"Pipe bombs" used in mining, Coutts trial told

A defense witness has testified that Coutts 4 defendant Anthony Olienick used homemade explosive devices, similar to the two "pipe bombs" police seized when they raided his Claresholm property, in his sandstone mining business.   

'Firecrackers', 'not a big deal': Coutts Trial witness claims alleged pipe bombs were mining tools | Rebel News | Robert Kraychik:

July 17, 2024 - "Brian Lambert, a former business partner of Anthony Olienick's, testified on Monday, July 15 during Olienick's and Chris Carbert's trial in Lethbridge, AB, that he observed his former associate’s use of 'firecrackers' in the context of their joint operations mining sandstone. Lambert’s testimony relates to one charge against Olienick, that he unlawfully possessed an explosive device for a dangerous purpose. 

"The Crown has alleged that two objects found on Olienick's property after his arrest on February 14, 2022, were 'pipe bombs'. Lambert described the 'firecrackers' he said he saw Olienick use years ago as explosives contained within tubes or pipes used for plumbing. He further described them as 'not a big deal' in the context of the world of explosives. He maintained that he would not choose to hold such an explosive in his hands.

"Carbert and Olienick are accused of conspiring to murder police officers during their time at the 2022 Coutts protest and blockade, a peaceful and civilly disobedient demonstration against the decrees, edicts, and orders issued by different levels of government and marketed as “public health” measures to reduce COVID-19 transmission. The two defendants are also charged with unlawful possession of a firearm for a dangerous purpose. Both have pled not guilty to all charges against them.

"Lyndsay Butler, a country music singer, songwriter, and performer ... testified that she brought a guitar in a guitar case with her to the demonstration. The prosecution previously suggested that guitar cases were used to transport firearms for the purposes of executing a conspiracy to murder. Butler was also mentioned in certain text messages sent to and received by the defendants' phones during tbe Coutts protest that the Crown has alleged included coded language related to the alleged conspiracy.... 

"Corrie Turcott, an Albertan who spent 18 days at the Coutts demonstration, ... [testified] that she spent most of her 18 days in Smuggler's Saloon, a small restaurant in the border village that operated as a makeshift meeting center for protesters. She said she spent considerable time in the saloon’s basement, using it as a site to organize and store food and other donated consumables used by the demonstrators.

"The Crown has alleged that the saloon’s basement was used as a site to store a cache of firearms meant for use as part of a conspiracy to murder law enforcement personnel. Turcott testified that she did not observe any firearms in the saloon's basement."

Read more: https://www.rebelnews.com/firecrackers_not_a_big_deal_coutts_trial_witness_claims_alleged_pipe_bombs_were_mining_tools

'Firecrackers', 'not a big deal': Coutts Trial witness claims alleged pipe bombs were mining tools | Rebel News | July 17, 2024:

Ontario gov't allows mixed drinks' sale in groceries

The Ontario government is fast-tracking its plan to allow grocery stores to sell premixed alcoholic drinks, after government workers opposed to the plan shut down provincial liquor stores by walking out on strike.  

Ontario further speeds up alcohol expansion amid LCBO strike | Windsor Star | Allison Jones, Canadian Press:

July 16, 2024 - ""Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government is rushing to get ready-to-drink cocktails on grocery store shelves amid a strike at the province’s main liquor retailer.... Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy announced Monday that grocery stores that are already licensed to sell beer and wine can start ordering the pre-mixed cocktails, as well as large packs of beer, to sell starting on Thursday [July 18] — sooner than the planned Aug. 1 launch.... 

"The sped-up move is part of an already fast-tracked plan to expand alcohol sales in the province. Ford’s previous plan was to get beer, wine and ready-to-drink cocktails in convenience stores and all grocery stores by 2026 [see video], but in May he announced that would instead happen this year.

"Leadership at the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, whose approximately 10,000 workers at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario [LCBO] walked off the job July 5, has said ... the main issue in the labour dispute ... is the expanded sale of ready-to-drink cocktails. Previous rounds of alcohol market expansion in Ontario have kept spirits sales in the hands of the LCBO, and OPSEU worries undoing that will threaten the LCBO and union jobs. Getting ready-to-drink beverages in grocery stores even sooner is an attempt to undercut the LCBO and amounts to interfering in bargaining, said OPSEU president JP Hornick....

"Ford has denied he is trying to dismantle or privatize the LCBO, and government officials have noted that LCBO revenues have increased through previous rounds of alcohol sales expansions. Bethlenfalvy has directed the Crown corporation to showcase and promote Ontario beer, wine, spirits and ciders as part of the expansion, and he has said it will still have an important role as a wholesaler.

"Ford last week firmly ruled out a reversal on the ready-to-drink expansion, saying the ship had sailed 'halfway across Lake Ontario.' The 450 grocery stores across the province that are already licensed to sell beer, wine and ciders can begin placing orders for the coolers and seltzers on Thursday and can sell the beverages as soon as they receive them. 

"They will also be able to sell larger packages of beer, such as cases of 24. An agreement the former Liberal government signed with The Beer Store in 2015 ... [which] gave the company exclusive rights to sell 12- and 24-packs of beer .... had been set to expire at the end of 2025, but Ford’s sped-up plan involves an 'early implementation agreement' with The Beer Store that involves the province paying the company up to $225 million to help it keep stores open and workers employed. The province is also giving brewers a rebate on an LCBO fee that normally brings in $45 million a year, and it is giving retailers a 10-per-cent wholesale discount."

Read more: https://windsorstar.com/news/local-news/ontario-further-speeds-up-alcohol-expansion-amid-lcbo-strike

Premier Ford announces plans to allow beer and wine sales in Ontario convenience stores by 2026 | cpac | December 12, 2023:

Corporate Canada lost Faustian climate bargain

With the passage of Bill C-59, which outlaws "greenwashing" claims, Corporate Canada has lost its climate bargain with the Trudeau government, writes Bruce Pardy.

Corporate Canada betrayed capitalism. Now it has been betrayed | National Post | Bruce Pardy:

July 5, 2024 - "After years of colluding with climate hysteria and betraying capitalism, Canadian companies have been dumped at the curb. On June 20, Bill C-59 received Royal Assent. It’s a hodgepodge bill of humdrum provisions, hundreds of pages long.... But buried in the stack are two sections that prohibit 'greenwashing.' Businesses cannot claim that their products or practices help to protect against climate change or provide other environmental benefits unless they can prove the claims are true. The provisions amend the Competition Act and make climate and other environmental claims subject to the same regulatory regime as false advertising.

"Companies and industry associations have taken down climate pledges and environmental commitments from their websites and social media. 'Ottawa’s ban on "greenwashing" has already put a chill on climate disclosure targets,' objected Deborah Yedlin, president and CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, in a commentary for CTV. It will affect the entire economy, she wrote, add bureaucratic burden, halt investment, and weigh on Canada’s sagging productivity. Corporate Canada has lost its climate bargain.

"Over the course of decades, Western countries, but nowhere more than Canada, have undergone a cultural revolution. Accelerating climate activism, aggressive social justice ideology and managerial government have changed the landscape. Business elites, instead of defending capitalism, competition, open markets, the rule of law and other values of Western civilization, decided to switch rather than fight. To protect their own prosperity and influence, corporate leaders learned to speak the language and adopt the norms of progressive collectivism. They became cheerleaders for the new regime. Many came to believe in it themselves....

"The social responsibility of business became not merely to increase its profits, as Milton Friedman famously insisted, but to serve as social welfare agencies. They were not just to obey the law and deliver products and services that people wanted to buy, but to pursue social and environmental causes. They would serve the interests not just of their shareholders but their 'stakeholders,' as 'Environmental, Social and Governance' (ESG) models demanded. In their marketing and rhetoric, they embraced climate action, corporate social responsibility, social licence, 'equity, diversity and inclusion' (EDI) and social justice. They promoted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a blueprint for socialist managerialism. The Business Council of Canada endorsed carbon pricing and Canada’s climate plans. Major oil companies promoted net zero and repeated the kinds of claims that governments themselves made: that climate action in Canada helps to prevent the climate from changing.

"Such claims are patently false. Even if you believe in anthropogenic climate change, if your country doesn’t contribute much to the problem, cutting its contribution isn’t a solution. Bringing Canadian carbon emissions to zero would make no measurable difference to anything. Countries that together produce far and away most of the emissions on Earth have no intention of changing their paths.... 

"Canada excels at climate boondoggles. Carbon taxes are just more money for government coffers that do not necessarily reduce emissions, if that actually mattered. Wind and solar power, a lucrative source of government largesse that some businesses have adeptly saddled up to, don’t replace fossil fuels. Carbon capture and storage, perhaps the most pathetic pretend of them all, is a breathtakingly expensive symbolic gesture that cannot be applied at scale. The Paris accord and its net zero aspirations are climate fairy tales. Canadian business leaders would never say any of this. That was the deal: pay homage to the climate gods, and you can be on the team. But now they can’t.

"Progressive statism has never been about the climate, or transgenderism, or whatever the cause du jour. The target has always been Western values and principles. Free enterprise is anathema to its aspirations, and as it turns out, so is prosperity itself. Canadian companies have betrayed the economic principles of their own society.... The Canadian business community still does not understand the point of the revolution. There can be no survivors."

Read more: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/corporate-canada-betrayed-capitalism-now-it-has-been-betrayed

Four academic doctrines destroying Canada, Bruce Pardy, chapter author for The 1867 Project | Aristotle Foundation | June 13, 2023:

Rand Paul introduces Risky Research Act

A U.S. Senate committee has begun hearings on Rand Paul's Risky Research Act, meant to oversee dangerous scientific experiments like the gain-of-function research in Wuhan that allegedly led to the Covid pandemic.. 

Senate Committee Wrestles With Risks and Benefits of Virus Research | MedPage Today | Shannon Firth:

July 11, 2024 - "Lawmakers and scientists debated the best ways to regulate high-risk government-funded virus research during a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Thursday. One prominent witness called for a moratorium on gain-of-function research, while another stressed the risks of not pursuing certain kinds of experiments. Meanwhile, some committee members leveraged their time at the dais to grill former public health leaders about the lab-leak theory of COVID-19's origins and to accuse them of complicity in a cover-up.

"'Today, thousands of skilled individuals can create infectious viruses using commercially available synthetic DNA that corresponds to publicly accessible viral genome sequences,' Kevin Esvelt, PhD, of the MIT Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, told the committee. He argued that the U.S. needs a 'systemic reappraisal' to define which types of DNA, pathogens, and experiments are safe and which are dangerous. He urged Congress to establish and fund an independent board to determine which laboratories should be granted access to which agents and sequences, to determine when the benefits of 'dual use research' -- that is, research that can lead to either benefits or harms -- exceed the risks, and to assess and determine when disclosing a genome sequence or an experimental outcome 'would cause irreparable harm to national security'....

"Former CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, testified -- not for the first time -- that the most likely theory of COVID-19's origins was biomedical research followed by an accidental lab leak. 'Unfortunately, the potential national security consequences of conducting the research did not receive full consideration prior to the funding decisions to conduct such high-risk research,' Redfield said. He argued that while some scientists believe gain-of-function research is vital to 'get ahead of viruses' and to develop vaccines and countermeasures, he believes it had the 'exact opposite effect' and blames such research for unleashing a new virus in the world without any means of stopping it. 'In my opinion, we should call for a moratorium on gain-of-function research until we have a broader debate and come to consensus as a community [about] the value of such research,' Redfield said.

"Ranking Member Rand Paul, MD (R-Ky.), who has publicly stated for months that he believes that the SARS-CoV-2 virus was the result of a lab leak, levied the same allegations of a 'vast COVID cover-up' and of federal funding being used to support gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 'You don't need to be convinced that COVID-19 virus originated from a lab leak to recognize the imminent need for oversight mechanisms,' he said. 'The mere possibility that the virus could have emerged from such risky research should be more than enough to prompt decisive action.'

"On Wednesday, Paul introduced the "Risky Research Review Act, which calls for creating an independent oversight board to review high-risk life sciences research and issue 'binding determinations' related to federal funding. Redfield heartily supported the bill, as did Sen. Roger Marshall, MD (R-Kan.), who declared that it would 'save tens of millions of lives.' And Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he still needed to review the document but was likely to back it."

Read more: https://www.medpagetoday.com/washington-watch/washington-watch/111059

Does It Bother You?': Rand Paul Questions Ex-CDC Director About Gain-Of-Function Research | Forbes Breaking News | July 11, 2024:

Some state LPs want to chase Oliver off ballot

Libertarian Party POTUS nominee Chase Oliver is on the ballot in 36 states, and ballot access efforts are ongoing in the others. But the executives of a few state Libertarian parties don't want him on theirs. 

The Libertarian Party vs. Chase Oliver | Reason | Brian Doherty: 

July 11, 2024 - "In May, the Libertarian Party (L.P.) nominated Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat as its presidential and vice presidential candidates.... Before the end of June, two state affiliate parties vowed they would not submit Oliver and ter Maat's names to appear on their state ballots. 

"One state, Colorado, announced in early July that it would instead nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This week the secretary of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC), Caryn Ann Harlos, used her legal authority as national secretary to submit the Oliver/ter Maat ticket to Colorado's secretary of state office anyway. The LNC is the governing body of the national party. Harlos is herself a member of the Colorado L.P. but strongly objected to the Kennedy nomination. The Oliver campaign also this week submitted a necessary slate of electors to the state.... The Colorado L.P. still intends to file to get Kennedy on the ballot as a Libertarian, though it is likely his campaign will submit enough signatures by the deadline today to achieve that without the L.P.'s help. Colorado secretary of state spokesperson Jack Todd told The Denver Post that dueling filings from the same party is something the state has never had to deal with before.

"Montana's Libertarian Party also announced in early June that it would not put Oliver on its state's ballot and encouraged other states to follow suit. The Montana L.P. asked the national party to 'consider suspending and replacing him.' At publication time, Montana's party chair had not responded to an email asking if his party intended to submit a different name or leave Montanans no L.P. presidential ticket to vote for.

"Another state L.P., Idaho, saw its secretary, Matt Loesby, publish an open letter in mid-June calling on the LNC to rescind Oliver's nomination, mostly because of his position on transgender care for minors. Idaho's official state party account retweeted Loesby, though according to an email from Loesby last week, the party has made no formal decision to keep the Oliver ticket off its ballot. (New Hampshire's L.P. also rejects Oliver, but he can get himself on that state's ballot without its cooperation.)....

"Colorado takes issue with Oliver making the personal choice to wear a mask during COVID-19, insufficiently defending his opponent Donald Trump from accusations made against him, and being arguably more consistently libertarian than it is on minors' right to make choices about their medical care in alliance with parents and doctors. Trans issues are the flash point for many of Oliver's most vocal opponents.... Oliver sticks firmly to the libertarian idea that the state should not interfere with the decisions a parent, child, and doctor make about appropriate or desired care. (Oliver is asked about the 'transing kids' stuff far more than he brings it up on his own; when the issue is brought up, he routinely stresses the small number of children and families affected by this issue.)...

"Currently, the LNC is considering forming a joint fundraising committee with Kennedy. Harlos has been upbraided publicly on the LNC's business email list by [LNC Chairman Angela] McArdle for daring to place the L.P.'s nominee on her state's ballot rather than Kennedy. The LNC is currently voting on a motion to ensure it files all necessary nominating paperwork for Oliver with state election officials. So far at least six members of the LNC have voted against this.

"For his part, Oliver has been out on the road conducting an ordinary presidential campaign, including public appearances, media spots, and advertising. His X feed is full of hits on debt, gun control, bodily integrity, and presidential legal immunity. He stresses his youth — he's 38 — compared to his doddering major party opponents.... Dustin Nanna, chair of the LNC's ballot access committee, said in a phone interview in late June that they are locked in 36 states and have ongoing ballot access efforts, some funded by the party and some all-volunteer, in the others....

"This much opposition within the L.P. to its nominee is 'highly unusual,' said Oliver's campaign manager Steve Dasbach, himself a former LNC chair, in a phone interview in late June..... Dasbach thinks moves against Oliver's access are "not in the best interests of the Party as a whole, and not in the best interest of registered Libertarians in those states.' To Dasbach, Oliver's position on trans issues is 'straight out of the party platform' with its support for medical freedom for individuals and for parental rights against state interference. Dasbach also has found some Libertarians erroneously believe Oliver supported mask or vaccine mandates merely because he personally chose to wear a mask or socially distance in some circumstances. 'We are working with the LNC and we are confident we'll ultimately be able to work these issues out and Chase will appear on the ballot in all states where the L.P. is qualified,' Dasbach says."

Read more: https://reason.com/2024/07/11/the-libertarian-party-vs-chase-oliver/

Libertarian Presidential Nominee Chase Oliver Reacts To Biden-Trump Debate | Forbes Breaking News | July 2, 2024:

Historica Canada charity takes down Sir John A.'s Heritage Minute

Historica Canada, a primarily government-funded* charity, has taken down its Heritage Minute on Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, from its YouTube channel due to its failure to address "controversies regarding Macdonald's treatment of indigenous peoples."

Conservatives blast “woke censors” for erasing John A. Macdonald Heritage Minute | True North | Andrew Lawton:

July 8, 2024 - "A Conservative MP is taking aim at Historica Canada for deleting a Heritage Minute highlighting Sir John A Macdonald’s role in Confederation amid what it called 'controversies regarding Macdonald’s treatment of Indigenous peoples'.... Historica Canada, the charity that produces the long-running Heritage Minute series, quietly removed the episode in question, which was produced in 2015 in the leadup to Canada’s sesquicentennial, from its YouTube page.

Sir John A. Macdonald statue vandalized  in Montreal,

August  30, 2020. CBC: The National, YouTube.

"The Heritage Minute in question, which remains available on Facebook, encapsulates Macdonald’s vision of a nation stretching “from sea to sea,” a dream realized through the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway. 

"In the video, the actor portraying Macdonald expresses his enthusiasm for Confederation: 'To the east, the Atlantic provinces, then Upper and Lower Canada, across the Prairies, to the Rockies and beyond. A new country made one by a railway from sea to sea'....

"A spokesperson for Historica Canada ... reiterated the organization’s commitment to 'educate Canadians on the history of this country, including both its achievements and failings.... In the case of Macdonald that means recognizing both his many accomplishments while in office – including his key role in Confederation – while also acknowledging those areas where his legacy is more complicated,' [the] spokesperson told True North. 'The Minute is on hiatus from distribution – not permanently withdrawn – while we discuss ways to address that'.... 

"Historica Canada told True North last week that when the Heritage Minute was produced, 'the more intense discussions and subsequent controversies regarding Macdonald’s treatment of Indigenous peoples had not yet taken place.' 'To present a Minute – particularly given their extensive use in schools – without mentioning these other aspects of his time in office is to provide an incomplete image lacking proper context,' the spokesperson said. 'This view was reflected in some feedback from educators.' [It] said it was putting the minute on 'hiatus while we assess what other accompanying content we can provide in order to offer a more complete treatment.'

"[Conservative heritage critic Rachael] Thomas linked the decision to a broader 'woke culture' she says a Conservative government would reject. 'Instead of Trudeau’s woke culture that is attempting to tear down our country, common sense Conservatives will restore the Canada we know and love and celebrate the proud country we call home,' she said.

"Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre similarly chided the Trudeau government for being governed by a 'weird, woke ideology' in his speech to supporters at the Calgary Stampede on the weekend. It 'destroys our education, dishonours our history, and divides our people,' Poilievre said."

Read more: https://tnc.news/2024/07/08/conservatives-blast-woke-censors-macdonald-heritage/

* "Historica Canada received $2.3m in donations in F2022 and $3.5m in government funding. Government funding represents 60% of total revenue." Charity Intelligencer, "Historica Canada," June 15, 2023. Web, July 10, 2024. https://www.charityintelligence.ca/charity-details/796-historica-canada

The Untold Truth about Canada's First Prime Minister – Greg Piasetzki | Aristotle Foundation | June 13, 2023:

Trudeau's "two billion trees" was just a slogan

A leaked memo from Canada's Department of Natural Resources says its 2 Billion Trees (2BT) program – set up to honor a 2019 Trudeau campaign promise to plant 2 billion new trees by 2031 – was given that name just to inspire commitment and participation, and is actually expected to have less than 400 million trees planted by then. In related news, the cost of the 2BT program has doubled. 

Trudeau (2nd from right) and other politicians plant trees at G7 Summit in Japan, 2016. Pete Souza, Wikimedia Commons.

Trudeau’s $2B tree planting plan was fake | Western Standard | Jen Hodgson:

24 June 24, 2024 - "The Department of Natural Resources in an internal memo acknowledged the Trudeau Liberals' 2019 pledge to plant two billion trees within a decade was fake. 'Two billion trees' was picked as an inspirational slogan and should not be taken literally, said the February 15 briefing note, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. Federal officials 'sought a name that would inspire that commitment and participation. So far that has worked,' read the memo. 

"The department said the 'two billion trees' program is currently running off-target and behind schedule. It now estimates only a fifth as many trees will be planted by 2031.... 'To date the Government of Canada has signed or is in the process of negotiating agreements that will result in 393 million trees planted by 2031.... The Government of Canada remains committed to planting two billion trees but tree planning at this scale takes time' The department did not set a deadline for achieving the promised two billion trees. 

"While the Trudeau Liberals initially budgeted costs at $3.16 billion over ten years, the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) in a 2021 report said actual expenses would nearly double to $5.94 billion.

"The Liberal Party in its 2019 election platform made the promise to plant two billion trees within a decade. 'We will plant two billion trees to clean our air and protect our communities,' the Liberals wrote in their campaign documents. 'This will help create 3,500 seasonal jobs in tree planting each year.'

"Department managers in May 21 testimony at the Senate National Finance Committee were vague on achievements to date. 'We had initial projections and we continue to calibrate those,' testified Glenn Hargrove, assistant deputy natural resources minister. 'Could you sort of anticipate any completion date?' asked Sen. Larry Smith. 'I can’t give an exact date on when the two billion trees will be planted exactly,' replied Hargrove.

""Canada already has 318 billion trees, by official estimate. Forestry companies currently plant about 600 million trees annually as a condition of cutting on Crown land."
Read more: https://www.westernstandard.news/news/trudeaus-2b-tree-planting-plan-was-fake/55540

Why Trudeau's broken tree planting promise matters | The Hub | Monte Solberg: 

July 2, 2024 - "The reasons for the Trudeau government’s poor political standing are many.... But a key reason is that the prime minister and his team promise big but underdeliver. A towering symbol of this is their promise to plant two billion trees by 2031 to reduce GHGs. The program is off to a bad start.

"Last year in an audit, Canada’s environment commissioner, called out the tree planting program for failing to get timely agreements with the provinces, failing to get commitments through to 2031, not giving nurseries the certainty and time they need to start growing 350 million trees a year, and generally poor planning. The program didn’t even have annual tree planting targets.... 

"The report also noted, and this is infuriating, that in 78 sites where 10,000 or more trees were planted, they planted all the same species of tree, a monoculture. The commissioner noted in the bloodless language of the public service, that monocultures 'do not support biodiversity and other benefits related to environmental and human well-being'.... Enhancing biodiversity is one of the key goals of the entire program. How could they get this so wrong?"
Read more: https://thehub.ca/2024/07/02/monte-solberg-why-trudeaus-failure-to-follow-through-on-planting-2-billion-trees-matters/