PONDERABLES
Who first decided that a pitcher shouldn’t throw more than 100 pitches in a game?
THINGS I FIRMLY BELIEVE
The Leafs will never be a winning hockey team with a goalie who gives up a soft goal in almost every game.
Maple Leaf GM Kyle Dubas and Justin Trudeau have a lot in common, they were both “not ready” when they filled their current posts, and they still aren’t.
The behind-the-plate umpiring this baseball season is the worst I’ve ever seen.
THE GIFT THAT JUST KEEPS GIVING
Which is Liberals ignoring real or perceived conflicts of interest. It’s been revealed that the Liberal government is paying tens of millions of dollars to a company of which Katie Telford’s husband, Robert Silver, is a senior vice-president. Katie Telford is Justin Trudeau’s chief of staff. The Liberals say that Ms. Telford has set up a “voluntary conflict of interest screen” and recuses herself from any decisions involving her husband’s company. That may well be, but given the nature of her job (access to all aspects of everything that’s going on in government) it doesn’t come even close to passing the most benign of smell tests and requires complete trust in Ms. Telford’s principles. Based on her recent performance before the commons finance committee that would indeed be a very dubious trust.
THE QUESTION IS NOT WHETHER, BUT WHEN
There is no doubt about it, Justin Trudeau lied. The only question is when did he lie? Was it on November 10, 2015, less than a week after he was sworn in as prime minister, or was it on July 30, 2020, when he appeared before the commons finance committee? At his appearance before the finance committee Trudeau said “I’m not friends with the Kielburgers. I know them, but I don’t have close ties.” But he’s quoted in the Toronto Star on November 10, 2015, as having publicly declared “… our friends Craig and Marc have done such an incredible job…” On the same day the Ottawa Citizen reported that Craig Kielburger described Trudeau as “his friend.” One of Trudeau’s assertions has to be a lie.
TRUDEAU’S “PUSHBACK”
When Justin Trudeau testified before the commons finance committee he also said that, because of WE’s ties to members of his family, he had “pushed back” when the WE proposal was brought before cabinet. He should also have pushed back because of his own personal ties to the Kielburgers and also because of the way that WE is structured; for example it was to a shell real estate corporation owned by the Kielburgers that the money would be going, and some did. (See next item.) But when Clerk of the Privy Council, Ian Shugart, testified about the government’s due diligence of WE he stated that none of the numerous WE internal issues, such as their financial woes, the firing of their CEO, resignations of a number of directors, and a governance structure that WE itself described as overly-complicated were considered. Not nearly enough push in that pushback.
SAME OLD BARDISH CHAGGER
During her terms as minister of small business and tourism and then government house leader from 2015 until the 2019 election, Waterloo Liberal MP, Bardish Chagger made a name for herself. Unfortunately, it was for abject incompetence. After the 2019 election, PM Justin Trudeau raised a lot of eyebrows when he included her in his new cabinet, this time as minister of a bunch of things including minister of youth. As such she’s a central figure in the WE scandal. Appearing before the commons finance committee this week she was asked how much of the $30 million that the WE organization had been paid before the deal was cancelled had been returned. She had to admit that she didn’t know. When pressed by opposition members she promised to “find out.” Egad!
AN NHL RULE THAT MAKES NO SENSE
When a player is assessed a two-minute minor penalty and his team is scored upon, say, forty-five seconds into it, he returns to the ice but his record is still charged with a full two minutes. However, if a player is being assessed a delayed penalty and the opposition scores the penalty is wiped out but is not included in his stats. Makes no sense whatsoever.
AN APTLY-NAMED BASEBALL STADIUM
The Blue Jays are now playing their home games at the aptly-named Sahlen Field in Buffalo. The stadium is named after the Sahlen Packing Co. which is famous for its hot dogs. Hot dogs, of course, have always been a baseball game staple.