DOBBIE: Who runs things in Canada, anyway?

Some days are just like that: gut wrenching stories that beg to be told but are buried by perpetrators or brushed off by media then land on my desk with pleas for help.

Sometimes it’s about bureaucratic bungling, delay, refusal to comply with political orders, even lying to deputy ministers and ultimately to the minister so that the politician has no clue as to what is really going on. Occasionally, the tale smells bad as in the case of a federal agency which was recently in the news over a high-profile incident that revealed their arrogance. The agency has also been systematically withdrawing lucrative products from the marketplace to the apparent benefit of insiders.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canadian Politics"

As couple’s trial resumes, advocate questions Children’s Aid Society’s ‘outrageous’ decisions before boy died

Becky Hamber, Brandy Cooney Killer Moms

With the trial for two women accused of killing a 12-year-old boy they were trying to adopt now in its final weeks, the public deserves to know if and how the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) has been held accountable, says Ontario’s former child advocate.

But full transparency from the CAS is very unlikely, said Irwin Elman, who was in the independent watchdog role from 2008 until the Ford government closed his office in 2019.

“The child protection system is a closed system,” said Elman, who’s not involved in the trial but has been closely following it.

No one will lose their job over this horror story.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime, WTF?

Canadians’ pandemic drinking habits have stuck. Here’s how bad it’s gotten, according to new report

Canadians are drinking more frequently than they did before the pandemic, with a new report showing a rise in both daily alcohol consumption and weekly binge drinking since 2019.

Documented in the 2025 Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Monitor eReport, released Monday, the findings suggest that habits formed during COVID-19 have not switched back to previous levels and may be contributing to higher levels of psychological distress.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, WTF?

White Lives Matter

It occurred to me yesterday that what we’re seeing online and in the streets in reaction to the shooting of Renee Good is very familiar. And then it occurred to me why. What we’re seeing is the Black Lives Matter playbook.

Think about it for a moment. Going back years to the start of Black Lives Matter the organization established a particular way of operating. They would identify a shooting, usually involving a white police officer and a black suspect, and they would quickly nationalize the outrage and demand justice for this individual. Activists would rush to television cameras demanding everyone say his name (or her name) and then there would be organized street protests against law enforcement, often making some demands.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCamp Of The Saints, USA

Supreme Court revisits Trudeau-era WE Charity scandal in case that could reshape the law

The remnants of an early-pandemic political scandal land at the Supreme Court of Canada this week in a case that could have widespread ramifications, as the top court considers the limits of citizens’ ability to challenge some government decisions.

In June, 2020, then-prime minister Justin Trudeau said WE Charity, the international development group founded by the Kielburger brothers, would run a youth summer jobs program worth about $900-million. Conflict-of-interest accusations flared, and the plan was scrapped soon thereafter.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada's Corrupt Liberal Government

‘A giant step back’: Liberals rage against red meat after new food pyramid guidelines release

Eating real food is not quite that simple, and might even constitute “bowing to Big Meat,” depending on who you ask.

After Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his department dropped the new federal dietary guidelines — which have been historically referred to as the food pyramid — the recommendation of eating “real food,” including red meat and full-fat dairy, was seen as an attack by many in the dietary sphere.

h/t handy n handsome

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUSA

Canada must stand up to Donald Trump — or there will be no one to stand up for Canada

It is not just the attack on Venezuela, breaches of the United Nations’ Charter, or the use of illegal force that still somehow left a dictatorship in place.

It is not just the threats to annex Greenland or to make Canada the 51st state — both of which would violate the territorial integrity of sovereign states protected under international law.

It’s not just the admiration that U.S. President Donald Trump has for Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, both in the process of illegally annexing territory.

The Elbow People are afraid! I doubt Canada will receive support beyond “words”.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Canada - USA Tariff Wars", "Canadian Politics"

Uber-rich lead rise in diagnoses of ‘longevity fixation syndrome’

There are two certainties in life: death and taxes. It seems now the uber-rich and famous appear to believe that they may be able to avoid them both.

Leading health professionals have recognised a new disorder, longevity fixation syndrome, which they say is an obsession with longevity so all-consuming it begins to take over daily life.

Now a Swiss clinic has said that it has seen a “significant uptick” in clients coming to them exhibiting symptoms.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inWTF?

Carney heads to Beijing as Trump’s America First agenda forces Canada into trade rethink

Deal, we get Arctic you condo in Beijing

During the final stretch of Canada’s spring election campaign, Mark Carney told a debate audience that China was the country’s “biggest geopolitical risk”. He pointed to its attempts to meddle in elections and its recent efforts to disrupt Canada’s Arctic claims.

When Carney’s government plane touches down in Beijing this week, it will be the first time a Canadian prime minister has been welcomed in nearly a decade. The trip, undertaken amid the rupturing of global economic and political alliances, reflects a desire by Ottawa to mend a broken relationship with a global superpower that uses its vast and lucrative market to both woo and punish countries.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inUncategorized

Hundreds of Russian shadow fleet vessels face seizure

Hundreds of Russian shadow fleet vessels could be seized by British forces after the government identified a legal basis for such raids.

UK officials believe they have found grounds for authorising soldiers to board and detain oil tankers under the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act 2018.

Putin Speaks!

h/t Patti Jo

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Ukraine - Russia"