Last Week Today Episode 178 Show Notes for Monday, December 9th, 2024
The Liberal GST Holiday Flop, Upheaval and Confusion Throughout the World, A Crisis of Canadian Confidence, Biden Mulls '“Preemptive” Pardons for Dr. Fauci and Canada as the 51st State.
The Liberal GST Holiday Flop
We begin our coverage with the December 9th, 2024 Max Genest on “X” post, “TRUDEAU'S GST HOLIDAY SCAM,” which provides a useful overview of the Liberal proposal for what they call a “GST Holiday.”
It’s also worth noting the December 6th, 2024 Rebel News post, “Trudeau 'GST holiday' designed to keep NDP support: Dan Kelly,” which simply states the obvious; the so called “GST Holiday,” wasn’t really design to help Canadians. It was instead a bald political ploy to retain NDP support for minority Liberal government initiatives.
As outlined in the December 5th, 2025 “X” post, “Grocery Prices to Rise $800 Amid Temporary Tax Relief,“ grocery prices are expected to continue to rise over the next year at a pace which far outstrips any savings expected from the Liberal Party initiative.
Inflation isn’t just a Canadian phenomena. The December 7th,2024 Activist post piece “Global Food Prices Hit 19-Month High As Upward Momentum Sparks Fears Of Stickiness,” notes that food prices are rising throughout the world.
As a result of the political posturing needed to move forward with the GST Holiday legislation, overviewed in the December 3rd, Last Week Today post, “The "Real Reason" Behind Contentious “GST Holiday” Legislation,” the Conservative opposition attempted to pass another “non-confidence” motion to bring the government down and force an election.
For more on that, its worth checking out the December 9th, 2024 Canadian Press post, “Trudeau’s Liberals survive 3rd Conservative non-confidence vote.”
Also in the News this Week
Upheaval and Confusion Throughout the World
The upheaval and confusion of Canadian politics seems endemic throughout the world. Examples include:
The French government of Prime Minister Michel Barnier has collapsed, leaving French president Emmanuel Macron under increasing pressure to name a new PM as soon as possible, according to the December 9th, 2024 France24 post, “France's Macron faces mounting pressure to name new prime minister.” As noted in the December 5th, 2024 The Guardian post, “Why did France's government collapse and what happens next?,” the French president seems to have “few good options after Michel Barnier’s government became the first to fall from a no-confidence vote in more than 60 years.” Waiting in the wings is Marine Le Pen and her National Rally party, generally considered to “populist” and “nationalist” to rule the country by the existing rulers, but the official opposition nonetheless.
In Germany, the Federal government has halted asylum proceedings for Syrian refuges after Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was driven from office in a coup earlier last week. As noted in the December 9th, 2024 Al Jazeera post, “Germany pauses asylum applications for Syrians after al-Assad’s fall,” the German move was taken in light of the unclear and unpredictable political situation in Syria, which would place asylum decisions “on shaky ground.” Others consider it the first step to closing the doors to undocumented immigration and moving Germany down a more conservative political path.
In the UK, as outlined in the December 8th, 2024 Travelpulse by Northstar post, “UK To Require Electronic Travel Authorization for Entry Starting in 2025,” the government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer is planning to roll out new electronic travel authorization (ETA) requirements for all international visitors, beginning in 2025. After a solid beginning with a landslide victory in the 2024 UK general election ended fourteen years of “weak” Conservative Party governance, Starmer has faced a wall of criticism against almost every Labor initiative he’s championed.
As outlined in the December 7th, 2024 EuroNews post, “Georgescu slams Romania's top court after annulment of presidential election result,“ independent “far-right” presidential candidate Călin Georgescu has slammed Romania’s top court after they decided on Friday to annul the results of the first round of the presidential vote and cancelled Sunday’s runoff citing “Russian interference.”
Meanwhile, as outlined in the December 5th, 2024 DW News post, “EU probes TikTok after surprise win in Romania election,” the European Union (EU) has begun investigating TikTok, a Chinese based corporation, perhaps hoping to blame them or anyone but the Romanian people, for Georgescu’s surprise Romanian victory.
In South Korea, Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol has been banned from leaving the country after attempting to invoke martial law over concerns that his government was going to fall to the official and legally elected conservative opposition. As outlined in the December 5th, 2024 Penn Today post, “South Korea crisis, explained,” President Yoon has been plagued:
…by intense criticism on a range of issues. Elected by the narrowest margin in Korean presidential history, he has struggled to work with the opposition party, often adopting an antagonistic stance.
For some, there is no rhyme or reason for this unrest.
For others, its indicative of the “fundamental restructuring” taking place behind the scenes as a consequence of the Republican Party mandate provided by the 2024 US elections. [
A Crisis of Canadian Confidence
Meanwhile, back in Canada, a national, public opinion pollster says business and political corruption is common, but few trust government to address the issue. As outlined in the November 27th, 2024 Angus Reid Institute post, “Canadians say business and political corruption is common, but few trust government to address issue.”
According to the Angus Reid poll:
…most Canadians believe corruption among businesses – for example taking “under the table” payments or being involved in money laundering – and in politics – e.g. backroom deals or bribes – is widespread and half (49%) believe it has a significant part in the rising cost of living.
Canadians have good reasons for these beliefs and while some of those reasons we’ve gone over in previous episodes of this podcast, others are new.
This week alone, multiple new scandals and odd policy decisions have come to light to highlight corruption, policy failures and increased restrictions over speech and actions include the following:
The CEBA loans left over from the pandemic. The December 5th, 2024 The Opposition with Dan Knight post, “Auditor General: $3.5 Billion in CEBA Loans Went to Ineligible Businesses, Recovery Efforts Lacking,” calls this boondoggle a $3.5Bln disaster exposing “government negligence, corporate greed, and a total lack of accountability.” Previous stories such as the September 1st, 2023 Canadian Press post, “120 CRA employees fired for claiming Covid benefits while employed,” and the November 12th, 2024 CBC New post, “Organized crime 'knowingly and actively' exploited federal pandemic benefits: intelligence reports,” note how CEBA loans are a magnet for criminal activities and mostly unrecoverable once disbursed.
The problem of Canada’s Federal government policy to “crack down” on Airbnbs & and family owned, short-term rentals. These are usually homeowners just looking to make ends meet, but according to the December 4th, 2024 Travel Market Report, “Canada Is “Cracking Down” on Airbnb & Short-Term Rentals,” the Trudeau government doesn’t seem to like them. It’s the most recent component of the larger Canadian housing crisis; part the larger failure to build new housing amidst both a massive expansion of immigration just recently closed off by the Trudeau government this year and the newest wave of corporate and speculative housing stock purchases pushing up housing prices. Everyone benefits financially from this, except for the people, who can’t afford a place to live.
The massive overreach of quasi-judicial “tribunals” and thought police committees set up to police public viewpoints and demonize opposition to government policy. The most recent example of this is discussed in the DEcember 2nd, 2024 CTV News post, “Northwestern Ontario community fined by the Human Rights Tribunal for refusing to celebrate Pride Month” which discusses recent fines levied on both the mayor and the town of Emo, Ontario by the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario for failing to appropriately celebrate a legislated government holiday. According to the post:
In a decision from Nov. 20, the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario ordered the Town of Emo to pay $10,000 and Mayor Harold McQuaker to pay $5,000 to (local LGBTQ advocacy group) Borderland Pride for violating the Human Rights Code and discriminating against the organization. The tribunal has also ordered the town’s mayor and CAO to complete human rights training.
The issue began in 2020, when Borderland Pride requested the town declare June as Pride Month and fly or display a LGBTQ2S+ flag for a week during the month of June.
The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decisions that the opioid crisis justifies “warrantless invasions of privacy” in at least some cases. As noted in the December 6th, 2024 Globe and Mail post, “Supreme Court of Canada says opioid crisis justifies warrantless invasions of privacy in some cases,” no pharmaceutical companies are expected to be raided for information about how they pushed opioids onto the public and only criminals and poor folk are expected to be affected by the court ruling.
The federal government’s slow expansion of its ban on firearms, which began small but seems to be growing slowly over time via edict to cover almost all privately held weapons. The most recent expansion, as outlined in the December 6th, 2024 Global News post, “Lawful gun owners feel cheated by new federal firearms ban,” added 324 more makes and models of guns to the Federal government’s prohibited weapons list and notes that:
Officials made it clear that additional makes and models could be added to the list of banned firearms, saying an expert panel will provide advice on guns that are still on the market.
And finally, there’s Federal Bill C-40, an Act to amend the Criminal Code, to make consequential amendments to other Acts. It’s more commonly known as the “the Miscarriage of Justice Review Commission Act“ and, as outlined in the December 4th, 2024 Blendr on TikTok post, “Justin Trudeau is Creating a DEI Commission to Interfere With Canadian Judicial Proceedings,” the Trudeau government is using the bill to set up a government appointed, unelected board to overturn court decisions as required.
It's fascinating to note how much our government is able to do without our approval and how much they benefit from their actions.
No wonder Canadians are concerned.
Biden Mulls '“Preemptive” Pardons for Dr. Fauci and Others
Also in the news this week, the outgoing Biden Administration is mulling ‘Preemptive Pardons’ For Former Chief Medical Advisor to the President of United States Anthony Fauci, Congressman Adam Schiff, activist Liz Cheney and others fearing “imminent Trump Prosecutions.”
The original story, the December 4th, 2024 Politico post, “Biden White House Is Discussing Preemptive Pardons for Those in Trump’s Crosshairs,” has since been picked up by a variety of other outlets including Al Jazerra, the BBC and even Infowars.
So you just know it’s got to be true.
Canada as the 51st State
Finally tonight, here’s the December 8th, 2024 Mongo Minds on Bitchute post, “52 States Per Jesse.”
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