Harper consistently embarrasses Canada abroad

Opinion piece from The Toronto Star criticizing the actions of Harper’s government concerning Canadians abroad. Points to a pattern of discrimination, drawing comparisons with Brenda Martin – jailed in Mexico but rescued by a minister’s intervention and flown back on a government plane. She is white, others not. The others are also Muslim.

By Haroon Siddiqui

Israel and the U.S. have well-deserved reputations for standing up for their citizens abroad. Canada, under Stephen Harper, is gaining a reputation for failing its own.

Omar Khadr rots in Guantanamo.

Abousfian Abdelrazik, tortured in his native Sudan, had to be holed up in the Canadian embassy in Khartoum for a year before being allowed to return to Canada.

Bashir Makhtal – abducted from Kenya to his native Ethiopia and sentenced to life in prison for allegedly belonging to a separatist group – may or may not get Ottawa’s help in fighting the verdict of a kangaroo court.

Huseyin Celil – a Uighur Canadian human-rights activist serving a life sentence in China after being convicted, in secret, on charges of terrorism – has been forgotten by Ottawa. Its waning interest has run in tandem with its increasing enthusiasm for business with China.

Perhaps the Harper Tories don’t want anything to do with anyone tarred with the terrorism brush, rightly or wrongly.

But now comes the case of Suaad Hagi Mohamud. The Toronto woman was left dangling in Nairobi after an airport official thought her lips did not match the picture on her passport. Rather than helping her, the Canadian embassy became a party to tormenting her. It has taken 11 weeks and a DNA test to prove her identity.

Her case wouldn’t even have come to light had it not been for Star reporter John Goddard, who has kept at it, day after day.

Gar Pardy, former head of the consular services section of foreign affairs in Ottawa, and others see a pattern of discrimination.

They draw comparisons with Brenda Martin, jailed in Mexico but rescued by a minister’s intervention and flown back on a government plane. She is white, others not. The others are also Muslim.

Star columnist Christopher Hume yesterday accused the Harperites of racism based on colour. “This smacks not just of prejudice but of apartheid.”

Former MP Omar Alghabra, who was Liberal citizenship critic, says the “elephant in the room” may be the Tory belief that some Canadians are not “real” citizens and, thus, unworthy of consular help.

Dan McTeague, former Liberal minister responsible for Canadians abroad, says Harper shows no interest in Canadians in trouble overseas unless he is embarrassed into action by the media or the courts. Given that 9 per cent of Canadians are abroad at any given time, we need a parliamentary debate on the issue.

Dirty laundry

Protocol has it that when travelling abroad, the leader of a country refrain from washing dirty domestic laundry in front of foreigners or playing partisan politics.

Not Harper. Either he cannot help himself or he does mean to fully use the international stage to beam loud messages back home.

Sept. 2007: He’s in Australia, from whence he berates Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand.

The latter had said he couldn’t deny women in niqabs the right to vote because the law did not let him. The Prime Minister accused Mayrand of subverting the will of Parliament, when, in fact, Mayrand was upholding it.

But Harper, riding a wave of bigotry in Quebec in time for three federal by-elections, wouldn’t let facts or protocols get in his way.

Last month: At the G-8 summit in Italy, he blasts Michael Ignatieff for saying Canada was losing clout globally. In turned out that the latter hadn’t said so and Harper apologized, rightly. But he wouldn’t have magnified his problem had he refrained, in the first place, from domestic mudslinging abroad.

This week: Grilled in Guadalajara about his decision to impose visas on visitors from Mexico, Harper blames our refugee system.

That is seen by Tories as a Liberal legacy, when, in fact, it was Brian Mulroney who set up the independent Immigration and Refugee Board and the rules governing it.

Harper wants to tighten the rules. What better way to set up the coming changes than to use the megaphone of a foreign summit to badmouth the system back home?

Top Canadian Political Gaffes

Political gaffes have gained quite the following over the past few years. People loved to hear the misunderestimated Bush stumble verbally, and the topic has become the subject of many books and websites. I thought I’d share some political gaffes and insults from north of the border. So without further ado …

 

 

Top Canadian Political Gaffes:

 

“As long as I am Prime Minister, I remain the Prime Minister.”

- Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister.

 

“They don’t know what they’re talking about. I don’t know who this group is. I’ve never heard of them before. I had never seen them before. They’re located somewhere in Geneva.” 

- Mel Lastman, former Mayor of Toronto on CNN talking about the World Health Organization during Toront0’s SARS crisis.

 

“My conduct had nothing to do with me.”

- Al McLean, former Ontario MPP and Speaker of the Ontario Legislature, defending his conduct during a sexual harassment case.

 

“Your majesty, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and Madame Houde here thanks you from her bottom, too.”

- Montreal Mayor Camillien Houde speaking to King George VI in 1939.

 

“My strategy has always been to stay on course unless a change, of course, is announced. And if it is, of course, we will announce it.”

- John Turner, former Prime Minister.

 

“Canada is the greatest nation in this country.”

- Allan Lamport, Mayor of Toronto from 1952-1954.

 

“If this thing starts to snowball, it will catch fire right across the country.”

- Robert Thompson, leader of the Social Credit Party from 1961-1967

 

“What the hell do I want to go to a place like Mombasa? Snakes just scare the hell out of me. I’m sort of scared about going there, but the wife is really nervous. I just see myself in a pot of boiling water with all these natives dancing around me.”

- Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman prior to departing for Kenya to promote Toronto’s 2008 Olympic bid.

 

Jean Chrétien talking about the Middle East conflict:

“The best positive thing you can do is not to tell them to stop on both sides to fight and to go back to talk is the only way out of that. And it’s what I said and I said that.”

 

“My style of leadership, uh, and in my former role as well, was to state what my idea was but also to encourage, uh, you know, I know what I know and I know what I don’t know.”

- Conservative Leader Candidate Belinda Stronach in 2004.

 

“I am not denying anything I didn’t say.”

- Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.

 

Top Canadian Political Insults:

 

“Paul Martin commits to positions like Britney Spears commits to marriage.”

- Stephen Harper, while announcing his candidacy for leader of the Federal Conservative Party in 2004.

 

“You little fat little chubby little sucker.”

- Darrel Stinson, Reform MP referring to federal PC leader Jean Charest in the House of Commons.

 

Ontario Premier Ernie Eves: “Mr. McGuinty just says whatever pops into his little, sharp, pointy head because he thinks that’s what you want to hear.”

Ontario Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty: “What if I spear you with my head?”

 

“Gentlemen, we all must realize that neither side has any monopoly on sons of bitches.”

- C.D. Howe, Liberal cabinet minister representing Canada at a Washington DC meeting to resolve a shipping dispute.

 

“My honourable friend on the other side of the House is big enough to swallow me, and if he did he would have more brains in his belly than he has in his head.”

- Tommy Douglas, Saskatchewan Premier speaking to Walter Tucker the Liberal leader of Saskatchewan.

 

“There is an old saying that is very difficult to hear when your mouth is open.”

- Speaker Myrna Phillips of the Manitoba Legislature speaking to Conservative Don Orchard in 1986.

 

“What is the difference between a cactus and a conservative caucus? On a cactus, the pricks are on the outside.”

- John Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister.

 

“He’s the greatest argument for birth control that I’ve ever come across.”

- Mel Lastman referring to Toronto City Councillor Michael Walker.

 

“All the evidence suggests that the Liberals want to look after impoverished Canadians – why else would they have created over four million of them?”

- Federal PC Leader Brian Mulroney in 1984.

 

“Dalton McGuinty. He’s an evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet.”

- Ontario PC news release on September 12, 2003.

 

“The Liberals are a beanbag kind of party that looks like the last person that sat in it.”

- Bob Rae, Premier of Ontario 1990-95 and current Liberal MP.

 

“Damn Americans, I hate those bastards.”

- Liberal MP Carolyn Parrish expressing her disgust at U.S. plans to attack Iraq.

 

“I rise on a point of order. Is the relevancy rule to be applied or will this jackass be allowed to continue?”

- PC MP David Kilgour referring to Liberal MP Jean-Jacques Blais in 1982.

 

“Watch out for the wall – as much as I’d like to see some of you guys hit it.”

- Stephen Harper speaking to journalists during the Conservative Party leadership convention in 2004.

 

” The Liberals are the flying saucers of politics. No one can make head nor tail of them, and they never are seen twice in the same place.”

- John Diefenbaker, former Prime Minister speaking in London, Ontario in 1962.

 

Random Funny Canadian Political Quotes:

 

U.S. Secret Service agent: “Who are you and where are you going?”

Prime Minister Lester B Pearson: “I live here and I’m going to the bathroom.”

- in 1967, at the Prime Minister’s house at Harrington Lake. The Secret Service agents were protecting U.S. President Lyndon Johnson who was in Canada for Expo 67 and a meeting with Pearson.

 

“Canada is like an old cow. The West feeds it. Ontario and Québec milk it. And you can well imagine what it’s doing in the Maritimes.”

- Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas.

 

“I was my best successor, but I decided not to succeed myself.”

- Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister.

 

“If you’re a mayor and you have a problem, what do you do? You blame the provincial government. And when you’re the provincial government and you have a problem, what do you do? You blame the federal government. And for us, we cannot blame the Queen any more, so we blame the Americans once in a while.”

- Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada.

 

Agricultural Minister James Gardiner: “What do you know about farming? You’re not a farmer.”

Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas: “I never laid an egg either, but I know more about making an omelette than a hen does.”

 

Petition to save the CBC

Canada’s media networks have all been affected by the recession. While the private companies CTV and Canwest are rumored to be in consideration for federal bailout loans, the public CBC has been denied bridging loans from the government. The CBC’s role as a public broadcaster is to showcase Canadian stories and voices. It is facing a budget shortfall of approximately $171 million.

They are now being forced to drastically cut 800 staff (393 at the CBC, 336 at Radio-Canada, and 70 corporate positions) – about 10% of their workforce. Vice president of English Services Richard Stursberg said twenty percent of the cuts will be borne by regional services and the remainder by the network. Television will feel the cuts more acutely than radio, which will continue broadcasting without commercials.

According to the Toronto Star:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his concern for the looming job losses but was silent on opposition demands to provide bridge financing to enable the CBC to weather the financial storm — and avoid the cuts.

“Obviously, broadcasters, both public and private, are having difficulties. It is a terrible thing when someone loses a job. We will obviously be monitoring the decisions of the board very carefully to make sure that it respects CBC’s mandate and treats its employees fairly,” Harper told the Commons.

But that failed to satisfy opposition critics who accused the Tories of using the economic downturn as an excuse to gut the CBC.

“It didn’t have to be this way. There was a plan in place that wouldn’t have cost the taxpayers any money. ….. These cuts are strictly ideological,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus, his party’s heritage critic.

Avaaz.org has started a petition that reads:

Petition to Prime Minister Stephen Harper: The CBC is a national treasure, and plays a vital role in our culture. We urgently call on you to grant the CBC’s request for a bridge loan to cover its budget shortfall this year, and commit your government to supporting our public broadcaster.

You can sign the petition and send it to friends/family here. More news at the Globe & Mail.

From a Proud Canadian

I recently wrote about the Chief of Land Forces for the Canadian Forces, Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie, commenting on the need for the military to take a year long ‘operational break’ to rebuild after our commitment in Afghanistan. I failed to mention that it is partly because Canada is suffering 4 times the casualty rate of American troops in Afghanistan because Canada is in one of the most dangerous provinces of Afghanistan.

Apparently the late-night Fox show, “Red Eye” with Greg Gutfeld, thought this was something to mock.

They started by suggesting the Lt.-General’s name, Andrew Leslie, was “an unusual name for a man.” Then host Greg Gutfeld said the time off was necessary to “do some yoga, paint landscapes, and run on the beach in gorgeous white capri pants.”

Columnist and comedian Doug Benson was asked to weigh in: “I didn’t even know they were in the war. I thought that was where you go if you don’t want to fight – go chill in Canada.”

As Ian Welsh of the Huffington Post pointed out, “No, Fox and the Republican party is where people go who avoid fighting. None of the panelists on the show appear to have ever served in the military.”

It was hard to continue watching the video, but they go on to say we are ‘not a smart culture’, the time off is for ‘manicures and pedicures’, and Canada would not be able to take this time off if they didn’t share a border with “the most powerful country in the universe.”

This is exactly the kind of selfish and contemptuously typical American frame of thought that repeatedly warranted them the title of ‘greatest threat to world peace’ in international polls (here, here, here, here, here, here…).

Maybe if more people had a Canadian frame of thought, humanity would be a lot better off. There wouldn’t be a need for massive armies and military spending – that money and effort could go to better use, like universal health care.

Many public figures spoke out about the piece. Conservative commentator Geoff Norquay called it “insulting and beneath contempt.” Steve Staples of the Rideau Institute called it a “shameful display” to laugh it up at the expense of families who have lost loved ones. “The dismissal of Canadian efforts in Afghanistan simply rubs salt in the wounds of Canadian families whose sons and daughters have been injured or killed in the war.”

Calling Canada’s military “the best little army in the world,” retired Gen. Lewis MacKenzie blasted the American panelists as “distasteful” and showing an “appalling ignorance.”

I encourage everyone to email the program ( redeye@foxnews.com ) and let them know what you think.

The clip can be seen here.

Top Weekly Canadian News ~ 06/03/09

1.     The Arctic is warming up so quickly that the region’s sea ice cover in summer could vanish as early as 2013, decades earlier than most predictions, Warwick Vincent (director of the Centre for Northern Studies at Laval University) said on Thursday. He pointed out that recent data on the ice cover ‘appear to be tracking the most pessimistic of the models’. I wrote about the importance of Canadians enforcing our Arctic Sovereignty in the past few weeks, and this was one of the reasons. Story at the Toronto Star.

2.     Testimony continues in the case of the RCMP Constables who killed Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski by taser at the Vancouver International Airport in October of 2007. The latest testimony has Mr. Dziekanski armed with a stapler, with the other hand in the air, in a position the only Constable armed with the taser described as ‘combative’: “He had the stapler open, his other fist raised. He was in a combative stance, as we call it, and was approaching the officers, I believe, with the intent to attack so I deployed the taser at that point.” The Constable also testified that he was taught ‘any object can be used as a weapon’, and that he was ’scared’ for the safety of the officers when Mr. Dziekanski picked up the stapler. A lawyer representing the government of Poland accused Constable Millington of ‘cooking up his story’ and collaborating with other officers on how to cover up the tasering. Story at the Globe & Mail (here and here) and the Toronto Star.

3.     The minimum wage in Ontario is rising to $9.50 at the end of the month (March 31, 2009). Story at the Lindsay Post.

East, West, South … North?

99.7% of Canadians live south of 60 degrees latitude (the border that divides B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba from the Yukon Territory, Northwest Territories and Nunavut). This means there are 104,000 people occupying 40% of the second largest country on Earth.

We Canadians seem to have a peculiar handicap: we can see east, west and south. But many of us do not see north. I must confess my own ignorance to issues north of 60°. As Michael Byers has said, the Arctic spaces “constitute a collective, national blind spot. And as any driver knows, blind spots present danger. In some instances, they can also present opportunity.”

Issues relevant to Canada north of 60° will be a recurring theme of this blog. I hope you will read and participate in this discussion with constructive intent. To sum up, I leave you with an excerpt from the 2007 Throne Speech:

The Arctic is an essential part of Canada’s history. One of our Fathers of Confederation, D’Arcy McGee, spoke of Canada as a northern nation, bounded by the blue rim of the ocean. Canadians see in our North an expression of our deepest aspirations: our sense of exploration, the beauty and the bounty of our land, and our limitless potential.

True North Strong and Free

“Canada, a moral superpower in its own mind, turns out to be the country with the second most positive rating in the BBC [World Service] poll.”

There is a severe under appreciation of the influence of Canada in the global arena, primarily by Canadians. A clear-eyed appreciation of all we have and all we could be is long overdue. I’ve created this blog to focus on issues relevant to Canada - those commonly discussed and those regretfully ignored.

I hope you will follow and contribute to the ongoing discussion of Canada, the True North strong and free.