August 29, 2023 - "Natural gas will not be the primary heat source in new homes built in Nanaimo starting next year. City council, at a meeting Monday, Aug. 28, voted 5-4 to accelerate adoption of the zero carbon step code to 2024, six years ahead of the province’s timeline of 2030.
"Two dozen people made presentations at Monday’s meeting, including environmentalists, home builders, gas fitters, and representatives from Fortis B.C. and B.C. Hydro. The council vote followed a recommendation last month by the city’s governance and priorities committee to implement the highest level of the zero carbon step code as of July 1, 2024.
"Ting Pan, the city’s manager of sustainability, said the code doesn’t specify energy sources, and also noted that ancillary heat sources such as gas fireplaces, for example, would still be permitted. But speakers on both sides of the debate indicated that the highest level of the zero carbon step code will effectively eliminate natural gas as an energy source for space and water heating. That sounded perfectly fine to many of the speakers at the meeting, who pointed to forest fires and record-setting summer temperatures and called on council to take climate action....
"Some presenters preferred the province’s 2030 timeline. Jason Wolfe, Fortis B.C. director of energy solutions marketing and sales, argued for the city to adopt the lowest level of the zero carbon step code for now, and continue to allow both natural gas systems and electricity as primary energy sources in home-building.... However, Robyn Wark, B.C. Hydro’s manager of market transformation, said Nanaimo can count on its electricity supply in the coming years.
"Kerriann Coady, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders Association Vancouver Island, said from her association’s perspective, concerns about electricity grid capacity should be addressed before adoption of the highest level of the zero carbon step code, and she requested council hold off on accelerating the timeline to 2024....
"A minority of council members indicated they would have preferred the province’s 2030 timeline.... Council voted 5-4 in favour of requiring new homes to meet the highest level of the zero carbon step code starting July 1, 2024."
August 25, 2023 - "An Alberta woman who tried to take her fight over COVID-19 vaccine requirements for organ transplants all the way to the Supreme Court has died. The former lawyer for Sheila Annette Lewis confirmed her death Friday....
"Lewis was diagnosed with a terminal disease in 2018 and was told she would not survive unless she received an organ transplant. She was placed on a transplant wait list in 2020, but was informed a year later she would need to get the COVID-19 vaccine first. Lewis said taking the vaccine would offend her conscience and argued the requirement violated her Charter rights. The case was dismissed by an Alberta court, which said the Charter has no application to clinical treatment decisions. The Supreme Court ... turned down her application for a hearing.... There is a publication ban on the doctors' identities, the organ involved and the location of the transplant program."
August 28, 2023 - "The tragic death of Sheila Annette Lewis on Aug. 24, 2023, testifies to the cruelty and evil of putting ideology ahead of science. Ms. Lewis had a terminal condition, and needed an organ transplant to stay alive. Alberta Health Services (AHS) doctors refused to reinstate Ms. Lewis on the high-priority organ transplant waiting list, thereby failing to care for her and doing nothing to prevent her demise....
"When she was still alive, Sheila Annette Lewis stated the following in a court-filed affidavit:
I am a wife, mother, and grandmother, and I want to live as long as I can to be there for my family and be a part of their lives while they grow and mature. I want my grandchildren to know their grandmother, and I have a lot of life and love left to give.” “I am shocked and appalled that my ability to get life-saving surgery depends upon me taking a new drug with Health Canada warning labels that is still in the experimental stage. Taking these vaccines goes against my conscience; the vaccines are still in clinical trials and will be until at least 2023." "There is no long-term safety data available, and I am afraid of how this vaccine may affect me in the long-term. Given my fragile state of health, I cannot risk participation in an experimental drug trial.”
"In support of her Charter-protected right to bodily autonomy, freedom of conscience, and the freedom to choose without coercion, Ms. Lewis commenced a court action in 2021 and filed expert reports from immunologist Dr. Bonnie Mallard and from Dr. Byram Bridle, who is a vaccinologist and virologist. Their expert reports and oral testimony illustrated the COVID vaccines were still in clinical trials, and the peer reviewed research and raw scientific data led them to seriously question the safety and efficacy of the COVID vaccines, as compared to traditional vaccines that have been around for decades. Another expert report was filed from a surgeon with a Masters in Health Care Ethics, Dr. Benjamin Turner, who testified the benefit of vaccination for Ms. Lewis was so small it was unethical to require her to get the COVID vaccine prior to her transplant.
"Ms. Lewis was unsuccessful at both the Alberta Court of King’s Bench and the Alberta Court of Appeal in 2022. Both levels of court ruled the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Alberta Bill of Rights do not apply to the mandatory COVID vaccine policies developed by AHS.... We’ve known since at least December of 2021 (and arguably many months earlier) the COVID vaccine did not prevent COVID from spreading, did not provide herd immunity, did not stop people from getting sick with COVID, and did not save people from dying with COVID. But the ideological claim repeated by governments, that this vaccine was 'effective,' won out in court, despite facts and evidence....
"On March 29, 2023, Ms. Lewis provided her doctors in the Alberta Transplant Program with a privately funded medical report ('Kinexus Report') establishing that she had strong natural immunity to COVID and had successfully overcome previous COVID infections. Ms. Lewis had asked her physicians nearly one year earlier to test her blood for COVID antibodies and they refused to do so. The Kinexus report found Ms. Lewis’ blood sample '(1) clearly supports the presence of SARS-CoV-2 immunoreactivity, (2) shows that she was likely infected with SARS-CoV-2 around mid-September 2021, and (3) shows that she was infected with SARS-CoV-2 again more recently and has extremely high levels of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.'
"Faced with this compelling medical evidence, AHS doctors still maintained their position that Ms. Lewis could not receive life-saving medical treatment unless she received the injection. This position was completely indefensible, abhorrent and unethical, without any foundation in science or medicine....
"Some would argue that Ms. Lewis had a choice in this matter and could have simply allowed herself to get injected with a substance she did not need, and for which no long-term safety data exists.... This 'choice' argument, while technically true, is a thin veneer of clever sophistry that serves to hide the cruelty and injustice of forcing a person to do what she does not wish to do. The fact that one does indeed have a choice to submit (or not) to medical coercion avoids the moral imperative of the Nuremberg Code, which prohibits coercing, pressuring or manipulating people into receiving any medical treatment. The Nuremberg Code makes no exceptions for medical treatments that have been approved by a government; this cannot be the excuse or pretext for violating fully informed and voluntary consent....
"Are these AHS doctors guilty of murder? The short answer is 'no,' because it is not known with certainty whether Ms. Lewis would have received her life-saving treatment if AHS had not barred her from the organ transplant waiting list; she might have died anyways due to the shortage of donated organs. However, what can be stated fairly and with certainty is that AHS doctors were, at a bare minimum, guilty of negligence, which removed any chance she had of staying alive."
August 28, 2023 - "A Red Deer judge dropped charges against Whistle Stop Cafe owner Chris Scott — more than two years after he was accused of disobeying COVID-19 restrictions. 'Mr. Scott I will acquit you of the charges, you're free to go,' said Justice James Glass at a Monday hearing covered by CBC News.... A courtroom packed with Scott’s supporters erupted, clapping and cheering. Hugs and handshakes followed as he left....
""Scott decided to flout COVID-19 restrictions and open the Whistle Stop Cafe in 2021. He said he received overwhelming support and daily visits from the RCMP.... RCMP officers [arrested] Scott in 2021 after 1,500 of his supporters protested the Alberta government’s lockdowns. He was led through his parking lot to an RCMP vehicle where he was handcuffed and searched before being driven away. It marked the end of a day which saw people turn out from across Alberta to protest restrictions which saw the RCMP seize all of Whistle Stop’s alcohol and padlock it after a dawn raid.....
"Crown attorney Peter Mackenzie invited Glass to acquit Scott because of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta decision issued by Justice Barbara Romaine, which found the decision-making process in the Ingram case breached the Public Health Act. 'The submission by the Crown is that it's not going to carry on with the prosecution of this case as a result of the decision in Ingram,' said Mackenzie. 'In that light, it's not a sustainable prosecution.'
"An Alberta Health Services lawyer said it 'takes no position on Mr. Mackenzie's application'.
"The Alberta Crown Prosecutions Service (ACPS) said it has reviewed the decision in Ingram vs Alberta and has concluded there is no longer a reasonable likelihood of conviction over Public Health Act charges involving the contravention of the disputed orders from the chief medical officer of health....ACPS said 14 prosecutions, including the cases of Scott, GraceLife Church pastor James Coates, and No More Lockdowns Rodeo organizer Ty Northcott, remain before the courts."
A UK citizen with a record of "serious criminality" has had his deportation order from Canada stayed because a government document referred to him using "they/them" pronouns.
August 25, 2023 - "A U.K. citizen set to be deported because of “serious criminality” gets to stay in Canada for at least a bit longer because a judge, unprompted by either the Crown or the defendant, wondered if the use of gender-neutral pronouns in a single government document violated the man’s Charter rights.
Photo courtesy National Post.
"On June 6, the day before he was set to be deported from Canada, Colin James Ewen, who is male and uses he/him pronouns, was at the Federal Court attempting a last-ditch effort to have his expulsion delayed.... Ewen was first ordered to be expelled from the country by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) in October 2019 over the fact that he had been convicted of assault causing bodily harm while he still lived in the U.K.... Ewen has unsuccessfully argued that the charge should not be taken into account since it was considered 'spent' in the U.K. He was also arrested for assault by Ontario Provincial Police in March 2022.
"As Bell began the June 6 hearing, he warned Ewen and Joyal that he wanted to bring up an issue that 'will come as a bit of a surprise' as it had not been raised by either the government or Ewen, who was self-represented, according to a transcript of the hearing. The senior justice, who was appointed by Stephen Harper in 2015 and is also the chief justice of the Court Martial Appeal Court, said he noticed that in a document filed the day before, the government occasionally used gender-neutral pronouns 'they/them' alongside male 'he/him' pronouns.
“'One of my questions is this: is gender identification a protected right under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,' Bell asked [prosecutor Nathan] Joyal. 'If one reads the social science literature on this whole issue of gender identity, some authors go so far as to call this, this misnaming of identity as being a violence committed towards somebody, which is quite shocking to me, but that’s what some of the social scientists say,' the judge later added.
"Joyal quickly responded that he did not believe there was a violation of Ewen’s rights because 'it is a gender neutral term, the use of it would thereby not violate the applicant’s gender identification in the circumstances. I don’t believe that this is a live issue in this matter, respectfully,' he added.
"Bell then turned to Ewen to ask him how he felt about the occasional use of 'they/them' in the document. Ewen first complained that it was 'a little bit confusing' to read and that 'it’s not very direct.' It was only when Bell asked if he felt it affected his dignity that Ewen responded, 'kind of, yes.' That’s when Bell announced he would adjourn the hearing and request that both Ewen and the government provide their arguments as to if they believed the use of gender neutral pronouns had violated his Charter rights. He also stayed Ewen’s deportation scheduled for the next day, meaning he would be allowed to stay in Canada until the new Charter question was resolved....
"Shortly after Bell suspended Ewen’s deportation, government lawyers appealed the judge’s order and asked the Federal Court of Appeal to set it aside or declare the 'new constitutional issue' he raised to be irrelevant. The appeal argues the Federal Court 'exceeded its jurisdiction by raising a new Charter issue' that 'does not arise from, and is unrelated to, the matters which were under review' and that 'has no factual foundation' in the case. According to the appeal, the fact that the order made Ewen miss his scheduled flight out of Canada meant that the government will likely have to restart the removal process....
"On June 29, the Federal Court of Appeal agreed to expedite the case.... 'The Federal Court has taken an immigration matter that in the public interest requires a prompt hearing and determination, and has transformed it into a section 15 Charter matter unrelated to any immigration issues whatsoever,' reads the order by Federal Court of Appeal judge David Stratas. 'And for good measure, through its June 6, 2023 interim stay order, the Federal Court has prevented the immigration matter from continuing,' Stratas add[ed].... The Federal Court of Appeal case is scheduled to be heard in mid-September."
August 22, 2023 - "The Canadian Consumer Tax Index tracks the total tax bill of the average Canadian family from 1961 to 2022. Including all types of taxes, that bill has increased by 2,778% since 1961.
Taxes have grown much more rapidly than any other single expenditure for the average Canadian family: expenditures on shelter increased by 1,880%, food by 870%, and clothing by 654% from 1961 to 2022.
The 2,778% increase in the tax bill has also greatly outpaced the increase in the Consumer Price Index (863%), which measures the average price that consumers pay for food, shelter, clothing, transportation, health and personal care, education, and other items.
The average Canadian family now spends more of its income on taxes (45.3%) than it does on basic necessities such as food, shelter, and clothing combined (35.6%). By comparison, 33.5% of the average family’s income went to pay taxes in 1961 while 56.5% went to basic necessities.
In 2022, the average Canadian family earned an income of $106,430 and paid total taxes equaling $48,199 (45.3%). In 1961, the average family had an income of $5,000 and paid a total tax bill of $1,675 (33.5%).
The Fraser Institute is an independent, non-partisan research and educational organization based in Canada. We have offices in Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver.
August 19, 2023 - "In the space of one week in June, Vancouver criminal defence lawyer Melanie Begalka heard something from three of her clients that bothered her enough to go public. In this case, 'public' was posting a comment on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X....
"In an interview this week, Begalka said two of her three clients — all men — are still in custody. After they were arrested, all three decided not to seek bail or plead guilty, knowing it will lengthen the time they have access to regular meals and a place to sleep. Begalka ... said the concern from the three men was that a request for bail or a guilty plea could lead to a sentence that would soon put them back on the street.
"'[They say], "Let's just push this off, because I'm still waiting to hear from housing providers, I'm still trying to get on to a wait list for treatment, and still trying to find somewhere to go after jail,”' she said. 'So jail is a better option. It’s really horrible, it's really sad'....
"Begalka said a person wanting to extend their time in custody was 'not unusual,' noting that while in law school she encountered inmates who told her they wanted a few days to sleep and eat before being released. The phenomenon, though, has become more acute, she said.
"'It's almost always people who are homeless, who are using drugs, who are tired,' Begalka said. 'It's exhausting to be homeless. It's really, really hard. They call it ‘three hots and a cot’ — that's what you get when you go to jail. You get three hot meals and a bed, and that’s more than some people get anywhere else'....
"A Metro Vancouver homeless count report in 2020 revealed that 107 people who agreed to be interviewed by volunteers said they didn’t have a home because they had previously been in jail or prison.
"A study published in 2016 in the Canadian Journal of Public Health examined the effect of incarceration on housing stability among homeless and vulnerably housed individuals in three Canadian cities. The authors’ conclusion: 'Homeless and vulnerably housed individuals reporting recent incarceration were less likely to be housed over a two-year follow-up period. These findings highlight the importance of assisting individuals experiencing incarceration with securing stable housing during discharge and post-release planning.'"
Following its loss in Ingram v. Alberta, Alberta Crown Prosecution Services has concluded that "there is no longer a reasonable likelihood of conviction in relation to Public Health Act charges involving the contravention of the disputed orders from the Chief Medical Officer of Health."
August 23, 2023 - "Albertans still facing charges for breaking pandemic-related laws are off the hook after a court decision ruled the province's health orders were invalid because they breached the Public Health Act....
"On Wednesday, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) said in a written statement it has concluded 'there is no longer a reasonable likelihood of conviction in relation to Public Health Act charges involving the contravention of the disputed orders from the Chief Medical Officer of Health.' ACPS says 14 prosecutions, including the cases of pastor James Coates, Whistlestop Cafe owner Christopher Scott and rodeo organizer Ty Northcott, remain before the courts.
"CBC News received statements from two prosecutors who confirmed they will invite judges to issue stays or acquittals on three COVID-19 related prosecutions next week.
"Pastor James Coates was charged in February 2021 after holding church services in breach of government-imposed public health measures, including restrictions on the number of people allowed at gatherings and physical distancing and masking requirements. In an email to CBC News, prosecutor Karen Thorsrud confirmed she will not call further evidence in the cases against Coates or his church, Gracelife, and will 'invite the court to acquit both defendants of all charges.'
"Christopher Scott was on trial for several charges, accused of breaching Alberta's Public Health Act when his restaurant, the Whistle Stop Cafe, remained open despite an order banning in-person dining in January 2021. Calgary Chief Crown prosecutor Peter Mackenzie said when Scott is in court next week, he plans to invite the judge to issue an acquittal.
"Mackenzie is also in charge of the Northcott Rodeo prosecution. In May 2021, Ty Northcott organized a 'no more lockdowns rodeo rally' ... which was held just south of Red Deer. Last month, Northcott and his company Northcott Rodeo were found guilty of violating the Public Health Act. Sentencing had not yet taken place and Mackenzie says he has told the defence lawyer that he will concede a Charter breach and will invite the judge to enter a judicial stay.
"On July 31, Court of King's Bench Justice Barbara Romaine issued her 90-page Ingram decision, ruling Alberta's Public Health Act was breached.... Romaine found former Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw made recommendations and ultimately implemented the restrictions, but it was cabinet which wielded the final decision making power. Alberta's Public Health Act does not allow for the CMOH to delegate her decision-making powers to politicians.... [Romaine] also ruled the infringements that did occur were 'amply and demonstrably justified' under the Charter because of the nature of the unprecedented public health emergency.
Ordering Dr. Jordan Peterson to undergo social media training at his own expense is a justified breach of his Charter right to free expression, a provincial court has ruled.
August 23, 2023 - "An Ontario court ruled against psychologist and media personality Jordan Peterson Wednesday, and upheld a regulatory body's order that he take social media training in the wake of complaints about his controversial online posts and statements. Last November, Peterson, a professor emeritus with the University of Toronto psychology department who is also an author and media commentator, was ordered by the College of Psychologists of Ontario to undergo a coaching program on professionalism in public statements.
"That followed numerous complaints to the governing body of Ontario psychologists, of which Peterson is a member, regarding his online commentary directed at politicians, a plus-sized model, and transgender actor Elliot Page, among other issues.... The college's complaints committee concluded his controversial public statements could amount to professional misconduct and ordered Peterson to pay for a media coaching program — noting failure to comply could mean the loss of his licence to practice psychology in the province. Peterson filed for a judicial review, arguing his political commentary is not under the college's purview.
"Three Ontario Divisional Court judges unanimously dismissed Peterson's application, ruling that the college's decision falls within its mandate to regulate the profession in the public interest and does not affect his freedom of expression. 'The order is not disciplinary and does not prevent Dr. Peterson from expressing himself on controversial topics; it has a minimal impact on his right to freedom of expression,' the decision written by Justice Paul Schabas reads, in part. You can read the entire decision at the bottom of this story.
"Peterson had said his statements were not made in his capacity as a clinical psychologist, but instead were 'off-duty opinions' — an argument the court rejected....
"In an interview with CBC News, Peterson said he will take the training and broadcast it. 'I'll comply with their regulations, but I'm not going to do it in secret... And the reason I'm not going to do it in secret is because I don't believe I've done anything wrong,' he said. Peterson told CBC News in January that he had no intention of giving up his fight with the regulatory body, accusing the college of attempting to stymie his speech and discipline him for his political opinions. He [affirmed] Wednesday he stands by what he has said and has 'zero regrets' for his social media posts. Peterson said he believes the posts are a question of free speech, which he called "sacred," adding he says what he believes to be true....
"He added he no longer treats patients and his career is instead focused on social and political commentary. Similarly, he doesn't regularly lecture at U of T. However, Peterson has said he wants to retain his licence. 'I deserve it. I earned it. I haven't done anything to justify suspending it, and I don't want to give the hyenas their bones,' he said earlier this year.
"The college, in a statement released after the decision was issued, said it is committed to carrying out its mandate of protecting the public interest by regulating the practice of psychology. 'The College will review today's decision and undertake next steps in accordance with our mandate and any appropriate legal processes,' the statement reads.
"Peterson's case was watched closely by free speech advocates and regulators in other professions. It featured interveners including the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, and LGBTQ+ advocacy group Egale Canada, which said in a statement from Executive Director Helen Kennedy that communities her organization represents often face discrimination and barriers when accessing healthcare....
"Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) Executive Director Noa Mendelsoh Aviv, meanwhile, said in a statement that the CCLA doesn't endorse Peterson's views, but still argued in court that professional regulatory bodies shouldn't be policing speech that is not directly connected to professional practice. 'Freedom of expression is a right that no individual gives up just because they join a regulated profession,' she said.
"Carolyn Silver, Chief Legal Officer for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario who appeared at the hearing on behalf of the college in its intervention, said the college welcomes the decision.... 'In our view, the decision again confirms that when a regulated health professional breaches expectations set by its regulator, including with respect to public speech, the regulator is best situated to assess and address the potential harm to public trust and confidence in the profession.'"
August 22, 2023 - "Inflation apparently has not been high enough in the few years since former President Donald Trump left office—so he's proposing new import taxes that will raise prices for American families and businesses. In an interview last week with Larry Kudlow, the former president floated plans for a new 10 percent tariff on all imports to the United States. Trump described the proposal as putting 'a ring around the collar' of the U.S. economy.
"'When companies come in and they dump their products in the United States, they should pay, automatically, let's say a 10 percent tax,' Trump said on Fox Business. 'I do like the 10 percent for everybody.'
"On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported that the same topic was discussed Monday night at a Trump campaign strategy meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey. According to the Post, the plan being discussed would include a '"universal baseline tariff" on virtually all imports to the United States' and figures to be a major plank in Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
"For starters, kudos to Trump for correctly describing his plan as a tax. Because that's exactly what this would be: a tax hike on American businesses and consumers who purchase products from abroad.... That's the only detail worth praising, however.
"As Trump should have learned after hiking tariffs on steel, aluminum, and loads of goods imported from China during his term in office, import taxes do little more than hike costs for American consumers and businesses. A recent report by the International Trade Commission concluded that Americans 'bore nearly the full cost of these tariffs because import prices increased at the same rate as the tariffs.' Economists Mary Amiti, Stephen J. Redding, and David Weinstein have calculated that the tariffs directly reduced Americans' income by a cumulative $1.4 billion per month. Those costs are still adding up, since the Biden administration has largely left Trump's tariffs in place.... Meanwhile, Congress has not done anything to limit or rescind executive power over trade policy in the wake of Trump's abuse of those powers....
"Rep. Don Beyer (D–Va.), who has cosponsored a bipartisan bill to require presidents to gain approval from Congress before implementing tariffs for the purposes of national security, called Trump's proposal 'idiotic, illegal, and…a disaster for our economy' in a statement released Tuesday. Beyer said any attempt at implementing universal 10 percent tariffs would 'immediately violate numerous trade agreements, including the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement which Trump himself signed.'
"Even from a purely political point of view — that is, without the obvious economic and legal ramifications — this seems utterly absurd. Trump is a Republican running for office against an incumbent Democrat whose policies have contributed to rising inflation—and yet his tariff plan amounts to a promise to raise taxes, and prices, on Americans. Any other Republican would be laughed off the campaign trail for promising to raise taxes by 10 percent. Trump remains the clear frontrunner to win the Republican nomination."
August 21, 2023 - "No human remains were found in the excavation of a church basement in Pine Creek, Manitoba, which was formerly part of a residential school run by the Catholic Church from 1890 to 1969. The four-week excavation was conducted after Minegoziibe Anishinabe, a first nations tribe northwest of Winnipeg, hired a team of archaeologists to dig up the church basement following 14 abnormalities that were detected in the soil by ground-penetrating radar equipment. The archaeologists were from the University of Brandon and have regularly assisted police on excavations throughout Manitoba.
"In his response to the dig’s results, Chief Derek Nepinak said it takes, 'nothing away from the difficult truths experienced by our families who attended the residential school in Pine Creek'.... Nepinak has asked that people continue to search for truth and not compare the results of their excavation to others across Canada. 'This does not mark the end of our truth-finding project,' said Nepinak.
"This isn’t the only residential school excavation that have concluded with no findings of human remains.
In August, 2021, a team of researchers in Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia conducted an excavation at the former Shubenacadie Residential School in search of clandestine burials but to no avail.
In October of 2021, an excavation was conducted for unmarked graves on the site of former Camsell Hospital in Edmonton. The hospital used to treat Indigenous people who suffered from tuberculosis and some believed that the dig would uncover patients that had been buried there, however no such evidence was discovered.
"The calls for these and other excavations at former residential schools came in early 2021 after First Nations in Kamloops, B.C. claimed that the remains of 215 children were buried at the Kamloops Indian Residential School based on soil disturbances detected by radar. The Kamloops First Nations said that they couldn’t say for sure just how many potential burials are at the school with certainty because they have no intention of conducting an excavation at the site."
August 22, 2023 - "To its credit, and unlike any other such search for the remains of students associated with the former boarding schools, the RCMP was called in last October to assist with the investigation. Given all the accusations of school abuse, some passed down from generation to generation, band leaders, elders, knowledge keepers, and former boarding school students must have been devasted by the RCMP announcement on July 21 that:
The investigation into possible criminality in relation to potential burials at Our Lady of Seven Sorrows Roman Catholic Church has moved into a new phase. After a year of interviewing community members, conducting surveys, and following up on leads, the RCMP has not uncovered evidence at this time related to criminal activity specific to the reflections detected at the site.
In consultation with the community and partners, a way forward has been found. A community-led forensic anthropological dig in the basement of the church is taking place. If anything is located that is possibly related to criminal activity, the RCMP has plans in place and investigators assigned to continue the investigation.
Canada's Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre has been accused of "dog whistling" to far-right anti-semitic groups for a recent party email criticizing the "globalist" World Economic Forum.
August 15, 2023 - "Pierre Poilievre is refusing to back down from criticism for attacking ‘globalist Davos elites’ in a Conservative fundraising email. Even though the term globalist is a well-known dog whistle used by antisemites like Anne Coulter to describe Jewish people and has been recognized as such by the AJC and the Anti-Defamation League, Conservatives are saying that no, no it’s not."
October 20,2022 - "In recent years, the term ‘globalist’ has become a favourite among populists and the anti-establishment media. Politicians from Donald Trump to Viktor Orbán to Giorgia Meloni have used the word to describe what they are against.... More controversially, critics of the term also claim it has anti-Semitic connotations. Dating back to WWII, they argue that the word is a reference to Jewish people having allegiances not to their countries of origin, but to a global conspiracy....
"We caught up with Israeli political philosopher Yoram Hazony, an expert on nationalism, to see if he finds the term useful or problematic. He explained....
The term “globalism” is a useful shorthand for referring to “the rules-based international order” or “liberal internationalism.” These somewhat cumbersome terms describe the post-1989 consensus that sought to establish a single worldwide market governed by a single worldwide legal system established by international bodies rather than by independent national states. In other words, “globalism” is the opposite of “nationalism”—which is the way I use the term.
And does he think the term is anti-semitic?
No, it’s not. The overwhelming majority of time, “globalism” is used to express a concept in political theory, international relations, and political economy. In its normative usage, it has no anti-Semitic valence…
"The philosopher goes further, saying that attempts to banish particular words is part of a wider attempt to suppress certain ideas, and must be resisted.
The woke neo-Marxist cultural revolution is not only interested in “canceling” individuals. They want to “cancel” and prohibit the use of any word or expression that is useful in advancing a conservative worldview,' Hazony says. 'If the woke had their way, words like “globalist” and “nationalist” would be cancelled, blacklisted. And once that happens, it will become impossible for us to present our views on the contest between a global order and an order of nation-states. That’s what our opponents want: They want to make it impossible for us to express our views because the very words that we need to say what we think will have been eliminated from legitimate speech.'”
June 20, 2020 - "For decades, progressives have attempted to use climate change to justify liberal policy changes. But their latest attempt – a new proposal called the 'Great Reset' – is the most ambitious and radical plan the world has seen in more than a generation. At a virtual meeting earlier in June hosted by the World Economic Forum, some of the planet’s most powerful business leaders, government officials and activists announced a proposal to 'reset' the global economy. Instead of traditional capitalism, the high-profile group said the world should adopt more socialistic policies, such as wealth taxes, additional regulations and massive Green New Deal-like government programs.
"'Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed,' wrote Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, in an article published on WEF’s website. 'In short, we need a "Great Reset" of capitalism.' Schwab also said that 'all aspects of our societies and economies' must be 'revamped,' 'from education to social contracts and working conditions.'
"Joining Schwab at the WEF event was Prince [now King] Charles, one of the primary proponents of the Great Reset; Gina Gopinath, the chief economist at the International Monetary Fund; António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations; and CEOs and presidents of major international corporations, such as Microsoft and BP. Activists from groups such as Greenpeace International and a variety of academics also attended the event or have expressed their support....
"Although many details about the Great Reset won’t be rolled out until ... 2021, the general principles of the plan are clear: The world needs massive new government programs and far-reaching policies comparable to those offered by American socialists such as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in their Green New Deal plan....
"One of the main themes of the June meeting was that the coronavirus pandemic has created an important 'opportunity' for many of the World Economic Forum’s members to enact their radical transformation of capitalism.... 'We have a golden opportunity to seize something good from this crisis — its unprecedented shockwaves may well make people more receptive to big visions of change,' said Prince Charles at the meeting, adding later, 'It is an opportunity we have never had before and may never have again.'
"You might be wondering how these leaders plan to convince the world to completely alter its economy over the long run, since the COVID-19 pandemic most assuredly won’t remain a crisis forever. The answer is that they’ve already identified another 'crisis' that will require expansive government intervention: Climate change. 'The threat of climate change has been more gradual [than COVID-19]—but its devastating reality for many people and their livelihoods around the world, and its ever greater potential to disrupt, surpasses even that of Covid-19,' Prince Charles said.
"Of course, these government officials, activists and influencers can’t impose a systemic change of this size on their own. Which is why they have already started to activate vast networks of left-wing activists from around the world.... According to the World Economic Forum, its 2021 Davos summit will include thousands of members of the Global Shapers Community, youth activists located in 400 cities across the planet. The Global Shapers program was involved in the widespread 'climate strikes' of 2019, and more than 1,300 have already been trained by the Climate Reality Project, the highly influential, well-funded climate activist organization run by former Vice President Al Gore, who serves on the World Economic Forum’s Board of Trustees.
"For those of us who support free markets, the Great Reset is nothing short of terrifying. Our current crony capitalist system has many flaws, to be sure, but granting more power to the government agents who created that crony system and eroding property rights is not the best way forward. America is the world’s most powerful, prosperous nation precisely because of the very market principles the Great Reset supporters loathe.... The present pandemic is a 'golden opportunity' for radical change. And if Al Gore, Prince Charles and the rest of the World Economic Forum can convince enough people that attempting to stop climate change is also worth dramatically pushing humanity toward greater government control, then radical – and catastrophic – change is exactly what we’re going to get."
Canadian Opposition leader Pierre Poilievre is pushing back against a recent viral CP news story accusing him of "embracing mainstream conspiracy theories" about the World Economic Forum.
August 14, 2023 - "Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has hit back at a recent smear piece by the Canadian Press, published in outlets including CBC and CTV, accusing him of 'embracing conspiracy theories' about the World Economic Forum – an annual meeting of global elites held in Davos, Switzerland each year. The article took issue in particular with a recent fundraising email the Conservatives sent calling on supporters to reject 'the globalist Davos elites.' The article cited two academic 'experts,' including Liberal donor and politics professor Ahmed Kawser as sources.
“'Trudeau’s media are desperate to stop his continued downfall. Today, CBC’s news service CP wrote a hit piece on me because I dared criticize the World Economic Forum—a group of multinational CEOs and powerful politicians that push their interests,' tweeted Poilievre in response.... 'I work for our people in this country and will bring home our democracy — without apology'.....
"The Canadian Press article definitively states that the idea the World Economic Forum wants to impose an agenda on governments around the world is a 'debunked claim' without offering any follow-up or examples of said debunking. In reality, the WEF’s own explicitly stated mission is to engage the 'foremost political, business, cultural and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.'
"WEF Founder Klaus Schwab has himself been vocal in boasting about how much sway exactly his organization has over the world’s governments. An infamous clip of Schwab from 2017 has the WEF creator waxing about how proud he is that his organization has 'penetrated the cabinet' of Canada’s government with the likes of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"'I have to say, when I mention now names (sic), like Mrs. (Angela) Merkel and even Vladimir Putin, and so on, they all have been Young Global Leaders of the World Economic Forum,' said Schwab. 'But what we are very proud of now is the young generation like Prime Minister (Justin) Trudeau … We penetrate the cabinet. So yesterday I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau and I know that half of his cabinet, or even more than half of his cabinet, are actually Young Global Leaders'....
"Schwab’s self-described influence over the Canadian government has drawn the attention of politicians in other countries including Australia, where Liberal Senator Alex Antic blasted Schwab last year for the WEF’s ideas which are 'steeped in authoritarianism and Marxist ideology.' 'It’s an ideology which is creeping into governments across the world,' said Antic before pointing to Canada.... ''The World Economic Forum and its affiliates shamelessly promote the abolition of private property.'
"As for Poilievre, his own statements about the WEF have been well publicized.... 'My ministers in my government will be banned from participating in the World Economic Forum when I’m in government,” said Poileivre in May 2022.... Other statements by Poilievre on the WEF amount to him saying he doesn’t 'agree with (the WEF’s) publicly stated policy objectives.'
Poilievre has also pledged to prevent the introduction of 'mandatory digital ID' in Canada.... According to a written response to an Inquiry of Ministry filed by Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis, former transport minister Omar Alghabra admitted to a $105.3 million contract in partnership with the WEF to introduce digital identity for travel in Canada."
August 16, 2023 - "Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre told a reporter at a Prince Edward Island press conference Wednesday her question sounded like a 'CBC smear job.'
"'I tried to ask Pierre Poilievre whether he is trying to court the far-right vote,' tweeted freelance journalist Teresa Wright on X/Twitter. 'He would not answer the question, saying my question sounded like a CBC smear job and a distraction from the real issues'....
"Wright told Poilievre during the heated exchange "A number of your own comments and actions have been characterized as dog-whistling.'
"'By who?' Poilievre replied. 'I just need to clarify by who?'
"'By a number of different experts,' Wright replied.
"Poilievre then asked the reporter 'Who are the experts?'
"'I'm sorry that your question seems to be based on a false premise,' Poilievre told Wright. 'You can't even tell me who these experts are. It sounds like it's just a CBC smear job. Thank you.'
"Poilievre said Justin Trudeau supporters are so desperate to distract Canadians because his political career is 'falling apart.' 'So we're seeing an attempt here to distract and protect Justin Trudeau, from his extremely unpopular carbon taxes and other failing policies, but we won't let him or his or others distract from that reality. So thank you,' Poilievre said.
Canada's environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, also serves as executive vice president of an advisory board to (and run by) the Chinese Communist Party government, which the Trudeau government has financially supported
August 16, 2023 - "Justin Trudeau’s environment minister, Steven Guilbeault, is pulling double duty as an official adviser to the Chinese government. Turns out, he also wants to make Beijing an ally on the environmental issue and will head to coal-powered China at the end of the month after lecturing Canada’s premiers on using fossil fuels.... 'Maybe some (political opponents) will try and attack me' for traveling to China amid tensions between the two countries, Guilbeault told the National Observer. “I am clearly a lightning rod for some of them, but I think Canadians, in general, will understand how important it is. We can’t solve climate change, you can’t solve the international biodiversity issue, without working with countries like China'....
"Guilbeault is going to a meeting of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development [CCICED]. It is described as a think tank but is actually a creation of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment. The ministry, part of the Communist Party of China, selects the leadership as well as 'providing guidance for its operations, implementation, and daily management.' The council is tasked with conducting research and offering proposals to the Chinese government.
"Guilbeault is also currently listed as Executive Vice Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the CCICED. He sits alongside Ding Xuexiang, who serves as the chair of the CCICED. Xuexiang is also the first vice premier of the People’s Republic of China and stands just behind [president] Xi Jinping in the pecking order of the Communist Party of China.
[According to the Government of Canada website: "Established in 1992, the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development is a high-profile international advisory body to the Chinese government..... Since 2016, Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change has been its international executive vice chair." Environment and Climate Change Canada has also committed at least $8 million "to financially support the Secretariat International Support Office of the China Council, located at Simon Fraser University, Canada." - GD]
"There truly is no length that the Trudeau Liberals won’t go to cozy up to China. It’s one thing for diplomats to have discussions, to deal with irritants at international conferences but this is something else. Guilbeault wants to treat a country that undermines our democracy, that intimidates and harasses Chinese-Canadians as an ally. He is a formal adviser to the government of China on the environment while also serving as Canada’s environment minister, it’s an untenable situation.
"As for China’s environmental record, it’s horrible and nothing Guilbeault says or does will change that. According to Our World in Data, run by Oxford University, China’s CO2 emissions in 2021 were 54.59 billion tonnes, up from 52.59 billion tonnes in 2020. That means China’s annual increase of 2 billion tonnes is more than all of Canada’s emissions, pegged at 777 million tonnes.
"And while Guilbeault picks fights with provincial governments across Canada for generating a small and shrinking amount of electricity from coal or natural gas, China last year built roughly two coal plants per week. According to the group, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the coal power capacity of the generating stations China put under construction last year was six times that of the rest of the world.
"These are Steven Guilbeault’s friends and allies. Canadians, it seems, are his enemies."
On August 13, many Canadian tax-subsidized media outlets all ran the same story (excerpted below), attacking federal Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre for spreading "mainstream conspiracy theories" about the World Economic Forum.
August 13, 2023 - "Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been hitting the summer barbecue circuit with ramped-up rhetoric around debunked claims that the World Economic Forum is attempting to impose its agenda on sovereign governments. It is, some experts suggest, another sign that some conspiracy theories are moving from the fringes of the internet to mainstream thinking, as people's distrust of government grows.
"In speeches to Conservative supporters across Canada, Poilievre has promised that none of his ministers will attend the international organization's conferences, including the annual meeting typically held in Davos, Switzerland. 'It's far past time we rejected the globalist Davos elites and bring home the common sense of the common people,' said a Saturday fundraising email.
"The Conservative Party also recently sent out mailers with a poll asking people to tell Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who they think the prime minister should stand with: working Canadians or the World Economic Forum. The wording implies Trudeau's cabinet is beholden to the latter.... Poilievre did not agree to an interview on the matter....
"Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary, said some people have long embraced conspiracies, but now they have moved into mainstream politics.... Poilievre peddled the WEF control claims during the Conservative leadership race in 2022, and it has emerged again as a regular talking point following the federal byelection in southern Manitoba, said Bratt. In that contest in Portage–Lisgar, the Conservatives were looking to beat back a growing challenge from the People's Party of Canada. Maxime Bernier, the leader of that party who has long accused the WEF of having a globalist agenda, ran in the byelection. The Conservatives attacked him for having attended the Davos summit when he was Harper's foreign affairs minister in 2008....
"Kawser Ahmed, a politics professor at the University of Winnipeg with a research specialty in conspiracy theories, said the number and uptake of conspiracy theories began to grow after the 2016 presidential election in the United States, aided by social media and encrypted messaging apps. But Ahmed said the biggest trigger was the COVID-19 pandemic.
"'At that time, whatever decisions government took, it was explained to some corner of our citizens — in line with conspiracy theories — that the government is controlling you, the government has asked to give you a vaccine, the government has asked not to go out and so forth," said Ahmed."
August 14, 2023 - "With 97 percent of votes counted, Javier Milei and his La Libertad Avanza (Liberty Moves Forward) coalition received about 32 percent of the total vote in the national primary election on Sunday. The main conservative coalition (Together for Change) had 29.7 percent, and the Peronist coalition Unity for the Homeland (led by Minister of Economy Sergio Massa) had 28.7 percent. Since voting is mandatory in Argentina, this primary effectively served as a first ballot, though the first round of the general election is on October 22. Pollsters expected Milei to get 20 percent or less of the vote, so his success comes as a shock to many people....
"A relatively unknown economist until about five years ago, Milei rose to fame in Argentina as a TV commentator criticizing then-President Mauricio Macri for not being pro-market. His hot-tempered style and profanity made him popular among young people, and he quickly became the country's preeminent libertarian voice, calling for the elimination of the central bank and quoting intellectuals like Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek on prime time. When Macri failed to stabilize Argentina's economy and lost his reelection bid in 2019, Milei jumped into politics in a controversial alliance with national conservatives that he has maintained until today. When he ran for Congress in 2021, he received 17 percent of the vote in the city of Buenos Aires, enough to win a spot in the Argentine Chamber of Deputies.
"During the 2023 presidential campaign, Milei's main proposal has been to eradicate inflation by dollarizing the economy — that is, by treating the U.S. dollar as the national currency. He also favors deregulating industries, privatizing state-owned companies, and bringing an end to budget deficits. Milei's social agenda, in turn, mixes libertarian and conservative elements. Unlike any other candidate, he advocates for private gun ownership to counter crime, but he opposes abortion. It is gay marriage, though, where the ideological complexity of his candidacy becomes clear: While he has said government should not regulate any marriages at all, his Catholic running mate has publicly opposed it. Both abortion and same-sex marriage are currently legal in Argentina....
"Political commentators expected Milei's constant insults against other politicians to hurt him. But blaming his rivals for Argentina's problems seems to have been a successful strategy. It's unclear whether his ideas or his temper did more to earn him 30 percent of the vote, but his support is still substantial.
"Milei is by no means guaranteed a victory in October's general election. He will come under attack from all sides: He has taken some unpopular stands, such as supporting a free market in body organs, and he will be accused of not being prepared for the presidency. Because of his alliances, he will also be accused of not being a true libertarian, and he is already called a 'fascist' by his opponents. But his chances are certainly well above zero. One thing is certain: As his campaign song goes, 'la casta tiene miedo.' The system is afraid."
Backlash against the federal Liberal carbon tax fueled a landslide Progressive Conservative victory in a Nova Scotia seat the provincial Liberals have held for 20 years.
August 10, 2023 - "In what could be a troubling sign for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a byelection this week in Nova Scotia, fraught with debate about the carbon tax and the state of the Liberal brand, ended in a once-safe provincial Liberal seat being lost in a landslide.... The riding of Preston had been held by the Nova Scotia Liberals for the last 20 years, but the byelection saw their support collapse with the Liberal candidate placing third behind the Progressive Conservative [PC] winner and the NDP runner-up.
"The Progressive Conservatives heavily focused on criticizing what they described as the 'Liberal carbon tax,' which PC Premier Tim Houston has been vocally opposed to....
"There have increasingly been signs that Atlantic Canada, which was a stronghold for the Liberals in the 2015 election and has mostly stayed red since, is wavering. A recent poll by Abacus Data found the Liberals in the unenviable spot of lagging behind in all regions of the country, with the Conservatives leading in Atlantic Canada and the Bloc Québécois leading in Quebec.... And as ire on the east coast about the carbon tax mixes with general frustration about inflation and the cost of living, the Conservatives could see an opportunity to tear down the Liberal 'red wall' in the Atlantic provinces....
"David Tarrant lauds Twila Gross, the PC challenger in Preston, for a strong campaign but says external factors also helped turn Preston’s voters against the Liberals.... 'This summer for the first time, Nova Scotians felt the full vice of the Trudeau Liberal carbon tax, with immense pressure and pain to peoples’ cost of living, and the rather indifferent response from the federal government and the prime minister has massively damaged the Liberal brand in Nova Scotia.'
"A recent Nanos Research poll found 73 percent of Canadians surveyed in Atlantic Canada believe it is the wrong time to implement a carbon tax. Canada-wide, the poll found just 32 percent of Canadians surveyed believe carbon taxes are an effective way to reduce carbon emissions.
"Unlike the Ontario Liberals, who are operationally independent of the federal Liberals despite strong grassroots ties, the Nova Scotia Liberals are an official branch of the federal party.... Tarrant says Preston’s voters did not differentiate between the provincial and federal Liberal parties when it came to their frustrations about the carbon tax....
"Tarrant says the negative reaction to the federal carbon tax will be felt in all parts of Canada, with the exceptions of B.C. and Quebec which implemented their own provincial carbon taxes years ago. 'In every other part of the country, ... the number one drag on the LPC right now is the carbon tax,' says Tarrant. 'It’s gonna cost them seats… [I]f I’m a provincial Liberal, one of my big strategic dilemmas is how do I separate myself from the national party?'"
June 3, 2023 - "Making people pay more to heat their homes in Atlantic Canada isn’t going to stop wildfires in Alberta, or for that matter in Atlantic Canada. Subsidizing electric vehicle battery plants in Ontario isn’t going to stop flooding in British Columbia. This is the logical fallacy Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government engage in when they link their carbon pricing regime and massive subsidies for so-called clean technology to addressing climate change. There’s no link.... Canada could reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to net zero tomorrow and it would have no effect on the weather in Canada.
"Rarely is this mentioned. When it is, the Liberals go berserk, as they did, when Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux noted in his recent report on the costs to Canadians of the federal government’s clean fuel regulations, 'Canada’s own emissions are not large enough to materially impact climate change.'
"According to the federal government’s own data, Canada’s emissions in 2019 were 724 million tonnes — 1.5% of global emissions, down from 1.8% in 2005 — while global emissions during the same period increased 23.6%, from 38,669 million tonnes to 48,117 million tonnes. The highest-emitting country in 2019, according to the same data, was China with 12,705 million tonnes, or 26.4% of global emissions, up 74.8% from 2005.
"As Kenneth Green noted in a recent Fraser Institute report, which estimated the federal emissions cap will cost the Canadian economy more than $44 billion in 2030, even if Canada eliminated all emissions expected from the oil and gas sector in 2030, 'the reduction would equal four-tenths of 1% of global emissions.'
"Environment Canada, always ready to guilt-trip Canadians on climate change, reported that 'in 2019, Canada was the highest GHG-emitting country per capita among the top 10 emitting countries with 19.6 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.' That put Canada ahead of, in descending order, the U.S., Russia, Iran, Japan, China, European Union (27 countries), Brazil, Indonesia and India. Except comparing Canada to other nations by selectively using emissions per capita is highly misleading, because Canada is the second-largest and second-coldest country on earth with a relatively small population.
"By contrast, when emissions are measured per square kilometres, Canada drops to 140th place among the world’s 215 countries and regions identified by the United Nations when it reported on the global data in 2007. When environmental consultants Sustainable Business Consulting looked at the same metric in 2019 using 2017 data, Canada was the 129th largest emitter out of 184 countries, with lower emissions per square kilometre than any of the world’s top 10 emitters, save for Brazil.....
"The single largest contributor to global emissions is using coal to generate electricity. Our federal government says Canada gets 6% of its electricity from coal, a 55% decrease since 2011. By contrast, China gets almost 60% of its electricity from coal. India gets 70% of its electricity from coal.
"The Trudeau government’s carbon pricing regime and climate change policies, which are adding to the financial hardships faced by Canadians in tough economic times, are based on the logic that we have to do something, so this is something. What it ignores is that the solution to lowering emissions, to be effective, has to be a global one. Without that, Canadians are and will be paying money for nothing to ‘fight’ climate change for years to come."
August 10, 2023 "Alberta Premier Danielle Smith was succinct in her response to the Liberal government’s proposed clean energy regulations: 'They will not be implemented in our province – period.' And she made a not-so-thinly veiled threat to execute the Sovereignty Act if Alberta and Ottawa are unable to come to terms.
If this alignment is not achieved, Alberta will chart its own path to ensuring we have additional reliable and affordable electricity brought onto our power grid that is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
"It comes after Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault unleashed a hornet’s nest in Ottawa Thursday morning with the long-awaited draft net-zero power regulations. That came after Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson released a policy vision statement in Vancouver on Tuesday.... Wilkinson seemed to anticipate the hostility from provinces that rely on fossil fuels — Alberta and Saskatchewan, but also Nova Scotia — to power their grids by stressing that the looming regulations are indeed “proposed” and not final....
"'One of the only positives at this point is that these are "draft" regulations and Alberta is about to commence a working group with the federal government to discuss how to bring Ottawa’s efforts to decarbonize the economy in line with Alberta’s Emissions Reduction and Energy Development Plan,' Smith said.
"Smith said this will be accomplished by ensuring an appropriate amount of high-efficiency natural gas base load is added to the grid while incentivizing carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) abated natural gas generation, small modular reactors, hydrogen generation and a sustainable amount of wind, solar and other renewables.... 'This is the direction Alberta is going. We invite the federal government to support us, rather than hinder us, in doing so,' she said.
"Those sentiments were echoed by Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz at a press conference in Calgary on Thursday where she accused the federal government of 'bait and switch' tactics. Schulz, who met with Guilbeault in Calgary last month — and apparently spoke with him by phone as late as yesterday — said she was completely blindsided by the announcement. 'This is not in good faith,” she said. “It’s disappointing and quite frankly, disrespectful'....
"After the meeting she told the Western Standard.... 'They (the regulations) will not be implemented in Alberta..... [T]hat is non-negotiable.'"
August 10, 2023 - "Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is ... [calling] the Trudeau government’s proposed net-zero electricity regulations: 'unaffordable, unrealistic and unconstitutional'...
"[Moe] released a statement via social media channels [right] blasting the Liberal government — and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault specifically — for ignoring feedback from provincial governments and utility providers before moving ahead with the new rules.
“'Trudeau’s net-zero targets are simply not achievable in Saskatchewan and we will not ask our residents to pay the extraordinary price for the federal government’s divisive policies,' it read. 'Nor will we risk the integrity of our provincial power grid to defy the laws of thermodynamics.' Further, Moe said the new rules will drive electricity rates 'through the roof' and leave Saskatchewan with an unreliable power supply.
"The comments echo Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who said yesterday its important to have a reliable power system when the temperatures fall to -30.
"In a press conference Thursday morning, Guilbeault said the rules stress 'affordability' and reliability of the grid, even as he admitted power bills will increase about 2% — before subsidies — for most Canadians. Guilbeault estimated that it would cost $400 billion to upgrade the grid.... In July the Conference Board of Canada and others put that figure at more like $1.75 trillion.
"In March Guilbeault infamously said Moe would be breaking the Criminal Code ... if Saskatchewan ran coal-fired power plants after 2030, unless equipped with carbon capture. The Saskatchewan premier’s response? 'Come get me.'"
August 2, 2023 - "Fitch Ratings downgraded the U.S. government's credit rating from 'AAA' to 'AA+' on Tuesday afternoon.... In its announcement, Fitch said the downgrade reflected the federal government's growing mountain of debt and the country's fraught political dynamics—most recently evidenced by the brinksmanship over the debt ceiling that nearly triggered a default on the national debt.
"'The repeated debt-limit political standoffs and last-minute resolutions have eroded confidence in fiscal management,' Fitch said in its announcement. The change also reflects an 'expected fiscal deterioration' over the next few years, as the federal deficit is projected to grow wider, adding to America's already staggering total of $32 trillion in national debt. The rating service also pointed to the widening gap between the federal government's tax revenue and its spending, as well as the 'limited progress' being made toward solving looming issues like the projected insolvency of Social Security in the early 2030s.
"While the AA+ rating reflects that U.S. debt remains a trustworthy investment, Fitch's downgrade is a warning signal about the federal government's fiscal trajectory.... The national debt is on course to double relative to the size of America's economy in the next 30 years, and as the debt grows, so will the cost of interest payments. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that interest on the national debt will consume one-third of the federal budget by 2050. That means more than 30 cents of every dollar taxed out of the economy will be directed towards the ongoing costs of past deficit spending rather than being used to cover government services.
"'High and rising debt would have significant economic and financial consequences,' the CBO warned in June, echoing similar recent concerns raised by the Government Accountability Office and non-governmental groups. The mountain of debt will 'slow economic growth, drive up interest payments to foreign holders of U.S. debt, elevate the risk of a fiscal crisis, increase the likelihood of other adverse effects that could occur more gradually, and make the nation's fiscal position more vulnerable to an increase in interest rates,' the CBO said.
"Fitch is the second of the 'big three' credit rating firms to downgrade the federal government from its highest to second-highest category. In 2011, Standard and Poor's (S&P) knocked America's debt rating from AAA to AA+, where it remains today. That change also followed a tense political standoff over the debt ceiling, though the federal government had a now-quaint $14 trillion in debt at the time. The current total is over $32.6 trillion....
"Given current fiscal and political trends in Washington, it was a question of when, not if, the U.S. would see another credit rating downgrade. Unless something dramatically changes, this is unlikely to be the last."
