New US ambassador to Canada believes in "both sides of science" on climate change

Kelly Craft, the new U.S. ambassador to Canada, said that when it comes to climate change she believes in "both sides of the science"

Craft told Rosemary Barton of the CBC that she appreciates all of the scientific evidence on climate change saying to Barton: "I think that both sides have their own results, from their studies, and I appreciate and I respect both sides of the science."

Craft said that although the position of President Trump on climate change is different from that of the Canadian government that the two countries shared the same goal to "better our environment and to maintain the environment."" She also claimed that the U.S. could still fight climate change though it is leaving the Paris climate change accord. Craft said that the US pulling out of the agreement should not impact America's broader relationships with its allies.

Craft's husband, billionaire coal-mining magnate Joe Craft, was critical of former president Obama's climate change policies.

The former Republican fundraiser was sworn in by the Kentucky governor, and her longtime friend, back in August, but she formally assumed her post after she presented her credentials to Governor General Julie Payette at Rideau Hall in Ottawa recently.

Craft is the first woman to be named U.S. ambassador to Canada. In 2007 she was appointed to be U.S. delegate to the UN.

Craft was a delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Kentucky. She is a member of the University of Kentucky's board of directors. She also heads Kelly G. Knight LLC a business advisory firm based in Lexington Kentucky.

Craft and her current husband gave $2 million to the Trump campaign but before that they supported Marco Rubio.

Craft said she was honoured to take on her role as ambassador. She said "Surely there is no better posting than Canada".

Catherine Mckenna, Canada's Environment Minister was quick to react to Craft's remarks about the environment saying: “There’s really only one side to climate change science — that we’re seeing the impact of climate change and that it’s man made." The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) website claims that 97 percent of scientists say that humans are causing climate change while just 2 percent reject that position.

In November of 2016 researchers at Texas Tech University examined 38 papers that denied human-caused climate change and found that all of them contained flawed methodology.

The researchers said: “A common denominator seems to be missing contextual information or ignoring information that does not fit the conclusions."

The latest assessment report by the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change claimed: “Human influence on the climate system is clear and growing, with impacts observed across all continents and oceans. Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented over decades to millennia.”

According to three separate analyses by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Japanese Meteorological Agency, this year is on its way to be one of the warmest years on record.

President Trump appoints woman as Canadian ambassador

U.S. President Donald Trump is poised to nominate Kelly Knight Craft as the next American ambassador to Canada. The post has been vacant since the former ambassador Bruce Heyman appointed by former president Barack Obama resigned on January 20.

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The White House announced in a statement late Wednesday that Craft had been picked for the post. Maryscott Greenwood who heads the Canadian-American Business Council praised the choice saying: "I think it's an inspired choice on the part of the president. It's a complement to Canada that the White House would choose a person of Kelly's calibre, intellect and talent, so I am excited about the prospect."

Her nomination will need to be approved by the Senate. The Trump administration hopes to get her nomination approved quickly so she can be ambassador before the NAFTA trade negotiations begin in August. Craft is married to billionaire Joe Craft, president and CEO of Alliance Resource Partners LP, one of the largest coal producers in the eastern United States. In 2012 a profile of him in McClatchy newspapers said he was Kentucky's most powerful non-elected person. He was critical of the Obama administration's environmental policies. His licence plate has the slogan "Friends of Coal."

Nevertheless, Greenwood did not think her husbands business would hurt relations. Both Knight Craft and her husband have donated to her alma mater the University of Kentucky. Knight Craft serves as a trustee on the board of the university. Her husband's business have given $2 million to the Super PAC of Karl Rove American Crossroads and to other Super PACs. Knight Craft is said to close to the Republican Majority Senate Leader Mitch McConnell. She has donated to and co-chaired fund-raising campaigns for him over the years. She is also involved in charitable work with the Salvation Army in Lexington, Kentucky. Knight Craft said of Trump's nominating her for the job: "I deeply appreciate the President's confidence in me, and am looking forward to the Senate confirmation process." The State Department has already vetted her. Knight Craft was appointed to a UN delegation back in 2007 by George W. Bush.

Mac Brown, co-chair of the Republican Party of Kentucky also sang the praises of Knight Craft saying: "She's an unbelievable, very nice woman who is extraordinarily hard-working," The US Senate over which McConnell presides is expected to deal with a number of major issues affecting Canada in the future, including tax reform, trade disputes, and the renegotiation of NAFTA.

Toronto District School Board cancels all new trips to the United States

The Toronto District School Board is canceling all new planned school trips to the United States until further notice due to the uncertainty with respect to whom could be affected by Trump's latest travel restrictions.

The Girl Guides of Canada and other school boards have halted travel to the U.S. The Windsor School board implemented a ban back on February 11th as reported in a Digital Journal article. The new ban replacing an earlier one bans travel to the U.S. from Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen unless the travelers have already been issued valid visas. However, as with the first ban, the new version is suspended pending several court challenges. The ban is to last 90 days.

In a statement released on Thursday, March 23rd, John Malloy, Director of Education said that the board faced a difficult choice: "We strongly believe that our students should not be placed into these situations of potentially being turned away at the border. For the planned trips that will be continuing, should students with the appropriate documentation be denied entry to the U.S. for no legitimate reason, the entire trip will return to Toronto and will not proceed." The board has 246,000 students in 584 schools throughout Toronto.If the U.S. travel restrictions are fully implemented, the school board said that even pre-approved trips would be cancelled.

A few individuals from the countries on the ban list will still be eligible to enter the U.S. if they are dual nationals travelling on a passport from a country not on the list or if they are legal permanent residents of the U.S. Iraq has been removed from the second list of banned countries. The Ottawa-Carleton District school board sent a letter to parents asking them if they thought upcoming trips to the U.S. should go ahead.

Roy Bird, spokesperson for the Toronto board told the Canadian Broadcasting System (CBC) that the ban would be in place until further notice. When asked whether the ban was a political statement he said: "I think this is about the information that we have in front of us. I think it's about the equity and inclusion angle. I'm not naive to say that it doesn't make a statement, but the decision is not being made as a statement." He said the main concern of the board was that students would not be turned away at the border even if they had the necessary documentation. Bird noted: "We have heard anecdotal stories of the executive order, in some cases when it was in place before, preventing people even with the appropriate documentation from crossing the border, and we don't want to put our students in that position. What we're saying is if this executive order is fully implemented, it could cause problems."

Toronto District School Board (TDSB) chair, Robin Pilkey said that there were 25 previously organized trips involving 900 students that will go ahead as planned. He said if any students with proper documentation are turned back the whole group will return. Pilkey said: "We're committed as a school board to equity, inclusiveness and fairness, and it's not appropriate that some students would not be able to attend based on their country of birth." While some families are asking why all trips were not cancelled, others are anxious planned trips go ahead. Bird said: "Hundreds of kids have been working months in some cases, fundraising, planning, working hard on competitions to get to where they are, and we don't want them to miss out on those opportunities."

Canadian banned from entering US because he admitted smoking pot recreationally

Even though the use of marijuana is legal in several U.S. states and Canada plans to legalize its use even for recreational purposes, a federal U.S. law allows people to be denied entry if they admit to smoking pot recreationally.

In an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting System (CBC) Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said:"We obviously need to intensify our discussions with our border authorities in the United States, including the Department of Homeland Security. This does seem to be a ludicrous situation." He noted that the use of marijuana was legal in several U.S. states. Four allow recreational use and nine have the issue on the ballot in November. Trudeau promises to legalize it by the Spring of 2017.

The Canadian government has been speaking with the U.S. to inform that Canada intends to legalize the use of marijuana yet the issue of Canadians being stopped at the border remains unaddressed. Scott Bardsley, a spokesperson for Goodale said: "In terms of the practices of border guards in question, those only came to widespread attention recently and will be discussed in future bilateral discussions."

Matthew Harvey wanted to take his 3-year-old daughter to Disneyland in California but he has been banned from entering the U.S. for life because he admitted that he had smoked marijuana after the age of 18 and before he had received a medical marijuana licence. At the time, Harvey smoked the marijuana there was no program.

Harvey's problem began in 2014. He was driving from Vancouver to Seattle for a concert. Customs officer noticed a marijuana magazine in his car. He was questioned and detained for six hours. Harvey was then a legal marijuana user in Canada and was entering a state in which recreational and medical use of marijuana is legal. He did not think telling the truth would lead to any problems. However, marijuana is still a federally controlled substance.

To enter the U.S. Harvey must apply for a travel waiver which costs $585 US ($750 Cdn) and even that is on a discretionary basis and can be good for a year, two, or five depending on the officer granting it. Later this year fee goes up to $930 US.

Ralph Goodale said: "The present marijuana regime that has existed now for many years in both Canada and the United States has clearly failed Canadian and American young people because North American teenagers are among the biggest users of marijuana in the western world. We will certainly work very hard to make sure that they understand that we're moving a regime with respect to marijuana that will be far more effective than theirs."

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau admitted publicly in 2013 that he had smoked marijuana "five or six times" in the past. Len Saunders, an immigration lawyer in Blaine Washington who has processed a number of waiver applications says that Trudeau would be admissible under a diplomatic passport and so would probably have no trouble, but as a private citizen he would not be admissible and would need waivers for the rest of his life. Saunders advised Canadians asked about their marijuana use at the border simply to refuse to answer. However, you may end up being held for several hours before they let you pass through. Harvey suggests a policy of simply denying that you used pot for recreation.

Officials at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, the U.S. State Department, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection all did not respond to a request to comment by the Guardian.

US malls bordering Canada offering specials to lure Canadians as loonie dives

The low loonie or Canadian dollar began to fall against the U.S. dollar last fall. Before its fall Canadians often went on shopping trips across the border to buy many items at lower prices.

Although the loonie has recovered slightly to around 76 cents U.S., it is still too low to entice Canadian shoppers to travel to the US. The loss of Canadian shoppers has had a detrimental effect on malls that previously had made extra profits from the Canadian trade. Stephen Fine, president of the resource site CrossBorderShopping, said: "They're really noticing the decrease in Canadian Shoppers now." Some malls are using special deals to lure Canadian customers back. The deals range from gifts, to at-par exchange. Some start this Victoria Day weekend.

Statistics Canada reports that 977,686 Canadian autos made same day trips to the U.S. this March, a decline of 15 percent from last year. Overnight trips declined by almost as much at 13 percent.

Bells Fair, a Mall in Bellingham, Washington, just south of Vancouver B.C., has 18 retailers including the Gap, JCPenny and Macy's that are accepting the loonie at par until Remembrance Day in November during Canadian long weekends, including Victoria Day weekend. General manager of the mall,Rene Morris, said: "I just thought, how can we help our Canadian shoppers?They want to come, but the loonie is low." Morris estimates that she has lost about 25 percent of her Canadian customers compared to about two years ago when the loonie was above 90 cents U.S. She said the whole community is feeling the decline. Parking lots are no longer full of the blue and white B.C. licence plates. She said she had to do a lot of convincing to get retailers to accept the plan but once she got Macy's to sign up, many more joined. Hotels are also joining in, offering special rates for Canadians. The Sheraton Four Points will offer room rates at par on the weekend.

In other areas of Canada near the U.S. border are offering deals. Walden Galleria in Buffalo has joined with a nearby Hampton Inn to offer shoppers rooms at par plus a $20 gift certificate. The offer will continue until the end of June. Other retailers in the Galleria are offering Canadians discounts of up to 25 percent. Shoppers in Toronto and other southern Ontario cities near the border will probably be lured by the offers. A retail outlet in Niagara Falls NY, right on the border is offering a $20 Visa gift card with every $200 spent up to a maximum of $100 in gift cards. Marketing manager Meghan Ayers said: "There's a direct correlation to Canadian traffic when the loonie declines. We're incentivizing Canadians to cross the border." Fine of CrossBorderShopping thinks that the deals and warm summer weather will entice more Canadians to shop in the U.S.

The diving loonie is also having a negative effect on snowbirds. Snowbirds are Canadians, many of them retired, who travel south, mostly to the southern U.S., in order to avoid harsh Canadian winters. Grace Tenhoeve, 71, used to be a regular snowbird, escaping Canadian winter's in Waterdown, Ontario, every year and staying in Florida. This year she has decided she just cannot afford to go:"When the dollar dropped I said, You know what, I'm not going,...I'm not that rich." She lives alone on a fixed income.

As with retailers on the borders, those in other areas of the U.S. who earn a considerable amount of their income from Canadians are giving big discounts to attract them back..Scottsdale, Arizona, is one of the cities trying to entice Canadians to return. Rachel Pearson of the city's visitors bureau brags: "Scottsdale loves Canadians, so come on down." Canadians are the biggest group of international visitors. Some businesses are accepting the loonie at par. The city even has catchy ads running in Canada such as: "Get some loonie love in Scottsdale." The ads also appear on line. Deals include meal vouchers, up to 25 percent off accommodation, and discounts on boat tours, shopping and spas.

Last November and October car trips to the U.S. declined by 23 percent compared to the year before. Plane trips were down 6.3 percent The higher US dollar has had the result that sales of all-inclusive trips to Mexico and the Caribbean have jumped more than ten percent.

Places such as Kissimmee, Florida, are trying to counteract the decline in Canadian visitors. On the website of Alexander Holiday Homes we hear; "The Canadian exchange rate being so low is causing many to hesitate traveling to Florida this year. We have the solution!" The solution is a 30 percent discount. Myrtle Beach in South Carolina has a number of hotels and tourist attractions that offer Canadians discounts of up to 65 percent. Nearly a million Canadians visit Myrtle Beach each year. The director of marketing with Vacation Myrtle Beach Resorts running 14 resorts notes the chain offers discounts of 25 percent for Canadians staying at hotels for at least a week. He said that the chain did not want to weaken any ties to people who had been returning for years.

Tenhoeve has decided to stay put. She a community indoor pool where the water temperature is 88 degrees Fahrenheit. She claims she does not need to go to Florida. As the appended video shows, some Canadians are taking advantage of the high U.S. dollar by selling off homes they bought when the U.S. housing market dropped drastically.

Gary Doer Canadian Ambassador to the US and former Manitoba premier to return to province

- Gary Doer is planning to leave his position as Canadian ambassador to the U.S. soon, but is leaving the exact date to the new Liberal government.

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When he resigned as premier of Manitoba, he did not say that the Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper had chosen him to be Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Given that Doer was a prominent NDP premier, the appointment was a surprise. Harper constantly warns his supporters about the dangers of the socialist NDP. However, as former NDP Manitoba MLA and leftist Cy Gonick claims, perhaps Doer "does not have a socialist bone in his body." No doubt Harper hoped that Doer's diplomatic skills in dealing with politicians of every political stripe and his leftist credentials would help him out in dealing with the new Democratic administration of Barack Obama in the United States.

In spite of his NDP background or perhaps because of it, Doer's efforts were appreciated by the Conservatives. He has served Harper for six years, a period longer than his last two predecessors together. He has worked tirelessly but unsuccessfully to move the Keystone XL pipeline project forward. He was able to negotiate an arrangement to facilitate border crossing, but the deal must still go through the U.S. Congress and Canadian parliament, the same is true of the recently concluded Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP). Trudeau Liberals are likely to support the agreement. Another former NDPer, Liberal Bob Rae, has been rumoured as a possible successor to Doer. Rae was once an NDP premier of Ontario.

It appears Doer will return to the province of Manitoba: "I've never sold my home in Winnipeg, Winnipeg's always been my home. I didn't sell my house, I didn't sell my cabin.I don't want to go into much more detail....I'll talk about the future when the future starts — which is not quite yet ... I loved being premier. It was an honour to be an ambassador. It's always an honour to represent Canada."

Doer's return to Manitoba no doubt will see some provincial NDP insiders planning to have him return to Manitoba politics and perhaps become premier again after the upcoming election next April. The present NDP government is quite unpopular and testing new bottoms in the polls. It trails the Conservative opposition by some 20 percentage points and is almost tied with the Liberals, who have 24 percent of the vote compared to 25 for the NDP in a September poll.

Doer served as Canadian Ambassador to the US since October 19, 2009. Doer had been 20th Premier of Manitoba from 1999 right up until 2009, when he resigned shortly before his appointment as ambassador. For Doer to run, the present leader and Prime Minister Greg Sellingerwould have to step down so there could be an early leadership convention. Sellinger survived a leadership challenge which created divisions within the party but those appear to be mainly patched up by now.

Tiny Machias Seal Island claimed by both the US and Canada

Machias Seal Island is a tiny rock island 16 kilometres from the coast of the US state of Maine and 19 kilometers south of Grand Manan Island just off the coast of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The island is claimed by both Canada and the US.

Machias Seal Island has an area of just 8 hectares or about 20 acres. The island is a sanctuary for many seabirds including the Atlantic Puffin seen in the appended video. Visitors from around the world come to view the birds during the summer.

There are no permanent residents of the island although there are lighthouse keepers who come in pairs and stay four weeks at a time. The lighthouse is operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The original lighthouse was built by the British in 1832. There has been a lighthouse maintained ever since. Many think that the presence of the lighthouse will give Canada a legitimate claim to the island. The United States has never had a presence on the island except in 1918 during the First World War when a small detachment of marines was posted to the island with Canadian agreement.

However in the past private citizens in Maine have claimed ownership of the island. There is a tour boat operator from Cutler Maine, who brings tourists to the island in the summer to view the birds. While there has been no oil or mineral resources discovered in the area, there is a large 720 square kilometres around the island called a grey zone. Lobster fishermen from both Canada and the US fish this area.

MP for New Brunswick Southwest , John Williamson said:

"The fishing community on Grand Manan is permitted to fish there on an open-end basis and it's our way of laying our claim to this water that is part of the Machias Seal Island dispute.I think our claim is sound and is legitimate, but at the end of the day it's going to come down to the minister in this country and the administration in Washington to settle it. I think it is in the interests of both of our countries to do that."

Unfortunately an earlier decision of a joint commission in 1817 did not decide the ownership of Machias Sea Island even though it did decide that of other islands in the area including Moose, Dudley, and Fredericks Islands that are now owned by the US and also Grand Manan island that now belongs to Canada.

Stephen Kelly of Duke University and a retired US diplomat thinks that it would be a good idea to resolve the issue.

"It just strikes me if we have this opportunity to remove a potential irritant going forward, why don't we take it. What if some valuable resource is discovered in the grey zone around Machias Seal Island? What if some other contingency that we can't imagine now of strategic importance comes along?Wouldn't we feel silly that we didn't take the opportunity to resolve this when the stakes were relatively low."

Ralph Edlridge, who has been a light-keeper on the island for 16 years, thought ownership was a non-issue. Neither he nor anyone else who comes to visit the island has to worry about showing a passport whether they come from Maine, Canada, China, or Spain he said. Barbara Harvey a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Trade said that as far as Canada is concerned the island is Canadian: "Canada's sovereignty over Machias Seal Island and sovereign jurisdiction over the 210 square nautical mile surrounding waters is strongly founded in international law." Some residents of Maine may not agree.

High Loonie boon to travelers to the US

However as the article also notes the high loonie will also hurt exporters. While travelers to the US will benefit so will Canadian consumers since the cost of imported goods should decline as our dollars will purchase more in other countries. This is from the Star.

A boon to March break travellers

Emily Mathieu

Canada's manufacturers and exporters are likely to feel the squeeze after the Canadian dollar crept closer to parity on Friday following stronger-than-expected employment numbers.

"It's much more doubtful whether the Canadian economy can really live with a currency quite that strong on an extended basis, at least not until commodity prices are a lot higher than they are today," said CIBC chief economist Avery Shenfeld.

"We have already wiped out some of the manufacturers and exporters that had a tough time competing with a strong exchange rate."

On Friday, Statistics Canada reported that 60,000 full-time positions were created in February, with gains in business, building and other support services, manufacturing, health care and social assistance. The gains were offset by a loss of 39,000 part-jobs the same month.

Following the labour report, the loonie touched a 20-month high, briefly tapping 98.47 cents (U.S.), the highest level since July 2008.

The currency closed at 98.20 cents, up 0.57 of a cent.

Matthew Strauss, senior currency strategist with RBC Capital Markets, said the Canadian dollar is expected to move to parity during the first half of 2010.

"It seems we might even get there before the end of the month."

For cross-border shoppers and Canadians going south for March break, the strong loonie means better deals. But, for Canada's exporters and manufacturers, finally showing signs of life after dismal job losses, the surge could have a significantly negative impact.

"The rising dollar is a major challenge for Canadian exporters," said economist Erin Weir, with the United Steelworkers union.

Earlier in March, the Bank of Canada said it would maintain its target for the overnight rate at 0.25 per cent and the bank rate would also remain unchanged at 0.50 per cent, with the deposit rate remaining static at 0.25 per cent. The bank said, conditional on the current rate of inflation, overnight rates are expected to hold until the end of the second quarter of 2010.

Strauss said the central bank is expected to raise rates fairly aggressively, but it is not clear at what pace.

With files from The Canadian Press

U.S. trying to convince Canada to stay in Afghanistan after 2011

This is hardly a surprising development. What is surprising isk Brewster's claim that Harper personally does not want have Canada stay on after 2011. However, his views could change if the US actually formally makes requests but perhaps not. The mission is not popular and as casualties mount it will become even more unpopular.
Ignatieff on this issue is probably worse than Harper. He at one time supported the Bush invasion of Iraq and he is an intellectual cheerleader for U.S. humanitarian imperialism. Although the Liberal party is split on the issue many Liberals such as Harper's favorite John Manley are very much hawks on Afghanistan. Manley has served the Canadian business elite well and is now rewarded with a top job:

John Manley has been doing Tom d’Aquino’s job for years, says Council of Canadians
Ottawa - The appointment of former Liberal MP John Manley as president of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) gives North America’s big business community a powerful new voice in Ottawa to push for deregulation, privatization and deep economic and security integration with the United States and Mexico, says the Council of Canadians.

This is from the Globe and Mail.


U.S. probing ways to keep Canada in Afghanistan
Murray Brewster
Ottawa —
Obama Democrats have quietly sounded out power brokers in Ottawa looking for advice on how to convince war-weary Canadians to keep military forces in Afghanistan after 2011.
Conscious of the deep political and public opposition to extending the mission further, American officials - political and military - are struggling to understand concerns and identify the right arguments to make to the Harper government to "keep Canadian boots on the ground," defence sources said.
The United States has not formally - or even informally - requested Ottawa extend the deployment of 2,850 combat troops, trainers and aircrew in volatile and bloody Kandahar, where 120 soldiers and one diplomat have died over seven years.
The questions being asked are meant to lay the groundwork for a potential request, which the administration could make late this year or in early 2010, said a source familiar with the process.
It's unclear whether the U.S. would ask Canada to stay on in Kandahar or elsewhere.
The sophisticated, below-the-radar effort reflects Washington's new approach to dealing with allies, and marks a sharp departure from the days when former U.S. president George W. Bush declared: "You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror."
The informal exercise comes as no surprise to seasoned diplomats, who say Canada's self-imposed pullout deadline of 2011, and a Dutch plan to withdraw its troops in July of next year, complicate the U.S.'s long-term strategy in the region.
President Barack Obama has made it clear Afghanistan is the central front in the war against al-Qaeda and terrorism.
Any discussion of Canadian involvement beyond 2011 will likely make Prime Minister Stephen Harper's minority government squirm because there's no appetite for extending such a costly war.
Contrary to the picture often painted by opposition parties, Mr. Harper is personally opposed to staying beyond the end date and has said privately that if Parliament "hadn't imposed a deadline" on him, he would have done it himself because an "open-ended war is not in the best interest of the country - or the army."