Justin Trudeau’s man crush on Fidel Castro is making news around the world – and not in a good way. The headlines are painful. “Justin Trudeau ridiculed over praise of ‘remarkable leader,’ ” said the Guardian. “Trudeau’s Castro tribute raises eyebrows,” said CNN. “Twitter imagined what he would say about Stalin,” mocked The Washington Post.

Mr. Trudeau’s affection for the old dictator puts him in the company of Vladimir Putin and Bashar al-Assad. He described Fidel Castro as “a legendary revolutionary and orator” and fondly recalled their old family ties. “I know my father was very proud to call him a friend,” he said.

The worst word he used in his statement on Saturday was “controversial.” I guess that’s one way to describe how he dealt with his political opponents. He lined them up against a wall and shot them.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/justin-trudeaus-man-crush-on-fidel/article33069933/

The Canadian prime minister’s oddly warm remembrance of Fidel Castro set social media aflame Saturday as Castro’s many critics pilloried Justin Trudeau’s statement calling the dead dictator a controversial and “larger than life leader” but stopping far short of condemning his actions.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/11/26/canadian-pm-calls-castro-controversial-prompting-trudeaueulogies/94490862/
B.C. government will no longer insure luxury cars to help eliminate pressures on basic insurance rates

The government of British Columbia announced on Wednesday that it will no longer insure the high-end luxury car rate class – cars worth $150,000 and over – “so that the broader ratepayer is not subsidizing these cars.”

The owners of these cars will have to go to private insurance instead, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Todd Stone said in a press release.

The high-end luxury car market is a growing market, with 3,000 cars insured this past year, a 30% increase compared to three years ago, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said in the release. “Government is acting now to address the rising costs to repair these cars and to eliminate any pressures they cause on basic rates,” the ministry said.

http://www.canadianunderwriter.ca/insurance/b-c-government-will-no-longer-insure-luxury-cars-help-eliminate-pressures-basic-insurance-rates-1004104464/

'Extreme surveillance' becomes UK law with barely a whimper

A bill giving the UK intelligence agencies and police the most sweeping surveillance powers in the western world has passed into law with barely a whimper, meeting only token resistance over the past 12 months from inside parliament and barely any from outside.

The Investigatory Powers Act, passed on Thursday, legalises a whole range of tools for snooping and hacking by the security services unmatched by any other country in western Europe or even the US.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/19/extreme-surveillance-becomes-uk-law-with-barely-a-whimper

The UK now wields unprecedented surveillance powers — here’s what it means

The UK is about to become one of the world’s foremost surveillance states, allowing its police and intelligence agencies to spy on its own people to a degree that is unprecedented for a democracy. The UN’s privacy chief has called the situation "worse than scary." Edward Snowden says it’s simply "the most extreme surveillance in the history of western democracy."

The legislation in question is called the Investigatory Powers Bill. It’s been cleared by politicians and granted royal assent on November 29th — officially becoming law. The bill will legalize the UK’s global surveillance program, which scoops up communications data from around the world, but it will also introduce new domestic powers, including a government database that stores the web history of every citizen in the country. UK spies will be empowered to hack individuals, internet infrastructure, and even whole towns — if the government deems it necessary.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/23/13718768/uk-surveillance-laws-explained-investigatory-powers-bill