FUREY: The carbon tax ruling is judicial activism at its worst

This is exhaust from an industrial site, in Winnipeg. Friday, February 28/2020. SunMedia

 

Take a look at a couple of sentences about climate change that appeared Thursday concerning the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling on the carbon tax.

These theatrical flourishes were from the SCOC ruling itself. Right there in the text of the majority decision that ruled the federal government does indeed have the right to run roughshod over provincial jurisdiction and impose a carbon tax on provinces against their will. Because not even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself regularly uses climate change language that over-the-top. Liberal government press releases discussing the carbon tax that feature quotes from Trudeau and former environment minister Catherine McKenna don’t come close to that sort of rhetoric.

REDMAN: Canada has failed to properly manage COVID-19 emergency

 

Emergency management

Since 1955, this is the world’s fifth pandemic. We have never responded to a pandemic like we have over COVID-19. In Canada, we have an emergency management process that we normally use in a pandemic. We have pre-written pandemic response plans.

The aim of these plans is to allow our leaders to rapidly minimize the impact of the new pandemic on our society. The purpose in writing these plans in advance is to ensure the government could rapidly advise the public of the scope of the new hazard, and publicly issue a complete written plan to address it. That way, the public can see the entire plan, see the phases of the plan, and all steps that will be taken. The public then understands their role in the plan.

Sweden saw lower 2020 death spike than much of Europe - data

People enjoy the sun at an outdoor restaurant, despite the continuing spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Stockholm, Sweden March 26, 2020. TT News Agency/Janerik Henriksson via REUTERS

 

STOCKHOLM — Sweden, which has shunned the strict lockdowns that have choked much of the global economy, emerged from 2020 with a smaller increase in its overall mortality rate than most European countries, an analysis of official data sources showed. Infectious disease experts cautioned that the results could not be interpreted as evidence that lockdowns were unnecessary but acknowledged they may indicate Sweden’s overall stance on fighting the pandemic had merits worth studying. Sweden, meanwhile, has mostly relied on voluntary measures focused on social distancing, good hygiene and targeted rules that have kept schools, restaurants and shops largely open — an approach that has sharply polarised Swedes but spared the economy from much of the hit suffered elsewhere in Europe. Preliminary data from EU statistics agency Eurostat compiled by Reuters showed Sweden had 7.7% more deaths in 2020 than its average for the preceding four years.

Lincoln Isn't Evil. Neither Is the West. Stand Up to the Woke Lies.

Winston Churchill is seen defaced in Parliament Square on June 7, 2020. (Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images).

 

I do not take those things for granted. I know very well that in many other places the answers would be different, and my life wouldn’t be possible at all. America is imperfect. America is fast developing its own informal social credit system, as the writer Rod Dreher has noted, in which people with the wrong politics or online persona are banned from social-media sites and online financial networks.

Sean Speer: The Supreme Court Justice who's not afraid to shake things up

Supreme Court of Canada Justice Russell Brown, seen in a file photo from Oct. 6, 2015, was one of three justices who dissented from the court's decision on March 25, 2021, that the federal government's carbon tax is Constitutional. The court voted 6-3 on the matter. PHOTO BY ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS

 

In so doing, he’s become an intellectual beachhead for a nascent conservative legal movement in the country. Brown, who was appointed to the country’s top court in 2015, came with a sterling record as a legal scholar at the University of Alberta on such topics as commercial law, medical negligence and trusts and estates. But still his appointment generated some controversy among progressive critics because of blogging and other activities that seemed to out him as a «conservative libertarian».

GUNTER: Trudeau's vaccine blunders is why Canada may have a third wave

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 23, 2021. PHOTO BY SEAN KILPATRICK /The Canadian Press

 

Even the EU, whose vaccine rollout has been a mess, is at 15% vaccinated. The Brits will hit 50% this weekend and the Americans are at 40% — four times our rate. And when you look at the all-important double-dosers , the Americans are at 14% to Canada’s tiny 1.6%. The Americans have double-dosed nearly nine times as many people, per capita.

Climate Anxiety Is an Overwhelmingly White Phenomenon

People of color are disproportionately harmed by climate change, but whites disproportionately fret publicly about it. Credit: Spencer Platt Getty Images

 

Is it really just code for white people wishing to hold onto their way of life or to get «back to normal?»

The climate movement is ascendant, and it has become common to see climate change as a social justice issue. surveys show that these are the communities most concerned about climate change. One year ago, I published a book called A Field Guide to Climate Anxiety. Since its publication, I have been struck by the fact that those responding to the concept of climate anxiety are overwhelmingly white.

Robert Lyman: No, Mr. O’Toole, the climate debate isn’t over

Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole. PHOTO BY REUTERS/BLAIR GABLE/FILE PHOTO

 

What the Conservative leader said — and what it meant

Outlook darkens for Europe’s virus-stricken economy

Paris introduced new social distancing measures at the weekend in a bid to halt fast-rising infection rates © AFP via Getty Images

 

Rising infections and new lockdown measures prompt cuts to hopes for growth

Economists are cutting growth forecasts for the eurozone economy as a third wave of Covid-19 infections and vaccination delays spur tighter restrictions in several countries including France, Italy and Germany. The reintroduction of lockdown measures across Europe is fuelling concerns that the region could suffer another disappointing summer tourism season if vaccinations do not speed up enough to allow travel restrictions to be eased. France imposed a new four-week lockdown in Paris and several other regions on Friday night after coronavirus infection levels rose to their highest level since November. Italy has announced a fresh lockdown over Easter, while some German cities have been forced to roll back lifting of restrictions that had only recently been eased due to a sharp rise in infections.

Canadian investors at risk as number of unregulated cryptocurrency exchanges explodes

Representations of the Ripple, Bitcoin, Etherum and Litecoin virtual currencies are seen on a PC motherboard. PHOTO BY DADO RUVIC/REUTERS ILLUSTRATION FILES

 

An analysis by The Logic found there are now more than 600 companies that offer cryptocurrency trading services in Canada but that have not registered with securities regulators

When Quadriga founder Gerald Cotten died in December 2018, over 76,000 investors lost a combined $169 million, money that couldn’t be recovered from the unregulated Vancouver-based cryptocurrency platform largely as a result of what an Ontario Securities Commission investigation found was fraudulent trading. Since Cotten’s death, the price of Bitcoin has shot up more than 1,500 per cent, breaking the US$60,000 mark for the first time earlier this month. An analysis by The Logic found there are now more than 600 companies that offer cryptocurrency trading services in Canada but that have not registered with the country’s securities regulators, with no evidence any of them have faced any penalties from Canadian authorities. Just four years ago, Canadians interested in buying and selling Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies had limited options, with only Quadriga and a handful of Bitcoin ATMs accepting Canadian dollars.

Rex Murphy: Can Justin Trudeau ever say anything good about Canada?

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends a news conference in Ottawa on March 19, 2021. Trudeau recently described the Canadian Parliament as being "built around a system of colonialism, of discrimination, of systemic racism." PHOTO BY BLAIR GABLE/REUTERS

 

The news equivalent of the discovery of relativity

Here in Canada it drew comment from that otherwise invisible man, Jagmeet Singh, one-time leader of the NDP and now chief enabler of the Trudeau Liberal government. He heard from sad Meghan’s words that it was time for the whole English monarchy to go down. «There’s no benefit to them and now even more so with concerns about racism in the institution that were raised, and pressures that were placed on Meghan Markle.» Poor Meghan. Justin Trudeau didn’t want to make any direct comment on «what’s going on over in the U. » «There are many institutions that we have in this country , including that big building right across the street from us that has and is built around a system of colonialism, of discrimination, of systemic racism in all of our institutions».

‘Luxury beliefs’ are the latest status symbol for rich Americans

The upper class benefits socially from decrying its own privilege while paying no actual price for it. NY Post photo composite

 

A former classmate from Yale recently told me “monogamy is kind of outdated” and not good for society. So I asked her what her background is and if she planned to marry. She said she comes from an affluent family and works at a well-known technology company. She was raised by a traditional family. She planned on having a traditional family. But she maintained that traditional families are old-fashioned and society should «evolve» beyond them.

What could explain this?

The ECB's Financial Suttee

Its response to Brexit and the pandemic, where it is now threatening emergency powers in order to secure vaccines is a latest throw of the political dice. Even before this development markets were getting the message with capital flight worsening. The only thing that holds the Commission together is the magic money tree that is the ECB.

Introduction

Canada Suffers Slowest Population Growth Since World War I

Canada’s population grew at the slowest pace in more than a century as Covid-related restrictions curbed immigration. The nation’s population rose by just 0.4% in 2020 to 38,048,738, Statistics Canada reported Thursday in Ottawa. Canada welcomed 184,624 immigrants in 2020, down by almost half from 2019. Over the past five years, immigration has accounted for more than three quarters of Canada’s total population growth, but that figure dropped to 58% in 2020.

Inflation is coming: Signs that everything is about to get much more expensive

Inflation could be on track to hit 5 per cent; meaning each of these loses a nickel in value every year. PHOTO BY SHANNON VANRAES / BLOOMBERG

 

If you haven’t noticed, the price of virtually everything is skyrocketing

The value of a dollar goes down, so you need more of them to buy a Big Mac . So it’s very reasonable to assume that if your dollar suddenly can’t buy you nearly as much as it used to, then it might have begun to devalue. To be sure, the Consumer Price Index, Canada’s usual metric for inflation, isn’t showing that anything too weird is happening. Most notably, the index can’t account for changes in consumer behaviour, such as whether rising beef prices have driven Canadians to eat chicken — the index would just conclude they’re spending more on beef.

Rex Murphy: This isn't just 'a political scandal.' It's a WE scandal

WE co-founders Craig and Marc Kielburger speak during WE Day Alberta at Rogers Place in Edmonton, on Oct. 22, 2019. PHOTO BY IAN KUCERAK/POSTMEDIA

 

‘This is a political scandal for the government, not for WE Charity. So, Marc, it’s a scandal you say, but just for the government, not for WE. I presume you mean the present government led by Justin Trudeau. A scandal for the Liberal government.

Who is the dancing partner?

Jordan Peterson: Before trying to save the world try cleaning your room first

Before trying to accomplish big things, Jordan Peterson suggests starting with smaller tasks like cleaning your room. PHOTO BY GETTY IMAGES

 

Ressentiment — hostile resentment — occurs when individual failure or insufficient status is blamed both on the system within which that failure or lowly status occurs and then, most particularly, on the people who have achieved success and high status within that system. The former, the system, is deemed by fiat to be unjust. The successful are deemed exploitative and corrupt, as they can be logically read as undeserving beneficiaries, as well as the voluntary, conscious, self- serving, and immoral supporters, if the system is unjust. Once this causal chain of thought has been accepted, all attacks on the successful can be construed as morally justified attempts at establishing justice — rather than, say, manifestations of envy and covetousness that might have traditionally been defined as shameful.

CDC announces guidelines for fully vaccinated people

Rochelle Walensky, the head of the CDC, at a press briefing. Fully vaccinated people can start following the looser guidelines about two weeks after their final shot, the agency said. The guidance says that those who’ve received their shots can also gather indoors with others who have the jab without masks or social distancing. «CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people can visit with other fully vaccinated people in small gatherings indoors, without wearing masks or physical distancing,» Walensky said at a White House press conference.

States sue to block “social cost” of carbon

 

Twelve states have asked a Federal Court to keep federal agencies from using the so-called Social Cost of Greenhouse Gases to calculate the benefits of emission reduction regulations. The new cost estimates, ordered by President Biden on day one, claim enormous distant future damages from today’s emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The Social Cost of Carbon has been around for some time. Now Biden has brought it back and made it worse.

Political Differences in Economic Policy During Periods of Slack

The competition between the political parties in the US, has caused both of them to claim their policies strengthen economic growth. Potential as the supply capability of the economy, as you would imagine, is based on inputs primarily the availability of physical capital , natural resources, and labor. The existence of Slack and its size is the usual trigger to set off government policy actions to re-balance the aggregate economy like the very, very large fiscal package recently enacted. The now standard way that is done is to ramp up Keynesian style fiscal policy spending of either government related projects or to mail green Treasury checks to selected «needy» people so they have the mean to spend more.

It has now become standard for both political parties to react to Slack in this classic Keynesian mannerof Federally financed spending. Indeed, one of the early and large Covid fiscal policy spending packages passed the Senate 100 to zero so both parties were on board. The other means to cure Slack has been to encourage the more politically independent central bank to engage in expansionary monetary policy to attack the problem by creating the availability of cheap funding to encourage private spending. So, for economic slumps, both parties include a lot of Keynesian style demand support but there is a lot more to it.

Conrad Black: As China looks outward, the West looks inward

Left: People protest against a statue of Winston Churchill in London on June 21, 2020. Right: A statue of Mao Zedong is seen in Wuhan, China, on April 4, 2020. PHOTO BY HENRY NICHOLLS/ALY SONG/REUTERS

 

Canada, like other Western countries, is facing the challenge of responding effectively to the still-rising wave of self-loathing that is engulfing and distracting the whole Western world, as historically pre-eminent classes are made out to be oppressors and asked to atone for the alleged sins of their forefathers. This painful process is occurring simultaneously with China’s corresponding push for global dominance. Through the Cold War, which may be said to have extended from 1948 to 1990, the competition between Western and Eastern bloc countries for the goodwill of the proliferating numbers of emancipated former colonial territories and the tension of the superpower competition between the United States and the U. Though the Han Chinese tend to feelings of superiority and managed to do so even when China itself was enfeebled and victimized, the overt Chinese program asserts no racial motive as Nazi Germany did, nor any ambition to sweep the world with an ideology as the Soviet Union did. In pursuit of its goals, China has ignored the requirements of the World Trade Organization, its admission to which was represented by Western leaders as the surest passport to China’s responsible conduct in the world and even its development of democratic institutions.

Rigged to Fail—From Musk to Powell

For quite some time we have been warning about the rising shark fin of rising yields and rates.

As of this writing, one can almost hear John Williams’ orchestral theme song to Jaws ringing in the ears.

The Slow Creep

Mortgage rates in the U.S. have hit 3%, dramatically curtailing mortgage re-fi’s.

Canada GDP Collapse Reveals How Trudeau’s Debt Binge Went Awry

Justin Trudeau. Photographer: David Kawai/Bloomberg

 

That cushioned the blow of the pandemic, but raises some hard questions about what Canada got for all that spending. The economy shrank 5.4% last year, Statistics Canada said Tuesday, the sharpest annual decline in the post-World War II era and the third straight year in which it underperformed the U. That’s despite Canadians receiving C$20 in government transfers for every dollar of income lost, according to government data. Treated to larger handouts, Canadians mostly hoarded them, potentially opening Trudeau’s government to criticism it has wasted money on programs that spread cash quickly but inefficiently. In Canada, the concern is more acute, though, because the money the government borrowed to finance stimulus programs contributed to one of the biggest increases in debt among advanced economies last year.

Jay Bhattacharya, Stanford Doctor, Calls Lockdowns the 'Biggest Public Health Mistake We've Ever Made'

Bhattacharya, who made the comments during an interview with the Daily Clout, co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration, a petition that calls for the end of COVID-19 lockdowns, claiming that they are «producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health». As of Monday, the Great Barrington Declaration has received signatures from over 13,000 medical and public health scientists, more than 41,000 medical practitioners and at least 754,399 «concerned citizens». During the interview last month, Bhattacharya said that the declaration comes from «two basic facts». «The other idea is that the lockdowns themselves impose great harm on people.

CDC announces guidelines for fully vaccinated people

Rochelle Walensky, the head of the CDC, at a press briefing. Fully vaccinated people can start following the looser guidelines about two weeks after their final shot, the agency said. The guidance says that those who’ve received their shots can also gather indoors with others who have the jab without masks or social distancing. «CDC recommends that fully vaccinated people can visit with other fully vaccinated people in small gatherings indoors, without wearing masks or physical distancing,» Walensky said at a White House press conference.

Rex Murphy: The cult of the woke and its illiberal dogma

A girl prepares to purchase a copy of Dr. Seuss' never-before-published book, "What Pet Should I Get?" on the day it is released for sale, in Coral Gables, Fla., in 2015. PHOTO BY JOE RAEDLE /Getty Images

 

There is a problem in the functioning of our political system. Politics, especially from the high liberal or «woke» perspective, is a call, something close to an actual order, to agree with a set of opinions on certain subjects that are handed down from above. On these matters, politics is not a call for debate, and certainly not one for compromise. To oppose or dissent on these topics is seen as a moral failure, and summarily leads to accusations that the dissenter is «racist» or a «denier,» these being the favourite terms of what passes for a rebuttal.

Peter Schiff: The Fed Between a Rock and a Hard Place

 

The markets seem to think the Fed is going to fight inflation. They believe that the central bank will pivot to tighter monetary policy sooner than expected as inflation heats up, even though Jerome Powell keeps insisting inflation isn’t really a problem. It couldn’t fight inflation even if it wanted to. Doing so would kill the economy.

The only other choice is to surrender to inflation. Late last week, Jerome Powell sat down for a televised interview with the Wall Street Journal. As Peter has been saying, the increase in interest rates has little to do with economic growth and everything to do with inflation. Although he didn’t come right out and say it, Powell implied that that market is wrong.

FUREY: It's not just 'business' that's hurting — it's all of society, it's life itself

People wait to ordering takeout outside a coffee shop along Queen St. W. near Trinity Bellwoods Park in Toronto, Ont. on Sunday Feb. 28, 2021. PHOTO BY ERNEST DOROSZUK /Postmedia Network

 

The other day someone was telling me how they were only now just getting started with a volunteer program to assist refugees in Canada get on their feet, a year after they’d first signed up for it. Add in the time it takes to get everyone up to speed on turning what was supposed to be an in-person experience into a much less rewarding virtual program and you can see how the weeks turn into a year of delay. But that’s just one of the millions of stories of meaningful activities that make our country what it is and make us who we are that have been put on hold for an entire year. It boggles the mind when people shrug off the devastating effects of lockdowns by simply saying that at least we’re putting people’s health ahead of «business» or «the economy.» That’s not what is going on at all.

Report: Over 353,000 postponed surgeries, procedures and consultations due to COVID-19

 

Public policy think tank SecondStreet.org released freedom of information responses today from across Canada with data on the number of surgeries, procedures and consultations with specialists that were postponed due to the pandemic.

America's Excessive Government Spending Must Stop

 

Excessive federal spending is creating grave economic and national-security risks. America’s fiscal recklessness must stop. The COVID-19 crisis has provided the latest impetus for government spending, even to the point of steering the American mindset toward socialism — a doctrine that has always harmed people’s well-being. As one of us demonstrated in his book The High Cost of Good Intentions, profligate government spending invariably has damaging consequences.

High and rising US national debt will eventually crowd out private investment, thereby slowing economic growth and job creation. The Federal Reserve’s continued accommodation of deficit spending will inevitably lead to rising inflation. Financial markets will become more prone to turmoil, increasing the chance of another big economic downturn. Financial markets’ current relative calm and low consumer-price inflation are no cause for comfort.