PABob Ratkins
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‘People are united’: Patty Hajdu on Canada’s response to looming U.S. tariffs
TBNewsWatch
40What a clown. Do your job, recall parliament and stop leaving our nation flapping in the wind. It's not Canada's job to sit on the sidelines while your party sorts out it's internal dramas. You've got some nerve acting like you're "proud" of anything that's going on right now.
21- PABob Ratkins
'This generation's Cher', drag night to celebrate Lady Gaga
TBNewsWatch 43This is exactly where this sort of thing belongs. In an adults only venue. Have at it. Why Wiggins feels the need to be in front of children in public spaces with an adult fetish is beyond the common sense marker for life, but an adult venue should be looked at as fully acceptable. You want to put your fetish on full display, do it behind a bouncer who is carding people. If it had stayed like this, nobody would have ever had a problem with drag shows. God knows nobody cared before it started getting forced down everyone's throat.
11- PABob Ratkins
Tenant who owes almost $10,000 gets a deadline for payment
TBNewsWatch 52It's nice to see the tenant board standing up for landlords after all this time watching tenants get away with figurative murder. If this continues, maybe more people will be willing to become landlords which would result in more availability of housing. Absolutely nobody wants to rent anything to anyone with the laws allowing tenants to avoid evictions for years. Good job, tenant board!
1- PABob Ratkins
Consumer carbon tax cancelled, gas prices plummet
TBNewsWatch 39Let's be clear about this. The tax has not been cancelled. It's still 100% on the books,. All they did was lower the effective rate of the tax to 0%. This is obviously great, but let's not pretend that the tax is gone. It's just as easy for them to raise it right back to where it was whenever they want. I'll give it to them that we all need this break, but we shouldn't be fooled into thinking that they have somehow cancelled it.
11- PABob Ratkins
Federal funding announced for harm reduction, addictions support initiatives
TBNewsWatch 46I cannot believe that our tax dollars are now being used to quality check illegal drugs being used by addicts living in tents. Is there no new low that this Liberal government won't hit? Not a new treatment centre. Not more cops to take the drugs off the street. Not those actual aids, but a quality control setup so the addicted can carry on using. This country is truly upside down.
3- PABob Ratkins
Councillors say yes in final decision on shelter village site
TBNewsWatch 48So, with an operational budget of $1.5 million, we can expect, as is the case with most operations and not specific to this one, that the actual operating costs will well exceed $2 million. Who is paying for this? Is it The Corporation of the City of Thunder Bay who is footing the bill for the ongoing costs? If it is, where is this capital coming from? Thunder Bay is not flush with cash and we don't have an annualized revenue stream that can absorb an extra $1.5-$2 million in expenses. Are we borrowing this money and, if so, at what interest rate? Council is claiming that it will "leverage" the camp to revitalize the park. Ok, but what infrastructure and how is it going to be leveraged? They aren't building a community center. $5.5 million to end up with some water pipes run down to the park for a fountain in 5 years? I believe council should release a FAR more detailed briefing of their plan for the public to see. This just reeks of "by the seat of our pants."
- PABob Ratkins
‘Missed opportunity’: Indigenous org. leaving library on bad terms
TBNewsWatch 45"The spirit of reconciliation" and "making the library more welcoming to indigenous people" really says all you need to know. They had contracts. What is this "spirit of reconciliation" besides an expectation that non-indigenous business/groups will just bend the knee to whatever the given indigenous group is asking for? This makes zero sense. They should have written a better proposal for extending the contract if they wanted to stay. The library is publicly funded and has every right to change direction. And how exactly is the library supposed to be "more welcoming to indigenous people?" Is it not welcoming, now? Are indigenous people not free to use library services whenever they want, at the same loss cost that everyone else is welcomed with? Or are we now expected to make indigenous people feel special when they walk into a library? Nobody gives ME a cookie when I borrow a book. Should we be giving indigenous people one? It's a library....not a support group.
1- PABob Ratkins
Hajdu maintains seat at Liberal cabinet table
TBNewsWatch 38Gross. Just gross. This smug piece of work can't get booted out of office quickly enough.
5- PABob Ratkins
Federal funding announced for harm reduction, addictions support initiatives
TBNewsWatch 40Not a word? You can't buy a pack of smokes without seeing 5 cancer warnings. Tobacco advertising is extremely restricted. Tobacco is taxed at levels way above the norm for consumer products. Smoking is illegal near doorways. No smoking indoors in public. Restrictions on volumes allowed to be transported inter-provincially and internationally. I don't even smoke and I can see how heavily restricted it is. You must be too young to remember the 1990s and before.
2- PABob Ratkins
Powlowski would support prorogation to pick new leader
TBNewsWatch 27Never forget that this clown of a candidate has had the back of their party leader throughout the carbon tax debates, the billions sent to Ukraine and Africa, the gun buyback legislation, the "safe" injection sites, the free narcotics for addicts, the fake housing initiatives, the DEI initiatives, the freezing of private bank accounts and criminalization of citizens who disagreed with their leader, the vaccine mandates, et al. Never forget who these Liberal MPs are in their hearts. They've all been right there, in lockstep, during the denigration of our nation.
13- PABob Ratkins
Thunder Bay police lay 16 charges against a suspect in reported armed vehicle theft
TBNewsWatch 35So, you not only name local police officers as they go through the courts, but also post a picture to go with the name. A guy catches 16 separate charges related to the violent misuse of a firearm, and no name. No picture. Nothing to help the general public steer clear of this person. Interesting way to conduct "journalism."
4- PABob Ratkins
Distress call ends with one person rescued from Lake Superior
TBNewsWatch 26And, in it's infinite wisdom, city council thinks building a giant homeless encampment right beside a river is a good idea.
13- PABob Ratkins
Multi-storey apartment building proposed for vacant Algoma Street site
TBNewsWatch 36This is a great idea for that long empty lot. This is the urban infill that this city needs to start developing. Maybe don't tell council about it until it's finished. Better not tempt fate.
1- PABob Ratkins
Report: Trudeau considering resignation or prorogation
TBNewsWatch 19If you haven't seen Poilievre offer solutions, @JEdinburgh , it's because you aren't even trying to look. Lazy assumptions like that are why Thunder Bay has been buried in Liberal funk for as long as it's existed.
18- PABob Ratkins
Brian Hamilton to run for Liberals in provincial election
TBNewsWatch 23He's got Shelby Ch'ng derangement syndrome. Can't wait to see Hajdu stumping for him and the reception that THAT receives in Thunder Bay.
12- PABob Ratkins
Candidate profile: Judith Monteith-Farrell
TBNewsWatch 21The party of endless handouts and social pity parties. Absolutely no thank you.
12- PABob Ratkins
McIvor Court residents scared to leave their homes
TBNewsWatch 30These people (many being seniors and many others with actual, legitimate disabilities) are living on social assistance, in public housing. Exactly what changes do you suggest they are able to make? A senior on a fixed income can't come up with a $3000 deposit to move into a private apartment.....let alone the $1800/month it costs to rent a place. I drive by this place all the time and these folks are in no position to "make changes in life" in a way that the majority of the city might be able to. Maybe get some perspective on the situation before dumping on people who are just trying to survive.
3- PABob Ratkins
'We are all human beings,' man says after experiencing a hateful act
TBNewsWatch 22What? So, by that logic, the food service industry was completely unable to survive until Indian international students came here. What utter nonsense. Businesses can get wage subsidies from the government of up to 60% when they hire immigrants. THAT is why you see businesses staffed by immigrants and not Canadians. THAT is why Tim Horton's is so full of immigrant workers. It's not because Canadian students aren't taking the jobs. Canadian students are up to 60% more expensive so nobody hires them.
9- PABob Ratkins
People still living in encampments as temperatures hit -30 C
TBNewsWatch 27And who do you expect is going to supervise these "homeless" people while they are in the church basement or not for profit building? They are to be trusted to stay alone and leave the place as neat and tidy as they found it? Doubtful. Are we now expecting social workers to spend the night? Cops to stop any damage from being done? You can't just toss people into a building. What the city OUGHT to do is give them a job in exchange for free shelter. They are perfectly capable of city cleanup work and it would offset the cost of the shelter.
3- PABob Ratkins
Council selects north-side shelter village site
TBNewsWatch 22The real estate values for all those lovely houses along Cumberland Street North are about to absolutely tank. I feel for anyone who lives between River Street and Boulevard Lake. Don't leave anything shiny in your vehicles or yards, folks.
7- PABob Ratkins
