Canuck foreign minister Freeland skips 5th round of NAFTA talks

Chrystia Freeland, Canada's Minister of Global Affairs [sic] is a shining example [horrible example, surely! Ed.] of the Peter Principle in action. Dr Laurence J. Peter wrote that in any organization, especially a bureaucracy, people get promoted to the level of their incompetence. Or, in the case of Ms Freeland, beyond. She was clearly in over her head as Minister for International Trade, when, only a year ago, she burst into tears and stormed out of a negotiation meant to work out a Canada-Europe Trade Agreement (CETA), crying that "These [Europeans] are impossible! I'm going home to my children!"

Fortunately for the lovely and fragrant Ms Freeland, her boss, Justin "Mr Socks" Trudeau, flew over to Brussels right sharpish and smoothed things over. The agreement, however, remains unratified as of this writing -- just another fancy but meaningless piece of paper.

Having thus demonstrated that throwing a hissy fit is a great negotiating tactic, Ms Freeland was promoted to Global Affairs, to take charge of negotiations with the USA and Mexico to revise the much-flawed North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The Liberal government which Junior Trudeau leads and of which Ms Freeland is a part wants NAFTA "improved" by the addition of sections designed to... wait for it... respect the rights of indigenous peoples, promote gender equality, and combat the horrors of climate change. Just what you'd expect from a gender-equal cabinet of certified limousine liberals and SJWs. Trouble is, the Americans and the Mexicans have no interest in those things. They just want to find better ways to do business together. So... things are not going well.

The fifth round of talks began in Mexico City this week, but Chrystia Freeland is not there. Neither is American trade representative Robert Lighthizer or Mexican Secretary of the Economy Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal. The official explanation for their absence is that the top negotiators don't need to talk to each other, since they met on the sidelines of last week's APEC summit in Vietnam. A statement from the Canadian Ministry of Propaganda [Ed., please check.] says "Given the substantive discussions held between the ministers at APEC, the ministers agreed not to attend the fifth round so negotiators can continue to make important progress on key chapters advanced in Round 4. The chief negotiators from Mexico, the United States and Canada will be in constant communication with their respective ministers and will report on the progress reached in Round 5."

That's the party line, according to the Canadian Broadcorping Castration. [I checked. Ed.] The CBC says "a source with direct knowledge of the talks told CBC News that the push for political leaders to take a step back from the negotiating table came from Lighthizer." And that is true, according to an insider who spoke "on background" to Agent 3, but not for the reason suggested by the press release.

Walt can reveal, thanks to the inside dope just received, that the real reason is that Mr Lighthizer simply cannot stand the lovely and fragrant Chrystia Freeland. He doesn't want her at the negotiating table, or even in the same room! Not even in the same hotel! So word was sent to Ottawa that if she goes, he won't. To save face, the diplomats concocted the story that the non-meeting is by mutual agreement. Dear reader, which version of "the truth" sounds more plausible to you?

Further reading on WWW: "Questioning the CBC's love affair with Chrystia Freeland", WWW 8/10/17, and "Bill Maher calls BS on 'shared values' with Muslims", WWW 18/4/17, which includes a great video of Mr Maher -- no friend of Walt's -- destroying the legal blonde cabinet minister.