Author: Kate

It’s Probably Nothing

It's Probably Nothing Wuhan Flu 41 Comments

I have a friend in Italy undergoing cancer treatment that’s unavailable here. From a Facebook post earlier today;

“Yeah, I’m not trying to spread hysteria here but I’m in Italy so I’m seeing this first hand. I was booked to have an operation yesterday for my cancer, it was booked months in advance. I went in, saw the tents outside of the hospital for coronavirus patients, went to meet one of my doctors and she took me to the oncology department which was also the very last ward not being used for coronavirus patients. I wait for 7 hours, then am told that they will not be preforming the surgery this week and they are unsure when they will have any time or space for me.
 
Too long didnt read? They shut down the fourth building of the hospital of oncology to make beds for coronavirus patients while a doctor in tears told me I would not be getting the life extending operation I booked.
 
Not trying to be melodramatic but honestly a little sick of people posting memes and telling themselves its nothing to be afraid of. It is effectively capable of shutting down the healthcare systems. Be prepared, especially my American friends.”

And therein lies the biggest risk — it’s not “just the flu”. Health care workers can be vaccinated for the flu. When a high percentage of the people taking care of patients become infected just as the demand on the system surges? See above.

Meanwhile in DiverstyStrongistan… Over weeks of daily crossings, this is the first time 🇨🇦 agents asked health questions.

And The Budget Will Balance Itself

Shiny Pony You Might Be A Liberal 33 Comments

Jack Mintz;

The good ship “Federal Budget” looks like it is about to hit the rocks. Expect a broken promise as the federal debt/GDP ratio rises with moribund growth in the first half of 2020.
 
What could also happen is something that we have not seen for some time: federal program spending outstripping revenues. This is called the primary (or operational) deficit when a government not only can’t cover debt interest payments (totalling $23.9 billion in 2018/9) but also its program expenses.
 
A primary deficit has not appeared since the fiscal years 2009/10 and 2010/11 when a severe global financial recession took place. For two decades prior to 2009, we had only federal primary surpluses. Even in the latter Mulroney years with a deep 1990-91 recession, Canada ran a primary surplus. The real story was profligate spending during the Pierre Trudeau years resulting in a string of primary deficits starting in 1975/76 for over 12 years, even during robust growth years. […]
 
And this looks to happen in 2020

Your Moral And Intellectual Superiors

Media 41 Comments

Indeed.

“This, right here, is why so many left-leaning Americans think that ‘the billionaires’ can pay for everything. It’s why Elizabeth Warren was enthusiastically boosted by the media despite her ridiculous pretense that she could pay for a series of gargantuan initiatives without raising taxes on anyone but the extremely rich,” Cooke wrote. “It’s why Democrat after Democrat promises not to raise ‘middle class taxes’ while promising programs that require the raising of middle class taxes. How did this bad tweet make it onto TV to be endorsed? Why did Mara Gay agree with it? Why didn’t Brian Williams notice? Because the people involved in this clip thought it was true. This is how they see the world.”

Dead Country Walking

Shiny Pony Western Separatism 57 Comments

Berkshire bails;

Warren Buffett’s investment company Berkshire Hathaway has decided not to invest $4 billion in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant by the Saguenay port, according to Radio-Canada.
 
The marine terminal to ship LNG to overseas markets is slated to be built roughly 230 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, at a cost of $9.5 billion.
 
News broke Thursday morning in La Presse that Berkshire Hathaway was walking away from the project.
 
Stéphanie Fortin, head of communications for the company behind the project, GNL Québec, confirmed the company had lost a significant potential investor, but did not want to say who it is.
 
She did say, however, that the company lost the investor because of the “current Canadian political context.”

“Government” Is Simply The Name They Give To The Money They Throw Away Together

Canadian Taxpayers Federation 6 Comments

Someone in the Yukon had a brilliant idea: Buy gold and throw in a creek at a taxpayer-funded publicity stunt. The Yukon government jumped on board and spent $139,000 to promote and stage the Gold Rush II initiative where organizers threw gold into a creek as part of a tourism influencer campaign. Since the original gold rush cleaned out most of the gold, the organizers started with a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to buy some gold. The Klondike Visitors Association (KVA) set a goal to raise $100,000, but fell a bit short, raising just over $4,500.Despite this setback, the KVA used the crowdfunded money to buy 3.5 ounces of gold and the event went ahead, with the Yukon government spending $139,000 to execute and promote the event. Organizers planned to send invitations to more than 20 media outlets, but only three social media influencers and one reporter showed up.

It’s that time of year again: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation Teddy Awards. (pdf, for some reason.)

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Divine Right Of Trudeau

Shiny Pony We Are All Treaty People 36 Comments

It’s good to be King.

In 1215, the Magna Carta began the hereditary monarchy’s eventual loss of power in England, but it was not until 1688 that the Glorious Revolution finally ended the divine right of kings in the United Kingdom. These were significant events in the achievement of democracy, one of mankind’s great accomplishments. Yet last Sunday, 332 years later, the governments of Canada and British Columbia entered into an agreement with the Wet’suwet’en nation that explicitly recognizes its hereditary governance system. As a result, a central tenet of Canada’s system of government will not apply to the way some Indigenous peoples govern their affairs. […]
 
The hereditary chiefs are understandably delighted with the agreement and feel their historical claims were finally recognized. But how will entrenching hereditary leadership affect the lot of community members? What will be the chiefs’ authority and jurisdiction and what will fall to the democratically elected band councils? Will the people be able to overrule leaders they did not chose? How will differences between the hereditary chiefs, the band councils and community members be resolved?
 
Then there are broader questions about the development of Canada’s vast natural resources. To whom will the constitutional requirement for consultation apply? Hereditary chiefs, band councils or both? So far, the courts have decided that consultations do not imply a veto right. But the prime minister has promised to adopt the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples this year. How will the courts interpret its requirement for “free, prior and informed consent” and to whom would that apply?

Related: Your money. Their power.

And The Budget Will Balance Itself, Man

Shiny Pony 39 Comments

Those tax revenues will start pouring in any day now;

Canopy Growth Corp. said it will shut down two major cannabis production facilities and lay off about 500 staff in an effort to restructure its operations to better address changing consumer demand in the Canadian pot sector.
 
The Smiths Falls, Ont.-based company said its facilities in Aldergrove and Delta, B.C. represent about three million square feet of production space and will be shuttered, resulting in the reduction of about 500 jobs. Canopy will also halt plans to build a greenhouse in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., the company said.[…]
 
Canopy’s announcement comes amid a recent string of similar moves by other Canadian cannabis producers that have laid off staff in an effort to cut costs and become profitable. Last month, Aurora Cannabis Inc. announced it would lay off about 500 people, while Tilray Inc. said it would reduce its 1,450-odd workforce by about 10 per cent, and the Supreme Cannabis Co. announced plans to reduce its headcount of 700 by about 15 per cent.

Fancy that.

(h/t sfr)

I Want A New Country

Western Separatism 75 Comments

Change their minds, Alberta.

An Alberta government panel examining how best to achieve greater autonomy for the province is also asking the public if they support separation.
 
The province’s “fair deal” panel, which was formed last fall as part of Premier Jason Kenney’s push for a new relationship with Canada, has been gauging public support for a range of ideas, such as the creation of a provincial pension plan and increased control over natural resources. An online survey posted late last week added another: separation.
 
Members of the panel say many people who attended a series of town halls in recent months raised the prospect of separation and that needs to be reflected in their work. But they say they don’t have any intention of recommending that the government seriously consider going down that road.

Somebody find me the link to that survey, please.

Thanks to commentors: it’s here. That said, don’t do anything that will delegitimize the survey, as you know the detractors will be looking for exactly that excuse.

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