”I detest any action by a Canadian Armed Forces member that is intended to show disrespect towards the very people and cultures we value in Canada. We are the nation's protectors, and any member of the Canadian Armed Forces who is not prepared to be the defender we need them to be will face severe consequences, including release from the forces.
”What happened in Halifax over the weekend is deplorable, and Canadians should rest assured my senior leadership is seized of the matter. The members involved will be removed from training and duties while we conduct an investigation and review the circumstances. Their future in the military is certainly in doubt.
”On behalf of the Canadian Armed Forces, I apologize to our indigenous peoples for the behaviour of a few, who certainly do not represent the broader group of proud women and men who serve our country. I expect better."
Can well all at least agree that none of this would be happening if Harper wasn't the absolute worst?
The Chief of the Defence Staff issued a statement about those wannabe fascist naval officers from a few days ago:
Yep, probably a few pages back now.I must have missed this episode. Was it posted in here?
I've checked through 4 pages so far, and nothingYep, probably a few pages back now.
I've checked through 4 pages so far, and nothing
I feel like this is where I read about it first... but I could be wrong.I've checked through 4 pages so far, and nothing
Can well all at least agree that none of this would be happening if Harper wasn't the absolute worst?
Can't fault Harper on this one though,
majority of Canadians agreed with him on this issue. Including Liberal voters
Can't fault Harper on this one though,
majority of Canadians agreed with him on this issue. Including Liberal voters
Time for a Quexit!
Canadian republicanism is probably even more remote possibility than a resurgent separatist movement in Quebec.Let's not and have a referendum to remove the Queen as the head of state instead.
Time for a Quexit!
I can't imagine he'd have to pay, even if it's a fraction of the ridiculous 120 million dollar sum.He probably won't get his money for long because it seems Tabitha Seer will sue him/and the Canadian Government to get the money because of his role in the murder of his husband.
Time for a Quexit!
I can't imagine he'd have to pay, even if it's a fraction of the ridiculous 120 million dollar sum.
Which begs the question, why can't Afghan civilians sue individual Canadian/American/NATO soldiers for their role in killing their family members?
lol touche.It's Quértie
Bill-101 and all...
Well if an American can sue a Canadian in an American court, it all seems like fair game. I suppose it's all a token gesture anyway.They could if:
-They're able to identify the culprit (doubtful)
-The culprit goes back to Aghanistan to stand trial (doubtful)
-They manage the get the judgment enforced in the US/Canada (doubtful)
Well if an American can sue a Canadian in an American court, it all seems like fair game. I suppose it's all a token gesture anyway.
Canadian republicanism is probably even more remote possibility than a resurgent separatist movement in Quebec.
(I bet we lose the Queen/GG before we get either electoral or senate reform though lol)
I'm not a separatist, but I swear, if the CPC ever comes back into power because of the RoC, I'm becoming one xDI suspect your appeal to populism is, shall we say, opportunistic. Separatism has been, at times, popular in Quebec. Cool to separate then?
I'm not a separatist, but I swear, if the CPC ever comes back into power because of the RoC, I'm becoming one xD
What if the CPC comes back into power because of Quebec?
Won't happen, but...What if the CPC comes back into power because of Quebec?
Won't happen, but...
Start a Montreal separatist movement to separate from Québec and become our own city-state.
Can't fault Harper on this one though,
majority of Canadians agreed with him on this issue. Including Liberal voters
Canadian republicanism is probably even more remote possibility than a resurgent separatist movement in Quebec.
(I bet we lose the Queen/GG before we get either electoral or senate reform though lol)
I can totally fault Harper because he was free to do what he wanted.
I can't fault Obama for not closing Guantanamo because he didn't have the support in Congress to do it.
This is a really great intro and deserves to be shared here. The actual podcast is pretty good too.
https://soundcloud.com/boys-in-short-pants/episode-22-missing-their-appointments
on the off topic of Quebec hypotheticals, I'm going to toss one here that will probably make lots of you go ???:
imagine if Quebec became a full fledged member of the European Union and adopted the Euro as currency. Now that would be the only condition for me supporting it
Abolishing the monarchy requires a unanimous constitutional amendment. The whole reason we don't make changes like that is because people know that once you reopen the Constitution, suddenly everybody is insisting that their pet issue be addressed.We'll probably lose the monarchy once someone unpopular inherits it and does something scandalous. (Lookin at you Charles)
There's really not enough interest in getting the ball rolling, but once it does I also can't imagine there would be enough interest in stopping it to do so.
Wasn't there a study that was passed around some years ago about how constitutional monarchies were more stable and formed a "healthier" democracy than republics?
"Only in constitutional monarchies — where governments have much broader discretion to decide their fates than in republics —are early elections more common as a mode of discretionary cabinet termination than nonelectoral replacement," Schleiter and Morgan-Jones write. In other words, only constitutional monarchies force prime ministers to consult the people before shaking up their governments.
And though presidents who are indirectly elected by parliament are bad on this score, those, like Ireland's or Finland's, who are elected by the people directly are worse. Having a popularly-elected president almost doubles the odds of non-electoral replacement. That's what you'd expect; the president is more legitimate when popularly elected, and so is more likely to feel like she can refuse to dissolve the government when it suits her.
And, of course, not all heads of state are created equally. Even within the realm of ceremonial presidents (as opposed to presidential republics where real power is vested in the president, such as in the United States or even France), not all presidents are created equally. The Czech presidency is designed to provide the head of state with relatively more muscular powers than, say, the German or Israeli presidency. Matthews himself notes that the indirectly elected president in Estonia acts in a much more political manner than the directly elected Irish president — in recent years, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese ran as independents with no real ties to existing Irish political parties. If the body of ‘directly elected presidents' were comprised solely of countries like Ireland, the research might indicate another outcome. So ultimately, the inescapable conclusion is that any country's experience with a particular system may have much more to do with the country's unique national and cultural qualities.
That doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of the issue of countries like Canada. Although Canada is a constitutional monarchy, Canada has an appointed governor-general who serves as the royal representative in Canada — in effect selected by the prime minister, though technically appointed by Queen Elizabeth II. That makes the governor-general more like an indirectly elected president than a monarch. In recent years, the Canadian trend has been to appoint non-partisan governors-general, alternating anglophone and francophone, such as academic David Johnston and his predecessor, former journalist Michaëlle Jean, instead of blatantly political figures. Would Canada somehow have fewer reshuffles and more responsive government if Queen Elizabeth II served directly without a governor-general? It seems doubtful to me.
Constitutional monarchies may indeed be a fine form of government, but it's a stretch to argue that they are clearly superior to parliamentary republics with elected presidents, because whether you think one form is superior will depend on whether you favor a government's relative stability or responsivity to public opinion.
Let's just keep the monarchy.
Let's just keep the monarchy as head of state. It's one of the biggest things that makes Canada not America.
NDP leadership news: Peter Julian is dropping out this afternoon. He probably realized that being dead last in fundraising after entering the race well before anyone else probably didn't bode well for his chances. The race is now down to four people: Ashton, Angus, Caron, and Singh.
INNOVATIVEs monthly telephone tracking poll shows the PCs maintaining a narrow lead as anger towards the Liberals ebb and Patrick Brown begins building a positive image. Despite the dramatic policies announcements coming from the Liberal government over the past several months, the changes in Ontarios core political numbers remain quite limited. (Click here for methodology and details).
If Ontario held an election today, the PCs would likely win by a hair: 3-in-10 (30%) would vote PC, compared to 27% who would likely vote Liberal. Over the past two months the PC lead has been narrower than it was earlier in the spring.
The Liberals remain in the race because they enjoy a 7-point lead in party identification. However, the PCs are more effectively at mobilising their base with 85% of those who identify as Progressive Conservatives planning to vote PC, compared with just 61% of Liberals and 67% of NDP.
Wynne underperforming with base, but hostile groups shrink
The numbers paint a murky picture for the Ontario Liberals. On the one hand, the Liberals are underperforming with their base of Core/Soft Liberal supporters (25% of the electorate) only 6-in-10 (61%) plan to vote Liberal in the upcoming election.
On the other hand, the group of Liberal-identified voters who are hostile to the government (those who strongly agree it is time for a change and strongly disagree that the Liberals are the best party to form government) is 27%, down from a high of 33% in February 2017.
The primary hope for the Wynne Liberals is the relatively large group (19%) of conflicted those who say its time for a change in government but still believe that the Liberals are the best party to form government. Nearly half of these time-for-change Liberals (49%) plan on voting Liberal.
Brown and Wynne show small improvements in image
On leader brand, there is no big news, just small changes. Patrick Brown is slowly filling in his blank slate with favourable. While more than half (53%) of Ontarians dont recognize or know his name, this is down from 65% when he became leader. Browns net favourable have gained four points to +13 with a two point increase in favourable and two point decrease in unfavourables.
Most Ontarians still do not have a favourable impression of Kathleen Wynne (net favourable: -34) but this is an 8-point improvement from February. The change has come mostly from a 6-point drop in unfavourable views.
Andrea Horwath enjoys the most positive image of all three leaders with a +17 net favourable but she is actually dropping in her overall awareness with 44% saying they dont recognise her, up 6 points from the winter.
Brown (23%) is currently ahead as Best Premier with Horwath (18%) in second and Wynne (15%) trailing in third.
Beijing's ruling Communist Party has used one of its main newspapers to deliver an angry salvo at Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, calling him ”arrogant and biased" for opposing a trade deal between China and Canada.
The Official Opposition Leader announced on Sunday that his party would oppose Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's effort to negotiate a free-trade accord with the world's second-biggest economy, citing concerns about human rights, labour standards and the fact the Chinese economy is dominated by state-owned companies. Canadian and U.S. intelligence agencies have warned these enterprises act in the interests of China's Communist Party.
”Giving China preferential access to the Canadian market would threaten the jobs of workers and businesses in this country," Mr. Scheer said.
It's the South Park turd vs douche situation. No one wants to pick anyone. lol
The Official Opposition Leader announced on Sunday that his party would oppose Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus effort to negotiate a free-trade accord with the worlds second-biggest economy, citing concerns about human rights, labour standards and the fact the Chinese economy is dominated by state-owned companies.
The conservatives don't seem to mind making deals with Saudi Arabia over petrol so wow it's almost like they are a bunch of hypocrites or something.
CBC said:Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said it was "disgusting" for the government to concoct a "secret deal" and hand over millions to a convicted terrorist. "This payout is a slap in the face to men and women in uniform who face incredible danger every day to keep us safe."
Scheer said he believes the Harper government's decision to repatriate Khadr in 2012 was a sufficient response to the Supreme Court's ruling that Khadr's rights were violated. "The fact that [Khadr] is in Canada today is the remedy, that is the compensation," he said. "I would have refused to agree to this settlement."
Scheer said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is trying to shirk responsibility for the actions of previous Liberal governments by placing the blame on Harper.
"Let's be clear, this whole ordeal started under Liberal governments," he said, noting Canadian officials at Foreign Affairs and CSIS questioned Khadr at Guantanamo Bay in 2003 and 2004, when former prime minister Paul Martin was in power.