Kudos to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other leaders for taking out a full page ad in the NY Times congratulating Trump on his withdrawal from the flawed Iran deal. What should not surprise anyone is that our Prime Minister Trudeau, best buds with Obama, was not too happy that Harper stole some of his spotlight. Boohoo.
We will jog your memory regarding Obama’s deal – he did not submit the Iran deal as a treaty and because of that didn’t need Congress to implement the deal. Had he said it was a treaty it would never have passed. In fact, Obama made clear he didn’t plan to submit the deal to Congress, and told the Iranians as much. Which led to Iran upholding very little of that agreement. Appeasement, which is akin to not taking a stand, doesn’t work.
While you may not like Trump, he has shown time and again that he is not afraid of shaking things up, like reinstating sanctions against Iran – and meaning business. He doesn’t play by the rules, which is why he now has an upcoming, historic meeting with Kim Jung Un of North Korea. Given the above adage however, it doesn’t bode well for the NAFTA talks. Canada’s negoitators are simply unable to think out of the box.
Has this spring sprung the latest festival – the strike season? Westjet pilots have threatened to walk off the job and here in Montreal bus drivers, métro operators and support service employees voted 99% to call a strike at the time of its choice. That’s very special, eh Blanche?
Between May 7 to 12 Montreal’s bus system will experience ‘disruptions’. The first few days might not be so bad but the impact will be a getting worse as the week goes on. Now where is that smiling mayor of ours? Most likely helping find more bike lanes in Montreal.
Pity the poor flowers and trees that are trying to bud. Tonight’s it’s going to be below zero. Hallo? It’s almost mid-May. While we are no fan of hot summers, we definitely could use more than two days of sunshine in a row.
July 1 is Canada day. It is also the day that the Quebec ban on face coverings takes effect. The niqab covers the entire face except the eyes. People affected by the law would include public-sector employees such as teachers, police officers, hospital and daycare workers. Can we talk? Police officers? Seriously. When was the last time you saw a police officer, oh, let’s say with a turban?
If a woman wants to go shopping in a niqab that’s her business. The only working people who might be affected by this are those who deal with the public. And frankly Blanche, if they are dealing with the public, they should not be covering their faces.
Along with the climate change conference, the G7 Summit should be abolished. It is a nice weekend away for leaders at the insane monetary expense of the ‘chosen’ host country.
This year it is being held right near Pointe au Pic. Yes dearies, there is such a place. La Malbaie is a mere 87 miles or 140 km from Quebec City. What everyone remembers about these summits are not the treaties or whatever the countries agree on. Nope. They remember the violence caused by protesters which is why these summits have been moved to isolated places.
Ah, but herein lies the issue: How much does it cost to build a fortress around the hotel and to keep the leaders and their massive entourages safe? So far Canada has spent about $600 million on said summit. And that’s what we know.
Case in point: The federal government plans to spend more than $2.2 million to fly roughly 3,000 police officers and dozens of German shepherds from all over the country to Quebec City to keep the guests safe.
This whole G7 business is a huge crock. If they skyped the conference they would get a lot more done in a much shorter amount of time, save each country close to a billion dollars and not leave an endless carbon footprint.
Now here’s a friendship made in heaven – Huma Abedin, wife of Anthony Wener the sexter and Georgina Chapman, wife of Harvey Weinstein. One thing you can be certain of – they have a lot in common and a lot to talk about.
We’ll talk…
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