Canadian Politics II: The Polite War

[Lord of Oop North]

Well done Canada! On to thread II. Who'd have thought Canada politics could maintain this kind of frenetic pace back when this thread started, uh, 18 months ago?

Love this.

Onward, Canada.

Looks like Tim Hudak is bringing in US election ringers to help him out.

To help him improve, Hudak is using the services ofGreener and Hook, a high-profile Alexandria, Va., political consultancy firm that does work for Republican clients such as House Majority Leader John Boehner and one-time presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann.

....

The Tories raised $2.1 million at their Toronto dinner last week — though they will still have less campaign cash at their disposal than the Liberals due to self-imposed constraints — and have released a dozen policy papers that will be distilled into a right-leaning platform of drastic spending cuts.

Not so sure that what Southern Ontario needs right now is spending cuts. We need massive infrastructure improvements, after decades of negligence. With the boom that is happening around here, our region is poised to seize that opportunity and emerge as a North American leader. That is going to require investment. Hudak is a shortsighted jerkoff.

[Fragile Bird]

So Sorry, LoON, I missed this thread! :blushing:

ETA: Hudak is following in the footsteps of the Progressive Conservative party back to at least the 70s, possibly even further back than that. I friend of mine, who has long since grown up and moved on, politically speaking, once was a very active Young Conservative. They had US political advisers up in Ottawa to help them set up US-style dirty tricks to fight Pierre Trudeau...

[Fragile Bird]

On the theme of our glorious PM versus the spawn of that L(l)iberal devil.

Stephen Harper finds Justin Trudeau's response to the Boston bombing unacceptable:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper took a swipe at Justin Trudeau on Wednesday after the new Liberal leader talked about the need “to look at the root causes” that led to this week’s terrorist attack in Boston.

In an interview with the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge that aired Tuesday night, Trudeau was asked how he would have responded to the attacks that killed three people and left about 170 injured.

Trudeau said he would offer the American material support “and at the same time, over the coming days, we have to look at the root causes.”

“Now, we don’t know now if it was terrorism or a single crazy or a domestic issue or a foreign issue,” he said. “But there is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded. Completely at war with innocents. At war with a society. And our approach has to be, where do those tensions come from?

“Yes, there’s a need for security and response,” Trudeau added. “But we also need to make sure that as we go forward, that we don’t emphasize a culture of fear and mistrust. Because that ends up marginalizing even further those who already are feeling like they are enemies of society.”

Speaking to reporters in London where he was attending former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s funeral on Wednesday, Harper indicated Trudeau’s answer was unacceptable.

“When you see this kind of action, when you see this kind of violent act, you do not sit around trying to rationalize it or make excuses for it or figure out its root causes,” Harper said.

“You condemn it categorically and to the extent that you can deal with the perpetrators you deal with them as harshly as possible and that is what this government would do if it ever was faced with such actions.”

[Fragile Bird]

But going further into the story linked in my OP, Stephen Harper was quoted saying something pretty defining of why I loathe the PM and his idea of where he wants to lead Canada. The anniversary of the Charter of Rights wasn't celebrated because it's a divisive document, and it was only "an interesting and important step". Image. Patriating our constitution was divisive, and enshrining our civil rights was just an interetsing step. :ack:

Earlier in the day, Trudeau marked his first caucus meeting as leader with a tribute to the charter, which his father championed exactly 31 years earlier.

Escorted into the meeting room by a throng of clapping, cheering staff and parliamentarians, Trudeau said his party’s support for the charter was one thing that separated Liberals from Conservatives and New Democrats.

“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom is at the centre of what it means to be a Liberal,” he said. “Conservatives talk a good game about being a party of freedom. But they are mistrustful of the mechanisms that actually ensure those freedoms for Canadians. And that’s why they don’t celebrate the charter.”

The Harper government was criticized for not marking either the 25th anniversary of the Charter in 2007, or the 30th anniversary last year.

Some Conservatives have argued the document empowers individuals at the cost of the societal good, though the prime minister told reporters in Chile last year that constitutional “divisions” were more to blame for such problems.

“In terms of this as an anniversary, I think it’s an interesting and important step, but I would point out that the charter remains inextricably linked to the patriation of the Constitution and the divisions around that matter, which as you know are still very real in some parts of the country,” Harper said at the time.

[Demonblade]

I kinda have to agree about the Constitution. Personally, I think that it is a piece of garbage that ought to be thrown out in favour of something that involves everyone. Trudeau should never have signed it without Quebec, and he should not have signed it with a piecemeal attempt to appease First Nations people in Canada and Section 35. There was too much political hostility for the former, and not enough political will for the latter. Both of which are key issues that need to be dealt with if we are ever to see a resolution about the Constitution.

[Shryke]

Love this.

Onward, Canada.

Looks like Tim Hudak is bringing in US election ringers to help him out.

Not so sure that what Southern Ontario needs right now is spending cuts. We need massive infrastructure improvements, after decades of negligence. With the boom that is happening around here, our region is poised to seize that opportunity and emerge as a North American leader. That is going to require investment. Hudak is a shortsighted jerkoff.

Becauase he's a conservative and that's pretty much what they want to do, no matter what.

[Jaxtile]

Here in Manitoba, our provincial NDP have decided to raise the PST 1%.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/PST-rises-to-8-in-Manitobas-2013-budget-203262521.html

Now, I do believe we need a tax hike. Winnipeg streets are an undulating mass only vaugely resembling roadways, and that infrastructure money dosn't appear from nowhere.

Unfortunately they are raising it in the worst way possible. Manitoba had a law on the books forcing a referendum on pst increases. Key word *had*

Along with all that, they are going to remove the school tax portion of property taxes from seniors. That's half the tax on the house I'm in right now.

Everyone, absolutely everyone, sees this as a bald faced appeal for votes. News anchors grimace visibly as they read the teleprompter. My coworkers rage at coffee break. Even I agree this is dirty pool.

Our local Tories are having a hayday!

[Ser Reptitious]

Omar Khadr to appeal his terrorism convictions.

Good for him! I still think this whole kangaroo court process will leave a lasting stain on the U.S. and I'm definitely disappointed that Obama didn't stop this whole charade when he had the chance.

I particularly agree with this:

The charge of murder in violation of the law of war is "particularly offensive and not recognized by any legal observers outside the commission process," Edney said.

Even if we disregard the fact that Khadr was a child soldier who had no choice in being there in the first place, the fact is that these charges stem from a violent exchange of gunfire that took place in a theatre of war. If Khadr is guilty of murder in that instance then so are all the U.S. soldiers who killed the people that were with Khadr at the time. The notion that certain U.S. enemies are legitimate targets for killing but are subject to murder charges if they fight back is kafkaesque logic at its best!

[Fragile Bird]

I see that the big announcement about Senator Mike Duffy paying back the $90,000 he overcharged the government on housing expenses was bullshit. The money came from multi-millionaire Nigel Wright, Harper's chief of staff, because Duffy didn't have the money. And it's not a loan, it's a gift. So much for rules about Senators not accepting gifts. So much for senators being subject to the same rules everyone else is. Anyone else wrongfully claim $90,000 in expenses from your company and get someone else from the company to pay it back? PM's Chief of Staff Paid Off Mike Duffy's Senate Expenses?

[Fragile Bird]

Oh, and nice to see Liberal Yvonne Jones won the by-election in Labrador over former Conservative MP Peter I-didn't-keep-track-of-the-expenses Penashue. Story ETA: And they had a decent turnout, just under 60%.

[Aemon Stark]

I see that the big announcement about Senator Mike Duffy paying back the $90,000 he overcharged the government on housing expenses was bullshit. The money came from multi-millionaire Nigel Wright, Harper's chief of staff, because Duffy didn't have the money. And it's not a loan, it's a gift. So much for rules about Senators not accepting gifts. So much for senators being subject to the same rules everyone else is. Anyone else wrongfully claim $90,000 in expenses from your company and get someone else from the company to pay it back? PM's Chief of Staff Paid Off Mike Duffy's Senate Expenses?

I just read about this. Seems *very* fishy.

And the BC Liberals were re-elected surprisingly, though Premier Christy Clark lost her seat. Oops. I actually knew the guy running in Vancouver Kensington for the Libs in undergrad.

[Usotsuki]

A cellphone video that appears to show Mayor Rob Ford smoking crack cocaine is being shopped around Toronto by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade.

Two Toronto Star reporters have viewed the video three times. It appears to show Ford in a room, sitting in a chair, wearing a white shirt, top buttons open, inhaling from what appears to be a glass crack pipe. Ford is incoherent, trading jibes with an off-camera speaker who goads the clearly impaired mayor by raising topics including Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau and the Don Bosco high school football team Ford coaches.

It's a late entry to scandalpalooza but otherwise quite an impressive effort.

[delete this account pls]

Your move Bloomberg.

[Horza]

Top, top stuff, Canada.

[James Arryn]

There are 2 things you need to know about Rob Ford, Mayor of Toronto: 1) He is the victim of a liberal left-wing media conspiracy. 2) He is the largest contributor to that conspiracy. If you like the video of him smoking crack, you ought to see the man play football, walk into cameras and charge out of committee meetings due to emergency wander parking lot putting fridge magnets on cars session. Pride is not a strong enough word.

[delete this account pls]

Nah, the only thing I need to know is this - dude knows how to party.

[Angalin]

I'd like to know if, after the party, Ford drove away while reading a newspaper.

[Sis Who Swears]

I disagree about him knowing how to party. He's like that friend you have that gets drunk and turns into a major asshole. How this guy is still the mayor is mind boggling.

[Aemon Stark]

It's debatable just how much he's really been acting as mayor lately...

[Shryke]

I disagree about him knowing how to party. He's like that friend you have that gets drunk and turns into a major asshole. How this guy is still the mayor is mind boggling.

Well, there hasn't been another election and they pussied out on forcing him from office for violating funding rules, so what do you want?