Bank of Canada raises the interest rate again: +0.75%

OTTAWA – Here we go again. The Bank of Canada will raise its benchmark interest rate by 0.75% on Wednesday: a new increase, therefore, after the 0.50% increase on June 1, when the rate was raised to 1.50. %. From Wednesday, it will be at 2.25%. The reason, as always, is that of the “fight against inflation” which in recent weeks has reached its highest level in almost 40 years: 7.7 per cent. 

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Patrick Brown dichiara guerra al PC

TORONTO – Patrick Brown, madre e moglie entrambe italiane, è sindaco di Brampton e, fino alla notte tra il 5 e il 6 giugno, anche candidato alla guida del Partito Conservatore. Tramite i suoi avvocati dell’Henein Hutchison LLP, Patrick Brown ha notificato formalmente l’intenzione di appellare la decisione del “Dispute Resolutions Appeals Committee”, presieduto da Don Nightingale, secondo la quale lui (Brown) sarebbe stato squalificato dalla corsa alla leadership del Partito… Read More in Corriere Canadese >>> 

Covid, la settima ondata è arrivata in Ontario

TORONTO – È la notizia che nessuno ama sentire quella rilasciata dall’Ontario Science Advisory Table. La provincia è probabilmente entrata in una nuova ondata di pandemia guidata dalla sottovariante BA.5. Nei messaggi postati su Twitter il tavolo tecnico scientifico cita la “crescita esponenziale” nel conteggio dei casi in circa l’80% delle unità di salute pubblica, nonché l’aumento del numero delle ospedalizzazioni e dei tassi di positività ai test… Read More in Corriere Canadese >>> 

Patrick Brown declares war to PC

TORONTO – Patrick Brown, whose mother and wife are both Italian, is the Mayor of Brampton and, until the middle of the night between June 5 and June 6, also a candidate for the Conservative Party leadership.

Via his lawyers at Henein Hutchison LLP, Patrick Brown formally served notice of intention to appeal the decision by the “Dispute Resolutions Appeals Committee”, Chaired by Don Nightingale, that he (Brown) be disqualified from the Party’s leadership race.

The Party accepted the recommendation. Presumably, his entrance fee of $350,000 will not be refunded to him. From a “practical, logistical” point of view, his approximately 150,000 members who paid their $15 each to join the Party in support of his candidacy are also out of luck. The party will keep the approximately two and a quarter million dollars.

The sources of those funds may be at the centre of the controversy that led to “the investigation” and to his dismissal. No one knows for sure. Walid Soliman, a lawyer, is the Finance Chair of the Brown for Leader campaign.

Heinen Hutchison LLP rejects any allusions to or allegations of impropriety by Patrick Brown or his team. They emphasize: “To be clear, Mr. Brown has engaged in absolutely no misconduct.”

Moreover, they point to the process’ unfairness towards their client. They admonish the Appeals Committee, through Don Nightingale (Chief Returning Officer) for its “refusal to specify the allegations grounding [its] recommendation…”. They add that Patrick Brown “refuted the paltry information [the Appeals Committee] provided and repeatedly asked for particulars.”

On that topic, in an interview on Radio 1010, June 6, Party president Robert Batherson appeared to suggest that his organization had made efforts to resolve issues but that everyone was concerned about the allegations (not proven) and the criminal charges that could be laid once Elections Canada would complete its investigation.

When pressed on the numbers pro and con on the Appeals Committee, Mr. Batherson declined to confirm or deny the alleged votes registered on the dismissal recommendation (11 for, 6 against, and 6 abstentions). He preferred instead to say the matter was now in the hands of Elections Canada, and there is no way to remedy the situation now.

Heinen Hutchison LLP saw the entire process as “Kafkaesque”, “politically motivated” and with a “preordained result”. They served a second letter, a Litigation Hold, to Ian Brodie, Chair of the leadership Election Organizing Committee, advising him and anyone else associated with the decision to prepare and preserve all communications in any platform they may have been a party to in respect of Mr. Brown.

It may be easy to forget that there are five other candidates still in the race and that there are another 530,000 other membership forms that the Party must vet before the vote two months from now.

Meanwhile, all indications suggest Patrick Brown will re-offer for as Mayor of Brampton.

Corriere was unable due to print deadlines to effect a direct interview with the mayor or his Finance Chair.

In the pics above, the letters (EXCLUSIVE CORRIERE CANADESE)

Covid, the seventh wave has arrived in Ontario

TORONTO – It is the news that no one likes to hear the one released by the Ontario Science Advisory Table. The province has likely entered a new wave of pandemic led by the BA.5 subvariant. In messages posted on Twitter, the technical-scientific table cites the “exponential growth” in the count of cases in about 80% of public health units, as well as the increase in the number of hospitalizations and test positivity rates. 

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The Omicron “tsunami” infected seventeen million Canadians

TORONTO – More than a new wave: it’s a tsunami. Omicron has attacked (also) Canada, making the infections from Covid-19 increase exponentially, despite – after the winter wave – the virus seemed to be in a downward phase. In fact, data from the Canadian task force reveal how quickly Omicron and its sub-variants spread across the country as early as the end of 2021 and early this year. The task force reported that as many as 17 million Canadians were infected in just five months, between December 2021 and May 2022. This means that the daily average of new infections was over 100,000. A record, enough to push the members of the task force themselves to define the wave “Omicron tsunami”.  Continue reading→