Dame Jenny Harries, Britain's deputy CMO during the pandemic, has told the UK Covid Inquiry there is no proof masks were effective against Covid, and that they may have increased risk of infection.
November 29, 2023 - "There is no solid proof masks ever slowed the spread of Covid, England's former deputy chief medical officer said today. Professor Dame Jenny Harries, who now heads up the UK Health Security Agency, said the evidence that coverings reduced transmission is 'uncertain' because it is difficult to separate their effect from other Covid curbs....
"She also told the UK's Covid inquiry that government advice on how to make a mask using two pieces of cloth was 'ineffective'. Meanwhile, she warned advice for the public to wear masks during the pandemic may even have given people a 'false sense of security' that they could reduce their risk of becoming infected if they wore one while mixing with others....
"Dame Jenny wrote in her witness statement that the evidence base for using face masks in the community 'was, and still is to some degree, uncertain'. She noted that the evidence for mask wearing varied depending on what materials it was made from. For example, a 'one or two layer cloth covering' is 'not particularly effective', she said. And if someone doesn't wear it properly – fully covering the mouth and nose – 'it won't work', [she] added.
"The inquiry was shown guidance on how people can make their own face masks from the first wave of the pandemic. In response to the proposals in May 2020, Dame Jenny wrote that advice to use one or two pieces of fabric was 'ineffective'. She told the inquiry that the evidence at the time said at least three layers were needed 'to give a positive impact' but even this finding 'was not very strong', so the advice was not effective....
"Asked about a Government document recommending the use of face masks in May 2020, Dame Jenny said: 'We've got all sorts of safety issues here'.... '
One of the problems in May was when there were a lot of discussions about coming out of lockdown and opening up the economy and various other things – and the two metre, one metre (social distancing guidance).... The problem we had there was that there appeared to be a view permeating through, and a real concern and risk, that it was being conceived that if you did one metre and you wore a face covering slung round your cheek, or whatever it might be, that was fine. So, there was a risk that in encouraging face (masks) people would stop doing the thing that was really important, which was distancing and all the other things.
"Asked by inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett whether this led to a risk of a 'false sense of security', Dame Jenny replied: 'Yes, a false sense of security. But it was actually also overlapping with what was economically-driven policy, I think, to try and remove some of the distancing rules'....
"Dame Jenny also revealed that she wrote to cabinet secretary Simon Case in May 2020, when he was No10 permeant secretary, expressing concern that people may believe they 'could go back to normal' wearing face coverings made from t-shirts, when there was no evidence base around the measure.... 'My main concern was it would have been conceived as a safer way of moving about just when we got through the first tragic wave of a pandemic.... The anxiety was that if people just thought they could get a bit of t-shirt, put it around the face and that would solve all the problems and we could go back to normal, that was not going to be a good public health intervention.'
An Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled that a former Waterloo teacher, who was suspended and investigated after her local School Board accused her of violating the province's Human Rights Code, can sue the Board for defamation.
November 27, 2023 - "A defamation case by a retired teacher who was removed from a 2022 meeting for speaking on the age appropriateness of books can now proceed against the Waterloo Region District School Board following an Ontario judge's ruling. On Thursday, Superior Court Justice J.A. Ramsay dismissed a motion by the board's lawyers to throw out the $1.75-million lawsuit by Carolyn Burjoski, a former English as a second language teacher. The Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) and former chair Scott Piatkowski are named as defendants. 'I am deeply relieved and grateful for this ruling. It is a significant victory and vindication, not just for me, but for everyone who dares to voice their valid concerns publicly,' Burjoski said in an emailed statement to media and supporters.
"Burjoski's lawsuit, launched in April 2022, stems from a Jan. 17 school board trustee meeting that year when she appeared as a delegation. Burjoski expressed her concern with the appropriateness of certain books in elementary school libraries. She gave two examples: A book that centred on an asexual character, and one about a transgender character. Her statement of claim says she spoke out about the books because she was worried they 'could put pressure on kids to start thinking sexually before they are ready to do so.'
"Piatkowski stopped Burjoski's delegation during the meeting because he said he had concerns what she was saying violated the Ontario Human Rights Code. Other trustees upheld that decision in a vote. 'I felt that the delegate was erasing the existence of trans people, that they were essentially questioning whether people who identify as trans or non-binary had a right to exist, and really that was the fundamental issue,' Piatkowski told CBC Kitchener-Waterloo at the time....
"After the meeting, Burjoski alleged in her statement of claim that Piatkowski gave 'false and defamatory statements' in local media and on social media. She also alleged the school board made defamatory statements in a message sent to staff and another posted to the board's website after the meeting. The statement of defence says Piatkowski's comments in the meeting, to media and on social media were 'entirely appropriate'....
"Burjoski has alleged she has faced repercussions since that meeting, including being suspended from work, and being banned from communicating with colleagues and students. She also said a formal complaint was launched that led to a disciplinary investigation. In her statement of claim, she said she became the centre of an 'international news story' where she was unfairly described as transphobic and discriminatory because of \Piatkowski and WRDSB's conduct and their false and malicious statements.' She said she has experienced stress, which led to her being hospitalized for anxiety....
"In his ruling, Ramsay said Burjoski's claims 'have substantial merit' and the 'comments of the board's agents were defamatory.' 'For example, they accused her of breaching the Human Rights Code, questioning the right of trans persons to exist and engaging in speech that included hate. She did not do any of those things,' Ramsay wrote.... Ramsay ordered the school board to pay $30,000 of Burjoski's legal fees in relation to this motion.... 'What happened here should not happen in a democratic society,' the judge wrote.
"In an email, the school board said it is reviewing the judge's decision, but 'as this matter remains before the courts, the board will not be commenting further.'
"Burjoski said the judge's decision shows the Human Rights Code 'does not prohibit public discussion.' 'I hope this decision sends a strong message to school boards that the weaponization of human rights codes against concerned citizens is an undemocratic abuse of the code,' Burjoski's statement said."
Silenced teacher, Carolyn Burjoski, is taking the school board to court | Stories of Brave Canadians | Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms | May 29, 2023:
Alberta's government has invoked its Sovereignty Act to bar the cabinet and provincial agencies from working or complying with the federal government on the latter\s proposed net-zero electricity regulations.
November 27, 2023 - "Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said he was surprised ... late Monday after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s government invoked its Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act — known as the Sovereignty Act — saying it intends to ignore impending federal regulations that aim to have a net-zero grid in place by 2035. The province had been campaigning for months against Guilbeault’s plan, which is says is too aggressive and will make its electricity supply expensive and unreliable....
"Smith said the act would make it law that cabinet and any provincial agencies will not work with the federal government on the proposed electricity regulations or follow the new federal rules when they’re in place. 'We developed this legislation to shield the province from federal intrusion and we’re using it now because the consequences of this particular overreach would be so severe,' Smith said. 'If the federal government has its way, many people will be left without electricity that they can pay for on a power grid that will fall short or even fail.'
"The clean electricity regulations are still in draft form and final rules are expected early in 2024. Guilbeault said he was blindsided that the Alberta government decided to invoke the act rather than working with Ottawa. 'Not once in many meetings that we’ve had with them have they raised the Sovereignty Act motion, which jeopardize the collaboration that we’ve had so far,' he said. 'The draft regulations are exactly that — draft regulations — because we want to have conversations with provinces, territories, Indigenous representatives and other stakeholders.'
"Canada currently has one of the greenest grids in the world. Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia rely on hydro and nuclear power to operate their electricity systems with very few emissions. Alberta, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick rely heavily on either coal or natural gas for their power grids. Guilbeault said Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are working with his government to get off fossil fuels and he said Alberta should be doing the same....
"Smith’s Sovereignty Act says the government can ignore federal rules or regulations it disagrees with by passing a motion outlining its plan to do so. The premier said the reason for invoking the act now is to send a message to the federal government that the proposed electricity rules are not sustainable for the province.... The motion won’t apply to private electricity producers, but it would apply to the grid operator and regulatory bodies who oversee electricity in the province.
"Smith said her government will also explore creating a Crown corporation to either build power plants or purchase existing ones from private companies who might be intimidated by the federal government’s rules. 'I hope we’re able to continue with our entirely private sector market, but I can’t sit back and allow for the grid to fail,' she said."
Was Pierre Poilievre being "responsible" when he referred in the House of Commons to media reports of a terrorist attack at the Rainbow Bridge? Did he bully a reporter who later asked him that question? And why does any of this matter?
November 27, 2023 - "On Wednesday, Pierre Poilievre stood in the House of Commons, noted 'media reports about a terrorist attack at the border in Niagara (Falls),' and asked if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had any information he could share. The prime minster did not, to no one’s surprise, the incident having only just occurred.
"Later in the afternoon, American officials said they were pretty sure the fiery one-car crash had just been a bizarre accident. And back we all went to finding serious solutions for Canada’s many serious problems. Ha, ha, no. The Liberals charged that Poilievre had tried to 'rile people up' by assuming the incident had been terrorism.... The media ran with that angle. But furthermore, as a CBC online subheadline put it, Poilievre’s 'timeline (was) in question.'
"In one of his trademarked Testy Exchanges with Reporters, ... [a]sked if he thought he had jumped to an irresponsible conclusion, he shot back at the reporter: 'Do you think the CTV was irresponsible in putting up that tweet?'.... Ah, but did Poilievre’s alibi stand up? 'The timestamp on the (CTV) article indicates that it was published at 2:39 p.m. ET on Wednesday,' CBC reports. 'Subsequent tweets from the article’s author and CTV itself were published at 2:40 p.m. and 2:50 p.m. respectively.' (Keith Morrison-esque pause here for dramatic effect.) 'Poilievre asked his question at 2:25 p.m.'. What could explain it?... And why could any of this possibly matter?....
"What seemed to matter most to many journalists, however, was how frightfully rude Poilievre had been to the reporter. 'I had the privilege of jousting with dozens of prime ministers, premiers and opposition leaders from all parties over 25 years, and I don’t remember one of them acting like this, and certainly not on repeated occasions,' long-time Globe and Mail reporter Les Perreaux, now editor of Policy Options, tweeted. Veteran political columnist Chantal Hébert agreed. Globe columnist Elizabeth Renzetti marvelled at the 'utter condescension and contempt' in Poilievre’s tone of voice.
"Poilievre remains a real conundrum for the Ottawa Press Gallery. As I say, if a politician tells a reporter something that seems to be false, then it needs to be checked out. But when political leaders are always bending the truth — which pretty much all of them are — all that checking can make the gallery look petty and obsessed with minutiae. Poilievre and his people know this very well. They bait journalists into looking silly for sport, and most journalists haven’t yet figured out how to deal with it. In the very unlikely event they would ask me for advice, here’s what I suggest.
First of all, dial down the drama. If you can’t handle being dressed down by Pierre Poilievre, journalism is not the field for you. No disrespect to the man, but 'intimidating' is not a word that comes to mind in reference to him. If you’ve done your homework and you ask a good question and he pitches a fit about it, you’ll look good and he’ll look silly.
Secondly, accept that Poilievre sometimes has a point about journalists not doing their homework. He was entirely within his rights to reject the premise of the British Columbia journalist who recently demanded to know why he’s so much like Donald Trump.
And thirdly, consider what I see as a crippling bias in Ottawa toward perceived niceness. If Poilievre is different [from] all the leaders who came before him when it comes to dealing with the press, I would argue (as Renzetti suggests) that it’s much more in tone than in substance. But substance is vastly far more important than tone."
A report from the Falun Dafa Association details covert action by the Chinese Communist government directed against the spiritual group's adherents in Canada.
November 6, 2023 -[A] new report details how the communist regime influences politicians and stifles persecuted groups. Notably, it highlights ongoing efforts to suppress support for Falun Gong adherents and their quest to end the persecution of their spiritual practice, which began in 1999. The 130-page report, released by the Falun Dafa Association of Canada (FDAC) on Oct. 25, details Chinese Communist Party (CCP) strategies for foreign interference, focusing on adherents of Falun Dafa, also called Falun Gong, in Canada.
"The tactics are primarily attributed to the Chinese diplomatic missions. They include coercing politicians, spreading disinformation, impersonating Falun Gong adherents to discredit the group, spying on adherents, and seeking their exclusion from community events. They also include cyber attacks as well as harassment, intimidation, and physical assaults against adherents.... The FDAC reports that, in an attempt to evade scrutiny, Chinese missions increasingly use agents and proxies to infiltrate political offices in the host countries, influence politicians, and disseminate fake emails, posing as Falun Gong practitioners.
"Chinese diplomats exert significant efforts to shape Canadian politicians’ perspectives on Falun Gong, often resorting to threats that non-compliance with the regime could jeopardize Canada-China trade relations, the FDAC report said. For example, in 2003, China's charge d'affaires in Canada Chu Guangyou reportedly wrote to Liberal MP Jim Peterson allegedly conveying the sensitivity of the Falun Gong issue and its potential effect on Canada-China relations..... A package containing anti-Falun Gong materials was reportedly enclosed with Mr. Chu's letter. The FDAC has documented numerous incidents of similar materials being distributed to other Canadian politicians....
"Falun Gong is a spiritual practice rooted in Buddhist traditions ... [which] rapidly gained widespread popularity in China after being introduced to the public in 1992. Official Chinese government data estimated that between 70 million and 100 million Chinese citizens were practising Falun Gong by the late 1990s. However, Jiang Zermin, the Chinese leader at the time, perceived the practice's popularity as a threat to the regime's totalitarian control. In July 1999, he initiated a nationwide mass arrest and persecution campaign with the aim of eradicating the practice. As part of this campaign, the CCP established extrajudicial security entities, notably the 610 Office, with a specific mandate to eradicate Falun Gong.
"Under the 610 Office, a Special Anti-Falun Gong Working Group was also formed with the specific mission of suppressing Falun Gong adherents outside China.... Chen Yonglin, a prominent defector who had held a senior position in the Chinese Consulate in Sydney, Australia, before he defected in 2005, testified to the existence of this working group.... In his 2008 affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court of British Columbia, Mr. Chen revealed that this working group is embedded within every Chinese consulate and embassy around the world where there are Falun Gong adherents.... A similar CCP unit operating in Canada came to light in April 2007. Zhang Jiyan, a defector and the wife of a diplomat from the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa, disclosed the existence of a 10-person squad tasked with 'fighting Falun Gong' in Canada. The FDAC report said that this squad was under the leadership of a Chinese political affairs minister-counsellor.
"The FDAC has voiced 'serious concern' regarding several Canadian politicians who it says have aligned themselves with the Chinese regime's efforts to marginalize the Falun Gong community in Canada. The report references multiple media articles that highlight Michael Chan, a former Ontario MPP currently serving as the deputy mayor of Markham, Ontario ... [who] has ... reportedly met with suspected Chinese intelligence operatives in activities related to Canada's 2019 and 2021 federal election campaigns.... Another politician mentioned in the FDAC report is Ontario MPP Vincent Ke ... [who] resigned from Ontario's governing Progressive Conservative caucus after a Global News report alleged that he was part of China's election interference network in Canada. Mr. Ke has denied the allegations and has launched a libel lawsuit against Global News.
"A more recent tactic adopted by the CCP to discredit Falun Gong involves impersonating adherents of the practice to send bizarre and sometimes threatening or derogatory emails and letters to Canadian politicians and businesses.... Politicians who have received 'bogus emails' from individuals impersonating Falun Gong practitioners, as cited in the FDAC report, include Liberal MP Judy Sgro, who co-chairs the parliamentary friendship group Canadian Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong; NDP MP Peter Julian; Conservative MP Scott Reid; and former Alberta premier Jason Kenney. Chrystia Freeland, finance minister and deputy prime minister, is also reported to have received a similar email in 2017 during her tenure as foreign affairs minister.
"The FDAC notes that the systematic and persistent email impersonation and vilification campaign is not limited to Canada. It describes the campaign as a 'global phenomenon.' Its report says that identical or similar emails have been sent to politicians in various other countries, including the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. According to the FDAC, this pattern underscores the pervasiveness of the communist regime's interference in countries worldwide."
November 16, 2023 - "Only now, nearly four years after the federal government approved an unprecedented amount of emergency spending in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, are investigators getting a full picture of all the ways that schemers and thieves raided programs. Congress approved about $4.6 trillion in COVID-19 emergency spending, and so much of it was stolen that auditors now say we'll likely never have a full accounting of it all.
"'When the federal government provides emergency assistance, the risk of payment errors — including those attributable to fraud — may increase because the need to provide this assistance quickly can lead agencies to relax or forego effective safeguards,' the Government Accountability Office (GAO) explained in a new report summing up efforts to recoup stolen funds. 'Because not all fraud will be identified, investigated, and adjudicated through judicial or other systems, the full extent of fraud associated with the COVID-19 relief funds will never be known with certainty'....
"[A]uditors believe that about $200 billion was fraudulently disbursed from two programs run by the Small Business Administration (SBA) during the pandemic. That's about one-sixth of all spending run through the SBA's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. Additionally, the GAO believes that between $100 billion and $135 billion in federal unemployment funds — provided to states on a temporary basis during the pandemic — were lost to fraud. One former U.S. attorney has called it 'the biggest fraud in a generation.'
"It's far too late to put all those horses back in the barn, but state and federal officials are trying to do what they can. The latest GAO report details those ongoing efforts, including the nearly 1,400 individuals who have been found guilty of fraud connected to COVID-19 relief efforts. As of June, the GAO reported, there had been 1,051 sentences handed down in those cases, often requiring restitution of fraudulent payments. Hundreds of people have been given jail time, including 33 who have received sentences of 10 years or more. There are more than 500 other cases still pending in the court system, according to the GAO....
"But recovering all the lost funds is impossible. In some cases, officials aren't even trying: The SBA decided earlier this year not to pursue collections actions against individuals who haven't repaid EIDL loans of $100,000 or less. The SBA says trying to collect those loans would be more costly than whatever might be recouped—and since many of the loans were probably given out fraudulently, tracking down who got what will be extra difficult.
"The GAO does not have a running total of how much has been recovered in the form of restitution payments as a result of successful prosecutions, a spokeswoman for the office tells Reason. That's due in part to the fact that the amount of restitution ordered by the courts and what is actually repaid to the government are often different amounts. What has been reported, however, leaves a wide gap. For example, the GAO reported in May that states had identified about $55.8 billion in fraudulent and nonfraudulent unemployment overpayments that occurred between March 2020 and March 2023. Of that, about $6.8 billion had been recovered.
"[N]one of these calculations of COVID-19 aid lost to fraud include other types of pandemic-era spending that was clearly wasteful and unnecessary, even if it didn't meet the legal standard for fraud. Much of the aid delivered to cities and states was blown on frivolities like golf courses or was used to pad public employees' paychecks. Iowa spent $12.5 million of its $4.5 billion cut of the federal bailout on a new baseball stadium ... while Michigan spent $25.6 million on a travel marketing campaign. The federal and state officials who approved that spending won't be seeing the inside of a jail cell, even though the distinction between using COVID-19 aid to build a baseball stadium and using PPP funds to buy a luxury car is mostly an aesthetic one."
November 21, 2023 - "The cost to service the federal government's sizeable debt load will spike in the years ahead — and those public debt charges will eat up much more of Ottawa's revenue than they have in recent years, according to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland's fall economic statement, tabled today. Freeland's document suggests Canada will avoid a recession but predicts economic growth will slow to a crawl....
"Freeland wants to spend about $20.8 billion more over the next six years than the federal government initially projected. Freeland is pitching the increase as smaller than in years' past and as a sign of fiscal prudence....
"The federal Liberal government has run a deficit every year since it was elected. It posted even bigger deficits during the COVID-19 pandemic.... Now, with interest rates at a 20-year high, the cost to borrow all that money has spiked from $20.3 billion in 2020-21 to $46.5 billion in this fiscal year. The debt service charges will march even higher in the years ahead. Carrying the debt is expected to cost the federal treasury $60.7 billion in 2028-29, according to the economic statement....
"To put that in perspective, Ottawa will spend $28.9 billion on the Canadian Armed Forces this fiscal year — about $18 billion less than what the government will send in payments to the banks and bondholders carrying Canada's debt.
"The government's debt costs this year are $20 billion higher than the sum it has earmarked for one of its signature policies — the Canada Child Benefit, which sends cheques to families with kids. The debt charges are also more than double what the employment insurance (EI) program will cost Ottawa this year....
"Kevin Page, the former parliamentary budget officer, said it was 'inevitable' that debt servicing costs would rise once the government decided to backstop the entire economy during the pandemic. 'There was an enormous increase in debt. There were really massive increases in debt. Now it's going to come back to bite us,' he told CBC News.
"The federal debt has doubled from $619.3 billion in 2015-16, the first year of Trudeau's government, to $1.2 trillion last year. It's expected to climb to $1.4 trillion by 2028-29.... The deficit for this fiscal year is projected to be $40 billion — almost exactly what Freeland said it would be in the spring budget.... The deficit for 2024-25 is now expected to be $38.4 billion — $38.3 billion in the year after and $27.1 billion in 2026-27....
"The government says it doesn't expect to post a balanced budget for the foreseeable future."
A Federal court has ruled the Trudeau government's ban on single-use plastics to be both unreasonable and unconstitutional. The government is appealing the decision.
November 18, 2023 - "On Thursday a Federal Court judge, the Hon. Angela Furlanetto, startled the Dominion by essentially sweeping aside the Liberal government’s ban on a short list of single-use plastic items, including grocery bags, cutlery, takeout containers and drinking straws.... Justice Furlanetto, asked for judicial review by Alberta and Saskatchewan and a coalition of petrochemical processors, concluded that the actual rule was 'both unreasonable and unconstitutional.' Her judgment is a thorny 200-paragraph monster, but the innermost logic of it is simple.
"The federal Environmental Protection Act allows Ottawa to ban or restrict 'toxic' substances that might enter the environment. In 2021 the Liberals made a cabinet order essentially saying 'These here single-use plastic items are hereunto declared to be toxic'. Abracadabra!'” No one can show that these items are actually poisonous in the ordinary sense, and the listed items weren’t condemned as substances, i.e., for their chemical content or composition. The reasoning of the government was that if an Arctic lynx might choke on the ring from a six-pack of Labatt Blue, that kinda sorta makes the plastic in the ring 'toxic,' and justifies the federal government in the use of its criminal-law power.
"I don’t know if anyone at the cabinet table anticipated how this argument would fare under a 'reasonableness' analysis with lawyers for two provinces, plus Dow Chemical and Imperial Oil, among others, on the opposite side. But the government almost certainly faced a piece of extra bad luck in having the case go before Justice Furlanetto, a jurist with hard-science credentials that include a master’s degree in biochemistry....
In her judgment she observes that the explicitly stated rationale for the plastics ban was that 'all plastic manufactured items have the potential to become plastic pollution.' Justice Furlanetto found this reasoning to be puzzling.... 'The basic principle of toxicity for chemicals is that all chemical substances have the potential to be toxic,' she writes. 'However, for a chemical substance to be toxic it must be administered to an organism or enter the environment at a rate (or dose) that causes a high enough concentration to trigger a harmful effect. In this instance, the reverse logic appears to be applied: all PMI are identified as toxic because they are made of plastic and because all plastic is deemed to have the potential to become plastic pollution.'
"The judge goes on to accept arguments from the provinces that the order implementing the ban was overbroad, potentially capturing some categories of plastic items for which there is no evidence, or none with any scientific standing, of significant environmental harm. Past caselaw is clear that the federal power to make criminal law must be very closely connected to actual, demonstrable harm: the federal government isn’t supposed to invoke criminal-law power to sneakily engage in economic regulation. Unfortunately for the Liberals, their own documents discussing the ban contain some gasbag talk about creating a 'circular plastics economy,' even though all provinces have plastics regulations of their own (and less than one per cent of Canadian plastics escape the 'managed waste stream' that ends in the landfill).
"Furlanetto concludes: 'The broad and all-encompassing nature of the (banned) category of (plastic manufactured items) poses a threat to the balance of federalism, as it does not restrict regulation to only those PMI that truly have the potential to cause harm to the environment.'
"So if the Liberals choose to appeal her ruling, they have two (admittedly connected) hurdles to clear. They have to show that their defining of some non-poisonous forms of manufactured plastic as 'toxic' was reasonable.... And they have to show that the whole thing wasn’t a mere abuse of criminal-law power to obtrude into provincial economic jurisdiction. It’s impossible to trust the Supreme Court to uphold Furlanetto wholesale, but she has certainly shed light on the sheer logical shadiness of the plastics ban."
November 21, 2023 - "Tuesday’s Fall Economic Statement reaffirmed the Liberal’s commitment to several of its key policy priorities including subsidies for EVs, a quadrupling of carbon taxes and billions for childcare subsidies. Buried on Page 67 of the 141-page document are three short paragraphs reaffirming support for another one of its controversial priorities, $129 million in media bailouts over five years starting next year — over and above an 'ongoing' $10 million per year subsidy.
"Effective for expenditures from ‘eligible’ mainstream media outlets incurred on or after January 1 of 2023, the federal government proposes to increase the yearly limit on labour costs that can be claimed per employee from $55,000 to $85,000 and temporarily increase the tax credit rate from 25% to 35% for a period of four years.
"It comes following the passage of the controversial Online News Act that many news outlets of all stripes — including The Western Standard — have deemed ruinous after social media giants such as Facebook parent company Meta started blocking Canadian news content this summer.... According to media critic Michael Geist, making it retroactive to the start of this year sweetens the deal by at least another $60 million to offset the revenues lost from its own 'disastrous' legislation....
"According to The Western Standard’s Publisher Derek Fildebrandt.... 'They pass legislation devastating our ability to grow revenues, shrug their shoulders after we told them 100 times this is exactly what would happen, and simply propose to cut more bailout cheques.'"
17th November 17, 2023 - "Italian MPs have voted to back a law banning the production, sale or import of cultivated meat or animal feed, in what the right-wing government calls a defence of Italian tradition. 'Italy is the world's first country safe from the social and economic risks of synthetic food,' said Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida.
"The vote in parliament was met by rallies for and against the ban. At one point, a scuffle broke out between farmers and some MPs. The head of the big Coldiretti farmers' organisation, Ettore Prandini, at one point confronted two MPs from the opposition More Europe party, calling them 'criminals' for opposing the ban.... One of the MPs, Benedetto Della Vedova, accused him of being a hooligan. Centrist colleagues called on the farmers' lobby to apologise....
"Despite the flare-up, parliament backed the bill by 159 votes to 53. Breaching the law would mean a fine of up to €60,000 (£52,000).
"For now, the law will have little effect.... The EU [European Union] has not yet given any lab-grown meat, described as 'novel foods', the green light. If it does, however, Italy's new law could be challenged by the European Commission....
"The new law is a victory for Italy's agriculture minister, who a year ago vowed to prevent 'synthetic food' from reaching dining tables in Italy. He praised MPs for backing the new law, which came in response to a petition organised by the Coldiretti lobby group.... Mr Lollobrigida is part of the prime minister's far-right Brothers of Italy party and has previously extolled Italy's proud tradition of food and wine culture.
"But the petition was condemned by Prof Elena Cattaneo, a lifelong senator and leading bioscience specialist, who said it was a emotive, cartoon-style leaflet that classed natural food as good and cultivated food as bad and made from 'crazy cells in bioreactors'.
"The law bars synthetic foods produced from animal cells without killing the animal and prevents producers from using meat-related words on labels to describe plant-based protein. Critics point out there is nothing synthetic about lab-grown meat, as it is created by growing natural cells without genetic modification.
"The law is also a blow for animal welfare groups, who have highlighted lab-made meat as a solution towards protecting the environment from carbon emissions."
November 19, 2023 - "Javier Milei resoundingly won Argentina's presidential election Sunday, swinging the country to the right following a fiercely polarized campaign in which he promised a dramatic shake-up to the state to deal with soaring inflation and rising poverty. With 99.4 per cent of votes tallied in the presidential runoff, Milei had 55.7 per cent and Economy Minister Sergio Massa 44.3 per cent ... the highest percentage that a presidential candidate has received since the South American country's return to democracy in 1983.
"In the streets of Buenos Aires, drivers honked their horns and many took to the streets to celebrate in several neighbourhoods. Outside Milei's party headquarters, a hotel in downtown Buenos Aires, a full-on party kicked off with supporters singing, buying beers from vendors and setting off coloured smoke bombs. Inside, the self-described anarcho-capitalist ... delivered his victory speech.... 'Argentina's situation is critical. The changes our country needs are drastic. There is no room for gradualism, no room for lukewarm measures,' Milei told supporters....
"With a Milei victory, ... a freshman lawmaker who got his start as a television talking head blasting what he called the 'political caste' will assume the presidency.
"Inflation has soared above 140 per cent and poverty has worsened while Massa has held his post. Milei has said he would slash the size of the government, dollarize the economy and eliminate the Central Bank as a way to tackle galloping inflation that he blames on successive governments printing money indiscriminately in order to fund public spending....
"Massa's campaign cautioned Argentines that his libertarian opponent's plan to eliminate key ministries and otherwise sharply curtail the state would threaten public services, including health and education, and welfare programs many rely on. Milei accused Massa and his allies of running a 'campaign of fear'.... In his final campaign ad, Milei looks at the camera and assures voters he has no plans to privatize education or health care....
"Most pre-election polls, which have been notoriously wrong at every step of this year's campaign, showed a statistical tie between the two candidates or Milei slightly ahead.
"The bitterness of the campaign was evident Sunday when Milei's running mate, Victoria Villaruel, went to vote and was met by protesters angry at her claims that the number of victims from Argentina's bloody 1976-1983 military dictatorship is far below what human rights organizations have long claimed, among other controversial positions."
November 13, 2023 - "A Windsor, Ontario lawyer who defends clients regarding pandemic regulations said an unsuccessful public health case against him was a waste of tax dollars and public resources. Antoine d’Ailly was charged in December 2020 under the Reopening Ontario Act for not demanding proof from maskless members of the public in his office who claimed a mask exemption. Inconsistencies in the evidence provided November 1 by the Essex County Health Unit's enforcement officer led to the prosecution withdrawing charges mid-trial.
"D’Ailly said his office did not interrogate people regarding their mask exemption, something the city’s own lawyer advised.... In a memorandum dated August 18, 2020, city solicitor Shelby Askin Hager wrote responses to questions posed to her including, 'Can members of the public be asked for proof that they qualify for an exemption? To this, Hager wrote, 'No. This would constitute a human rights infringement.'
"D’Ailly said this was only one more reason the city should not have targeted him. Despite that opinion, local enforcement officials went ahead and 'aggressively enforced masking requirements anyways' he said. 'You look at the massive waste of resources on this issue. The health unit was conducting surveillance, they were camped outside of my office, they took this to trial – I think it's all an unnecessary waste of tax dollars'....
"In his legal practice, d’Ailly said he has filed over 30 applications to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, including a couple calling for judicial review because personnel at the human rights tribunal 'appear to be skirting the issue of jurisdiction.'
“'It seems pretty obvious to us that the Human Rights Tribunal in Ontario is doing everything they can to pretend it doesn't have jurisdiction over these types of cases. As soon as they admit they have jurisdiction, their enabling legislation requires them to hold an oral hearing,' he said. 'You've got instances where somebody with a signed medical note, stating they have a medical condition which precludes them from being able to wear a mask is being discriminated against by the enforcement of a no mask, no service, no exceptions policy. The tribunal's response is essentially, "I don't see how this is within our jurisdiction," and then your remaining remedy is to seek judicial review'.... D'Ailly said this means some people only get the justice they can afford instead of the justice they deserve.
"He says there are many valid reasons why some people are unable to mask.... 'The reality is a lot of these people that were unable to mask endured a lot of trauma by being berated and even assaulted while trying to access essential services. Oftentimes, they don't have the medical evidence that some businesses or even the Human Rights Tribunal demanded. I think there's injustice there.'
"D’Ailly has some public successes across Ontario under his belt.
A judge ruled an elderly Burlington couple did not have to wear masks in their building, despite the condo board’s wishes.
A North Bay businesswoman charged for opening her store had charges dropped against her.
And, a woman in Wallaceburg was successful after a full day trial resulted in the court dismissing a charge for organizing an anti-lockdown rally in November 2020.
"Defending fundamental liberties in such cases is important, d’Ailly insisted. 'I think more Canadians need to stand up to preserve our hard-won rights' he said."
November 16, 2023 - "National populism is increasingly defining right-wing electoral politics in the United States and Europe. But Latin America has chosen a different path — emerging as a bastion of libertarianism on the global stage. "This year alone,
a self-described anarcho-capitalist has become the new face of Argentina’s opposition. Javier Milei earned the most votes in the country’s August presidential primaries and then eliminated center-right candidate Patricia Bullrich in the first round of presidential elections on Oct. 22. Milei is set to face off with Economy Minister Sergio Massa, of the governing Peronist movement, in a Nov. 19 runoff.... Massa finished first in the Oct. 22 election, but ... [t]he right-of-center vote was split between Bullrich and Milei, and Bullrich has since endorsed Milei. So has former conservative President Mauricio Macri. Polling is inconsistent, but Milei leads six national polls in a survey of 10 polls assessed by El Observador.... [Milei won - gd]
On the same day as Argentina’s first-round election, Venezuela’s María Corina Machado and her libertarian party humiliated the traditional opposition in primaries ahead of expected presidential elections next year. Machado, who has been compared to former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, is one of the lone voices in Venezuela’s opposition openly advocating for the privatization of the oil industry.... Her party has also organized seminars celebrating libertarian titan Milton Friedman. Machado herself has shown support for socially progressive causes such as gay marriage, distancing herself from both social conservatism and Keynesian economics.
"In Uruguay, meanwhile, a libertarian party inspired by Milei officially registered with authorities on Sep. 29, saying it seeks to 'go beyond' right vs. left discourse and aims to respect 'everyone’s individual rights.'
In Ecuador, Daniel Noboa — the son of the country’s wealthiest man — recently defeated his socialist rival and is set to continue the pro-business legacy of his predecessor Guillermo Lasso. Noboa’s principles are the most confusing of any of the aforementioned politicians. He defines himself as center-left while citing free enterprise as his priority. In 2021, his predecessor — and now supporter — Lasso earned an endorsement from Ecuador’s Libertarian Movement.
"The political economy of Latin America helps explain why it has become the perfect breeding ground for libertarianism. The rapid growth of the movement, though, should be attributed to a network of libertarian think tanks, leaders, and activists who have long peddled influence — and are starting to see it pay off....
"From 1970 to 1982, Latin America’s total debt levels increased by more than 1,000 percent (from $29 to $327 billion). The lost decade, as scholars now call it, angered millions of Latin Americans... It was then, as popular discontent soared, that the Soviet Union found the perfect conditions to further challenge the United States in its hemisphere, which in turn only reinvigorated U.S. interventionism. Both countries aided Latin American dictatorships that killed hundreds in their respective quests to expand socialist and capitalist economic models. Most notably, the United States backed Chile’s Augusto Pinochet and Argentina’s Jorge Videla while the Soviets supported Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega. The politically motivated decisions of this era accelerated Latin American dysfunction, fostering a reactionary loop of capitalism begetting socialism and vice versa.
"Latin America was then — and remains today—the most unequal region in the world.... [E]ight out of the 20 most economically unequal countries on the planet are located in the region. It is there where socialists found the perfect terrain to spread their ideas, and after they governed, the inflation-ridden and capital-fleeing states they left behind became cannon fodder for the pro-business political class.... But when inequality remained, socialists once again reaped the ideal conditions for their movement to flourish.... Over the past few years, ... Chile and Colombia, which previously resisted the so-called 'Pink Tide,' have elected socialists, while in Argentina and Brazil, conservative presidents failed to win reelection.
"As the left’s grasp over the region increased, libertarians were organizing. Dissatisfied with both socialism and what they viewed as a weak conservative opposition, social media-savvy public intellectuals such as Milei became icons. He was not alone: Less famous members of this cohort include Guatemala’s Gloria Álvarez (who announced that she would run for president even though she didn’t meet the age limit) and Chile’s Axel Kaiser (who founded the libertarian think tank Foundation for Progress)....
"Wealthy Americans, such as the Koch brothers, have played a role funding not only libertarian think tanks in the United States, including the Cato Institute, but have also founded networks with a vast presence in Latin America. The Atlas Network, for instance — which describes itself as a 'think tank that creates think tanks' — has around 500 partners around the world, and its friends include Machado, Colombian presidential-candidate-in-the-making María Fernanda Cabal, and Peruvian Nobel Prize winner Mario Vargas Llosa. In 2018, the network created a Center for Latin America ... and at the time included more than 80 affiliate civil society organizations. Two notable members are Chile’s Fundación Piensa and Argentina’s Libertad y Progreso. The Argentinian think tank also partners with the Cato Institute, the Acton Institute, and the Heritage Foundation.
"Similarly, under the banner of free-market economics, regional alliances have also been strengthened. The Liberal Network for Latin America (RELIAL) was established in 2004. It is the regional organization of Liberal International, which was founded in Oxford, England, in 1947, and has since become the preeminent global liberal organization, with dozens of member political parties throughout the world. RELIAL now includes 42 institutions from 17 Latin American countries, such as research institutes and foundations. Machado’s party is a member.... According to a 2009 Aporrea report by Eva Golinger, the American journalist-turned-Chávez advisor, CEDICE has received direct financial support and strategic advice from the U.S. government since 2001. Golinger, known for using Freedom of Information Act requests to uncover U.S. involvement in Venezuela, has drawn connections between the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and CEDICE.... Golinger’s report also points out how the Cato Institute has worked alongside CEDICE, such as via the ElCato-CEDICE University in Caracas, as well as directly with Venezuela’s opposition. Cato granted the Milton Friedman Prize to Venezuelan politician Yon Goicoechea in 2008....
"Russian American writer Ayn Rand has become an ideological sweetheart among Latin America’s right-of-center activists. Groups such as the Ayn Rand Latin America Center have held Ayn Rand conventions in Argentina and Brazil, and Rand’s Atlas Shrugged has flooded Latin American bookshelves following the publication of a translation in 2019. Milei has even called for an “Atlas rebellion.” Venezuelan libertarian activists based in the United States—including Univision’s Linea de Fuego talk show host Franklin Camargo and the Young America’s Foundation’s Daniel Di Martino—showcase the growing influence of those who love Rand’s ideas....
"Latin American libertarians have taken organizing seriously. As new elections approach, don’t be surprised by their success."
The Trudeau government failed to stop Bill C-234, which provides a limited carbon tax exemption for farmers, when it passed the House of Commons in March. Now they are using their "independent" Senators to keep it from being voted on in the Senate.
November 14, 2023 - "The federal Liberals created their own mess over the carbon tax, and it gets worse by the day. A new poll from Abacus Data shows that 72 per cent of Canadians think all forms of home heating fuel should be free of carbon tax.... 60 per cent of respondents are aware that the Liberals exempted heating oil from the tax, a benefit mainly to Atlantic Canada. People generally agree with the tax break for folks down east. But they also want it for the fuel they use to heat their own homes,...
"The Liberals insisted there would be no more 'carve-outs' for any sector when their tax castle began to totter. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed it won’t happen. Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault said there will be no more carve-outs as long as he’s in the job.
"Along comes Bill C-234 — a genuine crisis for the Liberals, because it’s all about another reasonable carve-out. Now in the Senate, C-234 would exempt fuel for grain-drying and heating farm structures from the carbon tax. Many Alberta farmers complain bitterly that the tax is onerous and they have no viable alternatives to natural gas. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has declared a national campaign to force Bill C-234 through the Senate.... The government desperately wants the bill to fail when votes are called, likely next week. 'Independent' senators (mostly named by the Liberals) are under intense pressure to reject the bill.
"This Conservative private member’s bill cruised through the House of Commons in March. It was supported by the Conservatives, New Democrats and even a few Liberals. Bill C-234 wasn’t highly controversial. It moved on to detailed Senate hearings. And then, Newfoundland MP Gudie Hutchings boasted about how Atlantic Liberal MPs and ministers talked the government into removing the tax from heating oil. A little-known bill that affects farm operations suddenly became the latest front in the carbon tax battle....
"Alberta Sen. Paula Simons, a devoted champion of the carbon tax, first decided grain-drying should be exempt because there is no alternative to natural gas. She also concluded that the tax should still apply for heating farm structures. Then came the heating oil fiasco. Simons was shocked. On Oct. 31, she told the Senate: 'Now, how am I, as an Alberta senator, supposed to look Alberta farmers in the face and tell them that I took a principled stand against carbon tax exemptions when the government has pulled the rug right out from under me?.... I’m not even sure how I’m going to vote. I just know that I’m feeling pretty foolish right now, pretty betrayed, and I wish I didn’t. Thank you.' Betrayed. A strong word from a Trudeau appointee to the 'independent' caucus, which is Liberal in all but name.
"Former Conservative senator Doug Black, from Calgary, ... says Bill C-234 'is not a concession to farmers; it’s a very important part of supporting the agriculture industry in the country. It’s close to motherhood. Initially that’s what everybody else thought, too. Then what happened? The prime minister did his deal with Atlantic Canada in respect of home heating oil, and it blew up in his face. Therefore, the bill must be killed. That’s what’s going on'....
"The bill will probably be defeated but anger will continue to rise over this regional absolutism. The Liberals deserve a long fall into the trap they set for themselves."
Jacob Chansley, the self-described "QAnon Shaman" who briefly shot to fame as the face of the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot, has filed to run for Congress as a Libertarian.
November 13, 2023 - "The Libertarian Party warmly welcomed an infamous (and apparently remorseless) insurrectionist to its ranks on Monday, writing that the “QAnon Shaman”—who stormed the Capitol shirtless with a set of horns on his head—had the party’s support for his newly announced run for Congress.
"Jacob Chansley, 35, became the face of the Jan. 6 riot after scores of photos and videos showed him walking and bellowing inside the Capitol with red, white, and blue face paint on. Chansley was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison in Nov. 2021 but was released after 27 months and reportedly sent to a halfway house in March to finish his sentence. A request to reverse his guilty plea was shot down by a federal judge in June.... He still uses photos from the Capitol attack as his profile and cover photo on X, formerly Twitter, where his username is @AmericaShaman....
"Libertarian National Committee chair Angela McArdle insinuated in a statement to The Daily Beast that Chansley had joined the party because the GOP had unfairly “abandoned” rioters. 'It should be no surprise that the infamous "Q-Anon Shaman" is looking to run for Congress as a Libertarian instead of Republican,' she said. 'The GOP has clearly abandoned the people who rallied for Trump and bore the consequences.'
"Chansley filed paperwork Friday to run in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District—a district that includes wealthy Phoenix suburbs and is currently represented by Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ), who announced last month she won’t seek re-election. Chansley is allowed to run for Congress as a felon, but it’s unclear if he will be able to vote for himself come Election Day....
"Chansley has given some insight into how he intends to run his campaign on social media. In response to someone asking where they could donate, he wrote that he wasn’t accepting donor money because 'BIG $$$ is a part of the problem in politics. 'I intend to run an ENTIRELY different kind of campaign,' he wrote.
"The Libertarian Party does not have any members in Congress. The first and only Libertarian to become a federal lawmaker was former Rep. Justin Amash (L-MI), who joined the party in 2020 and left the U.S. House in 2021 after choosing to not seek re-election. Despite having no presence in Congress, the party claims on its website to have more than 300 party members in public office nationwide—mostly at the municipal level.
"McArdle used the attention garnered by Chansley as an opportunity to pitch the Libertarian Party to other Capitol rioters — and other Republicans — who feel they were left behind by Trump and the GOP. 'The Libertarian Party is a home for any, and all, who have experienced aggression, and injustice, at the whim of the State, which is every living American,' she said.
The Trudeau government has extended the deadline to repay its small-business pandemic loans another year to the end of 2024, while the Canadian Federation of Independent Business says only 18% of its members who took loans have managed to repay them to date.
16 September, 2023 - "For the second time, the Trudeau government has extended the deadline for repayment on $49.2 billion worth of interest-free pandemic loans for small businesses, announced on Thursday. The loans, which were initially expected to be repaid by December 31, 2022, now have an extended repayment deadline of December 31, 2024....
"According to Blacklock’s Reporter, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business [CFIB] estimated that only around 18% of its members who had taken loans had managed to repay them.
"Parliament in 2020 introduced the Canada Emergency Business Account program offering small businesses up to $40,000 interest-free loans with a quarter forgiven on repayment. Loan terms were later expanded by cabinet to $60,000 with a third forgiven on repayment due December 31, 2023.
"'The government has failed to address the most critical issue on outstanding loans, the loss of the $20,000 forgivable portion,' the Federation [CFIB] said in a statement.'The extension of the forgivable deadline by a few weeks will be of very little value to the thousands of small business owners who just don’t have money to repay now.' The Federation estimated 69% of its members who applied for loans were unable to repay what they borrowed.
"Businesses that applied for loans were typically small and indebted, according to a Department of Industry report. 'In general, loan recipients tended to be young businesses,' said the report SME Profile: Recipients of the Canada Emergency Business Account.
"Eighteen percent of the applicants reported they had resorted to borrowing from lines of credit, taking out second mortgages and increasing their credit card balances to keep their businesses going. The results were from a survey of 19,283 small business owners across the country.
"Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland previously stated the government was aware that borrowers faced risks and did not know the default rate on the loan program. 'Small business owners are resilient and our government will continue to be there to help them,' said Freeland."
The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons wants to take away a doctor's license over comments he made about Covid-19 vaccines on social media and his website, says the doctor's lawyer.
November 10, 2023 -"The Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons may revoke the licence of an Ontario doctor for his comments on COVID-19 vaccines. An Oct. 6 Ontario Physicians and Surgeons Discipline Tribunal decision said that Dr. Mark Trozzi committed professional misconduct by 'failing to meet the standard of practice of the profession' in some of his statements about vaccinations and COVID-19 public health measures. They said the comments were made on social media, on his website, and in interviews.
"The tribunal also said Dr. Trozzi failed to meet professional standards when issuing medical exemptions from COVID-19 vaccines to patients....
"The college is looking to have his licence permanently revoked, Mr. Trozzi’s lawyer told The Epoch Times. But it’s something they are prepared for ... Michael Alexander said. He said they’ve set up the case so they can appeal to the court system..
"A penalty hearing was held on Nov. 10, but Mr. Alexander said they do not expect to hear back until sometime in December. He said that Dr. Trozzi is 'undeterred' by the turn of events. 'He’s a very positive person, and he is very passionate about the truth regarding the pandemic in COVID-19, and I would just say the truth generally,' Mr. Alexander said. 'He feels he's done the right thing and said the right things.'
"Mr. Alexander said that the case is an attack on the freedom of expression, calling it a “troubling development.' 'Colleges have now taken on the role of censors and doctors must toe the college's line and the government's line on public health and other matters of science. This is a really fundamental attack on freedom of expression, so it's a very troubling development.'
"The Epoch Times contacted the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons for comment but didn't hear back by publication time."
In the middle of Windsor, Ontario, lawyer Antoine d'Ailly's trial for allegedly violating the Reopening Ontario Act by not enforcing a mask mandate in his office, the Crown prosecutor abruptly withdrew all charges.
November 10, 2023 - "The Democracy Fund (TDF) has successfully defended Windsor lawyer Antoine d'Ailly against allegations that he failed to enforce provincial masking requirements in his law office. Mr. d'Ailly was charged in December of 2020 under the Reopening Ontario Act, which required businesses to enforce masking requirements, subject to numerous exemptions.
"During the trial of November 1, 2023, the prosecution withdrew the charge against d'Ailly after a brief cross‐examination of the Crown's sole witness by TDF. The cross‐examination revealed multiple inconsistencies in the evidence of the Windsor‐Essex County Health Unit's (WECHU's) enforcement officer.
"While Mr. d'Ailly implemented a policy of not demanding proof from members of the public who claimed a masking exemption, his policy was in compliance with applicable law at all times. Despite [his] being on the right side of the law, multiple complaints were made against d'Ailly, resulting in surveillance of his law office and other enforcement measures by WECHU officers.
"Mr. d'Ailly was defended at trial by TDF's Litigation Director, Alan Honner, who says the applicable regulation clearly states that a person need not provide proof of an exemption to the masking requirement. Honner insists that his client was legally and morally justified in not demanding proof of exemptions, and it was the enforcement officers who did not understand the law when they charged d'Ailly....
"Prior to the trial, TDF retained local paralegal Kristen Jarvis to bring a motion for particulars to insist that the crown identify the specific provision under which d'Ailly was being charged. Jarvis's success on that motion was critical to TDF's ultimate win at trial.
"TDF believes in standing up for persons who are wrongfully charged with breaching constitutionally‐ suspect masking laws. To help us in this fight, you can make a tax‐deductible donation on this page to support our work....TDF supports an access to justice initiative for Canadians whose civil liberties have been infringed by government lockdowns and other public policy responses to the pandemic."
"What sets Andrew Koppelman’s book apart from most critiques of libertarianism," says reviewer Marco den Ouden, "is that he actually knows what he’s talking about."
A review of Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed by Andrew Koppelman, 320 pages, Macmillan (Oct 2022)
September 12, 2023 - "Andrew Koppelman ... is a Professor of Law and of Political Science at Northwestern University, a civil libertarian, and the author of books on antidiscrimination law, gay rights, same-sex marriage, healthcare reform, and religious liberty. He declares himself to be 'a pro-capitalist leftist' and acknowledges that his 'embrace of that position here will make many of my friends on the left feel betrayed.' The thing that turns Koppelman’s crank is what he regards as a heartless, narrow, and blinkered understanding of liberty on the part of many libertarians....
"What sets Koppelman’s book apart from most critiques of libertarianism is that he actually knows what he’s talking about. He’s clearly read and researched libertarianism in considerable detail. And while he is sometimes harsh in his criticism, he clearly sees the value in many libertarian positions. His background in law and political science, as well as his writing on civil liberties, allows him to bring some fascinating insights to bear in his analysis. And he sometimes turns libertarian ideas on their head, using libertarian ideas to argue against what he sees as a perversion of libertarian ideas in the works of Rothbard, Nozick, and Rand. 'You ought to be a libertarian—of a certain kind, and only up to a point,' he writes. 'This book is not only a critical description of libertarianism. It aims to marry what is best about libertarianism with the agenda of the left'....
"Koppelman notes that the modern political Left is often more concerned with identity politics than with alleviating poverty. 'A right to be different,' he continues, 'pushes toward localization of power and away from central planning.' The people on the Left, who continue to malign capitalism, 'don’t grasp the anti-socialist logic of their present views.' And because Hayek was not a doctrinaire absolutist in his opposition to a role for the state in the economy, he 'thought redistribution to provide basic needs was an appropriate supplement to a free market. Such a supplement was not central planning, because it left the recipients free to make their own decisions'.... Ronald Reagan, Koppelman suggests, 'succeeded in shifting American politics—and American understandings of liberty—in a Hayekian direction.' Bill Clinton’s Democrats adopted these views and implemented some of the things Reagan could not....
"But while Democrats since Clinton have adopted a Hayekian approach to markets and regulation, Republicans have moved steadily in a more radical and fundamentalist libertarian direction, distilled from the later views of Murray Rothbard, Robert Nozick, and Ayn Rand. Before considering those views, Koppelman digresses with a chapter on the Lockean theory of natural rights. Hayek was lukewarm at best on rights theory, but it is the centerpiece of the Rothbard/Nozick/Rand approach. And of course, it holds a key place in the American Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. The fundamentalist view of property rights holds that people work and the fruits of their labor is their property. They have a right to it. Such rights are absolute. And, as per the Declaration of Independence, 'to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' This does not give government carte blanche to do what it wants.... 'You must not spend money that’s not yours.' But, Koppelman notes, if this view is correct, 'it straightaway entails that most of what government does is illegitimate.' This, he continues, 'is the moral core of much modern libertarianism'....
"Koppelman identifies Rothbard’s 'core moral principle' as nonaggression, as expressed in For a New Liberty: 'No man or group of men may aggress against the person or property of anyone else.' Koppelman says that Rothbard adopts this principle because 'each man may only live and prosper as he exercises his natural freedom of choice,' thus 'if someone aggresses against him to change his freely-selected course, this violates his nature; it violates the way he must function.' Koppelman agrees that this 'axiom entails anarchism'. So how will justice be administered in an anarchist world? By private contractors—“multiple private police forces, with no central authority over them.” Koppelman compares this to a society of warlords, each trying to gain dominance. 'What actually emerges from networks of protective associations, all over the world, is some variety of hereditary aristocracy.' In other words, feudalism.... .
"Koppelman brushes Nozick off in a few paragraphs and moves on to consider the influence of Ayn Rand.... Koppelman seems to have mixed feelings about Rand. He clearly admires some of her writing and philosophy, and he appreciates her support for charity as expressed in her essay 'The Ethics of Emergencies'.... Elsewhere, he writes that, 'the most attractive aspiration in Rand is the independence of judgment, and faith in oneself, displayed by Roark, the hero of The Fountainhead. The book has surely helped many young people with its message that they should pursue their own deepest aspirations, and not care about impressing others'.... But in Atlas Shrugged, Rand 'offers a far cruder picture.' She argued that under capitalism, 'it is the best product that wins, the best performance, the man of best judgment and highest ability—and the degree of a man’s productiveness is the degree of his reward.'This leads to the view that 'markets give people exactly what they deserve and any redistribution is unjust'....
"In Rand’s opposition to any relief by the state, she shared Rothbard’s position. But while she did argue in Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal that 'without property rights, no other rights are possible,” Koppelman suggests that “at Rand’s core is, not a theory of property rights, but an ideal of reciprocity. That ideal is attractive. It is, I suspect, the source of her rhetorical power.” According to the Oxford dictionary, reciprocity is 'the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit'.... 'She has in fact captured an important ethical ideal,' Koppelman continues, 'the value of interpersonal respect between "men who do not desire the unearned, who do not make sacrifices nor accept them, who deal with one another as traders, giving value for value"'....
"Koppelman concludes with chapters on paternalism, discrimination, and how the lack of appropriate regulation has led to the aggrandizement of modern day moochers and looters....
|I was a doctrinaire libertarian/Objectivist from 1969 to 2000, and I came to my libertarianism through Ayn Rand. The first libertarian book I ever read was Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal. I was hooked and read everything Rand ever published during her lifetime and much of what was published posthumously. My drift away from orthodox libertarianism accelerated after I retired in 2014, started blogging, and returned to university. I became an admirer of Isaiah Berlin's value-pluralism—the view that genuine values can conflict, which is anathema to libertarians. Although I have read very little of Hayek, Koppelman's book makes me want to explore his thought in more detail. Koppelman presents a good case for taking the Hayekian approach with a work that is rich in detail and full of thought-provoking ideas. It is well worth the read, whether you ultimately agree with him or not."
Three people were injured and one arrested at Montreal's Concordia University after anti-Israel demonstrators tried to tear down an Israeli flag at a separate event.
November 9, 2023 - "In the weeks since the Oct. 7 massacres, Canadian academia has yielded no shortage of voices justifying the attacks and calling for Israel’s ultimate defeat. But on Wednesday night, a table at Concordia University draped with an Israeli flag and carrying pictures of Israeli hostages was all it took to provoke a crush of anti-Israel protesters screaming, making threats and ultimately resorting to physical violence.
"'Go back to Poland, sharmouta!' says one man in a widely circulated video of the incident; 'sharmouta' is an Arabic slur for 'whore.' He was later identified as Yanise Arab, a humanities professor at the University of Montreal specializing in 'dominance and resistance in the Arab world.' Another video with 2.4 million views shows a woman screaming a string of obscenities at Jewish students.... A video with 1.1 million views shows a crowd of several dozen chanting 'ceasefire now' at the Jewish students. And another with more than 1.4 million views shows the moment just before police arrived, with demonstrators from the pro-Palestinian side seen crawling over security guards and attempting to tear an Israeli flag. Police said a 22-year-old female student was arrested for assaulting a security guard....
"'Police were called after two members of our Campus Safety and Prevention Services team who had tried to intervene were physically attacked and an ambulance had to be called,' said Concordia University president Graham Carr in a Wednesday statement. He added that the violence occurred around the same time as swastikas were found graffitied on school property. Carr also said that 'a student group issued a social media post that could reasonably be construed as inciting violence' — although it’s not clear what he was referencing.
"According to The Suburban — a Montreal English-language community newspaper — the table was a permitted display organized by the campus Jewish groups Concordia Hillel and Chabad Concordia. The students had set up a Shabbat table. On a table draped with the Israeli flag, they put out place settings of plates, napkins and plastic utensils to represent the approximately 240 civilians missing after the Oct. 7 massacres and still believed to be held as Hamas hostages. Empty Shabbat tables have been a common mourning symbol throughout the Jewish world in the wake of the massacres....
"But the Concordia Shabbat table was reportedly met by a rival table set up nearby by the group Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights. This is the same group that has publicly released statements justifying the Oct. 7 massacres and calling for similar attacks to continue until the Jewish state is destroyed. 'We hold the Israeli regime fully responsible for the current violence,' they wrote in an Oct. 11 statement, adding that Gazans had 'no option but to resist.' The statement even seemed to suggest that such 'decolonization' attacks should be visited upon Canada — which they refer to as 'Turtle Island.'
"In a statement after the disturbance, the group blamed the incident on 'Zionist' provocateurs and said they would continue to advocate for a 'Free Palestine, from the river to the sea' — a slogan meant to explicitly reference Israel’s total eradication.
"An edited three-minute video uploaded by The Suburban shows the escalating encounter as demonstrators in keffiyehs — a black and white scarf associated with Palestinian nationalism — and holding Palestinian flags surround the table, eventually coming to fill much of the surrounding lobby. 'You came and invaded my land, your land is in Europe!' says one man. Several Concordia University security guards can be seen forming a line in front of the Jewish students, who are holding aloft Israeli flags and wearing shirts with images of Hamas hostages....
"Concordia ... has been a centre of overt anti-Israel sentiment for at least the last 20 years. Most notably, pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a riot at the school in 2002 in opposition to a scheduled speech by Israel politician Benjamin Netanyahu, who is now Israel’s prime minister. Rioters broke a window and began hurling furniture from an upper mezzanine, which ultimately led to the speech’s cancellation."
November 8, 2023 - "Ohio voters have approved a measure to legalise adult recreational marijuana use. It will take effect in 30 days. Voters supporting the new law, known as Issue 2, defied the will of the state's Republican controlled legislature. The measure was first introduced in 2022, but was stalled by Republican lawmakers, triggering a lawsuit to get legalisation on the ballot....
"'Marijuana is no longer a controversial issue,' said Tom Haren, spokesman for the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. 'Ohioans demonstrated this by passing State Issue 2 in a landslide.'
"The new law will allow adults over 21 to purchase and possess up to 2.5oz (70g) of cannabis and to grow up to six marijuana plants at home. Buyers will pay a 10% tax imposed on sales going mostly toward addiction services, communities with cannabis facilities and social equity and jobs programmes.
"The drug is illegal at the federal level despite a number of US states having passed laws legalising its use in some form. Cannabis is legal for adult recreational use in 23 other states, including all west coast states and in Washington DC. It is permitted for medical use in 38 states.
"The Ohio law is a citizen-initiated statute and not a constitutional amendment, which means state lawmakers have the power to easily adjust or even repeal the law. Ohio Republicans who remain opposed to Issue 2 are already calling for changes.... Smart Approaches to Marijuana Action President Kevin Sabet ... called on state legislators to remove parts of the law that enable commercial and advertising sales. Others have voiced their concerns regarding the limits of THC, the psychoactive compound that gives marijuana users a high.
"Since voters approved the law, it will be tricky political ground for Republican lawmakers looking to make tweaks without upsetting their constituents."
