the new left has become very cruel to the working class

[Anonymous]

Lock downs, cancelling energy development projects, raising taxes, today's left is destroying the working class.



But my thoughts kept coming back to an email I received earlier this week. Peter wrote to me a few days ago to tell me his younger brother Norm had died.



"On the first lockdown, he lost his job leaving him with no way to support his family. Somewhere along the way, he and his wife developed a crack habit." They lost their condo. They didn't have the money to get their belongings out of storage. They packed what they could to live in their car, along with their six-year-old boy. Then, due to an expired licence, authorities impounded the car too.



They tried to get support from family in Vancouver, but by then they were in full siege of addiction and they moved to a city with even easier access to harder street drugs. Grandma threw them out after a couple of months.



"Needless to say their boy ended up in the arms of social services and they crawled their way back to Edmonton. No money, no place to go and broken from losing their boy." Norm was found sitting up against a building in south Edmonton on Friday night. He was so cold he must have been there for a while.



"My brother was a fully functioning contributing member of society and within a year, the government took everything from him. Including his life." Peter wrote me because he was furious about the lockdown restrictions that began his brother's downfall. But he said something that could apply just as well to Keystone XL and a myriad of other government decisions that have led to massive job losses in recent years.



"Government better start recognizing that I am in a huge and growing demograph of people who are developing a true TRUE hate for elected and unelected people that make snap decisions just so they can appear to be doing something."



This is what job loss looks like. This is the despair that comes of being unable to support yourself and your family. When Premier Jason Kenney talks about the 2,000 people who lost their jobs in a snap decision by the president, he's talking about guys like Norm. When the Building Trades of Alberta issues a news release warning that this decision is going to cost thousands of jobs, it is talking about guys like Norm.



Yet Green Party Leader Annamie Paul said Biden's decision shows the U.S. is now going to be led by a committed "climate warrior," while Canada's leadership is "not serious about tackling the climate emergency."



NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh applauded the move as well, saying, "I agree with that decision. I do not support the project ... This is the direction that the future requires, we've got to fight the climate crisis."



How did everything get this broken? How did the left, the people who keep on telling us they are the true champion for the working class, become so cruel?



For days, the commentariat has talked endlessly about the great personal relationship between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Biden, and how great the change in the White House will be for Canada. Both are clearly untrue. If their relationship was so great, Biden would have delayed his decision until they'd had a chance to meet and discuss the consequences of it. If Biden is going to be so great for Canada, his first act would not have been to strike a blow to an industry that exports more than $100 billion in products, mostly to the U.S.



But who can blame the Americans when our political leaders cheer them on and do the same? Trudeau cancelled the Northern Gateway pipeline and TC Energy cancelled Energy East after seeing no clear path to approval. If we don't want to build pipelines to get our own resources to market off our own shores, why should they?



Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced her intention to rescind the permit for Line 5 through the straits of Mackinac, which will cut off the supply of oil to refineries in Sarnia, Ont. Those refineries produce gasoline and diesel to power eastern Canadian cars, propane to heat their homes and aviation fuel for Pearson International Airport.



Ontario and Quebec better wake up. This misery is coming your way next.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/smith-in-the-age-of-lockdowns-and-keystone-this-is-what-job-loss-looks-like">https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/colum ... looks-like">https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/smith-in-the-age-of-lockdowns-and-keystone-this-is-what-job-loss-looks-like

[Anonymous]

Either the modern left is ignorant of the pain their pet policies cause or they are so heartless they don't care. They should all be forced to see the people who's lives they have destroyed.

[Anonymous]

The Paris Accord is another example of the hard left of being so gung ho they don't care about the pain they are causing for working families.



Experts Warn of 'Devastating' Economic Impact of Rejoining Paris Climate Accord



Rejoining the Paris climate agreement as it stands now will have devastating economic consequences for the United States, with little actual environmental benefit, according to experts.



President Joe Biden on Jan. 20 signed an executive order to rejoin the global pact, one of his first major moves as president. According to the United Nations, developed countries under the agreement should "take the lead in providing financial assistance to countries that are less endowed and more vulnerable," while also encouraging voluntary contributions by other countries.



While "well intentioned," the agreement was flawed economically and environmentally from the get-go, according to Nicolas Loris, deputy director of the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at the Heritage Foundation.



"It will be very costly for Americans families and business because 80 percent of our energy needs are met though carbon-emitting conventional fuels," Loris told The Epoch Times. "Regulating them and subsidizing alternatives is going to harm American families and taxpayers.



"Because there is really no teeth to the Paris climate accord, developing countries are getting a free pass in terms of their emissions," he said. "It's likely that the Paris climate accord is not going to reach its intended goal."



A 2016 Heritage Foundation report authored by Loris and other experts explores the consequences the United States would face if part of the Paris Agreement. The report, titled "Consequences of Paris Protocol: Devastating Economic Costs, Essentially Zero Environmental Benefits," analyzed the costs of the economic fallout as well as the impact it would have on reducing carbon emissions globally.



Businesses are going to pass on these costs to the consumer, according to Loris.



"We estimate that over a 15-year period, you're talking about an aggregate loss of $20,000 per family of four," he said. "If the cost of energy is increased, Americans not only have to pay more for electricity and at the pump, but they will also have to pay more for groceries, going out to eat, or buying clothes, as it all takes energy to make."



The economic hit to families will be significant and would disproportionately impact the poor, who spend the highest percentage of their budget on energy costs, Loris said.



"It's a very regressive policy, rather than something that should be more proactive and innovation-focused that can lead to economic and environmental well-being," he said.



"This agreement really achieved neither ... The real bottom line is that it's all economic pain and no real climate gain from a global perspective."



Anthony Watts, senior research fellow of environment and climate at The Heartland Institute, said according to their analysis, the agreement would cost the United States "about 2.7 million jobs by 2025 due to scaling back parts of industries. Now that would have been about 440,000 manufacturing jobs that we would have lost."



The United States formally left the Paris accord in November 2020, though President Donald Trump had talked about leaving as early as 2017. Trump criticized the deal for negatively impacting the U.S. economy, while noting that some other countries wouldn't be held to the same standards.



"Under the agreement China will be able to increase these emissions by a staggering number of years—13," Trump said. "They can do whatever they want for 13 years. Not us. ... There are many other examples."



Meanwhile, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called Biden's move a step in the wrong direction. He said the United States has "already been reducing carbon emissions while China and other nations in the agreement have kept increasing theirs."



"The president re-entered the failed Paris climate agreement—a terrible bargain that would set us up to self-inflict major economic pain on working American families with no assurance that China or Russia would honor their commitments," McConnell said on Jan. 21.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/rejoining-paris-climate-deal-will-have-devastating-economic-consequences-experts-say_3665887.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-01-22">https://www.theepochtimes.com/rejoining ... 2021-01-22">https://www.theepochtimes.com/rejoining-paris-climate-deal-will-have-devastating-economic-consequences-experts-say_3665887.html?utm_source=morningbriefnoe&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mb-2021-01-22

[Anonymous]

The developing world, China in particular love the Paris Agreement..



Ottawa and Washington take money from the kitchen tables of working families like mine and give it to Peking.

[Anonymous]

Lock downs, cancelling energy development projects, raising taxes, today's left is destroying the working class.



But my thoughts kept coming back to an email I received earlier this week. Peter wrote to me a few days ago to tell me his younger brother Norm had died.



"On the first lockdown, he lost his job leaving him with no way to support his family. Somewhere along the way, he and his wife developed a crack habit." They lost their condo. They didn't have the money to get their belongings out of storage. They packed what they could to live in their car, along with their six-year-old boy. Then, due to an expired licence, authorities impounded the car too.



They tried to get support from family in Vancouver, but by then they were in full siege of addiction and they moved to a city with even easier access to harder street drugs. Grandma threw them out after a couple of months.



"Needless to say their boy ended up in the arms of social services and they crawled their way back to Edmonton. No money, no place to go and broken from losing their boy." Norm was found sitting up against a building in south Edmonton on Friday night. He was so cold he must have been there for a while.



"My brother was a fully functioning contributing member of society and within a year, the government took everything from him. Including his life." Peter wrote me because he was furious about the lockdown restrictions that began his brother's downfall. But he said something that could apply just as well to Keystone XL and a myriad of other government decisions that have led to massive job losses in recent years.



"Government better start recognizing that I am in a huge and growing demograph of people who are developing a true TRUE hate for elected and unelected people that make snap decisions just so they can appear to be doing something."



This is what job loss looks like. This is the despair that comes of being unable to support yourself and your family. When Premier Jason Kenney talks about the 2,000 people who lost their jobs in a snap decision by the president, he's talking about guys like Norm. When the Building Trades of Alberta issues a news release warning that this decision is going to cost thousands of jobs, it is talking about guys like Norm.



Yet Green Party Leader Annamie Paul said Biden's decision shows the U.S. is now going to be led by a committed "climate warrior," while Canada's leadership is "not serious about tackling the climate emergency."



NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh applauded the move as well, saying, "I agree with that decision. I do not support the project ... This is the direction that the future requires, we've got to fight the climate crisis."



How did everything get this broken? How did the left, the people who keep on telling us they are the true champion for the working class, become so cruel?



For days, the commentariat has talked endlessly about the great personal relationship between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Biden, and how great the change in the White House will be for Canada. Both are clearly untrue. If their relationship was so great, Biden would have delayed his decision until they'd had a chance to meet and discuss the consequences of it. If Biden is going to be so great for Canada, his first act would not have been to strike a blow to an industry that exports more than $100 billion in products, mostly to the U.S.



But who can blame the Americans when our political leaders cheer them on and do the same? Trudeau cancelled the Northern Gateway pipeline and TC Energy cancelled Energy East after seeing no clear path to approval. If we don't want to build pipelines to get our own resources to market off our own shores, why should they?



Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced her intention to rescind the permit for Line 5 through the straits of Mackinac, which will cut off the supply of oil to refineries in Sarnia, Ont. Those refineries produce gasoline and diesel to power eastern Canadian cars, propane to heat their homes and aviation fuel for Pearson International Airport.



Ontario and Quebec better wake up. This misery is coming your way next.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/smith-in-the-age-of-lockdowns-and-keystone-this-is-what-job-loss-looks-like">https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/colum ... looks-like">https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/smith-in-the-age-of-lockdowns-and-keystone-this-is-what-job-loss-looks-like

Progs are pretty heartless. That's what happens when they turn on blue collar workers.

[Anonymous]

Lock downs, cancelling energy development projects, raising taxes, today's left is destroying the working class.



But my thoughts kept coming back to an email I received earlier this week. Peter wrote to me a few days ago to tell me his younger brother Norm had died.



"On the first lockdown, he lost his job leaving him with no way to support his family. Somewhere along the way, he and his wife developed a crack habit." They lost their condo. They didn't have the money to get their belongings out of storage. They packed what they could to live in their car, along with their six-year-old boy. Then, due to an expired licence, authorities impounded the car too.



They tried to get support from family in Vancouver, but by then they were in full siege of addiction and they moved to a city with even easier access to harder street drugs. Grandma threw them out after a couple of months.



"Needless to say their boy ended up in the arms of social services and they crawled their way back to Edmonton. No money, no place to go and broken from losing their boy." Norm was found sitting up against a building in south Edmonton on Friday night. He was so cold he must have been there for a while.



"My brother was a fully functioning contributing member of society and within a year, the government took everything from him. Including his life." Peter wrote me because he was furious about the lockdown restrictions that began his brother's downfall. But he said something that could apply just as well to Keystone XL and a myriad of other government decisions that have led to massive job losses in recent years.



"Government better start recognizing that I am in a huge and growing demograph of people who are developing a true TRUE hate for elected and unelected people that make snap decisions just so they can appear to be doing something."



This is what job loss looks like. This is the despair that comes of being unable to support yourself and your family. When Premier Jason Kenney talks about the 2,000 people who lost their jobs in a snap decision by the president, he's talking about guys like Norm. When the Building Trades of Alberta issues a news release warning that this decision is going to cost thousands of jobs, it is talking about guys like Norm.



Yet Green Party Leader Annamie Paul said Biden's decision shows the U.S. is now going to be led by a committed "climate warrior," while Canada's leadership is "not serious about tackling the climate emergency."



NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh applauded the move as well, saying, "I agree with that decision. I do not support the project ... This is the direction that the future requires, we've got to fight the climate crisis."



How did everything get this broken? How did the left, the people who keep on telling us they are the true champion for the working class, become so cruel?



For days, the commentariat has talked endlessly about the great personal relationship between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Biden, and how great the change in the White House will be for Canada. Both are clearly untrue. If their relationship was so great, Biden would have delayed his decision until they'd had a chance to meet and discuss the consequences of it. If Biden is going to be so great for Canada, his first act would not have been to strike a blow to an industry that exports more than $100 billion in products, mostly to the U.S.



But who can blame the Americans when our political leaders cheer them on and do the same? Trudeau cancelled the Northern Gateway pipeline and TC Energy cancelled Energy East after seeing no clear path to approval. If we don't want to build pipelines to get our own resources to market off our own shores, why should they?



Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced her intention to rescind the permit for Line 5 through the straits of Mackinac, which will cut off the supply of oil to refineries in Sarnia, Ont. Those refineries produce gasoline and diesel to power eastern Canadian cars, propane to heat their homes and aviation fuel for Pearson International Airport.



Ontario and Quebec better wake up. This misery is coming your way next.

https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/smith-in-the-age-of-lockdowns-and-keystone-this-is-what-job-loss-looks-like">https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/colum ... looks-like">https://calgaryherald.com/opinion/columnists/smith-in-the-age-of-lockdowns-and-keystone-this-is-what-job-loss-looks-like

Progs are pretty heartless. That's what happens when they turn on blue collar workers.

I was never political until this globalist movement started attacking working class families like mine.

[Anonymous]

The old man liked Tommy Douglas. I admire him too. Old Tommy, would be rolling in his grave that these anti blue collar elitist wankers stole the socialist label.

[cc]

I was never political until this globalist movement started attacking working class families like mine.

Yes. I recall seeing and feeling that evolve

[cc]

The old man liked Tommy Douglas. I admire him too. Old Tommy, would be rolling in his grave that these anti blue collar elitist wankers stole the socialist label.

Douglas was one of the most caring, effective and smart politicians ever .. or rather a movement leader .. of the original and caring left



My grandfather, also  CCF was a Mayor in Ontario, and they were good friends and helped bring some change. I recall as a kid being privy to one side of many phone calls between them

While I evolved right of center, they both remain special gems to me to this day



Paul Martin Sr used my grandfather as a go-between to Douglas (who was on the prairies) and use many of his and their ideas in setting up the original Health Care for Canada. Martin Sr was also a gem and ready to get good ideas from all parties .. Jr, not so much



Today's left bears no resemblance to that original Douglas breed .. in fact newer leaders of the CCF even changed the name to NDP to help escape the promise of the original CCF .. and start to become just another party ,, and the useless left of today

[Anonymous]

Today's left bears no resemblance to that original Douglas breed .. in fact newer leaders of the CCF even changed the name to NDP to help escape the promise of the original CCF .. and start to become just another party ,, and the useless left of today

You got that right sister.

[Gaon]

Cancellation of projects like Keystone or Energy East would not happen in Israel. The government would be liable for costs and job losses.

[Thiel]

The old man liked Tommy Douglas. I admire him too. Old Tommy, would be rolling in his grave that these anti blue collar elitist wankers stole the socialist label.

What passes for the left today has very little in common with the old left. Global capital is behind it, which was the traditional enemy of the left.

[Anonymous]

These are the people behind the heartlessness of Trudeau's polices.

[cc]

Either the modern left is ignorant of the pain their pet policies cause or they are so heartless they don't care. They should all be forced to see the people who's lives they have destroyed.

I'd say that they just don't give a damn ..  period .. & wouldn't even if "forced to see the people who's lives they have destroyed"

[cc]

The old man liked Tommy Douglas. I admire him too. Old Tommy, would be rolling in his grave that these anti blue collar elitist wankers stole the socialist label.

What passes for the left today has very little in common with the old left. Global capital is behind it, which was the traditional enemy of the left.

Eggs Actly



Brings back a memory. I've said how my "dedicated" CCF & Mayor grandfather was buddies with Tommy ... well unlike many other of my relatives who went for political office with no "true" cause beyond their own well being and political expediency, he saw the left going astray and stopped supporting it.

I was so lucky to have such a genuine person as a grandfather & example