Canadian Politics

Courts have ruled against the American diplomat who claimed that immunity granted her exemption from paying rent.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/diplomatic-immunity-rental-case-ottawa-1.4517908

This is good news for the land lord, and basically every diplomat in Ottawa would be unable to rent (or at least be forced to pay up front in cash) if the opposite precedent got set.

Still going to be impossible to enforce the judgment on a diplomat though.

Update on the situation in Ontario.

First, the demise of Patrick Brown has caused the PC advantage over the Liberals to shrink to about 3%. Second, of the three leadership hopefuls, Elliot is leading, with Mulroney in between her and Ford. Only Ford has significant negatives among Ontario voters, and would likely cause polling negatives if he wins the leadership. The other two are largely unknowns.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-ontario-pcs-polls-1.4520530

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/wine-boycott-alberta-british-columbia-trans-mountain-1.4523473 Alberta is threatening to boycott/calling for a boycott of BC wine if we don't agree to their pipeline.

I don't know if I want to laugh or to sigh at the growing culture of inter-provincial conflicts with Alberta.

Funny, there's a case going through the Supreme Court that may or may not declare inter-provincial boycotts and tariffs unconstitutional.

And did Notley just seriously imply that this was partially motivated to sway an election (even if its likely to go to the Opposition anyway?) Wow, this is pretty crazy, even by provincial pissing match standards.

edited 6th Feb '18 4:02:25 PM by Rationalinsanity

Yeah it's surprising how far it goes.

I'm from BC. The NDP have virtually zero chance of winning Kelowna - the Okanagan Valley is one of the most conservative areas in the whole province. The wine boycott is irrelevant to the byelection.

I continue to find the existence of interprovincial trade barriers ridiculous. But I suppose this isn't exactly the same as a trade barrier - it's a government monopoly declining to purchase a product from another province.

It's frustrating to see two NDP governments fighting this way, but it's a tough issue for them both. The pipeline is, at least in the short term, good for Alberta, and they're only just beginning to recover from the recession.

On the flip side, the pipeline is bad for BC. As someone from the West Coast, I don't want any more oil shipping along our coast; all it takes is one mistake, one error, one storm, one act of negligence, to destroy huge sections of some of the greatest wilderness in the world. The less risk, the better. And the large majority of BC NDP supporters feel the same. Moreover, the BC NDP is currently propped up by the Green Party - changing their stance on the pipeline would likely cause the government to fall. So what Notley is going is pointless except as a populist gesture - it hurts BC and doesn't help Alberta.

I mean, Alberta benefits and BC really doesn't in the long term/assumes what they see as too much of a risk. That's a hard sell for a vulnerable BC Premier to make.

Yeah it definitely is, even the Liberal (the party is called Liberals but they are genuinely Centre Right and not even like the Overton Window is slipping and the Canadian Liberals are leaning Right, like Right, right) party was opposed to the pipeline.

edited 6th Feb '18 8:17:02 PM by phantom1

Glad to hear about the diplomatic case in Ontario.

Hopefully no other diplomatic employee will take advantage of the immunity rules again.

Got word that the Bell 412EPI order made between Manila and Ottawa is scheduled for a review since reports are coming that it can be used for internal security ops...

Though if I recall, the AFP is setting up ops against Islamists and Communists rebels.

Communist rebels?

New People's Army in particular. Numbers are dwindling, but it's an (open) secret that they're recruiting from the urban cities via propaganda with half-truths in them.

After the Saudi debacle, a review is probably a good idea. That said, once the weapons/platforms are transferred, the recipient can use them as they please, as Germany found out when the Turks started using Leopards on the Kurds.

There is also a bunch of stuff that isn't good about Duerte, from what I've read on the Philipines Politics thread and elsewhere.

https://ph.news.yahoo.com/philippines-says-canada-helicopters-not-attack-045809238.html

The AFP has been asked about the reports in Ottawa and various officers made a statement.

If they are only utility craft, than selling them isn't so bad, especially if they are needed for SAR. But, with governments like this, its always best to double check. Last thing we need is lethal equipment being used on more civilians, or ending up captured by the other guys...

That's true.

Since the AFP is aiming to get choppers solely dedicated for conducting air strikes and support similar to MD 500 Defender, it thought to be a non-issue unless something's going on.

Oh, ok that's good, and good it got double-checked.

edited 8th Feb '18 7:46:07 AM by phantom1

Well Duterte decided to cancel the contract since it's getting too much attention.

I'll post this in the Military thread, but I'll start here since the end of the contract is making headlines among military analysts in Manila.

https://maxdefense.blogspot.com/2018/02/canadas-hypocrisy-paved-way-for-pafs.html?m=1#more

Hey, so Doug Ford is no longer the biggest piece of shit in the Ontario PC leadership race.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/tanya-granic-allen-ontario-pc-leadership-1.4538156

This Allen character, wow.

I find it funny (in an awful way) that everyone running in the leadership race with the exception of Mulroney keeps criticizing the sex-ed curriculum changes without explaining what in the course that they specifically have an issue with. Just admit you're homophobic, already.

Especially Granic Allen. From another article (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/pc-leadership-debate-1.4538240):

edited 16th Feb '18 4:18:14 PM by Pseudopartition

In fairness to Leitch (I cannot believe I just typed that), she never opposed banning child torture.