Things Canadian.

[HLD DMR]

Cross acknowledged afterward he had tried to remain friendly with his captors, joking with them and inquiring about their political beliefs. But that, he recalled, was merely a survival tactic.

"I hated the lot of them and would have cheerfully killed them if the opportunity arose," the diplomat said in an 1995 account of the kidnapping that is part of an oral history project at Cambridge University.

That's what I like to hear. None of this namby pamby forgiveness stuff!

The Canadians forgave them though.....

 

[DavidBOC]

Well news from Canada has been making its way to the US today.
Canada's Governor General and Viceroy Julie Payette has resigned today after an investigative report indicated that she had been verbally abusive and nasty to various civil servants (including RCMP officers on her protective detail). She is, I think, the only head of state (admittedly only when Her Majesty is not in Canada) who has racked up millions of miles flying in outer space.

Also, many in Canada are upset with Biden now as he ordered stoppage of work on the Keystone Pipeline. In addition to making the completed sections of the pipeline useless and putting thousands of union construction workers out of work in the US it will result in many Canadian workers being left off. It is likely to result in oil price increases in the US market.
It will probably speed up pressure to increase work on expanding the Trans-Mountain Pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver where oil can be exported to the Pacific Rim nations including oil hungry China more cheaply.

Alberta politicians are livid and urging trade sanctions against the US as well as lawsuits against the US government. Meanwhile the politicians in Beijing are no doubt doing a happy dance down the hall.

Living in Massachusetts I have been happy with the lower gasoline prices and heating oil prices since Obama left. Looks like Biden is leading us back to the eye-watering prices of Obama's era.

 

[3PPCLI_Guy]

I don’t get it, why would Biden put the kibosh on a solid, guaranteed source of friendly POL. We will end up turning the pipeline 90 degrees West, set a terminal on the coast of northern BC, and feed the Chinese monster, who I am sure will be happy to buy it.

 

[DavidBOC]

I don’t get it, why would Biden put the kibosh on a solid, guaranteed source of friendly POL. We will end up turning the pipeline 90 degrees West, set a terminal on the coast of northern BC, and feed the Chinese monster, who I am sure will be happy to buy it.

Hunter Biden is looking for work. Maybe his dad can get him a $50k per month job with a Chinese oil company/tanker company/...

 

[terminal]

Well news from Canada has been making its way to the US today.
Canada's Governor General and Viceroy Julie Payette has resigned today after an investigative report indicated that she had been verbally abusive and nasty to various civil servants (including RCMP officers on her protective detail). She is, I think, the only head of state (admittedly only when Her Majesty is not in Canada) who has racked up millions of miles flying in outer space.

Also, many in Canada are upset with Biden now as he ordered stoppage of work on the Keystone Pipeline. In addition to making the completed sections of the pipeline useless and putting thousands of union construction workers out of work in the US it will result in many Canadian workers being left off. It is likely to result in oil price increases in the US market.
It will probably speed up pressure to increase work on expanding the Trans-Mountain Pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver where oil can be exported to the Pacific Rim nations including oil hungry China more cheaply.

Alberta politicians are livid and urging trade sanctions against the US as well as lawsuits against the US government. Meanwhile the politicians in Beijing are no doubt doing a happy dance down the hall.

Living in Massachusetts I have been happy with the lower gasoline prices and heating oil prices since Obama left. Looks like Biden is leading us back to the eye-watering prices of Obama's era.

Here's the story on Payette resigning as GG.
Payette stepping down as governor general after blistering report on Rideau Hall work environment

It comes as no surprise to anyone who has been following the news in Canada. The result of the independent review was never really in doubt, but the motions had to be gone through before simply firing Her Majesty's representative in Canada. Long story short, both she and her secretary were utter ***** to work for and the staff complained.

"Every employee in the Government of Canada has the right to work in a safe and healthy environment, and we will always take this very seriously," Trudeau said in a statement. "Today's announcement provides an opportunity for new leadership at Rideau Hall to address the workplace concerns raised by employees during the review."

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, Richard Wagner, will fill in until we get a new GG. Her Majesty has been informed, but of course has no direct involvement in any of this.

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Richard Wagner will fulfil the duties of the Governor General on an interim basis. In a short statement, Buckingham Palace said "the Queen has been kept informed of developments."

Payette is a former astronaut and it was hoped that her STEM background would be an inspiration to young people. However, this hasn't worked out, and she turned out to be not well suited to the role, not being a fan of travelling about and cutting ribbons. She has been almost invisible except when complaints have arisen about her.

There have been Governor Generals who have resigned early before, but Payette is the first one to do so for reasons like this. Previous ones have had to resign for reasons of poor health, or died in office (which I guess you could call poor health), and Viscount Alexander resigned in order to take up the post of Defence Minister under Churchill in 1952, after having served since 1946.

There's no word yet on who is being considered to replace her.

 

[terminal]

Well news from Canada has been making its way to the US today.
Canada's Governor General and Viceroy Julie Payette has resigned today after an investigative report indicated that she had been verbally abusive and nasty to various civil servants (including RCMP officers on her protective detail). She is, I think, the only head of state (admittedly only when Her Majesty is not in Canada) who has racked up millions of miles flying in outer space.

Also, many in Canada are upset with Biden now as he ordered stoppage of work on the Keystone Pipeline. In addition to making the completed sections of the pipeline useless and putting thousands of union construction workers out of work in the US it will result in many Canadian workers being left off. It is likely to result in oil price increases in the US market.
It will probably speed up pressure to increase work on expanding the Trans-Mountain Pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver where oil can be exported to the Pacific Rim nations including oil hungry China more cheaply.

Alberta politicians are livid and urging trade sanctions against the US as well as lawsuits against the US government. Meanwhile the politicians in Beijing are no doubt doing a happy dance down the hall.

Living in Massachusetts I have been happy with the lower gasoline prices and heating oil prices since Obama left. Looks like Biden is leading us back to the eye-watering prices of Obama's era.

To address the Keystone XL Pipeline issue, Biden cancelling it has been expected for some time and the view in Canada is that there is really nothing the Canadian government can do about it. This is a bone that Biden can easily toss to environmentalists to placate them for a while while he gets on with higher priorities, such as the pandemic. Everyone in Canada has known that this is coming.

Biden will be calling Trudeau on Friday, as his first business call to a foreign leader. This has been a tradition with US presidents for a while now, Trump excepted. Trudeau will raise the issue, but is not expected to get any satisfaction.

Keystone XL was already effectively blocked at the state level, so it's questionable whether it could have gone ahead even if Biden didn't withdraw the approval.

What has been raised in the press is that Canada may ask for something else in compensation for what we will take as a diplomatic slight. Several press stories have suggested dropping charges against Meng Wanzhou (the Huawei executive the US wants to extradite from Canada). This will then allow Canada to return her to China, and in turn China can release Kovrig and Spavor (two Canadians held on spying charges in China). That is probably the number one thing that Canada wants from the US at this time.

As for the Trans Mountain pipeline, the Canadian government nationalised it a couple of years ago and are fully committed to ramming it through regardless of opposition. Construction has started and it would take a very unexpected set of circumstances for it to be blocked now.

Between Trans Mountain and Line 3 expansion, that is projected to provide enough export capacity until at least 2030. Reversal of a couple of diluent pipelines would add more capacity on top of that. Biden will be long gone by the time a new pipeline beyond that is needed. Keystone XL would be nice to have as it provides access to particular refineries, but it's not essential. There is a strong current of opinion that we need to diversify exports away from the US more, so future pipelines may target additional overseas markets in Asia.

Alberta have money sunk into Keystone XL, but even at the time the decision was made this was seen as being a poor decision. There are a number of things which Alberta could have done to address their market access problems, but Keystone XL was the worst choice as it was entirely dependent upon matters that were outside the control of Canada. Premier Kenny will shout and make noises about it, but there's not a lot he can do. As I said above, Trudeau is expected to raise the issue with Biden on Friday, but there is believed to be little chance of getting the decision reversed. The pipeline company (TC) and the province of Alberta will sue the US to try to recover their investment under NAFTA rules. However, even if the case goes against the US at most they will simply pay out a few billion and call the issue closed rather than allow the pipeline to be built.

So, overall it's not really a big deal because the decision to block the pipeline has been expected for most of a year and the public in Canada has had a chance to digest that fact. Canada will protest, but if the US do us a favour on some other issue in return and compensate the investors, then it will be put behind us.

On the positive side of things, Biden is believed to be unlikely to declare major Canadian industries "threats to US national security" as Trump was fond of doing, so there may be fewer trade irritants overall. There are other long running trade disputes that are expected to continue (e.g. softwood lumber), but there are likely to be fewer new ones.

 

[Goutyfrub]

Do we really need a Governor General.

 

[HLD DMR]

Do we really need a Governor General.

Yes

 

[Sam The Bam]

Do we really need a Governor General.

We'll have less of that kind of talk me lad, Lilibet needs someone in place to keep an eye on her colonies

 

[Ruckerwocman]

I don’t get it, why would Biden put the kibosh on a solid, guaranteed source of friendly POL. We will end up turning the pipeline 90 degrees West, set a terminal on the coast of northern BC, and feed the Chinese monster, who I am sure will be happy to buy it.

Biden is a moron. Must be some handler's idea of edging the US away from using fossil fuels. I seem to remember he's against fracking too - which makes it hard to understand why he "supposedly" won Pennsylvania.

 

[shouldknowbetter]

Biden is a moron. Must be some handler's idea of edging the US away from using fossil fuels. I seem to remember he's against fracking too - which makes it hard to understand why he "supposedly" won Pennsylvania.

Yep. The US has spent the last few years getting to the point where they are pretty much self sufficient in oil. Their net imports are zero. Bidens policies will turn the clock back on that, making them dependant on the Middle East again and we all know where that ends up. Conflict.

 

[HLD DMR]

Yep. The US has spent the last few years getting to the point where they are pretty much self sufficient in oil. Their net imports are zero. Bidens policies will turn the clock back on that, making them dependant on the Middle East again and we all know where that ends up. Conflict.

Or they can buy Canadian oil......

 

[Ruckerwocman]

Payette is a former astronaut and it was hoped that her STEM background would be an inspiration to young people. However, this hasn't worked out, and she turned out to be not well suited to the role, not being a fan of travelling about and cutting ribbons. She has been almost invisible except when complaints have arisen about her.

Why not the traveling show of the Merkles? The missus seems to like traveling about and adored by slack-jawed local yokels who've never seen a celebrity before and Mr. Merkle can do manly things such as cut the ribbons on new hydro electric dams and nuclear power plants, and stalk moose and wrestle bears. He can keep an eye on his Gee-Gee Ma's dominions real good. What say?

 

[clothears]

That twunt invested my union pension fund in that freaking pipeline. Did it over the Christmas holidays and the news slipped out, pretty much unnoticed. He's an all around freak and incompetent. He spouts anti-union trash every chance he gets. His "investments in Alberta" are shoveloads of funding to big business, who he expects to look after him when he leaves office. He has promised massive healthcare cuts and plans to lay me off after the pandemic. No idea why the fools that are farmers in this province manage to get their candidates into power every single time. I've lived here 30 years and just don't understand the place. Moan about conservative? Just vote for them time after time. Except for the blip of the orange crush.

The FLQ was pretty much forgotten about by the rest of the nation. The Cross kidnapping happened just after my family arrived in Canada. Vague memories of the black and white headlines on the newspapers and hearing something about martial law. But as an 8 yo you don't really pay much attention. It was never really mentioned again during my years at school and university.

Madame Pacquette? Nasty piece of work by all accounts. But Hairboy thought he'd picked a winner. The rumours were out there, he just knew better. Anyone remember that mess of a uniform she turned up at the cenotaph last November? Had access to a tailor and that's the best she could do?

 

[clothears]

Why not the traveling show of the Merkles? The missus seems to like traveling about and adored by slack-jawed local yokels who've never seen a celebrity before and Mr. Merkle can do manly things such as cut the ribbons on new hydro electric dams and nuclear power plants, and stalk moose and wrestle bears. He can keep an eye on his Gee-Gee Ma's dominions real good. What say?

View attachment 541905

Canadians are not all dumb hicks and rubes. We know grifters when we see them. She's a washed up actress who enjoyed brief popularity with the in kids in the GTA. You think Papa Mulroney won't have a few choice words on Madam and her puppet?

 

[HLD DMR]

That twunt invested my union pension fund in that freaking pipeline. Did it over the Christmas holidays and the news slipped out, pretty much unnoticed. He's an all around freak and incompetent. He spouts anti-union trash every chance he gets. His "investments in Alberta" are shoveloads of funding to big business, who he expects to look after him when he leaves office. He has promised massive healthcare cuts and plans to lay me off after the pandemic. No idea why the fools that are farmers in this province manage to get their candidates into power every single time. I've lived here 30 years and just don't understand the place. Moan about conservative? Just vote for them time after time. Except for the blip of the orange crush.

The FLQ was pretty much forgotten about by the rest of the nation. The Cross kidnapping happened just after my family arrived in Canada. Vague memories of the black and white headlines on the newspapers and hearing something about martial law. But as an 8 yo you don't really pay much attention. It was never really mentioned again during my years at school and university.

Madame Pacquette? Nasty piece of work by all accounts. But Hairboy thought he'd picked a winner. The rumours were out there, he just knew better. Anyone remember that mess of a uniform she turned up at the cenotaph last November? Had access to a tailor and that's the best she could do?

There should be a pool on what sort of abomination frog boy picks to replace the GG as he will be aiming for someone he can push in the media as a true representative of the Canadian people.

 

[clothears]

There should be a pool on what sort of abomination frog boy picks to replace the GG as he will be aiming for someone he can push in the media as a true representative of the Canadian people.

Do you know any blind, First Nations pan-sexuals? That would Jussie's choice

 

[Ruckerwocman]

Do you know any blind, First Nations pan-sexuals? That would Jussie's choice

Shucks. Just missed the cut off by that much.

 

[HLD DMR]

Shucks. Just missed the cut off by that much.

I knew the native part about you was a lie, at least you're finally admitting it....

 

[Flash MacTavish]

Do you know any blind, First Nations pan-sexuals? That would Jussie's choice

Must be francophone, and non Christian, preferably Sikh or Moslem.