Leafs Nation Optimism Waning After Week 1

After a second coming appearance from Auston Matthews (four goals, debut game), never before have Leafs fans felt so optimistic after a season opening loss or to their provincial rival Ottawa Senators.  Conversely, with only a win after three games, a Titanic-like loss at the hands of Leafs' draft pick rival Patrik Laine and the Winnipeg Jets brought back memories of "that other meltdown....in the playoffs".  

Canada's First Past the Post Voting System Suddenly OK...now that the Liberals Have Won

As the Liberal "governing by undoing" continues, this time clearer heads have prevailed.  Suddenly, with no minority government or opposition to worry about, the Liberals have completely changed their whiny, spoiled, school yard kid stance (the NDP is also guilty) on Canada's electoral system, that has worked for almost a century and a half, to "the rules might not be so bad after all....this majority government kind of feels good….great system!". 

Translated (from French to English for non-Canadian readers) from an interview “The Justin” had with La Presse, "Under Mr. Harper, there were so many people who were unhappy with the government and his approach that people said, ‘We need electoral reform in order to stop having governments we don’t like”.  Canadians, if you don’t like the party in power – vote for someone else at the next election, that’s what the “system” is for! It is also called “casting a vote” about which many Canadians are apathetic. The Conservatives obtained its majority and were thrown out under the same rules. 

(Or more ironically, at the end of The Jusin’s majority-lead term, when the balloon deficits, weaker C$, reduced military, further citizenships reinstated for terrorists, increased personal/corporate/environmental taxes and cancelled pipelines are finally on the record, maybe we will be talking about electoral reform again? )

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/less-urgency-to-reform-electoral-system-after-harper-defeat-trudeau-says/article32443900/

Justin:Like Father, Like Son

As his first year of his deficit forecasted budget and term has come and gone, I am first of all surprised after after a wild ride to stsrt 2016 the C$ is flat versus a year ago

However more worrisome are the characteristics his Father exhibited that are showing up in him:

1. Deficit spending like a drunken sailor.  Elected on a $10B deficit platform, this has already and quickly ballooned to +$34B.  But it's ok, a group of faceless taxpayers that apparently have no voting preference or say will just pay for that....down the road...in some year ....All thanks to a leader that has reaped the benefits of a privileged upbringing through hard working Canadian taxpayers and never really worked in his life.

2. Alienate the west over a curious energy policy that only caters (and buckles) to the wishes of leftist utopian Canadians.  The Liberals lost many votes for years after Pierre left his mark with Petro Canada (for those in their 40s  and above may remember "Pierre Elliott Trudeau Rips Off (PETRO) Canada"). The seats Justin has picked up in sweeping Atlantic Canada and Alberta's surprise swing to the left with the NDP may not be there come next election time.

3. Liaising and keeping company with rogue countries and leaders. Pierre liked to have friends that flew in the face of the US and the western world's leadership at the time, such as Fidel Castro. The Liberals' current strategy is not to combat the Russians for sovereignty in the Arctic but...to work with them? And how can we forget Justin comments on China well before he started campaigning. 
All that's left is i) for him to piss off the US by muttering to the current or upcoming President a bleeped name and ii) perform some childish manoeuvre behind the Queen's back. Justin still has another three years to do it. 

(Although I still hope for pulling the rabbit out of a hat as his Father delivered one of the most important Canadian institutions of Bilingualism and a Constitution)

Maryam Monsef Must Resign: Immigration, Canadian Institutions and Liberals Making the Rules Up as They Go Along

As the Liberals are so adamant and clear about reversing everything the previous Conservative government had done, firstly noted when Canadian-Jordanian citizen Zakaria Amara, convicted of being part of the Toronto 18 terror group, was the first Canadian to lose his passport under Bill C-24, the Liberals’ (out of spite?) worked to restore it. The always barely awake Immigration Minister John McCallum went so far as to say, “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” (as reported by Matt Gurney of the National Post, February 28, 2016 “But reversing the law “because a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” isn’t a reason. It’s a slogan. And not even a particularly original or even logically consistent one”) and acts of this significance, magnitude and spirit are no grounds for citizenship revocation (war criminals are and have been for years).  Nevertheless, the Liberals passed Bill C-6.

Thanks Minister McCallum.  If there was one politician I could choose that had only partisan thoughts in his brain with no real sense of his own thoughts, merely reading off a teleprompter 24 hours a day you would have my vote.  YET, the Liberals aggressively argued at that time, while generally uncontroversial and a long held belief by many governments, “that if one lies or commits fraud while seeking to obtain Canadian citizenship, that such citizenship cannot be said to have been properly obtained. Revoking it later, according to this logic, is simply removing something that never ought to have been obtained in the first place” – Matt Gurney.

Here we are with an elected MP Maryam Monsef that had false information on her claim to Canadian citizenship and shockingly THE RULES DO NOT APPLY!? How is Maryam Monsef allowed to stand as an MP and decrease the credibility of her party not to mention ripping off the voters of her constituency? Only the Liberals can get away with this (see what is happening on the tax front in Ontario).

As a review…the Conservative Government had passed Bill C-24 to “Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act - An Act to amend the Citizenship Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts”

From the parliament web site ( https://openparliament.ca/bills/41-2/C-24/ ), “This enactment amends the Citizenship Act to, among other things, update eligibility requirements for Canadian citizenship, strengthen security and fraud provisions and amend provisions governing the processing of applications and the review of decisions…”

Among some of the major points in improving and guarding this important institution (which the left leaning Canadian media at large missed):

“(a) clarifying the meaning of being resident in Canada;

(b) modifying the period during which a permanent resident must reside in Canada before they may apply for citizenship;

(c) expediting access to citizenship for persons who are serving in, or have served in, the Canadian Armed Forces;

(d) requiring that an applicant for citizenship demonstrate, in one of Canada’s official languages, knowledge of Canada and of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship;

(e) specifying the age as of which an applicant for citizenship must demonstrate the knowledge referred to in paragraph (d) and must demonstrate an adequate knowledge of one of Canada’s official languages;

(f) requiring that an applicant meet any applicable requirement under the Income Tax Act to file a return of income;

(g) conferring citizenship on certain individuals and their descendants who may not have acquired citizenship under prior legislation;

(h) extending an exception to the first-generation limit to citizenship by descent to children born to or adopted abroad by parents who were themselves born to or adopted abroad by Crown servants”

Among some of the amendments that were passed under the Conservative government, (I have edited some of them for brevity), some of the main topics that received attention…

“…Amendments to the security and fraud provisions include

 (b) expanding the prohibition against granting citizenship to include persons who, while they were permanent residents, engaged in certain actions contrary to the national interest of Canada, and permanently barring those persons from acquiring citizenship;

 (d) expanding the prohibition against granting citizenship to include persons who, in the course of their application, misrepresent material facts and prohibiting new applications by those persons for a specified period;

 (k) authorizing regulations to be made respecting the disclosure of information….”

So Maryam Monsef, by this simple distinction your citizenship should be revoked and more importantly, resign your seat as MP. 

I can understand that any political party would garner votes from as many groups of voting citizens…and not yet citizens….or one day there will be more than 33 million citizens…but who are the Liberals really looking out for?  It also appears the very institution the Liberals are meddling with is the machine that will garner votes for them the next election (after blow out deficits, ad hoc carbon policies, the NEB as a kangaroo court rendering Canadian economic limbo and likely no clear decision on pipelines during Justin’s time). 

What institution is next where the Liberals will rule an ad hoc basis? Trouble at the henhouse…

9/11: 15 Years Later

Although September 11, 2001 will always be memorable for the catastrophic events that happened in NY and shook the world, I still vividly remember September 10th for the "calm and peace" that was before it.  I was spending time at a very good friend's cottage in Algonquin and scheduled to return home last of the group. 

The 10th was the last day of the group's stay and each began to filter home. I took the canoe out early that morning on a smooth glass-like lake covered with mist from the back to school September crispness in the air.  Before the days of phones with cameras, I had my bulky yet digital camera with me (surprisingly) and a symmetrical scene with the tip of the canoe in the foreground was captured by one photo that I still have today, and framed.

On the 11th, there was just myself and good host and friend Derrick that were the last to leave.  The start of another beautiful and sunny Ontario day, we took out the Sea-Doos that morning until the early and much warmer afternoon, not realizing the events that occurred earlier in NY including the evacuation of downtown Toronto office buildings and thousands of commercial planes grounded immediately in the most unlikely of smaller towns throughout Canada.  Again, days without phones that do everything...nor reception. 

Coming back that afternoon, we were shocked to discover what we had missed all day.  Even after stopping back at the cottage for some "beverages" before heading back out on the quiet lake for the remainder of the day.  Shock lead to silence as we made and consumed our dinner that evening and were consumed by the images of the American news feeds.

But I still remember that photo on the 10th as an example of you never really know what is going to happen no matter how much you know, enjoy and live the moment

Ontario Liberals and "The Kathleen" to Prorogue: Is the Game Up?

As first seen on the Globe and Mail web site.  Is the game up for the Kathleen?

(I can't wait for Kevin O'Leary's response)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ontario-legislature-to-prorogue-government-to-deliver-throne-speech-monday/article31762807/

"...Premier Kathleen Wynne is proroguing the Ontario Legislature, clearing the decks in a bid to hit the reset button on her government.

The legislature will return Monday with a Speech from the Throne from Lieutenant-Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, laying out the Wynne government’s agenda for the second half of its four-year mandate.

The prorogation will kill all bills currently before the legislature..."

Cheeky Camping: Overnight Trip During The Week

Midweek  camping? I need to do more of this.

https://www.mec.ca/en/article/wednesday-night-camp-out-7-items-worth-the-weight