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Waqf Board bill among 16 listed for Winter Session of ParliamentDo Democrats need to moderate to win — or would that be a terrible mistake?
President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced former Sen. Kelly Loeffler as his pick to lead the Small Business Administration. “Kelly will bring her experience in business and Washington to reduce red tape, and unleash opportunity for our Small Businesses to grow, innovate, and thrive. She will focus on ensuring that SBA is accountable to Taxpayers by cracking down on waste, fraud, and regulatory overreach,” Trump posted on Truth Social, also noting that she’s co-chairing his inauguration. There had been several discussions between Loeffler and the transition team regarding the role of Agriculture secretary, and CNN reported last month that Trump had been poised to offer her the position. But Trump held off from announcing his Agriculture pick as he issued a slew of others late last month, then eventually offered the role to Brooke Rollins . Loeffler, who briefly represented Georgia in the Senate, had fundraised for Trump during the 2024 race and raised several million dollars for his campaign over the summer when she hosted a debate watch party with Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley. Several of Trump’s other Cabinet picks — including Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Elise Stefanik — were at that party. Loeffler was among the wealthiest lawmakers during her short time in Congress. Her husband, Jeffrey Sprecher, is the CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange. When running for election in 2020, she announced she and her husband were divesting from individual stocks amid sharp criticism over trades she and other lawmakers made ahead of the market downturn caused by the coronavirus. Appointed to the Senate by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp over the wishes of Trump, Loeffler lost her seat in a 2021 runoff to Democratic now-Sen. Raphael Warnock. Loeffler was a staunch Trump ally in Congress, saying prior to the violence on January 6, 2021, that she planned to vote against certifying her state’s electoral results in support of Trump’s broader effort to upend Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. After the US Capitol attack, Loeffler backed off her objection, saying on the Senate floor: “When I arrived in Washington this morning, I fully intended to object to the certification of the electoral votes. However, the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors.” In the same speech, Loeffler condemned the violence at the Capitol, calling it “abhorrent.” Loeffler was among the witnesses who appeared before the grand jury as part of Trump’s 2020 election subversion criminal case in Georgia. Before joining the Senate, Loeffler served as an executive at a financial services firm in Atlanta. She was also a co-owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream. Loeffler would need to be confirmed by the Senate to lead the Small Business Administration. Linda McMahon, a major Republican donor and Trump’s pick to be the next education secretary , served as the administrator of the agency during Trump’s first term. She resigned in 2019 to become the chair of America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC. This story has been updated with additional details.Article content OTTAWA — Three-hundred and twenty-four unique firearm makes and models of so-called “assault-style” firearms are now prohibited weapons in Canada, effective immediately. Recommended Videos But with an amnesty period that ends 10 days after the latest possible date for the next federal election, there’s little expectation the new measures will ever come into effect. An order-in-council tabled Thursday encompassing 104 families of firearms, a move made one day before the 35th anniversary of the École Polytechnique massacre. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc made the announcement Thursday afternoon, the latest in the Trudeau Liberals’ contentious and often troubled attempts to restrict access to firearms in Canada. “Our goal is to ensure that no community, no family is devastated by mass shootings in Canada again,” LeBlanc said during the news conference. “These 324 models of prohibited firearms will be added to the 1,500 models added in 2020, and have technical characteristics that are similar. They were made for battlefields, not for hunting.” These new models, he said, were determined through what he described as a “robust” consultation with RCMP firearms experts. An amnesty order is in place until Oct. 30, 2025 for licenced, legal firearms owners to deal with the new measures — 10 days after the mandated day for the next federal election. Only firearms disposed of through the government’s Assault-style Firearms Compensation Program will be eligible for compensation — firearms deactivated or turned over to police during the amnesty period will not be eligible. Talks are currently underway with the Ukrainian government to hand over seized firearms to their military for use against Russia, said Defence Minister Bill Blair. The announcement caused a mixed reaction in Canada’s legal firearms community. Tracey Wilson of the Canadian Coalition for Firearm Rights (CCFR) said the Liberals have learned nothing over their eight-year-long attempt to confiscate guns from their legal owners. “This is typical Liberal Party divide-and-conquer politics, they know they are out of time and Canadians are out of money,” she said. “They know the Tories will repeal it all in less than 10 months. They haven’t used an Order in Council to deal with the daily violence plaguing Canada, no action on repeat violent offenders, no response to the pleas of law enforcement. Nothing.” Wilson also criticized the government for summarily rolling out their gun bans via orders-in-council instead of legislation. “The Liberals have normalized the subversion of Canada’s democratic process for their own political maneuvering,” she said. Policy analyst and thegunblog.ca editor Nicolas Johnson said he doesn’t know of a single gun owner who has any intention — or incentive — to hand over their legally-purchased firearms. “The Liberals have no idea how to execute their confiscation fantasy, no money to pay for it, and no way to enforce it,” he told the Toronto Sun . “The Liberals are appearing increasingly weak, desperate, and extreme with this latest measure.” Previous attempts by the Trudeau Liberals to apply blanket bans on firearms proved so unpopular that even Liberal MPs spoke out against them. In 2022, the Liberals quietly tabled two amendments to their gun control bill C-21 — sweeping changes that would have outlawed legal rifles used daily by hunters and sport shooters. The Liberals withdrew those amendments after massive blowback from hunters, sports shooters and First Nations, a move described by the opposition Tories as a “humiliating climb-down” for the prime minister. A list of these newly-banned firearms has not yet been provided as of publication. RECOMMENDED VIDEO
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