Trudeau minister's office quashed details of $6,000-a-night suite - "Federal government staff were prepared for reporters to find out about the exorbitant hotel bill, including a more than $6,000-a-night suite, that politicians and government staff incurred while in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II... The documents contain emails also referring to orders from the office of Global Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly that staff not tell reporters which government delegate stayed in a roughly $6,000-a-night luxury suite at taxpayers’ expense while in London for the funeral."
Opinion: On LNG, Canada turned away Germany, then Japan – this country cannot keep doing that - The Globe and Mail - "In mid-January, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Japan’s interest in buying more Canadian energy supplies. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lauded Japan for agreements to purchase from the soon-to-launch LNG Canada project, before quickly changing the subject to critical minerals and battery production, the newest focus of his country’s industrial policy... Canada couldn’t do much to support allies in 2022 looking for new energy supplies, partly a result of timing; after all, new supplies don’t miraculously appear overnight. But Canadian projects have also been absent from the recent contract discussions with European buyers that set the rules and production over the coming decades. Even in sustainability-conscious Europe, the war in Ukraine has brought energy risks into sharp focus and reinforced the benefit of alternate energy infrastructure and supply chains, including strategic energy reserves. EU utilities, long wary of long-term contracts, have begun signing agreements with Qatari and U.S. producers for LNG supplies that will begin after 2026. This reflects their commitment to move away from Russian gas even if the current invasion of Ukraine is resolved. The world is far from weaning itself off of natural gas. Germany has invested in new floating LNG terminals in a matter of months. These and various conservation measures have alleviated the shock of Russian supply cuts. They should reduce revenues of Russia’s war machine, reinforcing the economic effect of the sanctions and export controls of which Canada has been a key driver... Buyers including Germany and Japan – the largest consumer of LNG, according to GasVista’s data – are focused on both meeting their climate goals and keeping the lights and heaters on. They also want to avoid making the same mistake of relying only on one supplier – especially a geopolitical rival – for their energy. Canada can play a role in making sure the supplies that come to market are as environmentally efficient as possible and are from a stable, dependable partner."
Terence Corcoran: How the Trudeau Liberals put an end to fiscal discipline - "Chrystia Freeland thanks the god of COVID-19 for having “created a window of political opportunity” for government to launch childcare initiatives. Freeland is picking up on Prime Minister Trudeau’s earlier statement that the pandemic provides an “opportunity for a reset … our chance to accelerate our pre-pandemic efforts to reimagine economic systems.” Trudeau, in turn, is regurgitating the themes and language generated by the great global build-back-better network at the World Economic Forum — a movement that seems to be converting western governments in to 21st century variants on George Orwell’s 1984. A report in The Atlantic magazine this week summarized the new reset policy mood that is sweeping through Washington under President Joe Biden: “A president associated with the politics of austerity is spending money with focused gusto, a crisis isn’t going to waste, and Senator Bernie Sanders is happy.” With deficits and debt soaring, all earlier concerns about the need for fiscal discipline have been abandoned. Former Bill Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta said “There’s definitely a shift towards a more progressive theory of how the economy works.” A third factor driving the debt explosion is the rise of new economic theories that claim massive government spending and deficits can lift economic growth without fear of generating economic crisis in the future. The debt-is-painless and therefore effective has a formal label in economics: Modern Monetary Theory. The theory is almost impossible to explain and is the subject of raging debate among economists. Former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, in a piece titled “The ideological bankruptcy of modern monetary theory,” summarized the definition problem. “If you can’t explain something, try an abbreviation.” MMT, said King, is “a magic money tree. It’s a simple idea. It costs almost nothing to print money: the cost of printing banknotes is negligible compared with their face value, and even lower when the Bank of England creates money electronically through its so-called ‘quantitative easing’ programme (QE). That money could be given to the public — either directly or indirectly via the government — to enable people to spend more, so raising output and employment. We are all better off.” That’s the theory, which Harvard’s Lawrence Summers, a former Obama economic advisor, has characterized as “voodoo economics.” MMT makes “ludicrous claims that massive spending on job guarantees can be financed by central banks without any burden on the economy.” Invesco Chief Economist John Greenwood and Steve Hanke of Johns-Hopkins University recently called the idea “Magical Monetary Theory.” The doctrine “states that fiscal deficits don’t matter as long as countries borrow in their own currencies and inflation stays in check. This is like manna from heaven for proponents of more government spending and larger fiscal deficits.” Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz said in 2019 that MMT “is offering a free lunch, and most of us know there is no such thing.” MMT has not been formally identified as official policy in Ottawa, either by the government or the Bank of Canada — even though Australian economist Bill Mitchell — said to have coined the MMT name — has described Canada as a potential “MMT poster-child.” There can be no doubt, however, that MMT is an influence inside central banking and government finance circles... A new report from the C.D. Howe Institute, however, warns that the inflation risk riding behind the massive fiscal expansion will not be so easily tamed. The inflation risk arises “not when government spends, but when aggregate demand in the economy exceeds the country’s aggregate supply.” To avoid the inflation problem, government would cut spending and raise taxes before the crisis hits. As a result of government spending cuts and tax increases, the value of the Canadian dollar would be at risk, threatening a repeat of the 1990s fiscal crisis that sank the Canadian dollar and forced a great fiscal retrenchment. In the mid-1990s, Ottawa was forced to slash spending, in part by cutting transfers to the provinces who had to pick up the slack. But this time the provinces are already broke. The fourth factor behind the massive Liberal fiscal expansion is the belief that billions of tax dollars are ripe for picking. That would supposedly smother excess demand. The left has successfully installed the idea that the money to fund the spending and reduce the deficits and debt in future can be extracted through higher taxation, especially on the wealthy and on corporations... Thomson and 46 other Canadian billionaires are said to hold $270-billion in assets — implying, one assumes, that much of the 2021 Liberal spending could be easily wiped out if only Ottawa had the political courage to take on the holders of wealth... These are also ideas that Finance Minister Freeland promoted long before the COVID-19 crisis in her 2014 book — Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else — and in her public appearances. On the idea of taxing the rich, she once said, “It’s about us coming together and filling up the kitty”"
Kelly McParland: Liberals take note, when benefits become rights, it's hard to make people pay - "I wondered if there was a country in the world that has all the things Canada aims to supply, and has a found a way to pay for it. I can’t claim to have completed a full and comprehensive investigation, but I did find that France provides pretty much all the benefits Ottawa aspires to: government programs for health, dental, pharmacare and daycare, to varying degrees and for various incomes. Expanding the system even further has been a goal of the Macron administration, which got into a huge fight with dental unions and “complementary insurers” over coverage and costs but seems to have ironed things out (just as an election is approaching, oddly enough). Over the past two years, limited coverage has been added for hearing aids and eyeglasses as well. And the cost? Like everyone else, France runs on debt and deficits. If you’re on the left you probably don’t care much, if you’re on the right you probably wake up wondering when the reckoning will come. In general revenue terms, the Tax Foundation, using figures from the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development, places the French tax system 35th out of 36 countries in terms of its competitiveness, attraction for investors and impact on workers and businesses. Canada ranks 20th on the same list. Comparing the two, Canada ranks much higher in individual taxes (mainly income taxes), drawing 36 per cent of its revenue compared with 21 per cent in France. In turn, the French pay much higher amounts in “social insurance” charges — 32 per cent of revenue against 14 per cent in Canada... Perhaps the question is whether the French love their system and all the benefits it offers in a way the Liberals would love to emulate. Oddly enough, with less than a week before voting starts on President Macron’s re-election bid, he’s been losing ground to Marine Le Pen, the perennial right-wing leader who has been emphasizing cost-of-living issues while Macron was too busy on the Ukraine crisis to even take time to campaign. From predictions of an easy victory a few weeks ago, Macron suddenly faces a real race for power. Weird, isn’t it? You give people all the plans “progressives” fantasize about, and they still get cranky. Once you’ve told them it’s their right, they just don’t seem to want to pay."
It’s time for Liberals to learn a lesson - "Trudeau almost lost his government to the SNC-Lavalin debacle and his response was to railroad nearly a billion dollars to his mate’s charity. Like Trump, Trudeau appears emboldened by his near-misses. Stephen Harper, on the other hand, recused himself from discussions about a potential Talisman Energy takeover in 2012 because his brother Grant worked for the firm as an accountant. Spot the difference?"
Diane Francis: The Liberal government is Canada's biggest problem - "The country is run by professional politicians who lack “domain expertise” beyond getting re-elected. Current placeholders lack credentials, experience, or talent to head the ministries they run, surprising in a country with so many educated and capable people. The Canadian cabinet is devoid of representatives from the critically important sectors of oil and gas, mining, technology, manufacturing, agriculture, export, science, construction, engineering, retail or finance. It lacks anyone knowledgeable about economics, geopolitics, innovation, entrepreneurship, innovation, or future trends... the Prime Minister of Canada was a teacher and snowboard instructor; the current finance minister is a journalist who’s also burdened with other portfolios; the health minister is a graphic designer; the procurement minister, a law professor; the foreign minister, an astronaut; the minister of natural resources, a self-described TV “personality”; the minister of agriculture, a campground proprietor and so on... Some cynics argue that ministers don’t really matter because they are only figure heads propped up by deputy ministers. But ministers should have domain expertise so they can ask the right questions, issue the right directives, correct course, and lead not follow. They are elected, not the civil service."
From 2021
EDITORIAL: PM's shot at Ford sounds familiar | Toronto Sun - "Politicians blame other levels of government for their problems all the time — as Ford has in complaining lax federal border controls have contributed to the severity of the pandemic in Ontario. That doesn’t automatically mean Ford’s criticism is without any merit. In addition, if Ford is trying to deflect his problems onto Trudeau he’s just doing what Trudeau does all the time — deflecting criticism aimed at him to others. Here are just a few examples: “Justin Trudeau blames Ford government for infrastructure delays,” The Canadian Press. “Trudeau Blames Conservatives For Canada’s Vaccine Manufacturing Decline,” Huffington Post. “Justin Trudeau blames the provinces for Canada’s inaction on municipal handgun bans,” Toronto Star. “Trudeau blames Alberta government for his lagging popularity,” Western Standard. “Trudeau blames cuts under Harper for Public Health Agency’s ills,” Globe and Mail. “Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blames Harper Conservatives for delays in pipeline projects,” Edmonton Journal. “Trudeau blames B.C. government for Trans Mountain pipeline construction uncertainty,” Global News. “Trudeau blames deficit on Tories, says government is meeting fiscal goals,” Canadian Press. Some would say Trudeau does this so often it’s an example of projection — projecting his own perceived failings onto others in a bid to escape responsibility for his own actions. On some occasions when Trudeau does it, he doesn’t blame a specific person or another government, but things he says he couldn’t control. For example: “Justin Trudeau says white ‘privilege’ blinded him to racism of blackface as he expresses ‘deep regret'”, The Telegraph. In this case, Trudeau used the defence of unconscious racism to deflect criticism about his own actions, arguing white privilege was the reason he donned blackface so many times as a young man, that even as an adult teacher at the age of 29 in 2001, he still didn’t know it was racist. Talk about deflection."
John Ivison: There are few signs the Prime Minister learns from his mistakes - "How many times has Justin Trudeau begged forgiveness for transgressions that would probably have seen him fired in the private sector?... We have been hearing these expressions of contrition for a decade... A random selection of his greatest mis-hits support the suggestion of former colleague Andrew Coyne that Trudeau’s is a “cluttered and undisciplined mind”. That observation followed his musing as the new leader of the Liberal Party that he held “a level of admiration for China because of their basic dictatorship.”... There may have been family pressures at play in a couple of instances, including the Tofino beach holiday.But a more holistic explanation is that this is a man so convinced of his own righteousness that he discounts lapses in own behaviour and judgment."
Everyone obsesses about Trump for admiring dictators. But that doesn't apply to the Golden Boy
'Its ethics are entirely nihilist': Stephen Harper slams 'woke' left in rare interview - "While Harper said he tries not to critique his “successor government,” he implied that a Conservative administration would not have suffered delays in securing adequate doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. While Canada is now the most-vaccinated country against COVID-19, the mass-vaccination campaign was delayed by several months because of federal procurement problems — most notably a deal with a Chinese vaccine manufacturer that was quashed due to the direct intervention of Beijing. “When we were in government, we never had any problem making sure we had vaccines well in advance,” said Harper. “So it’s just a matter of competent execution.”... Harper was head of a minority government when Canada faced the Great Recession of 2008. While his government counteracted the downturn with a round of aggressive deficit spending, Canada’s response would end up ranking as one of the cheapest and most temporary in the developed world. With COVID having ushered in another round of near-universal deficit budgets around the world, Canada is now at the other end of the ledger, with per-capita pandemic deficits that are the highest in the G20... he pointed to continued high spending in both Canada and the United States as “bad macroeconomic policy on an enormous scale.” At a time when the adult populations of both countries are mostly vaccinated, Harper said that governments should be switching gears towards policies that prioritize economic recovery. “I think it’s actually pretty straightforward, but it’s the opposite of what governments are doing”... Instead, Harper said, governments have emerged from a period of unprecedented economic intervention with a sense of “why can’t we just do this forever?” The consequences, he said, will inevitably come in the form of inflation, rising interest rates and the end of “affordable debt.” “People believe the United States can continue to borrow countless trillions of dollars at zero per cent interest,” said Harper. “Not only do I believe that’s not true, I believe that’s actually coming to an end much quicker than people think.”... Canada is not burdened by the same levels of political polarization as the U.S., which he called a “serious problem” to the U.S.’ political future. Harper credited a Canadian parliamentary system where — particularly under minority governments — opposition parties must either vote with the government or remove their confidence and trigger an election. “Your opponents cannot adopt the strategy of defeating you regardless of the consequences”"
KINSELLA: We all bear responsibility for 'Cult of Trudeau' | Toronto Sun - "Trudeau and his acolytes have actually been telling anyone who will listen that they’re not the old Liberal Party of Canada anymore. They’re not really a grubby old political party. They’re a shining, shimmering “movement.” Seriously, that’s what they’ve been saying around Ottawa. And who can blame them?... it’s not just a movement. It’s more like a cult... Here’s what the deprogramming experts say about cults:
They are unquestioningly devoted to their leader. The self-professed anti-racists in the Liberal caucus refusing to condemn Trudeau’s racist blackface: check
Doubt and dissent and discouraged and even punished. Defaming and exiling Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott: check
The cult is elitist, and claims an exalted, special status for itself. As everyone knows, the Trudeau Liberals regard themselves as synonymous with Canada, so that opposing them becomes un-Canadian: check
The cult believes that the ends always justify the means. Victory at all costs, for which various compliant media folks hail their savvy political acumen: check
The cult is preoccupied with making money and recruiting new members. So, Justin Trudeau made memberships in his party free — but he also charged charities hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees — to do what other Canadians do voluntarily. Check
The cult’s leader is not accountable to any other authority. And, of course, Justin Trudeau isn’t. Despite being condemned for serial scandals – despite being the only Prime Minister in history to have violated a federal statute while in office – Justin Trudeau remains unaccountable. Check
And who is to blame for all of that? Is it those who belong to his “movement?” The members of his ersatz cult? No, it is us."
Canadian government has spent nearly $6M on Chinese contracts since two Michaels were arrested - "“The Liberal government’s business-as-usual approach to the People’s Republic of China should come to an end, particularly with Canadians held hostage,” said John Williamson, a New Brunswick Conservative MP who sought the information... “Public attitudes toward Communist China are certainly hardening,” Williamson said. “Canadians understand Beijing views other nations as vassal states. The Canadian public has figured this out while our federal leadership, both political and bureaucratic, continues to ignore the problem or is convinced it didn’t matter.”"
Rex Murphy: Trudeau's true face has emerged while in power, and it isn't pretty - "his government annulled the inquiry into sexual harassment in the military. Who, from the face that greeted them five years ago, consumed with women’s’ rights and equity in all things, the world’s self-declared leading male-feminist would have predicted that cancellation of an inquiry into sexual harassment?... the Bloc Québécois voted with him on this. Was there a horse traded there? A deal made? It is surely mere coincidence that Air Canada, based in Quebec, got Christmas news, a bailout of billions, on the same day. Who walked the catwalk more exuberantly promising the most transparent government ever just five years ago? His party has done everything from proroguing Parliament to filibustering and has forbidden aides to testify in the WE affair."
Rex Murphy: A compassionate government would kill its carbon tax right now - "The entire philosophy behind carbon taxes was and is to price gasoline and home heating fuels and diesel out of the reach of ordinary people, to — forgive the verb — drive them to “alternate” sources of energy, which we do not yet have. Our green-soaked politicians across the land and in Ottawa will not be trimming their travel, by limousine, or in the PM’s case by the Canada-criss-crossing government jet... Why does the government’s carbon tax stay in effect when inflation is itself a huge carbon tax?... Maintaining the carbon tax during this particular time shows a cruel indifference to the majority of Canadian citizens, a triumph of environmental extremism over fundamental economic decency, and an elitist carelessness about the ways of everyday people."
Trudeau's new climate targets are fantasies built on delusions | Toronto Sun - "To meet Trudeau’s 2020 target, Canada’s emissions for 2020, which won’t be released until 2022, will have to show a drop of 117 million tonnes in one year. That would be the equivalent of shutting down all of Canada’s agricultural sector (69 million tonnes of emissions annually) and over 80% of its electricity sector (48 million tonnes annually)."
Facebook - "In 2015 Justin campaigned on the promise to return to lifelong pensions for disabled Veterans. Once elected he declined to fulfill his promise stating that we are asking for more than he could give. He lied."
MC Massicotte on Twitter - "I'm so disappointed that our Canadian PM acknowledges other religious holidays and chooses to be politically correct about Christian ones. It is Easter weekend, the biggest Christian observance. Easter is not just a long weekend, please get on board with inclusiveness."
Kelly McParland: Justin Trudeau's war on committees - "The less Canadians know about these things, the easier it is for governments to do nothing about them. And this government has worked hard to keep them in the dark."
Trudeau's charity scandal latest evidence he thinks rules don't apply to him - "When people talk about the "elites," a key aspect of criticism is that we are ruled by people who think they should be able to apply the rules on us, but that the rules shouldn’t apply to them.And Justin Trudeau sums up that attitude more than any Canadian politician in recent memory. From lecturing Canadians on feminism and racism while having his own serious problems, to accusing his opponents of dividing the country while demonizing everyone who disagrees with him, Trudeau has made a career out of telling people to follow rules that he feels exempted from.The latest example is the growing WE charity scandal, where the Liberals outsourced a huge government project to a charity with super-close ties to the prime minister and his wife. It’s the kind of thing that almost nobody could get away with, and something the government would certainly punish any of us for doing. Yet, for Trudeau, he seems to think it’s totally okay.Why would he think that? Most likely, it’s because he’s emboldened after many of his recent scandals.After all, neither his mistreatment of Jody Wilson-Raybould, nor his blackface debacle ended his career, despite things far less serious having ended the careers of countless politicians before him.With the establishment media doing his bidding and acting as an extended propaganda arm for the Liberal Party, Trudeau clearly feels that there is no accountability for him anymore, and that he can get away with basically anything. Add to that to a lifetime of being the "son of the PM," and Trudeau has likely rarely been told "no," and rarely been held accountable.Given all of that, we can expect to see a further escalation of scandals and arrogance from Trudeau, because he has yet to be given any reason to stop.His own party clearly won’t hold him accountable, Jagmeet Singh won’t hold him accountable, and the Conservatives are in the midst of a leadership race. All of this will further reinforce Justin Trudeau’s belief that he is beyond accountability, and that’s without even mentioning the fact that he has largely gotten away with shutting down Parliament over the summer.Any of these things would have resulted in the Conservatives being absolutely decimated by the media, but with the $600 million media buy-out by the Liberals continuing to influence, corrupt, and subvert coverage, independent media and the common sense of the Canadian people are the last remaining bastions of truth in these disturbing times."
Every single WE Charity/Trudeau connection that we know of... so far
BREAKING: Liberal chair abruptly ends zoom meeting, halting Finance Committee motion on the WE scandal - "The Liberal chair abruptly ended a Zoom meeting with the Finance Committee on Thursday. Wayne Easter announced he was ending the meeting just as Pierre Poilievre moved to have a motion on the WE scandal."
BREAKING: Trudeau Liberals and NDP vote unanimously to kill WE Scandal investigations - "The Liberal and NDP members of a House of Commons committee voted on Tuesday to deny another attempt by the committee's Conservative members to get to the bottom of the WE Charity Scandal."
Trudeau dodges questions on meetings with alleged illegal casino operator - "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday dodged questions stemming from a report he has twice met with a Chinese businessman recently charged with running an illegal high-end Toronto gambling ring... Among those charged is a 52-year-old man named Wei Wei.The National Post on Wednesday reported that individual has moved in high-level political circles advocating for Chinese interests, and met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on two occasions in 2016."
Rex Murphy: A mini-exodus for our time – resignations from the Trudeau government - "“Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s self-admitted and significant failures in judgment have led to a series of resignations possibly without precedent in the entire history of Westminster parliamentary democracies.”... they came from the full spectrum — cabinet, civil service and political advisers — of this government. It may be said that those who have left illustrate as deeply as those who have joined the ranks of the Trudeau government that — I trust the phrase strikes a chime — diversity is their strength... Father De Souza’s column was in this sense a very useful jolt, a reminder of how many “stars” have ceased to shine and have gone off to other galaxies. And it had this capstone reminder, that with the resignation of governor general Payette — highest of the high — the present administration may claim something unique: a governor general resigning to a prime minister. This, in a final quotation from my colleague, was a “gross anomaly of (a) prime minister ‘receiving’ (a) governor general’s resignation. It is a defining aspect of our Constitution that the crown receives the prime minister’s resignation. That constitutional inversion will now have to be righted.”"
GOLDSTEIN: Time for Trudeau to ditch blame game - "Trudeau isn’t the first politician to blame opponents and predecessors for problems he or she faces, nor for the opposition parties and premiers to blame him for problems he inherited.But Trudeau has turned blaming others into an art form, even for messes of his own creation.As if he wasn’t the author of his own misfortune in attempting to interfere, for political reasons, in a legal decision made by his then attorney general, Jody Wilson-Raybould, in the SNC-Lavalin affair.Or he didn’t realize taking an active role in his government awarding a sole-sourced contract to the WE charity organization, which had paid members of his family hundreds of thousands of dollars in appearance and expense fees, wouldn’t pass the smell test... Trudeau is also notorious for portraying his screw-ups as learning moments for everyone else, from his alleged groping of a young female reporter when he was 28 years old, which he denies, to his Blackface scandal."
Trudeau MP criticizes Toronto teacher for wearing blackface | The Post Millennial - "Parkdale-High Park MP Arif Virani criticized a public school teacher in his riding who wore blackface to his class, calling this an act of "intolerance."... Many across social media were quick to point out that Virani's boss, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, wore blackface so many times, that he himself could not put an exact number on it."
Promise made, promise BROKEN: Trudeau Liberals said carbon tax wouldn’t exceed $50 a tonne—will now reach $170 a tonne - "Environment Minister Catherine McKenna told reporters in 2019 the federal carbon tax would not surpass the cap of $50 per tonne... McKenna even went so far as to say that Poilievre was "misleading Canadians" by saying that she would increase the carbon tax.In a Friday afternoon press conference held by Justin Trudeau in McKenna's riding Ottawa Centre, the prime minister announced that their government would be increasing the price on pollution by $15 a tonne a year, starting in 2022."
LILLEY: Memo shows Trudeau knew Nova Scotia gunman used smuggled guns - "Justin Trudeau went before Canadians and spoke of the tragedy of the mass shooting in Nova Scotia and promised to act on it.That day he announced that he was banning 1,500 different rifles and their variants as part of a public safety campaign related to that very shooting. I knew at the time he was lying in making that link and now we have the proof, a briefing note presented to Trudeau just days earlier that told him all the guns used by Gabriel Wortman were illegally obtained."
Liberals propose criminal reforms aimed at systemic racism in justice system - "The Trudeau government is moving to repeal mandatory minimum penalties for drug offences and some gun-related crimes, saying they do not make Canadians safer and unfairly affect Indigenous and Black offenders."
Isn't it racist to say minorities are more prone to crime?
To do this and at the same tighten gun control is... interesting
