WE really need to get rid of this guy

pgs

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Nov 29, 2008
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Audit reveals flaws in feds' charge cards yet again: Report
Author of the article:postmedia News
Published Aug 29, 2023 • Last updated 1 day ago • 2 minute read
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Charge cards issued to government employees have been flagged by federal auditors for a variety of flaws, including missing records, transactions that weren't "properly signed and dated," and no spending limits, according to Blacklock's Reporter.
Charge cards issued to government employees have been flagged by federal auditors for a variety of flaws, including missing records, transactions that weren't "properly signed and dated," and no spending limits, according to Blacklock's Reporter.
Charge cards issued to government employees have been flagged by federal auditors for a variety of flaws, including missing records, transactions that weren’t “properly signed and dated,” and no spending limits, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.


A random check was done at the Immigration and Refugee Board.


“In some cases for acquisition cards and contracting it could not be determined whether the expense was approved prior to the expense being incurred or prior to the signing of the contract as the approval was not dated,” said a Core Control Audit. “In all instances for acquisition cards, no documentation was on file to demonstrate commitments were recorded at the value expected to be incurred.”

Cabinet debuted the charge-card system in 1992 to simplify ordinary federal purchases for office supplies.

According to Blacklock’s, 2,000 cards were issued at the time to employees who received mandatory training. The number of issued cards has since is now at more than 35,000 with numerous audits identifying irregularities.


Refugee Board auditors found instances where card applications were not signed and transactions billed without managers’ approval.

“Approvals are a key control in ensuring funds are available and used prudently and that transactions are authorized, complete, accurate and valid,” said Control Audit.

Separate audits found another federal agency, the National Research Council, ran up more than a tenth of its annual budget using cards including “high risk transactions.” Auditors found cards were shared among co-workers who were not authorized to use them.



At the Department of Fisheries, an audit found charge cards were used to ring up $140 million a year in purchases including at least one case of suspected fraud.

The Department of Employment failed a 2020 audit that found only 33% of randomly selected transactions were approved, while 12% of transactions paid inaccurate amounts.

In 2022, auditors found employees at the Department of Foreign Affairs used government-issue charge cards to buy booze, jewelry and unexplained “hospitality.”

Diplomats’ use of charge cards abroad from 2019 to 2020 included billings of $117 for jewelry, another $9,836 spent on clothing, a total $12,416 in expenses for liquor and $14,251 in charges marked “leisure.”
Money for nothing and your clothes for free .
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
Yes, an election is still a year or two away. The political landscape can transform quite rapidly. At the same time, things aren’t good and the Liberals know it. So, they’re trying to change the channel as quickly as possible — and it’s becoming apparent what they’re trying to do.

Canadians are clearly becoming more frustrated with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. What makes it worse is that his ineffective policies and mediocre leadership have turned Canada into an embarrassment on the international stage.

During a July 11 visit to Calgary’s Baitun Nur Mosque, Trudeau tried to whip up paranoia and division in Canada’s Muslim community by claiming that “people on social media, particularly fuelled by the American right wing, are spreading a lot of untruths about what’s actually in the provincial curriculums.” The PM’s focus was on LGBT content in Alberta schools.

Which brings us to the most ridiculous travel advisory in Canadian history. On Aug. 29, Global Affairs Canada decided to warn the LGBT community against possible discrimination they may face in the United States. “Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons,” the adjusted international travel advisory noted, and advised travellers to “check relevant state and local laws.”

They’re likely going to try to blame it all on Poilievre and the Conservatives, who they’ve attempted to link to Trump and the so-called American “far right” without much success.

There are 19 U.S. states that have passed limits or bans related to gender-affirming care for minors and whether schools can teach young kids about sexual orientation. These decisions, made by democratically-elected state legislators in the country that’s our closest ally, friend and trading partner, may somehow be of grave concern to LGBT Canadians travelling abroad. That’s why the warning was issued, one assumes.
Link. Above. More. Etc…
 
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pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
27,361
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B.C.
Yes, an election is still a year or two away. The political landscape can transform quite rapidly. At the same time, things aren’t good and the Liberals know it. So, they’re trying to change the channel as quickly as possible — and it’s becoming apparent what they’re trying to do.

Canadians are clearly becoming more frustrated with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. What makes it worse is that his ineffective policies and mediocre leadership have turned Canada into an embarrassment on the international stage.

During a July 11 visit to Calgary’s Baitun Nur Mosque, Trudeau tried to whip up paranoia and division in Canada’s Muslim community by claiming that “people on social media, particularly fuelled by the American right wing, are spreading a lot of untruths about what’s actually in the provincial curriculums.” The PM’s focus was on LGBT content in Alberta schools.

Which brings us to the most ridiculous travel advisory in Canadian history. On Aug. 29, Global Affairs Canada decided to warn the LGBT community against possible discrimination they may face in the United States. “Some states have enacted laws and policies that may affect 2SLGBTQI+ persons,” the adjusted international travel advisory noted, and advised travellers to “check relevant state and local laws.”

They’re likely going to try to blame it all on Poilievre and the Conservatives, who they’ve attempted to link to Trump and the so-called American “far right” without much success.

There are 19 U.S. states that have passed limits or bans related to gender-affirming care for minors and whether schools can teach young kids about sexual orientation. These decisions, made by democratically-elected state legislators in the country that’s our closest ally, friend and trading partner, may somehow be of grave concern to LGBT Canadians travelling abroad. That’s why the warning was issued, one assumes.
Link. Above. More. Etc…
Sad and even sadder it might work .
 
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Taxslave2

House Member
Aug 13, 2022
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They will still take out the tried, and true thought…. And go for gun control, and abortion, even though both our old hat…& nobody is touching abortion.
The liberals will claim that conservatives will ban abortion, just to rile up the true believers, and make everyone else waste a bunch of time denying a lie.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
25,373
9,143
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Regina, Saskatchewan
And the Conservatives will claim the Liberals are all nefarious tools of the Yellow Peril, for the same reason.
Crickets.

That’s what you will hear if you are waiting for a public inquiry into Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal general elections. Crickets.

Towards the end of the last Parliamentary session, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau famously dangled the prospect of actually having such an inquiry. Back then, it looked like he had no choice.

His chosen “rapporteur” David Johnson — he who helped lead the Trudeau Foundation, that itself received boodle from the Chinese regime — had quit.

And an overwhelming number of Canadians — including more than 70% of self-described Liberal voters — wanted an inquiry into well-documented allegations that the Chinese had attempted to gut our democracy. ALL of the opposition parties (not just Conservatives, but NDP & Greens & apparently many Liberals, but Shhhhh….) wanted an inquiry, too.

Here we all are in September, with no public inquiry in sight, but something HAS happened. A U.S. congressional committee — that is, a legislative committee found in another country — has invited one of the victims of Chinese political meddling, Canadian MP and former cabinet minister Michael Chong, to testify. Before them. In America.

But why are the Americans are calling Canadian witnesses to investigate Chinese interference in democracy? Because Conservatives? It could be…I don’t know to be honest.

Finance Minister (of Canada) Chrystia Freeland has instructed three of the founding investors of Wealth One Bank of Canada to divest their shares, and has also ordered the financial institution to comply with extraordinary national-security conditions intended to firewall its operations against the trio, who have faced federal scrutiny over alleged links to the Chinese government, because Conservatives.
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The three men, Toronto insurance executive Shenglin Xian, Vancouver property developer Morris Chen and Toronto grocery tycoon Yuangsheng Ou Yang, were told in April to sell their shares in the bank. Wealth One has also been ordered to sever all ties with the three, and to put in place stringent security measures to guard against money laundering and unauthorized sharing of sensitive information.
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Wealth One, founded in 2016 and based in Toronto, caters to Chinese Canadian clients. The federal government approved it as a Schedule 1 bank, meaning it is considered a domestic institution, not a subsidiary of a foreign bank, and is authorized to accept deposits and provide mortgages. In a 2021 news release, it said it had grown into a financial institution with more than $400-million in assets. It was established with an initial investment of $50-million.
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The government’s warnings to the three shareholders stretch back at least as far as November, when Ms. Freeland sent a letter telling them they could be susceptible to Chinese government pressure. She also raised concerns that the bank might have engaged in money laundering. Shortly after receiving the letter, the three men resigned as directors of the bank, but did not divest their shares in Wealth One.
The Globe and Mail has learned that wealthy Chinese businessman Zhang Bin who, with a partner, donated $1-million to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and the University of Montreal Faculty of Law weeks after the fundraiser, also attended the event. Mr. Zhang is a political adviser to the Chinese government in Beijing and a senior apparatchik in the network of Chinese state promotional activities around the world.

Chinese Business Chamber of Commerce chair Benson Wong played host to Mr. Trudeau and 32 other people at his Toronto home. Among the donors was insurance tycoon Shenglin Xian, the founder of Wealth One Bank of Canada, and several Chinese billionaires.
Probably all just a coincidence because Conservatives.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
112,324
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Low Earth Orbit
Crickets.

That’s what you will hear if you are waiting for a public inquiry into Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal general elections. Crickets.

Towards the end of the last Parliamentary session, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau famously dangled the prospect of actually having such an inquiry. Back then, it looked like he had no choice.
It will never be investigate by a Trudeau/Liberal Govt. They wont be in power. Theyll be joe/joanne citizens and not obligated to participate unless they face criminal charges.

The key detail at play that says an election is coming?

Guess who is staffing up nationwide?


Wow, they dropped the poll worker age to 16.

Thats telling as well but on different levels.
 

spaminator

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 26, 2009
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Justin Trudeau has reached his best-before date
And other almost-end-of-summer, long weekend political bits and pieces

Author of the article:Warren Kinsella
Published Sep 02, 2023 • Last updated 21 hours ago • 4 minute read

Almost-end-of-summer, long weekend political bits and pieces:


**


Crickets.

That’s what you will hear if you are waiting for a public inquiry into Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal general elections. Crickets.

Towards the end of the last Parliamentary session, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau famously dangled the prospect of actually having such an inquiry. Back then, it looked like he had no choice.

His chosen “rapporteur” David Johnston — he who helped lead the Trudeau Foundation, that itself received boodle from the Chinese regime — had quit.

And an overwhelming number of Canadians — including more than 70% of self-described Liberal voters — wanted an inquiry into well-documented allegations that the Chinese had attempted to gut our democracy.

All of the opposition parties wanted an inquiry, too. But they, and we, all made a big mistake: we trusted Justin Trudeau.




Trudeau sent out his Maytag repairman, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, to rag the puck. LeBlanc did.

So, here we all are in September, with no public inquiry in sight. Just the unmistakable sound of crickets, reminding us that nothing has happened.

Oh, wait. Something has happened. A U.S. congressional committee — that is, a legislative committee found in another country — has invited one of the victims of Chinese political meddling, Canadian MP and former cabinet minister Michael Chong, to testify.


Before them. In America.

Get that? The Americans are calling Canadian witnesses to investigate Chinese interference in democracy.

Not us.

**

Look, Tasha Kheiriddin is a nice person.

She’s been a Conservative, and is a conservative, but I don’t hold that against her. She is smart, and perceptive, and a great writer. In fact, she is a writer who is a colleague: she writes about politics for The National Post, which shares an owner with the Toronto Sun.

A few weeks ago, Tasha sought media credentials to attend the upcoming Conservative Party convention in Quebec City. A party functionary wrote back: no.

She got her bosses at The National Post, no Trotskyite leaflet, involved. They also stressed that they wanted Tasha at the convention.


Her conservative credentials are pretty impeccable. She cochaired the Tory leadership campaign of Jean Charest and she has written books about being a conservative.

Even after the intervention by her editors at The National Post, the answer came back: no. Podcasters were allowed, representatives of Rebel “Media” were welcome. But not Tasha Kheiriddin, longtime conservative operative.

Says she: “I was disappointed with the Conservative Party’s decision to deny my media accreditation. Ironically, the only places where I am not welcome as a journalist are Russia, where I was banned last year, and the Conservative Convention, where I am persona non grata this year.”

She notes that representatives of other political parties are also being barred: “This kind of hostility is not only petty but feeds the polarization people deplore in today’s politics. It’s also a great example of gatekeeping — which I thought the party opposed.”


All of this reminds us, once again, of the famous words of my colleague Brian Lilley: “Politics is about addition, not subtraction.”

Meaning: You should always be trying to keep good people, not drive them away.

**

A final note on the polls.

All of them, pretty much, are now showing Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives far ahead of the governing Liberals. For instance, late last week, the pollster with the best record for accuracy federally, Leger, also confirmed the Tories are ahead of the Grits by nearly ten points.

That’s a majority government, folks. That’s lights out for Justin Trudeau’s team.

The horserace numbers probably don’t mean a whole lot, however. What is more meaningful is the reason why. Why is Pierre so far ahead, and Justin so far behind?


Trudeau’s tendency to overpromise and under-deliver is part of it. His fondness for Nanny State “woke” stuff, too. Serial scandals, the housing crisis, soaring inflation, and the total absence of a policy agenda haven’t helped, either.

But the main reason why Trudeau is losing so definitively to someone he clearly considers to be beneath him is this: we have grown sick of his face. He’s been Liberal leader for more than a decade, and he’s reached his best-before date.

In politics, the best you can hope for is eight years at the top. After that, voters are generally coming after you with nooses and pitchforks.

If Justin Trudeau wants to prevent the election disaster that is looming ahead, he needs to leave. Sooner than later.

Will he?

That’s a question worth debating after Labour Day!
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
25,373
9,143
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Justin Trudeau and Guilbeault are to environmentalism what evangelical street preachers are to Christianity – cultish fanatics. And they are hellbent on destroying one part of the country (Alberta and Saskatchewan) to maintain their power base in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle.

If you’ve been following along, you know Canada’s enviro minister was in China for a meeting of the Chinese government’s China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

Yes, there were participants from other Western governments, too. However this was not an independent international organization. It is run by China’s environment department and headed by a deputy premier of the Communist party.

Guilbeault, who is supposed to be a minister of the Canadian government, is the organization’s executive vice-chairperson.
No man, not even Steven Guilbeault, may serve two masters – the people of Canada or the Beijing regime. No that doesn’t make China the Boogieman, but it is pretty hypocritical.
 
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Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
25,373
9,143
113
Regina, Saskatchewan
Justin Trudeau and Guilbeault are to environmentalism what evangelical street preachers are to Christianity – cultish fanatics. And they are hellbent on destroying one part of the country (Alberta and Saskatchewan) to maintain their power base in the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal triangle….
Who haven't read and don't understand the source material.

Kinda like "Constitutionalists" down hereabouts.
The oil sands generate 0.1% of global emissions, Canada’s entire oil and gas sector, 0.3%. It’s a basic fact that a unit of carbon dioxide has the same atmospheric effect weather emitted from an oilsands mine in Alberta, a steel mill in Ontario or a manufacturer in Quebec. And yet, this fall the Trudeau government will propose new regulations that would impose new emission limits on the oil and gas sector — and not any other sector — to reduce emissions to 42 per cent less than 2019 levels. If passed by parliament, these new regulations will pile on top of the existing federal carbon tax and a host of other regulatory measures. Why is the Trudeau government focussing its punitive measures on this one sector? Is it a matter of geography?

Canada’s emissions from all industrial energy sources, 1.5% of the global total, are too little to materially impact climate change, as Canada’s parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux has reported.

The single largest source of rising emissions globally is the world’s thousands of coal-fired electricity plants, with countries like China, the world’s largest emitter, issuing permits to build the equivalent of two, large, coal-fired power plants per week.

If the rest of the world was as efficient as Canada at producing electricity without burning coal — the most carbon intensive fossil fuel — the global problem of rising emissions would be solved.

The reason is that we generate only 5.7% of our electricity from coal-fired power plants and we’re phasing them out.
The above coal mine is in Saskatchewan. I’ve gravel mined several locations in that area and we would stumble across seams of coal by accident regularly…
By comparison, in Australia it’s 75%, in China almost 60%, South Korea more than 40%, Germany more than 30%, the U.S. 20%, Russia 18%.

Climate activists scoff at this by pointing out Canada’s emissions from coal are low because of an accident of geography — we live in a country with abundant hydro resources to generate electricity…for much, but by no means all of the country, like Saskatchewan.

Of course, that’s the argument they avoid using when they complain Canada is among the world’s highest per capita industrial emitters from all energy sources.

Except that’s also an accident of geography — we live in the world’s second-largest, second-coldest country, with a relatively small population.
The most effective way Canada could help lower global emissions — as opposed to carbon taxes — would be to export our vast natural gas resources, which burn at half the carbon intensity of coal, to international markets, replacing coal-fired electricity and freeing Europe from its dependency on natural gas supplied by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

But because of the polices of the Trudeau government, we’re not even in the game. Canada is the world’s fifth largest producer of natural gas and accounts for around five per cent of global production. Natural gas production in Canada is predominantly from the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Canadian natural gas supply currently exceeds domestic consumption.

Natural gas is the single largest form of energy used in Canadian homes. More than six million Canadians use natural gas to light, heat and cool homes and businesses, to heat water, and for cooking. While Canada has an abundance of natural gas, there's virtually no infrastructure in place to liquefy that product and ship it overseas. Canada has vast reserves of natural gas, particularly in British Columbia and Alberta. At current rates of consumption, Canada has enough natural gas to meet the country's needs for 300 years, meaning we have ample supplies for export.

Canada possesses abundant reserves of natural gas, a cleaner alternative to coal, which could be instrumental in helping countries such as China transition away from their reliance on coal. By exporting natural gas, we could actually play a pivotal role in the global effort to reduce GHG emissions and enhance energy security. However, our current approach prioritizes symbolism over practical solutions.

Every credible forecast of world energy consumption indicates that oil and gas will remain predominant in the global energy supply mix for decades. Given the persistent demand for fossil fuels, curtailing oil and gas production and exports in Canada merely shifts production to other regions, potentially to countries with lower environmental and human rights standards, such as Iran, Russia and Venezuela.
 
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spaminator

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Politicians enjoying high life as families scrounge for food, rent

Author of the article:Joe Warmington
Published Sep 08, 2023 • Last updated 6 hours ago • 3 minute read

Let them eat at food banks!


But not the people elected to run the country, province or city. Their meals are not served in a bag after a two-hour wait in a queue. In fact, while people line up in the elements and on sidewalks for basic food, the politicians who represent them party. There is no bread line or food rationing for them.


In Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s case, it was the party of all parties this week in Indonesia and then to Singapore for more diplomacy. The polls reflecting his plummeting popularity at home are not noticed there. Instead, he was mobbed for selfies at the gala dinner in Jakarta while wearing a traditional Indonesian shirt handed out to attending world leaders.



Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's son Xavier shared a photo of the Singapore skyline in a recent update on Instagram.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s son Xavier shared a photo of the Singapore skyline in a recent update on Instagram. PHOTO BY XAVIER TRUDEAU /Instagram
According the 43rd ASEAN Summit press kit, the meal served at this incredible gala, which was prepared by chef Arnold Poernomo, included “andaliman crab from North Sumatra as the appetizer and soy sauce meat from Java as the main course. For dessert, the guests were served Nusantara Urban Forest,” which is made with with chocolate, spiced banana, jasmine apple and matcha moss.



Later in Singapore, a photograph of the city’s skyline, appearing to be taken from a penthouse patio and posted to the Instagram account belonging to Trudeau’s son Xavier, was later deleted. But not before people screen-grabbed it and noted the champagne glass and party celebration emojis. The Prime Minister’s Office hadn’t commented on the social-media clue of the five-star living they were enjoying there, while some back here are not able to put food on the table without going into credit-card debt.


The Toronto Sun's front page for Friday, Sept. 8, 2023.
The Toronto Sun’s front page for Friday, Sept. 8, 2023, shows the long lineup at the Fort York Food Bank on College St. Toronto Sun
But Premier Doug Ford and Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow should not be left off the hook either. They, too, boast about their partying: The premier with his latest Ford Fest barbecue in Kitchener and Chow hosting a lunch at City Hall to celebrate upcoming holidays with a community group and later doing a video call with the mayor of Kyiv, former boxing champion Vitali Klitschko.



“The call was a friendly call with the mayor of a friendship city (sister city), which it has been since 1991,” said the mayor’s spokesperson Shirven Rezvany.



People who support the prime minister say he’s just doing trade deals, but committing “$65.1 million over five years and $13.8 million ongoing” in funding under Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy is not going to feed people who can’t buy food here.

Establishing a “Canada-Singapore Youth Mobility Arrangement” and feel-good platitudes like committing $123 million to help Indonesia with reproductive health or green initiatives are not going to do anything for Canada, except add more debt for the already overburdened taxpayer.

The premier’s people remind that the barbecues are paid for by the Progressive Conservative party and are free of charge, but there is no election going on. Why not give food to the needy without the glad-handing and political rhetoric? As for Chow, her team informed us that the mayor lives close to the Fort York Food Bank, understands the problem well and is working hard to get financial aid from Ottawa to alleviate the housing and food crises that federal government policies have helped created.


Shahnaz sits outside of Fort York Food Bank on College St., near Kensington Market, in Toronto on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023.
Shahnaz sits outside of Fort York Food Bank on College St., near Kensington Market, in Toronto on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. PHOTO BY ERNEST DOROSZUK /Toronto Sun
Governments should drop the sister-city projects and travelling to feed hungry children here. If you go anywhere downtown, you will find strung-out people on sidewalks living near unsafe injection sites, sleeping in tents or homemade structures or lining up for free lunches or grocery handouts.

While politicians talk about new sales taxes, subsidies for rich companies, breaks for landowners or developers and revenue tools to pay for the debt that they created, they never talk about cutting back government budgets or their personal spending. With Toronto teetering on a recession, it’s past time for the prime minister, premier and mayor to read the room and start putting 100% focus on Canadians.

A dwelling at a tent city in Allan Gardens.
Tent cities, like this one in Allan Gardens, keep popping up across the GTA. PHOTO BY JOE WARMINGTON /Toronto Sun
Yes, it’s a fair point that every photograph should not be scrutinized, but it is also fair to point out that their efforts rarely seem to make things better.

When people can’t afford groceries or a place to live, leaders should have to sacrifice, too. There should be no celebrating, partying, photo-ops, campaigning or junkets until there is no one lining up for a free breakfast, lunch or supper.
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