There are a lot of problems with Justin Trudeau’s carbon tax plan, not the least of which is the fact that a tax doesn’t even address the issue of a country becoming more green. There is evidence that in Australia, it didn’t improve the environment one bit. All it did was increase the amount of money its citizens paid to government. In fact, Australia recently axed its carbon tax scheme while Canada has decided it will push through full force its carbon tax. Another problem lies in the fact Canada is only responsible for 1.6% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Trudeau admits this is a very small number, but says if all countries had that attitude, nothing would get done. Perhaps that’s true, but let’s look at it a different way. If the citizens of Nokomis decided to drive their vehicles on the other side of the road, would we look at them as taking a leadership role in getting the rest of the country to change their driving habits? Or, would we just comment to one another that Nokomis is a place not to visit without being very careful because they do things their own way in their tiny little town? That’s what Canada is doing on the climate change matter. A more effective stance would be to put measures in place and commit to following them once China and the United States agree to do similar. Show the commitment and agree that you won’t put countries like China and the US at a global disadvantage if they come up with a more green strategy. Without those heavy hitters on board, efforts to make Earth a more green planet are futile. I’d like to say Canada is shooting itself in the foot with a carbon tax, but a more appropriate alliteration would be to say Canada is putting a gun to its own head.
Global News has done a report on the overcrowding of Saskatchewan jails. Experts have been sought out on how to reduce the number of people incarcerated and some have suggested there are many in prison who don’t belong there. This doesn’t mean people are innocent, but rather they should be in hospitals or other facilities. To me, it all comes down to being in jail on remand. Lawyers know how to make the system work in their favor and every day spent in remand counts as two days once you are found guilty. This practice needs to stop. I think you’d, immediately, see relief. On a related note, criminal proceedings take way too long as it is. There is no reason why some of them can’t be dealt with in a much more timely manner.
You have to wonder who provides money for people to conduct studies. Here’s one that got too much funding: lying about Santa is damaging to kids. The reason is that it will cause children to be distrustful of their parents in the future. “The morality of making children believe in such myths has to be questioned.” There was no word on the damage you do to kids when you lie about what happens to your family pet when it dies. At this time, I’d like to announce I’ve applied to the study funding police to see if they can provide me some resources to determine whether we should ban fun from human life. I’ll let you know the outcome at a later date.
Meanwhile, a Saskatoon man has filed a complaint with Kraft Heinz over its Kraft Dinner boxes. Apparently, the tabs at the top of the box are too tough to open with the human thumb and he’s sick and tired of using a knife. Of course, making the tabs easier to get at so that people poke holes in the boxes at the grocery store is a much better idea.
A more emotional Christmas story comes from a lady in Georgia, who found a helium balloon in her backyard. Inside was a note written by a small boy who lived in New Zealand, who was hoping to get a message to his dad, who had died and gone to heaven. Without going into a lot of detail, it’s a real tear jerker. The last line said, ‘if you are ok, please tell me.’ The lady in Georgia wants the boy to know the balloon went to heaven and fell to her and she is letting him know his dad is just fine.
Various social media posts have revealed the new Yorkton City Council is debating how to handle downtown parking concerns. In my opinion, the best way to deal with some of this congestion is to try to enforce businesses to insist on its employees to use monthly or yearly paid parking lots. I’m not sure how to do that in a foolproof way other than to try and get businesses to understand that when an employee takes a spot right out front, that is a spot a potential customer isn’t getting and, therefore, may not come into your store. But, if the business doesn’t already know this, I’m not optimistic they’d get the rationale anyway.
It was so cold this weekend that Justin Trudeau had his hands in his own pockets. I can’t take credit for coming up with that.
Nice person mentions this week: Lana Sebastian, Ken Penner, Jaime Brock, Lisa Kicenko, Bryce Field, and Tim Roussin.
