also claims, on March 7. It released pictures of the vessels side by side in one of the most hotly contested areas of the strategic waterway.

MAN CLAIMS DOG CRASHED HIS JEEP

   Earlier this week, cops in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin were called to an incident in which a Jeep Grand Cherokee had rolled into a building. Arriving at the scene, the driver told police he suspected his dog had bumped the 4×4 out of gear.
   No one was hurt, either inside or outside of the building that got hammered by the Jeep, but we’re paw-sitive the owner will have some explaining to do with his insurance company. According to him, the Jeep had been parked at a gas station while he dashed across the street to a bakery. When he came back outside, the vehicle had crashed into the art museum.
   Far be it from us to doubt the man, but it must be noted that the Jeep Grand Cherokee has a gearshift lever that must be activated with opposable thumbs. Barring a last-minute and dramatic evolution, your author finds it unlikely that this 5-year old Australian Shepherd named Callie – whom we are sure is a very good doggo – has that ability.

CRA BLAMES RE-USED PASSWORDS; LAWSUIT HOLDS CRA RESPONSIBLE

 On Aug. 15 of last year, the Treasury Board secretary acknowledged 14,500 federal government accounts had been hacked in a number of cyberattacks, exposing social insurance numbers, tax and banking data and home addresses.

Then this month, it was revealed the CRA had suspended about 800,000 online accounts until they change their login credentials after identical information was found for sale on the dark web.

“These attacks, which used passwords and usernames collected from previous hacks of accounts worldwide, took advantage of the fact that many people re-use passwords and usernames across multiple accounts,” said a statement from the secretariat last August.

“The government is continuing its investigation, as is the RCMP to determine if there have been any privacy breaches and if information was obtained from these accounts. As well, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner has been contacted and alerted to possible breaches.”

TRUDEAU'S SCAPEGOATS

“I’ve been very concerned and frankly upset about the lies that are coming from the federal government about this whole (COVID vaccine) file,” says Lucas, who was integral to the production and distribution of the Canadian vaccine for the H1N1 pandemic in 2009. All of the vaccine for that outbreak was produced in the GSK factory in Quebec City.

“Trudeau has badly botched Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine procurement,” states Lucas.

“First, he blamed Harper for his own failings. Then he blamed Mulroney and then he blamed the provinces. Then he actually turned on his own vaccine task force. He blamed them for about a day or two. Then he blamed the companies — Pfizer for delaying the delivery of its vaccines in January,” explains Lucas.

“So, you know it’s been a blame game from their end, and he’s got, you know, 50 per cent support of the population in Ontario, so that’s absolutely astonishing to me,” says Lucas, “because people are dying because of his government botching this so badly.”

VOLUNTEERS' SUCCESS FOR BC's INDIGENOUS READERS

 The community library in Lax Kw’alaams is one of 19 learning centres that have been built for small Indigenous villages through the efforts of a volunteer project inspired by former B.C. lieutenant-governor Steven Point, a one-time chief of the Sto:lo nation, and retired police officer Bob Blacker. Both men are leaders with the Rotary Club.

Without relying on government money, more than 50 B.C. male and female volunteers with the Write to Read Project (W2R) have used trucks, boats and airplanes to distribute more than 70,000 books onto reserves throughout the province, says Blacker, the project manager. Three more libraries will be erected as soon as the pandemic subsides.

Since the Write to Read Project installed the first library on the Tooney reserve at Riske Creek in 2011, Blacker said, it has found donors to provide modular buildings, furniture, shelving and scores of computers — as well as crucial high-speed, fibre-optic internet connections — to Indigenous reserves including Metlakatla, Metchosin, Nooaitch and Gitsegukla.

STUDENTS FOIL KIDNAPPING ATTEMPT

 Toronto police say students may have stopped child abduction.

ELECTRONIC SPY IN YOUR CAR SQUEALS ON YOU

 For a few years, drivers in some Canadian provinces have been able to earn discounts on their auto insurance premiums by driving safely — or not driving much — thanks to apps or telematics devices that track their behaviour behind the wheel.

But recent rules changes mean that in a growing number of jurisdictions drivers could also see their premium increase if the tracking in so-called pay-as-you-drive programs reveals risky behaviour like speeding, abrupt braking or accelerating, or texting and handheld calls while the vehicle is in motion. Similarly, with pay-per-kilometre insurance, drivers could see surcharges for exceeding a certain number of kilometres driven in a certain period of time.

PUSHING BACK AGAINST PANDEMIC RESTRICTIONS

  Furey;   This bizarre notion that community leaders need to take even the most questionable edicts from public health officials and follow them blindly without any degree of pushback is nonsense. So is the idea that suggesting the handful of public health officials currently running our lives are fallible and that maybe their work needs to be sent for a second opinion is somehow “anti-science”.

No, it’s the job of community leaders to offer constructive feedback on these restrictions — whether those leaders be mayors, religious figures, sports coaches and so on.

PANDEMIC ALERT SYSTEM FAILURE

The interim report concluded the monitoring system did identify the outbreak of the pneumonia that would become COVID-19 on the night of Dec. 30, 2019, and included this information from Wuhan, China, in a special report to Canadian public health officials the next day.

But the report notes that without sending up a formal alert, international partners that rely on Canada's information were left to rely on other sources.

 The panel's report also found that prior to the pandemic, the alert system lacked standard operating procedures. Senior managers also didn't fully understand the rationale and the intended audience for alerts, it added.

ONTARIO'S SUNSHINE LIST

TORONTO -- Hospital overtime during COVID-19 and pandemic pay landed many of Ontario’s registered nurses onto the 2020 Sunshine List, which discloses the number of publicly-paid employees who earned a six-figure salary.

The Progressive Conservative government said the list also saw a massive jump in the number of teachers earning $100,000 or more last year – contributing to a dramatic rise in the overall amount of public employees on the Sunshine List.

This year's list saw more than 200,000 people pulling in six-figure salaries -- a 23 per cent increase from 2019 – and the government said nearly 75 per cent of that growth came from the hospital and school board sectors.

The sunshine list.

IMPACT FROM TRUDEAU'S CARBON TAX

 The federal government’s Healthy Environment and Healthy Economy (HEHE) plan includes a $170-per-tonne carbon tax to be phased in over 9 years. Unlike previous cases when the government proposed major policy changes, it has not released any quantitative economic analyses of the impacts of the plan, except to claim that the policy will have no effect on GDP. This claim is at odds with numerous previous analyses of the costs of greenhouse-gas emission controls that were made inside and outside the federal government during discussions of the Kyoto Protocol.

In this study, we present an analysis using a large empirical model of the Canadian economy that indicates that the tax will have substantial negative impacts, including a 1.8% decline in Gross Domestic Product and the net loss of about 184,000 jobs, even after taking account of jobs created by new government spending and household rebates of the carbon charges. The drop in GDP works out to about $1,540 in current dollars per employed person.

DR. FAUCI FORGETS DEADLY PATHOGEN RESEARCH

Gain of function research, as Nidhi Subbaraman explains in Nature, “involves making pathogens more deadly or more transmissible.” In 2012 Fauci cited the risks of such research, wondering “what if that scientist becomes infected with the virus, which leads to an outbreak and ultimately triggers a pandemic?”

The NIH banned gain of function research in 2014 but revived it in 2017 with no objection from Fauci. Three years later after a global pandemic, Fauci’s paper is silent on any role this dangerous research might have played in the outbreak.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVELERS STILL BRINGING COVID-19

 Flights from India continue to be Canada’s top source of international passengers testing positive for COVID-19.

And data provided by Health Canada reveals nearly all of the twice-daily flights between Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and Toronto Pearson Airport carried passengers infected with COVID-19.

Of the 106 COVID-infected flights that landed in Canada since March 4, 30 originated from Delhi — nine landing at Vancouver and 21 at YYZ.

TRUDEAU'S CONSTANT INSULTS TO CANADIANS

   Rex Murphy:  Is it not a bit low for a prime minister to be so dismissive, so condescending? That “big building over there,” and the persons who have been its leaders since John A. Macdonald, whatever its faults and flaws, have brought us to where we are. One such person was Pierre Elliott Trudeau. But to Justin Trudeau, it is not a place of honour, of pride or accomplishment. “It (again he means our Parliament) has and is built around a system of colonialism, of discrimination, of systemic racism in all of our institutions.”
   Well then, tear it down. Cancel it. At the very least give it a new name. No one with a serious moral heart would bear to be seen going into such a building, and certainly not presiding as prime minister over it.
   Is there nothing before Justin Trudeau’s entry into politics that Canada got right? Was there no virtue before 2015? Is there anything in the Canadian political system that he approves of, sees as a model for his own governance, any previous prime minister or premier from our past who he looks to as a guide?

STUMBLING JOE BIDEN

 Joe Biden stumbled and fell multiple times while attempting to make his way up the stairs to board Air Force One on Friday.

Video shared on social media shows the 78-year-old Biden struggling to negotiate the stairs prior to his departure for Atlanta, Georgia. Biden kept hold of the rail throughout the awkward effort.

This troubling video of Biden struggling to walk up steps comes a day after he (accidentally?) called Kamala Harris “President Harris.”

HOLDING THE BAIZOU IN DISDAIN

   On Thursday, during a meeting in Anchorage, China’s top diplomat and its Foreign Minister showed Secretary of State Tony Blinken (an empty suit) and national security adviser Jake Sullivan stunning disrespect. It was almost as if the Chinese knew that these are weak, self-loathing, confused men – and it turns out they did know. Tucker Carlson revealed on Friday that the Chinese have a word for Biden and the other White wokesters now in power. They call them “baizuo,” and can describe their values with stunning and disdainful accuracy.
   Blinken opened the meeting with a two-minute attack against China for its failure to follow global rules and norms. To his credit, he did mention “our deep concerns with actions by China, including Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber-attacks on the United States, [and] economic coercion towards our allies.” However, he somehow failed to mention either COVID or the Uighurs – that his actual or negligent biological warfare and mass genocide. Hmmm.

76 YO WOMAN KICKS ATTACKER'S ASS

 Perhaps thieves and attackers will think twice after hearing what happened Wednesday when a 76-year-old woman whipped her assailant and sent him straight to the hospital — on the way to jail, hopefully.

But let’s be realistic. It’s San Francisco. That city and its state — both under Democrat control — apparently prefer criminals over the law-abiding, so whether the attacker will face justice beyond the street is an open question.

MAPPING THE WORLD'S AGE DEMOGRAPHICS

Country age demographics are determined by two key factors: fertility and mortality.

Throughout history, it was typical to see both birth and death rates at higher levels. But today, in most parts of the world, women are having fewer children, and innovations in healthcare and technology mean we are all living longer. The average person today lives to 72.6 years old, while the rate of births per woman has fallen to 2.5.

These trends have drastically altered the demographics of mature economies, resulting in a much older population. In many developing countries, however, births still outweigh deaths, resulting in populations that skew younger.

CONTENTIOUS START TO USA-CHINA DIPLOMACY TALKS

   The first high-level diplomacy talks between the Biden administration and Chinese government kicked off with an abrasive exchange, as the world powers seek to ease tense relations, according to the Wall Street Journal.
   US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tallied off Washington’s problems with China during the start of Thursday’s talks, reportedly citing cyberattacks, the Chinese crackdown in Hong Kong and threats against Taiwan.

   Bejing’s actions, “threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability,” Blinken said, according to the Journal.

21 STATES SUING PRESIDENT BIDEN

  Texas, Montana and 19 other Republican-led states are suing President Joe Biden in federal court over his rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline.
   The lawsuit, which also names Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other Cabinet members, was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Southern Texas. Along with Texas and Montana, the other plaintiffs are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
   Many of the states aren't near the proposed path for Keystone XL, which would carry oil from tar sands in Alberta to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast. So why do they believe they have standing? The Montana attorney general's office says it's because killing the pipeline would "also have a ripple effect that adversely impacts the economy and environment in non-pipeline states."

WAVING THE RACE CARD AT BC INQUIRY

“If you are going to allege all of the money or a great majority of the money coming from China is illegitimate, don’t you think it would be incumbent on you to look at whether or not there may be legitimate sources of money particularly if the area is being targeted by enjoying an amazing economic boom?” Butcher asked.

Meilleur didn’t: “In terms of looking at this, my role as a regulator was to address for the minister and for the government at large, public interest policy, and what I saw … was the source of that cash was of concern in the way it was being delivered and where it was being obtained from and the clientele were of a certain ethnic group … an Asian clientele.”

 “And when you take that approach,” Butcher said, “you are doing exactly what Dr. Yu suggested was wrong — you are introducing racialized opinions with respect to the source of money without examining whether there are other explanations for the source of money. Do you accept that?”

“I do not accept that,” Meilleur asserted. “Racial motivation had nothing to do with this. It was always about the integrity of gaming. It remains about the integrity of gaming. This was a huge public interest policy issue, the government had to address it and BCLC had to address it.”