British Petroleum is one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, so when it announced in February that it would sell its 19.75% stake in Russian energy company Rosneft in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, it held weight.
But nine months later, BP has yet to offload its stake, and one of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s closest advisers is demanding the company cut ties immediately.
Oleg Ustenko, Zelensky’s chief economic adviser, penned a letter—viewed by BBC and The Guardian—to BP CEO Bernard Looney urging the company to make good on its pledge from the war’s early days, while accusing BP of being complicit with Russia’s international law-breaking and transgressions in Ukraine by holding on to its stake in Rosneft.
Saturday, December 3, 2022
DANIELLE SMITH IS REBUKED, DISMISSED & RIDICULED
Rex Murphy: I have some very good news for you, Danielle Smith: over here in Toronto, the centre of the universe, your recent legislation — the Alberta sovereignty within a united Canada act — is being rebuked, dismissed and ridiculed.
In the Toronto Star — that fountain of sensitivity and social justice — Toronto-based columnist Andrew Phillips suggested that you look like you’re “flailing around like a bad drunk in a bar,” and that your bill “isn’t a serious law.”
This is the language of raw insult, normally reserved for the darker sewers of anonymous Twitter postings. But what you must understand, Premier Smith, is that you are the Premier of Alberta, a province of rednecks, truck drivers and oil workers (all most unsavoury types) and as seen from the cloud-capping top of the CN Tower, Alberta is an outland of rustic hicks — and thereby the approved target of rude language and calculated insults.
In the Toronto Star — that fountain of sensitivity and social justice — Toronto-based columnist Andrew Phillips suggested that you look like you’re “flailing around like a bad drunk in a bar,” and that your bill “isn’t a serious law.”
This is the language of raw insult, normally reserved for the darker sewers of anonymous Twitter postings. But what you must understand, Premier Smith, is that you are the Premier of Alberta, a province of rednecks, truck drivers and oil workers (all most unsavoury types) and as seen from the cloud-capping top of the CN Tower, Alberta is an outland of rustic hicks — and thereby the approved target of rude language and calculated insults.
Friday, December 2, 2022
SECRET SQUIRRELS IN OFFICE OF ONTARIO AUDITOR GENERAL
Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk should “stay in her lane” instead of launching an undercover operation to detect money laundering in casinos, Premier Doug Ford says.
Auditors looking into the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Operation (OLG) hired “mystery shoppers” to visit four casinos to test their anti-money laundering controls.
“The Auditor General has to stay in her lane and focus on where there’s waste of money,” Ford said Thursday. “You can’t do a sting operation, you can’t all of a sudden deputize yourself and think you’re the Secret Service going around doing sting operations that failed, by the way, and they were caught.”
Auditors looking into the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Operation (OLG) hired “mystery shoppers” to visit four casinos to test their anti-money laundering controls.
“The Auditor General has to stay in her lane and focus on where there’s waste of money,” Ford said Thursday. “You can’t do a sting operation, you can’t all of a sudden deputize yourself and think you’re the Secret Service going around doing sting operations that failed, by the way, and they were caught.”
WHY NOT TO TRUST GOVERNMENT
On Parliament Hill, a Liberal government that claims to be terribly concerned about misinformation — and wants to regulate the internet to make it better — is either lying to fend off criticism of its latest gun-control push, or it has no idea what it’s doing. Even as it insists it is not going after hunting rifles and shotguns, it is clearly going after hunting rifles and shotguns.
Down the road at Ottawa City Hall, meanwhile, Tuesday saw the sudden resignation of long-time city manager Steve Kanellakos. He followed out the door three-term mayor Jim Watson, who did not run for re-election, and former OC Transpo boss Steve Manconi, who retired last year.
On Wednesday, Justice William Hourigan issued his report into Ottawa’s fantastically dysfunctional new LRT line. Hourigan’s findings, if anything, were more scathing than expected. Basically Watson, Kanellakos, Manconi and some senior staffers were managing the entire project behind the scenes in a WhatsApp group as a desperate exercise in political crisis-management rather than transit-building. (Goodness knows what they thought the end game was.) Project standards and goalposts were changed to ensure good results, including those during the all-important trial-running phase of the LRT opening. Keeping City Council in the dark was crucial.
Down the road at Ottawa City Hall, meanwhile, Tuesday saw the sudden resignation of long-time city manager Steve Kanellakos. He followed out the door three-term mayor Jim Watson, who did not run for re-election, and former OC Transpo boss Steve Manconi, who retired last year.
On Wednesday, Justice William Hourigan issued his report into Ottawa’s fantastically dysfunctional new LRT line. Hourigan’s findings, if anything, were more scathing than expected. Basically Watson, Kanellakos, Manconi and some senior staffers were managing the entire project behind the scenes in a WhatsApp group as a desperate exercise in political crisis-management rather than transit-building. (Goodness knows what they thought the end game was.) Project standards and goalposts were changed to ensure good results, including those during the all-important trial-running phase of the LRT opening. Keeping City Council in the dark was crucial.
Thursday, December 1, 2022
GLOBAL NEWS PETITIONS HOC FOR 25% PAYROLL REBATES
A former Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) vice-chair is criticizing a bid by Global News to gain access to secure payroll rebates via tax measures, warning that it could make media companies dependent on the Liberal government remaining in power.
As first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, the owner of Global News, Corus Entertainment Inc., submitted a petition to the House of Commons finance committee on Monday urging Ottawa for 25% payroll rebates via tax measures for media companies.
“Unlike other Canadian news and broadcast content, Canadian broadcast news is not entitled to ongoing, direct financial support from the federal government,” the petition claimed. “Corus urges the federal government to redress this inequity.”
As first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter, the owner of Global News, Corus Entertainment Inc., submitted a petition to the House of Commons finance committee on Monday urging Ottawa for 25% payroll rebates via tax measures for media companies.
“Unlike other Canadian news and broadcast content, Canadian broadcast news is not entitled to ongoing, direct financial support from the federal government,” the petition claimed. “Corus urges the federal government to redress this inequity.”
ALBERTA SOVEREIGNTY ACT PRESENTED
There it is in writing, finally, the promised bill that lifted Danielle Smith to the premier’s office, the one that empowers Alberta to defy federal laws.
The bill will give the UCP government authority to defy not only federal laws deemed unconstitutional, but to refuse to enforce any laws, policies or actions that are considered harmful to the province.
The initial points of combat are already mapped out. Alberta will almost certainly refuse to obey the federal cuts in fertilizer use. The province will likely act against further “arbitrary” emissions cuts. The confiscation of firearms is an obvious flashpoint.
The bill will give the UCP government authority to defy not only federal laws deemed unconstitutional, but to refuse to enforce any laws, policies or actions that are considered harmful to the province.
The initial points of combat are already mapped out. Alberta will almost certainly refuse to obey the federal cuts in fertilizer use. The province will likely act against further “arbitrary” emissions cuts. The confiscation of firearms is an obvious flashpoint.
CHINA A BULLY-BOY IN INTERNATIONAL AIR SPACE
Chinese military jets conducted several intercepts of a Royal Canadian Air Force patrol plane as it flew surveillance sorties from Japan as part of an international effort to enforce sanctions against North Korea, the Department of National Defense confirmed Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the department says the Canadian CP-140 Aurora aircraft was intercepted "on numerous occasions" by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) during Operation Neon, the Canadian Armed Forces' ongoing sanctions-monitoring mission in the western Pacific region.
"Canada has been clear in its expectation that all intercepts should be conducted in a safe and professional manner and refrain from impeding lawful operations in international airspace," Department of National Defense spokesperson Jessica Lamirande told CTV News.
A spokesperson for the department says the Canadian CP-140 Aurora aircraft was intercepted "on numerous occasions" by the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) during Operation Neon, the Canadian Armed Forces' ongoing sanctions-monitoring mission in the western Pacific region.
"Canada has been clear in its expectation that all intercepts should be conducted in a safe and professional manner and refrain from impeding lawful operations in international airspace," Department of National Defense spokesperson Jessica Lamirande told CTV News.
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