h/t Rolf
We Are All Metis People
Back in 2006/2007 the aboriginal leaders of Canada got together to meet about how best to use promised increases in federal aboriginal funding. The mix included elite representatives of the Inuit, Metis, Non-Status and certified First Nation’ers. Behind closed doors the ‘meeting’ dissolved into a screaming match with the tension of a brawl as they argued about who deserved more of the pie due to their indianess. That argument has never ended… You see the same thing with big name sports names – that guy is making 1.5 million so I should be making 1.5 million – that is where this is going to go and the complaints should be hitting the wall soon (if not already). The court has in actuality, removed the exclusivity of the various types of aboriginal people. We will see cordial congratulations from other groups such as the FN’s but keep in mind that the older argument has never went away and neither has the greed. I bet my toque, that what is to come will be a few more years of arguments in court deciding who gets what and who decides who gets what. This is Canada, you just can’t treat everyone the same…
Given the Failure Of Government To Meet The Needs Of First Nations Peoples®, you’d think they’d be fighting to stay out.
Those Moderate Minnesotans!
The sad story of Abdirizak Mohamed Warsame…
Local leaders have launched a major effort to stop the flow [to militancy] by building up positive influences on the thousands of young Somalis in the area. And in many ways, Warsame seemed to embody the key points: hopeful attitude, engaged in the community, with strong family support.
If only he’d stuck with his job at the airport.
Assisted suicide, school bullies and the Uber fight!
The assisted suicide legislation is out and neither side is happy, this my friends is not the end but the beginning of many court battles. What about conscience rights? And why are activists upset? Where do they want to take this next.
Warren Kinsella joins Brian with a political round-up. Faith Goldy has details of her trip to Halifax to investigate the refugee bullying story and do cabbies need to be compensated for Uber? All that plus your phone calls.
Reader Tips
The story of Federal Express Flight 705. (h/t Dave S.)
Thread open.
More Pavilions At Folkfest
CTV: Food bank workers say an influx of Syrian refugees is straining their resources, because taxpayer support for the new arrivals isn’t sufficient.
Chinada
Vancouver is becoming more prominent on all our constitutional tiers because of the pervasive sense that Canadians are being driven out of the most prestigious, picturesque parts of the city by fast-rising prices. Which could just be a matter of Vancouver transitioning to the status of an expensive global alpha city like London — a hemispheric capital, a new Hong Kong to replace the now communist-dominated old one.
I say “just,” but not everyone wants Vancouver to be an offshore Chinese city.
Here, Tell These People Something They Don’t Know About Me
“Welcome, Karl Rove, to the dark side“ (link fixed)
The Moral Case For Fossil Fuels
Share it far and wide.
We Are All Metis People
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that tens of thousands of Métis and non-status Indians are the responsibility of the federal government, ending a 17 year court battle.
Who’s a “Metis”?
“Métis” means a person who self-identifies as Métis, is distinct from other Aboriginal peoples, is of historic Métis Nation Ancestry and who is accepted by the Métis Nation.”
(Darcey, my friend! We need to talk.)
The Sound Of Settled Science
It was one of the largest, most rigorous experiments ever conducted on an important diet question: How do fatty foods affect our health? Yet it took more than 40 years — that is, until today — for a clear picture of the results to reach the public.
The fuller results appeared Tuesday in BMJ, a medical journal, featuring some never-before-published data. Collectively, the fuller results undermine the conventional wisdom regarding dietary fat that has persisted for decades and is still enshrined in influential publications such as the U.S. government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans. But the long-belated saga of the Minnesota Coronary Experiment may also make a broader point about how science gets done: it suggests just how difficult it can be for new evidence to see the light of day when it contradicts widely held theories.
We Don’t Need No Stinking Giant Fans
Reader Tips
On the 100th anniversary of his birth, this toe-tapping piece by British composer Denis ApIvor – Serial Piece No.3 for Guitar (performed by Rob MacKillop). And to really get your blood racing – Pavarotti backed by conductor Emerson Buckley, who likewise, would have been 100 years old today.
Tips open.
The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire
This Is Not Your Grandma’s Humane Society
It all started about two weeks ago when Jean Benner took a birthday party group on a tour of the farm and a mother, Kimberly Sherriton of Commack, offered to help place Minnie in an animal sanctuary instead of becoming meat for the Benners…
Mulcaring
He gave his life for multiculturalism;
“(The niqab) hurt us terribly … I can share with you that the polling we did showed we dropped over 20 points in 48 hours here in Quebec because of the strong stand I took on the niqab.”
Even in this admission, Mulcair made it sound as if he had stood up for Rosa Parks, not a Pakistani immigrant telling Canadians how we need to change our laws to accommodate her.
h/t Ken (Kulak)
Laughing Their Heads Off*
Bono Wants To ‘Send In’ Comedians To Combat ISIS.
*Changed the post title. Because, obviously.
Oh, Shiny Prime Minister!
Mr. Dion approved six export permits on Friday covering more than 70 per cent of the transaction, newly released documents show – a decision that represents the most vital step in the Canadian government’s arms-control process. The Liberals have long said they could not interfere with what they described as a “done deal” arranged by the Harper Conservatives.
[…]
The remarkable department of Global Affairs Canada memo, stamped “secret” and obtained by University of Montreal law professor Daniel Turp, who is challenging the Saudi deal in Federal Court, lays bare the Liberal government’s rationale for the mammoth Canadian arms sale.
Canada’s arms export control regime makes it clear that a transaction can only proceed after Ottawa has issued export permits, and the new Global Affairs memo reveals that the Conservatives had only approved minor permits related to the Saudi deal for the export of technical data.
It has fallen to Mr. Dion to approve the vast majority of the transaction and that is what he did last week.
Reader Tips
Tom Jones – It’s Not Unusual. Tips open.
Green This
Amazing what the populace actually wants:
With cheaper gas, the guzzler is making a comeback
…
Full-sized pickup trucks represented 18.5 per cent of Canadian vehicle sales in March, compared with the long-time average of about 15 per cent.
Sales of the F-Series pickup by Ford Motor Co. of Canada Ltd. were the highest of any month in the company’s history in March. More than half the buyers of Ford vehicles in Canada last month bought an F-Series.
Sales of subcompact cars have hit the skids. They fell 16 per cent in the first two months of 2016 from year-earlier levels.
Sales of fuel-sipping hybrid vehicles have fallen by 8,000 units in the past three years, Mr. DesRosiers [DesRosiers Automotive Consultants Inc.] said, and Canadians buy about 3,000 electric vehicles a year in an overall market that hit 1.89 million vehicles last year.
The infatuation governments have for electric vehicles and hybrids is “highly misplaced,” he said…
Shiny pony and Leap Manifesters noticing? Time for a serious government crackdown on the people’s will? And boy that middle class sure is feeling the pain:
Canadian auto sales off to ‘dream start’ through March
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What is to be done?