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Canadian PoliGAF - 42nd Parliament: Sunny Ways in Trudeaupia

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The Chief of the Defence Staff issued a statement about those wannabe fascist naval officers from a few days ago:

”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?

I'd love to see a breakdown of how much money his government cost us just in legal fees. Years ago I worked as an assistant at a law firm, and I'll always remember the senior partner telling me that taking a case to the SCC cost at least $1 million. That was almost 15 years ago, so I imagine that number has gone up a little. Now consider how many times Justice Canada lawyers had to argue for Harper government actions that were clearly wrong -- particularly those in clear violation of the Charter -- in some way. (I know that these lawyers would've been doing something regardless, so it's not a perfectly 1:1 spending thing, but it can't have been cheap.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Yeah, I saw that. If this doesn't end with immediate dishonorable discharge or whatever the Canadian equivalent is, then I think that sends a clear sign that about what the military culture condones.
 

CazTGG

Member
Can't fault Harper on this one though,
majority of Canadians agreed with him on this issue. Including Liberal voters

Considering Harper's refusal to have him brought over to Canada is what lead to Khadr being to being tortured and the subsequent court rulings that his rights were violated and Canada's government was neglectful in protecting his rights, thus the apology and reparations...yeah, his government and him are absolutely at fault, regardless of whether you agree with the decision or not.
 

maharg

idspispopd
Can't fault Harper on this one though,
majority of Canadians agreed with him on this issue. Including Liberal voters

I suspect your appeal to populism is, shall we say, opportunistic. Separatism has been, at times, popular in Quebec. Cool to separate then?
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
Let's not and have a referendum to remove the Queen as the head of state instead.
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)
 

Vamphuntr

Member
Time for a Quexit!

Considering the current political situation here if someone with a minimum charisma and intellect tries for a referendum again he could probably aim for a wit but for a terrible reason. People always hated religion but the fear of Islam and Muslims seems to have cranked it up to eleven. There's not a single day without some kind of hysteria related to that. There was one yesterday where there was a Muslim group in a Safari Park and it lead to some insane boycott campaign. I would have thought after the terrorist mosquée shooting in QC that it would have dialed back a bit but it doesn't seem to be the case.

The Omar Khadr story is pretty interesting. It really shows how people simply takes a side without debating much anymore and shooting insults at each others. The article in Le Devoir today paints quite a bleak picture on the original case. According to classified documents it's not even clear in the first place that he was responsible for throwing the grenade in the first place according to other witnesses but he admitted everything after being interrogated and tortured. Considering the Canadian Government let him rot in Guantanamo bay and denied his rights compensation seems like the correct solution. There is always the possibility he's still responsible for the murder but even then I feel it's like those cases where murderers get away with it but you need to take a hit to show the judicial system works most of the time and to assure rights are respected.

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.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
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.
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?
 

Pedrito

Member
Time for a Quexit!

It's Quértie

Bill-101 and all...

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?

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)
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
It's Quértie

Bill-101 and all...
lol touche.

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.
 

Pedrito

Member
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.

The CIA station chief in Islamabad was sued in Pakistan by the father of someone killed by a drone strike:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/17/cia-chief-pakistan-drone-cover

Not sure what happened with the civil case. The criminal charges were dropped:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/04/pakistan-drops-case-cia-station-chief-150430065639281.html

There's scene about this in Zero Dark Thirty.
 

Mr.Mike

Member
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)

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.
 
Can't fault Harper on this one though,
majority of Canadians agreed with him on this issue. Including Liberal voters

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.
 
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)

Can't lose the Queen at this point, but I'd drop King Chuck in a heartbeat.
 
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.

did he really require Congressional support to close it since it was created without Congress in the first place?

---

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
 
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.


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

I know these guys! They were in my Master's program last year. Neat to see their podcast being referenced by someone who (I assume) doesn't know them.
 
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

...I think I might be okay with this idea. I think.
 

Sean C

Member
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.
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.

Unless Charles declares his allegiance to ISIS, there's never going to be sufficient motivation to restart the constitutional debate solely to make Canada a republic.
 
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?
 

Mr.Mike

Member
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?

Well, I was able to find this blog post in the NYT.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...hut-up-royal-baby-haters-monarchy-is-awesome/

It includes this chart showing that constitutional monarchies are better off on average. But I'll point out that there are totally republics up there too.

imrs.php

This blog post reminds us that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. https://smokeandstir.org/2013/07/25...es-lead-to-stability-or-the-other-way-around/

In essence, perhaps instead of the monarchy adding stability it was the political stability that allowed the monarchy to stick around.

The second argument in the NYT piece tries to demonstrate how constitutional monarchy would cause greater stability.

imrs.php


"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.

Basically arguing that constitutional monarchies have more elections and less regime change without them.

This blog presents a counter-argument to that, including a Canadian example.

http://suffragio.org/2013/07/24/are...esidential-republics-correlation-≠-causation/

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.

In the end I feel like everyone basically comes to the conclusion that constitutional monarchies aren't necessarily worse than republics, though the NYT piece rather tepidly argues they help a bit.

Personally it seems like the detail of a monarchy or a symbolic presidency just isn't really an important variable in the equation. So then it boils down to how silly the monarchy is and if it's worth it to change it. To be honest, it probably isn't worth the effort to change it, but I do think it's quite silly.

There is an idea floating around to just not recognize Queen Elizabeths death and have her be Queen forever. It'd be some Warhammer 40k shit and I support it.
 

Pancake Mix

Copied someone else's pancake recipe
Let's just keep the monarchy as head of state. It's one of the biggest things that makes Canada not America.
 

CazTGG

Member
Let's just keep the monarchy as head of state. It's one of the biggest things that makes Canada not America.

You mean aside from universal* healthcare, an embracing of same-sex marriage by the country's government, bilingualism, lacrosse, maple syrup, beavers, the CBC, apologizing for literally everything, even if they did nothing wrong (which, to be clear, we've done a lot of things wrong i.e. residential schools, 60s Scoop, Head Tax/Immigration Act, Ukranian/Japanese interment camps and laws that restricted land ownership for the latter for four years after WWII ended) and Terry Fox?

*Universal under this definition precludes gender reassignment, dentistry, etc.

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.

Calling it now: Angus is going to win this with little room between him and Singh. He's the only candidate that, based on what i've seen in the debates, has improved in my eyes. He doesn't have a chance against Trudeau in the next general election short of discovering that Justin has secretly been funding PETA, but he's a strong candidate who might be able to put enough pressure on the Trudeau government to get them to improve their current efforts in regards to indigenous affairs.
 
We have a monarch that lives in another country and that's really just a side product of a colonial system. The Dominion of Canada, establish in 1867, wasn't an independent country. The Governor General was a British lord until 1952. It's now just a puppet position.

The appointed Senate was made to rule over the elected House of Commons according to the British system. If you look inside the buildings you can see it was supposed to be like flying in first class vi traveling in coach. The Governor General lives in Rideau Hall, the Canadian palace. Trudeau is actually living in a 22 room house that traditional houses the servants of the Governor General.

It's pretty insane that some people want a proportional system but are happy with those arrangements.
 

Mr.Mike

Member
PCs ahead, but Ontario Liberals still have a path to victory

INNOVATIVE’s monthly telephone tracking poll shows the PC’s 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 Ontario’s 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.

Slide9.jpg


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 it’s 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.

Slide13.jpg


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 don’t recognize or know his name, this is down from 65% when he became leader. Brown’s 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 don’t 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.

More region specific stuff behind the link.
 

CazTGG

Member
So, this happened: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...pposing-bilateral-free-trade/article35481613/

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.

Andrew Scheer isn't even well known in Canada and yet he's already making enemies abroad.

It's the South Park turd vs douche situation. No one wants to pick anyone. lol

I mean, Brown is a Tory so the choice is pretty simple: Vote for whoever has the best shot of keeping his party out of power in swing ridings. We don't need a repeat of the Harris years.
 
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.

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.
 

CazTGG

Member
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.

That much was obvious re: Scheer's comments in regards to Omar Khadr when he was a part of the government that caused him to suffer in Gitmo.
 

Tapejara

Member
Scheer is unhappy about the settlement to Omar Khadr:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cabinet-explain-omar-khadr-settlement-1.4194467

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.

No matter your thoughts on the size of the settlement, I feel that saying "Khadr should just be happy he's in Canada today" diminishes the suffering he would have to endure as a child soldier and in Guantanamo.
 

CazTGG

Member
Leaving aside that there were Liberal MPs who said that Khadr should be brought back to Canada, the Harper government was the one went to court on three separate occasions just to keep Khadr out of Canada in spite of the growing coverage surrounding the human rights abuse that occurred in Guantanamo. They were complicit in the torture that he suffered as a result, including Scheer, the spineless Harper wannabe that he is.
 
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