Via the Toronto Star: Trudeau violated conflict-of-interest rules with vacation to Aga Khan’s island: ethics commissioner.
Nice parting shot Ms. Dawson! No doubt you were tired of being thrown under the bus by this Liberal Government. Thank you very much for your hard work!
This is a breaking news story so I’ll post any interesting updates.
https://twitter.com/davidakin/status/943529250732363776
This is dynamite!! And from CBC of all places! Kudos to Rosemary Barton.
Blue Like You2 
Trudeau just wrapped up his ” press conference” which was an insult to our intelligence just as we could expect. There are no excuses for that kind of blatancy.
He kept repeating the Aga Khan is a family friend, trying to use that as an excuse!
When your dealing with conflict of interest, it matters not if it’s a friend or your Pappy, it’s the same no matter how you slice and dice.
He gets a bonus for the phrase “moving forward”, he repeated that a dozen or more times….
I assume “moving forward” he ain’t gonna do that any more, he’s gonna clear it with the Ethics Commish!
God help Canada!
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Unfortunately the worst time for us this could come out as its Christmas and no one is paying attention. Nonetheless things add up, you never bring down a government over one dumb move it is accumulation of them and Trudeau seems to be accumulating them rather fast.
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It’s interesting to note how quickly this indictment came in on the heels of the announcement of the name of the new ethics czar. I suspect that the report was ready to go for just such an occasion. What can they do to her now? I can hardly wait for Parliament to resume. I’ll bet there’ll be talk of proroguement in the msm. A lump of coal to the PM but a precious gift for the other parties. Use it well.
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Keep it in the bank for election ads.
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check this out http://warrenkinsella.com/2017/12/watch-this-rosemary-barton-exchange-with-justin-trudeau/ just wow. Justin Trudeau seems to be his own worst enemy. Yes I know he is still ahead in the polls but its direction that matters.
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“This is an election ad.”
Exactly!!
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The Ethics Commissioner states: “No public office holder or member of his or her family shall accept any gift or other advantage, including from a trust, that might reasonably be seen to have been given to influence the public office holder in the exercise of an official power, duty or function.” Doesn’t this make Seamus O’Regan guilty as well?
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Indeed. And Don Martin asked him about the Aga Khan issue tonight on Power Play. O’Regan basically clammed up.
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A little off topic, but this is interesting http://www.ekospolitics.com/index.php/2017/12/video-canadas-political-divides/ . Frank Graves who is not exactly friendly towards the Tories says he shows them ahead and interesting what he says about Brown.
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Should there not be some kind of investigation of this affair and certain individuals by the Lobbying Commissioner? I don’t know much about this office but would be interested in anyone’s input.
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That sure seems like a fair question Anne.
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It is fodder for the next campaign but we need to keep it alive and hope the court of public opinion does the rest.
With these optics, the Trudeau cabal can shut it on their middle class shtick.
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Yes absolutely Liz. Good fodder for discussion during the Christmas holidays if politics comes up. 😉
And of course the opposition parties will do their best to keep it alive until they can really hammer the Liberals with it when Parliament resumes at the end of January.
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Keeping it alive during Christmas get-togethers appears to be pointless, if the talk show I just listened to is any barometer. Most callers were excusing Justin Trudeau, some stating that Trudeau & his family have made “many sacrifices” as PM. Prior to that, a supposedly objective panel discussed the issue. Panelists were a long-time friend of Trudeau plus the news director of the radio station, who does double-duty as a pundit. Talk about blurred lines between reporting & commentary!
Let’s face it, a majority of Canadians are enamoured with their stylishly emoting PM. They see him as a validation of themselves; Canadians are supposedly now once again cool on the international stage, no longer the boring non-descript image projected in previous times.
If I sat in the EC’s chair, instead of an insincere apology extracted like rotted teeth, I would have the guilty parties — be they the PM, MPs, senators — lose a year’s salary AND have to reimburse the cost of the vacation which was absorbed by us taxpayers … because the PM needs to be protected on his travels, don’t you know!
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This affair appears to have legs. Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch has sent a letter to the Lobbying Commissioner “urging her to investigate whether Prince Shah Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan IV “violated the Lobbyists Code by giving Prime Minister Trudeau and Liberal MP Seamus O’Regan the gifts of trips to his island home.”
In the letter, Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher says the Aga Khan’s actions have put Trudeau and O’Regan in a conflict of interest. It is also against the law to give a public office holder a gift that could create a sense of obligation.”
“Conacher is also calling for outgoing lobbying commissioner Karen Shepherd and incoming lobbying commissioner Nancy Bélanger to recuse themselves from ruling on the investigation because of the way Shepherd’s contract was renewed and the way Bélanger was chosen in “a secretive, PMO-controlled process.”
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Trudeau’s excuse of needing to find a place where he could experience quality family time is on very shaky ground. It turns out the “senior American official of a previous administration” was none other than John Kerry who was still in office at that time. Kerry was vacationing alongside Trudeau and was there at the invitation of the Aga Khan. I wonder if these words ever crossed Trudeau’s mind: ”Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive”. All those political people yet not a word about politics. And Mary Dawson bought that?
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I am not opposed to Trudeau taking a vacation but he should do it on his own dime like most of us do. Yes he needs some security but unlike the US president, usually our prime-ministers have much less security due to lower risks. Otherwise if he want to the island on his own dime, no one would care, its the fact he is using taxpayer’s money. Also the fact he claims to be a champion of the middle class but lives the high life doesn’t go over well.
Interesting on a side note, I was hearing Ekos has a poll showing the Tories federally are five points ahead while Nanos shows Liberals 12 points ahead so tough to gage how Canadians are responding. Still Trudeau won’t be defeated over one mishap, but enough mishaps is what brings a government down.
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Yes strange that it would take so long for all this to come out. Drip, drip, drip. If only Trudeau had been upfront with all of this.
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Should we be concerned about Trudeau’s attitude re returning ISIS fighters returning to Canada?
He thinks they can be reformed and can be an “extraordinarily powerful voice for Canada”!!
Someone needs to explain to him the meaning of “traitor”.
Goodale has thought about it, he previously spouted about reforming them, now he thinks it will be difficult.
Idiots are us…if we accept this inane attitude….we need extreme protesting on the part of our opposition parties and the general public.
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Trudeau is either delusional, or else he’s playing the role of “Global leader”, sacrificing Canada’s safety at the altar of the United Nations for that precious seat.
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He truly is either delusional, or so concerned with keeping the muslim vote he doesn’t care. Or both likely. Hardened warriors used to taking slaves, raping whoever they want, and deliberately killing in the worst ways possible don’t reform.
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There’s something else that has largely crept under the radar this week – the strange meeting, with photo evidence, of the Boyle family and Justin Trudeau in the PM’s office. I can’t help but question the PM’s moral compass especially with how Boyle’s facial adornments typify a definite Salafist influence, not to mention the reminder of the ignominy of Boyle’s Khadr family connection. It’s particularly jarring that knowledge of this meeting was disseminated by Boyle who teased about a previous ‘meeting’ with JT in 2006.
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It’s becoming increasingly obvious that PMJT either has very poor judgement or else he just plain doesn’t care. He needs to go.
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Something very murky about the Boyle family tales. I just can’t get my head around any of it.
Why would he have such close access to the PM of this country? Boyle gets to meet with the PM while most of us wouldn’t get close to him unless we wanted a selfie at a gathering or he chose to photo bomb at an event like a wedding.
Should we not get answers in light of Boyle’s connection to the Khadr family alone?
Will he be looking for a few million from us to cover the treatment he says his family endured while they were trekking in some bad lands in the ME?
Weird and not quite believable with the info we have been fed so far.
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Although Donald Trump asserts that improved relations with Pakistan helped facilitate the Boyle family release, there seems to be something a little suspect about the timing of the cutting and immediate cashing of the Khadr $10.5 million cheque in late June and the Boyle family release barely three months later, given the close connection between the two men. Add to that the fact that we have been told there is no way to trace where that money is.
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Interesting Toronto Star letters on this. Usually they don’t tend to publish anti-Liberal letters, but have more so recently.
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editors/2017/12/22/your-letters-trudeaus-ethics-breach-is-a-product-of-entitlement.html
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Very interesting for sure. And it is encouraging that some Star readers aren’t mindless robots.
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Know who besides Stephen Harper I miss? Laureen Harper. She would never have compromised her integrity or her husband’s in the way Sophie has. But then Mrs. Harper has class!
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She never seemed manipulative or entitled, that’s for sure!
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To Joanne and all who frequent this great blog, have a wonderful Christmas!
We can gather steam for the new Year, we are going to need it.
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Thanks Liz! Merry Christmas to you too!
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Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year.
WOW to all the political shenanigans.
Trudeau should resign
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Hope you have a wonderful Christmas too!
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Merry Christmas and a Happy & Healthy New Year to all, especially our hostess.
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Oh thanks Gabby! Merry Christmas to you and your family as well!
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It may be difficult but we can get through this. This man is. https://twitter.com/Humankindvideos/status/944941743450996736 Merry Christmas, Joanne. Merry Christmas all. Anne
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Looking for some Christmasy music?
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There is an interesting article by the Canadian Press which indicates that Trudeau “doesn’t have business meetings. He has relationship sessions.”
“The meetings he (Trudeau) attends as Prime Minister are not business meetings,” Dawson wrote, recounting Trudeau’s words.
“Rather, they are high-level meetings centred on relationship building and ensuring that all parties are moving forward together. Specific issues or details are worked out before, subsequently or independently of any meeting he attends.”
It’s taken two years for someone to finally see this PM the way many of us did long before the 2015 election. He’s the window dressing and little more.
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“Relationship sessions.” Oh how fitting.
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Just read that article. Here’s the link. Very very illuminating on so many levels!
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Wondering if Trudeau will make any of the big news stories of 2017?
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Was this Dawson report due out whether she was going or staying? If she was staying would we have heard about any of this?
I will never understand why it took so long to rule on the Aga Khan affair…it’s just crazy….either there are rules or there are not.
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It was a very large and thorough document though. PDF file available here: http://ciec-ccie.parl.gc.ca/Documents/English/Public%20Reports/Examination%20Reports/The%20Trudeau%20Report.pdf
Worth checking out. Lots of interesting stuff there.
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Commissioner Dawson issued her report only a few days after the new commissioner was named which makes the timing rather suspicious, at least in my eyes. With that announcement Ms. Dawson was assured that her term would not be extended yet again, leaving her free to release her very damning report. The Conservatives have indicated that they will be calling her to appear before the Ethics Committee in the coming weeks.
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Just made my 2018 political predictions for 2018. Lets see how many are correct. Some I hope are wrong, while others like the PC’s winning a majority in Ontario I hope turns out to be correct. I suspect I will miss some and get others right as usual.
In the case of Ontario though I feel its majority or bust since if we only win a minority, Wynne and Howarth will probably gang up to keep the PCs out although that will probably ensure they win a landslide next time around. Hopefully we don’t have to find out what will happen if the PCs only get a minority.
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I wouldn’t attempt to make predictions on the outcome of the Ontario vote.
Wynne has created a mess, the full brunt of which we have yet to realize. We have massive debt and she’s handing out the goodies to buy votes, it’s the Liberal way. When bad times hit it may be tough for Conservatives to get elected, those affected most will only see the goodies and vote accordingly.
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I will admit it’s a best guess and could be wrong, but my blog gives several predictions so its more a tally of how many I get right vs. wrong. I suspect I will get many right, but also get some wrong too.
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I used to believe Nick Nanos was a reliable source of polling data. Then he began appearing on CBC. Today’s Nanos numbers show the Liberals have actually gained support after both the Morneau and Trudeau revelations of massive wrongdoings. Either the Nanos poll has been manipulated or Canadians are really that shallow. I am truly at a loss for words.
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I put no trust in Nanos polls, there’s a Liberal edge there IMO. Anyway, polls are what many go by to vote…follow the crowd mentality, in that way they have the power to interfere with the democratic process.
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Lets see the numbers in the New Year. I suspect this probably has more due to low response rate as the polling was done during the holiday season. I think his numbers in general are still quite accurate overall, but obviously when there is no imminent election they need to be taken with a grain of salt. If they still show this when the house returns then I would be concerned, but if not probably more a polling error due to low response rate.
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I admit I’m not up to snuff with the how-to’s of conducting polls but Nanos claims to base their numbers on the responses of 1000 people so how can a possible polling error be attributed to a low response rate?
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I guess my point is we have Forum showing the Tories one point ahead, Nanos Liberals 13 points ahead, Ipsos Liberals 7 points ahead, Leger Liberals six points ahead while an unreleased Ekos Poll apparently shows the Tories 5 points ahead so they cannot all be right. I agree 1,000 is a large enough sample but that assumes every person has an equal chance of being chosen. If certain segments are more likely to respond than not it can be off. My guess is the large variance is due to a lot of soft voters thus questioning matters and from anecdotal evidence I know many who are disappointed with Trudeau, unsure about Scheer, and the NDP isn’t on their radar. Where the polls seem to agree is Trudeau’s net approval rating is now slightly negative around -5. With high cynicism on politicians today that is not a bad rating, better than most G7 leaders and all but two premiers (Horgan and Wall and the former is still in the honeymoon phase) but the direction is not good for Trudeau as in November 2016 his was around +20 so a large drop.
Usually I’ve found polls tend to converge as you get closer to the election and voter intentions firm up.
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We have booted out very old Nazi’s who had been here for many years, not likely to cause any harm, too little too late. Contrast that with Trudeau and company talking about rehabilitating returning ISIS fighters and his nonsense about the benefit they will be….
I give up on this country if this lot come even close to getting elected again.
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Why is the msm not giving more play to the differing opinions of Trudeau and his public safety minister, Ralph Goodale, on that very topic? Trudeau says the returnees are being monitored and can/will be rehabilitated. Goodale claims there’s little likelihood of rehabilitation. So which is it? I remember reading an article not too long ago where we were told there’s no way to track those returning but I can’t find it.
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To be fair each individual is different so it’s not all can or none can. Certainly lots cannot be, but some can. Mubin Shaikh who is often in the media as a counter-terrorism expert and was the undercover agent who foiled the Toronto 18 is a former radical and my mother read a book by a former British radical so some can be de-radicalized but many cannot.
So my view is if there is sufficient evidence to charge them, then arrest them and rehabilitate them in prison where they are no threat and if rehabilitated they can be paroled and if not stayed locked up. The only reason I would accept for not arresting one is if there is insufficient evidence as it is quite difficult to actually prove in a court of law someone went over. Usually the only evidence is passport stamps showing them absent for a long time and most enter Syria or Iraq illegally so the only passport stamp you would likely see is a Turkish one which many including myself have gone for tourism purposes.
Nonetheless young male solo travellers who were there for an extended period of time should face greater questioning by the CBSA when returning. If going to Turkey for tourism purposes, there is no need to stay longer than two maybe three weeks max and you can always ask one for their itinerary and what they saw while there. Only if going there for business or family should one be staying for an extended time and again easy to trip people up if lying. Still my point is yes we should arrest them, but I suspect in many cases there isn’t enough evidence to convict one in a court of law.
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I found one of the articles about returning “foreign fighters” but not the one I mentioned. One key fact is that “…the government doesn’t know how many radicalized people are actually being spoken to, or who they are. Public Safety Canada says it can’t provide statistics because the centre does not directly intervene with radicalized individuals.” http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/deradicalization-canada-isis-fighters-program-1.4414999
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Sounds like our safety is being compromised here. If Public Safety Canada doesn’t intervene with radicalized individuals is it because they don’t have the power or are these terrorists protected under the freaking Charter?
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I shudder to think of the year ahead with Wynne and Trudeau at the helm.
Hope we can send Wynne packing but that’s not a sure thing, she’s passing out too many goodies, people will vote to ensure they get to keep them.
Hope we will see Trudeau’s gaffe meter go off the charts and people see him for the poseur he is.
All we can do is vote and hope.
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And pray. 😉
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I am a bit worried too but not as much as some. I think the Liberals strong numbers are more brand name than Wynne’s performance and with her atrocious approval ratings I believe the OLP numbers will fall as there is more focus on her. My two bigger worries are:
1. OLP collapses and all their vote goes to the NDP leading to premier Howarth who is more ethical but more left wing so Wynne on steroids.
2. PC’s win a plurality of seats but OLP and NDP gang up and form a coalition much like you have in BC.
I think the real problem is Ontario’s demographics are not too favourable to conservatism. Generally urban areas lean left, rural lean right while suburbs and smaller urban are swingy. This is true throughout North America and much of Europe. Ontario is significantly more urban than France and Germany as well as states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania which Trump picked up; those areas are more like Manitoba in urban/rural split which the PC’s won by a landslide last provincial. Even the UK which is the most urbanized country in Europe is still less urbanized than Ontario and there has only been one Tory majority in the last 25 years. In the US states like Massachusetts, New York, Illinois, and California are quite highly urbanized like Ontario and all of them have gone massively Democrat in recent elections.
As a rule of thumb, Tories do well in communities under 100,000; 100,000 to 200,000 are bellwethers unless college towns like Guelph and Kingston which lean heavily left due to large university population. Over 200,000 are solidly left wing in urban core while suburbs more mixed so that means under most conditions everything east of Oakville, south of Aurora, west of Whitby, three Hamilton core ridings, two core Kitchener-Waterloo ridings, three London ridings, two Windsor, everything north of North Bay (Northern Ontario is almost like it’s own province), and three to five core Ottawa ridings lean left. Yes we sometimes breakthrough like Harper did in 2011, but others like when we faced even the hapless Dion, we still only won a plurality and struggled to break into those areas.
So I believe we can and likely will win a majority, but the type of ridings that favour us are in the minority when everything is equal so we only win majorities when Liberals screw up badly. That is why Harper wanted to eliminate the federal Liberals as he figured in an NDP-Tory race, Tories would win a lot more often than against the Liberals. Much like BC where federally it is similar to Ontario but usually goes for the pro free enterprise coalition provincially most of the time.
So I am still optimistic but understand how difficult Ontario can be to win. As for Trudeau, he is going downward in the polls but we will probably have a better idea next year on our chances than now.
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I guess, for wont of a better descriptive, I’ve become bitchy when I get calls during the holiday week from political fund raisers on behalf of Andrew Scheer. They really need to smarten up or risk losing support…they do have time, they can give us this period to enjoy family and friends free of politics.
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I to get upset by emails etc. There are so many ways to contribute to the Conservative platform. We can contribute by speaking up at our community meetings and at Tim Hortons. Sometimes changing the mind of one person yields more votes as that person goes on to change minds of many more. I remember how Joanne true blue was so instrumental in changing many who could not decide if they should vote for P M Stephen Harper. Work hard for the Conservative Party only contribute money if you are able to.
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Agreed and I really find constant calls annoying. Most people don’t have 1500 dollars lying around so I think one donation of 27 dollars (that was what Bernie Sanders average donation was and while don’t agree with his politics, I think small donations from many is the way to go) is more than enough.
As for convincing people, I use a two track approach. If they lean right but fear the party is too extreme, I try to convince them of how their fears are unfounded and also if they keep on looking for excuses to not vote Conservative, Liberals will continue to mess up, they only act responsibly if they fear defeat, if complacent they don’t.
If they lean left I more just try to convince them we are decent people not a bunch of scary monsters and that conservatism is a legitimate ideology that belongs in our democratic process, not some extreme ideology. Otherwise I at least try to get them to not hate us so much as I feel all the nasty hateful stuff put out by the left hurts us amongst centrist voters so if they hate us less that will make it easier to win over those we can win over. I realize some voters you can win over others you cannot so you have to decide accordingly.
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Like many others I’ve been wondering why we’ve heard nothing directly from Trudeau about the massive protests against the regime by the people in Iran. All we’ve heard is that our government is “monitoring the situation.” It seems Canada has a financial stake in maintaining the status quo with the current regime. https://financialtribune.com/articles/economy-domestic-economy/68618/ottawa-to-finance-irans-bombardier-order (via Ezra Levant)
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Interesting enough Bob Rae has commented on it and condemned the Iranian regime and supported the protesters. Don’t care a lot about his politics but he seemed like one of the smarter ones at least when it came to foreign policy. The other Liberal who I generally liked on foreign policy and felt was quite principled was Irwin Cotler, but somehow doubt he would fit well in the current Liberal Party.
While we have to work with whomever is in power in Iran, we definitely should be supportive of those who want greater freedom.
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Politics aside…HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!
We were silly last night, we stayed in and watched CBC fare…22 Minutes, Air Farce and then Ron James. All I can say is I was forced to have a double Gin and Dubonnet, the Queen’s favourite cocktail after each one….
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Wow good for you Liz! I could only stomach one minute of those 22 and then promptly changed the channel. 😉
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Happy & Healthy New Year to all who stop by here.
I’m still opinionated … but more pessimistic, given world conditions. However, here are a couple of thoughts.
On Iran: Should we Canadians really try to exert any influence in ME countries? I’m not sure. Remember the so-called “Arab Spring”? PM Harper was criticized (mind you, when was he NOT criticized!) for expressing caution.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/harper-s-toothpaste-remark-shows-egypt-stumble-mps-1.607343
Let Iranians decide what they want their country to be like. Believing that speechifying is going to make democracy bloom in arid-democracy countries is delusional, IMO.
On constant requests for donations: My simple solution is keeping my land line permanently on the answering machine & my cell # known only to family. Family, friends, and even acquaintances know about this peculiarity of mine, so I don’t have to deal with donation requests. However, political parties are not the only ones who keep asking for money. Charitable organizations are the same, wasting money on mailing unwanted promotional materials. Despite my asking them to stop sending me such stuff & assuring them that my donations are regularly made at the end of the year, they are deaf to such requests. BUT … a minor annoyance considering other people’s much worse situations.
On persuading to the conservative cause: I’ve come to the conclusion that the current polarization has been engendered & encouraged by the multiplicity of opinion makers. Reporters no longer report the 5 Ws, they opine or “analyze”. Talk radio is a constant cacophony of criticism. Entertainers think their job includes educating the masses. Educators, whose role once entailed confirming & reinforcing the socially accepted norms of the community have, in some cases, become agenda-driven ideologues. Not to mention social media … So, is it a useful exercise to try to convince others to the conservative cause, especially when even among conservatives there are at times wide differences between factions?
Am I optimistic about 2018? Not much.
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Well I would probably describe your sentiments as realistic rather than pessimist, Gabby.
For me the big goal this year is getting rid of Wynne and the Liberals. 15 years is long enough!
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Although I no longer live in Ontario, fully concur. While I am somewhat nervous the Liberals will get back in or NDP win, I still think notwithstanding what some pundits say, the PCs have the clear advantage although not certain. You would think with all the mess ups people would just say enough. Besides Brown has been careful to leave alone all the popular policies so portraying him as scary will be harder although it seems some just reflexively assume anyone who is a conservative is hard right which ultimately I feel leads to bad governments getting re-elected. Nonetheless if you look at the history of Ontario, Liberals are pretty much always competitive and most polls show Wynne doing worse than the hapless Dion in 2008 and some as bad as Ignatieff in 2011 (note the Liberals still got 25.4% in 2011). Also Harper got 35% in 2015 in Ontario and I have tough time seeing Brown not doing at least a bit better than that hopefully a lot better and I suspect splits will be a bit stronger too this time around.
If you look at the policies the Liberals are bringing out, I think one needs to be careful to assume they will be home run hits.
1. Electricity rebates – Tories promise bigger ones and with the amount they’ve reason and auditor general claiming they will have to rise to cover this easy target to claim political desperation.
2. Minimum wage hikes – While that is probably the most worrisome, at most it might bring more millennials out, but I’ve found in past elections minimum wage promises at best tend to only move the dial a few points. And with Brown promising to keep the $14/hour minimum wage and just slow the rate of increase, blunts some of the attacks.
3. Free prescription under 25 – Most people under 25 rarely if ever fill out prescription drugs and most already are covered by parent’s plans so this is a cheap gimmick but not nearly as big a vote getter as some think. I think Howarth’s promise of providing several prescription drugs for free is more likely to gain traction, but cost could limit here. Also PCs promise on childcare tax credits should help amongst young families and dental care promise amongst seniors.
So yes the fact there is even a remote possibility the Liberals could win again with all they have done is appalling, but I still think all things equal, the chances are not good for them.
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There will soon have to be an awakening if there is to be any change in Ontario.
We have a smattering of signs, small business owners and chains are talking about the minimum wage, how they will deal with it, cut hours, raise prices to keep afloat or some may close.
There are so many issues that need to be talked about, especially by the opposition.From education to health care we have a colossal mess not to mention massive debt.
Wynne is counting on the what’s in it for me vote as she trots about the province delivering her goodies as well as advertising on prime time TV and radio.
I have little faith and it’s not helping to have on-going infighting among the PC’s against our chosen leader. If it continues they will defeat themselves and we will have the Wynne fashion show for another four years.
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There’s another movement within called “Axe the Carbon Tax” looking for support going after Brown. They don’t seem to realize their efforts are only going to help the Liberals, they’ll have the carbon tax and no power to change it.
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Joshua Boyle is back in the news, he’s behind bars right here in Canada…another type of captivity..unlike the one he allegedly endured with his family for some five years. He’s charged with some pretty nasty stuff.
There’s something very, very strange about the whole affair.
We need to remember he had a meeting with the Prime Minister soon after his arrival back to Canada, a friendly meeting with lots of sympathy I’m sure. The photo-op included Trudeau with Boyle’s baby on his lap.
Boyle had a Khadr connection, he was once married to Omar Khadr’s older sister.
Stranger than fiction as the saying goes.
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Yes that Boyle story is getting stranger every day. Both he and Trudeau seem to have very bad judgement.
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Interesting one by Warren Kinsella http://warrenkinsella.com/2018/01/did-justin-trudeau-just-give-patrick-brown-a-gift/. One of the few Liberal blogs I regularly read. If the experts are saying what Brown is, people tend to trust them over politicians as most know politicians are cynical and do what it takes to win rather than what is best. I think Wynne assumed the minimum wage would be a big hit and it might, but it could also backfire. She probably knows she is going to lose the Boomer vote so wants to compensate that by winning big amongst millennials which this will likely be popular amongst.
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Very interesting for sure! I hope Patrick Brown takes that advice.
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Wynne has gone after the Tim Horton’s owners over reducing benefits. I think we need to be sympathetic to how difficult it is to live on minimum wage but also understand too if done incorrectly it could make the problem worse as a low paying job is better than no job even if neither are ideal. The PCs seem to be taking a balanced and centrist position which is good. My worry is if millennials show up in big numbers, Wynne’s plan might work as it seems a lot of them like whomever offers the most freebies without any understanding how the economy works. I am thinking of doing a posting when I have time not just on this but other policies where I feel people put feelings over facts. To be balanced it will go after one’s on both sides of the spectrum as I think a facts based government not emotional is preferable although it seems we are moving the wrong way unfortunately.
That being said Brown’s dental care and childcare plans might help blunt this as those should help him amongst those in their 30s for childcare and people over 65 for dental care. I saw a thing on BNN with Abacus data’s pollster David Coletto and he more or less alluded to Wynne’s only chance at a comeback is if millennials show up in big numbers and they overwhelmingly vote for her. While I don’t like to pick on any age group, I do fear the direction millennials are going. With how well Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn did in their respective countries amongst them should be a warning that policies that in the past were too radical to win on may have an audience and we need to do a better job of warning that generation the dangers of socialism like we did with previous ones.
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“That being said Brown’s dental care and childcare plans might help blunt this as those should help him amongst those in their 30s for childcare and people over 65 for dental care”
Brown is advocating for a dental care plan for seniors? Wow. We don’t have any coverage at all and it is horribly expensive.
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Dental care is off the charts on the expense scale. Many seniors have pension insurance coverage for dental. Retired teachers and Hydro retirees have coverage for everything, drugs as well which can be very expensive.
Brown might have a winner if he’s talking about a plan for seniors.
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It won’t though be for all seniors, it will be means tested, but still better than nothing and never mind with our huge debt there is a limit in how many programs we can add. Yes coverage is expensive if you don’t have insurance. It did say low income seniors and didn’t say the income so cannot say whom will qualify or not, expect more details, but its a start.
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Retired teachers are able to access varying forms of coverage only if they’re able to pay exorbitant premiums. Many are not able to afford those monthly premiums and must choose wisely the ones they most urgently require. As a diabetic of long standing I chose only the prescription drug coverage and nothing else.
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Thanks for clarifying that Anne. I was under the impression retired teachers had full coverage. Obviously that’s not the case.
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Cold January, let’s hope things heat up when Parliament opens with the Conservatives shining some light into corners the Liberals want to keep in the dark.
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Yes don’t lose hope. We’ll get ’em eventually. 😉
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There were 6 stories about Sen. Lynn Beyak headlined on National Newswatch on Thursday, another 5 yesterday and 7 today. All of this coverage results from something she said for which Andrew Scheer ejected her from the CPC caucus. Compare this with the disappearance of any coverage recently on the deliberate actions of both Justin Trudeau and Bill Morneau who were both found guilty of deliberate ethics breaches yet still remain not only in the LPC but in the two top positions in government. Something is glaringly wrong with this picture and the obvious bias of the press.
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I noticed that too! It’s almost as if they had all had their marching orders from the PMO as to what stories to push.
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Senator Beyak’s remarks are largely being described as racist hate speech. There is at least one book which backs up her assertion that not all experiences of residential school attendees were negative. A brief summary of the book may be found at http://www.ainlay.ca/datafiles/Ourdeva/IndianResidentialSchools.pdf
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Well said!
The “obvious bias of the press” is without question. What I don’t understand and strikes me as illogical is the Conservatives’ leadership position on Senator Beyak’s right to hold an opinion — albeit a controversial one — on indigenous / First Nations issues. First then-interim leader Rona Ambrose & CPC Senate leader Larry Smith repudiated Ms. Beyak’s POV, removing her from some senate committees. Now, It is particularly illogical because, unless I’m mistaken, Mr. Scheer campaigned for the leadership on the issue of freedom of expression. So it appears Mr. Scheer adheres to the “progressive” notion of “freedom of expression”: people are allowed to hold a particular opinion so long as it coincides and conforms with the generally accepted “progressive” POV. Baffling.
Perhaps Ms. Beyak was unwise in publishing what she apparently described as letters of support. If she wanted to publish them, maybe she should have prefaced that disclosure with “publishing letters on my website does not equal endorsement of views expressed therein” – as I’ve seen some Twitter users do.
P.S.: Joanne, because I’ve had to interrupt writing my comment, there may be a double posting of comment. Sorry.
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This was in reply to Anne in swON (January 6, 2018 at 12:34 pm)
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I think Andrew Scheer is playing it smart here and if anything should have booted her much sooner. I think when it comes to political correctness it’s one thing for an individual to be able to say what they want and not face punishment, but since being a politician is a privilege not a right its perfectly reasonable to ask politicians meet a higher standard. What she said was very offensive to the many indigenous who went through the residential schools. Back in 2008 Harper apologized for the residential schools so her views even go against what our party stands for.
There is an image out there that the Conservatives are a party only for angry white men. That is completely false, but we must be a party that is inclusive for all Canadians and where no matter what group you belong to, you feel welcome in our party if you believe in lower taxes, smaller government, balanced budgets, and that the market not state is the solution to promoting growth. If we are seen as a whites only party by the public even if not true we will lose badly, so its best to choose your fights carefully and I don’t feel trying to defend her is a hill worth dying on. On issues like not running deficits and not raising taxes those are hills worth dying on even if offside with the public, this is not.
I think the approach Patrick Brown is taking in Ontario is what we need to do if we wish to be competitive in 2019 not the approach Donald Trump is taking (I know some here like him, but like him or not, his style of politics doesn’t sell on this side of the border and even south of it is quite controversial). The Liberals want to have the next election about identity politics not about their poor governance record as they know they will win easily on the former while are vulnerable on the latter so lets focus on the areas they are vulnerable not let them set the agenda to let them get away from their bad policies.
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The CPC are behaving like trained seals in this instance. The Liberals called for her ouster and the CPC obeyed. Everybody and their brother in this government and various others as far back as Chretien has apologized ad nauseam. Nothing changes except the calls to say it louder and more often. Sen. Beyak merely repeated what Chretien’s white paper declared. Now the ball is in Trudeau’s court. It was tossed to him by a certain ‘independent’ Liberal senator to do something, anything to force her resignation. Where are the calls to oust Colin Kenny? I don’t hear any and the government wouldn’t pay any attention anyway. But Lynn Beyak and Rachel Harder sure paid the price merely for espousing different opinions. Andrew Scheer should have supported her right to have her own opinion and stated his disagreement with that opinion. Period.
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Sen Beyak has issued a statement which can be found at https://globalnews.ca/news/3951973/sen-lynn-beyak-defends-racist-letters-as-free-speech-attacks-andrew-scheer-for-ouster/?utm_source=%40globalnews&utm_medium=Twitter The term ‘racist’ as used in this context is, in my opinion, vile and inappropriate. When even the phrase “Being white is okay” is deemed racist the word has lost all meaning. When you can’t refute an opinion with reasoned speech then hurl abuse. Is this what we’ve come to?
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I think the party was right to come down hard on here. The reality is this, most Canadians have zero tolerance for racists and any party that is seen as being tolerant of bigotry won’t get their vote. I won’t vote Liberal or NDP, but if the Conservatives were seen as being okay with allowing racists in their party (which they haven’t) I wouldn’t vote for them. Residential schools were done with the purpose of trying to destroy indigenous culture so while not directly racists, it is in many ways like saying slavery was a good thing or the Japanese internment camps had good things. Most would agree both are totally inappropriate.
She still has free speech in that she won’t get punished legally, but like any organization you have to decide if your brand wants to be associated with that or not. Many of those at the Charlottesville rally got fired from their jobs as their employers didn’t want their companies to be associated with that, but since the US has unrestricted free speech they did not go prison, they just lost their jobs. Otherwise free speech simply gives one the right to say what they want without facing sanction of the law, it does not mean one can do it with impunity as free speech also gives those who oppose them the right to speak out.
I look at it this way, we probably won’t agree on this, but I think the party if it wants to challenge Trudeau in 2019 it cannot be painted as intolerant. If they are, we will lose. Harper in 2004 and Hudak in 2014 both played into their opponents negative characterizations (In Harper’s case, it was not so much him, but several bozo eruptions like Randy White and Cheryl Gallant) and both lost easily winneable elections. In 2006, Harper did a better job of inoculating himself against the attacks coming thus why he won and Patrick Brown so far is doing a good job of not taking the bait thus why things are looking quite favourable. Social issues and identity politics are what progressives want the election to be about as they know if on that they will win, whereas we need to make it about economics and fiscal policy. Otherwise smart campaigns try to play to the party’s strength not weakness and try to figure out where your opponent’s weaknesses are, not strengths.
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So criticism is deemed racism? How interesting. That’ll shut those nasty critics up, won’t it? Incidentally, your claim that “Residential schools were done with the purpose of trying to destroy indigenous culture” is a myth that people are coerced into perpetuating. Do go spend ten minutes and read the paper to which I linked yesterday. I mistakenly thought it was an exerpt from a book – it’s not. http://www.ainlay.ca/datafiles/Ourdeva/IndianResidentialSchools.pdf
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The fact they banned them speaking their native languages and forced them away from the parents is not something I can accept as being good or positive. Sure maybe there were a few individuals who had positive experiences but that doesn’t make them right. Some people enjoy being imprisoned but that doesn’t mean going to jail is a good thing on a whole (I support people going there who break the law and it is meant to be punishment). I guess how look at it as is a well to do white male I try to listen to what others say as I’ve never experienced racism, so if someone finds something offensive I comply out of respect. I am not someone full of white guilt, but I try to be empathetic to those who haven’t been as lucky as I have. I believe its better to be too cautious than not cautious enough on political correctness. I don’t support sanctioning people who are politically incorrect, one has the full freedom to say what they believe, but as a party that is not where I want to see it go and I fail to see how letting her stay on would help the party. There is unfortunately a strong stereotype out there that conservatives are intolerant and we need to show Canadians this is a myth not reality so we should avoid doing anything that plays into that stereotype which Beyak does. I think Scheer did the right thing although should have acted a bit sooner. She can still freely promote what she wants but being a member of the Conservative caucus is a privilege not a right and those who damage the party or portray it in a way it is not should be kicked out.
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” I don’t support sanctioning people who are politically incorrect” or “Scheer did the right thing”. Pick a lane.
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I meant I don’t support legal sanctions, I do support political which are different. Throwing someone in prison is quite different than kicking out of a party.
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Miles Lunn, your take on the Lynn Beyak residential school vs Andrew Scheer’s position seems to be completely about political calculations, i.e.which position will appeal most to the public at large & thus yield the most votes. IMO, sometimes principles, not just vote garnering, should be the focus.
Here are some interesting articles on this issue:
http://nationalpost.com/opinion/christie-blatchford-in-the-scheer-versus-beyak-battle-she-got-more-right-than-he-did#comments-area
http://www.torontosun.com/2017/03/29/in-defence-of-senator-lynnbeyak which includes a link to this: “Tomson Highway Has A Surprisingly Positive Take On Residential Schools”.
https://norj.ca/2014/05/inuvik-school-demolition-draws-mix-of-emotions/
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I see it more about deciding which fights to pick and which are not. Yes sometimes you have to stick to your principles, but is this an issue so important its worth losing an election over? I would argue not. In addition all the research I’ve done on residential schools show they were not positive, in fact quite negative. Taking away people by force from their parents and prohibiting them from speaking their language is not a good thing IMHO. Considering the trauma its caused the many who have gone through I think what she said was quite insensitive. Interestingly enough it was Harper not Trudeau who started the Truth and Reconciliation and it was Harper who apologized for Residential Schools. Sure you could probably find certain individuals who said their experience was positive, but that doesn’t negate from the fact many were negative or that the whole idea around residential schools was morally repugnant. As a white male myself who hasn’t had to experience discrimination I tend to when it comes to racism, homophobia, or sexism listen to what those who are affected say and go along with that rather than challenge it myself.
Now I do think we can still take different views on aboriginal issues such as Trudeau abolishing the First Nation’s accountability act. That I agree with as I don’t think we should be sending billions of dollars so some chiefs can get rich while leaving many of their band members in third world living conditions thus I support the First Nation’s accountability act to ensure the money actually goes to helping the people it is meant to not enriching the chiefs.
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“Taking away people by force from their parents and prohibiting them from speaking their language is not a good thing IMHO.”
Yes, by today’s standards, not yesterday’s.
“… the whole idea around residential schools was morally repugnant.”
Again, by today’s standards, not yesterday’s.
Here are a few ideas on history expressed by people far more eloquent than I, from goodreads.com:
“If people refuse to look at you in a new light and they can only see you for what you were, only see you for the mistakes you’ve made, if they don’t realize that you are not your mistakes, then they have to go.” ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
““People wait until they have a need for some history and then they customize it to suit their purposes.” ― Neal Stephenson, Reamde
“The human race tends to remember the abuses to which it has been subjected rather than the endearments.” ― Bertolt Brecht
“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” ― Napoléon Bonaparte
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Interesting discussion Gabby and Miles! Glad to see two different POV being put forward in such an intelligent debate.
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