Two Loblaws lobbyists, one of which helped steer the company towards a controversial $12-million federal grant to reduce the energy consumption of their refrigerators, also donated frequently to the Liberal Party and attended a partisan fundraising event with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna and two of her senior officials also met with one of the lobbyists representing Loblaw Companies Ltd., soon after the grant program had opened to businesses, her office confirmed.
McKenna's office said the meeting with the lobbyist was on another topic, plastic waste, and that the grant was awarded following a fair and competitive process. Loblaw Companies also denies that the grant for their fridges was awarded because of lobbying or preferential treatment, and the lobbyists in question say they never lobbied the government over the program on behalf of the company.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
PM PRACTICES HANDSHAKE FOR TRUMP PHOTO-OP
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agonized over what might seem like an inconsequential detail before his first meeting with President Donald Trump: how to shake hands.
During a February 2017 flight to Washington to meet the president, Trudeau was fixated with being viewed as standing his ground without antagonizing Trump.
So the prime minister spent part of the flight practicing his handshake with senior aides.
The combination shoulder grip-handshake he settled on didn’t just avoid the cringe-inducing exchange Japan’s Shinzo Abe endured a few days earlier. It also offered a snapshot of Trudeau’s approach to Trump: to seek contrast, not confrontation, and to be viewed as standing his ground, politely, with a dominant alpha male American leader.
During a February 2017 flight to Washington to meet the president, Trudeau was fixated with being viewed as standing his ground without antagonizing Trump.
So the prime minister spent part of the flight practicing his handshake with senior aides.
The combination shoulder grip-handshake he settled on didn’t just avoid the cringe-inducing exchange Japan’s Shinzo Abe endured a few days earlier. It also offered a snapshot of Trudeau’s approach to Trump: to seek contrast, not confrontation, and to be viewed as standing his ground, politely, with a dominant alpha male American leader.
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
APPEAL LOST AGAINST IAAF TESTOSTERONE RULES
Caster Semenya lost her appeal Wednesday against rules designed to decrease naturally high testosterone levels in some female runners.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s panel of three judges gave a complex verdict and “dismissed both requests for arbitration” from Semenya and the governing body of track and field.
In a landmark judgment, the court said the IAAF’s proposed rules on athletes with “differences of sex development (DSD)” are discriminatory but should be applied.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport’s panel of three judges gave a complex verdict and “dismissed both requests for arbitration” from Semenya and the governing body of track and field.
In a landmark judgment, the court said the IAAF’s proposed rules on athletes with “differences of sex development (DSD)” are discriminatory but should be applied.
WATERING TREE STUMPS IN TORONTO
City of Toronto taxpayers were charged to prune and water dead or non-existent trees, the auditor general has found.
Auditor General Beverly Romeo-Beehler reveals her findings of a value-for-money audit of the city’s urban forestry program, including an estimate that taxpayers lost about $2.6 million worth of productivity, in a report to the Friday meeting of the city’s Audit Committee.
A comparison of GPS data to daily logs filled out by private contractors revealed huge gaps in time where their vehicle was parked at restaurants, coffee shops, residential houses, a cemetery, schools, a shopping centre or just driving around or parked nowhere near city trees that needed maintenance, the report says.
Auditor General Beverly Romeo-Beehler reveals her findings of a value-for-money audit of the city’s urban forestry program, including an estimate that taxpayers lost about $2.6 million worth of productivity, in a report to the Friday meeting of the city’s Audit Committee.
A comparison of GPS data to daily logs filled out by private contractors revealed huge gaps in time where their vehicle was parked at restaurants, coffee shops, residential houses, a cemetery, schools, a shopping centre or just driving around or parked nowhere near city trees that needed maintenance, the report says.
GAS CRISIS IS HORGAN'S JUST REWARD
“John Horgan kicked them in the shins last year and Jason Kenney threatened to punch us in the nose.
“John Horgan needs to go to Edmonton and make a deal with Alberta … this crazy dispute between B.C. and Alberta is totally unnecessary. John Horgan started it and John Horgan needs to end it.”
Horgan cannot admit any of that, of course. In the world of the B.C. Greens and NDP, he’s a smashing success.
His tactics — inventing new policies to inhibit bitumen flows through the province, threatening to restrict shipments by truck, rail or pipe — did their job admirably.
“John Horgan needs to go to Edmonton and make a deal with Alberta … this crazy dispute between B.C. and Alberta is totally unnecessary. John Horgan started it and John Horgan needs to end it.”
Horgan cannot admit any of that, of course. In the world of the B.C. Greens and NDP, he’s a smashing success.
His tactics — inventing new policies to inhibit bitumen flows through the province, threatening to restrict shipments by truck, rail or pipe — did their job admirably.
BLOCKING PIPELINES VS TURNING OFF TAPS
British Columbia is launching a constitutional challenge against Alberta after Premier Jason Kenney proclaimed legislation to restrict oil supplies to the western province.
Kenney promised repeatedly during the election that, should the UCP win, his cabinet would proclaim Bill 12 “within one hour” of being sworn in.
Neither Kenney nor his Energy Minister Sonya Savage would comment Tuesday on whether that was still the plan, but the premier confirmed in an op-ed penned originally for the Vancouver Sun (now running in the Journal and Calgary Herald) that his cabinet had charged ahead.
Kenney promised repeatedly during the election that, should the UCP win, his cabinet would proclaim Bill 12 “within one hour” of being sworn in.
Neither Kenney nor his Energy Minister Sonya Savage would comment Tuesday on whether that was still the plan, but the premier confirmed in an op-ed penned originally for the Vancouver Sun (now running in the Journal and Calgary Herald) that his cabinet had charged ahead.
TRUDEAU CLAIMS TRANSPARENCY & OPENNESS
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says today's federal Liberal party wouldn't accept political donations like those that got SNC-Lavalin in trouble in the late 2000s.
Trudeau says the party has improved its standards and, in his words, "that is not what happens any more."
"When we came to power and when I became leader of the Liberal party, we made significant changes to the fundraising regime, we have moved forward on transparency and openness, and that is not what happens any more."
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